What's the buzz?
Make technology work for you.

The world has gone mad about tech. You may have been avoiding it, but that time has come to an end. And that's okay. Beyond all the craze, there are some real gems out there that can pump up your image and broaden your client base.

The number one thing you can do to help grow your business is get a website if you don't have one and update and maintain if you do have one. A company's website has become the first interaction most people have with any business. They look for places to shop or visit on the web before heading out the door. If you are not out there or, worse yet, you are but your website isn't appealing at first glance you may be missing out on a great deal of new business. Your website should:

1. Be clean and easy to read.

2. Have good, clear photos of your store. "Any old photo" won't do. You need to have several, well-lit, inviting pictures of the inside, outside and some items you carry.

3. Show proof of recent updates. If you posted your Thanksgiving sale in November and your website still shows that announcement on the front page in April — you need to update. Make it a weekly habit to post something new on the front page.

4. Clearly state the hours of business, multiple options for contacting you and a map to your location.

5. Have tracking script in it to gather stats on visitors to your site. Google Analytics is easy to include, voluminous in its scope of invaluable info and best of all — it's FREE.

Other options are Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, Ebay, HTML Emails, and Blogging. The more places you are on the web, the more chances you have of driving people to your website. Most of these are free networking sites, so there's no reason to keep you from getting your name out to the world.