When Michael Strange sent an order of ice cream to China more than six years ago, he was pretty sure that would be the last time his company would export to China.

"I did not think it would take off," says Strange, president of Bassetts Ice Cream. "When I first shipped samples over, I kind of thought I was wasting my money on FedEx and dry ice and packaging."

But today, the Philadelphia-based company generates approximately 20 percent of its revenue from exports to China.

Bassetts is just one of the nearly 300,000 small or medium-sized American businesses—companies with less than 500 employees—that export goods or services abroad. Small businesses make up 97 percent of American companies that export, according to the US Census Bureau, and their numbers are growing.

According to the National Small Business Association (NBSA), 64 percent of firms surveyed in 2013 had sold merchandise or services to a customer outside of the United States, compared to 52 percent it 2010. And in 2013, 63 percent of non-exporting firms said they would be interested in selling merchandise or services abroad if their concerns about exporting were addressed. Just 43 percent said they would consider exporting in 2010.