A great entrepreneurial consultant and mentor, Al Herbach, has started a new blog, Titled “The Advisor: Illuminating the Path to Enlightenment“. The Advisor covers a wide range of topics on Entrepreneurship, Small Business, and other interesting topics. Al Herbach brings a plethora of experience to his writing. He will be teaching DePaul University’s “Start Up Chicago” workshop series starting April 2009. Read more at Alherbach.com.
Social media is the phenomenon of this century, and along with huge advances in mobile technology, the Internet has changed our lives beyond compare in an amazingly short time. The tipping point is approaching where more business will be done online (than offline), and companies will have to quickly adapt to these new markets or suffer the consequences. However, along with these vast new markets come some downsides. The free and almost instant communication social media brings means that good ideas can spread quickly – but conversely bad reviews can just as quickly spread and ruin a business. The anonymity it affords means that people are no longer afraid of saying what they think, or going over the top. In the leisure industry, prime examples are review sites, the biggest of which is undoubtedly TripAdvisor. There are few other sites that rely so heavily on good reviews for their continued business, so here are some interesting ideas adopted by some – Read the full article
Last week we published a guide on how to monitor Google Places reviews, Web updates, and content changes. It was well-received by our readers, so we’d like to build on the post and share info this time on tools for online reviews monitoring and management. Hopefully, this list will help you track online reviews of your brand, product, establishment, service, or business – and enhance your reputation as more customers talk about you on Google Places, Yelp, online directories, local business listings, and social media sites. Or, if you’ve used any of the online reputation management tools below, do let us know by leaving a comment below and sharing with us your experience. ReviewPush Texas-based ReviewPush markets itself as an “online review management tool for small to large businesses”. It offers a dashboard for monitoring / tracking reviews, protecting your brand and reputation, engaging with customers, and enhancing product offerings and promotions (such as coupons). ReviewPush features include: Continuous social – Read the full article
Small businesses have a daunting task as they compete with larger companies that boast more resources and staff. How can a small business compete for a share of the search engine market with so much stacked against them? Here are some tips on creating an SEO strategy for your small business: Learn from the Competition Promodo’s SEO specialist Anna Moseva suggests starting your small business SEO strategy with a thorough analysis of the competition. You’re probably familiar with piecing together keywords on Google in order to figure out what people are searching for and what’s already out there by way of content, but Moseva advises that you take the top 20 results in Google and analyze their Alexa Rank with the SEO Quake plugin for Firefox. Once you know the top sites among your competition, you can analyze the kind of traffic they generate and which keywords and adwords are linked to their sites at SEM Rush. This technique will – Read the full article
It’s pretty much understood that almost every business needs a website. Unfortunately, not every business owner has the expertise to set up one or the time to learn how. This is especially true for small, non-tech-oriented businesses that still need an online presence. Fortunately, there are a slew of services that can help businesses to get online in a fast, inexpensive and professional manner without having to learn coding. These point-and-click systems make it easy for a new webmaster to get a site set up quickly. They might not be the most robust solutions, but they might offer a quick start that can get a business online until something more permanent can be established. On that note, here are five code-free solutions for getting a business site online and running, often within a matter of minutes. Squarespace Squarespace offers a great deal of flexibility with its layouts and a slew of modules including blogs, forums, file storage and more. Users – Read the full article
Users of Tumblr don’t have to open their wallets to get a great selection of themes. Tumblr’s theme directory offers hundreds of interesting, attractive and and practical themes that you can choose from. Combine that with a powerful set of customization tools to create your own theme or customize the one you’re using, users get a virtually unlimited set of themes without paying a dime. However, Tumblr does offer a set of very compelling premium themes that add yet another dimension to the site’s already extensive library. But while it may seem odd to pay for a theme with so many great, free options available, there are many that are well worth the money. Consider these seven examples of premium Tumblr themes that, for many sites, may be well worth the cash. Snippet Magazine themes are becoming extremely popular on other blogging platforms and Snippet likely the best magazine-style theme for Tumblr. With great use of white space to make – Read the full article
An Internet marketing summit featuring the best talent from the Chicago and Milwaukee areas, and which focuses particularly on search marketing and social media, is poised to become one of the most talked-about events in Wisconsin this February. Dubbed “Think Tank Live!”, the summit brings together several of the most dynamic and talented Internet marketers this side of America, as well as C-level executives, small and medium-size business owners, top branding and communications professionals, and IT and web design experts. “Think Tank Live” will be held February 23 at Country Springs Hotel, Waukesha, WI. Sponsored by Biz Times Media and Mashable and organized by I.M. Think Tank (a collective group of integrated marketing professionals in Chicago and Milwaukee areas), the summit will focus on educating people on utilizing today’s best Internet marketing and social media practices to strategically drive business results, increase profits, and lower costs. “Think Tank Live!” will have a track on Internet marketing strategies that align businesses – Read the full article
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