Author Archives: Bizcare

Sticky marketing tool leaves a lasting impression.

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Posted by Bizcare on November 5, 2009 – 11:48 am
Filed under Marketing

Here are a few facts about your business:

A- It is not (yet) listen on Fortune 500.
B- The owner, CEO, VP , marketing director are the same person, You.
C- It needs to acquire more customers, and definitely keep current ones.
D- There is no marketing budget per say.

This is exactly why as an entrepreneur you need to be creative in the way you promote your small business, so you can grow and afford to hire help, and have a marketing budget. “But, wait, you need to spend money to make money”, you say. That is correct, but in order to achieve your goal, you need not to spend tones of money all at once. Marketing is not an exact science, hence you do not want to go all in. You can simply start by spending under $100.00 for the right products.

Today’s tip: Use magnets.

A magnet business card is, well,a business card with a magnet strip on the back. You can think of it as a billboard that you can fit in your pocket, and share with prospects. Magnets have a pscychological effect. People somehow like to stick them to their office board, refrigerator, etc… hence they are constantly being reminded of your business in a passive format. Magnet business card usually come in a standard size (3.5″ by 2″), and the cost for 250 is about $49.95 + shipping cost. Magnets do not always have to be business cards. As the new year approaches, it would be a good idea to invest in magnet calendars for your customers.

Note: Send your small business tips to bizcare@bizcard.com

Restaurant Business Card Magnets

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Posted by Bizcare on November 3, 2009 – 11:54 am
Filed under Uncategorized

It may be small, but when you use it in restaurants, a restaurant business cards can become an all-powerful tool. Why is this so? This is because there are simply too many benefits that you can derive out of it, especially when you’re in the restaurant industry:

1. It can act as your small billboard. Do you hate your bulletin board right now? Does it look bulky to you? Then you better switch to a restaurant business card magnet. It’s practically small, so you can place it anywhere you want to and it doesn’t occupy too much space. What’s more, you will have a fun way of reminding one another about your responsibilities in the restaurants.

2. You can have a new cool way of announcing your business. Don’t ignore the kinds of tags you’re going to use for your takeout. Rather than settle for only a small piece of paper, which can get thrown away by your customers, why don’t you attach a restaurant business card magnet instead? It is very sturdy, so there’s practically no way that it will be easily torn off by anybody. And besides, who dares to throw away something professional-looking yet cool item like your business card magnet?

3. You will have an instant business card for your customers. Save the hassle of customers perpetually asking you about your contact number. You can simply attach the business card magnets at their tables and let them know that they’re free to take them once they’re ready to go out of the restaurant. By now, there’s hardly any way they’ll forget about your contact information, especially when they’re at home.

A restaurant business card magnet comes in different forms and sizes, and you can surely pick one that suits your restaurant image and brand. Of course, the best way to go is to have someone customize it for you.

Plumbing business: using refrigerator magnets to create a lasting impression.

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Posted by Bizcare on October 27, 2009 – 4:44 pm
Filed under Marketing

If you’re looking for a cheap but attention-getter promotional material for your plumbing business, you don’t have to look further than plumber calendar magnets or plumbing business card magnets. These little eye catcher never fail to attract people in various ways and it’s a waste if you’re going to pass this opportunity to spread your service.

For instance, people are always drawn to something as neat and as helpful as a calendar magnet to put in their refrigerator door. You should not let this opportunity pass to etch the name of your plumbing business in your client’s mind. Where is a plumbing service needed almost so often – in the kitchen! Therefore, don’t miss a call from a distressed house maker needing help for her leaking sink by having your plumbing business card magnets always at her reach in her refrigerator door.

Nowadays, you can get a calendar or a business card magnet customized only for your purpose. Expressing your heartfelt gratitude to your client for using your service couldn’t be this easy. Plus, you got to promote your service to your client and to your client’s visitors when they see your contact detail in your client’s refrigerator door.

What better way to advertise your plumbing business than to place your logo ubiquitously in households and in offices. You can do this with a customized magnetic business card or a calendar. Offices can always use a stylish and handy magnetic calendar to adorn their filing cabinets. You cannot let this opportunity to advertise your plumbing business to your potential client’s pass because you do not have a magnetic business card.

If you’re looking for tokens or gifts for your plumbing business’ anniversary or especial occasion, go for a plumber customize magnets and make your clients happy with your thoughtful gift. That’s a winning way to make your clients love you and your service as well.

Why Your Insurance Business Needs Refrigerator Magnets

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Posted by Bizcare on October 23, 2009 – 11:26 am
Filed under Marketing

Competition has got real tough in the insurance business. That is why you definitely need business card magnets for insurance agents.

If you are connected to a particular company, then you may ask your boss if they already have previous versions of business card magnets. They had likely given them away as corporate gifts during the holidays. If they don’t, or you are working independently, you don’t need to worry. Today, insurance agent business card magnets cost less than 20 cents for every piece.

Why Stuck It Up in Refrigerators

If you’re planning to have someone make you insurance agent business card magnets, make sure that you can at least have it as refrigerator magnets. There are a number of benefits that you can derive from them. First of all, refrigerators have become a symbol of a household. They have become the focal point of a household – everybody makes several travels to the refrigerator each day. That’s why they’re a favorite place to put notes and you can exploit the people’s fondness of refrigerators.

Your neat and decorative business card magnet can be placed on the refrigerator; ensuring that they cannot forget your name and even your contact number if they see it regularly. They can easily call or e-mail you just in case they have inquiries about your insurance plans. And because you know that your clients have guests who will surely find their way into their kitchen, they can also pick up your contact details from their: talk about free advertisement, nothing can be freer than this. It’s like having your own viral marketing with just simple and small tools like your business card magnets.

Business card magnets for insurance agents are extremely handy. Owners can bring them anywhere they want to, and they won’t have any problem looking for a good place for them. This is practically important for people who may want to get in touch with their insurance agents immediately.

Once you go Gmail Shorcuts, You never go back.

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Posted by Bizcare on June 4, 2009 – 6:14 pm
Filed under Uncategorized

Earlier this week we shared a few search operators we use daily to help filter our Google search results. Google gives us useful tools and for each one little nice tricks to make them more interesting. For example Gmail is a great email application. The minute I started to use it, I never went back. You probably will have a hard time imagining emailing without using your mouse somehow to compose, delete etc….It turns out that not using your mouse can give you a better experience. With Gmail Shortcuts you can actually forget about that mouse, and make use of your keyboard only. Here is what you need to do: start by going to Settings, click on Keyboard Shortcuts on, Save your changes and that’s it.
Gmail Keyboard Shortcuts

Now, you are ready to go. Here are the keys I use the most:

j to move the cursor down the list.
k to move the cursor up the list.
x to select a message.
g + i takes me to my Inbox.
g + t shows messages sent.
c opens a new message panel.
r to reply and a to reply all.
Shift + # sends a thread to the Trash.
Shift + u marks a conversation as unread.
Shift + l to label a message.
And finally / places the cursor into the search box.

There are a few more shortcuts you can make use of. These are just the ones I use to the point where I barely use my mouse. To find all the others simply use Shift + ? .

Little old fashion marketing for realtors and brokers

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Posted by Bizcare on June 3, 2009 – 10:10 am
Filed under Uncategorized

As a former Realtor and Broker I remember going through all of the training courses, in which you where constantly reminded to build a strong referral system. Realtors generally try to use every avenue available to them to build a customer base, with the holy grail being customer referrals. By the time you attain a level of reputation in which you no longer need to walk the neighborhoods to get your listings, you almost don’t want to stop.

The process of trying to attain referrals creates bonds and relationships that can last a long time. It also creates a work ethic and a new sphere of influence that will grow with you and support you when you need them. Case in point, I had a mortgage client call me four years after I had refinanced his loan. He called primarily because he remembered that I didn’t rip him off. I gave this client the best rate on the market and only charged .75 points with no fees.

I know most brokers would be screaming at their agent for charging such a small commission. “We are not working for free” is the standard response I get. The other response I would get is we have to feed our families as well – while this may be true it’s worth noting that ¾ of a percent of a $600,000 loan amount is still a decent pay check for a single transaction.

My typical response in these situations was to remind my broker that the process does not necessarily end with the completion of a single transaction. While some agents were busy squeezing every penny out of their clients, I was building lasting relationships that would continue to pay dividends far down the road.

In the real estate business it’s relationships that make the difference, not the immediate check you get from a transaction here and there (though that is what pays the bills). It will not build future clients for times such as the one we are in now. When I first started in Real Estate I was ridiculed for not charging as much others in the office, but now those others are out of business and I have a database of 300 clients that I can call to generate business immediately when I need it.

So to all the realtors out there who are trying to create more stable business that will be profitable over the long term, here’s my advice to you: be ethical, participate in as many community events as possible and don’t forget to keep handing out your business cards. A small investment today can create a huge return later.

14 ways to help Google find better results.

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Posted by Bizcare on June 1, 2009 – 9:44 pm
Filed under Uncategorized

Google does a neat task at returning good links for our search queries. But if you heavily depend on the search engine for your day job, then far too often you find yourself refining your queries to get better results. Here are a few strings you can use daily to help Google filter your results and display the most relevant links.

in:blogs displays better results from blogs than Google Blogsearch does. That is if you are not searching for trends or recent posts.

allinurl:term returns web pages with all keywords included in the URL.

inurl:term returns results with some or all the keywords included in the URL.

filetype: pdf flv mp3..or any document type returns document of the specified file type.

allintitle:term returns results with all the keywords included in the page title.

intitle:term returns results with some or all the keywords included in the title.

allinanchor:term returns results with all the keywords as anchor text on web pages.

inanchor:term will serve results with one or all the keywords as anchor text on web pages.

site:url lets you searched the specified website.

site:.edu only serves results from sites with .edu in their domain name.

site:.gov returns results from sites with .gov in their domain name.

location:state narrows your search by state.

-term will exclude all results where the term is included on the web page.

+term allows you to search only for pages with the specified term.

What search operators do you use daily?

Most mechanics do not want to build the next Bentley Motors.

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Posted by Bizcare on May 29, 2009 – 11:38 am
Filed under Uncategorized

A lot of entrepreneurs start their business with a grand idea and the goal to create a global empire. This is mostly true for founders of web companies. Most “Startupreneurs” want to build the next Google or Amazon. The web gives anyone access to a wide audience, and technology makes it easy to go from concept to product with very little upfront investment. So when companies like Facebook go from dorm room to a 10 Billion dollar valuation in less than 5 years, it is easy to see why founders believe they, too, can do it.

Rarely do you come across a mechanic who talks about how he is going to build the next Ford or Bentley Motors. They understand the metrics are different and building a large scale automobile manufacturing company requires a significant amount of upfront investment. Meanwhile they usually start their own repair shops, and go from there. Only a low startup capital is required and reaching profitability is not as hard. Some shops only change tires/oil and are able to grow their business steadily without requiring additional investments.

If the same model was applied to web companies, more enterprises would be able to generate money and quickly become profitable. A good example is the new wave of, what we could call, Affiliates 2.0. These are websites that harness the inventory of much larger companies and offer internauts a user friendly interface to find and purchase goods. They usually take a small transaction fee. Although tiny, the referral stipends quickly add up and could mean the difference between shutting down a business, or being able to work on it full time and not have to worry about making rent.

Take TicketStumbler, the event ticket comparison engine, for instance. It scans databases from distributors such as Razogator and Stubhub and lets users compare prices for the perfect seat at sport games, concerts and other local events. Another company is FrugalMechanic. They allow users to compare used or new auto parts prices from different suppliers. Instead of calling 40 vendors or junk yards, users let FrugalMechanic do it instantly, hence saving them time and money. Both companies are profitable. These are just 2 random examples, there are several more. These companies may not necessarily turn into a Google or a Yahoo, but they do not envy those with 600 employees and 4 international offices.

Not every company needs to become the next Big Thing. While waiting for the next game changing concept to magically happen upon us, we can build profitable web enterprises by serving niche markets. Affiliates 2.0 are not necessarily disruptive companies, but their founders are 1)providing services others are willing to pay, 2)doing what they love, and 3) building profitable businesses in the process.

Business partnerhsips, Not always about El Moolah.

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Posted by Bizcare on May 27, 2009 – 11:17 am
Filed under Eco Friendly

Partnerships are one of the most important aspects of your business. Collaborating with other companies can help your enterprise earn more credibility, gain more exposure and, significantly increase revenue. But partnerships are not always about money, they can also be about social responsibility or environmental awareness. Businesses that partner with green causes are not only enhancing their reputation with the public, they are also protecting the environment . In the past, companies would offhandedly write a check to an environmental concern and then sleep well that night content that they had “done their part for Mother Earth”. Today we can partner with a number of environmentally responsible causes that aim to lower greenhouse gasses, mitigate our collective carbon footprint, and then sleep well with the knowledge that the coming generations will live on a much cleaner, and healthier Earth. Here are 3 out of many green organizations you can partner/work with as a business or as an individual.

American Forests

The paper industry is one the of largest consumer of forests, hence AF was a logical choice for Bizcard when searching for partners. American Forests works hard to “protect, restore, and enhance the natural capital of trees and forests,” an endeavor that is part and parcel with the aims of Bizcard, both business and environmental-wise. Restoring the eco-system and educating the public about urban forestry are other causes that Bizcard proudly partners in, along with huge concerns like Microsoft, Anheuser-Busch, Eddie Bauer, and Ikea.

Eco Libris

There are companies, such as Eco-Libris, who try to work with all phases of the book industry, raising awareness to the wide-spread environmental impact of manufacturing and delivering paper books. Eco-Libris’ stated goal is to plant a tree for every book sold, thereby helping to offset the environmental impact of book manufacturing. Eco-Libris work with both individuals and businesses. You can tell Eco-Libris how many books you bought and it will “balance out” your impact by planting a tree for each book. They are currently partnering with Book Mooch, the online book-swapping community, where the only expense in book-swapping is the postage.


Green Highways

There is also the Green Highways Partnership. This collaborative effort involves the Federal Highways Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and many other federal, state and local agencies. Partnering with them in the effort to help mitigate the carbon emission of vehicles are lots of trade associations and other non-governmental organizations who work together to encourage road-building that is safer for the environment. They use recycled materials whenever and wherever it is suitable, and they are making a real difference in improving storm water management by preventing dangerous contaminants and toxins from leeching into our streams, rivers and watershed. The Green Highways Partnership has even worked with the US Postal Service to reduce use of (and emissions from) postal vehicles. They don’t limit themselves to the construction of roads; they also help to make the vehicles that use those roads more environmentally friendly.

The impact businesses and governmental agencies can have on saving and preserving our natural resources can be profound and far-reaching. From businesses to agencies to foundations and private individuals, a revolution of a different kind is being felt across cities, nations, continents. By partnering and utilizing alternative sources of energy and enlightened business practices, we can reclaim and cherish our Earth once again.

The freelancer’s simple guide to getting new business.

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Posted by Bizcare on May 26, 2009 – 4:04 pm
Filed under Uncategorized

Freelancing can be a dream job. You probably work from home, set your own hours, work on different interesting projects etc…. But when it comes to Income, this dream job is not always all gravy. One month you have way more gigs than you can handle, and next month you are struggling to close the tiniest client. To prevent the latter issue, there are a few steps you can take that will help you better market your services and increase your deal flow.

1- Focus on your skills. We all know great developers who are also great designers, and exceptional designers who are terrific content writers. But those polyvalent professionals are the exception rather than the rule. If you are no exception to the rule, please focus on your core skill set. Not only will you be able to do a better job for you clients, but you can now focus your marketing efforts and get new deals faster.

2- Frequently update your website. Most people think SEO is just for content websites and ecommerces. Every one who wants to be found online should optimize their website. One easy way is to add a blog and start sharing resourceful information about your work. If helpful your posts can drive traffic, rank your website for targeted keywords and give visitors an in-depth look at what you do.

2- Create online profiles. The world does not stop at your website/blog. There are several places such as Linkedin, Elance, Odesk where you can add your profile as a provider and allow companies and individuals to find you. Craigslist is also a good place to add your resume. Businesses must pay to list their openings, but it does not cost a penny to post resumes. Just ensure you “pepper” your profile with targeted keywords.

3- Use Search tricks. Searching for contracting gigs can be extremely time consuming. There is a lot of emailing back and forth and that will leave you very little time to do any actual work. To ease your search and avoid going city after city on Craigslist, Elance or any other site simply Google your ” search term + needed + site:website.com”. For example: ” social network developer needed site:craigslist.org“. Bamm!! You just saved yourself half an hour.

4- Pick up the phone and dial. Emails are great, but sometimes you need to get on the phone and talk to prospects. Cold calling is annoying, but if you send an email a couple of days prior to it, you will have a better chance at being listen to.

5- Offer referral fees. You can use your existing network to get more business by sending a well crafted email to all your contacts and ask for help. You may be surprised to see how many people love to lend a hand if given the opportunity to. It would not hurt to mention the couple of hundreds you will send anyone who brings you business as a way to show your appreciation.

Bonus- Offer your professional advise for free. Do not hesitate to share information and tools that others can use for themselves or their businesses. Send them helpful advises they can actually use without having to pay you. If your tips are useful, they will definitely want to know more and perhaps turn into paying customers.

Finding new deals is not easy when you have a team of dedicated sales people, let alone when you are operating solo. Nevertheless there are several tiny steps you can take that will ease this process and help you stay cash flow positive and hopefully grow your practice. Be persistent and Be creative.