Blog Title: Small Business Radio

Podcast Review: Manager Tools

Title: Manager Tools Produced By: Manager Tools, LLC Feed: http://www.manager-tools.com/podcasts/feed/rss2 Blog: http://www.manager-tools.com Overview: The Manager Tools podcast covers important topics of interest to any manager of people. Popular episodes include “How to Write a Thank You note,” “Your Admin and your email,” and “Secrets of a Great Handshake.” Each episode lasts about 30 minutes. We read more..

Podcast Review: Marketing Minute

Title: Marketing Minute Produced By: Marketing and Communication Strategies, Inc. Feed: http://www.mcshome.com/podcasts/marketingminute.xml Blog: http://communication-strategies.blogspot.com/ Overview: MCS puts out this show twice a month to cover specific topics relating to marketing and public relations. Each episode averages around 3 minutes. We Like: The episodes a brief and to the point. They cover very specific topics and techniques that read more..

Why Corporate Podcasts Make Closing the Sale Easier

I’ve noticed a marked difference between meeting a prospective client at something like a networking event and meeting a prospective client who has found me through our podcast. The differences are really striking and certainly worth some analysis. 1. First Impressions - At a live networking event, first impressions are of course critical. Even read more..

Your Business and Technology Questions Answered on Our Podcast

For you loyal listeners of the Small Business Radio Podcast, feel free to participate in our show by submitting your business and technology questions via the form below, or by clicking on our mailbag link. We’ll do our best to get your questions answered on our show. Remember, the only bad question is the unasked read more..

Odeo Player Now Shows Up in Google Reader

Thanks to the folks over at Your Daily for this find. If you use the Blog This functionality from Odeo, to put an audio on your blog page, the Odeo player will now show up in Google Reader for readers of your blog who happen to use Reader. Here’s a screenshot:

Our Podcast Reviewed by Small Business Trends Radio

Steve Rucinski over at Small Business Trends Radio wrote a nice review of our podcast. It’s rewarding to be recognized by your peers. The SMBTrendwire site regularly reviews business-oriented podcasts and is a great resource if you are looking to fill up your iPod with new discoveries.

Podcasters - Enough With The Mindless Banter!!

I’ve recently gone on a new podcast bender in an attempt to spice up my morning commute. I’d venture to guess that I’ve subscribed to six or seven new podcasts within the past week. It’s been an interesting experiment…unfortunately mostly futile. I’m surprised at how many podcasters seem to lack a feel for their read more..

Episode 15 {How to Recruit the Very Best People}

Download Episode 15 {How to Recruit the Very Best People} In business, we all compete for the very best people. We visit with two experts today to gain insight into real-world techniques for recruiting the very best staff. My first guest is George Lessmeister. George has fourteen years read more..

Episode 14 {Duct Tape Marketing and John Jantsch’s New Book}

Download Episode 14 {Duct Tape Marketing} If you are an avid reader of the hugely-popular Duct Tape Marketing blog, you’ll want to rush right out and buy John Jantsch’s latest book entitled Duct Tape Marketing - The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide. I had a chance to chat with John about his book, his read more..

Every Website Needs a Supporting Cast These Days

The main goal of an internet presence is and has always been to be found and understood. It’s generally the introduction to a (hopefully) long and fruitful business relationship. Much like a fisherman, webmasters and internet marketers fiddle with an array of different “cyber-bait,” lures, fishing nets, bass boats, etc. Let’s look at the read more..

Will You Let Another Year Go By Without Upgrading Your Website?

If I’ve learned anything from my eight years (and counting) in the web design business, it’s that nobody enjoys updating their website content. Seriously, it’s like pulling teeth for most of us. Before those major web update plans regress to the back-back-back-burner another year, ask yourself this very serious question: “What opportunities will I miss read more..

A Simple Way to Create Social Bookmarking Badges

An important part of building blog traffic is placing easy bookmark links to the end of each blog post (see below). I just stumbled upon a service that promises to make this task much easier than it normally is for most bloggers. The service is called “Badged.” The process is simple: Enter your read more..

Tag, You’re It. Buzzoodle Ron Turns Me On to a Blogging Game

Ron McDaniel (Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing Blog) tagged my blog in a virtual “getting to know you” blogger game. Since I’ve been tagged, I’ll post five things most people don’t know about me below. I’ll then tag five other bloggers and encourage them to do the same. Thanks for including me Ron! Most of you may read more..

Episode 13 {Permission-Based Marketing}

Download Episode 13 Permission-Based MarketingDownload Special Interview with Cantaloupe & JibJab In this episode, Tony and Alan discuss many aspects of Permission-Based Marketing, including tips and tricks for your company’s email campaigns. As an added bonus, this show features a special interview with John DiGregory and Tom Corey of Cantaloupe Shows. Cantaloupe is an Indianapolis company read more..

links for 2006-11-03

Communicate to an Audience of One | Marketing Profs Daily Fix Blog Lewis Green makes a great argument for the lost art of writing for an audience of one. The same approach works very well for podcasting. The best broadcast pros will tell you to imagine there is one specific person listening to your read more..

Nurture Your Clients and Contacts

A business advisor once gave me a great piece of advice: “Any time you read a magazine, newspaper, journal, etc., always ask yourself ‘Who do I know that could benefit from this information?’ Cut out the article and send it along to that person with a little personal note.” What great advice. Just asking the read more..

links for 2006-10-25

Podcasting: Police Use Podcasts to Keep Public Informed To keep the public informed about police and public safety issues, the Tulsa (Okla.) Police Department has begun posting podcasts on its Web site. The radio-style show, which can be heard on a computer or personal digital music player, will be updated mon (tags: podcasting podcast innovation) Podcasting News » read more..

An Instant Cure.

Blogging is tough sometimes.  It takes commitment and focus, and perhaps most of all, ideas.  I was sitting here blankly staring at my computer screen wondering what in the world I was going to write today. The well was dry.   The game was over.  I was about to be exposed for being absolutely irrelevant.  What to read more..

Podcasting Gives Job Seekers an Edge

Straight Up Search has a great post about how listening to recorded messages (think podcasts) from job candidates can help employers better understand a candidate’s true personality. What a great idea! I can think of several times that I have been quite excited to meet a certain applicant, only to find out later in a read more..

No Excuses for Missing the International Podcasting Expo This Weekend

O.K. Podcast Producers! There are no excuses for missing the upcoming International Podcasting Expo as it occurs entirely online. I am really excited to follow this event right from the comfort of my own home this weekend. There are lots of great networking opportunities with other podcasters, podcasting seminars and workshops, and of course read more..

Episode 12 {Quick & Dirty}

Download Episode 12 - Quick and Dirty It’s been a while since we’ve posted a podcast here at Promethius. It’s not from boredom or lethargy. Things are hopping here!!! Tony Valle tunes in to give you all a quick update on some recent goings on at Promethius. We’ll see you next week with a read more..

A Peek Inside My Favorite Links

I thought I’d post a few of my favorite links here in the hopes that you might find them useful and/or entertaining. Let me know what you think! jotspot is a web 2.0 application that the Promethius staff has been trying out. It is wiki- based and is generally quite intuitive. What makes read more..

Top 10 Podcasts Every Business Owner Should Listen to Religiously

One of the reasons that I decided to become a professional Podcast Producer is because I could see how much real learning I was able to do by listening to podcasts during the time that I might otherwise waste. My morning commutes are key learning opportunities. The treadmill also provides at least a good half read more..

links for 2006-10-17

Podcasting Grabs Grade-schoolers It’s fun to see that kids are getting into the podcasting game. I would imagine they get quite a sense of pride when they hear a completed podcast for the first time. This article is just another reminder to me of the educational power of podcasting, bo (tags: Podcasting podcast education)

A Skilled Blogger Makes it Look So Simple

I don’t claim to be any more qualified than the next guy to judge great writing from just decent writing, but we bloggers get used to having and sharing strong opinions about things. I’ve just been enjoying reading through recent blog posts of one of my favorite bloggers — Ann Handley — and this read more..

Advance Your Career - Learn THIS Second Language (never guess which one I suggest)

Want to advance your career by becoming fluent in a second language? Forget French. Say so-long to Spanish. You won’t believe what lingo I’d strongly suggest before any of the romance languages! We Americans rank about dead-last among industrialized societies when it comes to speaking a second language. There are many reasons read more..

links for 2006-10-10

Small Business Trends » The Wiki - No Longer Trapped in the Land of the Nerds We did a podcast a few months back on the power of wikis for business websites. Anita Campbell has a good update on the status of wikidom. She mentions Jotspot, which we have been experimenting with here at read more..

links for 2006-10-09

Future rosy for young entrepreneur Not only has she produced a unique item that customers like, she’s also selling it retail. And she’s only 12 years old. (tags: entrepreneur feel-good) Internet Payroll Entrepreneur Develops Online Tutorials - PR.com Along with the tutorial is a fanciful analogy illustrating the positive impact of compound interest. Students can clearly see the dollar read more..

Zoho Cracks the “Single Sign-on” Nut.

I had a history teacher that used to call these “watershed events.” You know… things like the Polio vaccine, Women’s suffrage, seedless watermelon. We were never the same after these things. And now we have this: single sign-on from Zoho. Avid readers of this blog have long since figured out that I am quite a read more..

links for 2006-10-08

Multiply: A Different Approach To Social Networking This clever approach will have the Social Networking leader Del.icio.us playing catchup soon enough. (tags: social networking multiply del.icio.us) Technophilia: Craigslist for power users - Lifehacker (tags: craigslist) What is RSS? - Lawn Tennis Association RSS allows you to see when sites from all over the internet have added new content. You can get read more..

links for 2006-10-07

Robert Scoble Talks Podcasting Scoble gives you some great insight and advise on where to start in Podcasting. (tags: Podcasting Scoble News) Search Engine Probes Podcast A new search engine seeks to drive traffic to podcasts and video blogs while sharing the ad revenue. (tags: podcast search enging business) Cingular Teams With Melodeo to Offer Mobile Podcasting Cingular customers can now search read more..

Why We Blog

Ron over at Buzzoodle has a great post entitled “How Blogging Helps.” He reminds us that business blogs give our potential customers a chance to get to know a bit about us before entering in to a business relationship with us. “When you are writing a blog post, you frequently do it out of habit, read more..

Corporate Podcast Success Story: Battlestar Galactica

Season three of the surprise hit Sci-Fi series remake Battlestar Galactica premiers tonight. Do you have your tasers set to “stun?” (I know, wrong show!) Battlestar’s production company does a lot of very creative things to make Battlestar fans feel incredibly connected with the show in every way possible. A major tool in their read more..

Very Best Firefox Extensions for Entrepreneurs

These Firefox extensions will greatly improve your ability to conduct business efficiently and effectively. Adsense Notifier - Display your Adsense earnings within the Firefox toolbar. Copy Plain Text - Have you ever copied something to Thunderbird or Office and been annoyed that the text formatting (bold, font size, etc) came with it? Feedview - Display an entire RSS read more..

New Web 2.0 Startup Offers Fast Track to Mediocrity

I’m generally a huge fan of new Web 2.0 offerings for several reasons, the largest of which is probably that I enjoy all the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit surrounding this mini gold-rush we call “Web 2.0.” Ironically, it’s for this very reason that I am advising against new startup “Competitio.us.” The site’s sole mission is to read more..

The No-Brainer that Roared

I can appreciate the recent buzz surrounding the newly-launched satirical website WeOwnTheInternet.org, which smartly pokes fun at the corporatocracy’s indefensible position on Network Neutrality. Ann Handley points out that humor can rouse interest in an otherwise drab topic. But I sometimes worry about why this satirical website exists in the first place. To any read more..

How I Doubled My Website Traffic in One Week

I do a lot of experimenting with ways to increase website traffic through some of the social bookmarking sites such as del.icio.us, reddit and the like. I’ve “stumbled upon” one that so far is giving me much more traffic than all the rest combined: StumbleUpon. One of the main advantages of the social bookmarking model read more..

What is your “Internet Buzzword” IQ?

Like it or not, those of us who make our living on the internet deal in so much jargon that an outsider might mistake our conversations for Portuguese or some such random language. I decided to put together this little Internet Buzzword IQ test to see how you rank. How many of the terms (or products) read more..

Don’t Forget this Easy Trick With Press Releases

James Clark over at the “Capture the Conversation” blog has a great post on syndicating your own press releases. Many of us forget that having a “press release” area on our websites is a great way to draw targeted traffic. Making your own “press” area is a nice departure from the rat race of trying read more..

5 Web 2.0 Tools to Immediately Make You a Better Manager

At Promethius, we’ve done a whole lot of searching for ideas to improve our service and our customers’ experience. After much experimentation and testing, I feel very confident recommending these tools to any business manager: Basecamp - This very intuitive project-management software by 37signals is a very affordable way to immediately gain control over multiple read more..

Podcast Listener ROI - Why Radio is Doomed

I was in the rare circumstance of being without my iPod during my commute the other day. I decided to flip on the radio for a change. What I heard coming out of my car stereo was so foreign, and frankly so fowl, that I almost couldn’t believe my ears. Did I used to read more..

Digg Readers Defend Dale the Computer Nerd

I recently posted a list of common mistakes to avoid when planning a corporate podcast. The post appears to have enraged several Digg readers who particularly took offense at my fictional, albeit stereotypical character “Dale the Computer Nerd.” To you loyal defenders of Dale and his personal hygiene habits, I say this: STAND DOWN, read more..

This is Your Blog | This is Your Blog on Crack

I’ve had a couple blog reading all-nighters within the past week, and suddenly a truism comes to me as I sit here sifting through dozens more fascinating blogs: Simplicity is King in the blogosphere. John Moore from Brand Autopsy has a great post about simplicity. You really should read it. What’s more striking to me, in read more..

Top 5 Corporate Podcast Mistakes to Avoid Like the Plague

To podcast effectively is not an easy thing to do. To podcast ineffectively is incredibly easy, costly and time-consuming. While I continue to be absolutely bullish on the marketing and PR benefits of corporate podcasting, I can’t say that I see many organizations getting it right yet. If your company is planning read more..

Is Zoho turning reddish-blue, and does it say “Moo?”

If you haven’t guessed the reference, I’m currently reading Seth’s very enjoyable book Purple Cow. He makes the very convincing argument that you have to be absolutely remarkable to gain lasting success in today’s market. Now I’m seeing everything through purple glasses, which brings me to the real topic of my post: I made a minor read more..

How to Promote Your Podcast – Lesson 2

Another easy way to get some exposure for your podcast is to participate in “listener lines” of other podcasts. Most podcasters that have listener lines are not taking live on-air calls, but rather have you leave a recording (usually via skype or an answering machine) that they can play back on their podcast at read more..

Episode 11 {Buzz Marketing with Buzzoodle!!}

Download Standard Podcast Alan and I had a chance to interview Buzz Marketing guru Ron McDaniel about his latest book Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing - 57 Word of Mouth Marketing Challenges for the Entire Workforce.You’ll have to wait about seven more weeks before the book hits stores, but our podcast interview with Ron should hold you over read more..

How to Promote Your Podcast – Lesson 1

This one is just so easy that it is often overlooked. Just as you would (at least in the old days) list your website with several popular directories, you need to do the same with your podcast. Here are some of the more popular podcast directories: EveryPodcast.com - Podcasters can add read more..

Seth Godin on Success

Seth has a thought-provoking post today about how we measure ourselves against this idea of “success.” I agree that often we don’t put much time or thought into defining exactly what success means to us. I always liked coach John Wooden’s definition of success, and it’s what I use for myself: John Wooden on Success Success is read more..

Survey your clients with Zoho Polls

Every business needs to know how its customers are feeling. It’s always easy to assume that if customers aren’t contacting you to complain, then they aren’t complaining or unhappy. Periodic surveys are an easy way to uncover customer service problems before they get out of hand and cost you dearly. Clever company ZOHO has read more..

Blog + Podcast = a Perfect Combination

I was inspired this morning by David Meerman Scott’s post on Webinknow entitled “Blogging is my front door and it has changed my life.” clipped from webinknow.com My blog has gotten my ideas out to thousands of people who have never heard of me before. It has helped me get booked for at least a dozen important read more..

Don’t Totally Discount MySpace as a Tool in Your Arsenal

I started experimenting with a MySpace presence several months ago just for my own educational purposes. I built one for the podcast, which you can see here. I decided to post this today after seeing Mark Vanderbeeken’s post stating that over 52% of MySpace users are over 35. His post just confirmed what I’ve read more..

Episode 10 {Network Your Way to the Top with Lorraine Ball}

Download Episode 10 Local business networking legend Lorraine Ball was an absolute joy to have in the studio. Our lengthy interview covers many of Lorraine’s ideas on how to best spend your time and resources connecting with top prospects and referral sources. I got a chance to ask Lorraine about her concept called “The seven read more..

Episode 9 {What in the World is WEB 2.0?}

Download Episode 9 In past shows, we have discussed wikis, blogging and podcasting. This time we tackle the buzz-laden topic of “WEB 2.0.” It seems that just about everyone has at least heard the term, but it’s difficult to find anyone who can really tell you conclusively read more..

Episode 8 {Duct Tape Marketing / Timeshifting Experiment}

Download Episode 8 This episode is wrapped around an experiment, or maybe “demonstration” is a better way to put it. The term “timeshifting” is often used to describe the benefit to the podcast listener of being able to listen to content whenever and wherever suits them. We demonstrate that timeshifting also benefits the podcast creator. read more..

Episode 7 {Intro to Podcasting / Meet Alan Houser}

Download Episode 7 We’re excited to have Alan Houser with us in the studio today. Alan is our Creative Director who is not only a talented Web Designer, but he’s also a podcast pioneer. Alan and Tony wax poetic on all things podcasting. Tony’s excited about flying to Cancun on his honeymoon the next day! To read more..

Episode 6 {Business advice from Executive Business Coach Jim Gleason}

Download Episode 6 We are pleased to have Executive Business Coach Jim Gleason join us today. Jim is currently with The Resource Development Group, where he coaches and mentors several business clients to successfully and effectively navigate change to achieve the results they desire. We cover several topics of interest especially to small business owners, but read more..

Episode 5 {CMS Review / Domain Theft / Customer Service Legend - The Running Company}

Download Episode 5 Headlines A new study from consulting firm Diamond Cluster International seems to show that the peak in the outsourcing boom has come and gone. Results show that premature contract terminations, due to poor performance, have become increasingly prevalent. The study found that 47 percent of buyers reported they had prematurely terminated at least one outsourcing read more..

Episode 4 {Wikis could help your business / Arni’s Charity Classic}

Download Episode 4 Headlines According to a study by Outsell Inc., a leading marketing research firm, click fraud now costs online advertisers nearly $1 billion per year, with advertisers believing almost 15% of all paid click-throughs are fraudulent. Among the studie’s other findings, 75% of online advertisers claim they have been victims of click fraud. read more..

Episode 3 {blogs and blogging, net neutrality, Janus Developmental}

Download Episode 3 Blogs and Blogging In this episode, we cover lots of good information about blogs and blogging. If you want to follow along with the sites Tony is referencing, they are as follows: Think Progress MedicalInsuranceNow (main site) MedicalInsuranceNow Blog Now get blogging yourself!!! Net Neutrality - The internet freedom that big corporations are trying to take from us!! If you’ve read more..

Episode 2 {Google Maps / Podcasting / Blogging}

Download Episode 2 The gang was a bit tired today, but we managed to cover a few interesting topics: Google Maps can let you do amazing things: Plug in a zip code to see your neighbors’ campaign contributions This map plots all murders in New York City for a two-year period This is a Google Map mashup for world read more..

Episode 1 {Smashing the Bottle on the USS Promethean}

Download Episode 1 Join Tony Valle, Denver Abernathy and Becky Crane as we explore general goings-on at Promethius Consulting, LLC. Topics include: Our new podcasting studio is live Three new programmers join Promethius Consulting Review of the Promethean newsletter How cool is RSS? Tony uses Bloglines to manage his content feeds and keep current. Windows shortcuts can help you gain massive efficiency Tony read more..