About Small Business by Quicken.com

Small Business by Quicken.com empowers small-business owners and entrepreneurs with objective information and tools. That helps them save time and money, gain confidence in making business and financial decisions, and learn about the latest products and services they can use to run their business more efficiently.

Our readers

Our readers fall into two basic categories: those who own (or work for) a small business with 20 or fewer employees and those who are thinking of starting one. Many of our users are consultants and freelancers operating a one-person shop out of their home. Also, many of our users have a regular full-time job in addition to running their own business.

Our goals

Our goal is to create a community of readers who will share their questions, experiences, and tips with each other. We don't want to be provocative for its own sake, but we do want to elicit a response from our readers. The idea is to get them talking.

You should write for a general consumer audience that is interested in personal finance. Our main goal is to be informative, but that doesn't mean that our articles lack personality. Use anecdotes and real-world examples where appropriate. We want to get business owners excited about what many consider a necessary evil—taking care of administrative tasks, and staying on top of legal, financial, and government compliance issues.

Your articles should:

• Provide readers with the information they need to make better business decisions.
• Help guide them to the appropriate tools and marketspaces located throughout Quicken.com.
• Provide a forum for discussion.

The importance of objectivity

Small Business by Quicken.com is an objective source of business information, and we expect our writers to maintain this objectivity when writing articles. Our articles never recommend a particular financial institution, product, or business service. You should quote unbiased, trusted sources and let them tell your story whenever possible.

We understand that there is no one correct viewpoint or one right answer for something as personal and sophisticated as a question about business management. Therefore, we provide several viewpoints from recognized authorities to create balance. Our role is to find and present the best mix of viewpoints and to provide basic, sound information that almost any business owner can use in some way.

About Small Business home page stories

Each week, Small Business by Quicken.com publishes a lead article on the home page that examines a topic of interest to small-business owners. We highlight other articles, research tools, and member interaction features that coincide with this weekly theme. Topics fall within a wide range of categories, including taxes, employee management, marketing, new technologies, and general business management.

Each article includes 5 to 7 links to related articles located on Small Business by Quicken.com and elsewhere on the Internet, allowing Quicken.com to serve as the starting point for more information on the topic. These articles can come from sources such as popular daily newspapers and news services, as well as from sites that we consider our direct competitors. It is your responsibility to provide these links.

Use links

Writing for the Web involves the effective use of hypertext. Besides the links to related articles mentioned above (which will appear at the end of your story), you should look for opportunities within your story to use links that point the reader toward other relevant information.

More detailed information about using links can be found in the Quicken.com Style Guide. Here are a few basic guidelines:

Whenever possible, embed the links within the content. Never say "click here for more information."

Company, product names, titles of books, magazines, and site-specific features are good candidates for links. So are action words that suggest something will happen when the reader clicks on them.

Whenever you mention another Web site in your article, make it a link. If you mention a person in an article, you can provide a link that will send email to that person, but only if they have consented to have their email address published.

Familiarize yourself with the other editorial content and decision-making tools located throughout Quicken.com and link to them whenever possible. Use the Quicken.com financial glossary to define financial terminology. If you come across a term that isn't in the glossary, let the editors know and we'll add it.

Above all, remember this. Small Business by Quicken.com is not just about money; it's about helping business owners set and achieve personal and professional goals.