That’s the question that a small business owner and avid BizBytes 101 reader asked recently. To find the answer, BizBytes turned to Jennifer Batchelor, social media strategist at Miami-based Zubi Advertising. The firm creates social media campaigns for major brands including Ford, Crisco and Smuckers.

Source: MiamiHerald.com

Source: American Express OPEN Forum

Whatever the content, including video on your site draws viewers in and can keep them engaged—if it is compelling enough. It personalizes your company for customers and potential partners and makes you stand out, giving you an advantage over competitors. Be aware that the average video posted online loses 20 percent of viewers in the first 10 seconds and 60 percent by the two-minute mark, according to a 2010 study by video analytics researcher Visible Measures.

Source: Businessweek

It was mid-2011 and, while Larson had managed to stay above water during the recession, things were slow. A friend and fellow business owner suggested she try Groupon, a national site that allows business owners to market low-priced deals on goods and services to a wide audience.

Source: Ocala.com

Gone are the days when a blog with great content gets huge traffic. The competition is huge now-a-days as each and every day new bloggers are coming up with something new and catchy. Thus bloggers must concentrate on writing unique and interesting content as well as on promoting their articles.

Source: ProBloggingSuccess.com

And as a student and teacher of advertising that really works, as usual I’ll be shaking my head at another batch of relatively ineffective Super Bowl ads again this year.

Source: Crain’s Chicago Business

Obama wants small business tax, investment breaks
The legislative package, which will be part of Obama’s 2013 budget proposal later this month, also would include a new 10 percent tax credit for small business that add jobs or increase wages in 2012.
Boston.com

Identifying prospects for your global business strategy
What do you know about your global prospects? Jim Blasingame reveals information about global prospects for developing a strategy to grow your business outside of the U.S.
The Small Business Advocate (audio)

Demand for Small Business Loans Most Since 2005
Banks reported the greatest increase in demand for loans from small companies since 2005, the according to the Federal Reserve’s survey of senior loan officers out today. That may be good news for job growth later in the year.
BusinessWeek

5 Tips For Managing Overwhelm and Overload
Just like we have power strips that absorb energy surges to protect our computers, we need to install acircuit breaker on our brains to absorb some of the overwhelming data coming in all the time.
The International Association of Self-Employed Communication Professionals

Big Banks’ Small Business Lending: Do The Numbers Really Add Up?
So it’s no surprise that Bank of America, Chase, Citibank and Wells Fargo were eager to release seemingly impressive small-business lending figures for 2011. Problem is, many of those loans may be going to businesses that aren’t that small.
Huffington Post

Can a brand be genuine on Twitter?
Self-promotion is just plain tacky in the age of social media.  You just can’t tell people how awesome you are, you need to show them.
The Washington Post

Why You Need to Compartmentalize Your Life when Building a Business
When you start a business, you will likely wear many different hats, and in many cases wear all of the hats. You might be in charge of marketing, sales, legal, HR, operations, finance, accounting, IT etc. And you might add on top of all that a personal life of some degree.
Youngentrepreneur.com

Japan Small Business Confidence Rises In January
Confidence among Japanese small scale businesses rose for the first time in four months in January, a survey conducted by the Shoko Chukin Bank showed Tuesday.
NASDAQ

Branding for the small business
Far too many business owners feel that they are too small to worry about branding, don’t understand it entirely or they think they don’t have the time or resources to invest in it.
Crain’s Chicago Business

JPL to Host High-Tech Small Business Conference
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., will host the 24th annual High-Tech Conference for Small Business on Tuesday, March 6, and Wednesday, March 7, at the Westin Los Angeles Airport Hotel.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Managing a Small Business: How to Inspire Employee Loyalty
A big part of successfully managing a small business is inspiring loyalty and getting the most out of employees.
International Business Times

27 Small Business PR Ideas For February
Here are 27 ways entrepreneurs can seek out small business PR opportunities during the month of February.
Understanding Marketing

How To Raise Money To Start Your Small Business
There are many ways you can raise the money you need to start your small business. Don’t give up until you’ve exhausted every single opportunity in existence, and you’ll be happy you did.
Noobpreneur.com

India offers opportunities, but there are pitfalls to avoid
As the second-fastest growing market in Asia, with more than one billion people, India is considered by many small business owners fertile ground offering a variety of opportunities.
Washington Post

Postal service offering classes for marketers, small business owners
The United States Postal Service recently announced it will host Grow Your Business Day, designed to help small and medium-sized businesses create affordable direct mail pieces for integrated marketing campaigns.
123Print.com

5 Simple Steps for Promoting Your Blog
Here are five steps that will help you promote your blog, differentiating it and creating awareness. With the steps here, you’ll be able to maximize the daily traffic that comes to your website.
Earningdiary.com

Social Media Trends for Small Businesses
Anita shares how social media impacts small businesses. You’ll discover which small businesses are slow to adopt social media and where social media brings the best results.
Social Media Examiner (video)

Hiring for attitude, not experience
Studies show experience alone is not the best criteria in hiring. Herb Greenberg joins Jim Blasingame to discuss tapping into non-traditional talent – hire for who the person is, not just what they’ve done.
The Small Business Advocate (audio)

Small business owners turning to the Square to accept credit card payments
The small business owners are using a device called the Square to accept credit card payments from customers. The wireless device attaches to iPads…iPhones…and Droids…and works with a free app.
KFDM-TV News

Small Business Software Review: Fishbowl Inventory 2012
To be clear, Fishbowl Inventory 2012 is a small business asset management system — that is to say an inventory management system — that automates inventory functions and processes.
Small Business Computing

How to Get Facebook Fans
But how do you find, keep, and engage these fans? Manger has some advice about this perennial Facebook dilemma.
American Express OPEN Forum

Small Business Exporting Advice on Foreign Operations
For small business exporters, it is therefore crucial to receive advice and support from business partners. Two of the most important relationships they will likely form are with a freight forwarder and a foreign distributer…
International Business Times

Small Business Strategic Planning: a Process for Success and Survival
The small business strategic planning process has two essential elements: devising a strategy and changing it when necessary.
International Business Times

‘Small’ IT Market Attracts Big Companies
The small-business help desk is going corporate, with initiatives from companies like Apple Inc. bringing new competition to independent consultants who typically handle the IT needs of US start-ups and small companies.
Wall Street Journal

Small Business Efficiency Expert Now Offering Free Resource to Help Business Owners Find Those Longed-for Extra Hours in Their Day

So many business ideas falter and business owners fatigue due to inefficient processes eating up valuable time. That’s why director of small business efficiency company The Heart Of, Nikki White, has created a comprehensive Effective Business Mindmap to guide business owners through re-thinking where they spend their limited hours.
PRWeb (press release)

Cloud Computing is Far More Than Just Technology
Cloud computing may be cutting edge technology, but the majority of people using it in the future won’t be tech junkies. So don’t treat them as such.
GetApp.com

A Guide to Small Business Survival

Small business blogger survival guide. A big part of surviving as a small business blogger involves being a social animal. Here David Leonhardt gives every small business blogger some great resources to keep you, your business and your blog alive.
Business Insider

Why Online Reputation Matters to Small Business
You’re a small business owner. Most of your customers are the people who live within 25 miles of your storefront. Why does it even matter what the Internet has to say about your brand? That has no impact on your bottom line.
Small Business Trends

5 Ways to Use Other People’s Content in Your Marketing
You need lots of content, you know that, but you also know that content creation is one of the more time intensive marketing activities you have to tackle.
Duct Tape Marketing

The 7th Annual Small Business Summit Gains Momentum
The Seventh Annual Small Business Summit, (#smallbizsummit) New York’s premier event for small businesses, is continuing to gain momentum among small business owners, larger businesses and groups that work within the small business vertical.
MarketWatch

Small-Business Outlook: What Are The Biggest Challenges On Main Street?
They also named weak sales as the top business concern in NFIB’s monthly Small-Business Optimism Index report for the 16th consecutive quarter. Other challenges recession-weary small-business owners reported?
Huffington Post

Women Small Business Owners Wave a Magic Wand in Portland, OR
Portland, OR women in small business opportunity to connect for free at the Magic Wand Collective launch meeting set for this Thursday, January 26th, 2012, 6:30 – 9:00 pm at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 1441 NE 2nd Ave., Portland, OR 97232.
PR Urgent

Small Business Loans: How They Work and What You Should Know
Asking for loans is “unpleasant; it’s like asking your dad for the car keys,” said Charles H. Green, Executive Director at the Small Business Finance Institute and author of The SBA Loan Book.
International Business Times

How to Choose a Mobile Carrier for Your Small Business
AT&T, among other carriers, walks you through choosing small-business products.As for choosing a voice-minutes package, most providers offer free calls on nights and weekends.
PCWorld

Xiimo Brings New Marketing Tools to the Small Business Owner
Named one of the most disruptive cloud based technology companies by VentureBeat, Xiimo is redefining how small businesses market and promote on the web.
Sacramento Bee

More Signs of Increased Small Business Lending
We’ve been hearing about increased confidence in small business and, if you’re like me, you want to believe it – but you’re suspicious, too. How do we really know if things are getting better?
Small Business Trends

Sales of Small Business Companies Increase in 2011 Franchise Stats Lacking
The small-business-for-sale marketplace picked up again last year, for the second year in a row, thanks in part to better business performance. Sales of businesses with roughly $360000 in annual revenue rose 3.3% in 2011, according to BizBuySell.com…
Blue MauMau

Small Business Social Media – Avoid At Your Peril
Friends, Fans, Circles, Likes, Plus 1’s, it can all be a bit intimidating for small business owners. The fact of the matter is though that Social media is not going away…
Business 2 Community

Hiding Income? Look Out, Here Comes the 1099-K
Starting this month, business owners will begin getting new tax forms issued by their credit-card and online-payment processors and intended to keep businesses from hiding income. The form, called 1099-K, will document all 2011 transactions processed for sellers with more than 200 transactions and $20,000 in annual gross receipts.
BusinessWeek

Cloud app helps small companies manage sales compensation
Wondering how much your small business should be paying that great new sales person you want to hire? More important, wondering how to make sure everything is managed and paid out properly?
ZDNet (blog)

21 Reasons You’ll Fail at Marketing
I don’t know what it is about Marketing, but everyone on earth seems to think they can do it. And yet I see so many people NOT doing it or wasting thousands of dollars and not getting results.  I see business owners try the same things over and over, small businesses fail at marketing wasting more money, more time, and more energy.
Bplans

Self-employment in the Internet Age
Everyone who’s ever seen their career crash and burn can point to one or more big picture factors that directly or indirectly greased the wheels of their departure. We can either poison ourselves with bitterness, or find some way to benefit from prevailing changes.
OutOfYourRut.com

Cyfe Bundles Small-Business Web Services in One Dashboard
Running a small business with any kind of Web presence involves tracking information from multiple online services such as Google Analytics, Facebook, and MailChimp. The new website Cyfe populates a dashboard with widgets for commonly used Web services, gathering your important data in one place.
PCWorld

Small business success defined by lifestyle: Academic
The definition of success among small firms depends on whether they are motivated by growth or lifestyle, an academic says, but both have the potential to be profitable.
StartupSmart

Seventh Annual Small Business Summit Extends Strategy Award Nomination Deadline to February 10^th
Is YOUR small business doing great things? Are you looking for some well deserved recognition for your hard work? If so, then nominate your company or one that you admire for the 2012 Small Business Strategy Award, sponsored by the 2012 Small Business Summit. Winners will be announced on March 6, 2012 in New York City’s Metropolitan Pavilion.
Market Watch

Using small business marketing to highlight your company’s selling points
In order to get ahead in a less than stellar economic climate, it’s important for small enterprises to play up their strengths in their business marketing campaigns. For some, this might involve advertising that their products are locally made.
AmsterdamPrinting.com

National Veterans Small Business Conference coming to Cobo in June
The US Department of Veterans Affairs is expected Wednesday morning to announce plans to bring the National Veterans Small Business Conference and Expo to Detroit’s Cobo Center in June.
Crain’s Detroit Business

BB&T Payment Solutions offers free data security webinar for small business owners
BB&T Payment Solutions is offering a free educational webinar designed to help small business owners navigate, understand and protect their businesses from security pitfalls.
MarketWatch

13 Social Platforms Your Small Business Should Consider Using
Google + – I’m still not fully convinced this platform is ready for your small business, but keep an eye on it. There are some great features on there, but the biggest drawback in my mind is: where are the people?
Business 2 Community