Article Database

The MindMaps ZA Article Database is a collection of useful or interesting articles related to the Internet as communication channel. We hope you will find some use from it.

Date	Heading	Intro Paragraph	Author	URL
2010/03/19	Marketing A Small Business Online	In recent weeks, whereas there have been signs of the broader recession lightening, if not diminishing fully, skepticism among small businesses owners has been reported amidst all of the optimism. Why? Uncertainty about health insurance policy, job stability and other main financial factors nonetheless remain. So, are there alternatives for small or mid-sized companies to develop, and particularly to market themselves successfully with out risking their minimal budget? In short, yes. This is how.	Earning Online Solutions	Link
2010/03/17	10 Common – and Effective – Emotional Triggers	Spur potential customers into action by using these cues in your marketing campaign. It is important to appeal to consumers’ emotions when crafting marketing messages. Think about how you feel when you hear marketing messages and how those feelings affect your own buying decisions. Just like you’re moved to action by an emotional response to marketing messages, so are all consumers. Your copywriting should accomplish two goals: It should make consumers feel something, and it should make them act on those feelings.	Susan Gunelius	Link
2010/03/17	How the iPad Will Change the Way You Do Business	On April 3, Apple's long-awaited tablet computer, iPad, hits the streets. Despite the initial mixed reviews it received when it was introduced, there is no denying this new device will change the way you do web business.	Allen Moon	Link
2010/03/17	The Business of Being Great	Whatever you're making, whatever services you offer, whatever you're selling, everything you do falls into one of three categories: Bad Work is the work that wastes time, slows things down and sucks the spirit dry. It's bureaucracy, complexity and paperwork. Good Work is what most of us do most of the time. It's comfortable, familiar and the heart of our business. As entrepreneurs, good work is our economic engine. It's that reliable product or service we produce for our customers, all with a profit margin that works. Great Work is the flame that burns inside most entrepreneurs, the work that lights us up and excites us. It's the work we care most about, that stretches and challenges us. It's work that has meaning for us and creates impact.	Michael Bungay Stanier	Link
2010/03/17	10 Steps to Effective Copywriting	Don’t waste your ad dollars with an over-the-top sales pitch. Well-written copy follows these simple guidelines. (This article has been excerpted from Kick-Ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps by Susan Gunelius, available from Entrepreneur Press.) Whether you’re a small-business owner, a medium-size business owner, an eBay seller, or simply trying to break into the copywriting industry, understanding the fundamentals of writing sales-oriented copy and put you on a path to success. At its core, copywriting is another device in a business’ marketing toolbox. Well-written copy can make or break an ad or marketing piece. With that in mind, copywriting can equate to either well-spent advertising investments or a waste of advertising dollars.	Susan Gunelius	Link
2010/02/26	How to Be Successful with Email Marketing	Why do so many industrial companies fail with email marketing? In my opinion, it’s because they do not understand the proper role of email in the marketing mix.	Bob DeStefano	Link
2010/02/26	E-mail marketing out-performs other advertising channels	When the market gets tough the marketers turn pro. E-mail marketing is as effective as ever despite the economic conditions, but don’t take our word for it. Read what other industry experts are saying.	Email Marketing News and Tips	Link
2010/01/12	The 10 Stages of Social Media Business Integration	An overnight success ten years in the making, social media is as transformative as it is evolutionary. At last, 2010 is expected to be the year that social media goes mainstream for business. In speaking with many executives and entrepreneurs, I’ve noticed that the path towards new media enlightenment often hinges on corporate culture and specific marketplace conditions. Full social media integration often happens in stages — it’s an evolutionary process for companies and consumers alike.	Brian Solis	Link
2010/01/12	Seven Top Online Marketing Trends for 2010	Marketers can learn a lot from President Barack Obama’s first year in office. While setting an ambitious agenda he’s discovered that governing is more difficult than getting elected. For online marketers, the lesson learned is that developing an ongoing strategy to achieve profitable revenues in a maturing marketplace is harder than in a dynamic, growing one.	Heidi Cohen	Link
2010/01/11	CES shows us the Internet of the future	Mashable) -- In the 1990s, many of us began our online experience, likely over a dial-up connection. In the 2000s, broadband redefined the way we use the Internet, enabling advancements like online video and social networking to flourish.	Adam Ostrow	Link
2010/01/10	Is your company ready for social media?	Are you considering whether your company should use social media? Before you decide to encourage your key executives to blog, or start looking at private social networking platforms, consider the following two scenarios and ask how the leaders at your company would react.	Jeanne C. Meister & Karie Willyerd	Link
2010/01/06	11 Ways to Deal Yourself a Better Online Marketing Hand in 2011	It's time to set our New Year's resolutions for 2011. "2011?" you might ask. "Can't we just focus on 2010 for now?" The answer is "yes" and "no." If 2011 is about winning in the online revenue game, then 2010 is about putting more cards in your hand. How we allocate our budgets in 2010 will be determined by where we want to be in 2011. If you want to be the online leader in your space, there are a number of disciplines that you need to become good at as an organization. Each discipline has its own learning curve. If we aren't rocking all of them now, we probably won't be before 2010 is over.	Brian Massey	Link
2009/12/03	Is it too late to catch up?	What if your organization or your client has done nothing? What if they've just watched the last fourteen years go by? No real website, no social media, no permission assets. What if now they're ready and they ask your advice? And, by the way, they have no real cash to spend...	Seth Godin	Link
2009/05/09	Creating Your Social Media Plan	If you enter into social media without a plan, you will fail. Period. All the hours you spent will be wasted, you will receive no traffic bump, there will be no engagement, no one will care and you will learn nothing. Except maybe that you’re an idiot and that you should have listened to me when I told you to create a social media plan. You wouldn’t jump into a raging river without knowing how to swim, don’t create a Twitter account without knowing how to use it.	Lisa Barone	Link
2009/04/24	Why you have to engage in social media, even if you don't want to	If you read blogs about marketing small companies, you're inundated with "social media" advice about why you need a blog and a Twitter account and everything else. Even my 90-year-old grandmother who doesn't own a computer and reads my wife's healthy cooking blog on print-outs asks "What's Twitter?" because she read about it in the New York Times.	Jason Cohen	Link
2009/02/05	How Big Brands can Start Testing Social Media	We're now in what I am starting to call the perfect storm for social media. On one side we have lots of very smart and accomplished professionals who are and have been using these tools to network, learn, and some to market themselves successfully to new jobs and careers.	Valeria Maltoni	Link
2009/02/03	Marketing On The Social Web: A Few Key Ingredients	Marketing successfully on the social web, can be compared to cooking your favorite dish. If the ingredients are just not right, or are missing, you are left with a sub-par product. It’s imperative that you get the dish correct. Lack of a little salt and pepper can make or break a dish. The same can be said for social marketing, to be effective with your campaign, you can not leave out any of the key ingredients, because if you do, you’re left with a sub-par marketing campaign. Sub-par is just not acceptable on the social web. After all, marketing is selling. If you’re not doing it effectively, you can certainly bet the next person is, your competitor.	Mike Fruchter	Link
2009/01/19	The ABC's of Online Networking	We all know that online networking is important, but for those just getting started it’s a huge landscape to navigate. Where do you invest your energy first? How do you choose the channels most beneficial for you? When do you make the crossover from virtual connections to handshakes?	Joanna	Link
2009/01/13	What Social Media Is and What Social Media Is Not	This post touches upon what I feel social media is and isn’t. It does not matter what your purpose is for using social media. The key elements are and always will be the same. Your desired outcome is dictated by the basic fundamentals of the core of what social media is. This post touches upon the most important ones. I could have went on and on with this list, but I don't think that was needed to drive home what I'm trying to get across. Please feel free to add to it by leaving your thoughts and opinions in the comments.	Mike Fruchter of MichaelFruchter.com	Link
2009/01/11	Why Social Media is Scary	As one of my company’s social media leads, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with a wide range of people about social media. From our most senior VPs to senior executives within the government to our summer interns, every group has their own set of questions, concerns, and pre-conceived notions about social media and what it means for them. Over time though, I’ve realized that they all one thing in common. They could all agree on one thing.	Steve Radick	Link
2009/01/06	The Poetry of Social Networking to Court Customers and Invest in Relationships	In the era of the Social Web, everything we create and share online is open to public discovery, interpretation, and feedback. It introduces our thoughts, emotions, passions, and insights to new people and erases the geographic borders and boundaries that prevented us from artfully and naturally connecting with like-minded people around the world. Your digital identity defines who you are. And in this genre of Web-savvy content creators and purveyors, your online reputation does indeed precede you. Perception is reality.	Brian Solis	Link
2009/01/05	40 Key Elements to Getting Started In Social Media	Getting started with social media, whether for personal or professional use, requires learning the basic fundamentals. Social media is more than just creating a blog or Twitter account. The tools are great and give us big advantages, but they are simply extensions of how we engage and participate in social media, they are not the answers. The social in social media is all about the human element. This post touches upon 40 key elements to aid your success.	Mike Fruchter of MichaelFruchter.com	Link
2008/04/09	Why Do so Many New Businesses Fail?	The failure statistics for small business are staggering. So staggering in fact that I’ve decided to try to define WHY so many people fail at business. What are the top five reasons people fail and how you can avoid their mistakes?	Debbie Wicker	Link

On Business Planning

Category and Author / Source	Year	Title	Intro	Where	Link / URL	Last Accessed
Business Model Alex Osterwalder, Business Model Alchemist	2010	What is a business model?	A business model is nothing else than a representation of how an organization makes (or intends to make) money. This can be nicely described through the 9 building blocks illustrated in the graphic below, which we call “business model canvas”.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 16 April 2010
Business Model Alex Osterwalder, Business Model Alchemist	2010	Business Model Template – designing your competitve edge	I immediately used it to share a deck of slides I designed to outline the business model concept. The slides briefly outline my understanding of what a business model actually is and how the concept can be used as a business model design template to quickly design and describe the business logic of a company. The template can also be applied together with the business model innovation cycle which I described in an earlier post.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 16 April 2010
Business Model Alex Osterwalder, Business Model Alchemist	2010	The Business Model Innovation Cycle: From Environmental Framing to Implementation	The Business Model Innovation Cycle contains 4 phases: Environmental Framing > Business Model Innovation > Organizational Design > Business Model Innovation > Environmental Re-Framing…	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 16 April 2010
Business Model Steve Blank	2010	No Plan Survives First Contact With Customers – Business Plans versus Business Models	Entrepreneurs treat a business plan, once written as a final collection of facts. Once completed you don’t often hear about people rewriting their plan. Instead it is treated as the culmination of everything they know and believe. It’s static.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 11 April 2010
Business Plan - Blogging Gene Quinn, IP Watchdog	2010	Blogging Business: 7 Questions to a Blogging Business Plan	It is my believe that there are several considerations that every blogger should spend some time grappling with prior to jumping into the blogosphere. It is also my belief that experienced bloggers would do themselves good if they periodically grapple with these questions as well, and yes, I do practice what I preach. So, without further ado, here are the 7 critical questions for a blogging business plan.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 12 April 2010
Business Plan Guides Australian Government	2010	Business plan guides & templates	Guides and templates	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 16 April 2010
Business Plan Outline Entrepreneur	2010	Elements of a Business Plan	There are seven major sections of a business plan, and each one is a complex document. Read this selection from our business plan tutorial to fully understand these components.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 16 April 2010
Business Plan Outline Queensland Government	2010	How to write a business plan	Planning is simply: * identifying what your current situation is (where are you now?) * deciding where you would like to be in the future (what are your goals?) * identifying the best ways of achieving your goals (how to get from ‘A’ to ‘B’).	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 16 April 2010
Business Plan Outline SBA	2010	Essential Elements of a Good Business Plan for Growing Companies	A business plan should be a work-in-progress. Even successful, growing businesses should maintain a current business plan.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 16 April 2010
Business Plan Outline Tim Berry, BPlans	2010	A Standard Business Plan Outline	For example, a business plan normally starts with an Executive Summary, which should be concise and interesting. People almost always expect to see sections covering the Company, the Market, the Product, the Management Team, Strategy, Implementation, and Financial Analysis.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 16 April 2010
Business Plan Rian Malan, MindMaps ZA	2010	Business Planning – Does a great idea really require a business plan?	How many people have not asked this question, “If I have a great idea, do I really need to do a business plan?” The first reaction from business advisers is normally one of astonishment. “How can you ask such a stupid question? Of course you need a business plan!”	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 16 April 2010
Business Plan Rian Malan, MindMaps ZA	2010	Business Planning – Not to plan, to plan or to model?	The article looks at Steven Blake’s recommendation that new start ups should not spend months on doing a business plan but should rather formulate the business model and then test it before doing the plan.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 16 April 2010
Business Plan Template SBA	2010	Business Plan Template	Template to fill in your Business Plan on the Internet	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 16 April 2010
Business Plan Tim Berry, Entrepreneur	2010	Is Your Business Plan On Track?	Tips to help track and tweak your business plan beyond the startup phase	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 21 April 2010
Business Startup Mike Michalowicz	2010	The Things You Absolutely (Don’t) Need to Launch Your Business	Starting your first business requires a lot. Products to sell, employees to work, knowledge to be imparted... the list is endless.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 11 April 2010
Checklist - Monthly Jason, A Smart Bear	2009	Startup Therapy: Ten questions to ask yourself every month	In the last post I beat you to death about ditching your business plan but failed to provide an alternative.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 12 April 2010
Elevator Speech Adding Value Masterclass	2010	Elevator Speech	Downloadable .doc document	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 17 April 2010
Elevator Speech Alison Stein Wellner	2007	You Know What Your Company Does. Can You Explain It in 30 Seconds?	If not, you’re in trouble. Here’s how to perfect your pitch: A business lesson in the form of a screenplay.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 17 April 2010
Elevator Speech Babak Nivi, Harvard Business Review Blog	2009	How to Write an Elevator Pitch	An elevator pitch is a brief e-mail summary of your business. Or a short story that you can tell in the course of a elevator ride.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 17 April 2010
Elevator Speech Chris King, Creative Keys	2010	How to Craft an Effective Elevator Speech	What I mean by an “elevator speech” is a short description of what you do, or the point you want to make, presented in the time it takes an elevator to go from the top floor to the first floor or vice versa.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 17 April 2010
Elevator Speech Daisy Wademan Dowling, Harvard Business Review Blog	2009	How to Perfect an Elevator Pitch About Yourself	You're in the elevator with the hiring manager of Dream-Job Corporation. As the door slides shut, you feel a combination of adrenaline and slight nausea: you've got 15 seconds, if that, to communicate your value as a potential employee in a compelling way	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 17 April 2010
Elevator Speech Harvard Business School	2010	HBS Elevator Pitch Builder	A template that guides you through the process of building an "Elevator Pitch"	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 18 April 2010
Elevator Speech Ira Koretsky, CEO The Chief Storyteller	2010	Write a Great Elevator Speech	Your dream client is standing next to you in the elevator. How can you use the next few minutes to sell him your idea...	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 17 April 2010
Elevator Speech Katharine Hansen, Ph.D, Quint Careers	2010	The Elevator Speech is the Swiss Army Knife of Job-Search Tools	By now the Elevator Speech is a fairly well-known tool, not only for job-seekers but for organizations and individuals with products and services to sell.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 17 April 2010
Elevator Speech Katharine Hansen, Ph.D, Quint Careers	2010	Fantastic Formulas for Composing Elevator Speeches	While many Elevator Speeches are written by sales reps to pitch products and services, the formulas from which the speeches derive can be easily adapted to situations in which the product is you, the job-seeker.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 17 April 2010
Elevator Speech Marisa D'Vari	2005	How to create a Great Elevator Speech	At a networking event, one of the most important things you can do is introduce yourself in a way that is colorful and memorable.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 17 April 2010
Elevator Speech Nick Wreden, Harvard Business Review	2002	How to Make Your Case in 30 Seconds or Less	If you ran into Warren Buffet on the street, would you know what to say? Having an "elevator speech" ready to go at a moment's notice will enable you to make the most of once-in-a-lifetime communication opportunities.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 11 April 2010
Elevator Speech Pepperdine University	2010	Preparing Your Elevator Speech	Downloadable .pdf document	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 17 April 2010
Elevator Speech Randy W. Dipner	2004	The Value Proposition	Downloadable .ppt document	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 17 April 2010
Elevator Speech Wikipedia	2010	Elevator pitch	An elevator pitch or elevator speech is a short persuasive speech about a person, an organization or group, or an idea for a product, service, or project.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 17 April 2010
Elevator Speech www.elevatorspeech.com	2010	The Magnificent Seven: Tips for a Killer Elevator Speech	Okay, so you want to develop a killer elevator speech. Now what? Here are seven easy steps designed to help you develop an elevator speech that will help your business.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 17 April 2010
Elevator Speech www.elevatorspeech.com	2010	It’s the Story, Stupid	When it comes to effective communications, the story’s the thing. But that thing is something that almost everyone forgets.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 17 April 2010
Executive Summary eHow	2010	How to Write an Executive Summary	An executive summary previews the main points of an in-depth report; it is written for nontechnical people who don't have time to read the main report.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 18 April 2010
Katharine Hansen, Ph.D, Quint Careers	2010	Elevator Speech Do's and Don'ts	Here are the keys to successfully developing and using an elevator speech in your job-search.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 17 April 2010
Management Shortfalls Rhondalynn Korolak, Anthill Online	2010	8 ways business owners sabotage their success (and what you can do about it)	As a business owner, I’ll bet you’re incredibly busy and find that there never seems to be enough hours in the day to complete all your work.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 11 April 2010
Market Analysis About.com	2010	Market Research	Use this information about consumer market research, online market research, and how to do your own market research to zero in on your target market.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 21 April 2010
Market Analysis Entrepreneur	2010	Elements of a Business Plan - Market Strategies	Market strategies are the result of a meticulous market analysis. A market analysis forces the entrepreneur to become familiar with all aspects of the market so that the target market can be defined and the company can be positioned in order to garner its share of sales.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 21 April 2010
Market Analysis NetMBA	2010	The Product Life Cycle	A product's life cycle (PLC) can be divided into several stages characterized by the revenue generated by the product.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 21 April 2010
Market Analysis NetMBA	2010	Market Analysis	The goal of a market analysis is to determine the attractiveness of a market and to understand its evolving opportunities and threats as they relate to the strengths and weaknesses of the firm.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 21 April 2010
Market Analysis NetMBA	2010	The Value Chain	To better understand the activities through which a firm develops a competitive advantage and creates shareholder value, it is useful to separate the business system into a series of value-generating activities referred to as the value chain.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 21 April 2010
Market Analysis SBA	2010	Part 2: Market Analysis	The market analysis section should illustrate your knowledge about the particular industry your business is in.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 21 April 2010
Market Analysis Susan Ward, About.com	2010	6 Ways to Find Out What Your Competition Is Up To	One fast way to hamstring your small business is to ignore your competition. While you're busy ignoring them, they may be chomping away at your market share.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 21 April 2010
Market Analysis Virtual Advisor	2010	Conduct a Market Analysis	Whether you are starting a new business or launching a new product, conducting a marketing analysis is the first step in determining if there is a need or audience for your idea.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 21 April 2010
Startup Steve Blank	2010	What’s A Startup? First Principles.	Everyone knows what a startup is for – don’t they? In this post we’re going to offer a new definition of why startups exist: a startup is an organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 15 April 2010
Why Not Plan? Jason, A Smart Bear	2009	Don't write a business plan	"You need a business plan" is the mantra of MBA types. As they say, businesses don't plan to fail, they fail to plan! Who could argue with such a clever turn of phrase?	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 12 April 2010
Why Not plan? Mark, Heart of Business	2006	Why You Don't Need a Business Plan	You know who reads business plans? Banks and funders. You know who writes business plans? Businesses who are looking for significant capital funding. Not you. So, relax, forget about the business plan.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 12 April 2010
Why Plan? Bianca Male, Business Insider	2010	Why Every Startup Should Make A Business MODEL Before Wasting Time On A Business PLAN.	Serial entrepreneur Steve Blank has an excellent post on his blog today about the value of business models vs. business plans.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 11 April 2010
Why Plan? Business Planning	2010	Why Do You Need a Business Plan?	By creating a business plan managers can complete a complex analysis of the whole business. This process allows them to verify more related aspects than they had considered on the first approach.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 11 April 2010
Why Plan? Darrell Zahorsky	2010	Why do I need a business plan?	A business plan is often the entry-level requirement to getting government money, investor capital or bank loans.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 11 April 2010
Why Plan? Gwen C. Edwards, BusinessWeek	2010	Begin with the End in Mind	I think I'm ready to start my own business, but how can I be sure? And once I do get started, do I really need a formal business plan?	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 11 April 2010
Why Plan? Karen E. Klein, BusinessWeek	2008	Do You Really Need a Business Plan?	Even if you aren't planning to borrow money or seek investors right away, there are good reasons to sit down and write a plan.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 11 April 2010
Business Description Unknown	2010	e-Business Plan: Business Description	The business description section of your e-business plan represents the first substantial section you have to write.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 21 April 2010
Why Plan? Randy Duermyer, About.com	2010	Do You Really Need a Business Plan?	A business plan is often the entry-level requirement to getting government money, investor capital or bank loans.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 11 April 2010
Business Description Entrepreneur	2006	Business Description	The business description usually begins with a short description of the industry.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 21 April 2010
Why Plan? Tim Berry, Entrepreneur.com	2006	15 Reasons You Need a Business Plan	Whether you're just starting out, growing your business or seeking outside help, a well-thought-out business plan is the vehicle you need to get you there.	[Online]	Link	Accessed: 11 April 2010