Small Business Growth Strategies

If you aren’t on the social networking train yet, it’s time to climb aboard! This is becoming more and more relevant for business promotion and exposure.

Here’s a nifty widget you can easily install on your Web site or blog: www.AddThis.com. This is a social bookmarking tool that allows visitors to post your content to a variety of sites (MySpace, Digg, Facebook, etc.). And the best part? It’s FREE!

written by Stephanie Chandler

If you’re an author with upcoming events, you can post them at www.BookTour.com. This is a great promotional tool to add exposure and bring people to your events.

Readers and book lovers can use this site to locate events in their region. Cool stuff!

written by Stephanie Chandler

I have been preaching the importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for years and I’m constantly on the lookout for relevant information on this topic. Today I read a great article from eCommerce Guide that covers ten SEO tips. These are relevant, useful tips and every business owner, Internet marketing, author, speaker or anyone with an online presence should put these into practice! You are missing opportunities if your site isn’t optimized.

Two tips that I will add (because I see these mistakes too often):

Content, content, content. The more you have on your site, the more reasons you give the search engines to find you! Add articles, news, links to interesting resources and anything else you can that will give site visitors value and produce results in the search engines.

Don’t let your site sit idle. The search engines want to see frequent changes to the data on your pages so make sure you are adding and changing content at least once a week (ideally you should make changes daily).

written by Stephanie Chandler

I just read an article from Forbes magazine about how author Elle Newmark used the Internet to promote her self-published historical novel and achieve best-seller status on Amazon. I’ve seen this done a lot with non-fiction books, and it is inspiring to see it done with fiction!

Also, another well-known business book author sent review copies of his latest title to leaders in a national business networking organization. I have a friend who runs a local chapter and when I walked into his office, he picked up the book and said, “Check out what I got in the mail!” It included a letter from the author offering the book with his compliments.

This is simply brilliant! The author reached out to leaders in his target market and got the results he wanted–he got them talking about his book. In fact, it was a reminder for me that I wanted to buy that book and I ordered a copy the next day.

In both of these examples, it took a substantial investment to create the book marketing campaigns. I see a lot of authors quiver over giving away even one copy of their books. My advice: give away as many as you can to key people in your market!! I make it a regular practice to send review copies out to key people in my market, media contacts, etc. It works!

For more online marketing ideas for authors, check out my lastest book: The Author’s Guide to Building an Online Platform: Leveraging the Internet to Sell More Books!

written by Stephanie Chandler

One of the questions I hear most often is, “How can I get a loan to grow my business?” Here are some sources for you:

Zopa is a lending community that facilitates private loans.

Prosper is another lending community that allows private loan investors to bid on loan requests.

Superior Financial Group offers express business loan programs.

Count Me In provides micro loans for women business owners.

The Small Business Administration offers a variety of loan guarantee programs that work in conjunction with a traditional lender (bank).

written by Stephanie Chandler

If you are marketing with video or posting anything to You Tube, check out http://www.expertvillage.com/. This site appears to have a nice viral marketing quality and the opportunity to get more exposure!

written by Stephanie Chandler

I had the great pleasure of attending the eWomen Network annual conference in Dallas last week and WOW, what a phenomenal experience. It was my first time attending this event, and it definitely won’t be my last.

When more than 2,500 women business owners take over a Hyatt hotel, magic happens. The Law of Attraction was hard at work for those of us who went with clear intentions. The most exciting moment for me was meeting the fabulous Michael Gerber, author of The E-Myth (if you own a business and haven’t read this book, run to your bookstore NOW). His lovely wife, Luz Delia, was also with him and it was moving to see their mutual adoration for each other.

Mr. Gerber gave a wonderful keynote presentation and one of my favorite moments was when he pointed out that he is now 72-years old and he is often asked when he is going to retire. “Retire? Why would I do that?” He went on to say that he is having too much fun creating. A nugget that will stay with me for a long time was when he said, “I am here on this earth to create.”

YES!

I don’t know about you, but that one small comment shot through me like a lightning bolt. I get it completely.

We enjoyed many fantastic presentations. The surprise opening entertainment came from Judson Laipply and his hilarious Evolution of Dance, a six minute montage of music and dance moves that made him famous on You Tube (and led to appearances on the Today Show and Oprah). Marci Shimoff, author of Happy for No Reason, shared some remarkable insight into our personal levels of happiness. I learned that your happiness level is the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Interesting stuff, for sure. I also connected with Jan King, the founder of the inspiring eWomen Publishing Network. If you need help publishing your first book, this is an excellent resource.

And of course there were all the amazing women wandering the halls. I am still, a week later, overwhelmed by the connections I made, the ideas generated and the energy that happens when that many women share the same space. It’s electric! Best of all, we didn’t even have to wait in line for the restroom. The few brave men who attended had to trek downstairs. What a refreshing change.

Sandra Yancey, founder of eWomen Network, has created something truly powerful in this organization and the annual event. She also rocked Donny Deutsch’s The Big Idea this week. If you want some inspiration, make sure you put this event on your calendar for next year.

written by Stephanie Chandler

For the past week or so, I have been hearing from various people that my e-mails either aren’t arriving or I’m not receiving their messages. Since I have managed to receive some e-mail messages and some of my e-mails have gone through, I have been beating my head against the wall trying to decode the mystery problem.

Then I remembered that a friend of mine, Michelle Ulrich from Virtual Business Marketing, had mentioned a similar problem a couple of months back. I called her up and she reported that her DSL provider required that she change the port settings for her POP mail setup in Microsoft Outlook.

Since we have different DSL providers AND different website hosts, I wasn’t sure that my problem was the same as hers. But all it took was a quick online search of AT&T/SBC and Yahoo! support to check for POP e-mail settings. It turns out that somewhere along the way, these providers changed the required port settings for e-mail! The same e-mail settings that I have used for YEARS… I had to completely update all of my e-mail accounts (I have several).

What is most disturbing is that I never received any notification of this change. Perhaps their e-mail announcement couldn’t get through to me?! For goodness sake folks, send a postcard to your clients who run businesses with your services! There is a very good chance that I lost business this past week due to failed e-mail delivery.

So my friends, if you use Outlook or POP e-mail and you’re stuck in e-mail limbo, do yourself a favor and check with your Internet service provider and/or your Web hosting provider. Even if you’re not stuck in e-mail limbo YET, it would be wise to double check your POP mail setttings. It appears that several providers are changing their settings and you don’t want to find out the hard way like I did.

Onward and upward!  

written by Stephanie Chandler

If you are sending commercial e-mail messages, it is essential that you follow the rules of the CAN-SPAM Compliance Act. Fines for violations are steep - up to $11,000! Aside from following the law, being viewed as a spammer can actually hurt your business. Here are the key rules to follow:

• The subject line of your e-mail message must reflect what the message is about and cannot be deceptive or misleading.
• Your “From” e-mail address must accurately reflect who is sending the message.
• Your message must include instructions for the reader to opt-out of your mailing list.
• Once someone opts out of your list, you have 10 days to remove them.
• You must include a physical postal address in all messages.
• You cannot harvest or capture e-mail addresses without a user’s knowledge. They must CHOOSE to receive your messages.
• Unlike traditional direct mail, you cannot purchase an e-mail list! Again, your recipients must opt-in. If you want to legally reach more people through e-mail, you may be able to rent ad space in someone elses e-newsletter.
• If you meet someone at an event and they give you their business card, you cannot add them to your list unless they give you permission! (This is a pet peave of mine.)

The above list includes the basics. For more details about CAN-SPAM Compliance, visit the FTC website. I also use and recommend Constant Contact for managing your electronic newsletter and email marketing campaigns!

written by Stephanie Chandler

What a horrible tragedy it was that Tim Russert had an apparent heart attack and died on the job last week. I was glued to the tributes all weekend and so deeply saddened by the loss of such an inspiring person.

In case you don’t know, Tim Russert was an attorney with a passion for politics and the head of NBC’s Washington Bureau. According to the long list of tributes given to him by people he knew, he was a stand-up guy who loved his work and his family. His son Luke’s appearance on the Today Show this morning would make his father very proud.

When someone like Tim leaves the world too soon, we have to wonder why. It would be an even bigger tragedy if we could not find some lesson in his passing. Here’s what I see in all of this:

• We must take better care of ourselves. Business owners are hard-wired to work long hours. Even though we may love what we do, it certainly can’t be worth it if we lose precious years of our lives because we are so focused on work.
• Be fiercely passionate. Loving what you do makes life so much more rewarding. If you don’t love what you do, look for a way to make a change. Life is too short.
• Create a legacy. How are you giving back? What will you be remembered for? What do you want to be remembered for? This may take some reflection so set aside the time to give it some thought.
• Live an authentic life. Friends reported that Tim Russert was smart, supportive, passionate, a loving father and husband, and someone that many looked up to. He also authored a moving memoir about his father (Big Russ and Me) and seemed to wear his heart on his sleeve. Being authentic and showing your vulnerability actually endears people to you. I believe it also helps you lead a more fulfilling life.

My heart goes out to the Russert family and all of the people who loved Tim. He left a legacy to be proud of and touched many, many lives.

written by Stephanie Chandler