Editor's note: It's time again for another in our weekly series of PowerBlog Reviews of business weblogs. Welcome to the fifty-fourth Review.

This week's Review is about the Online Marketing blog. It's the brainchild of Lee Odden, the founder of TopRank, a search engine optimization firm in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

Lee is part of that growing number of professionals who use blogging as a kind of enforced discipline to stay up to date on their areas of expertise. Blogging requires them to efficiently gather news and information. The act of digesting the information and communicating it in a blog makes these professionals even more knowledgeable. Blogs are great knowledge management tools.

At the same time, Lee is providing a valuable service for clients and the public. Blogging also gives him a chance to practice what he preaches, i.e., blog optimization and promotion.

If you are writing a business blog, you are going to want to attract readers. After all, you don't want your hard work to go unnoticed, right?

I've learned quite a bit from reading this blog. You can too.

One of the things I like best about the Online Marketing blog is its niche focus. Lee adheres closely to the topic of search engine optimization, along with hard-to-find information about online marketing. That's what makes it so valuable.

For instance, Lee has an an excellent blogroll of search marketing blogs. I've noted before in these Reviews that compiling a niche-focus, single topic blogroll can be a source of competitive differentiation for a blog. People will bookmark the blog simply because of the great blogroll.

Even better, you'll find very specific posts with step-by-step instructions. Take, for instance, this post about RSS Marketing. It has enough detail to be truly useful. And it is about a subject that only the most knowledgeable insiders are aware of today. But I predict that leveraging RSS for promotion and marketing will become red hot later in 2005 and 2006. Blog posts such as this are one of the factors that set the Online Marketing blog apart.

I recommend spending 15 minutes studying the way this blog is set up and organized. Look at the header, the footer and everything in between. You'll come away with at least a few tips on blog optimization.

Now, it's time for a few lessons directly from Lee, the expert. Lee says there are three components to a well read blog: content, frequency and distribution.

"Content should be flavorful and to the point. Post often. When I started posting several times per day, our traffic increased significantly. When I invited another person to post, it helped even more.

What's great about blog marketing is that you can promote your blog as a web site to traditional search engines and directories as well as to blog/RSS search engines and directories. Using Technorati tags and maintaining bookmarks through del.icio.us and furl.net is having a modest impact on quantity of traffic but it has brought very high quality traffic.

Make meaningful, helpful posts on other blogs in your category. It's the best way to get links and create new connections. Use keywords in your post titles, archive URLs and text links to posts."

• Don't hire a PR firm. They charge a fortune to do what you can do better yourself. The exception to this rule would be the specialists who guarantee a certain result (such as x number of large market radio interviews for $500).



• Apply very early to every awards program you can find. While many awards are closed off to independent publishers, most aren't. This is a low-cost way to get a chance to call yourself an award-winning author, which helps open doors that otherwise would be closed.



• Subscribe to PR Leads. This monthly service feeds you with requests from media reporters seeking experts for particular stories. You can spend $10,000 from a PR firm and get far fewer high quality leads than you'll get in one month of PR Leads for less than $100.



• Target your market. For me, this Business Blog Tour has been much more effective (and inexpensive... and fun) than attempts to get at broad market media.



• Be very patient. The book industry moves at a stunningly glacial pace. It takes six months or more to get printed books into bookstores. Business people in particular are busy and distracted. It can take a long time and repeated exposure to get their attention.

"It is easily seen, that if every member of the race should strive to make himself the most indispensable man in his community, and to be successful in business, however humble that business might be, he would contribute much toward smoothing the pathway of his own and future generations." These words were spoken 100 years ago by Booker T. Washington, founder of both The Tuskegee Institute, now known as Tuskegee University, and The National Negro Business League, known today as The National Business League.

I have quoted Washington's statement many times and particularly to people who feel that their small one- and two-person businesses don't count as "real" businesses. Washington realized that slavery had taught American blacks many profitable skills and trades. Things like carpentry, cooking, farming, tailoring and shoemaking were seeds for businesses that could be started at home and with little or no capital. And to utilize those skills to start even the smallest business was both honorable and the right thing to do for the advancement of the race.

The philosophy behind Mr. Washington's words is filled with the entrepreneurial spirit, and the statement is as true today as it was 100 years ago. This message is not only for African Americans but also for all who want self-sufficiency and independence as entrepreneurs.

Editor's note: The PowerBlog Reviews are officially one year old! This is the fifty-third in our regular weekly series.

The Smart Marketing blog by Jay Lipe brings you -- well -- lots of smart marketing information.

The title says it's located "at the intersection of small business st. & marketing ave." That's a great description of the virtual address and the blog's mission. Of course, in the real world Jay is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

Jay is President of Emerge Marketing. He and his company provide marketing advice to small businesses.

As you might expect, Jay's blog is very good at providing marketing tips and advice to small businesses. Even compared with other marketing blogs it is especially useful. It is written in a clear and succinct style. All the information packs a punch.

This blog excels, however, in the way it is being used by Jay as a two-way vehicle.

This is where a blog leaves a traditional website in the dust.

A traditional website is a one-way conversation. Rarely if ever do you get a chance to receive input from a site visitor, other than perhaps taking an eCommerce order or a newsletter subscription. In fact, many traditional websites actually discourage communication and interaction, by making it hard to find contact information.

Not so with a blog. And Jay has figured that out.

Jay uses his blog to expand his knowledge base, to get fresh ideas and thinking from others. He tells me that one recent post, "Marketing a big ticket item," had just such an effect:

"After making the post, I heard from other experts in this area who added their comments to my post. Many of their points were good ones ... and ones I never would have thought of. As a result I came away from the exercise with more valuable information that I could end up using with my small business clients."

What do you think of when you picture a "saint"? Someone like Francis of Assisi, perhaps, who gave up his worldly goods. Or a Mother Teresa, making her life's work the rescue of India's outcasts. One type that does not come to mind is an entrepreneur. But think about this for a moment: Is there any law that says a saint cannot hold a regular job, excel in marketable skills or build a business?

We forget that the apostles in the New Testament were fishermen first, who learned about hard work and diligence in a market setting. We forget, too, that for many centuries, and even today, monks have had to market goods like wool and honey to the outside world to support their lives of prayer, reflection and contemplation.

Feb. 21 - Businesspundit
Feb. 22 - WhatsNextBlog
Feb. 23 - 800-CEO-READ
Feb. 24 - Barry Moltz's blog
Feb. 25 - Small Business Trends

"Pachinko (Japanese pinball) is Japan's biggest business sector, a JPY3trn [US $28 Billion] business that almost no one talks about.

There are 17,000 pachinko establishments in Japan, many of which are operated by people with less-than-savory business backgrounds. Pachinko parlors are unregulated and cause numerous headaches for their approximately 2,000 industry suppliers - meaning that the trust factor and interest in investment are very low.

The pachinko industry has a pyramidal organization. At the top are the pachinko machine manufacturers, who effectively own the patent rights to the machines. Next are the equipment and service wholesalers, the meat in the sandwich, who wind up financing the pachinko operators and placating the manufacturers. At the bottom are the pachinko operators. They generate lots of cash but are generally poor at managing money.

Fujii [investor] plans to help normalize the industry and thus make it more attractive to investors. First, he is implementing ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 programs, which allow operators to declare that they are running their establishments as proper businesses. He introduced the first ISO trial in the middle of 2003, and already has companies signed up and preparing for their ISO inspections."

Editor's note: It's time again for another in our weekly series of PowerBlog Reviews of business weblogs. We've now been reviewing weblogs for a full year. This is our fifty-second Review.

The Fifteen Degrees North blog is associated with Fifteen Degrees-North, "Internet Marketing and Web Design Slightly Off Centre."

The blog is written by Mark Nenadic, the company's CEO, who describes himself as "slightly off centre" with a Monty Python sense of humor. He blogs from Vienna, Austria and also from Peterborough, U.K.

One of the first things that hits you about this blog is its striking design. It features a backdrop of mountain peaks. I learned they are from a range in the Austrian Alps where Mark goes snowboarding.

A few weeks ago we did our first review here of a blog designed specifically to promote eCommerce sales. The Fifteen Degrees-North blog is yet another blog associated with online commerce, but in a different way.

Sometimes, as in the case of the blog we reviewed a few weeks ago, the blog is set up specifically to be the content component of an online storefront. Other times, as with Fifteen Degrees-North, the blog has evolved.

Mark's blogging got started a long time ago with the Robot wars:

"I guess I am a blog pioneer in that I started to Blog before there were Blogs. :) In early 99 some friends and I decided to compete in UK robot Wars (Battle Bots in the US). As it was a televised event in the UK with some 8 million viewers weekly I decided at an early stage to detail in a diary (Blog) our exploits for our fans. Back then Movable type was twinkle in some father's eye and so I had an online diary in HTML -- yukk, so much work! I have since dropped all those blogs and back filled 15dn with all the original posts, so my archives go back to 99."

"As much as I LOVE good design I am the first to admit that it's the words that sell - not the software. Not the cool graphics. And not your expensive Flash presentation. A zillion visitors a week won't generate sales unless those visitors are persuaded to buy from you. And only words, you know these little characters unfolding before your very eyes! - powerful, persuasive, and professionally crafted words - will do it!"

"Economic conditions for small business continued to be strong in the fourth quarter of 2004," said Dr. Chad Moutray, Chief Economist for the Office of Advocacy. "And for the year, GDP growth of 4.4 percent is good news for small business. In the fourth quarter alone businesses added over 600,000 net new jobs. The outlook for the small business economy remains bright."

"Overall, 2005 is looking pretty good. Outside of the spectacular run of Index readings over the past 20 months, there are few periods in the 30 year history of the NFIB survey with Index readings this strong (103.7). Job creation plans (a net 15 percent plan to increase jobs) are stronger than any registered in the great 1980s expansion. Only the late 1990s produced higher readings.

Capital spending plans are historically very solid, over three points above the average reading for 2001 through 2004. Inventory building is still looking like a contributor to growth in 2005.

The percent of firms expecting the economy to improve over the following six months has remained stubbornly high compared to past expansions, more good news. The percent of owners viewing the current period as a good time to expand substantially has been running near record levels. Profit trends support the firms' abilities to deliver on capital spending and expansion plans.

Putting all of these pieces together produces a very positive mosaic for economic growth in the first half of 2005."

Not long ago I met a colleague for coffee at a local Panera -- my favorite meeting place.

Rich Fein had been a business-to-business database marketer when I first met him back in 1999. He was one of the key people I hired to help build my first Internet business.

Rich is an example of a Baby Boomer entrepreneur. More than a year ago he started looking for a business to buy. He came close a couple of times, but just hadn't found the right thing.

So I was greatly surprised to learn that he is now the proud franchisee of a painting company. From database marketing to painting -- what a switch!

He acquired a franchise from a company called CertaPro Painters. Naturally I wanted to hear all about why he chose a painting company franchise, given his business-to-business marketing background.

Nothing that I knew about Rich suggested he would be interested in a painting business. After all, we're talking about someone whose nickname was "Data Hound."

He told me that he had looked at untold numbers of businesses and franchises. The thing that set CertaPro Painters apart was the systems, including:

• Central call center to book appointments and handle customer service issues;



• Direct mail marketing campaigns at the click of a mouse;



• Technology to operate the business efficiently and profitably.

Like this article? Read more by John Wyckoff:

Powersports Industry Trends for 2005

How Harley Davidson Lost its "Cool"

And be sure to check out his new book, Mind Your Own Business, 2nd Edition: The Complete Guide to Profitable Powersports Dealerships.

Editor's note: It's that time again -- time for the fifty-first in our regular weekly series of PowerBlog Reviews of business weblogs.

We like to think that all the blogs we review in our PowerBlog Review series are helpful resources. But The Security Mentor has to be one of the most practical of all the blogs we've looked at.

The Security Mentor provides "advice for normal people about computer and information security from Beryllium Sphere(R) LLC." (By the way, aren't blogs great, with their plain English topic descriptions? How different from traditional websites they are, where you can read the About section and still not have a clue what the business does.)

The blog is a client resource and marketing tool for Beryllium Sphere LLC, a computer security consulting company in Redmond, Washington, USA. Fred Wamsley is the owner and chief blogger. His company specializes in serving small businesses, especially the SOHO (small office/home office) market.

Fred has a crystal clear idea of who he is trying to reach with his blog, saying:

'My target reader is someone motivated enough to do online research but unwilling to become a full-fledged nerd. The "computer person by default" at a small business, who becomes the de facto IT department because "s/he knows about those computers", is a perfect example.'

1. Loyalty Awards More Attractive - Loyalty programs that let credit card users accumulate points for using their cards, are growing in popularity. Today's loyalty programs allow consumers to get rewards quickly, without waiting years. And forget about frequent flier miles -- many programs let you use your points to pay for all sorts of things, including telephone bills and oil changes -- even cash back.

2. Debit Cards Growing - Debit cards, where the money is electronically withdrawn from your back account, represent the fastest growing segment of electronic transactions. One of three in-store purchases today is with a debit card. Look for online transactions to be the next frontier for debit cards.

3. No Charge Too Small - Remember when retailers used to have a size minimum for a credit card purchase? Some still do, because of the transaction fees charged. But Americans are using credit cards for much smaller purchases today, including fast food meals and $.99 songs from iTunes.

4. A More Level Playing Field - Expect even more credit card pitches in your mailbox, because banks can now issue credit cards through Discover and American Express, in addition to Visa or MasterCard. (My shredder just burped!)

5. Foreign Currency Conversions Lead to Litigation - Credit cards have been the target of class action lawsuits in the past on a variety of issues. The latest hot litigation topic: suits against credit card issuers for failing to disclose fees on foreign currency transactions.

6. Credit Card Gift Cards - Many banks offer gift cards branded with the Visa or MasterCard logo, that can be used like a credit card up to a designated amount. But watch out, there have been lots of consumer complaints about excessive dormancy fees and expiration dates.

7. Hey, Big Spender - The credit card companies not only want the small sales, they want the big spenders too. American Express offers an invitation-only Centurion card for customers who charge more than US$150,000 per year! Coutts bank in the U.K., that counts Queen Elizabeth as a customer, offers a high end card in purple that is delivered in a mahogany box.

8. Fingerprints and Irises - Credit cards are going high tech, to make transactions faster and to prevent fraud. Some issuers are using fingerprint scans, requiring the customer to place a finger on a fingerprint reader. Others are using RFID tags -- the card or even a key fob is simply waved in front of a reader, completing the transaction in seconds.

9. Merchants Fight Back - Merchants have a love-hate relationship with credit cards. They feel they have no choice but to accept high fees from Visa, MasterCard, etc. They've begun to fight back with lawsuits and boycotting certain cards.

10. No Bank? No Problem - About 10 million U.S. households have no bank account. That's why prepaid credit cards are on the rise. About 25% of those 10 million households will buy prepaid credit cards.

"Major banks still make up only 3 percent of a market dominated by wire-transfer companies and mom-and-pop stores. But the rush is on, according to banking experts."