Small Business Influencer 2011 @SmallBizTrends

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The popular small business blog Small Business Trends has launched Small Business Influencer 2011 to honor people, organizations and companies who have made a significant impact on the North American small business market. (Twitter @SmallBizTrends)

A little over an hour before the deadline, small business coach and friend Vernessa Taylor (@CoachNotesBlog) let me know she was trying to nominate me but had run into technical difficulties. She shared with me what she had written and it is too good to not use:

GrowMap.com is a business-to-business teaching resource built upon a philosphy of collaboration and recognition that every web site or business – online or off – can benefit from growing and could use a detailed, customized map to get where they are going. The GrowMap.com blog helps business owners realize their goals for generating more business, sales, leads, visitors, and visibility. Using a combination of comprehensive tutorials, infographic analyses, and guest posts on bottom-line topics affecting small business, GrowMap ensures its clients and readers have the tools they need most.

At the helm of GrowMap.com is Gail Gardner, a well-respected small business advisor and strong voice in the online community. With a unparalleled background in creating and managing local search engine marketing and pay-per-click campaigns, Gardner offers business owners and bloggers assistance necessary to implement effective internet and social media marketing practices.

We can see from this excerpt of the write-up Vernessa created that she is a talented writer. She spends most of her time working with clients so she doesn’t post daily, but when she does her advice comes from hands-on experience.

She is best known for making tech stuff digestible, conducting thorough fun useful trainings, writing with her creative side even when it’s technical stuff, negotiating fairly and really listening to clients.

While Vernessa’s nomination ran into a roadblock, Ileane Smith (@Ileane) from Basic Blog Tips was successful. Most bloggers know Ileane because of her blogging tutorials and her many how-to blogging and social media videos which you can find in her Ms. Ileane Speaks YouTube channel.

I am fortunate to count both Ileane and Vernessa among my closest collaborators.  They have taught me much and saved me countless hours by their willingness to share their experience and knowledge. Both are excellent teachers over the phone, in chat and on Skype.

Many thanks to all those who have taken the time to vote. You can vote once per nominee per IP address per day. Vote for as many nominees as you wish.

Small Business Influencer Award Nominees:

There are pages and pages of nominations so there are bound to be others we know. It is no surprise that Kristi Hines of Kikolani whose blog promotion and social media advice we all benefit from is also nominated. If there are others you know of please let us know in the comments of this post. Feel free to leave their link if you have it. I will add them to this list.

Here are the direct links to vote:

• Gail Gardner: Nominated for a Small Business Influencer Award: News Outlets
• Kristi Hines: Nominated for a Small Business Influencer Award: Journalists
• Liz Strauss: Nominated for a Small Business Influencer Award: Gurus

I encourage everyone who reads this to really consider the importance of supporting small businesses. If you are a blogger interested in collaborating with other bloggers who are committed to improving our economy through raising the visibility of their favorite small business I encourage you to join BizSugar.

I maintain a list of bloggers who are members of BizSugar in my Small Business Advice post that explains why we all need to get as active there as time will possibly allow. There is a short video in that post that explains the benefits and how to use it.

WOW: While the three of us are unlikely to win (unless our collaborators decide to pull out all the stops and it isn’t that important really), we are all making a decent showing.

I am touched by the outpouring and number of bloggers who appear to have decided now is a good time to write about me. I have never had such coverage:

• Fraud prevention blogger Pace Lattin interview on Technorati: Map to Small Business Growth: Interview Part I and Small Business Growth: Interview Part II.
• Small Business Technology Consultant Vernessa Taylor’s beautifully written Small Business Growth Champion profile.
• Gardening Tips blogger Stephanie Suesan Smith’s response to Vernessa that she sees me as a Blogging Mentor and not a Guru. (That always reminds me of that book we had to read in college If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him.)
• Freelance Writer Donna Anderson wrote in her Influential Tweople post:

@GrowMap – Gail Gardner and GrowMap.com will always be at the top of my list. In 3 weeks my business has tripled, and a lot of that has to do with her excellent marketing and collaboration advice which applies no matter what type of business you have. Start with her post – Twitter Best Practices: How To Use Twitter Effectively.

Expanded visibility is useful for us all to increase the good we can do in the world so I humbly thank you all.

Tagged as: small business, small business blogs, social media influencers