As an online business owner, you want to spend most of your time developing business assets and less time worrying about the platform your business is operated on. Once you have a solid, reliable content management system in place, you can spend more of your time on activities that matter the most to your business. A lot of business owners decide to go with closed source content management systems. While there is nothing wrong with that approach, you may be able to get more value out of open source solutions (and the support of the community as well).

There are plenty of open CMS solutions around these days. You can pull off almost anything with some of these solutions. Having said that, here are 5 open source CMS solutions that stand out:

WordPress: it needs no introduction. This site and millions of other sites on the Internet take advantage of WordPress. The new edition of WordPress will support multi-sites, so businesses can create many websites using one install. Can do almost anything with this CMS.

Joomla: Joomla is one of my favorite open source content management solutions for business. It’s capable of handling more sophisticated portals and has a ton of plugins and templates too. Continue reading 5 Powerful Open Source CMS for Business

Small businesses do not have the funds or the resources of those large corporations. It’s tough to throw money at a problem when you do not have any to start with. That’s why no small business owner should neglect Facebook, Twitter, and other similar social networks. These services have leveled the playing field somewhat, giving small businesses the chance to gain a gathering online (using word of mouth and other types of marketing). Getting the most out of Facebook does not require you to spend a ton of money. Sure. You may have to spend a bit on ads to promote your Facebook pages or business. A professional page design could cost you a bit as well. But most tactics you can implement for free.

You can’t become a Facebook guru in one night. But there are simple steps you can take to take your business to the next level. If you are new to Facebook and have no idea how to get more out of it to take your business to the next level, here are 10 easy-to-implement tactics that should give you ideas:

1. Make a Professional-looking Facebook page: have you seen those Facebook pages that are all over the place. There is nothing wrong with that if it’s your personal Facebook profile that is messy and full of useless content. But your business page should focus on things that matter to your audience. The looks matter too. Your Facebook page could leave a long lasting impression on your prospects, so be careful what you show on your pages. It also never hurts to invest some money to put up a more professional looking Facebook page.
2. Add Interactive Applications: setting up a Facebook page should not be the only step you take to push your business. Don’t ignore some of those apps that can make it all more interactive for your Facebook fans. No silly apps though.
3. Throw Facebook Giveaways: Facebook giveaways can be very effective, if done right. We are not talking about those fake Facebook giveaways. Having exclusive giveaways for your Facebook fans can help spread the word about your business and increase your friends on the site. Don’t forget to read the terms and conditions of Facebook on contests. Continue reading Facebook 101: 10 Effective Facebook Tips for Small Business

Being involved in social networking sites does not only revolve around offering decent content. Whether you own a small business or an established one, you need to keep track of your content, links, and followers to maximizer your social media opportunity. Thankfully, there are a ton of tracking tools for Twitter, Facebook, and other websites that can help you stay on the top of your content’s progress across those networks.

There are a few premium tools that are worth paying for, but you don’t have to pay anything to get started with your social tracking process. Here is a mix of 5 free and paid social tracking tools that can help you track your business’ progress in social media:

Dlvr.it: a very handy tool for businesses that want to syndicate their content across the social web. Whether it’s LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter that you want to be involved in, Dlvr.it has you covered. It provides you with useful stats as well.

Su.pr: a syndication service by StumbleUpon that not only keeps track of all the love that your links get, it can also help bring more traffic to your business. Continue reading 5 Helpful Social Media Tracking Tools For Business

There is no better way to take your business to the next level than starting your own affiliate program. It’s a no brainer really. Many business owners do not want to give up any part of their revenue, which is why they may be hesitant about running their own affiliate programs. It could also take a lot of work if you have lots of affiliates. But why would one want to avoid recruiting affiliates when they can sell products without any real effort on the merchant’s side. You are only going to have a certain number of hours each day, so it does make sense to outsource your promotional efforts by relying on affiliate marketers. The risk is not that high either.

Large businesses prefer working with networks such as LinkShare or CJ. But those networks can be a bit expensive to deal with for small businesses. Thankfully, there are software solutions that one can use to start an affiliate program and control how things are run. Here are 4 affiliate software solutions to get you started:

iDevAffiliate: used by many top independent sites on the Internet. It makes it so easy to host an affiliate program and gives merchants options. It can be integrated with other software solutions as well.

Post Affiliate Pro: a nice alternative to iDevAffiliate. It is designed to handle small or large affiliate programs. Your affiliates can start their campaigns, take advantage of your banners, or create their own links. The report options are pretty nice too. Continue reading 4 Ways To Start An Affiliate Program for Your Business