The Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center will present three free workshops for local businesses throughout the month of August. Two workshops will take place on Wednesday, Aug. 28, at America’s Best Inn & Suites in Fort Smith, and one will be Aug. 29, during the Small Business Resource Expo at the Fort Smith Convention Center. Each of the interactive sessions will utilize iPads. On Wednesday, Aug. 28, the ASBTDC will offer “Get the Real Deal on Daily Deals.” The seminar runs from 10 a.m. to noon and will cover the good, the bad and the ugly of daily deals – email, print or mobile offers for discounted local services and products. The seminar will share best practices for daily-deal offers and help business owners decide if a daily deal is right for them. Event co-sponsor Cool Deals is offering a $100 Visa gift card as a door prize. Later in the afternoon, the ASBTDC will present “Boosting Business with Great Online Reviews.” The session will run from 1-3 p.m. and will offer tips for getting positive reviews from customers and discuss important information businesses should include in their listings on the most popular review sites. On Thursday, August 29, participants will be able to enjoy “Get Listed Locally.” The session runs from 9-11 a.m. and will help business owners claim and list their businesses on the multiple online search engine sites. This workshop is a break-out session at the second annual Small Business Resource Expo. Admission to the expo is free, but seating for the workshop is limited to 20 attendees. To reserve your seat for any or all of the workshops, call the Arkansas Tech University ASBTDC office at (479) 356-2067 or email Ronda Hawkins at rhawkins2@atu.edu. ASBTDC is offering the training at no charge, thanks to special funding from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The seminars are among 16 free small business education programs ASBTDC is hosting in Sebastian County. The Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center at Arkansas Tech serves nine counties including Conway, Crawford, Franklin, Johnson, Logan, Pope, Scott, Sebastian and Yell.
