U.S. Patent System Switches to “First to File” |  |
- U.S. Patent System Switches to “First to File”
- TripleLift Aims to Make More Engaging Ads, More Like Content
- Blog Acquisition: A Surefire Strategy for Online Growth
- 4 Fun Benefits to Make Your Employees Love Working For You
| U.S. Patent System Switches to “First to File” Posted: 18 Mar 2013 02:00 AM PDT The U.S. patent system underwent an historic change this weekend. No longer is it the “first to invent” who has the right to a patent. Now the “first to file” a patent application will be awarded a U.S. patent. The change is part of the America Invents Act and went into effect March 16, 2013.
Much of the rest of the world, including the European Union and Canada, has already been following a first-to-file rule. The United States was an outlier in requiring proof of being the first to invent. Critics long complained that America’s former system led to lengthy delays in reviewing patents, and to costly litigation that smaller businesses, especially, could not afford to fight. In the past you were required to prove that you first invented the invention. Under the new first-to-file rule it should — theoretically at least — be easier to determine who gets the patent. The U.S. Patent Office simply will look at who filed the patent application first. Not everyone agrees, though. Attorney Otis Littlefield of law firm Morrison Foerster, writes in a client alert (PDF) that the opposite is the case: it will be harder to get a patent under “first to file.” Why? Because under the new law, a public disclosure (even in an academic paper or at a scientific conference) of the invention may negate your patent application, despite being the first to file. It’s all due to complexities in the new law, around public disclosures. Wired notes that there will be a new urgency to file early and often. That could work to the advantage of large corporations, and put small businesses and startups at a disadvantage. Young and small businesses have fewer resources (time and money) to put toward patent applications. So, what’s an inventor to do? Most legal experts are recommending these two things under the new first-to-file patent system: File early – In the past, you might have waited until your product went to market before filing at the patent office. Now you need to consider filing earlier. For startups and individual inventors without customers, this could be a financial drain and difficult to afford for an unproven product. But waiting could be a bigger financial risk. Don’t talk about or disclose your invention – I know, I know. There’s nothing that startup entrepreneurs love better than to show off their product and talk about how it will change the industry or the world. However, under the new patent law, public disclosure by a third party prior to the patent application can negate the “first to file” rule. For example, if you discussed the invention with someone (with or without a nondisclosure agreement) and that person discloses your invention publicly, it could undermine your patent rights. That person doesn’t even have to steal your invention. Merely revealing it publicly is a problem. There is, however, a one-year grace period for your own public disclosures. That one year grace period is intended to give inventors a chance to test the market. For inventors the first-to-file patent system will be a huge change. The best thing is to consult a patent attorney as early in the invention process as possible so you know how to protect your invention. The post U.S. Patent System Switches to “First to File” appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| TripleLift Aims to Make More Engaging Ads, More Like Content Posted: 17 Mar 2013 02:00 PM PDT Advertising startup TripleLift wants to make ads more engaging to the public. Its technology is designed to help advertisers embrace “the visual Web.” That's the company's term for the rise of visual media on platforms like Pinterest and Instagram. In other words, consumers have gotten used to seeing appealing images on social media and other sites. Ads need to offer similar visual interest, according to TripleLift.
How TripleLift’s Visual Advertising WorksTripleLift identifies the images that your business owns, that have already gained attention by the public. It then turns them into ad units. The idea is that if a particular image gets attention on a social platform, it will be more likely to gain attention in advertisements, too. Dubbed the Trending Units program, it involves scanning your brand’s images that you’ve shared on your website, blog and social feeds. Then it scans the Web to see which of those images have been featured on blogs and websites. It also monitors your brand's content on different social media platforms such as Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and other sites. TripleLift then deciphers which images are driving the most engagement and attention from the public. That can be re-pins on Pinterest or those images featured the most on other social media sites combined. Those images are then plugged into “visual” online ad units — engaging ads that can come across more like sponsored content than hard-sell messages. For example, let’s take a clothing line. The clothing company shares some of its images on its blog and Facebook page. Pretty soon others share those images and are pinning them on Pinterest. The most popular images that drive engagement — such as a lot of re-pins, comments and likes – could be pulled into ads. More Engaging Ads Than Traditional BannersAds don’t have to be standard banner ads. They can be more engaging, according to TripleLift. These ads may appear “in stream” on various social platforms and websites (i.e., integrated with the stream of content rather than relegated to the header or sidebar). The ads are designed to seem like sponsored content marketing than ads. CEO Eric Berry recently explained the difference on the company blog:
TripleLift also has a "Social Amplification" feature that adds social sharing options right into ad units. This can include a "Pin It" button on the ad. Consumers can pin the ad’s image to their Pinterest boards, citing the ad's source. The New York City-based startup was formed in 2012 and has already worked with some big names like Gucci, Nikon and HP. TripleLift got a $2.1 million seed-funding round led by True Ventures and iNovia Capital late last year. The Next Web called it a startup “worth keeping an eye on.” The post TripleLift Aims to Make More Engaging Ads, More Like Content appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Blog Acquisition: A Surefire Strategy for Online Growth Posted: 17 Mar 2013 09:00 AM PDT
Have I lost my mind? No. I’m talking about an age old practice that multinational corporations employ every day. I’m talking about acquisitions. There is a way to guarantee a long term boost in traffic with a single, and relatively simple, action – buy a blog that already has traffic, and redirect it your site. Major bonus points if you hire the blogger too. And that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about today. Blog Acquisition: A Surefire Growth StrategyStep 1: Find a BloggerBig time advertisers understand the value of a celebrity endorsement, and the psychology of trust doesn’t change just because you’re operating in the digital world. It’s not uncommon for content marketers and SEO professionals to hire "ghost writers" to work for them. There’s nothing wrong with that practice. But for some strange reason, many of us have fallen into the trap of thinking we need to own every aspect of thought leadership ourselves. The reality is that Huffington Post will feature articles by Bill Maher and the New York Times will hire economist Paul Krugman. They do this because working with trusted people is a great way to build trust. It’s a practice that adds credibility to the brand. The great thing about online marketing is that you can scale down concepts like "celebrity endorsements" and "acquisitions" until you reach something that fits your budget. Maybe your brand can’t afford Paul Krugman, but you can probably afford to hire a blogger with a few thousand visitors each month. All you need to do is pay them better than they can pay themselves. The truth is, most bloggers aren’t that great at monetizing their blog. It’s simply not their specialty and ads don’t pay all that well. Step outside the marketing bubble. You don’t want to hire a blogger who is a "marketer." You want to hire a blogger who is passionate about subjects that your target audience cares about. So don’t turn to Textbroker or Elance to find your match; turn to Google or Twitter:
Look for blogs with a decent domain authority in OpenSiteExplorer. Look for a fair number of comments and social media activity. In other words, qualify your prospects the same way you would if you were looking for a guest post – only with even more rigor. Obviously, you will also want to ask whether the blogger is a good fit for your brand culture. This is more important than any other metric. The better the fit, the less difficulty you’ll have with integration and management later on. Step 2: Buy the Blog and Hire the BloggerThis is where things can get a bit hairy. Don’t assume that just because you can pay the blogger better than they can pay themselves that they’ll just hand everything over without any questions. You’re end goal is to hire the blogger as well as import their blog to your domain. If you’re hiring the right kind of blogger, this can be scary for them. Remember, they’ve poured years of work into their blog and care about it deeply. The thought of doing it for a living, or even for a little extra cash each month, is probably very exciting to them, but they will have reservations. They don’t want you to suck all the fun out of it, and they don’t want to see their baby become some corporate tool. For things to go smoothly, you’ll want to make sure to accommodate their needs. Let them keep most of the control over the content of their blog, let them keep their personal brand and try to keep the same feel of the original blog. If you feel the need to micromanage everything the blogger does, you probably chose the wrong blogger to work with. It’s a good idea to get something signed in writing that will assure both you and the blogger that their needs are going to be met and their concerns won’t be an issue. Ideally, the blog will exist on a folder of the main site, not on a subdomain. This can cause some uneasiness for some bloggers, so it’s up for debate and you’ll need to use discretion. Generally speaking, however, if the blogger is unwilling to accept moving their blog directly to your site, the cultural differences might be too much of an issue. Search engines, and most people, will treat a subdomain as a separate entity. Since the goal is to grow your website and your online audience, it’s usually better to avoid subdomains. There are countless stories of redesigns that ruined websites (goodbye Digg), so tread carefully when it comes to making changes. It’s probably best to leave everything almost identical immediately after the import, and save the changes and integration for later, after the audience has gotten used to the idea of the acquisition. You want to redirect the entire blog, not send every visitor to a new homepage or subdomain on your site. Redirects can be finicky but here are some guides you should check out:
If a user sees a title in the Google search results and clicks on it, you want them to land on a copy of the original page. Redirects to the home page will just confuse and annoy users. Don’t mess with what made the blog work in the first place. Step 3: StreamlineAfter the blog is imported and the redirects are set up, the job is far from over. Some of the things you’ll need to plan for include:
A big part of this is going to come down to project management. Since you’ll most likely be working with a blogger who doesn’t live within driving distance of your office, it’s a good idea to work with online project management software like WorkZone, or something similar. Email is a cumbersome interface for projects of this magnitude, especially if you need to track time spent on projects. Some of the sources of friction can include:
Incentives can do a lot to alleviate these problems. If you reward the blogger based on the number of conversions their blog posts create, rather than simply order them to include conversion copy, you can expect to get better results. But don’t just throw money at your blogger’s concerns to make them go away. Listen as well. There is a good chance that your blogger’s concerns are similar to the concerns of their audience. Carelessly incentivising those concerns away could actually alienate your blogger from their core audience, a situation that could backfire. Even though your blogger doesn’t work in the office, it’s a good idea to pull them into the inner workings of the company to some degree. The more involved your blogger is with the rest of your team, the more they will understand your company culture and send the right message. This is another reason to use collaborative software, but you can’t rely on technology to handle everything. Ask your team members to work on collaborative projects with your blogger. This will help strengthen their relationship with the company, as well as provide material for the blog itself. ConclusionWhile buying blogs, along with their bloggers, is a surefire way to boost traffic in the short term, it’s not necessarily a surefire way to boost profit or long term results. It will start you off on the right foot, and continued acquisitions are a great way to continue scaling your business. That said, it takes keen project management and sound strategy to keep the ball rolling effectively. Surefire Growth Photo via Shutterstock The post Blog Acquisition: A Surefire Strategy for Online Growth appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| 4 Fun Benefits to Make Your Employees Love Working For You Posted: 17 Mar 2013 06:00 AM PDT
Big corporations have the luxury of dangling premium benefit packages to snag top talent, while smaller companies have to make do with low budget programs that don't come with nearly as many perks. This makes finding quality employees much harder. The good news is, today's employees aren't necessarily looking for corporate level health and retirement packages. There are other ways to make your company a great place to work. You don't have to spend a fortune to provide these unique employee benefits that people love. 4 Fun and Free Employee BenefitsGet FlexibleFlexible work schedules are the golden ticket of employee benefits. Allowing your employees to occasionally come in late, leave early or take a few hours in the middle of the day for things like doctor's appointments, family issues and 9-to-5 errands makes their lives easier. It also strengthens their company loyalty. You can also extend flexibility and a refreshing change of pace by offering work-from-home days. However you decide to use it, flextime is free for you and a fantastic benefit for your most valuable employees, and helps give your small business a competitive edge. Chill OutStress is an inevitable part of business life. If you can offer your employees opportunities to relax during the workday, you'll earn their appreciation in a big way. Here are a few ideas:
Go ShoelessThere's nothing better than getting home from a long day at work and finally kicking off your shoes – unless you've spent the day in a shoeless office. Creating a shoe-free environment for your employees can encourage them to feel comfortable and at home all day. Unless you're working with heavy machinery, of course. Oh, and you should probably have employees slip back into their shoes when clients come in. Stand Up and CheerYour employees enjoy recognition for a job well done, and the rewards don't have to be monetary or even material. Getting the whole team in on the appreciation – by having a round of applause for employees with big accomplishments, perhaps – is a simple and fun way to recognize hard work. Of course, the easiest and most underused way to show recognition and appreciation for your employees' work is to simply say, "Thank you." Make those two little words part of your daily vocabulary and you'll notice a positive upswing in your work environment. What unique employee benefits do you offer? Cheering Star Photo via Shutterstock The post 4 Fun Benefits to Make Your Employees Love Working For You appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
We get very few guarantees in digital marketing. Whenever I see a blog post that promises to teach me the "secrets" to online success, I typically move on without even blinking. Yet, here I am, promising a "surefire" growth strategy.
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