Links

What is a cool or valuable link is so subjective. Here are some connections to what or who I feel are:

Providing valuable information
Making the world a little better
Useful or clever sites
Just plain interesting to me!

May you find something useful here for your marketing and promotion solutions.

Marketing Resources, Ideas, Tactics & More

HotCards.com & PrintingForLess.com & OvernightPrints.com & NextDayFlyers.com— get a quick printing quote from these inexpensive online print houses.
MarketingProfs.com — a constant source of marketing ideas if you sign up for their newsletter
GoDaddy.com — quickly check the availability of website domain names… and possible alternatives.
American Express OPEN FORUM— an amazing site full of marketing insights and expertise, including video podcasts
Inc.com Marketing tips — an ever changing series of articles on marketing strategies
Marketplace radio — a business radio show that’s an enjoyable listen, particularly for its sense of humor and for humanizing the world of business with human interest stories
Guerrilla Marketing — a site featuring the classic series by Jay Conrad Levinson
Free Marketing Stuff — available on this website, along with examples scattered throughout the site
Marketing Snapshot— our product to assess where you are and what you could be doing
USPS Find a Zip Code — an easy way to find out where that zip code is
Survey Monkey — if you need to find out what people think, try this site “to enable anyone to create professional online surveys quickly and easily.”
ESRI data — one of the classic sources of demographic and market data
Claritas data — another classic source of market data
American Affluence Research Center — data and studies about the wealthiest households
Marketing Survival Kit — new to me, but looks somewhat interesting
Marketing Scoop — likewise…
Marketing Toolkit & Checklist — various guides, strategies, templates and more for marketing and other business activities from CanadaOne.com

Media Links for current news, business and otherwise

Local

PopCity Media — an upbeat, stylish weekly e-zine for Pittsburgh optimists
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — our best local news source, since local television subscribes to “if it bleeds, it leads”
Pittsburgh Business Times — our leading business weekly; subscribe to daily e-updates too
Pittsburgh Tribune Review — not my favorite, but often has good community reportin

National, International

American Express/OPEN FORUM — just as they describe it “a wealth of resources for savvy business owners” on the latest topics, including marketing
Marketplace on NPR — great stories and news about business and the economy
Fast Company — a stylish younger version of Fortune or Forbes magazines
Inc. Magazine — less hip than FC, but also a good source for the entrepreneurial types
CNN/money.com/Fortune magazine — another perspective and online package for business news
Business Week — also includes their business books best sellers list
GreenBizJournal — a site that “covers sustainability from a strictly-business point of view.”
TIME business— still another national business news resource
Slate.com/business — a news and blogging sources that often collaborates with NPR

Business Resources

Help Startups — a “web portal serving entrepreneurs and all those providing services and support to the entrepreneurial community.” Also check out my startup check list.
Fast Track — a well-respected program that is “a practical, hands-on business development program designed to help entrepreneurs hone the skills needed to create, manage and grow a successful business.”
SBDC at Duquesne University — have a great reputation for helping startups, etc.
SBDC at University of Pittsburgh — also has a great reputation and a Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence.
Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh — offers a variety of programs to help businesses and manages Mainstreets Pittsburgh
newPA.com — a variety of resources, including financing, available from the state of Pennsylvania
Dewey & Kaye Mosaic — the most complete listing of management jobs in the Pittsburgh region nonprofit market
Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management — Pittsburgh’s leader in nonprofit leadership education and in consulting to organizations

Community Development

Some organizations that are making things happen or letting the world know about it…

CTAC-Community Technical Assistance Center — a very professional nonprofit that works with neighborhoods and community development corporations on a variety of organizational and development issues
Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh — offers a variety of programs to help businesses and manages Mainstreets Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania Downtown Center — manages most PA Main Streets programs, including training, and stages an annual statewide conference
Project for Public Spaces — uniquely creative and aware of the need for thoughtful design and planning

Cool Creativity Tools & More

Some sources of images, words and more for your creativity and enjoyment…

Open Stock Photography — again, million of images, many free, mostly amateurish, but some good finds
FotoSearch — images from more than 100 publishers on one searchable website
HOW — a great magazine on graphic design, advice, readings and an
Print — another great graphic design magazine
iD — an award-winning magazine known for its Annual Design Review
CreativePro.com — bills itself as “where creatives go to know” and includes things like starting a blog
The Quote Lady — perhaps even better at finding quotes than Bartlett’s below
Bartleby.com — famous quotations search somehow related to Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations
OneLook dictionary search — search a bunch of dictionaries at one time; includes a “reverse dictionary” too!
Business Dictionary.com — specializes in business terminology
Snopes.com — a website dedicated to researching the veracity of “urban legends”, societal rumors and mythical beliefs

Green and Sustainability Connections

Some local and other leaders in the Greening trend…

Sustainable Pittsburgh — working to affect decision-making in the Pittsburgh region since 2000.
Green Building Alliance — began in 1993 as “a loose coalition of forward-thinking western Pennsylvania professionals intereste in green building” and is now helping to make the region a national leader
PA Home Energy — a site for state residents to find out how to improve the energy efficiency of their homes
Willam McDonough, architect — a world leader in sustainable design who promotes an innovative “cradle to cradle” design paradigm