TV Segment on Web Resources for Startups

With the downturn in the economy many people are thinking of starting their own business but not sure where to start. This was the idea behind a recent segment I recorded for 207, Maine's evening news program.

In preparation for the 207 segment I generated a wide variety of Maine-centric startup business resources that you can see here. A few people suggested their own resources in the comments.

The segment aired earlier this week, and although I'm out of town, due to the magic of the Internet, I was able to catch the segment online.

You can watch the segment at WCSH's Web site, or below on the flyte blog.

Maine Business Resources Online

Recently I pitched a story to 207, the evening news program up here in Maine, on Web-based resources for entrepreneurs.

Due to the economic downturn, many people are thinking about (or forced into) striking it out on their own. This can be a scary thing, especially if you've been working in a cubicle most of your life, or even in a corner office.

However, there are a lot of online resources out there. I reached out to some fellow entrepreneurs and got a huge amount of online resources...more than would be useful for a five minute segment. To that end, I've created a list below of all the sites that had been submitted. In no particular order:

• Maine.gov: Starting a Business: Information and specifics about what you need to start a business in Maine.
• SCORE Maine: SCORE, the Service Corps of Retired Executives, offers free counseling and workshops to businesses. Chapters exist throughout the country,and this site lists all the chapters in Maine.
• Score Maine (Portland chapter): If you're living in the Greater Portland area, this is the chapter for you. Bonus Points: I occasionally speak there. Double Bonus Points: flyte designed it. :)
• Maine Center for Enterprise Development: Business incubator providing low cost services to start ups. They are also running a "Top Gun" applied entrepreneurship program.
• Maine Technology Institute: Offers early stage capital and commercialization assistance for R&D of innovative, technology-based projects.
• Maine & Company: Help on growing or moving your business to Maine.
• Maine Angels: Providing investments to promising, early-stage companies.
• Maine Small Business Development Centers: Help on starting a business, and many online courses entrepreneurs can take.
• Realize! Maine: Focused on encouraging young entrepreneurs to stay in Maine and grow their business here.
• Maine Development Foundation: Dedicated to sustainable, long-term economic growth for Maine. Offers programs on leadership, building downtowns and more.
• TechMaine: Focused on technology companies in Maine, including startups. Have an Entrepreneur Handbook.
• MEBSR: Not a startup resource per se, but helping Maine entrepreneurs build (and grow) sustainable businesses.
• flyte new media: The place small businesses turn to for Web sites and Internet marketing such as search engine visibility, email marketing, blogging, and social media. Oops, may have gotten a little self-serving there. ;)

In addition, there are a number of LinkedIn Groups that are Maine-centric. Some of my personal favorites:

• Maine Entrepreneurs: Discussions around entrepreneurship, small business and startups.
• Living and Working in the State of Maine: Slightly broader topics for anyone who works, lives or even plays here.
• MaineBiz: Maine Business topics sponsored by MaineBiz.
• Maine Marketing Association: Marketing-focused conversations.
• Maine Tweetup: Primarily announcements about Maine-based Tweetups.
• TechMaine: The group for TechMaine.

Do you have any other Web-based resources for Maine startups and entrepreneurs? Let us know!   

Putting Almost No-Cost Web-based Tools to Work for Small Business

Last week I put on a presentation for the Small Business Development Center counselors located here in New England. The event was hosted at the beautiful Mt. Washington Resort in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

(I'm not saying that the place is haunted, but I'm pretty sure I saw a kid going around in circles on his Big Wheel saying "redrum".)

The presentation was entitled Putting Almost No-cost Web-based Tools to Work for Small Business. I talked about one-to-one communication tools like VoIP and Skype, one-to-many communication tools like social media, software to put on teleclasses and Webinars, as well as free alternatives to Microsoft Office and more. I also showed off Basecamp (for project management) and Highrise (for customer relationship management), two apps from 37 Signals that I couldn't live without.

I uploaded the slides to Slideshare (think YouTube for PowerPoint--or in this case Apple's Keynote) and then embedded them here at the flyte blog. Enjoy!

Putting Almost No-cost Web-based Tools to Work for Small Business

Rich Brooks
Slide Share and Share Alike

Small Business Twitter Success Stories: Got One?

I'm putting together an article on how small businesses are using Twitter to grow their business, attract employees, market themselves, find vendors and contractors, make sales...whatever!

There have been a number of success stories that keep on being repeated, so I'm trying to dig a little deeper. If you, or someone you know has a success story about how their small business (no matter how small) leveraged Twitter, tell them to come here and fill out this short form.

I'll be dropping names and including links from the article, so there's something in it for you as well.

How to Send Branded Domain Emails from Gmail

There's a number of reasons small business owners and entrepreneurs should consider Gmail as their primary email tool:

1. Great spam filters (the best I've used)
2. Your email is synced whether you're using the office computer, your home computer, a computer at the Internet café in Brussels, or from your iPhone
3. Insanely fast search
4. It's free
5. The threading of messages is fantastic (90% of the time)

However, the default setting of Gmail is to send your emails from you@gmail.com. That's not so good for a small business (or any business) that's trying to brand itself. You want all of your emails to come from you@yourcompany.com.

(For those of you who still have your AOL email address on your business card it's time to step up. Your email scribbled on a cocktail napkin has a more professional feel.)

And no, Gmail's not perfect and it does take some getting used to; perhaps the topic of another blog post & video.

In the short video below I'll walk you through how to add your domain-branded email to Gmail, and how to make it the default email on your account. Or, you can watch How to Send from Another Email Address Using Gmail at flyte's YouTube channel.

Rich Brooks
Web Design for Small Business

The Trouble with Crowdsourcing

Recently we decided to have some flyte bumper stickers made up. Ryan Goan, our creative director, created a bunch of variations (click on the image to the right for a detailed look) for me to review.

I decided to get some additional feedback, so I crowdsourced the review process. According to wikipedia (aka the Word of God according to many geeks):

Crowdsourcing is a neologism for the act of taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people or community in the form of an open call. For example, the public may be invited to develop a new technology, carry out a design task (also known as community-based design^[1] and distributed participatory design), refine or carry out the steps of an algorithm (see Human-based computation), or help capture, systematize or analyze large amounts of data (see also citizen science).

The term has become popular with business authors and journalists as shorthand for the trend of leveraging the mass collaboration enabled by Web 2.0 technologies to achieve business goals. However, both the term and its underlying business models have attracted controversy and criticism.

So I threw it open to my followers on Twitter and my friends on Facebook. When people gave two answers I split the vote. Here are the results:

• 1: 14.5
• 2: 6.0
• 3: 5.0
• 4: 6.0
• 5: 1.5
• 6: 10 

Well, 1, then 6 seems to be the big winners, but there's certainly some variables in there. Personally, I'm not a fan of 6 because the traditional oval bumper stickers have a border. There was also a lot of discussion around whether we could "pull off" a bumper sticker that didn't include our name and had our URL so tiny.

However, I don't think a lot of people make a buying decision based on bumper stickers.

"You know, I was going to vote for Obama, but that 'McCain/Palin 2008' bumper sticker makes a lot of sense. I think I'm voting for them."

I've always felt the plane was a pretty cool icon, and people who see it might be intrested to learn more about the story behind it, a.k.a. flyte.biz.

So, at the end of the day I'm no closer to a decision. I do like #1, although I'm thinking of dropping the www off the URL for additional white space, or even perhaps just leaving ".biz" in small letters below. I also like #3, perhaps with the www-less URL.

Anyway, if you'd like to confuse me further, please feel free to add your own thoughts below. It still hasn't gone to the printer.

Rich Brooks
Consensusless

How to Subscribe to an RSS Feed

Lately I've been doing a number of presentations on blogging and social media, and in these presentations I talk about the power of RSS. You can use RSS to stay on top of your industry, your competition, your clients or simply your interests in a time efficient manner.

However, the idea of RSS is confusing to a lot of people, judging by the number of hands that go up during that part of my presentation.

It's a shame that something that has Simple as its middle name should be so complicated.

To that end I put together this short video to show you the benefits of using RSS and how to subscribe to an RSS feed. Enjoy it here or at YouTube: How to Subscribe to an RSS Feed...the Video!

Rich Brooks
Syndicate Me

Update: Completely forgot to include a great RSS video that came before from the good folks over at Common Craft:

Twitter Webinar: How to Use Twitter for Business

There's no doubt that Twitter is a phenomenon: almost every news and sports program seems to have a Twitter account, and celebrities as diverse as Oprah, Shaquille O'Neal and that guy married to Demi Moore all have accounts.

But how do you use Twitter for business? How do you get started? How do you build an audience? How can create a network that will help you grow your business?

Whether you're new to Twitter or have been using it for a while, this Webinar led by Twitter expert addict Rich Brooks will provide you step-by-step instructions on:

• How to setup your Twitter account for maximum impact
• How to find and follow interesting people
• How to build an audience
• How to engage people for networking and marketing opportunities
• How to use 3rd party applications to connect with local people on Twitter, learn what people are talking about in real time, and become a Twitter power user
• How to integrate Twitter into your overall marketing plan

Plus, the last 30 minutes or so will be question and answer.

Date: 6/18/09
Time: 3pm - 4:30 ET
Place: Your desktop! (Do you need directions?)
Cost: Special Low Price! $15 (That's only 16 cents a minute!)

"Space" is limited, so register now!

Rich Brooks
Now I Gotta Go Tweet This

How to Rank Higher in Local Search

Local search is already important to most every business, especially those who are geographically challenged (read: your customers share an area code with you) or who have set up shop in a tourist destination.

Local search results often appear above organic results, giving you another chance to increase your online visibility.

Further, as more of us carry smart phones and other mobile devices, performing searches as we're on-the-go, local search will only gain in importance.

Don't be caught playing catch up: learn the techniques to improve your rankings in local search. Or, as we say in this month's flyte log, Local Search: Get Listed, Get Business.

Rich Brooks
Local is the New Organic

What is Holistic Web Marketing?

What is Holistic Web Marketing? At flyte we use this model to explain our integrated approach to online success. A static Web site is no longer enough; you need a coordinated Web marketing strategy to reach the widest audience possible.

Holistic Web marketing consists of four parts:

• Attraction: How to drive quality traffic to your Web site. [Tools: search engine optimization, blogging, social media]
• Retention: How to keep the conversation going after they’ve left your site. [Tools: email marketing, social media]
• Conversion: How to get people to make a buying decision at your site, whether it’s clicking on a “Buy Now” button, completing a contact form, or picking up the phone. [Tools: web site]
• Measurement: How to analyze your traffic to make ongoing improvements to both your Web site and your Internet marketing for better results. [Tools: analytics]

We believe that you need to address and integrate all four pieces of Holistic Web Marketing for long-term success.

On Thursday, May 14th at 12pm EDT, I'll be leading a one hour Webinar (plus 30 minutes of Q&A) examining how small businesses can use the holistic Web marketing model to grow their own business. We'll look at search engine optimization, email marketing, blogging, social media and your own Web site as tools to increase online visibility, drive more qualified leads to your site, and generate more online business.

The cost of the Webinar is normally $49, but if you enter coupon code "theeconomystinks" you'll save $15. That's our stimulus package to you.

Learn more and register now!

Rich Brooks
Web Marketing for Small Biz