Connie Certusi of Sage: Our Goal is to Automate Small Business Tasks

Connie Certusi, the executive vice president and general manager for small business solutions for Sage Software, joined us for an exclusive 1-on-1 interview.

The goal was to update small business owners and managers on what Sage is doing for small businesses.

The purpose of these interviews is to hear from leaders who provide products and services you may not know of, to listen to their philosophies and to hear the latest developments coming down the pike.  We conducted it as a Google Hangout, and videoed it.

Connie kicked it off by explaining that she has been with Sage for 17 years and says she has been “focused on small businesses all of these years. I absolutely love this market. I think it’s a dynamic market. It’s been a long time at Sage. It’s been a lot of fun.”  As she notes, one of Sage’s key goals is to automate small business tasks, and doing that is part of her job.

Below are some highlights from that interview, paraphrased in places. For the full interview, you can scroll down to the bottom and watch the Hangout video - about 25 minutes long.

Question: What does small business mean to Sage?

Sage is a global organization that provides business management software, services and solutions to small businesses - 6 million across the globe.

It is our goal … to provide solutions to … small businesses that help them to better automate their daily tasks, their administrative tasks related to accounting, related to payroll, related to inventory management.

And ultimately we want to free up some time so they can focus on other things like growing their business, or finding new customers or maybe just get them home at a decent hour so they can spend some time with their friends and family. So we service small businesses with tools to help make them successful.

Question: Sage recently conducted a Reinvention of Small Business study. What were some of the key findings?

[49% of small businesses cited investing in technology as the major change or improvement over the last five years.]  A lot of the small businesses that have survived the downturn in the economy, a lot of them are doing it because they are getting smarter about running their businesses and they are using technology to do that.

A lot of [small business people] are working more.  When we ask them how many hours they are working … 37% said they are putting in 11 or more hours every week in their small business on both the weekends as well as during the week.  And … 43% said they are taking less vacation time.

There’s an apprehension to hire….  They’re getting more done with less. They’re putting in more hours.

When [small businesses were] asked “have you thought about giving up?” a resounding  76 percent said “No”.

I think it’s the spirit of businesses in the U.S. quite frankly.  Even though they’ve gone through some tough times, 56 percent still feel like they’re living the American dream.

Question: What is The Sage Listening Tour that Sage is about to kick off?

We are just getting started on the Sage Listens RV Relay.  We have an RV tat is going around to 16 cities around the U.S.  A number of Sage executives and employees are traveling on this RV and meeting with small and medium sized businesses.

Not only do we want to meet with the small businesses and understand their journey … what keeps them up at night… and [take that information back to Sage].. but we want to shop locally on this tour.  We are buying gas from small business customers, we are staying at hotels where we can of small business customers, we are eating at [small business-owned restaurants].

Question: What products does Sage offer small businesses and for what size of small business?

We have a number of accounting, ERP, payroll, HR solutions … that focus … all the way from the entrepreneur/ single-employee space going all the way up to the 500-employee space.

We’ve got cloud solutions … Sage One … that is a full-cloud online accounting solution that targets the 0 to 9 employee space. From Sage One you can then move into Sage 50 … [it] spans up to the 25 to 50 employee space.

You can move up to Sage 100 … then Sage 300 … a number of solutions that help the small business really not only when they are first forming but as they continue to grow and their needs are changing.

The following resources were mentioned in this Hangout interview:

Sage North America website

Sage surveys

Sage Listens Tour (Hashtag for Twitter: #SageListens and #SageShopsLocal)

Going Mobile: Is Your Small Business Keeping Up? (Infographic)

Citrix recently released key findings from teh Small Business Communication survey it announced this past June. The finding highlight the importance of evolving mobile workstyles to drive innovation among smaller organizations.

Here are some of the key findings:

• 68% of U.S. small business employees now use personal communications devices for work purposes - whether or not the business has a formal policy
• More than half of U.S. small businesses say they are more productive and efficient using their personal devices for work
• 43% agree or strongly agree that social collaboration tools and video conferencing make work meetings more productive
• 63% of U.S. small businesses say employees can be trusted to work as hard outside of the office as they do at the office

This infographic outlines all the key findings of the survey:

How is your small business measuring up to these results? Let us know in the comments section below.

Going Mobile: Is Your Small Business Keeping Up? (Infographic)

Citrix recently released key findings from teh Small Business Communication survey it announced this past June. The finding highlight the importance of evolving mobile workstyles to drive innovation among smaller organizations.

Here are some of the key findings:

• 68% of U.S. small business employees now use personal communications devices for work purposes - whether or not the business has a formal policy
• More than half of U.S. small businesses say they are more productive and efficient using their personal devices for work
• 43% agree or strongly agree that social collaboration tools and video conferencing make work meetings more productive
• 63% of U.S. small businesses say employees can be trusted to work as hard outside of the office as they do at the office

This infographic outlines all the key findings of the survey:

How is your small business measuring up to these results? Let us know in the comments section below.

Going Mobile: Is Your Small Business Keeping Up? (Infographic)

Citrix recently released key findings from teh Small Business Communication survey it announced this past June. The finding highlight the importance of evolving mobile workstyles to drive innovation among smaller organizations.

Here are some of the key findings:

• 68% of U.S. small business employees now use personal communications devices for work purposes - whether or not the business has a formal policy
• More than half of U.S. small businesses say they are more productive and efficient using their personal devices for work
• 43% agree or strongly agree that social collaboration tools and video conferencing make work meetings more productive
• 63% of U.S. small businesses say employees can be trusted to work as hard outside of the office as they do at the office

This infographic outlines all the key findings of the survey:

How is your small business measuring up to these results? Let us know in the comments section below.

Doing it Gangnam Style: Create Viral Content Successfully

Having a piece of content go viral is a dream for most marketers. It’s the ultimate reward because viral content, after all, means something was so popular that it snowballed into more shares, clicks, visibility, etc. and a few extra sales are bound to come from it all. Unfortunately, creating viral content isn’t easy.

When people think of the term “viral,” funny YouTube videos come to mind. Unless it makes sense for your company to create another Gangnam style video, this type of popularity seems out of reach for many.

While it is difficult to create viral content, it isn’t impossible. There are a few things marketers and content writers can do to work together and create something that has all the features of something that could go viral.

No matter what industry or what type of company you run, there are a few different steps you can take to help give your content a chance to go viral.

Step #1: Understand Your Audience and Why and Where They Share Content

Going viral is all about having your audience share your content, so it helps to know why they do. In general, people share content because it offers great information, but because it hits some sort of an emotional cord, whether that be confusion, humor, sadness, etc. (Step 3 below discusses this more in-depth and how to create content with these emotions in mind).

Follow the trends of your audience and in your industry by looking at your database, social accounts and even talking to customer service to determine where your industry is most likely to share content.

Step #2: Figure Out What You Want to Communicate Through Your Content

Before you sit down to write your content, you’re going to want to know exactly what you want to communicate to make sure that your vision doesn’t get lost as you throw in all the viral features. Make sure that your content is relevant and something you want representing your company.

If a piece of content goes viral, this could be what your company is “known for” in the future.

Step #3: Create Your Content With Certain “Triggers of Fascination” in Mind

Founder of My Web Presenters Neil Davidson explained on Kissmetrics that there are seven triggers of fascination for people:

• Passion/lust
• Alarm
• Mystique
• Power
• Prestige
• Rebellion
• Trust

People share what they are fascinated in and these are some of the things that get people fascinated. Try to have your content center around something that evokes one of these emotions and it will be more likely to go viral.

Step #4: Don’t Forget to Use Visuals as Much as Possible

This might be an obvious point, but it’s one worth mentioning because it is so important. Content that utilizes a lot of photos and videos has a better chance of going viral.

It is the headline and the photo that will catch the attention of readers first, so don’t expect a piece of content with one small picture to go viral.

Step #5: Look at Your Results and Try, Try Again

There is a chance that the first time you try to create viral content it isn’t going to work. In fact, that’s almost a certainty. It takes a long, long time to create a piece of viral content, so you always want to look at your results and try again. If you didn’t get as many social shares as you have in the past, evaluate what you did differently and try something else.

Creating viral content is all about experimenting.

It’s important to realize that even if your content doesn’t go viral, you’re at least writing content that has the features of something that could go viral. In other words, keep doing what you’re doing and you have a chance. After a while, utilizing some of the above tips should help your content gain a little bit more traction if nothing else, and that’s never a bad thing.

Have you produced content that’s gone viral and, if so, what did you do to make it happen?

Psy, Gangnam Style Photo via Shutterstock

Newly developed Mac malware from \'Operation Hangover\' to be presented next week

An attack infrastructure detected earlier this year used additional malware that targeted Mac OS X machines.

Researchers from Norman Shark, who revealed the advanced persistent threat (APT) infrastructure 'Operation Hangover' in May, will present at next week's Black Hat conference in Las Vegas on new Mac malware they found in the attacks.

According to Dark Reading, Jonathan Camp who, along with fellow Norman Shark researcher Snorre Fagerland headed up the research on Operation Hangover, said that the company found more Mac malware after publishing its reports.

Camp said that it was interesting to drill down into how the actors in the campaign were organised and who was responsible for which piece of code or spear phish.

“They were not just focused on one specific target and they have lots of different people working on various elements of the campaign��, he said.

In the original report, Norman Shark said that most malware it had seen was written for Windows, using either C++ or Visual Basic, but there was also similar malware written for Mac OS.

A week before the Operation Hangover report was released, anti-virus vendor F-Secure highlighted that Mac spyware had been detected at the Oslo Freedom Forum. Norman Shark said that its investigation of the sample and command and control domain allowed it to conclusively say that the forum attack was performed through the same attack infrastructure.

Newly developed Mac malware from \'Operation Hangover\' to be presented next week

An attack infrastructure detected earlier this year used additional malware that targeted Mac OS X machines.

Researchers from Norman Shark, who revealed the advanced persistent threat (APT) infrastructure 'Operation Hangover' in May, will present at next week's Black Hat conference in Las Vegas on new Mac malware they found in the attacks.

According to Dark Reading, Jonathan Camp who, along with fellow Norman Shark researcher Snorre Fagerland headed up the research on Operation Hangover, said that the company found more Mac malware after publishing its reports.

Camp said that it was interesting to drill down into how the actors in the campaign were organised and who was responsible for which piece of code or spear phish.

“They were not just focused on one specific target and they have lots of different people working on various elements of the campaign��, he said.

In the original report, Norman Shark said that most malware it had seen was written for Windows, using either C++ or Visual Basic, but there was also similar malware written for Mac OS.

A week before the Operation Hangover report was released, anti-virus vendor F-Secure highlighted that Mac spyware had been detected at the Oslo Freedom Forum. Norman Shark said that its investigation of the sample and command and control domain allowed it to conclusively say that the forum attack was performed through the same attack infrastructure.

Organisations have more than 50 versions of Java installed

Java still represents a significant security risk despite years of software updates.

According to a report from Bit9, Java is the endpoint technology most targeted by cyber attacks. Its analysis of approximately one million endpoints at hundreds of enterprises worldwide found that outdated versions of Java were being used.

Its survey discovered that some organisations had more than 50 versions of Java installed across all of its endpoints, and five per cent of those enterprises have more than 100 versions of Java installed. The average endpoint ran 1.6 versions of Java; Bit9 said that this was down to companies installing a new version and that will not always remove older versions of the software.

The most popular version of Java running on endpoints analysed by Bit9 is version 6 update 20, which is present on nine per cent of all systems and has 96 known vulnerabilities of the highest severity.

Harry Sverdlove, Bit9 chief technology officer, said: “For the past 15 years or so, IT administrators have been under the misperception that updating Java would address its security issues. They have been told that to improve security, they should continuously and aggressively deploy Java updates on all of their endpoints.

“Unfortunately, updating is not the same as upgrading. Until very recently, those updates have failed to deliver the promised security upgrade because they have not removed older, highly vulnerable versions of Java they were intended to replace. As a result, most organisations have multiple versions of Java on their endpoints, including some that were released at the same time as Windows 95.”

Similar research undertaken by Websense earlier this year found that 75 per cent of end-users are using a Java Runtime Environment release that is more than six months out of date, while almost two-thirds of users are a year behind and more than 50 per cent are two years behind.

It also found that two days after a critical patch update in April, fewer than two per cent of users had adopted Java SE Version 7 Update 21. Carl Leonard, senior security research manager, EMEA at Websense, told SC Magazine that this shows a continued pattern that even with best efforts businesses still struggle to apply patches in a timely fashion.

Sverdlove said that it was not surprising that most companies are unaware of all the versions of Java on their systems as most organisations have no idea what's running on their endpoints and servers as they lack visibility into those systems.

Oracle announced in June that it would begin to issue four annual security releases, as well as retain the ability to issue emergency ‘out of band' security fixes.

Privacy group files complaint over Jay-Z\'s Samsung app

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has made a formal complaint about the recently released Jay-Z Android app, saying it "collected massive amounts of personal information from users and required substantial user permissions".

The Brooklyn rapper released the app as a promotion for his new album and it was available to users of some Samsung devices.

However, EPIC said in its complaint that Samsung failed to disclose material information about the privacy practices of the app, collected data unnecessary to the functioning of the Magna Carta app, deprived users of meaningful choice regarding the collection of their data, interfered with device functionality and failed to implement reasonable data minimisation procedures.

As well as requiring users to register or sign in via their Twitter or Facebook account, the app collected numbers dialled, sensitive log data, mobile site and WiFi locations. The number of permissions requested was described as “verges on parody”. This included full network access, the ability to read phone status and identity and gathering email addresses and social media user names connected to the phone.

The version of the application that could be installed on a mobile device would gather information from the user's address book and contacts lists. The app was downloaded by more than 500,000 users.

EPIC alleged that in listing the permissions requested by the Jay-Z Magna Carta app, Samsung failed to disclose the purposes for which it collected users' information. This included Samsung not explaining why it collected users' approximate location, precise location, unique device identifiers, phone numbers and phone numbers called, application usage information, log files, and WiFi network and connected device identifiers and that users could not reasonably avoid the inadequate disclosures regarding the purposes for which their data was collected.

“The Magna Carta app served no useful purpose other than to capture user data, to control access to music downloads and to provide incremental access to lyrical content in exchange for access to social media accounts,” the complaint alleged.

The app was alleged as being likely to cause substantial injury to consumers as users could not switch off or opt out of any of these functions.

In a statement, Samsung said that it was aware of the complaint and called it “baseless”.

It said: “Samsung takes customer privacy and the protection of personal information very seriously. Any information obtained through the application download process was purely for customer verification purposes, app functionality purposes and for marketing communications, but only if the customer requests to receive those marketing communications.

“Our permissions are in line with other apps' standard permissions. Samsung is in no way inappropriately using or selling any information obtained from users through the download process.”

Why You Should Take Another Look At Corporate Blogging

Lost in the overall deluge of social media and other online tools is the lowly blog. But blogs are still one of the best ways for corporations to get their message delivered. And before you call me old school, consider that blogs are undergoing a bit of a renaissance as the linchpin of a communications strategy.

A longitudinal study of the Inc 500 for the past several years by Nora Barnes’ team at UMass/Dartmouth shows that blogging is on the rise, at least last fall when they did their most current survey . It showed that 44% of the Inc 500 are using blogs, compared to only 37% doing so the year before and 23% of the Fortune 500.

What this data says to me is that the smarter startups are returning to blogging, especially if they can complement blogs with other tools to shape their message. This is what I have been doing for many years, and if you are still reading, you probably agree with me. Indeed, my own methods have worked where I complement my blog with email newsletters, Twitter, Facebook and RSS pointers to this content.

When people ask me when did I begin blogging, my answer is lot like what Bob Metcalfe says when people ask him when he invented Ethernet. Do you want the date when I first started using WordPress to publish my posts (January 2006), or when I first began my Web Informant series of essays that I published via email and the Web (September 1995)? Either way, I have been at this awhile.

Blogs are great ways for corporations to become their own publishers and buy e-ink by the barrel. The blogging software has gotten easier to use and more powerful. However, a lot of what makes for a great blog has nothing to do with technology and is more of a mindset and about proper workflow and building the right team. Think of it as putting together all the pieces of a great publication: you need sales, compelling content that is updated regularly, good editorial management, attractive art â€" and did I mention readers?

But really, what is at the heart of a great corporate blog is being able to tell a great series of stories. In the past year I have had the opportunity to attend a variety of conferences and be the blogger-on-the-ground. Here is one series.

It is great fun, but also a lot of work. I have seen how different companies have worked with me and how they have approached their blogs first hand. Here are some things that I have learned over the years.

First, not all stories have happy endings. Don’t force the situation, and readers like learning from your mistakes and failures as much as your successes. If every story is about some big customer win, the blog will be boring and not going to have any credibility.

Second, you need more than one voice. Mix things up a bit and involve multiple writers otherwise it gets tiresome. While some of the best blogs are from a single POV, the corporate blog needs to be inclusive.

Next, have a solid workflow setup before you bring your team to cover an event.How are the stories going to get written? Who is providing the pictures or video recordings? Is someone going to do a copy edit (I know, a luxury now)?Workflows can mean the difference between content that is posted error-free and within moments after the event happens, and content that is a mess and takes days or weeks to straighten out.

Speaking of which, try to be in the moment. This is the Internet people. Don’t post a story weeks after something happened. The power of immediacy is compelling in and of itself.

Next, make sure you combine the blogging software (and most of us now use WordPress, but there are others) with complementary tools. For example, I like to use email newsletters as a way to bring in a core audience. If your company still doesn’t do this, now is the time to get on board. And there are better story-oriented tools such as Storify (here is one collection for the posts that I did for the Mendix conference last year ).

Finally, feel free to experiment. Bring in some oddball ideas. Have a roving photographer; ask your customers or competitors to contribute, post a longer piece with some thoughtful analysis.

Why You Should Take Another Look At Corporate Blogging

Lost in the overall deluge of social media and other online tools is the lowly blog. But blogs are still one of the best ways for corporations to get their message delivered. And before you call me old school, consider that blogs are undergoing a bit of a renaissance as the linchpin of a communications strategy.

A longitudinal study of the Inc 500 for the past several years by Nora Barnes’ team at UMass/Dartmouth shows that blogging is on the rise, at least last fall when they did their most current survey . It showed that 44% of the Inc 500 are using blogs, compared to only 37% doing so the year before and 23% of the Fortune 500.

What this data says to me is that the smarter startups are returning to blogging, especially if they can complement blogs with other tools to shape their message. This is what I have been doing for many years, and if you are still reading, you probably agree with me. Indeed, my own methods have worked where I complement my blog with email newsletters, Twitter, Facebook and RSS pointers to this content.

When people ask me when did I begin blogging, my answer is lot like what Bob Metcalfe says when people ask him when he invented Ethernet. Do you want the date when I first started using WordPress to publish my posts (January 2006), or when I first began my Web Informant series of essays that I published via email and the Web (September 1995)? Either way, I have been at this awhile.

Blogs are great ways for corporations to become their own publishers and buy e-ink by the barrel. The blogging software has gotten easier to use and more powerful. However, a lot of what makes for a great blog has nothing to do with technology and is more of a mindset and about proper workflow and building the right team. Think of it as putting together all the pieces of a great publication: you need sales, compelling content that is updated regularly, good editorial management, attractive art â€" and did I mention readers?

But really, what is at the heart of a great corporate blog is being able to tell a great series of stories. In the past year I have had the opportunity to attend a variety of conferences and be the blogger-on-the-ground. Here is one series.

It is great fun, but also a lot of work. I have seen how different companies have worked with me and how they have approached their blogs first hand. Here are some things that I have learned over the years.

First, not all stories have happy endings. Don’t force the situation, and readers like learning from your mistakes and failures as much as your successes. If every story is about some big customer win, the blog will be boring and not going to have any credibility.

Second, you need more than one voice. Mix things up a bit and involve multiple writers otherwise it gets tiresome. While some of the best blogs are from a single POV, the corporate blog needs to be inclusive.

Next, have a solid workflow setup before you bring your team to cover an event.How are the stories going to get written? Who is providing the pictures or video recordings? Is someone going to do a copy edit (I know, a luxury now)?Workflows can mean the difference between content that is posted error-free and within moments after the event happens, and content that is a mess and takes days or weeks to straighten out.

Speaking of which, try to be in the moment. This is the Internet people. Don’t post a story weeks after something happened. The power of immediacy is compelling in and of itself.

Next, make sure you combine the blogging software (and most of us now use WordPress, but there are others) with complementary tools. For example, I like to use email newsletters as a way to bring in a core audience. If your company still doesn’t do this, now is the time to get on board. And there are better story-oriented tools such as Storify (here is one collection for the posts that I did for the Mendix conference last year ).

Finally, feel free to experiment. Bring in some oddball ideas. Have a roving photographer; ask your customers or competitors to contribute, post a longer piece with some thoughtful analysis.

Microsoft profit falls short of expectations

Microsoft Corp's foray into the tablet computer market resulted in a large write-down for the April-June quarter, and a poor reception for Windows 8 contributed to a drop in operating system software revenue.

The missteps in both strategic product lines, reported in quarterly results Thursday, disappointed Wall Street and shares plunged 6 percent to $33.30 in after-hours trading.

The write-down on the Surface RT tablet amounted to $900 million. Even without it, Microsoft's results would have fallen short of expectations.

The results came a week after the company announced a major reorganization to help transform into a "devices and services" company that is less reliant on providing software for personal computers. The earnings miss raised new questions as to whether the transition will succeed.

"It doesn't inspire a lot of confidence," said Nomura Securities analyst Rick Sherlund. "You're in the hardware business now, and pretty shortly after e ntering it you have a pretty big write down. That's embarrassing."

Both Windows 8 and the Surface tablet represent Microsoft's big bets on the tablet computer market as PC sales continue to decline. Acknowledging the company's difficulties with the change, Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood told investors on a conference call that "this journey will take time."

"We know we have to do better," she said. "We are confident we are moving in the right direction."

Microsoft cut the price of Surface RT from $499 to $349 on Sunday, a move designed to spur sales amid sluggish demand.

Microsoft began selling Surface tablets in October. The company shipped about a million tablets in the first three months of 2013, according to research firm IDC. That includes about 260,000 of the slimmed-down RT version and 750,000 of the Pro version of Surface, which is compatible with older Windows programs.

Research firm IDC says Microsoft shipped about a million tablets in the first quarter of 2013, for a meager 2 percent share of the market. Apple Inc. remained the leader with 39.1 percent and was followed by Samsung Electronics Co., AsusTek Computer Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Acer Inc.

Microsoft also saw revenue from its flagship Windows operating system decline 6 percent in the recent quarter after excluding the late recognition of revenue from last year, when it offered discounted upgrades to users of older versions of Windows.

Consumers haven't responded well to Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows 8, and the results reflect the poor reception. Analysts believe the new operating system is contributing to the longest slump in personal computer sales.

Revenue and profitability improved in Microsoft's other lines of business, including enterprise software, servers and tools, the Xbox video game division and the Bing search unit, but those results also fell short of analysts' forecasts.

Ne t income in the April-June quarter came to $4.97 billion, or 59 cents per share, reversing a loss of $492 million a year ago when it wrote down almost the entire value of its 2007 purchase of online ad service aQuantive.

Excluding the Surface charge, earnings were 66 cents per share, short of the 75 cents per share expected by analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue grew 10 percent to $19.90 billion, also below the $20.72 million expected.

Google stumbles on slump in ad rates

Google views the computing shift to smartphones and tablets as a golden opportunity, but the Internet search leader's second-quarter performance served as an unsettling reminder that it poses a nagging financial challenge, too.

The report released Thursday showed Google's average ad rate fell from the previous year for the seventh consecutive quarter. In an unexpected turn, the decline deepened for the first time in a year.

The average ad rate, or "cost per click," fell 6 percent during the three months ending in June. The magnitude of the declines had eased in each of the previous three quarters, raising hopes that the worse was over. Instead, things deteriorated from the 4 percent decline in ad rates during the first three months of the year.

The regression undercut earnings and revenue. Both fell below analyst forecasts, spooking some investors. Google's shares fell $34.68, or nearly 4 percent, to $876 in extended trading after the results came out.

Other unwelcomed developments also loomed over the quarter.

Excluding the costs of stock given to employees, Google's operating expenses climbed 27 percent from last year to $4.25 billion. That increase renewed concerns that Google is pouring too much money on far-flung projects, such as the development of driverless cars and balloons equipped with Internet-beaming antennas, instead of focusing on its main business of Internet search and advertising.

Motorola Mobility, a slumping cellphone maker that Google bought for $12.4 billion 14 months ago, also remains a headache. The subsidiary lost $342 million in the latest quarter, widening from $199 million when Google owned Motorola for only part of the reporting period. Motorola now has lost a total of $1.7 billion under Google's ownership, despite layoffs and divestitures that have whittled Motorola's workforce to 4,600 people, down from 20,300 at the same time last year.

Although he wouldn't fore cast when Motorola might start making money, Google CEO Larry Page told analysts on a Thursday conference call that he was excited about the upcoming release of a new phone called Moto X. Page provided no further details about the phone, which he and other Google employees have been testing.

Mobile ads, though, were the biggest issue on investors' minds.

Although the problem isn't as severe as at other companies, including computer makers such as Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co., Google is still having trouble navigating a technological transition driving more online activity on to smartphones and tablets. Those devices pose a financial challenge for Google Inc. because their smaller screen sizes fetch lower ad rates than the marketing pitches made on traditional desktop and laptop computers.

Google is in a far better position to prosper from mobile computing because it makes Android, the most widely used operating system on smartphones. The software al so is gaining traction on tablets challenging Apple's pace-setting iPad. Google is expected to unveil the next generation of its Nexus tablets running on Android next week.

Android typically features Google's search engine and other services, such as maps and Gmail, giving the Mountain View, California, company more opportunities to show ads.

Now, Google is taking steps to persuade advertisers to pay higher prices to connect with consumers on mobile devices at times when they appear to be mulling a purchase or may be in a merchant's neighborhood.

Google is trying to drive up prices more quickly by changing the way it sells ads to prod more marketers into buying spots on mobile devices at the same time they plan campaigns aimed at PCs. About 6 million advertisers have already switched to Google's new pricing system. All marketers will be forced to adopt the new approach, known as "enhanced campaigns," by the end of the month.

In Thursday's conferen ce call, Page described the switch to enhanced campaigns as the biggest change that Google has ever made to an online advertising platform launched more than a decade ago.

"I think we're still in the very, very early stages of that," Page said. "We changed a tremendous amount for how our teams operate, how our advertisers operate, how everyone buys those ads, what the users see, and we've done it pretty well."

Google earned $3.2 billion, or $9.54 per share, up 16 percent from $2.8 billion, or $8.42 per share, a year earlier.

If not for the costs of employee stock compensation and charges tied to Motorola, Google said it would have earned $9.56 per share. That missed the average target of $10.80 per share among analysts surveyed by FactSet.

Revenue rose 19 percent to $14.1 billion, from $11.8 billion.

After subtracting Google's ad commissions, revenue stood at $11.1 billion about $275 million below analyst projections.

The 5 Essential Elements of an Optimized and Useful LinkedIn Profile

If you're in business, chances are you're on LinkedIn, which celebrated its tenth anniversary in May, 2013, and now has over 225 members worldwide. Known as the most “business-y” of social media sites, LinkedIn is considered a critical place to connect with others in business. And while it's likely that you already have a LinkedIn Profile, it's unlikely that it's optimized to provide the best business opportunities for you.

An important reason to review your profile now is the fact that, in late 2012, LinkedIn began rolling out new features and functionality within LinkedIn Profiles.

1. A Complete Profile

The good news is that completing your profile isn't just busy work. It's actually the ONLY way you will be able to be found effectively within LinkedIn. That's because the LinkedIn search algorithm first looks for 100% completed profiles.  If yours is not complete, you will probably end up at the bottom of search rankings.

In addition, a completed LinkedIn Profile means that someone searching for you on Google will almost always find your LinkedIn Profile near the top of the first page. Google loves LinkedIn and LinkedIn ranks higher on Google than all other social media profiles, according to a study by Brand Yourself, in an article on Mashable.

All-Star Status

Your goal should be to reach “All-Star” Status or a 100% completed Profile. Your status will show on the right-hand side of your profile:

Although the graphic shows a circle not entirely filled out, in actuality, it means that your profile is complete.

Here is a list of areas that must be filled in to reach All-Star status:

1. Your industry and location
2. Your current position (with a description)
3. Two past positions
4. Your education
5. Your skills (minimum of 3)
6. A profile photo
7. At least 50 connections

2. A Headline with a Call to Action

A great headline is like the subject line of an email.  You need an amazing subject line to hook people in enough to read the rest of the message.

The headline is the first line of text people see in a search and it's the first thing they see when they get to your profile page.   Oh, and by the way, one of the new LinkedIn profile features rolled out in late 2012 is increased text size in the headline area.

What Makes a Great Headline

Let's start with what doesn't make a great headline:  Your company name and title.

Start by considering that there are only 120 characters available in your Linked profile headline.  That means you'll need to great creative.

Here are some tips:

• Keywords count in headlines (see item #4, below), so include them when appropriate.
• Use words that will appeal to your ideal clients.
• Include a free call-to-action (consult, newsletter, seminar, report).

Here is a headline example:

Don't be afraid to change and test different headlines to see which ones generate the best activity for you.

3. Professional Photo

Did you know that a LinkedIn Profile with a professional headshot is 7 times more likely to be viewed than a profile without one?

Plus, a profile photo is required in order to obtain 100% LinkedIn profile completeness. To further emphasize its importance, one of the new features rolled out in the late 2012 profile functionality is an enlarged, more prominent area for your photo.

The current specs are as follows:

• You can upload JPG, GIF or PNG files.
• File size â€" 4MB maximum.
• Pixel size: 200 x 200 minimum and 500 x 500 maximum.
• Your photo should be square

4. Keywords in Certain Sections of Your Profile

The last thing you want to do to your profile is make it annoying to viewers by keyword stuffing. That said, the strategic use of keywords in your LinkedIn profile is important.

It's important to know that LinkedIn's search algorithm values keywords in certain sections more than others. Those sections include:

• Headline
• Summary
• Current work experience
• Past work experience
• Skills & expertise

Here's how it works in real life:

I went into a client's account and did a search for “Small Business P.R.” At the moment I'm not using the term “Small Business P.R.” in my headline, but I still showed up on the first page of my client's search because those words are included in some of the other five sections.

Here's what showed up on my client's screen:

In addition to keywords, the LinkedIn search algorithm looks at profile completeness, connections in common, level of connection (1st and 2nd degree and groups show up before 3rd) and groups in common.

5. Terrific Recommendations

We tend to give more credibility to a third party saying something is great than to a person or business saying that he/she or the business is great.  That's why recommendations on LinkedIn are so important.

When it comes to LinkedIn recommendations, you know the old adage: It's better to give than to receive.

In addition to all the great karma and solidifying the relationship benefits you get from giving them, it's always easier to get a recommendation from someone after you've given one.

Here are some general tips on giving great recommendations on LinkedIn:  

1. Short and sweet is fine.  A couple of lines are great.  People have shorter attention spans today.
2. Include specifics that quantify the results the person helped you achieve:  10 media placements that led to an additional $20,000 in sales; saved our company $1,000 per month; installed a process that saved 10 hours a week in time.
3. Don't forget the sizzle (and sometimes the sizzle trumps specific results). Which is more impactful:

“Margie is great at what she does” or this:

The bottom line:  If you're interested in maximizing your relationships and business opportunities, make these updates to your LinkedIn profile today.

Image: LinkedIn

Microsoft Drops Price of Surface RT Tablet Amid Disappointing Earnings

 

Microsoft yesterday announced disappointing earnings.  The software giant took a charge of $900 Million on its Surface RT tablets, and announced it would offer a $150 per tablet discount.

So if you're in the market for a tablet, you can now get $150 off the price.  

Before the price drop the Surface RT cost $499. The 32 GB version (without the keyboard touch cover)  is now being advertised around the Web at $349. For instance, Staples and the Official Microsoft Store have it at the $349 sale price.

Amy Hood, Microsoft's Chief Financial Officer, said Microsoft hopes the $150 discount will make the tablets more attractive to consumers and “accelerate RT adoption.”

The price drop does not affect the higher-end Surface Pro tablet, which starts at around $900.

The Surface RT runs the RT version of the Windows operating system, while the Surface Pro tablet runs the full Windows 8 operating system.  Windows RT differs in a number of ways from regular Windows 8.  The main thing to keep in mind is that it's more limited. Software that works on earlier Windows versions won't work on Windows RT.  

That means, the Surface RT won't be quite as useful to business users who may require a tablet capable of being a desktop or laptop substitute.

For business users, the Surface Pro offers more functionality.  With the snap-on keyboard the Pro tablet can truly substitute for a larger computer.

Still, at a price just under $350, the Surface RT is competitively priced with other tablets of similar size. So if you aren't too worried about using a lot of software programs on a tablet - and mainly want it for email, social networking and Web browsing - the discounted surface RT could be a good bet.

Microsoft has unsold inventory of Surface RT tablets that it needs to move.  VentureBeat writes, “While it's easy to view this as Microsoft losing faith in the Surface RT, the price reduction is also a necessary step to clear out stock and make room for newer models. At its Worldwide Partner Conference this week, Microsoft noted that Surface upgrades are on the way this year….”

But don't hold your breath waiting for discounts on the Surface Pro.  BusinessInsider quotes a Microsoft representative as saying Microsoft doesn't have the same backed-up inventory with the Pro tablet.

Sales Are Flying High

Just when you think you can't do another sales graph cartoon, one pops up and proves you wrong.

This one came to me while I was doodling during a phone call. I drew a kite flying in the sky, then the line curving down and then it hit me. Throw in an X and Y axis and that's a sales graph!

The caption took another day or two, but I was so excited with the initial idea that I knew something good would come.

Tech Thursday (7/18): News From Weebly, Sam\'s Club, PageWoo and MailChimp

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

 

 

 

 

The All New Weebly Has Arrived!

Weebly updates features to enhance the user experience.

Weebly, a DIY website creator, has recently made enhancements to it's offering, based on insights they gained from their customers, to create a nuique, high-quality site that meets it's users needs.

Changes to the site include:

The All New Site Creator: Weebly completely rebuilt their Site Creator from the ground up to give you a more modern, powerful and intuitive way to create and update your site. Many improvements were made both to the design and the user interface, but at the core, it's the same Weebly you know and love.

The Mobile Editor: Now you can see how your mobile site looks on iPhone and Android, choose a unique mobile theme and edit your mobile site directly from your computer. Whether you make updates to your main site or to your mobile site, they make sure both sites are always in sync.

The Site Planner: Get ideas and inspiration to help you create a high-quality site or even to have fun refreshing your current one. Site Planner shows you how to organize your information, layout your pages, choose your site address and grow your traffic. And, best of all, it can be easily accessed at anytime while you are working on your site.

You can try the all new Weebly by visiting their website here.

 

Sam's Club Launches 25-City Small Business “Boot Camp” Series

 

CEO Rosalind Brewer announces community small business commitment at annual Shareholders' Meeting

 

Sam's Club CEO Rosalind Brewer announced the launch of a collaborative program supporting small business owners and entrepreneurs in 25 cities â€" the Grow Your Business Boot Camp series. The hands-on training seminars are backed by a funding commitment of $500,000 from Sam's Club.

The Boot Camp series allows local Sam's Club leaders to collaborate with community non-profits and organizations to provide small business training seminars. These regional collaborations will empower local business owners-including those owned by women, minorities and veterans-to learn new skills and ideas that can help their businesses thrive.

“I'm excited to kick off our Small Business Boot Camp in 25 markets across the country,” announced Sam's Club CEO Rosalind Brewer at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.'s 2013 Shareholder's meeting. “Associates [can] provide small business owners with valuable training and give these businesses the support to really succeed. [Together we are] making a difference community by community.”

You can read more about the “Boot Camp” series here.

 

PageWoo Offers New Mobile Advertising Solution with Launch of NearWoo for Small Businesses to Target and Acquire New Customers

 

NearWoo Enables Business Owner To Target Defined Locations With Hyper-Relevant, Dynamic Mobile Ads

 

PageWoo, a mobile advertising solution provider, today launched NearWoo, the only local solution for identifying, targeting and acquiring new customers with the power of mobile advertising. NearWoo layers consumer psychographics on top of big data solutions that uses hyper-local, geofences and big data to efficiently target interested consumers with personalized or custom ads and messages. 

“It's hard to make money with local commerce because it's difficult to get to scale. By launching NearWoo, we helped solve an extremely complicated problem with an engineered solution that combined a lot of pieces of one puzzle to make it appealing to big brands and smaller companies.” says Jason Crilly, Founder & CEO of PageWoo. “Mobile advertising doesn't work without location. Location is the new cookie in mobile ads and PageWoo is currently seeing the pay off upward of 50% growth since we've launched.”

NearWoo is one of the easiest and ubiquitous tools on the market that gives you all the necessities to create and deliver the ads you want. PageWoo gives users access to simple web apps to create content, target an audience and view campaign results. In addition, the easy-to use platform allows businesses the option to choose how much they want to spend based on how far they want their message to travel. Prices range from free to $500/month respectively. The free option lets any business owner try NearWoo by advertising to their own neighborhood for free by going to http://nearwoo.com/sampler?code=standard There are also advanced targeting options for the more sophisticated advertiser or brand looking to target demographics within a given area.

You can see more about PageWoo's new mobile offering here.

 

Have You Seen The All New MailChimp?

 

MailChimp introduces a new and improved version of their e-mail marketing program.

 

MailChimp has a motto that hands on their wall: Listen Hard, Change Fast.  They've been listening and have spent countless hours visiting their customers, learning about how they work, and have used that research to create a new and improved version of MailChimp. The new version is more efficien, more flexible and makes for a more collaborative experience.

Here what you'll find in the new MailChimp:

Responsive Design - They've introduced a responsive design that's been optimized for tablets, so you can get your work done from wherever you are.

Simplified Navigation and Subscriber Profiles - Account notifications are now displayed in the navigation, so you won't miss out on any important info about your campaigns. Switch to Pro mode to simplify the layout, or collapse and expand menus on the iPhone to create more space when you need it. Search for subscriber details, campaigns, lists, and reports from anywhere in the app. We also made some big improvements to the layout and functionality of subscriber profiles. You can scroll horizontally to reveal all your fields and hide columns you don't need to see, leaving more room for the content that matters.

Comments Inside the Editor - We talked to a lot of our customers and learned that for most of you, email newsletters are a group effort. New MailChimp makes it easier for teams to collaborate. You can exchange feedback right inside the editor, view comments in real time, and respond whenever you're ready.

You can check out the new MailChimp by visiting their website here.

 

Why You Should Take Another Look At Corporate Blogging

Lost in the overall deluge of social media and other online tools is the lowly blog. But blogs are still one of the best ways for corporations to get their message delivered. And before you call me old school, consider that blogs are undergoing a bit of a renaissance as the linchpin of a communications strategy.

A longitudinal study of the Inc 500 for the past several years by Nora Barnes' team at UMass/Dartmouth shows that blogging is on the rise, at least last fall when they did their most current survey . It showed that 44% of the Inc 500 are using blogs, compared to only 37% doing so the year before and 23% of the Fortune 500.

What this data says to me is that the smarter startups are returning to blogging, especially if they can complement blogs with other tools to shape their message. This is what I have been doing for many years, and if you are still reading, you probably agree with me. Indeed, my own methods have worked where I complement my blog with email newsletters, Twitter, Facebook and RSS pointers to this content.

When people ask me when did I begin blogging, my answer is lot like what Bob Metcalfe says when people ask him when he invented Ethernet. Do you want the date when I first started using WordPress to publish my posts (January 2006), or when I first began my Web Informant series of essays that I published via email and the Web (September 1995)? Either way, I have been at this awhile.

Blogs are great ways for corporations to become their own publishers and buy e-ink by the barrel. The blogging software has gotten easier to use and more powerful. However, a lot of what makes for a great blog has nothing to do with technology and is more of a mindset and about proper workflow and building the right team. Think of it as putting together all the pieces of a great publication: you need sales, compelling content that is updated regularly, good editorial management, attractive art - and did I mention readers?

But really, what is at the heart of a great corporate blog is being able to tell a great series of stories. In the past year I have had the opportunity to attend a variety of conferences and be the blogger-on-the-ground. Here is one series.

It is great fun, but also a lot of work. I have seen how different companies have worked with me and how they have approached their blogs first hand. Here are some things that I have learned over the years.

First, not all stories have happy endings. Don't force the situation, and readers like learning from your mistakes and failures as much as your successes. If every story is about some big customer win, the blog will be boring and not going to have any credibility.

Second, you need more than one voice. Mix things up a bit and involve multiple writers otherwise it gets tiresome. While some of the best blogs are from a single POV, the corporate blog needs to be inclusive.

Next, have a solid workflow setup before you bring your team to cover an event.How are the stories going to get written? Who is providing the pictures or video recordings? Is someone going to do a copy edit (I know, a luxury now)?Workflows can mean the difference between content that is posted error-free and within moments after the event happens, and content that is a mess and takes days or weeks to straighten out.

Speaking of which, try to be in the moment. This is the Internet people. Don't post a story weeks after something happened. The power of immediacy is compelling in and of itself.

Next, make sure you combine the blogging software (and most of us now use WordPress, but there are others) with complementary tools. For example, I like to use email newsletters as a way to bring in a core audience. If your company still doesn't do this, now is the time to get on board. And there are better story-oriented tools such as Storify (here is one collection for the posts that I did for the Mendix conference last year ).

Finally, feel free to experiment. Bring in some oddball ideas. Have a roving photographer; ask your customers or competitors to contribute, post a longer piece with some thoughtful analysis.

 

Sales Are Flying High

Just when you think you can’t do another sales graph cartoon, one pops up and proves you wrong.

This one came to me while I was doodling during a phone call. I drew a kite flying in the sky, then the line curving down and then it hit me. Throw in an X and Y axis and that’s a sales graph!

The caption took another day or two, but I was so excited with the initial idea that I knew something good would come.

Sales Are Flying High

Just when you think you can’t do another sales graph cartoon, one pops up and proves you wrong.

This one came to me while I was doodling during a phone call. I drew a kite flying in the sky, then the line curving down and then it hit me. Throw in an X and Y axis and that’s a sales graph!

The caption took another day or two, but I was so excited with the initial idea that I knew something good would come.

Google Glass flaw would have allowed third party control

Attackers could have taken full remote control of Google Glass via a now patched vulnerability.

The attack would require a Glass user to scan a QR code that would force them onto an attacker-controlled wireless network. It may also have given an attacker a first person view of the wearer of the glasses

Lookout Mobile researchers reported the flaw to Google on 15th May and it was patched on the 4th June for the 10,000 users of Glass.

Google limited QR code execution points where the user has solicited it, Lookout researcher Marc Rogers said. The fast response from Google, Rogers said, set a "benchmark for how connected things should be secured going forward".

In Rogers' scenario demonstration video, a victim scanned a QR code at a bus stop and was pushed onto a network that was broadcast from an attacker's WiFi Pineapple.

The attacker was pushed to a custom page containing a known Android 4.0.4 web vulnerability to Glass allowing for remote control over the internet.

"When photographed by an unsuspecting Glass user, the code forced Glass to connect silently to a hostile WiFi access point that we controlled. That access point in turn allowed us to spy on the connections Glass made, from web requests to images uploaded to the cloud," Rogers said.

"Both the vulnerability and its method of delivery are unique to Glass as a consequence of it becoming a connected thing."

Risk assessment and workflow improvement in new version of Stream

Acuity has released the third version of its Stream risk manager software.

According to the company, features include an unlimited enterprise tree structure for organising risk registers and reporting views, as well as improved workflow to support planning and control of risk assessment and acceptance activities. Also contained within this release are multiple risk assessment schemes, a flexible hierarchical asset management capability and a simplified menu structure based on risks, controls, events and actions.

Acuity is offering a free single-user licence, along with a series of single-user and multi-user subscriber editions.

Simon Marvell, partner at Acuity Risk Management, said: “Risk management is a core competence for any public or private sector organisation. Stream is designed to support individual risk and compliance applications such as information security, supply chain risk management, health and safety and environmental management, as well as provide a holistic multi-application enterprise risk management solution.

“Organisations that rely on manual processes and spreadsheets can migrate these time consuming risk and compliance processes into Stream and also interface with third party solutions to maximise return on investment.”

Microsoft Drops Price of Surface RT Tablet Amid Disappointing Earnings

 

Microsoft yesterday announced disappointing earnings.  The software giant took a charge of $900 Million on its Surface RT tablets, and announced it would offer a $150 per tablet discount.

So if you’re in the market for a tablet, you can now get $150 off the price.  

Before the price drop the Surface RT cost $499. The 32 GB version (without the keyboard touch cover)  is now being advertised around the Web at $349. For instance, Staples and the Official Microsoft Store have it at the $349 sale price.

Amy Hood, Microsoft’s Chief Financial Officer, said Microsoft hopes the $150 discount will make the tablets more attractive to consumers and “accelerate RT adoption.”

The price drop does not affect the higher-end Surface Pro tablet, which starts at around $900.

The Surface RT runs the RT version of the Windows operating system, while the Surface Pro tablet runs the full Windows 8 operating system.  Windows RT differs in a number of ways from regular Windows 8.  The main thing to keep in mind is that it’s more limited. Software that works on earlier Windows versions won’t work on Windows RT.  

That means, the Surface RT won’t be quite as useful to business users who may require a tablet capable of being a desktop or laptop substitute.

For business users, the Surface Pro offers more functionality.  With the snap-on keyboard the Pro tablet can truly substitute for a larger computer.

Still, at a price just under $350, the Surface RT is competitively priced with other tablets of similar size. So if you aren’t too worried about using a lot of software programs on a tablet â€" and mainly want it for email, social networking and Web browsing â€" the discounted surface RT could be a good bet.

Microsoft has unsold inventory of Surface RT tablets that it needs to move.  VentureBeat writes, “While it’s easy to view this as Microsoft losing faith in the Surface RT, the price reduction is also a necessary step to clear out stock and make room for newer models. At its Worldwide Partner Conference this week, Microsoft noted that Surface upgrades are on the way this year….”

But don’t hold your breath waiting for discounts on the Surface Pro.  BusinessInsider quotes a Microsoft representative as saying Microsoft doesn’t have the same backed-up inventory with the Pro tablet.