30 Expert Guides To Help You Succeed In Business

30 Expert Guides To Help You Succeed In Business:by Scott Annan
Starting a business and trying to grow it to be successful can sometimes seem impossible.  Considering that 4/5 businesses fail within the first five years, you need every advantage you can find to put in place workable business plans, strategies, and tactics that keep moving your business forward. Business2Community recently partnered with accel.io to provide expert blueprints for starting and growing your business that have all been written by successful entrepreneurs who’ve done it before.  Here are thirty expert guides that provide you with all the information you’ll need to succeed in your business:

1. How to get your first 1,000 Customers

Paul DeJoe has successfully started and grown three companies to many thousand users.  In this comprehensive guide, Paul outlines the specific steps every new business should take to get their first 100 and then 1,000 paying customers.
$36 by Paul DeJoe

2. Validate your Product Concept in 7 Days

Over the last five years I’ve worked with dozens of early stage companies who fell in love with their solution and started building a business before finding out if anyone would pay for it.  This guide lays out specific steps you can take to inexpensively test if people are willing to buy your product, and improve your marketing and sales content based on what people are willing to buy.
$19 by Scott Annan

3. How to Build a Profitable eCommerce Store

If you are thinking of setting up an e-commerce store or already have an online store, this guide by Andrew Youderian will give you all the steps you need to turn it into a million dollar business.  Andrew lays out every step he takes for launching his e-commerce stores from incorporating to finding suppliers and marketing products.  Its a great resource that is both comprehensive and easy to follow.
$49 by Andrew Youderian

4. How to Build an Executable Marketing Plan

Think marketing plans are only for major corporations?  Patrick Pichette has worked with dozens of small businesses to create an actionable marketing plan that you can implement and actually see results.  Included in the guide are dozens of pro tips, worksheets, and tactics that have worked to successfully grow small businesses.
$49 by Patrick Pichette

5. PR for Pros

Adrian Salamunovic is the founder of DNA11 and Canvas Pop and has been featured in every major newspaper and magazine (his product was used as the key evidence in one CSI New York, and was featured on Conan O’Brian).  Adrian lays out the process he uses to brainstorm possible stories and then goes into specific detail on how to pitch reporters, what material you need to provide, and how to keep a relationship that will guarantee ongoing press.  This is a must have for any new business trying to get press.
$49 Adrian Salamunovic

6. Startup Vision Mapping

Cameron Herold, formerly the COO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK, attributes much of the company’s success to setting and achieving a well-thought out vision of the future.  Cameron has worked with dozens of entrepreneurs to help them succeed through effective vision-mapping, and has now provided the step-by-step formula in this guide.  Although it may sound overwhelming when you’re just trying to cope with the day-to-day pressures of business, a clear vision helps you and your team know where you’re going so you can take the proper steps to get there.
$69 Cameron Herold

7. Drive 250k Visitors per month to your Website

Dan Martell is a serial entrepreneur and investor who has successfully built and sold two web companies.  Much of his success comes from attracting hundreds of thousands of readers to his blogs.  However, most of his blogging is done by other people.  Through this guide Dan shows how he finds writers, how to decide what to write about, how to pay them, and how to build a large customer base from free content.  If you have a website or blog, this is definitely worth checking out.
$99 Dan Martell

8. Market And Launch Your iPhone Application

If you’re building an iPhone or iPad application, you need to take steps early to successfully market your application.  Jeremy Olson has built several award-winning applications that have been featured in major publications and made the “top 10 list” in the app store – which drives tens of thousands of downloads.  Learn the process for successfully marketing your application to grow your downloads.
$99 by Jeremy Olson

9. Discover and Establish your Personal Brand

Individual “brand identity” online is becoming increasingly important in today’s hyper-networked world.  Whether you’re a business owner or employee, building your brand helps you make important connections, develop relationships, and discover new opportunities.  Use this guide to discover a step-by-step approach to managing your brand identity.
$29 by Bobby Umar

10. Manage Your Personal Digital Footprint

Mike Kujawski has been helping individuals and brands manage their “online presence” for over a decade.  If you’re looking to increase your twitter followers, facebook friends, or linkedin connections, Mike’s process can help you understand how social networks work and how you can leverage them to increase your connections.
$39 by Mike Kujawski

11. The Beginner’s Guide to Small Business SEO

This basic guide will help you get started in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to help people find your website using major search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo!.  If you’ve got a website and want to increase your user traffic, this free guide will give you some basic pointers to get you started.
FREE by Mercury Grove

12. Leverage passive income to fund your startup

As a small business owner you should be aware of the many products and services that you can offer that will create passive income (non-hourly rate) that can help fund your business and your life.  Erin Blaskie is a successful home business owner, blogger, and public speaker that has been generating passive income for years.  In this guide, she outlines specific steps you can take to start earning money even while you sleep.
$50 by Erin Blaskie

13. Optimize your Facebook Ads

Facebook has become the largest online advertiser with demographic-specific ads that help you get in front of the people you really want to reach.  Aaron Hall show how his company was able to use facebook and partnerships to signup over 100,000 users in less than a month – on a budget that any small business can afford.
$19 by Aaron Hall

14. Hire a Startup Rockstar

There’s a 95% chance that you are hiring for all the wrong reasons and doing it the wrong way.  Ben Baldwin has been working with major corporations and small businesses helping them optimize their hiring to ensure that you can find the right people who will help you grow your business.  If you’re thinking of hiring someone, this will be the best $29 you’ve ever spent to help you define what you really need, who you really want, and how to find them.
$29 by Ben Baldwin

15. How to Run a Viral Contest

Online contests can be a great way to build a mailing list and drive attention for your business.  Use this free guide to learn about online tools and ways to run a successful contest to maximize your signups and online exposure.
FREE by Mike Mason

16. Build a Fundable Business

Most companies that are looking to raise money to grow their business wait too long and waste too much time “pitching” the wrong people.  Sam Zaid, who has raised over $20 million with his startups, provides his proven process for setting milestones, finding the right investors, and knowing when to pitch them on investing.  There is no silver bullet for fund raising, but this disciplined approach will increase your funding opportunities significantly.
$49 by Sam Zaid

17. Brand Partnership

What do the World Series of Poker and online cooking school Top Chefs have in common?  They’re both major brand names, owned by major corporations, and both have partnered with Jeff Goldenberg to build successful businesses.  This guide provides the specific steps Jeff takes when approaching major brands to license their name or partner with them to offer a new service.  You don’t need a big team or expensive lawyers (though you do need a good lawyer) to approach major brands that are always looking for new ways to generate revenue.
$29 by Jeff Goldenberg

18. Affiliate Programs for Startups

Affiliate marketing is one of the most effective ways to get other people to recommend your product and drive sales to your business.  Done properly, it could become a massive revenue opportunity for your business.  Ilya Lichtenstein has worked as both a highly successful affiliate, and used affiliates to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars.  In this guide he provides everything you need to know about working with affiliates, joining affiliate networks, and leveraging them to grow your business.
$49 by Ilya Lichtenstein

19. Conversion Optimization

How many people visit your website but ultimately don’t buy from you?  In this guide, Adam Bonnifield (who has worked with many organizations ranging from small business, to large corporations and political organizations) shows you how to improve conversion on your website to maximize profits from people who are already coming to your site.  A great value for anyone who is generating leads or sales online.
$29 by Adam Bonnifield

20. Creating a Startup Advisory Board

Are you thinking of creating an advisory board but don’t know how to do it?  This guide is perfect for you.  It deals with concepts like how to compensate advisors, what to expect from them, how to manage them, and effective communication.  Advisors can play a key role in helping you grow your business – investing some time to set up a board that works make sense.
$19 by Sunil Rajaraman

21. Business Model Generation

How good is your business model?  Nathan Beckord has worked with hundreds of small and medium businesses to help them build business models and track them using a spreadsheet template that will provide you with critical information you need to start and grow your business.  The spreadsheet alone is worth this investment – coupled with Nathan’s pro tips and detailed steps for building your business model, this is a great asset for any business owner.
$49 by Nathan Beckord

22. Build a Startup Forum

One of the best ways to grow a successful business is to provide a way to connect with your users – and let them connect with each other.  Mark O’Sullivan is the founder of Vanilla Forums, one of the largest online forum tools in the world.  In this guide he outlines how to setup and manage an effective forum on your website to turn your users into participating members of an online community.
$29 by Mark O’Sullivan

23. Get a 1000 beta signups on your website

Are you looking to get a lot of people to signup for your upcoming product?  This guide shows you how to find and recruit people to try out your product before you launch and build a fanbase that will help accelerate your growth.  The guide includes links to tools and resources that will help you build your initial user list at nearly no cost.
$19 by Mike Mason

24. Business Development like Manpacks

Have you ever wondered how small businesses can sell to large corporations?  This guide by Ken Johnson outlines the specific steps that Manpacks took to build business relationships with large companies including American Apparel and Calvin Klein.  With pro tips and specific details on how they were able to find the right person to talk to to “get in the door”, this is a great blueprint for anyone hoping to work with – or sell to – big businesses.
$49 by Ken Johnson

25. Build an Engaged Social Following

Most companies aren’t maximizing their reach or engagement on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.  Megan Berry has worked as a social media community manager for some of the most successful online businesses and outlines the specific steps your business can take to engage with fans, get them “liking you” and promoting you on social networks.
$29 by Megan Berry

26. From Idea To Sales

Serial entrepreneur Patrick Hankinson outlines a proven plan on how to go from an idea to a profitable business developed over several years and many successful companies.  If you have an idea – or multiple ideas – that you’ve been thinking of turning into a business, this is a great step-by-step guide to help you see which ones to pursue and how to make them successful.
$19 by Patrick Hankinson

27. Advanced Analytics for Startups

If you’re already using google analytics, but not getting the information you need to understand what’s working (and what’s not) on your website, this is a professional, step-by-step plan that will give you the insight you need to make strategic decisions with your website or online business.  Written by the founder of staff.com, Liam Martin.
$19 by Liam Martin

28. How to Get Featured by a Major Tech Blog

Heather Anne Ritchie and the team at Onboardly work with high-growth internet companies to get them noticed and covered by major technology blogs like TechCrunch, TheNextWeb, and VentureBeat.  If you have a tech startup and are looking to drive traffic to your site, this step-by-step plan is what the major press darlings use to get covered.
$49 by Heather Anne Ritchie

29. Write your Mission Statement and Objectives

Every great business starts with a clearly defined mission statement and objectives.  This process will help you understand what your mission statement should be and how to create one that will guide your business to success.  With multiple file templates and exercises that will help you craft a compelling mission statement and clear objectives to drive your company growth.
$19 by Luis Figueira

30 . How to Build Credibility by Getting Published

One of the best ways to build your business or professional career is to gain recognition as an expert in your field.  In this how to guide, Herbert Lui provides actionable steps you can take to contribute content to major blogs and publications to gain a reputation as an expert in your field.
FREE by Herbert Lui