Ben Franklin, played by Chautaqua presenter G. Robin Smith, joined us to share his ideas about creating successful business relationships, his dislike for patents, Facebook and even open source code. He was the country's first postmaster, so we also asked him what he thought the future held for the U.S. post office. It's not pretty, but it certainly was enlightening and entertaining. And by the way, he believes there's more to life than earning money. Imagine that, from one of the more successful entrepreneurs of his day.

The Web is abuzz with the term "content marketing," but my guest Ian Lurie of Portent Inc., the Seattle agency he founded in 1995, says it's not about promoting content for its own sake. It's about creating marketable content that informs, amuses and entertains. He should know. He's the co-author of "Web Marketing All-In-One for Dummies."

Writers and marketers alike will enjoy this interview where Ian explains how marketing can save the world and why he still takes time to write well. Find out what question prompted him to "bang his head in a drawer" and other stories of marketing angst.

According to Katherine Cleland of Cleland Marketing, search has made it a lot more difficult to market a small, local business. Luckily, we had her in the studio to give us her rundown of what businesses can do to improve their chances -- especially those in the industrial-manufacturing sector.

She also shared with us how she divides SEO companies into scammers, shysters, bunglers, franchisers and professionals. You'll hear what they are, how to know the difference and what to do to avoid getting burned. There's a wealth of search engine marketing strategies in this information-rich podcast to help you get better search rankings.

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This is the show to listen to if you're wondering how to get your startup off the ground in the Greater Seattle area. 

The show begins with Brian Ma, Co-Founder and Product Manager of the startup price predictor Decide.com. He shares his startups story -- where the idea came from and how they continue to develop the service. And he reveals what they paid for that real word domain name; it was a lot more than $10,000.

Seaton Gras of Surf Incubator talks about why it's essential to bring people together in one space to make business happen and what you need to join Surf. John Sechrest of the Seattle Angel Conference explains what all the incubators, accelerators and bootcamps are about. He shares his list of groups and orgs, and how to select the right ones to attend. There are some for making deals and others for learning the ropes, and you'd better know the difference.

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