Library Learning Goes Beyond Books

There are times when you realize that you’ve been sitting alone in your office for too long. What are the clues?

  • You have too many business cards in your possession.
  • You talk to yourself too often.
  • You consult Weather.com for climate reports instead of take a walk or drive.

    • To remedy this hermit activity, I decided to check out what’s happening at local libraries.

    For me, local not only means what’s happening at my town’s library but also what’s going on in New York. Not everyone has the luxury of being near a metropolis, but when you are, it’s smart to take full advantage of the proximity.

    Tonight I plan to attend Finding the Statistics You Need at one of the New York Public Library’s branches. I serve two very tight niches and have been unable to locate statistics on these groups. I don’t think the statistics exist, but I’m hoping that the presenter will provide leads to uncover this valuable information.

    See what your surrounding libraries offer. Attend interesting events to learn and meet like-minded people. Propose a seminar or event to the coordinator that you wish to present. That’s another way to elevate your expertise and possibly find clients. It’s what I’ll do after hearing this evening’s presentation.

    At the end of the day, I’ll have distributed business cards, talked with someone other than myself, felt the warm wind on my face, and acquired knowledge to build my business. Sounds like a plan we can all achieve.

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    May 10, 2007 | Filed Under Offline Ideas, Recent Entries, Surveys and Statistics | Leave a Comment 

    How to Find Your Site’s Hot Spots

    Which links on Web sites and blogs do visitors click most often? That’s what I ask myself before making site changes. The answer is found through the Site Overlay area within Google Analytics. Seeing the results within this tab is another reason to install this free service.

    Log in to your account. You’ll find the Site Overlay tab in the Dashboard category on the left, just under Content Summary. Click Site Overlay, and your site or blog’s main page appears on the right. You’ll notice bar indicators directly on top of each link on the page. In essence, it’s a heat map that shows which links command the most attention.

    Click on the bars for each link’s statistics. The more colorful the bar, the more popular the link . You’ll learn more about the Site Overlay analysis at the bottom of the page.

    All of us make sporadic site changes to give our visitors a great experience. Without Site Overlay, I would have made unwise choices when re-positioning my sites’ links.

    Google is redesigning the analytics’ reports and provides a tour on what’s to come.

    It’s nice to have an extra hand guide you to make smart decisions as you rework your site.

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    May 9, 2007 | Filed Under Online Ideas, Recent Entries, Surveys and Statistics | Leave a Comment 

    Try This Eight Question Marketing Quiz

    Last week, The Street.com plucked an eight-question quiz on marketing strategies from Entrepreneur.com’s Web site. Its goal is to improve your target market reach and outcomes.

    Entrepreneur’s version is here, which you may prefer because the answers directly follow each question.

    What’s the prize? Better insight into how your marketing dollars are spent as you create campaigns throughout the year.

    I sometimes find that my responses are different than the answers, and there’s a good reason. Small and solo business owners go with their gut rather than the consensus, especially if you satisfy a niche industry with buying patterns that are different than conventional markets.

    It’s a quick quiz. Try it and see how you score.

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    February 12, 2007 | Filed Under Recent Entries, Surveys and Statistics | Leave a Comment 

    We’re Busy, But Happy

    Home Business Magazine’s November/December edition features a three-paragraph article entitled, “Who Ever Said Running a Home Business Would be Easy?”

    The article is based on a survey sponsored by Visa USA and SCORE. Here’s a quote that every small and solo business owner understands:

    …thirty-five percent of solo proprietors say their primary challenge in maintaining and growing a small business is an inability to focus on generating new business, while 27 percent cite stretching themselves across multiple roles and projects.

    Talk about being on point. We love what we do, and because of that, the lists we create that take us from idea to completion grows beyond our control. It’s a double-edged sword, and thankfully there are solutions (virtual help, interns, and other outsourcing options).

    The survey names the following three challenges as our top priorities:

  • Limited resources
  • Lack of time to focus on their passions
  • Difficulties in running their businesses efficiently

    • Are one of these your biggest challenges, or is it something else?

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    January 5, 2007 | Filed Under Recent Entries, Surveys and Statistics | 4 Comments 

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