Full disclosure: I did not decide to join Facebook for business purposes, or so I could blog about it. No. The reason I joined is that a good friend of mine recently joined and posted some interesting sounding pictures of her renovation project, which could only be viewed by fellow Facebookers.

Despite the allure of intriguing renovation photos, I initially resisted joining Facebook because I felt too old and un-hip. But as anyone who has ever watched “Star Trek: The Next Generation” knows, resistance is futile (whether you are dealing with Facebook or the Borg). If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, right? So I joined. And I invite anyone reading this to look me up — and feel free to give me advice about my (so far pretty sparse and boring) Facebook page. (And no, I do not plan on posting any bikini pictures.)

In reading and writing about entrepreneurs and small business owners over the years, I have learned that the most successful ones are passionate about what they do. In fact, oftentimes the business was the result of an idea or concept or product the founder felt passionately about. Or a hobby or skill the person enjoyed and was good at and wanted to share and see if he or she could profit from it. (There’s a reason there are a lot of sites selling hand-crafted jewelry and crafts and pottery and silk-screened t-shirts and photographs.)

Curious about how easy or hard it was to turn something one loved into a business, and sustain it (as well as the initial passion), I wrote an article on the subject, called “Turning a Hobby or Passion into a Business.”

As many of you already know, it’s often a lot harder than you think. While passion and drive are essential, running a business requires more than just an emotional investment. So I asked several small business owners, who had turned a hobby or passion into a business, what were the secrets to their success? And I came away with the following:

Tips for turning your hobby into a business:

1. Really ask yourself, “Is this something I really enjoy doing and can sustain, or am I just swept up in the latest craze? (Think Beanie Babies and Magic cards.)

2. If you think your passion or hobby still has potential as a business, try to find out if lots of other people are doing it — who or what the competition is. What is it about your offerings that are unique or hard to find? Is this something people really want?

3. If you are planning on selling online, make sure you have enough money to invest in creating and maintaining a decent e-commerce site — and make sure your site is being picked up by the major search engines (which may require some advertising).

4. Remember, the customer is king (or queen). Don’t underestimate the power of customer service or how a lack of customer service can cost you sales.

5. Network with other hobbyists or dealers.

6. Have fun. Once you lose your passion or drive, what made you go into this in the first place, you’re going to lose business.

If you’ve turned a hobby or passion into a successful business, or recently re-tooled your business, or have more tips to add to the list, let me know by sending me a comment or emailing me at jennifer [the “at” symbol”] schiffandshiff [dot com].

So to help small and mid-sized business owners develop or refine their multi-channel strategy, I (on behalf of Ecommerce-Guide.com) spoke with two small but very successful multi-channel businesses as well as several multi-channel marketing experts.

While not exhaustive (people hold two-day seminars on this topic), the article is a good starting point, filled with some great examples and helpful advice, for small and mid-sized businesses who want or need to work on their multi-channel strategy.

A couple of quick tips from the article:

* Create a larger branding story that tells the same story whether someone is shopping in your store, visiting your website, or looking at your catalog.

* Make it easy for customers to find your products regardless of which channel they are using.

For more great tips, go to “How to Create a Successful Multi-Channel Experience.”

The author, who interviewed a user experience specialist about the differences between writing for the Web and writing for print publications, such as a newspaper or magazine, makes some good points, which can help you fine tune your online prose and attract more traffic to your site.

Some other tips to improve your online copy — and get it read:

* Know who your primary audience is and write primarily to them, style- and content-wise.

* Keep headlines and subheads short and to the point, using keywords where and when appropriate (i.e., strategically)

* Keep copy short and punchy as people tend to skim when reading online.

* Use active words (verbs) and write in the present tense.

* Have your copy tell a compelling story that will get readers wanting — and clicking for — more.

But getting to the top takes work — and time. Optimizing your Web site so that the major search engines, in particular Google, can find you and give your business top placement in an organic search is a strategy every online business should pursue, but getting that high ranking can take months. And many businesses don’t want or can’t afford to wait that long. That’s where pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, specifically Google AdWords, comes in.

AdWords costs anywhere from a few bucks a month to a few thousand, depending on which keywords you want, and how often people click on your ads. It gives new businesses (as well as more established businesses, of all sizes) and businesses looking to promote a product or service online the opportunity to appear on the first page of a Google search (typically on the right-hand side, in the area called “Sponsored Links,” and occasionally right at the top in the center column) instantly.

But to make AdWords add up for your business, you need to do some homework. Above all, you need to determine how much you are willing or can afford to pay each month for keywords and which keywords will attract the most qualified traffic/leads to your business as you pay for each click whether or not it results in a sale or a lead.

To learn more about Google AdWords and to read a couple of (short) small business case studies, to help you determine if AdWords is right for your small business, check out my article, “Making AdWords Add Up for Your E-Business,” which appears on Ecommerce-Guide.com.

As for the first part, like everything, working from home has its advantages and its disadvantages. The advantages: I am (for the most part) in charge of my own schedule, so if I want to go to the gym or need to run errands or pick up/chauffeur my daughter, I can – with proper planning. The disadvantages: Work is always there, lurking, even when I shut the door and walk away from my office. And it can be lonely. (Hence the need to build in time to get out of the house and be around other adults.)

As for how to set up a home office, whether you need a quiet place to pay the bills or are running a small business, having a home office makes good sense – and can even save you money at tax time. While setting up a home office may seem daunting if you have never done so before, carving out or creating a space to take care of business is actually pretty easy with a little planning.

Following are my Top 10 tips for helping you set up the perfect home office:

1. Before you begin, ask yourself: Why do I want a home office? How will I use this space? Write down the answers and use them to guide you. If the space is to be used for business, contact an accountant to find out what is permissible in your area and what the tax advantages are.

2. Survey your territory and pick a quiet, low-traffic room or nook with access to electrical, cable, phone, and network outlets (or has the ability to have these installed).

3. Get a desk that can accommodate all of your equipment (computer, monitor, scanner, telephone, printer or combination printer/copier/fax) and supplies (desktop organizer, pens, pencils, Post-Its, note paper, calendar or planner, paper clips, stapler and staples) and an office chair that will support your back. Comfort and support are very important, so go to your local office store and try out different office furniture/desks and chairs, so you find a setup that fits your style and build.

4. Pick a computer that fits the work you do. If mobility is important, get a laptop. If your work involves graphics or video, get a computer with a big enough hard drive and memory to support that – and a separate, large, flat-panel monitor. You can learn more about picking the right computer and find a computer that’s right for you by checking out sites like PC World and Consumer Reports Online.

5. Get a high-speed Internet connection. The two basic options are cable modem or DSL. Find out what’s available in your area and weigh the pros and cons of each.

6. Set up your own email account. Many Internet providers, as well as Google, MSN, and Yahoo, offer these for free.

7. Choose a printer. If color copies are important, get a color ink jet printer. If speed is important, consider a grayscale laser printer.

8. If you need to fax or make copies, consider a combination printer-fax-copier.

9. If you are running a business, think about installing a separate phone line, either a traditional land line, supplied by the phone company, or a service that works via the Internet (called VoIP), such as Skype or Vonage or Optimum Voice, which tend to be less expensive than traditional land lines but also less reliable in the event of a power outage (they won’t work).

10. Set some rules, with yourself and your family. It is very important when working from home to get dressed and organized every morning, as if you were going to a non-home office, to set a schedule, and to let your family know when you are working and what the rules are for interrupting you when they need something.

First, Zappos.com. I was about to depart on a trip where I knew I would be doing a lot of walking, but I didn’t want to have to pack many pairs of shoes. I had a pair of casual/walking shoes I loved, but they were pretty beaten up, so I figured it was time to get a new pair — heck, I’d just get a new version of the same pair! (It was a well-known brand and I remembered the woman who sold them to me telling me they never went out of style. Ha!)

So I went in search of my shoes, only to find out, two weeks later, and just days before my trip, that the model I craved had been discontinued (so much for staying in style — or in stock). And, of course, I couldn’t find anything else that I liked nearly as well or that fit. So I decided to hunt online.

My spouse recommended Zappos.com, where he had bought shoes many times, in part because of its enormous selection and in part because of its excellent customer service.

Sure enough, I found a pair of shoes I liked (which had received good as well as helpful reviews), but would they arrive in time for my trip?  I couldn’t tell from the shipping options which one to choose. Fortunately, Zappos.com provided a customer service number, so I decided to pick up the phone and call. I had very low expectations.

But lo and behold, my call was quickly answered, by a cheerful-sounding, fluently English-speaking woman who did not seem annoyed by my call. (Shocking, I know.) I believe her name was Mary. In any case, she was a saint.

Mary was extremely knowledgeable, answered all my questions, and then told me, upon sensing my anxiety about getting the shoes in time for my trip, that Zappos.com would ship me my shoes overnight, for free. And, she continued, if I was in any way dissatisfied, I could return them for free (parcel post), too.

There’s a word for that, and it is “Wow.”

Sure enough, the next day my shoes arrived, as promised. (Wow again.) Unfortunately, though, they did not fit, even when I inserted pads (though that was not Zappos.com’s fault). Two weeks later, after returning from my trip (with my old, beat-up shoes) and trying the Zappos.com shoes on a second time, I sadly acknowledged that they really did not fit. So I contacted Zappos.com about returning them. No problem, they said. Just ship them back, using the label they provided, and Zappos.com would refund my credit card. And you know what? They did. Quickly, too.

Zappos.com may not have the lowest prices online but their superior selection, customer service, and free shipping have made the site my — and a lot of other folks’s — number one place to shop for shoes online.

But you don’t have to be a great big company to offer great customer service. Just look at LabelDaddy.com.

Like many other children, my daughter is going to sleepaway camp for the first time this summer, and I needed labels to sew or iron into her clothing. Like most moms, I asked friends and family who had children who had attended sleepaway camps where they got their labels. Unfortunately, they weren’t that helpful — and told me just to look online. So I did.

After spending hours (and I mean HOURS) checking out dozens of places and doing my own comparison shopping, I found LabelDaddy.com, a California-based business created and run by two daddies who “were inspired to create Label Daddy soon after becoming parents themselves.”

The labels LabelDaddy.com sold were ADORABLE, the cutest ones I had seen online (and boy, had I seen a lot). They also required no ironing or sewing (amazing). And I loved the “Daddy” story (on the Our Company page). So I decided to order some.

One of the nice things about LabelDaddy.com labels is you can choose the font, the font color, the background color, and the icon that goes on your label, which is exactly what I did.

About a week later, my order arrived — with the wrong icon on the label. I think it was a Saturday, so instead of calling the company, I sent an email to customer service.

Maybe an hour later, I received an email from “Greg,” profusely apologizing for the error and offering to immediately fix it and send out the new order, free of charge, Monday. Boy, was I impressed! There was no accusing me of somehow screwing up the order; no mention of charging me for the corrected order or taking weeks to get it to me. Nope. Just sorry; we’ll fix it right away, no charge, and get it out to you, pronto. He even offered to send me an extra set of labels, no charge. (I declined, partly because I really didn’t need more labels and partly because as a small business owner myself, I didn’t want to hurt his bottom line.)

Turns out, Greg is one of the Daddies, and, big surprise, wants his customers to be 100% satisfied — and recommend the service to their friends and family. Which I am and I just did. (Of course, if I have a problem with the labels, I will let all of you, and the folks at LabelDaddy.com, know.)

The moral of this story: No matter what size your business is, if you want to inspire customer loyalty and generate positive word of mouth (you know, advertising you just can’t buy and which pays you back a thousand fold), you need to treat your customers well (instead of like an annoying part of doing business). That means providing a customer service email address and phone number; making sure you have knowledgeable customer service reps (or someone) to respond to queries, in a timely fashion; and making customers feel comfortable about reporting problems or asking questions.

To find out what small business owners can do to increase the open and click-through rates of their emails and email campaigns, I spoke with Suzanne Norman, the director of community relations at Emma, the Web-based email marketing and communications service that helps users create customized email marketing campaigns.

Per Norman, a successful email creates “a one-on-one conversation that engages readers and builds trust.” It also needs to be relevant, which means knowing what your subscribers are interested in, and it has to strike the right balance between content and image, and not overwhelm readers — or their e-mail servers.

To read Norman and Emma’s top tips for creating click-worthy emails and email campaigns, read my article “Eight Tips for a Clickable E-Mail Marketing Campaign.”

Got your own tips? Let me know by leaving a comment.

 Not good business.

 And you can be sure that unless forced to, I will not soon do business with that company or person again.

As a general rule of thumb, I advise my clients not to send out a press release or offer/teaser email to customers or prospective customers unless they know they have the goods — and the people — to back up what they promise. Similarly, I make it a habit to not take on work (i.e., agree to do a project or job) unless I know I can meet the project deadlines and provide the skills or expertise the client is looking for.

Do you like when people/companies don’t keep their word? Well, your customers don’t like it either. And when you offer a product or service or make a commitment you cannot deliver upon, you risk alienating your customers/clients, which is never good for business.

What I found was shocking — at least it shocked me.

“The problem [of online plagiarism] is definitely growing,” Greenspan told me. “Copying content is extremely easy and can be done by anyone, anywhere, and any time. Given the hours of work it takes to write and edit original content, the temptation to steal existing content is just too great for many people around the world. This threat can only be addressed by vigilant plagiarism search and detection.”  

So what can you do to prevent someone from stealing your online content and protect your investment? Read my article, “Catching Copycats: Protecting Your Online Content,” which was just posted on Ecommerce-Guide.com, to find out. (Note: If you want to link to the article or this blog post, that’s fine. Just remember to include proper attribution, please. If you wish to use information contained in the article (more than what is considered “fair use”), you need to get permission from Jupitermedia.

In a hurry and don’t have time to read the article right now? Okay. Here are a few quick tips:

1. Put a copyright notice on the bottom of every page of your site. That’s c in a circle [©], the year, your name, and then the words “All rights reserved.” And don’t just put the current year. Go back to the date your site went live and use that at the beginning of the range.

2. Put a trademark (TM) or service mark (SM) symbol after the name of your business and your tagline (if it’s unique).

3. Check the web frequently for copycats by using a free service like Copyscape — or by cutting and pasting a small paragraph into Google and seeing if that content shows up anyplace else.

4. Protect your copy by using read only or password protected PDFs. Thieves are generally lazy and hate to retype.

5. Put prospective copycats on notice by including the Copyscape anti-theft banner or words to that affect on your site.

6. And if you find someone is stealing your content, email them right away and ask them to stop.

For more (and more detailed) information, read my article — but again, please, do not use any of the content without proper attribution and/or proper permission.