Choosing Social Networking Sites Carefully

Everyone knows how big social networking is for business owners these days.  Social networking was originally intended to make it easier to maintain personal relationships, but businesses have made social networking a priority as well.  Premier sites have made it possible for businesses to grow their contact lists, manage their relationships and created the concepts of viral marketing.

Businesses of all sizes have taken part in social networking to promote their business in ways that they could never have dreamed of fifteen years ago.  Executives from all Fortune 500 companies promote their business on LinkedIn and companies with no marketing budget have the opportunity to make themselves front page news all over the country.

In order to make the most of social networking, businesses must learn to manage their social networking resources carefully.  It requires an investment of time and sometimes money just like anything else.  If a company wishes to benefit from social networking they must manage these resources carefully.

One of the mistakes that entrepreneurs often make is choosing the wrong social networks to invest in.  They end up spreading themselves too thin rather than focusing on the most appropriate sites.

Facebook is still the most popular social networking site and it’s free.  However, entrepreneurs must be careful not to make the mistake many others make investing all their time there.  Currently Facebook users are made up predominantly of people aged 25-54, with another 25% being 18-24.

In recent years more emphasis has been placed on business networking through Facebook.  Nevertheless, it is not as effective for professional networking as sites like LinkedIn, and Twitter is just as good a platform for many viral marketing programs.

A number of new sites other than LinkedIn have been created for business networking.  Some of the more popular sites include Xing and Ryze.  Xing is a great platform but it is difficult to get much of it without paying for the premium services.  Ryze is a good social network for new entrepreneurs, but it is not as popular as it was when it was first introduced.

These sites still can be worth joining even for users who aren’t interested in paying for premium memberships.   However, if they have a hard time finding and connecting with other users with the free plan, they should be careful before they invest a substantial amount of time and energy using them.

Businesses especially need to be concerned about the number of paid business networking sites that are almost completely inactive.  They exist only to continue scraping membership fees, mostly from new clients who don’t know what (or how little) they are actually getting from the services.  I won’t name any of the sites I have joined here, but I have run into a number of them.

The best rule of thumb is to focus on either the most popular networking sites or those that are most specifically targeted to a niche audience.  New businesses must always keep in mind that benefits from social networking only come with hard work.  They must approach social networking just like any other business strategy and look for the best return on their investment.

About the Author: Kalen Smith is the founder of Engineer-a-Business, a provider of business-to-business services and informational products for developing technology businesses. Read more about Kalen here.

10 Inspiring Young Online Entrepreneurs

One really awesome thing about the Internet is that there’s no such thing as age discrimination when it comes to being successful.  It doesn’t matter if you’re 12 or 72 - you have just as much chance as anyone of becoming rich and famous through an online business.  To illustrate the point, here, in no particular order, are 10 young entrepreneurs who are making their dreams a reality through internet businesses.

	Jonathan Mead, 23 of IlluminatedMind.net - Full-time blogger and life coach Jonathan Mead delivers a steady dose of inspiration and how-to content on his blog, and through his popular e-books, Reclaim Your Dreams, and The Zero Hour Workweek - How I Liberated Myself From the 9 to 5 by Getting Paid to Be Me. At just 23, Jonathan has figured out the “secret formula” for becoming a successful entrepreneur by sharing his story and expertise through blogging. Twitter: @jonathanmead
	Michael Dunlop, 21 of IncomeDiary.com - Michael Dunlop started his first profitable website when he was just 16 years old.  Now, at the ripe old age of 21, Michael is truly living what he calls the Internet Lifestyle.  Michael’s blog is all about helping others achieve this same dream.  Through interviews with some of the true thought-leaders in online marketing, as well as instructional content, Michael brings great information to anyone looking to become a pro blogger. Twitter: @michaeldunlop
	Pete Cashmore, 24 of Mashable.com - From the Mashable site: “Pete Cashmore is the 24 year-old CEO and founder of Mashable.com, a Technorati Top 10 blog worldwide. He founded Mashable in a small Scottish town in 2005 at age 19. In 2009, Cashmore was chosen as one of Inc Magazine’s 30 Under 30, Forbes’ Top 25 Web Celebs and the Huffington Posts’ Top 10 Game Changers 2009.” Twitter: @petecashmore and @mashable
	Adam Horwitz, 18 of AdamHorwitz.tv - 18-year-old Adam Horwitz says on his site that he has a goal to make a million dollars a year by the time he’s 21.  All signs point to that becoming a reality.  Adam started out in Internet marketing at the age of 15 and has become an expert in the areas of affiliate marketing and PPC (pay-per-click) advertising.  Now he makes money teaching others to make a living in these areas.  His blog is full of informational videos, tips, and lots of goofy stuff that might not make you a better entrepreneur, but just might make you laugh. Twitter: @AdamHorwitz
	Kevin Sproles, 25 of Volusion.com - Kevin Sproles started designing web sites at the age of 16.  After receiving lots of requests for a shopping cart solution, Kevin, with very little money and a great deal of perseverance, started coding shopping cart software.  Now, at the age of 25, his company supplies the most award-winning e-commerce solution to over online 100,000 entrepreneurs as well as major companies. Twitter: @volusion
	Gurbaksh Chahal, 27 of gWallet.com - Gurbaksh Chahal has an amazing entrepreneurial story.  After dropping out of high school in San Diego at age 16 to start ClickAgents, a performance-based ad network, he grew the company for two years, at which point it was acquired by ValueClick in a $40 million all-stock deal. His next venture, another ad network called BlueLithium, was acquired in 2007 by Yahoo! for $300 million cash.  Gurbaksh started gWallet, a virtual currency platform for social media, in September of 2009.  In 2008, Gurbaksh published his memoir in a book called The Dream. Twitter: @gchahal
	Catherine Cook, 20 of myYearbook.com - Since co-founding myYearbook with her brother in 2005, at the age of 15, Catherine Cook and her team have raised over $20 million in capital and have grown the site into one of the largest US social media sites with over 20 million members.  The site makes meeting new people easy by introducing members to innovative social games that are all tied together by a single virtual currency called “Lunch Money.” Twitter: @myYearbook
	Sam Lessin, 26 of Drop.io - After graduating from Harvard, Magna Cum Laude in 2005, Sam Lessin started Drop.io.  Drop.io is a simple, private, real-time, sharing, collaboration, and presentation site where users can upload files of any kind and have the ability to access, share, and edit those files from any Internet-connected computer.  Sam is also the co-founder of SocialGreat.com, a location-based social media site with a growing user-base. Twitter: @lessin
	Ryan Allis, 26 of iContact.com - Ryan Allis is the co-founder and CEO of iContact, a leading provider of email marketing tools for small businesses.  Ryan has built North Carolina-based iContact from its start in 2003 to its current size with more than 175 employees, 50,000 customers, and $28 million in annual sales, while raising $10.8 million to grow the firm.  Ryan is also the author of the book Zero to One Million, which reached the Wall Street Journal Bestseller list in 2008. Twitter: @ryanallis
	Derek Johnson, 25 of Tatango.com - Derek Johnson was bit by the entrepreneur bug early in life, starting his first business of selling candy bars to fellow students at recess by the age of eight. Derek, a self proclaimed workaholic, puts in 100+ hour workweeks to help fulfill the vision of Tatango.com.  Originally launched as networkText.com in 2007, Tatango has since facilitated the sending of tens of millions of text messages to groups of varying sizes, through their simple-to-use group texting platform. Twitter: @TheDerekJohnson

Once you’ve seen these success stories, you might want to ask yourself: What can they do that you can’t? Chances are you won’t find that they have anything special, beyond a drive to succeed, the belief that it’s possible, and a willingness to work as hard and as long as it takes.  So whatever your age, whether you’re younger or older than those above, know that you too can make your dreams of business success a reality, if you’ll just go for it and keep at it through whatever may come.

What Makes You So Special?

What causes people to want to hire you for your services, use your product, visit your website, or read your blog?  Whatever industry you’re in, there’s little doubt you have some form of competition.  So why is what you offer different enough to make people choose you over someone else?  A lot of people try to compete on price, which can be effective for some, but often it’s the lazy way to get customers, and it can end up robbing from your bottom line in the long run.  When you think about it, if all you have to offer is a low price, then as soon as someone else comes along with an even lower price, you lose.  If you find other ways to set yourself apart from the competition though, your customers have reasons to be loyal to you and your brand.  There are several ways to make your business stand out from the crowd, and here are a few:

Your Offering - Whether or not it’s easy (or even possible) to differentiate through the product or service you offer has a lot to do with which industry you’re in.  If you sell a software product, for example, your program might offer features that no one else does.  This is a pretty simple way to differentiate.  On the other hand, what if your business is something that’s not as easy to rework in a way that makes it truly unique?  This might take some out-of-the-box thinking, but it’s usually still possible.  A great example of this is Egg-Land’s Best eggs.  When most of us go to the grocery store to buy eggs, we just grab a dozen and go, right?  For the most part, who can even name a ‘brand’ of eggs?  Egg-Land’s Best had the idea they could change that, so they changed the feed they used to feed their hens, and now they market their eggs throughout the country as a better alternative to “generic” eggs.  This differentiation allows them to charge a premium on a product which most people thought of as “un-differentiate-able.”  With some creativity and a little fine-tuning, their differentiation has paid off in big ways.

Your Service - One of the best ways a company can set itself apart from the competition is through offering a unique customer service experience.  There are situations where your product is what it is (if you own a franchise, for instance), and you aren’t able to change your location, your marketing methods, or your company name.  But everyone has the ability to offer a special customer experience.  And study after study proves that people are willing to pay a little more for great service, so differentiating through service not only brings in more customers, but you can charge more to those you do attract.  MasterLube, a quick oil change company in Billings, Montana, is a perfect example of what can be accomplished through outstanding customer service.  It’s difficult to offer a “different” oil change than the two Wal-Marts, K-Mart, and various other oil change providers in Billings.  And dropping the price below those stores’ prices would result in a short-lived business model.  So MasterLube offers the kind of customer service you won’t find anywhere else.  From the person who greets you in the office, to the technician who services your vehicle, it’s obvious to every customer that all their employees truly care about their customers.  More than anything, they go out of their way to build relationships.  How does it pay off?  They charge more than just about anyone else in town, and they have waiting lines almost every day of the week.  What entrepreneur wouldn’t want those results for their business?

Your Culture or Atmosphere - This often goes hand-in-hand with service, but it’s an all-around feeling that your company communicates to your customers.  If you’ve ever eaten at a Johnny Rockets burger place, you have some idea of what this can look like.  From the 50’s décor, complete with nickel jukeboxes at every table, to the staff that spontaneously breaks out in song and dance when certain songs are played, this place is clearly not a typical burger joint.  So what are their results?  As just one example, Johnny Rockets serves over eight million fairly average milkshakes a year, at $4-$6 each.  So if you can provide a fun, outrageous, or moving experience for you customers, do it.  You’ll find this form of differentiation is the kind that gets buzz going about your business, which we all know is invaluable!

In this world of stiff competition coming from everywhere, you can’t afford not to differentiate.  And as soon as you get too comfortable with where you are, you’re bound to be overtaken by someone with a better product, better customer service, or a cooler new concept.  So ask yourself what sets you apart from the crowd - and then keep asking it.

A Must-Attend Event: 2010 Las Vegas Business Summit

Anyone reading the Blogtrepreneur site is most likely either an entrepreneur or wants to be an entrepreneur.  In either case, you’ll definitely want to attend the Perfect Business Summit 2010 in Las Vegas, NV, October 7^th and 8^th.  This incredible event is packed with influential keynote speakers and information-loaded breakout sessions to provide you with the information and contacts you need to build the business you’ve always wanted.  This is the nation’s largest entrepreneur summit, so whether you’re looking for financing in the form of VC, Angel, or bank capital, hoping to make connections critical to your success, or seeking advice for taking your business to the next level, this event will provide what you need.

The speakers

Who knows better how to make it big as an entrepreneur than those who have made it happen?  So if you want the same, you need to listen to masters.  The Perfect Business Summit 2010 delivers with some of the biggest names in entrepreneurship.  Here are just a few of the speakers you can expect to see in Vegas:

John Paul DeJoria - Founder of Paul Mitchell and Patron Tequila

Gavin Maloof - Owner of Palms Casino and the Sacramento Kings

Tony Hsieh - CEO of Zappos

Isaac Tigrett - Founder of Hard Rock Cafe and House of Blues

Brad Huntstable - Founder & President of Ustream.tv

The list goes on and on. In fact, there are over 30 speakers lined up for this year’s event, including founders, authors, media personalities, and much more!

As if that wasn’t enough…

How would you like a chance to get your business funded?  If you’re seeking capital or business partners for a new business, you’ll be interested in “the event within the event,” called The Perfect Pitch 2010. Perfect Pitch gives you the chance to introduce your business to hundreds of accredited investors and entrepreneurs representing more than $10 BILLION in capital.  This is your ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME opportunity to pitch your business idea to more than 100 angel and venture capital investors and a conference full of more than 2,000 entrepreneurs and business leaders.  The deadline for Perfect Pitch is August 26, 2010 though, so you have to get on it now!  Just click on the ‘Pitch’ link at the website for all the details.

Still want more?

How about a discount on attendance?  Because our YoungEntrepreneur.com site is an event sponsor, our readers get a $20 discount off entrance to the event!  Not only that, but if you aren’t able to make it to Las Vegas, you can still catch the live streaming event at a discounted rate of just $87.  Just click the ‘Live Streaming’ link on the website, and you’ll not just get to watch live, but you’ll have access to the recorded event for a full year!  That’s truly an unbelievable deal! So, just use any link in this post to access the website, and your discount will be automatic. (In the unlikely event the discount does not show up, simply type “YE” in the ‘Gift Code’ field.)

The bottom line: If you only attend one business event in 2010, this should be the one. Make the pilgrimage to Las Vegas, and meet the people who can transform your business.  My brother, Matthew, and I will be at the event, and we’d love to meet as many Entrepreneurs as possible.  So do what you need to do to make it happen, and we’ll see you there!

20 Amazing Women Entrepreneurs

These days, it seems successful entrepreneurs are popping up everywhere.  And some of the most impressive entrepreneurial success stories are those of women who have accomplished amazing things in every area of business imaginable.  From IT to retail, and from marketing to inventions, women have shown they are a force to be reckoned with.  So we’ve put together a list of 20 of these amazing women to pay tribute to their accomplishments and recognize their contributions to the entrepreneurial world.  They are truly an inspiration to us all.

	Sarah Prevette - Sprouter.com An entrepreneur long immersed in the startup community, Sarah has a firsthand familiarity with the common pitfalls of early stage startups and a grasp of the tips and tools that foster success.  Sarah is the founder of Sprouter.com, and the Twestival Organizer for Toronto.
	Mari Smith - MariSmith.com Dubbed “the pied piper of the online world” by Fast Company Magazine, Mari Smith is a relationship marketing specialist and social media keynote speaker, trainer, and consultant. Mari believes that “there’s no such thing as competition, most definitely for the small business owner and certainly for the solopreneur, because there’s only one ‘you’.”
	Gabrielle Bernstein - Gabrielle Bernstein Inc. In her book, “Add more ~ing to Your Life,” Gabrielle Bernstein says, “My mission in this lifetime is to help guide my generation to shift their search for happiness from the outside to the inside.” Gabrielle is also the founder of Women’s Entrepreneurial Network, a non-profit professional organization that connects female entrepreneurs, and HerFuture.com, which connects women with mentors.
	Genevieve Thiers - SitterCity.com Genevieve Thiers is the founder of SitterCity.com, the $5 million Inc. 500 company that matches service providers with service seekers in the areas of babysitting, housekeeping, tutoring, and more.  Based in Chicago, the site hosts over a million profiles and provides services coast to coast.
	Maxine Clark - Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. Maxine Clark served as the President and Chief Merchandising Officer at Payless Shoesource, Inc. prior to starting Build-A-Bear Workshop.  The company has over 340 stores all over the world and has annual revenues of over $120 million.
	Robin Koval - Kaplan Thaler Group, Ltd As co-founder of the Kaplan Thaler Group, Robin Koval is a marketing strategist and new products expert.  Her marketing ideas include, the “Yes, Yes, Yes” Herbal Essences campaign as well as the famous AFLAC duck quack.  Robin is also the best selling author of several books on marketing.
	Nancy Evans - iVillage.com Nancy Evans is co-founder of iVillage.com: The Women’s Network. The company, begun in 1995, provides effective solutions to everyday challenges facing women in their many roles as professionals, parents, friends and partners.  iVillage was acquired by NBC Universal, Inc. in 2006.
	Ann Moore - Inventor of The Snugli A pediatric nurse by trade, Ann Moore invented the Snugli, a baby-carrying sling, while on a Peace Corps mission in the 1960s.  To this day, Snugli is the most popular on-body baby carrier in the world, and is now owned by Evenflo.
	Linda Mason - Bright Horizons Family Solutions Founded by Linda Mason in 1986, Bright Horizons is the world’s leading provider of employer-sponsored child care, back-up care, early education, and work/life solutions.  Linda Mason is also the author of The Working Mother’s Guide to Life: Strategies, Secrets, and Solutions.
	Lisa Druxman - Stroller Strides Stroller Strides, Lisa Druxman’s brainchild, was started out of a need for Lisa to stay fit right after having her first child.  She started the business from her home in San Diego, and now the company boasts over 300 franchises nationwide.
	Carrie Wilkerson - Barefoot Marketing Group Carrie Wilkerson, known as The Barefoot Executive, is the founder of Barefoot Marketing Group, where Carrie and her network of experts have quickly become the definitive resource for work at home professionals. (Check out our interview with Carrie - here.)
	Gina Bianchini - Ning.com After Harmonic Communications, a company she co-founded, was acquired by Dentsu, Gina Bianchini co-founded Ning, an online platform for people to create their own social networks. Ning was launched in 2005 and has since raised over $104 million in capital and has become a top 100 global website and one of the world’s most valuable start-ups.
	Juliette Brindak - MissOandFriends.com One of the most inspiring stories on our list, Juliette Bindak founded her company, Miss O and Friends, at the age of 10.  By the time she was 19, just last year, the company had a value of more than $15 million.  She also published her first book at the age of 16, which has sold over 120,000 copies.
	Ali Brown - Ali International Recognized on the 2009 Inc 500 list and recipient of the 2010 Enterprising Women of the Year award, Ali Brown is a true entrepreneur.  She quit her job in 1998 and was down to less than $20 when she wrote an e-book, and everything changed. She has since become a foremost authority in driving sales and marketing via e-mail publishing, and even publishes her own magazine, Ali.
	Loral Langemeier - LiveOutLoud.com After reaching a net worth of $1 million, Loral Langemeier decided she would start Live Out Loud, a coaching and seminar company to help others reach this same level of success. The company started small with one office in 2002 and within 5 years grew to a $19 million dollar company.  She is also the resident money expert on the Dr. Phil Show.
	Sara Blakely - Spanx 2002 Entrepreneur of the Year Award winner Sara Blakely says on her Spanx website, “With $5,000 in savings out of the back of my apartment, a whole lot of internet research, patent writing, cold-calling, less-than-shy demonstrations for buyers, and a call from Oprah…Spanx was born!”  Sara has also formed the Sara Blakely Foundation, which focuses on supporting and empowering women around the world.
	Amilya Antonetti - Lucky Napkin Because of a severe allergic reaction her newborn son had to synthetic cleaning products, Amilya Antonetti founded Soap Works, a company that produced natural cleaning products.  After selling the company, Amilya started Lucky Napkin, a company that assists people in taking their ideas “from mind to market.”
	Susan Handley - Beijo Bags Susan Handley first started designing handbags when she was ten years old.  Now, Beijo Bags provides opportunities for over 1000 independent sales reps all over the US and Canada to have fun and make money, selling top quality handbags and accessories.  The company currently produces over $25 million in annual sales.
	Kate Everett Thorp - Divine Caroline (Real Girls Media) Named one of the Top 25 Women to Watch by Advertising Age, Kate Everett Thorp has masterminded a media network for women, called Real Girls Media.   She has received numerous accolades, including Real Girls Media being named in OnMedia’s Top 100 Companies list.
	Janet Rickstrew - Tomboy Tools After attending a Pampered Chef party 2000, Janet Rickstrew saw an opportunity for a similar concept with tools designed just for women, and Tomboy Tools was born.  The company started with less than 1,000 square feet of warehouse space and now operates a 13,000 square-foot distribution facility on Denver’s West Side.  Their Hammer Out Breast Cancer campaign has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Please join us in congratulating these amazing entrepreneurial women on their inspiring successes. And if you’re an amazing woman entrepreneur, be sure to share you story with us!

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