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Links You will find below information about:
Small Business Administration and
SBDC Links
Small Business
Administration - Small Business Administration. Information
about SBA guaranteed Lending, Classes Online and Great business
Orientation
SBA
Women’s Online Business Center
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SBDC National
Information Clearinghouse - Major source of information for
businesses. Here you can learn about: Marketing, Demographics,
Financing, Franchising, E-Commerce, Taxes and Accounting, Women and
Minorities, Industry Research, Home Business and much more.
SBA
Small Business Recession Help
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South Carolina
Resources:
Official Website for the State of South
Carolina
Small Business
Development Center of South Carolina
Business Filings - Who and what must be filed with the SC
Secretary of State
Carolinas
Minority Supplier Development Council's, Inc.
South Carolina
Department of Revenue -- File to collect, report and pay sales
tax
Business/Entrepreneur Education and Training:
My Own Business
- A complete free online course on starting and operating your
business
Seminar Series: Complying with the International Traffic in Arms
Regulations (ITAR)
Online Training:
Creating and Increasing International Sales and Profits
Women in Business Resources
SBA
Women’s Online Business Center
Women's Business Enterprise National Council -- Become certified
as a Woman-Owned business. The WBENC certification for women-owned
businesses is one of the most widely recognized and respected
certifications in the nation. Accepted by thousands of corporations
within the country and a number of federal and government agencies,
your WBENC certification will be an important marketing tool for
expanding your company's visibility among decision makers in
corporate supply chain diversity and procurement.
Blue Suit Mom -- Resource links for entrepreneurial working
women
Womens Business Centers -- State links for women's business
centers
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Other Resources
Small Business
knowledge base |
Legal Issues
- Legal
information, lawyer profiles and a community site
Free IRS National Phone Forum on S Corporations |
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Small
Business Advisor by Zdnet |
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Small Business Taxes
and Management |
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American Association
of Franchisees and Dealers |
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Entrepreneur Magazine - Small business help available from
Entrepreneur Magazine |
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Ideacafe - Idea
cafe financing section, how to clean up your credit report, venture
capitalists, etc. |
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Inc. Com - The Daily Resource for
entrepreneurs |
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Bloomberg - Links to capital,
franchising, marketing options, etc. |
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Business plans and
samples - Business plans and samples |
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Bloomberg - Resources for some great links to capital,
franchising, marketing, etc. |
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For Your Business Web Site:
Register
a domain name to put your business online
iTransact --
Providing merchant gateway services for credit card processing
Authorizenet.com -- Another option for obtaining credit card
processing through their gateway.
SecureNetShop.com
-- One-stop for opening a merchant account, a gateway credit
card processing service and a shopping cart. Offers a ready-made shopping cart with inventory
control capabilities.
Mals Cart --
Another option for a full-service shopping cart, but will require a
little more programming knowledge, and you need to purchase gateway
services from another source.
PayPal -- If
you cannot afford to apply for a merchant account just yet, but want
to accept credit cards on your web site, this is a good place to
start. A free account tied in to your business checking account and
secured with a credit card. You can also use their free
shopping cart.
CCNow -- Very
similar to PayPal, this site allows you to accept credit cards for
purchases without having to apply for your own merchant account.
DMOZ -- Once your
web site is completed, you will need to begin promoting that site in
order for the search engines to index it. Dmoz.org is the
first step to that web site promotion. If people can't find
you through searches, they'll have a difficult time finding your
site at all. DMOZ is a human-edited directory, and the single
most important place to get your business web listed online.
You absolutely MUST submit your web site's URL under the correct
category and sub-categories, as it's VERY picky about how you submit
your web site for indexing. If you don't do it correctly, they
may not accept your submission. Make sure that the 25-30 words
they allow you to describe your site are well-used. Do
NOT describe your site as "the best place" "the only place"
"the most unique" "the best prices anywhere", etc., etc. If
you do, your submission will not be accepted. Stick to
very focused and specific key words that people may search for,
i.e.: "cotton baby blankets" "wooden toy cars" "women's petite
fashions" "hard-to-find books", etc.
Search Engine Optimization Training -- It's not enough to just
build a web site. You need to build it to appeal to your site
visitors, but even more importantly for purposes of being "found"
online, you need to build it to appeal to search engines, too!
Like everything about owning a business, there's a way to optimize
your chances for success, and a way to fail. Before you build
your own business web site (or if you've already built it, but want
to improve your rank in the search engines), take this free
course on Search Engine Optimization to give yourself a
good beginning as an online entrepreneur. |
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Financing and Funding
Information: (Note -- you must have a
completed and viable Business Plan before applying for any kind of
loan, grants, etc. -- click on our Business Plan link to the left,
if you need more information about Business Plans)
Garage Technology
Ventures-- A seed-stage and
early-stage venture capital fund, looking to invest in extraordinary
entrepreneurs who have the ability to build great teams and great
companies. |
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Angel Investors
-- The non-profit Angel Capital Education Foundation (ACEF)
directory of angel groups (private investors) in the U.S. and
Canada, as well as other resources that may be helpful to
entrepreneurs, investors, policy makers, students, and
entrepreneurial support organizations.
Angel Deals
-- Connecting qualified entrepreneurs and investors
Y Combinator
-- Y Combinator is a new kind of venture firm specializing in
funding early stage startups. We help startups through what is for
many the hardest step, from idea to company. Investing mostly in
software and web services, and prefer to invest in groups with a lot
of technical depth.
Borrego
Springs Bank -- "Today's working capital for tomorrow's
success." Working capital loans up to $50,000. Utilizes SBA's
Patriot Express and Community Express Loan Programs.
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| Trade Information: |
Finding Trade Opportunities with the Central America - Free Trade
Agreement (CAFTA-DR)
Small businesses in the crosshairs of aggressive piracy crackdown -
News article
2008 Trade & Investment Mission Road Show
The Basics of Exporting to Europe: Mastering Logistics and
Maximizing Profits
S.C. Trade Mission to Eastern Europe & Pan-European Business Forum
S.C. Trade Mission to the United Arab Emirates |
South Carolina and North Carolina
General Information
Government Agencies
Banking
Note: These addresses are given to help you get more
information about the following banks. The SBDC does not support or
recommend any of these institutions.
Disclaimer: Links above are not part of the Winthrop SBDC Website
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