4 video editors for tech-savvy business users

Computerworld - Most video editing suites are aimed at either the consumer or the video pro. But what about business users, who fall squarely in the middle of these two categories?

Today's midlevel editing packages offer a good deal of flexibility and power when it comes to working with videos. In fact, features that used to be available only in professional editing software a few years ago are now commonplace, like the ability to remove jitter from footage.

Of course, professional-level video editors provide support for professional-grade cameras and other hardware, and they allow for more detailed tweaking during the editing process.

But midlevel applications offer ease of use, a valuable commodity for business users who may not have a great deal of experience with video. These users might need that much more guidance in the form of tutorials or walk-throughs (at least at first), but they also need a program that can offer them a fair amount of power and not be hidebound by arbitrary restrictions often imposed on beginning users by "starter" software.

For this roundup, I tested four major prosumer-level video editing packages to see how suitable they are for business users who need sophisticated functionality combined with ease of use: Adobe Premiere Elements 9 Plus, Corel VideoStudio Pro X4, CyberLink PowerDirector 9 Ultra64, and Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10.0. I looked at these programs from several perspectives: how easy they were to start using, what kinds of editing-assistance features they offered for nontechnical users, and what kind of "canned" content (stock footage, templates) was packaged with each.

I ran each program on a system equipped with a quad-core Intel Core 2 Q6600 with 4GB of RAM, running the 64-bit edition of Windows 7 and using a dual-GPU Nvidia GeForce 9800 GX2. With each program, I imported video from cameras that generated .MOV-format H.264 files.

Note: Of the four applications, only Adobe Premiere Elements offers a Mac version.

These midlevel packages have some rather sophisticated features that you may want to look for. One that's quite useful, especially if you're dealing with footage created on a less-than-professional camcorder, is the stabilization function. This takes jittery imagery and automatically removes a fair amount of the shaking. However, to make this happen, a certain amount of picture information is trimmed from the edges of the frame, and the remainder is made larger to compensate for the lost edges. The more shaking there is in the video, the more trimming that's required.

Another feature can be used to add interest to a video: It automatically edits clips together using a given visual theme or by following certain parameters about the content of the footage. Adobe's InstantMovie feature does this; ditto for CyberLink PowerDirector's Magic Movie Wizard. This feature seems mostly useful for generating filler montages where dialogue isn't crucial, since these auto-generated edits can be rather patchy and arbitrary.

This independent paper from senior analyst Jon Collins at FreeForm Dynamics considers how Web-based security threats are evolving, within the context of IT trends including mobile, home computing and other forms of remote access that could potentially increase the attack surface of the companies. It defines the scale and types of threat, what to look for in a corporate web security solution and compares the different types of technological approach available to companies and the processes that need to be considered for effective protection.

Read now.

Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

Social-networking sites have revolutionized how businesses use the Internet. Instead of relying on faltering newspapers to find job candidates, companies can access thousands of potential employees through Facebook and Twitter. But social-networking sites have also left businesses vulnerable to new security threats. So are they tools to be used or security traps to be avoided?

Read now.

Your brand is your business

When a business is started, the owner often spends a lot of time thinking about what that functional business will be. They deliberate over how the supply chain will work, plan out their customer service schematic and ensure manufacturing efficiencies are optimized. But, frequently, the value of the brand in business design is neglected. It's tossed aside as a matter of iconography or turns of phase, thrown into the bucket of "advertising expense," and given low priority.

Then off that person goes to market, using CRM tools and PR strategies and cold calls and marketing vehicles. They pitch and sell and highfive. And yet what are their customers buying? Why do they choose that company's products and services over another's or vice versa?

There is no business model that can't be replicated, no intellectual property so unique its conclusions cannot be uncovered elsewhere, and no idea so special it couldn't equivalently float in a competitor's ether. We, as business owners, face a commodity conundrum. So how do you deal with that?

Here's the thing: Your brand is your business and anyone who tells you otherwise is a fool. Brand loyalty is vital to sustainability in the face of competition and commodification. Loyalty comes through relationships and relationships are built through emotional connections. Emotional connections aren't a result of pretty logos or clever copy — they're a result of interactions that are a result of content.

Recently, my company worked with an incredible startup called Rent Frock Repeat (rentfrockrepeat.com). Lisa Delorme and Kristy Wieber, its founders, came to us last year to launch an online designer dress rental operation, and they'd thought their business model inside out. They were incredibly sharp and ready to hit the market with a bang.

They were also clever enough to look beyond today, even though they have a unique market offering. They realized that to face a competitive space that would in time pop out replicators, they needed to have a rock-solid brand strategy that allowed the business to connect with its customers in an authentic, clearly directed and value-oriented way. And it needed to be something that would live through every interaction across every interaction point, taking them through the launch well into the future.

Building a brand is like building any other asset — it requires careful thought, planning, and, yes, investment. As with any other asset, the intent isn't to throw more costs against the bottom line — it's to build something that will enable your business to face a competitive marketplace stronger and more powerful than without it.

So what does your brand mean to you, your customers, your prospects and your partners?

- Jacquelyn Cyr is chief executive of Espresso (brandinfiltration.com) and has never met a business she didn't like. Please send questions, along with feedback or insights to gamechanger@brandinfiltration.com

Amazon.com Android tablet business apps vs. iPad 3/HD

By Richi Jennings (@richi ) - July 14, 2011.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) is expected to launch an Android tablet soon. But it's not just for reading books; oh no, it'll also be a business tool, we're told. A Q3/Q4 release date would put it head-to-head with the expected iPad 3 (or HD). In IT Blogwatch, bloggers round up the rumors.

Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: The Sagan Series - End of an Era: The Final Shuttle Launch...

Melissa J. Perenson reports:

A September or even early October introduction would be well-timed [for] the holiday shopping season. ... [It] could be the most asked-for stocking stuffer of 2011. [The timing] coincides with when arch-rival Apple plans to launch...potentially, a new, higher-resolution iPad.
...
...[T]he company's CEO, Jeff Bezos, has indicated in the past that a tablet is its next frontier. And that makes perfect sense. ... Amazon and Apple are two behemoths each vying for consumers' digital media purchase dollars. ... Rumors put the screen at "roughly nine inches." ... The tablet will run Android, presumably Android 3.2.  

Cade Metz addz:

There's quite a rivalry developing between Amazon and Apple. ... Both are now selling digital music, videos, and books, and...Apple actually sued Amazon for calling its Android app store the Android Appstore.
It's nonsense of Jobsian proportions.  

Our old mate Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols says what to expect:

...[H]ere’s what my sources have been telling me...people both inside Amazon and from Amazon’s partners. ... The Kindle Tablet is going to be made by Quanta. ... It will run Android Honeycomb 3.1. ... [I]t will have dual-core OMAP 4 (ARM Cortex A9) processors running at 1.5GHz [and] a solid-state drive (SSD).
...
[B]esides having the usual collection of Android applications...[it] will also have serious business applications. ... I’m talking about interfaces to enterprise-level applications. ... I expect Amazon to price its tablet very aggressively. ... .  

      
Mark Sigal offers his thoughts:

Amazon is the only company with the media relationships and...billing relationship with consumers to directly challenge Apple. ...Amazon understands product discovery and recommendation even better than Apple does.
...
...Amazon is also very well-positioned to outflank Google's play with Android. ... By better leveraging their installed base with Kindle; by building...tight integration with the Amazon Android App store and with Amazon Cloud Services; by...harnessing their recommendation services on both digital and physical goods.
...
...[T]he market needs an integrated alternative to iOS...to keep Apple honest, and...because not enough developers are making serious coin. ...[T]here are legions of Android developers who...don't like having to support the compatibility matrix from hell...not to mention the fact that the Google model is all about free.  

Surprisingly, MG Siegler is pleased:

The fall is going to be very interesting. There’s a reason Apple wants to get another iPad out there before the end of the year.  

 The Sagan Series (part 6) - End of an Era: The Final Shuttle Launch
Beautiful, inspiring, and downright essential to watch.
[hat tip: Blake Patterson]


Don't miss out on IT Blogwatch:

Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. He's the creator and main author of Computerworld's IT Blogwatch -- for which he has won American Society of Business Publication Editors and Jesse H. Neal awards on behalf of Computerworld. He also writes The Long View for IDG Enterprise. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, you can follow him as @richi on Twitter, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itbw@richij.com. You can also read Richi's full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.

Sound check: Adapting in the music business

Canada's $100-million a year studio sound recording industry is facing a seismic shift, says Gil Moore, owner of Mississauga, Ont.-based Metalworks Studio, recognized as the Canadian industry leader and 13-times named the Recording Studio of the Year by The Canadian Music Week (CMW) Music Industry Awards.

"I think we've reached the stage where technology is dramatically revolutionizing the studio industry," said Mr. Moore, who is also the drummer for Triumph, the legendary rock band of the 1970s and 1980s that released its Greatest Hits Remixed last year. "Because of the revolution in software and computers, you have the ability to record pretty much anything you want on a computer. It doesn't replace a recording studio by any means, but it still puts a lot of recording tools in the hands of an awful lot of individuals.

"The big studios that stay with exactly the same model will die. For the big studios, the challenge is to harness the technology and in order to do that, they're going to have to evolve."

Evolving has been a constant part of Metalworks in its more than three decades of existence — which is why it continues to succeed. In 2005, the company launched two new businesses, Metalworks Institute, an accredited private college, and Metalworks Production Group, which provides audio, video, lighting and staging systems for live events.

In fact, the studio began in 1977 as a tiny sound and light company to service Triumph, but it quickly grew into a semi-private studio, with requests from other musicians over the years. By 1988, when Triumph stopped touring, Mr. Moore took over full ownership of Metalworks and turned it into a studio that has attracted such top Canadian and international musical superstars as 'N Sync, Christina Aguilera, Tina Turner, David Bowie, Mick Fleetwood, The Spin Doctors, Anne Murray, DMX, Sisqo and The Cranberries.

Today, Metalworks has six studios with state-of-the-art equipment and has expanded into DVD authoring and video editing for such clients as Live 8, Rush, The Tea Party, Moist, Loreena McKennitt and Tom Cochrane as well as for some film and TV productions.

And all this through word-of-mouth and referrals.

"We don't do any advertising," said Mr. Moore. "It helps being around for a long time. The music world is not as big as people think it is. Now we have a new generation coming to us. For example, we had Drake here last week."

But many of Metalworks' clients are also musicians starting out who are simply seeking top-calibre recording that can only be achieved by professionals. It turns out recording isn't just technical, it's an art as well.

"In world class studios, you have a combination of high-tech digital equipment and almost antique analog equipment. No matter what's come along with digital technology, there are certain things you can't replace with certain parts of analog equipment. There's an awful lot of analog that goes into the recording and mixing of pretty much every song, although they all end up in the digital domain. And the best sound engineers are like the best chefs: they know the spices they need to use. Sometimes they use digital, sometimes analog."

Even successful studios such as Metalworks will have to adapt to the challenges the industry faces from new technologies, Mr. Moore said. Indeed, the Toronto native spends time every day researching technology shifts and how they affect his industry.

"I know we're looking at different alternatives to drive Metalworks as a technology brand in music and there are things we are incubating to try to stay ahead of the curve."

Studios are going to have to figure out how to interact with the new technologies, including the Internet, he said.

"I think musicians in the future are going to be collaborating across the world rather than across the city. And I think the synthesizer is going to be more popular than acoustic instruments. A lot of sound creation in the future will be electronic. And there's going to be more and more of a generation of people able to participate in the creation of music because of that, who may never sit in front of a piano or get piano lessons growing up," he said.

"I always joke when people ask me for my opinion about a new band. I always say, which guy is the IT guy? You have a drummer, singer, guitar player, but today you need an IT guy."

Another shift is coming from mobile technology.

"I think it's going to change the way people listen to music," Mr. Moore said. "It's changing it already, but I think we're only seeing the beginning of a wave that's likely to be a tsunami.

"You have to be cognizant of how something you create is distributed. So if you think about audio and video, the objective would be to get as much resolution as possible into the tiniest package and that's hard to do.

"You know, drummers are always counting things."

What You Need To Consider When Looking For The Best Home Business

Building a successful business at home does not happen overnight. Person to start a business is engaged in the business opportunities and work with it is determined to concentrate. Opportunity to become a great success, if you worked hard, but how to choose the best work at home?

There are many business opportunities at home but to find the best solution can be tricky. After investigating the best business opportunities on the Internet, I found a couple that I think is driven to succeed. Of course, the best company you choose also be determined by the skills you have and how long you are willing to spend to start a business.

If you are looking for a home business opportunity that does not require much skill or time, PET sitting or walking the dog is the best company for you. Even in these tough economic times, people are still willing to spend money on their pets. For some people, their pets are considered part of the family. If you are an animal lover and I just want to work few hours a day, you should consider this business opportunity.

If you have a talent for numbers and has an accounting background, he could best home business to provide you with your accounting services to small businesses. Many small businesses outsource this service because it does not require a full-time employee. You will have to do some marketing, when starting a business like this, but just talking with friends could open some doors for you.

Anyone who has a passion for writing and excellent grip in the English language should be considered for freelance writing, their best home business to start. With the Internet boom, there is a strong demand for writing articles, e-books, e-mail responder. The creation of an enterprise as a freelancer is extremely simple, because there are a lot of sites that advertise this business opportunity. This activity requires some ‘set-up costs.

Another business opportunity at home is blogging. As mentioned previously, the Internet is booming and is a clear need for this service. If you are able to write often, good grammar and know how to spend your time efficiently, this could be the best in the business for you. You earn blogging by selling advertising space, selling someone else’s affiliate companies, assignments, and even display Google AdSense. Constitution of the company is relatively easy and you can start making money almost immediately, which makes it a good business opportunity at home.

The above are some of the best home business opportunities that are available online. Not all of them is the best business for you. This is by no means a complete list of all the best business opportunities that are available, but it is an indication of what I believe is the home business easier and better-based start-up costs very little and short delivery times in order to achieve success.Visit My Website
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Business intelligence goes small: It's not just for the biggest shops anymore

Computerworld - For years, business intelligence and analytics tools seemed out of the reach of midmarket users. Complex and costly systems that required hardware, software, licensing and special skills were beyond the budgets and in-house IT talent pools of most midsize companies. But nowadays, with vendors offering lighter versions of their products and the rise of software as a service (SaaS), BI has become accessible to companies that previously might not have been able to afford it.

"The industry evolution toward self-service BI and SaaS BI is having a big impact on adoption in companies of all sizes," says James Kobielus, an analyst at Forrester Research. "Companies that want to do BI can adopt and provision it more rapidly at a lower cost" -- often pay-as-you-go -- "and make it available to a broader range of users with less IT involvement and lower capital costs," he says.

However, experienced users warn that even at its simplest, BI still requires a concerted effort.

"BI isn't about a single tool that does everything. It's an ongoing business strategy that needs to have resources dedicated to it," says Tony Murabito, CIO at Cubist Pharmaceuticals in Lexington, Mass. Drawing on his nearly 10 years of BI use, he warns that thinking of BI as a set-and-forget proposition or rushing an implementation could jeopardize enterprise plans and make the effort an IT liability.

"Between 70% and 80% of corporate business intelligence projects fail," according to Gartner analyst Patrick Meehan.

To avoid a disastrous outcome, midsize companies need to be disciplined and create a targeted development model, invest in training and staffing for both IT pros and end users, seek input and buy-in from their companies' various business units, be open to changing their data-collection processes and chart a path for growth.

A March 2010 Forrester report found that BI implementations by small and midsize businesses are on the upswing, even though SMB BI use lags behind BI use at larger organizations. Of 921 North American and European IT software decision-makers that Forrester surveyed, 21% of those at organizations with up to 999 employees said they have deployed BI technology already and 22% said they are expanding and upgrading their implementations. Other respondents from small and midsize businesses said that they have near-term plans for BI: 18% said they plan an implementation in the next 12 months.

As BI penetrates further into the SMB market, IT should strive to use it to do more than just reporting, says Thornton A. May, a Computerworld columnist and the author of The New Know: Innovation Powered by Analytics. "They should aim to... use the power of analytics to change the game and be competitive," says May, who is also dean of the IT Leadership Academy at Florida State College in Jacksonville.

A study that May conducted in support of his book showed that only 16% of companies in general are considered world class in their use of BI and the majority, 61%, are average. To be above average, he says, companies have to take advantage of everything that BI encompasses today: dashboards, visualization, social networking and the wisdom of crowds, and mash-ups that blend multiple data resources (internal and external) for a unique perspective.

Someday Dan Grosz plans to be in that world-class category, but so far he has found that doing BI correctly at the SMB level requires a slow, methodical approach. Grosz, who is vice president of information systems at VIP Parts, Tires and Service in Lewiston, Maine, was attracted to BI for its ability to analyze data across sales, inventory, financial and payroll systems. Grosz says that small companies "tend to have a smaller staff and budget," but the same factors that present challenges also present some opportunities. "It's probably easier to try newer, more innovative approaches," he says.

He worried early on about the traditional "waterfall" approach he had heard that BI requires, where IT had to have a complete vision of user needs up front -- once the only game in town for software development. He knew that would be impossible in his organization, because users weren't familiar with BI and wouldn't know what they wanted the system to do until they had access to it.

This independent paper from senior analyst Jon Collins at FreeForm Dynamics considers how Web-based security threats are evolving, within the context of IT trends including mobile, home computing and other forms of remote access that could potentially increase the attack surface of the companies. It defines the scale and types of threat, what to look for in a corporate web security solution and compares the different types of technological approach available to companies and the processes that need to be considered for effective protection.

Read now.

Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

Social-networking sites have revolutionized how businesses use the Internet. Instead of relying on faltering newspapers to find job candidates, companies can access thousands of potential employees through Facebook and Twitter. But social-networking sites have also left businesses vulnerable to new security threats. So are they tools to be used or security traps to be avoided?

Read now.

Will Be Successful In Online Business?

The Internet facilitates communication and many people do business online because of the low budget involved. But there are many people who have failed. What are the reasons why they are not, and how to avoid shortages?

1. Design

Proper planning is very important for many things, including all projects and operations. You need to plan what you want to do, what things are needed, and ways to do it. Without proper planning, people can easily get discouraged when they encounter obstacles.

2. Too much information

There is too much information from the Internet. Things are constantly changing, and there are always new methods, products and strategies. It is important to be aware of information overload. If you stop after the changes that you forget what you want. You have lost your direction and end up giving up because you can not keep.

3. Do not focus on

With the overwhelming information, we can focus on the loss of what he wants. You will not follow, depending on your plan, do not go according to your schedule and do not meet your goal. You give up and can not achieve what you want.

Not finding the fourth using

You can achieve success not only for you. You can get a mentor to help you, read books to learn, attend seminars, collaborate with someone, and even get formal training. It will be easier to achieve your goal, if there is someone to help you or get help from somewhere. Successful people can give you tips on how to go about doing things and avoid unnecessary mistakes. Start to look for help somewhere or someone.

5. Immediate result

Before reaching your goal, you must believe that you can get. It is common that we want the result of the effort we put in. However, online business, you have to constantly put in the effort and the result will come slowly. There is no overnight success. You must be discipline and keep doing things according to your plan. You must work hard for the success of getting what you reap.

Only those who consistently do the right thing will succeed. It may be necessary to assess the external environment and make changes accordingly. But you should not give up when there are obstacles, but think of ways to overcome them. You must persevere until you succeed.
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Start With A Business Opportunity Successful Home Based

It’s one thing to decide to start a business opportunity based at home and another to actually get started. Studies have shown that millions of Americans have decided that online businesses will help you to overcome financial difficulties and have seriously considered starting their own and only one tenth of them go with it. Then a few withered down to a group still very low as many of these brave entrepreneurs are not fully prepared with a lot of knowledge and skills needed to survive in the highly competitive arena of online market.

Many people do not understand that business success online depends heavily on how to start a home business opportunity. And most claim to have a great chance to get started is to have a business plan. A business plan will help you describe each factor that will affect your business. This will include all of your finances, costs, operational problems, resources, market strategy, target audience, and much more. Your business plan will help you be prepared for any unforeseen event with your company to reduce the risks that may cause the fall of a business opportunity.

Create a good business plan can be a problem, especially with people who have not one ounce of the unique business experience. Business plans can be complicated and time-especially those that are very comprehensive and well laid out. Therefore, you may need to have a superior course of business you can get online. You do not really need one that is synonymous with a business degree, especially if you’re busy, but it may be appropriate for, but a journey that will cover most bases and be able to To give you a good guide on how to do business online would be sufficient.

Get as much money as possible online marketing. It must be ensured that the home based business opportunities will fail if not well prepared for the online marketing strategy and campaign ready. You can find the courses that will also offer tutorials on online marketing, or you can purchase e-books, videos and newsletters that can help prepare and update their online marketing efforts.

Do not be afraid to invest in the help. If you think the race overnight business “transaction with the online marketing campaign will be overwhelming for you, then finding people with the skills and knowledge for a minimal fee, you may be able to do the work for you. For example, if you do not have the talent to write a good copy of your website, then you can find someone to do it for you.

If you’ve noticed that most of the preparations for a good start into an opportunity for home based business is about to develop as an owner. You are the greatest asset of your online business. In addition to training and research must also make sure you have the right attitude.

If you are looking for an opportunity honest, ethical and legitimate to generate a full time income at home

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Business calendar

Pioneer Oil Producers Society: Luncheon. 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m, H.E.S.S. Club, 5430 Westheimer. Speakers: James Noe, senior vice president-general counsel and chief compliance officer, Hercules Offshore, and president and CEO, Delta Towing. Topic: BOEMRE "permitorium" in the Gulf of Mexico, the problems it is causing shallow-water drilling contractors and the outlook. Cost: $22-$30. Information: www.pioneeroilproducers.com. Reservations: 281-679-6547.

iPad 101: Class hosted by Leisure Learning Unlimited. 6:30-9 p.m., 2990 Richmond Ave., suite 600. Cost: $35. Registration: www.llu.com.

After Hours Network: 6-8 p.m., Little Napoli Italian Cuisine, 6445 Westheimer. Topic: Port of Houston. Cost: $15. Information: www.afterhoursnetwork.com.

BNI Midtown: Meeting: 7:15-8:45 a.m., Katz's Deli, 616 Westheimer. Speaker: Daniel Jara of HomeStart Capital. Topic: Mortgages. Information: Tim Nurre at t.nurre@netstartel.net.

Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce: Small Business Lunch and Learn. 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Shirley Acres, 217 Woerner Road. Speaker: Carlos Rosales with FocalPoint Coaching of Greater Houston. Topic: 7 steps to improve effectiveness. Cost: $15-$20. Registration: www.HoustonNWChamber.org. Information: 281-440-4160.

BNI West Memorial: Meeting. 7-8:30 a.m., Crowne Plaza Hotel, 14703 Park Row. Speaker: Andrew Carvahlo, handyman. Reservations: Chris Liebum, 832-252-9413.

What's Happening in the Commercial Real Estate Lending Market?: Seminar sponsored by the Houston CPA Society. Noon-1 p.m., Houston CPA Training Facility, 1700 West Loop South. Speakers: Bill R. Frazer and Robert Vestewig. Cost: $40-$60. Information: 713-622-7733.

Houston Inventors Association: Meeting. 7-9 p.m., Bayland Park Community Center Building, 6400 Bissonnet. Speaker: Gerald Anderson. Topic: So you think you have an idea. Now what? Cost: $5. Information: Otto Glaser, 713-896-9935 or www.inventors.org.

ARMA — The Information Management Professionals: Monthly meeting. 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m., H.E.S.S. Club, 5430 Westheimer. Topic: Installation of officers followed by "Dilla Dollar" auction. Speaker: Renee Leach, ARMA Houston past president. Cost: $30-$45. Information: Sandy Miller 281-870-5593 or www.armahouston.org.

Lone Star Networking Group: Meeting: 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., The Egg & I, 4938 Beechnut. Topic: Ways to earn passive income through network marketing. Cost: Free. Contact: Susan Kherkher, 713-725-9732.

Services Cooperative Association Houston CrossRoads Business Building Breakfast: 7:15-8:30 a.m., H.E.S.S. Club, 5430 Westheimer. Speaker: Erica O'Grady, Peanut Butter Media. Topic: Zen and the art of social media marketing. Cost $22. Information: 713-932-7495 ext. 48. Online: http://servicesca.org/crossroads.htm.

Public Relations Society of America (PRSA Houston): Excalibur awards and silent auction. 6-10 p.m., InterContinental Houston, 2222 West Loop South. Topic: A Night with the PR Stars of Houstonwood. Master of Ceremonies: Mary Benton, KPRC-TV Channel 2. Cost: $90-$125. Registration: Online at www.prsahouston.org or call Paula Ruth at 281-870-1717.

The Continuity of Operations/Business Continuity Workshop: Sponsored by the Texas Engineering Extension Service, Tomball Economic Development Corp., Tomball Fire Department and the Tomball Local Emergency Planning Committee. 9 a.m.-4 p.m, Elmer L. Beckendorf Conference Center on the Lone Star College-Tomball campus. Program: F orm an effective plan for rapid recovery in the event of a disaster. Cost: $50. Information: Greater Tomball Area Chamber of Commerce, www.tomballchamber.org. Information: 281-351-7222.

IABC Houston Professional Development Luncheon: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Brennan's of Houston, 3300 Smith. Topic: Surviving in the digital age. Program: The Houston Business Journal 's transition to the digital age. Cost: $20-$55. Registration: www.iabchouston.com.

Ethics for the Real Estate Manager: Seminar hosted by the Institute of Real Estate Management Houston. 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Millennium Tower, 10375 Richmond Ave., first floor training room. Cost: $175-$220. Information: 713-783-9225. Online: www.iremhouston.org.

Missouri City State of the City: Luncheon hosted by the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce. 11:30 a.m.- 1 p.m., Sugar Creek Country Club, 420 Sugar Creek Blvd., Sugar Land. Speaker: Mayor Allen Owen. Topic: Smart Growth - A Balancing Act. Information: www.fortbendchamber.com.

EWI of Houston: Professional development workshop. 7:30 a.m., Hilton Houston Post Oak. Speaker: Simon T. Bailey of The Brilliance Institute. Topic: S hift your thinking. Cost: $149. Information: www.ewihouston.org.

Energy Prospectus Group: Luncheon. 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m,. H.E.S.S. Club, 5430 Westheimer. Speaker: Robert G. Watson Jr., CEO, Enerjex Resources. Topic: Operations update on eastern Kansas and South Texas. Cost: $30-$40. Reservations: www.energyprospectus.com or 281-435-8874.

Houston Society of Association Executives: Luncheon meeting. 11:30 a.m., Omni Houston Hotel, 4 Riverway. Cost: $35-$50. Registration: Alaina Yepez, 512-444-1974.

The Chronicle lists business events on a space-available basis. Send a description of the event, date, time, address, cost and phone number to: Katherine Feser, Business Calendar Editor, katherine.feser@chron.com, two weeks before publication.

4 Ways to Use Less Paper at Your Business

Small Business Trends is an award-winning online publication for small business owners, entrepreneurs and the people who interact with them

If you look in the trash can or – let’s hope — recycling bins at many businesses, you’ll probably find a ton of paper. Paper is one of the most common waste products at most businesses, and thus one of the biggest sustainability opportunities many small businesses have.

Cutting down on paper waste isn’t as easy as you’d think. For one thing, paper itself is relatively cheap, so business owners might feel like there’s little economic incentive to reduce it. Moreover, it’s hard to change perception that paper use has little environmental impact. But that’s not true: Recycling 1 ton of paper can save 7,000 gallons of water and enough energy to power the average U.S. home for six months, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Reducing paper use in the first place, then, can save a lot more.

Cutting down on paper waste should be viewed as high priority on your sustainability checklist, just like saving energy or reducing water use.  Here are four ways small businesses can cut down on their paper use.

1. Use printers that allows for double-sided printing. You can halve the amount of paper used by printing documents on both sides of paper. Some laser printers offer double-sided or “duplex” printing as a standard feature so you can easily set it up through your computer’s printer option features as the default mode. Others make it more tedious or impossible. Check into this capability before purchasing a new printer.

2. Repurpose used paper into notepads. Despite your best efforts, odds are you still have plenty of paper printed on one side that goes to waste. Collect this paper over time and turn it into small notepads for scratch paper. Many copy shops and office supply stores offer this service for less than a dollar per notepad, or you can bind them yourself by purchasing padding compound.

3. Cut down on junk mail. Junk mail to businesses accounts for a huge amount of needless paper waste. There are several strategies for stopping junk mail from being delivered to a business, which we’ve outlined before.

4. Go “paperless.” More businesses that traditionally rely on lots of paper for transactional purposes are finding ways to greatly reduce it. Some mortgage lenders, for instance, now put loan documents on jump drives and allow for electronic signatures to avoid printing out dozens of pages. Other businesses make PDFs of documents they want to save electronically rather than printing them out.

Of course, you still need paper for various things. So when you do buy paper products for your business, look for paper with a high post-consumer recycled content, such as 60 percent or even 100 percent.  This greatly reduces the number of trees cut down, gallons of water used and amount of carbon dioxide emitted to make that paper.

From Small Business Trends4 Ways to Use Less Paper at Your Business

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Social-Media Policy Examples in Business

Social-media marketing (SMM) is one of the latter stages of the process of creating and implementing an overall Internet-marketing strategy, but that does not make it any less important.

As we often write, the general philosophy of all marketing — online or traditional — in for-profit companies is to maximize the number of relevant leads and then direct them to the sales department. The principle has remained the same even though the tactics may change — but with one important difference.

The process of maximizing leads in online marketing involves attracting as much relevant traffic to a website from which people will purchase a product, click on an advertising banner, or perform some other desired action. As such, the point is that the website itself needs to be optimized as well as attractive and engaging as possible before the traffic arrives through search-engine marketing (SEM) and SMM. If a person visits the site and sees that it is unattractive and unprofessional, he will never return (and be less likely to “convert” in the first place).

We have addressed the basics of search-engine optimization (SEO) and SEM in other places, so here we will address social-media policy examples. This will become more important as Google begins to incorporate social-media postings in search results (see “SMM — Art of Social-Media Marketing in Google“). After a website is constructed, it will be just as important to perform SMM in an effective, ethical way. First, the general principles:

SMM must incorporate your desired branding. Just as the general marketing-strategy must support the chosen business-strategy, so must social-media policies reflect the overall marketing-strategy. SMM is a crucial way to reinforce your selected branding. If you are a university, then your Facebook and Twitter posts will likely be serious and link to academic writings. If you are selling music to tweens and teens, then your updates will probably include “text-message spelling” (“what r u up 2?”) and jokes in an informal style. And so on.SMM cannot be micromanaged. Traditional communications involves the sending of a smaller number of items like lengthy essays, press releases, and white papers. Each can be edited beforehand since the time-frame allows. However, social-media communications involve the sending of short messages (posts, tweets, and blog articles) very often — sometimes multiple times every few hours. If the marketing manager would review each one beforehand, then he would turn into a bottleneck and decrease the department’s efficiency. The person who is directly responsible for the marketing should be able to send the messages directly and without prior approval (as long as he knows the general policies and goals). The manager should review the communications in general once in a while and then provide feedback as warranted.SMM must be as authentic as possible. To some degree, nearly all marketing communications are inauthentic because they are written or produced in ways to suit the mentalities, needs, and desires of the targeted customers. It is not an objective articles like one would find in a objective newspapers. However, there is a debate among online marketers as to whether active, intentional deception is ethical. (See “SEM Preparation: Social Media, Twitter, Fake Personas.”) In the aforementioned teenage-music example, a company’s Twitter account may “be” a teenage kid — complete with a “name,” “picture,” and so on — to appeal to that customer base. But is this wrong? Policies need to be written to address the use of these strategies.SMM needs to address negative feedback. At some point, it is guaranteed that people like dissatisfied customers or unscrupulous competitors will post things you do not like on your Facebook page or addressed to you on Twitter. How should you respond? Ideally, social-media outlets can be an effective tool for customer service and market research. Someone may post on your Facebook page, “I used your product, and it broke after three days. Can I get a replacement?” And you can respond easily and cheaply (rather than by taking the time of customer-service representatives). But those people who develop a grudge against your company — rightly or not — may start harassing your company through posting negative items constantly. You need to develop a policy before this occurs.

These are just a few of the social-media marketing principles that form the foundation of effective outreach. However, it is important to develop policies alongside an overall strategy. For more information on specific social-media policy examples in companies and organizations that incorporate these principles, I recommend the sites here, here, and here for your own research.

Related: How SMM, Social-Media Guidelines Changed Advertising

Virtual worlds' business potential

For businesses, virtual worlds -computer-simulated environments in which individuals interact with one another via avatars representing their digital selves -offer a collaborative tool that has a number of possible uses, from saving money on travel and conference expenses to employee training. But despite virtual worlds' organizational potential, their workplace usage is still low, and a number of initial attempts by companies to establish a presence in virtual worlds met with failure. The challenge for longerterm virtual world adoption by corporations lies in clearly demonstrating the technology's business value to the organization. That business value will vary across organizations -and organizations need to find out for themselves what virtual worlds can do for them. One way to do so is through employees who are already familiar with the technology.

We argue that managers can better identify the potential business value of virtual worlds by taking advantage of some employees' engagement with this technology outside the workplace. To provide insights for organizations on virtual world use, we surveyed more than 200 early virtual world adopters, whom we reached through an invitation to participate in the study that was sent to 700 members of a large online community of virtual worlds users.

Our research indicated that these early adopters of virtual world technology tend to have a strong sense of information technology playfulness and a need for uniqueness. (IT playfulness refers to the degree of cognitive spontaneity in computer interactions, and need for uniqueness refers to a tendency to seek distinctiveness through adoption and use of symbolic products or innovations.) This characterization is in line with the gaming origin of virtual worlds and with the use of avatars, which can be customized by the user. Indeed, many respondents selfidentified as having a strong need for uniqueness, which they fulfill via the use of emerging technologies. Respondents further indicated an inherent tendency to innovate with new technologies. Finally, respondents displayed a predisposition to use technologies creatively.

Our survey of these early adopters of virtual worlds revealed a strong link between the use of virtual worlds for entertainment and the identification of their usefulness for work. While utilitarian and recreational uses are distinct, it is not unimaginable that an individual who uses a virtual world for entertainment will explore and exploit its usefulness for work. This is especially true when the individual is satisfied with the performance of the virtual world for entertainment. Our survey results strongly indicate such a diffusion of virtual worlds use from the recreational to the workplace domain. In other words, our survey showed that those who currently use virtual worlds for entertainment -and are satisfied with the experience -are more likely to use them for work.

As one survey respondent, a marketing executive at a large international organization, put it, "[Our company's] early adopters were mostly from a community of people who were involved in virtual worlds for play, saw the potential for using them for work and encouraged [our company] to explore this space." Within organizations, such early adopters are also more likely to voluntarily assume the role of technological evangelists -that is, voluntary and enthusiastic champions whose support and motivation are critical for the widespread adoption of virtual worlds within the organization. The low-cost, low-risk strategy for companies is to identify such individuals within their own organizations and allow them to explore business applications for virtual worlds.

© Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Will Be Successful In Online Business?

The Internet facilitates communication and many people do business online because of the low budget involved. But there are many people who have failed. What are the reasons why they are not, and how to avoid shortages?

1. Design

Proper planning is very important for many things, including all projects and operations. You need to plan what you want to do, what things are needed, and ways to do it. Without proper planning, people can easily get discouraged when they encounter obstacles.

2. Too much information

There is too much information from the Internet. Things are constantly changing, and there are always new methods, products and strategies. It is important to be aware of information overload. If you stop after the changes that you forget what you want. You have lost your direction and end up giving up because you can not keep.

3. Do not focus on

With the overwhelming information, we can focus on the loss of what he wants. You will not follow, depending on your plan, do not go according to your schedule and do not meet your goal. You give up and can not achieve what you want.

Not finding the fourth using

You can achieve success not only for you. You can get a mentor to help you, read books to learn, attend seminars, collaborate with someone, and even get formal training. It will be easier to achieve your goal, if there is someone to help you or get help from somewhere. Successful people can give you tips on how to go about doing things and avoid unnecessary mistakes. Start to look for help somewhere or someone.

5. Immediate result

Before reaching your goal, you must believe that you can get. It is common that we want the result of the effort we put in. However, online business, you have to constantly put in the effort and the result will come slowly. There is no overnight success. You must be discipline and keep doing things according to your plan. You must work hard for the success of getting what you reap.

Only those who consistently do the right thing will succeed. It may be necessary to assess the external environment and make changes accordingly. But you should not give up when there are obstacles, but think of ways to overcome them. You must persevere until you succeed.

Start With A Business Opportunity Successful Home Based

It’s one thing to decide to start a business opportunity based at home and another to actually get started. Studies have shown that millions of Americans have decided that online businesses will help you to overcome financial difficulties and have seriously considered starting their own and only one tenth of them go with it. Then a few withered down to a group still very low as many of these brave entrepreneurs are not fully prepared with a lot of knowledge and skills needed to survive in the highly competitive arena of online market.

Many people do not understand that business success online depends heavily on how to start a home business opportunity. And most claim to have a great chance to get started is to have a business plan. A business plan will help you describe each factor that will affect your business. This will include all of your finances, costs, operational problems, resources, market strategy, target audience, and much more. Your business plan will help you be prepared for any unforeseen event with your company to reduce the risks that may cause the fall of a business opportunity.

Create a good business plan can be a problem, especially with people who have not one ounce of the unique business experience. Business plans can be complicated and time-especially those that are very comprehensive and well laid out. Therefore, you may need to have a superior course of business you can get online. You do not really need one that is synonymous with a business degree, especially if you’re busy, but it may be appropriate for, but a journey that will cover most bases and be able to To give you a good guide on how to do business online would be sufficient.

Get as much money as possible online marketing. It must be ensured that the home based business opportunities will fail if not well prepared for the online marketing strategy and campaign ready. You can find the courses that will also offer tutorials on online marketing, or you can purchase e-books, videos and newsletters that can help prepare and update their online marketing efforts.

Do not be afraid to invest in the help. If you think the race overnight business “transaction with the online marketing campaign will be overwhelming for you, then finding people with the skills and knowledge for a minimal fee, you may be able to do the work for you. For example, if you do not have the talent to write a good copy of your website, then you can find someone to do it for you.

If you’ve noticed that most of the preparations for a good start into an opportunity for home based business is about to develop as an owner. You are the greatest asset of your online business. In addition to training and research must also make sure you have the right attitude.

If you are looking for an opportunity honest, ethical and legitimate to generate a full time income at home

click here http://www.differentwaystomakemoneyonline.com

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5 Ways To Make Google Analytics Benefit You

Google Analytics is absolutely free and there are many benefits that come with installing it on your site. We've listed the top five things you can do as soon as you start tracking your site with Analytics:

1. AdWords advertisers can make Analytics available right in their AdWords account as a separate tab through a simple linking process. Advertisers can review extra data for their online campaigns by tracking landing page quality and conversions (goals), and pick out their highest performing ads.
   You can also use Analytics to track other Google products including AdSense, Blogger, and Google Sites.
2. See which pages drive the most pageviews on your site from the Top Content report. This report can answer questions you have about your most or least effective pages - for example, a high bounce rate indicates a landing page that should be redesigned or tailored to the specific ad which links to it.
3. Which groups of visitors became customers or did something else important to the success of your business? You can get key insights for these questions by setting up goals.
   
4. Grant other people in your company or organization access so that they are restricted to viewing reports in a profile or given full access to help manage your entire account as an administrator.
5. There are over 80 reports with customizable, drag-and-drop interfaces. You can also create your own reports with Custom Reporting, create the segments you want to see with Advanced Segmentation, or view multi-dimensional views of your data with Motion Charts.

Magnifying Business Chances

Unlike magnifyin,g lens, search engine optimization does not only make a business company appear "virtually" bigger. Rather, it makes the business company "actually" bigger by using the information superhighway or what we commonly refer to as the World Wide Web.
The world today is mostly influenced by the World Wide Web, and we know that for a fact. Almost all trades and industries make use of it in order to heighten their status. All that consumers should do is to simply key in their queries using certain keywords in search engines like Google and Yahoo!. However, recently, there are not only thousands but millions of corporate names in the internet. With this colossal count of names in the online market, chances are slim for most companies to get to the top chart and get seen by potential clients and costumer. Thus, this is where search engine optimization comes in, but how?
Well, here is the simple rationale behind this optimization process. Considering the aforementioned claims, search engine optimization develops websites of businesses in a way that it gets seen by people easily on the internet. It makes use of various ways and means in order to do so. And ranging from small-scale businesses to medium sized ones and up to the leading business names in the globe, this kind of optimization tool proves to be a really expedient means of increasing business market and eventually, sales.
On that note, search engine optimization also has other advantages aside from merely magnifying the existence of business companies in the World Wide Web. This trend also spares a company from the hassles of marketing the business using other ways and means. With this optimization process, business market broadens to the optimum level without undergoing so many hassles. Also, this process of marketing a business helps in saving company funds. As compared to using other media of marketing, doing it online is definitely less costly.
Further still, search engine optimization allows not only potential clients and customers to reach the company but also other companies. With the company optimized, it would be easy for other corporate bodies to access and deal with the said company and conduct possible business to business transactions and relationships which would pave a way for a business expansion and which is certainly good and advantageous for the company.
Finally, borrowing a line from raffle draw events, "the more entries you have, the more chances of winning too!" But well, in this case, it should rather go this way, "the more optimized a business gets, the more chances it gets at snagging clients and profit too!"

SEMRush GEO

How To Offer Local Businesses And Attract More Clients, How To Finds Local AdWords Advertisers? There’s an easy way today to find companies who are using AdWords locally and help their business grow.
For those who missed out the news, just recently was launched a free(beta version) tool from Semrush team called ‘SEMRush GEO‘ which let PPC Fans and SEO Professionals, and bloggers to find local AdWords Advertisers and clients with just a few mouse clicks.

The best part of this free tool is that shows sites advertising in Google AdWords and mapped on Google Maps by their addresses, so you have a full overview of all companies located in a particular area you’ve choosen and know what are the most profitable. For Whom SEMRush GEO May Be Useful?

For bloggers this tool can be useful to spy company that already buy AdWords and improving their AdWords campaign. E.g. you can offer them local businesses, help put their business online and attract more clients (e.g. help them to set up a blog, promote it, and so on). Even, you can offer local AdWord ads on your blog and help them reach a wider audience. How Does Geo Semrush Works?

First at all, go on geo.semrush.com. If you drag the map and zoom in and out you can view regions with lots of AdWords advertisers and zoom in to view their exact locations. In general, the map show you three main simbols:

    * A red circle
    * A Gold circle
    * A little windows with all company informations

Start this typing the key term “Jersey City”(ps: the image below show ‘New York’ as key term, it was a mistake). As I said above, this tool let you see red circles in the map. What does it means? In brief, they represent regions where AdWords advertisers are located. The bigger the circle are, the more advertisers are located in this region. Simple right? You can drag and zoom the map to find regions you’re looking for, with a maximum of 100 regions, sorted by number of advertisers, are shown for current map.

Now, click on the region “Jersey City”

Next, you should see Golden coins in the map which show locations of AdWords advertisers. The bigger the coin are, the more AdWords Ads this advertiser has. If you move the mouse over each Golden coins, a windows will appear with all details about the company, in particular it show you:

1. Company name(e.g. TheLadders), 2. Company domain name(e.g. TheLadders.com), 3. Link to Google Maps for this domain name, 4. Company address(e.g. 137 Varick street, New York, NY 10013-1105), 5. Number of AdWords keywords that SEMRush knows for this domain name (e.g. 41961). 6. Report button.

Any Adwords ads in the left sidebar(image above) link to SEMRush’s AdWords report which let you track many things about the company sites you’re interested in. Here are just a few element you can check through this strong tool:

    * Pos: It show you any position ranking for the keyword you select.

    * Volum: Average volume of searches for this keyword per month.

    * Cpc: Cost per click based Google Adwords keyword tool.

    * Url: You can know which url of the site is ranking for that keyword.

    * Traffic: For each keyword you know the percentage of traffic that refer that keyword.

    * Cost: Cost of traffic in percentage that the website get for a particular keyword.

    * Competition: Advertisers activity in Google Adwords for this keyword.

    * Results: Number of results for this keyword known by Google.

    * Keyword: You can know for what keyword your site competitors is ranking for. If you are intoaffiliate marketing you can also know what are the company is ranking.

How Does To Use All This Data? A Pratical Example: For instance, in little time you could create a list of local, hotels, restaurants and other shops advertising on AdWords and start contacting them with an offer they can’t refuse. You could say something similar…

    “Hi. My name is Harry. I want to help your company attract more clients and sell additional products and make you increase your montly income stream. I’d like if we can working together. I can provide proven blogging services and I’d like to schedule a 30-minute consulting call with you to see if I can help with your specific business needs. Hope in a quick answer. All the best, Harry”

Using online marketing with offline marketing is a perfect mix to improve profit. As I said above if you’re offering blogging services, then this is a great opportunity for you to help clients make more money. Also, with the free(beta version) you can also see local AdWords advertisers in some country, say like in US, UK or India.

AlertPay the online payment solution

Once you have opened a Personal Starter account, this account is the perfect way to send or receive money.

Personal Starter Account Benefits
    Sending and Receiving is FREE
    Monthly receiving limit of $400*
    cummulative lifetime receiving limit of $2000 *
    Pay by credit card without disclosing your credit card number to merchants
  *Upgrade to Personal Pro to remove limits
**No Business Tools (shopping cart, buy now/subscription buttons, etc.), and you cannot receive credit card payments.

Deposit Funds
Need to deposit money into your AlertPay account? AlertPay offers you numerous depositing options for your AlertPay account. Deposit funds by bank transfer*, certified check, money order or bank wire, then spend your money anywhere you like while keeping your personal information confidential.

Sending Payments
Sending payments couldn't be easier! Make payments for purchases, send money to friends and family or even pay for an auction item. Send payments using your AlertPay balance or credit card. Simply login to your account and click on "Send Money" to get started. Try it now!

Withdraw Funds
When you decide to withdraw your funds, you have the option of withdrawing to your bank account or requesting a check. Spend your money or withdraw it — it's your choice.

You may also contact CustomerSupport for assistance ask for FAQ.
* Please check the FAQ to see if they are able to offer localized banking for your country.

What is Managed VPN Services

The business landscape has changed and, in order for your business to be competitive, your company must be constantly connected to your vendors, suppliers and customers over the Internet.

Access is no longer limited to home connections. The ability to access email, files, and information is vital to the success of all organizations. Travelers need access everywhere.

The rise of unlimited wireless access makes widespread remote access a reality as well as a threat. Secure SMB offers a broad array of large and small solutions to handle remote access.

Create secure remote access via SSL VPN gateways. New security appliances provide secure remote access for 10 to 10,000 users without the need of complex client software. The technology uses the SSL encryption of web pages to create secure virtual private networks (VPN). Secure SMB offers solutions from Juniper, Symantec and Cisco.

A wide variety of traditional IPsec VPN solutions are also available (IPsec or site-to-site VPN).

Remote user access is enabled while constant monitoring and instant access to corporate information over the Internet is achieved by establishing secure VPN connectivity between the gateway and the firewall.

Business Strategy

Learn from Tyler Garns (Infusionsoft's strategic marketing guru) and Jeff Mask (Infusionsoft's "Customer Guy"). You must know about how to:

1. Map out your marketing automation strategy.
2. Automate your business processes the right way.
3. Use personalization to convert more leads.
4. Leverage marketing automation to connect marketing, sales, and customer service in a way that creates the perfect customer experience (and turns them into raving fans)