Small Business Computing Staff

Small Business Trends: Why Your Small Business Ecommerce Site Needs A Trust Seal TJ McCue makes the case for small businesses with ecommerce websites registering and qualifying to display a Verisign trust seal that will inspire confidence in customers and reassure them the site won’t be hacked. “Trust is a huge part of getting a […]

Open Forum: How To Build An App-driven Personal Productivity System Having established the need for a reliable personal productivity system, author John Jansch (Duct Tape Marketing) goes on to outline how he built his system using off-the-shelf, often free online apps. “Business owners have a lot to do, a lot to keep track of, and […]

Small Business Trends: What Every Small Business Website Needs Marketing consultant Lisa Barone says every small business website must have these six things: intuitive navigation, “sticky” content, a blog, your contact information prominently displayed, reviews and calls to action. “Whether you’re a brick and mortar or you’re strictly an online shop, you need a we […]

PCMag@Work (Small Business): DataCore Virtualization Software Solves Storage Problems With the increased traffic resulting from desktop virtualization, storage area networks (SANs) sometimes become a bottleneck, causing delays and loss of service. DataCore’s new software, two years in development, promises to solve those problems. “DataCore Software, one of the major players in the storage virtualization space, […]

PCWorld: Review – Dell Streak 7 Tablet Computer PC World reviewer Melissa J. Perenson liked the overall design of the Streak 7 and the price (only $200), but says the screen is woefully lacking and the interface is buggy and not very user friendly. “The Dell Streak 7 is a study in contrasts. This Nvidia […]

ITBusinessEdge: Moving To The Cloud: Avoiding The Pitfalls Paul Mah warns SMBs considering buying cloud-based basic services from companies such as Cbeyond to beware of being locked into one provider, understand what the recovery time would be in the event of failure and quiz prospective suppliers about data integrity and security measures. “I came across […]

All Business: The Best Small Business Mobile Platform? Not Windows Phone 7 Matthew McKenzie quotes market data from Canalys, showing that while Android, Apple’s iOS and BlackBerry are all healthy and growing, Microsoft’s mobile platform is losing ground so may not be a good bet as part of a long-term mobile strategy. “Smartphone market-share discussions […]

ITBusinessEdge: Expert Tips For The Small Business Laptop User Paul Mah’s tips for getting the most out of your laptop include using an external mouse, not buying an extra battery at time of purchase and investing in a padded laptop bag. “In a bid to help users who encounter problems with their laptops, I wrote […]

ITBusinessEdege: New SMB Network & Storage Gear From Cisco The new products include network switches, security firewalls and “smart” storage units. Cisco has been working hard to build products for the under-100-employees SMB category, Mah says. “Cisco this week rolled out a range of network switch products and a new security wireless router, and announced […]

Entrepreneur: Optimizing Your Website For Local Search: A Primer The author argues that local search engine optimization is essential for many small businesses in 2011. Many of the principles of standard SEO apply, but they need to be tweaked. “Local search engine optimization can be just as time consuming and competitive as ‘regular’ SEO. The […]

All Business: The One Cloud Application You Must Use? Online Backup Matthew McKenzie dismisses popular cloud apps such as Google Docs and Dropbox, but argues that an online backup service such as Mozy – there are lots of them – is an absolute must. “Here’s an interesting exercise: Pick one cloud-based service that every small […]

Small Business Trends: How Small Businesses Can Use Technology To Look and Act Big Reviewer Ivana Taylor says technology books generally aren’t that scintillating but this one very compellingly ties the use of technology to core business functions such as marketing, sales management and finance. “Big business used to have a monopoly on resources and […]