Guest Columns

Liquid Web On A Roll ? Growing In Michigan

LANSING - Matt Hill started Liquid Web as a high-schooler living in Holt. The Web-hosting firm now has nearly 300 employees, and adds more each month. Liquid Web is one of mid-Michigan?s biggest success stories. Launched in 1997, the managed Web-hosting company serves more than 20,000 clients in 120 countries. In 2009, it opened a

By |2011-09-27T00:00:00-04:00September 27th, 2011|Archive, Guest Columns|

Know Before You Grow: Key Resources For Learning About Your Customers And Competitors

WARREN - Whether you're starting a business, introducing new products or services, or adding locations, it's always a good idea to first do your research. Informed decisions make the best decisions, and ? especially when credit is tight ? we often need to show that we have a solid understanding of our target markets. Unfortunately,

By |2011-09-01T00:00:00-04:00September 1st, 2011|Archive, Guest Columns|

Your Online Address: A Threat and an Opportunity

WARREN - The company that manages the global Internet address system ? the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ? recently approved two changes to the domain name system that could significantly impact your online business model. One represents a potential threat to your company's brand identity that can be avoided with prompt action.

By |2011-09-01T00:00:00-04:00September 1st, 2011|Archive, Guest Columns|

Big Ideas, Small Budgets: How Small-to-Midsized Firms Can Tackle Huge Marketing Campaigns With Limited Resources

WARREN - Because our marketing and media company is based out of Lansing, we see a lot of negativity when it comes to our state. To combat this view, we put together a two-week social media road trip to give the state a much-needed PR boost. During ?#MeetMichigan with @m3_group,? we visited all 83 counties

By |2011-09-01T00:00:00-04:00September 1st, 2011|Archive, Guest Columns|

R&D Tax Credit Incentive Helps Keep Michigan Businesses Competitive

WARREN - Michigan offers several business tax incentives that can help local companies by driving development and creating jobs. Specifically, the Michigan Research and Development (R&D) tax credit has been effective in lightening the load of tax liability and providing companies with additional dollars for new machinery and employees. We?ve all read in the papers

By |2011-07-27T00:00:00-04:00July 27th, 2011|Archive, Guest Columns|

Eats, Friends and Tweets: Restaurants Keep Social Media Marketing on Simmer – For Now

WARREN - It seems as though everyone has a personal Facebook page and a corporate fan page and hundreds, if not thousands of Twitter followers. Except restaurants. According to the National Restaurant Association (NRA), repeat customers represent more than 70 percent of the business done by all but ?fine dining? establishments ? and there it?s

By |2011-07-27T00:00:00-04:00July 27th, 2011|Archive, Guest Columns|

Richardson of REMC No. 1 Highlighted As Internet2 K20 Initiative Innovator

ANN ARBOR - Merit Network is pleased to congratulate Mike Richardson of REMC No. 1 (Regional Education Media Center No. 1) for being recognized as an Internet2 K20 Initiative Innovator. Internet2's Anchor Innovators Program highlights individuals from within the Internet2 K20 Initiative community who have exhibited excellence in technology support of community anchor institutions such

By |2011-07-12T00:00:00-04:00July 12th, 2011|Archive, Guest Columns|

Six Tips For Playing In This Clay Economy

GRAND RAPIDS - Have you ever played with clay before? I am sure you have, we all have. What was it like for you? For most people, playing with clay is at first a disaster. Clay is flying all over the place, nothing is taking shape, and your patience?s are running out. Suddenly, as your

By |2011-06-10T00:00:00-04:00June 10th, 2011|Archive, Guest Columns|