Proper business etiquette not only conveys expertise, professionalism, and confidence; it also helps set your company apart from the competition. Appropriate dress, direct eye contact, and a firm handshake all contribute to a successful representation of your brand – but these can all fall flat if they’re not reinforced by appropriate behavior.

To stand a better chance of success, businesses need to be carefully polished as well as highly engaging.

Providing customer service was once about speaking to someone in person at your place of business or providing a phone number for customers to call if they needed assistance. A quick flip through the phonebook or a glance at the sticker on the back of a product could provide someone with a direct line to your business or a physical address to visit so they could get their questions answered.

A great website should always start with a solid foundation. If you’re a new business owner and you’d like to start creating a website, or if your site is just outdated and you need a fresh presence on the web, a content management system (CMS) will provide the tools you need to keep your site updated and effective.

There are many tools available to help you manage your social media accounts. There are some that are more useful than others, such as Hootsuite, a platform that allows you to schedule posts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram simultaneously and far into the future. Tweetdeck is much like Hootsuite, but just for Twitter. If you use Twitter for your business, signing into and trying out Tweetdeck may drastically improve the way you tweet. Tweetdeck allows you to do many things that will up your productivity and save you time.

Here are three Tweetdeck basics to get you started:

Legendary Scottish beast joins YetiFoot footwear company

BANGOR - Lisa Liberatore and Jason Harkins, the co-founders of CoVort, have transformed 49 Main Street from an empty shell to a co-working haven. With financial support from sponsors such as Bangor Savings Bank, Rudman Winchell and Eaton Peabody, CoVort opened shortly after this past Thanksgiving. 

If you’ve already invested time in establishing a social media presence for your business, you’re ahead of the game! The next step is learning how to increase social media engagement, which is easier said than done.

There are many ways to help encourage people to like, comment, retweet, favorite and share your posts. Here are seven to get you started:

If you’re on Facebook or other social media platforms and have at least a few friends in the millennial generation, you might have noticed that Netflix launched a revival of "Gilmore Girls," a popular television series from the early 2000s.

We’re well into the holiday season, and many people have their minds set on gifts for their loved ones. Even if you’re a bit behind on your holiday marketing, it’s not too late to reach out to customers about your products and services.

While growth exists, the state still lags the U.S. economically