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Marketing podcast with Jeff Howe (Click to listen, right click and Save As to download - subscribe now via iTunes Jeff Howe is a contributing editor at Wired magazine, where he covers the media and entertainment industry. In June of 2006 he published an article for Wired titled "The Rise of Crowdsourcing." That article has name grown to become the book - Crowdsourcing.

Each and every day small business owners and entrepreneurs share free information and tools across the internet. It’s a wonderful opportunity for people trying to soak up as much as they can without spending a lot of bucks. But there’s something missing. Plain old good manners.

What is market research?  Why is it so important to success in small business?  These are important questions to answer for any small- and medium-sized business (and indeed large companies as well). Unfortunately, it is not at all uncommon for small business market research to be ignored or not completed fully.

Way back when I was at school we had to do a subject called “Grooming and Poise” (yes I am showing my age again). During this course we spent one whole lesson on how to give a handshake.  There was a real science to it - not to be limp wristed, to apply firm but not overwhelming pressure, a solid “up and down” action, to look into the other person’s eyes and to smile when you said hello.

Vincent Flanders’ humorous and poignant website — Web Pages that Suck — should be your first stop before you begin. Mr. Flanders “The Biggest Web Design Mistakes of 2004″ (yes, 2004 and it still applies today!) is a must read. Print his guidelines and use them frequently.

Many small business owners begin their business on a wing and a prayer — and many are successful. But each and every day I hear from small business owners who have run into an obstacle because they say they don’t have the money to do what they want to do. If that sounds like you — I hate to say this, but think outside your box.

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In this week’s newsletter we take a look at copyright and whether businesses own their business logos and marketing words. It is not as simple as it sounds! Continuing with that theme here is a rather scary view of copyright in relation to Myspace, Facebook, Linked In and Gmail.  Ignore the plugs at the beginning if you choose … but the information is pretty fascinating!

Okay, that was funny. Still, TV spots in local markets are relatively cheap and you don’t even need to know how to produce them if you use a service like SpotRunner. There’s one critical thing you have to do to make sure that they work. And heck no, I’m not going to tell you about it here.

Search engine optimization or SEO is the hottest way to drive targeted traffic to your website. Maximizing the benefits of a well optimized website will yield lots of earnings for the marketer. However, optimizing your site might cost you thousands of dollars if you are not skilled in this area.