Small business secrets...

When you first set up your business’ social media accounts, it can be disheartening to see the Facebook likes and Twitter followers in the single figures and growing slowly. To overcome this, many small business owners are looking to sites such as Fiverr to buy followers in order to boost numbers. This may be an affordable option, but there are many ways this tactic can be damaging to your business.

Creating a website for your small business can be daunting as there are so many options available. However, once you know what’s on offer it’s easy to decide what best suits your business needs. Your requirements for a website will be different depending on the type of business you run.

Social networks have grown in popularity as a way for friends to stay in contact and share information about their daily lives. Businesses often attempt to benefit from social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+ too, but to really get the most out of it, it’s important to use it in the right way. The secret to success is in the name - social networking.

We often talk about how it is vital for every small business to have their own website, but it’s also important to spread your brand across the web so it can be seen more easily. In our recent study, 60.1% of respondents said they would not trust a small business if they couldn’t find any information about them on the web.

At bOnline we write a lot of content in order to provide our customers and other small business owners with insights and advice. As part of this, we regularly profile our customers for case studies. This has emerged as one of our most valuable forms of content, as not only does it help to promote our services, it also helps us to gain an understanding of the customer’s experience.

As someone who keeps one ear to the ground in the small business industry, I’ve recently heard a lot of noise about small business solution provider NumberFour. The company most recently hit the headlines after securing $38m in investments, despite apparently having no product or customers.

Tonight is the grand finale of the BBC’s popular business ‘reality’ show, The Apprentice. Young entrepreneurs have battled through weeks of tasks for the chance to win a £250,000 investment for a new business venture, and it’s now a showdown between the two finalists, Luisa Zissman and Leah Totton. Now in its ninth year, Alan Sugar’s show is one of the channel’s biggest hits.

You’re probably aware that a Facebook page can benefit your small business, but did you know the social network is currently rolling out a new feature that could bring more customers to your business?

Despite the fact we’re all so familiar with the web, the price of website design still remains a mystery to many people. In fact, when we ran a poll on the subject recently, the results surprised us. Over a third of respondents said they thought a professional website would cost them over £500, and 13% of them would expect to pay £1,000 or more.