© John Beagle

HandleYourOwnPR.com is an Australian company that has recently expanded into the US market with a website providing everything necessary to launch DIY PR campaigns for starting business. The sit offers cheap media lists and press release writing which helps small business owners and others to conduct the most successful campaigns. Handle Your Own PR partnered with Realm Media in NYC to start up the US website, which will help small businesses to cut costs on essential PR services.

Many small businesses need PR to help them grow, but hiring a full service agency can be very expensive. The cheap media lists offered on the new site are downloadable right from the website for a low cost. These lists are highly targeted to save companies time and research in selecting reporters and bloggers for their PR campaigns.

© Red Mum

It can be time consuming to write a blog, but blogging about your starting business has its benefits. A blog can be a great platform to demonstrate your industry expertise, put a human face to your business and engage with your customers.

Even if your goal is to drive awareness of your business, that doesn't mean that your blog has to be all about your business. In fact, it shouldn't sound like an advertisement. Writing about an industry or topic you follow often works best. Since you'll be writing on an ongoing basis, you should make sure the theme you choose is one that excites you and can produce more than a few posts. It's helpful to make a list of topics for your first ten blog posts to see how quickly the ideas flow.

© Grant Wickes

The latest UK starting small business news regarding failure rates is encouraging. The health of micro and small businesses in the UK looks to have improved in April, with fewer small companies becoming insolvent then in the same period last year.

Failures fell at a faster rate across the majority of small business sectors, with the most notable improvements being seen in the smallest businesses with under 50 employees. Medium sized businesses, on the other hand, actually saw failure rates increase by about 4% year on year, while large company insolvencies rose by even more. Despite this fact, medium and large companies in the UK continue to have among the lowest failure rates. The biggest improvements in small business failure rates occurred in the Midlands and Wales, where declines of 17 to 36% were noted.