small business Archives | Top Local Businesses Near You

Praise vs Reprimand: How to Treat Employees

Praise vs Reprimand: So how are you supposed to treat employees? Many people feel that keeping your employees down will keep them from asking for raises, or seeking other employment. But this cannot be farther from the truth. Praising your employees helps their morale it helps their demeanor and it helps them feel better about coming to work. I’ve been on both sides of this topic. As an employer I always lean towards praising employees and sometimes too much. I have experienced employees leaving because I pumped up there or ego so much that they overvalued themselves and thought they could make more elsewhere. However, I find that their morale is much higher in their production is much higher. I would rather train and give opportunities to people who have a high morale and a high productivity and then just be happy with who sticks. Otherwise, you’re left with the staff who feels bad about themselves, unsure about their job, does not like coming to work, feels undervalued and u…

The Number 1 Tip for Top Search Engine Ranking

Top search engine ranking requires dedication. What's The Trick for Top Search Engine Ranking? The trick is to post often. Many people think that to rank on the search engines you need to pay for a service hire someone or use Google paper click. But that can’t be farther from the truth. Yes it will get you fast traffic, at a cost. But it won't last or get you further down the road to ad independence. Organic traffic is KING! Daily Content for Search Engine Ranking The best way to break in Google Bing Yahoo or other search engine is to post unique content daily and, if possible, add a video. Posting often gives your website fresh content that Google can index and lets the search engines know that you are an active website and something that they can reference to people who search things on the Internet. The services that you might hire can achieve this for you, but you can also achieve it for yourself so searching the Internet will come up with more and more of your listings in…

Spanish Small Business Owners are Confident

The other day I heard that Spanish small business owners are growing at an incredible rate. Bank of America recently conducted a survey of Hispanic Business Owners... 394 of them to be exact. These were from all over the country. It showed some remarkable and eye-opening statistics. And we all love statistics. Take a look at their confidence numbers: Confidence Statistics 88% think that the Hispanic small business environment will get stronger over the next 10 years. 77% have plans to grow their businesses over the next 5 years. 71% have expectations of increased revenue this year. Almost 40% of them plan to hire and close to 30% plan to apply for expansion loans. 65% of them think that Hispanic small business owners have challenges that others don't. However, most of them feel their culture has been an advantage. 60% see local economic growth over the next year or two and most of them think the national economy is moving in the right direction. Pretty en…

Marketing 101: Build a Local Referral Network

Build a Local Referral Network Why build a local referral network? Every salesperson and business owner dreams of a simple way to generate a steady flow of potential customers. Many turn to advertising, spending thousands of dollars, in hopes of making the phone ring or the customers coming in. There are many available options offered to business owners, some effective and some ineffective. Many expensive options are largely ineffective, which seams counter-intuitive. You'd think spending a bunch of money on advertising would bring in lots of business. However, often times it will simply drain your budget. Much like building a local referral network, the most effective business generation strategies actually take some planning and work to implement. In fact, there may be a correlation between the effort required and the effectiveness because most people won't do it. Have you ever heard the saying, "To have what others don't have, you must do what others are unwilling to do" ? …