New Marketplace Helps Small Businesses Showcase Best Products and Services


New Marketplace Helps Small Businesses Showcase Best Products and Services

Readers of Small Business Trends may have recently noticed the “Marketplace” link at the top of the homepage.

The Small Business Trends Marketplace is where small business leaders will find all the essential products and services that will help companies improve their overall operations, enhance their competitiveness, and increase their profitability.

“The ultimate goal is provide value to our members and visitors. Small Business Trends’ mission is to educate and empower small businesses so they can operate a successful and sustainable business of their own,” Chaitra Dutt of Small Business Trends explains.

“It takes a lot of effort and support from other small businesses. The goal is to provide a curated marketplace where essential products and services are carefully chosen that are appropriate and valuable for our members,” Dutt adds.

This new feature will put everything from minor innovative technology gadgets to unique services tailored for small businesses based on requests or demand at professionals’ fingertips.

Companies offering products and services in marketing, accounting, design, strategy, and other avenues are invited to take part in the Marketplace. It is designed to assist participants in finding professionals based on recommendations and reputation.

In the Marketplace, members and visitors will find coupons, discounts, the new Small Business Trends magazine, and resources for marketing, operating, sales and social media. Startup resources, templates, and white papers are also available.

“For most small business owners looking to solve problems, find solutions, choose a product or select a vendor today — the good news is that search engines like Google and Bing give you a gazillion choices. The bad news is … search engines like Google and Bing give you a gazillion choices,” says Anita Campbell, CEO and founder of Small Business Trends.

“Finding lots of information today isn’t hard. Most of us have exactly the opposite problem. We are overwhelmed with choices,” Campbell adds. “We either have to spend time filtering through hundreds, even thousands, of results. Or, we aren’t given enough information to make an informed choice. So we are left where we started — not being able to solve our problem.”

“What we need help with is filtering the information, so we aren’t overwhelmed,” Campbell continues. “Enter … the Marketplace.  The Marketplace provides vetted choices. Everything has been evaluated and carefully selected for usefulness to small business owners and entrepreneurs. Everything is evaluated for quality. If it isn’t right for small businesses in our expert opinion, it won’t be in the Marketplace.”

“What’s more, everything in the Marketplace fills a niche need — it is right for small businesses and suits their needs specifically. Usually it is going to be something that is difficult to find elsewhere,” says Campbell.

Small Business Trends was founded in 2003 and currently reaches more than 6 million readers annually. The editorial staff and more than 400 vetted experts help keep the site up-to-date on all the trends and challenges facing small businesses, as well as the never-ending list of tools available to help them grow and become sustainable.

This October, Small Business Trends will celebrate its 12th anniversary. The site started as a Blogger blog with one purpose in mind: to publish email articles for a newsletter, easily.

“That first day the site had one visitor: me,” Campbell reminisces. “Later that week, I had a couple of other visitors. Those were probably pity visits from friends I gushed to about this wonderful site.”

“But I stuck with it, through every problem you can imagine. If something could go wrong, it probably has — more than once. Somehow, we got through it all.  I bootstrapped the site starting with my own savings. As the site made money, every cent was plowed back into it.  The site has grown to monthly seven figure visitors today.”

“Our mission has never wavered. Our mission is simple:  we’re all about ‘small business success, delivered daily.'” Campbell explains.

Small Business Trends works daily to highlight the best of the best in the small business world. In so doing, it shines the spotlight on some of the most outstanding entrepreneurs and business minds. The site does this through the Small Business Book Awards, which recognizes entrepreneur-authors who have written books that are essential learning tools for business owners who might be missing out on conferences due to financial concerns or time constraints.

Small Business Trends also spotlights the “best of the best” through the Small Business Influencer Awards, which recognizes the unsung heroes of the small business world. These include the experts, consultants, professional service providers, vendors, journalists and others that serve and influence the small business market.

The Marketplace is one way in which Small Business Trends is working to help small businesses and small business leaders stand out.

Small businesses can be involved in the Marketplace and help it grow by making it their first destination for locating products and services they need. This will make the Marketplace the ideal place for small businesses to showcase their own products and services, as well as promote what they offer to other participants.

“The goal is also to help our small businesses to make quick decisions on their needs and build that trust that they can count on the products and services in the marketplace, saving them time and money,” says Dutt.

As stated on the website, the marketplace accepts “high quality digital content that we believe would be useful to small business owners, managers, professionals and entrepreneurs.”

To participate in the marketplace, small businesses can apply here. They will be asked if they are offering any free downloads and if they would like to sell their content items for a fee.

Small business leaders will then be able to offer the unique products and services that make them stand out from the crowd.

By becoming a one-stop shop for the best deliverables on the market, the Small Business Trends Marketplace is helping small businesses expand a world of top-notch possibilities.

Image: Small Business Trends

3 Comments ▼

Julie Fidler Julie Fidler is the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst and is a legal blogger for a large national law firm. She resides in Pennsylvania with her husband two very spoiled cats. Find out more at her personal blog.

3 Reactions
  1. What a great story about the start of this site. As a guy who is just starting out too, it makes me feel a little better knowing other people have made it too. Definitely applying for the marketplace

  2. Really nice idea. This is a great way to have all products and services in one location. Great work!

  3. Is the marketplace powered Meylah?