Business Feeds

The whole concept of free online reviews is great in theory. It could be a way for your small business to build a customer base without expending too much money on marketing. However, it can also lead to unwanted legal problems. Inc. recently wrote about the dangers of the Yelp reviewer. Small business owners can open up a legal can of worms if they try to fight negative online reviews. Here are some of the current legal issues facing small business owners with Yelp and other free online reviews of small businesses.

Bad Reviewers Can Bring Bad Legal News

Inc. wrote about how one small business owner named Diane Goodman got into legal trouble. She wrote messages to a negative reviewer which then culminated into a physical altercation. The result? Ms.

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Being British sometimes feels synonymous with a resigned acceptance of disappointment. A feeling football, cricket and tennis fans know all too well. Having brought these great sports to the world, we can now quietly murmur into our pints that we’re ‘not bad’ at most of them.

Even as we emerge from recession today, our recovery is way behind most other developed countries (Germany and France returned to growth last summer) and comes at a very marginal increase of 0.1 per cent. It’s almost as if we were the chubby kid at a sports day event gasping to reach the finishing line while everyone else leisurely sips orange squash.

Strange then that in a poll from SmallBusiness.co.uk 31 per cent of the 538 respondents said this Sceptered Isle was the top country for business. Or is i

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With the economy suffering and unemployment percentages reaching historically high double digits, it is naturally getting much harder for people to keep up with their bill paying, and that means a spike in credit card defaults and late payments.

According to recent industry research and statistics gathered from card companies, the rate of credit card defaults in the USA rose to record highs in 2009, in lock step with similarly high unemployment rates.
Bank of America, which is the nation’s biggest bank – and one of the top credit card issuers in the USA – reported that its own default rate jumped to more than 12 percent. That represented a climb of more than 10 percent when compared to the previous year, but in the prior year the employment picture across America was also more robust and rosy. Meanw Read more…

We have written about how bleak the economy looks for finance and small business. While there are definitely some dark clouds hovering over small business loan opportunities, there are some bright spots in terms of small business grants. Small business grants afford you the opportunity to grow your business with funding that you don’t have to pay back. It is typically given by the federal government, state governments, and by private corporations.

So what exactly do you need to do in order to make sure that your small business can get a grant? Keep reading for places to look for grants and for tips on how to land a grant that could help your small business.

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Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) on Thursday gave its investors — and the information technology industry as a whole — a dose of good news when the tech bellwether easily hurdled analysts’ estimates in its fourth quarter, returning an adjusted profit of $2.19 billion, or $6.79 a share, on sales of $6.67 billion.

A survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters pegged the Mountain View, Calif.-based company for a profit of $6.45 a share.

The $6.67 billion in sales marks a 17 percent improvement from the year-ago quarter when it earned $1.62 billion, or $5.10 a share, on sales of $5.7 billion.

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The Washington Post

For much of last year, Paul Volcker wandered the country arguing for tougher restraints on big banks while the Obama administration pursued a more moderate regulatory agenda driven by Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner.

Thursday morning at the White House, it seemed as if the two men had swapped places. A beaming Volcker stood at Obama’s right as the president endorsed his proposal and branded it the “Volcker Rule.” Geithner stood farther away, compelled to accommodate a stance he once considered less effective than his own.

The moment was the product of Volcker’s persistence and a desire by the White House to impose sharper checks on the financial industry than Geithner had been advocating, according to some government sources and political analysts.

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Many people from all walks of life to make the decision to work from home. There are an unlimited number of work at home business ideas, but the Internet has the greatest potential.

Websites are developed for personal use or business. What this may once have been regarded as a personal site may now also be used to make money. Affiliate programs, commonly referred to as associate programs, are a way for website owners money through Internet marketing to do. Affiliate programs work by people to another site. There are a number of reputable companies national and affiliate programs to enable them to increase traffic to its website.

People who have shown their own Web sites usually have a banner or link on a particular website. The website link is often a company that sells something.

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PALO ALTO, Calif. — News junkies may be swimming in content but that does not necessarily bode well for the future of journalism in the Web 2.0 era. A panel of media experts offered divergent views on the topic of “Journalism After Print” at a panel discussion event here on Friday co-sponsored by the Churchill Club.

Rebecca Buckman, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, bemoaned the trend toward shorter stories and fewer outlets for long form or in-depth reporting.

“You could say on the Web there’s unlimited space and you can run stories as long as you want to,” but that’s not what’s happening, she said. Instead, she said reporters are typically being “pulled in eight different directions” with added content responsibilities, such as maintaining a blog and producing video reports.

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Many small business owners are struggling to keep their heads above water in today’s economy. Even though large corporations are faring reasonably well, small businesses are suffering in the downturn from which America is just beginning to recover. Recent legislation provides hundreds of millions of dollars for Small Business Administration loan guarantees, but entrepreneurs can’t plan to expand unless their revenues recover.

To that end, what can a small business owner do to avoid seeing red in the reports generated by his financial software? Three key tactics can help entrepreneurs make it through today’s downturn and come out stronger on the other side.

Tactic 1: Be Mindful of Appearance

Small business owners offer either a product or service, and keeping appearances in mind can benefit both types of owner. Read more…