Business Information for Entrepreneurs by an Entrepreneur

If you have an online business, then you already know the importance of driving as much traffic to your site as possible. One way to do this is by using articles that are search engine optimized (SEO).

That means that if someone is searching for a word or phrase through Google or some other search engine, then they can be linked to your site through optimized articles.

For example, if on your site you have articles that have been properly search engine optimized for the phrase "outfits for dogs" then people that are searching that phrase may be driven to your site.

SEO Basics

• Aim for articles that are between 550-850 words.
• You can include more than one keyword or phrase, but you don't want to "stuff" the article with those words of phrases. Generally, you should not have a keyword density more than 2%. So, for a 600 word article with the 2-3 keyword phrases, the phrases should not appear more than 3-4 times each.
• Don't have all of the keywords in one paragraph, instead try and spread them evenly throughout the article. The keyword or phrase should also appear in the article title. Try to use it at least once in the opening paragraph and once in the final paragraph.

If your SEO copywriting is successful, then it will cause your site to appear as hits through various search engines - but that is only half the battle.

Type in a search for pretty much any keyword you can think of and you are going to get LOTS of hits. The next trick is to get people to click on your site.

Write Good Headlines

You can help in this area by creating article titles that are interesting.

For example, instead of "Survive in an Emergency" you can make the headline more attention-grabbing by adding just a few more words. "Do You Have What it Takes To Survive in an Emergency?" is more bold and direct - and more likely to get someone to click on it than the generic first example.

Write With a Purpose - and Write Well!

So you have achieved the goal of getting visitors to your site, but they probably won't be back without useful content. Remember the best online writing involves not just SEO, but also great writing!

If you can't do the writing yourself, there are online sites such Guru.com where you can hire writers, many of whom are familiar with SEO copywriting, to write your articles for you.

Remember, the best online writing is going to get visitors to your site, and it is also going to keep them there!

You can find countless examples of husbands, wives, siblings, and kids who have pulled together to build successful enterprises.

There are the brothers Walt and Roy Disney, who founded the Walt Disney Company and built it into a global entertainment powerhouse, and International Fieldworks, Inc., a multimillion-dollar company that Barry Allen and Pauline Field created from their home that provides work for hundreds of others through project-management contracts.

For many small businesspeople, teaming up with a spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, sibling, parent, son, or daughter may seem like the ultimate dream. And for many entrepreneurs, this dream is a reality.

After all, if working at home is the right answer for you, why not for those you really care about as well? But unfortunately, for others, business spouse partnerships can also turn into the very worst kind of nightmare.

The secret is knowing when to team up and when not to, and what to do when a good team goes bad.

You definitely do want to team up when doing so will create a positive experience for you, your spouse business partner, and your customers. You definitely don't want to team up when doing so will create a negative experience for any of you.

Here are some good times to team up with spouses in business:

• When a significant other has common skills and interests.
  
  If you decide to start a plumbing business in your home and your spouse has solid bookkeeping skills that will help you better keep track of the financial end of your business, teaming up makes perfect sense.

• When a significant other purchases a business opportunity or franchise.
  
  What better time to team up than when a close friend or relative buys into a business opportunity or franchise? This assumes that the business opportunity or franchise is something that you want to do, too.

• When a significant other can make a positive contribution to your business.
  
  There will be times when a significant other is at the exact right time and place in his or her life to make a positive and substantial contribution to your business and to your customers and clients. This is definitely the time to team up, and it's a time when 1 + 1 can truly add up to more than 2.

• When a significant other has a resource that you need.
  
  What if you need a large amount of cash to get your business off the ground, and your significant other would like to help by providing you with a loan?

  Or what if he or she has a network of contacts that would be very beneficial for you to approach? Such resource synergies can make teaming up a very smart move.

• When a significant other has more work than he or she can handle.
  
  Nothing succeeds like success, as they say, and there may be times when a significant other is so successful that he or she needs help, and needs it fast. Teaming up can be a win-win in this kind of situation.

Not every business team or business spouse partnership is going to work. Working closely together day after day may bring out the worst in your partner, and you should always be ready to break up your team if necessary.

Do not allow a bad situation to become worse just because you are afraid to tell a friend or relative that your partnership is not working out. Always be honest with yourself and with your partner.

With spouses as business partners, never team up out of weakness or pity for a significant other who just can't seem to get his or her act together. Finding the right time to team up is a must if you want your business relationship to be successful in the long run.

Great marketing is what allows someone to sell a 50-cent cup of coffee for $5.00 and have people lined up around the corner to buy it. On the other hand, poor marketing efforts can stall the growth of your business even if you have the best product or service around.

Here are four common business marketing mistakes:

1. Not Having a Plan

Sounds simple, but the truth is that many small business owners fail to spend the proper amount of time developing a plan for marketing their product or service.

At the same time that you are perfecting your product or setting up the other aspects of your business, you should also be spending a good chunk of time figuring out how to find customers.

Figure out who is going to be interested in your product, and then decide how you are going to reach those customers.

2. Advertising in the Wrong Markets

If you are opening a tattoo shop it wouldn't make much sense to advertise in a children's magazine.

While that is a rather extreme example, the fact is that many businesses make very costly mistakes when it comes to where they spend their advertising dollars. You've got to know who your potential customers are so that you can develop a plan about how to reach them.

You should not decide how and where to advertise based solely on cost.

3. Not Going First Class - Where it Counts

There was a business owner who was getting ready to launch his product after months of development. He had rented beautiful, class-A office space and furnished it with the best that money could buy.

But when it came to advertising packets to send to potential customers, he suddenly became stingy. Instead of spending the money to have the materials professionally printed, he printed everything on his office printer.

He designed (and the term is used loosely) his own logo instead of shelling out a few hundred dollars for a professional one. In his particular business, customers would not be visiting those beautiful office spaces.

Obviously, he made some serious business marketing mistakes about how to spend his money. When it comes to anything that the customer is going to see, you've got to go first class.

It would have been much better for him to have gone all out with his marketing materials while renting a smaller, less luxurious office filled with used furniture.

4. Writing Your Marketing Materials Yourself

Another trouble spot for some is business writing. Not everyone is a gifted writer. If you know that writing isn't your strong suit then it will be worth the money to hire a freelance writer to help you develop your marketing materials.

Also, if you're prone to grammatical errors, find someone who can proofread your work BEFORE any customer sees it.

Avoiding these common business marketing mistakes will bring you one step closer to growing your small business into the most successful venture possible.