Small Business Essentials Articles

Set your small business up for success with these banking basics.

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From startup loans to banking tools to small business finance tips, learn the ins and outs of running your company with these helpful articles.

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How to Evaluate a Location for Business Potential There are some key factors you should take into consideration when evaluating potential locations for your small business. 3 min read

What Keeps Small Business Owners Up at Night Owning a small business has a lot of perks, but it can also be very stressful. In this article we tackle the that might keep you tossing and turning, and then we show you what you can do to sleep like a baby instead. 3 min read

How to Help Customers Find Your Small Business on Google These days, if you aren’t taking advantage of the Internet, and more specifically Google, you aren’t giving your business the best chance to succeed. 3 min read

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Sippin’ On Sweet Success: Inside the Duplin Winery When it’s running at full capacity, the Duplin Winery in Rose Hill, North Carolina can turn out 8,000 bottles of its sweet Muscadine grape wine in a single hour. These days, they sell every bottle they make. But it wasn’t always that way. 4 min read

Small Business Drives the US Economy Big businesses grab the headlines and often the glory when the economy is doing well, but it’s the small business owners are the true powerhouses behind economic improvements. 2 min read

Cash Management for Your Business Money management is critical for any business. One of the people who helps make that happen is Wendy Hales, Senior Vice President of the Cash Management Division at First Bank. 2 min read

What Are Location-Based Services and How Can My Business Make the Most of Them? Location-based services (LBS) are web-based services that utilize location information from GPS-enabled mobile devices to provide local data and recommendations to users. Here are a few key questions that may help you determine whether location-based services are right for your business. 3 min read

How to Find Your Best Customers How can you learn more about the most profitable 20%? What characteristics do they share? How can you find more customers like them? A little bit of research can lead to a more efficient and profitable business. 3 min read

How Your Business Attracts Customers As a business owner, it’s critical to understand why customers buy your products or services. Below is a framework—based on the classic AIDA concept: awareness, interest, desire, and action. As you’ll see, we’ve given it a modern update for the digital age. 3 min read

Customer Data – Are You Gathering the Right Kind? Gathering the right kind of data about your customers and prospects can really set you apart from your competition, especially if you’re a small business. 5 min read

5 Tips for Creating an Email Newsletter Your Customers Can’t Wait to Open How do you create compelling newsletter content for your business? Follow these 5 tips. 3 min read

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5 Financial Problems Your Customers Will Notice Many factors influence whether your customers will stick around, including a number of decisions you make about how you’ll operate your business finances. Here are 5 ways your financial problems could lose you customers. Avoid these, and you’ll be in a better position to keep your customers coming back. 3 min read

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Growing Your Small Business Take your business to the next level with these growth tips. 5 Topics

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Small Business Essentials Learn the basics of managing a small business. 6 Topics

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