Square Acquires Product Design Firm, First NYC Location

Mobile payment company Square just announced its acquisition of NYC design firm 80/20, bringing an experienced in-house design team to the company that has already made some huge strides in making mobile payments more common for everyday consumers.

The team at 80/20, which specializes in helping companies build more user-friendly products, has had a hand in the creation of products such as cloud based media library Warner Bros. Digital Everywhere, fitness device Motorola Motoactv, and 3D virtual world Second Life.

The company has three co-founders, all of whom have previously worked for big names such as Apple and Adobe. In a statement on 80/20's official website, the company described its methods as simplistic, saying:

“The best design gets out of the user's way.”

80/20 also stated that focusing its energy on one company seemed like the natural next step for them.

So what could this move mean for Square and those that use the service?

It is likely a sign that the company has some plans for new features or changes, and that they want to maintain a simplistic yet innovative design for their products and offerings. The mobile payment carrier already places a lot of emphasis on innovative features and simple aesthetic, so the acquisition of such a design company doesn't seem to be a huge surprise to many in the tech world.

Though no official product changes have been announced for Square just yet, having such a design team could lead to more user friendly products or features for companies that process mobile payments.

Of course, Square has already announced some major changes this year like its partnership with Starbucks and its simple monthly pricing structure.

In addition to the potential for growth this type of acquisition might allow, the most immediate change for Square is that the San Francisco based company is gaining its first New York location, 80/20's headquarters in SoHo.

80/20's final comment in its announcement of the acquisition:

“Together, we will reimagine and redesign how people communicate through commerce.”

5 Reasons Why Every Business Needs CRM. Campaigner Adds CRM To Its Suite of Services.

CRM stands for customer relationship management, it's a word that all the tech companies, geek fanboys, press (like me) throw around all the time.

In fact sometimes it competes for attention with another acronym I don't like, SMB (small business or small and medium sized business).

Regardless of the acronym slinging, CRM is one of the most powerful tools a growing business needs to be competitive: to nurture prospective customers to a “yes” and to nurture customers into being loyal (repeat) customers and who refer other customers.

Recently Campaigner, makers of email marketing software, released Campaigner CRM -which comes with contact management, opportunities, lead management (such as lead qualification and more), social CRM (integrating your customers social content so you can know more about their social activities), email marketing and more. Campaigner has a base price of $30 per month per user which does not include additional fees for service and support and email marketing services.

Here's what's happening â€"  the email services such as Vertical Response and Constant Contact have focused on building their social marketing services. With this announcement, you're now seeing companies offer more and better CRM services just for small businesses.

There are several companies competing in the CRM space, I'm only focused on the online applications here:

Infusionsoft (my employer) differentiates itself by enabling you to automatically NURTURE your entire communication with prospective customers and customers. Infusionsoft includes email marketing, analytics, lead scoring, contact management, and more.

Nimble differentiates itself by letting you engage with customers through social media and being able to track your individual email conversations with them in Nimble.

BatchBook differentiates itself by enabling you to simply identify customers, track communication with customers and communicate with your team.

ZohoCRM - differentiates itself by providing an extensive array of tools including lead capture from your web site (as do BatchBook and Infusionsoft), automatically assign leads to the right sales person, and the ability to track all email correspondence from with in Zoho CRM.

Maximizer CRM Live - Maximizer started out as traditional software and over the years (not sure when) migrated to an online service as well. It differentiates itself through business intelligence and marketing automation.

Sales Force - targeted at larger enterprises, is the most famous CRM application of these services. It provides a range of core sales, marketing, lead and contact solutions.

Sugar CRM - has social connectivity, email marketing and campaign management (and more) are included.  Sugar CRM also integrates with 3rd party email services.

HighRiseHQ - One of the oldest CRM services for small businesses, HighRiseHQ specializes in dozens of 3rd hooks to 3rd party applications to give it a robust feature set.

SageOne - Recently launched SageOne is NOT meant to be a CRM solution, but a small business management tool (projects, finances, etc). However, one might consider it CRM “light”, hence I've included it on this list. Of course ACT! (contact management) and other Sage solutions are CRM focused offerings.

So what are the 5 reasons every small business needs CRM?

• To give you ONE view of your customer. Only a true CRM system enables you to see the overall interaction of your customer across your web site, sales funnels, and beyond. Silos of customer information are no good.
• Enable you to nurture the prospects who are not quite yet ready to buy.
• Enable you to keep in touch with customers and treat them all as special as if they were one person.
• Enable you to focus on the prospects who are ready to buy while your CRM system works on those customers who are not yet ready.
• Give you insight on how your customers have engaged with your business and/or it's products or services. This enables your entire organization to treat each customer with the appropriate level of service.

Keep in mind, while overall CRM vendors offering similar products and services all CRM products are NOT the same. Carefully consider where your business is today, where it's going “tomorrow” and what you need to grow. Overall, what do you need to BEST serve your customers and better nurture your prospects. As I like to say â€" dating your leads and marrying your customers.

Here's some events I'm doing in the NY area that you might want to attend:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lending To Small Businesses Jumped In September

Big banks are back in small business lending.  During a month in which the overall volume of loan applications increased by 5.6%, the Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index revealed that approval rates jumped 30% at big banks during in September 2012.

The Index found that 14.2%.of funding requests were approved by big banks ($10B+ in assets) in September - a 30% jump from 10.9% in August 2012. The figure represents the highest approval rating percentage for big banks since the Index began in 2011.

Lenders including Citibank, Sovereign and Citizens Bank are jumping head-first back into small business lending. The economy seems to be improving slowly, and the improvement has been a factor in their willingness to lend to small businesses.

This is a good sign for the economy. Combined with surprisingly good September jobs report, the positive economic news comes just as President Obama tries to recover from his poor debate performance against Mitt Romney.

Meanwhile, small bank lending approvals dipped slightly from 47.8% in August to 47.6% in September. The loan approval rate of credit unions dropped for a fourth consecutive month in September down to 52.4% from 52.9% in August.

The September figure represented the lowest credit union approval rate since June 2011.

Alternative lenders â€" accounts receivable financers, merchant cash advance lenders, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI), micro lenders, and others â€" continue to make an impact on small business lending. In September, alternative lenders approval rates rose slightly to 64.6%, up from 64.5% in August. The 64.6% approval rate was the highest recorded since the Index began.

Alternative lenders offer greater flexibility, quicker approvals, and competitive lending rates than they ever have before. This type of financing is very helpful for small and mid-size businesses that encounter short-term cash flow issues. Restaurants and retailers, in particular, find this type of financing attractive as they look to the fourth quarter to be profitable than other parts of the year.

Many businesses are seeking short-term working capital to prepare for the upcoming holiday season.

Lending Up Photo via Shutterstock

Tech Thursday (10/11): New Epson Printers Conserve Space * Xero Accounting Software Debuts Mobile App * Brother ADS-2500W Printer with Scan-to-Cloud Capabilities

New Epson Printers Conserve Space

 

Xero Accounting Software Debuts Mobile App for Android

 

Brother™ Launches ImageCenter™ ADS-2500W with Scan-to-Cloud Capabilities

 

 

New Epson Printers Conserve Space

 

New EPSON Expression Premium Small-in-Ones Deliver Superior Image Quality in a Breakthrough Compact Design

 

Long BeachH, Calif. â€" Epson America, Inc. today introduced the EPSON® Expression® Premium XP-800 and XP-600 Small-in-One™ printers for families and technology enthusiasts, designed to deliver superior performance, including both brilliant photos and crisp, sharp text with Epson's exclusive MicroPiezo® printing technology and Claria® Premium inks. They are also equipped with EPSON Connectâ„¢, Apple® Airprint™ and Google Cloud Printâ„¢, offering easy wireless and mobile printing from an iPad®, iPhone®, tablet, or smartphone1.

Offering powerful performance in a sleek, space-saving, compact design, the Expression XP-800 and XP-600 include built-in Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ n2 for families to share one printer or print from any room. Both models also offer automatic two-sided printing to save paper3, as well as creative tools such as a dedicated photo tray and direct CD/DVD printing.

Expression Premium XP-800 AND XP-600 Small-in-One Features and Benefits:

• EPSON Connect â€" print and scan from anywhere with EPSON Email Print, EPSON iPrint™ mobile app, and  EPSON Remote Print
• Fast print speeds of 12 ISO ppm for black and 11 ISO ppm for color (9 ISO ppm color for XP-600)5
• High-quality scanning up to 2400 dpi (XP-600) and 4800 dpi (XP-800)
• Built in Ethernet networking (XP-800)
• PC-free photo printing with memory card slots
• Individual ink cartridges to replace only the color needed
• Standard and high-capacity (XL) black and color ink cartridges accommodate various printing needs
• Eco-friendly features, including ENERGY STAR® qualified, RoHS compliant and designed to be recycled6

The EPSON Expression Premium XP-600 ($149.99*) and EPSON Expression XP-800 ($279.99*) will be available in late-October through major retailer stores nationwide. For more information, please visit www.epson.com.

 

Xero Accounting Software Debuts Mobile App for Android

Financial Management Survey Shows 50 Percent of Small Business Owners Interested in Mobile Accounting Tools, Despite Spreadsheet Holdout

 

San Francisco, CA - The majority of small businesses (73 percent) state their biggest financial stressors are managing revenue, expenses and collecting overdue payments, according to a recent Zogby survey commissioned by Xero, a provider of online accounting software. The best way to mitigate this stress is to stay on top of your cash flow, and Xero has made that one step easier today by releasing the Xero Touch app for Android device users.

Already available on iOS, the new Xero Touch app contains unique features that give users instant insight into where their business stands â€" a mere screen tap allows users to check account and credit card balances, as well as detailed descriptions of transactions. Benefits that small business users can gain from using the Xero Touch app include

• No more delayed invoices. Create invoices on the spot right from your phone, as inventory functionality makes it fast and easy to itemize invoices. With customer contact details available in the app, new invoices can be emailed right away and overdue invoices can be followed up on with a call and re-sent with just a few taps.
• No more lost receipts. Gone are the days of crumpled expense receipts lurking in pants and purse pockets. Users can snap photos of receipts that are then instantly uploaded into their accounts. Expenses can be submitted right from their phone.

In today's world, real-time services that allow small businesses to be nimble are critical for a business's success and prosperity. Sixty-Six percent of small business owners said they access business apps from a mobile device, and 43 percent do so at least once a day. Of those same small business owners, 58 percent said their mobile devices made business more efficient, and 50 percent said that they would be interested in mobile accounting tools.

“Xero aims to be the accounting solution for today's small business owner. iOS users have benefited from Xero Touch, and now it's Android's turn. We're delighted to not only reach across the globe, but across cloud devices,” said Jamie Sutherland, Xero president of U.S. operations.

 

Brotherâ„¢ Launches ImageCenterâ„¢ ADS-2500W with Scan-to-Cloud
Capabilities

 

New Model from Brother Is First in Class^ Desktop Document Scanner to Deliver Wireless Scanning For Local and Cloud Storage

 

Bridgewater, N.J. â€" Brother International Corporation, a leader in small business technology, announced the launch of its new flagship desktop scanner, the ImageCenterâ„¢ ADS-2500W. This new product introduction marks its continued expansion into the standalone desktop scanner market while fueling innovation with its wireless scanning and Scan-to-Web (cloud) capabilities. For seamless integration into a variety of work environments, the ImageCenterâ„¢ ADS-2500W supports today's latest operating systems.

With today's workforce operating more and more digitally across multiple offices, off-site locations and workgroups, the ImageCenter™ ADS-2500W delivers a full suite of features to help today's workforce collaborate, update and access documents while embracing the convenience of cloud technology. Scanned documents can be sent directly from the machine to a wide variety of business and professional destinations including today's leading cloud storage destinations such as GOOGLE DOCS™, EVERNOTE, DROPBOX, FACEBOOK™, FLICKR® and PICASA™ Web Albums, as well as Microsoft® SharePoint through the included Nuance™ PaperPort™ software. The ADS-2500W also scans
to local destinations such as email servers and FTP sites, USB flash memory drive and even Android™ phones and ta blets1,2.  Features include:

• Wireless and Ethernet network connectivity
• Scan-to cloud, network, e-mail server, FTP in addition to standard scan destinations
• 3.7” simple, intuitive color TouchScreen display
• Two-sided scanning
• Scans simplex and duplex up to 24 pages per minute in a single pass**
• High-precision scanning up to 600 dpi optical resolution
• Up to 50-page auto document feeder
• Scans documents up to 34” in length
• Scans receipts, cards (business and plastic ID) and paper documents
• Customizable one-touch scan button
• Windows® and Mac® compatible
• Creates searchable PDFs
• Scans to USB memory flash drive, Androidâ„¢ phones and Android™ Tablet PCs1,2
• Includes Nuanceâ„¢ PDF Converter Professional 7 and Nuanceâ„¢ PaperPortâ„¢ 12 SE for Windows®
• Includes Presto!® Page Manager® 9 for Mac® and Presto® BizCard® 6 for Windows®/5 for Mac®

The ImageCenter™ ADS-2500W will be available at office superstores, retailers, dealers and online resellers starting in late September 2012. Estimated Street Price: $799.99.

Application vulnerability disclosures rise, Microsoft finds

Application vulnerabilities are on the rise in 2012 after a steady decline over the past few years and an automated attack toolkit is behind many of the exploits targeting the coding errors, according to the latest threat report issued by Microsoft.  

Ensure that all of the software in your environment is up to date and that security updates from all relevant vendors are installed quickly after they are published.

Microsoft

The Microsoft Security Intelligence Report: Volume 13 provides analysis of the first half of 2012, from January to June, and marks changes in a wide range of security topics including vulnerabilities, exploits and email spam. Microsoft said it bases its analysis on data collected from more than 600 million computers that have its antimalware software and update mechanisms deployed. Analysis of application vulnerability disclosure is based on data provided by the compiled from vulnerability disclosure data from the National Vulnerability Database.

During the second half of 2011, there were fewer than 1,200 application vulnerabilities. That number jumped to about 1,400 in the first half of 2012. Application vulnerabilities account for over 70% of all flaw disclosures for the period, with browser vulnerabilities and operating system vulnerabilities registering with numbers between 200 and 400 cases.

Vulnerability disclosures increased 11.3% in the first half of 2012 from the second half of 2011. It was up nearly 5% from the first half of 2011, due largely to the increase in application vulnerability disclosures, Microsoft said.

"It is a software development problem that application vulnerabilities exist," said Wolfgang Kandek, CTO at Redwood City, Calif.-based Qualys Inc. Kandek said developers are concerned with an application's functionality "and [are] less focused on making sure it is done in a secure manner."

Further adding to application flaws are the faster release cycles for software updates. Security departments are having trouble adapting to these faster releases, Kandek said. Many IT organizations fully test patches before deploying them to ensure that customized applications aren't broken as a result of the fix.

In spite of a decline from the first quarter of 2012, HTML and JavaScript exploits continued to be the favorite attack technique. Microsoft said it detected  the exploits used on about 3.5 million unique computers. Java saw its number increase, maintaining the second position for most popular exploits. The increase for Java exploits was driven by issues with CVE-2012-0507 and CVE-2011-3544, Java Runtime Environment errors that were publicly disclosed. Documents and operating system exploits were the third and fourth most prominent.

Black Hole attack toolkit fueling most exploits

The Black Hole Exploit Kit was the most commonly used and the driving force behind many of the problems in HTML/JavaScript and Java exploitation. Microsoft cited the easy availability of Black Hole on hacker forums and other outlets as one reason for its ubiquity. 

"For better protection, ensure that all of the software in your environment is up to date and that security updates from all relevant vendors are installed quickly after they are published," Microsoft said in its report.

Kandek added that the kits are easy to use, even for non-technical people, and are up to date on the latest vulnerabilities. The cybercriminals behind the kit announced revisions to Black Hole last month, adding automated capabilities that could make it more powerful, say security researchers.

"When you buy it, it works," Kandek said. "[Kit makers] are at the cutting edge of technology."

Microsoft offered possible action steps for security teams.

"IT departments can increase their level of protection against [Black Hole] exploits by using intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS) to monitor for and block exploitation of the vulnerabilities targeted by the kit," read the report.

Email, Spam levels remain steady

The report also noted that email spam stayed around the same rate in the first half of 2012 as in the second half of 2011. The number of spam messages blocked has declined by hundreds of billions of instances between the second half of 2010 and the first half of 2011.

"The dramatic decline in spam observed over the past year and a half has occurred in the wake of successful takedowns of a number of large spam-sending botnets, notably Cutwail (August 2010) and Rustock (March 2011)," the report read.

Drive-by downloads

Drive-by download sites were addressed in the report as well. Microsoft defined a drive by download site as "a website that hosts one or more exploits that target vulnerabilities in web browsers and browser add-ons."

Microsoft said the sites are particularly dangerous because users can potentially become infected with malware just by visiting a website containing the hidden exploits. Numbers collected by the Microsoft search engine Bing, which analyzes websites for exploits as they are indexed, show that Malaysia had the highest concentration of these sites at the end of the second quarter of 2012 with 5.7 drive-by URLs for every 1,000 URLs tracked. Ukraine was second with 5.1, Germany had 3.9, and Korea had 3.1.

Whose Way: Yours or Theirs

Sometimes as small business owners, the desire to do it your way can drown out your customers' voices. Even though many of us went into business to spread our wings, to live out that phrase made famous by Frank Sinatra, “I did it my way,” and to make a ton of money at the same time.  Bottom line - your customers get a vote.

You Can't Sell What People Aren't Buying 

Even if you create something that has never been seen before, it has to meet a need or the money just won't follow. In fact, your product or service has to meet a desire that your clients are willing to pay for. The only way to know for sure is to watch their spending and behavior.

If you're launching something new, then pay attention to spending on products or services similar or closely related to the product or service that you plan to sell.

Get Back To Some Hands On Research 

Get in front of your people again. Interact with them, watch their spending, become like them and see what you learn. Yes, you want to collect the statistics.

For example, you want to know how much money is made on Mondays verses Saturdays so that you know which days to close or how to target your marketing to get people through the door on those days.

But you also want to know what it feels like to be your client. One way to do that is to walk in their shoes. Shop in your own store. Use your own services. If you feel like you know too much to be objective, then send a mystery shopper in.

The goal is to shift your perspective from the boss in the building to the visitor. When you're a part of the audience you'll discover some things.

Is Your Language Clear And Easy To Understand?

I just received a two page promotion from a company. After reading every word, including the colorful insert, I can honestly say that I have no idea who they are and what they have.  But I did read a lot of:

And

• “Discover the benefits.”

As well as

Reviewing your marketing materials from the perspective of your audience makes it easier to find the gaps between what you know and what your potential new customers need to know.

Here's an example of getting it right. SlideDeck tells you at the top of their Web page that they're “for WordPress.” And if you find them through the search engines (Google, Yahoo) you see in the title of the page that SlideDeck is a “Wordpress Slider & Gallery Plugin.” So if you're not using WordPress as your content management system, then SlideDeck isn't for you.

Is Your Product As Smart As It Could Be?

It's about being effective and progressive. The more you use your own stuff, the more you'll discover the weaknesses. And innovation is driven by problem solving. But you can't solve the problems that you don't see.

At the days end, your potential clients are looking for answers. Being a savvy small business owner is about making it our job in our respective industries to find those answers, discover their new questions and  offer the best solutions we know how to answer - over and over again.

Questions Photo via Shutterstock

The Business Card Is Not Dead! 6 Tips To Creating One That Gets You Noticed

Do you put much stock into the power of a really well-designed, especially creative, business card? There are certainly some great examples out there, all of which are just icing on the cake when it comes to the all-important purpose behind them: networking. It's therefore a shame that there are so few decent and well-thought designs out there; after all, the more eye-catching and ‘wow' a business card is, the more likely it's going to keep someone's attention.

According to a survey conducted by MOO.com, nearly half of small business owners believe if they hand out 100 business cards, it will generate $5,000 in revenue. Even more significant is that about 90% of survey recipients reported that this centerpiece of networking has led to at least some new business. About three quarters of the general population and business owners believe that the business card remains a critical part of successful networking.

You can find numerous sites out there that will give you some business card design basics. Here are some things to consider:

• Use Good Paper. This should go without saying. If you buy card stock off the shelf at some Office Mania type store, you're going to get what you pay for. It should feel solid and right and reflect the design you're going for.
• Make Sure They Fit. If your card design is a strange size, it might not fit into a holder or a wallet, and is more likely to be discarded or lost.
• Show Them What You Do. Not ‘tell' them…SHOW them. If you're a shipping company, for example, why not create an extra-thick card that looks like a package?
• Design. Bring in extraordinary or striking colors, as well as an image if possible. Also think about making it a two-sided business card.
• Fonts. It's okay to get creative with some aspects of your card's design â€" such as your business name â€" as long as it is suitable for print. However, be careful it's not in a hard-to-read font. Also make absolutely sure you do not put your contact information in anything unusual; stick with a basic sans or sans serif font.
• Last but not least…Keep It Simple. Don't go overboard. A good design doesn't mean you need to put as many colors or shapes and images on it as you can fit. Short, sweet, eye-catching…those are things to keep in mind.

Your face-to-face impression and ability to engage in great conversation are definitely important for networking…but a great business card will not only reinforce that notion, but also last a lot longer in a potential customer's mind.

RSA Conference: Security industry built on a haze of \'fog\' and \'hype\'

A panel of security experts at RSA Conference criticised their industry over its tendency to sensationalise and hype, taking attention away from truly important problems.

As well as the media that had a tendency to sensationalise issues, criticism was also reserved for companies that tried to focus attention on areas such as Android malware that was ‘cool', instead of business and enterprise problems that companies were actively trying to deal with.

Joshua Corman, director of security intelligence at Akamai, said: “I do think the fog and hype [in security] is a huge distraction. The job's hard enough to spot the right priorities. Just because something is sensational and headline grabbing doesn't mean it's the most important thing for you.”

He pointed out that there were more than 900 security conferences this year, and argued that there should be fewer but better ones.

He added: “I got irritated recently when I was on a conference board of directors, and 75 per cent of our submissions were on Android malware. Does this reflect the interest of the research community or that actually 75 per cent of the greatest risk was from Android malware?”

Gunter Ollman, vice president of research at Damballa, agreed, saying that Android malware, though interesting and important, wasn't a really major factor affecting businesses. 

“It's interesting that one of the largest botnets that is still out there is still Conficker. Here is malware that is four and half/ five years old, compromising millions of devices, and we don't talk about it, that it's not even a threat anymore,” he said.

Brian Honan, CEO of BH Consulting, said that there was a tendency for press and the security industry to hype and label certain things as more malicious then they are. He used DNSChanger as an example, which took over the DNS configurations of systems and pointed them to rogue ones. The FBI shut down the threat in July.

He said: “In the media you could see there was a whole lot of world is ending stories, claims millions of people would be disconnected from the internet. In reality between the work with the FBI, anti-virus companies, response teams and ISPs, infections had been reduced.”

RSA Conference: Security industry built on a haze of \'fog\' and \'hype\'

A panel of security experts at RSA Conference criticised their industry over its tendency to sensationalise and hype, taking attention away from truly important problems.

As well as the media that had a tendency to sensationalise issues, criticism was also reserved for companies that tried to focus attention on areas such as Android malware that was ‘cool', instead of business and enterprise problems that companies were actively trying to deal with.

Joshua Corman, director of security intelligence at Akamai, said: “I do think the fog and hype [in security] is a huge distraction. The job's hard enough to spot the right priorities. Just because something is sensational and headline grabbing doesn't mean it's the most important thing for you.”

He pointed out that there were more than 900 security conferences this year, and argued that there should be fewer but better ones.

He added: “I got irritated recently when I was on a conference board of directors, and 75 per cent of our submissions were on Android malware. Does this reflect the interest of the research community or that actually 75 per cent of the greatest risk was from Android malware?”

Gunter Ollman, vice president of research at Damballa, agreed, saying that Android malware, though interesting and important, wasn't a really major factor affecting businesses. 

“It's interesting that one of the largest botnets that is still out there is still Conficker. Here is malware that is four and half/ five years old, compromising millions of devices, and we don't talk about it, that it's not even a threat anymore,” he said.

Brian Honan, CEO of BH Consulting, said that there was a tendency for press and the security industry to hype and label certain things as more malicious then they are. He used DNSChanger as an example, which took over the DNS configurations of systems and pointed them to rogue ones. The FBI shut down the threat in July.

He said: “In the media you could see there was a whole lot of world is ending stories, claims millions of people would be disconnected from the internet. In reality between the work with the FBI, anti-virus companies, response teams and ISPs, infections had been reduced.”

How to Leverage Big Brands for Your Small Business

No man is an island, and no small business is either. As small business owners, we know that success requires reaching out to others. You can't do it all on your own. At least… you can't do it all on your own and be anywhere near sane by the end of the quarter.

When I say “reaching out to others,” I don't just mean networking. What I'm really referring to is leveraging the big brands and power players in your industry through your company blog. By leveraging these brands, you'll be able to boost your own reputation and solidify those leads you're already working on.

A few pointers:

When You Talk the Talk, You Will Walk the Walk

When your blog audience sees you cover well-known, credible businesses, they automatically begin to view you in the same light. Check out how the Matchstic blog weighs in with opinions on what's happening in the world of big business branding.

They're a mid-size branding agency, but they regularly associate themselves with big brands through their blogs. Case in point: this recent post on Arby's.

Talk the big brand talk, and your readers will naturally assume you walk the big brand walk.

Turn An Enormous Marketing Concept into a Bite Sized Point

Big brands make great examples in your blog posts. Because these brands are already well known, you don't have to waste your words trying to convince readers that your point is legitimate.

In the previous example, Matchstic doesn't have to waste time talking about the Arby's company by explaining what they do and where they came from. Everyone already knows Arby's is a legitimate business.

It's easy for the blogger to jump right in to the meat of the story (no pun intended), and create a bite-sized takeaway. Okay, that pun was intentional.

Get Ready for the Re-Tweets

Big brands will help your small business blog get more social media attention. Which blog post is likely to get more shares?

• “4 Lessons I Learned About Selling Clothes Online”

or

• “4 Lessons From Target About Selling Clothes Online”

The second title, of course. I don't know who you are; I know who Target is. That's the blog post I'm going to read, and it's the post I'm going to share.

However, spammers and spam robots think the same way. So, when you do share an article that drops big brand names, prepare for the fake Twitter followers and spammy comments. It's not a big deal, but you should be aware.

Of course, you might even make contact with the company you mention. If you wrote a blog post about Target, you would definitely want to include an @Target when you tweet the article.

Don't Be General. Get Specific.

This is always a good rule of thumb for blogging. However, it's especially important when you're talking about big businesses. Because you're writing about a company that has tons of available information and examples, you have no excuse for not using it.

If you need the nitty-gritty financial info for your blog post/case study, head over to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission where EDGAR will become your friend. The more details you have, the stronger your content will be.

Don't Take Competition Too Seriously

I know, I know, it's business. But, really… don't go out of your way to avoid mentioning a big brand or competitor if they have some content that can help you boost your own company's reputation.

So, you sell jewelry and Tiffany's sells jewelry? Everyone in the world knows about Tiffany's. Not many people know about you. By linking to a Tiffany's product page or some valuable piece of content the company's written, you aren't hurting yourself. If anything, you're demonstrating to your readers that you care about providing valuable information more than anything else.

If You Can't Say Something Nice…

Don't say anything at all. There's nothing wrong with blogging about what not to do. However, try to avoid picking out a specific company as your example. You never know what big brand competitor might be interested in buying your company in a couple of years.

Even if you have no plans of selling, picking on another company:

(a) Looks bad.

(b) Could come back to bite you.

There's no telling what kind of distribution your post could end up getting.

How do you leverage big brands in your small business blog?

Internet Chatter Photo via Shutterstock

RSA launches password splitting, scrambling and randomising technology

RSA has announced the launch of ‘credential protection' to randomise passwords into two separate locations.

According to the company. RSA Distributed Credential Protection randomises and splits sensitive information into two servers and helps eliminate a primary point of compromise.

It said that it is engineered to scramble, randomise and split secrets and authentication credentials into two separate locations, while designed to work alongside existing password protection software. It also said it is built to reduce the likelihood of successful ‘smash-and-grab' attacks on password servers, as even if an attacker compromises one of the two servers used to store the scrambled and split credential data, the information gained would be useless.

Dan Schiappa, senior vice president of identity and data protection at RSA, said: “This technology offers a unique way to truly protect bulk data stores of passwords, secrets and other credentials from even highly sophisticated attacks.

“This new approach to credential protection will be a game-changer for organisations responsible for the security of very large numbers of end-user access credentials.”

RSA Conference: Cyber criminals and state-sponsored spies working as one

There is a disturbing new trend that will worry anybody involved with IT security - figures from the shadowy world of cyber crime are linking up with people involved in corporate espionage, state espionage and cyber warfare.

This was the claim made by British journalist Misha Glenny, author and journalist specialising in cyber crime, speaking at RSA Conference Europe 2012 in London.

This results in a climate where cyber crime and industrial espionage were becoming intertwined, making it difficult for the relevant law enforcement and military institutions to handle.

He said: “This interplay between the two groups of espionage groups and hackers is causing things to become very confused. The areas are collapsing into one another.”

Glenny believed the origin of this was with the operation Carderplanet, an innovative criminal website that provided members with a marketplace for millions of stolen credit card accounts. Speaking to the founders many years later, he found out that they had a deal with the FSB, the successors to the KGB.

The FSB would not prevent the hackers from hitting targets in the West for debit and credit card fraud, in exchange for them not going after Russia, the Ukraine and Belarus. The FSB allegedly told the hackers "if we require your services for purposes of national security, then you will provide them".

Glenny felt it was clear that cyber attacks on Estonia and Georgia in 2007 and 2008 were whipped up by the Russian government, but could be denied as state-sponsored due to criminal hackers being involved.

He added: “Since then, cyber crime and credit card fraud has started to level off. But what we've seen instead are targeted attacks on companies, agencies and institutions around the globe shoot up. The worlds of the cyber criminal, spook and corporate raider are becoming indistinguishable.”

RSA Conference: Security industry needs a healthy job market

The information security industry is facing an unsustainable inflationary spiral, particularly as the skills gap continues to widen.

Speaking at RSA Conference Europe 2012 in London this week, John Colley, managing director, EMEA for (ISC)2,said that in a normal economic cycle, high salaries would attract newcomers to fill the growth in demand and allow the development of a healthy job market. However the newcomers to information security face too many barriers to entry, while threats rise to fuel demand for information security and the professionals that can deliver it.

He said: “Employers today are struggling, taking up to six months to fill positions. They are looking for people who have a basic understanding of security concepts and experience. Newcomers are not being provided with the opportunities to develop either.”

Reviewing the (ISC)2 Global Information Security Workforce Study, Colley said that the research by industry analysts has accurately projected growth since 2004 and anticipates the workforce to nearly double by 2015. “This is a scary statistic when you ask yourself where all the new people are going to come from,” Colley said.

“Full employment is both good and bad news for the profession. On the one hand, it offers people with the right qualifications, experience and skills, opportunities for career advancement, but on the other, it causes excessively high salary expectations. Short-staffed teams take on extra workload and stress; there is little time for professional development, and the risk of employees taking on tasks and responsibilities that may not be at par with their abilities rises.”

He said that the solution will require a concerted effort to develop a healthy job market for the profession, with support both for young people to move into the field and the hiring managers who at the moment have no way of identifying aptitude in undeveloped talent.

“We are seeing a lot of talk about the skills gap and many efforts to raise interest in the opportunities. But what are we doing with these people once we get their interest? There isn't at the moment the support mechanism available to get them working productively. It's a big problem that I am not sure is well understood,” said Colley.

“We don't yet have all the answers. Employers will not be able to focus on experience alone for much longer; however, employers will also need support in developing the workforce and the healthy job market required.”

Radio Interview: There Are No More Excuses For Not Publishing Content

Ramon Ray, Technology Evangelist and Editor of Smallbiztechnology.com, recently sat with Jim Blasingame , The Small Business Advocate for a radio interview covering the need for small businesses to start publishing content in order to be found.  Publishing increases brand awareness and referrals and because there are so many great tools available, like SoundCloud, there is no excuse for a small business to not be publishing content for their audience.

Ramon and Jim also touch on how to find people who can help you effectively create content that you can publish as well as how frequently you should be putting content out there to be seen.

Check out the entire interview here:

Find interviews with Small Business experts on the lt;a href=”http://www.smallbusinessadvocate.com”gt;Small Business Advocatelt;/agt; show

5 Reasons Why 10,000 Small Businesses Are Crushing Their Competition Using CRM

I have the pleasure of speaking with dozens of small business owners every month.

Although they are all different, the one common bond is that all of them want to succeed in growing their business.

I get to speak to startups who are seasoned, business owners still holding a full time job and “moon lighting”, mature executives who have been in business for years and many entrepreneurs who have started more than one business. In fact over the past two days I was with EO members â€" what a treat.

Recently,Infusionsoft (sales and marketing CRM software for small businesses and my employer) announced that it's reached the 10,000 customer mark. That's pretty darn exciting.
Sure it's exciting for Infusionsoft but it's MORE exciting as these are business owners who are CRUSHING IT. Read their stories here.

They are not merely SURVIVING but in fact they are THRIVING and using technology, which happens to be Infusionsoft, to grow their businesses.

What's great is that, OVERALL, small businesses who are leveraging technology as a strategic asset for growth will BEAT their competitors who are not using technology.

Technology, such as CRM has so many benefits, here's 5 of them:

1. Lets you focus on those leads and prospects are who READY to buy
2. Gives you MORE TIME to focus on your customers and build loyal customers.
3. As Michael Gerber preaches, helps you build a SYSTEM so you can stop working IN your business but hire others to RUN it while you GROW IT and dream new things
4. Ensures that you can treat dozens or hundreds of customers as IF they were the ONLY customer
5. Enables you to ensure you are not LOSING opportunities and making it too easy for your competition

If you are not leveraging technology as a tool for business growth â€" speak with your local technology adviser or get connected with a great company such as Dell, CDW, Infusionsoft, Intuit, Microsoft or others who can help you!

RSA Conference: Differing views on privacy and security

User privacy has gone and is proving to be a new challenge to solve.

Speaking at a panel debate at the RSA Conference Europe in London, program committee chairman for RSA Conference Hugh Thompson asked how equipped the industry was to build a privacy programme, given dramatic changes in privacy legislation and how equipped multi-national companies were able to keep up.

Greg Day, EMEA security CTO at Symantec, claimed that concerns about information and the enabling of bring your own device (BYOD), as well as the separation of personal and business lives, led to a challenge for businesses about the boundaries.

“Let's be flexible and dynamic, privacy is bubbling to the surface to create a whole new challenge for us to solve,” he said. He also claimed that it may be too late to save personal privacy as so much information is uploaded to social networking sites and duplicated around the internet.

At the start of the conference, RSA executive chairman Art Coviello said that privacy advocates are slowing the progress of the security industry and preventing people from being fully protected online.

Coviello said that ‘cries of Big Brother' from privacy groups over more stringent security measures were not helping the industry, saying that privacy advocates "think we should be able to endure reasonable danger to protect privacy", and said that this was 'dangerous reasoning' as the "true depth of the problem remains hidden".

He said that privacy laws should be overhauled into a new cyber security model that "doesn't focus its efforts on an increasingly porous defence of the perimeter".

At the panel debate, Thompson said that companies can Google a potential employee. He referred to Angela Duckworth's 'Grit test', a series of 12 questions that can accurately predict how likely someone is to be successful one, two or ten years from now.

He said: “I don't think there are any laws or understanding to deal with something like that.”

Paul Simmonds, co-founder of the Jericho Forum, said that in his previous job as CISO of a pharmaceutical company, privacy was ingrained and he said it is about ingraining privacy into your future.

“If you get the principles right, the technology follows from that. Cloud risks driving a coach and horses through privacy to use an old English phrase, but the Information Commissioner's Office recently released its guidance on cloud computing and it says what professionals have been telling management for some time â€" if you put data in the cloud, you are still responsible for it. If you put it in, think about encrypting it and keep the keys.”

Wolfgang Kandek, CTO of Qualys, said that from a US perspective, there was not much legislation on privacy and there was a precedent in the US with patients exchanging medical experiences on their ailments. “There is no visibility into this, no one knows as the data is segregated, so it makes it more freely available so there are benefits,” he said

Simmonds later referenced work done by his Jericho Forum from 2003 about deperimeterisation and the commandments that followed in 2004, and said that "people quote them back at us now".

“They are there and developers have them laminated in their cube at work on how to architect deperimiterised. There is a huge human aspect here, security works best when it is not bolted on and we keep bolting on, the future is to link the perimeter with identity and make rich risk-based decisions. Risk-based transaction needs to be expanded into everything we do.”

RSA Conference: Governments trying to \'seize control\' of the internet

A famed computer security expert believes governments are trying to seize control of the internet, but will fail in the long term to reach that goal.
Bruce Schneier, BT's chief technology officer and author of several important books on security, said that governments that didn't understand the internet were trying to take control of it. He looked at US proposals of creating an 'internet kill-switch', claiming that policy makers were crazy to even think of a single mechanism to shut-off all internet traffic.
He said: “You see these types of government proposals, and they come from law enforcement, lobbyists or the military, and we're going to see more of those. Short-term we're going to see a bunch of years where governments are going to seize more control over this dangerous 'anarchistic net' and reign it back in.”
Long-term he didn't believe this would succeed, because the younger generation who understood the internet would survive, while the old er generation who had a fear of the internet would die off. But he predicted a lot of 'damage' in the moves made by those in authority.
Schneier felt that there was too much of a focus on computer and technological solutions when it came to internet security. He suggested trying to tap into a criminal's human morality, working on emotions such as guilt rather than simply putting in a door-lock.
As an example, normally criminals would see a line of numbers when committing a computer crime such as credit-card fraud - Schneier felt that criminals seeing a face in its place would get them to think twice.

Expanding on the point he said: “An eBay feedback system is a great security mechanism, as it's fundamentally built on reputation - peers writing about each other. A security guy would never think about that. That kind of thinking is really valuable, and we could do with a lot more of it.”

Ebay Launches Redesign, Adds Pinteresty Flourish

Ebay, one of the sites that truly put e-commerce on the map, has announced a redesign including features borrowed from one of the hottest new social sites of the last few years,Pinterest. In our roundup, we look at the latest news in the e-commerce world, then focus in on how small businesses are using e-commerce today.

Grand Reopening

Renovating the storefront. After years as an industry leader and a recent renaissance with new features and an expanded business model, eBay is now completely remaking itself in the recognizable image of a certain distinct, new social media star. Yes, don't be surprised if you find some of eBay's latest changes a bit Pinteresque. The Next Web

Pinterest for sales. Forget the eBay redesign for a moment. Even without the online auction and e-commerce giant's latest transformation to look more like Pinterest, the unique new social site has been boosting the efforts of online entrepreneurs all on its own. Here are seven ways Pinterest can improve online sales for your business. Wishpond

Marketing Mojo

E-commerce game-changers. If you're already running an e-commerce business, or just starting an e-commerce component to your existing operation, you will want to check out four sites that are changing the industry. From bringing in customers to setting up your online store, Christopher Wallace, vice president of sales and marketing for Amsterdam Printing, introduces sites that offer an amazing array of possibilities. Get Busy Media

Marketing your storefront. Building your e-commerce site is only part of the job, writes blogger and business owner Ryan Franklin. It's also critical to attract paying customers and to keep them coming back for more. To accomplish, this, Franklin says, you will need more than just products. You will need valuable information that makes your Website a destination point. UPrinting

Window Dressing

The lure of layaway. Layaway is popular again due to the Great Recession and its crippling impact on consumer credit. What's more, brick and mortar stores like Sears and Kmart aren't the only businesses rolling out this pay by the month option to serve their customers, says business writer Rieva Lesonsky. E-commerce businesses are also getting involved. Network Solutions

Making converts. As we mentioned earlier, marketing your e-commerce site requires more than just a storefront. It requires compelling content that encourages customers to buy and come back for more. If you're wondering about the kind of verbiage that turns visitors into buyers, blogger Tom Ewer has some insight to share. MyWifeQuitHerJob

Endgame

Last but not least. Another social media giant is expected to wade into the market soon, boosting the growth of e-commerce tremendously. We're talking about the anticipated launch of Facebook's new “Gifts” feature, coming soon. The feature will enable friends to buy and send each other gifts, but will also offer the opportunity for businesses to add products to the list of items for purchase. Forbes