Small Business Blog from Microsoft

Surface Pro is coming soon

Microsoft Small Business — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:33:39 GMT

Microsoft today announced that Surface Pro will be available for purchase in the UK beginning 23^rd May.

Surface Pro is designed to showcase Windows 8 Pro and represents exceptional value, providing customers with a fully functional Windows 8 PC that looks, feels and acts like a tablet. With an estimated retail price of £719 for the 64GB configuration, and £799 for the 128 GB configuration[1], Surface Pro will be available online at http://www.microsoftstore.co.uk.
A range of accessories for the Surface Pro is also available. These include Touch Cover - a super-thin, spill resistant cover with a pressure sensitive keyboard that comes in a variety of colours as well as a Type Cover – one of the thinnest mechanical keyboards available, HD AV and VGA adaptors and the Wedge Touch Mouse Surface Edition.

“The response to Surface RT has already been great to see,” said Robert Epstein, UK Surface Lead “There has been strong anticipation for Surface Pro in the UK and we’re excited to be able to offer people a fully blown Windows 8 PC packed with powerful processing features in the innovative Surface design.”

The Surface family of devices represents an extension of the Windows experience, letting customers work easy, play hard, and connect with the people who matter to them. Surface lets customers transition between entertainment and creation. It offers an ultra-light durable casing and an integrated kickstand and cover that allow customers to be productive anywhere, as well as a full-sized USB port and microSDXC card slot for adding additional storage and a 16:9 widescreen high-definition display that makes it optimal for viewing and sharing content easily.

Surface Pro, powered by an Intel Core i5 processor, is equivalent to a full-blown Windows 8 laptop that also boasts tablet capabilities. For the first time, customers can have a fully functional PC that looks, feels and acts like a tablet and allows handwriting and sketching with the Surface pen in a natural and intuitive way. With Surface Pro, customers can do virtually everything they have ever done on a PC, ranging from using their favourite desktop applications to enjoying the protection of
world-class safety and security software.

Additional details on Surface are available at http://www.Surface.co.uk, the Surface Blog and Surface on Facebook. Those interested can follow Surface on Twitter for additional updates.

[1] System software uses significant storage space; your storage capacity will be less. See surface.co.uk/storage 1 GB = 1 billion bytes

We, at Microsoft, provide ‘Talking Business’ to help entrepreneurs and business owners’ succeed. We believe in your ability to innovate and in the ability of technology to help, so to support ‘Talking Business’ we have many resources available for businesses like you. We have an informative newsletter, blog posts by people in the industry, and a community looking to help small business succeed.

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Guest Blog: Yammer for business

Microsoft Small Business — Thu, 16 May 2013 10:51:39 GMT

In the last few years, Microsoft have put huge focus on developing the social side of their products. Social Media is not going away, it will only evolve positively to encompass more and more - in life, and in business. Most small business owners are aware of the “Social Media” buzz-phrase, but not all have the time to devote towards devising and applying a social media strategy for marketing purposes. Often, small businesses also lack the spare capital to employ a marketing agency or an individual to take care of social media management.

Despite this, social media for customer and client-facing marketing is now relatively established. But what about utilising social media within businesses as an internal employee tool?

You may have already heard about Yammer, which Microsoft bought in 2012 for $1.2 billion. The price they paid highlighted Microsoft’s commitment to improving the social side of their products, and the value they consider Yammer would hold to their customers and their business. So what exactly does Yammer do? How does an enterprise social network actually work, and what benefits does it bring?

Yammer is an internal social network, only open to those given permission and access by the business they work for. This access is determined by the user’s email domain - a simple and effective way of managing profiles for IT support. Users can create customised profiles, much like other social networks such as LinkedIn and Facebook.

There are many features that make Yammer beneficial to business; in fact, almost too many to list. In a nutshell, at the core of this tool are features that improve employee engagement, such as Trending Files and Popular Content feeds, as well as the Online Now live chat feature. Another major bonus is the ability for users to access it via the web. By utilising cloud technology, it is available from anywhere with an internet connection on a wide range of devices including Apple, Blackberry, Android, and Windows products. The Groups feature is one of the most celebrated, and this can benefit teamwork by allowing users to create groups based on interest, role, or company department. Again, this is similar to other popular social networks, and is a key element of bringing people together.

Social networks aren’t there just for people to waste time, they can be useful tools for collaboration, so Yammer fits in perfectly with Microsoft’s vision for products such as SharePoint - where collaboration and communication is key. Integration with Microsoft’s other products is one feature which makes Yammer such a good business tool, and this is available for SharePoint 2007, SharePoint 2010, and Office 365. According to the Microsoft and Yammer team themselves, 85% of Fortune 500 companies use it as a team communication tool. With this sort of uptake, it’s hard to ignore.

Some tips for using Yammer:

Larger businesses should only open up the tool to a few individuals at a time, to prepare for what features work for them best.
When using Yammer, remember it is an internal enterprise tool and you should act as appropriately as you would in a professional setting.
Test some business ideas by putting them forward to your connections and getting feedback through Yammer.

Ultimately, the most important aspect of utilising Yammer is to maximise buy-in among the team. With a well-designed user interface and smooth design, that shouldn’t be a difficult task. It is a great way of communicating ideas and interests in the workplace, and will form a key element in the development of Microsoft’s tools for business in the future. No doubt, it will evolve as a product over time, but the first year of Microsoft’s ownership of Yammer highlights their passion for bringing the benefits of social to enterprise.

Author bio:

Marc Defosse is managing director ofRibbonFish Ltd, a London-based IT consultancy specialising in Microsoft technologies. Marc enjoys blogging about the RibbonFish areas of expertise such as CRM, SharePoint and web development, as well as the latest business IT & tech trends.

See how Windows Phone 8 is suited for Business

Microsoft Small Business — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:19:00 GMT

(Please visit the site to view this video)

Jamie Lumley explains why the Nokia Lumia 920 is a vital tool for his remote working lifestyle. Jamie owns a professional photography business so he requires a phone that supports his clients needs at shoot locations.

Find out more about Windows Phone 8.

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5 Common SEO Mistakes Small Businesses Make

Microsoft Small Business — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:58:20 GMT

Search engine optimisation, or SEO, refers to the miscellany of things a business does to affect the visibility of a web page or website in the search results of a search engine like Google or Bing. As a small-business owner, you must keep an eye on SEO strategy and tactics to make sure customers and the general public know the work your company is doing in terms of items produced, services provided and excellence in customer service, among others. When it comes to SEO tactics, the five common mistakes you must avoid include splash pages, duplicate content on your website, images contained text, keyword-laden pages and hyper-linked sections. Remember also that an effective SEO strategy emphasizes difference - versus potential entrants in your sector, versus potential substitutes to your products or services, and versus your direct competitors.

1. Splash Pages

A splash page is aesthetically pleasing but does little to enhance your SEO status. You see this type of page generally on the home page with an image and a button that says "enter" or "enter the website." A splash page is ineffective because it contains little text, which doesn't help your company rank highly in search results. Second, you are forcing the user to click an extra link before visiting your site - another recipe for commercial disaster because your organization might be losing out financially if impatient prospects just leave the page altogether and move to the competitor's portal.

2. Duplicate Content across Your Site

Don't create multiple web pages with the same content. This creates a problem for search engines because they don't know which page to display in search results, a situation that could deliver devastation to your SEO efforts and ranking goals. Besides, search engines often treat repeated text as spam, which also is a negative element for your SEO initiatives.

3. Images Containing Text

Text-stuffed images also don't make SEO sense because search engines like Google and Bing cannot read text embedded in a picture. So if you stuff all, or most of, your content in pictures, your website will not appear in search results -- or, at least, not as prominently as you would like. Given that content plays an integral role in search results, try to free up your content and don't box them into pictures or other graphical elements.

4. Keyword-Laden Pages

Within the SEO context, conversations about keyword stuffing still matter, but they often are loose and disjointed because many SEO professionals now know that search engine algorithms have better, more sophisticated ways to ignore repeated content - be it a keyword or otherwise. Instead of clogging your website content with keywords, try to display that is relevant and informative to your current customers, prospective clients and the occasional reader who is just passing by and happens to stumble on your website. Content clarity and helpfulness should be the objective here, not a deluge of keywords to trick search engines.

5. Hyper-Linked Pages

Adding tens, if not hundreds, of internal links to each web page will not help your company's search rankings. From a user experience, the most salient thing to implement is a primary page that naturally flows to secondary pages, which also smoothly mesh with other pages. Again, the key element in SEO strategy is content, content, content - so stuffing internal links to your company's web pages is inefficient, and the links most likely will be ignored by search engines.

To make your SEO strategy a success, opt for special capabilities that are unique in nature and few in number. Work with a marketing company with SEO expertise; revamp your website to make it more user-friendly and optimized for search engine algorithms; and constantly monitor what the competition is doing, from an online visibility perspective. Key SEO blunders to avoid include hyper-linked and keyword-laden pages along with splash pages and duplicate content throughout your company's website.

About the author:

Kyle Sanders is the founder of Complete Web Resources, a small business SEO company based out of Denver, Colorado. When he’s not helping clients and writing for the web, he enjoys kayaking, fishing, and sunshine.

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Stay secure. Learn what to do when support ends for Windows XP

Microsoft Small Business — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:54:34 GMT

What were you doing on your computers 12 years ago? Windows XP was a new operating system, touting a best of class experience for your small business. Today, Windows XP is out of date and soon to be at risk because support for the product is ending on April 8, 2014. Unsupported versions of Windows XP will continue to operate but can leave your business unprotected. Without the software updates, there is nothing to protect your PC from harmful viruses, spyware, and other malicious software, which can steal your personal information.

End of support means no further support will be provided for the product:

No security updates
No free or paid assisted support options
No updates to online content (KB articles, etc.) although online content may be available, if still in the Online Self Help Support phase

Continuing to operate Windows XP will also make using new hardware, such as monitors and printers, and new software difficult. As new hardware and software are released, their drivers will not be updated for Windows XP. In most scenarios this means the new software and hardware will be incompatible with your Windows XP machine.

Visit the Support for Small Business site to find links to tools, guides, information and other options to help you get updated, and keep your business more secure.

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Guest Blog: Would a small business consultant make your business better?

Microsoft Small Business — Thu, 09 May 2013 10:10:39 GMT

One of the classics mistakes in business operations is to get so bogged down in the minutiae of day to day operations that you forget to look at the bigger picture of how your business is travelling in the competitive field. As manager or owner, you want to control as many aspects of your business operations as possible, but you also want to do work that is as qualitative as it is quantitive. The challenge is keeping as close an eye as possible on as many things as possible. Public relations and marketing are the benchmarks of parameters like how competitive your business is within the industry, and how well your investments are converting into revenue, and they are central to any business strategy.

Providing an excellent product is only the first step, the rest of the work is in creating brand awareness, and making sure that the product is accessible, and that your potential customers know about it. Measuring the effects of the strategies that you put in place can be an endlessly complex operation. It's not always efficient to do this kind of thing yourself, unless you feel confident that it's an area of specialty that you can tackle.

To properly assess the way a business operates, it is useful to get an outsiders view. We aren't always capable of judging our own actions. Although it's hard to imagine, others may know better than you how to run your business. This is where a small business consultant, like Good Business PR and consulting in Sydney, comes in.

The very best business tip that I can give you is to hire a small business consultant. If you are looking to hire a consultant, make sure you hire one that has experience and expertise in your area, and that has dealt with businesses of your size and calibre before. The more they know about your industry, the better. An effective consultant will be able to look at your business operations and improve them, as well as your ROI, by implementing strategies that you never previously would have thought of. It is up to a business consultant to stay on top of exactly what consumers are doing and what they are interacting with, and how that can be deployed to the advantage of small businesses trying to capture the imaginations of new customers. Let them
do the hard work, not you.

This is originally posted by Isabelle Riley of http://www.goodbusiness.net.au

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Startups can benefit from home working

Microsoft Small Business — Thu, 09 May 2013 08:21:01 GMT

For many people starting a small business, home working can have major advantages, it has been claimed.

Speaking to the Guardian Professional, Hilary Humphrey, director at Seofon Business Services, said working from home was a simple way to get her company up and running.

She claimed it has been much cheaper to start a business without the overheads associated with commercial premises.

"I've been able to use equipment I already have rather than purchasing new office items," she told the news provider.

"Also, I've been able to keep on top of household tasks at the same time as running the business."

Ms Humphrey's comments were echoed by another entrepreneur, Lyndsey Haskell, the owner of garden retail site What You Sow.

She told the Guardian that starting her company was a stressful experience, which meant working a significant number of hours.

However, Ms Haskell claimed the flexibility of running a business from home allows her to plan her time and get enough exercise "to counteract the hours perched in front of the computer".

"I was able to attend the quiet early morning yoga classes, take breaks to sit and think creatively, and pause for many rounds of hula hooping or serious stretching - poses I'd never have dared let my office colleagues see," she stated.

"And instead of having to lobby an employer for a supportive chair, I just went and bought one."

Small and medium-sized business owners are very much their own boss - they make the decisions relating to strategy, the place of employment and the hours they work.

This allows people to balance their career with their family life more effectively, and ensure one does not serve to the detriment of the other.

The use of technology solutions is helping an increasing number of people start their own business from home.

With cloud-based solutions such as Office 365 available to entrepreneurs, there is no longer any need to spend thousands on small business IT solutions.

Technology allows small enterprises to trade, market themselves and communicate over the internet, and take advantage of remote collaboration mobile working opportunities.

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Blog: To meet in person, or stage a video conference?

Microsoft Small Business — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:20:08 GMT

When is it appropriate to make use of video conferences with clients?

In the ultra-competitive business environment of today, making a great first impression with prospective clients is of vital importance. If your company, or people, fail to tick all the necessary boxes during that first meeting, the chances are the potential
customer will look elsewhere for a partner or supplier.

Business leaders are acutely conscious of this fact, and this is why many companies continue to spend significant sums on business travel, presentations and hospitality. They know that there may only be a single opportunity to grab the big contracts, and it's vitally important to show your company in the best possible light.

Many customers continue to prefer face-to-face meetings, where they can get a better feel for the business and its employees - and also read body language and other non-verbal communication. For this reason, the use of video conferencing technology may not be appropriate in the first instance - the potential client is likely to expect a meeting in person.

However, that is not to say that video technology does not have a role to play - it certainly does in modern business. Used in an appropriate context, HD video conferences allow meetings to be staged virtually, potentially reducing the costs and time
commitment involved for all parties.

When the business and customer has a long-standing relationship, and the individuals involved in the meeting have got to know each other, it may make more sense to conduct meetings remotely. Participants can still see who they are talking to - they are just not in the same building. Or even country, perhaps - relieving the travel burden.

Experience should indicate when it is appropriate to use collaboration technology in lieu of a full, in-person meeting. Used appropriately, video conference can reduce logistical complexity, reduce costs and boost everyone's productivity for the day. But
used at the wrong time - when a traditional meeting is the better option - and this may not reflect as well on the company.

Microsoft Office 365 enables businesses to stage high-quality HD video conferences over the web - to find out more click here.

e, at Microsoft, provide ‘Talking Business’ to help entrepreneurs and business owners’ succeed. We believe in your ability to innovate and in the ability of technology to help, so to support ‘Talking Business’ we have many resources available for businesses like you. We have an informative newsletter, blog posts by people in the industry, and a community looking to help small business succeed.

Follow us on twitter - @MicrosoftSB, or use the hashtag #TalkingBusiness to find out more information

Guest Blog: 5 Common Home-Based Business Mistakes

Microsoft Small Business — Fri, 03 May 2013 13:56:11 GMT

The internet has made it possible to work from anywhere.

As a result, more and more people are deciding to work where they’re most comfortable: at home! After all, what could be better than exchanging your hour-long commute for a 5 minute one between your bed and desk? Or throwing away those business suits and replacing them with a few pairs of sweats?

But of course, a home-based business is still a business! And that means that you have to look beyond the perks and learn what it takes to run a successful enterprise. Start your lessons today by looking at these common mistakes that those starting out often make.

1. Not tracking your expenses

Running your own business costs money. You need to make sure you’re making more than you’re spending. Even if you’re running a business with low overhead (many home-based businesses really just require a computer and an internet connection), you may be able to claim other expenses, such as part of your mortgage, cell phone bill, and car expenses, on your tax return. Keeping track can save you big at the end of the year, so consult with a tax professional
early on.

2. Not paying your taxes

If your home-based business is your only source of income, it’s likely you’ll have to pay self-employment taxes quarterly to avoid being hit with a penalty when tax seasons comes around – as well as having to pay all those taxes at once! Be sure to bring that up when you speak with your tax expert.

3. Not setting aside time and space

It’s easy to get distracted when you run a home-based business. After all, your couch and TV are just a few feet away, and you can always finish up work later, right? But that, of course, can lead to procrastination. You can address this problem by establishing an office–whether it’s a separate room or just a designated area—that’s entirely focused on your work. It’s also helpful to establish a schedule. You can be flexible, but at least, you’ll have something to start from.

4. Not getting it in writing.

Didn’t get paid by a client? You’ll have a hard time collecting or taking them to court if you don’t have your agreement down on paper. Often, an email will work just fine, but it can be beneficial to have a more formal standard agreement. Develop a template (or a few templates) so that you can put one together quickly when taking on a new client.

5. Not continually promoting yourself

Remember, your customers can walk away at any time. You need to make sure that you keep putting yourself out there, so that the well doesn’t dry up, or you could be back to seeking traditional employment.

No matter how much you prepare or how much advice you seek, you will make mistakes. Many freelancers put the blame on their client. “I just got stuck with a deadbeat client!” or “He just didn’t know what he wanted.” Often, that’s exactly the case – but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn from what happened and prevent it in the future. Instead of playing the blame game (or the flip side: beating yourself up about an error), try to figure out what you can learn from the situation.

About the Author:

Patrick and Joyce Del Rosario are Filipino business and career bloggers. They work at Open Colleges, one of the pioneers of Online education in Australia and one of the leading providers of diploma of management and small business courses.

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Guest Blog: Social Media Strategy - Tips

Microsoft Small Business — Thu, 02 May 2013 13:58:54 GMT

As with anything in business having a strategy is imperative to your success. This applies to Social Media as well.

A great tip for any business intending to undertake a Social Media campaign is to think about what they wish to achieve from it. Techtivate believe that selecting a tailored strategy plan will make best use of your businesses decision to implement Social Media networking.

Any organisation should know why they intend to work on Social Media. Whether it is Route 1, 2 or 3. All are tailored to their individual function/s. If your specific reason for investing/starting Social Media isn’t listed individually then this could be because you intend to enter 2 or more routes we have advised.

We advise all our customers to develop something completely unique about their brand that will captivate their target audience. Having a USP (Unique Selling Point) will always allow for consumer/customer engagement. Our tip to small businesses is that they should follow at least one of the Social Media routes below:

Route 1 (Start up based):

1. Secure your brand (including usernames etc..)
2. Set your metric
3. Know who you are
4. Determine where to build Satellite Communities
5. Create rules for engagement
6. Engage, genuinely.
7. Assess your success

Route 2 (Customer Engagement based):

1. Secure your brand (including usernames etc..)
2. Increase brand awareness via the social media networks you may select
3. Post/update accounts around twice per day to gauge an initial feedback from the updates
4. Establish whether you are targeting the right audience? If so continue with the updates; if not it’s time to expand to your selected audience
5. Create engaging update that your target market will be interested in. This can be done in a number of ways:
6. See how successful your selection of ‘a-f’ and continue to remind customers of your brand
7. Review your success

Route 3(Customer Feedback based):

1. Build an base
2. Listen/Compare/contrast
3. What’s the Point?
4. Select Success Metrics
5. Analyze Your Audiences
6. What’s Your One Thing?
7. How Will You Be Human?
8. Create a Channel Plan

For any further help please don’t hesitate to contact Techtivate:

Website - www.techtivate.co.uk

Email - enquiries@techtivate.co.uk

Twitter - @Techtivate