SmallBusinessNewz

eBay to Hold Events for Small Businesses

With 90 million active users, eBay is one of the leading places online to start a business. The company has decided to lend a helping hand to small-businesses and part-time eBay sellers to advance their career opportunities. The company has announced a new series of events called eBay: On Location. Starting in March the affair will stop at Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, and San Jose.

Google To Help With "In The Neighborhood" Customers

Most brick-and-mortar small businesses don't exist in a vacuum; they're located somewhere in the vicinity of other organizations, and may even be in that exact spot for a reason.  So a new Google Maps feature called "Nearby places you might like" could turn out to be of significant value.

Email Newsletters: How It's Done

How effective do you consider email newsletters? Although they are one of the oldest forms of marketing, they are still effective.  As seen below, popular blogger Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net, says this about email marketing, "...email is really the way that most people, young and old from different generations [and] different backgrounds, access information on the Web."

President Obama Talks New Small Business Initiatives

Today president Obama proposed the expansion of two SBA lending programs aimed at letting small businesses refinance and increase limits for working capital. Both legislative proposals are designed to help small businesses through a difficult period in credit markets, the White House says.

What if Customers Could Virtually Walk Through Your Store?

File this one under rumors, but it's an interesting rumor nonetheless. Popular search writer Barry Schwartz says he's heard from a New York retailer called Oh Nuts, that Google went to their store and took pictures of the inside for a new product called "Google Store Views". This would be like Google Maps Street View, but inside stores.

Another Employment Decline Documented

Over the past three months, the Dow made quite a bit of progress, moving from around 10,000 to 10,725.  Of course, in late January, it began to plummet again, and so disappointing numbers from the National Federation of Independent Business about employment sort of make sense.

One Out Of Five Commercial Emails Lost In Transit

It's a well-known fact that some people shuffle small businesses' emails straight into spam folders.  Others delete them, and then there's the array of folks who mark stuff as read, look at emails but never follow through, and so on.  Unfortunately, it seems that a great many emails never reach the intended recipients in any sense.

Embracing Mobile Marketing

Mobile is exploding all around us. According to a report from IDC, more than 450 million people worldwide used the mobile Web in 2009. That number is expected to increase even more by 2013. Is your business doing anything to take advantage of these mobile opportunities?

Prioritizing IT Can Lead to Increased Revenue

Microsoft has released some research that suggests a direct correlation between IT usage and business growth for small and midsize businesses. According to the company's findings, businesses using hosted services have better financial performance.

Canada's Business Barometer Bounces Back In January

Canadian small business owners felt more chipper in January than they did the month before, according to new statistics from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.  The data even indicates that a bit of economic growth might be on the menu. Last month, the news was not so good - the Business Barometer Index fell to 63.7 (for December), down from 68.0.  Now, however, we're back up to 66.9, a level similar to those recorded between September and November of last year.