1. Provide information: users like receiving relevant articles, to do lists, effective tips, and useful resources that will help enhance their knowledge.
2. Interactive tools: everyone needs an easy to access calculator or template, why not be the one to provide it?  Before you know it, users will come to you for additional resources.
3. Deals: With the economy on it’s way to recovery, many users are still looking for deals.  Offer exclusive deals only to your email subscribers.

After you engage a user long enough to collect their email address, send them constant and relevant information and newsletters.  Before you know it, the user will have build a relationship with your business.

According to a recent study released by Aberdeen Group, 63 percent of companies plan to increase their social media marketing budgets. Meanwhile, consumers are beginning to expect companies to have a social media presence. “Ninety-three percent of Americans expect companies to have a social media presence and are using [social media] to participate in conversations, engage with brands, and find job opportunities,” says Gini Dietrich, CEO of Arment Dietrich, a communications firm specializing in franchise and business services.

Now let me go through a handful of common businesses that are frequently bought and sold that you may consider.  Let us look at one of Americas long standing business that all Americans use and love, the venerable corner gas station!  Of course who doesn’t thing a gas station is not a good business?  Every one in my family and your family uses it to buy gas and may be a six-pack of beer or lottery tickets or milk etc?  You will find that there are hundreds of gas stations for sale close to your location.  Within gas stations, there are two kinds of gas stations.  The franchise gas station, or the independent retailer.  If you buy a franchise gas station, then you get the name brand recognition and the traffic associated with it.  But with franchise gas stations, you need to purchase the gasoline from the oil company which could be a bit expensive but you don’t have to worry about environmental issues.  With an independent gas station, you can sign contracts with any supplier, but you will have more exposure with environmental issues.  Also the marketing support provided by oil companies will be a lot of help if you are new to the gas station business.  When looking for a gas station for sale keep both options in mind with their pros and cons.  But regardless of which option you choose, the decision to buy a gas station is a good one.

Now let us look at another common business to buy, restaurants!  I would wager that buying a restaurant is a slightly more risky than buying a gas station. Why do I say that?  Because, gas stations main product is gasoline and there is not a lot of differentiation.  And buying gas is a necessity and gasoline for the most part is a commodity.  But the decision to buy a restaurant is a bit different.  There are countless number and kinds of restaurants for sale not far from your location.  But the first step in choosing the restaurant is do you like the restaurant.  In fact I will go one step further.  Do you absolutely love the restaurant?  The type of food being served, the ambiance, the location, the prices etc.  Certainly you can change most of the variables except the location.  However, I would recommend that focus only on a restaurant for sale if you absolutely love it as it stands.

Whether you decide to buy a gas station or a restaurant, it is critical that you go through the recommended steps before buying any business.  You need to evaluate the financials, determine the value, suitability to your operational experience among various other factors.

BuyTradeBiz.Com is internets newest business for sale and franchises for sale listing website.  This is the site for you if you are looking to sell a business or buy a business or if you are looking to buy a franchise business.

The number of businesses listed on the site has reached 2,700 and continues to increase daily. The number of brokers that have listed with site has been increasing steadily. The number of franchise opportunities that are listed in the site has also increased in the site showing the effectiveness of the company’s very active marketing campaigns. In Nov 2009, we attended the IBBA show in Reno, Nevada for the first time and received a lot of recognition from the broker community.

In 2010, we started to roll out a new Marketing Campaign that helped increase our presence within Social Media and continually increase our search engine ranking. We have introduced a Summer Promotional Offer where Business Brokers can register and renew their membership for $199 which includes a full year’s Featured Broker Membership and all the benefits the featured membership offers.

“The sites increased marketing efforts are being noticed within the Broker community. We have noticed the increase in number of views and enquiries of our business opportunities we have posted on this site”, says a leading business broker. In addition, Franchisors appreciate the sites clean design and highly navigable interfaces. “With our organic search results increasing everyday, it is helping us drive more Buyer traffic to the site. We have also increased our marketing efforts to help generate additional traffic. Be sure to look for us at the Spring 2010 IBBA conference in Orlando, FL!” said Sweta Shah, Marketing Director for BuyTradeBiz.com.

BuyTradeBiz.Com is internet’s newest businesses for sale and franchises for sale listing website. Designed using the latest Web 2.0 concepts buyers and sellers are increasingly adopting the site as their favorite platform to find a buy a business and sell a business. Privately held BuyTradeBiz.Com, was founded by veterans of the software industry, to create a new paradigm for the business marketplace.

1. Address all outstanding issues.  All businesses for sale or franchises for sale need to immediately resolve all pending issues and problems within the organization.  Be sure to speak to all business owners regarding the upcoming sale of the business.  Also to ensure a smooth transaction when you list your business for sale, have a buyer’s agreement and seller’s agreement in place before the sale is completed.
2. Organize all aspects of the business’s accounting.  Get all the financial documents updated so that the financial information presented to a potential buyer for the business opportunity or franchise opportunity is as accurate as possible.  Another important thing to consider is all the negative items on the books that will affect the sale of the business.
3. To entice buyers to buy a business consider providing finance incentives.  Work with business brokers to help identify potential candidates that might be interested in the business for sale or franchise for sale based on their financial credibility and their history in successfully running a business.
4. An important item to review with your business broker is the amount you should be asking for your business.  They will be able to provide you with a realistic view of the market conditions and at which price point you can easily sell your business.
5. Actively participate in the sale of your business.  Constantly communicate with your business broker at every state of the preparation to the actual sale.  They will be able to provide you with the marketing information necessary to attract the buyers and the proper way to answer question regarding the negative items on your financial statements.  Most importantly, once you have accepted a bid for your business, they will help you structure the final sales transaction.

While you are preparing your for the business to sell remember to keep the business running as efficiently and profitably as possible, letting potential buyers know what can capitalize on once they become the owner.

BuyTradeBiz.com is internet’s newest businesses for sale and franchises for sale listing website.  Designed using the latest Web 2.0 concepts buyers and sellers are increasingly adopting the site as their favorite platform to buy a business and sell a business.  Privately held BuyTradeBiz.Com, was founded by veterans of the software industry, to create a new paradigm for the business marketplace.

The number of franchise opportunities and business opportunities that are listed on the site continues to increase daily.  The number of brokers that have listed with site has been increasing steadily.  This shows the effectiveness of the company’s very active marketing campaigns.  In addition as a member of IBBA, the country’s largest broker organization, BuyTradeBiz.com has increased its visibility significantly in the broker community.  Attending the fall conference of IBBA in Reno, NV gave them another opportunity to showcase BuyTradeBiz.com’s value proposition.  Also in January 2010, we attended the Franchise Expo Sout show in Miami, FL for the first time and received a lot of recognition from the franchise community.

Early this month, BuyTradEBiz.com moved into its new office located at 10475 Medlock Bridge Road, Building 400, Johns Creek, Georgia, 30097.  “It is important to us to be able to provide the highest level of quality service to brokers, franchisors, and individual buyers and sellers looking to buy a business, sell a business, buy a franchise, or sell a franchise.  Buy growing our office and adding services, we can take care of individuals looking for businesses for sale and franchises for sale.” says Sweta Shah, Marketing Director for BuyTradeBiz.com.  The site has started to roll out a new marketing campaign that helped increase our presence within social media and continually increase our search engine rankings.  We have introduced a Winter Promotional Offer where Business Brokers can register for One Year membership for $199.00.  This is a great way for the brokers to gain visibility to their posted business for sale and look for potential feedback on entrepreneurs looking to buy a business or businesses.  Also, Business Brokers have the option to choose from two different membership levels which include benefits such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing search engine exposure, customized web brochures, and online tracking of views and responses to name a few.

“The site increased marketing efforts are being noticed within the Broker community.  We have noticed the increase in number of views and enquiries of our franchises for sale listings we have posted on this site”, says a leading franchisor.  In addition, Brokers and individual sellers appreciate the sites clean design and highly navigable interfaces.  With our organic search results increasing everyday, it is helping us drive more Buyer traffic to the site.  We have also increased our marketing effors to help generate additional traffic.

BuyTradeBiz.com is internet’s newest business for sale and franchise for sale listing website.  Designed using the latest Web 2.0 concepts buyers and sellers are increasingly adopting the site as their favorite platform to buy a business and sell a business.  Privately held BuyTradeBiz.com, was founded by veterans of the software industry, to create a new paradigm for the business marketplace.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a combination of many factors including how old the website domain is, how many individuals are visiting your website, how many contexual links your website has, and how relevant is the information your website has to offer.

To get started:

1. Track your metrics: use free tools such as Google Analytics to establish benchmarks you want your website to achieve.
2. Determine keywords: decide which keywords you want search engines to rank your website for.  Include keywords and phrases you want associated with your brand
3. Create Content: Once you have decided your keyword set, new content must be created on an almost daily basis that incorporates contexual links for those keywords.

Top placement on any search engine requires a sustained effort and will not yield instant gratification but given time, and SEO strategy will become the most important component of your marketing strategy.

The number of franchise opportunities and business opportunities that are listed on the site continues to increase daily.  The number of brokers that have listed with site has been increasing steadily.  This shows the effectiveness of the company’s very active marketing campaigns.  In January 2010, we attended the Franchise Expo South show in Miami, Florida for the first time and received a lot of recognition from the franchise community.

Early this year, we started to roll out a new marketing campaign that helped increase our presence within social media and continually increase our search engine ranking.  We have introduced a Winter Promotional Offer where franchisors can register and renew their memberhips and receive a three month promotional membership period.  During the three months franchisors are not charged for any leads that are generated and receive all the benefits associated with their membership levels.  This is a great way for the franchisors to test visibility to their posted franchises for sale and look for potential feedback on entrepreneurs looking to buy a franchise or franchises.  Also, franchisors have the option to choose from three different membership levels which include benefits such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing search engine exposure, customized web brochures, and online tracking of views and responses to name a few.

“The sites increased marketing efforts are being noticed within the franchise community.  We have noticed the increase in number of views and inquiries of our franchises for sale listings we have posted on this site”, says a leading franchisor.  In additional, franchisors appreciate the sites clean design and highly navigable interfaces.  “With our organic search results increasing everyday, it is helping us drive more buyer traffice to the site.  We have also increased our marketing efforts to help generate additional traffic”, said Sweta Shah, Marketing Director for BuyTradeBiz.com

BuyTradeBiz.com is internet’s newest businesses for sale and franchise for sale listing website.  Designed using the latest Web 2.0 concepts buyers and sellers are increasingly adopting the site as their favorite platform to buy a business and sell a business.  Privately held BuyTradeBiz.com, was founded by veterans of the software industry, to create a new paradigm for the business marketplace.

1. Place your trademark on all your products, in reference to the services your franchise provides, and your franchise website.
2. Use the necessary symbols to distinguish your registered trademarks.  The ® symbol should only be used with federally registered marks.  The ™ symbol should be used with trademarks (marks that relate to products) that are not federally registered.  The SM symbol should be used with service marks (marks that relate only to services) that are not federally registered.
3. Be consistent by using your trademark every time.

Next time you are considering buying new collateral when listing your franchise for sale, be sure to leverage the power of your brand’s trademark.

1. First year profitable businesses can depreciate cost of business property and equipment purchased in 2009 up to $250,000
2. First year non-profitable businesses can depreciate 50% of their office related property
3. General business credit limit has been raised for non-profitable businesses
4. Work opportunity tax credit is available to small businesses who have hired employees that fall into “target groups who have consistently faced significant barriers to employment”
5. NOLs carry back allows small businesses to carry back net operating losses for five years instead of the previous two years.

Be sure to contact your accountant and ask about all the tax breaks your small business qualifies for.