Friday, March 07, 2008

Banks Hasseling Businesses?

Many businesses are able to get the loans they need from mortgage lenders, business loan centers, and the like, but a recent Bloomberg article suggests that many are having much more difficulty.

``Many small- and medium-sized businesses are not complaining about credit conditions,'' Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren said in a speech last week.

Bloomberg on the other hand decided they would take a deeper look into the situation rather than to take him by his word. They profile a small-business owner who is having quite a bit of difficulty acquiring cash.

``They're now saying we need two years of credit history before they will even consider us for a line of credit,'' says Arnett, who employs four people and estimates that revenue this year has soared to $900,000. ``Every financial institution we have talked to has used the same excuse, that banking regulators are scrutinizing loans, they're tightening up the restrictions. What they're saying is, we did some dumb things, we're not being penalized for it, but now you're going to get penalized.''

Solid and in depth artical discussing the issues that are being faced by business owners and by the Fed at this time.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

The New Rules of E-Branding

Brandng a product off-line is a totally different thing than branding your business online. You may not be able to successfully brand your business offline, but if you learn enough and get the right people online you can actually compete with many of the big players there if you know what you are doing. Can't get sales for your audio racks with offline branding? Try some of these tips to successfully do it online.

1. Know your purpose. Are you an internet brand or a brand on the internet? The two are mutually exclusive. If you plan to use the internet primarily as a marketing vehicle and you have a store in the "real world," then you're a brand on the internet. The majority of DIY website templates are made with you in mind. However if you plan to generate most of your sales from your website, you're an internet brand--and everything gets more complicated. You'll need to conduct global competitive research, determine SEO strategies, investigate advanced shopping cart functionality, and forge other e-paths, like affiliate programs and partnerships, to get visitors to your site. Click here for 5 more tips