Jennifer Schiff

In Part 1 of our two-part series, we discussed the responsibilities small businesses face in keeping their customers’ personal data safe, and experts offered advice on how to stay compliant with various state and federal security regulations. Today, we’ll look at how security audits and privacy assessments can help ensure that you’re protecting sensitive data, and we’ll […]

Here is a troubling statistic from the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit consumer information and advocacy organization: Since February 2005, the data records of more than 93 million U.S. residents have been exposed due to security breaches. While many of these breaches occurred at financial institutions and universities and were the result of hacking, many […]

People like to buy from companies or people that they know and trust, and they tend not to buy from those they don’t. But how do you build that trust, particularly online? How do you get customers to come to you without spending a lot of money on advertising? With word-of-mouth marketing — it’s free, […]

According to the Small Business Administration, small business owners spend between seven and 25 percent of their time handling employee-related paperwork. Not the most productive use of their time. But by outsourcing some or all of their employee-related functions — such as payroll, benefits, healthcare or recruitment and retention — small business owners can focus on […]

Bob Walter, a co-owner at Sam Sloat Coins, Inc., a leading dealer in rare coins, sports memorabilia and political memorabilia, knows why so many people who try to turn a hobby or passion into a business so often fail: “Their heart wasn’t really in it.” That and they didn’t understand the business or their customers […]

If you’re a small business owner with a limited budget, you have probably asked yourself if you really need — or can even afford — to publicize your company, product or service. A Web site’s enough, isn’t it? That kind of thinking, however, could hurt your business more than help it. “It’s amazing to me […]

If you’re reading this article, you’re probably one of the millions of people who spends most — or a good chunk — of the day on the computer. When you need information about a hotel, car rental or even medical advice, chances are you’re typing some keywords into a search engine. However, when you need […]

According to John Marshall, the CEO and founder of ClickTracks, there’s a big difference between the number of hits your Web site gets and the number of sales. A good Web analytics program, used properly, can increase a small business’s customer conversion rate (hits that turn into sales) by 15 percent, he says. But before […]

Jeff Coveney, the president and co-founder of Boston Movie Tours, a new business that wants tourists to view Boston through Hollywood’s lens, needed a way to market his new company, “so that when visitors research things to do in Boston, they see our brand and want to take our tours.” Coveney hired a local designer […]

Anyone who has ever watched “Antiques Roadshow” on PBS has had an “Antiques Roadshow Moment,” that fervent hope that that end table or painting or vase she picked up 10 years ago at that tag sale for $5 or maybe $50 is actually worth $5,000, or more. But where do you find an appraiser? Then, […]

Whether your business is on-line or off, you’ve probably done some e-mail marketing, be it a newsletter or e-mail blasts letting prospective, or existing, customers know about a new product, service or event. But e-mail marketing can be expensive and time consuming, and most small businesses don’t have the budget or staff to dedicate to […]

Colotraq, a kind of LendingTree.com for hosting and co-location services, knew it needed to automate its back-end systems and processes if it wanted to stay competitive. But the company was concerned about cost. Company President and CEO Dany Bouchedid had looked at off-the-shelf software, but nothing quite fit the bill. “We needed software to be […]