$250,000 Business Plan Competition - Enter Now!!

A total of $250,000 in money and in-kind services is to be awarded in a national business plan competition based in Fresno. “Anyone who has an idea for an innovative new business, and a business plan to match — or who has already started and is growing a business with a promising business plan — is welcome to enter,” says the sponsor, the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Entries will be accepted beginning June 1. The top 10 finalists will travel to Fresno for a two-day competition Oct. 2-3, where they will present their business plan to a panel of judges. On Oct. 4, the winner -- and recipient of $100,000 in cash and $150,000 of in-kind services – is to be announced during halftime at the Fresno State Bulldog football game.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Spring Showers Bring Big Sales!!

Excerpted from Entrepreneur.com (Word on the Street - Kim T. Gordon).

Each spring, fair weather brings a new crop of outdoor events to compete for your company's marketing dollars. Community fairs, street festivals, parades, outdoor concerts, races and other sporting events all present enticing opportunities for sponsorships that can shine a spotlight on your business--if you know how to avoid getting lost in the crowd. Follow these four rules for choosing the most productive sponsorships.

Reach your target audience in sufficient numbers
Your first step in evaluating a potential sponsorship is to look at the projected attendees. Go beyond the attendance numbers and request a demographic breakdown, even if it's only an informal one. If just a small percentage of attendees fit the profile of your customers, you may be wasting your marketing dollars.

For example, a high-end interior design firm that had newly relocated to the trendy, upscale retail area of Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, took a small booth in the annual holiday street festival that drew thousands of visitors to the area. But because the vast majority of festival goers were not qualified prospects (highly affluent homeowners), the design firm not only wasted staff time and marketing materials, but also damaged its fledgling efforts at positioning by appearing to target a mass audience.

Choose events that match your marketing goals
That interior design firm would have gotten better results by sponsoring an event such as a professional tennis tournament. The event's high-end image and affluent attendees would have matched the company's goal of positioning itself as a top choice for prospects with $100,000-plus design budgets.

Suppose you owned a children's clothing store. An outdoor carnival would be an excellent sponsorship opportunity because you could engage parents and kids in child-friendly activities--from face painting to games--that would advance your goal of building goodwill, positive word-of-mouth and name recognition for your store.

Select events that generate maximum visibility
Don't get lost in the crowd. Rather than spreading your budget thin by taking minor sponsorships in half a dozen outdoor events, maximize your impact with just one or two events in which your company can play prominent roles.

As a major event sponsor, for example, you might be allowed to hang a large banner at the entrance to the event or speak at the podium. You might also have your company promoted in the event program, get your logo on the event website and have your information included in press releases.

Look for events with media potential
One of the most significant benefits of event sponsorship is positive press coverage. Mount your own campaign to reach the press before, during and after the event. Start by creating a press list and extending invitations to print and broadcast media. You can create articles for placement in local print media and schedule pre-event interviews. And negotiate with the event organizers to be included in their promotional releases.

During events such as festivals and races, have local TV crews and newspaper photographers turn out to shoot coverage. Also, take your own fun photos and distribute them to local newspapers with a short press release or article. That will spread your story even further, ensuring maximum return on your marketing dollars.

Contact marketing expert Kim T. Gordon, author of Maximum Marketing, Minimum Dollars: The Top 50 Ways to Grow Your Small Business, at smallbusinessnow.com. Her new e-book, Big Marketing Ideas for Small Budgets, is available exclusively from Entrepreneur at smallbizbooks.com.

What Type of Home-Based Biz Owner Are You?

Home-Biz Owner - Know Thyself!!!!

The article below has been excerpted from The Home Office From Hell Cure by Jeffrey A. Landers, available from Entrepreneur Press.

Before you can begin to cure your ailing business and become a thriving entrepreneur, you must know who you really are and what you really want.

Are You a Growth Maven?

Growth Mavens are fiercely ambitious. They do not think small.

The Growth Maven starts her business in her home office to keep expenses low but is champing at the bit to raise the company to new heights. Her dream is to grow from a single-person company to a multi-employee company and maybe even larger.

She isn't looking to settle down in her second-bedroom office and stay for any length of time. She is a visionary, and she has one eye on the future. She knows she has to take plenty of risks--there will be times when her cash flow is crunched because she is expanding more rapidly than the profits are coming in--but she knows that the uncomfortable cycle of growth will be worth it when her company is gaining attention and picking up customers.

She knows there is no limit to the amount of money she can make, and she is dedicated to innovating her products and services. But she has to get out of her house first. She has to take the first step.

Does this sound familiar? If you are a Growth Maven, you have to take the first steps to building your empire--you'll need to move to your first “real” office and bring on some staff. But you want to manage it so that the big leap doesn't drain your time, money and resources. You want to set yourself up for growth and long-term success. You want customers to know your name and what you stand for. You want to develop a reputation and have a consistent stream of dialogue running between you and your customers.

It isn't easy, but if you are a Growth Maven, you can make it happen. This is your time to harness your inner maverick and make your vision a reality. Say good-bye to your Home Office From Hell, Growth Mavens. You're off to build an empire!

Or a Lifestyle Guru?

The Lifestyle Guru made the dream happen the first day that he didn't go into the office.

His dream was to leave the soulless corporation behind and be his own boss. He hates the commute, the suit and tie, the cubicle, the office politics, and the crazy, overbearing bosses. He wants more--not to feel like he is just pushing paper until 6 o'clock. He wants to feel a sense of contribution and pride in his work. And he wants to do it his way.

He is psyched to be his own boss, have a flexible schedule and decide for himself when to work and when to take time off. He wants to wear pajamas to work and knock off at 3 p.m. for a few hours so he can catch his kid's soccer match. He doesn't mind clearing out his e-mail inbox after his wife and kids are in bed. Sometimes he works on the weekends; sometimes he doesn't.

He knows there is a limit to the amount of money he can make, but he is bringing in a comfortable six-figure income and has more leisure time to spend with his family and friends. When it works, it all feels pretty good.

If you are aspiring to be a Lifestyle Guru, you'll want to do a few things--increase your productivity, stay competitive, get better clients and continue to make more money--all without compromising your lifestyle choices. Whew! Sounds like a tall order, right?

No way. The Lifestyle Gurus who are doing it successfully have a plan for making it work. They make themselves look big even when they're small. They outsource the things that both drain their time and aren't revenue-producing. And they get their customers' attention.

They aren't wasting away in their basement offices, hoping they'll get that next assignment. They are out there. They have a reputation for being professional, organized and on the ball. They are constantly sending that message in everything they do.

It isn't a cakewalk, but if you are an aspiring Lifestyle Guru, you can make it happen. This is your time to harness your inner maverick and make your vision a reality.

So Lifestyle Gurus, get ready to eliminate the "From Hell" from your Home Office. You have a life to start living!

Figure out who you really are and what kind of entrepreneur you want to be. Are you a Growth Maven or a Lifestyle Guru?

You probably have some idea whether you are a Growth Maven or a Lifestyle Guru, but if you are sitting on the fence and not sure in which direction you'd like to go, then this quiz should help you figure that out.

The Quiz

1. When you fantasize about your successful business, what scenario appeals to you the most?
A. More than $500,000 a year in compensation, many employees, a nice office space buzzing with activity, and the knowledge that you are building a well-known regional or national company and brand.
B. A steady low six-figure income, great clients (that you can pick and choose) with challenging and reputation-building projects, and a casual and relaxed environment with plenty of extra time for leisure, home responsibilities and family.

2. When you think about the perfect workday, which description is more in line with your way of thinking?
A. A cup of Starbucks coffee to get you going, in the office by 8 a.m., eat lunch at a fancy restaurant with prospective clients, high-powered afternoon meetings with investment bankers and members of the media, a strategic planning session with your senior staff, complete employee reviews until 7:30 p.m., meet with colleagues for networking and drinks, get home by 11 p.m.
B. Up at 8 a.m., get kids off to school, at your desk in the spare bedroom working in your sweats until noon, grab a cold burrito from the fridge, conference call with clients while throwing a load into the washer, pick kids up at school at 3 p.m., coach soccer, finish new client proposal, and send invoices. Spouse and kids home at 7:30 for dinner, check e-mail, do 12 little things that need to get done, call Singapore, in bed by 11 p.m.

3. What is your definition of professional success?
A. Building a major business with a legacy, respect of colleagues, financial independence, opportunities to use your position and wealth to make a difference in the world.
B. Independence, challenging and creative work, time with family and friends, a secure and consistent living, service in the community.

4. I am more comfortable in a working environment that is _________.
A. Formal. I prefer designated spaces for employees, clear boundaries between staff and management, a conference room for meetings, a receptionist to greet guests, and a clear beginning and end to the workday.
B. Informal. I prefer to multitask, moving between personal and professional obligations as they come up. I like to work in my pajamas or sweats (except when going out to meet clients). I prefer a workday schedule that corresponds to the needs of my family and my clients, even if that means working at odd hours in the middle of the night or on weekends.

5. What do you think (hope) your business will be like in 10 years?
A. My company, its brand, and its products will be recognized as a leader regionally/nationally/internationally, have many employees, be positioned for consistent future growth and be constantly innovating in new directions.
B. I will have a steady, but not overwhelming, stream of challenging work and an impressive reputation. I will make more than a comfortable living and have plenty of free time to be with family and friends.

Growth Mavens to the Right; Lifestyle Gurus to the Left
You probably have a pretty good idea now which way you want to take your business. If you answered "A" to at least three of these questions, you are definitely a Growth Maven. If you answered "B" to at least three out of the five, then you are a Lifestyle Guru.

Jeffrey A. Landers is a serial entrepreneur who has founded five companies and has advised small businesses for more than three decades. His company, Home Office Success Inc., has helped thousands of home based businesses become more professional, more productive and more profitable. His book The Home Office From Hell Cure is available from Entrepreneur Press.

Setting Up Your Biz Online

Even if you run a brick and mortar store, it's probably in your best interest jump on the e-commerce bandwagon.

Read below for Entrepreneur Magazine's reasons why venturing online is such a fabulous idea.

Not so long ago if you wanted to check when a movie was playing, you'd consult your local newspaper. If you wanted to find someone to remodel your bathroom, you'd open the yellow pages.

But for an increasing number of consumers, those habits are as dated as a pair of faded bell bottoms.

"Today, consumers across all age brackets use the Internet and, particularly for computer-savvy users, the Internet is the first place they'll turn for information about a vendor," says Sadie Peterson, president of SDMarCom Inc., a San Diego-based marketing firm that specializes in working with small businesses.

"The Internet offers an opportunity to introduce yourself to consumers exactly when they are searching for your business—by appearing in the major search engines," Peterson notes. "For niche businesses, the Web presents an opportunity to reach the nationwide or global community, where geographic limitations might otherwise force you out of business."

Nicci Blanke, who started a dance studio in southeast Michigan, is a believer. Her Viva! Dance Center site, created with Microsoft Office Live Small Business, had more than 1,000 hits in its first month.

"Everybody has the Web now," Blanke says. "And I think keeping up with technology is just like keeping up with dance steps. People appreciate that and our Web site allows us to do that."

A Web site can be as much about customer service as it is about selling products and services. Blanke says she has limited office hours, but uses the site to stay connected her young dancers' parents. "The Web site allows us to be available to them 24 hours a day, seven days a week," she says. She posts paperwork, maps to dance competitions, even pictures.

Looking like a serious business
Paul Gryfakis, who runs Parking Padding Solutions out of his Chicago home, thinks a professional Web presence helps potential customers take his business seriously. "Having a Web site does give me some credibility," he says. "I'm not just somebody on the phone or sending you a mailer about my product."

When people go to his Web site, which was also created with Office Live Small Business, they can see pictures of his product, they can see specs, they can learn about the ordering process and they can find out how to get in touch with him.

For Gryfakis, that Web site is the core of his business since products are shipped directly from his supplier to his customers. "I don't have a storefront. I don't need a storefront," he says. "I just need my Web presence."

Clearly there are numerous reasons why even the smallest of businesses can benefit from a Web presence, but here are five key considerations:

Visibility: With more and more consumers logging onto the Web to research products and services, if they are going to find your business, your business needs to be on the Web.

Reach: With a Web site, you are no longer limited to a customer base that is in physical proximity to your shop. Your place of business may be in Boston, but your customers can be in Bangkok.

Customer service: When customers can log onto your Web site and easily find the information they want—when they want it—their satisfaction increases.

Competition: A professional looking Web site can level the playing field for smaller companies trying to compete against larger enterprises. It’s also a way to stay in the game; even if people can’t find you on the Web chances are they can find your competitors.

Credibility: When you can point customers, partners, even potential employees or investors to a Web site, it tells them you are a serious business.

Getting on the Web quickly
At one time having a Web site would have been out of reach for many small businesses, with the cost of hiring programmers, designers and writers and paying for hosting services and the time commitment involved in keeping the site updated.

But the time and expense once associated with having a Web site has been replaced with template-driven software services that make it a quick and relatively painless process to build a Web site.

Microsoft introduced Office Live Small Business specifically to meet the needs of small businesses eager for a Web presence but without the resources and skills to build one from scratch. Utilizing easy-to-use tools and a wide variety of pre-designed page templates, small business owners and managers with absolutely no technical or design skills are now able to create professional looking Web sites with minimal effort. And with the Office Live Small Business service—which includes a domain name, hosting, company-branded e-mail accounts, and project and contact mangement services—you can get started online for free.

Another concern that makes some small businesses reluctant to make the move to the Web is the need to put up a site with lots of different pages. But a Web site today can be a work in progress. At the very least you can start out with a "business card" Web site that contains very basic information about your company:

Name
Logo
Location
Contact information
Brief description of products or services
As time and inspiration permit, you can expand the site.

There are plenty of compelling reasons why small businesses today should have a Web presence. But with the advent of free, easy-to-use services, it's difficult to come up with a reason not to.

Ten Low-Cost Ways to Market Your Business

Joanna L. Krotz presents 10 low-cost ways to market your biz.

1. Take steps to make customers feel special. Customers respond to being recognized, especially in these rush-rush, get-the-lowest-price times. "Even with a Web-based business, good customer service is possible," says Denise McMillan, co-owner of Plush Creations (www.plushcreations.com), an online retailer of handcrafted travel bags. McMillan encloses a small, rose-scented sachet in every jewelry and lingerie bag she sells and also sends a handwritten thank-you note. "The sachet and note cost pennies but add something special to the purchase," she says.

2. Create business cards that prospects keep. Most business cards are tossed within hours of a meeting. Instead of having your card tossed, create one that recipients actually will use — say, a good-looking notepad with your contact info and tagline on every page. "The business card notepad is referred to almost daily, kept for 30 days or so and carries a high remembrance factor," says Elliott Black, a Northbrook, Ill., marketing consultant who specializes in small businesses.

3. Stop servicing break-even customers. If this idea makes you gasp, think harder. You're falling for the fallacy of increasing sales instead of boosting profits. If you stop marketing to unprofitable customers, you have more time and resources for customers who actually grow your business. "More than likely, 20% of your customer base is contributing 150% to 200% of total annualized profit (TAP); 70% is breaking even; and 10% is costing you 50% to 100% of TAP," says Atlanta marketing consultant Michael King. Take a detailed look at your customer profitability data and then direct premium services and marketing to customers who count. (Microsoft Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager can help you analyze customer histories.)

4. Develop an electronic mailing list and send old-fashioned letters. Most businesses have harnessed the power of e-newsletters — and you definitely should be sending out one, too. It's very cost-effective. (See Microsoft List Builder for more). But exactly because e-mail marketing is now nearly ubiquitous, you can quickly stand out by occasionally sending personal, surface mail letters to customers and prospects.Just make sure the letter delivers something customers want to read, whether an analysis of recent events in your field, premium offers or a sweetener personalized for the recipient (a discount on his next purchase of whatever he last purchased, for instance). "This mailing has to have value to those that read it, so it reflects the value of what you offer," says Leslie Ungar, an executive coach in Akron, Ohio. "Remember, the best way to sell is to tell."The process is simplified by creating a letter template and envelope or customer label mailing list in Microsoft Office Word, which you can print out. The mailing list is easily created in Excel and then imported into Word (learn more by reading this article).

5. Boost your profile at trade shows and conferences. You can quickly create signage, glossy postcards with your contact information, product news inserts or an event mini Web site — all with Microsoft Office Publisher. Check out its versatile features.

6. Combine business with pleasure — and charity. Spearhead an event, party or conference for a cause you care about. That puts you in the position of getting to know lots of people, and shows off your leadership skills. "I host an annual baseball game where I take hundreds of clients to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field," says Kate Koziol, who owns a public relations agency in Chicago. "Last year, I took 300 people and we raised $10,000 for a local children's hospital. Few people turn down a game and it's a great networking opportunity for guests. It lets me reconnect with current clients and impress potential clients."

7. Create a destination. Bookstore chain Barnes & Noble has its coffee bars. Furnishings giant Ikea offers child-care centers and cafeterias. Why? So customers gravitate to the stores to enjoy an experience, to hang out for a while. Sunday morning at Barnes & Noble becomes a pleasant weekend routine, rather than a shopping errand. Steal this idea.This tip isn't limited to offline destinations, either. Using pay-per-click advertising, you can cheaply drive traffic to a one-time news event or specialty offerings, points out Jay Lipe, a small-business marketing consultant based in Minneapolis. Lipe recently set up a Web site for Games by James (www.gamesbyjames.biz), a retailer of board games, and quickly attracted customers via pay-per-click ads. "The effect was overnight," says Lipe. "Traditionally in the marketing world, it takes weeks or even months to generate acceptable awareness and traffic. Here we saw traffic spike overnight." (For more about pay-per-click marketing, see this article.)Other tips to become a destination:

8. Become an online expert. This is the "free sample" approach to bringing in business. Research active e-mail discussion lists and online bulletin boards that are relevant to your business and audience. Join several and start posting expert advice to solve problems or answer questions. You may need to keep this up for a bit. But the rewards come back in paying clients and referrals. "E-mail discussion lists have been my single largest source of clients over the last eight years," says Shel Horowitz, a small-business marketing consultant based in Northampton, Mass.

9. Court local media. Editorial features convey more credibility with prospective clients than paid advertising does. To get coverage from the local media, whether from the town newspaper, from TV or radio stations, or from trade journals, you need a fresh, timely story. It's usually worthwhile to hire an experienced publicist to position the stories, target appropriate media representative and write and send press releases. Usually, you can work on a short-term or contingency basis.

10. Finally, don't let customers simply slip away. Make an effort to reel them back in. It costs a lot less to retain a disgruntled or inactive customer than to acquire a new one. If you haven't heard from a customer in awhile, send a personalized e-mail (you can automate this process), inquiring whether all is well. For a customer who suffered a bad experience, pick up the phone, acknowledging the unpleasantness and ask if there's anything you can do. A discount can't hurt either.Being kind to customers is the smartest low-cost marketing you can do.

Excerpted from Small Business Resources. Joanna L. Krotz writes about small-business marketing and management issues. She is the co-author of the "Microsoft Small Business Kit" and runs Muse2Muse Productions, a New York City-based custom publisher.

Tips for Creating a Fabulous Business Logo

Your business logo is an extension of your business - your ideas, your business dreams and your brand. Below are a few tips by John Williams - Excerpted from Entrepreneur.com.


1. Your branding efforts not only start with your logo but are dictated by it. Your logo appears on all your sales tools, from your business cards and stationary to your website. As a result, your logo design influences the design of all your sales tools--for better or worse. A professional-looking logo can be leveraged to create professional-looking materials. A poorly designed logo can't. In other words, you need a "brandable" logo--one you can make use of when designing other materials to brand your company.

Brandable logos are scalable, memorable and meaningful. If people can't remember what your logo looks like, they won't remember your brand. Think of the logos of some of the popular brands today. Do you think of M-shaped arches, a shell or a swoosh? All are simple concepts, effectively employed by McDonalds, Shell and Nike. How can you tell if a logo's going to be memorable? If you can't look at a logo for fewer than 10 seconds and re-draw it with decent accuracy, it's probably too complex to be easily remembered. (Besides being difficult to remember, most complex logos can't effectively be reduced in size or rendered in black and white, making them useless for such elements as fax cover sheets and other business forms.)


2. Your logo is a quick visual cue that conveys the essence of your brand in an age when image is everything and time is short. Perhaps you've heard the writer's lament that "nobody reads anymore." In today's markets, not only do you face ever-increasing competition, you also face an audience accustomed to visually stimulating media, convenience and instant gratification. Sure, a few people may read your entire ad, more may read some of it--but everyone will SEE it. The overwhelming amount of choices faced by time-crunched consumers forces them to identify shortcuts. Your logo is such a shortcut: it instantly conveys your brand message and emotional appeal.

3. Awareness and familiarity are keys to growing your business, and your logo is instrumental in both areas. Your logo is your brand's most basic graphic element. It ties together all your sales materials--in fact, your logo may be the only visual element your materials have in common. The right logo helps solidify customer loyalty while differentiating you from the competition.


4. Your logo may be the only thing by which a potential customer can judge your business. Think of small newspaper or Yellow Pages ads. Often all that fits in these small spaces is your contact information and your logo. If your logo projects the right image, it may be the sole reason someone decides to try your company. Conversely, if it looks unprofessional or unclear, it alone may be the reason they choose to look somewhere else.


5. Your logo affords a unique opportunity for you to look like a bigger (that is, more established) business than what you are. With the right logo, you can look like a larger company that's been around for awhile even if you have only one employee and just opened your doors last month. People who see it will associate the positive attributes of big companies--like security and financial stability--with your company. And you can still deliver the entrepreneurial qualities--like personal attention and superior customer service--that you're known for.

Building a solid brand identity is pivotal to success in business today. Lay the right foundation with a professional, brandable logo.


John Williams is Entrepreneur.com's "Image & Branding" columnist and the founder and president of LogoYes.com, the world's first do-it-yourself logo design website. During John's 25 years in advertising, he's created brand standards for Fortune 100 companies like Mitsubishi and won numerous awards for his design work.

Tips for Turning Shoppers into Buyers

Brad Sugars' 6 Tips for Turning Shoppers into Buyers - Excerpted from Entrepreneur.com.

There's nothing more painful for a new business owner than seeing a shopper walk in the door and walk out empty-handed.

1. Stress your unique selling proposition. Figure out what makes you different from the competition and deliver that message loud and clear. For example, one wedding/event facility touted the credentials of a new head chef they had hired from the best restaurant in town, pushing its conversion rate from 60 to 73 percent.


2. Identify bottlenecks in your sales process. Analyze the steps required to get customers to buy from you and determine your weak spots. Let's say you're in the deck building business. To make a sale, you need to schedule an appointment, show photos of your work, take measurements, propose a design, price the job, provide references and so on. Do you need new photos for your portfolio? Does your proposal package need sprucing up? Are you failing to make follow-up phone calls? Fix the flaws, and sales will follow.


3. Use the magic question for telephone inquiries. Never let a caller get away with simply asking for price information. Train your staff to say, "Thanks for your call. So that I can be of the biggest help to you, can I ask you a couple of questions?" This opens the door to engaging the customer. One tire retailer I know doubled his business by adopting this technique and coaching salespeople to ask about callers' driving patterns, typical number of passengers and preference for low-priced versus longer-lasting tires.


4. Outlaw "Can I help you?" on the retail floor. Inevitably, the customer will answer "No thanks, I'm just looking" and end the conversation. Instead, instruct salespeople to ask, "Hi, have you been in our store before?" If they say no, the answer should be "Let me show you around." If they say yes, the response should be, "Welcome back, let me show you a couple of new things we just got in." That way, you don't give them an opportunity to say they want to be left alone.


5. Rewrite your sales script. A lot of what goes wrong in selling can be traced to sending the wrong message. Consider the home security firm whose telemarketers introduced themselves by saying, "We heard there have been break-ins in your neighborhood, and we'd like to talk to you about installing a security system." After a business coach determined that approach was a turnoff and changed the script, the firm's conversion rates doubled overall and quadrupled for the strongest team members.


6. Adjust your sales pitch to the customer. It sounds basic, but most people don't do it. Train your sales team to ask questions to flesh out the customer's needs and to cater to different buying styles. One method called DISC divides the public into dominant, influencer, stability and compliance buyers. This applies to sales scripts as well as face-to-face selling. One jewelry store boosted its conversion rate from 26 to 65 percent by using role-playing and other training methods to help the staff adapt to different customer scenarios.

Remember, marketing can help make the phone ring or bring people in the door, but you can't win the war unless you turn a high percentage of your "live" prospects into paying customers. Give your sales team the right tools, and you'll have a lot fewer shoppers getting away.

Brad Sugars is Entrepreneur.com's Startup Basics columnist and the writer of 14 business books including The Business Coach, Instant Cashflow, Successful Franchising and Billionaire in Training.

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Building a Fabulous Website

Excerpted from Entrepreneurpress.com*

What makes a good website? Before getting enmeshed in design details, get the big picture by writing a site outline. A well-thought-out site outline includes: content, structure, design, navigation and credibility.

An outline helps you get the most out of your e-commerce budget. You'll know whether you or someone in your company can do each piece or if you need outside help. That way, when you hire someone, it will be for only the parts of the job that you'll need to have out­sourced. Lillian Vernon, who founded the well-known catalog company Lillian Vernon Corp. in 1951, designed her original website for a frac­tion of what her competitors spent. How? "It's a total misconception that you have to throw [big] dollars at an e-commerce solution," she says. "You have to be a very careful shopper among vendors."

A detailed outline to prospective web designers makes the process more efficient.

Content: The key to a successful site is content. Give site visitors a lot of interesting information, incentives to visit and buy, and ways to contact you. Once your site is up and running, continually update and add fresh content to keep people coming back for more.

Structure: Next, structure your site. Decide how many pages to have and how they'll be linked to each other. Choose graphics and icons that enhance the content. Pictures of adorable children of different ages, for example, might work well if you're selling children's clothes, with pictures of toys and books that site visitors can click on to jump to other pages within your site where they can buy these items. At this point, organize the content into a script.

Your script is the numbered pages that outline the site's content and how pages flow from one to the next. Page 1 is your home page, the very first page that site visitors will see when they type in your website address, or URL. Arrange all the icons depicting major content areas in the order you want them. Pages 2 through whatever correspond to each icon on your home page. Following our example of selling children's clothes, perhaps you'd start with the icon labeled "birth through one year" as page 2. Pages 3 through 12 might be all products and services pertain­ing to that age range. Page 13, then, would start with the icon from your home page labeled "one to three years."

Writing a script ensures your website is chock-full of great con­tent that is well organized. Write well, give site visitors something worthwhile for their time spent with you, and include a lot of valuable information and regular opportunities to get more con­tent. Whether you offer a free newsletter, a calendar of events, columns from experts or book reviews, content and its structure becomes the backbone of your website.

Design: With the content and structure in place, site design comes next. Whether you're using an outside designer or doing it yourself, concentrate on simplicity, readability and consistency. Before you start using HTML tags right and left, remember what you want to accomplish.

For example, if you have a pet products website, you recognize that many pet owners have both dogs and cats. You want them to be able to shop and order in the way that's most comfortable for them. Perhaps they want to get their pet food order out of the way first, then shop for toys and fashion accessories. Maybe they prefer to shop for their cats, then focus on shopping for their doggie goodies.

Cue them with graphics, colors and fonts that make sense to you. Should all cat-related text and icons contain blue, while dog items are red? Should all food text and graphics be green, toys red and accessories yellow? These subtle cues make all the difference in how visitors respond to your website. Keep surfing the internet to research what combinations of fonts, colors and graphics appeal to you, and incorporate pleasant and effective design elements into your site.

Navigation: Make it easy and enjoyable for visitors to browse the site. Use no more than two or three links to major areas, never leave visitors at a dead end, and don't make them back up three or four links to get from one content area to another. For example, if you have a website for convention planners, make it easy for visitors to link to city sites where they can find information about theaters, river cruises, museums and the like so convention atten­dees can check out recreational activities on their own.

Credibility: This is an issue that shouldn't be lost in the bells and whistles of establishing a website. Your site should reach out to every visitor, telling her why she should buy your product or your service. It should look very professional and give potential customers the same feeling of confidence that a phone call or face-to-face visit with you would. Remind the visitors that you don't exist only in cyberspace. Your company's full contact information--contact name, company name, street address, city, state, zip code, telephone, fax and e-mail address--should appear on your home page.

*Melissa Campanelli is a leading expert in small business e-commerce. She is author of Open an Online Business in 10 Days and writes the monthly "Net Profits" column for Entrepreneur magazine, offering valuable advice to online small businesses.

Sources:Open an Online Business in 10 Days and Entrepreneur.com

Ready to Launch and Grow Your Business???

Register now for Entrepreneur Magazine's Women in Charge Conference.

Entrepreneur and American Express have teamed up to present the Women in Charge Conference on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 in Miami Beach, Florida. [Miami beach in winter - You can't do better than that]!!!!

You will get the opportunity to:
(1) Learn internet marketing secrets for success
(2) Learn low-cost marketing strategies
(3) Learn how how to build stronger personal and professional networks
(4) Learn how to play the money game and start earning what you deserve
(5) Pitch your business to Entrepreneur's editors, and
(6) Learn the latest trends for 2008.

You will also celebrate the the OPEN from American Express® and Entrepreneur magazine 2007 Woman of the Year. You'll get a chance to meet her and learn from her success. Last but not least, you will hear from Entrepreneur experts such as Rosalind Resnick, Catherine Seda and Kim T. Gordon, who will guide you through all 6 opportunities (and much more) listed above!!!!

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IdeaBlob

Check out ideablob where entrepreneurs and small business owners can share and grow their business ideas.

All you have to do is post a good business idea to ideablob, and based on votes from the IdeaBlob online community(which includes other innovators as well as friends, family, colleagues, associates, teachers and mentors), one idea every month will win $10,000.

Go ahead and blob your idea. You could be $10,000 closer to achieving your business dreams.

Good luck!!