Better Business Blog

Google+ Hangouts: 4 Creative Ways People Are Using Group Video Chat

Already using Google+? Follow Mashable’s Pete Cashmore for the latest about the platform’s new features, tips and tricks as well as social media and technology updates.

While we’ve yet to find out how Google+’s “Hangouts” will mature and evolve, we’ve already seen some great uses of the built-in, group video conferencing service.

Although the tech for Hangouts has been around for years, it seems the simplicity of the Google solution is getting people’s creative juices going. From intimate concerts to a new way of co-working via cooking lessons, Google Plussers are making the most of the functionality in fun, new ways.

Read More: Google+ Hangouts: 4 Creative Ways People Are Using Group Video Chat

Getting to Work in Small Business

Getting to work in your small business is the key to success. Small businesses don’t run themselves. This much we know! But how do you know if you’re on the right track, doing what you should to get your business to that great place. Here are some tips we hope will help. Enjoy!

Customer Relations

Why you need more than search marketing. If you’re like many small business today, a substantial part or perhaps all of your marketing may be done online. You’ve know doubt heard of the importance of search marketing. Here’s something else you should consider as well. Website Magazine

Why now is the right time for a customer review. You may have dreaded or even avoided them in the past but rest assured customer reviews are critical for your company’s survival. Do you know what your company thinks of the service you provide? You should! Here’s how to find out for sure. Sound Web Solutions Blog

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5 Tools to Measure Your Social Media Success

We are surrounded by tools to measure almost everything we do in life. We have clocks to measure time,  thermometers to record temperature  and odometers to see how far we have traveled

As humans we are obsessed with measurement. The Olympics are the pinnacle of measurement and we even measure runners and swimmers times down to 1,000th of a second!

Read More: 5 Tools to Measure Your Social Media Success

4 Marketing Ideas That Are Sure To Make A Splash

Feel like your marketing has fallen flat? Not to worry, there are several ways to liven things up and get your customers reengaged with your business.

Feel free to steal these cool ideas.

Hitch your company to a star

Lindsey Harper is the founder of Swayable, a mobile phone app that lets you ask your followers or friends to vote by posting two photos, along with a short question explaining the dilemma.

Read More: 4 Marketing Ideas That Are Sure To Make A Splash

4 Big Social Media Mistakes SMBs Make

When a small business owner comes to me experiencing frustration with social media, I admit, I’m a little confused. Why? Because I can’t help but think that small business owners are the segment of the business population that is most suited for social media success. I mean, who knows how to talk to their audience better than a small business owner? Who understands customers’ needs better than a small business owner? Who lives and breathes the same everyday struggles? No one.

But then I realize that that’s not where small business owners find themselves in trouble. The trouble spots for SMBs are much different. Often they’re in the implementation of social media.

Read More: 4 Big Social Media Mistakes SMBs Make

How to Launch a Viral Marketing Campaign

Jeffrey Harmon laughs when he hears the question, "how do you create a viral marketing hit?" Harmon, who gained fame for parlaying $500 and an idea for a funny video into millions of YouTube views and the world's most popular tongue cleaner, understands it's not quite that simple. More than that, he says, most viral marketing campaigns fail. 

Viral marketing is loosely defined as piece of content generated by a person or company that viewers are eager to share with their friends, colleagues, and family members. It's also defined by its high risks and high rewards. In other words, most campaigns fall flat on their face, but the ones that succeed reap huge rewards. Still, that hasn't stopped scores of small businesses and start-ups looking to create the next big hit.

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Best couponing sites and apps

Go beyond the scissors and the Sunday paper to save even more. Here are some of the best web sites and smart phone apps for finding coupons and other ways to save.

To find manufacturer's coupons:

Coupons.com: Get printable and web coupons for everything from cold cuts and vitamins to big-ticket items like computers and jewelry. Two other popular sites for coupons are Redplum.com and SmartSource.com.

Read More: Best couponing sites and apps

Small Business Marketing: Tips That Pay

So, how is your marketing plan? Does it need some tweaking? As your business grows and your market changes, it almost certainly will. Sit back and enjoy as we share some tips that may help.

Google Plus

Deciding on Google Plus? Sure you might be more use to Facebook, today’s predominant social media network. But where is the future of your business, and more importantly, where is the future destination for your customers. This video looks at your options. MarketingProfessor

Where your customers are going? The best social network to use still a major issue? What if there were a place so popular that 20 million people visited in just three weeks? Are some of them your customers? iBlogNet

Read More: Next PostPrevious PostSmall Business Marketing: Tips That Pay

inDinero: A Financial Tracking Tool for Small Business

The sight of a cash-flow statement or long-term budget can drain the blood from the face of even the toughest small-business owner. Managing business finances can get very complicated, especially if you have multiple credit cards, bank accounts and employees to track.

The solutions to the problem can likewise be vexing. Professional accountants are expensive, and it takes serious time and effort -- plus some do-it-yourself fortitude -- to master tricky accounting software such as QuickBooks.

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8 Questions to Ask Before Incorporating Your Business Partnership

Given the unstable job market, and the risk of going it alone, many people are currently seeking to start businesses together. The rub, however, is that starting a partnership can be very challenging, says Ebong Eka, a CPA who also pens his own blog about the world of entrepreneurship at MoneyMentoringMinutes.com. "I have often said the only ship that won't sail is a partnership," he says. "Many new entrepreneurs fall in love with the business idea but fail because of the lack of execution and because the responsibilities of the partners aren't clearly laid out before starting." In other words, before you even get to the stage where you want to make your partnership official, you have some work to do in building the foundation for your shared business.  

Dig Deeper: Speed Dating for Co-founders

To help you set the stage for a successful partnership, John Gerber, founder of UpstartLegal.com, suggests asking yourselves the following eight questions:

Read More: 8 Questions to Ask Before Incorporating Your Business Partnership

6 Powerful Tools to Find Your Customers on Twitter

 

Finding customers can involve attending networking events where everyone grabs their 100 business cards, puts on their best suit or “business hunting outfit” and then lurks at the back of the cocktail party ready to pounce after surveying their prey from a safe distance.

You can always “hope” that the person you buttonhole will tolerate your witty, clever banter and that they will be interested in what you have to say about you, your company or your product.

 

Read More: 6 Powerful Tools to Find Your Customers on Twitter

Best Vendor ranks the 10 most popular startup tools

 

 Break the news!

 

Have you ever wanted to know what tools and systems other companies use? Phone systems? CMS options? Billing services? etc. The logisitics of setting up a company’s infrastructure can be a painful process. BestVendor, a New York City startup in its own right, is building a Yelp-like resource for business products by harnessing social recommendations to help small businesses make faster, smarter purchasing.

Over the last two months, BestVendor surveyed 550s startups about their most used business products and services. The results show the increasing popularity of Google’s as Google Analytics and Gmail snagged the top two spots, respectively, for the most popular startup tools. In fact, BestVendor found that 70% of startup execs use Google Analytics. The survey also uncovered hidden gems like IdeaPaint, a tool that turns your walls into white boards and HipChat, a chat tool for businesses.

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HOW TO: Successfully Run a Social Media Contest

Online contests can be a great way to build a fan base, gather data and engage an audience. Whether you have run a contest previously or not, there are four things to keep in mind as you prepare for, and execute, your campaign.

1. Get The Lay of the Land

Start with a clear understanding of your target audience and marketing objectives. Too often I’ve seen a clever promotional concept that is not well aligned with desired outcomes or simply doesn’t resonate with the consumer. Acknowledge the assets and limitations you have to work with. It is important to understand your audience and what you expect from them. It is also important to think about the appropriate channel for engagement, whether it be on your brand site or blog, a Facebook Page, Twitter, etc.

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9 Reasons Why It Pays to Imitate

The topic of innovation seems to be all the rage these days, as both start-ups and established businesses strive to find groundbreaking new products and services to put their growth rate on the fast track. But the truth is that the majority of successful businesses weren't started by geniuses like Thomas Edison and his 1,093 patents. Think about a couple of recent examples: Facebook wasn't the first social networking site (Friendster might deserve that honor) just as Google was far from the first search engine (alas Magellan, Infoseek, and Snap). 

The advantage that both Facebook and Google leveraged was that they were late-movers, says Navdeep Mundi, a professor of management at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.

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11 Ways To Incorporate Video Into Your Business

When I started my online business in 2008, using video was new and experimental. Fast forward to today and video is everywhere—even those with no real business are cashing in on fame and fortune thanks to YouTube.

Although everyone seems to be tuning into the importance of video, it’s still a daunting thought for many business owners who aren’t quite sure where to add video to their online brand. Here are 11 ways to make use of video

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Make Your Own Subscription Service With Memberly

Jack Cheng and his two cofounders launched Steepster, a social network for tea drinkers, in 2009. It soon occurred to them that a tea club, in which members receive a shipment of new teas each month, would be a perfect complement to the site. But they were working long hours to get their site off of the ground, and never thought about making the investment of time and money that starting such a program would entail .

Three years later, they decided to revisit the project — and while they were at it, solve the subscription program logistics problem for everyone else, too.

Read More: Make Your Own Subscription Service With Memberly

"If You’re Not Making Mistakes, then You’re Not Doing Anything."

This quote belongs to Hall of Fame basketball player/coach John Wooden, who was not only well aware that it's okay to regularly make mistakes but that you're doing something wrong if you don't. It's easy to expect perfection from ourselves and/or fear the judgment that comes with screwing things up, but even at its worst we learn from those errors. That's not a new concept by any means, but it's one often forgotten. Mistakes are an indicator that you're actually trying to succeed, so without them you're not doing much of anything at all (and probably making yourself much less happy in the process).

Read More: "If You’re Not Making Mistakes, then You’re Not Doing Anything."

Great Small Business Opportunities

 

Great business opportunities are created not made.  No idea is guaranteed to work or guaranteed to make money, but conversely effective execution of any business model will give you a greater opportunity for success. Here at Small Business Trends we’re more about sharing tips to help you make your business a success then trying to help you find the perfect business. And perhaps that’s the real key to a great opportunity anyway.

Success Stories

You don’t have to be Facebook. Though their business may not have created the same splash as Mark Zuckerberg’s famous social networking juggernaut, siblings Catherine, David and Geoff Cook recently sold their own social Website myYearbook for a respectable $100 million. Not bad for a site that was started for just $250,000 when two of the founders were 15 and 16 years old. WSJ

Read More: Great Small Business Opportunities

8 Top Online Backup Services For Small Business

Backing up data is a hassle. Rather than purchase an external hard drive, you can manage your backups via the Web. These eight services are worth considering if you worry about the security and protection of your data.

Most of these tools offers mobile-device access so your iPhone or Android-powered device can connect and access these documents. Another great feature offered by online backup services is a version service, which shows you iterations of your documents or folders allowing you an easy way to restore a file to a previous version.

Read More: 8 Top Online Backup Services For Small Business

The High Costs of Filing an LLC in New York

I’m going through the steps of starting up FamiliesGo!, a travel planning website for families, and I would like to file the business with New York State as a limited liability company. I have the papers on my desk. In fact they’ve been sitting on my desk for a couple of months now.

I haven’t actually filed them because forming an LLC in New York City will eat up about a good 10 percent of my start-up costs and I can’t bring myself to do it.

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Google+: The Complete Guide http://mashable.com/2011/07/16/google-plus-guide/

Nobody Has Time for Interns

Interns take note: energy and enthusiasm are no longer enough. You've got to bring something more meaningful to the table.

A friend and senior executive at Yelp recently shared how busy she was balancing a demanding job, a busy travel schedule, and a newborn at home. We were catching up at a Northwestern University alumni event; so naturally I suggested she take on a student as a summer intern. She looked at me square in the eye, without a trace of irony and stated, "I have no time for an intern."

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20 Ways to Make the Most of Your Posts and Tweets

Content marketing has become an essential element of successful online marketing and brand-building.

What's content marketing? All content that adds value and markets a business, directly or indirectly, can be considered a form of content marketing. The material can be distributed in long form (blogs, articles, and ebooks), short form (Twitter updates, Facebook updates and images), or through conversations and sharing (start or join Twitter conversations or share content in a forum comment). It can be a great way to build lasting connections with the right customers online.

Read More: 20 Ways to Make the Most of Your Posts and Tweets

Hunting Off-Site Promotional Opportunities for Your Brand

You’re working your butt off on your site and in your business. You’re blogging, you’re building a community by establishing expertise and you’re maintaining a dynamic Web site that users want to engage with. But to complement what you’re doing on-site and in your own community, it’ time to take it off-site and start using the power of other people’s communities to help grow your own.

Below are some ways that any small business owner can attract attention, links and press by taking advantage of off-site promotional opportunities. Which ones are you already doing?

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A DIY Solopreneur Longs for the Days of the Corporate Travel Department

Years ago I worked in an office for a medium-size corporation. Looking back, I miss the languor of the midafternoon cafeteria breaks, the carefully crafted Pollyanna prose of the monthly newsletter. Mostly, though, I miss the travel department. Whenever my boss assigned a trip, I'd call down and tell them where and when. Within an hour, a packet would land on my desk. I'd have a plane ticket, a car voucher and a reservation at a perfectly serviceable hotel. It was magical.

I thought of that the other day as I struggled to make arrangements for a visit to Greece. Now that I'm self-employed, I do my own bookings. I rely on the internet, which works just fine for that two-day conference in Minneapolis. I consult Kayak to find the cheapest airfare, TripAdvisor for hotel advice, Chowhound for restaurant recommendations, AccuWeather to know what to pack.

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