I’m pleased to announce that the Small Business Trends Radio Show is moving to a new time — and a new broadcast station.

We are also taking this opportunity to make a few adjustments to the show format. Here are the changes:

• New time –We will be broadcasting live at a new time: 1:30 pm EST until 2:00 pm EST (New York time) every Tuesday. This is a shorter show, because we heard from you that you are time-starved and “shorter is better.”

• New broadcast network –Small Business Trends Radio will be broadcasting on the BlogTalkRadio platform.

• Two co-hosts –Our host, Anita Campbell, will be joined in the shows by co-host/Executive Producer Steve Rucinski. Having two hosts will add variety and interaction. We will still have a business expert or other interesting guest featured in each show, of course.

• No commercial interruptions — Previously we had 20 minutes of commercials in a 60-minute show. We heard loud and clear from you — “get rid of the commercials!” So we’ve cut out commercial interruptions during the show. We may include one or two sponsor spots at the beginning or end of the show, but we promise to make them (1) brief, (2) relevant, and (3) informational rather than salesy. What you will NOT hear is “we have to break to take commercials.” We hope you find this change more enjoyable.

• Listen live – To listen live you need to be near your computer and have your speakers or headphones turned on. Go to the Small Business Trends Radio page at BlogTalkRadio at 1:30 pm EST, and click on the “Click to Listen” button.

• Call in to the live broadcast –We can take live callers during the shows and we would love to hear from you. The call-in number is:

  (646) 716-8886

  Please use this call-in number only during live show times. You also can send chat messages during live show times.

We sincerely hope you enjoy these changes.

Don’t have time to listen live? No worries. You can still download and listen to the podcasts. Just come back here to the home of Small Business Trends Radio for new shows. Or subscribe to our feed. None of that has changed.

Posted by Staci Wood | Comments (3) | Permalink

Sometimes it can be hard to determine which of the many small business podcasts will provide what you need. So much audio, so little time.

So we have taken the guesswork out of it for you. We narrowed it down to 100 informative podcasts for small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Most of the following podcasts specifically target a small business audience. Others have a broader business focus. All, however, are relevant to business owners and entrepreneurs. Explore and listen, and see what you think of this list.

>> Read more

Posted by Staci Wood | Comments (29) | Permalink

Small Business Trends Radio Show transcripts are now available from selected shows. Transcripts are a written source of information and resources from the audio shows.

On our radio transcripts page, we give away a transcript as a sample, and we will periodically swap out that sample from time to time. Our newest sample transcript is from our radio show that aired on January 23, 2007 - Why Hackers Love Small Businesses.

We have placed a small transcript icon next to the shows that have transcripts available on our past shows index pages, which is a smaller version of the transcript icon pictured here. For your convenience, we have created a central transcript page that lists all of the transcripts currently available.

Our radio show transcripts are another feature that we have added here at Small Business Trends to provide information for our listeners and visitors. We hope you enjoy them.

Posted by Staci Wood | Comments (0) | Permalink

Springing from humble beginnings, the Small Business Trends Radio program has had a very interesting journey over the last 20 months.

What started out as an experiment in podcasting in November of 2004 has turned into a very viable business with over 60 hours of audio content, major sponsors and advertisers, an audience of tens of thousands and is distributed by an internet radio network.

It has been a fun and wild ride over the last 20 months. Join Anita and yours truly as we share with you our story of the journey so far and the key lessons we have learned along the way.

Read more and learn how you, too, can take a podcast From a Hobby to a Business

Posted by Steve Rucinski | Comments (1) | Permalink

April 2006 was Small Business Trends Radio highest bandwidth demand month since we started this site in November of 2004. Our visitors downloaded over 23.1 Gigabytes of audio content. Here are the Top 5 shows of April 2006 in no particular order. Click on the title to learn more and listen.

Building a Successful Online Forum - a Case Study
Guest: Lee Dodd of Zydeca Media.
Do you know what an online forum is? How would you use one for your business?

How to Start a Business With No Money
Guest: Gary Schoeniger of garyschoeniger.com.
Gary Schoeniger started a business dead broke with a borrowed ladder. Soon he had a multi-million dollar business.

Master the Random Business Encounter
Guest: David Lorenzo of Career Intensity.com.
Sometimes a chance meeting can lead to snagging a big client or an important deal.

Hiring New Employees - The Technology They Need
Guest: Michael Dees of Esecurity-Direct
Michael explains how to choose and acquire technology for new employees.

Avoiding the Top 10 Online Marketing Mistakes
Guest: Jim Kukral of ReveNews.com.
Jim says “Tell me you didn’t buy that $99 offer to get a top Google listing — it does not work!” Listen and learn.

Posted by Steve Rucinski | Comments (0) | Permalink

We are going to be launching a new feature called ‘Podcast Reviews’ wherein we review some of the best Small Business podcasts available.

We want to serve our audience and our fellow podcasters by bring visibility to some of the most valuable podcasts around. We will evaluate their content, their production values (sound, voice, entertaining qualities, etc.), the presentation of the information, the level of interactivity and the methods of feedback with their audience.

If you have or know of a Small Business Podcast you think should be reviewed just leave a comment on this post and we will take a listen to it.

Posted by Steve Rucinski | Comments (0) | Permalink

It is a crowded marketing message world we live in. Some studies say we are exposed to thousands of messages every day. How do you cut through and get your message to your target market? Maybe Podcast Advertising is something to think about.

Now no podcast has mass market numbers (yet) what Podcasts do provide is a very focused audience. In the case of Small Business Trends Radio and any other Podcast, people listen because they CHOOSE to. This can be an advantage if you can find (or create) a Podcast that serves your market specifically. Here are some interesting facts about Podcast advertising recently released:

Blog, podcast and RSS advertising are the fastest growing segments of the alternative media industry, as combined spending surged 198.4 percent to $20.4 million in 2005, according to a new report by custom media researcher PQ Media. Aggregate spending on the three alternative media segments is projected to grow another 144.9 percent to $49.8 million in 2006, the report found.

Podcast advertising is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 154.4 percent to $327 million in 2010, while blog ad spending will rise 78.4 percent to $300.4 million in the same time frame.

With new tools for creating, finding and listening to Podcasts being announced almost every day this new medium might be something worth investigating for your business. If we can help let us know.

Read more about Podcast and Blog Advertising

Posted by Steve Rucinski | Comments (0) | Permalink