Category: Financial

People are searching for local businesses and small businesses — just like yours — online. If they cannot find you there, then it’s a missed opportunity on your end, almost like having a “Closed” sign in front of your store. Fix that with a .online domain name.

For most small businesses, especially those going through a crisis, getting online is easier said than done. Building a strong digital presence goes beyond just having a business website. Before you start working on your site planning or marketing strategy, make sure you’ve got the foundational details correct.

Get the perfect domain name for your business

Before you start building your website, you’re going to need a good domain name.

This will be your online identity, so it’s vital that you make it shine. While choosing a domain name for your business, keep the following factors in mind:

• Keep it short and

This article originally published on GoDaddy’s Venture Forward website.

While the ongoing COVID-19 crisis has shuttered tens of thousands of small businesses and sent entire economies into tailspins, one cohort of entrepreneurs is proving surprisingly resilient. And, in turn, they’re creating economic stability in their local communities.

They are the operators of millions of digital domain-name websites that GoDaddy, which hosts the sites, labels “ventures.” Our multiyear research project, Venture Forward, found these often-overlooked and uncounted participants in the digital economy helped regions recover more fully from the 2008 recession, and are creating the same sort of buffer during the current crisis.

Ventures are, of course, as diverse as the country they reside in. They’re in every state. They’re rural and urban. They’re run by women and men, full-time business owners, students, retirees, military personnel and part-time workers. They come from every ethnicity and education level.

While the ventures … Read more

The information provided in this blog is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as legal or accounting advice from GoDaddy. Always consult an attorney or accounting professional regarding your specific situation.

When you’re starting a new business, there may be no more important resource to have on hand than financing. Call it what you want — funding, cash, liquidity — but small business financing makes it possible for you to afford all the important investments you’ll need to make in your business to get it off the ground. With that in mind, you may be wondering how to get a business line of credit.

A line of credit (LOC) is typically a pool of money that a lender extends you, which you are able to draw from as financing needs arise. Each draw has its own repayment schedule, and when you replenish the pool by repaying your … Read more

This post was originally published on March 9, 2017  and was updated on Aug. 25, 2020.

No woman is an island. You might have gone into business on your own, but that’s no reason to isolate yourself. I’m not suggesting you start hiring (especially if your business is brand new), but I am suggesting that connecting with other like-minded entrepreneurs through professional organizations for women can provide you with a dose of inspiration and motivation — not to mention resources you might not have discovered otherwise.

Why professional organizations for women are beneficial

As a female business leader and entrepreneur, I know that community is important. That’s why I advocate for women to get involved with professional organizations.

Unlike brief social media interactions and webinars that focus on conveying quick snippets of information, professional organizations for women are about long-term support, connections and growth.

The benefits of joining a professional … Read more

This post was originally published on March 22, 2018 and was updated on August 24th, 2020.

For small business owners, asking how your businesses did is a mandatory component of a successful operation. How do you go about getting an understanding of where you stand in the eyes of your customers? The answer is soliciting, reading and replying to the feedback left at online review sites.

As a relatively recent marketing phenomenon, online review sites have dramatically grown in popularity over the past five years. The primary reason for the growth is the trust consumers place in other consumers to leave truthful, heartfelt reviews of small businesses.

Did you know that nine out of 10 consumers read online reviews before they make a buying decision?

Trust is just one of the many compelling reasons why your small business needs to increase its exposure at online review sites.

Why are customer