40Billion Blog for Startup Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses

Nov 14: 5 Ways Entrepreneurs Who Take Vacations Are More Successful

When was the last time you took a vacation? For many young entrepreneurs, the answer is probably “I can’t remember,” or “I don’t have time for vacation.” But you just might want to rethink your aversion to time off. To run a successful company, you’ll need to be there, of course. But you’ll often need to also take time to clear your head or even distance yourself from the business in order to think about how to grow more effectively. Read more…

Nov 14: How To Maximize The Power Of Twitter – 10 Lessons Learned.

With Twitter having more than 300 million user accounts, it has become an important network for companies to reach out to their customers. There are well-established and successful brands that have come up with best practices companies could emulate to attract a loyal following and transform customers into brand advocates.

Here are ten marketing lessons for successful utilization of Twitter:

Nov 14: 5 Ways To Generate Content That Is King

Have you ever heard the expression, “Content is king?” While content comes in many forms, engaging content is scarce these days. The fact is, you have only a few seconds to capture the interest of your website visitors or potential customers. There is simply too much competition for attention to expect that people will invest too much of their time in trying to decipher bad content. Read more…

Nov 14: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

Want to spread the word about your business? Did you know you can broadcast your product or service to our large audience across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and 40Billion for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to broadcast your small business, startup company, product, or service to 2,500,000+ social users on 4 social networks – including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and 40Billion – at once.

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

Nov 14: Email Marketing Is Still Well And Alive – 5 Reasons

Despite the importance of Social Media, Email Marketing is still the most powerful tool to connect with people. Everyone has at least one email account these days, whether it be for business or personal reasons. According to The Radicati Group, more than 34% of the worldwide population uses emails – Which accounts for nearly 2.5 billion people. Read more…

Nov 14: How To Make A Case for Facebook Marketing

Is your business on Facebook?

Do you need to convince your boss-or a client-that Facebook is a worthy marketing investment?

And speaking of social media advertising, don’t forget online marketing sites. You can visit 40billion.com which is a fastest-growing network of entrepreneurs and crowdfunders. Read more…

Nov 14: How To Challenge And Beat The Big Boys In Local Sales

What should you do as a small, independent retailer when a major food chain, big-box store or national franchise becomes a direct competitor? All along you’ve been specializing in items that aren’t in the mainstream but sell well, and then some big outfit like Walmart or Amazon decides they’re going to hone in on your action.

When this happens, what can you as a specialty retailer do to remain in business and retain your dominance in any niche market?

Your first reaction might be to lower prices in order to compete with the big stores. Read more…

Nov 14: A tired businessman is one whose business is usually not a …

SAY OF THE DAY: “A tired businessman is one whose business is usually not a successful one.”— Joseph R. Grundy … read more

Nov 14: How To Dominate the Market – 8 Tips

A variety of internal and external forces can affect the longevity of products and services your business offers. Understanding how your business excels where your competition does not is a crucial element in dominating your market. Incorporating these strategies into your marketing plan can push your organization into becoming an industry leader. Read more…

Nov 14: Secrets Of Virgin Atlantic’s Marketing Success

Virgin Atlantic is a small airline with a big personality. This is how it lures customers from the big guys.

You may think Virgin Atlantic is a huge airline worldwide, but they’re not. Maybe they’re the No. 2 airline in the UK, but they don’t even hold a candle to United, American or Delta here in the U.S. Read more…

Nov 13: 4 Ways To Turn Your Customers Into Brand Ambassadors

Brand ambassadors are better advertisers than even the most strategized and marketed advertising plans specifically made for your business by agencies. Brand ambassadors are 70% more likely to be seen as a good source of information by people around them.

In fact, when you think about the fact that 80% of all consumer purchases include word-of-mouth (WOM) recommendation during the whole buying phase, businesses would realize that brand advocacy is a necessity and would even be the best investment to get into because of its very promising ROI (return of investment).

Studies show that a 12% increase in brand advocacy, on average, generates a 2X increase in revenue growth rate plus boosts market share.

The question is – how does a business turn their customers into brand ambassadors?

Brand Ambassadors Have the Voice.
This is common sense but a brand advocate has a voice on both sides – the product or service (operations) and the consumer. Read more…

Nov 13: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

Nov 13: Email Marketing Is Still Alive And Well

While some say that email isn’t an effective marketing tool anymore, research shows that it still has the highest ROI of any online marketing tactic.

One reason is that email is still a dominant avenue of communication in business. In fact, 91% check their email daily.
Email subscriptions to websites for updates and information is growing at the fastest rate ever, with 74% of consumers actually preferring to receive commercial communications by email.

Review Your Email Lists For Segmentation Opportunities

A common opportunity we uncover is email list segmentation. Read more…

Nov 13: 5 Counter-Productive Things You Should NOT Do Every Day

Can’t get through your workday without constant interruptions? Are routine tasks taking over your day? Here are 5 daily tasks you can remove from your workday to help you stay focused and be more productive:

1) Cram your to-do list.

You might feel the need to write down everything you need to accomplish each day, and while compiling a lengthy list of things you need to accomplish might seem productive, you could be doing more harm than good. Read more…

Nov 13: How to solve one marketing puzzle

Take a look at all of the marketing you’ve done over the last several months. Chances are, most – if not all – was effectively limited to product or service promotion. While offers and advertisements are important, promotions are really at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to building a strong brand. Read more…

Nov 13: Social Media Marketing – 6 Myths

Here’s why your company’s Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other social media campaigns aren’t performing as well as they could be.

Over the past five years, social media has become an increasingly important part of many companies‘ marketing strategies. Read more…

Nov 13: Word of Mouth Marketing and Social Media

Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) has always been a powerful way to influence business results.

Why should Marketers care about WOMM?

If you could master what has been identified as the most valuable form of marketing-the one that consumers trust above all others and the one that is most likely to drive sales for your company – would you instead choose to ignore it or leave it to chance?

Why would you simply choose to sit back and hope conversations will just happen organically about your brand? If you want to win the marketing race in 2017, you need to unleash the power of word of mouth. Read more…

Recommended: The Choice: Google+ Vs. Facebook

Nov 13: How to Get More Out of Your Social Media Marketing This Year

Social media has become more important than ever for businesses. Social media is only getting bigger, and if you don’t embrace it now, you’re going to miss out on a lot of amazing opportunities to connect with your customers.

You have to utilize social media more this year. Read more…

Nov 13: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Want to get the word out? Did you know you can broadcast your crowdfunding project or campaign to over 2,500,000 active users on 40Billion, Twitter, Facebook, and Google for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to promote your message, brand, product, service, fundraising campaign, crowdfunding project, or small business to the world.

Are you trying to raise money on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or GoFundme? For over 4 years, aspiring crowdfunders and startup entrepreneurs have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers and investors. Read more…

Nov 13: Using Hashtags in Social Media Marketing

In case you hadn’t noticed, the hashtag has pretty much taken over social media.

With sites like Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram all using this format to organize content, it should be clear that this once forgotten character on the keyboard has finally made the big time.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there who just don’t seem to understand the new trend. Read more…

Nov 13: Maximize Profit From Lean Advertising

The footwear industry has traditionally been a hotbed of memorable advertising, with brands such as Nike and Reebok spending millions to sign athlete-endorsers and hire ad agencies that create spectacular TV campaigns. Eye-tracking technology, facial-expression analysis, and lab experiments help better understand why people choose to view online videos, what narrative techniques keep them watching, and what features prompt them to share videos with friends. Read more…

Nov 13: Why Startup Entrepreneurs Need To Be More Like Reporters

The new marketing concept of brand journalism is the practice of covering your business and industry like a reporter. In other words, you’re transforming your marketing efforts into publishing efforts.

The big guys in your industry are likely already fully entrenched. In fact, some are practicing this new style of content marketing so effectively you probably haven’t even noticed that their content is marketing driven.

Here are four tips on how you can get started:

Nov 13: Expectations are a form of first-class truth: If people believe …

SAY OF THE DAY: “Expectations are a form of first-class truth: If people believe it, it’s true.” -Bill Gates … read more

Nov 13: 11 Ways to Write a Compelling Crowdfunding Campaign

One of the most important aspects of your crowdfunding campaign is the story you tell, as it has a direct impact on the overall impression that your project conveys. In the end, this is what will get someone to become your supporter. Your choice of words can actually make a huge difference in your campaign’s results.
Before getting started, you have to decide if you or your team are the most suitable to do the work. Read more…

Nov 13: 8 Social Marketing Fails to Avoid

1. Little or no social media or blogging activity.

Why start a blog and never publish? Why start a Twitter account and never tweet? In social marketing, you have to show up and be active. Yes, starting that Facebook page was a good idea, but unless you are going to be consistent in posting and using it, just forget about it.

You can save time by using sites like 40Billion.com, which specializes in broadcasting and promoting posts to its large network of several million users across the most popular social networking sites for small businesses – including Twitter, LinkedIn, 40Billion, and even Facebook. Read more…

Nov 12: 6 Lies of Content Marketing That Businesses Must Avoid

Content marketing is becoming increasingly popular with each passing year. Businesses see the benefits that competitors are enjoying from publishing highly valuable content, and are looking for ways to do the same themselves. Churning out great ideas is often more difficult than anticipated, and companies that enter content marketing for the first time often have some unrealistic expectations for the type of results it will provide as well as how quickly those results will come.

There is a lot of information out there that can help businesses to set realistic expectations for themselves when they first start content marketing. Read more…

Nov 12: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

Nov 12: Why Startup Entrepreneurs Need To Be More Like Reporters

Here are four tips on how you can get started:

Nov 12: How To Do More With Less – Smarter Content Marketing Strategies

The more you know about repurposing content, the more you realize you have a lot to work with. At the same time, the more you know about anything, the more you realize you have a lot to learn.

Dipping into your archive and giving a fresh take on quality pieces is a great way to extend your ROI, but it’s not effective to take the existing newsletter content and paste it into a blog post – it’s lazy. Read more…

Nov 12: How To Overcome 3 Horrifying Mental Challenges In Business

Whether you’re a startup or established entrepreneur looking to grow, you’ll probably have to deal with common mental challenges along the way to success.

NEGATIVE THINKING

Slumps happen in business and life. Start asking positive questions when you find yourself thinking: “I’m not good enough. Read more…

Recommended: The Choice: Google+ Vs. Facebook

Nov 12: 9 Don’ts of Crowdfunding Campaign

Crowdfunding opens up a new world of opportunity to startups. Crowdfunding campaign is convenient and has the potential to reach a wider range of investors, but it’s not easy. It requires much thought and effort. Most of the crowdfunding projects fail due to inadequate planning.

Following are nine reasons as to why crowdfunding campaign fails:

Nov 12: 8 Reasons Why Your Content Marketing May Fail

Today, nearly every business is attempting to become a content marketer. The results aren’t pretty. The noise is deafening and while there’s plenty of great content, every industry is being bombarded with junk-cheap imitations of the idea of content marketing-create original, compelling, helpful content. Read more…

Nov 12: Crowdfunding or P2P Lending – Which is Better for My Small Business?

When you are looking for funding, the dilemma use face is crowdfunding or peer-to-peer lending? This is the question many business owners are asking now that these alternative forms of business finance have become mainstream on the back of ineffective lending from the banks. So, the ultimate question then is, which method of finance would work best for you and your business?

Crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending are two innovative ways to get money into your business. Read more…

Nov 12: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 12: Are You a Micro-Manager? Here Are 3 Ways to Change

Every business owner knows how to wear a lot of hats. When first striking out on your own, you have a hand in finances, marketing, product design, and everything in-between. But as your company grows, you need to empower your employees to feel that same sense of independence.

Autonomy is one of our fundamental human needs – an essential component of a healthy workplace – our need to be driven by personal interest and enjoyment.

Employees that feel empowered are happier, more motivated, more committed to their jobs, and less stressed. Read more…

Nov 12: 3 Secrets To Marketing Your Small Business Successfully

It’s the entrepreneurial spirit that shapes the economy, but it’s difficult to shape anything if no one knows about your products or services. Here are 3 nuggets of marketing advice to small-business owners who need to get the word out…

1) Target your customer.

According to one of Bill Cosby’s famous quotes, “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.” Now, he doesn’t mean saying “Please” is the key to failure. Read more…

Nov 12: Our business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get …

SAY OF THE DAY: “Our business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves.” -E. Joseph Cossman … read more

Nov 12: Mobile Shopping Trends Reveal That Customers Combine Online With Offline

These days, the desire for speed, easy access and convenience are a priority with consumers of almost every generation. Technology is impacting every aspect of our daily lives, shifting how we gather information and research and affecting our purchasing choices and habits. We want access to information from our smartphones and we want technology integrated into our shopping experience. Read more…

Nov 12: How To Hire Great Employees As A New Manager

Hiring staff can be difficult as a new manager, and making bad choices can be disastrous. These 5 easy steps will help you find the right fit for your company:

1) Determine what you need.

Many people make the mistake of not clearly defining the skills needed before starting to interview. This can lead to hiring people because you like them or they’re impressive in an interview. Read more…

Recommended: The Choice: Google+ Vs. Facebook

Nov 11: 5 Ways Entrepreneurs Who Take Vacations Are More Successful

Nov 11: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 11: 3 SEO Tips For Small Business Success

Are you stressing out about changes in search engine algorithms and new social media platforms to learn? Search engine optimization (also known as SEO) is in constant flux, which means that your business’ online marketing strategies need to be revamped frequently. Read more…

Nov 11: 6 Tips For An Effective Text Message Marketing Campaign

If you want to reach local customers and keep them coming back to your business, text-message marketing is one of the most effective strategies for doing so. While email marketing messages are opened by a small percentage of recipients, text message ads are typically viewed by almost all recipients.

SMS messaging is also an ideal way for sending coupons that will get noticed and used, at a much lower cost than printing physical coupons. Read more…

Nov 11: 3 Steps for Marketers to Get More Out of Social Media Posts

The challenge of capturing the ROI of social media is almost as old as the Internet itself. The reason boils down to basic consumer behavior. For one, shoppers engage with brands at multiple touch points, across a range of devices. And new digital technologies are lowering the barrier for startups to enter the market.

This landscape is creating a fragmented data picture –
information often lives in silos between teams. Read more…

Nov 11: 4 Ways To Keep Your Website From Getting Hacked

Small businesses are especially vulnerable to hacking because they usually lack the technology expertise and site security that larger companies have. They also suffer more if their lack of expertise slows repairs and their ability to get back to work. Read more…

Nov 11: 6 Fundraising Tips Most Startup Entrepreneurs Don’t Know

In reading the start-up and tech blogs these days, one would think investors are chomping at the bit to fund startups like yours. But as is true with most situations in life, you shouldn’t believe everything you read.

There are certainly examples of big and fast rounds and companies where money landed in a founder’s lap. Read more…

Nov 11: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 11: Benefits of Ad Retargeting (Remarketing)

Retargeting Ads. You’ve seen them. But, do you know what they are and how they benefit your business?

Unfamiliar with the difference between retargeting and remarketing? They’re the same thing. Google uses the term “remarketing” while Facebook tends to use the term “retargeting”.

Smart marketers and business owners use Ad Retargeting to:

. Bring back landing page visitors who don’t convert

. Re-engage with abandoned shopping cart prospects

. Upsell products to highly targeted, interested customers

. Increase brand awareness.

A highly optimized, targeted, conversion-centric landing page averages an 8-10% conversion rate. Read more…

Nov 11: 4 Ways To Keep Your Website From Getting Hacked

Nov 11: How to Brainstorm Breakthrough Ideas for Your Business

It’s also a time to reflect on your business and find the spark for your next breakthrough idea.

No clue what that is? To ignite new light bulb moments, start with these idea-generating tactics:

Embrace fear.

Ask yourself: “What scares me?” Then, explore that dark space. What if you overhauled your product and reintroduced it – what features would it have? Where would you invest money if you replaced a major conference or trade show with other lead-generating activities? Even if something is working for you, is there a way to make it better? As for your competition, instead of studying what they’re doing, contemplate what they’re afraid of, too.

Pull the trigger. Read more…

Nov 11: Only through focus can you do world-class things, no matter …

SAY OF THE DAY: “Only through focus can you do world-class things, no matter how capable you are.” -Bill Gates… read more

Nov 11: 3 Winning Social Marketing Strategies From Top Brands

Do you follow a brand in social media? Are you glad you did? If that’s the case, they are doing either one of three things:

. Connecting with one of your passions and/or interests.
. Entertaining you with their engaging personality.
. Providing interesting and/or important information to you. Read more…

Nov 11: Why Starting a Business and Becoming an Entrepreneur is Risky

When you were a kid, how often would you ride your bike fast down a steep street while letting go of the handlebars, or take your sled to the top of the highest hill in town, not even considering that one false move could end in a tumble? Back then, you knew that the ride was worth the risk.

Now, with your own business, are you questioning every decision and avoiding the high hills of opportunity because of a fear of falling? It’s a natural reaction, but it can kill your aspirations and cost you the thrill of that amazing ride to success. Read more…

Nov 10: 3 Social Media Tips For Business Owners

Gaffes on social networking sites can happen to the best of us. There are some very good lessons business owners can glean from common social media mistakes and apply to their own marketing efforts. Here are 3 of those lessons and tips:

1) Make it known to employees that social media is not just for fun. Read more…

Nov 10: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

Nov 10: 8 Reasons Why Your Content Marketing May Fail

Nov 10: 22 Things Advertising People Learn to live with

1. Everyone hates status meetings.

2. When it’s eerily quiet on the line, you know the other callers are talking shit on mute.

3. And as soon as you get off the phone, you do this so you can chat about all the stupid stuff said on the call.

4. You see these buzzwords in emails almost every day.

Nov 10: Email Marketing Is Still Alive And Well

While some say that email isn’t an effective marketing tool anymore, research shows that it still has the highest ROI of any online marketing tactic.

Review Your Email Lists For Segmentation Opportunities

A common opportunity we uncover is email list segmentation. Read more…

Recommended: Tumblr – 7 Things To Know About

Nov 10: How To Hire Great Employees As A New Manager

Hiring staff can be difficult as a new manager, and making bad choices can be disastrous. These 5 easy steps will help you find the right fit for your company:

1) Determine what you need.

Nov 10: Viral Video Marketing 101

Video is rapidly growing and quickly becoming a staple of marketing strategies. If you have not yet incorporated video marketing then you are simply behind the curve. Not only that, but you are losing out on the various benefits that having a video strategy provides.

Importance of Video:

The reason video is such a powerful medium lies within its ability to engage, educate, and influence potential and existing customers. Read more…

Nov 10: Improve Profitability With These 10 Steps Marketing Plan

For best results in marketing it is crucial to develop a system, test that system, measure its results and when you find the combination that works best for what you are selling, repeat it over and over again without fail and sustain it with persistence. The results will come if this method is followed.

Follow these 10 steps and hopefully they will help you obtain good results.

Nov 10: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 10: 3 Winning Social Marketing Strategies From Top Brands

Do you follow a brand in social media? Are you glad you did? If that’s the case, they are doing either one of three things:

. Connecting with one of your passions and/or interests.
. Entertaining you with their engaging personality.
. Providing interesting and/or important information to you. Read more…

Recommended: 6 Tips To Achieve Marketing Goals

Nov 10: 4 Reasons Young People Should Become Entrepreneurs

Unemployment got you down? Just graduated with student loans, but can’t find the right job? Well, you’ll be happy to know that there are more new business startups in the United States than ever before. And, you can create your own job by starting a business, on a budget, doing what you love and what you’re good at — i.e., your passion and expertise.

Here are 4 reasons why you should start your own business as a young entrepreneur:

1) You’re not a good employee and don’t like working for anyone else. Read more…

Nov 10: How To Overcome 3 Horrifying Mental Challenges In Business

Whether you’re a startup or established entrepreneur looking to grow, you’ll probably have to deal with common mental challenges along the way to success.

NEGATIVE THINKING

Slumps happen in business and life. Start asking positive questions when you find yourself thinking: “I’m not good enough. Read more…

Nov 10: As long as you’re going to be thinking anyway, think big. -Donald Trump

SAY OF THE DAY: “As long as you’re going to be thinking anyway, think big.” -Donald Trump … read more

Nov 10: Five Prong Approach To Creating Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy:

Creating a social media marketing strategy is a sin qua non for every social media marketing professional in order to have an effective social media campaign. Social media marketing should be merged with your traditional marketing plan. Read more…

Nov 10: How to Get More Out of Your Social Media Marketing This Year

You have to utilize social media more this year. Read more…

Nov 9: Using Hashtags in Social Media Marketing

In case you hadn’t noticed, the hashtag has pretty much taken over social media.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there who just don’t seem to understand the new trend. Read more…

Nov 9: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 9: How To Deal With Stress At Work

Are you stressed out at work? Do you feel like you’re reaching a breaking point? Are you having a hard time juggling business and family demands? It happens to many of us. The anxiety, negative thoughts, perspiration, and despair caused by stress are normal, but you should not let them prevent you from succeeding and being your best you.

To cope with the stress and stay focused, you’ll need to incorporate a stress relief routine in your workday. Read more…

Nov 9: 5 Surprising Reasons To Raise The Price Of Your Product

Should you charge a premium price for providing an extraordinary experience and value? Why bang your head against the wall trying to undercut competitors’ prices?

Selling premium products and services at premium prices leads to greater profits. If you want to make a million this year, you’d have to sell 40,000 copies of your product at $25. Read more…

Nov 9: Targeting B2B Customers Effectively When Your Targets Keep Moving

Tech startup companies and business entrepreneurs don’t have a lot of room for miscalculating buyer behaviors. Here’s what you need to know to be able to anticipate, identify and satisfy changing buyer behaviors for the sake of creating an effective marketing strategy.

The buyer you engage with today won’t be the buyer you engage with tomorrow. Read more…

Nov 9: Mobile Shopping Trends Reveal That Customers Combine Online With Offline

Nov 9: How To Challenge And Beat The Big Boys In Local Sales

When this happens, what can you as a specialty retailer do to remain in business and retain your dominance in any niche market?

Your first reaction might be to lower prices in order to compete with the big stores. Read more…

Nov 9: 7 Steps to Boost Content Marketing Success

Everyone is busy in creating his own content marketing strategies. Companies have sensed the importance of this form of digital marketing and have been trying their best to create high quality content.

Here are 7 important steps in content marketing that every blog should include. It is a true assumption that the content promotion strategies very much depend on the nature of the business, but the following points can be applied to any kind of content.

Nov 9: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 9: Email Marketing Tips for Small Business

Keeping the doors of your small business open can depend upon your ability to market to potential clients. Email marketing has been a mainstay strategy throughout the technological era. Prior to this, companies were limited to direct mail for advertising. Read more…

Nov 9: The Unexpected Pros And Cons of Business Competitions

PRO: Free money to get your business started.

If you win, you could be awarded over $100,000 in cash and/or prizes that you can use to build, hire, and get your startup off the ground. In most cases, there are no strings attached and you don’t have to give up a percentage share of your business equity. Read more…

Nov 9: Email Marketing Is Still Well And Alive – 5 Reasons

Nov 9: Turn your scars into stars. -Robert H Schuller

SAY OF THE DAY: “Turn your scars into stars.” -Robert H Schuller … read more

Nov 9: 4 Steps To Close Up Shop When It’s Time To Call It Quits

Face it… The topic of shutting down your business isn’t something most entrepreneurs want to contemplate, but something most will have to deal with inevitably.

There’s just no skating around the issue that for whatever reasons, sometimes companies must close up shop. Read more…

Nov 9: New to Crowdfunding? Here’s What to Expect.

With the popularity and success of crowdfunding as a new way to fund new projects, it’s easy for other aspiring entrepreneurs to believe that sites like Kickstarter are their golden ticket to launching a business. But the reality is, crowdfunding isn’t always as simple as it seems.

Whether you’re looking to raise a small amount of startup cash or acquire a larger sum through equity crowdfunding, there are a few challenges you might face during the process that you may not have expected.

Choosing the right platform

The first step is to choose the right platform. Read more…

Nov 8: 5 Networking Tips That Entrepreneurs Need to Know

How can you maximize the benefits of attending professional networking events as an entrepreneur or business owner?

1. Have an agenda.

Not all networking events are created equal. It behooves you to research the best of the bunch in your area and decide which might be best for your overall start-up goals. Read more…

Nov 8: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

Nov 8: 4 Reasons Young People Should Become Entrepreneurs

Here are 4 reasons why you should start your own business as a young entrepreneur:

1) You’re not a good employee and don’t like working for anyone else. Read more…

Nov 8: Lead Generation: 19 Tips For Better Results

Need more leads? Of course, you do!

A well-optimized landing page is one of the most effective methods of generating authentic leads for your business. It drives traffic to your website, develops familiarity with your visitors and can gain you warm leads.

But what marketing campaigns increase traffic to your page and drive conversions? What value exchange does your business need to increase leads?

And for year around affordable marketing, don’t forget online marketing sites. Read more…

Nov 8: 11 Ways to Write a Compelling Crowdfunding Campaign

Nov 8: How To Do More With Less – Smarter Content Marketing Strategies

The more you know about repurposing content, the more you realize you have a lot to work with. At the same time, the more you know about anything, the more you realize you have a lot to learn.

Nov 8: How to Create Buzzworthy Content That Users Share

Shareable content is your gateway to success in content marketing. If you can get your users to share your content regularly, or in high enough volume, you’ll gain access to thousands of new potential followers, earn tons of referral traffic, and you’ll gain permanent links that boost your domain authority and your website’s potential to rank higher in Google searches.

But what makes a piece of content “shareable” in the first place? Logic would dictate that there are certain qualities that shareable pieces have in common, and if they do, it should be possible to replicate those qualities in your own work.

So what makes people want to share content with others, and how can you use this to your advantage?

Technical factors

Videos, quizzes, and list-based articles tend to get more shares than other types of content, possibly because they’re relatively quick and easy to digest. Read more…

Nov 8: With So Many Social Networking Sites, Which One Is Right For Your Business?

Feeling pulled this way and that by the latest and greatest social site? While you don’t want to miss out on the action, don’t waste time with the “next big thing” unless it’s right for you. With that in mind, below are some guidelines for making the most of your social media forays.

Ignore the chatter about how much web traffic a certain site is receiving each month, and take a look at what your competition is really doing. Read more…

Recommended: How to Create Influence on Twitter

Nov 8: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

Nov 8: How To Promote Your Startup On A Shoe-String Budget

What do smart entrepreneurs do different to ensure their business stays profitable? They do the simple things right. Simple things really, like finding cheap ways to get exposure, or hearing their customers out, or networking in the right places. With all this covered, the Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) for every new customer falls low enough to make their business model sustainable in both the long and short run.

If you have a young business that’s losing steam fast compared to its rivals, it’s very likely you’re facing a competitor who has found inexpensive and effective ways to market itself to new customers. Read more…

Nov 8: 11 Ways to Write a Compelling Crowdfunding Campaign

Nov 8: 3 Absurd Myths About Using Technology in Small Business

Risk taking is second nature to most entrepreneurs, but technology issues can make them turn cautious. Too often, business owners believe they don’t have the expertise or financial resources to take full advantage of technology. But, by limiting their use of tech, they also limit their growth opportunities in our always-on, always-connected world.

Turns out, many of these myths about tech may be based on misconceptions. Read more…

Nov 8: The link between my experience as an entrepreneur and that of …

SAY OF THE DAY: “The link between my experience as an entrepreneur and that of a politician is all in one word: freedom.” -Silvio Berlusconi… read more

Nov 8: How To Be More Creative In Business

To be an innovative entrepreneur, you want to foster creativity in your daily life so that your mind is ready when opportunity arises.

Unusual combinations, sometimes called “remote associations,” are related ideas that may seem unrelated at first glance. They are the essence of creative thinking.

To cultivate creativity, you want to increase your chances of stumbling on an unexpected link. Read more…

Nov 8: Uncommon Ways To Find Investors For Your Startup

Lack of funding often causes young entrepreneurs to give up on their ventures before ever getting off the ground. The many rejections, ignored emails and missed calls thrown your way from potential investors can be quite demoralizing, to say the least. Sometimes it seems like searching for a needle in a haystack, but entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart.

It’s imperative for young entrepreneurs to look beyond what is considered the normal route in business, especially as they seek that crucial first investment. Read more…

Nov 7: Cheap Ways To Get Exposure, Stay Profitable.

What do smart entrepreneurs do different to ensure their business stays profitable? They do the simple things right. Simple things really, like finding cheap ways to get exposure, or hearing their customers out, or networking in the right places. Number one marketing tip is don’t just think outside the box, get rid of the box! Be creative. Read more…

Nov 7: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 7: How To Do More With Less – Smarter Content Marketing Strategies

The more you know about repurposing content, the more you realize you have a lot to work with. At the same time, the more you know about anything, the more you realize you have a lot to learn.

Recommended: How To Deal With Stress At Work

Nov 7: 6 Marketing Tips to Bootstrap Your Startup

Every day we are bombarded by brands fighting for our attention; how can you possibly make your startup stand out? Marketing your startup in today’s competitive business economy is undoubtedly difficult and expensive, but there are steps you can take to make sure your startup gets a good chance at success.

Before you start, make sure you have a firm grasp on two key things. Read more…

Nov 7: 11 Steps To Communicate Better As An Entrepreneur

For entrepreneurs, knowing how to communicate clearly and effectively is critical in leading a company and selling your business ideas. But the words you speak and hear are only a small part of getting your message across to your employees, customers and investors. It is the way you speak and listen that makes all the difference in the world.

Consider these 10 steps for communicating and pitching more effectively as a business owner:

Step 1: Relax. Read more…

Nov 7: 11 Steps To Communicate Better As An Entrepreneur

Consider these 10 steps for communicating and pitching more effectively as a business owner:

Step 1: Relax. Read more…

Nov 7: Content Marketing Made Easier With These 5 Tricks

Everyone’s abuzz about content marketing these days, and for good reason. While advertising isn’t dead, the digital age has spawned a brave new era for today’s marketer. “Selling” doesn’t work like it used to. But informing, educating, and even doing a little entertaining, does.

That’s content marketing: Providing information of value that convinces an audience you are a trusted expert on your topic of mutual interest, and puts you top-of-mind when it is time they make a purchase decision. Read more…

Nov 7: When To Start Outsourcing Some Of Your Busy Work

When should you start thinking about outsourcing some of your tasks? As a small business entrepreneur, time is always scarce, and you find that you just can’t do everything yourself the way you would like to. Maybe you’ve thought about outsourcing, but it’s not a simple decision because you need to compare the cost and quality of the person or company that will be working for you.

A simple search for companies using the terms “virtual assistant” and “outsourcing” will reveal a plethora of firms and virtual assistants that offer outsourcing services for everyday business tasks – such as customer service, tech support, bookkeeping, accounts payable, accounting, and even social media marketing. Read more…

Nov 7: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 7: Networking Events Are A Waste Of Time If You Don’t Do This

The old saying that we “treasure what we measure” – and vice versa – turns out to be highly relevant in networking.

In a world where the news media regularly reports the latest sports scores, stock market numbers and the weekend’s top-grossing films, wouldn’t you think business networkers would just naturally track how much they’re getting from their efforts?

While systems for following up, staying in touch and tracking results are key to networking success for both men and women, they’re especially vital for women. Read more…

Nov 7: 5 Crowdfunding Steps Proven To Raise Money on Indiegogo

This post on how to raise money successfully using simple crowdfunding steps answers common questions for startup entrepreneurs and small businesses thinking about using crowdfunding to raise funding.

I have been in the crowdfunding space since 2008, after experiencing first-hand one of the biggest problems plaguing new businesses: There was a $40 billion gap in funding every year! That year, I founded one of the first crowdfunding platforms for U.S. Read more…

Nov 7: Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today. – Will Rogers

SAY OF THE DAY: “Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.” – Will Rogers… read more

Nov 7: Why Twitter for Small Businesses?

Are you debating whether your small business should invest time on Twitter?

Do you wonder how Twitter can help your business?

By being an active part of the Twitter community and sharing the right mix of content, you can reach a larger audience, generate more leads and become the go-to source when customers are ready to buy.

Twitter has evolved a lot since 2007. Read more…

Nov 7: 12 Proven Content Marketing Tricks to Maximize Traffic

Are you sick and tired of the same old content marketing tricks that just don’t seem to increase your traffic?

Today’s audiences are tired of the “same old, same old”, so the time is right to be innovative, take a few risks, and implement some all-new tactics into your strategy.

If you’re risk averse, never fear – while these tips may be unusual, they’ve been proven:

Nov 6: 4 Ideas for a Customized Marketing Strategy to Reach the Right Audience

Reaching the right audience at the right time with the right message is very crucial to any marketer. You already know why you need to do it. The problem is that you’re part of a small team and that there are only 24 hours in a day. What you need is an arsenal of high-impact tactics that are creative, easy to implement, and proven to work.

Nov 6: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 6: 6 Ways to Create Content that Attracts Audiences and Customers

Coming up with ways to interact with your audience daily can start to make you feel as though you’re stretching your creative capacity a little thin. Yet developing strategies to engage with your audience and keep them coming back for more is critical to long-term social success. Connect with customers for the long haul with these 6 content strategies that will spur conversation and tell a story over time:

Nov 6: Why The Business Plan Is Still Useful For Startup Success

Some define a business plan as a formal document that takes a long time to create and isn’t flexible, doesn’t get reviewed and doesn’t get revised. Then they say a business plan isn’t useful.

That’s sort of like saying getting regular exercise isn’t good for you because some people overdo it and end up with joint damage.

It would be better to advocate a type of business planning that could be called lean business planning. Read more…

Nov 6: How To Attract Customers Without Saying A Word

Are you the owner of a small business looking to increase your customers? How do you build a trusting relationship with your customers? Here is a proven strategy to build and maintain trust in your business, and in turn attract both customers and profits.

There are many different sources of trust, and sometimes people trust for the wrong reasons. Read more…

Nov 6: 3 Ways To Prevent A Mistake From Destroying Your Business

It’s easy for new entrepreneurs and even seasoned business owners to be frazzled and to panic when mistakes happen. As your business grows and employees and partners are stretched thin, the risk of mistakes, errors and accidents increases. Mistakes happen, but they can destroy your brand’s reputation – whether your company has made a billing error, sent an embarrassing email with leaked confidential information, or recalled a bad product.

When mistakes happen, what should you do? Here are 3 suggestions for how to deal with unexpected disasters and keep them from destroying your company:

1) Act quickly and fix it. Read more…

Nov 6: Why Small Businesses Should Not Hire These 3 Types Of People

Even the most perceptive business owners can make a bad hire when they don’t pay attention to the right signs. Here are 3 personality types that can bring down your business and how you can spot them in an interview.

1) The Narcissist.

It’s easy to make the mistake of hiring a narcissist. They are often charismatic and radiate self-confidence. Read more…

Nov 6: How To Avoid Summer Slowdowns, And Keep Growing Your Business

If your business experiences uneven revenues during summer months or other seasonal slowdowns, you may be looking for new summer marketing ideas to grow your organization. Here are four ways you can give in order to get more customers and sales this summer.

For seasonal businesses that thrive during summer months, marketing might be a cinch. Read more…

Nov 6: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 6: 3 Habits Of High-Performing Teams

What are some common challenges that small business and startup teams face? Long hours, conflicting personalities, not enough space, or too many mistakes?

A business team should undergo comprehensive team training in order to perform at a high level. To help your team become more efficient and effective, here are 3 team-building skills that you should focus on developing:

1) How to be great followers so that they can be great leaders

Good followers know how to listen attentively, ask questions when they don’t understand something, adapt to changing demands from different leaders, and give constructive criticism. Read more…

Nov 6: 4 More Ways to Create a Brand That Customers Remember

It takes only 3 to 5 seconds to form a first impression. If your business doesn’t capture attention at first glance, not only are you missing out on brand recognition but on sales too.

If you haven’t felt your brand is quite at the level you envisioned, use these tips to step it up. From messaging strategy to visual content creation, here are 4 ways to make sure you’re delivering consistent, on-brand content.

Nov 6: 9 Content Marketing Steps to Follow When You Have a Low Budget

Content marketing has become one of the most popular digital marketing strategies, with 88% of B2B marketers now using it in some form.

But it costs significant time and/or money. What if you don’t have those dollars to invest? What if you’re just starting out, or what if you’re already investing the bulk of your marketing budget in other strategies?

Though not ideal, it’s actually possible to start a content marketing campaign with no money whatsoever. Read more…

Nov 6: The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. …

SAY OF THE DAY: “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” -Vidal Sassoon … read more

Nov 6: 11 Ways to Write a Compelling Crowdfunding Campaign

Nov 6: 4 Ways Influencers Can Boost Your Brand

Trust, attraction, and engagement… sounds like the recipe for a deep and lasting relationship, right?

Not surprisingly, consumers can experience and feel these same attributes for a product, and as a result, they form lasting, loyal relationships with the brands that serve them.

Unfortunately for brands, connecting to a potential customer at this level is difficult and time-consuming. Read more…

Nov 5: 5 Networking Tips That Entrepreneurs Need to Know

How can you maximize the benefits of attending professional networking events as an entrepreneur or business owner?

1. Have an agenda.

Not all networking events are created equal. It behooves you to research the best of the bunch in your area and decide which might be best for your overall start-up goals. Read more…

Nov 5: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

Nov 5: 3 Reasons Why You May Not Need To Write A Business Plan After All

Sure, you can lay out a proposed path to success in a business plan presentation template, but the road will be full of surprises. More important than attempting to forecast is knowing how to adapt and be flexible.

For exactly that reason, many top investors and incubators are shifting their views on written business plans. Read more…

Nov 5: How to Maximize the Marketing Potential of YouTube – 9 Tips

Most social media strategies involve routine updates on Facebook and Twitter – and if they’re particularly ambitious, Instagram and Pinterest. Even if they do create video content, few marketing teams have discovered how to access the full viral potential of YouTube. Read more…

Nov 5: Crowdfunding Made Easier With These 4 Tips

With the tough economic climate, crowdfunding has become a popular and alternative method of raising finance for a business, projects or ideas. Crowdfunding platforms are convenient, simple to use and reach a wide audience of investors at a low cost.

Crowdfunding can be defined as a collective cooperation of people who network and pool their money and resources together, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other organizations. Read more…

Nov 5: Why The Business Plan Is Still Useful For Startup Success

Some define a business plan as a formal document that takes a long time to create and isn’t flexible, doesn’t get reviewed and doesn’t get revised. Then they say a business plan isn’t useful.

That’s sort of like saying getting regular exercise isn’t good for you because some people overdo it and end up with joint damage.

It would be better to advocate a type of business planning that could be called lean business planning. Read more…

Nov 5: 9 Ways of Making Content More Effective

What is content marketing? Content marketing is a method of providing information of value that convinces an audience you are a trusted expert on your topic of mutual interest, and puts you top-of-mind when it is time they make a purchase decision. The model fits every industry you can think of, including yours.

Content marketing helps in generating more leads, sales, and business. Read more…

Nov 5: Uncommon Ways To Find Investors For Your Startup

It’s imperative for young entrepreneurs to look beyond what is considered the normal route in business, especially as they seek that crucial first investment. Read more…

Nov 5: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 5: Crowdfunding Made Easier With These 4 Tips

Nov 5: Viral Video Marketing 101

Importance of Video:

The reason video is such a powerful medium lies within its ability to engage, educate, and influence potential and existing customers. Read more…

Nov 5: 25 Instagram Marketing Tips for Business

With Facebook declining in popularity among younger users, more and more businesses are turning to Instagram to reach younger demographics.If you plan to adopt a similar strategy, you’ll want to take a look at the following Instagram marketing tips and tricks for getting the most out of your presence on the site.

Fill Out Your “Bio” Section

Before you pass “Go” and collect $200, be sure to fill out the “Bio” section of your Instagram profile. Read more…

Nov 5: Money never starts an idea; it is the idea that starts the …

SAY OF THE DAY: “Money never starts an idea; it is the idea that starts the money.” — W.J. Cameron … read more

Nov 5: 4 Steps to Crowdfunding Success

The biggest problem that many small businesses throughout the United States face is how to secure startup or initial funding from traditional lenders. Since the 2008 financial meltdown, banks are under a lot of pressure to make safer loans, resulting in stricter underwriting guidelines and fewer loans being approved.

With the advent of crowdfunding providing a more accessible option, the amount of small businesses with crowdfunding campaigns has significantly increased. Read more…

Nov 5: 9 Content Marketing Steps to Follow When You Have a Low Budget

Content marketing has become one of the most popular digital marketing strategies, with 88% of B2B marketers now using it in some form.

Though not ideal, it’s actually possible to start a content marketing campaign with no money whatsoever. Read more…

Nov 4: One Man Marketing Department !!!

As a small business, or a one man (or woman) show, marketing can be downright difficult to tackle. Where do you start? What would a realistic marketing plan be? How can you get the most out of your time? These are all questions that small businesses face. Here’s how to rock it out as a one-person marketing department.

Set Realistic Goals:

We’ll just throw this out there – you’re not going to have the capabilities of Proctor & Gamble when it comes to your marketing efforts. Read more…

Nov 4: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Nov 4: 10 Content Marketing Ideas to Promote your Small Business or Startup Company

Small business marketers who use content marketing are able to reduce the cost of leads, increase awareness and position themselves as leaders.

In recent years, marketers have been forced to think differently about how they engage with potential customers, particularly small business marketers.

Every year, customers have increasing control over what marketing messages they wish to consume. Read more…

Nov 4: Improve Your E-Mail Marketing – Follow These 10 Steps

Most brands have a “pretty decent” email marketing program, but could it be better? Take a look at these 11 things to try and improve your engagement.

1. Take a hard look at your preference strategy.

There are three tips on capturing preferences: ask them, observe them and group them (into categories). Read more…

Nov 4: How To Overcome 3 Horrifying Mental Challenges In Business

Whether you’re a startup or established entrepreneur looking to grow, you’ll probably have to deal with common mental challenges along the way to success.

NEGATIVE THINKING

Slumps happen in business and life. Start asking positive questions when you find yourself thinking: “I’m not good enough. Read more…

Nov 4: Make Your Small Business Email Marketing Successful – Follow These Steps

The benefits of email

Customers like email. According to research, 77% of consumers prefer to receive permission-based marketing communications via email. So, don’t overlook the potential email can bring to your business. If done well it offers some great benefits.

. It’s cost-effective – implementing successful email campaigns doesn’t cost the earth and ROI is generally good. Read more…

Nov 4: How to Create Influence on Twitter

Crowdsourcing is a hot topic as an interesting social media phenomenon. Sometimes it starts accidentally when an injustice is exposed or a good deed is done. Other times, it is started intentionally to garner support for a cause or operate as a focus group for an idea or product.

Whether accidental or intentional, there is no better platform to crowdsource influence than Twitter. Read more…

Nov 4: Crowdfunding or P2P Lending – Which is Better for My Small Business?

Crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending are two innovative ways to get money into your business. Read more…

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