I found this book by author/editor Terry Kyle on Entrepreneur Connect .  The book looks fascinating, chock full of ideas and interesting enough to consider adding it to your small business book collection.  Here are some reviews that the author has received:

• “400 Latest & Greatest Small Business Ideas From Around The World” is all about the latest actual streetwise practical tactics, specific techniques, cunning business ideas, brilliant low-cost and no-cost marketing innovation, counter-intuitive, ‘boxing clever’ moves, and, ‘how-to’ high-impact action.
• David Meerman Scott, the bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR says that 400 Latest & Greatest Small Business Ideas From Around The World is full of, “not just new small business ideas, but smart business ideas…you’ll learn a great deal from these words of wisdom.”
• And the editor of Real Business magazine has declared that 400 Latest & Greatest Small Business Ideas From Around The World is, “Entertaining, inventive and energetic”.

Small Business Ideas: 400 Latest & Greatest Small Business Ideas

There are many compelling reasons to outsource SEO work rather than attempting to do it yourself or have it done in house. They all have to do with how a solo entrepreneur, startup business or an established business wants to spend time, energy and money.  Not to mention the simple fact that for most folks, SEO is just plain tedious and boring. Let’s start with the fact that a lot of search engine optimization (SEO) work is very time intensive and not that interesting to many people.  Consequently, even the most well intentioned small business owner who wants to make the sacrifice of doing it will most often not follow through.  This is a serious mistake because the magic created by a good SEO program occurs when a systematic and unrelenting approach is used.  Lack of follow through will often lead a small business owner to wrongly conclude that “It doesn’t work”.  Wrong! In most cases, it is the small business owner’s inability and lack of knowledge that has caused the failure. Another reason to outsource SEO is that before small business owners can even get started optimizing their sites, they must gather the knowledge and skills needed to do it.  Even though many important tasks such as getting backlinking partners do not require advanced training (it is very time consuming however), there are many tasks that require extensive knowledge.  Do-it-yourself SEOs will need to know about page rank sculpting, making sure that the code on their sites complies with W3C standards and is friendly to search engine spiders.  Do the web pages load fast enough? Are the best keywords being used in the proper places and density? Unfortunately, many small business owners rely on webmasters who may be excellent graphic designers but have little insight into making a website that passes search engine robot standards. Thus, small business owners who decide to perform the SEO functions for their sites will need to take the time to learn what must be done.   Often this involves buying a variety of courses and software.  Many of these are quite excellent and others are disappointing.  But even the best products require time spent learning how to use them and time spent using them.  The cost in terms of time lost learning and performing the tasks must be considered beyond the actual cost of purchasing the various SEO courses or products. The end result must also be considered.  Will the best results be achieved? Was there enough devotion to the task? What other activities were sacrificed so that time and energy could be devoted to SEO? Clearly, there are quite a number of reasons for small businesses to utilize SEO experts. Yes, there is a tremendous price range for these services.  Some SEO firms have prices that are incredibly high due to the attention they have received and the clients they serve.  This does not mean that expert SEO services are unattainable. The good news is that expert SEO services can be highly affordable. They are particularly affordable when a small business decides to outsource SEO. Why?  The decision to outsource SEO means that a small business will not have the overhead that typically accompanies an in house employee (e.g. taxes, benefits, and infrastructure).  It is only necessary to pay for services as they are being done. An additional advantage of deciding to outsource SEO is that the work can be done by a U.S. based team with tasks efficiently assigned to those who specialize.  It is easy to realize the cost savings here.  Imagine the cost of having to hire an in house team. The end result is that small businesses gain time, energy and money by deciding to outsource SEO projects as they come along. Those who outsource SEO on a continuous basis will have the added competitive advantage of follow through which will help them leave the competition behind.

Small business marketing is in the midst of a major organizational shift. Social networking is reinventing the entire online landscape and marketers had better tune in. We are seeing consumers that are more in charge. They are more efficient in organizing and are fantastic connectors who can be a marketer’s best friend (since they can be recognized by peers as experts when making recommending your products or services. This is Seth Godin’s permission marketing coming of age. It is now not enough to just get your target market’s permission. You have to give this increasingly powerful marketing segment opportunity to participate. This means your website must be now more than a static company brochure. It has to go beyond videos too. It needs to facilitate conversations and be seen as a recipient of opinions and ideas. Your target audience wants to know that it makes a difference (especially if they are in Gen Y).

Whether you have a startup business or an established one marketing in this economy (and beyond) will require new strategies and tactics. You will need to capture the consumer’s interest, loyalty, imagination by creating an interactive experience that is greater than your goods and services. To do this, businesses will need to have a greater understanding of their customers and prospects. It’s about marketing with the consumer (through engagement) instead of at them.

The time to adapt new skill sets and rethink your company’s marketing approach is now while most of your small business competition is still deliberating about whether or not they should get online. What changes are necessary? Here are a few ideas: an interactive website that allow visitors to interact (it needs to have a blog at the very least); create a social media optimization marketing plan that is sensitive to your target market (not self promoting) and stick with it (it does not happen overnight); use video, chat and messaging when appropriate (be accessible) and most importantly provide ways for your target market to easily communicate their wants and opinions. Using the services of a social media consulting company will help you make the best choices to market effectively.

There are endless numbers of small business opportunities advertised online. Many of them are get rich quick schemes that just make money for the seller of this type of product. While there are indeed a lot of fantastic claims about making money online, not all claims are just hype. It really is possible to have an online business that works for you 24/7. So how do you separate fact from fiction? Where do you begin if you want to have a legitimate online business? What do you do if you want to get your startup business found online? Read on to find out.

If you want to start a legitimate online business, you must start by separating the facts from the hype. Commonsense will tell you that if it seems too good to be true, then it is. Why then do so many people “fall” for these claims? It is because these claims tug on our emotions, dreams, hopes and desires. They take advantage of the mystery of the internet; the fact that many people are just a bit in the dark as to how things “work” with an online business. On top of this, there is a pile of testimonials that support the claims of making a ton of money overnight. This additional element is what pushes people to suspend commonsense. People figure, “What do I have to lose? It is not that much money….and what if it really works?” The trouble is that this sort of thinking can lead to a string of purchases that really do not amount to much online progress but instead really start to add up dollar wise. People who go to weekend guru seminars really need to guard their wallets, because the hype is on maximum drive at these events. No doubt that the seminar attendee will pick up some valuable information. It is a well known sales tactic that giving away free information earns buyer trust and that it will encourage people to want more. This formula really works.

It is important to note that this formula should be used by anyone who has a product or service to sell; whether the business is online or offline. It is just that the emotions and the expectations are so out of whack with so many online plans that they seem to border on being schemes. Anyone who wants to establish a legitimate online business needs to guard against unrealistic expectations and develop a plan and timeframe for getting things done. Those who do this will remove themselves from the ranks of opportunity seekers and place themselves on the path of establishing a real online presence.

So, the first important step to developing a legitimate online business is to realize that it will take time and planning to establish an enduring online presence. A systematic approach that has proven methods will help your business be found online. There needs to be a commitment to sticking to a plan and discipline to follow these methods in a consistent fashion.

The second step is to understand what your particular strengths and interests are. This can help you identify an online business model that will be right for you. You must consider the way you expect to monetize your site. Will you sell goods or services, generate leads, have a membership site/subscription program or have a content site that sells advertising space? All of these models generate money. Sometimes it is possible to overlap these models, but with a startup business in particular it is best to focus on just one.

Step three is to research your target market. You must know if there is a demand /interest for what you want to do. Are people buying in your selected market? If your target market is just information seekers consider that it may not be feasible to sell advertising (since your visitors would be already getting what they want from your content). There are plenty of free resources that can give you ideas as to what people want. You can type in a keyword at Google trends to see what the interest in your topic is. The highest rated articles in any given category on Digg will give you ideas too.

Step four is to do thorough keyword research. This means that you find out the number of searches, the amount of competition for those keywords/keyword phrases and also if these are buying terms. If any of these three topics are not taken into consideration, your online business will be swimming up a raging river from the start. You can invest in all kinds of software to do your keyword research or you can make the decision to have experts do it for you. You really cannot afford to goof up here.

Step five is to select a domain name that has your keywords in it. This really is beneficial, so do the best you can.

Step six is to be smart about your website’s development. This means that you understand that your site really has two types of visitors; human and robots. It has to be user friendly to both of them. If the search engine bots cannot navigate your site; much of what you have done will be ignored. Your site must be code friendly and search engine optimized (SEO). Very often people think that it is enough to just place a list of keywords in the meta tags. Stuffing keywords in your meta tags is as big of a mistake as is stuffing keywords on your page. Good SEO is so much more than meta tags and meta descriptions. Great SEO is a full time job. When your keyword research is done right and you work consistently on SEO, your site will build an online presence. When this happens you will be found by search engines and human visitors.

When you build your website, you also need to build it for your human visitors. It needs to have a professional look (no spelling or grammatical errors and a polished look regardless of the style you choose) but it does not have to be fancy. It needs to deliver what your visitors expect for the search terms they used to find you. Your site needs to easy for people to navigate to find what they want. This will help you convert visitors to customers.

When this is done, you will need a way to measure and track your website’s visitors. This will give you the information you need to constantly make improvements and get the results that you want. Google analytics is free and is a great place to start.

These are the basic steps for creating a legitimate online business. It involves a lot of commitment in time, energy and money. Those who do it all themselves will be investing a lot of time in learning the details of what needs to be done. They will also need to spend a lot of time in order to get the SEO portion done right. People who do not have the time or interest in learning about all of this can just hire experts who will get it all done right in a timely fashion. It’s nice to know that affordable expertise is available (and cheaper than a lot of weekend seminars).

I recommend getting a free subscription to Website Magazine. It is truly loaded with serious information (no hype).

The recession may have accelerated the move toward home based business offices but it can’t be denied that the trend toward working from home was significant before it even started. If you are contemplating working at home, here are some of the benefits and challenges to consider about having a home based business office.

Home based businesses have lots of advantages; the most obvious being the elimination of the commute and the need to adhere to a dress code. The cost savings in terms of less gas, wear and tear on a car, insurance premiums, dry cleaning and other clothing expenditures is truly significant. Additionally, for many work at home folks there is the ability to maintain a schedule that is better suited to an individual’s lifestyle (unless, for example, customers or networking requires you to maintain regular work hours). If you are running your own business at home, then the use of virtual assistant services will grant you the freedom to work whenever you want. You are there for children when they come home from school (not to mention you will be there to witness “firsts” e.g. the first walk, talk etc.).

In addition to these advantages, a home based business which has a dedicated area in your home can be used as a deduction from your income taxes (check IRS rules). Of course, all your other business expenses continue to be tabulated as well.

Because of the economy, many people that did not originally plan to work at home now find themselves in a position to consider this option. People who are reluctant home based workers may be apt to see the negatives of working at home more prominently than those who have chosen it. Regardless of the circumstances, the need to address the negatives exists. Home based workers who address the negatives will have a more fruitful work at home experience.

Home based office issues that must be addressed include:

Time management –

Home based business owners have the luxury of taking time off whenever they want…right? Well, if the business owner tries to do everything (too many hats syndrome) and does not use business process software then the chances are extremely high that this individual will be working twice as much as someone who “goes” to work. The key for managing a successful home business is being able to effectively balance the demands of work and home. Some people are challenged by the distractions at home while others never know when to quit. Oddly enough the answer to both these problems comes from being organized and delegating. Home business owners that implement business process software will find that they are able to put much of their sales and marketing efforts for their online business on automatic. Even those who do not have online businesses will benefit from using contact management systems to automate follow up. There are a lot of automation solutions. Some are simple calendar systems and more elaborate ones allow multiple users and automate all aspects of your business from lead generation to sales to marketing to billing to customer support. Imagine the amount of time gained once such a system is implemented. The good news is that there is a lot of choice and many of these choices are not expensive. Strangely, a lot of small business owners and work at home soloists do not think that such systems would apply to them. They need to think again. When there is just too much for one person to do, automation is an important consideration. One very simple solution that I have used quite often is offered by Sendoutcards.com. It is great for sending out thank you cards to your customers. It is so convenient to be able to send cards and gifts right from your desktop. It even has a contact management system with reminders.

Another consideration is outsourcing some of the work to a virtual secretary or other expert that can do virtual administrative services. You will save time and money by using virtual assistants who have the expertise to do what you need in a smaller amount of time. In addition to this, it is likely to get done sooner (versus not at all or later if you are the person that has to do everything) and it most likely will be done better because you are hiring an expert. Remember, you are only paying someone when you need a particular job done. Since they are not your employee, you are free to use someone else for the very next job that needs to be done. This is a great way to get someone who has expertise to do exactly what you need and you are only paying for the work that you need. Elance.com is a great place to find workers with the expertise that you need.

Social Aspects –

Many people have a hard time adjusting to the isolation of working at home. This is an important need that must not be dismissed. Time must be set aside for networking with other small businesses. Joining associations and local business organizations that meet regularly will address this need. Additionally, there are other benefits such as finding business opportunities, sharing information and getting discounts on health insurance for example (depends on organization). Getting out of the house from time to time is refreshing and will prevent stagnation. There will be more time for networking when time management is handled efficiently.

Keeping Current in Your Field –

Self education will help your business stay competitive. You need to stay aware of best practices for your industry as well as look for ways to outpace your competition. Keeping abreast does not mean that you have to become an expert in everything. It does mean that you know what exists out there and this will provide you with insights for change and improvements. Outsourcing to experts is still the easiest solution for change but you need awareness before you can evaluate and make changes. Fortunately, staying current is really easy for stay at home businesses. The Internet provides access to many certification programs, webinars and college degree programs. The possibilities are enormous and are just a mouse click away.

Getting On Line

For many people, having a website still seems like a foreign entity that is not a requirement for business. This is a big mistake. The Internet is in its infancy. Right now there still exist opportunities to carve a place on the Internet for your small business which will allow it to effectively compete and grow. There will be a time in the not so distant future when those niches will be filled (with your competition if you fail to do something). It is not a matter of should your small business get on line. It is a matter of getting on line soon and making sure that your business establishes a presence. The time to do it is right away while most of your small business competition is still unsure about it. You do not need to have the expertise to get online. Startup businesses and existing small businesses need to make sure that they connect with real experts and not those who just claim expertise. The opportunity to get a strong online presence should not be messed up because you are trying to pay the cheapest amount possible to the local college student for example or a graphic designer who makes beautiful websites but makes your site a coding nightmare for search engines as another example. The cost of losing your place online and the struggle you will have to gain it later will far outweigh any short term gains (if any) of hiring the least expensive help. Whether your business requires local customers or global customers, getting online and getting found is for you. Fortunately, expert services that will get your business online and found are available for highly affordable rates.