11 Tips for Handling Internal Employee Promotions With Finesse

Growth is exciting for a small business or startup â€" but it often comes with a lot of internal HR challenges, including the less-than-pleasant task of promoting or hiring the right person for the right management role (often to the disappointment of another employee). Done right, employee promotion can ensure growth. Done wrong, a promotion can lead to the kind of office politics that no CEO wants to deal with.

To find out how to turn this sticky situation into an opportunity, we asked members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the country’s most promising young entrepreneurs, the following question:

“What’s your best advice for explaining why an employee in the running for a promotion DIDN’T get a coveted new title?”

Here’s what YEC community members had to say:

1. Be Clear

“Outline the employee’s successes within the organization so they know the things they don’t have to focus on. Then, as tactfully as possible, outline the areas where they need improvement so they can position themselves for that promotion in the future. That way, they clearly understand what they need to work on.” ~ Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

2. Have a Career Plan

“It is easier to break challenging news when there is an alternative plan to get an employee where they want to go. Employees who see a future in the company, an opportunity to move up in title, a more challenging role and higher compensation tend to stick around, even if there is a setback. If they know what their target is, and there is transparency, this conversation is much easier to have!” ~ Raoul Davis, Ascendant Group

3. Be Honest

“As this is a great opportunity for employee development, don’t save face or overly sugarcoat the information. Highlight areas the employee should work on in order to succeed in the position in question, and identify appropriate resources to help them get where they need to be. Keep them motivated by giving them intriguing new responsibilities as well.” ~ Alexandra Levit, Inspiration at Work

4. Explain That You’re Running a Meritocracy

“From the outset, make it very clear that your company is a meritocracy, and then act that way. I find if you set clear expectations, this type of thing has minimal negative consequences.” ~ Rob Emrich, PaeDae

5. Be Open

“You must (I hope) have had good reasons to promote the person you selected. Convey these in a concise, clear manner to the person who did not get the title. True professionals should understand, appreciate and, hopefully, learn from a logical and rational decision. ” ~ Nicolas Gremion, Free-eBooks.net

6. Tailor the Job to the Person

“If we have a new role that someone on the team can fill, it’s rarely about a “promotion,” but instead an evolution. We’re all growing together, so the job titles and responsibilities grow as we do. By customizing it to each person, no one loses out.” ~ Derek Flanzraich, Greatist

7. Become a Flat Organization

“If you choose to have an organization with fancy titles and a hierarchical system, then you are going to run into these problems. There is no good solution to sugarcoating the news to someone that their former colleague is now their boss. In this day and age, there is no reason why we have to have a corporate-looking system of promotions, instead of everyone just accepting more responsibility. ” ~ Matt Wilson, Under30Media

8. Do Away With Titles Altogether

“Titles make people feel more important, but they don’t make you more money. We eschew titles altogether and stick with disciplines to describe what the person does â€" marketing, finance, development, etc. You never have to explain why someone didn’t get a coveted new title if there weren’t any titles to begin with.” ~ Michael Portman, Birds Barbershop

9. Turn It Into a Motivational Lesson

“Rather than emphasizing the things an employee may have done wrong or poorly, I prefer to focus on the things that they did right â€" being proactive in meetings, showing enthusiasm, arriving early and staying late when needed, etc. By turning this missed opportunity into a learning experience, you keep the passed-over employee engaged and motivated.” ~ Zach Cutler, Cutler Group

10. Use Performance Evaluations

“Many executives and managers have trouble explaining why someone didn’t get promoted because they haven’t been doing performance evaluations, which is a huge disservice to their team and their business. Good performance evaluations show current performance and indicate future potential. In lieu of evaluations, though, explaining the decision based on current performance and future potential helps.” ~ Charlie Gilkey, Productive Flourishing

11. Inspire Employee Understanding With Honesty

“Honesty is crucial when delivering news in regard to a promotion. Inform your employee about your decision, and then tactfully explain your reasoning. In some situations, it may be in regard to skill level and experience; other times, it might come down to an employee being more of a natural fit in regard to personality or soft skills. This is a chance for an employee to learn and grow.” ~ Heather Huhman, Come Recommended

Promotion Photo via Shutterstock

11 Tips for Handling Internal Employee Promotions With Finesse

Growth is exciting for a small business or startup â€" but it often comes with a lot of internal HR challenges, including the less-than-pleasant task of promoting or hiring the right person for the right management role (often to the disappointment of another employee). Done right, employee promotion can ensure growth. Done wrong, a promotion can lead to the kind of office politics that no CEO wants to deal with.

To find out how to turn this sticky situation into an opportunity, we asked members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the country’s most promising young entrepreneurs, the following question:

“What’s your best advice for explaining why an employee in the running for a promotion DIDN’T get a coveted new title?”

Here’s what YEC community members had to say:

1. Be Clear

“Outline the employee’s successes within the organization so they know the things they don’t have to focus on. Then, as tactfully as possible, outline the areas where they need improvement so they can position themselves for that promotion in the future. That way, they clearly understand what they need to work on.” ~ Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

2. Have a Career Plan

“It is easier to break challenging news when there is an alternative plan to get an employee where they want to go. Employees who see a future in the company, an opportunity to move up in title, a more challenging role and higher compensation tend to stick around, even if there is a setback. If they know what their target is, and there is transparency, this conversation is much easier to have!” ~ Raoul Davis, Ascendant Group

3. Be Honest

“As this is a great opportunity for employee development, don’t save face or overly sugarcoat the information. Highlight areas the employee should work on in order to succeed in the position in question, and identify appropriate resources to help them get where they need to be. Keep them motivated by giving them intriguing new responsibilities as well.” ~ Alexandra Levit, Inspiration at Work

4. Explain That You’re Running a Meritocracy

“From the outset, make it very clear that your company is a meritocracy, and then act that way. I find if you set clear expectations, this type of thing has minimal negative consequences.” ~ Rob Emrich, PaeDae

5. Be Open

“You must (I hope) have had good reasons to promote the person you selected. Convey these in a concise, clear manner to the person who did not get the title. True professionals should understand, appreciate and, hopefully, learn from a logical and rational decision. ” ~ Nicolas Gremion, Free-eBooks.net

6. Tailor the Job to the Person

“If we have a new role that someone on the team can fill, it’s rarely about a “promotion,” but instead an evolution. We’re all growing together, so the job titles and responsibilities grow as we do. By customizing it to each person, no one loses out.” ~ Derek Flanzraich, Greatist

7. Become a Flat Organization

“If you choose to have an organization with fancy titles and a hierarchical system, then you are going to run into these problems. There is no good solution to sugarcoating the news to someone that their former colleague is now their boss. In this day and age, there is no reason why we have to have a corporate-looking system of promotions, instead of everyone just accepting more responsibility. ” ~ Matt Wilson, Under30Media

8. Do Away With Titles Altogether

“Titles make people feel more important, but they don’t make you more money. We eschew titles altogether and stick with disciplines to describe what the person does â€" marketing, finance, development, etc. You never have to explain why someone didn’t get a coveted new title if there weren’t any titles to begin with.” ~ Michael Portman, Birds Barbershop

9. Turn It Into a Motivational Lesson

“Rather than emphasizing the things an employee may have done wrong or poorly, I prefer to focus on the things that they did right â€" being proactive in meetings, showing enthusiasm, arriving early and staying late when needed, etc. By turning this missed opportunity into a learning experience, you keep the passed-over employee engaged and motivated.” ~ Zach Cutler, Cutler Group

10. Use Performance Evaluations

“Many executives and managers have trouble explaining why someone didn’t get promoted because they haven’t been doing performance evaluations, which is a huge disservice to their team and their business. Good performance evaluations show current performance and indicate future potential. In lieu of evaluations, though, explaining the decision based on current performance and future potential helps.” ~ Charlie Gilkey, Productive Flourishing

11. Inspire Employee Understanding With Honesty

“Honesty is crucial when delivering news in regard to a promotion. Inform your employee about your decision, and then tactfully explain your reasoning. In some situations, it may be in regard to skill level and experience; other times, it might come down to an employee being more of a natural fit in regard to personality or soft skills. This is a chance for an employee to learn and grow.” ~ Heather Huhman, Come Recommended

Promotion Photo via Shutterstock

Adobe moving to cloud-based software

Adobe says it is moving to an online subscription-based model for the software package it sells to designers, web developers, video editors and other creative professionals.

Adobe Systems said today that it will not release new versions of its Creative Suite software package. Instead, the maker of Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat, is shifting focus to Creative Cloud, which makes its software available through a monthly subscription that starts at US$50 for an individual if they sign up for at least a year.

Adobe's move is part an industry trend toward selling software as a subscription service rather than as a one-time sale item. Microsoft, for example, makes the new version of Office available as an online subscription. The company, however, still gives consumers and businesses the option of purchasing Office as packaged software.

Lawrence Smith, managing director of New Zealand digital agency Cabbage Tree Creative, attended the keynote speech of AdobeMAX in Los Angeles where this morning's announcement was made.

His initial reaction was that the end of the "perpetual licensing model" could mean an increase in costs, as a cloud based subscription models tied a customer to monthly payments, rather than allowing them to choose when to upgrade software.

However at AUS49 per month, Adobe had made "a seismic pricing shift, essentially now offering the same price globally," said Lawrence.

"This gives us more confidence in adopting a cloud based model" he said.

He said a compelling reason was that the digital space was moving very quickly, and creative professionals had to adopt latest technologies, or be left behind.

"We will definitely move our creative teams onto the new cloud- based tools," said Smith. "I expect the productivity increase alone, by all working with the same set of tools in a more collaborative way, to be worth the money; and that's before considering you have access to the latest and considerably expanded toolset available".

Smith said a question remained about the speed and data allowances of the cloud-based services for Kiwi businesses, but the progressive roll out of ultrafast broadband (UFB) would remove any barriers.

"Additionally Adobe has structured the Cloud based services to consider lower bandwidth users. They can choose to store data locally, and share assets for collaboration on a case by case basis, thus having the best of both worlds; world class development tools on your desktop, connected to the Cloud in ways that you decide."

"Customers have to come to terms with end of perpetually licensed software," said IDC analyst Al Hilwa. "Adobe is ahead of the game."

Scott Morris, a senior marketing director at Adobe, said the shift will help the San Jose, California-based company respond to changes in the marketplace much faster. Adobe's engineers, he said, will be freed up to release updates and improvements much faster than the company's traditional 18 to 24-month upgrade cycle.

Adobe said its Creative Cloud service has gained 500,000 paying subscribers since the company made it available as an option a year ago.

Morris acknowledged that the change will be a "big transition" for its customers. He compared it to Adobe's introduction of the Creative Suite package a decade ago. Until that time, the company had sold its software products separately rather than as part of a set.

"One of the things that make us confident with this change is that customers who are moving to Creative Cloud are loving it," he said, citing flexibility and lower upfront costs.

Adobe's packaged version of Creative Suite 6 "Master Collection" cost US$2,256 on Best Buy's website on Monday afternoon (US time), on sale from US$2,380.

Adobe also reaffirmed its financial guidance for the second quarter and for the fiscal year. It still expects adjusted earnings of 29 cents to 35 cents per share on revenue of $975 million to nearly $1.03 billion for the current quarter. Analysts, on average, are forecasting adjusted earnings of 34 cents per share and revenue of $1.01 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.

The company's stock fell 46 cents to $46.55 in afternoon trading.

AP/ NZ Herald

McAfee in agreement to acquire next-gen firewall maker Stonesoft

McAfee today announced an agreement to acquire next-gen firewall maker Stonesoft in a deal valued at approximately $389 million in cash.

The move follows on the heels of McAfee's move last week to formalize its position in the identity and access management, or IAM, arena by relaunching two formerly Intel-driven products under the McAfee name. McAfee was acquired by Intel in 2011.

McAfee President Michael DeCesare says the company plans "to integrate Stonesoft's offerings with other McAfee products to realize the power of McAfee's Security Connected strategy. Leveraging McAfee's cloud-based Global Threat Intelligence service will provide our combined customers with unparalleled security."

Writing on his blog, Pat Calhoun, McAfee's senior vice president and general manager of network security, says, "With Intel's backing, we can now provide two leading firewall solutions that will be a critical layer in our Security Connected strategy. This investment in Stonesoft will also allow us to focus our resources on evolving our IPS platform to be the market-leading solution to help businesses defend against the most sophisticated and advanced threats."

Based in Helsinki, Finland, Stonesoft was founded in 1990. It currently claims over 6,500 customers worldwide.

Small Business Manufacturing Is Up. One Reason: Reinvention

Small business manufacturing is growing, according to a recent analysis.  One big reason for the growth is the ability of small manufacturers to reinvent themselves to take advantage of new industries and new business opportunities.

The PayNet Manufacturing Index found that American manufacturing by small businesses is up 48 percent since 2009.   While it still hasn’t rebounded to pre-Great Recession highs, the trend overall is significantly upward since 2009. See chart above (black line is the full index - green line reflects the industrial machinery sector).

PayNet’s index measures investments by small manufacturing businesses in property, equipment, tools and business units.  In other words, small businesses in manufacturing are investing again - a positive signal.

Manufacturers of industrial machinery and equipment are one category of manufacturers fueling this resurgence in an area of the economy that has been losing jobs since the 1990s. Companies manufacturing equipment like gas compressors, carburetors, tools, and industrial fans fall into this category. They did better than manufacturers as a whole.

PayNet President William Phelan said with the release of the new data, “This sector is the biggest example of the resurgence of U.S. manufacturing. The process of re-invention and recreation is core to business right now and surviving companies have figured this out.”

Instrument manufacturers make up another category showing positive gains since the 2009 recession lows.

One sector that has not seen growth is small manufacturers in the printing and publishing sector.  They appear to be a casualty of the digital age. There’s less need for book binding and other traditional printing technologies, PayNet points out.

PayNet also notes that these investments by small business manufacturers are driving productivity increases of 15%.  Small businesses are “producing more more manufactured goods for the same level of capital.”

PayNet is based in Skokie, Illinois. It was founded in 1999 and maintains a large proprietary database of small business loans, leases and lines of credit encompassing over 20 Million contracts. The company also publishes the Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index.  PayNet recently launched a Small Business Delinquency Index.

Chart credit: PayNet

3 Ways to Safely Collaborate In The Cloud

The cloud, much like the rest of the Internet, is a lot like the Wild West. Anything goes, and the world can be very cruel. Considering that the Internet is still young (and the cloud even younger), it’s impressive how 90 percent of businesses report that they’ve been hacked.

That means that it’s probably happened to you. And if you’re one of the lucky few who haven’t been hacked, there’s no reason to feel like you’ve got it all figured out. Sooner or later, overconfidence has a price.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about employees. They use several cloud services on a regular basis: DropBox, Google Drive, and Gmail, to name a few. At a given point, some of them might put sensitive data into the service provider’s servers to share them at a later point with other employees. Since the information is no longer in the hands of the business it belongs to, all bets are off. There is a significant risk to this kind of behavior that could lead to embarrassing consequences.

All in all, you need collaboration in order to function. How can your employees collaborate without compromising your infrastructure? Brother, a well-known printer maker that recently decided to get into other venues of technology, has some advice that we could all follow:

• Choose a document sharing solution and stick to it. Tell employees to use that if they need to share any internal documents. I’d recommend using a zero-knowledge backup solution for this.
• Enforce a policy whereby employees are not allowed to access your business infrastructure and data pertaining to the business from a public unsecured network. Coffee houses and restaurants have unsecured Wi-Fi, which allows others to sniff traffic that goes through the router. Using collaboration and conferencing technology that works only when connected to a secure (WEP/WPA/WPA2) network will help stop this issue.
• Require that all confidential information stored inside and outside the company be locked by a password. This makes sure that people can’t have access to the data even if they manage to get their hands on it.

There’s no reason you shouldn’t harness the power of collaboration, but you should always do it safely. There’s a certain etiquette that your employees (and you) will have to get used to, but it’s well worth it considering the risks if you choose to do otherwise!

3 Ways to Safely Collaborate In The Cloud

The cloud, much like the rest of the Internet, is a lot like the Wild West. Anything goes, and the world can be very cruel. Considering that the Internet is still young (and the cloud even younger), it’s impressive how 90 percent of businesses report that they’ve been hacked.

That means that it’s probably happened to you. And if you’re one of the lucky few who haven’t been hacked, there’s no reason to feel like you’ve got it all figured out. Sooner or later, overconfidence has a price.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about employees. They use several cloud services on a regular basis: DropBox, Google Drive, and Gmail, to name a few. At a given point, some of them might put sensitive data into the service provider’s servers to share them at a later point with other employees. Since the information is no longer in the hands of the business it belongs to, all bets are off. There is a significant risk to this kind of behavior that could lead to embarrassing consequences.

All in all, you need collaboration in order to function. How can your employees collaborate without compromising your infrastructure? Brother, a well-known printer maker that recently decided to get into other venues of technology, has some advice that we could all follow:

• Choose a document sharing solution and stick to it. Tell employees to use that if they need to share any internal documents. I’d recommend using a zero-knowledge backup solution for this.
• Enforce a policy whereby employees are not allowed to access your business infrastructure and data pertaining to the business from a public unsecured network. Coffee houses and restaurants have unsecured Wi-Fi, which allows others to sniff traffic that goes through the router. Using collaboration and conferencing technology that works only when connected to a secure (WEP/WPA/WPA2) network will help stop this issue.
• Require that all confidential information stored inside and outside the company be locked by a password. This makes sure that people can’t have access to the data even if they manage to get their hands on it.

There’s no reason you shouldn’t harness the power of collaboration, but you should always do it safely. There’s a certain etiquette that your employees (and you) will have to get used to, but it’s well worth it considering the risks if you choose to do otherwise!

After lull, PLA \'Comment Crew\' hasn\'t changed cyber-espionage tactics

In a follow-up to Mandiant Corp.'s explosive APT1 report alleging an extensive hacking operation within the Chinese People's Liberation Army, another threat intelligence firm has concluded that the PLA entity known as "Comment Crew" is still hard at work targeting U.S. enterprises.

Unless people treat [cyberattacks] as a business problem, you're not going to make much headway.

Richard Bejtlich,
CSO, Mandiant Corp.

Arlington, Va.-based Cyber Squared Inc. said in an analysis released last week that the Chinese People's Liberation Army's (PLA) Comment Crew cyber-espionage operation is still using "familiar tactics to target their victims," including ongoing exploitation operations. Mandiant's February "disclosure appears to have done little to stem the onslaught of cyber-espionage from this or other Chinese threat groups," Cyber Squared concluded in a recent post.

Cyber Squared said the February report by Mandiant, detailing the seven-year history of the PLA's Unit 61398 near Shanghai "appears to have done little to stem the onslaught of cyber-espionage from this or other Chinese threat groups."

Comment Crew is "still in the game and up to their old tricks," Cyber Squared reported.

The evidence for that assertion is based on a single yet significant source: a malicious ZIP file containing a fake PDF icon that "dropped" a separate decoy document. Analysts said the decoy mimicked an invitation and agenda for an April modeling and simulation conference sponsored by the National Defense Industrial Association.

Cyber Squared confirmed that the dynamic command-and-control (C2) domain used for the malicious download was probably active from May through November 2012, and that the domain "has also been used to host over a dozen other 'Comment Crew' C2 domains."

The upshot, Cyber Squared concluded, is that Comment Crew has done little to change the way it operates since Mandiant's advanced persistent threat (APT) disclosures in February. "They have not significantly retooled their traditional implant technologies, command-and-control capabilities, or modified their target selection process, as some expected they would," the company said.

A Mandiant executive called Cyber Squared's conclusions "not unexpected," but cautioned that Cyber Squared's "research was a little thin."

In an interview with SearchSecurity, Richard Bejtlich, chief security officer of Alexandria, Va.-based Mandiant, confirmed that Comment Crew and similar groups have recently been more active after a quiet period following the release of Mandiant's report and ensuing political firestorm. But he noted that Cyber Square's assessment is based on a single incident.

Others also urged caution. "We have to be careful to avoid the classic streetlight effect: only searching where the light is," said Rick Holland, senior analyst for security and risk management at Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research Inc.

"One alternative theory is that Comment Crew continues to leverage the same [tactics, tools and procedures] as part of a counter intelligence operation to deceive the security community," Holland said.

Holland added that many of the companies he spoke to after Mandiant's APT1 report was released "didn't have the skills, instrumentation or historical log data to detect Comment Crew's activities."

"It makes little difference whether Comment Crew or some other group is out there compromising networks," said Pete Lindstrom, vice president of research at Pennsylvania-based consultancy Spire Security. "The indicators of compromise are published now, and can be used to identify malicious activity. At this stage, we should be careful about being distracted by APT1 and neglectful of APT2, 3, 4 [and so on]."

Recent disclosures by Mandiant and others have nevertheless helped raise awareness among large enterprises about the growing need for cyber-defenses. Mandiant's Bejtlich said he expects large enterprises to respond by adopting more active defenses against attacks. Smaller enterprises with fewer resources will continue to "struggle and will have to adopt a collective defense posture" along with vendors and suppliers.

"Unless people treat [cyberattacks] as a business problem, you're not going to make much headway," Bejtlich asserted.

Other observers agreed that the apparent success of China's cyber-espionage has more to do with lax U.S. network security than the cyber-tactics of outfits like Comment Crew.

"The problem isn't that the Chinese are so skilled; it's that U.S. companies are so inept," James Lewis, director of the technology and policy program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote in a March opinion piece published in the Washington Post.

Take Human Resources (HR) Past Payroll and Turn It Into A System That Grows Your Business

For many small businesses, the definition of Human Resources is that ‘stuff’ - payroll and benefit paperwork - that Alice (feel free to sub in the name of the poor soul in your business charged with this function) does when she’s not handling the other five roles that she’s responsible for. It’s a function that’s only thought of as you approach payday or hire a new employee, which are two things that Alice shivers thinking about. Why? Well, because Alice knows that she’s going to have to dig through piles of paperwork, or wrestle with an excel sheet, to get all of her information put together so that she can process these functions…and she knows it’s going to suck up more time than she really has to offer.

In this day and age, when we hear CEO’s and business owners touting that good employee’s are the greatest asset within a business, why do we not see HR as more of an employee (or asset) management process versus just a financial or benefit function? Well, there is one company that believes that’s exactly what we should be doing and they are building a comprehensive suite of HR applications to do just that!

We recently had the chance to speak with April Escamilla, Director of Product Management for the HeartBeat solution at SilkRoad Technologies. SilkRoad is a provider of cloud-based HR solutions that nurtures the employee experience from recruiting and onboarding, through learning and career development; encompassing all employee milestones from pre-hire to retire.

“HR is more than payroll and finance”, says April. “In my mind HR is positioned to see and develop the direction of your resources. Did you hire the right people so your company can grow in five years? If you spend all your time faxing forms, worrying about wrong addresses and cobbling together reports, then you aren’t focused on strategy.”

April knows that HR is not the first thing that small businesses focus on, especially when starting out, but knows that as most businesses grow, the desire to automate core HR functions through the use of technology begins to fall to the forefront. Manual processing of HR functions is time consuming and with new regulations coming into play with the Affordable Care Act, which requires businesses to report on benefit offerings and their affordability, businesses face more processing and reporting and failure to report accurate information could lead to additional time and cost ramifications.

“Companies above 50 employees begin to deal with a lot of information and a need to move information back and forth from employer to employee. Add in that many companies operate today with remote workers, it becomes extremely hard to track and keep all the information you need to remain compliant with current regulations in one place without becoming completely overwhelmed. This is where automation becomes critical”, says April.

The suite of applications from SilkRoad, known as Life Suite, allows companies to not only manage the core functions of HR (payroll, benefits, etc.), but allows them to go a step further and manage other aspects of the employee lifecycle, including recruiting and training.  The suite consists of the following SaaS applications:

• OpenHire: Social recruiting software with tools to attract, screen and hire the best talent globally.
• RedCarpet: Onboarding software that generates HR efficiencies and employee retention and offers an average company savings of $800 per new employee.
• Heart Beat:The human resource management sofware that offers automated processes, online payroll management, report generation and salary management.
• GreenLight: A comprehensive learning management system (LMS) that manages, tracks and reports all employee’s learning / training activities.
• WingSpan: Software that brings every element of employee performance management into one platform.

Combined, the products not only manage standard employee HR information, but allow a company to develop employees so they are a greater asset. As April pointed out to us, “People think of HR as a back-office function that isn’t critical, which means that HR doesn’t typically get the $$ when it comes to budgeting. The reality is that HR can really be a tool to grow your business”.

By engaging in more of these human resource practices, businesses of all sizes have the ability to capitalize on the greatest asset they have - the employee. In turn, they become more attractive to employees, which increases employee retention and reduces significant costs involved with employee turnover.

How do you handle HR in your business? Are you still handling everything manually or are you using technology to automate processes? Are you covering just the bread & butter (payroll & benefits) or are you investing more in developing your employees?  Let us know!

16 Tools to Come Up With Blog Ideas for Posts

Content marketing is helping small businesses generate website traffic, online visibility and ultimately, sales leads.  And a  business blog is key to content marketing. But if you’re like many in a small business, you may find yourself wondering, “What do I blog about today?”  If you have trouble coming up with blog ideas for posts, read on.

We’ve collected 16 of our favorite tools that help us here at Small Business Trends generate ideas for blog posts. Try out some of these tools the next time you find yourself staring at a blank screen.

Google Keyword Tool

The free keyword tool from Google AdWords is great for finding out what people are actually searching for on Google on a daily basis. You can use the tool even if you’re not advertising through Google.

Hint: look for keywords that get a significant number of searches (say, 50,000 monthly searches), but have low or medium competition.  Take note of “local monthly searches” if you specifically want to target readers in your region or area. You can also change location to determine how keywords are performing in different regions.

Netvibes

Netvibes lets you create a personalized dashboard so you can monitor RSS feeds, social media accounts and even analytics for your blog and website â€" all in one place. Add RSS feeds for your favorite blogs and news sites, and check it daily.

You can add as many feeds as you like to get wide coverage of topics. Then simply scan the headlines for something in the news that triggers a blogging idea or serves as a launching point for your own commentary.

Alltop

Alltop is a collection of the best blogs under hundreds of topics. You can easily come up with blog ideas by browsing through the current post titles that are shown under each topic. For example, if you write on technology, there are plenty of technology posts you can learn from. You can also search for related topics for each heading.

Quora

A good blog post often answers a burning question people have. Quora is a great place to identify the kinds of questions that business people want answers to.  Quora is particularly good for B2B (business-to-business) topics.

Questions are grouped under topics.  Look especially for questions with a lot of interactivity and comments.  That’s often a signal that the topic will be engaging.

Topsy

Topsy allows you to search across various social channels. You can use Topsy to get real-time insights into a wide variety of business questions: You can filter your results into just links and tweets, videos, posts or even photos. Take advantage of the filter tool to explore details of the search results. Topsy gives you the option to create an email or RSS alert to send you regular updates for different topics.

Twitter Search, Trends, List

Twitter has over 400 million users.  There’s a high likelihood that someone on Twitter is talking about topics that will appeal to your readers. First, make use of Twitter Search. Type in a word or even a hashtag phrase (example: #smallbiz) and watch tweets unfold on your chosen topic. Twitter is particularly good for finding up-to-the-minute topics.

You can also take note of topics that are trending on Twitter at any given moment. Trending topics appear on the left side of your screen once you are logged in (more here). You can change to a different location to know what topics are trending in other geographic areas.

You can also use Twitter Lists to follow industry leaders in your niche. Find and follow Twitter experts whose posts and articles are the most popular within your industry. (More on Lists.)

Google News (Personalized)

Google News offers great content on virtually any topic you are interested in following. You can create your own news results based on your keywords.  Ask yourself which keywords or topics you tend to write on or that your readers would be interested in.  Use targeted keywords to create news feeds you can track daily for news as it breaks.

To get to Google News, hit the link above. Or go to Google.com, search for a topic, and then click the News link across the top of the page.

TweakYourBiz Title Generator

The TweakYourBiz Title Generator specifically generates blog post titles for you to either print or download. Plug in a word or phrase, and it will generate hundreds of titles grouped by approaches:   how-to posts, lists, questions, contrarian  headlines, and so on.

Not only does it generate potential titles, but the titles give you clues for how to structure your blog posts and captivate interest.  There’s also a synonym generator, to look for related words and phrases.   The Title Generator is sure to get your creative juices flowing.

StumbleUpon Trends

StumbleUpon now provides users with news or content on trending news. Trends are grouped into topics or headings: Explore each topic for more ideas in your industry. Trending posts on StumbleUpon show the kind of content users are interested in at the moment, and the type of topics they click on or share.  Take advantage of the StumbleUpon lists to create your own lists to follow.

Scoop.it

Scoop.it lets you curate engaging social news based on a topic of your choice. You can easily enhance your blogging productivity by adding a feed to your website that includes topics of interest to you and your readers. You can also discover topics curated by others.  Scoop.it is one of a number of curation tools that help you collect references to other content â€" see 55 curation tools.   For more on the benefits of “curating” content, read about reasons to pick up the curator habit.

BizSugar

BizSugar, a sister site to Small Business Trends, is an online community where members can submit, comment on and vote for their favorite small business posts, videos and news. Anyone can share content, and the site has over 1 million registered users.

The community then votes on its favorite posts. The site makes it easy to track the top posts overall, or by category such as marketing, finance, management, technology and startups.  By seeing what others find popular, it may trigger blog ideas  for posts that appeal to your readers.  BizSugar is especially good for identifying ideas for blog posts that appeal to a small business audience.

Copyblogger - How To Write Magnetic Headlines

When creating a great blog post, start with the headline. Headlines are a small but important part of your blog post. They attract readers’ attention and make them decide whether to read further. They establish what to expect when reading the post.

Headline writing is an art, but it can be learned and Brian Clark of Copyblogger has created a guide. Read this collection of posts discussing how to write magnetic headlines. It will trigger blogging ideas and subtly guide you in how to frame topics to be more popular with readers.

Storify

Storify helps you find and collect information from a variety of sources around a particular “story” - such as a breaking  news story â€" that may trigger ideas for blog posts.  For example, you can collect news reports, blog posts, tweets, Instagram photos, YouTube videos, Facebook posts, and more all organized around a topic.  And of course, you can search stories created by others.   The site bills itself as helping you sort through the noise online for the voices and topics you want to focus on.

Pinterest

You can also search for topics to blog about in a very different way â€" visually. Pinterest is a popular site where users post images they like. Searching the boards of other Pinterest users can give you ideas for post topics because you see what they find interesting enough to “pin” to their own boards.

This content can serve as inspiration for new blogging ideas. It can also be research and source material for blogs you are already writing on a particular topic.  Pinterest is especially good for identifying infographics, beautiful products, and other visually-striking information.

SEOBook Keyword Tools

Another resource for coming up with blog post ideas around a particular topic is the Keyword Suggestion Tool at SEO Book. This tool takes an in-depth approach to examining keywords related to a topic you might be considering. This tool is particularly good if you start with a broad topic in mind, but need to narrow it down â€" especially if you want to optimize your posts for search engines. SEO Book offers both free and premium tools for you to consider.

Yoast WordPress SEO Plugin

And last, but certainly not least, here’s a nifty little tool to help you narrow the focus your blogging ideas. The Yoast WordPress SEO Plugin does a lot of things to optimize your posts for search engines (and human readers, too).  But one of the best features in our opinion, is that it “forces” you to focus your post on a single idea.

The Yoast plugin goes to work after you have started writing your post.  Let’s say you’ve started a post but it lacks focus. You’re not sure where you’re going with the article. (It happens to us a lot.)  This free plugin for WordPress has a keyword suggestion tool built in. After you choose a  keyword phrase, it actually scores your draft post to tell you how well it focuses on that phrase.  In other words, it keeps you on track to one specific topic.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Remember to give credit to the source if you are quoting or paraphrasing someone else’s thoughts, or curating content from other sources. Drawing inspiration is one thing.  Trying to pass off someone else’s work as your own is something different.

If you would like a bit more inspiration when creating that next blog post, check out “7 Steps to Writing a Great Blog Post” and “100 SMB Blogging Ideas.”

Executive Spotlight: Fred Lizza, CEO of Dydacomp, Automates E-Commerce for Small Businesses

As CEO of Dydacomp, Fred Lizza oversees automation software for a variety of clients, improving efficiency and giving small businesses a competitive advantage. Dydacomp is a multi-channel order manager for e-commerce businesses, providing integrated web hosting and shopping cart integration. In recent years, the company has turned its attention toward cloud-based order management solutions with its Freestyle Commerce business module.

Prior to joining Dydacomp, Lizza enjoyed a long history of building sustainable value propositions, helping drive companies like Optiant toward an increased market share and profitability. Recently, he spoke with SmallBizTechnology about current technology trends and his advice for small business growth.

Q: Dydacomp provides e-commerce solutions to businesses. Could you tell us a little about the small business owners Dydacomp serves? How do you address their specialized needs?

FL: With the longest and deepest experience in order management solutions for SMB retailers, Dydacomp has specialized in providing software solutions to solve the business automation needs of more than 10,000 e-commerce, catalog fulfillment and multichannel commerce merchants worldwide. Our customers range from individual hobbyists that have turned a passion into a business to e-commerce and retail professionals that learned the ropes at a large retailer and are now running mid-sized businesses.  Dydacomp delivered the first PCI-compliant solution for small to medium-sized businesses in a variety of vertical markets including food and gift, sporting goods, automotive, apparel, nutraceuticals and more. Collectively, our customers sold more than $2.6 billion in 2012, at an average order value of $132.

Q: What trends are you noticing in today’s business world? How should small businesses address these changes?

FL: The business world is shrinking and small businesses today are competing online with retailers around the world. This presents a huge opportunity for small businesses to emerge as global players, if they use technology to their advantage. Small business owners increasingly need to leverage eCommerce technology and social media to connect with new customers around the world.

Small businesses are also increasingly adopting cloud-based technology to increase efficiencies and cut cost. By moving their order management system to the cloud, small businesses can gain real-time, actionable insight into the details of their business without needing to buy and maintain their own servers.

Q: What advice would you give small business owners as they strive to compete in today’s technology-driven business world?

FL: Small business owners should be aware that their customers are tech-savvy, connected and mobile. Recently we’ve seen a big increase in the trend of ‘showrooming,’ or comparison shopping on a mobile phone while shopping in a store. In order to remain competitive, retailers will have to re-examine their loyalty programs and special offers, and ensure that they are prepared to protect their brand or compete on price. Small business owners will also need to have accurate insight into their current prices and inventory to manage change in real time.

Executive Spotlight: Fred Lizza, CEO of Dydacomp, Automates E-Commerce for Small Businesses

As CEO of Dydacomp, Fred Lizza oversees automation software for a variety of clients, improving efficiency and giving small businesses a competitive advantage. Dydacomp is a multi-channel order manager for e-commerce businesses, providing integrated web hosting and shopping cart integration. In recent years, the company has turned its attention toward cloud-based order management solutions with its Freestyle Commerce business module.

Prior to joining Dydacomp, Lizza enjoyed a long history of building sustainable value propositions, helping drive companies like Optiant toward an increased market share and profitability. Recently, he spoke with SmallBizTechnology about current technology trends and his advice for small business growth.

Q: Dydacomp provides e-commerce solutions to businesses. Could you tell us a little about the small business owners Dydacomp serves? How do you address their specialized needs?

FL: With the longest and deepest experience in order management solutions for SMB retailers, Dydacomp has specialized in providing software solutions to solve the business automation needs of more than 10,000 e-commerce, catalog fulfillment and multichannel commerce merchants worldwide. Our customers range from individual hobbyists that have turned a passion into a business to e-commerce and retail professionals that learned the ropes at a large retailer and are now running mid-sized businesses.  Dydacomp delivered the first PCI-compliant solution for small to medium-sized businesses in a variety of vertical markets including food and gift, sporting goods, automotive, apparel, nutraceuticals and more. Collectively, our customers sold more than $2.6 billion in 2012, at an average order value of $132.

Q: What trends are you noticing in today’s business world? How should small businesses address these changes?

FL: The business world is shrinking and small businesses today are competing online with retailers around the world. This presents a huge opportunity for small businesses to emerge as global players, if they use technology to their advantage. Small business owners increasingly need to leverage eCommerce technology and social media to connect with new customers around the world.

Small businesses are also increasingly adopting cloud-based technology to increase efficiencies and cut cost. By moving their order management system to the cloud, small businesses can gain real-time, actionable insight into the details of their business without needing to buy and maintain their own servers.

Q: What advice would you give small business owners as they strive to compete in today’s technology-driven business world?

FL: Small business owners should be aware that their customers are tech-savvy, connected and mobile. Recently we’ve seen a big increase in the trend of ‘showrooming,’ or comparison shopping on a mobile phone while shopping in a store. In order to remain competitive, retailers will have to re-examine their loyalty programs and special offers, and ensure that they are prepared to protect their brand or compete on price. Small business owners will also need to have accurate insight into their current prices and inventory to manage change in real time.

Samsung Will Introduce a New 8 Inch Tablet in June

[Samsung 10" Galaxy Tab 2]

Samsung is working on a new 8 inch tablet the company plans on launching in June.

Samsung already has two other tablets in its Galaxy Tab 2 budget series, one bigger and one smaller.

It’s easy to see how an 8 inch tablet would be more portable than the bigger 10.1 inch Samsung tablet (pictured above). The screen would also be bigger and easier to see than the smaller 7 inch Samsung tablet.

The Wall Street Journal reported on both the tablet and new water resistant and dust proof smartphone, but offered few details on either. Samsung is planning to launch the smartphone in July, the report said.

Of course, Samsung has stiff competition in the tablet market from Apple’s iPad, but for business and other users, how do these tablets compare?

Well, the new Samsung tablet would be smaller than the 9.7 inch iPad. And it’s closer in dimension to the iPad mini, which has a screen size of 7.9 inches.

For the cost conscious business owner, both the 10.1 inch and 7 inch Samsung tablets are already lower in price than either iPad, so probably the new device will be cheaper too.

The new water proof and dust proof smartphone would be just like the company’s popular Samsung Galaxy S4, but more rugged, The Journal reported.

Samsung is apparently targeting government and enterprise level corporate users with the new smartphone tentatively called the S4 Active.

But clearly, any business users looking for a durable smartphone to stand up to the wear, tear and potentially adverse weather conditions when traveling may want to take a look.

Samsung Will Introduce a New 8 Inch Tablet in June

[Samsung 10" Galaxy Tab 2]

Samsung is working on a new 8 inch tablet the company plans on launching in June.

Samsung already has two other tablets in its Galaxy Tab 2 budget series, one bigger and one smaller.

It’s easy to see how an 8 inch tablet would be more portable than the bigger 10.1 inch Samsung tablet (pictured above). The screen would also be bigger and easier to see than the smaller 7 inch Samsung tablet.

The Wall Street Journal reported on both the tablet and new water resistant and dust proof smartphone, but offered few details on either. Samsung is planning to launch the smartphone in July, the report said.

Of course, Samsung has stiff competition in the tablet market from Apple’s iPad, but for business and other users, how do these tablets compare?

Well, the new Samsung tablet would be smaller than the 9.7 inch iPad. And it’s closer in dimension to the iPad mini, which has a screen size of 7.9 inches.

For the cost conscious business owner, both the 10.1 inch and 7 inch Samsung tablets are already lower in price than either iPad, so probably the new device will be cheaper too.

The new water proof and dust proof smartphone would be just like the company’s popular Samsung Galaxy S4, but more rugged, The Journal reported.

Samsung is apparently targeting government and enterprise level corporate users with the new smartphone tentatively called the S4 Active.

But clearly, any business users looking for a durable smartphone to stand up to the wear, tear and potentially adverse weather conditions when traveling may want to take a look.

GorillaDesk Simplifies CRM, Invoicing, and Scheduling For Service Businesses

When you’re looking at software to help with your business, you’re looking for a one-stop shop. Picking an application that does one thing, which you then have to daisy chain to some other application for the next task on the list is an inelegant solution to your business’s needs.

There are a number of general solutions that will apply to most businesses, like KickServ, which integrates with Quickbooks, has a calendar for appointments, sends invoices, and more. But a new app called GorillaDesk caters specifically to service businesses.

“I remember having to pay a hefty software licensing fee when starting my own pest control business,” says Chris Moreschi, founder of GorillaDesk. “I decided to scratch my own itch and build the application I wanted to run my service business and offer it an affordable price for the solo entrepreneur.”

His hybrid management app, tailored for small service companies, is focused on CRM, job scheduling, and invoicing. With 80% of all small service companies being a one man shop, GorillaDesk is focused on a simple solution for the solo service entrepreneur.

There’s a calendar that intelligently keeps appointments. Your job scheduling is integrated with invoicing so they can function together in the same system. You can automate emails for bills that are past due. Integrated maps work out your best route from job to job.

GorillaDesk costs $29/month for one person, $49/month for two people, all the way up to $149/month for a fleet.

KickServ lacks GorillaDesk’s route management, but it’s also cheaper for two employees (at $29/month vs. $49).

For more CRM solutions, check out our archives.

What other solutions for service businesses are out there? What do you use? Let us know in the comments below!

Top Small Business News Stories: Week of May 3

We bring you another small business news recap for this week.  Google was in the small business news a lot, as were announcements on jobs, loans and Federal agency appointments.  Here are the top small business news stories, put into perspective by the  Small Business Trends Editorial Team:

Top Story

• 42% of U.S. jobs in April were created by small businesses. Released Thursday, the ADP Small Business Report said small firms created 50,000 jobs out of a total of
Read More

The post Top Small Business News Stories: Week of May 3 appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Top Small Business News Stories: Week of May 3

We bring you another small business news recap for this week.  Google was in the small business news a lot, as were announcements on jobs, loans and Federal agency appointments.  Here are the top small business news stories, put into perspective by the  Small Business Trends Editorial Team:

Top Story

• 42% of U.S. jobs in April were created by small businesses. Released Thursday, the ADP Small Business Report said small firms created 50,000 jobs out of a total of
Read More

The post Top Small Business News Stories: Week of May 3 appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Housing Rebound Should Help Small Business

Housing prices are on the upswing, increasing 9.3 percent between February 2012 and February 2013, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.

That’s not just good news for America’s homeowners. It’s also welcome information to America’s small business owners.

The drop in home prices has crimped some small companies’ access to credit. According to Barlow Research’s Quarterly Economic Pulse Survey, 26 percent of small businesses with between $100,000 and $10 million in annual sales used the home equity of the Read More

The post Housing Rebound Should Help Small Business appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Housing Rebound Should Help Small Business

Housing prices are on the upswing, increasing 9.3 percent between February 2012 and February 2013, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.

That’s not just good news for America’s homeowners. It’s also welcome information to America’s small business owners.

The drop in home prices has crimped some small companies’ access to credit. According to Barlow Research’s Quarterly Economic Pulse Survey, 26 percent of small businesses with between $100,000 and $10 million in annual sales used the home equity of the Read More

The post Housing Rebound Should Help Small Business appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Content, Curation, Community & Influence: Video From Social Biz Atlanta Panel Discussion

A few weeks ago I attended Social Biz Atlanta, an annual conference put together by my good friend Brent Leary that focuses on integrating social and traditional cultures and strategies to better prepare businesses to meaningfully interact with today’s social customer.

At the conference, I had the privilege of moderating a discussion on Content, Curation, Community & Influence, with panel members Anita Campbell (@smallbiztrends) and Andrew Wexler (@TheWordPainter). The points we covered in the discussion were:

• How can your business build community wide support?
• What is the role of content in building a community?
• What are the best practices in curating, stealing, plaguerizing and monetizing conent?
• What are super fams? How do you find them and use them better in your business.

Watch the video below to see what these experts had to say about these topics or view the video here.