May 29, 2012

Top 7 Most Popular Stories For The Week That Was

Back in the saddle after the extended Memorial Day holiday weekend. What better way to burn off all of the hotdogs, hamburgers, and potato salad than by kicking your small business marketing up a notch or 10?

To help you get things firing on all cylinders, let’s take a look back at the posts you read, shared and commented on for the week that was on the Creative Combustion blog.

Popular stories included a look at the 5 key elements that can make or break any pitch to prospective customers or investors, reasons why you shouldn’t waste all of your time worrying about SEO, and ideas for turning National Small Business Week into a year-long event.

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May 24, 2012

The Art Of The Pitch

You do it. I do it. Your neighbor down the street does it. We all pitch all of the time. Ideas, products, strategic plans, places to go for lunch—when a decision has to be made, there’s a pretty good chance a pitch won’t be too far behind.

Some folks are a lot better than others. Like great athletes or musicians, they’re able to channel the hours, weeks, months, or even years of nonstop preparation into the perfect performance. When they nail it, you can almost feel it in the air—the buzz from the crowd, the validation of all of their hard work, and an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. Definitely a reoccurring theme at yesterday’s Innovation Works Investor Day on the South Side of Pittsburgh.

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May 22, 2012

Don’t Be An SEO Chaser

Emergency! Emergency! Google tweaked its search results algorithm again. You immediately get a huge knot in your stomach. You just spent a big chunk of money optimizing your small business website so you’ll appear higher up in the search results and then BAM, out of the blue the visibility of your website hangs in the balance. Sound familiar?

When Google announces wholesale changes to search (which typically happens every few months), a lot of small business owners go into pure panic mode. They want to react to those changes on a dime so their online presence doesn’t take a huge hit.

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May 21, 2012

Top 7 Most Popular Stories For The Week That Was

Happy Monday! National Small Business Week is officially here and that means it’s time to kick your small business badassery into overdrive.

To help get things firing on all cylinders, let’s take a look back at the posts you read, shared and commented on for the week that was on the Creative Combustion blog.

Popular stories included a look at some really cool technology that is sure to change the world of ecommerce, powerful phone solutions that won’t break the bank, and smart ideas for how to make the most of National Small Business Week 2012. 

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May 18, 2012

3D Imaging And The Future Of Ecommerce

What’s the one thing you can’t do when you’re shopping for a pair of shoes or a shirt online? Actually try them on to see how they look and make sure they fit. Sure all those photos and video clips are great, but they won’t mean a thing when you’re busy trying to stuff yourself into something that’s two sizes too small or doesn’t match your “tonal season.”

Although ecommerce sites might have lots of fancy bells and whistles, most are still missing the two key ingredients that really matter most to customers—the ability to find an item that they know will look good on them and having the confidence that it will actually fit before they place their order.

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May 17, 2012

Make Momentum A Mindset

Maybe next week. Maybe next month. Once things slow down a bit, you’ll finally be able to find some time to work on growing your business. You’ve got big ideas and big ambitions but they’ll have to wait until tomorrow. Or the day after that. 

As a small business owner/operator, it’s really easy to get caught up in the day-to-day. You end up spending all of your time working for your business instead of working on your business. And no matter how much you might try to convince yourself to the contrary, you know in your heart that’s just not a sustainable coping strategy.

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May 15, 2012

Smart Ways To Spend National Small Business Week

It only comes around once a year. An entire week officially dedicated to the little guys—the small businesses and small business owners that are the backbone of our economy. During National Small Business Week, which takes place from May 20-26, 2012, small business owners have the chance to celebrate their accomplishments and those of their entrepreneurial peers, polish up that website that’s been screaming for their attention, and to fully embrace the awesomeness that is small business! 

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May 10, 2012

Samuel Adams Brewing The American Dream Making Small Business Ownership A Reality

With 750 employees and a listing on the New York Stock Exchange, The Boston Beer Company probably isn’t the first name that comes to mind when you think of small business. But just because the makers of Samuel Adams have grown from a shoestring to become the country’s largest-selling craft beer doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten their small business roots.

Through their Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream program which is being offered in partnership with leading microlender Accion, The Boston Beer Company wants to increase the success of small food, beverage & hospitality businesses (typically employing between 1-5 people) by combining expert business coaching and advising with access to small business capital.

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May 7, 2012

Top 7 Most Popular Stories For The Week That Was

Now that the "super Moon," Cinco de Mayo celebrations, Kentucky Derby, and Pittsburgh Marathon are all officially behind us, it’s time to get back to business.

To help start the week off right, let’s take a look back at the posts you read, shared and commented on for the week that was on the Creative Combustion blog.

Is it time to finally say goodbye to the traditional business card? Popular stories include a look at the past, present and future of those tiny slips of paper that have become a staple of face-to-face networking, a new service offering from Hyperink that turns blogs into books in no time flat, and everything you need to know to create a killer business card.

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May 2, 2012

The 5 Hour Author? New Service Turns Blogs Into Books

What if you could turn your old blog posts into books in as little as five hours without having to write any new content. Sound too good to be true? You might want to think again. With the launch of their new “Blog to Book” service, Hyperink aims to help bloggers create short, beautiful books from their existing content.

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May 1, 2012

Are Business Cards On Their Way Out?

bump, LinkedIn, About.me--just some of the many apps and online platforms that were predicted to be the end of business cards as we know them.  But as much they’ve tried to eliminate the need for us to exchange those little 3 ½ x 2 inch slips of paper, they’re definitely not dead yet. In fact, they’re far from it.

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