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Google's Nest to buy Dropcam for $555 : report
(Reuters) - Google Inc's Nest Labs will buy home-monitoring camera startup Dropcam for about $555 million in cash, technology blog Re/code reported on Friday, taking another step deeper into consumers' homes.
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Google considering investment in new subsea cable - WSJ
(Reuters) - Google Inc is considering an investment in a new cable across the Pacific Ocean, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter.
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New Service From Google Helps Small Biz Experts Boost Their Personal Brand: Helpouts by Google
There’s many ways that small business owners can build their personal brands and make themselves a celebrity in their niche market.
Recently Google launched, “Helpouts byGoogle“. A new service, that you must apply to where people can schedule time with you to learn something. You can charge for it or give it away for free.
Leveraging it’s Google hangout technology, Google says that Helpouts by Google makes it easy to get instant help over live video from experts — both individuals and businesses. Helpouts removes barriers such as geography and time zone, streamlines payment and scheduling, and makes it easy and fun to get help from people with the time and desire to help. We have experts in categories such as Home & Garden, Computers & Electronics, Health & Counseling, Nutrition & Fitness, Fashion & Beauty, Art & Music, Cooking and Education.
If you’ve been wanting to expand your business and share your knowledge, for free or a fee, Helpouts by Google seems like an easy way to get started. Let me know about your first Helpout session.
The post New Service From Google Helps Small Biz Experts Boost Their Personal Brand: Helpouts by Google appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.
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UPS Says These 5 Things Matter To Online Shoppers. Which Ones Are You Doing Effectively?
Mobile experience is lacking
While smartphones play a big role in the online experience, user interfaces have some catching up to do to win over consumers. Online shoppers who use multiple devices said they would prefer to shop on a desktop computer over mobile because larger and clearer images help them comparison shop. Therefore, it's no surprise that when shopping on mobile devices, 41% of respondents said they prefer a retailer's full website vs. a mobile website (34%) or mobile app (25%).
Social media influences sales
While retailers have had a hard time connecting social media to sales, the study clearly shows that it does have an impact as one-third of all shoppers and one-half of Millennials said purchase decisions are influenced by social media. Consumers also are likely to share their opinions on product and brands on social media. Satisfied shoppers who share their thoughts via social media are most likely to post on Facebook (86%) followed by Twitter (34%), Google + (23%), Pinterest (21%), and Instagram (19%).
Omnichannel drives brand loyalty
The demand for cross-channel convenience is becoming more prevalent for the savvy shopper. In fact, 40% of purchases are made crossing channels, whether searching in store and purchasing online or vice versa. "The retailers who embrace the various channels and options that customers favor will deliver a positive customer experience and ultimately drive sales and brand loyalty," said Susan Engleson, senior director at comScore.
Delivery costs and free shipping trump faster delivery
Free shipping continues to drive purchasing decisions — 58% have added items to their shopping carts to qualify for free shipping and 83% are willing to wait an additional two days for delivery if shipping is free. More than one-half of online shoppers said they want to see the total purchase cost early in the checkout process, and the majority prefer seeing the expected arrival date rather than the number of days it will take for the product to arrive.
While consumers prefer most of their packages delivered to their home (74%), there is a growing trend for alternate delivery options. Only about 43% of shoppers in the survey were satisfied with the flexibility of changing delivery days or rerouting packages. "Consumers demand more from their package delivery experience, and today's online shopper expects us to respond by creating solutions convenient for them. This is why we've created UPS My Choice® and the UPS Access Point™ Network," said Derrick Johnson, UPS vice president of global segments.
Return policies affect purchase decisions
Consumers now expect free returns with 82% respondents saying they would complete the purchase if they could return the item to a store or have free return shipping, and 66% said they view a retailer's returns policy before making a purchase. The majority of shoppers want retailers to make it easy for them to return a purchase by including a label in the box.
The post UPS Says These 5 Things Matter To Online Shoppers. Which Ones Are You Doing Effectively? appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.
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Point of Sale Systems: How Small Retailers Use “iPad Cash Registers” To Operate Better
One of the centerpieces of a retailers growth is the check out process. Unfortunately many retailers still use a traditional cash register – yep that plastic (or metal) kind that has some buttons and spits out a ink stained receipt. Fortunately, many retailers are finding that new point of sales solutions, often powered by an iPad and running through an online service are best.
They provide faster real time inventory management, built in loyalty options for customers, and can easily grow with the company.
Some of the leading vendors in this space include Shopkeep POS, LightSpeed, and NCR Silver.
Justin explained that other benefits of a POS solution include it’s ability to integrate with other parts of the business and fulfill multiple roles. For example it can help with:
- Being used as a time clock for employees
- Integrate with your favorite accounting solution
- Provide real time inventory management data
- Provide faster and more visibility to your business operations (gross sales, profit, and more)
Justin is also very excited about the ability for a POS solution to delight and wow customers. When customers are making a purchase, it’s a nice to be able to give them special perks based on their past buying patterns. A properly implemented POS system can help seamlessly do this.
Dax Dasilva, founder of LightSpeed answered some questions for me about this evolving world of cloud based POS solutions
How do you choose the right POS platform for your retail store?
There have been so many POS innovations recently, but it is important to remember that mobile check-out is really just the baseline.To differentiate, merchants should be looking for a technology partner that innovates on everything else that happens long before customers reach the register, such as inventory management, store operations and providing a more personalized shopping experience. Retailers should also take into consideration what comes with the technology that you bring into your store. For instance, do you want a payments system that interrupts your brand experience with its own logo or disjointed look and feel? Or in the case of retail giants like Amazon entering the POS space, think about the impact of them gaining access to you SKUs, customer profiles and sales. What happens to the business in the long term?
2. Are online POS systems, in general, all the same?
POS systems are not one-size-fits all. Some alternate systems specialize more in online retail, or brick-and-mortar stores with disposable or less complicated inventory, like coffee shops and restaurants. LightSpeed was designed to be brick-and-mortar first, and we have deep capabilities in terms of complex and high-volume inventory, pain points for many serious retailers. Merchants should think about their needs today and where they see their business in the future before settling on a vendor. LightSpeed also offers retailers the opportunity to completely brand their POS- as more and more retailers use tablets to engage with and check out customers on the showroom floor, it is increasingly important that your POS is an extension of your brand, not of someone else’s.
3. What are some best practices for getting the most out of a POS
Start by choosing a POS that supports your specific needs and inventory. Are you online of offline? Do you have one store or 10? How many SKUs do you have? Also, consider the amount of training you’ll have to do with sales people. Choose a solution that enables your sales team to check customers out quickly and become experts on products and inventory, not one they’ll have to spend a ton of time learning how to use. Make sure you know everything you solution has to offer, including applications and settings that can help you create a more curated, personalized shopping experience. Also, take advantage of open API (if available) and customization options to make your POS right for you. For example, we recently updated LightSpeed Cloud for iPad, and retailers can now transform their mobile POS into a seamless part of the in-store experience with custom logos, product images and personalized inventory look ups.
Last, make sure you consistently use your POS and input as much data as possible. The more inventory and customer profile information you can get into your system, the better you analytics will be. Then you can start personalizing promotions and customer engagement and using tablets as an extension of the sales team in-store.
Watch our interview with One Girl Cookies about their experience with an online point of sale system.
The post Point of Sale Systems: How Small Retailers Use “iPad Cash Registers” To Operate Better appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.
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This Phone Changes Retail, Federal Contractors to Get New Rule
Amazon launched a new phone this week. Meanwhile, the comment period began for a plan to raise minimum wage for federal contractors. As a small business owner, you may not have time to follow all the news pertinent to you. The Small Business Trends editorial team has your back. Enjoy our roundup of the week’s top events.
Tech
Amazon Launches a Phone! Fire Has a Scan and Buy Feature. The new Amazon Fire Phone announced this afternoon in Seattle by the online mega-retailer has specs that put it on par with Motorola’s Moto X. They include a 4.7-inch Gorilla Glass HD resolution display, rubbery surface and metallic buttons. There’s also a 13-megapixel rear facing camera. But it’s what you can do with that camera that really seems to make this phone unique.
Video Will Be 79 Percent of Online Traffic by 2018, Says Cisco. If you’re not using online video to market your small business or brand, you’re likely missing out on a lot of traffic. And now is probably a good time to get started. A new study from Cisco, the company’s VNI Global IP Traffic and Service Adoption Forecasts, 2013–2018, reveals this. The study says that by 2018, 79 percent of all Internet traffic will be video-related.
Warning: Be Sure to Back Up Sensitive Documents on Your Phone. Researchers say a new kind of malware will encrypt all the files on your phone and then demand a ransom to release them. With an increasing reliance on mobile devices among small business owners, one danger is the loss of valuable documents carried on your mobile device.
Policy
DOL to Seek Comments on Minimum Wage For Government Contracts. The Department of Labor will seek comments on a proposed rule raising minimum wage for employees of federal contractors to $10.10. The comment period is expected to extend from June 17 to July 17. The rule change is the result of an executive order signed by President Barrack Obama Feb. 12.
Get Ready for Lower Capital Investment Expensing . The amount the U.S. tax law allows businesses to deduct in a year for investments in new property, equipment and computer software is falling. From 2010 to 2013, businesses could deduct up to $500,000 in investments in a single year instead of depreciating that investment over time. But this year, due to changes in the tax code, that amount could fall to just $25,000 a year.
Web & Mobile
Amazon App Has Coupons, Reviews Like Groupon, Yelp. Does this sound familiar? An Amazon app gives customers coupons and also has reviews of some local businesses. Called Amazon Local, it is a free download from the Apple iTunes Store. Amazon says the app allows customers to: “…view and buy offers in seconds, whether it's a fast-selling Amazon MP3 deal, a special chef dinner, or a luxurious massage.
Microsoft Releases Outlook Web App for Some Android Users. We’ve heard that Microsoft is planning to release an Android version of its Windows Office bundle before the end of the year. Now we see an Android version of the Outlook Web App, Microsoft’s email and calendar software popular with business users, is up on Google Play.
You Might be Using Small Business Workbench and Not Even Know It. You may regularly use accounting software to keep track of simple debits and credits in your business. But creators of a new e-tool claim theirs will let you do even more.
Pangea Today: Their News. Their Voices. Your Language.. “We want to make people more aware of what's going on in other parts of the world. And we want to make them excited to hear about another culture.” That’s the goal of Pangea Today, says Nelly Yusupova, head of marketing strategy and technology for the newly-launched news aggregation website.
Legal
Judge Says LinkedIn Can Be Sued Over Aggressive Email Tactics. You’ve worked hard to maintain a good online reputation. That means you’re careful not to be constantly updating your social media streams with repetitive marketing pitches or overbearing posts. And that includes your email etiquette, too. It also means not inundating your contacts’ inboxes with one marketing message after another.
Rule Changes
What Kickstarter’s Revised Rules Mean to You. Plenty of ventures have used the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter to get up and running. Projects range from a company offering a new home brewing kit to one creating an innovative new game console. The site’s success has also spawned a wide variety of competing crowdfunding sites, giving those interested in raising money for a business or other project more options.
Wikipedia to PR Firms: Sockpuppets Not Welcome. Wikipedia doesn’t want any more Sockpuppets. Hey, that’s not our term — it’s a term Wikipedia actually used. First, some marketers and businesses apparently faked tons of reviews on sites like Yelp. Now, marketing and PR firms may be using hundreds of fake accounts to try to improve clients’ images on Wikipedia.
Economy
Small Businesses: Is the Great Recession Over for You? Here’s some positive news: small business optimism is back to pre-Great Recession levels. Small business owners are feeling more optimistic than anytime since September 2007. That’s according to the latest Small Business Optimism Index from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). And that is indeed good news to see conditions bouncing back.
Social
Chirpify Adds Analytics to Social Commerce, Acquires Measureful. The social commerce space is heating up. We recently learned about social commerce site Soldsie. The site lets customers buy from your Facebook or Instagram site just by commenting. Now, Chirpify, a social commerce site that’s been around for about four years, is adding analytics to its social media selling tools with the acquisition of social analytics startup, Measureful.
Richard Owen, Satmetrix: Net Promoter Score’s Role in the Age of Social Customers. The Net Promoter Score has been used for years to help companies understand the role customer loyalty plays in the financial health of their organizations – assisting them in determining what actions should be taken to drive referrals and longer customer relationships.
Entrepreneurship
Hotel Pattee: Community Support Drives Business Onward. Would you go to a town where you knew almost nobody just to purchase a business that had already failed twice? You would if you were entrepreneurs Jay and Denise Hartz. Prior to an initial trip in August 2013 to Perry, Iowa with plans to purchase the historic Hotel Pattee, the Hartzs literally knew a handful of people in town.
The Role of Entrepreneurship in Rising Income Inequality. Income inequality is growing in America, and it has much of the chattering class in an uproar. Between 1981 and 2011, the share of income (including capital gains, but excluding government transfers) of the highest earning one percent increased from 8.9 to 19.
Will Your Next Business Suit Be an Executive Hoodie? Whoever thinks that hoodies don't belong in the workplace has probably never seen the Executive Pinstripe Hoodie from Betabrand. The Executive Hoodie is made from suit fabric and retails for $168. Mark Zuckerberg provided the inspiration behind the hoodie, and its launch coincided with the social media giant's IPO.
Are You a Stay at Home Mom in Need of a Voice and Business Outlet? Entrepreneurship has been a growing trend with moms for decades. Holly Hurd was one of those moms. She started her own financial trading company out of college and eventually developed and sold her own hedge fund. She also had several other entrepreneurial ventures throughout the years, including a line of furniture and books on business related topics.
Awards
Live Awards Coverage: Meet a Few Rule Breakers. Successful entrepreneurs are risk takers and rule breakers. And the Rule Breaker Awards celebrate the success of business owners who do things “their way.” This was the first year for the event. The inaugural Rule Breaker Awards ceremony was held on June 10, 2014 at the Tribeca Grand Hotel in New York City.
Outdoor tablet image via shutterstock
The post This Phone Changes Retail, Federal Contractors to Get New Rule appeared first on Small Business Trends.
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Adobe Reports Strong Q2 Growth Thanks to Cloud Services
Adobe has cloud services to thank for the strong showing in its second quarter ending May 30. The software and online services provider reported $1.07 billion in revenue in its second quarter earnings report this week.
That puts revenue above the targeted $1 billion to $1.05 billion range in earnings the company had expected for the quarter. The company says subscriptions for its Adobe Creative Cloud accounted for a considerable part of the growth.
The subscription-based service focuses on giving creative professionals, including small business owners, access to online tools, software, and storage. Sign ups for the service climbed from 464 thousand since the end of Adobe’s first quarter. Total subscriptions in the service now total 2,308,000.
Meanwhile, quarterly revenue of the Adobe Marketing Cloud for the quarter was $283 million, representing a 23 percent year-over-year growth, the company said.
The Adobe Marketing Cloud includes a variety of digital marketing services like analytics, an Adobe Experience Manager, social media marketing and advertising.
In an official statement released with the earnings report, Adobe President and Chief Executive Officer Shantanu Narayen explained:
"Adobe's first-half upside was driven by accelerated adoption of Creative Cloud and Adobe Marketing Cloud. We're excited about our upcoming product pipeline and expect a strong second half of the year."
In the same release, Adobe Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Mark Garrett added:
“Our earnings performance in Q2 reflects the financial leverage we have in our model. With Adobe's Creative Cloud transformation behind us, our focus moving forward is to drive strong revenue and earnings growth with our market-leading cloud offerings.”
Adobe’s move toward the cloud and away from more traditional software has been a gradual one.
The company’s acquisition of Behance, an online portfolio site for creative professionals, in 2012, was part of an attempt to add community features to Adobe’s Creative Cloud services.
Another less obvious step might have been Adobe’s decision to close down its Acrobat Worskspaces earlier this year. The Google Drive-like service was primarily used as a place to store and collaborate on Adobe Acrobat files.
But as an official post on the company Website explained:
"Adobe is exiting the document authoring business for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation files. Our focus will be to continue to provide world-class PDF creation and conversion products and services that enable our customers to take actions on their files anywhere on any device."
A wide range of companies are moving to the cloud with services for small businesses. They run the gamut from older companies like Adobe, that are slowly transforming their services, to newer arrivals like Dropbox which pioneered specific cloud services.
All offer businesses the opportunity to say goodbye to the cost and worry of managing their own software and other technology needs in favor of purchasing exactly the services you need and letting someone else handle the headaches.
Image: Adobe
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Want to Know How to Get a Billion Visitors to Your Site?
Matthew Inman, once a Web designer and a developer, is now devoting his time to his true passion – creating humorous content on his site, The Oatmeal. His website has over a billion visitors a year.
So how does he do it?
Slow and Steady Wins the Race
If you think he earned popularity in one day, then you’d be wrong. Not all of his views provided huge revenue for him. He realized it’s only his loyal fans that visit his site at least 10-20 times that are most likely to purchase his merchandise.
Getting new customers is hard, but keeping them coming back to your site is even harder. You need to be patient. Do not get frustrated if you don't see good traffic continuously. All you need to do is maintain high quality content to keep visitors coming back for more.
Make Your Content Interesting and Interactive
You will find most of the content on Inman’s site is in the form of humorous quizzes. This increases user engagement. You take the quiz and are then given the option to share your results via social networks or by posting a badge on your website:
Inman is not the only one doing this. In 2013, the most viewed articles and posts for renowned sites including TIME, National Geographic and New York Times were not articles – but pieces of interactive content.
So what are you waiting for? Your apparel website could easily host a quiz testing your fan's knowledge about styles and brands. Isn't that much more interesting than simply reading an article?
Content is King
Inman’s site has content that is highly interactive, memorable content. He found this type of content to have widespread appeal, centered on something people can easily relate to and find entertaining. For instance, he found that subjects like common spelling mistakes can go viral. Everyone can relate to spelling mistakes, right?
One thing about him is the creative format with his content – the way he packages it and the humor he injects into it. In this context, you can try preparing infographics and videos to emphasize your points and make your content even more engaging.
Share Your Content Via Social Media Platforms
Word of mouth, and most importantly social media networks, are extremely powerful weapons in your content marketing arsenals. Sharing content with friends on these platforms can serve to get you ahead fast with little effort.
Inman initially got traction through Digg and StumbleUpon. Today, his website has more than 700,000 fans on Facebook and 315,000 on Twitter.
Design Plays a Vital Role
Tile design
A tile design with a headline approach allows your homepage to showcase many posts, even as high as 25. You can add tiles at the bottom of each post as well – each one inviting visitors to click on the headline.
Header
A larger header makes strong visual statement to draw the attention of visitors. You can also opt for a slightly shorter header as it provides more room to see tiled post images on your homepage.
Opt-In Box
Instead of the conventional email opt-in box with a field that asks for your email address right on your homepage, consider placing a pair of text links that read “Email” at the top and bottom of it, that lead to a dedicated landing page to get more email subscribers.
First Impression is the Last One
While subject matter and design are vital for content, the most important factor for getting more eyes on it is the headline. In places like Facebook and Twitter, headline is the first thing that people see, so you need a headline that can make a great impression.
Remember, at the heart of every good headline, is the promise of a benefit to the reader- the promise of entertainment, satisfaction and quickness.
Make Money Through Merchandise
Do not make content your sole source of income. If you look at Inman's marketing strategy, around 75% of his profit comes from merchandise.
How about selling belts, earrings, bags, make-ups, and scarfs along with clothing? Sections like, “how to wear a scarf in five different ways” or “best way to apply eye-shadow” will attract an audience.
Creating interesting content is good, but creating content that is both interesting and educational is even better.
Show Empathy When Connecting with People
From the marketing perspective, what's important to focus on is the psychological factor at play. Whenever you will think about connecting with people and making sales, empathy for your prospects should be on the top of your list. Empathy establishes rapport with your customers and makes them aware that you understand their problems, likes and dislikes.
However, to effectively use empathy, you need to produce content that your audience loves to hate. More effective may be something that is popular, that your audience hates. Current events and pop culture are great sources of material that resonate with audiences and is more likely to spread.
People feel a connection through their common disdain for the same thing.
Say Something That People are Thinking But Not Saying
Highlighting something that everyone is thinking but no one is articulating is always an effective way to get attention to your site. This is because it involves discussion that is slightly controversial.
Inman creates both popular controversial and non-controversial content that can gain traction online. For instance, if you're a new shoe company, a piece of content highlighting the designer shoe industry and their superfluous prices might be in order. This probably won't get you first rank on Google, but highlighting something that hasn't been openly talked about by people can make you a leader who's authentic and honest.
Whatever your strategy, creating remarkable and creative content are the biggest factors to bring people a moment of joy to their day.
Phones Photo via Shutterstock
The post Want to Know How to Get a Billion Visitors to Your Site? appeared first on Small Business Trends.
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