Facebook Opens Embedded Posts to All Websites

facebook embedded posts

If you regularly embed Twitter posts to your blog or website to highlight a customer comment or for any number of reason, now you can do the same with Facebook.

Introducing the continued roll out of Facebook embedded posts on the official Facebook developers blog, Facebook software engineer Dave Capra explained on Wednesday:

We introduced Embedded Posts in July to make it easy for publishers to add any public post from Facebook to their blog or web site. Today, we’re

Read More

The post Facebook Opens Embedded Posts to All Websites appeared first on Small Business Trends.



72 Percent of Twitter Followers Are More Likely to Buy From You

You’ve probably used Twitter as a professional networking and marketing tool. But you may wonder whether Twitter actually leads to more sales.

It turns out a recent survey by Market Probe International answers that question.

Conducted on behalf of Twitter, the research firm surveyed 500 people over the age of 18 in the US and the UK who regularly follow small to medium sized businesses on Twitter. 

Results were published on the official Twitter advertising blog today.

The upshot of Read More

The post 72 Percent of Twitter Followers Are More Likely to Buy From You appeared first on Small Business Trends.



Why Auckland for NZ Silicon Valley?

Should New Zealand tech companies band together and create a mini Silicon Valley?

This is a suggestion made by Manas Kumar, chief executive of Auckland-based software company Optimizer HQ, in a recent New Zealand Herald article.

Kumar called on like-minded businesses to develop a Kiwi 'Silicon Valley' in central Auckland to act as a hub to give companies access to better infrastructure and to boost collaboration.

While I share Kumar's opinion that such a hub can deliver great outcomes for the industry as a whole, I do question if Auckland should be New Zealand's Silicon Valley.

In the first instance, why create a Silicon Valley in Auckland, when there's already one in Wellington?

Just this month Forbes Magazine wrote of Wellington's uniqe entrepreneurial spirit, adding it's a bit like a miniature San Francisco with a landscape and creative buzz to match.

With a number of tech firms setting up base here, including ourselves at Psoda and of course Xero, you could argue Wellington has been New Zealand's answer to Silicon Valley since 2006.

And that Auckland is just starting to catch up!

On a more serious note however, I believe instead of each major centre pushing to be New Zealand's version of Silicon Valley, we should join forces and a develop a combined approach to develop the whole country into a Silicon Valley.

The land of the long white silicon cloud, if you like.

Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch each lobbying against the others to be the centre of all tech innovation in New Zealand is just not productive in my view.

New Zealand's population is only about the size of a small US city, so does it make sense for our tech companies to operate mostly in isolation and just do their own thing?

Shouldn't we pool our resources, energy and focus into a national effort?

So what would it take to make a prope Kiwi Silicon Valley happen?

What information or support can we as a collective provide to help new businesses grow? How do we match up established companies that can give mentoring and advice, with those start-ups that need it most?

What is needed is to bring together the key elements that would make a Silicon Valley model work. These are:

- The start-ups
- The more mature 'stay-ups'
- The established tech firms
- Investors - both angel investors and venture capitalists.

Creating a joined-up, nationwide community made up of these groups will enable them to communicate, share ideas, and learn lessons from each other.

New Zealand has a good mix of companies that have already broken through that start-up phase. Creating a hub where businesses at different stages in their development can share their experiences can be of great benefits to smaller companies looking to make the step to that next level in their growth.

Start-ups from across New Zealand ! could also develop a coordinated approach to attract the right kind of investment, while investors would know where to look to find their next ideal investment opportunity.

Smaller businesses could also tackle new overseas markets together by sending joint representatives over as opposed to each company going it alone.

Having separate Silicon Valley-inspired groups in each major city or town would create pockets of activities taking place in isolation, where lessons and experiences are not easily transferred to the wider New Zealand tech community.

And for many start-ups, the person with right advice may be from another city, so may not be found at their local downtown Silicon Valley-type hub.

Of course being geographically dispersed will be a barrier to developing a nationwide start-up community. But as ultrafast broadband arrives at more doorsteps across the country, better communication links will become available to help overcome this.

Plus, as a nation of travellers, nce these connections are established, our airports lounges could even become the hubs where people bump into each and share ideas on building that long white silicon cloud...

Bruce Aylward is chief executive of Psoda - a Wellington-based provider of online modules that help professionals manage programmes, projects, requirements, testing and product development.

By Bruce Aylward

Interview: 4 Reasons Why Video Marketing Can Bring More Sales - Interview With Animoto’s CEO Brad Jefferson

Video is very important for businesses to consider using to drive more sales and build more customer loyalty.

Watch this discussion with Animoto CEO Brad Jefferson as he shares why video is so important for your business.

Animoto is an easy to use online service which takes your video and photo, adds music and delivers a professional crafted video for you. Check it our here or below.



NYC Events (8/27 & 8/28): So You Have A Website…Now What? and How To Get Free Publicity For Your Business

There are two great NYC events coming up next week, both designed to help you GROW your small business!

On August 27th, join Ramon Ray (Infusionsoft and Smallbiztechnology.com) and Jeremy Schwartz (Squarespace) for ‘So You Have a Website…Now What?‘

Date: Tuesday, August 27th

Time: 9am to 11am

Place: CUNY Graduate Center, 365 5th Ave - NY, NY

Building your business website was a great first step towards developing an effective (and money-making) online presence but the work didn’t end when it went live. In this talk we’ll give you clear and actionable advice on how to improve your search engine rankings, develop interesting blog post topics, determine whether you’ve got the right features and more. You’ll learn 10 simple upgrades that you can make to your website that will have you making more money for your business!!

There are a very limited amount of complimentary tickets left. Use code RRVIP when entering a general registration. Early bird registration ends tomorrow…so don’t wait!

Then, on August 28th it’s all about ‘How To Get Free Publicity For Your Business Through Media Coverage‘! Ramon Ray (Infusionsoft and Smallbiztechnology) is going to share his inside secrets (that’s right….from a journalists perspective) on how you can get FREE publicity for your business!

Date: Wednesday, August 28th

Time: 11:30 am to 1 pm

Place: Regus Office Suites, 112 West 34th St. - NY, NY

 

Every business needs CUSTOMERS. You can use word of mouth, pay for advertising or just sit in your rocking chair and wait (hoping and praying) for customers to stop by - digitally or right in your physical front door.

Another way to get noticed is to have the media write about you. Ramon is a journalist and has written about hundreds (maybe thousands) of companies. But he’s also a small business owner want to get covered by “the media” as well - be that a newspaper quote, interviewed on the radio or asked to contribute to a TV segment. In this seminar, he’s going to share some top strategies on how you can step into the media spotlight and put the focus on your business!

 There are a few complimentary tickets left for this event. Use code RRVIP when entering a general registration. Early bird registration ends tomorrow…so don’t wait!



Interview: 4 Reasons Why Video Marketing Can Bring More Sales - Interview With Animoto’s CEO Brad Jefferson

Video is very important for businesses to consider using to drive more sales and build more customer loyalty.

Watch this discussion with Animoto CEO Brad Jefferson as he shares why video is so important for your business.

Animoto is an easy to use online service which takes your video and photo, adds music and delivers a professional crafted video for you. Check it our here or below.



Wynyard lands deal with Queensland Rail

Wynyard Group, which develops software to help companies fight crime and corruption, has secured a deal with passenger and rail infrastructure business Queensland Rail.

In an announcement today, Wynyard said it would be working with Queensland Rail to help manage its governance, risk and compliance programme.

Queensland Rail will use Wynyard's risk management software to help centralise information so it can more easily identify risks to the company.

The deal is worth close to $1 million - though Wynyard would not disclose the exact amount - over a three-year deployment.

Queensland Rail operates more than 7000km of track, employs 6000 staff and runs 260,000 scheduled services each year.

The Australian company reported annual revenue of $1.8 billion (NZ$2.1 billion) last year.

Wynyard's managing director Craig Richardson described the win as "a real coup for the comany" and said it would be a a test of Wynyard's capability to deliver.

"We understand the increasing governance, risk and compliance obligations that today's critical national infrastructure companies must meet," he said.

Wynyard has developed four software products - risk management, intelligence, investigations and digital forensics.

Its risk management solution, which Queensland Rail is taking on, is already used by Dubai International Airport and Lloyd's of London.

Wynyard employs more than 120 staff across offices in New Zealand, Australia, the US, Canada, Britain and the United Arab Emirates.

It has more than 400 customers around the world, including national security and justice agencies, Fortune 500 companies and infrastructure operators.

The company has forecast revenue of $21.5 million for the 12 months to this December 31 and expects to post a net loss of $10.1 million for the same period.

Wynyard shares were trading at $1.26 this morning, ! having climbed above the $1.15 initial public offer price after a disappointing start to its life as a listed company last month, when the stock fell as low as $1.07.

By Ben Chapman-Smith Email Ben

NYC Events (8/27 & 8/28): So You Have A Website…Now What? and How To Get Free Publicity For Your Business

There are two great NYC events coming up next week, both designed to help you GROW your small business!

On August 27th, join Ramon Ray (Infusionsoft and Smallbiztechnology.com) and Jeremy Schwartz (Squarespace) for ‘So You Have a Website…Now What?‘

Date: Tuesday, August 27th

Time: 9am to 11am

Place: CUNY Graduate Center, 365 5th Ave - NY, NY

Building your business website was a great first step towards developing an effective (and money-making) online presence but the work didn’t end when it went live. In this talk we’ll give you clear and actionable advice on how to improve your search engine rankings, develop interesting blog post topics, determine whether you’ve got the right features and more. You’ll learn 10 simple upgrades that you can make to your website that will have you making more money for your business!!

There are a very limited amount of complimentary tickets left. Use code RRVIP when entering a general registration. Early bird registration ends tomorrow…so don’t wait!

Then, on August 28th it’s all about ‘How To Get Free Publicity For Your Business Through Media Coverage‘! Ramon Ray (Infusionsoft and Smallbiztechnology) is going to share his inside secrets (that’s right….from a journalists perspective) on how you can get FREE publicity for your business!

Date: Wednesday, August 28th

Time: 11:30 am to 1 pm

Place: Regus Office Suites, 112 West 34th St. - NY, NY

 

Every business needs CUSTOMERS. You can use word of mouth, pay for advertising or just sit in your rocking chair and wait (hoping and praying) for customers to stop by - digitally or right in your physical front door.

Another way to get noticed is to have the media write about you. Ramon is a journalist and has written about hundreds (maybe thousands) of companies. But he’s also a small business owner want to get covered by “the media” as well - be that a newspaper quote, interviewed on the radio or asked to contribute to a TV segment. In this seminar, he’s going to share some top strategies on how you can step into the media spotlight and put the focus on your business!

 There are a few complimentary tickets left for this event. Use code RRVIP when entering a general registration. Early bird registration ends tomorrow…so don’t wait!



NYC Events (8/27 & 8/28): So You Have A Website…Now What? and How To Get Free Publicity For Your Business

There are two great NYC events coming up next week, both designed to help you GROW your small business!

On August 27th, join Ramon Ray (Infusionsoft and Smallbiztechnology.com) and Jeremy Schwartz (Squarespace) for ‘So You Have a Website…Now What?‘

Date: Tuesday, August 27th

Time: 9am to 11am

Place: CUNY Graduate Center, 365 5th Ave - NY, NY

Building your business website was a great first step towards developing an effective (and money-making) online presence but the work didn’t end when it went live. In this talk we’ll give you clear and actionable advice on how to improve your search engine rankings, develop interesting blog post topics, determine whether you’ve got the right features and more. You’ll learn 10 simple upgrades that you can make to your website that will have you making more money for your business!!

There are a very limited amount of complimentary tickets left. Use code RRVIP when entering a general registration. Early bird registration ends tomorrow…so don’t wait!

Then, on August 28th it’s all about ‘How To Get Free Publicity For Your Business Through Media Coverage‘! Ramon Ray (Infusionsoft and Smallbiztechnology) is going to share his inside secrets (that’s right….from a journalists perspective) on how you can get FREE publicity for your business!

Date: Wednesday, August 28th

Time: 11:30 am to 1 pm

Place: Regus Office Suites, 112 West 34th St. - NY, NY

 

Every business needs CUSTOMERS. You can use word of mouth, pay for advertising or just sit in your rocking chair and wait (hoping and praying) for customers to stop by - digitally or right in your physical front door.

Another way to get noticed is to have the media write about you. Ramon is a journalist and has written about hundreds (maybe thousands) of companies. But he’s also a small business owner want to get covered by “the media” as well - be that a newspaper quote, interviewed on the radio or asked to contribute to a TV segment. In this seminar, he’s going to share some top strategies on how you can step into the media spotlight and put the focus on your business!

 There are a few complimentary tickets left for this event. Use code RRVIP when entering a general registration. Early bird registration ends tomorrow…so don’t wait!



3 Ways To Use Hot Content To Build Your Email List. Vertical Response and Digioh Partner

I spent a few minutes just looking at a video how Vertical Response (email marketing company) and Digioh (think what a marriage of Dropbox and Infusionsfot would be like - tracking files) have partnered.

Digioh makes it possible for content marketing service providers (CRM, email marketing) to track digital files.

For example, maybe one of your email subscribers forwarded your email to someone else. When someone clicks on the LINK of a file you reference in your email newsletter, if they are NOT your subscriber, Digioh will prompt them to subscriber. This is a powerful way to ensure that your content is used to increase you email list. Email is still one of the most important ways to connect with your customers and engage your prospects.

Here’s a 12 minute video from Rishi Shah, CEO of Digioh on how to grow your email list.



8 Steps to Get Ready for the Holiday Retail Season

holiday retail

Smart retailers are already thinking ahead to Thanksgiving Day, the official kickoff of the holiday retail shopping season, and how to prepare for a successful year.

If you own a brick-and-mortar store, preparing early is more important than ever, in order to compete with online retailers and their 24/7 storefronts. Plus, this year there are only 26 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, six fewer than last year, cutting almost a week out of the core holiday shopping season.

How can you get ready to squeeze the most possible sales out of holiday 2013?  You can start with the tips below.

Get the Skinny on Your Industry’s Trends

Peruse your industry publications and websites to get experts’ insights on what products are likely to be hot sellers this year so you can make sure you have an ample supply. Hit gift-oriented trade shows too. You can find relevant shows for your industry at TSNN.com.

Tap Into What Customers are Talking About

While holiday shopping probably isn’t a hot topic on most consumers’ minds just yet, keep an eye on social media to see what’s bubbling up. In particular, Pinterest can be a great resource to see what customers are craving.

Track the Pinterest users that follow your business (or your competitors) on Pinterest. Watch what they’re pinning and who else they follow. This can help you spot trends. You can also start holiday themed Pinterest boards and ask your followers to share what they hope to give and/or get this year.

This is a great way to localize the bigger trends you learn about in #1.

Focus on Your Loyal Customers

How will you make sure your best customers visit your store more than once? Reach out to them early in the season (or even before the season).

For example, invite your best customers to a special shopping night before Thanksgiving to offer a more stress-free shopping experience.

Perfect Your Local Presence

Customers went mobile-mad last year, using their smartphones like never before to research products, compare prices and find stores.

Make sure your business is listed on local search directories like Local.com or Google+ Local and that your listings are updated and optimized with things customers want to know. Things like driving directions, store hours and a phone number.

Watch Your Reviews

When customers find you on a search site, they might also see ratings of your store.  If you’ve got two stars while your competitor has four, guess who’s going to get the business?

Pay special attention to online reviews of your store this time of year. If any negative feedback has driven your ratings down, deal with it now so your score rises before the holiday shopping season starts in earnest.

Review Last Year’s Holiday Marketing Plan

What did you do last year? What worked and what didn’t? Did certain marketing activities attract the type of customers you want more of this year?

Figure out what you should do more of and less of this time around.

Create a Calendar

One of the biggest mistakes small retailers make with marketing is planning at the last-minute.  Then they can’t accomplish their goals.

Take some time to think ahead about all the marketing activities you want to carry out this holiday season. Whether it’s an email campaign, special in-store events or some blowout sale days, mark the dates on your calendar and plan backward from there.

This ensures you aren’t scrambling at the last minute to find a party rental company or caterer, merchandise the store for the big sale day or get adequate gift wrap supplies on hand.

Time it Right

For small retailers, the line between when customers like to shop and when they get offended at seeing holiday décor in the stores is a blurry one. The National Retail Federation reports that every year, about 40 percent of consumers begin their holiday shopping before Halloween, and more retailers are beginning to put decorations and greeting cards on the shelves in September.

If you’d rather wait until after Halloween to start decking the halls, consider offering a “secret” early holiday sale only to loyal customers, or advertising it via direct mail or email so customers who are interested can participate.

Holiday Photo via Shutterstock




8 Steps to Get Ready for the Holiday Retail Season

holiday retail

Smart retailers are already thinking ahead to Thanksgiving Day, the official kickoff of the holiday retail shopping season, and how to prepare for a successful year.

If you own a brick-and-mortar store, preparing early is more important than ever, in order to compete with online retailers and their 24/7 storefronts. Plus, this year there are only 26 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, six fewer than last year, cutting almost a week out of the core holiday shopping season.

How can you get ready to squeeze the most possible sales out of holiday 2013?  You can start with the tips below.

Get the Skinny on Your Industry’s Trends

Peruse your industry publications and websites to get experts’ insights on what products are likely to be hot sellers this year so you can make sure you have an ample supply. Hit gift-oriented trade shows too. You can find relevant shows for your industry at TSNN.com.

Tap Into What Customers are Talking About

While holiday shopping probably isn’t a hot topic on most consumers’ minds just yet, keep an eye on social media to see what’s bubbling up. In particular, Pinterest can be a great resource to see what customers are craving.

Track the Pinterest users that follow your business (or your competitors) on Pinterest. Watch what they’re pinning and who else they follow. This can help you spot trends. You can also start holiday themed Pinterest boards and ask your followers to share what they hope to give and/or get this year.

This is a great way to localize the bigger trends you learn about in #1.

Focus on Your Loyal Customers

How will you make sure your best customers visit your store more than once? Reach out to them early in the season (or even before the season).

For example, invite your best customers to a special shopping night before Thanksgiving to offer a more stress-free shopping experience.

Perfect Your Local Presence

Customers went mobile-mad last year, using their smartphones like never before to research products, compare prices and find stores.

Make sure your business is listed on local search directories like Local.com or Google+ Local and that your listings are updated and optimized with things customers want to know. Things like driving directions, store hours and a phone number.

Watch Your Reviews

When customers find you on a search site, they might also see ratings of your store.  If you’ve got two stars while your competitor has four, guess who’s going to get the business?

Pay special attention to online reviews of your store this time of year. If any negative feedback has driven your ratings down, deal with it now so your score rises before the holiday shopping season starts in earnest.

Review Last Year’s Holiday Marketing Plan

What did you do last year? What worked and what didn’t? Did certain marketing activities attract the type of customers you want more of this year?

Figure out what you should do more of and less of this time around.

Create a Calendar

One of the biggest mistakes small retailers make with marketing is planning at the last-minute.  Then they can’t accomplish their goals.

Take some time to think ahead about all the marketing activities you want to carry out this holiday season. Whether it’s an email campaign, special in-store events or some blowout sale days, mark the dates on your calendar and plan backward from there.

This ensures you aren’t scrambling at the last minute to find a party rental company or caterer, merchandise the store for the big sale day or get adequate gift wrap supplies on hand.

Time it Right

For small retailers, the line between when customers like to shop and when they get offended at seeing holiday décor in the stores is a blurry one. The National Retail Federation reports that every year, about 40 percent of consumers begin their holiday shopping before Halloween, and more retailers are beginning to put decorations and greeting cards on the shelves in September.

If you’d rather wait until after Halloween to start decking the halls, consider offering a “secret” early holiday sale only to loyal customers, or advertising it via direct mail or email so customers who are interested can participate.

Holiday Photo via Shutterstock




3 Ways To Use Hot Content To Build Your Email List. Vertical Response and Digioh Partner

I spent a few minutes just looking at a video how Vertical Response (email marketing company) and Digioh (think what a marriage of Dropbox and Infusionsfot would be like - tracking files) have partnered.

Digioh makes it possible for content marketing service providers (CRM, email marketing) to track digital files.

For example, maybe one of your email subscribers forwarded your email to someone else. When someone clicks on the LINK of a file you reference in your email newsletter, if they are NOT your subscriber, Digioh will prompt them to subscriber. This is a powerful way to ensure that your content is used to increase you email list. Email is still one of the most important ways to connect with your customers and engage your prospects.

Here’s a 12 minute video from Rishi Shah, CEO of Digioh on how to grow your email list.



4 Cool Tools For Managing Expenses

Organizing and managing expenses can be a cumbersome task for small businesses where each team member wears many hats.  Yet, some sense of order for battling the chaos is necessary, regardless of company size.  There are just too many receipts to record, too many business expenses to remember and too many miscellaneous purchases that take place on a daily basis.  Thankfully, more apps and cloud-operating services are coming to the rescue to help keep small businesses organized.

One of the players, Neat, recently announced an update to its expense reporting mobile app that builds on its existing cloud-based digital filing system.  Neat’s updated app works on iOS and Android devices and enables faster sharing, reporting and collaborating.  This newer version of Neat is just one of several expense management apps available that are both easy to use and affordable.

To get started with the Neat system, a free trail period is available whereupon users can sign up for either of the top two NeatCloud service tier subscription services.  Those pricing plans are $14.99 or $24.99 a month.  The system allows the user to scan receipts using the camera on their mobile device, synchronize and edit information, share information with others and make comments regarding expenses.

One of Neat’s competitors in the expense management tool category is Concur.  They offer a buffet of pricing options you may adapt to your needs.  One of the service options provides integration of expenses and CRM data, while another offers unlimited automatic calculation of Value Added Tax (VAT) to verify reclaim eligibility.  Concur mobile apps are available for iPhone, iPad, Android, and BlackBerry.  In addition to expense reporting services, Concur also has a strong suite of travel apps that allows users to book and manage travel.

Another choice for consideration is Coupa. Coupa has incorporated the former Xpense system into its fold and is very similar to the Neat app. It provides users a Quick Receipt to capture (and add to existing expense reports) new receipts with their mobile phone.  Coupa allows the user to create, edit and submit expense reports even when offline or in airplane mode.  The company offers a free 30-day trial and subscription pricing is available by request only.

Last but not least, Expensify, is a free service available on all mobile platforms.  Users can capture receipts, submit expenses and even integrate the app with the company’s existing accounting and payroll package.  Expensify also offers a free trial.  At the conclusion of the trial period the company charges per scan and offer packages available for team and corporate uses.

Digital filing systems utilizing the cloud, a mobile system or both, are essential in this blink-and-you-lose-multitasking business environment.  Having a system that allows you to scan, store, organize and share expenses, and essentially do the work for you, is simply smart business.



4 Cool Tools For Managing Expenses

Organizing and managing expenses can be a cumbersome task for small businesses where each team member wears many hats.  Yet, some sense of order for battling the chaos is necessary, regardless of company size.  There are just too many receipts to record, too many business expenses to remember and too many miscellaneous purchases that take place on a daily basis.  Thankfully, more apps and cloud-operating services are coming to the rescue to help keep small businesses organized.

One of the players, Neat, recently announced an update to its expense reporting mobile app that builds on its existing cloud-based digital filing system.  Neat’s updated app works on iOS and Android devices and enables faster sharing, reporting and collaborating.  This newer version of Neat is just one of several expense management apps available that are both easy to use and affordable.

To get started with the Neat system, a free trail period is available whereupon users can sign up for either of the top two NeatCloud service tier subscription services.  Those pricing plans are $14.99 or $24.99 a month.  The system allows the user to scan receipts using the camera on their mobile device, synchronize and edit information, share information with others and make comments regarding expenses.

One of Neat’s competitors in the expense management tool category is Concur.  They offer a buffet of pricing options you may adapt to your needs.  One of the service options provides integration of expenses and CRM data, while another offers unlimited automatic calculation of Value Added Tax (VAT) to verify reclaim eligibility.  Concur mobile apps are available for iPhone, iPad, Android, and BlackBerry.  In addition to expense reporting services, Concur also has a strong suite of travel apps that allows users to book and manage travel.

Another choice for consideration is Coupa. Coupa has incorporated the former Xpense system into its fold and is very similar to the Neat app. It provides users a Quick Receipt to capture (and add to existing expense reports) new receipts with their mobile phone.  Coupa allows the user to create, edit and submit expense reports even when offline or in airplane mode.  The company offers a free 30-day trial and subscription pricing is available by request only.

Last but not least, Expensify, is a free service available on all mobile platforms.  Users can capture receipts, submit expenses and even integrate the app with the company’s existing accounting and payroll package.  Expensify also offers a free trial.  At the conclusion of the trial period the company charges per scan and offer packages available for team and corporate uses.

Digital filing systems utilizing the cloud, a mobile system or both, are essential in this blink-and-you-lose-multitasking business environment.  Having a system that allows you to scan, store, organize and share expenses, and essentially do the work for you, is simply smart business.



4 Cool Tools For Managing Expenses

Organizing and managing expenses can be a cumbersome task for small businesses where each team member wears many hats.  Yet, some sense of order for battling the chaos is necessary, regardless of company size.  There are just too many receipts to record, too many business expenses to remember and too many miscellaneous purchases that take place on a daily basis.  Thankfully, more apps and cloud-operating services are coming to the rescue to help keep small businesses organized.

One of the players, Neat, recently announced an update to its expense reporting mobile app that builds on its existing cloud-based digital filing system.  Neat’s updated app works on iOS and Android devices and enables faster sharing, reporting and collaborating.  This newer version of Neat is just one of several expense management apps available that are both easy to use and affordable.

To get started with the Neat system, a free trail period is available whereupon users can sign up for either of the top two NeatCloud service tier subscription services.  Those pricing plans are $14.99 or $24.99 a month.  The system allows the user to scan receipts using the camera on their mobile device, synchronize and edit information, share information with others and make comments regarding expenses.

One of Neat’s competitors in the expense management tool category is Concur.  They offer a buffet of pricing options you may adapt to your needs.  One of the service options provides integration of expenses and CRM data, while another offers unlimited automatic calculation of Value Added Tax (VAT) to verify reclaim eligibility.  Concur mobile apps are available for iPhone, iPad, Android, and BlackBerry.  In addition to expense reporting services, Concur also has a strong suite of travel apps that allows users to book and manage travel.

Another choice for consideration is Coupa. Coupa has incorporated the former Xpense system into its fold and is very similar to the Neat app. It provides users a Quick Receipt to capture (and add to existing expense reports) new receipts with their mobile phone.  Coupa allows the user to create, edit and submit expense reports even when offline or in airplane mode.  The company offers a free 30-day trial and subscription pricing is available by request only.

Last but not least, Expensify, is a free service available on all mobile platforms.  Users can capture receipts, submit expenses and even integrate the app with the company’s existing accounting and payroll package.  Expensify also offers a free trial.  At the conclusion of the trial period the company charges per scan and offer packages available for team and corporate uses.

Digital filing systems utilizing the cloud, a mobile system or both, are essential in this blink-and-you-lose-multitasking business environment.  Having a system that allows you to scan, store, organize and share expenses, and essentially do the work for you, is simply smart business.



How to Leverage Infographics for B2B Marketing

infographics for B2B marketing

Infographics are a popular topic (and sometimes target) for discussion amongst anyone doing online marketing. A sharp uptick in the volume of infographics being created has made getting your graphic “heard above the noise” more difficult. But infographics can still be an extremely effective tactic for generating awareness, communicating a story and getting traffic and earned links.

One challenge some folks run into with infographics and data visualizations (not unlike most types of content) is that they view their industry or area of focus as “too boring” to generate relevant ideas for infographics that will also get traction socially and with bloggers. After all, to make it a success you need to generate that attention, traffic, and earned links. This is a particularly popular objection with companies considering developing and promoting infographics for B2B marketing.

There  are a lot of different ways to generate shareworthy content ideas for your niche.  Businesses are generating interesting data visualizations all the time. So we’ll talk specifically about some methods for developing ideas for B2B focused infographics, with examples.

Tie Your B2B Infographic to a Timely Industry Hook

One important thing to keep in mind in creating infographics (or other types of content as well, for that matter) is that if you think hard enough about your niche, you can likely come up with an angle that bloggers and press will be interested in.

Look at content that’s created in publications related to what you do. What types of events and news stories are they regularly focusing coverage on? What kind of interesting data visualization can you create that will add to that coverage and discussion?

Quarterly Earnings or Annual Holidays

most-expensive-google-keywords-infographic

WordStream (my former employer) created an infographic titled how Google makes its money.  They created another on the industries contributing to Google’s revenue, which performed very well. Both were launched right after Google released their quarterly earnings report. The tech and business press are always looking for information and additional angles to talk about earning reports from big companies. So the timing of the graphic’s release helped in both cases.

The nice thing about events like quarterly earnings is that they’re inevitable (they happen every quarter). So you can plan for them and have the graphic ready to launch as they come up.

Noteworthy News Events

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These can be a little trickier because you have to time them specifically with a news event (and frequently you have to get a little lucky regarding when you get the graphic out, as you may be dependent on the shelf life of the story). But if you get it right, you can really have the graphic pop.

Veracode, a Web application security company, released this infographic on Twitter hacks the week of a prominent Twitter hack of USA Today’s account. As a result, the site received links and mentions from prominent sites like Mashable and ReadWrite.

“Explainer” Graphics & How-Tos

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Like with any content, if you can cover the key points surrounding a central concept that many people in your niche may be interested in and/or confused by, or if you can explain how to execute on something, people will be willing to share what you’ve created. There are a number of tactics you can take in creating explainer and how-to infographics for B2B, including:

Graphics Aimed at a Specific Niche of Likely Sharers

Certain niches just share content more. With infographics, you’re typically looking for a topic that will be interesting to bloggers and social sharers.

So think about how you might relate your topic back to topics like tech, social media or just passionate folks who blog frequently. Example: parents or folks interested in green living.

Maybe you can look at the effects of a popular topic such as the overall impact of your industry in a way your readers, and bloggers and sharers, will find interesting.

You Can Create a Compelling Infographic - But Maybe You Shouldn’t

Regardless of how “boring” you think your B2B product or service may be, you can certainly come up with an idea for a compelling graphic. If you focus on coming up with a topic that bloggers are likely to want to write about and sharers are likely to share, you’ll even have a strong chance of creating a successful graphic.

That still doesn’t necessarily mean infographics are for you, though.

Good infographics are expensive. They have to be researched, designed and promoted. Even very well thought-out graphics can totally flop and fail to generate much in the way of conversation, links and shares. So if you own a small business and designing a single graphic eats up so much of your budget that you absolutely have to have them be a success, you should probably be leveraging other tactics.

With any content marketing activities where you’re creating something and then relying on others to link to it, you really need to take a “portfolio” approach to content creation and promotion. Some of your efforts will fail. Some will be better than you thought. In aggregate, they should provide the returns you’re expecting for the total cost you’re laying out.

If you can’t afford to do them more than once, there’s a strong chance you should be picking another tactic instead.

Infograph Photo via Shutterstock




GoDaddy Acquires Locu, Boosts Small Biz Digital Presence

locu

Small businesses seeking to establish and maintain a digital presence continue to face challenges. While customers expect to find you on both Web and mobile and on a variety of social sites, updating this information can be time consuming.

Hosting and registrar giant GoDaddy is attempting to offer one solution with announced acquisition of San Francisco-based Locu this week. Exact financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.

More About Locu

Locu says it helps more than 30,000 restaurants, Read More

The post GoDaddy Acquires Locu, Boosts Small Biz Digital Presence appeared first on Small Business Trends.



GoDaddy Acquires Locu, Boosts Small Biz Digital Presence

locu

Small businesses seeking to establish and maintain a digital presence continue to face challenges. While customers expect to find you on both Web and mobile and on a variety of social sites, updating this information can be time consuming.

Hosting and registrar giant GoDaddy is attempting to offer one solution with announced acquisition of San Francisco-based Locu this week. Exact financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.

More About Locu

Locu says it helps more than 30,000 restaurants, Read More

The post GoDaddy Acquires Locu, Boosts Small Biz Digital Presence appeared first on Small Business Trends.



Attackers home in on Steam gamers with help of Ramnit Trojan

Users of the popular video game distribution service Steam are being targeted by a Trojan that steals their login credentials and defeats the service's password encryption mechanism by using HTML injection.

According to security firm Trusteer, which specialises in fraud prevention services, attackers have been on a campaign to obtain Steam users' login data since mid-July.

Etay Maor, fraud prevention solutions manager at Trusteer, detailed the attackers' exploits in a blog post on Monday, revealing that a variant of the Trojan Ramnit was being used to compromise gamers.

A major software service that provides users access to more than 2,000 games, Steam has around 54 million members and is owned by US, Washington-based software company Valve.  

Steam was the victim of a massive breach back in November 2011, in which hackers accessed the personal data of up to 35 million users contained in a database.

This time however, the vandals targeted individual users, Etay said.

Once users are infected by Ramnit, attackers wait for victims to log in to their Steam account, at which point miscreants use HMTL injection to capture passwords, which are normally encrypted by the site, in plain text. To ensure that Steam's operators are none the wiser to the attacks, the malware also removes the injected code before the information is sent to Steam's website.

Maor described the man-in-the-browser (MitB) style attack on Trusteer's blog.

“To avoid detection, Ramnit simply makes sure the server never sees the injection,” he wrote. “To do so, prior to the [username and password] form being sent to the website, Ramnit removes the injected element. This can be observed in the first part of the code.”

In an interview on Wednesday, Maor told SCMagazine.com that some researchers have begun to move away from strictly categorising malware such as Ramnit as 'banking Trojans' because variants are increasingly being repurposed to go after users at other sites.

“They are targeting everything - gaming services, dating sites - if there's a username and password associated with it, they are going to target it at some point,” Maor said.

Services such as Steam are particularly attractive for crooks, Maor added. Gaming software is usually more vulnerable to attack, considering users tend to disengage their firewalls, security solutions or any other programs that could slow down their systems while they are gaming, he explained.

“If you get access to a Steam account, you can [carry out] identity theft of the gamer, like buy games and send them as personal gifts to other people," Maor said. "It's pretty similar to getting bank account access - their [profile] is now open and you can change their email or other account information. The last option, of course, is to just sell the credentials on an underground forum."

It is unclear how many people have fallen victim to the latest wave of attacks.

SCMagazine.com contacted Valve, Steam's developer and owner, but did not immediately hear back from the company. Per policy, Maor said Trusteer contacted Valve prior to disclosing information about the attacks.



McAfee threat report highlights mobile attacks, ransomware, malicious sites

Security company McAfee has released its second quarter threat report (PDF).

Aggressive attacks on typically Android-based mobile users appeared most prominent, but other highlights include high-volume spam campaigns, an extensive use of ransomware to extract money from victims and a significant expansion of malicious or infected websites distributing malware.

Adam Wosotowsky, messaging data architect at McAfee and one of the report's authors, told SCMagazine.com this week that attackers have been targeting mobile devices for monetary gain, particularly through the use of deceptive apps.

As users gravitate towards banking via mobile devices, attackers have created official-looking apps - complete with genuine or genuine-looking certificates - that claim to be from banks, but are actually used to siphon credentials and data, and send that information back to the bad people.

In some cases, Wosotowsky said, miscreants can even redirect incoming calls and messages, offering attackers the chance to bypass two-step authentication in instances when the second step involves a code being sent to the mobile device.

Sneaky programs that dial premium-rate numbers without users knowing and apps that rack up charges despite claiming to be free are nothing new, but continue to be prevalent. Wosotowsky pointed to one adult-themed app in particular that advertised itself as free, but then hit users with big charges for the erotic services it offered.

Wosotowsky said most mobile malware is emanating from third-party websites in Asia and are predominately affecting Japanese, Chinese and Indian consumers.

“These are areas where internet access is coming through smartphones," he said. "They are farther down the road with everything happening on mobile. We get to see these things happening in Asia and prepare ourselves for it."

Ransomware, meanwhile, is an increasingly popular scare tactic that is known to prey on user fear of being investigated by law enforcement for a supposed crime they didn't commit. The crafty scam gained notoriety on Windows computers - it has started making its way to Apple and mobile platforms - for locking up programs or devices, and forcing users to pay a fee to unlock it.

The McAfee report also found that email spam volume has increased since the first quarter of 2013. Wosotowsky said that while the rate is not at an all-time high, “If you're in the crosshairs, you're getting 10 to 15 spams on average per day. It's vicious”.

Finally, suspicious and compromised websites may never cease being a threat. According to the report, this quarter showed “a 16 per cent increase in suspicious URLs, bringing the total to nearly 75 million”, which may be “indicative of the success the cyber criminal community is having in their attempts to infect and repurpose legitimate websites”.

How should users defend against these types of threats? The researchers recommend only downloading from reputable sources and investigating the credibility of the download first. Users should also check to make sure applications are only accessing data necessary for functioning.