Blogging business is getting huge by the day, some years back it was an altogether a different story, even if you didn’t do well in your job there were takers but now the scenario has changed with so much of competition around the place you cannot afford to miss out on serving nothing but the best services. Blogs are just not the end things, but this is the future of electronic media, you have to understand this importance and take few desirable steps that will make you a successful blogger. Following are some of the things you can apply in your blogs to grab the upper most position in networks:

1. The about page – you have set up a good blogs website and have enough number of articles too on your page but imagine how someone will feel if they are coming to the site for the very first time and they see the “About us” page blank or filled with utter shit. It’s very important to put up a good about page in your site so that your followers would understand your purpose and your objectives. Make it impressive so that the readers keep coming back to your site. The about page should contain the following:
   1. You should state the reason for your site; explain what is the blog all about. Write creatively that will force them coming back to you, the best you could do is to tell them the benefits of reading your blog.
   2. Write detailed information about yourself, the blogger. People are more interested to read more of you when they know you personally, so try to build personal connection with them by letting them know your life history, the purpose, etc. and if possible your photo too.
   3. Don’t forget to put your contact information on the website, even if you don’t like putting it in about page, at least make a point that you direct a link to another page where you can state your information.
2. Make people coming back to you – we are all aware of RSS feeds and readers, some people might be not aware of it, you can put in options near the sidebar where people can subscribe to your mailers or even have the option to mail you. Just giving the subscription tag is not enough, you got to convince people to subscribe to your RSS and email feeds. Key in some attractive words that will force them to subscribe to your feeds.
3. Attractive content – No one likes to read boring stories, people like to read more of current events, something they will gain knowledge from. Keep your blog design simple, make it look clutter free, people should enjoy while browsing the pages of the site. Don’t make complex outlay that will let them in confusion for even searching for some content. Remember, in the blogging world, it is the quality that matters and not the design part. Here are some of the things you should remember while designing your blog design:
   1. Make your blog website look simple, simplicity will attract more readers, they aren’t   interested in seeing the design but to read the content. You can make arrangements so that it becomes easier for them to read over the site like using bigger fonts, normal text, etc.
   2. Make sure to put your text in black color with the white back ground, people are used to read in such combination so make them feel comfortable while they are reading on your site.
   3. Your blog should be flexible in the sense that you should be able to make necessary changes whenever needed like embedding some image, putting some sponsor impressions, etc.
4. Create a blog community – Just designing and putting your content on the site is not enough, blog is a social media through which you are putting your thoughts in to writing and people across are reading it, so the same way as you talk through your writings, the people across might also want to say something. Interaction will lead to more ideas and help you improve better, you can create your online community through which your readers can exchange views and give suggestions, if any. You can create your community by:
   1. The best way to get communication going is by asking open ended questions at the end of your blog, this will encourage people to talk to you, giving you suggestions, etc.
   2. Make use of threaded comments, this will encourage more readers to reply to a conversation or a comment thus helping you grow your popularity.
   3. You can reward your regular commentators who are active on your site, you can put up a commentators plug-in which will help them get a back link to their site which can increase traffic on their site, its like a give and take relationship.
   4. Don’t forget to respond to the comments, suggestions by your readers, by replying them you are letting them know that they are important and their suggestions are getting heard.
5. Content Rules – As we well know that content is the king in blogging world, no one can take its superior position other than the more supreme content itself. You are doing your level best to attract crowd but at initial stages you might not find people reading your blogs much, given below are some of the tricks which will help you improve on your content:
   1. Write something resourceful, if you are writing on news, note that there are other thousands of people speaking the same thing over news channels or radio, etc. you can write something that will be helpful to people.
   2. Make use of attractive and impressive headlines that will let people coming to your blogs and reading them, make simple and sophisticated statements, and think creatively.
   3. Whatever might be old to you might be new to someone else, even after years of writing, people find old novels so interesting the same scenario is with blogs. You just have to create that niche of writing creatively.

Make sure to update your blogs on a regular basis, don’t keep your old blogs on the first page for too long, keep updating on a daily basis and try to put in fresh, interesting content for your readers.

Last blog we discussed about Venture capital and the things that you need to keep in mind while raising finances for your business ventures. You got to have right amount of ingredients to mix well with business requirements, the investors have the money and you have the talent, just show your cards right and go home with a win-win situation for both the parties. Make use of intelligent and unique methods to impress your Venture capitalists and get ahead in expanding your business.

Understanding DECK

By now, I think I have improved my thinking about how venture capitalists work in a business world and how to make them more approaching to finance you; it will work best when you have a readymade Powerpoint presentation, commonly known as “Deck”. Deck can be used to pitch your Venture capitalists about your business; it will give them a clear picture of your project by the graphs, pictures, etc. I am going to help you to prepare that perfect DECK for your presentation; it should be including the following:

1. All the companies have their own mission statements, so make sure to mention all the details of what your company is into and where you plan to take it.
2. A company is made up of team, one person cannot run the company. You should be good in convincing people to work for your company than can you convince VC to invest money.
3. Once your company is established, make sure to do something out of box, like you can portray how your company has stood in the times of adversity.
4. Don’t just describe the problems that your company can solve, show them practically through slides, graphs and the product details.
5. Compare your company to other competitors in the field, list them down in your slide show, you can explain your plans to overcome the competition.
6. Do some research in the market and you can state the different problems which as a company everyone will face. You can offer simple solutions to such problems through slide show.
7. Have a brilliant business model showing a perfect sense of making money by hook or by crook. You can list out different possibilities in making money to your investors.
8. Marketing is one of the most important ingredients to sell your products in market, show a clear plan of act what you are going to execute in future.
9. State clearly as to how much finance you would require and what would be its purpose, when you state openly about your wants people will appreciate it.
10. Investors would want good returns for the money they are investing, so make an effort to show them how hard you are working to achieve the goals.

With all heavy inputs, I am sure you are going to be questioned from 360 degree angles. I know well how it feels when you are surrounded in a conference and heavy weights asking you questions out of jungle but if they are investing, it is their right to know the answer. My advice to you is simply, stay calm and have confidence in yourself and answer the questions honestly, if you are well prepared and studied your plan in detail, I don’t think any possibility of someone surrounding you. Some of the common questions that they ask during such times are:

1. What is your target?
2. Why you need finance from us?
3. Why should we finance you?
4. What makes your product different from the competitors?
5. What if you can’t get any finances?

Believe me, I have attended so many conferences, meetings, given presentations, one thing I found was that you cannot expect people thinking from your point of view, you can only try your best to explain them but the perceptions would never be the same. I remember, the times when I used to go crazy when asked with silly questions but I let it go, staying cool and calm, may be that they are trying to check my patience. You never know what’s running in their minds. So stay upright, lively and get kicking.

Businesses come in to being only with proper planning, funds, working professionals, and the major of it venture capitalists. You have to be having a full proof design of your business planning with proper outflow and inflow of funds that would come to the company. In the trying times like our current trends in the markets world over, getting finance is very much a tough job. You have to be sure of being successful in your venture, than can you think of getting some finance help from your investors. I remember the times when I started off, how difficult it was to even get an appointment and in all the hustle and bustle explaining them your business portfolio, etc. My god, I have never felt this much exhausted even in my scholarship exams but the financiers of my companies.

Initially, when I started out I thought whatever finances we had are more than sufficient to get us going, I knew and was sure of my products and blogging was a new industry then, so I was confident enough to pull in investors, if need be. Luckily, we made good money from the initial few assignments and gradually as the year passed we were famous in the blogs world, people knew us, what we are doing and what our purposes are. At one point of time I felt like selling my blogs network and in fact many offers did come through, we were established official business entrepreneurs.

Slowly as we gained market reputation I could see, how investors are more than willing to lend us money, at that point I wondered what it takes to build a market reputation and how difficult it is to get finance unless you have some real good position in market. I was sure of our business plans and I knew they are going to be hit, we did take some loans from investors to make our company bigger by pulling in more employees, writers, the technical staff, etc. the big companies borrow money from some bank financiers and then investing them in handful of companies and keep earning profits over a period of time. It’s actually a good deal to do such business rather than wasting your time in selling your products in the market.

No matter if you have don’t have good money in your business, it happened with me a couple of times but that didn’t turn me off from achieving my goals for future, I kept trying on and on and took my company ahead with whatever little money I was earning and today I stand at the position to be amongst the top few blogs networks. I had just like to advice my dear young blog masters that if you ever fail in getting finances for your company, don’t ever give up, keep trying, remember if, “If One door closes, another opens up”! I would like to share some of the things that I feel you should know before you step in to the world of blogs and raising finances:

1. No venture capitalists would ever give you money without the company being actually launched; you have to have hard proof to show them your worth. If not the real company show them the Beta version of your company either virtually or on papers, at least that might impress them of your talent.
2. If someone has built a huge empire, obviously he has got brains but that doesn’t mean that they are the smartest of all around, show them your smartness too in your work. Do not lie to them about your plans; give them the honest answers of whatever they ask you regarding the business venture.
3. Know the basics of capital financing; there are 3 different types of finances available – early stage, expansion capital and buyout capital. So before you go about pitching, make sure that you know what you are looking for.
4. It’s best to pitch for bigger capital, when you are approaching some huge multi national company; they are not interested in small finances. So make it look huge.
5. Most of the venture capitalists are truly interested in the business you are doing and the money you are raking in, no one has got time to read in depth report about your business plans. They want to see you launching your company rather than wasting time in any talk show.
6. Time and again I have been telling people to build some market reputation and that comes through networking and providing great services. Get to know Investors through conferences or social networks; you can get in touch with them by commenting or putting suggestions for them on their sites or through drop box.
7. In my endeavors with investors, I have known the fact that the investors themselves are borrowing money from some other richer party to invest money in your business. So if at all you hear companies getting screwed by them, know the fact that investors have bosses too, to answer to.
8. Ready with your business, try explaining them to your close friends or may be a kid, if he can understand your model well obviously investors would understand them.
9. Before proceeding with your business models to investors’ office, recognize what type of investors you really need for your business. There are 2 types of investors, the one who would invest money and the other who can invest money plus knowledge – these investors are called as strategic investors and they are the one you should be looking out for.
10. If you are looking out for multiple ventures and want to raise some real good money, you would require more than one venture capitalist (VC), you can approach them and most of the time, they will be more than willing to lend you, if another VCs has given you the money. So it’s the mental attitude that is profitable to you.

It’s easy to get people invest in your business ventures provided you are confident enough of your projects and the way you portray your business in front of venture capitalists is of utter importance. I had like to discuss few more things relating to Venture capitalists, join me in next blog.

There are a number of businesses being set up each working day, but how many of them really become successful to climb the ladder to be at number 1 position, the answer may not be yes for many, I understand, it’s a business cycle there are ups and downs in businesses but some fail to be totally existent, the main reason being MONEY, money is one powerful ingredient that can derive whether your business is going to be successful or no. Starting with a business venture is easy, but it’s not easy to maintain it as there are number of expenses to be taken care of along with monthly salaries of the employees. People who are working for someone for long are good at sales and they can pitch well about the company too.

In whatever the organization we may be working for, at whatever the position, I have realized that selling is one of the worst things people dislike about their work. For selling your company products, you need to be good at marketing skills, like talking politely, knowing about the products, their competitors, understanding the customer wants, etc. if you are good at some of the marketing tactics you are surely going to win customer’s heart and following are some of the tips I am sharing with you for you to be a better sales person tomorrow:

1. Unless you try selling, no one is going to pick the product from you and buy. You have to make a practice of selling and be perfect at the task may it be a single product or huge numbers. Do your best to persuade your customers in to buying your products, don’t expect to sell everything at first go, it will take time as you develop skills, the more you shall sell.
2. Don’t be a kind of chocolate boy, if you are going to be goody-goody always no one will listen to you or rather they might just walk away even without listening to you. So be a little arrogant and show that you are a professional and here for selling.
3. When you are pitching about your company sales, you are surely selling something. It’s you who should be selling or the customer who sells you with excuses. You have to close a deal any how so have a rebuttal for any excuses your customers’ makes.
4. Be active in your work and voice; don’t make people bore by your dullish talks. If you are not sure than you can record your own voice and check what all places you need to do the changes. The best feedback you can get is from your family and friends, ask them what they feel about your talks, etc.
5. Anything learnt, never goes waste, before setting out to sell your products, you can do a proper study of your buyers or the products, etc. when you know in and out of the story, you even know what would be the conclusion so best is to know, whom you are selling and why they should be buying your products.
6. Don’t act as if you are just here to selling, make your customers understand that you are here with some exclusive products and the offers are not going to last for long. Give them special discounts, if needed. Let them feel that they are lucky to have the products.
7. Decide to sell the maximum you can as per your capabilities, pitch about the products and the quality of the products, the more you pitch the more you are going to make sales, so go ahead.
8. As they say, Time is Money, it stands true especially with marketers; each passing minute is a time tester whether you will sell anything at the point or no. By this, don’t try to be desperate to sell your products, give others chance to speak and know what they are looking for.
9. Be serious while selling, unless you set yourself some position in front of people’s eye, no one is going to pay any heed. You can be whatever you want to be, make some serious efforts to stay by your position and win hearts.
10. Once you have done sales, be persistent of your efforts, your motto is to sell products and more products each passing day. Its just not one day, continue your efforts as long as you achieve your targets.

Other than the above tips which I have shared with you, you can set yourself some specific rules which you will follow religiously. There are varieties of books and material available on Internet on pitching your sales and how to persuade your buyers to buy your products, have the aim to turn your potential buyer into actual buyer.