Yesterday, I hauled out my bossy pants from the closet and went to work on my Links Page. NOTICE – I removed any site that hasn’t been updated since May. I’m sorry, and I mean no offence, but I’m trying to have up-to-date content up in here, and that includes my links. I also reconfigured where everyone is located, so stop by today to see your new seat assignment.

What spurred this spate of housecleaning? Other people’s bad Interweb habits (not you guys, but those OTHER PEOPLE). Whilst I was researching tomorrow’s segment for Fox 9’s Morning Buzz, which I will appear on at approximately 9:30 AM (Shameless Plug Alert), I unintentionally discovered oodles of out-of-business… businesses. Which added unnecessary hours to my research time – and you know wasted time makes me cranky.

From that experience, I concocted my very own Standards Of Conduct for businesses. None of them are particularly hard, and all of them are downright inexpensive, if not FREE. And FREE, as we know, is BEST.

Standards Of Conduct for Promoting Your Biz on the Interwebs:

1. Your business should have a web site. Google’s Blogger is easy to use and free. You can post the basic information about your place of business on the right, and then have a blog/event announcements/coupons/random musings on the left. Hey, it’s how I got my start on the WWW.

2. If you have a web site, update your content. Let me repeat that for the back row – UPDATE YOUR FREAKIN’ CONTENT. During my research, I saw sale announcements for stores still in business that date back to April. Heads up guys, it’s almost August. BTW, if you use a simple blog format like Blogger, updating your site takes about 5 minutes. And once again, the cost is FREE.

3. The more you update your web site, the higher up on the Google Search (or other search engines) you’ll be. Which makes your site easier to find. Which means more people will hit your site. Which makes you go even HIGHER on the search page.

4. Get a Facebook Page, especially if you don’t have a web site. Then, invite everyone you know to “Like” your page.

5. Make your Facebook Page name easy to understand. For example, mine is The Cheap Chick. My buddy Lou’s is the name of her career coaching biz – Find Your Fit. That way, when people are trying to search for your biz on FB, they’ll actually find it. Also, if you have a web site, put a link on it to FB, for even easier connections.

6. As with your site, UPDATE YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE. Seriously, a friend of mine’s FB biz page says “I should really write something here…” And she’s had it for months. Updating FB takes all of 10 seconds, and every time you update, your Page pops up on your Fans’ News Feed (aka, the front page). You can ask questions, post photos, announce events, give 1 day deals to Fans, post a coupon… the opportunities, they are endless. AND FREE.

7. If all you have for a web presence is an address and phone number, that’s okay. People still use the phone for actual calls and not just texting. However – reset your number of rings to less than 10. Last night I was calling around to confirm my sources and GAH. I had to wait for 20+ rings just to get to the voicemail messages. Guys, if I’m a consumer, I won’t wait past 10 rings. If your answering service hasn’t picked up by then I would assume you no longer exist and move on.

8. If all you have is a phone number, you really need to make that message sound professional. If I’ve just waited forever for your machine to pick up, and you sound like a bored teen on the message, I’d assume your business is subpar, and not worthy of my patronage.

Sorry to sound so cranky, but HONESTLY. These are all free ways to promote a business, so why isn’t everyone taking advantage of them?