United States Charity

Muna wa Wanjiru asked:


There are many people who like to help with charities. For these people it is good to know if the charity where they work is doing some good. This is where charity ratings can help. These ratings let people know how well the charity is performing. From these ratings you can get an idea if you want to help the charity.

One of the ways that you can find these charity ratings is from the internet. The various rating sites that you will find have information about some charities. From this information you will be able to see how the donations are spent. You will also get to see what charity work was accomplished.

The charity ratings inform donors about many other charities that are listed with them. From their sites the donors can check out the financial status of non profit charities. This is a great way to find legitimate charities.

You will find many different charity ratings that can provide this type of information. However if you are looking for a specific charity you might need to look at a few charity ratings. These rating sites can show you other worthwhile charities that you might want to help out. There are generally links to these charity sites.

A few of these charity ratings will deal with charities that are listed internationally. Others deal with the charities that you will find close to home. By looking at the charity rating of a charity that you know, you will get information about the way is spends your donations.

The charities that are shown on various charity ratings are ones that have given information to the charity rating site. This means that unless a charity is on the list you will need to find other sources to see their work progress. For this reason if you want to donate to a charity you might want to look at the charity ratings first.

There are some charity ratings that will provide donors with other information. From these organizations you can get tips on finding a good charity. There will be articles that will give you help with other aspects of charity support. These can range from answers about mailing-list appeals to tax benefits to protecting yourself from charity scams.

The number of items that you can find about charities with charity ratings makes this a useful service. By looking at the different ratings you can get an idea of how each charity is looked at by donors and the financial community. Charity ratings will also let you decide which charity to support.

Cary B asked:


While looking for free web hosting for your small business you need to keep the following things in mind.

Advertising: Just about all free web hosts will impose advertising on your site. The host does this to recover the costs of running the hardware and providing the bandwidth for your site.

Web Space: Most free small business web hosting has very limited space. You will be lucky if you find a free host that offers more than 20MB of disk space. This isn’t such a bad thing as most sites are under 5MB in size. A 5MB site can be up to 200 pages of html code but beware, if you site contains heavy graphics, music or video this limited free space will run out very quickly.

FTP: Some small business web hosts do not provide FTP access. FTP stands for File Transmission Protocol and allows you to transfer large files via a server. This isn’t a big deal if you don’t do a lot of file transfers but if you plan on sending and receiving lots of images or video files this is something you need to be aware of.

Stability and Reliability: This is an important factor to look at. Unless you don’t mind you site going down or off-line all the time you need to find out what the free small business web host provider “down time” is. If it is anything more than 99% I do not recommend using this provider.

Bandwidth: To have enough bandwidth to run a small business website you need about 1-3GB of monthly bandwidth. Anything less than 1GB and the most you will be running on it will be a personal webpage or one for the local church.

 

Corte Swearingen asked:


Did you know that most small business websites generate very little traffic? Whether you have outsourced your web design or have it done in-house, it is important that your webmaster understands the basic structure and on-page criteria that will make the search engines happy. And when the search engines are happy, the result is increased targeted traffic.

Website Mistake #1: Not Building Trust

Probably the biggest mistake I see is the lack of trust-building content. If your website is filled with sales pressure tactics or doesn’t offer any helpful and informative content, people will simply move on to something else. Remember, when people come to your site, they are in complete control. Give them just one reason to leave and they will.

You must earn your visitor’s confidence through original, useful and compelling content. Remember, in many cases, people are coming to your site from the search engines to find information, not to make a purchase. Give them what they want.

If you’re not sure what kind of content to write about on your site, then it’s time to invest in a paid keyword research tool like Wordtracker or KeyWord Discovery. These tools will help you uncover search phrases that you can then use to write page content.

Website Mistake #2: Improper On-Page Criteria

The search engines look for certain elements contained within your page. There are proactive ways you can help ensure your pages get ranked favorably. These include making sure all your META Tags are correct, your primary keyword phrase is sprinkled throughout your text, and that you include a link with your main keyword in the anchor text.

Website Mistake #3: Not Building Inbound Links

Did you know the search engines look at how many external websites have links that point to your site? If there are a lot of high-quality websites that point back to your site, the search engines see that as a vote of confidence and they will give your site more weight in the search engine rankings.

If you are constantly adding quality content to your site, it’s just a matter of time before other sites start linking to yours. However, don’t wait for other people to discover you – be proactive. Here are some simple ways to build links.

* Submit your site to quality directories

* Submit articles that contain a link back to your site in the Author Bio

* Provide you link partners with appropriate keyword-rich anchor text

* Answer questions in forums and blogs, providing a link in your signature file

* Work to get links that point to deeper pages within your site (not just your Homepage)

Website Mistake #4: Poor Website Structure/Navigation

Search engines will come to your website and try to collect as much information as they can for their index. Some small business owners have such haphazard website structure that it’s a wonder the search engines come visiting at all. It would be sad to see all that good content go to waste because the search engines couldn’t find your pages.

One highly recommended design is a three tier structure. Your Tier 1 page is your home page. Your Tier 2 pages are your navigation link landing pages. Your Tier 3 pages are the additional content pages that support the theme of the respective Tier 2 pages.

Most of your site will be comprised of these Tier 3 pages. Tier 3 pages should always link back to their respective Tier 2 parent. Likewise, all Tier 2 pages should link back to the Homepage. The search engines can easily picked up on this link structure and index your pages.

Website Mistake #5: Lack of Monetization Models

Having a compelling website that drives over 1,000 unique visitors a day is something to be proud of. But what is it worth if you are not able to capitalize on that traffic? You need to ensure you have several monetization models in place on your website so that you have multiple sources of revenue.

In addition, if you have several income streams developed, you’ll be in a better position if one of them dries up for some reason. Your parents were right when they said not to put all your eggs in one basket. Several popular monetization options include selling downloadable ebooks, selling physical products, and revenue generated from affiliate sales or commissioned products.

There’s a lot of small business websites that generate little traffic. Follow these simple strategies to make sure your site isn’t one of them.

Paul Flood asked:


Copyright (c) 2008 Paul Flood Marketing, LLC

Entrepreneurs know the importance of a targeted small business marketing strategy. Many make the mistake of doing what big advertisers do. Rock icon Meat Loaf is in a great commercial but the product and company selling it are easily forgotten. Learn a lesson on how not to advertise

Remember Meat Loaf (born Michael Lee Aday)? His album Bat Out of Hell, released in 1977, has sold nearly 40,000,000 copies and was on the charts for over 9 years. He is also featured in a new commercial that is running pretty frequently on TV.

The ad features Meat Loaf as a dad whose son is begging him to get him a cell phone. He’s singing about how he won’t run up the minutes. Personally, I am a fan of Meat Loaf and I like the commercial. He includes some lyrics and riffs from Paradise by the Dashboard Light, which I’ve always thought was a cool tune.

The other afternoon, I heard the commercial and started singing the tune in my head and realized I had seen the commercial several times and could not think of the company or brand of the phone! Now, I’m thinking this was a fairly expensive production because in addition to Meat Loaf, Tiffany is in the commercial and they are probably fairly expensive talent to hire.

After all of this expense, I couldn’t relate a brand or a product to the commercial! I kept an eye out for the next airing and saw it was for the AT&T GoPhone. Think of all the money spent on the ad. They did a lot of things right like using celebrity endorsements, a good tune and an entertaining spot. But it really made me wonder, why couldn’t I think of the company or the product?

What could you do differently if were considering a similar TV ad as one of your primary small business marketing tools ? For one thing, a bit more focus on the product instead of the production. You could easily think of special offers that would give prospects a reason to buy soon. I’ll bet a contest to have dinner with Meat Loaf or win a free “Bat Out of Hell” concert DVD would attract buyers. You would have a tracking mechanism to see how many inquiries and sales were generated. What if they had a toll free number, 1-800-MeatLoaf, to call and get a special offer and find out how to download the song to iTunes or even a ring-tone? The marketing folks could track response and the ROI on the ad. What if there were a contest to be in a commercial with Meat Loaf?

But instead, the focus was all on creativity and entertainment. I’ll bet the ad will even win an award but I still think ads should be written to sell the product now, not build a brand or win awards. My guess is that you can’t afford Meat Loaf in your ads but remember, when you do advertise, it’s about making money, not building your brand. Brands don’t put food on the table, sales do. When you spend money on marketing, either do it yourself of find a professional whose goal is to increase your profits and is willing to guarantee results, not just earn a commission.

The commercial may not be on TV too long but you can catch it on www.youtube.com. Search for Meat Loaf AT&T. This version is a 90 second commercial that does a better job of naming the product than the spot on TV but it still could have soooo much more potential as a source of REVENUE instead of a brand. When you think about branding as a strategy, ask yourself if you want to get your name out there or sell as much of you product or service as possible and build a strong and loyal customer list as quickly as possible.

For the small business marketing tools to add to your toolbox, go ahead and think about branding. However, your brand needs to be strong and you should strengthen it with incredible products and service or with your Unique Selling Proposition. Build your brand using marketing that creates prospects and leads. It is just as expensive to get your name out there with a compelling offer and reason for a client to buy from you now as it is to just get your name out there. The difference is the ROI. The Meat Loaf commercial offers no way to measure the ROI and small businesses can’t afford to throw scarce marketing dollars up against the wall and guess at the ROI.

Here is a powerful small business marketing tip when it comes to a brand-building strategy: If your financial planner came to you with an idea to spend $10,000 on marketing as an investment, you’d think, “What will my return be?because she is a trusted advisor. Use the same standards with your marketing, advertising and media reps. Ask the question: “What is my projected return and how does it compare to other marketing investments?When the rep tells you the value of impressions, ask for some statistics from other advertisers regarding the ROI of the ads and spots they are running?

After you watch the YouTube video, see if you can help me out. Why is Tiffany holding a leg of lamb when she enters the commercial set? Maybe there is some reference I don’t remember from Meat Loaf’s earlier days. He was quite a theatrical talent!

Akhil Shahani asked:


Talking about business laws in microscopic detail would need a couple of months of your time! There is indeed a plethora of legislation that governs small businesses, ranging from state to county laws. Some are relevant to your business even today whereas others are outdated and have not been enforced since the early part of the last century!

It is not possible for any single entity, including your local law enforcement department to know them all. Yet, it is vital that you are familiar with at least the most important laws that pertain to your business. As usual we’re here to help.

Business laws fall into certain categories as listed below:

• Business formation laws – these laws pertain to the structure of the business. For example a sole proprietorship is regulated very differently from a corporation.

• Tax laws – comprise laws pertaining to all taxation issues, whether it is the filing of returns or the payment of sales tax, corporate tax and other similar levies.

• Employment laws – these govern recruitment and retrenchment of employees, wages & workers’ compensation, unemployment benefits, workers’ rights and related issues.

• Trademark and patent laws – these laws pertaining to ownership of intellectual property such as inventions, trademarks and patents.

• Environmental laws – Companies engaged in the recycling of material and the discharge of hazardous waste must comply with environmental regulations.

• Consumer protection laws – these protect the consumer from fraud or unfair business or advertising practices.

Headache, already? Here are a few tips to help you deal with it.

One size doesn’t fit all. We just talked about some of the important legal categories under which you will find regulations that affect most businesses. In addition, specific laws may apply depending on the type of activity involved. If, for example, you are selling company stocks you will need to adhere to the Securities Law, but for a medical practice, there’s an entirely different set of rules that come into play. State laws may also dictate how contracts and legal documents are to be written and enforced.

Start at the beginning. Just as you craft a business plan in stages, look at the whole legal puzzle bit by bit. Begin with the laws pertaining to the basics of starting a business. Do you need a business license or a special permit? Are you planning to hire employees or will you go it alone? If your business sells goods, it will need to pay sales tax. Look at each business aspect carefully to understand which category of laws apply to it.

Know only what you need to. If you are in business by yourself, for example, you won’t need to bother with laws governing workers and staff until you are ready to hire additional people. Likewise, if you are in a service business, you typically won’t need to bother yourself with removal of hazardous waste.

See the bigger picture. As your business grows, so will the number of applicable laws. Always examine the legal angle when you plan new projects and initiatives. Also, discuss all potential significant legal matters with your advisor.

Ensure compliance. Be unafraid to ask questions of your legal advisor and do not assume something is legal just because it is a common trade practice. Also talk to the local Chamber of Commerce or other business owners to make sure you are on the right side of the law.

Make amends. Finally, should you find that you’ve contravened a law without intending to, take remedial measures. The law is quite lenient with first time offenders – of course, it also depends on the nature of the violation.

Having to deal with laws and legislation may seem a drag, but there’s no denying their importance. Taking adequate steps to ensure that you have to run into them only as much as you need to!

LegalMessenger.com™ is one of the leading online providers of business and personal legal forms and contracts. When you request a legal form or contract, LegalMessenger.com™ gives you all related legal documents on the same subject for FREE, providing you with a Complete and Total Protection of your rights.

The My Tax Tutor series is full of tax saving tips, tricks and strategies specially designed to cater to Home-Based Business Owners, Internet Marketers, Small Business Owners and Truckers.

Michael.t.brian asked:


People who have just started a new trade, they are usually in need of borrowing money for smooth functioning of the venture. Often, they require Small Business Loans, which are especial funds for variety of purposes. For instances, they can buy raw material, equipment, machinery, office furniture or they can clear old debts as well.

Before you apply for these loans, ensure that you have your credit report. The lenders first study it in detail for assessing the risks for them. Therefore, make sure that all your past payment details find correct mention in the report. Know your FICO credit score as well.

Secondly, keep all the documents related to your trade ready. Your past tax records, bank statements, cash flow records etc are crucial for the loan approval.

Small business loans come in secured or unsecured options. The secured loan will require you to pledge your residential or commercial property as collateral. The loan amount will depend on value of the property and so you can have access to greater funds. These loans carry a lower interest rate. You can choose to repay the loan anywhere from five to 30 years. However, a longer duration will result in you ending up paying high interest.

The unsecured loans are of smaller amount as you get it without collateral. In the absence of collateral, the interest rate goes higher. Your repayment ability and credit history are generally the two main parameters for the loan approval. Its repayment duration ranges shorter from few months to 15 years.

As far as your blemished credit history of making late payments in the past, having arrears, defaulting on payments or having CCJs is concerned, while the secured loan option is easier to avail, the unsecured loan will depend on the lenders’ faith on your trade prospects and repayment ability.

Make sure that you have first applied for rate quotes of as many small business loans offers on internet. If you take the loan through online, then the interest rate will be competitive as compared to higher rates of banks and financial institutions. Repay the loan on time for escaping any debt accumulation.

Vikram kuamr asked:


In this contemporary world, internet has its own importance. Almost everyone is dependent on internet directly or indirectly. As we all know that internet has become one of the best places of marketing and networking. One can easily meet several people and can increase the network and can also sell and purchase several things through online sites. Internet has proved itself a boon for mankind. One can easily do any work through internet in an easy and convenient manner. Internet has made life very simple. But as we all know that there is large number of websites available on the internet, so in that case it is very hard to mark up the appearance of a new site or a small business. There are many people who are running small business on internet as they do not have advanced networking and nor their website is reputed. There are several people who are facing this type of problem. If you are also among them then I can surely help you. I can suggest you a company which can help you in increasing your networking and can also help you in promoting your small business. All you have to do is to visit blissent as this company is the best I can suggest.

 

Blissent can help in increasing your small business and your networking by promoting your website. They help in turning traffic to your website so that you can get benefited and can have a good networking and marketing. You can completely rely on them as they are completely trustworthy and can surely help you. You can join them free of cost and they will promote your site to higher levels. By joining them your networking and your small business will surely get benefited.

 

There are many more benefits which you can get by visiting blissent, here are some of them:

 

1)      Good promoter: the first benefit which you will get is that you can promote your website easily by joining them. All you have to do is to provide your website links and then they will help in showing your internet presence. They will turn visitors to your site which will ultimately benefit you. By joining them you can increase your networking and can meet professionals which will ultimately profit your small business. You can also add logos and or traffic add banners so that your website can be promoted in a better manner. By joining them you can easily mark your website appearance as they are the best promoter of website links. They help in attracting visitors to your site by giving them several offers and pasting your website links on the top page. You can get much profit at almost no rate. The cost which they demand for promoting your site is almost nothing.

 

2)      Customer satisfaction: the other benefit which you will get is that you can get complete customer satisfaction. They are very reliable and are serving the needs of people in a proper manner. You will be completely satisfied after joining them as they promote your website link in an appropriate manner. You will satisfy after seeing the traffic that will turn to your website. They also do not charge much rates for promoting your website links and you can also add logos so that your website appearance can be marked easily.

 

Lori Olson asked:


ntrepreneurs, home based businesses and small businesses are all faced with the uncertainty of these tough economic times. Despite all the doom and gloom, one thing that is for sure is that there will be survivors. But … “Who will they be?” “What are they going to do to make it happen?” Luck will not play the biggest part of getting through these times. It is probably safe to say that the ones who do get through this and actually grow will have taken very deliberate actions to make it so. What then will these businesses do?

The obvious first step is to streamline the costs of doing business without compromising quality to customers. This means that they will take the time to find vendors who are offering better prices, look for ways to streamline staffing costs (telecommuting, virtual assistants, cutting back hours), becoming more energy efficient (traveling less, lowering heating and cooling costs), find more affordable health insurance options and so forth. Once they have streamlined, smart businesses will continue to look for ways to get more for less while trying to increase the value that they provide to their customers.

The first place to get more for less is by finding more effective marketing strategies. It is crucial to note that the only type of marketing that should be cut is ineffective marketing. Existing marketing programs need to be evaluated for their effectiveness. Low ROI marketing strategies should be abandoned and replaced with those that have a high ROI. Effective marketing is essential for getting in front of potential customers as well as staying in front of existing ones. This is not the time to ignore your existing customer base. After all, it takes six times as much money to acquire a new lead as it does to market to an existing one. Smart businesses recognize that effective marketing is their lifeline to the future.

What is the best place to start? Systems that organize and automate essential processes for small business will create a high ROI. The best place to get started is by using a customer relationship management program (CRM).

CRM is much more than a contact management system although this is one of the functions that these programs can perform (sometimes they will coordinate with an existing one such as Outlook). CRM is the master organizer for so many different processes that a small business has. It provides a means to track and segment all customer information and then track what has been done and what needs to be done. It allows the various departments such as marketing, sales and customer service to be aware of the needs of any given prospect or customer and what needs to be done next.

What would this mean to a business that has a presence on line? It means that a prospect is able to fill out a contact form 24 hours a day/7 days a week. The prospect that fills out this form will now be tagged as a prospect in the CRM system. Depending upon the information that was checked on the form (e.g. newsletter request, product information desired etc.) the prospect will have additional tags that indicate the interests of these prospects. Depending on the type of form that was filled, the database may also now contain demographics such as age, location, occupation and so forth. All of these would be tags that help segment the list. The segmented lists will be connected to appropriate email follow up sequences that automatically send out information, education and marketing materials over a period of weeks, months or year.

This one capacity of CRM has enormous value. Consider that 80% of small businesses fail to follow up with prospects beyond three attempts and that it typically takes seven or more “touches” for a prospect to become a customer. The tragic end result for businesses that fail to follow up is that they are warming up their leads for their competition.

What else can a CRM system do? Automatically sending welcome messages, customer satisfaction surveys and promotional materials will create future sales opportunities.

It can also organize affiliate programs, billing and so much more.

A good CRM will be able to use multiple channels to communicate including: emails and newsletters, fax broadcasts, voice blasts, and direct mail post cards. An automated system is highly cost effective and efficient at generating new and repeat sales. CRM is also a time and energy saver and ultimately the best way to squeeze more sales out of any lead generation funnel.

Todd Stottlemyer asked:


When Sen. John McCain delivered the keynote address at the National Federation of Independent Business 2008 National Small Business Summit last month, he did much more than speak to several hundred interested small business owners. He pushed the concerns of a significant voting bloc to the forefront of the presidential campaigns. In fact, both Sens. McCain and Barack Obama have spent much time specifically addressing the No. 1 issue among small businesses — healthcare. And it’s about time.

Recognizing that healthcare costs have become unmanageable for many entrepreneurs, Sen. McCain said, if elected, his administration would introduce healthcare reform that would provide hardworking Americans more options and expand portability of coverage.

Sen. Obama, who was invited to speak at the Summit but did not attend, responded to Sen. McCain’s remarks by reiterating that small businesses need more options to access quality, affordable healthcare coverage. We also know both candidates recognize that implementing health information technology and addressing an inequitable tax structure should play a part in any comprehensive reform package.

Over the past few weeks, it’s been encouraging to see the candidates discuss the issues facing the small business, especially the rising cost of healthcare. But they — and all of our country’s leaders — must realize that entrepreneurs deserve more than just discussions. Because the truth is, these job creators, those on the front lines of the healthcare crisis, are the voters who will be electing the next president, and they are demanding the next administration and Congress implement real change that makes healthcare more affordable for working Americans.

According to a recent NFIB survey, 81 percent of small business owners and 52 percent of employees do not feel the presidential candidates are adequately addressing issues that are important to them, specifically healthcare. In fact, nearly three-quarters of those polled say fixing healthcare should be a top priority for the next president, and nearly 80 percent agree that “it is important to me to vote for a presidential candidate whose healthcare plan makes sense for small business.”

A similar survey showed that the small business community comprised 43 percent of U.S. registered voters and nearly 32 percent of the electorate on Super Tuesday. These numbers prove that small business is a powerful, motivated group in a position to demand substantial solutions to the healthcare crisis from their candidates.

Both candidates are focused on reforming our ailing healthcare system and have begun to recognize that small business must be considered in any proposed legislation. The National Small Business Summit may have ended, but small business’ commitment to achieving quality, affordable healthcare has not.

We’re at the beginning of long and productive discussions with both candidates to ensure the needs of small businesses remain at the forefront of the healthcare debate. Because we know that solutions to America’s healthcare crisis must start with small businesses, the backbone of the U.S. economy. When healthcare is fixed for small business, it will be fixed for America.

Small businesses are usually sole proprietorships, partnerships or privately owned corporations. They employ a small number of employees and often do not have financial turnovers as large as those of large multinational companies. Small businesses are present in every industry. Ranging from interior designing to jewelry sales and even pet services, it is hard to avoid any of these businesses in our daily lives.

However, with so many small businesses selling products and services in society, we often forget that they can potentially be a very lucrative pool of customers as well. Any company that provides products or services to small businesses can benefit greatly from having a small business list.

Fortunately, the advancement of technology has enabled almost anyone to get access to a small business list with ease. There are online portals available for organizations and individuals to communicate with these small businesses, allowing them to get up-to-date information about company details and any other updates. One can also do a quick search online to look for such publicly available small company details. However, this is a potentially long and tedious process.

A good alternative is to look for small business mailing lists offered by list brokers and compliers on the web. The small business lists provided by brokers enable immediate access to a large pool of up-to-date information about other small businesses. The best part is that these lists are continuously being updated, so you won’t have to worry too much about getting outdated information. A quick rental of such a list would save one the time of having to personally search and update records.

Next, after having a small business list, individuals and other businesses can use it to their advantage. Entrepreneurs, start-up firms and home-based workers can use the list to conduct market analysis and research for example. This way, they easily identify market needs and are able to offer their products and services to these potential clients.

Another way a small business list can be used is to send out promotional material to highly targeted business prospects. For example, if you own an air-conditioning repair service, you could send out promotional brochures advertising your services to small businesses that could very well be your clients in the future. After all, which business office doesn’t own an air-conditioner or two?

The benefits of having access to a small business list is worth it’s weight in gold. But should one compile the list themselves, or rent one instead? If one wishes to manually compile the small business list himself, he will have to ensure that they are constantly being kept up-to-date.

This is because companies often make changes in their management, causing contact persons to change, or even a change in company address. The time and monetary costs required to maintain an accurate list of small business contact information is not small.

To avoid this, it would be best to rent a small business list and spend their time on making actual sales.

Having immediate access to a complied updated business list helps individuals and organizations to save time and money. When they require small businesses for their marketing needs or require help in their businesses, they can tap on this large resource base easily and efficiently.