Aaron Silverman

A few weeks ago I went to small claims court as a plaintiff against one of my previous tenants. I was owed money, and I wanted to collect it. The process is relatively simple; however, there are key points to remember.

You may think you will never need to utilize small claims court. If you own a business, odds are you will end up in small claims court one day. The average person may find themselves there too. The day I went there were several individuals suing contractors that did not complete work on their homes.

Small claims court is designed to be an informal setting to settle small money matters (in most states this is any amount under $5000). It is a more of a common sense, relaxed approach to settling legal issues than the technicalities of the law. The system is actually very beneficial to both parties. Typically, lawyers are not involved with Small Claims Court.

A key to remember is the basis of our constitutional legal rights - a defendant is innocent until proven quality. The burden of proof is on you, the Plaintiff.

I realized this the hard way when I did not have any pictures, which meant proof, of most of the issues I brought against the defendant. My laptop was stolen and all of my pictures were stored on it. Read my article on Protecting Your Business (http://www.ss-investments.net/ezines/publications/2008/0812-3.html).

To take someone to small claims court, you need to file a claim at the small claims department in the county the defendant lives in. After you file a claim, the court will serve the defendant. Even if you have the correct address, it is not always easy for the court to serve the defendant.

In my case, I had to hire a private investigator to serve the papers. Your county small claims department might have a list of them or you can find them in the phone book or online.

Once the paperwork is served, your court date will be finalized. Small claims court is a lot like traffic court. Multiple cases are heard during the same session. When your case number is called, you and the defendant present your cases to the judge.

The judge will then issue a verdict. If the judge rules in your favor, it might not be the full amount you filed for. Everything depends on how you present and support your case to the judge.

The key to winning a verdict is small claims court, and any court for that matter, is the preparation work you complete before you ever think about court. Before you ever have a problem with the future defendant... Before you even start your transaction with the future defendant...

You must have your paperwork in order. Whether you are a landlord, business owner or hiring a contractor, you need paperwork that clearly spells out the responsibilities of all parties involved in the transaction. Although paperwork can be a tedious pain, it is a necessary step in protecting yourself and/or your business.

Aaron
aaron@aaronsilverman.com
www.aaronsilverman.com

Traditional advertising cannot be your sole means of promoting your business in today's technological world. Depending on your business, you may need to rely heavily on traditional advertising - print, radio, TV, etc; however, depending on your business, you may not need any of the traditional advertising techniques. Regardless of your business, you must start utilizing non-traditional advertising techniques.

The absolute basics include a website coupled with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). That is the absolute basic. If you have a website, you need SEO to help drive traffic. A website with SEO is so common these days I do not consider them non-traditional. They are as essential as a business card. My consulting company offers this, so contact me if you need help setting this up.

The internet presents numerous advertising techniques; however, Social Networking is one of the fasting growing segments.

Social Networking websites are websites that enable you to create a profile and add friends (some sites call them connections, associates, etc). Most Social Networking websites are free to use, and are gaining popularity every day.

In January 2009, Facebook.com, MySpace.com, LinkedIn.com and Twitter.com had 68.5, 58.5, 11.2 and 6 million visitor respectively.

Typically, when you join a Social Networking website, you create a profile with some basic information about yourself (or your business) and then add "friends." You can do this by either uploading a contact list, search for individual people or browsing groups based on a search criteria.

Social Networking websites are great advertising tools for several reasons:
1. They are free.
2. People you are friends with want to receive updates about your business.
3. Instantly market new products or services to an interested audience.
4. Post pictures and videos about your business that normally would not fit into a website.
5. Less formal than a website with easy updating of information.
6. Interact with your current and potential customers.
7. Drive traffic to your website for order placement.
8. Build trust.
9. Post jobs.
10. Gain credibility through displaying product knowledge.

Here is a list of the more popular Social Networking websites; however, there are many more out there. I recommend you utilize a few of these and search for one that is specific to your business.

www.Facebook.com - Social Networking
www.LinkedIn.com - Business Oriented
www.ActiveRain.com - Real Estate Oriented
www.MySpace.com - Social Networking
www.Twitter.com - Tech Savvy Oriented
www.MeetUp.com - Business Oriented
www.Friendster.com - Social Networking
www.YouTube.com - Post Videos

I am on most of the sites, and you can find me by searching my name. I am AaronSilverman on Twitter.

Aaron
aaron@aaronsilverman.com
www.aaronsilverman.com

Last month's article on Social Networking as a Business Tool showed the value of free internet exposure. Blogs are another business tool that provide free internet exposure. There are different types of blogs floating around in the virtual world. Your blogs need to be very focused with only a few articles to achieve your goal.

What is the goal of your blog? Simple, build credibility in your field. Actually, there are several other benefits to blogs; however, credibility is the main goal.

Published authors are considered experts in their field and thus have credibility. When your blogs are published, you become a published author and build credibility in your field.

When I say blog, I do not mean the daily blogs people treat as online diaries. I am referring to informational article style blogs.

You do not need to be a professional writer to write a blog. You only need to know the topic you are writing about. You should write 5-10 blogs to achieve all of the benefits blogs have to offer.

In addition to the article portion of your blog, it is imperative you include a Resource Box. The Resource Box identifies you as the author and gives important information such as your name, company name and website address. You can also include contact information (phone number or email address) and a brief 1-3 sentence statement about you or your company.

The most important aspect of the Resource Box is your website address. Every time your blog is published on a website or ezine, the publisher will include your Resource Box. The link in the Resource Box is called an inbound link to your website.

Search engines use the number of inbound links as one of the criteria when ranking websites in search results. The higher your position in the search engines, the more potential customers will visit your website.

Once you write your blogs, you need to have them published. This step is a lot easier than you think. First and foremost, you must include the blogs on your website and social networking sites you belong too. There are numerous websites that will publish your blog for free (see below list for a few).

Ezine publishers utilize these websites to find articles to publish in their ezines. Your article will be in ezines, blogs and websites you have never heard of or visited. This exposure enables you to leverage the power of the internet. Your business is being marketing by other people - this is viral marketing.

Every time your blog is published another inbound link to your website is created and boosts your search engine ranking and gives you more credibility.

Blogs are a very power and under-utilized tool.

Generic Ezine Websites
www.ezinearticles.com
www.newezinearticles.com
www.ezinearticles.biz
www.ezinearticledirectory.net
www.easyezinearticles.com

Industry Specific
www.activerain.com

For industry specific sites, search on Google for "ezine article publishers YOUR INDUSTRY."

Aaron
www.aaronsilverman.com