Many startup businesses start within a home. However, there usually comes a time that business needs necessitate a move to an office. What are some things to consider when moving your startup to an office? Here are tips to consider:
Location, Location, Location
Location can be important for startups — but not all startups. If your startup is an online business, you likely can save money by looking for cheap office space close to where you live.
Don’t Cause Downtime
The life of a startup is fragile to begin with. When moving, don’t neglect your daily business in the transition. If necessary, take it …read more

If you have a startup business, each and every customer you have is valuable. Communicating with those customers can help build loyalty and keep those customers in the know as your startup business grows and evolves. What are the best ways to communicate with customers? Here is a look at a few ways to connect:
Social Networking
When it comes to communicating with customers, social networking has been a godsend. With services such as Twitter and Facebook, you can easily interact and keep your customers updated.
A Blog
While a blog isn’t as personal as social networking, it’s still very powerful and allows for …read more

One of the first things you should do after creating a startup company is to find the permit and license requirements for your startup in your state. A new free resource available on the MoreBusiness.com website makes this process a lot easier that it has been in the past.
The resource, called the State Business Licensing Center, is easy to use. You’ll see a map of the United States and you just need to click on your state. On the next page, you will see a page with on-site and off-site links to helpful information.
Raj Khera, the CEO of MoreBusiness.com, says …read more

It seems as if the first thing startup business owners want to do is advertise. However, that is oftentimes not the best use of time and money.
In fact, some experts who have created multiple startup companies have argued that advertising is the most overrated aspect of the startup experience. As the thinking goes, if a startup business idea is good enough, the customers will find you — and not the other way around.
While this is not always a viable rule for all startups, you should remember that your number one focus should be your startup business itself and …read more

AOL, which is splitting from Tim Warner Inc., recently announced that it has acquired Going Inc. — a startup company based in Boston. While no financial information was released about the transaction, industry rumors indicate that the price tag was likely less than $10 million.
Going offers a lot of what AOL is looking for as they recreate their business model. Available in 30 of the biggest cities in the United States, Going provides local information in a Web 2.0 format. There are also social networking elements and tools for local promoters who want to get the word out about an …read more

In their Series C financing, Cempra Pharmaceuticals was able to raise $46 million in funding. Cempra Pharmaceuticals is a startup company that is creating antibiotics for drug-resistant and difficult to treat infections. The company says that this series of funding will go toward more clinical development.
Said Cempra Pharmaceuticals President and CEO Prabhavathi Fernandes, Ph.D.: “This additional funding represents strong confidence in our approach to address the need for new antibiotics, particularly those that will be used to treat drug-resistant infections, and it will help us advance our clinical development of these very promising compounds. The Infectious Disease Society of America …read more

A podcast is a great way to connect with your customers and stay connected. Podcasts are especially useful for startups who are trying to gain the trust of new customers and want to better explain their business model without having to publish an online novel. Here are five tips creating a successful podcast for a startup:
5) Trust and Knowledge
When listening to a new podcast about a startup, a new customer will usually listen for two things: whether the startup sounds trustworthy and whether the startup sounds knowledgeable enough to succeed in the industry.
4) Explain Thoroughly
Don’t assume you are speaking …read more

If you have an online startup business, you have probably considered adding a live chatroom to your website. Live chatrooms are a good idea, however they do have their drawbacks. Here are some tips if you are going to add a chatroom:
1) 24-hour Moderation
If you have a chat system, you should have a representative on hand around the clock. The only way around that is to only have the chatroom open during certain hours of the day.
2) Customer Interaction?
Do you want your customers to be able to chat with each other? In most cases you don’t, however in some cases …read more

If you are thinking about creating a startup business, you should know that not all states are created equal. Recently, the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council ranked the best states in America for startup businesses.
“Taxes have been piling up on small business owners, and the cumulative burden is particularly painful in a down economy like we are suffering right now,” said Raymond Keating, chief economist and the author of the report. “Unfortunately, state and local officials continue to increase a variety of levies without a firm grasp of the burdens they impose on small businesses and their state’s overall competitiveness.”
Here …read more

If you have a startup online business but you don’t have much of an advertising budget, there are still ways to bring a healthy amount of traffic to your website. It takes more elbow grease than simply purchasing traffic, however this type of free traffic is much more valuable than traffic brought to you by other means.
Here are five tips for bringing free traffic to your online startup business:
5. Link Exchange. Find websites that are in the same niche as your online startup company and ask whether they would be interested in exchanges links. You’ll be surprised the positive responses.
4. …read more