SumAll Adds Authorize.net App to Analyze Credit Card Payment Data |  |
- SumAll Adds Authorize.net App to Analyze Credit Card Payment Data
- Tips for Small Businesses Post Hurricane Sandy
- 13 Million PPC Conversions A Day on Google: How Many Are Yours?
- Fear Is Small Business Enemy: WTF is Biggest Ally
- Disney Buys Lucasfilm for $4.05 Billion
| SumAll Adds Authorize.net App to Analyze Credit Card Payment Data Posted: 01 Nov 2012 01:00 PM PDT Business reporting tool SumAll now offers analytics information for credit card sales data, thanks to a partnership with payment gateway service Authorize.net.
Authorize.net is used by businesses to process credit card payments both online and in physical locations. Founded in 1996, the company has more than 375,000 merchant customers and has an annual transaction volume of more than $88 Billion. So the business that use this tool can now integrate their payments data into the analytics system offered by SumAll. It was the "most demanded app" by SumAll users according to the company's website. This new partnership means that users of the reporting tool can now use it to analyze credit card sales in both online stores and brick and mortar locations, in conjunction with the wide range of data users of SumAll already have access to, including website data, social media data, and offline payments. In addition to the new partnership with Authorize.net, SumAll's apps include partnerships with other polular sites and services like PayPal, Ebay, Google Analytics, Twitter, and Facebook. The different apps are meant to help businesses understand a wide variety of business aspects, such as commerce, marketing, and investors. The Manhattan based company was built to bring some of the same business intelligence tools that large corporations rely on to smaller and medium sized businesses. The purpose behind the data reporting provided by SumAll is to help these businesses better understand their customers so that they can make better business decisions, thus increasing productivity and profits. The tool first entered beta testing in December. Since then it's been regularly adding new tools and partnerships to give businesses a well-rounded view of their business data. Other analytics tools like Unmetric offer business reporting tools to help analyze some of the same types of data. But if SumAll continues adding partners and apps each month, the amount of data available from the free service could help businesses keep their data organized in one central location while still analyzing all the necessary data. The SumAll tool is currently free for all users, but paid plans with premium features are in the works. The post SumAll Adds Authorize.net App to Analyze Credit Card Payment Data appeared first on Small Business Trends. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tips for Small Businesses Post Hurricane Sandy Posted: 01 Nov 2012 11:00 AM PDT Hurricane Sandy left an estimated 8 million households and small businesses without power and caused what is likely to be billions of dollars' worth of damage.
If your small business has been impacted by hurricane Sandy, there are steps that you can take to quickly get up and running again: Assess the Damage, Take Pictures and Videos Use your mobile devices and begin digitally recording the damage in videos and still images and be sure to write down all of your losses. This data will be vital when making your insurance claims. Re-read Your Insurance Policy, Contact Your Agent ASAP It is likely that you will have some disputes with your insurance company over what is covered and what is not. Be sure you have read the policy over and know what it states and do not delay in placing a claim. There will be thousands of small business owners filing claims, time is of the essence. Utilize the Small Business Administration (SBA) Resources The agency’s website has a page dedicated to helping small businesses recover from natural disasters. Use your mobile devices to access the information. Apply for an SBA Disaster Loan The SBA Disaster Loan decision-making process should be quick because the agency's mission is to help small business owners get up and running again. Apply for one if you qualify. Meet With Your Accountant If you are looking for a SBA Disaster Loan or other type of small business loan, having accurate accounting is essential. Get your books in order and meet with your accountant if possible. Secure a Line of Credit While you might be among the lucky small business owners who safely rode the storm out, others may not have been so fortunate. Those to whom you have extended credit may take longer than usual to pay their bills or, worse yet, they may go out of business altogether. That leaves you with expected income that you may never receive. Additionally, if you had to close for a few days, you will have lost revenue. Having a line of credit available for such instances is vital to make sure that you have working capital and the ability to meet payroll. Every entrepreneur has invested a great deal of time, energy and financial resources toward growing his or her business. Before the next storm hits, some things to keep in mind are:
Stay safe! Hurricane Sandy, Brooklyn, NY Photo via Shutterstock The post Tips for Small Businesses Post Hurricane Sandy appeared first on Small Business Trends. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 13 Million PPC Conversions A Day on Google: How Many Are Yours? Posted: 01 Nov 2012 08:00 AM PDT On October 18th, 2012, Google’s Q3 earnings report was leaked early and the stock dropped 9% in hours. It happened so fast that trading was temporarily suspended. The following week, Larry Kim of Wordstream published research into how Google is earning all that revenue via an infographic, titled “24 Hours in the Google Economy.”
Larry Kim is the Founder/CTO of WordStream, provider of the AdWords Grader and the 20 Minute PPC Work Week. (You can follow him on Google+ and Twitter.) I reached out to interview Larry on what stood out to him: Google stock took a nose dive when their financials were released. A lot of coverage mentioned decreasing CPCs. Does the decrease in CPC concern you? Larry Kim: Google's revenue growth has historically leaned a great deal on rising cost per clicks. The challenge with that approach is that it's not a sustainable long term strategy. Take for example something like domain name registration. How the heck can you justify paying $10+ per click for something that costs 5 bucks? Moreover, where the conversion rate from click to sale is in the single digits? (Answer: You can't.) I work with small and medium-sized businesses with limited search marketing budgets, commonly in the range of $1-25k / month. Rising CPC's often force smaller businesses to respond by adopting increasingly narrow ad targeting parameters, and sometimes even result in them dropping paid search all together. The reversal of this trend as a win-win for both AdWords advertisers and Google. A larger available inventory of impressions, combined with lower average CPC, means that PPC advertisers are now literally able to get more customers for less money. And Google shareholders should be happy, too – it opens up Search Engine Marketing to more advertisers, including perhaps advertisers for whom the economics of search might not have previously worked out at higher average costs per click. I recognize that CPC's aren't fully controlled by Google per se – that an advertiser's actual cost per click is a reflection of an ad auction that takes into consideration advertiser competition for a keyword, as well as an advertiser's historical performance track record (Quality Score). But overall I'm very supportive of a model for Google advertising revenue growth that that emphasizes growth in ad inventory, and innovations that drive and/or reward high click-through rates and conversion rates as opposed to just relying on higher CPC's every quarter. This approach deliver more ROI to advertisers in the long run and makes paid search a much more sustainable and attractive venue for ad dollars, especially in comparison to other advertising venues. How do you feel mobile search is playing into these statistics?Larry Kim: Wall Street analysts are placing the blame for slowing ad revenue growth rates squarely on mobile search. The conventional wisdom says that mobile ad engagement is lower in comparison to ads on the desktop, which intuitively makes sense –when you're doing a Google search on your iPhone, you're probably on the go, and therefore less likely to be tempted to click on ads that aren't absolutely critical to what you're looking for at that moment. There's also considerably less space for ads. These issues impact Google revenue growth as mobile searches account for an increasingly larger share of searches – mobile search volume is expected to exceed desktop searches in 2014. I think the conventional wisdom is true but would argue that there's another factor playing into the statistics here. Despite 2012 being yet another "Year of Mobile Search," I'm finding that advertisers are quite slow to adopt mobile advertising best practices. In AdWords, all advertisers are automatically opted into mobile search – it's the default setting when creating a new ad campaign. But the vast majority of advertisers aren't creating unique or compelling advertising experiences for mobile searches. For example, I'm seeing anemic adoption rates of new mobile ad formats, like click-to-call ad extensions, or call reporting, and very few advertisers take the time to create mobile landing pages, or customized ad text and offers that would be more compelling for the average mobile searcher. The challenge is that it takes more time and effort to do the work – and I've also seen cases where advertisers have taken the time to optimize their mobile ad experiences but are having challenges measuring the ROI from phone calls, and therefore having trouble getting buy-in from key stakeholders. In summary, the net impact of all of the above is that the typical mobile search currently monetizes at roughly half the value of a desktop search. But I expect that to change in the near future. For example, I anticipate seeing a lot more ads on Google Maps, and for Google to charge for Google business listings, etc. Do you feel the CPCs in some verticals prices SMBs out of the PPC game (i.e. Finance)?Larry Kim: In my study, the finance category included businesses doing credit & lending, financial planning & management, insurance, investing, etc. These tend to be high-margin businesses with long average customer lifetimes, for example a 30-year mortgage or life insurance policy. Furthermore, the average conversion rates for the finance industry were very high – 6.12% for Google Search and 5.12% for Google Display Network – probably because a lot of people do comparison shopping for these types of products on Google, so I think it's still a pretty effective advertising venue, despite the high average cost per click. The industry verticals that are under the most pressure at the moment are those that have a combination of high average cost per click and low conversion rates (meaning, a high cost per action) in combination with tight profit margins and/or shorter customer lifetime values. Since I don't know exactly what the profit margins and average customer lifetimes are for each industry, I'll just post the average cost per action data that I calculated, and let the readers decide if they're too high or too low to make sense for their business.
In my 10+ years of experience working with over a thousand small businesses, I've found that almost any kind of business can make PPC work for them – it's mainly a matter of finding the more narrow set of targeted, relevant, high-intent keywords that drive affordable leads and sales. What is the best way for an SMB to use this data now?Larry Kim: There's a ton of data here, and way too many insights to list them all out, so here are my top 3 ideas:
Finally, a neat way to make all of this data all of this insight is to run a free AdWords Grader report. It's a free, instant audit of you're the key metrics in your AdWords account – highlighting areas of strength and areas to improve. The neat thing about this free tool is that it compares your results to other advertisers who are in the same industry as you and have a similar ad budget as you, so overall it's a pretty compelling benchmark. Plus it's completely free. Where do you feel SMBs still have a PPC advantage over larger advertisers?Larry Kim: With such huge increases in available clicks and impressions, it's no longer possible for larger advertisers to buy out the entire available impression share – this which opens up tremendous of opportunities for smaller advertisers to outmaneuver larger advertisers. Don't assume that all larger advertisers are doing great. I've seen plenty of large advertisers that do very poorly and are doing a terrible job at managing their accounts. And it's not that they're incompetent (though, that is sometimes the case) – it's most often the case that there are legitimate challenges in operating a PPC advertising account at scale, like managing thousands of products, and inventories, and changing prices, etc., which are challenges that smaller advertisers generally don't have to deal with. Furthermore, necessity is the mother of invention. Sometimes, I see that it's the cash strapped small and medium sized businesses that are running the best campaigns because the money is so critical for them, that it forces them to be more effective. Overall, it varies. The post 13 Million PPC Conversions A Day on Google: How Many Are Yours? appeared first on Small Business Trends. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fear Is Small Business Enemy: WTF is Biggest Ally Posted: 01 Nov 2012 05:00 AM PDT A small business entrepreneurs biggest enemy is FEAR and its biggest ally is WTF – Working Through Fear.
Karl Albrecht, Ph.D., is the author of more than 20 books, including Practical Intelligence: the Art & Science of Common Sense. In an article posted on Psychology Today, he says:
How we can free ourselves from the roadblocks that our fears can create? Fear Is Mostly An Illusion Most of the things we think we are afraid of are NGIR – not grounded in reality. We mostly make mountains out of molehills, usually working ourselves up into crazy frenzies that zaps our energy and self confidence. Have you been asked to speak, or is there a project you want to pitch for, or meet someone who you think wouldn’t want to meet you? Perspective and Action Say yes to speaking, pitch for the project and ask someone you know to make that introduction. It’s your perspective of the outcome that creates the fear instead of taking the action, which can help you work through it. WTF If we are to create the habit of being fearless, we must practice working through our fears. This is where networks, support systems and family can make a big difference. Reach out to trusted people, or professionals and get some encouragement and help, if you can’t do it yourself. Don’t go it alone. Building More Confidence The best way to work through fear is to network both in person and online. Blend the two, so that you are working on your interpersonal and communication skills and watch your confidence soar. Join the chamber and get on a committee, or become an ambassador. Volunteer in the community and help others. Find a mentor and help them with a project they are working on. Go Inside For The Answers One of the main themes of my book is “everything you need is already inside of you.” All the answers are there about what you do and don’t know. Value and trust who you are and what you have done more. Whatever you need to learn or add, learn it, add it. It is not possible to underestimate how inspiring Eleanor Roosevelt’s You Learn by Living: 11 Keys for a More Fulfilling Life, still are after more than 50 years since it was first published. In her second key:
If we keep working through our fears and put them into their sober perspective, we will be freed to succeed. The rule about fear is simply to do the thing you fear the most 10 times and you will not fear it anymore. Try it. What do you have to lose? WTF – Work Through Fear. WTF Photo via Shutterstock The post Fear Is Small Business Enemy: WTF is Biggest Ally appeared first on Small Business Trends. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disney Buys Lucasfilm for $4.05 Billion Posted: 01 Nov 2012 02:30 AM PDT The brand once most associated with Mickey Mouse, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty will now be linked with wookies, droids, and other inhabitants of a galaxy far, far away. The pending purchase of Lucasfilm by The Disney Company for $4 billion was announced Tuesday, demonstrating something today’s business owners and entrepreneurs instinctively understand. Content and brand create the real value in your business, whether that content and brand are associated with a string of iconic hit films and legendary characters or a series of exciting blog posts and other online content. A New HopeMay the mouse be with us. The purchase of Lucasfilm by The Disney Company is the latest in series of high profile purchases that have included legendary brands like Marvel and Pixar for equally impressive figures. The Lucasfilm acquisition, like the Marvel purchase before it, is about leveraging powerful entertainment products for future films and other products. Your business should look at how content and brand are creating value. The New York Times Disney strikes back. The Lucasfilm purchase by The Disney Company is a strike to counter turbulent changes in the entertainment industry by using distinctive content and distributing it over an almost limitless number of channels. Disney Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger explains: "Technology has proved more friend than foe to great storytelling. It allows us to distribute in ways we never thought would have been imaginable." Bloomberg Businessweek Attack of the ClonesA long time ago in brand far away. Your brand is about making you different, not exactly like the other small businesses you compete against. If you ever thought brand was for that other guy’s business, well, take a look at the multi-billion dollar purchase of the Star Wars franchise above. Lucas’s company is the perfect example of how building a brand and creating a story have become one and the same. Elizabeth Joss takes us on a brief tour of how to get started with story telling that enhances your brand. Check it out! Xcellent Media Don’t turn to the dark side. Still some businesses don’t understand how brands work, especially when it comes to communicating in a memorable way what that brand is and what it represents. Have you made mistakes with your brand logo? Creating a logo that doesn’t connect with customers will do your company very little good in the marketplace, and won’t build value in your brand. Tech blogger Reese Jones explains the most common mistakes. Hellbound Bloggers Return of the JediBecome a content master. Creating content doesn’t require great training, but might require a good plan of action. Kelvin Cech, a Jedi master in the ways of content creation, will show you how to make strategy your ally. His 45 step approach will have you battling the “phantom menace” of boring Webpages, developing a better Web presence, and building a better brand in no time. Function Writing Group Destroy the Death Star. The lack of time faced by many businesses when trying to create original content, looms like the Death Star in Lucas’s memorable movies and is destroyed in the end, not by a feat of overwhelming strength, but by the efforts of a small band of rebel pilots working together. Similarly, collaboration and content creation in which bloggers share each other’s content to create a more impressive whole is a great way to win out in the end. Content Strategy Hub Face your fear. Facing fear is a recurrent theme in the Star Wars films and social media expert Rachel Parker says it can also be a problem when creating content for your company’s social media presence. It seems that many businesses suffer from such a fear of being lumped in with their competitors or placed in a box that they neglect to specify what they’re real specialty is. In other words, their content fails to tell their true story. Resonance The post Disney Buys Lucasfilm for $4.05 Billion appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
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