Watch How First-Time Readers Use Your Blog First time readers make almost instantaneous decisions on whether they’ll be subscribing to your blog, leaving a comment, and making their way back for a return visit. Abby Kerr has a great post on this over on her site. And it’s true, much like a good first impression matters during an interview for a new job or going out on a date, a good first impression matters online to new blog readers. Today’s Task: Perform a first time reader audit on your blog. First: submit your URL. Second: share your memory test URL with your network. Basically, the way it works is when people click on the Clue Memory Test URL, Clueapp shares a screenshot of your website for just a few seconds. What’s the goal here? Is your site memorable? I took this test. You can even take it a step further by asking a friend or two (someone who doesn’t visit your site on a regular basis) spend 5-10 minutes navigating your content. What was your first impression? For yourself, take note of things like: Where did they click?
A Guide to Starting Your Business Introduction Making your own decisions. Doing something you love. Spending more time with the family. Participating in the American dream. Starting a business is awesome. In an attempt to reduce the number of frustrating hours searching the web for what you need, we’ve written this article to help you with the small business paperwork, the basics of accounting, and an overview of some legal considerations. Our Favorites First There are too many sites and too many books out there trying to take advantage of the apparent complexity of business. The first comes from the Lords of Paperwork themselves, the IRS. The second is a guidebook for businesses dealing with creative and communication services titled The Business Side of Creativity by Cameron S. >Amazon Book Description This book is chock full of some of the most practical and forward advice we’ve seen on all of the topics below and even includes additional material on pricing, customer relationships, and time management. Accounting
Packaging and Shipping Your Lovely Creations: Guest Post from Monster Kookies A lot of people tend to think that because they have done all the hard work to get a sale online, they can take a breath and worry not because all the work is done. But realistically, posting and selling your items are only half of it. You have an impression to make! Packing and shipping your items might seem like a meagre task, but what you are doing is sending the buyer a piece of your personality. These ten thorough tips will get you started on packaging your beautiful products in a way that will make an everlasting good impression on your buyers. Packaging should reflect you! Monster Kookies is a blog dedicated to the creations of Monster Kookies, tips and tricks for working with polymer clay, as well as the featuring of unique & independent artist-run shops online. Tagged as: customer service, monster kookies, packaging, polymer clay, product packaging, shipping, tips and tricks
Startups - Contents Last database update :- 28th March, 2014 38961 items listed Concerned about why your Windows 7/Vista/XP PC takes so long to boot when you switch it on? One of the main reasons is due to the number of programs that run at system startup - and this is the place for you to identify and disable them. Background to the problem Techniques that can be used to identify and disable start-up programs from running A comprehensive list of programs that are loaded at start-up A request for additional programs or updated information DISCLAIMER: It is assumed that users are familiar with the operating system they are using and comfortable with making the suggested changes. If you are a regular visitor, click here to go straight to the PROGRAMS E-mails received with an attachment from a pacs-portal.co.uk address are not from this site - unless advised otherwise. Virtually all applications you install using the default installation these days decide that they should start-up when Windows starts. Autoruns
Tax allowances and reliefs if you're self-employed If you're self-employed there are various reliefs, allowances and expenses you can claim to reduce your tax bill. You can take away from your business income various running costs and expenses associated with your business to work out your profits - but you can't take away any private expenses. And you can claim special reliefs for certain 'capital items' - one-off costs to buy or improve an asset you keep and use for your business. You can usually claim expenses, reliefs and allowances for the current tax year and for the previous four years - but there are some where you have a shorter time limit for claiming. This guide tells you about the tax allowances and reliefs you can get as a self-employed business person - including the expenses you can claim - and when and how to claim. This guide tells you about the tax allowances, deductions and reliefs you can get as a self-employed business person. On this page: Expenses at a glance What are 'allowable expenses'? Each business is different.
Ian Landsman's Weblog » Blog Archive » Starting a Micro ISV, In The Beginning … there was nothing How to write a business proposal and develop your business StartupNation Write a Business Plan that Works [Get Started] Executives at large corporations and entrepreneurs in emerging companies struggle with the same question: "How do I write a strategic plan that actually gets implemented?" A solid strategic plan delivers the following benefits: You focus your time and energy on activities that are most likely to achieve your goals. Unfortunately, too many plans sit on shelves collecting dust, and fail to take advantage of these benefits. Why Are Business Plans Ignored? 1. Many entrepreneurs write research reports instead of strategic business plans. Unfortunately, these analyses do not have much to do with getting out into the marketplace and attracting new business. Please don’t misinterpret this point. 2. A sound strategic business plan must cover three areas. First, you have to lay a sound strategic foundation. Second, you need to identify a set of priorities that will help you to make your strategic foundation a reality. 3. How big is the opportunity? 4. When most people hear this story, they relax.