March 2023 - Page 4 of 13 - BOLLYWOOD SURKHIYAN

Micro Entrepreneurs

Micro entrepreneurs are the owners of small businesses that have fewer than five employees and have startup costs of less than $35,000 and annual revenue of less than $100,000. There are nearly 21.5 million micro entrepreneurs in the U.S. Examples of micro entrepreneurs are owners of bakeries, beauty parlors, child care facilities, repair shops, arts and crafts shops, painting businesses, contracting businesses, family-owned shops, auto body shops, small-scale restaurants, and small-inventory trading businesses.

Micro entrepreneurs face many hurdles in getting startup financing, and they sometimes lack the skills necessary to manage the financial aspect of their business. As a result, many micro entrepreneurs cannot grow and develop their business beyond a micro enterprise. Various micro enterprise development programs have helped micro entrepreneurs achieve great success and growth. These micro enterprise development programs have immensely helped micro entrepreneurs who lack collateral needed to secure a loan or those who have low or no credit by providing them with training, support, help in developing a solid business plan, and assistance in building their businesses. Successful micro entrepreneurs have contributed much to society by creating wealth, economic assets, and jobs.

How To Become A Micro Entrepreneur

It is essential to study the market thoroughly and understand that market’s customers before deciding on the type and kind of product or service to be offered.

Here are some suggestions:

Work out a sound business plan by doing extensive research and seeking help from the various micro enterprise development programs.

Make arrangements for the startup capital by using savings, opting for a micro loan program, or applying for a grant.

Do extensive market research, get the necessary training and skills required, and learn how to use technology to help run your business easily.

Study the competition and analyze how you can better them.

Get a good retail space to run your business as well as decide on the price, making sure it is right and has a profit margin; decide how to utilize the profit, whether you want to save it or reinvest and expand your micro business.

Make sure that the quality of the product is never compromised and that your customers are happy, ensuring customer retention.

Assistance for Micro Entrepreneurs

Micro entrepreneurs in the U.S. are in need of training and skill development workshops as well as help in utilizing technology to help run their business. Some micro entrepreneurs need access to easily available funds for startup and growth. In order to encourage more people to become micro entrepreneurs, state, federal, and private sectors should make available ample funding for such enterprises.

With a little effort, you can find firms that sell their services as well as products to help run successful businesses. You can even seek professional help to arrange business credit for micro enterprises.

How to Grow Your Small Business Through Diversification – Three Key Strategies

Small business growth can be achieved through strategic diversification. Why are many businesses not fully leveraging the advantages of diversification? Primarily because the business owners don’t understand the benefits. Increasing profitability and business growth are the two drivers for diversification.

The advantages of diversification can include:

Economies of scale: for example, in purchasing, in producing, in supplying;
Minimizing sales peaks and valleys: for example, while one product’s seasonality results in slow sales; the other product’s seasonality results in high sales;
Production capacity utilization: for example, if your production facility is under-utilized, then adding new products through a diversified strategy can help you fill production capacity;
Overall efficiency improvement can be expected: through synergy efforts;
Reduction of costs: by sharing resource costs amongst the diversified products, services or markets;
Improved labor utilization: by being able to deploy your human resources in a more efficient work flow cycle;
Increased opportunities and sales;
Competitive advantage: by being able to bundle products or services together that provides unique value and unique differentiation.

There are three key diversification strategies: Concentric Diversification, Horizontal Diversification and Conglomerate Diversification.

Related diversification and/or concentric diversification. Related products or services, where sales, marketing, pricing, distribution, inventory and/or production can be shared. This works with closely related products or services, such as car sales, the extended warranty and the add-ons (e.g. upgraded stereo system, anti-theft devices, roof racks, etc.). Concentric diversification, where new products or services are added to the business to gain new customers.
Horizontal diversification. Adding new products and services to sell to existing customers and markets; the focus is on specific market segments. For example, the book seller who adds coffee services to the store.
Unrelated diversification and/or conglomerate diversification. Products or services that have no relationship to each other however through the addition of new products or services, the business spreads its risk. By diversifying into different products, services or markets, if one product is experiencing slow sales or a soft market than the unrelated product is more likely not to be experiencing the same issue. Conglomerate diversification is somewhat more than unrelated diversification; it is focused on acquiring competitors and growing through that process (with unrelated products and services).

The advantages of diversification in your small business are significant to business growth and success. Diversification can reduce your business risk and it can also maximize your opportunities by growing business operations while leveraging resources, materials, and fixed costs.

Diversification costs are typically funded through capital investment in your business. To invest effectively in diversification strategies you need to identify and focus on your expected outcomes and build business performance measures in place to assess successful strategies.

Some costs associated with diversification are new equipment, inventory, new systems, new staff, new distribution, new marketing programs, and more. Some of the benefits associated with diversification are improved productivity, improved workflow, improved customer services, labor and production cost savings, and more.

Your capital investment needs to leverage diversification, and vice versa. If you invest in new product development ensure that the integrated benefits results in an overall stronger unique value proposition. Develop business performance measures to ensure that your return on investment for diversification meets your expectations and supports your business.

7 Tips for a Successful Business Venture

It is pretty easy to set up a new business but the actual challenge lies in surviving the cutthroat competition and to stimulate growth over the years. One of the prime reasons why most of the businesses face a very tough time is the lack of proper marketing plan and minimal focus on branding. After all, only when you are able to market your products properly to your target segment will you have a chance to generate revenue to take your business forward.

While a business success is largely dependent on concerted effort of various major functions, during the early years it is most important to focus on branding. Your branding effort should be strong enough not just to introduce your company name to your target segments but also create an impact on them. For a new business the marketing and branding strategy should ideally be able to establish its presence, create name recognition, build credibility among the target market segment and contribute to its status and reputation. Here are seven tips that would actually help you to achieve success with your new business.

Write Down Your Business Plan – This should be the first step. Probably the most common and biggest mistake that most entrepreneurs do is not creating a proper documentation of their business plan. We all know what we plan to do; yet it is important to write it down in a formal business plan. It is always easier to follow a written plan. Your business plan should contain your business description. Objectives, marketing strategy and budget, Business overview, facilities and infrastructure, description of products and service, Industry overview, Regulatory Issues, Implementation plan and financial plan.
Focus on your Branding – Do everything you can to promote your brand. Get a professionally designed logo that would justifiably represent your business to the people. Get your business cards, letterheads, brochure and marketing collaterals designed and printed by professional design and printing house. Ensure that your logo design is properly placed in all these. Don’t fall pray to those cheap DIY logo and branding solutions, they might save you a few $$ to start with but it would actually take a toll on your brand image.
Create a Web Presence – It is most crucial for every business, irrespective of its size, to have a website of its own. Most consumers do their initial research on the web before making a buying decision. It is important that they are able to find you at that stage. Also a website adds value to your brand and gives you an added medium to communicate with your customers. Get your website designed and developed by professional web developers. Your website should ideally be an extension to your brand and provide complimentary information to that of your brochures and print materials. Try to update your website often with useful information, this gives your visitors a reason to check back your website regularly.
Create an Advertising Strategy – Most business organizations invest in advertisements but often a business does not get the maximum ROI on its advertising spend because the advertising strategy is not effective or at times, there is even no fixed strategy. Make sure your advertisement is targeted specifically at your market; for example, if you are a local store, it doesn’t make sense for you to advertise on a global media, rather the local newspaper is a much better option for you. Be consistent in your advertising effort. The more your customers see your company ad, the deeper impact it creates on them. It has been observed that a 5-minute ad film served 10 times creates a greater impact on the consumer than a 50-minute ad film. For your ad composition, it is always advisable to consult a PR agency. If you are trying it yourself, ensure that your advertisement leaves your customers with a good reason to contact you and your brand and USP is properly presented.
Publicity is the Key – Yes, do whatever you can to put your business on the forefront. There are various things that you can do for publicity. Send out a press release announcing a Grand opening for your new business, with a short description of your products and services. Keep your press release short, error free and interesting. Write letters to the editors of local newspapers and magazines about your industry and product. Send out further press releases to communicate other business happenings. For example, if you win a business award, get membership to a professional organization, offer services to any charity or even if you are hiring an industry recognized for a key position in your business. Try writing articles and reviews for local publications and industry magazines. This would help to build your credibility as an expert and would add value to your business brand as well. The amount of trust people place on such experts is much more than what you can get by buying the best ad slots on top magazines.
Business Networking – Word of mouth is undoubtedly the best form of advertisement and the more you expand your business network, the more you can have such publicity. Try joining professional organizations in your industry; be a member of Chamber of Commerce; attend networking meets and special events that give you a chance to interact with more people. Volunteer to join a NGO, get associated with a charity organization, or school board. You will not only be paying back your community but also be putting yourself and your business in front of the public.
Measure, Analyze and Decide – These should actually be continuous processes in your business life cycle. You have laid out a business plan but this doesn’t mean you will be blindly following it. Measure the output that you are getting from all the efforts that you put into your business. See if it is more or less than what you projected. Analyze the reasons for any variance, whether positive or negative, and then use the result of this analysis to make educated decisions for the future. You need to keep in mind that you should not be too quick to judge anything. To get a decent understanding of your business processes, you should give them sufficient time to run, which will allow you to have enough data to perform a fruitful analysis.

Learn Business Entrepreneuring Skills

Have a little scout around the internet and you will find websites offering to teach you how to become a business entrepreneur – for a price. This is their own business entrepreneurship in action, and it proves that you don’t need to pay thousands of dollars to learn these skills; one website is enough to generate substantial income. Whilst some of these sites will be genuinely useful, many will be offering you information you can glean for free from a more extensive search of Google using relevant search terms.

The problem with paying for business entrepreneurial skills is the one thing that’s left out of your learning curve: the killer idea that will power your business through even the stormiest of seas. No one is just going to hand you a world-beating idea on a plate. The first thing you really need if you want to become an entrepreneur is a product or service that will make you a good profit because enough people want to buy it. Richard Branson was 16 when he launched as an entrepreneur. By the time he was 22 he had a chain of record stores. He identified a market and provided the product more cheaply than the competition. You don’t need to go to business school to know why that would work.

Reasons business entrepreneurship skills may fail.

Ironically, perhaps the biggest bar to someone learning entrepreneurial skills are the common misconceptions regarding how entrepreneurs get going in the first place. Chief amongst these are:

A business plan is the most essential part of a business start-up – Business owners who have been around a while know that a business plan is not as important as the ability to obtain finance. Of course, finance is easier to come by if a business plan is well drawn-up, but you have to remember that the foundation of any business plan is the product or service that underpins it. Whilst being able to draw up a business plan is a worthy entrepreneurial skill, it is a pointless exercise without a great idea behind it. And if there is a great idea behind it, the idea, and not the business plan, will be the thing that gets the finance flowing in.

Half of all new entrepreneurs buy an existing business rather than create their own – Statistics actually show that around three-quarters of businesses are started from scratch by entrepreneurs. Buying an existing business does not really make you an entrepreneur. When you realize how many people instead create something out of nothing, then you can start to understand that entrepreneurial skills are perhaps not as difficult to master as you’d previously thought.

It takes years to start a new business – This thought can put many people off even trying. In fact, most businesses are established within just six months.

Sometimes, your greatest skill as a business entrepreneur is being able to dispel the myths and banish the fears and just get going. Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop, said this about her business learning curve: “Nobody talks about entrepreneurship as survival, but that’s exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking. Running that first shop taught me business is not financial science; it’s about trading: buying and selling.”

Tag Line or USP – What’s the Difference?

There’s a lot of confusing rhetoric in the market as to what is a ‘Tag Line’ and what is a ‘Unique Selling Proposition’. The point of this post is to clarify both and the major difference between them. Unfortunately even amongst the ranks of ‘Marketing Professionals’ there are those who don’t understand that difference and as a consequence they miss out on what could be pure marketing gold for their clients.

Let’s start with the USP, in an earlier article of mine I described a USP for a cafe and gave an example of how the USP could be arrived at, essentially it is a process of researching your competition, listing what it is that they offer the market and uncovering what it is that they don’t do.

The ‘don’t do’ items represent the gap and the opportunity that exists for you and your business, you have discovered USPs based on your competitive research. In fact, in that earlier post we listed a number of USPs that we identified as a result of the work we did.

The whole basis of a USP is that it is something that others don’t, won’t or can’t do and you can only uncover your USPs as a result of research.

Now for the ‘Tag Line’, think of this as the words that you wrap around your USPs, if, for example, you own a souvenir shop in a special location overlooking the Blue Mountains. You do the research and you find that yours is in fact the only souvenir shop that has the clear mountain and valley views, those are unique to your shop.

Now lets look at the USP associated with your research, you have amazing views and no other souvenir shop has them. Your task is to associate the views to what you sell and importantly what it is that your customer takes away with them.

Here’s one suggested Tag line for this Souvenir business:

Unmatched Views… Unmatched memories…

The USP is the location, the stunning views over the Blue Mountains, we have associated it strongly by comparison with the occasion that the customer visits the shop and makes a purchase, they actually bought a ‘memory’ of their visit to the Blue Mountains, both of which are unmatched by your competition.

That particular tag line has 4 words, that’s acceptable and it looks and sounds quite good. Another tag line that you could use has just two words and very fewer words hold more power and can be more memorable:

‘Incomparable memories’

In the image at the top of this post on my blog, Larry Nelson has done his research, he knows that people looking for his kind of services are tired of agents offering to move the world but not delivering. By default they wanted results and they did not want excuses. Larry capitalised on that knowledge very effectively.

To simply create a tag line without research and clearly identified unique aspects of your business demonstrates a shallowness and a wasted opportunity. The ‘Tag Line’ is as important to your business or marketing plan as the USPs that you uncover and can only come from them. Both will show a potential lender or investor that you have done the research and you have thought about how you can present your business to your customers on the best possible way.

There are other techniques that you can use to help create your Tag line and that will be the subject of another article.

3 Effective Tips in Reaching Success in Business Management Services

In every field of business, you need to consider every steps, decisions, and strategies you make. You must have an overview of the outcome you want to have. Your business management services must be effective and productive in all sorts in business. Achieving success is one of the best achievements of every business. This will lead them to a bright future in their service business management. For these, people will look on your business as the best business that provides greater opportunity customers.

For you to be able to make your business management services successful here are some tips to implement.

Tip #1. Hold on your goals by reaching with a business plan

Nowadays, when you look at every business, it is fast changing due to the people’s inventions of new technologies and other updated internet skills. The environment and climate of business change. The rapid pace of business is necessary because people should be benefited with all the offered products and services in business. In order to make all these things to happen, business owners should know how to set up their goals. They also should know how to plan for it. If ever a business has their set up goals, they will be motivated. In that way, business will become successful. Remember that you can help in the growth and production of your goals by setting it in your mind. This is how you should hold on to your goals. And eventually, you will see good and positive results in the future.

Importance of planning

It is necessary that their business services management should set out a plan that demonstrates every direction of their business or company. Planning is never that difficult if you know how to assume a project or development you will want to in the future. For example, you will have a plan that is intended for three to four months and you should consider this as a short term goal. However, in business management services, it is better to prepare a plan that is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time- bounded. These are the considerations in doing your planning so that you can easily reach what you want to. Business management consulting services also take these considerations for them to easily produce a positive outcome.

Tip #2. Having a good supervision

Business management services should have a good supervision and guidance if you want to make a difference on it. Having a good business supervision means you will have a clear identification of our set up plan and you can also know how fast you want your business to grow in a given period of time.

Tip#3. Manage your employees in your business management

Employees are the good foundation of in every sort of business. They have the most tasks that are performed mostly everyday. If you want to have an excellent business process management services, you will want to make it sure that you have also a good management with regards to your employees. You should know how you can be able to cope up with their attitude and behavior. You must also train them well in the productivity of your running business.

With all these tips, you easily reach success in managing a business. There are business development consulting firms who can help you in taking necessary actions in your business. Remember that you have to be knowledgeable enough in your business management.

What Is Required When Your E-2 Visa Business Changes?

When your E2 Visa Business Changes:

Requirement 1. – As a treaty investor, you must be coming to the United States to invest in a new or existing enterprise.

U.S.C.I.S (US Citizenship and immigration Services) defines an E-2 investment as the placing of certain capital, (including funds and other assets), at risk in the commercial sense with the end objective of generating a profit. Your investment may be for the purpose of purchasing a pre-existing business. establishing a new business venture. Regardless of which, you must demonstrate that the capital you are investing is substantial.

Requirement 2 – Your investment must be in a bona fide enterprise and may not be marginal.

An investment that is considered ‘bona fide’, is an enterprise that is a real, active commercial or entrepreneurial undertaking which produces tangible services or goods for profit. Such enterprise cannot be an idle investment held for ‘potential appreciation’, such as undeveloped land or stocks held by an investor who has no intent to direct the enterprise.

A marginal enterprise is considered one that will not generate more than enough income to make a significant economic contribution or provide a minimal living for you and your family.

Upon approval of an E-2 investment, the investor is permitted to work solely at the company he/she founded (or Purchased) and the company must administer the activities previously specified on the application at the time of submission. Of course there are instances where a business owner may want to expand or change the E-2 business. It is then, that the question arises of whether or not the investor must officially address this change in status, structure, etc.

If a business change is a major one, the investor should ask from the Consulate for an approval for this change in business activities. This process differs depending on the Consulate, but it involves emailing the Consulate directly find out what their individual criteria is. Some consulates just ask petitioners based on past requests, to send in evidence of the new business (eg. New activities, business plan, etc.) and based on that evidence they approve or deny the change.

The consulate could ask you to refile your E-2 application, but it depends on the changes that occurred or are occurring. It must be said that this request is only needed if the business change is substantial.

For example, if you have an E-2 visa approved for a restaurant and then you expand your restaurant business to include a bar. It is unlikely that your business has changed enough to warrant a re-classification. However, if you were initially approved as a wedding photography business and you started an auto repair shop in the back, then this would clearly represent a substantial change in business.

Filing your change with the USCIS in the United States is also another possibility. This again, is only done when there has been a ‘substantive change’ in the business. A substantive change is defined by USCIS as follows:

“A fundamental change in the employing entity’s basic characteristics, such as a merger, acquisition, or sale of the division where the alien is employed.” Is considered ‘Substantive change’.

When the USCIS deems the entity as having undergone ‘substantive change’ then filing of a new Form I-129 Application will become necessary. The Filing of Form I-129 with the USCIS facilitates the process of seeking and obtaining approval of a ‘substantive change’. In this case the E-1/E-2 Classification Supplement, the fee of $325 as well as an appropriate explanation and supporting documentation must also be provided at the time of the filing.

A ‘substantive change’ in business activities is the key here. When looking at the new aspect(s) of your business, can you make a rational link from the new business to the current one. If you can make this rational link, then request for amendment may not be required.

When drafting your business plan and describing your business and submitting your E-2 application, keep the above, key factors in mind.

For example, the primary business activity in your business plan may be: wedding photography, but then may also describe additional services, like; ‘wedding consultant’, ‘nutrition planning’ for weddings, etc.

The consideration of future possibilities when you submit your application, may eliminate the need to get additional approvals through those government channels.

Home Soap Businesses – Creating a Marketing Plan

Starting a home soap business can be fun and exciting. Yet, it is also challenging. You can only offer your soap to so many friends and family before you will need a marketing plan to get the word out to others. Here are some ways to create a marketing plan for your soap business so that you will sell so much soap that you will be amazed.

1. Create sample sized soaps to pass out for free. Then create a survey form or sheet that people can complete in order to request a sample. You want to make sure that you never give out samples without having the contact information for the person. Doing this is a complete waste of time and money.

2. Get testimonials from people who have used the soap. How did it feel on their skin? What did they like best about it? If possible, get them to give you these testimonials on video. Share these testimonials everywhere. You can include them in email newsletters, on printed marketing pieces, on Facebook, Twittter, YouTube, etc.

3. Stay focused on marketing 3-6 kinds before you start creating too many scents or kinds of soap. By staying focused on selling a few kinds successfully first, you will then be in a better position to create more later.

4. Ask your first customers to complete a brief survey telling you why they like it and what they would change out it if they could. Use their feedback to help create your marketing plan.

5. Write articles, press releases, blog posts and other content focusing on the best aspects and share them online for potential customers to read.

6. Make a list of who your ideal customers would be. What are their skin problems, health issues, etc? Then create a plan to get your marketing and product in front of them.

7. Consider passing out samples to some doctors, hospitals and other similar facilities. Let the people who work there try it themselves first so that they will be able to help you sell it.

8. Educate people about why they should buy from you instead of from the store. Know why your soap is better and what it can do for the skin and the body. Create tip sheets to share these benefits with people.

9. Use a weekly giveaway on your website and in your marketing plan to attract even more leads. People love to get something for free and this can help spread the word.

10. Seek out advice from other people who have sold similar products and include some of their advice in your marketing plan.

Where To Delegate Your 2022 Marketing Budget

4 Essential Business Marketing Budget Tips

I know, I know: we haven’t even reached Halloween yet, let alone the holidays. But stay with me. Because if you’re a fellow entrepreneur, now is the time to start thinking about your business goals for 2022.

Business goals start with marketing. And marketing starts with a plan. Start planning early, and you set yourself up ahead of your competition, so you’re ready to hit the ground running in 2022.

Having the right marketing plan can make or break your business (I know – I’ve seen it both ways). Here are my top 4 recommendations for delegating your marketing funds in 2022.

4 Business Marketing Budget Tips for 2022

#1: Set Your Budget

First things first: do you have a marketing budget? If not, then set one (pronto!). It’s pretty tough to create a successful business if you have no money to spend on that business.

Set a budget that you think will afford you enough money to grow your business. And don’t worry. Your marketing budget can be on the small side – it all depends on where you are at with your business, and how quickly and how far you want to escalate.

#2: Improve Yourself

It doesn’t matter where you are in your business. There’s always something more that you can be learning. So first plan to invest some of your 2022 marketing budget in your own education and expertise. Update your professional growth and expand your knowledge base, so you grow as your business does.

For example, in my own business, we deal in branding and graphic design, online marketing, custom web development, and more, and our industry is constantly changing. So I need to continually learn new skills along with updating the skills I already have. Every year, I take courses, I read books, and I make an effort to learn as much as I can, so I can share that expertise with my clients.

Think about what you can be learning in your industry, regardless of what it is. By improving on your expertise, you are also improving your business and its potential to grow.

Invest some of your budget in yourself, because the more you are an expert in your field, the more you will shine above your competitors.

#3: Attend Live Events

Another thing to consider in 2022 is attending live events that pertain to your business.

These are great not only for learning from the speakers but also for meeting new people who work in your industry.

You’ll meet great people, hand out cards, and make new connections, all while learning from experts in your field and doing critical market research.

Of course, the pandemic has changed live events a bit. Lots of events have gone online – which can be a good thing, as you can now access lots more relevant events without having to travel.

But still, try to look for relevant speaking events in your area. As long as it’s done safely, meeting people ‘in real life’ can be incredibly powerful.

So allocate some of your marketing budget and try to attend at least one event in 2022! I always have a great time at networking events and meet lots of interesting people who help me grow.

#4: Business Marketing

Lastly, we have the on-the-ground marketing itself. This is your SEO, your social media, your social media ads, your search engine ads, and your content marketing.

This is an area where so many entrepreneurs get stuck because they think they can learn to do it all themselves. Trust me: that’s unrealistic at best.

Trying to become a marketing expert will waste your time without getting any results. It takes years to become a marketing excerpt – all time that is much better spent focusing on what you do as a business.

I know those courses you see popping up in your newsfeeds are tempting. They make it look so easy! But most people don’t even finish them!

So if you’re considering an online course to learn something quickly, remember that only 10% of people who start an online course actually finish it. And those that do finish rarely come away with something of value.

Instead, use your 2022 marketing budget to hire an expert. Just make sure they actually are an expert! Outsource to a reputable source like an established online marketing company. You might also benefit from working with a consultant. Just be sure to vet them thoroughly.

Then once you’ve done your research and found a good fit, trust their experience and expertise, and let them guide you. They’ll likely need some time to understand your branding and messaging, but then let them shine (remembering that organic marketing takes time).

Here’s to your business success in 2022!

Susan

What is in a Name? Keyword and Color Essentials to Branding Your Small Business!

What is in a name? Plenty, if you plan to do business on the internet and want to generate traffic and link energy to your website or blog.

If you are looking to create a new business or re-brand an existing one, you can not underestimate the power of keywords, keyword phrases, color and your web presence, when naming and branding your organization.

Most businesses do not have the resources of a large corporation or a well funded start-up to spend the thousands, if not millions of dollars that it takes to establish a unique and recognizable brand name and image. You can take a shot as Bob Parsons, founder of GoDaddy did when he bet the farm (and his advertising budget) on a Super Bowl commercial that propelled his company from a virtual unknown entity to a domain and internet hosting market leader and household name.

If you are just starting out and looking to take an idea or vision and turn it into a business that you want to successfully market on the internet, consider these five simple, but essential guidelines as you develop a name, brand and an image for your company.

Essential 1 – Keywords Make the Name

Make sure that you identify and use keywords in your company name that best describe your core business and have strong internet search value. This can take some research and effort but you need to know which words are the most powerful when marketing yourself on the web.

You can get very sophisticated in your search and analysis, or you can just go and use the Google Keyword Tool and type in words that best describe your business and see which words people use when looking for what you are going to market. Remember, what you call your product or service and what a customer or searcher calls it, can be two very different things.

A simple example of the power of a single keyword is the difference between the words “plan” and “program”. Let us assume that I have started a website marketing a new diet that I have developed and want to name my new business and website. An easy example of the power of a keyword is that people will search the term “diet plan” 550,000 times per month on average, but will search the keyword phrase “diet program” 165,000 times per month. If given the choice I am calling my business and marketing my site as “Bill’s Diet Plan” over “Bill’s Diet Program”.

Now this is an over simplified example, but you need to understand the power and potential of the keywords you use in every facet of your business, even your business name. Many search engine spiders (it is documented and sometimes just speculated by the experts) give business and website name greater authority when indexing sites and listing them in keyword searches.

Essential 2 – Own Your Domain Name

There is nothing worse for any business owner than to develop a product or service, create a plan; spend the time and money to form a business, and register it with the state only to find out that some one else owns the domain name for your new business. It happens all of the time.

Never settle on a name, register a business or begin to develop a web presence without first controlling the domain that you will build your business around. That is essential. You can buy up a variety of domain names, but always strive to own your business name.

You can easily go to GoDaddy as we mentioned above, or a variety of domain name registration sites and see what what is taken and what is available. This is also why your initial keyword research is so important, in order to identify and register a business and domain name that will help generate traffic for your site.

Essential 3 – The Power of the Tag Line

Never underestimate the power of a tag line to re-enforce the core of your business as well as add keyword energy that can help set you apart in a search. You tag line is your slogan, theme and mantra wrapped up into a few select words. You want it to be simple, concise and keyword rich.

I am not talking about a mission statement. I am talking about 7-10 words that describe your business. An effective tag line is search critical, as it should contain the keywords that you want to be known and found for.

Take my diet plan example. A tag line might be “A Diet Plan That is Transforming Bodies and Changing Lives”. Now from this tag line I have a statement that uses my keyword phrase “diet plan” and gives a very clear picture of what my diet can do. I would definitely test and research my other two keyword phrases “transforming bodies and “changing lives”, to see if there are more popular keyword phrases that maintain my tag line theme, but have greater search value.

Essential 4 – Color Your World – But Not To Much

This section is literally the blind trying to lead the seeing, as I am not good with colors and completely color blind when it comes to certain colors. My wife and children have a field day with me some mornings when I appear in the kitchen wearing one black sock and one blue sock with my suit.

Color can be a great tool or a huge pain. When considering colors for your brand, logo and website, consider who your target customer is, the region of the world you are marketing into and finally keep in mind the phrase “less is more”.

First, check out other websites and products that target a similar age group or demographic. Big companies spends thousands of dollars on market research and testing to see which colors, themes, layouts and images work best for specific target markets. Why re-invent the wheel, use what works for others and add your style and theme to it.

Next, know where in the world you are marketing into. Certain colors can have very positive or very negative responses in different regions of the world. Some regions respond to bright colors, while others do not. If you are selling outside of the U.S., do some research and check out websites based in those regions to get a sense of what is popular and what is not.

Finally, “less is more”. The more colors you use in your logo, website and company theme the more complicated and costly you will make it for yourself. It costs more money every time you add a color to print a marketing piece or company letterhead, so keep this in mind.

Remember that not all monitors show colors the same and what people see on a website, is not what may get printed out. Consider how everything will look as black and white when developing your website, brand and logo. If you create something that you encourage people to print out, make sure the text will show up.

Essential 5 – Your Logo Can Speak Volumes

An effective logo can help you establish your brand and a bad logo can send the wrong message and turn off a prospect faster than a light switch.

Logos, like color, do not need to be overly complicated to be effective. You can easily outsource logo design. there are hundreds of graphic artists on the web that will do good work for $100. Make sure you are specific for what you want, how many colors and the theme of your logo.

When you get a logo designed make sure that you get high resolution images that you can work with and the specific RGB, Pantone or CMYK color codes used so you can match them up and see how it will look on your website.

When you are designing or considering a logo design consider three things:

Relevance to your brand and business image
Simple is better
No more than 2 colors

If you are a financial planner starting your own business, who has a passion for Harley Davidson and weekend biking, that does not mean you should develop a logo using the Harley font, a similar symbol or an image of a motorcycle in your logo. You may think it is funny, but I have seen stuff like this. You need to consider your target, not yourself when developing a logo and brand. I am not sure how big the financial planning market is for Harley enthusiasts, but you would be limiting your market and creating a brand image that is not in sync with your business.

The bottom line is that your vision will only go as far as your planning will take you and that a name represents more than it ever has in this competitive marketplace. Take the time and plan, it will make a huge difference.