By far the most common way customers learn about a business is from word of mouth, according to the small businesses in the survey.  Eighty-five percent of the small businesses surveyed said customers learn about them through word of mouth.  The chart above shows all the responses.  As you can see, no other type of marketing or advertising even comes close.  Search engines come in a distant second at 59%.  Everything else is far behind.

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Having a clear vision of your expected customer base will increase your business chances of success. Clearly defining your target audience — whether it is senior citizens, busy moms or millennials in California — can help answer a lot of questions and overcome obstacles that may be plaguing you as you kick-start your online store. Some of the business questions you will be addressing include:

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A corporation is a business structure that is owned entirely by the shareholders. Shareholders are individuals, companies or other institutions that own at least one share of the corporations stock. One of the major benefits to the corporation business structure is that the business itself and not the shareholders are held legally responsible for any actions and the debts incurred by the business.

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Last years efforts to woo small businesses should pay off in a big way for the social media king this year.

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Todays business environment is moving at a faster pace than ever before. It’s imperative that organizations of all sizes be nimble enough to respond and pivot according to business and market demands at a moment’s notice, or risk falling behind their competition.

To this point, many small businesses often struggle when it comes to effectively scaling their operations. This process entails making hefty IT investments, and while necessary for continued growth, many entrepreneurs just can not afford to do so.

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Website, social media, blog. If you are a small business owner, chances are you've already checked off those must have boxes. If you have not, get those launched and then circle back to continue reading.

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Filing for bankruptcy protection to save a small business often costs at least $100,000 to $300,000—and sometimes twice as much in cases where creditors are contentious, lawyers say.

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The tech giant today announced a major new small business initiative called Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map. The aim is to help every business in every city in America get discovered across its services.

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For large brands with big marketing and advertising budgets, one or even several hundred dollars is just a drop in the monthly marketing budget. But for entrepreneurs and small business owners, every dollar counts – and investments need to pay off in real and immediate marketing ROI.

But could a marketing strategy be executed with as little as $100?

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Conflict is when two or more individuals have opinions, morals or perspectives that do not concur. By being ready for conflict and seeing it as a positive movement toward reaching goals, conflict can be seen as progress or change for the better. The most difficult situation with conflict is the emotions that get in the way. By getting past the emotions of the conflict, real progress can be made and conflict resolution can begin. There are five steps for conflict resolution: collecting data, identifying the issue, approaching the other person, defining the problem together and brainstorming possible solutions.

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Most reporters write on a different topic every day. Unless they are a beat reporter covering your industry, the reporter does not know more than you. If you have been in the business five or 10 years, be confident in your knowledge of industry trends and current events.

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Owning your own business is often touted as the ultimate coup in the working world. You set your own hours, pursue projects you are interested in, and maybe work in your pajamas. Obvious challenges aside, it sounds like a pretty nice gig. Such jobs are largely enjoyed by men, who make up an estimated 71 percent of business owners in the U.S. But that might slowly be changing.

A report from the Institute of Womens Policy Research shows that women are steadily increasing their presence in the world of small-business ownership. About 29 percent of Americas business owners are women, that is up from 26 percent in 1997. The number of women-owned firms has grown 68 percent since 2007, compared with 47 percent for all businesses.

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At one time or another, virtually everyone thinks about starting a business. The allure of being your own boss can be strong, but it is important to remember that launching a new business is risky: According to a recent SBA report, [about 50% of all small businesses will fail within just five years.

Managing a startup can be a minefield, especially when the pull of entrepreneurship clouds your decision-making – and when you go it alone with no business experience.

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Despite the warning, a number of extremely well known brands are still scrabbling to minimise the impact of Google’s mobile algorithm update, leaving smaller businesses with the advantage as long as they do not panic according to leading UK and US Search experts.

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By 2020, most small businesses in the U.S. will be powered by the cloud, according to Intuit. Is your business ready?

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Why you should you blog?

Through posting simple things such as helpful tips, special discounts or the latest industry news you can effectively maintain your customer relationships and give people a reason to visit to your website.

More recently blogging and content marketing has been widely used to enhance SEO strategy. Writing articles around the keywords that you are targeting will help to improve rankings in search engines. Furthermore, if you write unique and valuable articles, other websites will link to your content and as a result; this will increase your website's back-links.

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A report commissioned by eBay finds that more than 190,000—or 90 percent—of its small and medium-sized businesses used its platform to export in 2014. (Tweet This) To compare, in 2009, fewer than 30,000 were exporting. The findings come from eBay's Public Policy Lab in its 2015 U.S. Small Business Growth Report.

Despite that growth, less than 5 percent of U.S. small businesses overall are exporting, according to estimates from the International Trade Administration.

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Entrepreneurs are born idea people, with a seemingly endless supply of light bulbs flashing over their heads. But it takes more than good ideas to find your market niche and to build a successful business. It is even harder to do if you are not familiar with the market thats drawn your interest.

Small Business Tech Report

Established businesses have one obvious advantage over their younger counterparts: Deep pockets.

Fortunately, what todays small business lacks in budget can be made up for with strategy and a few carefully chosen tools. Here are six smart marketing ideas gleaned from my experience running a company that teaches small firms how to compete with big ones.

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Walk around any town in Indiana and you can see it: Small businesses are the lifeblood of our state and the engine of our economy. And yet, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is set to implement a rule that would harm Hoosier small businesses.

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What is a Domain Name Strategy?
The purpose of a domain name strategy is to proactively protect your brand online by reducing the chance for others to use your brand name in their online activities, specifically, in their website URLs.

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Women playing a bigger role in small businesses is no longer big news, of course. In 2014, there were roughly 9 million women-owned businesses in the U.S., employing nearly 8 million workers and recording nearly $1.4 trillion in sales that year, according to data from the National Association of Women Business Owners.

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Last month, Forbes reported on the best cities for starting a business this year, and much attention is frequently given to the locations working the hardest to attract founders who will create coveted jobs. But which cities are the most hospitable to those who hold those positions?

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Starting a small business is tough, but growing one — or just keeping it afloat — is even harder.

Even though more than 500,000 small businesses are created each year in the U.S., only half of them survive past their fifth year, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.

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Big  Data seems to be the phrase on everybody’s lips these days, and without a doubt, it has revolutionized the business world. Companies are getting valuable insights reading into mountains of data collected from all kinds of sources. Using Big Data simply makes sense, but the very prospect can be intimidating, particularly when it comes to small businesses and startups. One recent survey shows that 35 percent of startups are not even considering the possibility of leveraging Big Data or taking into account how much data is being generated every year – such a decision could be disastrous for the future success of a company.

Small businesses may feel that the ability to leverage Big Data is simply outside of their grasp, but Big Data solutions have become much more affordable in recent years. In addition, they are easier to use and oftentimes automated. In other words, small businesses have every reason to get into the Big Data game now as long as they know how best to use it. Here are just a few ways small companies can truly make Big Data work toward further success.

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Deciding what to call your company is probably one of the most fun and exciting aspects of starting a small business. You might have launched this venture by scribbling business name ideas on a bar napkin while hanging out with friends.

But naming your small business is also serious business. Your decision could affect your ability to reach a broader audience and grow. And making the wrong choice could even get you in legal trouble.

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But some lessons you can not learn until you are actually at the helm of your company. Here are nine surprises you might run into by owning a small business:

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Trucking companies and building contractors dominate the fastest-growing industries for small businesses, according to new data from Sageworks, a financial information company.

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Social media may be the last thing on your mind after a long day of managing employees, interacting with customers, ordering inventory and keeping an eye on your finances. But it is an important tool that can help you market your business and engage with customers.

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After seeing the dreams of so many wonderful people end with a closed store sign, we were determined to find out how to help so we enlisted the aid of several resources for business owners to come up with a list of what they need to know.

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Imagine this:  You have found the perfect business idea, one that seems to add up from every angle and could not be better for you and your future plans.  The only problem is that you do not have the capital to open the doors.  Well, unfortunately this is a rather significant problem for a small business startup ... particularly in todays lending environment.

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How small is small? New federal data shows that most small businesses are very small. By definition, a small business could have up to 499 employees. The average American small business has about 8!

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Chances are that you have already gone paperless. The Cloud has largely replaced reams of paperwork, stuffed file cabinets, and onsite data storage, making it easy to keep and maintain all the information you need. In fact, in the next five years the number of small businesses using the Cloud is expected to double to 78 percent.

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According to a new study, one in six marriages that began in the last three years has resulted from an interaction that started online. At the same time, Nielsen also reports that four out of every five corporations in America are now leveraging social media to help expand their client base and build relationships with customers.

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Thorough research and strong internal security practices can help small businesses secure their data and IT infrastructure in the cloud.

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With every passing week comes a story about some technological snafu at big companies—and even in the government. But small businesses are very vulnerable to cybersecurity issues, both because they lack the resources of big enterprises and because their lack of resources means that an attack can be even more devastating.

Here are some best practices that small businesses can put into place to make sure that they are secure.

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Cloud-based services such as Spotify and OneDrive have irrevocably changed the way we consume, store and share content in our personal lives.

Similarly, many large organizations have become well accustomed to the cloud, having years ago turned to hosted storage and remote disaster recovery to boost productivity, reduce costs and preserve business continuity.

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There is a convenient narrative about small business that we have all heard a million times.  Small business represents a huge, underserved, and highly lucrative market for finance-oriented entrepreneurs and large organizations alike. The prevailing wisdom is that these businesses run on Intuits QuickBooks, which enables them to have organized, accurate, and timely financial information at their fingertips. By all accounts, the small business market should be an easy one to serve. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Organizations big and small have struggled to serve the small business market in an efficient and effective matter, and it is all due to what we call the 90% challenge.

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As a small business develops, it moves through five growth stages, each with its own distinctive characteristics. Small businesses vary widely in size, industry focus, management styles and capacity for growth.

While each enterprise is unique in many ways, all experience common problems arising at similar stages in their development. For owners, understanding what can be expected in each stage of development will aid in assessing challenges and smooth the transition for business growth.

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Among the countless factors a small business owner must consider when running his or her business, social media is quickly becoming one of the most important.

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For the fourth year running, California and Rhode Island earned an F in a massive survey of small business owners rating state and local governments’ friendliness to small business. At the other end of the spectrum, also for the fourth year in a row, Texas and Utah earned an A+ from entrepreneurs.

What matters to small business owners? Nearly 18,000 entrepreneurs surveyed by Thumbtack.com said: Chamber of Commerce-style training and networking; regulatory and licensing simplicity, helpful government websites to cut red tape, and taxes.

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The Internet of Things includes, among many other items, sensors for monitoring business and home security.

How IoT Can Help Small Business Compete
Here are two examples of small businesses that have figured out to compete against Goliath by finding low-cost ways to incorporate IoT into their operations:  

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You built a stellar reputation for your business. You sold your heart out bringing in a new client. You gave that client your best work. And months later, you are still waiting to see the money in the bank.

And waiting. And waiting.

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In 1938, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard began working part-time in a Palo Alto garage. With $538 just in working capital, the pair developed an audio oscillator: it would become the first product for the fledgling Hewlett-Packard HPQ +0.00% partnership. Today, Hewlett-Packard sits at #35 on Forbes’ list of most valuable brands, with an estimated worth of $57.9 billion.

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Can you operate your own small business inside your IRA? From 1974 to 2013 that question was in a gray area--the answer was a definite maybe. But the multiple shades of gray have recently turned to black and white.

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Labor Day is a holiday to honor hard working Americans, and small business owners are among the hardest workers around. They are often the first ones in and the last ones out. They toil and sweat beside their employees on the same job site, under the same tough conditions, behind the same counter or in the same office.

The National Federation of Independent Business represents more small businesses than any other organization. In fact, 60 percent of our 350,000 members employ between one and five workers

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You run your own business. How do you describe yourself to others when talking about what you do? Are you a small business owner? An entrepreneur? Or something else? And more importantly, is there really a difference between these terms?

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Why devote 10 minutes a day to Facebook? There are many reasons why, but most importantly Facebook can help strengthen your relationships with your customers. The smaller your business, the more important these connections can be to help keep your company thriving.

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The battlefields of Iraq are a world away from Merrimack, New Hampshire, and its new microbrewery, Able Ebenezer Brewing Co. But for this companys owners, the can-do attitude they lived by as combat officers has contributed powerfully to their success as entrepreneurs.

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During Twitters analyst day in November, the company announced that it had 60,000 advertisers on its platform. Earlier this month, the company announced that it had grown its active advertiser base to 100,000 and laid plans to reach thousands more. The company is expanding its self-serve ad platform from 33 countries to the rest of the world, counting businesses in some 200 countries and territories eligible to send sponsored tweets.

International revenue accounted for just 36% of Twitter's total sales last quarter, but 79% of its users are based outside the United States.

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