Jen Risley spoke on a panel with me at the American Independent Business Alliance Conference, and I want to share one or two smart tricks she uses. Jen represents Monadnock Buy Local, covering 35 small towns in the Monadnock Region of southwestern New Hampshire. Her members are all local businesses. She’s a one-person staff so she…
Every week, I look for small town and rural business stories to share with you. I look for stories about shop local and the local movement, planning and development as relates to rural, rural news, community involvement, and ideas you can try in your town. Some of them end up as stories I share…
How do you keep up with the tons of new content created everyday online? How do you know who is mentioning you in blog posts, who is talking about competitors, and what news stories affect your business? You don’t. Instead, you have an assistant perform daily searches, then present you with the most relevant items….
When a reader or friend likes your site so much that she puts a shortcut to it on her iPhone, it’s a big compliment. It also means you ought to create a special icon to represent your site on iPhones. How do you do that? With special icons called Apple Touch Icons. This does take…
Making time for social networking and staying focused during that time is an important issue. When social networking is part of your marketing, it’s a business issue. Priya Chandra recently shared a tip for making more of your social networking time. It’s a tip she adapted from my Inbox Zero techniques. The Facts: 1….
Many small businesses collect email addresses from their customers, but they never do anything with them. That’s a missed opportunity. Other small businesses have built their entire presence on Facebook, so they have no control over who does or does not get their messages. Email remains a tool that you control. You decide when…
Lots of small town business have turned to Facebook for a big part of their online presence. It’s easy to create a page, easy to post photos and updates, and easy to attract locals as fans. The problem is that Facebook is changing the rules so that almost no one sees what you share,…
When I read the introduction to 9 Clouds’ new book, I immediately asked Scott Meyer for permission to reprint it here. Scott obliged, did a bit of customization, and threw in the infographic (because everything needs an infographic). Yes, I am mentioned in the book, but trust me, this is an excellent guide for small…
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