The Reverse Guest Blogging Trend in 2014 May Be Huge: How it Works

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• The Reverse Guest Blogging Trend in 2014 May Be Huge: How it Works
• Google To Retire Windows App for Talk in 2014
• AT&T Will Stop or Reduce Subsidies on Mobile Phones
• How to Keep Your Office and Employees Flu-Free This Winter
• How Small Businesses Deal with Rising Health Insurance Premiums

The Reverse Guest Blogging Trend in 2014 May Be Huge: How it Works Posted: 23 Dec 2013 04:00 PM PST As Google moves toward a semantic approach, focusing more on the big picture of a search as opposed to keywords, producing creative content is going to be more important than ever. This is where the idea of reverse guest blogging comes into play, and it's a big reason that I suspect this will be a huge business trend in 2014. The idea behind reverse guest blogging is that you, the website owner, find guest bloggers and ask them to offer content to your site. Many small business owners often find themselves saying, "I have plenty of people reaching out to me to post on my site, I don't need to spend my time trying to find more." It makes complete sense, but the idea of reverse guest blogging looks at it a different way. In fact, that reaction is exactly where so many potentially go wrong. To answer the question above, you aren't necessarily finding bloggers for your blog because you don't have enough, it's because you want the highest quality bloggers (and therefore content) possible. And chances are, the "highest quality bloggers" aren't knocking at your door. The Benefits of Reverse Guest Blogging You Build Stronger Relationships That is, if you're the one reaching out to an author. Chances are you've seen a great writer on other blogs, so reaching out to them lets them know that you value and enjoy their writing. The Editor Remains in Control Because they are going out and finding authors that are known to produce quality and really "get it." Sometimes dealing with a flood of emails from people you don't know can be overwhelming. If you do the reaching out, you know you're guaranteed to get something good that doesn't need as much editing. You can count on that for the site. Quality Bloggers Bring in Quality Audiences A great blogger likely has a few thousand followers on social networks, but even more so, they might have a few loyal fans who love to read their writing. If you can bring that audience to your blog, you should be able to improve your visibility through social shares as well as backlinks. It's also important to realize that this doesn't need to take the place of any other strategy you might have in place. The traditional way of guest blogging, letting others come to you and ask if they can contribute, is still a great way to get fresh content onto your site. However, reverse guest blogging can supplement that and help keep you in control. How Does Reverse Guest Blogging Work? To make reverse guest blogging work for you, you're going to need a plan. There are essentially three steps: Figure out what you want out of a guest contributor. How often do you want them to contribute? Is there a particular subject you want discussed? Who is going to be in charge of managing this relationship? Make a list of all the authors you may want to feature. After you make a list, consider doing a few searches to find other writes who you aren't familiar with. Go out and try to connect with those authors and talk with them about this opportunity. If you can't get the authors you had originally wanted, don't get discouraged. Figure out who they are connected with (possibly other writers on that blog) and do your outreach there to try and make yourself known. After all, it's important that you and your blog are something the author knows as much as it is the other way around. How Do You Find Quality Bloggers? Step number 2 above is definitely easier said than done. If you're an active reader of articles about your industry, you likely have a few bloggers in mind who you'd love to have featured. It's always best if you see them as a guest contributor elsewhere (sometimes staff members at large papers won't guest blog), but in either case, it can't hurt to ask. Try not to aim too high at first, but don't sell yourself short either. You might not get the star writer of USA Today, but if you focus on your specific industry and stay away from major news publications, you might very well be surprised. Begin Reaching Out What about after you're done making your list of authors you've already read – then what? Next, it's time to find new authors that might work. Consider doing a few different things: Twitter search "guest post [topic]" to find bloggers. Google search "guest post by; guest blog by; etc." and then your topic. Also consider doing this search on sites you like to see if you can get a list of their guest bloggers. Ask others you know in the industry if they have any recommendations. Use a tool like Follwerwonk, a popular tool for outreach that lets you filter and sort results. Have you ever tried reverse guest blogging? The post The Reverse Guest Blogging Trend in 2014 May Be Huge: How it Works appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Google To Retire Windows App for Talk in 2014 Posted: 23 Dec 2013 01:30 PM PST If you are a big user of the Google Talk app for Windows as a way of communicating quickly with your business partners or team, be aware. Google will retire the Windows app for Google Talk in the first few months of 2014. The Google App team says users will still be able to access Google Talk through their Gmail accounts while online or through certain third-party services. But in an official announcement sent to Google App administrators, the team said users have already found another chat option: Many users are switching to Google+ Hangouts chat, which offers better support for multiple devices, group conversations, and rich content such as images and locations. The Google App team says Google Talk users will begin seeing notifications about the end of the Windows service in the beginning of January. The Google Talk app for Windows will continue operating for the first two months of 2014 after which users will no longer be able to gain access. Though it may be a pain no longer being able to easily open Google Talk directly in Windows, fortunately business users still have plenty of other chat options. Alternatives to Google Talk for Windows In addition to using Google Talk in Gmail or Google+ Hangout chat, as far as we know chat in Google Drive isn’t going anywhere. This makes it easy to chat while collaborating with your team on shared documents. Outside of Google, of course, there are many options including Skype and newer services like SpreeCast, both of which offer chat features. Bottom line: You’ll likely have no trouble finding a variety of chat alternatives now that Google Talk for Windows is shutting down. Your biggest annoyance will probably be re-connecting with some or all of your active contacts depending upon the platform you choose. Image: Wikipedia The post Google To Retire Windows App for Talk in 2014 appeared first on Small Business Trends.

AT&T Will Stop or Reduce Subsidies on Mobile Phones Posted: 23 Dec 2013 11:00 AM PST For small business users reliant upon the latest mobile technology, the terrain may be shifting. The largest provider of mobile phone service in the U.S., AT&T, was one of the last to eliminate voice minutes in favor of unlimited calling. But the move was part of a strategy to change the company’s business model, moving from charging for voice service to charging for data transfer. Now it seems AT&T is pushing to reduce or eliminate phone subsidies which enable rapid and inexpensive upgrades of mobile devices. For business users these upgrades can be critical to keep up with equally rapid changes in technology. AT&T Introduces ‘Next’ Program Of course, AT&T is promoting these changes as a benefit to help users upgrade their phones faster — but at a price. Here’s how it works. A new pricing plan, AT&T Next, lets you upgrade to a new phone within 12 or 18 months instead of waiting up to two years for the standard contract to expire. But there’s a catch. In addition to your monthly service bill, AT&T will charge a “low monthly installment” essentially to finance the cost of your phone over 20 to 26 months. If you upgrade, the financing payment continues to cover the new device. However, if you keep it and pay it off, the added installments will be removed from your bill and you’ll see some savings. AT&T Chief Says End of Big Subsidies Is Goal AT&T is hardly being secretive about its intentions. Company CEO Randall Stephenson announced the move away from subsidies at a recent investor conference in New York, CNET reports. And another AT&T competitor, T-Mobile, got rid of subsidies earlier this year. Still, the new strategy seems a bit unfair to customers given the cost of devices is essentially already covered by high service fees, TechCrunch observes. The result will be higher costs for small businesses and other users seeking to upgrade or add smartphones. It will also require you to look more carefully when shopping for a mobile plan. One other option is to look at prepaid cell phone plans with a smartphone purchased upfront to determine whether this might make more financial sense for your business. Image: AT&T The post AT&T Will Stop or Reduce Subsidies on Mobile Phones appeared first on Small Business Trends.

How to Keep Your Office and Employees Flu-Free This Winter Posted: 23 Dec 2013 08:00 AM PST Sponsored Post It's that time of year – the time when hacking coughs, sneezes and nose-blowing ring through every small business. How can you deal with sick employees at work and keep them healthy (and productivity high) during cold and flu season? 3 Tips to Avoid Having Sick Employees at Work Encourage Sick Employees to Stay Home The benefits of having a sick employee come in to handle his or her work are far outweighed by the risk that the person will infect the rest of the staff. However, if employees feel penalized for staying home, they won't do so. One study found that staying home just one day when sick reduces the chance of co-workers' catching the flu by 25 percent. Staying home two days cuts the risk by 40 percent. If employees are worried they'll get overloaded with work while they're out, try letting them work from home. At the same time, don't require employees to work (even at home) if they truly need to rest. Keep it Clean Colds and flu spread in winter because people are more likely to spend time inside in an enclosed environment. Keep that environment as germ-free as you can by making sure your office is properly maintained. Keep disinfectant sprays on hand and regularly spray down door handles, break room surfaces, bathroom faucets and anything else that lots of people touch all day. If your staff shares tech tools like tablet computers, handheld bar-code scanners, desktop computers, cash registers or headsets, make sure you have the appropriate cleaners and cloths to disinfect these surfaces at the beginning of each shift or when people trade off their equipment. Also, keep tissues and lots of hand sanitizer on hand – consider having some available in every room. Encourage Healthy Habits Post signs in the restrooms and break room reminding employees to wash their hands with soap. Also post signs reminding employees to clean equipment that is shared. If your business offers health insurance that covers flu vaccines, encourage employees to get vaccinated. Since many people don't want to make a special trip to the doctor's to do this, see if your insurer offers any type of mobile vaccination clinic. Some medical providers will come out to businesses and provide flu shots for a fee. Even as a small business, you may be able to band with other local businesses to get this service or piggyback on a bigger company in your office building that is bringing in a flu shot clinic. This article, provided by Nextiva, is republished through a content distribution agreement. The original can be found here. Sick Photo via Shutterstock The post How to Keep Your Office and Employees Flu-Free This Winter appeared first on Small Business Trends.

How Small Businesses Deal with Rising Health Insurance Premiums Posted: 23 Dec 2013 05:00 AM PST A few months ago, I reported that premiums on employee health insurance rose faster than inflation once again this year, with single coverage going up 5 percent and family coverage increasing 4 percent. In that post, I explained how the rising cost of employee health insurance has led to a declining fraction of small businesses offering coverage. But dropping coverage isn't the only way that small businesses react to the rising price of employee health insurance. A recent survey of a stratified random sample of 921 small businesses conducted for the National Federation of Independent Business by Mason Dixon Polling and Research identifies several other ways that small businesses respond. In the table below, I show the fraction of small businesses that told the surveyors that they took different actions in response to premium increases. (Each business could report having taken more than one action; in fact, the average was 2.7.) Source: Created from data from the National Federation of Independent Business ACA Report The survey shows several important patterns: 1. The most common way small business owners respond to health insurance premium increases is to take less profit. That's telling because, as I have written here before, health insurance premiums have risen faster than inflation for many years, while small business profits have been declining in real terms. While I can't show a causal effect of rising health insurance premiums on the decline in small business profits, the negative correlation between the two is alarming. 2. The next most common response to the rising cost of employee health insurance is to boost business productivity. It's important for policy makers to recognize that more small businesses react to rising health insurance costs by becoming more efficient than by passing the higher costs on to workers or by cutting headcount. 3. More small businesses respond to rising health insurance costs by cutting investment (40 percent) than by cutting wages (37 percent) or increasing the share of health insurance that employees pay (30 percent). That's surprising for two reasons. First, many economists argue that higher health care costs should get passed on to employees in the form of lower wages and lesser benefits. Second, many economists expect small businesses to respond to higher employee health care costs by investing in labor saving technologies because machines don't need health insurance. 4. Less than a third of small businesses raise prices in response to increases in their health insurance premiums. The inability to pass on increased benefits costs may be the reason why many small business owners have seen their profits squeezed in recent years. 5. Two of the least common actions that small business owners take in response to the increased cost of employee health insurance are to cut head count and reduce employee hours or to take the health insurance tax credit. As the survey found, these actions were only undertaken by 17 percent of small businesses. That's ironic because supporters of the Affordable Care Act frequently argue that small business owners will take the health insurance tax credit, while opponents often claim that small business owners will cut head count and reduce employee hours in response to the new law. Health Care Photo via Shutterstock The post How Small Businesses Deal with Rising Health Insurance Premiums appeared first on Small Business Trends.

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