Work.com Small Business Community Blog

New Guide of Note: How to Hire in China

Frank Mulligan, China Director for executive search firm Accetis International and founder of Talent Software, just wrote Guide to 7 Steps to China Hiring Heaven. Originally from Ireland, Frank has lived and worked in China for over 12 years. With deep shortages of skills in many industries, successful hiring in China requires planning. Frank's guide is full of insider tips:

• Many potential candidates will appear to be interested just to be polite
• It's easy to buy a fake degree for RMB400 (US$50), so confirm degrees and references
• Be careful about hiring relatives or previous colleagues or you may end up with a parallel organizational structure

Tags: china, hiring, accetis international, talent software

What We Need Business How-to Guides About

Here are some business topics for which the Work.com community is looking for guides:

• specific eBay businesses
• setting up an eBay store
• drupal
• the fashion business
• the TV/film business
• landscape design
• plumbing business
• electrician business
• regional guides about countries not yet covered
• specific types of import/export businesses (auto parts from Taiwan/China, crafts from West Africa, etc.)
• customer service training videos
• prepress design
• starting a window washing business
• starting a wine shop
• starting a sewing business
• how to choose a human resources information system (HRIS)
• how to handle sick employees
• starting your own business if you're a baby-boomer
• starting a professional organizing business
• marketing your business through mobile search
• how to be a social entrepreneur
• blog widgets
• starting a hair salon
• starting a cleaning business

Go here to write a guide about any of these topics. Or if there is a business topic you want to know about, but we don't have, suggest a guide.

Tags: business, small business, howto

Top Business Experts: Are You Next?

As Work.com grows, I love watching to see which guide authors are emerging as topic-specific experts. Whether it's about how to optimize search engine traffic, how to make money on CafePress, or where to find programs for women business owners, there's a Work.com member to tell you how to start. Right now, here are the guides most viewed by the business community in each Work.com category, and the experts who wrote them:    

• Employees: Employee Evaluation by Amara Rose
• Government: Programs for Women Business Owners by Frances Sharpe
• Internet and Ecommerce: Making Money on CafePress by Kimberly Dawn Wells
• Legal: Incorporating a Business by Frances Sharpe
• Management: Creating a Small Business Strategic Plan by Constance Gustke
• Money and Finance: Getting a Business Line of Credit by Daniel Kehrer
• Operations: U.S. Postal Service Business Mailing by Frances Sharpe
• Sales and Marketing: Learning Search Engine Optimization by Aaron Wall
• Startup: Creating a Great Business Plan by Frances Sharpe
• Technology: MPLS by Marc Wind

Way to go Amara, Frances, Kimberly, Constance, Daniel, Aaron and Marc!

Hints for increasing the popularity of your own guide: I do notice that many of the most popular guides are heavily linked to from sites such as Stumbleupon, Squidoo, del.icio.us, industry blogs and sites, and/or do well in the search engines. Of course, picking either a very popular/hot topic or a niche topic about which it is hard to find information helps too. Make sure you use the terms that people will use to search for your topic. Go get 'em!
   

Resources for Would-Be Entrepreneurs

If you are starting a business, where to start on the Web.

read more | digg story

Work.com Social Media Meter: How Does Your Guide Measure Up?

Work.com business how-to guide authors are always asking me the best ways to publicize their guides. First of all, the most important thing is to choose your topic wisely. Guides about hot topics such as SEO (blog mention) or Second Life (blog mention) tend to do well, as do niche topics such as rural broadband (blog mention) or starting a pool hall (blog mention). Don't be afraid to write an interesting guide!

Make sure you've written a useful guide about a business topic that is either popular or about a niche for which it may be hard to find good information. Select your topic keywords wisely (see the SEO guide above for some pointers on keyword tools). These days, it's important to be visible on social networking and social bookmarking sites. The more relevant and useful your presence is on social media sites, the more chance of PR success you have. Always think about creating value for others and be respectful of site community norms - I don't recommend having a purely promotional presence, as I don't recommend writing purely promotional Work.com guides.

Often social media sites have profiles where you can add links to your guide, blog, or website (here's a list of business community sites to get you started). On social bookmarking sites, useful links get saved by community members and create long term traffic. So have all your friends add your guide to sites such as del.icio.us, digg, Netscape, and reddit.

Better yet, have your friends blog about your guide (or write to bloggers telling them about your guide), and its authority will increase in sites such as Technorati and Bloglines.

Here are some stats about how Work.com is doing in social media:

• del.icio.us: # of users who have saved Work.com: 755
• Technorati links for Work.com: 1529
• Bloglines links for Work.com: 179

You can search for your own guide or site here:

• Check how many people have saved your guide/URL on del.icio.us
• Check how many links there are to your guide/URL on Technorati
• Check how many links there are to your guide/URL on Bloglines

For more tips on how to increase your online visibility using Work.com, see my guide on that topic. Or, share your own tips.

Tags: social media optimization, smo, work.com

Responsible Alcohol Sales and Service for Your Bar or Restaurant

Scott Bailey, Director of Client Services for TABCpermit.com, a TABC Certification seller/server training school, just wrote a great guide to responsible alcohol sales and service. If only the establishment that had served Paris Hilton one too many had read Scott's guide first! Seriously, if you run a restaurant or bar and serve alcohol, make sure you and your staff are up on age verification and ID techniques, the physical effects of alcohol, recognizing intoxication, and customer intervention techniques to eliminate the overservice of alcohol. Do you know what your state regulations are covering alcohol server training?

Tags: scott bailey, TABCpermit.com, TABC certification, alcohol server training

Doing Business in India

Navin Pathak, senior partner in Entry India, which helps U.S. small and medium-sized enterprises expand their business to the Indian subcontinent, has published an amazing Work.com guide to doing business in India. Navin is chock full of insider's advice for foreign companies and investors. In his guide, Navin gets us ready for global business in India and takes us through a process of defining objectives, researching opportunities, attending trade events, finding partners in India, and entering the Indian market. He's a regular go-to guy if you're interested in approaching the 350 million members of the Indian middle class who are ready and eager for goods and services produced and marketed by U.S. businesses.

The Right IT Stuff for Small Business

Ilene Rosoff, CEO of The Launch Pad, a Florida-based technology company specializing in IT and Web solutions for small businesses, just wrote a terrific guide to the right IT stuff. And Ilene knows her stuff.

Ilene says:

Did you know that QuickBooks can be integrated with your shipping and credit card processing which saves three employees 30 hours a week in order fulfillment? Then you might implement a web solution for online orders which integrates with QuickBooks. A good information technology services partner makes computer support services a value proposition.

Read more from Ilene..., or share your own small business IT tips.

What Entrepreneurs Most Want to Know: April 2007's Most Popular Work.com How-to Guides

Do you know what entrepreneurs and business owners most wanted to know about in April 2007? I just checked the Work.com stats, and last month, entrepreneurs and business owners most wanted to know about the new postage rate changes, creating a great business plan, and discovering resources to start a business.

Here are the top 20 most visited Work.com business how-to guides in April 2007:

1. The 2007 Postage Rate Changes (+6)
2. Creating a Great Business Plan (-1)
3. Resources for Starting a Business (+2)
4. Low-Cost Businesses You Can Start (same ranking as March)
5. Getting the Most Out of LinkedIn (-3)
6. Making Money on CafePress (+2)
7. Doing Business in Second Life (-4)
8. MPLS (+7)
9. Getting a Business Line of Credit *
10. Business Logo Design (-1)
11. Finding Free Business Cards (+6)
12. Writing a Resume Cover Letter *
13. Second Life Real Estate: Buying and Selling Land in Second Life *
14. Learning Search Engine Optimization (-8)
15. Sample Business Plans (-3)
16. Finding New Business Ideas *
17. Marketing Your Business in Second Life *
18. How to Write a Resume *
19. Creating an Employee Manual (-9)
20. Finding Home Business Opportunities (same ranking as March)

* means new on the most visited list. # in parentheses is ranking compared with last month's.

Also see March 2007's most visited guides to see what was hot last month, or you can always check the Most Popular Guides page on Work.com to see which business how-to guides have been most popular over time. Is your guide in the top 20? Hints on how to get it there: link to your guide from a variety of sites, put it in your online profiles, put your URL in your signature, email it, blog about it -- there are many ways to spread the Work. More hints in my new guide to increasing your online visibility using Work.com.

Tags: work.com, entrepreneurs

Small Business 101 in the NYTimes: Go to Work.com!

Normally I'd rather highlight the amazing people sharing their business expertise on topics such as rural broadband or starting a pool hall, but this time I have to highlight Work.com itself - today the New York Times in their article Small Business 101: How to Get Started cited Work.com as a small business resource along with the Small Business Administration, the Kauffman Foundation's Eventuring, About.com's small business and entrepreneur sites (owned by the New York Times), StartupNation, and Bplans.

Thank you to all you who have contributed to Work.com and made it into the resource it is today. We're 1709 guides and counting...I'm glad all you who have written Work.com guides are getting the recognition you deserve. Keep contributing!

Tags: work.com, small business, sba, eventuring, startupnation, bplans