Julie Knudson

A website is one of the most powerful tools that small and midsize business (SMB) operators have in their arsenal. Acting as a 24/7 online home, a good small business website gives visitors information about the company, customers a place to order products, and a unique landing spot for links on social media. All that […]

When small business owners look for credit card processing options, the first place many turn to is their bank. However Phillip Parker, founder of CardPaymentOptions, a site that reviews and compares card processing services, and author of Fee Sweep, says that banks may not be the best source of information or services. “They just act […]

Why do customers abandon their shopping carts? Some people use their cart as a place to store items they don’t intend to purchase immediately but want to remember later. Others may leave a purchase unfinished because they discover the shipping costs too much, or they hope to dig out a coupon code. Before small business […]

Communication and knowledge transfer represent the power behind today’s small and midsize businesses (SMBs). Whether it’s responding to customer inquiries or planning the next big product, small business operators need to collaborate both internally and externally to get things done. The market for collaborative platforms continues to expand rapidly, with new players emerging and existing […]

Millennials continue to be a driving force in the workplace. A recent study by Deloitte shows that by 2025, millennials will make up 75 percent of the global workforce. This growing demographic affects many things in the business sector, including how companies conduct training—from bringing new hires up-to-speed on company policies to educating employees on […]

You’ve got Apple Pay and Google Wallet. You’ve got credit card readers attached to tablets. The mobile payment options consumers have available to them continues to grow, but between the hardware requirements and the need to support existing operational systems, how is a small business owner to know which mobile payment platforms to embrace? The […]

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday on the horizon, companies of every size are preparing to kick off the holiday shopping madness. Small businesses in particular often see a large portion of the year’s revenue generated during this end-of-year melee, with fabulous deals and holiday consumers colliding in a spending spree like no other. But […]

Staying connected with customers is a priority for small business owners who work hard for every email subscriber and social media follower. But opt-outs—those people who unsubscribe from email marketing lists—often look like a sales opportunity walking out the door. Understanding why people remove themselves from your list—and knowing how to reengage with them—can help […]

Customer relationship management (CRM) platforms used to be limited to the large-business world. But a number of vendors have changed all that, making these useful systems great business tools for small and midsized business (SMB) operators that want to maximize every customer and prospect. As the breadth of small business demands has grown, so have […]

This year’s holiday shopping season gets underway in earnest next month and, no doubt, most small and midsized businesses (SMBs) are already in the throes of preparing for the big event. When it comes to ecommerce strategies, a handful of priorities stand out for 2014. Holiday Ecommerce Prep: Start Early An effective holiday strategy doesn’t […]

Books on marketing abound. But between digging through all the good information and trying to put together a small business marketing plan that’s both comprehensive and effective, you may find yourself without enough time to do anything else. Rather than turn small business marketing into a cumbersome and complex process, Mark Satterfield has pulled out […]

New rules around the security of payment card data are set to take effect with PCI DSS Version 3.0, beginning January 1, 2015. While many changes in the new regulations focus on clarification—providing merchants and payment processors with additional information on expectations and requirements—small businesses will want to pay particular attention to a handful of […]