New Competitions for Entrepreneurs and Growing Companies
Category: Business>Small Business Trends

It’s great to get recognition for your small business and it’s even better if that recognition comes with great prizes. This list of competitions and awards for small businesses is updated every two weeks and brought to you as a community service by Small Business Trends and Smallbiztechnology.com.

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Mom Invented:  California Product Search
Enter by February 20, 2010

Anna’s Linens, a leading home goods retailer and seller of the entire Mom Invented® family of products, is in search of the next great product — invented by you. We’re looking for you to submit your most creative product ideas for a chance to win $1,000 and see your product sold at Anna’s Linens stores.

There will be three  in-person pitch events at Los Angeles area Anna’s Linens stores where you’ll get to talk about your new product idea face to face. They encourage you to submit your idea online, then bring your emailed submission form and any supporting prototype samples or images to one of the live events. If you can’t make it to one of the in-store events you can submit your product idea online or by mail.

Cisco Heroes of the Human Network Contest
Enter by February 27, 2010

CDW announces the Cisco Heroes of the Human Network Contest, designed to give big recognition to three small businesses across the U.S. The contest will spotlight businesses that have had success streamlining business processes, enhancing the customer experience, and improving employee efficiency – all key ingredients to staying afloat during tough times.

The grand prize winners will be featured in a video case study documenting their experience and will receive a $1,000 CDW gift card to spend on Cisco Small Businesses products, as well as a Flip MinoHD video camera. Judges will select winners based on a 250 word essay describing how a Cisco Small Business Solution and the use of Cisco Small Business technology has helped applicants propel their business.

Small Business Strategy Award at Small Business Summit 2010
Enter by March 1, 2010

Has your business set milestones and thrived in spite of the severe economic downturn? If so, we’d like to hear from you. We’re looking to honor one business with the Small Business Strategy Award 2010 to recognize entrepreneurial strategic excellence that has led to significant increased profits, expanded market and/or improved market position.

Our Award committee will select the three finalists and the winner will be recognized and receive the award at the Small Business Summit in New York City on March 16th.

Intuit’s Love a Local Business Contest
Enter by March 3, 2010

In a nationwide effort to help support the growth of small businesses, Intuit is hosting the “Love a Local Business” sweepstakes. Fans of local small businesses can nominate their favorite hometown haunt, which will make them eligible for a drawing to win a $1,000 Intuit Growth Grant, which includes a $500 Visa gift card and $500 in Intuit business services, such as Intuit Websites and Web Listings. One of those five winning local businesses will receive a grand prize of $5,000!

In addition, each business that is nominated will appear on a custom Google Map displaying favorite businesses from across the country. The more nominations a business has, the more chances they have to win a grant. Intuit has already awarded $55,000 in small business grants. Now it’s time to show support for your favorite neighborhood shop! Go to Love a Local Business for more information.

B2B Social Media Integration Case Study Challenge
Enter by March 12, 2010

This is your chance to join an expert panel at the B2B Forum session. How did your company boost ROI by integrating social media into your marketing strategy? Tell us your success story, and you could be telling it to the B2B marketing world in May. Complete this form and tell us your story!

The winner will become a panelist in the “Case Study Swap Meet! Proven Success Stories Integrating Social Media into Overall Strategy” session at the B2B Forum taking place on May 4-5 at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston, MA.

The Rhode Island Business Plan Competition
Enter by April 5, 2010

The Rhode Island Business Plan Competition, open to everyone, seeks to promote entrepreneurship and development of start-up and early stage companies. Winners and finalists in the 2010 Competition are expected to receive more than $130,000 in prizes.

The Better Way Challenge from Verizon
Enter by May 31, 2010

Sign up for a free 30-Day Trial of the Verizon Collaboration Center and be automatically entered to win a Flip MinoHD video camera; 15 per month will be given away randomly to those who sign up for the trial.

There is also a separate video contest: submit a video describing the challenges you face as a small business getting your whole team on the same page and you’ll receive an additional six months of the Verizon Collaboration Center for free.

If Verizon and Cisco select your video, you could be entered to win an exclusive business consultation to help you take your business to the next level in one of these two prize levels:

Grand Prize: An exclusive two-hour business consultation with entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki plus a $2,000 reward card.

2nd and 3rd Place Prizes: An exclusive one-hour business consultation with the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group – an organization that provides customers with innovative approaches to complex business opportunities – and a $1000 reward card.

Click here for official rules and to enter.

The Shopify Build a Business Contest
Runs January 1 – June 30, 2010

This contest is open to legal residents of the United States who are at least 18 years of age and starting a new business. To enter you must open a new store on Shopify.com. The winner will be selected based on their two best selling months between January 1st, 2010 and June 30th, 2010. The store with the two best selling months will win $100,000. Achieve the same for your store category and win $5,000 as a runner up prize.

The Cleantech Open Ideas Competition
Opens for Entries July 2010

The Cleantech Open runs the world’s largest clean technology business competition and is looking for the best clean technology ideas from around the world. Just for telling your idea, you could win a prize package of services worth $100,000 to help you start a business to grow your idea! Winners of each individual National Competition, get to represent your country as a Global IDEAS finalist at the annual Cleantech Open Awards Gala on November 16, 2010 in San Francisco.

There, your idea will be presented in a five-minute pitch in front of a crowd of 3,000 investors, entrepreneurs, sponsoring companies, corporations, members of academia, press, and others interested in hearing your ideas and getting involved.

The crowd will vote via text message for the “People’s Choice” and you could win $100,000 in marketing support, legal advising, conferencing services and more to help launch your business!

The competition will open in July 2010. Sign up to receive the newsletter to get updates.

iNGie Award from Cabinet NG
Enter by August 15, 2010

Cabinet NG will recognize our customers who have best used CNG-SAFE software products to improve their bottom line and at the same time operate their businesses in a more environmentally friendly manner. “iNGie” awards will be presented at the 2010 Collaborate Conference in Huntsville (dates and location to be announced soon).

Awards:

* The first 20 companies to apply receive 2 free passes to 2010 Conference in Huntsville (approximately $500 value).
* Winners get a $1,000 credit which can be applied toward annual maintenance or CNG products.
* Winners will also receive an Amazon Kindle™.
* Recognition at the 2010 Conference dinner.

Award categories and online applications can be found here.

To find more small business events, contests and awards, visit our Small Business Events Calendar.

If you are putting on a small business contest, award or competition, and want to get the word out to the community, please submit it through our Small Business Event Form (We do not charge a fee to be included in this listing — it is completely free to list your award or contest.)

Please note: The descriptions provided here are for convenience only and are NOT the official rules. ALWAYS read official rules carefully at the site holding the competition, contest or award.

From Small Business Trends

New Competitions for Entrepreneurs and Growing Companies

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Small Business Cash Flow Problems Still Not Declining
Category: Business>Small Business Trends

Many small businesses continue to experience cash flow problems – the majority, in fact, according to a survey by the Discover Small Business Watch.

That cash flow is an issue right now for small businesses might sound obvious to most of you that run your own businesses, but a worsening trend might not be. So here’s a chart that shows what has been going on with small business cash flow over the past three years.

The figure plots the percentage of respondents to the Discover Small Business Watch monthly survey of a random sample of 750 small business owners who answered “yes,” they are experiencing temporary cash flow issues. Although there has been a slight down tick over the past two months, the chart shows a (noisy) trend towards an increasing share of small business owners experiencing these problems. (The thick blue line is the actual data; the thin black line is the linear trend plotted from it.)

I tried to see whether other patterns fit the data better than the upward linear trend. Unfortunately, they don’t. An increasing share of businesses experiencing temporary cash flow problems is closest to what has actually happened over the past three years.

Many economists believe that the Great Recession has ended and the economy is now growing again. While that might be true, it doesn’t appear that the recovery is strong enough or broad enough to have fixed the cash flow problems in the small business sector, at least not yet.

From Small Business Trends

Small Business Cash Flow Problems Still Not Declining

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Musician Makes over $18k in 5 Days with Social Media
Category: Business>Small Business Trends

I’ve always loved jingles. I’ve always wanted one for my web site. I found one that I thought was perfect for Ancestry.com once. I sung it to myself every time I heard their name.

So I was inspired by a small business that started over the holidays. People like case studies about how small businesses succeed with social media. Here is an example of a business that was started with social media. It was started, get this: over this Christmas and New Year’s, by a musician in Sweden who has never had a business online.

His name is Love Harnell and he’s a musician

I found out about Love Jingles through an email (great blogger PR) and then I called and got an interview with Love Harnell. I’m not used to calling men other than my husband Love but he let me know the Swedish pronunciation which is more like Louve (as in the Paris art museum).

He writes and performs jingles for brands. He makes a video of his performance and then promotes it. His story has been on Mashable and Adrants. Yahoo! has signed up to celebrate their 15 year anniversary with a jingle. So has a 12-step program (it booked 14 days to tell their story in song).

The idea is decent but it’s the way he markets it that people talk about

If you’ve heard of the Million Dollar Homepage or IWearYourShirt.com, this is in the same style. Here’s how it works – each day of the year you sign up to have a custom-made jingle and every day the price goes up. So on January 1, 2010 it cost $1 and then on January 2 it is $2. I got in for $85. You can upgrade to have your logo added on the video and on the blog post.

Time to Market and Costs

Time to market: a few weeks.

Cost to start: good luck, connections and talent.

Advertising: his friend Nils at Pronto Communication emailed 10 bloggers (which is how I found out about it), told his clients and the word started to spread.

Potential revenue if he sells every single day at the minimum price: $67,000.

How LoveJingles Works

Everyone gets a live recording of their jingle on YouTube, and a blog post with their video (in other words, customers help create the content). Then it’s promoted on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. Even though it’s less than a week old just type Lovejingles.com into Google to see how many references there are to the site already (over 5,000). This is the new advertising.

LoveJingles.com was started in an industry that has been bleeding – music. It’s a perfect example of making something worthy of talking about (all done word of mouth). It has viral built right into it (meaning it markets itself by the great stories from the various people who’ve purchased jingles).

What can your small business do in 2010 to leverage social media and get a lot of buzz? It’s more about your imagination than your budget. Love has definitely Crushed It. Let this case study inspire you to do the same.

From Small Business Trends

Musician Makes over $18k in 5 Days with Social Media

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Sticky Note Personal Computers
Category: Business>Small Business Trends

Here’s a cartoon I did a few years ago, and with the launch of the iPad I thought it was a good time to dust it off.

I remember I was getting ready to buy a new computer and I could’t decide between a notebook computer (the word “netbook” hadn’t yet emerged) and a tablet.

So I wrote them down on a piece of paper to make a pros and cons list. Seeing the two words next to each other I thought it was odd that we were relating such high technology to simple paper products, and the above popped into my head.

From Small Business Trends

Sticky Note Personal Computers

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SuperFreakonimics is a Fun Way to Challenge Your Assumptions
Category: Business>Small Business Trends

Whoever thought that economics could be fun?  Well, it IS fun when Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt put their “freaky” spin on the myriad decisions and assumptions that we make.   I read the original “Freakonomics” and enjoyed it so much that I purchased “SuperFreakonomics” as soon as I saw it.

The reviews are mixed on “SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance”. There are people who have read “Freakonomics” and were disappointed because “SuperFreakonomics” is more of the same.  And then there are those who loved it because it was more of the same.

Personally, I enjoy Dubner and Levitt’s writing style and storytelling.  Reading “SuperFreakonomics” to me was like eating lobster.  I loved it the first time.  I’ll certainly have it again.  But I don’t think I’d want to eat it every day.

Like its predecessor, “SuperFreakonomics” is filled with timely and unusual questions like:

• How is a street prostitute like a department-store Santa?
• Why are doctors so bad at washing their hands?
• How much good do car seats do?
• What’s the best way to catch a terrorist?
• Did TV cause a rise in crime?
• What do hurricanes, heart attacks, and highway deaths have in common?
• Are people hard-wired for altruism or selfishness?
• Can eating kangaroo save the planet?
• Which adds more value: a pimp or a Realtor?

I mean, how do you even get to asking or wondering about this stuff?  Some of the fun in reading this book came from the interesting cast of characters:  economists, hip and cool “dude-like” scientists and prostitutes.  These folks all had enough curiosity and open-mindedness to put their assumptions and choices to the test.

SuperFreakonomics Makes You Stop and Think

Perhaps the best thing about “SuperFreakonomics” is that it makes you think about how easily we are blinded by our assumptions and what we THINK is true rather than what data really show.

My favorite example of this came in Chapter 4 where they talk about a fatal childbearing condition, puerperal fever.  Doctors had no idea what caused it.  And it took the persistence and curiosity of Ignatz Semmelweis, a young Hungarian-born doctor, to pull together potential causes, collect the data and to discover that by simply washing their hands, doctors could virtually wipe out puerperal fever and deliver more healthy babies.

There are dozens of stories just like this one.  Each story features different intuitive assumptions that we all make and each assumption is proven wrong by simply collecting data and analyzing it.  Over and over, Dubner and Levitt’s stories punch their point home; don’t assume you know what’s happening and why.  Look at your existing data.  Reverse your assumptions. Open yourself up to other answers you may not have considered.

Read SuperFreakonomics For the Fun

At a time when “it’s all about the economy” this was a fun, entertaining and educational read.  While I wouldn’t say that there are explicit action items that you can take away from this book to improve your business, I would say that each story will make you think and wonder about what you see is true (or not true) about your business.

From Small Business Trends

SuperFreakonimics is a Fun Way to Challenge Your Assumptions

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Wow! Cookies! How One Company Stands Out
Category: Business>Small Business Trends

I just had the best cookie!  Yes, you read that right  — I’m writing about cookies.  And no, this is not turning into a recipe blog.

This post has an entrepreneurial connection — bear with me, and I’ll tell you about it.

Today I got a package from FedEx. Turns out it was a box of delectable goodies, from Wow! Cookies! of Shaker Heights, Ohio.  I opened the outer packing box to discover this gift-wrapped box:

It was so beautifully wrapped, I was intrigued.  In fact, I was so intrigued that I hated to tear into the paper.  So I took another photograph instead. (I’m not a very good photographer and rarely take photos, so please excuse the quality of these — they look much better in person.)  

Finally I opened the box.  There I found a gift card (I’ll get to that in a moment) and this luscious sight:

Cookies!  The package with the pink ribbon turned out to be chocolate chip cookies.

I ate one immediately.  Who could resist?  (Certainly not me!)

They are delightful — crispy edges and soft centers, with loads of chocolate chunks.  You can taste the butter and quality ingredients.  They taste homemade — better than homemade, actually.  I don’t think I could bake a cookie that good (and I’m no slouch in the kitchen).

In addition to the cookies, there are 4 brownies.  I haven’t tried one of those yet, but, hey, the night is young….

So, where’s the entrepreneurial connection, you ask?  Well, there are two.

First, inside the box was a card that said “Anita, We LOVED your presentation!”  Just like that — got the inflection right.  It was from the folks at COSE (Council of Smaller Enterprises) and their Social Media Leaps team.  I am on the Board of the tech arm of COSE, and had given a webinar earlier this week about social media, highlighting the Social Media Leaps program.   Social Media Leaps is a website and social media training program that offers tutorials for small business leaders on how to use social media — and I highly recommend it.

But the main entrepreneurial story here is about Wow! Cookies!  Seeing the bakery’s website address on the flyer inside the box, I had to check it out.  The website is simple, yet compelling … compelling because it puts the cookies front and center.

And I realized that the box I received looked exactly like the ones pictured on the website.  So did the cookies — and that’s unusual.  Mail-order baked goods usually look much better on the website. The real life equivalent is too often disappointing.  Not so with Wow! Cookies!

Reading the About Us page was compelling too.  There I learned about Penny Parker, the owner. Here is her “business story”:

Who put the WOW in WOW! Cookies?

In 2004, Penny Parker left her position as the sales and education director of a major Fortune 500 company. Instead of sitting back, she decided that retirement just wasn’t her style. After some soul-searching, she decided to turn her love of cookies into a business.

Penny began by scouring the city’s great bakeries in search of the ultimate cookie. What she found was a dismal array of bland cookies and a vanishing population of bakeries making homemade items. Now, even more determined to provide the Cleveland area with an incredible homemade cookie, Penny founded WOW! Cookies!. Her challenge was to create a unique product that used high-quality ingredients and could be delivered fresh, with a home-baked presentation.

The answer? A line of cookies made with farm-fresh eggs, creamery quality butter and milk products, imported French and Belgian chocolate, naturally dried fruits, perfectly roasted nuts and the highest quality bakery flour and oats. Penny has stated that her, “business is intended to satisfy the cravings of Cleveland’s most discriminating cookie connoisseurs.”

Wow! Cookies!  is a wonderful example of an entrepreneurial venture of the kind I’ve spoken about as a being a good start-up in 2010:  a specialty foods business.

It’s also an example of how small businesses can compete in today’s age.  The basic products — cookies and brownies — are classic.  Nothing unusual about cookies and brownies, right?  What sets this business apart is the quality of the product — it’s definitely high end.  Another differentiator is the creativity of the packaging.

You don’t need to invent some never-before-heard-of new technology.  You don’t need to necessarily even have a big product line.  Just be outstanding at delivering a few things to customers.  Do it so well that you set your product line apart from what’s on the market.  Then you will have a premium product that others (like me) feel compelled to tell people about, and you can charge a premium for your product.

From Small Business Trends

Wow! Cookies! How One Company Stands Out

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Are You Getting The Most Out Of Your Keywords?
Category: Business>Small Business Trends

We talk at length about how important social media can be for a small business. We talk about it so much that sometimes I worry that we talk about it too much. While there are certainly opportunities to capture new leads and gain exposure, small business owners can’t get caught up in what’s simply shiny. We still have to focus on the technical stuff that has been proven to produce traffic and conversions. And that means focusing on search engine optimization and using keywords effectively.

While I was traveling last week, I stumbled across an important article in InformationWeek that talked about how search terms mean big business for SMBs. The article cautioned that by focusing too much on branded terms and ignoring generic keywords, SMBs may lose out ‘on a significant amount of online traffic’. Because it is these generic terms that most people search for.

According to the article, users aren’t searching for ‘Round Table pizza’ or ‘Nike running shoes’. They’re simply searching for ‘pizza’ and ‘running shoes’. With more and more marketers shifting money online, it’s important that they allocate money to the right areas. If you haven’t taken time to tune up your keywords and tighten their placement into your site, then now’s a very good time to do that. Otherwise, you’re missing out on huge search opportunities, the ones rooted in the basics of online marketing.

I’ve written before about how to pick winning keywords. The tools outlined in that article still stand and provide excellent resources for business owners looking to understand what terms will bring the most traffic to their sites. But that’s only the first step.

Once you KNOW the terms, WHERE do you plug them in? How do you know you’re getting the most out of those keywords?

Title Tag: The Title tag is one of the most important places to put your keywords. It appears as the top line of your search results and acts as the title of the page once a user clicks through. Users want to click on the page that most resembles what they searched for, so if they’re looking for a page about [Los Angeles Chiropractors] and your Title Tag mentions Los Angeles chiropractors, they’re going to take that as a good indication that you’re relevant to them. And then they’re going to click through. This is just one of the many reasons why your Title tag should  contain the most important terms for your page.

Meta Description Tags: The Meta description is the 200 or so characters that appear under the Title tag in the search results. This is another great place to use keywords to help the search engines and users understand what your page is about and, in the case of users, to get them to click through. The search engines will also highlight the terms that a user inputs that match the ones listed in your Meta Description. SEO Darren Slatten has a Google SERP Snippet Optimization Tool that can you help perfect your Title and Descriptions so they are the correct lengths and optimized for the terms you’re after. I highly recommend it.

Navigation: Unless your home page is about “homes”, you should not be using that word in your navigation. It doesn’t tell people anything about your site or its pages. Use keywords in your navigation that actually tell people what the page is about. It sounds like common sense but many small business owners try and get ‘clever’ and use silly words to link throughout the site. All you’re doing is confusing people. Use keywords when applicable to take advantage of search traffic.

URLs: When naming site pages, blog posts or anything else related to your site, try to insert 2-3 keywords in the URL where appropriate. DO NOT go overboard and start stuffing your URLs with keywords totally unrelated to the content, however, you’ll notice that the URL for this post ends with ‘how-to-use-keywords’. This helps to take advantage of the natural search traffic for that phrase.

ALT text: If you have images on your site, then you need text to describe those images, per Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. This is another prime place to put keywords. Local search expert Patrick Sexton recently released an Image SEO Tool to help business owners see how well their alt tags are written. It’s not fancy, but it does get the job done and help business owners check their image titles. Another great (and free) tool.

Internal anchor text: The way that you link inside your Web site is incredibly important. Avoid using anchor text such as “click here”, “read more” or “next” and instead use keywords that explain what the next page is going to be about. The search engines use these links for relevance the same way they look at the external anchor text pointing to your site. You can’t always control how people link to you, so make sure you’re at least controlling how you link within your own site.

Your content: I know, I know, you already know this, but look over your pages and see how you’re using your terms. Are they spread out evenly on the page? Are you using them early enough to grab reader attention? Are you using them enough times on the page or diluting them? While there’s no magic number for how many times you should use a keyword in order to rank for it, by reading your copy over you should be able to identify what “feels right” for you and your industry.

Other people’s content: Are you writing a guest post for another blogger? Submitting an article to a local online magazine? Speaking at an industry event? Chances are you’ll be linking back to your site in the bio section or even inside the article itself. When you do, be smart about the keywords you’re using. Don’t spam other people’s blog, but do look for natural opportunities to benefit from keywords.

Above are just a small handful of ways you should be using keywords to improve rankings and traffic coming into your site. It’s really important that you be aware of the power that keywords can have not only in social media or your Google Local Business Listing, but on your own Web site as well.

From Small Business Trends

Are You Getting The Most Out Of Your Keywords?

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Mobile Coupons Slowly Gain Steam With Users
Category: Business>Small Business Trends

The acceptance of mobile coupons was included in Paul Rosenfeld’s Five Can’t-Miss-Mobile Marketing Trends for 2010. We saw Google Honeywell survey conducted by Harris Interactive found that while mobile coupons ARE catching on, they’re not doing so at the speed many small business owners may have hoped. In fact, adoption is still pretty slow.

According to the study, customers are still hesitant to take advantage of mobile coupons as we roll out of the recession. The study found that just four percent of users surveyed had redeemed mobile coupons and that only 10 percent of users surveyed said they felt comfortable storing coupons on their mobile phone as opposed to printing them out. Not surprisingly, younger consumers are more likely to use mobile coupons.

And that really seems to be the trend. While most Americans still look to print for savings and find magazines the ‘most helpful’ form of advertising, younger shoppers are headed to their phones.

eMarketer noted:

Adults ages 18 to 44 preferred online ads for bargain hunting by a margin of at least 5 percentage points. The oldest respondents were the most likely to favor print, though they still thought Web ads were better for deal-seeking than direct mail or TV.

While current adoption numbers may be low, the signs for growth are there and offer interested retailers some hope. Sixty-six percent of younger adults said they were at least somewhat likely to try mobile coupons, with 31percent of overall respondents said they’d be willing to give their mobile number to a retailer in order to receive coupons. Not surprisingly, that number grew to one-half when talking to 18- to-34 year olds. And this echoes much of what we’ve seen with social media. Customers are willing to ‘friend’, ‘fan’ and ‘follow’ your brand if you’re willing to offer them discounts for doing so.

Though the numbers look bleak, I think the key takeaway here is that mobile coupons are catching on, especially for businesses targeting a younger demographic. Mobile coupons are still the new kid on the scene, with more companies, restaurants, and grocers starting to launch mobile coupons each month. Exposure is growing and with that comes adoption. As people get more comfortable shopping via their mobile devices and looking up information the go, mobile coupons become a natural extension of that.

From Small Business Trends

Mobile Coupons Slowly Gain Steam With Users

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5 Mistakes Brick and Mortar SMBs Shouldn’t Make Online
Category: Business>Small Business Trends

Would you believe me if I told you that I have seen sites that confirm every single stereotype about their industry?  I have seen “official websites” hosted on free blogging platforms, local business listings that have nothing to do with what the business in question does, people attacking customers whose reviews were not favorable, etc.

I also saw a number of restaurants that market themselves online better than Seth Godin ever would if he had a restaurant.

This story is about mistakes that small and medium sized businesses make on the web.

1. Failing to Understand the Basics of Internet Marketing

This is perhaps the most dangerous of all mistakes that SMBs make online, because it can come with a hefty price tag.

Internet marketing is a young, unregulated industry with a very small number of legitimate educational opportunities which makes it look like a typical market for lemons, and a breeding ground for scammers.

Although complex, Internet marketing is not rocket science. A little education can go a long way in protection from scam and wrong Internet marketing decisions.

On the other hand, running a small business is stressful enough without learning about search engine optimization, PPC, conversion rate optimization and a number of concepts that take time to sink in.

There is an easier way to cut your chances of being scammed.

Just avoid dealing with Internet marketing businesses:

- That solicit you
- Without any professional affiliations
- With no certifications (except when it comes to SEO)
- That can’t promptly prove their track record
- That guarantee high organic rankings
- That won’t even consider being paid for performance
- With lots of bad reviews
- Can’t provide any references
- That are member of their local business associations such as BBB or their chamber of commerce.

2. Unreasonable Expectations

More than 72% of people in the US are Internet users. For majority of them, Internet is the primary source of information about local businesses.

Granted, those numbers are impressive, but that doesn’t guarantee that even the best, perfectly executed, Internet marketing strategies can make your phone ring of the hook.

Why?

Internet reflects the state of the “brick and mortar” world.

The size of your market might create obstacles
If your market is small (you run a cleaning business that covers only 1-2 towns) online demand for what your business has to offer will reflect that.

If you are selling a luxury product or service in a region that is not very affluent, demand will not be great.

If your business goes through seasonal cycles, there will be periods when you will generate only a fraction of what you normally would in the peak of the season. Holiday season is great for retail businesses, but not for home improvement industry.

Competition might be strong and well established
It is reasonable to say that Internet offers the level playing field. But sometimes corporations and bigger businesses can have a stronger grip on Internet marketing, thus reducing the chances for a smaller or newer business to fulfil their Internet marketing potential as fast as they would like.

You still shouldn’t put your whole marketing budget online
The Internet might be the best marketing tool ever, but it’s not the only one. Every business owner should concentrate on providing remarkable service before anything else. Word of mouth marketing can’t be beaten, and more traditional forms of marketing still offer some value.

3. Having a Subpar Website

Dozens of books have been written about customer service, and most of those emphasized that customers see your employees as the company. As a result, most businesses go through great lengths to keep the level of costumer service they provide as high as possible, empowering employees to make the right choices and make every contact with a business an experience worth sharing.

At the same time, those business owners who wouldn’t hire a person who doesn’t smile often, would accept having a website that looks like it had been made 10 years ago, even though it was finished recently.

This attitude can impact the bottom line negatively because websites represent businesses online the same way employees do when they deal with customers face to face.

Subpar web design and development can cause:

- Credibility issues
- Low conversion rates
- Problems with search engines
- Usability issues

All these problems can cost a business a lot more than a professionally built site.

4. Google Centrality

With 65.7% of US search market share according to the latest comScore analysis, Google looks like an obvious starting point of all Internet marketing efforts for most small businesses.

Concentrating most of your attention on Google is a smart move. But focusing exclusively on Google means giving up on more than 30% of market share.

The number of businesses with this attitude is surprisingly high.

Being Google-centric can be especially damaging for brick and mortar businesses for many reasons – the most important reason being local search.

Unlike other verticals of search, like video for example, local search market is extremely fragmented, with Google controlling “only” 26% of the market according to the latest available data.

SMBs should work to acquire traffic from all the major local search engines, but also from:

- Major Internet Yellow Pages Sites
- Vertical Directories
- Regional Directories
- Local Sites
- Classifieds

5. Misunderstanding social media

Social media related mistakes are typical for SMBs who want to get “on board” with Web 2.0.
They engage in social media without thinking about ROI, while spending valuable resources and time creating profiles that nobody cares about and tweeting what no one reads.

To think of social media as anything else but a set of communication platforms can lead to resource drains.

Every social media platform offers a chance to connect with your customer base and the community of people that could care about your services or products. But no social media platform can create those communities.

Connect with people who already care (your customers) and they will do the rest.

From Small Business Trends

5 Mistakes Brick and Mortar SMBs Shouldn’t Make Online

Blog contents are provided by Small Business Trends

A Million Startups that Offer Lasting Good Jobs
Category: Business>Small Business Trends

In a recent New York Times opinion piece, Thomas Friedman argued that “Obama should make the centerpiece of his presidency mobilizing a million new start-up companies that won’t just give us temporary highway jobs, but lasting good jobs that keep America on the cutting edge.”

Friedman doesn’t say how the President would do this, but instead writes “Obama should bring together the country’s leading innovators and ask them: “’What legislation, what tax incentives, do we need right now to replicate you all a million times over’ — and make that his No. 1 priority. Inspiring, reviving and empowering Start-up America is his moon shot.”

It sounds great to call for a million new companies that create lasting good jobs, but how hard would it be to do?

I’m going to try to estimate the number of Americans that would need to try to start their own businesses to yield a million start-up companies that give us lasting good jobs.

To do that I need to leave aside part of what Mr. Friedman said and put definitions behind the rest. Let’s start with what I have to ignore. It would be great to create start-ups that “keep America on the cutting edge.” Unfortunately, keeping America on the cutting edge isn’t something that is easily quantified, so I’m not going to require that part.

I’m going to define “lasting good jobs” as jobs (the position, not the person in it) that last at least five years and pay at least as much as the average job in existing companies. This is admittedly an arbitrary definition of what a lasting good job is, but I need to define the concept to measure it.

To generate one million start-up companies that are around five years from now, we need to start 2.22 million companies today because only 45 percent of new businesses live five years.

To create jobs from start-ups, entrepreneurs need to create employer businesses. (A non-employer business might employ its founder but if the founder runs the new business instead of his or her old job, then no net jobs are created.) According to research by Paul Reynolds that examines the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics, a nationally representative survey of the adult age population of the United States, only 19 percent of new business start-up efforts create employer businesses. So we need 11.7 million new businesses to create one million employer businesses that would be alive in five years.

But there’s another catch. Not everyone who begins the start-up process ends up creating a business. In fact, Reynolds’ research shows that only about 30 percent of start-up efforts result in an up-and-running company within six years. So if we factor in the success rate at new business creation, we need 39 million Americans to begin the start-up process to end up with one million new companies that are still alive and employing people five years later.

(Reynolds also says it takes 15 individuals beginning the start-up process to get an employer firm; using that estimate indicates that we need 33.3 million Americans to begin the start up process to end up with one million new companies that are still alive and employing people five years later.)

What about the quality of the jobs? According to the Census Bureau’s analysis of its Longitudinal Business Database, approximately 29 percent of five year old firms pay the average wage of businesses older than five. Using this number, I estimate that we need approximately 134.4 million Americans to begin the start-up process today to end up with one million five-year-old businesses employing people at above the average wage.

Every year about 14 million Americans get involved in the firm start-up process. So Friedman, Obama, or America’s leading innovators (or policy makers) could almost achieve Friedman’s goal if they could figure out how triple the number of Americans starting businesses every year for the remainder of the President’s first term.

While Friedman’s idea of creating one million start-up companies that create lasting good jobs is a noble goal, it’s a lot easier to say than to achieve. As anyone who has started a company knows, it is not easy to create businesses that have employees and pay them more than the average wage in this country five years after being founded.

From Small Business Trends

A Million Startups that Offer Lasting Good Jobs

Blog contents are provided by Small Business Trends

How to Prevent a Community From Growing On Your Site
Category: Business>Small Business Trends

The days of the cold static site are coming to end. Customers are tired of being talked at and are ready to get in the conversation. They’re looking for sites where they can go to hear from you, but also where they can hang out and let you hear from them. The Web and business are both becoming more social and that means creating an environment on your site where customers can meet other people, share their thoughts and create a home around your brand.

Sometimes creating a community on your site means building that blog, allowing comments and inviting people in.  But sometimes it simply means getting out of your communities way.  What are some of the most common actions that discourage a community from growing on your site?

Here are seven to be aware of.

Attempt to Control It

It’s natural to want to use a heavy-hand when dealing with your community. It’s your site and you want to make sure things are going as you see fit. The need to control comes from fear. You’re not comfortable with the tone of the conversation, how people are interacting or even what they’re talking about – so you step in to control it and shut everything down. Unfortunately, instead of directing the conversation you end up stifling it and changing the vibe and openness of the community. And then your talkers go elsewhere. As a site owner, you’re in charge of your community. You are in charge of making sure that it stays healthy and productive, however, be careful of laying too heavy of a hand. Your audience will have a way that they prefer to interact and talk to one another. If you try and control how they’re able to do that or restrict certain behaviors, you’ll likely send them running to someone else’s home.

Silence Criticism

There’s no quicker way to burn a good community than to start silencing those who vocally disagree with your or critique the way you do things. While it’s sometimes hard to hear negative things being said about your or your company, it’s far better to have them be said on your site than off of it. By letting those comments live and positively responding to them you show the community that you’re there to listen and that you believe in what you’re doing. The whole point of creating a community is to encourage people to share their experiences so that you can improve your service. Allowing a free conversation and responding well to criticism is how you will earn trust with your audience.

Ignore it

How many times have you landed on a blog and noticed that the comments were filled with nothing but unanswered questions? How many times have you watched people vocally complain on Twitter and been surprised that no one from the organization has stepped in? How many times have you emailed a business and had the message completely ignored? It stinks! People want to belong to communities that value them and their participation. One of the best ways to burn a good community is to start ignoring it. People have come together because they care about you and the service that your provide. Get involved! Show people that you’re listening and want to be part of the conversation. No one likes talking to a wall.

Isolate Newbies

This can be a real problem with establish communities. Over time community members begin to know one another. There’s
a familiarity there, filled with inside jokes from conversations that happened in the comments six months ago. Why these things are great for longstanding members, they can isolate people who are new to your site. It’s like sitting at the lunch table and watching everyone laugh at a job you’re not in on. Find ways to bring new members in and make them feel welcome right off the bat. Encourage them to introduce themselves. Use Wordpress plugins that identify new commenters to greet them with a different page than old-timers when they leave a reply. From here you can point them to popular old posts or conversation threads that will keep coming up. The quicker you can make them feel part of your group, the better the experience for them. It’s a great way to bring people in.

Don’t Listen

Many of those in your community are probably customers or at least potential customers. That means when they offer an opinion about how you can improve some aspect of your site or business, listen. Even if you don’t think they’re right or that it will work for you, at least acknowledge that they took the time to say something. Showing that you’re open for feedback makes them feel more valuable and it may open up doors to you that you wouldn’t have seen yourself. I’m constantly getting emails or tweets directed at me about things I can be doing better, new plugins we should use, or things they think we should fix or tackle. Big companies PAY customers for these kinds of insights. If your audience is kind enough to offer them up for free, don’t be shy about listening.

Discourage Member Communication

Let your members talk to one another! While some site owners totally ignore the community, others try to hop in answer every question before anyone else can offer help. This isn’t always the best course of action. You want community members to get into the habit of helping and supporting one another. These kinds of actions are huge health indicators for your community and are behaviors that should be encouraged. It’s good that your members want to send messages to one another, to offer resource links and to offer personal knowledge. Let them do it.

Allow No Way To Contact You

Very often community members may have something to say or contribute but they don’t want to do it in front of everyone. Sometimes they have a question about a product, they want clarification on a blog post you wrote or maybe they want to alert you to a typo on your Web site. Make it easy for people to get in touch with you by prominently displaying an email address, a Twitter handle or phone number. However you want people to get in touch with you, direct people to that. By making this information easily accessible, it helps show customers that you’re real and that you’re around should they ever have a problem. That’s a big trust factor for a lot of people.

Those are some of the most common ways I’ve watched companies kill their own communities.  Any other favorite examples?

From Small Business Trends

How to Prevent a Community From Growing On Your Site

Blog contents are provided by Small Business Trends

10 Ways to Have a Great Business and a Great Life in 2010
Category: Business>Small Business Trends

In a recent AP-GFK poll, 72% of Americans said they’re optimistic about what 2010 will bring for the country. That’s a dramatic difference from their same poll answer where almost 75% of them thought 2009 was a bad year for the country.

Despite the recent earthquake tragedy in Haiti (and who knows what else the year will bring), I’ve noticed that people are generally much more hopeful this year. I know I am!

Here are some resolutions you can make, to have a great business and a great life in 2010:

1. I will first schedule for the year all activities that support my health and family (including workouts, doctor appointments, vacations, family events). Why? Because without these, I won’t be able to be productive in my business.

2. Each day, I will put appointments with enough time (and some extra built in) to complete my day’s top 2 business activities. I will work on these even before I check my email (thanks for this great idea from Tim Ferriss of the 4-Hour Work Week fame – it really works!). These will be my business priorities for the day. Once they are completed, I can work on other business activities.

3. By the middle of each day, I’ll make sure to take a moment and determine if I have helped someone today. If so, continue with my activities. If not, take action to help someone in need – anything from returning an email from someone who needs help, making a phone call to someone who suffered a recent setback, or even just giving a compliment to someone.

4. I will backup my files in the easiest way possible, automatically, by using Carbonite.

5. I will meet regularly with my trusted advisors. These advisors may include my business coach, accountant, publicist, and banker.  These folks are critical to the success of my life and business.

6. I will put aside a reserve of money, or get a line of credit, so I will never feel “desperate.” I know that clients can sense desperation, and I won’t attract them if I feel that way. Plus, if I am not desperate for the money, I won’t have to take on clients who will drain me.

7. Each day, I will put a 30-minute appointment on my calendar to learn something new. In today’s world, we all have to be learning constantly, just to keep up. Each time I realize I need more knowledge of something, I’ll put it in one of my 30-minute appointment slots.

8. I will include marketing and business development activities in my business activities. This means that I may be scheduling time for social media promotion, Website updates, customer contacts, etc.

9. I will develop a consistent way to stay in front of current and potential clients. I know that this is the best way to grow my business. I can do this in many ways – through a newsletter, a regular Send Out Cards program, scheduled meetings and more.

10. If something doesn’t feel right, I won’t do it. I need to trust my gut. It’s usually right.

From Small Business Trends

10 Ways to Have a Great Business and a Great Life in 2010

Blog contents are provided by Small Business Trends

Is Your Social Media Clap-on, Clap-off?
Category: Business>Small Business Trends

Remember those TV ads for clap-on, clap-off light switches and key chains..? You clapped your hands and on went the light or beep went your key chain. You clapped your hands again and off went the light and your key chain stopped beeping.

Are you looking at social media in the same way? Clap your hands and on goes your social media ‘campaign’. Clap your hands again and it’s turned off.

Clap-clap  and you slap on a social media campaign. The young-kid does a Facebook page and some cute tweets. Somebody ghostwrites a blog for you or you write a post oh, every month or two. And you do something…not sure what or why, but something that someone says is cute and funny and email it to your customers.

BAM! There it is. Social media.

And you sit back and wait…and wait. And after awhile,  if you remember your social media campaign…you realize nothing has happened:

• No ‘conversations’ have occurred, whatever those were;
• No referrals,
• No sustained increase in traffic to your site,
• The number of prospects has not increased,
• Nor have the number of referrals.
• Conversion rates stay abysmally low.

And you’re looking for that someone who said ‘social media’.

And you clap-clap and it’s turned off. Blog comes down. The young kid is fired. Tweets stop and the Facebook page dies of neglect with minimal notice or complaint from its members.

And no one’s world is worse for the wear and tear.

Or…

Clap-clap. Your social media effort is successful.

• Your company’s  Facebook page is jumping with updates and comments, likes and photos.

• Your blog is regularly updated by you and your members, maybe you have some guest bloggers, too. Maybe they are customers or vendors?

• Your Twitter account is growing with real followers having real conversations about your products, your company…even you.

• Other resources like Yelp, LinkedIn, FriendFeed, YouTube…and more are used.

Now, more people are talking about your products, your services, what they like about it, what they WOULD like about it if you heard them. They suggest things you could change, things to improve…what if the packaging was easier to open or had this feature or didn’t have that feature.

Now, more people talk about what …they…DON’T like about it. The statistics show these folks have more conversations on this topic than any other topic. Misery loves company. It loves community, too. And now you have offered them a community, at your expense…literally.

Now what are you going to do?

• Clap-clap and that last conversation goes away?
• Clap-clap and those suggestions can be ignored or edited as it implies your leadership lacks vision or you cannot innovate? Or there is a deadline expected for these changes? One you cannot meet?

Your employees, executives, and managers, partners and vendors, investors and board can see that conversation.  Dollars to donuts, Homer, I bet they have had many of these same ideas. Or, they have wanted to have many of these same conversations. With you. With themselves.

Or they are threatened by those conversations. Maybe your culture does not embrace these conversations. Maybe you are threatened as well to see such an open conversation shared openly and transparently with and without your permission. And maybe you are worried what happens when that conversation comes in house…

At this point, you discover the clap-off feature for social media doesn’t work.  It’s like you’re at the opera. You clap and cheer for the opening act. And your key chain starts beeping…and beeping…and beeping.

Once the conversation starts with your prospects and customers, their referrals and your employees, your partners and vendors, board and shareholders…no amount of clapping and calling to order, in-person or digitally, can stop it. You can repress it. You can issue internal company policies. You can fire employees, terminate partners. You can ignore your customers, take those sites down, stop tweeting.

However, those conversations still take place. They  will only move to a more receptive audience: your competitor.  It will be your employees, customers, partners and vendors carrying that conversation to your competitors: current or startup.

Social media, transparent and open conversations, tend to be like the Borg. They absorb everything and everyone one in their path. Resistance is futile. Prepare for it now. Here are but a few ideas to consider before you clap-on for a social media…thing, strategy or campaign, whatever people call it.

Start with those closest to you. That’s your employees. Do you have an open, transparent, culture? How do you respond to failure or criticism? How do you respond to a new idea? Is everyone, including you the leader, prepared for an onslought of feedback…should it happen?

What do you offer that is worth discussing? You will find out what is interesting when you join this conversation. Interesting does not mean appealing.  Interesting means how does your audience answer these three questions with your offering:

• What’s in it for them?
• Why should they care?
• Why should they believe?

So, where do you turn to for answers?

• The first place to look for answers are your employees.

• The next place to look are their conversations with customers.

• The next place to look is your customers. Call them.

• Then your vendors and partners.

All of them can answer that question. And it will be different than what you expect. Probably.

Are you prepared for change? Do you have the systems to handle change? How quickly can you change a feature?  How quickly can you add a product? How quickly can you address questions and concerns, rants and raves, vigilantes and evangelists?

Can you let go? The ‘you’ is both you personally and the you of your company. The conversation remains in your hands. But, now there are many hands.

This post has gone on too long. That may be the point. Social media starts a conversation that once started does not stop even at the end of a post. That’s why comments on a blog post are so simple and powerful.

But I recommend you ask yourselves now what is being said about your offering by those who talk it about now. Social media will only accelerate the spread of that message. It won’t change the message.  Social media can no more change your message than lipstick can change a pig’s face.  Make sure you like the answer to some of these questions before you clap your hands and slap on a social media…something… for your company. Once you have turned it on, you can’t clap your hands and turn it off.

*******************************

About the author: Zane Safrit’s passion is small business and the operations excellence required to deliver a product that creates word-of-mouth, customer referrals and instills pride in those whose passion created it. He previously served as CEO of a small business. Zane’s blog can be found at Zane Safrit.

istockphoto from BillCourtney42

From Small Business Trends

Is Your Social Media Clap-on, Clap-off?

Blog contents are provided by Small Business Trends

How To Sell When Nobody’s Buying
Category: Business>Small Business Trends

Did you make your sales quota this month? If not, did you blame the slump on a slow economy?  If so, then you don’t realize that the real reason for the failure is you.

So asserts Dave Lakhani in his latest book, How to Sell When Nobody’s Buying.

Now anyone who recalls the rant of Blake, Alec Baldwin’s hyper-aggressive, always-be-closing character in the movie Glengarry Glen Ross, may feel that blaming the sales team is a rehashed idea.  However, Lakhani vibrantly renews the claim (with a little less intimidation, of course!). He provides solid, actionable advice.  He explains whenever he is speaking to other salespersons that they must “do what it takes”, yet he offers the tools that help making the “doing” possible.  These tools are presented in an a-la-carte fashion, resolving the mother question of typical business questions: “how does a company gain more sales?”.

Tips that Make Sales Easy

Throughout the book Lakhani always assures that following his suggestions will separate the creative professional sales team from those who just follow a cold-call list.   Lakhani’s offerings do not overwhelm readers with a “You must follow XYZ strategy or you will face doom!” feel.  The book simply provides good examples for the reader to use.

And the examples rapidly come, one after the well-organized other.  Lakhani gives a sales process in the opening pages, 7 Days To Selling Successfully When No One Is Buying. This energizes leads and shows proper follow up for older leads gone stale.  He lays out the rote example of offering coffee and discussion to a lead.  He explains without ever insulting the reader’s intelligence.  Buying is a great sales a-la-carte, indeed.

Slump Busters Inspire Sales Teams to Bust the Slump

Buying is peppered with a few short segments called Slump Busters. In each Lakhani interviews a business manager not readily familiar to the public eye.  In most books, additional comments from someone besides the author are probably better served from names more well-known to a mainstream audience to pique reader interest.  But in this book the interviewees provide eye-opening personal perspectives and business insight usable for most scenarios.

A favorite quote is from interviewee Scott Marker, who describes the benefits of sales training.  “There’s a saying in martial arts that ‘The more you bleed in the dojo, the less you bleed in the street.’  What that means to a salesperson is, the more time you invest in training yourself, the more success you have when you compete in the marketplace.”  Comments like this can be informative and inspirational.

Contributing authors offer additional essay segments towards the book’s end, but the additional commentaries feel somewhat out of place rather than enhancing Lakhani’s insights.  A segment on real estate may be better served in a dedicated book on real estate, while a segment on Facebook has too-familiar suggestions.  One good save is the bonus social media training session offered with each book purchase.

Well Organized Introduction on Online Tools

Lakhani enhances his material by offering additional online sources.  The mentioned websites are some of the standard “seen-it-before” social media tools such as Twitter and LinkedIn.  But he also mentions other sites that are specific to the subject matter, be it time management or follow-up to-do actions.  Readers gain new online tools in an organized manner which makes the suggestions more memorable, refreshing in an age of suggestions at every tweet.

Overall I found How to Sell When Nobody’s Buying (book’s website here) a useful resource for any business seeking better selling practices.  Small business owners who love their product or service offering but know nothing about sales could really benefit the most from Lakhani’s examples, and will find the book a satisfying start to understanding sales techniques.

From Small Business Trends

How To Sell When Nobody’s Buying

Blog contents are provided by Small Business Trends

Latest Events List for Growing Companies
Category: Business>Small Business Trends

The next couple of months have some great events, conferences and webinars for growing small businesses and entrepreneurs. The following list of events is brought to you twice a month as a community service by Small Business Trends and Smallbiztechnology.com.
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* * * * *

CurrentMom 2010 Conference
Feb. 1-3, 2010, Fort Lauderdale, FL

CurrentMom 2010 is the premier networking and educational event for entrepreneurial mothers. You will:

• Learn how to start and grow your business
• Enjoy Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa treatments — included with your registration
• Explore partnerships with other entrepreneurial moms
• Troubleshoot your business and marketing strategy

CurrentMom 2010 features two tracks of programming, for entrepreneurs just getting started and those already in business who want to break through to the next level. General sessions will address the issues all mom business owners face. Click here to REGISTER.

Trends For Your Small Business to Capitalize On
February 3, 2010, Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship Research

Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends will speak on the latest trends in the world of small business, what they mean, and how to capitalize on them.

Improve Your Brand by Using Online Video
February 3, 2010, Operation Hope, New York, 6-9pm EST

How would you like to build your brand? Are you confused about which video sites are best in helping you build your business (You Tube, Vimeo, Facebook)? Then this free event is for you. Learn how to become a video star and on camera expert in your field. Learn about what to say and not to say on camera. Featuring a panel discussion including representatives of Small Business Camp, Griot’s Roll Film, SHADES of a Diva, Kickable TV and Constant Contact. Optional video shoot follows.

Smart Business Moves Conference
February 3, 2010, Stamford, CT

One full day of marketing and viral networking strategies, keynotes by NY Times best selling authors, hour long seminars, panel discussions with congressional advocates, taping for website videos, head shots, business services, products, information, the latest in technology, success strategies, evening networking social and author reception with drinks, book signings, and live music by RSVP.

In addition to exhibitors, the event, which will be held from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., will include seminars and keynote speakers Bryan Eisenburg, marketing consulting and co-founder of FutureNow Inc., and Ilise Benun, co-founder of Marketing-Mentor.com. An hour-long networking social will conclude the program.

Understanding Google Maps & Local Search
February 4, 2010, Spokane, WA

There is a huge disconnect between what is happening in “local” and many of the businesses on the street that really need to leverage the possibilities for marketing that come from that knowledge. Getlisted.org Local University aims to fill that gap.

Our first event, with a choice of morning or afternoon session, is targeted to businesses that are beginning to explore the possibilities of online marketing. It will be jammed full of information with presentations from David Mihm, Matt McGee, Mary Bowling, Ed Reese of Spokane, Ari Bezman & Ryan Howard of Google. Use coupon code “mb2010″ to register for $79.

Entrepreneurial Woman’s Network Morning Workshop on Using Social Media
February 5, 2010, Norwalk, CT

If you are a female entrepreneur looking for education or inspiration, networking or support, the Westport, CT-based EWN offers you a range of business opportunities and events to help you grow your business. Join award-winning social media consultant, blogger, speaker, journalist and technologist, Lena L. West, as she makes social media easy-to-use and worthwhile. Create the makings of your own social media strategy.

Women Entrepreneurs Small Business Boot Camp
February 6, 2009, Phoenix, AZ

Celebrate the successes of the mighty micro-business. Expand your expertise, explore new opportunities, gain new resources, mingle with your peers and enjoy this exciting day of education and motivation that will energize, synergize and maximize your success. Sign up today. Hear two inspiring keynote speakers. Learn from nine talented workshop presenters . Visit 45 exhibitors and the speakers bookstore – Don’t miss the exclusive “Meet the Speakers” reception.

How Businesses Can Capitalize on the Rebounding Economy
February 9, 2010, San Franciso, CA

Inc. and Verio invite you to an exclusive event for private-company CEOs, business owners, and Inc. 500|5000 alumni. Entrepreneurs and private companies strive to reinvent the business landscape from the ground up in a forward-thinking way. Verio is hosting an interactive panel discussion on how to grow your small business.

Email Marketing Bootcamp
February 10-11, 2010, NYC

In just 2 information-packed days, this collaborative, hands-on workshop will show you how to create and send an effective email marketing program that gets the bottom-line results you’re looking for. You’ll learn the 12 fundamentals to developing professional emails that complement your current marketing efforts… support your organization’s goals… and strengthen your customer relationships. We supply the computer and an expert instructor while you work directly in your Constant Contact account so that you can instantly apply your new knowledge and skills as you learn them. The cost is $399.00 and includes:

• Continental breakfast, lunch, snacks, and beverages
• Constant Contact Participant’s Guide/Workbook
• Copy of E-Mail Marketing for Dummies
• Copy of The Constant Contact Guide to Email Marketing

This boot camp is limited to 30 attendees.

Women Business Owners Networking Cocktail Hour
February 11, 2010, 5:30-8pm, NYC

If you are woman who owns a business in New York City and are looking to become a resource to other WBO’s then this is for you. Event is Free. RSVP to (212) 209-3975 (no link).

How to Easily Use Web Video to Get More Customers
February 12, 2010, 10am PDT, webinar

It’s more important than ever to leverage video when marketing your business. If you’ve capture a video clip of one of your customers talking about you, or your product it’s a great way to potentially boost response. Join Andrew Lock, host of Help My Business Sucks weekly online TV Show, and VerticalResponse as we discuss how to easily leverage videos to drive business.

BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media
February 16, 2009, San Diego, CA

This conference teaches you through case study discussions on social media programs from Starbucks, USAA, Clorox, Intuit, Avery, State Farm and Community Medical Centers. Brought to you by the Social Media Business Council and Gaspedal.

Startup Riot 2010
February 17, 2010, Atlanta, GA

Throughout this one-day conference 50 startups will take the stage and present themselves in 3 minutes and 4 slides. Presenters and attendees will have the opportunity to win prizes throughout the day. Click here to apply to attend or apply to present.

American Express OPEN Women’s Business Summit
February 17-18, 2010, Houston, TX

The New Rules of Doing Business for Women Entrepreneurs

Through the New Rules Summit, women entrepreneurs can learn what it’s going to take to thrive in the new economy by receiving real advice, business coaching and networking opportunities.

All registrants have the ability to attend sessions in any of the three conference tracks:
* The New Rules of Doing Business Seminars
* Make Mine a Million $ Business Workshops
* SCORE Speed Coaching Sessions

Learn About Web
February 18, 2010, Kennewick, WA

Local and nationally-known online marketing experts will present a one-day seminar for small business owners. Learn About Web is scheduled February 18 at the Home Builders Association building on Clearwater Avenue. This full-day seminar is $99 through February 12. Sessions will focus on SEO and local search (Google Maps, etc.), social media (Twitter, Facebook), blogging, and web design.

New Media & Technology Conference
February 19, 2010, Frederick, MD

Interactive seminars will provide an intensive review of strategies and tools that businesses can use to reach out to customers and grow their bottom line.  There are breakout sessions for beginning, intermediate, and advanced participants on topics such as Twitter, Facebook, email campaigns, blogging, and more. Those with little or no experience will have as much to gain as those who are skilled users! Keynote “How is new media & technology changing the way we do business?” by Shashi Bellamkonda, Social Media Swami at Network Solutions.

National Entrepreneurship Week
February 20- 27, 2010, Across the U.S.

On February 20 – 27, 2010, the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education will sponsor the 4th annual National Entrepreneurship Week. The focus is on entrepreneurship education and there will be events across the United States. (Note: not to be confused with Global Entrepreneurship Week, which occurs every November and is supported by the Kauffman Foundation.) For events, please see the National Entrepreneurship Week website, and click the interactive map.

Start-a-Business Base Camp
February 20 – March 20, 2010, Toronto, ON

Are you a women entrepreneur who is ready to move forward with launching a business? In this 5-week workshop, we’ll take your vision from raw to ripe, guiding you through all the steps required to launch a successful business.

How to Write a Business Plan
February 24, 2010, Providence RI

This workshop will provide a hands-on overview of what goes into a well-written business plan that will get read by investors and other people that you need to reach. It will be led by Jack Derby, president of Derby Management Consultants in Boston, one of New England’s foremost business development experts. This workshop is part of a series leading up to the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition starting in April 2010.

How to Present Your Business Plan
March 18, 2010, Providence, RI

This interactive presentation will feature two veteran business developers who have worked with companies throughout New England on growth, turnaround, and acquisition strategies. This workshop is part of a series leading up to the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition starting in April 2010.

Turn Clicks into Conversations & Relationships
March 10, 2010, 10:00AM PT, Webinar

It takes more than a tweet to turn a follower into a customer, and a customer into loyal advocate. This webinar featuring Brent Leary will cover tools and techniques needed to turn content into conversations, conversations in the exchanges, and exchanges into long lasting customer relationships. Areas of focus will include tools for social listening, automating content creation and distribution, and steps for enhancing your customers’ experiences with your company by facilitating opportunities for them to connect with each other.

GROWCO Grow Your Company Conference
March 14-16, 2010, Orlando, FL

In 2010, Inc.’s GROWCO Conference pulls together a dynamic program with a curriculum designed specifically for the nation’s rising entrepreneurial stars, including smaller organizations that want to make an appearance on the Inc. 5000 and Inc. 5000 honorees that want to break into the higher ranks of the list or repeat their success in years to come. High-profile growth experts teach seminars that will give attendees actionable information with which to develop or maintain their own growth initiative. $595 early bird rate through January 15, 2010, $895 after.

Fifth Annual Small Business Summit
March 16, 2010, NYC

The Summit is for small business owners and entrepreneurs who want to meet the challenges of the new economy head-on and THRIVE in 2010. Our theme this year is Business & Technology: Strategies for the New Economy.

We have some incredible speakers lined up for this year’s Summit, including Seth Godin, who will be talking about being indispensable to your customers. The Summit is always about generating great ideas from some of the best talent in the business world, but also about networking, making profitable connections and having fun.

New this year is the Small Business Strategy Award. One attendee will be recognized for entrepreneurial strategic excellence that has led to significant increased profits, expanded market and/or improved market position. Apply directly online.

Early bird registration (before March 1st) is $149 for the all day event.

To find more small business events, contests and awards, visit our Small Business Events Calendar.

If you are putting on a small business contest, award or competition, and want to get the word out to the community, please submit it through our Events & Contests Submission Form (We do not charge a fee to be included in this listing — it is completely free to list your event.) Only events of interest to small business people, freelancers and entrepreneurs will be considered and included.

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