One of the challenges some people face when first striking out on their own in the online business world is the problem of privacy. Especially for those born before, say, 1990, the prospect of putting your entire self online for all the world to see can seem daunting at best and unwise and dangerous at worst. Here are some things to think about to keep things in perspective and help ease you into the idea... Continue Reading

The year is 2010. More and more people are getting their news from the Internet. And many traditional media sources are greatly suffering as a result. It's no wonder. Fresh information is constantly at our fingertips. I am puzzled why anyone would watch television news or read newspapers any more. I NEVER watch television news. I NEVER buy a newspaper. But I happened to be in front of a television the other day while waiting... Continue Reading

As I travel around our country, I can not help but notice the epidemic of homelessness. There are so many people on the streets of our cities. How many more are there that we DON'T see? We've all encountered homeless people in our cities or towns. My heart goes out to those who don't have a safe place to rest their heads. It's even more heartbreaking when those people are children. I recently had the... Continue Reading

I've got a confession to make. I am fat. That's not P-H-A-T as in "cool". That's F-A-T as in chunky, large, and overweight. On top of that, I am not physically fit. It's no surprise. As an online entrepreneur who spends a lot of time in front of a computer, I've become sedentary. It's a fairly common story. Once upon a time I was both slim AND physically fit. In fact, you might be surprised... Continue Reading

I get to meet a number of interesting people in my travels. A couple years ago I met one of the stars of Oprah's reality show, The Big Give. His name is Cameron Johnson and he is a serial entrepreneur. Cameron started his first business when he was NINE years old! Listen in to this broadcast of The Joel Comm Show and find out what Cameron did to get Donald Trump's attention. We discussed a... Continue Reading

(Written by guest contributor Chris Harper) When I was about nine years old, my parents won a drawing for a $1000 shopping spree at a local store in my hometown and decided to use the money to buy a camcorder. As I recall, there were only about six to choose from, and they all recorded onto VHS tapes. The only differences to consider were brand, size (though none were small), and ease of use. Needless... Continue Reading

Yesterday was the debut of my new WebmasterRadio.fm show. I'll be broadcasting live every Wednesday at 12 pm NOON EST (9 am PST). My special guest on the premiere of the show was Dan Nickerson, my VP of Ideas. I will be featuring a number of other guests on the program in the future. For this edition, I discussed the latest news related to the iPad, the rejection of iFart for iPad, and a philosophy... Continue Reading

(Written by guest contributor Chris Harper) Live video broadcasts using Ustream and podcasts each have their pros and cons. I've had some experience with both, and I want to share with you what I see as the plusses and minuses of each. In the end, you can decide which method might be best suited for your needs. Continue Reading

(Written by guest contributor Joel Ownby) Advertisers and business owners are starting to understand the value in direct response mobile marketing because the response rates are too high to ignore. TextCastLive is a new service that has taken the rules taught to us by direct marketing mediums like e-mail autoresponder systems and direct mail and applied them to SMS text message marketing to provide a robust, platform-independent, scalable, enterprise-class mobile marketing solution. At the highest... Continue Reading

When big companies first picked up on Twitter, many got it wrong. They used the company logo as their avatar, broadcast their ads and offers, ignored the people replying to them and didn't follow anyone who wasn't part of the company. They acted like giant firms using Twitter as a giant billboard. Continue Reading

I had the privilege of welcoming "The Queen of Facebook", Mari Smith, to my offices. She was in town to speak at the Northern Colorado Social Media Social, so we had an opportunity of spending the afternoon together before the event. Mari and I both purchased the newly-released iPad from Apple. We decided to do a live broadcast from my studio. In case you missed it, the replay is below. Not only did we discuss... Continue Reading

It's great to see how Twitter has grown in the time I've been using it. But what's really impressive is the way that people are using it. Sure, there are spammers leaping on hashtags and trying to attract attention but they're a minority. And they're easily blocked. For the most part, people are using Twitter the way it should be used: as a way of building a community, broadcasting a brand and making valuable connections. Continue Reading

(Written by guest contributor Joel Ownby) If you are serious about starting an online business, then you should realize that just like a traditional brick-and-mortar company, an investment of time and money is almost always required. We aren't talking about going to the bank and taking out loans here, but we are talking about a lot of sweat and small monetary investments over time. The strategy discussed in this article is one avenue that you... Continue Reading

If you are a small to medium-sized business that can deliver a physical product at a reduced (or matched) cost locally, then you must consider implementing a serious local search campaign. I would urge you to take a serious look at any funds in your marketing plan allocated to radio, television, or any other form of non-direct response marketing and consider using at least some of those funds for a well-planned local search effort. Continue Reading