I learned as much as I could about fishing industry: working on boats, at docks and in canneries. I learned that one of popular techniques used by commercial fishing companies is to cast huge nets between ships miles apart and drag them through sea capturing anything unfortunate enough to get snarled. While this technique netted prolific amounts of fish, vast majority of catchcould not be sold at market.

What a waste! Not only do these companies unnecessarily deplete a precious natural resource they also waste their valuable time and energy setting and hauling in nets and then sorting through their catch to identify and pluck marketable fish from masses.

While large fishing companies can afford to expend their resources in such a manner, as a small business owner, you would be ill advised to follow such a path when fishing for new clients. Small business marketing tactics must be much more precise and efficient to be viable.

To continue our fishing example, consider a tribesman from a pacific island. Instead of employing large nets a tribal fisherman will stand and wait, knee deep in water known to be plentiful with type of fish he seeks with only a spear in hand. When a fish swims by he lunges with his spear and voila! Dinner is served, or at least caught. The tribesman’s method is highly efficient and effective.

The methods you employ when marketing your small business or professional service firm should minimize waste and maximize sales.

Are you using a marketing net or a marketing spear to find new customers?

Size Matters A marketing net can take many forms. One of most common forms of marketing with a net is investing in belief that larger group you market to better chance of developing new business. This type of thinking could not be farther removed from reality. You can much more effectively generate quality leads and sales by focusing your marketing efforts on a smaller yet highly specific audience.

1.) RSS Tools - RSS feeds bring automatically updated information straight to your desktop. You can monitor or promote news, job listings, personals, and classifieds using RSS. The following tools assist webmasters in using RSS to maximize their time.

RSS Readers - RSS readers are designed as tools to view RSS feeds, making it easier for users to view and manage content of a feed. Feed readers make it easy to mark feeds as read or flag items that are important. The following are some of our favorite RSS readers:

FeedDemon - FeedDemon is a client that can retrieve and organize RSS feeds from Internet. It comes pre-configured with several news feeds, and you can easily add your own by adding URL for an RSS feed of your choice. FeedDemon offers an attractive and easy-to-use interface with integrated web browsing. http://www.feeddemon.com

FeedScout - Feed Scout is a RSS/ATOM/RDF reader that can be used directly from Internet Explorer. Feed Scout enables you to view RSS/ATOM feeds from different sites directly in Internet Explorer. You can even set your Home Page to show your favorite feeds. http://www.feedscout.com

2.) RSS Creation Tools - As RSS feeds have increased in popularity and breadth publishers and webmasters have struggled to find a solution to create RSS feeds. The following tools will assist webmasters in creating RSS feeds:

FeedForAll - Desktop software used to create, edit, manage and publish RSS feeds. New RSS feeds can be quickly and easily created with FeedForAll. Advanced features enable you to create professional-looking RSS feeds quickly. Existing RSS feeds can be repaired and enhanced with FeedForAll. RSS feeds generated by other means can be automatically repaired, so that they conform to RSS 2.0 specification. Existing feeds can be enhanced to contain advanced feed properties, and give them a more professional look. http://www.feedforall.com

3.) RSS Articles and Tutorials - Articles and tutorials based on RSS and designed to demystify Really Simple Syndication for users and publishers. RSS Specifications - RSS Specifications contains a collection of articles related to RSS and news feeds that assist both publishers and users in deciphering Really Simple Syndication.

RSS Specifications - RSS Specifications contains a collection of articles related to RSS and news feeds that assist both publishers and users in deciphering really simple syndication. http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-articles.htm or articles can be read in an RSS feed. http://www.rss-specifications.com/article-feed.xml

Make RSS Feeds - Step by step instructional tutorial detailing how to manually create an RSS feed. http://www.make-rss-feeds.com

4.) Ebay Monitoring Using RSS - Monitor online auctions for specific items of interest. As eBay has grown it has become difficult to discern and locate specific auction items. By using RSS tools users can easily recieve instant notification when a specific item is being auctioned.

Free Bidding Tools - FMonitor online auctions for specific items of interest. As eBay has grown it has become difficult to discern and locate specific auction items. By using RSS tools users can easily receive instant notification when a specific item is being auctioned. http://www.freebiddingtools.com/

5.) Web Monitoring - Monitor Internet for specific news items or blog topics of interest. A number of free online RSS tools make web monitoring very easy.

PubSub - Monitor Internet for specific news items or blog topics of interest. A number of free online RSS tools make web monitoring very easy. PubSub - Every day, PubSub's matching engine performs billions of matches of new items against user subscriptions. The instant a match is made, PubSub alerts user via RSS. PubSub monitors more than 6.5 million blogs, as well as 50,000 USENET newsgroups, all SEC/EDGAR filings, press releases from major wire services, and FAA airport delay alerts. http://www.pubsub.com

Google News Monitoring Using RSS - This free online tool turns a Google news search into an RSS feed. http://www.justinpfister.com/gnewsfeed.php

6.) Other RSS Tools - Alternative tools for creative webmasters.

RSS2Wap - The RSS2Wap site is meant for online conversions of RSS feeds into WML for access on WAP devices (RSS2WML, RSS WAP or RSS-to-WAP). It's free and you can make a link on your web site. http://www.rss2wap.com

7.) RSS Graphic Tool - Websites that have RSS feeds available use colorful graphics as flags to indicate to web surfers that RSS feeds are available for specific content.

RSS Graphic Tool - Websites that have RSS feeds available use colorful graphics as flags to indicate to web surfers that RSS feeds are available for specific content. RSS Graphic Tool - Customize RSS buttons. If you have limited time and lack artistic abilities, use this free online RSS graphic tool to create an RSS button. The button's color and text can be customized to suit look and feel of your website. http://www.feedforall.com/public/rss-graphic-tool.htm

8.) Displaying RSS - Many webmasters display contents of RSS feeds on their web pages as a fresh source of content and information that changes on a regular basis.