Wednesday Web Resources: Free Marketing, Board Members, and Online Documents
By Carol Tice Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Does your marketing need a boost? Ten small businesses can win a year-long, $5,000 marketing overhaul from Project Rev -- just one of the free resources I've gathered for this week's Wednesday Web Resources.
Sponsored by business-forms maker Deluxe, Project Rev will help winners with whatever needs work in their marketing plan -- logo design, public relations savvy, Web site design, you name it. They're choosing winners May 4, so get on the stick if you want to be considered.
But maybe your business isn't weak in marketing, but could really use a beefed-up advisory board or steering committee. Now there's a Web-based marketplace for that -- BoardMyBiz. The site aims to become the go-to place for companies looking to find advisors, and for experts looking to serve on growing company boards.
Director Bill Bubenicek says the site has more than 1,000 advisors lined up already. This one probably won't be free forever, as there's so much value in finding really high-powered advisors to help take your business up a notch. It's in test-drive mode now -- Bubenicek says he wants to assemble at least 3,500 advisors before BoardMyBiz officially opens.
Finally, for looking for a sample contract, or collaborating on contracts with partners over the Web, there's WhichDraft. The free document site helps small business owners create legal documents through a Q&A format, while showing alternative language, sample paragraphs, and explanations for why you might want to use various clauses.
Could be useful in putting together an agreement without breaking down and hiring an attorney. The format allows you to easily save multiple versions of contracts and avoid version-control problems. The site has dozens of contract forms for situations including confidentiality, leases, vendor maintenance, bills of sale, software licensing, consulting, and sales agreements.
