• "SMEs are not very IT-focused. For many, IT is an after-thought. Part of the reason is that these enterprises do not necessarily have a dedicated IT department. Most of the decisions are made by the owner-managers or the finance people. As such, the use of IT is limited largely to some of the four basic needs -- email, productivity applications (word processor and spreadsheet), accounting and a website.



• SMEs are hard to reach. They are small and distributed. While it is easy to get to the large companies (and for the large companies to get to the IT vendors), SMEs are a hard market to crack.



• SMEs tend to still follow processes which are largely non-electronic. Because the organizations are small, the business knowledge is more tacit than in digital form. People, especially the senior management, "know" what is happening (and all that needs to be known). This also concentrates decision-making. So, IT's role needs to be to assist in this decision-making process.



• SMEs need more hand-holding and support, and thus can be very demanding customers. This is because they may not necessarily have trained in-house IT staff. At the same time, their ability to pay is quite limited. Hence, as customers, they have been an unattractive market for the IT vendors.



• The most important issue facing SMEs is business growth. They have a fairly close tab of the expenses, so there is little room for optimisation there. The challenge is to generate new business, and manage that new business with the same (or incremental) staff so as to maximise profitability.



• It is not easy for SMEs to educate themselves about new technologies and the impact they can have on their business. While there are all kinds of training institutions for computer languages and software packages, the one segment that still has been addressed on the training side is the business applications of technologies.



• [They have] an even lower ability to spend. They typically need solutions which are a fraction of the cost of what has been available so far."

"Government money, though, is a totally different story -- DARPA, NIST ATP, SBIR, the whole alphabet soup. It's really not the private sector that's boosting the industry right now. It's government spending. And that's a fairly normal phenomenon for an industry in its early phase. The government props it up, encourages it, gets R&D moving in the lab, helps it along into the startup phase, and then the Darwinian world of business kicks in.

Even there, though, startups can live to see another day primarily through government grants. And right now, the military is where the money is at. Shop your nanomaterial around and tell a VC that your superstrong, superlight nano-enhanced polymer would be useful for garage doors, and you might be shown the door. But go to DARPA and say it can help reinforce tank or aircraft or cockpit doors and can stop a speeding bullet, and you might have an easier time getting some dough."

Editor's note: This is the eighth in our popular weekly series of PowerBlog Reviews of other weblogs...


The Workers Comp Insider is a "weblog about workers' compensation, risk management, business insurance, workplace health & safety, occupational medicine, injured workers, insurance web tools & technology, and related topics."

This blog is a terrific resource on these niche topics. I've already found useful references.

The Workers Comp Insider is published by the employees of Lynch Ryan, a workers compensation firm in Wellesley, Massachusetts on the east coast of the USA. The firm helps businesses -- large and small -- reduce their workers compensation costs.

The Workers Comp Insider is an interesting example of an established business using a weblog to communicate with customers. They do it without obvious commercials.

This is a weblog that leverages subject matter expertise. They provide the kind of in-depth information and analysis of their subject that you would expect of experts in their field.

One of the most useful features about this blog is the collection of link resources. It reminds me of some of the early link sites on the Internet. Remember how useful they could be before they became crassly commercialized with pop-under ads and other annoyances?

You'll find links to the major governmental and industry sites covering occupational safety, workers compensation, and workplace insurance issues.

But you'll also find links to sites you probably never heard of and that only an expert in the field would know of. For instance, there are links to resources for "latex allergy" and "typing injury FAQ" (bloggers, take note, you might need this last one some day).

In one post, they highlighted workstation (computer) ergonomics. The resources cited are off-the-beaten track and excellent.

Lynch Ryan has done a good job integrating the weblog with their commercial website:

• Even though the weblog has its own URL, it is appended to the company's website. Thus, on the commercial website, you find a menu button for the blog.



• They have placed blog headlines on the home page of the commercial website. This is an excellent way to keep the home page fresh, with regularly updated content.



• The blog uses the same color scheme and graphical elements as the company's commercial website.

"Europe is under threat as never before. It is ... globalisation which is forcing the average European employer and worker to compete with their counterparts on the other side of the planet. Regulating labour laws is a stop-gap measure. What needs to happen to revitalise the European economy is that the average European needs to want to contribute to its growth story. If we focus on being net contributors to the system, rather than net-takers from it, we will see the difference."

• Make sure you have something to sell that users can't get elsewhere for free. The harder it is to find or the more unique, the more likely you can get paid for it.



• Give away some information on the site for free. In other words, offer a free registration level and give away the kind of information that is available elsewhere for free. Then offer password-restricted sections of the site where you charge for the information that is (1) scarce or (2) delivered with some kind of value-add such as a service.



• Provide free samples and trial subscriptions in order to turn free subscribers into paying ones. Even on many highly successful sites, the number of paid subscribers/purchasers is a mere fraction of the total subscribers.



• Ease your users into becoming paid subscribers. Set prices low and raise them over time to get to your target price. Offer multiple price levels.



• Create package offerings and bundle multiple services and content pieces together under a single fee. Only 12% of content sellers charge "by the drink."



• Retain your subscribers by giving them more for their money.



• Upsell and cross-sell to build add-on revenues. The cost of acquiring new customers is high. You want to retain your existing customers, increasing the volume of sales to them over time.

Editor's note: This is the seventh in our popular weekly series of PowerBlog Reviews of other weblogs...


Economic Development Futures is a blog containing "Information and Insights About Where Economic Development is Headed." It is a detailed resource for the latest happenings in the field of economic development, including business, government, social and cultural issues.

ED Futures has been on the Web since late 2002. The site is run by Don Iannone. Don is an economic development professional and former university professor located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

ED Futures takes a global view. It covers economic development happenings across the developed world. In a typical week you might find posts relating to regions as geographically diverse as Mexico, Israel, China, Tibet, Canada, the Phillipines, Australia, and various states within the U.S.

What I like best about this weblog is the way Don takes brave, even controversial, stands and asserts his views.

Take, for instance, this post about productivity gains and offshore outsourcing. Don, lamenting what he perceives as a near total lack of proactive solutions on how to deal with the problem of offshore outsourcing, proposes his own solution. He suggests something novel: encourage, incentivize, even pressure foreign companies to lay down roots in the U.S. and do business here.

In other words, he suggests embracing globalization instead of being the victim of it. While not everyone may agree with Don, virtually everyone will respect him for being one of the few voices to offer up a proactive solution on this challenging and polarizing issue.

Don is a disciplined, prolific blogger, averaging 3 or more posts each day. He posts virtually every day, except possibly when he is travelling on speaking engagements or to consult with cities and regions about economic development.

ED Futures is accompanied by a free newsletter that reaches out and keeps readers informed about posts of note on the blog. Both the blog and the newsletter are important marketing components of Don's consulting business.

ED Futures is also the subject of a case study by colleague Barbara Payne, as part of her series about using blogs for business.


The Power: The power of the Economic Development Futures blog is the in-depth treatment of its subject matter -- economic development -- and the courageous way it addresses thorny issues of our time. For anyone trying to understand the broader economic environment in which businesses operate today, ED Futures can help navigate the way.

"I think Creative Webloggging, Weblogsinc and Always-on have good times ahead ... and we will see more and more of these blog-based vertical content on-line media."

Editor's note: This is the sixth in our popular weekly series of PowerBlog Reviews of other weblogs...


Blog Business World is all about blogs in "business, marketing, public relations, and search engine optimization for successful entrepreneurs."

Blog Business World is published by Wayne Hurlbert of Manitoba, Canada.

Wayne gives practical advice about business blogging. Often he uses his own first-hand experiences to illustrate valuable lessons.

Typical topics include timely and useful nuggets about how to make a business blog a success. One post, entitled "Blog visitors: How do they find you?" recommends analyzing traffic logs to discover how visitors find your weblog. Wayne gives tips about how to build on those sources of traffic, once you understand how visitors are getting to your site. He even uses his own blogs as examples.

The posts include general business advice for entrepreneurs and established businesses. For instance, in "A sad tale of a business that could have been," he recounts a poignant and true story about the need to carefully choose business partners.

One of the most helpful things about Blog Business World is its easy-to-understand writing style. Wayne uses short sentences and short paragraphs, something critical to online reading. He updates regularly -- usually daily.

But what I like best of all about this blog is its friendliness and sense of inclusion. Wayne frequently mentions other bloggers. But he does more than just mention them. He also goes out of his way to help other bloggers in need of employment and freelance writing jobs, such as in his "Bloggers Helping Bloggers" posts.

Wayne is a disciplined blogger, publishing two other blogs. One of them, Wayne's Derby World, is on the business aspects of roller derby. The other, Codswallop and Flapdoodle, is about comedy and creative writing.


The Power: The Power of Blog Business World is in the valuable and practical help it gives to other bloggers everyday. Sure it gives 'blog for business' advice. But more than that, it actually extends a helping hand now and then to other bloggers when they need it most.

• On entrepreneurs and small businesses: Entrepreneurs are risk takers and dreamers and doers. Entrepreneurs and small businesses play a crucial role in the U.S. economy. They create two-thirds of the new jobs in the U.S. Nearly half of all U.S. small businesses are owned by women. And businesses started by women are growing at twice the national rate. You can't have a healthy economy without a healthy small business sector.



• On creating jobs: The role of government is not to create wealth, but to create an environment in which the entrepreneurial spirit flourishes. Government does not create jobs. Businesses create jobs.



• On job losses: Job losses have been caused by productivity increases. Productivity improvements are changing the U.S. economy. Manufacturing output increased six-fold in the past 50 years, yet the number of employees stayed roughly the same. Higher productivity brings challenge. Productivity means companies expand their businesses without adding more employees. It is good for businesses, and it is good for consumers (lower prices, higher wages), but it also means businesses need fewer jobs. And small businesses are leading the way in this productivity revolution.



• On taxes: The majority of small businesses are sole proprietors and Subchapter S corporations. When individual tax rates are lowered, that means tax rates are also lowered on small businesses which are taxed at individual tax rates.



• On trade protectionism: Isolationism is a defeatist mindset. Instead of building barriers to trade, we need to break them down. International trade works two ways. In the U.S. we benefit from the ability to export to other countries, and from foreign companies employing local people. Under NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), Ohio's exports to Mexico have tripled to $2 Billion (USD). Over 900 foreign companies employ workers in Ohio. For instance, 10% of Honda's workforce lives in Ohio, about 16,000 workers. U.S. workers are building BMWs and exporting them to Germany; exporting computer chips to Japan; and exporting California wine to France. There are 6.4 Million Americans who work for foreign companies. A policy of isolationism is a sure way to threaten those U.S. jobs.



• On regulation: America must remain a great place to do business, especially for small businesses. That means less regulation, less taxation of businesses. We must have tort reform, because frivolous lawsuits are not conducive to business.

"These data show that PPC is an increasingly important part of an SME's overall advertising program," said Greg Sterling, director of The Kelsey Group's Digital Directories: Interactive Local Media Continuous Advisory Service. "PPC's appeal is based in large part on the perception that it's a low-cost means of customer acquisition."

"Although individual firms' IT budgets are relatively small, customers in this market represent a tremendous opportunity for IT providers. Telecom, applications and LAN equipment should be particularly interesting, as these are expected to be key areas of growth in this market moving forward. In-Stat/MDR expects that small businesses will spend more than $215 billion on IT products, services, and personnel by 2008."

Editor's note: This is the fifth in our popular weekly series of PowerBlog Reviews of other weblogs...


The BugBlog's tagline says it is "A daily look at computer bugs and their fixes."

And that's precisely what it is. According to its website:

"The BugBlog covers the things that go wrong when you use computers. These include classic bugs, or errors in coding; security problems; incompatibilities between programs, or between software and hardware. It also covers what we feel are really stupid and/or backwards features in programs -- ones that companies often say aren't bugs but 'features'."

"Via this post from solo Matt Homann comes this New York Times article on the lawyer's role in counseling small business. A number of the small business owners quoted in the article criticized attorneys, claiming that they "fascinate themselves with trivial things" and "consume as much time as possible" in a transaction.

Matt's post summarizes the advice for small businesses on dealing with lawyers, including negotiating flat fees, approving staffing and questioning bills that seem high.

Another piece of advice not commonly found is for small companies to hire solo and small law firms to keep a lid on costs. The article's worth a read for those who market to small business - and the advice could easily be converted into an effective sales pitch for lawyers seeking to advise and represent small companies."

Quoted from MyShingle via the Stark Law Library Blawg.

• I could (and did) demand that my attorneys write contracts in plain English, instead of legalese. I routinely nixed excessive numbers of "defined terms," i.e., capitalized definitions in contracts. Many attorneys feel defined terms are more precise. But if carried to excess they make contracts impossible for business people to decipher. And if the contract is unintelligible to the business people who have to carry it out, it's of little value to the business.



• I regularly suggested optimum contract lengths (e.g., "about 6 to 8 pages"). Normally I got back something longer. But just by suggesting a short length it set a certain expectation. The lawyers tried to keep documents concise because they knew I valued brevity.



• Over the years I got good at keeping minor issues and theoretical concerns from taking on a life of their own during contract neogotiations. I would simply declare "that's a business decision." No contract, no matter how detailed, is going to stamp out all risks in a business transaction. At some point the business owner has to exercise common sense, take the situation out of the lawyer's hands, and be responsible for making the decision.



• In litigation, I frequently pushed for early settlements. Litigation is expensive in this day and age. In my experience, one of the most underestimated costs in litigation is management time and distraction. And small businesses may be least able to afford that management distraction. For example, in a small business the company president may need to be heavily involved in defending a lawsuit -- the same company president who may also be the company's best sales person. Hmmm. Let me see. If I am a small business owner, which will I choose? Fight the battle royal over a lawsuit that won't mean anything in three years' time, while sales go in the tank? Or settle the lawsuit and focus my attention on sales?

• Marianne from Arizona, USA sent an email agreeing how important online banking is to small businesses. Small firms need it so that they can download transactions into programs like QuickBooks and not have to waste time re-keying them.



• Jerry over at Red Wheelbarrow (a transplant to Cleveland, USA from Canada) points out that one advantage large banks have over small banks when it comes to online efforts is economies of scale. Large banks can dedicate staff to their web efforts. Small banks tend to hire outside contractors which can be much more expensive.



• Kirsten over at re:invention of Chicago, USA sent a link to this site for online banking resources.



• JRT (whereabouts unknown) suggested that some small banks had excellent websites and recognized the importance of online banking to small businesses. (I agree, JRT, "some" do.)



• From TM over at the Flit(tm) blog comes an interesting suggestion that small banks could learn something from Ace Hardware and pool their efforts in online banking, lowering costs and improving service.