The other day, someone told me they were a bit down because their score on a social media site was low. I was quick to point out that the number had no bearing on the outside world. It was just something a site had decided about game dynamics within a single social network. It got me thinking about the numbers that matter, from a business perspective, but then even out into other areas. Here were some numbers I thought might matter more. Numbers... 

The winner of this week’s WinWeb Pitch of the Week competition is Martin Everard, son of Barbara Everard who was regarded as one of the leading botanical artists of the 20th Century. Martin has created a virtual gallery of his mothers’ work after facing difficulties when trying to display the work in a more traditional manner. Martin took a problem, and his passion, and developed a great way to overcome his obstacle. Do you have... 

I’ve written a lot in the last few posts about business. That was the goal: to help people better understand some of these tools and their impact on doing business. However, I should be really clear that business isn’t all work. Business, especially human business , can be relationship-minded, can be sustainable, and can even be fun. Sure, transactions have to happen and value has to change hands, but a lot of doing business is about... 

Delivery is the New It Thing This content from: Duct Tape Marketing if you’re looking for a way to differentiate your business or products and create a killer competitive advantage you may not have to look any farther than how you delivery of your products and services. Now, delivery is a fabulously flexible term when applied to business, so I use it here to talk about physical deliver…  Read More →

In my last post, how to grow traffic to your blog , I gave you some ideas on how to up your traffic. But if you’re hoping to turn this into a sale, you might want to take some preparations into account. Simple Call to Action If you’re bringing people back to your blog, make sure the thing you most want them to do is obvious …  Read More →

Tragedy led Goldman Sachs analyst Monique Péan to make jewelry as a form of therapy. Now Michelle Obama wears her pieces  Read More →

I’ll tell you one thing I know: the more you post, the more traffic you get. It’s helpful if the stuff you post is worth something. I try hard to make that always the case. Others don’t try as hard, and yet, their traffic climbs when they post more stuff. You can reply in the comments and tell me that you’d rather put out great stuff once a month, or once a week, or whenever the great stuff mood strikes you. That means... 

A lot of theories have been circulated for why small businesses aren’t hiring — the bank lending crunch, emotional nervousness about the economy, high taxes, low sales. This week, noted Case Western Reserve University professor Scott Shane weighed in with his theory: It’s all about the residential real-estate collapse . Shane gives several reasons why the real-estate bubble’s pop has paralyzed entrepreneurs. Among them: 1)... 

WiseStamp Brings Your Email Signature to Life This content from: Duct Tape Marketing On the spectrum of really big marketing tactics, the email signature isn’t terribly sexy, but this little touch can say a lot about what you do and how you connect. If you’re like me, you send a lot of email so why not make sure your email signature is working in the background for you. This doesn’t mean you need flashing lights and honking... 

Of all topics, this is one of the perennials. People want more traffic, more attention, more awareness to their blog. It’s fair. We work hard on our blogs. We want more attention and traffic. If your business depends on volume, this is especially important (for instance, if you’re using ads). Getting traffic is a tricky business, and it requires a lot of experimentation. I’ll tell…  Read More →

While the U.S. federal government remains the largest buyer of goods and services in the world, doing business with the “feds” — particularly for small businesses — can be an unwieldy and regulatory-laden process.  Read More →

While the U.S. federal government remains the largest buyer of goods and services in the world, doing business with the “feds” – particularly for small businesses – can be an unwieldy and regulatory-laden process. A more manageable alternative, however, might be in the state and local government marketplace. State and local government contract opportunities are abundant and, since most states “set-aside” a... 

I am a huge fan of Om Malik. I just read his post on Apple’s Ping service , and have a difference of opinion. Om points out that it’s great that Apple is finally adding a social layer to their iTunes store. He goes on to mention that it’s about time, because Amazon has done a great job with this, and has enabled social commerce like letting bloggers become affiliates to sell products that Amazon offers (I am an Amazon affiliate,... 

Bros. According to the Urban Dictionary, they’re young, white alpha males found most commonly in Southern California beach cities, they drive lifted trucks, wear tilted mesh hats and talk primarily about chicks and beer.  Read More →

The e-mail message was alarming and ominous: Thinking the above message must be spam, the folks at The Inn at Mount Snow in West Dover, VT, immediately logged onto their Facebook account, where they were promptly confronted by the following message at the top of their Page: Definitely not spam, and according a statement provided by Facebook to Entrepreneur magazine, it’s intentional. “With millions of Pages on Facebook, we rely on...