I want to thank all of you that stopped by Monday to post a comment during Rita's virtual book tour. We will be entering your names into a random drawing today and pick a winner of a free copy of Rita's e-book, Online Marketing Tools for Today's Small Business. The winner will be notified and his or her name, with their permission, will be posted in my blog on Wednesday.

In these challenging economic times small business owners wonder how they should structure their business in order to succeed.

Here are some things to consider to help you plan your strategy to succeed in 2009:

1. Clearly define your core market. What is your niche and what are the solutions you provide? Create services and programs that focus on your target market.

2. Find low cost ways to reach your core market. Explore all your options-including ones you may not have used before such as speaking, social networking and other online marketing methods. Develop your strategies and persist in implementing them.

3. Offer inexpensive products or services that are easy to deliver. These can be online products, teleclasses and webinars. Once you get prospects interested in these products and services, they will be more inclined to move on to your higher-end products and services.

4. Get your marketing strategies in place now. If you need help with the administrative tasks, hire a virtual assistant.