Idea Exchange: Showcase Your State or Local Government Website

Remember the days of going to your state’s government

building and waiting in line to apply for a business license? That was not too long ago, but now business owners can find most, if not all,

of the information they need online - from complying with laws and regulations

to researching

business locations.

In our monthly Idea Exchange, where we pose questions to the Community about various

topics, as well as the content, features or services provided by Business.gov,

we asked members to “Showcase

Your State or Local Government Website”

Here’s what our members had to say about their local

government’s web resources designed to help small businesses:

• Colorado Secretary of State Online

  Registration

  – Denverseo shared how the online registration

  site

  makes online registration a “breeze”. A very simple user interface and search

  make this tool easy to navigate to help you find exactly what you are

  looking for. For example, try using

  their records

  search to see if there is a business in Colorado with the same name as yours.

• Virginia Department of Taxation “Get

  Square” Program

  – The Get Square

  Tax Amnesty Campaign

  , submitted by CraigEvans, is a

  example of how state and local government are embracing social media tools

  like Facebook and YouTube connect directly with their users. You’d be surprised to see how many

  government agencies have a Twitter account and send news updates

  regularly. Are you following your

  state?

• Lake County, Florida Commercial

  Property Finder

  ­­ – LakeCountyEGR showcased how his

  county created a free

  property listing site that synced the databases of the county’s

  Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Tax Collector, and Property

  Appraiser departments. This site is

  an example of how government is using public data to create useful tools

  for the public.

  Many government entities are in the process of allowing public access the

  data sets to encourage users to develop web tools and applications. For example, check out Maine.gov Datashare.

• New

  York

  State Small

  Business Development

  Center

  ’s Blog – Nyssbdcrn, submitted

  a blog created by his local SBDC. Small Business

  Development Centers nationwide are finding blogs an effective way to

  connect with business owners, outside of their training site.

Thanks to everyone who submitted an idea to showcase their

local website. We hope that by viewing

websites like these business owners will start digging into their own local government websites to see

what gems they have to offer. If you

would like to read all the responses or see past idea exchanges, visit the Past

Idea Exchange board.

More Tips State

and Local Information:

·

Business.gov State and Local Resources

·

Doing Business in Your Town: Navigating the State and Local Government Maze

·

Which State is Best for My Small Business?

·

Complying with Local Regulations

What’s Next for the Idea Exchange?

The current idea exchange “Share Helpful End of the Year Small Business Tax Tips” will run until January 7. Please submit your thoughts and vote on the ideas you agree with by clicking Kudos!