The other day my friend Amber vented a little on Facebook, and posted the following update which very politely expressed her displeasure with a local business that she had contacted, and which failed to get back to her:

Her update sparked quite a discussion, and while I don’t know the particular business in question, Amber could have been talking about any number of small, local businesses. In fact, no matter where you are, you could probably name quite a few from your area as well. And Amber brings up a few important issues in her update, ranging from the business’s digital presence, their email marketing, and their overall customer service.

Despite the constant changes, marketing in the online space has grown up and matured quite a bit over the past few years. There are so many different online platforms available to us, and new ones going on line every day. Hundreds of social networks, all sorts of marketing programs and philosophies, and it can get awfully confusing. As a small business, you have to spend your money and your time wisely, while maximizing your results. So of all the options out there, which are the most important?

Here’s a quick list of what I believe are the 5 most important online tools most of you should be using for your small business. Keep in mind, your specific situation might dictate something different. One of the most important things for any small business or nonprofit to determine is which social networks to use, and that decision needs to be based on what makes sense for YOU, and where your target audience is spending time.

1. A website

Let me rephrase that: a GOOD website. This may seem silly, but there are still a lot of small businesses out there that have no real online presence at all. Get a website. Period.

There was a time when having a website was a bit of a luxury as it could be rather expensive to build. Not so much anymore. A functional, visually pleasing website can be built for next to nothing. Remember: things have changed. The Internet is often the first place people go to find information about you. Not the Yellow Pages, not your ads; your website. If you don’t have one, you’ll get overlooked. Also, think of your website as the online equivalent of your brick and mortar presence. Take pride in it. Do you spend money on the upkeep of your building and facilities? Then you should be willing to spend the money necessary to get what you need. A website is no longer just an online brochure. It can be a living, breathing hub of activity.

2. A blog

If a website is the hub of your online presence, a blog located on your site is the heart. A blog allows you to tell stories about your business. It allows you to provide important information. It shows your customers (and potential customers) that you know what you are talking about. And it provides much of the search engine optimization (SEO) that is needed to get better placement in search engine results.

In their book, Naked Conversations, Robert Scoble and Shel Israel noted:

“Neither a press release nor a full-page ad in The New York Times will boost your search engine ratings as much as a regularly updated blog. The shortest, cheapest, fastest and easiest route to a prominent Google ranking is to blog often.”

SEO is important for any small business web site, but a blog can take care of a lot of that, and will most likely put you well ahead of your competitors who likely aren’t blogging.

3. Facebook

Of all the social networks out there, this is the one that I consider a no-brainer at this point. Over a billion people are on Facebook, and more than likely that includes a good chunk of your existing and potential audience. A properly built Facebook business page that is updated regularly with good, engaging content can be extremely effective. Plus, with the roll out of Facebook’s new Graph Search beginning, being on Facebook is even more important as a form of customer service and word of mouth marketing. I rarely tell any client that they need to be on one particular platform, but Facebook is the one exception, by virtue of its ubiquity in our culture these days. Your customers expect you to be there. If you aren’t there, and don’t have a website, you’re really missing out. There may be other social networks that will work for you as well, but Facebook is usually a good place to start.

4. Email/Contact Form

Apparently there is some sort of super power in being mysterious. Because I see a lot of businesses whose websites and social profiles fail to have proper contact information. Isn’t the purpose of having an online presence, and getting found online, and marketing in general, to get people to contact you? Don’t hide that information. At the very least you should provide a contact form and an email address, if not a phone number. And if you have a physical location where your customers can visit you, make sure they can find you. And as Amber said in her update, when someone contacts you about anything: your hours, your service, your products, make sure you contact them in a timely fashion. And that response should be timely regardless of how they contact you.

5. Location tools

If you are a brick and mortar facility, the most important location tool for you is Google+ Local, which used to be known as Google Places. You might even  be there without knowing it, so you’ll need to claim and optimize your account there. Properly optimized, this gives users a chance to learn about you right there inside of their Google searches. Create your account, or find it and claim it, and then make it complete. Additionally, you  might want to consider Foursquare, which along with Facebook and Google, gives your visitors a chance to tell others about you via check ins. Other search engines like Bing and Yahoo also have their own versions of location tools for small businesses.

Secondary Tools

There are plenty of other tools out there that work well with the ones mentioned above. these include everything from LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube to Pinterest and Instagram. Only you can decide, based on quantitative and qualitative research on what will work best for you, and where your customers are spending time.

But remember, once you commit to a platform, you need to follow through. Creating an account or presence and then not using it is not acceptable, and sends the wrong message to your audience.

Which of these tools are you using, and are there others that you believe are essential to your online presence?

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When I decided to try my month of experimenting with posts that were all lists of five things, I reached out to a number of the people I know online and asked them to consider contributing a guest post. One of those who responded was my friend Laura Petrolino of Flying Pig Consulting down in Florida. When Laura responded, she said she wanted to do her list post as a video, because a) she likes doing videos, and b) I recently recorded a video post for her blog, and c) she recently had me as a guest on her Call a Biz Hero podcast.

Now a few things before you watch the video, as I attempt to answer any questions you might have up front:

1) Yes, tequila might be an odd choice for my blog since I don’t drink, but as it turns out, neither does Laura. But that doesn’t diminish the lessons she has to impart.

2) Yes, this is typical Laura. While we’ve never met, I can tell you that she is, in fact, certifiably nuts. After all, she’s the only person I know who consistently likes her own status updates and posts on Facebook, and no one questions her. But, she is also very smart and good at what she does as a marketer.

3) Yes, I do believe she dresses like that normally. She lives in Florida, and marches to the beat of her own drummer.

So that’s Laura in a nutshell. (Yes, I only gave her 3 points, not 5, because that’s her job.) So now check out her video for some great lessons about marketing that she draws from the world of tequila!

Laura Petrolino is Founder and Managing Director of Flying Pig Consulting, a communications and business consulting firm which focuses on the needs of startups, small business and non-profits. She is also co-host of Call a Biz Hero, a web-based, Superhero led business talk show. Find her on twitter @lkpetrolino.

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Checking in online isn’t quite the rage that it once was when people were checking in everywhere on Foursquare or Facebook, but it still somewhat popular. I still advise my clients to make sure they have their check-in accounts set up properly, and for some, I encourage them to be more active in encouraging people to check-in by offering different types of rewards. According to Pew, more than 18% of all smartphone users  used check-in apps in 2012, up from 12% the previous year. That might not seem like a lot, but it really is quite a lot. In fact, this year, there are about 33-million people using Foursquare alone.

In the end, it’s up to the users to determine whether they see any value, either in rewards or just the gaming aspect of it, in checking in to various places of business. For some, it’s just a matter of keeping a record of what they are doing and where they have been. And check-ins are just relegated to physical places. With GetGlue you can check in to television shows, movies, and sporting events. With Untapped you can “check-in” to whatever beer you are drinking at the time. But clearly, there might be times you might not want to check-in to certain things on those apps. For instance, you might not want to admit to the Untapped crowd that you are hoisting an Old Milwaukee. And there are certain TV Shows or movies that might be embarrassing for you if you tell the world you’re watching them.

But for actual locations, there are some which are best left unsaid and unchecked-in. Here are 5 places where you might want to keep the smartphone in your pocket and avoid the embarrassment of telling the world where you are:

1. Funeral homes

It might seem a bit classless if you’re checking in to Uncle Andy’s funeral. Even more so if you’ve checked in enough to be Mayor of the place. Of course, if you’ve checked in that frequently, it probably means your at the age where more of your friends are dead than alive. And of course there’s also that final check-in, the one where you don’t check-out.

2. Adult book store

We have two adult book stores a few blocks from each other in downtown Lancaster. I rarely see anyone going in or out of either of them, but when I do, they’re always looking around and lowering their heads, I presume for the purpose of not being seen. They don’t want their friends, coworkers, or even family members knowing where they are going. If that’s the case, you probably don’t want to check-in online and tell the entire world.

3. Prison

If people see you checking in to the local prison, there’s a good chance they won’t expect to see y0u checking in anywhere else anytime soon. At least for another five to ten. Best to just let them think that you’ve “gone on an extended vacation” somewhere. You know, rafting on the river rather than up the river.

4. Hair Club for Men

This actually goes for any sort of place where you’re getting any sort of “work” done, from body “enhancements” and tummy tucks to a new head of hair. Best to let them be surprised when they see you, rather than giving them the heads up before hand. Subtle is probably your best bet in these cases. If they’re gonna snicker and whisper, let them do it when you’re around, rather than before they see the finished “product.”

5. Unemployment office

It’s one thing for people to know you’re out of work, and a whole other thing to constantly remind them online. And again, becoming Mayor of the unemployment office as a result of being there too often might send the wrong message. Your goal is to get a job, not look as though you are completely unemployable.

Those are my choices for 5 places you might not want to check-in. What are your choices?

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Check out more of Jeff Burkholder’s work at Zoidland and The Ouro Bros.

As the parent of three children (now ranging in age from 18-23), I spent many years reading some of the classic children’s picture books to my kids, some of which are still in my collection. Today’s guest post on the Friday Blogging Experience is from my friend Erin Feldman. She has written here before about Facebook and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. 

I sometimes (Alright, alright. Frequently.) let my imagination run wild. For instance, I sometimes imagine what I could be – that is, in addition to being the founder of Write Right. I very much like Write Right and would not want to discard it for something else. When I do consider what else I could be, I sometimes contemplate real things such as a gallery curator, but I sometimes think about imaginary things or things that I don’t yet know to be real.

One of those things is a children’s book connoisseur. It may be a real job, but, if it is, I don’t know what it’s called. A children’s book reviewer for The New York Times, perhaps? A curator for Barnes & Noble?

I don’t know. What I do know is that the job could be all sorts of fun. I love the intersection of art and words, and children’s books often are the perfect union of the two. If I were charged with the task of collecting examples of good children’s books, I’d have to include the following five:

1. The Runaway Bunny: This story is an interesting blend of black and white sketches and color drawings. More importantly, it’s a story of unconditional love. The mother will find her runaway bunny no matter where or how far he runs.
2. The Velveteen Rabbit: This book remains a classic no matter how many times the illustrations are redone. Personally, I prefer the older version of the rabbit, but I grew up with that rabbit. I have a bias.
3. Love You Forever: This is one of those books that stays with a child. It has a similar theme to The Runaway Bunny; the mother tells her son that she’ll love him forever and like him for always.
4. Adventures in the Big Thicket: What’s not to love about a cast of animals found in Texas’ Big Thicket? The stories teach lessons about honesty and other virtues.
5. The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs: This is the perfect book for the child who’s starting to outgrow the happily-ever-after fairytale. It has a certain amount of lighthearted snark to it that provides entertainment for the young and the young at heart.

If you were a children’s book connoisseur, what books would you include in your collection?

Erin Feldman is a writing coach at Write Right. Her background is in marketing communications and creative writing. When she isn’t busy helping people tell their stories, she spends her time writing poetry, drawing, reading, and running.