Newsletter #135 - Online sales boom offers opportunities, How to get your website navigation right, Ten tips for choosing a business domain name, 50 small business web marketing tips, Top 10 SEO tips

In this week's Business121:

1. Online sales boom offers a great opportunity for small businesses
2. How to get your website navigation right, first time
3. Ten tips for choosing a business domain name
4. 50 small business web marketing tips
5. Top 10 SEO tips for small businesses
6. Make sure your solicitor is qualified to take on your case
7. Charging your company rent for your home office

Small Business News

8. Uninsured tradesmen risk fines of £2,500 per day
9. Government pulls funding for late payment advice site
10. Business confidence on the slide, but long term optimism remains
11. Direct Debit has smaller carbon footprint than cheques!
12. Business North West: 19-20 November, Manchester

Online sales boom offers great opportunities for small businesses

We seem to be constantly hearing about how the credit crunch is hitting the High Street and how shops are seeing dramatic falls in sales, but the boom in online shopping hasn't really hit the headlines.

Figures from the IMRG reveal that, despite the credit crunch, UK shoppers spent over £26.5 billion online in the first six months of 2008 - a 38% increase on the £19.2 billion recorded for the first half of 2007.

The online boom means that 17p in every pound spent is now spent online, and it's predicted that up to half of all shopping will be done online by 2014.

And the good news for small businesses is that smaller players with the right strategies are benefiting from this shift.

According to David Smith of IMRG, 'It is often the smaller retailers with niche products or with interesting retail propositions that seem to be having success. There will be a lot of opportunities for smaller players to profit if they can manage their start-up costs, get their supply chains right and work closely with their customers.'

So it seems that online opportunities abound for small businesses. With this in mind, we have a strong online theme in this week's newsletter.

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How to get your website navigation right
When you are setting up a new website for your business, one of the key areas you should concentrate on is the site navigation. Some studies suggest that a good site navigation system can provide a 50% increase in site traffic.

And, not only will your users benefit from being able to access the information they want as quickly as possible, it will also help you organise your site efficiently. Here are some tips to help you get your website navigation right the first time.

There are plenty of other considerations for you to take into account when you're planning your website, and these guides will help you to get the most from your efforts;

Ten tips for choosing a business domain name
Tips for selecting your small business domain names - what to look out for, and how to protect your brand identity.

50 small business web marketing tips
50 essential web marketing tips to help you get your small busines website up the search engine rankings and attract new customers.

Top 10 SEO tips for small businesses
With online presence becoming increasingly competitive it is vitally important to get your website highly ranked. These top ten tips outline the key factors you must deal with to make sure your website stands out from the crowd.

Make sure your solicitor is qualified to take on your case
During a time of financial uncertainty the number of complaints made against solicitors has risen by nearly a third this year. One author suggests that a major contributing factor to the rise in complaints is that in most cases, the wrong solicitor was selected at the outset.

Charging your company rent for your home office
If you run your business through a limited company and your base of operations is your home office, it is possible to charge your company rent. Of course, if you do this the company will be able to deduct the rents from its profits and you will need to declare the rents on your self-assessment return. On the face of it there would seem to be no advantage. But what if you also have buy to let properties and are making losses?

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SMALL BUSINESS NEWS

Uninsured tradesmen risk fines of £2,500 per day
Thousands of British tradesmen are risking fines of up to £2,500 a day and even negligence claims against them as research reveals one in five small businesses run by tradespeople operates without any insurance.

Government pulls funding for late payment advice site
With quite ironic timing, it appears that Government funding has ended for a well-known late payment advice site, the Better Payment Practice Group. The organisation was initially set up to encourage businesses to improve their payment practices but just as more businesses are being hit by late payment problems the Government has pulled its funding.

Business confidence on the slide, but long term optimism remains
The latest National Business Survey shows that business confidence across the UK has been unsurprisingly shaken over the past year - with other half those surveyed expecting the economic climate to deteriorate for the next 12 months.

Direct Debit has smaller carbon footprint than cheques!
Taking "green" news to a different level, a new report has found that Direct Debit payments are "greener" than cheques, as the carbon emissions generated by paper cheques are 65 times greater than the paperless direct debit payment!

Business North West: 19-20 November, Manchester
Business North West is back for a third successive year on 19-20 November at Manchester Central. Small business owners can register online for access to the free event.

** For the latest Small Business News, visit http://www.Bytestart.co.uk **

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