Since last week, lots of legitimate business accounts have been suspended and then unsuspended on Twitter. Here’s more on what’s been happening and what to do if you find yourself in the same situation.

Legitimate Business Accounts Getting Suspended

It’s been fairly common for pure spam accounts to get suspended.  Most Twitter users applaud spam crackdowns.

But what’s less common is when legitimate small business users get their Twitter accounts suspended.

That happened just this week in the business community, with numerous reports of business users getting suspended.  It even happened to a small account used by a member of the Small Business Trends team. It also happened to another sizable account of one of our best contributors.

Luckily, all of the accounts we know of were reinstated.  No one seems to know why they were suspended in the first place.  Here are some of the reactions to this latest round of suspensions:

@twitter has been acting very crazy lately. I was suspended for 48 hours and several other legit people, unsolicited activity. What’s up?

— Deborah Shane (@DeborahShane) May 11, 2013

My business account is now suspended! @bdifferentie What the hell? @twitter

— Eimear McCormack (@EimearMcCormack) May 10, 2013

Anatomy of a Twitter Suspension in Error

Small Business Trends contributor and branding consultant Deborah Shane discovered her Twitter account suspended at about 9 p.m. on May 7.

Shane reviewed the Twitter rules and quickly determined she had not intentionally (or to her knowledge — unintentionally) violated any of the rules.  She filled out and submitted the “file a report” form that appeared when she tried to log into her account.

In the online form, she politely asked why her account had been suspended. She stated that she had not violated any Twitter rules. She explained that her Twitter account was vital for operation of her business and asked how to get reinstated.

Though she couldn’t use her Twitter account, of course, Shane immediately started leveraging her other networks, including LinkedIn, to try to communicate with someone at Twitter. ”What I find very troubling is the complete lack of any human communication whatsoever. It’s all automated,” said Shane.

Others she had communicated with had had similar experiences and told her the service would likely be reinstated within about 48 hours.

Sure enough, by the early evening of May 9, about 48 hours after her account had been suspended, Shane found she had been reinstated. She has concluded the suspension was an error based on information provided to her in an automated email from the company.

Algo Tripped?

Twitter has a long list of violations in its rules that will get accounts suspended and put you in Twitter jail.  Let’s take a look at some of these.

One grounds for suspension is “aggressive following.” A Twitter best practices page defines this behavior as “indiscriminately following hundreds of accounts just to garner attention. However, following a few users if their accounts seem interesting is normal and is not considered aggressive.”

Call us crazy, but we thought the whole point of Twitter was following others!  All kidding aside, it appears that following too many other accounts too quickly, is what will get you in trouble.

Another behavior Twitter discourages is “follow churn.”  Twitter defines this as “repeatedly following and un-following large numbers of other users.” We’re not sure why people would do this. It may be a misguided attempt to get around Twitter follow limits (Twitter limits how many you can follow in proportion to how many follow you). So you follow people, and as soon as they follow you back, then you unfollow them so you can follow others. Of course, this kind of behavior is risky, not to mention rude. You could get banned.

Having your Twitter account compromised or hacked can also lead to suspension.  In these cases, suspension is a good thing.  It protects everyone from malware and other issues.  Suspension in this case is less painful than your reputation getting smeared when all your followers get spammed with offensive stuff from your account.

Political pundits using Twitter sometimes push things to the limit with behavior that can lead to suspension. This post on RedState discusses examples of intentionally trying to get other users kicked off Twitter, in order to silence political foes.  However, most business users don’t engage in that kind of deliberate targeting behavior.

Small business users understand the value of Twitter. Many small business owners and entrepreneurs spend considerable time and money building a Twitter following.  They don’t want to risk suspensions from deliberate behaviors.

True, there are aggressive online marketers who push the envelope.  But most Main Street small businesses don’t want to take such risks.

So back to the question.  What caused the recent round of Twitter suspensions of non-spam business accounts?

Over the years it’s been reported that Twitter has automated algorithms to detect violations of its rules.  It’s quite possible that an algorithm was somehow tripped in error snagging all these business accounts.  Or it could simply have been a systems glitch of some kind.  (We contacted Twitter for an explanation but received no response.)

More Rules: Why a Twitter Account Can Be Suspended

The Twitter Rules page gives a list of limitations on how to use Twitter. Ignoring these could get you into trouble. They include:

• Impersonation — You can’t intentionally try to deceive other users into believing you’re another person.
• Trademark — You can’t claim a user name that another business or user has legal right to use.
• Private information — You can’t share other people’s sensitive information like credit card numbers, street address or Social Security/National Identity numbers on the site.
• Violence and Threats — You can’t use Twitter to threaten others.
• Copyright — Twitter has a procedure for handling claims of infringement as a result of something posted to your Twitter account.
• Unlawful use — You can’t use Twitter in a way that would either break the law or cause it to be broken.
• Misuse of Twitter Badges — You can’t use these on your site unless Twitter has given them to you.

There is also a list of activities Twitter considers spamming.  The list is extensive.

You might be surprised by what Twitter says it will take into account as evidence of  ”spam.”   Most business users are.

Take a few minutes to study this list.  Note that the rules do not say that each of the items is by itself spam — just that they are “factors” Twitter will take into account in determining whether the account is spam.

We imagine that Twitter looks at an account in its entirety to determine spamming.  Otherwise, a lot of business accounts (even from mega-brands) would be considered spam for such behaviors as primarily tweeting out links rather than personal updates.  Yes, that’s on the spam list.

Try to look objectively at your own account. If you or your staff members are intentionally engaging in multiple behaviors on the Twitter spam list — you are living on borrowed time.  Make changes before you get suspended.

How to Deal with a Twitter Suspension

First, don’t panic! Being suspended from Twitter can be scary, especially if Twitter is part of your marketing and customer service outreach.

But it’s important to keep your cool.  Don’t rant and rave at Twitter, or get abusive. Remain polite and businesslike.

We know you feel outraged. You may even feel betrayed if you’ve spent a lot of time touting the benefits of Twitter for business.  But letting emotions rule will not help.  Follow these steps:

Step 1 — Carefully review all of Twitter’s guidelines again to be sure you have not violated the rules, even accidentally.

Step 2 — Fill out the form provided when you attempt to log in, to contest the account suspension. Be sure to explain that you have followed all guidelines as far as you know, and ask for a way to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.

Step 3 – Monitor the email inbox associated with your Twitter account, too. You may get one or more automated responses from Twitter that you MUST respond to, or they will consider your appeal closed.

Step 4 — Give it time. Many members have reported reinstatement can take up to 48 hours.  But some accounts have been reinstated in just a few hours’ time. If you discover and report the suspension outside of regular business hours, expect it to take longer.

Tip:  Don’t freak out if your Twitter account returns with zero followers at first!  This appears to be normal in most cases, especially if the suspension was an error.  You probably will not have to beg everyone to follow you again. Give it a few hours and your Twitters followers will all likely be back.  It happened that way in all the erroneous Twitter suspensions we learned about from business owners.

Remember, you’re not alone.  Other business users have been in your shoes and survived.

Have you had your Twitter account suspended? Have any advice to share? Please post it in the comments below.

Twitter, Twitter bird, Jail Photos via Shutterstock

The post Twitter Suspension? First Step: Don’t Panic appeared first on Small Business Trends.

This week’s top small business news stories looked at the latest mobile technology, 3D printing, the future of the password, the latest in the battle over Obamacare and much more. The Small Business Trends editorial team doesn’t just bring you the headlines. These stories explain how the news of the week affects you.

Mobile

Nokia introduces a new Lumia 925 Windows phone. The phone will have a metal case and upgrades to its camera technology. Observers see the Windows 8 operating system as a benefit to business users. Many business users are already using Windows on their other business technology. So the overall look and feel of the the phone’s operating system will be very similar to the Windows 8 running on their computers.

Microsoft is now among the top 5 tablet sellers. The company’s new Surface devices sold 900,000 units making up 1.8 percent of the market for the first quarter of 2013. Most of those sales came from the Surface Pro, which runs Windows 8 and is targeted at business users. Though this puts Microsoft in 5th place, that’s not too shabby for a company that wasn’t even in the tablet business a year ago.

Tech

The future may hold a lot fewer passwords. An organization called the FIDO (Fast Identity Online) Alliance, founded in July 2012 by tech firms like PayPal, Lenovo, Agnito, Infineon, Nok Nok Labs and Validity, is trying to bring about that change. The need for fewer passwords is about more than convenience. Too many passwords encourage users to get sloppy, reusing codes on multiple accounts because they are easier to remember.

Google+ introduces an elegant new look. The company announced dozens of new features and upgrades to its social media platform. Changes to the platform announced Thursday include a look more reminiscent of Pinterest, a multi-column layout, related hashtags, improvements to the Hangout feature and improved features for photo uploading and sharing. And there is even more. Read Small Business Trends Founder and CEO Anita Campbell’s quick take of the highlights.

Most of the top blogs are on WordPress. And the number could be increasing. A new study of the top 100 blogs on the Web says 52 percent use the popular platform. Pingdom conducted the study. The company found that another 4 of the top ranking blogs are using WordPress this year as compared to 2012. And WordPress reports that 65 million sites worldwide use the software. WordPress has become much more than blogging software. It’s now a CMS system for small business websites. Do you use WordPress for your business blog or website?

What is 3D Printing? The process uses a computer generated design to create three-dimensional objects out of plastic, ceramic or metal … even out of chocolate or cheese! It’s like having a small-scale manufacturing device right in your office or home. Sound like something out of science fiction? It’s not. Check out our one page explainer where we give you an overview.

Trends

61% of U.S. voters think rich entrepreneurs are good for the economy. And 49% think it’s “very fair” for successful businessmen to grow rich from their efforts. If you had any doubts that U.S. voters believe in the concept of entrepreneurship, this survey by Rasmussen Reports should put them to rest. The report sampled 1,000 likely voters nationwide, surveyed by phone between May 1 and 2, 2013.

Small business owners remain pessimistic. That’s not because they’re negative as a group, says Scott Shane, professor of entrepreneurial studies at Case Western Reserve University. That’s because despite some expansion in the economy since 2009, Professor Shane says, conditions still aren’t that positive for small businesses. Read this posts for some of the harsh realities.

Millennials are changing the employment world. Rieva Lesonsky, CEO of GrowBiz Media, leads us through a study of this workforce from oDesk. Among the preferences of this group are desires to work whenever and wherever they like, focus on projects that interest them, and travel while working. If you employ some of this generational group at your company be prepared. Try to satisfy their desire for freedom while tapping into their entrepreneurial spirit.

Small businesses are borrowing less again. The Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index has fallen three consecutive months, ending in March. The index measures the overall volume of lending to small U.S. companies. The drop is in contrast to a report from the U.S. Small Business Administration that showed small business lending had increased for the first time in 10 quarters in the last part of 2012.

Policy

Lawsuit against the IRS centers on Obamacare. It’s nothing new for small businesses to be complaining about the IRS and Obamacare. But recently this complaining took on legal overtones. Six small business owners have banded together to sue the federal agency. They say the agency exceeded its authority when it took it upon itself to make a rule granting subsidies to employees in states that have declined to create state healthcare exchanges. That action in turn will trigger penalties for small businesses under the new Affordable Care Act, they claim.

Entrepreneurship

Co-Founder of TranscribeMe, explains where great ideas come from. “Necessity is the mother of invention.”  In this interview, Alexei Dunayev describes how his and his co-founder’s efforts to transcribe audio content for their wives, a PhD. researcher and an attorney, made them both realize there must be a better way.

Lady Gaga turns out to be a smart marketer. Book reviewer extraordinaire Pierre Debois reviews Jackie Huba’s new book about Lady Gaga. Huba illustrates that Lady Gaga is a terrific startup marketer in addition to being a terrific music artist.

Image: 3D print from 3D Systems

The post Top Small Business News This Week: May 17 appeared first on Small Business Trends.

You may sometimes wonder whether Americans hate the rich.  With all the TV air time given to tax increases vs tax cuts for the wealthy that politicians love to argue over, it would not be surprising to get that impression.

Entrepreneurs take their money and reinvest it into their companies, benefiting the whole economy.  They have often made their wealth creating jobs and prosperity (example: entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg, pictured above).

But one may wonder – does the average American understand this vital role?  Does the average American think rich —  including the very rich, as in billionaire rich — entrepreneurs are actually good for the economy?

Fortunately, it now appears that most Americans do “get it” as far as the relationship between jobs, a steadily growing economy and entrepreneurship. Sixty-one percent of likely U.S. voters believe letting entrepreneurs get rich is good for the economy, said a recent national phone survey by Rasmussen Reports. Only 13 percent of those surveyed say they believe entrepreneurs getting rich is not good for the economy and actually hurts it.

Ten percent of those surveyed believe entrepreneurs becoming wealthy from their investments and efforts has no impact on the economy one way or the other. Another 18 percent of those surveyed say they are unsure what effect entrepreneurs or small business owners’ earnings have on the economy.

The report also found 49 percent of those surveyed felt it is “very fair” for successful businessmen to grow rich from their efforts.

The survey looked at 1,000 likely voters nationwide surveyed by phone between May 1 and 2, 2013. Among questions asked were, ”How fair is it that people who build very successful companies become very rich?” And, “Does letting people who build successful companies and become rich help the economy, hurt the economy, or have no impact on the economy?”

Image: still from Facebook media video

The post 61% of U.S. Voters Think Rich Entrepreneurs are Good for the Economy appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook enjoy huge popularity, but blogs are still an important tool for small business marketing.

Jennifer Bourn, Owner and Creative Director for Sacramento WordPress Web design and branding firm, Bourn Creative, claimed they are “no longer optional for small businesses” in a recent guest post at The Sacremento Business Journal.

So if you don’t yet have a blog – start one. And if you do have one, apply the blog improvement steps below to kick it up a notch.

10 Simple Blog Improvement Steps

Make Things More Personal ~ Huffington Post

Publishing a blog for your business is great, says tech writer Drew Hendricks. But sometimes business blogs can get a bit too…well, business-y. Instead, Hendricks suggests adopting a more personal approach by letting readers know more about the people behind the blog. Here are some of Hendrick’s specific suggestions.

Choose a Monetization Strategy ~ Remarkablogger

Say you start a blog to promote your freelance services. Wouldn’t it be great to diversify a bit and find other ways your blog could generate revenue for your business? One option suggested by blogging consultant Michael Martine is the use of affiliate marketing, which can deliver more steady income even when other aspects of your business are in a dry spell.

Build a Powerful Network ~ MyWifeQuitHerJob

Blogger Tom Ewer insists the two secrets to creating a successful blog are to create great content and to create a network or community of like-minded people who will happily share that content for you. Ewer shows you what building relationships can do for your blog and a simple strategy for creating those relationships.

Grab the Reader’s Attention ~ ProBlogger

SEO and marketing copywriter Belinda Weaver insists a great opening for your blog post is the key to getting readers to give your post their attention and return to your blog week after week for more. Weaver says great blog openings begin with a great title and go on to intrigue, startle and touch readers on a personal level. Here is her recipe for success.

Recruit Some Guest Bloggers ~ Ms. Ileane Speaks

Ileane Smith, owner of Basic Blog Tips, shares her personal experience opening her site to guest bloggers. She says the process gave new and seasoned bloggers a chance to promote themselves and share their writing while also promoting her blog’s community. But Smith says blog owners need to take steps to vet guest bloggers to make sure they and their content are right for the blog.

Don’t Overdo the Keywords ~ Search Engine Roundtable

Industry observer Barry Schwartz shares the advice of Google Webmaster Trends Analyst John Mueller to a site owner on a forum. The site owner was confused about why his seven year old site was failing to rank for its keyword. Mueller explained the site currently contains over 1000 mentions of a single keyword. That’s too much of a good thing for Google. Don’t overdo it on keywords, Mueller says.

Use Vine and Instagram ~ Chris Brogan

As a way of enhancing your message on your blog and other social media, Chris Brogan suggests participating with what he calls “outlier social media tools” like Vine and Instagram. Check out these tools as a way of being a bit more human and creating what Brogan calls “bitesize” content. All the while you’re boosting your blog’s brand and building more community.

Set Up Google Authorship ~ Trafficado

Rob Parsons suggests some tips for improving the SEO and effectiveness of your blog. Among those suggestions is taking advantage of Google Authorship. The process involves verifying your identity with Google as the author of specific posts. The idea is that Google will favor authors who regularly create quality content, allow your image to appear next to content in search and thus improve click through.

Make Your Blog More Mobile Friendly ~ Lo Cost Marketing

Blogger Scott Dudley writes about the increasing popularity of mobile devices and the need to be sure you make your blog mobile friendly. With a growing number of potential readers using mobile devices, Dudley says making your blog mobile friendly is a simple way to grow your audience. Dudley also offers some simple options for making your blog accessible to readers interested in accessing your site through a mobile device

Start Allowing Online Payments ~ Famous Bloggers

If your blog promotes products or services offered by your business, it’s time to make sure customers visiting your business blog 24/7 will be able to pay online for those products or services. Blogger Laura Burkley offers benefits for accepting online payments on your blog. She also suggests some simple ways set up online payments for your business.

Blog Photo via Shutterstock

The post 10 Simple Steps Will Improve Your Business Blog appeared first on Small Business Trends.

This week’s once again focused on the Internet Sales Tax bill. Other topics were mobile trends, leadership and more. The Small Business Trends editorial team brings you not just the news– but the important context around the important small business news stories of the week.

Internet Sales Tax Update

A proposed Internet sales tax has passed the U.S. Senate - The bill passed the Senate 69-27 on Monday. It gives states the power to require online retailers to collect sales tax for purchases made by their residents. Businesses are divided on the bill. Brick and mortar retailers claim it levels the playing field with online retailers out of state. Online small businesses are strongly against it. Affiliate marketers like it because they’ve been hurt by individual state laws. Ebay says its sellers will find it too complicated.

But the tax bill may stall in the U.S. House - Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) is sending the Senate version of the legislation to the House Judiciary Committee. This may delay it indefinitely. Though the bill is technically called the Marketplace Fairness Act, “fairness” is a matter of perspective, notes Small Business Trends publisher Anita Campbell. Big online retailers like Amazon and big brick and mortar retailers like WalMart support the bill. But it will likely hit small businesses hard because they lack the resources to handle ongoing compliance in 9600 taxing jurisdictions.

Mobile Trends

98% of small businesses use wireless now - An AT&T poll shows some other trends about how important the technology has become to running a business. For example, the poll says two-thirds (about 66 percent) of the owners who say they use wireless to operate their businesses believe they couldn’t survive or would face severe challenges without it. The poll also shows an increase in tablet usage, especially in small businesses less than two years old.

34% of small businesses do not use mobile tech in their businesses - In a counterpoint to the AT&T poll, roughly one third of small businesses report they do NOT use mobile technologies in their businesses.  Constant Contact did this survey instead of a wireless provider. An existing bias in the survey base may explain the difference between the two results.  Another reason for the difference may be in choice of terminology: wireless vs mobile.

Smartphones surpass regular phones - And tablets are also becoming more popular. Marketing intelligence firm International Data Corporation says 51 percent of the mobile phones shipped out in the first quarter of 2013 were smartphones.  Tablets saw a 117 percent increase in units shipped over last year. Time to upgrade that old cell phone or perhaps buy a tablet?

A new 8-inch tablet is coming from Samsung in June - Samsung already has two other tablets in its Galaxy Tab 2 series of budget devices. An 8-inch tablet would be more portable than the bigger 10.1-inch Samsung tablet. The screen would also be bigger and easier to see than the smaller 7-inch Samsung tablet. The new Samsung device would be smaller than the 9.7-inch iPad. And it’s closer in dimensions to the iPad mini, which has a screen size of 7.9 inches. But it will likely be cheaper than both.

Kayak and Travelocity founder discusses changes due to mobile - In this exclusive interview, Terry Jones, the founder of two popular travel sites, discusses what’s different today versus 10 years ago. One difference: mobile usage for travel.

Entrepreneurship

Last Sunday was National Lemonade Day. The annual event leverages the lemonade stand, the ultimate symbol of childhood entrepreneurship, to help kids get a taste of what it’s like to run a business. This year, event organizers expected to reach 50 cities in the U.S. and Canada and have more than 200,000 children participating. Read about how Lemonade Day has grown fr0m its launch in 2007 — and get busy planning an event to help budding entrepreneurs in your community next year. It’s never too early!

Bitcoins still not widely known but getting more popular. We ran a story last week about the risks of using online Bitcoin exchanges, and followed up with a second story about usage of bitcoins. Exchanges are necessary to convert the popular digital currency into national currencies. But in an email interview, entrepreneur Assaf Scialom of iQDesk.net explains why the “currency” holds interest, especially for online entrepreneurs working internationally.

Technology

Is your website “responsive”? If you don’t know, you may want to read this easy-to-understand explanation of the latest trend in website design. The fact is, visitors to your website are likely viewing it in a wide variety of devices and screen resolutions — oversized 42-inch desktop monitors, 8-inch tablets and 4-inch smartphones.   Sites designed in a traditional manner may be hard to view on smaller screens. Responsive websites resize themselves to fit.

You can now make video calls on Viber. The service’s new desktop app lets users place video calls to each other. Viber already has apps for smartphones. Observers call the service a rival to Microsoft’s Skype, and maybe with good reason. Viber already has 200 million users worldwide. It’s similar to Skype in some ways, but not in others. The two services are quite different. Check out some specifics on how they differ.

Social Media

Don’t believe the hype about the Facebook exodus. We couldn’t help grabbing this one from the headlines and uncovering the true facts for our readers. The Guardian newspaper last month reported that Facebook was hemorrhaging members. The trouble is, the numbers were flawed. We delved into other numbers provided to us by Facebook and in Facebook’s quarterly earnings call, to uncover the true state of small businesses using Facebook. And we discovered 16 million small businesses have Facebook Pages, up 3 million in one quarter alone.

Financing

Higher home prices are good for small business. Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at Case Western Reserve University, Scott Shane, provides research evidence of a trend people don’t usually think of when considering small business growth. Shane points out that many business owners finance their businesses through home equity loans. Lower home values mean less funding available.

Small manufacturing is reinventing itself. The PayNet Manufacturing Index says manufacturing by small businesses has risen 48 percent since the Great Recession of 2009. The index looks at investments made by small manufacturing companies. Those investments are in property, equipment, tools and business units. William Phelan, president of PayNet, said that small manufacturers that managed to reinvent themselves are a key reason for the rebound.

Leadership and Strategy

Go Daddy makes changes, still not there yet as a “small business platform” - Scott Wagner, from KKR Capstone, the company leading the leveraged buyout of GoDaddy in 2011, moved from an interim position to COO and CFO this week. The company claims to be on its way to becoming “the largest platform for small businesses around the world.” But as we point out in this deeper analysis, Go Daddy will have to do much more for small businesses, if it wants to earn that designation.

Tough times make better leaders. Respected small business journalist Rieva Lesonsky shares data on what tough times do to managers and executives. Lesonsky quotes a Gallup poll showing engagement by these leaders during 2009 in the depths of the Great Recession was 10 percent higher than it is today. Does your engagement as a leader improve in tough times? And if you’re wondering just what engagement means, read Lesonsky’s full article for more detail.

Union poster rule overturned – A proposed rule by the NLRB that would have restricted business owners’ free speech rights when it comes to unionizing, was overturned on appeal.  The NFIB hailed this as a victory for small businesses.

The post This Week in Small Business News appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Scott Wagner, formerly of private investment firm, KKR Capstone, will stay on as a Go Daddy executive indefinitely. And that suggests that KKR Capstone, which bought 65% of Go Daddy in 2011 along with Silver Lake Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures, will be continuing the transformation of Go Daddy.

The company released an announcement formally confirming Wagner as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer on Wednesday.

Wagner first began working at Go Daddy temporarily after KKR Capstone led the leveraged buyout of GoDaddy for a rumored $2.3 billion.  Wagner stepped in last summer to fill in as interim Chief Executive Officer  after former CEO Warren Adelman stepped down.

“It’s not often you see an operator of Scott’s caliber and experience elect to join the portfolio company he was ‘dropped in’ to assist,” said new CEO Blake Irving in a released statement. ”Scott … shares our passion to change the world for small business,” Irving added.

Transformation Into “Small Business Platform” Still Evolving

Go Daddy had been run for 15 years by its founder Bob Parsons, a colorful and sometimes-controversial figure who took heat for shooting elephants.  Parsons still owns a large chunk of the company.

Following the private equity investment, members of KKR Capstone stepped in to run the company and begin its transformation.  In  January of this year they brought in Irving, a former Yahoo and Microsoft executive, to be CEO.

Since Irving’s arrival the company has added executive talent and opened new offices in Sunnyvale, California and near Seattle, Washington.  Just last week the company announced groundbreaking for a technology center in Tempe, Arizona.

Prior to 2012 Go Daddy focused on domain name registration, hosting and related website services.  In a bid to expand the breadth of its products, last summer it acquired Outright, a bookkeeping software for solo small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Today when you go to the home page of Go Daddy, it’s far different than it was one year ago.  Back then, the cluttered home page could be overwhelming unless you were a technologist.  It tended to focus on buying domain names and aggressive upsells. The page had considerable technical terminology that could be baffling to non-technologists.

The home page is much cleaner and simpler these days. It places more emphasis on building a website.  It feels much less intimidating to a small business owner or manager.

Gone also is the emphasis on good-looking women such as Nascar driver and spokesperson Danica Patrick. That  emphasis, along with racy Super Bowl commercials, earned Go Daddy a perceived reputation for being sexist. While the emphasis gave Go Daddy a memorable brand, it was offputting to some women business owners.

Last week CEO Irving said, ”GoDaddy is well on its way to being the largest platform for small businesses around the world.”

That transformation still seems to be a work in progress, however, and the company has a long way to go before it’s truly a platform for small businesses.  Go Daddy does not appear to have done much yet with the Outright product it acquired. To be a true platform, Go Daddy will need to provide small businesses with tools for many more business functions beyond online presence and bookkeeping.

Go Daddy has grown since its beginnings as a scrappy startup back in 1997.  Go Daddy’s revenue hit $1.3 billion last year. The company says it serves 11 million customers worldwide with Web hosting and domain registration services and bills itself as the largest provider of these services worldwide.  The company has 3,400 employees worldwide.

The post Go Daddy Executive Named COO, Transformation Continues appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Smartphone shipments now outnumber those of “regular” cell phones worldwide.

It’s the first time smartphones — that is, phones capable of computing and Web access — have outnumbered ordinary cell phones on a global scale.  Here in the United States, smartphone shipments surpassed ordinary cell phones  back in 2011.

The International Data Corporation, a global marketing intelligence firm, says 51 percent of the mobile phones shipped out in the first quarter of this year were smartphones. That’s 216.2 million out of a total 418.6 million mobile phones.

Another mobile device making big strides worldwide is the tablet, The Tech Report says. The website reports that tablet  shipments more than doubled.  There was a 117 percent increase of tablets shipped over last year, from 18.7 million in the first quarter of 2012 to 40.6 million in the first quarter of this year.  While still a fraction of smartphone shipments, the pace of tablet growth is impressive.

Here’s the reason all of this is important: if people are using smartphones and tablets,  they will increasingly interact with their favorite brands on mobile devices.

We’ve reported before about the increasing relevance of mobile marketing.

In 2012, Juniper Research projected mobile payments could reach $1.3 trillion by 2015.

So, small businesses need to be sure their sites are mobile friendly and ready to accept mobile payments where applicable.

Experts also worry about the security threats associated with mobile payments and accessing data through mobile devices.  Internet security company Symantec reported a 58 percent increase in mobile malware between 2011 and 2012. Nearly one-third of those attacks aimed at stealing information, the report states.

Smartphones Photo via Shutterstock

The post Smartphones Surpass Regular Cell Phones – Tablet Growth Surges appeared first on Small Business Trends.

We’ve collected 16 of our favorite tools that help us here at Small Business Trends generate ideas for blog posts. Try out some of these tools the next time you find yourself staring at a blank screen.

Tools to Generate Blog Ideas for Posts

Google Keyword Tool

The free keyword tool from Google AdWords is great for finding out what people are actually searching for on Google on a daily basis. You can use the tool even if you’re not advertising through Google.

Hint: look for keywords that get a significant number of searches (say, 50,000 monthly searches), but have low or medium competition.  Take note of “local monthly searches” if you specifically want to target readers in your region or area. You can also change location to determine how keywords are performing in different regions.

Netvibes

Netvibes lets you create a personalized dashboard so you can monitor RSS feeds, social media accounts and even analytics for your blog and website — all in one place. Add RSS feeds for your favorite blogs and news sites, and check it daily.

You can add as many feeds as you like to get wide coverage of topics. Then simply scan the headlines for something in the news that triggers a blogging idea or serves as a launching point for your own commentary.

Alltop

Alltop is a collection of the best blogs under hundreds of topics. You can easily come up with blog ideas by browsing through the current post titles that are shown under each topic. For example, if you write on technology, there are plenty of technology posts you can learn from. You can also search for related topics for each heading.

Quora

A good blog post often answers a burning question people have. Quora is a great place to identify the kinds of questions that business people want answers to.  Quora is particularly good for B2B (business-to-business) topics.

Questions are grouped under topics.  Look especially for questions with a lot of interactivity and comments.  That’s often a signal that the topic will be engaging.

Topsy

Topsy allows you to search across various social channels. You can use Topsy to get real-time insights into a wide variety of business questions: You can filter your results into just links and tweets, videos, posts or even photos. Take advantage of the filter tool to explore details of the search results. Topsy gives you the option to create an email or RSS alert to send you regular updates for different topics.

Twitter Search, Trends, List

Twitter has over 400 million users.  There’s a high likelihood that someone on Twitter is talking about topics that will appeal to your readers. First, make use of Twitter Search. Type in a word or even a hashtag phrase (example: #smallbiz) and watch tweets unfold on your chosen topic. Twitter is particularly good for finding up-to-the-minute topics.

You can also take note of topics that are trending on Twitter at any given moment. Trending topics appear on the left side of your screen once you are logged in (more here). You can change to a different location to know what topics are trending in other geographic areas.

You can also use Twitter Lists to follow industry leaders in your niche. Find and follow Twitter experts whose posts and articles are the most popular within your industry. (More on Lists.)

Google News (Personalized)

Google News offers great content on virtually any topic you are interested in following. You can create your own news results based on your keywords.  Ask yourself which keywords or topics you tend to write on or that your readers would be interested in.  Use targeted keywords to create news feeds you can track daily for news as it breaks.

To get to Google News, hit the link above. Or go to Google.com, search for a topic, and then click the News link across the top of the page.

TweakYourBiz Title Generator

The TweakYourBiz Title Generator specifically generates blog post titles for you to either print or download. Plug in a word or phrase, and it will generate hundreds of titles grouped by approaches:   how-to posts, lists, questions, contrarian  headlines, and so on.

Not only does it generate potential titles, but the titles give you clues for how to structure your blog posts and captivate interest.  There’s also a synonym generator, to look for related words and phrases.   The Title Generator is sure to get your creative juices flowing.

StumbleUpon Trends

StumbleUpon now provides users with news or content on trending news. Trends are grouped into topics or headings: Explore each topic for more ideas in your industry. Trending posts on StumbleUpon show the kind of content users are interested in at the moment, and the type of topics they click on or share.  Take advantage of the StumbleUpon lists to create your own lists to follow.

Scoop.it

Scoop.it lets you curate engaging social news based on a topic of your choice. You can easily enhance your blogging productivity by adding a feed to your website that includes topics of interest to you and your readers. You can also discover topics curated by others.  Scoop.it is one of a number of curation tools that help you collect references to other content — see 55 curation tools.   For more on the benefits of “curating” content, read about reasons to pick up the curator habit.

BizSugar

BizSugar, a sister site to Small Business Trends, is an online community where members can submit, comment on and vote for their favorite small business posts, videos and news. Anyone can share content, and the site has over 1 million registered users.

The community then votes on its favorite posts. The site makes it easy to track the top posts overall, or by category such as marketing, finance, management, technology and startups.  By seeing what others find popular, it may trigger blog ideas  for posts that appeal to your readers.  BizSugar is especially good for identifying ideas for blog posts that appeal to a small business audience.

Copyblogger – How To Write Magnetic Headlines

When creating a great blog post, start with the headline. Headlines are a small but important part of your blog post. They attract readers’ attention and make them decide whether to read further. They establish what to expect when reading the post.

Headline writing is an art, but it can be learned and Brian Clark of Copyblogger has created a guide. Read this collection of posts discussing how to write magnetic headlines. It will trigger blogging ideas and subtly guide you in how to frame topics to be more popular with readers.

Storify

Storify helps you find and collect information from a variety of sources around a particular “story” – such as a breaking  news story — that may trigger ideas for blog posts.  For example, you can collect news reports, blog posts, tweets, Instagram photos, YouTube videos, Facebook posts, and more all organized around a topic.  And of course, you can search stories created by others.   The site bills itself as helping you sort through the noise online for the voices and topics you want to focus on.

Pinterest

You can also search for topics to blog about in a very different way — visually. Pinterest is a popular site where users post images they like. Searching the boards of other Pinterest users can give you ideas for post topics because you see what they find interesting enough to “pin” to their own boards.

This content can serve as inspiration for new blogging ideas. It can also be research and source material for blogs you are already writing on a particular topic.  Pinterest is especially good for identifying infographics, beautiful products, and other visually-striking information.

SEOBook Keyword Tools

Another resource for coming up with blog post ideas around a particular topic is the Keyword Suggestion Tool at SEO Book. This tool takes an in-depth approach to examining keywords related to a topic you might be considering. This tool is particularly good if you start with a broad topic in mind, but need to narrow it down — especially if you want to optimize your posts for search engines. SEO Book offers both free and premium tools for you to consider.

Yoast WordPress SEO Plugin

And last, but certainly not least, here’s a nifty little tool to help you narrow the focus your blogging ideas. The Yoast WordPress SEO Plugin does a lot of things to optimize your posts for search engines (and human readers, too).  But one of the best features in our opinion, is that it “forces” you to focus your post on a single idea.

The Yoast plugin goes to work after you have started writing your post.  Let’s say you’ve started a post but it lacks focus. You’re not sure where you’re going with the article. (It happens to us a lot.)  This free plugin for WordPress has a keyword suggestion tool built in. After you choose a  keyword phrase, it actually scores your draft post to tell you how well it focuses on that phrase.  In other words, it keeps you on track to one specific topic.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Remember to give credit to the source if you are quoting or paraphrasing someone else’s thoughts, or curating content from other sources. Drawing inspiration is one thing.  Trying to pass off someone else’s work as your own is something different.

If you would like a bit more inspiration when creating that next blog post, check out “7 Steps to Writing a Great Blog Post” and “100 SMB Blogging Ideas.”

The post 16 Tools to Come Up With Blog Ideas for Posts appeared first on Small Business Trends.

[Samsung 10" Galaxy Tab 2]

Samsung is working on a new 8 inch tablet the company plans on launching in June.

Samsung already has two other tablets in its Galaxy Tab 2 budget series, one bigger and one smaller.

It’s easy to see how an 8 inch tablet would be more portable than the bigger 10.1 inch Samsung tablet (pictured above). The screen would also be bigger and easier to see than the smaller 7 inch Samsung tablet.

The Wall Street Journal reported on both the tablet and new water resistant and dust proof smartphone, but offered few details on either. Samsung is planning to launch the smartphone in July, the report said.

Of course, Samsung has stiff competition in the tablet market from Apple’s iPad, but for business and other users, how do these tablets compare?

Well, the new Samsung tablet would be smaller than the 9.7 inch iPad. And it’s closer in dimension to the iPad mini, which has a screen size of 7.9 inches.

For the cost conscious business owner, both the 10.1 inch and 7 inch Samsung tablets are already lower in price than either iPad, so probably the new device will be cheaper too.

The new water proof and dust proof smartphone would be just like the company’s popular Samsung Galaxy S4, but more rugged, The Journal reported.

Samsung is apparently targeting government and enterprise level corporate users with the new smartphone tentatively called the S4 Active.

But clearly, any business users looking for a durable smartphone to stand up to the wear, tear and potentially adverse weather conditions when traveling may want to take a look.

The post Samsung Will Introduce a New 8 Inch Tablet in June appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Top Story

• 42% of U.S. jobs in April were created by small businesses. Released Thursday, the ADP Small Business Report said small firms created 50,000 jobs out of a total of 119,000 in the job market last month. What’s more, the report showed that the biggest job creation among small businesses (accounting for 34,000) came from the smallest of the small, those employing under 20 people.  And when you add in medium-sized businesses, the percentage of employment jumped to roughly 64% of non-government jobs created.

Finance

• Kabbage Inc. reports lending to home-based businesses has increased. The company, specializing in loans to small, home-run, online merchants, has paid over $200 million in annualized cash advances to more than 100,000 small business customers so far this year. That represents 298% growth in advances from 2012 to 2013, compared with an 8% decrease for SBA loans under $150,000 over the same period.

• The Bank of England and U.K. Treasury announced new incentives to increase lending to U.K. small businesses. UK. banks would get access to discounted funding making small business loans.  But some commentators suggest incentives won’t do the trick. If the recent U.S. experience with incentives for small business loans is any indicator, they’re right. We explain why the U.S. and the U.K. need to address fundamental issues peculiar to small business lending, rather than just throwing incentives at banks.

Operations

• U.K. Royal Mail rates take a hike. Online merchants, especially small businesses, are now being forced to reconsider how they handle their shipping operations, according to a post at WholesaleForums. There, John Hayes writes that business owners in the U.K. need to examine different ways to manage the new rates.

Tech

• Bitcoin exchanges are risky business. The digital currency has had a lot of press in recent weeks, not to mention some wild price fluctuations. Online entrepreneurs have been attracted to a monetary system without borders or regulations, and we increasingly see online businesses accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment. But a recent paper by researchers at Southern Methodist and Carnegie Mellon universities says that 45 percent of the exchanges fail.
• Google bids Meebo goodbye, to focus on Google+. Google bought the popular social sharing bar Meebo less than a year ago.   But after June 6, 2013 Meebo will be no more. Google plans to focus more on Google+, including the recently launched Google+ Sign-In and Google+ plugins instead. It’s more writing on the wall:  Google+ is important and your business needs a presence on it.
• New LinkedIn Contacts update. You may be thinking you already have Contacts in your LinkedIn account. But this update is something different. The new LinkedIn Contacts will let you keep track of  your LinkedIn connections and your connections from your address book, calendars and emails — all in one place. There’s a standalone app, too.
• Google Drive adds chat and pictures. Google Drive features real-time collaboration on shared files and documents. But new enhancements have created a whole new feel to that process. We’ve been working with the new Google Drive collaboration this week here at Small Business Trends and share some cool new features.
• What Google Fiber means to small businesses. Provo, Utah is the third city to receive Google Fiber, a super fast Internet service offered by Google. The service provides a 1 Gigabit (100 times faster than regular broadband) connection for just a $30 hookup fee. See what this connectivity will mean to the city’s small business and startup community.
• You can use Wikidata facts too – but maybe not just yet. This new project from Wikimedia is designed to provide data that will make Wikipedia more accurate. Wikidata is also open to everyone including small businesses under a Creative Commons license, for use in apps and other purposes. But with no publicly available API, the information is still hard to access, and there’s little structured data available yet because the project is relatively new.  This is “plan for the future” type of news.
• Store your smartphone and tablet files on the Verizon Cloud. Verizon offers 500 MB of free online storage so you can save your chats and call logs along with other files. Additional storage is available for a fee. The 125 GB offer is competitive with a similar offer from Dropbox of 100 GB for the same price.
• Nokia invests in camera phone technology. The company recently put money into Pelican Images, a startup that commercializes the latest camera technology.  The move is apparently an attempt to compete with Apple and Android, to make Nokia smartphone cameras the best available. Small businesses that use smartphone cameras in operations, take note.
• Twitter introduces a Mac app. Twitter is rolling out enhancements for Mac users that should make the social network more engaging. Mac App will allow a user to manage multiple accounts, view multiple timelines and use some new keyboard shortcuts.
• What is Google Glass?  Our latest one-page “explainer” gives you a quick tutorial on this latest technology from Google, including benefits and concerns like invasion of privacy.

Global

• U.S. small business owners are held in high esteem. Scott Shane, professor of entrepreneurial studies at Case Western Reserve University, shares data showing that small businesses are esteemed in the West, especially the United States – but not so much in China and other places.

Government

• President Obama nominated billionaire Penny Pritzker for Secretary of Commerce.  We hope it’s a signal that the plan announced back in 2012 to tuck the SBA up under the Department of Commerce, along with several other agencies, is dead in the water.  Merging the agencies would not help small businesses, in our view.

The post Top Small Business News Stories: Week of May 3 appeared first on Small Business Trends.