Best of the Smarta features and guides 2010

Throughout 2010 we've done our darndest to bring you the very best in business advice, on any and every aspect of starting and running a business, whether you haven't even got an idea yet or you're trying to figure out which stock market to float on. Here's our pick of the best features and guides from each of our advice sections form the past 12 months.

Starting up

• How to build a dotcom success - a video guide with Julie Meyer.
• Starting a business after redundancy - an in-depth feature, with business owners who've been there and done it talking candidly about their experiences.
• Start a business: a checklist - the ultimate to-do list, including links to all the sections of Smarta that will most help you at each stage.
• Is buying a franchise right for me? - because starting from scratch isn't the only option.

Business planning

• 37 ways to beat the competition - because undercutting on price is, very often, not a sustainable business model.
• Researching your business idea -  the next steps after you've come up with a concept or decided what type of business you want to start.
• The 25 holy commandments of business

Business mentoring & skills

• 10 ways to feed you mind - by Tim Smit, founder of The Eden Project.
• Five steps to finding your dream business mentor - the in-depth guide.
• The top 10 websites for finding business networking events - because offline networking should always support online networking.

Business finance

• How to find a grant for your business
• Friends, family and fools -ever thought about borrowing start-up capital or loaning money off your nearest and dearest? Don't take a penny until you've read this feature.
• Bank lending and cashflow surgery - catch up on all the advice given to a whole range of small business owners by RBS small business banking chairman Peter Ibbetson. We've handily typed up the key issues raised along with Ibbetson's solutions.

Accounting and tax

• Smarta's fat VAT ebook - free to download and packed with info, this ebook tell syou everything you need to know about the VAT rise, from using to your advantage to the complexities of altering your Flate Rate Scheme precentages.
• Five ways to cut your budget deficit - as the government struggles to cut its outlays, we highlight the best ways business owners can reduce their costs without denting their productivity.

Legal

• The Equality Act - our in-depth guide on everything business owners need to know about the new legislation brought in on October 2 2010
• The small claims court for small businesses

Suppliers and trade

• How to get your product into a supermarket - our mindmap explains all.
• How to do business in India

Sales and marketing

• The ultimate Twitter ebook - our free, jam-packed ebook is for total beginners and long-time tweeters, and includes advice from the likes of Duncan Bannatyne.
• Do annoying ads work? - only our feature has the answer!
• Clash of the search engines - where is your PPC spend most effective?

Premises

• Shedworking - the new business premises is here. In fact, it's down the bottom of your garden. Find out how you could save bags of money and find peace of mind with a garden studio.

Employees

• PAYE explained
• How to collaborate with remote colleagues - with more and more teams working from different locations, either from home of office hubs across the UK, this guide provides the need-to-know on how to handle not having a central premises.

Web

• Homepages from hell - learn from their mistakes and avoid the pitfalls of bad design online.
• Pukka! Business lessons from Jamie Oliver's iPhone app
• How to set up an eBay shop
• How to get other websites to link to your

Business technology

• Using Skype to cut the cost of international calls - a handy case study full of tips.
• App attack! The best web analytics apps

Business growth

• Assessing your role in the business - our guide to one of the first key steps when you're looking to expand.
• 10 ways to be 10% more efficient by next week - get the low-down with this super-efficient feature.
• How to value your business for sale - got big ambitions? Then don't slip up at this crucial stage.