It's not a stimulus package and it's not a bail-out, but it occurs to me that the Office Live Small Business Marketplace could save customers like you some dough. And who couldn’t use that right now? If you aren't familiar with our Marketplace or the special offers that you are eligible for as an Office Live Small Business customer, you may be surprised what you're missing out on. I...

How many times have you received an email from someone trying to explain his or her product, service, or company, only the email was so long and wordy that you gave up after the first few sentences and hit "delete"? Worse, do you have the sneaking suspicion that YOUR emails are being received the same way? Then you'll want to check out this useful blog post from Babak Nivi on the Harvard...

I ran across an Office Live Small Business website the other day that is truly inspiring — and well put together. I'm not sure if it's the mom in me or the marketer in me who is more impressed. The website supports the work of the Diaper Bank of Southern Arizona , which describes itself as the nation's first diaper bank. Over the years, it has provided millions of diapers for babies and...

About a month ago, my partners and I were talking about our favorite local businesses and how some were on a list of "endangered businesses" a friend had sent to us. This inspired a blog post I wrote for the BizWomen website, which has now taken on a life of its own. Entrepreneur Cinda Baxter saw it, and posted about it on her AlwaysUpward.com blog. Then she really got inspired, and launched...

Here is a last-minute reminder: Both Office Live Small Business AND Office Live Workspace are finalists in the Productivity category of the third annual CNET Webware 100 Awards . These awards recognize the best Web 2.0 applications today. There are 30 different entries in this Productivity category (out of several hundred nominees) and … you can only vote for one . Voting ends on Thursday. Vote for...

Spring has arrived (at last!) up here in the Pacific Northwest, along with the compulsory spring cleaning that goes with it. In addition to washing the windows or cleaning out your closets, I think you should consider adding "website" to your cleanup list. You might question that. After all, if your business still offers the same services, at the same rates, and has the same phone number...

Do federal government programs to help small businesses make a difference? They do to microbusinesses, the smallest small businesses, according to a recent poll by the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE). In the poll, the vast majority (80 percent) of business owners surveyed said they want President Obama to improve and expand existing federal small-business programs. More than one-fourth...

In a recent blog post , we introduced you to the Office Live Small Business Community Council — a group of self-taught product experts who volunteer their time to our Community site to help others more effectively use our service and features. Here is a story about one of the members. By day, RxDave is a hospital pharmacist, and by night, he's a hospital pharmacist too. But at the end of the day...