Technology For Your Business

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Creating a Website

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Where to Turn to Build a Website
You can build a nice website for your business for very little money. Here are five of the top website-building services available.
http://mashable.com/2011/07/10/small-business-website-budget/

Top Tips for Website Design
Think about fonts. Don’t forget smart phones. These sites have good, pretty simple advice on things to think about when making design choices for a business website.
http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/technology/article/5-design-trends-that-small-businesses-can-use-in-2011-christina-warren
http://mashable.com/2010/08/10/small-business-design-trends/

Tracking Website Traffic
Google offers a free Analytics service that can be linked to any website, allowing business owners to see what pages visitors are looking at, what search words are used, where viewers are coming from, and more.
http://www.google.com/analytics/

Getting Found on the Web

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Help Google Find Your Website
Increase visibility and searchability with these tips from Google.
http://www.google.com/submityourcontent/local_business.html

Put Your Company on the Map
You can put your company’s name and location on maps from Google, Bing and other websites for free.

Google Places: http://www.google.com/placesforbusiness
Bing: http://www.bing.com/businessportal
Foursquare: http://foursquare.com/business/venues
FaceBook Places: http://mashable.com/2011/06/27/how-to-claim-business-facebook-places/

Make Yelp and Other Review Sites Work for You
You can’t remove or change customer reviews at online sites like Yelp. But you can officially sign up as the firm—they call it “unlocking” or “claiming”—and help make your company look good.

Yelp: https://biz.yelp.com/support/unlocking
Merchant Circle: http://www.merchantcircle.com/corporate/
Citysearch and Insiderpages: https://myaccount.citygridmedia.com/self-enroll;jsessionid=642DFCA3F22076399D1A369965B9320C?execution=e1s1
Yahoo Local: http://listings.local.yahoo.com/basic.php

Join Your Community Portal
Each of the five Smart Communities has a neighborhood portal—a website dedicated to local news and information. Add your business to the directory listing for free.

Auburn Gresham: http://www.auburngreshamportal.org/index.html
Chicago Lawn: http://www.chicagolawnportal.org/directory/index.html
Englewood: http://www.englewoodportal.org/directory/index.html
Humboldt Park: http://www.humboldtparkportal.org/directory/index.html
Pilsen: http://www.pilsenportal.org/directory/index.html

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Accepting Credit Cards

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The Basics on Accepting Credit Cards
Some basic information on accepting credit card payments. This article is for online companies, but the basic facts are useful.
http://www.ehow.com/how_4499185_accept-credit-cards-business-website.html

Square
A new way to accept credit cards is through your smartphone. Square allows you to accept credit or debit cards via iPhone, iPad and Android enabled devices with a free card reader that attaches to the headphone jack. The company charges a fee of 2.75% from every transaction, but there are no additional fees.
https://squareup.com/

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Technology and Business: The Overview

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Stay Secure Online
Passwords, firewalls and antivirus: Ten data-security measures you can’t do without.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217484

How Does Google Think?
Look deep into the mind of Google with this five-part series from CNBC.

Small Business and Technology: The Big Picture
Technology is an investment, not simply a cost. This and other tech rules your business must follow in order to thrive.
http://smallbiztechnology.com/sixrules/

First Step Before Building an Online Business
Research is of utmost importance when it comes to starting an online business.
http://www.ehow.com/video_4774490_start-own-online-business.html

Online Business Resource Center