A Web site that officially went online in April now offers help to small businesses dealing with the Y2K problem and is gaining a following from business owners across Iowa.

“The Web site was started to tie in the expertise of the 16 Iowa Small Business Development Centers,” said Lars Peterson from the Iowa SBDC in Ames. “Even though the site was put online in April during Info Iowa, we only started promoting the site about a month ago.”

The Web site offers help for small businesses to combat the Y2K (year 2000) problem.

“Many small businesses think that because their computers are Y2K compliant that they won’t have any problems at the turn of the century,” Peterson said. “What they don’t realize is that there are many other areas where the business could face problems at the turn of the century.”

The SBDC site offers information on Y2K classes and seminars.

Peterson said the directors saw a gap in the Web pages geared toward small businesses, and that generated the idea.

The Web site, located at www.iabusnet.org, was created to be a hub for small businesses across Iowa. Peterson said a business is defined as small if it employs fewer than 500 people.

“The Web site is very easy to use and is extremely unique,” Peterson said.

The site features an answer center and an energy center where MidAmerican Energy offers information on deregulation for small business owners. It also offers a series of forums ranging in topics from technology to the future and even an “ask the experts” forum.

The site also offers information on other sights that have information pertinent to small businesses, including a link to the Web sites of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Iowa State and the Iowa Manufacturers Technology Center.

An advisory committee was started recently to make sure that the site is actually meeting the needs of small businesses.

Besides hosting the Web site, the SBDC also provides consultants to council people starting a new business or those who already began a business.

“We think … we have a pretty good holding on the pulse of small businesses,” Peterson said.