My Comments

• Social Media Monitoring - 09/16/2008
  Thank you for this timely guide on the importance of keeping track of what others are saying about your company - social media sites and citizen journalism are ubiquitous now, and all companies should learn about social media sooner rather than later!
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• Volunteer Abroad - 09/10/2008
  Oh, Donna, I'm so sorry to hear about that! That does sound really awful. I myself have only volunteered in Russia, and the staff in Yaroslavl is just the best. This is the first I've heard of the staff in Ghana being disorganized and cruel. It's true that CCS is one of the most expensive options - for Russia, in particular, I chose it because it included business-class accommodations, translators, transportation in-country, etc. I think for Ghana, one can find drastically cheaper rates through a different company and translators are not necessary in English speaking countries.
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• Volunteer Abroad - 09/01/2008
  I can personally vouch for Cross Cultural Solutions - I have volunteered with them twice (Russia) and the program is absolutely fantastic and life-changing!
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• Green Office, Ways To Reduce Carbon Footprint - 08/26/2008
  Anita, I totally agree - I think sometimes people get overwhelmed by everything there is to do ... the key is to start small, like fixing leaks and replacing bulbs. Like you said, if every person did just one thing, the savings would be huge.
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• Hiring Night-Shift Workers - 08/25/2008
  This is a really great article, but I'd also want to add having help available if needed - I once worked a graveyard shift that wrecked havoc on my health, and there were no resources for me to turn to other than my primary MD.
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• the 5 Worst Promotional Items to Hand Out - 08/21/2008
  I agree that pens are pretty generic and not likely to make a big impact on anyone in terms of marketing/branding.
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• Better Your Environmental Impact - 08/20/2008
  "Use good doormats or entryway track-off systems to prevent people from tracking dirt into the building. Less dirt means fewer resources used for cleaning." - this is something that I haven't thought about before! Great guide - thank you SO much for your great contributions to making the world a greener place!
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• Green Space : How to Green Your Office Product Line - 08/18/2008
  Thanks for a great guide - I didn't even know there were paper calculators out there! A great start for businesses to cut back on their environmental impact - thanks!
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• Energize Your Employee Workforce - 08/07/2008
  There's a lot of good advice in this guide - i really like the advice to "build connection with your employees." High turnover is harmful to the bottom line in most multi-tasking office environments (less so assembly-line companies like Taco Bell). Thanks for this great guide!
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• Green Franchise Opportunities - 07/30/2008
  The two most popular searches to your blog are for green and solar franchises - that is incredible information, Joel! Anyone who gets into business now (or starts investing in) green business and renewable energy is getting in at a great time! Thanks for all the valuable resources in this guide.
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• Wave and Tidal Energy - 07/30/2008
  This is really awesome information - thanks!
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• The New Federal Minimum Wage - 07/28/2008
  I agree with the first comment: "In fact, a whopping 91 percent of small business owners said they are not affected by minimum wage laws because they pay all of their employees more than the minimum wage, according to a survey by SurePayroll, an online payroll service provider for small businesses." (http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/22/smbusiness/minimum_wage/index.htm). Maybe some day every single person who is forced to work a minimum wage job (or two) that keeps them in a state of perpetual poverty will stand up and say "No More." Until that day, the raise in the federal minimum wage is a good start.
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• Customized Charity Holiday Greeting Cards - 07/14/2008
  This is awesome! Charity Holiday cards ... I love your commitment to social responsibility. Thanks!
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• Green Business as Good Business - 07/02/2008
  Thank you for an informative guide! Businesses that "go green" see bottom-line profits. There are numerous studies to support this - thanks so much for calling attention to this!
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• Team Building Publications - 07/02/2008
  Thanks for all the great resources! I agree that team building is very important in today's corporate world. Teams that work together excel.
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• Working Mothers - 06/30/2008
  Thank you for all these great resources. One thing that employers need to take into consideration is child care. One-third of Fortune's Best Places to Work have on-site childcare at heavily subsided costs. Some studies indicate positive bottom-line impact: http://www.bowdoinalumni.org/news/archives/1academicnews/001791.shtml
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• Management Theory of Douglas McGregor - 06/27/2008
  This is a great guide, Jeanne - and I totally agree with this theory. I have seen it time and again in the workplace - employees who are properly engaged work harder and contribute more meaningfully, and that ultimately leads to bottom-line profits.
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• Green Investing - 06/25/2008
  Thank you so much for this in-depth, very detailed guide. I knew of only two main green funds - Calvert and Domini. My investment guy likes Calvert. I just found this article about the two mutual funds, both award-winning: http://www.greenmoneyjournal.com/article.mpl?newsletterid=43&articleid=592
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• Testing the Usability of your Website - 06/18/2008
  I love the advice to listen to your Customer Service Team - strangely, it's often the last place business owners go to for advice. I'm surprised when I hear of business owners ignoring the requests of this very important department. A Customer Service rep is often the first and last person your customers talk to.
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• Creating Social Media Relationships - 06/18/2008
  Great guide, especially the information on "listening to your audience." Great advice for small businesses to follow is: Find out where your audience is going to network online. For instance, it's silly to waste your customers' time by creating a Facebook page for your business with updates if none of your customers are on Facebook to begin with. I also like what you say in that social media is a human endeavor. I think if you are able to say "I don't know," it gives your audience members a chance to say, "I know, I know!" Great advice here, Chad - thanks!
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• Green Business Travel - 06/12/2008
  I agree, this is a fantastic guide with useful information. "We need to plant over 3 million trees this year to absorb the CO2 generated in 2008, but it will take 70 years for those 3 million trees to absorb the all of that C02." - this is really sobering, especially for people who travel for business and have higher-than-normal carbon footprints.
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• Landing Page Optimization - 06/04/2008
  Topher, that is something I'm researching right now, but things look pretty grim - there's not a whole lot of hard data about that. Google releases only certain information.
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• How to Avoid Using the Word "Free" (and Other Lame Gimmicks) in Your B2B PPC Ads - 06/03/2008
  Thank you for posting that list, Andy - it was the most comprehensive of B2B negative keywords I've seen, and very helpful to BDC's clients. Every B2B advertiser should incorporate your recommendations into their campaign.
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• Overtime in a High-Tech World - 06/02/2008
  Thank you for reminding us of this very important part of running a business. Many high-tech/start-ups/internet companies think that because they're small and they pay their employees "on salary," they don't need to pay overtime. That will get them in trouble. Every business owner and manager should check their state laws for overtime exemptions. Here's a good PDF file from the US Dept. of Labor on white collar OT laws: http://www.dol.gov/ESA/regs/compliance/whd/fairpay/fs17a_overview.pdf
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• Writing a Strong Call to Action in Your Online Ads - 06/02/2008
  Scott, thank you so much for pointing that out - those two sites are rather big jungles of information, aren't they? Let me share this with you: SearchEngineWatch.com published Content Advertising Explained, by David Szetela. Look at Part 3 for excellent examples of writing a call to action. http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3627628 ClickZ has a great series of columns by Bryan Eisenberg. One of my favorites is "Confronting Relevance," which speaks to the continuity I wrote about in the action step on making sure your ad copy matches your landing page copy. http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=1383921 I do hope this helps you in your quest for ad copy knowledge! Let me know what you think of the information presented by those two experts!
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• Landing Page Optimization - 06/02/2008
  Thank you so much for your comments, Scott - "Sometimes people come through a PPC campaign, read the offer and find it's not exactly what they want, but it's close enough that they'd like to learn more about your company." - I haven't seen any evidence of this, and would love to hear more about any data or experiments you've seen to support that. The nav bar or any links at all away from a conversion point is a huge topic of controversy in landing page optimization!
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• Writing Successful PPC Ad Copy - 06/02/2008
  Eric, I think 30 days is a good time frame for testing PPC ad copy, but if your CTR or ROI starts to tank before that, I'd move quicker.
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• Entry-Level Diversity Hiring - 05/28/2008
  Thank you so much for an informative guide - "Companies should be as diverse as the markets they serve." - I could not agree more. It's so important for companies in today's changing demographics to employ people of diverse backgrounds.
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• Giving Green Father's Day Gifts - 05/28/2008
  Hilary, thank you so much for this great advice. It actually never occurred to me before to give my dad a green gift, but now I definitely will!
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• Building a Business That Customers Can Trust - 05/22/2008
  These are great tips, Helen, and very timely. It seems that nearly all major companies now have comprehensive policies for sustainability and social responsibility, and it's a good example for all small businesses to follow.
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• Business Ethics Organizations - 05/20/2008
  This is a great guide with fantastic resources. Corporate responsibility is now a major factor in business values and policies - business ethics are now being taken very seriously by shareholders and consumers alike. Thanks for all this relevant information!
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• Buying Green Office Supplies - 05/16/2008
  Thank you for all these excellent resources!
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• Building a Socially Conscious Company - 05/16/2008
  This is a fabulous guide and I agree that each company should make its corporate responsibility policy unique. Also, business should remember that social responsibility begins with their own employees, which means guaranteeing a living wage and adequate health care benefits.
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• Landing Page Optimization - 05/02/2008
  Eric, thank you for sharing that information! Landing page optimization to improve the quality score for a Google campaign is not something I've studied, but this is a great guide idea - perhaps you or one of our Work.com users can write more about this?
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• Landing Page Optimization - 04/29/2008
  Removing the navigation bar on your landing page is probably the hardest thing about landing page optimization for marketers to accept. All I can say is - test, test, test! The thing about optimization is that we know what works when we learn what doesn't. Good luck, and keep us updated!
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• Improving Pay-Per-Click Advertising Results - 12/11/2007
  Really great advice, particularly about the ad copy and landing pages. I've seen the lack of attention to these two crucial components doom ad campaigns. Excellent guide!
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• How to Write a Press Release - 12/10/2007
  This is a great guide - as a former press release editor for newswires, I saw many unfortunate instances of press releases that did not meet industry standards. Your template is exactly what a press release should look like!
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