What exactly goes into writing a business plan? The SBA advises that the body can be divided into four distinct sections :

1) Description of the business
2) Marketing
3) Finances
4) Management

Agenda should include an executive summary, supporting documents, and financial projections. Although there is no single formula for developing a business plan, some elements are common to all business plans. They are summarized in the following outline:

Standard Elements of a Business Plan

• The Cover sheet
• The Statement of purpose
• Table of contents
1. The Business
1. Description of business
2. Marketing
3. Competition
4. Operating procedures
5. Personnel
6. Business insurance
2. Financial Data
1. Loan applications
2. Capital equipment and supply list
3. Balance sheet
4. Breakeven analysis
5. Pro-forma income projections (profit & loss statements)
6. Three-year summary
7. Detail by month, first year
8. Detail by quarters, second and third years
9. Assumptions upon which projections were based
10. Pro-forma cash flow
3. Supporting Documents
1. Tax returns of principals for last three years
2. For franchised businesses, a copy of franchise contract
3. Copy of proposed lease or purchase agreement for building space
4. Copy of licenses and other legal documents
5. Copy of resumes of all principals
6. Copies of letters of intent from suppliers, etc.

****

For more information, visit the Small Business Association (SBA) Small Business Planner. You will find a wealth of resources regardless of your businesses size or industry.

All press releases follow a similar format:

• Headline
• Summary
• News Body
• Company/Author Information

The Headline
The headline of your press release is the single most important piece of the puzzle. If people don’t like what they see in the headline, more than likely they won’t bother with your release. One thing to remember is *Never* use all capitals, but *do* capitalize every relevant word in the headline. Additionally, keep your headline as short and direct as possible and by all means use a catchy statement without going overboard. Whatever you do, make sure your headline uses proper language and that there are no misspellings or grammatical errors. Here’s a few examples of good and bad headlines :

Good : Is The Internet Dead And Boring?
Good : Pushing WordPress SEO Boundaries
Good : Joomla Jumpstart Releases Add-on that Solves SEO Problems
Bad : Finally, a cuddly online fad even grandma can love (ambiguous and poor capitalization)
Bad : SEO And PPC Jobs Has Increased By 200 Percent (poor grammar)
Bad : SEO: Real black hat secrets unleashed and how to avoid it (poor capitalization)

Just from the examples above you can see which articles would catch your attention, however, when writing a release, you have to be aware that you will be releasing your information to writers and members of the press who are sticklers for standards and elements of style in writing. What may seem to the ordinary person something that would catch attention, to the press and media that same catchy headline that is poorly capitalized and grammatically poor wuld often be overlooked.

The Summary
The summary of your press release is usually a 200-250 word condensed version of your article’s body. In your summary it is highly recommended to include your company name, location and other relevant data that might inspire the local print media or even television or radio media to pick up your release for distribution. Here again are both good and bad examples of press release summaries :

Good : Toledo, Ohio based manufacturing firm Acme Widgets, known for the indestructible anvils and detour signs has announced a revolutinary new polymer chemical. “This new discovery could eliminate the margin of error in roadrunner trapping and help coyotes catch roadrunners more effectively” as stated by founder and president of Acme Widgets, John Q. Public.

Bad : Does it matter if a roof looks like shingles or slate? If the house is the old Ehrsam home on heavily trafficked Main Street, the answer is “yes.”

The good example shows how to effectively use locale and company name in the summary of a release. some of you may be wondering “why should I include that information when it will most likely be listed again in the article body”? The answer is that most RSS aggregators and most feed readers will only list the headline and the summary of an article to prospective readers. This technique gives you the advantage to effectively reach local news and media sources without them having to click and read the entire article. Many news outlets scan headlines and summaries to find articles relevant to their locale. If your release is going to capture the hearts and minds of your intended audience, you must start by capturing those hearts and mind locally and your release will spread from there.

The News Body
When writing the body of your press release there are a few things to remember. If your release is for a website, for example AffiliateBestPrograms, make sure that every time you mention the site you add the domain extension such as AffiliateBestPrograms.com and not the former example. The second thing to remember is *never use negativity* in your press release. Do not, under any circumstances, use your release to exhalt your business or website over the competition by using comparison or negativity. This is one of the most common mistakes made by amateurs making press releases. Also, don’t make statements such as “XYZ company is the best…” or “XYZ company beats the others…”, or any type of self praise. Keep the body of your release centered on the facts and only the facts. Avoid excessive quotes or testimonials, save those for your website’s “about” page. Contrary to your summary, a press release’s body should only contain information that would encourage readers to find out more information about your subject.

Company/Author Information
There is absolutely no purpose in creating a press release if you are only going to leave and email address or a website address as your contact information. There is no media outlet that will take a business seriously if you do not have a physical location. I’ve seen far too many of these type of releases lately and it just makes me think the entities who create these releases are nothing more than spammers looking for a free ride. If you are seriously intending to have your release picked up by other sources, I highly suggest including a contact phone number. In the recent release I created for one of my new sites, I included my business address, phone number as well as email contact. Within one day I was contacted via phone by a local newspaper asking my permission to pick up the release for distribution in their weekend edition. The result being a flood of hits to my site over the weekend.

One last tip, do make sure you spell check and proofread your press release before submitting it. A good online spell checker is avaliable at (http://www.spellcheck.net/), also make sure your punctuation and grammar are correct. There’s nothing worse than finding errors in a your release after it’s already live and on the internet.

What is Kindle
No PC and no syncing needed. Using the same 3G network as advanced cell phones, we deliver your content using our own wireless delivery system, Amazon Whispernet. Unlike WiFi, you’ll never need to locate a hotspot. There are no confusing service plans, yearly contracts, or monthly wireless bills—we take care of the hassles so you can just read.With Whispernet, you can be anywhere, think of a book, and get it in one minute. Similarly, your content automatically comes to you, wherever you are. Newspaper subscriptions are delivered wirelessly each morning. Most magazines arrive before they hit newsstands. Haven’t read the book for tomorrow night’s book club? Get it in a minute. Finished your book in the airport? Download the sequel while you board the plane. Whether you’re in the mood for something serious or hilarious, lighthearted or studious, Kindle delivers your spontaneous reading choices on demand.

And because we know you can’t judge a book by its cover, Kindle lets you download and read the beginning of books for free. This way, you can try it out—if you like it, simply buy and download with 1-Click, right from your Kindle, and continue reading. Want to try a newspaper as well? All newspaper subscriptions start with a risk-free two-week trial.

Buying Books with Kindle

The Kindle Store currently carries more than 100,000 books plus newspapers, magazines, and blogs. For your convenience, you can shop the Kindle Store directly on Kindle or on your PC via Amazon.com. Either way, all titles are wirelessly delivered right to your Kindle for free. We pay for the wireless delivery charges so you don’t have to. Buy a book and we auto-deliver it to you wirelessly in one minute.

The Kindle Store provides the same Amazon shopping experience you’re used to, including customer reviews, personalized recommendations, 1-Click purchasing, and everyday low prices. Check the store often; we’re adding new titles every day.

Availability of Books on Kindle

Whether you prefer biographies, classics, investment guides, thrillers, or sci-fi, thousands of your favorite books are available. The Kindle Store offers more than 90 of 112 books currently found on the New York Times® Best Seller list and we’re adding more all the time. New York Times Best Sellers are $9.99, and you’ll find many books for less. Can’t decide what to buy? Kindle lets you download and read the beginning of any book for free. This way, you can try it out—if you like it, simply buy and download with 1-Click, right from your Kindle, and continue reading.

Technical Details:

Display: 6″ diagonal E-Ink® electronic paper display, 600 x 800 pixel resolution at 167 ppi, 4-level gray scale

Size (in inches): 7.5″ x 5.3″ x 0.7″

Weight: 10.3 ounces

System requirements: None, because it doesn’t require a computer

Kindle: Amazon’s New Wireless Reading Device

There only real drawbacks to the device is that it. First, the books you buy from Amazon are DRMed which means that 10 years from now, you will probably not be able to read the books you already bought. Second, Kindle doesn’t have PDF support so the only books you can store and read on the device are books you buy from Amazon. It favorite free e-book or a business document your boss needs you to read

If you want to develop your own ability to motivate others and yourself you can use these simple steps and ideas to model your behavior after other successful motivational speakers you appreciate and respect.

Understand the “Why”
Motivational speakers and writers should understand that true motivation must come from within to be a lasting and changing force in ones own life. To be motivational in another person’s life, you must understand “why” it is necessary for the motivation in the first place. If you really want to learn how to motivate yourself or others and have it last more than a few minutes you need to understand how to promote lasting changes in behaviors and understand shifting sentiments in your audience. This comes from understanding the medium behind the message, the fuel to the fire, the foundation that you will use to build your motivation upon. Motivational speakers use these simple concepts to tap into this powerful and changing life force.

Use the Past to Direct the Future
The use of motivational quotations and sayings that are common, yet often forgotten is another example of how motivational speakers can temporarily motivate others with the use of powerful ideas and language. Pulling quotes from political figures, historians, scientists, atheletes and other famous people can not only inspire your audience, it can also potentially connect to your audience and give them the comfortable feeling that you are one of them. If you are speaking or writing to a group of baseball fans, you might want to quote a famous baseball player. If your audience is a group of techies, quoting a famous scientist or inventor may be the spark to light the fire.

Rinse and Repeat
Lasting motivation comes from repeated daily exposure to motivating messages and ideas, or by harnessing the power to motivate yourself from within. This is why repitition is crucial to motivational writing and speaking. Once you think you have already hammerd the point home, you will still need to round all the bases and make certain to that the point you were making has sunk in with your audience.

Habit #1 Respond Quickly
Always respond as quickly as possible to an e-mail. Dont respond so quickly that you do not answer the questions or write properly, but respond as fast as you possibly can. One to two days maximum.

Habit #2 Grammar and Spelling
As a beginning Internet entrepreneur you cannot risk losing customers because you cant write properly or spell. Fortunately, spellchecker and grammar check will help you with this. Be sure to use it with every e-mail.

Habit #3 Appropriate Subject and Format
Make sure the subject heading is filled in and gives the reader some clue as to the content of the e-mail. Then, make sure the format of the e-mail is similar to that of a real business letter. Lastly, dont forget to keep it short and sweet. When you write a long drawn out e-mail you will lose peoples attention.

Habit #4 Address Recipient
Always address the recipient of the e-mail. You dont have to start out with Dear Recipient, but their name should definitely be addressed. This gives a more professional look to your e-mail, which is just what you are trying to accomplish as a new Internet entrepreneur.

Habit #5 Provide Contact Information
Always provide your contact information in your e-mail following your signature. This way individuals will be able to visit your website, call you, fax or e-mail you without having to ask you for this information or do any extra research. Make it easy.

Habit #6 Cases
Dont use all upper case or all lower case. Type correctly, just like you would write. You would never send a business letter in all caps or all lowercase, so dont send e-mails this way either. Some people will interpret this as either screaming or whispering, respectively, and some might think it is just unprofessional. Avoid this and type correctly.

Habit #7 Previous Messages
When you respond to someone and are answering their questions be sure to include the previous e-mail so they may see exactly what you are replying to. Frequently, people send e-mails and when you reply without the previous e-mail attached they have no idea what you are responding to. The best thing is to copy parts of the previous e-mail and paste it in your e-mail with your response. Or be very specific when answering questions, such as restating them, for the convenience of your reader. If not, you will waste your time and theirs and not be perceived as a professional.

About the Author:
Michael Turner reveals his foolproof way to increase website traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it free right now at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/