If you have ever looked into making money online you may have already come across HubPages. I came across the site HubPages.com just over two years ago, and even though I haven’t created many hubs since then (my total count is currently seventeen) I have plans to add a lot more.

Make Money With Google Adsense & HubPages

Why is this you may ask? Well I have discovered that it is well worth creating these short articles known as hubs, mainly because you can add Google Adsense to them. And that means you can earn an income from your writing that keeps accumulating over the long term.

Now I should say here that this is one of those classic situations where you get out of it what you put in. It’s no good just writing one hub, associating your article with Adsense and then expecting loads of money to come rolling in. It doesn’t work that way. But it is definitely worth writing as many hubs as you can and starting to make a name for yourself on HubPages, because this is where the real rewards lie.

How Much Can You Earn From HubPages?

I know someone who is making over $100 a month in Adsense revenue from the hubs she has put up on the site over the last year. Actually that was the figure she gave me after just six months on the site –- and I have every reason to believe it will be higher now. She finds articles on all kinds of subjects that are easy to write, and puts them on the site. Some are around 400 words or above, while others are quite a bit longer. But they all give her the opportunity to earn some cash.

Now $100 a month may not sound like a lot. But I have realized that this is a numbers game and the more hubs I add to my collection, the more I will earn from Google Adsense.

To this end I have come up with a plan to start adding one hub a day to my total. Now believe me when I say that 400 words or so a day is not a lot to write. As it stands, the article you are reading (including the title) is 400 words long right about NOW. It isn’t much really, is it? And yet you have the chance to publish such articles for free (and as many as you like as well) to ensure that you can start to build your revenue stream.

Monetizing Your Hubs

Along with Adsense, you can also add eBay ads to your hubs if you can get accepted as one of their affiliates. I tried and didn’t succeed –- they seem to be quite picky about whom they accept. But I was able to get an Amazon affiliate account and thus, some of my hubs sport Amazon ads on them as well. From my experience though, I have found that my best returns have been from Google Adsense. Try each method yourself and perform some experiments to see which ones work for you. Things could vary depending on what you want to write about.

So you see, if you are looking to get started with Google Adsense but you don’t have your own website yet, you can give HubPages a try first. It might just be the best way to start.

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

Make Money With Google Adsense & HubPages

Here’s one way to make money online…

I’ve long been an advocate of niche blogging, and for more than one reason. For starters it gives you the chance to blog about a subject you love. In addition to this you can appeal to an audience that is going to be very receptive to what you have to show them in terms of products and advertisements.

A lot of people think you have to get a lot of traffic to a niche blog in order to make money. But let me give you a personal example that disproves this. I have a single web page online -– not even a full fledged blog –- that focuses on a specific niche. This page gets about 100 visitors a week. That figure can vary from week to week but that is pretty much the average figure. And every week I make sales and affiliate commissions from that page. These commissions can add up to $100 or more per month.

Now this isn’t a huge sum of money but it just goes to show what is possible with such a small stream of traffic. I don’t do a lot to promote it either -– I simply used the right mix of keywords, added links to it from several places and that’s pretty much it. To be honest it was more of an experiment on writing about a particular subject and I only added in some affiliate links virtually as an afterthought. I’m still amazed at the response it gets. If you’re ready to establish an income channel while working from home, then do read on!

How To Make Money With A Blog

A niche blog gives you the chance to connect with a responsive audience in this way. For example let’s suppose you put together a blog on fishing rods. This is way more specific than simply writing about fishing, and it means you can work at focusing on an audience that is looking for fishing rods. If they are looking that closely at fishing rods they are far more likely to be in the frame of mind to buy one than someone who just wants to learn more about fishing.

Can you see where I’m going with this? Niche blogging is often talked about but a lot of people don’t even try it because they don’t think they could get the traffic or the income they would want. But as you can see from the example I gave above, there is every chance of successfully putting together a site that you don’t really need to get tons of traffic to.

Let’s say I created ten sites on niche topics that each receive only 100 visitors a week. And let’s say they all perform as well as the page I already have; in fact, let’s suppose they only earn $50 a month each. That totals up to $500 a month from just those ten sites. Can you imagine what would be possible if I managed to get upwards of 100 visitors a week, which really isn’t that hard to do?

This is where the secret and the power of niche blogging lies. The more you can do to focus on an eager audience that is ready to think about buying something related to your niche topic, the more successful you will be. Wouldn’t you rather have a dozen small sites bringing in a small amount each than try to build a huge website with thousands upon thousands of visitors each day?

So would I.

How About Monetizing Your Blog?

Allow me to close with some ideas for monetizing your blog. Earn money online with these methods:

1. Direct advertising – this can work out if an advertiser finds your site and decides to work out a deal with you to put up an ad on your site. You can work out a flat fee or use a CPM formula for this.
2. Google Adsense – one of my favorite ways to make money. Simply install Adsense boxes on your blog and whenever anyone clicks on an ad, you get a small amount of money.
3. Affiliate Programs – you can sign up with an affiliate network and see if you can promote any of the products and programs that are in the network. A popular network that I use is CommissionJunction.com.
4. Sponsored Posts – you get paid to write about a product or service.
5. Sell Your Own Products – if you have a great product or service to sell, you can use your blog to promote this. Lots of book authors go this route.

With all this as “icing on the cake”, this should make it clear why I love to blog!

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

How To Make Money With A Blog

There’s a very insightful article by Funny About Money that caught my eye, as it discussed the concept of a glass ceiling in the world of blogging. It makes mention of how there’s a dearth of female bloggers who are successful enough to make a living through blogging. No, let me rephrase that — there’s a scarcity of female PF (personal finance) bloggers who are able to make money online and earn a living off of their blogs. I can agree with that particular observation — there are very few female PF bloggers I know who are indeed making money off their sites. I feel very lucky to be one of those who have been able to wing it as a full time PF blogger whilst running two main sites (this one and TheDigeratiLife.com). But allow me to point out at least one other female PF blogger who’s been able to do this as well: Madison DuPaix of My Dollar Plan.

Here’s the thing though — there is some truth to the analysis made in the “glass ceiling” article, about how content drives success. There are also many things you need to do to a site in order to make it highly monetizable. The issue here is that it takes a humongous amount of time to make it all work. You’ll increase your chances of success if you decide to take the leap and put in the time and think up a strategy to run a site more as a business rather than just as a hobby. Of course, there’s always the risk that even with making such tradeoffs and sacrifices, one doesn’t end up with enough income to merit going into blogging full time. But you won’t know till you try. All I can say is that the work requires me to wear many hats, with the creative aspect being one of the smaller factors in the equation.

One more thing — the whole glass ceiling concept doesn’t necessarily apply to other blog niches. Take mommy bloggers for instance; a number of them are doing fairly well in that niche. The key is to drive traffic to your site and then find out the best way to monetize that traffic. And a lot of mommy bloggers (and other types of female bloggers) have been able to do just that.

Personal Financial Articles

Some good reads you may be interested in checking out:

• Wise Bread: 5 Strategies To Wipe Out Your Credit Card Balance
• Mint Blog: Survive the Choppy Market: Personal-Finance Blogger Picks
• The Casual Observer: Make Money Selling Photos
• Back Taxes Help: Ways To Maximize Your Tax Refund in 2011
• The Financial Student: Reflections on the Mortgage Crisis
• Money Hackers: A US Oil Spill Map and Analysis

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

Running A Successful Personal Finance Blog: Is There A Glass Ceiling?

Want to make money online? Well, you have to start somewhere….

If you’re thinking of starting your own blog or online business, chances are that you’ll need a web host. Especially if you’re thinking of becoming a problogger one day! So today, I’ll take a look at a popular web hosting service which is also my personal choice: HostMonster.

Hostmonster Review: Top Web Hosting Service Features

Starting and maintaining a website can involve the use of a few tools, and HostMonster has a lot of options for all of its hosting accounts. Benefits include unlimited web hosting space, a free domain name, the ability to host an unlimited number of domains, plus it also supports international domain names.

There’s also an unlimited number of site transfers available. If you want to transfer files, you can do it via FTP. With HostMonster, you can have anonymous FTP and an unlimited number of FTP accounts as well.

In case you need tools to create your site, HostMonster provides a free drag and drop site builder; this can be handy if you aren’t familiar with hand-coding a website. There are a number of templates to choose from. You can also use a one-click installer for a wide variety of scripts.

Email Choices

You’ll need a way to communicate with your audience or customers too. You can have unlimited POP3 email support or IMAP email support; unlimited forwarding of email accounts; an unlimited email autoresponder; and to fend off spam, there’s Spam Assassin.

E-Commerce Tools

In case you want to sell products or services on your website, you’ll need some e-commerce features. You can set up an OS Commerce shopping cart or an Agora shopping cart, and apply password protected directories, a free generated certificate, a secure server and encryption.

Servers at the Ready

One advantage of working with a web hosting service instead of going the do it yourself route is that the host can keep an eye on things 24/7. HostMonster offers round-the-clock monitoring and courtesy site backups. The company uses quad processor performance servers and UPS power back-ups, which should minimize downtime on your website.

Logs

Running your website requires many moving parts, so files and logs can help you sort out your operational data. Some logs that you can utilize include a latest visitor log, bandwidth, CPU throttling, and error logs.

Going Multimedia

Nothing draws an audience like multimedia features. With HostMonster, you can support streaming video or audio; there’s Real audio and video support, and you can benefit from Flash, Shockwave, and other file types.

Bonus Features

Additional features include a bulletin board, blog support (including WordPress), mailing lists, poll and survey software, image galleries, and the ability to work with Drupal, Joomla, Ruby on Rails, and more!

And when you’re ready to promote your site, HostMonster can assist you with free search engine submissions and $50 in Google credits.

Customer Service

If you need assistance with your HostMonster account, you can check out the Help Center. It has features such as a Getting Started wizard, video tutorials, a knowledge base, cPanel documentation, and a user forum. You can also check the status of your server here.

If you need more help, technical support is available 24/7 and they have a toll free number. And with regards to billing, there aren’t long-term contracts so if you want to cancel, you won’t be hit with a cancellation fee.

Billing Plans

Let’s take a look at HostMonster’s billing plans. New customers can sign up for the promotional rate of $5.95 a month.

Once the promotional period ends, there are a few other billing plans available. A 12 Month account costs $8.95 a month; this gives you a free domain registration that will last for the duration of your hosting package, and there aren’t any set up fees. $107.40 will be due when you sign up (this covers the 12 months).

The 24 Month account costs $7.95 a month, which adds up to $190.80 due when you sign up (covers 24 months at $7.95 per month). The 36 Month account costs $6.95 a month, which comes out to $250.20 due when you sign up (36 months at $6.95 a month).

After you sign up, you can opt for additional features. A dedicated IP address is $30 a year; additional domain names are $10 each year; SSL certificates are $45 each year; and you can pay for other benefits.

Conclusion

HostMonster has a lot of options for building and hosting your website. Take a look at the demo to get a feel for the offerings and read the terms to see if the service is a good fit for your needs.

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

HostMonster Review: Top Web Hosting Service

“Escrow.com reduces the potential risk of fraud by acting as a trusted third party that collects, holds and disburses funds according to Buyer and Seller instructions.”

Online businesses are growing faster than offline businesses, according to an article by InternetRetailer.com. And the number has reached almost $35 billion in the second quarter, says the Census Bureau. But to ordinary people like you and me, these astronomical quantities mean very little. What we really want to know is how to start a business online and how to make money online (e.g. how to make sure that the buyer will keep his promise once we have sent them their product). And once you start actually making money, then the issue of how to get paid online enters the picture.

Online Escrow Services & Online Payment Options

Here is where some very smart people intervened by offering to operate as intermediaries between buyer and seller — all for a fee of course! Ebay, for example, uses Escrow.com as a licensed escrow service company. Beware of those fraudulent escrow services that seem to have popped up almost as fast as weeds on your prized lawn. Do not send money to a company that has not been vetted by Ebay, in this case.

Watch Out For Online Fraud

To give you a personal example, I write articles on the Web for customers who like my style or who simply do not have time to do it themselves. In almost every case, when there is an agreement between buyer and seller, an escrow service is used. I have had the bad luck of sending an article on psychology to a fraudulent company who claimed to be preparing an introduction to psychology for an online university. It took me 3 hours to gather the data and write the four page article. After 3 months, I am still waiting for my payment.

Use an Escrow Service!

Just remember that it is much easier to start an Internet business than a brick-and-mortar one. You may sell your vinyl records (my wife has a ton) on Ebay; or you may want to exercise your writing skills (like I do). In any case, you should always use an escrow service to protect you. But do you want the money to be sent to you by check or do you prefer an intermediary?

Paypal: What’s A Pal For?

Enter PayPal, the most famous person-to-person payment service on the Web. They take and make payments to more than 100 countries; however, they are not an escrow service. On the other hand, Paypal will protect the buyer on Ebay according to these terms.

Another site that I recently discovered is Revolution Money Exchange. Even though they don’t deal outside the United States, their terms are unbeatable. No fees to send or receive money. You save from 3% to 6% compared to other services. They don’t offer escrow protection (but they should).

Registering is free for both PayPal and Revolution Money Exchange (RME). I would suggest becoming a member at both sites at no cost, so you can always be ready for any customer. One of my writing sites deposits my payment directly into PayPal. Another customer prefers RME. And from either payment management site, I can have the balance directly transferred into my online savings account. Cool, isn’t it? No paper checks, no stamps, and no delay.

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

Online Escrow Services & Online Payment Options

You can start your own online business with a small budget.

How To Make Money Online With An Online Business

Starting an online business can seem like a monumental task, but with some advance planning and shopping around, it doesn’t have to be too expensive. Let’s explore just how doable it is to get a web business off the ground. Here (and in our online business guide), we’ll outline some steps that you can take to become your own boss without a huge budget.

Who’s Your Web Host?

One key aspect of an online business is the actual website you’ll use to attract customers and offer your products or services. A reliable and inexpensive web host can be a crucial backbone to your website, so it’s wise to invest some time before signing up with one.

Decide on what you’d like in terms of storage space, data transfer limits, number of hosted domains, and other services. Also, check reviews from customers to see how the company responds during problems or outages. A free hosting plan isn’t worth it if the customer service is skimpy or non-existent, in my opinion.

Here are a few of our top picks for cheap web hosting services:

Cover Your Domain

If you need your online business’ web presence to have a unique name, you’ll want to register your own domain. Your web host might throw in domain registration as part of your package. If not, a site like GoDaddy offers domain registration as low as $1.99 if you qualify.

Designs and Logos

Instead of spending hours trying to come up with designs on your own, you can hire someone else for your site design and logos. Check out the rates of graphic artists who often try to find freelance work at sites such as Gofreelance.com, Guru.com or Elance, where bids for jobs start as low as $50. Ask your prospective designers to share their portfolios so you can see examples of their work before you hire anyone.

You can also check out online sites that offer such services and packages for a good rate. Try LogoWorks, a service that can create a logo design for you, but is also recognized as a one stop shop for business cards, stationery, brochures and other items that help you build your business identity.

Site Building

You can build a site easily through tools like SiteSell, which are geared towards helping you develop sites that monetize well or that earn an income for you.

If you need an e-commerce package with options for product entry, billing, order processing, and beyond, a choice like Yahoo! Merchant Solutions might suit you. Prices start at $39.95 a month with a $50 setup fee.

Features like credit card or PayPal processing, unlimited disk space, and podcasting tools might be offered as part of some ecommerce packages, too.

Blogging Can Be Cheaper

If you prefer to go with a blog instead of a website, you can get started for free over at Google’s Blogger.com. From experience, I know it doesn’t take long to set up. It’s a simple process to add posts with pictures or videos, and it’s easy to edit posts, too. You can also customize your posts with labels, HTML, or templates. If you want to hear from your customers, let them add comments to your posts. You can let your blog be hosted for free on Blog*Spot or give your blog a custom domain name.

Another popular choice is WordPress, which has a wide array of themes and tools to personalize your blog. You’ll need a web host to get started.

Get Marketing

With the help of free social sites like Facebook and Twitter, you can quickly connect with potential customers. Share brief posts about your products, ask customers to tweet about their favorite experiences with your company, or hold contests for promotional items. Taking advantage of free sites like Digg, Delicious, and StumbleUpon, among others, might benefit your online business too.

Another marketing idea is to write guest posts for sites that are relevant to your niche. For instance, if you’d like to promote your new online video game store, you might want to seek out a video game blogger and ask to write a feature about a gaming topic of interest to both of you. Or you can add insightful comments on other websites and build up a network over time. Later on, you might want to compile an ebook about your product or services to give away as a freebie.

How About Ads?

Putting up a website or blog at a low cost is great, now what about bringing in some revenue? Here’s where advertising comes into the picture. See if a program like Google’s AdSense can work for you. You may not make millions each month, but even a small amount of revenue can help. In addition, affiliate programs such as the one from Amazon.com might make money for you.

A crash course in SEO (search engine optimization) can help you build your traffic too. Darren Rowse of Problogger has some great tips to share, including 8 First Step SEO Tips for Bloggers that can apply to non-bloggers as well.

Tying Up Loose Ends

And finally, be aware of the legal aspects of running an online business. Does your region require licenses or fees for starting an online business? You may want to consult a lawyer about incorporating and your insurance agent for liability coverage too. Don’t forget to budget for these sort of expenses as well.

As you can see, starting your online business doesn’t necessarily require an enormous investment, but it can yield lasting rewards in terms of income as well as customers if done in a thoughtful manner. For more information on the topic of entrepreneurship, check out our small business management tips or our small business section.

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

How To Make Money Online With An Online Business

Are you built to run a business or are you an unintentional entrepreneur?

Whether entrepreneurs are born or made is one of those popular questions with a myriad of reasonable answers. A question such as this brings to mind the age-old inquiry about successful parenting and whether one’s destiny is due to nature or nurture.

On Becoming An Entrepreneur: Are They Born or Made?

This idea will be explored in a book that’s due to be released. The debate is sure to fire up when “Born Entrepreneurs, Born Leaders: How Your Genes Affects Your Work Life” hits the shelves. Scott Shane and his colleagues at Case Western Reserve University made the book possible.

Shane and fellow researchers studied the entrepreneurial activity of 870 pairs of identical twins and 857 pairs of fraternal twins. Identical twins share 100% of their genes, while fraternal twins share 50%. Interestingly, their studies revealed that 40% of entrepreneurs are born and 60% of entrepreneurs are made.

Can You Enhance Your Entrepreneurial Potential?

This may sound far-fetched, but let me pose this question: is it possible to enhance your entrepreneurial potential with supplements or pills? Or to be blunt, is there something that we can ingest to make it more likely for us to achieve entrepreneurial status?

Recently Barbara Sahakian was the lead author of a study on entrepreneurial risk published in “Nature”. Sahakian, a clinical neuropsychology professor at the University of Cambridge, found that drugs used to manipulate dopamine levels in the body could be used to boost entrepreneurial abilities. Does this mean that because my parents were employees rather than employers, that I’m probably doomed to subservience and the 9 to 5 grind? Not necessarily so. Many people can, over time, develop entrepreneurial skills that they can eventually put to good use.

A Yale University study led by economics professor Dean Karlan in 2006 revealed that compulsory entrepreneurial courses can make a major difference. During the study, a banking program was introduced for female micro-entrepreneurs in a village in Peru. The women who took training classes enjoyed sales 16 percent better than their untrained peers.

Can Everyone Be An Entrepreneur?

Whether by nature or nurture, a person has to have the potential, ability and interest to become an entrepreneur. Just like with any other profession, not everyone can become a successful entrepreneur. A person must be receptive to learning and to really want to pursue this calling.

Randy Komisar, a partner at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers and teacher at Stanford University, has stated, “I do believe you can teach entrepreneurial skills. But for someone without aptitude, I don’t think those things can be taught. I can’t make a librarian into a Broadway performer.” Before you can find business success, you must have at least some raw talent or aptitude for entrepreneurship to start with — even if it’s just a little.

Why Are Entrepreneurs Important?

New businesses are essential for the economy to grow in response to constantly changing market demands. The Kauffman Foundation has discovered that startup businesses create more than one third of all the new jobs in the United States. Firms less than five years old account for the new job growth between 1980 and 2005. Without entrepreneurs, our country would lose a lot of jobs and the edge needed to stand out in a fast-paced global marketplace.

For the adventurous among us, why not figure out how to start a new business, especially when employment prospects seem so weak?

Other topics on this subject:

• Own A Recession-Proof Business, Find Business Success in Bad Times
• Would You Go Into Business For Yourself During This Recession?
• Small Business Financing: How To Fund Your Venture

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

On Becoming An Entrepreneur: Are They Born or Made?

I’m new at entrepreneurship. I’m a small business owner who just recently started running her own business online. So far, I have learned quite a few interesting pointers about being a business owner. A lot of these may seem obvious but it’s still a good idea to write it down for clarity. Thought I’d share them with you:

My Small Business Management Tips

1. Know your goals for your business. Are you starting up a business to supplement existing income or is this your main source of cash flow? What milestones are you setting for yourself? For some, starting a new business is a serious matter and is a dream come true, while others consider it more of an experiment and an extension of a hobby. In my case, I started out nurturing a hobby that turned into something much more serious over time (as I realized it had potential).

2. Know the risks of running your business. You may be wondering about small business financing and how to fund your venture (perhaps an outfit like Lending Club can help). But if you’re going to put up money to get your project going, then managing it well will be key. When your money is at risk, it feels like a lot more is at stake. The good thing about online ventures is that you don’t start out with too much money on the line — but with such low barriers to entry, it becomes competitive as all heck to grow and maintain this type of business.

3. Keep an exit strategy in mind. Many people plan to keep their businesses going as long as they can keep them profitable. But if you cultivate an exit strategy, you may find yourself setting priorities with more conviction.

4. Be prepared for an erratic income. Ah, this is the toughest part about any business — the iffiness of receiving any income at all! Let’s not forget that customers can be fickle, and therefore, revenue and profit can be pretty unpredictable in many instances. By being an entrepreneur, there’s no such thing as a stable income — things can be great for a while, but unless you can reinvent yourself every so often, it’s possible that your profitable streak can end at any time.

Personal Financial Articles

Here are a few money articles that may be of interest to you!

• Credit Shout: How To: Begin Investing Through Your Employer
• A Rich Life: An Overview of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
• My Two Dollars: How To Employ A Balanced Investment Approach
• WeSeed: 10 Steps To Get Your Financial Life In Order
• DoughRoller: Are You Making Money In The Stock Market?

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

My Small Business Management Tips

Some ways that companies hope to find business success even in a flagging economy.

During a down economy, retailers are feeling the loss along with us. The mathematics is simple: people purchase less when they earn less. Additionally, basic expenses such as food and utilities continue to rise. From clothing to luxury purchases, retailers are getting hit hard. Several major retailers will close their doors in 2010 — but will any be opening more locations during leaner times? And if you own a retail business, what could this tell you about your own prospects down the road? I’d like to take a look at some well-known businesses and how they’re coping with changing market forces.

Online Retailers, Business Outlook For 2010

At online retailers, shoppers can shop anytime, anywhere and have the goods delivered. Customers are lured away from traditional retail stores because bargain hunting online allows them to save time, effort and even gas money.

Case Study #1: Blockbuster

Take the case of Blockbuster, which intends to shut down up to 20 percent of their stores by 2011 because of competition from Netflix and Redbox (check out this Blockbuster vs Netflix article). A total of up to 960 out of 4,356 Blockbuster stores might be closing, with the company shifting its focus to DVD rental kiosks in other merchant stores. At this time, Blockbuster only has 500 kiosks but looks to have a significant 10,000 by the middle of 2010.

Customer reaction makes retailers take action to accommodate consumer purchasing preferences. Will switching over to more kiosks and fewer store locations help keep Blockbuster profitable? This seems to be a good start for Blockbuster since I know many consumers (including myself) who prefer to rent their movies from kiosks. In my case, I’ve been patronizing an affordable Redbox kiosk at my local supermarket where, for just under 5 bucks, I can rent the latest movie and get a soda and snacks.

Case Study #2: Crabtree & Evelyn

On another note, I remember the introduction of the Crabtree & Evelyn bath and body chain in 1973 when I was a child. The fresh, natural scents were a welcome pleasure after the heavy, heady fragrances of days gone by. Now Crabtree & Evelyn has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. With 126 stores, the company will close those locations that don’t perform up to standards. It seems that Crabtree & Evelyn will continue to appeal to the high end market.

Unfortunately, I stopped using the Crabtree & Evelyn products when I discovered Bath and Body Works natural fragrances. With coupons and online deals, I get great natural essences for less. During these tight times, the more high end retailers are facing some challenges.

Case Study #3: Bank of America and Citigroup

In the midst of the financial crisis, the powers-that-be at Bank of America plan to shrink their branch network by approximately 10 percent despite a positive growth record over the last two decades.

Meanwhile, Citigroup plans to lower the number of retail outlets and limit banks to six major metro areas including New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC, San Francisco, Miami and Chicago. This shift is in accordance with Citigroup’s plans of focusing on certain metropolitan areas for their business. Definitely a sign of the times.

Case Study #4: Kohls

Seems people are shopping more or at least as often as they used to at Kohls, the fourth largest department store in the country. In 2009, Kohls opened a total of 56 new locations. As shoppers turn away from pricey high end products, they turn to middle of the road retailers such as Kohls. By buying out Mervyn’s and converting their locations to Kohls stores, the latter saved on costs associated with opening brand new stores.

Chairman and CEO Kevin Mansell says that the secrets to Kohls success are partnerships with names such as Vera Wang and Avril Lavigne. Another secret involves good inventory management such as keeping shelves well-stocked with the proper placement of items. As a former merchandiser at Kohls, I was always impressed with the stock rooms and knowledgeable staff when I would set up merchandise displays at the stores.

What’s Next For The Small Business Owner

If you operate your own home business, it might be time to shift gears yourself. Are new market opportunities appearing while old ones die out? Are you ready to expand and grow, thanks to good decisions you’ve made in a changing market? Note that what works for big business also works for smaller businesses trying to stay afloat at this day and age.

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

Online Retailers, Business Outlook For 2010

Going from an employee mindset to self-employment requires some knowledge of finance and your own capacity to tolerate risk and uncertainty. When I worked for someone else, it never occurred to me that customers and sales didn’t always line up in a neat two week period to keep cash flow smooth and continuous in order to make payroll and other expenses. Learning how to cover cash gaps with business loans, so that you can keep your startup business operating, isn’t taught on-the-job or in schools. It only comes through hard-earned business experience. Often, I have found, the choice I make is determined based on my comfort with risk levels, my immediate situation, and the way I operate my business.

Small Business Financing: How To Fund Your Venture

First, though, you have to know what types of financing are out there and the risks associated with each type of lending instrument. You can use a conventional loan from a bank, but in this credit climate, you’ll have to secure this type of loan with an asset. The risk here is that if you default, you’ll lose the asset. If the asset is your primary home, then you’re taking a pretty high level of risk when you put up your home as collateral. If the asset you’re considering as collateral is a boat or a work of art, then the idea of using this asset to leverage growth may be much more appealing, since the loss of such an item may not be as significant, when based on value. Other times, borrowers may choose instead, to apply for credit card offers, do factoring (a loan that is dependent on future sales forecasts for repayment terms), or use some form of unconventional loan. Knowing that conventional loans take time and good credit, you may want to think of other loan options as back up.

If cash flow is threatened and instant funds are needed, you’ll want to know where to turn in a pinch –- before the emergency arises. The way I see it, the more knowledge you have about different financial instruments, the better prepared you’ll be to deal with a financial crisis affecting your business.

Evaluate the Situation Carefully

Every financial decision is different, depending on the circumstances. One day, your 0% balance transfer credit card rate may be at an appealing interest rate level, and the next day it is at 30%, requiring financial moves to be reassessed in light of new circumstances. One day your home equity line of credit is a healthy buffer, the next day, you may find that the account is closed or severely limited. Being proactive about interest rates, about changes in the lending climate, and being aware of how assets are valued helps you to pick the right loan when it comes time to do so. If you’re familiar with the lending environment, you’ll have much more confidence about the financial moves that you’ll need to make in order to help your business move forward.

 
This guest post is brought to you by Business Loan Option.

This is a post from The Smarter Wallet.

Small Business Financing: How To Fund Your Venture