So you’ve just landed a new job, began settling in and now it’s lunchtime. You go into the break room refrigerator. . .but what’s this? Your lunch has disappeared? What’s going on here?

Our featured guest in this Episode of The Small Business Trends Radio is Anna Post, Author and great-great-granddaughter of Emily Post. Anna is part of the team at The Emily Post Institute, created by Emily in 1946 and run today by third generation family members.

Emily’s work has continued to grow and now addresses many societal concerns - one of which happens to be business etiquette.

Topics include:

• The most common mistakes in etiquette? — How about the lunch that’s disappeared from the break room refrigerator? And isn’t that person speaking loudly on the cell phone annoying? Top that off with an appointment that showed up late and was preoccupied with a blackberry or some other form of technology the entire time. These are just some of the situations that Anna touches on. Do some apply to you? Anna provides some solutions for during the interview so you may want to listen.

• How about technology etiquette? — What’s important to do here is to always think about HOW your using the technology. For instance, do you take calls during meetings and appointments? Do you send senseless office emails or useful business related ones? Do you insist that others attempt to use technologies that they are not familiar with just because you do and it’ll make life easier for YOU?

Anna blogs on modern day etiquette on her blog, which is affectionately named “What Would Emily Post Do?” She blogs about everything from culture to “green” weddings to - yep, you guessed it - business. And when it comes to that, what’s really important to realize is that many different “corporate cultures” exist nowadays. So what is casually accepted at one company may not be at another.

With that in mind, how do you navigate these varied corporate cultures? For starters, always be courteous and use common sense. But to get into the heart of the matter, click the red and yellow player below and listen to Anna’s full interview on the subject.

Listen Now:

 Modern Etiquette Tips For Workplace Topics [30:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted by Staci Wood | Comments (5) | Permalink

The Small Business Summit 2008 - many would say this is the most happening small biz event around. Some big names will be there and there’s plenty to learn along with some exciting new products and services to help you run your business.

So who can we expect to see, what can we expect to learn and what’s new at this year’s Small Business Summit?

Our featured guests in this Special Episode of The Small Business Trends Radio are Marian Banker and Ramon Ray, co-founders of the Small Business Summit 2008 - where the “who’s who” of the small business community will be.

Here’s some information to start with:

• When and Where? — What better place than in the middle of Time’s Square, New York City, at the Crowne Plaza on Monday, February 11th from 8AM EST until 5PM EST.

• Why should I attend this event? — The entire event is geared towards small business and was created by small business for small business. The sponsors, speakers, attendees - everyone - is in the industry of small business and there is also an abundance of networking opportunities at the summit.

The theme for this year’s summit is: Reinvention and Technology. Marian and Ramon share the event’s agenda and some of the faces you can expect to see at this year’s summit. Google and Dell will be in attendance and Marian says be sure to come early - there’s a big surprise at the beginning of the summit!

Would you like to find out more? Click the red and yellow player below to get the complete sneak peek.

Listen Now:

 Small Business Summit to Rock New York [30:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted by Staci Wood | Comments (3) | Permalink

When using QuickBooks for your small business, there are many shortcut keys that can be used to further streamline your daily activities.

Kira Wampler, Marketing and Community Leader at Jumpup.com, provides several of them in this brief, 2 minute audio clip. She provides the keys for everything from writing checks to creating invoices, locating transactions and more.

Take a moment to learn the shortcut keys by listening to Kira’s tips by clicking the player below.

Listen Now:

 Feeling Starved For Time? [1:28m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted by Staci Wood | Comments (3) | Permalink

This week’s Podcast Review is about the 60 Second Ideas Podcast.

Description: 60 Second Ideas spans the globe for proven new small business ideas you can tweak, borrow, copy, pilfer or simply be inspired to come up with your own profitable small business ideas or home based business ideas.

Comments: Billing itself as the ‘most profitable minute’ on the internet this Podcast has some great content. Minimal music, good sound quality, no ads and a very eclectic mix of stories and ideas you are sure to learn and be inspired.

If you listen online there is even a small slideshow that plays along with the audio, sort of a still image Vodcast or video Podcast. Here is a sample list of recent topics.

- It’s A Virtual Party - Go Cake Go
- Home Business Idea - Do My Stuff!
- Imagination to Profit
- Interview Donald Trump’s Season One Winner, Bill Rancic

Most of the content has some age to it but I think there are some good short nuggets worth the visit.

Pluses: Instant play, short length, image slide show and simple but clean sound in the Podcast.

Minuses: Not enough frequent content, more content only findable by category, not archives, or search.

Recommendation: If you are willing to work at the site just a little I think you can find some interesting 60 second bites of ideas and wisdom in the 60 Second Ideas Podcast.

Posted by Steve Rucinski | Comments (5) | Permalink

Research shows that most small business owners get the majority of their customers from within a 50-mile radius. Local markets are extremely important for most small businesses.

Yet most of us make the same 5 common mistakes when it comes to local marketing.

Our featured guest in this Episode of The Small Business Trends Radio is Court Cunningham, CEO of Yodle, Inc, a company in the local online marketing space.

Court covers the mistakes and what to do about them:

• Building your own website is mistake number one — For converting customers you have to think of your website as an ad that turns clicks into clients. Some basic problems with home-grown websites include failing to have your business location on your home page, and failing to have your phone number listed prominently. Failure to display a map and having unclear site navigation are other common pitfalls with home-grown websites.

• Yellow Pages may be declining but still play a role — Here’s something to consider — half of online queries are coming from search engines — not online directories. But the Yellow Pages aren’t dead. Older generations and those in smaller towns reach for the Yellow Pages. Younger generations and those in cities are the biggest users of online directories and local search.

As CEO of Yodle, Court oversees all aspects of operations and strategy, including technology, product development and sales and marketing. He shares these and other insights into effective local online marketing.

To hear all 5 local marketing mistakes, click the red and yellow player below.

Listen Now:

 Are You Making These 5 Local Marketing Mistakes? [29:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted by Staci Wood | Comments (11) | Permalink

Pay per click advertising is a quick and simple way to drive traffic to your site and is extremely popular.

When running a campaign there are a few things to consider before beginning. Placement considerations and long keyword phrases are just a couple. If you would like a few tips to optimize your PPC campaign, listen to Kira Wampler, Marketing and Community Leader at JumpUp.com. She has a 2-minute tip with suggestions for how to further optimize your ad campaign.

Want to find out how? Then take a moment to listen to Kira’s tips by clicking the player below.

Listen Now:

 PPC Advertising Tips [1:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted by Staci Wood | Comments (3) | Permalink

This week’s Podcast Review is about the MidwestBusiness.com Podcast.

Description: Adam Fendelman and Brad Spirrison host MidwestBusiness.com which covers technology and business news in Chicago and the Midwest of the United States.

Comments: These quick (usually less than 5 minutes) Podcasts do a very thorough job of covering the startup technology landscape. A quick show intro and Adam and Brad are into the subject, no fancy production values, no commercials just tech company talk quick.

There are over 30 shows available and new content is provided just about every week. Here is a sampling of some recent show topics:

- Financial Tech Ripe For Growth
- Technology Predictions For 2008
- Is Facebook’s $15 Billion Valuation an Aberration?
- GrubHub Scores Food Loot, New Legal Repository

Pluses: Instant play, short bites of content, over 30 shows, simple clean website, subscriptions and show notes.

Minuses: My only negative is that Adam and Brad’s voice’s can be kind of monotone, I know they are passionate about their subject but a little more emotion in the delivery would be great.

Recommendation: If you care about the Midwest USA technology environment at all then you need to check out the Midwestbusiness.com Podcast.

Posted by Steve Rucinski | Comments (5) | Permalink