Small Business Disaster Preparedness in the 21st Century

Would you know what to do if your business was affected by a natural disaster tomorrow? Do you have the communications channels and plan in place to take action, or would you simply panic and stop the presses? Many small business owners can’t afford to be closed for even one day. Social media is not only a marketing tool, but it can be a lifeline in today’s modern society.

Recent natural disasters have taught us many things about how interwoven technology is in our 21^st century world. Hurricane Sandy was the first widespread natural disaster in U.S. history that showed us how our social networks can help us and our businesses survive and thrive in the wake of a crisis.

Examples abound both during and after Hurricane Sandy about people and businesses reaching out on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook to get help and offer relief. Nonprofits like Invisible People used Twitter to reach out to homeless shelters and gather its resources to help obtain generators and food for the less fortunate. An animal shelter that posted about structural damage to its facilities on Facebook got 30 volunteers to come out and repair the damage. Over a dozen restaurants in one city banded together to provide Sunday night dinner for its community and used Facebook to spread the word.

Making a plan now for your procedure during a crisis or emergency situation can mean the difference between survival and greater loss. Obviously, safety and family come first for both you and your employees. Once everyone is secure, have a plan for working off-site, accessing the Internet and staying abreast of the latest information. Many federal, state and local agencies have social media accounts that will be updated frequently to help you stay informed. If you’ve built out a couple of social media channels for marketing purposes, you can also keep your customers updated and let them know when you are operational and available for support. Note, however, immediately after a natural disaster is not the time for promotional messages, but it can be an effective way to bridge your company and your community during difficult times. So what are you waiting for? Go make your plan!

I Have a Dog Grooming Business; Can I Work with Ten Golden Rules?

Before today, most small business owners who wished to work with an agency would hear an answer they didn’t like – either it was cost-prohibitive or the agency lacked the scalability to work with smaller accounts. As a sign of the times, Ten Golden Rules is changing all that with new online marketing packages specifically created for small and medium-sized businesses that want to harness the power of the Internet to grow their businesses.

As a business owner, finding time to keep up with the ever-changing world of Internet marketing can be challenging. From Social Media to Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising to creating a competitive website, navigating the online world can be confusing if not a bit overwhelming. With these new services from Ten Golden Rules, you can now have access to the processes developed for larger companies, like hospitals and universities, without breaking your budget.

Simply visit the website and click on the service you’re most interested in. The entire process is automated for convenience and efficiency, and draws on almost a decade of knowledge from in-market testing and today’s best practices.

Do you do any of your own Internet marketing for your small or medium-sized business? Tell us about it in the comments below.

Test Your Business Plan in AdWords

Thinking about starting a business? A great way to test your business model and get some quick data is through Google Adwords. Using the AdWords Keyword Suggestion tool, you will be able to see how competitive the phrases related to your business are, and how much it will cost to generate traffic from them. For example, let's say you were interested in starting a search engine optimization company. Using Google’s Keyword Suggestion tool, you would know that the phrase “search engine optimization company” would cost you about $11.69 per click, there is a high amount of advertiser competition, and the phrase is searched about 27,100 times per month. You will be able to find all of this data before you spend any advertising money.

By running some small test campaigns with conversion tracking, you will quickly be able to see the return on investment of bidding on keywords. This is also a great way to test your creative, including ad copy and landing pages, because you can control your budget.

In addition, research has shown that of pay per click traffic in general, 80-90% of the visits are new visits. This indicates that there is little overlap with other advertising channels so you will be bringing in a high percentage of fresh leads.