Please note that this is a guest post by Beth Garvey.

“One important aspect of business that many entrepreneurs tend to neglect is employee performance management. We get so busy with financing, marketing, sales, market research etc. But if we truly believe that our people are our most important asset, we need to put HR processes and tools in place to make sure we give them the feedback, development and validation they need to excel. This is true whether you have 2 or 2000 employees.

Regardless of your size, I think you need to have the following three basic elements in place:
•    Aligned Organizational Goals
•    Regular, Formalized Feedback
•    Performance Based Employee Development

Without these, you’re just not able to maximize your ‘human resources’.

To start with, your organization needs to have clearly articulated goals. These goals need to be communicated to everyone in the organization. Your entire staff should then establish individual goals that align with these organizational goals. This is how you’re going to make things happen. If you don’t follow this process, and have management visibility to everyone’s goals and their progress towards achieving them, how will your organization ever succeed? It’s not enough to hope everyone knows the organization’s goals and is contributing towards them. We need to formalize goal setting and monitor alignment and progress.

The second vital performance management practice is giving employees ongoing, but formalized feedback. Yes you need daily feedback and coaching. But formalized feedback is something different. It’s stepping back and evaluating an employee’s performance of critical competencies and goals. It’s as much about the “how” as the “what”. Formal feedback helps both the employees and the organization know who’s performing, who needs development and who’s not a right fit.

The third vital practice is performance-based development. For every employee, you need to identify areas that need development, based on existing performance, invest in appropriate training and development activities, and then monitor improvements in performance to be sure their effective. This is how everyone improves and succeeds.”

A lot of entrepreneurs neglect these vital performance management functions because they can be very time consuming and require some skill. But that shouldn’t be a barrier. There are lots of great, affordable performance management applications available that automate the whole process for you, and even give you tools that make it easier to align goals, write feedback and choose development activities. Halogen Software is one of the leading providers, but there are others out there as well.

Are your employee getting the feedback, development and validation they need?

Our 32nd Review our Blog entry comes thanks to Adam Evers Startup Student. You can read what he had to say about us in his blog post: Blog review: youngentrepreneur.com.

“Startup Student came out of a need like all good ventures. I was sick of trying to be sold something whenever I went to a blog that dealt with entrepreneurship. I wanted real TANGIBLE resources. Real content. I have started a couple of business’ in my day and so I thought that compiling some of my knowledge and others would be helpful to the community at large. I have a network of people that have also started there own business. They will be adding content on there are well.”

Thanks for the review Adam!

If you are interested in doing a review, check out our Review Our Blog initiative for instructions.

In a slight shift from the regular advice that I give website owners on Thursdays, I was recently contacted by a YoungEntrepreneur.com blog reader, Stephen Drusano, who works for a SEO company called Blue Fountain Media.

He shared with me what his firm (c/o the company’s CEO, Gabriel Shaoolian) thought were four emerging trends in the SEO world. I agree with the first three for sure and am seeing them increase in popularity. The last one is questionable but I thought I would share the email in its entirety. Thank you for sharing Stephen / Gabriel!

Hello Evan,

I saw your recent post on SEO advice for the guy from the capability events company. I work with a company called Blue Fountain Media that specializes in SEO. A team member at Blue Fountain Media was kind enough to provide me with a list of  SEO methods that have shifted as of recently and I wanted to forward them along to you because they strike me as really informative and valuable. Take a look at these:

Old Method: Tons of Footer Links
New Method: Contextual Linking
Google is placing less and less importance on links in navigational menus, sidebars, headers, footers etc. Now it is very important to embed links within bodies of text  – between the 2 and 4 paragraphs of a relevant body of text using relevant anchor text. What SEO’s used to was place hundreds of keyword-rich links at the bottom of pages to pass link value. Another factor which has led to this is the fact that Google is only attributing value to the first link it encounters on an html document to any one page.

Old Method: Blog Comments
New Method: Guest Posting
It used to be that all one had to do to build links to a website was to go around commenting on hundreds of blogs, leaving a link back to your website. Ever since the “no follow” attribute came along, which stripped these type of links of their value, the strategy concerning blogs is to write guest posts, with a link back to the author’s website.

Old Method: Link Exchange
New Method: Linking Out
Almost every SEO used to create a “links” page with hundreds of irrelevant links to hundreds of other websites with keyword-rich anchor text. Now that Google has started taking a look at the context of links, these pages have become worthless, and many times harmful. When websites link to spam websites they are punished for it by Google. It is important to link out only to quality websites. The new form of link exchanging is by mentioning a website in a blog post, which is reciprocated at a later date by the link partner.

Old Method: Buying Links
New Method: Donations
It used to be (and still is to the most part) that SEO’s would purchase links to their website, with the option of anchor text and placement on a page. This was similar to advertising, however, impressions or clicks were not being tracked – only the value of the link in terms of search engine rankings. What is slowly putting an end to this practice are Google’s watch dogs who look out for websites that sell links, penalizing them by devaluing their links. A better alternative to purchasing links is giving away donations to charities, which often have high-quality domains and add a link to the donor somewhere on their website. These turn out to be better value as well since at least the money is going to a good cause and the link stays there even after one has given a donation, unlike with paid links, which have a monthly payment structure in general.

What do you think of Stephen’s email? What other trends are you noticing in the SEO world?

Last week I wrote about how to know if your business will be successful or not (5 Sure-fire Ways To Know If Your Business Will Work Or Not). In one of the comments, Timothy mentioned the importance of bootstrapping a company so I wanted to dedicate this post to how to bootstrap – thanks for the suggestion Timothy!

20 Ways To Bootstrap Your Business:

1. Start A Service

Service businesses generally require less startup capital than product based businesses and you can bring money in right away.

2. Figure Out What Makes The Most Money

Don’t spend time doing the things that don’t bring in money. As a startup you need money in the door as soon as possible! Defer, delegate, or ignore the rest.

3. Get Volunteer Help

High schools and foreign language schools are great places to get free help to get your business off the ground (I’ve used both).

4. Hire Part Time

Get someone to do the admin tasks for your business on a part time basis. You don’t have to hire full time until you have more money coming in. The first person I ever hired was working for me one hour per day to start.

5. Automate

Even better than hiring someone is automating your tasks! Think about what you do repetitively and find a way to make it more automatic. It will save you time and help you avoid having to take on a staff member’s salary. Automate the regular and humanize the exception.
6. Form Partnerships
Find businesses who also sell to your customers and form partnerships with them instead of spending money on costly advertising.

7. Use Pay Per Click

Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising is not always cheap but it is measurable. Run small tests and see which ones are working before committing more money to the cause.
8. Use Search Engine Optimization

Even better than PPC is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Create useful and relevant content to help your website rank organically in the search engines. You can also read my SEO Advice Series for more help on SEO.
9. Leverage The Media

Choose a hot topic the media is covering and present yourself as an expert. The media is always looking for people to comment on the day’s issues so you’re making their job easier if you have valuable information to share.

10. Think Big, Start Small

Have a big picture plan but get started today. Remember that little steps lead to big steps and before you know if you’re a success! Entrepreneurs tend to overestimate what they can do in the short term and underestimate what they can do in the long run.

11. Do Something Every Day For Your Business

Even if it’s answering one email, sending out one press release, or commenting on one blog, do something every day to help you move forward. Never let the business building momentum die.

12. Don’t Quit Your Day Job Until You Can Afford To

If you quit to go full time and then run out of money six months later you’ll have wasted the opportunity to really build something great because you didn’t have enough time. Start off slowly and make sure you can support yourself before jumping in full time.

13. Turn Everyone Into A Referral Partner

Your friends, family, suppliers, customers, investors, etc all have the ability to refer business to you. Let them know that you’re looking for new clients and that you would really appreciate their help. You can even offer a financial incentive for them to help you out.

14. Watch Your Payments

Try to extend your payment dates for suppliers and also get money more quickly from customers. Starting a business is a cash-flow game so get money in as quickly as you can and pay it out as slowly as you can.

15. Start At Home

Don’t expand your business and get an office until you’ve proven the concept working from home and are sure you have a revenue base to support yourself.

16. Share Your Office

Once you are ready to move out, try to share an office. The first office I had was just a desk out of someone else’s office. Once I had enough money to expand, I got my own place.

17. Barter

Can you trade what you’re selling for something you need? If you’re an Internet programmer, for example, and need business cards, can you design a website for a printer in return for the design and cards that you need?

18. Lease Don’t Buy

In the long term it might cost more to lease but it helps with your cash-flow. When you’re faced with making a major purchase like a computer, car or other equipment, lease it to start so you can ensure your company has enough money to continue running.

19. Hire Friends / Family

Especially at the beginning, you can usually get friends or family to help you because they care for you and want to see you succeed. They might work for free or you might have to pay them but you can usually get away with lower than market rates at the beginning while you’re building.

20. Create A Rainy Day Fund

Every entrepreneur runs into rainy days where a major financial expense comes up. Maybe your computer broke down and you need a new one, maybe your website crashed and you need to hire an expensive programmer to fix it, or maybe you run into a serious personal issue and need more money than before (all three have happened to me). Make sure it doesn’t put you out of business by buildling up a “rainy day” fund as soon as you can. Every little contribution helps!

Good luck and keep bootstrapping! What other bootstrapping methods have you used to help your company get going?

Worth $31 billion dollars, Ingvar Kamprad is the world’s 7th richest person according to Forbes Magazine. He is one of the most rule-breaking entrepreneurs (25 Businessmen Who Broke The Rules And Won) and I also profiled him in August of 2007 (Don’t Be Afraid To Make Mistakes).

I wanted to continue the story today by talking about another key to Ingvar Kamprad’s success: listening to the customer.

“The temples of design in places like Milan or God knows where overflow with beautiful, original furniture that costs extortionate amounts of money,” says Kamprad. “The vast majority of people don’t have six figure amounts in the bank and don’t live in enormous apartments…it is for just such people that I created Ikea. For everybody who wants a comfortable house in which to live well. A need that crosses all countries, races and religions.”

From its very inception, IKEA has been dedicated to providing good quality and well functioning products at low prices. This has been Kamprad’s vision since day one, and it has been the driving force behind IKEA’s international success. It is for this reason that the company hires its own designers, many of whom have gone on to win design awards over the years.

“To design a desk which may cost $1,000 is easy for a furniture designer, but to design a functional and good desk which shall cost $50 can only be done by the very best,” says Kamprad. And, he wanted to be the very best, not just in order to cut down on costs, but because he wanted to be the supplier for the everyman. He wanted to meet the demands of the majority of people, whom he saw as being largely ignored by the industry. “We have decided once and for all to side with the many,” Kamprad said early on in his career. “What is good for our customers is also, in the long run, good for us.”

Everything Kamprad did could be traced back to his desire to meet his customer’s demands. He has kept his product lines simple in order to both minimize the potential for damage during transport as well as to make it easier for customers to take their furniture home themselves. The idea of the IKEA showroom was also implemented with the customer in mind.

“The objective must be to encompass the total home environment; that is, to offer furnishings and fittings for every part of the home whether indoors or outdoors,” says Kamprad. “It must reflect our way of thinking by being as simple and straightforward as we are ourselves. It must be durable and easy to live with. It must reflect an easier, more natural and unconstrained way of life.”

Kamprad was determined to keep his company on the ground and in touch with his customers. However, Kamprad wanted his company to exist not just to improve the lives of his customers, but also to improve the people themselves. This is a vision that is reinforced throughout the entire company, from its advertising campaigns to its catalogue to the design of its stores. The self-service nature of the stores, along with the self-assembly of their products, were not simple implemented as cost control measures. Rather, Kamprad viewed them as means to increase the individual’s self-sufficiency.

“The IKEA spirit is a strong and living reality,” says Kamprad. “Simplicity in our behaviour gives us strength. Simplicity and humbleness characterize us in our relations with each other, with our suppliers, and with our customers.”

Last week Will commented that he wanted to learn more about how to start a business in a recession. Therefore in response, this week’s Entrepreneur University comes thanks to Lee Lister.

Lee is a Business Consultant with more than 25 year’s consultancy experience for many household names. She is known as “The Bid Manager” or “The Biz Guru” .

Today Lee shares with us her advice on how to build a business in a recession.

“Recessions are periods when economic output is reduced for some time. In periods of recession some may be tempted not to start that business just yet. Others may think that it as they are now out of a job – now is the best time to start a business.  But how can you start a business in a recession and more importantly – is it a good idea?

Well the answer is yes – BUT – you must have the following three things:

• Enough money to get started and survive for a few months.
• A product or products that are particularly required during a recessionary period.
• Good marketing so that you can become established.

First of all, if you can start a new business whilst maintaining your existing job, in a recession, this is the best option for you. Start your business slowly, test your market and build up gradually with a minimal of risk. This will allow you to keep your bills paid, although it will require a lot more work from you. For those who are working less hours this is an ideal solution.

During a recessionary purpose, and indeed for some time afterwards, people do not spend as much and manufacturing is reduced to a minimum and people treat new things with suspicion. It is therefore vitally important that you ensure that your products and services are ones that people will want to and be able to buy with their reduced income. If your products are in the “luxury” area, or are not necessities then think a little sideways. Lower the price or change them slightly so that they appeal more to the cash strapped consumer. Hold sales and be prepared to pare any profit to a minimum and budget for this.

Conversely go for the super rich who are not so hit by recession problems. If you cannot change your products, then think of others within your market that may sell. If you really cannot change your products or price levels then you need to rethink starting a business for a while. Or else only invest small amounts of time and money.

Lastly you should look at your marketing and advertising strategies. Be prepared to spend more than expected on penetrating and establishing your markets. Be prepared to spend more time on guerrilla marketing activities which are much cheaper. Be prepared to compete against established companies that are also feeling the pinch and may resent you taking some of their sales. Network like crazy so that your company name is spread as wide as possible. Persevere and spend a lot of time investigating your market and learning your trade before you invest large amounts of money. Be confident and enjoy yourself. ”

Is there a topic you would like to learn more about for the next Entrepreneur University? Leave a comment below and we’ll try to find an expert to discuss your topic!

The results are in from our most recent Entrepreneur Poll.

I asked you “What is the best business to start in a recession?” and you responded in record numbers!

The top 5 results were:

1. Online Business
2. It Doesn’t Matter – Just Love What You’re Doing
3. Healthcare
4. Education
5. Video Games

Here is what you had to say:

Online Business (11)

- Online Business for sure!
- I agree with Ninh, a web startup is something I am currently working on setting up.
- Online business. Selling information, no physical products.
Personally I have started a coaching business on self confidence, helping people conquer their self
defeating and limiting beliefs about life in general and the things around us.
- Do what I did. I started my own online travel agency. Great benefits and the cheapest flights ever.
- Online business and marketing is hot and it will continue in the future.
- I think that when times are tough people to startup an online business because, as long as they have the know-how to start it up, it will cost little (virtually nothing). Starting up a business that sells physical goods or services, on the other hand, takes much more investment in terms of money.
- Pursuing an online business is probably winning as it is one where you don’t have to throw in your old job – your start-up emails can be checked in lunch, you can work on it when you get home from the regular job and not have to worry about looking fresh and smart.
- Online seems to be the way to go but can I inquire what those suggesting an online business are actually selling?
Sky Minor.
- Timothy, I total agree with you. Right now America is facing a recession which is the closest thing we’ve seen to the Great Depression since the Great Depression. If you are an entrepreneur or an aspiring entrepreneur, creating low start-up cost business is the way to go. Where is the best place to make substantial sums of profit with extremely low start-up costs? the WEB.
- I’d say online business tools, to help businesses grow.
- A website for employment (since in my country, thousand of workers being laid off). Luckily, I wouldn’t need to find a job
- i suggest online business like selling in ebay, blogging and etc…..

It Doesn’t Matter – Just Love What You’re Doing (7)

- It doesn’t matter as long as it is something you love and are passionate about. The economy will always go up and down but you will have to stick with and push your business forward no matter what.
If you truly love what you do you will be successful in the end.
- I agree with Jared — as along as you are doing what you love, it doesn’t seem like work. If you can’t but happiness, you need to make it for yourself. You will put alot more energy and passion into a job you love than one you don’t, and customers/guests/consumers will see that passion and gravitate towards your company.
Yikes — sounded a little preachy, but very true!
- you can start any business as long as you have the passion for it and creativity in terms of differentiating yourself.
- Any time is a good time to start a business. You can always find a reason not to do something. If you’re passionate about what you do, it will resonate with your target audience. There is always opportunities for leaders to succeed. Sometimes too much thinking spoils the excitement. If it feels right take the chance.
If you fail – so what. Pick yourself up and try again. There are no guarantees, but the experience is well worth the effort. True entrepreneurs are invigorated by the challenges. Don’t look for recession-proof or any other protections because there are none. Every business can fail, and most new business do. But, if you believe in yourself and your customers – you will succeed. Build a winning brand, and enjoy the journey.
- You can start any type of business as far you do extensive market research before starting to see if its viable to you.
- Absolutely anything (to an extent)
I think the current recession is perfect for entrepreneurs! I believe it is possible to start a business in any sector as long as budgets are well thought out. I think if any venture has a well formed business plan and the capital available to stay a float for a year then they are almost certain to pick up clients from struggling companies and growth and success is almost guaranteed.
The companies that have been worst hit by this recession arent in the prcarious position because of a lack of sales they are in it due to a lack of planning. It is the larger companies that have been hit the hardest as many have over commited themselves and it is this which spells out the end for many companies.
If you can start a business now, and keep it running for a year, your likely to survive and most likely profit from it on the way.
- Be passionate about what you are marketing and/or the team you are building, or don’t even bother. Most of all be honest, realistic, and enjoy yourself so it won’t even feel like work. Avoid hype and ”get rich quick” scams at all cost. They never work. You have to…hard and consistently. Dedication is paramount.

Healthcare (6)

- Healthcare all the way! At least that is what I am working on right now. In a down economy people don’t stop getting sick, injured or old!
- Health care companies are known to do quite well in a recession because people get sick just as much and sometimes more. Also as baby boomers age, the market will surely grow quite a bit for products and services that assist people to live longer and a more comfortable life.
- Have to agree with the “health care” field – it’s never going to get smaller. And just thinking out loud – things/products/services that (1) make people feel better, or (2) make their life easier. How to lose weight. How to make money. How to find the love of your life. Those three “fields” (ideas) are never out of style and there’s always a demand – if you can sell *your* notion.
- These are the businesses that will survive no matter what the economy is doing, quite simply because they provide services that society in general cannot go long without. 1. Health Care: Health services occupations including medical assistants, home health aides, physical therapists and medical records technicians.
- I absolutely agree with Bizguy… Health care business never declines.
- I would think health care or credit repair/debt counseling.

Education (4)

- I have another thing to mention: A recession-proof business plan or eydea should involve the basic needs of consumers and the mainstay markets. Education will always be around. Energy. Food. And so on. Stay away from the luxury products/businesses or the type of business that is something most people consume if they have the extra dough ($)
- These are the businesses that will survive no matter what the economy is doing, quite simply because they provide services that society in general cannot go long without. 2.Education: Teaching is generally immune to a shaky economy, particularly if you’re teaching in an area with a high growth rate.
- Continued education (online and offline
- My number four is childrens abduction safety protection and educational business. If ever there was a recession proof business, this is it. With rising problem of children safety, with 850,000 reported missing children last year alone, what parent would not want their children protected from abduction or sexual molestation? This industry is ripe for growth with abducted children in the news every day, and getting worse every day. Low cost, no selling, just telling, a very solid choice in my experience researching this industry.

Video Games (4)

- I think video game is pretty good business. It’s recession proof.
- Video game programmer/designer (When times turn rough, people tend to stay home more. That means plenty of home movie nights, less eating out, and more video games.) Reports show that some video game companies sales were up 20% in 2008.
- I think a used video game store would be good to start.
- Video game business is one of those recession proof business. Also, used or recycled item shop is.
When you are in game business, you naturally deal used games also.

Here are some other popular entries that didn’t quite make the top 5.

Real Estate (3)

- In my area starting a business to take care of and maintain foreclosed properties would be good, this would be a nice on going business. You could also do a business to clean out the foreclosures.
- Besides Network Marketing companies, I think if you have large amounts of money to invest, that you should invest in real estate properties to rent out and keep for the long run. Only because the bank owned homes are going for such a good price, it is hard to ignore the good deals they have out there. My husband and I bought our first investment home back in September and it has worked out great.
- Speaking of real estate, a mainstay in the wealth building arena for years, and with the longest upward trend lasting 17 years, a record, it is all coming unwound, and in my area, prices have already receded back to 2004 levels, so this is a major hit on most people equity wealth which has evaporated over the past year, and continues to drop in most areas. See this trend, the best opportunity I have researched is a new home equity profit sharing concept which is so unique, it cannot be fully explained in one post. If I was to suggest the best recession proof business for the times, I would say this is my number one in my own personal seven recession proof list of businesses. Again, with banking collapse, sub prime mortgages are long gone, and never to return, and with banks not loaning, even after gov. bailout, 80% of previous home buyer market is now shut out of home ownership. Not only do you have to have 20% to 30% down, you have to have 720 plus FICO scores, so could you qualify for a new home in this market, ever with spotless credit?

Adult Entertainment (3)

- I have to be the one to say it? Adult Entertainment
- We have been expanding into the Adult arena as we can see this being good in Recession and beyond.
- sex is a cheap alternative to going out so sell them sex toys and porn

Renewable Energy / Ecological Living (3)

- Also I think renewable energy, ecological living, ecological housing could be viable option.
- Anything having to do with ecological awareness and infrastructure for broadband connectivity. These are two of the fields that Obama is going to use to try and recreate the “New Deal” for this economy. If you are developing a startup in these industries you can almost count on a governmental grant in the near future.
- My number two recession proof business is the Environmental Energy Audit Industry. With so many businesses trying to survive, saving money is critical, and since every business is bleeding wasted energy, this is a gold mine if you are looking for a low startup, low overhead home business. Having been in contruction, I can tell you first hand how many contractors took shortcuts in the good times and combined with low energy costs for years, these small to medium buildings are energy inefficient, and with 5M plus businesses in this catagory, you can make a small fortune even part time if you have business contacts. Learning the business is easy, and with a little effort, this can easily be a full time business, so perfect for those who are not comfortable in their current jobs. Energy auditors and consultants are good long term businesses as we are all more green motivated now, so you have two points to approach business owners with, saving money, and going green.

Network Marketing (3)

- I know that many people are misinformed about Multi-level Marketing companies aka. network marketing. I have been network marketing for over 2 years now and I have seen a big jump in my business lately. Maybe it is because of the low costs compare to other companies and that the products are Jerky and snacks that people consume and reorder. But I also think it is because so many people are being laid off and are turning to the internet to look for a home based business and I am ranked on some of the search engines in the first couple pages.
- network marketing and online/home business are extremely viable
- Find a product you like that you can distribute! Network Marketing can be such an inexpensive way to create additional income.

Liquor / Beer Store (3)

- A drive through liquor and beer store. Sell cigarettes, drug paraphernalia, liquor, lottery tickets, liquor, and beer… Set up shop in the worst part of town and hire a few big dudes to handle security/check out… Put them on rotating shifts.
- +1 on the liquor store
- people need to drown their sorrows so sell them alcohol

A Product/Service That Helps Save Companies Money (3)

- I work in the high tech (software) industry, and i have a different opinion from most folks who think that high tech is most impacted in a recession.. My thoughts are this really depends on the type of product/service your company can provide..if you can come up with a product/service that actually helps save companies money overall(or better still make more money), they will jump on the opportunity as everyone is looking to shave off those extra dollars..On the other hand, a product/service that is more of a nice to have that sits pretty on the shelf will not sell in such a climate..selling vitamins vs selling painkillers analogy kinda works great to gauge the likely hood of what products/services will fly in such an economic climate.. My $0.02
- The success of a business relies on how well it gives customers what they want/need. During a recession I believe it is the same thing. Just do “it” better than the rest of the guys (the competition) and you should be fine. “It” could be any commodity.
- Products/Services based on needs rather than wants that will not require people to change their buying habits will offer the greatest potential for success and residual income. Work smart and stick to what works. Use the Internet as an invaluable resource for generating endless targeted leads so you don’t have to rely on family and friends who often end up being your harshest critics. Brand YOU Inc. and establish yourself as a knowledgeable leader and people will seek you out, rather than you having to chase them.

Web Development (2)

- I’m actually starting a website development LLC at the end of this month / early next month. Web development is a great business to enter if you plan to bootstrap. You can use software like Gimp for free (and later upgrade to Photoshop when money permits).
- Personally, I was laid off back in July of 2008 and needed to do something rather quickly and started a small web design business. I have been really surprised that even during this slow down in the economy of how busy I am. This may not be the case everywhere but if you have the skills I would suggest this line of work because of the low overhead and start up costs especially if you already have good pc or laptop and design software.I think one major reason I am staying busy is because small businesses are looking for alternative ways to garner new business and a website is one avenue.

Personal and Repair Services (2)

- Cars and trucks still break down, plumbing gets backed up, and the lawn mower still has issues. So electrical, plumbing, termite proofing, roof repair, lawn care, and other specific home-repair functions should continue to do well in a recession. While homeowners may try and put off maintenance and repairs, that only means that ultimately they will pay a higher price for a greater amount of work as things tend to get worse if not fixed.
- Shoe Repair (as people look to repair not replace)

Credit Repair (2)

- credit repair lol
- I would think health care or credit repair/debt counseling.

Biotech

- I vote for biotech. See my blog on 12/30 on this subject “Biotech Startups are Hot” by linking from www.startupprofessionals.com. Also a see a related one “Recession Means Selected Startups Can Win Big”. Marty Zwilling, CEO & Founder, Startup Professionals
- The guy who said Biotech is 100% uneducated on the subject. The funding for Biotechs is 100% dried up. There are currently 300 or so public Biotechs and over 1/2 of those have less than 1 years cash on hand. 50% of those have less than 6 months cash.Fact is, biotechs are hurting right now and many, many will go under in the next year. A BAD time to start a Biotech firm.

Payroll Check Cashing Business

- Payroll Check Cashing Business…..more and more people lose their credit ratings in a recession. They are unable to get a bank account, those who specialize in high risk loans and credit offerings stand to gain tremendously in this sort of environment.

Receiver / Debt Recovery

- Being a receiver would probably do well in a recession! As would a debt recovery business! Couldn’t say I’d enjoy either though…Sean

Recruitment Agency

- I’d like to say recruitment agency, but I don’t think there are that many companies hiring – I guess it falls both ways.

Small Business

- Another good market to focus on are small businesses. There are millions of small businesses who have a vast array of problems. A startup only needs to focus on a niche solution for these businesses and charge a nominal fee per month to make Profit! =)

Infrastructure

- I would suggest to do something connected with infrastructure. This seems to do well in bad times.

Pet Shop

- I’m thinking about a pet shop. Do ya think it’s a good aidea?

Just Get A Job

- just get another jobs, never start on your business

Home Inventory

- I plan on starting a home inventory business for my retirement. Well, actually I want to be up and running when I retire.
This appears to be a up and coming industry. I’ve done some research and it seems to be wide open in my area. This is my first business venture and sites like this are a great resource. Thanks

Dating, Love, Marriage

- Growth of the general-interest online dating sites has slowed nationwide, but the carefully targeted new niche dating markets has seemed to be growing. Site that are aimed at specific market segments, such as specific religions or Baby boomer singles or a particular ethnic focus.

Technology

- And some technology fields are still growing!!

Financial Consulting

- Hello all! New member this is my first post, I must say I really like this forum alot and am happy to be a member of the community. I must say a great business to start during these tough economic time’s would be a financial consultant company.. just a company out there to help people who may be feeling the panic of the current economy. Alot of people these days are going to consult with financial advisors and things of this nature and in turn that is producing a good steady flow of activity for the advisors. I myself am a personal investor.. i play in several markets ranging from the Forex market to the day trading the stock market (If your not investing in the market right now you are missing out on a great opportunity) and i find my friends and family turning to me in near panic asking for help with financial issues. they are always wanting to know what to inest in and where to put there money when to get out when to get in just all kinds of things. Financial Consultants are making the money right now due to the downturns of the market and if you know your stuff you can as well.

Forums

- I think forums are the way to go in times of Recession, so I would say FORUMS!

Dollar Stores

- Dollar Stores

Healthy Food

- Healthy alternatives to cheap, fast food chains.

Death Industry

- In my general research, the number one growth industry is the death industry, as in, funeral homes, cemeteries, casket companes, etc. After all, we are all going to die, and with babyboomers reaching this final phase in their lives, 70M or so, this is the business to be in. The only real estate you will see appreciating in value over the next five years will be cemetery plots as I see it.

Discount Cooperative

- My number five is a discount business cooperative, similar to Chamber of Commerce, whereby you offer members group benefits such as reduced health care which is most common benefit of memberhip. Anyone who is or was member of any local chamber will understand what I am talking about. But with this cooperative membership, you not only access low cost health care, but low cost advertising and every other critical aspect of running a business at discount. This is one of the easiest businesses to promote to other businesses desperate to save money. Sadly, in a recession, most businesses cut advertising first, and this is suicide in business, yet most don’t know this until it is too late. Trimming advertising is important, but from a cost point, not eliminating it, and that is what this business cooperative is all about, saving money, finding more cost efficient advertising, not wasting money.

Non Tobacco Cigarettes

- My number six was a no brainer. With smokers always making a new years resolution to kick the habit, never mind the new health care tobacco taxes which will bring a pack to over $10.00 in most areas, this is an industry which is booming. As the recession is hitting smokers too, here is a money saving and life saving alternative, electronic nano non tobacco cigarettes. With no tobacco taxes, plus the cartridge system, a smoker can save hundreds, if not thousands over the year, in fact, most won’t pay anything if they also choose to be in the business sharing technology with other smokers. Once people see it, they want it. Simply put, this product sells itself, and for this reason, the perfect recession proof business as smokers look to save money, even if they don’t care about saving their lives. After all, the cancer, heart disease and emphysema issues are well proven, so here are two powerful reasons why people would want to stop smoking tobacco, or kick the nicotine addiction.

Pawn Shop

- My number seven is addrssing the big ticket luxury millionaires market. With the Madoff $50B ponzi, many millionaires lost everything, and with the stock market collapse, trillions have been lost requiring the disposal of luxury big ticket items like, yachts, exotic motorcars, mansions, jewelry, antiques, paintings, you name it, the rich are going to be dumping it. This is a rising star in my portfolio, about to launch, and well worth adding to anyones list as you will soon see. Pawn shops are booming, look at the online gold exchange industry, also exploding, so again, anything which addresses the impact the recession has on everyone will be the businesses to choose for the long term.

Used Articles

- Used articles for consignment. People are needing to save a dime even more these days.

Thank you everyone for the fantastic feedback! We’ll continue again next week with a brand new entrepreneur poll!

It’s time for another SEO Advice post! Last week, I offered free SEO advice to Capability Events. I’m going to continue my SEO Advice series today by helping out another YoungEntrepreneur.com blog reader Paula from CADrite.

Paula – www.CADrite.net

Dear Evan.

We have started a CAD services venture and I would really appreciate your comments and suggestions about our site:

http://www.cadrite.net

thanks
Paula

My Recommendations

1) Build More Links

At first glance you’ve optimized your title tags, put text on the homepage, and have relevant content. But your page currently has no Page Rank. If it’s a brand new site then you’re likely in the Google Sandbox and will have to wait a few months before you start getting ranked. The fastest way out of the Sandbox and into Google’s main index is to build links. This blog post is a good start! Get involved in the CAD community, post on related blogs, create content on your site that is link-worthy and submit your site to relevant directories to begin the link building process. Once you get links and Page Rank you’ll have an easier time ranking for your keywords.

2) Change Up Your Title Tags

Your title tag on your homepage reads:

When I browse to your Services page guess what the title tag contains? The exact same keywords as your home page! Your title tag is a critical SEO component and you want to make sure that it is different on every page on your site to give each page the ability to rank separately.

3) Add More Content

The only page with any significant amount of text is your Services page. I would encourage you to instead of putting all of your services on one page, separate them so that they each have their own page. Write 300-500 words of content on each page, have relevant title tags, and a relevant url for each. For example, your CAD Data Translation service should be on its own page with 300-500 words of targeted text which will help you rank in Google for “CAD Data Translation”. Rinse and repeat for all your other services.
Good luck Paula!

Readers, what do you think about CADrite?

To learn more about how to get SEO tips for your website please read my post: Need SEO Advice? Submit Your Site!

Last week I wrote about the startup of my most recent business (7 Steps To Build A Startup From Scratch With No Money) and it received a number of comments so I thought I would expand on Step 1 from the post and talk about 5 sure-fire ways to know if your business will work.

#1: You Love It

After I found out that I could make money online through advertising I went out looking for the highest paying keywords and tried to make different pages and mini-sites that targeted those words. I saw that keywords like “Arizona DUI lawyer” was going for $47.45 per click. $47.45 for every click!!!
I quickly got lost in the math – if I could get 10,000 people to that page per month and 10% click through on my ads and Google takes 50%… that’s $23,725 per month! Even if I only hit 25% of that it’s still almost $6,000 per month for one site! Now imagine if I could do the same thing for multiple keywords!

Unfortunately the buzz quickly wore off. It takes time to write content, build links, and promote your site. No matter how promising it seemed, I drained myself pretty quickly and abandoned the site. If you don’t truly love what you do then you won’t stick with it. Imagine it takes three years before you are successful. Would you be willing to write articles and build links every day on “Arizona DUI lawyer” for three years? Probably not. That’s why people are making more money selling their lists of the top paying keywords rather than trying to optimize their sites for those keywords themselves. So find something that will get you going every morning.

#2: There Is Money To Be Made

Yesterday I made $7.56 from one just click on an ad on my site. It’s not the $47.45 from “Arizona DUI lawyer” but it’s still pretty good. You need to make sure that there is a way to make money in the industry you’re targeting. If you’re going to be selling ad space online like I do then use Google’s tool to find out how much clicks are going for. I hear about people starting online businesses and making $0.05 per click. No matter how great a job you do on driving traffic to your site and optimizing your ad placements to maximize your click through rates (CTRs), you’re not going to be making a living from your website. It might be a great hobby but it’s not going to put food on the table.

Whatever industry you’re going into make sure to do your research and find out if there is money to be made. If it’s not an online business go out and talk to people who are in the industry and see how they’re doing. Are they hiring new staff and expanding or are they closing down their businesses? Figure out if your idea is actually a good business opportunity or just a hobby project to have some fun with.

#3: You Can Do All The Important Aspects Of The Business Yourself

I have a number of friends who are starting online businesses and don’t know anything about programming, web design, servers, content writing, search engine optimization, or link building. They think they can just outsource everything. If you’re a retail store and you’re selling some of your products online then I would say it’s ok to outsource. But if your entire business is online then you better know how to run the most important components yourself! There are going to be problems that come up that you are going to have to know how to fix yourself and, let’s face it, entrepreneurs are strapped for cash. Soon you’ll be settling with a substandard product because you can’t afford to bring in the pros to do it for you.

If you’re going to go into any business, make sure that you are the pro. You can hire pros around you as well as you grow but you need to know what you’re doing as the chief of the company. If you’re not a pro at what your business is selling then don’t go into that business until you can be the pro. Don’t start an online business if you don’t know anything about how to operate an online business.

#4: You Can Bootstrap It Yourself

I used to work in a venture capital company and helped entrepreneurs raise $500,000 to $15,000,000 for their businesses. That being said, I’ve never raised capital for any of my businesses. I believe the best way to go is always to bootstrap. Build around customers, reinvest your profits, and make sure you have something that people want. For every one company that hits it big with venture capital there are 10 who crash out because they were forced to grow too quickly and were on the wrong path. Raising money also becomes a full time job which takes you away from being able to run your business.

Think big but start small. Find a way to get your business started right away. That might mean doing a service instead of a product which is costly to get started. If you can bootstrap your business and get to the level where you can support yourself on a full time basis you have a much greater chance of success than taking someone else’s money, having them breathe down your neck, and running a negative balance every month hoping that you’ll cross into profitability before you run out of money.

#5: You Have Customers Lined Up

In one of my businesses I spent an entire summer writing a business plan around a particular customer that I thought was a sure-fire hit! Unfortunately after the summer ended I pitched the idea to them and they weren’t interested. Back to the drawing board for me and I lost three months of my life planning what I thought was the “perfect business.”

The best business you can build is one where you don’t produce anything until you have money from your customer in your bank account. This guarantees that you won’t run out of cash as you build your business. Being able to have customers lined up comes from knowing your industry and having some contacts in it before you get started. If you were to start today do you have someone who you could sell to immediately? The quicker you can get customers in the door the greater your chances are of success. Some of the most successful entrepreneurs I know started their companies by either working for a company and taking their clients with them or by reselling their services back to the company as a contractor instead of an employee. Having money come in from day one relieves a lot of the stresses of running a business. If you’re in month three and still haven’t made anything, panic starts to set in which causes poor decision making. Try to find a way to get a customer signed up before you even start your business.

What would you add to the list of “Sure-fire ways to know if your business will work or not”?