Work.com Small Business Community Blog

Happy Birthday Work.com!

It's been a year since we launched Work.com and I wanted to thank all of our guide authors and those who participate every day -- you have helped Work.com become THE place to share the best how-to advice for people starting and running businesses. We now have over 2,100 how-to guides on a rich array of business topics, and your guides have been linked to from over 1,700 blogs. Hundreds of your guides are also appearing on targeted Business.com pages. MSNBC named Work.com a website of the week for June 17th, The New York Times named us a key small business resource, and lots of other people are finding us useful.

Guide authors have been reaping the benefits of writing Work.com guides -- as they increase online visibility, enhance reputation, and establish thought leadership. If you have a success story about how writing a guide has benefited your business or brought you clients, let us know!

The Best Business Advice & Resources Via Email: WhatWorks

Work.com just launched WhatWorks, a new email newsletter which highlights the best business advice and resources, including top Work.com guides. WhatWorks is edited by Work.com editor Dan Kehrer. Dan is known for his accessible style and hands-on solutions for business owners and startup entrepreneurs. He has over two decades experience as a business and financial publishing executive, editor, author and entrepreneur -- and has helped conceive and launch several national business magazines including Independent Business (now called MyBusiness) and Emerging Business, and of course Work.com.

Find out more about Dan or subscribe to WhatWorks.

Tags: entrepreneurs, startup, dan kehrer, daniel kehrer, work.com

New York Times: Strategies to Succeed Online

Last week in their small business section, The New York Times had an an interesting article by David Strom called Strategies to Succeed Online. David makes the very good point that the days of a small business throwing up a Web site and that being enough are gone.

"These days, a Web site may not even be the best place to start promoting your products or services. Instead, you can consider setting up a blog, participating in social-networking communities like Facebook and creating a storefront in virtual worlds like Second Life to get the buzz going."

The article features Jody DeVere, Work.com guide author & owner of AskPatty.com, an advice site that helps women find female-friendly car dealers and repair shops. Jody publishes a blog which is the primary way AskPatty connects with new customers, and they also have a virtual coffee shop in Second Life where people (avatars?) can discuss car tips while sipping virtual joe.

Business networking online, as people like Scott Allen can attest to, is booming. I actually met David in a community group on Facebook, when he asked me to do a social media podcast for TechPRWarStories.

It's a small, but rapidly growing, virtual world.

Tags: david strom, jody devere, scott allen, techprwarstories