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Learn how to ensure that nothing falls through the cracks during an employee’s absence. The key to covering for an employee on a leave of absence is in the planning. Whether someone will be gone for two weeks or three months, business owners can cover the person’s workload by creating procedures for such scenarios, delegating tasks accordingly and beginning the transition early on. “You don’t need to have a lot of employees to help out in order for this to work,” says Stephanie Ciccarelli, Voices.com Chief Marketing Officer in London, ON, Canada, whose customers are primarily located in the U.S. [...]

Learn how FMLA rules may apply to your business. If you have 50 employees or more, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires you to allow your employees to take unpaid leave to deal with important family and health situations. Be sure that both you and your supervisors understand how, and whether, FMLA rules apply to your business. The FMLA allows employee benefits to continue without interruption or to be reinstated when they return to work. This enables eligible employees to address family and medical responsibilities while maintaining their job and career. Unlike many common leave benefits offered by [...]

Here’s what to consider when deciding whether or not customers can bring animals into your business. In a nation where 62 percent of households own a pet and spent an estimated $ 52 billion on their furry friends in 2012, according to the American Pet Products Association, it can be tough to make the decision of whether to allow pets inside your business.You don’t want to alienate potential customers, but you also don’t want to make a decision that adversely affects your business, either. Here are a few factors you should take into consideration as you craft your pet policy. [...]

Should you pay to promote your Facebook posts? Consider advice from small business owners who have done it. Social networking giant Facebook rolled out a new feature in May 2012, aimed at helping you boost your social power by offering the option to promote your posts to the site. Essentially, a promoted post allows you to pay a small fee (typically around $ 10, but it varies based on the number of fans your business page has) for a post to be broadcast to a larger audience of users. But should you pay to promote your Facebook posts? Is it [...]

Before you set prices, consider these strategies to determine dollar amounts Pricing your products is one of the most important—and tricky—decisions you’ll make as a small business owner. What if you price your product too high or too low? It doesn’t have to be as complicated as you might be making it. To help you ease your markup headaches, we asked Becky McCray, owner of a liquor store and author of the book Small Town Rules: How Small Business and Big Brands Can Prosper in a Connected Economy for her tips. Here are 3 things she says you should take [...]

These tried and true methods can help you drive sales and acquire new customers.. Sponsored Facebook posts. Blogging. Viral videos. In the age of the Internet, there’s no shortage of 21st-century marketing channels to generate buzz for your business. But after all these years—and the innovations in marketing they’ve brought—there are still some tried and true old-fashioned methods that yield results for your small business. Here, owners and small business marketing experts share their proven old school methods for gaining attention—and market share— in a crowded marketplace. 1. Try hard copy. It’s easy enough to get a client’s email address [...]

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Better your business by finding people to shadow and critique your services. Small business owners may balk at the idea of launching a mystery shopper program, often seen as the staple of giant retail chains and a costly service provided by market research companies. But you can create your own fleet of secret shoppers that provides you critical feedback about your business and even helps you market your product or service. Here’s how one small business owner, Georgette Blau, founder and owner of On Location Tours, which provides tours of television hotspots in New York and Boston, did it herself. [...]

Learn how to bring exposure to your business by cultivating relationships with bloggers. Oprah may never feature your small business, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get free advertising for your product or service. How? Build relationships with bloggers, many of whom have fiercely loyal readerships who are open to product and service-related posts. It can help you build your brand and move product in the process. “Everyone wants to make headlines on USA Today, but what most people don’t realize is that they will probably gain more traction by getting covered by industry blogs in their particular fields rather [...]

If you play music at your business, follow these tips to avoid thousands of dollars in fines. As the owner of a small café, boutique or shop, you want your establishment to have the perfect customer-friendly vibe. So you plug your iPhone, Android or mp3 player into your sound system, and cue up your favorite playlist. No problem, right? Wrong — that is, if you haven’t purchased the proper music licensing. Joy Butler, a Washington, D.C., attorney who advises clients on music licensing, says small businesses can rack up thousands of dollars in fines for failing to adhere to copyright [...]