The pandemic, social unrest and natural disasters like wildfires have battered the small business landscape in 2020. And America’s small businesses are fighting back with digital tools to steer them through uncertain times. That was the big takeaway from “The State of SMBs: Lessons from 2020 and Outlook for 2021.” The virtual fireside chat featured Bill.com CEO and Founder René Lacerte and Dean Henry of American Express. Stephen Markwell of JP Morgan Chase and Rodney Fong of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce were the other panelists. Gene Marks, Author, Small Business Expert and President of digital tools moderated. Business Leaders Agree Hybrid Model Here to Stay Lacerte started the discussion with a roundup of the year just passed. “It was not a good year… [Read More...]
Yelp Introducing Features for Businesses to Disclose COVID Safety Measures
Keeping your small business open could mean tweaking your COVID-19 safety practices. Yelp is adding to their COVID-19 Section. They are adding customer observations on social distancing and mask wearing. There are also new content guidelines protecting businesses from unfair reviews. And new health and safety measures. The section already lets SMBs inform customers about their ongoing health and safety efforts. Small Business Trends contacted Akhil Kuduvalli Ramesh, Head of Consumer Product at Yelp, to learn more about the new changes. Yelp COVID Safety Features for Business Owners He supplied some history. “In March, Yelp introduced a COVID-19 banner alert at the top of the business pages,” he writes. “It had a customizable message to customers. The banner quickly evolved into a new COVID… [Read More...]