It’s an established fact that for companies of any size, referrals are one of the most effective ways to generate new business.  According to Smallbusinessforum.com, the likelihood of signing a new customer from a referral is 60% versus a non-referral which is 10%.

And it makes sense – potential clients who are referred by someone they know, and whose judgment they, trust are more inclined to use your products or services than those who aren’t.

However, many local businesses are not getting nearly as many referrals as they could.  Few local businesses actually have an organized…

With all the buzz about “social media,” it seems that this icon is everywhere these days and everyone is asking you to ”Find us on Facebook”.  Most recently, at their F8 developer conference, Facebook announced the launch of the new “Like” button which will allow users to “Like” content without even logging in to the platform. But what does this mean for you as a small business owner? How should you be utilizing this tool if at all? Is there real benefit to be had or is this just all hype? Here…

Over this past Memorial Day weekend, we at Yodle had some time to think and reflect on how 2010 has been so far. In just the first 5 months, we launched a new product called Yodle Organic, formed a big partnership, raised a bunch of money, and published a book with more than 350 pages of tips, tricks, advice, thoughts, and ideas about online advertising for local businesses. This book, Local Online Advertising for Dummies, has inspired what will be our newest weekly…

People are now using their cell phones for a lot more than just talking. In fact, there will be almost 1.5 billion cell phone users searching for local businesses – known as location-based local search – on their devices, adding up to $12.7 billion in revenue by 2014, estimates Juniper Research.  That’s a whole lot of people looking for stuff on their phones while on the move – and then paying for it when they find it! 

A big part of this increasing trend has to do with how much better mobile devices have gotten…

For this week’s Yodle Tipster from Local Online Advertising for Dummies, we’re going to be turning to pages 44 & 45 in Chapter 3 (entitled Planning Your Local Online Advertising Campaign) to talk about a topic that transcends online advertising, and is really something every business owner – local or national, big or small – should think about.  That is your business’s USP or unique selling proposition.

First off, what is a USP?  In the book the term is described as “the factor or consideration presented by a seller as the reason that one…

Photo Courtesy of The Joy of Tech Comics

Maybe you have a Facebook account for your business.  Maybe you’ve created a fan page.  Or maybe you’ve just decided that social networking can’t really help you grow your business.  Either way, you’ve probably been hearing a lot on the news about Facebook privacy issues.  How real are those concerns?  What can you do to address them?  This post aims to answer both of these questions.

How real are privacy concerns? The fact is that the internet has made a lot of information available to a…

You often spend more time with your co-workers than you do at home, especially if you are an entrepreneur or a small business owner. Having a good relationship with those people is key to not only a productive professional life but to your happiness personally. One way to maintain strong relationships with your co-workers is through social team building events like playing in a local intramural sports league (like Yodle does with our softball and basketball teams) or volunteer in your local community like hosting a blood drive or going to a foodbank. Sometimes you…

Yodle recently held a contest on twitter for new followers. In order to enter, twitter users had to become a Yodle follower before July 4th. We had more than 30 entrants to our contest! The prize? A FREE copy of Yodle’s new book Local Online Advertising for Dummies and a $100 AmEx gift card. We did a drawing for the winner, and the winner is @OzyTribe. Thanks to all our new followers on twitter and please be on the lookout for more contests soon.

Got a cool prize idea? Send us a…

Part One of a series on growing your business through social media tools.

In 2003, a nifty social media tool went live that allowed career-oriented professionals to connect and network online in new ways. LinkedIn quickly became a leader in the social media space and today has around 70 million members. That’s certainly no small crowd!

Though your business might be small and have a local focus, keep in mind that all 500 of the Fortune 500 are represented on LinkedIn. There’s no doubt, it’s the place to be for businesses. Companies both large and small use…

We were very excited this morning to wake up and find out that Yodle had been listed on the AlwaysOn Global 2010 list of the top 250 private companies.

Applying for and winning awards not only feels great to your team and your company, but is a great credibility builder for prospective clients. There are a lot of opportunities for small and local businesses to be recognized and win awards for everything from good customer service to strong community leadership.

Check out this list below and also your local Chamber of Commerce or Small Business Association.

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