Newsletter #149 - Websites help small businesses to increase sales, Classic website design mistakes you must avoid, How to find good keywords, Beat the recession with 10 new marketing activities, How to succeed as an independent consultant

In this week's Business121:

1. Websites help small businesses to increase sales
2. Classic small business website design mistakes you must avoid
3. How to find good keywords for your small business website
4. Web-enabled small firms benefit from additional sales
5. Beat the recession with 10 new marketing activities
6. How to succeed as an independent consultant - Top Tips

Small Business News

7. Small businesses accuse government of failing them
8. UK's small business owners work half a billion hours a year
9. What might the Pre-Budget Report 2008 bring for small businesses
10. Pre-Budget Report 2008 - the Deloitte view

Websites help small business to increase sales

Results of a survey released this week show that half of small businesses, using a website to promote themselves, have increased their turnover by 20%. So in this week's newsletter, we have a focus on websites.

More and more small businesses are realising the importance of an effective website. However, many websites owners make some elementary mistakes. To stop you from falling into the same trap, we have an excellent guide on 'Classic small business website design mistakes you must avoid'.

When you have your website up and running, you need to generate visitors to your site - otherwise what's the point of putting all that effort into developing a great website.

One of the best ways to get traffic to your website is through search engines such as Google, MSN and Yahoo!. To make sure you attract a good volume of the right type of visitors you need to research and work out what keywords you should target.

Popular keywords are very competitive and for a small business it's virtually impossible to get high rankings when you're competing against thousands of other companies with bigger resources.

To help you to find good keywords make sure you read our guide on, 'How to find good keywords for your small business website'.

If you're still not convinced about the benefit of having a website, you'll find seven compelling reasons why all small businesses would benefit from having a web presence in our article, 'Web-enabled small firms benefit from additional sales'.

You will find a host of guides covering all aspects of websites and website marketing on Bytestart including;

How to get your website navigation right
Good site navigation can provide a 50% increase in site traffic. Here's how get the navigation right on your website.

Top 50 small business web marketing tips
50 Tips to help you spread the word about your website.

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Classic small business website design mistakes you must avoid
With more and more small companies realising the benefits of going online, it is essential to appreciate the importance of having a well designed website, otherwise any efforts you make to drive potential clients to your web address will be in vain.

How to find good keywords for your small business website
Finding good keywords and phrases is an important area of web marketing, but how on earth do you find out which phrases are suitable for your business website, and which are too competitive to bother with? Here's what you need to know to unearth great keywords for your website.

Web-enabled small firms benefit from additional sales
A new survey shows that businesses that utilise the power of the Internet benefit from an uplift in sales. For the unconvinced, we've listed seven compelling reasons why all small businesses would benefit from having a web presence.

Beat the recession with 10 new marketing activities
When the economy turns bad, many established companies will not be able to react as quickly as leaner, smaller operations. Here are ten suggested new marketing activities to help you beat the recession and stay one step ahead of your competitors.

How to succeed as an independent consultant - Top Tips
You have a glittering career in corporate life behind you and have decided to jump ship and cash in on your expertise. But how do you develop a successful new career as an independent consultant? Here are some top tips on how to find consulting projects and how to have a successful and fulfilling career in the world of consultancy.

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SMALL BUSINESS NEWS

Small businesses accuse government of failing them
77% of small business owners responding to a recent survey feel that the UK government is failing small businesses by not doing enough to help them through the current economic crisis.

UK's small business owners work half a billion hours a year
Small business entrepreneurs in the UK are chalking up more than half a billion man hours worth £1,046 billion to the UK economy every year, a study conducted for business insurer Hiscox reveals.

What might the Pre-Budget Report 2008 bring for small businesses
With Alistair Darling set to make his second Pre-Budget Report to Parliament on 24 November, what might he have in store for small businesses.

Pre-Budget Report 2008 - the Deloitte view
The newspapers, fuelled by some comments from the Prime Minister, have been full of suggestions that the 2008 Pre-Budget Report will bring major tax cuts. Here's a review of what the PBR could bring, from Deloitte.

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

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