I told a client recently that too few people were signing up on the Pay Pal page compared to the people visiting the page. In other words, analytics showed visitors were going to the "Buy Now" page and then not signing up. Of course that got me wringing my  hands and wondering why.

American Express just completed its semi-annual survey of small businesses with under 100 employees. The outlook is slightly upbeat with 55 percent having a more optimistic outlook toward near-term prospects compared to 45 percent in March 2009.

However, no one is popping any corks.

Under one quarter, 23 percent (vrs. 28 percent in last spring), have plans for hiring. This it the lowest reading in the history of the survey.

Promoting a website requires lots of tools to tell us what's going on.

Fortunately, most of these tools are free. Anyone just starting should not spend a dime on analytical software. Maybe with time your site will require a more sophisitcated approach, but you won't have to spend money on software to find out.

Here is a fabulous list of free keyword and link analysis tools.

What is so powerful about email marketing¹? Opt in. That's right. Opt in. Opt in email makes for laser like precision narrowcasting. Your prospects opt in to your email because they are interested in what you have to offer. Therefore you are marketing to prospects and not to broadcasting¹ to everyone in Florida.