Verizon Small Business Center: Resources for Owners

I have participated in numerous Verizon webinars and they often mention they have great resources for small business owners (and medium size ones, too). Thought I would take a look for us all and see what they offer.

Verizon Small Business Center

First place to visit is their Quick Links section (highlighted in red box in lower right)



In this Quick Links section, you'll find these links:

    * Verizon Discount Programs
    * Verizon Business Link Rewards
    * Sign Up for Wireless Email Updates
    * Verizon Webinar Series
    * What's New! Verizon Special Offers
    * Small Business Solutions Recommender
    * Reverse Number Lookup
    * Announcements
    * Small Business Blogs

Two that I like and find useful are the Discount Programs (and Biz Link Rewards because I am already a customer and you have to be to use it) AND the Small Business Blogs.  In the blogs section you'll find well known experts (Anita Campbell, John Jantsch, Guy Kawasaki, Rieva Lesonsky and other prominent sites like ReadWriteWeb and OPEN from American Express).

It is tough to find a really valuable resource for small business owners today. Really tough, but Verizon is making a serious go of it. They have put a lot of resources into it and their webinar series is one case in point -- it has gained a lot of traction and good names are willing to spend their time there.

I didn't get much out of the video news section and think they could use that real estate for something more valuable rather than competing to be a news source. But they do show you can "personalize" it so that's a good thing. Many of the best things require a sign-in, which makes sense, so you have to sign up or become a customer to get access to the Rewards program and some other areas. Not a big deal if you are already one of Verizon's customers.

The small biz blogs and the forum you get to by clicking in Quick Links on Small Business Blogs is worth the visit. You'll find all sorts of ideas and good content for running and improving your small biz. The midsize biz section of the forums is good, too, but seems more technical at first glance.

All in all, even if you're active in other small biz communities, this one is educational and informative and may save you some money and time in a tech or teleco way. Check it out.