If you are the owner of a small business it is time for you to stop thinking of only what is happening now, and start focusing on what could happen in the future. Therefore, you need to put your priorities into perspective by protecting yourself and your business with a succession plan. A business succession plan is what you need to ensure that your business has a happy ending by remaining secure, regardless of what may happen in the future.

In particular, a succession plan allows your business the chance to be able to stand up to any challenges that may occur along the way. For instance, certain setbacks that you might experience may be entirely beyond your control such as divorce, disability, departure and death. But with a business succession plan you have the chance, as a small business owner, to ensure that regardless of what may happen to you, your business will be protected.

The following are a few aspects you should take into consideration when creating a business succession plan for you small business:

How to Begin the Succession Planning – Since you need to make choices before you can really begin achieving your succession planning goal, you must first think about your long term business objectives and ask yourself important questions such as:

• Will I sell my small business?

• Should I set up a plan that allows me to transfer my business to one of my business associates or a family member?

• Does my business have public potential?

Of course, business succession planning begins with much more than simply deciding who you will be giving your business to in the event that you can no longer run your company, or wish to sell it. Additionally, succession planning is about keeping your small business afloat and successful to ensure that your absence will not devastate your company. Therefore, in order to maintain future control of your business, you will need to begin your succession planning by making choices that will concern things such as:

• ownership objectives

• asset protection planning

• taxation and transaction planning

• estate planning

You will want to keep in mind, however, that due to the fact that every action you take with succession planning will result in a reaction, you will require the assistance of experienced experts when developing your plan.

Understand the ‘Sense’ of Business Succession Planning – Like any type of business preparation, your business succession plan needs to be orderly and handled carefully if you don’t want to suffer the consequences of financial losses or worse, the loss of your small business. That being the case, you need to know exactly what you are dealing with, and how you can achieve the most of your planning.

The one mistake you will not want to make is to overlook your business finances. You can help keep your business secure by properly using the following, and more, in your succession planning before problems occur:

• Life insurance

• Disability insurance

• Annuities

Furthermore, you will find that with an orderly succession plan, you will be avoiding the possibility of your business having to be sold to pay off the estate tax, in the event of yours or (if you have one) your partner’s death. It is no secret that estate taxes can claim up to 55% of an estate that is taxable.

So, it is no mystery why so many businesses fall into debt, become bankrupt, or are sold due to the death of the owner or partner.

Another aspect that needs to be considered is that clients may well decide to do business with other businesses after an owner or partner dies. However, with the proper succession planning, your business should be able to maintain any regular clients or if not, it will be better equipped to survive the possible drop in assets if a slow period should follow.

Know How to Write Your Happy Ending – Remember, when all is said and done, the outcome of your succession plan depends entirely on the choices you make regarding the future of your small business. It is imperative that you take the time to make the best choices that will allow you to implement a succession plan, which keeps you in control of the outcome that involves the transfer of your company. By knowing how to ensure the prosperity of your business future with a succession plan, is how you will write your happy ending.

We’ve got out-of-shape websites, directionless Internet marketing, and we’re lost on the search engines. It’s time to stop worrying about self-improvement and start worrying about Internet marketing-improvement!

While every business has different goals and needs, please consider these twelve items in creating your own Internet marketing plan for next year. Rearrange the order to fit your own schedule in 2010.

January: Set up an Internet marketing budget.  I know, this is your favourite part: the budget. However, once you’ve decided how much money you plan on spending quarterly or monthly, deciding what  to spend your marketing buck on becomes much easier. You’ll also want to carve out some time  for your Internet marketing endeavours. After all, a lot of the following to-do’s are more about time than money.

February: Audit your website (beginner).  Often we’re surprised or dismayed at the material that’s on our website: bios of ex-employees, links to sites that no longer exist, a 2001 pricelist. Spend some time reviewing the content on your website and get rid of anything that’s out-of-date or no longer expresses who you are. Nothing turns off prospects faster than a neglected website.

March: Audit your website (advanced).  Review your traffic reports and decide if your navigation needs to be updated. Maybe certain parts of your site are getting a lot of traffic and should be further promoted on the home page. If other sections or pages are being ignored they may need to be removed…or promoted. Fill out all the web forms (contact, search, etc.,) and read the “hidden text” that appears on landing pages. Rewrite the copy that seems dated or incorrect.

April: Start reading blogs in your industry.  Download a newsreader (I recommend NetNewsWire for Mac users) or set up a free account at Bloglines. To find blogs in your industry you can do searches at Technorati or check out BlogCatalog among others. Make sure you’re reading the blogs of your competition and your clients.

May: Start your own blog.  You knew that was coming, right? Blogs are becoming an important, perhaps essential, part of business communications. No matter the size of your organization, a blog can be a great way to connect with your clients…and your clients-to-be.

June: Subscribe to your competitors’ email newsletters.  This is a fantastic (usually) free resource of advice that is targeted towards your clients. Shouldn’t you know what your competition is recommending? Maybe they know something you don’t!

You probably know many of your competitors already and can visit their website to see if they offer an email newsletter. However, you can Google “your industry  + email newsletter” to find some ezines that are new to you. (You should also be reading your clients’ newsletters as well; you can’t know too much about their business).

July: Start your own email newsletter or jumpstart your subscriber rate. If you’re not publishing an email newsletter you’re missing out on one of the most cost-effective Internet marketing tools at your disposal. Use an Email Service Provider (ESP) such as Aweber to manage your subscriber list and publish an ezine regularly.

If you’re already publishing an email newsletter try some new ideas to increase your subscriber base. Offer a free article for new subscribers, raffle off a prize to one subscriber each month, or advertise on a complementary newsletter.

August: Troll discussion boards in your industry. There are discussion boards on every topic under the sun, and certainly a few in your industry (or your target audience’s industry). By reading posts at these discussion boards you can get an understanding of what prospects are looking for and create products or services that meet their needs.

By posting responses you can quickly establish yourself as an expert and create links that drive traffic to your website while improving your site’s ranking on the search engines!

September: Start listening to podcasts. Podcasts are the Internet marketing ’Tool Of The Year’, so maybe you shouldn’t wait until September before you tune in.

Whether or not podcasting ever becomes a part of your Internet marketing, it’s important to understand how podcasting works and how other companies (including your competition) use it. Visit the iTunes Music Store or a podcast directory like Podcast Alley and start sampling some podcasts. Not sure where to start? Adam Curry’s PodFinder show (available at the iTunes Music Store) highlights new podcasts each episode.

October: Consider starting your own podcast. I can’t recommend podcasting for every business, or even most businesses. I still believe there are more effective ways to communicate with prospects and clients. However, some businesses will benefit from offering a podcast. Keep in mind your target audience, and whether they will be downloading audio to their computer or mp3 player.

November: Submit some of your articles to article directories.  A great way to increase your “findability” on the search engines is to have a lot of quality incoming links. One proven method to do this is to have articles you’ve written appear on other website that link to yours. To get your articles posted at other website check out article directories such as The Phantom Writers and iSnare.

December: Add share this page functionality to some or all of your website.  As people suffer from information overload, they rely more heavily on the recommendations of friends and family. Make this word-of-mouth advertising easier by allowing site visitors to quickly “share this page” with a friend or colleague. You can even include your own marketing message embedded in the email that arrives at the friends’ mailbox.