Small Business Trends

WASHINGTON (September 19, 2008) – The U.S. Small Business Administration jumped from 13th in 2007 to 7th in 2008 in rankings of overall electronic-government effectiveness, according to a recent Brookings Institute study.

The report, “State and Federal Electronic Government in the United States, 2008,” by Darrell M. West, assessed whether state and federal e-government initiatives effectively use interactive Web features to improve service delivery and public outreach.

Federal Web sites are rated by the same criteria as those of the 50 states. An identical e-government index rates federal Web sites on contact information, publications, databases, portals and number of online services. The top federal e-government performers in 2008 are the national portal USA.gov, followed by the Department of Agriculture, General Services Administration, Postal Service, Internal Revenue Service, Department of Education, Small Business Administration, Library of Congress, Department of Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board.

“At SBA, our responsibility goes beyond providing access to capital to help small businesses,” said Sandy K. Baruah, SBA’s Acting Administrator. “Thanks to a commitment to improving entrepreneurship education and training under the leadership of former Administrator Steve Preston, we are also giving small businesses the tools to succeed. Whether you are starting or expanding a small business and need help developing a business plan, targeting clients, or establishing a budget or need additional training, technical or financial assistance, SBA is here to help and the SBA Web site, www.sba.gov, is the best place to start.”

Recently lauded by Money Magazine, the SBA continues to improve its Web site’s reputation in order to help small businesses start, grow and succeed.

After a concerted effort to improve all aspects of the Web site, it has outperformed conventional Web site standards in areas such as: design, navigation, site performance and search capabilities. It also exceeded standards for its ability to return visitors to the site and have them recommend it to others. Content, functionality and overall satisfaction continue to grow.