Business Blogs: Trends, tips, and real-life anecdotes from industry experts.

You have news and you don’t even know it. It might not be the Wall Street Journal that picks up the fact that you have a new head chef in your restaurant, or a new winemaker at the winery, or that your software company just hired a new VP, but you’ll be surprised at the [...]

Let’s face it. The first step is always the hardest. Whether you’re trying to quit smoking, start graduate school, or learn how to play guitar. It’s that first step that leaves us feeling awkward, inadequate, and questioning our conviction. Taking that first step toward entrepreneurship is no different. We question our business skills, product performance, [...]

The rise of social media is undoubtedly one of the biggest changes to happen to marketing since the birth of the internet.  According to a Universal McCann 2008 study, 272 million people are using social media.  Of those 272 million, 77% are reading blogs and approximately 34% of them are posting opinions about companies [...]

We all think we have much bigger, deeper insight into our users than we actually do. If you think you understand your users you run the risk of overestimating what they want, you carry on bad habits, miss opportunities, don’t learn anything new or consider new ways to design.  There are very few companies that [...]

I’m attending the South by Southwest Conference in Austin, Texas this week. The show is known for its cult following for all things interactive, from business leaders to designers, gamers to artists, film makers and musicians- they are all here (at least virtually.) I came to SXSW to be the eyes and ears for new [...]

Brand monitoring is essentially the process of researching mentions of your brand including its name, officers, products, and more.  This is a vital part of branding for many reasons.  It can help you find brand evangelists, join conversations with prospects, correct misinformation, find opportunities for free publicity, police your trademark, or even find ideas for [...]

In the late 60’s Andy Warhol proclaimed his belief that everyone was destined for at least 15 minutes of fame.  While the definition of “fame” may be up for interpretation, the prediction does hold some truth.  It also begs a question for companies.  Will your brand be ready?  If yes, your 15 minutes could easily [...]

Thanks so much for joining us for Part 2 of our interview with Newt Barrett of “Get Content. Get Customers.”  If you missed Part 1, please click here to Read Part 1.
Heather: You mention several content types in your book such as print publications, magazines, newsletters, white papers, websites, blogs, webcasts, and eNewsletters. I actually [...]

According to the Domain Name Industry Brief by VeriSign, 24 million new domain names were added in 2008. A 16% increase over 2007’s numbers. In case you haven’t noticed, the web is getting crowded. Just imagine 24 million more websites out there all competing for a click-thru on Google. So how do you stand out [...]

My team visited Scottsdale, Arizona last week as exhibitor and sponsor of the Women Entrepreneurs’ Boot Camp.  We had a chance to sit down with organizer, Susan Ratliff, and discussed key marketing tips and business tactics for beating the recession in 2009 and I thought I’d share some of her insights.
Susan happens to be an [...]