LinkedIn Will Acquire Bright, a Job-Matching Site for $120 Million

LinkedIn Will Acquire Bright, a Job-Matching Site for $120 Million
AT&T Wants to Charge Extra for Certain Kinds of Internet Use
Should Your LLC Elect S Corp Status?
Local Attorney Ad Goes Viral with More Than 5 Million YouTube Views
Why is the Metro Ethernet Forum Important to Your Business?
Tim Ash on Conversion Optimization and Mobile for Affiliate Managers #AMDays

Posted: 12 Feb 2014 02:30 PM PST

LinkedIn will acquire Bright, another site for job seekers and recruiters, for $120 million.

Bright is a job-seeking site that uses its unique scoring system to match employers with people looking for a job. Bright’s technology reviews the resume of a job seeker and assigns it a score. The idea behind Bright, according to its website, is to eliminate clutter for those hiring new employees. Rather than comb through countless applications and resumes, a company can use a person’s Bright score to whittle down the field of prospective hires.

Recode reports that the $120 million sale price includes $32.4 million in cash and the remainder in Bright stock. The report also notes that this is LinkedIn’s largest purchase of another company since it launched. This could be an example of the bigger company absorbing its fastest-growing competition.

There are about 277 million users on LinkedIn. LinkedIn already has a similar job-matching service for companies in its Talent Solutions feature. On the site’s blog, Vice President of Product Parker Barille writes that buying Bright allows LinkedIn to grow and its job-matching ability to improve:

“As we add more job listings over the next several years, Bright’s powerful matching technology will be integral to ensuring that the prospects we suggest to employers and opportunities we surface for prospects are increasingly relevant.”

Bright has been a popular destination since it launched the scoring system in June 2012. Since then, it has received more than 62 million unique visitors and nearly 63 million jobs have been posted there. The company has already raised more than $20 million in funding from Passport Capital, Toba Capital and angel investors, the company’s website says.

Eduardo Vivas, founder of Bright, said his company decided to join LinkedIn so it could apply the technology it created to a larger market. On his company’s blog, Vivas writes:

“We decided to join LinkedIn because of what we lacked – the ability to apply this technology across the entire economy. We share LinkedIn’s passion for connecting talent with opportunity at massive scale.”

Bright members and Hiring Solutions customers will still be able to access their information on the original Bright site until the end of February. When the sale is complete, “several members” of the Bright staff will join LinkedIn, according to the buyer’s announcement.

Image: Bright

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AT&T Wants to Charge Extra for Certain Kinds of Internet Use

Posted: 12 Feb 2014 12:30 PM PST

at&t sign

It’s only been several weeks since an appeals court ruled against the FCC’s net neutrality rules, and already AT&T is maneuvering itself to take full advantage.

Net neutrality is basically the principal that all data on the Web should be treated equally. From an Internet provider’s perspective, it means not charging differently for different users, content, sites, platforms or applications.

But AT&T has reportedly filed a new patent which, if implemented, would monitor customers’ Internet bandwidth and charge depending upon the type of use.

Called the “Prevention of Bandwidth Abuse of a Communications System,” the patent lays out some ideas for how Internet access should be handled that worry net neutrality and small business supporters. Deal News has a good summary of what the patent entails:

“The user is provided an initial number of credits. As the user consumes the credits, the data being downloaded is checked to determine if it is permissible or non-permissible. Non-permissible data includes file-sharing, movie downloads, and downloading/uploading large files, the patent states. So what happens when users consume too many non-permissible credits? The patent suggests restriction policies be applied including “levying additional fees and/or terminating the user’s access to the channel.”

Yes, you read that right.

What you do online could now be viewed, monitored and assessed by the telecom company, and any unapproved activity could result in extra bills, or even losing your Internet connection completely.

However, for small businesses, the problem is less about the prying eyes of your Internet provider, and more about the extra business overhead you could unintentionally incur. From your perspective, you could be looking at higher charges if, for example you upload a file to your website that AT&T thinks is too large, or if you try to share too many files with a customer or client.

This could really affect you if you rely on say, cloud storage services to move large files and images around. The possible implications came out recently in a post by blogger David Raphael when he noticed a slowdown of access to Amazon Web Services.

In this case, the carrier in question was Verizon, but the company denies it has limited users’ access.

After the federal appeals court made its ruling, the Senate introduced legislation to keep net neutrality in place temporarily, until a more permanent fix can be found.

Back when net neutrality was just starting to be an issue, Small Business Trends Founder and publisher Anita Campbell identified the central concern for small businesses:

“…can certain providers block our access to lawful Internet content or services — or force us to pay a variety of extra gatekeepers in order to use features of the Internet or get preferred treatment. Any of these moves would put small businesses at a distinct disadvantage. Without an open-architecture Internet, we small businesses would not have a level playing field to compete with larger and better funded competitors.”

Net Neutrality Photo via Shutterstock

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Should Your LLC Elect S Corp Status?

Posted: 12 Feb 2014 10:00 AM PST

llc elect s corp status

Two of the most popular legal structures for small businesses are the LLC (Limited Liability Company) and the S corporation. Many small business owners have struggled over which is best for them.

However, you may not realize that the two aren't mutually exclusive. It's possible to have your cake and eat it too by forming an LLC and then electing S corporation status.

This is a particularly sound strategy if you have an LLC and the payroll taxes (self-employment taxes) on the owner(s) are high. Here we'll break down some of the key details on why you should consider an LLC with S corporation election, and how you go about doing it.

An Intro to the LLC and S Corporation: Key Differences

Both the LLC and S corporation are well liked among accountants and small businesses because of their "pass-through" tax treatment. Unlike a regular C corporation, both of these structures do not pay taxes on the business's profits. Rather, profits are passed along to the owner(s) and reported on their individual tax returns. In addition, both structures also help to separate the owners from the business and provide liability protection.

But there are some key differences as well. An LLC is typically much easier to run from an administrative standpoint. There are fewer state filings and forms, lower start-up costs, fewer formal meetings and documentation than with the C or S corporation. That's usually a big advantage for small business owners who don't want to be burdened by paperwork.

In addition, the LLC offers more flexibility in how owners can allocate the percentage of profits and losses among the owners. Let's say you started a business with a friend and you each own 50% of the business. One year, your friend had something come up in his personal life and didn't spend as much time on the business as you did. You both decided that the fair thing to do would be to give you 75% of the profits for the year.

However, if you had formed an S corporation, you would both still be taxed based on the percentage of ownership (i.e. you would be taxed on 50% of the profits; your partner on 50%…even though you had your own arrangement). However, the LLC does give you the flexibility to determine how you want to allocate the business' profits and each owner will be taxed accordingly.

It may sound like the LLC is coming out miles ahead, but there's one key advantage of the S corporation, and that's with taxes. The S corporation gives you more flexibility in how earnings are paid to the owners. For example, with an LLC, the entire net earnings are passed along to the owner(s) in the form of self-employment income and are, therefore, subject to self-employment tax for social security and Medicare.

But with the S corporation, you have the option of dividing up earnings into wages/salaries and then passive income in the form of distributions. Only the wages/salaries are subject to the FICA tax for social security and Medicare. The distributions are not. However, keep in mind, as an owner working in the business, you have to pay yourself a reasonable salary for the job you do.

Don't think you can get away with giving yourself a $20,000 annual salary and taking $150,000 in distributions.

Combining the LLC and S Corporation

Now, the interesting twist is that you can set up your business as an LLC and then make the election to have it treated as an S corporation by the IRS. From a legal perspective, your company is an LLC, not a corporation. That means you still get all the advantages of the LLC in terms of fewer filings with the state, as well as less paperwork and lower costs all around.

But then, in the IRS's eyes, your business is an S corporation. You get the pass-through of income just like a sole proprietorship or partnership, and you get the added flexibility of distributing some of the company's income as distributions not salary.

Therefore, potentially saving on social security/Medicare (i.e. SECA/FICA) taxes.

How to Set Up an S Corporation

If you're interested in electing S corporation tax treatment for your LLC, there are a few other things to keep in mind. There are certain restrictions for who can form an S Corporation.

For example, shareholders need to be legal residents of the U.S. and they need to be individuals (i.e. not partnerships or corporations).

To file for S corporation treatment, you'll need to file Form 2553 with the IRS. It's relatively simple paperwork, but there are strict deadlines for when it needs to be filed. A brand new company has 75 days from the date of its incorporation (or LLC formation) to file.

If you've got an existing LLC and want S corporation status, it's too late for your 2013 taxes. But you can qualify for the 2014 tax year as long as you get your paperwork in by March 17.

Question Photo via Shutterstock

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Local Attorney Ad Goes Viral with More Than 5 Million YouTube Views

Posted: 12 Feb 2014 07:00 AM PST

jamie casino

If you own a local business, how would you like your ad to be viewed more than five million times in just over a week. Yeah, we thought so.

Well, that’s what happened to personal injury lawyer Jamie Casino (real name Jamie Biancosino) when he posted a video he had made for local airing in the Savannah, GA, area during last week’s Super Bowl to YouTube.

Of course, Casino’s ad was not seen nationally at first like those of many of the major Super Bowl sponsors. But the video has created a huge following online, much more than would ever have been possible with Super Bowl viewers in the Savannah market alone.

The key to the ad’s success may be the video itself. And what a video it is! Casino, a Philadephia native, told his hometown paper recently:

“You take a big chance when you do things like this. But I'd do it again. No matter what."

He says the spot is not so much an ad for his law firm (though, clips from his law ads clearly appear at the beginning of the video.) Instead, the ad is a tribute to Jamie’s brother Michael who was killed in a shooting Labor Day 2012, he says.

If we are to believe the narrative of the video, Michael’s death turned his brother Jamie’s life around.

Full of dark imagery, heavy metal music, pyrotechnics, and dramatically shot vignettes, the video tells the story of Jamie’s journey.

It is a journey from an attorney who says he once represented real “villians” (for hefty sums) to a lawyer championing victims who, he says, cannot speak for themselves.

We see dramatizations of a man who is supposed to be Casino sitting in dark room, apparently with some of the villains he once represented, and a table piled with money in front of him.

Other scenes include Casino being told by police about his brother’s death and of his son asking him what he does at work.

Perhaps most attention grabbing is a scene of Casino standing at what we assume is his brother’s grave and then smashing the gravestone with a hammer. View the full video here.

Not everyone views personal injury law as a noble calling, but Casino makes it appear that way.

Some are also unhappy with the video’s subject matter, of course. The family of a second victim in the shooting was upset with the ad for publicizing the event.

But Casino’s video was clearly bigger than the local Savannah market he originally sought to reach. Unique content like no other was enough to give it a much larger following online.

Image: Video Still

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Why is the Metro Ethernet Forum Important to Your Business?

Posted: 12 Feb 2014 05:00 AM PST

Sponsored Post

metro ethernet forum

Sam Cooke once sang, “A Change is Gonna Come”. . .well Sam, your words always ring true, and its coming fast!

We have discussed a lot about Metro Ethernet/Carrier Ethernet connections and the great impact it can have on your business financially because of its ability to cut hardware, support and labor costs while leaving the networking to professionals who perform nothing but those tasks for a living.

These great advantages also come with their own challenges. Those being education and a need for a set of standard rules and guidelines/guidance to make sure that implementation and support has a consistent and logical manner. With the roll-out of carrier Ethernet services by major Internet Service providers, telephone service providers, cable providers and more, the Metro Ethernet Forum provides the fundamental blueprint to make it all work.

As changes in the business networking platform change from the standard Local Area Networks of the past to Managed Ethernet Networks, the process of how to implement in a fashion that takes into consideration the latest technologies, current hardware platforms, the network infrastructure already in place for service providers and the education required for the task, had to be reviewed.

And so the MEF was created to put this all together.

What Does the Metro Ethernet Forum Do?

They promote practical deployment of Carrier Ethernet across the world by developing architectural, service and management technical specifications and implementation agreements to be followed.

They have created a certification committee that oversees programs for equipment, services and professionals based on test suites developed by a technical committee.

They have a marketing committee that raises awareness and educates the industry on the work of the Metro Ethernet Forum, including the development of business, technical and implementation white papers, use cases, presentations and videos.

And lastly, a service operations committee streamlines & standardizes the buying, selling, delivering and operating processes of Carrier Ethernet services.

The goal here is to create a consensus between providers on services and specification.

What Impact Does the Metro Ethernet Forum Have on My Business?

Implementing new technologies can have a great impact on your business, from both a fiscal and operational point of view. Using a partner without the right skill-set to implement these technologies, can be disastrous however. Turning over responsibility of your network infrastructure to a partner is an important decision, many of us don’t like the idea of losing a sense of control. So while doing so has great benefits, the Metro Ethernet Forum provides your business a path to be sure that you have information.

You can learn about the Key specifications, if you happen to be techie, but most importantly you can see on their website, information that MEF partners use. You can learn if a partner you are considering is a MEF Carrier Ethernet Certified Professional. Its largest impact is to assure you that your money is well spent on a team ready to implement the new technology in a safe and affordable manner.

You’re job is easy, once you make the decision on Metro Ethernet services, use the Forum as your guide in choosing a partner.

Ethernet Photo via Shutterstock

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Tim Ash on Conversion Optimization and Mobile for Affiliate Managers #AMDays

Posted: 12 Feb 2014 02:30 AM PST

Meet Tim Ash, a highly-regarded presenter and keynote speaker, conversion rate optimization expert and host of the Landing Page Optimization podcast on WebmasterRadio.fm and CEO of SiteTuners. At Affiliate Management Days SF 2014 (March 19-20), Tim will hold his traditional “Live Affiliate Landing Page Critiques” session.

* * * * *

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

Tim Ash: Conversion. Unless you actually have an absolutely unique product or service that people are willing to walk on broken glass to get to, the reality is that you are probably peddling something that has lots of competition in the minds of your audience.

Since you are reaching the ultimate buyers through an affiliate intermediary, you must influence and attract these middle-men. Since affiliates are all very practical mercenaries, you must have the best performing offers and pages.

The best way to lock in the loyalty of super affiliates is to relentlessly focus on your conversion rates and put more money in their pockets.

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

Tim Ash: Mobile. For many businesses this already represents 25-50% of leads or sales. If you only have affiliates that are hitting email lists hard, you will miss out on this opportunity.

Do everything you can to attract mobile-savvy affiliates.

Question: Not too long ago, you released the 2nd edition of Landing Page Optimization. How is this book different from other tomes on conversion rate optimization?

Tim Ash: Actually there are no other tomes. Most of them are light-weight tactical guides. My book is significantly updated for the second edition. We have done massive reorganization, as well as added 150 pages of solid new content.

You can think of it as a college textbook that covers the theory and practice of conversion rate optimization.

Question: At AM Days SF 2014, you will be speaking on conversion optimization techniques for affiliate landing pages. I know it isn’t easy to fit your session’s content into a paragraph, but can you give Small Business Trends readers a few quick tips on how they can improve the performance/conversion of their online landing pages today?

Tim Ash: Less is more. Get rid of text, unnecessary visual distractions and conceptual complexity on your landing pages. Don’t expect people to actively engage with your content and wrestle the meaning out of your landing page.

Assume that they are busy and design your pages for maximum clarity and focus.

Question: If you were to leave online advertisers, merchants and affiliate managers with one piece of advice for 2014, what would it be?

Tim Ash: Go do mobile versions of your top-performing offers. By the way, that does not simply mean making a stretchable “responsive” version of your page. It should involve a fundamental rethink of what people want from you in a mobile context.

* * * * *

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 (or all-access) pass.

See the rest of the interview series here.

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