Every day I check out the 100s of subscriptions in my RSS feed about marketing, PR, advertising, branding, social media, and a host of other topics of interest to small businesses that sell online. Most of what gets posted isn’t earth shattering but I reserve Fridays for the best reads of the week. So here you have it, the most valuable things I read in the business blogosphere this week:

• My Business Got a Bad Review! Now What?
• Pump Up the Value of Your Products by Emphasizing Their Benefits
• How to Design a Header That Makes A Great First Impression
• Etsy as a Business Incubator
• Check Please: Tips for Checking Your Wholesale Customers’ Credit
• 17 Ways To Minimize Friction in the Sales Process

Every day I check out the 100s of subscriptions in my RSS feed about marketing, PR, advertising, branding, social media, and a host of other topics of interest to small businesses that sell online. Most of what gets posted isn’t earth shattering but I reserve Fridays for the best reads of the week. So here you have it, the most valuable things I read in the business blogosphere this week:

Note I was away on vacation last week so there will be a special “Link Love” post this weekend with extra reads. Stay tuned.

• Are You Suffering from Homepage-itis?
• Build a Better About Page
• 10 Free Usability Testing Tools to Improve Your Website and Shopping Cart
• 31 Tips for Winning Over Retailers
• How to Handle 4 Common Shipping Problems
• How Mountain Equipment Co-op Found the Ultimate 404 Error Page Design
• 25 Ways of Encouraging and Rewarding Customer Engagement

Every day I check out the 100s of subscriptions in my RSS feed about marketing, PR, advertising, branding, social media, and a host of other topics of interest to small businesses that sell online. Most of what gets posted isn’t earth shattering but I reserve Fridays for the best reads of the week. So here you have it, the most valuable things I read in the business blogosphere this week:

• Best Kept Secrets to Finding New Wholesale Buyers
• 13 Ways to Get Facebook Fans to Take Action
• What to do When Someone Writes a Dishonest Review About Your Business
• How to Choose Effective Website Photos and Images Ed. Note: This is hands down my favorite read this week. It nicely follows up my article about using models. This article is part 3 of a 3 part series about working with images. Check out parts 1 and 2 also.
• Sources for Free Stock Photos and Icons
• 10 Google Services to Help Your Ecommerce Business
• 31 Conversion Optimization Tips
• Giving New Life to Old Inventory

Every day I check out the 100s of subscriptions in my RSS feed about marketing, PR, advertising, branding, social media, and a host of other topics of interest to small businesses that sell online. Most of what gets posted isn’t earth shattering but I reserve Fridays for the best reads of the week. So here you have it, the most valuable things I read in the business blogosphere this week:

• Scoutiegirl Suggests that Comments are the Way to a Bloggers Heart
• PR Couture Reviews New Service For Finding Sales Reps
• How to Use Social Deals to Promote Sales
• 5 Common Shopping Cart Mistakes That Make Your Website Lose Money
• 5 Minute Fixes to Improve Your Website
• Can’t afford Photoshop? Here are some web-based alternatives
• 7 Fixes for Your Terrible Email Subject Lines
• This Is Why Social Media Isn’t Working for You
• The Motherlode of Info on Establishing Wholesale Terms and Policies

Every day I check out the 100s of subscriptions in my RSS feed about marketing, PR, advertising, branding, social media, and a host of other topics of interest to small businesses that sell online. Most of what gets posted isn’t earth shattering but I reserve Fridays for the best reads of the week. So here you have it, the most valuable things I read in the business blogosphere this week:

• Did Your Efforts to “Help” Haiti Come Off as Sleazy?
  This article does a really good job of outlining how not to incorporate charitable efforts into your advertising. Last fall I wrote an article on the right way to do this, because I’m a big believer in making social responsibility part of your brand. I think the key is to make your charitable efforts consistent so you do not come off as opportunistic.
• How to Make a Line Sheet
  Line sheets are an essential tool for building your wholesale business. If you’re wondering what they’re supposed to look like, this is a good article to check out. (More articles about wholesale.)
• Quick SEO Improvements
  Conversation Marketing presents 9 quick and easy ways you can improve your search engine optimization.

Since selling to retail is a common interest among artisans, I’ve compiled a collection of links that you may find useful that cover this topic (some I’ve shared in past newsletters, some are new)

• How to Find a Fashion Showroom to Represent Your Line
• How To get Your Work into Stores
• What A Rep Looks For When Picking Up A New Line
• Preparing to Pitch Retailers
• Things To Ask Potential Reps
• Pitching Retailers – What Retailers Want From You

Places to Look for Wholesale Reps*

• Erayo

• Great Rep
• Rep Hunter

*I am not endorsing the services above. I am just sharing these sites as a resource, but can’t speak to their effectiveness since I have never used them personally. If any of you have tried the services above and want to share your experience with them, please feel free to do so in the comments.

Every month I send out tips and articles on my Creative Entrepreneur’s Newsletter. If you haven’t been following all year long, here are the highlights. These are the articles my subscribers viewed the most:

• 7 marketing mistakes to avoid on Twitter
• Time Management Tips For Small Business Socializers
• 9 Rules of Facebook Promotion Every Small Business Should Know
• 22 Things You Don’t Know About Your Customers
• How To Get Your Work Into Stores
• Dos and Don’ts for Getting Your Website Optimized Before the Holiday Rush

I have lots of good stuff queued up for 2010 so stay tuned.