Scoop.it Digital Magazine Creation

Scoop.it, the digital magazine creation platform, just launched a redesign of its news curation platform that aims to give users a cleaner design and easier ways to share and customize their content.

This redesign seems to be aimed particularly at online businesses and professional publishers that are looking to gain more web traffic and social interactions through their content, since it opens the door for more customization and a more professional overall look.

One new feature is called “Insight,” which allows users to add commentary or personalize the content they post in their stream. So for instance, if a user wants to add an article or video to their topic page, they can first include a brief description or opinion piece about it so that it isn't seen as simply recycling old content.

Other changes include more social integrations, allowing users to sign in with existing accounts and view their connections on other sites along with the content they post; real-time notifications and a stream of users' activity on the site; and a new user interface with larger images, better readability, and an improved publishing format.

When creating an account, you can use your existing Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn accounts to sign in, then you can choose your interests and create tags or keywords based on the type of content you would like to see. Scoop.it then crawls through its content to find the most relevant items that you can browse and select.

The photo above shows the community section of Scoop.it, showing users and their topics of interest, along with a real-time notification stream on the right.

For those who use the site, the changes simply mean a more professional looking and customizable layout, with easier ways to interact with other users and share content through various social channels.

But even for those who don't have an account, the changes could mean more growth for the site and thus more content discovery, which could drive traffic to small online publishers and businesses even without ever visiting Scoop.it.

The site offers a basic account for free, along with a pro version for $12.99 per month and a premium business version for $79 per month, which offers more branding, analytics, and content optimization options.

Scoop.it launched publicly last November, and this is the first major redesign for the site that allows anyone to curate and share online content in a digital magazine format. This redesign comes just after the site announced new integrations with SlideShare, Hootsuite and Buffer, in an effort to help users optimize their content marketing strategies through social media publishing.

Think 4G Is Only For Smartphones? It\'s Also For Video Surveillance and More

Most of us think of 4G as a fast wireless technology only relevant for smartphones and broadband wireless. However, wireless vendors are also using it to power other uses that require wireless accessibility â€" such as wireless video cameras for surveilance systems.

Imagine being able to remotely control and access individual video cameras in your office, while you're away.

Verizon Wireless's blog post on this is quite interesting. It reads:

For example, TacticalVIDEO, which offers a complete 4G LTE surveillance kit that enables business owners to keep an eye on their assets from any location. High-definition wireless cameras can be accessed in real-time and controlled from mobile devices. It also includes Video Viewing, a secure application that runs live with minimal latency and sends an alert to a mobile device if there is an unwarranted disturbance.

Another option is SecureWatch24, which notes seeing more small businesses interested in analyticsworking in tandem with video. By integrating high-speed connectivity with security solutions, technology gives the small business information about their security landscape â€" whether it is activated by motion detection or a continuous feed.

However, security isn't the only application for mobile video. Intelligent video can also supply valuable analytical information for a business. What are people doing inside your store? Are your displays in the right place and getting noticed? How many times did customers pick up that red sweater on sale? Answers to these and other questions can help a business prosper â€" and 4G LTE technology plays a key role.

As such, businesses should consider the use of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) in the security monitoring. By adding these tags onto inventory or portable items used by salespeople, businesses can monitor assets and ensure they don't go missing. A simple geofence can be defined to flag items when they are outside the business perimeter.

Think 4G Is Only For Smartphones? It\'s Also For Video Surveillance and More

Most of us think of 4G as a fast wireless technology only relevant for smartphones and broadband wireless. However, wireless vendors are also using it to power other uses that require wireless accessibility â€" such as wireless video cameras for surveilance systems.

Imagine being able to remotely control and access individual video cameras in your office, while you're away.

Verizon Wireless's blog post on this is quite interesting. It reads:

For example, TacticalVIDEO, which offers a complete 4G LTE surveillance kit that enables business owners to keep an eye on their assets from any location. High-definition wireless cameras can be accessed in real-time and controlled from mobile devices. It also includes Video Viewing, a secure application that runs live with minimal latency and sends an alert to a mobile device if there is an unwarranted disturbance.

Another option is SecureWatch24, which notes seeing more small businesses interested in analyticsworking in tandem with video. By integrating high-speed connectivity with security solutions, technology gives the small business information about their security landscape â€" whether it is activated by motion detection or a continuous feed.

However, security isn't the only application for mobile video. Intelligent video can also supply valuable analytical information for a business. What are people doing inside your store? Are your displays in the right place and getting noticed? How many times did customers pick up that red sweater on sale? Answers to these and other questions can help a business prosper â€" and 4G LTE technology plays a key role.

As such, businesses should consider the use of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) in the security monitoring. By adding these tags onto inventory or portable items used by salespeople, businesses can monitor assets and ensure they don't go missing. A simple geofence can be defined to flag items when they are outside the business perimeter.

The One Hit Wonder Approach Is Bad For Business

We all have our favorite songs. Some of them are by artists that had long and inspiring careers.

As we enjoyed song after song, album after album, a relationship formed. We began to understand what to expect from that artist. And that awareness creates a fan who organically checks out every new album and live event in their area - with a nudge, of course.

There is something to be said for repeat impressions. Twelve songs in, I know what to expect from Anita Baker, the mellow side of Coltrane, and Sade.

But what about the one hit wonder? 

Regardless of your style of music, there's probably a song that you love by an artist who only had one great moment. Well, one great moment is better than no great moment. But multiple moments is the best.

When it comes to marketing your goal is to create the best moment you can as often as possible. You want to be seen, heard and remembered. In a world where money grows on trees, then you can buy the biggest ad they make, the most airtime they have, a spot on the front page of all your favorite websites and run it forever.

But on the other side of never-never land there's a budget.

You are a small and wise business with a marketing budget that has limits, and you don't need the biggest ad to get the best impact. Think about it, when you encounter something new - a new piece of software, a new grocery store in your city, a new law firm or simply a new way of doing something - it takes a minute for it to stick.

You have to be exposed to it several times before you begin to remember on your own.

Each exposure is an impression. The more impressions, the more memorable the product, company or system becomes. Effectively marketing your business works the same way. The more marketing impressions, the more memorable your business.  It's all about multiple impressions.

In other words, avoid the one big ad - the one hit wonder. And purchase smaller, targeted but repeat ads instead.

A large impression once a year is nothing more than a tease. Smaller, consistent impressions is the making of a relationship. Get in front of your target audience and get in front of them often.

One Hit Wonder Photo via Shutterstock

Four Ways To Maximize Your Pay Per Click Marketing Campaign

Pay Per Click (PPC) or Cost Per Click (CPC) online advertising is a great option for small businesses on a budget â€" you only pay for what you use. However, sometimes your campaigns don't go as well as you want. Wordstream, which helps boost PPC rankings offers the following advice:

1. Test Your Value. The key thing you want to be able to do with a new PPC account is test the effectiveness of pay-per-click as a marketing channel for your business. For this reason, you want to start by getting a sense of how much you'll be paying for each click. AdWords' free traffic estimator is a solid resource for this step.
2.  Base Your Budget on Profitability. Managers sometimes forget to focus on the most important metric: profitability. As with all things PPC and marketing in general, remember to base your decisions on profitability and the way your business actually runs. Areas of your account that are more profitable should get more attention and more of your budget.
3. Don't Arbitrarily Cap Profitable Spend. Many times advertisers set arbitrary numbers as a cap on what they're willing to spend because it fits nicely into a larger marketing budget, but if you're generating profitable leads and sales, your budget may be unnecessarily limiting. You might be able to just bid to profitability and drive as much traffic as you can buy.
4. Don't Just Slash Budget for Unprofitable Campaigns - Optimize Them. If your campaign is still running and isn't profitable, that's likely not something you want to address with budget. Rather, you should solve this issue through bidding changes, optimizations around Quality Score (better targeting and campaign structure), and so on.
5. Understand Your Business's Seasonality. Whether you're just starting a campaign or have historical data to leverage, it's important to know what your seasonal swings will be before you start to set budget. You might want to keep a tighter rein on your monthly budget for July than your budget in the winter months if you sell heating oil or ski trips.

Unwrapping a new smartphone? Experts deliver device security tips

Millions of new smartphones and tablet devices will be activated over the next few days and long after the giftwrapping is recycled and the Christmas tree is dragged to the curb, cybercriminals and overzealous app makers will be looking to make money off of what many people consider to be sensitive information.  

Never fully trust that the activity on your mobile device is secure.

The bow may be bigger than the box, but in this case, size doesn't matter. Devices are now powerful enough to support a range of new features.  Near field communication (NFC) technology can enable mobile payments simply by holding the device to a reader, potentially exposing sensitive financial information and geolocation data, often tied to a number of unassuming apps, pose data privacy issues.   

Last year experts estimate that 6.8 million mobile devices were unboxed and activated at Christmas and with new models constantly coming to market the growth rate continues to climb.  Often those getting a new device fail to consider ways to mitigate the privacy and security risks introduced when activating it for the first time, according to Trend Micro. The security firm issued an infographic outlining some basic steps new device owners can implement to provide adequate protection.

App traps

Smartphone apps make the device powerful.  While the device browser can be used to make purchases or log into most online banks, applications provide additional functionality and ease of use beyond the device browser.  There is cause for concern, experts say, because a number of studies have documented the wide range of data being collected by legitimate smartphone applications. The data, from contact information and location data to browsing history and device usage statistics, can be shared with third-party advertising and marketing firms, prompting fear from privacy advocates that controls are needed to restrict intrusiveness.  

In an interview at the 2012 Black Hat conference, Domingo Guerra, president and founder of Appthority stated the problem clearly:  "Developers want to monetize, consumers want free apps and ad networks will pay developers to get all that juicy data from developers," Guerra said.

When an application is installed, users should pay close attention to the permission requests of that app, experts say. Depending on the application, users can choose to simply grant permission to certain data or reject permissions. Keep in mind that rejecting permission often limits the functionality of the app.  Trend Micro points out that some gaming apps request location data simply to provide advertisers with the information.  Before installing an app, check out its rating and ensure that it comes from a legitimate developer.

Introducing a smartphone to a teenager? Free apps aren't necessarily free. Some games limit the functionality of the app, prompting users to make in-app purchases that can quickly rack up credit card charges. Nearly all devices contain a feature to disable in-app purchases.

Security experts are also advocating better password management to limit the damage if your email and account credentials are stolen. Use a different password for every social network and service that requires credentials. Use a combination of letters, numbers and characters. Consider managing complex passwords with a password manager app.

Lost, stolen device? Contact corporate IT first

Many experts say a lost or stolen device currently represents the biggest threat to data security. While most thieves will attempt to wipe the device and sell it, a smartphone or tablet that isn't passcode protected provides open access to anyone. Apple, Google and Microsoft provide a device location finder feature, but in most cases, the functionality has to be enabled.

Remote wipe capabilities are also available. Some security apps provide remote wipe capabilities. For example, in addition to finding the location of the lost device, San Francisco-based Lookout Inc. can remotely lock and wipe Android devices. It can even wipe the device's SD card, which commonly contains personal data.   

Do NOT immediately contact your carrier if the device is lost or stolen. If your device has access to corporate information, such as work contacts, work applications and email, enterprise CISOs have been increasingly advocating that employees should contact corporate IT first. Contacting the carrier first could remove the device from the carrier's network and eliminate the ability of IT from wiping any corporate data from the device.  

Near field communications

Security researchers have uncovered vulnerabilities tied to the implementation of the new technology in devices supporting NFC. Researcher Charlie Miller found that the default settings on some devices keep an open communications channel that under certain conditions enable NFC to be used by a savvy attacker to gain access to the device. He demonstrated how the weakness can be used to gain access to the browser and steal passwords and other account credentials.

NFC is designed to enable devices to communicate wirelessly within a short radius to provide a variety of features. It can be used to simply share a file, such as a photograph or digital business card between two devices. The payment industry sees its potential as a digital wallet, enabling device owners to make everyday payments by simply holding the device up to a payment kiosk. Miller was able to demonstrate a successful NFC attack on two Android-based Nokia N9 and Nexus S Samsung smartphones. The technology is supported in a number of Android devices and the latest Windows Phone device from Nokia.

Experts say the risk of being targeted with an NFC attack is low due to the need for an attacker to be within a short distance of the victim. Patch management is the first mobile security tip consistently advocated by experts. Keep the device updated with the latest firmware â€" sometimes easier said than done. Ensure that smartphone apps that use NFC are also updated. Enable the device locking feature, setting a passcode to gain access to it. By enabling the passcode feature, device owners also enable encryption.    

Limit trust, always verify

Smartphone operating systems have been built with security in mind. Sandboxing has been introduced to make it difficult for attackers to break out of a browser and access running processes, apps are required to have a digital certificate so the device can verify authenticity and mobile app stores typically vet applications for serious threats. With that said, malicious applications â€" mainly from third-party app stores â€" and mobile device attacks â€" SMS Trojans designed to rack up premium text charges â€" have been detected by security firms. 

Establishing basic security measures can help mitigate the potential of becoming a victim.  Never fully trust that the activity on your mobile device is secure. Don't click on links from untrusted sources.  Get a random link or attachment from a friend or colleague? Check-in with them first before clicking the link or opening the attachment. Verify the website in your mobile browser is legitimate, especially if it is requesting credentials. Use strong passwords and restrict permissions for certain applications.

Four Ways To Maximize Your Pay Per Click Marketing Campaign

Pay Per Click (PPC) or Cost Per Click (CPC) online advertising is a great option for small businesses on a budget â€" you only pay for what you use. However, sometimes your campaigns don't go as well as you want. Wordstream, which helps boost PPC rankings offers the following advice:

1. Test Your Value. The key thing you want to be able to do with a new PPC account is test the effectiveness of pay-per-click as a marketing channel for your business. For this reason, you want to start by getting a sense of how much you'll be paying for each click. AdWords' free traffic estimator is a solid resource for this step.
2.  Base Your Budget on Profitability. Managers sometimes forget to focus on the most important metric: profitability. As with all things PPC and marketing in general, remember to base your decisions on profitability and the way your business actually runs. Areas of your account that are more profitable should get more attention and more of your budget.
3. Don't Arbitrarily Cap Profitable Spend. Many times advertisers set arbitrary numbers as a cap on what they're willing to spend because it fits nicely into a larger marketing budget, but if you're generating profitable leads and sales, your budget may be unnecessarily limiting. You might be able to just bid to profitability and drive as much traffic as you can buy.
4. Don't Just Slash Budget for Unprofitable Campaigns - Optimize Them. If your campaign is still running and isn't profitable, that's likely not something you want to address with budget. Rather, you should solve this issue through bidding changes, optimizations around Quality Score (better targeting and campaign structure), and so on.
5. Understand Your Business's Seasonality. Whether you're just starting a campaign or have historical data to leverage, it's important to know what your seasonal swings will be before you start to set budget. You might want to keep a tighter rein on your monthly budget for July than your budget in the winter months if you sell heating oil or ski trips.

Starting A Small Business: 7 Deadly Sins

A small business owner's life can be a real roller coaster. There's no road map, and pitfalls lurk around every corner. While making mistakes may be a great way to learn, it's a lot better to avoid them in the first place.

Having started a few businesses in my career, and having helped thousands of small businesses launch across the country, I thought it would be useful to highlight some of the hard-won experience I've learned throughout the process.  Below are 7 deadly sins for starting a small business:

1. Don't Underestimate a Business Plan

If you're launching a small business and aren't planning on pitching investors, it's tempting to skip the step of writing a formal business plan. However, taking the time to write out your business plan, forecasts, and marketing strategy can be a particularly effective way to hone your vision.

Your planning should center around a few essential questions:

• How is my business serving a particular need or pain point?
• Does this represent a major market opportunity?
• How much will it cost to ramp up the business?
• When can my projected revenues support the spending?

In addition, don't overlook your exit strategy at the beginning. Do you want your children to take over the company? Do you want to sell it? It's critical to think about these questions from the start, as the building blocks of your company (such as legal structure) should vary depending on your preferred final outcome.

2. Don't Incorporate as the Wrong Business Entity

Your business' legal structure affects the amount of taxes you pay, the employee benefits you can offer, the amount of paperwork you deal with, and more. In the U.S., the three most common business structures are:

• LLC (Limited Liability Company)
• S Corporation
• C Corporation

All three entities protect the personal assets of the owners from the liability of the company, yet differ when it comes to tax treatment and more.

Here are some common mistakes made by small business owners. You may want to consult a tax advisor or CPA on what structure would be best for your particular situation:

• A small business owner creates a C Corp for her business, then discovers what ‘double taxation' means when she has to file taxes for both her business and personal taxes. Her CPA advises her to elect for pass-through S Corp treatment to avoid this next year.
• Two friends form an S Corporation for their new business. However, they're stuck paying taxes in direct proportion to their ownership, even though they've actually arranged to allocate the profits 75-25 the first year since one was responsible for significantly more work. Instead of the S Corp, they should have formed an LLC where they can have more flexibility when it comes to dividing the profits and their taxes.

Of course, the biggest mistake a small business owner can make is failing to create a legal business entity at all.

3. Don't Pick Delaware or Nevada for the State of Incorporation if you Don't Live There 

Many business owners think they should choose among Delaware, Wyoming, or Nevada when incorporating or forming an LLC. And yes, these are popular states for incorporation in the U.S. because of low filing fees and pro-business statutes.

However, these two states aren't necessarily the best choices for every business. For the small business (defined here as one with less than five shareholders), it's better to incorporate in the state where there's a physical presence, meaning where you live or have an office. Otherwise, there can be too many hassles associated with operating ‘out of state.' These include:

• Difficulties opening a business bank account
• Having to appoint a registered agent
• Fees for operating as a ‘foreign entity' in your own state

4. Don't Underestimate the Importance of a Business Name

A business begins with a name. It's the cornerstone of company identity and shapes all that follows. Think about what's important to you and your business. What's the first thing you want a customer to think about with regard to your business?

For example, a young company breaking into the financial advising field may be more concerned about credibility and thus forgo the edgy, attention-grabbing name.

It's smart to check that a business name is available to use before you order your business cards, as you don't want to be on the wrong end of a trademark dispute. In most cases, you don't need an attorney to check if your name is available; you can perform these easy steps on your own:

• Perform a free search online that looks at business names registered with the secretary of state in the state where you're located
• Then take your search to the next level and conduct a free trademark search to make sure your name is available in all 50 states

5. Don't Fall Into a Discount Trap

At the beginning, too many young companies feel the pressure to heavily discount their prices in order to win business. While customer acquisition is important, attracting customers at unsustainable price levels will just result in a race to the bottom. I've learned that you're better off in the long run focusing on how to bring more value to customers, rather than simply slashing your prices.

6. Don't Go Against Your Intuition

Intuition is a critical part of the decision making process, and it's just as important in business as it is in other areas of your life. Business deals depend on relationships, whether it's with partners, employees, vendors, or clients. You need to get a read on other people you're involved with â€" and then trust your gut (even if the numbers are telling you otherwise).

7. Don't Be Afraid to Fail

Lastly, if you're scared of failing, you're probably playing it too safe as a business owner. Failure is practically a rite of passage for successful entrepreneurs. Valuable lessons can be learned through the experience…lessons which you would never learn from a business class.

Soccer coach Sven-Goran Eriksson once said:

“The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.”

If you find yourself nervous about what might happen, think about all the opportunities and possibilities you leave behind by not ever trying. Trying (no matter what the outcome is) is your first step toward success.

Young Businessman Photo via Shutterstock

3 Ways A Sofa Company Innovates To Success: Customers, Customers, Customers

You would not think that a sofa company in North Carolina would be the poster child for an “innovation award” but it did.

Phonebooth announcedthat the keys to Simplicity Sofa's winning were three simple principles.

Their challenge was how to get an otherwise unknown brand on the map (particularly by selling only through its own e-commerce website).

Total Satisfaction Warranty

That warranty, combined with a real need for high quality furniture that fit into places where other furniture could not go, brought in customers during the first year.

Library of customer testimonials

Within 24 hours after a delivery of our furniture has been completed, Simplicity contacted that customer to ask three questions: How do you like the furniture? What did you think of the customer service? Are there any problems that need to be addressed immediately?

For the third step of the survival strategy, the company turned again to its growing number of loyal customers.

When a prospective customer called to see where they could test out the furniture, Simplicity calls one of its past customers in the area and ask them to show the furniture in their home.

Technology is important, but if you are not treating your customers right and leveraging them to get more customers you are doing yourself a disservice.

My friend Baochi Nguyen of Ringcentral speaks about this in her “super fans” talk about how to get and court super fans.

Here's a few things you can do to better leverage your customers:

• Ask you customers to post their success stores on Facebook and use these in your marketing.
• Get lots of photos and video from your customers so other customers can see them.
• Listen carefully to customer complaints and respond to each one.
• Visit customers and shoot low cost video of them using your products or services.
• Invite customers to help other customers.

These are just a few simple ideas â€" I'm sure you can think of so many mor.

 

 

Telecommuting Is An Art & Science: Get It Right A Boost Remote Worker Productivity

As part of my work with Infusionsoft, I'm a remote worker and there are a variety of things we've done right to ensure my remote work experience is good for me and good for the company.

In growing Smallbiztechnology.com I also hire and manage remote workers, mainly through Elance.

The more responsibilities you assign a remote worker the more important it is to ensure that you have systems and policies in place to ensure their work is as optimal as possible. It's not just about the technology, but also about how you communicate, the metrics for their work, how often you communicate and more.

Cisco's a leader in this space and one of their partners, Burwood Group, offers some tips on telecommuting below:

• Provide remote workers with a good camera or Telepresence unit. The better the equipment, the more real the experience can be for both the end user and the customer.
• Help remote workers setup as good of a connection as you can without taking the internet provider into account. Even if you have awesome equipment, if the connection is poor, the experience will be as well.
• Make sure the connection is secure. Home offices are not as secure as the company office. Take precautions to make sure the exchange between the user and customer is just as secure from the workers' home environment as the workers' office environment
• Ensure the equipment is simple to use. The easier the equipment is to use, the better experience for the user.
•  Train users on teleconferencing etiquette. Users need to be aware of their environment when teleconferencing from home. To make the most of the experience, the environment should be quiet, well-lit and visually appealing (no clutter, other people, neutral colors). The user also needs to make sure they are presentable on camera. They should dress in the company dress code and behave appropriately. Remember, people can see you.

 

 

3 Ways A Sofa Company Innovates To Success: Customers, Customers, Customers

You would not think that a sofa company in North Carolina would be the poster child for an “innovation award” but it did.

Phonebooth announcedthat the keys to Simplicity Sofa's winning were three simple principles.

Their challenge was how to get an otherwise unknown brand on the map (particularly by selling only through its own e-commerce website).

Total Satisfaction Warranty

That warranty, combined with a real need for high quality furniture that fit into places where other furniture could not go, brought in customers during the first year.

Library of customer testimonials

Within 24 hours after a delivery of our furniture has been completed, Simplicity contacted that customer to ask three questions: How do you like the furniture? What did you think of the customer service? Are there any problems that need to be addressed immediately?

For the third step of the survival strategy, the company turned again to its growing number of loyal customers.

When a prospective customer called to see where they could test out the furniture, Simplicity calls one of its past customers in the area and ask them to show the furniture in their home.

Technology is important, but if you are not treating your customers right and leveraging them to get more customers you are doing yourself a disservice.

My friend Baochi Nguyen of Ringcentral speaks about this in her “super fans” talk about how to get and court super fans.

Here's a few things you can do to better leverage your customers:

• Ask you customers to post their success stores on Facebook and use these in your marketing.
• Get lots of photos and video from your customers so other customers can see them.
• Listen carefully to customer complaints and respond to each one.
• Visit customers and shoot low cost video of them using your products or services.
• Invite customers to help other customers.

These are just a few simple ideas â€" I'm sure you can think of so many mor.

 

 

The Average S-Corp Owner Isn\'t Rich

If you are the sole owner of the average Subchapter S Corporation in manufacturing, finance and insurance, or wholesale trade, the President of the United States thinks you are rich.

According to data from the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Statistics of Income, the average S Corp in these three industry sectors had annual net income of over $250,000 per year in 2008, the latest year data are available.

S Corp Income by Industry Sector

Source: Created from data from the IRS Statistics of Income

Subchapter S Corporations differ substantially from sole proprietorships which comprise 72 percent of small companies. While the owners of sole proprietorships have unlimited liability, S Corp owners have the limited liability granted to all corporation owners. But unlike regular C Corporations, S Corps pass income through to their shareholders, avoiding “double taxation.”

While far from a majority of small businesses or their output, S Corps comprise 13 percent of American businesses and 18 percent of revenues and net income, according to data from the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Statistics of Income.

Like all types of small businesses, the profitability of S Corps varies substantially by industry sector. As the table above shows, the average S Corp generated just over $173,000 in 2008. However, average net income ranged from $75,372 in other services to $546,320 in manufacturing.

Interestingly, across industries, the average annual income of an S corp is not related to income as a percent of sales. Across 76 industries (not shown in the table), the correlation between the fraction of sales that net income comprises and annual net income per business is only 0.09. That means that there is virtually no relationship between the two numbers.

Malware that steals from point of sale systems detected

A data stealer designed to collect users' personally identifiable information from point of sale systems has been detected.

Named ‘Dexter', research by Trend Micro said that it was found in point of sale systems at hotels and other businesses. “Currently, the arrival infector remains undetermined. However, it is unlikely that the malware is downloaded from malicious sites, as the point of sale systems are typically not used for web browsing,” said Jason Pantig, senior threat response engineer.

“Point of sale (like checkout counters) are typically where payment for goods and services occur. Given the wealth of data found on these payment hubs, it's expected that these are the next targets of cyber criminal activities.”

Its analysis said that BKDR_DEXTR.A, also known as Dexter, downloads files, sends information and checks memory for information among others.

“The centre piece of the malware is its ability to collect and send certain information to a remote server. Some of the possible data that can be stolen from point of sale systems include such as username, hostname, key to decrypt the sent information, OS information and a list of running processes,” said Pantig.

“These data are then presumably duplicated by remote malicious users. The malware executable is found to be packed or encrypted and when loaded, it loads long garbage code to decrypt the actual code. However, this decryption routine involves only a combination of XOR and ADD instructions, with the use of a hardcoded key. The perpetrators behind 'Dexter' malware probably did this to make analysis difficult.”

Trend Micro said that unlike other spyware like Zeus and SpyEye, this malware does not directly infect users' systems to gather data like payment card details. “Instead, the crooks behind BKDR_DEXTR figured that they can generate the same result by infecting certain POS systems,” he said.

ICO nears £2 million in issued monetary penalties

As the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) nears £2 million in issued monetary penalties, its head has admitted that there ‘is an underlying problem with data protection in local government'.

Reflecting on 2012 and two and a half years since it was given the power to issue monetary penalties, information commissioner Christopher Graham said that nineteen councils failing to have the most straightforward of procedures in place shows that ‘there is an underlying problem with data protection in local government'.

He said: “It would be far too easy to consider these breaches as simple human error. The reality is that they are caused by councils treating sensitive personal data in the same routine way they would deal with more general correspondence.

“Far too often in these cases, the councils do not appear to have acknowledged that the data they are handling is about real people, and often the more vulnerable members of society.

“The distress that these incidents would have caused to the people involved is obvious. The penalties we have issued will be of little solace to them, but we do hope it will stop other people having to endure similar distress by sending out a clear message that this type of approach to personal data will not be tolerated.”

Graham said that it will be meeting with stakeholders from across the sector to discuss how the ICO can support them in addressing those problems.

Speaking to SC Magazine earlier this year, Graham said that one problem with local authorities, councils and government is that staff are dealing with personal information which is often sensitive; and that staff have to be made aware that they are dealing with people and not just numbers.

At the SC Magazine Total Security Conference in the summer, the ICO's principal policy adviser (technology) Dr Simon Rice, said that the 19 monetary penalties issued to businesses was ‘19 too many' and issuing finest was ‘not something that the office enjoys doing and it does not represent everything that we do'.

Also at the Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit, David Smith, deputy commissioner and director for data protection at the ICO, said that it was pressing for ‘power of custodial sentence', primarily for sentences that were 'punishing for not doing things properly'.

Asked if there was a timeline for custodial sentences to be introduced, Smith said there was not but said it was something the ICO had been pressing for a long time. “The government have resisted for several reasons, such as they do not believe in creating more and more crimes that can carry prison sentences, also Leveson is looking at this following the actions of journalists, so let's wait for his report,” he said.

The ICO also said that it is pressing the Ministry of Justice for stronger powers to audit local councils' data protection compliance, if necessary without consent. The same powers are sought for NHS bodies across the UK following a series of data protection breaches in the health sector.

Holiday Shopping Boosts Small Business Earnings by 5 Percent

There's good news for small businesses this holiday season. Sales are up compared with the same time last year and this despite super storm Sandy, which hurt small businesses, especially in the northeastern U.S. With one day left until Christmas, let's look at some other news important to the small business community and some last minute tips for the holiday season.

Happy Holidays

All we want for Christmas. A report shows small business earnings for November up by 5.2 percent over last year, offsetting losses in October due to fallout from super storm Sandy. The report was compiled by MasterCard Advisors and Wells Fargo. In particular, smaller retailers showed improvement from October to November. Let's hope December's numbers will be equally impressive. The Washington Post

Last minute gift ideas. To boost your sales in the last few hours of shopping for the Holiday season, focus on connecting with customers who support and patronize small local businesses already. There are plenty of customers like this. Just ask Dean Wildman, a Daytona Beach-area consumer who does his Christmas shopping at small businesses whenever possible. Are you targeting these potential buyers? The Daytona Beach News-Journal

Spirit of the Season

Watch out for the competition. The downside of the holiday shopping season is that some items, like Christmas trees, are easy to supply at cheaper prices and increasingly big boxes like Whole Foods are getting into the act. This post and video shows one such example of a large retail store cutting into the revenue of smaller sellers. But as the video shows, there are those who will support small businesses and there are ways to distinguish yourself from the competition. New York Post

Create lifelong customers. Some holiday marketing is not about getting customers right this minute but about building customer relationships that will last a lifetime. Take the sending out of holiday cards to your clients. Hopefully you've already mailed these, but remember, even cards sent between Christmas and New Year make an impact. These aren't promotional, says guest blogger Mikkie Mills, but are about building those long term relationships. Small Biz Diamonds

Merry Marketing

Get better holiday SEO. More customers are shopping online these days, and even those who don't are using mobile devices to search for stores in their area to visit while they're out shopping. So, obviously businesses with great search engine optimization, especially those promoting holiday specials, will do better with holiday shoppers. Unfortunately, this is not something your business can do at the last minute. Sites need time to rank. If you waited too long to optimize your site for the holidays this year, be sure to get an early start next holiday season. Start It Up Now

Down to the last minute. Certainly some shoppers will wait until literally the last minute (try today, for example) to get their holiday shopping done. It's too late for some of the items on this last minute Holiday marketing list, of course, but there are other tips that may work for you, even on the last shopping day before the holiday. Use some creativity and get those last few sales! SBA.gov

Don't let it end. Once the holiday season is over, there's no reason to let your customer base dissipate or to let your sales drop off, says guest blogger Gene Sigalov of SimpleTexting.com. The best way to keep customers coming back long after the holiday and into the New Year is to use customer loyalty programs, preferably ones with active outreach via several different marketing channels. Noobpreneur