| SETTING
MONITOR RESOLUTION. There are not too many small business owners who
don't spend considerable time in front of their computer monitors! Setting
the monitor's resolution is important in order to reduce eye strain. Here
are the recommended resolution settings for the most popular monitor sizes:
14-in: 640 x 480; 15-in: 1024 x 768; 17-in: 1024 x 768; 19-in: 1280 x 1024; 21-in: 1280 x 1024 |
| IRS WEBSITE. The IRS has a new website (http://www.irs.gov) and it is quite good. Most forms and publications are available for instant download and many of the publications are on-line which is quite useful for quick research. There is a lot of handy and useful information here - check it out. |
| MARKETING.
The Internet is a powerful marketing tool. Try these folks for sending
your news releases electronically:
http://www.newsbureau.com/: http://www.internetwire.com/ http://www.newstarget.com/ http://www.xpresspress.com/ http://www.urlwire.com/ |
| COMPARE SHIPPING RATES on www.smartship.com. Very useful resource. In addition you can also track packages that have been sent via FedEx, UPS, Airbourne, or Express Mail. |
| FREE e-MAIL. Try Yahoo for a free e-mail account. (http://www.yahoo.com). Sign up is quick and easy and the e-mail interface is excellent. |
| LONG DISTANCE. Don't forget to call your long distance carrier and see if any improvement in your rate is possible. Say you have been looking around and am thinking of switching! I just did this (again!) with my service (NOS) and reduced my rate by FOUR cents/minurte! Call your vendor NOW! |
MERCHANT
ACCOUNTS. One of the most often asked questions is where to get a merchant
account (for internet/telephone based businesses). I don't have all the
details but here is a VERY good possibility to check out. Costco has a
program that is available to their "Executive Membership," which cost $100/year.
Anyone can be a member. Members have access to a merchant program (Visa,MC,
AmEx) at a discount rate of 1.89% plus 25-cent transaction fee, These are
EXCELLENT rates. Furthermore, only $25 application fee and NO other periodic
charges. Lastly, if you have software (like icVerify) you may use it with
this program. We're going to switch! This is a great bargain. Check it
out. Call Costco at 1 (800) 220 6000. Remember, read about it here first!
 |
| BACKUP NOW! Remember us telling you about the importance of computer backups? Hopefully you are all making backups of critical information but how many of you are also keeping an OFF-SITE backup copy? Do it now, folks. I just heard a terrible story about a fire in which a small business lost all their data which essentially put them out of business. What would be the effect on your business if you lost ALL your computer files? Think about it. |
| MICROSOFT
APPLICATION HELP. Got a question about some Microsoft sottware? Ever
try to find the phone number? Here is some help - a listing of tele numbers
for various popular Microsoft applications. (I can't guess how long you
will have to wait!). Unless noted the area code and prefix is (425) 635
Excel 7070;
Money 7131; Bookshelf 7172; Office 7056; PowerPoint 7145; Project 7155
|
| TELEPHONE RATES. Keep a close eye on your long-distance telephone rates. As we have noted previously, they can change without notice! Also, if your calling patterns change significantly, contact your long-distance carrier since you may be eligible for lower rates. |
| LOOKING
FOR AN ISP? Considering your own website and need a good ISP? There
are so many, the choice can be tough. Get some help with your choice at
http://www.webhostlist.com. A neat resource.
|
| INTERNET DOMAINS. Many of you have Internet sites (good!) with your own domain. Check with the Internic (http://rs.internic.net/) using Whois search to determine who the administrative contact is. Is should be you! If not, get it changed immediately. In the event you ever have a problem with your ISP and need to switch your domain to another provider, the process will be much easier. |
| NEED BATTERIES? Here is a one-stop shop for notebook, cellular phone, radio, camcorder batteries. 1 800 Batteries or www.1800Batteries.com |
| U.S. GOV BUSINESS II. PASS (Procurement Automated Source System) has been an important data base for small businesses wishing to do business with the government. PASS is being absorbed into a new program called, PRO-Net administered by the SBA. The process is easier than ever - you can now register online. Visit PRO-Net at http://pro-net.sba.gov or go to the SBA site at http://www.sba.gov and click on PRO-Net. |
| U.S. GOV
BUSINESS. GSA has awarded contracts to six credit card companies to
provide additional charge cards to government agencies. Federal employees
will use these cards to buy everything from pencils to computers. In 1997
the government purchased 8.5 Billion dollars of goods and services using
credit cards. Be ready. Ensure you have a merchant account and are able
to accept credit cards in payment for your services or products.
|
| FILE NAMING HINT. After a while various folders get quite large with many files making it necessary to scroll to find what you're looking for. If you have a couple of favorites (like "TODO"), rename them starting with the underline (_) character. That way those files will appear first in the list making them easy to find. |
| HIRE WISELY - SAVE TAXES! Did you know that if you hire welfare recipients, teens from low-income families, disabled workers, and some veterans, you can receive big tax credits? I said credits, not deductions - i.e., dollar for dollar reduction in your tax bill. Hire a welfare recipient, for example, and receive a tax credit of $3,500 against the first $10,000 in wages paid. Get details at 1 (888) 872 5621 |
| CREDIT HISTORY.
You should check your credit history with the major national credit bureaus
at least once a year. Call or write to get a copy of your report.
Experian, PO Box 2350, Chatsworth, CA 91313. 1-800-392-1122 TransUnion, PO Box 7000, N. Olmstead, OH 44070. 312-408-1400 Equifax, PO Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374. 1-800-685-1111 |
| U.S. GOVERNMENT BUSINESS. There is a new way for small companies to ensure they are visible to government purchasing agents - it's called Central Contractor Registration or CCR. The government uses the CCR data internally to expedite the exchange of information among the various Agencies looking for business sources. The advantage of CCR is that your small business is on equal footing with the big guys. You no longer have to register with every local procurement office to gain bid access to possible contracts of interest. To register your company into the CCR, visit their website at http://ccr.edi.disa.mil/ccr/. Registration will require that you have a DUNS number. You may obtain a DUNS number from Dun & Bradstreet at 1 (800) 333 0505. |
| DUNS.
Speaking of DUNS, you should get a DUNS number even if you are not interested
in pursuing Government business. Many of your potential customers may check
D&B to see if you are a "real business." The DUNS number will allow
D&B to identify your business. Get the number - it's free and takes
about 2-minutes over the telephone. You are given the number immediately.
|
| PHONE ETIQUETTE. Don't commit the absolute worst phone sin of all - putting a caller on hold. The caller's time is as important as yours. If you have call waiting, get rid of it now. The customer that you are speaking with is the most important customer at that moment. |
| SOCIAL SECURITY INFO. Your social security records are important (especially in light of possible Year 2000 problems!). Get a current copy by calling the Social Security Administration at 1 (800) 772 1213 and ask for a "Personal Earnings and Benefit Estimate Statement," Form SSA-7004 or get one over the internet at http://www.ssa.gov |
| U.S. GOVERNMENT BUSINESS. NASA has a couple of programs of interest to small businesses. The Small Business Innovation Research program (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR) The general objective of the SBIR Program is to provide increased opportunities for small businesses to participate in federal research and development. The goal of the Congress in establishing the STTR program is to transfer technology developed by universities and federal labs into the private marketplace through the entrepreneurship of a small business. Learn more about these programs at http://sbir.nasa.gov. |
| "404 Error."
This is the error message returned if a link is bad or incorrect in your
website and can cause you to lose a visitor. I recently was made aware
of a very clever way to solve this problem. When the fix is implemented,
clicking on a bad link will return a page of your choice instead of the
useless "404 Error" message. Here is what to do: Find the file named ".htaccess"
which is located in the root directory of your website (get there via ftp).
Edit the file to add the following line: ErrorDocument 404 http://www.yourdomain.com/404.htm.
"404.htm" is a new html page that can be anything you like. To see what
I did, go to my site at http://www.isquare.com. Now, change the URL to
read http://www.isquare.com/xyz.htm. "xyz.htm" does not exist so you will
be taken to my "404.htm" page.
|
| INTERNET STATISTIC. A Better Business Bureau study has determined that the average price limit at which respondents would be uncomfortable purchasing an item on the Web is $1,500. [Higher than I would have thought ... ed] |
| WHO'S LINKED TO YOUR SITE? Here is a repeat (by demand) of a popular hint. Find out who is linked to your website by using Alta-Vista with the following search string: +link:http://www.yoursite.com -url:http://www.yoursite.com |
| UPS vs U.S.P.O. Don't automatically think the UPS is always the best choice for shipping at the lowest cost. Many companies that do a lot of shipping (such as Home Shopping Club an Nieman-Marcus) are switching to the Postal Service as their preferred carrier. The reason is cost. UPS is not small business friendly anymore - home businesses no longer get the lower commercial rates. Consider the USPO when shipping - we use them almost exclusively and only resort to UPS if we need really speedy delivery and are willing to pay the price. Also, the USPO is getting very service oriented - in fact starting in 1999 there will be tracking services. Get with it UPS before its too late. |
| HOT MARKETING TIP. Consider selling your product through the Home Shopping Network. Call them at 1 800 436 1010. A representative will take some preliminary information about your product. If they are interested, you will be contacted within 72 hours for additional details. Products must have wide appeal and be available immediately in fairly large quantity. |
| A GOOD REASON TO INCORPORATE.
We all know that incorporation can provide some measure of personal liability
but it can also save you taxes. Self-Employment taxes are imposed at a
rate of 15.3% on the first $68,400 of self-employment income, and at a
rate of 2.9% on all income above this. This tax apply to ALL the income
earned by a sole-proprietor, even if the owner leaves some of the earnings
in the business. However, if you operate as a S-corporation only earnings
actually paid to an owner as compensation are subject to payroll taxes.
Any money left in the business for reinvestment or distributed to a shareholder
as a dividend is not subject to payroll taxes. Thanks to the TaxTalk Newsletter
for this information. Learn more about this excellent newsletter at http://www.isquare.com/fhome10.htm#3
|
| BUSINESS CARDS. About to get new business cards? Don't forget - use them to full advantage. Include the obvious info but be sure to include your e-mail address and URL, if you have one. Use the BACK of the card to advertise your product or service. |
| MARKETING TIP. When have you last contacted your existing customers? Remember they are your best source of additional sales. Send a card, a flyer, a special deal. Stay in touch with these folks. |
| DON'T BUY A FAX MACHINE! JFAX.COM is a better alternative. For $12.50/montlh you get a telephone line (regular or toll-free) to which all your fax'es will be sent. They will be intercepted by jfax and sent to you via e-mail. You read the fax with their free software. It's great. Check them out at http://www.jfax.com They also have "jfaxsend" which allows you to send to a fax machine via an e-mail message. Very handy. Very economical. |
| RETIREMENT PLANS FOR THE SELF-EMPLOYED. Don't forget to take advantage of the plans that are available to allow you to make tax-deferred pre-tax contributions. The SIMPLE plan allows contributions up to $6000 per year. The SEP plan allows contributions up to 15% of salary or a maximum of $24000 per year. Check with your tax advisor for details. These plans can also be used by small businesses - up to 25 employees for SEP and up to 100 employees for SIMPLE. |
| CHEAP (& GOOD) HELP. If you are fortunate enough to be located near a college or university, consider hiring a business student on a part-time or contract basis. Most students are hard-working and eager to learn - great qualities in an employee! |
| MARKETING IDEA. Use
pre-stamped post cards from the post office to send a thank you and special
offer or announcement to all your current customers.
|
| IRS INFO. Download forms and publications at the IRS site: http://www.irs.gov/plain/forms_pubs/index.html |
| CHECK YOUR WEBSITE. You have built your website. Now how do you check to ensure everything "works?" Like links, e-mail addresses, etc. Check out http://www.greenpac.com, for a fantastic (free for small sites) service. Their Inspector Web will find broken links, bad e-mail addresses, overly large image files, missing and incorrect image sixes, SSI errors (if you don't know what SSI stands for then you have nothing to worry about!), and more. Highly recommended. |
| LOOKING FOR AN INTERNET PROVIDER? The most in-depth directory is located at http://thelist.internet.com. Results are searchable by country, state, or area code. |
| MARKETING IDEA. Print up some bookmarks with your advertising information, bookcover, website information or other pertinent marketing information. Use them as giveaways and inserts for all your mailings. |
| INTERESTING CATALOG. The Public Record Research Library (CD-ROM's and books) contains titles whose content is based on a variety of public records. Great for doing research! (800) 929 3811. BRB Pubs., 4653 S Lakeshore #3, Tempe, AZ 85282 |
| TRAVELING? ATTENDING A TRADESHOW? Protect your laptop, computer equipment and other accessories. Check out Specialty Cases at http://www.specialtycases.com for a variety of rugged cases designed to protect your fragile equipment. |
| MICROSOFT OFFICE 97 USERS.
If you have not already done so, download Service Release 1Patch that upgrades
many Office 97 files and takes care of a few bugs. You can check to determine
if you already have the patch by checking Help, then About in Word97. If
the patch is installed, you will see the words, "Microsoft Word97 SR-1."
The download site is http://www.microsoft.com/Office/Office97/ServiceRelease/?prev=111111
|
| SEARCHING THE INTERNET.
Searching for information on the Internet can be a daunting task. In fact,
just determining what search engine to use is complex. Here is a listing
of the best along with who does what best. The list is divided into general
searching and people/business searching. If you are looking for something
or someone and don't find it with the first search site you try, go to
another. Each site's database is unique. For general searching:
AltaVista. www.altavista.digital.com
For people/business searching: Bigfoot. www.bigfoot.com.
Searches white pages and e-mail data.
|
| INTERESTING STATISTIC. The five websites with the most traffic (currently) are, in order: Yahoo, Netscape, Microsoft, Excite, AOL. |
| MERCHANT ACCOUNTS.
For those with MERCHANT CARD ACCOUNTS, don't forget that Visa and Mastercard
regulations do NOT permit you to charge a premium for credit card payments.
You may, however, give a discount for cash.
|
| BUSINESS INSURANCE. Don't forget to periodically review your insurance program. Many companies are over-insured, have duplicate coverage, of have deductibles that are too high or too low. Check your policies and if you have been with the same insurer for a few years, get some new bids. |
| RETIREMENT PROGRAM. Do you have a RETIREMENT PROGRAM in place? If you are self-employed, it's up to you. Take advantage of the SIMPLE retirement plan. If you put a plan in place before the end of the year you can make your contribution up to the due date of your taxes in 1998 and still take the deduction for 1997. Talk to your CPA. |
| SEARCHING FOR INFO ON THE INTERNET?. If you think the big search engines are all that's available, take a look at http://www.internets.com for links to hundreds of major databases. This is a fantastic resource. |
| POWERFUL WORDS to use when writing sales literature, news releases, and other advertising pieces: FREE, YOU, YOUR, NOW, MONEY, NEW, EASY. |
| SAVE TIME!.Here is a neat TIME-SAVING TIP from Jonathan Ment, Tannersville, NY:Tear articles of interest out of your favorite magazines and drop them in a "read while waiting" folder. Recycle the rest of the magazine. Keep the folder in your briefcase or bag, and read the pertinent articles while waiting at banks, checkout lines, post offices, etc. |
| VIRUS! This word is bound to get your attention! However be advised that most virus warnings are not warranted and in spite of the hundreds of reported viruses, very few of us ever "get" one. When you read about a virus warning, check to see if the virus is real by visiting http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html which provides a detailed listing of all virus hoaxes and an explanation of each. |
| MERCHANT ACCOUNT.
We are frequently asked where and how to obtain a merchant card account.
The traditional source, banks, are usually not too friendly to small home
based businesses and less so to mail and Internet based businesses. There
are a few providers who are "small business friendly" but be careful. You
can get eaten up with unnecessary fees. Check out the article, "Obtaining
a Merchant Card Account," available on our site at http://www.isquare.com/merchant.htm.
This article, in question and answer format, will assist you in making
an informed choice.
Our recommendation for an account is ECHO (Electronic Clearing House). Contact them at 1 (800) 233 0406, x3041 for sales. Tell 'em we sent you! Currently their discount rate is slightly over 2% for non-swiped transactions. Although they recently instituted two fees (a monthly statement fee and a monthly fee if sales are less than $1,000), most other providers have numerous additional fees. |
| CURRENCY CONVERTER. Need to convert one currency into another? Try out this site: http://www.xe.net/currency which contains a very easy to use form. |
| TELE NUMBERS. Trying to find out who belongs to a phone number? Searching for a phone number? Try out this fantastic resource: http://www.555-1212.com/white_us.htm |
| BUSINESS CARDS. A tip worth repeating: Market with your business cards. Use the backside for a product picture, description, ordering info, short sales message. Printing costs are only slightly higher for this additional printing. And don't forget to include your URL and e-mail address (if applicable). |
| E-MAIL BACKUP. Don't forget to backup your e-mail mailboxes! For Eudora users, save the files with TOC and MBX extensions. (Each mailbox is comprised of one each of these file extensions). |
| TAX IDEA. If you have a corporation, don't overlook the possibility of leasing equipment back to your corporation. Lease payments you receive are not considered wages and therefore, no payroll taxes. Discuss with your tax advisor. |
| LOOKING FOR THE LOWEST PRICES for computer hardware or software? Check out PriceScan, the computer price search engine, at http://www.pricescan.com. Select an item and you'll find the vendor with the lowest price. |
| Y2K CAUTION. The
potential problems associated with computers that are not Year 2000 compliant
are getting a lot of attention and they should be. It's going to be a mess.
As a small business owner, here are a few items to consider to help keep
your business running smoothly:
1. Contact your suppliers to ensure they will be able to ship your orders even in the event their computers fail due to Y2K problems. 2. Call your payroll processing service to ensure they are Y2K compliant. 3. Ask your security system supplier if your installation is Y2K compliant. 4. Determine if your cash register (and other point of sale equipment) will operate properly after 12/31/99. 5. Check to ensure that your business liability insurance policy will cover any losses due to Y2K-related problems. Don't take this lightly, there are going to be a lot of law suits over Y2K-related problems. 6. Ensure that your computer hardware and all software are Y2Kcompliant. 7. Check with your merchant card account provider to ensure Y2K compliance. |
| Starting September 1st, the federal MINIMUM WAGE increases to $5.15. |
| UPS WEBSITE CAUTION. When using the UPS website (www.ups.com) to determine shipping costs, be advised that the amounts returned are for a customer with a UPS account - shipping costs for those without an account are somewhat higher! |
| LOOKING FOR A GRAPHIC? Check out "WebSeer" at http://webseer.cs.uchicago.edu/ |
| TELEPHONE SAFETY TIP: Anyone concerned about employees or family members calling undesirable exchanges (such as 809, 900 or 926 numbers) can request "call blocking" from their local telephone company. |
| BUSINESS INSURANCE: is always a concern for the small and home business owner. In most cases your homeowners insurance policy WILL NOT protect business assets or provide liability coverage. A "small business" policy can provide liability coverage, business property coverage, loss of valuable papers and accounts receivable records. If you're a member of AARP check out their home business insurance program. Also look to RLI Insurance at http://www.rlicorp.com. |
| CHECK YOUR WEBSITE: Ever wonder how your website looks on different browsers? Go to http://www.cast.org/bobby which allows you to input your site URL and will return comments specific to problems you might have with Netscape (various versions), Explorer (various versions), Mosiac, Lynx, AOL (Mac and PC). Give it a try - you will be amazed at the results. |
| FORGET A URL? In
Netscape, type "about:globalhistory" (without the quotes) in the LOCATION
box and a listing of every site visited in recent history will be displayed.
|
| FLAT BED SCANNERS. Considering a flat-bed scanner? Prices have come way down and one of the best is the Astra 300P at around $200 at the discount stores. Astra is made by UMAX Technologies (http://www.umax.com). |
| U.S. FAX WATCH. Call 202 512 1716 for a wealth of U.S. Government information available by fax. The system voice prompts you for the information you are looking for. If you have a fax machine, give it a try. |
| STATISTICS. A new federal website, http://www.fedstats.gov, provides a wealth of statistical info including demographic data of use to small businesses. |
| CURRENCY CONVERTER. Need to convert one currency into another? Try out this site: http://www.xe.net/currency which contains a very easy to use form. |
| REVERSE TELE LOOKUP. Trying to find out who belongs to a phone number? Searching for a phone number? Try out this fantastic resource: http://www.555-1212.com/white_us.htm |
| BUSINESS CARDS. A tip worth repeating: Market with your business cards. Use the backside for a product picture, description, ordering info, short sales message. Printing costs are only slightly higher for this additional printing. And don't forget to include your URL and e-mail address (if applicable). |
| E-MAIL BACKUP. Don't forget to backup your e-mail mailboxes! For Eudora users, save the files with TOC and MBX extensions. (Each mailbox is comprised of one each of these file extensions). |
| TAX IDEA. If you have a corporation, don't overlook the possibility of leasing equipment back to your corporation. Lease payments you receive are not considered wages and therefore, no payroll taxes. Discuss with your tax advisor. |
| LOOKING FOR THE LOWEST PRICES for computer hardware or software? Check out PriceScan, the computer price search engine, at http://www.pricescan.com. Select an item and ou'll find the vendor with the lowest price. |
| WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS.
Wells Fargo bank, San Francisco, CA., has a new multi-year program for
women entrepreneurs that offers loans ($5K and up) to start a business.
Check with the bank or the National Association of Women Business Owners
for details.
|
| USEFUL REFERENCES.
The internet is a vast knowledge base ... it's just hard to find what you
need! Check out these amazing resources ...
http://www.m-w.com/netdict.htm Dictionary by Webster. Search for a word or phrase. This is a fantastic and very handly resource! Click on "Thesarus" and get a list of synonyms for your word. http://www.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/bartlett/ Bartlett's familiar quotations. Search is available which will list every quotation containing a selected word(s). http://www.thesaurus.com/ Roget's Thesarus. Handier and faster than the "real thing." http://www.almanac.com/ The Old Farmers Alamac. No kidding. It even LOOKS like the alamac. http://www.refdesk.com/ My Virtual Reference Desk An amazing amount of information. Check it out - there is too much to list here. http://www.biography.com/ Some distracting homepage graphics but get past that and the information available is very useful and easy to find. |
| CHECK OUT IF A VIRUS WARNING is a hoax or real by visiting http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html |
| LOOKING FOR an area code, an address, a location somewhere in the U.S.? Try this fantastic resource: http://www.555-1212.com/aclookup.html |
| BACKING UP YOUR COMPUTER DATA. Here is a tip worth its weight in gold: Be sure to TEST your backups by attempting to recover one of the saved files. Better you find out it doesn't work now! |
| CREDIT CARDS. Be careful about the number of credit cards you accumulate including Visa, MC, gasoline, retail stores,etc. If you are trying to obtain bank financing for your small business, the bank will frequently add up the total credit available from ALL your cards and this can hurt your chances for approval. Get rid of the cards you don't use and check your credit rating from time to time by contacting the credit bureaus (for example, Equifax: 800 879 4094). |
| CREDIT CARD TIP. Call your credit card company and request they delete your yearly fee. 99% of the time they will do it to keep you as a customer. Quick way to save $15-25! |
| THE LIBRARY. A great
way to quickly research a business that interests you is to visit the library
and review their periodical index for relevant magazines. Get current copies
and scan them for ideas, vendors, marketing ideas, etc.
|
| STATISTIC. Just in case you think the WWW appeals just to companies with national ambitions, how about this study: According to Hambrecht & Quist Group (NYSE: HMQ) LOCAL ad revenue on the Internet will exceed half a billion dollars in the year 2000. |
| FAX "LEGAL" NOTE. I'm told that to help ensure that a fax can be used as a legal document include the words "FAX IS AS ORIGINAL" as part of the fax. |
| ON-LINE DIRECTORY. Finding people and businesses: Check out these two fantastic search sites: http://www.switchboard.com and http://www.Four11.com |
| FEDEX. FedEx rates are going down considerably for small packages. Check them out before using the post office. |
| ISDN. What we all want! Check Microsoft's page at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/getisdn which contains a variety of ISDN related information. This site also lets you place an order for ISDN service. Microsoft then sends the order to your local telephone company along with all the required installation information. But you better understand your telephone company's ISDN rate structure before taking advantage of this service. |
| MARKETING TIP. The most successful promotional activities begin by building them directly into the elements of your Website. Your Website awareness will increase tremendously with a very targeted crosslinking campaign and banner placement on other sites within the same industry but non-competitive websites. This will increase traffic, and results, more rapidly than a mass program of listing to hundreds of search engines and directories. |
| HTML INFORMATION. One of the best sites we've found for HTML tag descriptions is at http://www.woodhill.co.uk/html/html.htm |
| SPECIAL EFFECTS FOR YOUR
WEBSITE? Check out this site: http://www.nashville.net/~carl/htmlguide/index.html
|
| COMPUTER VENDOR URL's. Looking for the URL of a computer hardware or software vendor? Check out this page: http://www.cyberenet.net/%7Emms/vendlnk.htm |
| TELEPHONE/FAX NUMBERS. Infospace is a comprehensive website for finding telephone or fax numbers of people, companies, government agencies throughout the U.S. and Canada. Find them at http://www.infospace.com |
| FAX FOR FREE (almost)! We e-mail for free, why not fax? JFAX Personal Telcom is a service that sets up a fax mailbox for you that allows you to send and receive faxes via e-mail. You view an incoming fax with JFAX software which is free from JFAX. They are on the web at http://www.jfax.net or call them at 888 438 5329. |
| WEB SITE REGISTRATION. We frequently get asked for the best way to register a new website with the various search engines. There are many websites offering this service and one of the best is found at http://www.mmgco.com/top100.html. They offer both do-it-yourself for free and various payment options for them to do it for you. |
| TAX TIP. If you're self-employed, don't forget to consider a SEP or Keogh retirement plan which can tax-defer current income. You can establish a Keogh in a given year up to the last day of the year and you have until April of the following year to fund it. |
| THE LIBRARY. Don't
forget your local library as a source of business information. For example,
your reference section most likely contains the following items that, if
purchased, cost hundreds of dollars:
Magazine Advertising Source (SRDS). A giant volume containing listings of thousands of direct mail lists, mailing list compilers, brokers and managers. Phone books from every major city in the U.S and most other countries. The Thomas Register. 20 volumes of products and services from Abacuses to Zoo equipment; 2 volumes of company profiles, 3 volumes covering the food industry and 8 volumes of company catalogs. Tax guides Periodicals covering dozens of different disciplines. The Standard Periodical Directory (Oxford). Every print publication in the U.S. and Canada including newspapers, newsletters, journals and catalogs. |
| AREA CODES. Looking for the area code for a city or the city for an area code? Here is an easy to use resource: http://www.555-1212com:80/aclookup.html |
| FRAUD ALERT INFO. To monitor what's going on in the world of "on line" fraud check out www.fraud.org. |
| OFFICE & SHIPPING
SUPPLIES. Purchasing by mail can save you money. But, as always, price
compare! Also various suppliers will have periodic product specific sales.
Request catalogs from a few suppliers which will get you on their mailing
lists to receive their "sale" flyers. Here are a few to get you started:
Viking Office Products 1
800 421 1222 Our favorite - free shipping for orders over $25.
|
| POSTAL RATES. Speaking of shipping, it appears likely that sometime in 1998 1st class postage will increase to 35-cents. |
| WEBPAGE DESIGN TIP.
Use a META tag to automatically direct a user to a new page after a predetermined
number of seconds. Say a certain page is currentpage.htm and you want your
users to be taken to nextpage.htm after 3 seconds. Use the following tag
in currentpage.htm:
META http-equiv="refresh" content="3;URL=nextpage.htm"> The "3" is the delay in seconds and don't forget the <META> tag goes within the <head> tags. |
| MARKETING TIP. Here is one of our favorites. Have you noticed that in nearly every bill you receive it contains sales literature? Return the favor! Stuff one of your catalogs, brochures or news releases into EVERY bill you pay including telephone, electric, mortgage, etc. You never know who is opening the mail. |
| Looking for VENTURE CAPITAL? Check out http://www.vcworld.com , Venture Capital World Online. They provide a direct database link between investors searching for opportunities and entrepreneurs in need of venture capital. |
| NEWSGROUPS are a
fantastic source of information. The problem is that many Internet providers
(ISP's) do not provide all the newsgroups available (over 15,000) due to
limitations in bandwidth and other reasons. However, check out http://sunsite.unc.edu/usenet-i/search.html
for a database of ALL existing newsgroups
. |
| LOOKING FOR A COMPANY
OR A PERSON? Check out these comprehensive directories:
Ultimate White Pages http://www.angelfire.com/webfind.index.html
|
| NEED A LEGAL BUSINESS FORM? "The Complete Book of Small Business Legal Forms" by Daniel Sitarz provides a wide variety of forms from contracts and leases to promissory notes and collection documents. $19.95 or $29.95 with disk. Nova Publishing, 800 462 6420. |
| TAXES. Although not known for their accuracy (!), the IRS has a recorded information line including a variety of topics including the new IRA rules. Call 1 800 829 4477. The regular information line is 1 800 829 1040. |
| HINT. When typing a manuscript, letter or other correspondence, using a wordprocessor remember to place only ONE space after a period (and comma) and NOT two like was the custom when using a typewriter (remember those?). You will see why if you look at your text when full justified. |
| iNAME. This company provides you with a personalized portable e-mail address. You can take it with you whenever you change Internet providers because of poor service, moving to another city, etc. Cost is from free to $15/year. Check them out at http://www.iname.com |
| LOOKING FOR A INTERNET SERVICES PROVIDER (ISP)? Check out http://www.thelist.com for a searchable index of thousands of ISP's. You may search by state or area code. Listings include rates, services provided and contact information. |
| FAXAWAY (http://www.faxaway.com) is an e-mail-to-fax service enabling people to send faxes easily and economically from their e-mail programs, to any fax machine in the world. You can send a e-mail to fax message anywhere in the U.S. for 10-cents/minute. This is a great service for sending e-mail to friends and businesses not yet on the Internet. |
| QUICK MARKETING TIPS.
1. Keep at it! Test new ideas
frequently.
|
| BANKING TIP: Many banks are now providing "small business" checking accounts. Check with you bank for details. For example, our local bank is providing an account free of all service charges with $1,000 minimum average balance and free processing for up to 250 checks per month. |
| WHO'S LINKED TO YOUR
SITE? By popular demand, we're repeating this very useful tip. To find
the URL's of all the sites who are linked to your site, go to Alta Vista
at http://www.altavista.digital.com and in the search box, type: link:http://www.yourdomain.com
|
| WHAT SEARCH ENGINES HAVE YOUR SITE LISTED? Visit http://www.did-it.com and take them up on their free offer. |
| Save by PURCHASING CHECKS from a printing service and not your bank. For example, Designer Checks (1 800 239 9222) or Current Checks ( 1 800 533 3973) charge only $4.95/100 checks whereas most banks charge $10-$20. |
| WIN95 TIP. Be safe ... make an Emergency Recovery Disk (ERD). Use a hidden program on the WIN96 CD-ROM. Find erd.exe in the \other\misc\edu folder and execute the file to generate the ERD disk. (Format a disk with the system files included to use for this). |
| SMALL-CLAIMS COURT. Send for a free handy booklet, "About Taking Legal Action," provided by the Consumer Information Center, Pueblo, CO 81009. |
| LOOKING FOR A QUOTATION? Try this website: http://www.geocities.com/~spanoudi/quote.html |
| WINDOW 95 TIP. Don't
forget the "registry," that magic file that, if corrupted, can make it
impossible to get up and running. To be save, keep a backup. It's easy
to do. Here are the steps:
1. Select Start, then Run,
|
| EUDORA USERS. A while back we told you how to backup your mailboxes. This procedure does NOT backup your Address Book entries! For this you need to backup the file called "nndbase.txt" located in the main Eudora directory. |
| FREE PACKING MATERIAL The cost of shipping containers and "peanuts" can add up quickly but many retail stores simply discard these materials and are happy to give them away. Visit your local merchants and ask! |
| MARKETING RESOURCE. Need some demographic data? Regional economic information? Check out The Dismal Scientist at http://www.dismal.com which offers comprehensive and timely economic data and analysis at the metro, state, and national level. The site includes forecasts, demographic information, and thousands of economic statistics. |
| BACKUP YOUR DATA.
This can't really be stressed enough but even if you do backup your documents
regularly don't forget some other data that, if lost, could be quite inconvenient
- namely, e-mail mailboxes, address books and setup information for your
various applications.
|
| BUSINESS TRAVEL TIP. Getting exercise is always a problem when traveling. An excellent workout is running (or walking) up and down the stairs in the hotel/motel where you are staying. It's better than jogging and a lot more convenient when the weather is bad. Give it a try! |
| WEB DESIGN TOOL Need to figure out what a specific color is on your screen so you may use it in a webpage? There is a terrific little utility called "Coloristic" that will display (in hex, decimal, or html format [#xxyyzz]) the color appearing under the tip of your cursor! It's VERY handy. It's only a few Kb in size and can be found by surfing to my site, http://www.isquare.com; clicking on the eCompany banner on the hompage; navigating to Publishing services, then free tools. Takes only a few seconds to download. |
| SAVING MONEY - A GOOD IDEA? Don't get me wrong - saving when it makes sense is a great idea but take care. Sometimes the "lowest bidder" is NOT the best choice. When assessing a vendor or a purchase consider all the ramifications, not only the cost. Recently we decided to "save a few dollars" by having our book galleys printed by a less expensive printer. Now we know why they were less expensive - the galleys were so poorly made that they were unusable. |
| MARKETING TIP. Don't forget one of my favorites: Place your flyer or other marketing information with your payment of all bills and invoices. |
| BUSINESS CHECKS. The best price I have found for business laser checks is from FormSystems (500 @ $41). 1 (800) 893-0177 or visit their site at http://www.checksforless.com . |
| COPYRIGHTS. Copyright,
a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship
including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works such as poetry,
novels, movies, songs, computer software and architecture. Copyright does
NOT protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it
may protect the way these things are expressed. Learn more about copyrights
at http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/
|
| Those of you who have used the THOMAS REGISTER series of industrial catalogs know what a valuable resource it is. Now search the complete catalog on line at http://www.thomasregister.com and save the cost of this expensive resource and gain the advantage of keyword searching. |
| X2 MODEM CAUTION. It sounds good. 56K transfer! Needless to say you must ensure that your ISP can support X2 technology but this alone is not enough to ensure rates anywhere close to 56K. Whether or not you will actually achieve these rates is also a function of the telephone lines between you and your ISP. In many cases, a new 56K modem will only achieve 33K rates and you have wasted your $200. To make matters worse the telephone company probably cannot tell you in advance if your modem will work. So, the lesson here is to ensure that any X2 modem you purchase is returnable! |
| BANKING IDEA. Don't forget to consider a credit union as an alternate to a bank for your business. Most credit unions provide free checking and no-fee credit cards. |
| SAFETY TIP. (both home and business) When you are going to be away for a few days, turn off your automatic garage door opener. Some models can be easily opened by thieves. |
| TAX TIP. Under the new tax law, if you're self-employed, you will be able to deduct health insurance premiums starting at 40% this year and increasing to 100% in 2007. |
| NOTICE! For those of you with employee's, don't forget that the minimum wage has changed and you are required by law to post the new numbers. ($5.15 beginning Sept 1, 97). This info must be "posted" even if you have one employee and you are paying above the minimum wage. |
| BATTERIES. We need 'em for everything - cellular phones, portable phones, laptops, digital cameras, etc. A great source is 1-800-Batteries. (1 800 228 8374). On the web at www.800Batteries.com |
| CONSUMER INFORMATION CATALOG. Get a copy from the Computer Information Center, 7D-7, POB 100, Pueblo, CO 81002. It's free and contains some interesting free and inexpensive small business related publications. For example, "Copyright Basics" 50-cents; "General Information concerning Patents" $2.25; "Guide to Business Credit for Women, Minorities, and Small Businesses" 50-cents; "Resource Directory for Small Business Management" 50-cents; "Starting a Business" Free. You can view all these publications at the Consumer Information Site at http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov. |
| CREDIT CARD ANNUAL FEE.
For many of us our December credit card statements will include the annual
fee. Do what we have suggested in the past and call to have this "fee"
waived. 9 out of 10 times, it works.
|