10 Effective eLearning Options for Entrepreneurs

The constant evolution of entrepreneurship is one of the attributes that makes the career path so exciting: A fluid and flexible job description, expansive industry boundaries and technological innovations that repeatedly make business better. The unpredictability of the pendulum profession can be very detrimental, but equally rewarding as well.

Which is why it’s so important to keep up with all the countless changes. And education, like every other aspect of the entrepreneurship backend, needs to be effective in both time and cost.

We asked members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invitation-only organization comprised of the country’s most promising young entrepreneurs, the following question to find out what’s on their virtual curriculum:

“With so many great (and cost effective) eLearning programs available on the Web on sites like Udemy and Skillshare, what are some classes that you would recommend that new Internet entrepreneurs invest their money in?”

Here’s what YEC community members had to say:

1. Steve Blank’s “How to Build a Startup”

“I encourage every entrepreneur to go through Steve Blank’s “How to Build a Startup” course on Udacity. It’s really the best tool out there to help you effectively learn how to use customer discovery, the business model canvas and lean principles in building your startup. So make sure to take (and complete) the course â€" and remember, do the homework!” ~ Eric Koester, Zaarly

2. Sales Courses

“It doesn’t matter if you’re advertising, raising VC or working sponsorships or direct sales â€" if you don’t know how to read people and situations and turn leads into sales, then your ventures are going to suffer. There are a ton of great mentors and courses out there; look for ones that emphasize practical steps and not just the theory of how to persuade and sell. Your revenues will thank you.” ~ Kelly Azevedo, She’s Got Systems

3. General Assembly Online Classes

“We like to stream various General Assembly online classes for the entire office to view. Developers, designers, strategists and account services can all benefit from learning about other roles, including UX, content creation, public speaking and general product classes. We value the variety and relevancy of classes offered.” ~ Bobby Emamian, Prolific Interactive

4. Free Courses

“Skillshare and Udemy are two great eLearning programs, but there are a wealth of others available for newbie entrepreneurs, and some are absolutely free. There are classes offered by Khan Academy (general learning), Code School (coding assistance), KelbyTraining.com (photography), JavaScript Playground (JavaScript help) and more.” ~ Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

5. Statistics Classes

“I know the statistics classes I took in college (at least those that I didn’t change majors to avoid) only gave an introduction to the topic. The more direction you can get out of the numbers you have, though, the easier it is to make business decisions. A few in-depth stats classes are always a good choice.” ~ Thursday Bram, Hyper Modern Consulting

6. Inc.’s Course List

“As an entrepreneur, the courses recommended by Inc. are your best marketing tool. You need to be able to sell your ideas and yourself to not only clients, but recruits, investors and potential partners as well. You need to be confident, engaged and prepared. The Inc.-recommended courses can help you get there.” ~ Nicolas Gremion, Free-eBooks.net

7. Marie Forleo’s “B-School”

“I highly recommend B-School, founded by Marie Forleo, for entrepreneurs or budding business owners (especially women) who want to create online businesses and lives that honor their individualism, flexibility and passions. This modern take on marketing and selling online completely changed my business and tripled my bottom line. ” ~ Melissa Cassera, Cassera Communications

8. Free Conference Videos

“If you’re a new Internet entrepreneur, save your money. Many conferences for entrepreneurs charge hundreds of dollars to attend, but they routinely post their videos online for free after the conference. Check out free videos from conferences like Big Omaha, LessConf, MicroConf, Startup Lessons Learned and LeWeb. Also, check out Foundation, a great entrepreneur interview series from Kevin Rose.” ~ Clay Hebert, Spindows

9. Success Academy

“Success Academy is a solid learning platform for entrepreneurs. They are more about conveying the real advice that has led to many of their facilitators’ successes.” ~ John Hall, Influence & Co.

10. Ryan Porter’s “Talk Ain’t Cheap”

“Ryan is a bestselling author, TEDx speaker and platform guru. Many don’t realize how big an opportunity public speaking events can be for building a platform. When you have an audience listening to your ideas and you are able to capture their names and emails by directing them toward free content through a platform URL, the possibility for later ninja-nurturing campaigns is tremendous. ” ~ Michael Costigan, Youth Leadership Specialist

Electronic Learning Photo via Shutterstock

New jobs on the rise in Wellington - Seek

In the face of recent comments made about Wellington being a "dying" city, the number of vacancies in the city being offered online has risen sharply this year.

Employment site Seek today released the results of its latest New Job Ad Index, which showed a 5 per cent increase for Wellington-based jobs since January.

While new jobs fell by 1.8 per cent across the country between April and May, the number of ads for Wellington positions were up 2 per cent.

Auckland and Canterbury both dropped on the New Job Ad Index, by 2.1 per cent and 6.7 per cent respectively.

Prime Minister John Key last month provoked a furore with comments he made after a gloomy report on the region's economy.

"The reality is even Wellington is dying and we don't know how to turn it around. All you have there is government, Victoria University and Weta Workshop," Key told business leaders in Auckland.

But Seeks NZ's general manager Janet Faulding said there were currently more than 2,500 new jobs advertised online for Wellington.

"After a slow start to the year it's encouraging to see Wellington performing beyond many people's expectations with strong job creation in May."

The highest number of jobs available in the region was in Information & Communication Technology (ICT) roles, which made up nearly one third of all advertised opportunities.

This was followed by Administration and Trades & Services, and Accounting and Sales roles.

Faulding said it wasn't just job opportunities that were on the rise - employer confidence was also bouncing back.

According to a survey carried out recently by the Wellington Employers' Chamber of Commerce, a net 44.9 per cent of 366 Wellington businesses expected their business situation to improve over the next 12 months.

That was close to a 10 per cent improvement on the previous quarter.

"An increase in business confidence often leads to the creation of more jobs as companies feel positive about implementing plans for future growth," Faulding said.

"This is no exception with almost one third of businesses surveyed expecting to increase their full-time staff numbers in the next 12 months."

On a more negative note, Seek's Employment Index showed demand for jobs was higher than supply in New Zealand last month.

The index dipped by 1 per cent nationally and by the same amount in Auckland and Wellington, meaning applications for roles grew at a faster rate than the number of advertised jobs.

In Canterbury, the Employment Index decreased by 7 per cent.

By Ben Chapman-Smith Email Ben

Build A Mobile Website From Your SmartPhone In Just Minutes

It’s one thing to visit a mobile site on your smartphone, but how about building one from your smartphone as well?

Joosee.com enables you to create a mobile website for your business in minutes using only your smartphone. You can quickly, and cheaply, build a responsive online and mobile presence and market it too. It’s HTML5, and includes features that allow the user to plot the location of their business on a map by GPS and then they can be seen by people browsing Joosee nearby. Another useful feature is the ability to take and upload photos to the site instantly, meaning businesses can update the site with products as they come in and out of stock.

It’s pretty interesting that you can do it all on your phone! Just a few clicks and you’ve got a mobile site.

Mobile websites are pretty easy to get and build, with mobile website builders and providers being a dime a dozen (see: Mobstac and WompMobile), but being able to build the thing on your phone is pretty handy! DudaMobile offers similar functionality. Two clicks and it’s there. It might be easier on your phone than it is on a desktop.

About the importance of mobile websites, Skava told us in a previous article, “A smartphone user has a distinct set of expectations when browsing on a mobile device compared to how they interact with their desktop or even their tablet. Retailer’s websites which have not been optimized for tablet experience a far lower rate of conversion compared to one that has been specifically optimized for the device. Retailers need to be able to respond quickly to the ever shifting digital landscape and influx of new devices, by making sure their e-commerce website is not only working properly but optimised for conversion across all devices.”

For more on building a mobile website, check out our archives.

Let us know in the comments how you built your mobile website! Any tips on how to best optimize your site for mobile users?

Mullen: Cybersecurity threats demand leadership from Capitol Hill

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- Even the best of leaders suffer failures, but the response by leaders to adversity -- including adversity in the realm of national cybersecurity -- is what's truly important.

This was the message that Ret. U.S. Navy Admiral Michael G. "Mike" Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, relayed to attendees at the 2013 Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit.

Mullen stressed the importance of leadership and accountability by opening with a story about his early days in the Navy. He took command of the gasoline tanker USS Noxubee in the Mediterranean at the age of 26, and shortly thereafter the ship ran into a buoy, the result of which was a review of his efforts that he characterized as getting "an F." He spent a considerable amount of time learning from the incident, but he still loved being held accountable for the decisions he made.

"Nobody else hit the buoy," Mullen said. "[The error] was all mine."

Related to the theme of accepting responsibility, Mullen lambasted politicians on Capitol Hill for failing to prioritize the needs of U.S. citizens above party politics in order to respond to critical issues that threaten America's standing in the world. He was especially critical of Congress for its inability to reduce the national debt and repair the broken K-12 education system.

Mullen said cybersecurity is among the issues that keep him awake at night, calling it the "only existential threat out there" that could change our lives to the point that we can't recover. From banking to critical infrastructure, he said, cybersecurity issues dictate so many aspects of ordinary citizens' lives that a cyberattack on the scale of a "cyber 9/11" could cripple the nation's economy. He worries that new laws that would make the difference in preventing such an attack are being held up in Congress, he added.

"We don't look out very well to the future," Mullen said. "Without accountable leaders, I don't think we'll make much progress."

In terms of the threats facing enterprises, Mullen said the nation has long moved past the time when a CEO could call his or her best technical support guy and tell them to "fix it" and make the problems go away. As a consumer, he said, he wakes up every day believing that he's been victimized by attackers, in part because he was a victim of a suspected cyber-espionage attempt in December 2012. As a result, he has adjusted his own cyber life by acknowledging the sophistication of modern cyber threats.

"[I'm] incredibly careful about what I type and write in email," Mullen said. "I make the assumption that someone is reading it, and maybe it's someone I don't even like."

Cybersecurity issues affect U.S. relations with China

Mullen also discussed the recent meetings between U.S. President Barack H. Obama and Xi Jinping, the president of China. He described the association between the two countries as the "most important bilateral relationship in the world," with "cyber" being at the heart of that relationship.

Xi's People's Liberation Army (PLA), specifically the 2nd Bureau's Unit 61398, has received a great deal of media attention following allegations put forth in Mandiant Corp.'s widely publicized APT 1 report. In it, Mandiant alleges that the PLA is responsible for numerous cyber-espionage campaigns against a broad range of victims, dating back at least seven years.

Mullen acknowledged that the Chinese government must achieve GDP growth of 7% to 8% per year to meet its goal of raising 300 million citizens out of poverty. He said that has translated into the government seeking economic advantages through the theft of intellectual property from companies in the U.S. and other developed nations.

With the Chinese government looking to expand its influence to become a true global power, Mullen said, other security tensions are sure to surface, including the recent holdup of Japan-based telecom Softbank's acquisition of Sprint over its relationships with Chinese suppliers. Mullen recently joined the corporate board of Sprint and will serve as the company's security director, and he believes that the U.S. needs to protect its technology, but that the relationship between the U.S. and China will need to evolve to deal with such situations.

NSA leak

Mullen took time to respond to an inquiry regarding the recent leak of sensitive information relating to the National Security Agency's PRISM program, which has now been attributed to Edward Snowden, a former Booz Allen Hamilton employee.

"That's not why we take oaths in this country," commented Mullen, indicating that Snowden must face the consequences that come with leaking classified information. "From my perspective, it was a huge breach and it needs to be dealt with accordingly."

Mullen believes that the NSA leak is only the start of a larger conversation both U.S. citizens and government officials must have regarding the balance between security and privacy, although he felt those coming out harshly against the program represented the "extremes" of both the political left and right. The whole issue is going to "come up very hard against who we are as a country," he said. "We have to be mindful of the security we care about to protect ourselves as we have this debate," he added.

Beyond personal opinions about Snowden and the PRISM program, Mullen emphasized that the leak showed the need for firm leadership in the cyber world. He pointed to Egypt as an example of how the power of the Internet and social media can be used to overthrow a government, but also highlighted how there was no structure in place there to deal with the powerful technology flow afterwards.

"That's why responsible leadership in the information technology world is so critical," Mullen said.

Build A Mobile Website From Your SmartPhone In Just Minutes

It’s one thing to visit a mobile site on your smartphone, but how about building one from your smartphone as well?

Joosee.com enables you to create a mobile website for your business in minutes using only your smartphone. You can quickly, and cheaply, build a responsive online and mobile presence and market it too. It’s HTML5, and includes features that allow the user to plot the location of their business on a map by GPS and then they can be seen by people browsing Joosee nearby. Another useful feature is the ability to take and upload photos to the site instantly, meaning businesses can update the site with products as they come in and out of stock.

It’s pretty interesting that you can do it all on your phone! Just a few clicks and you’ve got a mobile site.

Mobile websites are pretty easy to get and build, with mobile website builders and providers being a dime a dozen (see: Mobstac and WompMobile), but being able to build the thing on your phone is pretty handy! DudaMobile offers similar functionality. Two clicks and it’s there. It might be easier on your phone than it is on a desktop.

About the importance of mobile websites, Skava told us in a previous article, “A smartphone user has a distinct set of expectations when browsing on a mobile device compared to how they interact with their desktop or even their tablet. Retailer’s websites which have not been optimized for tablet experience a far lower rate of conversion compared to one that has been specifically optimized for the device. Retailers need to be able to respond quickly to the ever shifting digital landscape and influx of new devices, by making sure their e-commerce website is not only working properly but optimised for conversion across all devices.”

For more on building a mobile website, check out our archives.

Let us know in the comments how you built your mobile website! Any tips on how to best optimize your site for mobile users?

Facebook is Trying to Make Advertising Simpler

Facebook says it is trying to make its advertising products easier to use and more understandable for customers.

In an announcement on the official Facebook Newsroom blog last week, Fidji Simo, product manager at Facebook, wrote the company would streamline its advertising products from 27 different choices to about half that in the next six months.

The company says it decided to simplify its advertising offerings because of customer preference. In her post, Simo wrote:

Over the past year, we have been gathering feedback from marketers about our ads products. One point we heard loud and clear is that we need to simplify our product offering. As the services we provide to marketers have grown, so have our new products; while each product may be good on its own, we realized that many of them accomplish the same goals.

Though Facebook was not specific about all the advertising products likely to be eliminated, Simo did mention some that would be disappearing. And some sponsored posts associated with Facebook business pages will be affected.

Questions

One of the sponsored products scheduled to disappear is a feature called Questions. The special post offers a multiple choice question about a product or service users can respond to if they wish. But in the post, Simo said business customers would prefer to just add a question in a post and get a response in the comment section.

Offer

Another kind of sponsored post set to disappear is the Offer, wrote Simo. The Offer post includes a simple product description and “get offer” button, allowing visitors to take advantage. Again, Simo said advertisers felt using an ad explaining the offer with a link to the company Web page was simpler and more effective.

Sponsored Stories

Another type of ad post that will not so much be eliminated as consolidated is the sponsored story post. Up until now, Facebook advertisers have had to buy a separate product for the best “social context” on their sponsored posts. Often this includes information on friends or fans who have “liked” or “commented” on a sponsored post.

The added product is called “sponsored story” and is a separate purchase in addition to the post. From now on, however, Simo says Facebook will be eliminating the extra steps and adding social context with each ad purchased.

It’s unclear from Facebook at this time whether this means advertisers will be paying less for the additional social context in their ads or whether the cost of a sponsored ad will simply be part of the new advertising package. However, Simo claims data from sources like Nielsen and comScore show social context increases return on advertising and brand awareness.

A New Look

Changes are expected to make ads more consistent in appearance and to make the advertising process on Facebook simpler by reducing the number of potential ad formats. Below is Facebook’s vision of a more consistent ad format.

Most of these changes will begin in July, Simo wrote. She was less specific about what other changes the company might be making in its advertising products and services or what cost changes, if any, might be associated with the consolidation.

Reaction from the Facebook marketing community has been fairly calm.

“It’s going to be OK, don’t panic,” wrote Laurie Cutts, Director of Marketing for Nanigans, on the company blog last week. Nanigans is a social marketing agency specializing in helping clients with Facebook advertising.

“Yes, Sponsored Stories have been a part of our lives as marketers for quite some time now,” Cutts added. “As we’ve come to learn, though, social ad units, especially on Facebook, have a shelf life. For Sponsored Stories that time has come.”

What do you think? Will these changes improve your efforts to market to customers on Facebook, make them more difficult, or have little or no effect?

11 Barcode Generators for Managing Inventory - And for Marketing

Keeping track of your products and assets manually is a chore. Why not barcode them? The technology to create them is accessible via the Web and there are tons of free apps for smartphone users that can serve as scanners.

For the business owner who needs to get inventory organized and barcoded, this list of barcode generators is for you. Below are eleven free and low-cost tools to create either barcodes or QR codes.

QR codes are more of a marketing tactic. You have probably seen these codes in direct mail packages, in emails or on storefront windows and doors.  A QR code can suffice for certain types of inventory control, but most companies prefer barcodes for inventory management.

All of these barcode generators are free unless otherwise noted. Plus there is a useful book listed at the end of the article.

11 Barcode Generators

Barcode Generator

One of the easiest online barcode creators that I found. As you can see above, you just select the style you need or want and the software creates it.

OnlineLabels.com

OnlineLabels has both a barcode and a QR code creator. They also have a nifty Nutrition Label creator. I’m thinking of making my own low-fat potato chip label so I won’t feel guilty anymore…

Monrovia

They have a simple online tool, but also sell the fonts in their downloadable software package.

Barcodes Inc

They sell a range of barcoding equipment and label makers, but also offer barcode and QR code generators online.

TEC-IT

TEC-IT lets you download its online tool code snippet to place on your own website. They also sell a full barcode software suite for Windows, Mac, and SAP.

Wasp Barcode Generator

Wasp Barcode (above) offers a free online barcode generator, in addition to a full arsenal of  barcode technology, to help you create codes. They even email them to you after you fill out the form.

Zint Barcode Generator

The generator is hosted at SourceForge and is highly rated and only available as downloaded software. No online tool.

Barcode Generator and Overprinter

Well-rated on CNET as a top download. They have a 15-day free trial, but it is $60 to purchase a one-time license.

Smartphone Ready QR Codes for Marketing

For those who want to create smartphone-ready QR codes for marketing and sales purposes, the three online generators below are solid.

Kaywa

Kaywa is a free online QR code generator. However, they also have a robust paid plan because it has deeper analytics that it can perform.

QR Code Generator from the ZXing Project

ZXing Project is one of my favorites because they let you put all sorts of custom data into the QR code.

QR Stuff

QR Stuff is a rich site with all sorts of options to make customizing your QR code painless. As you can see above, lots of options.

Bonus: A Book on Barcodes

Matt Kostanecki, marketing guy at inFlow Inventory software, wrote an excellent, detailed book on the topic of barcodes. If you need to create a barcode system, you’ll want to check out this affordable barcode book for small businesses.  For Amazon Prime members, it’s currently free on Amazon.

With all of these free and low-cost barcode generators, there is no reason to keep doing it manually. Even if you don’t use them at the point of sale, it will help you during annual and quarterly inventory counts.

If you are considering a barcode solution, are you planning to use a smartphone as the scanner or will you purchase a stand-alone scanner?

Best Tech Tools For The Real Estate Professional and Office

Real estate is a competitive field, with professionals striving to reach new customers. To keep a competitive advantage, today’s real estate agent must arm his or her office with the latest software and hardware solutions to deal with the daily demands of communicating with clients and reaching prospective home buyers.

Hardware

While the business world seems inclined toward tablets and smartphones, IT solutions provider Nashville Computer has found that real estate agents find laptops and desktops work best for using the MLS system, especially when navigating online maps. ” iPads are very convenient but browsing through drop-downs can be aggravating,” vice president Charles Henson says. “I recommend slim laptops for Realtors with a MiFi type of wireless connection.”

Marketing Solutions

When used properly, the Internet can be a powerful tool for real estate agents. BoomTown provides leads and helps with converting those leads into sales. Each agent gets a website, complete with tools that help with search engine marketing and networking.

“I’ve had the system fully up and running for 60 days,” Denise Swick, RE/MAX Alliance Realty, says. “We have closed four properties as a direct result, have four more pending and that is just the beginning. I just had to hire two more agents to handle the volume of leads and they love it.”

CRM

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools are essential to most small businesses. Real estate is no exception. San Diego real estate broker Jeffrey Douglass uses Insightly to manage client and broker listings. According to Douglass, many real estate agents are using CRM to stay organized and track multiple listings at once.

“There are a lot of shiny toys out there for Realtors,” Douglass says. “What we really need is a good CRM that keeps us focused, and keeps us doing the things that we need to do, which is why I’ve found Insightly’s simple solution to be the best way to manage my real estate business.”

Electronic Faxing

While scan-to-email equipment has allowed most businesses to toss fax machines out, many real estates find it’s still an ideal way to communicate with attorneys and clients. The challenge is that real estate agents are rarely chained to an office, becoming increasingly mobile as technology allows them to work from anywhere.

Laura Usher, sales partner at Kiplin Grocer Real Estate, uses eFax for all her faxing needs. “It’s just so much easier using eFax when I’m traveling because I can’t carry around a scanner or traditional fax machine,” Usher says. “Before eFax I had to use traditional fax machines at hotels or mailbox stores, which was always a huge pain and was expensive.”

Real estate agent Jeff Annis, who also uses eFax, points out that the service adds an extra benefit: reducing all that paper is good for the environment. “I noticed in my last two case files I had not printed any of the contract forms because I handled them all electronically and they were already saved by eFax in my smartphone for easy access.”

Animoto Pro

Video is increasingly becoming an integral part of social media marketing. But creating share-ready videos can be time-consuming and daunting. Animoto Pro lets real estate agents put together and share videos on social media without spending a fortune.

“It is important for agents to promote themselves and their listings through the use of video marketing and social media,” says Kent Corey, Elite Florida Realty. “Animoto provides a quality product which does just that and best of all it’s easy and quick to use.”

Social Media Tools

Social media tools are more important than ever to real estate agents and Stik is custom-made for real estate professionals. The site collects reviews from the public about mortgage, real estate, insurance, and legal professionals.

“Having an excellent reputation both online and in the real world is critical to the success of my business,” said Nick Casteel, real estate agent at Keller Williams. “As an independent agent that is part of a larger organization, Stik is an easy way for me to manage my online reputation and increase customer leads referred by past clients. With Stik I’m able to collect customer reviews and testimonials of my work from my customers and display them across the Internet.”

Best Tech Tools For The Real Estate Professional and Office

Real estate is a competitive field, with professionals striving to reach new customers. To keep a competitive advantage, today’s real estate agent must arm his or her office with the latest software and hardware solutions to deal with the daily demands of communicating with clients and reaching prospective home buyers.

Hardware

While the business world seems inclined toward tablets and smartphones, IT solutions provider Nashville Computer has found that real estate agents find laptops and desktops work best for using the MLS system, especially when navigating online maps. ” iPads are very convenient but browsing through drop-downs can be aggravating,” vice president Charles Henson says. “I recommend slim laptops for Realtors with a MiFi type of wireless connection.”

Marketing Solutions

When used properly, the Internet can be a powerful tool for real estate agents. BoomTown provides leads and helps with converting those leads into sales. Each agent gets a website, complete with tools that help with search engine marketing and networking.

“I’ve had the system fully up and running for 60 days,” Denise Swick, RE/MAX Alliance Realty, says. “We have closed four properties as a direct result, have four more pending and that is just the beginning. I just had to hire two more agents to handle the volume of leads and they love it.”

CRM

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools are essential to most small businesses. Real estate is no exception. San Diego real estate broker Jeffrey Douglass uses Insightly to manage client and broker listings. According to Douglass, many real estate agents are using CRM to stay organized and track multiple listings at once.

“There are a lot of shiny toys out there for Realtors,” Douglass says. “What we really need is a good CRM that keeps us focused, and keeps us doing the things that we need to do, which is why I’ve found Insightly’s simple solution to be the best way to manage my real estate business.”

Electronic Faxing

While scan-to-email equipment has allowed most businesses to toss fax machines out, many real estates find it’s still an ideal way to communicate with attorneys and clients. The challenge is that real estate agents are rarely chained to an office, becoming increasingly mobile as technology allows them to work from anywhere.

Laura Usher, sales partner at Kiplin Grocer Real Estate, uses eFax for all her faxing needs. “It’s just so much easier using eFax when I’m traveling because I can’t carry around a scanner or traditional fax machine,” Usher says. “Before eFax I had to use traditional fax machines at hotels or mailbox stores, which was always a huge pain and was expensive.”

Real estate agent Jeff Annis, who also uses eFax, points out that the service adds an extra benefit: reducing all that paper is good for the environment. “I noticed in my last two case files I had not printed any of the contract forms because I handled them all electronically and they were already saved by eFax in my smartphone for easy access.”

Animoto Pro

Video is increasingly becoming an integral part of social media marketing. But creating share-ready videos can be time-consuming and daunting. Animoto Pro lets real estate agents put together and share videos on social media without spending a fortune.

“It is important for agents to promote themselves and their listings through the use of video marketing and social media,” says Kent Corey, Elite Florida Realty. “Animoto provides a quality product which does just that and best of all it’s easy and quick to use.”

Social Media Tools

Social media tools are more important than ever to real estate agents and Stik is custom-made for real estate professionals. The site collects reviews from the public about mortgage, real estate, insurance, and legal professionals.

“Having an excellent reputation both online and in the real world is critical to the success of my business,” said Nick Casteel, real estate agent at Keller Williams. “As an independent agent that is part of a larger organization, Stik is an easy way for me to manage my online reputation and increase customer leads referred by past clients. With Stik I’m able to collect customer reviews and testimonials of my work from my customers and display them across the Internet.”

Harsher penalties for HIPAA violations altering compliance efforts

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act went into effect in 2006, but increasingly large penalties for HIPAA violations in recent years, combined with a greater risk of audits, are forcing enterprises to redouble their HIPAA compliance efforts.

Five years ago, this room would not have been full, but now they're actually auditing [against HIPAA] and people are worried about it.

Paul Proctor, 
VP and distinguished analyst, 
Gartner Inc.

In a presentation at the 2013 Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit, Wes Rishel and Paul Proctor, both vice presidents and distinguished analysts with the Stamford, Conn.-based IT research giant, walked attendees through an increasingly harsh HIPAA landscape. Approximately 60,000 "small" breaches have been reported, with more than 500 of those ending up on the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Office for Civil Rights' "wall of shame," the federally mandated list of HIPAA violation incidents that involve the health information records of 500 or more individuals.

Rishel described initial early penalties for HIPAA violations as a "joke," with most enterprises unmoved by the risk of paying out potential settlements. However, the passage of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in February 2009 completely altered this attitude, with HIPAA penalties now reaching millions of dollars. Cases in point: Cignet's $4.3 million fine in 2011 for denying patients access to medical records, and a $1.5 million fine to Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary for a data compromise involving a lost laptop.

HITECH both increased the dollar amount that an organization could be fined for failing to comply with HIPAA, and broadened the sources that could induce an audit: State attorneys general may now bring forth civil actions on behalf of state residents affected by HIPAA violations.

Organizations responsible for HIPAA-covered data now face one-in-20 odds of facing a HIPAA audit, the analysts said. To glean the most obvious effect of the HITECH Act, one only had to look at the packed room full of conference attendees interested in the session. "Five years ago, this room would not have been full," Proctor joked. "But now they're actually auditing [against HIPAA] and people are worried about it."

Allaying HIPAA encryption fears

Though many organizations consider achieving HIPAA compliance to be an onerous task, Rishel and Proctor attempted to educate attendees on the broad nature of the regulation and how, unlike other compliance mandates like the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, enterprises have plenty of wiggle room to please auditors.

The Gartner duo pointed to encryption as a specific area of confusion, with many organizations believing that encryption is a fundamental requirement of the regulation. Proctor repeatedly hammered home the point that HIPAA "does not require encryption."

However, even though there is no specific requirement for encryption in HIPAA, it doesn't necessarily mean that an enterprise can get away without using it. For example, Rishel provided recommendations on when data at rest should be encrypted: rarely for internal data centers, always for mobile devices and cloud services. Ultimately, before an organization decides to invest in, implement and manage a data encryption effort, it must assess how likely it is that its data will be stolen.

HIPAA compliance management best practices

Instead of utilizing HIPAA as a checklist, organizations should use the regulation as a starting point to determine what they can and cannot do, Rishel said. Once enterprises understand how little HIPAA actually requires, they can do a better job of assessing what data really needs to be defended, and how to go about it.

According to Proctor, organizations should focus their efforts on performing a thorough HIPAA risk assessment that clearly shows how security controls that have been put in place reduce the threat scenarios deemed most likely. Above all else, organizations need to provide details about their security programs that show that thought and care have gone into defending HIPAA-related data. "Documenting your decisions is in the [HITECH Final] Rule," he said. "You can't just make it up on the fly."

Proctor relayed a story concerning one of his clients that was questioned by a HIPAA auditor regarding a specific security control. The client explained why it was in place, and the auditor agreed with the client's reasoning, but because the client had failed to fully document the security control, the auditor still levied a fine against the client for lacking proper documentation.

"The single most important thing I want you all to take away from this … is when you get back to your office, find out where your risk assessment is that you would show auditors," Proctor said. "Is it defensible? Would auditors be able to page through it and get the impression that you care about this stuff?"

Internet Sales Tax Issue Still Lives Despite Activist Claims

The so-called Internet Sales Tax isn’t dead, despite what you may have heard. Here’s what happened:

Last week, a millennial advocacy group called Generation Opportunity planned a so-called “Facebook bomb” of Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.).

Rep. Goodlatte happens to be the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which is considering the Internet Sales Tax (known officially as the Marketplace Fairness Act.)

The group claims it inundated the Republican Congressman’s Facebook page with more than 3,000 comments urging him to stall the bill in his committee so it never reaches the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives for a vote.

Setting the Record Straight

While they may have gotten the response they wanted from Goodlatte, the group apparently inferred more than the Congressman intended to say. In a statement from Generation Opportunity, it said Goodlatte told the group that the Judiciary Committee would not take up the Marketplace Fairness Act. Generation Opportunity said Goodlatte’s comment to them “effectively kills the bill,” according to the group’s release last week.

After a local Virginia TV station picked up on that story and contacted Goodlatte, the Congressman clarified his message and gave the Internet Sales Tax bill some life, but not much. He issued a statement saying,

“If any action is taken, Congress must be involved in the process and I have repeatedly said that the House Judiciary Committee is looking at alternatives that could enable states to collect sales tax revenues without opening the door to aggressive state action against out-of-state companies. Furthermore, any alternative I am working on in the House would address fairness to all businesses and consumers.”

Whatever Goodlatte means by “alternatives,” it doesn’t seem to quite add up to the killing of the bill Generation Opportunity had claimed.

Small Business Owners Still Divided

Small business owners are still divided on the Internet sales tax proposed legislation anyway.

Though it recently passed the U.S. Senate, it will need to be approved by the House before it’s sent to President Barack Obama to be signed into law. If passed as is, the legislation would require most online merchants to collect sales tax from their customers, including those in states where the merchants have no established location.

That’s good news for affiliate marketers who claim the bill is a good alternative to “affiliate nexus taxes” requiring companies like Amazon to pay sales tax if sales to its site come through affiliates based in some states.

The nexus taxes have caused some companies to discontinue association with affiliates in states where they exist, advocates for the affiliate industry say.

On the other hand, Ebay, which advocates for thousands of small merchants using its services for online selling, says the law, if passed, will be a regulatory nightmare. It could make these merchants responsible for complying with 9,600 state and local tax jurisdictions across the country depending on the location of each customer.

Where Things Stand on the Internet Sales Tax

But even if the Internet Sales Tax bill isn’t dead yet, it may still have little chance of ever passing. As we reported earlier, there is much less support for the bill in the House than in the Senate, so the bill may stall in committee with or without activist efforts.

Internet tax Photo via Shutterstock

Start-Up Tibbr Brings Team Collaborate To Facebook

When you’re working in a small team, e-mail is a “good enough” platform for your collaboration needs. When your teams grows a bit, you start to look for some more specialized tools and Tibbr is one of them.

Tibbr is basically a social networking platform intended for your business and its internal needs. Facebook groups might be useful, but Tibbr is just much more than a private network.

Launched in January 2011, Tibbr grew pretty quickly and now serves more than a one million (paid) users in over 100 countries, providing companies and teams with its great collaborative capabilities. This enterprise social platform was founded within TIBCO Software Inc. in Silicon Valley and currently is lead by Ram Menon and Sriram Chakravarthy.

At a first glance, Tibbr looks like a social network and that makes it easy to use, however, the back-end is a completely different story. Since TIBCO Software is all about infrastructure software, Tibbr holds a lot of power under its hood which makes it a really resourceful tool for your company. And TIBCO is aware that cloud solutions might not be acceptable by everyone, so there’s the option to install Tibbr within your system.

Check out tibbr Mobile Apps Set the Pace for Enterprise Social Networks video below.

Collaboration is an awesome thing to have supported by some software solution, but since there are many collaboration tools out there, Tibbr knew that it had to differentiate from the crowd - and that’s why your company will have a real-time insight on everything related to it - you want to know more about stuff that is influencing you? No problem for Tibbr.

In September 2012, Tibbr also added some new features: social graph, API, integrations with some cloud services (e.g. Box) and more - everything goes under the name of Tibbr 4. With Box integrated, you can access most of your Box functions witihin the Tibbr itself which is a step closer to creating a centralized soltuion for your needs in running a business.

Tibbr is also available for your iOS, Android and BlackBerry devices!

If you’re looking for a new (or your first?) collaboration tool, Tibbr might be just what you need.

RandomStorm launches log analysis and intrusion detection platform

RandomStorm has announced the launch of an integrated log analysis, host-based intrusion detection system and file integrity platform.

Named the StormAgent, the company said that it automates protective monitoring of network hosts and its algorithm identifies, classifies and stores alerts into IP and time-based events that are associated with instances of matched rules.

RandomStorm said that StormAgent is capable of processing up to 28 million logs per day and categorises and stores recurring security alerts into manageable and meaningful groups associated with specific hosts across the network. It also claimed that the dashboard enables users to quickly drill down into each instance, based on five thousand pre-defined rules, to view the correlated alerts and access vital information such as the source IP address and the timeline of the event.

Also included are a host-based intrusion detection system and a file integrity management tool that can be configured to monitor critical hosts, identify imminent threats and pinpoint any changes to confidential files in real-time.

Andrew Mason, co-founder and technical director of RandomStorm, said: “With billions of alerts being logged each year, important indicators can get overlooked. StormAgent provides system managers with a powerful tool that filters out the most vital information and most importantly, makes it understandable, so that staff can act swiftly to thwart an attack.”

Start-Up Tibbr Brings Team Collaborate To Facebook

When you’re working in a small team, e-mail is a “good enough” platform for your collaboration needs. When your teams grows a bit, you start to look for some more specialized tools and Tibbr is one of them.

Tibbr is basically a social networking platform intended for your business and its internal needs. Facebook groups might be useful, but Tibbr is just much more than a private network.

Launched in January 2011, Tibbr grew pretty quickly and now serves more than a one million (paid) users in over 100 countries, providing companies and teams with its great collaborative capabilities. This enterprise social platform was founded within TIBCO Software Inc. in Silicon Valley and currently is lead by Ram Menon and Sriram Chakravarthy.

At a first glance, Tibbr looks like a social network and that makes it easy to use, however, the back-end is a completely different story. Since TIBCO Software is all about infrastructure software, Tibbr holds a lot of power under its hood which makes it a really resourceful tool for your company. And TIBCO is aware that cloud solutions might not be acceptable by everyone, so there’s the option to install Tibbr within your system.

Check out tibbr Mobile Apps Set the Pace for Enterprise Social Networks video below.

Collaboration is an awesome thing to have supported by some software solution, but since there are many collaboration tools out there, Tibbr knew that it had to differentiate from the crowd - and that’s why your company will have a real-time insight on everything related to it - you want to know more about stuff that is influencing you? No problem for Tibbr.

In September 2012, Tibbr also added some new features: social graph, API, integrations with some cloud services (e.g. Box) and more - everything goes under the name of Tibbr 4. With Box integrated, you can access most of your Box functions witihin the Tibbr itself which is a step closer to creating a centralized soltuion for your needs in running a business.

Tibbr is also available for your iOS, Android and BlackBerry devices!

If you’re looking for a new (or your first?) collaboration tool, Tibbr might be just what you need.

5 Twitter Do’s and Don’ts That Highlight or Hinder You

I remember the first time I saw the Twitter blue Bird “chirping” image after I launched my business in late 2007. I loved it from first sight and use.

The idea of short 140 character comments and microblogging was brilliant. I don’t think any of us could have seen  the impact Twitter would have, in it’s real time, immediate ability to distribute breaking news and information. But it has transformed how fast we see it - and get it.

Says Digital Expert, Brian Solis, about TNN, the Twitter News Network:

Once again, we were reminded that…news no longer breaks, it Tweets.

Not only do we Tweet, but we follow the Twedia, have our own Twitterverse, read Twitorials, think some people are Twitless and yes, there is a Twitionary.

Social media, especially Twitter, is changing the game of journalism and allowing anyone to potentially break a story and take on the role of journalist. I learned about Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Osama Bin Laden’s deaths from Twitter. Other breaking stories include the Hudson River plane crash, the royal wedding announcement, Hurricane Sandy and the Moore Oklahoma tornado.

Twitter wants you to know a few stats about how brands use it, as it continues it’s mission to be considered as a major media company, which it is already well on it’s way to becoming:

• 200 million people are active on a 30 day basis.
• 95% of conversations about TV happen on Twitter.
• Mobile users are 78% more likely to re-tweet a brand.
• 50% of  Americans see, read or hear a tweet daily.

Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched in July as an online social networking service and microblogging service that enabled its users to send and read text-based messages of up to 140 characters, known as “tweets.”

Twitter got it’s name, from the word twittering, which is the sound birds make when they communicate with each other. This turns out to be an apt description of the conversations and activity that happens on Twitter.

Twitter provides people with real-time public information. Even more profound is how it also helps groups of people to mimic the effortless way a flock of birds move in unison.

As I work with small businesses, entrepreneurs and professional consultants on their social media plan and messaging, I recommend Twitter as an integral part of  that plan. Twitter is an integral tool, resource and community. Especially now that smart phones, mobile and texting are exploding.

As an early adopter on Twitter (2008), I have learned much about etiquette, useability, utility and results. Amazingly, the top 15% of Twitter users account for 85% of all Tweets.

Below are 5 Twitter do’s and don’ts that can highlight or hinder you in how you stand out, get noticed and are remembered on Twitter.

5 Twitter Do’s That Highlight You

1) Consistency

Be consistently authentic and deliver daily value.

2) Thankfulness

Thank people and show gratitude.

3) Genuineness

Tweet like you think and speak.

4) Respect

Respect the etiquette of the community and space.

5) Positivity

Vibe positivity, optimism and brand your own style.

5 Twitter Don’ts That Hinder You

1) Over Sell

Don’t over sell, over automate and under serve.

2) Spam

Don’t spam people, be disrespectful or be rude.

3) Over Tweet

Don’t over Tweet, overwhelm and under engage.

4) Vague

Don’t have an unfinished bio, bad avatar and no legitimate contact information.

5) Steal

Don’t post, re-tweet or steal content without acknowledging the source.

Although I have had some unfortunate interruptions in error on Twitter lately, I remain a staunch advocate, dedicated user and fan of the platform. If you get suspended or have any problems with Twitter, don’t panic. Here’s everything you need to know to get reinstated.

You don’t have to be on Twitter to be successful, but having Twitter in your media mix and using it strategically can enhance your business brand, reach and social media fun.  Learn more about how and why to use Twitter in these infographics.

What are your top Twitiquette do’s and don’ts?

Blue Bird Photo via Shutterstock

Veracode launches mobile application reputation service

Veracode has announced the launch of its Mobile Application Reputation Service (Mars) that it claims includes mobile application intelligence and helps prevent inadvertent data leakage on risky mobile applications.

According to the company, Mars equips organisations with a comprehensive and quantitative risk analysis on mobile applications supplied by public app stores, commercial developers and enterprise developers.

Using Mars, Veracode conducted an analysis of the most popular mobile applications used within enterprises today. The results showed that many of these apps access confidential and sometimes personal data on the mobile device, and expose sensitive information to unknown parties.

Sam King, EVP product strategy and corporate development at Veracode, said: “During our initial analysis of mobile applications we found that 91 per cent of the top mobile apps unnecessarily expose a user's personally identifiable information. Despite this, most mobile users and businesses aren't aware of the risk these apps pose to their organisation.

“Our Mars shines light on the behaviour of these applications. When used in conjunction with mobile device management or mobile application management solutions, enterprises have a powerful tool to both inform and enforce their mobile risk management policies.”

McAfee says it got Koobface infection rates wrong

McAfee has said that detections of the Koobface worm have declined, after previously claiming that it had seen a resurgence.

The prevalence of the Koobface worm, best known for its rampage through social networks Facebook and MySpace a few years back, continues to decline, McAfee has now admitted.

The security company said it made a mistake when it reported last week, as part of its first-quarter threat report, that rates of the malware were dramatically climbing.

McAfee initially declared a resurgence because what it believed were unique samples of Koobface actually turned out to be instances where part of the worm's underlying code was packaged as part of other binary files and malware, said McAfee researcher Craig Schmugar in a blog post. 

“Besides the number of changes made to a malware's code base, sample counts can also be influenced by repacking of the same underlying code (a common evasion tactic used by malware distributors), garbage data or junk instructions added to binaries, and other forms of server or client polymorphisms (such as self-modifying code or web server scripts that result in a unique binary being served with each download),” he wrote.

“These factors led to our Koobface statistics being off by a large margin,” he continued, adding that Koobface remains in a ‘continuing decline' since Facebook outed the group behind the threat 18 months ago.

Marketing With Vine: Leveraging the Power of 6-Second Videos

If you haven’t heard yet, Vine is now available on Android and is now surpassing Instagram in total Twitter shares, reports MarketingLand.

Vine  is an app that lets you creates 6-second videos. The app’s description invites you to “Create short, beautiful, looping videos in a simple and fun way for your friends and family to see.”  You then can load your Vine videos on to Twitter or other social accounts.

Vine was previously available only to Apple mobile device users (iPhone, iPad etc.), where it was downloaded by 13 million people and became so popular that Twitter acquired it in October 2012.

According to Twitter, 12 million Vine videos are posted to the microblogging site daily.

Some might doubt the marketing power of a video that lasts only seconds.  But the same doubts might have been raised about photo sharing app Instagram a year ago before Facebook paid a billion dollars for it.   Here are some tips from the community for marketing using Vine videos.

Animate Your Images - Social Media Today

Vine provides an easy way to create animation on a mobile device. By stopping and starting the video while recording, you can make creative animated videos like Lowe’s video of ants invading a sandbox and Urban Outfitters’ dancing sneakers, writes blogger Julie Blakely.

Keep Your Story Short - YayaConnection

With the perceived short attention span of the younger generation, ages 18 to 24, and the busyness of the average Web surfer or mobile user, Vine is seen as an ideal way to tell your company’s story these days. Analytics specialist Bridget Kelly introduces us to the 6 second history of denim at The Gap or a six second love story between a pineapple and a bottle of Malibu Rum.

Get Your Customers Involved - Big Ideas Blog

There’s no reason to stop with just making your own Vine video clips either. In this post, Megan Totka, chief editor for ChamberofCommerce.com suggests the ease of use of the Vine app makes it perfect for encouraging fans of your business or brand to get creative too. For example, create a contest for your customers to send in a video using your product in imaginative ways and give prizes to the winners.

Start With a Plan - Smart Insights

Just because a Vine video is incredibly easy to make and is only six seconds long, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be planned out, says Mark Donington, Lead Designer of Higher Ground Creative. Donington suggests starting with a narrative and planning what you want to say before you start recording.

Think Elevator Pitch - Silicon Beach Training

It might sound strange to think about a video this way. But just as an elevator pitch forces you to share your business idea in less time than it takes to reach the executive suite, a short video requires focus. Think about what you could do to demonstrate the greatness of your product in 6 seconds or less.

Make a Lasting Impression - Hubspot

Six seconds may be too little time for a lengthy marketing message, but it’s enough time to create a lasting impression with a truly creative video. Think about a way you could use those six seconds to create a memorable impression of your brand with a story or series of images customers will never forget. Here are 15 real world examples from branding expert Hannah Fleishman.

Focus on Visual Elements - Reel SEO

Focus on the visual elements of your brand. This could be easier for some businesses than for others. For example, later this month 20th Century Fox released the highly anticipated film “The Wolverine” starring Hugh Jackman, and two months ago issued a Vine teaser of the new film, generating buzz. Your business may not be as visually stunning as a Hollywood blockbuster, but look for ways to tell your story in an exciting and visual way.

Remember Your Marketing Basics - Hyperbot

Vine may be a new marketing tool, but in the end, it’s not so different from other tools that have come before. Though blogger Clyde Smith is talking specifically about how musicians can use Vine to market their work online, the principles are the same. Consider what techniques have worked in previous online video platforms like YouTube and don’t forget to be creative.

Always Remember the Social Aspect - Social Media Examiner

Yes, Vine is an app allowing you to easily create six-second videos. But it is also one of a new breed of social media tools acquired by Twitter and similar to other social tools like Instagram. When shared via Twitter or on other sites, Vine can be a powerful way to engage with your customers. Kristi Hines gives you some ideas on how to do it.

Be Sure You Have a Strategy in Place - Mittcom

You can use Vine to market your brand or business in so many ways. From giving customers a look behind the scenes in your business to giving a preview of new products to heighten anticipation. Remember, though, that like any marketing campaign, you’ll want a strategy in place first to make your efforts more effective.