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 Sherron Lumley. Ed Gazarian is a native of Boston, a graduate of Northeastern University and Harvard, who works for Pandemic Labs in Boston, one of the oldest social media marketing and analytics agencies in the U.S.  He took some time to talk with writer Sherron Lumley about what’s new in social media and the first steps a small business can take when creating a social media strategy. SL: Tell me about the business of Pandemic Labs.  EG: Pandemic is a 100-percent social media...

The Internet levels the playing field and makes it possible for small businesses to compete with large corporations. If you are new to the world of online advertising, here are some tips on how to get started: By Reed Richardson Paid Search Paid Search allows an advertiser to pay for placement of a site listing or ad within or near a search engine's results. For instance, if your company sells tires, and you want people on sites like Yahoo!® and Google™ searching for the word "tire" to more...