When it comes to at-work media use, Online Publishers Association found that the Web clearly dominates (with 54.6% reach, compared to television's 21.1%), and is the only medium that ranks among the top two at both work and home.

Web Users Exhibit Consistently Strong Buying Power - A final key finding of the research is that Web users tend to have greater buying power than television users. The TV dominant group had average annual retail spending of $21,401, while the Web dominant group spent $26,450 on average - or nearly 25% more. In another example, the TV group spent $2,626 on entertainment and recreation, while the Web group spent an average of $3,281 - or 25% more.

• read the June 6th News Release | digg story

'The amount of money spent on Internet advertising in the U.S. rose by 30 percent last year to a record $12.5 billion, according to a report released Thursday by advertising trade group the Interactive Advertising Bureau and independent auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers.' - From CNET News

• More from this CNET  Report on Online Advertising

The article states that Keyword search ads led the sector, representing 41 percent market share and $5.1 billion in revenue.  This should hit every business owner between the eyes and raise the question about what their own online advertising strategy is.  I've known businesses in the past few years to establish national prominence and a largely expanded sales presence from adapting to this new reality. 

If you have a business whose customers can come from more than just your nearby locale - then learning how to get connected to some of these online advertising tools and techniques is a great place to begin.

Question 1: Do you even know how your page ranks in the search engines?  What actually comes up when you google your company name or the product/service lines that you represent?  Try searching for your company or service the way a customer would - you will learn a lot about where you stand.

Question 2: Do you know how to purchase and benefit from even a basic Google Adwords advertisement?  Although fine-tuning a Google ad and its underlying keywords can take some time, you can still get familiar with the technology in less than an hour… Visit https://adwords.google.com to learn more. 

From the Wall Street Journal's Center for Entrepreneurship: 'When he persuaded a Wal-Mart buyer to give his unusual pen a test run some 18 months ago, Colin Roche thought the hard part was over. Selling to the world's largest retailer is, after all, the entrepreneurial Holy Grail: With 138 million weekly customers, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. dwarfs other bricks-and-mortar competitors.'

• Read about how Colin has engaged the opportunity with WalMart

'He conceived of PenAgain in 1987 while sitting in high-school detention and dreamed up its design to relieve his writer's cramp. A prototype built in his Dad's garage became the catalyst that launched the business and drove it to nearly $2 million in sales last year.'

This is such an encouraging article - seeing that still today, a small team of entrepreneurs can engage a distribution opportunity like WalMart - capitalisim is alive and well!

In a great article from Business 2.0, learn how to greatly increase the odds of success in launching your new business.  Broken down into four key phases, this article outlines what it takes to get started on the right foot.

• Complete article from Business 2.0

On a personal note - this is a great article and well worth reading if you are considering starting up a new business or venturing out on you own.

Great info from AllBusiness.com and Keith Rosen an Executive Sales Coach: Here is a short and sweet primer on how to make the most impact with the 20-40 seconds you get to communicate with someone via voicemail.

• Eight Powerful Voicemail Tips

"Last year, the mint made 7.7 billion of them — more than the number of all the other coins it produced. In the first three months of this year, the pace of penny production rose to an annual rate of 9 billion." this article says.

• Here is the full New York Times story

The first rule of business or personal finance?

Make more than you spend…

Yes. It is really very, very free. There's no prepayment, no minimum use, no subscription, no monthly fee, no nothing. You just download and install Skype and then you start calling. Both the caller and the number called must be in either the US or Canada. There are no strings attached. read more | digg story

Also - get a ChatCable™ for only $9.99 and you can use your existing lightweight cellular headset with your computer to voicechat!

From (Reuters) - Online sales are expected to rise 20 percent this year to $211 billion.

• Full Yahoo News Article 

The article states, "Last year, online sales rose 25 percent to $176.4 billion, with 28 percent growth in online purchases excluding travel. Total Internet sales in 2004 and 2003 reached $141.4 billion and $114.1 billion, respectively."

The question that this drive into my mind is, "What are you and your company doing to respond to this new online marketplace the global opportunity (or challenge) that this presents? 

From Business 2.0: These are some of the most extreme best business practices ever.  The top 25 ideas are summarized - and some of them you may have never heard of - but want to implement tomorrow!

• Best Kept Secrets of World's Best Companies 

It is always amazing to me to find innovative, new best practices.  I believe that much of success is simply the recombination and repetition of what others have done.  This is a great article an resource in that regard.

From CNN Money - It's great to chase your dream, but learn from those who have gone before.

• http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/08/smbusiness/five_mistakes/index.htm

This is a short article with some great examples of the key mistakes startups make:

1. Having too little cash
2. Thinking too small
3. Skimping on technology
4. Underestimating the importance of sales
5. Losing focus 

Here is a great article from Keith Rosen on AllBusiness.com on how to get the best results from sending your collateral materials to clients.  I love his quote that, "Sending out a brochure does not overcome any objection. Rather it multiplies them."

• http://www.allbusiness.com/business_advice/articles/2975811.html

Each year since 1983, Inc. Magazine has honored a selection of the fastest-growing private businesses in America with its Inc. 500 list.

What makes a business great?

Learn from the Inc. 500.

America's Fastest Growing Private Companies

 
Here are two links to the Top 25, and some statistical highlights from the CEO survey of these companies leaders.

• Inc. Magazine's Inc. 500 for 2005:
  www.inc.com/inc500
   
• Yahoo's Summary:
  http://biz.yahoo.com/special/500_04.html

Inc. Magazine has published a great set of over 100 free business templates, checklists and tools.

• www.inc.com/tools

This resource provides some great tools in the areas of:

• Doing Business Online
• Financial Management
• Finding Capital
• Hiring and Recruiting
• Managing Employees
• Marketing
• Performance Management
• Personnel Administration
• Termination
• Workplace Safety

Here is a great summary of one of the best selling personal leadership books of all time.

Over 15 million copies sold in hundreds of languages - it's a classic - the one page summary below is a fantastic recap of the book

This is one of the first leadership books I ever read and the message is still so simple, clear and easy to understand and practice.

How to Win Friends and Influence People

This is Dale Carnegie's summary of his book, from 1936

1. Fundamental Techniques in Handling People
2. Six Ways to Make People Like You
3. How to Win People to Your Way of Thinking
4. Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment

1. Don't criticize, condemn or complain.
2. Give honest and sincere appreciation.
3. Arouse in the other person an eager want.

1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile.
3. Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
5. Talk in terms of the other person's interests.
6. Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.

1. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
2. Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never say, "You're wrong."
3. If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
4. Begin in a friendly way.
5. Get the other person saying "yes, yes" immediately.
6. Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
7. Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
8. Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view.
9. Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires.
10. Appeal to the nobler motives.
11. Dramatize your ideas.
12. Throw down a challenge

A leader's job often includes changing your people's attitudes and behavior. Some suggestions to accomplish this:

1. Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
2. Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.
3. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
4. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
5. Let the other person save face.
6. Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be "hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise."
7. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
8. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
9. Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

Here is the most current list of best selling business books from Business Week magazine as of May 2006

• Top Selling Business Books by Business Week
  (one page pdf file)

Number one again this month is Thomas Freidman's 'The World is Flat' - an exceptional read if you are interested in how globalization trends will be changing your business model dramatically.

Check out a great resource for entrepreneurs who would like to be coached and mentored in growing their business.

• www.advantagevalleyels.com

This is a fantastic initiative to help West Virginia entrepreneurs in the Advantage Valley region successfully create wealth and jobs through growing their business. On a personal note, my very good friend Mark Burdette is the General Manager of this project. Mark is a seasoned entrepreneur himself and was my business partner and co-founder of Citynet Corporation, WV's first and largest commercial Internet service provider. I had the privilege of serving as the President of the company and Mark served as Vice President. Together, with a great team of employees, we worked closely together to start and grow the business from idea, inception, startup, venture capital funding through our partners at Fourth Venture Investment Group, to a successful sale to a $3.4 billion dollar bank holding company (CHCO). Mark's insight from this experience equips him very well to help other entrepreneurs start and grow the business of their dreams.

Everyone is doing it! Blogging that is. And as I have come to learn over the past few months - running a blog is one of the very best ways to share dynamic, up-to-date information with clients, colleagues, and friends.

At the same time the information shared is syndicated to millions of servers worldwide and a real contribution can be made by the sharing of knowledge through a blog. Since our newest member of the company is an absolute technical wizard (thanks to Paul McNeely) it is now so much easier to post current content every couple days vs publishing it on our website or putting everything into an e-newsletter.

Now we can just send out summary emails that highlight topics and articles - and more simply share the links to that content vs putting it all into an email. This makes the e-newsletter updates much easier to quickly scan and get to specific articles / updates that you find of interest and value.

Thanks again for your readership, interest and most of all your personal and professional relationship. I look forward to sharing some great information on how to profitably grow your business and reach your personal and professional goals.