Agritourism is the crossroads where agriculture and tourism meet. Current travel trends support agritourism: more short getaway trips, more travel by car, more last minute trips, and more family time. The general population is three to five generations removed from the family farm. Many people go to agritourism businesses in order to buy direct from…
My friend Mandy Vavrinak shared some great PR tips for getting news media coverage at the recent Social Media Tulsa Conference. Mandy Vavrinak shares her PR tipsat Social Media Tulsa Of course, getting news media coverage is different in small towns than when competing for big city coverage. In my small town, I’m three hours…
Going to conferences and events can have huge benefits. You get face-to-face interaction, opportunities to learn, and chance encounters that can change everything. But here’s the limitation: What you get out of a conference depends on what you put into it. So we put together a series of posts on conferences and events. First, you…
[Longtime reader Johnita Crawford sent me this terrific report from the WeKan conference, all about rural tourism in Kansas. Many great ideas in here, ripe for the picking! –Becky ] By Johnita Crawford Wow! I’m still flying from the great day I spent at the WeKan conference I attended in Salina! Johnita Crawford and Mary…
I’ve known Matt Mansfield on Twitter for a long time. I’ve also known a lot of small business owners with technology problems. So I’m excited that Matt has created a place for small business owners to get technology answers, Matt About Solutions.I’ve been inside and looked around, and I decided to do more than just encourage Matt;…
Nebraska Tourism uses the back of their envelopes to list key attractions. I got this catalog-size envelope from Nebraska Tourism. As you can see, the back is covered with driving tours, ideas for visits and popular attractions. Excellent use of an otherwise wasted space. Let’s extend this idea for any destination. Add a web address…
Reader Denise Kerns asked, Do you have any resources for developing an employee handbook for small businesses? I’ve never had one, but think I should and don’t know where to start.I love your publication. I find encouraging and insightful info very regularly. So nice to find something specifically addressing small town businesses! So I’m asking…
Talking events and festivalsat Red Carpet Country meeting. At the Red Carpet Country annual meeting, one of the big hits was the panel on events and festivals. They shared stories of local events that started with a few dozen or a few hundred attendees, and have grown to thousands. The total economic impact of those…
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