Our passion is in helping Entrepreneurs to achieve the American Dream. We hope to provide information and resources that will assist you in making your business grow and bloom.
Making it easy for your clients and prospects to find what they need on your site is crucial to your website's success.
The first general rule of thumb is that your website should not take more than two or three clicks for your readers to find what they are looking for before they give up. Thus they would go to a competitor’s website. The exception is in certain products where there is a logical sequence and the user sees that they are progressing step by step to their solution. A good example is selecting car parts. Your client may need to keep choosing options to get more specific i.e. Pontiac => Grand Prix => 2002 => Headlight Replacement Part.
Another usefule tip is not to be too clever and creative with your page names. It needs to be very obvious to a user where to find the information. You would not want to call the page where you sell your products or services Moolah (slang for Money). Some people may figure out this is where they pay, but many would not. Stay with standard web page names such as "Buy Now" or "Purchase" and you will have much better results. Most of the time the differences are not this obvious but you get the idea. Keep it Simple!
These are just a few of the ideas we put into your custom website design, to make your website easy to use. Contact us for a quote on how to build your site for success. Call us at 866-91-BLOOM or Request a Quote.
Getting listed in and ranked well in the major search engines is an ever changing process and is a full-time job itself. eRose Web Services understands that you may not have the time or budget to get to the top of the web search listings, but here are a few tips and tricks.
Content, Content, Content…
Ask your clients or prospects what terms they would use to find your business
on the internet and make sure that your website is full of these relevant words.
Be careful not to “spam” your web page, this means being too repetitive
with words. A general rule of thumb is not to have the same word or a similar
version of the word (plural, etc) more than once for every 10 words. Try to
have at least 250-300 words on the page using the words your clients are looking
for, and making sure that this text adds value to your visiting clients.
Links
Links may not have as high of a value as they have in the recent past but they
are still vitally important. It appears there may be a delay of six months or
more of adding value to certain links to and from your website. So certain techniques
of link networks are no longer adding the value they once did. Nevertheless,
you should do your best to link to websites relevant to your business. It is
particularly useful to have as many outside websites link to your website especially
if they are established and get more visitors to their site. Make sure to take
advantage of any affiliations such as Industry listings, Chamber of Commerce
online directories, and local directories.
First, find something you love to do. That may sound cliché, but it is
probably the most important factor to success. Operating your own business takes
full-time dedication not just 40 hours a week. If you don’t love what
you do, you will eventually resent the time commitments or even worse not put
the time in to make your business successful.
Then think of all the various ways you can do what you love. Try to narrow down
that list to those ways that will provide a product or service that others need
and would be willing to pay for. Look into businesses that may already do this
to analyze the market potential.
Check Licensing requirements for this type of business at all three levels:
1. State
2. County - usually Department of Licenses and Inspections
3. Local (Borough or City) - usually Department of Licenses and Inspections
Zoning: If you will be running a home based business look into Zoning Laws
or ask about “No Impact” laws if you will not have clients go to
your home.
Business Name Considerations:
Typically you will not need to register a fictitious name if you include your
last name and some descriptive word about what you do, like Smith’s Auto
Repair, Jones Books, etc. However, if you only use your first name or include
other words like “Company” , “and Associates”, “and
Sons”, or include more than one last name, then it is a fictitious name
and needs to be registered with your state's Department of State.
After registering a fictitious name, you will be required to place an advertisement
in two newspapers of general circulation, i.e., one in the county in which your
business will be located and one in a legal paper, if any, in the same county.
The corporation name is registered when filing Articles of Incorporation. If the corporation uses a business name other than the name used on the Articles of Incorporation, a fictitious name form must be filed. The act of incorporating a business automatically provides full protection of your corporate name.
Insurance Considerations
BOP – Business Owner Policy – it is usually a good idea to include
“Hired Auto” or a non-owned auto endorsement in case an employee
ever uses your automobile.
Financial and Accounting
You will need to track all of your expenses and income for your new business
venture. Probably the most important thing to do from the start is to set up
a separate account and track everything in your checking register. This will
assist you or your accountant later when you go to either a computer software
program or a good accountant.
You are now self-employed and will need to submit what is called quarterly estimated taxes since you will not be having an employer do tax withholding for you. Make sure to plan ahead to have money to pay these taxes to avoid significant tax penalties for not paying at least 90% of taxes owed before you file your tax form.
Do I include my spouse in my business?
Of course, a spouse can be a main
source of support and encouragement in this new challenge in your life, but if
your spouse has nothing to do with any aspect of the business your jointly held
assets may be exempt from business liability. Of course, it is always best to have
proper Business Insurance to protect yourself and your assets.
What is a business plan, and why do I need one?
A business plan is a road map for success in business. It is a document you put
together to analyze the need for your product and services, a game plan of how
to succeed in getting business, and what to do in both best-case and worst-case
scenarios. You need to plan for success in order to make it big and to stay in
business during the tough times.
Where do I Incoporate?
It is usually best to Incorporate in the state where you are primarily doing
business. Even though some states are cheaper than others, explore all the options
fully. This is important because you may have to pay fees to your home state, thus making the total
cost higher than if you started with your home state.
Cash Accounting – All Income and Expenses are counted at the time the money actually changes hands. Generally, cash accounting is considered the best method for most small businesses, but as always check with your accountant to discuss the best options for your business.
Accrual Accounting – Income and Expenses are counted as it is earned, so if you receive money one year but don’t do the work in that year it will not be counted for that year. Usually, you must use this method if you have over $1 Million in sales.
Remember, you generally cannot change your method of accounting once you select one, but you can change it when you move from Sole Proprietorship to LLC or Incorporating.
What can I depreciate?
Usually Computers, Furniture, Automobiles or other business expenses that will
last for over a year must be depreciated. Typically between 5-7 years (except
for Land and Buildings). Using Section 179, you can typically elect to write
off these expenses in one year for up to $102,000 but once you do so, you cannot
reverse the decision. Thus, you may lose deductions in future years when you
have higher revenues and are in a higher tax bracket.
How is payroll handled?
Make sure you submit tax withholding for any employees promptly according to
current regulations because there are severe penalties for not submitting payroll
withholding in a timely manner. IRS Publications #17 and #334 are good references.
Why chose Subchapter S status?
When you elect to be a Subchapter S Corporation, you do not pay Social Security
Taxes on Distributions. Of course, legally you will need to take a “Reasonable
Salary” from the business probably of at least 50% in salary where you
do pay Social Security.
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