Submitted by Jan Smith on Sun, 01/24/2010
I'm on Twitter. What do I tweet?
As I've mentioned before in an earlier blog, social media can be a fabulous tool for small business owners or it can be a complete waste of time. Whether these tools are business builders or productivity wasters depends a lot on your business and your customers. If you do have a presence in social media, what will it take to keep your followers engaged?
Submitted by Jan Smith on Mon, 10/26/2009
Bring out your brand
Back in 1988, I went to work for PC/Computing, a magazine startup with the tagline: Smart. Funny. Beautiful. Not what you'd expect from a technology title of the time, the goal was to be the "Vanity Fair" of computer magazines.
Everything about the magazine was intended to support the smart-funny-beautiful brand. The first few covers were commissioned art, many of them oil paintings. Comedian and illusionist Penn Gillette was a columnist for a time. The editorial talent was some of the best available.
Submitted by Jan Smith on Wed, 10/14/2009
To link or not to link?
An attorney I know received an email from another law office inviting her to write a blog for the law firm to post on its website. Then each firm would link to the other's website.
What's going on?
Submitted by Jan Smith on Sat, 09/05/2009
Should you Twitter your business?
I have long considered Twitter a complete waste of time -- both writing all those tweets and reading them. I am perhaps overly obsessed with how my cat spends his time, but I really don't care about the cats who live with my old friend from Boston (sorry, Manya). It's also much too public a medium -- everyone doesn't need to know that I'm a negligent gardener and the Cardinal Lobelia in my back yard is completely overshadowed by the the weeds (the subject of my first tweet).
Submitted by Jan Smith on Sun, 08/09/2009
Three reasons to update your website
1. Your next client is checking out your website. Even someone who is referred to you by a friend will probably check out your site -- if for no other reason than to look up your phone number and find out if you have evening hours. Make sure that your site is telling a clear, compelling story about why that customer or client should choose you. Focus on the purpose of each page of your site and remove anything that doesn't support it.