USPS Cuts Saturday Mail Delivery But Will Continue Package Delivery |  |
- USPS Cuts Saturday Mail Delivery But Will Continue Package Delivery
- 4 WordPress Plugins to Fight Content Scrapers
- Foodies: Spot Great Meals with OpenTable And Foodspotting App
- 15 Content Delivery Tools To Speed Up Your Website
- 5 Things Business Owners Need to Review for Their Website
- Yelp Loses Money, But Hits 100 Million Visitors
| USPS Cuts Saturday Mail Delivery But Will Continue Package Delivery Posted: 07 Feb 2013 02:30 PM PST
The USPS has officially announced that mail will no longer be delivered to residential addresses on Saturdays beginning the week of August 5, 2013. Packages will continue to be delivered on Saturdays, and Post Offices that currently have Saturday hours will remain open, some with limited hours, to sell stamps and accept packages for shipping. Mail to PO boxes will also continue to be delivered on Saturdays. Since package delivery remains a more profitable part of the business than traditional mail, businesses like online retailers that ship products to consumers shouldn't really be affected by this change. But for other types of businesses, like those that use direct mail for marketing purposes, cutting Saturday delivery could potentially have more of an impact. However, since mail will still be delivered Monday through Friday, any potential negative impacts from the new schedule should be minimal. The USPS has been contemplating cutting Saturday delivery for some time, due mainly to loss of business from email and other forms of digital communication, as well as competition from private carriers like FedEx and UPS. The Postal Service expects that this measure will help to save about $2 billion annually, once the new schedule has been fully implemented. The USPS is a self-supporting government enterprise, and the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation. In addition, the Postal Service receives no tax dollars or government funding for running its operations. Post Offices are funded by the sale of postage, and its other products and services. The post USPS Cuts Saturday Mail Delivery But Will Continue Package Delivery appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| 4 WordPress Plugins to Fight Content Scrapers Posted: 07 Feb 2013 11:00 AM PST Scrapers are the bane of any blogger’s existence. Web scraping sweeps in, steals your content, claims it is their own, and sometimes there is no way of proving otherwise. Surprisingly, Google hasn’t been too smart at identifying the original content author in many cases. Very often, my Google Alerts notify me of my scraped articles rather than my original (guest) posts and I’ve seen scrapers outranking original articles for long tail searches many times. There is occasionally a story of a blogger who managed to get back the rights to their content – but it’s more like fighting the windmills. You kill one scraping blog and dozens of them get born overnight. Therefore it is much better to try to prevent scraping (or at least get labeled as the original author) rather than rely on being one of those rare successes. Plugins to Prevent Web Scraping
Google has been trying to fight scrapers for ages and one of its patents (which is part of AuthorRank patents) suggest using authorship to:
Implementing Google Authorship is much easier nowadays (here’s a quick guide), but on many blog set-ups (where there’s no author byline, for example), it can still cause confusion. In these cases, this plugin will help. It allows you to add a G+ profile picture to search results, confirm authorship, and even grant authorship to multiple authors. It works on a three step system that is very easy to follow, and there are no bugs to worry about. 2. Feed Delay
Half the risk to a small to medium sized blog is having a scraper bot picking up content, publishing it without attribution and then getting the page indexed first (weirdly enough, Google hasn’t been able to knock these sites off or even find the original owner of the content). Since there are probably at least a couple of bots hiding in your RSS subscriptions, your best bet is to delay feed from being reposted. This plugin will do that for you.
Most scraping is done by bots, without any actual oversight from humans. So they have no control over what content is published, or how. This is a major plus for you, as you can add a link to your blog in all content, which will show up upon reposting. Anti Feed-Scraper Message does this, showing Google and all readers where the post originally came from. It also keeps any accusations from the message, so protects you from scandal claims by the scrapers. The message reads: [Post Name] originally appeared on [Site Name] on [Post Date].
Along with the one above, this plugin can be used. It allows you to digitally certify your ownership at the time of publication, making a certificate that you can show in the case of someone stealing your content. It has a copyright, licensing and attribution license at every post, as well. There is an additional feature for anti-theft if you choose to use it. Do you know of a good plugin for protecting content against Scrapers? What about outside of WordPress? The post 4 WordPress Plugins to Fight Content Scrapers appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Foodies: Spot Great Meals with OpenTable And Foodspotting App Posted: 07 Feb 2013 09:00 AM PST Online restaurant reservation service OpenTable recently announced its purchase of mobile app Foodspotting, in an effort to create a more social and visual-focused platform. The Foodspotting app, which allows users to submit and browse pictures of their favorite meals, will continue to run as its own product. Currently, Foodspotting allows users (and foodies) to search for certain types of dishes within a particular city or geographic area.
Users can also log into Foodspotting with their Facebook accounts so they can see what restaurants and dishes their friends like, and then share their favorites with others. For businesses, Foodspotting offers a number of tools including photo contests, giveaways, and city restaurant guides. Foodspotting is also working on a way for restaurants to claim their own pages so they can have more control over what is displayed. The photo on the left above shows an OpenTable page that includes reviews, reservation options, and a photo from Foodspotting. The photo on the right shows the same photo on a Foodspotting page, which includes the user name and when the photo was added, along with how many other users have loved the post. Foodies, in particular, will really love this feature. For restaurant owners, this news could mean the addition of some interactive features on the popular reservation platform. By integrating Foodspotting photos and data, the OpenTable experience could become smarter and a little more personal. Instead of simply going to OpenTable to make a reservation, users could submit photos of their favorite dishes or exchange other information about local restaurants. OpenTable already had a partnership in place with Foodspotting. The site used some user-submitted photos from the app on its restaurant reservation pages, and Foodspotting users were able to make OpenTable reservations within the app. OpenTable agreed to purchase Foodspotting for $10 million, and the ten-person team will be joining the team at OpenTable. Foodspotting is based in San Francisco and was originally founded in 2009. The post Foodies: Spot Great Meals with OpenTable And Foodspotting App appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| 15 Content Delivery Tools To Speed Up Your Website Posted: 07 Feb 2013 07:00 AM PST When a business website is running slow, customers often decide to leave and look elsewhere. In addition, you lose search engine priority if your website has long load times. Why lose customers over something that is easily remedied? Business owners in need of speed for their website can find content delivery networks (CDNs) that will have pages loading fast. Content delivery networks work by providing nodes that are close to your customers with the stored, fixed content loaded into them. When your website information is offered through a nearby node, it causes that data to travel over shorter distances, creating quicker loads. If you work in WordPress or other shared environments, there are plugins to combine with a CDN to meet your needs, as well. Note: Remember, the data storage and bandwidth rates mentioned in here are for your website content only – not what's on your computer hard drive. So you would have to have an extremely large website to exceed most of these. Of course, each of these will have a next level tier to accommodate your needs. MaxCDN is a content delivery network that has hundreds of servers. The $39.95/year plan should suit most small businesses for those with less than 1TB of data per year.
CloudFlare CDN will keep a copy of minimum content, so your website is available even when the server is down. It also claims to work with other CDNs to increase speed. Although it does not charge for bandwidth and its limited basic service is free, its paid plans run from $20 to $3,000 per month. CacheFly is used by some of the bigger name companies and is known for its reliability. They offer custom plans (with rates as low as $0.03 per GB) but their Plus Plan is $99 per month (256GB with $0.37/GB above that and limited services). There is a 30-day free trial. CloudLayer has tools that help with content monetization and digital rights management. Its pricing is solely based on bandwidth, SSL (Secure Socket Layer), and storage needs. These prices range from $0.12 to $0.75 per GB on a pay-as-you-go basis. Flexihostings is an Australian company that focuses on large content files, audio and video streaming and content caching. But they appear to service companies anywhere with 21 nodes around the world. All prices in Australian Dollars (AU$) Setup fee is $60 and a $200 security deposit. Then, plans start at 250 GB for $76.95/month. Value CDN provides "fast and low cost" CDN service, and the website definitely looks the part. The site explains the basics and that's it. However prices range from $120 to $700 per month, with low per GB pricing, but nodes are only located in Europe and North America. ProCDN says that it works with both large and small content websites. The basic plan is $20 per month for 200 GB. After that it charges $0.15 for each GB up to 10 TB and then $0.10 per GB over 10 TB. I like that they have a short list right on the home page that shows where the servers/nodes are located. For extra speed with WordPress on a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) level, try these plug-ins: W3 Total Cache has to be one of the grandfathers in the content speed world. It comes recommended by many of the top bloggers out there.
WP Minify will speed up WordPress and other shared environment sites by compressing JS and CSS files. It can be used in conjunction with a CPN. It is free. W3Edge is a top-rated plugin that caches, compresses, and is compatible with shared hosting. You can download it from their website for free. Head JS compresses JavaScript. However, it is recommended you test it first because it can also cause problems if it is not done right. The plugin is free from WordPress. Plugin Organizer is a WordPress plugin that helps you put your plugins in order and disable ones that you do not need on certain posts. It is free from WordPress. If you have been searching for a way to host a fast WordPress site without having to do these speed things yourself, then I would recommend you try what is known as Managed WordPress Hosting. The following three companies are ones where I have spoken to the founder(s) and can vouch for their relentless focus on the customer. There are many others in this growing category, however. Page.ly was one of the first to offer managed hosting focused on WordPress users. The basic plan starts at $24/month and is ideal for the small business site or blog. Your site is constantly backed up as well, so that's a nice "peace of mind" feature. I like this short page that explains managed hosting.
Synthesis comes from Copyblogger Media, owner of Scribe Content Marketing software which I just reviewed. It comes with that same – "educational content" that you have come to expect from any Copyblogger product. Plans start at $27/month. WPEngine is well known for its lightning fast WordPress hosting. Plans start at $29/month and all plans come with a 60 Day money back guarantee. The two founders, Jason Cohen and Ben Metcalfe, are heavy hitters that you can bank on. What tools are you using to keep your site fast — for your customers and for Google? The post 15 Content Delivery Tools To Speed Up Your Website appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| 5 Things Business Owners Need to Review for Their Website Posted: 07 Feb 2013 05:00 AM PST Websites can make or break a business that depends on the Internet in any way for sales. It is important that businesses make it a point to check their websites often to ensure everything is running smoothly. If the site isn't running well, you could lose a sale and/or a potential long-term costumer. Site Errors in Google Webmaster ToolsAll websites should be set up in Google Webmaster Tools. Here is why:
This is important information for you because if your site is consistently having crawl errors it could affect how your site ranks, but more importantly when your site is down or not working – you are not making money. Checking crawl errors is really important when you are paying for cheap hosting. Sometimes you never know what kind of service you are actually getting. Links and Navigation
Most sites have links in sidebars, headers, footers and throughout the pages. Some of those links push site visitors to make a sale and you want to make sure all of your links are working properly. Do random checks to make sure everything is working, especiallywhen you have employees updating the site often. Navigation is also important to check often:
Sometimes when there are updates to CMS platforms or servers, things on a website break. Always make sure that the areas you need working properly to make a sale are, in fact, working. Contact Forms and EmailOne common problem we see are contact forms that are not working properly for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the contact form will let you know when someone hits "submit" that they are not working. But others will look as though the message was sent. When potential customers don't get a reply, they move on to another company. Sometimes contact forms entries make it to the right email address, but they end up in Spam on a consistent basis. These are issues that can be fixed. Find any errors and fix them. Keep in mind that things may be working well now, but they may not next week so testing your forms is a good idea. Tip for Business Owners: When you are testing out contact forms, sometimes it is a good idea to use a different email and see how long it takes for your staff to reply. You can also see if their responses are appropriate. Performance on Mobile Devices
Things to check on mobile devices:
Remember that mobile software changes consistently so checking various parts of your website often is the smart thing to do. PagesI know it sounds obvious, but it is important that you check your main pages often:
When websites are being updated often it is critical to check and re-check the pages often. Someone could upload an image that is too big and mess up the look of the site and/or slow down the load time. Someone could add a script that is not working or upload a plugin in WordPress that messes up content in some way. Check your pages often and make sure you check all critical pages after updates just to ensure all is well. Five Critical AreasThe five areas I have mentioned are really important to review and review often. These are basic parts of your site that need to work well to make a sale and bring in new clients. Businesses spend a lot of time and money to have a website. Spending a little time making sure it is working is required to ensure your website represents your company well and to also make sure the site is making you money. The post 5 Things Business Owners Need to Review for Their Website appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Yelp Loses Money, But Hits 100 Million Visitors Posted: 07 Feb 2013 02:30 AM PST Yelp is probably here to stay. Though the company lost an estimated $5.3 million, or $0.08 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2012, that’s less than the net loss of $9.1 million, or $0.56 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2011. At the same time, revenue for the quarter was $41.2 million, up 65 percent from earnings in 2011. Meanwhile, Yelp managed to reach a significant milestone last month. The company’s blog reported hitting 100 million unique visitors in January for the first time since the site’s inception. What does this mean for your business? If you have a Yelp page, you’re more likely to receive customer feedback than ever before. And if you haven’t visited Yelp, it may be time to discover whether a page has already been created for your business and what people are saying about you there. For those not familiar with the site, Yelp provides the opportunity to gain customer feedback and to market your company, especially a local business, to local consumers or other businesses interested in working with you. To get an idea of how the site works and how to get up and running using it, check out Getting Your Small Business Started on Yelp from TJ McCue. Yelp Faces CompetitionNot everyone is sold on the site’s importance as a location-based marketing tool, however. First of all, there are plenty of competitors in the space. Some reports point to the possibility that Facebook’s Graph Search could replace other location-based rivals with new ways to locate local business information and reviews. The Next Web Adam Gottlieb advises against business owners buying into the location-based marketing hype. Reasons to avoid investing too heavily include steep cost, high learning curve, no guarantee of return, and a highly specialized group of customers. The Frugal Entrepreneur Customer Review Trend GrowsOn the other hand, Gottlieb agrees, it’s important to keep up with what your customers are saying about you. In fact, one study suggests that customer reviews on sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Angie’s List might be more important than professional reviews to many customers. PR Intelligence Blog The study by Weber Shandwick and KRC Research shows how customer reviews trump professional opinions of consumer products like smartphones, PCs, and printers, and how consumers find them. The study also shows how interested customers are in the authenticity of the reviews they are reading. eMarketer Editor’s Note: the above article was corrected to note the correct number of visitors. An earlier version said 1 million. The post Yelp Loses Money, But Hits 100 Million Visitors appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
For several years, the United States Postal Service has been talking about the possibility of doing away with mail delivery on Saturdays in order to help balance its budget. Congress and the American public have debated whether or not this change could have a negative impact on consumers and businesses.
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