Are you thinking of starting a new business in 2012?

Why not start out with a great franchise. Here’s a big list of 100 Low-Cost franchises you can get going. Even if you’re not considering starting one, you may know someone else who is. Take a look at the list. It’s fun to look over.

Of course, when it’s time to get that big web site going, you know who to call… me!

Happy (and prosperous) New Year!

1

H & R Block

Tax preparation & electronic filing $35.51K – 136.2K
2

Stratus Building Solutions

Commercial cleaning $3.45K – 57.75K
3

Jazzercise Inc.

Dance fitness classes, apparel & accessories. $2.98K – 76.5K
4

CleanNet USA Inc.

Commercial cleaning $6.66K – 92.95K
5

System4

Commercial cleaning $6.16K – 37.75K

Request Info

via entrepreneur.com

Keyword research is the basis of putting in place a sound foundation for your business. Some SEOs claim keyword research is worthless. In my view, keyword research (along with competitive analysis) is perhaps the most important activity that you can undertake to set the stage for all of the other work that you need to do.

Again, it always boils down to the keywords. That’s what Google has done is created a keyword powerhouse. Indexing is what it’s all about. This article is refreshing, yet quite good for beginners to understand.

Just getting these concepts understood is half the challenge I run into with my clients. I think Mark Jackson did a good job on this one.

WordPress has made it very easy for small businesses to have a website that is easy to update and maintain, but do you know how to optimize your WordPress site so that it has the best chance of appearing at the top of your customers’ search results?

The process is similar to optimizing any website, but with a WordPress installation you can customize many of your pages’ SEO elements, as well as automating them to cut down on the time it takes to post a new item to your site.

Here’s a pretty good article for an overview on using WordPress for Search Engine Optimization. I like the general tone of it. It’s also quite complete for those who want a nice clean aspect of using wp, particularly for those new to using WordPress.

Timing is everything, as D.J. Waldow knows more than most. As an account manager with e-mail marketing firm Bronto Software Inc., Waldow noticed that the companies he worked with would send out e-mail blasts and get open rates of 15 percent to 20 percent, even for targeted, opt-in lists. It just didn’t seem like enough.

“How many times do you get an e-mail [and] you’re on the phone or you’re busy and can’t open it, even if it’s relevant,” Waldow says. “I started to think, what if we send that message again, as a re-mail? We could alter the subject line and change the content a bit and increase our open rate.”

Michael Bisbee and Michael Kaulentis, both 31, are avid users of e-mail for their business, MK Biz LLC, a $6 million company that operates Chicago nightclubs Manor and RiNo. E-mail marketing is essential for telling their young, tech-savvy clients about the latest events and happenings at their clubs. However, with at least one e-mail going out per week, Bisbee says, “We don’t want them to feel overwhelmed or annoyed. E-mail marketing [especially in the nightlife industry] can be a very delicate balance between good coverage and overexposure.”

Waldow has noticed some re-mailing best practices, which he and his colleagues captured in a free white paper titled, “Re-Mailing: Targeting Those That Don’t Open.” Among the recommended tips are: Time your re-mails. It’s easy to overdo re-mailing, so some good rules of thumb are to resend one week after a monthly mailing or five days to a week after a semimonthly mailing. If you mail once a week or more, try resending only to those who haven’t opened the last three or four e-mails.

Change the content. Write a new subject line and change the look of the e-mail. That way, it will look fresh if someone caught sight of it before deleting. Focus on benefits to the customer in the subject line and give some sense of urgency. Waldow suggests including a time-sensitive promotion or some type of exclusivity, such as “for subscribers only.”

Test yourself. Testing is the best way to determine what works with your customer base, says Waldow. Go back to subsets that didn’t respond to one offer and try a different offer. The best e-mail marketers segment their lists and target promotions that work specifically for their audience segments.

Gwen Moran is co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Business Plans. Reach her at gwen@gwenmoran.com.

This article was originally published in the July 2008 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Go for Seconds .

Jump to Comments

This is a great tip on getting your message accross. My main thought on it, however, is that you should personally be absolutely certain of what your message is BEFORE you begin your campaign. Once you have that locked in, continue to push that message.

It’s all about public relations and markeing.