Business, finances, forex

Yahoo Small Business has unveiled its Website Design Service catering to small businesses. The service provides the design, build, and management of professional websites for small business owners.

Yahoo Small Business Website Design Service

It is expected to lessen the burden on small businesses from learning how to build and manage websites on their own to using the WordPress platform. The new service will provide the design, engineering, copywriting and support services required to create, build, launch and manage a website.

Includes All the Bells and Whistles of a Professional Website

The tools offered by Yahoo Small Business include drag-and-drop website building tools where you can choose from 150+ themes to customize and publish your site. In addition to these capabilities, Yahoo is also providing hosting services. This is a sticking point for many DIYers who have to find their own hosting company.

As part of the package, clients can regularly request content updates and additions to their site including updating security plug-ins. The content is also reviewed for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) before and after launch, which can help the site get higher page rankings and increase organic traffic.

Kush Shrivastava, managing director of Yahoo Small Business, highlights why this service is so important in the emailed press release. Shrivastava goes on to say, “With Website Design Service, small business owners don’t need to spend extensive time or money learning how to code or optimize for search rankings. Yahoo Small Business will handle the heavy-lifting to deliver the world-class website they need to effectively connect with their customers.”

Yahoo Small Business offers an easy step-by-step process that includes consultations with an expert designer. The consultation includes brand goals along with website production, content assets, regular monitoring and maintenance.

Site Tools

One of the challenges in creating your own site is the technical aspect. And if you are not tech-savvy, it can be a problem. Yahoo has overcome this challenge by making tools small businesses can readily use.

It all starts with a large selection of domain extensions so you can customize your name with industry-specific URLs.

After you create and publish your site, you can start selling your products and services online. The eCommerce feature lets you create stores with shipping integration, inventory management, credit card processing and live insights. Additionally, you will get apps to help your business grow.

As a small local business getting discovered by customers is a challenge, both in the real and digital world. Yahoo will solve this problem by listing your business on 70+ local directories from a single dashboard. This is going to allow your customers to find your site easily.

Last but not least, you can create a business email to match your domain name for added credibility and professionalism.

Cost

The Website Design Service includes two offerings. There is a standard package that provides a professional site with basic functionality and light content updates. The premium package offers advance features and capabilities, including accepting reservations or appointments, issuing quotes, customer login and more. Both offerings come with SEO reporting and regular content updates along with mobile optimization.

Yahoo has three pricing options. The Starter package comes with free tools to get business and personal websites up and running. The Basic package starts at $4.99 and includes YSB Insights as well as domain and email for small businesses.

The Professional package is available for $9.49 and includes e-mails for your employees and extra storage space for your data.

Image: Yahoo Small Business

This article, “Yahoo Small Business Introduces Website Design Service” was first published on Small Business Trends

Source

With the lure of being independent, flexible working times, freedom to choose projects and a chance to experiment with their craft, more Americans are freelancing. And in 2019 their earning is set to hit the $1 trillion mark.

Freelancing in America 2019

According to the Upwork  Freelancing in America: 2019 study, 57 million Americans are now freelancing. By the way, this represents 35% of the total U.S. workforce. Regarding the earnings, it’s almost 5% of the U.S. GDP,  which is more than the construction and transportation industries combined.

What is more, being a freelancer is now a viable career choice. This is what Caitlin Pearce, Executive Director of Freelancers Union, explains in the release. Adding, “More than one in three Americans are freelancing.”

Freelancing Becoming More of a Long-term Gig

The study reveals many freelancers now view freelancing as a long-term career choice rather than a temporary gig. The share of those who freelance full time is up from 17% in 2014 to 28% this year.

Skilled services are the most common type of freelance work, with 45% of freelancers engaging in programming, marketing, IT and business consulting. Freelancers doing skilled services earn a median rate of $28 an hour. This is 70% more per hour than other workers in the US economy.

Driven by a stronger labor market, 60% of freelancers say they are freelancing by choice, up from 53% in 2014. And it is providing opportunities for more people. This includes 46% of the respondents who say they wouldn’t be working at a traditional job. This is the case for 43% who have health issues. If not for freelancing opportunities, 1 out of 5 of those with health challenges say they couldn’t work.

Future prospects

Freelancing is luring more younger generation workers who like the work/life balance it gives them. More than half or 53% of Generation Z Americans are freelancing, with millennials adding another 40%. And when it comes to the future of freelancing, people are optimistic.

A whopping 91% say the best day for freelancing are ahead, a 14% increase from 2014. They are optimistic because of technology advances (77%) and more professionals (64%) are taking freelance work. The increased diversity is going to make freelancing a practical career path for those choosing to work this way.

However, there are challenges in the segment.

Freelance Challenges

Freelancers and non-freelancers share similar concerns, such as fair pay, retirement funds, access to affordable healthcare and a healthy savings account.

When it comes to debt, including college loans, freelancers (46%) are more likely to have these financial responsibilities. It goes down to 36% for non-freelancers.  And regarding income, 59% of freelancers feel like they live paycheck-to-paycheck, while it goes down to 53% for non-freelancers.

Skills and Training

The reason freelancing is growing is because of all the available talent globally. And the talent pool is growing as more experts, professionals and even people with general skills start working this way.

However, 89% of the freelancers in the survey say they wish they would’ve been better prepared for it. And surprisingly, 52% of them say they would replace their college education with something tailored for their current job. But they are willing to make up for it by training to upgrade their skills.

Considering freelancers are responsible for upgrading their skill sets, it is not surprising 54% of them have taken action to do so. The rate jumps to 64% for skilled freelancers who train themselves to further improve their capability.

The Survey

This survey was carried out by Edelman Intelligence on behalf of Upwork.  A total of 6,001 U.S. working adults over the age of 18 took part online between June 7, 2019 – July 3, 2019. Of those, 2,117 were freelancers and 3,884 were non-freelancers.

Take a look at the infographic below for more on the survey.

Click image to see full size…

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “Wow! U.S. Freelancer Earnings Approach $1 Trillion” was first published on Small Business Trends

Source

Attorneys have complex legal documents to prepare, lawsuits to win, not to mention a small business to run. So no one should find it surprising lawyers belong to one of the most stressful professions out there.

Independent lawyers and small law firms function essentially as small businesses and face fierce competition. This comes particularly from other law firms. So the stress of carrying out their duties and responsibilities as a lawyer and running a business can seem immense.

That’s why one attorney took it upon himself to create a comprehensive meditation app. The app specifically targets lawyers and other professionals in the high-stress legal profession.

Meditation App for Lawyers

The Legally Mindful app aims to help lawyers improve their overall health and well-being. It focuses on a regular mediation practice. And through this app helps attorneys perform more creatively and successfully in their work.

Attorney Gary Powell created the app. Powell currently serves as general counsel for an international, natural-based chemical firm in Cincinnati. But before that he worked in a private litigation practice for 35 years.

Powell noticed a marked improvement in his overall wellbeing and outlook after he embarked on a regular meditation ritual. So he decided to share his method with others working in the high stress job environments.

Powell refers to Legally Mindful as a “passion”. Recently he spoke of the inspiration behind the app.

“After practicing meditation for about 15 years and trying different methods, I felt like it was time to share what has worked for me and help others in the legal profession.

Attorney Launches App to Help Others Relieve Stress

“With sound-assisted meditation, I discovered that I can use the tools I’ve learned and developed over the years to make my work more efficient and productive, and I can carry a more focused and creative mental state into my daily life, which allows me to listen better, think creatively, and respond more effectively. And I am confident that Legally Mindful can do the same for others,” Powell commented.

Powell took his own experiences of meditation and carried out comprehensive research on the practice. He wrote his own guided meditation exercises. They aim at addressing specific issues lawyers and other professionals in the legal profession face.

Powell mapped out meditation exercises to help de-stress lawyers. They focus on relaxation and stress release and emphasize gratitude and compassion. These steps can help improve an individual’s overall happiness and perspective on life.

Powell also worked on a non-guided exercise aimed at improving concentration and focus at work.

With attorneys, the prospect of a forthcoming meeting, task, presentation, or event, becomes extremely daunting. It creates a high degrees of stress and anxiety.

Product Aims to Make Attorneys More Relaxed

Powell worked to help those in stressful environments become more relaxed and less anxious about forthcoming event. He introduced an exercise where lawyers can take their work with them while in a deep meditative state.

The lawyer’s Creative Space exercise enables those using the app to take work-related issues with them into a deep, creative space. Powell designed it to help them explore new solutions.

By the same token, the Meeting Room exercise helps business owners and professionals positively visualize a forthcoming presentation, meeting or other feared event, to help bring on a desired outcome.

The app uses advanced sound technology, which combines brain wave frequencies to provide a more focused meditative state and thereby improved brain coherence and mental functioning.

Despite the Legally Mindful app being designed with lawyers and those working in the legal profession in mind, meditation can be utilized to the advantage of anyone.

As Powell notes:

“While the app is targeted to those in the legal profession, regular practice of the exercise can benefit anyone.”

Running a small business in any capacity is not without its stresses. Taking advantage of apps and designed to encourage meditation and mind and focus exercises could prove beneficial, not just to lawyers, but anyone running their own business where they find themselves juggling multiple tasks and faced with presentations, meetings and other unavoidable tasks they might be dreading.

Image: LegallyMindful/YouTube

This article, “Meditation App Helps Small Business Owners in the Legal Profession” was first published on Small Business Trends

Source

Small businesses in the finance industry are represented by advisers, insurance agents, planners, accountants and more.

The first conference organized for the small business finance industry looks to inform entrepreneurs in this segment about current industry trends.

According to the Funders Forum, this conference is organized by the small business finance industry. And the goal is to address the challenges small businesses face in this area.

The conference will teach attendees the latest key policy developments directly from policymakers responsible for shaping the segment. Additionally, there will be discussions on safe and transparent method of access to capital. You’ll also have networking opportunities with small business financiers.

Andrew Smith, Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, part of the Federal Trade Commission, is going to be one of the speakers addressing the event. Also participating will be U.S. Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho and others.

The Funders Forum event is going to take place from November 12-13 in Washington, D.C. at The Willard Intercontinental.

To attend, click the red button, enter discount code FUNDERSDC10 and get 30% off.

Register Now

---

---

Featured Events, Contests and Awards

Real Estate Wealth Expo with Tony Robbins, Sylvester Stallone, Grant Cardone, Gary Vaynerchuk
October 10, 2019, San Mateo, Calif.

Real Estate Wealth Expo with Sylvester Stallone, Tony Robbins, Grant Cardone, Gary Vaynerchuk, James Harris, Trent Shelton & 9 self-made millionaires teach you how to make money. If you’re interested in being more successful, don’t miss this event!

---

Free seminar: Learn how to optimize your business (San Francisco, CA)
October 15, 2019, San Francisco, Calif.

Join us to learn how one complete view of your business, with apps that effortlessly integrate, can enhance your productivity, increase customer satisfaction, and help you effectively collaborate with staff, partners, and investors. Our free educational seminar will cover basics of the Zoho One platform, plus tips, tricks, and best practices to help optimize your business.

---

Listening to the Voice of the Customer
October 16, 2019, Chicago, Ill.

Led by veteran product development and market research experts, this course will introduce Voice of the Customer (VOC) market research and teach you to use it to accelerate innovation in business-to-business markets. The workshop uses a lively, interactive format with numerous hands-on activities and practice exercises to build skills and will also expose you to the latest applications of these techniques in areas such as machine learning and journey mapping.
Discount Code
SMALLBIZ ($100 Off)

---

Free seminar: Learn how to optimize your business (Irvine, CA)
October 17, 2019, Irvine, Calif.

Join us to learn how one complete view of your business, with apps that effortlessly integrate, can enhance your productivity, increase customer satisfaction, and help you effectively collaborate with staff, partners, and investors. Our free educational seminar will cover basics of the Zoho One platform, plus tips, tricks, and best practices to help optimize your business.

---

Free seminar: Learn how to optimize your business (San Diego, CA)
October 18, 2019, Calif.

Join us to learn how one complete view of your business, with apps that effortlessly integrate, can enhance your productivity, increase customer satisfaction, and help you effectively collaborate with staff, partners, and investors. Our free educational seminar will cover basics of the Zoho One platform, plus tips, tricks, and best practices to help optimize your business.

---

Free seminar: Learn how to optimize your business (Miami, FL)
October 22, 2019, Miami, Fla.

Join us to learn how one complete view of your business, with apps that effortlessly integrate, can enhance your productivity, increase customer satisfaction, and help you effectively collaborate with staff, partners, and investors. Our free educational seminar will cover basics of the Zoho One platform, plus tips, tricks, and best practices to help optimize your business.

---

Free seminar: Learn how to optimize your business (Boston, MA)
October 24, 2019, Boston, Mass.

Join us to learn how one complete view of your business, with apps that effortlessly integrate, can enhance your productivity, increase customer satisfaction, and help you effectively collaborate with staff, partners, and investors. Our free educational seminar will cover basics of the Zoho One platform, plus tips, tricks, and best practices to help optimize your business.

---

Free seminar: Learn how to optimize your business (New York, NY)
October 25, 2019, New York, NY

Join us to learn how one complete view of your business, with apps that effortlessly integrate, can enhance your productivity, increase customer satisfaction, and help you effectively collaborate with staff, partners, and investors. Our free educational seminar will cover basics of the Zoho One platform, plus tips, tricks, and best practices to help optimize your business.

---

Free seminar: Learn how to optimize your business (Seattle, WA)
November 12, 2019, Seattle, Wash.

Join us to learn how one complete view of your business, with apps that effortlessly integrate, can enhance your productivity, increase customer satisfaction, and help you effectively collaborate with staff, partners, and investors. Our free educational seminar will cover basics of the Zoho One platform, plus tips, tricks, and best practices to help optimize your business.

---

The Funders Forum
November 12, 2019, Washington, DC

The FundersForum is the first conference organized for the small business finance industry, by the small business finance industry. It is an opportunity to engage and learn from industry thought leaders and policymakers.
Discount Code
FUNDERSDC10 (30%)

---

Free seminar: Learn how to optimize your business (Denver, CO)
November 14, 2019, Denver, Colo.

Join us to learn how one complete view of your business, with apps that effortlessly integrate, can enhance your productivity, increase customer satisfaction, and help you effectively collaborate with staff, partners, and investors. Our free educational seminar will cover basics of the Zoho One platform, plus tips, tricks, and best practices to help optimize your business.

---

Free seminar: Learn how to optimize your business (Chicago, IL)
November 15, 2019, Chicago, Ill.

Join us to learn how one complete view of your business, with apps that effortlessly integrate, can enhance your productivity, increase customer satisfaction, and help you effectively collaborate with staff, partners, and investors. Our free educational seminar will cover basics of the Zoho One platform, plus tips, tricks, and best practices to help optimize your business.

---

Free seminar: Learn how to optimize your business (Atlanta, GA)
November 19, 2019, Atlanta, Ga.

Join us to learn how one complete view of your business, with apps that effortlessly integrate, can enhance your productivity, increase customer satisfaction, and help you effectively collaborate with staff, partners, and investors. Our free educational seminar will cover basics of the Zoho One platform, plus tips, tricks, and best practices to help optimize your business.

---

Small Biz: Banking Conference
November 19, 2019, Los Angeles, Calif.

The small biz: banking conference delivers access to thought leadership, best practices and leading solution providers. Discover how industry leaders attract and retain small business deposits, fee-based services, and loans, and much more.
Discount Code
BIZTRENDS ($200)

---

Free seminar: Learn how to optimize your business (Dallas, TX)
November 21, 2019, Dallas, Texas

Join us to learn how one complete view of your business, with apps that effortlessly integrate, can enhance your productivity, increase customer satisfaction, and help you effectively collaborate with staff, partners, and investors. Our free educational seminar will cover basics of the Zoho One platform, plus tips, tricks, and best practices to help optimize your business.

---

Free seminar: Learn how to optimize your business (Phoenix, AZ)
November 22, 2019, Phoenix, Ariz.

Join us to learn how one complete view of your business, with apps that effortlessly integrate, can enhance your productivity, increase customer satisfaction, and help you effectively collaborate with staff, partners, and investors. Our free educational seminar will cover basics of the Zoho One platform, plus tips, tricks, and best practices to help optimize your business.

---

More Events

• World’s Largest MBA Tour is Coming to Miami – Register for FREE
  October 16, 2019, Miami, Fla.
• World’s Largest MBA Tour is Coming to Austin – Register for FREE
  October 21, 2019, Austin, Texas
• TECHSPO Dubai 2019
  October 22, 2019, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
• Rhodium Weekend
  October 24, 2019, Las Vegas, Nev.
• World’s Largest MBA Tour is Coming to Denver – Register for FREE
  October 28, 2019, Denver, Colo.
• Small Business Expo 2019 – LOS ANGELES (October 30, 2019)
  October 30, 2019, Los Angeles, Calif.
• IMPACT>MOBILITY USA 2019
  November 04, 2019, San Diego, Calif.
• HR World 2019
  November 14, 2019, Nashville, Tenn.
• 4th Annual Blockchain Opportunity Summit 2019
  December 10, 2019, New York, NY
• Pitch Deck Summit
  December 11, 2019, Austin, Texas
• National Small Business Week
  May 03, 2020, Online

More Contests

This weekly listing of small business events, contests and awards is provided as a community service by Small Business Trends.

You can see a full list of events, contest and award listings or post your own events by visiting the Small Business Events Calendar.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “Funders Forum Will Teach U.S. Small Businesses about Financials” was first published on Small Business Trends

Source

Running a small business requires entrepreneurs to learn constantly. You need to learn about your customers, learn new content strategies and even learn how to deal with your own experience as an entrepreneur. To get a feel for all these different lessons, check out the below insights from members of the online small business community.

Read Your Target Customers’ Minds

Knowing about your customers is essential for creating effective products, services and marketing strategies. So how can you effectively research your customers to find out how they think and what motivates them? Ben Mulholland offers some thoughts in this Process Street post.

Bring New Life and Traffic to Your Site with Old Content

Your business’s online content doesn’t have to just be used once. By repurposing old content, you can get even more mileage from your efforts and bring even more customers to your site. To learn more about the benefits of this strategy, check out this Duct Tape Marketing post by John Jantsch.

Navigate the Business Waves

Running a small business is almost never a steady stream. You’re likely to have super busy times and super slow times. So how can you navigate the waves? Rachel Strella of Strella Social Media discusses in this post. And members of the BizSugar community chimed in with thoughts here.

Implement Advanced SEO Strategies

Many of today’s businesses already cover the basics when it comes to SEO. But there are options for going even further to bring new organic traffic to your site. In this post, Neil Patel details some of the strategies he plans on using in 2020. So you can learn more about what’s on the horizon.

Develop Questions Before Looking at Data

Businesses today have access to more data than ever before. But aimlessly sifting through data won’t necessarily help you come to any useful conclusions. In this Target Marketing post, Stephen H. Yu discusses what you need to do first to successfully utilize all the data your company has access to.

Beware of Influencer Marketing Fraud

Influencer marketing can make a major impact for brands. But not all influencers are going to be effective. In fact, some may misrepresent themselves pretty significantly. To protect your business, this Social Media HQ post by Christian Zilles outlines what you need to know.

Catch SEO Errors During Development Using Automated Tests

SEO errors in your site can dramatically impact your site traffic. But you don’t need to launch your site and then figure out the errors later. There are automated tests you can use to catch these issues during the development stage. Learn more in this Search Engine Land post by Hamlet Batista.

Deal with Employee Turnover

No matter how hard you work to keep your employees happy, you’re likely to experience some turnover eventually. When this happens, you need to be able to efficiently deal with it so your business doesn’t suffer. Ma-Keba Frye outlines what you can do in this post on the Acuity blog.

Create an Effective Content Strategy for Your Blog

Simply sharing content on your site won’t necessarily benefit your business. You need to make sure that the type of content you’re sharing is intentional and effective. Moss Clement goes over some of the steps you can take to create such a strategy in this Inspire to Thrive post. Then visit the BizSugar community to see what people are saying about the idea.

Manage Your Users’ Product Experience

The experience that customers have with your product impacts the likelihood that they’ll do business with you in the future and/or recommend your business to others. So how can you influence that experience for your users? Ivan Widjaya discusses the possibilities in this Biz Penguin post.

If you’d like to suggest your favorite small business content to be considered for an upcoming community roundup, please send your news tips to: sbtips@gmail.com.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “10 Expert Tips to Help You Learn and Grow as a Business Owner” was first published on Small Business Trends

Source

The demand for subscription boxes is on the rise. For example, 54% of online shoppers subscribe to a subscription box service.

Subscription Box Statistics

The reason for the growing popularity among consumers seems obvious. Imagine ordering subscription boxes and have anything from meals to toiletries delivered regularly on their doorstep. A recent survey by Clutch reveals just how important this trend is.

The survey found the subscription box industry appeals to consumers’ demands for convenient and novel experiences.

The findings of Clutch’s study highlight the competitive and profitable rewards of offering customers a subscription service. And as a result, reveals its benefit to small business owners.

What Small Business Owners Should Know

Small businesses should also be aware of what the most popular categories of subscription box services are. So they can optimize the impact of their subscription box services’ campaigns.

According to the management consulting company McKinsey & Company, the most popular category of subscription boxes is curation. It refers to a service that sends collections of new products for customers to sample and use.

The second most popular category of subscription box service is replenishment. This type of service sends consistent replacements of the same items or types of products.

Meanwhile, McKinsey & Company found that 13% of consumers favored “access” subscription box services. They allow members to access perks and discounts on products.

How to Choose a Subscription Box for Your Business

Think about the items you sell or the services you could provide. Offer your customers a subscription box service that allows them to sample new products, provides them with a consistent replacement of items, or enables customers to access discounts and perks. This could make shrewd business sense, helping you maintain customer loyalty.

One example of an industry in which subscription boxes work particularly well is food. As a result, small businesses operating in the food industry should consider providing customers with subscription box services. For example, you could deliver essential ingredients to their door. So this is a great way to sell more products to customers and sustain brand loyalty.

Such a service is great for consumers as it provides them with cost-saving benefits, as they don’t have to fork out extra dollars on ingredients they don’t need.

Paul Moyer, author of savingFreak.com, purchases groceries from HelloFresh’s subscription box service. In the Clutch press release on the survey, Moyer explains:

“We really want to expose our kids to different types of food, but buying all the ingredients can get very expensive. By having the meal kit delivered, we save the cost of buying an entire jar of spice we will only use for one meal.”

Clutch’s research confirms that subscription boxes play into the basic elements of human psychology, namely the desire for services that are both convenient and novel.

What benefits emerge from offering a subscription box service? Small business owners can appeal to contemporary consumer demands for convenient, novel, repetitive and efficient services. And they can try new products and never be left short of the items they need.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “54% of Online Shoppers Get Subscription Boxes, Can Your Business Sell Them, Too?” was first published on Small Business Trends

Source

This week the issue of finance, which is a constant challenge for small businesses was front and center. First small business owners said they are not getting the service they deserve from the bank.  As a matter of fact, 69% of owners in a survey say they are willing to switch banks for better services.

Keeping with the issue of finance, Splitit has introduced a new service that is going to let you make payments on your B2B purchases. Being able to make payments on purchases for your business when you can’t pay for the whole thing is a game-changer.

If the B2B company you are going to purchase your supplies from chooses to make Splitit available, the process is simple and straight forward. You buy your items and the business then lets you pay in installments.

For small businesses short on funds but with limited credit, it is a lifesaver because you are dealing directly with the business. Additionally, it will strengthen the relationship between both businesses.

Read about these and other stories in our weekly small business news roundup.

Finance

69% of Small Businesses Would Switch Banks

When 69% of small business owners say they would switch to a bank which provides all the features and services they need, there is a problem. Even more distressing is the fact that only 9% of owners say their bank addresses all their small business needs. This means 91% of owners feel banks are not delivering.

Recurring B2B Payments Solution Offered by Splitit

Splitit is launching the first of its kind business-to-business (B2B) payment platform. Splitit Business Payments is going to allow manufacturers and suppliers to offer their buyers an interest-free, installment credit solution. According to the company, this new solution is going to remove the barriers between SMB buyers and sellers.

Economy

Number of Women-Owned Businesses Up 21% Since 2014

If you are already successfully running a women-owned business, pat yourself on the back. You have made it! And if you have a great idea to initiate the one, there is no better time than now. This is because women-owned businesses are soaring. According to the 2019 State Of Women-Owned Businesses Report, the number of women-owned businesses climbed 21% between 2014 and 2019.

Employment

Businesses Will Fight California Bill That Would Turn Contractors into Employees

Silicon Valley giants Uber, Lyft and DoorDash are willing to spend $90 million to lobby against a California bill that would recognize drivers as employees rather than independent contractors. Some companies recognize employees as gig workers to avoid paying payroll taxes, above-minimum wages, overtime and complying with other wage and benefit requirements.

Local Marketing

Surefire Local Debuts New Hyperlocal Marketing Platform for Small Businesses

The debut of Surefire’s All-In-One Local Marketing Platform looks to make local businesses grow by letting them take control of their multi-channel marketing efforts. A multi-channel approach is key in today’s digital ecosystem because small businesses now also operate online. Therefore, bringing the physical and digital worlds together is key to fully optimize ad spend.

Marketing Tips

What is a Creative Brief? 15 Places to Find Examples

A creative brief is an essential document for businesses and agencies that work on any creative projects. It is used to describe every aspect of a creative campaign or project so that the people working on it know exactly what is expected.

45% of Email Marketers Struggle for Inbox Attention

The 2019 State of Email Marketing report reveals email is the most effective and widely used marketing channel available today. However, getting inbox attention still remains the biggest challenge for an email marketing campaign. The report says 45% of its respondents find the competition for attention in the inbox a challenge.

Startup

Can You Use a Business Bank Account for Personal Use?

A reader asks: Recently I was hired as a bookkeeper for a small manufacturing business. My boss, the owner, uses the business bank account for personal use — and it’s driving me crazy!  He withdraws money with a debit card for personal expenses. Last week his wife bought a big screen TV for their home using a blank check he signed from the business account.

Fiverr Launches New Architecture and Interior Design Categories

Fiverr recently released some new products designed  to meet the needs of commercial and residential building and design.  As a result, freelancers in the architecture, interior design and landscape design space can pair up with clients looking for their services.

Businesses Take Up Slack as Governments Abandon Social Responsibility

It now seems that many governments around the world are backing off from social responsibility. They no longer try to alleviate all the social problems in their counties. However, with a decade of economic growth, for-profit companies are taking up the slack.

Taxes

How Much Is Personal Use of a Company Vehicle Worth?

Common practice in many businesses allows owners and employees to drive company cars, trucks, or vans for personal reasons. You’ll notice this particularly with small businesses. This may include commuting. As a result, businesses need to treat this as personal use. Or owners and employees may have access to a company vehicle after work for any reason.

Technology Trends

New Shutterstock Tool Helps Your Business Make a Creative Brief

The launch of Shutterstock’s Smart Brief addresses the growing visual demands of today’s digital ecosystem. But with more marketing channels available to businesses, creating the right content to represent your brand is critically important. Smart Brief looks to simplify and expedite the process of developing your creative brief so creators can get started with your project right away.

Unify Square Expands PowerSuite to Better Manage Business Collaboration

Unify Square, announced on October 1 the extension of its PowerSuite Cloud Managed Services (CMS) offering. The new service will make it easier and more cost-effective to manage and secure Unified Communications room systems. At the same time, it will improve and streamline the way people are communicating and collaborating today.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “In the News: Finance Issues Take Center Stage for Small Businesses” was first published on Small Business Trends

Source

This article, “Sales Figures That Give You Motion Sickness” was first published on Small Business Trends

Source

As small businesses continue to look towards addressing growing customer needs, more small businesses are developing their own applications in-house. Whether mapping customer success stories, managing business processes or building databases, companies are looking for customized solutions.

Commercially available applications can address most of the needs of small businesses. However, a process unique to a particular business might not be available for sale and might require in-house development. Low-Code Application Platforms (LCAP) allow small businesses to come up with their own customized applications. They can use these applications to complete a specific task or solve a particular problem.

Building an Application without Coding

As such low-code development platforms help small business avoid coding to build applications to work across a wider range of devices, including smartphones and tablets. With low-code, small businesses can create their own customized applications for web and mobile. They can do this using drag-and-drop components and model-driven logic through a graphic user interface.

Through a combination of drag-and-drop user interfaces (UIs), form builders, and visual process modeling, users can leverage low-code development platforms. They can then produce a working application that one can download, open, and start using in hours or less.

This helps cut the manual effort to code an application by using existing templates and drag prebuilt elements, forms, and objects together to get a working application. And this is why low-code platforms are valuable tools for both enterprises and small businesses.

Low Code Development Tools

By 2024, three-quarters of large enterprises will be using at least four low-code development tools for both IT application development and citizen development initiatives. This according to Gartner’s 2019 Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms research.

“The enterprise LCAP market is growing strongly, due to continued demand for applications and a shortage of skilled developers,” said the report.

Additionally, low-code application development will be responsible for more than 65% of application development activity. The research evaluated 18 vendors out of a pool of 200 vendors considered to help identify those with a balance of technology and business capabilities suited to businesses.

Image: Zoho

This article, “Low-Code Development Tools Offer New Options for Small Businesses” was first published on Small Business Trends

Source

They say prevention is better than cure. And it’s true. But no matter how careful a small business is, it will never be able to completely avoid risks. This is especially true when it comes to keeping data safe. Data loss via hacking or employee error is one of the biggest risks a small business faces, and it’s also one of the most expensive to recover from.

Many small businesses don’t think they will experience a cyber incident. But as more and more data is stored digitally, and as cybercriminals increasingly target SMB organizations, the chance of it happening is higher now than it’s ever been. In fact, 85% of cyber-attacks are on small businesses, and with the average recovery cost coming in at $120,000. It pays to be prepared.

How to Recover from a Cyber Attack

Unprepared small businesses are far less likely to be able to recover from a data breach. So what steps should they take to recover from a cyber incident? It all begins with planning.

1. Create a Step by Step Plan

All small businesses should take risk planning seriously, yet 75% have no disaster recovery plan in place. When developing risk recovery and business continuity plans, SMBs storing or sending any amount of data should include a detailed step-by-step plan of what action needs to be taken following an incident.

2. Contact your Insurer

A staggering 91% of small business owners don’t have cyber liability insurance. Yet by having this policy in place, most – if not all – of the major headaches caused by a breach will be taken care of.

Coverage can include:

• The cost of investigating the breach
• The cost of informing customers
• Legal fees and compensation costs if you’re sued for losing someone’s data
• Defense costs if you face legal action by local or federal authorities
• Payment of regulatory penalties or fines
• The costs of restoring data, systems and your website
• Income lost and extra expenses if a cyber-attack stops you doing business
• Credit monitoring for victims of identity theft
• The cost of restoring your reputation and managing customer relationships

Knowing someone has got your back frees up time to focus on what is most important – getting your business back on track as soon as possible.

3. Find Out the What, Why, and How as Soon as Possible

Time is of the essence when it comes to investigating how a breach occurred. The most common reasons are:

• Device loss and theft
• Weak passwords
• Human error (clicking suspicious links, for example)
• Outdated IT systems and software
• Malware and other malicious software/viruses
• Using unsecured networks (such as public Wi-Fi)

It can be extremely difficult to identify what went wrong. Which is why if you don’t have an in-house IT security expert, it’s time to bring in someone to help as soon as possible.

4. Contact an IT Firm

Even if you’ve been able to find the cause, there may be other vulnerabilities that have been overlooked. By getting an IT firm involved, not only will they be able to confirm how it happened, they can also offer advice and put measures in place to prevent the issue from getting any worse. And they can help get systems up and running again.

5. Restore Systems and Data

If you haven’t been able to get back to normal without the support of an IT firm, it’s time to recover assets lost in the incident. As well as getting systems back online, this means attempting to restore any lost data. As this step might result in having to completely wipe data from the network or devices, it is crucial to always keep a backup in order to limit the impact of data loss.

6. Assess Whether It’s Possible to Do Business

Even once the incident has been identified, investigated, and systems are back up and running, you may not be able to get back to business as usual straight away.

Depending on the severity of the breach, systems or websites may need to remain offline. Or it could be that software used in the day-to-day running of the business may not be available. If the breach was a result of criminal activity, such as theft of a device, malicious action by an employee, or a hack, law enforcement will need to be contacted.

7. Contact the Police

Cybercrimes need to be reported to local law enforcement, much as you would report any crime against your business. Yet many small businesses are unaware they should contact the police, with just 15% completing this important step in the recovery process.

Organizations may be concerned about the repercussions of involving law enforcement, but if customer data is involved, showing that your business is dedicated to tracking down the perpetrators can prevent a PR crisis further down the line.

8. Hire a PR or Crisis Management Communication Firm

Some big brands don’t fully recover from data breaches, in part due to the reputational damage caused by managing a crisis ineffectively. A timely, well-crafted, and transparent response shows the business acknowledges the incident, that steps are being taken to find a resolution, and that lines of communication are open so anyone affected can get in touch.

9. Keep your Customers and Regulators in the Loop

With an expert in reputation management on board, you’ll be better equipped to get the word out in a way that minimizes the impact on your business and keeps control of the narrative.

This might mean taking on more staff to provide support to concerned customers, as well as offering credit monitoring for free to those affected if financial information was compromised.

10. Learn from Past Mistakes

The final step is to review how effectively the risk recovery plan was deployed, and learn from it.

This means identifying what could have been done to prevent the incident in the first place and updating your risk plan to reduce the chance of future occurrences.

It’s also a good time to look at updating policies around data security, including staff training, ensuring all systems and software are kept up to date, and conducting regular stress tests to spot any vulnerabilities in IT security before they can be exploited.

Republished by permission. Original here.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “Recovering from a Cyber Attack? Here’s What to Do Next” was first published on Small Business Trends

Source