Facebook announced yesterday that it has secured a $200 million investment from the Russian firm Digital Sky Technologies. This is a deal that places the value of the social-networking giant at $10 billion. What does this mean for small business and entrepreneurs ?

It means opportunity !

As more and more users and businesses join Facebook, it will become a way in which small businesses can increasingly take advantage of a free network and low-cost pay per click advertising. Facebook today, allows personal users to create a business fan page. Once this page is created it allows individuals to post/support/and even give a thumbs up. This is a great way for entrepreneurs and small business to utilize their social network.

This investment comes in a time where many people talk about the down turn in the economy, loss of jobs and lack of marketing funds available for organizations. There is an opportunity out there… we just have to take advantage of it.

Facebook gets $200 million investment from Russian Firm

Often our customers ask us how to install a YouTube video on their blog. Here is a step by step way to embed the video onto your Wordpress blog. This tutorial is for wordpress version 2.7.1 Embedding a YouTube video onto your wordpress blog. Step 1. On the left hand side nav under post  click “Add New”. Step 2 – In WISYWIG editor click to change setting to HTML. Step 3- Open YouTube and find video you want to embed. Step 4- On Right hand side of screen copy Embed Text of the video. Step 5 – Paste copied code into your WYSIWIG editor in Wordpress. Step 6- Preview Post. Good luck.

In the last 3 months my 15 month old daughter has become quite a fan of Sesame Street. She watches the show at least 3 – 4 times per day. Her favorite monster is Telly. Other than being a complete worrier, he is an admitted “triangle Lover”. I had not give this much thought until this evening. While watching a History channel show called Angles and Demons decoded they discussed the fact the the “Illuminati” had adopted the triangle as a secret symbol. I did some research and was able to come up with 3 reasons why I feel Telly Monster is an secret member of the Illuminati.

1. Telly’s Puppeteer Martin P. Robinson was an animatronic puppeteer for Leonardo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. “Leonardo” is named after a possible Illuminati member Leonardo Di Vinci.

2. Telly is a triangle lover, The Triangle is part of a symbol for the Illuminati.

3. In several episodes of the Walt Disney animated series Gargoyles, one of the major antagonists of the series, David Xanatos, was revealed to be a member of the Illuminati. Walt Disney Co is the head company for the Muppets. Telly Monster is short for Television Monster.

Check out Boston Web Creative’s latest e-commerce site…. KAI NATION !

Many companies and individuals think that once you have a website setup and uploaded to the internet, the customers will automatically follow. One of the key aspects and potentially the hardest part of understanding e-commerce is; how do you find your customers and how do your customers find you ?? In most cases this seems like a simple answer, but it takes strategic implementation, a targeted marketing plan and focus.

Having a website is only the first step in creating your business – increasing traffic and visitors to your site should be the next priority. These services are designed to drive targeted traffic to your website – the end result – increasing your bottom line! Here are a few of the basic tips to get started with SEO and SEM once you have created your online store.

1 – Utilize Search Engine Optimization

2- Pay Per Click: Pay Per Click search engine placement is the only guaranteed way to hold top placement in the search engines. Anyone who has the budget and is willing to spend what it takes to be #1, can be!

3- Link Building-Meta Tags: The major search engines, including Google, now track the number of incoming links to a website in order to determine the website’s popularity. The website is then given a corresponding Page Rank, which is used to help determine search engine rankings.

4- Analysis: The most important part of web marketing is to work with a company that you can trust. They need to be able to analyze your website and understand where the traffic is coming from.

5- Utilize all social networks: Add +SHARE buttons to your site.

6- Add a Blog: A blog is a great way to create a relationship with your customers. It also creates a sense of following on your site.

7- Email Newsletters and Press Releases: Targeted HTML E-mail campaigns are one of the lowest priced and easiest ways to increase customer retention and repeat sales by keeping in touch with your existing customers.

8- Build a customer/VIP e-mail database: Another great way to keep in touch with your very important customers.

E-commerce is expected to grow 12% in 2009… go get the market share !