I was on the Internet before Al Gore invented it. My focus is marketing, promotion and site traffic. Consequently, my responsibilities at The Harper-Mees Team involve online marketing and promotion for the team.

At times, I still provide consulting services for small businesses and entrepreneurs. It boggles my mind that many small business owners feel a website is something they can get around to later than sooner. A website should be right under “get a cell phone” for any small business owner or entrepreneur.

I wrote this post to demonstrate to my friend Greg, a chiropractor in Warner Robins, GA the power of a good website. I have noticed over the years, that no chiropractor that I could find is leveraging the Internet successfully – and it would be so easy for these guys! The day after I posted the article about Greg, our site came up #1 on Google if you searched on “warner robins ga chiropractor.” Heck, we are far away from Georgia and real estate is a long ways away from chiropractic. But that’s the power of the Internet, those that know how to use it can dominate Google search results.

Here are the Top 10 Must Haves for Small Business Owners & Entrepreneurs

Get A Blog – Read BusinessWeek – Blogging for Business This is a must read – The New Rules of Marketing & PR and don’t forget this one –Publish and Prosper: Blogging for Your Business

CraigsList – This site can do wonders for your business. 80% of the people using Craigslist use it ineffectivley. Craiglist is responsible for 10% to 20% of our monthly traffic (6500 unique visitors a month)

LinkedIn – a business networking site. What can I say – get linked! Once you create an account, read Jason Alba's book.

RSS – Learn about the value and power of RSS. This rss reader – Netvibes –  helps you to stay informed, track your markets, keep an eye on the competition and much more. Short videos here and here on rss.

Google

• Alerts – Keep on top of your reputation, the competition, your local communities and more.
• Base – Instantly post anything into the Google index. Use this and Craigslist to broaden your product/service exposure.

News Releases – This valuable resource is overlooked by many. Here are several sites you can use:

• I-Neswswire
• PR Leap
• Free Press Release

Send Out Cards – Create custom greeting cards for your business and send them to your clients/customers with gift cards included.

Duct Tape Marketing – Read John Jantsch, his site is a treasure trove of small business marketing gold.

PhotoScape – For those overwhelmed by Photoshop, try this free photo editor.

Digital Camera – You can still find this discontinued digital camera – Kodak EasyShare V610 6MP Digital Camera with 10x Dual-Lens Optical Zoom – This is a dual lens ultra-wide angle camera that is so easy to use. If you can get one of these – do it quick!

If you’re a small business owner or entrpreneur interested in improving your online presence and marketing – send me an email – john (at) the harperteam.com

Last night I was in Sunnyvale attending a presentation on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the premeire business networking site.

The presentation was hosted at Intero Real Estate by Mitchell Levy of HappyAbout. Jason Alba author of I’m On LinkedIn – Now What??? was the featured speaker.

I got to chat with Jason before the horde arrived – he was expecting about 20 to 30 attendees but 120 showed up. That’s Silicon Valley for you – everyone is networking like crazy. Some estimates are that over 70% of people in tech in Silicon Valley use LiinkedIn.

It turns out Jason is from Salt Lake City. I moved out here a year and a half ago from Park City, UT. Jason and I talked a bit about Utah, tech, LinkedIn and other social networking platforms. I found him to be insightrful, practical and helpful. He has an easy-going manner and a wry wit.

Jason’s presentation was straight-forward and focused on four things we could do to start reaping immediate benefits from LinkedIn. He then answered questions for over an hour.

The lobby-shot picture was taken when the meeting room was already full. Thus, you see people in the last shot having to bring additional chairs into the room for the presentation.

I had a great talk with Lois Steiner of Facilities First, a professional facilities solution provider. We talked about the business potential of having an industry wiki on the Facilities First website and a few other ideas for increasing web presence and traffic.

It was really one of the best events I have been to in a while – well worth the drive down and the time invested.

Mitch interrupted the meeting for a five minute break so everyone could catch the lunar eclipse. At the end, he even allowed anyone who wanted to get up and make any announcement they wanted as a means of promoting networking between the attendees.