Getting started on your small business tax return
Do not look at the calendar and think, “I don’t need to start on my small business tax return yet. I have more than three months to do it.” That attitude is begging for last-minute panic and mistakes…
MiamiHerald.com

What to Know About Google’s New Update
Last week Google announced another algorithm update, called the “page layout algorithm update”, which will target sites that have too many ads above the fold.
Brick Marketing Blog

Why campaign spending rules hurt small business
A recent poll conducted by Lake Research found that 66% of a random sample of 500 small-business owners believe the Citizens United decision was “mostly bad” or “somewhat bad” for small business.
CNN

Small Business Owners, Nonprofit Execs: Don’t Make These Retirement Mistakes
13 mistakes small business owners and nonprofit execs make in retirement planning revealed in Ventureneer webinar.
PR.com (press release)

Effective Sales Techniques Regardless of Your Industry
If you want your business to excel in the market, you have to implement some great sales ideas that will ensure that you are at the top of your industry.
Expert Business Advice

Small business administrator on cabinet is good first step
President Barack Obama may finally have it right – about small business, that is, and its importance to our economy. Two weeks ago, he appointed the administrator of the Small Business Administration to his cabinet.
Biddeford Journal Tribune

HP updates small-business color printer line
New laser printers and multifunction devices are targeted at SMBs that produce their own marketing collateral or that require professional-quality color output.
ZDNet (blog)

Small Business Plan: A Template for Making Sales
“Nothing happens until something gets sold.” This statement, posted on the Web site of Sales Engine, is something any small business plan should adhere to.
International Business Times

The pricing formula (S&S)
Pricing your product is actually simple, as long as you consider it from the buyer’s point of view.
Seth’s Blog

Office of Advocacy Releases Small Business Profiles for All 50 States
Today the Office of Advocacy released the annual Small Business Profiles for the States and Territories. This is the 16th year Advocacy has published a state-by-state profile of American small business for the United States.
PR Newswire (press release)

Grow your business with resources in the “Cloud”
Could the “cloud” help you grow your business? Pat Sigmon joins Jim Blasingame to reveal innovative ways to use web-based tools – the “cloud” – to help you grow your business more efficiently.
The Small Business Advocate (audio)

Small-business pessimism hangs around
Three years of poor sales and a slow economy have conditioned small-business owners to think negatively. Or at least that’s how it seems in the latest round of reports on the small-business economic outlook.
OCRegister

Exporting to China just got easier for small business
How do you export to and distribute your products in China. Frank Lavin joins Jim Blasingame from Hong Kong to explain how ExportNow.com will help small businesses gain access to China’s consumers without prohibitive expense.
The Small Business Advocate (audio)

Small Business Tax Cheats: A $122 Billion Problem
But an increasingly tricky web of politics and logistics surrounding small business tax matters virtually eliminates any likelihood of a serious crackdown on these diverse entities.
The Fiscal Times

Office Depot Small Business Index Finds Organization is a Big Challenge
According to the survey, filing and organization are the top business tasks that small business owners least look forward to, as 27 percent loath putting their office in order.
MarketWatch (press release)

Verizon Wireless Amps Up Small Business Capabilities with Powerful New Devices at
This week, at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Verizon Wireless unveiled new devices, including tablets, smartphones and mobile hotspots,that are sure to capture the attention of SMB proprietors.  Here are a few great options…

Poll: Corporate political cash hurts small business
An opinion poll released Wednesday found that two-thirds of small business leaders believe the US Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision hurts them, and a whopping 88 percent view money as playing a negative role in politics.
Salt Lake Tribune

How to Become a Tech Guru in One Year
Last year, Ryan Bubinski, 22, and Zach Sims, 21, founded Codecademy, a New York City-based startup that provides online learning opportunities in the programming space. The company offers classes and videos on how to code, and this month launched Code Year, a free and interactive yearlong coding class.
American Express OPEN Forum

The ups and downs of small business employment
We’ll start by defining a small business as an enterprise with fewer than 500 employees. That’s the definition used by the Small Business Administration.
PolitiFact

Study: Three in Four Women Small Business Owners Predict More Tough Times in 2012
A new Nationwide Financial study shows three quarters (74 percent) of women small business owners expect their business to be negatively impacted in 2012 by the economy.
Insurance News Net (press release)

How to Make the Perfect Website

Sadly, many entrepreneurs have provided the public with websites that are faulty, unreadable, esthetically displeasing, or incompatible with mobile devices. If you’re cringing with guilt, you may want to read up on these tips to make a perfect website.
NewBizBlogger

5 Things Every Small Business Should Know about Email Marketing
Here are five aspects of email marketing that every small business owner should be aware of.
Everything PR

How The SBA Can Better Serve The Other 29353039 Small Businesses
The paperwork, the certifications, the bidding, the bureaucracy…for a small business who’s not familiar with the system it’s almost impossible. I’m not alone. Most of my clients hate working with the government.
Huffington Post

Ten Twitter tips and tricks
Two social media experts explain how small business owners can channel Twitter’s tiny might.
Sydney Morning Herald

Local Search: A Must for Small Business
For small business some of the most important search is local and optimising your site to be found in local search directories. Here are some of our top hints on how to optimise your site being found locally.
PRWire

SOPA Kills Small Business and Fangirls
It’s badly written and has far too great a possibility of hurting small business. Big and broad laws like this have been proven, time and again, to be very dangerous to the people.
FemPop

Shaving a few millimeters off the thickness and a few ounces off the weight, making slight changes to the shape of the thing, offering a white accented model were the cosmetic changes. Don’t get us wrong, though. It’s not as if Apple is in danger of losing market share because it blew it with the iPad 2.

This is still a hugely attractive product. Given that it’s priced pretty much the same as the iPad 1 when it first appeared, it’s good value, too. And the new hardware features do make it more capable as a business tool.

Source/Read More: Small Business Computing

Jackrabbit.com, a nationwide source for small business technology solutions, has introduced two new ready-to-use laptop for business packages. They are built around top-of-the-line HP EliteBook and Lenovo ThinkPad laptop computers that provide professional-grade stability, reliability, and power. Each is supported by a rich collection of essential high-quality hardware and software products, ensuring that it will run smoothly and productively for many years. Each package arrives at the customer’s office as a stable computing platform that is fully configured, optimized, and personalized for the specific user, ready for any personal and job-specific software to be loaded.

Source/Read More: Daily Markets

Damaged or lost data files have cost many small- or home-based businesses weeks, months or even years of work. It can happen in an instant, for many reasons. Suddenly your hard drive starts making loud grinding noises and stops working. Your laptop might be stolen or maybe you simply push a wrong button. Computer viruses also can make files vanish.

Technological dangers are common and you must be prepared to avoid them. Having backup files available in the event of trouble could be the difference between staying open or having to shut down.

Source/Read More: Ohio.com

Expanding its storage offerings for small and medium businesses (SMB), as well as “distributed enterprises,” Iomega this week is rolling out a new line of network storage devices designed specifically for those markets.

Iomega’s new StorCenter PX series of storage products is coming out of the gate with three units — two desktop enclosures and one rackmount — all configurable for various needs, according to Iomega officials.

Source/Read More: Small Business Computing

Symantec has announced the latest version of its Backup Exec software, as well as an enhanced range of delivery models for its small and medium business customers in the form of both Backup Exec appliances and a separate cloud offering, Backup Exec.cloud, with the cloud offering designed for very small businesses.

Symantec’s SMB backup strategy is very similar to the enterprise appliance strategy they announced in January, a multi-faceted delivery model that will let customers choose between appliances, software or cloud solutions according to what best suits their IT requirements, needs and environment.

Source: eChannelLine USA

If you are looking for an incredibly thin and light small business notebook PC with the right mix of style, portability and affordability, take a look at the Dell Vostro V130. This “ultraportable” laptop measures a scant three-quarters of an inch thick and weighs just 3.4 pounds, which makes it easy to tote as a go-anywhere computing companion.

But don’t call it a netbook: With its 13.3-inch screen, full-size keyboard and available dual-core processor, the Vostro V130 is much more powerful and user-friendly than any netbook.

Read the whole review here.

One (of many) areas covered in the article: Sales and Marketing.

A host of programs can help you cultivate relationships with clients. More companies are trying customer relationship management or CRM software, which organizes contact information for current and prospective customers, and allows multiple users (such as an entire sales team) to track customers’ buying habits. Popular programs include Saleforce.com’s SaaS CRM, Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM, Maximizer, ACT and Gold-Mine contact manager systems. If you want to promote your business via electronic newsletters, special email marketing software made by Lyris, Oracle, Unica and other providers can help you develop targeted, spam-free emails to send to your distribution lists.

Click the link below for the complete article!

Technology Basics for Business

As an entrepreneur, choosing the tools with which your small or midsize business (SMB) will operate is among the most important capital expenditure decisions you will make. The computers you and your staff will use are no exception.

First, you should consider what specifications will best serve the application needs of the person using the computer. You don’t want to pay for more capacity than you need. At the same time, you need to be certain the computer you buy will have the power to perform the tasks you require of it and to run the software upgrades you are likely to buy over the computer’s lifespan of three or more years.

Click the link below for the complete article!

How to Buy a Small Business Notebook Computer