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Standard reference check questions have become so rote that I can rattle them off half-asleep. How long did the candidate work with you? What were the candidate's strengths and weaknesses? Was he a team player? Try these 8 questions and see what kinds of answers you get: Read More

Many small business owners are finding themselves in painful conversations with employees these days, chats that start with "Boss, I'm really strapped for cash — I need a raise." But many companies are also hurting and an owner may need find a way to help a staffer without involving money. Human resources professionals say that by being crea Read More

You just paid big bucks to get your product or website reviewed on a PR5 or higher rated blog. Does that high PageRank really translate to a high quality link to your website. That's the top of discussion in Jill Whalen's post, "Are Websites Ranked as a Whole?" Jill also mentions that Google may strip off any link juice if it can figure out Read More

Keyword research is more of an art than a science. Finding keyword phrases is one of the fundamental components of search engine optimization, but yet it is one of the the least talked about optimization techniques. If you are not doing effective keywords research, your SEO efforts will go astray. Read More

As the title says, here's a list of 10 documents you need to start a business. Link is from @nfib on Twitter. Read More

New data from SearchIgnite finds that the Google/Yahoo sponsored search deal will increase Yahoo search rates by about 22 percent. Yahoo has higher keyword ad rates than Google for certain terms, including the first three results on searches for premium terms like "insurance." It also outdoes Google in the #1 result for keywords containing a Read More

The Senate has approved an extra $107 million in funding for federal small-business programs overseen by the Small Business Administration. A bill passed late last week by the Senate Appropriations Committee boosts funding for some of the agency's core programs by as much as 50%, including more resources for women, veterans and native American Read More

When done right, nothing pulls in qualified sales leads like a well-targeted offer for a juicy white paper. Offers for white papers and Webinars make up the bulk of ads in Web Digest For Marketers and the solo emails sent once a week to subscribers. I see what pops, and what lays an egg. Here are best practices gleaned after watching this marke Read More

The reason meetings are such a continual waste of time and energy is simple: pervasive distrust. And there's also a simple way to prove to your people who much you trust them. Read More

Your company could offer the best prices and services around, but if your company fails to make customers feel wanted, you can consider the chances of repeat business out the door. When it comes to retaining customers, simple gestures go a long way. And yet, if studies are anything to go by, we have yet to learn the fine art of keeping customers f Read More