Yelp Lets Local Businesses Offer Gift Certificates |  |
- Yelp Lets Local Businesses Offer Gift Certificates
- Ileane Smith Argues That Content Isn’t King
- Small Business Satisfaction Partially Rebounds, Says Gallup
- Let the Self Employed Deduct Health Insurance Premiums from Payroll Taxes
- Yahoo! CEO Takes Personal Charge of Hiring
| Yelp Lets Local Businesses Offer Gift Certificates Posted: 17 Sep 2012 01:00 PM PDT Small businesses now have the option to sell gift certificates directly from their business profile page on Yelp. The local reviews site, which also gives businesses to the opportunity to offer daily deal promotions, tested out the gift certificate feature earlier this year and just announced that it is now available to all businesses using the site.
Unlike its daily deal promotions, the gift certificates are not discounted at all. It's just a simple way for businesses to reach out to customers. For local business owners, a feature like this can make a lot of sense, not only for gaining new customers but also for turning existing customers into loyal advocates. For instance, some consumers might be less likely to purchase a discounted promotion for a local business if they're giving it as a gift, since it might be considered tacky. In addition, some of the deals offered on the site were too low to cover an entire product or service, so the customer was still left making up the difference. With the new option, businesses can offer gift certificates in different denominations of their choice, so customers can buy as much or as little as they want. Yelp, which has about 78 million monthly users, will take a 10% cut of gift certificates sold on the site. But the certificate is full-value for the customer, so if someone wants to buy a $100 gift certificate for their friend's favorite restaurant, they pay $100 and get exactly that much to spend. Deals still remain available for local businesses. So between the two options, businesses can reach out to new and existing customers in different ways. Since Yelp is so recognized and widely used by locals in many cities throughout the country, tying in this type of option can make patronizing local businesses even more convenient. And thus, businesses that are already on Yelp could really benefit from offering gift certificates on the site. The post Yelp Lets Local Businesses Offer Gift Certificates appeared first on Small Business News, Tips, Advice - Small Business Trends. |
| Ileane Smith Argues That Content Isn’t King Posted: 17 Sep 2012 11:00 AM PDT If you’re like me, you’re getting tired of hearing “content is king” everywhere you go. Ileane Smith, founder of Basic Blog Tips, goes as far as saying that content, in fact, isn’t king:
So while having a blog is becoming increasingly important, Smith (@ileane) says it’s more about having the right strategy for how a business will use a blog to market itself. She founded Basic Blog Tips to provide actionable advice on how to use blogs and social media as marketing tools. Her tutorials and forums provide tips to all levels of bloggers and social media users, and cover everything from creating a successful WordPress site to the benefits of sites like StumbleUpon. Born Out of Necessity When Smith began blogging in 2009 (at her daughter’s urging), she was frustrated to find so few genuinely useful resources to help her make the most of her blogging efforts. So, like any smart entrepreneur, she decided to fill the gap herself by starting Basic Blog Tips. Smith provides most of the content on the site, but does have guest contributors pitch in as well. And while the primary focus of the community was initially blogging, as social media rose in popularity, Smith began offering more tutorials and blog posts to help small business owners navigate the worlds of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google + and more. Smith practices what she preaches about social media, with active profiles on all the major sites. She recognizes the importance of maintaining profiles on multiple social sites, though she does have her favorites:
Simply Being There Isn’t Enough In addition to participating as a Media Partner in the 2012 Small Business Influencer Awards, Smith received an Honorable Mention in the 2012 Small Business Awards, and Basic Blog Tips was chosen as a Community Choice Honoree. It’s clear she practices what she preaches: that simply being online isn’t enough. You have to get involved in the community. Through Basic Blog Tips, Smith works to help businesses align their marketing goals and strategies when using social media and blogs. Because, after all, some businesses expect overnight success with these tools, and that’s simply not how they work.
Editor's Note: This article is one of a series of interviews of key players in the Small Business Influencer Awards. The post Ileane Smith Argues That Content Isn’t King appeared first on Small Business News, Tips, Advice - Small Business Trends. |
| Small Business Satisfaction Partially Rebounds, Says Gallup Posted: 17 Sep 2012 08:00 AM PDT A recent Gallup poll shows small business satisfaction levels have gone up. However, it’s a case of good news / bad news. It’s good news to see an uptick of any kind. But that good news is tempered by the fact that satisfaction has barely gotten back to the 2008 level, and small business owners are still 12 points under the high point of satisfaction from 2006. Be careful not to misinterpret this poll. Small business owners may feel satisfaction and a degree of success, but don’t necessarily see conditions getting much better. This particular poll is more about pride in self-reliance, versus a measurement of how well things are going. The poll was conducted in mid-July, 2012. Here’s what the chart looks like:
The poll is part of a quarterly survey using a random sample of 600 small business owners. In the poll, 55% of small business owners expressed satisfaction with their role as a business owner. That rate hasn't been seen since July 2008 during the recession. Self-reported success among small business owners has also increased. Thirty-nine percent (39%) said they feel very successful, and 51% said they feel somewhat successful as a small business owner. Success wasn't defined in the survey. My take on it is that business owners’ feelings of satisfaction and success come from intrinsic values such as the satisfaction of being able to employ people and continue to serve customers even in a tough economic environment. It comes from the confidence of knowing your self-reliance helped you beat back adversity. That’s what this is measuring. It’s not about measuring the business owners’ actual financial situation. If you look at business owners’ outlook and expectations for the next 12 months based on how their businesses are doing financially (pulling data from the very same Gallup survey), the picture looks less positive. Their overall sense of optimism about their future financial picture isn’t as positive. In other words, as a business owner you can feel a degree of satisfaction and success because your business survived or you haven’t had to lay off employees or because you managed to keep most of your customers, even if economic conditions swirling around you are negative. You feel satisfied and successful inside because of what you did manage to accomplish in the face of adversity. The post Small Business Satisfaction Partially Rebounds, Says Gallup appeared first on Small Business News, Tips, Advice - Small Business Trends. |
| Let the Self Employed Deduct Health Insurance Premiums from Payroll Taxes Posted: 17 Sep 2012 05:00 AM PDT Suppose Congress passed a law exempting Americans from a tax on health insurance premiums as long as they worked for someone else, but required them to pay $1,800 if they were self-employed. Would you think it was fair?
Probably not, but that's in essence what happened when Congress failed to renew the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010. That law permitted the self-employed to deduct their health insurance premiums before figuring their Medicare and social security taxes in tax year 2010. That was a one-time change from how the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 treats the deductability of health insurance premiums. Under the code's special rules for the health insurance costs of self-employed individuals, the deduction of health insurance premiums is "not allowed for self-employment tax purposes." Given the average tax rates and health insurance premiums paid by self-employed individuals, the inability to deduct health insurance premiums from payroll taxes results in an additional $1,800 in taxes that the average self-employed person pays, the National Association for the Self-Employed argues. That additional $1,800 in taxes violates the principle of fairness that most of us think is important in the tax code. Few people think that a house painter, for instance, should pay more for health insurance if he decides to paint houses on his own than if he paints the same houses as someone else's employee. Representative Jim Gerlach, Republican from Pennsylvania, and Ronald Kind, Democrat from Wisconsin, have introduced a bill into Congress to fix this inequity. Their bill, American’s Small Business Tax Relief Act of 2012 (H.R. 6102), would make permanent the deduction of health insurance premiums from payroll taxes. Unfortunately, Govtrack.us assesses it as having only a 3 percent chance of passage. Between now and election day, every member of the House of Representatives will be actively campaigning for reelection. Many of them will sing the praises of small business and claim to be its biggest supporter on Capitol Hill. Perhaps 51 percent of them could take some time away from all that talking to get American’s Small Business Tax Relief Act of 2012 through committee, onto the House floor, and voted in. This may come as a surprise to those in Washington, but many self-employed Americans would prefer if their representatives in Congress passed laws to help them rather than try to outshout their opponents with their praise for small business. Healthcare Photo via Shutterstock The post Let the Self Employed Deduct Health Insurance Premiums from Payroll Taxes appeared first on Small Business News, Tips, Advice - Small Business Trends. |
| Yahoo! CEO Takes Personal Charge of Hiring Posted: 17 Sep 2012 02:30 AM PDT As she marked her first 60 days at Yahoo! last week, CEO Marissa Mayer made it clear that people will be the main focus of her efforts to turn one of the Web’s most iconic brands around. No matter what kind of business you operate or how small it may be, people will always be at the heart of your success. Bringing in the right employees and building an effective team are important jobs for any business owner. Here are some thoughts on meeting the challenge. A League of Their OwnMarissa takes charge. In an unusual move that industry insiders say has slowed down the process but is probably a necessary step, Mayer has reportedly taken charge of hiring at Yahoo! in recent weeks, and is now personally reading the resume of every serious contender to see that they meet her exacting standards. The idea, sources say, is to avoid under-performers in the ranks. BGR More than a feeling. Since her arrival at Yahoo! in July, Mayer has sent clear signals that people, not technology, are the most important asset Yahoo! possesses. Signs of this commitment and a focus on placing the right people into the right positions has led to some high profile changes in the company’s upper management, and new work requirements, offset by new perks for all employees. Silicon Republic Battling burnout. The most important part of managing the perfect team, once assembled, is to keep members working and motivated so they don’t burn out and jump ship. To do this, Mayer has developed a technique focused on helping employees, not by reducing their work loads, but by helping them find their rhythm instead. Business Insider Now It’s Your TurnThis is how we do it. Small business owners may believe they can’t compete with huge companies like Yahoo! for the best talent. Not true, says one business coach, who insists that high salaries and prestige aren’t all that attract great employees. Instead, perhaps you should think about hiring employees for their attitude instead of their skill level. You can train the team you need. Bernd Geropp So happy together. Once you have a team together, the key is to members happy and working while building your company. As it turns out, there are a variety of ways to motivate your team, and big raises and bonuses aren’t the only options open to you. Here are 11 other tips for keeping your employees motivated and moving your business forward. Business News Daily Balancing act. One of the things employees most often list as important for job satisfaction is a good work/life balance. Depending on the kind of business you operate, providing an environment that allows your employees this kind of balance could go a long way toward creating loyalty and satisfaction in your team. The question is what work/life balance really means to them, and whether you, as an employer, can make it possible. B2B Bliss House rules. Another way to improve employee satisfaction is by allowing workers more flexibility, for example, the ability to work remotely from time to time. Of course, working from home isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be. Here are some tips from one work-at-home dad that will make the experience more productive and beneficial for everyone. Productive Superdad The post Yahoo! CEO Takes Personal Charge of Hiring appeared first on Small Business News, Tips, Advice - Small Business Trends. |
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