• Survey of Rural Challenges results
  • Small Town Speaker Becky McCray
  • Shop Local video
  • SaveYour.Town

Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource

A row of small town shops
  • Front Page
  • Latest stories
  • About
  • Guided Tour
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • RSS

How independent retailers can trick Alexa, Siri, and Google Home to capture orders from local customers

By Becky McCray

  People are happily using smart voice assistants more than ever. You know their names: Alexa, Siri, Google, Cortana. It’s so easy (and fun!) to just say what you want, and your magical assistant orders it for you. Then it shows up at your doorstep, and you’re living in the future! This isn’t great for […]

January 29, 2018 Filed Under: Best of, entrepreneurship, marketing, rural, tech, tools Tagged With: retail

Rural addresses are confusing to outsiders, but a new tool aims to change that with just 3 words

By Becky McCray

  You know how we give directions in small towns, right? We point you to houses by who used to live there, “the Allen place,” or direct you to turn where things used to be, “where that old barn burned down.” We do this in town and out in the country. This drives newcomers and […]

December 4, 2017 Filed Under: entrepreneurship, rural, tools, trends

What small businesses can do with Facebook Live and other streaming video

By Becky McCray

  Live streaming video provides you new ways to reach customers and promote your small business. Today’s tools include Facebook Live, Instagram and Snapchat Live Stories, Google Hangouts that stream live on YouTube, Periscope video that streams on Twitter, and even stolid old LinkedIn that will let you pipe in live video from your Facebook […]

October 16, 2017 Filed Under: entrepreneurship, marketing, social media, tools

Where to find photos online that you can use for your business

By Becky McCray

  Between writing blog posts, sharing on social media, and creating graphics for my business, I’m always using photos. As much as possible, I use my own photos or ones that rural friends have shared with me with permission to re-use them. But I still find places I need a photo that I don’t have […]

September 4, 2017 Filed Under: entrepreneurship, marketing, tools

« Previous Page
Next Page »

Howdy!

Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.

We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.

Meet our authors on the About page.

Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.

If you would like permission to re-use an article you've read here, please make a Reprint Request.

Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.

Partners

We partner with campaigns and organizations that we think best benefit rural small businesses. Logo with "Shop Indie Local"Move Your Money, bank local, invest localMulticolor logo with text that says "Global Entrepreneurship Week"Save Your Town logotype

Best of Small Biz Survival

A shopkeeper and a customer share a laugh in a small store packed full of interesting home wares.

How to get customers in the door of small town and rural retail stores

Rural Tourism Trend: electric vehicle chargers can drive visitors

Wide view of a prairie landscape with a walk-through gate in a fence

Tourism: Make the most of scant remains and “not much to see” sites with a look-through sign

Holyoke Hummus Company cart

How one food business keeps adapting, from table to cart to truck, to restaurant and back again

Make extra money from extra workspace: co-working and 3rd workplaces in small towns

Newspaper story headline says, "Made in Dorrigo Markets a bustling success"

Boost your maker economy with a “Made in” day

More of the best of Small Biz Survival

Copyright © 2023 Becky McCray
Front Page · Log in