As a small business owner, you will likely find yourself in the situation where you need to hire an employee or two. The hiring process can seem fairly standard, but things have changed in the age of the Internet.

Yes, you will likely still want to go through the usual process of collecting a resume and a cover letter. Yes, you will likely also want to conduct an interview, ideally in person so that you can get a sense of their demeanor and manner of conducting themselves.

However, you will likely also want to conduct some background checks. Depending on the nature of the job, you may perform a criminal record check, for instance, but the Internet can be a wealth of other information about just about anyone. Do a Google search. Look for the profile on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

The personal decisions of the prospective employee should not carry too much weight, but they will still fall under your consideration. At the same time, be willing to cut some slack, as we all have our moments of indiscretion that inevitably find themselves into Facebook photo albums.

There is absolutely something to be said about maintaining a strong online presence for your company. This could involving maintaining an active Twitter account and an active Facebook page, for example. You may even have a good YouTube channel.

However, you have to build these with a certain set of goals in mind and these goals will oftentimes lend themselves to meaning one thing: channeling those Internet users back to your own portal. In other words, you want to attract people to your website, whether it be a content-based site, an e-commerce site, or what have you.

There are two big take-home messages from this. First, make sure that the URL for your main website is easily visible and accessible across all of your social networking efforts. Most users are not going to be motivated enough to search for your site. Make it easy for them.

Second, make sure that your main website is well designed, well laid out, and properly maintained. There’s no point in channeling users to a site that is not optimized. Consider your goals — making sales, generating leads, building an audience, etc. — and design accordingly.

When you first decide to go into business for yourself, you have to go through a lot of the initial setup. You’ll want to register your business name, for instance, and get all the permits that you’ll need to operate legally and effectively. You’ll also need to set up your books.

In general, there are two main styles for tracking your revenue and your expenses. One method isn’t necessarily superior to the other, but they each offer advantages and disadvantages over one another.

First, you can have cash-based accounting. This means that something doesn’t go “into the books” until actual money changes hands, either as revenue or as an expense. This means that if you receive a utility bill, for instance, the entry in your books won’t happen until you pay that bill.

Second, you can record the entries as they are earned or received. Using the same example of the utility bill, you would record the entry in your books on the date the invoice is received. Similarly, your revenue is recorded on the date you send out the invoice to your customer.

Which method do you prefer?

When the recession hit the international economy a couple of years ago, many people who had previously held comfortable positions were suddenly laid off. For many, this represented an opportunity to get into business for themselves.

An article in the New York Times last month documents the experiences of some of these people who went from white collar workers to small business owners. While their original jobs were seemingly stable (plan A), the move to small business ownership has been quite rocky (plan B).

It’s a rude awakening for many who see small business ownership as a way to gain more control and more freedom, since entrepreneurship can oftentimes bring greater stress and longer hours. As such, some of these people are now looking toward possible plan Cs, especially since the financial stability of owning a small business isn’t quite the same as getting a steady salary from a conventional job.

There is absolutely something to be said about sticking it out and fighting through the rough times. It is only through perseverance that you can achieve any real success. At the same time, you also have to recognize when changes need to be made and the move to plan C may be the right thing to do.

When you have a new product, whether it’s physical or digital, you want to make sure that you get the best distribution possible. At the same time, you want to make sure that the public actually knows about the product and wants to have it.

Taken together, this could mean two things. First, you want to give product samples to the buyers for various retail outlets and other types of stores. This will help to convince them that you have a quality product that will sell. Without having a product in hand, it may be more challenging for the buyers to make that kind of decision.

Second, you want to give product samples to the media, both online and offline. They can review the product, highlight the product in an article, or otherwise provide you with that “press” and “exposure” that you need. The public learns about the product, how it works, and what purpose it serves. From this, they can extrapolate why they would want to buy one.

Naturally, giving out product samples comes at a cost and you may only have so many samples to go around. Do you give priority to the buyers or to the media? In the end, like so many other things in business, it’s about finding the balance. Both groups need to be kept happy.

By its very nature, running a business on the Internet may attract the attention of customers outside of your home country. So, you are left with the decision of whether you should be quoting your prices only in your local currency or if you should be providing alternatives for customers who reside outside of your country.

Offering your prices in several different currencies can really complicate your accounting process, as these exchange rates can fluctuate greatly day to day. Are you going to provide prices based on today’s exchange rates or are you going to set a certain price in these other currencies for an extended period of time?

For this reason, it may be simpler to stick to a generally accepted international currency, like the United States Dollar. The dollar has hit a fair bit of turbulence lately, but it has historically been reasonably stable. Alternatively, you may consider the British Pound (GBP) or the Euro, depending on where your company is based.

When it comes to reporting the revenue generated over the course of the year, you again have two options. You could convert the incoming funds as you receive them or you could convert them as a lump sum at the end of your reporting period. If you go with the latter, the “average” exchange rate — as reported by an institution like the Bank of Canada — is reasonably accepted for all moneys received for that period.

When you first start up your business, you need money to get you off the ground. Somewhere along the way, you may need another infusion of money to get you to the next level. That’s the reality of trying to grow a company. The question, then, is where you get this money.

You could tap into your personal savings, but oftentimes you’ll be left with one of two big options: get outside investment from a venture capitalist in exchange for a percentage share in your company or approach the bank to get a loan. Not surprisingly, there are pros and cons to both approaches.

Some companies may not qualify for the bank loans that they need and they may end up on television shows like Shark Tank and Dragons’ Den. Even outside the specter of television, the cutthroat environment of venture capitalist can be very intimidating. You are also giving out a portion of your business, either in a royalty or a percentage ownership. At the same time, though, you may be gaining access to contacts and expertise that you may not have otherwise.

A business loan from the bank necessarily results in interest being accrued, so this is an additional expense that you’ll need to consider. It also means that you are still on your own, without the outside guidance that a VC may be able to provide.

In the end, neither option is really “better” than the other; it’s just a matter of which is more suitable for your particular situation.

Referrals are the lifeblood of many businesses. It’s true of freelance writers, real estate agents, lawyers, general contractors, and all sorts of other professions. That’s why you want to make sure that all your customers have a positive experience, one that is so positive they’ll tell their friends about it.

A big part of this has to do with providing good customer service and delivering on your promises, but it also helps when you go the extra mile. This is especially true when the extra mile is completely unexpected.

For instance, I had a recent experience with a mortgage broker. They get paid for referring the business to the banks, so I (as the borrower) did not have to pay any fees to the broker. All I wanted was to get a good deal on my mortgage with the terms that I wanted. And she delivered in a timely, friendly, and efficient manner.

Shortly after signing the papers for the mortgage, I received a note in the mail. At first, I thought it was just a thank you note, which would have already been pleasant. Inside, though, was a $100 gift card to an electronics store. It’s not a huge gesture, but it was definitely positive and unexpected. Will I recommend this broker to my friends if they’re looking? Absolutely. It’s all about that extra mile.

Depending on the size of the business and the number of employees, I can understand why a number of companies use automated menus for their telephone lines. A customer phones in looking for certain kinds of information and they have to navigate a “for X press 1″ kind of menu. That’s understandable, but it needs to be user friendly.

A couple of weeks ago, I called a store looking to get their business hours. I was already on the road and wanted to make sure that they would still be open by the time I got there. You would think that the automated menu would be designed to provide this kind of information, as well as the physical address, as quickly as possible. It should be one of the first options.

It wasn’t. In fact, I ended up having to go through four levels of menus before I was able to get the business hours. I had to first choose “business info”, then “more options”, then “store information”, and finally “business hours.” It shouldn’t take four levels of the menu hierarchy to get to something as basic as opening hours.

If you must use an automated phone menu, make sure that the most commonly asked questions are addressed as quickly as possible. Also try to minimize the number of total options and total layers. It also helps if “0″ is always to speak to an operator and this should be accessible at any point in the menu.

Let’s say there are two stores. Both of them sell exactly the same products at exactly the same price. They both offer the same kinds of warranties and have the comparable return policies. Given this, there should be no difference whether a customer chooses to buy from Store A or from Store B.

Imagine, however, that Store A leaves its interior in its most basic shape, has a single service counter, and the employee is sitting in the corner playing a game of Minesweeper. On the other hand, Store B has spent some money to make for a more inviting environment, it has product displays out on the floor, and at least one employee greets each and every customer who walks through the door.

Which store would you prefer? There is absolutely something to be said about investing in the customer experience. There is a reason why more people are likely to visit an Apple Store to buy a new MacBook or iPhone than they are to go to another major retailer. They expect a certain level of customer service and attention. They expect to be treated well.

This doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. Simply saying hello to every customer as he or she walks through the door can make a world of difference. This way, the customer isn’t left wondering which way to go or who to ask for help. You approach them. You ask what they’d like and how you can help to fulfill those needs. That is investing in the customer experience.