Tax refund can be sufficient capital to start a business on a shoestring budget, especially with cost-saving techniques like e-commerce solutions, payroll outsourcing, web hosting and equipment leasing.

Capital is tight these days, but a check may already be on its way to you–your tax refund. For a number of reasons, this might be a good time to put that tax refund into starting a new business.

Modern business techniques make entrepreneurship more affordable than in the past. E-commerce solutions with credit card processing capabilities have lowered the barrier to starting a new business; web hosting and office equipment leasing can help minimize fixed costs; online marketing  such as search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click can reduce the ongoing cost of promoting a business. With the job market not looking very bright, your best option may be to create your own job.

The Economic Power of Tax Refunds

Even with these cost-saving techniques, are tax refunds really enough to make a dent in the cost of starting a new business? Consider that a total of $261 billion in tax refunds were paid out in 2008–that’s enough to be thought of as something of a small business stimulus package.

In 2009, with incomes and investment returns down over the past year, many people will be looking at a lower tax liability, and therefore a bigger refund. This cash can be used to start a new business, or pump a little extra life to one that is struggling to get off the ground.

Examples of Low-Cost Businesses: Daycare to Web Design

The following are examples of businesses that can be started at relatively low cost, promoted via e-commerce solutions, and might be especially timely for today’s economy:

1. Daycare. With many parents having to work longer hours to make ends meet, demand for daycare is a natural result. Thirty-five percent of daycare workers are self-employed, and most of these provide the service in their homes, so daycare is a natural for a low-cost start-up business. Licensing requirements vary from state-to-state, but in many cases, looking after small numbers of children does not require licensure.
2. Home repair. If you are handy with a set of tools, you can translate this talent into a paying business. In a soft economy, people are looking to put off new purchases by making their existing equipment last longer. From cars to lawn mowers, or from furnaces to swimming pools, anything you can do to substitute an affordable repair bill for an expensive replacement can be a win-win situation. If you have the skills and the tools, this can be a low-cost business you can promote with SEO techniques such as linking advertisements to articles about repairs to specific items.
3. Pet care. Sometimes, it isn’t children who need looking after as people pursue additional jobs, but rather their pets. From supervising and exercising pets during the workday to providing grooming services, helping people keep up with the responsibility of owning a pet can often be a welcome alternative to giving up the pet.
4. Computer maintenance and repair. With so many job losses, people who relied on workplace help desks for laptop support are now on their own and need a technical lifeline. Providing this type of support requires expertise but little in the way of overhead.
5. Gardening & landscaping. With an aging population, more and more people are finding it a challenge to look after their yards. If you are in good health and have something of a green thumb, this type of work can be good for your physical and mental health while also rewarding you financially.
6. Tax preparation. Since this article is based on the power of tax refunds, it makes sense to point out that tax preparation can be a low-overhead business. If you have accounting expertise, you can help other people squeeze a little more out of their government refunds.
7. Web design. Once you’ve mastered the art of setting up a business based on web and e-commerce solutions, you can use what you’ve learned to help others do the same thing. While job losses are painfully disruptive, one of their long-term benefits is that they do spark a new wave of business formations. Whether it is helping with general consulting on business formation, or tackling specific projects such as Web design you can position your small business to ride the general wave of new start-ups.

With all the news of government bailouts, many individuals have been left wondering where is their bailout from the government. A tax refund is no bailout–it’s money you have coming to you–but it can be an opportunity to make investments in a new or existing small business that could help you earn more in the future.

Internet marketing has gained popularity in recent years, accelerated further by the current economic climate. Internet marketing is more targeted and measurable than traditional advertising. However, recent research data shows that telemarketers can convert almost 60% of calls into sales leads by using customized templates and scripts for specific customers. Additionally, telemarketing can qualify the customers before setting up the appointment by asking a few questions unlike internet advertising where it is not as easy  to qualify the user based on a click to your website.

The good news for online advertising is that the advertiser can choose to pay for performance where you can choose not to pay for the number of times that the ad appears on a particular site online but pay only when the user clicks on your ad and lands on your website.  This helps reduce the “marketing waste” and reminds us of  John Wannamaker’s quote which is so relevant today “I know half of my marketing dollars are wasted…I just don’t know which half!”.  On the other hand, the purpose of telemarketing is to make calls, qualify business leads and setup appointments for your sales team to close them into sales. Telemarketing companies get paid on number of calls made and not number of appointments setup. This has made it difficult for them to compete with internet marketing based on the “pay for performance” message that is so heavily used by internet marketing companies to shift more dollars online. But, if you are looking to target a specific customer such as the 14.6 million US small businesses or consumers with household incomes of $100K+ it may be more cost effective and easier to do so with telemarketing than online marketing.

Online marketing has gained more popularity because it is non intrusive compared to telemarketing that is often considered intrusive specifically when it comes to targeting individual consumers. The government has also passed several regulations including the “Do-Not-Call” lists so that consumers can register their phone numbers if they do not want to receive intrusive calls from telemarketers. However, telemarketing companies are still very much in demand when it comes to qualifying and targeting business leads and setting up appointments with business owners and decision makers.

Online marketing provides marketers with several options such as search engine marketing, search engine optimization, banner advertising and social media marketing. Each of them serves a different purpose depending on whether the marketer’s objective is to looking for a direct response or create an impression. It is important for every marketer and business owner to better understand the sophisticated internet marketing solutions and practices before allocating marketing budget to them or you will overspend and waste half of your marketing dollars on them. In comparison, telemarketing is very simple as its purpose is to make calls, qualify business leads, setup appointments and fill the sales pipeline so that the sales rep or account executive can  follow-up and close the sale.

To conclude, online marketing and telemarketing are both effective. But, its important for marketers and business owners to know their marketing objective, understand the various options and select the one that will best address their specific business needs.

Both  paid search (also known as pay per click) and banner advertising (also known as display advertising)  are effective in increasing in-store and online revenues by reaching customers at different points in the buying cycle. However, banner advertising helps create brand awareness while pay per click has shown better direct response results as it can be targeted based on the users interests. But, when these marketing strategies are used in combination the results improve substantially.

Display advertising is used to promote business products and services and expose more people to the brand name. Surveys show that people who are exposed to the name of the business and products search for the brand and segment terms more often than people who have not viewed the banner advertisement. Searches on the business name have been proven to increase by almost 123%, when the name has been highlighted in the display advertisement.

Surveys also show that people exposed to display ads are more likely to click on organic and paid search results linked to that business’ website. Display advertising is also effective in keeping a business name in surfers’ minds when they are looking for a product or service that was promoted by that business. A whopping 52% of internet users respond to banner advertising and 27% search for a product by brand.

Pay per click is more effective for direct marketing campaigns where the marketer’s objective is to get a response from the user. Pay per click advertising can be targeted by selecting the keywords for which advertisers would like their ads to appear in search results, including their website in the ad copy with a compelling call to action. Search engine optimization and pay-per-click search engine marketing are performance based marketing strategies for advertisers that are looking for a Return On Investment  from their advertising spend.

To conclude, both banner advertising and pay per click advertising are extremely effective. However, display ads serve brand advertiser’s needs better than paid search while pay per click search marketing addresses direct marketer’s response needs better than display advertising. But, both these online marketing strategies can be implemented together to maximize the efficacy of your marketing objectives such as increasing web traffic to your website, improving sales conversions and getting qualified business leads. And small businesses should look to work with search engine marketing companies to shift their marketing budgets online in 2010.

The climate change conference in Copenhagen will go down in history as one that generated so much hope from all over the globe but was unable to deliver on any of the key issues facing our planet.  Nicknamed “a city that engenders hope and goodwill”, Copenhagen’s green credentials as an environment-friendly city were a big plus which gave everyone attending the gathering something to take home.

Before the summit, the burning issue was how to get every country to come to an agreement that would extract a commitment from developed countries to help reduce the ravaging impact of a distorted environment resulting from industrial activities.

No country, no business and no individual is without responsibility. We need to take measures within our work places and homes to conserve energy, implement  practices towards “greening” our  business environments. The internet can help businesses increase customer outreach while reducing waste and conserving natural resources. 

A little caution in office day-to-day practices, internet marketing strategies, effective web design, and credit card processing services not only enable businesses to project the image of a responsible and forward thinking company but also improve its bottom line.

Conserve energy with small changes in the work place

Businesses are supporting the green cause by implementing simple changes within their offices such as using recycled paper, turning off lights and equipment when not in use, scanning and emailing documents instead of paper faxes, installing energy-saving office equipment, email instead of snail mail, and so on.

Use Internet marketing  instead of traditional advertising

An increasing number of small businesses are using internet advertising to promote their business. Online advertising is more targeted and measurable than traditional advertising and also conserves resources by doing away with print advertising.

Effective web design

Small businesses can build websites to reach customers online so that customers can review  their product brochures, collateral online and  even purchase their products with a few clicks reducing the carbon footprint required for businesses to sell products and or services today.

Online Credit card processing saves wastage

Online Credit card processing is not just a convenience. It cuts down on paper and ink usage. Invoices can be sent to customers via emails instead of printing paper and mailing it in envelopes.

It is every business’ responsibility to do its share in conserving the environment. These simple cost-effective measures help small businesses make good on their implicit promise to serve the local community. The environment is the newest subject on everybody’s mind and businesses can make the simple changes to win the favor of their customers.

Small businesses are walking on a tight rope, by trying to maximize revenue opportunities on a smaller budget in fiscal year 2010. Active promotion of products and services, brand awareness and customer acquisition has become even more important to sustain performance in this current recessionary economy.

Small businesses are moving away from traditional advertising techniques to marketing strategies such as direct mail, telemarketing, internet marketing and social media marketing, that drive measurable performance. As all these tactics require an intentional action from the customer they also serve to qualify them as sales leads.

Direct mail Advertising gets better results than TV/Radio

Effective targeting is winning half the battle. Direct mail companies conduct a demographics analysis to identify people who have some reason to be interested in the product or service being promoted. A personalized and compelling direct mail is sent out to the targeted group of people. It is designed to funnel potential customers into taking an affirmative action – call, mail, come to a store, or whatever is needed to take the sales process forward. The results of direct mail advertising can be measured by keeping track of responses.

Internet marketing is more effective and cheaper than offline

The internet provides businesses the advantages of low cost, widespread customer reach and measurability. Internet marketing companies assist small businesses with organizing pay-per-click ad campaigns, social media marketing and SEO. Online advertising is easily measurable and can be tied up with results for performance analysis.

Telemarketing provides instant results

Telemarketing companies help businesses to increase profits by cold calling, following up, qualifying business leads, setting up sales appointments and sales. All services are conducted off-site, saving the business the infrastructure and overhead costs.

These effective marketing strategies can improve the sales volume of a small business dramatically. Businesses should constantly stay abreast with latest marketing trends to take advantage of  more effective ways to acquire new customers.

People with vision and capability often make for frustrated employees. Working for another individual or company shackles their potential to achieve more than the ordinary. These people are motivated by their dreams and ambitions to start their own business. It is tough going initially but they can look forward to steady returns from their self-made business in the future years.

Starting and establishing a business today is much easier and viable than a few decades back. For starters, businesses can choose from a variety of small business loans for starting a business. While the recession has made it tougher for small businesses to get loans from banks and other traditional sources, there are other options such as a business cash advance for merchants that can borrow against future credit card receipts. Business Cash Advance also known as merchant cash advance is an unsecured cash advance forwarded to the business in exchange for a cut in future credit card sales till the whole amount plus interest is recovered.

Small business owners can also outsource non-core functions of the business without investing in in-house expertise. Outsourcing  payroll or call center related services empower businesses by incorporating efficiency into processes without incurring the cost of infrastructure and adding additional headcount. For instance, a small medical practice can increase its income by over 40% and improve its revenue management cycle by partnering with outsourced medical billing companies.

The internet is another cost-effective tool in the hands of small business owners. A small business can take the help of professional website designers and developers to design a website to establish its online presence. Effective internet marketing campaigns developed by reputed online marketing firms can drive qualified traffic to your website. E-commerce solutions enable businesses to sell products on the internet and capture an online customer segment that continues to grow in size.

All these facilities enable small business owners to focus on the core functions of the business, accelerating its growth and profits. However, small businesses also need to innovate and evolve continuously to maintain their competitive edge and retain profitable customers.

With the numerous amenities at the disposal of small business owners in today’s times, they don’t need to be at the office to manage the business. They can supervise operations via online tools and services.

Many small businesses are realizing the benefits of outsourcing functions that need the experience and knowledge of professional third party experts.  This move actually saves you dollars, increases your productivity and enables you to focus on business growth and profit rather than internal operations. As all outsourcing companies provide detailed reports of their work, business owners can keep tabs on their activities at all times.

VOIP phone systems and web conferencing tools allow business owners and their employees to communicate, share and exchange information across geographical borders and remote locations without leaving their homes.

IT consulting firms increase profits and ensure the efficient running of the business network. IT consulting personnel take care of software installations and customizations, administrative tasks to manage the IT network, advice the business on security features and risks, setup an effective backup system and generally protect the business from making IT mistakes.

Answering services ensure all incoming calls are handled professionally and important or urgent calls are diverted to the business owners on their private number. With a trained answering service in place, business owners need not worry about missed calls if they don’t come into office, are travelling or on vacation. This 24×7 service ensures businesses do not miss out on sales leads.

Small businesses can be as effective as they want by hiring expertise. Website design, e-commerce solutions and online advertising can all help to market the business and its goods and services on the internet. Credit card processing firms can increase the customer outreach of the business. Unsecured business cash advance can be availed at any time to fund expansion plans.

With so many facilities available to small businesses, owners can divert all their energy towards expanding and growing the business. Owners can supervise outsourced internal operations through web applications, right from home.

“We have to shift our emphasis from economic efficiency and materialism towards a sustainable quality of life and to the healing of our society, of our people and our ecological systems.”

-          Janet Holmes a Court

An increasing number of businesses are adopting “green” practices to build a sustainable business environment. Small businesses are the outcome of entrepreneurs’ dreams, and hopefully their dreams are not just about money and capability. There are also values – social, financial and environmental responsibilities – that should be reflected in the business’ practices and support the business’ purpose.

While government agencies across the world discuss strategies and plans for conserving energy, small businesses can take up the green initiative by following simple steps:

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

A simple and effective measure small businesses can implement is “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle”. Reduce the consumption of energy, water, fuel and non-biodegradable substances that poison the environment. Reuse by refurbishing rather than buying and building new objects out of old bits and pieces. Recycle what you cannot reuse or reduce.

Optimize on technology and the internet

Leverage web technology and the internet by developing an effective business website, launching e-commerce solutions for customers to shop from home and promoting the business through internet marketing. In the office, businesses can enable work-from-home facilities for employees, direct deposit of salaries, and web applications for employees to access for information. Incorporate credit card processing into business dealings. Enable online signature capture rather than providing printed receipts of credit card transactions.

By offering these conveniences, businesses reduce consumption of fuel and materials and build a good relationship with employees and customers. VOIP phone systems and web conferencing make travel redundant, thereby saving on fuel and traveling costs.

Small businesses can save dollars along with saving the environment. They can also take advantage of tax deductions and cost savings through state and federal programs.