The Web site for small businesses

June 27, 2008

Navigating the federal government’s hierarchy with its maze of rules, regulations and resources presents one of the greatest challenges facing small businesses. As part of their responsibility, agencies publish information online to help businesses comply with laws and regulations. However, each publishes and organizes its information differently. As a result, any small business owner can tell you that finding regulatory information and other government resources is time consuming.

This was the problem Business.gov intended to solve when it was launched in 2004 as part of the SBA’s Business Gateway Initiative.

Even as Business.gov helped clarify the federal picture, it became clear that small businesses were also faced with the burden of finding information relevant to the state, county and municipality in which they do business. Small business owners were potentially spending more time looking for information, and less time operating their business.

The SBA listened and responded.

In December 2007, Business.gov introduced content across more than 9,000 state, county and city government Web sites. Just last month the site added a robust search feature that intelligently reads the words typed in the search box and returns only the most relevant information from state and local Web sites.

Try it yourself: Go to www.business.gov and find the box in the upper right that says “Try Our New Search Engine” and click “Read More About Search.” On the next page, type in “business license,” type the name of your city and see the results.

The SBA’s goal is to make it easier for small business owners to find essential information needed to run their operations. Adding state and local content and search has been a significant step in support of that goal. Now, business owners have a single access point to help them find the information they need so they can spend less time looking and more time doing.
Nancy Sternberg is the program manager of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Business Gateway Initiative.

Written by Nancy Sternberg  |  Filed Under Office Practices 

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