Uniquic Networking Online U.N.O Blog

The Black History of Entrepreneurship

2012-02-17T11:53:00.000-08:00

In tribute to Black History we would like to spotlight those African-Americans that were along the first to become entrepreneurs. These individuals include: Elizabeth Keckly (an African-American fashion designer), Anne Lowe (an African-American fashion designer) and the community known as the Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma (an affluently all black-owned community). There are many more in past and current history that overcame racism, discrimination and prejudice. Although their skin tone is brown, their struggles are universal; for Black History is every one's history.

Elizabeth Keckly was one of the first African-American fashion designers that started her own business, despite being born a slave. In the middle of the 1860's, she went to Washington, D.C. to start a new life. She had the intention of working as a seamstress, like she had when she lived in St. Louis, MO; but there were obstacles in her way, one of which was a lack of money to purchase a license to stay in D.C. for more than thirty days. But she overcame that obstacle through one of her clients as a seamstress, a Ms. Ringold. Ms. Ringold used the connection that she had with the City's mayor, James G. Berret. The petition was granted and at no-charge to Elizabeth. The license helped Elizabeth to network in order to support herself in D.C. She was a very successful seamstress, with a large portion of her success coming from word-of-mouth promotion. Due to her networking with white women of high society she eventually was introduced to Mrs. Lincoln, the wife of former President Abraham Lincoln. Finally, her hard work paid off despite racial inequality.

A trailblazer in fashion whose name has fallen through the cracks of history is Anne Lowe. Born in Alabama in 1898, Ms. Lowe was the daughter and granddaughter of celebrated seamstresses who were known for sewing for the first ladies of Alabama. Anne’s mother passed away suddenly when Anne was 16, forcing her to complete her mother’s unfinished needlework for the governor’s wife. Anne enrolled in S.T. Taylor Design School in New York. Although she was ignored and avoided by white classmates, she concentrated on her work. Moving to Tampa, Fla., she opened a small studio there, then returned to New York where she worked as a commissioned designer for some of the major houses in the Fashion District. The houses took all the credit, and Anne’s name was never mentioned. She pressed on, and soon she was designer to society’s top families, such as the du Ponts, Roosevelts, Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, and notably, she designed and made the gown actress Olivia de Haviland wore when she received her Oscar for “To Each His Own.”
“Ann Lowe was known as society’s best kept secret…You would have thought her clothing was Parisian couture, but she charged much less to create the same thing. They all went to her for their debutante balls and weddings.” Michael Henry Adams. Anne Lowe’s quiet claim to fame, however, was the wedding gown she designed for Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953, when she married John F. Kennedy. Ms. Lowe was also commissioned to make the 10 pink bridesmaid’s gowns and hats. In an effort to promote Sen. Kennedy’s imminent political career, the wedding received high recognition, the designer’s name was left out of most newspapers. Nina Hyde, social, fashion editor of the Washington Post at the time, stated “… the dress was designed by a Negro, Ann Lowe.” Still going strong in her 70's, she opened a store inside Saks Fifth Ave, then her own salon, Anne Lowe Originals, on Madison Ave, making over 2,000 dresses for New York’s society. She was awarded the Couturier of the Year Plaque and appeared in the National Social Directory and the 1968 Who’s Who of American Women.

There were other African-Americans that were hated not only for their skin tone but for their success; was an all African-American community called Greenwood. Greenwood was located Tulsa, Oklahoma around 1908 during the era of segregation. The African-American community was well established with everything from schools and post offices to grocery stores and a newspaper. It was a successful community due to the oil boom of the 1910's, which gave birth to its nickname "the Black Wall Street". The community housed offices of almost all of Tulsa's black lawyers, realtors, doctors and other millionaire business professionals. Such as Dr. A.C. Jackson, who was said to be a skillful surgeon by one of the Mayo brothers (founders of the Mayo Clinic). Despite the success of the Black Wall Street, as entrepreneurs during segregation, their neighbors in an all-white communities were jealous of their success and burned down their community, called the Tulsa Race Riot. Finally, five years after the riot survivors of the burning rebuilt much of the district and it remained vital until the 1950's and 1960"s.

Sources: eHow.com, wikipedia.org

"New Customer Service for 2012"

2012-01-11T09:11:00.000-08:00

    " In fact, if you have a public-contact job, you don't have to say anything. All you have to do is smile. Many outsiders may form their impression of your organization based upon subtle unconscious clues you transmit through your tone of voice, facial expressions and general appearence. " (Business Today, Bovee/Thill 8th ed.) As small business entrepreneurs that have "public-contact jobs", we have to remember that the impression that current and future clients have about our companies is based upon what we communicate to them. Our methods of communication: non-verbal, verbal and written haven't changed, but the mediums that we use have, as we conduct business-to-business meetngs via Skype, chat with our clients on social networking chats and alert customers to your products and services in blogs. These new mediums are creating new customer service for 2012 and beyond.

    Non-verbal communication is the "most basic form of communication" (Business Today, Bovee/Thill, 8th ed.) and is essential to developing new customer serivce. For example, if you are conducting a business-to-business (B2B) meeting via Skype, how would you sit? would you slump down in your chair? Your posture is apart of your non-verbal communication. By using good posture you project a positive image to your client of respect for them and your company. In order, to present a positive image in your posture you must make a conscious effort by stretching your backbone, tucking your shoulders, keeping your head up and relaxing (exercising helps too). By practicing good posture it can help to deterr many painful back problems, poor circulation and difficulty breathing. (Professional Development, Harcourt/Brace/Jovanovich)

    Your posture is also an indication of your mental quality, by mental quality we are referring to your attitude. The way you stand or sit makes your attitude obvious to others. One way to see what your psoture expresses about your attitude, is by practicing in a mirror. As you are looking in the mirror pay attention to your facial expressions that also give non-verbal clues. Those facial expressions show your emotion, type and intensity of feelings.

    Also your personal appearence should be attended to while you are in front of the mirror because it is also a non-verbal form of communication. The type of response you will receive from a client in a B2B Skype meeting will be determined by the way you dress. Other forms of non-verbal communication include: vocal characteristics (tone, volume, accent and pace), touch (good and bad touch) and time/space (use of time, respect for clients and personal time/space). All of these forms can be used effectively by paying attention to the cludes to make you a better speakers and listenener. Be sure to remember that your non-verbal communication should be effective without being manipulative and that these are only clues; they are powerful tools to effective communication but aren't infallible. (Business Today, Bovee/Thill, 8th ed.)

    While in that same B2B business meeting you must also be cautious of your verbal communication; as one would whe speaking to a current or future client. When speaking there are five basic componenets to remember: (Professional Development, Harcourt/Brace/Jovanovich)
1. be concise: keep to the business at hand
2. be complete: give all, not half or part, of the necessary information
3. be cohesive: don't jump from one subject to another
4. be clear: speak with clear enunciation
5. be courteous: be thoughtful and considerate in the way that you phrase your message.
By remembering these five basic componenets you can be sensitive to your clients needs by keeping answering questions on the phone and/ or video-conferences.

    These five basic components can be applied to written forms of communication as well. As you use chats on social networking sites, blogs etc. to answer questions and inform clients on our products and/or services. All of these things help you to cultivate a good relationship with your clients in order to become sensitive to their needs. However, it is easy on social networkin sites inside of chats to become lax in our written communication. In written communication, you must remember that we have an advantage that isn't available in the other two forms, in that you can plan and control your message. In planning your message you should use complete sentences, with correct grammar, punctuation and to edit your message before sending or posting. This form of communication is only valuable if you plan carefully, due to its complexity.

    Although, all three of these forms of communication have always been in existence they must be applied to the new mediums (video-conferencing, online chatting, blogs etc.) of communication that serve as tools to help us to offer customer service in a new way for 2012 and beyond.

2011-12-19T15:35:00.000-08:00

"MERRY CHRISTMAS"

John 3:16-17New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Matthew 1:18-24The Birth of Jesus Christ

18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[c] because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”[d]—which means, “God with us.”
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Give Them More of You: How to Build Business Relationships on Social Networks

2011-11-08T07:22:00.000-08:00

As small business entreprenuers people won't buy our products and / or services until they have bought us. So, don't be afarid to give those who are friends and / or followers on social networks an opportunity to see who you are. Give them more of you and they will give you their business. Here are five tips on how to give them more of you.

1. Try uploading a funny, interesting, creative or weird video that reflects your personality and / or interest. Be sure to give these videos as second thought if someone may view them as offensive.

2. Try expressing an opinion about an issue or current event.

3. Try commenting on friends and / or followers post. On Facebook sharing and on Twitter retweeting (RT) are great ways to interact with friends and / or followers.

4. Try creating a personal banner that has your picture on it and company logo @ pixlr.com, this service is FREE. This will not only promote your business but give friends and / or followers a face to put with the company.

5. Try chatting, IM'ing, @Mentioning your friends and / or followers about general topics to build a relationship. This is a useful method because it helps you stay away from sending information into someone inbox and be accused of spamming.

F.A.L.L. Feeling Average Lacking Longevity

2011-10-10T14:39:00.000-07:00

Should You Turn Your Hobby Into a Business?
5 questions to answer before you make the leap from hobbyist to full-time entrepreneur
Posted by Asheesh Advani | May 10, 2004

URL: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/70640

Q: I am considering whether to take the plunge and make a business out of one of my hobbies. How do I know if I have what it takes to be a full-time entrepreneur?

A: There is obviously no aptitude test that can tell you if you are suited to entrepreneurship. However, after you've evaluated the feasibility of turning your hobby into a business, it is worth asking yourself a few questions to determine if you have the characteristics of an entrepreneur.

1. How committed are you? Successful entrepreneurs are committed to their businesses. This is simple to understand, but difficult to put in practice. Are you the type of person who has many hobbies and likes to dabble without commitment? Would you be easily distracted by the next business idea that strikes your fancy? When faced with a task, successful entrepreneurs are generally committed to excel and will not waver when the going gets tough.

2. Is your glass half full or half empty? Not all optimistic people are entrepreneurs, but almost all entrepreneurs are optimistic people. From the owner of the local florist to the founder of a Fortune 500 company, the common thread that runs through the fabric of entrepreneurship is the ability to see a positive opportunity in an otherwise challenging situation. Without confident optimism, it is very difficult to motivate employees, persevere in downtimes and keep your business growing.

3. Do you like to make decisions? Very few of us enjoy making decisions. Decisions mean commitment. Bad decisions lead to problems and can mean losing the respect of one's peers. Owning a business-particularly an undercapitalized startup-is all about making decisions with limited market research and imperfect information. Should you locate the business in your home or incur the costs of a separate office? Should you hire a marketing consultant or a full-time salesperson? How should you price your new products? What should be your first target market for your products? One of the main differences between having a hobby and having a business is the need to make real decisions with financial implications. Will you enjoy it?

4. Do you have the money to make it happen? Once you've written a business plan and established that your hobby can indeed be a sustainable business, the next step is to finance its execution. Unless you thrive on adversity, don't quit your day job until you know that you have sufficient money to fund your business plan. Getting financing is not easy and requires personal sacrifice-whether it involves borrowing from your family's savings, your relatives and friends, credit cards or professional investors. If things don't work out exactly as mapped out in your business plan, will you be able to support a contingency plan to ensure that the business survives? If you don't have the money from your personal network, will you be willing to sacrifice ownership and control to outside investors?

5. Do you like to sell? When I interview candidates for a position at my company, I ask them how they feel about selling. Some of them inevitably shift in their seats and give a half-hearted answer that they do not mind selling when they are asked to do so. Other candidates brighten up and persuade me that selling is a natural part of any job-even if they have never had a sales job. As an entrepreneur, you work in sales. You will have to sell your products, sell your vision for the company and sell yourself. And you will have to do this every day, multiple times. And you will enjoy it-that is, if you are suited to be an entrepreneur.

If you answered yes to most of the questions listed above, you are ready to shift from hobbyist to business owner. If you answered no to most of these questions, and you still want to turn your hobby into a full-time business endeavor, you may want to consider getting a business partner to help you make your plan a reality
www.uniquicnetworking.blogspot.com

Basic Tools in Selling: Setting Goals

2011-09-12T07:32:00.000-07:00

This is a series of videos from Motivational Speaker and Auther Zig Ziglar on how to set goals. As small business owners we need to get goals so that we know what we want to achieve, when we want to achieve it and many other questions to achieve our ultimate success of making profits and building relationships with customers.

Zig Ziglar: Goal Setting Part 1 of 3

Zig Ziglar: Goal Setting Part 2 of 3

Zig Ziglar: Goal Setting Part 3 of 3

"Auto Replay: On Vacation" Virtual Assistant

2011-08-08T05:44:00.000-07:00

During the summer is when we go on vacation, take trips to see our loved ones and enjoy some much needed rest. But that doesn't mean that your business as been put on pause and you need to still market/promote your business while on vacation. That is when virtual assistants come into play...there are companies that provide this service for a fee, however, there are sites that provide an aspect of virtual assistants for FREE. With these free services one must be careful to be ethical about their marketing/promotion.

6 Points To Ponder Before Using Automatic Status Updates

Posted by Ching Ya | Posted in Blogging Attitudes, Facebook, Social Media Tool, Social Networking, Twitter | Posted on 01-02-2010

1. Moderate Your Scheduled Status Updates

More doesn’t mean better. Recurring updates are to be handled with care or it will hurt badly. Do not suffocate your followers with endless info, separate them into different time slots if must. It’s tiresome to filter our Twitter streams and live feeds, don’t make us annoyed and shut you down for good. We’re not saying you can’t promote your own stuffs, but keep them moderated at all times. Here’s a clear example by Chris Garrett just how ugly it can get in real life.

2. Don’t Put Others’ Reputations At Risk Just Because You Can’t Follow the Rules

Some people are using it in special circumstances: getting messages across about rescheduling a tweetup, alerting others to beware account impersonations, call to actions in meaningful causes etc. Just because you’re desperately to be heard, sabotaging your chance with repeating self-centered updates can alter people’s judgments for both the application and the person who uses it. Do not force the spamming marker to be placed on others simply because you can’t follow the rules.

3. Avoid Self-Promoting Link(s) in First Direct Message to New Friend or Fan

It’s the same nature why people dislike salesmen, they have only one purpose – to sell. If you’re not, why rushing to push products? Take time to engage, find out what your followers truly like. Wouldn’t that be a much better approach? Think ahead and don’t limit yourself shortsightedly. Sometimes it’s not just about the revenue, but the word of mouth, long-lasting trust and friendship that worth so much more in social networking. First impression counts, don’t ruin it.

4. Personalize and Edit Your Automatic Status Updates According to Relevancy

Sometimes a pre-scheduled updates can be outdated or irrelevant. Make corrections and add values to them if needed. It should be as genuine as your other live tweets or news feeds. If the purpose of using online scheduler is for productivity, it shouldn’t be a problem for you are just as enthusiastic to enhance them for more retweets and bookmark-friendly. Make your updates count or no updates at all.

5. Knowing the Acceptance Limit of Your Audiences

Always, the acceptance limit of your followers or fans, not your own. Think on their behalf of how many updates are going their ways and how you shall engage with them during intervals. Many people forgetting the need to follow up and connect but depending lazily on online scheduler. People don’t want to talk or listen to a robot. My advise is, do not schedule too much updates before you manage to get in and start conversations or reply to a feedback. A stream without engagement is monotonous. That’s the last thing you need in social networking.

6. Personality and Sincerity of Wanting to Connect Should Be Well Delivered

Forget about affiliate links, ‘visit me’ blog links, help-me-to-help-you type of messages. These will turn people off before they get to know you, which is a pity. It’s not too late to change, try apply a mixture of scheduling of post-sharing for blogger friends, collecting data from poll questions dedicated to people from different timezones, offering freebies or job positions that will end someone’s misery. It doesn’t sound all that bad now, does it? Good things do happen if you know when to use automatic status updates, and when to stop.

Special Tip:

You can even add a special hashtag as in offline or a short message indicating you’re currently unavailable for chatting. Making it clear that it’s a good information you think worth a look, even you’re not there in person. In that case, no misunderstandings will put you in a difficult position but people will aware of your absence. Promise to feedback to them when you get online and keep your word. I have yet seen this been done anywhere but thought could be a considerable thing to do.

Time Management Tips for Mom's that Work

2011-05-17T09:33:00.000-07:00

"Time Management Tips for WAHM's"

One of the biggest challenges of being a WAHM is time management. Sometimes it feels like 24 hours is not enough in a day. There are children to care for, laundry to do, floors to be vacuumed, mess to pick up, groceries to buy, meals to cook, dishes to wash, etc…. Oh, and then there’s that business to work!It may not be easy, but it isn’t impossible, either. By using some simple time management tricks, a WAHM can find time to “get it all done!”

SCHEDULE YOUR TIME

One thing every WAHM should have is a planner. Schedule your family time first! Then schedule in the time you are going to work your business. Once you have your “work time” scheduled, make it a priority to stay focused on your business during those hours. It is very easy to procrastinate when you are a WAHM.

If your work requires you to do lots of different tasks, try to group similar tasks together. For instance, if you are in a direct sales business and you have a team under you, designate one day to be your “training day”. Instead of helping various team members throughout the week, schedule all of your mentoring sessions for one day. Set aside an hour in the morning and an hour in the late afternoon to respond to email and/or return phone calls. By scheduling that time in, you will find that you are able to get more work done and feel less scattered.

OUTSOURCE

You might also consider outsourcing some of your activities. If you find that you are spending too much time on responding to email, returning phone calls, or updating your website, hire a virtual assistant to do those tasks for you. This will free your time up to work on your business, and by spending more time on the parts of your business that actually bring in money, you will be able to increase your profits.

PLAN YOUR MEALS

You can also save time by setting aside a block of time each week to do your “regular” errands, such as grocery shopping. If you plan your meals for the week and go to the grocery store once, you will save lots of time during the week by not taking those daily “quick trips to the market”. And while you are planning your meals, try to schedule a few “cook once, eat twice” days. For instance, you can plan on having spaghetti on Monday and tacos on Tuesday. So, on Monday, brown the hamburger you will need for both days. On Tuesday, half of your work will already be done. And if you are making a meatloaf or lasagna, make two and freeze one for later.
Here are 2 good resources that will ease some of your headache:

Meal Planning Made Simple
Stop getting frazzled every time lunch and dinner comes around. This will help get you planning your meals for each day of the week. Meal preparations become a breeze because you have a plan and are organized.
Crock pot Cooking Made SimpleFree up some time by letting the crock pot do the cooking for you. With almost 500 recipes, say hello to hassle free cooking.

DELEGATE

Most importantly, do not feel as if you have to do it all by yourself. You are not a super hero. If you have a spouse or significant other, ask them to chip in on household chores. Children love to help out, and depending on their ages, there are multiple things they can do.

TAKE A BREAK

And when it is all said and done, don’t forget to take out some time for yourself. Everyone needs a break– WAHMs included!

Source: http://blog.valuebookshop.com/2011/time-management-tips-for-wahms/

IT’S “B2B” NOT “B2U” HOW TO BUILD A REAL BUSINESS NETWORK

2011-04-18T04:56:00.000-07:00

When working with other businesses it is good to build a strong and lasting relationship with them; that is great for you and your business. Sometimes, you can deal with a company or a business that only wants you to buy from them, but won’t do business with you. That’s what we called “B2U” companies they only see you as a customer and NEVER see you as a valued business connection or a "B2B".

Here are some tips on how to create a B2B network:

1. Find businesses that have products or services you can use.

2. Make sure that what you are offering is beneficial to their business.

3.Find their contact information and see if they have a need for your products or services.

4. See if they will let your business put a back link on their website or blog.

5. See if they contact you back after e-mailing them as a courtesy to you. They should at least be willing to contact you back and let you know either way on how they feel about doing business with you. It makes them personable, builds a sense of concern for your business relationship and gives them a great public image.

6. Just because a business gives you helpful blogs or videos doesn’t mean they are willing to talk to you as a business person or company. So, look to see if they will interact with you if you comment on their blogs or videos.

7. Always remember to send a business letter in your e-mail or snail mail. If you don’t know the owners name address them as madam or sir.

8. Watch out for those who only support you because you buy their products or services. The relationship is not genuine it’s purpose is to get your money. And it won’t last long if you stop buying.

IN LIKE A LION OUT LIKE A LAMB

2011-03-28T14:14:00.000-07:00

The In's and Out's to Social Media Success (S.M.S.)

The Future of Laptops in This Tablet PC Era
Posted by Asha

　
It’s fair to say laptops have come a long way since the early 1990s must adapt, while tablets and laptops are both suited to particular environments, each could learn from one another. While the clam-shell laptop is tried and tested it does have its drawbacks and limitations, in the future it is very likely that we will see new types of laptops moving away from the clam-shell design. Dual screen and sliding laptops have already made an appearance these early concepts , LCD displays have been replaced with sleek HD screens and the once plus-size machines are now zero sized models. If laptops have evolved so much in that space of time, where can they go from here; especially in this so-called post-PC era where tablets PCs are all set to take over computing world?

One important element of the laptop design has stayed persistent during the past 20 years, the conventional flip lid, protecting the screen and providing a sturdy base for a the keyboard it’s the back-bone of any laptop. But with the emergence of the tablet market, advances in technology and changing materials this could be about to change.

The rise of tablet PCs means laptops will undoubtedly see many iterations in the coming years, which could see them grab back some of market share tablet PCs have recently taken. Power, the Achilles heel of laptops, we’ve all been there desperately trying to complete a task before the life in your laptop drains away. Wouldn’t it be amazing if laptops could hold their charge for days on end, unfortunately that’s not going to happen anytime soon. However smarter technologies such as inductive charging could soon put AC adaptors into retirement. For this to happen charging pads will need to be widely adopted, just imagine sitting on the train using your laptop while it charges via the surface you’re using, yea!

Top 3 SEO Tips For Higher Search Engine Ranking
Posted by Asha (Tech Chunks).

SEO Tip #1 Write Great Page Titles and Headings
Make sure that you use keywords that people are searching for in your page’s header tags (i.e. h1 tags, h2 tags, h3 tags etc). Also, be sure the H1 tag on every page is accurate and describes the page’s content without ambiguity. Good headlines are good for your users, and good for the search engines.

SEO Tip #2 Make the Most out of Title Tags
Make it a practice to make your article title tag contain keywords that are important to your SEO efforts. Make sure those keywords show up near the front of your title as Google only picks up the first sixty to seventy characters. Don’t just list a bunch of keywords; take a targeted approach that makes sense to your user. A word of caution though – do NOT overdo it!

SEO Tip #3 Use Natural Language in Your Content
Don’t try too hard to stuff keywords in your page just to make it more “keyword dense.” Believe me — that would be your easiest way to get banned from SERP. These days, search engines are smarter and better at identifying natural language against keyword-stuffed babbles.

If a human reader can spot a keyword stuffed garbage filled article, then the search engine bots can as well. So do yourself (and your readers) a big favor and don’t use the same keyword phrase over and over and over and over and over and over and over and — you get the idea. If you must, try including semantically related words (synonymic phrases) in your writing.

How to Use TweetDeck For Creating Positive Online Presence
Posted by Asha (Tech Chunks)

TweetDeck enables you to manage your social media accounts like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Buzz and Foursquare from your TweetDeck account. No longer do you have to worry about logging on to each sight separately, viewing your accounts from six different screens and separately updating each status. It’s simple – go to TweetDeck.com and download the program; and log on to start receiving your notifications from one centralized location. With TweetDeck, you log on, rearrange your dashboard to fit your personal needs and set the preference and settings to what you want.

Salient Features:
In an effort to manage your online presence and see who is posting about you, you can create a search with your name and different variations of your name and when someone mentions you in their posts; it directly links back to your TweetDeck. After you’ve added all of your accounts and you want to post a status to certain sites, you can highlight which sites your post will update to. So, if you’re inappropriate side gets the best of you and you don’t want your LinkedIn connections to be notified, then you don’t highlight that account. This program allows you to manage several sites and several accounts at once. It’s an easier, faster way to stay connect while monitoring your online presence.　

A March for Women Entreprenuers

2011-03-07T18:24:00.000-08:00

March is the month for women so, we are spotlighting women entreprenuers.

Comparison Between Self-Employed Women and Wage-Earning Women
Are There More Advantages For Women Who Own Their Own Businesses?

By Lahle Wolfe, About.com Guide

Are There More Advantages For Women Who Own Their Own Businesses?
In April 2008, the Small Business Administration (SBA) published a summary of an analysis about business women derived from the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement.
There were many interesting findings reported about self-employed women in business, especially when compared to wage- and salary-earning women. But perhaps one of the most unsurprising (to me) observations was offered in the following SBA statement: “Contrary to expectations, neither wage and salary-earning nor self-employed women significantly shifted industry participation over this portion of the study period.”

I am perplexed why the authors of the study would consider this “contrary to expectations,” as this should not surprise anyone familiar with the challenges of women in the workforce who have significantly greater industry-limited opportunities when compared to men. Or, that it should strike anyone as unusual given the amazing entrepreneurial spirit of women breaking barriers in the privately-held business world. In fact, the study’s summary goes on to support my own thoughts:

“However, wage and salary-earning women were somewhat more likely than self-employed women to be in industries with the greatest degree of female ownership (primarily social services and education services). Self-employed women were more likely to be in industries with a medium presence of female ownership. This suggests, according to the authors, that self-employed women were branching out of industries traditionally associated with women.”

Even prior to this study, as early as 2002 it was statistically measurable that despite gender barriers women in business are slowly branching out into male-dominated industries, and doing so with success, even if not yet in mass proportions.

Women Entreprenuers

Iman Abdulmajid

Company: Iman Cosmetics

Position: Founder and CEO

Industry: Personal Care Products

Leigh Magar

A 21st-century hatmaker marries old-world techniques with fashion-forward vision.

Yolanda Owens

Losing her job led to a major career switch — and a truly fresh line of beauty products.

Tasia Malakasis

This former marketing exec followed her foodie dreams back home to run her own goat-cheese creamery.

Be Dressed for the Party: Learn how to effectively communicate in your business

2011-02-15T12:40:00.000-08:00

Have you ever worn the wrong thing to a party...shown up in cut-off shorts to a business casual party or decided to make a "fashion statement" to a black-tie formal red carpet affair. The cut-off shorts maybe comfortable but are inappropriate at a business casual party and there is a time and place to make "fashion statement" but are you communicating the right message to others.

"Business messages have 'clothes' too, and the clothing has to suit the occasion or the message is ineffective." There are three forms of communication: oral, written and non-verbal. As small business owners online we communicate with our clients orally and/or in written form, but how do we know if we are communicating effectively to our clients. Here is a quick guide to determine whether you should communicate orally or in written form:

AN ORAL MESSAGE IS APPROPRIATE WHEN...

You want immediate feedback from the audience.

Your message is relatively simple and easy to accept.

You need a permanent record.

You can assemble the audience conveniently and economically.

You want encourage interaction to solve a problem or reach a decision.

A WRITTEN MESSAGE IS APPROPRIATE WHEN...

You do not need immediate feedback.

You have a detailed and complex message that requires careful planning.

You need a permanent, verifiable record.

You are trying to reach an audience that is large and geo-graphically dispersed.

You want to minimize the chances for distortion that occur when a message is passed orally from person to person.

From: " Business Communication Today" by Courtland L. Bovee & John V. Thill

10 Tips on How to Make the Most of your Time without Wasting your Time

2011-01-17T19:16:00.000-08:00

1. Get enough rest, eight hours is needed so that your body can handle the day.

2. Use a calendar to plan your day ahead of time. Here is a couple google www.google.com/calendar and Cozi http://www.cozi.com/

3. Synchronize your calendar to your email and your mobile phone to send you alerts to remind you of your "to do list".

4.Put clients number in your mobile phone and put a "C" or "client" beside their name so that you will grab that important call.

5. Make symbols to prioritize your calendar for those things that have the highest importance.

6. Keep these acronyms to stay focused. P-postpone E-eliminate R-reduce K-keep when you are planning your calendar.

7. Block off time for family, family is always important.

8.If you want your status updates and/ or blog posts to be sent out quickly to your social networks try ping.fm, www.ping.fm, they can be sent from your mobile and/or from the web.

9. If you are out and something comes across your mind as a "to do item" use your mobile phone to record it.

10.Forward your office phone to your mobile phone catch your office calls.

From: U.N.O. Uniquic Networking Online "Your Business is Our Business".

10 Ways to Get Your Business Organized for 2011

2010-12-27T13:34:00.000-08:00

                                   (thesomedayblog.files.wordpress.com)

With 2011 soon approaching, we as small business owners are thinking of new ideas, concepts and plans that we want to make but before all that we need to get organized. Getting organized is key to accomplishing your new ideas, concepts and plans in the new year. Here are some tips that will help you to schedule your time for effectively and efficiently so that you aren't wasting your time and not accomplishing much.

1. Get iGoogle (or an application that is similar): is a web portal that puts almost everything into a single location so that they can easily access it without having to leave or browse another site. (www.differencebetween.net)
www.igoogle.com

2. Get an online calender: Online email providers like Google and Yahoo offer free online calenders when you sign-up to their free email services. Some of the features include:
     a. Sharing you calender with co-workers to communicate.
     b. Accessing your calender from your mobile and/ or laptop.
     c. Receiving mobile SMS notifications of the schedule events
http://www.calender.yahoo.com/

3. Get a "toolbar": Many search engines have "toolbars", these are downloadable toolbars that allows a user to do a Google, Yahoo, Ask etc. search without having to visit the site itself.
www.about.ask.com/en/docs/toolbar/index.php

4. Use your mobile (SMS notifications): SMS' are short messages between fixed lines or mobile phone devices, it's used by 2.4 billion or 74% of mobile phone subscribers. Get SMS notifications to stay connected on what is going on, on most social networks and email notifications.

* It is an especially helpful tool when you don't have internet on your mobile.

5. Use your "favorites": On your internet toolbar is a "favorites" button. It can be a useful tool when properly organized properly to fit your needs when working online.

6. Don't just save contacts: In your mobile, save them in your email accounts as well. Email's can be just as difficult to remember as phone numbers.

7. There is a reason that social networks have a "Forgot Username and /or forgot password link": They know that more than likely your are on many social networks including possibly having your own. So to stop racking your brain trying to remember them all including email accounts; create a reference to hold all; your account user names and /or emails and passwords.

8. Get rid of trash: No unwanted solicitations that may flood your email accounts. If you don't read them then unscubscribe to free up your email for business content.

9. Sync your social network accounts: When you post to one account it will send out the same posts to all others.

10. Always be on the look out for new features that Google, Yahoo, Ask, MSN, Bing and others are offering to make you business is more effective and efficient through organization.

How to Design A Website that brings Traffic

2010-12-13T14:16:00.000-08:00

Developing a branded logo
From: WebMarketing All-In-One for Dummies

Perhaps one of the most overlooked elements of doing business in general-let alone online-is the importance of having a meaningful logo. Many Internet marketing gurus will tell you not to waste you time or money producing a logo. But, If you are promoting a real company on the Web, a good logo is a vital ingredient: It helps you communicate a lot about your business to a Website visitor in a fraction of a second. When people see your logo (or lack of one), they can immediately rate various elements of your business in their minds, this act of evaluation might even occur in their subconscious. Some of these include your

*Level of professionalism
*Ability to create or innovate
*Enthusiasm for you product
*Level of traditionalism
*Attention to detail

Visitors will associate words to your business based on the appearance of your logo, such as funny, silly, exciting, desperate, growing, content, or curious. So, be careful what you ask your designer to create for you. When it comes to your website, it's more important than ever to at least have a logo to identify your business, if not a logo for each of your products too! The following list invites you to take a look at some good logos that are memorable but also define the business and even the personality of the business.

*www.TheAccidentalLawyer.com-The Accidental Lawyer logo features a somewhat common approach to a law firm logo in that it has the roman pillar theme in the background. What's not so common is the linking between that traditional image and the The Accidental Lawyer name with the hat on top of the letter A. This tells me, maybe only on a subconscious level, that this is a law firm that links tradition with business sense and just the right amount of personality and charisma.

*www.ContractorAccess.com- I chose to feature this logo because I didn't know that the company did until I saw their logo. Now I understand that they offer the high-rise equipment you see window washers standing on, among other things. So, a logo alone can sometimes bring it all together to tell a visitor what your business does.

*www.monkeybizness.com-On the other end of the spectrum, there is Monkey Bizness, with the tag line "where kids monkey around." Everything about this logo is playful and not too serious, from the font type used to the coloring and the slight animation of the monkey jumping up and down.

The point of mentioning these three logos is that each paints a memorable picture in your mind. And, that's what branding is all about creating something that remains in people's minds for days, weeks, or months to come.

Professional designers are you best resource for creating a logo that matches how you want your business to be perceived. Keep in mind that logos take time to conceptualize and create. So, be prepared that by the time you approve a logo, you might see several iterations, costing several hundreds of dollars. The best scenario from a time standpoint is when your Website designer is also the creator of your logo. That way you don't have to worry about the logo designer getting the right formats to your Web designers and waiting for the communication to take place. But, many Web designers do not work with logos and require a logo to be submitted before beginning work on your Web site. In that case, here are two low-cost methods for getting a logo created

One shortcut to logo production is to hold a contest between many designers. At 99designs (online), you can post your logo design request for a little as $39, plus whatever you're willing to pay to winner. Usually, you need to offer enough-say $100 or so-to give incentive for designers to jump on your projects. but, it's often just as professional a result (and faster) than using a traditional designer for logo creation. Here's how it works:

1. Visit http:99designs.com
2. Start a free account.
3. Click Launch a Contest and describe the project
4. Post your "brief" and set a price amount $39 is required to post your contest
5. Respond to designers as they post their logo concepts and ask for refinements
Within a few days, you'll have several logos to choose from produced by different graphics experts
6.Choose the winner
The payment in the form of credits is sent to the designer, and the designer then sends the completed logo files o you by e-mail.

Part 2: A Better Way to Turning a Hobby into a Business

2010-12-03T14:40:00.000-08:00

Finding a domain and a website

Once you have the products and or service that you want to sell and promote you need to think of a domain name. This is a domain name is a name (such as "w3.org") of a service, Web site, or computer, and so on in a hierarchical system of delegated authority- the Domain Name System. ... Why would you choose a domain name first instead of a website? When you find the website format that you like you sill need to enter a domain name for your website to be get registered

To find out what domain name you can use you will have to go to a domain register site. You can google the domain name that you want at the domain register sites or you can try Yahoo, Google, Whois. They will look to see if you can use the domain name that you want it takes a few minutes to find out if you can use the name you put in. If you can’t use the name then keep trying sometimes you can be creative. We used our name Uniquic since Unique was taken but our name still sounds the same just spelled different.

Once you get and buy the name you want then no one else can use that name because it goes into a large data base with all domain registrants so they know all names used. Also when considering a domain name try to keep it simple, that way people will be able to remember your name and get one where if your company grows the name will still be suitable. We used Uniquic so when we expand with our products they will still be unique and we can put a wide range of products on our site.

Finding a website

To find a website you can google it by putting in hosting websites or free websites some hosting sites are free and some charge. With free websites some are free for only a short period of time. And others are free for a unlimited amount of time. It’s up to you if you want a free site or a site that you pay for. Just make sure that they have 24 hour support in case you have problems with you site. and check to see that the site doesn’t go down to often.

If you decided to pay for your site and they have a trial period check out and see if they really have support 24 hours call on a saturday or sunday to see if you get help. If you don’t then you can cancel during your trial period. With websites some offer templates where you can design your website which makes it easy. If you want to design your own then getting a hosted website would be a great idea for you.

With hosting sites you can use an authoring tools there are some like Adobe Dream Weaver the cost is $399.00, Microsoft Expression cost $299.00. You can use Sea Monkey or Mozzilla Firefox these two are free. I personally have tried Sea Monkey and let’s just say template sites are my niche’. But if you like designing your own website than a hosted site would be good for you. Now you have your domain name and website you are ready to start designing your website! Next will be part 3 how to design your website that drives traffic to your site.
　
　

Part 1:A Better Way To turning a hobby into a business

2010-11-27T14:40:00.000-08:00

onlinehomebasedbusiness.blogsome.com

There are a growing number of people who want their own business but don’t know where to start. They have a hard time figuring out what type of business to own. Some go with an MLM business (Multi-Level Marketing), roughly you pay money to get their products and in return they make you an independent contractor; or they have you to take classes for a fee to certify you to sell their services and some people like this type of business.

But if you want to start a business on your own and buy your own supplies to make your products or items where you will have no “middle man” than you might think about turning a hobby into a business. Do you have a hobby or a interest? A hobby is an activity or interest that is undertaken for pleasure or relaxation, often in ones spare time (Equation: an interest + pleasure and relaxation=hobby). An interest is a sense of concern with and curiosity about someone or something.

If you only have an interest in something and it doesn’t give you pleasure or relaxation then it’s only a interest. Knowing the difference is important, once you know what your hobby is then start making items / products or services and show / tell them to your friends. If their expressions are with excitement and they ask you questions like: You really made this? How much are you selling this for? How much does this cost? You should start thinking about making this your business.

You can take your products / items or services to some crafts shows or get into some contest, to see what the public thinks about your items / products. All of this will help you in the long run before you set up a website, it is called testing marketing your products / items or services.

In “Part 2 of A Better way to turn your hobby into a business” we will discuss finding a good name for your business and a good website that will enhance your products or services.
　

Team Building

2010-11-09T14:22:00.000-08:00

DO WE HAVE AS MUCH SENSE AS A GOOSE?

When you see geese heading south for the winter
flying along in a "V" formation you might be
interested in knowing what has been discovered
about why they fly that way.

It has been learned that as each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird immediately following. By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock adds at least 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own. (People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier, because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.)

Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone, and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front. ( If we have as much sense as a goose we will stay in formation with those who are headed the same way we are going.)

When the head goose gets tired, it rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point. ( It pays to take turns doing hard jobs - with people or geese flying south.)

The geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

Finally (now I hope you understand this), when a goose gets sick, or is wounded by gunshot and falls out, two geese fall out of formation and follow it down to help protect it. They stay with it until it is either able to fly or until it is dead and then they launch out on their own or with another formation to catch up with their group. ( If we have the sense of a goose we will stand by each other like that.) ~ Unknown Author

7 Tips to a Great Profile Picture: "Your Brand"

2010-10-30T20:09:00.000-07:00

What is the first thing that people know about you before they know anything else (in most cases)? They know your face, the face is the first thing that people will see because when they meet you they look at your face. As online business owners we are constantly promoting our businesses on social networks that require "profile pictures". Some of us have a brand logo image, while the rest of us use our own image as our brand logo. So, it is important that you make a great first impression (not just good) because as the saying goes "first impressions are lasting impressions". Here are seven tips to having a great "profile picture"

1. Lighting is everything! Lighting is key! Did I mention that it is important because if I didn't it is VERY important. The right lighting can take you from "the Elephant Man" to Halle Berry (OK, I am joking but it is true).

2. What Not to Wear: If your skin tone is light, don't wear shades of "white". If it is medium stick with colors that don't contrast but compliment. If your skin tone is deep then don't wear shades of "black". Don't wear provocative clothing or clothing that is too big. What to Wear: Wear professional attire, conservative clothing as if you are going on an interview. Casual professional attire, it shouldn't be something that "you just threw on", that you would wear to work-out, sleep-in and / or do "housework in". Also pick fashion jewelry that compliments your wardrobe.

3. Hair & Make-up: I won't say go get your hair and make-up professional done just for a profile picture but if you would like to then do so (this is "your brand", which means your money depends on your image). If you don't get it professional done then be sure to comb it, brush it, twist it, curl it, braid it, cut it...DO YOUR HAIR! As far as make-up, this is a secret I learned surprisingly from Tyra Banks "America's Next Top Model" apply twice as much make-up than usual. The reason being that the camera will allows de-emphasize your features so to appear to be wearing a natural amount you need more, trust me.

4. Poses: Please no "club" poses. You should pretend that your customer is looking at you and think about how you would want to present yourself in front of them.

5. Spouses, Children, Pets: Please do not put anyone from this category in your profile picture, as I stated before this is the first impression for your potential customers. They should see you in a professional light. If you want have pictures of your spouse, children and / or pets then that's fine create a separate online album for them. "Don't mix business with pleasure".

6. Cameras: Invest in a quality camera and / or web cam to take your picture. The quality of the camera will determine the overall outcome of your picture.

7. Crop, crop, crop: If you find that once you have taken your picture that there are objects in the background or somehow your child or spouse find their way into your picture (ie. bunny ears behind your head), then crop the photo to your best image.

(Horrible Profile Picture)

( Great Profile Picture)

How to Start an Online Business 101

2010-10-22T15:26:00.000-07:00

Welcome back everyone, I hope that everything is well with you. I wanted to post this blog not only for those who want to start their own online business and for those of us who already have businesses online. Because as an online retailer, we should never stop learning.

ONLINE BUSINESS

From: The Everything Start Your Own Business Book
Author: Rich Mintzer

Rivaling traditional retailers today are online retail businesses. For the most part, e-tail (as it’s affectionately called) has not made a significant dent in the retail world… yet. In fact, many people still research products on the Internet and then walk into a bricks-and mortar retail location to see and purchase the products. Certain products, such as books, CDs, and toys have shown tremendous results over the Internet. For someone who wants to maintain a low overhead, selling a niche market item via the Internet can also be advantageous for a small business. Specialized services such as gift items or custom-made products such as a golf clubs have also enjoyed success. The Web has also proved a marvelous way to promote and increase sales for established bricks-and-mortar businesses that do additional sales over the Internet but don’t base their entire business on e-tail sales.
One of the biggest concerns of many customers shopping over the Internet is not knowing from whom they’re buying and not feeling confident that their privacy is respected and maintained. Other than dealing with established online companies, many people are reluctant to give their credit card number to unknown and possibly unsecured source. While many source show more breaches of security with traditional credit card methods used in retail stores, consumers are still wary of cyberspace. Fraud and privacy issues as evidenced by the ever-increasing rash of unwanted spam mailings that occur whenever they sign up or put their personal information on certain Web sites. If you’re going into e-tail, be sure to make yourself as accessible as possible with a toll free number, good customer services policies, a business address, and so on. People have become quite concerned about the anonymity of many e-tial-only businesses.
Another problem of starting a Web based business is unlike hanging a sign out front-as you would do for walk-in business with a retail location-you need to find a way to draw people to your site. For many entrepreneurs, Web marketing has not been an easy venture. The glut of reported, demise of many those sites, has not been as favorable for new e-tail businesses in the new millennium. It has become increasingly difficult for Web startups to find venture capital. While this trend may change in the near future, at present most people looking to start up an Internet business are thinking small or looking to start up an adjunct business (to a bricks-and-mortar business) but not use the Web site as their primary business source.
There are plenty of Web-based success stories, and if you find a niche, a way to market yourself, and enough venture capital to survive, you can still get a Web-based e-tail business off the ground. To your advantage is that you can very likely get by without many (or possibly any) other employees. Other than possibly needing someone to help set up and run the site from a technical standpoint, it’s quite possible that you can handle the orders yourself with a fulfillment house. You also don’t need an inventory, an alarm system, a night watchman, or a shovel for clearing the snow off the sidewalk so that customers can get to your shop.To succeed with an e-tail business, you need to think like an online consumer. It helps to either be one yourself or, at the very least, talk to regular online consumers. Get to know what people look for from an e-commerce site. Browse numerous sites to get a feel for how they look and how they operate. (Visit www.gomez.com or www.sites.com for Web site reviews.) Evaluate which sites are easy to navigate and purchase what you want and which ones are not. The point of ordering is the most important juncture of the process. If customers are clicking repeatedly to get through the process, they will simply click off of the site. You need a fast dependable, foolproof server. You need to be able to handle various payment methods, not unlike a bricks-and-mortar location. Because the Web is global, you may improve your sales potential by being able to handle foreign currencies as well. Finally, you need to have very reliable methods of shipping; otherwise your reputation will diminish quickly. Web sites have gone out of business by taking more order than they could handle or ship.

Remember, you’re providing customers with the ability to shop from the comfort of their own homes or offices. Ask yourself: How can you capitalize on that? How can you gain their trust and confidence? How can you make the shopping experience easy and time efficient?
E-Fact One of the largest target audiences online is the college student. About 90 percent of U.S. college students have access to the Internet--most through their schools. College students spend an estimated $700 million online annually. Now that's buying power!

What They Don't Tell You About Sales and Social Networks (Pt.3)

2010-10-16T15:28:00.000-07:00

Good evening everyone, we have come to the conclusion of our three part series on sales and social networks. I hope that you have enjoyed it and feel free to comment on the subject matter.

Now a social network site works better for those who are selling services and or consultation because you are selling only yourself (meaning your experience and/or expertise) so its VERY important to be sociable. However, when you are selling a product you have to sell yourself and the product so its more than being social its about getting them to buy. On the social site they can view your profile page and ge to know you and visa versa to spark conversation, view your website and any videos about your services and/or consultations.

Overall, when you are on an online network (be it social or e-Commerce), you will recieve more traffic than by just having a blog and/or website (my business partner and I have three blogs and are on multiple social networks, an e-Commerce site and our own website). On a network there are more people who visit than on a typical blog or website and that is because of the content that is on networks. The content is produced by the members, the more members the more content; content is important in the search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing and others have "crawlers" or "spiders" that search for good content (by content I mean: blogs, videos, photos and profiles). The members also live links to any sites that they have be it professional or personal, which is searched by those "crawlers" or "spiders", where people can find and/ or follow them. Which can bring in more traffic to your site. At U.N.O. Uniquic Networking Online we are very unique with our network in that we offer a social and e-Commerce network in one, so if you have a product or service/consultation to promote we can meet your needs. Come join us at http://www.unonline.spruz.com/ !

What They Don't Tell You About Sales and Social Networks (Pt.2)

2010-10-12T21:26:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone and welcome back...as promised I will be continuing our discussion on sales and social networking with the part two to the discussion.

Starting off, let's first define the term "social network" by breaking it down into two separate words. Webster defines the term social as being: " marked by or passed in pleaseant companionship with one's friends or associates tending to form cooperations, interdependent relationships with others of one's kind" and a network as an interconnected or interrelated group, chain or system. Now that we know what a social network is will it work for your business? It will only work to a certain extent depending upon the type of busines you own. If your business is a service than social networks will work great for you because you can network with people that have an interest in your service that you offer. Push them to your website which (because it is a service business) probably will not a have a lot to download, this can cause you to loose a sale if you have slow or long downloads. Your website should basically have information about your services and your contact information (general rule: K.I.S. "keep it simple"). However, if you have products to sell then an e-Commerce network website would be the best choice. Why is that? An e-Commerce network is know for selling merchants / sellers (that is you the online small business owner / entreprenuer) products, with your products being setup to make immediate sales safely. You can sell to members and non-members of the e-Commerce network. Some social networks say that they have a marketplace but all that you can do is place a link for your company and a picture / image and hope that they go to your website. Then they have to navigate to your site and find that particular item. "Time is money", if it takes to long to find it the sale is lost. Most people from social networking sites will only visit, they won't buy because they are just about soicializing. If they do visit your site that may be there just to see what it is that you do so that they can sell their products and/or services to you.

The atmosphere on an e-Commerce networking website is unlike that of a social network, in that it is an marketplace (a marketplace: is a place where buyers and sellers meet to exchange money for goods and/or services). When non-sellers come to an e-Commerce network they come to buy, not to socialize (unlike on social networks), they same is true for sellers (small business owners / entreprenuers) they come on the site to sell not to socialize. Also e-Commerce networking sites are ready to handle an order in a speady and secure manner because they know that a sale can be lost in two seconds.
* The e-Commerce website isn't to replace your existing personal website if you already have one, but can be an additional arena to sell your products.
The sellers have a secure account on the e-Commerce network with companies such as: PayPal and Charge.com to properly handle the transaction and to keep your and your customers information confidential.

Thanks everyone for reading our blog...part three is coming this Friday October 15 so be sure and read it! And please subscribe to this blog and our sister blogs: http://www.uniquic.blogspot.com/ and http://www.hwheeler06.blogspot.com/. May GOD bless and keep you in JESUS name, Amen.

What They Don't Tell You About Sales and Social Networking (Pt.1)

2010-09-30T22:06:00.000-07:00

Welcome back! Just as I promised before we will discuss those statistics about sales and how to get the most of our social networking for your business. This blog post is a three part series, so I hope that you read all three in that each one picks up where the other left off.

So, you have a website and now you need to bring in traffic. You say, what must I do, hmmm network right? So you find as many people as you can and make friends with them on a large social network. Then you tell them about your website (exposure, exposure, exposure) and sit back and watch the money roll in right...wrong. When you join social networks you can make hundreds of friends, have your website posted with links to it, send them emails with coupons and discounts but the are catches to all those things. First of all, from all those hundreds of friends you will need a thousand people to see your site and from those thousands only 15 percent will buy from you. Secondly, make sure that your links work and that they aren't being seen as something that could be potentially harmful to the person's computer (some sites don't send people directly to the links that are posted on their site for fear that you could be viruses). Thirdly, people could get turned away from your company from the emails that you sent with coupons and discounts, seeing them as spam. I know what you are thinking, you say this is what everyone is doing, so it must be the right thing to do. But do you really know if they are making money from all "these" efforts?

Statistics state that out of every thousand visitors to your site you will only get 15 percent of those people to buy (which is 1.5 percent of those thousands of visitors). For example if you get two hundred friends in 6 months, then yu have picked up 33 people in a month and one person a day. That's not a lot of potential customers to visit your site. How many other sites do you have a membership? Do you make profiles and them leave them because of low membership on that site? All these are important factors in determining if you make sales because the more sites your on the better and inorder to generate traffic to your site you need a large number of visitors, so the site that you are on needs a large memebership base. In the political arena, they post campaign flyers everywhere from school yards to light poles and they post in areas of HIGH traffic (even if their is an abandoned building on the street, if it is a busy intersection, they are there).

See next blog for Part 2...

Exposure...exposure...exposure!

2010-09-20T22:29:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, welcome to Uniquic Networking Online U.N.O. Blog. This blog will be a helpful tool to small business owners and also a means to inform everyone about our small business owners site U.N.O. (http://www.unonline.spruz.com/) We hope that you find the information that we give you to be helpful and welcome any comments or suggestions that you may have on a topic.

The old saying is "location, location, location" and location is very important but if you don't tell anyone that your business is at "that" location no one will ever know. That is where "exposure" comes into play. The definition of the word "expsoure" by Webster Dictionary is " the condition of being presented to view or made known" and that is what we MUST do as small business owners; present our businesses and/or make them known.

At U.N.O. we offer advertising packages ( http://www.unonline.spruz.com/uno-ad-packages.htm) that will give your company the "exposure" that you need. Our packages start with your Basic Package at just $30.00/mon. or $1.00/day, Premium Package at just $35.00/mon. or $1.16/day and our Supreme Package at just $45.00/mon or $1.50/day [This prices listed are promotional only. The promotional period is for 1 yr. from your start date]. We also offer a Self-Service feature if you choose not the buy a monthly advertising package and to see the details of ALL of our packages click on the link above.

As an online small business owners many people may come to your site, but statistics show that it takes a thousand people to visit your site before you will begin to see sales and you only get fifteen sales for every 1,000th person. Those are small numbers but they don't have to be...we will talk more about this statistic, sales and selling on social networking sites in our next blog entitled "WHAT THEY DON'T TELL YOU ABOUT SALES AND SOCIAL NETWORKS".

Thanks everyone and GOD Bless!