Acknowledging that small businesses keep the American economy going, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has relaunched its website with significant improvements targeted toward small business owners and other users.

"Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy, and we are committed to providing them with the best and latest tools and resources," said SBA Administrator Hector Barreto. "The redesigned website expands our capacity to reach new customers in new ways, and brings the SBA one step closer to becoming America’s small business homepage."

With more than 50,000 documents, the SBA website provides one of the agency’s best tools for serving current and future small business owners. The site provides a multitude of assistance to those looking to begin a small business. With an average of more than 1.2 million hits per week on pages such as Starting Your Own Business, Financing Your Business and How to Write a Business Plan, the site is clearly a resource to budding entrepreneurs.

The new site at www.sba.gov features a new design, enhanced navigation and improved content. Among the many changes:

• The use of plain English to explain the “what,” “where,” “why” and “how-to” of starting and running a business.

• Five customer-centric access views: starting a business; financing a business; managing and growing a business; business opportunities; and disaster assistance.

• A sophisticated geo-mapping feature that makes it easy for customers all over the country to find and travel to nearby SBA district offices and resource partners.

• A comprehensive and fully searchable menu of business frequently asked questions.

• More tutorials, counseling and a virtual training campus with more than 50 free online courses, a virtual library with more than 200 free E-books, and direct access to some 30 universities and colleges offering online business courses around the country.

• New home pages for the 10 regional offices.

To find out more about the SBA’s offerings for small business, call the SBA Answer Desk at 1-800 U ASK SBA or TDD 704-344-6640, or visit the SBA’s web site at www.sba.gov.