June, 2010 - NIA Creative to Update the BusinessOwnerSpace.com Website

Powered by a recently approved grant from the Small Business Administration (SBA), the City of San Jose has awarded a contract to NIA Creative to update and expand the BusinessOwnerSpace.com website, originally developed by NIA in 2007. Recognized as San Jose-Silicon Valley’s one-stop resource for business owners and entrepreneurs, BusinessOwnerSpace.com is both a virtual hub as well as a collaborative partnership among more than two dozen public, private and non-profit agencies and businesses.

Anticipated new modules and site enhancements include:

• Green Resources Section featuring an assessment tool that will enable business owners to learn how to make their business more environmentally-friendly

• Virtual Job Fair that will enable business owners to create an online "booth" and attract job seekers to their available openings; job seekers will be able to browse the openings on the work2future website, and apply to positions that interest them via a new Resume Builder module on the work2future website

• Just Ask BOS search engine enhancement that will enable users to not only search for answers to their questions, but will also allow them to directly ask their questions to BOS Partners and other business owners via the site's discussion forum

• Custom Survey Tool that will enable BOS administrators to create and post surveys targeting local business owners

• Online Library that will feature documents and presentations of interest to business owners and entrepreneurs

• Procurement Opportunities that will enable businesses to view open RFPs via collaboration with BidSync

• Integrated Translation via Google Translate, enabling all content on the site to be automatically translated into Spanish and Vietnamese

• Upgraded Event Calendar that will enable users to toggle views to see events by the day, week or month

• Search Engine Optimization to result in naturally enhanced search engine rankings via nmpromote the site an increase the number as well as improved customer loyalty

NIA Creative Managing Director Jennifer Finetti notes, “The BusinessOwnerSpace.com site is such an outstanding resource already; given the current economic challenges, the planned site enhancements will make a significant impact on local business owners. The virtual job fair will be especially exciting, as it will connect local business owners to job seekers served by the work2future One-Stop Career Center. Enabling business owners to access procurement opportunities directly through the site will also be an important draw.”

About BusinessOwnerSpace.com

BusinessOwnerSpace.com (BOS) is San Jose-Silicon Valley’s most accessible, comprehensive, and useful one-stop resource for launching and growing a business in the greater San Jose metropolitan area. BOS is comprised of a collaborative partnership among more than two dozen public, private, and non-profit agencies and businesses -- all pursuing the same goal: to help new and small business owners and entrepreneurs achieve success. Designed and developed by NIA Creative, the BusinessOwnerSpace.com website is the result of the joint efforts of BOS Partners - you'll find that the site is easy to use and understand, and contains the most relevant and up-to-date information business owners need. To access the BOS Website, visit www.businessownerspace.com.

About NIA Creative:

NIA Creative was founded in 1996 and has grown to become a trusted go-to marketing partner for healthcare and technology companies and public sector/non-profit organizations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and U.S. In 2005, NIA launched its healthcare division, NIA Creative Health, to better meet the needs of device, pharma, diagnostics and consumer health firms. NIA is unique in that both traditional agency and full-scale production services are available in-house. Services include advertising and branding, web development, video production, animation, interactive media development and tradeshow/event marketing. Clients include Baxter BioScience, Biogen Idec, Cadence Design, Carl Zeiss Meditec, City of San Jose, Clarity Medical Systems, eHealthInsurance.com, Genentech, HA Logistics, Kaiser Permanente, Marin County Department of Health & Human Services, NuGEN Technologies, SellPoint, Tensilica, Themis, Workday and Zhone Technologies. For more information, visit www.niacreative.com and www.niacreativehealth.com.