Small Biz Blog Wiz - Easy, Affordable and Productive Blogging for Small Businesses

Is Your Stuff Safe?

Are your business files safe from thieves, fire, and other disaster? Do you have your most important business documents, spreadsheets, files and data secured at an off-site location so you can actually sleep at night? If not, you better better wake up early tomorrow and consider some of the backup solutions from a few of the providers available. Shit happens. Make sure your stuff is safe.

Link: Off Site Data Storage

"Not that you won't want to save your files to your own computer as extra insurance, but the feeling of knowing all your long, hard hours of work are safely stored somewhere after you do experience a major computer failure can not only save your sanity, but your life."

Google circa 1960

The linked image below is a great piece of commentary on the amazing evolution of access to information. Indeed, what would once take 4-6 weeks, now takes less than 1 second.

Use this goldmine to your advantage. Have a business problem you just can't solve? Google it. Stuck at a creative dead-end? Google yourself some inspiration. Need client or prospect information fast? Google them. If you're not using this tool to work smarter then you need to, now. You'll be happy that you did.

Google circa 1960 image | digg story

Google Phone Rumors are Good News for Small Business Owners

A Google-branded phone could be a boon for small business bloggers. Mobile blogging is growing more popular everyday. It's relatively easy, for bloggers. For small business owners, mobile blogging can be complicated, time-consuming and frustrating. All that and a lot more could change if the rumors of a Google phone turn out to be accurate.

Google phone could offer a suite of easy-to-use features that integrate their full line of services. Google has been rolling out a bevy of mobile services recently, a couple of which are simply brilliant: Mobile Gmail, and Mobile Reader. Matching these stellar products with mobile versions of Blogger, AdSense/AdWords and put it all on a cutting-edge cell phone - possibly a free cell phone, according to rumors - and you've got one heckuva powerful small business tool. Mobile blogging and data/content management on-the-fly will be much easier in the future. And as the cell phone/mobile hand-held quickly becomes the center of our online, connected, in-touch lives, it's hard to believe that Google wouldn't be in the forefront, chomping at the bit for a piece of the pie. That's a good thing for small business owners.

Congratulations! You are Time's Person of the Year.

You did it! Wow, what an honor! You, yes you, are Time's person of the year.

 

In a move that acknowledges the ascendancy of the social web, Time magazine has named their Person of the Year for 2006, and it's you, me, all of us. Millions of people around the globe comprise the social web and the number is growing everyday. Today's Internet is an increasingly a place where people easily create and connect, transcending borders and time itself. It is a people-power thing. It is all about you.

The big players of the social web - YouTube, Flickr, del.icio.us, Blogger etc. - are the obvious catalyst for so much of the current evolution of the web and they get the requisite attention in the article, but the people, the contributors - the fuels for these sites is what what makes them great. And that fuel is you.

Blogging Peak? Not Quite.

Gartner is predicting that blogging will peak in 2007. Surely, the growth of blogs will slow but calling a peak is a bit premature. The good news is that splogs - spam blogs - will be on the decrease and quality content will be on the increase as influential, dynamic, well-written blogs rise to the top. Also, what the peak prediction completely misses is that there are millions of people who have not even thought about starting a blog yet. Hundreds of thousands of small business owners in America alone, and millions of people worldwide, are just beginning to think about starting a blog. So will the growth slow? It has to. Does that mean a long-term peak for blogging? Not quite.

Still not sure that blogging has growth potential? Check out the graphic below - a few more knitters and this whole blogging thing will really take off!

Link: Blogging to Peak in 2007 Says Gartner:

"...those who love it are committed to keeping it up, while others have gotten bored and moved on."

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Christmas Tree Lot Blog

I picked up the family's Christmas tree over the weekend and, of course, was struck with how bloggy the Christmas tree lot business is. The lot owners were RV'ers who wanted to earn a little extra cash over the holiday season. They hooked up with a tree wholesaler, got the local permit approvals, and voila! - they're in the Christmas tree business. But, business is a bit slow on an empty corner-lot in Fountain Hills, AZ. One way these nice folks could increase their reach, and therefore, their sales, would be to set up a blog for their Christmas tree business. While I was there people were craving information on how to care for their tree once they got it home. Still others would have been better off learning the ins-and-outs of purchasing a Christmas tree before showing up at the lot. Then there were people who needed the basics: where is the lot, what are the hours, what should I bring with me, etc. Answers to all of these questions would be known, plus a sleigh full of kick-butt, hyper-local marketing could be accomplished by simply setting up a temporary small business blog.

Holiday Blogging for Online Retailers

Retailers, are you blogging this holiday season? In the scramble to year-end profits, online sellers should be using everything possible to maximize sales and attract last-minute shoppers. That includes blogging. Holiday biz bloggers could provide critical, late-breaking info to prospective shoppers (new products, shipping dates, etc.) while luring them into their virtual stores. Plus, the "etailers" won't have to invest a huge chunk of time or money in their blogging effort.

Not blogging this holiday season? No problem. January is the perfect time to begin thinking about the 2007 holiday season and formulating your online strategy.