Photos are key for tourism promotion, so you can never have too many great photos to use online. However, most photos you find online are NOT public domain, so you do not have the right to use them. One great resource that brings together many different types of images that you are allowed to re-use…
Small businesses used to have a hard time getting approved to accept credit cards. Getting set up for a merchant account involved passing a credit check, agreeing to a long-term contract, paying monthly fees even if you didn’t accept any payments, and acquiring specialized equipment often with another monthly payment. Square and its competitors…
You get what you measure. That is, anything you actually go to the trouble to keep records on, you will pay more attention to and likely improve. If you make yourself write down everything you eat, you’ll find yourself feeling accountable. You’ll actually eat less or eat better things so you won’t be embarrassed to…
Small towns are a natural fit for heritage tourism. That’s tourism that shares our common heritage, whether it’s historical, cultural or natural. Heritage brings together your historical museum with your festivals, artists and musicians, your agritourism and parks and nature folks. At its best, heritage tourism is active and engaging. People getting hands-on and actively…
Small town businesses have certain advantages over big city businesses. One is that we have the luxury of educating customers, knowing that if they like what they learn, they are likely to make the resulting purchase from us. In a big city, running a tasting or a sampling or a class takes the risk that…
Are you looking for new product ideas for your business? Have you asked your customers? First rule of product ideas: The people in field doing the work always come up with the best ideas. Lisle Corporation (Clarinda, Iowa, population 5,500) makes, among other things, automotive specialty tools. You know, the funny hand tools mechanics use for all…
Chris Brogan was one of the first people I connected with in the blogging world back in 2006. We talked recently about farming and ranching, and how that is changing, about urban and micropolitan places, and about being on the front edge of a lot of change. I thought you might like to listen in:…
Recently, I listened to a session on How to Market a Community with Roger Brooks of Destination Development International. I wanted to share my notes with you. The first fact he mentioned is about how we search when we’re looking for somewhere to go. We search on activity first, then location second. So we’ll search…
Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.
We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.
Meet our authors on the About page.
Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.
Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.
We partner with campaigns and organizations that we think best benefit rural small businesses.
Copyright © 2006–2026 Becky McCray • Site by Webdancers