07/31/2013
As a rule of thumb, a small- or mid-sized business should test its disaster recovery plan at least yearly, or any time the business undergoes a major change. However, most businesses are unprepared for common disasters such as floods, hurricanes and cyber-attacks.

A recent survey suggests that 17 percent of businesses never test their disaster plans and one-third test only once a year, an article on EWeek.com reports. When they do test, 81 percent of respondents report problems, and 11 percent encounter major problems or complete failure.

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07/30/2013
So which social media site should you use? It depends on the type of business you own, says Shama Kabani, the founder of Web marketing company The Marketing Zen Group. You should be wherever your customers are. A restaurant, for example, needs to closely monitor online review site Yelp.

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07/29/2013
Is your small-to-midsized business growing? As a company grows, its needs grow too. While many companies tend to evolve from one stage to another, more successful leaders consciously guide their businesses through growth stages, with a focus on streamlining operations and expanding smartly and efficiently.

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07/26/2013
Hashtags are a key to riding todays social media wave. But understanding what a hashtag is, let alone implementing one, can be confusing for many small business owners -- even ones that consider themselves tech savvy. #smallbiz

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07/24/2013
Small businesses continue to spur U.S. job growth. Companies with fewer than 50 employees created 45 percent of the 188,000 new jobs in June, a recently released ADP National Employment Report said.

The 84,000 jobs created by small firms represent nearly half of the jobs created by U.S. businesses and the percentage of jobs created by small companies continues to grow.

This is the second consecutive month for growth in job creation among smaller firms. In May, small businesses created 63,000 jobs, up from 57,000 in April. That month saw a major decline from Marchs 72,000 jobs added by smaller companies.

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07/22/2013
Unease around Obamacare appears to be increasing among small business owners, according to a recent survey from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The conservative-leaning business lobby’s survey had especially bad news for small business hiring. Half of small business owners polled indicated they would either cut employee hours or employ fewer full-time workers to avoid Obamacare's requirement that employees working over 30 hours a week receive employer-provided health insurance, according to the survey. Another 24 percent said they would curb hiring plans to avoid the employer mandate, since it applies only to companies with 50 or more full-time employees.

Almost half of small businesses said they were concerned about the law in general, up from 42 percent in January.

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07/11/2013
Own a small business? Communicate constantly with your employees, interact with customers on social media but do not respond too heatedly to negative customer reviews, motivate yourself with a sense of desperation, make sure you accept debit and credit cards and do not listen to your parents when they tell you to get a real job.

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07/10/2013
What You Can Learn From Google Product Failures

1. Companies Should Focus on What They Do Best

You can not please all of the people all of the time, and in business, you simply can not try to do everything. Having too many products in your pipeline is a distraction from your core purpose.

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07/09/2013
Ever since the advent of the internet there have been an untold amount of companies based around web technologies that have come and gone. The dot-com bubble of the 1990s filtered out many of the winners while shedding the losers. Over the years start-ups came and went, were bought, or just failed. With the current social media bubble (that will pop) there is another slate of companies that have failed. Yet when it comes to the large players will Google, all we seem to see is success. Yet, the Google Graveyard is still adding grave plots.

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07/09/2013
Googles on an uncompromising mission. It wants to give its users access to accurate information, unique content and the finest writers. It continually tweaks and improves its algorithms so that the best of the web gets the exposure it deserves.

Unfortunately, there is a flipside: a penalty. That is the consequence of Google taking issue with something on your site. Sometimes a penalty is well deserved, but even if you know you are in the wrong, you probably want to do something about it.

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07/08/2013
At graduation, it is important to remember one thing: College is only the beginning.

As you walk up to accept your diploma and move your tassel from one side to the next, you will join many friends, colleagues and family members who have similarly moved up through the ranks of higher education. And while graduation calls for celebration, the realities of the real world should soon set in -- that is, the truths college never taught you.

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07/05/2013
No one uses the phone anymore, the New York Times declared a couple of years ago and millions of young people shrugged.

Texting? Sure. Chatting online? Of course, but for a certain generation of young business people currently entering the world of work, actually dialling a number is mostly for moms and telemarketers.

But however much the phone may have fallen out of favor for personal use, professionally, the fact remains that every now and again you’re actually going to have to put headset to ear and chances are, with so little practice, you might be a bit rusty at this simple but essential skill.

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07/03/2013
They have got loads of valuable info on online consumers--and they got it without asking. Shady tactic, or simply the way of online business?

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07/02/2013
From the death of a loved one to feline fancies, small business owners tell us what made them set up their own company

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07/01/2013
Just because you're on the road does not mean you can't remain productive.

Inexpensive apps can help you get your work done on your smartphone or tablet, wherever your business travels take you.

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06/28/2013
26 Great Ideas for Blog Posts!
Blogs have increased in popularity because they provide a steady stream of new and unique content. The only issue presented by this quality of blogs is that it may become difficult for those who run blogs to think of interesting and novel posts. If you have jumped on the blogging bandwagon but suffer writer's block, do not panic: we have created a list of 26 ideas for blog posts.

Great Ideas for Blog Posts