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Zaarly: Mobile Marketplace For Small Businesses

Posted: 01 Apr 2012 03:40 PM PDT

What if your small business could monitor the needs of your local community in real-time for services and products you provide? Imagine getting a text message when a local person or business posts that they would pay X dollars for your services/products. With Zaarly, this is now a possibility and creates some interesting opportunities for small businesses.

Zaarly can be compared to Craigslist or eBay, but with a much more mobile-friendly interface. The strength of the system is that it allows for users to very quickly post requests, like an impulse buy.

The next big online service?

Begun in early May of 2011, this brand new company has high hopes for its future. A strong financial backing (Zaarly announced it raised $14.1 million in financing last October) and top supporters such as Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett-Packard, as a board member, Zaarly looks like it may become the next big online service.

What is Zaarly?

Designed from the ground up to be a mobile marketplace for any and everything, Zaarly allows consumers to post on their mobile phone or computer to make a request for, well, anything. The consumer has to fill out two pieces of information:

what they want
and how much they'll pay for it.

In a few seconds, they can ask for products or services ranging from "I'll pay $20 if someone will bring me a hamburger and a shake" to "I'll pay $5,000 for a car."

Related post: The High Street Needs To Go Online

Finding Buyers

For small businesses within a community, Zaarly could present a gold mine of new customers.

As a seller, you can create alerts that look for category-based requests, for example, yard work, babysitting, and other services.
You can limit the price minimum so you do not see too many alerts that are outside of your minimum dollar amount.

Once an alert pops up, you simply respond and work out the details directly with the buyer. A sample alert would only look for three pieces of information:

proximity (which you can set),
the category,
and the minimum price.

Conversations

Zaarly allows for both parties of a transaction to communicate prior to the sale being completed. As a seller, you can ask for more information from the buyer and suggest a different price. As an example. You do not have to immediately accept the general terms as a seller. Zaarly just gets the conversation going for you and gives you the opportunity to close deals.

Payments

The Zaarly app has a built-in payment processing system similar to PayPal. Buyers submit their payment information and send payment to sellers. No transactional data is passed on to the seller. Transaction fees are comparable to PayPal and similar payment systems.

Find out more about Zaarly:

So what do you think? Could Zaarly become an asset to your small business?

Five WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Website Builders

Posted: 01 Apr 2012 02:04 PM PDT

If you're experiencing site builder overload, here are five recommended site builders on the web. Whatever it is that you're looking into developing from a digital portfolio, blog or even an official website, all of these WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) systems are capable of doing them all. It just takes time in becoming familiar with the system and not being afraid to face the challenges while making your picture perfect website.

What's the best one for you?

The range of site builders out there can definitely be overwhelming from free to a variety of prices. Well, by surprise as much as free can be intriguing it may not be for everyone. A free WYSIWYG system may not have the tools and widgets that a priced site builder has and vice versa. I recommend testing each system before committing to one. Keep note that all of these site builders have a drag-and-drop technology and you don't need any coding. In no particular order:

# 1. Weebly

Weebly is known as the easiest way to create a free website, blog or online store. On top of that Weebly has stepped up their game and produced a Weebly website builder application available on Google Chrome.

# 2. Easy WebContent

Easy WebContent has a number of options for their web audience. Their site builder targets individuals wanting to create a professional website/blog with full customization. They have an HTML editor which is a tool for users who have an existing website looking to make minor edits and updates. Or if you're just looking for add-ons for your website/blog, Easy WebContent offer fully customized add-ons. Free Trial: 14-Days

# 3. Yola

Yola is known for their free basic site plan, which is advantageous for any startup and small business who have a small marketing budget. Yola's system is like any other site builder with the drag and drop feature, however what separates them apart from others is their customer support. From a users perspective this is extremely important. You have the ability to have direct and prompt assistance from their customer support staff.

# 4. Squarespace

Squarespace has been compared to WordPress, which shows how competitive of a platform it is for blogging. Even with a strong position in the blogging industry, their features make any website look extremely attractive. For anyone who is always on the go, they have an application where you can completely customize and manage your website on an iPad and iPhone. Free Trial: 14-Days

Related: Does Your Website Measure Up?

# 5. Basekit

Basekit surely targets a wide range of audiences from their outreach to more than one country to a users ability to select from hundreds of themes. Basekit stands out not only to a user who has never built a website, but also to experienced designers with users ability to upload their own Photoshop designs. Free Trial: 14-Days

Unfortunately, there are far more site builders on the web that pop up out of every corner quite frequently. With the demand for website development, users are looking for efficient and cost effective options. Since we have evolved to a digital community assisting and recommending the best products and services, what site builders have you used and would you recommend one?

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luni, 2 aprilie 2012