Category Archives: Business

Media Report: Blog, Podcast and RSS Advertising Outlook

Posted on by

Combined blog, podcast and RSS ad spend by the end of 2005 totaled $20.4 million, a 198.4 percent increase over the 2004 levels for user-generated online media – and is projected to climb 144.9 percent in 2006, reaching $49.8 million, according to a new report, “Blog, Podcast & RSS Advertising Outlook,” from PQ Media. Total spending on user-generated online media is forecast to grow at a compound annual rate of 106.1 percent from 2005 to 2010, reaching $757.0 million in 2010.

The blog ad market is the largest of the three, at $16.6 million accounting for 81.4 percent of total advertising in 2005, followed by podcast advertising at $3.1 million and RSS at $650,000.
Continue reading →

Your Business Credit Profile

Posted on by

You can start building your business credit even before opening your doors for business. Your first step, if possible, is to establish your business as a separate entity in order to separate your business credit profile from your personal credit profile. This means you want your business to be structured as a corporation (a Limited Liability Company, or LLC, is most common for small businesses).
Continue reading →

European stocks give up week’s gains

Posted on by

European stock markets gave up most of the week’s gains in the space of a few hours on Friday, as markets went into profit-taking mode after an initial benefit from U.S. jobs data.

The French CAC 40 index dropped 0.9 percent to 5,174, the German DAX 30 index weakened 1.3 percent to 5,952 and the UK FTSE 100 dropped 0.3 percent to 6,026.
Continue reading →

Your Ideal Client? A Key Concept Small Business Marketing

Posted on by

“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”–Bill Cosby

Have you ever had clients that were more trouble than they were worth? Maybe they were always late to pay, or didn’t do what they said they’d do. Maybe you just had a personality clash, or they expected more than you were able to offer. Whatever the situation, chances are you had an inkling when you first met that client…a tiny voice that you didn’t listen to, that was probably overshadowed by the bigger voice that said, “Hey, it’s business; I’ll take it!”
Continue reading →

Small Business Marketing Secrets

Posted on by

You’ve heard marketing and advertising gurus quip, “Sell the sizzle, not the steak.” Advertising initiatives best reach their target audience with benefits and the “wow” effect, not the value or features of their product or service. This may work well to get customers in the door. But once they’re in, you better have some substance. How can you ensure you uphold the integrity of your business and still maintain the “Wow Effect”? It just takes well executed strategic steps for business AND personal development:
Continue reading →

Using Technology to Manage Customer Loyalty

Posted on by

Don’t let your customer satisfaction research initiative collect dust on a shelf. Integrate technology with research to optimize the use of customer information.

The typical company spends 80% of customer research time and effort gathering information, and only 20% of that time using it. Companies conduct research to gather information, but it is only useful if it can be turned into positive action.

In the audio book, “Sound Advice on Customer Loyalty,” author Steve Walker suggests that integrating technology with research lets companies act on customer feedback intelligently everyday, translating into more loyal customers, and more profit at the bottom line.

Walker outlines three key applications of technology that help make customer research more effective.
Continue reading →

Business and Climate Change News

Posted on by

Seems to be quite a week for this… Earlier in the week, I pointed to the op-ed by airport executive Mike Clasper arguing for carbon taxes in the UK. Something similar was going on in the US, according to a Grist story this week: companies ranging from GE to Duke Energy to Wal-Mart were arguing for a carbon cap-and-trade system in front of Congress. And at Marketwatch.com (via Sustainable Log), columnist Thomas Kostigan makes a strong case for green business practices, including on of my favorite points:
Continue reading →

Adsense: Color Choices to Increase Clicks

Posted on by

Picking colors for your website and ads is one of the most important decisions you can make. You want to make sure to draw subtle attention to your ads, making them seem valuable but at the same time blended into your content making them look like they belong. A lot of websites use strong graphical elements that catch the eye but distract the user from adsense ads. When you use adsense you want to play close attention to your choice of fonts, font size, colors, images and other visual aspects of your pages layout.
Continue reading →

Ad formats and “Making them click”

Posted on by

Figuring out how to display ads and where to place them is the next step. There are so many different types of ad’s and configurations that it can be overwhelming. Some people leave Googles default settings, which is a big mistake. Controlling the looks and the placement of your ads makes all the difference in getting clicks. If it looks like an ad, most people wont click it. It’s as simple as that. The general web surfing public is very educated and familiar with ads and will ignore them in most cases. That’s why its so important to blend your ad’s with your website to get them as seamless as possible. If you make ads with bright colors, images or borders it will be easily recognized as an advertisement and people work extra hard to ignore them. Placement also has similar effects. If you place an ad at the very top, bottom or some far corner of a page , it will easily be ignored. If you want to get clicks on your ads, make them look like a regular part of your content.
Continue reading →