By Rieva Lesonsky

Have you missed any of my blog posts around the Net this week? Here’s a roundup:

Will going “back to school” save the economy? Find out in my “Survey Says” column on AOL Small Business.

Americans’ online behavior is changing. Learn how in my post on AT&T’s SmallBusinessInSite.

In today’s economy, it’s more important than ever for entrepreneurs to help each other out. See what I mean in my post on the SCORE Women’s Success Blog.

If your health insurance costs are rising, maybe self-insurance could save you money. Get the scoop in my post on Anita Campbell’s Small Business Trends.

Are business owners risk-takers? Not when it comes to their finances, shows a new report I blogged about on Anita Campbell’s Small Business Trends.

Google announced today a new feature that categorizes e-mail messages based on importance. Meant to unclutter the ever-crowded inbox, this may pose some new challenges for e-mail marketers. From a deliverability standpoint, if an e-mail is delivered to the “non-priority” area of a customer’s Gmail inbox, it’s similar to being delivered to the spam folder.

However, small business marketers don’t need to worry. In today’s guest post, Melanie Attia, Product Marketing Manager for Campaigner e-mail marketing, offers three top tips to help you make sure your e-mails get through.

1. Remember the Big R – RELEVANCE!

Relevance has always been a golden rule when it comes to e-mail marketing – if you aren’t providing relevant information, your customers simply aren’t going to open your e-mail. Want to make sure customers with Gmail accounts mark your e-mails as “priority?” Provide them with relevant information they will want to read. It’s really that simple.

2. Analyze Your Results with Every Campaign

The reporting tool in Campaigner is designed so that you can get a sense of open rates, click through statistics, etc. Now more than ever you will need to watch these statistics – if you notice a difference, you may need to reexamine your campaign (see the note on relevance above).

3. Ask Your Customers!

For small business owners, any new obstacle also presents an opportunity, and Priority Inbox is no different. Use this as a chance to reach out to your customer base and ask them what they’d like to see in your e-mail marketing campaigns and how often they want to hear from you. Incorporating their feedback in future e-mail marketing efforts means that your messages are more likely to be classified as “priority e-mail” with customers using Gmail.

Overall, as e-mail programs like Gmail give users more control over how their e-mail is classified, marketers are tasked with consistently delivering material that customers will want to open and read. Though no two customers are the same (one may love getting daily coupons from a store, while another may find that a nuisance), the bottom line is that e-mails that are relevant and valuable have the best chance of being a priority read for your small business customers.

Missed out on any of my blog posts from around the Web this week? Here’s the latest. Like many of you, money has been on my mind lately, and I’ve written a lot about various capital concerns. I explored the buzzed-about ”seed fund” concept–hope or hype?–in my post on AllBusiness.com. On Anita Campbell’s Small Business Trends, I looked at why more entrepreneurs are turning to microfinance these days.  Also on Small Business Trends, I explored the apparent disconnect between women entrepreneurs and venture capitalists.

Speaking of women, there’s also a disconnect between how men and women view the state of the economy. Read more in my post on AT&T’s SmallBusinessInSite.

When your PR efforts pay off and you’re lucky enough to get interviewed on TV or the radio, what do you do? Get my tips from the Biz.gov Industry Word blog.

Last, but not least, what do 99 percent of entrepreneurs really want? Find out in my Survey Says blog on AOL Small Business.

The end of 2009 and into 2010 was proving to be a very difficult year for my company. I discovered that the old ways of doing business were just not working in the “new economy. I was used to charging $5,000 or more a month on retainer without anyone batting an eye as they saw the massive value we provided. But overnight, $5,000 a month turned into $3,000 and then into $2,000.

I knew I needed to think outside the box. I decided to turn to the most well-known marketing brand in history: Guerrilla Marketing. I’ve been familiar with Guerrilla Marketing for years, but I had never fully utilized its power. The essence of Guerrilla Marketing is using time, energy and imagination rather then money–which was perfect, as I was strapped for cash.

Instead of just reading the materials, I decided to take massive action. I flew to Orlando and spent several days with Jay Conrad Levinson to become a Guerrilla Marketing Master Trainer. When I started delving deeper into the concepts of Guerrilla Marketing, I found that there were over 200 Guerrilla Marketing weapons that I could put into action. The following are my top five favorites that produced the best return.

1) Choose a Designated Guerrilla: To keep our strategies organized and streamlined, I decided to make one person at my company the designated guerrilla. This person was responsible for the marketing calendar and making sure that the Guerrilla Marketing weapons we were putting into place were being done correctly and tracked to the nth degree.

2) Add Extra Value: I’ve never been a fan of dropping prices, especially since I never compete on price. Therefore, to make sure we started winning more deals, we began increasing the amount of value provided for clients. Here are some examples of what our clients now receive: a client-only educational event once a year, access to our training portal, and a virtual assistant for 10 hours a week at no cost.

3) Use Testimonials: I had testimonials all over the place, but I wasn’t leveraging them. I also discovered that using video testimonials, as opposed to just text, worked much better. Rather then just letting the testimonials sit dormant on our website, I integrated them into our marketing materials and sales process.
4) Write a Book: A book is the best possible business card you can have. It took a lot more work than I expected, but the results have proven to be invaluable.

5) Give Free Public Talks: This is my number-one favorite Guerrilla Marketing weapon. I contacted various chamber of commerce organizations as well as local business groups and offered to come and speak on various topics relating to Web marketing, monetizing social media and Web 3.0. They were thrilled because they were used to paying speakers, and I was happy because I was able to practice education-based marketing and contribute to the local business community. I did not even have to “pitch” my business to the crowd, which would have been a little tacky. People simply came up to me afterwards asking for my business card.

If you’re looking to generate some business without spending a lot of money, Guerrilla Marketing has worked wonders for me and my businesses.

Missed any of my recent blog posts from elsewhere online? Here’s a quick roundup of what’s on my mind.

Learn why you must be using social media–and how–in my article on HP’s website for small and midsized businesses. (You can also sign up to receive news and alerts about HP discounts, new products and special offers for small businesses.)

Find out why iPhone users are some of the most desirable customers around in my post on AT&T’s SmallBusinessInSite.

What does California’s historic ruling on same-sex marriage mean to your business? Find out in my post on AllBusiness.com.

Also on AllBusiness.com, get the scoop on what online retailers need to know–now–to have a successful holiday sales season.

Are you a road warrior? Find out what bugs others like you the most in my Survey Says blog on AOL Small Business.

Planning to start a business so you can spend more time with your kids? Read my post on the SCORE Women’s Success blog first.

Learn how review and ratings sites can help (or hurt) your business in my article on MSN’s Business on Main.

Do you own a travel-related business or a company that could benefit from summer vacationers? It’s still not too late to encourage customers to plan trips. Some interesting statistics reported by MediaPost show who’s planning the family vacations—Mom—and how to win her business.

Most (43 percent) of Moms plan a vacation one to three months in advance, but 20 percent wait until three weeks or less to book a vacation.

In terms of spending, most Moms will spend less than (37 percent) or the same amount (44 percent) as last year. Typical budgets are from $500 to $3,000.

38 percent will spend between $1,000 and $3,000 and 32 percent will spend a mere $500 to $1,000.

What are some factors that tip Mom’s decision in your favor?

• Moms love family discounts like “kids eat free” or “free breakfasts” that let them save money and keep the kids happy.
• The ideal vacation length for Mom is about a week. Longer trips can be tiring. At minimum, long weekend trips also appeal; shorter trips are not long enough to be relaxing.
• Although Mom isn’t ready to break the budget, you might be able to change her mind if you offer something that meets her ideal vacation criteria at a lower price.
• Entertainment and other special activities targeted to kids (like an arcade, fun water sports activities or movie nights for kids) help swing Mom’s decision.

As a mom about to vacation, I can relate to all of these issues. Keep these deciding factors in mind when you market your business–whether a restaurant, hotel or tourist activity–to vacationers.

On July 20, a new domain name extension, .co, became available for use globally. We asked guest blogger Shashi Bellamkonda, Director – Social Media & Social Media Swami of Network Solutions, to help explain why this could be a good opportunity for your business. Shashi is a regular contributor to the DC Examiner and Tech Cocktail. Network Solutions works to help small businesses succeed online with Web hosting, do-it-yourself website builder software, online marketing tools and domain names.

An essential pillar for any business is its brand. Brand presence on the Web is a key factor in a business appearing in Internet searches and being found by existing and prospective customers.

For small business owners, the essential ingredients for building a strong brand are:

• A memorable business name
• brand identity elements:
  • domain name
  • logo
  • email address
  • business card
  • social Web presence ( Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

A domain name is important for your online brand, and to solidify your brand presence, you should search for a .co for your business. As the number of registered domain names grows, you may not find your first choice for a domain name if you look only at domain name extensions like .com or .net. According to  “The State of the Industry “report released by Verisign in June, the overall base of .com and .net domain names grew to 99.3 million domain names in the ?rst quarter of 2010. Along with the new .co domain extension, there are several other extensions that you could use for your business if you can’t find what you want in the .com arena. For example, if you are into video, .tv may be the perfect extension for your business. (See a list of domain name extensions on Wikipedia.)

.Co and the Web user’s perception

As a first step to weigh your options, check and see if your brand or the domain name you desire is available as a .co. You can find a list of registrars here http://www.cointernet.co/registrars/co-registrars (Disclaimer: This list includes my employer Network Solutions.)

My colleague Steven Fisher has written a few articles about using .co domains for Collaborate, Company and Commerce that may be helpful in a business context. In a study by global market research firm Penn, Schoen and Berland, 75 percent of Web users surveyed said they associated .co with “company,” “corporation,” or other commercial endeavors. Some countries have .co domain name extensions available for companies (such as.co.uk or .co.in), so if you do business overseas, using .co can help your business gain greater recognition globally.

Google has approved .co domain for international use, saying, “We will rank .co domains appropriately if the content is globally targeted.”  Even though the extension .co is technically for the country of Colombia, it will be recognized as a business domain depending on the content of the website.

Your takeaway :

1. Not satisfied with the domain name you currently have? Check and see if the domain name you want is available as a .co extension.
2. Already have a domain name? Consider protecting your brand by registering your URL with a .co extension as well.
3. If your company name could sound like a different name, use this opportunity to register a .co for the similar sounding name. (For instance, my name, Shashi, could be misspelled as Shashee or even Sushi.)
4. Starting a new business? When deciding on your business name or tagline, register your domain name to match them, and check out .co for availability.

As I write this article, the counter for the number of .co domains registered on http://www.cointernet.co/ shows that nearly 300,000 have already been registered.

The Small Business Success Index study by the University of Maryland and Network Solutions® found that only 47 percent of small business have websites. In today’s global economy, once you have a website your company is immediately global. Should you choose to register a domain name with any extension, one place to start is Network Solutions, which is one of the .co registrars.

Visit Shashi Bellamkonda’s blog. This article contains the opinions and observations of the author and may not necessarily reflect those of Network Solutions or its clients or partners.

Does your company sell business-to-business? Then you need to get women business owners on your side.

According to data from the Enterprise Council on Small Business, women are more likely than men to spread the word when they’ve had a positive experience with a business supplier.

Asked who they tell about a positive experience, 14 percent of women said “anybody who asks me” and 44 percent said “anybody I think might be interested.” Just 33 percent of men said the same.

And women have more people to spread the word to. ECSB says they’re more likely than men to be active participants in industry associations, active users of online social networking sites and members of their local chamber of commerce.

That means even if your efforts don’t specifically target women business owners (or women in business), these women are constantly interacting with the male business owners and businessmen that you may be seeking to target.

Is your business benefiting from customers who find out about you via Google Maps or Google Places? Then you’ll want to take advantage of a promotion Google is offering through this Friday that gives small-business owners a free 30-day trial of a new feature, Google Tags.

Offered through Google Places, Google Tags is an advertising feature that allows you to highlight unique features of your business to potential customers on Google Maps and Google.com for PC and mobile.

ll you need to do is verify your listing in Google Places, then go to the dashboard to test the tool. Enhance your listings on Google.com and Google Maps with a yellow tag that highlights things like coupons, menus, your website, photos or a customized message. Google Tags also provides dashboard reports that let you track the effectiveness of your Tags. After the free trial period, Google Tags will cost $25 per month.

The feature, which began rolling out about three weeks ago, has already been tested by thousands of businesses, according to an article in MediaPost. One construction company cited in the article says business has tripled since adding a Tag that shows users photos of their work.

Visit Google to find out more.

Have you missed any of my blog posts from around the Web recently? Here’s a quick roundup:

Over on Anita Campbell’s Small Business Trends, I shared my picks for 23 of the best websites for women business owners. Check them out and let me know if you agree!

Learn about the new “mindful consumption” and what it means to your business in my post on AT&T’s SmallBusinessInSite. Also on AT&T’s SmallBusinessInSite, I shared some insights into how to reach a powerful market: Latina consumers.

Over on AOL Small Business, I share the latest stats on why entrepreneurs and consumers alike are still pinching pennies–and how you can get consumers to spend theirs with your business.

How can mentors help women business owners? Let me count the ways in my post on SCORE Women’s Success Blog.

Last, but not least, I’m excited to be a new contributor to MSN’s Business on Main. This week, I took a look at how virtual companies can help workers collaborate closely, even though they’re miles apart.