Apples are apples.  They’re fruit.  Before their cultivation, they were bitter and vile and full of seeds and no one wanted to eat them, but look where they are today!  Apples find their way into lunchboxes all over the world every day.  They are made into delectable juice and sweet apple sauce.  They are nutritious too, packing a lot of vitamins into a small amount of space.  On the other hand, they were voted the “dirtiest” fruit last year, largely due to the pesticides commonly used in farming them.

Here is an infographic that compares Apples to apples:

That just goes to show you that small businesses are realizing the demand for a serious social media presence in the online world.  What does a social media presence do for small businesses?  Well, for starters it can introduce your brand to new potential customers.  That alone can help in increasing revenues.  Another benefit to small business social media is the ability to connect with current clients and customers to ensure satisfaction and resolution for unsatisfactory experiences.

So if you have not given your small business the upper hand and established a social media standing, what are you waiting for?  Your small business is waiting.

My town is not the only one that is trying to increase local buying from citizens, I have seen quite a bit of this.  What does buying local really help?  Well, first of all it helps the small businesses in your area.  When small businesses succeed, you have more options, a better quality of goods, the local economy gets a boost, and a lot of small businesses choose to put their money right back into the community.

So if you are a small business owner in a fairly small community, make sure that the residents of the area know that you are all about providing them with the best goods and services imaginable.  Your prices might not beat out huge superstores with most of their goods coming in from China, but your products offered are of higher quality and held to a higher standard.

Small businesses can succeed at this time, it just takes a little willpower and the help from local residents.

The following is an infographic on the state of the typical tech startup in contemporary times.  It attempts to dissect the essential parts of a tech startup in order to examine what makes it work, and how highly charismatic leadership plays a role in how everything pans out.

Search engine optimization, or SEO, has been said to be the key to maximizing readers for articles as well as web content. The search engines pick up on the keywords used, in the correct proportion, and rank them for showing when the keywords are used in a search. How exciting, right? Human beings are the ones who end up reading the content or articles that a program has chosen for them based on what they are looking for, but how often are the search results relevant to what you are really trying to find?

It does not matter what industry category that your business falls into, you always want more customers.  Regardless of what your business does, more customers means more sales, and more sales means more revenue, and more revenue is something that all businesses can use.  That is one of the primary reasons why many businesses chose to start utilizing social media.  Businesses want to use their social media efforts in order to attract additional customers.  Customers that have yet to do business are the ones that many people are looking to gain on social media sites, but are these businesses missing out?  What about the customers that have been around for a while?  Those customers who come to you for all of their waxing needs, or accounting needs, or whatever it is that your business does?  Are you reaching out to the right customers.  Sure, it is very important to acquire new customers and appeal to them, but your loyal customers need some good loving too, so don’t forget about them!

So, why reach out to the customers that already do business with you?

• They already know your business and like it, so they are more ready to hear what you have to say.  They are also more eager to keep up with all the things that you are doing in your business.  You are like a friend that they want to hear from and keep in touch with.
• Loyal customers will be able to promote and endorse you and your business through social media.  Your loyal customers are far more likely to get involved in your posts and share.  This mean more endorsements and advertising without shelling out more money.  This is a great way to get the word out about your business.

How should you reach out to these loyal customers?

• Discounts!  There is nothing better than receiving a discount because you are a loyal customer.  Let your customers prove that they love your business by offering discounts and promotions to them through your social media outlets.  Deals of the week for fans and followers on your social media pages are not only fun, but also encourage more business.
• Get Customers Involved!  When you are physically with your customers ask them to get involved and ‘Like’ items on your Facebook, or re-tweet your posts on twitter.  They will feel like you value their help, and you will have easy marketing.  Also, ask your loyal customers for their opinions.  Find out if your business is doing its best.
• Show your appreciation!  Thank your customers.  If it is appropriate, you can even thank them buy name.  People appreciate being appreciated.

Don’t burp or fart – The thing is, you are in a public place.  While you are in your home you may be disgusting enough to let out bodily noises all around, but your co-workers definitely do not want to hear you, or even worse, but we won’t go there.  If you feel the need to do either, then step into the restroom or even go outside away from anyone.  Just be thoughtful.

Do dress respectively – If you feel like you don’t get the respect you deserve and you cannot figure out why, it just might be you attire.  Did you ever think of that?  The office place is not a place to wear shorts, or tennis shoes, or flip flops, and it does not matter how casual the environment is.  You should want to dress like you actually work outside of your home, not like a bum who can’t find a job.

Don’t groom yourself – One of the weirdest, and frankly, grossest sounds is someone clipping their nails.  This is true especially in a quiet office.  Your desk is not a manicure station.  It is also not a salon or bathroom.  It is very inappropriate to brush your hair or style it while sitting at your desk.  Flossing is also a huge no-no.  If you really feel the need to fix your hair, floss your teeth, or groom while you are working, then go to the bathroom.

Do keep your area clean – If your desk or cubicle is a cluttered mess, what do you think that says about you and your work ethic?  While you may be an excellent and hard worker, your desk may not reflect that if it is a disaster.  Take a couple minutes at the end of each day to straighten up your area.  Not only will it look more organized, but you will actually become more organized in turn, and those who have to see your space each day will probably be appreciative too. Also, don’t be distracting and search for stuff like “cable tv” on your work computer. You’re at work, not at home.

If you go to an office every day for work, then it would surely benefit you to follow these simple guidelines.  Some of you may think all of these things are common knowledge, but there are some real horror stories out there.  Be kind and courteous while at work, and don’t forget your office etiquette.

Do bathe regularly–This seems like a no brainer, but I have seen, or smelled rather, that this is not the case.  Nobody wants to smell eau de __________ (put your name here).  It’s gross.  Scratch that it is even worse than gross if you come into work smelling like you just ran a marathon in 100 degree weather.  Think about your co-workers.  Please.  This also goes for wearing deodorant.  Put it on, okay?  If you are a hippie who feels like deodorant is the man’s way of holding you down or whatever you think, so be it, but I will literally hold you down and put it on for you as opposed to smelling your pits all day.

Don’t be a loud cell phone user–Here’s the deal, I’m not a huge fan of a cell phone anyway, aside from texting.  I don’t talk on my phone inside the office, so you shouldn’t either.  First of all, I do not want to here your loud customized ringtone going off, and I don’t care who you are, it’s unprofessional.  And it usually doesn’t stop there, those with their phones turned all the way up are usually the one’s to stop talking to you mid sentence without an “excuse me” to take the phone call, most likely a personal phone call at that!  Rude and narcissistic!  Go outside if it is important, because I truly don’t care what you plan on having for dinner tonight or if your baby said its first words.

Do cordially greet co-workers in the morning–I’m not talking about stopping everything your doing and chatting, but a nice “Good morning!” can get your day started off right, and you may just perk up the person you’re talking to.  So when you come into the office in the morning, even if you aren’t a morning person, greet the people you run into.

Don’t cry in front of everyone–Some days we’re happy, and some days we’re sad, that’s fine, but don’t bring it into the office if you’re in a bad mood.  Seriously, leave all emotional baggage at the door, even if you work with your best friend, remember there is a time for work and a time for you to complain and be negative about your life.  Those times do not intertwine.  Be smart and keep in mind no one cares about your crap nearly as much as you do, so keep it all to yourself.

As your job orders grow, your business income will also grow. You will then move into an area of social functioning because of your contacts with the people who are connected with the type of work that you do, with people that you employ, with customers who use your products or services, and with other business owners in similar and not so similar ways.