It was a big week for freelancers, all kinds of freelancers on the Web.
Domain registrar and Web hosting service GoDaddy officiall launched a service for freelancers and Web professionals who tend others’ websites.
Meanwhile, oDesk and Elance, also big names in online freelancing had equally big news.
Check out these and other headlines in the full Small Business Trends weekly news and information roundup below.
Freelancing & Contracting
GoDaddy Pro Officially Launches Aimed at Web Managers
When you’re just starting out as a Web developer or site maintenance freelancer, it may not be a bother to manage your client list. Especially if it’s just one or two clients. But when that list grows to five, then 10, then more, the management of all those accounts for all those clients gets harder and harder. That’s where GoDaddy hopes its new GoDaddy Pro services can help.
oDesk Becomes Upwork, But What About Elance?
Over a year ago, two of the biggest freelance marketplaces, oDesk and Elance, announced they would be merging into one. Since then, they have operated as separate platforms. Today the new company announced a relaunch under the name Upwork with a new platform by the same name.
Economy
Glassman: Revenue and Labor Greatest Small Business Challenges
Optimism among small businesses about the national economy is up from last year rising from 42 percent in 2014 to 47 percent this year. That’s according to the recently released 2015 Chase Business Leaders Outlook. For the annual outlook, JP Morgan Chase surveyed 2,000 small business leaders to find out their thoughts for the coming year.
Carly Fiorina: The Small Business Candidate for President?
Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, will formally start her Presidential campaign on May 4, the Wall Street Journal reported recently. Small business owners should be happy for in Fiorina they have a candidate who cares about their issues. The former HP CEO has made it clear in recent speeches that she is worried about American small business.
Retail Trends
Your Customers Could Soon Be Asking for Lab Grown Leather
If you sell leather goods, you are dealing in products made from animals. But times are changing and customers may soon be requesting something more in line with evolving ethical and environmental standards. Check out Modern Meadow, a Brooklyn-based company that uses tissue and cell engineering technology to create lab grown leather.
Maple App Offers Food Delivery Without an Actual Restaurant
What are the essential factors that make up a restaurant? Your list probably includes a menu, kitchen staff, and a physical location. Maple has each of those factors. But it’s actually an app, not a restaurant. Instead of going to Maple to eat or to pick up food, customers simply order from a rotating daily menu of fresh meals on the app and then get the food delivered.
Small Biz Spotlight
Spotlight: ReachLocal Lets You Find Customers Near You
Marketing a local business is not necessarily the same as marketing a nationwide or online business. But that doesn’t mean that online tools like social media and search marketing aren’t necessary. ReachLocal knows the power that these online marketing tools can have for local businesses.
National Small Business Week
Amer Akhtar of Yahoo Small Business Speaks of Big Changes Coming
Yahoo Small Business, which aims to get small businesses up and running on the Web, debuted in the 1990s and has grown into a comprehensive resource. Yahoo says its platform offers a wide variety of tools designed to help small businesses create a website or eCommerce site.
Elizabeth Gore of Dell, Empowering Entrepreneurs Around the World
Dell Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) Elizabeth Gore recently spoke with Small Business Trends in an exclusive interview about what Dell has in the works for small business entrepreneurs, as well as what the company has planned for Small Business Week.
Startup
Subscribe to an Art Education with Schoolism
“To become the best, you must learn from the best.” That is the tagline for Schoolism’s new endeavor to make art education available and affordable for everyone. Schoolism wants to offer art courses taught by seasoned professionals paid for with monthly online subscriptions instead of tuition.
Law & Security
Court Defends the Anonymity of Yelp Reviewers
Yelp does not have to identify seven online reviewers who posted critical comments about a carpet cleaning business, the Virginia Supreme Court recently ruled. Based on procedural grounds, this ruling is viewed as a big win for Free Speech. However, there are clear implications for small businesses too.
Google Antitrust Case: EU Charges Explained
Business regulators in Europe believe that Google is violating antitrust rules there by forcing its Shopping results on users. Here’s a deeper look at the Google antitrust case and why EU regulators decided to act. In April, the European Competition Commission filed antitrust charges against Google.
Kaspersky Lab’s Online Security Solution Built for Small Business
Kaspersky Lab, founded by Eugene Kaspersky (pictured above) has always provided online security solutions for small businesses. But today the company is emphasizing “small” even more by offering a system specifically designed for companies with fewer than 25 employees.
Image: GoDaddy
