By Ramesh Padmanabhan & Owen Hsiao, Product Management
Yahoo Small Business

Yahoo Small Business has introduced Website Design Service to take the headache out of building and maintaining a professional website, and allow small business owners to instead focus their attention on taking care of customers and growing their revenue.

Website Design Service provides the design, engineering, creative and support services required to create, build, launch and manage a professional website with little time and effort required from the small business owner.

Additionally as your business evolves, your website will grow too thanks to the continued support and updates included as part of Website Design Service. Regular content updates and additions to your site will keep it fresh and accurate, as well as potentially increase your appearance in online search and your ability to get new customers.

In order to help websites continue to operate efficiently and securely, Website Design Service includes proactive updates to security plug-ins, and review of all website content for search engine optimization (SEO) before and after launch, which can help the site get higher page rankings and increased organic traffic.

Which Businesses Should Use Website Design Service?

In today’s competitive business climate, small business owners need to be able to focus on running and growing their businesses - not learning how to build and manage their websites.

But, a professional website with fresh and up-to-date content is a must-have for small businesses to be successful. Yahoo Small Business Website Design Service provides an easy and affordable solution using the popular WordPress platform to help businesses stand out from their competitors.

A quality website provides a business with a professional image that will make prospects confident in your ability to service them. A website is also often the primary place prospects will look online for businesses like yours, so it’s essential to be able to control what is shown about your products and services. Websites also make it easier for your customers to find you – by sharing hours, locations, products and services, support and more advanced features like appointment setting and quotes.

What Website Design Offers

YSB’s Website Design Service includes two offerings:

• Standard: focused on delivering an elegant, professional site with all the functions most growing businesses need.
• Premium: ideal for more sophisticated websites with advanced features and capabilities, including accepting reservations or appointments, issuing quotes, customer login and more frequent content refreshes.

Both offerings include SEO, reporting and regular content updates to support small business

owners with the tools they need to grow their online presence. All websites are optimized for mobile.

How to Get Started

To get started, Yahoo Small Business offers an easy step-by-step process that includes consultations with an expert designer to discuss your business’ brand and goals, along with how your new website can help you build your online presence while leaving you free to focus on growing your business.

Visit https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webdesign for more information.

By Dilip Deshpande
Product Manager

We’ve made some changes to improve the speed, security, and reliability of Yahoo Small Business email. While these updates will increase the value of this product for our customers, the changes also require business email users to update their accounts with a new log in.

We understand that your email account is an essential part of your business and even a temporary delay caused by having to create a new log in can be unsettling. We apologize for any confusion this may have created and are available to help if you are having issues with your account.   

Some of the improvements that come with this update include:

• Speed and stability: We’ve made significant upgrades to our email servers to deliver even better performance and experience.
•  Independent passwords: Your business email login will no longer be tied to your Yahoo ID. You can now reset your password at any time – and if you have an email administrator set up, they can do it for you, too. As owner of a Yahoo Small Business account, you can easily reset the password using the administrative email control panel while employee users can contact the owner or business email administrator to get new passwords.
• Yahoo Mail App: Now access your Yahoo Business Email using the Yahoo Mail App (available in the Apple App Store and Android PlayStore). All you need is the app and your business mail username and password to access your emails.
• App Password: In order to increase security around external email clients that do not use our Yahoo branded sign-in page, you will now use app passwords to access email using Outlook or POP/IMAP email clients. Learn more about app password here.
• New Mail Interface: Our new web mail interface is designed for business mail users and comes with loads of features. Watch the video for more info.

If you haven’t updated your business email account, now would be a great time to do so! This Help Page walks you through the update, and here is a guide on what to do next.

In the meantime, thank you to all the business mail customers who have already updated your accounts, and thanks as well for being a part of Yahoo Small Business. We’re honored to have earned your trust, and will continue working to keep it.

While some hosting providers have been busy increasing their annual prices, we’ve kept our hosting plan pricing steady for the past nine years while adding more features.

At some point, though, every business has to raise its prices. Effective immediately some web hosting plan prices will increase on new purchases.  For existing customers, the price changes to affected plan renewals will begin on June 1, 2019. Our plans continue to deliver a substantial value at a reasonable price–something you’ve come to expect from Yahoo Small Business.

Our hosting plans offer everything you need for a high-performing site, including:

• Website building tools, domain, emails, and an SSL Certificate
• Virtually unlimited storage and databases with backup and restore functions built in
• An easy-to-use control panel to manage your website services as you grow
• Experience you can rely on to help keep your site running smoothly and securely 24/7
• Unlike some competitors, we don’t charge extra at renewal for your domain, email addresses, hosting, or SSL certificate.

You can learn more about our three website hosting plans here.

© 2019 Verizon

The holidays are in full swing and there’s no better time to treat yourself to 30% off on website and business mail products that can help you launch your own small business before the new year.

These savings are available from Yahoo Small Business for 5 days only, Nov. 23-27, and are sure to put some holiday cheer into your plans to increase the online visibility for your business or to create a website to share your passions and ideas.

The 30% discount can be applied to Website Builder, Web Hosting, Stores, and Business Mail. To receive this sleigh full of savings, enter the code TREATYOURSELF at checkout.

From 11/23/2018- 11/27/2018, Coupon code TREATYOURSELF valid for 30% off new subscriptions of Web Hosting, Websites, Stores and Business Mail. 30% applied to total subscription term (monthly, annually, 2 3, or 5 yr.). Contract req’d, in which case you may cancel the service for any reason within 30 days of activation for a refund. Upon expiration of the contract term, payment provided will automatically be charged market rate plus taxes & fees. Not valid for Localworks and Domains products. Cannot be combined with other offers. Must purchase at Yahoo Small Business website. Offer subject to change at any time. Other terms apply. 

By Ramesh Padmanabhan
Product Manager, Hosting and Website Builder
Yahoo Small Business

Today Yahoo Small Business introduced a Starter plan for our Website Builder product that allows users to build a website and publish it for free when you sign up for an account.*

This is truly a free plan, with no payment required after a free trial or when it’s published and shared with the world. We have also removed any requirements for the user to provide a credit card. So we are now able to offer a free opportunity for people to start a businesses or share hobbies they love, or just express themselves online.

Users  of the Starter plan will be able to pick an available subdomain of their choice on ‘yahoosites.com’. The site they create will then be published to this subdomain. Free sites will also include a small Yahoo mention in the footer of published pages.

Small Business Owners wanting to remove the footer note or publish their site to an entirely customer domain name (such as “businessname.ninja”) can upgrade to either our Basic or Professional plans. To help make upgrading even more affordable, we have reduced the price by 30% for the Basic plan, which offers a custom domain name, email, and access to Live Insights analytics The Professional plan, which offers all the features of the Basic plan, plus a popular privacy feature known as Private Domain Registration is also now priced lower.

For more information on the new Starter plan or to build your own free site, visit https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/

Stay tuned as Yahoo Small Business continues to bring innovation and affordability to the website building space.

*Account creation required for free website, which will use a yahoosites.com domain name and have 3GB storage. Other terms apply.

By Dilip Deshpande
Yahoo Small Business, Product Manager

We’ve updated our Localworks product that allows businesses to build and control their local online digital presence. Localworks is not just a paid business listing service – it also comes with pack of features to help you gain a competitive edge in the current market.

With three different plans, users can choose the package that fits their business needs. Updating listings information in the Yahoo Local website directory has never been this easy. With Localworks Starter packages that include Yahoo Local and six other essential directory listing sites, your business information will be updated in real-time. As a business owner, you will have full control of your business information, and you will be able to upload enhanced listing content such as a photo gallery, videos, calendar of special events, and promotions. You will also get access to our “Digital Assistant”, a text bot that will assist you in updating your hours of operation, adding photos, and many other items using your mobile phone. The starter package also offers robust analytics to track your business performance, all at a very affordable cost.

With nearly 60% of searches happening on mobile devices, millions of users are looking for business addresses and phone numbers, hours of operation, driving directions, menus, photo galleries, and reviews before they make a visit to the physical location of a business. As a business, if your listing information does not include this enhanced content, or if you are not monitoring your business reputation, you might be losing customers.

For businesses that want to control their business information across most of the local directories on the Internet and closely monitor user reviews, understand user sentiment and how they compete in local search, Localworks by Yahoo Small Business is a comprehensive solution.

With our higher end packages, in a single dashboard, businesses can

• Publish business listings in 60+ directories (Including maps, GPS, social media sites)
• Eliminate duplicate business records appearing in the Local Search ecosystem
• Connect to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter
• Monitor and reply to user reviews from all major review sources
• Compare with 5 other competitors (local or national)
• Generate reviews through our website widgets
• Understand customer reviews with Sentiment Analysis
• Receive In-depth analytics

Yahoo Small Business also offers a free business listing scan tool, where businesses can easily find out how their information is listed across 60+ directories and clearly identify errors in location data across local listing networks before signing up for a premium Localworks service.

About Yahoo Small Business
For the past 20 years, Yahoo Small Business has helped millions of businesses get online and grow their presence on the Internet. Whether you hope to start a side business or are currently running a multi-million dollar venture, you can trust Yahoo’s proven online business experience, powerful yet easy-to-use solutions, and broad community support to help your business succeed online. Learn more at: https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com

Registering a domain name for your new business is a great first step to launching your online presence. But until now, it didn’t do much to help you find new customers or make money. Yahoo Small Business has made domain name registration an actionable product that now allows you to extend your business across the internet and create a professional image with both a web page and a custom branded email address.

Having a professional website and email address that are tied to your new domain name gives you all you need to launch your business online and start finding new customers. And Yahoo Small Business now offers this package for the price of just a domain name registration.

Beautiful Website

Your new One Page Website is the easiest way to build a beautiful and professional website for your business, hobby or personal project. Select from more than 150 beautiful themes that provide a consistent, professional experience whether viewed on mobile devices, tablets or computers. Your page can contain as many as 4 sections, including contact and location information; directions and maps; lists of services or menus; a portfolio, blog and videos, even a calendar for booking appointments or reserving a table. The website is available for free

Business Mail

Including a free professional email account powered by Yahoo Mail with your domain registration means you can immediately start using a branded and memorable email address for all your business messaging and communication. Having a founder@yourbusinessname.com email address communicates your commitment to your business and can set you apart from someone who is just dabbling with the idea of starting a business and is still using a generic email address.

Additional tools and features built in to this product include:

• Access to 150+ website templates
• Unlimited bandwidth
• Built-in SEO
• 24/7 phone, chat and online support
• Live Insights included
• 30-day satisfaction guarantee

For some sole proprietorships, small businesses and projects, this package of three professional products may be all you need to get online and start running your business. But if as you grow, you find that you need a larger website or more mailboxes, they can be easily added without losing your existing website or email history.

Registering a domain name is often the first step in launching a business, so make it meaningful one by ensuring it includes a website and business mail, jumpstarting your efforts to get online and start promoting yourself across the web. Find your perfect domain name now.

By Kushagra Shrivastava
Yahoo Small Business, Senior Director

It was great being at IRCE 2018! We came back energized to make things happen and we look forward to collaborating with merchants, partners and developers we met at the event.

The response we got at IRCE was resoundingly positive and our team is now even more excited to provide you with the ecommerce tools, access and resources you need to grow your business.

As we briefly touched upon at IRCE, we at Yahoo Small Business have been hard to work to increase our velocity by doubling down on our investments in our business, including increasing the size of engineering and product orgs by 2X and deploying capital behind our go to market strategy and marketing. These efforts are complemented by strong alignment with Verizon, who has championed small businesses since inception. With Verizon, we have a unique opportunity ahead of us and we look forward to work with you. Our merchants and our developers have been our biggest supporters and together with you we’ll increase velocity and efforts to do a lot more.

Watch for future updates on additional product releases, customer events, and new integrations. In the meantime, thank you for your ongoing support and overwhelming response at IRCE in Chicago.

By Dan Breeden
Marketing & Communications

The Internet Retailer Conference & Expo (IRCE) is June 5-8, 2018 in Chicago and Yahoo Small Business is looking forward to a week of industry updates, educational sessions, and the opportunity to meet with some of our top customers and partners.

As is the past, Yahoo Small Business will have a big presence on the expo floor at Booth #407 (just to the right inside the main entrance on the right side of the event registration desk). This year we’re excited to be able to celebrate you, our customers, by featuring several merchants in our booth to share their stories and insights. They will also be giving away select merchandise from their own stores – and of course we’ll have lots of Yahoo Small Business branded tchotchkes to hand out to folks who stop by our booth.

The Yahoo Small Business team will also be meeting with customers, providing updates on our latest products and plans, and continuing with our mission to help online sellers succeed. We’ll be joined in the booth by several of our top developers, so stop by for an introduction or to discuss any plans you may have for improving your store.

If you haven’t been before, IRCE includes an exposition with more than 600 exhibitors, as well as four days and 130 conference sessions for sharing ideas and discussing state-of-the-art ecommerce technologies.

Alongside IRCE, existing Yahoo Small Business customers and partners are also invited to a party at a downtown restaurant the evening of June 6. All ecommerce customers should have received an invite, but if you didn’t get yours, please write your account manager. You don’t want to miss it.

See you in Chicago!

Yahoo Small Business has partnered with PayPal to make Braintree payment processing available to online sellers using the Merchant Solutions and Yahoo Stores platform.

Braintree extends the merchant services options available for Yahoo Small Business customers looking for a way to process customer payments and have the funds available in their merchant account.

Braintree offers a seamless online checkout experience, as well as sophisticated fraud tools that helps online merchants manage risk.

Choosing Braintree allows Yahoo Small Business ecommerce customers to get paid with credit cards, debit cards, and PayPal, with multiple settlement options. In most cases, merchants will also have access to payouts within two business days of transactions.

Adding Braintree to your Yahoo Store is simple. The following guide walks through the steps for activating your Braintree payment processing. For more information on how to build a professional ecommerce site and start selling online, visit Yahoo Small Business.