by Erin McDermott. “Awful work and unethical business practices! Stay away!” “I will be sure to tell everyone I know how disgusting this place is.” “They will suck the money out of you any way they can and do substandard work. AVOID AVOID AVOID!!!” It’s the Wild West of web commentary out there for small businesses today. Cloaked by online anonymity, customers can and do say anything—including the real examples above, for a dry cleaner, a restaurant, and a portrait studio—often leaving trails...

By Erin McDermott. Lynn Carlson may have America’s most famous new bathroom. Last April, she redid the bath in the Fitzgerald Suite of the 1900 Inn on Montford, the Asheville, N.C., bed and breakfast she’s owned with her husband Ron since 1997. They added dazzling glass tile, a two-person jetted airbath tub filled from the ceiling, fiber-optic lighting from above and on the floor, and a thermostatically-controlled shower that rains water and light. Guests raved about it. Then...

By Iris Dorbian. Over ten years ago, e-commerce was still an emerging channel. Now it’s become a worldwide phenomenon racking up sales in the stratosphere. According to a new report by the market research firm Forrester, online retail sales in the U.S. are poised to tap $327 billion by 2016. Furthermore, overall online consumer spending is expected to increase to $1,738 per person by 2016 in contrast to $1,207 per person in 2011. For 2012, the forecast is for $226 billion, a 12 percent jump...

It has never been easier to build an online store and sell your products on the Internet. Is it time you took the plunge? By Morin Bishop No matter what your company's products or services, it's increasingly clear that you need some sort of Web presence, if only to raise consumer recognition of your business. But what if you want to actually sell your products online? In the early years of the Internet, website creation was in the hands of software writers who understood HTML, the software...