PayLessNow is a unique daily deal site that’s attempting to offer a better solution for businesses that wish to acquire new customers through discount promotions. Traditional group buying sites partner with local businesses to give huge discounts of 50% or greater on the merchant’s products and services. These time-sensitive deals are broadcast to the publisher’s enormous email list of subscribers and they last only for a day or two. The result is an incredible influx of calls and voucher sales for the merchant with little return on their investment (ROI). Moreover, because the deal is short-lived the merchant and many other potential buyers lose the opportunity to benefit further. Read more »

Daily deal sites like Groupon are launching all over the world to fulfill the voracious appetite of deal-hungry customers that want to obtain deep discounts from both national and local merchants. Groupon and other group buying websites are making money hand over fist by merely featuring the merchants’ 50% off deals to their enormous list of email subscribers. Many people, including myself, have criticized the daily deal business model as an effective tool that business owners can use to generate more revenue. The fact is that many local merchants will actually lose money by offering these 50% off deals because they only earn 25% of what they’d normally make on each sale (Groupon gets half of the other 50%). Despite that fact however, local businesses are requesting to be featured again and again on social buying sites like Groupon. Read more »

There’s no denying that daily deal sites like Groupon are incredibly effective at getting new customers to visit local storefronts. Despite their powerful ability to generates sales for merchants, the costs that business owners incur by advertising with group buying sites can be overwhelming. Many business owners have reported that daily deal websites have actually done more harm than good for their company. Common problems that businesses experience when offering group buying deals include things like a drop in online ratings (i.e. Yelp), overselling coupons, overbooking appointments, and a lack of staff members to handle the flood of new customers. Read more »

Daily deal sites like Groupon and LivingSocial offer huge discounts on products and services through partnerships with local merchants. These deal of the day websites can produce wonders for local small businesses that need foot traffic. Traditional online advertising isn’t nearly as effective as social buying platforms for getting people to visit local storefronts. For approximately the same price as a decent-sized online advertising campaign, a collective buying site will feature your business’s deal offering on their website and notify local email subscribers. With many of these online services boasting readership in the millions, they can literally flood your store with hundreds to thousands of new customers within a single day or two. Read more »

Daily deal sites like Groupon can be a small business owner’s greatest tools for generating sales. However, daily deal websites can also cause more harm than good if the business owner doesn’t do his/her homework upfront. Most daily deal business models take about 50% of all coupon sales leaving the business owner with only 25% of the original price amount for the product or service. That’s because most deals sold there offer 50% off the original price. As you can see, it can be quite costly for any entrepreneur to utilize a deal distribution service. Read more »

Starting an online business in this economy is incredibly risky as many internet startups fail shortly after launching. Despite the odds, the advantages to starting an internet business, and therefore securing self employment and financial independence, are worth the incurred risk for many aspiring entrepreneurs. The key to success isn’t simple; it involves an incredible amount of hard work, creating an excellent team, developing a solid business plan, setting realistic goals, finding a business model that works, and utilizing the correct tools and startup resources to keep your entrepreneurial dream afloat. Read more »

Facebook Gift Shop allows you to purchase both virtual gifts and physical gifts for any of your Facebook friends this Christmas. Facebook gifts are priced by Facebook credits, which can be purchased for 10 cents each. For physical gifts, the recipient’s address can be requested directly from them, or you can provide the address yourself. The great thing about going through a social networking platform like Facebook to give gifts is the ability for you to send a gift to a friend without having to know their exact shipping address. Read more »

Remember Twitter before November, 2008? Don’t worry, neither do most people. A year ago the microblogging juggernaut started to skyrocket in popularity as celebrities began flooding it with their own personal tweets. Once they began promoting it throughout various television interviews (e.g. Larry King Live with Ashton Kutcher and Sean Combs) and infomercial-like talk show specials (e.g. Oprah) it became a nationwide tech phenomenon that everyone and their mom just had to try out. Read more »

In case you hadn’t noticed the Twitter homepage now tells you how many new tweets you have. On your @mentions page, the same alert appears at the top of the page. For most browser users, the Twitter tab will also display the number of new updates you have, depending on which page (home page or @mentions page) you currently have open. The tab indicator is similar to what we’ve seen for years with various email services, yet it highlights the necessity to continuously stand out from other tabs you may have open in your browser. Read more »

Vidly is bringing HD videos to Twitter, reaching for quality features in order to attract the right type of clients. The Twitter video client is reportedly hoping for brand participation with the introduction of HD video capabilities with its service. Similar to the manner in which you share photos through third party clients on Twitter, Vidly offers the same type of service for video. With a number of video-Twitter services emerging in the past few months, Vidly may be looking to stand out from the crowd in order to become a leader in this particular space. Read more »