Find Out How to Sell Your Digital Products on the Small Business Trends Marketplace

Find Out How to Sell Your Digital Products on the Small Business Trends Marketplace
Pinterest Says No To Buying Pins and Followers
What I Learned About Small Business While Shoveling Snow
Jon Levine on Keys to Affiliate Program Management Success in 2014 #AMDays
Oh No! “QR Codes Kill Kittens”

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 08:30 PM PST

meylah-webinar2

Did you know we recently launched a new Marketplace here at Small Business Trends? It’s brand spanking new — and there’s a way for you to be part of it. We’re holding a webinar this Thursday to tell you all about it.

What is the Marketplace?

The Marketplace is a special section of Small Business Trends set aside just for commerce. It’s open to community members like you to sell your digital products (such as software, templates, guides and ebooks). It’s also a good place to market your professional services.

In the past we’ve been asked many many times to help promote community members’ information products and services. Until now we’ve never had a mechanism to help you do that properly. Sure, we offer display advertising. But advertising is an expensive way to promote ebooks or to offer a special discount or promotion for your professional services.

Now, with the Marketplace, we have a viable option for you.

Here’s how the Marketplace can help you. By participating in the Marketplace you can get a presence on Small Business Trends specifically for your products and services. We partnered with Meylah.com to use the Meylah e-commerce platform. You’ll be able to offer digital information products and software, and offer discount coupons and special promotions for your services.

Details About the Educational Webinar

Here at Small Business Trends we reach many millions of small business owners every year. We focus exclusively on small businesses. We obsess over small business. That’s our sole focus. We want to help you serve this considerable market.

Selling digital products is a huge opportunity for professionals who market to small businesses. The key to success is to focus on a specific customer pain point or need.

We will talk about how to narrow your focus … to actually expand your market reach. We’ll have specific tips and advice. We’ll answer your questions in plain language.

I am excited to be joined by Chaitra Dutt, Chief Marketing Officer of Meylah, and Tim Adam, the founder of Handmadeology.com. Both will share what they’ve found works extraordinarily well when selling digital goods and professional services using the Meylah platform that the Small Business Trends Marketplace is built on.

There’s no hard sell in this event. It’s pure education.

When: Thursday, February 21, 2014 — at 1:00 pm Eastern (New York time zone)

Where: Online - when you register, details will follow (recorded archive available for those who cannot make the live event).

How: REGISTER HERE!

The post Find Out How to Sell Your Digital Products on the Small Business Trends Marketplace appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Pinterest Says No To Buying Pins and Followers

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 02:30 PM PST

buying pins on pinterest

Buying pins and followers on Pinterest seems to be on the increase, so much so that the site felt it necessary to update its Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) to ban the practice outright. However, Pinterest has also made it clear that working with brands and sponsors is still allowed.

Their AUP clarifies it as follows:

“People should be able to find things on Pinterest that actually interest and inspire them. We believe that compensating people for doing specific things on Pinterest – like paying them to Pin – can promote inauthentic behavior.

We don't allow schemes that buy and sell Pins or pay people per Pin, follow, etc. We know that some popular Pinners have relationships with approved affiliate networks or participate in paid social media campaigns, and that's still okay, as long as they're not being compensated for each action on Pinterest.”

So what will happen if you are caught breaking the rules? Will you be hounded out of the site by an angry online mob?

Apparently not. According to Mashable, Pinterest will approach the violator and see if they can work with them to take the content offline.

So again, if you’re a marketing firm hired to create or maintain another brand’s Pinterest board or general presence on the site, that seems to be fine. So is getting commission from affiliate partners if what you pinned to your boards led to a sale.

But charging someone or being paid per pin on the site , much like being paid for a certain number of followers on Twitter – forget it. You’re going to get into trouble.

With the rise of sites such as Fiverr, where users offer hundreds of fake Pinterest and Twitter followers for a mere $5, it was only a matter of time before these sites addressed the issue.

The message to take away from all of this is – if you want lots of pins and followers, you have to do it the hard way, the authentic way. Taking unethical shortcuts is not allowed.

Image: Screenshot

The post Pinterest Says No To Buying Pins and Followers appeared first on Small Business Trends.

What I Learned About Small Business While Shoveling Snow

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 12:00 PM PST

what i learned about small business

While shoveling 8 to 10 inches of snow out of my driveway during our fourth Northeastern storm, I started thinking about running my small business. The decision process I used to clear my driveway is similar to the decisions you need to make to run a small business.

Here’s What I Learned About Small Business

Planning is Important in Any Endeavor

Many people jump right into a task and just get it done. But some business decisions benefit from stepping back and thinking it through first. To use the snowstorm example, instead of shoveling my own driveway, I could choose to outsource or delegate the job:

Hire someone with a snow plow or a snow blower.
Hire someone to shovel my driveway for me.
Have another family member or friend do it for me.

I could have made any of those choices, but I decided that was unnecessary:

I have a short, flat driveway.
I had parked the car near the end of it, so there really wasn’t enough snow to justify paying someone else.
My nephews live too far away in a storm to help out.
Although shoveling snow is not my major skill set, it is a task I am capable of doing.
I am a healthy adult, who could use more exercise.

I have plenty of work to do from my home office today, but nothing with a huge deadline that 20 minutes of snow shoveling will affect. So I decided to do it myself.

With some business tasks, you might find that if it is not your primary skill, or you have higher priority tasks, that you should at least consider your options for outsourcing or delegating.

You Need to Have the Right Tools for the Job

This winter I replaced my old winter coat with a new warm, waterproof winter jacket and fleece lined pants. I already have boots, gloves and a hat. I also already had tools like a snow shovel and an ice scraper/brush for the car.

These basic tools that made the job easier. Since this snowstorm also had sleet and freezing rain, the waterproof jacket really came in handy.

If you really want, or have the need, you can also add bigger, better and more expensive tools from a snow blower to a lawn tractor with a plow attachment or a snow/plow on your pick-up truck, but for the reasons above, I saw no need.

But, for my home business, I recently realized that I needed to upgrade my small business tools. I work on the computer most of the day, and had been working with a 10″ netbook that I bought when my larger laptop died.

While I liked the portability, especially for conferences, for my daily use – the small size was not great. Then it started to act up, the battery wasn’t holding a charge, the Internet was getting slow, and the power cord was iffy.

Although I handled my driveway with low tech tools, I recently decided to upgrade my business tools. I took advantage of holiday sales and pay-over-time shopping and upgraded to a 17″, MS Windows 8, Dell laptop with a fast processor and 8 GB of RAM – and it darn near flies.

Yesterday while teaching a "create your own website for artist's" class, I let someone use my old machine when hers stopped working. It was so slow and small. I had forgotten how slow and how small.

I love my new machine and feel I am much more effective, and probably should have upgraded sooner.

Timing and Breaking a Larger Task Into Smaller Steps is Wise

This recent storm was shifting from snow to freezing rain, then more snow that night. Mid-morning, when my trashcan had about 8 inches of snow on top, and the freezing rain seemed to let up a bit, I decided that instead of waiting until it was all over the next day, I would tackle it then.

I was glad I did because by the time I was done, the snow was much heavier and wetter after the sleet and freezing rain picked back up.

A Willingness to Shift Gears and Expectations is Required

I will admit, halfway or more through, as it started to get heavy, I saw a private snow plow drive by. I decided to outsource the rest of the job. I flagged him down asking how much to finish my drive for me. He said he was late for a job, so couldn’t do it. I sighed and continued.

I decided to take smaller shovel loads and to not concentrate on the whole amount that seemed to be left. And, really, breaking it down into smaller chunks…literally…made each shovel load lighter, and it seemed to go faster. All of a sudden – I was done.

So now you know what I learned about small business from shoveling snow.

What are the best tips you use to move your business forward? And if you learned the idea from doing another task, let us know in the comments here.

Snow Photo via Shutterstock

The post What I Learned About Small Business While Shoveling Snow appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Jon Levine on Keys to Affiliate Program Management Success in 2014 #AMDays

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 09:00 AM PST

Meet Jon Levine, a 13-year veteran of the online marketing industry, who currently works for All Inclusive Marketing as their Director of eCommerce. At the upcoming Affiliate Management Days SF 2014 conference (March 19-20) Jon will speak on how to “Engage & Activate Affiliates Who've Since Gone Cold.”

* * * * *

Question: If you were to emphasize one area that every affiliate manager should be paying attention to in 2014, what would it be, and why?

Jon Levine: Mobile and mobile app affiliates. I believe that 2014 will be a big year for affiliates in the mobile space. With more and more eCommerce being done via mobile, affiliates who specifically target this market or develop apps that leverage affiliate relationships will be successful.

Question: What do you see as the main areas of opportunity for affiliate marketing (and affiliate marketers) 2014?

Jon Levine: I think a big area of opportunity is in data, but I don't know if 2014 will be the year it becomes relevant. I think that merchants are sitting on so much data, but they're unwilling to share it. I believe that this data can be harnessed and used by affiliate partners to see trends or uncover synergies that the merchant never thought possible.

There's some big hurdles that need to be overcome before merchants begin to freely share their data, but I think there's a huge opportunity if they do.

Question: As a veteran affiliate marketer and affiliate manager yourself, what do you view as the main areas where affiliates can truly help online merchants?

Jon Levine: I believe that the main area affiliates help merchants is reach. My reasoning for this is the affiliate's expertise with their market and their customer, which is in turn the customer of the merchant. The really good affiliates know their audience and know how to speak to them. That's what makes them a successful affiliate.

By partnering with these 'experts,' merchants gain a brand advocate that is able to introduce and/or maintain the relevancy of their product or services among its chief consumers.

Question: With the vast majority of merchants interested in having their affiliate programs drive truly incremental business, what types of affiliates would you recommend they recruit, and why?

Jon Levine: Content. Content. Content. And then Content.

Incremental means growth and growth means new customers. Loyalty and coupon affiliates are great at driving traffic, but they don't do too much in the way of new business.

Content affiliates excel at introducing the merchant’s brand and products to a new audience, as well as reinforcing them with current ones.

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

Jon Levine: Make communication your top priority. Having open and effective communication with the members of your program is the key to its success.

Listen to your affiliates. Interact and converse with them. Keep them in the loop. Make them feel like they're part of a team. The more open and communicative you are with them, the more personal your program will become to them.

It'll become something that they care about, not just because of the money, but because it means something to them.

* * * * *

The upcoming Affiliate Management Days conference takes place March 19-20, 2014 in San Francisco, CA. Follow @AMDays or #AMDays on Twitter as well as Facebook.com/AMDays. When registering, make sure to use the code SMBTRENDS to receive $500.00 off your two-day and all-access passes.

See the rest of the interview series here.

The post Jon Levine on Keys to Affiliate Program Management Success in 2014 #AMDays appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Oh No! “QR Codes Kill Kittens”

Posted: 16 Feb 2014 06:00 AM PST

You have to love marketing books that put the proverbial tongue in cheek in eyebrow-raising ways. When I saw the title for QR Codes Kill Kittens: How to Alienate Customers, Dishearten Employees, and Drive Your Business into the Ground, I figured I’d grab a copy from the publisher, Wiley, to see if the cool text belied this cool title.

This book was written by Scott Stratten, President of marketing firm UnMarketing (and author of a book, also named UnMarketing) and Alison Kramer, firm Co-Founder and writer. The book is meant for managers who need examples for marketing missteps.

In my mission to save kittens, let's look at what QR codes are and the state of their usages. QR codes are those squares with funny rectangular patterns that you see on brochures, pamphlets and on the price cards at Best Buy. Their purpose is to hold media that you can scan and view with your smartphone. They have been around now for a few years, but not everyone has adopted the codes well:

"Did you know that 50 percent of people who scan a QR code would never scan one again. Know why? It didn't work. It didn't bring value. It made people jump through unnecessary and all-too-often-nonfunctioning hoops. "

I've seen QR codes in New York Subway ads — all appearing prior to MTA plans for adding wifi to the subway cars — so I get what the authors are saying.

When you open the book, you'll certainly get the image the authors were seeking to create. Pictures of poorly placed QR codes will entertain and inform along the way, like this one:

QR Code Kills Kittens Example Image

The authors also note other issues that disconnects with customers. They criticize Facebook and captchas, note the miscommunications on Twitter, and how people are increasingly seeking social media shortcuts at the risk of their business:

"Is it really too much for provide a valued service, instead of paying for reviews? … If you do not have time to manage your social media accounts properly, or your product quality control for that matter, you shouldn't be focusing on new technologies. Your time is better spent elsewhere."

This book is light on text, and provides a whimsical tone in some of its highlights. You'll weigh how much value to get from comments -– I did like its note about open ended questions:

"Be careful crowdsourcing a phrase. When you ask an open-ended question, people will answer however they want. And the answers you don't want often travel the farthest."

There is definitely an anti-QR viewpoint that the authors carefully extended into a broader discussion about the wrong uses of social media and digital marketing. Having said that, the text and image combination may not be for everyone.

If you are seeking to give an employee a more formal example of marketing and social media guidance, look up books like Small Town Rules and Digital Impact, as well as basic social media 101 like, well, Social Media 101.

Combine these suggestions with this book, and you'll have a solid way of initiating a discussion of social media usage. And thanks to Stratten and Kramer, you'll save more than kittens. Maybe your own reputation.

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