Feasibility Study Archives

Have You Been Retargeted?

If you have ever shopped online for an item and then later noticed an ad for that exact item on another page, you have been retargeted. It may cause some problems for people who are trying to surprise others with something special. Consider the scenario of the man who has searched for engagement rings. If his future fiancé should suddenly have ads for rings show up all over their shared computer screen, the jig may be up!

To see what it is like to be retargeted, try going to the site: GreatCall. Once you are on that site, you will notice they sell a phone service. You might then decide to go to a site like Dictionary.com. Once you get to the dictionary site, you might notice that suddenly there is an ad for GreatCall.

Now take a look at the top right corner of that ad. There is a little sideways triangle that you can click that explains AdSense. “The AdChoices symbol appears on web pages and ads to let you know when information about your interests or demographics may have been collected or used to show you ads – what’s known as interest-based advertising. You can opt out of interest-based ads, as well interest-based advertising from other participating companies by visiting the aboutads.info choices page.” Click on the following link to find out how to manage your ad preferences.

Related Articles:

Top Business and Career Trends for 2013

Potential entrepreneurs often look for the next big idea. With changing technology, it is important to have foresight. It is not always necessary to be the first company to offer a product or idea. Facebook is an excellent example of this. Sometimes an idea can be improved upon or tweaked.

Once an entrepreneur comes up with an idea, they must create a feasibility study. After creating a viable plan, there are some unique ways entrepreneurs may obtain financing. Crowdfunding and microlending are just one of the latest trends. Check out the Top 7 Ways for Entrepreneurs to Obtain Funding.

Some experts have tried to predict the next big areas for innovation. There are even sites like Trendhunter that offer trend reports to help with predictions. For those interested in getting ahead of the game, check out some of the top articles on business and career trends for 2013:

The last article is an interesting one, because sometimes people look at trends as positive things. That may not always be true. An important point was made in that article. Bringing value to customers should be a primary goal.

Related Articles:

Avoiding Entrepreneurial Failures

It is the American dream to start a business, achieve growth with that business, and possibly someday pass it along to children or sell it for a profit. In the article, Boomers Can’t Retire, it was explained how some entrepreneurs have found that they are unable to retire. The American dream may not be as easily attainable as some may think. The Wall Street Journal article, Venture Capital’s Secret: 3 out of 4 Start Ups Fail, listed some unfavorable start-up statistics:

75% of venture-backed US firms don’t return capital investment
Around 30% of start-ups fail completely – 95% if the definition of failure is projected return
Nonventure-backed companies fail more than venture-backed
60% of start-ups make it three years and 35% make it ten

Author and Professor at Harvard Business School, Noam Wasserman, has some advice for future entrepreneurs in his book The Founder’s Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup. In his book, Wasserman explains, “Often downplayed in the excitement of starting up a new business venture is one of the most important decisions entrepreneurs will face: should they go it alone, or bring in cofounders, hires, and investors to help build the business? More than just financial rewards are at stake. Friendships and relationships can suffer. Bad decisions at the inception of a promising venture lay the foundations for its eventual ruin.”

The new entrepreneur must consider problems they may encounter with people, as well as possible pitfalls he or she may encounter down the road. By having foresight, the new entrepreneur can learn to be proactive to change.

Related Articles:

How Businesses can Maximize Online Presence

While business leaders may constantly hear they need to maximize their online presence on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites, there may be more that they could do to succeed. Just having a Facebook or Twitter page is not enough. These sites need to be managed and constantly promoted.

Technology entrepreneur Alex Zhardanovsky was recently interviewed by Fox News about ways businesses can improve their online presence. He explained that Facebook can be used like a newsletter. He stated, “The nice thing about Facebook is that if you spend money building a Facebook page, you have an audience that does not go away.” This gives businesses an advantage of the old style of having people click on a link and then closing a page where they may never return again.

Facebook allows for more of a conversation where businesses can reach customers on a consistent basis. The best part is it is a free way to build a relationship with people that may later become paying customers. Facebook Fan pages are a very important thing for business to create. Businesses can post interesting content so that people will want to interact on that page. Facebook also allows companies to target specific demographics.

Zhardanovsky recommends using a company called AlphaBoost to help companies build better advertising. This site allows potential advertisers see how the competition’s ads are performing. They can see the likes, clicks and views of the competition’s ad. The thought process is that if the business is similar, they will receive a similar reaction to a comparable ad. He explained that once companies get the “likes” from posting a similar ad, then that is when they can differentiate their business from the competition.

To hear more tips about Twitter and other social media platforms, check out the video interview by clicking here: Small Biz Tips from Top Tech Entrepreneur

Related Articles:

Entrepreneurs Finding Unique Ways to Create Business Plans

Entrepreneurs are faced with many challenges when creating a new business. One of those challenges is to create a feasibility study and business plan. Entrepreneur.com had a very interesting article about how businesses could utilize some unique ways to help create a business plan. In the article Should You Create Your Business Plan on Pinterest, author Tim Berry created a sample Pinterest business plan based on a bicycle shop business. He used charts created by LivePlan.

Berry admits, “The images don’t really tie together, but if this were an actual business plan, they would.” The point is to show that a plan could be created with the help of a site like Pinterest. He explained, “The complete plan should be a collection of interrelated modules that lay out the goals of the business, the steps to achieve those goals, specific tasks and responsibilities, important milestones and dates, and basic metrics, including projected sales, costs, expenses, profits and cash flow. The business plan’s function is to help entrepreneurs manage better, optimize resources and steer the business into the future. Its form is supposed to follow function, so if you’re looking for a collection of visual images that summarize the plan, Pinterest is a perfectly reasonable platform to use.”

Related Articles: