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You may decide to use a recruiter when looking for that perfect job candidate, but why limit yourself to one recruiter when you may be missing out on a huge talent source? Ascendify takes the recruiter/hiring manager relationship to a new level with their social platform. Instead of a limited amount of static listings, Ascendify can offer your company a higher number of quality candidates, increased participation in employee referrals, greater efficiency in screening and more understanding of your brand for potential new hires. The platform makes it easier for candidates to understand your corporate culture, your benefits and special programs that make them want to work for your company.
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Web.com Small Business Toolkit: Ascendify (Social Talent Acquisition Platform)
February 1st, 2013 :: Maria Valdez HaubrichWho’s Got Smartphones and Apps? Gen Y
February 1st, 2013 :: Rieva Lesonsky
By Rieva Lesonsky
It may not be a surprise, but Gen Y is leading the way when it comes to adoption of smartphones and smartphone and tablet apps, eMarketer reports. A study by Forrester, cited in eMarketer, found that consumers aged 24 to 32 are the most likely to own smartphones. Ninety-seven percent of Gen Y consumers have a mobile phone, and 72 percent have smartphones, higher than any other age group.
Overall, 93 percent of Americans owned mobile phones; however, only 50% have smartphones. Gen Z (age 18-23) was the second most likely group to own a smartphone, at 64 percent, followed by Gen X at 61 percent. After that, smartphone use declines rather drastically, with just 39 percent of younger boomers (47-56) owning them, 28 percent of older boomers (57-67) owning them, and 16 percent of those over 68 owning them.
Gen Y consumers are also more likely than any other age group to use smartphone and tablet apps, a different study by Flurry found. (This study defined Gen Y as 25 to 34.) Of the Gen Y users surveyed, 33 percent used smartphone apps and 26 percent used tablet apps. The 35-to-54 age group was next most likely to use apps.
You might be surprised that Gen Y are bigger users of smartphones than the younger generations, but eMarketer notes this group is in the “sweet spot” in terms of being old enough that they can afford more expensive smartphones, but young enough to want them and know how to make the most of them. In fact, the biggest reason younger customers cited for not having a smartphone was that they couldn’t afford it, while the top reason cited by older consumers was that they didn’t think it was useful or necessary for their lives.
What do these stats mean to you?
- If your target market falls in the younger end of the spectrum, you’ll want to make sure your business website is mobile-friendly.
- You’ll also want to consider developing useful, relevant and/or fun apps for your business that encourage sharing with friends.
- Keep in mind that Gen Y is most likely to own iPhones, while in other age groups and overall, Samsung phones dominate.
- Finally, keep in mind that Gen Y’s smartphone-dependency isn’t going away. As these customers move into their prime buying years, they’ll rely on their devices even more—so be ready to grow with them.
Image by Flickr user milesopie (Creative Commons)
Google+Web.com Small Business Toolkit: Documents.Me (Document Access Dashboard)
January 31st, 2013 :: Maria Valdez HaubrichIf you prefer working on your tablet or smartphone, but run into problems when you need to access files stored on a laptop or other computer, your life just got a little bit easier. With Documents.Me, you can leave the laptop at home. Documents.Me is a free business tool for iPads and iPhones that makes accessing your documents as easy as touching one button. Whether your files are on a remote PC, Mac, or stored in a cloud application such as Google Drive, iCloud or Dropbox, Documents.Me allows you to access the file and then edit it, email it or add another document to a project.
Google+Good News for Home-Based Business: IRS Simplifies Home Office Deduction
January 31st, 2013 :: Karen AxeltonBy Karen Axelton
If you are a home-based business owner but have never claimed the home office tax deduction because you don’t want to deal with the complex reporting and calculation that’s required—or because you’re afraid making a mistake could trigger an IRS audit—you can breathe a little easier this April. That’s because the IRS has announced a simplified, optional method for claiming the home office deduction.
The new optional deduction allows taxpayers to claim $5 per square foot of home office space up to a maximum of 300 square feet, or $1,500 per year. Currently, small businesses and others claiming a home office deduction have to complete Form 8829, a 43-line form that includes complex calculations of allocated expenses, depreciation and carryovers of unused deductions. Taxpayers who want to claim the optional deduction instead will complete a much simpler form.
The IRS estimates the change will affect more than 3.4 million taxpayers (the number who claimed the home office deduction in tax year 2010, the most recent year for which the agency has data) and will reduce the paperwork and recordkeeping burden on small businesses by an estimated 1.6 million hours per year.
Here are a few things to be aware of in deciding whether you want to claim the traditional home office deduction or the optional simplified verson:
- Homeowners using the simplified option cannot depreciate the portion of their home used for business. However, they can claim allowable mortgage interest, real estate taxes and casualty losses on the home as itemized deductions on Schedule A. These deductions do not have to be allocated between personal and business use, which the traditional method requires.
- Since the optional deduction has a cap of $1,500, if your home office is significantly bigger than 300 square feet or if you have extremely high utility bills or other costs, you may want to stick with the traditional method of claiming deductions.
- No matter which method you use, you still have to meet the current restrictions regarding the home office deduction. For example, the home office must still be used regularly and exclusively for business, not for personal use.
The new simplified option is available starting with the 2013 return most taxpayers file early in 2014. For more details on the new option, visit the IRS website to read Revenue Procedure 2013-13.
Image by Flickr user james.thompson (Creative Commons)
Google+Web.com Small Business Toolkit: TalkToTheManager (Business Review Solution)
January 30th, 2013 :: Maria Valdez HaubrichWhy wait to see the Yelp review to know what customers think of your business when you can find out instantly with TalkToTheManager? You post a phone number and customers can text you anonymous reviews of your service, products, food or whatever your business does well or not so well. The text is then forwarded to your cell phone and you may choose to respond or not. Your cell number is kept private at all times. TalkToTheManager costs $29 per month and you can cancel at any time. You can also receive preprinted signs with your assigned number for displaying in your store or restaurant.
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Why Your Emails Must Be Mobile-Optimized
January 30th, 2013 :: Rieva LesonskyBy RIeva Lesonsky
Are your email marketing messages optimized for mobile? They’d better be. According to the latest Return Path global bi-annual mobile email report, 37 percent of U.S. respondents surveyed now open their email on mobile devices, compared with the 30 percent opening them through webmail in a browser. The percentage of emails opened on mobile devices has increased 300 percent since 2010 and shows no sign of slowing down, says the report. Here’s some more of what you need to know:
Platform matters: While Android mobile phones still dominate in the U.S., Apple device users are more likely to open and read email on a mobile device than any other group. Although Windows Mobile saw an 85 percent increase in email opens since April 2012, it still accounts for just 0.3 percent of total email opens on smartphones.
Industry variation: Certain industries’ emails are more likely to get opened on a mobile device than others. The retail (40 percent), consumer product (40 percent) and real estate (38 percent) industries lead the way.
Is it safe? The information being sent via email is also a concern. For example, banking-related emails were less likely to be opened on mobile devices due to security worries.
Desktops aren’t obsolete…yet: Users check email more often on a desktop than on a mobile device during the day. I’d surmise that’s probably because they are sitting in front of their computers at work, but as more workplaces incorporate tablets into the work day, the desktop is likely to become less and less dominant.
Mobile sitting still: It’s a myth that mobile purchasing is taking place out of home. Just 22 percent of mobile purchases take place on the go; 18 percent occur at work and more than half (51 percent) take place at home. Your customers are more likely to be opening that email in bed or on the couch than in the car, so keep that in mind when designing your message.
If you doubt optimizing email for mobile matters, keep these facts in mind: Return Path found that email marketing messages drive twice as many conversions as social media or search. In addition, the average order value is higher on mobile devices, whether tablet or smartphone. However, since even those who open their emails on mobile devices still make most of their purchases on the desktop, you need to make sure your emails are optimized for both platforms.
Image by Flickr user Brad Flickinger (Creative Commons)
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Web.com Small Business Toolkit: DeskTime (Time/Project Tracking)
January 29th, 2013 :: Maria Valdez HaubrichWith so many readily available distractions threatening to zap your employees’ productivity, it might be a good idea to keep an eye on exactly what your staff is doing on their computers. Are more hours spent on Facebook during the workday than on getting those invoices out? What about punctuality? DeskTime is designed to find and eliminate wasteful habits. Plus, the reports system shows both the entire company’s work results as well as those of individuals. Don’t worry about invading your employees’ privacy: The system only records application names, website URLs, start times and end times, never anything sensitive such as keystrokes or form input. DeskTime is especially helpful for virtual companies.
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Your 3-Step Plan for a Business Website That Drives Sales
January 29th, 2013 :: Maria Valdez Haubrich
By Maria Valdez Haubrich
Is your small business website driving the leads, customer engagement and sales you want? If it’s falling short of your goals, how can you help your business website perform better? Here are three steps to take.
- Focus on your target customers. If your website isn’t attracting enough customers, maybe it’s too vague and general. No business, or website, can succeed by trying to be all things to all people. Instead of casting a wide net, narrow your focus. Try developing a couple of “personas” that represent your target customer. Be as specific as you can. If your target customer is a busy mom, is she a working mom or a stay-at-home mom? How old are her children? What products is she looking for? Get as specific as you can; this will help you focus on the keywords that will drive that exact customer to your site. By pinpointing the specific groups you’re hoping to reach, you can develop a website that reaches out to those people.
- Focus on your customers’ pain points. A website is first and foremost a marketing tool, but sometimes small business owners forget this. Just like your other marketing materials, your small business website should show prospects that your business understands their pain points and is trying to solve them. Going back to the busy mom customer we mentioned above, if she is a working mom with an infant at home, one pain point might be the need to keep stocked up on diapers in order to avoid midnight runs to the convenience store. Your website and keywords should focus on solutions such as diaper delivery, diapers shipped to your home, auto-reorder of diapers and similar options.
- Focus on a call to action. Sometimes your business website is working well at attracting customers, but when they’re on your site, they just click around for a bit and leave. If customers aren’t taking action on your site, it’s probably because you’re not showing them a clear call to action. Every page on your site should drive customers to take a specific step, whether that’s “Buy now,” “Shop,” “Call us,” “Click to get a quote,” or “Chat with our operators.” If your product or service is one that doesn’t require a lot of thought, your call to action could be simple, such as “Buy now.” If it’s a product such as business equipment that requires a lot of hand-holding before a decision is made, there will be more steps involved, but you still need a call to action for each of those steps: “Click for more information,” “Request a quote,” etc. This is not the time to be subtle. Use action-oriented words that are very specific as to what you want customers to do. Emphasize them with color, hyperlinks and graphics.
Last, but not least, be sure that you test all the changes you make to your site by monitoring your analytics to see what users are doing. By making these changes, you’ll find your small business website driving a lot more business.
Image by Flickr user FutUndBeidl (Creative Commons)
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Web.com Small Business Toolkit: PEX Card (Business Prepaid Card)
January 28th, 2013 :: Maria Valdez HaubrichIs your company’s spending getting out of control? Are you finding it hard to keep track of employee expenses? PEX Card is a business prepaid card specifically designed to help companies take control of employee expense management. For a monthly per-card fee, businesses can distribute funds for employees to spend and then keep track of transactions as they occur. There are no transaction fees and no interest charges, and businesses gain more power over the company’s cash flow. You or your internal PEX Card administrator can easily add funds to your employee cards through the PEX website; that money is available to employees immediately.
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Mobile Commerce, Mobile Payments: What’s the Future?
January 28th, 2013 :: Rieva LesonskyBy Rieva Lesonsky
While mobile payments and m-commerce have generated a lot of buzz in the media recently, both have been slow to take off and still comprise a very small percentage of payments and sales in the U.S. However, that may soon change, as two separate studies by Forrester reported in MediaPost project that mobile payments and m-commerce will surge in the U.S. in the next few years.
Payment Predictions
The first study projects mobile payments will increase from $18.2 billion this year to $90 billion in 2017—growth of nearly 50 percent. The study looked at three kinds of mobile payments. Mobile proximity, or in-store, payments are expected to grow fastest, increasing 137% to $41 billion by 2017, and going from 6% of mobile payments to 45%.
Much of the proximity payment growth is predicted to come next year, when Forrester says “early adopters” will begin using mobile payment solutions. This will force retail businesses to play catch-up and offer more mobile payment alternatives, as well as to incorporate Near Field Communication (NFC) technology into their point-of-sale systems.
Mobile Matters
The second study predicts that m-commerce will rise from $12 billion in 2013 to $31 billion in 2017, but its growth rate of 31 percent will be low compared to that of mobile payments. What’s holding m-commerce back? Currently, Forrester says, consumers are worried about security issues related to mobile transactions; m-commerce still isn’t well integrated with other ways to shop; and the checkout process needs to be simplified. (Both reports focused solely on the use of smartphones for payments and m-commerce, not on tablets.)
Currently, just 3 percent of ecommerce sales occur on smartphones, compared to some 57 percent that take place on tablets. Because of this wide discrepancy, Forrester’s report suggests that instead of worrying about how to encourage shopping on smartphones, retailers might be wise to focus on creating a better tablet shopping experience. After all, as tablet prices drop and tablets become even more widely adopted, it’s likely consumers will gravitate to them over smartphones when they want to browse or buy.
Image by Flickr user loupiote (Creative Commons)
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