News You Can Use In Your Business – Week Ending July 20


news you can use in your small business

Here is our weekly roundup of key news you can use in your small business.

Highlights this week are that Google has changed Gmail (and Google Apps mail) forever with tabs. Some marketers and e-commerce sellers are up in arms — but are they overreacting?  As has become usual, smartphones also are in the news and their impact keeps growing. Yelp makes an important change in the way local businesses serve customers. And a new startup may have just transformed the independent music business.

The Small Business Trends editorial team finds the stories you need to run your business effectively. Read on:

Marketing and E-commerce

Gmail Tabs could cause new headaches. If you haven’t seen the new tabs yet, it’s time to take a look. Email marketers and e-commerce sellers will especially need to figure out how Google’s latest email incarnation may affect their businesses.

Decreased cost per click is a big opportunity. It may be bad news for Google but potentially good news for AdWords advertisers. Cost per click for these ads are down six percent and online ads may be more effective than expected.

Small businesses should do better at PPC. Larry Kim of WordStream shares the results of a recent informal poll of AdWords advertisers. It shows some of the issues that could be hampering your business’s success as well.

How to fight abandoned shopping cart syndrome. Ecommerce merchants all know the frustration. A buyer shows up on your site, puts items in a shopping cart and then…Here are some best practices for what comes next.

New study looks at buying online. If you’re in business today, then how customers buy online is probably a concern. Rieva Lesonsky helps us sort out a new study from Shopzilla with a poll of Internet users.

Tech

Motorola’s new phones are coming. Predictions suggest the Moto X and other smartphones will be on the market before summer’s end. Here’s what small business owners need to know about these new productivity tools.

Microsoft cuts price of the Surface RT tablet. Disappointing sales and excess inventory have caused the decision. But the question remains whether the new reduced price will make you buy any of these devices that use the scaled-down Windows RT operating system. Some believe the pricier Surface Pro, using full Windows 8, is a better bet for business users.

Google Databoard provides new research. The latest Google tool not only gives you access to the latest research from the search engine giant. It also gives you the ability to create custom infographics using that data.

Email is a blessing…and a curse. Email allows small businesses to improve response time and increase productivity. But it does something else too, unfortunately. A survey shows email is also eroding the separation between work and leisure.

Services

The next evolution of Yelp could help your business even more. The website already offers a forum for the best kind of marketing there is: word of mouth. But soon there could be something even better.

Get money for music on YouTube. Audium is a startup offering new opportunities for independent musicians. Big record companies and music publishers are no longer the only ones getting paid when their songs appear in online videos.

There’s another new video chat tool. Podio introduced the new chat feature recently. It’s available to both users of Podio’s free and pay packages. Here’s how the new Podio video chat app enhances collaboration in your business.

An exclusive talk with Connie Certusi of Sage. Sage Small Business Solutions has focused on creating software to automate small business administrative, finance and other tasks. In this video Hangout of an exclusive live session as part of our weekly interview series, interviewer Brent Leary explores with Certusi the company’s philosophy and Sage’s initiatives to support local businesses.

Finance

The state of angel investing. Scott Shane, Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at Case Western Reserve University, looks at where angel investment stands after the Great Recession. To sum up, angels are providing less money to more startups.

“What is ROI” defined. Understanding Return on Investment can be incredibly important for entrepreneurs and small business owners. Here Small Business Trends founder and CEO Anita Campbell explains ROI and what it means to your business — in a practical sense.

Small business loans are critical. So says a new study about the role they play in startup success. Tom Gazaway of Hawkeye Management shares more from the study and looks at the importance of these loans for small business.

Operations

Moving your business across state lines. You may have all the details of changing your mailing address and switching cable and Internet hookups figured out. But legally moving your LLC is another story, says Nellie Akalp of CorpNet.

Getting past the Blink Factor. The greatest challenge small business face today may not be competition or lack of demand. In fact, it may be how long you estimate it will take you and others to complete a task.

Employment

Small businesses created 45 percent of U.S. jobs in June. And that isn’t the only thing you’ll likely find interesting about the latest report from ADP. Take a look at the sizes of the businesses that created most of those jobs.

Book Review

Networking is Dead. Ivana Taylor reviews a book from the business fable genre. Networking is Dead: Making Connections That Matter by Melissa G. Wilson looks at how effective networking is after all.

Tablet photo via Shutterstock

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Shawn Hessinger Shawn Hessinger is the Executive Editor for Small Business Trends and a professional journalist with more than 20 years experience in traditional and digital media for trade publications and news sites. He is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and has served as a beat reporter, columnist, editorial writer, bureau chief and managing editor for the Berks Mont Newspapers.

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