Small Biz Accounting Software Space Heats Up As Xero Raises $150 Million

Small Biz Accounting Software Space Heats Up As Xero Raises $150 Million
Google Acquires Flutter And Its Gesture Technology
Google’s Algorithm Updates: Should Content Marketers Be Worried?
Learn How to Build Valuable Alliances in “The Secret Collaborative Economy”

Posted: 13 Oct 2013 08:55 PM PDT

Zero accounting software raises $150 million

It’s getting more crowded in the market for small business accounting software. Competition is heating up and is going to get even hotter now that Xero has raised another $150 million (USD).

The company announced the funding in a statement on its website today. Most of the funding came from U.S. investors, including Matrix Partners and Valar Ventures.

Added to $67 million Xero previously raised, it brings the total to over $200 million raised.

Xero, whose tagline is “beautiful accounting software,” was founded in 2006 in New Zealand. Xero’s offering is cloud-based, and it also has Android and iPhone/iPad apps. Two years ago it entered the U.S. market. Today it has offices in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

According to co-founder and CEO Rod Drury, the most recent round of funding will be used to grow its presence in the U.S. market. He mentioned specifically the 29 million small businesses in the United States and said in a video statement, “We are very determined – we are going to be the global leader in the space.”

A Rapidly Evolving Accounting Software Space

The small business accounting software space is changing fast. Many small businesses and their accountants are still using “box software” although the transition to online software-as-a-service for accounting has accelerated. Large players like Intuit and Sage have millions of customers worldwide using their products.

The space has also gotten more crowded, with competitors that don’t necessarily look like traditional accounting software companies. One example is GoDaddy, which bought Outright bookkeeping software and Ronin invoicing app, turning them into GoDaddy Bookkeeping. Another is PayPal, which when combined with Square and bank records, is used by some entrepreneurs as a quasi-substitute for keeping track of finances.

On top of those options are dozens of scrappy startups and small invoicing and billing companies, such as Freshbooks. We counted 50 invoicing apps not long ago. While they may not provide a full double-entry accounting system, some offer enough bookkeeping related functionality to meet the needs of the smallest small businesses and solo entrepreneurs — especially when coupled with downloadable bank and credit card records. Freshbooks says it has 5 million people using it, and now even calls itself ”cloud accounting.” (See our recent review of Freshbooks.)

Xero still has a fairly small footprint in the United States, but is growing fast. According to Xero’s annual report, the company had 157,000 paying customers as of March 31, 2013. Its annual revenue was reported at $51.5 million and most of that is from customers in New Zealand and Australia. Only 8% is from “US and Rest of the World.” However, the company more than doubled its revenue since 2012. It now has almost 600 employees.

Image: Xero announcement video still

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Google Acquires Flutter And Its Gesture Technology

Posted: 13 Oct 2013 01:00 PM PDT

google acquires flutter

Imagine you could flip through Web pages, play videos or scroll down important documents with a simple hand gesture. A free download called Flutter for both Apple and Windows gives a glimpse of how gesture technology could improve productivity.

For now, Flutter allows you to use gestures to control your video on YouTube and Netflix and music on Spotify, iTunes, Grooveshark and Pandora. The app uses the built in webcam on your desktop to read simple hand gestures for starting or stopping music or video.

Here’s a brief demonstration:

Google Acquires Flutter

Flutter announced being acquired by Google last week. TechCrunch estimates the deal could be worth around $40 million.

Writing about the acquisition on the official Flutter website, CEO Navneet Dalal explains:

“Today, we are thrilled to announce that we will be continuing our research at Google. We share Google's passion for 10x thinking, and we're excited to add their rocket fuel to our journey.”

It is uncertain yet whether the Flutter team will go on developing and upgrading the company’s existing product or bake their technology in to Google products like Google Glass, for example.

Flutter is hardly the only company developing products using gesture technology. Other examples include PrimeSense, Leap Motion and Omek Interactive (recently acquired by Intel.)

But the acquisition is proof again that development of a single useful and revolutionary tool can catapult a small startup to a huge payoff.

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Google’s Algorithm Updates: Should Content Marketers Be Worried?

Posted: 13 Oct 2013 09:00 AM PDT

google's algorithym changes

It seems like every time we content marketers look up from writing blog posts and ebooks, Google has changed the game, yet again. Below is a rundown of a few of the changes content marketers fear may be changing the rules forever.

Google’s Algorithm Changes

Panda

Google now penalizes badly-written content, as well as duplicate content posted to multiple sites. Keyword stuffing, which I’m sure you never engaged in, is now officially a no-no on Google’s list.

Penguin

This algorithm looks at the inbound links your website gets. Google now scrutinizes the quality of those links. If you’re a lawn care provider, having links from babysitting and gambling sites could work against you. Not that you should have links like that, but I’m simply attempting to prove a point here.

All Searches Now Secure

Google now encrypts all search data, whether users are logged into a Google account or not. What that means is that no one can view the keywords you or anyone else are searching for. That means as a content marketer, I can’t see which keywords people searched for to find my site.

Some of the data is still available, but not all.

Authorship

Google now allows content producers to link their Google+ accounts to the content they produce. On the surface, this is a good thing for anyone with an active Google+ account.

But for people who don’t bother to walk through the steps, we’re wondering if they will lose traffic as a result.

In-Depth Articles

Now articles that are longer than your typical blog post are considered "in-depth articles," and are called out in Google searches. I still haven’t seen many examples of this in action. But what I have seen only shows results from well-known publications.

So how does the little player like me get recognition?

Is Content Marketing All for Naught?

As you can see, there are a lot of changes happening. Many affect how we use keywords to drive traffic to our sites. After all, if we don’t know whether people are searching for “how to carve a pumpkin,” and we’re using that phrase on our website, how do we know if it’s working? If we have hundreds of links to our site, and Google thinks some of them are spammy, how can we disconnect from them?

The answers aren’t all conclusive, but here’s what I have to say:

The reason Google is putting so much into play is because many people were taking advantage of the system. They’d use what are called “black hat” techniques, such as listing dozens of keywords at the bottom of a page, in the same color font as the background so they weren’t visible, in order for Google to see those keywords and rank the site for them.

Article marketing sites were popular a few years ago, but they’re so diverse in both the subjects covered as well as the quality, Google chucked them as authority sites.

Sure, you and I have been playing according to the rules all along. And no, it isn’t fair that we have to shift our strategies. But c’est la vie.

Consistent Strategies

The good news is, if you use the following strategies, you probably won’t have to change much in your way of thinking:

Write for Humans

Some people were writing for search engines and got us in the mess we’re in. Don’t worry so much about keywords. Focus on naturally flowing language that will appeal to visitors. Put keywords where you can, but don’t stress about it.

Be Less Analytical

We’ve killed ourselves with terms like “analytics” and “keyword density.” Let’s just get back to trying to show our authority in our niche and educating our target market. Keep an eye on Web traffic and conversion? Yes – but don’t go overboard.

Write for Reputable Sites

Guest blogging can still be a great marketing strategy. But focus on sites related to your niche and only on the best sites. Ask yourself, “Will having a link from this site help or hurt my traffic?”

Write to be Useful

Your goal in content marketing should be to provide answers and solutions for potential customers. That hasn’t changed. Keep delivering value, and you’ll reach your audience.

Worry Photo via Shutterstock

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Learn How to Build Valuable Alliances in “The Secret Collaborative Economy”

Posted: 13 Oct 2013 06:00 AM PDT

build valuable alliances Great Britain is fast becoming known for its web development communities. The residual effect from this growth, like other tech-savvy cities, is enhancement of networking among freelancers and small businesses. So it should make sense for a book from the UK to captures the basics of this kind of economy.

A good attempt at capturing the basics is The Secret Collaborative Economy: More Clients, More Exposure, More Profit, Faster by Marsha Wright (@MarshaWright). Wright is a vibrant business expert and media personality. She made her mark running numerous businesses since her teens. Today she has a client base that spans 20 countries and has been featured on BBC Radio, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur Magazine Radio, and other programs. She has inspired many entrepreneurs to pick up their enterprise game, so I was inspired to pick up a review copy after a chance contact on Twitter.

So What is the Secret Economy?

According to Wright:

"It is the secret world where, behind closed doors, masterstrokes of marketing genius and business deals are done. You are probably living in a home, working in a building, drinking at a coffee shop, or using a cell phone where The Secret Collaborative Economy played a vital part."

In short, it's the value of collaboration – the value of interaction that is supporting the global entrepreneurial spirit. Examining that value is the basis for the book's 6 chapters.

Chapter 2 details Asset Points – the "tangible and intangible things you control," while the topic of Chapter 3 seemed the most relatable to entrepreneurs offering B2B services, examining how to categorize your opportunities. Chapter 4 begins to combine the basics of ideas introduced in the earlier chapters, such as selecting clients and Strategic Asset Partners. The last two chapters cover more ways to collaborate and solidify relationships. Deeper Learning Interviews – discussions with Marsha – are included in each chapter to add more insights.

Wright states that this book is not intended to be motivational book. I felt the book's scope and presentation felt otherwise – few stats support the ideas espoused. But Wright conveys her experience in her recommendations, picking the ideas that need to be asked during business activities. The result is a book that is motivational, but inclusive of critical thinking that prevents small businesses from succumbing to outright failure.

When she suggests "are we really solving problems" as a core question that entrepreneurs should ask themselves when launching a business, I recalled a similar observation noted by Reid Hoffman in the book “The Start Up of You.” It's the idea of deciding on a product or service that really changes the world, not just hocking the latest energy drink or made-up product.

The approach also underlies the labels created for suggested concepts, such as the aforementioned Asset Points and the Environment of Suggestion, which is the idea of describing what you need to reciprocate. Check out this quote regarding exposure:

"If this book does nothing else for you, I hope it crumbles…any beliefs or thoughts that all exposure is good exposure. The old adage 'any news is good news is for journalists! Not for companies…I would rather 500,000 targeted people know about my product than 9 million of the general market who are likely uninterested."

There are also good suggestions on choosing a style of reciprocation with contacts, such as the quote below:

"I would suggest that you chime in with something like "Have you seen our website, you know about us and what we do. Can you tell me what you think I can do to help open doors for you?" On delivering this question, you will find either a grateful recipient, or a flummoxed individual who has spent so long at the treadmill, that they need a moment to pull from memory what it is that they really need. Either way when you have asked that question, there is an ethical obligation that comes from the innate need for reciprocity. "

Readers should be aware – promotional materials abound through the sections. I felt the material's placement combined with the interview segments a bit distracting. And while the suggestions are serviceable, I wished a few topics were explained with more details. Wright notes the importance of considering one's prior experiences as an asset, but even so, more examples of how prior assets can be outdated and irrelevant to a business would enrich the topic. But my perspective comes from my own experiences and compares against other books I have read. You'll weigh this book's value against your perspective as you read on.

Overall, The Secret Collaborative Economy is meant for small business owners who are still gun shy about effective networking, and need some brainstorming to set their collaboration in an appealing way.

Readers should also consider books on products and service development as well as more specific books on financing your dreams. Books that I recalled include The Mesh and Spank The Bank (ironically the book mentions Bank author Karlene Sinclair Robinson). Specific social media books like Google Plus for Business would be a terrific combination to get more value.

More experienced business owners will want more experienced detail, but for those who struggle to brand through networking, The Secret Collaborative Economy makes a good first start to strategic alliance basics.

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