A Road to Nowhere

Many QR codes take users to content that is not worth much marketing-wise. They take you to a link on a website that isn’t optimized for mobile viewing, or worse-yet, they just take you to a home page without any relevant content to where the QR code appeared.

Do It Better

Make sure that your QR code goes to a link on your website that was specifically created for the ad. Don’t just send them to your home page. There is very little value in that.

Also, make sure that whatever page you send them to is built for mobile viewing. Responsive websites are a must these days, and if your site isn’t, you’re falling behind.

Placement, Placement, Placement

A QR code requires users to load up an app and scan the code. QR codes placed on billboards or company vehicles are relatively worthless. Not many people are going to be able to load up an app to scan something that they are driving by.

Do it Better

Rather than use a QR code in an awkward place, try using a URL shortener to create a vanity URL that is memorable.

Save the QR codes for easy to scan print media, like ads in a paper or magazine or on the back of your brochure or even business card. Make sure the codes are readable. Often, small codes combined with a shiny coating on business cards can make for un-scannable cards. Test it out and make sure it is usable.

Time is Money

QR codes can be great time savers, but often, they aren’t. It takes time to get out your phone, unlock your phone, load the ap, and get the code in focus and scan it.

Do It Better

If what you are sending your user to isn’t saving them time (could they enter the URL faster?), then you shouldn’t be using a QR code. Again, a shortened vanity URL might be infinitely more effective. Test it out first.

QR can be a valuable marketing asset, but only if used properly. Take these steps to ensure you are giving your users the best.

How Facebook Stacks up against Other Tech Companies

One of Facebook’s biggest rivals, Google, is who many investors are looking to for comparisons. Here are some Google stats compared to Facebook.

Annual revenue: Google $38 billion, Facebook $3.7 billion.

Advertising revenue: Google $36.5 billion, Facebook $3.2 billion.

Annual net income: Google $9.7 billion, Facebook $668 million.

Employees: Google 33,100, Facebook 3,500.

Facebook has some pretty big shoes to fill to catch up with Google, whose shares are trading at $625.10 as of 1:15pm EST.

Good for Other Tech Companies

Ann Sherman, assistant professor in finance at DePaul University suggests that Facebook’s IPO will lead other technology companies to go public.

“Facebook is unique in so many ways, but its IPO will certainly inspire other companies to try an IPO if they are already thinking of it.”

What the Everyman Thinks

People walking by Times Square are taking pictures of the Nasdaq billboard featuring the Facebook logo.

Frederick Nolde of Richmond, Va. said he bought 100 shares of Facebook through Etrade. He thinks the company is worth $100 billion, but has concerns about Facebook’s performance with mobile users, “If they can figure [mobile use] out, they’ll do well.”

The Zuck

Having fun with the offering, Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg listed under recent activity around 9:30 this morning:

“Mark listed FB on NASDAQ.”

What It Does

Block Pinterest disallows Pinterest users from being able to pin your blog and website images. There is the promise in future releases that you can block specific pages instead of all images on your site.

What do you think? Would you like to block people from being able to use your images or do you think Pinterest is a great way to market your business?

What it Does

The Pretty Pinterest Pins allows you to display thumbnails and links to anyone’s latest pins on Pinterest in your sidebar.

With this widget, you can:

• Pull the latest pins from any Pinterest user
• Display only pins from specific boards
• Choose the number of pins to display
• Show or hide the image captions
• Display a “Follow me on Pinterest” button under your pins

Installation is simple, just install the plugin and enter the Pinterest username. Once you’ve set your features, you’re good to go.

The Pinterest Plugin will show a Pinterest “Pint It” button on top of your images only when hovered over. Unlike other Pinterest plugins, there is not a Pinterest boomarklet that shows up under your blog post. This plugin makes it easy for pinners to select the exact image the want very easily.

Added Bonus

The plugin also sends you image alt text to Pinterest as the default description.

Like most WordPress Plugins, the Pinterest Plugin is easy to install. Just upload it to your /wp-content/plugins/ directory and activate it in the Plugins Menu.

And, for a great rundown of what it all means, check out Likeable’s post.

As of March 30th, 2012, we’re all in. So, you better start getting things figured out. And, if you need help, we’re here for you.

What Changed

1. No landing tabs – now they’re little thumbnails, like personal timeline pages.

2. Tab width went from 520px to 810px – that means some tabs might need a little redesign, unless you like white space.

3. That fabulous new fat cover photo (810px) has a lot of restricitons. According to Lujure, It can’t contain any of the following:
- Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”.
- Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section.
- References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features.
- Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”.

4. Fan Page Messages are live. Yep, live. Think about how that will affect your marketing.

5. You can pin your top posts. OK, maybe this is nice.

What do you think? Love it or hate it?

East County Business Development Fair

April 25, 2012

Business Luncheon

Keynote Speaker
Samuel Brooks
Chair of the Board and Founder of the Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs

Mr. Brooks is the Founder and Chair of the Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs (OAME). Today OAME is one of the nation’s premier non-profit organizations in providing outstanding services to minority, women and emerging small businesses.

While serving nationally and internationally on volunteer boards and commissions, Samuel Brooks has since 1981 grown his company S. Brooks and Associates, Inc. from one employee to over 200 employees in four states with revenue over $7,000,000. Mr. Brooks recently received the Small Business Administration’s 2011 Portland Districts Financial Service Champion award. Click here for complete bio

Upcoming Seminars and Workshops

Webinar: Business Website Essentials

In this Webinar you will learn the basics of creating a successful website for your small business. The instructor will present tools to build your website, as well web hosting options to publish your site on the Internet.
Date: 2/24
Time: 11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.
Fee: No Charge

Going into Business: Start Smart!

Learn the basics of opening a small business in the State of Oregon. How to register your business name, open a business bank account and obtain a tax ID number for your business.
Date: 02/24
Time: Noon – 1:30 p.m.
Location: MHCC Small Business Development Center
Fee: No Charge, Class limited to 20 participant

New Business Start-Up Program

Ready to start your own business or become self employed?
The New Business Start-Up Program Online will help you plan and launch your own small business successfully! This 10-week program includes online training and up to 20 hours of individual business coaching.
Selection Criteria:
• New business start-up
• Complete SBA Going Into Business checklist
• Some work or business experience preferred
• College or University graduates encouraged to apply

Registration Fee: $195*
*included learning material (business plan software and textbooks), online training and individual coaching.
View a Demo Lesson
For more information go to: http://www.mhccbizcenter.org/courses or call 503-491-7658

Timeline for brands may involve taking tabs or apps that marketers are currently using on their pages and integrating them into the timeline.

How does Timeline affect fan pages? Timeline can allow a brand to create a deeper timeline that represents the histroy of a company, rather than their history on Facebook.

Facebook is expected to go into detail about the new pages at its inaugural fMC event, which is an all day conference in New York taking place on Feb. 29. The event is specifically for marketers.

Read more about Timelines for brands at WebProNews.

Maybe you can see the value in Tumblr too. What do you think? Is Tumblr a useful platform for spreading your message?

East County Business Development Fair

April 25, 2012
9:00am-1:00pm
Mt hood Community College
26000 SE Stark Street, Town & Gown Room
Gresham, OR 97030

Business Luncheon Keynote Speaker

Samuel Brooks, Chair of the Board and Founder of the Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs
Mr. Brooks is the Founder and Chair of the Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs (OAME). Today OAME is one of the nation’s premier non-profit organizations in providing outstanding services to minority, women and emerging small businesses.
While serving nationally and internationally on volunteer boards and commissions, Samuel Brooks has since 1981 grown his company S. Brooks and Associates, Inc. from one employee to over 200 employees in four states with revenue over $7,000,000. Mr. Brooks recently received the Small Business Administration’s 2011 Portland Districts Financial Service Champion award.

Event Program

9:00am-11:30am Business fair
9:30am-10:30am Business plan competition
11:45am-1:00pm Business Luncheon ($30 registration fee required)

Register for the event.

For exhibitor and sponsorship opportunities email bizcenter@mhcc.edu or call 503-491-7658.

Upcoming Seminars and Workshops

Webinar: Buying a Small Business

This Webinar will guide you through the process of buying an existing business. Learn strategies for the valuation of the business, tax implications and your financing options as the potential owner of the business. Learn about the importance and elements of a business plan. This seminar is offered in partnership with the law firm Young Twedt McRostie LLP.
Date: 02/15
Time: 11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.
Fee: No Charge
Register Now

Social Media Marketing For Your Business

Learn how to incorporate social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter & YouTube to promote your business and attract new customers. The instructor will discuss the Key elements of successful social media marketing. This seminar presented in partnership with Alphabetix – Web Design. Only Better
Date: 02/17
Time: 9 – 11:30 a.m.
Location: MHCC Small Business Development Center
Fee: $55, Class limited to 20 participants

Weekend QuickBooks Bootcamp 1: Company Set Up & File Management

One-Day Hands-On Training in QuickBooks (6-hour session)
After an introduction to basic accounting principles used by all editions of QuickBooks, you will use the software to create a company file, customize it, manage its movement between computers and generate reports essential to your business.

Learning Outcomes:
1. Choose the right QuickBooks edition for your business.
2. Plan, create & customize a QuickBooks company file tailored to your business needs.
3. Correct QuickBooks posting errors w/ an understanding of basic accounting principles.
4. Manage multiple copies of a QuickBooks company file between multiple computers.
5. Generate & utilize invaluable financial reports essential to business.
Date 2/18
Time: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Location: MHCC Small Business Development Center
Fee: $135, Class limited to 8 participants. Textbook not included

New Business Start-Up Program

Ready to start your own business or become self employed?
The New Business Start-Up Program Online will help you plan and launch your own small business successfully! This 10-week program includes online training and up to 20 hours of individual business coaching.
Selection Criteria:
• New business start-up
• Complete SBA Going Into Business checklist
• Some work or business experience preferred
• College or University graduates encouraged to apply
Download SBA Checklist
Registration Fee: $195*
*included learning material (business plan software and textbooks), online training and individual coaching.
Check out a demo lesson.

For more information go to: http://www.mhccbizcenter.org/courses or call 503-491-7658

One Policy, One Google Experience

Easy to work across Google

Our new policy reflects a single product experience that does what you need, when you want it to. Whether reading an email that reminds you to schedule a family get-together or finding a favorite video that you want to share, we want to ensure you can move across Gmail, Calendar, Search, YouTube, or whatever your life calls for with ease.

Tailored for you

If you’re signed into Google, we can do things like suggest search queries – or tailor your search results – based on the interests you’ve expressed in Google+, Gmail, and YouTube. We’ll better understand which version of Pink or Jaguar you’re searching for and get you those results faster.

Easy to share and collaborate

When you post or create a document online, you often want others to see and contribute. By remembering the contact information of the people you want to share with, we make it easy for you to share in any Google product or service with minimal clicks and errors.

What They Do with Your Data

If you want to learn more about your data on Google and across the web, including tips and advice for staying safe online, check out Google’s Good to Know page.

Is It Really a Good Thing?

Some people, at least those who are paying attention, are questioning Google unified privacy policy. European Union officials have asked Google to postpone the launch date to enable them to review the new policy. Check out this editorial from CNN. According to Frida Ghitis, this is what is sitting on Google’s servers, which alas, are probably not hack-proof:
“Google has every e-mail you ever sent or received on Gmail. It has every search you ever made, the contents of every chat you ever had over Google Talk. It holds a record of every telephone conversation you had using Google Voice, it knows every Google Alert you’ve set up. It has your Google Calendar with all content going back as far as you’ve used it, including everything you’ve done every day since then. It knows your contact list with all the information you may have included about yourself and the people you know. It has your Picasa pictures, your news page configuration, indicating what topics you’re most interested in. And so on.

If you ever used Google while logged in to your account to search for a person, a symptom, a medical side effect, a political idea; if you ever gossiped using one of Google’s services, all of this is on Google’s servers. And thanks to the magic of Google’s algorithms, it is easy to sift through the information because Google search works like a charm. Google can even track searches on your computer when you’re not logged in for up to six months.”

Do you like the possibility that all of that personal information could be accessed?

Age seems to make a difference. Voters aged 18-24 were the most receptive at 30%, with 13-17-year-olds coming in second at 27%.

Both men and women were equally dissatisfied with changes, with 77% or each group saying they disliked the mandatory Timeline update.

Users outside of the United States appear to be more willing to embrace Timeline, but only by about 10%.

Check out the infographic and let us know what you think. Do you like the Timeline, or would you give it a big old Dislike if you could?

Upcoming Winter Trainings

Bookkeeping for Small Business

Learn the essential features of a good bookkeeping structure and processing guidelines. Learn about the management of money flowing in and out of your business, including owner contributions and draws.

Date: 02/06
Time: 9 a.m. – Noon
Location: MHCC Small Business Development Center
Fee: $55, Class limited to 10 participants.

How to get a Business Loan

Attend this seminar and get the answers to these questions;
• What is the current Access to Capital?
• What are some Sources of Capital?
• What Banks are Lending?
• What are Lenders really looking for?
• What are the steps to getting a Loan?
• Am I Bankable? What do I need to know?
• What if I’m Not Bankable? How can I get Bankable?
• What if I get Denied?

Date: 02/07
Time: 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Fee: No Charge

Contracting with the Government

Small businesses face challenges when trying to win federal, state and local government contracts. The Small Business Administration can help small businesses work through these challenges. This class provides an in-depth approach to discovering and seeking contract opportunities available as well as the possible marketing tools that may assist in selling your product or service to the government.

Date: 02/08
Time: 9:30 a.m. – Noon
Location: MHCC Small Business Development Center
Fee: No Charge! Class limited to 20 participants.

QuickBooks Bootcamp 1: Company Set Up & File Management

Two-Day Hands-On Training in QuickBooks (Two 3-hour sessions)
After an introduction to basic accounting principles used by all editions of QuickBooks, you will use the software to create a company file, customize it, manage its movement between computers and generate reports essential to your business.
Learning Outcomes:

1. Choose the right QuickBooks edition for your business.
2. Plan, create & customize a QuickBooks company file tailored to your business needs.
3. Correct QuickBooks posting errors w/ an understanding of basic accounting principles.
4. Manage multiple copies of a QuickBooks company file between multiple computers.
5. Generate & utilize invaluable financial reports essential to business.
Date 02/08 & 02/15
Time: 5:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Location: MHCC Small Business Development Center
Fee: $135, Class limited to 8 participants. Textbook not included

Hiring New Employees

Look at how to attract and hire quality employees. How to begin the Employee/Employer relationship off on the right foot, including proper job postings, applications, job descriptions and hiring paperwork. Learn about the differences between an Employee and Independent Contractor.

Date: 02/09
Time: 11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.
Fee: No Charge

New Business Start-Up Program

Ready to start your own business or become self employed?
The New Business Start-Up Program Online will help you plan and launch your own small business successfully! This 10-week program includes online training and up to 20 hours of individual business coaching.
Selection Criteria:
• New business start-up
• Complete SBA Going Into Business checklist
• Some work or business experience preferred
• College or University graduates encouraged to apply
Download SBA Checklist
Registration Fee: $195*
*included learning material (business plan software and textbooks), online training and individual coaching.
Check out a Demo lesson

For more information go to: http://www.mhccbizcenter.org/courses or call 503-491-7658