Fibre takeup more important than prices - Adams

The lowest price of broadband internet access is less important than ensuring consumers move as quickly as possible to high-speed fibre-based services, says Telecommunications Minister Amy Adams.

"I don't think the over-arching criteria in this is 'what is the cheapest option'," Adams told BusinessDesk. "If that was the case, we'd be sticking with dial-up. I don't think you'd find any consumer saying 'if dial-up's cheaper, let me have that'."

Her comments followed her announcement the government would accelerate its timetable for reviewing the regulatory regime for telecommunications services. The decision effectively neuters the Commerce Commission, which issued a draft determination late last year that could favour a longer life for the existing copper wire network by pricing it highly competitively with new fibre services.

That draft determination, which Adams described as a "curve ball", sparked protest from the key players in the ultra-fast broadband roll-out, including NZX-listed Chorus, whose share price recovered 12 per cent today, immediately following Adams's announcement.

The government is subsidising a national roll-out of UFB and had already signalled it saw the commission's draft determination as "problematic".

"Carrying on the way it was would have changed the landscape in the way telecommunications services were priced and delivered and we saw some real risks around that in terms of market uncertainty and the market not looking to develop and promote high speed fibre products," said Adams.

"What became very clear is that this sort of uncertainty and decisions coming out that have really taken everyone by surprise are the last thing that anyone needs in this space.

"The legislation always provided that he (Telecommunications Commissioner Stephen Gale) would be superceded" in 2014, said Adams. "The question was whether we had this ongoing period of uncertainty and constantly changing rules.

"Given that where he has gone has been a bit of a curve ball for most people in the industry, we've said the time is right now to bring this forward and have a comprehensive look now."

Adams stressed she did not necessarily agree that UFB prices would be higher as a result of the government's intervention, but argued price was not the only factor to take into account in pursuing a policy to improve New Zealand's internet speeds.

"It's not a simple matter of saying 'if the wholesale price is low for the next 12 months, that's a good thing' because as I think what everyone knows is that what consumers end up paying is a factor of a whole lot of other things, chief amongst which is a competitive market in which everyone's in competing for that business," Adams said.

"The over-arching consideration is what is the best long term interests of telecommunications users and certainly when we have the debate about the government's commitment to UFB programmes, we got a very clear message from consumers: we need to move to fibre.

"In any sector, you can't look at one component part without factoring in the cost of moving to new technology. While of course we want to ensure that consumers are paying fair prices and no more than is necessary, it isn't about the cheapest way of connecting."

The government and commission reviews would not necessarily reach different conclusions and Adams said the commission process would continue on its own path while the government review occurred.

"I'm not interfering in his process," she said.

"Now the two are in parallel. He has his process and that's for him to work through and determine how he wants to handle that, but what we need is a much clearer, long term provision around how regulation of telecommunication services work as a whole rather than in disparate parts."

- BusinessDesk



USPS Cuts Saturday Mail Delivery But Will Continue Package Delivery

Saturday mail delivery uspsFor several years, the United States Postal Service has been talking about the possibility of doing away with mail delivery on Saturdays in order to help balance its budget. Congress and the American public have debated whether or not this change could have a negative impact on consumers and businesses.

The USPS has officially announced that mail will no longer be delivered to residential addresses on Saturdays beginning the week of August 5, 2013. Packages will continue to be delivered on Saturdays, and Post Offices that currently have Saturday hours will remain open, some with limited hours, to sell stamps and accept packages for shipping. Mail to PO boxes will also continue to be delivered on Saturdays.

Since package delivery remains a more profitable part of the business than traditional mail, businesses like online retailers that ship products to consumers shouldn’t really be affected by this change.

But for other types of businesses, like those that use direct mail for marketing purposes, cutting Saturday delivery could potentially have more of an impact. However, since mail will still be delivered Monday through Friday, any potential negative impacts from the new schedule should be minimal.

The USPS has been contemplating cutting Saturday delivery for some time, due mainly to loss of business from email and other forms of digital communication, as well as competition from private carriers like FedEx and UPS.

The Postal Service expects that this measure will help to save about $2 billion annually, once the new schedule has been fully implemented.

The USPS is a self-supporting government enterprise, and the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation. In addition, the Postal Service receives no tax dollars or government funding for running its operations. Post Offices are funded by the sale of postage, and its other products and services.




Survey Reveals Small Business Owners Perspective On 2013

For many, the new year offers the opportunity to start a new and make big changes. That is no different for small business owners, but in light of the current economy, the choice of changes and focus has to be made with quite a bit of haste and thought. So what are small business owners perspective on 2013 and what are they planning

Visa’s last Small Business Spend Insights survey gives insight into exactly what small business owners are expecting in 2013 and how they are planning to spend their time and dollars. Here’s what the survey found:

  • Small Business Owners Maintain Cautious Optimism. Despite growing confidence that they will see increases in revenue and profits, economic concerns continue to fluctuate among business owners with recovery from recession topping the list.

 

  • Business Owners Anticipate They Will Invest In Their Business. Small businesses plan to increase spend and activity in advertising and marketing. Plus, they expect to increase levels of capital investment and inventory to support anticipated growth.
  • Small Businesses Seek Financing To Support Their Growth Plans. Optimism about growth for their businesses is tempered by the reality of increasing energy costs and tighter banking restrictions.
  • Rising Costs and Attracting New Customers Top Individual Concerns. Cost of health insurance, attracting new customers and rising taxes weigh heavily on more than 50 percent of small business owners surveyed.
You can review the full results of the survey here.

What are you expecting for 2013 and what plans do you have for your small business



Survey Reveals Small Business Owners Perspective On 2013

For many, the new year offers the opportunity to start a new and make big changes. That is no different for small business owners, but in light of the current economy, the choice of changes and focus has to be made with quite a bit of haste and thought. So what are small business owners perspective on 2013 and what are they planning

Visa’s last Small Business Spend Insights survey gives insight into exactly what small business owners are expecting in 2013 and how they are planning to spend their time and dollars. Here’s what the survey found:

  • Small Business Owners Maintain Cautious Optimism. Despite growing confidence that they will see increases in revenue and profits, economic concerns continue to fluctuate among business owners with recovery from recession topping the list.

 

  • Business Owners Anticipate They Will Invest In Their Business. Small businesses plan to increase spend and activity in advertising and marketing. Plus, they expect to increase levels of capital investment and inventory to support anticipated growth.
  • Small Businesses Seek Financing To Support Their Growth Plans. Optimism about growth for their businesses is tempered by the reality of increasing energy costs and tighter banking restrictions.
  • Rising Costs and Attracting New Customers Top Individual Concerns. Cost of health insurance, attracting new customers and rising taxes weigh heavily on more than 50 percent of small business owners surveyed.
You can review the full results of the survey here.

What are you expecting for 2013 and what plans do you have for your small business



Survey Reveals Small Business Owners Perspective On 2013

For many, the new year offers the opportunity to start a new and make big changes. That is no different for small business owners, but in light of the current economy, the choice of changes and focus has to be made with quite a bit of haste and thought. So what are small business owners perspective on 2013 and what are they planning

Visa’s last Small Business Spend Insights survey gives insight into exactly what small business owners are expecting in 2013 and how they are planning to spend their time and dollars. Here’s what the survey found:

  • Small Business Owners Maintain Cautious Optimism. Despite growing confidence that they will see increases in revenue and profits, economic concerns continue to fluctuate among business owners with recovery from recession topping the list.

 

  • Business Owners Anticipate They Will Invest In Their Business. Small businesses plan to increase spend and activity in advertising and marketing. Plus, they expect to increase levels of capital investment and inventory to support anticipated growth.
  • Small Businesses Seek Financing To Support Their Growth Plans. Optimism about growth for their businesses is tempered by the reality of increasing energy costs and tighter banking restrictions.
  • Rising Costs and Attracting New Customers Top Individual Concerns. Cost of health insurance, attracting new customers and rising taxes weigh heavily on more than 50 percent of small business owners surveyed.
You can review the full results of the survey here.

What are you expecting for 2013 and what plans do you have for your small business



Survey Reveals Small Business Owners Perspective On 2013

For many, the new year offers the opportunity to start a new and make big changes. That is no different for small business owners, but in light of the current economy, the choice of changes and focus has to be made with quite a bit of haste and thought. So what are small business owners perspective on 2013 and what are they planning

Visa’s last Small Business Spend Insights survey gives insight into exactly what small business owners are expecting in 2013 and how they are planning to spend their time and dollars. Here’s what the survey found:

  • Small Business Owners Maintain Cautious Optimism. Despite growing confidence that they will see increases in revenue and profits, economic concerns continue to fluctuate among business owners with recovery from recession topping the list.

 

  • Business Owners Anticipate They Will Invest In Their Business. Small businesses plan to increase spend and activity in advertising and marketing. Plus, they expect to increase levels of capital investment and inventory to support anticipated growth.
  • Small Businesses Seek Financing To Support Their Growth Plans. Optimism about growth for their businesses is tempered by the reality of increasing energy costs and tighter banking restrictions.
  • Rising Costs and Attracting New Customers Top Individual Concerns. Cost of health insurance, attracting new customers and rising taxes weigh heavily on more than 50 percent of small business owners surveyed.
You can review the full results of the survey here.

What are you expecting for 2013 and what plans do you have for your small business



Tech Thursday (2/7): News From WinZip, Verio, Go Daddy and TripIt

It’s Tech Thursday from Smallbiztechnology.com. Each week we take a quick look at business and technology news and updates for the small business community and shares them with you in a quick and simple round-up. 

WinZip® 17 Update Adds Direct Support For Box Cloud Service

Protect and Share Files on the Cloud and Social Media with WinZip® 17: Now offers direct integration with Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive as well as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter

WinZip Computing, a Corel Company, has introduced a free update to WinZip® 17, now adding Box to its list of supported cloud storage services. WinZip 17 delivers safer and easier file sharing with direct integration to popular platforms including Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and SkyDrive.

Offering a better way to manage, protect and share in the cloud, WinZip 17 gives you a single place to access the files you’ve saved on your Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and SkyDrive accounts. Banking-level AES encryption helps you keep files safe from prying eyes. Zip compression lets you get the most from your free and paid-for storage space while saving time and bandwidth on upload and download. WinZip 17 also makes it easy to convert your files to the best possible formats for sharing and provides convenient ways to deliver files and links to your contacts through email and social media.

For more information about this update, click here.

Verio Announces the Availability of goMobi

Powerful and easy-to-use website creation tool enables small businesses to create compelling mobile websites to grow business

Verio Inc., the leading provider of online business solutions to SMBs worldwide, has announced the availability of goMobi™, a new mobile website creation tool. Unlike other offerings that provide a conversion tool that takes existing web content and attempts to make it mobile-friendly, goMobi guides users through the creation of their mobile presence with a simple interface that ensures an effortless user experience. While certain information from the existing website can be pre-populated automatically, it can be edited any time. Users can leverage their existing site while having the flexibility tomake changes.

According to a recent study from World Bank, three quarters of the world’s population now has access to a mobile phone and optimizing a website for mobile is key to increasing online sales. goMobi is a fast, easy-to-use tool for SMBs to create a compelling mobile website to increase traffic, convert leads and grow revenue.

For more on this new tool, click here.

First Data & Go Daddy Introduce Go Daddy Payment Solutions

New Integrated Application Allows Small to Mid-Sized Businesses to Sign Up for Website, Shopping Cart and Payment Acceptance All at Once

First Data Corporation, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing, and Web hosting giant Go Daddy, a one-stop shop for small businesses looking to leverage the power of the Internet, today announced Go Daddy Payment Solutions. The application is designed to better serve the electronic payment needs of the small business community.

Go Daddy customers will be able to leverage Go Daddy Payment Solutions to process eCommerce transactions online. Go Daddy gives customers the ability to go from an idea to a full-blown Web presence - including a website, shopping cart and online payment acceptance - in a few simple steps.

For more on this story, click here.

TripIt for Teams: An Easier Way to Organize Multiple Travelers’ Plans in One Place

Two Years Since Launch, Teams of All Sizes are Kicking Paper Itineraries to the Curb and Giving Their Travelers Instant Access to Plans On-the-Go

TripIt, the leading mobile trip organizer from Concur (Nasdaq: CNQR), is now joined by TripIt for Teams, the easiest way to keep all travelers in an organization, department or company, organized in one place.

First launched two years ago as TripIt for Business, the new name reflects the variety of organizations that have ditched the old way of manually creating itineraries for travelers or struggling to keep track of who’s out of the office. 

TripIt for Teams gives travel planners an efficient way to organize travel arrangements for multiple travelers and reservations in one place. To get an itinerary instantly, the administrator simply forwards flight, hotel, car rentals and other travel confirmation emails with the travelers’ email in the subject line to pla...@tripit.com. In one central dashboard, TripIt for Teams provides visibility into who’s traveling, where they’re staying, whether reservations are complete, and how much the trip will cost.

For more information on TripIt for Teams, click here.



Tech Thursday (2/7): News From WinZip, Verio, Go Daddy and TripIt

It’s Tech Thursday from Smallbiztechnology.com. Each week we take a quick look at business and technology news and updates for the small business community and shares them with you in a quick and simple round-up. 

WinZip® 17 Update Adds Direct Support For Box Cloud Service

Protect and Share Files on the Cloud and Social Media with WinZip® 17: Now offers direct integration with Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive as well as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter

WinZip Computing, a Corel Company, has introduced a free update to WinZip® 17, now adding Box to its list of supported cloud storage services. WinZip 17 delivers safer and easier file sharing with direct integration to popular platforms including Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and SkyDrive.

Offering a better way to manage, protect and share in the cloud, WinZip 17 gives you a single place to access the files you’ve saved on your Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and SkyDrive accounts. Banking-level AES encryption helps you keep files safe from prying eyes. Zip compression lets you get the most from your free and paid-for storage space while saving time and bandwidth on upload and download. WinZip 17 also makes it easy to convert your files to the best possible formats for sharing and provides convenient ways to deliver files and links to your contacts through email and social media.

For more information about this update, click here.

Verio Announces the Availability of goMobi

Powerful and easy-to-use website creation tool enables small businesses to create compelling mobile websites to grow business

Verio Inc., the leading provider of online business solutions to SMBs worldwide, has announced the availability of goMobi™, a new mobile website creation tool. Unlike other offerings that provide a conversion tool that takes existing web content and attempts to make it mobile-friendly, goMobi guides users through the creation of their mobile presence with a simple interface that ensures an effortless user experience. While certain information from the existing website can be pre-populated automatically, it can be edited any time. Users can leverage their existing site while having the flexibility tomake changes.

According to a recent study from World Bank, three quarters of the world’s population now has access to a mobile phone and optimizing a website for mobile is key to increasing online sales. goMobi is a fast, easy-to-use tool for SMBs to create a compelling mobile website to increase traffic, convert leads and grow revenue.

For more on this new tool, click here.

First Data & Go Daddy Introduce Go Daddy Payment Solutions

New Integrated Application Allows Small to Mid-Sized Businesses to Sign Up for Website, Shopping Cart and Payment Acceptance All at Once

First Data Corporation, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing, and Web hosting giant Go Daddy, a one-stop shop for small businesses looking to leverage the power of the Internet, today announced Go Daddy Payment Solutions. The application is designed to better serve the electronic payment needs of the small business community.

Go Daddy customers will be able to leverage Go Daddy Payment Solutions to process eCommerce transactions online. Go Daddy gives customers the ability to go from an idea to a full-blown Web presence - including a website, shopping cart and online payment acceptance - in a few simple steps.

For more on this story, click here.

TripIt for Teams: An Easier Way to Organize Multiple Travelers’ Plans in One Place

Two Years Since Launch, Teams of All Sizes are Kicking Paper Itineraries to the Curb and Giving Their Travelers Instant Access to Plans On-the-Go

TripIt, the leading mobile trip organizer from Concur (Nasdaq: CNQR), is now joined by TripIt for Teams, the easiest way to keep all travelers in an organization, department or company, organized in one place.

First launched two years ago as TripIt for Business, the new name reflects the variety of organizations that have ditched the old way of manually creating itineraries for travelers or struggling to keep track of who’s out of the office. 

TripIt for Teams gives travel planners an efficient way to organize travel arrangements for multiple travelers and reservations in one place. To get an itinerary instantly, the administrator simply forwards flight, hotel, car rentals and other travel confirmation emails with the travelers’ email in the subject line to pla...@tripit.com. In one central dashboard, TripIt for Teams provides visibility into who’s traveling, where they’re staying, whether reservations are complete, and how much the trip will cost.

For more information on TripIt for Teams, click here.



NYC Events: Upcoming NYC Business and Technology Events (2/8 - 2/14)

Here is a listing of NYC Business and Technology Events for the upcoming week (2/1 - 2/7) that we thought would be beneficial to our small business community in the Greater NYC area.

Have a business and/or technology event coming up in the New York City area that you’d like us to add to our weekly post  If so, email us at eve...@smallbiztechnology.com.

Networking Breakfast Followed By Seminar on Social Media

February 12th, 8:30 am - 10 am: 20 W. 44th Street, 6th floor Coffee House, New York, NY

Networking Breakfast followed by a Special Presentation: Internet and Social Media: Shifts in behavior driving data center demand

Learn How To Work Virtually & How To Hire People for $2/hr

February 12th, 6 pm - 9 pm: Ana Cristea Gallery, 521 W 26th St., New York, NY

You will walk away from this training with a knowledge of how to work effectively virtually and with virtual staff & freelancers. You’ll also have amazing resources and a supportive community that will help you achieve your goals!

Developing Your Marketing Plan 

February 13th, 6 pm - 7:30 pm: New York Public Library Science Industry and Business Library, 188 Madison Ave at 34th St Lower Level Healy Hall New York, NY 10016

This is the second training workshop for the New York StartUP! 2013 Business Plan Competition. Learn how to develop a marketing plan for your business. This session will be offered three times in February.

Top Tips To Make Your Business Soar

February 13th, 6 pm - 8pm: Phillips Nizer LLP, 666 Fifth Avenue (Enter on 52nd or 53rd), 28th Floor, New York, NY 10024

Think you’ve heard it all before  Not so. Join veteran sales trainer and business growth strategist Adrian Miller as she provides “the blatant truth” about winning more new business as well as getting more business from existing clients.



NYC Events: Upcoming NYC Business and Technology Events (2/8 - 2/14)

Here is a listing of NYC Business and Technology Events for the upcoming week (2/1 - 2/7) that we thought would be beneficial to our small business community in the Greater NYC area.

Have a business and/or technology event coming up in the New York City area that you’d like us to add to our weekly post  If so, email us at eve...@smallbiztechnology.com.

Networking Breakfast Followed By Seminar on Social Media

February 12th, 8:30 am - 10 am: 20 W. 44th Street, 6th floor Coffee House, New York, NY

Networking Breakfast followed by a Special Presentation: Internet and Social Media: Shifts in behavior driving data center demand

Learn How To Work Virtually & How To Hire People for $2/hr

February 12th, 6 pm - 9 pm: Ana Cristea Gallery, 521 W 26th St., New York, NY

You will walk away from this training with a knowledge of how to work effectively virtually and with virtual staff & freelancers. You’ll also have amazing resources and a supportive community that will help you achieve your goals!

Developing Your Marketing Plan 

February 13th, 6 pm - 7:30 pm: New York Public Library Science Industry and Business Library, 188 Madison Ave at 34th St Lower Level Healy Hall New York, NY 10016

This is the second training workshop for the New York StartUP! 2013 Business Plan Competition. Learn how to develop a marketing plan for your business. This session will be offered three times in February.

Top Tips To Make Your Business Soar

February 13th, 6 pm - 8pm: Phillips Nizer LLP, 666 Fifth Avenue (Enter on 52nd or 53rd), 28th Floor, New York, NY 10024

Think you’ve heard it all before  Not so. Join veteran sales trainer and business growth strategist Adrian Miller as she provides “the blatant truth” about winning more new business as well as getting more business from existing clients.



Tech Thursday (2/7): News From WinZip, Verio, Go Daddy and TripIt

It’s Tech Thursday from Smallbiztechnology.com. Each week we take a quick look at business and technology news and updates for the small business community and shares them with you in a quick and simple round-up. 

WinZip® 17 Update Adds Direct Support For Box Cloud Service

Protect and Share Files on the Cloud and Social Media with WinZip® 17: Now offers direct integration with Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive as well as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter

WinZip Computing, a Corel Company, has introduced a free update to WinZip® 17, now adding Box to its list of supported cloud storage services. WinZip 17 delivers safer and easier file sharing with direct integration to popular platforms including Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and SkyDrive.

Offering a better way to manage, protect and share in the cloud, WinZip 17 gives you a single place to access the files you’ve saved on your Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and SkyDrive accounts. Banking-level AES encryption helps you keep files safe from prying eyes. Zip compression lets you get the most from your free and paid-for storage space while saving time and bandwidth on upload and download. WinZip 17 also makes it easy to convert your files to the best possible formats for sharing and provides convenient ways to deliver files and links to your contacts through email and social media.

For more information about this update, click here.

Verio Announces the Availability of goMobi

Powerful and easy-to-use website creation tool enables small businesses to create compelling mobile websites to grow business

Verio Inc., the leading provider of online business solutions to SMBs worldwide, has announced the availability of goMobi™, a new mobile website creation tool. Unlike other offerings that provide a conversion tool that takes existing web content and attempts to make it mobile-friendly, goMobi guides users through the creation of their mobile presence with a simple interface that ensures an effortless user experience. While certain information from the existing website can be pre-populated automatically, it can be edited any time. Users can leverage their existing site while having the flexibility tomake changes.

According to a recent study from World Bank, three quarters of the world’s population now has access to a mobile phone and optimizing a website for mobile is key to increasing online sales. goMobi is a fast, easy-to-use tool for SMBs to create a compelling mobile website to increase traffic, convert leads and grow revenue.

For more on this new tool, click here.

First Data & Go Daddy Introduce Go Daddy Payment Solutions

New Integrated Application Allows Small to Mid-Sized Businesses to Sign Up for Website, Shopping Cart and Payment Acceptance All at Once

First Data Corporation, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing, and Web hosting giant Go Daddy, a one-stop shop for small businesses looking to leverage the power of the Internet, today announced Go Daddy Payment Solutions. The application is designed to better serve the electronic payment needs of the small business community.

Go Daddy customers will be able to leverage Go Daddy Payment Solutions to process eCommerce transactions online. Go Daddy gives customers the ability to go from an idea to a full-blown Web presence - including a website, shopping cart and online payment acceptance - in a few simple steps.

For more on this story, click here.

TripIt for Teams: An Easier Way to Organize Multiple Travelers’ Plans in One Place

Two Years Since Launch, Teams of All Sizes are Kicking Paper Itineraries to the Curb and Giving Their Travelers Instant Access to Plans On-the-Go

TripIt, the leading mobile trip organizer from Concur (Nasdaq: CNQR), is now joined by TripIt for Teams, the easiest way to keep all travelers in an organization, department or company, organized in one place.

First launched two years ago as TripIt for Business, the new name reflects the variety of organizations that have ditched the old way of manually creating itineraries for travelers or struggling to keep track of who’s out of the office. 

TripIt for Teams gives travel planners an efficient way to organize travel arrangements for multiple travelers and reservations in one place. To get an itinerary instantly, the administrator simply forwards flight, hotel, car rentals and other travel confirmation emails with the travelers’ email in the subject line to pla...@tripit.com. In one central dashboard, TripIt for Teams provides visibility into who’s traveling, where they’re staying, whether reservations are complete, and how much the trip will cost.

For more information on TripIt for Teams, click here.



Tech Thursday (2/7): News From WinZip, Verio, Go Daddy and TripIt

It’s Tech Thursday from Smallbiztechnology.com. Each week we take a quick look at business and technology news and updates for the small business community and shares them with you in a quick and simple round-up. 

WinZip® 17 Update Adds Direct Support For Box Cloud Service

Protect and Share Files on the Cloud and Social Media with WinZip® 17: Now offers direct integration with Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive as well as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter

WinZip Computing, a Corel Company, has introduced a free update to WinZip® 17, now adding Box to its list of supported cloud storage services. WinZip 17 delivers safer and easier file sharing with direct integration to popular platforms including Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and SkyDrive.

Offering a better way to manage, protect and share in the cloud, WinZip 17 gives you a single place to access the files you’ve saved on your Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and SkyDrive accounts. Banking-level AES encryption helps you keep files safe from prying eyes. Zip compression lets you get the most from your free and paid-for storage space while saving time and bandwidth on upload and download. WinZip 17 also makes it easy to convert your files to the best possible formats for sharing and provides convenient ways to deliver files and links to your contacts through email and social media.

For more information about this update, click here.

Verio Announces the Availability of goMobi

Powerful and easy-to-use website creation tool enables small businesses to create compelling mobile websites to grow business

Verio Inc., the leading provider of online business solutions to SMBs worldwide, has announced the availability of goMobi™, a new mobile website creation tool. Unlike other offerings that provide a conversion tool that takes existing web content and attempts to make it mobile-friendly, goMobi guides users through the creation of their mobile presence with a simple interface that ensures an effortless user experience. While certain information from the existing website can be pre-populated automatically, it can be edited any time. Users can leverage their existing site while having the flexibility tomake changes.

According to a recent study from World Bank, three quarters of the world’s population now has access to a mobile phone and optimizing a website for mobile is key to increasing online sales. goMobi is a fast, easy-to-use tool for SMBs to create a compelling mobile website to increase traffic, convert leads and grow revenue.

For more on this new tool, click here.

First Data & Go Daddy Introduce Go Daddy Payment Solutions

New Integrated Application Allows Small to Mid-Sized Businesses to Sign Up for Website, Shopping Cart and Payment Acceptance All at Once

First Data Corporation, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing, and Web hosting giant Go Daddy, a one-stop shop for small businesses looking to leverage the power of the Internet, today announced Go Daddy Payment Solutions. The application is designed to better serve the electronic payment needs of the small business community.

Go Daddy customers will be able to leverage Go Daddy Payment Solutions to process eCommerce transactions online. Go Daddy gives customers the ability to go from an idea to a full-blown Web presence - including a website, shopping cart and online payment acceptance - in a few simple steps.

For more on this story, click here.

TripIt for Teams: An Easier Way to Organize Multiple Travelers’ Plans in One Place

Two Years Since Launch, Teams of All Sizes are Kicking Paper Itineraries to the Curb and Giving Their Travelers Instant Access to Plans On-the-Go

TripIt, the leading mobile trip organizer from Concur (Nasdaq: CNQR), is now joined by TripIt for Teams, the easiest way to keep all travelers in an organization, department or company, organized in one place.

First launched two years ago as TripIt for Business, the new name reflects the variety of organizations that have ditched the old way of manually creating itineraries for travelers or struggling to keep track of who’s out of the office. 

TripIt for Teams gives travel planners an efficient way to organize travel arrangements for multiple travelers and reservations in one place. To get an itinerary instantly, the administrator simply forwards flight, hotel, car rentals and other travel confirmation emails with the travelers’ email in the subject line to pla...@tripit.com. In one central dashboard, TripIt for Teams provides visibility into who’s traveling, where they’re staying, whether reservations are complete, and how much the trip will cost.

For more information on TripIt for Teams, click here.



4 WordPress Plugins to Fight Content Scrapers

Scrapers are the bane of any blogger’s existence. Web scraping sweeps in, steals your content, claims it is their own, and sometimes there is no way of proving otherwise. Surprisingly, Google hasn’t been too smart at identifying the original content author in many cases. Very often, my Google Alerts notify me of my scraped articles rather than my original (guest) posts and I’ve seen scrapers outranking original articles for long tail searches many times.

There is occasionally a story of Read More

The post 4 WordPress Plugins to Fight Content Scrapers appeared first on Small Business Trends.



4 WordPress Plugins to Fight Content Scrapers

Scrapers are the bane of any blogger’s existence. Web scraping sweeps in, steals your content, claims it is their own, and sometimes there is no way of proving otherwise. Surprisingly, Google hasn’t been too smart at identifying the original content author in many cases. Very often, my Google Alerts notify me of my scraped articles rather than my original (guest) posts and I’ve seen scrapers outranking original articles for long tail searches many times.

There is occasionally a story of Read More

The post 4 WordPress Plugins to Fight Content Scrapers appeared first on Small Business Trends.



NYC Events: Upcoming NYC Business and Technology Events (2/8 - 2/14)

Here is a listing of NYC Business and Technology Events for the upcoming week (2/1 - 2/7) that we thought would be beneficial to our small business community in the Greater NYC area.

Have a business and/or technology event coming up in the New York City area that you’d like us to add to our weekly post  If so, email us at eve...@smallbiztechnology.com.

Networking Breakfast Followed By Seminar on Social Media

February 12th, 8:30 am - 10 am: 20 W. 44th Street, 6th floor Coffee House, New York, NY

Networking Breakfast followed by a Special Presentation: Internet and Social Media: Shifts in behavior driving data center demand

Learn How To Work Virtually & How To Hire People for $2/hr

February 12th, 6 pm - 9 pm: Ana Cristea Gallery, 521 W 26th St., New York, NY

You will walk away from this training with a knowledge of how to work effectively virtually and with virtual staff & freelancers. You’ll also have amazing resources and a supportive community that will help you achieve your goals!

Developing Your Marketing Plan 

February 13th, 6 pm - 7:30 pm: New York Public Library Science Industry and Business Library, 188 Madison Ave at 34th St Lower Level Healy Hall New York, NY 10016

This is the second training workshop for the New York StartUP! 2013 Business Plan Competition. Learn how to develop a marketing plan for your business. This session will be offered three times in February.

Top Tips To Make Your Business Soar

February 13th, 6 pm - 8pm: Phillips Nizer LLP, 666 Fifth Avenue (Enter on 52nd or 53rd), 28th Floor, New York, NY 10024

Think you’ve heard it all before  Not so. Join veteran sales trainer and business growth strategist Adrian Miller as she provides “the blatant truth” about winning more new business as well as getting more business from existing clients.



Foodies: Spot Great Meals with OpenTable And Foodspotting App

Online restaurant reservation service OpenTable recently announced its purchase of mobile app Foodspotting, in an effort to create a more social and visual-focused platform.

The Foodspotting app, which allows users to submit and browse pictures of their favorite meals, will continue to run as its own product. Currently, Foodspotting allows users (and foodies) to search for certain types of dishes within a particular city or geographic area.

opentable

Users can also log into Foodspotting with their Facebook accounts so they can see what restaurants and dishes their friends like, and then share their favorites with others.

For businesses, Foodspotting offers a number of tools including photo contests, giveaways, and city restaurant guides. Foodspotting is also working on a way for restaurants to claim their own pages so they can have more control over what is displayed.

The photo on the left above shows an OpenTable page that includes reviews, reservation options, and a photo from Foodspotting. The photo on the right shows the same photo on a Foodspotting page, which includes the user name and when the photo was added, along with how many other users have loved the post.  Foodies, in particular, will really love this feature.

For restaurant owners, this news could mean the addition of some interactive features on the popular reservation platform. By integrating Foodspotting photos and data, the OpenTable experience could become smarter and a little more personal. Instead of simply going to OpenTable to make a reservation, users could submit photos of their favorite dishes or exchange other information about local restaurants.

OpenTable already had a partnership in place with Foodspotting. The site used some user-submitted photos from the app on its restaurant reservation pages, and Foodspotting users were able to make OpenTable reservations within the app.

OpenTable agreed to purchase Foodspotting for $10 million, and the ten-person team will be joining the team at OpenTable. Foodspotting is based in San Francisco and was originally founded in 2009.




Big Ideas Blog Launches New Video Series: Stop Selling on Facebook and Make More Money

June Brockmeyer and Ramon Ray on Facebook Marketing for Small Businesses

Infusionsoft launches a new video series on it’s Big Ideas Blog, “The BIG Idea of the Week”.

For this first interview June Brockmeyer, Big Idea Journalist, spent a few minutes discussing the power and best practices for leveraging Facebook in one’s business with Ramon Ray of Smallbiztechnology.com

Big Tip: If you have a dog kennel (for example) instead of asking people to bring their dogs to your dog kennel, post photos and ask people to vote which dog looks like theirs. Often DIRECT selling does not work on Facebook but fun and engaging content to identify potential customers is what works! Check out the full interview here or below and visit The Big Ideas Blog

Buy Ramon’s latest book, “The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing”  on February 19th and get lots of prizes and goodies!



14 Days of Facebook Marketing Tips. Tip #3: Use Contests To Draw People To Your Page

Tip #3: Use Contests To Draw People To Your Page

Welcome to 14 Days of Facebook Marketing Tips, on the occasion of the upcoming launch of “The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing” (Wiley) by Ramon Ray, of Smallbiztechnology.com and Infusionsoft.

Buy Ramon’s latest book on February 19th and get a digital box of goodies as your gift for buying the book, educating yourself and growing your business with Facebook.

In The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing, you will overall learn how to get more customers and keep the ones you have. You’ll also learn how to leverage overall online marketing, how to better use social media and, more specifically, how to use the power of Facebook for YOUR business.

Tip #3: Use Contests To Draw People To Your Page

Who does’t love a contest or promotion  The chance to beat the odds, win that special prize and be the ‘special one’ is alluring to so many and certainly a way to draw attention to your Facebook page.

Facebook has many features available for incorporating and managing a contest on your Facebook page, all of which are managed and run by third-party vendors - not Facebook. When running a contest on Facebook you must use a Facebook approved app, no exception, as all contests must fall within the Facebook contest guidelines. While it may seem a bit daunting and cumbersome, it truly is not and, if done correctly, contests can serve as a very positive way to engage your followers and reach out to many more. Here are four quick tips to get started running a contest on Facebook:

  1. Research Contest Success Stories. While you may have an idea of what kind of contest you want to run, you may first want to do a  bit of research to see what type of contests have had success already.  Search a site like Mashable to find success stories that will inspire you.
  2. Find the Right App For Your Contest. There are many approved apps for running contests, such as Wildfire and North Social, all of which offer different formats and pricing.  Take a look at many to see what will work best for the contest you want to run.
  3. Take Time to Promote. It takes time to promote your contest online and to generate interest, so allow for that time within your promotion.  Try promoting your contest at least two weeks before it starts and then run the contest for at least two weeks.
  4. Use Ads to Market Your Contest. Use Facebook ads to promote your contest and draw attention. Use different images, during the course of the promotion, to keep ads fresh and enticing.

For more great tips on how to market your business with Facebook, check out ‘The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing’. And don’t forget - buy it on Feb. 19th and you’ll get the great digital ‘Goody Bag’ of special discounts and gifts!



14 Days of Facebook Marketing Tips. Tip #3: Use Contests To Draw People To Your Page

Tip #3: Use Contests To Draw People To Your Page

Welcome to 14 Days of Facebook Marketing Tips, on the occasion of the upcoming launch of “The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing” (Wiley) by Ramon Ray, of Smallbiztechnology.com and Infusionsoft.

Buy Ramon’s latest book on February 19th and get a digital box of goodies as your gift for buying the book, educating yourself and growing your business with Facebook.

In The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing, you will overall learn how to get more customers and keep the ones you have. You’ll also learn how to leverage overall online marketing, how to better use social media and, more specifically, how to use the power of Facebook for YOUR business.

Tip #3: Use Contests To Draw People To Your Page

Who does’t love a contest or promotion  The chance to beat the odds, win that special prize and be the ‘special one’ is alluring to so many and certainly a way to draw attention to your Facebook page.

Facebook has many features available for incorporating and managing a contest on your Facebook page, all of which are managed and run by third-party vendors - not Facebook. When running a contest on Facebook you must use a Facebook approved app, no exception, as all contests must fall within the Facebook contest guidelines. While it may seem a bit daunting and cumbersome, it truly is not and, if done correctly, contests can serve as a very positive way to engage your followers and reach out to many more. Here are four quick tips to get started running a contest on Facebook:

  1. Research Contest Success Stories. While you may have an idea of what kind of contest you want to run, you may first want to do a  bit of research to see what type of contests have had success already.  Search a site like Mashable to find success stories that will inspire you.
  2. Find the Right App For Your Contest. There are many approved apps for running contests, such as Wildfire and North Social, all of which offer different formats and pricing.  Take a look at many to see what will work best for the contest you want to run.
  3. Take Time to Promote. It takes time to promote your contest online and to generate interest, so allow for that time within your promotion.  Try promoting your contest at least two weeks before it starts and then run the contest for at least two weeks.
  4. Use Ads to Market Your Contest. Use Facebook ads to promote your contest and draw attention. Use different images, during the course of the promotion, to keep ads fresh and enticing.

For more great tips on how to market your business with Facebook, check out ‘The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing’. And don’t forget - buy it on Feb. 19th and you’ll get the great digital ‘Goody Bag’ of special discounts and gifts!



Big Ideas Blog Launches New Video Series: Stop Selling on Facebook and Make More Money

June Brockmeyer and Ramon Ray on Facebook Marketing for Small Businesses

Infusionsoft launches a new video series on it’s Big Ideas Blog, “The BIG Idea of the Week”.

For this first interview June Brockmeyer, Big Idea Journalist, spent a few minutes discussing the power and best practices for leveraging Facebook in one’s business with Ramon Ray of Smallbiztechnology.com

Big Tip: If you have a dog kennel (for example) instead of asking people to bring their dogs to your dog kennel, post photos and ask people to vote which dog looks like theirs. Often DIRECT selling does not work on Facebook but fun and engaging content to identify potential customers is what works! Check out the full interview here or below and visit The Big Ideas Blog

Buy Ramon’s latest book, “The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing”  on February 19th and get lots of prizes and goodies!



European Commission calls for collaboration and incident sharing

The European Commission's plan for a secure and open internet depends on national security strategies and cooperation.

Announcing the cyber security strategy ‘An Open, Safe and Secure Cyberspace', the EC aims to: achieve cyber resilience; drastically reduce cyber crime; develop cyber defence policy and capabilities related to the Common Security and Defence Policy; develop the industrial and technological resources for cyber security; and establish a coherent international cyber space policy for the European Union.

Neelie Kroes, European Commission vice president for the digital agenda, said: “The more people rely on the internet the more people rely on it to be secure. A secure internet protects our freedoms and rights and our ability to do business. It's time to take coordinated action - the cost of not acting is much higher than the cost of acting.”

As part of this, each member state must adopt a network information security strategy and designate a national competent authority with adequate financial and human resources to prevent, handle and respond to risks and incidents related to network information security.

It also states that a cooperation mechanism should be established to share early warnings on risks and incidents between member states and the commission, via a secure infrastructure.

Asked how this could be achieved, Kroes said that there is an attitude to deny reality, and she made reference to a comment by one CEO that they know that they are being attacked, and that 93 per cent of large businesses were aware that they were being attacked.

“Being open is at stake, it is the only way to learn from each other and create incentives to do better,” she said.

“So there is no attitude of ‘that is damaging my reputation' and openness and transparency gives you a better situation in the very near future. I know that there is more awareness that reputational damage is no argument as to what is going on, sometimes companies want to avoid this but we shall be open and transparent.”

It also requires operators of critical infrastructures (such as financial services, transport, energy and health) and enablers of information society services (app stores, e-commerce platforms, internet payment, cloud computing, search engines and social networks) and public administrations to adopt risk management practices and report major security incidents on their core services.

Cecilia Malmström, EU commissioner for home affairs, said: “All member states should set up effective national cyber crime units that can benefit from the expertise and the support of the European Cybercrime Centre ‘EC3'.”

John Suffolk, global cyber security officer at Huawei, said: “The strategy comes at a crucial moment, providing the public and the private sector with the tools they need to move beyond debating the problem and take concrete steps to tackle security issues. The time has come to stop talking about the threat, stop talking about the challenges and start talking about the actions we have taken and will take.”

Jason Hart, vice president of cloud solutions at SafeNet, said: “This move is a welcome change as past breaches have demonstrated that delays in reporting may have exacerbated the initial problem. However reporting the breach itself is only a small part of the equation, what is of real importance is preventing the damage that the exposure of unencrypted data can cause in the event of a security breach.

“New legislations that come into play will need to provide a comprehensive set of measures based on the fundamentals of information security to ensure wider adoption of encryption and authentication as a way of mitigating the damage of a potential security breach.”

Ilias Chantzos, senior director of government affairs at Symantec EMEA and APJ, said: “With cyber attacks having an impact on both organisations and individuals in Europe, Symantec has consistently highlighted the need for governments and policy makers to make information security a major public policy priority, both at national and a European level.

“The proposed strategy builds on some of the existing work that EU member states have done and serves to reinforce the need to strengthen critical infrastructure and to work in a collaborative manner. The proposal is the start, not the end, of the democratic process within the EU, and it is definitely a step in the right direction.”



Microsoft and Symantec bring down search engine hijacking botnet

Microsoft and Symantec have combined forces to bring down the Bamital botnet that had control of over 1.8 million unique IP addresses.

According to Microsoft Trustworthy Computing, the botnet was used to hijack people's search results and take them to potentially dangerous websites that could install malware onto their computer, steal their personal information, or fraudulently charge businesses for online advertisement clicks.

It estimated that more than eight million computers were compromised by it over the past two years, and it exploited major online search and advertising platforms. The two companies estimated that Bamital generated at least $1 million a year in profits for its owners and 18 ‘John Doe' ringleaders have been identified, located in Russia, Romania, Britain, the United States and Australia.

Symantec said: “Bamital is a malware family whose primary purpose is to hijack search engine results, redirecting clicks on these results to an attacker controlled command-and-control (C&C) server. The C&C server redirects these search results to websites of the attackers' choosing.

“Bamital also has the ability to click on advertisements without user interaction. This results in poor user experience when using search engines along with an increased risk of further malware infections. Recent information from the botnet shows the number of requests reaching the C&C server to be well over one million per day.”

Richard Domigues Boscovich, assistant general counsel of the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit, said that action was taken ‘to help protect people and advance cloud security for everyone'.

He said: “This takedown, known as Operation b58, is the sixth botnet disruption operation in three years by Microsoft as part of our project Mars - Microsoft Active Response for Security - program and the second done in cooperation with Symantec.”

He said that a lawsuit was filed on 31st January against the botnet's operators in order to sever all the communication lines between the botnet and the malware-infected computers under its control. This was granted on 6th February, and Microsoft - escorted by the US Marshals Service - successfully seized valuable data and evidence from the botnet from web-hosting facilities in Virginia and New Jersey.

“Taking down the Bamital botnet is the first step in protecting people. It's important to note that while the cyber criminals in this case used the Bamital malware to break victims' search experience, it was done in such a sneaky way that most victims wouldn't have even noticed a problem while the botnet was still operating,” he said.

“However, because the takedown severed the cyber criminals' ability to manipulate and control Bamital-infected computers, victims will likely become visibly aware that their search function is broken as their search queries will time out. As such, Microsoft and Symantec have taken proactive action to notify victims.”



Big Ideas Blog Launches New Video Series: Stop Selling on Facebook and Make More Money

June Brockmeyer and Ramon Ray on Facebook Marketing for Small Businesses

Infusionsoft launches a new video series on it’s Big Ideas Blog, “The BIG Idea of the Week”.

For this first interview June Brockmeyer, Big Idea Journalist, spent a few minutes discussing the power and best practices for leveraging Facebook in one’s business with Ramon Ray of Smallbiztechnology.com

Big Tip: If you have a dog kennel (for example) instead of asking people to bring their dogs to your dog kennel, post photos and ask people to vote which dog looks like theirs. Often DIRECT selling does not work on Facebook but fun and engaging content to identify potential customers is what works! Check out the full interview here or below and visit The Big Ideas Blog

Buy Ramon’s latest book, “The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing”  on February 19th and get lots of prizes and goodies!



Cloud computing guidance issued by PCI council

Guidelines on cloud computing have been released by the PCI security standards council.

With an aim to offer a resource for businesses in choosing solutions and third-party cloud providers, the guidelines were developed by PCI special interest groups to answer common questions.

The main objectives are to provide an explanation of common deployment and service models for cloud environments, including how implementations may vary within the different types, compliance challenges in a cloud environment and determining and documenting responsibilities to the different cloud models and guidance.

The document also includes a number of appendices to address specific PCI DSS requirements and implementation scenarios, including: additional considerations to help determine PCI DSS responsibilities across different cloud service models; sample system inventory for cloud computing environments; sample matrix for documenting how PCI DSS responsibilities are assigned between cloud provider and client; and a starting set of questions that can help in determining how PCI DSS requirements can be met in a particular cloud environment.

Chris Brenton, PCI Special Interest Group contributor and director of security for CloudPassage, said: “One of cloud computing's biggest strengths is its shared-responsibility model. However, this shared model can magnify the difficulties of architecting a secure computing environment.

“One of this supplement's greatest achievements is that it clearly defines the security responsibilities of the cloud provider and the cloud customer. With PCI DSS as the foundation, this guidance provides an excellent roadmap to crafting a secure posture in both private and public cloud.”

Bob Russo, general manager of the PCI Security Standards Council, said: “At the council, we always talk about payment security as a shared responsibility. And cloud is by nature shared, which means that it's increasingly important for all parties involved to understand their responsibility when it comes to protecting this data.

“It's great to see this guidance come to fruition, and we're excited to get it into the hands of merchants and other organisations looking to take advantage of cloud technology in a secure manner.”



15 Content Delivery Tools To Speed Up Your Website

When a business website is running slow, customers often decide to leave and look elsewhere. In addition, you lose search engine priority if your website has long load times. Why lose customers over something that is easily remedied Business owners in need of speed for their website can find content delivery networks (CDNs) that will have pages loading fast.

Content delivery networks work by providing nodes that are close to your customers with the stored, fixed content loaded into them. When your website information is offered through a nearby node, it causes that data to travel over shorter distances, creating quicker loads. If you work in WordPress or other shared environments, there are plugins to combine with a CDN to meet your needs, as well.

Note: Remember, the data storage and bandwidth rates mentioned in here are for your website content only - not what’s on your computer hard drive. So you would have to have an extremely large website to exceed most of these. Of course, each of these will have a next level tier to accommodate your needs.

MaxCDN is a content delivery network that has hundreds of servers. The $39.95/year plan should suit most small businesses for those with less than 1TB of data per year.

speed up your website

CloudFlare CDN will keep a copy of minimum content, so your website is available even when the server is down. It also claims to work with other CDNs to increase speed. Although it does not charge for bandwidth and its limited basic service is free, its paid plans run from $20 to $3,000 per month.

CacheFly is used by some of the bigger name companies and is known for its reliability. They offer custom plans (with rates as low as $0.03 per GB) but their Plus Plan is $99 per month (256GB with $0.37/GB above that and limited services). There is a 30-day free trial.

CloudLayer has tools that help with content monetization and digital rights management. Its pricing is solely based on bandwidth, SSL (Secure Socket Layer), and storage needs. These prices range from $0.12 to $0.75 per GB on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Flexihostings is an Australian company that focuses on large content files, audio and video streaming and content caching. But they appear to service companies anywhere with 21 nodes around the world. All prices in Australian Dollars (AU$) Setup fee is $60 and a $200 security deposit. Then, plans start at 250 GB for $76.95/month.

Value CDN provides “fast and low cost” CDN service, and the website definitely looks the part. The site explains the basics and that’s it. However prices range from $120 to $700 per month, with low per GB pricing, but nodes are only located in Europe and North America.

ProCDN says that it works with both large and small content websites. The basic plan is $20 per month for 200 GB. After that it charges $0.15 for each GB up to 10 TB and then $0.10 per GB over 10 TB. I like that they have a short list right on the home page that shows where the servers/nodes are located.

For extra speed with WordPress on a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) level, try these plug-ins:

W3 Total Cache has to be one of the grandfathers in the content speed world. It comes recommended by many of the top bloggers out there.

speed up your website

WP Minify will speed up WordPress and other shared environment sites by compressing JS and CSS files. It can be used in conjunction with a CPN. It is free.

W3Edge is a top-rated plugin that caches, compresses, and is compatible with shared hosting. You can download it from their website for free.

Head JS compresses JavaScript. However, it is recommended you test it first because it can also cause problems if it is not done right. The plugin is free from WordPress.

Plugin Organizer is a WordPress plugin that helps you put your plugins in order and disable ones that you do not need on certain posts. It is free from WordPress.

If you have been searching for a way to host a fast WordPress site without having to do these speed things yourself, then I would recommend you try what is known as Managed WordPress Hosting.

The following three companies are ones where I have spoken to the founder(s) and can vouch for their relentless focus on the customer. There are many others in this growing category, however.

Page.ly was one of the first to offer managed hosting focused on WordPress users. The basic plan starts at $24/month and is ideal for the small business site or blog. Your site is constantly backed up as well, so that’s a nice “peace of mind” feature. I like this short page that explains managed hosting.

speed up your website

Synthesis comes from Copyblogger Media, owner of Scribe Content Marketing software which I just reviewed. It comes with that same - “educational content” that you have come to expect from any Copyblogger product. Plans start at $27/month.

WPEngine is well known for its lightning fast WordPress hosting. Plans start at $29/month and all plans come with a 60 Day money back guarantee. The two founders, Jason Cohen and Ben Metcalfe, are heavy hitters that you can bank on.

What tools are you using to keep your site fast â€" for your customers and for Google




14 Days of Facebook Marketing Tips. Tip #3: Use Contests To Draw People To Your Page

Tip #3: Use Contests To Draw People To Your Page

Welcome to 14 Days of Facebook Marketing Tips, on the occasion of the upcoming launch of “The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing” (Wiley) by Ramon Ray, of Smallbiztechnology.com and Infusionsoft.

Buy Ramon’s latest book on February 19th and get a digital box of goodies as your gift for buying the book, educating yourself and growing your business with Facebook.

In The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing, you will overall learn how to get more customers and keep the ones you have. You’ll also learn how to leverage overall online marketing, how to better use social media and, more specifically, how to use the power of Facebook for YOUR business.

Tip #3: Use Contests To Draw People To Your Page

Who does’t love a contest or promotion  The chance to beat the odds, win that special prize and be the ‘special one’ is alluring to so many and certainly a way to draw attention to your Facebook page.

Facebook has many features available for incorporating and managing a contest on your Facebook page, all of which are managed and run by third-party vendors - not Facebook. When running a contest on Facebook you must use a Facebook approved app, no exception, as all contests must fall within the Facebook contest guidelines. While it may seem a bit daunting and cumbersome, it truly is not and, if done correctly, contests can serve as a very positive way to engage your followers and reach out to many more. Here are four quick tips to get started running a contest on Facebook:

  1. Research Contest Success Stories. While you may have an idea of what kind of contest you want to run, you may first want to do a  bit of research to see what type of contests have had success already.  Search a site like Mashable to find success stories that will inspire you.
  2. Find the Right App For Your Contest. There are many approved apps for running contests, such as Wildfire and North Social, all of which offer different formats and pricing.  Take a look at many to see what will work best for the contest you want to run.
  3. Take Time to Promote. It takes time to promote your contest online and to generate interest, so allow for that time within your promotion.  Try promoting your contest at least two weeks before it starts and then run the contest for at least two weeks.
  4. Use Ads to Market Your Contest. Use Facebook ads to promote your contest and draw attention. Use different images, during the course of the promotion, to keep ads fresh and enticing.

For more great tips on how to market your business with Facebook, check out ‘The Facebook Guide to Small Business Marketing’. And don’t forget - buy it on Feb. 19th and you’ll get the great digital ‘Goody Bag’ of special discounts and gifts!



5 Things Business Owners Need to Review for Their Website

Websites can make or break a business that depends on the Internet in any way for sales. It is important that businesses make it a point to check their websites often to ensure everything is running smoothly. If the site isn’t running well, you could lose a sale and/or a potential long-term costumer.

Site Errors in Google Webmaster Tools

All websites should be set up in Google Webmaster Tools. Here is why:

In Google Webmaster Tools you can look at “Health” and then “Crawl Errors.” In this area you can see if your site has had any downtime that Google picked up as a result of DNS or server connectivity errors.

Webmaster-tools-site-errors

This is important information for you because if your site is consistently having crawl errors it could affect how your site ranks, but more importantly when your site is down or not working - you are not making money. Checking crawl errors is really important when you are paying for cheap hosting. Sometimes you never know what kind of service you are actually getting.

Links and Navigation

nav

Most sites have links in sidebars, headers, footers and throughout the pages. Some of those links push site visitors to make a sale and you want to make sure all of your links are working properly. Do random checks to make sure everything is working, especiallywhen you have employees updating the site often.

Navigation is also important to check often:

  • Are your drop-downs working
  • How do they work on mobile devices
  • Are all the tabs taking to you to the right pages

Sometimes when there are updates to CMS platforms or servers, things on a website break. Always make sure that the areas you need working properly to make a sale are, in fact, working.

Contact Forms and Email

One common problem we see are contact forms that are not working properly for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the contact form will let you know when someone hits “submit” that they are not working. But others will look as though the message was sent. When potential customers don’t get a reply, they move on to another company.

Sometimes contact forms entries make it to the right email address, but they end up in Spam on a consistent basis. These are issues that can be fixed. Find any errors and fix them.  Keep in mind that things may be working well now, but they may not next week so testing your forms is a good idea.

Tip for Business Owners: When you are testing out contact forms, sometimes it is a good idea to use a different email and see how long it takes for your staff to reply. You can also see if their responses are appropriate.

Performance on Mobile Devices

photo

Things to check on mobile devices:

  • Navigation:  How easy or hard is it to use on mobile
  • Links:  Are they easy to see and use
  • Contact Forms:  Make sure they function correctly.
  • Phone Numbers:  Can people see them Can they click to call on a mobile device
  • Downloadable Items:  Do they open on mobile devices
  • Logins for Payments or Clients
  • Page Loading:  Do the pages load Do they look right Can users read your content
  • Email Links: Do they work
  • Apps, Plugins, Modules or Scripts:  Is everything functioning as it should

Remember that mobile software changes consistently so checking various parts of your website often is the smart thing to do.

Pages

I know it sounds obvious, but it is important that you check your main pages often:

  • How do they look
  • Are the pages running slow
  • Do you see any script errors

When websites are being updated often it is critical to check and re-check the pages often. Someone could upload an image that is too big and mess up the look of the site and/or slow down the load time. Someone could add a script that is not working or upload a plugin in WordPress that messes up content in some way.

Check your pages often and make sure you check all critical pages after updates just to ensure all is well.

Five Critical Areas

The five areas I have mentioned are really important to review and review often. These are basic parts of your site that need to work well to make a sale and bring in new clients. Businesses spend a lot of time and money to have a website.

Spending a little time making sure it is working is required to ensure your website represents your company well and to also make sure the site is making you money.