If you’re like most small-business owners I know, you don’t want to spend money if you don’t have to. You’d rather invest any extra cash in growing your business (or your vacation fund!). So this time of year can pose a dilemma: Should you try to save some money and do your business tax returns yourself – or are you better off hiring a tax professional to do the job for you? We put that question to...

The big November election is still a few months away. But if you’re itching to vote for something now , you can cast your ballot to help decide which Web 2.0 tools are the best of the best. And while you’re at it, you can also show your support for Microsoft Office Live Small Business. That’s right, Office Live Small Business is among the 300 finalists in this year’s CNET Webware 100 , which ranks...

If you’ve signed up for Microsoft Office Live Small Business since Feb. 11, we’ve changed things around a bit with our latest version of the service. Now all you have to do to get started building your Web site is – get started! Then once you’re happy with what you’ve created, you can turn your attention to choosing your domain name. Your domain name is the Web address people will type into their Web...

Ever notice how some things work better together? Like hot dogs and mustard … or Regis and Kelly. It turns out the same is true with some of our Microsoft Office Live Small Business features. Here’s a good example: 1. Start with Store Manager, our new e-commerce tool that helps you build and manage an online store on your own Web site and sell products on eBay too. Believe it or not, setting up your...

Let’s say you get back to the office after a business meeting where a couple of potential customers handed you their business cards. Do you: a) Toss them in a desk drawer b) Lose them in your pants pockets c) Enter them as contacts on your computer If you answered ‘a’ or ‘b’ rather than ‘c’, then I’d like to introduce you to a little feature known as Contact Manager, which is now FREE for all Microsoft...

I realize this may look self serving given the review by ComputerWorld is a positive one; however I thought it would be useful to post this as it is a thorough review and it may be helpful for many as an overview (we do have content with similar intentions across our site; but I do believe different words and perspective help) · Creating A Web Site · Email & Contact Manager · Collaboration Tools...

If you sell products, we think you’re going to be as jazzed as we are about Store Manager , the new e-commerce feature we just released for Office Live Small Business customers. Here’s why: With Store Manager, you can easily create your own fully customized online store. We’re talking the real deal – product catalogs, shopping carts, credit card processing, e-mail notifications, tax computations, and...

Microsoft Office Live Small Business is all about using the Web to help you reach customers. That’s why in our latest improvements we’ve launched E-Mail Marketing beta . With E-Mail Marketing beta, you can send an informative newsletter, promotional offer, product launch announcement, or company update directly to a client’s inbox. If done right—meaning you let folks subscribe and easily unsubscribe...