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.

5 Things You Must Have to Succeed in Affiliate Marketing
smallbusinessbrief.com - Just what are the things needed to be able to succeed in affiliate marketing?

North West entrepreneurs could pocket £60k in business services
bytestart.co.uk - A new business ideas competition has been laucnhed - with £60,000 of business services up for graps for the winning entrants.

Strategies: A good 'elevator' pitch will lift your business
usatoday.com - An "elevator pitch" is a short description of your company that you can give in the time it takes to ride an elevator — and not an elevator in a skyscraper, either. Your "elevator pitch" must be brief. It must say enough about what you do so people can easily understand and remember you. And, ideally, you want your elevator pitch to make a positive impression.

How to Learn HTML
devshed.com - HTML is the abbreviation for HyperText Markup Language.It is a special code used for the creation of websites, and most Web designers know it, or they know a program that creates HTML for them. HTML can be a little frustrating and difficult to actually understand.

Top 100 Classic Web Sites
pcmag.com - PC Magazine's definitive list of the best that the Internet has to offer in 2007.

Importance of a Lawyer for Your Small Business
morebusiness.com - Along with legal requirements, there can also be litigations, disputes, etc., that need preparation beforehand in order to avoid serious consequences. A lawyer is the person that can help you with all of these and much more by way of their expertise and knowledge on the subject.

The Health & Safety basics no business can ignore
bytestart.co.uk - Every business is legally obliged to make sure employees and customers are not harmed in any way by the actions of trading. It’s vital to get this right. If someone falls ill or has an accident as a result of something your business has done, it will cause real heartache and stress for you, plus could cost your business a huge amount of cash.

Growth Doesn't Just Happen--You Plan For It
forbes.com - For most mom-and-pop outfits, looking ahead means noodling what to order for lunch during the morning commute. And that's a problem: Because taking your business to the next level isn't just about hard work, persistence and a dash of serendipity. It's about vision and planning.

The Rebirth Of The Small Video-Rental Shop
forbes.com - Big video-rental chains have been kicking small shops in the teeth for years--which makes Christine Min's feat all the more impressive. Last month Min celebrated the first-year anniversary of her store, Get Reel Video, in Brooklyn, N.Y. Better yet, she is already in the black.

The Best Way to Shorten the Sales Cycle
inc.com - To shorten the sales cycle, we must bring clarity to our customers.

8 Steps to Positive Press Exposure
businessknowhow.com - Press exposure can significantly impact a small businesses' success. Press releases are not just for big businesses; many small businesses find press releases to be an inexpensive way to gain exposure and attention. It is not uncommon for reporters from magazines, newspapers or blogs to scan press releases as a means to locate content.

Hot Niche for Marketing Online Is Cooling Fast
startupjournal.com - One of the fastest-growing parts of online marketing in the past year has little to do with video ads, search engines or colorful figures dancing across a screen. It's the rather more pedestrian task of persuading consumers to sign up to receive information from marketers, giving up some personal details in the process.

Networking Notes: The Power of the Hosts File
smallbusinesscomputing.com - Have you ever registered a new Web domain, been eager to set up a new Web server, and found that you're stuck until the new domain name registers with all the DNS servers? Ever wished you could give a machine on your network a name besides its IP address without having to maintain your own local DNS server? You might want to consider the hosts file.

How to Hire an Ad Agency
businessweek.com - Our columnist offers 10 guiding principles to consider the next time you're looking for an advertising agency.

He's Got Game
entrepreneur.com - This entrepreneur is taking a chance with his Milwaukee board game shop.

Giving Something Back: Online Charity For Your E-Biz
smallbusinessbrief.com - Ecommerce and charity don't often cross paths; but when they do, they form a powerful connection.

How Do Moms Get To The Real Money With Their Online Business?
smallbusinessbrief.com - Recently I had the opportunity to pick the brains of 15 women with successful online businesses. Each of them are earning a very good full time income, many on a part time basis, working from home.

Shaking Hands Throughout History And Around The World
smallbusinessbrief.com - The most significant gesture in business and in life is a handshake. In many cultures it is the unspoken message that accompanies our words. A handshake often takes place when you meet someone new, when you are greeting someone you haven't seen in a while, when you leave a party or meeting, when you offer congratulations or when you agree on a contract or working arrangement.

The Technology Trap For Talking Takes a Toll
smallbusinessbrief.com - In our crazy busy world, how often do we automatically push the send key and instantly regret that action? Or how about the mistake of using upper case letters and the reader thinks he is being shouted at? Then too, in the rush to respond and be brief, single line messages can come across as terse, harsh and often inflammatory. Small wonder that e-mail might also stand for escalation and error.

Squarespace Delivers Easy, Affordable Web site and Blog Hosting
smallbusinesscomputing.com - Squarespace.com bills itself as “the best way to put your Web site, and blog, on the Web.” Since we’ve tried more than our share of hosting services over the years, we decided to put them to the test. And you know what? They just might be right.

Online Shoppers Take Their Time
clickz.com - Online shoppers take longer than ever to make purchase decisions, according to ScanAlert research released in July.

Amazon Clamps Down on Sellers for Diverting Buyers
auctionbytes.com - Amazon.com told its third-party sellers it would begin clamping down on its policy against diverting buyers to their own websites.

Tips for Building Niche Websites
devshed.com - The first step is to find a niche area. You could draw inspiration from your friends, media, books, yellow pages, or from top affiliate programs.Once found that, the next important thing is to market the website so as to attract a good traffic to the website everyday. In fact, this is the difficult most part in building a niche website. This article discusses few tips that could effectively help one to market his/her niche websites.

PAYE - Overview of Pay as You Earn scheme
bytestart.co.uk - If you have been an employee working for someone else before starting your own business, then you’ve already been subjected to PAYE, or Pay As You Earn.

Guerrilla Marketing for Your Retail Business
entrepreneur.com - By using your creativity, you can put your retail biz in the spotlight with these low- and no-cost marketing tactics.

Fun
inc.com - Frivolous, we know--unless you want to attract and keep good employees and customers.

Monitor Your Site's Links
workz.com - Nothing undermines the credibility of a site like a link that returns an error message or a blank page. Visitors have very little patience for these types of problems.

Effective Customer Service to Outshine the Competition
morebusiness.com - As a smart business owner, you must ensure that your customer is as satisfied as possible with the quality of customer service you provide. Keeping your customers happy will both help you retain your customers and gain more customers in the future through word of mouth publicity. Unfortunately, many business owners turn their back on customers as soon as the deal is closed.

How to pick the right PC for your business
bytestart.co.uk - There can be few businesses left that don’t need a reliable PC on a day-to-day basis – especially as more and more business involves email and the internet in some way. PCs change so quickly it can be a scary process researching and buying a new one. Here is a handy non-technical guide to the main issues to consider, before you part with your cash.

Marketing Your Home Based Business
womenentrepreneur.com - Check out how successful home based entrepreneurs have marketed their businesses in creative ways.

Networking Around the World
businessweek.com - One of the authors of a recent academic study tells how the surprising findings could help U.S. entrepreneurs doing business abroad.

A Sign of Good Marketing?
entrepreneur.com - Sign spinners--or 'human directionals'--are trying to stop traffic with eye-catching tricks and acrobatics. Does it work?

Are You Worth More Than You're Making?
ducttapemarketing.com - There is only so much time in a day right? So it just makes sense to focus as much of your time as possible on the things that produce the highest payoff.

Mentors and Mentoring: Finding a Mentor
about.com - In Part 1 of this series we looked at what a mentor is and does. If you have decided that a business or personal mentor could be a benefit to you, the link below will start you toward finding the right mentor.

Is Web Video A Threat to TV?
startupjournal.com - The Internet has made it possible for anyone with a video camera to become a filmmaker or YouTube star. But can independent creators make a living off Web video? And will this army of amateurs pose a threat to traditional broadcasters and studios?

Can This Employee Be Saved?
nfib.com - Rehabilitating struggling employees is often easier--and cheaper--than starting over.

Your Marketing Campaign: What's the Big Idea?
marketingprofs.com - You're rolling out a marketing campaign. Launching a product. Revitalizing your brand. What's the big idea? Not to sound flippant, but you need one. Because without it, it's likely your campaign, product launch, or brand repositioning won't be memorable—or particularly effective.

Strengthen Your Business by Developing Your Employees
allbusiness.com - A solid employee-development program can mean the difference between a successful company and one that struggles. Indeed, your company's chances for growth are closely aligned with its commitment toward fostering employee development. More and more workers are looking for employers who can help them increase their knowledge and skills.

Five strategies to help your business grow
bytestart.co.uk - With the UK economy continuing to increase faster than anticipated following the sixth consecutive quarter of above-average growth, chances are that further interest rate rises will follow in an attempt to rein in inflation.

6 Sales Myths Busted
smallbusinessbrief.com - There are a lot of sales myths that not only diminish your chances of success, they also make selling more complicated and harder than necessary. Selling is, in fact, quite simple, provided you know, understand and apply some fundamentals. And you ignore sales myths.

Ways You Can Get Publicity for Less
startupjournal.com - My wife has done a wonderful job marketing her business in the Midwest and now travels to multiple trade shows per year. Recently, we were told we need a publicist. Are there less expensive ways to spread the word or is a publicist the way to go?

Get What You Paid For: Add Social Media
clickz.com - Suppose your budget provided one of two choices for your next online campaign: double the number of impressions or add referral capability and tracking to the existing buy. Which would you choose?

Great Reasons to Know Your Target Market
morebusiness.com - By determining and attending to a particular group of customers which is your target market, you too can create a stronger and better business.

Fee Free: Three New eBay Management Packages
ecommerce-guide.com - EBay offers sellers multiple tools to monitor and manage their eBay ventures, and while some free services can be found through "My eBay," it comes as no surprise, really, that many of the optional solutions for sellers, such as Selling Manager, come with an eBay subscription fee.

Will Baby Change Business?
womenentrepreneur.com - How entrepreneurial moms cope with having a baby while continuing to run their businesses.

Smart Questions: How to Save on Shipping Costs
inc.com - Whether you use the big names or a small regional package carrier, your fee statement for shipping is probably as complex as your cell phone bill. Many carriers have dozens of separate fees. Here are six questions to ask when you're shopping for shipping.

Finding Your Dream Domain Name
businessweek.com - Not all the good ones are taken, but many are. Experts suggest you choose your company name first, and go from there.

Comparison Shopping Site Analytics and Optimization
ecommerce-guide.com - Comparison shopping engines (CSE) are a valuable sales channel for e-tailers, but as is the case with any marketing plan, you have to track performance and continually adjust your campaign accordingly to get the most out of the effort.

Reports of TV's Death Greatly Exaggerated, Part 1
clickz.com - The death of TV? Overhyped. TV isn't dead. It's not even dying. The truth is much easier and more eloquent: TV's simply going digital. And when a medium goes digital, strange stuff happens. It goes all weird and different.

Does Success Hinge on a Domain Name?
businessweek.com - Startups scrambling for domain names—the shorter and catchier, the better—find themselves in negotiations with owners of desirable Web addresses.

eBay Personalizes Home Page
auctionbytes.com - eBay will change the way it serves up its home page to visitors, it told users in a blog entry entitled, "A People-centric Home Page is On The Way."

How Low Can You Go?
inc.com - Cutting prices can send a powerful message. But it also can backfire.

Mentors and Mentoring: What is a mentor?
about.com - So, in a series of feature articles over the next few weeks, we will look at what a mentor is, how to find one, and how to be a mentor. I would welcome your thoughts and stories on this topic as well.

An Online Matchmaker For Investors, Startups
startupjournal.com - Wil Schroter has started nine companies -- some successful, others not. Over the years, the entrepreneur has developed a network of investors, software developers and others who might be able to help out with his businesses. He says friends and acquaintances began to come to him on a regular basis, asking him to put them in touch with advisers or job candidates he knows.

The Best Page Layout and Design for Content Websites
sitepronews.com - I was chatting to a veteran print publisher who had been producing magazines for over thirty years. He shook his head in despair, as he told me that every year he sees new magazines hit the newsstands with the publications' titles placed vertically on the magazine cover.

SAP Makes Yet Another Play for Small Business
smallbusinesscomputing.com - Since it first debuted Business One back in 2003, SAP has been courting small businesses, and it continues to swing at what has proven to be, thus far, an elusive market. That may or may not change come the end of this year SAP plans to launch A1S, it's much-hyped and long-awaited software-as-a-service offering (SaaS) geared for small and mid-sized companies.

What Your CPA Wishes You Knew
nfib.com - April 15 may seem light years away right now, but your accountant probably isn't just lounging at the beach only starting to work on April 1. In fact, he may already be gearing up to handle the work of many clients.

PowerPoint, Warts and All: Relearning to Communicate
marketingprofs.com - Although PowerPoint has been much maligned, it has become a ubiquitous reality not merely in sales and marketing but in all walks of business life.

Domain Management System
businesstoolchest.com - Getting frustrated with the amount of time you need to spend to manage all your websites each week?

MERCHANDISING - Reducing inventory costs by reselling returned merchandise
allbusiness.com - I know what you're thinking already. Reselling returned merchandise sounds like you're going to sell a stained shirt that was worn to a wedding in Florida during the middle of summer.

Business Networking - Key networking groups reviewed
bytestart.co.uk - If you provide a product or service for other businesses, then networking can be a great way to generate leads and referrals.

What Is Your Gap?
smallbusinessbrief.com - Do you know what your gap is? Why do you need to know what your gap is? What happens if there is no gap?

Ask an Expert: Mortgage too high? Weigh these options
usatoday.com - I am the owner of one of these "subprime" mortgages everyone is so nervous about, and now I know why. I run a home-based business and care for my two school-aged daughters. I got what I thought was a great loan, but have learned the hard way that after 2 years, my mortgage goes up $180 a month! I am now on the verge of foreclosure and will lose my business, too.

The Right and Wrong Way To Critique Employees
startupjournal.com - Chastising an employee for a mistake is one of the most difficult aspects of being a manager. When handled poorly, critiques can leave people feeling deflated, disgruntled, and unmotivated.

Publish or Perish
about.com - Here are some guidelines to help you start getting published or expand your publishing efforts.

Cringely Details Why Your Broadband Stinks
webpronews.com - The $200 billion boondoggle that was meant to deliver high speed digital services to the home by the year 2000 instead left America running to stand still in the world of broadband delivery.

Aging Boomers lead startup growth
money.cnn.com - A study finds that the number of middle-aged Americans starting businesses is surging.

Need a new career? Start a business
bizjournals.com - Kindergarten and preschool teacher is just one entry on Rita Nelson's resume. She believes the experience she and her husband gained at work and at home made them well-prepared to run the bed-and-breakfast even though they had never owned a business before.

E-Mail Sender Lines: Do's and Don'ts
clickz.com - What's in a name? A lot if you're using it in an e-mail sender line.

Developing Your Small Business - Creating Your Competitive Advantage
morebusiness.com - By making your business distinctly different from others, you also prevent it from stagnating. You need to constantly improve your services in order to attract more customers while retaining existing ones.

Server Snapshot: Dell PowerEdge 2970
smallbusinesscomputing.com - Only a few months ago, ServerWatch reviewed the Dell 2950 server. Since then, the company has followed up with the Dell PowerEdge 2970. Not only are the server model numbers very similar, so too are the specs — with one big exception: Instead of Xeon chips, the 2970 is AMD Opteron dual-core processor based.

How To Network Like A Pro Online
forbes.com - Some adages have earned their distinction--like the one that says it's not what you know but who you know that counts.

The Trust Factor
entrepreneur.com - Win your customers’ faith by learning the 5 key components of trust.

A One-Stop Shop for Setting Up Your Own Online Shop
inc.com - A weekly look at the latest products and services designed to help you run a better business.

How to Rebound After Losing a Sale
businessweek.com - Develop and execute a follow-up plan to evaluate why you didn't get the order. You'll polish your skills and ultimately close more business.