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Conferences can help you meet people in your industry, find new leads, learn about new trends and more. Finding the right conferences, though, is somewhat of a challenge. Lanyrd can help you sort conferences by interest and location, plus find out what conferences your friends and colleagues are attending. What’s more, you can track what’s going on at the conference even if you can’t attend. Once the conference is over, Lanyrd can help you find slides, video and podcasts from the conference. If you spoke at the conference, this tool is a great way to help build up your speaker portfolio.
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Small Business News
Employees Are Feeling Confident. Will It Help or Hurt Your Business?
May 25th, 2012 :: Rieva LesonskyBy Rieva Lesonsky
Employees are feeling better about themselves, their workplaces and the job market in general, according to a recent study by HR and staffing firm Randstad, reported in BenefitsPro. Will their happier outlook mean good news—or bad—for your business?
The survey found 75 percent of U.S. workers feel greater job security, which is a positive sign for small businesses. Also positive: 74 percent say they are proud to work for their current companies, 78 percent feel inspired to do their best work every day, and 68 percent enjoy going to work—up 3 percent from the prior survey in March.
However, these positive attitudes could have negative fallout for employers, as 54 percent of employees believe the job market will turn around this year. While they’re not quite ready to jump ship—58 percent say they don’t think they could find a better job right away—45 percent of U.S. workers say they plan to consider their options once the employment picture improves.
The survey concludes that increased confidence means employers have a chance to re-engage and energize their employees. But it’s also important to treat them right, as newly confident employees are seeking more rewards in order to stay in their current jobs. For example, just 20 percent say they would accept reduced benefits in order to keep their jobs, and only 10 percent say they would accept a demotion.
What does it all mean to you? If you’ve been expecting employees to do more for less since the recession began, now may be the time to ease up so you don’t lose their goodwill. If you still can’t quite afford to offer monetary rewards such as bonuses or raises, figure out other ways you can reward employees that don’t require an outlay of cash. Extra time off, flexible hours, fun activities or other unpaid benefits can keep your team energized and happy to be working for you–even as the economy improves.
Image by Flickr user enokson (Creative Commons)
The Best (and Worst) States for Small Business
May 24th, 2012 :: Maria Valdez HaubrichBy Maria Valdez Haubrich
Are you considering moving or expanding your business? Then you might want to get out your ten-gallon hat. A recent survey to uncover the most small-business-friendly states, conducted by Thumbtack and The Kauffman Foundation, found Texas and Idaho ranked highest overall.
The 2012 Thumbtack Small Business Survey polled 6,000 small business owners nationwide about conditions in their states including:
- Ease of starting a business
- Hiring costs
- Regulations
- Training and networking programs available
- The region’s current economic health
You might be surprised to find that taxes weren’t the only—or even the most important—factor small business owners cared about. Easy-to-understand licensing regulations and helpful training programs were also seen as critical in creating a small-business-friendly environment. In fact, Small businesses said licensing requirements were nearly twice as important as tax-related regulations in determining their state or city government’s overall business-friendliness.
Here are some of the findings:
- Texas had three of the top five cities (Dallas, San Antonio and Austin), while California was home to the bottom three (Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento).
- Colorado Springs and Washington, DC, had the nation’s healthiest small businesses.
- Idaho, Nevada and Delaware had the most small business-friendly tax codes; California and New Mexico had the least-friendly tax codes.
- Nebraska small business owners were the most optimistic about their business improving during 2012, while Iowans were the least optimistic.
- The South was the most small-business-friendly region of the country, while New England was rated the most hostile.
View the full survey results, including state-by-state breakdowns, here.
Image by Flickr user cote (Creative Commons)
Project Eve: Social Network for Female Entrepreneurship: Small Business Resource
May 23rd, 2012 :: Maria Valdez HaubrichStarted by two entrepreneurial women looking to promote, support and celebrate women business owners, Project Eve is a platform for female entrepreneurs to communicate and collaborate (minus the sharp elbows). The site is hoping to connect women across all industries and geographies looking to share their expertise and experiences, ask questions and help each other out. The mission: to create a trusted community of women who want to see each other succeed. Sign up and find out about events, join a local Project Eve group, get feedback on an idea, receive an e-newsletter and more.
5 Ways to Create Shareable Photos for Pinterest
May 23rd, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
As Pinterest continues to grow in popularity, marketers are discovering new ways to use the fun, social network to drive traffic to their sites. Since using the Pin It button automatically embeds an originating link, every image pinned on your site is an opportunity to introduce new customers and clients to your business.
Pin-worthy images tell a story and intrigue the viewer, making them the type of content people want to save and share. In other words, you need attention-grabbing, memorable images on your website to make it Pinterest-friendly. Here are five ways to help you select images that pack a punch on Pinterest:
1. Sum it up with an image: A picture is worth a thousand words, right? But, your blog posts and web copy have been carefully crafted with relevant information and targeted keywords. So, how can you use an image to convey the whole message you just wrote 500 words about?
Unless you can find a perfect image that does capture the essence of your writing, you may want to try applying text to your images. Adding easy-to-read, bold text to a photo can help it tell a story and invite Pinterest users to click through to your site. Try Pixlr or Gimp for modifying and creating custom graphics for your site.
2. Check your photos for formatting issues: Pinners may become frustrated if they love your content, try to pin it, then realize it is not pinnable. To root out pinning problems, use the following URL:
http://pinterest.com/source/YourWebsite.com/ (replace “YourWebsite.com” with your own address)
If you have the Pin It button installed, you can simply visit each page of your site and see what comes up as you click Pin It. Check each image to see how it will looked once a visitor finds and pins it. Keep in mind that Pinterest allows a maximum width of 554 pixels for all of its images – some resizing may be in order if your images go beyond that.
3. Discover your “Inner Pinner.” It’s easy to see how businesses in the fashion, home improvement, travel, and other visually-interesting industries can leverage Pinterest for marketing their products. But, what if you are an SEO company or a law firm?
It’s time to get creative and think outside the box. Social media is about people, and people have a wide range of interests. Just as you “listen” on other social networks, to learn what the community is discussing and finding interesting, spend some time browsing Pinterest to see what types of boards people are creating.
Consider what your customers do in their spare time, if they have families, or share common interests. And, don’t forget that infographics and how-to videos are also visually appealing, as well as pin-worthy.
4. Promote contests and giveaways on Pinterest. If your company uses contests and giveaways to increase traffic to your site, cast a wider net for these promotions by using Pinterest to spread the word. To see what other companies are promoting, search for “enter to win” or “giveaway” on Pinterest.
Incorporating Pinterest into your contest promotion is easy. You can share clear, compelling images of the event and the prize, so people can quickly see what they might win. Include the keywords, “contest,” “giveaway,” and “enter to win” in the description field. For added promotion, include a dollar amount for your prize, and Pinterest will automatically add a banner in the upper left-hand corner of the pin showing the amount.
5. Pin down the exact emotion you are trying to convey. No matter what your blog or website content is about, there is an emotion underlying the words. Whether it is power, simplicity, excitement, newness, affordability or lifesaving, pinning down the exact emotion to a single word or two will help you select an appropriate image.
For example, if you want to convey peaceful, relaxing emotions, you can use a photo of an adorable litter of puppies taking a nap. Cute animal pictures are very popular on Pinterest!
When you select images that evoke an emotional response, your images will be relatable to people, and therefore, share-worthy and pinnable.
***
Is your business using Pinterest yet? Do you have your own Pinterest page, or have you optimized your website for Pinterest? Share your pinnable ideas in the comments section below.
Image courtesy of digitaltrends.com
How to Treat Your Interns Right
May 23rd, 2012 :: Rieva LesonskyBy Rieva Lesonsky
The end of the school year is here, and that means it’s time for many small businesses to turn to a valuable labor source: interns. Hiring college students to work in your business, learning the ropes, is a rite of passage for students and small business owners alike, and can give you access to the energy, enthusiasm and tech skills of young people who can contribute a lot to your business.
But a growing number of companies, emboldened by the recession, are taking more than they’re giving from their interns. The New York Times recently reported on the growing practice of companies offering unpaid internships, having interns work 12 hours or more and using them solely for “grunt work” like fetching lunch and filing.
These aren’t just college students, either. The Times reports a growing number of college graduates are clamoring for internships in a tough labor market where the jobless rate for college grads age 24 and under is now 9.4 percent.
Are you exploiting your interns? Yes, entry-level work has always involved some degree of fetching and carrying, but if your internships aren’t offering anything of value, you could be running afoul of the law.
The major area to consider is whether your internships are paid or unpaid. State labor laws regulate this, so you first need to determine whether your state requires paying interns. If your state does allow unpaid internships, you also need to comply with federal Labor Department regulations.
In general, this means that:
- Unpaid interns must gain some type of vocational education from the internship.
- The internship is for the benefit of the interns.
- Interns can’t be used as substitutes for regular employees; instead, they have to be supervised by employees.
- The employer cannot derive immediate benefit from the intern’s work.
An unpaid internship may seem like a lot of trouble for you in the beginning, but if you handle it right, you can end up training someone who could become a valuable employee in the future. Stay on the right side of the law, and your company will be a desirable place for interns. Run afoul of the law, and you could ruin more than your business’s reputation.
Image by Flickr user Jessica Mullens (Creative Commons)
How to Get More Pins on Pinterest
May 22nd, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
It’s hard not to be intrigued by the creative hub of cultural and artistic curators that is Pinterest. Users are leveraging the site in imaginative ways, from cultivating boards for recipes they’d like to try to reinventing themselves with a collection of fashion trends.
But despite the wonders of pinning, marketers need to get real about what Pinterest can do for their brands. Sure, it’s a magical place, but what about the science behind promotion on Pinterest?
Leave it to Dan Zarella, the social media scientist, to study and produce concrete data to get Pinterest marketing results. In this article, I will share some of his useful discoveries and practical tips for getting more pins on Pinterest.
How long should descriptions be?
Descriptions help Pinners find your content and can give context to images you have pinned or repinned. Using keywords in your descriptions will make your content even more searchable. According to Zarella’s research, Pinterest descriptions that are the most repinnable tend to be around 200 characters long.
What types of images are the most pinnable?
Pinterest is basically an eye candy store, filled with inspiration for fashion, home decorating, art, and plenty of other creative pursuits. So, it’s no surprise that images having to do with design are the most pinnable.
Businesses in the wedding industry, or those offering interesting products, should have no trouble finding pinnable images. But those in other industries will need to get creative. If you are a financial services company, why not create boards of the things people can buy with their well-planned finances?
What types of pins are the most repinnable?
Even with plenty of pictures of cute animals, gorgeous dresses, and serene vacation destinations, images of food top them all as the most pinnable. People enjoy sharing and trying out new recipes, and anyone planning an event can appreciate a little bit of culinary inspiration.
Again, some creativity will be required from businesses whose connection to food is not as obvious, as say, a restaurant or gourmet cooking store. Insurance companies could create boards of healthy food, from heart-healthy recipes to diabetic-friendly fare.
What kind of content will be repinned?
When your images are repinned on Pinterest, suddenly a whole new audience opens up to enjoy your content. To get more repins, focus on content that attracts Likes rather than comments. Zarella found that “likeable” content gets more repins than “commentable” content, so simply aim to please rather than to get people talking. Pinterest is a visually-driven network, so save the chattiness for other social media.
How can I format my images to be more repinnable?
Believe it or not, size matters on Pinterest. When it comes to creating repinnable images, bigger is better. In fact, Zarella found taller images to be the most repinnable. A quick scan of your homepage on Pinterest provides the proof-the taller images stand out, drawing the viewer’s attention. In his research, Zarella found that the greater the pixels (upwards of 800), the greater the repins.
***
Are you already a pinning pro? What have you found to be useful in attracting more pins and repins on Pinterest? Share your tips in the comments section below.
Image courtesy of tidymom.net
Small Business Owners Hopeful About Access to Credit
May 22nd, 2012 :: Karen AxeltonBy Karen Axelton
Small business owners are becoming more optimistic about the availability of credit, a new survey by Gallup shows. The Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index poll conducted last month shows that small business owners’ perception of the ease of obtaining credit is the most positive it has been in three years.
The poll found a net difference of -7 percentage points between the 2 percent of small-business owners who say credit will be easy to get in the next 12 months and the 32 percent who say it will be difficult. Of course, that’s nowhere near the +45 of June 2007, before the recession began. The measure hasn’t been positive since a +14 reading in September 2008.
The poll also reflects a continuing trend, as the 32 percent who expect credit to be somewhat or very difficult to get in the next 12 months is down from 38 percent in January and 43 percent in November 2011.
That’s perception, but what about reality? Asked to look back over the past 12 months, 30 percent of small-business owners said that credit was somewhat or very difficult for their companies to get; 22 percent said it was somewhat or very easy to get. Thirty-four percent were either extremely or very confident they could get credit if needed; 39 percent were “somewhat” confident about this.
Small business owners are no strangers to borrowing: Three in four have previously borrowed money or used credit for their businesses. About half (47 percent) use just a little of the credit available to them, while 20 percent use most or all of it.
What does credit enable small business owners to do?
- 76 percent of owners say it has made it easier for them to run their businesses on a daily basis;
- 63 percent say it has helped them keep their businesses open;
- 50 percent say it has helped them expand their products and services, take more risks, and be more profitable;
- 33 percent say it helped their businesses with payroll; and
- 20 percent say it allowed them to hire.
Image by Flickr user Robert Scoble (Creative Commons)
