Americans For Financial Security

7 Ways To Cut Marketing Costs
How can you cut marketing costs without jeopardizing new business development – and still get the most results out of your marketing dollars? Try these seven ideas.

Recession Tips For Retailers
Consumers have a new mindset. It’s called recession. So how can small retailers keep customers coming to the shop during these rough economic times?

Market More In A Downturn
The slumping economy is weighing heavy on small-business owners. Maybe you’ve noticed.

Retail Success Demands Cross-Channel Selling
In rough economic times, small retailers can cement sales by ramping up cross-channel selling.

Trade Shows For Tough Times
During tough economic times, small-business owners can be tempted to zero out their trade show budgets, pack up their display booths and give up on exhibiting.

Easy Money – Where And How To Find It
There’s money out there waiting to be picked up by small-business owners. It just sometimes comes from unexpected places.

Follow Up To Build Customer Loyalty
You might be worrying that competitors are stealing your customers or that an increase in your prices is driving customers away. What you should be worrying about is the indifference customers and prospects feel when coming face-to-face with many businesses.

Time For An IT Checkup
You probably couldn’t operate your small business successfully without technology – from computers and power supplies to servers and software.

8 Year-End Tax Moves
The year’s almost over, and that means time is running out on tax savings for 2007. What can you as a small-business owner do to reduce your tax bill? You have numerous options. Here are just a few.

Tips For Hiring Seasonal Employees
The processes of hiring, training and managing temporary employees are different than they are for regular, full-time staff. Following are some tips to hiring and managing seasonal help.

How To Register A Trademark
Owning a federal trademark registration has advantages. It puts others on notice of your ownership.

Drive Traffic To Your Web Site: 6 Tips
More site visitors equals more awareness of your business, which should result in more sales and profits. Try these six tips to get visitors to your site.

How To Outsource Successfully
Regardless of what type of project you need to outsource, you can save time, money and hassles by following these steps.

7 Rules For Raising Prices
“Price increase” may be one of the most dreaded phrases in the English language. But if you operate a small business, this is one demon you’ll have to face from time to time.

Google Yourself
The Internet is becoming a primary resource consumers use to connect with products and services. And when consumers are looking for something, search engines are usually their first stop.

Make Trade Shows Work
If you think trade shows are just for big businesses, think again. Trade shows and other exhibitions can be one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies available—even for small businesses.

Go Green To Boost Your Business
Showing respect for Mother Nature could help you land new customers – and enthusiastic employees.

Recent surveys have demonstrated that young people share concern for the environment. From teens to college students, these youngsters not only want to patronize environmentally friendly businesses, but they also want to work for companies that make a genuine effort to protect the environment.

Proposed Postal Changes Sneaking Up
The most significant overhaul of U.S. postage rates in years could take place in May 2007, just two months from now.

Be A Geek
Don’t let technology trends pass you by while you’re tending to the day-to-day tasks of running your small business.

Speak Up To Find Clients
The first time I spoke in public as part of my professional career, I wanted to literally crawl out of my skin.

The Energy Crunch: Is It Costing You Customers?
Consumers will limit their spending when energy costs increase in the future. Prepare your business for the next trends influenced by the on-goings around the world.

Is Your Money At Risk?
Identity theft, online scams and even employee embezzlement are real threats to small-business owners.

How To Avoid Bank Fees
As a small-business owner you can negotiate killer deals with suppliers and save a bundle of cash. You can estimate and bid on jobs that provide you with a tidy profit.

6 Ways To Land New Clients
Every small business needs new clients. If you’ve attempted to drum up new customers and failed, try a few of these ideas.

4 Secrets To Improve Your Business
Stumped about how to improve your small business? Here are five suggestions that many small-business owners overlook.

4 Affordable Ways To Advertise Locally
No matter what type of small business you own, you can get results from local advertising.

Everything You Need To Know About Pay-Per-Click
If you sell online, you’ve got hundreds of millions of potential buyers. The bad news is, you have to make them aware of your wares.

Should You Lease Or Buy?
Lease equipment or buy it outright? Small-business owners weigh that question everyday. Here’s information to help decide which answer might be right for you.

How Not To Procrastinate: 15 Tips
Wouldn’t you love to have 30 extra hours this year? You can. Stop wasting five minutes a day.

Build Customer Trust
Would you hand your credit card to a fellow selling jewelry out of a car trunk in an alley? Would you believe an ad if you had never heard a good word about the product?

Back Up Your Data Now!
Last year’s rash of natural disasters first sent shock and sorrow throughout the nation, but it was soon followed by a chill of vulnerability.

Out With The Old
Does the New Year mean new computers and peripherals to replace the old ones in your small business? Are old monitors, modems and fax machines already stacking up in the storage room?

Get The Right Direct Mail List
Direct mail campaigns can be highly profitable or highly unprofitable. Make yours a winner.

Tips To Save On Holiday Travel
Holiday travel for business or pleasure promises to be a lot of work and not always fun.

8 Ways To Win Customer Loyalty
Some experts estimate that it takes at least seven exposures to your ad to lure a new customer.

Research Your Market On A Budget: 8 Tips
The most successful companies peg their target markets most precisely. Here are low-cost tips to zero in on your target market.

8 Cost-Cutting Tips
A gaping hole isn’t the only thing that sinks the ship. Slow leaks do too.

PowerPoint Like A Pro
The ubiquitous PowerPoint software moved business presentations from the felt pen and chalk era into the digital age. It also elevated expectations.

How To Write Effective Sales Letters
Gifted salespeople can inexplicably become gargantuan flops when they try to put on paper what they instinctively do so well face-to-face.

Boost Sales By Saving Time
Small-business owners are always looking for a unique way to differentiate themselves from the competition.

5 Tips To Cure Abandoned Shopping Carts
Online retailers are coming up short. They’re getting plenty of shoppers at their Web sites. But those shoppers often leave before pushing their shopping carts through checkout.

Could You Be A Victim Of Identity Theft?
It’s bad enough if your personal identity is stolen. But for small-business owners, identity theft can also harm their companies.

Why You Need A DBA – And How To Get One
In small-business jargon, DBA stands for “doing business as.” It’s known in some states as an “assumed name certificate.” Your DBA is an assumed or fictitious name under which you conduct business.

6 Advantages To Leasing
In today’s world, you can lease just about any piece of equipment your small business might need

Checklist For Launching Your Web Site
Your holiday list isn’t the only one you should making and checking twice.

Protect Your Intellectual Property
Sooner or later every small-business owner must tackle the issue of intellectual property rights.

The Art of Gift Giving
‘Tis almost the season to give business gifts. But before you take off on a shopping spree, arm yourself with gift-giving knowledge. Giving gifts affects your professional image, your small-business budget and even your taxes.

How To Get A Line of Credit
A business line of credit could be just what you need in times of tight cash flow. But to get the money you want, you have to take the right approach to your banker.

Understanding the 1099-MISC Tax Form
If you’re newly self-employed, you need to get to know the federal 1099-MISC tax form. The 1099 is to self-employment what a W-2 is to employees.

Get Personal With Your Web Site: 4 Examples
It doesn’t take much to reveal your company’s human side. Here are four examples of Web sites that show a little humanity—and win the hearts of visitors.

4 Out of the Box Marketing Ideas
Here are four ideas guaranteed to help you bring in business.

5 Steps To Get Great Testimonials
Getting great testimonials isn’t difficult. It just takes planning. To get mouthwatering testimonials that help sell your products and services, follow these five steps.

Help Wanted!
Three ways to get the help you need, without hiring an employee.

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