Emails to the Editor...

You may have noticed the uncharacteristic lack of updating for a few days.



Here in the Midwest USA we suffered an ice storm, knocking out power. I finally got back online yesterday.



Then I discovered other "problems," good problems actually.



Traffic to this site has spiked upward by nearly 30% since the beginning of the year. Newsletter subscription rates have increased 40%. RSS feed subscriptions are up significantly, too.



Thanks for visiting and subscribing.



I believe I know some reasons for these increases, and I will write about the reasons very soon. Other small businesses and any company marketing online may find the reasons of interest. They have to do with Google, the long tail, and an exciting new RSS tool that I am beta testing.



Meanwhile, the number of emails I get is also up. I still have over a dozen unanswered reader emails, which I will try to get to over the next few days. I try to respond to all legitimate emails, even briefly. However, the volume has risen and I'm not sure how much longer I can continue doing so.



Several people have asked whether I will be summarizing the trends predictions articles I've been running for the past two weeks. The answer is "yes" -- sort of. I will be publishing my own list of 2005 trends affecting small businesses, as soon as I finish a book project I am working on. (Meanwhile, check out our 2004 trends list, which resides over at our companion site, TrendTracker.)



Other emails ask permission to reproduce articles from Small Business Trends or TrendTracker. The answer there is "yes." All we ask in return is that you mention our site by name and link back to it. You might want to send me a follow-up email with a URL to where the article is reproduced, and I will list it in "Links to this Article." That's especially important for general business sites and other non-blog sites, because they are not reported in the Technorati or Bloglines services that I use to discover links, and I might miss them.



Thanks again, everyone, and stay warm and dry.