Both of them provide very powerful features that small businesses can use, but only one of them is appropriate for you. Today, let’s put these two content management systems head-to-head and determine which one remains the victor for your particular situation! It’s WordPress vs. Joomla!

WordPress

We’ll first have a look at WordPress and see what it has in store for small businesses:

Pros:

• It’s very robust and secure. WordPress is highly competitive and has risen above all other blogging platforms.
• While it’s primarily for blogging, it can prove a valuable platform for professionals and entrepreneurs who want to showcase the services they provide. Retrofitting WordPress is almost as easy as installing a theme. There are plenty of small business themes available. For professionals, I recommend using the Shell Lite theme, which I use for my own services.
• As hinted from my previous statement, it’s a blogging software right out of the box, meaning that you can add content from the get-go without having to worry very much about tweaking the software. If you’re hoping to make sales out of content, use this as your blogging platform. It can be very Google-friendly as long as you don’t choose very bulky themes.
• WordPress has a strong e-commerce platform through a plugin. Making a site that sells stuff is very simple and doesn’t require a lot of elbow grease.

Cons:

• Sites made through WordPress are straightforward and simple. This can also be a downside. Making a complex site with lots of features that give your small business a competitive edge is very difficult through WordPress and sometimes could prove impossible. The one-click installation feature is convenient, but lots of the plugins have to rely on a very strict application programming interface (API) that doesn’t necessarily give them ample elbow room.

Joomla

You’ve had a look at what WordPress is all about. Now, let’s put Joomla to a fair test against this contender:

Pros:

• Extensions vary from very simple features to game-changing functionality. There are so many extensions for e-commerce sites that it may be difficult to know where to begin!
• Out of the box, Joomla provides an extensive array of features and the perfect layout for a business looking to sell things online. To have a look at how rich some sites using Joomla can be, have a look at the GSAS at Harvard or ITWire. But that’s probably not enough for you. You want to see a real e-commerce site in action. There’s Pierro-Astro and TrolleyStore. Both demonstrate how powerful Joomla can be for a small business. They are using the VirtueMart extension, in case you were wondering.

Cons:

• This is not the ideal product for a blog. It’s rather difficult to set up a blog and maintain it. The indexing system is not as ideal as WordPress, and there are many other caveats to using this for a blog in general.
• Some security issues in the past have given Joomla a poor reputation, but it’s managed to mitigate most of these issues and even provide a guide for a properly secure setup.
• In general, Joomla is not for the faint of heart. The learning curve is long, it’s hard to set up, and the whole process can be a bit painstaking even for an individual with previous experience setting up WordPress.
• If you’re stuck somewhere, don’t expect a lot of support. The community is a bit slow to respond and the same can be said for the developers at Joomla.

The Prognosis

If you’re looking for a solid piece of software, you can choose either one. However, only one of them is going to be suitable for your business. In a nutshell, use WordPress if you need something simple, fast, and content-smart. On the other hand, if you want to focus strictly on e-commerce, Joomla can really spruce up the look of your business!

The post WordPress vs. Joomla: Which Is The Best System For Your Business appeared first on Small Business Technology.

But it has to be done right to get you the engagement you want. Anyone who wants an iPad will “like” or retweet something for the chance to win, but many won’t bother to find out anything about your business, if it’s that easy to get involved in your social promotion. The key is to make participants really think about what you do. How?

Well, first, you want to give away something of value, but something that’s connected to your business in a real way. So if you provide a software solution, perhaps the winner gets one free year of your software. This ensures that the people who are entering and following and liking are actually potential customers. And how about every entrant has to tell you in a tweet why they need what you’re giving away? If it’s productivity software, maybe they’ll say, “I need your software because I want to double my work output.” And/or make it fun. Have everyone write a haiku about your business, or have them take a picture of the weirdest thing in their office/on their desk.

Finally, know the law. Here’s a look at the legalities of social promotions.

There are some great ways to do social promotions and get valuable data out of it. For instance, Splurgy and Grosocial allow you to create and automate social media campaigns. The lighter weight Splurgy is free to use, while the powerful Grosocial costs between $30 and $60 a month. Check out our closer look at Grosocial here.

Let us know in the comments how you do social promotions and what your experience with them has been!

The post Best Practices for Social Media Promotions: Get More Followers, Engagement, and Sales appeared first on Small Business Technology.

The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

1. Constant Contact

I use Constant Contact to manage my email lists and communications. The tool makes sending smart, custom-designed emails easy. All of the bells-and-whistles features make you look like a big company, even when it’s just you. The best thing is that, if you aren’t going to send any communications for a while, you can store your list for a small fee.

- Alexandra Levit, Inspiration at Work

2. Boomerang

If you use Gmail for your email needs, go get Boomerang  ASAP! It lets you remove emails from your inbox that don’t need immediate attention or that you’re waiting to follow up on. It then brings them back whenever you choose. It can also send emails automatically at a preferred time. Trust me; get it now.

- Shahzil (Shaz) Amin, Blue Track Media, LLC

3. Infusionsoft

Infusionsoft  is more than just email management. It allows you to collect prospects’ email addresses and follow up with them automatically and send broadcast emails, but it’s so much more than that. It has smart-tracking and tagging features that you can use to segment your list and target your offers.

- Nathalie Lussier, The Website Checkup Tool

4. Bananatag

Bananatag is a must-have email management tool for any business owner. This service effortlessly tracks your sent emails so you can see what happens to them after they are sent. The system then notifies you of both email opens and link clicks inside your email. The interface is very user-friendly and displays all your email metrics in an easy-to-follow dashboard.

- Anthony Saladino, Kitchen Cabinet Kings

5. MailChimp’s Group Feature

We use MailChimp “Groups” to send subscribers content they want. We’ve used MailChimp’s tools to collect more data about our subscribers so we know what they like to receive. This has allowed us to steer away from blanketing users with mass emails. Instead, MailChimp makes us smarter as marketers because we can pinpoint our target audiences using their technology.

- Brett Farmiloe, Markitors

6. Mailbox

I’ve really enjoyed using Mailbox on my iPhone. The app is super slick and is based on a practical philosophy. The app encourages you to take action on your email (archive, delete, snooze, list) and will actually get you to inbox zero. It’s a great feeling.

- John Meyer, Lemon.ly

7. Klaviyo

I’m a huge fan of Klaviyo. It allows you to segment your customers in any possible way (people who bought or haven’t bought products, people who always open your emails, etc.) and send messages to those people. By sending the right content to the right people, it increases engagement, sales and our ability to connect directly with our customers in a relevant way.

- Kit Hickey, Ministry of Supply

8. Taskforce

Taskforce lets the user transform all of his or her emails into tasks. It comes with an automatic filtering feature as well. Even if an email comes from someone not using Taskforce, you can still assign it to one of your tasks. It’s a great tool for managing and prioritizing your work-related emails, and it cuts down on the time spent digging through your inbox.

- Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

9. Unroll.me

I’m not a fan of receiving newsletters, so I’m a big Unroll.me user. Unroll.me lets you easily unsubscribe from newsletters you may have receive. if you want to continue receiving them, it lets you combine multiple newsletters into one single email.

- Ben Lang, EpicLaunch

10. Streak

Beyond its role as a de facto to-do list, email is most valuable to me as a tool to manage my business connections. Streak does an awesome job of organizing my emails into specific “pipelines” for sales, fundraising, PR, etc. I love the ability to share specific pipelines with teammates.

- Neil Thanedar, LabDoor

The post 10 Awesome Email Management Tools appeared first on Small Business Technology.

However, there’s a flip-side to mobile penetration. Your business’ security and integrity can be threatened by two things: The loss of a device that eventually ends up in the wrong hands, and the intentional theft of one. These things can’t always be prevented, but there are ways in which you can make the possibility of such things happening minimal.

Digital Defense, Inc., a provider of a variety of network security products, has been kind enough to give us some tips on ensuring that your mobile security is as tight as a taut rope:

• Make and enforce a mobile security policy within your business. Obviously, this means having a dialogue with your employees on how they should operate their mobile devices. We’ll get to some of the details in the points below.
• Make sure that employees are aware that they must use certain devices to access your enterprise networking infrastructure. This is to help you determine which devices are able to access the network and which aren’t.
• Configure the network in such a way that only devices you’ve approved for use with that network will have connectivity.
• If you’re giving employees devices you own for their use at work, make sure you have a way to track them. Make an inventory of these devices regularly.
• Limit the amount of operating systems and device brands that you distribute to employees. It’s preferable to have only one or two brands of phones. This removes the headaches of having to manage the weaknesses in each brand of phone.
• If you’re going to limit phones to one operating system, choose one that has strong OS-level encryption. iOS has very powerful security that includes solid encryption,  for example.
• Lest you be concerned about employee privacy on a phone that you gave them, conduct random inspection of these phones. Obviously, if you let employees bring their own phones, you’d be breaching their privacy by doing this.
• Any phones you give employees should not be capable of tethering or providing hotspots.
• Don’t allow company-owned devices to synchronize with cloud services automatically (like iCloud).
• Teach employees how to make a strong password (a combination of numbers, letters, and symbols, like “fjF@94#,” works) and enforce this policy any way you can. The hardest passwords to crack are phrases with symbols embedded in them (such as “ph1llip w3nt to th3 m@rk3t”). The longer the password, the better it is at resisting brute force and dictionary attacks.
• Configure mobile devices so that they do not cache sensitive data (like passwords) on their browsers.

They also have one final piece of advice: Keep up to date on the latest mobile security threats. After you’ve learned how to mitigate these threats, teach your employees to do the same and ensure that their phones and tablets are kept up to snuff!

The post 12 Mobile Security Tips All Small Businesses Must Be Aware Of appeared first on Small Business Technology.

Get More Customers To Say ‘WOW’ and Close More Sales!

May 30, 2013 - 9 am to 11am

Regus Office Suites
1745 Broadway, NY, NY

Presented by Infusionsoft and Evan Horowitz Advising

The post NYC Event: Get Prospective Customers To Say ‘WOW’ and Close More Sales! appeared first on Small Business Technology.

“Security breaches continue to be a major concern for companies of all sizes, but small businesses are especially at risk given their limited resources and lack of security expertise,” said Dale Dabbs, CEO of EZShield.

In addition to EZShield, several services are now available to help small businesses prevent data breaches. When looking at cost, it’s important to weigh it against the potential costs you’ll incur if a data breach happens.

• EZShield–With a full assessment to determine each business’s needs, EZShield provides a consultant to help with implementing security and reacting if an identity breach occurs. The service also allows businesses to extend identity theft protection to employees as an additional perk. Basic protection starts at only $5.90 per month.
• IDefend Business–When it comes to identity protection, knowledge is power. IDefend Business keeps an eye out for businesses, providing alerts and reports from Dun & Bradstreet. iDefend Business costs $29.95 a month.
• Firewalls–Every small business should have a strong firewall in place to protect data. If your services are now Cloud-based, still make sure each PC is protected. Services like ZoneAlarm and Symantec Endpoint Protection are both proven and affordable.
• Positive Pay–Avoid fraudulent checks by signing up for this service through your financial institution. You let the bank know which checks have been written against your accounts and the bank verifies those checks before cashing them. Since check fraud is such a prevalent crime, this can save businesses thousands of dollars.
• Online tools–As we pointed out earlier this year, several resources are available to help you learn more about protecting your business. The National Association of Secretaries of State has joined forces with the Identity Theft Protection Association to form BusinessIDTheft.org. The site provides a toolkit to help small businesses learn to protect and monitor accounts, put controls in place, and keep your data safe. The information on the site is free to access, so businesses have nothing to lose.

Identity theft is a problem for both businesses and individuals. Business owners have an additional level of responsibility, however, since they are intrusted with valuable customer data. Identity theft can not only harm a business’s bottom line, it can shutter that business for good. By utilizing the above-mentioned tools, you can keep your customers and your private data safe from the eyes of criminals without spending fortune.

The post Could Identity Theft Impact Your Small Business? appeared first on Small Business Technology.

“The next wave of business mobility, fueled by iPad and iPhone-equipped ‘productivity warriors,’ is delivering real ROI by automating processes in the building and on the company campus,” said Ryan Rosenberg, Vice President of Marketing and Services for FileMaker. Many businesses are replacing paper-based processes with mobile processes.

FileMaker makes database software that allows users to build custom databases, produce reports, keep track of inventory and more. Other database software solutions include Microsoft Access and Oracle.

FileMaker’s survey and research into their customers revealed that there are many ways businesses are connecting workers to their servers, but the most common method (59% of the time) is a direct connection over local wireless network, which allows for iPhones and iPads to be integrated into the workflow.

The survey found organizations also are creating solutions that connect workers to servers when out of the office. Popular methods include remote connections via the Internet (35%) and connections via a VPN (21%).

More than half (51%) of the mobility case studies involved replacing paper-based processes. For instace, Boston University’s Center for English Language and Orientation Programs (CELOP), one of the leading intensive English as a Second Language (ESL) schools with 1,700 students per year, replaced its cumbersome, paper-based admissions processes – which occur 10 or more times a year – with a new, automated document management system on the FileMaker platform. The system includes a custom solution running on iPads and desktops. The new system has replaced photocopiers with iPads, slashed up-front document collection time by more than 50%, and reduced wait times for students.

Organizations are also “mobilizing” many traditional business tasks, not just “mobile” tasks. We recently reported on three businesses who used Filemaker to build apps that helped grow their businesses. The top 10 tasks automated with FileMaker are: 1) contact and customer management; 2) inventory; 3) invoicing/quotes/orders/estimates; 4) field data collection and field surveys; 5) project management; 6) general data tracking and logging; 7) timesheets; 8) reports and analysis; 9) work tickets and scheduling; and 10) medical records.

This survey is just one company’s data on their particular customers, but it’s clear that iPhones, iPads and similar devices are here to stay and will be affecting the way we all do business more and more with each passing year. Check out our list of must-have travel apps for business owners.

Let us know in the comments how you use mobile devices and apps in your business!

The post Rise Of The Productivity Warrior: Boosting Your Business With Mobile Apps (Infographic) appeared first on Small Business Technology.

New School or Tried and True: Are We Making Too Much of a Big Deal About Social vs. Traditional CRM?
 

Contributed by Lena L. West, Founder of InfluenceExpansion.com

Is social CRM just traditional CRM turned on its ear? Or is the small business community simply fascinated with yet another buzz term?

But, alas, I’m getting ahead of myself.

For the uninitiated, CRM, is shorthand for Customer Relationship Management and Wikipedia defines CRM as “a model for managing a company’s interactions with current and future customers. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize sales, marketing, customer service, and technical support.”

Simply put, CRM is a way to keep up with existing and potential clients in order to provide a seamless client-care experience and when clients have a consistent experience – a task that is not easy for busy small business owners – they stick around longer and make referrals to other ideal clients.

Clients and customers are critical to any company; in fact, without them, you don’t have a business at all. So it only makes sense that small business owners would want to deliver consistent, quality communication and interactions with their valued client base.

The challenge in today’s business environment is most communication and interaction takes place via social networks, and unless a business owner has superpowers, it’s hard to keep up with all the streams of communications coming at you on a daily basis – which is why the most popular CRM systems now come bundled with social channel “hooks” or tie-ins.

The evolution of CRM systems to include social media connections has raised a bit of a debate within the small business and CRM communities; should business owners seek out a CRM tool that’s heavy on social functionality or should they stick with a tried and true CRM system?

Loretta Jones, VP of Marketing at Insightly, a leading web-based CRM application, thinks the small business community is over-processing the social vs. traditional debate, “I do think it’s yet another catch phrase because these days 90% of CRM applications have social. So when I see [the phrase] ‘social CRM’, I’m wondering what’s the difference between social CRM and a CRM system with social hooks? And, so far, out of all the things I read on the Internet, no one has a good answer for that question.”

Jones is super clear about what she thinks, but, I’ll let you decide for yourself. Here are some of the chief points of differentiation between traditional and social CRM, what do you think?

1. Communication vs. Process – Historically, businesses have used CRM applications to implement and adhere to certain processes whether it’s how to manage leads or projects, CRM has, for a long time, been driven by tasks. One of the foundational rules of marketing and sales is you can’t make a client buy anything, the best thing you can do is be top-of-mind when they decide they’re in the market for what you’re selling. And, social conversations provide a great way of staying top-of-mind so it only stands to reason that more and more, today’s CRM apps are mining the social sphere and helping small businesses to develop a process around putting themselves in and around their client’s conversations online.
2. Individuals vs. Communities – For many companies, CRM apps function as a way to store and quickly access contact information and data about individuals. Social CRM will put your brand at the center of a community and allow you to identify and track the social conversations of the usual set of stakeholders while also tracking and engaging the “unwritten” gatekeepers as well as entire communities of influencers. This allows you to connect with people where they “hang out” online and thus have a better chance of getting on their radar.
3. Actions vs. Content – And, of course, traditional CRM systems provide a means to keep up with any number of actions you’ve taken in relates to a client: sent email, details of phone conversations, potential deals in the pipeline, etc. With the added layer of social CRM you can catalog actions, especially your company’s responses and replies to frequent questions and requests. Your business can then turn those responses and replies into helpful social media content such as a “Did You Know?” series of updates for your Facebook Business Page or as a starter question for a hosted Twitter chat.

The increased attention social CRM is getting is definitely warranted – the additional data, conversation entry points and content generating and participation capabilities are all gold to a small business looking to grow. But, in a way, I agree with Jones, above; instead of using our energy to split hairs about social versus traditional, let’s take that energy and direct it toward taking advantage of and leveraging the additional opportunities social CRM offers.

Lena L. West is the Founder of InfluenceExpansion.com, home of the Influence Expansion Academy, the only social media learning academy created SPECIFICALLY for women entrepreneurs. Membership starts at just $5/mo. Really!

The post New School or Tried and True: Are We Making Too Much of a Big Deal About Social vs. Traditional CRM? appeared first on Small Business Technology.

A newly launched resource comes to us from MOO, the makers of some of the best business cards you can get. (Check out our list of the best in online printing services.) MOO’s Startup Business Toolkit is a collection of tools, articles and resources for small businesses, start ups and entrepreneurs, that will be regularly updated over the coming months.

They’ll be adding articles written by carefully sourced experts, entrepreneurs, startup founders and people at MOO itself, filled with educational tips on starting and maintaining a successful business. Right now, they have a look at the benefits of being your own boss, a flow chart to help you evaluate your business idea, and tips on making the switch from freelancer to founder.

We recently covered another fantastic resource from SCORE. It’s a small business success podcast, answering burning questions many business owners have. SCORE is a nonprofit association dedicated to helping small businesses get off the ground, grow and achieve their goals through education and mentorship. They deliver their services at no charge.

Their podcast covers the following topics:

• How Can I Convert Leads Into Buyers? (Sales)
• Understanding Finance/Accounting – Value of Inventories, Critical Numbers & Reports, Metrics
• Leading People/HR
• How Can I Get Found on the Internet? (Websites/SEO)
• Getting the Most Out of Social Media

So if you’re starting a business, definitely check out those resources, and keep checking back on Smallbiztechnology.com for a lot more great content.

Let us know about your business in the comments!

The post Two Great Resources For Those Starting A Small Business appeared first on Small Business Technology.

It’s Tech Thursday from Smallbiztechnology.com. Each week we take a quick look at business and technology news and updates for the small business community and share them with you in a quick and simple round-up.

Dell Services Launches the Dell ProSupport Enterprise Suite

New Suite Helps Customers Improve Performance of Critical Systems, Increase Productivity and Reduce Downtime

As enterprises face an increasingly complex and converged IT environment, they require a higher level of service to maintain and optimize performance. Coinciding with the fifth anniversary of its award-winning Dell ProSupport service that boasts an estimated 95 percent enterprise customer satisfaction, Dell unveiled its new ProSupport Enterprise Suite of services.

With new support offerings and automation, customers can improve the hardware performance and stability in the data center, leverage the insights gained through intelligent data and increase the productivity of their teams.

For more information on Dell ProSupport Plus, click here.

Seiko Instruments Smart Label Printers Offer Easier Way to Get Organized

New printer line frees up desk space, supports Microsoft Office®, and simplifies day-to-day administrative tasks.

Seiko Instruments USA Inc. (SII) Thermal Printer Division, a globally recognized leader in thermal printer technology announced the availability of its new Smart Label Printer 600 Series (SLP 600).
The new desktop label printer lineup offers three cost-effective models, ideal for professional services firms, healthcare applications, small businesses, and home office users. SLP 600 printers are more convenient and versatile than traditional sheet-fed label printing solutions. The new printers allow customers to rapidly customize individual labels, print out whole mailing databases, and easily interchange among address labels, file folder labels, shipping labels, multipurpose labels, and others.

For more on these new printers, click here. 

Regus and Concur Form Partnership Making Business Travel Efficient and Productive

Alliance brings together experts in flexible workspaces and business travel management

Regus, the world’s largest provider of flexible workplaces, and Concur, joined forces to help business travelers increase their productivity while traveling.

Through the new partnership, today’s busy professionals can manage their business travel logistics, which includes trip and expense management, as well as finding a convenient place to work.

As part of the agreement, Concur Small Business Edition customers will receive 12 months of Regus’ Preferred Businessworld Membership giving them access to more than 1,500 business
lounges in 100 countries. Regus’ lounges provide road warriors with unprecedented access to professional drop-in locations where they can work, hold a meeting with a client or colleague or relax with a cup of coffee in between appointments. Additional discounts are available on 12-month office and virtual office agreements.

In turn, Regus customers will receive a 45-day complimentary trial to Concur’s Small Business Edition. With Concur’s integrated travel and expense system, managers get greater visibility into company spend, while providing their employees with a simple, expense reporting tool.

Concur customers can activate their Regus’ Preferred Membership by visiting: www.regus.com/concur.

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