March, 2009

There's a great new article on MSN Money, 'What sells in a recession ?', spotlighting products and industries which are actually seeing significant growth in the current economic climate - it's well worth a read. Here's a taste: Caravans are...

Guest post from Emma Jones, founder of the home business website Enterprise Nation ( http://www.enterprisenation.com/ ) and author of ‘Spare Room Start Up - how to start a business from home'. This is a perfect time to spruce up your business development...

Using Microsoft Office Groove 2007 and other collaborative technologies has enabled a virtual office services business to grow and expand. After working as a PA and administrator for 20 years, Anna Isaacs decided to use her experience to set up a virtual...

This generally comes top of the priority list for every business - large or small - which is why we've put together a new section on the Microsoft Small Business website. Take a look at our Finding and Keeping customers section, which includes pages on...

Social networking, relationship marketing, LinkedIn, Facebook, Bebo, and now Twitter. As the traditional forms of advertising are in rapid decline (in the news today is the 1,000 job cut at The Daily Mail group) so new ways of promoting your business...

Guest blog from Cedric Chambaz, Marketing Manager for Micrsoft adCenter As a small or medium business owner you are probably too familiar with the dichotomy 'how to grow your business' and 'how to be productive with days that are only 24 hours long...

Guest blogger Emma Jones There is no finer talent for a business owner to possess than the skill of making a sale. As the business grows you may decide to outsource the sales function but at the beginning, making a sale is on your ‘to do' list. Here...

There’s a great story on the BBC website today on a list of banned jargon , compiled by council leaders. The list includes: · Predictors of beaconicity · Re-baselining · Coterminous stakeholder engagement · Coterminosity · Mainstreaming...

Guest post from BusinessWings , a business resource for budding entrepreneurs, and where, in their own words, you can "find useful business articles providing advice, tips and guides, and read recent posts on real life business issues such as running...

It's no secret that there is a shortage of female employees in the fields of science, maths and engineering - despite the fact that apparently more girls than boys achieve the top grades in subjects in school. Last year five times more men than women...

New 60-second business insider videos are great way to learn something very quickly! Many office-based tasks can be made significantly easier with new technology but generally we just carry one doing things in the same old way. But by learning a new process...

From guest blogger Emma Jones Never has this piece of advice been more relevant. You went into business to do the things you most enjoy. When you enjoy something, you're good at it and that, in turn, attracts loyal customers. Keep hold of those customers...

Over the past few months or so Small Business Blog has featured several blogs from Tim Kimber, UK Lead for Office Live (see below for a selection). Office Live for Small Businesses and Office Live WorkSpace are Microsoft's set of Internet-based tools...

The awful and embarrassing names people call their children was a story floating around the press last week. Justin Case, Barb Dwyer and Stan Still were favourites, as were Pearl Button, Jo King, Barry Cade, Carrie Oakey, Priti Manek and Tim Burr. If...

From guest blogger Emma Jones With it being Oscar season and all, what better time to talk about awards for the stars of the business world. Entering awards is an effective marketing tool; writing the entry helps to define business plans and goals...

I’ve been banging on about IT security, worms and viruses, business continuity (aka disaster recovery) plans and the like, for some time now, and guess what – I’m going to post another one today, although this one is of a more personal nature. Small...

Seed change on Green Office Week with Avery What does your business do to help the environment? Research has shown that although UK employees want to be more environmentally friendly there aren't enough facilities and opportunities to enable workers...