Another Social Network for Small Businesses is Born

By Chris Crum - Wed, 07/02/2008 - 2:14pm.

A little competition for the Visa-Facebook project?

The options for small business-targeted social networking have increased lately. Last week of course, the Visa Business Network for Facebook was announced.

Another network is also in existence that is separate from the major players like Facebook and MySpace. It's called Sta.rtUp.Biz, and it offers some similar features to Visa's creation. Dot Com Mogul explains:

Not only can you network with other small business owners, the site is jam packed with resources for the small business owner, such as Motivational Video Clips and Free Search Engine Optimization. The forum also has three experts to provide you with assistance in each major area of small business. A corporate lawyer will answer your legal questions, the "Search Guru" helps you with Google rankings and provides Free Search Engine Optimization, and there's a veteran serial entrepreneur to mentor you on business management and strategy.

Upon first glance, it looks like a nice blend of a lot of useful content and resources for small business professionals.

Profile pages include the usual personal information as well as blogs and a list of the member's recent activity, such as comments, and what groups the member has joined.

I'm not a big fan of the del.icio.us-style domain for reasons I've gone into before, but the site appears like a useful B2B tool just the same.

If anyone signs up for this network or already has, let us know what you think of it. Would you recommend it to other small business owners or would you just as soon stay within the established Facebook/MySpace/etc. crowds?

News Tags: SEO, social networks, Tools and Resources, Sta.rtup.biz, Social Media, social networking, social media marketing

About the author:
Chris is a content coordinator and staff writer for SmallBusinessNewz and the iEntry Network. Subscribe to SmallBusinessNewz RSS Feeds.

Comments

By Guest (SBN reader) - Thu, 07/03/2008 - 10:12am.

Facebook

I find it interesting that many of my corporate buddies love Facebook. As a Financial Planner I found it ...... well to be honest.... quite useless. As a small business professional I rely on trusted associates and strong relationships to generate new business. My reputation is important and having befriended 400 online strangers means very little to my bottom line. I have been using an online tool, http://www.referralkey.com/ I invite the people I know and trust to join my referral network. I can then get quarterly reports to analyze and ensure those relationships are reciprocal. I also have access to my associate's circle so I can exchange referrals with new prospects with only one degree of separation. I highly suggest it for small businesses looking to see actual results from networking.

By Chris Crum - Thu, 07/03/2008 - 10:23am.

RE: Facebook

This sounds useful.

I think why your corporate buddies like Facebook is probably because interacting with strangers helps to increase brand awareness. It takes a good deal of effort though.

Thanks for the resource!

By Casey (SBN reader) - Tue, 07/08/2008 - 2:40pm.

How Well Does Referral Key Work?

I am wondering how well this network is working for you? I firmly believe in the power of networking to create business and do so in other ways myself, so this sparks my curiosity.

By Chris Crum - Tue, 07/08/2008 - 8:33am.

RE: I actually have not

Perhaps the Visa Business Network on Facebook would be more the crowd you're aiming for.

By Yuyud (SBN reader) - Tue, 07/08/2008 - 11:59pm.

Networking, promotion and branding

I think whatever networking type should we try to build relationship. so facebook important enough for promotion and branding. star.tup.biz also could help us grow the business

By Missy Diaz (SBN reader) - Thu, 07/10/2008 - 4:44pm.

So its not like Digg, in

So its not like Digg, in that, one rates or votes on stories submitted? If so, sounds more like a discussion group, if you will.

Will check out the Visa Facebook Group. Jeez! I notice you dont like the deli.co.us style of domains, well i dont like the corp branding of applications. Visa? (give me a break)

Thx! for the tip on both groups, will check them out.

By Business (SBN reader) - Sat, 07/12/2008 - 5:07pm.

Nice Business Site

Checking it out right now. Seems to have some great videos and other stuff. Thanks for the write-up.

By blog marketing for small business (SBN reader) - Thu, 07/31/2008 - 11:33am.

Brain Malfunction

There are so many social networks springing up that its impossilbe to track them all unless there is a unfied blog platform for setting up multiple profile pages at once, and to send RSS feeds through one system.

Another Social Network for Small Businesses is Born

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