Adam Pollicino

As entrepreneurs, we’re increasingly hearing that cloud computing can benefit our businesses; but what is the “cloud” and how exactly does it work? The fact is that you’ve probably been using cloud computing for years, perhaps without realizing it. If you have a Hotmail e-mail account, use Facebook, or do your banking online, you’re utilizing the cloud.

The cloud simply means applications and services that people access via the internet instead of installing software on their own computers. If you’re online, you’re somewhere in the cloud. The reason for so much discussion about these services lately is that, over recent years and months, many valuable services that once required installing applications have become available as cloud services. Often, businesses can use free versions of these applications in the cloud, while full-featured versions are available at low subscription rates.

For example, Microsoft’s recently released Office 2010 contains free and subscription-based cloud versions of its popular business applications like Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Through the cloud, these documents can be accessed anywhere via browsers or mobile devices. Similarly, Google’s Gmail and Google Docs operate in the cloud.

As it turns out, the cloud is more heavy-duty and provides more utility than initially perceived. Entrepreneurs now can access customer relationship management tools like those offered by Salesforce.com and SugarCRM.com; project management applications like Redmine, Basecamp and Clarizen; services to send digital files like Yousendit, and many other business-oriented programs via the cloud.

Should your business be in the cloud?

How do you know if your businesses backoffice operations belong in the cloud? Keep in mind that it’s not an either-or decision. You can continue to use the software you’ve already invested in while combining them with cloud-based services. Once you’ve had a chance to evaluate what is available online, you can make the decision to go entirely in the cloud, if it makes sense for your business. In the meantime, here are a few ways the cloud can offer entrepreneurs and small businesses enormous benefits:

Save on resources

• You generally don’t need to pay an IT specialist to maintain software and install new programs and updates.
• Reduce operating expenses and streamline IT deployments.
• Decrease hardware investments. You don’t need to buy servers for your office, because your files and applications all can be stored online.
• You never need to buy a software upgrade for a cloud-based application; the company that hosts the application always keeps it up-to-date, and the latest version is immediately available to all users.
• Your employees can occasionally (or exclusively) work from home, a hotel or the neighborhood community center if your applications and files are stored in the cloud, saving the costs of commuting to an office, as well as the energy costs of heating, cooling, lighting and running equipment in the office.
• Rather than bulk business licensing, most cloud offerings are subscription-based. Therefore you have the option to purchase a single-user subscription or a full-office subscription for your entire company.

Make your business appear bigger

• The cloud offers reliability, so there is little need to worry about data recovery or losing valuable business data.
• You can use any computer in any location to access your work, not just one that has the software.
• If you have employees in several locations, they can more easily collaborate in the cloud than they would with individually stored files. They all can download, revise and save the same document that’s stored in a single location online, and you never need to worry about on whose computer the latest version of a document resides.

Alternatively, you may want to evaluate these considerations to determine if using cloud services is realistic for your organization:

• How reliable are the online services that you intend to use? A cloud-based service provider should offer assurances of a 99.9 percent uptime with exemplary security and privacy offerings.
• When storing to the cloud, be sure to research confidentiality, integrity and security policies for the service.
• Ask questions about governmental requirements for outsourcing data and regulatory requirements for data transparency and reporting.

A good way to get started is to try one of the free versions of cloud services that are available. At www.Live.com, for instance, you can work with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote; store and share documents and photos; set up an e-mail account; and even create a social network among your contacts, all at no cost. Then you might want to try a file delivery site, like www.YouSendIt.com, where you can send files too large to e-mail (such as video, graphics, images and data-heavy documents). And if you haven’t done so yet, create a Facebook Business Page and a Twitter account–again for free–to attract a network of colleagues, customers and friends who can share their best business practices with you.

With little investment, you can easily get your business up and running in the cloud. It is a versatile, yet dynamic option that helps you save on resources without skimping on substantial IT solutions.

http://blog.entrepreneur.com/2010/07/understanding-the-small-business-cloud.php

So you want your website to make you look big. More power to you.

But the business experts I talked to recently say small is cool with customers, too. Small businesses, they say, have a personality, flavor and sensibility that big businesses can’t match. And when it comes to what you put on your website, they urge: Don’t be afraid to tout your smallness.

“Small businesses can have more fun with their sites, more so than large corporations,” says Alice Bredin, president of Bredin Business Information, a Cambridge, Massachusetts, company that helps large business-to-business companies market themselves to small businesses. “A small-business site needs to include something that reflects the creativity and personality of its owner.”

Maybe you’re a couple working side-by-side in a spare bedroom or a fourth-generation entrepreneur working to someday hand it over to a son or daughter. Maybe you’re putting yourself through grad school. Or you operate from a remote site in the hinterlands and you use only recycled materials. Presented well on a home page and/or an “About Us” section, all of these may have unique selling points to customers.

“People want character; it has meaning,” adds Kelly Cutler, chief executive of Marcel Media, a Chicago-based Web advisory firm. “How folksy you get depends on your industry.” An attorney may not want to project an image of him or her working on a leather sofa with a dog curled up nearby. But that may work well for an artist or craftsperson, even an architect, Cutler and others say.

Whatever your industry, “Tell your story online,” Cutler says. Customers want to know who you are and, if you lead a team, who is on it and what they do. “You must talk about the team,” Bredin seconds. “When there is nothing [on your site] about who you are or who’s on your team, people wonder about whether you are a good company to buy from.”

Here are the 10 most important things these experts say customers want to know:

1. How your business is unique
   Answer the question “Who are you?” as interestingly and compellingly (and honestly) as possible. This includes writing management bios that mention your expertise, years of experience and any unique attributes or details that may set you apart from others.

   You need to answer, Bredin says, “What is unique about your business? Why should I buy from you?” This is missing from many business sites because the owners haven’t done the strategic thinking necessary to figure that out, she says.

   Be concise, too, Cutler adds. “You don’t need to write a novel.”

2. A clear sense of what your company offers
   “It’s incredible how many sites you visit and you’re not sure what the company offers,” Bredin says. Make it a priority on your home page to provide at least general information about your products and/or services, with links to specifics on a Products page.

   Many service-oriented companies, Cutler says, are concerned about divulging too much information about their offerings, for competitive reasons. Some also feel that consumers will have no reason to contact them by phone if they get all they need from the website. “There’s a balance that needs to be reached” in giving the potential customer enough info to make a buying decision, she says. More often than not, consumers will not contact a company for the missing product information–they’ll just move on to a competitor.

3. Contact information, including a phone number and physical location
   This may seem like a no-brainer, but many companies are purposely vague about their location. Some prefer to do all of their business online and see no need to publish an address or phone number. Others are home-based or they worry that giving a street address or hometown will somehow hinder them.

   “This is a must, and it’s one small way of building credibility and trust” with the consumer, says Wayne Porter, co-founder of ReveNews, an online marketing publication, and former senior director of research at FaceTime, a business security solutions provider. “A phone number, a street address and even pictures go a long way toward building credibility.”

   Showing a physical location, even one that no one will ever visit, comforts a customer that your business is real and legitimate, Bredin says. Provide a phone number that maps to that location, rather than just an 800 number, she advises.

4. Third-party validation
   This means customer testimonials, client lists, case studies, awards and recognition you’ve received, positive news clippings and the like. Potential customers indeed want to know who you do business with, and what current customers have to say about their experiences. Such items “forge the underpinnings of trust,” Porter says.

   Client lists are especially important if your customers are businesses. “If you’ve got some big-name customers, people like to see that,” Cutler says. But make sure you get approval from those you list as clients, she adds.

   Porter adds that having a presence on social networking sites and blogs, especially those serving your industry, is an increasingly popular form of validation among customers. “Social networking now has strong validation,” he says.

5. Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
   SSL is an encryption system that helps protect the privacy of data exchanged between a customer and a website. If you have an e-commerce site that takes credit card information, customers want to know that their sensitive data is encrypted. Get SSL if you don’t have it. If you do, let customers know that and about any other safeguards you proactively take.
6. Ease of use and navigation
   If people can’t find it, they can’t buy it. Porter advises keeping sites “crisp, clean, and easy to navigate,” but also for site owners to study traffic and usage patterns to adjust their sites based on what visitors are coming for. “The ability to search a site is very important,” he says. “Businesses should study their search data to see if there are trends and what to make front and center.”
7. Clear guidance on your processes
   Let customers know, step-by-step, important things such as how to order–and where to go and what to do should something happen out of the ordinary. Customers also want to know your shipping costs and procedures and how they can get status reports. (Don’t list your shipping costs and procedures after people enter their credit card information, Cutler urges.) Last but not least, customers want to know how you handle complaints and problems, return procedures and whether you have a money-back guarantee.

   Your processes can be described in a FAQ (frequently asked questions) page or separate “how to order,” shipping and/or confirmation pages. Include a way customers can contact your business or fulfillment agency for more information.

8. An ability to give feedback
   Encourage feedback about your products and services, your ordering process and your site in general, by providing a feedback mechanism–either feedback forms or e-mail links. Not every small business prefers to offer this, in some cases because of resource constraints. “You definitely want to look at how and what feedback to gather, and you should consider offering an incentive or perk [to the customer],” Porter says. “You might get some good stories to feature on your site or in your blog.”
9. Clear calls to action
   Customers want signs or buttons in order to act, be it “Buy now” or “Sign up for our newsletter” or “Click here for more information.” But many small-business sites don’t provide calls to action or they don’t present them clearly enough, Cutler says. “This is one of the biggest things that nags me,” she says. “If you have a captive audience, this is the time to grab them!”
10. Special offers and personalization
    By personalizing a sale with a special offer, incentive or coupon, small businesses can gain an edge on their bigger counterparts, Porter says. “This can be as simple as a hand-written thank-you note, free gift wrap services or a special offer for repeat business.

    “Having a personalized touch,” he says, “is something small businesses can do that many big businesses can’t.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/ebusiness/buildingawebsite/article207300.html

Bootstrappers start companies without outside investments. Instead, they hunker down and do what they can with what they have. Bootstrappers are also behind more than 90 percent of the real startups in the world. But just because they don’t have outside investors doesn’t mean bootstrappers don’t need business plans.

There is considerable confusion about business plans. Too many people think of a business plan as a document used to describe a business to potential investors. Sure, it works for that. In the real world, investors or not, a business plan helps you reduce uncertainty, manage your business, budget and keep a handle on cash flow.

With that in mind, here are a few quick and practical business planning processes every company can use, investors or not:

1. Set your review schedule. This is your first message to yourself about the real benefit of planning. It isn’t to predict the future but rather to manage the future step-by-step. Set up one day a month (e.g., the third Friday of the month) to review your plan.
2. Strategy is focus. It’s not a document, necessarily, but you do want to write down the bullet points or even create a pictorial description for that sweet spot you’re aiming at–the key market, the most important deliverables, your keys to success. Differentiate yourself from all others. Describe who isn’t in your market
3. Set important milestones. Determine a few important things that have to happen in your business and when they have to happen. Write down the dates and deadlines. These are your milestones. Just as with that to-do list people never complete, plan too many milestones and you’ll get lost in them, and the list won’t have much importance. Focus on a few of the most important business milestones. Write them down and review them periodically.
4. Do your basic numbers. Sales forecasts, expense budgets and cash flow are what drive your business. The bootstrapped business doesn’t do less of this just because no investors are looking over its shoulder. In fact, bootstrapped businesses must keep a closer watch on their numbers because minding the cash flow is that much more critical when you don’t have deep pockets.
5. Do the monthly reviews. Your business plan will be wrong, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t vital to your business. Compare actual results with what you planned, and course-correct as necessary. It’s like steering a vehicle, with lots of small corrections. Your plan should never be done. Keep it alive. Manage your business with it.

Do these five points sound like something bootstrapped businesses don’t want? I hope not. In fact, I can’t imagine trying to run a business–funded or bootstrapped–without some sort of planning. If you’re committed to your business, commit to planning for its future. Taking time to plan at the outset will increase the chances your business will not only survive but thrive.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/startingabusiness/businessplans/businessplancoachtimberry/article207018.html

f you watch any of the dozens of home-improvement shows on cable TV, you’d think that bamboo and cork floors, super-efficient water heaters, nontoxic carpets and paints are all the rage. When interior designer Nicole Goldman moved to Cape Cod in Massachusetts with her family and decided to do an eco-upgrade on their home, she didn’t find it to be a walk in the park.

“I tried to do it as green as I knew how to make it a showcase for interior design,” she says. “I wanted a solar roof, radiant heat, bamboo floors. But I had to go through someone in California to get the floors, and I had to beg my local contractor to put it in. It was like pulling teeth.”

That experience was the genesis of ‘g’ Green Design Center franchise, which Goldman launched in late 2008. The retail store/showroom features certified green flooring, cabinets, carpets, countertops and other products. After clients and ‘g’s’ interior designer come up with a plan, the store orders the materials from its specialty manufacturers and finds a qualified contractor for installation.

“The idea is about making these hard-to-find materials accessible,” Goldman says. “There’s nothing more frustrating than finding a great carpet without off-gassing and not finding an installer to put it in.”

‘g’ takes a royalty on all transactions from franchisees, and because the stores don’t carry a warehouse of inventory, their footprints are just 1,500 to 2,000 square feet. Late last year, Goldman’s first franchise opened in Norwell, Mass., and she says she’s on track to open half a dozen more in 2010, with a 100-store rollout during the next seven years. We talked to her about what it takes to be the queen of green.

Who are your franchisees?
We’re interested in people looking to do something green but who don’t know exactly what they want to do. This can be a really satisfying job–you’re not just doing good, you’re also living your green lifestyle. It’s not like selling pizza.

Are people willing to pay for green products?
Isn’t it smart to be energy efficient and nontoxic? What’s the downside there? I tell people we’re not casting judgments because you’re not green enough. You can start with one little piece. Light bulbs. Paint. Once you make these products available, it’s amazing the ubiquity of people who come in. These products have a lot of mainstream interest.

What about Home Depot’s new green section?
Our prices are competitive with similar high-quality products–not with the cheap junk some home-improvement stores sell. We don’t sell the cheap bamboo from 2-to-3-year-old trees that are full of formaldehyde. We sell the harder 5-to-6-year-old bamboo. You get what you pay for. Are you going to be replacing mine in a couple of years? Not with a 25-year warranty.

What are your plans for expansion?
I’d like to move to a place where we have a regional distribution center for our franchises. I’m also working on a ‘g’ line of cabinets and cleaning products. My lofty goal is to eventually drive the cost of green materials down.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2010/june/206692.html

The figures for venture-capital funding for the first quarter of this year are in, and it’s a mixed bag. Some sectors are seeing funding increase while others are losing ground. Interestingly, the two biggest sectors didn’t gain any ground, while traditionally less-funded industries moved ahead.

A recent report from VC-database firm VentureDeal shows who came out on top.

Winners:

Telecom/wireless/mobile/communications — This sector was up 166 percent to $614 million in the first quarter, after generally being in a slump last year. Most of the money went to wireless — duh! — which shot up 247 percent and got $441 million. The big deal was AirCell’s $176 million round.

Alternative energy/Clean Tech/Energy/Environment was up in both number of companies funded — a 55 percent rise — and amount of capital provided, which shot up 210 percent. No surprise VCs are taking more chances here, with the billions in federal stimulus funding pumping into this sector.

Alternative energy — including solar, wind power and biofuels — shot up 485 percent and got $579 million, the vast majority of the $719 million the whole sector saw. Most of the investments were in companies based in California and Oregon. Big deals included geothermal company Vulcan Power, which got $108 million from Denham Capital.

Losers:

Bioech/pharma/medical devices: Funding declined 26 percent in this field, but it still got a big chunk of dollars — $1.4 billion. The lion’s share went to medical-device companies.

Internet/digital media/eCommerce/software: This sector stayed flat at $1.8 billion in funding. So no gains, but it’s still the most-funded sector in the VC game. Big deals included review-site Yelp scoring $100 million.

http://blog.entrepreneur.com/2010/06/venture-capital-fundraising-which-sectors-are-up-down-in-10.php

Truste, a company that provides an Internet privacy and safety seal to business websites, today announced it secured a second funding round of $12 million. The funding will be used expand through sales and marketing while focusing on small businesses.

Truste provides a business with a way to certify that it cares and is thinking about its consumers privacy issues. Customers who are interested in using the seal have to adhere to what the company says are industry privacy standards. For about $240 a year, or $19.95 a month, you’ll get 100 seal views per day for one website as well as a privacy policy and help resolving and consumer complaints.

Of course, a Truste seal is no guarantee against privacy complaints – Facebook, whose privacy policies have sparked plenty of criticism if little drop-off in traffic, is a Truste customer. When asked about Facebook, Truste CEO Chris Babel told VentureBeat:

“We see time and again that consumers care about privacy and react strongly when their privacy expectations are not met – and Facebook is only the most recent example. We’re pleased to see that Facebook responded to users’ and Truste’s requirements and is now offering fundamentally better privacy controls for consumers. Online, where innovation is the foundation of success, delivering privacy isn’t a one-time act, but a process and a commitment. We expect to work closely with Facebook and help them reap the rewards by delivering privacy through increased transparency, accountability and choice.”

The San Francisco-based company, founded in 1997, claims its seal is hosted by some of the top websites, including Yahoo, Microsoft, eBay, AOL, Adobe, AT&T, Comcast, Disney, Weather.com, Apple, LinkedIn, Web MD, and Yelp

The round of funding was lead by new investor Jafco Ventures. Previous investors DAG Ventures, Accel Partners and Baseline Ventures all participated in the round as well.

http://deals.venturebeat.com/2010/06/08/truste-funding/

Strategies to keep people from thinking you’re only in it for the money

Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR, is a term for describing activities and initiatives that businesses undertake as a means to connect with or give back to the communities in which they do business. CSR can range from charitable programs and community service, to environmental-impact awareness. The goal of CSR is to ensure that companies uphold and promote high ethical standards as they simultaneously pursue profits.

While CSR activities have long been part of the business fabric, companies have wrangled with the best approach for communicating these efforts. To some, making the public aware of charitable work is an excellent way to extend visibility and create goodwill for a company. However, to others CSR and PR should be kept separate to avoid the perception that a business is engaged in such activities for only self-serving purposes. It’s essential to understand the latest trends and regulations that companies now must consider as they strategize about their CSR activities.

Why Bring Attention to “Non-profit” Work?
The rise toward greater transparency has impacted all aspects of how companies are expected to communicate to their public. Investors, employees, customers, stakeholders and the media are all seeking more information on the companies with which they’re directly involved or have interactions.

This focus on disclosure most often involves business activities and financial performance, but to many–especially those in the local community–the degree to which a company gives back to the greater good can be a deciding factor in how that business is perceived. Given this reality, one could argue that companies that fail to communicate their CSR work could be doing themselves more harm than good.

Whether a company is a global behemoth or a mom-and-pop, the value of communicating one’s hidden assets cannot be understated. In many cases, the value of a business is expressed as much by how it treats its employees, the programs it has for environmental sustainability or its charitable associations as it is its revenues or sales projections. Companies that are looking to gain an edge on the competition can actually benefit from making such hidden assets more widely visible.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/publicrelations/prcolumnistrachelmeranus/article206850.html

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Why Word of Mouth?

By:  Ivan Miser

One of the most important things I’ve learned over the years is that the secret to success–without a little bit of hard work–is still a secret!  Word of mouth marketing is a solid foundation for building any successful enterprise and, like anything else that brings great rewards, it takes time, effort, and dedication (a.k.a.– a “little bit of hard work”  ).

Developing a word-of-mouth marketing program is an effective, potentially lucrative way of generating more business.  The reason I said it takes “a little bit” of hard work is because it’s not even hard work when you consider the alternatives:

1.  Increase your advertising budget

2.  Develop an effective public-relations campaign

3.  Pick up the phone and start cold-calling

The first two alternatives can be ridiculously expensive and the third is time-consuming and frustrating. However, a structured word-of-mouth marketing program is also personally empowering: it’s one of the few things that you, or someone who works for you, can do (other than cold-calling) that directly affects your success.  Why wait for people to walk in your door?  Why sit idly by, hoping that your existing clients or customers will refer you to others?  With a structured word-of-mouth program you don’t have to wait for the results of your last PR campaign to kick in.

A word-of-mouth program will give you control and allow you to take ownership for the business development of your company.  Such a program has worked for thousands of people in all types of businesses and will work for you as well.

http://networking.entrepreneur.com/2010/05/27/why-word-of-mouth/

Right now online, your customers, clients, members and prospects are chatting up a storm. Whether they’re tweeting on Twitter, posting on Facebook, forwarding YouTube videos or commenting on blogs, they’re out there engaging in conversations and sharing information that’s relevant to your business or cause.

Are you a part of that conversation?

If you’re not, you may be missing out on opportunities to extend your marketing reach. Social media sites offer new ways to share your content, grow your audience and build customer relationships. In tandem with e-mail, they create a powerful marketing mix.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/onlinemarketing/article206792.html