One way of ensuring that your business will fail is to create store websites that are not easy to use or are not helpful. Customers shop online because they want to avoid the hassle of shopping in stores, and one of these hassles is dealing with merchandise that isn’t marked or doesn’t ring up like it should. If these customers can’t easily purchase things from your website, they will simply go to another online store and never return. To that end, you need to make certain your store website is easy to navigate, simple to use, and is very informative. Here are some tips to accomplish this:

• Don’t make users click needlessly. If you can put all the information on one page, do so—don’t make them click on several different pages.
• Make certain necessary information—price, size, availability, etc. is very easy to find. Putting this information in a different color font may be helpful.
• Streamline the check out process. For example, automatically fill in the shipping address based on the payment address information, but give users a way of changing this information if they want.

The first time a small business owner gets their tax return, they may be in for a shock: they’ll almost always have to pay taxes! Why? Because they may not have set up estimated taxes. Many small business owners, especially those that provide services, work as independent contractors at first. This means no taxes are taken out of their pay checks. Many small business failures come from not being prepared for this. The payment a small business owner takes from the business is considered an advance on earnings, and most owners don’t take social security or other taxes out of these advances. What they need to do is set up quarterly estimated payments. These payments are deposits made to a specific bank account. At the end of the year, this account is used to pay any taxes owed. If you don’t have one of these accounts set up, a CPA can assist you in estimating what your taxes will be and help you prepare for tax season. Most would agree that it’s better to pay a little bit every three months than to be hit with a large tax bill at the end of the year.

When you start-up your own business, there are a ton of things you ‘ll need to spend money on, but its surprising how many of them can be put off for at least a little while.  Sadly, some you have to pay from the get go.

• A computer. If you’re operating an online business, you’re going to have to have a computer. It is a business risk to invest in a new computer when you don’t know if you’ll succeed or not, so if without a business you’d never have a computer, consider leasing on. The write offs are better.  Go for a desktop- they’re cheaper and don’t skimp on the high speed connection.

• If you’re business is online, you’ll certainly need a url, some form of ecommerce software or if you’re working with a different type of template and/or you have a little more online skill you’ll also need an html editor like Dreamweaver.  You’ll need a hosting service as well.

• Finally, you’ll need to be sure to register your business, get a retail sales tax license if you’ll be selling online and set up a bank account

Yes, there are other things that you’ll need of course, but if you want to start a small business, get used to watching those pennies from day one.  It’s a skill that will serve you well.

]]> http://www.ebusiness-index.com/business-start-ups/bare-bones-start-up-costs/feed/ 0 http://www.ebusiness-index.com/business-start-ups/dont-forget-your-home-business-deductions/ http://www.ebusiness-index.com/business-start-ups/dont-forget-your-home-business-deductions/#comments Thu, 19 Feb 2009 02:28:45 +0000 LAC1214 http://ebusiness-index.com/?p=156

With tax season upon us, many small business owners may be facing one of the most daunting tasks: their taxes. This is actually one of the biggest areas where small business failure occurs. There are a lot of deductions that many small business owners simply don’t know about, and missing them can end up costing a lot. You want to deduct as many expenses as possible, of course, so here is a list of some commonly overlooked ones.

• Gas. If you’re using your own car to run business errands or to go on a business trip, you can fill up your tank and deduct that expense. Just be sure you’re only doing business-related errands.
• Postage. If you mail a lot of things for your business, be sure to deduct the cost. If you have a PO Box for work-related mail, deduct the cost of renting it as well.
• Office space. If you have a room in your home solely dedicated to your business, you can actually deduct a portion of your rent or mortgage. You have to figure out what percentage your office space is, then figure that percentage of your rent.

Small business failure is something that happens to more new small businesses than you may think. However, unless you plan out your business risks and investments, you may find yourself running out of money. Here’s some small business advice to keep in mind to avoid small business failure.

• Make a detailed budget. You need to cover every expenditure, no matter how small, and you should ideally list everything you may spend within your first year.
• Know what you need to buy to get your business up and running. If you don’t have a list of what you need, you may either forget to purchase necessary items or purchase things you don’t really need right away. Make certain each item on the list is truly necessary to get your business up and running.
• Get organized right away. Keep all business receipts in an easy to find folder, and make certain you have some form of tracking invoices. Likewise, you’ll want some kind of database for your products so you’ll be able to figure your total and net income.