How to Choose a Business Location

Location, location, location. For some businesses, this mantra is do or die, for others not so much so. But how do you choose the ideal location for your business? There are many factors to consider but here are just a few.
What Type Of Business Are You?
Does your business require hundreds, or even thousands of people walking in or around your shop/ outlet? Does you business require this large foot traffic to sustain itself or to make sales? Examples of this type of business would be Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks.
Are you just looking for a base of operation, such as an office? If so, you would be looking for a completely different location to that of the above requirement.
I Need High Foot Traffic
If you need a lot of people to walk past or around the general vicinity as your outlet, such as a food outlet, then good choices of a location are shopping malls and shop lots that are located near office buildings.
To actually see how many people there are in an area you are interested in, you should visit the area everyday for a week. Bring a small hand counter and go to the area at the times of the day where your type of business would typically get the most business (for a food outlet, this could be during breakfast, lunch, tea time and dinner) and count how many people walk past your chosen location during that time. You can later use this number for a financial analysis of business in the area.
Also important is to make note what is the general audience in that area. Are they mostly young executives? Or are they mostly middle aged managers? Your product may be more suitable to one group than the other and you need to know this.
I Just Need An Office
If you just need an office, look for somewhere within 30 minutes from where you work, as any further would probably cost you more in toll and petrol in the long run. If you already have staff, somewhere convenient for them to get to with ample parking would be a good idea as well.
For offices in relatively good locations at a lower cost, you may want to look out for small shopping malls that aren't frequented by large numbers of people. Some of them have annex blocks where they sell or rent office space. A good deal may be found here as not everyone knows about them.
William Lee gives business advice and tips to those who wish to know how to start a business, but just never knew where to look.
From his blog you can follow the link to The Business Suit, an online forum for like minded business people to share their business experiences and advice on a range of topics.