"Chock-full of useful tips and tricks for entrepreneurs!"
July 28th, 2010
What are your Keywords?
1. Not all SEOs and SAOs are created equally! It makes sense, since some companies have been in business for years and years while others have set up shop, well yesterday. It doesn’t by any stretch mean that the newbies are too green. The solopreneur might have been a former SVP of Google for all you know. It is just smart to ask what each company you speak with specializes in. Some are pros at keyword searches while others know link building and on page SEO factors like technical issues.
2. Know your business – inside, outside, and backwards! Although a SEO and SEA’s will help you greatly, you also need to feed them information that will help them deliver the clients you are looking for. We chatted with Sean for quite a while about my business, the industry, terms that are associated with the industry and what my goal was for working with an optimization company. I also told him a lot about the web server we use and our management system. Since I knew the kind of new client I wanted to attract and the terminology people use when searching companies like mine out, it was an easy conversation, but it was up to Sean to tell us what we needed to do and what was best fo us. I am not in any position to think that I could do his job. It is just more efficient to be prepared. I also learned a lot since, and that Sean is using over 1200 key words for us on any given day.
3. Page rank, page rank, page rank! An SEO and SEA should be constantly monitoring your keywords, website and competitors to see if one or five key words are hitting more than others and if those words are found on your website. With our on line advertising campaign, it was imperative that we streamlined our message as much as possible. We were instructed to really pare down the message to the essentials. It was a great exercise for us and a learning experience. What we thought was to the point, had to be crafted several times. It helped to do research on what other firms in various industries did. Once you do this, the SEO and SEA are the ones that will be responsible for getting you up to the top. In regards to Search Engine Marketing (SEM) the best place to show up in a search is 3, 4 or 5 from the top. I am told that the reason is due to the lower costs than being in the first or second positions and higher conversions to the website from people searching.
4. Take Advantage of your competitors in a down economy! When times get a tough, the first thing that businesses will do is to cut advertising and marketing budgets. Knowing this, your biz can pick up clients that might have gone somewhere else. By optimizing your website you are going to get in front of potentially millions of eyeballs that you didn’t think about last week. With travel expenses being cut, budgets for industry mags and newsletters being decimated, a number of people I know are turning to the web in search of free information. So, instead of taking that booth at the local trade show, use your money and get in front of your demo that you ordinarily wouldn’t have. I dare say that your website traffic will grow significantly which will allow you an effective way to promote your org’s brand id. The rest is up to you.
5. Expectations. You should ask for a report each month letting you know what key words are standing out, which on-line advert is resonating with consumers (we have four different versions of the same ad), how many times you have come up in searches, what was the conversion rate, how many links you currently have and how much each click through is basically costing you. If you don’t see a bump from one month to the next, you need to go back and re-evaluate the effectiveness of your program and tweak it. I would say to give it three or four months so you can truly get an idea if the optimizing is working for you.
6. Ask the questions! Everyone that knows me understands that I am not afraid to ask questions. If I don’t understand something, well, why should I keep my mouth shut when I can learn something new. With any new technology (although optimization has been around for a while, it is new to me) especially ones that you are paying experts to assist you on, run down the questions you have and ask them to explain it to you. If you don’t understand ask it again. No one should be mad at your inquisitiveness. If they do seem aggravated, move on to another firm that appreciates your hard earned dollars.
Tags: But Are You Making Any Money?, entrepreneur, entrepreneur of the week, keyword search, making money, Marley Majcher, money, money coach, money skills, search engine optimization, SEO, website, women entrepreneur
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December 24th, 2009
Blog content provided by Barbara Weltman, Publisher of Big Ideas for Small Business ®
Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the federal government pays 65% of the premiums for employees terminated on or after September 1, 2008, and before January 1, 2010, for those with coverage under COBRA. (Federal COBRA applies to employers with 20 or more employees that maintain group health plans; “mini” COBRA in a number of states may apply to employers with as few as two employees.) Now, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act 2010 extends the federal subsidy in two ways:
- It applies to workers laid off through February 28, 2010;
- It extends the subsidy period from the current nine months to 15 months.
Employer actions
If your company is subject to COBRA, the new law means additional work for you. This includes:
- Providing notice to current and future COBRA beneficiaries about the new 15-month subsidy period.
- Determining whether any employees who leave your company in January or February have been “terminated” and are eligible for this COBRA subsidy.
- Compensating former employees who overpaid their premiums for December because they thought they were no longer eligible for a subsidy. You can issue them a refund check or offset their future COBRA premiums by the overpayment.
- Continuing dealing with the federal subsidy for the extended period. This means laying out the full premiums and then recouping the subsidy portion on the quarterly Form 941. The IRS has provided questions and answers on this subject; they have not as yet been updated to reflect the new extension for the subsidy.
Tags: BAYM, BAYMAM, Blog, Blogging, Blogs, business, businesses, But Are You Making Any Money?, butareyoumakinganymoney, COBRA, Department of Defense Appropriations Act 2010, entrepreneur, entrepreneurs, federal subsidy, Majcher, Marley, Marley Majcher, money, profit, small business, small business owners, small businesses, start ups, starting your business, women in business, your own business
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December 17th, 2009
Blog content provided by Barbara Weltman, Publisher of Big Ideas for Small Business ®
When the year is over and it turns out that your company has lost money in 2009, you may be able to use the loss to recoup taxes paid in prior years. Under the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 passed in November, businesses with net operating losses (NOLs) in 2009 may be able to elect a five-, four-, or three-year carryback instead of the usual two-year carryback; the carryback offsets income in prior years to generate a tax refund (with a limit on the fifth carryback year). Details about this special NOL carryback are in my blog post on November 5.
A quick refund is great because you get cash now to run your business. With so many businesses experiencing poor sales and other financial difficulties, 2009 is shaping up to a bad year, and many will file for refunds. During an AICPA webcast on December 14, the IRS said that the large number of filers for tax refunds won’t delay them. C corporations, for example, can expect them within the usual 10 to 20 days. C corporations file Form 1139, Corporation Application for Tentative Refund, for a quick refund. Owners of pass-through entities with NOL carrybacks file Form 1045, Application for Tentative Refund.
How to speed a refund. Meet with your tax advisor as soon as possible to assess whether and to what extent you may want to use the longer NOL carryback. Then a refund request can be filed as soon as possible after the close of this year. This is done using a tentative refund application or by filing amended returns for the carryback years (Form 1120X for corporations and Form 1040X for owners of pass-through entities). A statement containing information provided in Rev. Proc. 2009-52 should be attached to the refund request. If a prior carryback claim is being amended, a copy of the old claim should be attached to the new claim.
Tags: BAYM, BAYMAM, Blog, Blogging, Blogs, business, businesses, But Are You Making Any Money?, butareyoumakinganymoney, entrepreneur, entrepreneurs, Majcher, Marley, Marley Majcher, money, net operating loss, NOL carryback, profit, small business, small business owners, small businesses, start ups, starting your business, tax refund, women in business, your own business
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December 10th, 2009
Blog content provided by Barbara Weltman, Publisher of Big Ideas for Small Business ®
Many small business owners nationwide have been astounded by the proposals and laws that have come out of Washington in the past 11 months. Despite rhetoric that Washington values small businesses and recognizes their importance as job creators, the drift from the city on the Potomac has been anything but helpful; sometimes it’s been downright hostile. Maybe now we know why…
According to information from JP Morgan Global Wealth Management (as reported in The Enterprise Blog and in other places), the current administration has virtually know one in it with business experience (let alone small business experience).
Since Teddy Roosevelt, the number of cabinet appointees with private sector experience generally averaged around 40% (the percentage reached 58% with Eisenhower and 56% with Reagan while falling to a low of 31% with Carter and 28% with Kennedy). The percentage for the current administration is only 8%–practically no one in charge of business policy has any real life experience working in a business or running one. How can policy be made that directly affects business without understanding the impact it would have on business?
A quick look at the new regulations, taxes, and other burdens that would be imposed on business by health care reform and cap and trade demonstrates the lack of understanding about small business. How can a jobs policy be made when key representatives of employers, including the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the National Association of Manufacturers, are not invited to the jobs summit?
The NFIB Index of Small Business Optimism continues to plummet, as evidenced for numbers released for November. The biggest problem cited by respondents was the lack of customers, but I suspect things go deeper.
According to NFIB Chief Economist, William C. Dunkelberg, “The economy may be turning, but small firms are not convinced things will improve anytime in the near future.” One reason for this pessimism—no support from Washington.
While homeowners, car manufacturers and car buyers, big banks, and other sectors have received bailouts, tax incentives, and other government support, there has been almost nothing for small businesses. With practically no one in authority in Washington who understand business’s plight, it’s unlikely that there will be any meaningful assistance forthcoming for small business.
Tags: BAYM, BAYMAM, Blog, Blogging, Blogs, business, businesses, But Are You Making Any Money?, butareyoumakinganymoney, economy, entrepreneur, entrepreneurs, government, jobs, Majcher, Marley, Marley Majcher, money, NFIB, profit, small business, small business owners, small businesses, start ups, starting your business, Washington D.C., women in business, your own business
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December 3rd, 2009
Blog content provided by Barbara Weltman, Publisher of Big Ideas for Small Business ®
On January 1, 2010, the federal estate tax is set to disappear, but come the following New Year, the estate tax rules that had been in effect prior to 2002 are set to reappear. This would mean a top tax rate of 55% and an exemption of only $1 million (it’s $3.5 million in 2009). This week the House will be voting on a bill (H.R. 4154) that would freeze the estate tax at 2009 levels (a top rate of 45% and an exemption of $3.5 million per person with no indexing for inflation). The key questions that Congress should be asking are whether we need a federal estate tax at all and what the impact retaining the estate tax will have on small business and the economy.
Revenue impact
The federal government is always in need of revenue, but how much revenue does the federal estate tax add to the coffers? According to the Office of Management and Budget (tables 2.1 and 2.5), the estate and gift taxes account for only about 1% of total revenues, a rate that’s remained fairly constant for many years. Being a revenue raiser is a poor argument for retention of the estate tax.
Impact on small business owners
The estate tax can have an adverse affect on small businesses. When an owner dies, the federal estate tax on the value of his or her estate is due nine months after death. Some businesses are forced to sell off interests, often at fire sale prices, to raise the capital needed to cover the tax bill. Others carry costly life insurance to provide liquidity for the tax bill. There is some relief for estates consisting of certain business interests, where the estate can elect to spread over a period of up to 14 years. In any event, owners often incur considerable estate planning fees to devise tax strategies for passing on the business to the next generation.
Some experts, such as the senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, suggest that repeal of the estate tax would have a positive impact on the economy. The estate tax is viewed by some as a tax on capital and such tax impedes job creation and capital investments. If this is so, then now would seem the appropriate time to eliminate the estate tax entirely so that jobs can be created and capital investments made to spur the economy. 
Bottom line
Those in favor of an estate tax maintain that it is only “fair.” The question should be asked: fair for whom? The families of people who create the businesses? The workers of these businesses who could lose their jobs?
Hopefully Congress won’t be guided by a misperception of fairness and will make law based on revenue and reason.
Caution: Small business owners should not be quick to cash in life insurance policies, tear up buy-sell agreements, or otherwise dash their estate plans. Many states continue to impose death taxes, and will probably do so regardless of any federal estate tax change.
Tags: Barbara, Barbara Weltman, BAYM, BAYMAM, Big Ideas for Small Business, Blog, Blogging, Blogs, business, businesses, But Are You Making Any Money?, butareyoumakinganymoney, entrepreneur, entrepreneurs, federal estate tax, Majcher, Marley, Marley Majcher, money, profit, small business, small business owners, small businesses, start ups, starting your business, weltman, women in business, www.barbaraweltman.com/blog, your own business
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November 25th, 2009
Blog content provided by Barbara Weltman, Publisher of Big Ideas for Small Business ®
Holidays give us pause to stop and reflect, and this Thanksgiving may be particularly poignant for many small business owners. As a sector, small businesses have seen credit lines curtailed or cut, the government burden of taxes and regulations has continued to grow, and sales have waned.
Still, there are surely many things business owners can be thankful for.
Customers. During these tough economic times, many customers have remained loyal. Some may have scaled back their spending, but at least continue to patronize your company. These loyal customers, and the referrals, good reviews, and word-of-mouth advertising they give, are now the basis for rebuilding as the economy improves.
Employees. During these tough economic times, some business owners have asked employees to make sacrifices—scaling back pay and/or hours and forgoing raises and employer contributions to 401(k) plans. Where staff has been laid off, remaining workers have been asked to do more, and they have!
Market share. As companies have closed, some owners may now find themselves with a greater market share than before the recession began. Survival of the fittest at work!
Bottom line. If you’re still here, you have the biggest blessing of all—the hope that the economy will continue to improve so you can grow your business and prosper.
Tags: Barbara, Barbara Weltman, BAYM, BAYMAM, Big Ideas for Small Business, Blog, Blogging, Blogs, business, businesses, But Are You Making Any Money?, butareyoumakinganymoney, economy, entrepreneur, entrepreneurs, Majcher, Marley, Marley Majcher, money, profit, small business, small business owners, small businesses, start ups, starting your business, Thanksgiving, weltman, women in business, www.barbaraweltman.com/blog, your own business
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November 19th, 2009
Blog content provided by Barbara Weltman, Publisher of Big Ideas for Small Business ®
On November 18, 2009, Goldman Sachs announced it was investing $500 million to provide grants and loans to thousands of small business. The program, called the “10,000 Small Business Initiative,” is a charitable effort on the part of Goldman Sachs. It will include $200 million in funding for grants through community colleges, universities and other institutions. Some of the funds will be used for counseling; other funds will be used for grants and loans.
The advisory council for the program includes the head of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein; financier extraordinaire, Warren Buffett; Harvard Business School’s professor and head of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, Michael Porter; head of the American Association of Community Colleges, George Boggs; and NFIB president, Dan Danner.
LaGuardia Community College in the borough of Queens, NY, will be the first community college to receive grant money to disburse; this college also houses a Small Business Development Center, Seedco Financial, a national community development organization, will also receive funding to make loans in the New York area beginning early in 2010.
While this program may be a PR effort on the part of Goldman Sachs, a company portrayed in the media as “greedy” because it’s been highly profitable during the recession and it has paid astronomical bonuses, may still be a worthy endeavor to help the small business sector. However, this may simply be a net sum gain—Goldman, along with other large banks (many of them TARP recipients), have actually cut lending to small businesses (the Treasury reports that its loans were reduced by $10.5 billion over the past six months).
Meanwhile, the government is trying to figure out how it can better serve the small business community when it comes to credit. On November 18, 2009, the Treasury and the SBA hosted a Small Business Financing Forum in Washington, DC. Present were Treasury Secretary, Geithner, SBA head, Stephanie Mills, various other government officials, and a number of small business owners from across the country. Clips of the program, which was streamed live from the White House, should be archived here. Geithner’s remarks discuss some government efforts, including encouragement to community banks to step up their lending activities.
Tags: Barbara, Barbara Weltman, BAYM, BAYMAM, Big Ideas for Small Business, Blog, Blogging, Blogs, business, businesses, But Are You Making Any Money?, butareyoumakinganymoney, entrepreneur, entrepreneurs, grants, loans, Majcher, Marley, Marley Majcher, money, profit, small business, small business financing, Small Business Financing Forum, small business owners, small businesses, start ups, starting your business, weltman, women in business, www.barbaraweltman.com/blog, your own business
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November 11th, 2009
Blog content provided by Barbara Weltman, Publisher of Big Ideas for Small Business ®
The House version of health care reform, the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962,) that was passed on November 7, 2009, would probably hurt, not help, small businesses with the challenge of providing medical coverage for staff.
Here’s what the bill would do:
- Force small businesses to offer health care for full-time and part-time workers. To offset some of the cost, there is a tax credit for small businesses with 25 or fewer employees, but it would be available only for two years and eligibility for the credit in those two years would be difficult to achieve.
- Impose higher payroll taxes on businesses with payrolls of $500,000 or more that do not offer “qualified” health insurance; these businesses would have to pay an 8% payroll tax.
- Raise income taxes on successful small business owners (a 5.4% surtax on singles with income over $500,000 and joint filers over $1 million). NFIB estimates that more than one-third of owners of small businesses employing 20 to 250 employees could face this surtax.
In effect, the Act would discourage small businesses from hiring new employees, could lead to more layoffs of existing employees, and might even force some owners out of business.
While the House version is a long way from becoming law (the Senate first has to consider its own version and then, if passed, would have to be reconciled with the House version), it is still scary that so many members of Congress don’t get small business—or maybe they just don’t care.
Tags: Barbara, Barbara Weltman, BAYM, BAYMAM, Big Ideas for Small Business, Blog, Blogging, Blogs, business, businesses, But Are You Making Any Money?, butareyoumakinganymoney, entrepreneur, entrepreneurs, H.R. 3962, health care reform, legislation, Majcher, Marley, Marley Majcher, money, NFIB, payroll raxes, profit, small business, small business owners, small businesses, start ups, starting your business, weltman, women in business, www.barbaraweltman.com/blog, your own business
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November 5th, 2009
Blog content provided by Barbara Weltman, Publisher of Big Ideas for Small Business ®
No business owner wants to lose money. But if this happens, there can be a silver lining—a tax break that enables the owner to recoup taxes paid in prior years. This is called a net operating loss (NOL) carryback, and Congress just made things better for owners with losses. 
Under the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 (H.R. 3548 with S.A. 2712), which was passed by the Senate on November 4 and is expected to receive swift passage in the House and a presidential signature, small business owners with net operating losses in 2009 will be able to use a longer carryback period. This means potentially recouping more taxes and receiving an immediate infusion of cash that can be used now to keep the business going.
Who’s eligible? The new rule applies only to “small businesses,” defined as businesses with average annual gross receipts of $15 million or less in the prior three years.
What’s the new carryback period? Usually, the NOL carryback is limited to the two prior years. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 allowed eligible businesses to opt for a three-, four-, or five-year carryback for NOLs in tax years beginning or ending in 2008. The new bill allows up to a five-year carryback for NOLs arising in 2009.
Small businesses will be able to offset all income in the four previous carryback years and half of the income for the fifth carryback year. Generally, the longer carryback can only be used for one NOL year. Small businesses that already elected to use the five-year carry back for 2008 NOLs will be permitted to also carry back losses from 2009.
Caution: This measure will be partly paid for by increasing the late-filing penalties for partnerships and S corporations. The penalty for returns due after December 31, 2009, will rise from $89 to $195.
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October 29th, 2009
Blog content provided by Barbara Weltman, Publisher of Big Ideas for Small Business ®
A bipartisan estate tax bill called the Estate Tax Relief Act (H.R. 3905) has been introduced in the House. Instead of there being no federal estate tax for those dying in 2010 and having the pre-2002 rules apply after 2010 (with a top rate of 55% and an exemption amount of $1 million), the new law would retain the 2009 rules, but with improvements. Between now and 2019, the exemption amount would increase to $5 million, while the top estate tax rate would decline to 35%. This means, for example, that the exemption of $3.5 million and a top estate tax rate of 45% in 2009 would change to $3.65 million in 2010 and a 44% top rate in 2010.
The bill would also repeal the modified carryover basis rules set to take effect in 2010. Under current law, heirs of estates over a certain size starting in 2010 would have to use the decedent’s tax basis for figuring gain or loss on inherited assets. The bill would retain the stepped-up basis rules that apply in 2009, allowing heirs to use the value of the asset at the time of death (in most cases) as their basis for determining gain or loss when they sell the inherited asset.
These proposed changes are expected to exempt about 99.8% of all taxpayers from any estate tax liability and would go a long way in helping small business owners and their families avoid the need to sell off business interests at fire-sale prices to pay federal estate taxes. The proposed changes would simplify estate planning for many entrepreneurs and enable them to make succession plans without tax cost.
Tags: Barbara, Barbara Weltman, BAYM, BAYMAM, Big Ideas for Small Business, Blog, Blogging, Blogs, business, businesses, But Are You Making Any Money?, butareyoumakinganymoney, entrepreneur, entrepreneurs, estate tax, Estate Tax Relief Act, Majcher, Marley, Marley Majcher, money, profit, small business, small business owners, small businesses, start ups, starting your business, weltman, women in business, www.barbaraweltman.com/blog, your own business
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