Best of the Web -- Sign Up for a FREE 60 Day Advertising Trial!
Sponsor a Category for Free for 60 Days. No Obligations. No Charges. No Kidding.

WoW Directory
Powerful world, local and regional website directory advertising.

New! Team Skaffe Directory from the editors of Skaffe.com
Up to 4 links per submission. Free non-commercial submissions.

Skaffe.com Directory
A long established quality directory to promote your website.

Professional Business Cards for Distinguished Entrepreneurs
Design color business cards online with instant print proofing.

Aviva Web Directory
Submit your website to increase your visibility on the internet.

Custom Stamps: Anyone Tried?
"The Postal Service began permitting consumers to design their own stamps in 2004, and added businesses to the mix in May 2006. Though the vast majority of personalized stamps are ordered by individuals — children and dogs generally rank at the top of the list — some companies are catching on."

Giving Up Creative Control?
"Does anyone have any good resources or just advice on how to train my mindset away from controlling everything about my business to simply being concerned with an overall standard of quality?"

Audit Of Doom!?
"While I have done nothing illegal, I am being audited and due to the bad state of my books, they are getting more and more unhappy with me and my business. I am seriously considering bringing in a tax lawyer and/or a chartered accountant to bring me out of this mess, but that is going to set me back a lot of money, which I have little of. I thought of fixing the books myself and getting an accountant to sign off on them, but I don't think I can do it. Any suggestions?"

Custom Stamps: Anyone Tried?
"The Postal Service began permitting consumers to design their own stamps in 2004, and added businesses to the mix in May 2006. Though the vast majority of personalized stamps are ordered by individuals — children and dogs generally rank at the top of the list — some companies are catching on."

Giving Up Creative Control?
"Does anyone have any good resources or just advice on how to train my mindset away from controlling everything about my business to simply being concerned with an overall standard of quality?"

Audit Of Doom!?
"While I have done nothing illegal, I am being audited and due to the bad state of my books, they are getting more and more unhappy with me and my business. I am seriously considering bringing in a tax lawyer and/or a chartered accountant to bring me out of this mess, but that is going to set me back a lot of money, which I have little of. I thought of fixing the books myself and getting an accountant to sign off on them, but I don't think I can do it. Any suggestions?"

Create Your Own Summer Job: 6 Ways to Make Money This Summer
about.com - Summer's here, and opportunities for quick money abound. If you're a recent graduate, a teacher or student off for the summer, or anyone else looking for some quick cash, summer's a great time to start a business.

Create Your Own Summer Job: 6 Ways to Make Money This Summer
about.com - Summer's here, and opportunities for quick money abound. If you're a recent graduate, a teacher or student off for the summer, or anyone else looking for some quick cash, summer's a great time to start a business.

Cyber Security Eludes Smaller Companies
startupjournal.com - Small business owners may suffer from a potentially dangerous condition called "cyber security apathy." Or so says the National Cyber Security Alliance (staysafeonline.org). The nonprofit, devoted to cyber security awareness, says the vast majority of small business owners don't take enough precaution in protecting their computer and customer data from hackers and identity thieves.

Top 10 Growing Markets for Small Businesses
powerhomebiz.com - "What are the hottest markets today? This is the common question asked by entrepreneurs who are on the lookout for business ideas that will give them the biggest return.

Who in the world is entrepreneurial?
money.cnn.com - We scan the globe to uncover which countries are the most - and least - friendly to small business.

RSS Heading Toward Mainstream Adoption
smallbiztrends.com - RSS subscribers are finally reaching the point where the numbers are meaningful.

eBay Watch: Mac Upgrade, Invoicing, Alternative Auctions
ecommerce-guide.com - This week eBay makes changes in its invoicing protocol and debuts a new utility called Bid Assistant while Discovery Communications decides to focus exclusively on its online stores.

Review: TrekStor DataStation
smallbusinesscomputing.com - If you can't decide between local and networked storage, the TrekStor DataStation maxi z.ul may be the answer. The DataStation is kind of a hybrid that has characteristics of both a NAS device and a USB- or Firewire-connected hard drive.

When War Means Profits
entrepreneur.com - By catering to soldiers and their families, some businesses are keeping both goodwill and profits in mind.

Computing On the Go
inc.com - New laptops for every purpose.

If the Patent Reform Act Passes
businessweek.com - Legislation changing the current system, by granting patents to the "first-to-file" vs. the "first-to-invent," has a good chance of passing.

How to Create a Unique Selling Proposition for Your Online Business
smallbusinessbrief.com - How good are you at being different and articulating your USP (Unique Selling Proposition)? Why would a potential client want to do business with you instead of your competition?

Hack DNS for lightning-fast Web browsing
computerworld.com - No matter how big the broadband pipe you use to surf the Web, it's not big enough. Everyone, whether they use a slowpoke dial-up modem or the fastest FiOS line, wants to surf faster.

Small Business Bears A Bigger Share of Liability Costs
smallbiztrends.com - A study released just last week by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform found that small businesses bear a disproportionate burden of tort liability costs.

Breaking the Voicemail Barrier
businessknowhow.com - Even if you never place a cold call, you still have to reach people by phone. That customer who was so interested last month never called you back, and now you must call her. You call once, twice, three times, but you can't get her in person. How can you manage to close a sale if all you ever get is voicemail?

Loyalty - The key to business success
bytestart.co.uk - Talk to many business people about how they approach customer service and the majority of them will say that they are aiming to have ‘satisfied’ customers.

Manage Your E-Commerce Business, Not Just Your Website
inc.com - Beyond the virtual shopping cart: understanding the full importance of e-commerce in selling online.

Tightrope: Small but steady changes key to maintaining success
usatoday.com - How often should the owner of a small business make changes to maintain a level of success?

Creating Ads That Ring Up Sales
entrepreneur.com - Out with the old and in with ads that produce results. Just follow these four important rules.

Internet Access Tax Debate Back on House Table
internetnews.com - With the federal ban on Internet access taxes set to expire on Nov. 17, a longtime simmering feud between the states and Congress is beginning to warm up again.

Generate Interest on eBay with Pricing and Price Changes
auctionbytes.com - Numbers, especially numbers preceded by a currency sign, can draw the eye faster than text. And numbers are faster and easier to comprehend.

Protect Your Identity
pcmag.com - People take risks online with their identity that they'd never dream of taking in the real world; here are twelve tips and three apps that can help you protect your virtual identity with the same vigilance as you do your real-world one.

The Essential Elements For Operating A Successful Business
morebusiness.com - Having a successful business is not that difficult, provided you have the three essential elements that are listed below.

Marketing Your Blog With Contests
topix.net - With more people starting blogs everyday, it can be hard for individuals with small business blogs or websites to generate traffic. A popular method to build awareness to a blog or website is through contests.

Take Charge of Your Marketing
entrepreneur.com - Don't wait until business dips to start marketing. Begin today using these 3 important principles to develop your core message.

Thinking Small
inc.com - As venture capital deals go, it doesn't seem like much--just $6,000. But that was all Sam Altman needed to get his new business, a cell phone software maker called Loopt, off the ground.

Beating the Postage Hike
businessweek.com - A novel idea for cutting postage costs; search engine marketing tips; movies that inspire and teach; why romance counts for startups; and more.

Web Hosting
smallbusinessbrief.com - Web hosting makes a Web site available on the Internet. A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to provide their own websites accessible via the World Wide Web.

To Site or Not To Site That Is The Question
devshed.com - If you don't have a website, then you might not realize all the great things they can do for you.

Getting Excited About Marketing
smallbusinessbrief.com - Are you excited about marketing your business? I've learned over the years, working with thousands of Independent Professionals, that the word EXCITING is about the last one most would use to describe marketing their business.

Mystery Shoppers Enhance Tradeshow Performance
smallbusinessbrief.com - It is critical that our tradeshow performance be excellent. Your organization’s financial well being depends in part of what attendees learn about your company from your exhibit. How will you know, at the end of the day, what they thought of your booth? This is where the mystery shopper comes in.

How To Boost Your Affiliate Profits
morebusiness.com - In affiliate marketing, it is not essential to have your own website or your own products and services. It is, in fact, one of the easiest ways to get into a profitable online business and make good income right from the beginning.

Ringtone Branding - Another way to spread the brand
ducttapemarketing.com - Ok, this one might not be earthshattering, but it's kind of fun. Sound is a great way to build brand recognition - think about all the jingles over the years that you could not get out of your head.

The Five Most Important Words on your Web Site
marketingprofs.com - For those of us, myself included, who go on about how writing online is different, it is humbling to see how some things are exactly the same. "Free" is an extremely important word in the world of offline marketing, and it's just as important online.

Trade PPC for VLV: Visitor Lifetime Value Metric Makes Money
ecommerce-guide.com - After eight years of marketing online in a very competitive sector, it is very apparent to me that the fundamentals of e-commerce success are changing.

Build a Homestead on the Web
smallbusinesscomputing.com - There's a wide divide – and a multitude of steps – between knowing you need a Web site for your business and actually making that happen. If you aren't technically inclined, or you lack a knack for design, the process can be painful, expensive and downright ugly.

Exploring Office 2007: Using SmartArt Graphics
smallbusinesscomputing.com - Microsoft Office 2007 offers a handy new feature called SmartArt that makes it easy to create business diagrams that display textual information in an easy to read and understand format. The SmartArt graphics tool is great for creating everything from simple diagrams to cutting-edge business graphics. In our first Exploring Office 2007 series article, we'll be taking a closer look at working with the new SmartArt feature.

Mitigate IM Security Threats
entrepreneur.com - Follow these steps for protecting IM as a business tool.

What's in It for Customers?
businessweek.com - Be clear about what your product can do.

Spotting and Avoiding a Bad Business Opportunity
morebusiness.com - At times, we all like to imagine ourselves lying on a private beach on a remote island or sipping rare Bordeaux along with a spoonful of caviar at a mansion in the Mediterranean. The fact is that most of us cannot afford to do this. But human greed is such that at times logical reasoning, intellect or even plain common sense loses ground. There are various scammers and con artists out there, who will gladly take your hard earned money and vanish into thin air - and if we look at history, this is not a new trend.

10 Rules for Bootstrapping Your Business
powerhomebiz.com- Can you start a business with a small amount of capital? Of course! In fact, many home based entrepreneurs have started their own businesses even with very little money. Learn the 10 rules to follow when launching a business with little cash.

Marketing vs. Advertising: What's the Difference?
about.comYou will often find that many people confuse marketing with advertising or vice versa. While both components are important they are very different. Knowing the difference and doing your market research can put your company on the path to substantial growth.

Virtualization in the SMB Environment
smartbiz.com- Today, virtual operating systems from companies such as Microsoft, VMware, SWsoft and XenSource allow companies of all size to take advantage of hardware that would have made yesterday’s IT managers salivate in envy.

Ask an Expert: Finding what motivates your employees
usatoday.com - The first thing to realize is that when it comes to motivation, most employees are a different breed than we entrepreneurs or maybe more accurately, we are a different breed than most everyone else.

Mind Reading 101—Really
advisortoday.com - It all begins with understanding how two “mental filters” work when your prospect or client is sitting in front of you.

Microsoft Makes Updates to Excel Patch
pcmag.com - Microsoft has issued a knowledge base article describing fixes the company has made to the Windows Update detection logic for one of this month's updates.

It's Time For Plan B: Brainstorming!
smallbusinessbrief.com - Brainstorming is a special type of meeting, with its own ground rules, tempo and ethos. It's also an invaluable tool for idea generation, problem solving, innovation, teambuilding and creativity. Whether you are tasked with creating new sales contests, new strategic initiatives or simply trying to break the doldrums of your day-to-day routines, brainstorming carries the day.

Are You Applying the "So What Factor"?
smallbusinessbrief.com - Are you applying the "So What Factor" every time you talk about your products and services?

The Five Types of Shoppers
smallbusinessbrief.com - In retail, this idea of focusing on the best current customers should be seen as an on-going opportunity. To better understand the rationale behind this theory and to face the challenge, we need to break down shoppers into five main types.

Books: The Sweet Nectar of Life
smallbusinessbrief.com - Learn from a good old-fashioned book.

Is It a Scam?
smallbusinessbrief.com - What is a scam? According to definitions listed on the web, a scam is a ploy to raise money, or a fraudulent business scheme. Therefore, when you are dealing with a scam, you will end up paying money and getting nothing in return.

8 Tips To Create A Landing Page
sitepronews.com - You need copy for your landing page but you're not sure where to start. First let's clarify what we mean by a landing page. A landing page can be a page that visitors come to after clicking on a promotional banner or link.

Marketo Looks to Help Online Marketing Deliver
smallbusinesscomputing.com - To help automate your marketing efforts, Marketo, a startup company that aims to provide affordable Web-based marketing automation tools, today announced the availability or Marketo Search Marketing.

How to Make Money with Voice Mail
businessknowhow.com - The telephone can be a powerful tool for generating leads and selling products and services. Unfortunately most business owners are so ineffective using the telephone their only accomplishments are frustrating prospects and removing them from the sales channel.

How to Develop Client and Customer Trust
marketingprofs.com - Selling is not so much about the features of our products or services—or even the benefits the customer receives. Rather, it is about our relationship with the customer. People do business with people they trust.

How to write an effective marketing plan
bytestart.co.uk - A marketing plan is a core component of any business plan. It relates specifically to the marketing of a particular product or service and it describes.

Don't Call It Advertising
clickz.com - Consumers have long expressed annoyance with TV advertising and are now showing the same feelings toward pre-roll and other interruptive ad formats online. The discussion has reached a fever pitch over the last few years as DVRs have become the great disruptor and the raw amount of advertising that people are exposed to has increased.

House increases small business contracting goals
bizjournals.com - Small businesses would get a bigger piece of the federal government's $400 billion-a-year procurement pie under legislation passed by the House.

A cubicle contraption keeps workers on the run
msnbc.msn.com - Do you feel like your career is going nowhere fast? Then you probably will think a new desk designed at the Mayo Clinic is overkill.

10 ways to get a grip on your e-mail
money.cnn.com - Has trying to keep up with your inbox got you feeling like a hamster on a wheel, running faster and getting nowhere? Help is here!

How to Close a Sale in the First 30 Seconds
entrepreneur.com - Tap into customers' hidden wants to win their trust--and their business.

Health Insurance for the Self-Employed
businessweek.com - A huge number of Americans are uninsured—many of them entrepreneurs and people employed by small companies. But there are options out there.