Sunday, March 31, 2013

Our Latest List: Small Business Events, Contests and Awards

Our Latest List: Small Business Events, Contests and Awards

Link to Small Business Trends

Our Latest List: Small Business Events, Contests and Awards

Posted: 30 Mar 2013 02:00 PM PDT

Here at Small Business Trends we want you to have access to the most up-to-date educational resources to run your business.  That includes access to educational materials.  Below is our latest curated list of events, contests and awards for small businesses, for the next 60 days. 

We also invite you to submit your own event, contest or award listing to the community calendar, also. To see the full list or to submit your own, please visit the Small Business Events Calendar.

Featured Events, Contests and Awards

Affiliate Management DaysAffiliate Management Days
April 16, 2013, San Francisco, CA

Whether your company already offers an affiliate program, or you are considering offering an affiliate program, Affiliate Management Days offers insights into how other online retailers are successfully implementing and managing their affiliate programs. Learn about: affiliate recruitment techniques, communication with affiliates, affiliate analytics, landing page and conversion optimization, legislative issues, and mobile affiliate marketing. Twitter hashtag: #AMDays

Discount Code
SBTAM250 (Get $250 off)

2013 Content Marketing Strategies Conference2013 Content Marketing Strategies Conference
May 09, 2013, Berkeley, CA

Marketing and PR professionals from companies of all sizes will gather at the 3rd annual Content Marketing Strategies Conference, hosted by dlvr.it and Business Wire, to gain practical “how to” advice on content marketing SEO, content distribution optimization, content ROI, and learn from case studies by brands including Red Hat, New Belgium Brewing, FOX’s hit show Glee and much more.

Access to Capital ChicagoAccess to Capital Chicago
May 22, 2013, Chicago, Illinois

Join us at the Navy Pier to learn how you can raise capital for your small business. Meet 1:1 with loan officers. Attend panels on traditional and alternative lending options, start-ups, crowd-funding, and more.

Discount Code
sbtrends (Get 30% off)

More Events

More Contests and Awards

This weekly listing of small business events, contests and awards is provided as a community service by Small Business Trends and SmallBizTechnology.

The post Our Latest List: Small Business Events, Contests and Awards appeared first on Small Business Trends.

IRS: Dirty Dozen Tax Scams Threaten Your Business

Posted: 30 Mar 2013 09:00 AM PDT

tax scams

You’ve worked hard on your business, and don’t want all that hard work destroyed by scammers aimed at draining your company of profits and cash flow.

Identity theft continues to lead the Internal Revenue Service’s annual Dirty Dozen list of scams perpetrated on individuals and businesses.

The IRS issued its yearly list this week as tax preparation season reaches its peak, a time when scammers are more likely to defraud people of their money.

IRS Acting Commissioner Steven T. Miller said in a statement accompanying the release of the list:

This tax season, the IRS has stepped up its efforts to protect taxpayers from a wide range of schemes, including moving aggressively to combat identity theft and refund fraud. The Dirty Dozen list shows that scams come in many forms during filing season. Don’t let a scam artist steal from you or talk you into doing something you will regret later.

Despite heightened efforts in recent years to counter identity theft, this particular scam continues to claim new victims every year. At tax time, the IRS notes that people who fraudulently obtain another person’s Social Security number and other personal and financial information could file a tax return for that person and claim their refund.

The IRS notes in its reports on the Dirty Dozen list that is has take steps to prevent identity theft and detect refund fraud before it occurs, with enhanced systems.

Among the other most popular tax scams making the IRS list involving identity theft were phishing and return preparer fraud.

Phishing nabs sensitive personal and financial information through emails and bogus websites that pose as reputable sites from financial institutions. If an unsuspecting person enters information on this site, they’re greatly increasing the chances their identity will be stolen.

The federal tax agency also warned against fraudulent tax return services. While the IRS believes most tax preparers to be honest, reports of identity theft accusations, and other cases in which taxpayers were bilked out of their returns by preparers exist. The IRS adds a reminder that taxpayers should only use preparers “who sign the returns they prepare and enter their IRS Preparer Tax Identification Numbers (PTINs).”

Many other items on the Dirty Dozen list from the IRS impact small business owners directly. Hiding income offshore, falsifying and inflating income and expenses, filing false Form 1099 Refund Claims, claiming zero wages and disguising corporate ownership are the most commonly perpetrated scams at tax time.

The IRS notes on disguising the ownership of a company to avoid paying taxes:

These entities can be used to underreport income, claim fictitious deductions, avoid filing tax returns, participate in listed transactions and facilitate money laundering and financial crimes. The IRS is working with state authorities to identify these entities and bring the owners into compliance with the law.

 

The post IRS: Dirty Dozen Tax Scams Threaten Your Business appeared first on Small Business Trends.

“Business Model Generation” Offers Profitable, Creative Ways to Make Money

Posted: 30 Mar 2013 06:00 AM PDT

make moneyWhat do you think is the most powerful component of a successful and profitable business? You might say marketing or technology – but I think it's the business model.

When you think about all the companies that shifted and transformed how we consume products and services, you'll notice that it was the creativity of the business model that made the difference – Blockbuster, Netflix, the Internet, Circue De Soleil and countless others that I'm sure you've thought of.

I realized this a long time ago and have always looked for some kind of book or resource that would give me this magical list of business models that I could choose from.  I never did find a good one – until now.

About two weeks ago, I went into the local book store on a whim and was immediately grabbed by Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers by Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur.  It literally took a village to put this book together as it was co-created by 470 Practitioners from 45 countries and designed by Alan Smith.

Business Model Generation is a high quality book; slick, high quality paper, full color and graphics that will knock your socks off.  It's definitely not what you might associate with a book about dry and boring business models.   I'm not sure if Wiley, who published the book in 2010, or maybe the authors thought that the subject required an extra "Ooomph" of graphics to attract readers or if this was an experiment. But whatever the reason, I can tell you that this is a book that I would have picked up regardless of what it looked like.

Just as I Suspected – There's a Model for Developing a Business Model

Aside from the sheer visual and tactile experience, you're going to love Business Model Generation for the simplicity and accessibility they create around the subject of deconstructing and reconstructing business models.  Of course, there's a model for that and the book is written, designed and constructed around this model. Here's a quick overview.

Canvas: The first element is the Canvas.  This is a sort of map or chart of all the elements that you will need to create your business model and it includes:

  • Customer Segments – who you are selling to
  • Value Propositions – what you'll be selling
  • Channels – how the offer is delivered to the customer
  • Customer relationships – how you will connect with your customer
  • Revenue streams – how you will make money
  • Key resources – what you'll need to make it all happen
  • Key activities – what actions HAVE to take place
  • Key partnerships – who will help
  • Cost structure – how you'll pay for it
  • Patterns: The next level is to use the canvas as the platform to brainstorm as many possibilities as you can for each component.  This is the most critical activity because truly elegant, creative and profitable business models come from this kind of thinking.
  • Design: Profitable business models aren't born, they are created and designed with purpose.  This part of the process gives you tools to give your ideas structure.
  • Strategy: The next phase is to take your model into the real world.

Business Model Generation by the Numbers

I don't normally share this kind of information, but this book is different because it's an example of a true global effort:

  • The book took 9 years to write.
  • It had 470 co-authors.
  • There were 8 prototypes.
  • The contributors spanned 45 countries.
  • There were 1,360 comments on the book.
  • 137,757 views of the method before publishing.
  • It consumed 4,000 hours of work and 28,456 Post-It™ Notes.

There are many more numbers involved here. I just thought I'd share just a few of what made this book an experience all the way around – to create, to read, to use and to share.

Do I Need to Read This Book?

  • Do you see yourself as having an entrepreneurial spirit? (Yes/No)
  • Are you constantly thinking about how to create value and build new business or transform a business? (Yes/No)
  • Are you trying to find innovative ways of doing business to replace old outdated ones? (Yes/No)

You know what comes next don't you?  If you said "Yes" to any of these – this is a book for you.

We all work the most basic of business models. Some charge by the hour and others sell products and have set up some kind of pricing or process for doing business.  But seriously, be honest, how many of you have actually dedicated serious strategic thought of how your business is going to best achieve its mission in the world and make money?

If you are a fan of the classic Blue Ocean Strategy then you may recall that a solid and creative business model can transform an industry and knock out the bulk of your competitors simply because they have invested and built an infrastructure that the competition simply cannot get around.

Business Model Generation is one of those books that's going to serve as a reference and a guide to help your business make more money, serve more customers and become a bigger expression of your mission.

The post “Business Model Generation” Offers Profitable, Creative Ways to Make Money appeared first on Small Business Trends.
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Saturday, March 30, 2013

Infusionsoft Announces My Day and Campaign Marketplace

Infusionsoft Announces My Day and Campaign Marketplace

Link to Small Business Trends

Infusionsoft Announces My Day and Campaign Marketplace

Posted: 29 Mar 2013 01:02 PM PDT

Infusioncon is the annual user conference for customers of Infusionsoft marketing automation software. This year Infusioncon was host to over 2,000 people, mostly entrepreneurs and those representing small businesses, at the Westin Kierland Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Like most user conferences, Infusioncon 2013 started off with product announcements.  We caught up with Richard Tripp, who is Infusionsoft’s Chief Product Officer, where he is responsible not only for product management, but for customer service.  He  offered a few key points about the recent product direction in 2013.  In our interview (video below), Tripp notes:

“My Day” introduced –   My Day gives access to the most important elements in Infusionsoft – all in one place. Tripp quotes a customer who said My Day will “give the ability to do in minutes what literally took days.”  A lot of the work of a sales person is looking for needles in a haystack he notes, and “having the ability to stay organized and keep yourself focused on the hottest business that’s about ready to close is a huge effort that salespeople engage in everyday.”  It’s designed for sales people to organize their work and find everything they need in one interface, saving clicks and time.

Campaign Marketplace –  Marketing templates are a new important feature. Tripp notes that one of the biggest challenges they’ve heard from small business marketers is “do we really have to reinvent all these wheels” building campaigns from scratch?  Infusionsoft recently launched a Campaign Marketplace to give users access to pre-built marketing templates. Says Tripp, it gives access “to the very best practices…. So new Infusionsoft users will be able to come in and simply choose [templates] and then do some minor editing, where other people had to come in and do a lot of creative strategic work. That’s a big direction for us.”

 

Editor’s Note: This report about Infusioncon 2013 (#ICON13), is provided by Tristan Pelligrino, a special correspondent on behalf of Small Business Trends. Infusionsoft has more than 13,000 customers and 50,000 individual users. Read more about the new product release here.

The post Infusionsoft Announces My Day and Campaign Marketplace appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Business in Bulgaria: One Entrepreneur’s Journey

Posted: 29 Mar 2013 11:00 AM PDT

business in bulgaria

The narratives that surround the past and present economic state of Bulgaria are not unfamiliar ones. The transition to a liberal market economy culminated in complete economic collapse. From 1996 – 1997 Bulgaria experienced a period of instability and hyper-inflation.

The establishment of a fixed exchange rate for the Bulgarian currency and the nation's entry into the European Union, has since stimulated macroeconomic growth. But Bulgaria remained one of the poorest member states of the European Union. Despite an improving economy and rising living standards, unemployment continued at high percentage levels. Though foreign direct investment has managed to stimulate some economic growth, entrepreneurship in Bulgaria encounters a host of challenges.

Bulgaria experienced a revival of the entrepreneurial spirit in the late 19th century, following their declaration of independence from the Ottoman Empire. Despite continued warring, international trade flourished. It was between 1949 – 1989, during the Communist regime, that prosperity through private entrepreneurship was suppressed and designated as self-serving. Negative attitudes toward entrepreneurs continue to influence the Bulgarian economy.

In today's volatile economic climate, Bulgaria does not possess enough free money to make investments in innovation. Predictably, the Bulgarian government has rendered private property and trade nonexistent, depriving aspiring entrepreneurs of private resources to mobilize. The process of partaking in capitalism without sufficient capital has resulted in fragmented entrepreneurial efforts, and often limits them to the service sector.

Business In Bulgaria: One Entrepreneur’s Journey

Victor Alexiev, entrepreneur and general renaissance man, would thus appear to be succeeding against all odds. Born and raised in Sofia, Bulgaria, Victor's past 13 years credit him with work in mathematics, software development, network architecture and investment banking, to name a few. In that time, he also attached two Bachelors and three Masters degrees to his name. Of late, however, Victor has realized his erratic work life could feasibly lead to unemployment, as no one can make sense of his past.

As a result Victor has refocused his efforts on entrepreneurship, a personal passion from his childhood. Victor had started his first business at age 14, building his own Internet Service Provider (ISP) and selling and installing the service in his hometown. With the help of classmate and fellow budding entrepreneur Todor Kolev, Victor's business grew to 150 customers spanning three towns in 2001. And when underage Victor was contacted by the government's commission for regulation of telecommunications due to licensing issues, he simply sold the venture to local competitors and transferred his customers to them.

Victor and Todor bonded over their shared passion for entrepreneurship and in 2008, the two began to work together. Obecto, a software development venture, grew steadily for four years before the co-founders encountered difficulty expanding their team. Job postings and hiring services yielded disappointing results, and candidates always seemed to be lacking the connection that made them a strong fit. In 2011, the two began to consider more effective and efficient ways to source and evaluate talent.

The issue of staffing was one many companies faced, in particular those looking to hire software engineers in a market that had grown beyond its carrying capacity. The job market was certainly not improved by an attitude of skepticism toward independent ventures and risks. Victor explains:

Employers were making promises they could not deliver upon, talents were making unrealistic demands, and there was a need for a more transparent marketplace.

That same year, Victor and Todor joined forces with their third partner, Ivan. Drawing upon his background in psychology and psychometrics, the three came together to build a recommendation platform specifically for software engineers in Bulgaria.

PoolTalent

The result is PoolTalent, a job board and recommendation aggregate. Though PoolTalent is intended for use entirely by job seekers and employers, the use of matching and personal profiles is strongly modeled on a typical dating site. The site makes uses of a compensatory algorithm that incorporates matching skill sets as well as cultural fit into its final scoring.

PoolTalent's first version was released in late 2011, with a focus on data collection as well as social media and community features for users. However, a lack of engagement forced Victor and his co-founders to return to the drawing board, this time designing with users in mind. After a second disappointing release, the three decided to put the project on hold temporarily.

It was during that summer of 2012 that Victor happened upon and learned the methodology of customer validation. Victor and his co-founders went and gathered feedback from large IT recruiters based in Bulgaria, such as Hewlett Packard Bulgaria, Playtech and VMware.

The resulting version has abandoned social features in favor of focusing on becoming an information platform for jobseekers in the software development community. Customer input has now led to validation of the concept and ultimately, preliminary partnership agreements. PoolTalent now has 150 registered users, four partner companies and two active clients. They have recently expanded their reach to the career center of the Technical University of Sofia.

A New Bulgarian Economy

PoolTalent is an example of a new Bulgarian economy, as the entrepreneur movement gains popularity once again. Several of the nation's non-profits provide small amounts of seed capital through competitions in order to promote entrepreneurship. Entry into the European Union has opened access to assistance funds that are now being utilized.

Victor's story is an important one, because of his success in an environment that so clearly worked against him. Despite the improving economic climate, legislative framework, educational infrastructure and financing options remain insufficient to support disruptive or capital intensive startups.

Bulgaria's attempts at developing entrepreneurs, albeit slow, is a much needed change. With a clear set of goals in mind for the immediate future, Victor is on his way to becoming just what Bulgaria needs: A practicing entrepreneur building a serious business.

Against all odds? You bet.

Bulgaria Photo via Shutterstock

The post Business in Bulgaria: One Entrepreneur’s Journey appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Loni Stark of Adobe: Digital Marketing Solutions in the Cloud

Posted: 29 Mar 2013 08:00 AM PDT

Bob Dylan once sang, The Times They Are A-Changin’ and these words still ring true today, some 49 years later. Marketers need to understand how their message can now be honed in with data and Loni Stark, Director of Product & Industry Marketing at Adobe, has a solution. She joins Brent Leary to discuss the five key areas of digital marketing available in the Adobe Marketing Cloud.

* * * * *

digital marketingSmall Business Trends: Can you tell us a little bit about your background?

Loni Stark: I have been at Adobe for over 12 years. I am responsible for product marketing for our Adobe Experience Managers Solution, which is part of the Adobe Marketing Cloud. It is really perfect in the sense that I have come from a technology background.

I am at the heart of digital marketing now so that combination of technology and creativity is really important as folks are looking at how to do digital marketing well.

Small Business Trends: How important is it today that creative folks understand social and mobile in order to create the right kind of customer experiences?

Loni Stark: I think it is really important to understand what is possible, and how people want to interact through these technology channels.

I liken this era of moving to digital marketing similar to when television was first invented. It really changed how marketers got to reach their audience and mass communications, broadcasting what was out there. Now, marketers need to understand how their message can then be honed in with data.

Small Business Trends: I had a conversation with Anil Dash and one of the things he talked about was the show, 'I Love Lucy.' It was the marriage of somebody who understood the power of television and knew how to create something that really showed it off. There were other television shows, but none of them really captivated and took advantage of what television had to offer. 

Are we at the point where we are understanding the power of social and digital marketing?

Loni Stark: Attention is scarce and when attention is scarce, similar to what happened with television, there is flight to quality. So marketers are starting to figure out. ‘How do I create more compelling content and how do I make sure it is more relevant, more useful?’

I am amazed at the creativity in the ads that are now in digital magazines as well. Before it was static images, and they are now interactive. I think we are at a point of the 'I love Lucy' moment.

Small Business Trends: Can you talk a little bit about the five key areas of your Adobe Marketing Cloud?

Loni Stark: We have brought them down into what we consider the foundation for visual marketing; to be able to do things well in these five core areas. One of them we have already touched upon which is the analytics. That is about measurement. What most folks talk about, or know about from Adobe, is the online metrics that we have. But little is known about the fact that we also have the capability to measure offline. And that is really important.

We talk about eCommerce, it is hot. People talk about how much money people are spending. We tend to forget that even though it is growing fast, and it will continue to grow onwards and upwards, it is still about six percent of total spend in the retail sector in the United States. So a lot of things happen offline as well and that is an important piece.

The second piece is Adobe Experience Manager. That is all about the owned digital properties that companies have. In the online world Experience Manager is really about helping companies build out their own digital properties. An example of this is Hyatt, a hotel chain, and they use Experience Manager to be able to create a destination spot that people can come to and shop, and purchase hotels rooms. So that is two of the five.

The third is Adobe Social. With any digital marketing strategy you've got to have a social component to that. Adobe Social is all about running social marketing campaigns through Twitter, Facebook and having fan pages managed through those channels.

The fourth is Adobe Media Optimizer, so part of the marketing mix is spending it on ads. Being able to do that effectively, being able to optimize your spend to say, ‘Hey, this ad placement through this channel is working better than this other one, so maybe I want to move more of my investment over to this other channel.’ Being able to do that in real time and being able to figure out what is the best price to pay for a particular ad based on the return. It is critical for any digital marketer.

The final piece is Target. We talked about data, we talked about content and Target is the solution that brings it all together to do tests. I have a hypothesis I think you love music and I think you love this type of music, so I am going to target this particular image of this band that I think you are going to really like called The Black Keys. I could be right, but I could be wrong. So I might say there are a couple of other bands that I think you might like, I'll will try out those images.

Adobe Target lets me quickly test out different images against you and people like you to figure out what image, what piece of content you are going to best resonate with.

Small Business Trends: Adobe's CMO, Ann Lewnes, mentioned that Adobe is spending about 74% of their digital marketing budget compared to the average of large companies in the 20% range. What is it going to take for companies to be more like you and focus their marketing in this space?

Loni Stark: With digital marketing, the more efforts that can be measured and be more data driven, the more they can see where they are driving the highest value across  to pour more money in to it. The big piece is becoming more data driven and then being able to speed up the content creation piece of it.

Small Business Trends: Where can people learn more?

Loni Stark: Our website Adobe. You can check out the Adobe Marketing Cloud, which will go into all of the five solutions. And then also I think another great resource is CMO.com.

This interview is part of our One on One series of conversations with some of the most thought-provoking entrepreneurs, authors and experts in business today. This interview has been edited for publication. To hear audio of the full interview, click the right arrow on the gray player below. You can also see more interviews in our interview series.

The post Loni Stark of Adobe: Digital Marketing Solutions in the Cloud appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Cartoon: Been There, Done That

Posted: 29 Mar 2013 05:00 AM PDT

business cartoon

“Been there, done that” is sort of an old phrase. Not old like, “A penny saved is a penny earned.”  But out-of-fashion old like, “Gag me with a spoon.”

So I have to admit, when this business cartoon came to me, I was a little hesitant about it. But the idea of “been there, done that” on a resume was too hard to resist.

And now I can move on to Gangnam Yolo. That’s a thing, right?

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Friday, March 29, 2013

10 WordPress Plugins That Protect Your Site

10 WordPress Plugins That Protect Your Site

Link to Small Business Trends

10 WordPress Plugins That Protect Your Site

Posted: 29 Mar 2013 02:00 AM PDT

plugin

WordPress plugins are an easy way to protect a valuable company asset, your site. That includes the content of your website or blog, making up the sum total of your business’s online marketing, communications, branding and even intellectual property.

A report this week of a vulnerability in WP Banners Lite, a WordPress plugin designed to help site owners insert and manage ad banners, is a reminder of just how easily your data can be put at risk.

Fortunately, there are other WordPress plugins that provide a solution, allowing you to back up your valuable data and protect it from malware and hackers. In a recent Computerworld post, tech writer Jack Wallen looks at some of the best WordPress plugins to protect your business site. Let’s explore them below.

WordPress Plugins That Protect Your Site

BackupBuddy

Blogger Salman Ashan tells his story of having his site hacked several times and of the danger of relying on your Web host to protect your site from attack. In each case, Ashan says he was able to recover his data and writes about the features of the BackupBuddy WordPress plugin including WordPress security, migration and restoration, WordPress backup and other features. Mastermind Blogger

BlogVault

Site owner Zac Johnson gives us a detailed look at BlogVault, a paid service which lets you do the equivalent of backing up your server every few hours. Johnson catalogs a number of problems from denial-of-service attacks to coding issues, which can wipe out a blog and the hundreds or even thousands of pages of content created for it. ZacJohnson.com

myRepono

Freelance software developer Tony Brown gives us an overview of this WordPress plugin, another premium tool. This one backs up your data on the service’s own servers monthly, weekly or even hourly depending upon the business of the site and your needs. The service backs up both code files and database, meaning both content and design of your site is preserved and can be restored in the event of a problem. QuickstepIT.net

Online Backup for WordPress

WordPress developer Joost de Valk divides WordPress plugins for data protection into two groups. There are plugins that automatically back up your data to your own server or email files and those that save data to a remote and safe location. Of these two choices, de Valk clearly prefers the latter. De Valk gives an overview of a plugin that does just that, Online Backup for WordPress. Yoast

Complete Central Backup

The dowload page for this free WordPress plugin says it allows you to “Create a instant live backup of your database with just a click of a button and restore your database just as fast.” Here’s a page of frequently asked questions about the tool to give you a better feel for how it works and whether this plugin might be for you. WordPress.org

XCloner

Sarah Gooding, a partner in Untame, a digital boutique marketing company with a specialty in open source content management systems and social networking, explains the features of this free WordPress plugin allowing backup of your files and database through a customizable dashboard. The plugin is also open source, giving other developers the opportunity to add features over time. WPMU.org

WordPress Backup to Dropbox

Combining two popular online tools, WordPress and Dropbox, this WordPress plugin backs up data to the storage site for safe keeping, another example of backing up your data elsewhere in case of an attack or other problem. Here, trainer Ed Andrea gives us an overview of how to install this WordPress plugin using step by step instructions and illustrations. OSTraining

Backup Scheduler

Developer Agbonghama Collins says he uses this WordPress plugin for his own site. The plugin allows backup of an entire site, including folders, files and database. Collins says the plugin can be customized to select the kind of data to save, how often to save and whether the data is saved on your server, in email or on a remote data base. Tech4Sky

VaultPress

When your blog or website is a part of your business, you can’t have it failing on you. One well-known site owner says he would have suffered serious down time without this WordPress plugin. The plugin is a paid tool with several different versions, but prides itself on storing all of a blog’s content and code, right down to comments and revisions of your posts. John Chow dot Com

UpdraftPlus Backup

This WordPress plugin is a distinct improvement over predecessor Updraft, writes blogger and owner of the website Social Web Tools, Charnita Fance. The new plugin encrypts your saved data and then you can choose to back it up on Amazon S3, Google Drive, FTP or email. You can also set different schedules for database and file backup. ManageWP

Your blog is an important part of your business. Sometimes it IS your business.

WordPress plugins can help you secure that business by protecting the content you create.

Plugin Photo via Shutterstock

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Decisiveness: Three Steps To Making a Decision

Posted: 28 Mar 2013 02:00 PM PDT

making a decision

Making a decision can be tough, especially when it’s a business decision. You face an almost infinite range of things that you could be doing in your business at any particular moment.

You could choose to deal with a staff issue, a bank issue or a cash flow issue. You can decide to focus on a new customer acquisition tactic or strategy, a new ad campaign or an issue that has come up with a customer. You can choose to deal with administrative details or you can choose to deal with personal and family issues that so often seem to be intertwined with the business. Or you can choose to do any of the other infinite possibilities that face you as a business owner.

For many business owners, this massive number of options can cause them to put off making a decision.  They fall into believing that if they can just gather more data and consider more options, they may be struck with a flash of brilliance that will guide them.

In most cases, the hoped-for flash of brilliance doesn't materialize and you are eventually forced into making a decision (i.e. payroll needs to get paid; the lease is expiring this month; you need more sales, etc.).

When faced with the sudden pressure of making a decision, the decision that is made is often a poor one.  It ends up being based on a default position that is based on ease rather than what is optimal for creating the results you want. There is a better way.

Three Steps To Making a Decision

Avoid this situation by applying a proven three-step process:

  1. Realize the staggering range of possible options facing you is usually perceived rather than real.
  2. Create a CVM (could versus must) chart.
  3. Don't look for a sports car when a minivan will do.

1.) Perceived Rather Than Actual Complexity

A lot of what masquerades as complexity is really only a natural reaction to a lack of clarity.  When you get right down to it, there are only four things you need to focus on:

  1. How many customers you have.
  2. How often your customers buy from you.
  3. How much you make each time they buy.
  4. What activities you do to combine these other three things.

Everything else you think you need to deal with (all the other sources of perceived complexity) are simply variations of the four things listed above.

2.) Create Your CVM (Could Versus Must) Chart

To focus your mind and effort even further when making a decision, you should do your best to only focus on the thing(s) you must deal with at any particular point in time.

An excellent way to do this is to create a CVM Chart.  This a powerful way to examine any current situation and identify the high impact things you really should be focusing on.

To create a CVM Chart, take a blank sheet of paper and on the left hand side of the page, list everything you can think about that you could do at this very moment in your business.  This is where you will generate a laundry list of things that play around in the back of your mind.  List them down and acknowledge them. It will get them in front of you where you can deal with them.

Next, on the right hand side of the page, distill from your list of all the things you could do into three things that you must do right now. Keep the four things from step one above in mind as you identify these three things.

3.) Don't Look For A Sports Car When A Minivan Will Do

I must admit that my heart races whenever I think about owning a sexy sports car.  The reality, however, is that as a father of four children, as sexy as that sports car might be, it really wouldn't be a good or useful solution for me.

You need to apply the same type of realistic mental discipline when you consider the things you must do.

For example, don't get caught up thinking you need to create an entirely new product or service offering if you can get a sufficient boost in your financial results by simply asking your existing customers to buy more from you.

Adopt this three-step process in your business any time you start feeling overwhelmed by making a decision.  You will feel more in control and you will make better decisions.

Decision Photo via Shutterstock

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Todd Crawford on Opportunities in Affiliate Marketing #AMDays

Posted: 28 Mar 2013 11:00 AM PDT

Meet Todd Crawford, an affiliate marketing veteran, Co-Founder of Impact Radius, and former VP of sales and business development at oneNetworkDirect. Todd also contributed to the founding team at Commission Junction in 1998, and worked at the affiliate network for more than seven years. At Affiliate Management Days 2013, Todd will be participating in a keynote panel on the role of the affiliate network.

* * * * *

affiliate marketingQuestion: If you were to emphasize one important issue that every affiliate manager should be paying more attention to, what would it be and why?

Todd Crawford: Diversifying your publisher base.  Almost every advertiser I talk to has 10-15 publishers that are driving 90%+ of their results.  Many of these top publishers have similar business models.  A healthy program needs to be as diversified as possible, leveraging multiple types of publishers.

Dig into the mid-tier publishers and segment them to determine alternative opportunities.  Have a goal of balancing your publisher base so the top 10-15 are only 50%-70% of your results.  It's hard work but it makes for a healthier, stronger channel.

Question: What do you see as the main areas of opportunity for affiliate marketers in 2013 – 2014?

Todd Crawford: I think the single biggest opportunity is utilizing better tracking, data and analytics.  From what I am seeing and hearing, legacy solutions aren’t providing the level of data advertisers need to manage their marketing channels.  There are so many more data points that need to be analyzed in order to understand the value of the affiliate channel and the individual publishers.

I know the term "big data" gets thrown around a lot, but more and more companies are analyzing more data points and affiliate managers need to have access to similar data.  Otherwise they run the risk of not being able to defend or champion their channel or even worse, not being able to answer questions raised by management.

Question: It isn’t unusual to hear that since affiliates operate in the mix with other marketing channels that merchants use (paid search, retargeting, social, etc.), with this multi-touchpoint eCommerce, the last-click attribution model is no longer an optimal one. What do you recommend?

Todd Crawford: We need to remember there is a difference between modeling data and firing pixels.  I think last click is still vital for actual tracking and de-duplication across channels, but that attribution analysis is becoming critical for understanding the role and value of media as well and the true costs.

Don't confuse tracking and pixel firing logic with attribution modeling – they are two very different things. Once you understand the overall contribution of affiliates, you can then start changing your payout rates to be better aligned with the value of those partners.

For example, many content sites play a role higher up in the funnel and consequently don't get credit for as many last clicks sales.  You may want to increase their payout rate or give them a spot bonus to compensate them for their efforts earlier in the buying cycle.

Question: As co-founder of an international marketing technologies company, what do you view as the main area affiliates can truly help online merchants, adding value to the pre-sale process?  

Todd Crawford: Personally, I am influenced by in-depth reviews. Especially videos when considering purchases.  If it works on me, I imagine it works on quite a few other people.

Introduce your visitors to unique information and opportunities that they can't get from other sites.  This isn't easy, but it builds sustainable traffic and long-term value for your website(s) and advertisers.

Question: If you were to leave online advertisers, merchants and affiliate managers with one piece of advice, what would it be? 

Todd Crawford: Having personal KPIs (key performance indicators) so they can measure their progress towards weekly, monthly and quarterly goals.  If your company doesn't help create these KPIs, you can still create your own.  Look at the high-level objectives for your department and company overall and develop KPIs that help you track your contribution towards achieving those goals.

Without KPIs in place, you often end up showing up for work everyday doing the same things without understanding which efforts will move the needle and help you hit your goals.  A simple example is talking to 10 new affiliates each day to recruit them into your program(s).  This means you may need to actually call 50 to get 10 on the phone. Leaving voice messages doesn't count.

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The upcoming Affiliate Management Days Conference takes place April 16-17, 2013. Follow @AMDays or #AMDays on Twitter. When registering, make sure to use the code SBTAM250 to receive an additional $250.00 off your two-day (or combo) pass.

See the rest of the interview series here.

The post Todd Crawford on Opportunities in Affiliate Marketing #AMDays appeared first on Small Business Trends.

4 Steps To Improve Your Google Plus Profile for Business

Posted: 28 Mar 2013 08:00 AM PDT

Google Plus for business continues to gain momentum in the social media universe and it’s important to know how to create the best possible profile. This is especially true if you’re promoting your business.

Below are four steps to improve your Google Plus profile visibility in search engines and make your online profile stand out from the others.

Improve Your Google Plus Profile for Business

1. Create a Strong, Simple Tagline

google plus profile

Taglines need to be strong, yet brief. Remember, the tagline might be the only thing people see, so create one that’s interesting and alluring and gets to the point quickly. Readers scanning websites online won’t likely take the time to read a long, drawn out tagline.

For example, a heating and air conditioning contractor might select a tagline such as, “Offering [your city] the best service and lowest prices. Period.” A restaurant tagline might read, “Best Buffalo wings south of Buffalo.”

The point is, to get to the point quickly and make it easy for readers to grasp what you’re about in an instant.

2. Add a Professional Photo

google plus profile

Photography Photo via Shutterstock

A grainy, out of focus or unprofessional looking photo is an instant turnoff. The photo is your one shot to grab and hook the casual reader who’s scanning for information. It’s best to invest in a professional photographer to get a clean, good-looking shot.

Many businesses add photos of their owner or staff standing around smiling. This is fine, and adds a personal touch. But action shots paint a more alluring picture and draw in readers. Consider a photo of your best chef working over an open flame, or one of your contractors hard at work performing his craft.

Give readers an instant visual image of your business in action.

3. Be Sure Your Website is Linked

google plus profileAdd a Link Photo via Shutterstock

Always link up your Google Plus account to your website and post all of your articles or blog posts to Google Plus. Make sure to select “public” for all posts, so they’ll be visible to everyone. Posting regularly is also important. Google rates pages higher when they’re frequently updated with quality information.

Which brings us to another point: Only post quality content and only link to quality content on Google Plus or any other social media networking site.

Google and other search engines are working hard to promote excellent content in their search results and severely punish poorly written or spammy content.

If you’re going to post, make sure it’s content that’s valuable to readers.

4. Adjust Your Visibility Setting

google plus profileReveal Yourself Photo via Shutterstock

One of the things that attracts users to Google Plus can actually be a downside to business. Google Plus more emphasis on protecting personal privacy than Facebook and some of the other social networking sites. The defaults are private and you have to manually set them as public.

To make your Google Plus profile visible, go to the “about” section and select “profile discovery.” Then, make sure “visible” is selected. When you set up a Google Plus profile, “visible” is not automatic, so you have to do this before your profile is publicly seen.

Once you make these four easy changes to your Google Plus profile, you’ll soon see better local search engine rankings and enjoy more action on your site.

The post 4 Steps To Improve Your Google Plus Profile for Business appeared first on Small Business Trends.

2 Tips to Manage Your Up Front Production Costs

Posted: 28 Mar 2013 05:00 AM PDT

production costs

Your company is doing great. Sales are increasing phenomenally, profits are strong and more new customers are calling every day. Yet you suddenly find you can't pay your bills.

What has gone wrong?

By focusing on sales growth, you may have ignored the signs of a mounting cash flow problem. Profits may only be on paper. You may not have collected from customers yet, but you have incurred the costs—and your creditors are knocking on the door.

This scenario can happen when you have a product that requires you to pay for the costs of production up front, such as with a manufacturing company. Growth is desirable, but if it occurs too quickly there may not be may not be enough cash to meet commitments.

For example, let's say you need to manufacture 10,000 widgets at a cost of $4.00 each. You will sell them for $10.00 each and net a nice profit. Getting these widgets to the market will require $40,000 up front to manufacture them. Unless you can get credit, you would need $40,000 to pay your production costs.

Now suppose your widgets increased in popularity and sales suddenly rose to 50,000 widgets. Your outlay of cash to build the widgets would rise from $40,000 to $200,000.

If you have enough credit to borrow that much money, then fine. But if you can't find the credit, you probably have to find other sources of funding, from loans to equity investments to factoring. And the challenge is that raising funding is not easy. If you are facing this type of situation, below are two tips to manage production costs.

Tips to Manage Production Costs

Create Financial Projections

And make sure they’re complete with an income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement.

Of particular importance is your cash flow statement. Because even though your income statement may show lots of profits, you need to make sure you don't run out of cash.

Estimate different levels of sales and the amount of cash shortfalls you might have at each level.

Seek Funding Early

Raising funding for your business is hard and it takes time. If you are too desperate for funding, you are at a terrible negotiating disadvantage.

For example, if raising $100,000 dictates the life or death of your company, and an equity investor says they'll only give you the money for an exorbitant amount of equity in your company, what will you do?

By starting early, you won't put yourself in such a position.

In addition, get creative with your funding options. Sure, you should seek out traditional funding like credit cards, bank loans and angel investors. But consider new, more creative funding alternatives, such as giving customers small discounts when they pay all or part of their invoices up front, or getting unique payment terms from your suppliers.

When you are getting lots of sales from your customers, it's a good thing. But it doesn't mean that success is guaranteed, as cash flow (and lack thereof) can literally bankrupt you.

So plan ahead and raise the funding you need to ensure you can effectively grow your business.

Production Costs Photo via Shutterstock

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