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Are you using the Google Places feature to market your local business? Take a look at the post from the Google Small Business Blog showing how a local dentist took advantage of this free service to promote and grow his local practice. Plenty of online marketing today centers around local search the Read More

Our latest post on the BizSugar Blog talks about building a brand, which you do both for a traditional small business and for your social media presence, including the one you have here on BizSugar. Want to know more about how to build your own personal brand either here on BizSugar.com or on any o Read More

Are you planning to participate in the SugarTone Sweet Business Blogging Contest, a partnership between BizSugar and business blogging network Bloggertone. If you haven't yet submitted a blog post or commented on one of the submissions, be aware that in addition to the great exposure you can receiv Read More

Scott Fox posts regularly here at BizSugar, but I thought I'd take a moment to highlight this particularly great video he's created for his online business community, great because it states something that should be obvious to everyone in small business, but perhaps isn't. You WILL need to market your product or service and market it well to stand out from the crowd and be successful in your small business. Marketing is not a dirty word. It MUST be part of your business plan. DON'T make the mistake of thinking a great product or service will market itself. Make sure you have a plan for how to get the word out. Read More

If getting people to comment on your blog has been an ongoing problem, you may be interested in this advice specifically aimed at WordPress bloggers from Heather C. Stephens a.k.a. the "clever marketer" about how to give a very clear SEO incentive to those who leave comments on your blog. Heather has even gone so far as to create a badge and recommend that you use it to promote this incentive as a way of encouraging more comments. What is this incentive. Read Heather's post to find out more.. Read More

Could Boise, Idaho, be the new hot bed of small business growth in the U.S. Why not your home town no matter how large or small? Search giant Google claimed in an early post of its new small business blog that an estimated $72 million had been generated by business in Idaho using its online advertising tools and sited other recent reports on the growth of small business in Boise as the reason for a recent visit. How are you using the tools of the Internet to leverage your small business in your own home town? We would love to hear your story. Please leave it in the comment section below. Read More

Could a deal reportedly being hammered out between Google and Verizon spell trouble for small businesses marketing content online? One news report (in the New York Times) claims the agreement could allow different tiers of service for content providers. The story claims "Google and Verizon, two leading players in Internet service and content, are nearing an agreement that could allow Verizon to speed some online content to Internet users more quickly if the content’s creators are willing to pay for the privilege." Could this mean having to pay an Internet provider for faster loading of your content, something likely to benefit larger companies with deeper pockets? Google is denying some of what has been reported and both companies claim the move won't affect the level playing field enjoyed by all content providers and users (including small businesses and their customers.) What do you think Read More

Listen to the BizSugar interview with Anita Campbell and yours truly at Small Business Trends Radio and check out this post on the importance of businesses being social, something near and dear to our hearts here at BizSugar.com. We'll be switching the link at the top of the blog post to the archived version of the show after the live Web cast. Looking forward to all of your comments Read More

Everyone seems to agree on the need for more entrepreneurship and small business activity to rebuild the economy after the harsh recession. Here's a cool report from Inc magazine writers Adam Bluestein and Amy Barrett with some concrete suggestions, specifically 16 steps, to get us to an environment more friendly to the kinds of entrepreneurship experts say we need to rebuild our economy. Can we make them a reality? Read More

In this review of the book "Social Media 101" by Chris Brogan, Pierre DeBois gives an overview of the tactics and tools you should have at your command after reading. From blogs, to video and audio to LinkedIn, this review gives you a peek into subjects Brogan's book covers. Social media has become a major field for businesses and marketers of all kind. This review suggests another possible resource teaching small business owners to harness the power of social media for their needs Read More