Klout Reinvents Itself With Content Sharing – First Look |  |
- Klout Reinvents Itself With Content Sharing – First Look
- You Can Now Get 50 New Domain Extensions – Web.com Explains Why You Might Want One
- Small Businesses Once Again Create More Jobs Than Big Businesses
- 9 Qualities a Good Call Center Should Have
- Facebook Won’t Change Name of Product Used By Smaller Company
- How To Get Your Content Shared On Twitter
- 37 Signals Changes Name to Basecamp to Focus on Signature Product
| Klout Reinvents Itself With Content Sharing – First Look Posted: 07 Feb 2014 02:00 AM PST
Klout, the app that attempts to measure your social media influence, just launched a new version. The new Klout goes beyond just giving you a score and rewarding with “perks” (i.e, discounts and small freebies) for activity. The new focus is on content — and sharing it. In an announcement on the official Klout blog, Sanjay Desai, Chief Product Officer, wrote:
To address that point, Klout now offers a content stream. It displays articles that are trending in popularity or are interest-based. Snippets appear right in the Klout dashboard:
You can share the content without leaving Klout (of course, you have to leave to read the full article you’re sharing first!). You scroll through the content stream and click the share button next to an item. If you are not ready to share immediately, you can schedule a tweet to go out later. A little calendar pops up to schedule it:
Nice But ….The new Klout (or #newKlout as it is being called on Twitter) is a mixed bag. It is definitely nice looking. The design is updated, fresh and clean. And it’s got more to offer users. The new Klout’s focus on content and sharing delivers more of the “what’s in it for me.” Klout needed to become more than an ego-scoring service measuring social media clout. It was fun to see your Klout score at first – but only for a short while. Soon the novelty wore off. And it’s frankly demotivating for people who are new to social media. Seeing a low score may motivate some, but for others it puts them off using Klout, especially if they don’t have much time to spend online. They figure their scores will never get higher. However, I can’t shake the feeling that Klout’s new content-sharing comes too late to the market. Other sharing apps, such as Buffer and Hootsuite, have already become entrenched – certainly among business users. Hootsuite, for example, has 8+ million users. Other sharing apps offer more features and functionality. Klout “Perks,” where users with high Klout scores earn discounts and freebies, are still around. There’s a certain novelty to earning a $5 McDonald’s coupon. But is that kind of reward worth spending a lot of time at Klout to earn? I see plenty of tweets about Perks, but it’s hard to imagine any long-term appeal to small business owners. Most of us have limited free time, and what little we have could be better used in other ways. Another issue is that all the content feeds are big media publications. That means the big keep getting bigger. It doesn’t leave much room for independent bloggers or smaller news sites to get their content shared. Klout needs to diversify and expand its content sources. Some established Klout features seem to be missing in the new version. Users are complaining on the Klout blog about not being able to find the friends list and the questions section, among other things. Klout says they were “temporarily shelved” and will be back eventually. The company’s announcement also says more content tools will be coming later. The post Klout Reinvents Itself With Content Sharing – First Look appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| You Can Now Get 50 New Domain Extensions – Web.com Explains Why You Might Want One Posted: 06 Feb 2014 04:00 PM PST
Web.com is now offering more than 50 new domain extensions for pre-registration and purchase. We reached out to Web.com to ask why 50 new domain extensions were even needed. While most business owners would likely choose a .com extension before something harder to memorize like .technology or .tips, the new options may be cheaper. Not only that, according to Web.com’s Senior Vice President of Domains, Bob Wiegand, they may be your only option if the .com domain you were looking for has already been taken. Wiegand said in a phone interview with Small Business Trends that some of the best .com extensions are long since gone:
If you tried to buy a coveted .com at auction or from an existing seller, you could end up paying thousands of dollars. The new extensions give more options. But Wiegand said that .com domains remain by far the most popular, and he doesn't expect to see a massive adoption of the new domains overnight:
The process of purchasing domains with the new extensions won't be any different than purchasing a .com domain. Web.com doesn't actually own any of the domains or extensions. The owner of the domain extension sets a wholesale price, and Web.com then sets a retail price and serves as a storefront for customers to find and purchase domains. They may also be found through other providers. However, because the new extensions have just been released, most are in pre-registration, meaning you can sign up to purchase them when they go live. If more than one party signs up for the domain during the pre-registration phase, the domain can go to an auction. Even more extensions will be available in 10 to 12 months. Appeal of New Domain Extensions VariesPrices may vary based on how much interest there is in a particular extension. Wiegand noted, “Some of the really niche names are not generic enough to have the broad based appeal of a .com, so there won't be the same number of interested parties.” For example, sites with a .bike extension might not have as many interested parties as a more general extension. Small bike shops or similar businesses could be able to find bargains there. Still, it’s too early for Web.com to say which domains might be bargains or how prices will compare with .coms, Wiegand said. In fact, extensions with wider appeal could attract a higher price tag, he added. Quite a few of the new extensions are related to small business industries, such as .limo (which could be used for a limo service) or .photography (for a photography studio). The new domain extensions include: .academy .bike .builders .cab .camera .camp .careers .center .clothing .company .computer .construction .contractors .diamonds .directory .domains .education .enterprises .equipment .estate .gallery .glass .graphics .guru .holdings .institute .kitchen .land .lighting .limo .luxury .management .menu .photography .photos .plumbing .recipes .repair .shoes .singles .solutions .support .systems .technology .tips .today .training .ventures .voyage Image: Web.com The post You Can Now Get 50 New Domain Extensions – Web.com Explains Why You Might Want One appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Small Businesses Once Again Create More Jobs Than Big Businesses Posted: 06 Feb 2014 01:30 PM PST
Small businesses created almost double the new jobs in January 2014, compared with large businesses. And when you add growth among medium-sized businesses to the employment growth in small businesses, the numbers swamp the job growth of large corporations. The ADP Employment Report showed that private-sector jobs grew by 175,000 during the month. That’s a considerable drop compared with November and December. However, that is “in line with the average monthly growth throughout 2013,” said Carlos Rodriguez, president and chief executive officer of ADP. ADP defines small businesses as those with under 50 employees. So it equates to millions of fairly small employers. Medium sized businesses in ADP’s lexicon are those with 50 to 499 employees. Some entities, such as the U.S. Small Business Administration, would define those as small businesses, too. When you consider that, you see that the majority of net new jobs are coming from smaller employers. And what types of industries are creating these jobs? Well, it’s not manufacturing. Manufacturing jobs show a loss of 12,000 for the month. Construction jobs were up. Don’t get too excited, though. Professor Scott Shane has pointed out that the long term trend in construction startups is actually downward. By far, most of the new jobs came from the service industries (160,000). A large chunk of those were professional and business services. Transportation and utilities also grew. ADP collects statistics based on actual anonymous payroll data from businesses that use its payroll services. This data covers nearly 24 million U.S. workers. Then estimates are created for national employment numbers in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics. The post Small Businesses Once Again Create More Jobs Than Big Businesses appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| 9 Qualities a Good Call Center Should Have Posted: 06 Feb 2014 11:00 AM PST
If you try to be everywhere at once, your business will eventually pay the price. Call centers are great for handling tasks that you just don’t have the time for. But how do you know who to turn to for the assistance you need? How can you find a good call center? In order to figure out just that, we asked a panel of nine entrepreneurs from the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:
Here's what YEC community members had to say: 1. Hourly Wages “You can usually pay for call center services in different ways — hourly, commission only, project-based, seat license and more. But, you can almost always figure out the underlying model based on the hourly wage the company pays. Take the wage and multiply twice for operating costs and profit. With this model, you can overlay the payable metric, and then compare the services.” ~ JT Allen, myFootpath LLC 2. Customer Service “The experience you deliver to customers is absolutely critical as a startup. Nothing creates more value — or destroys it — than customer service. Find out which brands use each of your competing call centers, and make a dozen phone calls to each. Wait until you say, “Wow, I love working with this person on the phone,” then hire that call center service ASAP.” ~ Aaron Schwartz, Modify Watches 3. English Proficiency “Nothing further frustrates an irate caller than being attended to by a person who is not sufficiently proficient in the caller’s language. I understand cost can be an issue, but if it is, you may want to try email-only or online chat as well. Often, writing is easier than speaking for many outsourced operators.” ~ Nicolas Gremion, Free-eBooks.net 4. Success Metrics “Make sure your expectations and success metrics are aligned with the call center’s. You want to make sure your success is tied to theirs and that you both agree on what success means.” ~ Sarah Schupp, UniversityParent 5. Conversation Skills “Do your research, and shop around. We have found that there is a huge difference in the way call centers handle their calls. Some read word-for-word from a script and some use more of a roadmap to steer the conversation in a general direction while relying on their employees to make judgement calls and ask probing questions. We have had much more success with that second model. “ ~ Phil Laboon, Clear Sky SEO 6. Integration Between Systems “Lead generation is an important piece of any company and call centers are a good tool to increase the number of leads that come into your pipeline. However, your pipe can get clogged if there isn’t a good hand-off between the call center and those individuals/tools that may be essential in closing the sale. Therefore, it is important to choose a call center that works with your tech and people. “ ~ Lawrence Watkins, Great Black Speakers 7. Calling Statistics “The most important numbers to track are calls answered (out of all placed), average ring time (needs to be less than 20 seconds), average hold time to answer (needs to be less than 30 seconds) and lost calls (part of calls answered). When call centers miss calls, take too long to answer them or leave people on long holds, they kill your business.” ~ Roger Bryan, Enfusen Digital Marketing 8. Relationships “Most call centers are good and will deliver what they say they are going to deliver, but all campaigns are different. Some are harder to deliver than others. That is why it is so important to have some kind of pre-existing relationship with the center or know someone who has. This way, you can be assured that you will get what you are paying for.” ~ Louis Lautman, Supreme Outsourcing 9. Customer Semantics “Price should come second to quality when considering call centers. When customers call a sales department CSR, they will immediately judge your company by the tone and skill of the rep. Consider the impact the CSR’s culture will have on the customer. Will the CSR be able to relate to the customer? Although you may save a few dollars by outsourcing, you may lose thousands from lost conversions.” ~ Gideon Kimbrell, InList Inc Call Center Photo via Shutterstock The post 9 Qualities a Good Call Center Should Have appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Facebook Won’t Change Name of Product Used By Smaller Company Posted: 06 Feb 2014 08:00 AM PST
It’s the nightmare of every company that comes out with a product, and it is one that Microsoft fell victim to on two occasions. The nightmare is when you find out that another company has a similar product with the same name – and they won’t relinquish it. That is what a company called FiftyThree is going through at the moment, after getting entangled with Facebook. This has forced the company to trademark the name “Paper” to “keep its options open“. FiftyThree makes an iOS drawing app called Paper. According to iTunes, it has nearly 14,000 ratings averaging 4 stars out of 5. So this is not a small insignificant product. Apple named it App Of The Year 2012, and Time Magazine named it one of the top ten tech apps of 2012. However, it may end up losing the coveted number one spot in Google search results by the newly released Facebook product of the same name. Refusing — So Far — to Change Name of ProductFiftyThree asked Facebook to change the name of its app — and Facebook has refused. According to FiftyThree’s public statement asking for the name change, they claim that a Facebook board member is also an investor in FiftyThree. If that is true, why was FiftyThree not notified sooner about the upcoming new Facebook app? In the public statement, the FiftyThree CEO, Georg Petschnigg, was forced to clarify that his company was not being sold to Facebook.
According to the New York Times, the US Patent and Trademark Office office has a trademark patent for the name “Paper by FiftyThree” on May 11, 2012. Techcrunch speculates that this may be the legal loophole that Facebook crawls through in order to win and keep the “Paper” name. However, although it could be argued that both apps have different purposes, Petschnigg told Mashable that he sees an important overlap. ”You really have to look at the nature of the app,” he said. “Facebook is positioning Paper as a mobile creativity app, and we’re a mobile creativity app. That’s where we see room for confusion.” The post Facebook Won’t Change Name of Product Used By Smaller Company appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| How To Get Your Content Shared On Twitter Posted: 06 Feb 2014 05:00 AM PST
Creating good content? That is important. Getting it shared on Twitter? That is crucial. While primarily what you create is going to take the most time and energy, getting it seen is a big thing to consider. Social media is the driving force behind visibility and marketing, and one of your best tools. Twitter in particular is a useful platform for its open nature, ease of use and popularity. Not to mention how many third party apps and services exist to measure the results of your marketing. But how do you get your content shared on Twitter? How can you up the efficiency of your marketing on that particular platform? There are a number of ways. Getting Content Shared on Twitter1. Keep Content Quality HighThis is an obvious step, and yet one that people routinely ignore. When your content quality is high, people enjoy it more. When they enjoy it, they are more likely to want other people to read it themselves. This means they will share it, either through a social button on the post or by directly linking from their account. You should always aim to make your content the very best. Being consistent will also gain your followers, which means more future posts could be shared. Actionable tip: Tweets with attached images (visual tweets) tend to get shared more. Featured tool: Keep an eye on your Twitter analytics (inside Twitter ads) for the type of content your followers seem to enjoy more.
2. Hashtags: Optimize Your Content For SharingSometimes content is good, but it isn’t really shareable. You have to try and optimize your content to be shared by your target audience. The best way to do that is to take a look at what is being shared the most. Is it posts written in list form? Is it on a particular topic? How many photos does it have? Narrow things down to establish patterns, and then exploit those patterns to write content that is made to be linked. Featured tool: Hashtagify has their own chart of trending hashtags. Each hashtag in it has a "breakout date" and a "breakout score." You can see hashtags trending last month, last week or just now.
Twitter chats are also a very effective way to get your content shared using hashtags. 3. Ask People To ShareThis is the simplest way to get a share, and an amazing number of people don’t do it. When you tweet your content, ask people to retweet it. Social media expert Dan Zarrella did an experiment in retweeting, and he found that when he specifically asked “Please Retweet” he saw a 51% increase in RTs. When he wrote “Please RT” he got a 39% increase. Others have reported similar results when they have asked for their content to be shared. Featured tool: ViralContentBuzz (of which I am a co-founder) is a non-intrusive way to put your content in front of power social media users for more retweets and shares.
4. Embed Your TweetsYou may have noticed lately that a lot of blog posts will have embedded tweets sitting in the middle of them. This is an interesting way of breaking up a post using an image, but it is more than that. It also offers people a chance to go to the original post on Twitter, find your Twitter profile, and share a post that has the additional benefit of a social tie in. Featured tool: JM Twitter Cards lets you make much more of embed tweets by enabling Twitter cards on your blog posts.
5. Share More Than OnceNot all of your followers are going to be online when you post a link to your content. Even those who are might miss the link in the constantly updating stream of their follower’s updates. You should be posting links to your content multiple times on the day that you publish it. Set a schedule that lets the link be sent out at least once every few hours. Ideally, it should be sent out once an hour. Don’t write them all as the same tweet, or it looks like spam. Instead, write different versions with the same link every time. You will get more chances to catch the eye of your followers, and more retweets are inevitable. Featured tool: Inline Tweet Sharer lets you create in-line “Tweet this.”
Read for more ways to re-package tweets for more shares. Have a tip for getting more content shared on Twitter? Bird Photo via Shutterstock The post How To Get Your Content Shared On Twitter appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| 37 Signals Changes Name to Basecamp to Focus on Signature Product Posted: 06 Feb 2014 02:30 AM PST
Software company 37 Signals — long the poster child of “Web development company turned product company” – is changing its company name to match its flagship product name. Company founder and CEO Jason Fried announced the company would be changing its name to Basecamp, in an announcement posted on the 37 Signals site. The idea behind the name change is to create better parity with the developer’s signature product of the same name. Fried claims that Basecamp has better name recognition than 37 Signals. Started back in 2004, Basecamp has grown to over 15 million users, and Fried claims that over 6,500 new users signed on in the last week alone. The software has been used by 285,000 companies to manage 2,000,000 projects. But despite this extraordinary growth, Fried was not happy. His dream of a small company was becoming yet another big tech company. While other tech companies would be delighted at this situation, Fried wanted the opposite.
So with that in mind, the name 37 Signals is consigned to the history books, and the company is now called Basecamp. Everyone will work on, and focus on, Basecamp. As Fried says in his online letter, and Forbes also says, 37 Signals has produced some remarkable work over the years, including several books, and creating (and later open-sourcing) the popular programming language Ruby on Rails. But what of the other two products that bring in money for the company – Highrise and Campfire? In the online letter, Fried outlined three possible scenarios:
Fried has revealed that he is speaking to “a few interested parties” and has said that anyone is free to approach him with offers. But he made it very clear that “Campfire will sell in the single digit millions, and Highrise will sell in the tens of millions.” Image: Basecamp screenshot The post 37 Signals Changes Name to Basecamp to Focus on Signature Product appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
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