Small Business Bonfire Celebrates New And Improved Platform For The Small Business Community

STEWARTSVILLE, NJ, January 10, 2012 (Press-News.org) The Small Business Bonfire (http://www.smallbizbonfire.com), a thriving online small business community for passionate entrepreneurs, has recently announced the redesign and re-launch of their rapidly-growing membership site.

With more than 550 small business owners joining in the first 10 months, the Small Business Bonfire team found it necessary to upgrade to a platform that could better accommodate their ever-expanding needs. Selecting Ning as the new platform will allow members to more easily customize their profile pages, promote their businesses, share and feature their content, find clients and customers, and integrate with their existing social networks.

The new site also provides real-time chat functionality and better search functions, creating a more user-friendly small business community for sharing, networking and learning.

Recognized earlier this year by the New York Times as an expert resource for small businesses, the Small Business Bonfire is dedicated to supporting the small business community. In addition to migrating to the new platform, the Bonfire team has redesigned its membership structure to provide free small business help in the form of small business forums on topics such as marketing, technology and business startup; networking and collaboration opportunities; and actionable advice through their blog (http://smallbusinessbonfire.com/blog) and monthly newsletter, The Spark.

Another popular membership benefit is the "Red Hot Tool of the Week" email, which highlights productivity, social media, Internet or other business-related tools that are tested by the Bonfire team. Members also enjoy special offers on a variety of products and services as part of their free membership.

When asked about the move to a free membership model, founder Alyssa Gregory said: "The purpose of the Bonfire is to promote collaboration and help small business owners. We realize that we can support more entrepreneurs by freely providing the information, tools and resources they need." She went on to say, "We fully expect our members to participate in our community and share their own expertise with other members. Together, we are working to help small business owners spark change in their own businesses and pay it forward by helping other entrepreneurs do the same."

Light up the New Year by sparking change in your own small business. Join the Bonfire for free today at http://smallbizbonfire.com and become a part of this growing community of small business leaders. You can also visit their Facebook page at http://facebook.com/smallbizbonfire to see what's cooking around the Bonfire on a daily basis.

Alyssa Gregory is a small business collaborator. She consults small business owners, writes about small business topics, brings entrepreneurs together, and speaks to groups about starting, managing and growing small businesses. In early 2011, she founded the Small Business Bonfire, a social, educational and collaborative community for small business owners. She was recently named one of 100 small business influencers in North America by Small Business Trends. Visit http://www.smallbusinessbonfire.com for more information on the Small Business Bonfire. Visit http://alyssagregory.com for more about Alyssa Gregory.