A new way of assessing women-led businesses shows they are making a greater contribution to the U.S. economy than previously reported, a new study has revealed.

The report, drawn from the Census Bureau's 2002 Survey of Business Owners and Self-Employed Persons, is the second half of a two-part study prepared for the National Women's Business Council.

Previously published data only included information on businesses owned at least 51 percent by women. The new report includes data on companies where a woman owns a percentage of the business at least equal to any other owner, and where a woman or women manage day-to-day operations.

Using those criteria, more than 1 million women-led businesses generated more than $300 billion in revenue in 2002, or about 3 percent of U.S. gross domestic product. Combined, more than 7.5 million businesses were women-owned or women-led businesses in 2002. The combination employed 9.6 million people and generated nearly $1.2 trillion in revenue--about 12 percent of U.S. GDP.

Other noteworthy statistics:

• Twenty-nine percent of women-led firms had paid employees compared with 14 percent of women-owned firms.
• Only 16 percent of women-owned/women-led (WOWL) businesses had employees, but those firms generated 86 percent of all WOWL revenue.
• Women-led businesses were concentrated in low-revenue industries, with the highest number in retail trade.
• Three percent of women-led firms were in wholesale and another 3 percent were in manufacturing. But these generated high levels of total receipts--16 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

Women-led firms had higher receipts than women-owned companies, but women-owned firms paid employees more, on average.--Eve Gumpel

Every year, we see entrepreneurs starting businesses and launching innovative inventions at younger ages: under 30, fresh out of college or even in college. Entrepreneurship courses in school and other programs help youngsters develop their business-owner interests and skills early on. And for kids that can't even vote, there are companies like By Kids For Kids that provide support and educational resources.

The global marketing, branding and licensing company gives teens tools and outlets for expanding their entrepreneurial spirit. And In October, BKFK announced its fourth-quarter innovation competitions. For a chance to win $10,000, all youth under the age of 19 can enter one of four competitions: the Digital Arts Challenge, the Sports Evolution Challenge, the Signature Style Challenge and the Going Green Challenge. Each competition lets young innovators share their ideas or inventions for the arts, athletics, fashion and the environment, respectively. "[These] competitions will bring together the best of America's creative youth," said Norman Goldstein, BKFK founder and CEO.

So, if you're a teeny-bopper with a hot idea or you know someone is, the deadline for submission is March 31, 2008. Who knows, these tikes could become Entrepreneur's next Young Millionaires. –Lindsay Holloway

If you're clueless when it comes to picking a good URL for your company's website, let self-proclaimed "URL-aholic" Aaron Goldman guide you. Goldman's website, Good URL Bad URL, features a blog filled with examples of the good, the bad and the ugly of company URLs. The blog is definitely worth a read. Not only does Goldman write it with humor, but he also explains why certain URLs work for a company, and why some actually detract from the product being advertised.

Here are a few of Goldman's URL "do's":

• Capitalize the first letter of each word;
• Use different colors or bold to help each word stand out;
• Whenever possible, use YourBrandName.com; and
• If .com is not available, use YourBrandName.net.

And a few of his URL "don'ts":

• Don't include www;
• Don't include http://;
• Don't use all lower case or all upper case; and
• Avoid hyphens or slashes.