Smore Launches New Tool That Builds One Page Mobile Sites for App Promotion |  |
- Smore Launches New Tool That Builds One Page Mobile Sites for App Promotion
- 3 Places to Find Qualified Hires for Your Small Business
- 8 Ways to Encourage Innovation Without Leading to Burnout
- 5 Tips for Being Naturally Good at SEO
- Microsoft Tweaks SkyDrive Ahead of Windows 8 Release
| Smore Launches New Tool That Builds One Page Mobile Sites for App Promotion Posted: 15 Aug 2012 01:00 PM PDT Smore, a service that gives small companies and individuals the ability to build single page websites called "flyers," is rolling out a new service that gives that same ability to app developers who want to build a single page mobile site to promote their apps.
The new mobile service focuses on making it as easy as possible for marketers and app developers. Smore can even pull data directly from the app store and put together a page about the app in seconds. Of course, marketers can then edit the design themselves and even choose from a selection of built-in styles provided by Smore. And once sites are created, they can be launched instantly. The service is aimed at startups and small businesses that don't have huge advertising budgets to promote their apps or other products and services. The mobile service is currently in beta and free to try. In addition to the ability to quickly and easily build these sites, Smore offers promotional tools like SEO optimization, email compatibility and more. Users have the option of using their own custom domain name or choosing a unique Smore address. Once marketers or app developers put together their mobile flyers and send them out via email and social media, they can view basic analytics data with Smore's built-in analytics tool. For those who want a more detailed look, Smore does support integration with Google Analytics, and it has plans to roll out more detailed built-in analytics tools in the future. Smore launched its public beta earlier this year and has now helped thousands of small companies and even individuals launch online flyers. Though there are other DIY website builders similar to Smore, the focus on one-page, easy-to-build, easy-to-promote, design conscious sites makes Smore stand out from the crowd. Those using the regular Smore website tool can build one-page sites for anything, not just apps. Content can include text, photos, videos, tweets, products, reviews, and more. And those sites can also be viewed on smartphones and other mobile devices. From Small Business Trends |
| 3 Places to Find Qualified Hires for Your Small Business Posted: 15 Aug 2012 11:00 AM PDT If you're like most small business owners, you're stretched thin, with everyone at your business doing more with less. Maybe business has picked up a bit and you've finally decided to hire.
Well, according to a new study by The Wall Street Journal and Vistage International, if you're like most small business owners, you can't find anyone to hire. That's hard to believe in today's economy, with millions of workers still unemployed. But as of last month, 31 percent of the small business owners and CEOs polled said they had jobs they couldn't fill because they couldn't find qualified workers. The problem was particularly onerous for manufacturing firms, with 41 percent unable to find the right workers. Still, 30 percent of service businesses and 29 percent of retail companies reported the same problem. Small business owners in the Journal article say the lack of skilled, experienced workers is hindering their ability to expand. While some 36 percent of respondents say they offer training for their workers, training can take time and money a small business may not have. If you're on a tight budget and need someone who can hit the ground running, it may be more cost-effective to get along with an unfilled position than to hire someone who not only won't be productive from Day One, but will also take up another employee's time to train, lowering overall productivity. A less popular solution is raising salaries for jobs that are hard to fill. About one-fourth of respondents report they've tried this tactic in order to attract better-qualified workers. But not every entrepreneur can afford this option. By the way, if you think this issue isn't a concern because most companies aren't hiring, think again—nearly half (46 percent) of companies in the survey say they wanted to hire. Where can you find qualified workers with the experience you need? I'm a firm believer in the power of networking—both social networking and the old-fashioned kind. Here are three suggestions:
How do you find qualified workers? Help Wanted Photo via Shutterstock From Small Business Trends |
| 8 Ways to Encourage Innovation Without Leading to Burnout Posted: 15 Aug 2012 08:00 AM PDT Daily life at a startup is inherently exciting. Since capital is limited, teams are small, allowing each employee to wear multiple hats and fulfill fluid job descriptions, all to reach unprecedented goals.
Brainstorming sessions are intimate, voices are heard, creativity is appreciated and innovation is implemented. It’s quite the contrast to corporate America, where endless cubicles often keep an employee’s task list monotonous. However, the juggling act of startup employees isn’t all fun and games. Often, the drive to be more productive in business is counterproductive for innovation, as team members find themselves and their creativity drowning in the demands of multiple company roles. We specifically asked female members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invitation only nonprofit organization comprised of the country's most promising young entrepreneurs, the following question to find out their advice for continually placing innovation as a top priority:
Here's what YEC community members had to say: 1. Stop Doing That! “Refocus your startup on the essential projects needed to reach your immediate goals and stop doing everything else for now. By pushing your team to do too much too soon, you’ll lose the excitement that comes with innovating in a new business.” ~ Kelly Azevedo, She’s Got Systems 2. Make Innovation a KPI “Innovation can be a Key Performance Indicator, just like revenue or expenses. If you prioritize innovation as an extra metric that you track, it will incentivize creativity among team members. You could track contributions by team members during brainstorm meetings, new ideas added to an internal company list, or dollars saved by implementing innovative processes.” ~ Doreen Bloch, Poshly Inc. 3. Mentor, Consultant or Coach “Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees, you’re too close to your own business and processes. That’s where getting a mentor, consultant, or coach really comes in handy. Someone with an outside perspective — who isn’t overburdened — can think more clearly and come up with innovate solutions.” ~ Nathalie Lussier, Nathalie Lussier Media 4. Set a Lofty Goal “We pick a lofty goal that we want to shoot to hit that month, and hold an all-team brainstorm on how to make it happen. By pulling us out of our usual to-do lists, we end up coming up with a ton of creative new ideas and initiatives that end up extending beyond whatever that current goal is.” ~ Stephanie Kaplan, Her Campus Media 5. Schedule It In “One of the best ways you can foster innovation is to make space for it in the company schedule. This could look like monthly brainstorming meetings, a company retreat, or simply making it a discussion point during your one-on-ones. By designating time for it, you make it a priority.” ~ Elizabeth Saunders, Real Life E® 6. Ramble Freely! “Ramble Meetings are freeform brainstorming at its best. Put away the computers, phones and distractions and throw out crazy ideas. It can be one hour a day, or once a week — it’s your choice, but you need to do it, or else the very engine of growth that propels your company forward will slow down.” ~ Caroline Ghosn, The Levo League 7. Blogs and Webinars “I always encourage my team members to read blog posts about content marketing and attend webinars in order to learn more and foster ideas. I also have a large list of blogs in my RSS feeder that I read on a regular basis.” ~ Heather Huhman, Come Recommended 8. Set Aside Play Time “I think it’s really important to set aside play time where team members can simply focus on things that they enjoy doing and that give them the ability to be completely creative without confinement. When allowing your team members to play and explore, they will then often come up with other ideas and innovations that will help push the business forward.” ~ Erin Blaskie, BSETC Resting Photo via Shutterstock From Small Business Trends |
| 5 Tips for Being Naturally Good at SEO Posted: 15 Aug 2012 05:00 AM PDT As a small business owner or consultant, getting on the Web and developing your presence can be scary enough. When you’re in the thick of things, you don't even want to hear terms like "search engine optimization (SEO)" or "Internet marketing."
It certainly doesn’t help that new and improved SEO concepts are being touted each week. It can be hard to know what to believe or understand where your time is best spent. But for your business to reach its full Web potential, SEO is something you need to consider. Because SEO matters. It matters a lot. If you're an SMB not sure where to get on the SEO train, fear not. As a small business, there are plenty of easy things you can do, all by yourself, to set up your site to be naturally good at SEO. Get the basics down; then worry about the more difficult components. Where should you start? 1. Build your site for users: Putting together a full website that represents you and tells the world what you're all about can be paralyzing. Where do you start? What do you focus on? Who do you speak to? There's so much to consider. Your first step is to focus on your customers. And that means focusing on usability. Build a site that is intuitive and easy for people to digest. Sticking to best SEO practices like using breadcrumb navigational elements, creating easy-to-skim content, having a simple interface, selecting the right keywords, and organizing your content into topic silos can go a long way in helping customers understand your site better. By making your site intuitive and easy for a user to parse, you also make it easier for the search engines to index and rank. Remember, the search engines are using algorithm to "read" your website. That means the structure and organization of your content is paramount. 2. Become a subject matter-authority: Want to naturally attract SEO magic? Work toward asserting yourself as a subject matter authority in your niche by focusing on two things:
By making yourself an authority in your niche, it allows you to naturally attract the links, likes, mentions, and shares all the SEO experts will tell you that you need. 3. Do stuff to attract links: Any SEO worth his or her salt will tell you that you need to build links in order to increase your SEO efforts. But as a small business, how do you do that? And how do you do it in a non-spammy way that you're comfortable with? The easier answer is that to attract links you have to do stuff. You have to give people a reason to talk about you. And on the Web, talking about you means linking to you. Again, becoming an authority and writing content are obviously two great ways to do something and attract links. But be on the lookout for ways to insert yourself into press mentions, hold contests and giveaways, sponsor events in your area, support local charities, blow something up, disagree with an industry demigod, anything. While it's easy to get caught up working inside your business, you also have to work on your business and attracting attention is part of that. 4. Increase social and be social: When you're creating cool stuff, kill two birds with one stone by making that “stuff” inherently social. Add social calls to action, incorporate social share buttons, allows for user participation, etc. Not only will adding and encouraging social activity help your content and ideas be seen by more eyeballs, it will give off important signals to the search engines that your brand and your content are things that consumers want. The search engines are looking at social signals to help them find the meat in the vast sea of content that is being produced. Likes, shares, mentions and comments help them to do that. 5. Think about performance: One thing many business owners don't think about is the way their site performs, both on the Web an on mobile. They create sites in Flash not understanding the underlying SEO issues or they don't worry too much if a page (or the whole website) takes too long to load. The result of this is a bad experience, both for users and the search engines. Google has been very clear about the importance of a quick load time and how it plays into the Google algorithm. They've even developed a tool to help you analyze and optimize your page speed. If performance is something you haven't considered or thought about in terms of your site, you want to start thinking about it. Because when it's between you and a competitor for the top sport in the search results, the little things can end up being big things. Above are some ways small business owners can cover the SEO basics without really even trying. Because, as it turns out, the best SEO means simply creating the most positive experience you can for visitors. SEO Photo via Shutterstock From Small Business Trends |
| Microsoft Tweaks SkyDrive Ahead of Windows 8 Release Posted: 15 Aug 2012 02:30 AM PDT As Microsoft prepares for the release of Windows 8, sure to be critical to many business users, the company is also making a push to improve other products like its cloud storage solution, SkyDrive. Here’s what users of Microsoft’s various business solutions have to look forward to: Brand New ToysSkyDrive makeover sneak peak. Changes in SkyDrive give it a Windows 8 look and feel. Changes include a roll out of updated Windows and Mac OS X SkyDrive clients with faster file upload to the cloud and less processing time when checking for file changes. Ars Technica Outlook.com at 10 million strong. Two weeks ago, Microsoft introduced a preview of the upgraded Outlook.com in connection with release of the new Windows 8. The new Outlook.com also replaces Microsoft’s Hotmail service and now has an estimated 10 million users. The Windows Blog Microsoft surface for just $199.99. No, we’re not sure we believe it either! A rumor is floating around that Microsoft’s new tablets and laptops could be priced quite reasonably. But given earlier statements Microsoft has made about pricing for these products, we’re not holding our breath. Neowin.net Other ToolsThinking about ThinkPad. Other options exist besides the Microsoft Surface. While some Microsoft partners don’t see the point of developing a competitor to the new Microsoft hardware, at least one, Lenovo, does. Here’s what their new device has to offer. ReadWriteWeb Getting InTune with Microsoft. With all the focus on Windows 8, there’s another choice coming up for Windows users. Business users can decide whether to use just Windows 8, or subscribe to Windows InTune. Here is more about Windows InTune and why it matters. PC World Hands On PreviewOffice hours. If you want to know more about what Microsoft’s new Office 2013 will be like, you may want to check out this hands-on report from a guy who’s spent a few weeks with the preview version. Forward Thinking What’s in a name? Columnist Preston Gralla looks at the the naming of the new interface for Windows 8, possibly to be described as “modern” instead of “metro.” But what difference does it make what they call the thing, so long as it works? Quite a bit, Gralla argues. Here’s why. ComputerWorld From Small Business Trends |
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