First of all, if any of you got a bounce back message from my email, sorry dudes. It looks like all my @ittybiz email was staying on the GoDaddy server and there were over 1000 emails just sitting there, hanging out. It’s fixed now.

Readers’ top search terms:

“dangerous chemicals that start with j”
“website to amuse dumb people”
From Practical Archivist – A website that gives tips on restoring old photos.

“droppings identification”
“permanent kick me sign”
From Earnest Parenting, a website about, uh, Earnest Parenting.

“hot little Russian sweets”
From Remarkable Communication, a website about Communication and Marketing (the “remarkable” part is there because she’s sucking up to Seth Godin.)

“I’ve never heard of Led Zeppelin”
From Hirlpoo, a personal website that has nothing to do with Led Zeppelin. Read More

I was writing this in an email to my good friend, Bill, and I realized that this is the kind of story IttyBiz readers would like. We are discussing my feelings on the topic of semicolons. (If you’re interested, I hate them. A lot. The rage gets unleashed when semicolons come up, and the rage, it is not itty.) Does this have anything to do with home business, you ask? Oh, but it does. Anyway, here’s my email.

“Oh, I stand by my not-so-casual disregard for the semicolon. It all stems from my tattoo. One morning, a teensy bit hungover, I decided to get my tattoo. (My tattoo, and not a tattoo. It had been in the works for a while. This was not a flight of fancy.) I have four Japanese symbols across my back, gleaned from a Japanese-English dictionary. In case you weren’t aware, Japanese-English dictionaries are printed in 6-point font. Like 6 Sigma, but with less “Sigma” and more “point font”. Read More

After much fuss, debate, deliberation, combined with a healthy dose of tomfoolery, jiggery pokery, and ballyhoo, we’re finally announcing the Itty Bitty Package. If you’re new here, you have no idea what I’m talking about, so I’ll explain. (Also, hi! Thanks for coming. Please enjoy your visit.)

Since IttyBiz is called, uh, IttyBiz, we like to focus on the little people. Really small businesses. Home businesses, generally. Some might even call them IttyBizzez. Officially, we deal with businesses with fewer than five employees.

Off the record, it’s usually one person, her two preschoolers, and their charming yet incontinent schnauzer.

My point is, you’re not trying to be the next Microsoft, and you don’t need a Super Bowl ad. You just need guidance. Help where you need it. Maybe you can’t figure out your USP. Maybe you can’t figure out what poor sucker would actually buy your product. Maybe you’ve got both of those things down, but you can only write in Yiddish. Whatever. Read More

The ever-ambitious and general linkbait king of the world Mark of My Tropical Escape (my nomination for best blog name ever) did some interviews. He asked:

How do top bloggers and online marketers divide their time between social media, search engine optimization, and interacting with readers to ensure continued growth of their sites…?

By top bloggers and online marketers, he meant the likes of Mr. Chatty Pants Seth Godin, the none-too-pleased-at-the-moment Darren Rowse, the just plain ass-kicking Skellie and, um, ME! You’ll notice that I’m placed immediately beside my blog crush. In agreeing to take part in these shenanigans, I insisted on this much at least. I stomped my feet and and cried and threatened to hold my breath until I turned blue. At one point, I think I threatened to call my agent. It wasn’t pretty. (OK. Totally not true. Makes a much better story than “these were listed in the order they were received”, though, doesn’t it?) Read More

Dear Naomi,

Groupie # 841

This post got me a few emails. Well, it’s 1:00 am two days later, and I’m still answering, so it might have been a smidgen more than a few. It would seem like there are a few people in the world with some questions about starting their own businesses. Because I’m really nice, I figured I’d slap together some linkbait a list of informative resources on running an online business. Under that heading, I include blogging. Read More