Small Business Tips and Tools for Success

Small business success need not be a matter of luck. Techniques and tools can help along the way. Read the stories of some successful small business entrepreneurs then learn the tips and tricks that can make your venture a success.

Startup Success

What fueled the beginning of your small business dream? These brief profiles of seven successful startup companies show that anything from unemployment to job dissatisfaction and more can fuel the entrepreneurial urge. So what was it that started you down the path of wanting to start your own business? Yahoo! Finance

Overcoming hardships with small business success. Read the inspiring story of how Jenny How overcame hardship to create her own business working online and today a brand aimed at helping others do the same. Don’t let hardships overcome you while creating your small business. BizSugr Blog

Tech & Training

10 cool new tech ideas to help you market your business. Marketing technology has changed dramatically over the last few years and the pace of change appears to be on the increase. The small business owner must be willing and able to effectively use the new tools for marketing. Check out some of these new tech ideas. Inc.com

Mastering distraction in 18 minutes. Small business owners have an additional challenge that those who work for at a larger company. This is even more difficult for the person who works at home. Focusing on what are the priorities is difficult for many people. We are encouraged to examine what matters, what’s working well, what’s neutral to us, and what alienates us. Then structure our work life accordingly. Inc.com

Management Basics

Is your business operating efficiently? Here are six signs it might not be. Getting use to monitoring your small business can be a key to making it more successful. Do you know how to tell where your small business is and where it should be? Learning to evaluate your small business effectively can be a first step to success. Site Prebuilder

Small business health-care plan debuts. Providing health care for employees in a small business has been difficult because of costs. There is no group discount like that offered to large companies. This does hurt small companies in competing for talent. In South Carolina they initiated the Small Business Health Plan, wherein small businesses pool together to buy coverage at lower rates. GreenvilleOnline.com

Marketing Moves

Marketing your small business on the cheap. Marketing your business and letting other people know what you do can be vitally important. There’s no greater task than getting your message out to those customers who will appreciate your products or services. But whatever else it is, it does not need to be expensive. Open Forum

Making sure of your marketing message. Though getting your message out there is important, it’s also important to be sure that message is right. Sending the wrong signals to perspective customers or those who might create referrals won’t bring your small business the customers you need and might result in unintended consequences for your brand. Kevin Webster

Winning Edge

Linking your way to small business success. When creating a winning Website for your small business, of course lining is important. But don’t forget some of the simplest linking of all, internal linking on your own site. It’s a an important tip that could help your business site stand out. Small Business Bliss

Building great customer experience. The importance of creating great customer experience is a no brainer when it comes to small business. That experience can be a valuable commodity for your business long run when especially in terms of repeat and referral customers. But just who are you creating the experience for? Partners in Excellence

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Small Business Success Metrics

Do you know how to take your small business to the next level of success? Here are some steps you may want to take and some information you may want to know. Leveraging the latest data can uncover new opportunities and help you measure the results of your efforts.

Growth

Failure into success. Not every small business can be a success and so it stands to reason not every entrepreneur will be successful, at least with their first venture. Fortunately, like so much of life, we can often learn as much from failure as from things going right. EntrepreneursUnpluggd

Business growth with Google analytics. Steve Chou gives us a behind the scenes look at how analytics has helped his e-commerce Website become an unparalleled success. Steve reveals that using analytics well involves much more than simply tracking the number of visitors to your site. MyWifeQuitHerJob.com

Operations

Companies you should invest in. This isn’t just your average list of the hottest up and coming startups. It’s a list of businesses hand picked by members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (Y.E.C.), a non-profit group promoting entrepreneurship as an alternative to youth unemployment of underemployment, and consists of companies they would invest in. What businesses would make your list? Open Forum

Success means good content. As increasingly more of your business is conducted online, creation of content has become a critical part of your business success each day. Though you may never have thought of it this way before, creation of quality content has become a core function of every business that markets itself on the Web. Brick Marketing Blog

Finance

What does your business need the most? Well, if you ask leaders in Washington, the answer might be money, probably in the form of loans or other financing. If you ask a VC, the answer might be venture or angel funding. Then there are a growing number of advocates who argue it is neither of these. Their recommendation? Bloomberg BusinessWeek

Congress still poised to aid with capital. A series of bills may offer the opportunity for more investment and financing in U.S. small businesses by the end of the year. Lack of capital has often been cited as a challenge for small businesses in the current economy, but it is not their only hurdle. WSJ

Advice

Should you be moving to the cloud? Small businesses with any significant need for computing have certainly already heard the clarion call. It seems like everyone is moving to the cloud. Should you? Cloud computing offers many capabilities potentially useful especially for small businesses. Are these capabilities right for your business? You’re the Boss

Why your success is not just about keywords. With ever increasing focus on Web marketing, some small business people have been focusing with understandable interest on SEO and the tools capable of bringing visibility, traffic and thus success online. But one expert warns the quality of what you do must never be left behind. Search Engine Optimization Journal

Budgeting

Spending less to make more. Sometimes success in small business is about more than just boosting revenue. It’s also about cutting costs. When running your small business from home, you’ve already cut plenty of costs, but there may still be more you haven’t thought of. Take a look at this list and remember that every dollar you save means more to your bottom line. Jennyhow

Best money-making and cost-saving tips. The list is mainly for online retailers, but with a little imagination you should be able to think of some simple ways to boost revenue and trim cost in almost any small, business you operate. Are you taking advantage of all the revenue opportunities at your disposal? How about cutting costs? Constant tweaking can be the long-term secret to success. Capture Commerce

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Ring Up Point of Sale Success Year Round

During the holidays and throughout the year, it’s important that the payment experience be efficient, secure and reliable for both the customer and the business owner. With the major holiday shopping season a few months away, now is the time for business owners to plan for maximum sales results, while also taking a forward-looking approach to ensure sustained, long-term success.

What Payments Types Are Right for Your Business?

Imagine a customer waiting in a long line to pay, only to realize at the register that the retailer doesn’t accept the payment type presented. No one wants that to happen to them, and businesses don’t want to turn that customer away during the holidays or any other time. The good news is that, depending on your current capabilities, you may not need to overhaul your system to add or support new payment types.

Online or in-store, every customer purchase results in an interaction at the point of sale. Small business owners should not be afraid to call their payments processing partner to talk about what might be best for their business.  Accepting the right mix of payments and having reliable, efficient and secure equipment helps create a positive experience for both customer and business all year long.  For instance:

Give your gift cards a boost ~ Christmas is second only to birthdays when it comes to giving gift cards. In addition to providing great last-minute holiday gifts that extend the life of gift-giving seasons, prepaid gift cards create additional foot traffic, help generate brand awareness, increase same-store sales and add revenue from “uplift” on card redemption.

If you already offer gift cards, consider whether encouraging customers to reload will help keep your card in the top of their wallets. Gift card malls are increasingly popular places for customers to purchase cards.  Another trend that is beginning to gain popularity is virtual “gifts.” Check with your program provider to find out whether it makes sense for you to get your card into the gift card malls and/or online.

Mobile payments are almost here ~ The mobile revolution is touching nearly all aspects of modern life, from how we play to how we pay. Google Wallet offers a fast, easy and simple way for consumers to pay with their phones. Updating your point-of-sale equipment to accept mobile payments is easier than you think. It may be a matter of adding a peripheral device to your existing system, which will help merchants to be ready once mobile commerce reaches critical mass.

Use social networking to sell ~ Social networking sites like Facebook present a huge opportunity to expand gifting programs to new channels. The eGift Social solution allows consumers to use Facebook to send virtual gift cards to friends and family. Consumers can choose to have their eGifts delivered as a Facebook post, sent via email or have a physical gift card mailed directly to the recipient.

Evaluate and upgrade point-of-sale (POS) and other equipment ~ Can your POS system handle the increased holiday traffic? An upgrade can mean greater flexibility in accepting payments and being ready for innovations in payments—potentially lowering infrastructure costs, decreasing customer wait times and making transaction processing more reliable and secure.

Take a multi-layered approach to reducing risk ~ Layered payment security is critical to helping protect sensitive payment card data. Because there is no single approach to security that can prevent or eliminate card data theft and fraud, four trends have been identified impacting payments that, together, are already shaping the way businesses protect their payments and customers, while also reducing the cost of complying with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

About the Author

Brian Goudie is a Senior Vice President at First Data, a global technology and payments processing company that serves more than six million merchant locations worldwide. Goudie has more than 16 years of experience in the payments industry and heads up First Data’s Small Business Center.

 

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