Ronda, Spain, Spanish, Themes, and Everything Else

In previous entries I've talked about home entrepreneurs needing to get a domain name and some hosting for their website. Today I'm going to talk about ecommerce software, in particular ashop commerce. I've used this software when I was selling scrapbooking supplies a few years ago, and a friend used it for selling health supplements.

Basically if you're a home entrepreneur, and you have a relationship with a company to resell their products, you don't want to be going from door to door looking for business. Chances are your product is good enough to sell itself, so let it, instead put more of your energies into promoting your online store. Read More

I've been giving some thought recently to the new reality of virtual worlds and their impact on real life, but what do people in the business world think of the term virtual?

For one thing, the term virtual has a much wider definition, and rightly so. In business the virtual world doesn't need to be a 3D virtual experience. Many use the term virtual in referring to an outsourced workforce, entrepreneurs will often use the term to describe a mentor or coach who they rarely meet, instead preferring telephone or email support. Read More

Branding your small business website is the most important step to take if you want your small business website to be a success, and it needn't be terribly difficult to do.

Many small business owners become frustrated with developing their business website, budgets are always tight and developers always want to charge more, the business owner is often very successful yet is treated with disrespect by marketers who have a point to prove, and then to cap it off, they lose control of the end result because they don't understand what is possible.

I've always thought the biggest challenge to small business owners getting an effective website up and running was the branding. Many business owners don't actually have any branding, they rely on word of mouth or local advertising and price points to win customers. Very few would own a brand that commands loyalty, in fact many are only agents for a successful brand.

Every business needs a distinctive profile, and whilst your website might be just one part of your overall marketing, it should be remembered that your online business can be very different from your traditional business. So if you're a small business owner, how do you position your web presence to effectively promote your business? Read More

Almost every business these days has a website, but the maintenance and upkeep of a custom designed website can be very expensive, unfortunately this means that many business owners either pay for their first website and then let it languish, or they get help from friends or schoolkids who don't really understand their product and just use the experience to show off.

Sadly the website becomes an embarassment containing out of date information or branding that doesn't suit their image. And worse yet, when new information should be put onto the website, it isn't. There is a solution, use a blog engine, and by using Serendipity, I'm going to explain how any regular small business can quickly build a website, then maintain it, and all for the princely sum of $0, sorry, apart from your monthly hosting costs. Read More