SMB

The business of providing small businesses with e-commerce hosting and support solutions is growing fast. The large-enterprise market is crowded, and competition is fierce. That has led an increasing number of e-commerce platform providers to enter the SMB end, where they are looking to establish fo...

Want to be your own boss? Got an itch to try your hand at e-commerce but don't consider yourself a techie? Maybe you've got an eye for style, the next big fad, or just useful products. Or perhaps you have the pulse of a particular space, as well as the sales and marketing savvy to put an idea to ...

Small businesses have their share of difficulties, but do they have any chance of succeeding in a world dominated by eBay, Amazon and the like? The short answer is yes -- if they combine the right mix of technology, marketing and customer service. "The goliaths of the online world are everywhere. Th...

Dell said Thursday it would change the way it prices its personal computers, drastically reducing the number of rebate offers. The move does not represent a pure price cut, according to Dell, but instead comes in response to complaints from small businesses and residential customers about confusing ...

Threats from hackers are converging -- not just coming in on e-mail, or over the Web, or via Instant Messaging (IM), but through all three media, simultaneously, heightening the threat level that computer users are facing. This week, MessageLabs released its "Q2 2006 Intelligence Report," detailing ...

Although comparison shopping motivates many a consumer to shop online, it's second fiddle for small businesses shopping on the Net, according to a study released by JupiterResearch last Friday. The most significant factor governing purchases on the Web by small businesses is previous experience or f...

In the early days of the Web, smart small Internet businesses could compete with just about anyone by working to make sure their Web pages were found first on search engines. Fast forward 10 years. Search engines have become increasingly sophisticated. Paid search listings have exploded into the pic...

Think taking your small business global is mission impossible? Think again. Communications advances are making globalization a reality, and it's the small business owners of the world who are busting borders and realizing greater growth potential. So says Laurel Delaney, CEO of GlobeTrade.com and au...

The Internet is still a very dangerous environment for conducting business. Lurking in the cyberspace shadows are criminal masterminds bent on stealing personal information and credit card numbers to further fund their activities. Almost daily, stories involving new worms, phishing scams or large s...

You know that half the money you are spending on Internet advertising is wasted -- you just aren't sure which half. You've read about Web analytics and have played with the free tools that come from your Web hosting solution, but you realize you need more. The only problem is, there are more than 60...

Microsoft has launched a US$500 million marketing campaign aimed at using its new products, including Windows Vista and Office 2007, to wrest enterprise customers away from rival IBM. Microsoft said Vista and the new version of Office will enable desktop computers to become control stations for hard...

Microsoft rolled out a beta version of Office Live, the first step in what is seen as an important foray for the company into the Web-delivered services and software arena. The beta version of Office Live is aimed at small businesses and includes tools for building and maintaining Web sites, for bac...

Saying even its smaller business customers need more powerful search solutions, Google is broadening its menu of enterprise-search appliances to include two larger versions of the Google Mini. The day before the one-year anniversary of the launch of the Mini, Google's first search appliance designed...

In a bid to provide more services to mid-sized enterprises in the United States, UK-based Sage Group said it will acquire Verus Financial Management for US$325 million in cash. Verus, a Nashville, Tenn.-based division of Financial Technology Ventures, specializes in providing credit-card and check p...

In a move to attract more small business customers, Microsoft is launching a subsidy program to allow this growing business demographic to receive credits toward consulting services when they purchase Microsoft software. Small businesses that purchase a minimum of five copies of Microsoft Office or ...