The Case for Using Stimulus Dollars to Help Out Small Business Owners

We've just completed research here at MerchantCircle in partnership with Professor Samuel D. Bornstein of Kean University School of Business and Jung I. Song, CPA of Bornstein & Song, CPAs & Consultants. The survey had some startling results that we hope to use to influence legislation that will immediately help small business owners in and around California.

Our study shows that a 2nd Wave of Foreclosures in California will dwarf the subprime crisis and threatens more that 2.1 million jobs from business owners who refinanced their homes to pay for business expenses. You can read our study results and summary here. Our survey and answers from small business owners are below.

As first steps towards getting coverage on the ongoing crisis to help out small business owners, BusinessWeek (click here to read) and KXTV News 10 in Sacramento (click here to see the story) have already used our findings in their stories.

It’s a particularly troubling issue for small business owners that will further extend the economic difficulties in California. We hope to influence California Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and Assembly Member Manuel Perez, who will lead a new Assembly task force charged with maximizing the impact of federal economic stimulus dollars: (SERJ) Stimulus, Economic Recovery, and Jobs Task Force.



















Sincerely,
Community Relations

Presidential Candidates Obama and McCain on Small Business

While small businesses create roughly two-thirds of all new American jobs, and generate roughly 70 percent of the gross national product, it's amazing that small business issues are rarely mentioned on the campaign trail and in campaign rhetoric. Here at MerchantCircle, we'll fight to make sure you know which candidate has your best interests in mind, so that you can make an informed decision for yourself.

Over the next few days, we'll send out a questionaire to a random sampling of our 575,000 merchant members to gauge your concerns and attempt to find the answers. At the very least, we'll have a clear idea on which candidates small business owners are leaning towards (even in swing states!). After speaking with merchants in Wasilla, AK about Sarah Palin (we'll do the same with the Senator Joe Biden in Scranton, PA and Wilmington, DE), it's obvious that most merchants are not sure how the two parties will affect their business.

Here's a chart from BusinessWeek on some of Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain's agendas on taxes, health care and incentives:



Here's another more extensive side-by-side comparison on candidate positions from the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council. Click here to see it. It's a really good and easy to look at chart.

Stay tuned to our blog for more posts every day this week.

Sincerely,
Kevin L.
Community Relations

Local Directories and Review Sites

We've long advocated that business owners need to take control and manage what's being said about them on the web - trouble is, there's far too many websites that cater to consumer reviews to keep track of. One thing we've always done for merchants is to show you where your business is listed, whether it's listed correctly, and how many reviews you have.



We know it's imperative for a business owner to be listed on as many 'free' directories as possible - so hurry up already and get yourself on there. Or you can have MerchantCircle do it for you as well. (Click here for more details.) Engage in active dialogue with your reviewers, always stay calm, collected, and invite unsatisfied customers back to see the changes 'you've made' or 'issues you've addressed.'

While more than 75% of our 550,000 merchants use us as their main web presence, we also offer a section for consumer reviews and dialogue between you and your customers. Just this last week BusinessWeek featured us in a list of review sites that merchants should be aware of. (Click here to read more). Don't be scared off by their comment, the author's point was that many of our merchants have signed up in communities as small as 1,000 people. As a merchant, take note of these sites; It can't hurt. Also check out this previous post from Entrepreneur that features us as well, it's titled: "15 Sites for Promoting Your Local Business". (Click here to read it).

Sincerely,
Kevin
Community Relations

Celebrate Good Times.... C'mon!

After hitting our One Year Anniversary since we launched, it's time to take a look back. When MerchantCircle launched in June of 2006, we had 5,000 business owners signed-on. Today, that number stands at 145,000!

We've added a number of new features over the course of this year to help you find more customers and have a more rewarding web experiences. Features that enable you to track what customers are saying about you on the web, features that allow you to engage and communicate with business owners all around the country, features that let you customize your MerchantCircle listing, and features that let you network across the web.

We've added a number of partners to enhance your listings and make sure that the content you create, including coupons and ads, are seen all across the web - not just on MerchantCircle. Those partners include Jingle, Judy's Book, Oodle, Edgeio, Local.com, Topix and yes, Google.

For our efforts and yours, we've been recognized by BusinessWeek, Entrepreneur, CNet, ZDNet, AlwaysOn, and TheStreet.com TV among others. It's merchants like European Esthetics and Wellness, Wedding Supplies Unlimited and Higgy's Pizzeria that make us proud that we can give hundreds and thousands of customers a month access to these business owners.

Does all this activity make us less motivated for our second year? Not at all. We've got a ton in store for you this next year, much of which we're excited to unveil, because we know this will help you maximize your web potential on the web. Also look for us to pass a quarter of a million merchants signed-on this summer!

Many of our local merchants and partners will be joining us this Thursday evening as we celebrate a successful first year. Send me your email and I'll send you details. In the meantime, thanks - for everything.

Cheers,
Kevin
Community Relations

Fight Night 3: MerchantCircle vs. Roy Jones Jr.

So recently at work we've been playing this game called Fight Night 3 on Play Station 2 (management's holding back on a PS3 or a wii, but we won't complain). Fortunately, our morale is great thanks to a number of recent mentions in the media about us. We've worked hard to make sure a business owner can easily navigate their way and manage their reputation on the web. And after 90,000 merchants signed on - it's great to know business owners realize the importance of having a presence on the web.

Just this last week, we've graced the sites of BusinessWeek, MSNBC, and USA TODAY, but just as importantly we've reached the analyst and players in the 'local' internet space with The Local Onliner and ScreenWerks. Perhaps the proudest accomplishment for us, is hitting home to people who actually run local businesses including Steve Mun, a real estate agent in Saratoga, CA, and marketing experts like Andy Beal.

You can even hear our co-founder Wayne Yamamoto in The Startup Studio podcast this week. All of the attention is great, but it means nothing if our merchants don't get new customers. And they are! Take for instance Beyond Atioxidant, Dodd Priority, or All American Gutter. With merchants like that in our corner, MerchantCircle can take out all comers - even Roy Jones Jr.



Sincerely,
Kevin
Community Relations