Covee uses blockchain to allow experts worldwide to collaborate

Solving complex data-driven problems requires a lot of teamwork. But, of course, teamwork is typically restricted to companies where everyone is working under the same roof. While distributed teams have become commonplace in tech startups, taking that to the next level by linking up disparate groups of people all working on the same problem (but not in the same company) has been all but impossible. However, in theory, you could use a blockchain to do such a thing, where the work generated was constantly accounted for on-chain.

That’s in theory. In practice, there’s now a startup that claims to have come up with this model. And it’s raised funding.

Covee, a startup out of Berlin, has raised a modest €1.35 million in a round led by LocalGlobe in London, with Atlantic Labs in Berlin and a selection of angels. Prior to this, the company was bootstrapped by CEO Dr. Marcel Dietsch, who left his job at a London-based hedge fund, and his long-time friend, Dr. Raphael Schoettler, COO, who had previously worked for Deutsche Bank. They are joined by Dr. Jochen Krause, CTO, an early blockchain investor and bitcoin miner, and former quant developer and data scientist, respectively, at Scalable Capital and Valora.

What sort of things could this platform be used for? Well, it could be used to bring together people to use machine learning algorithms to improve cancer diagnosis through tumor detection, or perhaps develop a crypto trading algorithm.

There are obvious benefits to the work of scientists. They could work more flexibly, access a more diverse range of projects, choose their teammates and have their work reviewed by peers.

The platform also means you could be rewarded fairly for your contribution.

The upside for corporates is that they can use distributed workers where there is no middleman platform to pay and no management consultancy fees, and access a talent pool (data engineers, statisticians, domain experts), which is difficult to bring inside the firm.

Now, there are indeed others doing this, including Aragon (decentralized governance for everything), Colony (teamwork for everything) and Upwork (freelance jobs platform for individuals). All are different and have their limitations, of course.

Covee plans to make money by having users pay a transaction fee for using the network infrastructure. They plan to turn this into a fully open-source decentralized network, with this transaction fee attached. But Covee will also offer this as a service if clients prefer not to deal with blockchain tokens and the platform directly.

Dietsch says: “Covee was founded in the first half of 2017 in Berlin and relocated to Zurich, Switzerland late 2017 where we incorporated Covee Network. Moving to Switzerland was important for us because it has one of the oldest and strongest blockchain ecosystems in the world and an excellent pipeline of talent from institutions such as ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich. The crypto-friendly stance of the country means it has all the necessary infrastructure as well as clear regulations for token economies.”

8 Reasons You Should Consider Hiring a CMO

A Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) can help business owners coordinate all the marketing activities and get the most out of marketing budget.

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Spam filters and AI help figure out what animals do all day

The pond-dwelling Hydra is not a very complex little animal but it does have a complex repertoire of moves that aren’t clear until after extensive human observation. Examining these moves took a long time and scientists were never sure that they had seen all of them. Now, thanks to an algorithm used to catch spam, researchers have been able to catalog all of the Hydra’s various moves, allowing them to map those moves to the neurons firing in its weird little head.

“People have used machine learning algorithms to partly analyze how a fruit fly flies, and how a worm crawls, but this is the first systematic description of an animal’s behavior,” said Rafael Yuste, a neuroscientist at Columbia University. “Now that we can measure the entirety of Hydra’s behavior in real-time, we can see if it can learn, and if so, how its neurons respond.”

Luckily, the little Hydra was pretty predictable. From the report:

In the current study, the team went a step further by attempting to catalog Hydra’s complete set of behaviors. To do so, they applied the popular “bag of words” classification algorithm to hours of footage tracking Hydra’s every move. Just as the algorithm analyzes how often words appear in a body of text to pick out topics (and flag, for example, patterns resembling spam), it cycled through the Hydra video and identified repetitive movements.

Their algorithm recognized 10 previously described behaviors, and measured how six of those behaviors responded to varying environmental conditions. To the researchers’ surprise, Hydra’s behavior barely changed. “Whether you fed it or not, turned the light on or off, it did the same thing over and over again like an Energizer bunny,” said Yuste.

The system used to map the Hydra’s reactions can be used to map more complicated systems. The researchers essentially “reverse-engineered” the Hydra and may be able to use the technique to “maintain stability and precise control in machines, from ships to planes, navigating in highly variable conditions.”

“Reverse engineering Hydra has the potential to teach us so many things,” said Shuting Han, a graduate student at Columbia.

There’s something called Bacoin now

To paraphrase a saying popularized by countless dorm room stoners: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you use the hype around decentralized crypto economies sell bacon.” The latest example of this age-old adage comes to us from Oscar Meyer and involves their exciting new cryp-faux-currency, Bacoin.

The currency can be redeemed for bacon and you “mine” it by sharing the good news of bacoin with your friends. Instead of taking up massive amounts of electricity, the production of the final store of value – pig parts – requires only a massive agricultural system dedicated to the wholesale destruction of mammals that are as smart as dogs and, in the right context, quite cute. The end product, bacon, is considered by many to be far more interesting than anything Vitalik created. In short, it’s a win-win.

How does it work? It’s basically a sweepstakes. From the rules and regulations:

The value of the Bacoin is tied to overall sharing meaning that the more people who share via the Website (as outlined above), the higher the value of the Bacoin. If overall sharing is slow, the value of the Bacoin will decrease. If sharing is slow and the value of the Bacoin is low, Sponsor may increase value of Bacoin in its sole discretion. The current value of the Bacoin will be displayed on the Website. Once the Bacoin is at a value you want, follow the instructions to “cash out” and you will receive a coupon with the corresponding value (all possible values of the Bacoin coupon are outlined in Section 4 below).

The current value of a single mined bacoin is about 28 slices of bacon and the more you share the more you mine. Given that is is in no way a decentralized cryptocurrency and has nothing to do with anything technical at all I’m hard pressed to find a reason to post this here except to admire the sheer chutzpah of a company who knows exactly what breed of Reddit-loving bacon eater will jump at a chance to Tweet about pork products. To paraphrase another saying by my friend Nicholas Deleon: I hope the asteroid they promised comes for us all soon.

Bacoin. Yeah.

Forget the Algorithm: 16 Ways to Be SEO-Friendly

Getting your website ranked higher through search engine optimization (SEO) is pretty important, but how does it really work? So many of us focus on “beating the algorithm” to get the coveted high rankings, even though they change all the time. What does it take to get to the top and stay there? We asked 16 entrepreneurs for their best tips on working SEO to their advantage. This is what they had to say.

“Trying to take advantage of SEO can be a challenge, thanks in large part to constantly changing algorithms that emphasize different aspects of your content. Given these frequent changes, how can you create SEO-friendly content that lasts?”

How to Be SEO Friendly

Here’s what YEC community members had to say:

1. Create Industry-Leading Useful Content That Fills a Need

“Don’t just create content to create content. Create content that solves a problem, explains a solution or answers your customer’s questions. Invest in quality research and design to present that content to your customers in a way that isn’t boring, is easy to navigate and is better than anything else on the topic.” ~ Shawn Schulze, Names.org

2. Write to Connect With Your Customers, Not Search Engines

“The biggest mistake we see comes in writing for search engines at the expense of the customer. Remember that while the copy gets them to the front door, if they hate what they find when they walk in, they’ll leave. Since Google takes customer experience into account when ranking, a site that continually turns off visitors won’t rank well long term, even if the content is perfectly optimized.” ~ Jeff Jahn, DynamiX

3. Ensure Your Content is Mobile Friendly

“To keep your content SEO friendly, ensure your website is mobile responsive. Compress heavy image files, remove flash videos or animations, disable intrusive pop-ups and make sure all titles, tags and descriptions are optimized for mobile devices. Additionally, all content should provide value, but also be easy to consume.” ~ Kristin Marquet, Creative Development Agency, LLC

4. Don’t Just Focus on Keywords

“Keywords are obviously an important part of the algorithms, but loading your content up with keywords is the opposite of what you want to do. Focus on fulfilling a need for your customers and answering their questions via your content. While the content can and should be centered around keywords, the quality of the content is what matters and will help it stand the test of time.” ~ Kristy Knichel, Knichel Logistics

5. Go Above and Beyond

“What can you do to blow away all of the other search results for your target keywords? If it’s a list, create a custom list plugin with as much additional information about the topic that you can find. If it’s a difficult subject, create videos and mix them into the content. If it’s simple, perhaps the topic isn’t broad enough to create amazing content for. Go above and beyond and see how Google will reward you.” ~ Ajay Paghdal, OutreachMama

6. Just Create Amazing Content

“The days of gaming search engines with little hacks and tricks are over. Google is far too advanced for that now. So what’s the secret to modern SEO? Just create amazing content that your audience is looking for. Simple as that. Sure you have to follow basic fundamentals like a responsive website, fast page load times, etc. But don’t get hung up on tiny details or trying to game the system.” ~ Jeff Cayley, Worldwide Cyclery

7. Don’t Forget to Link

“Adding internal links not only shows your authority in a particular sector, but it can also lead to more posts that offer additional value. A string of value-added posts can make it easier for search engines to interpret your primary themes. External links to evidence-based, reputable source material show that you are a subject matter expert that is able to support your information with other outside facts and statistics. Be sure not to go overboard with the linking. Only link to internal or external sources that make sense. They should add something to what you are offering. Excessive linking can cause you to rank lower in searches.” ~ Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker

8. Keep Creating Relevant and Fresh Content

“One of the biggest challenges with content marketing is creating fresh content on a regular basis. This is even more important than keywords or any advanced SEO tactics. Google favors sites that consistently publish new content that addresses readers’ needs. Don’t neglect other factors such as keywords and backlinks but consistency is the most important factor.” ~ Shawn Porat, Scorely

9. Optimize Your Thinking

You search for content every day. Next time take notice of what you’re typing into the search box. You’re either typing in words, phrases or questions. Now apply that approach to your content. Keywords are important, but the way you phrase your title and h2 tags should encompass the question, then the phrase, then finally keywords that you’re trying to hit — in that order.” ~ Stanley Meytin, True Film Production

10. Create Evergreen Content

“Providing SEO content is an investment that will render results three to six months down the line. By making it evergreen, you’re ensuring that your content will always be relevant. It’s information that can pop up in search engine results for years to come as long as the product you’re selling is still in demand.” ~ Patrick Barnhill, Specialist ID, Inc.

11. Bring Value to Every Piece of Content

“It cannot be said enough, don’t focus on SEO tricks, focus on value. The more you generate value for people, the more likely you will be to rank for the content. Yes, you need to have the right kind of distribution for the content and an effective strategy to engage any potentially relevant and influential blogs that may want to reference you. Otherwise, you must focus on value.” ~ Nicole Munoz, Start Ranking Now

12. Keep Audiences Engaged Over Time

“Extensive research is often the key to creating content that will keep your target audience interested and entertained. Creating content takes more than just writing ability. It also requires a level of expertise in your subject matter and knowledge of industry trends. It is unlikely that any singular piece of content will be a permanent resource for your audience, but regularly churning out insightful, consistent and up to date pieces will keep audiences engaged over time.” ~ Zohar Steinberg, token payments

13. Enhance Social Media Management

“Sites like Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin rank very high in search engines. Maintaining and updating your businesses’ social media profiles is an easy way to piggyback off the giants who have mastered the art of SEO.” ~ Cassie Petrey, Crowd Surf

14. Focus on Retention

“With SEO algorithms shifting constantly, it can be a Sisyphean task trying to update every piece of content to each change. What I focus on is providing excellent SEO when content is first published in order to drive up exposure and then attempt to retain as much of that exposure as possible through engagement strategies. This ensures that my content doesn’t have to be consistently SEO friendly to last.” ~ Bryce Welker, CPA Exam Guy

15. Don’t Overthink the Technical Side

“Much like how truly SEO-friendly content is all about adding value (not tricking the algorithm), your approach to technical optimizations should prioritize fastidious organization. Is it easy for visitors to find any and all content? Are your pages, written content and media files as simply organized and as clearly labeled as possible? Optimize to the readers, not search bots.” ~ Ryan Wilson, FiveFifty

16. Allow Length to be Your Advantage

“Everyone repeats the same thing: “Forget about ‘The Algorithm.’ Just write for your audience.” However, “The Algorithm” adds more weight to longer content than your audience does. Plus, “The Algorithm” loves to see synonyms of your keyword. Longer content will automatically have more keyword synonyms. Longer content (with additional keyword synonyms) will appease “The Algorithm” and your audience.” ~ Christopher Tedder, Clinger Holsters

Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "Forget the Algorithm: 16 Ways to Be SEO-Friendly" was first published on Small Business Trends

SoFi founder Mike Cagney is back with a new startup and $50 million in funding, too

Mike Cagney, who was ousted last summer from the lending company he founded, is back with a new startup and a whole lot of funding from at least one of his previous investors.

According to a new report in Bloomberg, Cagney, who earlier this year formed a new lending startup called Figure, has raised $50 million to grow the company, which plans to use the blockchain to facilitate loan approvals in minutes instead of days.

According to the company’s site, its lending products will include home equity lines of credit, home improvement loans and home buy-lease back offerings for retirement.

The round was led by DCM Ventures and Ribbit Capital and included participation from Mithril Capital Management, Cagney confirmed to Bloomberg.

Ribbit Capital in Palo Alto, Calif., has been leading investments in the world of fintech and digital currencies from its founding nearly six years ago. Others of its many bets include the online consumer lending company Affirm and Point, a startup that buys equity in U.S. homes.

Mithril, co-founded by Peter Thiel, prides itself on funding companies that take time to build, with funds that have longer investing timelines than do most traditional venture vehicles.

The cross-border firm DCM Ventures, meanwhile, is perhaps the most interesting participant in this round. The reason: Back in 2012, DMC began investing in Social Finance, or SoFi, the company that Cagney founded previously.

It isn’t uncommon for VCs to invest in founders with whom they’ve worked before, of course. And SoFi — which initially focused on refinancing student loans, today provides personal and mortgage loans and wealth management services, and appears to be pushing further into bank-like services — has grown by leaps and bounds since its August 2011 launch.

But Cagney was forced out of the company last summer, not long after a sexual harassment lawsuit was filed by a former employee who claimed he’d witnessed female employees being harassed by managers and was fired after he reported it.

Another former employer who’d worked at the company’s office in Healdsburg, Calif., told The New York Times that her work environment had been akin to a “frat house,” with employees “having sex in their cars and in the parking lot.” That same story, based on conversations with 30 then-current and former employees, also reported that Cagney himself had raised questions with staff because of his own behavior, including bragging about his sexual conquests.

Evidently, DCM and Figure’s other backers were able to brush aside concerns about anything of the sort happening again at Figure. (We’ve reached out to Cagney and Figure’s investors for more information and hope to have more for you soon.)

Employees are also signing up for Figure with the belief, ostensibly, that Cagney is well-positioned to create another financial services juggernaut. According to Bloomberg, Figure has already quietly assembled a team of 56 people. Among its new hires is the former chief risk officer of LendingHome, Cynthia Chen, and the former chief legal counsel of PeerStreet, Sara Priola.

38% of Small Businesses Believe Employee Talent is Key to Success, WalletHub Says

The 2018 Small Business Owner Survey from WalletHub has revealed access to a talented workforce is an important factor for their success. More than a third, or 38 percent, of small businesses, said this issue was more important than other factors.

2018 Small Business Owner Survey

Access to talent was more important than limited regulations (25 percent), low taxes (21 percent), easy access to credit (13 percent), and government incentives (3 percent). With a low unemployment rate and more jobs being created (241,000 jobs in March 2018) the job market is tight, which explains why this is a big concern for small businesses.

This issue was also highlighted at the Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Business Summit: The Big Power of Small Business held in February of this year. One of the key takeaways from the summit was 70 percent of small businesses are struggling to find and retain skilled employees.

The data from WalletHub comes from a nationally represented survey of more than 150 business owners carried out from 4/9/18 to 4/19/18. WalletHub offers free credit scores and full credit reports along with credit-improvement advice, savings alerts, and wallet surveillance.

Highlights From the Survey

Besides the challenges of finding the right talent, small business owners are generally optimistic. Seven in 10 said now is a good time for growth.

When it comes to financial windfalls, in this case, the savings from the Trump tax reforms, 40 percent said they are going to spend it on business development. Another 28 percent said it was going to executive/investor bonuses and 23 percent are adding it to their cash reserves. Only seven percent said it would go to employee compensation, while the remaining two percent said they would use it to hire more people.

As a company specializing in credit monitoring, WalletHub also asked small business owners their thought on credit cards and banks.

For 29 percent of the respondents, low fees was the most important feature in a business credit card. Expense management tools, good customer service, ongoing rewards and low regular APR was indicated by 18, 14, 11, and 10 percent of the respondents respectively.

Close to two thirds or 63 percent also said they pay too much on the processing fees for their credit card. Addressing the issue of security, an overwhelming majority or 90 percent said user protection on their business cards should be at least just as good as on personal cards.

As to business bank accounts, good customer service, monthly fee, and interest rate were the top three important features for 33, 26, and 18 percent of business owners respectively.

You can take a look at the rest of the WalletHub data in the infographic below.

Images: WalletHub

This article, "38% of Small Businesses Believe Employee Talent is Key to Success, WalletHub Says" was first published on Small Business Trends

Want to talk about the future? Join me on Technotopia

Technotopia is a podcast about the future. It assumes the world won’t fall into a dystopia and therefore is optimistic about our chances for human success. I’m looking for cool people to talk to and I’d like for you to join me.

I love guests who are are excited about the future and technology but I do not require a technology background. I want artists, writers, programmers, makers, and thinkers. I want to ask smart people why we shouldn’t despair.

Want to join in? Fill this out to schedule a time. PR people fill it out as if you were your client so I can contact them directly. I usually record a few episodes a week so I have a nice buffer during the month.

Before you come on:
1. Listen to at least one episode. You can check it out here.
2. Understand you are not pitching your company or project. This is a discussion about the future. No CMOs or PR people unless you also play a mean theremin.
3. The only question I really ask is “What will the world look like in 20 years?” Everything else stems from that. Be prepared for a conversation.
4. I prefer doers to marketers.
5. Please be energetic. I feed off of your energy. The worst podcasts are the ones where I get your in-booth pitch from whatever conference you just attended. The best ones are when you are ready and excited to talk about the future.

If you have any questions email me at john@techcrunch.com. Otherwise I’m looking forward to chatting with you.

10 Steps to Becoming a Global Small Business

Small businesses should always be looking for a competitive advantage. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of American companies export and over half of those ship goods and services to only one other country.

Small Business Trends spoke with Jeremy Melis, a Director of Small Business Marketing and Digital Customer Engagement for UPS. He supplied some tips on how smaller enterprises can take advantage of international markets.

Tips for a Small Business Going Global

Get Online – If You Haven’t Already

“Traditionally you’d see more small businesses start local, then expand regionally, nationally and then internationally,” he says. “Today we’re seeing a slight shift in that trend with some start-ups and business in the artisan communities beginning online.”

He says websites, web stores and online marketplaces are important building blocks for going global.  GoDaddy offers one version with good photo editing tools.

Market via Social Media

Taking advantage of social media platforms is a great way to market a local business that wants to go national or international. Some of the bigger players in the social media management space can be a big help by simplifying the process.

Use Multiple Channels

It’s good to spread the net wide. You can comple, a web store on your website by adding several marketplaces to further your online reach.  Look for technology here that allows you to pull these in with a click of the mouse. Check out places like Shopify.

Dig into Pricing Models

One of the problems small businesses find when they try to go global is competing with bigger competition and free shipping. Melis says a little detective work should pay off and allow for some wiggle room. Specifically, looking to see if “free shipping” is really baked into a competitor’s pricing model can work to your advantage as you can adjust your pricing accordingly.

Develop a Good Returns Policy

This is one spoke in a successful business wheel you can’t afford to ignore if you want to go global. Unfortunately, lots of smaller companies don’t place a necessary focus here.

It’s especially important online so you need to develop and communicate a clear policy.

Fid Tools for Managing Those Returns

“Once you have a good returns policy in place, small business should look for tools to make the process part of returns easier,” Melis says pointing to UPS Returns Manager.

These should bolster the customer experience through pre-set options and the click of a mouse. They are a great way to drive customer loyalty.

Ask for Help

Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. Tweaking your small business or setting one up to go global can be daunting. The Small Business Administration has a portal where you can team up with small business counselors.

Consider Compliance and Tax Issues

There might be different tax codes and other compliance issues you’ll need to look at. For example, you might need licenses to ship some products like technology outside America.

Find a Local Business Contact

You can learn a lot about what you need to know about a foreign market online. However, contacting local business associations to get some names can provide important insider information about how business gets done in new destinations.  

Start with A Logical First Step

Melis points to a proven path for small business globalization and Canada as a first step. Small companies often stay on the continent but jump the border to become international that way.

“It’s a huge population relatively close so it’s a common first step to go north,” he says.

Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "10 Steps to Becoming a Global Small Business" was first published on Small Business Trends

The Tech Skills Gap

Sponsored Post

Each year, thousands of vacant tech positions go unfilled. Companies want to hire top-notch, highly skilled information technology professionals, but they just can’t seem to find them.

The overwhelming demand for qualified candidates has made it increasingly difficult for businesses to attract new talent and retain their existing employees. Additionally, the sheer pace of technological change can put companies’ technological infrastructures at risk due to the need to frequently train incumbent workers.

This IT skills gap is only expected to grow over the next five years. The 2017 Global Information Security Workforce Study (GISWS) predicts as many as 1.8 million IT jobs could be unfilled by 2022 opens in new window. That’s a 20 percent bump from what the same study revealed two years earlier.

Two critical forces contribute to the difficulties companies face with hiring, retention and skills:

• The rapid pace of technological change
• The impact of IT as a core function of modern business

Pace of Change

In recent years, technology has evolved at a such a breakneck speed, it’s hard to keep pace. Colleges and universities, for one, have fallen behind. Schools cannot create and deliver programs quick enough to accommodate technological change. Consequently, less than 3 percent of college graduates obtain a degree in computer science opens in new windowor information systems.

Former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan suggests the key to closing the “digital divide” begins at the K-12 level opens in new window.

“It’s clear our educational institutions are not producing enough workers to keep up with the demand that rapid innovation has imposed on our economy,” Duncan said.

IT at the Core of Modern Business

The rapid evolution of IT has established it as a critical function and embedded it into the core of contemporary business. This shift has developed across all industries, even those that are historically non-technical. As a result, more and more companies compete for talent in the marketplace, which makes hiring and employee retention a greater concern.

Always in ‘Hiring Mode’

Despite the skills gap, companies are still looking to expand their IT staffs. According to the GISWS, one-third of hiring managers indicated they expect to increase their workforces by at least 15 percent.

That’s likely because most IT department heads do not believe their existing employees have the desired skills needed to address the company’s needs.

Of the 1,300 IT leaders surveyed by TEKSystems opens in new window, more than 60 percent of them said the skills gap “severely or moderately impacts their team or organization.” As a result, these companies remain in an unending “hiring mode.”

Not only are lengthy candidate searches burdensome, they are expensive. Costs — direct and indirect — associated with going outside to fill a $60,000-per-year position can reach $100,000. Tack on another $50,000 for a bad hire, something more than two-thirds of U.S. employers experience at some point.

The Software Guild Talent System

To help companies mitigate extraneous hiring costs and successfully attract, retain and develop technology workers, The Software Guild has implemented a talent system that attracts high-quality talent and upskills existing employees — from IT and other departments within the organization — to fill in-demand roles.

The talent system provides up-to-date training in a range of programs designed for skill levels from beginner to advanced, including:

• Java (Expertise Level: Beginner)
• .NET/C# (Expertise Level: Beginner)

As a corporate partner, The Software Guild assists in identifying a company’s technology needs and develops a system to fill much-needed positions with external candidates and current employees. The Guild then cultivates a professional development track for employees to stay engaged and hone their skills, which ultimately improves retention.

Republished by permission. Original here.

Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "The Tech Skills Gap" was first published on Small Business Trends

Twitter also sold data access to Cambridge Analytica researcher

Since it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica improperly accessed the personal data of millions of Facebook users, one question has lingered in the minds of the public: What other data did Dr. Aleksandr Kogan gain access to?

Twitter confirmed to The Telegraph on Saturday that GSR, Kogan’s own commercial enterprise, had purchased one-time API access to a random sample of public tweets from a five-month period between December 2014 and April 2015. Twitter told Bloomberg that, following an internal review, the company did not find any access to private data about people who use Twitter.

Twitter sells API access to large organizations or enterprises for the purposes of surveying sentiment or opinion during various events, or around certain topics or ideas.

Here’s what a Twitter spokesperson said to The Telegraph:

Twitter has also made the policy decision to off-board advertising from all accounts owned and operated by Cambridge Analytica. This decision is based on our determination that Cambridge Analytica operates using a business model that inherently conflicts with acceptable Twitter Ads business practices. Cambridge Analytica may remain an organic user on our platform, in accordance with the Twitter Rules.

Obviously, this doesn’t have the same scope as the data harvested about users on Facebook. Twitter’s data on users is far less personal. Location on the platform is opt-in and generic at that, and users are not forced to use their real name on the platform.

Still, it shows just how broad the Cambridge Analytica data collection was ahead of the 2016 election.

We reached out to Twitter and will update when we hear back.

What is AppSumo and How Can it Benefit Your B2B Business?

Since its launch in 2010, AppSumo has been gaining notoriety as a way for businesses to connect with digital products and services to help them grow. It can also help online businesses reach tons of new customers and increase sales quickly. If you’re interested in learning more about AppSumo and potentially even taking advantage of these benefits for your own business, here’s a quick guide.

What Is AppSumo?

In basic terms, AppSumo is a daily deals site that’s specifically for digitally delivered goods and services. Think Groupon but with an online B2B spin.

There are two ways to use AppSumo. Businesses that sell digital products or services can partner with AppSumo to offer their products or services at deep discounts in order to attract more customers and get them to try out their offerings and potentially become recurring customers.

On the other side, entrepreneurs can also browse through the different offers available on the site to find affordable, or sometimes even free, products or services that can help them grow their businesses. There are things like video editing services, project management systems, and even social media tools available.

How Does It Work?

In order to facilitate these deals, AppSumo has to partner with digital product sellers and service providers that are willing to offer their products and services at highly discounted rates. In order to make it worth their while, AppSumo distributes information about each deal to its vast online audience in order to facilitate a large amount of sales very quickly. Essentially, AppSumo’s distribution power makes it possible for these companies to make a large number of sales very quickly, making those huge discounts worth it for the supplier. Then AppSumo also takes a portion of those sales to support its own operations as well.

For buyers, you can subscribe to receive new deals in your inbox or simply browse available deals on the site. When you see a deal that appeals to you, simply follow the prompts to complete your purchase. Sellers can set a certain number of deals they want to make available, so once it’s sold out, you can’t access it anymore.

What Are the Benefits?

For businesses that are looking to purchase digital products or services, the benefits of AppSumo are pretty obvious. You can access discounts of up to 95 percent from a variety of online sellers and service providers. So if you’re looking for, say, a new accounting software and can’t afford to pay for a major upgrade, you can keep an eye on the site to take advantage of a deal that fits with that need.

For the partners that actually offer products and services on the site, the benefits are a bit more complicated. Not every digital company can necessarily afford to offer such deep discounts on products and services, or would feel compelled to do so. However, if your business is in need of a quick influx of cash or wants to reach more customers quickly in order to demonstrate the benefits of a product or service, then offering discounts with AppSumo can potentially be a worthwhile promotion. The company can help you reach more potential buyers than you would on your own, since it has more than 700,000 active subscribers. And the discount gives them an incentive to buy right away, as you can also set a specific amount of deals you’re willing to offer before it sells out at that price.

Image: AppSumo

This article, "What is AppSumo and How Can it Benefit Your B2B Business?" was first published on Small Business Trends

These Are the 10 Best States for Online Businesses in the US

Having an online business means you can reach almost every market in the world, but some places are better than others to run these business. The new survey from Frontier Business, titled “10 Friendliest States for Online Business” looks at what makes these locations so great.

In addition to the obvious technological infrastructure, Frontier Business also measured other factors business owners look for in a location. The metrics were then combined to come up with the list for 2018, which saw newcomers while others dropped off the 2017 top 10.

Whether a small business is established as an online company or has a strong ecommerce platform to support its brick and mortar operations, a location has to offer more for today’s businesses. Without the tools outlined in the report, a business will be greatly limited.

The analysts for Frontier Business looked at technology, which started with average megabits-per-second (Mbps) speed and public access to broadband internet along with technical support for the services. The other criteria were demographic and population, workforce and education, economic climate, and cost of living.

Based on the data, here are 2018’s 10 Friendliest States for Online Business

10 Best States for Online Businesses

Washington came in at number one, moving up to the top spot after last year’s second place. The research says the state has an impressive broadband-internet service span along with higher than average national household income and no personal or corporate income tax. It is also home to some tech giants, such as Amazon and Microsoft.

Washington’s neighbor, Oregon moved up two spots from number four to get to number two in 2018. The state also has great infrastructure in addition to a renowned outdoors and art and music scene.

Utah remained at number three and last year’s number one state, Virginia, dropped to number four, with Colorado rounding up the top five on the list as a newcomer.

The remaining five states are California, Delaware, Minnesota, Maryland and Massachusetts in chronological order. The other newcomer is Massachusetts. Meanwhile top 10 locations DC and Arizona were dropped from last year’s list.

Online Business Opportunities

An online business provides unlimited opportunities and incredible scalability. No matter how small you start, you can continue to grow. The technology allows you to start a business with low overhead while providing access to a worldwide market to deliver incredible margins.

If you are in the US, the Frontier Business report gives you information on the best states to make your online business thrive.

You can look at the infographic below for the friendliest states by region.

Images: Frontier Business

This article, "These Are the 10 Best States for Online Businesses in the US" was first published on Small Business Trends

Worried About the Retail Apocalypse? 4 Ways Your Store Can Adapt

Rumors of retail’s demise are much exaggerated. Overall retail sales increased 3.5 percent in 2017; by comparison, the GDP grew by just 2.3 percent, a study from Deloitte reports. But, the same study cautions, there is a big change afoot that retailers need to adapt to. Here’s what you need to know and four ways your store can adapt.

Good News, Bad News

First, the good news: The vast majority (91 percent) of retail sales still take place in brick-and-mortar stores. And although online retail is projected to grow 11.7 percent, in-store sales are also projected to grow by 1.7 percent.

Now, the bad news: Traditional retail may indeed be facing an apocalypse — or at least, a massive transformation that Deloitte dubs The Great Retail Bifurcation.

Why? Shoppers are increasingly splitting into two different groups: high-income consumers (20 percent of Americans) who are better off financially now than they were in 2017, and everybody else. While 80 percent of Americans’ incomes have stagnated since 2007, the cost of essentials such as housing, food, education and health care have risen (by 12 percent, 17 percent, 41 percent and 62 percent respectively) over the same period, according to Deloitte’s analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In addition, new “essentials” such as smartphones and data plans are eating up a higher proportion of consumers’ budgets.

The result: A whopping 80 percent of consumers have less to spend on discretionary retail expenses such as apparel and accessories than they did pre-recession.

How to Adapt to a Changing Retail Landscape

How can your store survive the Great Bifurcation? Follow these tips.

1. Don’t Try to be All Things to All People.

Deloitte’s study identified three types of retailers:

1. Premier retailers that deliver value via premier product and experience offerings;
2. Price-based retailers that deliver value by selling at the lowest possible prices and clearly communicating that proposition to customers
3. Balanced retailers that deliver value via a balance of price and/or promotion.

Balanced retailers (think mid-market department stores) account for the majority of recent store closures and bankruptcies and their demise is driving the perception of a retail apocalypse. Premium and price-based retailers, in contrast, are on the rise. In the last five years, premier retailers’ revenues soared 81 percent and price-based retailers’ revenues rose by 37 percent, compared to a measly 2 percent increase for balanced retailers in the same time frame.

2. Do Prepare to Go Premium.

Unless you hope to compete with Walmart, the opportunity for small retailers lies in the premium category. High-income shoppers not only spend more, they also patronize a greater number of retailers. Deloitte reports that “in-store spending fragmentation” (the number of brick-and-mortar retailers a consumer regularly shops) is 17 percent higher among high-income consumers. Upscale consumers’ online spending fragmentation is even more pronounced — 40 percent higher than low-income consumers’.

3. Worry Less about Generations and More about Psychology.

It’s easy to get obsessed with millennials vs. baby boomers or the differences between Gen X and Gen Z. However, Deloitte found that shopper behavior is based much more on income level than on generational demographic. Consumers’ perception of their economic status is critical to their shopping habits and willingness to spend. The stereotypical millennial spending habits are really those of high-income millennials, but not the whole age group.

4. Do have a Digital Strategy.

The majority of retail sales may still take place in brick-and-mortar stores — but that could be because there are more low-income than high-income shoppers. Fifty-eight percent of low-income consumers would rather shop in store; however, 52 percent of high-income consumers would rather shop online. If you don’t already have an e-commerce presence, this could be the time to start building one. If you’re not ready to sell online, fine-tuning your online marketing and advertising strategy can help you attract the attention of online shoppers—and hopefully get them into your store.

Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "Worried About the Retail Apocalypse? 4 Ways Your Store Can Adapt" was first published on Small Business Trends

4 Ways to Get More Out of Your Small Business Website

As a business, your business website is essentially your company’s own little slice of virtual real estate. What you do with that real estate is totally up to you. You can either take advantage — reinforcing your brand image and driving sales — or you can waste it.

While no honest business owner would intentionally do the latter, many are coming up short, nonetheless. You don’t want to fall into this category.

4 Tasks Your Business Website Should Accomplish

Businesses want different things out of their websites, but regardless of your industry, there are certain tasks your business website should always accomplish. Let’s investigate them in further detail: 

1. Tell a Story

There are plenty of places where your brand can interact with customers online. There’s social media, industry blogs, ad space, press releases, YouTube, and dozens of other platforms. But the difference between your website and all of these is that you own your website. Nobody can tell you what to publish, remove your content, or alter your words. It’s an unabated mouthpiece for your brand. Make sure you’re using it to tell your story!

Brand storytelling happens in a number of ways, but it’s helpful to check out an example. The Mid-Atlantic Door Group, Inc. is a perfect illustration. As you’ll see on pages like this, their branding is all about developing a cohesive narrative about where the company has been and where it’s going. They’ve been a leading Overhead Door distributor since 1973 and use this rich history as a selling point.

Your story might include your history, or it might be more forward facing. It might focus on the supply chain through which your products travel, or it may center on what happens after the sale. The objective isn’t to follow a storytelling formula, but rather to identify your story and clearly share it with your website visitors.

2. Provide Contact Information

One of the primary reasons people visit a website is to find contact information and other important details as they relate to the brand. At a very minimum, you need to make sure your website includes the following:

• Physical business address (if applicable)
• A map to show where your business is (if applicable)
• Store or business hours
• A phone number and email address
• A basic description of what your business does

There are obviously different ways to list this information, and you don’t need to plaster it everywhere on the site, but do make it easy to find.

3. Collect Lead Information

You might hope to close sales with your website, but it’s not the only objective. Sometimes it takes multiple visits for a prospect to convert. In the meantime, you need to collect lead information via a lead capture form. A simple opt-in form, such as the one found on this page from Wrike, will suffice.

4. Overcome Friction

Your website must be capable of overcoming friction and providing a simple, streamlined user experience for visitors. Since poor navigation is the number one reason people abandon websites, it’s a good idea to start with user-friendly navigation.

“Whether your navigation menu expands across the top of your site or in a sidebar, it must be easy for site visitors to locate and should include logical categories that make it simple for site users to find the information they seek,” digital strategist Chris Pautsch writes.

In addition to navigation, you’ll want to increase page loading speed and limit distractions.

What’s Your Website Doing?

Is your business website living up to its potential? If you’re honest with yourself, the answer is probably no. You might be giving your website plenty of attention, but that doesn’t mean you’re focusing on the right things. By reallocating your time and energy to the tasks highlighted in this article, you can accomplish more than you ever thought possible.

Republished by permission. Original here.

Image via Due.com

This article, "4 Ways to Get More Out of Your Small Business Website" was first published on Small Business Trends

Master the Art of Networking with these 8 Tips

 

Business networking is perhaps the most effective way to build relationships and expand your customer base. And thanks to sites like LinkedIn, connecting with the right people has become a lot easier.

But networking is more than business cards and LinkedIn profiles. Making a personal connection can help build lasting and valuable relationships.

8 Tips for Networking Success

Here are some great tips to get better at networking presented by training company NetWorkWise.

Polish Your Social Media Presence Before Making Connections

Did you know regularly updated profiles receive 18 times more searches on networking sites? Another benefit of updating your profile from time to time is to draw the relevant people to your network.

Personalize Your Profile

A descriptive profile tells people about you, your business and your achievements. And people with summaries of 40 or more words receive more views.

Create Separate Social Media Accounts for Social and Professional Personas

By separating your social and personal social media accounts, you can ensure you reach the right people. Data also supports this. According to a 2015 New Norms @Work study by LinkedIn (NYSE:LKND) and Censuswide, 1 in 3 people say separating social media accounts is important.

Use Photos Effectively

It takes only 1/10 of a second to form an impression of someone from a photo.

Profiles with photos are found to get 21 times more views and 36 times more messages.

Interact With the Same Courtesy Online as You Would In-Person

Online networking doesn’t have to be all serious business talk. Ask your connections about their lives and not just work.

Follow Up with Contacts

A simple tip is to follow up a digital meeting with a face-to-face one, and vice versa.

Leverage Co-Marketing and Co-Branding Opportunities

You can share promotions and advertising with other companies to target a combined audience on various channels.

Attend and Face-to-Face Networking Events with a Strategy in Mind

By making networking mutually beneficial, you can explore greater opportunities for your business. That’s why it’s important to understand what your connections are looking for and how you can support them.

For more networking tips, check out the infographic below:

 

Image: NetworkWise

This article, "Master the Art of Networking with these 8 Tips" was first published on Small Business Trends