Social Networking Site For Small Biz

Just discovered and joined the Small Business Online Community, underwritten by the Bank of America. This is social networking for small biz. Among the many communities I have looked at, this may be THE ONE where owners can really share and learn.

Here’s the goal of the site: “The Small Business Online Community allows small business to exchange ideas and information, and benefit from the experience of others. It’s easy to connect with other members - try starting or joining a conversation in the forums or posting your thoughts in a review. Many users also learn valuable insights and tips from our articles and the success stories of other members.”

As I set up my profile (SCORECitylady), I learned I could mention and describe my business, add a link to my business and even a tag line. (Hint: don’t sign up in FireFox, ’cause it doen’t take your entries.) Adding your website URL can help your site ranking, so be sure to do that.

There’s a Contributions section to your profile that lets you add forum posts, reviews of articles (from “industry experts”), business stories, and comments. You can customize email alerts for news from the community.

Members in the member directory are rated Mogel, Authority, Professional, and Startup, presumably depending on how others rate your contributions. 552 from Chicago, I find.

The Forum tab has three areas: Business Opportunities, Money Matters (site is funded by B of A, after all) , and (of most interest) Running Your Business. Here’s the link to Sales and Marketing, to give you a taste.

It’s got everything: Articles (”Fire Yourself,” “Fix Tax Mistakes…”, Polls on the lower right of the home page (What Activity Do You Spend Most Time On At Tax Time?”), and Stories (”Stop Looking for A Quick Fix For Your Business” “How Yahoo Store Changed Our Business.”)

Of course there’s a site search. Looking for SCORE, I found 27 mentions. Looking for blogging, I found 12 profiles with that word and 95 posts, articles and stories.

Why not swing by to search on your industry and latest business challenge? Advice and support may only be a click away.