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12 Essential Services for Running Any Virtual Business

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The Internet is quite an appetizing prospect for entrepreneurs. No matter where you work from, there are a few services that can make your business run more smoothly, and afford you more to time expand, rather than deal with mindless administration or problems when half-baked software breaks down.

1. Engage with new software

To change your business’ fortunes, new software is crucial. Everything from enterprise financial management systems to the latest web design software can make all the difference in your company’s bottom line.

HTTP is what the web has been built with, but by upgrading to a brand new system, to Web 2.0 tools, user interfaces can look smarter, work faster, and catch the eye of the consumer who wants a more engaging shopping or consumer experience than just clicking through static pages, refreshing pages and having to navigate through tables of links to find what they are looking for. Software like Adobe’s Flex is an example of software that can make purchasing much more intuitive, consumer friendly, and better for business. The newer the software, the faster it works, and often, the cheaper it is to develop brand new applications – as you’ll see in the applications below.

2. Prosper

Kiva is a pioneering small charitable loans company that provides loans to third-world producers, which are subsequently paid back to the donors, and then can be paid out elsewhere. Prosper takes this micro-credit system and turns it: offering micro-credit loans for your business. If you’ve already got a successful business and want to manage loans from friends and family, or ask people to ‘bid’ to give you a loan, all with interest of course, then Prosper may be the place to find the cash injection. Peer lending has been hugely successful in the charity sector, and with a business incentive, and visible profiles of the businesses looking for loans, you can either use this as a way to use capital and exchange ideas with brand new businesses, or find your own money, without having to deal with any bank managers.

3. Campfire

Keeping in constant contact with your employees when running a virtual business, which is typically outsourced and fragmented across the globes, is crucial. With so many chat applications in use, Campfire offers one place to gather around. One of the key features is the ability to create password protected chats with clients, sharing media in real time. The application integrates well with 37signal’s other elegant software, like Basecamp. Campfire is described as “a godsend for groups”, which summarizes it nicely.

4. NetworthIQ

For the Web 2.0 businessman, award winning web application Networth IQ both keeps tracks of your finances, as well as your net worth. And for the competitive businesses owner, there’s even an option to compare your successes with people your age, or in the same industry sector.

5. Wesabe

As with many financial applications, Wesabe can integrate with your bank account, and create a report for you and your business which allows you to take better control of your business. Perfect for small start-ups, Wesabe also offers the ability to seek financial advice from fellow business owners, and talk money with people who understand the problems and risks involved in running a small business – perhaps worth signing up if only for the community involved.

6. Google Calendar

With so many people using Google for everything from email to blogging and photo sharing to document writing, it’s often easiest to use what people are already familiar with and stick to the free applications that integrate well with similar other free services. Google Calendar enables different calendars for different people, or even different clients, so that all of your employees, wherever they are, know who is meant to be doing what and when. This app makes it easy to keep on top of it all, assigning them task and changing the schedule, virtually.

7. Remember the Milk

A virtual office deserves virtual to do lists, or at least it makes sense to do use them. Rather than writing reams of to do lists for all of your projects, clients and workers, use Remember the Milk to do everything. The most integrated of all to do list clients, Remember the Milk can be shared with your contacts, placed onto a map, organized in every way you need, whilst maintaining the simplicity to get your work done, and your to do list clear.

8. LinkedIn

Virtual businesses need virtual business cards. LinkedIn is the place where you can advertise yourself, and you business, to people all around the world. Set up a profile and reaquaint yourself with old colleges, get recommendations from current workers and get introduced to a network of contacts in your field, all of whom you can allow to see your background, your expertise, and your company. Who needs a business card when you be linked to all these people digitally, automatically?

9. EyeOS

Eye OS, Eye Operating System, is a web-based operating system that allows you to create a virtual desktop that can be used wherever you are working. Like your Windows or Mac desktop, you can ensure that you always have your applications and your files with you wherever you are. Virtual business needs virtual space: EyeOS may provide just what you’re looking for.

10. Kayak

Even virtual businessmen need to travel, and since you probably aren’t spending someone else’s money, when you need to connect in the real world you’ll want to find the cheapest, fastest and most efficient way of getting there. Kayak does a lot of the hard work for you, finding cheap flights from over 140+ sites at once. With a clean interface and all the extras you need including hotels and car rentals. Kayak is the way to get where you need to go.

11. Sales Force

For Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions, Sales Force is the market leader in providing marketing, sales and service, professionally running your business operations and ensuring business growth. Everything your business needs can be managed and outsourced to Sales Force.

12. Harvest

When working for clients, you want them to recognize how swiftly, or how comprehensively you’ve undertaken the work they’ve asked you to do, and how much you deserve a continued relationship. Harvest allows businesses to track time, log any expenses that you and your business incurs, and then allows you to invoice clients with a breakdown of exactly how the workflow proceeded. With nothing to install, all of your colleagues, virtual or sat next to you can use the interface. With smart desktop widgets and a strong emphasis on customer service, Harvest is a robust and simple way to conduct and manage business relationships.

My Favorite Blogging Productivity Tip

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One thing many business bloggers don’t realize at first is the amount of time blogging can take. While blogging has many great benefits for businesses, it still takes time and hard work to get a blog of the ground. Fortunately, there are some tricks you can do to be more productive with your blogging. The most effective tip I’ve found is writing multiple posts in one sitting. I got this from Ahmed Bilal, who’s had success blogging in the soccer industry.

My last three posts were published on January 11, 13, and 15. I actually wrote those posts on January 10. I would’ve written one or two more posts that day but I had a couple NFL football games to watch. It took me four hours to write all three posts. This saved me two hours because it usually takes me about two hours to write a post if I write them one at a time on different days.

Why was I able to be more productive?

Answer: the momentum factor.

Ahmed writes:

…once your writing juices get flowing, it’s easier for you to write that second and third article…

Let’s face it. It can take some time to get into the writing mood. Or to put in another way, it takes time to break through writer’s block and “get into the flow”. But once you’ve reached that point, the words flow more easily and you write more efficiently.

The trick is leveraging this flow of inspiration by continuing to write that second, third, or even fourth post.

I like what John C. Maxwell says:

The whole idea of motivation is a trap. Forget motivation. Just do it. Exercise, lose weight, test your blood sugar, or whatever. Do it without motivation. And then, guess what? After you start doing the thing, that’s when the motivation comes and makes it easy for you to keep on doing it.

We often don’t have the motivation to write blog posts. However, motivation seems to build as we gain momentum in the writing process. Why not leverage that motivation and write as many blog posts as you can while you’re motivated?

Don’t quit too early. Don’t quit while you’re in the flow. Keep writing.

A Simple Step by Step Template for Writing a Blog Post

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I thought some of you might find it helpful to have a step by step template for writing your blog posts. Here’s what works for me:

1. Find an image that fits your post. Many bloggers don’t use images, but I think images add so much. Most of my pictures come from stock.xchng and Flickr. For more information about using images including copyright issues, check out this post.

2. Write your title. If you don’t have any experience writing headlines, check out Copyblogger’s great series: How to Write Magnetic Headlines. Also, consider using one of these 22 headline templates.

The title, or headline, is by far the most important words in your post, so don’t rush this step.

3. Make a list of your points. I got this from Tim Ferriss. He writes:

Think in lists, even if the post isn’t a list. Separate brainstorming (idea generation) from synthesis (putting it all into a flowing post).

I find it hard to start writing sentences and paragraphs right away, but writing a simple list is easy. This list is rougher than the first draft so I don’t worry about grammar or even writing complete sentences.

4. Take your list and craft your first draft. Create sentences and paragraphs based on the points on your list. Once I’ve written on a point, I cross it out. This gives me a sense of progress as I “use up” each point on the list.

The key to this step is quantity not quality. You’re only writing the first draft so don’t edit while you write. This will slow you down. You can fix any mistakes in the next step. Your goal right now is to write as many words as you can.

5. Edit. Read your whole post once or twice. As you read, make necessary changes to polish up your post. This could mean adding subheadings for easier reading, rewriting clunky sentences, moving sentences and paragraphs around to make your post more organized, fixing grammar mistakes, and cutting out unnecessary words.

6. Click “publish”. Congrats, you’ve given birth to a new post!

If you’ve found this template helpful, feel free to bookmark this post or print it out for reference sake.

Over to You

What does your posting template look like?

Think of Your Blogging Competitors as Partners and Friends

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Jeff Chandler writes about launching a new business blog:

As I get ready for the launch of my own project, I’ve discovered that there are many people who have been willing to lend me a hand. Many of these individuals operate websites within the same niche that I plan on launching my site in and it struck me as odd to see competitors offer their support. However, it would seem that after spending a year and a half within the community, I’ve developed relationships with key individuals.

Jeff’s experience shows us the effectiveness of turning your competing bloggers into partners and even friends.

What did Jeff do to develop relationships with his competitors? He wrote posts for them. He networked on Skype and Twitter. He emailed bloggers directly. He left many blog comments.

Because of these activities, he predicts that his launch will go well. He continues:

Thanks to these relationships, I’m able to plan out a successful launch of my blog through guest blog posts, articles on high trafficked blogs, and individuals offering to lend me a hand with anything I need help with. I’m in a pretty good position thanks to the year and a half I spent building relationships with notable figures.

Following Jeff’s Example

Even if you’ve already started blogging, you can still benefit from following Jeff’s example. The blogging community is usually open and helpful. As long as you’re willing to take the initiative on building the relationship and then follow through with something of value (like blog comments, guest posts, or links), most bloggers will help you even if you’re both targeting the same audience.

Therefore, don’t be afraid of competitors. Instead, reach out to them and see if they would be willing to partner up with you.

Related Posts:

Over to You

How do you see your competitors?

Have you ever partnered with another blogger in your industry?

4 Reasons Why Business Owners Make Great Bloggers

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I run across business owners that have great businesses. They sell quality products/services. They keep expenses low. They have enough funding. They even have a solid business plan. However, even with these characteristics, they are apprehensive about business blogging.

If I get an extended time to talk to them, I give them these 4 reasons why they would make a great blogger.

1. They’re well informed.

Many bloggers spout their own opinion without much practical experience to back up what they’re saying. However, business owners are different. They have the practical experience, the expertise, and the unique insights into their industry that the average blogger doesn’t have. So, what they say usually carries more value.

Think about this way. If a professional photographer and an amateur blogger both have a blog, which one will be more informative? Yes, there are some amateur photographers that know more than most pros, but those kind of amateurs are rare.

2. They’re passionate.

Passion is definitely a characteristic of successful bloggers and most business owners are passionate about their industry.

You can see this passion whenever they talk about their business and their industry. They love to talk about these things for hours. Also, you can see their passion in the long hours that they choose to work. Almost all the business people I know work more hours per week than the typical worker.

3. They’re good conversationalists.

I like what John Battelle says:

…your site needs to be a reflection of you. You’re a great conversationalist, or you wouldn’t be running a business.

With the internet being more social than ever before, blogging is more about starting or joining a conversation than just getting information out there. If you can start or join a conversation in real life about your industry, you can blog successfully for your business.

4. They don’t have to be experts in writing.

One of the most common misconceptions about business blogging is that you have to have serious writing chops or you won’t be successful. I’ve written about this before. Basically, you don’t have to be Shakespeare to make your blog a success. In fact, most of the popular bloggers would be long shots to win a writing contest.

Here’s the big principle:

If you can talk, you can write.

By and large, the internet is an informal communication channel. This means an authentic, conversational tone is going to work better than a formal, corporate tone. In fact, I bet that the top blogs in your industry are written in a conversational tone. So, pretend you’re speaking to someone as you blog, just write down your words, and you’ll be fine.

If you still don’t think you have the writing skill to succeed, you can hire an editor or a ghostwriter. Or you can record yourself speaking and then get your posts transcribed. Also, try voice recognition software like Dragon NaturallySpeaking. That works for many bloggers.