StartupNation Blogs

Ok. So it’s 5:00 a.m., and I walk to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee with my eyes half open.
Ugh! I forgot to put coffee into the machine last night, and there is just a pot of hot water waiting for me. Oh well. I’ll make a fresh batch and use the [...]

In the process of promoting your products and services to potential customers, are you also promoting yourself?
�
Competition is fierce today, and people want more for their money. This means that they are not just looking at products and services – but the people behind the businesses as well.
�
With this in mind, what kind of image [...]

Weird that I’d write a blog post about paying for content in a free content world, isn’t it?! Weirder yet that StartupNation has for years on end been a STRICTLY free content site and hosts many tens of thousands of pages of free content and features.

So why have we recently launched a paid content offering [...]

If you want to increase your level of returning customers, there is one major thing that you need to take care of at the very beginning of every relationship - Expectations.
This may sound simple, but if you don’t spell out what you are going to provide for the money, you can run into major confusion [...]

As a business owner, I love being my company’s “evangelist.” I get huge kicks from educating and exciting people about becoming a customer. But frankly, there’s an even more important—though arguably less exhilarating—aspect to closing new business. We call it, the art of follow up.
�
My feelings about this were confirmed and further fueled at [...]

As Halloween approaches, you’ll see spooky ghosts, goblins and monsters everywhere. But for many of us, the real scare comes from talking to media members.
If picking up the phone to pitch a reporter gives you the chills, here are three simple tips to make the experience less frightful:
1. Prepare.
Before calling a reporter, know what that person [...]

Many new clients tell me that they have a blog, but no one is reading it. Other clients ask me if they need a blog.
Well, if you have a blog, or are wondering if you need one, you may have these questions:
• What’s the point?
Before you start writing, figure out why you want to have a [...]

As the “royalty” status of Hollywood stars has risen, so has their effectiveness as key influencers in consumer purchasing behaviors. Celebrity product placement is considered an “influencer-marketing” approach for helping brands increase their competiveness in an increasingly crowded marketplace. Marketers and small business owners can harness that power through strategic product placement opportunities that have [...]

With the popularity of performance shows like “Fame,” “Glee,” “So You Think You Can Dance,” “Dancing with the Stars,” etc., it got me thinking. Ever see some of the performers warm up singing, “Mi, Mi, Mi…?”
Well, this could be the theme song on many of the Web sites I review these days!
Do You Fall Into [...]

Recently, I caught up with Bruce Freeman, The Small Business Professor (aka “Professor Bruce”) to get his current thoughts on small business success.
In addition to having a syndicated, small business column with Scripps Howard, teaching and running his own marketing and public relations business, Bruce is the co-author of the entrepreneurship book, “Birthing the Elephant.” Here’s what [...]