Over the last 30 days I have been taking part in the Ultimate Blog Challenge, where the challenge is to make an average of 1 post per day over the course of the month. As far as I can tell I completed the challenge and learnt a lot of new tips along the way about blogging.

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Below are 5 of the most popular posts from the last 30 days:

• You Are What You Tweet
• How Much Money Do I Need to Start My Own Business?
• 5 People You Should Be Following on Twitter
• 7 Tips to Balance Your Personal and Professional Life
• 5 Social Media Pet Peeves

Thank you to everyone who has viewed/commented on my blogs over the last 30 days. I hope that you continue to come back and read the blog (hint: subscribe to the RSS feed )

If you’ve missed any of the blog posts this week catch up on the 3 most popular by view count.

1. 5 People You Should Be Following on Twitter
2. 10 Reasons for Starting a Home Internet Business
3. Company Vans – Avoiding a Benefit in Kind

When you have read these posts take time to view some of the other blogs which give free small business tips and advice, which can be easily done be scrolling to the bottom of this post and clicking on the pop-up at the bottom left of your screen.

Over the last year I have taken part in a few blog challenges, during the course of which I have discovered some great blogs. Below I have listed the 3 blogs which I think you should be reading/following as they are updated with fresh content on a regular basis and are interesting to read from a small business perspective.

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• Networking Goat – A new blog by Kapil (Kaps) Karpur. Kaps main business is building databases and spreadsheets, but on this blog he shares his networking experiences and advice.
• Writers Block Admin Services – Jo is based in France and regularly updates her blog with great content about social media, ebooks and he VA services
• James Debono – James blogs with lots of tips for small businesses to get the most out of social media and the internet for small businesses.

To keep up to date with each of these blogs I have added them to by Google Reader feed, you should do the same too.

Your Turn…

Which blogs have you enjoyed reading over the last few weeks?

You may have read my post ‘5 Social Media Pet Peeves‘ (if not why not?). Social media isn’t all bad, far from it. In fact there is a lot more good things about it than there are bad. Here is my list of 5 great things about social media.

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• It’s great for connecting with other small business and people. I recently helped a friend out by retweeting her request, shortly afterwards a business who follows me contacted my friend and carried out the work she needed doing.
• Helps keep you up to date with current news stories. Quite often you can find out what is happening long before it hits the front pages by looking at the current trends.
• Provides and even playing field to allow small businesses the chance to compete against the big-boys.
• You can make posts from anywhere, whether it’s from your PC or mobile device social media goes everywhere with you.
• It’s fantastic for showcasing your knowledge and expertise to a worldwide audience.

Your Turn…

Do you agree or disagree with the above? Let me know and we can try to get a much more comprehensive list together

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Image: smarnad / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

We cannot escape social media at the moment, nor will we be able to ever again. It’s become a massive part of our lives and something that we turn to for:

• News updates – quite often we can find out what is going on before it hits the main news channels
• Networking – Twitter plays a major role for small businesses connecting with other businesses
• Finding old friends – Facebook can help you connect with long-lost school mates and family members who live in far off places
• Making friends with new and interesting people and businesses

 

 

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But it’s not as easy as that, because Social Media can also be very annoying at the same time. Here are a few of my Social Media Pet Peeves:

1. ‘Please follow me back’  – More often than not if someone says that I won’t follow them back. My Twitter timeline can become overcrowded enough as it is, which is why I only follow back people who I will find interesting. If you’re not sure about following someone, add them to a list and view the list when it’s convenient for you
2. Foul Language – just because you are sat at a keyboard does that mean it is OK to swear in public?
3. #ff X, Y & Z  -If you are going to recommend that I follow someone on a Friday at least tell me why I should be following them. Don’t use an automated service, make it personal.
4. Please RT – Yes I’m happy to retweet something, but make sure that the whole message is less than 120 characters so that I can RT it
5. Meaningless Tweets – If you’re bored don’t tell the world about it, find something fun/interesting to do and then tell us about it

 

Over to you; what are your social media pet peeves?

On Wednesday I had finished work for the evening and was about to log-off to watch the TV for the night when I saw a tweet from a small business I follow that they were about to join in with #yorkshirehour. I wondered what is was all about so loaded up Twitter and searched for the hashtag – surely anything had to be better than watching the soaps my wife had recorded!

#yorkshirehour turned out to be a fantastic hour where lots of businesses in the region were all chatting and networking with each other in the same place at the same time.  The hour (8pm-9pm) flew by and I saw a message later that there had been over 800 tweets that hour with the #yorkshirehour hashtag.

I came across many businesses and people who I had not known about before, and hopefully they thought they same when they saw me. In many ways it was surprising to see so many small businesses online at the same time, but it was great to meet so many new people and businesses.

If you run a business in Yorkshire, pop on over to the next #yorkshirehour on Wednesday 8pm-9pm

Click image to open interactive version (via Simply Business).

If you’re interested in winning a signed copy of the book Zero to 100,000: Social Media Tips and Tricks for Small Businesses take a look at this post by Jo Harrison from Writers Block Admin Services

Synopsis from Amazon

YOUR COMPLETE PLAN FOR FINDING 100,000 NEW FRIENDS, SUPPORTERS, AND CUSTOMERS!

Close your eyes. Now, envision 100,000 people who are passionate about you, your business, and your brand! We’re talking about people who buy your stuff, and then tell their friends how incredibly great you are—without being paid to do it. People who follow your every move, look to you for guidance, and can’t wait to hear what you’re up to next.

Your 100,000 people. Your two football stadiums full of cheering fans. They’re out there, looking for you. Here’s your easy, low-cost social media plan for finding them…connecting with them…giving them what they want—so they can make you stunningly, incredibly successful!

10 STEPS TO YOUR 100,000 (with all the details, examples, and expert advice you’ll ever need)

1. Listen first, engage second

2. Craft your most authentic voice

3. Find and attract influencers

4. Don’t be a narcissist (you know what we mean)

5. Build community that lasts

6. Freshen up your brand

7. Become an electrifying “social conductor”

8. Promote across platforms

9. Be the fittest, be the survivor

10. Measure your (ever-growing) success

 

It’s free and easy to enter, what have you got to lose?

Whether you are new to Twitter or an old hand at it, I hope that you will follow these 5 people who I have found to be very interesting and knowledgable about their field of work

1. Mark Shaw – a Twitter guru, by following him you’ll learn the ropes in no time at all
2. BBC Breaking News – Breaking news alerts and updates from the BBC
3. Emma Jones – Founder of small business support company, Enterprise Nation and co-founder of Start-Up Britain.
4. Josh Massey – Sales leads, Business referrals, New business and Lead generation. He sends out free business leads and referrals every day using the #msrfr hashtag
5. Purple Dog – Twitter Marketing Specialists who can provide you with the tools, tips and strategies to unlock Twitter’s huge potential.

Follow them all now, what have you got to lose? Just click on their name to go directly to their Twitter page. If you’ve been paying attention, I’ve given you more than the 5 accounts to follow that I promised. If you’re looking for small business advice and bookkeeping, don’t forget to follow me either

Feel free to add your own lists of who we should follow on Twitter. If the list gets to about 25 accounts I’ll list them all in a future post

This is the final installment of my short guide aimed at helping you to start out self-employed life correctly. Your can read parts 1 + 2 here:

Self Employed Checklist Part 1

Self Employed Checklist Part 2

You’ve now registered with HMRC, chosen your business name, registered for VAT and PAYE (if applicable) and put a record keeping system into place. What about when clients pay you and how to you let people know you exist?

7. Business Stationery

You  must make sure that any business stationery you use has on your name and your business name i.e Your Name t/a Your Business. This will include stationery such as letter-heads, business cards, invoices, quotes. It lets people know who you are and helps create a professional image. If you do not have the talent to create your own stationery, seek help from someone. You can only make one first impression with a new client.

8. Bank Account

Where are you going to keep the money that you earn through your business? If you are a sole trader you could pay it into your own personal account, but this could present problems when trying to track payments and receipts. Consider setting up a separate bank account to handle your business’ transaction. Several banks now offer free business banking for extended periods.

9. Website

The internet has brough the business world closer together. You can now trade with anyone anywhere in the world. A well presented and maintained website will help increase your profile and could lead to more sales. There are lots of hosting companies that all offer excellent rates for basic websites. Some of them come with software to help you create your perfect website

10. Social Media

This is another fantastic way to let people know about your business and it’s service/products. Twitter, Facebook & Linked-In are fantastic for small businesses. You should strongly consider creating a social media presence and using it to drive people to your website and make new business contacts. There is an excellent book by Mark Shaw about using Twitter for small business – Twitter Your Business – it’s cheap and very useful!

 

Don’t lose sight of the reasons that you started your business. Keep re-assessing your goals and adjusting them as needed on your path to success. If you ever need any help with the bookkeeping side of your business, please don’t be afraid to contact me