The time has come for all those entrepreneurs planning on starting or improving their business in 1999, to have access to innovative online products and services that can help them better manage and merchandise their small business. Today Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) announced the addition of an online Smart Buyer's Guide to its Small Business by Quicken.com (www.quickenbiz.com) channel.
The innovative Smart Buyer's Guide has tamed the Web to offer a comprehensive and objective guide to online products, services and resources specially tailored to meet the needs of today's small businesses. Whether a business owner is interested in setting up a Web store in 60 minutes or less, creating a Web site, finding a loan, or locating a shipping resource, they can find the answers at www.quickenbiz.com -- the starting place on the Web for online products and services for small businesses.
The Smart Buyer's Guide is an objective editorial overview of products and services designed to help small business owners manage and grow their businesses. The Smart Buyer's Guide, which is continuously being updated and enhanced, includes categories such as Web Stores, Web Page Builders and Online Communities, Online Loans, Online Business Travel Providers, and Packaging, Tracking and Shipping. Today, 25 participating companies are currently featured in the Smart Buyer's. In addition, some of these providers offer special discounts or free trial periods for their products to Quicken.com customers.
"The Smart Buyer's Guide is just another example of how we're constantly evolving and improving our Small Business Channel to help small business owners better use the Internet to find the solutions that best meets their needs," said Jim Heeger, senior vice president of the small business division at Intuit. "Small Business by Quicken.com is the best place on the Web to find the tools and information small businesses need to help save time and money."
Launched in July 1998, the Small Business by Quicken.com site is quickly growing and constantly expanding. In addition to the Smart Buyer's Guide, the site also features two other new categories: Email Counseling and Industry Search. Through Email Counseling and a link to SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), small businesses can post specific questions and get personalized answers free-of-charge. SCORE has more than 12,000 volunteer business counselors who are available seven days a week 24 hours a day to share free and confidential advice and help entrepreneurs develop effective business plans and successful strategies for business growth.
The new Industry Search function allows small business owners to instantly access information specifically related to their industry. Simply click on your industry on the front page to locate relevant news, product and company information provided by Transium. There are a total of 23 feature industries to choose from, including accounting, agriculture, construction, consulting, education, engineering, non-profit, personal services, property management, restaurant and retail.
Small Business by Quicken.com (www.quickenbiz.com) is the starting place on the Web for small businesses. Specifically designed and dedicated to providing small business owners with the information they need to succeed, this comprehensive resource offers business news and objective information, time-saving business tools and services such as the Quicken Business CashFinder Web service, user-to-user bulletin boards, and direct access to a variety of experts -- all free-of-charge to customers with Internet access.
