The Coloradoo Secretary of State Website is a GREAT tool for many reasons and makes online business registrations a breeze. Their easy to use interface combined with powerful search functions make business a breeze!
I work for the Virginia Dept of Taxation, and would encourage everyone to take a look at the recent tax amnesty campaign for marketing purposes and user-friendly integration. http://www.GetSquareVA.com
I have witnessed, firsthand, implementation of a number of interactive tools in the current Get Square Tax Amnesty campaign. The campaign has integrated a live call center and Live Chat messaging, available with exgtended hours, with free online return filing and QuickPay services offered 24/7.
We are extremely user-connected, through Facebook and Twitter, tapping into new markets, even going as far as viral videos and a YouTube channel to help drive traffic to the site.
The Get Square campaign may be an atypical business tool for assistance in running your business, but it certainly has merit. It is worth studying the opened doors into social networking by a government-run agency as well as the model of best practices to follow in integrating with current and new interactive markets.
We have created a free property listing website for our commercial broker / property owners that automatically syncs with our GIS Department, Tax Collector, and Property Appraiser databases. In addition, demographic data is available in reports as well to those individuals looking for more information on possible relocation / expansion locations for their business. We have had great success with http://PropertyFinder.LakeCountyFL.gov and are humbled by all of the Lake County real estate community for their participation.
One of the reasons the New York State Small Business Development Center's blog page http://sbdcrn.blogspot.com has been able to operate for 4.5 years is that we let each of the five librarians to write pretty much what we want. The problem with some blogs, governmental and otherwise, is that it seems that the entities do not seem to trust their people not to write something inappropriate. I've even discovered librarians, who I think of as more libertarian, to be afraid to give their folks broad parameters (no partisan politics, no personal attacks, no obscenities) and let them go. Blogs, and for that matter, Twitter and Facebook, are vehicles that thrive on a level of spontaneity.
Does your state or local government have a website or online tool that helped you start and manage your business? Share it here, and tell us how it helped you.
