Should small-business owners advertise on Facebook? While some who’ve tried it seem satisfied, others are convinced it’s a bust for most local businesses. When USA Today ran an article recently on Facebook’s effort to attract small-biz advertisers, many business owners responded to say their experience with such ads was negative. more

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wants you to see the full appraisal report on the house you’re buying or refinancing as early in the mortgage process as possible, and without your having to ask the lender for it. more

If you’re underwater and facing financial distress, what might Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s new short-sale reform policies mean for you? Potentially a lot – even if you are current on your mortgage payments and never imagined that a short sale and principal reduction could be in the cards. more

Use of mobile devices continues to grow by leaps and bounds, and local business owners should be taking notice now more than ever. A new “Mobile Path to Purchase” study conducted by Nielsen tracked what consumers are doing with their mobile devices. According to the study, consumers show a strong preference for finding information related to local contact and purchases, such as looking up a business location, accessing map and driving directions and calling a business. more

Dear Jeffrey, I am a huge fan. I recently had a WOW experience that completely coincides with your philosophy on customer loyalty versus satisfaction. Today, I received the following email from Amazon: more

Small-business owners hear it all the time: To find out how your business is doing, including what people like or don’t like and what you need to adjust, ask customers for feedback. But your quest for feedback can either produce a magic elixir or simply be an annoyance to customers and prospects, depending on how you do it. more

With 30-year mortgage rates hitting new lows and recent borrowers’ payment performance the best by far in decades, you’d think that banks and other lenders might be loosening up on their hyper-strict underwriting standards. more

Ranking your leads – also called “lead scoring” – is an exercise most small-business owners don’t bother with. At least not in a formal sense. But that may be passing up an opportunity to make follow-up efforts more effective by targeting and nurturing them in different ways based on their score. more

Small-business owners traditionally view customer relationships this way: You produce a product or service, and customers pay you money, some of which you reinvest in finding more customers. more

(Editor’s note: This is the first in a three-part series on tax-planning considerations and strategies for tax year 2012.) more