When you first begin the process of searching for a good web design company you should first be aware of a few things and know what to look for. Web design is a broad term and there are several types of web designers. Before you begin, do your homework.
You should be very familiar with all the features that your target client base will be expecting when they visit your site. Create a list of features to present to each web design company. This will help any web development team (or single web designer) with the initial layout of your new site. A solid and reputable web design team should be able to accomplish most, if not all of your requested features.
Now, you can hit the Internet and begin searching for your web design and development firm. There is a plethora of companies to choose from. As you search, begin noticing the companies own website and their portfolio of accomplished work.
Is their website easy to navigate? A huge percentage of web visitors are lost due to poor navigation practices.
Does their site use the appropriate number of graphic images to suit your taste or is it simply overdone? Images should be crisp clean and unique. They should help each page emphasize the target content with detracting from the important text.
Do all the sample websites in their portfolio look the same with the exception of a few color changes or image swaps? If so, they are likely simply using templates and have no real customization. While this may be okay for a small personal website, it can cost a small business a ton down the road when they wish to expand or add on a few features.
Do the website pages load quickly and is the content structured neatly for the visitor? Load speed is calculated in the algorithm used for many search engines. Additionally, slow page load times can really annoy your web visitors that you would like to convert into paying customers.
In conclusion, don’t expect the web design firm to do all your work for you. They should ask several questions to help you determine your needs, but you can assist greatly by knowing what you need and listing required features ahead of time.
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If you are searching for premium professional and affordable web development services? Be sure to visit Small Business Solutions for affordable web design that will create a stampede of targeted customers pounding down your door and ringing your phone off the hook!
Certified Internet Webmasters and SEO Specialists
More positive news about the recover of the U.S. economy!
Today, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke released a statement from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis which states that the first estimate of the U.S. gross domestic product, also known as GDP, for the first quarter of 2010 grew by 3.2% . And that is the third quarter of growth in a row! Fueling this growth is consumer spending which is up 3.6%.
As you likely know, ‘gross domestic product’, is the value of goods and services or our economic output.
As an article in the Washington Post stated, there is ‘reason to hope that the growth is sustainable’.
If you are interested in reading further I suggest the Commerce Secretary’s statement which is the first link below and a great in-depth Washington Post article which is the second link.
http://www.commerce.gov/NewsRoom/PressReleases_FactSheets/PROD01_009187
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/30/AR2010043001041.html?hpid%3Dtopnews&sub=AR
IMF’s Good News on the Global Recession Rebound & U.S. Economy’s Recovery, 21-4-10
The International Monetary Funds (IMF) top economist says the world economy is rebounding from recession “better than we thought likely” and will grow by more than 4% this year.
Some additional good news: The IMF predicts that the United State’s economy will grow by 3.1% – which is better than the predicted 2.3% average growth for advanced economies.
If you are interested in reading more, here’s link to The Washington Post article from which I garnered this information:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/21/AR2010042102219.html?hpid%3Dtopnews
For us small business managers, this is very good news!
Highly Effective goals share the following seven characteristics:
Owned by those affected
Goals which are defined by those who are effective are much more likely to be carried out with enthusiasm and commitment. People have a better understanding of a goal when they have participated in its development. They are also far more motivated to carry it out.
When people in organizations together develop goals consistent with their mutual success, they have taken the first step toward highly effective time management. They have created a standard for evaluating whether or not their is activities ake sense in whether or not their use of time makes sense.
Demanding
Goals that are not demanding are barely goals at all. Nothing is more motivating than setting demanding goals that reflect your values and then figuring out how to achieve them systematically.
Achievable
Goals must be feasible enough for you to achieve them. If you set goals that are so unrealistic you have no hope of attaining them, you set yourself up for frustration and failure. However, if you have an “impossible dream” that you really want, don’t abandoned it. Break it up into smaller, more realistic, attainable goals and begin achieving them, one at a time.
Measurable
Your goals must be measurable so you can judge your progress so you know when you have succeeded. Measuring progress is also an excellent motivator and enables you to correct your course when necessary.
Given Deadlines
Goals need deadlines. Otherwise, they will be shifted aside to whatever seems pressing at the moment.
Written
Goals should be written so they won’t be forgotten. One person said “Out of sight, out of mind.” Another reminded us that “The palest ink is better than the best memory.”
Flexible
Goals must be flexible enough to accommodate changing conditions.
These small business bookkeeping tips will help you get your books up to date and keep them that way in less time. They’ll help you maintain financial control, and help you manage your working capital more effectively and securely.
- Before you contemplate recording any transactions in your ledgers, organize your paperwork in your files according to these bookkeeping basics. It will save you time, and time is money.
- Work out how much you earn in your business per hour. If the answer is more than what it will cost to hire a professional bookkeeper, then hire one. If not, then do the transaction processing yourself. Get a tax accountant to do your year end filing so you don’t have to keep up with arbitrary government rule making, and miss out on tax allowances.
- When you’ve got your paperwork in order then consider how you’re going to record your transactions. This could be in a traditional hand written ledger, or more likely using software. Understand your bookkeeping software requirements before you buy anything to prevent dissatisfaction.
- If you don’t have much money for investing in financial software, then consider using open source accounting software.This can be obtained for little or no cost. Click the link above to learn the advantages and disadvantages of using open source.
- After you’ve decided what you’re going to record your transactions in then follow these basic bookkeeping tips to make sure you record your transactions in the most efficient manner possible.
- Make sure all cash is accounted for by performing a bank reconciliation. Ensure the transactions that are recorded on your bank statements are recorded in your books, and the balance on your statement is in agreement with that in your books. Make sure that you know the amount of any uncleared and unpresented checks (cheques) which will explain any actual difference between the statement and the account on your ledger.
- Likewise, make sure all petty cash is accounted for by counting the cash in your cash box and agreeing it to your cash book.
- Perform routine counts on items you carry in stock, and ensure that what is recorded in your books agrees with the quantity you have on the shelf. This is an area where strict control pays dividends as unexplainable differences often occur usually due to sales ’samples’, spoilage, quality defects, returns etc. This is an important area to get right as any differences will have to be reflected in the financial statements and usually affect the profit line directly.
- Keep a Fixed Assets register. While not a ledger in your books as such, a fixed assets register is essential to keep track of essential business equipment. This means the cost, the location the depreciation, the purchase date and the remaining life. The value of these assets are carried in your balance sheet. It can be surprising how, as you grow, things you thought you had have gone! Especially small high value technology.
- Follow these small business bookkeeping tips, but don’t forget to use the information kept within your books intelligently. Working capital management is how you manage your daily, weekly, and monthly cash, debtors, supplier payments and inventory/stock control to keep you in business, and really make a difference to the bottom line (the profit line) of your business.
From small business to Fortune 500 corporations, one of the most daunting (but, critical) tasks is proper bookkeeping practices. Some see this as a chore, but others simply view it as a exhilarating challenge and enjoy crunching the numbers. Either way, tracking your finances is critical to your business success. Below are the top ten small business bookkeeping mistakes to avoid:
- Not saving receipts of less than $75. While such receipts may not be required by the IRS, they provide backup documentation for the many deductions you may claim. It is very simple to have a folder for such receipts, which can prove valuable at tax time.
- Doing it yourself. No matter how much they hate it, many small business owners insist upon handling the books themselves. Having a competent bookkeeper coming in to handle the books can be extremely beneficial in that they have the skills to do the job quickly and efficiently and will provide a second pair of eyes to find errors and make suggestions.
- Forgetting to track reimbursable expenses. Small business owners often pay for expenses out of pocket or with their own personal credit card then make the mistakes of failing to track these expenses. They then fail to submit the expenses to the company for reimbursement.
- Not properly classifying employees. The proliferation of independent contractors, consultants, and freelancers has made it difficult to determine who is on staff and who is not. This results in misfiling when it comes to filing taxes since there are different rules and regulations for employees and non-employees.
- Lack of communication. Having someone handling bookkeeping is only effective if they are filled in and kept up to date on all financial transactions. A frequent mistake is paying someone a bonus and not reporting it or buying supplies and not providing the bookkeeper with the information or receipts.
- Not reconciling the books with the bank statement each month. One of the fundamental aspects of small business bookkeeping is reconciling the books and bank statements every month. Nonetheless, there are businesses that do not do this and others where errors are made by not doing it properly. Again, this is a good reason for hiring an experienced bookkeeper.
- No backup. The paperless office does not exist in the real world, where audits do still exist. A paper trail, documentation or verification in the form of backup documents should be available, especially if all files are on the computer system, which could be prone to technical problems.
- Not deducting sales tax. A common mistake in retail businesses is not deducting the sales tax from the total sales. This results in a higher total sales amount and does not lower the amount of taxes due.
- Petty cash nonchalance. A system should be set up whereby a set amount of money is in petty cash and each time money is taken out for any purpose, a petty cash slip is filled out. When the fund is exhausted, the slips will total the original amount and a check can be written to cash to set up the full amount again. Many offices are nonchalant about using the petty cash fund without keeping accurate records.
- Miscategorization or overcategorization. There are fairly standard categories for expenses. However, often expenses are entered into the wrong categories or too many categories are created. Use general bookkeeping guidelines for standard categorization and create as few new categories as possible. Try to follow generally accepted accounting practices.
Most people look at bookkeeping as a chore that must be done to simply get back some much needed cash at the end of the year. With this perspective, it’s no wonder so many businesses fail from the gate. Actually, accurate bookkeeping and tax reporting (although important) is so far at the bottom of the list, it’s not funny.
Product pricing is likely the single most important aspect of a business. Be it pricing a “widget” or pricing the services you provide, if your pricing is not accurate, you can hang up ever creating a profitable business. It sounds quite simple in the beginning, charge more than it costs, right? Well, several factors can come into play: insurance, packaging, delivery, marketing, etc. All facets of the business must be factored in when considering how much it costs to deliver whatever it is that you are selling.
Cash flow is probably the next largest aspect of a business. Many small businesses do not consider maintaining a positive cash flow as a vital element. Some go into business thinking that the demand will simply cover this element and in conjuction with ineffective pricing, they simply put themselves into the poor house within the first 24 months of operation. It is sad to see, but occurs in the business world quite frequently. Proper small business bookkeeping could have allowed them to grow in proportion to their profits and allowed the dream to flourish.
If you are going to borrow cash to get started, another huge aspect of small business bookkeeping is to get to know your banker well. Develop a rapport and your banker can provide vital assistance if your business takes an unexpected downturn. A good banker will give you credit options and help your business with differing payment plans until things swing back up again.
Small business bookkeeping can be the backbone of your business. As much as it seems to be a laborious task for many, it will make or break your business. Keeping accurate records, especially for the first few years is what will create the wind in the sails of your business vessel. Don’t take your small business bookkeeping lightly. Research these basic aspects and research it some more. Check with local and federal small business administration agencies for more guidance.
Business Tools•
on April 5th, 2010•
Microsoft Office is fantastic – powerful, professional, clean, flexible and without a doubt, well-known. But, for many small businesses, it’s also quite expensive! The same can be said about the email component, Outlook. I have setup many MS Exchange Servers (the Outlook server platform or “post office”) and know full well how powerful, yet expensive and time-consuming it can be.
Among the other competitors, OpenOffice is nice and actually can translate most of the MS Office documents quite well. But, OpenOffice is an open source code product – although, free; support can be an issue.
We are now currently testing the latest version of Google applications. In line with their browser implementation, Google has quietly been developing their own platform of office products that I feel will soon rival the others. All are web-driven and seem much more “lighter” than the resource intensive MS products. So, loading is quick and the “dashboard” effect is quite intuitive. Very little training will be needed.
Additionally, their “Premier Edition” pricing is light on the budget, beginning around $50 per seat per year, with better volume discounts. Calendar, document and task sharing are merely a few of the features the Google Apps offer. Also, you use their famous email servers and can register your domain name with them, instead of using the standard (less professional) “gmail.com” addressing scheme. 
So far, testing has gone flawlessly and importing the database worked as seamlessly as expected. Further integration of “gadgets” and other features are on the horizon. Stay tuned!
Uncategorized•
on March 21st, 2010•
An ebay auction store has been set up for US Dressage Olympic Rider Courtney King-Dye who is in a coma following a riding accident earlier this month.
All profits from the ebay store will go towards Courtney’s medical expenses. Please take a look at the store and if you see something you like bid generously!
http://stores.ebay.com/courtneykingdyemedicalfund
One of the many things I love about what I do is the creativity. I am allowed the freedom to think and design, in addition to managing my schedule when the creative juices are flowing full-force. The negative to this outstanding arrangement is when I slip into what I have termed “The Zone”, I totally tune-out everything else. I become a machine and totally on-task. The focus can be incredible and can last from hours to sometimes days. I usually forget to eat, need my #1 (partner) or iPhone alarm to ping me about taking vitamins and a bark from Scooby to take a break. I do love the Zone!
Okay. Yes, this is a huge ADHD trait, but when targeted correctly can amass output way beyond the regular 9 to 5 corporate environment. I can code like a “mad dawg” and create images that seem to only appear on the fringes of my clients’ minds. Then, if I allow my mind to drift a bit further, I simply see everything coming together and connected cohesively needing only minor tweaks later.
Although this technique is spectacular for me and SBS, it’s not so hot for my physical body and those I care about. Scooby isn’t so keen on the Zone, either. Therefore, I have had to create certain disciplines to incorporate the Zone and manage time effectively. Here are a few time management secrets I use and hope that you find helpful also.
1. Endless Email: Taming the email beast can be quite daunting at first. Microsoft Outlook is an awesome package but a huge burden on your hardware. It’s what we call “heavy” in terms of computer resources and for those of us attempting to squeeze out every CPU cycle and bits and bytes of RAM, lighter email apps can perform the needed tasks.
Statistically, most of us only use a very small portion of all the features available in MS Outlook. In the time it takes to simply load this beast, I can have another email client up and have gleaned through the first 10 to 15 emails. “Thunderbird”, the Mozilla client is one such application you may wish to review. When setup correctly, it can work like a dream. I create folders for tasked items, need to review, vendors, client info and so on. The contact lists are robust and handy. The difference here being that I don’t have the need to merge with Microsoft Word, Excel or other MS apps. If that is a concern, you may wish to stick to Outlook.
Regardless, schedule two times per day to review emails. Don’t get inundated with them (links, images and so on) and when responding, keep it brief. I have become a master at brief. I love to use lists, bullets, and numbered items. They are fantastic for me and allow the recipients to simply copy and paste for future reference. They also keep me on track with tasking and billing purposes.
2. Reducing the Face-to-Face Time: Many clients wish to do the “lunch” thing or meet you upfront and in-person. While this can be enjoyable, we all know the time it really takes to make this happen. Heck, it forces me to actually bathe and get dressed. Hmmm…, there is that time, travel time, pleasantries and so on. While I know I need to do this from time to time (and do enjoy) it’s a huge factor in my schedule. Most of these can be taken care of over the phone or via email.
3. Create Defined Boundaries: Along with setting up specific times and duration for email, setup specific times for social networking. If allowed, I can spend hours and hours within Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and so on. These are incredible conduits to meet people, connect and find familiar ground and cultivate relationships, both professional and personal. But, it can cut into your time in a major way. Set boundaries and stick to them. Oh, there goes the iPhone alarm. Time for Scooby to be fed….
4. Finding Your Rhythm: My creative mind seems to peak at certain times of the day…, and frequently, things hit me in the middle of night. While this can be conducive for my tasks, it may not be suitable for all. I schedule my design and business tasks at certain times when others may be sleeping, taking lunch, bringing the kids to school, etc. Oh, and also sometimes when I can access the drive-thru at Starbucks.
Finding your rhythm isn’t something that happens overnight for the majority of everyone reading this. Your rhythm may be arranged around your family, use of transportation and other life events. It will need tweaking from time to time and we need to accept a certain amount of flux and adjusting. Life happens, prepare for bouncing a few things now and again. But, if you work at it, I’m confident that you will create a rhythm by simply trying to put a few of these tips in action.
5. Learn to Say “no”: I would love to meet everyone in person, provide instruction and still be able to meet deadlines. But, there are so many interesting emails, snail mails and so on that could lead me on tangents to no end. With all the “hats” I wear during a given week, there are priorities that simply must be set to help the business grow and stay on track. I would love to teach more, write more, volunteer work and the list goes on. Some of my “hats” do get a bit dusty, but I have learned my limits and simply have to say “no” from time to time. This was one of the most difficult changes I had to make in my life, because I want to help everyone.
These are some of my secrets to managing my time. There are of course more and likely you can quickly identify the ones you already employ. Take advantage of them! Be efficient as it benefits YOU and your business!
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