[Maximo]

I appreciate Amazon, Target, and other giants, but I also like mom and pop small businesses.

Google and Facebook are making it harder than ever for small businesses to compete by requiring payment to be seen and heard.

You can help your favorite small businesses by "Liking" their Facebook pages. To make sure you see all of the posts from the business, hover over the "Like" button and click "Show in newsfeed" or "Add to Interest Lists."

Every time you "Like" a post or leave a comment, you are helping that business. Same with giving a Google +1. You can also share links from the business' website on Facebook and Twitter.

Each "Like" and share sends a signal to Google and helps boost that business in search engine results.

Thank you to everyone who has supported my small business.