Small businesses are primed for growth in 2013 after an up-and-down 2012. Analysts predict the small businesses market will bounce back in 2013. According to the Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index, small business loan approval rates increased to 14.9 percent in December 2012, up from 13.2 percent in November and 9.7 percent in December 2011.

A few decades ago, technology as a general interest was once limited to the “nerds” in “IT.”  Today, entrepreneurs and business professionals of all levels are unleashing their inner nerd and keeping pace.

A merchant account is extremely important to small business owners.

Taking payments from customers and clients is nearly impossible without one, unless the small business owner if prepared to take only cash. Bad credit can prevent owners from opening bank accounts, securing a credit card, and more. You'll want to find the best way to take payments from your clients and having a merchant account is the easiest way to process them.

Whether you're promoting an upcoming sale or chatting about the latest innovation in your business' field, if your social media followers aren't actively enjoying, engaging in and sharing your posts, then something needs to change. Until recently, most social media marketers and small business owners were only able to see the impact of their social media outreach by gauging the amount of response their website received after a post and by checking their website's analytics page. Some even reached out to third party analytics companies for detailed evaluations of their efforts.

Perhaps one of the most difficult parts of running a small business—after the startup—is maintaining it and keeping it profitable. Seeing red in the business world, at least in the accounting portion of the business, is not a welcome sight. What is a small business owner to do if and when unplanned expenses or inevitable circumstances plunge the healthy black ink into the murkiness of red ink?

While it’s good to trust your employees, a healthy dose of precaution is definitely wise.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that American employees steal $50 billion a year from their employers. Now it’s not worth becoming “Big Brother” to all your employees, awareness is key-- both for current employees and new potential hires.

Many small businesses start out as a cash-only company.

Slowly, they may work their way into merchant accounts, and only after then think about mobile sales.

For the best start out of the gate, small businesses need to have a merchant account, online sales center, and an on-the-go payment solution such as Intuit or Square.

Most profitable businesses found on the internet all follow the same fundamental strategy in terms of using content to help improve sales! In fact it can be said that your business profitability will flourish by aligning certain key elements in a synergistic fashion to make this happen!

The savvy small business person or entrepreneur should do many things to give their company its best shot to be successful, including booking the right bookkeeper to manage the financial records.

One might say a bookkeeper is to a small business as the fourth wheel is to a car; it could run without the fourth wheel, but not as well nor as smoothly.

Water leaks can waste tens of thousands of gallons of water a year and raise your company’s utility bills. If the leak has progressed and started to damage the surrounding wall, floor, or ceiling, there is even additional monies wasted in replacement cost.

Here are reasons to make it your business to stop costly leaks and not just write them off as a mild annoyance.