Small Business Shift

This post was prompted by discussions at Catalyst eMarketing and Blumenthals.com regarding spam reviews of moving companies. It’s a nightmare. You go to your Google Places Page, and see it covered with reviews saying that your business is overpriced, has horrible service, and is pretty much a scam. Sure, not every one of your customers […]

About 2 weeks ago, Google announced their new social network, Google+. This has been covered ad-nauseum all over the internet, and I was reluctant to write about it. It’s in a limited beta, mostly filled with geeks, and no one knows if it’ll ever have great significance. And you all have plenty of business profiles […]

Running a good blog is a lot of work (notice my slow posting the last couple weeks – to be better after the 4th). Yet I firmly believe that blogging can be well worthwhile for a small business. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits – and consider how to make them even […]

I highlighted a survey yesterday that demonstrated the gains search engines are making versus other sources of local information. Today Google capped a week of announcements and changes that highlight its commitment to becoming the #1 source for information on local businesses. If Google’s success continues, it will be even more important to your business. […]

When yellow pages ruled the Earth, businesses used crazy names, such as AAAAA Plumbers – because when you’re listed alphabetically, not much beats quintuple-A. You can get around this to some extent by purchasing ads, as most books put the biggest ads first, but the regular listings are usually alpha. Now that we’ve entered the […]

There are a lot of scams online. This makes people cautious. If they are going to buy from you, or give you their contact info, they need to overcome this caution. So you want to generate as much trust as possible. 11 Ways to Generate Trust A Decent Base – Anyone, even a scammer, can […]

In the past two days, Twitter has announced a Follow Button and Google announced a +1 Button. These come shortly after Facebook’s announcement of the Send Button in April. The 3 new buttons, of course, can be added on to the Facebook Like, Facebook Share, Google Buzz, Twitter Tweet, Stumbleupon, Digg, etc, etc, etc. They truly […]

Linda Buquet at Catalyst eMarketing recently posted a story about hundreds of Google Places listings marked “Awaiting Removal.” A commenter did some sleuthing and discovered that these listings appear to be held hostage by a company called 411 Locals (link to ComplaintsBoard.com). What Went Wrong This isn’t the first or last time we’ll see something along these […]

You run a business. You’re busy. Handling your company’s social media presence takes time. So what do you do? The Problem Social media is still relatively new, and many companies don’t have anyone deemed responsible for it. No responsibility = it’s not done well, or even consistently. Some businesses haphazardly allow an employee to setup […]

The rumor news today is that Microsoft is buying Skype. As long as the company is being discussed – let’s take a look at the features (and cheap, cheap calls) Skype offers business users. It’s Not Just For Kids Most people I know have used Skype to video chat with family members, or to keep […]