How to use LinkedIn to drive Massive Traffic to your Site Exploiting the LinkedIn Traffic Goldmine by Steve Hughes LinkedIn is, amazingly, often overlooked by so many when talking about generating traffic from Social Media. Digital Point Forum: Social Media Section Unbelievably, LinkedIn doesn’t even get a look in, even if you scroll down through the main Social Media folders. There appears to be a common misconception that LinkedIn is just a glorified Resume or CV site, this could not be further from the truth. LinkedIn: The Statistics Before I delve into how to fully utilise this fantastic resource, let’s have a look at some of the statistics, so you can realise just what a potent force LinkedIn, can and will play, in Traffic Generation. LinkedIn has more than doubled in size (OVER 160 million Members) in the past year! Pretty impressive eh? Setting up and Utilising your LinkedIn Profile Your profile is the first thing that anyone on LinkedIn will see. Firstly, upload a recent photograph of you. LinkedIn Skills & Expertise LinkedIn Connections Steve
21 Ways to get Featured in the Media Your business: front and center in the newspaper, feature, on prime-time TV or out there where everyone can see you. It’s what dreams are made of. Media coverage can make or break a business, but landing any bit of coverage is the hard part. From this list of 21 free or low-cost ideas to get featured, concentrate on two or three that fit your business and your personality and go after them with everything you have. 1. Do Something Remarkable It goes without saying that remarkable businesses are the ones that get featured every day. 2. You wouldn’t like it if someone you didn’t know asked you to give something to them. 3. Is it really that easy? 4. My business landed on the front page of our newspaper a few years ago because I highlighted a story about a family I was working with. 5. Press releases are old school but they’re still great ways to announce events and changes within your company. 6. Every day journalists need to take in information. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.
10 Stupid Mistakes Made by the Newly Self-Employed Having been a non-employee for about 14 years now, I’ve made my share of stupid business mistakes. I’ve also coached a number of people to start their own businesses, and I’ve seen many of them make similar mistakes. This advice is geared towards small business owners, particularly people who are just starting (or about to start) their own business. 1. While sales are important to the survival of any business, you don’t need to push your business on everyone you meet, including friends and family. Selling to the wrong people includes trying to sell to everyone. Just because someone is interested in doing business with you doesn’t mean you should accept. 2. Until you have a steady cashflow coming in, don’t spend your precious start-up cash unless it’s absolutely necessary. In 2004 I started this personal development business with only $9 cash even though I could have spent much more on it. 3. It’s also a mistake to be too stingy with your cash. 4. 5. 6. 7. I’ll say it again. 8. 9. 10.
How to Write a Winning Business Plan | The Labor Academy Like this article? Please share it! If you’ve ever written a business plan you know that it can be one of the most difficult documents you’ll ever create. I’ve written numerous plans both for myself and others and it was an arduous task – but also a necessary one – especially if it was to be used to secure formal outside funding. The Traditional Business Plan The typical plan I produced usually included the following - - Executive summary – Mission statement – Success factors – Objectives – Company summary – Start- up Summary (funding & requirements) – Locations – Ownership – Services – Competitive comparison – Market Analysis (Trends, Growth, Needs) – Strategy and Implementation – Sales summary (Strategy, Forecast, Milestones) – Management summary (Executive profiles) – Financial Plan – Projected P/L Those are the sections of the typical business plan. The Problem with Traditional Business Plans Why? A Better Business Plan Vision – this is the “big idea” of your company. Like this:
10 Free Business Tools Too Valuable To Ignore - OPEN Forum Good things rarely come for free anymore, but check out these very valuable business tools that don't cost a thing. July 18, 2011 Small business owners and entrepreneurs love to save money, but at some point we’ve all learned the hard way that “you get what you pay for." But there are, indeed, good free resources. 1. This powerful product ends the challenge of storing and syncing files and documents on different devices and computers. 2. If you have a business, your e-mail address needs to end with @YOURDOMAIN.com. 3. Several weeks ago I was the guest on a Tweetchat, an interview and interactive session conducted entirely on Twitter. 4. A nonprofit organization dedicated to educating and helping entrepreneurs with over 13,000 volunteers and 370 offices around the U.S., SCORE also has a section on its website with free templates and tools. 5. In a business environment that mandates a presence on the Web, Google Analytics helps you maximize your online efforts. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
15 Quick Pitch Tips for Kick Ass Presentations The pitch isn’t the only thing that will make your business successful; far from it. But it sure does matter when you have an opportunity to get on stage and present. Those opportunities may be few and far between, but you don’t want to blow them. After attending the YES Entrepreneurship Conference and watching a handful of young startups do their 5-minute pitches, and jotting down some notes, here are 15 quick pitch tips. Pitch Solo. Pitching is hard, whether it’s on stage, in a boardroom, on a conference call or anywhere else for that matter.
Hidden Gems: The 100 .edu sites every Entrepreneur Should Read Whether you’re an ivy-leaguer or a high school dropout, chances are you still have quite a bit to learn from others. Why not learn from the people who do learning best? Check out these .edu blogs and other informative sites for strategies, theory, and concrete resources for building and growing your business. Marketing Marketing may be one of the many things you try to squeeze into your business, but for the people behind these sites, this is all they do. Take advantage of their ability to specialize and use their knowledge to better market your business. Innovation Inside every great entrepreneur is an inventor, constantly thinking of new and exciting ways to solve problems and create new things. Industries Educational resources can sometimes be frustrating because they tend to focus on theory, while you’re looking for concrete ideas. International Business In today’s global economy, entrepreneurs must be familiar with the ideas of international business. Knowledge & Information Accounting
15 Websites To Sharpen Your Business Skills From management, to marketing, to finances — business skills of all varieties are critical to have in this economy and incredibly beneficial no matter what your situation. In this article we’ve collected 15 different websites that will help you sharpen your business skill set in a number of different ways. Each of these sites is an incredible source of information, and some of them are easily worth reading on a daily basis. Here’s the list: Category: Management, General Bnet is a new-ish website that has become a major resource for anything having to do with business. 2. A collection of Harvard’s best business bloggers, this site is a virtual goldmine of intelligent information. 3. Category: Finance Get Rich Slowly is a personal finance blog with advice that is beneficial to all types of people in many different situations. 4. Category: Online Business, Technology There’s no better site for following online business news and announcements than TechCrunch. 5. 6. Category: General Business 7.