Small Business Computing Staff

By Tamara Weintraub Google recently released a major update to their local search results that Search Engine Land (a site covering the search marketing industry) nicknamed “Pigeon.” This algorithm update may cause local businesses to experience either an increase or decrease in their organic search traffic, both from browser searches and searches directly in Google […]

By Jim Gustke For many small business owners, buying a phone system ranks fairly low on the priority list ranking more as an afterthought. They simply call the phone company (or cable provider, VAR or IT consultant), “turn on” the phone service, plug the phones into the wall jacks and accept the ridiculously high expense […]

If you’re like most small business owners, you don’t need a laptop when you’re out of the office, you just need a computing device to augment your smartphone. That’s when most people turn to a tablet. But let’s face it:  the screen’s only slightly larger than your phone. You need a device with an even […]

By Brian Gruber Let’s be honest. No one likes Excel spreadsheets. When it comes to tackling analytics for your small business website, staring at white tables of dry statistics can be intimidating. Big data is the future of business, but without the context to understand the data, it’s absolutely useless to the average business owner. […]

By Tim Maliyil When a major company experiences a data breach, it’s all over the news. It makes sense; these big companies often have access to sensitive data for millions of people, and a data breach makes them all potential victims of identity theft. But these big security breaches are only part of the story. […]

Need to make a call? You don’t look for a pay phone, you use your cell. Need to check the news? You don’t buy a paper, you glance at your tablet. So why own and maintain your own server to run your email platform or house your office suite on a laptop?  “The cloud” no […]

Don’t let the familiar name fool you: Microsoft Office 365 Small Business Premium (SBP) isn’t just another bundle of the company’s desktop productivity applications. It’s a suite of on-premises, cloud-based and mobile tools that let you share and connect with colleagues and customers. Figure 1: Office Online has the same look, feel and features of […]

By Mike Doberenz You can have the most beautiful website ever—with the most compelling content of all time—but if your customers can’t find you, it won’t do you a bit of good. Successful search engine marketing (SEM) campaigns can help you attract new customers and reengage existing or former ones by improving your search ranking, […]

By the Small Business Computing Staff There’s no sugar-coating it; pulling together last year’s receipts, deciphering the tax code changes du jour, and worrying about what you’ll owe and how you’ll pay it make the weeks leading up to April 15 stressful for you. It’s even worse for your accountant—and downright unbearable if you are […]

By the Small Business Computing Staff Over the past few years, many small businesses owners have spent so much mental bandwidth trying to get the right mobile phone service in place that they’ve left their office-phone situation on auto-pilot. Or if you have a T1 line that bundles Internet and phone service, you may think […]

Written by the Small Business Computing Staff The adoption of online software and services in lieu of their desktop-bound counterparts shows no signs of slowing. But if you’re like most small business owners, you and your employees still use a locally installed office productivity suite for essential tasks such as word processing, crunching numbers and […]

By The Small Business Computing Staff If the industry insiders and experts we surveyed are correct, 2014 could be the year that “the cloud” takes over from the local PC/server as the primary platform on which small businesses run. Throw in the continued march to mobility and more “smart” devices able to interact with the […]