After 5 years of networking all over Cape Cod, and after being members of several Cape Cod Chambers, we have joined the Cape Cod Chamber. Although we are not new to the CCC, we are excited to actually be a member and to enjoy all the benefits of membership. We have enjoyed networking all over Cape Cod with the CCC and we look forward to more!

We are proponents of local chambers, we have seen first hand how much they can help small business and it really does work. Just getting to know local business owners, learning from them and helping each other is worth the membership alone. So, if you are not a member of your local Chamber, give them a call and signup today!

I recently met a vendor at a networking event who was selling online business identity protection and management. While that phrase sounds very official, confusing and a little bit scary, it basically boils down to what the web says about your business. Go to your favorite search engine (Google, Yahoo!, Bing) and search for your business name, your name, or any other variation that people may use to find you.

First your website should show up, but below that you’ll see a whole host of business directory, review and social networking results. Here are some tips to managing these results:

1. Make sure the big boys are well fed with updated information. These include Google Places, Yahoo! Local, Bing Local, Yelp, and TripAdvisor.
2. Beware of business directory sites that want you to pay to update, fix or enhance your listings. Most of these are scams that aren’t worth the time, cost or effort to correct.
3. Review local websites as well as national brands. Local chamber of commerce’s, business networking groups, charities and other organizations may have information listed about your business.
4. Take note of where you don’t appear. Don’t see any results from Twitter or Facebook that mention your business? Do you see a lack of local business directories that link to you? These are areas where you can not only improve your overall viability, but links from these sites to your website are valuable rank boosters in Google, Yahoo! and Bing.

Lastly, bookmark or note these specific searches/websites, and make yourself a task to check this once a month/quarter to make sure there are no new nasty reviews or inaccuracies that may pop up.

We are now back home, we really enjoyed our 1 month stay in Maine and we are very happy to home as well.  We were greeted with Tropical Storm Irene when we arrived home, and luckily we did not have any damage here at our home.  With very strong winds, we had some branches fall on our lawn and we did lose power for 6 hours, but overall, not so bad.  We know people on the Cape that lost power for several days….Yikes!  We consider ourselves lucky that we still have power and are able to get work done each day.

We are back to grind here at COLEwebdev, designing, building, editing and programming away on our client projects.  We have some exciting new launches coming your way in the next month, we can;t wait to show them off!  Be sure to check back soon for links and information on our new website launches.  Till then, enjoy the sun and the beaches while you can, Fall is just around the bend.