Small Business Trends published a great piece this month on invoicing tools that you can access online.

Let's face it: collecting what people owe you is a major key to business success. Especially if you provide business-to-business services, there's a good changce your accounts aren't done on a cash only basis. And if you deal with customers on a regular, repeated basis there's a good chance you bill them from time to time.

This piece looks at 30 different invoicing tools. I promise you that one of them is probably better than what you're using now. Increased efficiency is money in your pocket - especially if it means you collect payments more effeciently.

Social Media has lots of business uses and implications. But if you decide to use social media as a marketing tool, how do you know if it's working?

Search Engine Land has some answers to that question for you.

I love social media because it can positively affect almost all aspects of your business both directly and indirectly. Directly, it generates increased brand awareness, traffic, leads, sales, subscribers, and more followers on social media sites. Indirectly, it effects search rankings as a successful campaign attracts backlinks and mentions in content which leads to higher search engine rankings. Social Media is so popular because it truly is that powerful, one campaign can affect your entire business.

The author goes on to lay out 20 specific ways for you to measure the success of your social media campaign. The article is worth reading.

© timparkinson


Matt Bell pointed out recently that startup companies today talk and blog about lots of nice stuff - like company culture, raising investment capital, and finding a good business location. But they don't talk much about the heart of any new business - which is, well, sales.

A company with strong sales can build a great culture, hire anyone and take the time to figure out its strategy. Without sales, nothing else matters.

And he's right, of course. Plenty of business starve to death despite have a prime location and great window dressing. You can't eat culture. It takes sales to succeed.

Bell looks at ten hands-on ways to make sales happen. It may not be as intellectually stimulating as good discussion on institutional culture. But sales are what makes businesses tick. Or so they tell me...

Why Bankers and Investors ask for a Business Plan Biz Plan Hacks

It saves them time because they can read your plan and get a quick overview of the business, how you plan to run it, and how much money you will make. The reason bankers and investors like business plans is it is in a format that they are familiar with and provides them with the information they need to make a lending decision. It also serves as 'disclosure' document and [...] Read More


Finding Investors and Presenting A Business Plan To Investors Biz Plan Hacks

First, write (or modify the executive summary) of your business plan for each Investor. Second you will have to look for potential Investors like a salesman would look for a customer and preparation is the key. For example, a friend of mine (a strategic planner) decided to take up bow hunting. he studied everything -- I mean everything. He took shooting lessons, studied deer migration patterns, talked to old hunters [...] Read More


Business Plan Templates Biz Plan Hacks

The Business Plan blog is providing free templates for building your business plan. Putting your business plan together can be a daunting task, but these templates will make the process a little easier. Remember not only should you have a business plan for starting up your business; you should update your business plan on a regular basis based on the performance of your business and adjust your numbers. Now you cannot [...] Read More


Home Biz Idea of the Week: Home Based Knitting Business (Part II) Home Based Business

This is the second part of the Home Biz Idea of the Week featuring Working from Home as a Knitter. It's first part includes the tools and other requirements on starting a knitting home business. Always start with a business plan. A business plan is an outline of everything that has to do with your business and helps you take a methodical approach to operating your business. It will also ensure [...] Read More


Business Model or Plan: Which Do You Use? Bizinformer

Dan Sitter brings up an interesting point this week in his blog Idea Sellers: Business Models: A Track to Run On. He asks "What is the difference between a business plan and a business model?" We frequently hear about the business plan because investors are looking for the information found in your plan to determine if or how much they are willing to lend. But so often the plan is developed - especially [...] Read More

Every business should have a blog, acording to SubmitEdge.

A well established blog can significantly boost the visibility of your brand. It can even help establish your website as the authority place to go for information! Every business needs a blog, so quit making excuses and just do it.

The SubmitEdge piece gives a long list of things a blog can do for your website and your company's image. It also looks at specific tasks you can complete for your business on a blog - things like announcing a new product or a sales event.

The piece is worth reading.