Most entrepreneurs started their businesses because of something they love doing—carpentry, baking pastries, styling hair or whatever. Then they discover that there are many parts of the business they love a lot less—bookkeeping, advertising, hiring, firing and so on.
So it’s no surprise that many small business owners see the idea of using social networking, building a complicated website with e-commerce features or trying to figure out online advertising as a likely sources of big headaches.
In an attempt to convince them otherwise, the U.S. Small Business Administration has teamed up with Google to create a new online resource called Tools for Online Success that showcases the ways small businesses can take advantage of the Internet.
The site, www.google.com/help/sba features a series of polished videos that showcase businesses from across the country and explain how each one used a particular sort of web tool, from creating a website to using social media to interact with customers. The videos include not-so-subtle plugs for Google products like Google Places and AdWords, but they also have useful tips from the featured business owners and Google staffers.
One of the companies featured on the site includes Sumul Shah, president of Lumus Construction in Wilmington. In his clip, Shah discusses how he engages with customers on the Lumus website.
“In our experience, the best way for us to research projects and for our customers to research us is through the web,” he says in the video.
Recommendations from the site include using social media to let customers know about special sales, building an online presence by educating others about the business owner’s area of expertise, encouraging two-way communication with customers and using analytics tools to find out more about who uses the business’s website.
