WELCOME

An Investment Tip Exclusive For MBA Members Only!

Did the heading of this “Welcome” pique your curiousity and, maybe you thought I had a stock tip predicted to go wild and you should buy lots of shares? Sadly, I do not have that sort of tip.

But I do have a suggestion that you probably already know, but I’m going to mention it anyway.

If you really are looking for a good investment, then think about your debt first. Let’s discuss credit cards for a sentence or two (or three). Do you have a credit card that originally offered 0 percent interest on your balance? Most “teaser” rates only last for two or three months and then return to a double digit rate. And consider any of your cards and their balances to see what interest rate you’re paying. Then, if you have cash that you were thinking about investing, pay down your credit cards instead. It could be like investing with a double digit return.

Libby Beatty, Chair
MBA Board of Directors

NEWSWORTHY

IRS News

The IRS reminds employers that the Federal Unemployment Tax Act surcharge of 0.2 percent expired on June 30, 2011. This means that the FUTA rate for employers went to 6.0 percent starting on July 1, 2011. The IRS is currently working to revise Form 940, Employer’s Annual Federal Unemployment Tax Return, to accommodate the two different rates and the form will be available before the Jan. 31, 2012, due date.

The IRS will post the Form 940 for the 2011 tax year, to the Forms and Publications section of IRS.gov and other relevant information, if any becomes available, about the FUTA surcharge on the Employment Taxes page.

Source: irs.gov

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INSURANCE

The Administrators, Inc., MBA’s endorsed health plan administrator, has provided the following article.

Voluntary / Supplemental Insurance Benefits: The Buzz

Supplemental insurance plans are gaining more and more popularity due to rising health costs and out-of-pocket expenses. These plans are designed to pay cash benefits to policyholders in the event of injury or illness and create little or no cost for employers.

Additionally, employers are starting to use these programs to help counteract deductibles and co-payments in major medical. Some offer them to help replace key benefits that were once fully funded such as life and disability. Others find that the addition of catastrophic programs, like cancer and critical illness, are great value add-ons to their company benefit menus.

Companies with three or more employees are embracing these benefits to a greater extent and will continue to do so as the need arises.

Bryan Nester
Independent Insurance Agent
(610) 585-7278

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MARKETING

Marketing to Meet Online Shopping Trends

This past July, the 2011 Social Shopping Study conducted by two social commerce groups revealed how online consumers are making their purchasing decisions. Here are the top three trends that e-tailers should know to make the most of their online sales efforts:

Product Research: 15 percent of the respondents claimed that 90 percent or more time was spent researching their purchases. In addition, 44 percent of the respondents claim that search engines are their main search tool, which means that SEO (search engine optimization) should be a high priority.

Social Shopping / Customer Reviews: 49 percent of those surveyed said they have never researched products on social sites, while customer reviews influenced up to 59 percent of consumers.

Mobile Phones: Mobile devices give consumers immediate access to research, price shopping and promotional coupons for immediate redemption. The top reasons given for mobile device use were to access coupons and promotional codes and to check competitor pricing.

How to Meet the Press

Getting media attention is a great way to gain notoriety for your business, but if you can’t afford to hire a PR firm, you’ll need to do it on your own. Here are steps you can take:

Social Media Tools: Sites like PRWeb, Free Press Release, and PRLog are great places for additional exposure. Other sites like HARO, Reporters Connection, Pitch Rate, and NewsBasis allow you to target reporters based on their inquiries. MediaBistro posts editorial calendars so you can see what kinds of topics they’ll be looking for and when they’ll want them.

Media Covered Events: Participate in or attend events where you think press will be present. If you can meet a journalist or an editor, you can strike up a conversation and make a strong contact. Likewise, participating in or attending a speaking engagement like a conference or an expo is another free or inexpensive way to make media connections.

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YOUR FINANCES

Too Soon or Too Late: Avoiding Financing Pitfalls

The following warnings come from experienced business people who have created multiple successful businesses, but learned to do so the hard way. Here are a few of the mistakes they made that turned out to be great lessons in the long run:

Overzealous Hiring: The expectations of having “sealed the deal” or acquiring a new contract sometimes causes business owners to count their eggs before they’re hatched. But if you start to expand your business by hiring help before the revenue is in the bank, you may find that when deals fall through you are left overextended.

Borrowing when you don’t need to: If a bank offers you a larger loan than requested, think twice before biting. It’s one thing to get a loan based on the specific needs of growing your business, but borrowing more than you need because you can has the potential to quickly overwhelm you and create an excess of both debt and stress in your business and personal lives.

Paying Payroll on Time: This common mistake occurs when employers forget or neglect to separate the payroll liability from the account used to pay operational expenses – giving them an inaccurate sense of their balance. When it comes time to pay, the money may not be available and penalties and interest will accrue quickly. An easy way to avoid this is by creating an account that is only for payroll taxes.

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FOR THE HOME-BASED BIZ

Blogging for Home Business

With the growth of social networking, you probably haven't heard as much about blogging recently, but creating and maintaining a blog should be a high priority in your marketing campaign. Here's why:

Search Still Matters: Social networks are a part of the signals that Google uses to figure out what you do, but the single most important thing you can do to optimize your site for the search engines is to blog regularly about your business, your industry or your niche. If you build up a good list of followers on Twitter, Facebook or now Google Plus, that's great. You probably find interesting links about your niche and send your readers to those interesting pages. The only problem with that is that it's not helping your site much. If you blog at least once per week you'll be sending your readers to your page, and that will help.

Writing Content: The best option is to write posts yourself, but if you just don't have the time, there are a few options. You can check out Elance, for instance, where you can post your writing needs and get writers from around the world competing for your writing job. Also a new entry, Blogmutt, holds a weekly contest from a crowd of writers to find the best blog post written just for your site. Blogmutt is new, but there’s a great buzz about how much businesses have enjoyed the service. You can put your name on a list to get accepted as a customer when they open up the closed beta at this link.

Increase the Chances of Getting Responses
from E-mail Inquiries

Chances are your home business website has a small presence on the Internet – at least for now. This raises a challenge for Internet-based home businesses who are trying to create connections with affiliates and customers through e-mail. Here are some techniques to help increase the chances of getting read:

• Keep messages on the short side as sprawling messages tend to be skipped over
• Your message should be straight forward in order to create a relationship of trust
• Trying to make a hard sell with lots of hype to an unknown contact will be a turn off
• Be sure to have one open-ended question to illicit a response
• Giving a contact the chance to opt-out of further communication shows respect but will help you narrow your efforts saving you time and further frustration

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HUMAN RESOURCES

Keeping Employees Happy & Healthy

Happy and healthy employees keep productivity high and health care costs low, but the sedentary conditions of many jobs create a real challenge. Studies continue to reveal that sitting for extended periods is hazardous for your health, increasing risk factors for serious problems like heart disease. Other findings suggest that healthy employees are three times more productive than unhealthy ones. Here are some suggestions to keep your staff active:

Micro-Breaks: By encouraging employees to get up every 15 minutes and move around, their metabolic activity becomes more constant and helps to decrease the adverse effects of sitting still. Some suggest that more frequent breaks are more powerful than fewer longer ones.

Mobile Meetings: Try taking your next staff meeting for a walk. The exercise is beneficial for everyone, and it also helps to get the creative juices flowing.

Desk as a Gym: Encourage the use of the work station as gym equipment. Simple exercises like squats with your hands on your desk and or the use of most any object at arm’s length can be used as a free weight. Look online for more ideas and send the links to your employees.

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IT

Web Trend Watching Tools

Keeping up with news and trends in your industry is very important if you want to keep your business current and your sales strategies fresh. The following websites will help you do just that:

Trendwatching: This site gives you access to industry trends via monthly reports full of consumer trends. They are easy to access and have executive summaries that brief all the major trends.

Daily Beast: This is a great and easy-to-navigate news source for anything you could want to know - the world over. The headlines rotate regularly giving you broad overviews with the option of digging deeper.

IM News Watch: This site is specific to Internet marketing news. It’s not overloaded with editorials, but simply gives you the facts about what’s available.

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NEW MEMBERS

When our member base increases there is more of everything: more creative networking, more benefits and more experienced, enthusiastic business owners. All move our members toward growth, success and the entrepreneurial spirit.

Click here to meet our newest small business partners.

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MBA EVENTS OF INTEREST

Networking Event

Watch your email for news on MBA's upcoming Business Boosting Networking event.

Eblast coming soon!

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Unless specifically indicated, MBA does not intend mention of companies, products or services discussed in this publication to be construed to be endorsements. The information in this publication is offered as examples that may be useful to our small business readers. Please consult with an industry professional before implementing any of the tips or subscribing to any of the services described above.