My 2¢ Worth

ecently I was designing a Web page for a client of mine. This page relies heavily on the use of style sheets.

 design everything using Internet Explorer, my browser of choice. After finishing I checked the page in Opera browser and it looked great, then on to Netscape. Not surprisingly, the page was all messed up in Netscape's browser.

or some reason Netscape handles style sheets differently than you might expect. So how do you get a page using style sheets to display the same in both IE and Netscape? Fortunately there are workarounds.

'll give you a short tutorial on the subject in the December 18^th issue.

Feature Article

Frugal Marketing

by: Charlie Cook charliecook.net

You want to market your business but you don't want to spend a lot of money. You may be just starting out and have precious little capital or you may have a successful business but want to spend as little as possible for the greatest results. Or, you may just be cheap. How can you create a marketing strategy that results in a steady stream of new clients on a shoestring budget?

The key is having the KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, SYSTEMS and TOOLS to create and implement your marketing plan.

KNOWLEDGE

While service professionals and small business owners are experts in their business, they often don't have the marketing knowledge they need to grow their businesses. If you aren't attracting dozens of new prospects each week and converting at least one of them to client status, you need to learn what to do to market your business.

Depending on your budget, you can:

1. Visit your local library and read a dozen books on marketing.


2. Spend one or two hundred dollars on a couple of marketing manuals from the marketing masters on the web.


3. Hire a marketing coach or consultant to help you learn what to do and how to do it.


4. Pay a marketing expert to do your marketing for you.

SKILLS

Once you have a marketing plan you'll need to develop some marketing skills, no matter what your role is in your organization. The three most important skills are:

1. Asking the Right Questions
Open-ended questions are the best way to direct prospects to engage prospects, direct their thinking and learn what they want. Do you know:
- What your prospects care about?
- The problems your prospects want to solve?
- What information your prospects want?

Use questions to get the answers. Put together 5-10 questions to ask your prospects.

2. Listening
Listen carefully to understand, provide a synthesis of their responses and use a problem-solving approach to provide the link between symptoms and causes.

3. Writing Compelling Copy
The copy in your marketing materials and the copy you use for your "elevator speech" will make the difference between attracting or boring prospects. Demonstrate to prospects, that you understand their concerns and their business context, and that you are the expert they need. Start by regularly giving them an idea they can use.

SYSTEMS

Establish systems to support your marketing plan. Setting up the systems to market your business costs little and make an unmanageable task a clerical function you or your assistant can do. You'll need to set a schedule for marketing activities, define responsibilities and use your computer to automate tasks. The most important systems to develop and implement are a way to collect leads and stay in touch with prospects and clients. You'll need a centralized database and a schedule for staying in touch with prospects and clients in order to do this.

Automate functions where possible so you can focus your time on delivering products and services. There is simple and easy to use software that can help you manage contacts, add prospects to your database and send out broadcast emails to the people who are interested in getting your ideas. Once you've put these marketing systems in place, you can focus on handling the growing number of inquires you will receive.

TOOLS

The tools you need to market your business will vary depending on your target market and the products and services you offer. The basics include:

1. Marketing materials, the finished copy you use on everything from your business card, to your brochures, or online.



2. Questions, the questions you use when people call about your services, or when you meet with clients, or to find out what information they want so you can write the perfect proposal.



3. Communication tools, such as a phone, email and website.

Take a look at your marketing and determine if you have the Knowledge, Skills, Systems and Tools to attract a steady stream of new clients. Identify the gaps and fill them. You may need to invest a few dollars to make many, but with frugal marketing strategies you can limit marketing expenditures and maximize profits.

**************

2003 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.
The author, Marketing Coach, Charlie Cook, helps independent professionals and small business owners who are struggling to attract more clients. He can be contacted at ccook@charliecook.net or visit www.charliecook.net to get a copy of the free marketing guide, '7 Steps to Get More Clients and Grow Your Business'.

Disappearing Print Button

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to put a print button on your Web page without it showing up in the printed out page. This little script that will do just that. The button appears on the Web page, however, when the page is printed the button isn't on the printed page.

Note: This script will only work with newer browser versions.

Put this part of the script between the <head> and </head> tags of your Web page.

<script language="JavaScript" type="text/JavaScript"> function printPage() { if(document.all) { document.all.divButtons.style.visibility = 'hidden'; window.print(); document.all.divButtons.style.visibility = 'visible'; } else { document.getElementById('divButtons').style.visibility = 'hidden'; window.print(); document.getElementById('divButtons').style.visibility = 'visible'; } } </script>

Place this part of the script within the <body> of your page where you would like the button to appear.

<div id="divButtons" name="divButtons"> <input type="button" value = "Print this page" onclick="printPage()">

 

* Get these syndicated tip feeds for yourweb site, free. *

Second Article

Essential Equipment For Your Home Office

by: BB Lee SmallBizBits

This is part 4 in a series of Home Business Tip Articles. You can read previous tips at: www.angelfire.com/zine/smallbiz.

This part concerns the basic equipment you will need in your home office if you want to be productive.

A Computer:
      I assume most people reading this article already have a personal computer. Purchase the best you can afford. But, if you are budget minded, you can find many computer stores selling a full computer setup for under $1,000. For starters, take a look at Dell Computer's Website. www.dell.com

The hardware or software you will need on your computer will depend on your type of buisiness. Most of the newer computers are pre-loaded with all the basic software you will need to run your home office in the beginning. This would include: emailing, spreadsheets, wordprocessing, database creation. Don't forget to install a good back up system for your important files plus a good surge protector to protect the computer. And anti-virus software for added protection when on the Internet.

Monitor:
      Computers are packaged with monitors. A few years ago 15 inches was standard. Now you can easily up grade to a 17 inch screen or larger. Larger viewing areas help reduce eyestrain.

Printers:
      Again most computers are packaged with a printer. Printers available might be ink jet, or laser. Laser printers produce higher, crisper, professional work. A laser printer is a good choice if you do a lot of printing and correspondence. If you rarely print out your work, a lower price ink jet printer is adequate.

Scanner:
      If you desktop publish you will certainly need a scanner. Scanners are great for scanning images from books, newspapers, reports. Use to make copies of important business documents.

Fax/Copy Machine:
      A dedicated fax line is a must if you are online for long periods of time. A fax is still quite essential even in the face of email technology. Many business people still prefer a hands on hard copy instead of email documents. Fax machines also are good copy machine substitutes if you frequently need to copy documents. Fax machines are available for under $100. And don't forget that you can easily send and receive faxes from your computer with Win Fax.

A Business Telephone System:
      If you want to successfully run your home based business. You must install a business telephone line along with an answering system. This will establish a professional image immediately. And you will not miss important calls when you are away. Plus, a line dedicated only to business calls is a good home business tax right off.

Cellular Telephone:
      A must have if you are on the move a lot. You can easily forward all your business calls to your cell telephone number. Never miss an important business call. Or if you stay online for long periods. You simply forward all calls, while online, to your cellular telephone number. Make sure your cell has caller Id, so you can answer only the calls you want. Very convenient.

Other Stuff:
      Take a trip to your local office supply store and purchase these basic essentials right away.

• Paper (for printer & fax machine)
• Printer cartridges
• Computer mouse pad
• Pencils/pens/erasers
• Stapler/extra staples
• Post-it note pads
• Paper clips
• Large legal pads
• Folders
• Envelopes
• Storage boxes
• Assorted rubber bands

That's it! After acquiring the above you will have all the basics to set up a home office.

**************

BB Lee is Editor Publisher Of SmallBizBits FREE Home Business Newsletter.
Visit at: www.angelfire.com/zine/smallbiz

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