Big Changes: AOL Acquires Gravity, Beats Music Launches

Don’t miss the important news for your business this week. The Small Business Trends editorial team has this roundup to keep you informed

Web Business

AOL acquires Gravity for more personalized content. Gravity helps publishers personalize or customize their content. The company already works for AOL properties like TechCrunch. But it also provides plugins for other online businesses to do the same.

DrawQuest shuts down. Of course, no one likes failure. But even when a business doesn’t work things can be learned. CEO Chris Poole and his team certainly made some mistakes. But one good decision was to share his experiences.

Business Insider is ready to raise more funding. The news site gets about 20 million unique visitors a month. And the company raised about $5 million in venture funding last year from people like the CEO of Amazon.

Entrepreneurs pick their favorite .net sites. Those who reported the data insist .net sites are growing in popularity. Whatever your opinion, it’s interesting to see the sites that got picked.

Digital Services

Beats Music promotes paid music streaming. Independent musicians are small business people too. And Beats Music seems dedicated to the idea of working with these small businesses to make sure they receive the payment they are due for their hard work.

Spotify introduces merchandise sales. From T-shirts to vinyl records and special box sets, there are many products indie musicians can sell. And now they can promote them on Spotify â€" even though some of the music is provided for free.

Skype is gaining major ground on traditional phone services. The service has become a major tool for entrepreneurs and small business people. Without it, many valuable overseas partnerships would probably be too expensive to maintain.

Social Media

Facebook is testing an app ad network. The social media giant has announced it is working with a limited number of advertisers and publishers on this. The ads won’t be labeled with the Facebook brand but will be served via Facebook technology.

Bloggers are protected by the first amendment. The ruling takes away any ambiguity that may have existed about the rights of bloggers in our society. You may think this only matters to those who ply the journalistic trade online, but there are wider implications.

Smart Devices

Appliances may be trying to hack your business. Does this sound like something out of a science fiction story? It shouldn’t. A security company now says it have proof smart appliances have become weapons in the cyber security war.

Apple has started fixing iPhone 5c displays in the store. Here’s what to expect if you go to have your phone screen fixed. This isn’t the first time Apple has offered these kinds of services.

Reading with friends photo via Shutterstock

Facebook Tests Running Ads on Other People’s Mobile Apps

Facebook is testing a way to run some of its ads on other peoples’ mobile apps. Sriram Krishnan, mobile product leader at Facebook, says the company wants to help other app publishers develop a business model for their apps.

In a post recently on Facebook’s official Development Blog, Krishnan explains:

“Monetization is a difficult problem for mobile app developers, particularly as people move toward downloading more free apps and advertising dollars lag behind time spent on mobile. We faced some unique challenges when we first integrated ads into the Facebook mobile experience, and we believe we’re now well positioned to help other mobile apps.”

So this suggests that independent publishers would then profit somehow by running the Facebook ads. Krishnan hints:

“In this test, we’ll be extending Facebook’s rich targeting to improve the relevancy of the ads people see, provide even greater reach for Facebook advertisers, and help developers better monetize their apps.”

Krishnan describes the new project as essentially a mobile ad network in which Facebook would serve client’s advertisements on the apps of participating publishers.

A spokesman for Facebook told TechCrunch the company would use audience targeting technology based on data collected from its users to serve relevant ads on each app.

The spokesman told TechCrunch the new ads, when they emerge, won’t be labeled as Facebook ads. Rather, the idea is to use Facebook’s targeting technology to bring more relevant advertising to content across the Web.

Krishnan said the test is being run with a very limited group of participants. He said no further participants are being accepted at this time. He also gave no absolute timetable of when or if the new advertising program would be unveiled.

However, he suggested those interested in following the project’s progress should sign up to receive regular updates.

Facebook Photo via Shutterstock

More in: Facebook

Half the internet lacks DNS security extensions

January 24, 2014

Failure to use domain name system security extensions opens up those TLD users to spoofing

Just over half of the internet (51 percent) remains insecure insofar as many top level domains (TLDs) have failed to sign up to use domain name system security extensions (DNSSEC), including intensive internet using countries such as Italy (.it), Spain (.es) and South Africa (.za), leaving millions of internet users open to malicious redirect to fake websites, reports Ultra Electronics AEP.  

Sonia Freed, Managing Director at cyber security company Ultra Electronics AEP, which issued the warning, commented to SCMagazineUK.com: “This is an issue that affects every Internet user in the world … unless the top level domain is signed, every single website operating under a national domain can have its DNS spoofed, potentially directing Internet users straight into the hands of cyber criminals via fake websites that often look just like the real thing.”

Bob Tarzey, analyst/founder at QuoCirca told SCMagazineUK.com, “DNS is known to be one of the easiest things to target in a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.” DNSSEC uses public key cryptography to digitally sign DNS data. It means that responses to DNS queries are digitally signed by the DNS server using private keys and are automatically verified by the client using the corresponding public key.

Whilst many familiar TLDs such as .com, co.uk .org, com, .net are secure, Freed comments: “It's increasingly common for websites to use extensions from other countries even when they do not have a local presence. Many popular file sharing sites for instance use unsecured domains from tiny Caribbean islands and are using them as a ‘flag of convenience'. With this fragmentation, comes potential confusion and an environment in which cyber criminals can thrive.”

Richard Lamb at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) adds: “It is now three and a half years since the root of the Domain Name System was signed, however our figures show there is still a great deal of work to do. DNSSEC is a leap forward in preventing attackers from redirecting end users to websites under their own control (for account and password collection). We urge the owners of the 200 TLDs (60 per cent of total) to work with ICANN and help develop a safer web to protect the world's internet users.”

The Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) is among those known to have exploited DNS weaknesses to modify DNS entries and redirect users accessing The New York Times and Twitter to propaganda pages, and Freed also notes how users of Google's Malaysian domains (www.google.com.my and www.google.my) were directed to a fake website in Pakistan.

Freed notes: “Securing the TLD is a major first step but it's also necessary for responsible individual domain name owners to ensure the integrity of their zone data and hence the integrity of their associated web services by implementing a DNSSEC solution and signing their zone DNS resource records.”

Reasons given for the laxity in sign up include cost, and the fact that many organisations will sign up to a secure TLD. “Individual organisations can manage their own. But who is responsible within a country? You need to get some public body to take it on, which depends on the communications infrastructure of the county,” says Tarzey.

Martin McDonald, business development director at Ultra Electronics AEP commented to SCMagazine.com, "Australia is a country with a lot of energy and mineral wealth, which is internationally targeted data, and while companies there have firewalls and endpoint security on their networks, when they sent information from A to B it was often not secure, and a spoof site could then get users' details. But awareness of this issue is growing and Australia is signing up to DNSSEC in March”.  

How To Integrate Your Remote Office Effectively

Sometimes it just makes sense to hire remote workers, since they can bring invaluable knowledge about diverse demographics to the table. Remote workers have increased flexibility. They can be hired at the pay rates common in their home country, and they can bring localized expertise to the table. Virtual assistants, foreign staff members, telecommuting workers, and freelancers are some of the most common virtual office relationships small businesses are cultivating.

Below are ways to boost productivity, streamline workflows and protect your company’s data while employing remote workers.

Identify Location-Specific Needs

Don’t get too comfortable with your marketing and sales tactics just yet. Just because one strategy is successful in your home location, it doesn’t mean that you should use the same strategy in a remote location. Project managers, leadership, and marketing teams must collaborate with remote workers to identify an area’s needs and develop multilingual content. (The European Lung Foundation’s website is an excellent example of localization efforts. This non-profit is able to disseminate useful health information in eight different languages, increasing their impact dramatically.)

You’ll need to vet your remote workers carefully. Language fluency and cultural awareness are some of the most obvious boons that local hires can provide for a company. Avoid using cookie-cutter strategies when it comes to branding, marketing and customer relations - cultural awareness in remote offices can lead to healthier operations.

Focus on Data Security

Remote and telecommuting workers present unique risks and challenges for data security. Since these individuals are working from home, cafes or community office spaces, it can be difficult to control their access and data traffic. If a virtual worker’s mobile device or computer is lost or stolen, then your company’s sensitive information could be compromised.

IT departments can combat some of these risks by using secure software as a solution (SaaS). Remote workers who have access to CRMs (content management systems), databases should be required to sign in with strong passwords, which need to be changed every few months. Your SaaS sessions should time out after a specific period of time, so that unauthorized people cannot view sensitive data. Streamlining your software can make remote worker collaboration and data security easier to manage.

Use Innovative Communications

1-800 Numbers

When you ask customer or remote worker to contact your company, you can use a single 1-800-number to manage all of your phone calls. This front-facing phone number can forward all calls to your call operator, provided you’re using the number correctly. A streamlined phone system can cut your communications costs immensely. Remote workers can get in touch with your main office easily, using a single number. Additionally, a toll-free-number can simplify customer relations, since they have a single point of contact to reach your representatives.

Video Conferencing

Another popular method of remote worker communication is video conferencing. This technology is breaking down distance barriers between remote office locations. Just take a look at Perch, a startup app company that has designed a video portal for employees separated across great distances. Freelancers on the road can mount an iPad onto a wall of their home office. The camera recognizes when someone is making eye contact with the screen, and will automatically switch a microphone on. Two workers can turn to an iPad screen and converse naturally with video conferencing.

It is important to revisit software, localization, and communication concerns as your company hires remote workers around the world. Part of the thrill of expansion is that your company can get familiar with new demographics and offer products to international audiences. Localization efforts and streamlined communications, such as affordable 1-800-numbers, ensure that you are connecting with prospective customers on a global stage.

Global Collaboration Concept Photo via Shutterstock

Business leaders demand greater data transparency

January 24, 2014

Chief execs from some of the world's biggest companies spoke in depth on online privacy at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week.

In light of the growing information on the surveillance carried out by the NSA and GCHQ, online privacy was one of the bigger topics discussed at the annual World Economic Forum, and it drew heated comments from some of the world's most famous business people.

In different panels, both AT&T chairman Randall Stephenson and BT CEO Gavin Patterson suggested that the days of expecting total privacy, at least in an online context, are almost certainly over.

“I don't think we as a society want 100 percent privacy,” said Stephenson. “But I think the debate is right.” Patterson also joined in and, when asked if 100 percent online privacy could be expected, added: “I think when it comes down to it people recognise that they have to give up some of their privacy to be protected, I don't think it will be ever be zero."

Elsewhere at the event, Yahoo's Marissa Mayer and Salesforce chief exec Marc Bienoff also spoke at length on privacy, and suggested that it's now about managing expectations and ensuring transparency.

"When you go through security at the airport, when you sign up for a driver's license, you know exactly what you're disclosing to the government and you know what you get in exchange," said Mayer.

Salesforce.com Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Marc Benioff added: "If everybody saw the detail, they would probably be completely comfortable. How can you trust something you don't know?"

New laws encouraged

Patterson though -  like other infosec experts in France earlier this week - said that the furore over Edward Snowden's revelations should result in clearer data protection laws.

Asked if he wanted more laws, Patterson responded: “Exactly, making it clear. It's just too murky at the moment. It needs to be transparent and [there] needs to be clear guidelines about what's acceptable and what isn't.”

“The legislation has to catch up. This is a challenge for many different parts of our business models, it's often several years before,” he added. “It's not fit for purpose today. Everybody recognises the internet plays a role in protecting us and we've got to make sure it's not intrusive and also protects the rights to the individual. I don't think the legislation has managed to keep up".

Mayer also joined the chorus and urged greater data transparency.

"What's murky about some of what is happing today is people don't necessary know what data is being collected and what it is being used for.”

"2014 will be a tipping point. It will change everyone's daily routines very fundamentally." Mayer stressed that Yahoo customers own their own data.

Responding to the topic at the event, security and privacy lawyer Stewart Room said that the topic has become about “reasonable expectations”.

“When people talk about privacy in a percentage sense, they may be misunderstanding the nature of the right to privacy,” he told SCMagazineUK.com.

“The right to privacy isn't about absolutes or percentages, it's about reasonable expectations.  And what is reasonable depends on the circumstances and facts.”

Room added that the expectations for privacy is likely to vary to some degree, and said that some businesses may also have more rights than others to hold onto customer data.

“In the telecom sector, if the business head says that customers cannot expect their calls to be at risk of potential interception by the police say, then he is right, because European human rights laws allows this in certain, limited circumstances.  If the business head says that customers cannot expect their communications to be safe from all prying eyes, then he is wrong.  It's all a question of fact and degree”. 

Bug in Chinese cameras raises fears over \'Internet of Things\'

January 24, 2014

'Dumb devices' offer unpatched vulnerabilties

A security flaw discovered in the webcams, IP surveillance cameras and even baby monitors made by Chinese company Foscam has highlighted the vulnerability of many ‘Internet of Things' devices that are increasingly being connected to corporate networks.

The bug in camera company Foscam's kit was revealed on 23 January by US cyber security expert Brian Krebs, who said it allows anyone with access to the device's internet address to view live and recorded video footage.

Foscam is the same company that hit the headlines last August, when a US couple using one of its cameras to monitor their sleeping two-year-old child discovered it had been hacked when they heard a male voice shouting at the girl through the device.

In the latest incident, Krebs said camera experts, including Don Kennedy, an active member of the Foscam support forum, discovered the bug in devices running version .54 of Foscam's firmware. It enables anyone to access the device's web interface simply by pressing ‘OK' in the dialogue box when prompted for a username and password.

Krebs said Foscam had promised that a firmware update fixing the flaw would be available via its website by 25 January. Meanwhile, Don Kennedy had also posted a workaround.

But the incident has raised renewed doubts over the security of ‘Internet of Things' devices.

Alex Chapman, senior security consultant with UK consultancy Context Information Security, told SCMagazineUK.com that many companies remain unaware of the threat posed by equipment such as camera-based smart TVs, routers and set-top boxes.

“More and more of these devices being connected up to corporate networks and businesses in general is a concern,” Chapman said. “These devices are just as powerful as your computers from four or five years ago and have very similar capability - they are running the same software and the same operating systems as the servers that are in corporate infrastructures.

“But these devices never fall under the same patch management processes as servers or workstations - people see them as dumb devices when they're anything but these days.

“It's been highlighted by this particular exposure, but I think looking at devices like set-top boxes and personal home routing gateways ISPs give out, there's been numerous reports recently around these having intentional back doors in them or just such poor coding practices that they're trivial to exploit and compromise.

“It's about reminding people that these are computing devices that need to fall under the same sorts of scrutiny and configuration and securing these devices as you would a laptop or a desktop.”

According to Krebs, Foscam has confirmed the problem affected its camera models FI8904W, FI8905E, FI8905W, FI8906W, FI8907W, FI8909W, FI8910E, FI8910W, FI8916W, FI8918W and FI8919W.

NSA backlash: Microsoft lets users take data out the US

January 24, 2014

Microsoft has bowed to the fears of its UK and European customers that the US is spying on their data by allowing businesses to choose where their data is stored

The move was announced on 22 January by Microsoft's top lawyer and chief compliance officer, Brad Smith, who told the Financial Times: 

“People should have the ability to know whether their data are being subjected to the laws and access of governments in some other country and should have the ability to make an informed choice of where their data resides.”

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to SCMagazineUK.com that the company is committed to providing “regional storage within existing Microsoft data centres in the customer's region for business and government customers”.

The reform does not however apply to individuals, only corporates, who can choose only the region where their data is held, not the country. For example, UK businesses could opt to have their data stored in Microsoft's Irish data centre.

The change comes shortly after a survey showed that 21 percent of UK small businesses were moving their hosted information out of the US because of security concerns.

It puts Microsoft at odds with other US tech companies who do not offer location choice, although industry watcher Bob Tarzey, director of research firm Quocirca, said that the change means Microsoft is simply mirroring what's already offered by major online data hosting providers like Amazon Web Services.

“I think Microsoft might have done this anyway,” he told SCMagazineUK.com. “Amazon has data centres hosting those services in the European Union. So from the point of view of British organisations that is the concern really.

“There might be organisations sitting there thinking we're not going to store data in America because we're worried that the American security services are going to come after it - but one of the main reasons they won't be storing the most sensitive data over there is either because they're not allowed to for compliance reasons, or secondly because you want to keep your Intellectual Property close to your chest. There are also some other benefits for Microsoft doing this.”

The move to allow non-US data storage is the latest in a series of steps Microsoft has taken to hang onto its European customers, in the wake of the reports of mass electronic surveillance by the US's NSA intelligence agency.

Last November, Microsoft confirmed that it was considering encrypting its customers' personal data sent over the internet. On 3 December, Brad Smith fleshed out the details of this in a blog post that controversially equated “government snooping” with an advanced persistent threat posed by cyber criminals.

“Customer content moving between our customers and Microsoft will be encrypted by default," wrote Smith. "All of our key platform, productivity and communications services will encrypt customer content as it moves between our data centres.”

“We will use best-in-class industry cryptography to protect these channels, including Perfect Forward Secrecy and 2048-bit key lengths. All of this will be in place by the end of 2014, and much of it is effective immediately.”

Privacy campaigners have pointed out that wherever data is held, US tech companies are still obliged to hand over information on specific users if required by a secret US court.

Smith tried to address this in his blog, saying: “We are committed to notifying business and government customers if we receive legal orders related to their data. Where a gag order attempts to prohibit us from doing this, we will challenge it in court.”

“We're taking additional steps to increase transparency by building on our long-standing programme that provides government customers with an appropriate ability to review our source code, reassure themselves of its integrity, and confirm there are no back doors. We will open a network of transparency centres that will provide these customers with even greater ability to assure themselves of the integrity of Microsoft's products. We'll open these centres in Europe, the Americas and Asia.”

US President Obama last week revealed his plans to reform the NSA, but the reforms were widely seen as not going far enough to answer UK and European privacy concerns.

Pamela O’Hara of Batchbook: Buying a CRM App Doesn’t Mean You Have a Sales Process

There are still a lot of businesses who feel that writing the check to buy a CRM application is the hardest part of implementing a sales process. Unfortunately, for those who think that way, they couldn’t be further from the truth.

Pamela O’Hara, Co-Founder and CEO of Batchbook, discusses why plunking the money down is just one step of many needed to have a chance of attaining sales success in today’s market. Pamela also shares info from the new small business sales guide Batchbook has put together.

Below is an edited transcript of the conversation with Pamela. The full conversation can be heard by clicking on the audio player below the transcript.

* * * * *

Small Business Trends: Can you tell people a little bit about what BatchBook does?

Pamela O’Hara: BatchBook is a web-based CRM product designed for small businesses. We really focus our products on businesses that are figuring out what their sales process is going to be. Those that are still experimenting with a lot of different sales and marketing efforts, and really need a CRM to help them track those efforts and keep track of the relationships they’re building.

Small Business Trends: You guys are starting the year off helping out small businesses with a new small business guide to customer happiness and doing sales right. Is it harder or easier for a small business to keep customers happier today?

Pamela O’Hara: I don’t think it’s harder for small businesses, because honestly, small businesses really still have a much more personal, hands-on relationship with their customers in general. A lot of times, that’s why customers will come to a small business. Especially in retail industries or consulting industries. They’re looking for someone who can give them much more personal , hands-on attention. So those are the things that really do make for better relationships.

The flip side of that and the challenge can be that you also have fewer people on your team working with customers. You’re certainly stretching your resources a lot thinner. So whereas in large businesses you can have someone whose entire job description is just making customers happy. In small businesses, generally the same person doing that is also the person doing invoicing, running payroll, and… probably the person that started the company, a lot of times.

So, it can be challenging doing so many different things. But at the same time, I think that’s really the reason a lot of people started a small business. Even if you’re not the owner or the founder, you choose to work at a place that does have that more intimate relationship with the customer base.

Small Business Trends: Batch Book is offering this “Doing Sales Right” guide. Is that something your customers were asking for help with? 

Pamela O’Hara: It definitely is something that our customers have been looking for. Every person who signs up for a BatchBook account, we ask them a question at the very end of the signup process. We ask them, ‘What do you want to accomplish with BatchBook?’ Because it’s important for us to understand what our customers are trying to do. Oftentimes, the answer is, ‘I want to sell more. I want to grow my business.’

We actually had someone write in very recently, literally his answer was, ‘I want to grow fast and profitably, but without losing my soul.’ So I think people want to understand how to sell more, but they want to feel good about selling. So for everyone who signs up for an account and shares what they’re trying to do, we have a follow-up. Someone will send an email. We also do phone consultations with all of our customers to help them set up their BatchBook account.

The first question in that process is also, ‘What are you trying to accomplish?’ And again, so many people will say, ‘I want to sell more.’ And we say, ‘Okay, well what’s your plan for doing that?’ And they say, ‘I bought a CRM. That’s my plan.’

So we really want people to understand that BatchBook, or a CRM product, is really a tool that will help you figure out your sales strategy, and figure out how to grow your business. But it’s not a plan. That’s sort of like saying, a hammer is what’s going to help you build an addition to your house. You need the blueprints. A hammer is a tool that will help you get to that new addition, but, you really need to have a plan.

Our entire team was involved in development of this new guide. It was not just the marketing department. It was the product department, it was our customer experience team. We all were involved in putting together a real step-by-step process that will help small businesses, all different types of small businesses, understand what they should be thinking about to put together this sales plan.

Small Business Trends: What percentage of those folks actually have a defined sales process, versus those who don’t have one?

Pamela O’Hara: We actually asked our customer base how many have a formal sales process. It was under 10% who had a process that they refer to more than once. Again, people feel like, ‘Well, you know, I bought a product. That is my strategy.’

Small Business Trends: You detailed about six key areas. That is finding leads, taking the right leads, making the pitch, the follow-up, the hand-off and making friends. If you had to pick the one area where you think people are doing well, and then pick the one area where you think they need the most help, what would they be?

Pamela O’Hara: I think people probably think of sales, and they probably spend most of their thinking in what we’re calling the marketing phase. That’s the social media postings, blog posts, email marketing, newspaper ads, radio ads, all of those things that you’re doing to get your word out. I think people do think a lot about that. What are the right channels? Where is my customer? What newsletters do they read or how are they deciding to buy products?

I think people spend a lot of their thinking on that side of things, and then they just don’t really have a good sense of, ‘Okay, someone’s interested. What do I do with them? I don’t want to be too aggressive. I don’t want to badger them with 60 different automated emails, but I would like them to buy my product.’ There’s a lot of things that are going to happen between that person being interested in your service or your product and that person actually buying it and walking away satisfied with the purchase.

You know, if you’re an Etsy business, there’s the first time they see your products. They may see it on Pinterest, they may see it on Etsy. But how hard is it for them to actually get it and enjoy it at home? They have to buy it. How are they going to pay for it? Are you making it easy for them to pay for it? Can they just do a quick PayPal link, or are you going to make them pull out a different credit card or are you going to invoice them separately… how are you shipping?

These are all part of the sales process. This is all part of that person’s experience with getting your product. And you really should think about all of the details all the way through that process. I think one of the especially hard part for small businesses is they rely on a lot of different vendors, different people in that process. You may not do fulfillment. You may sell T-shirts. But you have a print shop, and you have a separate mail service that does all the deliveries, or you use FedEx or UPS.

What is that customer’s experience with those services? Are you providing enough information? Are they getting the right T-shirt? The right size? Are they getting a nice note from your company with that T-shirt that says, ‘We’re thrilled that you purchased our product.’ That makes a difference. That makes a difference when that person opens that box. What are they’re going to think about your company the next time they’re looking for a T-shirt, or when they’re looking for T-shirts for a friend?

They’re all part of the sales process. It’s not just which social media site should I be posting my Etsy products in.

Small Business Trends: So there’s a lot of great information in here that you walk people through. How can people get this guide?

Pamela O’Hara: It’s available on our website, BatchBook.com. To get directly to the sales guide, you just go to SalesGuide.BatchBook.com.

This interview on sales process is part of the One on One interview series with thought-provoking entrepreneurs, authors and experts in business today. This transcript has been edited for publication. To hear audio of the full interview, click on the player above. 

5 Tips for Landing Pages That Convert

After landing in an unfamiliar airport, there’s always a moment of confusion and hesitation when I exit the jet ramp.

Do I turn left or right to get to baggage claim?

Fortunately there are always enough locals who know the lay of the terminal to lead the wayâ€"even if the airport signage is confusing or nonexistent.

However, when someone arrives on a website landing page, there isn’t a herd of people to follow around. Follow these five tips and visitors who land on your website will make it to their desired destination, which is really your desired destination.

Landing Page 101

A landing page is a single webpage specifically written and designed for visitors coming from something like a keyword-based ad, search results page, social media entry, or other inbound link. The important word here is “specific.” The visitor has been “promised” a specific benefit available by visiting your website.

For example, an investment advisor might create a free white paper download entitled, “10 Stocks to Avoid This Year and Why.” By downloading the white paper the investment advisor gains an email address and therefore a prospect. You can see that landing pages need to be part of your digital marketing plan, for both your traditional site and your mobile site.

If “location, location, location” is the key to valuable real estate, “design, design, design” is the key to valuable landing pagesâ€"which, by the way, are probably the most valuable real estate on your website.

Enough background, let’s get to the essential landing page design tips.

1. Single Focus

You want visitors to your landing page to do one thing and one thing only. Your design needs to reflect that. This is not the place to tell people that you are an expert in A-to-Z or have products that will cure every illness from malaria in Africa to beach erosion in New Jersey. Avoid the temptation of trying to do anything else. Period.

2. Great Headline

Your first salvo in the war to covert your landing page visitor is a fantastic headline. It must be engaging. You can use a variety of literary tactics to accomplish this, such as humor, fear, curiosity, and others. Browse your Facebook news feed and check out the headlines of articles people are sharing. Steal the key headline phrases.

3. Make Benefits Obvious

H. L. Mencken said, “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.” That’s harsh, and while its corollary is a bit less harsh, it is undeniably true: Plenty of folks have gone broke overestimating the intelligence of the American public. Therefore, in plain English tell people how their lives will be far better when they accept your offer. Distill the benefits down to a few powerful words and then:

• Use bullet points,
• Almost always.

4. Red Button

Your landing page needs a clear call to action with one red buttonâ€"or at least a button of a bright, contrasting color. The button can either submit a form or take the visitor to the page that’s home to the form.

5. Design Above the Fold

Although you may be browsing the Internet viewing a super-octane, high-definition mega-monitor, many of your prospects are using an 800Ã-600 or 1024Ã-768-resolution screen. Keep all the essential elements of your landing page immediately visible when it loads in a browser. Don’t make people scroll to discover your benefits or find your “download now” button.

Nowhere is the statement that you only have one chance to make a first impression more applicable than it is for landing pages. Don’t stray from the proven design rules.

  Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources. ChamberofCommerce.com helps small businesses grow their business on the web and facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide. Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davehamster/501268105/ ”Manchester Airport,” © 2007 David Merrett, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Book Review: Ted Shelton’s “Business Models for the Social Mobile Cloud” Transforms Your Business With the Best of Technology

If you are struggling as a small business owner on how to get your business to the next level, then pick up a copy of Ted Shelton’s “Business Models for the Social Mobile Cloud”.

This book is about how the combined impact of social technologies, the mobile Internet, and cloud computing are creating incredible new business opportunities. Sharing a wide variety of tips and ideas, this book will help you to transform from pen and paper to the online era, using social, mobile and the cloud. It shows how creating a digital business will allow you to boost your business and generate opportunities you didn’t know existed.

Check out my full video review here, or watch below:

Criminals start to attack Android phone users via Windows

January 24, 2014

New malware that attacks Android phone users through their Windows operating systems has been revealed by Symantec

Researchers at the anti-virus company revealed the ‘Trojan.Droidpak' bug in a January 23 blog post, and detailed how it infects Windows PCs and laptops before downloading the malware onto any Android phone that connects to the aforementioned devices via the USB port.

The attack is narrowly focused on developers who use the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) and Java Development Kit software, while the Fakebank malware that it injects aims to steal the credentials of online users of Korean banks.

But experts are highlighting the threat because they believe it may mark the onset of more widespread Windows-based attacks on Android users.

Symantec threat analyst Alan Neville told SCMagazineUK.com: “It's showing that attackers are taking other avenues in order to try and get malware onto Android phones, and not just relying on the users to either surf on malicious websites or download dodgy applications.

“They are trying to basically target Android devices on a wider scale where a lot more users will use Windows operating systems. We haven't seen a lot of Windows malware actually attempting to cross-platform into Android.”

Rob Miller, security consultant at information security consultancy MWR InfoSecurity, agreed and told SCMagazineUK.com that malware authors are now taking Android as seriously as Windows when it comes to attacks.

“The initial view of this is it is potentially very interesting and it definitely shows a sign that malware writers are looking at attacking Android phones as seriously as they would attack desktop PCs,” he said.

Miller said the exploit represents a “very quick, very dirty, scattershot approach to targeting developers”.

Neville, meanwhile, added that Android devices are tempting to cyber attackers because they are easier to exploit than other smartphones.

“When you compare the likes of other phones, Android is quite open to download applications not just from Google Play, but users download applications from third-party stores as well, and those stores can contain malicious Trojanised applications.”

Last week's Cisco 2014 Annual Security Report also underlined the growing appeal of Android among attackers, finding that 99 percent of all mobile malware currently targets Android devices.

The Fakebank discovery follows a report by FireEye researchers earlier this month that a long-standing Android vulnerability - which allows hackers to potentially take control of any Android application that accesses standard adverts downloaded from stores like Google Play - is now being actively exploited.

The JavaScript Binding Over HTTP and related JavaScript Sidedoor malware may be present in “literally billions of app downloads“, FireEye told SCMagazineUK.com earlier this month.

CNN social media accounts hacked by Syrian Electronic Army

January 24, 2014

The Syrian Electronic Army has struck again, this time infiltrating CNN's social media accounts and online blogs.

The cable news network confirmed on Thursday that its primary Facebook account, Twitter feeds and some blogs (including, ironically, CNN's Security Clearance blog) were targeted, with the hackers subsequently posting content on these platforms.

This content, which included unauthorised tweets on the Twitter pages for, has since been deleted. One message from the SEA said that it targeted CNN due to its “viciously lying reporting aimed at the prolonging the suffering in Syria.”

The Syrian Electronic Army, a group that supports the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, has successfully targeted hacktivism group Anonymous, Al-Jazeera, the BBC, the Daily Telegraph, the Financial Times, the Guardian, the Human Rights Watch and the National Public Radio in recent times, and just last week managed to hack into Microsoft's social media accounts for the second time.

OneLogin CEO Thomas Pedersen told SCMagazineUK.com that this is the latest reminder that organisations need to properly employ password policies and perhaps even cloud-based identity and access management (IAM) solutions.

 “We have already seen several attacks on social media accounts this year - first Microsoft, and now CNN. These are high profile organisations, which is why they have been targeted," he said.

“This is another reminder that organisations should think about their access control and password policies, otherwise there is the potential for attacks to be successful. Companies have to manage access to their marketing applications, whether these are internal or external services."

Here Comes the Pain Point. . .Ouch

I don’t know when the term “pain point” entered our communal phrasebook, but it’s a term that’s just positively made for a cartoonist to have fun with.

You could have a doctor pointing at a graph in a meeting saying, “Does it hurt when I point here?”

You could have a company mistakenly install Pain Point instead of PowerPoint.

You could, if it’s an election year, do something with a cam-pain point.

Or you could have a fun afternoon drawing people wincing and writhing, like I did for this cartoon.

Here Comes the Pain Point. . .Ouch

I don’t know when the term “pain point” entered our communal phrasebook, but it’s a term that’s just positively made for a cartoonist to have fun with.

You could have a doctor pointing at a graph in a meeting saying, “Does it hurt when I point here?”

You could have a company mistakenly install Pain Point instead of PowerPoint.

You could, if it’s an election year, do something with a cam-pain point.

Or you could have a fun afternoon drawing people wincing and writhing, like I did for this cartoon.