Eye Of Singapore

Running an online business can get very expensive and that can endanger a business venture if one is not careful. To minimize the costs of business, there are practical solutions that everyone can apply immediately.

1. Bartering

Bartering goods and services with other businesses is an excellent way of acquiring things that you need, with little or no funds necessary.

2. Networking

In internet and affiliate marketing, networking with other businesses could mean cross-promoting different services, borrowing mailing lists, trading links and advertising.

3. Buying wholesale

You can save a ton of money just by buying things you need in bulk amounts. This would require less frequent purchases, but would definitely be worth it.

4. Freebie seeking

Whatever your business needs, there is a good chance that you can find for free on the internet. There are thousands of sites that offer free graphics, images, web templates, free affiliate ebooks and all sorts of different stuff. Take some time and go hunting for freebies online, it will be worth it.

5. Renting

An easy solution for a lot of things that businesses might be in need of can be rented and not neccessarily purchased. You should definitely do the math and see if your business has a need that has to be met, and if that need is of short term  or long term nature.

6. Negotiate

Whenever you find a product or a service offered online, see if there is a posibility of negotiation. Naturally, you cannot negotiate with Clickbank or Amazon, but there are thousands of small business owners that could benefit from something that you have to offer. Always try to negotiate and you’ll save yourself a lot of money.

7. Google it

This may sound a bit silly, but whatever you do, google it first. If you are searching for web hosting and you think you’ve found a good company, google it first. If you are searching for affiliate marketing resources, google for it. Google has proven to be a vast ocean of information and you certainly shouldn’t neglect it.

These are 7 cool ways to save money and reduce your business costs and I hope at least some of them have been helpful to you. The internet sometimes tends to be our very own success university and we learn through failures and mistakes. Practicing some of these things will definitely cut your costs and maybe save you from failure.

By using the principles of Square Foot Gardening it is possible to reduce by 80% the area required to grow the same vegetables using the standard row method. One of the aims of intensive gardening is to reduce the space between plants. To ensure you understand your garden and learn about plants you should keep a square foot garden diary to have a log of your failures and successes to improve your results.

The practice of square foot gardening is not just for those with small gardens; rather square foot gardening allows you to concentrate your work effort to create an ideal plant environment, to give better natural yields.

The are many people who like the idea of digging for victory. They enjoy the sight of long, straight rows in their gardens and the hard labor that goes with digging and hoeing the land, whilst others prefer machine cultivation.

Owning a square foot garden still means weeding by hand but because the raised bed is filled with compost, peat and vermiculite there are fewer weeds and they can easily be seen and removed in a few minutes.

If you like the idea of all your vegetables being ready to harvest in one go then square foot gardens are not for you. The idea of square foot gardens is to have something growing all the time so you can have fresh vegetables growing in your garden for most of the year.

To benefit you need to have a good square foot garden plan which needs to be thought out early in the year, thorough planning to make the best use of your time and space. Before you start planting, you must consider the interrelationships of plants with each other and their needs and how to protect them from bugs and insects.

Square foot gardens are based on 1.2m by 1.2m raised beds. If you have more space then the length of the bed can be increased to 12ft. The width should not be more that 1.2m so that you can easily reach the middle with out standing on the soil.

Your customers are tough cookies. They’re extremely media aware and increasingly cynical – it’s a clever marketeer who can get under their skin. Online surveys breath new life into the traditional survey format and offer a unique way of interaction – providing you with all the benefits of the Internet without the programming. Here are ten reasons why they may be the silver bullet marketeers’ need, complete with examples supplied by Martin Day, managing director of online survey website Survey Galaxy - one of a new breed of websites making online surveys quicker and cheaper

1. It’s cheap as chips
Select the right survey website and creating surveys can be free of any charge and the cost to publish excellent value for money.
Useful information derived from survey analysis can be reused and repackaged in other marketing and PR for use in press outlets making it a very efficient form of information gathering.

2. It’s very easy
Anyone can develop and publish an online survey. Survey sites allow people who are interested in the benefits of surveys, rather than technicalities, to side-step the required programming skills and create relevant up-to-the-minute surveys, instantly – surveys that are even easier to complete than they are to make.

3. Invite the world
Promoting an online survey can be via email (with a link enclosed), through a link from a website or as a referenced by other forms of advertising. Anyone who has the link can be connected instantly to the survey, at a time that’s convenient to them, 24×7.

4. Everyone has got an opinion – and likes to give it
Customers do not associate surveys as spam and most welcome the opportunity to make their voice heard and a chance to have an impact on a brand. They can be particularly good for change management projects; a survey asking a workforce on their opinion of change allows the key issues to be raised in a positive manner and encourages employee participation. Online surveys allow the message to reach each individual and invite feedback in a manageable form.

5. Get inside their heads
A customer may see an advertisement but you can’t be sure they have read it. Surveys actively engage the respondent, who read and then think about the question before giving their response.

6. Building relationships
It needn’t all end at the end of the survey – while you have the respondent’s attention and they are in the mood you can ask if they want to sign up for more information or a regular newsletter – making the most of the window of opportunity where you have their interest.

7. Link your survey to other online information
Perhaps one of the strongest elements in a survey is the ability to make inspired or useful connections instantly to other areas. By embedding links within the survey to other websites that offer more detailed information you are able to reinforce the marketing message.

8. Subtly rules
Surveys can associate a product with a number of positive attributes. By listing a product’s features and then asking the respondent to score on how important they are, regardless of their response, the product will be associated with the feature.

9. It’s not just about selling
A survey is an effective, quick and easy method to promote and gain acceptance for a difficult proposal; maybe a public body trying to gain acceptance and support for a particular scheme.
Take the example of a city trying to gain support from the general public for their bid to host a future Olympic Games. A survey can explain each benefit putting the respondent in a much better position to appreciate what the real advantages are that might just combat any negative headlines. As well as promoting the cause, useful feedback is gained that can be used to fine tune the overall marketing strategy.

10. Engage your target group
Thinking laterally a lively and imaginative approach to surveys can provide the ‘hook’ to engage respondents. The survey subject can be targeted at a particular group on a subject close to theirs hearts. The survey’s marketing message can take the form of a simple brand awareness message by stating that ‘this survey was sponsored by brand name’, or by finding a link from the subject matter to the product – something that is surprisingly easy and highly effective.

Discover the benefits of including in your website a Public Survey section as many people who enjoy completing crosswords and doing word puzzles enjoy completing surveys. A public survey notice board is a low cost and automated method that will help increase traffic and establish a loyal and returning following. Unlike discussion boards there is no opportunity for people to disrupt the site by inappropriate remarks as the survey results are displayed in summary form enabling them to dispense with moderators and maintenance.

Customers do not often view surveys as spam and the majority welcome the opportunity to voice their opinion and the chance to have an impact on a brand.

Many of the techniques and a few more are contained in the following sample survey created using Survey Galaxy’s survey software tool.