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Why Small Business Cyberattacks Could Prompt Next Recession

Posted: 06 May 2019 01:00 PM PDT

Unfortunately, these same small businesses have begun to fall victim to cyberattack at an alarming rate, and whether you know it or not, this reality is putting the entire economy at risk. As large companies spend endless amounts of time and money to fortify their digital assets, cyber criminals, hackers and fraudsters have turned their attention to those that cannot afford such lofty and impenetrable defenses: small and mid-sized businesses.

A recent Ponemon study found that nearly 70% of all small businesses experienced a cyberattack in 2017, while half admitted to having no understanding of how to protect their company against an attack. And that's a big problem when considering the average recovery costs of a data breach for a small company can top $149,000. Most worrisome, however, is that 60% of all small companies that succumb to a cyberattack go out of business within six months, according to a report by the U.S. National Cyber Security Alliance.

The possibility of a trickle-up recession is real

The risk to individual small businesses is undoubtedly a big concern to small business stakeholders, but perhaps the bigger issue at present is the risk now posed to the national economy as a whole.

To date, there has been little to correlate small business cyberattacks to any indicators of recession.

While there is vast and differing discussion on when and what will truly facilitate the next downturn, most, if not all economists, have failed to identify SMB cybercrime as a factor. That's likely because recessions are typically driven by events that trickle down throughout society, such as rising interest rates, credit crunches, international conflict or high oil prices, among other geopolitical activities.

While those contributing factors remain unquestioned recession drivers, it is entirely plausible that the next recession is driven from the bottom up and not the top down. As the aggregate of attacks on small businesses continue to cause disruption to business continuity, significant revenue losses, employee layoffs and permanent closures, the net negatives could realistically bubble up into the mainstream. This trickle up depressive state would almost certainly hamper consumer confidence, slow GDP, halt risk taking and decimate job growth so much so that the next great recession is born.

Harvard Business Review suggests that a cyberattack could cause the next financial crisis if it were to cause disruption to financial services capabilities, especially payment systems. While a crisis like this could start from the top, it could also start from the bottom. If thousands of small and mid-sized businesses were forced to shut their doors from cyberattacks, it could lead to a decline in deposits that significantly hurts a banks' ability to lend, among other consequences.

In addition, as noted in Inc., which tracks small business openings and growth in its Entrepreneur Index, when small businesses close or fail to thrive, they drag down job numbers and job growth with it. When that happens, both consumers and small businesses spend less, which trickles up the line to larger businesses and the whole economy.

Improved small business cybersecurity could protect the economy from recession

According to an article in Nextgov, "the U.S. economy loses between $57 billion and $109 billion per year to malicious cyber activity." Such numbers are poised to worsen as the economy begins to factor in all of the small business losses from cybercrime.

As economists point to the inevitability of recession, it's essential that all of society help small businesses from emerging as a contributing factor. Here are three things that we can, and must, do right away:

  • Government-backed tax incentives – As much as government already strives to secure our borders, air travel and financial system, it must also now help secure the digital environments of those that cannot afford to do so on their own. A good starting point would be tax incentives to spur innovation and help businesses acquire cybersecurity. Incentives are a proven way to produce results without implementing regulations and the stigma of forcing companies to act. In many cases, the federal government has used tax rebates and deductions to encourage behavior that may have not occurred otherwise, such as with solar power and electric vehicles.
  • Reduce cyber insurance premiums – Cyber insurance could benefit small businesses in the event of an attack as damages from cyberattacks are typically excluded in general liability policies. And without coverage, small businesses are left entirely on the hook for data loss, ransoms, damages and any other liabilities. However, many small businesses are currently priced out of the cyber insurance market, and policies often do not cover the primary attack vector, email phishing. To make cyber insurance truly available to the masses likely will require assistance via grants or tax deductions from the state and federal government, a small price to pay when considering the alternatives.
  • Enhance organizational awareness - Small businesses must also take it upon themselves to raise awareness in their organizations and to increase their defenses as best as they can. A study by Hiscox found that less than 20% of small business said they were confident in their cybersecurity readiness, and barely half had a clearly-defined cybersecurity strategy at all. One important and affordable action is to conduct a third-party security assessment that identifies vulnerabilities. Once all digital weaknesses are identified, company leadership should create an incident response plan to mitigate losses in the event of an attack. While such activities aren't always without cost, they can be affordable and may prove to save your business in the long run.

Enabling cybercrime to flourish and fester among small businesses pushes our country's risk of recession up the ladder and unnecessarily drains billions from the global economy. While economists will continue to pontificate about the state of the economy and what's likely to drive the next recession, they must not forget the present-day fragility of the small business community and how unprepared it is to defend against the plethora of cyberattacks. For this very reason it is entirely possible that the damages from small business cybercrime facilitates or plays a major role in leading to the next great recession.

Survey Finds Most Americans Want to Start a Business Rather Than Retire

Posted: 06 May 2019 11:45 AM PDT

Regardless of how much we enjoy our careers, retirement is the golden ring that nearly all workers hope to attain one day. We set up retirement plans, save wages when we can, and daydream about how we'll cruise the world and spend leisurely days on the golf course during our golden years. But is this what we really want?

Released this morning, in conjunction with Small Business Week, the second annual Inside Small Business Survey announced that 65% of Americans polled said they dream of opening a business when they reach retirement. Commissioned by The UPS Store, Atomik Research polled more than 5,000 Americans between March 14 and 20, 2019 for the survey.

Dr. Luke Pittaway, professor of entrepreneurship at Ohio University, said the results weren't surprising, given how long the average lifespan is now.

"People are living longer ... and many are choosing to start a small business as a way to stay active," he said. "In fact, the proportion of people starting businesses in the age range of 55 to 65 has increased in recent years, and at one point, even surpassed the typical entrepreneur age group of 25 to 35-year-olds."

This year's numbers are largely consistent with last year's when 66% of respondents said they wanted to start a business when they retire. The advantage of starting a business at this time of life, Pittaway said, is that retirement-age people "tend to bring more financial wealth, experience and personal networks to their startup efforts."

Chasing the dream

While the survey showed consistent results in the number of people who dream of starting a business later in life, this year also marks a 4% upswing in the number of Americans who are excited to be their own boss, from 53% in 2018 to 57% this year. [See related story: How to Start a Business: A Step-by-Step Guide]

Along with their excitement to manage their own entrepreneurial destinies, 54% said the idea of succeeding and finding pride in their business is what excites them most. This number is up from 47% in 2018.

Community also matters to most respondents. According to researchers, 70% of those polled said they planned to support a small business if one opened in their community. Approximately 83% of small business owners said they would do the same. Convenience (46%) and quality of the goods and services provided (45%) would factor into whether respondents would support a mom-and-pop store versus a major retailer.

Tim Davis, president of The UPS Store, said the survey's findings in this area showed that most small business owners "really want to help new business owners in their communities succeed."

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Potential obstacles

As with any major life decision, some outside forces can get in the way of starting a business. For more than a decade, many Americans have been reticent to set up shop at their own expense, thanks to the recession in 2008 and volatility in the marketplace.

According to researchers, the biggest hindrance to starting a small business is fear. For the second year in a row, Americans identified concerns about financial security (40%), financial commitment to the business (35%) and fear of failure (35%) as their major roadblocks. Participants also shared the top expenses they were most worried about, pointing to basic operating costs (54%) and supplies and equipment (50%). Nearly 25% of those polled said shipping expenses would worry them.

It's not all doom and gloom on this front though. General feelings about the U.S. economy have improved in recent years. Officials said 72% of small business owners felt the current economic climate was beneficial to them. Meanwhile, just 42% of non-small business owners said the same thing.

High-tech hopes

While the economy and financial stability remain points of worry for some entrepreneurs, the adoption of new technology is not one of them.

Nearly 64% of Americans said they believe artificial intelligence tech, like that found in autonomous machines or automated customer support, will be a boon to businesses in the future. Further bucking the conception that automation is viewed as a threat to workers, 69% of respondents said they believed automation was a good thing for small business.

When focused on just small business owners, the excitement for artificial intelligence and automation only grows. According to researchers, 74% of small business owners polled said they believed AI will be helpful, while 78% said they believed automation would also be a major benefit.

"Surprisingly, Americans are far from fearing automation and artificial intelligence when used in small business settings," said Pittaway. "They see technology as a helping hand, providing tools and apps that make their day-to-day activities more efficient and seamless."

How to Host a Successful Q&A on Facebook Live

Posted: 06 May 2019 11:00 AM PDT

Facebook Live videos garner six times the amount of engagement and interactions compared to regular videos featured on the social platform. It's a great opportunity to get your business or brand in front of the eyes of new people in your industry. It's also an ideal way to encourage interactions from your audience that are fun and spark excitement. You can do this by hosting a live Q&A for your followers.

During a live Q&A, your audience asks you questions and you answer them in real time. It's different from other forms of video marketing because the interactions are immediate and each party gets the information they want instantly. You can personalize the experience by getting to know your audience and by them getting to know you. With more than 1.5 billion daily users on Facebook according to Statista, you're bound to effectively reach your target audience and produce the engagement levels you desire.

If you're trying to figure out how to host a successful Q&A on Facebook Live, here are a few ways you can get started.

Do the promotional work

It's important that your audience is aware of your live stream well in advance so they can plan accordingly. It doesn't stir up much interest or excitement when you don't provide that to your target market. Sometimes the anticipation is even better than the event itself, and if you can create a promotional strategy for your live stream that sells, you'll get more views and engagement.

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Give yourself at least a few weeks to promote your live stream. You need to treat it like an event rather than a spontaneous Q&A because this will create eagerness and enthusiasm from your audience. State the date and time you'll be going live and encourage users to subscribe to live notifications so they're notified every time you go live.

Use your social media platforms and email list to spread the word about your upcoming Q&A and why your audience will love it. The more you can explain how they'll benefit from tuning in and submitting their questions, the better the turnout you'll achieve.

Prepare the main points

The tricky part about live Q&As is that you can't go into them without knowing what you're going to do, but you also can't make it seem overly rehearsed. The key is to find a sweet spot between being informed enough to host the live stream and letting it run organically.

Create an outline or bullet points of all the main points and subjects you'd like to touch on with your target audience during the live stream. If you're answering questions that have already been sent in through social media or email, have those questions in front of you so you have easy access to them once you're live. If you're answering questions straight from the live stream, consider hiring a moderator to help you pick and choose the best, most effective questions for your Q&A.

Go live prior to broadcasting

It's important to make sure that every technical element of your broadcast performs smoothly. To ensure this, consider going live prior to your official broadcast. You can change your privacy settings so that only you can see and hear what you're doing. This is the most effective way of making sure that everything runs smoothly when you go live in front of your audience.

Test out your equipment to make sure your tools are working properly. Check your microphone and webcam or camera so people can hear and see you without issue. Make sure you're in a well-lit room with plenty of sunlight or artificial light so you can be seen clearly. Always double-check that your internet connection is sturdy and won't burn out mid-stream. If your setup is in need of a tripod for extra stability, purchase one to test out prior to your air date.

Interact with viewers

Part of what makes live streams successful is the amount of user engagement they can garner. A great way to boost user engagement is by interacting with your audience as they join and comment on your live stream. Don't be afraid to start a conversation or encourage more questions from users. If they're already watching you, you know they're interested.

Personalize your live Q&A by addressing users by their names when answering their questions. This will show them that you're paying attention to what they're saying and will encourage them to stay on your stream longer. Facebook suggests planning to stay live for at least 10 minutes to increase engagement length, but you can broadcast for as long as four hours.

Go live regularly

Though it is important to treat your live Q&A as its own event, you need to go back to your goals. With live streams, increased user engagement is usually among one of the top objectives that hosts want to see met. If you've hosted live events and haven't gotten the numbers or traction you estimated, it's time to consider making it a regular part of your work schedule.

Consider live streaming on a regular basis. This will prove your brand to be reliable when you show up on time when you say you will. It'll also increase engagement because your audience will know what to expect and when they can tune in to your content. Your future live streams will have increased interactions, views and shares if you're consistent with your schedule.

Host a successful Facebook Live Q&A

Hosting a live Q&A can be stressful. You have to be able to engage with your audience in an interesting way that grabs their attention while simultaneously bringing them value they enjoy. With enough preparation and practice beforehand, your live stream is sure to perform well with users. Promote it beforehand as much as you can across your website, social media, and email. Practice and prepare your main points so you aren't stumbling over your words trying to figure out what to say next. Interact with your viewers so they know you're paying attention to them and go live on a regular basis to build a loyal audience. How will you host your next live Q&A?

How to Reduce Your Abandoned Cart Rate and Boost Sales

Posted: 06 May 2019 08:55 AM PDT

Luckily, there are steps you can take to ensure that fewer users abandon your website and leave you with lower conversions. If you want to reduce your ecommerce site's abandoned cart rate, here are a few ways to get started.

Send abandoned cart emails

There could be a million different reasons why users abandoned their cart when it was already full of products. What's important is how you convince them to give their shopping experience on your website another try so you can have a new, loyal customer and increase your sales.

The best thing you can do is send users an abandoned cart email reminding them of the products they've left behind and telling them why they should continue with their purchase. An autoresponder email series that pops up in their inbox shortly after they've left their carts will remind them of what they could potentially own and hopefully steer them back to your site. You can even offer them a limited-time discount to further entice them to follow through.

Simplify the checkout process

There's nothing more annoying than wanting to purchase something online only for the process to be complicated. When users encounter too many issues with your store's checkout process, it discourages them from completing the purchase and could cause them to abandon their cart altogether. In fact, 26 percent of users abandon their cart because the checkout process is too complicated.

Make it as easy as possible for customers to make purchases through your website. Don't make them go through too many unnecessary steps that take a long time to complete. Streamline the process for them as much as possible. Are there too many form fields they need to fill out? Do they have to go through six different webpages to finalize their purchase? If so, it's time to get rid of those unnecessary steps.

Offer various payment options

People prefer to pay in different ways. It's essential that your visitors have several options for how they'd like to pay for their items. It leaves out the frustration of wanting to buy something and not being able to, which means you lose out on customers and sales.

To avoid this and keep customers happy, always offer as many different payment gateways as you can. It's important to be inclusive with the most common payment options such as Visa, Mastercard, Discover, etc.

Use exit-intent popups

A great way to urge users back to your site before they leave is by using exit-intent popups. These popups are designed specifically to appear to users when they're about to exit out of your website. You can insert them on any webpage, including your products page and checkout page, so that if a user tries navigating out, the exit-intent popup will get triggered and show up.

You can set up any offer in your popup, such as offering a discount or entering users into a giveaway – whatever you think will entice your target audience to stay.

Optimize for mobile

According to Statista, 82 percent of U.S. shoppers use mobile to shop online and make purchases. Considering the number is so high, it seems like a no-brainer that your ecommerce site should be optimized for mobile so it can cater to the majority of users who use their smartphones to shop.

Design your website so that it fits several devices, especially mobile. You need to ensure your text is easy to read and your CTA buttons – like buying and adding to cart – easily stand out on the page. Minimize the use of text on your product pages so the main focus in on images of the products instead. Use Google's mobile-friendly test to determine whether or not your website is fully optimized.

Reduce your shopping cart abandon rate

When you created your website, you probably envisioned it flooding with conversions after launch. It's frustrating when you know you have products your target audience will love only to see them add it to their cart and never make the purchase. It hurts your sales and leaves you with fewer loyal customers. However, there are measures you can take to increase the chances of users visiting your website and leaving having made a purchase. How will you reduce your abandoned cart rate?

How Visual Tech Enables Small Businesses to Compete

Posted: 06 May 2019 05:30 AM PDT

Visual technologies that leverage computer vision, machine learning and AI will help and are already helping small businesses reduce aspects of the trade-off's small companies, with limited resources, are forced to make. Use this hour to fix up my website or fulfill two more orders in the pipeline?

Visual tech is reducing the time and cost associated with marketing, manufacturing and logistics, and backend processes which are critical for small businesses to succeed.

What are visual technologies?

Visual technologies are technologies that capture, manage or analyze visual data often leveraging computer vision, machine learning and artificial intelligence to do so. Visual data comes in many forms such as photos, videos, 3D, LiDAR, Radar, Thermal, MRI, UV, infrared and beyond.

There is a range in sophistication of visual technologies – from basic photo sharing and video surveillance, like on Instagram and Nest, to complex interconnectivity between visual sensors, for things like self-driving cars and robots, where the vehicle must use LiDAR, RADAR and cameras "see" the world around it and move through it.

Cameras are no longer just for memories. They are becoming fundamental to improving business and personal lives. Most of the pictures captured will never be seen by a human eye.

Here are three ways visual technologies are allowing small businesses to complete with larger and more estalished companies.

Marketing

Marketing is critical to success in today's world, as a bad website can decide the entire fate of a company. Most founders have little to no experience in design or outreach strategy, much less web or app design. Suddenly, it becomes critical to success and yet entirely secondary to the actual product offering.

Visual technologies are making marketing easier, cheaper and more personalized. From the simplest stages of marketing through to complex campaigns and personalization, visual tech is helping.

Something as simple as high-quality photos for your website or blog, were once expensive and hard to come by. But there are now providers who make unique photos freely available. You have likely seen photos from these sources on almost all small company websites (like the default for Squarespace image search).

Developing an app has become central to success for most businesses but it currently requires a significant budget and outsourcing to create. Uizard, still in beta, is already benefiting customers by making app creation as easy as drawing a picture of it. Doodle a wireframe on piece of paper, whiteboard or napkin, take a photo of it and Uizard transforms it into design files and front-end code. Small businesses won't have to dedicate significant budget to creating their first beta off the ground.

Manufacturing and logistics automation

The vast majority of small businesses, from restaurants to ecommerce businesses selling skincare product, create, box and ship physical products.

Currently, the processes for doing so at a small business or startup are enormously different from those zooming robots you see from videos at an Amazon distribution center. While big companies have already begun automating, small businesses, still have to do everything manually, which is both costly and inefficient. Visual technologies are changing that.

Augmented reality business applications are on the rise with everyone from Huawei to Apple to Facebook working on affordable AR glasses and other wearables for enterprise. For small businesses, every moment and unit is critical to success, and AR wearable solutions will have a big impact on production.

Automation via robotic solutions has traditionally priced out any small business but companies like CarbonRobotics are looking to change that with their trainable robotic arm that costs less then $5,000. According to a report published by LDV Capital, a VC firm based in New York City which focuses on visual technology:  

"Robotics will have 20X more integrated cameras. Visually enabled robots will operate in industrial, consumer, retail and warehouse sectors."

Robots that use real-time computer vision to see and understand visual data to create, sort, select and box, will have a tremendous impact on even small-batch production and logistics.

Backoffice processes

Another pain point for founders is taking time away from the product and mission that they feel so passionately about, to get their finances, general operations and IT in line. Computer vision and machine learning have the ability to automate the menial aspects of backend processes.

Expenses, for example, take valuable time to create digital records of paper receipts matched to bank statements. But companies like Brex, a corporate card for startups, uses computer vision to automatically reconcile a photo of your receipt to the charge on your card.

Robotic process automation (RPA) is applying computer vision solutions to automate well-defined, rules-based business tasks. Small businesses will be able to find solutions to purchase computer vision and AI to automate their backend processes, like doing the first filter of resumes from job postings.

The bottom line

Visual technologies have many applications to backend processes that will help startups and small businesses save time and money on finance, ops and IT.

Startups and small businesses must constantly prioritize where to focus their limited efforts and budget. Often, the hard trade-offs founders and forced to make due to their limited resources are the main reason for the company failing.

Visual technologies will help to improve the time and cost associated with many aspects of doing business, three of the most important for startups being marketing, manufacturing and logistics and backend processes. By lessening the burden in these areas, visual technologies will help more small businesses succeed.

Marketing often gets sidelined by small businesses as they prioritize their precious time and budget and ultimately are a cause for the business going under. These visual technologies and many others, will help lessen the need to choose between basic marketing and other priorities.

How to Create an Effective Public Relations and Branding Strategy for Your Business

Posted: 06 May 2019 05:00 AM PDT

The business.com community is a place where business owners and professionals can come together to learn from each other. Those looking for advice can solicit it from their peers, while others are able to share their extensive expertise with those who need it.   

It's that peer-to-peer give and take that makes the community such a valuable part of business.com. Overall, the site has more than 180,000 members from around the globe. The community is able to thrive like it does because of our members' eagerness to drive conversations, whether through asking questions, answering questions or contributing articles.

Each month we spotlight one of our community members for their contributions. This month we are recognizing Kailynn Bowling, co-founder of ChicBlvd Inc., which founded and owns three divisions – the retail and branding firm ChicExecs, ChicBlvd Magazine, and Fashion Audio LLC.

Sharing PR advice

Bowling is an active member of the business.com community, in terms of both answering questions and contributing articles. Bowling has recently answered questions on a range of topics, including how to create some media buzz for a startup.

For instance, Bowling has advised the community members regarding multi-pronged approaches to marketing and public relations. She said it starts with creating a personal blog that includes tips and tricks within your expertise area.

"It's important to already build yourself as a thought leader in the industry so you can use those blogs to show the media and bloggers what unique insight you already have to offer," Bowling wrote. "The best part is that you have control of your blog so you can get as much content out there from the get-go. Make sure to amplify these blog posts on your LinkedIn and social media."

In addition to the time she spends answering community questions, Bowling has contributed several articles for business.com. Her most recent piece provides insight into how businesses can use past PR coverage to drive their current strategies.

"Past campaigns can reveal so much about your future strategy," Bowling wrote in the article. "Discover what efforts you should duplicate this year – and note any pitfalls to avoid." 

Bowling advises business owners to review their analytics and social engagement from the previous year, make sure their target audience is still the same, read online reviews to learn what their customers are saying about them, and evaluate the media coverage they obtained to see if it is matching their brand mission, message and audience needs.

"Measure the impact of your PR every year," Bowling wrote. "This helps you not only improve your long-term campaigns but also make the most of your investment. Over time, you'll refine your PR strategy to bring in even more impressions, engagement and customer loyalty."

Kailynn Bowling

We recently spoke with Bowling about what brought her to the business.com community and why she enjoys being a part of it. In addition, we were able to learn more about her and her businesses.

Bio

  • Name: Kailynn Bowling
  • Business: ChicExecs, a public relations and retail strategy firm
  • How long in business: 15 years
  • Location: San Diego, California
  • How long as a community member: 1 year
  • Areas of expertise: marketing, public relations, social media and retail placement.

Q: What made you want to join the PR and branding industry?

A: When we started our own brand in our living room, we started looking for a PR company to get the word out. We couldn't find what we were looking for and decided to try our hand at our own unique way of pitching our brand. It worked.

We garnered more than 50 features in six months, and our brand took off. When people came to us asking for our recipe for success, we knew we needed to replicate what we did for our business to help others.

Q: You hold a number of different professional roles. How do you balance your time as a business executive?

A: My days are very structured, and I live by my calendar. Everything needs to be scheduled out, so I have a good overview of dividing my time evenly. I'm also a mom, so it's important for me to balance my career and personal life.

Some days I know I just need to take a breather to have quality family time and turn off anything work-related. Then I feel recharged and ready to take on the next day.

Q: What separates ChicExecs from other public relations and branding firms?

A: We are a retail-focused brand strategy firm. We combine PR, social media and influencers to build brand awareness and sell through on a retail level. We're different than a regular PR agency that will just generate PR features.

We understand how to use that PR to help monetize brands. We can take that feature and put it in a trade show booth, put it in a press book, and present that to buyers.   

Q: Why did you join the business.com community?

A: I have a passion for helping other business owners with out-of-the-box ideas for growth. When we started our business 15 years ago, we had to Google many questions we had about business. With social media and websites like business.com, there is a central place that budding business owners can go to when they have questions.

Q: What do you enjoy most about being a part of the business.com community?

A: It's great to have one place to learn and relate with other business owners. We all truly want to make the world a better place with our inventions and business ideas, so it's great to hear from many different perspectives on how we can improve things further.

Q: How do you decide what to write about when contributing an article?  

A: We get to see marketing trends early on while working with brands. I usually focus on trends and core values within our company.

I'm constantly reading from other sites, and it will spark thoughts on what my opinion would be on that subject matter. I love to offer my perspective from what I've learned in my own experiences.

Q: What makes you want to answer other community members' questions?

A: My expertise is in building brands, manufacturing and marketing. When I see questions related to those topics looking for out-of-the-box ideas, I love to chime in and help.

Q: What is the best professional advice you have ever received?

A: Work on the business, not in the business. As a business owner, we want to do it all, but it's not possible. Hire the right people that can do the job better than you can, so you can focus on building the business.

Q: What is the biggest professional mistake you have made, and how did you overcome it?  

A: Hiring the wrong CEO who didn't understand emerging brands. We moved on from that experience but learned that a wrong hire can be detrimental to your business. You must identify the issues early on and correct the behaviors or move on from that hire.

Join the business.com community

At business.com, we understand the stress of running a business. You are so bombarded with advice on the importance of marketing, improving your website or training employees that you can barely focus on the day-to-day operations. Our community was created to help cut through the clutter of information and be a place for business professionals to connect and share advice to overcome business challenges. If you would like to be a part of our community, you can join for free here.

As a business.com community member, you'll have access to …

  • Advice. Ask the community anything related to business, or browse our library of advice with more than 6,000 questions and 60,000 answers.
  • Reviews. Get recommendations on the best products and services to accelerate your business growth with our detailed reviews.
  • Articles. Learn from our extensive collection of resources written by our qualified team of writers and experts in the community.
  • Experts. Connect with experienced business professionals available for hire to build your network, get inspiration and learn from their mistakes.

If you are already a community member and would like to be considered for our Member of the Month feature, please send an email to editor@business.com. We'd love to help you share your business story.
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