Summary: Learn from these common PPC advertising campaign mistakes small business owners make, and increase your profitability with higher-converting ads.

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SiteProNews has an excellent post I’d like to share with you today: Small Business PPC – 26 Mistakes That Cost You MoneyWhat is PPC?PPC is pay-per-click, a type of advertising through programs like Google’s Adwords. Essentially, you bid on keyword phrases, and pay Google for each time someone clicks on your ads (which may appear in their content network – on sites like this one which features Adsense ads above each post on single post pages, or which may appear in Google’s search results).

The idea is that your ad is displayed to targeted viewers (based on a site’s content or the visitor’s search habits), so they’re likely to click the ad and have a genuine interest in what you’re offering.

The problem is that many small business owners don’t know how to run an effective PPC campaign by weeding out low-converting ad spots, choosing the best phrases to target, or knowing how much to bid on their keywords to get the best value for their money.

I’m certainly no PPC expert myself, so I’ll leave it to the folks at SiteProNews to give you some solid tips on what to do (or not to do) when you run a pay-per-click ad campaign for your small or online business.

Read the article.

Summary: US small business owners are worried about inflation and the weakening economy. As an entrepreneur, what are your biggest business concerns right now?

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I came across an article from Reuters this morning talking about the small business outlook on the US economy, and how apparently it’s the worst it’s been since 1980. Read the article.As a small business owner in the US, how do you feel about the weak economy? Are you worried? According to the article, inflation is the biggest business concern for small businesses – with the slowing economy not stopping that inflation. Do you agree?

I’ll admit that inflation’s a problem. As I mentioned in a past post though, the thought of a recession really doesn’t bother me – given the type of work I do, it can even be good for my business, because folks are more interested in hiring independent professionals to save on labor costs. So while it’s a problem in my eyes, I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s the biggest.

Are your views more in line with this report? What business problems plague you the most from an economic standpoint as an entrepreneur?

Obviously the simple answer is “no,” because others have gone on to run highly successful businesses without a formal education. However, the fact still remains that those people tend to be the exception; not the rule.

Some industries not only highly benefit from formal education, but it can be required for licensing (medical and legal fields for example). Others don’t require a formal education to be an expert in the industry (such as craft-related businesses).

What I hear a lot of people say (usually kids who start businesses at home online, and who haven’t even finished high school yet) is that if so-and-so could do it without college (insert any ridiculously successful dropout entrepreneur here), so can anyone else. What they neglect completely is that the cases they cite are actually extremely rare.

Banking on being the exception to the rule is very likely a large contributing factor to the overwhelming number of small businesses that fail within their first one to three years.

I won’t argue that absolutely every entrepreneur should receive a formal education and work towards a degree. However, I’d say that doing so couldn’t possibly hurt them in any way (whether it’s an education in their niche or industry, or even a general business education to teach them about the day to day running of a successful business).

What are your thoughts on formal education for entrepreneurs?

“Customer relationship management for the little guy” – that’s what Shoestring CRM (ShoestringCRM.com) aims to be… a free and comprehensive resource on small business CRM issues for small business owners. They do a good job of it too.

Shoestring CRM offers small business owners a valuable collection of resources on customer relationship management issues, including:

• CRM Articles
• Links to CRM Software Options.
• A 6-page Small Business CRM Software Selection Guide

Shoestring CRM offers articles that are not only written by an experienced CRM professional, but that really do help to simplify the concept of customer relationship management for the small business owner. For example, “Does My Small Business Need CRM?” does a great job of explaining some of the benefits of CRM without becoming preachy or pushy in a “you definitely need CRM no matter what” kind of way. It simply outlines the benefits, and makes it clear that it might not be necessary for every reader.

Articles aren’t stuffed with affiliate links trying to sell CRM software either. They’re simply quality educational resources. Other than the basic CRM content on-site, Shoestring CRM also offers articles on marketing, sales, and support issues.

If I had to suggest any changes to the site, they’d be this:

1. Keep adding great articles on customer relationship management targeting small business owners. Perhaps even focus a piece or two on online business owners, as they’d be another good group to learn from this site.
2. Eventually it would be great to see a few case studies published on the site, to show more specific examples of what implementing CRM tools and strategies can actually do for small businesses.

Overall, Shoestring CRM is a quality small business resource worth taking a look at, especially if you want to understand the basics or are looking for some reputable CRM software options.