IRS Nationwide Tax Forum for 2013 Now Available Online

Seminars from the 2013 Forums Now Available at IRS Nationwide Tax Forums Online

 

Washington ― The IRS today reminds tax professionals that they can earn continuing professional education credits online through seminars filmed at the 2013 IRS Nationwide Tax Forums. The 14 self-study seminars are now available on the IRS Nationwide Tax Forums Online (NTFO) site. Self-study seminars provide information to students using interactive videos, PowerPoint slides and transcripts.

The 2013 NTFO seminars cover many topics of interest to tax professionals including the following subjects:

• tax law updates,
• Treasury Circular No. 230 overview,
• child-related tax benefits,
• retirement plan loans and hardship distributions,
• and updates to the Form 706.

To earn CPE credit, users must create an account, answer review questions after viewing each chapter, and pass a short test at the end of the seminar. NTFO is registered with the IRS Return Preparer Office and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a qualified sponsor of continuing professional education (CPE). For a fee, Enrolled Agents and CPAs taking NTFO seminars can earn CPE credit.

NTFO seminars can also be audited for free. Users who choose to audit seminars will not have access to the review questions or final examination and will not receive credit for the seminar.
In addition to the recently-added seminars, NTFO offers many other seminars from prior-year IRS Nationwide Tax Forums from 2009 through 2012.

Best 15 Low Cost Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses in 2013

Best 15 Low Cost Marketing Ideas for Your Small Business in 2013

By Thomas R. Reich PhD

Small Businesses can benefit greatly in 2013 from an improved low cost marketing idea and plan or 15 ideas if you will. Many small businesses owners don’t see the need for a cohesive marketing plan, they think marketing is expensive and for larger companies. Let’s look at low cost marketing ideas that can really boost your small business in 2013.

To make this work, remember that in the past, every small business bought yellow page adds. The yellow pages are dead, but good marketing replaces its exposure, without some of the low cost marketing ideas discussed here, small businesses may be seriously underexposed.

1) Your first low cost marketing idea is to create and maintain a good functioning company website. Your website is you’re on line office, your virtual sales floor, the first impression many potential customers have of your small business and yes, it is your new yellow page add. Your website should also be an information resource for your products and services.

2) Develop a new brand identity; this low cost marketing idea may be easier than you think. How long has it been since you’ve updated your website or marketing materials? Maybe it’s time to take a fresh look and redesign your image, take advantage of the digital domain. Customers and prospects respond to new ideas and information which has been optimized for the internet.

3) Survey existing customers, a low cost marketing idea which is easier than you may think. How do your customers feel about your products and services? Stay in touch through informal lunches or a professionally coordinated survey campaign. A survey is an excellent method for taking the pulse of your audience. The survey should include detailed questions about your products and services and how they directly benefit the customer.

4) Make a list of your strengths, this can be another low cost marketing idea generator. Are you the low price leader? Is your business the most experienced? Do you have the highest quality product or service? Try to list between 50 and 100 different and measurable strengths. This is a great exercise to develop new ideas for your marketing campaigns

 

5) Now time for an easy, low cost marketing idea, one you need to do now! The customer is always right… always. The time to prove this statement is when the customer experiences a problem with your product or service. Make a point to take responsibility and solve any problems that a customer might have immediately. Satisfied customers turn into repeat, long-term customers.

6) This next tip, is a low cost marketing idea if it helps you with the previous two ideas. Take a customer out to lunch. Now is the time to ask a reliable customer out to lunch. Touch base with them to see how your company is solving problems and meeting their needs.

7) Well here is the cost, though still a low cost marketing idea if you follow these guidelines. Establish an annual marketing budget. A good rule-of-thumb estimate for your marketing budget is 3% to 5% of annual sales. Retail businesses need to budget 7% to 10% of annual sales for their marketing budgets. Your budget should include a breakdown of all marketing costs including printing, social media, website maintenance and advertising placement.

8) Here is a very low cost marketing idea, but arguably the most important you can consider. Be positive in your outlook. It’s important to feel good about yourself and enjoy what you do for a living. If you have a positive attitude about your job, you will succeed by transferring that enthusiasm to other employees, customers and prospects.

9) *****A low cost marketing idea should always look at social media. Pinterest is one of the newest and most effective parts of a social media exposure program. You can find out more in these 3 articles:7 Free Pinterest Tools; Things to get You Noticed!

10) *****Low cost marketing idea #10 is to establish and maintain a good active Twitter account. To learn more about Twitter and how to make it effective for your small

low cost marketing ideas

business, check out these suggestions: How to use Twitter for Small Business

11) *****Moving along with low cost marketing idea #11 have you fully updated your LinkedIn account on a regular basis? You must be at 100% on your profile, you need to update every week, you need a company page. Want to know more, take a look at: LinkedIn for Nonprofits

12) *****Don’t forget another social media low cost marketing idea, have an active and constantly updated Facebook account and company page. Learn more here: Want More Visitors? Use Social Media to Drive Visitors Home!

13) *****We talked about your Website but another low cost marketing idea is to have a very active blog attached to your website. Learn more here:

10 Tips and Tricks to make Your Website a Lead Generating Machine!

14) *****The best low cost marketing idea I can give you is this. Learn how to connect your website, blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and any other social media fads that appear in 2013 into a network. Learn how to use back links and directories. The more you work on your on-like presents, the more your small business will benefit!

Want More Visitors? Use Social Media to Drive Visitors Home!

15) Here is your top low cost marketing idea for 2013, in fact it is the most importaqnt idea you will hear in regards to marketing. In order for anything we have talked about to truly succeed, you need to develop a solid marketing plan! You need a road map, a plan to keep you on track to sustainable goals, and a ruler to judge your success. Part of this plan should include your established budget and an ongoing record of each fassett of your marketing plans success to determin what worked and what to rethink. All low cost marketing ideas are successful if you learn and grow from them.

Bonus Low Cost Marketing Idea: Consider hiring a marketing company to help you with a complete formula, if marketing is not your thing. A firm that does marketing for lots of companies can often deliver a great marketing campaign at a very low cost, compared to struggling with a part of small business that can confuse many. Be careful, there are a lot of firms that clams to know what they are doing, hire a firm that trains you to maintain your marketing plan.

 

 

With low cost marketing idea generating help, a good digital identity, a well branded small business and attention paid to your customers and their needs, success will be yours in 2013!

 

Article Created by: http://troblinreich.com/

How Small Business Can Compete With Big Business in Internet Marketing

This post is a result of my promise to share my knowledge once I learned how SEO really works. I have deliberately buried this information within my tax blog, because I really didn't want to share.

Google’s most recent updates have caused serious consequences for some and a serious increase in income for others, but mostly a reduction in Online income has been the results for many.

The Internet is evolving at a fast paste.  If you take a two-week vacation, things could be seriously different by the time you return.  And for this reason, some of the most successful geeks online are turning, or have turned to “additional” tactics for Internet Marketing, rather than relying solely on SEO.

Successful independent Internet Marketers are turning to social networking and blogging with a ping.

This is where the majority of the “big boys” have gone.  No I am not talking about the ones who share the “massive email list of online opportunity seekers, with one another.”   I am on this email list.  I understand exactly what happens, and I also have purchase my share of “only one left for $9.97 products.” 

 

(Did you know that these list make at least one or two, if not more, millionaires a week?  Information is power and people will and do purchase software programs and e-books which promises to bring in hugh number of web visitors.)

I’m talking about the professional Internet Marketers who hold down an eight to five job.  You know the ones who know how to sell 2.5 million diamond bracelets in 5 days.  I’m talking about the professional marketers who work in an organized corporate environment, and have 10 to 30 people working on promoting selected campaigns, online, for one retailer.

You see, these are the people who truly understand  how to generate a million or two a day, in online revenue.  And they understand that it takes a team of SEO professionals. And they are paid well in Corporate America.

How do they do it? Do they depend on Google, Bing or Yahoo? or SEO for that matter?

The answer is NO.  However, after you implement a couple 1000 page online campaigns, you are bound to move up, in the search engines.

We the little people, can’t afford these types of campaigns, nor can we afford the $25,000 ad campaign to place banners all over AOL or Yahoo (Channels)

One other way a one man (or woman) show, can make it big in Internet Marketing, without going broke is to embrace social media, blogging, pinging, banners and one other classified task. (lots of banners)  Find the services which automate these task and, are in good standing with the major search engines, and you have found the path to successful online marketing.

There is one more piece to this puzzle.   Buying visitors, is not something that the major search engines support, and for good reason.  HOWEVER, when you buy 10,000 real visitors, (especially U.S. visitors) you are creating a pattern. You create a pattern of energy, (thoughts are energy) which regular visitors can and will eventually follow.   

This only works if what you have  to offer is of value, and is well presented.  (No bots.)   Macy’s, Amazon, or Radio Shack don’t have to create a mind set, they already have a database of millions of clients.  All they have to do is e-mail them, or FB, or tweet them the deal.  But if you are a one man, (or woman) show, creating an affordable energy patterns could be your best kept secret. 

 

Tax Preparation Tips; Why You May Want to Change Your Refund Method

The Reason the IRS Encourages e-Filing.

The chances of a tax return being 100% correct is increased greatly when accepted by the IRS e-filing system. It cuts down on errors and the work involved with documenting a tax payers tax information.

It is much much easier for the IRS to keep track of tax returns electronically.  The massive amount of paper generated when over 133 million individual tax returns show up over the course of the year can be overwhelming.

And believe it or not, keeping up with tax payers, using the computer makes it easier for everyone.  Different IRS employees can access different tax payers records, when permitted by the system, and can note the account so the next IRS employee will know exactly what is happening with the account.

Tax Preparation, Do You Have to e-File?

No.  However tax preparation professionals are required to attach a Form 8948, Preparer Explanation for Not Filing electronically, to the tax payers tax return.  Tax Preparation professionals are not required, yet, to send this information to the IRS.

Potential Problems With Refunds Placed in Bank Accounts

Tax payers who have received a refund for years have no problem providing the IRS with their bank account numbers in order to have refunds placed into their accounts.  And this is safe and fast way to get a refund.

However, what happens when one year, you get a "big"increase in income, and you end up owing the IRS a lot more than you expected?

No, the IRS, usually won't levy your bank account without going through the proper procedure, but the truth is, they already have your bank account information.  Now, this is NOT a serious problem, because, when they really want to know where a taxpayer banks, they can find out.

The fact is, there is added stress for the tax payer, because the IRS knows more about your private banking habits then you would like for them to know, after your annual income has doubled and for some tax payers, tripled!  (Everything changes when you become one of the high earners)

This is not a serious issue, however, for taxpayers who are planning on moving up the corporate ladder, it's something to think about.

Tax preperation tips has been brought to you by Taxes Will Travel - Online Tax Service for unfiled and current year taxes.

Tax Preparation for Unfiled Tax Returns, and Substitute Returns

Tax Preparation is the key when you have unfiled taxes.  The IRS will send you notices in an effort to get you to file your return(s) and when you don’t respond they will prepare what they call a Substitute Return and regardless of what you say, this will become the amount that you will owe the IRS.

They can then garnish your wages, levy your bank account and require that you pay what the Substitute Return says you owe.

The ONLY way to change what the Substitute Return says is to file your OWN tax return.  This is when tax preparation becomes key.  Your tax return has to include all income which is in your tax file.  This is not the time for your tax return to say something different then what the IRS has on file.

Your tax preparation must match the income on file and can include the legal and reasonable deductions which you are entitled to.  This unique work does not require a high priced law firm.  What is needed is a tax preparation service which has extensive experience in filing and preparing past due tax returns.

You can contact http://taxeswilltravel.com now and view the fees for tax preparation on the home page.  The service is licensed, bonded and registered with the IRS and provides confidential online tax preparation

Need Affordable Help w/ Back Taxes

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$100K Online Ad Campaign, vs. $4 Million 30 Second Ad for Super Bowl

Yes, that is the question.  Is $100,000 spent online, (in the correct ad channels) more effective or equally effective as advertising for 30 seconds during the Super Bowl?

I venture to say yes.

An annual, year long ad campaign, online can wrap circles around a Super Bowl ad, in the area of end results.

How and Why?

How?  Because when done correctly, you can not only get into people's minds, but into their hearts with the correct online ad campaign.  It's hard to get into someones heart in 30 seconds.

Why?  Because, it takes six, seven, eight times for a potential client to see you and agree to allow you into their inner circle.  Just because you have a big name and enough cash flow to spend on a Super Bowl ad, doesn't qualify you for acceptance into the "inner circle" of these new age kids and young adults.  They are much smarter then most people realize.

You can't buy their action.  You have to earn it.  And if you have $100,000 to spend to help people get to know you, then you are talking not only success, but long term success.

Believe it or not, "nobody," hardly trust "anyone," online.

They have to get to know you.  and if your name is "GM" and you are marketing to Facebook members, then you have to offer something much more important than a famous name.

If young adults see your ad 15 times and they ignored it 14 times, then the bottom line is, they only saw it once.  Wake up GM, the kids and young adults, of today, are a lot different then their parents.  They grow up in grade school, forming private clubs to keep their parents OUT.  (I'm a retired pre-school and after-school teacher) 

The only way you get in, is when you give them something of value, AND, if you pass their test.  Your value and their value is different, and you never know what their test is!

Facebook is transparent, are you?

Let me see, where was I?  Oh yes, being an certified Internet marketing person, I can almost guarantee any advertising department that $100,000 spent online, over one year, will and can bring about the same effects, if not greater, as a 30 second spot, during the Super Bowl.

For more information on Consultation On Online SEO Ad Campaigns, visit SEO Work in Progress