I’m confident that every small business owner and service professional, just about, understands the importance of developing a specialty and then marketing that specialty to a specific target niche. But why is it that a lot of businesses these days still fall apart after just six months of operation?

Because after all is said and done, there’s only about 1 out of 3 chances your business will succeed. Let me elaborate.

Successful marketing, like a delicious cup of blended coffee, is a complex mixture of specialty and target niche marketing. Too much of one thing is doomed to failure, and the same goes for not having enough of the other.Great specialty, no market niche

Imagine a business consultant marketing his services in an online classified ads. He’s great, he’s done his homework, and he has more than enough work experience in his field.

Then he goes on to write that he is available for “anyone who requires his services“, that’s when he loses out to his competitors, which are a dime a dozen. He isn’t reaching out to anyone in particular, and the result is no one reaches out to him.

Specific market niche, no specialty

This time imagine a consultant advertising to small- and medium-sized businesses within 40 miles of her office in Calgary. So far, so good. When asked about her specialty, she says, “I don’t have a specialty. I can advise anyone about anything!”

Would you hire this person to advise you on your company’s finances? Not even if she pays me.

Like I said earlier, good marketing is 1) knowing what you can do and 2) knowing the right people to talk to.

There are several ways to achieve both. Join social networking sites and connect with experts in your field to develop your specialty. Enter into a business partnership with more experienced individuals and learn from their methods and mistakes. To focus on a target niche, use local SEO and search engine techniques to generate traffic towards your business or website.

The secret is to maintain a good balance of both efforts. Market niche and specialty are the two most crucial ingredients of success.

Imagine you have an idea of a service or product and you know in your heart that it’s going to bring you a fortune. So you think about starting a small online business.

Why online business? Let’s face the facts: in this down economy, an amateur businessman looking to start a business outside of the Internet is a recipe for disaster. Trust me on this. The best way to go it is online. Period.

But take note there’s more to online business than putting up a website, or a squeeze page, in place and simply waiting for orders to come in. The concept of marketing stays very much true online as it does offline. Fact is a revolutionary product may or may not bring success to your business, marketing does.

Without further ado, here are 7 simple tips on how to get started on your online business.

1. Invest on a solid business plan
This is one of those things a novice entrepreneur should never shave off his list of priorities. A business plan covers many things – from your market niche to the status of the competition to attracting customers. Whether you’re a product retailer or a service professional, in the beginning you need to invest on a solid business plan more than anything else.

2. Establish a market niche
Next is knowing the people you should be talking to. Not everybody’s going to buy your product or service, not everybody’s interested to hear what you have to say. But the people that do require your services, these are the people you ought to be reaching out to and making an offer. Remember, knowing the right people leads to success.

3. Mind your pricing
When determining the cost of your services, expenses and profit aren’t the only things you need to put into consideration. You must also think about the competition. Mind your pricing, and keep your fees at a competitive level.

4. Design a professional website
We’ve come to the topic most people think about when they think about online business or internet marketing. Your own website. Simply put, you need a professional-looking website if you want to try your hand at an online business. If you aren’t familiar with web design, you can hire someone to design a website for you. Web designers are a dime a dozen these days. So finding one at a reasonable price shouldn’t take too much of your time.

5. Market, market
You know what made Bill Gates a billionaire? It wasn’t Windows. It was his marketing skills. Gates marketed his operating system aggressively to PC retailers and manufacturers. Afterwards when nearly every home PC was running on Windows, that’s when Gates took the time perfecting the OS we know today.

Every type of business relies on marketing to succeed. Your online business is no exception.

6. Be patient
The best things come to those who wait. Remember that great success doesn’t happen overnight, especially when you start small. The key to growing your online business is patience and dedication to the pursuit. Your time to hit it big will come soon. It’s only a matter of working hard and doing the best that you can until it does.

Remember these tips when starting your own small business on the Internet. I look forward to hearing stories of your success.

Building a website for your business is serious business. A website for personal use is one thing, and a business website is a completely different thing. For personal websites, you don’t always have to shoulder the pressure of generating traffic. Visitors may come and go as they please.

Business websites carry a different story. Besides the need to generate a steady flow of traffic, it should be noted that your business website serves as a customer portal and extension of your brand name. So if it’s your first time building a business website, let me get one thing straight: you must—you need to—get this one right. 80% to 90% of your online success rides on the efficiency of your website to gather leads and turn those leads into paying customers.

Here are 4 questions you need to ask yourself before creating a website for your business:

1. Who are you selling to?
The quintessential business question. A lot of entrepreneurs go out of business not because they don’t have anything good to offer. It’s because they have no idea who to sell to, or market to. People won’t buy from you if what you got to offer is something they don’t need. Period.

Same goes for building a website. Right from the beginning you should have a clear picture of your target audience. What are his/her interests? What are his/her needs? How should I design my website so it catches his/her attention and addresses those needs? In short, define your target audience.

2. What’s the most important part of the website?
Everything in this world has a purpose. Your website has one, and whatever it is—to attract leads, to launch a product or service—that is the answer to the question. The focal point of your website must highlight its purpose. All aspects of the website should contribute to this central theme.

For most business websites, it’s the squeeze page. But it still depends on the product or service you’re selling, as well as the needs of your customers.

3. What do you want customers to take with them when they leave?
Some things apply to certain websites. But this question is something every business website owner should ask himself/herself. Lasting impression can be a powerful weapon, especially when it comes to marketing. Online, it’s no different. If defining the website’s purpose is the secret to attracting more leads, then leaving a good impression in the minds of visitors is the key to getting more repeat business.

Speaking of which…

4. Why should a visitor return to your website?
Is there a reason why a first-time visitor should come back to your website? If not, what can you do to improve your website and make them return a second time, a third time, a fourth time? Blogging usually solves this problem, as well as encouraging visitors to build a small community by hosting a message board or forums.

Four questions to get your started, four questions to achieve success in marketing online. Address them first before investing any amount in creating your own business website.

Do you feel 24 hours is not enough to do everything you need to do?

You’re not alone!

Through the years, I realized that there’s no way I can really cope up with my “to dos” BUT I also realized that there’s always enough time to do the most important things. And that should be your primary concern.

There a lot of ways to increase your productivity and you probably have read or heard most of them. Time is gold. If some did not work for you, you may try these 10 more ways.

1. Quit Using Sticky Notes.

I am impressed with how “Post It” was accidentally discovered, but I still like using regular notebooks to write down schedule, ideas, to dos, etc. Sticky notes tend to get lost. Though it looks good if your boss sees those sticky notes around your monitor and knows you’re working.

2. Archiving and Deleting Computer Files.

Initially, you may want to put computer files that you’ve not accessed in last 90 days in an archive folder. Then delete them if you’ve not touched in the last 6 months. It is very unlikely that you will need them again.

3. Don’t constantly check your emails.

This is something really difficult for people whose jobs are always in front of computer and online. Mostly, twice daily is enough.

4. Update your address book.

For people who frequently send emails, this is a definite time saver. Re-typing email is waste of time.

5. Write your thoughts, modify later.

When composing an email message, it is more efficient if you right your thoughts first and modify it later for clarity and typo error corrections. Resist the temptation. I guess writers or bloggers can relate to this. (I just did it while writing this post.)

6. Listen to audio books.

Listening than reading a printed book is really a time saver. You can listen while crossing the streets, driving, or on a treadmill. You can’t do that if you’re holding a book on one hand (without risking your life.) When I am on commute, my travel time is about an hour a day which I spend on audio books. So, I don’t need to allot an hour to exclusively read a book.

7. Send a text message instead of calling.

Assuming the message you want to send across is simple and you don’t want to engage in unnecessary conversation on mobile phone, just send a text message. You save few minutes not just your time and also his/her time.

8. Pay your bills electronically.

You can save at least half the time when paying monthly bills.

9. Know thy short-cut keys.

You can save a lot of time if you know short-cut keys in playing around with your computer isn’t this is what short-cut keys for?). Imagine the world without CTRL-C or CTRL-V. If you use particular software like spreadsheet, you’ll do things faster than average users.. Also, some keyboards have this quick launch buttons to help you out. Use them. Maximize them.

10. Tape your favorite shows.

Watch them at your convenience time where more important things has been done. Fast forwarding through commercial will save you at least 10 minutes an hour.

How about you? What are the things you do to get more things done?