Author: Kenneth Rogers

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SBA Portable Assistance Program

The Portable Assistance Program seeks to provide grants to Small Business Development Lead Centers that provide services to small businesses in an effort to increase the success of small business establishments and their viability in certain communities where economic hardship is apparent and is attributable to the impact of a major disaster.

This post is aligned with a network of sites interested with the intersection of small business, the philanthropic sector and government in creating healthy and sustainable communities.

Find additional information and resources on nonprofit information, educational grants and Civic Engagement programs from around the world.

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Community Development Credit Unions

A Community Development Credit Union, more commonly known as a CDCU, is a credit financial institution which owned and controlled by its members in an effort to sustain the ability of being able to provide a wide array of financial services. Basically a Community Development Credit Union is a type of Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that is specially designed to low and moderate income people and communities with or without small businesses.

This post is part of a network of sites interested with the intersection of small business, the philanthropic sector and government in creating healthy and sustainable communities.

For more information on small business grant and home ownership programs visit TopGovernmentGrants.com.

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SBA Low-Interest Disaster Loans

Disaster loans can be utilized for the repair and rebuilding of non-farm, private sector disaster losses, and are available to all types of business, instead of being restricted to small businesses alone.

This post is part of a network of sites interested with the intersection of small business, the philanthropic sector and government in creating healthy and sustainable communities.

For more information on small business grant and home ownership programs visit TopGovernmentGrants.com.

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From Idea to Business – SCORE Success Story

Learn how with the assistance of a SCORE mentor, this woman turned her wall art idea into a viable business.

This post is aligned with a network of sites interested with the intersection of small business, the philanthropic sector and government in creating healthy and sustainable communities.

Find additional information and resources on small business grants and loans, home buyer programs and impact investment programs from around the world.

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Tips On How To Better Your Reputation

You cannot have a business without a respectable reputation with the public. On the flip side, you can do so much when you have a stellar reputation. Your reputation should be closely guarded no matter what. Use this advice to create and keep a great business reputation.

To improve your business reputation, stay in touch with customers. This is the case if your business is on the larger size. Customers would like to feel as if they actually matter to your company. Try using automated systems that can follow up with them. Also, you can ask them to make feedback on the purchases they’ve made.

Negative Content

When dealing with some negative content regarding your online brand, have a good offense. Ensure you have plenty of positive feedback since this can drown out the negative. Continue to post positive content, and the negative content will be drowned out.

Keep a good reputation and satisfy unhappy customers. Reversing a customer’s opinion of you in a positive way is a good way to show them you care. Doing it on a public online forum is even better. The other customers out there, and prospective ones, will be shown that you work on customer complaints quickly so they will feel more comfortable doing business with you.

Always continue to learn about your business. This helps make sure you are giving the most up to date information to your customers. Just a few minutes each day can help you stay up to date.

If you have employees, treat them well. Take this very seriously, as it can hurt or benefit your reputation. If people find out that you’re a bad employer, a lot of people aren’t going to do business with you.

As your business expands, you can get more customer interaction. Sometimes their comments will be negative. Speak in a manner that is businesslike and professional.

When you get negative feedback, it can be tempting to blow up immediately, especially if the person who wrote it isn’t being totally honest. The best thing that you can do is to approach it in a civil manner. When readers see the whole argument, they can judge for themselves.

You need to work on making expectations according to your business. Be honest with customers and provide compensation. Your transparency will foster trust and play a major role in supporting your good reputation.

If a mistake was made, don’t hide it. This will look very mysterious to your customers. Instead, admit the mistake and apologize sincerely. If you are humble, they’ll forgive your firm.

Offer to sponsor charitable events. Your business reputation will benefit if you do. Your customers will love the fact that you care enough to invest your time as well as your money for a community cause. And that can make a lot of difference when it comes time to buy.

Without a good reputation, your business isn’t worth a lot. This will help you in the future as well. This is why it is essential to manage your reputation well. Keep these tips handy going forward.

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What You Need To Learn About Facebook Marketing

How much do you know about online marketing? Can you use that expertise on Facebook? Maybe you’ve come from the print or broadcast advertising world and don’t know much about online marketing methods. No matter if you are new or are an old hand, the advice in this piece will surely prove useful.

Facilitate regular interaction with your followers so you understand their needs and interests. If they post items on your page, keep them in mind. You can gain valuable ideas from these posts. Do not ignore your fans, because you would not be very successful without them.

You can quickly expand your viewers on Facebook by holding a competition. Reward them with prizes and incentives if they like your page. Be sure to follow through properly and actually give out the prizes, or your honesty will fall into question.

Make sure that all content you publish online is at least linked to from your Facebook. For example, link your blog to your Facebook so that a summary of every post appears automatically on your page. Your Twitter account can be linked to Facebook, as well, so your tweets go to your Facebook too.

Using the custom audience feature, you have the ability to upload email information for existing customers and channel advertisements just to them. Your conversion rate will increase using this tactic and your campaign cost will lower, both of which are beneficial to you.

For business that sell items like cars or major appliances that are purchased infrequently, a Facebook page for their business might not be the best answer. Your customers come and go randomly, so they’ll have no reason to follow your day to day posts. Use targeted ads on Facebook instead.

Most people market on Facebook because they want to improve their sales. This is why it’s a good idea to set a goal for how much you’d like to sell by the time the month’s over. Getting people to visit and like your Facebook page is great, however it is more important that your efforts translates to more sales. You should think about changing your strategy if you do not see an increase in your business.

People who are not sure about how to market their page are behind the curve, but after reading this they will catch up. Only if the suggestions are put to use though! Start using this advice to market on Facebook today.

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Simple Tips To Help You Understand Leadership

Leadership is helping or guiding people who need it. Some people have the innate ability to be successful leaders, while other have to learn how to become a good leader. Keep reading to learn how to improve your leadership abilities.

Good leaders show honesty and good morals at all times. You should always lead people toward the right thing, as a leader. When people believe you are honest, they will have more respect for you. This will encourage and foster an amiable atmosphere of honesty.

Honesty is a very important virtue of becoming a great leader. Any good leader must be trustworthy. As you start working towards being a better leader, you should always work towards showing people how trustworthy and honest you are. When people are ware that they can rely and trust you, they can eventually respect you s their leader.

When you’re dealing with customers or your employees you have to be ethical at all times. Good ethics will help you in any area. When the customers are aware that you care about their interest, they stay with your company. By getting together a set of responsibilities that show how moral your business is, your rules will start to be followed by people.

Make sure your team knows that you appreciate the work. Recognizing someone’s contribution only requires a minute and can greatly improve that person’s morale. It doesn’t cost you anything and can make that person feel great.

If you’re trying to improve your leadership skills, avoid acting like you know everything. Even your perfect ideas can be wrong at times. Don’t let your judgement cloud you or prevent you from listening to others around you. They will give you some tips on how to improve your leadership strategies and correct your mistakes.

Provide incentives for a job well done. Incentives are a great way to boost morale and productivity. When employees exceed expectations, make sure you offer praise and a reward. Top leaders don’t penny pinch on this.

Own up to your failures. Nobody is perfect. But, what make someone good at leading is allowing themselves to learn from mistakes and then tell everyone what went wrong. It shows that you’re a a real person too and not above them. It might seem counter-intuitive, but a dose of humanity can produce loyalty from others.

As a leader, you should put together a strong, compatible team. Always make yourself available to your employees. They have issues and questions that need your honest opinion and assistance. Know that when there’s a strong team, your employees will be much more productive with the day-to-day needs because they know people have their backs.

After reading the above article, you should have a good idea on what is required to become an effective leader. You know what skills to work on, along with the natural skills in leadership you have already. The world needs people that lead better, and you have to start working on this today to do well in the future.

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Facebook Marketing Tips That Everyone Should Know

You might have heard from others that Facebook marketing is able to boost your business. If this is all news to you, it’s too early to panic just yet. You can receive all the basics you should know about marketing on Facebook simply by reading this article.

Offering contests is an effective way to increase your fan base. You could throw a photo contest, for instance, with customers using your product in unusual ways. Show proof that you have awarded the prize after the contest ends.

All posts must be done professionally. The wording can be relaxed, but the content needs to be professional. Folks will have more respect for what you do if your tone stays professional.

Increase customer engagement by commenting on the things they post on your Facebook wall. It is important to monitor your wall daily and to check out @ messages for your brand as well. It is important to reply to everyone, even more so if it is a complaint or a question.

Consider Facebook to be a platform in sharing content. It isn’t just informal chit-chat, it can be a large content format. Use it in that way for your brand. Make sure that you incorporate professional posts about your product on your page. You will see that Facebook brings you a great deal of traffic!

Learn how to build a fan base. You should have 5,000 fans or more before you really start investing in marketing. Your conversion rate will climb quickly after you have gained several thousand fans.

Interact with your existing audience. A lot of people concentrate so much on getting new likes and fans that they forget about the fans they already have. For really great Facebook marketing results, it is important to attract an audience that knows it is respected. This will help them engage themselves in your brand.

Your business probably doesn’t really require a Facebook page if you only deal with customers occasionally, such as selling a car or a house. Your customers often come and go at random and will not be following posts. Invest in targeted Facebook ads instead.

After reading this article, you should not be afraid to do your marketing on Facebook. Get on Facebook now and begin using this advice right away. Getting started immediately means that you will get results quickly. Begin today!