America’s SBDC Blog

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Find out if advertising on Google makes sense for your business

September 23, 2014

Lesson Highlight: Find out if online ads are right for your business

One of the most frequent questions we get at Google is whether it makes sense to  advertise a small, local business with a limited budget. The short answer is yes, but it’s helpful to understand how advertising on Google works.

Coco Pannell, an AdWords Community Lead, provides a great introduction to online advertising, explaining how it differs from traditional advertising. She talks about how advertising works on Google, including some of the targeting capabilities.

A few highlights from this lesson:

• Online advertising delivers ads to people browsing through websites or searching online.

• You, the advertiser, control where ads can appear. You can target ads to searches related to the products or services you sell and show ads to people who are your most likely customers.  (more…)

Is a premium domain the best choice for your business website?

September 22, 2014

Whether you’re just starting your business or looking to take your company to the next level, you know you need to have a strong, interconnected online presence. A website. Social media profiles. Your business info on directories, maps and review sites. This is how you’ll reach new customers and nurture loyalty among existing clients.

But what if you’re doing all the online marketing stuff you’re supposed to do, and you’re still not getting the kind of response you were hoping for? You might need to look more closely at one of the basics for success online: your domain name

Your domain name is basically the street address for your business online — for example, mybusiness.com or mybusiness.nyc. It might be a potential customer’s first point of contact. In today’s ultra-competitive online marketplace, you want your domain name to stand out. It needs to be memorable as well as descriptive. It needs to be easy to type into a browser or search engine. A .com with three dashes and four numbers is not easy to type into a browser.  (more…)

Rhonda Abrams, Travel Series Blog: Must Have Apps

September 17, 2014

Rhonda’s 21 Must-Have Apps for Small Business Travel

Rhonda teamed up with Marriott and Visa to create the Small Business Smart Travel Guide, on which this blog post is based.

Traveling for your small business is crucial for growth. But it can also be stressful.

As the owner of a publishing company and as a public speaker, I’m out there every month meeting with clients and distributors or attending industry events, such as the America’s SBDC Conference. Fortunately, technology makes it easy for me to prepare for meetings, work efficiently while I’m away, and manage my business on the road.

These 21 apps have helped me be a Smart Small Business Traveler.  (more…)

Success Story: Indiana

September 16, 2014

Linda and Barry Mitchell are the owners of Trinity Dry Cleaners (website) (Facebook page) located in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Trinity Dry Cleaners is an eco-friendly dry cleaning business, and they are constantly looking for ways to help customers reduce their carbon footprint.  Linda and Barry feel it’s their mission to play a part in converting an industry that has been historically toxic to humans and hazardous to the planet to an environmentally responsible and sustainable alternative.

Before becoming entrepreneurs, the owners both held executive level jobs in a multi- national distribution company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Linda and Barry considered opening their own business for several years prior to launching Trinity Dry Cleaners. They examined a number of different business opportunities but felt they could make the biggest impact in the dry cleaning industry, as most plants still use Perchloroethylene, which is a toxic and environmentally hazardous solvent.  They knew they wanted to take dry cleaning in a new direction, and chose to use GreenEarth solvent, which is non-toxic and non-hazardous.  Trinity Dry Cleaners is proud to be the only GreenEarth affiliate in Southeastern Indiana, and also services markets in Northern Kentucky and Southwestern Ohio.  (more…)

Rhonda Abrams, Travel Series Blog: High Return on Travel Plan

September 10, 2014

Your High Return-on-Travel Plan

Rhonda teamed up with Marriott and Visa to create the Small Business Smart Travel Guide, on which this blog post is based. 

Travel is an investment—of your money and your time. Like any other business investment, you want to get the highest return for the money you spend. Fortunately, with just a little bit of planning, you can significantly increase the positive impact business travel can have on your bottom line.

Change your mindset, grow your business

One obstacle that keeps business owners from traveling is the belief that they must be on-premise to run their businesses. Can you entrust team members with more of the daily operations so you can focus more on business development? Can you adopt cloud solutions and apps that allow you to be a more effective mobile manager?  (more…)