Search Engine Optimisation in contended market spaces, without the backup of social media, is increasingly difficult.

Social media in this sense being people blogging / twittering about your products, to them using formus and suchlike.

This dynamic, whereby search engines promote those companies with the most loyal, talkative and supportative consumer communities, will force companies to expand the involvement of their customer basis. In turn it seems likely that this will indeed have a very positive effect on greating genuinely good customer relationships and customer experience.

Thanks to David’s twitt for the link   http://www.clickz.com/3633291

ISO9001 is too complex, and document managment is too strict a mistress… but firms still have the problem… how do they coordinate/collaborate, where one of the most significant questions is – how do we preserve enough meta-data that people don’t have to be constantly asking each other how to do things!

Can we create processes, loosely structured by semantic tags and related through time?  Networks that describe what was done, how, and which try to organise meta-data (e.g. a table for things that a product description must contain) – and/or ask you to create such things?  How many processes can there be in a typical business type?

Is this a project which could be organised through the GA or IQU? Maybe test on http://semanticengines.com/api.aspx

It is easy to make the mistake of talking about “you” and “your firm” first, seeing the world from your own perspective… yet a visitor or customer is seeing you from a completely different angle.

In a product text, for example, it is fatal to start with : “We are proud to present…” or “The Gizmo345 is the ultimate in…”

Equally, many of the more unimaginative advertisers haven’t quite got their head around the principle, expressing the customer perspective through their own perspective : “You are a young cosmopolitan adventurer. You want a product that does X. You have found the right place”…  This easily comes across as arrogant.

The clue is to resonate with what the customer may be likely to think/percieve using statements for an opening. This must relate to the factors they are most likely to be seeking to satisfy. For example : “Perfect for visitors.” , “A beautiful colour for everyday”, “A robust solution ideal for ….”.

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It looks like this is what I’m going for. There seem to be quite a few steps, however :

• Get a startup Musterpack/form (http://www.musterprotokoll.de/download.html)
• Apply for bank account (Kreissparkasse accept the UG form) – MUST be done BEFORE visiting Notar
• Register your Gewerbe as i.G. (in Gründung) with the local Gemeinde, which triggers the Finanzampt tax questionairre
• Visit a Notar, and do a Handelsregistrar anmeldung – about 70EUR
  • Today I received the bill – it was NOT 70 EUR, it’s 387 EUR!!! This was a Notar I found, for whome I bought the necessary documents and legal advice because she hadn’t done a UG before! The biggest cost was for the Beurkundung Gesellschafterbeschluss for 168 EUR based on a value of 25k EUR which sounds like she’s treated it as a full GmbH which I suspect is wrong. I will write more after I arrange my evidence and challenge her. Here is the Rechnung I received :
  • ! I received the corrected invoice for her work (which was 335.46 in isolation) today. Grand total – now 10 EUR! The corrected Rechnung is below :
• Put the startup capital in the account (you will need to pay in the value of each share as a separate transaction … e.g. 15EUR capital in 3 shares of 5 EUR must be paid in as 5EUR, three times. You’ll need the paying in slips to fax to the Notar.
• Send the bank a copy of the Handelsregister anmeldung when it is complete (can take several weeks), and also the Gesellschaftervertrag
• Put the name of the firm on the postbox so that official post can be received (very strict in Germany).
• Talk to a Steuerberater
  • – fill out tax questionairre sent automatically from Finanzampt when the Gemeinde tells them about your company registration
  • – file extension for 30day reporting
• Change the gewerbe anmeldung with your local town hall to remove the i.G.
• Fill out an Anstellungsvertrag to employ yourself as a Geschäftsführer, sign it and send it to your Tax Advisor. You should only pay yourself what the company can really afford, as otherwise it will go bankrupt quite quickly.
• “Im Übrigen hielte ich es auch für sinnvoll, wenn für die sozialversicherungsrechtliche Beurteilung Ihres Anstellungsverhältnisses ein Statusfeststellungsverfahren durchgeführt würde.” – advice from the tax advisor
  
• You’ll probably get a letter from the Verwaltungs Berufsgenossenschaft (VBG) telling you that you are required by law to insure your employees with them. If you’re 100% shareholder and the only emplyee (as Geschäftsführer) then this does not apply.
• Received a bill from the Amtsgericht Stuttgart for 101 EUR for registration of the UG. This must be paid before you get the registration. The registration is required before you can register the firm with the Gemeinde!
• You will also need to get a Lohnsteurkarte to be able to be paid.
• NOTE : You need the HandelsRegistrar eintragung BEFORE : The bank can change the name of your account, the Finanzampt can give you your Tax Number.
  • If you need an Ust.ID for european work, then this will take a few more days as it comes from a separate body (Saolise? – 02284061222) which can only be given once the Finanzampt has its documents in order.
    

Taxes

15% Korperschaft steur (Corporation Tax)

An UG must automatically pay 20% Gewerbesteur on profits! Very bad.

Tax Related Formalities

• Finanz Buchhaltung mit Ust. voranmeldung (ELSTER)  (100 – 150 EUR pro Monat)
• Lohn buchführung (9 EUR pro Monat pro Angestellte)
• Jährlich Jahresabschlusse und Jährlich Steur erklärung erstellen  (1000 – 1500 EUR)
  • Und in verkurztesform beim Bundesanzeige hinterlegen (150 EUR)

The price in brackets are what a local Steuerberater would charge for these services.

Payment abroad

Invoices for companies outside Germany are considered by the German authorities to be taxable at that location, and thus are of no interest to them. This means that 0% Ust. would be added to a bill for a UK company (for example).

It is most likely that nothing more will then happen, however, in some cases you may then be required (at a later point) to bill them for VAT in the country the services were delivered (unlikely)

Terminology

Vorsteur is incoming USt (stuff you’ve collected from your invoices).

Ust. is ausgang (stuff you’re paying others).

Also good information here (english) : http://www.lg2g.info/Legal-Forms/company-form-ug-or-mini-gmbh.html

This appears to be a place where you can get the Gründungsset for free : http://www.unternehmenswelt.de/mini-gmbh-tool/index.html

The costs are listed in unternehmenswelt as :

• Beurkundung des Gesellschaftsvertrages: ca. 20 – 30 Euro
• Anmeldung zum Handelsregister und Beglaubigung: ca. 10 bis 15 Euro
• Auslagen des Notars: ca. 35 Euro
• Eintragung der Gesellschaft ins Handelsregister: ca. 100 Euro.
• Veröffentlichung der Eintragung im Bundesanzeiger: ca. 100 bis 300 Euro

So, a total of at least around : 260 – 480  EUR…. compared to 80 quid and a couple of hours for a UK limited.

Legals

A really helpful set of links from the IHK Frankfurt : http://www.frankfurt-main.ihk.de/recht/rechtslinks/vertraege_agb/index.html#Uv

Here is a fairly complete set of example software contracts in German : http://haerting.de/de/3_lawraw/vertragstexte/index.php

Here’s a big about ABG (General Terms and Conditions), if and how they must be presented : http://www.luebeckonline.com/mustervertraege/agb/brauchen-wir-agb-und-wie-sind-sie-zu-gestalten.html

Also – referring to AGB’s is enough, even to settle the jurisdiction for disputes!

http://www.out-law.com/page-7815

A very interesting legal site, where you pose a question and set a price :

http://www.juristiauskunft.de/

Money can now also be transferred across EU without extra charges using SEPA

Very important site about German Law

http://www.jusline.de