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Interview with Simon Berg, CEO of Ceros

Adam Toren — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:00:56 +0000

Simon Berg is the CEO of Ceros, an intriguing startup, whose brand marketing platform gives customers the tools to create, manage and deliver engaging, brand experiences across all modern devices and channels: web, tablet, mobile and social. All of this is accomplished in the cloud and with no need for any coding.

Investors in Ceros include Greycroft, Fuse, Western Technology Investment, Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz and Mark Cuban.

Berg’s career path has been a fascinating one. He has risen from being a self-proclaimed ‘go-fer,’ to becoming the CEO of several companies. In business since his mid-teens, Berg’s entrepreneur spirit has taken him not just to the CEO level, but clear across the Atlantic.

You got your start with (Marketing Firm) Group FMG. What was it like working your way up the ladder?

The biggest challenge was being the son of the boss. Everyone knew that I got the opportunity because I was the son of the boss. I had to do twice as much as everybody, just to be accepted. Everyone I worked with saw me as this kid with a silver spoon in my mouth. I hated that! Fact was, I was a kid and I did have a lot to learn about dealing with people. After two weeks on the job, my older brother, who also worked there, told me “everybody hates you.” That’s really hard when you’re still a teenager.

But the lessons I learned there still stick with me: the dynamics of human beings, the importance of what you say in front of others. The main thing, though, was that I felt like I always had to prove myself. That’s something that motivates me to this day.

Excuse me for cyberstalking, but I couldn’t help but notice that your first job title at Group FMG was, “Tea Boy & General dogs body.” Could you break down your duties when you held that title?

First of all, I made it my business to make the worst tea possible so I wouldn’t get asked again. I wanted to be the guy who held the “tea boy” title for the shortest time. Oh, another part of the job was being turned upside down and thrown into a giant trash can. Then there was the job of being target practice for the production guys who would hit me with giant balls of cellophane. Finally, I learned to get everybody’s lunch order correct. I learned that hungry people are angry people.

You got your start in the creative department at FMG. Do you think that your background in design affects your style of leadership?

Absolutely. In the business I’m in now, understanding creativity, the creative process and the way creative people think and work is essential. I don’t have your typical CEO background. I was the worst student in the world. Honestly. I flunked virtually every class I took. But the two classes I passed, art and technology, I got A pluses. Those things I know!

Ceros is all about creating tools that empower creative people to do their best work without any constraints of technology. Working with engineers, I know the engineering process is remarkably creative when it’s being done at a high level. We’re all about bridging the gap between art and science.

What would you say your overall goal was in founding your latest venture, Ceros?

Simply put, proving it could be done. Let me explain. We’ve created something amazing from nothing. Parts of the Ceros platform have technologies that just didn’t exist before. Creating is what makes me tick. Creating is what drives me.

How does Ceros change the game for content creators?

It empowers brands to create richer, more engaging brand experiences and tell better stories. We are trying to do for design what Google Docs did for written content. We have real time collaborative tools for designers that revolutionizes that way designs are created. What designers love about Ceros is that it allows them to create highly interactive designs, publish them to the web, to tablets, to smartphones and to social media without the need for a single line of code. This is not only a time saver, it’s liberating.

What’s it like collaborating with [Crowd Fusion Founder] Brian Alvey?

It’s challenging, but in a good way. When you bring two CEOs together, there’s a feeling out process. We worked hard at it. Our biggest challenge was to figure out our respective strengths and weaknesses and figure out the best way to exploit our strengths. What we’ve found is that his talents are best utilized in an advisory and evangelical role. Obviously, he is a major figure in the industry and much of his current involvement is in his capacity as a thought leader.

At the end of the day, my job was to bring the two companies together from across an ocean. There were cultures to merge, teams to build, processes to create. I think we’ve managed to do this very successfully.

Did Ceros’ acquisition by Crowd Fusion change the way you did business? If so, how?

Yes! First I figured out that I could living and working in America, as cliche as it may sound, forces you to take your game to the next level. I’ve learned there’s a lot of truth on the notion that the only thing that can hold you back in America is a lack of desire, a lack of discipline and a lack of ambition.

On a day-to-day level, maybe the biggest change is cursing a bit less in the workplace. I found out quickly it’s not nearly as acceptable on this side of the pond!

What’s the most common branding mistake you wish marketers would stop making?

They continue to talk at their customers and not with them. There’s no place for arrogance in the modern business climate.

What’s the biggest way that marketing has changed over the past five years?

It used to be “buyer beware.” Now it’s “seller beware.” There has been a huge shift in power. Power is almost entirely in the hands of the buyer now. If you don’t understand your buyer, listen to your buyer and serve the needs and interests of your buyer you are going to fail and fail miserably.

Adam Toren is an Award Winning Author, Serial Entrepreneur, and Investor. He Co-Founded YoungEntrepreneur.com along with his brother Matthew. Adam is co-author of the newly released book: Small Business, Big Vision: “Lessons on How to Dominate Your Market from Self-Made Entrepreneurs Who Did it Right” and also co-author of Kidpreneurs.

Follow Adam on Twitter: @thebizguy

Building Your Business Around Learning

Matthew Toren — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:00:04 +0000

Eric Ries hates that he was forced to validate having to throw out 25,000 lines of code by telling himself that he learned something. The core argument in his book, The Lean Startup, is that companies should be learning what they need to know before they move into the development phase. That doesn’t just mean that good design will instantly assure your product’s success. It means you’ll need to understand more than just the typical management structure to build something amazing.

Ries and many other entrepreneurs have been developing their systems around the needs of the customer rather than spending months debating bugs and features. I’ve broken down some of the basic cornerstones of the Lean Startup movement here, and hopefully they’ll serve you well in building your next idea.

Rethink Your Design Before the Crunch

Dropbox is a no-brainer for cloud storage. It’s a no-brainer because the platform was designed around the needs of the customer rather than bogged down in differentiating itself from the competition. Even the name is built around exactly what the product does. Say it out loud. Dropbox.

Dropbox was not inspired by the competition so much as the horror stories that came out of customer complaints regarding Dropbox’s competition. This forced the engineers and software designers to build a product around the failure of its predecessors. The results are a product that humbly boasts over 4,000,000 users. Most start-ups are entering an already flooded market. That means if you’re doing something that’s been done, the only market research you’ll need to create a superior product are the failures of your competition. Differentiate yourself from your market by making a bulletproof product. Don’t just make the logo flashier.

Accept Failure and Learn to Pivot

Ries, during a talk at Google, explained that the biggest hurdle at one of his first entrepreneurial endeavors was a basic misunderstanding of customer needs. The product, IMVU, was originally intended to be a cross-platform IM client that provided a 3D avatar when talking to friends. His first hurdle was making the software cross-platform. 25,000 lines of code later, Ries realized the futility in trying to get teenagers to believe something is cool. IMVU ended up becoming a streamlined virtual world with built-in systems designed to introduce you to people online. The platform has been emulated, iterated, but never perfectly copied. Entrepreneurship is about failure, but the ability to figure out the part of your product that succeeds is where success becomes viable.

Rethink Management

Entrepreneurship is, at its core, management. You build your assets, design your product, and develop your team around your expected results. The weird part about the internet is, however, that you don’t actually need the focus group anymore. Zappos.com was founded because a guy realized people were willing to buy shoes online that he purchased from local vendors. His realization redefined his parameters for success. He knew what he was building, how to build it, and most importantly: The customer-base was there. Building your business around the needs of the customer is, in the age of Facebook, more than just a best practice. It’s the baseline for success.

If you want a more in-depth analysis of the Lean Startup Movement, check out a presentation that Ries gave to Google. Also, buying his book wouldn’t hurt. Have any other tips for entrepreneurs? Did I misinterpret Ries’ message? Let us know with a comment.

Matthew Toren is an Award Winning Author, Serial Entrepreneur, and Investor. He Co-Founded YoungEntrepreneur.com along with his brother Adam. Matthew is co-author of the newly released book: Small Business, Big Vision: “Lessons on How to Dominate Your Market from Self-Made Entrepreneurs Who Did it Right” and also co-author of Kidpreneurs.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @matthewtoren

How to Dominate Local Search Results for Your Business

Adam Toren — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:00:26 +0000

Now that the Internet is a huge force behind the success of any business, domination of local search results is vital to the growth of your brand. While some businesses think they have done enough to get seen, others know the tricks of the trade to reach the top of local search results.

Just as a biophysicist knows the formulas for DNA, a successful business knows how to dominate the search engines. Don’t settle for second place in the game of total and utter domination. Consumers don’t have time or patience to scroll through infinite pages of search results. Drive traffic to your site and keep it there! Increasing your listing’s ranking in search of results is straightforward and essential in producing more leads, new customers, and sales. Incorporate these seven practices to dominate local search results, and you’ll whiz past your competitors in no time.

Make Best Use of Your Location

Include your city name and surrounding areas, including towns, counties, and regions. Incorporate local addresses, phone numbers, and area codes. When people search a topic, they type in the key words and most often attach the city, district, or state in their search.

Keywords

Maximize your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) by listing relevant keywords. Local text must be optimized in your page title, URL, page content, header tags, image alt text, and so on.

Be Strategic

Focus on local maps, organic strategy, local listings, paid and sponsorship ads, and many others. The more directories you submit information to, the better your effort will pay off. Capitalize on your efforts by using the largest revenue-stream producers: LinkedIn, Google, Google Places, Yahoo, Yelp, Local.com, and the like. Here’s what your competitors may not know: Just claiming a Google Places page isn’t enough to fully maximize your views. Remember three very important words: verify, optimize, and (build) citations.

Visibility

You might have a great laid-out plan, but it doesn’t do you any good if it’s not being seen. Take note of all the different ways people can find you on the web, and focus on those areas.

Marketing Evolution

Your bread and butter rely on spot-on marketing. Stay one step ahead of the times and put your marketing dollars to work. Make wise marketing decisions––traditional advertising is phasing out.

Leveraging Review Sites

Customers listen to what others have to say. Allow positive reviews to influence potential new business. Stellar reviews tip the scales in your direction.

Social Media Must-Dos

Social media is as vital as the blood pumping through our veins. Google+ has revolutionized the presence of local businesses on the web. Allow your content marketing to kick into overdrive, thus increasing your opportunities with germane blog posts, testimonials, and user views.

Follow Adam on Twitter: @thebizguy

20 Qualities of the Top Business Blogs in the World

Matthew Toren — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:00:35 +0000

It’s certainly not business as usual for companies using strategic blogging to get noticed. More and more businesses, from corporate behemoths like Coca-Cola and Pfizer to small start-ups operating out of a garage, have found blogs to be an effective way to generate interest. But not all business blogs are created equal. With that being said, here are the 20 qualities of the top business blogs. Use them in your own efforts to ramp up your blogging success.

Humility Bragging is distasteful. Present information with authority, but don’t put on airs. Steve Jobs you are not, so don’t come across as egotistical and pompous.
Return on Investment (ROI). Keep an eye on what’s working and what’s not. Analyze your blog’s components and determine which contributions bring in the most return on investment.
Multimedia Rich. Utilize vivid images or intriguing videos in every blog post. There’s nothing worse than big blocks of uninterrupted text and lack of visuals.
On Target. The best business blogs are laser focused on the topic at hand. Stay on track and avoid superfluous words and clichés.
Heavy Hitting. Business blogs with regular posts by heavy hitters on the subject at hand demonstrate that a company is established and trusted. Also, if you’re not the owner or CEO of your business, make sure that the person in charge has a presence on the blog as a significant contributor.
Simplicity. Keep it short and simple. Using dialect and references far above the scope of your reader’s knowledge or experience does everyone a disservice.
Easy on the Eyes. Avoid density and laborious paragraphs. Opt instead for short paragraphs, headers, and bullet points to keep readers’ attention.
Group Effort. Look at blogging as a group exercise, not a solo sport. Integrate other opinions and perspectives into your blog for a well-rounded take.
Up to Date. Don’t let posts get held up in management inboxes waiting on approvals. Establish a streamlined editorial process of posting and a quick review method.
Tough Topics. Don’t be afraid to challenge your audience by addressing hot-button issues and difficult industry topics. Taking a stance on controversial subjects has a way of arousing interest.
Stand Tall. Keep a stiff upper lip, and don’t cower when someone disses what you have to say. Not everyone is going to agree with you––deal with it.
Solid Search-Engine Optimization (SEO). Know the value of quality content coupled with strategic SEO. Provide substantial insights on the latest trending topics.
Keep It Professional. Don’t write about your family life or even corporate retreats and awards banquets unless it’s highly relevant to your subject. A business blog should revolve around professional topics.
Avoid Blah. The kiss of death for any blog is dour, boring content that doesn’t offer any redeeming qualities or positive take-aways. Read enough blogs and you’ll notice that the great ones are catchy and full of passion.
Fearless. No topic is off limits if you can tackle it bravely and with professional integrity. Take a chance on obscure topics that challenge you and offer your readers something new to think about.
Ego Remains Outside. Don’t make yourself the center of attention. Showcase the talents and accomplishments of others and show that your customers and readers are what really matter.
Frontline Players. Know the ins and outs of your industry and the key movers and shakers. Engage these business leaders in conversation on their territory (i.e., their blogs) and lead the discussion back to your turf.
Consistency. Regular contributions to a blog are a must. Being consistent and reliable is a valuable trait in any endeavor.
Site Investment. Don’t think that looks and ease of use don’t matter. Invest financially into your blogging platform so that it not only looks remarkable but also is easy to navigate.
Accept Mistakes. Mistakes are unavoidable and an excellent way to learn what works and what doesn’t. Take creative criticism to heart and appreciate every opportunity to better your blog.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @matthewtoren

The Walter White Guide to Entrepreneurship

Adam Toren — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 14:00:04 +0000

Breaking Bad is a show about its main character’s blackening soul, the vast abyss of the human condition, and the cost of power. Without the meth thing, though, it’s really a story about a teacher who decides to start his own small business. In preparation for the final season, I threw the best episodes on my Netflix queue and these are some tips I jotted down as I rewatched Walter White’s explosive rise to the top.

5. Play to Your Strengths

Walter is a chemistry genius. His primary competition, a high school dropout, uses readily available guides to produce a shoddy product. When you’re thinking of your next idea, define your product by something you know well and develop something that’s undeniably better than the competition.

4. Branding is Key

Drugs, though one of the biggest drains on human society throughout all of history, are one of the best examples of viral marketing you’ll find anywhere. You can’t run an ad for them, social media is a no-go, and Walter’s marketing department is a guy named Badger. The fictional meth that Walter developed, “Blue Sky,” is dyed blue and easily recognizable by its color. A combination of quality, recognizability, and positive buzz will also help you distribute your (hopefully not-illegal) product more easily. Also, there’s rock candy that looks just like it if you’re planning a theme party for the next season.

3. Pick Your Partners Wisely

Mr. White’s — questionable — ability to network is our first negative example. A lot of Breaking Bad is about Walter’s inability to share the meth sandbox with the other kids, and almost all of the problems he faces are because of this overpowering character flaw. Jessie, his impressionable partner, is a nice guy, but he really only sticks around because Walter thinks he can control him. Your employees need to be better at their job than you, though I know I’m not sure I’d be able to resist one liners like “Magnets, b****!”

2. Corporate Buyouts are Explosive — Sometimes Literally.

If you’re making a superior product, someone with better lawyers is going to make a play for your idea. Gus Fring is the Rupert Murdoch to Walter White’s MySpace. After noticing the popularity of ‘Blue Sky,’ Fring made Mr. White an offer he couldn’t refuse. Their original plan, the superlab, and guaranteed distribution chains are all things that any successful entrepreneur can look forward to after the big dogs notice something undeniably profitable.

1. Quality isn’t Everything

A hefty part of Breaking Bad is analyzing the brass tacks of small business ownership. Walter’s product is the best on the market, but how do you sell something without a big box store to put it in? Figuring out new ways to sell, market, and distribute your product is an important skill to master and look no further than Kickstarter and Louis CK’s digitally distributed standup special for real-world evidence of how this works.

At the end of the day, Breaking Bad is a classic show that analyzes the lengths one man will go to for a legacy. He’s not in it for the money, he’s in it for the glory. He forgets to be human along the way, though, and that’s something that every entrepreneur should remember. The show’s upcoming final season will not only be about Mr. White’s fall from glory, but a modern day morality tale for the importance of humanity in the modern entrepreneur. Also, it’s gonna be freakin’ awesome.

Follow Adam on Twitter: @thebizguy

How Facebook Structured Our Creativity

Matthew Toren — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 14:00:52 +0000

MySpace will ultimately be written as a ‘great start’ when the history of social media is finally written. It proved that deep down all we really want is structure. In the beginning of the social media boom, the internet realized that everyone was tired of email groups and internet forums. People wanted to connect, interact, and make their mark on something without having to build an Angelfire site about Friends or joining a Blink 182.

Their answer came in the form of various prototypes, but the first successful early social media website was MySpace. The emotional core behind MySpace was freedom. Users built their pages around how they saw themselves and were free to use HTML to develop their online identity. The results of the format were occasionally great, but more often frustrating. I’m sure you remember the black background and red fonts of the early 2000s, and the custom formatting that made a profile even harder to read. Also, I’m pretty sure the only reason I know about Screamo genre is because of MySpace.

Unintended gamification also hindered MySpace. Without any way to quantify the value of a profile, users would post on MySpace’s bulletin system to ask for picture comments, friend requests, and provide updates for their social circle. The result was a hodge-podge of content with unclear goals. Users were harnessing social media to validate their internet presence rather than to share cool stuff with friends. That’s where Facebook changed the game.

We’ve all seen The Social Network, and the overarching conceit of the film is about how Mark Zuckerberg bottled the college experience. I don’t believe that’s why Facebook was successful.

I think Facebook works because it’s a creative experience that’s limited by structure. Every profile has the same general aesthetic and the memorable blue header is a constant reminder for what website you’re visiting. Updates are instant, and the little globe at the top of your screen keeps you updated on the activity of your friends, posts, and comments.

When you create your Facebook profile, you’re building an online identity within the framework of the platform. Where MySpace asked you to visually identify your personality, Facebook gives you specific spaces to express your interests. This system works on two levels:

1. It’s designed around your social circle. There’s a time and a place for building your online presence, but your personal profile is mostly intended for your friends and acquaintances.

2. Targeted marketing is made much easier through this system. When a user connects his or her page to their favorite bands, films, and books it then becomes much easier to suggest products or creative content that they might like.

I really do believe that the status is one of the most important innovations for social media. Taking a cue from MySpace’s bulletin system, the Facebook status is a way to keep you connected to your friend group. ‘What’s on your mind?’ asks the text at the apex of your FB dashboard, and millions of people tell everyone in their friends list what’s going on with them every day.

The like system, a more recent idea, is similarly genius. Instead of leaving a post in the online aether, friends of a poster can passively show approval by clicking the ‘like’ button. The poster receives a notification which acts as positive reinforcement for saying or sharing something that people thought was cool. This results in more frequent posting, higher overall quality of content, and less updates on how good the food you just ate tasted.

Facebook is, at heart, a website about the exchange of information. You’re telling Facebook your interests, what you’re up to, and where you live. In exchange, Facebook connects you to people you might have never caught up with again. MySpace’s problem was the second part of the name. Social media isn’t about a ‘space,’ it’s about a conversation.

The success of Twitter is the final nail in MySpace’s coffin. It may seem odd to limit users to 140 characters, but the results and creativity within the constraints of Twitter’s platform have been amazing. Humans are pack animals. We crave structure, and Facebook is the code of laws that brought order to MySpace’s wild west.

How does this apply to your business? Thought of any cool ways to engage your consumer’s creativity? Let us know with a comment.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @matthewtoren

Infectiously Awesome: How to Build Your Content’s DNA

Adam Toren — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 14:00:08 +0000

Part I: The Dancing Baby Effect

Humans are social creatures. We like to talk, but we also like to listen. We’ve gone from oral history to the printing press, and eventually made our way to worldwide connectivity with the internet. Originally intended exclusively for military use, the guys over at DARPA discovered that it was actually pretty fun to send each other smiley faces through primordial cyberspace.

Years later, around the time that Ebay hit the scene, it was hard to find funny stuff on the internet. Chat programs like AIM, MSN, and ICQ worked in tandem with large-scale internet forums to keep users connected and sharing content. There was no nerve-center for comedy before YouTube opened the cat video floodgates and drowned our free-time like an angry god.

The Dancing Baby, is one of the earliest examples of viral content. It looks exactly how it sounds. The baby dances. Dancing Baby was spread almost exclusively through forums, chat clients, and eventually reporters picked it up for broadcast via local news. It’s been about 15 years and now we’re older, smarter, and doing the Harlem Shake.

Dancing Baby is the single-celled organism of viral videos. It’s simple, instantly recognizable, and there’s an uncanny addictiveness to it. If you’re making an ad, vlog, or anything that you want people to redistribute virally you need to start with what convinced millions of people watch an animated gif of a baby dancing. Here are the Dancing Baby’s five basic building blocks for virality:

5. It’s Relatable

We were babies, have babies, and know babies. They do funny stuff. Emailing someone a picture of one doing something funny isn’t too hard to do. Your content needs to be something that your audience can identify with. As a content creator, it’s your job to make sharing your content an easy decision.

4. It’s funny, but not edgy

The baby has no overt message. It seems kind of silly now, but people are free to interpret a dancing baby however they want. It could be celebration of life, a metaphor for the human experience, or maybe just simply a dancing baby.

3. It Doesn’t End Unless You Click Away

Gifs are animated images that repeat automatically. YouTube has attempted to recreate this by adding a column of ‘similar videos’ just to the right of anything you watch. Viral content leads to more viral content and releasing content regularly leads to more repeat viewers.

2. It’s Formatted for a Wide Audience

The internet was slower in the ‘90s. 56k modems meant a lot of waiting. As technology gets cheaper, pipes get faster, and expectations change. A dancing baby, like I said, is a symptom of the mainstream internet’s literal infancy. The casual user expects different content now, and watch out for the rest of our series for more ways to build your content’s DNA.

1. The Weirdness Factor

A good viral video is something that would normally slip through the fingers of the mainstream media. TV, print, and movie studios function as curators of content and their job is to predict what an audience will like. Your job as a content creator is to be smarter than think they are. Keep up with the popular videos of the past, present, and focus your content on what you think will make a splash.

We’re well past the Dancing Baby era of the internet, but the basic concept is still the same. If something is funny or cool then it will be shared. Do you have a favorite video? Let us know with a comment and we might end up analyzing it in next week’s viral video breakdown.

Follow Adam on Twitter: @thebizguy

Kickstarter: Is Democratic Funding a Good Thing?

Matthew Toren — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 14:00:58 +0000

I’m sure you’ve all heard about and even used websites like Kickstarter to back an awesome idea or something artsy. After seeing the success of the Kickstarter campaign for Veronica Mars, I got to thinking about some of the ups and downs of the crowdsourcing format.

Crowdsourcing isn’t a new idea. Renaissance artists like Leonardo da Vinci couldn’t have thought up the helicopter without the help of wealthy patrons to keep him fed. The relationship was basically a retainer. A patron would pay an artist a specific amount of money and an artist like da Vinci would paint really good portraits of a rich guy’s dog in between between his helicopter dreams.

The internet, as I’m you already know, changes the game. Kickstarter turned the patron-artist relationship into a democracy. If something is cool, people can literally vote for it with their wallets. An artist or entrepreneur writes out their idea and sets a monetary goal. If they meet that goal between one and sixty days of starting their Kickstarter, then they get all of the money pledged by donors.

Where it gets funky, though, is accountability. The Kickstarter website does not guarantee that a creator will actually finish their product and accountability is definitely a concern when a collective investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars is on the line. What’s more interesting, though, is when a project becomes so popular that the creator receives more money than they could have hoped for from venture capitalists.

Susan Wilson, an amazing mom and entrepreneur, started a Kickstarter to send her daughter to a game design camp to settle an argument between her kids. Wilson’s two sons made fun of Kenzie, her 9 year old daughter for wanting to make a video game. They called her dream a ‘waste of money,’ and mom decided to take the argument to Kickstarter. The original goal was $829. Exactly enough money to send Kenzie to the camp. Wilson never expected the response she got: Over $20,000 in donations and a similar number of death threats.

The message is undeniable. I mean, really, who wouldn’t want to help a little girl prove to her brothers that she can make video games too? The ensuing death threats, however, came after the internet hivemind discovered Wilson’s entrepreneurial background and called shenanigans. I don’t think Wilson intended to make $20,000, and I don’t think anyone donating money to her daughter felt like they were giving money to just one person. A response like that means there’s a market for diversity in the gaming industry and Wilson accidentally opened the floodgates.

I like Kickstarter and watching cool ideas get financed is really exciting. I do, however, think the format should learn from the one thing that went wrong with Kenzie’s story. If you’re launching a business, your budget has to be tight. You should know exactly how much you’re asking your investors for, and Kickstarter should encourage the same principles.

Kickstarter doesn’t allow crowdsourcing for charities. The cofounders of the platform have said that they don’t want to force their donors to pick between ending hunger and helping someone make some cool poetry. I agree with them and fully believe that charitable donations should be kept separate from crowdfunding.

However, it’s hard to deny that if Kenzie and her mom had been able to donate the money over what she asked to charity, then there would’ve been no question about the intentions behind their project. I don’t think Kickstarter is going to change their policy on charity and I don’t fault them for holding their ground. An easy way around accidentally making $20,000, however, would be this: Allow the creator of a Kickstarter to pre-select a charity for the extra pledges received and only reveal which charity they selected after the funding period ends.

I think this sort of change would make for an undeniably better perspective for crowdsourcing. If your idea is solid enough to donate money toward, I think you should at least know exactly how much you’ll need to make it happen. Am I wrong? Please don’t hesitate to let me know in the comment section.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @matthewtoren

Content Diversity is Key to Search Engine Optimisation Success

Guest Post — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 14:00:41 +0000

Most webmasters know by now that if they churn out the same content and build the same type of links again and again, they are likely to be hit by an algorithmic update or a penalty. Google wants its users to be able to search and find high quality sites that offer fresh and original content. Google wants to avoid searchers landing on spammy websites that offer users nothing of value.

As a result, bloggers and webmasters should be thinking about the types of content they have to offer their readers. Churning out the same old boring type of blog will soon turn people off from what you have to say. Keeping the attention span of an already flighty internet user is difficult at the best of times. So in order to retain readers and keep them coming back to your site for more, you have to give them juicy, original content in various forms.

Content Tailored to Your Niche

The type of content you offer your readers may differ depending on your industry or niche. However, it is best to offer a range of content types, especially when you are embarking on a new content strategy. This way you can test the types of content that most appeal to your readers and give them more of what they want in the future.

Great Content for a Great SEO Strategy

The idea is that the more popular your content is, the more likely it is to be shared and linked to which will contribute to your search engine optimisation success. Becoming an authority within your niche through superior content will help to establish your site as a trusted source of valuable information that will serve you well in the rankings.
So which types of sharable content should you offer your readers?

Juicy Copy

Copy doesn’t have to be boring. Short, sharp and enticing copy can bring your blog to life. Readers want useful and interesting information quickly so if you are going to write in text, make it worth the read. Everything from catchy headlines to juicy, irresistible chunks of content should be considered when writing. Keep readers engaged by mixing short bullet points with summaries and interesting sound bite phrases that may be picked up by others in your industry. Good sound bites can generate links and traffic when your unique take on something is attributed by other bloggers.

Educational Infographics

Topics that are difficult to explain or would require lengthy copy to do so may be better presented as an educational infographic. Easily digestible and visually enticing, this type of content makes great link bait. By attracting links naturally through an infographic, you can drive relevant traffic to your site and spread the word about your brand with a branded infographics.

Entertaining Multimedia

A range of multimedia content can really help to increase the amount of time visitor spend on your site. Videos can help to display products in a visually interesting way whilst slideshows and audio clips can help explain things quickly with little effort required by the visitor. Like infographics, these multimedia content pieces can provide great link bait. If you turn them into tools, questionnaires or other forms interactive content that help your target audience, your content can remain useful long after it has been published. This kind of evergreen content can aid your SEO long into the future by acquiring links naturally as a useful port of call for readers within your niche.

Author Bio: Kira works for The WebMarketing Group, an internet marketing company specialising in search engine optimisation. To find out more, you can find her on Twitter @webmktinggroup.

Five Blogging Secrets for SEO, Community, and Visibility

Adam Toren — Fri, 31 May 2013 14:00:44 +0000

If you haven’t already started a blog about your business, idea, or community then you should probably get started. The trade magazine, like many other printed publications, have taken a turn towards the internet and getting on board is as easy as logging on to WordPress. You’ve built a website for your product, hopefully installed analytics to see how your traffic is finding your content, and you have an idea.

Starting and maintaining your blog will take commitment, consistency, and also help you learn new things while building your community at the same time. Whether you’ve been posting weekly blogs for the past four years or are just looking to start something new: Here’re five tips for optimizing your blog’s search visibility and user engagement.

5. There Aren’t Any Real Shortcuts for SEO

Search Engine Optimization has a certain mystique to it. The idea of an industry dedicated to fooling Google into directing people to content seems Merlin-esque, but it’s mostly based on facts. When people search for something and you pop up, Google checks to see if they click another link. If they don’t hate the content you provide for them, you usually stay higher on the list. You can’t buy your way into good SEO — you need the content and product to back up your traffic.

4. An Engaged Audience Will Take Your Content Viral

Blogging isn’t about your company. It’s about how people react to your company and something that newspapers call a ‘human interest piece.’ Human interest means something worth knowing because it makes us feel something. When the local news interviews a spelling bee champion they’re not doing it to cover the next big thing in the spelling bee world. They’re talking to the champ because people like to be reminded of their Elementary School spelling bees. Tailor your blog posts to an audience of people, not sponsors.

3. Work with the Stats to Tailor Your Posts

An amazingly useful function of Google Analytics is the ability to see what search terms people use to find your website. I got into the bad habit of referring to an organization I was working with by their acronym and found that I was losing traffic to similar sites that spelled our name out completely. Make a weekly habit out of checking to see if you’re missing traffic because of specific wordings and switch up your content accordingly.

2. Have Fun

You’ll have posts that hit and posts that don’t. One of the most satisfying parts about running a blog is that the ball is truly in your court. Feel free to make some weird connections, have a controversial opinion, or even open up a book of knock-knock jokes and relate them to your topic. Writing is a muscle and getting a chance working it daily is just one of the benefits of starting a blog.

1. Bring in Guests

Guest bloggers and interviews will bring two new forms of traffic to your page. Readers of your guest blogger will be more than happy to read and comment on their voice. Also, their name will be on your website. Search terms like ‘john smith article’ will mean your hat will be in the SEO race for any article that John Smith ends up writing in the future. Read blogs that are similar to yours, find a voice that you think would fit your message, and let them be heard.

Thinking of starting a blog?

Feel free to ask us questions in the comments section.

Follow Adam on Twitter: @thebizguy

8 Content Marketing Goals Worth Pursuing

Matthew Toren — Wed, 29 May 2013 14:00:12 +0000

No matter what business you’re in, content marketing is integral to keeping your brand relevant in a fast-paced world. If you’re not quite sure what content marketing is, it’s generally defined as any marketing format that involves the creation and sharing of media and publishing content in order to attract, communicate with, and thus acquire customers. The information can be presented in a variety of media, including news, videos, white papers, e-books, infographics, case studies, how-to guides—you get the picture. Content marketing has been instrumental in all our endeavors. We’ve personally found it to be an invaluable way to uniquely position a brand into the public zeitgeist. That said, content marketing is only effective if you have a plan and clearly defined goals at the onset. To guide you in the right direction, we put together a list of eight effective content-marketing goals that are worth having.

1. Be Credible

Well-researched content establishes you as an expert in your field. Take your audience’s guesswork out of the equation and demonstrate that you know what you’re talking about. This takes work on your part, but building credibility with accurate information is paramount to building a strong relationship with your readers that will prompt them to turn to you or your brand for answers time and time again.

2. Keep the Pipeline Full

My mentor used to tell me, “Business is good, but new business is better!” You always want to keep your customers happy, but when your content is persuasive and spot-on, new prospects will seek you out, which creates a healthy pipeline of business prospects.

3. Illustrate Benefits

Know the difference between benefits and features. People don’t want to necessarily know what you do; rather, they want to discover how what you do can help them. Offer solutions to problems your readers encounter, and they’ll seek you out. Benefit-based solutions incorporate techniques, steps, tricks, methods, and approaches. Show your audience the value of working with you.

4. Turn Potential Objections Around

Slip into your reader’s mind. Determine what objections they could have about your message. From there, strategically craft your content to address potential doubts and turn a negative into a positive. For example, is your product seemingly too difficult for a senior citizen to use? If you think so, provide an illustrated example of an elderly customer using it with ease.

5. Transport Your Product into a Reader’s Imagination

Use vivid adjectives, create real life details and write about everything that could go through readers’ minds when they think of your product. If they start imaging how your product effortlessly fits into their lives, you’ve created the impetus for buying that product.

6. Attract Strategic Partners

Partnerships are essential to effective content marketing. By building strategic alliances with key brands that have complementary marketing efforts, you instantly expand your reach.

7. Increase Loyalty with Existing Customers

A strong base business is essential, so never lose your connection to your audience. Make your product and services continue to stand out to current customers with fresh, useful content that continues to inspire them with equally fresh ideas on how to use your products.

8. Develop News Ideas — Constantly!

Don’t rest on your past accomplishments. Business evolves rapidly, and so should your content and how you market it. Be proactive and always on the lookout for unique, innovative ways to reach different demographics with creative content that gets noticed.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @matthewtoren

YouTube Killed QVC – Five Tips For A New, Shoppable YouTube

Adam Toren — Mon, 27 May 2013 14:00:04 +0000

QVC is dead. Well, not quite, but Google announced its new plan for organic links to products advertised through YouTube and I can’t wait for it to become mainstream. No longer do we have to see how many necklaces are selling, hear about cool katana craftsmanship, or listen to cue-card pitches. Advertisers no longer have to market their products through reviews, and are now empowered with the ability to simply provide links to the products that a popular YouTube page is using.

Here’re four cool ways to use Google’s new system. Hopefully they’ll be of some assistance.

4. Work with a Guru

The first implementation of YouTube’s new service is through TRESemmé’s new beauty channel. YouTube has been, if anything, a place for gurus to have their voices be heard. YouTubers like Michelle Phan have been giving people hints on makeup, beauty, and fun DIY projects for over 5 years. Find someone who YouTubers trust, present them with your product, and watch the organic interest in your product build itself. Gurus work in a curatorial manner, and their voice can be more effective than any expensive celebrity sponsorship. The average user’s YouTuber’s subscriptions represent a special kind of trust. Building a relationship with a guru could give your product the viral boost that it needs to be great.

3. Sponsor a Stunt

You don’t have to go as crazy as Red Bull to get people talking about your product. YouTube is all about the human experience, and building a video centered around community is something that every YouTuber can get behind. Sponsor a flash mob centered around your product, but avoid making it all about your message. You want people to associate your company’s identity with coolness, not stifling creativity.

2. Keep It Organic

If you want to promote your product in a low-key way, one very easy tactic is to simply populate the background of a vlogger’s room. With YouTube’s new system for organic linking, viewers will be able to simply click on something that interests them to get more information about a product. This means that marketing won’t get in the way of the content that keeps them subscribed. The traffic directed to your product will almost exclusively be happy to learn more.

1. Follow the 30 Rock Principle

30 Rock is, if anything, a show about self-awareness. Product placement in the show is acknowledged sarcastically, but it fits within the context of the storyline. This doesn’t mean you need to tell the creator you’re working with to make fun of your product, but it does mean that you need to be sure your marketing campaign fits in with the narrative of a YouTube channel. Organically clickable products means that marketers can still reach customers without having to annoy them with video ads. It also means that entertainment and advertising will move further away from the antagonistic perception between the two that causes people to install add-ons like AdBlock.

I really love Google’s new system because I know how annoying it can be to watch a pre-roll ad for the 2013 Honda Civic when I’m trying to get to my next cute cat video. I envision a future where, instead of having to watch an ad for the 2013 Honda Civic, I can simply click on the different products I see in a video. If I end up buying anything, the video that directed me toward, the channel creator gets a small cut. It’s never been easier to organically market a cool product.

What’s the weirdest example of product placement you’ve seen? Let us know in the comment section.

Follow Adam on Twitter: @thebizguy

Female Entrepreneurs: Best Free Online & Mentoring Programs to Help Your Business

Guest Post — Sat, 25 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

More than a half a million workers are creating their own jobs every month, according to the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity. About one in five of those are started by women, notes Forbes.

Female-created businesses could be an important key in creating more jobs and helping equalize the pay threshold in the U.S. Small businesses owned by women could create more than 5 million new U. S. jobs by 2018, notes the The Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute. That’s an impressive statistic in any economy, especially one that the US averaged around 160,000 new jobs created every month in 2012.

With support and education, female entrepreneurs can find success with their own companies, forging their own path and taking advantage of a post-recession growth in new businesses. Female business owners are also more likely to use profit to invest back in the company or further their education.

Education Growth

After a female entrepreneur finishes college, where can she turn for an advanced education? How can a hard-working entrepreneur balance an already-established work and family life with new education pursuits? Whether you have a solid plan to start with, or no plan at all, education is key to a business’ success.

Digital education is becoming more and more flexible, allowing for different learning styles and schedules to successfully complete college courses in a flexible way. Classes can be completed on a laptop, library computer, or even through a smartphone.

Online College Programs

Women entrepreneurs can enroll in online college programs that focus on several necessary skills for creating a new business. Examples include:

How to manage finances in the beginning stages of a business.
How to find investment money.
How to foster leaderships skills.
How to work with contracts and other legal paperwork.

Acquiring a variety of skills is important in the current digital age. Using technology to broaden your horizons and look into every possible way to showcase your business is critical for its success.

Platforms for Online Education

From the thousands of online education courses offered on the Internet, a few reliable platforms stand out for successful entrepreneurs.

CreativeLIVE Inc. hosts a variety of business-themed courses, covering topics ranging from creating your brand to how to market on YouTube.
edX hosts college course videos from universities like Harvard, Berkeley and Georgetown. The courses cover business, copyright law and cooking.
Khan Academy offers online video courses on the four main categories of STEM education (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).

Taking classes beyond the standard business majors can open up new possibilities for business ventures allowing an entrepreneur to learn skills she needs for business as well as skills that apply to the type of business she is creating.

Accelerators and Incubators

Accelerators and incubators are great sources of support, education and funding. These support teams can help female entrepreneurs find investors and support needed to get a start-up concept off the ground.

The accelerators and incubators will invest a small amount of money in exchange for a stake in the business. And some programs have started to accept applicants who have personality and potential, but without an actual startup idea. This early-stage guidance offers lessons in finding initial seed funding, company paperwork, and help with start-up legal advice.

Some successful accelerators include Y Combinator, Dream It Ventures and Tech Stars. Many of these companies focus on technology-based start ups, where a majority of new businesses are created by men. Local incubators can offer education and mentoring, but also give invaluable insight into area demographics, real estate and more.

Finding a mentor is important for a small business owner. A mentor can help finesse the mission and goals of a business while providing continuing guidance and support. They may even help find the balancing act between work and family. Small business social network Manta found that 95% of small business owners are also mothers.

It may still be a struggle to educate yourself while launching a business and caring for a family. But with the resources available through online technology and start-up support, women can succeed.

Google Announces Freemium Victory at I/O. Now What?

Matthew Toren — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:54:59 +0000

Google I/O had its show floor cleanly stolen by Glass, but the real sales figures are in an unintended psychological phenomenon called upon by in-app purchases. Google reported an increase in revenue growth of 7x for in-app purchasing and 2x for subscription models. In-app purchases and subscription models are services that’re a recent invention. So, why are they increasing so quickly?

I’ve broken down some lessons to be learned from Google’s announcement below.

Evangelism Is a Process

The name ‘freemium’ was originally a derogatory term. It’s an idea based around ‘90s computing, in that a developer was already at work on their next piece of software right after releasing the final version of new software. With cloud computing, mobile devices, and automated updates — it’s better to create something and then iterate on it while you build your audience. If your app is impressive enough to share with friends, then your marketing budget is basically covered by the virality of happy customers. The idea, then, is to provide a version of your app that has most of the features that everyone wants with a small paywall/subscription fee that’ll keep fans of your product funding its next iteration.

Build a Platform, Not a One-off

Creating a solid app means that people are going to use it. That much is clear. The question, however, is how to increase the lifespan of your app within the top sales charts. Minecraft is the big-name exception to Google’s new rule. There are only two iterations of Minecraft: A free demo and the $6.99 full version of the app. Minecraft is one of the most popular games in the world, and one of its biggest competitors is a free game called Temple Run. The concept behind Temple Run is simple. You progress through the game and collect coins. Players are able to purchase coins to buy powerups, characters, and other unlockable features. Money spent in Temple Run is simply an easier way to progress the natural flow of the game. An interview with one of the developers indicates that the in-app purchases for Temple Run far exceed the amount they’d have made otherwise.

Make Purchasing a Subscription Reasonable

Internet radio apps like Pandora and Spotify are generally totally viable as free apps. They both function about the same without paying, but earn income from their free users through ad revenue. Pandora offers a $36 subscription fee that increases a user’s ability to skip songs they aren’t in the mood for, removes all ads, and offers the user higher quality audio. Build your app around usability, then develop systems that power users will find useful.

The freemium model is coming closer and closer to the norm. It fits the new and unique needs of mobile users while also offering creators the chance to develop divergent iterations of their products. Increasing the lifespan of your app is as easy as building something that most people will enjoy for free, but specific power users will be happy to pay for.

Have a freemium app that you love? Think that in-app purchases are the devil? Take your concerns to the comment section.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @matthewtoren

Six Practical Tips for Building a Successful Blog

Adam Toren — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:00:08 +0000

Your business is thriving. You’ve managed to stay ahead of the competition. But staying on top requires a strong and consistent connection to your audience (i.e., your current and potential customers). While a blog offers an excellent forum to build this relationship, it seems everyone’s got one––or more. Like stars in the sky, there are now so many blogs vying for eyeballs, with thousands upon thousands more coming online daily, that creating a successful blog (translation: one that people actually read and come back to) takes skill and a whole lot of proverbial elbow grease.

Whether you haven’t set foot into the blogging atmosphere or you’re a blogging veteran, know this: Building and maintaining a high-traffic blog can be a daunting and anxiety inducing task even for the most highly successful and productive of individuals. Yet surprisingly, building a popular blog comes down to a few simple, elemental steps:

1. Know your purpose and have goals

You wouldn’t expect to successfully complete a marathon without setting training goals and milestones. The same concept applies to building a successful blog. Think about what you want to gain from blogging. Increased profits? Visibility to new customers and partnerships? Whatever you expect to gain, home in on what you’re looking to achieve and create a realistic roadmap to get you there.

2. Address topics you’re passionate about

Now that you have an idea where you want to go and how you’re going to get there, ditch the ho-hum and tackle concepts that get you fired up and, more importantly, help fulfill your goals. Chances are that your passion will excite your readers and incite them to get emotionally invested in what you’re writing about, making it more likely for them to comment and share your blog with their circle of influence.

3. Keep it positive

Remember these words: simple and authentic. Drop all hints of pretension and garrulity and write with an eye toward inspiring your readers. Everyone wants to feel good and be a part of a bigger, brighter future.

4. Stay on track Don’t stray too far from your original thesis

You’ll lose your audience if you regularly go off on tangents involving too many topics and issues that don’t support the main purpose of your blog. Again, simplicity rules. Be concise and stay under 500 words so you don’t lose your reader’s interest.

5. Be original Develop your own voice

In a world of homogeneity, a blog is your space to let the real you shine. No one wants to spend time reading a rehash of every other blog that touches on your topic. Readers latch on to originality and personality, so don’t fear being creative and blogging with flair.

6. Consistency is key In the business world

We often hear “You’re only as good as your last sale.” The same theory applies to blogging. You need to constantly create and post interesting content to give your audience a reason to come back––and offer them a reason to bring their friends along next time. So dedicate yourself to blogging regularly, say three times a week. You might not see an instant response, but if you hang in there, results you hope for are inevitable.

Follow Adam on Twitter: @thebizguy

How to Laser-Focus When Everything’s a Priority at Once

Matthew Toren — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:00:06 +0000

Your management report is due––now. A customer wants a spontaneous meeting––today––to discuss a recurring issue. Your boss assailed you in the hallway to remind you that the expense report from your trip overseas is overdue.

And those 15 minutes a day you committed to spending on social media is adding up fast.

How do you focus on anything in a manic world where everyone expects results and responses right now? Do you often feel as though the file cabinet in your brain’s got all the drawers open at once?

You’re not alone. In today’s rapid-paced, complex world, the distractions are plenty. Add to that a business climate in which everyone’s tasked with doing more work with less time. If you feel chronically overwhelmed, it’s time to practice just a few simple steps to achieving razor-sharp focus. Try these for starters:

Five Steps to Zeroing In on the Task at Hand

Turn off the notification for e-mail
That little “bing” creates an insidious Pavlovian response. E-mail sucks up time like a Hoover, so start small by checking it once on the hour. Then later, graduate to checking it just four times a day. And bam! you’re a rebel!
Tackle the toughest task first
Ever heard of the “swallow the frog” theory? When you arrive at your desk, dive into the task you detest the most—the one that keeps you up at night. Don’t take any calls unless necessary, and promise yourself you won’t do anything else until it’s finished. The rest of your day should seem much easier by comparison, and you’ve won a battle against procrastination––the archenemy of focus!
Work backward
When everything seems urgent, start with the jobs attached to a hard-and-fast deadline. Then work on each task in order of priority. Sometimes you have to remind yourself that a complaining customer can be staved off with a little empathy: “I’m sorry the elevator’s broken, sir. I realize that causes issues. I’m sending a mechanic over––and I’ll call you back in a few hours to check on the status.” You can fend off a lot of emergencies just by listening.
Write it down
It sounds simple, but part of focusing is removing the scattered forces from your thoughts and recording them elsewhere. Make lists on your smartphone or notepad––and clear the gray matter for critical thinking.
Work by the “egg-timer.”
Figure out how many tasks you need to accomplish, and assign them a time limit. Set the timer or your smartphone alarm, and get started. Don’t allow yourself to do anything else until the timer rings. You’ll create a new habit in no time!

Try any combination of these steps––and when you’ve enjoyed success, be sure to treat yourself to a Facebook break! (For 10 minutes. The clock’s ticking!)

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @matthewtoren

Which Ecommerce Platform is Right for Me?

Guest Post — Sun, 19 May 2013 14:00:53 +0000

Many SMB owners are often stumped when it comes to choosing an ecommerce platform that is right for their needs. There are several different options available, depending on the type and size of business, the technical ability of your team and your budget.

Do you want to be able to modify every last detail, or would you prefer a platform that works right out of the box? Are you after a basic package that you can choose additional features for later on, or do you want to go all-in and pay a single cost up front? How many channels do you want to manage from the get-go – and do you want to add to these as you go along?

These questions are important, but they often overwhelm would-be ecommerce shoppers. You don’t need the added burden of looking into every intricate detail whilst trying to run a business – so Brightpearl have done the hard work for you! Follow their “Which Ecommerce Platform is Right for Me?” flowchart to take the stress out of ecommerce research.

Five Tips for Getting Journalists and Bloggers to Pick Up Your Story

Adam Toren — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:00:24 +0000

Media coverage––online, print, and social––has the potential to launch your start-up or established business from obscurity to buzz-worthy. But without a glitzy PR firm on retainer (yet), how can you garner the attention of journalists?

First rule of thumb––journalists typically want to make some sort of difference. Their mission is to tell a unique story that spurs action, inspires, or achieves killer scoop status. So help them separate themselves from the pack. Do your homework, and glean a thorough understanding of the type of content featured across their publication––blog or site. Then offer a few of these things: breaking news, provocative content, or the chance to showcase a cutting-edge product, person, or idea. In other words, if content is king, give them a crown jewel. Here’s how:

Five Tips for Garnering (and Keeping) Media Attention

1. Choose a current, relevant, unique topic

Is your story relevant? You’re in a hurry to sell your product or idea, but with an endless supply of media outlets competing for eyeballs, your story’s got to have teeth. Ribbon cuttings? Maybe. New locations? Meh. But a product developed by a veteran amputee for other amputees? Now that’s an interesting backstory.

2. Nix the canned press releases

Journalists have to mine through scores of these to uncover the diamonds in the rough. Instead, scan industry journals, blogs, and websites and determine who’s covering the type of story you want to tell. Connect personally via phone, e-mail, or Twitter, and make your pitch worth their time. (They’re busy trudging through weak press releases, so make yours stand out.)

3. Build Strategic Relationships

Many journalists are people who enjoy interpersonal relationships, so make connections. Post a recent article they’ve written via social media and compliment their work. In other words, figure out what you can do for them first. (Try submitting a personal pitch to their editor and request a journalist by name. Yes––flattery gets you everywhere!)

4. Consider their audience in your pitch

What type of content gets robust responses, “Likes,” “Shares,” or “Follows”? Pay attention. Prepare your pitch ahead of time, and deliver it succinctly. For example: “I enjoyed your popular piece on how a small-town hospital beat their biggest competitors on achieving EHR Meaningful Use. Our company has a story we think your readers would love––it’s about refusing to give up after failing a dozen times first before we won a local robotics grant competition. Would you have a few minutes to talk over coffee?” Give them just enough to whet their appetite.

5. Offer sources, information, quotes, links, and samples

Many writers love building stories but loathe research. Make their jobs easier––send statistics and sources, links to relevant articles, samples of your product, and videos or photographs they can use to draft the story.

Once your story has printed, posted, or aired, send the writer a personal thank-you note via good old-fashioned snail mail. Most of them remember paper fondly––give them a reason to call you in the future!

Follow Adam on Twitter: @thebizguy

Your Ultimate Guide to Mobile Productivity Apps

Matthew Toren — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:00:13 +0000

This post is the result of my obsession with making everyday tasks fun. There’re hundreds of apps meant to rethink how you handle your chores, and a combination of ADD and compulsiveness means I have way too many installed on my phone. I picked the best of the best to share with you, dear reader, and I hope you end up downloading one or two of ‘em.

As a disclaimer, I’m an iPhone user. I tried to find either multi-platform apps or a suitable Android alternative for all of my suggestions.

Business Basics

1. Note-taking

Evernote – iOS/Android/Windows Phone/Blackberry – Free (Premium $45/year)

The best part about the smartphone is that I’ll never again be in need of a pen. My iPhone sits neatly in my pocket at all times, and Evernote is the bridge between my PC, brain, and business meetings. It’s easy to forget stuff and Evernote keeps me honest.

2. Cloud Storage

Dropbox – iOS/Android/Windows Phone/Blackberry – 2 Gigs of Free Storage (Paid plans available)

Smartphones really do make life easier for forgetful folks. All I have to do is drop my presentations into the Dropbox folder on my work PC and they’re automatically downloaded to my iPhone when I make my rounds. The 2 gigs of free storage has been more than enough for me, but their prices are reasonable if you’re looking for a heftier solution.

3. Networking

CardMunch – iOS (Android version coming soon) – Free

Business cards, no matter how tastefully bland, are easy to forget about. After discovering CardMunch, I’m glad to say that the to-contact slot in my wallet is now filled with Starbucks punch-cards instead. CardMunch automatically reads business cards and inputs the information into my smartphone. If you don’t have it, you already need it.

Time-Management

1. Taskmaster

OmniFocus – iOS – $79.99
ToodleDo – iOS/Android/Blackberry – Free ($14.95/yr Pro $29.95/yr Pro Plus)

Organization is a bit of a balancing act, but these apps transform your schedule into manageable chunks. The idea is as issues and obligations pop up during the day, you record them on your iPhone similar to how EverNote works. Both OmniFocus and ToodleDo really shine after you get home, though. The apps save all of your notes and then allow you to organize them based on priority, type, and due-date. They also use cloud computing to organize your tasks on all of your mobile devices.

2. Punctuality

LeaveNow – iOS – Free
Google Now – Android – Free

If you’ve ever uttered these famous last words, “Ten more minutes” then you need the help of these apps. After downloading either LeaveNow or Google Now, your cell phone will be the voice in the back of your head that finally has the power to say, “No. I’m leaving now.” Both LeaveNow and Google’s productivity app use GPS and real-time traffic reports to give you an accurate prediction of how long it’ll take to get to and from wherever it is you’re going.

3. Office Favorite

ToDoIst – iOS/Android – Free (Premium $29/year)

Productivity is a tough nut to crack. Rewarding yourself with a break after a couple of hours could turn into another Mad Men binge. ToDoIst combines many of the productivity functions seen in other apps but adds a scoring system that tracks and acknowledges your productivity. I’d really suggest going premium if you end up working with ToDoIst, as the app definitely opens up afterward.

Reminders

1. Ah-Ha Moment Tracker

Checkmark – iOS- $4.99
Spoty Location Reminder – Android – $1.49

Ever kicked yourself for walking past the market on your way home without buying the milk you desperately need? Meter maids costing you hundreds of dollars? Location based reminders are built for you. These apps are built around your routine. They let you save favorite locations, name them, and then structure a system of notifications around your daily activities. Checkmark has kept my fridge stocked and my windshield free of red papers. For that I am grateful.

2. Catch-All

Remember the Milk – Android/iOS/Blackberry – Free (Pro Upgrade $25/yr)

This is the reminder app that started it all. Remember the Milk is, by far, the most popular to-do list across all platforms. It has a bunch of extensions and add-ons to better suit your needs. If you’re looking for a no-frills list of stuff you need to get done then look no further.

3. Cyberparenting

Carrot – iOS – $.99

Remember Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey? The folks behind Carrot brought him to your cell phone. You add a list of tasks and check them off as you complete them. The catch, however, is that failing to complete certain tasks in the allotted timeframe means that Carrot will be angry with you. This app does not take, “I’m afraid I can’t do that” for an answer. Making Carrot happy, however, means you’ll be rewarded with funny animations and also animated cats.

Lifestyle

1. Sleep

Sleep Cycle – iOS – $.99
Sleep as Android – Android – $2.89

We’ve all heard about the five stages of sleep, but we haven’t been able to do anything about it until smartphones hit the scene. Sleep apps use the motion sensors in your phone to gauge which stage of sleep you’re currently experiencing and wake you up at the best possible moment. It’s basically the antidote for waking up on the wrong side of the bed.

2. Task Timer

30/30 – iOS – Free (optional in-app purchases)
Activity Timer – Android – $1.99

The 30/30 system basically sets a time limit on your daily tasks. Its iOS iteration lets you plan out your day in 30 minute increments. After you finish your allotted 30 minutes for coffee and breakfast, you might plan a 30 minute brainstorm for your next project. Afterward, the app will let you relax for 30 minutes. The system is intended to reward you for spending time productively, which results in more effective work and well-earned play.

3. Running for Your Life

Zombies, Run! – iOS/Android – $3.99

I’d certainly be a lot more inclined to work on my cardio if I had to run away from a bunch of monsters hell-bent on eating my brain. Zombies, Run! is an app that ingeniously combines the storytelling of zombie movies with fitness. You throw in your ear-buds, get outside, and the game uses GPS tracking to see how fast you’re running and throws zombies at you accordingly. After you’ve finished running for your life, you get to build up your base and organize your survivors. Also, the story is surprisingly original.

Good Habits

1. Journaling

Day One – iOS – $4.99
Diaro – Android – Free ($3.99 for Pro Version)

In lieu of keeping a moleskine notebook next to my complete collection of beat poetry, I’ve discovered some cool apps for recording my thoughts. It’s an easy habit to keep because I just type out a couple of lines (or weepy poems) into my phone after I set my nightly alarm.

2. Consistency

Streaks – iOS – $1.99
Habit Streak – Android – Free (Pro version $2.99)

Habits take time. The letters around my snooze button are beyond smudged and breaking my snooze habit took the help of Streaks. Streaks provides a visual representation of how often you do something you’re trying to do daily. Simply check off the in-app calendar if you get something done. After three months of this, I was able to start getting out of bed and work on some other lifestyle improvements as well. Check it out.

3. Number Crunching

Mint – Android/iOS – Free

Getting involved with your finances has never been easier. Mint, a free software suite, allows you to track your spending, debt, and set specific goals for that trip to Burning Man you’ve always wanted to take.

Found a new way to organize your life? Already have your organization solution? Let us know. Don’t forget to gives tell us your app recommendations for our next round-up. What do you think the iOS and Android markets are missing? We’d love to hear from you.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @matthewtoren

Five Products That Make You Say ‘Why Didn’t I Think of That?’

Adam Toren — Mon, 13 May 2013 14:00:45 +0000

Market forecasting is one of the most important traits in any entrepreneur. Figuring out what the consumer wants before they know it themselves is infinitely important. It’s also really frustrating when someone else hits the spot before you have your chance.

We combed through our deep-seeded insecurities to bring you a list of current (last five years) products that made us smack our foreheads. Hopefully, they’ll bring you one step closer to your ah-ha moment.

5. Amazing Jellybean

Everyone hates when their internet gets wonky. Everyone also hates that 30 seconds spent tapping their feet while their router restarts after unplugging it and plugging it back in again. The Amazing Jellybean is the cure for all of your frustrations. It acts as a middleman between your router and modem that’ll make sure your internet is working properly. It’s bluetooth enabled, so all you have to do is press a button and the hardware will automatically restart your finicky router.

Go To Amazing Jellybean

4. LunaTik

iPod Nanos are really small. No matter which way you spin it, wearing one of the Apple-issued wristbands designed for the product when you’re not jogging is awkward. Pocketing the tiny device is tough too, because it’s almost too small to get at easily. The LunaTik turns the little MP3 player into a tasteful watch, serving as both a fashion statement and the perfect way to store a device that’s easy to lose. There have been attempts to put your iPod on your wrist, but none of them took the design-minded approach that makes the LunaTik a no-brainer.

Go To LunaTik

3. Live at the Beacon Theater

Stand-up comedy is a lonely road. Louis CK’s rise to the top was grueling and his career came dangerously close to a downward spiral until his breakout sitcom Louie. The comic made the risky decision to let his fans pay five dollars for his newest hour-long comedy special, DRM free. The response was massive, and proved a very important point: People respond to new ideas. Louis CK knew he had a built-in audience and capitalized on that in his trademark low-key manner.

Got To Live at the Beacon Theater

2. Pebble

Finally, I can buy a calculator watch and not be judged. Smartwatches, basically a scaled-down smartphone that fits on your wrist, update based on your location, activity, and notifies you of updates from your phone. The company behind Pebble decided to use Kickstarter as a glorified pre-order service, resulting in over $10,000,000 in start-up funds.

Go To Pebble

A recent competitor to the watch is the Basis, a different spin on the smartwatch. Billed as a fitness-oriented lifestyle enhancer, Basis’ philosophy is that a watch, unlike a smartphone, is always on your body. Innovative sensors that come packed into the Basis allow it to provide feedback meant that’ll improve bad habits you may not even know about. Staying fit and looking nice have never been easier.

1. Kickstarter

You’ve probably noticed that a lot of the products listed here have something to do with Kickstarter. The biggest why-didn’t-think-of-that we could come up with was ultimately the reason this list exists. Kickstarter combines social media, art, and crowdsourcing to offer creatives and entrepreneurs the chance to have their voices be heard. Inventors aren’t stuck making beer-hats in their garage anymore, and no one will ever have to suffer through an infomercial again. You can now assemble a team, create an effective presentation, and let the general public vote on your idea with their wallets. Kickstarter is what entrepreneurship is all about: Making cool stuff. Giving people an opportunity to make cool stuff and feel good while doing it is genius and I will regret not thinking of it first until my dying breath.

Go To Kickstarter

Thinking of making an Android/iOS powered beer-hat? Frustrated that you had already thought of the iPod watch years in advance? Let us know with a comment and our on-staff therapists will do their best to assuage your frustration.

Follow Adam on Twitter: @thebizguy

5 Solid Online Business Models You Can Embrace to Generate Income

Guest Post — Sun, 12 May 2013 14:00:15 +0000

According to Business Matters magazine, 90% of all online businesses fail; in other words, if you’re starting an online business you’re 9 out of 10 times likely to fail.
While the reason(s) for failure of every online business differs, there are often a lot of factors that can be pinpointed as the main reason why MOST online businesses fail.

However, another very important reason why online businesses fail that is rarely discussed is their business model; in other words, most online businesses are started first before the owners realized that they don’t have a viable business model and they give up.

Your business model is everything; yes, marketing is important but the right business model will ensure you’re generating enough revenue and profit to justify your other efforts in your online business. With that said, here are 5 online business models that you can embrace or get inspiration from; I’ll be sharing the business models first and then linking to reputable websites that use these business models so that you can check them out to see these business models in action.

1. The Blog-based Affiliate Marketing Model

The blog-based affiliate marketing model is listed first because it’s the easiest on this list and also because anybody can do it, with or without a marketing budget.
This model is simple; you build a blog in a specific niche, you attract an audience and you make money by recommending affiliate products to your audience.

In most cases, you’re not just recommending affiliate products to your audience just to make money; when your blog reaches a stage, you’ll start recommending premium/paid tools that can help your audience achieve certain results. You’ll then be able to make money by becoming an affiliate for the products you recommend.

There are several ways to make money using this model; you can make money by featuring links to affiliate products in individual posts, on key pages on your blog, banner ads and through a massive resource page that features all the tools you recommend.

A major blog that does this effectively is Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income blog. Using this model, Pat is able to make an average of $50,000 every month while only spending an average of $5,000 on various aspects of his business.

Also, this approach is becoming more mainstream with some of the biggest blogs in the world embracing it and generating millions of dollars in annual revenue. In mainstream media, it’s referred to as “native advertising” but the model is the same thing; build a massive audience for your blog and make money when they buy affiliate products you recommend.

2. The Full-Fledged Affiliate Marketing Model

Unlike with the model above where you need to start a blog and build an audience to make money off affiliate products, this approach is actually solely based on recommending affiliate products. In other words, you don’t have to build an audience or a blog; you just recommend the best affiliate products in your field or help people find the best offers if they buy through you – that’s your business model; since your links are affiliate links, you make money each time someone buys.

While there are countless examples of this online, a noteworthy example can be seen on Make a Website here – the site provides a detailed tutorial for those who want to start a blog or a website and then recommends products/services that you need to create your website. When you use any of the products, the site owner makes an affiliate commission.

3. The “Email Only” Model

If you’re active in the online marketing space, a phrase you’ll no doubt come across often is that the “money is in the list.”

Basically, the idea behind this is that no matter your business model – ecommerce, blogging, services, products etc. – the best decision you can make is to build an email list.

However, what if you can take this to the next level and make your email list your only source of revenue? In other words, you don’t need to have a blog or an affiliate site or any other kind of site. You just need to have an email list that you have good relationship with and that you can recommend quality products to and make money from.

Just how powerful is this model? According to a recent NYTimes profile of Jon Rimmerman, Jon makes $30 million annually – yes, thirty million dollars – selling wine exclusively to his email list.
This approach can be used by small businesses and big businesses alike and if you’re an individual or small business considering this as an option, you might want to familiarize yourself with Glen Allsopp’s Cloud Blueprint videos.

4. The Paywall/Continuity Business Model

Depending on your business type, another business model worth experimenting with is having a paywall for people who want to read your content; in other words, access to your content is restricted to those who are paying a certain fee.

You could decide to put all your content behind a paywall or to make some available for free, but having a respected brand and effective marketing is critical for this approach to work.

Exactly how powerful is this approach? Andrew Sullivan recently decided to experiment with this approach for his “Dish” blog and was able to raise just over $300,000 in 24 hours. Also, with the New York Times making around $90 million last year (2012) as a result of putting their content behind a paywall, I think this model is very powerful.

However, if we’re being honest, not everybody will pay to read your content if you’re an internet nobody without Andrew Sullivan’s name or without the brand of the New York Times. A better way to approach this is by creating a membership site or by charging a subscription fee to access premium content on your site; in other words, you have the free content that everybody can read but they can take things to the next level by subscribing to access your premium content.

5. Sell Your Own Products

This post won’t be complete without this option listed.

You’re probably an expert at something so why not create a product, based on your expertise, that helps people solve a major problem while you make money as a result?
Create multiple products and sell them, experiment with different pricing models and product types until you find what works for you.

Conclusion

Don’t let having a weak business model lead to the failure of your internet business. The above are some solid business models you can embrace today.

Bamidele Onibalusi is a young entrepreneur, freelance writer and the founder of WritersinCharge.com - a top blog for writers who want to be in control.

As Shakespeare Put It: 8 Common Business-Naming Mistakes

Adam Toren — Wed, 08 May 2013 14:00:56 +0000

What’s in a name? A lot, actually. When you’re deciding on the word that’ll stick into any potential customer’s head when they first hear about your product. You may be further on your way to choosing the right name for your business by avoiding these eight mistakes:

Trying to outsmart a successful large company by using a clever knock-off of its name. Big companies have expensive lawyers, and as an entrepreneur, you probably don’t. Keep this in mind even when designing your logo—the number of lawsuits involving cases where a certain famous mouse’s image was used either deliberately or accidentally is nearly legion!
Using personal or family names. Unless it is your intention to keep the business forever in the family, just don’t do it. It’s more likely that you’ll want to sell the business at some point, and a name that you have branded will add to the value. Unless, of course, you’re like the someone who came up with the idea for that famous mouse and get immensely lucky.
Choosing a name that’s difficult to spell or pronounce. Avoid homophones like to, too, and two, as they may be misinterpreted or misspelled in searches. Imagine, if you will, the shock of someone searching the Web for a line of children’s pants that you cleverly named “Bear Bottoms.” The PR you’d receive would be the stuff of legends, but that’s not the kind of press you want your product to encourage.
Not researching what the name could mean in a foreign language like Spanish, French, or German. Opening a restaurant with the name “The Gate” may seem harmless enough until your realize the word means “spoiled” in French.
Not performing an Internet search. Make sure the reputation of any similarly named company is solid. You don’t want people thinking your company is a similar one with a horrible reputation. (We’ve wisely decided not to give any examples, but please don’t name your investment firm Madoff & Madoff)
Using a geographic location in your name. You may not always be on Main Street, and you may grow bigger than Smithville. Don’t create a name that could stunt your growth or cause problems in relocation.
Don’t use outdated thinking in creating your name. In the days of phonebook yore, it used to be popular to use names like “A-something” or “Acme” or “Apex.” Naming your business something like this simply no longer applies and also looks pretty tacky.
Don’t create a name that will only have meaning for you. It may serve as personal motivation through the inevitable tough times, but it will not likely help your business establish its brand. Hairball Harry’s Dog Groomers may have a ring to it in your own ears, but clients will probably bring their poodles to the other side of town.

What’s in a name? Perhaps more than what may first appear. Discovering the “perfect” business may come easier for some than for others. Avoiding these eight mistakes can set you on the right path!

Follow Adam on Twitter: @thebizguy

4 Easy Tips for Keeping Your Small Business Organized

Matthew Toren — Mon, 06 May 2013 14:00:12 +0000

Owning a small business isn’t easy. There’s always some point where the constant demands, paperwork, and deadlines start to wear you down. With a little bit of creativity and lots of organization, you can keep your business in order—-and save yourself time! These four tips can help you get started.

#1: Have a System for That Weird Paper Stuff

Even though we live in an increasingly digital world, chances are that your business still requires some sort of paperwork. Receipts, tax statements, invoices—all these things and more are equally important, and they can quickly pile up if you don’t have some sort of system. A filing cabinet and a few labeled files give you a great place to start if you have a low budget. If you want something a bit more technologically advanced, consider a scanner and a paperless filing program for your computer. Either way, create a plan and stick with it each day to keep your files in order. And yes, doing so will save you tons of time later on in the year when you finally remember that you left some key information in the wood-pulp void!

#2: Set Aside Time for Creativity

One of the biggest complaints among small-business owners is the lack of time they have in their normal day for marketing endeavors. By actively setting aside time, marking it on your schedule, and keeping your appointment with yourself, you’ll be sure to regularly attend to creative marketing. This will not only make you feel better about not having enough time in your day but it will also help further your small-business growth. Sticking to your new schedule will be tough at first, but you’ll soon be looking forward to doing something new and creative every day.

#3: Keep Marketing Tools with You

Many small-business owners spend a good percentage of their day out of the office. Whether you’re networking with other business owners or making sure that the other details of your company’s operations are handled: It’s important to keep business cards on-hand. Pick a spot in your bag, glove compartment, or briefcase and keep whatever brochures, business cards, or sample products you might need. Being prepared is both impressive to potential clients and saves you the embarrassment of awkwardly checking your pockets before shaking the hand of a possible collaborator. And yes, checking periodically to make sure you have a full stock is important, too.

#4: Streamline and Choose Consistency

It’s really easy for a small-business owner to become overwhelmed when organizing his or her business methods. It’s important to find solutions (apps, programs, technology, systems) that are streamlined to handle more than one task. These should be used consistently or they’ll become almost worthless. Take time out of your schedule to keep all your ducks in a row. Know what your ultimate goals are for such systems, and try out a couple of them. Once you’ve decided on one that works for you, stick with it.

While most of these tips seem simple enough, none of them will work unless you start implementing them. Get started today, and remember to keep them all going for maximum effect.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @matthewtoren

3 Ways to Become a Master Networker

Matthew Toren — Fri, 03 May 2013 14:00:28 +0000

In an increasingly social media-driven world, becoming a master networker is an important key to building both your personal brand and developing the friendships you’ll need to succeed. However, there are a few areas that need more than digital technology to grow your business. Consider these three tips to help you market faster and more effectively when integrated with your strategy.

#1: Focus on Relationships

It’s simple to build Facebook fans and Twitter followers. But how do you turn those digital encounters into quality networking opportunities? Take the time to send any new social media followers a personal message. Interact with them on a one-on-one basis as much as possible. If your twitter account is your business’ name, be sure to introduce yourself to a new follower. For non-social media contacts, take time to build a business relationship with them. People work with and recommend those they know and trust. Taking the extra time to focus on these relationships can greatly increase your networking efforts.

#2: Don’t Be Shy or Take Things Personally

There is little room in master networking for shyness. You have to be willing to talk with anyone and everyone about your business or brand. Adopt an attitude that any “no” answer is just a chance to move on to another interaction with another person. And never take “I’m not interested” as an insult. Some people don’t want to hear your message, but they aren’t the kind of person that you’re looking for. Just because one person today didn’t want to discuss your brand or buy your product doesn’t mean that the next person will have the same attitude. Read the news, check the scores, and do whatever else people in your field like to do — smalltalk is a perfect way to segue into a discussion about your business and make the right connections.

#3: Get Involved and Get Out There

Getting involved is probably the most important part of learning to become a master networker. Find groups in your area that meet to discuss business topics. Schedule marketing lunch meetings. Look up local or national conventions for your field. Become a sponsor of a local event, a sports team, or another community event or organization. Become involved in charity functions. Each of these opportunities, even if they’re more personal interest than business related, allow you to interact with other individuals. The not-so-well-kept secret about networking is that the master networker is always available for a chat. He or she makes sure to shake hands with every single guest at a party and knows how to make them smile.

While these three ways to become a master marketer might seem simple, it’s important to remember that failure to implement them on a regular basis can actually hurt your marketing efforts. Get out there, talk to others, build relationships, and watch your business or brand begin to flourish!

Have an awkward networking story? Best business meeting you’ve ever had?
Let us know with a comment below.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @matthewtoren

Moving Office Tips: The Ultimate Guide To Moving Day [Infographic]

Guest Post — Wed, 01 May 2013 23:20:12 +0000

They say that moving house is one of the most stressful things a person can experience in their life – but just imagine if you were the one in charge of moving a business and its employees to a new premises. From finding a new office, to the organisation of logistics, and the upheaval of the move itself – there’s a lot of things which can be forgotten or altogether missed. Planning and incorporating your team into the move is essential for efficiency, and understanding all the costs involved is imperative if you want to stick to a realistic budget.

If you run a small or medium sized business, wouldn’t it be useful to have a checklist in one handy resource which you could go to? Well, that’s what this infographic is; it documents from start to finish all the factors you need to consider when moving office, so that hopefully, the upheaval isn’t too stressful after all.

Brought to you by FlexiOffices

How HeatSync Solved a Problem I Didn’t Even Know About

Adam Toren — Wed, 01 May 2013 14:00:37 +0000

I spend at least an hour every day logging in to various analytics sites to check on my blogs, social media stats, and a host of other dailies. After a year of self-consciously confirming that my Klout score hadn’t dropped, I now realize that I was willingly succumbing to a new form of internet superhighway hypnosis. We’ve all faced the login screen for analytics websites and experienced the slight tremor of excitement before we see the daily numbers, and now I’m proud to announce a better way.

Try HeatSync now by clicking here.

A little email from the folks over at HeatSync peaked my interest. Their front page claimed to gather all of the websites that I used to visit over my morning coffee in one convenient place, so I decided to sign up. The software is currently in-beta (and free until the final version is released) and all I had to do was enter my email and type www.blogtrepreneur.com into the dialogue box. The next screen broke down all of the information HeatSync was crawling and one more click brought me to the tool’s massive dashboard.

I sat there for a moment, mouth agape. Suddenly, the Saw music started playing in my head as the hours I’d spent opening tab after tab of numbers came flooding back. The solution was right here and I only wish I’d come across HeatSync sooner. Not only does it gather my Facebook, Twitter, and Google analytics demographic information — it’s all available on the front page. Soon after exploring the site a little more, I discovered that I was free to go deeper into the numbers than I’d ever wanted to before. The advantage to aggregated numbers is that the time saved only having to navigate to one website means I can spend the rest of my scheduled analysis delving deeper.

One of my personal criteria for helping my consulting clients come up with a good idea or tool is something I call ‘the ah-ha factor.’ That is to say, when you give the elevator pitch for your product the listener should be able to realize exactly what problem your idea solves. I’ve found a new example, I think. All of the information I need for this very specific daily task is now located in one simple website. All of the spread-out excitement I get from visiting SEOmoz, Facebook, Twitter, Google Analytics, and Alexa is now located in one place. HeatSync is the answer to a question that should’ve been asked a long time ago and I’m glad it’s finally here.

Head over to HeatSync now and try it for free!

Follow Adam on Twitter: @thebizguy

8 Tips for a Successful Marketing Campaign

Adam Toren — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 14:00:23 +0000

Online marketing has brought the world market to within the means of even the smallest business. However, the enormous size of the Internet market and the number of marketing options can seem overwhelming to a business just starting its first online marketing campaign. Before you begin, take a few minutes to consider the following online marketing tips:

1. Create an Online Brand

Before you start blogging, sharing, adding content, or otherwise engaging potential customers, sit down and outline how you want to present your company, product, or service. Once you’ve created that “online brand,” be consistent in all of your marketing efforts.

2. Embrace Social Marketing

If you’re not using social media to market your products or services, you’re missing a huge opportunity. Facebook alone has more than one billion registered users. But Facebook isn’t the only social media site. There are currently more than 400 such sites, and more are being created all the time. Seek out a site that fits your industry or product and take advantage of growing social media formats and new audiences.

3. Stay at It

Online marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. Successful marketing campaigns require regular, repeated effort. You can’t just create a website or post a few articles and step away. Zen and the Art of Online Marketing hasn’t been written yet, but a calm and collected marketer that develops a long-haul strategy will discover the best results.

4. Promote Your Knowledge

One of the most successful ways to soft-sell your product or service is to promote yourself as an industry expert. By offering interesting, valuable content, your readers will feel that they can trust you and will turn to you when they need your product, even if they don’t need it right now.

5. Learn SEO Basics

Even the best online marketing content is worthless if no one sees it. Search engine optimization (SEO) forms the art and science of getting your website and your content to the front page of Google (or other search engine) search results. While the specifics of how to do this are worthy of another article (or e-book), take some time to research SEO best practices before you begin your campaign. Ilya Pozin’s article in Forbes.com lists learning SEO basics as one of the top things you can do to boost your online marketing effort.

6. Blog

Blogging is another way to indirectly promote your product while creating your image as an expert in your field. However, make sure to post regularly (at least three times a week) and respond in a timely manner to any comments. Blogging also meshes perfectly with the SEO basics you’ve hopefully figured out by now.

7. Quality Content Rules

Content is king…and always will be. There are no shortcuts to good, interesting content that engages the reader. Check other publications and trade magazines in your field and develop content suited to your market. Entertaining and informative content is the key to an engaged and attentive customer-base.

8. Mix up the Media

Don’t just write and write and write and expect your readers to stay interested. Be sure to add things like images, videos, and polls to your pages to keep your readers from clicking away from your site.

Online marketing doesn’t have to be complicated or difficult. It does, however, need to be targeted and focused. It also requires full-time effort. Combine those three aspects for long-term success.

Follow Adam on Twitter: @thebizguy

The New Frontiers: Five Excellent Industries for Start-Ups

Adam Toren — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:00:42 +0000

Few things in life are get-rich-quick endeavors, but that isn’t to say that some aren’t more promising than others. Take, for example, the numerous industries that recently started booming across the nation. If you were to start a business, it would make sense to begin one in a promising field where you know you have a chance to make it big. Avoid the riskiness of entering a struggling field where you’re up against the wall before you even open your doors for business.

What makes for an excellent industry? There are a variety of variables, but it all comes back to demand for a particular good and a current market shortage of the good. With that being said, here’s a look at five excellent industries that consumers are looking for right now:

Yoga

It’s estimated that some 14 million Americans say that a doctor or a therapist has recommended yoga as both exercise and life-enhancement. Specifically, yoga helps invigorate the mind, body, and soul while also improving flexibility, which is why it’s a recommended all-around exercise. In 2008 alone, Americans spent $5.7 billion on yoga classes and products, which reflects an 86 percent increase from previous years. Keeping consumers in shape is an excellent business and nothing’s better than finally being able to touch your toes again.

Green Construction

Contractors that refuse to update their practices are definitely feeling the heat, as the green construction industry picks up the pace. The green building market is expected to top $140 billion by the end of 2013. Largely based on a growing demand for sustainable housing, entrepreneurs that keep their business policies eco-minded will discover an enormous pool of consumers looking to remodel.

Repair

Sure, the economy is down, but capitalizing on new consumer practices is an important trick to conceptualizing your small business. Rather than buying new products, more and more people are holding onto older ones and maintaining them through warranty and repair. Products like cars, home appliances, and general handyman work are getting the spotlight once again. Auto shops have seen up to a 3 percent uptick in business recently as well as plumbers and electricians discovering an increase in repair jobs by up to 5 percent in some cases.

Energy

The energy sector is the fastest-growing industry among private companies. A part of the reason behind this growth is a plethora of developments in the alternative energy sector. Solar energy, renewable energy, biofuels—all are being researched and developed in hopes of widespread adoption. Another reason for the increase in the industry is the generous stimulus funds and government grants that energy-related start-ups can qualify for. Develop your contacts in the energy field, identify a community that needs solar, wind, or other innovative methods of powering their world and create something that could change the world.

Healthcare

The baby boomers are aging and living longer than any previous generation. As our generation ages, we’ll require more advanced healthcare practices and innovations. There’s a shortage of health-care professionals, which is why nursing jobs have some of the highest demand nationwide. Other fields within the healthcare sect are taking off as the medical field evolves. Home healthcare businesses, for instance, are becoming more and more key as elderly consumers turn away from the retirement communities of the past. Another booming field is healthcare technology, and we’d suggest talking to any doctor friends you may have to discover what they’d want to see from a new product.

Follow Adam on Twitter: @thebizguy

How to Keep Your “Innovation Focus”

Guest Post — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 14:00:54 +0000

Entrepreneurs are master firefighters. Every day they hustle for new clients, maintain current ones, and handle the million little problems that crop up. When entrepreneurs run a business with employees and a growing consumer base, these problems multiply, draining their time even more.

Business owners have to think about and address several issues on a daily basis. Continual innovation and creativity usually fall by the wayside as a result. It’s hard for many of these owners to think about the next step when the task at-hand is already so overwhelming.

Yet, in this new world, change is rapid. If a business owner merely wants to keep up with change, he has to stay ready to innovate. If he wants to actually lead change, innovation must become more natural than breathing.

Innovate to Stay Alive

Every entrepreneur starts off excited. They have the best idea ever! No one has ever thought of this! No one can do it better than me!

Yet, the hard truth is that other people are probably developing the same concept. If they are not, they will soon catch up and then surpass your original product. Big companies will take any success they see as market testing. You took the risks to prove the concept; now the big companies can rake in the big bucks.

An entrepreneur that does not train his company to constantly learn and reinvent is just asking for defeat. Once your edge is lost or the buzz around your business dissipates, it’s hard to get it back.

Lessons in Innovation

Constantly thinking about innovation is often overwhelming for an entrepreneur — especially if he has already launched his brilliant idea. So, make innovation part of the company culture.

Here’s how:

Focus

In the race to innovate, entrepreneurs may diversify too much, making it hard to do anything well. Instead, leadership needs to define what the company is selling and why. Make sure everyone in the company knows why you do what you do. Innovation will launch from your initial focus.

Talent

Entrepreneurs have to surround themselves with capable people. In a startup, employees often do more than one job, and the leadership needs to trust the employees’ abilities completely. As Cameron Herold, author of Double, Double: How to Double Your Revenue and Profit in 3 Years or Less, puts it, “If you want to double the size of your company in three years, building a world-class culture is key.”

Delegation

Once you have focus and talent, it’s important to delegate. An entrepreneur cannot spend his days micro-managing the business. That’s why you hire great employees and establish razor-sharp focus. If you’ve done your job in these two areas, the members of your staff can do their jobs maintaining the business.

Learning

Your business will encounter times of highs and lows, but it’s important to innovate, change, and adapt. This requires a strong commitment to ongoing learning. Success over the long-term involves buffering against downfalls, dampening success, and avoiding what former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan calls “irrational exuberance.” Business owners need to examine themselves, the team, the product, and the marketplace to see what’s changed or to predict what is coming. This can only be done through dedication to an ongoing education that includes exposure to new modes of thinking and ideas.

Goals

This leads us to the last pillar of a successful startup. An entrepreneur is free to think about how to grow when he has a talented staff focused on the development of the business. Where do you want the company to be in one year, five years, or even 10 years? It’s the entrepreneur’s job to dream up that vision and figure out the necessary steps to achieve it. This is where innovation really happens.

It’s an “innovate-or-die economy” these days. Even entrepreneurs can’t afford to ignore the need for change and growth. However, when equipped with the right tools and focus, they can continually reinvent their business.

Michel Koopman is the CEO of getAbstract Inc. getAbstract’s mission is to find, expertly compress, and provide universal access to critical business knowledge in a format that learners can absorb quickly and easily. This allows customers to stay current and competitive and to become leaders who can make better decisions. Today, our solutions include a library of more than 9,000 business book summaries, in text and audio format, which more than 10 million subscribers use, including 20 percent of Fortune 500 companies.

A Case Study on Mobile Behavior: What you need to know!

Guest Post — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 14:00:50 +0000

Survey Monkey and digital marketing agency, iAcquire recently collided forces to determine holistic Internet behaviors in a series titled, “Search, Social, and Mobile Behavior.”

We recently published the Search Behavior and Social Behavior infographics, and the last of the series will uncover the lesser-but-equal mobile channel. This infographic dives into how individuals behave on mobile devices and how they interact with social networks. Whether you are a business owner or marketer, this study helps you understand the user behavior on Smartphones and tablets.

Here are some key points:

70 percent of mobile searches lead to an action on a website within the hour
40 percent of searches are conducted while in front of a television
A majority of mobile searches occur on Smartphones vs. tablets: 60 percent of users search on their phone, while 40 percent search via tablet
Around 40 percent of users will opt for a different website if it’s not mobile friendly
*Nearly half of individuals who are between 18 and 29 conduct at least one mobile search every day

Explore the infographic here:

iAcquire Mobile Behavior Study

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</br><a href="http://www.iacquire.com/blog/mobile-behavior-study">iAcquire Mobile Behavior Study</a>