Business Information for Entrepreneurs by an Entrepreneur

When was the last time you took a client out to lunch? Do you entertain weekly or rarely? You could be missing a valuable tax deduction if you don't entertain, but you could also be attracting the eye of the IRS if you deduct the wrong expenses. That is why you should take special care about the amount and which receipts you use for your small business entertainment deduction.

Meals

The IRS allows meals to be expended if they serve a business purpose. For instance, if you take a client out to lunch and discuss points of a contract, the meal counts as an entertainment expense. But what if you and the client discussed the contract in your office then went out to lunch? That's acceptable as well. You can still qualify the meal as an entertainment discussion since there was direct business occurring directly before or afterward.

Other Entertainment

Can you take a client out on the golf course? Of course. Although the cost of the greens fees is allowed as an entertainment expense, the full price of your country club dues is not. The same holds true with sporting events. Your season subscription is off limits, but you can take a client out to a game, as long as business is discussed during, before, or after the event.

How Much Can You Deduct?

Keep in mind that your entertainment expenses are only 50% deductible. For your $500 meal, only $250 will be eligible as a small business tax deduction, and the same goes with other entertainment receipts.

Many small business owners ask about including other staff employees, spouses, and even spouses of the client. Employees are absolutely eligible to be included with the entertainment deduction, as long as they are associated with the business at hand with the client. Your friends or spouses are not eligible to be included with the total receipts. Spouses of the client are treated the same.

But what if you sponsor a large banquet where you, your staff, staff spouses, and clients and their spouses engage in a big meal? This might be an acceptable situation, but you should always check with a tax professional for full rules on this type of situation.

Entertainment is expected in business transactions. Be sure you get the full tax deduction coming to you, but avoid the temptation to deduct more than you are eligible.

Your website is your online presence. It should be designed to attract and welcome new visitors, and provide easy online purchasing options. But should your site also contain customer feedback tools?

New Study: Surveys Increase Sales

The numbers from RatePoint, a leading provider of customer feedback for online businesses, show that you should. Customer reviews, opinions, feedback, and suggestions can greatly improve your online sales. Why? The survey conducted by RatePoint show that online customers are more likely to buy products online when they read previous customer feedback.

43 percent of businesses surveyed noted that they experienced more sales as a result of posting feedback and product reviews. 28 percent showed more online traffic to their website. In other research published by Deloitte and Touche, 82 percent of customers who shop online say their purchasing decisions are influenced by customer reviews.

Even Negative Feedback can be Beneficial

In addition, feedback doesn't necessarily need to be positive. Many small business owners with an online store fear that negative feedback may result in turning customers away or discouraging sales. However, the data from the survey showed that any review is six times more likely to affect the business in a positive way. The fact is that customers put more trust in a business that allows and displays customer opinions.

One thing that many small businesses owners don't realize is the power and potential for improvement. Customer feedback lets a business owner know what is right and what is wrong with a product. Using this valuable information a small business owner can continually develop products to meet customer needs.

Ideas for Obtaining Feedback

And what better way to serve your customer needs than to ask them directly? There are many ways you can obtain customer feedback. One is including a product review section on each product web page for customers to share their thoughts. You could also ask for customer feedback with every completed purchase. And don't forget to ask customers for testimonials, and create a webpage strictly to include great testimonial statements.

Your website should be treated like any other marketing tool. With continual review of results and improvement, you can use customer surveys and opinions to help your business make more online sales.

Is your business easy to find online? Particularly, is your website optimized for local search results? You could be missing out on a significant portion of business if customers who want your products or services cannot find you online. Read on to find out what you can do to improve your local search ranking.

Post Helpful Blogs and Articles

Part of your optimization process includes updating your business website frequently. Search engines like websites that provide up-to-date information for their users.

With that in mind, use your website to post a regular blog. Write helpful articles that are useful to your readers. Be sure to include specific keywords in each blog or article that will help search engines recognize and categorize your website. Keywords should include local information as well. For instance, if you operate a restaurant in Kirkland, Washington, near Seattle, you might include "Kirkland dining" as well as "Seattle restaurants" in your keyword list.

Use Meta Tags

Meta tags are html coding that is unseen by website visitors, but can be very helpful to search engines. Meta tags allow website creators a way to show search engines important keywords that can help you attract local customers. Use important meta tags such as "keywords" and "description" and include your local keywords in them, such as your city, neighborhood, and even your street name.

Utilize Pay Per Click and Pay Per Call

You can also attract new business with "pay per" advertising. Pay per click or pay per call marketing puts your business link or phone number at the top or beside search results. You set up an account with major search engines like Google and Yahoo! Then, when the specific keywords you bid on are searched, your small ad appears. Web searchers who are looking for your products can then click on a link to your website to get more information, or call you directly.

Pay per advertising is great for businesses like restaurants and gift retail stores. Research shows that people with iPhones and other mobile network devices are performing more and more searches and need your business - now! Make sure you give them a reason to call and get to your business right away.

Use these tips, and research other ideas you can use to improve your search results. Your local customers want to find your business. All you have to do is let them know you're waiting for them.