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Did You Hear? Free Web.com Small Business Forum Coming Soon!

August 29th, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

If you’re a small business owner in the Boise, Idaho, area, I hope you’ll take advantage of the opportunities to learn at the Web.com Small Business Forum, to be held in Boise, Idaho, on September 11 in conjunction with the Albertsons Boise Open presented by Kraft.

Jason Teichman, Web.com’s Chief Marketing Officer, will lead this free, interactive forum, which focuses on helping small businesses market their businesses online.

You’ll enjoy a presentation and Q&A on topics including:

  • What are the elements of a great website?
  • How do I increase traffic to my website and to my business?
  • Is my website “working” for my business?
  • How do I market my business on Google, Facebook and Twitter?

Register now! And if you know of other small business owners who might benefit from attending this forum, please share the information with them, too. Thanks!

Image by Flickr user Shashi Bellamkonda (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Events, Marketing, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Web Design | No Comments »

Recently at Women Grow Business

August 18th, 2012 ::

The Women Grow Business community blog is hosted by Network Solutions, a Web.com company. Every week we’ll bring you a quick update of our news for entrepreneurs and executives, often created by, for or with women in business and top female executives.

Women Grow Business Summer Events

This summer we’ve had the privilege of having three wonderful guests for our once a month Women Grow Business Twitter chats on – to which all entrepreneurs and business executives are welcome, naturally.

(We’d love to see you at the next one by the way – if you sign up on our Eventbrite page, we’ll remind you as each free online event you sign up for approaches.)

In June our guest expert was Sally Falkow, a 30 year public relations professional and one of the earliest PR professionals to successfully integrate blogging and social media into PR. She taught us “How to Get People to Care About Your News”.

July brought us Amy Vernon, digital strategist, the top female Digg submitter of all time, and the General Manager of Social Marketing for Internet Media Labs. She shared tips on Creating and Maintaining Genuine Connections in Social Media.

In August guest expert Sarah Robinson showed us how to get started building a fiercely loyal community. We’ll have a summary of the chat available early next week.

You can find our more about the authors, and how to reach them on Twitter, from our Twitter chat summaries and announcements on the Women Grow Business blog.

More Business Advice from Women Grow Business contributors

The eWomen Network had their 12th Annual conference this year in Dallas. Somehow, despite her hectic schedule, the day before the conference, co-founder Sandra Yancey found the time to grant us an interview. Among her pearls of wisdom were three tips to help business owners to get to the next level.

Our regular contributors provided us with valuable guidance as well. Joanna Pineda told us how a few simple phone calls often turn out to be the most important part of her month. Mayra Ruiz McPherson walked us through a case study of how a local business achieved national media coverage through precise targeting. Shannon Mouton expressed the importance of knowing when – and how – to take a short break.

From Libby Wagner, we learned the ins and outs of influencing commitment on a team. And Thursday Bram made excellent suggestions for us all to take personal responsibility for getting more women speakers on conference panels.

Pictures were published from a local DC book-signing of Marketing In the Round. We also began a weekly list of resources for Women in Business that includes news from active community members, as well as recent updates from around the web.

That’s all we have this time – see you next week! Don’t forget to subscribe to Women Grow Business via email on our home page, follow us on Twitter, or join us on our Facebook page.

This entry was cross-posted from the Web.com blog.

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Posted in small business, Tweetchat | 1 Comment »

REMINDER: Women Grow Business Twitter Chat at Noon Eastern, 9 am Pacific Today

August 13th, 2012 ::

Cross-posted from Women Grow Business.

Today is the monthly Women Grow Business Twitter Chat, and today’s special guest is Sarah Robinson. We’ll be talking about How to Build a Fiercely Loyal Community.   As always it takes place at Noon eastern for one hour.

Most month we feature a female expert, but of course all are welcome to our monthly discussions, whether we have a guest or not.

Not sure how to participate in our Twitter Chat? Here are some tips.

How do you follow The #WgBiz Twitter chats?

  1. Log into Twitter, Tweetchat, Tweetgrid, Tweetdeck, or any other Twitter tool that lets you isolate a hashtag.
  2. Follow our Twitter hashtag #wgbiz. (In Twitter you can use the search at the top of the screen, in Tweetchat or Tweetgrid, once you’re logged in, you’ll see an area for you to enter the hashtag at the top of the screen. In Tweetdeck, you can create a column that searches for that hashtag)
  3. Arrive as early as 11:45 a.m. to introduce yourself, send us a link to your site, and share your latest project, as well as to meet the other chatters.
  4. Make sure you’re following the host, in this case me. (@WgBiz is the official channel, @Tinu is my personal handle), and featured guest(s) if any, this time around, Sarah Robinson (@SarahRobinson). This way, you can easily follow the conversation, send questions during the chat, or follow up  later.
  5. Have fun! :) Our twitter chats are meant to be educational, sure, but also lighter fare than a teleconference or webinar.

You can read more about today’s online event, and our guest expert, in our original post over at Women Grow Business.

See you there!

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Posted in Tweetchat | No Comments »

Nominate a Small Business Owner for SBA’s Small Business Person of the Year

November 8th, 2011 ::

By Maria Valdez Haubrich

Did you participate in National Small Business Week this past year? The Small Business Administration hosts Small Business Week every spring; this past year’s was one of the most successful ever. But the SBA is already getting ready for the 2012 National Small Business Week, which will be held May 20-26, 2012 in Washington, DC.  (Click here to get the details about the event.)

As part of National Small Business Week, every year the SBA honors entrepreneurs from every U.S. state and the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as State Small Business Person of the Year. From those state winners, one National winner is chosen as National Small Business Person of the Year.

The SBA is looking to you to nominate candidates for these honors. Criteria for nominees are as follows:

  1. Staying power — a substantiated history as an established business.
  2. Growth in number of employees — a benchmark to judge the impact of the business on the job market.
  3. Increase in sales and/or unit volume — an indication of continued growth over the last three years.
  4. Current and past financial performance — financial reports substantiate an improved financial position of the business.
  5. Innovativeness of product or service offered — an illustration of the creativity and imagination of the nominee.
  6. Response to adversity — examples of problems faced in the nominee’s business and the methods used to solve them.
  7. Contributions to community-oriented projects — evidence of the use of his/her personal time and resources.
  8. If applicable, a description of the products exported and markets served.

After being nominated, nominees can benefit from these SBA Guidelines to help them put together a winning nomination package.

In addition to the Small Business Person/s of the Year, the SBA is also seeking nominations for the following categories:

·          Champion Awards honor individuals or organizations dedicated to supporting small businesses in a variety of categories.

·         Phoenix Awards for individuals (business owners, volunteers and public officials) whose efforts and contributions have enabled their businesses or communities to recover successfully from a disaster.

To find out more about nominations, as well as learn the full schedule, and about other events at next year’s National Small Business Week, visit the official National Small Business Week website. If you have questions about the nomination process, contact your local SBA District Office.

Image by Flickr user TexasGOPVote (Creative Commons)

 

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Posted in Events, Small Business, small business | 2 Comments »

Small Biz Resource Tip: 6th Annual New York XPO for Business

August 31st, 2011 ::

6th Annual New York XPO for Business

Voted New York’s number-one B2B tradeshow, the New York XPO for Business focuses on networking opportunities as well as providing workshops and events to help businesses form innovative strategies to run profitable businesses. The event takes place Wednesday, November 16, 2011, in the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Last year attendance went over 15,000 with 76 percent of attendees being small businesses (from five to 50 employees). Session topics include technology, sales, marketing, best business practices and more. Special events include a kick-off breakfast, a women in business luncheon and an after-hours networking event.

 

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Posted in Events, Marketing, Networking, Resources, sales process, Small Business, small business, Technology | No Comments »

Join Us Live at 1:30 PM EST for Mobile Marketing for Small Business: Fact vs. Fiction

May 17th, 2011 ::


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Posted in Events, Marketing, Social Media, Thought Leadership, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Do Consumers Respond to Cell Phone Ads? That Depends

May 16th, 2011 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

If your business is getting involved in mobile marketing, one avenue you might be using is sending or texting ads to customers’ mobile phones. But does this tactic really get results? That depends on whom you’re targeting.

The Survey of the American Consumer by GfK MRI reports that millennials and Gen X consumers are far more likely to pay attention and act on ads they get on their mobile phones. But baby boomers are far less responsive to cell phone advertisements.

The number of mobile users overall who respond to mobile ads is still small. Just 6.2% of adult mobile phone users (12.5 million people) had looked at an ad sent by text in the last 30 days. However, the response rate was pretty astounding: 2.65% of adult mobile phone users had used text messaging to respond to ads or buy things in that 30-day period. Clearly, although the percentage paying attention to these ads is small, they’re highly motivated.

Millennials (born between 1977 and 1994) were more motivated than the average mobile phone user. They were 57% more likely to have looked at texted ads and 93% more likely to have responded or purchased using texting.

There’s a big gap between the Millennials and the next oldest group. GenXers (born between 1965 and 1976) were only slightly more likely than the average mobile phone user to have looked at a texted ad or responded.

And as for older adults? In announcing the results, GfK MRI said companies shouldn’t bother trying to reach them by text since “if [they] were going to take to texted ads or text as a response mechanism, they would have already done so.”

I’m not so sure that’s true. GfK MRI also found that the mobile users who were comfortable with texting in general were 66% more likely than average to have viewed a texted ad and 70% more likely to have responded or purchased based on the ad. But as older generations get more familiar with texting, I contend they’re likely to get more comfortable with ads as well. Many of my Baby Boomer friends text constantly to keep up with their kids or grandkids.

Overall, text ads currently appeal to just a small percentage of consumers, making it somewhat of a “cutting edge” marketing method. But the pace of technology is changing so fast, it won’t remain cutting edge for long. And if you’re targeting Millennials or even younger groups as customers, you’d better start getting your feet wet in mobile marketing—or get left behind.

Want to learn more about mobile? Join me and Network Solutions for a Small Business Mobile Livestream event tomorrow, May 17th, from 1:30 to 2:30 pm EST. I’ll be moderating a panel of experts including small business technology expert Ramon Ray, technology therapist Jennifer Shaheen, and Navin Ganeshan, Network Solutions’ chief product strategist. Register here.

Image by Flickr user Natalia K. (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Email Marketing, Events, Generational Marketing, Marketing, Search Marketing, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

The Mobile Retail Conundrum

May 12th, 2011 ::

By Tim Gorin

Ah, the brave new world of mobile marketing … it can be both exhilarating and vexing. As a vision care provider and optical retailer in the Washington, DC, area, my company is confronted each day with trying to reach a consumer that is increasingly beset by an avalanche of digital media.  But unlike ecommerce retailers, we face the additional challenge of trying to promote “click-to-brick”–that is, harnessing technology to encourage consumers to physically walk into our offices … no easy task in the face of so many online alternatives.

In the last 18 months we have virtually abandoned most of the conventional marketing strategies upon which we relied since opening our doors in 2001. That means no more print ads, no more TV, no more fliers and dramatic cutbacks in direct mail.

Instead we’re exploiting the power of technology by capitalizing on social media, maximizing SEO, embracing Internet deal giants Groupon and Livingsocial, and using Yelp! to push both internal customer service and external word-of-mouth to drive consumer engagement. At the forefront of that technology are smartphones and Internet-connected mobile devices such as iPads.

Still, it’s evident that mobile technology is not yet the retail promised land everyone has hoped for. Mobile marketing remains a digital minefield that demands both vigilance and creativity to succeed.  A recent report published on Tealeaf, a software company that monitors shoppers’ online behavior, provides some sobering statistics:

“In February 2011, Harris Interactive conducted a survey on the Mobile Customer Experience, commissioned by Tealeaf, the leader in online Customer Experience Management (CEM).

  • Consumers surveyed expect the mobile experience to be better or equal to in-store and online (using a laptop or desktop computer) experience.
  • More than four in five U.S. adults who have conducted an online transaction via a mobile device in the last year report experiencing a problem (84 percent).
  • Businesses may be losing customers due to poor mobile experiences: 63 percent of all online adults said they would be less likely to buy from the same company via other purchase channels if they experienced a problem conducting a mobile transaction.”

And if that’s not scary enough, let’s not forget that when consumers have negative experiences they are likely to take action. Consider this Tealeaf data:

  • 43 percent would abandon the mobile transaction and try later on a computer
  • 16 percent would become more likely to buy from a competitor
  • 14 percent would email or log a complaint with customer service
  • 12 percent would abandon the transaction at the app/site and try a competitor’s app/site

So what does that mean for small businesses with limited budgets, staffs and time? Is there an effective way to safely and reliably use mobile technology to drive revenue, consumer loyalty and branding without jeopardizing our customers’ hard-earned trust? That’s what we will explore more deeply in Network Solutions’ upcoming Livestream event.

To learn more about ways to leverage mobile technology in your business, register for Network Solutions’ Small Business Mobile Livestream, May 17 from 1:30 to 2:30 pm EST.

Tim Gorin is a Yelp!.com Small Business Advisory Council Member, and is Vice President of Business Development at MyEyeDr.

Image by Flickr user Phil Roeder (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Customer Service, Email Marketing, Events, Marketing, Search Marketing, Thought Leadership | 1 Comment »

5 Ways to Leverage Mobile Technology

May 9th, 2011 ::

By Jennifer Shaheen

The mobile umbrella is no longer about just the use of cell phones and smart phones or even about creating SMS campaigns as part of our marketing strategies. Mobility today is about leveraging the technology both internally as businesses for productivity and externally to connect with our customers. To be successful with mobile you need to take the time to understand the power it has, but most of all you need to take the plunge and go mobile.

What does that mean? That’s a great question and, for small businesses struggling to keep up with technology, an important issue that needs to be discussed. Going mobile means embracing the technology that is being used by your customers, learning what it can do for you and jumping in. Here are 5 ways you can start to leverage mobile technology for your business.

1. The Mobile Website

You may have noticed as you load many websites on your mobile device that you are being asked to use the mobile version of the website. Creating a scaled down mobile version of your website is a great way to give your customers what they want on the go. You will need to work with your Web developer to create a separate version of your website that runs on a mobile browser. Or if you’re just starting the Web development process you will want to make this an important part of the discussion.

Another great trick is to create a separate mobile style that loads automatically when a device loads your website.  Remember, mobile website access isn’t just for smartphones; we’re also talking about iPads and Droid tablets for shopping, reading and everyday use.  More and more of today’s users curl up with their tablet to do everything from finding a place to vacation to reading the local news.

2. Flip, Flip, Flip

Whether you’re an architect, graphic designer or restaurant owner you want your clients to see what you have to offer. Not only do you want them to see your portfolio, menu or products, but you also want them to engage with them. Why not create a flip book so tablet users can use their fingers to scroll through what you have to offer? This tool is great for sales departments to use at trade shows or in client meetings. Think about what you’ll save on printing costs, not to mention how eco-friendly you will be.

There are some great flip software applications for you to use and the best thing is they generate different versions of your flip book for compatibility with different devices. A word of warning: Not all flip book applications are created equal. Be sure to avoid Flash-based flip books as they are not compatible with many mobile technologies.

3. We Do Love Our Apps

Some people would say we live in an “app based society,” and in some ways I agree. I never use the Twitter website on my BlackBerry or iPad; I use the app. I believe there needs to be a purpose behind creating an application for businesses, but it doesn’t need to be as trivial as Angry Birds. If you know what your customers or your staff need when they are on the go, then creating an app is just good business.  You may also want to see if the tools you use in the office have an app version to make your staff more productive on the road.  Many software developers are creating mobile application versions now that are optimized for the mobile user.

4. Are You Checking In?

You may not be a 16-year-old who needs to know where your friends are every minute, but checkins using services like Foursquare and Gowalla are a powerful marketing tool. People telling their friends, family and co-workers when they check in to your business is basically a way of telling the world they like your business.  Whether you are a doctor, restaurant owner or spa owner, allow your users and staff to check in to your location from their mobile devices.

5. Codes

Many of us have probably seen the QR codes at our local Best Buy on many of the products in the store, but these codes aren’t just for retail. QR codes are for businesses of all shapes and sizes. QR (or quick response) codes allow you to provide visitors with the QR reader’s access to information about your product, service or cause.  They’re perfect for mobile use in retail stores or even at a business trade show.

To learn more about these and other ways to leverage mobile technology in your business, register for Network Solutions’ Small Business Mobile Livestream, May 17 from 1:30 to 2:30 pm EST.

Jennifer Shaheen (@techtherapist), The Technology Therapist®, is an expert at helping business owners  harness today’s technology to effectively grow their businesses in the digital marketplace. As a monthly columnist for Entrepreneur.com, and with over 13 years of top-level experience, she has empowered businesses of all shapes and sizes to integrate effective digital strategies that boost sales, enhance staff productivity, expand customer base and increase market share.

Image by Flickr user Phil Roeder (Creative Commons)

Posted in Events, Marketing, small business, Technology, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Join the Network Solutions Mobile Livestream Event and Get Your Business Ready for Mobile Marketing

May 3rd, 2011 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Are you attached to your smartphone? Of course you are—most small business owners, just like most Americans, don’t leave home these days without their BlackBerry, iPhone, Android or other smartphone within easy reach. Like most tech phenomena, this presents both a challenge to and an opportunity for entrepreneurs.

Consumers today are Googling on the go looking for restaurants, shops, movie theaters—you name it. In fact 33 percent of mobile searches are for local businesses. Is your business prepared for this onslaught? When people search for your business on their mobile phones, what do they get?  Mobile marketing is increasingly vital for all small businesses.

Those who are searching on their mobiles are ready for action: 61 percent call the business, and 59 percent actually stop by. In total an overwhelming 88 percent of mobile searchers take action the same day they conducted the search.

To help you understand more about mobile marketing, Network Solutions is hosting a Small Business Mobile Livestream May 17th (appropriately enough during the National Small Business Week). I’ll be moderating a panel of experts including small business technology expert Ramon Ray, technology therapist Jennifer Shaheen, business development specialist Tim Gorin, and Navin Ganeshan, Network Solutions’ own chief product strategist.

Together we’re going to share:

  • What mobile marketing really is, and why you need to pay attention.
  • The current state of small businesses and mobile technology.
  • Some simple and cost-effective steps to going mobile.
  • How you can incorporate mobile into your strategic marketing plans.
  • Small business mobile best practices that you can learn from.

Join us on May 17th from 1:30 to 2:30 pm EST. Register now to receive more details. I look forward to talking to you during the event.

Image Courtesy: Karen Axelton

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Posted in Events, Marketing, Search Marketing, Small Business, Small Business Success Index, Technology | 1 Comment »

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