What Highly-Successful Small Business Owners Are Doing that You Can Do Too
Social Media for Small Business
Elderly Depression: Very real, very dangerous... but treatable.
I've been hearing a lot more lately about elderly depression. It is sad that so many older people have feelings of being alone or that their depression is fact of life that they will suffer from until they die. More and more home care workers and families are caring for seniors that suffer from depression.
Dr. Stephen Hall, Clinical Professor of psychiatry at UCSF gave a lecture for University of California's Mini Medical School. It is a very enlightening look into depression during later in late. This is a technical discussion, but has great info in it. Here is a direct link to the video about depression in the elderly.Dan Buettner & How to Live to be 100
"National Geographic writer and explorer Dan Buettner studies the world's longest-lived peoples, distilling their secrets into a single plan for health and long life." ~ from the TED.org descriptionI've actually circulated this video around to a group of people and their reactions are interesting. The most surprising thing about their reactions is that the steps he outlines were not what people were expecting. The video is about 20 minutes, but well worth the time.
Startup Kick-Start: All the Little Things Book
Small Business Owners - Links to Learn
Aging in Place | AgeInPlace.com Beta

Internet Boot Camp: Day 6 - Publishing Content

The old stand-by. Static. You (or your web person) make updates by hand. Content is not stored in a database (called ‘dynamic’). This is the old school web, with all the hand-coded HTML & CSS (cascading style sheets). This is the more difficult way (if you aren’t well versed in such practices) and does not lend itself towards creating a content-rich website. Yes, they can look just as good. Chocolate Ripple
A little bit of zip. Dynamic. You (or your web person) make updates into a light-weight content management system (CMS) and the content is in a database, including images. Great for blogging, small company/organization sites that want to easily make regular updates to the site and those wanting to couple that with good search engine optimization (SEO) practices. Some examples would be the Wordpress blogging CMS or CMS Made Simple. White Chocolate Rasberry
Definitely on the adventurous side. Ultra-dynamic and flexible. A CMS like this is much hardier (and, at times, unwieldy), but is ultimately more customizable and powerful. All the SEO benefits can be incorporated, and accommodations are made for large editorial teams and the large amount of content they can generate. Examples would be Drupal or Joomla. Pick the best flavor for you Now, could a mom and pop shop benefit from Chocolate Ripple? You bet! Do they have to have it? No. Just because a company is generating $10 million a year does it mean it needs White Chocolate Rasberry? Nope. In the end, it all goes back to the plan. What you want to do with your website needs to dictate what type of technology you use. Just remember, a website is a tool. And, like any job, you need to right tool to accomplish the task at hand. Every one has it’s place, but not all are created equal. image: karindalziel - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - What are your thoughts? Post a comment and let's talk. Do you have questions about what how you can leverage the Internet to improve your customer experience and boost your company's performance? Just ask.
Internet Boot Camp: Day 5 - Be where they are
- Knoxville Business Owners group on Facebook gives you the opportunity to network with other business owners in the area. Do you sell office products? Provide affordable marketing services?
- The Blount County Voice website offers you a chance to post your thoughts in written form about (nearly) any subject. Dry cleaning tips? The best way to shop for a new car? Childcare choices?
- Maryville, TN Kiwanis Club: According to their website they currently have 130 members. That’s 130 people that may not use your services or products, or who know people who can.
- GoSmokies provided by KnoxNews.com is a social network for people who love the Smoky Mountains. Do you own a bike shop? Know the best places to hike?
- KnoxMoms is a great place to rub shoulders with other moms. They have get-togethers in real life, forums to post in with lots of opportunities for mixing with potential customers. Make baby clothes? Own a babysitting service?
- Since 1992 Blount County Habitat for Humanity has built 86 homes and provided simple decent shelter to 190 children. Think you could make some connections in the community doing that?
Internet Boot Camp: Day 4 - Spread the Word
- Content that is: High quality, relevant and regularly updated
- Content and site structure that is keyword and locally optimized
- Make sure every piece of paper that goes out of your business has your website address on it and (as appropriate) highlights the benefit the site has for the consumer.- Business cards - Paper newsletters - Invoices - Sales receipts
- Make sure any advertising you do has your website address on it and (as appropriate) highlights the benefit the site has for the consumer.- Print advertising - Fliers - TV or radio ads
- Word of mouth- Talk to your employees about the website and make sure everyone talks it up to the customers- When you are talking with other business owners, church folks, lodge buddies or the babysitter or anyone who will listen … talk it up.
- Mention your website to people you know online. If you instant message or post in forums online, mention your website there where appropriate.
- Use social websites to link to your website and get your employees and friends to do the same. Services like StumbleUpon, Magnolia, Netvibes and delicious (just to name a few … and there are a ton) are great places to have other people come in contact with your site AND help with inbound links on the search engines.
- Get links from other website owners who have complimentary content. Try to get appropriate keywords in the text of the link.
- Join social networking sites and link to your site in your profile.
More great Posterous themes at themes.posterous.com.

