Business Blogs: Trends, tips, and real-life anecdotes from industry experts.

As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has now added a 100% interest free SBA backed loan with no fees attached. With so many businesses (big and small) crumbling in the current economic climate, the new loan program is an attempt by the SBA to reach [...]

We spend a lot of time, appropriately, sharing as much as we can at StartupNation about how to get new customers. But once you get customers onboard, what can you do to make sure you keep them?
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Our advice is to ask four key questions:

Who is my customer? This helps you understand your target market. Familiarize [...]

Businesses that accept credit cards are a distinct advantage when it comes to attracting customers. With over 3/4 of the American population using some form of plastic to pay for regular purchases, you can’t afford not to offer a credit card payment option.

Merchant Account Basics
In order to accept credit card payments, you’ll need to open [...]

Referencing my prior post on Creative Capitalism, here is another business with a 1 for 1 model.
A new project by California eco-urban design firm LJ Urban aims to make giving more concrete—quite literally—by matching its sales of homes domestically with funds to build homes in the impoverished African nation of Burkina Faso.

Urban has designed a [...]

What Can You Do To Help Ensure Excellent Delivery on your Email Marketing Campaigns
1) Keep Your List Healthy
Be sure everyone on your list has specifically requested info from or about your company. If they opted in, just make sure you’re not mailing previously unsubscribed or bounced addresses.
And remember that permission is not forever.  If someone [...]

To follow up on a previous post requesting feedback on topics and offering to highlight members of the community, I learned of Outspoken Media, Inc.—an internet marketing startup that was founded in January by three women who wanted more for their clients. Partner Rae Hoffman just finished 20th in the recent Startup Mom competition, an [...]

You may recall my post, The beginning of the end … of the bad economy, last month. Based on the April Consumer Confidence Index, things appeared to have turned the corner and people’s confidence seemed to start to return.
Good news. The positive turn in consumer outlook appears to now be a positive trend in conumser [...]

I was recently asked by a strategic partner of StartupNation’s, when’s your site relaunch occurring?
My answer was, “End of June-ish”.
I realized at that moment, that i was guilty of being an “-ish”.
An “-ish”, you ask?
It’s the grey area in our brilliant plans. It’s the risky fudge factor that makes us inefficient. It’s the uncertain, doubting [...]

The home page is typically where most site visitors will enter your website.  It can determine whether a prospective customer is intrigued and eager to learn more, or is instead confused, frustrated and turned-off. Let’s face it – your home page is one of the “Money” pages on your website, so it better be effective.
Therefore, [...]

Recently, I heard about a new kind of phone company and their PR tactics. Here, Ari Rabban, CEO of Phone.com, www.phone.com, shares his thoughts and insights on success:
Tell us about Phone.com.
Phone.com is a new kind of phone company, Or, as we like to call it, a Phone.Company. We offer innovative services based on VoIP (Voice [...]