I.How to Avoid Major Pitfalls with Your Business Credit Card
You’ve started a business and now you need to start acquiring items for that business, everything from inventory to the office supplies. Plastic in hand, you run full steam ahead toward – debt! Instead of making your dream of profit come true, you are watching said profit going out the door to pay your credit card payments that include high interest. One day, thousands of dollars down the road, you may suddenly turn around and ask yourself what happened.
Of course, simply having a business credit card is not a bad thing. It’s the type of card you end up with that counts, and the costs associated with it. Do your homework. Look into the various types of credit card products out there. Look for ones that have low APR’s (Annual Percentage Rates), low or no annual fees, and always pay very close attention to late fees and other penalties. Last look for a card that suits your business in terms of what you want to gain from it, like points for travel, rebates on products or supplies, and other benefits that have real value to you and your business.
Simple rules
It is easier to borrow money on a credit card than it is to go get a bank loan – easier but costlier, of course. Cardholders are given large amounts of credit that not every individual can handle, and human frailties apply to business people, too. The number one rule is: Don’t mix business purchases with personal purchases. Also, be sure to pay your bill on time every month. According to American Express, they collect $2.9 billion dollars a year in late fees alone. Late fees cost you money and they can increase your interest rates as well.
A very important, and often overlooked rule is to “know your own money limits” and learn how to manage you credit card. Try to purchase things with cash instead of using credit. If you do use your credit card, be sure to pay it off at the end of the month. Don’t get caught up in huge, revolving debt that you know you will not be able to carry indefinitely. Do not risk your credit rating and get caught up a vicious circle of debt. And don’t forget that, at some point after you’ve had your card and are making payments on time, you can call the credit card company and ask them lower your interest rate. They just might do it.\
Also be careful with introductory offers. Many card companies offer interest-free periods just to bait you. Once that period is over, rates can then rise to, or past, the 18.9% national average. Cash advances are also sometimes very expensive. Before you take out cash from the ATM using your credit card, check to see how much the interest rate for cash advances is going to be. Cash advance interest rates can be more expensive than rates charged for regular purchases, and there is also a surcharge of $5 or more.
Use it, don’t abuse it
Remember, try to make the most of your credit card. If you can obtain a low interest “rewards” card that promises cash back at the gasoline station, why not use it? Small businesses can save a lot of money by using their rewards correctly. A small construction company can charge materials at the local hardware store and reap the rewards benefits at the same time. It all adds up. But you have to be paying attention to the numbers!
Lastly, always use your business credit cards responsibly. Don’t fall into the traps that many people often do. Use your best judgment when deciding whether or not to charge your next purchase on your card. If the items that you are purchasing are not necessities, than pay by cash or go without. It is very easy to forget that every time you swipe that card you are incurring debt. Once that debt gets beyond control it becomes a beast to maintain.
If you use your card wisely than you are in control, as opposed to the card issuer being in control of you. You will not likely be able to charge your way to success, or borrow your way into better revenues. But the credit cards you have can finance your good ideas and help you keep working hard toward your goals. And if you end up making bad decisions that get you financially stressed, remember this old saying: It’s a poor carpenter who blames his tools. Credit is a tool, so use it – don’t abuse it.
II. Internet Marketing Strategy: 5 Essential Secrets
The biggest internet marketing strategy mistake I see small business owners making is they treat their website as some kind of "add-on" to the business. Most of them have a website at all only because they get the feeling they "have to", and because everyone else has one, they ought to have one, too.
But the truth is, a bad website can be worse than no website at all - and most small business owners do indeed have bad websites.
Why do I sat they're bad?
Because they're actually nothing more than boring online brochures. And the reason for this is your average website designer might know website and graphic design inside out, but he's not a marketer.
Big Clue: don't EVER leave your internet marketing strategy in the hands of anyone but a professional marketer with documented results to prove his abilities. Better yet, study and learn the subject for yourself.
So to that end, here are 5 essential secrets to get you started.
1. Use Multiple Ways To Drive Traffic To Your Website
One of the most important rules in marketing is don't rely on any one marketing medium to bring you customers. You're too vulnerable. If something changes or stops working, you can suddenly be left with (literally) no new business coming in.
Unlikely?
Yes, but it happens. Imagine you've got a high Google ranking and then for whatever reason you lose it. If you were relying on that, you're in trouble. And it does happen. Google don't owe you anything and they change their algorithms constantly.
So use multiple methods in your internet marketing strategy: pay per click, article marketing, forums, blogs. Even banner ads have enjoyed something of resurgence. So test as many different ways as you can think of, and if they make a profit for you, keep using them.
2. Grab Your Visitors' Attention For More Than 8 Seconds
According to the research, you have on average 8 seconds in which to persuade your website visitors to stay on your site, before they lose interest and go somewhere else.
This means you have to present them with a compelling reason to stay. And the first thing they see on every page is your headline, so if it's your logo and company name, you have just lost them. This is why the headline was invented and continues to he used. Because it works.
It's also why you really do need to learn how to write passable sales copy as part of your internet marketing strategy.
You don't have to aspire to being the next Robert Collier, but it's an essential skill for all business owners, whether they like it or not. As a minimum you need to tell the difference between good sales copy and bad sales copy so you know if your copywriter is trying to sell you a lemon (I've seen it happen, to the tune of $9,000, too).
3. Embrace The AIDA Formula And Use It On Every Page
Every page on your website has a purpose, and if you want to make any money that purpose is always going to be to get your visitors responding to you in some way (and ultimately you'll want them to buy from you).
So every page is to some extent a sales page, and so should follow the AIDA formula: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.
No exceptions, not even in your "about us" page. Because, while this might upset you, no one is interested in you beyond wanting to know what you can do for them. It's a fact of business life. Get used to it.
This is why I talk of an internet marketing strategy. It's not just a random collection of "stuff". It's all put together to achieve a purpose.
4. Use Offline Media To Drive Traffic Online
One of my favourite advertising techniques is to drive traffic online from small, very cheap-to-place ads in the relevant media.
The beauty of this internet marketing strategy is you can very tightly focus your ad and get a dedicated domain to match and send all the traffic there, all for a fraction of the price of a traditional offline media ad.
And of course, internet "real estate" is dirt cheap so you have the luxury of telling your whole "story" using as many words and other media as you like.
Try it (especially now, when offline advertising space is really, Really, REALLY cheap!).
5. Concentrate On Building Relationships Not Selling!
This might sound a bit Zen... but if you stop trying to sell all the time you will ultimately sell more.
See, selling is a process not an event, and the way to do more of it is to concentrate on that process.
You'll know a certain percentage of the people who visit your site will buy from you. That realisation suddenly makes your whole internet marketing strategy a whole lot simpler, because now you can stop sweating and fretting over the event of selling to each prospect and instead concentrate on the process of marketing.
The easiest way to kick this off is to set the purpose of your website's landing pages or points of entry to be "name gathering" pages. Once you get your visitors' details (and there are many ways of doing this), you can make the sale in the ongoing relationship you have with them by email and other media, such as direct mail.
This also means you can usually streamline your entire website, because you're not trying to accomplish hundreds of different things with it - often you can reduce it to name-capture, relationship-building elements such as a blog, and a shopping-cart (for the people you eventually get to return to make a purchase).
See, your internet marketing strategy doesn't have to be complicated or expensive... but it DOES have to be thought out.
