The 2009 StartupNation Home-Based 100 Competition

Celebrating America's most outstanding home-based businesses and the people behind them.

About the 2009 StartupNation Home-Based 100

Welcome to the one and only ranking focused on you – the outstanding unsung heroes of our economy – home-based entrepreneurs.

The second annual 2009 StartupNation Home-Based 100 will once again rank the best performing home-based businesses across America in ten distinct categories.

This year’s categories are:

Building on the fanfare surrounding last year’s winners, the 2009 competition has the makings of an even bigger celebration of contestants, and ultimately, finalists who will claim their place among the 100 winners.

Why You Should Enter

First off, the publicity is priceless. We know that awareness and driving traffic to your business is one of the biggest challenges for any business owner. Winners of the Home-Based 100 find themselves at the center of a media storm that includes recognition on national and local TV, radio, in newspapers and magazines, and on some of the largest, most influential websites on the web, MSN and StartupNation among them.

In addition, entering your business enables you to engage your website visitors, email database and business contacts with an exciting announcement that you’re a Home-Based 100 contestant. By encouraging them to vote for you and support your quest to be a winner, you provide them with an engaging and fun way to participate in your success. This can help you create deeper loyalty and affinity, which ultimately can lead to business opportunities and increased revenue.

Lastly, being named a winner and displaying the digital winner’s emblem on your website and in your emails will not only a source of pride for you, but also adds immense credibility to your site, your brand and your business. It’s a huge achievement to be selected from among the millions of home-based businesses, and your customers will recognize and respect this immediately.

Who Should Enter

To enter you must be home-based. You must also have a website for your business. Some aspect of your business should fit at least one of the themes of the Top Ten categories. The size and stage of your business are not considered except in the Best Financial Performers category.

Selection Process and Important Dates

You can enter your business until midnight Pacific Time on September 30, 2009. Throughout October, winners will be judged by StartupNation and a panel of judges who are each passionate about home-based business and the Top Ten categories highlighted in this year’s competition. Winners will be announced in mid-November, 2009.

The judges’ decision-making process will be influenced by the following factors:

How well your business fits the category (or secondary category) for which you entered
The quality and completeness of the description about your business and the case you make for it. Your passion, achievements, creativity, integrity and/or humor may be instrumental factors depending upon which category(s) you entered
The popularity of your entry based on number of popular votes received

Voting will remain open throughout much of October, which will culminate in announcement of the Top Ten Highest Vote Getters winners along with other winners (see last year’s Highest Vote-Getters).

How to Enter

Enter your business by completing the simple registration process here at StartupNation. The information you’re asked to provide is very basic and should be easy to complete. Remember, financial information is necessary only for the Best Financial Performers category.

Upon completing the online form, you’ll receive an email with instructions on how to add a compelling description for your business and an image (photo, logo, etc.) to your Contestant’s Profile. This information will ultimately be displayed on StartupNation for visitors to see, comment on and vote on.

Note: It’s very important that you receive StartupNation’s emails and weekly newsletter during the course of the competition so you can stay abreast of developments along the way. Be sure you make a “safe sender” and that you add to your Contacts in your email program.

Smart Strategies

Use StartupNation’s various downloads to drum up support for your entry in the competition. Locate them at your website, in your emails, on your Facebook and LinkedIn pages, etc., to encourage daily voting!
Use a flattering image for your Contestant’s Profile. This could be a personal photo, a photo of your home office, a product photo, or a logo. Just use something that best expresses what’s special about you and your business.
Forward a link from your Contestant’s Profile page to people you think are “influencers” and who would be helpful in spreading the word about your quest to be a winner. Be sure to do this selectively – don’t be a SPAMmer!
Become an active commenter/poster in networking sites and blogs like StartupNation (and other communities) where you can elevate your brand by providing value and all the while maintain links in your posts to your Contestant’s Profile where they can vote for you.

What is a Widget?

Technical definition: A web widget is a portable chunk of code that can be installed and executed within any separate HTML-based web page by an end user without requiring additional compilation.
(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_widget)
Our definition: A web widget let's people from one website "do something" from another website (examples: Facebook, Google, Wordpress). In this case, these widgets let people vote for your entry.

How can I use my Widget?

After entering the competition and completing your contestant profile, personalized widgets will be available to you that include your company name, image, and a "vote for me" button.
Email your widget to a friend so they can vote for you.
Place your widget on your website, Facebook profile, Wordpress, Blogger, MySpace, Yahoo, Google, and more social networking sites.

Refer Someone You Know

We hope the StartupNation Home-Based 100 is an exciting opportunity for you and your home-based business. If you believe there’s someone else who’s running a home-based business that should enter the competition in one of the categories, definitely send that person a link to get them registered.

For us at StartupNation, our hope is to make the biggest possible positive impact on home-based businesses and we appreciate your help in spreading the word and shining the spotlight on more unsung heroes who base their businesses at home.