This Week in Small Business: Break out of blogging and get ready for holiday sales

news you can use

Ready to break out of the blog rut and start cashing in on other forms of content marketing? This week’s roundup has some great advice. Of course, we’re on the cusp of the year’s major shopping season, so that topic is covered as well.

Marketing and sales

Get the most out of your blog content by transforming it into new media. And if this interests you, here’s more good information on non-blog content marketing.

When you want to make a big leap and truly differentiate yourself from the crowd, you need to focus on branding…and most small businesses don’t! Maybe that’s why it’s the first “secret” in this article about small business marketing.

If you don’t want to pay for Facebook ads, you need to be sure you’re doing all the little things right to engage your prospects. These 11 tips will help a lot.

Chad Brooks, Business News Daily Senior Writer, looks into his crystal ball and discusses 10 trends that will impact small business marketing.

Leadership, management and productivity

After 10 years as a Special Forces Green Beret, Michael Montgomery joined the army of small business owners. Learn from how he is conducting this mission.

When it comes to customer service, small business owners should think like a customer, says an American Express survey.

Are you handling your seasonal hiring in the best way? Check out these tips from Daniel Flores.

You need to pull out all the stops to make this holiday season a rip-roaring success, like impressing your customers with mobile pay.

Tabatha Coffey, of “Tabatha Takes Over,” gives us three ways to guarantee small business success.

To grow your business you need to grow your knowledge and expertise. Here are seven web resources to get that done.

Entrepreneurship, startups and innovation

Entrepreneurs and startups: Check out this advice on how to handle big data that is especially targeted to your position.

If you’ve enviously watched “accredited investors” make fortunes through startup equity investing, you need to know that new SEC rules are game changers that allow average folks to invest.

Politics, government and the economy

First-time CEO and startup founder Chris Myers thinks rising interest rates could be good for entrepreneurs and small business. Read what he has to say and see if you agree.

The economics of small business health insurance continue to have a critical impact on profits. 90 percent of small biz owners surveyed say their costs are up and they expect them to go even higher.