HootSuite Announces Premium Apps: Salesforce, Enhanced YouTube, And Statigram!

Natively, HootSuite manages Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, and other common social networks. For businesses wanting a big social media presence, a management app like HootSuite is key for productivity; you can schedule messages and tweets, track brand mentions and analyze your social media traffic.

YouTube: $1.99 per month

• View YouTube videos in large format
• Monitor 13 available feeds and custom label stream names for easy management
• Stream your account and channel activity, including viewing history
• Access your favorites, subscriptions, playlists, and videos marked to watch later
• Search for videos and filter for most viewed, top rated, most popular, and more
• Upload videos from the HootSuite dash, add title, description, tags, category, privacy level, and license setting
• Share videos to all your social networks in HootSuite

Statigram: $4.99 per month

• View your Home feed and feeds for Your Photos, Your Likes, and the Popular feed from Instagram
• Stream and monitor your Instagram community, including your followers and those you follow
• Analyze your Instagram photos and community growth with summary statistics, rolling 30-day trends, and monthly history
• Gain insights into and manage relationships you have with your Instagram community
• Search for photos by hashtag or username
• Share photos to all your social networks in HootSuite

Salesforce: $4.99 per month

• Create Leads from social networks in HootSuite streams
• Create Cases from social messages in HootSuite streams
• Update Information for existing Lead records
• Look up records in Salesforce based on social profile data
• Select Lead fields relevant to you for custom entity and record workflow
• Custom field mapping for appending social profile data to Lead records

Do you use HootSuite in your business What do you think of this news Let us know in the comments!

And for more on social media management, check out this recent post from our archive!

Send Invoices and Accept Credit Cards With WePay’s New Mobile App

Online invoicing and payment app service WePay just released a new app for iOS devices that allows small businesses to send invoices and charge credit cards from mobile devices.

While businesses have plenty of other options for accepting credit card payments via phones or tablets, the new payment app gives small businesses one more choice to manage mobile payments. And those who already use WePay online will now have a way to manage their accounts on the go.

Because of its focus on professional invoicing, WePay is aimed more at small businesses and professionals than are other mobile payment solutions like Square and Paypal, which offer features for both businesses and individual users.

In addition, the WePay payment app doesn’t need any extra hardware like a card reader. Instead, it does require users to enter credit card numbers manually.

Credit card processing and invoicing both come with a fee of 2.9% and $0.30 per transaction. The payment app accepts all major credit cards, and there are no contracts or monthly fees associated with the service or the app.

The first photo above shows a default app page, where users can see their account balance and choose to send money to their bank accounts, charge a credit card, or send an invoice. They can also choose to view pending invoices and recently received payments.

The second photo shows an itemized invoice, where users can break down each good or service they provided and the individual prices for each. They can also set a due date and even a late fee.

The third photo shows a list of unpaid invoices a user has sent to different parties, allowing them to see how much money they have coming in and the due dates of each invoice.

The WePay service also offers support for e-commerce, donations, event registration, and ticketing. The company, a team of 48 based in Palo Alto, California, was originally founded in 2008.

HootSuite Announces Premium Apps: Salesforce, Enhanced YouTube, And Statigram!

Natively, HootSuite manages Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, and other common social networks. For businesses wanting a big social media presence, a management app like HootSuite is key for productivity; you can schedule messages and tweets, track brand mentions and analyze your social media traffic.

YouTube: $1.99 per month

• View YouTube videos in large format
• Monitor 13 available feeds and custom label stream names for easy management
• Stream your account and channel activity, including viewing history
• Access your favorites, subscriptions, playlists, and videos marked to watch later
• Search for videos and filter for most viewed, top rated, most popular, and more
• Upload videos from the HootSuite dash, add title, description, tags, category, privacy level, and license setting
• Share videos to all your social networks in HootSuite

Statigram: $4.99 per month

• View your Home feed and feeds for Your Photos, Your Likes, and the Popular feed from Instagram
• Stream and monitor your Instagram community, including your followers and those you follow
• Analyze your Instagram photos and community growth with summary statistics, rolling 30-day trends, and monthly history
• Gain insights into and manage relationships you have with your Instagram community
• Search for photos by hashtag or username
• Share photos to all your social networks in HootSuite

Salesforce: $4.99 per month

• Create Leads from social networks in HootSuite streams
• Create Cases from social messages in HootSuite streams
• Update Information for existing Lead records
• Look up records in Salesforce based on social profile data
• Select Lead fields relevant to you for custom entity and record workflow
• Custom field mapping for appending social profile data to Lead records

Do you use HootSuite in your business What do you think of this news Let us know in the comments!

And for more on social media management, check out this recent post from our archive!

HootSuite Announces Premium Apps: Salesforce, Enhanced YouTube, And Statigram!

Natively, HootSuite manages Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, and other common social networks. For businesses wanting a big social media presence, a management app like HootSuite is key for productivity; you can schedule messages and tweets, track brand mentions and analyze your social media traffic.

YouTube: $1.99 per month

• View YouTube videos in large format
• Monitor 13 available feeds and custom label stream names for easy management
• Stream your account and channel activity, including viewing history
• Access your favorites, subscriptions, playlists, and videos marked to watch later
• Search for videos and filter for most viewed, top rated, most popular, and more
• Upload videos from the HootSuite dash, add title, description, tags, category, privacy level, and license setting
• Share videos to all your social networks in HootSuite

Statigram: $4.99 per month

• View your Home feed and feeds for Your Photos, Your Likes, and the Popular feed from Instagram
• Stream and monitor your Instagram community, including your followers and those you follow
• Analyze your Instagram photos and community growth with summary statistics, rolling 30-day trends, and monthly history
• Gain insights into and manage relationships you have with your Instagram community
• Search for photos by hashtag or username
• Share photos to all your social networks in HootSuite

Salesforce: $4.99 per month

• Create Leads from social networks in HootSuite streams
• Create Cases from social messages in HootSuite streams
• Update Information for existing Lead records
• Look up records in Salesforce based on social profile data
• Select Lead fields relevant to you for custom entity and record workflow
• Custom field mapping for appending social profile data to Lead records

Do you use HootSuite in your business What do you think of this news Let us know in the comments!

And for more on social media management, check out this recent post from our archive!

How Content Discovery Can Help Engage Bored Readers On Your Blog

If you own a blog, chances are your readers won’t like everything they read. There are also lots of good posts that will just sit in the back alleys of the Internet without ever being visited again. Readers are very fickle and there’s little you can do about it, unless you have a system in which you can give them links to related and/or popular posts that they will most likely click on.

Why do you need people to click on more of your content The answer is simple: The more time people spend on your blog, the more Google favors you. There’s a metric known as the “bounce rate,” which basically tells you how many people leave your blog after seeing just one article. You don’t want that number to be high. Considering that the average bounce rate for news and media sites is 55%, you’re going to have to work really hard for your small business’ blog to capture the attention of its readers. Most of the blogs I’ve seen have bounce rates between 60-80%, with the majority on the upper end of the spectrum.

One of the ways you can fix this is through content discovery platforms. Through software like nRelate or YARPP, you can show visitors content that’s similar to what they’re currently reading or your most popular content. Directing your readers to something that’s more likely to catch their attention will keep them engaged and score you more possible conversions. It will also make them more likely to click on any advertising that you place on your blog, scoring you more revenue on that end.

If you can get a decent amount of visitors into your blog, that’s good for you. But, if you can’t keep them inside, there’s no way you are going to sell a product. Content discovery can really turn things around for you. If you want my best advice, try looking at sites that have managed to engage you. Ask yourself: What did they do to keep me reading You’ll quickly notice that they had links to related entries and perhaps a “Most Popular” section. There’s your answer!

Four Online Survey Services That Help You Understand What Your Customers Want and Need

There is no denying the fact that when business decisions are based on inputs gathered from customers, the chances of success are significantly higher. This brings me to the small business poser for today - which is the most efficient and cost effective way for small businesses to gather customer feedback While the good-old fashioned feedback forms continue to be handed out, small businesses are increasingly looking to reach out to a wider audience of potential and existing customers.  Helping them do this are online survey tools, designed to handle both simple one question surveys as well as more complex questionnaires designed for various demographics. In a way, online surveys are more honest because the respondents are not under any pressure to give favorable or ‘nice’ sounding feedback. Also online surveys offer greatr flexibility in administration, with the questionnaire design being easily changed to suit the demographic.

Social media sites like Facebook can be used to collect data from ‘fans’. For instance if you want to know which flavor of the potato chips your clients want introduced, then social media might be a good choice. But for more elaborate surveys, there are several other online survey tools that offer a host of features without burning a hole in your pocket. Online surveys can be embedded into email, your website, blog and integrated with third party websites. They also provide a host of branding options, questionnaire designs and data analytics at a reasonable cost.

SurveyMonkey is one of the most popular tools and has a free version that allows you to get up to 100 responses to a set of 10 questions per survey. Paid versions start at about $9 a month and go up to $ 40 per month. The advanced packages offer features like automatic filtration of responses and quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data obtained.

SurveyGizmo  has a a 14 day free trial plan and thereafter charges $75 per month. They offer a 25 percent discount for non-profit and academic institutions.

Poll Daddy has a basic free plan, which allows you to ask 10 questions and get up to 200 responses a month. The advanced package that allows unlimited responses and questions, plus a host of analytic tools, is priced at $ 75 per month.

Google Consumer Surveys- Google has forayed into online surveys with its product Google Consumer Surveys. You are allowed to ask one question to the target audience. You choose the target segment for the survey and the question is posted on websites referred to as the publishing website. In order to access premium content on these websites, the visitor has to first answer your question. The publishing website gains a part of the fee that you pay to Google Consumer Surveys. Google is offering three price plans. The first one gets you responses from general internet population in US, Canada or UK, and you have to pay $0.10 per response or $150.00 for 1500 responses. The second plan is priced at $0.50 per response or $250.00 for 500 responses and lets you choose a demographic segment. The third one would cost you $.50 for every response or $750 for 1500 responses. With the third package, you can ask a qualifying question, for example - do yu like ice cream and if the respondent says yes, you can proceed to ask him  - which is your favorite brand of ice cream

And now a survey question of my own - ladies have you ever noticed that each time you eat at a restaurant with a male companion, the server promptly plonks a feedback form in front of you, instead of your companion  Now is it that (a) women are better at giving feedback or (b) is it that we look more indulgent

Why Great Content Can Help Your Business Boost Its Sales

Why Great Content Can Help Your Business Boost Sales

With the quarter coming to a close,  many of us feel the pressure in hitting those quarterly sales goals. For many businesses, that last push can often be the difference between a springboard into a strong Q2 or a more challenging year ahead.

As a reactive measure, there’s often a rush to traditional channels to drive traffic and revenue. The reality is however, these channels can be costly (like search), take time to build results (like SEO) and deliver low click-throughs and ROI (like display ads).

Alternatively, content marketing is a highly effective way to help boost your web traffic and sales. While it is predominantly viewed as a top of funnel driver, engaging and useful content not only builds immediate audience interest but can trigger them through to conversion by way of this increased engagement.

Engaging content doesn’t have to drain the resources or the last of that marketing budget. Existing content can be repurposed: Older yet timeless blog posts can be surfaced, blog posts can become newsletters and earned media like great press coverage or product review can be re-circulated.

The beauty of content marketing is that its effectiveness isn’t limited to a specific vertical nor does it exclude the ability to engage a niche audience.

Boutique Homes, a vacation home and small hotel rentals site, wanted to distribute its company blog content across the web to increase bookings particularly over the holiday period. In the past, the company had worked with other travel blogs to promote its content but this tactic didn’t deliver the results or sales desired.

Working with Outbrain over a 4 month period,  Boutique Homes was able to:

• Increase traffic 364% from 10 000 to 46,400 visits over a 4 month period.
• Generate 32.2M impressions
• Produce 79,835 visits to their blog

All of which led to an increase in newsletter subscriptions (hello, leads!) and new customer enquiries

Thinking about using content to boost your sales

Download Outbrain’s handy guide to the Do’s & Don’ts of Content Marketing

Natalie Chan leads the marketing acquisition efforts for Outbrain’s Amplify self-serve product. A native from Sydney, Australia, Natalie previously managed customer acquisition at the Financial Services Institute of Australasia. Prior to this, she was a Senior Business Manager at Saatchi & Saatchi spending time in both Sydney and New York office on accounts including Sony and P&G.

Pawn Shops Go From Reality TV To The Internet With New Online Pawn Services

It happens to the best of us: One day, a larger-than-expected electric bill arrives and you don’t have the funds necessary to cover them at this moment. To avoid painful penalties, you must take out a “micro” loan to rectify the situation. Unfortunately, lenders are either unwilling or unable to provide such small loans. As the economy gets more and more sour, pawning your stuff just keeps getting more and more attractive.

Pawning has always had a nasty reputation to it. People who walk out of pawn shops often find themselves feeling a bit weird. In today’s economic climate, such shops are starting to revindicate their reputations as more and more upstanding people are pawning their valuable stuff for money that they need quickly. Small businesses are no exception!

So, what’s the best way to pawn stuff at this point With a trustworthy online pawn shop, of course! Using services like Pawngo, you can take out small loans by exchanging valuable assets for the money.

With Pawngo, you ship out your asset (it pays for the shipping) instead of walking it to a store. After the item is shipped, you get your money straight to your bank account, no questions asked. While you’re paying a debt by getting into more debt, you can think about it as splitting the debt into smaller pieces you can pay back every month. It’s better than biting more than you can chew. The worst that can happen, as is the case with any other pawn dealer, is that they’ll end up selling the assets you left behind to recover the money.

Pawngo accepts anything from jewelry to designer handbags. Aside from firearms, large items, and common household stuff, you can put virtually anything in their hands. In fact, their interface lets you select what type of item you’re pawning and asks you for more details where necessary so a proper quote can be made. Here’s a video explaining everything.

If you feel like you’re a bit stranded, you can pawn some stuff through a trustworthy online pawn dealer. Times are tough and it’s better to have lost something valuable than lose your business, which is something you’ve most likely put a ton of hard work into developing.

Pawn Shops Go From Reality TV To The Internet With New Online Pawn Services

It happens to the best of us: One day, a larger-than-expected electric bill arrives and you don’t have the funds necessary to cover them at this moment. To avoid painful penalties, you must take out a “micro” loan to rectify the situation. Unfortunately, lenders are either unwilling or unable to provide such small loans. As the economy gets more and more sour, pawning your stuff just keeps getting more and more attractive.

Pawning has always had a nasty reputation to it. People who walk out of pawn shops often find themselves feeling a bit weird. In today’s economic climate, such shops are starting to revindicate their reputations as more and more upstanding people are pawning their valuable stuff for money that they need quickly. Small businesses are no exception!

So, what’s the best way to pawn stuff at this point With a trustworthy online pawn shop, of course! Using services like Pawngo, you can take out small loans by exchanging valuable assets for the money.

With Pawngo, you ship out your asset (it pays for the shipping) instead of walking it to a store. After the item is shipped, you get your money straight to your bank account, no questions asked. While you’re paying a debt by getting into more debt, you can think about it as splitting the debt into smaller pieces you can pay back every month. It’s better than biting more than you can chew. The worst that can happen, as is the case with any other pawn dealer, is that they’ll end up selling the assets you left behind to recover the money.

Pawngo accepts anything from jewelry to designer handbags. Aside from firearms, large items, and common household stuff, you can put virtually anything in their hands. In fact, their interface lets you select what type of item you’re pawning and asks you for more details where necessary so a proper quote can be made. Here’s a video explaining everything.

If you feel like you’re a bit stranded, you can pawn some stuff through a trustworthy online pawn dealer. Times are tough and it’s better to have lost something valuable than lose your business, which is something you’ve most likely put a ton of hard work into developing.

Why Great Content Can Help Your Business Boost Its Sales

Why Great Content Can Help Your Business Boost Sales

With the quarter coming to a close,  many of us feel the pressure in hitting those quarterly sales goals. For many businesses, that last push can often be the difference between a springboard into a strong Q2 or a more challenging year ahead.

As a reactive measure, there’s often a rush to traditional channels to drive traffic and revenue. The reality is however, these channels can be costly (like search), take time to build results (like SEO) and deliver low click-throughs and ROI (like display ads).

Alternatively, content marketing is a highly effective way to help boost your web traffic and sales. While it is predominantly viewed as a top of funnel driver, engaging and useful content not only builds immediate audience interest but can trigger them through to conversion by way of this increased engagement.

Engaging content doesn’t have to drain the resources or the last of that marketing budget. Existing content can be repurposed: Older yet timeless blog posts can be surfaced, blog posts can become newsletters and earned media like great press coverage or product review can be re-circulated.

The beauty of content marketing is that its effectiveness isn’t limited to a specific vertical nor does it exclude the ability to engage a niche audience.

Boutique Homes, a vacation home and small hotel rentals site, wanted to distribute its company blog content across the web to increase bookings particularly over the holiday period. In the past, the company had worked with other travel blogs to promote its content but this tactic didn’t deliver the results or sales desired.

Working with Outbrain over a 4 month period,  Boutique Homes was able to:

• Increase traffic 364% from 10 000 to 46,400 visits over a 4 month period.
• Generate 32.2M impressions
• Produce 79,835 visits to their blog

All of which led to an increase in newsletter subscriptions (hello, leads!) and new customer enquiries

Thinking about using content to boost your sales

Download Outbrain’s handy guide to the Do’s & Don’ts of Content Marketing

Natalie Chan leads the marketing acquisition efforts for Outbrain’s Amplify self-serve product. A native from Sydney, Australia, Natalie previously managed customer acquisition at the Financial Services Institute of Australasia. Prior to this, she was a Senior Business Manager at Saatchi & Saatchi spending time in both Sydney and New York office on accounts including Sony and P&G.

3 Ways To Get Your Office Ahead This Spring - Shed, Shred and Get Ahead

Our friends at Staples have three easy steps to organize your office for the Spring:

• Shed - get rid of documents you don’t need; but do keep important files like tax records
• Shred - documents you really don’t need shred them so they can’t get into the hands of the ‘bad guys”
• Get Ahead - start using secure electronic file storage and organizational tools such as a scanner, notebook (paper or digital) and more.

Here’s a few neat tools that Staples is showcasing, on my Pinterest board

3 Ways To Get Your Office Ahead This Spring - Shed, Shred and Get Ahead

Our friends at Staples have three easy steps to organize your office for the Spring:

• Shed - get rid of documents you don’t need; but do keep important files like tax records
• Shred - documents you really don’t need shred them so they can’t get into the hands of the ‘bad guys”
• Get Ahead - start using secure electronic file storage and organizational tools such as a scanner, notebook (paper or digital) and more.

Here’s a few neat tools that Staples is showcasing, on my Pinterest board

Four Online Survey Services That Help You Understand What Your Customers Want and Need

There is no denying the fact that when business decisions are based on inputs gathered from customers, the chances of success are significantly higher. This brings me to the small business poser for today - which is the most efficient and cost effective way for small businesses to gather customer feedback While the good-old fashioned feedback forms continue to be handed out, small businesses are increasingly looking to reach out to a wider audience of potential and existing customers.  Helping them do this are online survey tools, designed to handle both simple one question surveys as well as more complex questionnaires designed for various demographics. In a way, online surveys are more honest because the respondents are not under any pressure to give favorable or ‘nice’ sounding feedback. Also online surveys offer greatr flexibility in administration, with the questionnaire design being easily changed to suit the demographic.

Social media sites like Facebook can be used to collect data from ‘fans’. For instance if you want to know which flavor of the potato chips your clients want introduced, then social media might be a good choice. But for more elaborate surveys, there are several other online survey tools that offer a host of features without burning a hole in your pocket. Online surveys can be embedded into email, your website, blog and integrated with third party websites. They also provide a host of branding options, questionnaire designs and data analytics at a reasonable cost.

SurveyMonkey is one of the most popular tools and has a free version that allows you to get up to 100 responses to a set of 10 questions per survey. Paid versions start at about $9 a month and go up to $ 40 per month. The advanced packages offer features like automatic filtration of responses and quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data obtained.

SurveyGizmo  has a a 14 day free trial plan and thereafter charges $75 per month. They offer a 25 percent discount for non-profit and academic institutions.

Poll Daddy has a basic free plan, which allows you to ask 10 questions and get up to 200 responses a month. The advanced package that allows unlimited responses and questions, plus a host of analytic tools, is priced at $ 75 per month.

Google Consumer Surveys- Google has forayed into online surveys with its product Google Consumer Surveys. You are allowed to ask one question to the target audience. You choose the target segment for the survey and the question is posted on websites referred to as the publishing website. In order to access premium content on these websites, the visitor has to first answer your question. The publishing website gains a part of the fee that you pay to Google Consumer Surveys. Google is offering three price plans. The first one gets you responses from general internet population in US, Canada or UK, and you have to pay $0.10 per response or $150.00 for 1500 responses. The second plan is priced at $0.50 per response or $250.00 for 500 responses and lets you choose a demographic segment. The third one would cost you $.50 for every response or $750 for 1500 responses. With the third package, you can ask a qualifying question, for example - do yu like ice cream and if the respondent says yes, you can proceed to ask him  - which is your favorite brand of ice cream

And now a survey question of my own - ladies have you ever noticed that each time you eat at a restaurant with a male companion, the server promptly plonks a feedback form in front of you, instead of your companion  Now is it that (a) women are better at giving feedback or (b) is it that we look more indulgent

Four Tech Trends Every Business Must Know: Twitter Chat With Dell, Samsung and Ramon Ray

Technology in the workplace greatly affects how we communicate and do business.  By ensuring you are armed with products and solutions that enable your direct success, you provide your business with a sustainable competitive advantage.

Join Dell (@DellSMBUS), Samsungâ„¢ (@SamsungSemiUS) and Ramon Ray (@ramonray), editor of Smallbiztechnology.com, in a discussion on end user computing and how you can improve it for your workforce, including:

• Steps to implementing a BYOD (Bring-Your-Own-Device) Strategy
• Successfully migrating/refreshing operating systems
• Securing your data while moving to the cloud
• Empowering a remote workforce, while enabling collaboration and productivity

Wednesday, March 20, from 12-1 pm Central Daylight Time

Register here: http://bit.ly/ZuljX3

Follow the hashtag #DellEUC to join in!

Come prepared with your questions and thoughts on what steps your company has taken to improve end-user computing and what has proven to be more successful than others. Don’t miss this informative chat!

The State of Technology and Small Business: Results From Brothers 4th Annual Small Business Survey

Last week I had the chance to take part in reviewing the results of the Fourth Annual Small Business Survey from Brother and to join other small business professionals in an intimate discussion about the results and the current state of technology and small business. Brother International is one of the premier providers of products, including multi-function center machines and printers, facsimile machines and electronic labeling machines, for the home, home office and office and focuses highly on the small business market.

One of the most striking results from the survey was the fact that 75 percent of small business owners indicated that a crashed computer, or technology malfunction, is more disruptive to their business than a sick employee. Being that these are small businesses (survey was conducted with 500 small businesses with less than 100 employees between February 21st and March 4th, 2013), whose major investment and resources are typically their employees, that is quite the finding and reveals that technology is playing a larger role in the small business environment than ever before. Taking that finding one step further, the survey also discovered that 31 percent of respondents indicated that they would be willing to give up a week’s worth of vacation to ensure tech malfunctions never happen again in their business. 

“This year’s small business survey found that technology is just as important as a healthy workforce,” said John Wandishin, Brother Vice President of Marketing. “The results emphasize the importance of delivering reliable and easy-to-use products to promote a productive working environment.”

Here’s a look at the infographic which outlines key findings of the survey:

Another interesting finding of the survey, and one that was highly discussed during our conversation, was the fact that 66 percent of small business owners say the are overwhelmed by the amount of technology available to them to help run their business. A staggering 86 percent claimed that office productivity suffered in the past year due to technology not working properly. This leads to an interesting question: Is it the fact that the technology isn’t working properly and malfunctioning or is it possibly that the technology is not the right solution and/or not being used properly for the application

Regardless of the answer, it’s a definite issue within the small business space. Lack of understanding of technologies, such as cloud computing (only 28 percent of small business owners said they completely understand cloud computing), or mobile applications, impedes a business’ productivity and efficiency - two elements that can be detrimental to a small organization with limited resources. Many of us who are submersed in the technology world will often say that using technology for the sake of using technology is a bad idea and can often cause more harm than good.  But, when technology is understood and applied correctly, it can be a small business’ best friend and boost them to the next level. How does a small business do this There are many ways. Look to professional consultants who have an expertise in the field to help you or, if you are not understanding a technology that you have in place, you can often turn to online forums or YouTube videos to help you.

And while the economy is still uncertain, the survey found that the majority of small business owners, 52 percent, will invest in their business this year to give themselves an advantage over competitors  versus the 42 percent that will be stockpiling cash to help guarantee they can survive through the economic downturn and anything else that may occur.  And not surprisingly, of those business investments that they’ll be making, 51 percent will be putting them towards technology tool-related capital investments such as new software, mobile apps and cloud computing services.

Small business owner and noted expert Gene Marks, who led our conversation that day, agreed with many of the survey’s findings and offered  “While running a small business is still tough in this slow economic recovery, I’m seeing that small business owners are more optimistic about the future.” 

So, while stress remains high among small business owners (58 percent stating they have high stress, which is up from 55 percent in 2012), extreme stress is down almost half from last year, at 13 percent and overall small business owners have a positive outlook going into 2013.

So, how do you stack up to the results of this survey Are you among the technology confused and overwhelmed Or are you embracing technology in your small business and allowing it to help you grow and be more efficient  Let us know in the comments below!

The Evolution of Printers: A Look At Printers for Every Small Business Need

As offices have increasingly steered toward achieving paper-free status, one thing has become glaringly apparent. We’ll always have a need for printing. In fact, many offices have sought printers that will take care of tasks normally outsourced to professional printing companies, while also adding printers that can perform in other capacities, such as faxing, scanning, and copying.

For a small business weighing its equipment options, there’s no shortage of choices. Whatever need your small business has, there’s likely a printer to match it. Here are some printing-related small business needs and the equipment that can best fulfill those needs.

Large Format Printers

Does your small business print newsletters, brochures, and other marketing materials A large format printer can save you trips to FedEx Office. The HP DesignJet T120 provides colorful, high-quality graphics that make it a hit with graphic designers and business owners, according to consumer and corporate technology company Porter Novelli. But one of the best features of the T120 is its ability to print in large format, taking businesses beyond the legal size limitations of many desktop printers. Despite its ability to handle large page sizes, the T120 is the smallest in its class, allowing traveling workers to pack it in a bag to keep on hand in a hotel or conference center.

Cloud-Based Printers

“The mobile worker population will reach 1.3 billion by 2015,” a spokesperson for Xerox states. “With 37.2 percent of the total global workforce on the move, it is essential for small businesses to purchase a printer that not only does the basics, but also supports BYOD policies - offering mobile print options and access to cloud services.” As businesses look toward the future, it’s important they place high priority on options such as the ability to print from mobile devices securely and with no software installation required.

Speedy Printers

Today’s busy professional has no time to wait for print jobs to slowly spit out. The HP OfficeJet Pro X series boasts the fastest printer speeds available at 70 pages per minute. It’s a speed that even made it into the Guinness Book of World Records. According to a Porter Novelli representative, the OfficeJet Pro accomplishes this by using a revolutionary new technology called Pagewide. “The new PageWide prints with a single speedy pass of the page, rather than the traditional ink printer that moves back and forth repeatedly across the page,” she tells us.

Multi-Function Printers

Thanks to multi-function printers, business owners can free up desk space by getting rid of fax machines, copiers, and scanners. A small business can add all workers to one handy device that does it all at a fraction of the price. Some popular MFPs include the HP OfficeJet Pro X576dw, the Epson Workforce Pro WP-4590, and the Canon Pixma MG5320.

Postage Printers

Office workers have enjoyed the ease of printing labels using Dymo label printers for years. Now the printing company provides interactivity with Endicia postal printing software, saving you a trip to the post office. Since time is money, that can add money to the small business owner’s bottom line. “We both know that mobile technology has reduced our need to print documents, but some businesses still rely on printing for their livelihood,” a spokesperson says. “So if you’re an e-commerce professional selling goods online, or a small brick-and-mortar offering select product shipping, the DYMO LabelWriter is a must-have.”

As you assess your printing needs, knowing the many options available to small businesses today can help ensure you’re prepared for the future. Technology will likely continue to change in the coming years, so be sure your business is prepared to handle those changes by choosing a printer that will grow with your business.

The Evolution of Printers: A Look At Printers for Every Small Business Need

As offices have increasingly steered toward achieving paper-free status, one thing has become glaringly apparent. We’ll always have a need for printing. In fact, many offices have sought printers that will take care of tasks normally outsourced to professional printing companies, while also adding printers that can perform in other capacities, such as faxing, scanning, and copying.

For a small business weighing its equipment options, there’s no shortage of choices. Whatever need your small business has, there’s likely a printer to match it. Here are some printing-related small business needs and the equipment that can best fulfill those needs.

Large Format Printers

Does your small business print newsletters, brochures, and other marketing materials A large format printer can save you trips to FedEx Office. The HP DesignJet T120 provides colorful, high-quality graphics that make it a hit with graphic designers and business owners, according to consumer and corporate technology company Porter Novelli. But one of the best features of the T120 is its ability to print in large format, taking businesses beyond the legal size limitations of many desktop printers. Despite its ability to handle large page sizes, the T120 is the smallest in its class, allowing traveling workers to pack it in a bag to keep on hand in a hotel or conference center.

Cloud-Based Printers

“The mobile worker population will reach 1.3 billion by 2015,” a spokesperson for Xerox states. “With 37.2 percent of the total global workforce on the move, it is essential for small businesses to purchase a printer that not only does the basics, but also supports BYOD policies - offering mobile print options and access to cloud services.” As businesses look toward the future, it’s important they place high priority on options such as the ability to print from mobile devices securely and with no software installation required.

Speedy Printers

Today’s busy professional has no time to wait for print jobs to slowly spit out. The HP OfficeJet Pro X series boasts the fastest printer speeds available at 70 pages per minute. It’s a speed that even made it into the Guinness Book of World Records. According to a Porter Novelli representative, the OfficeJet Pro accomplishes this by using a revolutionary new technology called Pagewide. “The new PageWide prints with a single speedy pass of the page, rather than the traditional ink printer that moves back and forth repeatedly across the page,” she tells us.

Multi-Function Printers

Thanks to multi-function printers, business owners can free up desk space by getting rid of fax machines, copiers, and scanners. A small business can add all workers to one handy device that does it all at a fraction of the price. Some popular MFPs include the HP OfficeJet Pro X576dw, the Epson Workforce Pro WP-4590, and the Canon Pixma MG5320.

Postage Printers

Office workers have enjoyed the ease of printing labels using Dymo label printers for years. Now the printing company provides interactivity with Endicia postal printing software, saving you a trip to the post office. Since time is money, that can add money to the small business owner’s bottom line. “We both know that mobile technology has reduced our need to print documents, but some businesses still rely on printing for their livelihood,” a spokesperson says. “So if you’re an e-commerce professional selling goods online, or a small brick-and-mortar offering select product shipping, the DYMO LabelWriter is a must-have.”

As you assess your printing needs, knowing the many options available to small businesses today can help ensure you’re prepared for the future. Technology will likely continue to change in the coming years, so be sure your business is prepared to handle those changes by choosing a printer that will grow with your business.

The State of Technology and Small Business: Results From Brothers 4th Annual Small Business Survey

Last week I had the chance to take part in reviewing the results of the Fourth Annual Small Business Survey from Brother and to join other small business professionals in an intimate discussion about the results and the current state of technology and small business. Brother International is one of the premier providers of products, including multi-function center machines and printers, facsimile machines and electronic labeling machines, for the home, home office and office and focuses highly on the small business market.

One of the most striking results from the survey was the fact that 75 percent of small business owners indicated that a crashed computer, or technology malfunction, is more disruptive to their business than a sick employee. Being that these are small businesses (survey was conducted with 500 small businesses with less than 100 employees between February 21st and March 4th, 2013), whose major investment and resources are typically their employees, that is quite the finding and reveals that technology is playing a larger role in the small business environment than ever before. Taking that finding one step further, the survey also discovered that 31 percent of respondents indicated that they would be willing to give up a week’s worth of vacation to ensure tech malfunctions never happen again in their business. 

“This year’s small business survey found that technology is just as important as a healthy workforce,” said John Wandishin, Brother Vice President of Marketing. “The results emphasize the importance of delivering reliable and easy-to-use products to promote a productive working environment.”

Here’s a look at the infographic which outlines key findings of the survey:

Another interesting finding of the survey, and one that was highly discussed during our conversation, was the fact that 66 percent of small business owners say the are overwhelmed by the amount of technology available to them to help run their business. A staggering 86 percent claimed that office productivity suffered in the past year due to technology not working properly. This leads to an interesting question: Is it the fact that the technology isn’t working properly and malfunctioning or is it possibly that the technology is not the right solution and/or not being used properly for the application

Regardless of the answer, it’s a definite issue within the small business space. Lack of understanding of technologies, such as cloud computing (only 28 percent of small business owners said they completely understand cloud computing), or mobile applications, impedes a business’ productivity and efficiency - two elements that can be detrimental to a small organization with limited resources. Many of us who are submersed in the technology world will often say that using technology for the sake of using technology is a bad idea and can often cause more harm than good.  But, when technology is understood and applied correctly, it can be a small business’ best friend and boost them to the next level. How does a small business do this There are many ways. Look to professional consultants who have an expertise in the field to help you or, if you are not understanding a technology that you have in place, you can often turn to online forums or YouTube videos to help you.

And while the economy is still uncertain, the survey found that the majority of small business owners, 52 percent, will invest in their business this year to give themselves an advantage over competitors  versus the 42 percent that will be stockpiling cash to help guarantee they can survive through the economic downturn and anything else that may occur.  And not surprisingly, of those business investments that they’ll be making, 51 percent will be putting them towards technology tool-related capital investments such as new software, mobile apps and cloud computing services.

Small business owner and noted expert Gene Marks, who led our conversation that day, agreed with many of the survey’s findings and offered  “While running a small business is still tough in this slow economic recovery, I’m seeing that small business owners are more optimistic about the future.” 

So, while stress remains high among small business owners (58 percent stating they have high stress, which is up from 55 percent in 2012), extreme stress is down almost half from last year, at 13 percent and overall small business owners have a positive outlook going into 2013.

So, how do you stack up to the results of this survey Are you among the technology confused and overwhelmed Or are you embracing technology in your small business and allowing it to help you grow and be more efficient  Let us know in the comments below!

How Content Discovery Can Help Engage Bored Readers On Your Blog

If you own a blog, chances are your readers won’t like everything they read. There are also lots of good posts that will just sit in the back alleys of the Internet without ever being visited again. Readers are very fickle and there’s little you can do about it, unless you have a system in which you can give them links to related and/or popular posts that they will most likely click on.

Why do you need people to click on more of your content The answer is simple: The more time people spend on your blog, the more Google favors you. There’s a metric known as the “bounce rate,” which basically tells you how many people leave your blog after seeing just one article. You don’t want that number to be high. Considering that the average bounce rate for news and media sites is 55%, you’re going to have to work really hard for your small business’ blog to capture the attention of its readers. Most of the blogs I’ve seen have bounce rates between 60-80%, with the majority on the upper end of the spectrum.

One of the ways you can fix this is through content discovery platforms. Through software like nRelate or YARPP, you can show visitors content that’s similar to what they’re currently reading or your most popular content. Directing your readers to something that’s more likely to catch their attention will keep them engaged and score you more possible conversions. It will also make them more likely to click on any advertising that you place on your blog, scoring you more revenue on that end.

If you can get a decent amount of visitors into your blog, that’s good for you. But, if you can’t keep them inside, there’s no way you are going to sell a product. Content discovery can really turn things around for you. If you want my best advice, try looking at sites that have managed to engage you. Ask yourself: What did they do to keep me reading You’ll quickly notice that they had links to related entries and perhaps a “Most Popular” section. There’s your answer!

4 Growth Tactics for Your Small Business

Many of us would love to be the next Facebook, Reddit or Google. It is a dream of anyone with a startup, whatever the genre, to become the contender for established sites already dominating the Web. The problem is that these sites are already working with a dedicated user base. When it comes to establishing growth tactics, it can be easy to become overwhelmed.

So where do you start

Perhaps the best way to figure out your own growth strategy is to see the successes of others and how they achieved it. Below are some success stories and growth tactics that can be derived from big names that all had to start right where you are.

4 Growth Tactics and Success Stories

Facebook

Facebook is regularly changing up their growth strategy too match the current trends and acquire new users. So pinpointing which was their most successful is very hard to do at this point.

Suffice to say, they have had a great deal of success in each phase of their user growth. This was further fueled by their general visibility and expansion as they began to take over the realm of social media more aggressively.

But their first major growth tactic was in the beginning of their full launch. They had begun as a campus based program and slowly started to allow others to join. There was a touch of exclusivity that was the result, despite the growing hype. The first million users were among a larger group of people who desperately wanted to join but had to wait until it opened up to their network.

Growth tactic: Provide a touch of exclusivity.

Reddit

Reddit is one site that I think truly benefited from the demise of another. While Digg was busy dousing the flames after their disastrous redesign and the massive problems that surfaced due to their elitist user structure, Reddit was gaining traction.

Mostly by doing everything that Digg users were saying they wanted in a content sharing site.

While they took these elements, which undoubtedly gave a boost to their user growth in a big way, they also had their own unique style.

They gave complete power of subreddits to users, made sign up almost laughably easy, and don’t cause grief over throwaway accounts.

Growth tactic: Give complete power to the people.

Instagram

I have heard a certain amount of argument over what strategy managed to launch Instagram into a mainstream photo app.

While I am sure the public nature of the initial galleries was a big part of it, I think it was more the way they styled their platform after Twitter.

This gave a way to quickly share photos and speed seems to be the whole point behind using Instagram.

Using something more thorough like Facebook would have been a misstep.

Ultimately, their choice paid off.

Growth tactic: Ease of sharing.

Pinterest

Another site that has sparked controversy over which tactic hacked their way into rapid expansion, their exclusivity, auto-follow and unending scroll features were the silver bullets.

I personally believe it was the unique format of a social networking site based entirely around images, their style of pinboards’ instead of albums, and the fact that they saw their demographic leaning more towards women and encouraged it rather than attempting to push another user base. A move that would have potentially alienated the users it already had.

Pinterest is quickly becoming one of the most popular social media sites ever created. So they are definitely doing something right.

Growth tactic: Target your core audience (not trying to be too good to everyone).

Conclusion

Any site or business that has made it big will have their own story. A surprising number of them are nothing but money from a larger company being thrown their way, such as in a buyout. But many others are tales of ingenuity, perseverance and that one idea that let them hack their way into the mainstream.

What are some of your favorite user growth success stories and tactics

Facebook Photo via Shutterstock

4 Growth Tactics for Your Small Business

Many of us would love to be the next Facebook, Reddit or Google. It is a dream of anyone with a startup, whatever the genre, to become the contender for established sites already dominating the Web. The problem is that these sites are already working with a dedicated user base. When it comes to establishing growth tactics, it can be easy to become overwhelmed.

So where do you start

Perhaps the best way to figure out your own growth strategy is to see the successes of others and how they achieved it. Below are some success stories and growth tactics that can be derived from big names that all had to start right where you are.

4 Growth Tactics and Success Stories

Facebook

Facebook is regularly changing up their growth strategy too match the current trends and acquire new users. So pinpointing which was their most successful is very hard to do at this point.

Suffice to say, they have had a great deal of success in each phase of their user growth. This was further fueled by their general visibility and expansion as they began to take over the realm of social media more aggressively.

But their first major growth tactic was in the beginning of their full launch. They had begun as a campus based program and slowly started to allow others to join. There was a touch of exclusivity that was the result, despite the growing hype. The first million users were among a larger group of people who desperately wanted to join but had to wait until it opened up to their network.

Growth tactic: Provide a touch of exclusivity.

Reddit

Reddit is one site that I think truly benefited from the demise of another. While Digg was busy dousing the flames after their disastrous redesign and the massive problems that surfaced due to their elitist user structure, Reddit was gaining traction.

Mostly by doing everything that Digg users were saying they wanted in a content sharing site.

While they took these elements, which undoubtedly gave a boost to their user growth in a big way, they also had their own unique style.

They gave complete power of subreddits to users, made sign up almost laughably easy, and don’t cause grief over throwaway accounts.

Growth tactic: Give complete power to the people.

Instagram

I have heard a certain amount of argument over what strategy managed to launch Instagram into a mainstream photo app.

While I am sure the public nature of the initial galleries was a big part of it, I think it was more the way they styled their platform after Twitter.

This gave a way to quickly share photos and speed seems to be the whole point behind using Instagram.

Using something more thorough like Facebook would have been a misstep.

Ultimately, their choice paid off.

Growth tactic: Ease of sharing.

Pinterest

Another site that has sparked controversy over which tactic hacked their way into rapid expansion, their exclusivity, auto-follow and unending scroll features were the silver bullets.

I personally believe it was the unique format of a social networking site based entirely around images, their style of pinboards’ instead of albums, and the fact that they saw their demographic leaning more towards women and encouraged it rather than attempting to push another user base. A move that would have potentially alienated the users it already had.

Pinterest is quickly becoming one of the most popular social media sites ever created. So they are definitely doing something right.

Growth tactic: Target your core audience (not trying to be too good to everyone).

Conclusion

Any site or business that has made it big will have their own story. A surprising number of them are nothing but money from a larger company being thrown their way, such as in a buyout. But many others are tales of ingenuity, perseverance and that one idea that let them hack their way into the mainstream.

What are some of your favorite user growth success stories and tactics

Facebook Photo via Shutterstock

The Evolution of Printers: A Look At Printers for Every Small Business Need

As offices have increasingly steered toward achieving paper-free status, one thing has become glaringly apparent. We’ll always have a need for printing. In fact, many offices have sought printers that will take care of tasks normally outsourced to professional printing companies, while also adding printers that can perform in other capacities, such as faxing, scanning, and copying.

For a small business weighing its equipment options, there’s no shortage of choices. Whatever need your small business has, there’s likely a printer to match it. Here are some printing-related small business needs and the equipment that can best fulfill those needs.

Large Format Printers

Does your small business print newsletters, brochures, and other marketing materials A large format printer can save you trips to FedEx Office. The HP DesignJet T120 provides colorful, high-quality graphics that make it a hit with graphic designers and business owners, according to consumer and corporate technology company Porter Novelli. But one of the best features of the T120 is its ability to print in large format, taking businesses beyond the legal size limitations of many desktop printers. Despite its ability to handle large page sizes, the T120 is the smallest in its class, allowing traveling workers to pack it in a bag to keep on hand in a hotel or conference center.

Cloud-Based Printers

“The mobile worker population will reach 1.3 billion by 2015,” a spokesperson for Xerox states. “With 37.2 percent of the total global workforce on the move, it is essential for small businesses to purchase a printer that not only does the basics, but also supports BYOD policies - offering mobile print options and access to cloud services.” As businesses look toward the future, it’s important they place high priority on options such as the ability to print from mobile devices securely and with no software installation required.

Speedy Printers

Today’s busy professional has no time to wait for print jobs to slowly spit out. The HP OfficeJet Pro X series boasts the fastest printer speeds available at 70 pages per minute. It’s a speed that even made it into the Guinness Book of World Records. According to a Porter Novelli representative, the OfficeJet Pro accomplishes this by using a revolutionary new technology called Pagewide. “The new PageWide prints with a single speedy pass of the page, rather than the traditional ink printer that moves back and forth repeatedly across the page,” she tells us.

Multi-Function Printers

Thanks to multi-function printers, business owners can free up desk space by getting rid of fax machines, copiers, and scanners. A small business can add all workers to one handy device that does it all at a fraction of the price. Some popular MFPs include the HP OfficeJet Pro X576dw, the Epson Workforce Pro WP-4590, and the Canon Pixma MG5320.

Postage Printers

Office workers have enjoyed the ease of printing labels using Dymo label printers for years. Now the printing company provides interactivity with Endicia postal printing software, saving you a trip to the post office. Since time is money, that can add money to the small business owner’s bottom line. “We both know that mobile technology has reduced our need to print documents, but some businesses still rely on printing for their livelihood,” a spokesperson says. “So if you’re an e-commerce professional selling goods online, or a small brick-and-mortar offering select product shipping, the DYMO LabelWriter is a must-have.”

As you assess your printing needs, knowing the many options available to small businesses today can help ensure you’re prepared for the future. Technology will likely continue to change in the coming years, so be sure your business is prepared to handle those changes by choosing a printer that will grow with your business.

The Evolution of Printers: A Look At Printers for Every Small Business Need

As offices have increasingly steered toward achieving paper-free status, one thing has become glaringly apparent. We’ll always have a need for printing. In fact, many offices have sought printers that will take care of tasks normally outsourced to professional printing companies, while also adding printers that can perform in other capacities, such as faxing, scanning, and copying.

For a small business weighing its equipment options, there’s no shortage of choices. Whatever need your small business has, there’s likely a printer to match it. Here are some printing-related small business needs and the equipment that can best fulfill those needs.

Large Format Printers

Does your small business print newsletters, brochures, and other marketing materials A large format printer can save you trips to FedEx Office. The HP DesignJet T120 provides colorful, high-quality graphics that make it a hit with graphic designers and business owners, according to consumer and corporate technology company Porter Novelli. But one of the best features of the T120 is its ability to print in large format, taking businesses beyond the legal size limitations of many desktop printers. Despite its ability to handle large page sizes, the T120 is the smallest in its class, allowing traveling workers to pack it in a bag to keep on hand in a hotel or conference center.

Cloud-Based Printers

“The mobile worker population will reach 1.3 billion by 2015,” a spokesperson for Xerox states. “With 37.2 percent of the total global workforce on the move, it is essential for small businesses to purchase a printer that not only does the basics, but also supports BYOD policies - offering mobile print options and access to cloud services.” As businesses look toward the future, it’s important they place high priority on options such as the ability to print from mobile devices securely and with no software installation required.

Speedy Printers

Today’s busy professional has no time to wait for print jobs to slowly spit out. The HP OfficeJet Pro X series boasts the fastest printer speeds available at 70 pages per minute. It’s a speed that even made it into the Guinness Book of World Records. According to a Porter Novelli representative, the OfficeJet Pro accomplishes this by using a revolutionary new technology called Pagewide. “The new PageWide prints with a single speedy pass of the page, rather than the traditional ink printer that moves back and forth repeatedly across the page,” she tells us.

Multi-Function Printers

Thanks to multi-function printers, business owners can free up desk space by getting rid of fax machines, copiers, and scanners. A small business can add all workers to one handy device that does it all at a fraction of the price. Some popular MFPs include the HP OfficeJet Pro X576dw, the Epson Workforce Pro WP-4590, and the Canon Pixma MG5320.

Postage Printers

Office workers have enjoyed the ease of printing labels using Dymo label printers for years. Now the printing company provides interactivity with Endicia postal printing software, saving you a trip to the post office. Since time is money, that can add money to the small business owner’s bottom line. “We both know that mobile technology has reduced our need to print documents, but some businesses still rely on printing for their livelihood,” a spokesperson says. “So if you’re an e-commerce professional selling goods online, or a small brick-and-mortar offering select product shipping, the DYMO LabelWriter is a must-have.”

As you assess your printing needs, knowing the many options available to small businesses today can help ensure you’re prepared for the future. Technology will likely continue to change in the coming years, so be sure your business is prepared to handle those changes by choosing a printer that will grow with your business.

PayPal CISO hopes FIDO Alliance can help replace weak passwords

SAN FRANCISCO -- Few enterprises understand the problems and pain points associated with weak passwords like PayPal Inc. For years the financial services company and its chief information security officer, Michael Barrett, have been searching for ways to mitigate or sidestep password security issues, especially password reuse.

"Probably more than 50% of our customers are using the password they use for [PayPal] everywhere else on the Internet," Barrett said, "so that means the safety of their PayPal accounts is in some sense as weak as the weakest place they've ever been on the Internet."

With the launch of the Fast IDentity Online (FIDO) Alliance, however, Barrett believes FIDO's set of open standards for the interoperability of next-generation authentication technologies will enable viable ways to replace the password, particularly for online authentication.

In this interview, conducted at the 2013 RSA Conference, Barrett, who is also president of the FIDO Alliance, discusses the group's two-year evolution, how it seeks to address the online authentication security issues faced by companies like PayPal, and when FIDO Alliance-driven technology will appear across the Internet.

NATO-backed guidebook offers guidance on cyber attacks

The UK's cyber defence has taken an upturn with support from the International Cyber Security Protection Alliance (ICSPA) and the development of a manual defining cyber war.

According to the Telegraph, NATO has helped in the creation of the manual which sets out how international law applies to online attacks by the state, and warns that online attacks could lead to full-blown military conflicts.

The advisory handbook was written by 20 legal experts and says that governments must avoid attacks on civilians, hospitals, nuclear power stations, dams and dykes, while an online attack on an electricity grid resulting in fire is one example of the way that cyber war could bring about real physical harm.

Professor Michael Schmitt, director of the project, pointed out that there is currently little agreement about how international law applies to online attacks.

Jason Steer, EMEA product manager at FireEye, said: “News of a new NATO manual focusing on the issue of cyber warfare is certainly to be welcomed as a positive step in tackling the growing threat to international security. However, while Nato's move to implement a set of rules are to be advocated, the difficulty - as is always the case in cyber space - will be in enforcing and defending these protocols.

“While it appears that first and second world countries are starting to wake up to the realities of the evolving threat landscape and the issue of nation-state attacks, more is needed to be done to ensure that organisations across the board are robustly protected as Nato's attempts to lay down the law are likely to prove extremely difficult to enforce.

“With this in mind, organisations, nations and particularly those with critical infrastructure to protect, must be mindful of the limitations of traditional security defences as well as the emerging legislation designed to mitigate the threat.”

Last week, the UK Government announced that it was creating a framework of global resources and expertise on cyber practice, which countries around the world will be able to draw on to tackle the range of cyber-threats and challenges.

This will be backed by the ICSPA who will also deliver a second project that will help the UK Government identify common priorities among law enforcement agencies and the private sector in supporting countries that want to tackle online security and cyber crime.

John Lyons, chief executive of the ICSPA, said: “Helping countries with a strategy to fight cyber crime around the world will reduce the impact of attacks against UK-based companies and boost the huge benefits the Internet brings to our economies and societies.

“The international fight against cyber crime can only succeed if we all work at it together. Since our launch in July 2011, the ICSPA and its members and partners have been working hard to make this happen and now, with this UK government initiative, we are beginning to see a more cohesive approach to an international problem.

“More and more companies, governments and law enforcement agencies recognise that by collaborating on cyber issues we can begin to establish a more resilient and globally meaningful approach to protecting our online communities.”

Three-quarters of security professionals plug in a randomly-found USB stick

More than three-quarters of IT security professionals pick up and plug in USB sticks that they find.

According to a survey by AhnLab of 300 professionals at last month's RSA Conference, 78 per cent of respondents would plug in a USB flash drives that they found abandoned or lying around.

Brian Laing, vice president of marketing and business development at AhnLab, Santa Clara, said: “I am utterly shocked at these figures. For example, Stuxnet, one of the world's most sophisticated cyber-attacks, gained access to its target system through a ‘found' USB drive.  The creators of the malware left infected USB drives near a uranium enrichment facility and someone picked it up and inserted into their PC. Stuxnet derailed the efforts of that nation to purify nuclear materials at its facility.

“I urge IT security professionals to begin practicing what they preach. This ‘it won't happen to me' attitude doesn't wash.  It really does come down to the old mantra of combining people, process and technology - if you can get all three elements right, you are on track to a safe and secure environment.”

The study found that the USB drives often contained viruses, rootkits, bot executables, movies, music and other office documents. The survey also found that 68 per cent of respondents had been involved in a security breach, either at home, work or personally - with many relating back to the infected USB drives.

12 Rules of Mobile Etiquette for Small Businesses

As small business owners, the mobile phone is one of our most important tools. So important, that we may forget that “anywhere and everywhere” is not our office.

And as your business grows, it’s not just your own behavior with a cell phone you have to think about. You also have to make sure your employees exhibit professionalism, stay safe and present a positive public image of your business while using mobile devices.

We tapped into the expertise of Judi Hembrough of Plantronics for tips along with other advice of my own.  So, hit the pause button for a few minutes to review our 10 rules of mobile etiquette for small businesses:

1. Move 10 feet away if you must take a call. If you must take a call when you are if you are face-to-face with someone, first excuse yourself politely with a brief explanation as to why the call is especially urgent and can’t wait. Then, move to a location where you can respect the personal space of others. Some recommend that you move at least 10 feet away from others.

Ideally, though, you should avoid interrupting a face-to-face conversation to take a cell phone call. Interrupting the party you are with sends a message that he or she is less important than the caller.

2. Avoid checking that smartphone in meetings. This applies to visually checking for text messages, emails and missed calls, or listening to voicemails.  At best it signals that you are distracted and not giving your full attention to the meeting.  At worst it says you find the people in the meeting to be boring or unimportant.  If you are expecting a call from the White House at any moment â€" then yes, I can accept you glancing at your phone.  Short of rare circumstances like that, don’t even take your mobile phone out during meetings.

3. Return calls within 24 hours. Returning calls promptly demonstrates professionalism and respect.  If you will be in all-day meetings or on vacation where you can’t return calls in a timely manner, update your phone message temporarily. Just remember to revert back upon your return.  You’ll sound totally out of it with a message that says you’ll be unavailable … until a week ago.

Increasingly I hear voice mail messages that request that instead of leaving a voicemail, callers send a text or an email. This is a controversial practice.  It may turn off some callers, especially prospective or existing clients.  To decide if it’s appropriate:

• Consider the employee’s role. Most business owners I know want those in sales to be as available as possible, not hard to reach. On the other hand, for a software developer who works 90% of the time in his workspace coding, such a message may be no big deal.
• Consider what’s standard in your industry.  In tech businesses and online businesses, using email is far more prevalent than using the phone.

4. Know where NOT to talk.  Just in case you want to provide a refresher for your team about where it’s NOT acceptable to talk, let’s go down the list:

Libraries, museums and places of worship: Shhhh… is the rule here. No talking, period.

Restaurants: avoid it.  Even though there is noise in restaurants, a phone conversation stands out and disturbs others. In some restaurants you may be asked to leave - not to mention getting dirty looks from other patrons. Coffee shops, on the other hand, are noisier and more casual, and calls tend to be more acceptable in the hubbub.

Meetings, conferences and events:  Make it become second nature to turn off cell phones upon entering. Set a good example. If you do this in internal meetings in your company, your staff will get used to doing it in all meetings and events.

Finally, please remember not to talk in places that involve running water and flushing. “Nuff said.

5. Speak softly and carry a big stick. This one is for people who talk loudly on their cell phones. Oops, I mean, that you should avoid talking loudly on your cell phone. How many times have you been subjected to someone nearly shouting to overcome a bad connection Don’t be that person.

And now … a word about using the speakerphone mode of your phone. Alright, I get that you may be tired of holding your phone up to your ear. But the answer is not to use your phone’s (or tablet’s!) speakerphone mode in an open office or public place. Get a headset. Then you can carry on a long call without your arm or ear going numb, and with less disturbance to others.

6. Ditch that wild ringtone. While I am somewhat joking about this one, you might want to pick discreet ring tones versus that acid-rock ringtone you uploaded to your phone. If a phone rings while you are in an important meeting, and you forgot to shut it off, you don’t want to regret your ringtone on top of annoying everyone.

7. Avoid speaking about private matters in public places.  We business owners may know this, but do our employees and independent contractors  Judging from how many times have I’ve overheard conversations in coffee shops discussing performance appraisals or confidential business deals, I’d say many teams need a refresher.

Mobile phones fool us â€" we forget and start behaving as if it’s just us and the person we’re talking with.  As Judi Hembrough of Plantronics says, “Get out of your own ‘privacy bubble’ and pay attention to your surrounding environment.”  Imagine what the party on the other end might think should they realize you’ve been discussing their sensitive matters, in a restaurant.

8. Plan ahead for good reception. In preparation for a taking or making a call outside the office, make sure you can get good cell phone coverage in that area. Nothing disrupts your ability to create rapport on an important business call more than when you keep hearing, “Could you repeat that You broke up there.”  If reception is an issue on your end, offer to find a place with better reception and call back as soon as possible.

9. Keep your mind on your driving!  You realize that texting and even speaking on a call while operating a motor vehicle is a risky thing - but do all of your staff members know it’s an important issue to your company  Every year people die in vehicle accidents involving mobile devices. You endanger colleagues who are in the car with you, too â€"  the ultimate breach of etiquette.

That’s why talking on a hand-held cell phone while driving is banned in 10 states, and texting while driving is banned in 39 states here in the U.S.

More and more companies are adopting a strict “no talking or texting while driving” policy while on company business. If you decide to make it your policy, Distracted.gov has a sample employee policy that you can download. (Download .doc policy here.)

10. Secure your mobile device with a locking password. While this may seem to fall outside of basic courtesy, think about all of the information available via your phone, much of it private and referencing others.  In a Honey Stick project last year involving 50 intentionally “lost” cell phones, nearly every phone’s private information was accessed by the person who found it â€" whether with innocent intent or not.  Lose your phone, and it’s like revealing all your company information and personal information to boot.

Feel free to share some of your stories below in the comments regarding how to maintain polite behavior when using a cell phone in public or in the office.

Photo credits via Shutterstock: Rude, Loud, Texting.