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Just 8 weeks ago, no one had ever heard of Ello.co, but today it stands as an increasingly popular social network that might just be the death of Facebook.
In an article for Tech Page One by Forbes staff writer Kashmir Hill, Ello creator Paul Budnitz says, “We see Facebook as an advertising platform not a social network… Users are products at Facebook. They want to know as much as possible to advertise to you.”
Ello’s promise to its users is simple: no ads, no data mining or tracking, and they won’t decide which content you should see. So far, so good, apparently, because interest in the site is skyrocketing, with more membership requests every minute. So, what entrepreneurial lessons can we learn from Ello?
Every new business venture needs a driving idea, but it can be difficult to come up with the right idea at the right time for your industry. If you can’t think of something new that uniquely solves a problem that your customers have, then look at the existing solutions for your customers’ problems and figure out where their weaknesses are.
In Ello’s case, Budnitz noticed that more and more Facebook users had problems with Facebook’s cavalier attitude toward privacy and data mining. Users don’t like advertisements, and they don’t like being told what they can and cannot see.
Shortly after word got out that Facebook had been conducting a psychological experiment on a selection of its users by excluding certain “emotional” words from their news feeds, Ello arrived on the scene with the promise that it would never violate users’ trust.
In short, Ello isn’t a new product, but, for people who care about their privacy, it is a major innovation on an old model. If you can find out what you’re customers are most unhappy with when they use your competition’s products, you may have the key to a successful new business venture.
Another driving factor in Ello’s success has been its request-based platform. If you don’t already have an Ello account, you can request one, but it may take months for the good folks at Ello to get back to you and grant or deny your request. According to Budnitz, the site is now getting several thousand requests per hour.
Fortunately for those who don’t want to wait weeks or months for access to this new social media outlet, Ello gives its users a number of invitations to send out to their friends. With an invitation code, you can join immediately.
This request and invitation model for signing up creates an air of exclusivity to Ello. It lets people feel like they know something that others don’t, and it’s actually driving more sign-ups than the site would get if it were open to the public.
Finally, Ello’s makers have very openly stated that the site is still in beta. This excuses a lot of bugs and errors that users have encountered. For example, in the first weeks, the search tool wasn’t entirely functional, and users would have to type their friends’ usernames into the URL at the top of the page to find them.
If the site had been launched claiming that it was complete and fully functional, this kind of glitch would be unforgivable. As it is, the response is generally, “Well, it’s in beta, but there’s a workaround, so…” Customers will forgive a lot if you openly state that you’re still working on the product and that they’ll get full functionality and benefits with no added cost in short order.
These are just a few of the lessons we can learn from the anti-Facebook. Keep an eye on Ello as it grows, and you’ll be sure to learn more important entrepreneurial lessons.
A lot goes into building and running a successful company.
There is startup capital, continued investment, sales, marketing, accounting … you can go crazy thinking about everything that’s involved in a good company. Of course, you also need to have a valuable product or service.
However, NO company can succeed without the right people behind it. You need a GREAT team to run a GREAT business.
While you can do everything to train the right people, starting at the hiring process will make things much easier. Here is how to ensure you hire the right people to begin with.
This might seem like obvious advice, but it all starts with competency. Does a prospective employee come with the ideal skill set? Many of us like to believe that everyone has the same amount of potential and that any trait can be taught. Maybe this is even true. If you hire someone who doesn’t come with the background you desire, though, you’ll only be making more work for yourself.
Part of this means compatibility. There’s a lot to be said for someone’s personality. Sometimes people have the degree and/or background you want, but simply aren’t good at taking direction, working well with others or accepting new challenges. Eventually, these people become more of a burden than a benefit.
You also want to make sure your new employee wholeheartedly accepts the salary and benefits you offer them. In this economy, it can be easy to think that anyone should be happy with what they get. Unfortunately, this attitude can lead to employees who underperform or are constantly on the lookout to jump ship.
Neither is going to help your company in the long run.
Most everyone lists references when they apply for a job, but how many companies actually check up on them? It’s important that you do so. Many times, references sign up for the job because they feel pressured to do so. This might mean they won’t actually endorse the candidate when you call them. Other times, the reference isn’t aware of the types of jobs for which their former employee or acquaintance is applying.
Either way, it’s worth your while to not just check up on references, but also drill them for honest answers. Tell them what your company does and the type of candidate you’re looking to hire. Then spend some time ascertaining whether or not the person you’re inquiring about is a match.
Hiring new people is easy if you don’t keep the above standards. Unfortunately, this is a great way to surround yourself with the wrong type of people. So consider the advice in this article to ensure you hire people who will help your company achieve its goals.
Note: If you truly want to live a happier life in the occupational phase of your life, you NEED to become an entrepreneur! If you don’t know how to get started, this is a good place to start. BUT … if you absolutely have to stay at your W-2 job, here is a good outline of how to go about asking for more money.
No matter how much you’re currently making at your job, chances are you wouldn’t mind making even more.
However, for some of us, a pay raise is a very real need. Perhaps you’ve started a family or have debts you need to pay down. Whatever the reason, asking for a raise is rarely an easy thing. If you do it right, however, it can be an extremely rewarding one.
Before you ask for a raise, get an idea of how much money you’re actually worth. Missing the mark on either side will not end well for you. Ask for too little of a raise and you might actually get it, only to be disappointed later. It will also let your employers know that you are clueless about your actual value. On the other hand, if you ask for too much, you’ll be all but guaranteed a flat “no.”
Keep in mind that just because you’re worth a certain amount doesn’t mean the company will give it to you. They may not be able to afford it, for one. It might also be that what you’re worth on the open market isn’t what you’re worth to them. So be sure a large part of your research is figuring out what you’re actually worth to your current employer.
Once you know how much you’re worth, ask for it.
Don’t ask for less out of some sense of modesty. Just make sure your request includes a rationalization. Explain how you came to the final number. Then confidently seek that amount. If you mince words or otherwise show you’re not sure about your value, don’t expect an employer to do you any favors.
Many people go too far in their attempt at convincing an employer they’re worth extra money. We’ve all heard horror stories about someone threatening to quit. Don’t become one of those yourself. Even if you get the raise you wanted, providing any type of ultimatum will most likely not go over well with your boss. You should fully expect that your new salary, and time with the company, is limited, as they no longer feel they can rely on you.
Lastly, practice making your pitch. Practice it over and over until it sounds natural. Then ask for your raise as soon as possible. The longer you put it off, the harder it will be. Plus, if someone beats you to the chase, your chance at success just dropped.
Requesting a raise can seem difficult, but not if you adhere to the above advice. By dedicating yourself to this goal, you’ll be guaranteed a much better shot at success, which could mean more money in your pocket.
Is 2014 going to be the year you finally start your own company?
It’s about time! 😉
If so, you probably already have a ton of ideas in terms of your product or service, business name and even how to market yourself.
What you might lack, however, is the knowledge about the actual steps you need to take in order to get this idea from inside your head into reality.
All serious ideas for a business need to begin with a business plan. Until you handle this part, your idea is still a fantasy, at best. There are a number of tools online that can assist you, but the general idea is that you want to map out what it will take to “open your doors” and begin selling a product or service for a profit.
One of the easiest ways to do this is by hiring a freelancer online. Find someone with the experience you may be lacking and pay them to create a business plan for you.
When they finish, you’ll have a roadmap for launching your company.
A major obstacle every business has to deal with is raising capital. It always costs money to make money, no matter what kind of company you’re hoping to start. Fortunately, in the digital age, it’s easier than ever to get a business up and running with minimal funding. If it’s going to take more than you have at the moment, consider speaking with your bank or borrowing the money from friends and family. There are also a number of options online for raising funds from interested parties, as well.
Depending on the nature of your business, you’ll need to designate it as a sole proprietorship, partnership, S corporation, corporation, Limited Liability Company (LLC), cooperative or nonprofit. Learn about each one and then choose whichever is best for you (usually an LLC). This decision will affect many things, especially those pertaining to taxes.
Speaking of which, you’ll need to find out which tax ID number you need from your state revenue agency and the IRS. Then, register with them for taxes. This step will also award you unemployment benefits if they ever become necessary, workers’ compensation and more.
Usually, when you first start out, you or your family will be the only employees working for the business. As that changes, however, you’ll need to be sure you understand your responsibilities as an employer.
Even though a lot goes into launching a successful business, don’t let the above intimidate you. Everyone has to go through it and it’s actually easier than it seems (trust me … I’ve started a plethora of ’em!).
By now, everyone has heard of Twitter and it would seem as though everyone has their own account.
This is just as true for businesses who have taken to Twitter, even more than Facebook, to reach out to their customer base. Twitter makes it extremely easy to not only get the word out to your market, but listen for what they say back (for better or worse).
However, being successful with 140 characters is harder than it looks.
The first rule of Twitter is to use it often.
People have been saying content is king for years and that hasn’t changed now that it is processed in smaller chunks. If your company’s Twitter account goes stale because you’re not using it enough, you’re missing out on a golden opportunity.
While it’s important to use your company’s Twitter account to make important announcements and advertise new products and services, you can be doing so much more with it. Speaking to individual customers or even tweeting something humorous or non-business related now and then will go a long way. Just be sure you keep it professional and don’t get sucked into conversations or arguments that won’t help your business.
One of the biggest challenges everyone faces with Twitter is getting recognized and being heard. With hundreds of millions of users, this is no easy task. Interacting will certainly help, so aside from tweeting, be sure you favorite and retweet certain messages, too.
However, Twitter will also provide you with plenty of opportunities for strategic partnerships. Find other Twitter accounts that could use some growth just as much as you could and negotiate a deal to both help the other by mentioning them in tweets. If you can do this with a company where you share customers, this will be especially potent. Sometimes there are Twitter accounts that won’t gain from your added exposure because they already have hundreds-of-thousands of followers. Find contact information for them and see what they would charge you for some mentions.
Don’t expect immediate results with Twitter. Those accounts with impressive followings are usually the result of hard work or starting back when Twitter was still a small platform. Stick with the simple advice above and you’ll get there soon enough.
No business these days should exist without a Twitter account. More and more, it’s becoming a feature customers expect. So start with Twitter today and begin implementing these tips for a respectable following you can concert into revenue.
More than 850,000 emails have been sent in my name just this week.
Either through automatic email triggers, email confirmations, receipts or manual sends, my team has sent almost a million emails in just a few days.
How?
Well, for starters, my database is over 300,000 people worldwide, and if you’re not emailing your clientele on a regular basis, they’re forgetting all about you…
But, with sending thousands of emails every day comes a great pressure to ensure that we’re following CAN-SPAM laws and closely monitoring the latest SPAM email triggers, so our emails don’t end up in your SPAM box.
Basically, if an email inbox sees a certain word in your email body, it might trigger its SPAM catcher and send the email straight into the SPAM folder, and not in front of the eyes of your subscriber. Stinks, right?
Now, wouldn’t it be helpful if someone put together a list of SPAM email trigger words, just so you knew what to avoid…?
Well, I did just that!
I gave my email marketing team a ‘little’ task and had them research a ton of email marketing SPAM trigger words and compile them into a single list for you.
Now, I do want to say that I’ve probably used these words thousands of times in the millions of emails I’ve sent in the past two decades of my career…but my team & I are learning every day how to avoid these words more and more, in order to increase our deliverability rates.
So, don’t feel bad if you’ve used these words…just make a REALLY HUGE mental note for the future.
* BIG announcement for online advertisers:
Facebook has announced an update to its News Feed feature to diminish what the site calls “click-baiting.”
In a “News Feed FYI” blog post, Facebook defined “click-baiting” as “when a publisher posts a link with a headline that encourages people to click to see more, without telling them much information about what they will see.”
These are the kinds of stories “people frequently tell us are spammy and that they don’t want to see.”
But like it or not, click-bait often succeeds at its primary goal of getting a lot of people to click on it, and that means that under Facebook’s previous algorithm, such posts appeared high up in many News Feeds.
Facebook provided its own example of a click-baiting post:
Facebook said a survey found that 80 percent of the time, users preferred headlines with more information “that helped them decide if they wanted to read the full article before they had to click through.”
And so now Facebook says it’s changing its algorithm to give factors beyond the number of clicks more weight in determining how news items are ranked, including measurements that indicate whether a news item is likely to interest users. When users click and take a while to return, Facebook ranks that new item higher because they believe people valued the information enough to actually read it.
“If they click through to a link and then come straight back to Facebook, it suggests that they didn’t find something that they wanted,” the blog post said. A news item also will increase in status based on whether friends discuss or like the post.
The Right Way to Share Links
When people share a link on Facebook it often appears in News Feed with a large picture, a headline and some text that gives context on the link. These are the kinds of posts Facebook (and its users) prefer:
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