Distribute Android Apps to Employees

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• Distribute Android Apps to Employees
• Fewer Than One Quarter of Small Businesses Have Social Media Strategies
• Small Business SEO Trends to Keep an Eye On
• Your Content Marketing Strategy for 2013
• Start Up Failure Rates: The Definitive Numbers
• University of California Angers Many with Logo Change

Distribute Android Apps to Employees Posted: 17 Dec 2012 03:00 PM PST Mobile apps have worked their way into many different corners of everyday life, and the business world is no exception. So it was only a matter of time before companies began building their own mobile apps for internal use. Now, Google has announced a new feature that will give businesses the option to create private Google Play channels to distribute Android apps for internal use to employees. To take advantage of this option, you simply sign up as an administrator with Google Apps for Business in order to gain access to the Google Play developer console. Then you can create a private channel to upload, host and distribute apps to employees. Of course this does still require the know how to actually build a mobile app, but this new feature makes it possible for developers to make their apps only available to a specific group of Android users, rather than having to release it to the public Google Play store. The Google Apps user who sets up the administrator account on the private channel does need to be registered in the same domain as the business account, such as private IT staff members, rather than external or freelance developers. And each business is only allowed one private channel at this time, even if it has multiple domains registered. The photo above shows how employees can easily locate the private channel registered to their company's domain within the Android app store, and then how they can browse and choose from their company's list of internal apps. This new option could be useful for businesses that want to use apps for things such as expense reporting or internal collaboration functions. All it takes is an IT department with the ability to build apps and then Google has made the rest of the process pretty simple. All of the regular features and responsibilities of Google Play publishers still apply to administrators of these private channels, and the one-time $25 publisher registration fee still applies. The post Distribute Android Apps to Employees appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Fewer Than One Quarter of Small Businesses Have Social Media Strategies Posted: 17 Dec 2012 02:08 PM PST Small businesses are getting better at using social media to meet marketing and customer goals. However, they struggle with figuring out a strategy and deploying social media in that strategy. Fewer than one-quarter of small businesses (24%) use social media as part of a planned social media strategy. Another 29% use social media in an ad hoc way, suggesting that they are intrigued with social media but aren’t sure exactly how to make it work for them. That’s according to the 2012 Small and Medium Social Business Study conducted by the SMB Group earlier this year in 2012. But even the ad-hoc users are more advanced than than the 47% of small businesses that do not use social media at all. But that’s actually gotten better since 2011, when 56% were not using social media. This data suggests (1) there’s interest in using social media, particularly as more small businesses hear use cases about social media and see their customers using it, but (2) businesses don’t know how to put social media to use in a systematic planned way. Most likely they don’t have the time to investigate and learn all the social media sites, figure out how which are best social venues for their business, and then tie techniques back to their business objectives — let alone measure it all. Here is what you should do: If you operate or work in a small business and you have a social media strategy, take heart. You are ahead of the majority of your peers and possibly your competition. But what if your company is among the 29% using social media informally? You’re actually still better than almost half of your peers — because they are not yet using social media at all. Keep going and leverage this competitive advantage. Don’t fall behind now. For consultants, marketing agencies and technology companies, the low hanging fruit is that 29% already using social media informally. They are already at least partially convinced of the value of social media, and so are more likely than non-users to be willing to spend on consulting, services and tools to create and carry out a social media strategy. What the informal users need is a better roadmap of WHAT to do and HOW to do it — and WHY. Tools also help by giving them a framework for using social media in their daily business processes and lessening the manual work. In your marketing efforts, you may want to target these informal users with your messaging and offerings. The post Fewer Than One Quarter of Small Businesses Have Social Media Strategies appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Small Business SEO Trends to Keep an Eye On Posted: 17 Dec 2012 11:00 AM PST As we approach the end of the year it's obviously a nice time to take stock and make sure all your logistical ducks are in a row, and that's true of SEO and online marketing as well. Lots of smart folks have already made some really interesting predictions and talked about key factors to consider in 2013. I won't focus on any specific crystal ball work, but I do want to call out five important trends that small businesses will want to keep an eye on in 2013. 1. Link Diversification is Increasingly Important It's obviously part of the focus in this post, and indeed it's a really important SEO issue that's become incredibly important in 2012 with Google's Penguin updates, and will likely continue to be important. From a small businesses perspective the important thing to keep in mind here is that a lot of SEO short cuts (such as spending a couple hundred dollars a month with an overseas SEO firm, or a firm that primarily leverages overseas labor) to get a lot of low-quality links with very aggressive and specific anchor text (meaning if you run Paul's Plumbing and your company is located in Newton, Massachusetts, you would use "Newton MA plumbing company" to link to your site). What Does this Mean for Small Businesses? The important thing to note here is that it's not "always wrong" to get a link with targeted anchor text, and getting a stray link from a site that's low quality won't sink your site, but the links to your site need to be a mix of different qualities, with different linking texts, that don't look the same as a spammy link profile. Some of the other trends will talk a bit more about how best to get there. 2. Content Thickness & Quality is Increasingly Important Since a lot of those lower cost, more aggressive tactics no longer work, that means that the tactics that do work are and will likely to continue to be things that require more (or "thicker") unique content and content of a higher quality. The good news here is that in a lot of ways high quality content works and will continue to work even better, because the lower quality tactics are no longer competing with it in the search results (because that content doesn't rank). What Does this Mean for Small Businesses? The biggest factor here for small businesses is that the $xxx per month outsourced, hands-off link building service will no longer be a viable option for getting quality search traffic. Small businesses will need to start to focus on creating solid content (or having some solid content created for them). In some cases, unfortunately, it'll become more expensive to maintain the same rankings. The benefits are that this type of content (unlike getting 500 links from forum profiles) can drive referred traffic and have other benefits for your business outside of SEO. 3. Google Authorship May Become Increasingly Important As Google rapidly updates their algorithm and looks for additional ways to sort signal from noise in search results, one thing to keep an eye on is Google Authorship. For those unfamiliar, this is effectively a means for an author to identify a page or post as his or her work to Google, and those posts are then highlighted in search results with information about the author. What Does this Mean for Small Businesses? This is a fairly simple, low-cost opportunity to implement authorship to get some additional "real estate" in search results for your content, and also to build the authority of your Google profile in the event that authorship becomes a more important ranking factor. There is a great list of resources here that should get you or your developer started on implementing and understanding authorship. 4. The "Shrinking Organic Search Result" There has been a lot of talk about Google's shrinking SERP and the fact that results from a single domain taking up entire search results are getting more prevalent. This can mean that specific domains may get more of the search engine real estate, and/or it can mean that the search results are simply showing more ads and more Google properties. What Does this Mean for Small Businesses? Unfortunately this really means that small businesses need to pay closer attention to alternative means of getting attention and traffic outside of SEO – if Google is "shrinking" the organic SERP by including more ads, it'll likely become important for your business to understand how to get included in those ad blocks and how to optimize for them, whether they be traditional AdWords, Google Shopping, or otherwise. 5. Increasing Importance of Mobile & Video in SEO None of this is news, but more and more people are using smartphones and tablets and the technology around consuming video on the Web is consistently making improvements. None of this is likely to be interrupted into 2013, so it's important to understand how you can be well positioned to show up in various types of mobile and video search results in 2013. What Does this Mean for Small Businesses? The first step here is awareness – it's important to think about how your customers and prospective customers behave when they're looking for you. Not every small business needs to focus deeply on mobile and video, and of course you have limited resources, so ask yourself questions like: Do my customers / prospects look for services like mine on smartphones and tablets? What sorts of services are they likely to search for my business and businesses like mine on (Yelp, FourSquare, Google? Many of these types of sites and apps outside of Google can become a "search engine" as soon as someone starts querying them for information)? If I create a video is that likely to reach my customers and prospective customers? How much effort will it take to better position myself for exposure through mobile or video search? Is that effort going to be worth it based on how much of my customer and prospective customer base is I'm likely to reach? The good news is that while there are a lot of mobile-specific search optimization tactics, much of the work you'd typically do around good old fashioned marketing will help you to rank well in mobile searches. Video for small businesses can be a bit trickier, and of course can have a lot more benefits than just SEO. This is a great guide to thinking through a video strategy – just from the length of the post you can see there are several moving pieces to consider. In general, I think most of the trends we've seen in 2012 and are likely to continue to see into 2013 are centered around: Short cuts & lower cost SEO not working Higher quality content and additional work being required to be successful (in some case to maintain or regain the same rankings you'd previously gotten for cheap) The higher barrier to entry being an opportunity for some to get very high return for the additional spend and effort required to create good content Google continuing to move into certain verticals more and more aggressively, so that understanding additional traffic opportunities through paid channels (and channels completely unrelated to search) becomes increasingly important So small businesses will want to think about how this should impact their overall content strategy, as well as what it means for SEO as part of an overall marketing mix. SEO Photo via Shutterstock The post Small Business SEO Trends to Keep an Eye On appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Your Content Marketing Strategy for 2013 Posted: 17 Dec 2012 08:00 AM PST Small business owners, answer these questions as honestly as you can: Did your company jump on the content marketing bandwagon in 2012? Did you create and curate informative and practical content for your target audiences? Did you find a way to disseminate your content, getting it in front of potential clients or customers? If you answered "yes" to all of these, then it is likely to be a very happy holiday season for you and your employees. Profits are up, bonus checks are being written and the prospects for the future couldn't be any brighter. As a small business owner, you get it. You understand the power of well crafted stories. You know how content can be used to establish thought leadership, to enhance brand awareness and to supercharge your SEO efforts. If, on the other hand, you are one of the many small business owners who answered "no," to any of the above questions, I fear this may not be the jolliest of holiday seasons for your business. Don't despair! Just because you missed a golden opportunity in 2012, it doesn't mean you can't take advantage of content marketing in 2013. Remember the saying: "Better late than never?" Well, it certainly applies to content marketing.  What can content marketing do you for? Depending on the nature of your business, it can: Position your company as thought leaders (key for service providers). Keep your current customers/clients engaged with your brand on an ongoing basis. Provide information of real interest to your target audiences. Create mechanisms that convert the people engaged with your content into regular users/purchasers of your services or products. Put a human face on your company, creating emotional bonds that can lead to enhanced sales. Whether you have never engaged in content marketing or want to expand upon your content marketing efforts, this is the perfect time to either start on or expand your content marketing efforts. This is the time to ask the following questions (and make sure you have the answers to each and every one of them): What are your storylines? The first step in any content marketing campaign is to figure out what stories your team is best suited to tell. Who is in the universe of potential clients and what interests them? Content marketing only works when the content you produce serves the needs of your target audience: Are key team members truly thought leaders? Do they have industry insights? Do they offer practical information of immediate utility to the reader/viewer? Can you offer advice to entrepreneurs? Do you have "war" stories to share? Do you have amazing case studies to share? Have you conducted your own research or commissioned research on industry trends? Do you offer unique products or services? What is your commitment to content marketing? How much time and effort are you willing to commit to your content marketing campaign? Some businesses limit their content marketing to a handful of white papers a year. Others become true publishers, turning out a steady stream of content, whether it's in the form of blogs, videos, article or even tweets. As you budget both financial and human resources, you need to decide his much of your marketing and advertising budgets will be dedicated to content marketing. A successful content marketing campaign involves a real commitment. Are you prepared to make it? Who will be responsible for creating your content? Poorly written content can damage your credibility and your business. If you don't have a strong writer on staff, hire one now. If it's not in your budget, think about paying a freelance copywriter. It's not just about quality writing. Video has become a major aspect of content marketing. An amateurish video can make your company look like a second-class operation. How will you be distributing your content? Just because you've created great content, it doesn't mean than anyone will see it. A major element of a content marketing program is a well-planned distribution plan: Do you have the internal or external public relations expertise to get your content in the hands of traditional and digital media? Do you know where to find the Web sites that would be interested in publishing your content? Do you have the SEO expertise to make sure your content shows up prominently in Google searches? All of this may seem very daunting, but content marketing, when done properly, can make a major impact on your company's bottom line. If you don't have the internal expertise to strategize and execute a content marketing campaign, find a reputable agency that not only understands content marketing, but can provide you with a list of success stores for which they are responsible. Wishing you a happy and content-filled new year! British Landscape Photo via Shutterstock The post Your Content Marketing Strategy for 2013 appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Start Up Failure Rates: The Definitive Numbers Posted: 17 Dec 2012 05:00 AM PST Back in 2008, I wrote a post on start-up survival rates that has proved to be very popular. Because that post was based on the 1992 cohort of new companies, many people have asked me if the numbers are true for today's start-ups. Roughly speaking, the answer is yes. But don't take my word for it. Look at what the U.S. government data show. In the chart below, I present the latest available numbers from the two government statistical agencies responsible for providing data about new businesses: The Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The chart includes both new establishments, which the BLS defines as new economic entities doing business at a particular location, and new firms, which it defines as new companies. While new firms may have more than one establishment and new establishments may be started by existing companies, researchers have found that the number of new firms and the number of new establishments are similar. While you could find these numbers directly from the original sources, you won't find them together. Moreover, they don't appear very high in Internet searches. Because the older and less accurate numbers are easier to find than the newer and better ones, lots of inaccurate information about new business failure rates is constantly being reproduced and reused. The figure below shows six sets of numbers. The longest series, the 1994 BLS EST line, shows the percentage of new establishments founded in 1994 still alive in every year through 2010. The figure below the curve is the percentage of companies started in 1994 still alive that many years after founding. While the 1994 cohort is old, you can't get the survival rate of businesses in their 17th year by looking at more recent cohorts. The 1995 BLS EST, 2000 BLS EST, and 2005 BLS EST lines each track the five year survival rates of the cohorts of new establishments founded in 1995, 2000 and 2005 respectively. Five years after they were started, 50, 49 and 47 percent of the new establishments started in 1995, 2000 and 2005, respectively, were still alive. The remaining two series come from the Census Bureau. The 2005 CENSUS EST line shows the survival rate of new establishments founded in 2005 through 2010, while the 2005 CENSUS FIRMS line shows the survival rate of new firms started in 2005 over the same period. Five years after they were started, the Census Bureau finds that 45 percent of the new establishments and 43 percent of the new firms were still alive. While I have thrown a whole lot of numbers at you, I am making a very simple point: The typical new business started in the United States is no longer in operation five years after being founded. That's true whether statisticians at the BLS or Census are doing the measuring and it's true whether you measure new establishments or new firms. Startup Survival Rates Source: Created from data from Longitudinal Business Database 1977-2010, Census; Business Employment Dynamics 1994-2010, Bureau of Labor Statistics The post Start Up Failure Rates: The Definitive Numbers appeared first on Small Business Trends.

University of California Angers Many with Logo Change Posted: 17 Dec 2012 02:30 AM PST The importance of branding can be seen when changes are made, no matter how small. Customers and fans of a brand and of what it represents may be  more sensitive to these changes than we might at first believe. Just ask the administrators at the University of California who recently decided to redesign the logo that has represented the organization for the past 144 years. Make the right branding decision and it can win new customers and make a strong statement about the value of the products and services you offer. Make the wrong one and…well, read on for more on the importance of making the right choices about your brand. Brand Basics How to send the wrong message. What university officials say they were trying to accomplish by changing UCs time-honored traditional logo was to stay abreast of the times and to promote the university’s iconic status as a center of education. What they got was a storm of insulting tweets, Facebook spoofs, e-mail memes, and an online petition asking the university to reconsider its choice. Ask yourself what parts of your brand customers feel passionate about. The Christian Science Monitor Change is a good thing. Just as some have advised the University of California to stand its ground in spite of all the ruckus, there are times when business owners must stick to their guns even when making changes that may alienate some. Rachel Strella, owner of Strella Social Media, a small two-person social marketing agency in central Pennsylvania, was forced to make just such a difficult decision a few months ago when she put an end to the free consultations she had been offering prospects, only to have many take her suggestions without retaining her. Strella Social Media Actions speak louder than words. On the other hand, there are times when you unintentionally hurt your brand, not by decisive action but rather by the things you fail to do when dealing with others. Take reliability, for instance, says branding expert Isabelle Mercier Turcotte. Fail to deliver on what you promise, and you have already damaged your brand. It’s a simple mistake your business can’t afford to make, so be sure to meet obligations and deadlines to demonstrate your reliability. Otherwise, nothing else you say about your brand will matter to anyone. Leap Zone Strategies Recipe for Success Cooking up a whole new brand. Nutritionist and vegetarian chef Sarah Britton has found multiple ways to build her brand. Check out this brief but informative video interview with marketing coach Stephanie Ward in which Britton explains the many ways she has worked to create her brand, including social media, blogging, networking, guest speaking, holding cooking workshops, and beyond. There are many ways to build a brand. First, look for the audience you are trying to reach, then find a way to connect. Firefly Coaching Turn on the star power. You may never have thought of yourself or your business as a celebrity, but when it comes to spreading news about your brand to a targeted audience, very similar rules apply. PR consultant Marsha Friedman believes it is time to “Celebritize Yourself” and has written a book by that title about how companies can add an element of celebrity into their branding. In this profile, Friedman shares more of the methods needed to create a star brand for your company that will attract an audience and then the customers you seek. BizSugar Blog Resources A brand for every business. Perhaps no better evidence of the importance of having cohesive branding can be found in the success of small business owners like Emily Brackett, who focuses on creating consistency across multiple marketing channels. Here, Emily talks about her own business and the service she provides. Developing a consistent brand for everything you do is essential for your business success: It creates a picture for your customers, of who you are, and of what you do. VisibleLogic Free tools to get you started. The fact is that many small businesses don’t have big marketing budgets to hire well-heeled PR and marketing firms to turn their brand into a household name. Hey, that’s okay, says consultant Lori Byron. There are plenty of tools out there to get you started on the way to being publicist and chief marketer for your brand. After all, you know your products and services better than anyone. Here’s how to start building your brand. Famous in Your Field The post University of California Angers Many with Logo Change appeared first on Small Business Trends.

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