Welcome to Get Small Business Help!

Posted on January 8, 2012 by sharonb

Welcome to Get Small Business Help!  This website is about how to be successful with your small business and how to ensure that your business is one of the small businesses that actually survive their first two years.

I will be putting up lots of useful information to help you in your business, some of the small business solutions that I have used over the years and some that have been recommended to me by entrepreneurs and other small business owners.

Please do get in touch if there is anything I can help you with.  In the meantime, to your continued business success …….

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Get Small Business Help: SEO For Small Businesses – 3 Quick Concepts To Help Business Owners Get Started And Land On Page 1

Posted on January 9, 2012 by sharonb

This article is a good starting point to think about the concepts for your new website.  I would encourage you to visit the site and get further useful information to get you up and running!

Get Small Business Help:   SEO For Small Businesses – 3 Quick Concepts To Help Business Owners Get Started And Land On Page 1

Every business no matter their size should have a website. However, SEO for small businesses can be a challenge due to time and sometimes the high costs involved. In all cases, knowing at least your options and casting a wider net over the ways to market your online business is going to be key here.

You need to know what SEO is of course which stands for ‘Search Engine Optimization’ and is the concept to organically drive traffic from prospects/customers typing in good keywords and finding keyword phrases that lands your website on the first page of Google (and other search engine sites).

SEO For Small Businesses – The 3 Concepts:

  1. Know what a good keyword phrase is – Finding keyword phrases that you believe your prospectors are using to find a service or product is the most important strategy here. There are many free SEO tools around Continue reading →
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Get Small Business Help: Small Business Success Tips – Persistence

Posted on November 30, 2011 by sharonb

Small Business Set Up:  Small Business Success Tips – Persistence

Whilst I don’t necessarily agree with everything in the following article, I would agree that persistence is one of the top qualities needed by entrepreneurs and small business owners to give them the best chance of success with their small business set up.

Here’s the article:

Small Business Success Tips – Persistence

A ridiculous claim has repeatedly been made for the value of persistence in a small business, which boils down to, “If you persist, you will succeed.” The problem with untrue claims is that when they are rejected, any related truth is rejected also. So let us sort out the truths and untruths about persistence.

Starting a small business usually turns out to be harder than the owner anticipated. Almost all small businesses go through financial strains, especially when beginning, and take far more of the owner’s time than he imagined he could supply. Frustration and discouragement Continue reading →

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Get Small Business Help: Small Business Tips : Small Business Books Organizing

Posted on October 16, 2011 by sharonb

Some really useful tips to dealing with your book keeping on a timely basis rather than letting it get out of hand!

What do you think of these ideas?

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Get Small Business Help: How Colours Can Drive Business Success

Posted on October 4, 2011 by sharonb

Knowing the sort of person you are can help you to understand the support you might need in getting your business the success it deserves.  It can also help you in choosing the right business partner or staff to work with you.

Complementary personalities can work well together, with each having their own areas of expertise that they enjoy.  Consider how much you really enjoy some parts of your business activities whilst others are always a chore – how much better would it be if every person in your business enjoyed the whole part of what they do!

 

Get Small Business Help: How Colours Can Drive Business Success

How well you know your personality type can be the reason why some people reach success easily while others fail. What traits are unique to your personality colour and how does that affect how you do business?

Are you a Red? Maybe Blue? Or maybe you’re Yellow and Blue?

What on earth am I talking about?

I’ve heard colours related to skin tones, but never to personality types before. That was, until I was attending a personal development day a short while ago. I enjoyed their explanation of personality ‘colours’ and what they mean and wanted to share it with you today.

Have you ever wondered why you enjoy doing some things and not others? Or why you like connecting with some people more than others?

Well, here’s the thing; many psychologists believe that each of us has a leading personality type with behaviors unique to that type. These personality types are described and categorized by colors. The way we think, act and feel all play a part in defining our Continue reading →

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Get Small Business Help: Small Business Marketing Tips – Grow With Current Customers

Posted on September 27, 2011 by sharonb

When growing your business, it seems like an obvious idea to go to your current customers first and work out how you can add more value for them in order to increase your turnover with them, but as the video above emphasises, most businesses concentrate on winning new business rather than concentrating on their existing customer base.

Your current customers already know and trust you and the quality of your product.  How much less effort (and cost) would it take to market to this group of people rather than starting from scratch with customers who have yet to be persuaded of your calibre and quality?

Have a think about other products and services you could provide to help your existing customer base.  Give them a discount (from the money you would have spent on marketing to new customers) as an incentive for them to try additional services and products you could provide them with.  They will be happy to save money and will feel valued as your customer!

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Get Small Business Help: Real Life Business: Office 2010 helps Small and Medium-sized Companies: Bagshaws

Posted on September 22, 2011 by sharonb

Many of the people I meet think that they have to invest heavily into new technology to give their businesses the flexibility they are looking for.

In the video below, one company uses Microsoft 2010 software to produce the property brochures that they need without having to outsource them like they used to do, or having to pay a licence for other software to produce them.

Check out all the capabilities of your current software  - functionality that you may not even be aware of.   It’s like having additional free software available for your use!

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Get Small Business Help: 5 Mistakes Small Business Owners Often Make

Posted on September 18, 2011 by sharonb

I found this article and thought it was a very useful guide of what you should avoid when starting your small business.

5 Mistakes Small Business Owners Often Make

Don’t overlook these five common mistakes that most small business owners make when starting their first business. Use these guidelines to help grow your company into a successful business superpower.

1. Unreasonable Expectations

There’s nothing wrong with small business owners setting challenging goals or having high expectations for their new company. In fact, a majority of entrepreneurs are born with these exact personality traits. Owning a small business and watching it grow from the ground up is definitely something worth getting excited about. This type of excitement is often a good thing to have, but sometimes too much of a good thing can result in bad situations. As a new business owner, be cautious not to let the rush of starting your own business get to your head. Oftentimes small business owners think their businesses will generate revenue much faster than is realistically possible. While in some cases this does actually happen, the reality is that the majority of small businesses take some time to grow. Think of your business as a delicate plant that takes some time and proper nourishment to flourish. There’s no need to try to rush the process or have unreasonable expectations of overnight riches. The successful business owners stay calm and collected because they know that watering their “plant” too much isn’t going to make it grow any faster and in some cases might even kill it. Take some time to plan and think about your small business and set realistic goals before you get started. In most cases, this is all it takes to turn your green thumb for business into lots of green cash.

2. Mixing Personal and Business Bank Accounts

It’s always a good idea to keep your personal bank account separate from your business bank account. Small business checking accounts are fairly inexpensive and offer a variety of benefits for your business. Some popular banks even offer free Continue reading →

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