White House Offers Help to Small Businesses: Some Say Not Enough

President Obama offered some small steps this week that aim to help small businesses access loans and tax credits more easily.

Though this may be a step in the right direction, many have criticized the White House because some of the initiatives included in the new package were part of an executive order that had already been made by the Obama administration.

Because of this, the program, formerly known as the Small Loan Advantage, has been dubbed SLA 2.0. The purpose of the re-launched SLA 2.0 is to raise the maximum loan amount to small businesses from $250,000 to $350,000 and to streamline the loan process, making it easier for lenders to offer loans to small businesses.

Other parts of the new initiative call for changing the process for businesses looking to obtain surety bond guarantees under $250,000, accelerating payments to subcontractors who deal with the federal government, and cutting down the application process for the SBA's Disaster Loan Program.

President Obama has also asked Congress to consider a measure that would allow small businesses to write off up to $250,000 in capital investments, including machinery and equipment, in 2013. This measure is intended to increase productivity and help spur growth.

While these steps may greatly help certain businesses, such as construction companies and those who have government contracts, many are worried that they won't offer enough help to the millions of other businesses struggling through the recession.

The President and members of Congress have been in a heated debate over middle class tax cuts and those that may affect some small businesses. The President wants to only cut taxes for those Americans making less than $250,000 per year, but some argue that not extending those cuts to more Americans will hurt small businesses and make them unable to create jobs and help the economy recover.

However, the White House's announcement reminds Americans of the 18 small business tax cuts and numerous other measures the President has put into place in order to help small businesses.

For more information about the Small Loan Advantage program, you can visit the Small Business Association's website. And for information on all of the President's new executive orders pertaining to small businesses, you can view the White House's official announcement.

Obama Photo via Shutterstock

Do You Have A Search Engine On Your Website? Here\'s Why You Should!

In the early days of the internet, the public relied on portals. Sites like Yahoo and CitySearch provided great “storefronts” from which every web session began. Google changed all of that, training users that if they wanted to find something, all they had to do was insert a few words and they'd be sent directly to it.

All of this easy searching has left web users expecting quick results. Think of your website as one of those 1-800 phone numbers, where customers are forced to listen to a long string of choices before being directed to another string of choices. Eventually, the customer inevitably hits “0″ in the hopes of telling an operator what he or she needs.

A search engine is your site's “0″ function. Many visitors come to your site looking for specific information. If that information is not immediately clear on your home page, a large, inviting search box on your page may very well be that visitor's second choice. But don't take our word for it. Let the research speak for itself. Here are just a few reasons you should add search capabilities to your business's website:

• Convert visitors into business. Research firm MarketingSherpa released results of a study that found that visitors who used site search were three times more likely to convert than those who didn't. Their research also showed 43% of site visitors went directly to the search box when visiting a website.
• Gather data on visitors. By using the right tool, site search can provide valuable insight into your visitors. You can use these search terms to determine what information your visitors are seeking, which can help redirect your future marketing efforts.
• Increase retention. Research shows the average visitor spends eight seconds on a site before clicking away. A search engine allows them to get where they are going quickly, increasing the chance they'll find what they're looking for before they leave.

SLI Systems offers a comprehensive search solution that will not only add a search engine to your website, but provide analytics to help you determine the searching habits of your visitors. Not only that, but the data it collects influences the results future visitors see.

“Other search engines, free or included as part of a bigger software package, typically offer limited customization capabilities â€" unless you hire an army of experts, which most small businesses can't afford â€" so companies have no control over how results are ranked, how the search pages are formatted, and what refinements to offer site visitors to help them narrow down results,” SLI Systems spokesperson Andrea Cousens says. She adds that SLI Systems' search engine also allows integration with user reviews, social media content, video, and location-based informationâ€"things other search engines don't offer.

While SLI Systems caters to small businesses, larger clients include HarryandDavid.com and JellyBelly.com. SLI Systems client Century Novelty reports a 700-800% ROI each month and U.S. Toy has noticed a 300% higher conversion rate for search pages, with a 400% higher per-visit order for site search pages.

Whether you go with an intensive search engine or not, your website should definitely include one. Try a few searches to make sure your site's search works the way you intended before permanently committing to it.

Ryan Caldbeck of CircleUp: Investing In Small Business with Crowdfunding

There's good news for small business. If you operate a small business, by now you know how challenging it can be to find investors. The good news is that all of this is about to change. Ryan Caldbeck, CEO and Founder of CircleUp, joins Brent Leary to share his solution, a crowdfunding platform for the small business industry.

* * * * *

Small Business Trends: Ryan can you tell us a bit about your background before we jump into crowdfunding?

Ryan Caldbeck: Sure, I spent the last seven years in consumer focused private equity. I was investing in private consumer companies above $10 million in revenue.  What I notice is that there are hundreds of investment firms around the county that will invest in larger consumer businesses, but almost none that will invest in smaller ones.

We started CircleUp to focus on that smaller end of the market, which is less efficient and a great place for investors to make money.

Small Business Trends: Can you tell us a little bit about crowdfunding in general?

Ryan Caldbeck: The basic concept of crowdfunding is a lot of individuals coming together to achieve a common goal.  That can take the form of individuals donating money to a company or to a cause, which is the most common form of crowdfunding. Or, it can take the place of individuals investing and receiving equity or debt in a company.

Small Business Trends: How does CircleUp play in the crowdfunding area?

Ryan Caldbeck: CircleUp is the largest equity based crowdfunding site in the county.  We have a group of accredited investors, because today the only investors that are allowed to invest in private companies are accredited investors.

The investors on our site are excited to invest in small consumer and retail businesses. Companies that have more than a million dollars in revenue, but again are too small for institutional investors. They come on to our site and find an opportunity that they like.  We have an investor overview and can sign the legal documents on our site, wire money through our sites and become equity owners in that business.

Small Business Trends: Can you take us through some of the other mechanics of how CircleUp works?

Ryan Caldbeck: We believe strongly in curating the companies that are on our platform. We think that the investors that come to CircleUp are looking for really high quality investment opportunities, and we want to present those opportunities to the investors after they have passed our own curation as professional investors.

The investor comes on to the site and can read an investor presentation and ask questions directly to the CEO. That is one of the features we think is really an important innovation in private investing.

Small Business Trends: What makes a good candidate for a company looking for capital on CircleUp?

Ryan Caldbeck: The number one criteria is, “Do we think that there is a great opportunity for investors to make money?”  We look at:

• Whether the company has a path to sell strategic. So if you are a granola bar, we believe that General Mills, or Nestle, or Sara Lee would want to buy that granola bar in a few years.
• Brand strength. In consumer products that is the piece that is the most defensible. That is the barrier to entry.
• Financial performance; we look hard at the numbers.
• The management team. Believing that the management team can take this business to the next level.

Small Business Trends: How long would it take for them to go from being a good candidate to potentially getting some investment money?

Ryan Caldbeck: When we launched, we anticipated it would take 90 days or so to raise money. In the offline world these companies typically take 12 to 18 months. On CircleUp what we found is so far is it's actually taking more like 4 to 5 weeks, which has been surprising how quickly these companies have gotten funding.

Small Business Trends: How much on average can a company expect to get in an investment capital?

Ryan Caldbeck: Our target right now is to help companies that are raising somewhere between $250,000 and a million, maybe a million and a half. We can raise more if we want to.  But one of the things that we are cautious of is if there is a company that's raising, let's say $5 million dollars, or $10 million dollars, on the consumer product space what we know as former investors is that if the company only has a million dollars in revenue and it is raising 10 million bucks, that is a very bad situation for a consumer products company. It might work for technology companies, but it doesn't work for a food business.

Small Business Trends: Can you talk a little bit about how you make sure you get the right investors?

Ryan Caldbeck: Number one, the SEC requires all investors and private companies are accredited investors. An accredited investor is someone who makes more than $200,000 dollars a year as an individual, $300,000 dollars a year as a couple, or a million dollars in assets, excluding their homes.

We also recruit individual investors that are excited about consumer companies. We think we're building a platform that brings more to the table than just capital. Now the company has investors that aren't just writing a check, but can also add value.

Small Business Trends: On average, only about 2% of the companies who are looking to get up on CircleUp are accepted. Do give the others advice on how they can make it in the future?

Ryan Caldbeck: We spend a lot of time doing that.  It is not just because we hope they come back to CircleUp.  We just think it is the right thing to do.

Small Business Trends: How significant will crowdfunding be in the future?

Ryan Caldbeck: My view is that crowdfunding will be really important in some industries, but not in all. A good example is technology companies. If you are in an early stage, tech startup, especially in Silicon Valley, and you can't raise money from Angels or VC firms, that is a very bad sign.

But there are other industries, and consumers is just one of them.  Where there is no kind of efficient fund raising community, I think crowdfunding will help those companies and will allow investors to invest in the best companies.

This interview is part of our One on One series of conversations with some of the most thought-provoking entrepreneurs, authors and experts in business today. This interview has been edited for publication. To hear audio of the full interview, click the right arrow on the gray player below. You can also see more interviews in our interview series.

Whether you're growing your business or starting a new venture, BlackBerry solutions provide you with the freedom you want and the control you need. [Series sponsor]

 

Acobot: Software That Lets You Add a Personal Touch to Your Website, Without Humans

Online shopping is often associated with a detachment between the business and consumers because of the lack of a physical prescience and the human touch. As prospective customers have an increasingly short attention span, having an effective website is crucial for increasing customer retention. While there are many factors which go into creating a solid user experience, adding an automated chat box is a very effective and unique way to add a human touch to your site.

Not to be confused with those cheesy virtual humans which greet you after accidentally stumbling on a spam site, live chat boxes remain out of the way until the user decides to interact. Acobot provides a fairly affordable service for many small businesses by offering a free tier, with their highest end tier topping out at only $49/month. As the plans primarily differ in the amount of chats permitted per month, the product is very easy to scale. For persons running noncommercial websites, Acobot even offers unlimited chats at no cost.

Overall the product is intuitive and very accurate. During my testing on Acobots' site I was able to carry out human like conversations without having to change my conversational style. The robot can be trained to block/ignore profanity, and even has the ability to direct users to pages relevant to their queries. For example asking about the company will send the user to the Acobot about page, while asking about pricing directs users to their price table.

Programming Acobot is done easily in a straightforward process. After logging into your control panel, simply ask the bot a question and then type the desired response. No code to learn and no difficult linguistics. Just straightforward questions and answers between your company and potential customers. Although it would be very difficult to program answers for every question a customer might raise, Acobot makes for an excellent way for customers to be directed to key sections of your website, or even have common questions about your products/services answered.

By adding Acobot to your  existing sales and support flow, you can cut down greatly on support overhead while increasing satisfaction by providing quick answers to their questions.

\'Union-based\' SQL injection vulnerability was responsible for the Yahoo! Voices hack

An SQL injection vulnerability was responsible for yesterday's password breach of Yahoo! Voices.

According to research by Imperva, the breach of the Voices application highlights how enterprises continue to neglect basic security practices. It said that the breach was enabled by a union-based SQL injection vulnerability in the application, which was the basic form of SQL injection and a well-known attack.

As revealed by SC Magazine yesterday, Yahoo! confirmed that up to 400,000 of its Voices account usernames and passwords had been stolen and published online. The credentials were reportedly stored in clear text and were taken from the Yahoo.com subdomain dbb1.ac.bf1.yahoo.com.

Rob Rachwald, Imperva's director of security strategy, said: “This attack highlights the challenges of security with third-party applications.  The attacked application was probably acquired by Yahoo! from a third party, Associated Content. It's very challenging to have an effective security development lifecycle with third parties. Therefore, you need to put them behind a web application firewall.”

Mark Bower, data protection expert and VP at Voltage Security, asked why organisations such as Yahoo! have still not got it right, especially as SQL injection is a known attack.

Recent research by White Hat Security found that while SQL injection is a prevalent website vulnerability, it only affects 11 per cent of websites and flaws are fixed in an average of 53 days. It claimed that five per cent of all websites it evaluated had at least one SQL injection vulnerability that was exploitable without first needing to login to the website.

The April 2012 'State of Software Security Report' from Veracode, said that SQL injection remains one of the two most frequently exploited vulnerability types (along with cross-site scripting), with a statistically flat incidence rate from the first quarter of 2010 to the fourth quarter of 2011, suggesting that new vulnerabilities are being introduced at the same rate as known vulnerabilities are being remediated.

Chris Hinkley, CISSP and senior security engineer at secure cloud hosting company, FireHost, said: “Yahoo! has fallen victim to an SQL injection attack, which in comparison to most of the tools in a hacker's box, is a pretty straightforward and common method of attack. Though the hackers have described the incident as only a ‘wake-up call', if organisations do not take more robust precautions, the next attack could be much more damaging.

“SQL injection attacks have become the method of choice among hackers seeking to exploit weaknesses in IT infrastructures, but with solutions readily available that are capable of blocking these threats, it's frustrating that these attacks are still so successful.”

Paul Ayers, vice president EMEA of data encryption firm Vormetric, said that this is not the first large brand to fall victim to a security breach, and it will not be the last.

“With every incident such as this that happens, organisations worldwide are reminded of the changing threat landscape and the need for IT infrastructure to keep pace. As such, an organisation's starting point shouldn't be â€" ‘if' we get hacked, but ‘when',” he said.

“Ultimately, focusing on a defensive perimeter around a network is not going to keep the bad guys out anymore. Servers hold the crown jewels of enterprise information and organisations need to ensure the security and access control of that server data. For databases in particular, a combination of encryption and database activity monitoring ensures organisations can rest assured that no matter how or where data exists on systems, or whoever's hands it falls into, that information remains secure.”

Social Media for Blue Collar Companies: Stigma or Success?

I'm a fairly strong proponent of social media for any business, small or large. With the rise of some impressive tools that really make ideas take off, and the many articles SmallBizTechnology.com has posted on the subject of social media, it's too big a niche to ignore for anyone.

Recently it was posited that social media might be a waste of time for blue-collar small businesses. Ultimately, I think the term ‘blue-collar' has a bit of its own stigma associated with it, in that more labor-intensive businesses are not nearly as focused on marketing or lead-generating as larger companies. Also, there's the connotation that blue-collar workers might not be as tech-savvy as their ‘dressier' peers.

The validity of this point is interesting, but only within a short range…literally. For instance, small businesses that operate out of truly small towns or in small markets probably don't have the reach â€" or the need for a reach, for that matter â€" beyond the confines of their town or county line. A feed or grain company, for example, advertising services online or through Facebook might indeed be a waste of their time and money.

Be that as it may, it's difficult for me to believe that any kind of social media presence, no matter how minor, is a bad thing. The truth is that there's a heck of a lot of folks using social media out there, and if any one of them work for a small business, they might be already talking about their job online. Good or bad, it's rather unavoidable.

Check out item 26 on this page. It's clear that this author thinks that blue-collar businesses are, although perhaps slow to embrace social media, beginning to do so in larger numbers. But don't just listen to the one author â€" the New York Times asked a few months ago what people's opinions are on this very subject, and the Comments section is full of support for blue-collar businesses having social media attachments.

The point is, making broad assumptions about your customers and thinking “MY customers don't tweet, use Facebook, or read blogs,” means you're overlooking the fact that more and more people get their information online these days. If your company is not embracing it, then your competitors could be making inroads with possible customers.

There's also a heck of a support structure out there for blue-collar businesses. Check out the Blue Collar Business Podcast, for one. While the last podcast was made just over a year ago, there's plenty of material here for beginners or less tech-savvy individuals/businesses to learn from. Even social media itself seems to understand that, even though small blue-collar businesses are under-valued in the realm of media, the impact of education cannot be overstated.

Bottom line: don't assume anything about your employees or your customers. If you're not involved in social media, or don't believe in it, it doesn't mean your employees and/or your customers are not. Overlook social media at your own risk.

Sales: They Bounce Like That

I conceived this cartoon while inking another with a precipitous sales drop.

After drawing the line for the steep decline, I thought it might be fun if it had picked up some momentum. I drew the three little bounces and a quick approximation of this caption on the side of the paper and finished up the original cartoon I'd been working on.

It's not often that one of your own pieces inspires another, but I've learned to never look a gift cartoon in the caption.

nCircle launches enterprise edition of vulnerability scanner

An enterprise edition of its cloud-based vulnerability scanner has been launched by nCircle.

According to the company, PureCloud Enterprise addresses security issues in remote locations, branch offices and supply chain partners and makes it possible to continuously monitor business associated security risks.

Brent Torre, cloud product manager at nCircle, said: “PureCloud's secure, patent-pending cloud delivery makes it the only vulnerability scanning solution on the market that can scan an entire network, including systems behind the firewall, without installing complicated and expensive scanners.

“No other vulnerability scanning solution offers the flexibility to perform comprehensive network scans from virtually anywhere at any time and aggregate all scan results into a management system that prioritises risk across extended corporate and partner environments.”

PureCloud Enterprise can be integrated into the nCircle Suite360 Intelligence Hub to provide users with a single view of security risk, consolidated reporting and analytics and enterprise-class customer support, the company said.

Credit card details openly available on Google

Customer databases that include credit card numbers can be found by searching on Google.

According to research by internet hosting firm UKFast, consumer credit card details are still openly available via a search, with one database found to contain the details of almost 4,000 customers of an events company â€" including names, emails, full postal addresses, account usernames and passwords.

Lawrence Jones, CEO of UKFast, said: “Twelve months ago we revealed that with a simple Google search, anyone could find databases filled with sensitive personal data from both customers and suppliers â€" including full credit card information.

“A year later we find ourselves in the situation where this information is still readily available. The value of these databases has hugely increased now thanks to the reams of information we place on social media. Cyber criminals can not only sell credit card details but whole identities, as openly as you would sell a pair of shoes.”

The company said that many businesses are oblivious to the fact that storing card and personal details live on a web server leaves them searchable by Google.

Neil Lathwood, IT director at UKFast, said: “Google is extremely good at indexing, so any indexable backup files stored on the server may not be linked to from the website but can still be found through Google. This means that anyone, even without advanced technical skills, is able to find it.

“The key is not to have your backup files stored unencrypted and live on the server â€" this is the most common security failure that I see, and to be honest, it is just lazy.”

Amazon Rolls Out Same-Day Delivery

A push for same-day delivery by the online mega-retailer may hurt local brick and mortar stores, worrying some in the small business community. However, there's another side of the story. The trend toward online retail will also benefit small online merchants, and not all the local brick and mortar businesses at risk are moms and pops.

Up the Amazon

Out WalMarting WalMart. Buy a $1,000 laptop at a big box store, and you'll pay sales tax, bringing the cost up to $1,100 at checkout. So Amazon, which collects no sales tax in most states, already has the biggest brick and mortar retailer beat. But the online retailer seems willing to give all of that up for an even bigger advantage. Slate

Instant gratification. Amazon is introducing same-day delivery and here are the details from the company's main site. Some are concerned the development may be a final nail in the coffin for local brick and mortar retail as e-commerce success grows. Amazon.com

Liquidating local. The change could easily devastate physical retailers. Same-day delivery has been a Holy Grail of sorts for online retailers because it is the last advantage physical stores have against encroaching e-commerce. Up until now, if a customer needed a product or service immediately they had little choice but to buy it locally. Gizmodo

The Biggest Loser

Breaking the chains. But as it turns out, the local stores that may be most affected by the acceleration of e-commerce may not be small mom and pop businesses at all. In fact, the businesses most threatened by the surge in e-commerce including small online merchants may be the very big boxes that put small local businesses on the defensive in the first place. All Things Digital

Retail Revolution

E-commerce expansion. While the explosion of retail on the Web is spelling trouble for some brands, others are seeing greater reach than ever before. Take beach-themed outfitter Tommy Bahama. The company's global e-commerce platform will capture markets previously out of reach.Your business might discover similar opportunities. Chicago Tribune

Google searches for your store. The search engine company is doing its part to help online merchants large and small with a pilot “Search as You Type” program. For more on how the new search feature will help online merchants, read the full post from Google and watch the video. Google Commerce

Delivering the details. Amazon and the US Post Office are making it even easier for shoppers seeking to overcome one of the larger barriers to shopping online: having packages sit on the front door step all day. Both organizations have programs designating deliveries to a lock box with a special PIN number that allows shoppers to open the box upon delivery. Better Business Bureau