Defining Your Target Consumer

Last week, we talked about meeting a consumer's unmet need with your product or service. You may have been left wondering - who is this "consumer" person, and how do I reach him or her? Generally speaking, a consumer is someone who uses goods or services. What your business is most interested in is finding its target consumer - that group of people who is both interested in your product or service and willing to purchase it.

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Help Somebody

Happy Monday! This week, I offer a simple tip that many excited entrepreneurs forget: your product or service MUST help somebody...preferably a large group of somebodies. In other words, to be successful, your product or service must meet a consumer's unmet need. In other words: a person has a problem, and you have the means to fix it!

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What is Marketing?

Good morning entrepreneurs! Welcome to a new series called "Monday Marketing Moment." Each Monday, we will share simple, yet effective marketing tips, answer questions and provide general information on the topic of marketing. Our goal is to arm your small business with the knowledge it needs to succeed. We'll kick this series off with a simple question - What is Marketing?

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Always Charge What Your Time Is Worth

For many new small business owners, one of the hardest things to figure out is pricing. This is especially true for service-based businesses that charge by the hour. I know I've been kept up at night after sending off a proposal wondering whether I charged too little or too much. I say no more of this. I declare 2010 the year to stop second-guessing your pricing plan.

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Bringing Your Store to the World Wide Web

For many small business owners, creating an online store is a natural step in their business growth. Perhaps you own a brick and mortar clothing boutique and are ready to expand your client base worldwide, or maybe you’re a new business owner who will sell your products exclusively on the Internet. Either way, you should follow a detailed plan to get your store up and running. While selling on the Internet can seem intimidating, it doesn’t have to be. Continue reading as we cover four key steps, from registering your domain name to creating a credit card processing account, that will get your online store open for business in no time.

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Selecting a Reliable Web Host

In addition to finding a professional, affordable web site designer, securing a web host is another crucial step in the web site design process. A web host is a company that stores your web site's files. All the pages you see on the net are a collection of pages stored in an online folder. You pay a web host to store your files in its online folder. Having a reliable web host is crucial to your business. Everytime you send a potential or current client to your site, you need it to be up and running error-free. Since this is so important, we have listed a few guidelines in selecting a reliable web host.

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Small Business Spotlight: Spanish 4 Emergencies

This month, Entrepreneur Resources turns its small business spotlight on Mr. Brady Lewis of Spanish 4 Emergencies. During his years in law enforcement, Lewis recognized the language barrier between criminal justice personnel and the Spanish speakers they served. His company, Spanish 4 Emergencies, makes products that to ease communication between these two groups and makes working together more effective. Read on to learn more.

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Take Your Own Product Photos

When you are selling a product online, good photos are crucial. The pictures on your web site will probably be the only chance a customer gets to see your products up close prior to purchase. It’s important that they look good. The best option is to hire a professional photographer, …

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It’s Tax Time Again

Tax season is upon us. Since I’m sure we’re all busy gathering our documents and preparing our returns, I wanted to provide links to two articles that might help. The first, from TurboTax.com, gives the new business owner a list of tax issues to consider when getting ready to file. …

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We’re Back

Hello everyone! After an unexpected summer hiatus, the Entrepreneur Resources blog is back! Thanks to everyone who sent in small business articles and links to be posted. We will contact you soon about your entries. Thank you for your patience as we get our posting schedule back on track. We …

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tips

Then, I received another e-mail directly from a "seo specialist" who said he could improve my web site rankings if I just hired him for $xx per hour. He gave me his web site information to look at client testimonials. Most were measured in terms of competition, like if you type in "affordable web site design" and Google says, these are results 1 - 10 of 158,000,000. For that phrase, there are at least 158,000,000 sites that come up. That is the competition. The guy's site also had a list of phrases that his clients are coming up as #1 for in the search engines. From an outsider perspective, it looked very impressive. Then I did some digging...

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