Thursday, July 29, 2010

New SBA Website to Go Live This Fall; Revamped SBA.gov Will Deliver Essential Information and Services to Small Businesses

The U.S. Small Business Administration announced today that a complete redesign of its website, SBA.gov, will launch this fall.

The new SBA.gov will make it easier for small businesses, lending institutions, small-business counselors and other members of the small-business community to more quickly find the information they need through a simplified navigation structure. In addition, new features will allow users to tailor their experience to provide information that is specific to their needs and location.

SBA.gov also will also offer a dedicated lender area that helps banks and other financial institutions that partner with the SBA.

"Our goal as an agency is to get information, tools and services into the hands of small-business owners more quickly, so they can spend more time doing what they do best: creating the jobs that will drive our economic recovery," said SBA Administrator Karen Mills [pictured]. "Through a new, personalized and dynamic SBA.gov, we will be better able to support job growth across the country."

The website redesign is part of the SBA’s goal to create a dynamic online presence that delivers information to customers wherever they are online. To achieve this goal, the agency recently began using social media to reach constituents through a variety of online channels, such as Facebook and Twitter.

In advance of this fall's launch of the new site, the agency also recently launched an improved search function on the current SBA.gov website, which vastly improves the speed at which users can find the information they are seeking.

SBA's website redesign is also the Flagship Initiative of the agency’s Open Government Plan, and addresses all three of SBA’s Open Government goals -- i.e., transparency, participation and collaboration -- by providing direct access to agency programs and operations. It also allows users to customize their online experience and, beginning next year, incorporates community features, such as discussion forums and public feedback tools.

For more information on the SBA’s online expansion, please visit www.sba.gov/next.

SOURCE: U.S. Small Business Administration
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