My Comments

• Using Niche Marketing Techniques - 09/01/2009
  I think it's a very important point that just because your product has a broad, general appeal doesn't mean you can't benefit from niche marketing. Develop a story around how your product serves that particular niche and build your marketing around that story. Advertising to niche markets is usually more expensive per capita than mass marketing, but the response rate is typically so much higher that there's a much greater ROI. If you can start thinking of your business not as a single mass-market business, but a collection of niches, you may be able to significantly increase your profitability.
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• Marketing Your Business in Second Life: The Beginning of the 3D Web - 09/01/2009
  How does a small business go about getting started with this if you don't have the technical skills to be an SL designer?
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• Learning Search Engine Optimization - 08/31/2009
  I think #5 (link building) is one of the most misunderstood and under-utilized. In almost every case in which I deal with a client who's not happy with their search engine rankings, this is the biggest issue. These days, a blog is pretty much an essential, and getting that blog listed/included in the various aggregators and directories will do wonders for your inbound links with relatively little effort.
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• Self-Financing Your Business - 08/31/2009
  Plan your cash flow down to the day and down to the dollar. Many companies close not because they don't have the earning potential, but because they simply can't make it from here to there. Know exactly how much you'll need, when, and you can keep your business afloat even during tough economic times. You'll also avoid unnecessary expenses due to late fees, interest, etc., and perhaps even be able to take advantage of things like early-pay discounts some suppliers may offer.
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• Creating a Great Business Plan - 08/31/2009
  One thing to keep in mind is that you may need different versions of your business plan for different audiences. What you share with prospective clients who are concerned about doing business with a startup may not be the same as what you show investors, and neither of those may be the same as what you use for your own planning purposes.
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• Creating an Elevator Pitch for Your Startup - 08/31/2009
  Lately I've been watching Shark Tank (new show on ABC) and Dragons' Den (the BBC show on which Shark Tank is modeled). This is a great chance to see elevator pitches, both good and bad, and how potential investors react to them.
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• Making Your Best Case to Investors - 08/31/2009
  Also, start watching Shark Tank (new show on ABC) and if you can get it, Dragons' Den (the BBC show on which Shark Tank is modeled). This is a great chance to see what works and what doesn't, and the kind of questions investors are going to ask. While I was at About.com I had the opportunity to talk first-hand to a VC about the due diligence process. This is a must-read guide for anyone pitching to investors: Due Diligence No Mystery
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• Creating Great Presentations - 08/31/2009
  I've also found that the new Smart Art feature in PowerPoint 2007 is great for breaking out of the humdrum bullet-point slides. I highly recommend upgrading to it if you're doing presentations...well worth the investment.
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• Leading Creative Workshops - 08/31/2009
  Great guide, Laurie! Another idea is to explore the adult continuing education programs in your area and possibly offer your workshop through them. Most major cities have one or more active programs. In some cases it's a commercial venture, like The S'Cool in Dallas or Leisure Learning Unlimited in Houston. In other places, it may be offered through a local university, such as UT Informal Classes in Austin. They can often provide a location, as well. And you can sometimes (but not always) mix students who register through the organization with students who register through your own promotion.
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• VoIP for Small Business - 08/31/2009
  I switched over to AT&T Uverse and have been very happy with it. I get much more consistent quality and have been able to use my VOIP line for all my webinars & teleseminars now.
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• Web Conferencing Services - 08/31/2009
  I found another great one: Glance.net. It's super-simple, super-cheap, super-fast. Great for small meetings, demos, etc., especially ad hoc. I don't think I'd use it for a big marketing event, but for smaller meetings & demos, I'm extremely impressed. Also, Microsoft has significantly dropped their pricing on Live Meeting - worth looking into.
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• Groupware and Collaboration Software and Sites - 08/31/2009
  This list also should include Google Apps, which includes shared documents, calendars, wikis and even private, secure video sharing. Much of it is free for small businesses & organizations, and it's only $50 per user for the full commercial version, which includes making Gmail your mail server (we've done this in my business -- it's very cool).
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• Building an Online Community - 08/31/2009
  I think the point about seeding may seem less important because it's only two sentences long, but I think it's one of the most important (and often missing) elements when you're first trying to start a community. You have to have an active core of people engaged, otherwise new arrivals will think the place is dead/inactive and will be unwilling to invest their own time contributing content. Sometimes you may even have to provide financial or other incentives to your core group to ensure a healthy level of activity until the community gains enough traction to become self-sustaining.
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• Reputation Management - 08/31/2009
  Your last point is a really important one. A few years ago I was "joe-jobbed" by a spammer who I p***ed off. They were going around posting blog comments and forum posts in my name that were 180-degrees opposite of things I would have said. This seemed like identity theft to me, but the FTC & the FBI were no help. I had to rely on my established reputation and strong online presence to weather the problem. Eventually they gave up, but it was a real pain to deal with.
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• Free is Not Good Enough - 08/31/2009
  Thanks for this article, Zeke -- it needed to be said! All the freebies just become noise. One of the ones that really gets me is the assumption some people make that just because you followed them on Twitter means you want a copy of their "free report". It doesn't! It just means you want to see if they have something interesting to say. Give it to people when they ask for it. Entice them to ask for it, but don't force it on them inappropriately.
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• Plaxo, Ryze, Naymz and BizNik - 08/31/2009
  The biggest sites (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) aren't necessarily the best for your business. While there's theoretically a larger audience, there's also more "noise" and it's harder to stand out from the crowd. I've been a member of Ryze since 2002 and I run the Entrepreneurs Network there. We have over 10,000 members and a very active (10 or so posts a day) forum. Because we moderate the content closely, you don't end up with the "drive-by article posting" problems that tend to plague the small business / entrepreneur forums I've seen on MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn. I encourage people to give these smaller/older networks a try...and be sure to seek out where the activity IS, not just let yourself be discouraged if you don't immediately find it when you first join.
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• Link Building Tactics - 08/31/2009
  This is a great list. Every single time I've had a client who was frustrated with their search engine rankings, thinking they've "done everything right", this is the missing piece. Almost every site ranked higher than them has more (and better) inbound links. I think one of the most important and under-utilized on this list is #7. There are SO many good syndication / aggregation sites available once you start looking. Get in the right ones and a single blog post can generate dozens or even hundreds of inbound links. Also, regarding participating in blogs, I highly recommend blog carnivals as a great way to get inbound links from new sources with very little effort. See BlogCarnival.com for more info.
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• Do-Follow Blogs - 08/31/2009
  I'm in the process of switching over all my blogs to do-follow. Thanks for the list of do-follow resources -- that will be helpful for getting the word out and promoting those blogs to that audience.
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• Twitter Marketing - 08/31/2009
  Brand your background. Don't just personalize the colors. Make a custom background that reinforces your brand. Some people put web addresses in there -- I think that's kind of silly since they're not clickable. A phone number could be good if you have a business that answers the phone during normal business hours. But most importantly, reinforce your brand. You can see how I've done that on my Twitter profile. It might seem a bit silly, but it's consistent with my personal brand and stands out from the thousands of template-based look-alike Twitter backgrounds out there. Be distinctive.
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• LinkedIn Marketing - 08/31/2009
  I discovered kind of a strange issue with LinkedIn regarding search... If you use the quick search form for a name, rather than a keyword, it still apparently does a keyword-style search. The results are sorted by the number of times the name appears in the profile. What does that mean to you? Simply put, if you write your profile in third person rather than first person, you'll turn up higher in the search results when people search for you by name. Personally I'm not a fan of writing profiles in third person, but from a search perspective, that's the best approach. You can see how I handled it myself with a bit of humor at www.linkedin.com/in/scottallen
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• Building Sales with Email Autoresponders - 08/31/2009
  Generally speaking, an autoresponder should still be written like a personal message, as if you were writing it to one and only one recipient. However, this can be dangerous if you aren't responding to emails yourself. It can be very frustrating for someone to be continuing to receive AR messages from you, but not receive a response to an email they've sent you. It can be downright dehumanizing. Unless it is extremely clear that someone is going to be receiving, say, a series of "7 daily tips" or something, I would make sure that your AR schedule is spread farther apart than your normal email response time, i.e., don't send autoresponders every 2 days if it takes you 3-4 days to reply to emails.
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• Managing Small Business Email - 08/31/2009
  One issue I've encountered several times is that when you have your domain hosted on a shared server (as many small business do), you run the risk of having the server blacklisted due to the actions of someone else on the same server, through no fault of your own, and suddenly email from your domain becomes undeliverable to a substantial number of people (those who use ISPs who subscribe to whatever blacklist you've ended up on). This can be a nightmare -- nearly impossible to resolve for a non-technical business owner. Any suggestions on ways to avoid this? Or what to do if this happens to you?
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• Writing Policies and Procedures - 08/31/2009
  I love Donna's idea of adding Consequences -- that will help drive compliance...not from fear, but simply because people are more willing/likely to follow rules if they know why they exist. Even as a freelancer, I've been known to document a few procedures just for my own sake...things I don't do very often and forget how to do, or that the exact sequence is important for some reason, etc. It's not as formal as it might be if I were documenting it for someone else -- my point is just that even solo professionals / freelancers may have an occasional need to document procedures.
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• Resources for Starting a Business - 07/31/2009
  One of the key things to do before you've invested too much time or money into the business is market research. No matter how great you think the idea is, no matter how passionate you are about it, ultimately you have to have a product or service that people will buy, at a price that will sustain your business. There's a great satire piece at The Onion that shows just how easily a seemingly good business idea can go terribly wrong if you don't take a realistic look at the potential market, pricing and manufacturing/distribution costs: Ridiculous Small-Business Plan Encouraged By Friends
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• Small Business Grants - 07/31/2009
  Sorry, DayJob, but yes, there are all kinds of stimulus-related grants, loans and tax incentives available to both individuals and businesses: 1. I just received $4,500 through the CARS program for my clunker that was worth about $500 real trade-in value. As of this writing, they've unfortunately temporarily suspended the program, but watch Cars.gov to see if/when they reinstate it. 2. The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund has received a 700% funding boost as part of the stimulus package. See Stimulus Money for Startups in Underserved Areas. 3. The SBA is providing free (0% interest) bridge loans of up to $35,000 to established, viable businesses that are suffering temporary hardships as a result of the current economic crisis. See Free SBA Bridge Loans Start June 15. 4. The stimulus bill provided six potentially substantial tax breaks for small businesses. See Small Business Bags Stimulus Bill Tax Breaks. And while a lot of the stimulus money may seem to be going directly to larger companies, non-profits and government entities, much of it means increased opportunities for small businesses to provide those goods and services.
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• Loudspeakers - 07/31/2009
  I'm a huge fan of the Cerwin-Vegas (I own 2 pairs myself). They're incredibly efficient -- a lot of sound for the power you put into them -- and a great bargain. When I shopped for my larger pair, to even find a comparable speaker in any other brand cost twice as much, and to take an actual step up was about 3x the price of the CVs. The Bose sound great, but they don't handle high volume well, if you're into that (I am).
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• Finding Motivational Business Quotes - 07/31/2009
  I see it's already in your list, but I'd just like to say that my favorite quote resource by far is ThinkExist.com. They have a huge database, searchable by source, topic, keyword, etc. Plus people can contribute and rate the quotes, so the best quotes end up higher in search results, and there's a constant supply of new quotes from contemporary sources.
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• Outsourcing - 07/31/2009
  If you're a small business owner and new to the whole outsourcing concept, I *highly* recommend Tim Ferriss's book, The 4-Hour Workweek. He gives some very specific, creative ways you can outsource, as well as sharing his extensive experience with how he transformed his life and his business by outsourcing most non-core tasks. He also has a great blog with several posts about outsourcing and automation.
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• Choosing a Corporate Holiday Gift - 07/31/2009
  "Stay away from gifts that can be offensive to recipients." A growing number of people across all walks of life have very strong feelings about the environment. Be sure any cards are on recycled paper. Wrapping should be recycled paper or even reusable/decorative, i.e., not something that's going to end up in a landfill. Choose green gifts whenever possible and make sure they're in enviromentally conscious packaging. There are plenty of green gift sources online: Green Gift Guide Cool Planet Store Yahoo! Green Gift Guide
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• Herbicides Key Terms - 07/31/2009
  You can use a mixture of lemon juice and vinegar to kill weeds around sidewalks and driveways. It's very effective in concentrated doses, but it won't hurt the kids or animals, and it won't harm nearby plants if there's a small amount of run-off. But there are a variety of techniques you can use as an alternative to herbicides to control weeds. The best way to control weeds in your grass is to maintain a healthy lawn. The conventional grasses (St. Augusting, Bermuda, etc.) are popular as lawns not just because they look pretty but because, properly cared for, they will actually control the weeds themselves. Also, your lawn doesn't have to be "putting green perfect". A lawn that's, say, 15% weeds will still look weed-free, so long as there are no tall sprouts poking out. Also, regarding pest control, I'm a huge fan of nematodes. They kill grubs, beetles, fleas and even gnats and flies. We only have a couple of sources locally, but they're readily (and inexpensively) available online.
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• Product Safety Requirements for Small Business - 07/31/2009
  You really do have to stay up on the standards related to your products, and not just from government sources. As a couple of recent examples: 1. The CPSC first imposed a deadline of Feb. 10, 2009, for new lead content requirements, but in response to a request from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), CPSC granted a 6-month delay for certain classes of products. See CPSC Delays Lead Testing, Certification Requirements. 2. In a related story, retail giant Toys R Us actually decided to impose a stricter standard regarding lead content than the government, as well as restrictions on phthalate content. They also imposed the restrictions nearly a year earlier than the government. See Toys “R" Us Announces New Lead Safety Standards. So as you can see, failure to keep up with these stories in a timely manner could potentially have disastrous results for your business. This is something you need to check nearly every day if you're in the manufacturing industry, even as an independent crafter.
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• Fish Key Terms - 07/31/2009
  Donna, I wonder if the same holds true for fresh-water fish. With ocean fish, I find wild-caught to be much tastier, but in the case of catfish, the farm-raised are far better. I didn't even used to like catfish until the farm-raised started becoming widely available.
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• Blogging for Small Business Owners - 07/31/2009
  You do NOT want to use WordPress.com (their hosted service) for your business blog. They have a VERY strict "non-commercial" policy, and I have known of several people who have had their accounts shut down because they used an affiliate link or promoted one of their own products. I highly recommend WordPress open source, which can be downloaded from WordPress.org and hosted on your own site. You can get web hosting for $2-$3 a month from a reputable provider. If it's not worth spending that to do it right, it's not worth doing. I wrote about this on About.com a couple of years ago, and everything I wrote then still pretty much applies: Should I Blog on My Own Website or a Blog Hosting Service?
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• Twitter for Business - 07/31/2009
  Twitter has become an essential business tool for me. Besides using at as a virtual watercooler - a way to stay socially connected throughout the work day - it's an invaluable tool for quick research. Google (and now Bing) really can't answer every question. But I have done real, substantial business as a result of Twitter. I've gotten one full-fee speaking engagement as a result of it, because I was the qualified person who was there, present and available, when another speaker had to cancel her appearance and find a substitute on 48 hrs. notice. I've also indirectly gotten two clients and a joint venture partner, all of whom I was introduced to by people I met via Twitter. And I think I have a pretty distinctive Twitter background. Think outside the box. :-)
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• Major Website Mistakes You Should Avoid - 07/31/2009
  In general, video and audio shouldn't auto-play. You don't know what context/environment people are in when viewing your page. If they don't have audio capabilities where they are and that content is essential to your message, many will miss out on it. On the flip side, if they're at work, or even in their living room working on their laptop while watching TV, a sudden burst of sound will be a nuisance. The potential nuisance factor FAR outweighs the potential "Gee that's cool" or "Wow, I didn't know that and didn't see that anywhere on the page" factor. I also agree with Erik about fluffy copy. One of my pet peeves is what I call "unsubstantiated superlatives", or less formally, "cotton candy marketing". You're not "a leading provider" of anything until you've got an independent report naming you in, say, the top three (at least within your market segment). What kills me is when startups use that phrase and their products not even out of beta.
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• Tech Support Services for Small Business - 07/31/2009
  You might also check on LinkedIn and search for the specific services you're looking for, limited by geography. It may not be as comprehensive as some other sources, but you might be able to find service providers with recommendations from people you actually know and can contact for more information about their experience with the provider.
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• Managing Customer Relationships - 07/31/2009
  More with the hand-written notes. How about just picking up the phone? Also, "touches" in social media count for something in terms of building the relationship.
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• Thanking Your Customers - 07/31/2009
  Be careful with sending paper notes. While I know some people still really appreciate them, others (myself included) don't so much. I try to keep a paperless office, so a paper note is just one more thing to throw away and one more thing to look at outside my usual inbox. Plus it's killing a tree. Seriously. If you really feel strongly about sending a paper note, PLEASE use 100% recycled paper. And as you suggested, Matt, some kind of coupon will help appease those who may not find paper so appealing.
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• Building Customer Loyalty - 07/31/2009
  More than just responding to problems - "Make it right." Last week I had a bad experience at Souper Salad (took forever to get a drink). I reported it online. I was very impressed that the store manager actually called me that afternoon and asked me for more details. But then, at the end, she asked if I would give them a chance again - I said "yes". And if I would let them know if I would let them know how they did afterwards - I said "yes". And that was it. No offer of a free meal, or at least a free drink? Crazy. They can spend thousands of dollars creating a system to report the problem, 15 minutes of a manager's time to read the complaint and talk to me about it, probably another 5 minutes coaching the employee to correct the problem, and they don't do ANYTHING to make it right for me? It's especially crazy at Souper Salad, where it would essentially cost them NOTHING to give me a free meal -- more than one serving of just about everything in the place gets thrown out as wastage at the end of the day. Sure, people appreciate being heard and receiving an apology, but in most cases, some small freebie puts some substance behind the apology and is usually well worth the trivial cost.
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• Promoting Your Business Online - 07/31/2009
  There are also other advertising networks that don't fall under the heading of "search engine marketing". For example: Marchex Adhere (formerly Industry Brains) offers both PPC and display ads "on a wide array of premium content Web sites, such as BusinessWeek, USATODAY, ComputerWorld, PC Magazine, and more within specific vertical channels." Blogads offers display ads on "premiere blogs like PerezHilton, Dailykos, Wonkette, MichelleMalkin, Dlisted, or CuteOverload", plus over 2,000 other well-established blogs. FeaturedUsers.com can help you get targeted Twitter followers by promoting your Twitter ID on about 30 different Twitter tools. Traditional banner ads may be all but dead, but there are some innovative, targeted and effective forms of advertising taking their place.
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• Health Public Speakers - 07/01/2009
  Also try SpeakerSite and SpeakerMatch, both of which you can search for free.
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• Marketing Your Business On Local Search Sites - 07/01/2009
  You know, you wouldn't think you'd have to say it, but let's start with "have a web site", followed by "with useful current information about your business". I'm amazed how often I find restaurants that either don't have a web site or, if they do, they don't have their menu on the site. This is just silly when there are so many options for free hosting, like Microsoft Office Live Small Business and other options.
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• Foam Flooring Products for Trade Show Booths - 07/01/2009
  Wow - this is cool. I've been to a few trade shows lately but I haven't seen this. I think it would be very distinctive. Also, having worked trade shows quite a bit a few years ago, I know how hard it can be on the feet, so this would be doubly advantageous.
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• Business Logo Design - 07/01/2009
  Another increasingly popular option for logo design is crowdsourcing, i.e., posting the project publicly and letting multiple people submit concepts. You still pay the designer you choose, but you get a lot more options to choose from. The two most popular sites for this are 99designs and crowdSPRING.The Texas Startup Blog did a comparison between the two services. Of course, there are some risks. Take a look at what The Logo Factory had to say about why you should crowdsource your logo design. In case it's not obvious, the whole piece is satire.
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• Using and Making Infomercials - 07/01/2009
  I've spoken twice at ERA events and was just amazed at what a huge industry this is, as well as how well it's adapting to internet technology. For example, there are about 20,000 infomercials on YouTube. Funny thing is, they weren't all put there by the creators -- some people just either love them or find them funny. For a good guide on what NOT to do, as well as a good laugh, watch 10 Worst Infomercials. Also, R.I.P. Billy Mays.
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• Cheap and Easy Marketing Ideas - 07/01/2009
  What? No social media? :-) LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc., are all free, of course. Also, if your business is locally focused, in addition to Yelp, you should take advantage of the free tools Google has for promoting your business locally. You did a great guide about the Google Local Business Center.
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• Coping with Seasonal Sales Swings - 07/01/2009
  Another good strategy for seasonal/temporary sales drops is barter. Other businesses are likely feeling the pinch too, and if you both have excess inventory or service capacity, you can at least realize some value by bartering.
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• Business Outsourcing - 07/01/2009
  Great overview of what a VA can do for a small business or independent professional. Another thing I've seen more and more is people using VAs to help manage their social media presence -- not necessarily blogging/tweeting for them, but managing profiles or even making reading lists to allow people to be more efficient and productive with their social media time. Do you have any more suggestions as to how to go about finding a good VA?
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• Wireless Email Service - 05/31/2009
  I'm a bit of a Luddite when it comes to use of mobile for anything other than voice. Eventually I think that's where we're going to end up, and there are already some tools for that, I think, right? I've heard about services that will read your email to you -- also voice recognition services. Do you have any information on some of these, for those of us who don't like texting on a small screen/keyboard?
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• Hiring and Using Interns - 05/31/2009
  I know that some businesses used to do unpaid internships. Is that still a common practice? If so, in what industries? For a small business, or even an individual freelancer, what's the possibility of hiring interns on some kind of revenue-share or performance basis, i.e., no risk of direct cash outlay? Is that completely unrealistic?
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• Making More Money on eBay - 05/31/2009
  So if you're getting products from the same sources as a lot of other people, how can you really make your ads stand out? Or is there just so much demand for some of those products that there's a constant market?
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• Hot Franchise Opportunities - 04/30/2009
  Daniel: What about financing in the current economic climate? Are lenders more willing to finance franchises than other small businesses, because of the greater stability of a franchise?
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• The Business Value of Facebook - 03/31/2009
  User interface is a matter of what you get used to, I suppose. When Facebook added the bar at the bottom of the page, it took me half an hour to even notice it and figure out what was going on! :-) Great guide, Maxwell, but you know what would make it even better? Direct links to the pages to do the things you're talking about. That would make it much easier for someone to work through your guide, rather than trying to figure out where all the things you refer to are in the navigation.
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• Positioning Yourself As an Expert in Social Networking Sites and Discussion Forums - 03/31/2009
  You make a great point, Anita, about being patient for a response from an expert. I get way more requests for help from people than I can respond to. I try to get to as many as possible, but to be frank, answering those questions doesn't pay the bills, and a whole lot of those questions are from people who would never actually pay for my services. It's a challenge, because I want to be considerate and helpful, but the economics of it just don't work.
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• Promoting a Local Business Online - 03/31/2009
  Daniel: An absolute ESSENTIAL you need to add to this guide is to tell people how they can get their local business listed in Google Maps so that it shows up there when people do a search. Map results are show above other results, so it's an easy way to get what is effectively the #1 position. To start the process, go to the Google Local Business Center and register your business. There will be other options from there.
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• New Government Contracting Opportunities for Small Business - 03/31/2009
  The Obama administration is doing a terrific job of putting information out where it's easily findable in a format that's easily readable and getting the word out about it. The Economic Stimulus Act Opportunities site is another great example. Thanks for sharing it.
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• Social Media Monitoring - 03/29/2009
  This is a great article, Marianne. Small businesses especially get so caught up in the engagement at a micro level that they forget about monitoring at a macro level. Besides the importance of being able to quickly respond to anything negative, it's also a great way to engage people who are just discovering your brand, perhaps through channels you weren't even aware of.
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• How Savvy Marketers Reach B2B Decision Makers in a Tough Economy - 03/29/2009
  I agree with Susan - I'd like to hear some more ideas on specific techniques and approaches. How do you get past gatekeepers, for example? Also, I was surprised not to see LinkedIn on the list of sites to help with B2B. It's a phenomenal tool for reaching B2B decision-makers. Its basic model of getting introductions to those decision-makers through people you both know is still very powerful. Not everyone is easy to reach/approach directly, and having someone say, "I promise you 10 minutes on the phone with this person will be worth your time," is still very powerful.
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• 800 Vanity Numbers - 03/29/2009
  Being easy to remember is so important. Most people aren't going to pick up the phone immediately, and may not even write it down. I've seen some companies try to use some kind of code in the number, apparently for tracking marketing campaigns, e.g., 800-GET-SET-7. Don't do that - makes it hard to remember. The value of being easy to remember exceeds the value of tracking the source of your phone calls. All of this said, particularly in B2B, is toll-free really so much of an issue any more? Like a lot of people now, I have flat rate long distance -- I don't care if it's toll-free. I'm just wondering how many people are really concerned about that any more.
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• Racks, Shelving and Display Cases - 06/30/2008
  You have to also take into consideration the positioning of your store. When we had a used CD store, we were deliberately going for a low-tech, mom-and-pop, kind of funky feel -- in stark contrast to, say, Best Buy. So we built our own displays out of plywood and painted them. Eventually we started covering them with stickers, CD covers for CDs that were scratched or otherwise unsellable, pictures from old issues of Rolling Stone, etc. We built each display rack for about $20 in lumber and an hour's labor -- a lot cheaper than any display racks we looked at. And the end result worked with our image (though it certainly wouldn't for everyone). Point is... think outside the box, especially if you're on a budget.
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• Creating a Business Slogan - 06/30/2008
  I played around with the Sloganizer -- that was fun. My favorite was this: "Better ingredients. Better social media."
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• Checking Job References - 06/30/2008
  You should also search LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, blogs, etc. While LinkedIn may only show positive recommendations, generally so will references (many will only verify employment and whether they're eligible for rehire or not). But broaden your search and you may find negative as well as positive, as well as answers to some of those questions you might not be able to ask in person. Of course, you can't discriminate based on things like the fact that they have kids, or are gay, etc. But you *can* choose not to hire them on the basis that their lack of discretion in how they present themselves online could potentially reflect badly on you if you were to hire them into a high-profile or public-facing position. It's a fine line, but I'd rather have as much information as possible and push the envelope than be taken by surprise a few months after hiring them when something comes out publicly, or is called attention to by a client, etc. There's still a big gray area there that hasn't been resolved with case law yet.
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• Wireless Internet Service Providers - 06/30/2008
  For me, it has to be the same company as my home ISP so I'm not basically paying double. And then at home, I want the bundled services -- cable and phone, as well as internet. Kind of limits my options. :-)
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• Auto Parts - 06/30/2008
  Great guide, Ned. I suppose I knew about most of these options if I thought about it, but thanks so much for putting them all in one place and picking out some of the best resources for those niche specialties.
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• Promotional Magnets - 06/30/2008
  I like the magnetic calendars. We actually picked our realtor because we had a magnetic calendar from her. OK, sure, it was really because we knew her and liked her, but we had been just looking on our own and talking to the listing agents, and seeing her calendar reminded us of her. We called her, and within two weeks we had a house and she had a sale. More than paid for the magnets! :-)
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• Creating a Facebook Fan Page For Your Business - 06/01/2008
  One thing that can be confusing is that many businesses and solopreneurs created groups for their business before Facebook started offering business pages. How do you see groups and business fan pages working together? Or do you recommend only doing one or the other?
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• Successful Business Networking on Facebook - 06/01/2008
  I appreciate your sharing such a variety of success stories. A lot of people share tips, but don't have any real results to back it up.
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• Facebook for Business Building - 06/01/2008
  As an alternative to TwitterSynch, I like HelloTxt, a single client from which you can selectively post updates to Twitter, Facebook, Pownce, LinkedIn, MySpace, etc., etc.
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• Blogging for the Non Blogger - 05/31/2008
  Excellent guide, Kathleen! A couple of other suggestions: 1. Produce good, original content. At one point in time, a blog that was just links to and commentary on other content might have made it. But as competitive as the blogosphere is today, you really need to have some compelling original content to attract and keep readers. 2. Related to that, "find your voice." What is your unique take on the story? Have an opinion. If people wanted just sterile, watered-down information, there are already plenty of sources for that. That personal voice is one of the things that makes blogs blogs, and not just another publishing medium.
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• Business Marketing and Financing - 05/31/2008
  This is too broad a subject for such a short guide. It's all over the place. I think you'd do much better to break it down into individual topics and go into more depth. That said, here are some additional comments: 1. Journalists (and bloggers) don't read press releases from free press release sites. Sure, this does create one more page on the internet with your business name and a link to your site, but if no one's reading it, the value is trivial. If it's worth taking the time to write and distribute a press release, it's worth spending the $80 for PRWeb's "standard visibility" package, which gets you onto things like Google and Yahoo! news sites. But the most likely way to actually get coverage is to send personalized cover letters to journalists you know cover the topic. 2. If you already have a web site for your business, it's far more effective to put your blog on your business site, not one of these hosted services. WordPress is free and easy to install. And for a very low cost, any decent web designer can integrate it into your existing site. 3. I'm surprised you left off craigslist, the largest classified site. 4. Here's where it really shows that this is too broad a topic. There are hundreds of useful sites for business owners. There are dozens of great sites in the category of each of the sites you mentioned. The sites you mentioned are fine -- it's just kind of a mish-mash. You've got a good start -- it just needs to be split up for more focus.
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• Writing a Strong Call to Action in Your Online Ads - 05/31/2008
  One other thing -- this is a great guide, but there is SO much information on Clickz and Search Engine Watch -- if you could deep link to some specific articles, or a hub of articles on the topic, rather than just to the main site, that would be extremely helpful.
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• How to Avoid Using the Word "Free" (and Other Lame Gimmicks) in Your B2B PPC Ads - 05/31/2008
  Excellent guide, Eve. People who are new to PPC often don't think about the fact that the ultimate goal is not CTR, but conversion -- in fact, if you can get higher conversions with a lower CTR, that's better ROI. And you want buyers, not freebie seekers.
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• Landing Page Optimization - 05/31/2008
  I definitely agree with removing the navigation. However, I think having a single link to the home page is reasonable. 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. You don't want to through a whole menu at them, but I think offering some kind of exit action for this middle group -- the "maybe" people -- is a good idea.
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• Promotional Apparel: More Than Just T-Shirts! - 04/30/2008
  One thing that frustrates me is seeing companies do golf shirts and t-shirts, but not men's dress/button-down shirts. Golf shirts are "iffy" for business casual. A logo dress shirt is great. I've worked for two companies that did them with embroidered logos -- I loved them. Also, don't forget about us plus-size folks. If at all possible, try to get products that are available in 2X-3X-4X, not just XL.
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• Building a Socially Conscious Company - 04/30/2008
  I like the idea of the "triple bottom line": People, Planet, Profits. You should never have profits at the expense of people or planet. I also think it's really important to get employees directly involved. Consider giving employees time off with pay support events as a volunteer. Matching giving programs (where the company matches employee donations to charities) are good too.
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• Cutting Your Overhead Costs - 04/30/2008
  I don't have any suggestions regarding software for inventory management, but one thing that companies that carry inventory should look at is whether they really need to carry as much inventory as they do. Obviously you want to be able to accommodate impulse buyers who want something right now, but there are numerous examples of ways you can reduce your inventory requirements: - Dell manufactures PCs on demand. They keep a few in inventory, and obviously have to inventory the components, but they have a tremendsous improvement in space efficiency and capital efficiency with their approach. - Amazon stocks a lot more inventory than your local Borders, but they still don't stock everything. Some books have to be ordered from the publisher and take a few days longer. - While some people buy cars straight off the lot, a lot of people order them custom so they can get exactly the options they want. I wonder how a dealership would do that only stocked 3-4 of each model. It would require a lot less capital and have much lower overhead. - I worked for a high-end stereo store in college. We had everything we sold on display, but probably only about half of it (the best-selling items) in inventory. The really high-end stuff, people had to order and wait a week or two. These obviously may not apply to every business that keeps inventory, but it's food for thought. Sure, you might lose a sale or two, but what's the opportunity cost? What else can you do with the money?
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• Business Email Etiquette - 04/30/2008
  Another invaluable tip -- if your email covers more than one topic, particularly if there are action items for the other person, organize it in a structured list, rather than prose. And a numbered list is better than bullet points. That way, when they reply, they can say "RE: #1", "RE: #4", etc. This also helps prevent them skipping items, which people tend to do.
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• Business Email Etiquette - 04/30/2008
  RE: Keep 'em short... Einstein said, "Things should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." I've seen WAY too many busy executives who make their emails so short as to be inactionable. If the person has to follow up with a phone call to ask you exactly what you meant, your email was too short. Don't ramble, but don't sacrifice clarity on the altar of brevity. RE: Subject lines They should never be more than about 40 characters. Any more than that is not going to be visible in most people's inboxes. Many high-volume email users process email using the preview/reading pane, not opening each individual message, so the subject has to be short if you want them to see it. Also, when replying to messages, if the subject of the conversation shifts, as it often does, change the subject to reflect the new topic of conversation, but it's helpful to include a reference to the old topic in the subject, e.g., "Baseball tickets (was re: This weekend)" RE: Think before you click One of the single best pieces of advice I give my clients is to turn off the automatic send/receive and the option in Outlook to "send immediately if connected". When I hit send, it goes in my outbox and sits there until I do a send/receive. Before doing an S/R, I scan my outbox, make sure that all the attachments are there and that I'm not sending anything I might regret later. This has the added benefit of boosting productivity by batching your email processing instead of it being an interruption.
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• Hiring and Using Interns - 04/30/2008
  Most schools also have their own listing service for internships, so if you're looking for people locally, or from the top business schools, or top computer science schools, etc., you may want to contact them directly to post your internships.
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• Sales Compensation Plans that Work - 04/30/2008
  I think it's also important to incentivize your sales support staff. When salespeople make the big bucks and the people around them who help them make it happen, e.g., pre-sales consultants, inbound phone agents, etc., don't receive any reward, it can build up resentment that's counterproductive. If you're going to have incentive-based compensation at all, then you should have some kind of reward system for everyone directly involved in the sales process.
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• Wireless Email Service - 04/30/2008
  I suppose it depends on the nature of your business. I'm just really not ready to be that "on-demand". If I make myself accessible to everybody else, I'm not fully engaged with whoever I'm spending my day with. I think it's unreasonable/unrealistic for people to expect same-business-day response on emails. I carry a mobile phone, and if there's truly an emergency that no one else can handle, everyone in my company knows how to contact me. I prefer to just set the expectation. And frankly, someone who expects same-day response on emails, I'm not sure I *want* as a customer.
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• B2B Pay Per Click Best Practices for Online Lead Generation - 04/30/2008
  One of my clients is a heavy PPC advertiser, and one of the keys for him to get good ROI was learning to have his ad copy qualify the customers. He got a much lower clickthrough rate, but about 95% as many total leads -- far more cost-effective. Any thoughts or tips on that idea?
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• Low-Cost Franchises - 04/30/2008
  It's great to know that there are so many opportunities out there that don't require $100K or more in startup costs and working capital. There are obviously a lot of things people need to consider when deciding on a franchise. I think the first and foremost one is this -- is it something you are truly passionate about? Most people who pursue businesses because they "seem like a good opportunity", but it's not something they're passionate about, fail. If you're going to tie up $50K of your money and/or someone else's, you'd better LOVE fixing cars, or cleaning carpets, or getting up at 4am to be serving coffee to half-awake people at 6:00. It's not just another job -- it's a huge commitment. Being a passive investor is one thing, but if you're an active franchisee, choose something you love that you can really see yourself still doing 5-10 years down the road.
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• Building a Business That Customers Can Trust - 04/30/2008
  Excellent guide Helen! One other thing I'd add -- it's sort of in there between the lines but I think it deserves to be explicitly stated -- is to either form an official user group / customer community or support and engage in customer-created ones. Knowing that there is a group of people who can talk openly about your products or services helps build trust because of the closed network phenomenon. People assume that you won't mistreat one customer because word would spread quickly within your customer community.
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• Promoting your Squidoo Lenses Through your Blog - 04/30/2008
  Great guide as always, Kimberly. You can also add an RSS module and put your whole blog feed on your Squidoo page. If you don't want to have just your own blog, there are now several tools like RSS Mix or Feed Informer that will allow you to combine RSS feeds into a single feed, i.e., you could make a feed of your blog plus a few other related blogs and display it in a single RSS module.
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• Setting up a Merchant Account - 04/01/2008
  The concern I hear from entrepreneurs all the time is that it's impossible to get a merchant account if you have bad personal credit. That's why so many of them use PayPal. And PayPal now offers a true merchant account, but they run a credit check for it, which they don't for their regular service. What do you suggest, Daniel, for people with bad personal credit (other than "fix it").
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• Creating a Business Slogan - 04/01/2008
  Simple advice: keep it short. That means both the individual words and the whole slogan. Try to stick to words of one and two syllables, and keep the whole thing t as few words as possible. Think about some of the great slogans: Just do it. Have it your way. Where's the beef? Quality is job one. It's Miller time. Drivers wanted. Breakfast of champions. Got milk? Be all you can be. Get the picture?
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• Creating a Great Business Brochure - 04/01/2008
  I don't really use them any more, given the changing nature of my business, but when I was doing brochures for my small business, I used to love the ones from Paper Direct. The nice thing about them is that you can get an attractive, colorful graphical style without spending a ton of money on printing or lots of color ink. They also have postcards, business cards, stationery, etc., in color-coordinated styles, so you can have a consistent look-and-feel for all your printed materials.
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• Finding and Using Essential Small Business Forms - 04/01/2008
  LegalZoom is also a great source for legal forms and document templates.
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• Gmail for Work - 04/01/2008
  Google now offers GMail as part of their domain tools, i.e., you can use GMail for you@yourdomain.com (well, the whole domain has to switch). I can live without folders -- I like the tagging -- but as a practical matter, I'm finding a couple of ways in which GMail still falls really short: 1. It's not nearly as easy to create rules as it is in Outlook. 2. This is the biggie -- no ability to sort my inbox. I know Google says, "Search, don't sort." But that doesn't work when you're trying to deal with hundreds of messages. So it's OK to have as my mail server and as my web mail when I need it, but I'll happily stick with Outlook as my primary mail client.
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• Doing Business in Latin America - 04/01/2008
  You talk about the importance of face-to-face contact, but I'm finding a growing number of people in Latin America are using social networking sites like LinkedIn, Orkut (huge in Brazil), Xing, etc., to build international relationships.
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• a Stress-Free Tax Season: - 03/01/2008
  Great guide Tony! My only suggestion is that you could provide a couple of more links, such as to Publication 1771 and some information about 401(k) and IRA plans.
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• Low Cost Do-It-Yourself Web Design - 03/01/2008
  Depending on how complex your website needs are (or aren't), Microsoft's Office Live offers free hosting, including site building tools. It includes a bunch of other cool features -- collaboration tools, e-commerce and so on.
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• Marketing: Top 10 Small Business Marketing Mistakes - 02/29/2008
  This is an entertaining and informative list, Kimberly. However, evan as a marketing consultant myself, I take a bit of issue with #3. There are a lot of small businesses that conduct very successful homegrown marketing. Take for example Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale, founder of Gallery Furniture in Houston, now the world's largest single-outlet furniture store. He grew his business with cheap, low-budget ads, starring himself jumping up in the air with a handful of money, shouting, "At Gallery Furniture, we really will... save... you... money!" There's a time and a place to hire professionals to do a professional job. But that doesn't mean there's not a lot you can do on your own. Otherwise, what's the point of having so many do-it-yourself marketing books? Guerrilla Marketing? Duct Tape Marketing? etc.?
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• New Media...and Your BOTTOM LINE - 02/29/2008
  This is a good intro article, Diane, but you never actually explained this: "Does that mean that you should shift the greater percentage of your media budget to new media? Definitely not." What follows is an interesting anecdote, but not an explanation of that response. If new media gives such high returns, why shouldn't you shift the greater percentage of your media budget to new media? I'm not disagreeing -- just asking you to explain.
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• TRADE SHOW LOGISTICS - 02/29/2008
  I felt like this was a good outline, Michelle, but some of the items could use at least a little more depth. For example, how do you determine which trade show "will best increase your company proceeds."
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• Low-Budget Internet Based Brand Monitoring - 02/29/2008
  Thanks Justin -- Omgili was a new and useful find for me.
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• All Search Engines Love Spiders: How Meta Commands Can Help You Love Them Too - 02/29/2008
  There was a tremendous amount of detail here, Scott. I appreciate the fact that you covered not only the technical aspect, but in what cases you would apply each technique. Great guide -- 10 from me!
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• Making a Great First Impression with Your Customers - 02/29/2008
  I agree it's a good overview. Frankly, you could make a mini-guide on each of those 11 points on its own! Seems to me those 11 points would make a good checklist to be posted where all your outward-facing employees can see it on a regular basis.
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• Better Customer Service - 02/29/2008
  I think the single biggest issue -- the biggest point of frustration I have when it doesn't happen -- is the matter of taking ownership. The most frustrating thing is to get passed around from one department to the next -- twice recently I've had it take me in a full circle back to where I started -- or to have to keep calling back and calling back to get anything done, or to have to keep retelling the same story to several different people. What the customer wants is for someone to say, "I'll handle it and follow up with you as soon as I find something out." Why does the customer have to escalate it? Those few companies that actually enforce the idea of ownership -- that someone is responsible for your case until it is gracefully handed off to someone else, and that you don't have to follow up with them, they'll follow up with you -- really stand out.
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• Google keywords advertising has proven unreliable for us. - 02/29/2008
  Google doesn't have a monopoly on internet advertising by any stretch of the imagination. On search, yes, but not on advertising. There are plenty of other places to advertise besides AdWords. Also, I find it distasteful that they require a minimum bid, but it's certainly well within their rights. Most auctions have a minimum bid -- why should AdWords be any different? I hardly think you can call it price gouging.
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• Sales Excellence - 02/29/2008
  Good overview of sales management, but I'm not sure I buy the idea that organizations should be entirely sales-centric, particularly that "Nothing is more important that to make the sales team successful." I agree that is incredibly important. But I have worked in a couple of companies that had "sales myopia". The end result was that they created a product that wasn't sustainable. The developers spent their time working on bells and whistles that made for a sexy demo, but the product was difficult to customize and maintain once we got deep into the engagement. Particularly in a software company, the people who can really give you the most insight about the way your product really needs to work are your field engineers -- the people who have to actually implement customer solutions. Microsoft is a perfect example of a company that lost its way in this regard and then refound it. They had over-focused on sales so much that their development tools had really suffered -- they looked good on paper to the people making the buying decisions, but the developers using the tools were frustrated. And they began losing market share to a wide array of other platforms. For years, Microsoft was not a development platform of choice for web applications. Enter Channel 9. Microsoft shifted the focus of their tools development to the real customers -- the developers using their products. Sales are important, but they are short-term. You have to balance that with sustainability.
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• Press Release Wire Services - 02/29/2008
  Interesting approach to this guide, Chris -- I really enjoyed reading the "seasoned pro" vs. "newcomer" perspectives. One tip -- if you copy/paste guides in the future, be sure to check the formatting after you publish it. The comments from Dena and Christine were in the same paragraph with the section heading -- it was very hard to read. I went ahead and took the liberty of cleaning it up for you -- just something to keep in mind for future guides.
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• 7 Lessons on How to Be A Great Client - 02/29/2008
  While your guide is focused on being a great client with a marketing / PR firm, many of these can be applied more generally with any kind of consultants or other service providers. I think so many of us were brought up with the mantra, "The customer is always right," that we have become egocentric customers. In the process we have lost sight of the idea that by being better customers, rather than difficult ones, we improve our own odds of success with the project.
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• Getting Your Product To Stand Out At A Tradeshow - 02/29/2008
  Great guide Rohit -- I especially like how you used your personal narrative of this event as the basis for a timeless piece with broad, universal appeal. I look forward to seeing more guides from you here.
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• Learn How To Use Gift & Loyalty Cards To Boost Your Profits - 02/29/2008
  On the flip side, though, I remember reading a statistic (don't remember the exact numbers) that a huge portion of gift cards are never cashed in or used in full. Of course, that's also to your advantage as a business owner -- free money for you! Many businesses also have a policy of taking a small fee off the balance if it's unused for a certain period of time. This eliminates the concern of carrying the liability on the books going forward (because a gift card is NOT actually a cash sale from an accounting standpoint -- it shows in your cash account, but you carry a corresponding liability for the merchandise until the card is used to make a purchase).
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• Picking Perfect Personalized Pens-67239 - 02/29/2008
  Just as with business cards or any other promotional items, it helps for the pen to be distinctive -- in color, in shape, in quality, whatever. I use promo pens all the time that I couldn't tell you what business they're promoting. On the other hand, I have a couple of very distinctive pens that I can immediately tell you what company they're from. In particular, larger pens allow for a larger logo image and/or more text. For example, I wouldn't waste my money on those streamline stick pens -- it doesn't matter if they cost half as much or a fourth as much as the other alternatives if the cheap one is ineffective. If the admiral pen is 5x more expensive and 10x more effective, it's a better buy.
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• Writing a Strong Call to Action in Your Online Ads - 02/29/2008
  In PPC ads, your ad copy should also qualify your prospects, otherwise you're wasting your money on both the ad and any freebies you may be providing. For example: Entrepreneurs! Is your company ready to go public? Register for a free consultation vs. Entrepreneurs - Do you have at least $2M a year in revenues? Free consultation about going public You don't want to be paying a dollar a click (or more) for people that aren't even close to qualified, and you certainly don't want them trying to sign up for a consultation. This isn't applicable in all cases, but it's something to consider.
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• Promoting a Local Business Online - 02/29/2008
  I hate to point out the obvious, but I think it's worth saying that you need to have your own web site on your own domain, even if it's a simple little 5-page static site. I'm constantly amazed at how many local businesses don't -- restaurants, salons, auto repair, et al. It really drives me nuts not to be able to find a menu for a local restaurant online too. They should also do some basic search engine optimization. Even for a lot of businesses that have their own sites, the entire first page of search results on Google are pages from CitySearch, Yelp, etc.
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• Selling Overseas - 02/29/2008
  Business networking sites are a great place to meet potential partners and clients in the countries you're targeting. While some sites are pretty balanced geographically, others have a strong cluster effect in certain countries, e.g., Xing in continental Europe and China, Ecademy in the U.K., Orkut in Brazil, Ryze in India, etc. One important issue is international pricing. Is your product/service going to be priced the same (in your native currency) in all markets? That may be the easiest, but you may also end up pricing yourself out of some markets. You'll also need to pay attention to fluctuations in the exchange rate and may have to adjust your prices accordingly in order to stay competitive.
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• Booking Better Business Events - 02/29/2008
  Great guide, Daniel, and some cool new resources I wasn't familiar with.
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• Using LinkedIn to Sell More, Faster - 01/29/2008
  Donna -- unless you choose the option that says "Only share this question with connections I select", it's visible by everyone on LinkedIn. If they're not either within three degrees of you or an OpenLink member (a premium option), then you'll only be able to see their limited profile, not their full profile. When browsing questions, there's an option to sort them by degrees away from you, so that you can give particular attention to the questions being asked by your immediate contacts.
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• Building a Socially Conscious Company - 01/22/2008
  I think an important part of this is to get input from your employees as to what cause(s) they would like to support, rather than just having it be the CEO's favorite charity.
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• Planning Your Web Site Content - 01/22/2008
  I think another important point, sort of expanding on the "double duty" idea, is to think about what other media you might distribute your content in, e.g., mobile and podcasting.
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• Self Employed Health Insurance - 01/17/2008
  You may also want to consider joining a professional association such as NASE or NFIB, both of which offer substantial discounts on health insurance as one of their benefits.
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• Free Software Downloads for Webmasters - 01/17/2008
  I'm intrigued to check out Paint.NET -- I've been a long-time user of GIMP, which is very powerful, but has a pretty steep learning curve for the casual user. I also use IrfanView for anything that just requires cropping, resizing, full-image color/contrast adjustment, etc. It loads almost instantly, which makes it very convenient for those applications.
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• Improving the speed of your databases - 01/17/2008
  Jon: I had to implement a similar solution at a company where I was Senior Data Architect. We were a call center handling inbound telemarketing, and we had to make referrals based on various aggregate data. Well, you can imagine the work load of calculating an aggregate on every single potential referral (over 12,000 of them) and then sorting them. We had to set up a summary table containing the aggregate data and made that an indexed field as well, so that the sorts would be faster. One consideration in all of this is when to update the aggregate data. Do you make a trigger on the source field that updates it any time a record is inserted or edited? Or do you do it on a scheduled basis, e.g., hourly or daily? For our purposes, daily was satisfactory, so we just created a script that ran every night as part of our nightly batch processing.
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• 101 Ways to Market Your Small Business - 01/17/2008
  RE: #4 -- two things: 1. Consider carefully about hand-written notes. There are people like me who don't want the paper -- I prefer an email. 2. There's nothing worse than a handwritten note that has no substance -- as you suggest, mention a snippet from the conversation, or do something to make it a note they couldn't have sent to a hundred other people. Really, the content is more important than the form.
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• Google Print Ads: Newspaper Ads Made Easy - 01/17/2008
  At Blog World I saw a demo of them doing this for radio too, and I reckon TV can't be too far away, if they don't already offer it. All your media buys in one place -- that's powerful stuff. Yet another tool that puts tools formerly only accessible to larger companies in the hands of small business.
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• Creating a .TV Web Channel for Business - 01/17/2008
  This is great, Daniel -- I'm off to go .tv domain prospecting myself!
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• Breaking Into Acting - 01/17/2008
  Another thing we've found is that in most major cities there's usually some kind of email list, maybe a Yahoo Group, of local casting calls. For example, here in Austin there's the Austin Film Casting Yahoo Group and AustinActors.net (among others).
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• Getting a Book Agent - 01/17/2008
  While this may still be the way a lot of books are done, these models are changing. My coauthor and I got our agent based on just a proposal -- we didn't even have a sample chapter and table of contents (although we did have them by the time we were shopping it to publishers). Also, we found our agent via LinkedIn. Actually, we found one agent at the agency via LinkedIn, and he loved the idea, but said he was too busy for it and referred us to another agent in the agency. And in case you're wondering, yes, it was a very mainstream agency (Waterside) and a very mainstream publisher (AMACOM), and yes, we did get an advance, even as first-time authors. Also, there's an emerging middle niche of publishers that are working with authors directly, usually without agents. And in some cases, even with major publishers, an agent may not really be necessary. This is particularly true on series books, like For Dummies, Complete Idiot's Guide, etc. The deals on those are very standard and not really open to much negotiation. And while it may be difficult to reach an acquisition editor directly, again, LinkedIn has proven a useful resource for connecting with them.
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• Writing copy for your email newsletter - 01/07/2008
  Well, Dominic, these are supposed be how-to guides, not just mini-links to more guides. Why not show off some of those copywriting skills and actually post them here? People come here looking for information -- expecting them to click off to another site in order to get, well, ANY value, is a disservice to the reader. If you want to attract readers, serve them. Give them what they're looking for -- don't make them jump through one more hoop first. It's not a matter of what Paul or I think you ought to do -- the fact of the matter is that posting links rather than content will backfire on you and turn people off, rather than attracting them. Why don't you just post some of those articles here? There's no rule saying they have to exclusive to this site.
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• Work.com Guide: How To Green Your Business - 01/04/2008
  Another thing is not to be fooled by "green-ish" labels, particularly on paper products. A lot of products are entirely "pre-consumer", i.e., made from industry scraps. They used to just throw all this stuff back into the pulp mix, but now they bundle it all together so they can green market it. Look for paper products that have at least a portion of post-consumer recycled product. One of the most readily available choices is Marcal, which I know Office Depot carries. They have their recyclyed fiber content information on their website.
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• Improving Internet Customer Service - Part 1 - 01/04/2008
  While not specifically related to just internet customer service, I think it's critical to a) empower your reps, and b) escalate when necessary. Tim Ferris tells in his book, The 4-Hour Workweek, about his decision to tell all his customer service reps that if they could solve the problem for a cost of less than $100, to just do it, and quickly. Doing so radically reduced his time, kept him from having to hire additional agents to handle the load, and created more loyal customers who gladly referred others because they had gotten great service.
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• Using Typefaces - 01/04/2008
  It also makes a big difference if your project is for print or screen. For example, serif fonts may be considered more legible for long blocks of text in print, but that's not necessarily true on-screen. On-screen, wider fonts like Verdana improve legibility for longer blocks of text.
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• Web 2.0 Link Building Tactics - 01/04/2008
  Man... this field is my business, and I still can't keep up with all the new stuff. What about Squidoo?
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• Merchant Rates - 01/04/2008
  FYI, PayPal is now offering a full-fledged merchant account (no -- not their old business account -- the real thing) at rates well below the average. They even have virtual terminal services.
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• Writing an Effective Customer Newsletter - 01/04/2008
  One of the trends I'm seeing a lot of (and that my firm is doing with some of our clients) is that companies are trying to get double mileage out of the same content -- using it on both a blog and a newsletter. Aweber has a couple of cool tools: one will help you build your newsletter from your blog's RSS feed, and the other will take your newsletter content and make HTML and RSS archives for your website. There's also a WordPress Newsletter Plug-in that allows to build a newsletter from your WordPress-based blog. FeedBlitz and FeedBurner also offer blog-to-email solutions.
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• Finding Store Displays and Fixtures - 01/04/2008
  Depending on your store, you may be able to build your own fixtures. My wife and I used to have a used CD store, and we built all our display racks ourselves in a day for a fraction of what new ones would have cost. If your shop has a kind of artsy / funky / bohemian vibe, it can work well and save you a bunch of money.
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• Creating a Home Office with Minimum Distractions - 01/04/2008
  Another thing that has really worked for me is making a commitment to go paperless, as much as possible. I take all my notes on my computer. Business cards get entered and then thrown away. No newspapers, no print magazines. I don't save old utility bills and bank statements (hooray for electronic banking!). I produce all my contracts with my signature embedded in the document electronically -- clients sign them and fax them back to my virtual fax number. As a result, all of my filing fits into one small, portable 10-inch thick filing box.
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• Creating Invoices That Get Paid - 01/04/2008
  One thing I've found is that if you're dealing either with a small business owner or if your client contact has to approve the invoice for payment, then timing can be very important if you're involved in ongoing work with them. Sometimes waiting to send the bill right after you've completed some important task or small milestone will get your invoice expedited, while sending it while they're waiting on something (particularly if it's overdue) will cause them to stall, even if the invoice is for work already long done, not what you're currently working on. Unfortunate, but true. Also, as a cash-flow conscious small business owner, I generally make all my invoices "Due upon receipt" unless the contract specifies otherwise. One way to accelerate payment, particularly when dealing with larger companies that are notoriously slow to pay, is to offer a fast-pay discount, e.g., a few percent off if it's paid within 10 business days.
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• Computer Programming Languages - 12/01/2007
  Not many people work in Perl any more. The hot web development languages these days are PHP, Ruby on Rails and C# (C Sharp). Those will be far more practical and marketable skills for the foreseeable future.
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• Commercial Airlines - 11/30/2007
  One important concern for business travelers is delays. I did an article for one of my clients about this, and learned quite a few things I didn't already know in the process: 25 Ways to Avoid Travel Delays
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• Microsoft Windows 2000 - 11/30/2007
  Isn't this a little out of date? XP and Vista are out since then. Why would anyone still be considering an 8-year-old operating system?
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• 60+ Free Web Development Tools & Resources for Entrepreneurs - 11/30/2007
  I especially love Feedburner's new customizable RSS headline animator. A lot of sites won't let you insert Flash, and practically no one allows Javascript, but pretty much everyone allows GIF images. Take a look at my profile here for examples.
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• People Search - 11/30/2007
  Don't forget social networking sites. With nearly 20 million members, a significant number of business professionals are in LinkedIn with their complete work history. And Facebook has now opened up its member search to the general public -- you don't have to join Facebook to search it.
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• Online Collaboration Services - 11/30/2007
  Deki Wiki is another good wiki application. It's free and open source, but what I particularly like about it is all the cool Web 2.0 mashup extensions that have been built for it. One line of code, for example, displays the headlines from an RSS feed in either a table or a list.
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• Working at Home - 11/30/2007
  One way to minimize your space requirements and your clutter is to go paperless as much as possible -- electronic faxing, scanning business cards and important documents, taking notes on your computer instead of notepads, etc. I did that and I've cut my desk space needs in half.
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• Social Media Optimization - 11/30/2007
  One important thing for people to keep in mind about blogging is that writing the content is only about half the picture. You need to also be reading other blogs, commenting on them, linking to them, cross-promoting them in social networking sites, etc., in order to really be effective. Also, LinkedIn has a Q&A section that tends to be more business-oriented and higher-quality answers (in my experience) than some of the others.
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• Free Business Software for Windows - 11/30/2007
  You learn something new every day. Foxit turned out to be a great find -- thanks!
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• Internet Software - 11/30/2007
  Blogs are also a great marketing tool and a way to stay in touch with your customers. WordPress seems to be the blogging platform of choice at the moment.
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• Defining Your Business Value - 11/30/2007
  I'm in the fortunate position of being an entrepreneur and having complete control over what I choose to sell and what I don't (OK, technically, every salesperson does, but many may feel trapped with one particular product or service out of the company's offering that they don't really believe in). Anyway, my point is that I don't sell products and services that aren't differentiated on anything other than price. Being in a commoditized market is no fun at all. This is where sales needs to work together with the marketing department (or if you're an entrepreneur and you ARE the sales department and the marketing department!) and clarify the positioning of the product or service such that for the right niche market, your offering is the sole source. I love your suggestions about getting the input from your customers to help do this. I just also think you need to include some competitive analysis and decide how you differentiate yourself from your competition.
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• Company Profile Research - 11/30/2007
  If they're a publicly traded company, be sure to look up their quarterly reports at EDGAR. Also, I've found Silicon Investor an invaluable (and free) tool for doing financial research on companies.
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• Business Portal Software - 11/30/2007
  Good overview, but I was very surprised not to see Microsoft Sharepoint mentioned, since it's the most popular portal solution for smaller businesses.
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• Credit Card Processing Contracts - 11/30/2007
  What's your take on PayPal for this, now that they have their Virtual Terminal offering?
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• Using Joomla CMS to Build Your Website - 11/30/2007
  iJoomla also has some great professional-quality (but not free) extensions for Joomla geared towards some specific applications. I've found that some people who've never worked with a CMS system before still have a hard time figuring out exactly how to best organize their website, and some of those pre-packaged solutions really help.
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• Lemon Law - 11/30/2007
  While it's possible for any make and model to put out a lemon or two here or there, certainly some have better track records than others. Be sure to check out new car reviews and ratings at Consumer Reports, Edmunds and J. D. Power. The best insurance against buying a lemon is to do your homework before you buy.
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• e-commerce homepage design : 9 golden rules - 11/30/2007
  This is a great guide, Paul -- I will be referring a lot of people to it. Most business owners don't have a clue how much impact site design can have on purchasing behavior, other than the basics like an easy-to-use shopping cart.
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• Real Estate Auctions - 11/30/2007
  Wow -- I had no idea there were online realty auctions. I suppose it's the natural evolution, but I still find it surprising. I'll have to check it out.
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• Gmail for Work - 11/01/2007
  Great guide, Brian, but you forgot to mention that Gmail is also accessible via SMTP and POP3, so if you're like me and highly attached to Outlook, you can still use Gmail with it.
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• Voice Marketing - 11/01/2007
  Do you have any stats on the actual success rate of this approach, Matt? I know that any time I answer the phone and it's a recording, I just hang up -- doesn't even matter what it is. Any tips on writing the script so that people who are a little more receptive to it than I am stay on and listen?
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• Using open source CMS solutions to manage your website - 11/01/2007
  This is just a small fraction of the available options. There's a great web site, OpenSourceCMS.com, that lets you try out all the different platforms before you decide on one. They cover things like image galleries, wikis and blogs, as well.
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• Facilitating Brainstorming Session - 11/01/2007
  I've also found that it helps to consolidate the list by combining similar ideas before sorting it. Also, sometimes drawing a mind map helps -- putting the key or central concepts up on a whiteboard and writing related words or ideas under them (especially helpful when doing things like brainstorming a product name).
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• Registered Agents - 11/01/2007
  Some of the more popular states for corporations also have state-level associations, such as the Nevada Registered Agent Association, that provide additional info and member directories.
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• Starbucks Coffee - 11/01/2007
  Don't forget us non-coffee drinkers -- be sure to include some Tazo Chai and a couple of other teas for the rest of us.
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• Blogging for a Jewelry Business - 11/01/2007
  Excellent guide, Caroline! A couple of other important things: 1. Make sure you're committed to consistency. Starting out gung-ho and then not posting for several weeks can actually hurt you rather than help you. 2. Plan to spend about as much time doing other things to promote your blog -- participating in forums, answering comments, leaving comments on other blogs, blog carnivals, etc. -- as you do actually writing on your blog. Writing your blog is only half the equation.
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• Business Contingency Planning - 10/31/2007
  This may seem obvious, but you should have specific plans for the natural (or other) disasters that most commonly occur in your area. For example, a Colorado business should have a specific plan for a blizzard, while a southern California business won't, but they will need an earthquake plan. And I said "other" because if, for example, you're within 150 miles of a nuclear power plant, that's an issue. Also, if you live in a large city, you probably need to be more prepared for a terrorist attack than if you're in a small town.
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• Real Estate Virtual Tours - 10/31/2007
  Do-it-yourselfers should check out Panoguide.com, which offers free how-to guides, forums, and extensive product reviews on 360-degree and panorama photography.
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• Marketing Your Local Business Online - 10/31/2007
  Bill Gates said recently that in 5 years, use of traditional Yellow Pages will be near zero. And yet it amazes me how many local businesses have no internet presence of their own, especially when it can be done so inexpensively. Good guide, but you need to check the formatting -- it's coming out all as one continuous paragraph.
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• Self-Service Moving - 10/31/2007
  What do your drivers do while people are loading the truck?
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• Advertising Your Business With Promotional Gifts - 10/31/2007
  A refrigerator magnet calendar was part of why we chose our realtor. We were looking on our own and had just been working with the listing agents, but we were getting frustrated. I actually knew a bunch of realtors, but one who we didn't know very well, but knew from our church and felt like we would be "in tune" with, had sent us that little calendar, which we noticed one day on the door. One little reminder that turns into a sale can more than pay for your entire investment in promotional gifts.
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• How to Market and Network Online in 5 Easy Steps - 10/31/2007
  Sherese - this is a good overview of what a balanced strategy looks like. FYI, that URL for your profile at Fast Pitch isn't working -- might want to check it.
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• Is your Business listed in Google Maps? Submit your business to Google Maps - 10/31/2007
  Local search is booming. Bill Gates said recently (and I agree) that in 5 years, use of the paper Yellow Pages will drop to nearly zero (at least among people with broadband access). It constantly amazes me to find local businesses -- restaurants in particular -- that don't have their own web presence -- usually just a profile and reviews on Citysearch, Yelp, etc. Twice recently I've chosen one restaurant over another because they had their own site and their menu online, and another restaurant didn't.
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• earning money online :: create part time work at home jobs to find a job marketing your own skills! - 10/31/2007
  I feel like you have about the first 40% of a really great guide here. I love your writing style, but this guide leaves me begging the question, "OK, how?" As marketing copy on a sales page on your site, that would be perfect. Here, it feels like a tease. Finish what you started and I'm sure you'll see some great responses.
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• Hotel Furniture - 10/31/2007
  Used hotel furniture also makes for affordable, durable home furnishings or for casual office areas (reception, lounges, etc.). Great guide, Matt.
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• IRA Plans - 10/31/2007
  One thing that a lot of people don't realize about Roth IRAs is that the government doesn't say what you <i>can</i> invest in -- they just give a very short list of things you <i>can't</i> invest in. With a self-directed LLC IRA, you can invest in real estate, stocks, passively in small business, and so on completely tax-free.
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• IT Jobs - 10/31/2007
  This is a good start, LaRita, but you're missing one of the most important tools for IT job seekers: social networking sites. According to several recent articles, FaceBook and LinkedIn are now major tools for IT recruiters: "According to the ATSCo survey, the vast majority of recruitment consultants use social networking sites to find candidates and network with clients (83%)." Blogs are also increasingly important, especially in the IT industry.
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• Commercial Doors - 10/31/2007
  This is an excellent guide to a topic I've honestly never even given much thought to. I had no idea there was so much variety and so many factors to consider. Thanks, Selena!
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• Marketing for Professionals - 10/31/2007
  Also, while I think you've got some great advice here, I think the resource list is a little short. There are are SO many good articles and sites out there -- I think it would be helpful to point people to some more in-depth resources on some of these topics.
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• Using Email Effectively - 09/27/2007
  I leave mine open all day (too much of my work is done via email not to), but I turn off automatic send/receive, and I only do that in batches.
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• Postcard Marketing - 09/27/2007
  For smaller businesses, or for personalized cards, there's also Send Out Cards, which allows you to choose a card template, type in your own message, and send it to your recipient. You can even make a font of your own handwriting so that it looks like it's coming from you. This allows you to use it for thank-you cards, get well cards, whatever.
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• Promotional Pens - 09/27/2007
  Here's an idea for giving out your pens in a way that's useful, not pushy... Always carry a few with you in your pocket at networking events, conferences, etc. Whenever you hand someone your business card, jot some kind of personal note on there -- a useful web site, book title, your cell phone number, something they're supposed to send you, etc. Write the note with one of your pens, and when you hand them the business card, hand them the pen as well. A lot of people won't say anything and will just take the pen. If they do say something, tell them to keep it.
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• Open Innovation - 09/27/2007
  Hey Jeff - I'm already a huge fan of Fellowforce and have participated in several challenges, as well as blogged about it. And thank you for giving us a great example of both a) a guide that may be biased towards the author's company but still presents a valuable overview of the topic, and b) the power of social media by your subsequent interaction in the comments section. Bravo!
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• Cheap Laptops - 09/27/2007
  One thing in particular to watch out for, though, is video card capabilities. That's not easily upgraded on a laptop -- OK, it's usually not upgradable at all -- and if you want to do business in SecondLife or other 3-D virtual worlds, you'll need more up-to-date video capabilities. My laptop is about 4 years old, has 2 Gb RAM and a 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 CPU -- ample for most business applications -- but I can't run SecondLife on it at all and World of Warcraft (yes, you can actually do business networking there) is so choppy it's unplayable.
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• B2B Online Competitive Intelligence for Search Marketers - 09/27/2007
  Competitive analysis is essential for good SEO. Unfortunately, the typical metrics for analysing the "competitiveness" of search terms miss the mark. Most competitive metrics look at the number of results for a particular term, which really doesn't matter that much. What DOES matter is how well optimized the top 10 are: keyword density, keyword placement, inbound links, etc. When I'm doing keyword research, that's what I do -- look at the those three things for the top 10 competitors. That's how I decide if a particular keyword is worth pursuing or not, and how much effort to put into it.
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• Reducing Stress at Work - 09/27/2007
  Personally, I find leaning back in my chair and staring at the ceiling to be incredibly effective. Taking a break and playing a game works well, too.
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• Office Desks - 09/27/2007
  I learned something REALLY important about materials... there's a new kind of laminate that's been available the past few years in which the laminate is "baked in" as opposed to glued on. The easy way to tell is that the baked-in laminates have smooth, rounded corners vs. the hard rectangular corners on traditional laminates. The baked-in laminates are a LOT more durable and not subject to the annoying peeling problems of traditional laminates.
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• Ring Finger Sizing - 09/27/2007
  Within a few days? Plastic rings? Why not just do like so many places do and give people something they can print out from your web site instantly? That seems to be what most of the online jewelry stores do: Balfour ring sizer JewelryList.com ring sizer Overstock.com ring sizing chart Blue Nile ring sizer (this one is especially useful because it also includes a chart for measuring the size of one of your current rings) There's also a ring size conversion tool in case you know your size from one country and want to convert it to the sizing from another country. I think offering something like one of these would be a lot more effective, Ron. Who wants to wait 2-3 days to determine their ring size? By then you've likely lost the order.
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• Advertising That SELLS - How to get up to 3x more response on your ads? - 09/27/2007
  Myth: Keep it short or people won't read it. Fact: Keep it relevant and informative to the reader and appropriate to the context in which it's placed or people won't read it.
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• Person-to-Person Business Finance - 09/27/2007
  I've been following Kiva -- great to learn about these others. I think this is a really promising area, and I'm glad to see technology being used so effectively to enable this.
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• Online Brokers - 09/27/2007
  I think ShareBuilder is worth taking a particularly close look at, especially for people who are new to investing in stocks. They have an automatic investment plan that only charges $4 per trade -- great for those looking for growing their position in a few stocks long-term. They also offer real-time trades at competitive rates, but so far as I know, the other offering is unique. It's certainly what they've built their brand around.
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• Making Sure Your Online Presence is On Par - 09/27/2007
  I'm with Paul -- I felt like it was a bait-and-switch. You're a great writer, and this has so much potential. YOUR online presence would be made stronger by presenting a more balanced guide with links to numerous appropriate resources.
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• PC Cases - 09/27/2007
  Great guide, Judy -- I honestly had no idea there were SO many options available. For those people who have a Fry's in their town, it's the one store I know of that seems to have a pretty good variety of cases in stock, in case you want to go see them up close and personal.
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• Tracking Obscure News About Your Company - 09/27/2007
  I like to get my stuff via RSS as well. In addition to Google's blog search, I also use IceRocket and Technorati.
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• Using YouTube to Promote Your Business - 09/27/2007
  A couple of things I think are really important: 1) Don't do video just because you think everyone is doing video -- it has to make sense with your product or service. Some things lend themselves to visuals, others don't. 2) Fit into the YouTube ethos. It should be funny, entertaining, thought-provoking or educational. A typical ad or corporate/industrial video won't serve you well -- in fact it might actually backfire on you. My absolutely favorite example of effective YouTube marketing is the outstanding Will It Blend? series from Blendtec -- a perfect example of something that really lends itself to the visual medium. The real-time compilation is a great quick overview, and the glowsticks, marbles, tiki torch and golf club are all particularly impressive. It's amazing what's happened with it -- not only has it spawned a plethora of parodies, it's become so successful that they actually now parody themselves (AFTER watching some of the others, see the Chuck Norris video or the crowbar).
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• Business DSL - 09/27/2007
  Now that cable companies are also offering high-speed business-grade services, any thoughts on comparing DSL to cable?
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• Buy A Small Business Successfully - 09/26/2007
  Yeah -- I agree with Donna. The valuation is one of the most important steps, and there's nothing in here about it.
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• Remove backgrounds from photos easy and smooth - 09/26/2007
  Ideally, your background is a significantly different color than your subject, and if so, you can use the magic wand tool to select the background separately from your main subject. You'll have to tweak the sensitivity setting to get it just right. Once you get close to your subject's edges, make sure you feather the selection so that you get a soft, blended edge. Also, no need to spend the money on Photoshop -- GIMP is a free open-source graphics program with most of the capabilities of Photoshop. About.com's Graphics Software Guide, Sue Chastain, has an excellent tutorial on removing backgrounds.
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• Facebook Basics for Your Business - 09/26/2007
  Excellent guide, Brian. I have to admit that even though social networking is my core business, I've been so busy that I really haven't had much time to spend exploring Facebook, but I've been extremely impressed with their approach from a technology standpoint. I love the open API and all the implications of it, and I can only hope that other major social networks will follow suit.
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• Dress Codes for Small Business - 08/31/2007
  I don't know that I agree, Susan. Just as you differentiated between a production environment and an office environment, should software developers have to wear the same thing that salespeople who are calling on customers do? I think there's also a difference between back-office and customer-facing. But the reality is that even if there "shouldn't" be, if you require dress shirts and ties from software developers, you won't attract and keep top talent. In Silicon Valley or here in Austin, where I live, require business casual and you won't attract and keep top technical talent.
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• Choosing the Best Small Business Credit Card - 08/31/2007
  If you travel a lot, you may want to get a card that has no pre-set spending limit. It's very easy to max out a $5,000 credit limit in just a couple of trips.
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• Finding Home-Business Opportunities - 08/31/2007
  There are absolutely pyramid schemes out there -- I see a couple of new ones every month. But people shouldn't make the mistake of equating legitimate network marketing / multi-level marketing with a pyramid scheme. Many MLM companies cost little or nothing to join and provide excellent products/services at a fair price.
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• Finding New Business Ideas - 08/31/2007
  Another good approach to starting a business is "ride a trend". In addition to Springwise (one of my very favorite sites), check out their sister site, Trendwatching.com. Also, Anita Campbell, one of our Work.com experts, has her own site on small business trends.
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• the 2007 Postage Rate Changes - 08/31/2007
  I would say that reading this makes me just want to do even more electronically where possible, but email delivery is becoming increasingly complex in itself! ;-)
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• Resume and Cover Letter Writing Services - 08/31/2007
  I think it's important to state that the same resume does not necessarily suit every job application. When I was searching, I had about four different basic versions that focused on different strengths and experience, and would then customize it a little bit if needed for a particular job.
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• Low-Cost Businesses You Can Start - 08/31/2007
  I'm surprised direct selling and network marketing aren't on here. Absolutely, certainly, there are rip-offs in both of those areas, but there are also many that you can start for less than $50 and in some cases even free. Do a lot of people end up unsuccessful in them? Yes, but then a lot of people end up unsuccessful in other businesses, especially if they're undercapitalized and/or inexperienced. When you isolate out that factor, the stats are much closer. There are also lots of other ways to make money online -- blogging, social media, etc. -- many of which require little or no money to start. And you can go buy expensive training programs on how to do it, but most of the information is out there for free if you just know where to look.
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• Creating a Great Business Plan - 08/31/2007
  You can have a great business plan, but then have a few mistakes kill the whole deal. Some examples: - Value inflation / hype ("unparalleled", "unique", "superb returns", etc.) - Failing to relate to a true pain (having a product that seems cool, but customers don't really *need*, so won't spend money on) - "We have no competition." - Of course you do. If you think you don't, you don't understand what competition is, and that's a problem. - Unrealistic financials. It doesn't matter how enticing they look if they aren't believable. That's just a sampling. More at Why Business Plans Don't Get Funded.
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• Angel Investor Preferences Right Now - 08/31/2007
  First-hand experience -- they like to see at least a prototype of your product, too, which can be a challenge for a tech company if your founders aren't also developers.
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• Guarding Your Business against Fraud - 08/31/2007
  Hah -- Frank Abagnale! That's the guy from "Catch Me If You Can". Interesting comments from him about the movie.
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• Labor Law Posters - 08/31/2007
  Excellent guide, Ned. I'm sure a lot of first-time business owners have no idea about this.
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• Phone Conferencing Services - 08/25/2007
  Actually, the cheapest solution is free conferencing. ;-) Depending on your needs, they may do the job just fine. Three that I've used successfully in the past are FreeConference.com, FreeConferenceCall.com and Basement Ventures. Basement has a limit of 250, rather than 100, and I think all three of them now provide free recording as well. Honestly, I don't know how they all do it -- I'm sure they get a few upsells, but compared to how much usage the free service gets, I have to wonder. They've all been around for a while, though, so the business model must be working.
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• Using Microsoft Outlook in Your Business - 08/25/2007
  One of the most important things to do to improve your productivity with Outlook 2003 or earlier is to get a good search tool -- the one built in to Outlook is certainly flexible enough, but incredibly slow on a large archive. There used to be a great add-on for it called Lookout, but Microsoft bought them and incorporated the technology into Outlook 2007. I tried Windows Desktop Search, but it didn't work on my machine. As a free alternative, I suggest either Copernic Desktop Search or Google Desktop. Or just bite the bullet and upgrade to Outlook 2007.
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• Desktop Publishing - 08/25/2007
  My best recommendation about desktop publishing packages: don't buy it if you don't need it. MS Word has become an extremely capable and powerful tool and will adequately meet the needs of many people, if you learn its capabilities. Of course there are certain kinds of things that are much easier in a full-fledged page layout tool, but you also have to consider the learning curve for a whole new application. Compared to the volume of desktop publishing you do, will it really save you the time and money in the long run?
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• Free Business Software for Windows - 08/25/2007
  One of the most important ones for me has been GIMP, a very powerful open-source alternative to Photoshop -- more than ample for most business needs. Another is Audacity, which I use for editing all of my podcasts, sound bites and audio products. Still waiting impatiently for a true Outlook killer though -- calendar, email, contact management and task list all rolled into one.
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• Firefox Extensions for Productivity - 08/25/2007
  What a great resource, Greg. I'm going to check out Who Is This Person and Signature this weekend -- those would both be extremely helpful to me and a lot of people I know.
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• Instant Messaging for Small Business - 08/25/2007
  Don't forget about Skype. If you're already using it for voice communications, why not also use it for text and have one less piece of software to deal with?
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• VoIP for Small Business - 08/25/2007
  While I'm still a big fan of Skype, I have to say that I'm reconsidering my use of VOIP as my main home phone line (I currently have digital phone from TimeWarner). I have been finding that it doesn't always give good consistent quality when recording conference calls, interviews for podcasts, or radio appearances. If you do much of that, you might seriously think about not using VOIP as your only phone line.
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• Marketing to African-American Consumers - 08/25/2007
  Don't forget about social networking, both as a marketing channel but even more importantly as a market research tool. While largely unknown outside the African-American community, BlackPlanet.com is actually one of the largest and most popular social networking sites overall.
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• Promotional Apparel: More Than Just T-Shirts! - 08/05/2007
  I agree -- this is one of the best guides I've seen. Very detailed, thorough, and -- most importantly -- ACTIONABLE!
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• Using a List for Lead Generation - 08/01/2007
  It's a bit more labor-intensive, but you can get super-targeted by doing searches on sites like ZoomInfo and LinkedIn. Through LinkedIn, if you use it right (i.e., connecting with people you actually know, not just anybody who will connect with you), you can get warm introductions as well.
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• Creating Great Presentations - 08/01/2007
  Good guide, Carol. Another couple of good resources are the 7 Deadly Sins of PowerPoint Presentations and the Beyond Bullets blog.
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• Marketing Your Business With a Blog - 07/31/2007
  I alluded to it in an earlier comment below, but I've had some great success on a couple of my blogs lately (one just moved into the "very high authority group" at Technorati, i.e., "the A-list", and the other has had like 40% growth each month the last couple of months). What from? Primarily off-blog activities -- blog carnivals, commenting on other blogs, participating in relevant discussion forums and linking to my blog in response to questions, etc. Some people spend all their time focused on writing their blog -- I'm of the opinion that you should spend at least as much time promoting your blog elsewhere as you spend writing it.
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• Promoting a Local Business Online - 07/31/2007
  A couple of other important sites for local businesses are Yelp and CitySearch, both of which seem to come up in the search engines a lot for local searches.
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• Promoting a Local Business Online - 07/31/2007
  If you're a service business, don't forget craigslist, which is free and can be a huge source of business.
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• Using Negative Keywords in Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Marketing - 07/31/2007
  This is an excellent topic and guide - really valuable knowledge that is not in the mainstream conversation about this topic. Thanks, Lindsey!
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• Low-Cost Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Outlets - 07/31/2007
  Keep in mind that a lower CPC (cost-per-click) doesn't necessarily equate to a lower CPA (cost-per-action), since the conversion rate will be higher if the audience is more qualified. One company that provides an interesting solution in that regard is Industry Brains. They handle PPC on sites like C|Net, BusinessWeek, Motley Fool, USA Today, InfoWorld, Aparments.com, etc. -- a lot of big names. The cool thing is, you can target your campaign by site, not just by topic, so it's very easy to reach a particular target niche demographic.
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• Writing Successful PPC Ad Copy - 07/31/2007
  Good guide overall, but I'm not sure I entirely agree with some of the recommendations about pricing, for example. See, the thing is, you don't want to pay for them to come to your site if they're a browser, not a buyer. Remember, in most cases, your objective is not maximum visitors, but maximum buyers. So a 1% CTR with a 20% conversion rate is better than a 2% CTR with a 10% conversion rate, because it produces the same number of buyers at a lower cost to you. Your copy should not only attract, but also qualify.
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• 5 Tips for Improving Your Company's Landing Pages - 07/31/2007
  Another point about the call to action... have at least one obvious instance of it "above the fold", i.e., on the first screen full of information. You can have it down at the bottom of some longer copy too, but if people are ready to buy, why force them to grind through your sales letter?
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• Increasing Landing Page Conversion Rates - 07/31/2007
  This is such a great topic, Jeff -- I'd really love to see more detail in this guide.
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• Using Affiliate Marketing for Your Web Site - 07/31/2007
  Linda, I'm seeing a growing trend among infopreneurs of requiring people to buy a copy of their infoproduct in order to become an affiliate. What's your take on that? Also, what about PLR (Private Label Rights), in which you buy the product once, and then have unlimited rights to sell it yourself, i.e., you make the one-time investment, but after that you make 100% of the sale?
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• Using Online Videos for Your Business - 07/31/2007
  Another great example of online video marketing is the Will It Blend? campaign from Blendtec. They have their own site, but they're also some of the most popular videos on YouTube.
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• Pay-Per-Click Strategy for Beginners - 07/31/2007
  Good intro, Darwin. One key thing that I think you would do well to add is a little bit on bidding strategies, like bidding for the #2/3/4 slot instead of #1. Also, the idea that you actually probably want copy that weeds out browsers and narrows it down to buyers. You generally don't want to pay for browsers, but qualified prospects, so sometimes a lower CTR can actually be a more effective campaign if the conversion rate once they're on your site is higher because they are better qualified based on the ad copy.
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• Holistic Link Building for Your Web Site - 07/31/2007
  Blogging is another great way to build links to your site. Of course, just blogging on its own isn't going to do it - you have to get out and connect with other bloggers, write unique content that people will link to, participate in blog carnivals, etc. But using these strategies, I managed to move my blog into the "very high authority group" on Technorati, i.e., 500+ links in the past 180 days. That of course impacts Google and all the other search engines as well.
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• Managing Your Google AdWords Campaign - 07/31/2007
  This is actually an excellent guide, Ben... I'd just like to see you link out to a more diverse set of resources. I think that would improve the rankings of this article. One key thing missing from this guide is some ideas on managing your bids -- for example the idea that you probably actually don't want to be #1, but #2 or 3 or 4, because you pay a lot less and get nearly the same CTR, or the idea that you need to tie your CTR analysis to your conversion statistics, because in actuality, you don't just want clicks, you want sales. So a lower CTR with a higher conversion rate can actually be more cost-effective advertising than a high CTR.
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• Make Google Fall in Love With Your Small Business Website - 07/31/2007
  Agreed -- very refreshing, Caroline, and as a former professional SEO myself, I'll say that this is a great concise guide to get people started. The one thing I would add is regarding fresh content... blogs are extremely powerful for building search engine rankings. Plus, there's a whole set of dedicated search engines just for blogs. Even though it's a few years old, this case study on using a blog to achieve #1 rankings in Google is all still highly applicable.
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• Getting Started in Advertising - 07/31/2007
  Here's another interesting idea I've been playing with... you know, when you start paying for your ads, you want to make sure you've got them right. Try running free ads with different headlines and different ad copy, testing the response rate, and then use the one with the best response for your paid ads.
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• Marketing on a Meager Budget - 07/31/2007
  Reading through this again, Lou, I was thinking... you know, you have such a good guide to word-of-mouth marketing... why not cross-link it in here?
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• Marketing Online - 07/31/2007
  Also, I think blogging and other social media are playing an increasingly important role -- might be a good addition to this guide.
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• Writing a Marketing Plan - 07/31/2007
  Jon - you've provided an overview, but I'd like to see some more details. What about market research? What about how to do a realistic estimate of your target market? How about a link to a resource on SWOT analysis? Positioning? Pricing strategy? There's just a lot more that could be said, even in an introductory article.
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• Getting 1 Million Friends on MySpace - 07/01/2007
  Given how fast bulletins roll off when people have a lot of friends, is it REALLY all that valuable to have that many friends? And if so, could you please explain how? Other than bulletins, which I'm skeptical about, what can you do with friends that you can't do with just anybody on MySpace?
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• Getting the Most Out of LinkedIn - 07/01/2007
  Very well-done guide, Greg, and I say that as someone who blogs about LinkedIn 4-5 days a week and trains companies on how to use it. One of the things I constantly encounter is that people have no imagination about how to use it beyond whatever context they first started using it in, i.e., reconnecting with former colleagues or finding a job usually. So earlier this year I led a group blogging project around the many business cases for using LinkedIn. I've compiled those results, as well as added links to articles and blog posts I've been collecting, plus some writings of my own, and put it all in one permanent resource: 80+ Smart Ways to Use LinkedIn I'm constantly adding stuff to it all the time -- I never cease to be amazed at the applications people find for it.
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• Squidoo - 07/01/2007
  Squidoo is such a great site, and you're such a great marketer, Seth... so please forgive me for saying it, but somehow I really expected more from this guide. Maybe you should get Bob the Teacher or Kimberly Wells to re-write it for you. ;-)
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• Business Networking Online - 07/01/2007
  I do find the talk of community ironic, since this is a community, but this article goes totally against the ethos of this community. One of the most important things for people to understand about networking online is how to share information that positions you as an expert and introduces your products or services, but without coming across as just an ad. One very important way to do this is by presenting your competition as well as your own product or service. I know it kind of defies conventional wisdom to show your competitors, but it's actually a great strategy, assuming you are sufficiently distinguished from your competitors (and if you're not, you don't deserve the business anyway). It's been a very successful approach for Progressive Auto Insurance, in fact. They show live quotes from themselves and competitors right there on their site, and they're not always the lowest price. But it's a very effective mechanism, because it gets people to their site to come compare. As this guide sites, it doesn't make me want to come check out the site -- quite the reverse, actually. But if it included information about LinkedIn, Xing, Ryze, Facebook, etc., and described the strengths of each of them, including the strengths of Fast Pitch, then it would attract your target audience -- those who appreciate what makes your site different. As it sits, it sounds like an ad -- hence the very low rating by readers.
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• Marketing - 07/01/2007
  One of the things that I think a lot of internet marketing "experts" don't get is that the teeny tiny little bit of "Google juice" from a couple of extra keyword links isn't nearly worth the value of the missed opportunity to position yourself as an expert by sharing valuable knowledge. Not only that, it can actually leave a negative impression on visitors and may in fact be doing more harm than good.
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• Making Your Site Mobile Friendly - 06/30/2007
  One extremely important first step is to make sure all your web pages are XHTML compliant (applies the more rigorous standards of XML to HTML). A lot of sloppy HTML that works fine in browsers (because they've continued to bloat over the years to accommodate it) will break on mobile devices. In Dreamweaver, that's an automated one-step process (on each page). In other design tools, it may take a little more work. w3schools has an excellent XHTML tutorial.
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• Using Online Videos for Your Business - 06/30/2007
  FreeIQ is a great place to host your business videos. At the moment they allow unlimited uploads. You can also charge for your video content through their system as well.
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• Using Affiliate Marketing for Your Web Site - 06/30/2007
  I think it's worth warning about making the distinction between affiliate marketing and MLM, but the distinction isn't that black-and-white. First of all, some affiliate programs DO have a 2-tiered commission structure, i.e., you make money off the sales made by the people who signed up under you. Legally, this is actually NOT multi-level since it's only two tiers. But, if you can get a couple of good people directly under you, you can make some nice income off their work as well as your own. Also, there are actually some MLMs (e.g., Cognigen) that cost nothing to join as a rep. Then it's not really that different from an affiliate program is it? MLM's are fine when they offer a unique product, or even a good product at a fair price. I only have a major problem with them when they try to do stupid stuff like sell me noni juice for $30 a bottle when I can get the same stuff at Whole Foods for $17!
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• Podcasting for Small Business - 06/30/2007
  Another very effective thing to do, if you have the time, or the budget to outsource it, is to transcribe the podcast. This is especially important if you have advertising revenue on your site -- you want the page views! Also, the full transcript will be much better search engine food than a brief description will be.
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• Getting Video on the Web - 06/30/2007
  And please, oh please, make it entertaining (preferably), or at least educational about something other than your business. I've seen a few things that were just 3-minute commercials, often in the form of a documentary, and couldn't be less interesting (or less effective!). One of my favorite examples of video marketing done right is Blendtec's Will It Blend?, which are some of the most popular videos on YouTube and other sites.
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• 5 Tips for Improving Your Company's Landing Pages - 06/30/2007
  I found your guide very helpful, John. I would find it even more helpful if some of your outgoing links led to more specific information. Sites like MarketingSherpa and MarketingProfs are HUGE sites and the information you refer to is not readily obvious.
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• Using Yahoo Answers to Market Your Business - 06/30/2007
  Even though there's a much smaller total user base, I've found LinkedIn Answers to be a better venue for businesspeople. I've even done a couple of head-to-head competitions with my son, a die-hard Yahoo Answers junkie, to see whether we get better answers to questions from LinkedIn Answers or Yahoo Answers, and LinkedIn has won hands-down every time.
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• Using Webinars - 06/30/2007
  I think another important point is to know your audience. If it's not a fairly tech-savvy audience, you really may be better off just doing a teleclass and having a PDF or web presentation (PowerPoint can generate it for you automatically) that people can follow along with. I generally think the webinar creates a better overall experience, but I also have heard that as high as 20% of potential attendees experience technical difficulties and end up missing some or all of the presentation. If your presentation is fairly simple and doesn't require a live product demonstration, you might seriously consider using the simpler technology.
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• Conversion Tracking Simplified - 06/30/2007
  Great information, Linda -- in fact, I had just posted a comment on another guide tonight looking for exactly this information about tracking across different channels.
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• Contextual Ads - 06/30/2007
  Good article, Ben, but I'd find it even more helpful if the links out about PPC and search engine marketing gave more information about those topics, rather than an ad for your company's services.
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• Building a Global Website-47535-47535 - 06/30/2007
  Good article, Ben, but what's up with the "47535" in the title?
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• Advertising with Banner Ads - 06/30/2007
  The standard 486x60 banner that we've all come to know and hate isn't nearly as popular as it once was. Ads come in a variety of sizes. Check with each site or ad network as to what sizes they support. You can also see the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) standard ad units to get more familiar with the options.
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• Monetizing your Web site - 06/30/2007
  One way that site owners can get more variety and more mileage out of their Amazon affiliate program is to use their new Omakase links, which display product links appropriate to the content of the page. With as wide a variety of products as Amazon now carries, this can help mix it up on your site, rather than just showing the same few book links over and over. I also know a lot of bloggers are having great results with Chitika, which creates context-driven merchandise kiosks, similar to the Amazon Omakase links. The difference is... the Chitika stuff is pay-per-click, not pay-per-sale.
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• Building Your Business with Google - 06/30/2007
  Don't forget about using Google News Alerts and Google Blog Search (you can subscribe to search results via RSS) to keep track of your: - Industry - Competitors - Customers - Prospects
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• Marketing Online - 06/30/2007
  Linda - your third point is about being "easily trackable". Could you elaborate on that some more please? I know each tool (e.g., Google AdWords, affiliate services like Commission Junction and LinkShare, etc.) will give you reporting tools, but how can you best consolidate your reporting across multiple channels? Also, how can you monitor to validate if the numbers those tools are reporting are consistent with your own data?
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• Marketing for Professionals - 06/30/2007
  "Resume"? What's that? ;-) Seriously, as an independent professional, who provides their printed resume any more? Have a link to your web site and on your web site have links to all your articles -- yes, including your Work.com guides (note to self: practice what you preach, Scott - practice what you preach!). I also like to provide my LinkedIn profile, because there a potential client can see something that I can't very well put on a resume or my site -- lots of testimonials from people with verifiable identities.
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• Overcoming your Fears of Launching a Business - 06/30/2007
  Great guide, Carmina! I think the research point is really important. Fear of the unknown can be just as powerful as fear of failure, and feeling prepared and informed will help alleviate that.
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• Using Zillow.com In Your Real Estate Marketing Plan - 06/05/2007
  Also, it would read better if you just hyperlinked the appropriate text rather than writing out the URL's, e.g., replace: visit our accuracy chart at http://www.zillow.com/howto/DataCoverageZestimateAccuracy.htm. with visit our accuracy chart.
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• Using Zillow.com In Your Real Estate Marketing Plan - 06/05/2007
  I would also recommend removing the "FREE" in all caps -- makes it read like a sales letter rather than a how-to guide.
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• Overcoming Speaking Anxiety in Meetings & Presentations - 06/01/2007
  I love the saying they have in Toastmasters... "Don't expect not to have butterflies in your stomach when you speak. The trick is to get the butterflies to fly in formation."
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• Business Etiquette - 06/01/2007
  Another important tip: "When in Rome, do as the Romans." Business etiquette varies significantly not only between countries, but even within parts of the country. For example, the business etiquette in an Austin or Silicon Valley tech company is going to be much more casual than in a Wall Street investment banking firm. Know who you're dealing with and dress and behave accordingly.
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• Microsoft PowerPoint - 06/01/2007
  Use the animation effects sparingly. Pick one that is consistent with the visual style of your presentation and stick to it. Switching slide transition effects constantly can be very distracting. Also, try to avoid the traditional bullet point list if you can. The more you can use your slide presentation to communicate visually/graphically, rather than through words, the better. A couple of good resources are The 7 Deadly Sins of Powerpoint Presentations and the Beyond Bullets blog.
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• Delivering an Outstanding Presentation - 06/01/2007
  The more you can use your slide presentation to communicate visually/graphically, rather than through words, the better. A couple of good resources are The 7 Deadly Sins of Powerpoint Presentations and the Beyond Bullets blog.
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• Upgrading Your Business Image - 06/01/2007
  You mentioned phone system in the intro - how about adding a bullet point expanding on that? How your phone is handled is very important for your business image.
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• Promoting Yourself as an Expert to the Media - 06/01/2007
  Writing for web sites and newsletters is a great way to start, and I recommend keeping it as part of your mix. But if you're positioning yourself as an expert, you definitely want to get yourself published by an established, well-known publication. Why do both? In my experience, for example, the fact that I write a monthly column for FastCompany.com seems to really impress people -- it looks great in my credentials. But writing for sites like Work.com, or posting my articles in Ezine Articles, actually generates more traffic to my website. It's not an either/or proposition, but for media attention and credibility, the conventional media outlets seem to carry more weight.
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• Great Low-Cost PR Tactics - 06/01/2007
  One of my favorite free PR tactics is writing letters to the editor. I've used it very successfully -- at least half of the letters to the editor I've written have either gotten printed/published or generated future contact with the journalist who wrote the story.
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• Getting Publicity for Your Business - 06/01/2007
  Make sure you get yourself listed in LinkedIn and take charge of your profile on ZoomInfo. A growing number of journalists are using these tools as sources to find expert sources rather than ProfNet and other traditional sources.
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• How to Win a Business Award - 05/31/2007
  One other thing I thought of... don't do junk awards -- winning "Joe's web site of the day" can actually hurt you rather than help you. OK, winning it won't hurt you, but promoting the fact that you've won it just looks cheesy. Stick to established, credible awards.
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• Writing a Press Release for Your Business - 05/31/2007
  One thing that several of the PR distribution services are now offering is a "social media" option which posts a link to your press release on a number of social media and social linking sites (del.icio.us, Digg, etc.). We had great luck with that with one of my clients -- it gave us hundreds of inbound links vs. just a few dozen. I definitely recommend spending the little bit of extra money for the increased exposure.
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• "On Sale" and Comparative Pricing - 05/31/2007
  Reading this makes me realize how very many businesses are in violation of those guidelines! Surprising.
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• Writing Sales Letters That Work - 05/31/2007
  One important thing to realize is that trends in sales letters are changing. More and more, people are becoming desensitized to traditional "market-ese" or "marketing speak". In most markets, the most effective sales letters these days are written in a more personal, conversational style. To find out what will work best for your target market, you need to do split testing -- develop two more variations on your letter and send them to small, representative samples. See which one generates the best response rate and go with that one.
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• Sales Systems and Techniques - 05/31/2007
  Personally I'm a big fan of the work of Sharon Drew Morgen, author of "Selling with Integrity" and creator of the Buying Facilitation methodology. Her approach is basically that you can't really "sell" anything -- you can only help people buy. At that point, you really become a facilitator, not a salesperson. The whole paradigm is different. Great stuff... highly recommended. Check out her newsletter archives, white papers and articles to learn more.
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• Getting the Most From Trade Shows as an Attendee - 05/31/2007
  One of the best things you can do at a trade show, whether you're an exhibitor, a presenter or just an attendee, is to get some face-to-face time with industry media and analysts. Also, industry bloggers are good people to connect with -- for insight, immediate exposure, and long-term relationships.
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• Developing a Trade Show Planning Timeline - 05/31/2007
  One important thing I haven't seen mentioned in this or any of the other trade show guides is to contact media and industry analysts and set up meeting times with them at the show.
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• Trade-Show Giveaways - 05/31/2007
  I'd skip the bags -- most shows give out bags to attendees already. Pens are OK, but only if they're really distinctive. Remember -- most pens are disposable... do you really want them throwing away your giveaway in three months when it doesn't write any more? My best recommendation? Toys and puzzles. That's something people will keep on their desk where it's visible. And they're universal -- male and female, developers and executives. Here's a catalog I found of promo puzzles to give you an idea.
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• Trade Show Booths and Displays - 05/31/2007
  If you're doing the basic single booth, you definitely want to make sure that your exhibit is something that you can set up with just one person. Try it out yourself with a sample model - don't just take their word for it. Another thing... spend the money to get your graphics done on something durable. I made the mistake of doing it on the cheap the first time -- just having them mounted on foam core -- and they barely lasted through two shows.
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• Finding a Business Attorney or Legal Specialist - 05/31/2007
  A couple of other ways to find attorneys: LinkedIn and blawgs (legal blogs). I recently wrote on my blog about lawyers using LinkedIn, and one commenter wrote a great story about how LinkedIn helped him find an attorney who had formerly been a collection agent -- hard to pick that out of most traditional ways of finding an attorney. Also, the availability of real testimonials can help with your selection process. Blawgs are especially helpful when you're looking for someone with deep experience in a particular field of practice. It can give you some insight not only as to how they write, but also how they think -- far more depth than a yellow pages ad or a referral service is going to provide.
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• Do-it-Yourself Legal Help - 05/31/2007
  Don't forget that you can simply do a web search for specific needs. For example, when I was looking for a new, simpler consulting contract, I Googled "consulting contract template" and found dozens of them.
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• Managing a Fast-Growing Business - 05/01/2007
  One of the most important things to do is to focus on processes. Small companies get away with a lot of stuff by the seat of their pants. As the company grows, process helps ensure that things don't fall through the cracks, that you have consistent product/service delivery across multiple people, and that you do not become entirely dependent on the specific people you have hired.
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• Avoiding Repetitive Stress Syndrome - 04/30/2007
  I did a lot of experimenting with different mice, touchpads and other pointing devices. While I'm admittedly not an ergonomics expert, I did a lot of analysis and experimentation regarding the natural motion and position of the hand. What I ended up settling on as the most ergonomic solution was the Logitech TrackMan Wheel. It takes some getting used to, but switching to it has completely eliminated the pains I was getting in my right wrist using a mouse.
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• VoIP for Small Business - 04/30/2007
  I've been a very happy Skype user for years. In addition to the free PC-to-PC calls, they have very cheap rates for calls to standard phones. You can also do conferencing up to 5 people for free. And there are a ton of free and inexpensive add-on products, like desktop sharing, web conferencing, call recording, voice mail, etc.
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• Word-of-Mouth Marketing - 04/30/2007
  This is a great guide, Lou. For those interested in learning more about word of mouth, on May 1, 2007, I'm going to be giving away 25 copies of Andy Sernovitz's Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking as part of a group blogging project. Check out Linked Intelligence on May 1 for more details.
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• Cutting Your Overhead Costs - 04/30/2007
  Here are a few more ideas: Even better than Vonage, use Skype internally - it's free for PC-to-PC calls. Another important way to cut costs is to look at your debts and any corporate credit cards. Don't run up high-interest credit or late fees - pay your balance in full and on time every month. Also, take advantage of early payment discounts with your vendors - that's a form of hidden interest (and very high at that). Buy slightly used or open box / fire sale / scratch & dent equipment when you can. Join a warehouse club for your office supplies and other consumables (and maybe even an occasional piece of furniture, electronics, etc.). Use web conferencing where possible to cut down on travel expenses. Consider allowing employees to telecommute, at least part-time, to reduce the need for additional office space and furnishings.
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• Improving Your Collections - 04/30/2007
  I think an important thing to keep in mind is that most of your customers - especially B2B customers - actually want to pay you. Offering them a payment plan is far less expensive and better for your customer relationships than referring to an outside collection agency. And while you may not want a slow-paying customer, keep in mind that if you keep a good relationship with them, they may still refer other good paying customers. I know one business owner who used this strategy significantly to his advantage. With slow paying customers, he made an offer to them that he would credit 25% of any new business they referred to him towards their account. He told me that one of his clients referred one major new client to him that did so much business that his overdue balance was paid off from the referral fees in less than 90 days.
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• Protecting a Business Name - 04/30/2007
  Sound advice, Matt. It's interesting that all the legal advice sites tell you that the only way to ensure trademark protection in federal court is to register the trademark, but in practice - in actual case law - the courts have fairly consistently upheld common law ideas of first use. For some excellent information on common law trademark and domain rights, check out the Chilling Effects Clearinghouse.
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• Dealing with Difficult Customers - 04/30/2007
  One surefire way to aggravate an already irate customer is to give them the runaround - there's nothing more frustrating than when someone won't give you a way to identify them (i.e., they want to give you only a first name or last name), or they won't turn you over to a supervisor when you've reached detente with them, or they won't give you the contact information for the manager/director/whatever. My wife has taken to just calling directly into the president's office when she can't get satisfaction from customer service. She'll get an executive assistant, not the president, but they will almost always make sure the issue gets handled expeditiously.
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• Retaining More Customers - 04/30/2007
  Another important one -- Get Feedback. It can be formally or informally, but if you want to know what keeps your loyal customers coming back, why not ask them? Also, if a customer lets you know they're leaving, that's a learning opportunity. Make sure you let them know you're not trying to talk them out of leaving, but you'd like to know so that you can better serve other customers in the future. Unless you've completely pissed them off, they'll most likely be willing to tell you -- you just weren't competitive on price, their new brother-in-law is in the same business, they're exploring their options, whatever.
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• Point-of-Sale (POS) Software and Systems - 04/30/2007
  An important thing to consider in selecting your POS system is what kind of barcode reader (if any) you'll want -- handhelds are more flexible, but break down faster from wear and tear. Another important consideration is flexibility. For example, one POS system I worked on several years ago, the client wanted a tally of the retail price vs. their price and a grand total at the end as to how much money they had saved compared to retail. The system didn't directly support it, but the software included source code, so we were able to easily modify it to accommodate the client's needs.
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• Finding the Latest Sales and Marketing News - 04/30/2007
  Oh... forgot about this one... Sales & Marketing Management magazine is a great resource. They have some free articles on their site, but you'll want to subscribe to the print magazine.
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• Publicizing Your Business - 04/30/2007
  I'm a big fan of using letters to the editor as a PR tool. Whenever a news story runs that has something to do with your field of expertise, write a letter to the editor. It's especially effective if you actually have a contrary position. Publications love controversy. Besides getting printed themselves, they also often get editors to use you as a source for a follow-up story.
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• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - 04/30/2007
  Another couple of key tips: 1. Make sure that your keywords are present in your H1, H2 and H3 tags -- your headings. Also, the general consensus is that it's better to use these heading tags than to just make the text large and bold. 2. It's only possible to optimize a page for basically one or two "keyword clusters". What's a keyword cluster? A collection of phrases that use the same words, e.g., "Chicago area Ford dealer", "Chicago Ford dealer" and "Chicago Ford". You can optimize a different page on your site for, say "Chicago used cars", but not the same page. 3. There is such a thing as overdoing it. Search engine algorithms look at keyword density as well as placement, and there is such a thing as too high as well as too low. Just use your keywords naturally and you'll be fine. 4. When you combined #2 and #3, you can see why shorter pages focused on a single topic do much better than long pages covering multiple topics.
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• Using Webinars - 04/30/2007
  I've personally used at least half a dozen different web conferencing providers, and the one I've settled on for my own stuff is Talking Communities, which I've found to be very reliable at a great price with great customer service. One important thing to keep in mind with your presentations for webinars is that your animations generally won't work in the webinar. Skip the slide transitions and the custom animations. If you need a before and after, make two slides instead.
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• Debit Cards for Small Business - 04/29/2007
  Debit card policies vary a lot between car rental companies, and even between locations within the same company. The biggest thing you have to watch for if they do accept it is that you will likely have a hold of several hundred dollars put on your card. That may be unexpected if you're just renting a car for a weekend. Also, when you return the car, the rental charge will be charged separately. You need to make sure the hold gets cleared, and I've had it happen that it didn't get cleared properly, so my available balance was a lot lower than expected. In my experience, Alamo and Advantage have been reliable to use with a debit card. I also just did a web search and found this great post on the No Credit Needed blog (great resource!), which lists the debit card policies of several major car rental companies (as of April 18, 2007): Can I Use A Debit Card To Rent A Car?
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• Filling a Cash Flow Shortage - 04/29/2007
  You're not in the business of being a bank (unless of course you're a bank, but...). Get payment up front as much as possible. Don't be shy to ask for it - it's not that uncommon. Net 30 terms can be a reward for established customers. Also, if you sell expensive equipment, consider finding a finance or leasing company to work with and let them handle the financing instead of you. That way the customer pays the interest, not you.
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• Pricing Your Products or Services Properly - 04/29/2007
  I have an overview on my site of pricing strategy and show how to calculate four pricing methods. I'm personally a fan of value-based pricing. That's how you keep your margins up. Might want to mention/explain that method in your guide.
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• Creating a Home Office with Minimum Distractions - 04/29/2007
  Don't forget to take breaks, and when you do, spend time with your family, preferably in some kind of physical activity -- not playing games on your computer! :-)
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• Home Office Tax Deduction - 04/29/2007
  Keep an eye on this topic -- Congressman Lee Terry (R-KS) has proposed the Parents' Tax Relief Act, which among its many benefits, includes: "PTRA creates a standard home-office tax deduction to replace complicated IRS regulations that prevent many home businesses from deducting legitimate expenses." Check out the press release.
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• Creating Balance in Your Working Life - 04/29/2007
  Just as important as setting boundaries for yourself about not doing work during family time is setting boundaries with your family regarding your work time. You have to be able to close the door (figuratively, if not literally - some of us don't have an actual door to close) and get work done. If you're the primary earner and your spouse is primarily housewife/househusband, they need to handle things at the house themselves just like they would if you were at the office -- they can't pull you into every little dilemma or drama. You also have to get kids (and spouses, if you have small kids too young to control themselves) to understand about quiet time so that you can take your business calls without worrying about a sudden scream or blast of loud music in the background.
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• Protecting the Home Office - 04/29/2007
  Another really important thing to do is to get a private mailbox service. Using a private mailbox allows you to keep your home address unpublished. And your mail and packages are kept safe and secure until you pick them up, rather than being subject to possible theft from an unprotected home mailbox. Also, if you're away from home for a couple of days, your mail won't stack up, letting people know that you're gone. I did a write-up on this including some more advantages and how-tos: Using a Private Mailbox
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• Keeping Good Employees - 04/11/2007
  There's some great advice here, Jenni. The only problem I see is that most of it still strikes me as very "top-down". For example, instead of just talking about clarifying responsibilities and expectations, how about engaging the employee to define their responsibilities and the commitments they are willing to make. Rather than creating expectations for them to live up to, have them make commitments, and expect them to meet them -- that way they have participated in defining those expectations. I think the single most important thing to realize is that different people are motivated differently. You can't just do a bunch of employee retention programs and hope that they work for most of your people. You have to find out what motivates each person -- what gets them coming back, day after day, committed to doing a great job. Keep a record of what that is for each person, and revisit it every time you do reviews.
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• Balancing Work and Life - 04/11/2007
  A common practice in many European countries/companies is to *require* employees to take their vacation -- no accumulation, no vacation pay if you don't take it -- use it or lose it. I'm not sure of the legalities of that in the U.S., but there's certainly a case to be made for making sure employees actually take some time off. And on the "slightly bizarre but it worked" front, one company I worked for had a dedicated room called the "Romper Room", filled with kid's toys -- stuffed animals, blocks, Etch-a-Sketch, Erector sets, Lincoln Logs, Legos, etc. Everyone was encouraged to spend as much time there as they wanted. No one abused the privilege, and it certainly did seem to foster a friendly, creative environment.
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• Free and Low-Cost Employee Perks - 04/11/2007
  Another thing to do is check with the bank you do business with. Many will offer specials discounts or account types for employees of their customers. For example, with one of my clients, I'm technically a part-time employee rather than a contractor, and as such I have access to a Chase Workplace account -- free checking plus some other perks if I set up my paycheck from there to be direct deposited into that account. Another nice perk is a Sam's Club or Costco membership, or at least allowing employees to use the company card. For example, a Sam's business membership gives you three cards: a personal one for you, one for a household member, and a company one that anyone at your company can use. If your business is small, you can certainly let an employee use the card at lunch or overnight. Or you can add on up to 8 cards on a basic business membership or 16 on the "business plus" membership. In a small business, even some simple things can really perk things up a bit. For example, one business owner I used to work for always bought a couple of Entertainment coupon books -- not one for every employee, but anyone could reach in and grab a coupon any time.
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• Reducing Health Insurance Costs - 04/11/2007
  One of the best sources of affordable health insurance for self-employed and small business owners is the National Association for the Self-Employed. You have to be a member to receive the discounted rates, but from what I've seen, the cost savings on the insurance offsets the cost of the membership for many people.
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• Getting a Trademark - 03/30/2007
  Filing a trademark doesn't have to be expensive or complex, but it's also non-trivial and not cheap -- unlike, say, buying a domain name. You don't just go send off a trademark application every time you have a new idea for a product or service. However, a lot of people don't realize that you do NOT have to have filed your trademark application before making use of the TM or SM in conjunction with the mark. In fact, it's very important to start using that as soon as you start putting the brand name into print and to save evidence of its first use. Granted, you may not have much protection to keep others from using the brand until you have it filed, but you will have evidence to back up your claims of first use. Also, should anyone else try to challenge your mark as being similar to theirs, if you have evidence of using it prior to their filing, you stand a better chance of being able to continue to use yours, even if it's not registered. In the U.S., the courts have traditionally upheld trademark rights based on the common law concept of seniority of use.
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• Networking with Other Business Owners - 03/30/2007
  Right on regarding the concepts, Lou, but some of the site references are a bit out-of-date. Knowmentum is out of business, and EntreMate is down to just a simple discussion forum, and not a lot of traffic, although the topics do look promising. Friendster is still around, I suppose, but has been dramatically outpaced by MySpace and Facebook, although Facebook is probably not the place to find business owners, since it requires some sort of organizational affiliation to even join. A couple notably absent from the list are Xing (formerly openBC) and especially Go BIG Network, which is specifically geared toward entrepreneurs and helping them match up with other entrepreneurs, investors, partners, etc. A couple of other suggestion regarding networking online: 1. Don't forget about good old discussion forums. Scott Stratten has a great list of business message boards. 2. Blogs are a great networking tool.
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• Starting a Bed and Breakfast - 03/30/2007
  There are some other legal factors to consider, and they vary from state to state, even city to city. A couple in particular... 1. Are there food service regulations in your city/state that may apply to you? 2. What about room taxes? Do the taxes that apply to hotel rooms apply to your B&B as well?
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• Increasing Your Online Visibility Using Work.com - 03/30/2007
  Yeah -- this is a great guide Shara -- my only comment is... why didn't you write it sooner? :-)
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• Automotive Dealership Marketing Online - 03/19/2007
  Search engine optimization is SO important. Do a search in most cities for the name of the city and the make of car, and it's not dealerships that come up in the top listings, but buying/quote services or maybe a directory of dealerships. Funny thing is, with proper site optimization, most dealers can move very high in the rankings quickly because they have so many more good links to them than the others do. I have a friend who specializes in web sites for auto dealers and one of the techniques they've found most effective is to have a pop-up "exit coupon" that appears when they exit the site -- if they give their name and contact info, it gives them a special offer, say, a few hundred dollars off (they might get that anyway through negotiating, but this prompts them to action). The biggest challenge with dealer sites is actual conversion -- getting the person from the web site into the dealership. This has turned out to be a very, very powerful tool. You can learn more about it at CarLeadsOnline.com. There may be others that provide this service -- I just know about them.
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• Search Engine Marketing for Small Business - 03/19/2007
  Excellent guide, Daniel. Your point about testing should be expanded on, though. Split testing (i.e., running multiple different headlines for the same campaign) is a must in search engine marketing so you can see which approaches are most effective. That doesn't mean you use only the one single most effective, but you definitely want to eliminate any ads that are getting a poor conversion rate. The other ESSENTIAL here is that you really can't talk about search engine marketing without talking about landing pages. Every campaign should usually have its own landing page that addresses the text of the ad. This will dramatically improve your conversion rates. Also, you want to do your own tracking of inbound traffic to your landing pages from the search engines. They won't match exactly with the vendor's numbers, but if they're way off, something's wrong and you need to investigate. Click fraud is still a big problem.
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• Domain Name WHOIS Search - 03/19/2007
  You say that "other WHOIS tools will actually query many other databases automatically and return the information" - do you have an example of one of those? It's a pain in the ___ to always have to go do two searches. And I love DomainTools.com -- great collection of useful tools.
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• Transferring a Domain Name - 03/19/2007
  It might also be useful to make a note about those scams where companies send you what looks like a renewal notice for a domain, when actually it's a transfer order to switch to them as your registrar.
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• What REALLY Matters In Web Design - 03/19/2007
  Yes -- the guide is really well-written and entertaining. Main thing I'd like to see is more good design/UI resources, e.g.: About Web Design Web Pages That Suck useit.com (Jakob Nielsen) There are also several good blogs on usability and user-centered design.
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• Building an Online Community - 03/05/2007
  To Greg's question about hosted online community services -- check out Ning and me.com. Of course, there's always Yahoo! Groups, still an amazingly robust platformy you can use for free, as well as comparable services from MSN, AOL and others. You can also set up your own group and start a community around a topic of common interest inside most social networking sites - MySpace, Orkut, Ryze, etc. Expect to see this area just explode in the next year.
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• Joining Local Business Organizations - 03/05/2007
  Also, you mention honing your speaking skills - you should mention Toastmasters International, a group focused entirely on helping you hone your speaking skills. They're also, of course, a great place to network and build potential business relationships.
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• Profiting from a Warehouse Membership Club - 03/05/2007
  I think an important misconception to clear up for people who aren't familiar with warehouse clubs is that they do NOT just carry low-end merchandise. They get good prices on mid-tier merchandise because of the bulk purchasing they do. This is especially true of Costco, which is a little more upscale than Sam's, but even Sam's, a lot of the merchandise they carry is not stuff you would likely find at Wal-Mart (Sam's is owned by Wal-Mart).
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• Direct Mail Marketing - 03/05/2007
  Absolutely -- copy is EVERYTHING. I've seen split testing (sending different versions of letters to different groups) show as much as a 1000% (no, that's not a typo) difference in response rate between different versions of essentially the same letter and the same offer just because of the copy.
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• Marketing Your Business on Craigslist - 03/03/2007
  Regarding using a posting service, beware that posting an ad for the same product or service in multiple geographies is officially a violation of Craigslist's terms of service. You can usually trick your way past the automatic detection system by changing up the ad significantly, but if some of the more vigilant members of the community take notice, you'll end up with your ads deleted. I've made the suggestion to them that they should have a "virtual city" for those of us who spend more of our time in cyberspace than we do out and about locally.
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• Marketing Your Business on Craigslist - 03/03/2007
  Regarding using a posting service, beware that posting an ad for the same product or service in multiple geographies is officially a violation of Craigslist's terms of service. You can usually trick your way past the automatic detection system by changing up the ad significantly, but if some of the more vigilant members of the community take notice, you'll end up with your ads deleted. I've made the suggestion to them that they should have a "virtual city" for those of us who spend more of our time in cyberspace than we do out and about locally.
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• Trade Show Selling Techniques - 03/02/2007
  Frances, there's a GREAT blog on tradeshow marketing: TSMI's Trade Show Marketing Report - definitely want to add it to your resource links. I highly recommend using a "draw" that gets people engaged at your booth, rather than something they can just fill out a form, pocket and walk away with. At one show, we had a caricature artist work our booth, and it was a tremendous draw. It gave people time to sit undistracted and have a conversation. I've seen others offer 5-minute massages. The putting game is another good one. Interactive demos on the computer. I wouldn't suggest something like a palm reader or something that engages them in conversation -- you want them free to talk to you.
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• Growing a Service Business - 03/02/2007
  As a service professional, reputation is your most valuable business asset. I teach a 5-part program for building your reputation: 1. Be prolific - Produce lots of output. Write articles for every appropriate outlet you can, speak in public at every opportunity. "Massive action", as Tony Robbins says. 2. Be ubiquitous - Be everywhere. Develop multiple points of presence. Participate in discussion lists and forums related to your topic. It's actually generally better to be more places less often than fewer places more often. 3. Be generous - Don't be stingy with your time with friends and family. Answer their questions, solve their problems. Obviously there are eventually limits, but they will support you better if they've seen you at your best. Volunteering is also a great way to demonstrate your expertise while making the world a better place at the same time. There's no better way to demonstrate the value of what you do than to put it to good use for a cause you believe in. 4. Be dependable - Simply put, say what you're going to do, then do it. This starts with things as simple as "I'm going to send you that file via e-mail tomorrow" or "I'll call you at 2pm on Thursday". Follow up with people nightly as needed. Always finish what you start. 5. Be credible - Show that you're knowledgeable and serious about your business. Get third-party validation (accreditation, professional association membership, etc.) where possible. Always dress and act the part.
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• Promotional Plaques and Awards - 03/02/2007
  Whatever you do, in a business context, don't use the typical sports/academic-style trophies that we've all seen a thousand times. Plaques, acrylic, glass and other awards are more professional. Personally, I like awards that have some kind of function, too -- I've received a clock, several very nice pens, a laser pointer, business card holders, etc. I'd much rather have these than one more thing to cram onto my already overcrowded desk (or worse, leave in the box because I have no place to display it).
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• How to Win a Business Award - 03/02/2007
  Great guide - I have a couple of additional comments. First of all, realize that you may have to actually deliberately target your business practices toward some of the awards. If you know that there are certain specific qualifications that must be met, you have to make a decision whether pursuing that award is truly aligned with your business objectives and if it's worth the effort. Also, realize that you may have to do some campaigning. Many awards, both online and off, are based upon voting of some kind. If you want the award, you probably need to find some ways to encourage your customers, colleagues, partners, et al., to make the effort to get out and vote for you. Make it easy for them -- provide a direct link in your newsletter, blog and elsewhere on your site. Word it however you want to stay within your ethical boundaries, but if it's a voting-based contest and you don't campaign at all, your odds of winning go WAY down.
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• Freemiums - 03/02/2007
  I definitely have, Donna. I can think of at least half a dozen products or services in which I found the product so valuable or enjoyable that I wanted the extras offered by the premium product/service. VC Fred Wilson did a great post on this topic: My Favorite Business Model (actually, I think this is where the word "freemium" largely got propagated).
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• Great Laptops for Small Business - 03/02/2007
  In particular, one problem I have encountered with laptops is the matter of non-upgradable video. For example, even if the motherboard in a desktop machine has integrated video, you CAN disable it and add an upgraded video card. You can't do that on a laptop. And while you might think you don't need the latest, greatest video capabilities on your laptop, well, guess what -- Second Life doesn't run on my laptop, so I miss out on all the cool stuff going on there. Who knows where we're heading in terms of immersive virtual environments, video conferencing, etc.? Even if you don't think right now that you're going to need high-end video capability, I'd definitely spend the couple of hundred extra bucks to get a higher-end video capability in your laptop.
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• Selecting the Right Computer Hardware Configuration - 03/02/2007
  What about laptops? In particular, one problem I have encountered with laptops is the matter of non-upgradable video. For example, even if the motherboard in a desktop machine has integrated video, you CAN disable it and add an upgraded video card. You can't do that on a laptop. And while you might think you don't need the latest, greatest video capabilities on your laptop, well, guess what -- Second Life doesn't run on my laptop, so I miss out on all the cool stuff going on there. Who knows where we're heading in terms of immersive virtual environments, video conferencing, etc.? I'd definitely spend the couple of hundred extra bucks to get a higher-end video capability in your laptop.
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• Growing Your Business with Smart Technology - 03/02/2007
  I'd echo Shara's support of WordPress. It's open source, so it's free, and it's very widely supported - easy to find templates, plugins and web designers with experience customizing it. It's certainly industrial-strength - we use it at About.com. I agree with your statement about web phones, but was surprised you didn't mention Skype. Skype is 100% free for Skype-to-Skype calls, which completely revolutionized the telecommunications industry. I've found that at least 75% of my clients and partners use it. And with the SkypeIn and SkypeOut services, you can make and receive standard telephone calls. They even have Skype phones now, too. And this may seem like an odd one, but one truly essential piece of technology I've found is the electronic labeler (I like the Brother PT-80). I use it for everything from filing labels to labeling bookshelves to putting customer service numbers and license keys inside software manuals and more. It truly transformed my office. A must for small businesses.
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• Recruiting with Online Job Listings - 03/01/2007
  Blogs are also a good way of finding candidates, both passive and active. They're easily searched via blog search engines, and once you find a couple of good bloggers in the field you're looking for someone in, you can usually follow their blogrolls or links within their posts to find others. The great thing about blogs as a source of candidates is that they show far more depth than the typical resume does. For more on this, see Joblogging (Fast Company). Also, besides simply doing a job posting on LinkedIn, actually participating and searching proactively in social networking sites (generally the business-oriented ones, but that depends on your business, of course) can help you find candidates. For more on this, see Use Online Networks to Find Your Star Employee (Fast Company).
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• Nondisclosure Agreements - 03/01/2007
  Don't be surprised when potential investors refuse to sign non-disclosure agreements -- most experienced VC's and angels won't. The obvious reason is that it exposes them to the risk of liability. If VC's signed an NDA with every entrepreneur they talked to, they'd sign dozens or even hundreds every month. Given the nature of entrepreneurship, a VC is likely to see dozens of similar deals, and it would simply be impossible to keep track of who said what when. On the less obvious sign, asking the NDA question of a VC basically shows them you're a rank amateur. The fact that you even ask means that you've not only never been through the process before, neither has anyone on your team, nor have you researched it well. Remember -- they're the ones with the money, and you're the one who needs it. Like it or not, they dictate the terms under which you talk with them.
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• Noncompete Agreements - 03/01/2007
  Paul, I believe California law prohibits them entirely, except in very specific (and rare) circumstances. In Texas, where I live, I know they have to be limited in a) time, b) geography and c) scope. The general argument is that you have an unalienable right to work in your field of expertise. If you are, for example, a car salesman, and you leave your employer, what are you expected to do other than go sell cars? And obviously, that would be for a competitor of your former employer. Generally speaking, a non-compete can't restrict the former employee's right to earn a living in their field of expertise, unless specific compensation was provided as part of their original contract, i.e., if you give them a 12-month severance package, or if you paid them 50% above market salary for their position, it's obviously more reasonable for you to say they can't compete for a year or two. With employees as mobile as they are now, though, and with work being increasingly open (more and more companies are discovering that in many cases it makes sense to do open R&D), I think that over the next decade or two the non-compete agreement will become a thing of the past.
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• Preparing a Business for Sale - 03/01/2007
  How about determining if you want to work with a business broker and finding one to work with?
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• Doing Business in Second Life - 02/28/2007
  Great guide, Deborah. Unfortunately, my laptop can't handle SL, so I've only gotten to check it out a couple of times on my son's computer. I'd be all over it, but I don't think I'm ready to invest in an entirely new computer just to do so. I encourage people to make sure their PC is up to (or actually exceeds) the requirements before even spending the time to download it.
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• Checking Backgrounds Before Hiring - 02/28/2007
  You also definitely want to check them out on sites like LinkedIn, Ziggs and Rapleaf. On LinkedIn, people have to approve the recommendations made about them, but still, a large number of quality recommendations certainly helps. You also can sometimes read between the lines a bit to get more insight. Ziggs gathers information about professionals from multiple sources. Mainly it will just save you some time over traditional search engines. Rapleaf is new, but it's a portable reputation system and has a growing number of people using it. The thing is, with all the possible litigation issues, it's nearly impossible to get a really honest reference from someone. So often, the former employer will just tell you that they were terminated with or without cause and that they're eligible for rehire or not, and that's it. That's why I'm such a big believer in hiring through networking as much as possible -- you're much more likely to get a realistic picture of the person, both positive and negative, than you will from the typical reference check.
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• Maintaining Privacy as a Business Owner - 02/28/2007
  There's a particular challenge for those of us who work from home because so many things require a physical address. The best solution to this is to get a post office box -- not from USPS, but from a service like The UPS Store, which will give you a street address, rather than a P.O. Box. The USPS has ruled that you can't specify "Suite" or anything potentially misleading like that, but you can simply use "#" for those type of boxes, rather than "Box" or "P.O. Box". You can then use that address for all your domain registrations and other business purposes. My coauthor and I devote a whole chapter to privacy and security in our book, "The Virtual Handshake", because there's an inevitable trade-off between privacy and visibility for your company. A summary of some of our recommendations is online at More Publicity = Less Privacy.
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• Landing a Venture Capital Deal - 02/28/2007
  I'm not quite sure how you'd use dmoz to find your executives. ExecuNet is a great suggestion, and there are many, many more networking sites that would be a better source than Open Directory: LinkedIn, Go BIG Network, Xing and many, many more. Most executive roles have dedicated groups, like the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) or Technology Executives Networking Group (TENG). Ziggs is also a great source of information about professionals.
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• Creating an Elevator Pitch for Your Startup - 02/28/2007
  Another very specific technique taught to me by one my mentors is this: 1. You know how...? 2. Well what we do is... 3. by... For example: "You know how you can never find the remote or your car keys when you need it? What we do is make it possible for you to find them instantaneously by putting a little electronic beeper on each device that you can trigger with a button." Another very effective model is this: 1. "Some companies do this..." or "We don't do this..." 2. "We do this..." Examples: "Some people make you smile -- I make you feel good about smiling." (Cosmetic dentist) "We don't take companies public -- we help companies take themselves public." (One of my clients, a management consulting firm that helps companies become publicly traded)
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• Choosing the Right Domain Name - 02/28/2007
  Didn't know about the .pro domain - that's pretty cool. Although you weren't kidding when you said it was expensive -- $100 a year. I like .tv and .fm, but I really think you should only use them if you produce video and audio, respectively. Going to a .tv site and then finding no video is kind of weird. And considering that it's more expensive, it's a bad call if you don't have the media to fit the extension.
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• Registering a DBA or Fictitious Business Name - 02/28/2007
  Wow - legal entities have their place, but many, many businesses can do just fine as sole proprietorships / DBAs. 1. Get professional liability insurance (which you should do even if you incorporate). That will help cover you in the event of litigation. Of course, depending on your line of business, the risks of being sued may be extremely slim. Again, as an entrepreneur, you deal with risks all the time and you live with them. 2. Don't take on debt! Why is there a presumption that you're going to take on debt? Hundreds of thousands of small businesses operate entirely bootstrapped. If you don't take on any debt -- even if you do equity financing -- you're not going to be taking on huge debts. Sure -- if you start talking about hiring a bunch of employees, renting office space, leasing equipment, etc., then by all means, you need to incorporate in some way. But for the many, many of us who work from home, have a web site as our primary "presence", have no employees, but still want to have a business name under which we can make and receive payments, etc., it works just fine. Simple rule of thumb -- if you're basically self-employed and just want a name to do business under, it may be a viable option. If you're planning to grow a business with office space, employees, etc., you might as well go ahead and incorporate. Matt - the guide is good, but in step 1, you know, it is REALLY easy to go file your own DBA. I can't imagine paying a company $80+ to do it.
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• Naming a New Business or Start Up - 02/28/2007
  This is one of the best guides I've read, Phillip -- extremely useful. A couple of other resources I've found useful when brainstorming are WordNet (a thesaurus on steroids - check it out) and Roots of English Etymological Dictionary. You can also check out my approach to choosing a business name.
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• Business Logo Design - 02/20/2007
  The comment about considering where your logo will be used is particularly important. More specifically, how small can it be and still be recognizable/acceptable? Will it work in black-and-white? Really, in fact, there should always be a workable black-and-white version of the logo, especially as a small business -- you don't want to have to print everything you do in color.
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• Managing Customer Relationships - 02/05/2007
  CRM tools can be great if used properly, but I've seen many, many cases of bad CRM done with Act! or Salesforce and good CRM done with Outlook and an Excel spreadsheet. Without a working process, the tool is useless, and with a good working process, even basic tools will get you by. Focus on process first -- get a process in place that works, and then choose a tool to help you make your process more efficient.
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• Preparing for Networking Events - 01/03/2007
  Susan - there's a little bit of that in the How to Work a Room guide I did. I highly recommend Scott Ginsberg and Susan Roane for more articles on this topic. For example, one of Susan's articles is on entering and exiting conversations gracefully.
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• Business Interruption Insurance - 01/03/2007
  Do rates vary greatly in different locations? Can you choose which coverage you have, i.e., not get coverage for earthquakes in Kansas or tornadoes in California? Or is that even an issue, and already figured into the costs for the region?
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• Classic Books for Entrepreneurs - 12/28/2006
  I think every businessperson should own a copy of the hefty (2000+ pages) Business: The Ultimate Resource. In addition to hundreds of original essays for the book from top business experts, it also has synopses of over 100 classic business and economic books, profiles of major business thinkers and innovators, dozens of worksheets and checklists. Indispensable.
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• Employee Drug Testing - 12/28/2006
  I have really mixed emotions when it comes to employee drug testing. I've seen the statistics, but I also know that my personal experience doesn't correlate with the statistics. Some of my best workers have been people I knew used marijuana regularly. And some of the worst problems I've seen were from people who were abusing alcohol or had severe financial problems, but not drug abuse (the company did screening). I can see using it in situations in which people deal with life-and-death situations -- airline pilots, drivers, anything in the medical field, etc. But if you're talking about salespeople, programmers, marketing creatives, etc., you don't have to do drug screening to fire people for incompetence, and you may be skipping over some of your best potential workers. Is it legal to have drug screening only for certain positions within the company, e.g., transportation, medical, etc.?
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• HTML Basics for Business Owners - 12/28/2006
  W3Schools.com has an awesome HTML tutorial (XHTML, CSS, Javascript and more, too). What I like about it is that it is both very comprehensive, yet truly starts at square one. It also has a great interactive tutorial in which you can type in whatever code you want, press a button, and immediately see the results. Very cool.
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• Avoiding Bad SEO Techniques - 12/28/2006
  Is cloaking ever legitimate? For example, if your site is primarily flash-based, is it OK to cloak and present a text version of the site to Googlebot?
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• Learning Search Engine Optimization - 12/28/2006
  Wow -- I know this stuff backwards and forwards and have seen a lot of writing on the topic. This is by far the most compact, yet comprehensive summary of it I've seen. Great job!
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• Planning an Office Holiday Party - 12/28/2006
  If you serve sodas, be sure to provide both diet and regular sodas. Personally, I recommend just going with a non-alcoholic, non-carbonated option like punch or tea to keep it simple.
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• Business Etiquette in Mexico - 12/28/2006
  Right, but if they heed your advice and take an intro Spanish class, reading the news is a great way to practice your Spanish.
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• Marketing Your Business With a Blog - 12/28/2006
  Excellent guide, Brian -- all good advice, and I love the examples -- mostly ones I haven't seen, even though I'm in that business. A few other things I'd suggest are: 1) Learn about search engine optimization and be sure to include your keywords in the titles of some of your posts and as categories on your blog. I've actually gotten a #1 Google ranking for a highly competitive term literally overnight using this tactic. Yes, it eventually slipped, but it still stayed in the top 10. Search engines love blogs -- learn why and do everything you can within reason to make them love yours. 2) Connect with other bloggers. Very few businesses can get away with using blogs just as a publishing medium -- they are a conversation. You can also use Technorati, Google's Blog Search or Ice Rocket to look for other bloggers discussing the same topics you do. And if you use WordPress, it has a cool feature that it shows you recent incoming links to your blog in your dashboard. Connect with those people and see what they wrote about you. Turn it into a conversation, either via comments, blog posts or e-mail as appropriate. 3) A follow-on to #2 -- participate in the blogosphere. Learn about blog carnivals, blog tipping, group writing projects, memes, etc.
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• Business Etiquette in Mexico - 12/28/2006
  Speaking Spanish fairly fluently and having done business in Mexico a few times, I whole-heartedly back up everything you're saying. The only comment I'd add is that when checking out news sources, I would go with sites that are based in Mexico or Latin America, or at least are Latino-run, rather than the U.S. sources you mentioned, except for World News Network, which is an excellent source -- they maintain Mexico Daily. Some other good ones are El Universal (good opportunity to practice your Spanish), Hispanic Vista (written by American Hispanics with a great deal of coverage of Mexico and Latin-American news and issues) and Mexico Today (daily news summary and weekly commentary from a Mexico City TV news host).
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• Marketing with a Sense of Humor - 12/28/2006
  Especially at trade shows, anything that can draw attention, get a laugh, and have even the slimmest tie-in to your company is good. At one of my companies, we did a whole campaign based around art, the idea being that our tool gave you creative freedom to create the application you envisioned, or something like that. Anyway, at the trade show, we hired a caricature artist to work our booth. It was a HUGE hit -- not only did it draw a crowd, it drew word-of-mouth (people telling their friends and colleagues), and even better, it actually got them to sit at our booth for a couple of minutes and get a chance to talk with them, rather than just dropping off a card in a fishbowl or something.
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• Estimated Tax Payments - 12/28/2006
  I agree with Paul - detailed but readable! What about if you are the sole shareholder of a corporation or the sole member of an LLC? Can you explain a little more about those situations, as that's common for many business owners?
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• Improving Your Web Site Visibility - 12/28/2006
  Other suggestions: - Article Marketing - Build incoming links and showcase your expertise at the same time. - Online Business Networking - Put your web address in your signature and get a little more visibility every time you post. This is a huge traffic driver for me. - Be very, very careful about Digg and Slashdot -- they are not for the faint of heart. It can easily backfire on you if they perceive you as a spammer. Not recommended for beginners.
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• Finding New Customers Online - 12/28/2006
  Article marketing is another great way to attract clients online, especially for service professionals. Best of all, it's free, because all those e-zines you allude to are always looking for content. Check out my interview with Christopher Knight, founder of Ezine Articles, on Article Marketing for Entrepreneurs.
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• Business Barter - 12/28/2006
  I've used barter effectively before, both as part of a barter exchange and a lot of do-it-yourself. Here are a few additional tips from my experience. 1. Bartering through a barter exchange won't pay your rent (I have, though, bartered before with an apartment complex). More specifically, I found that the barter exchange didn't really supply my basic business needs, but it did allow me to live a lifestyle above my means -- nice dinners, fun vacations, etc. Not bad, but set your expectations realistically. 2. If you barter with someone one-on-one, whether for services or goods, try as much as possible to keep a zero balance, i.e., not let one party build up a significant debt with the other party. All too often, either the creditor finds they don't really want or can't make use of the quantity of goods/services owed, or the debtor ends up being unable to deliver the goods/services because it's too much at once and they have other things going on. I've been on both ends of this, and in either case, it's a really uncomfortable position. Try to make even exchanges within a short time frame rather than letting a balance build up. 3. The area of swapping services gets into a legal gray area with the IRS (in my opinion). If you fix your neighbor's car and they help you paint your house, that's just favors between friends. But if you happen to be a mechanic and he's a painter, it's not? Your call -- just some food for thought.
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• Generating Strategic Alliances - 12/28/2006
  Oh - I forgot this... Valerie Orsoni-Vauthey allowed me to reprint the first chapter of her book, "Happy About Joint Venturing", on my site: What is a joint venture and how do they work? Should I start a joint venture? What are my chances of success? What are the risks and legal implications?
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• Generating Strategic Alliances - 12/28/2006
  Good suggestions, but I think there are a couple of things missing: 1. You must, must, must spell out the specific responsibilities of each party, as well as which items are NOT each party's responsiblities. 2. I agree with Donna that it all needs to be spelled out in writing. As with most agreements, though, the written agreement should just be a confirmation of what you've already agreed to in discussion. 3. Interesting suggestion about matchmakers and consultants. In at least four corporate roles in which I worked strategic alliances, I've never used one. These days, there are so many good sites -- mostly free or inexpensive -- that allow you to search for individuals and businesses based on a variety of criteria that I can't really imagine a small business fully outsourcing this until those channels had been exhausted. For starters, try LinkedIn, People That Click, EntreMate and Go Big Network - all sites focused on matching entrepreneurs with each other, vendors, funding, etc.
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• Joining Local Business Organizations - 12/28/2006
  That's a good list - you hit the biggies. Another opportunity that's typically a step up from chambers of commerce is local economic development councils (EDCs). Also consider being on the planning committee for a major event, e.g., the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, the Tournament of Roses, etc. I'd suggest adding a bullet point for that.
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• PIM Software - 12/17/2006
  In addition, the ones that "play well with others" often have a lot of add-on products available for them that add functionality not found in any other products. For example, I'm a big fan of Nelson Email Organizer (NEO) and the Getting Things Done Outlook Add-In. If you're into the Franklin-Covey system, they have PlanPlus for Outlook. ACT! also has dozens of add-ons available -- see ActAddOns.com.
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• Using Contact Management Software - 12/17/2006
  One other comment... as more and more businesspeople continue to participate in social networking sites like LinkedIn, you can expect to see a merging in functionality between social networking services and contact management. My coauthor and I interviewed Greg Head, former GM of the ACT! Division of Best Software, on The Next Generation of Contact Management Software -- you might find it interesting.
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• Using Contact Management Software - 12/17/2006
  This is a good overview of some of the options available, Chris, as well as a guide to how to select the appropriate one. However, I think the title is misleading -- perhaps it should be "Choosing Contact Management Software", because a) that's what it is, and b) it doesn't really go much into using it. Contact management software fundamentally serves three purposes: 1. Store and retrieve all history and other data related to a particular contact so that when you communicate with them you have that context fresh on your mind and the information readily available if you need to refer to it. 2. Segment your database so that you can send appropriate communications based on context. I have an article that talks somewhat about this: I Am Not A Number! 3. Set reminders for follow-ups so that you stay in touch with your contacts on a timely basis. Everything else is bells & whistles, but those three things should be the core of your contact management usage.
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• Advertising and Marketing to U.S. Hispanics - 12/17/2006
  Amiel: It would be helpful to provide some links directly to some of those great articles you refer to -- let's save people a step and not just send them to the search engine. Three good sources for ongoing news and information about Hispanic marketing are: Advertising Age's Hispanic Marketing Section Hispanic Market Weekly HispanicMarket.net Also, the top section could really use some paragraph breaks -- it's all run together, which makes it tough to read.
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• Finding the Latest Sales and Marketing News - 12/16/2006
  In addition to Google alerts, if you're blog-savvy, you can also use blog search engines like Google Blog Search, Technorati and IceRocket to save a search as an RSS feed that you can then view in your aggregator/newsreader. As "marketing" is so broad (who could read all the stories every day and have time to actually get any work done?), I recommend narrowing your search to specific marketing practices you're interested in, e.g., branding, word-of-mouth, etc.
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• Marketing Mix Essentials for Startups - 12/16/2006
  I think positioning comes first. Well, let me qualify that -- if you're building a business to meet a specific untapped market opportunity, then market research comes first and you define your positioning to fit that. Very often, though, the positioning is actually part of the entrepreneur's vision -- "I want to create the first/best/fastest/cheapest product/service for the ____ market." Everything else -- pricing, advertising channels, marketing strategies, etc. -- is determined by the positioning.
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• Marketing on a Meager Budget - 12/16/2006
  Volunteering, especially volunteering your expert services, is a great way to get some exposure and do some networking, all while doing some good for a cause you believe in. I know that there's one school of thought that says you're not supposed to announce when you're doing good -- that it should just be in private. But there's also the point of view that by setting a very public example, it encourages others to do the same (think Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Oprah's Angel Network, etc.). I wouldn't suggest volunteering just in order to market yourself, but it certainly makes sense to have an awareness and make the most of the opportunity.
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• Getting Started in Advertising - 12/16/2006
  Great guide as always, Frances. I have a couple of more things to add: 1) figure out advertising is even appropriate for your business (it's not for every business), and 2) test, measure, test, measure, test, measure!!! The latter is *critical*. The only way to make sure you're not completely wasting your money on advertising is to measure your results, experiment with variations and compare results between the variations. I've seen situations in which changing one single word in an ad headline tripled the response to the ad. You have to experiment and measure in order to learn things like that.
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• Developing a Business Brand - 12/16/2006
  A great brand taps into more than just emotions -- it taps into identity -- how people want to perceive themselves. I'm healthy, I'm happy, I'm sexy, I'm a mover and shaker, I'm a great communicator, etc. A great brand makes people feel that they are self-actualizing...taking one step closer to being who they want to be. Also, I'd like to expand on "simple" by explicitly stating that generally, shorter is better, and that it should be easy to remember -- awkward spellings should be avoided, for example. My favorite branding-related blog (though he covers marketing more generally) is Brand Autopsy.
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• Creating an Elevator Pitch for Your Startup - 12/16/2006
  Anita's point is well-taken. In a variation on the saying, "a plan is worthless, planning is priceless", my approach to an elevator pitch is that you have to have it, but you should never give it. The danger with the elevator pitch is that you have to remember that no matter how short your time is, you still have to have a conversation. That doesn't mean you have to ask them as many questions as they ask you, or that the conversation has to be roughly 50/50, but it's still a human being that you are talking to, and the goal is to move the relationship one step forward in the context of your business. People want to be talked "with", not talked "at". And if they start to feel like they're being "sold", it's usually a real turn-off. The most effective persuaders, you never notice they're deliberately persuading you. Great guide for how to put the elevator pitch together -- I just recommend caution in exactly how it's used.
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• Email Marketing-37521 - 11/02/2006
  You've got plenty of room - how about expanding on the eight steps here? It would also be nice to see a diverse selection of resources. How-to guides that are just a feeder for one outside resource don't tend to get rated very well and therefore don't serve the purpose their authors probably intend.
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• Writing a Successful Corporate Blog - 5 Steps - 11/01/2006
  Nice edits, Barbara - flows much better now! I like the couple of additional resources as well.
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• Making the Most of Networking Events - How to Work a Room - 10/27/2006
  Absolutely right, Jeff. As I said in the tips and tactics, "The follow-up is the most important of these - if you're not prepared to follow up, you might as well not even go to the event." I'm doing three more guides that should go up this weekend - one on choosing events, one on preparing for events, and one on followup. It's too much to fit all in one guide. I'll edit this guide with links to the others as I get them published.
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• Legal Essentials for a Small Business - 10/26/2006
  Good guide, Eric, but I think you're missing perhaps one of the most important things - get liability insurance! A lot of people mistakenly think that just the corporate entity is enough to protect the business owner from possible litigation, but it isn't, for a variety of reasons. You still should have at least a basic BOP (Business Owner's Policy), plus whatever additional coverage you may need depending on the nature of your business. There are a couple of guides posted already about professional liability insurance and properly insuring your business. For sole proprietors, the proper insurance is actually better protection against liability than setting up a corporation or LLC is. Also, the best small business legal information site I've found by far is Nolo.com. You might want to add it to your list.
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• Web Conferencing Services - 10/26/2006
  I've worked with several of the major products out there - Placeware/LiveMeeting, WebEx, GoToMeeting, etc. For my own business, I've used Talking Communities for years and been extremely happy with them. One of the most appealing things is that they have an on-demand service with unlimited users, unlimited usage, and unlimited bandwidth for just $0.02 per person per minute. That's extremely attractive for the small business owner who's not sure just how much use they're going to get out of it and doesn't want to be locked into a monthly commitment.
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• Spyware Removal - 10/26/2006
  Some of the most important ways to prevent spyware/malware are to learn to recognize phishing attempts and how to distinguish real dialog boxes from fake ones. PC Pitstop has an excellent guide to safe surfing that talks about both of these, including examples. Also, I had to deal with a ton of spyware/adware on my son's computer a couple of weeks ago, even though I had both Spybot S&D and Ad-Aware installed. I tried several other applications, and the one that found (and fixed) the problem was AVG Free. They have both an anti-virus and an anti-spyware that are two separate installations - I recommend using both of them. At this point, I don't know why anyone even bothers to make a distinction between anti-spyware and anti-virus applications.
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• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - 10/26/2006
  Great intro, but I'd definitely like to see a lot more in the action steps. You'll serve the reader, and therefore yourself, better if you put actionable steps directly in the guide, rather than just making it a front-end to other content. Also, there's nothing wrong with making a link to your own business as part of your guide - I do it all the time - but I do think people appreciate transparency. Simply say that AllPConline is your business in the description. It's not like it's a secret - that was discoverable in 2 seconds on Google. And as long as you're providing valuable content and links to a variety of resources, very few people will have any issue with it.
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• Take your startup to the next level - 10/26/2006
  The best satire leaves you wondering at the end whether the author is a brilliant satirist or a complete idiot. Hmm...
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• Offshore Banking - 10/26/2006
  You have lots of room to expand this - how about pulling in some of that content from your site so that there's more actionable information here, rather than just making it a gateway to another site? Also, I think it's worth talking about both the pros and cons of offshore banking. Wikipedia has an excellent article on offshore banking that presents a very balanced, objective view of the topic.
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• Monetizing your Web site - 10/26/2006
  While it goes without saying for the experienced site owner, I think it's worth expanding the section about maintaining your content to also talk about search engine optimization, which is critical to increasing site traffic. A couple of my favorite experts regarding web copywriting are Jill Whalen and Dina Giolitto. I'm also surprised you don't have anything in here specifically about affiliate marketing. I've generated far more revenue on my sites from affiliate links than from AdSense. If someone buys a book through your link, you're going to make $0.50-$1.00 vs. a couple of pennies for an ad click-through. And if people buy other stuff while they're at the merchant, you make even more money. There's a Work.com guide on Using Affiliate Marketing for Your Web Site. I also did an article about How to Really Make Money on the Internet With an Amazon Affiliate Site. What you've got here is excellent, just incomplete.
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• Getting Internet to Your Business in the Boondocks - 10/26/2006
  This is a terrific guide, Daniel. It seems to me like there's an entrepreneurial opportunity to provide service to some of these rurals areas, right? Or do you think that it will just all eventually get served by the big telcos?
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• Choosing a Company to Build Your Software - 10/26/2006
  Great guide, Rob. My only issue is that I don't think you can just so summarily dismiss Elance, Guru, etc. I would NOT use those just to find the lowest bidder, but in fact, they are a great way that you can check out the developer's reputation with past actual clients. Someone with a long history of good ratings on a site like that, I would have a high degree of confidence in.
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• Establish a Market & Competitive Intelligence Function in your Organization - 10/25/2006
  This is a very in-depth guide for defining competitive intelligence strategy. I think the typical small business owner would like to see some things that are more immediately actionable. For example, many business owners don't even take the simple steps of setting up Google Alerts and blog monitoring with, say, Technorati, Google and Ice Rocket. You can set up searches for specific companies or for industry-specific keywords. This is an essential first step for any business to start doing competitive intelligence. Other simple, practical steps include: - Reviewing competitor web sites - Requesting a copy of their marketing collateral, either under a pseudonym or having a friend or family member request it - Obtaining samples or a free trial - Scanning industry periodicals for mentions of your competitors How formal a strategy you need really depends on the size of your business, the number and nature of your competitors, and a number of other factors.
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• Finding Networking Opportunities - 10/24/2006
  Excellent guide! Another important thing is to be focused, yet always receptive to other possibilities. The more you network with people like your ideal customer, vendor, partner, employer, employee, etc., the more you will meet more people like them. Networking isn't random. And yet, paradoxically, some of your best networking opportunities will be ones you weren't expecting. Don't be hyper-focused on just networking for sales leads. Alliance partners, potential vendors, and even competitors can be great networking connections. For networking events, two of the most popular, with chapters in most major cities, are BNI and Le Tip. If your business is mostly local, you should also consider joining your local Chamber of Commerce. Regarding "using faith and charity" - this is an interesting and sometimes controversial topic. Some people feel that to give one's professional services away somehow devalues them. Others believe that you should give completely freely, with no ulterior motive. I'm of the belief that there's nothing you can do that shows the value of your knowledge and skills better than to put them to good use for a cause you believe in. And if that happens to lead to a good business relationship for you, that's icing on the cake. Also, if you're really pressed for time, you might consider virtual volunteering.
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• Writing a Successful Corporate Blog - 5 Steps - 10/16/2006
  I think you're generally right on with the strategy, and of course I love your writing style. Here are a few suggestions: 1. I wouldn't reference your article in the first paragraph where you can't link it - people will get to it down below. It breaks the flow and can be confusing to have a reference like that without a hyperlink to make it actionable." 2. I know Blogger is nice and easy to get started with, but WordPress gives SO much more capability and a better upgrade path for long-term needs. I suggest Blogger for first-timers who want to set up a personal blog just to see what it's all about, but a business blog should definitely go on WordPress, TypePad, or similar. 3. Overture's keyword tool is also very handy, and free. WordTracker is intriguing, but I didn't really find significant added value from it. 4. I know you've got great content on your site -- I'm a fan -- but I'd like to see more links to other resources in the Focus and Make It Real sections, as well as the Recommended Solution Providers and Best Sites. There are a ton of good resources out there. 5. The #1 way to promote your blog is to read and connect with other bloggers talking about the same or related topics to you. Link to what they wrote and add your own thoughts, or leave a comment on their blog. They are an unusual form of conversation, but at their best, they are a conversation, not just a publishing medium.
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• Choosing the Right Business for You - 10/05/2006
  You have to balance passion with practicality. "Do what you love and the money will follow" became a popular mantra after the publication of the book of the same name, but ultimately, for a whole lot of people, it ends up being, "Do what you love and starve." On the other hand, choose a business just because it seems like a good business idea, and you'll have a hard time being a convincing salesperson for the business to clients, investors, etc. You'll also burn out, stuck in yet another j-o-b, even if it's of your own creation.
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• Start Podcasting for Your Small Business - 10/05/2006
  This is an exceptional guide, Hendry - one of the best I've seen. I especially like the fact that you don't just start with the assumption that someone has already made a good business decision to do this, but instead help guide them through that process, as well. Personally, I haven't really gotten into listening to podcasts on a regular basis, because a) I can't multitask and really listen while I do other things, b) reading is SO much more time-efficient (about 3-4x faster for the same amount of information), and c) I don't spend a lot of time in the car, where I might actually get a chance to listen to a several-minute podcast uninterrupted. Am I atypical? When and where to most listeners listen to podcasts? Because I'm inclined to think that most busy executives and entrepreneurs would be like me and have a hard time finding/justifying the time except perhaps in the car during their commute.
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• Finding Free Business Cards - 09/29/2006
  If you're going to print your own cards, ONLY use Avery 8879 cards, which are "clean-edge" cards (no perforations). They're the same thickness as professionally printed cards, and the glossy finish seems to hold up much better and avoid the ink bleed that the matte finish cards exhibit over time (or even a couple of hours in your pocket). I use them and constantly get compliments about my cards -- people think they're a very expensive professionally-printed card (they'd cost over $100 a box to get printed). One other thing - be sure to compare the cost of having them printed. If you're going to do a few hundred cards or more, it's usually cheaper to have them printed than to do them yourself.
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• Making Money on CafePress - 09/28/2006
  Hey Kim - great to see one of my favorite really smart people on here! Great guide - one little addition: although you talk about shirts and promo items, Cafe Press also does POD (print-on-demand) publishing of books, as well as audio and data CDs. I don't know if they're the best deal on either of those, but on the other hand, it allows you to have a single integrated shop for all your items if you do those through them as well.
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• Spam Prevention - 09/28/2006
  One other thing... if people have their own server, SpamAssassin is open source (i.e., free) and very likely already installed on their server if it's a Linux/Unix server -- they just have to activate it.
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• Spam Prevention - 09/28/2006
  I agree with d9... the best strategy by far I've found is if you have your own domain (as most small business owners do, and frankly, I think everyone should anyway), you can use any alias you want, and the catch-all account will still send it all to you. So I might set up something like workdotcom@mydomain.com. Then, if you find that you're getting spam, you know what the source is and can just set a rule in your e-mail client to delete, or at least route into a "possible spam" folder, everything that comes in to that address. The advantage of this approach is that you don't have to go set anything up in advance -- just make up an address on the spot. Also, when I find I'm getting a lot of uncaught spam around a particular topic (I get that a lot with penny stock promotions), I have a mail rule looking for keywords and I just add the keywords to that list. I do have SpamAssassin on my server, which catches a fair amount, but a lot still gets past it, and configuring it is a headache. I find it much easier to just manage it all right in Outlook with simple mail rules.
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• Small Business Blogs - 09/28/2006
  One of the things I found is that many blogs, while very entertaining, aren't very focused. As a busy entrepreneur, I want to read blogs that are actionable and right on topic -- I'm not reading for entertainment value. With that in mind, I compiled a list of the Top 10 Most Practical Blogs for Entrepreneurs. There's some overlap with your list, but there are a few more in there you might find useful.
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• Getting More Organized - 09/25/2006
  The best collection of e-mail organization tips I've ever seen is at 43Things.com: the Inbox Zero Series and related articles.
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• Better Managing Your Time - 09/24/2006
  RE: "Do what's most important first" - There are two different concepts that people get mixed up in the concept of "priority". In reality there is "importance" and "urgency", and it's important to distinguish between the two. Let's say Item B is less important than Item A, but Item B has to be done by a certain date or there's no point in doing it, while Item A can be delayed without significantly impacting it. You may need to do Item B because of the deadline, even though it's less important. On the other hand, if you're overloaded, you may need to make the difficult decision to drop some of those time-sensitive tasks so that you can get the more important, though unscheduled, tasks done.
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• Better Managing Your Time - 09/24/2006
  About "love lists and logs"... to a point, but it's easy to overdo it. At one point, I started tracking exactly how I was spending my time, pretty much down to the minute. I was spending about an hour a day tracking and managing my time and activities. And for what? I certainly wasn't making it up in efficiency. I now manage "just enough" - more like 15-20 minutes a day, and have the rest of the time available to actually get the work done. This is especially true if you're an entrepreneur and don't have to account for your time to anyone else. I think it's an awareness exercise everyone should go through, but there comes a point of diminishing returns.
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• Better Managing Your Time - 09/24/2006
  I'm a fan of GTD too Jason (small disclaimer - he happens to be my uncle, but that's beside the point). I think the most important point he makes is that "time management" is a misnomer because it gives us the mistaken impression that we can somehow get 16 hours of work done in a 10 hour day if we just manage it right, and that's an illusion. He refers to it instead as "action management", and says that "Nirvana", as it were, is to be confident at every moment that you are doing exactly what you are supposed to be doing at that moment.
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• RSS for Small Business - 09/20/2006
  I'm a big fan of Bloglines - it's web-based, incredibly easy to use, allows me to organize everything well, build my own clip feeds, etc. I also use FeedBurner for some of their other services (I love the headline animator), but not as a reader -- I wasn't even aware they had reader functionality.
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• Getting Great Business Cards - 09/20/2006
  I have to confess that I'm not really a fan of business cards -- I see them as sort of a necessary evil. Some day (the technology already exists), we'll just pull out our cell phones or PDAs and beam each other our contact information, along with a subscription to a centralized directory service that will keep each other updated when it changes. But for the moment, that's pretty bleeding edge, and business cards are the accepted norm, so I agree, let's make the most of them! Personally, I like a very simple, yet elegant card -- you want to make yourself memorable, and the business card is just a reminder of it. If someone's business card is the most memorable thing about them, they need to work on their networking skills! Oh, and regarding printing your own cards... if you choose to do this, I *highly* recommend the Avery 8879 cards, which are "clean-edge" cards (no perforations). They're the same thickness as professionally printed cards, and most importantly, the glossy finish seems to hold up much better and avoid the ink bleed that the matte finish cards exhibit over time. I use them and constantly get compliments about my cards -- people think they're a very expensive professionally-printed card (they'd cost over $100 a box to get printed). I'm not suggesting that for everyone, but since I only give out a few cards a year given the nature of my business, it works just fine for me. Great Guide, Frances!
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