GET YOUR SMALL BUSINESS FLYING WITH A FLYER

Imran Rashid Khan--

One of the most cost effective and amazing way to market your small business is with a flyer. Flyers are simply full page ads that are distributed directly to your potential customers. A flyer can positively persuade a customer to buy your product, or to use one of your services. With the right approach your small business can yield a great return on investment (ROI) from this tried and trusted marketing tool.

Flyers are most direct form of marketing, because they get straight to the point. Flyers give immediate access to what you are selling. Flyers grab attention with their colors and visuals. Anyone from doctors to web designers are using flyers to market their services, even high end businesses use flyers to promote special events. Flyers are being more and more used as a brand awareness tool. Whenever your flyer reaches somebody your business is introduced to them. They may not make a purchase then, but you will increase your brand awareness, and likelihood that you'll be considered in the future.

The question now remains, should you hire a professional or should you do it yourself? The answer depends on how artistically inclined you are. It may certainly be cheaper, but if you are not experienced in visual presentation you may forget to add important components to your flyer. On the other hand hiring a designer may be comparatively costly, but it will be more efficient. As you will not need to worry about the design choices or color schemes. Whatever the decision may be, make sure that your flyer has a creative design; it is printed on good quality paper and the design abides by theses 9 guidelines so that whatever you are offering will look impressive and be noticed.

1. COLOR

Colors instantly grab attention and communicate your message emotionally, as it affects behaviors. Use the right color to further ingrain your brand message. Below are some examples of what color represents:

RED - Energy, Excitement
GREEN - Freshness, Money, Health
BLUE - Trust, Confidence
YELLOW - Warmth, Cheerfulness
ORANGE - Fun, Optimism
PURPLE - Creativity, Luxury

Whatever colors you choose, make sure they complement each other. Visit ColourLovers  and Visually for more information on colors.

2. FONTS

Selection of a suitable font is very important for a flyer design. Ensure that you select a font which is easily readable from a distance, for example sans-serif fonts.  Font size is very important, so make it large enough for the reader to read it from at least 2 feet away. Use one font for headlines and the other one for details.

3. YOUR LOGO

Logo is part of branding your small business, so make sure it is placed strategically on your flyer. It can either be placed on the top or at the bottom corner, near your business name and address.

4. YOUR CONTENT

Make sure whatever the reason you have the flyer, be sure to spell it out and explain to the reader what is important. Get to the point straight away, but still give them enough information to get them attracted.

5. YOUR VISUALS

Include images and illustrations that convey your message with the text. Be careful as less is more; don't clutter your flyer with too many images, as it will distract the attention from your message. Choose a large image to match your content's message.

6. WHERE TO FIND YOU

If you have a shop then add the address, contact number so that you’re potential customers know where you are located and are able to find you easily. Be sure to add directions or a small map that shows your location at the bottom of the flyer near your address information.

In addition to that add your email address and your website address. Create a welcome landing page of the flyer on your website, to further explain your offerings.

7. CALL TO ACTION

Create a call to action space on your flyer to entice the customers. Make it clear and bold so that the reader will respond to the offer sooner rather than later.

What is in the name?

What is in the Name? - Freelance WorkTips

Planning to launch your own business? Choosing the right name for your startup business is a critical part of staring your business. It not only distinguishes your business from your competitors but, it also can make the difference between success and failure. The name you choose reflects on what your business is all about and what your potential customers will perceive of your business. Your business name will reflect your company’s values and its distinguishing characteristics.

Moreover, you need to ensure that the name you choose for your business can be registered and is also web savvy i.e. is the domain name available?

Remember there is no singly correct way to choose the right name for your startup business, but the only way your business will succeed if your products or services score well on quality. There are many examples where the business names are ordinary and simple and are doing well in the market. Similarly, there are companies with very unique and catchy names that are not doing very well. So it boils down to this that the business name does create an impression in the mind of the potential customer but , ultimately the quality of your products or services which you offer will decide the future of your startup business.

In general it is advised that the business name should be catchy, simple, and easy to spell and pronounce. Remember that in trying to be catchy and different the name shouldn't be too confusing or vague for the customers to understand or you might end up loosing the customers.

Think about what you want your company name to convey.

The business name you choose will appear on your business cards, letterheads, website, promotional materials, and everywhere else, so you should consider what you want your company name to convey. Service oriented businesses should consider a name that includes or describes what the business does so that it will be easy for their prospective customers to recognise what services the business provides.

It is very important that you think hard before selecting a name for your business because it is going to effect how your customers feel about your business. The more obscure, difficult to pronounce, or spell the harder it will be to remember.

Brainstorm to identify name possibilities.

Once you have decided on what you business name will convey, start your brainstorming sessions. In these sessions think about words that describe your products or services, the benefits of using your products/services. Think of words or phrases that will evoke the feelings you want your customers to feel when they see your business name. Use dictionary, thesauruses, and any other resource which will help you. Form a list, go through any web service and see how many have been taken already. Check www.uspto.gov if the potential business names are not already a trademark.

Once you have shortened the list check the rest of it to see how many have been registered as domain names. This step will likely cut down quite a few potential names away. Lastly, Google your potential online business name in quote to see that no competitor appears on the name you have chosen.

The moment you decide the name of your business, make sure to register it, claim your domain name, your social media identity and if required trademark your name.

While choosing the right name for your business few things to consider:

•While abstract words can be catching, like Yahoo, Google, and Amazon the more obscure a business name the harder it will be to remember and can lead to confusion and set your business back in terms of awareness. So choose a familiar name, which is easy to pronounce and remember.

•Misspelled words not only can make your business name stand out but it can also help you in domain name registration. Examples of misspelled names are flickr, and tumblr. While it may be creative to misspell words it does not always work to your advantage. On the other hand misspelled words will not be easy to lookup in the search engine.

•Two Syllable or Compound words can be used by combining 2 words together to name your business. Examples of this are Facebook, Skillshare. This will not only be useful in making your business name memorable but, it can also help you in registering your domain name easily. Choose words which will not only appeal to you but will also appeal to your potential customers.

•Initials like IBM and Acronyms like AT&T can be used if your business name is long and multiword phrase (an acronym is composed of the first letter of each word in a phrase), but a poorly chosen business name can result in unfavourable acronym.

•The name needs to sound good while saying aloud. Use a name that has meaning and conveys your business message/benefits.

•Avoid names that are too narrow or too literal. So don't use names which will restrict your growth in the future. For example when I started out my business in content writing many of my friends advised me to select a name which had writing or content in the business name, but I decided on "outsource2me", this way when I decide to expand & go into web designing and more I won’t need to change the name of my business.

•You can use Keywords to name you business by making use of words which directly give an idea about the business. No frills, just directly to the point.


In conclusion I would say that it is very important that you think hard before selecting a name for your business because it is going to effect how your customers feel about your business.

As always you are welcome to post your questions and comments below.

Have a great and prosperours life.

Cloud Computing

It can be defined as “Computing in which access is gained through internet to data and files, or software applications which are stored on remote machines owned by somebody else”. In general terms Cloud Computing can be for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the Internet.

Cloud computing has distinct characteristics that differentiates it from hosting is that, the service is on demand; a user can have as much or as little of a service at any given time; and the service is fully managed by the provider. A good example of Cloud computing is you online email service of Yahoo!, Gmail, or Hotmail; where the vendor houses all the hardware and the software necessary to support the email service. The only thing required is an internet connection thorough which you log-in using a web browser. You can access it from anywhere as it is not physically installed on your computer.

Cloud computing is catching on very fast and it is not just a fad any more-simple reason being that the traditional computing  is very expensive and requires a variety of hardware and software to be purchased and a whole team of professionals to keep it running at client level. With cloud computing client side management of hardware and software is eliminated and it becomes the responsibility of the vendor-which means the clients only pays for what it has used, upgrades are automatic, and applications can be scaled up or down easily. With Cloud computing you just need open a browser, log-in and start using the application or update your data or files.

Cloud computing can be very beneficial for small or mid-sized businesses, as they don’t need to purchase lot of hardware and software to run their business applications and storing of data. Business can store their information in the cloud and pay only for the space utilized.

Benefits of Cloud Computing includes:

• Cost Savings — Cloud computing can bring hardware costs down, where businesses won’t need to buy the fastest computer with the most memory, or a large hard drive. Instead, an inexpensive computer terminal including a monitor, input devices like a keyboard and mouse and just enough processing power to connect to the cloud system would be sufficient. Cloud service providers do the system maintenance thus further reducing maintenance requirements.
• Scalability/Flexibility — Businesses will be able to start with a small operation and grow to a large operation, and then scale back if necessary. The flexibility of cloud computing allows businesses to use extra resources at peak times, enabling them to satisfy consumer demands. Cloud computing gives its subscriber’s wide access to computer applications. The will not have to buy a set of software or software licenses for every employee. Instead, the company could pay a metered fee to a cloud computing company.
• Reliability/Mobility — Cloud service providers use multiple redundant sites which can support business continuity and disaster recovery. As systems are accessible from anywhere, workers have increased productivity.

Conclusion:

Cloud computing provides many options for the everyday computer user as well as large and small businesses. It has opened up the world of computing to a broader range of uses of resources by giving access through any internet connection.

Cloud computing is a model for enabling everywhere, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services). Clients would be able to access their applications and data from anywhere at any time. They could access the cloud computing system using any computer linked to the Internet. Data wouldn't be confined to a hard drive on one user's computer or even on a corporation's internal network.

Follow Me on

Increase Traffic to your Website

Are you looking for ways to increase traffic to your website?

Read these easy and quick tips to help you boost traffic to your website and increase followers.

@ Add easily accessible social media links.

@ Start a newsletter.

@ Use Google Search Engine Optimization tool, Google Webmaster Guidelines to learn how to increase website daily traffic.

@ Regularly publish content.

@ Spend some money on advertisement.

@ Go through the strategies laid out in the Infographic.

Increase Traffic to your Website

Give your feedback, and connect to

5 Esstential Tips for Freelancers

1. Market Yourself – Network, Network.

You need to tell people who you are, what you bring, and how you could be service to them. You have to constantly market yourself for success and build a referral network.

Internet is a valuable tool for freelancers, especially if you have website. It serves as a point of contact between you and your potential clients.

You have to present yourself as to who you are and what you do and the skills and values you bring. Market your business as it is the key to a steady flow of new and repeat clients. Market on how your freelance business is better then similar business.

It’s not enough to what you know but, who you know. Use social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedln and other online communities like freelancer.com to meet, greet, and expand your network, and get your business in front of prospective clients.

Through these networks get feedbacks to fine tune your product or service. Not only that, you can get your first break through these networks and referrals. These sites can also be used to develop and maintain relationships with clients. 

2. Get to know your competitors.

Study and research your competitors in trade journals, social sites, freelance forums, and visit their website.  Pay attention to what your competitors do. Learn from them, they may be doing something right which you can be implemented in your business. Understand that you don’t know everything and be open to new ideas and new approaches for your business success.

You need to know who all your competitors are, not just the obvious ones, but the ones who are meeting the needs of your customers with products/ services which you do not offer.

Resist the urge to compete on price. Trying to undercut every competitor is a losing race. Instead, focus on providing greater value.

3. Follow-up.

For a successful business it is very important to follow-up to maximise opportunities. Stay in touch with them long after the sale, puts you ahead of the competition. Customers will feel appreciated with a follow-up. People do business with people they KNOW, LIKE, and TRUST. A committed follow-up strategy will increase your referrals with your customers and clients. By doing a follow-up you can remind them about your product or services you are offering. Follow-up can also be an acknowledgement for using your product or services.

4. Get Organised.

To be successful in any business it is very essential to be organised especially for a freelancer as he/she is responsible for everything. You need to have a good plan and organisational skills. Take your time and plan out all necessary steps to achieve success.

Make sure your work environment is conducive to maximise productivity. Keep it neat and tidy and minimise distractions. Schedule your work hours and set a routine. Being organised will help you complete tasks within time. Have a check list or to-do-list as you complete a task heck it off your list. Schedule your time; keep a calendar of meetings and deadlines. Set up a system for your workday; effectively prioritise email correspondence by using an auto filter.

5. Stay Focused.

You are not going to start making money the moment you start your business, it takes time so stay focused in achieving your short term goals. Constantly keep doing the things necessary to be successful, because success will not come in one night. Set goals so as to measure how well is your business doing, devise a plan to reach and achieve these goals. Always be on the look out for ways in improving your business and make it stand out from the competition. Keep a positive attitude, as a good attitude is a great asset for a freelancer. Believe in yourself.

Conclusion:

Starting and running a successful business can be rewarding and challenging. There are few things more satisfying than launching and owning your own freelance business. Starting a business is not complicated, but running it successfully requires focus, discipline, perseverance, and motivation. However, success will not come over night - it requires a long-term focus and that you remain consistent in challenging environments. Be prepared to adapt, innovate, and invigorate, so that your freelance business will break-out to the next level of profitability. Remember in business the only constant is change, so adapt and prosper.

Follow me on facebook/outsource2me

Your Business Plan & Commitment

To proceed further in creating your online business you need to have a plan of action or a Business Plan to achieve your goals. A business without a plan is like wandering blindly and relaying on luck. So planning is essential for starting a business. While making a Business Plan you need to answer the following questions:

• Name of your online business.
• Vision of your online business.
• Who is your Target Market?
• What will you be selling to your Target Market?
• What makes your business different from your competition?
• Your Marketing Strategy.

Once you have pen down the answers of the above questions, then you will need to commit to it.

I am sure that by now you must be inspired and very excited about starting your new online business, but excitement is not enough to keep going. You need commitment and commitment is a choice.

So if you want your business to be successful, then you should commit to your vision. Write down your commitment on a paper, sign it and date it. This way whenever you start loosing your inspiration and excitement you can go and read your signed commitment, to get on track again.

Action Plan

• Pen down your Business Plan.
• Commit to you vision.

Until the next tip, take care.

outsource2me

Finding Your Niche

A “Niche” is defined as a "situation or activity specially suited to a person’s interest, abilities, or nature". (American Heritage Dictionary 4^th edition)

Knowing that we want to start a business is not enough; the important thing is knowing what kind of business to start.

Your online business should be something you are ‘passionate’ about, it should be something which interests you or suits you nature. Working for something you are passionate about will yield great results. If you are passionate about something your commitment towards it will be very high. Your passion should dictate your ‘niche’.

Having a specific knowledge/skill or your work experience can also be your niche. I recommend grabbing a pen and a paper and start jotting down atleast twenty things which you are passionate about or have knowledge about.

While brainstorming for new ideas for your future online business, keep in mind that a successful business is the one which is providing a product or service that others will actually buy or pay for. Satisfy the need of your target market, and your target market will keep your business profitable.

Beware that an idea may seem promising, and destined to make you rich, but the real test will only come when you actually launch your online business. So what ever the idea/niche may be, it should be researched well before investing your time and money into it.

• Some of the questions which need to be asked:
• How big is the niche?
• How competitive is the niche?
• How profitable is the niche?

Google your idea/niche (in quotes) and look for these things:

• How many results?
• What kind of sites are in top 10?
• Who is your competitor?

If the results are few, then your niche may be too vague. If it is too many, then you need to zoom in on a tighter niche.

Action Steps

Gain the knowledge of your niche and what the market wants. There are so many online business ideas to choose from, so be sure to pick one that you’ll enjoy running and that will keep you motivated.

As always feel free to ask question or leave your comments below. 

Until next time take care!

outsource2me

Start an Online Business

Thousands of people all over the world are making money on the Internet having a full time online business, or as part time worker to make extra income.

The opportunity to work at home part time and make extra money online or to build a full blown home based online business is wide open for everybody nowadays.

Online business is not a job; it is a full time commitment. Not any one can successfully run an online business. It takes a lot of hard work, patience, and commitment to build an online business.

The cost of an online business varies from zero to millions. The more time you devote the better chances of success. No one can make money without putting in long hours and hard work.

If you want to run an online business or make extra money online then there are 15 ways to do it:

1. Ebay	2.Info Products	3.Affiliate Marketing
4. Work from home jobs.	5. Adsense	6.MLM
7.Couching/Counsulting	8.Service site	9. Web hosting
10.Membership site	11.Social Network site	12. Freelancer
13. Paid Blogger	14. Domainer	15. Online Trading

• As stated there are bunch of ways to make money online, but the BIG questions is how to differentiate and separate the real opportunities from the scams. There are a lot of scams out there, so you need to be on your guard.
• Never pay any one a fee in exchange for the promise of a job.
• Don’t buy any business opportunities, until you have done your home work. Research can eliminate buyer’s remorse. To find out more about scams and business opportunities visit 

 

Resources required for an Online Business:

• A Computer.
• Doesn’t need to be the latest and greatest
• Recommend Windows XP or newer
• Consider a laptop
• An Internet Connection.
• Broadband
• Online Personal Finance software.
• Here are some choices to manage your personal finances and money you will be earning through your online business. Adaptu, Mint, MoneyStrands, IExpenseOnline.
• Free email programs for windows.
• There are many free email programs, and at least one perfect for you. Yahoo, Google, Hotmail
• Time tracking products.
• Using time-tracking software can help you get a handle on how and where your time goes. Plus most time-tracking software's have other useful features such as invoicing. You can check out these recommendations Paymo, Replicon, TrackMyHours & ManicTime.
• Photo editor.
• You will always need some kind of Photo-Editor to create and edit images like, PhotoScape, Pixia.
• Event Calendar
• If you would like a bit more organization in your business, then online calendars might be just the thing for you. Google Calendar, 30Boxes.
• VoIP software.
• Skype is the most popular voice communication service in the world.
• Network & computer security.
• You need tools to help you monitor and protect your computer and your network without emptying your wallet. AVG, Avast, Spam-Aid.
• Office Productivity tools.
• Zoho, ThinkFree Office.
• Screen Capture tool.
• Capturing screen shots in Windows. Greenshot, SnagIt
• Zip Program
• WinZip.

There are a few other things that you’ll need which will be specifically covered in upcoming tips, so don’t worry about them for now

Action Steps:

Go through the list, and do as best as you can to get them. Do some research on your own and see what else is available on the net.

You don’t need to be a computer expert, but there are some things you’ll need to know.

You are welcome to post your questions and comments below.

See you next time.

Have a great day!

outsource2me

Outsource the work

Nowadays competition has grown so much among businesses that it has become difficult to hire permanent experts staff for different jobs separately, especially if you are a small businesses or a start-up.

Getting a start-up on its feet can require a lot of hard work and patience, juggling many tasks at one time can be an enormous burden on the entrepreneur. To resolve this issue a start-up or a small business can always outsource the specialized tasks to outsiders called Freelancers.

Freelancers are people who are self-employed and work independently and sell their specialized services without any long term commitment. Freelancers are paid on project basis either per hour, per call, per word, or in lum sum basis. A freelancer takes direction from its clients on what the end product should be or how the task should be performed.

Freelancing is not an option, but has become a necessity for start-ups and small businesses to stay competitive. There is cost saving and enormous benefits for tapping into the talent pool of freelancers. By outsourcing your tasks to a freelancer, a business saves time and money. For example, to launch a start-up specialized skills are required which may be beyond the capabilities of either the staff or the entrepreneur him/her self like launching a website, writing a business plan, setting up the social network on internet like facebook, linkedin, etc,. Hiring a freelancer with specialized skills for specific tasks will save a lot of time and money. “Outsourcing is going to be the distinction for small business to stay competitive.” according to Lorri Rowlandson, president of Rowlandson Inc., an outsourcing advisory firm.

An entrepreneur may be jack-of-all-trades who can take any role, but if the task is very specialized, it may get done faster if outsourced to a freelancer who knows the job, and this will give a chance for the entrepreneur to better spend time on day-to-day tasks. There is a lot of stress on entrepreneurs to get so many things done and time is wasted if you are teaching yourself how to do things, where as time is critical for small businesses.

Expert freelancers can be hired from online marketplaces setup to bring freelancers and the clients at one place. Employers can hire freelancers to do work in areas such as software development, content writing, data entry, designing logo and stationary, sales and marketing, and accounting & legal services. Projects can be successfully outsourced through freelancer.com, Elance.com, oDesk.com and vWorker.com, to name a few.  When using these marketplaces an employer can limit the risk of security when confidential company information is being exchanged. Freelancers can be hired by going through their portfolios and user reviews.

While outsourcing lines of communication should be open, the entrepreneur should be straightforward and be specific when assigning tasks, avoiding using phrases which are informal or acronyms. Make sure to leverage all kinds of communication tools like email or Skype. Payments can be made through PayPal or Western Union.

All in all outsourcing can be an effective way to do business and succeed, where the only limit to what can be outsourced is your own imagination.