Check out these great online web tools for small business shared by Inc, Magazine. Great ideas here.

Find Out Who is Visiting Your Website

Demandbase lets you know when those blue-chip customers are knocking at your virtual door. Its free real-time ticker analyzes your visitors’ IP addresses and compares them with information from sources such as Dun & Bradstreet and LexisNexis. With those data, Demandbase can tell you the names of the companies at which many of your visitors work. Click on a company name, and Demandbase will sell you the name and contact information for a lead at that company. Demandbase has been called the iTunes of CRM, and it’s almost as affordable: The average cost per lead is just $1.80.

Calendar, Meet Social Networking

LuckyCal aims to make it easier for you to meet up with friends or business contacts. The free Web tool, which launched in December, integrates your work and personal calendars with those of your employees, friends, and business associates (as long as they give you permission). The main benefit could be for road-weary sales teams; LuckyCal will scan your colleagues’ and clients’ Outlook calendars and Facebook profiles and e-mail you when they are in your area. LuckyCal plans to charge for an enterprise version that launches later this year.

Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

Three new software programs can help companies cut carbon emissions. Edison (verdiem.com/edison), CO2 Saver (co2saver.snap.com), and Carbon Control Software (carboncontrolsoftware.com) all use Windows power settings to reduce the energy consumed by computers while they are idle. All the programs provide information on how much carbon you have saved, and Edison estimates how much money you have saved as well. The personal versions of the programs are free. Carbon Control Software’s business version costs $10.50 and up per license per year and Verdiem, the maker of Edison, has a corporate version that sells for $20 per computer per year. It may be worth the price: Globally, IT infrastructure emits as much carbon as the aviation industry, according to research firm Gartner.

Ditch That Phone Tree

Fonolo.com has mapped out the automated customer service phone trees of 200 companies. Log on, click on the department you want to reach (reservations at American Airlines, for example), and Fonolo will make the call, navigate the system, and call you when it has reached your desired department. When we used it to call Citibank, it connected us with a rep in less than 20 seconds, compared with two minutes when calling directly. Fonolo has an iPhone app as well.

Save Money on Travel

When you cancel a flight, you are entitled to a refund of the taxes and fuel charges you paid — even on a nonrefundable ticket. For 25 euros ($32), MissRefund.com will get that money for you. The company has secured refunds as large as $262; the average is $101. If you don’t receive a refund, you don’t have to pay. Meawhile, Vayama.com is an airfare booking site focused on routes and destinations that aren’t generally available online, like Seattle to Denpasar, Bali. But it doesn’t always have the best prices, particularly on run-of-the-mill trips, so make sure to shop around. Airfarewatchdog.com scours listing sites such as Travelocity and Orbitz to find the best deals, even on small airlines like Allegiant. And Yapta.com will alert you when a good price appears on the flight you want. If the price falls after you have bought the ticket, Yapta will, for $15, try to get you a refund or credit for the difference.

Name Your Price for Coding Help

The world’s largest community of software developers and graphic designers is now ready to serve small companies. Since 2001, TopCoder has been holding coding and design competitions to help companies like ESPN develop new software tools, websites, and logos. Late last year, it launched TopCoder Direct, a do-it-yourself version that allows small and midsize companies to get in the game. Log in at topcoder.com/direct, describe what you want, and determine how much money you will award the first- and second-place finishers. When the submissions come in, you pick the best. A prototype for a simple website might cost $1,200.

Skype on Steroids

Chances are you have a cell phone, a work phone, a home phone, a couple of e-mail accounts, and maybe an instant-messaging program. With free software from VoxOx, you can keep them all in one place. Import contacts from all of your e-mail and IM accounts. Then, e-mail, IM, text, or call anyone you know, all through VoxOx. Every user gets a phone number, which shows up in the caller ID of the person receiving the call. If someone uses the number to call you, you can pick up at the computer or have the call forwarded to any phone. But there is one drawback: VoxOx gives users only two free hours of calls. Then, you can either pay a fee or get more free calls by watching ads.

[via INC MAGAZINE]

For marketers, Web 2.0 offers a remarkable new opportunity to engage consumers.

If only they knew how to do it.

That’s where this article aims to help. We interviewed more than 30 executives and managers in both large and small organizations that are at the forefront of experimenting with Web 2.0 tools. From those conversations and further research, we identified a set of emerging principles for marketing.

But first, a more basic question: What is Web 2.0, anyway? Essentially, it encompasses the set of tools that allow people to build social and business connections, share information and collaborate on projects online. That includes blogs, wikis, social-networking sites and other online communities, and virtual worlds.

Millions of people have become familiar with these tools through sites like Facebook, Wikipedia and Second Life, or by writing their own blogs. And a growing number of marketers are using Web 2.0 tools to collaborate with consumers on product development, service enhancement and promotion. But most companies still don’t appear to be well versed in this area.

So here’s a look at the principles we arrived at — and how marketers can use them to get the best results.

Web 2.0 tools can be used to do what traditional advertising does: persuade consumers to buy a company’s products or services. An executive can write a blog, for instance, that regularly talks up the company’s goods. But that kind of approach misses the point of 2.0. Instead, companies should use these tools to get the consumers involved, inviting them to participate in marketing-related activities from product development to feedback to customer service.

How can you do that? A leading greeting-card and gift company that we spoke with is one of many that have set up an online community — a site where it can talk to consumers and the consumers can talk to each other. The company solicits opinions on various aspects of greeting-card design and on ideas for gifts and their pricing. It also asks the consumers to talk about their lifestyles and even upload photos of themselves, so that it can better understand its market.

A marketing manager at the company says that, as a way to obtain consumer feedback and ideas for product development, the online community is much faster and cheaper than the traditional focus groups and surveys used in the past. The conversations consumers have with each other, he adds, result in “some of the most interesting insights,” including gift ideas for specific occasions, such as a college graduation, and the prices consumers are willing to pay for different gifts.

Similarly, a large technology company uses several Web 2.0 tools to improve collaboration with both its business partners and consumers. Among other things, company employees have created wikis — Web sites that allow users to add, delete and edit content — to list answers to frequently asked questions about each product, and consumers have added significant contributions. For instance, within days of the release of a new piece of software by the company, consumers spotted a problem with it and posted a way for users to deal with it. They later proposed a way to fix the problem, which the company adopted. Having those solutions available so quickly showed customers that the company was on top of problems with its products.

Give consumers a reason to participate.

Consumers have to have some incentive to share their thoughts, opinions and experiences on a company Web site.

One lure is to make sure consumers can use the online community to network among themselves on topics of their own choosing. That way the site isn’t all about the company, it’s also about them. For instance, a toy company that created a community of hundreds of mothers to solicit their opinions and ideas on toys also enables them to write their own blogs on the site, a feature that many use to discuss family issues.

Other companies provide more-direct incentives: cash rewards or products, some of which are available only to members of the online community. Still others offer consumers peer recognition by awarding points each time they post comments, answer questions or contribute to a wiki entry. Such recognition not only encourages participation, but also has the benefit of allowing both the company and the other members of the community to identify experts on various topics.

Many companies told us that a moderator plays a critical role in keeping conversations going, highlighting information that’s important to a discussion and maintaining order. That’s important because consumers are likely to drift away if conversations peter out or if they feel that their voices are lost in a chaotic flood of comments. The moderator can also see to it that consumer input is seen and responded to by the right people within the company.

And, of course, it’s important to make a site as easy to use as possible. For instance, there should be clear, simple instructions for consumers to set up a blog or contribute to a wiki.

Listen to — and join — the conversation outside your site.

Consumers tend to trust one another’s opinions more than a company’s marketing pitch. And there is no shortage of opinions online.

The managers we interviewed accept that this type of content is here to stay and are aware of its potential impact — positive or negative — on consumers’ buying decisions. So they monitor relevant online conversations among consumers and, when appropriate, look for opportunities to inject themselves into a conversation or initiate a potential collaboration.

For example, a marketing manager of a leading consumer-electronics company monitors blogs immediately after a new-product launch in order to understand “how customers are actually reacting to the product.” Other managers keep an eye on sites like Digg.com and Del.icio.us that track the most popular topics on the Web, to see if there’s any buzz around their new products, and whether they should be adjusting, say, features or prices.

In one case, a company found a popular blogger who had spoken highly of the company’s brand. Just prior to launching a new product, the company sent the blogger a free sample, inviting him to review it with no strings attached. The end result: The blogger wrote a favorable review and generated a flood of comments. So the company got nearly free publicity and feedback.

Peter & Maria Hoey

Resist the temptation to sell, sell, sell.

Many marketers have been trained to bludgeon consumers with advertising — to sell, sell, sell anytime and anywhere consumers can be found. In an online community, it pays to resist that temptation.

When consumers are invited to participate in online communities, they expect marketers to listen and to consider their ideas. They don’t want to feel like they’re simply a captive audience for advertising, and if they do they’re likely to abandon the community.

The head of consumer research for a leading consumer-electronics organization created an online community of nearly 50,000 consumers to discuss product-development and marketing issues. One of the key principles of the community, she says, was “not to do anything about marketing, because we weren’t about selling; we were about conversing.”

In short order, community members not only identified what it was they were looking for in the company’s products, but also suggested innovations to satisfy those needs. The company quickly developed prototypes based on those suggestions, and got an enthusiastic response: Community members asked when they would be able to buy the products and if they would get the first opportunity to buy them. They didn’t have to be sold on anything.

Don’t control, let it go.

In an online community, every company needs to find an effective balance between trying to steer the conversation about its products and allowing the conversation to flow freely. In general, though, the managers we interviewed believe that companies are better off giving consumers the opportunity to say whatever is on their minds, positive or negative. Moderators can keep things running smoothly and coherently, but they shouldn’t always keep the conversation on a predetermined track. The more that consumers talk freely, the more a company can learn about how it can improve its products and its marketing.

One marketing executive recalled the first time she let an online community created for a client interact with very little control or moderation, resulting in an animated discussion about the look of the company’s product. The client, with great concern, asked. “Who told them [the consumers] they could do this, that they could go this far?” Of course, when this process resulted in totally new packaging that helped boost sales, the client was ecstatic.

As another executive of a company that creates online communities for clients told us: “You have to let the members drive. When community members feel controlled, told how to respond and how to act, the community shuts down.”

Find a ‘marketing technopologist.’

So who should direct a company’s forays into Web 2.0 marketing? A number of managers identified an ideal set of skills for an executive that go beyond those of a typical M.B.A. holder or tech expert. We coined the term marketing technopologist for a person who brings together strengths in marketing, technology and social interaction. A manager said, “I’d want to see someone with the usual M.B.A. consultant’s background, strong interest in psychology and sociology, and good social-networking skills throughout the organization.”

Foot soldiers need to be carefully selected as well. One large technology company weighs employees’ proven skills to choose writers for blogs that are read by consumers. The company has long used blogs internally to help employees discuss technical issues, products, and company and industry topics. When it decided to use blogs to raise its profile online, it recruited those who had shown the most skill at blogging within the company. The company currently has about 15 employees who blog publicly, mostly on technology trends, and is recruiting more the same way. Meanwhile, the bloggers plan to meet occasionally to share the lessons learned from their experiences.

Embrace experimentation.

One Web 2.0 strategy does not fit all, and sometimes the best way to find out what’s best for a given company is to try some things out and see what happens.

Blogs, wikis and online communities are among the tools that companies are most commonly using for marketing, but there are other ways to reach consumers. Some of the companies we talked with have gotten their feet wet in the online virtual world Second Life, where millions of users interact with each other through avatars. Companies can sell their goods and services and sponsor events in Second Life just as they do in the real world; one sponsored a contest for the best avatar.

Others are considering new ways to use more-familiar tools. For instance, many companies have long used instant messaging on their Web sites to allow shoppers to chat with customer-service representatives. One executive we spoke with said he would like to experiment with allowing consumers to chat with each other as they shop on his company’s site.

[via WSJ Small Business] By SALVATORE PARISE , PATRICIA J. GUINAN and BRUCE D. WEINBERG

Yesterday I gave a high-level overview of Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere Report for 2008.  Today I want to underscore a few more of the findings about blogging and brands, the growing credibility of blogs, and the active role of bloggers in other online activities.

The research shows that brands make up a major part of bloggers’ online conversations. “More than four in five bloggers post product or brand reviews, and blog about brands they love or hate. Even day-to-day experiences with customer care or in a retail store are fodder for blog posts. Companies are already reaching out to bloggers: one-third of bloggers have been approached to be brand advocates.”

The Technorati research also shows a general sense amongst bloggers that blogs are being taken more seriously as information sources.

37% of bloggers have been quoted in traditional media based on a blog post. Half of bloggers believe that blogs will be a primary source for news and entertainment in the next five years. Bloggers are less bullish on the prospects for traditional media — one in five bloggers don’t think that newspapers will survive the next ten years.

Bloggers are active Web 2.0 participants, using a variety of Web 2.0 tools.

Blogger Participation in Web 2.0 Activities

Bloggers are generally the first to learn about new web technologies and applications, such as RSS and Twitter. On average, bloggers participate in five of the ten Web 2.0 activities listed, with one-third regularly conducting more than seven Web 2.0 activities.

[via Grown Up Digital] by Don Tapscott

The notorious urinal that served patrons of the famed New York rock club CBGB for 33 years now sits retired in a basement in Manhattan’s posh SoHo district.

Plucked from the graffiti-covered walls when the club closed in 2006, the urinal is among several CBGB artifacts — such as the gritty “CBGB & OMFUG” awning that hung over 315 Bowery and a phone booth covered with punk-rock band stickers — donated to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC, which opened its doors last week.

The donation is just one step taken by entrepreneurial group CBGB Holdings LLC to revive the brand and transform it once more into a money-making business — without jeopardizing its counter-culture past.

Last month, the group struck a distribution deal with Bravado, a Universal Music Group company that markets rock-themed merchandise around the world, to help sell millions of CBGB T-shirts. Next summer, the Vans Warped Tour music festival will showcase an interactive CBGB exhibit.

These deals were crafted by two men who believe there’s life after death for the landmark venue: James Blueweiss, a marketer who began advising the club a year before it closed, and Robert Williams, a veteran of the retail music business who helped open HMV stores around the world. The two attracted capital from angel investors and paid $3.5 million for the rights to the CBGB brand in 2008. Their company, CBGB Holdings, owns all intellectual property, domestic and international trademarks, copyrights, video and audio libraries, ongoing apparel business, Web site and physical property of the original club.

Andy Warhol, second from right, and friends stand outside CBGB in 1976. (click for full image)

Hilly Kristal opened CBGB — Country, Bluegrass, Blues — in 1973 and intended it to be New York’s premier venue dedicated to the genre. But with too few acts to occupy its stage, CBGB soon attracted young musicians eager to showcase a new sound. Mr. Kristal added to his marquee “& OMFUG” — “Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers.” In the years to follow, the Ramones, Television, Patti Smith, B-52′s, Talking Heads, Richard Hell, Debbie Harry of Blondie, Dave Matthews Band, Green Day, Pearl Jam and many others graced the CBGB stage.

“I took Hilly to lunch and said, ‘I’m a salesman. I’m a promoter. I really love your story and I want to help you,” Mr. Blueweiss said of his 2005 pitch to Mr. Kristal. “If you’ll allow me to represent you, I think I can cut some slick deals and give you your pay day after 33 years on the Bowery.’”

Mr. Kristal agreed to work with Mr. Blueweiss, but the club’s future was soon in jeopardy. A dispute arose between CBGB and the Bowery Residents’ Committee, which said the club owed more than $75,000 in back rent. Longtime patrons came to the aid of Mr. Kristal in a fight to save the club. Steven Van Zandt, an actor and E Street Band member organized a petition and a “Save CBGB” rally, but despite the efforts, the club was forced to shut its doors.

“I said, ‘Hilly, sell it to me,’” Mr. Blueweiss said. “I’m passionate about this.”

Mr. Kristal agreed to sell the CBGB to Mr. Blueweiss on the condition that he would remain chairman of the company for three years. The men did not know at the time that complications from lung cancer would keep Mr. Kristal from seeing his club reborn. When Mr. Kristal died in August 2007, just a few months after signing an agreement to sell CBGB, Mr. Blueweiss charged forward with the plan to keep the CBGB legacy alive.

But a new era of CBGB won’t be without challenges. Ownership of CBGB is being disputed by Mr. Kristal’s former wife, Karen. In a lawsuit filed last year in Surrogate’s Court in Manhattan, Mrs. Kristal, 83, claims that she is the rightful owner due to an agreement the Kristals made before they opened CBGB in 1973.

The suit, which names Mr. Kristal’s estate and CBGB Holdings, states that because of legal complications due to a bankruptcy of a previous business, Mr. Kristal listed his wife as the owner of record in order to obtain a liquor license, even though they were already divorced.

In a statement, lawyers for the estate called Mrs. Kristal’s claims on the trademark “specious….CBGB was, and is, synonymous with Hilly Kristal.” CBGB Holdings declined to comment about the suit.

While that dispute plays out in court, CBGB Holdings will be charged with the tough task of keeping the brand relevant to a new generation.

The CBGB exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC (click for full image)

“Some amazing pieces of history went down there, and this place deserves to be part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but how do you take a brand that magically formed and find a way for it to live?” said Julia Beardwood, founder of brand consulting firm Beardwood and Co. “And, is it even right to bring it back from the grave? They have a brand that’s trying to make some money using the CBGB name, but they don’t want to devalue what it stands for.”

The most immediate plans for the CBGB business is an overhaul of the Web site that will include streaming music and videos, social networking components and a forum for fans to add their stories from nights spent at the original club. The site will also promote promising new bands, much like Mr. Kristal did for the Ramones.

Blueweiss said revenue from T-shirt sales is about $6 million a year in Japan alone, but declined to provide total revenue. He said the deal with Bravado should boost overall figures.

Ultimately, CBGB Holding’s dream is to reopen a club. Mr. Williams said discussions are ongoing with properties in New York and Las Vegas, but a new venue won’t be opened for at least 18 months.

“Live music is what CBGB is all about, and ultimately it will be back there, but it has to be done the right way,” Mr. Williams said.

Last week, E Street Band’s Mr. Van Zandt, who lobbied to save the original venue, strolled through the New York Rock and Roll Hall of Fame CBGB exhibit.

“It’s good to keep the history of the club alive,” Van Zandt said. “Hopefully, what they’re doing to help the brand will help do that. We tried to get the mayor and the governor to help save the place and it didn’t work. Rock is a massive part of our identity and it’s good to see people who want to preserve it.”

[via WSJ Small Business] by Ty McMahan