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Social Networks, Your Way
Source: http://www.searchengineguide.com
When someone is just starting to get involved in building up their social network it's hard to know or recognize when and where to set boundaries. As well, there seems to be a bit of a challenge when it comes to being completely professional or being yourself. Luckily, the rule of being "you" is winning out and those folks who think they are being "professional" in sending blog links, promotional introductions, and other spammy items are turning into "professional outcasts."

Submitted By: Heidi
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5 Ways To Get Paid Faster
Source: http://businessbrickyard.com
Let's start with this truth: Sending your invoice and getting paid is as much a part of what you do as your product or service. And yet people pay almost no attention to the importance of invoicing and collecting payment. You work so hard to deliver your product or provide service(s) to your clients and in return for that you get paid. That last part is as much a part of the arrangement as any other.

Submitted By: Heidi
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Why Social Media is More Measurable Than Traditional Media
Source: http://www.jmorganmarketing.com
We all keep hearing about the ROI from social media and how difficult it is to actually measure the results from social media campaigns. It's true, tracking the overall ROI from social media is not entirely possible since there is a large qualitative and not quantitative aspect involved. However, there is a lot that we can measure in social media. In fact, I'm arguing that social media is actually more measurable then traditional media.

Submitted By: Robert
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Health Care That Won't Break the Bank
Source: http://blog.inc.com
Health insurance can be emotional. After all, we're talking about your health and, in some cases, maybe even your life. If done right, you achieve the results necessary to not only attract and retain your employees, but also keep your group health insurance plan in place. Oh, and maintain your profitability as well! You can't forget about that. These three simple tips might help you offer great health care benefits at an affordable price.

Submitted By: Darryl
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BitTorrent's Bram Cohen Isn't Limited by Asperger's
Source: http://www.businessweek.com
Bram Cohen has Asperger's, which makes it hard to deal with everyday life. Even so, he started his own company, BitTorrent.

Submitted By: Robert
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Barter Exchanges Catch On as Credit Tightens
Source: http://www.businessweek.com
Barter exchanges are fee-based membership groups. Typically, barter dollars are issued when a member performs a service or offers a product that can then be used to purchase goods or services of another member within the exchange. (The exchange receives a commission on the "purchase" side of the transaction.) Most exchanges work on a 50-50 cash-to-barter system, while others, such as Merchants Barter Exchange, operate as a 100% barter trade system.

Submitted By: Darryl
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Does Google Send You Too Much Traffic?
Source: http://cathystucker.com
Do you get too much of your website traffic from Google? Don't risk losing 30% or more of your business overnight. Discover how to diversify and increase traffic to your website.

Submitted By: CathyStucker
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How to Harness the Herd Using Social Media
Source: http://www.copyblogger.com
If you've been a keen observer of social media (or simply read blogs about blogging), you've probably come to accept some realities of the social media space. Things like: Blog posts with lots of comments get more comments.

Submitted By: ijidak
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Sellers Offer a Financial Hand to Their Buyers
Source: http://online.wsj.com
For small companies looking to cash out, this may be an ideal time -- if they are willing to give sellers a financial hand. The reason is that fewer businesses are on the block these days as owners fret over the ability to live off their proceeds during the economic and market downturn. A smaller supply of sellers means those companies that show stability, profits and steady cash flow can command a premium price.

Submitted By: Rachel
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2009 Employer Wage and Hour Outlook: Be Prepared
Source: http://www.smbtime.com
What can employers look forward to in 2009? Most likely, more wage and hour lawsuits and greater government scrutiny. So as an employer, what can you do to safeguard your business? Be prepared!

Submitted By: torka
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Small Firms Get Local Loans
Source: http://online.wsj.com
When Amy Loera was looking for a loan to expand her family's Mexican-restaurant business earlier this year, she applied at nine different banks. They all turned her down. So Ms. Loera turned to a local lender, Arrowhead Credit Union in San Bernardino, Calif., after a business acquaintance told her the credit union had given loans to other businesses in the community. She was approved for a $643,000 loan this summer.

Submitted By: Heidi
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Kevin Rose of Digg: The Most Famous Man on the Internet
Source: http://www.inc.com
It's Kevin Rose's Internet; we're just using it. Rose isn't only the founder of Digg, a news/technology/nonsense site that has 30 million visitors a month. He also has his own TV network (Revision3), a communications platform (Pownce), and legions of obsessed fans. He's having so much fun, you could almost miss the fact that he's setting himself up to be an Internet-age media mogul.

Submitted By: Darryl
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A Cold Call, a Blog, and a $20 Million Lawsuit
Source: http://www.inc.com
Leslie Richard, a North Carolina entrepreneur, received a cold call from a company she felt was orchestrating a "scam." So she blogged about it, to help warn her fellow entrepreneurs. The result? A multimillion-dollar lawsuit.

Submitted By: Darryl
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How Do You Know If You've Truly Found Your Niche Market?
Source: http://dmiracle.com
The goal is to find the most specific niche you can and market to it. That's how you can dominate a market. The more specific you are in your defining your niche, the more your marketing message can target that niche's specific needs.

Submitted By: Rachel
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Determining Where to Sell Online
Source: http://www.businessweek.com
From eBay to Craigslist, there is an assortment of e-commerce sites that can help you sell your junk or expand your online retail operations

Submitted By: Robert
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Startups: The Upside of a Downturn
Source: http://www.businessweek.com
My advice for tech entrepreneurs thinking of launching right now? Don't wait. A recession can be your ally in building a lean, thriving company

Submitted By: Robert
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Social Media Marketing Case Study: Using Facebook to Promote a Professional Photography Business
Source: http://thecaffeinatedblog.typepad.com
Dustin has been using Facebook as a marketing tool for his business for about 6 months, and his results have been remarkable. "I would say that 75% of our students are introduced to us via Facebook, which in turn allows them to refer other students to us once they've done their portraits," he says. "Since this is the first year we've actively pursued senior portraits, I would say that the majority of our sales are brought about by our exposure on Facebook."

Submitted By: thejenn
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How to Fail: 25 Secrets Learned through Failure
Source: http://www.unstructuredventures.com
Knowing the secrets to failing in a business venture is as important as knowing the secrets to success. They teach you what you must not do and imply indirectly what you should actually try to do to succeed. The first sixteen primarily address strategic and operational issues while the last nine deal more with management and organizational issues.

Submitted By: speeditonline
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Keeping a Business Alive During a Divorce
Source: http://www.businessweek.com
You can make bad decisions under emotional stress. You might even lose the business entirely. Here are savvy tips from attorney Lisa Hughes.

Submitted By: Heidi
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50 Web Tools to Keep Tabs on Your Competitors
Source: http://www.bschool.com
If you're in business, you almost surely have some sort of competition to keep tabs on. By making use of these resources, you can keep an eye on what your competition is up to. Check them out...

Submitted By: sunnyspeaks
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12 Low-Cost Marketing Ideas for the Ho-Ho-Ho-lidays!
Source: http://www.smallbiztrends.com
Here are 12 unusual and creative holiday marketing ideas. Stay top of mind with customers this season.

Submitted By: Anita
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The Smartest Investment You'll Make in This Economy
Source: http://blogs.openforum.com
The smartest investment you'll make in this economy is your investment in your employees. Companies that plan to survive, even thrive, in this economy should increase their investments in their employees. That's right. Companies should invest more in their employees during this challenging economic period.

Submitted By: Heidi
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Businesses Go to Source Of Fast Cash
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com
Traditionally used as a kind of short-term cash bridge, factoring has been avoided by some businesses in the past because it can cost more than traditional bank financing. But these days more firms that need funding -- ones that are growing quickly, are working out financial difficulties or have no assets to borrow against -- are selling their bills to factoring companies.

Submitted By: Robert
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Discover the Power of Storytelling
Source: http://www.thinkbda.com
Whether reading books, watching films or sitting in the pub, we love stories and have been telling them since cavemen times. Stories spark our imagination and connect with us on an emotional level, which is why they're so powerful and why every brand needs one.

Submitted By: Marketinghound9
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SEM Basics: How to Use a Proxy IP in Firefox
Source: http://nickwilsdon.com
Using an IP proxy is an essential skill for an SEM, it allows you to test websites and redirection rules based on geolocation of the user. It's also surprisingly simple once you know how. This quick 10-minute guide will get you up to speed.

Submitted By: NickWilsdon
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100 Essential Resources for Doing Business in China
Source: http://www.bschool.com
If you plan to do business in China, there are several areas you should study prior to launching your business venture. Take advantage of these resources to get the best start possible on your business relationship in China.

Submitted By: sunnyspeaks
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Business Blogging - What to Write
Source: http://sazbean.com
Once you have your business blog set up, what should you write? We mentioned briefly in the Business Blogging Startup Guide that you should write about anything your customers would want to know, but what is that exactly?

Submitted By: sazbean
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19 Strategies to Help Turn New Visitors Into Loyal Readers
Source: http://www.skelliewag.org
This article explains the importance of turning new blog visitors into loyal readers, and gives 19 strategies of how to do so.

Submitted By: TomLindstrom
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Description from Amazon:

One of the most popular Fortune articles in many years was a cover story called "What It Takes to Be Great." Geoff Colvin offered new evidence that top performers in any field--from Tiger Woods and Winston Churchill to Warren Buffett and Jack Welch--are not determined by their inborn talents. Greatness doesn't come from DNA but from practice and perseverance honed over decades.

And not just plain old hard work, like your grandmother might have advocated, but a very specific kind of work. The key is how you practice, how you analyze the results of your progress and learn from your mistakes, that enables you to achieve greatness.

Now Colvin has expanded his article with much more scientific background and real-world examples. He shows that the skills of business--negotiating deals, evaluating financial statements, and all the rest--obey the principles that lead to greatness, so that anyone can get better at them with the right kind of effort. Even the hardest decisions and interactions can be systematically improved.

This new mind-set, combined with Colvin's practical advice, will change the way you think about your job and career--and will inspire you to achieve more in all you do.

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