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You’re not alone. Countless entrepreneurs struggle with using social networking platforms to help develop an audience, grow a following, and build a community around their brand or business. Social Media Ain’t Easy Social networking isn’t an easy part of marketing for entrepreneurs. It takes time to manage and effort to understand. Just tweeting, posting, or sharing information isn’t enough in a world saturated with a variety of content. You must develop strategies, create and curate content, and constantly seek to add value....

The online world has gotten pretty chaotic over the last year. From Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter to increased security threats around every corner, it can feel like you can’t trust anything you see online. Unfortunately, this trend appears to be bleeding into the ecommerce world, as it turns out a large percentage of traffic to these sites is fake at best, and actively malicious at worst. Either way, this report should make you reconsider your ecommerce website traffic and perhaps take some steps to ensure you are protected as much as possible....

We all have them. Sometimes we take them for granted. But they are an essential component of a working person’s downtime and an integral part of the daily building blocks of startup leader’s success strategy. Most entrepreneurs are very tactical about their free time. In the startup life, every minute of every day counts. So here’s how some startup founders and entrepreneurs choose to spend their downtime: “I practice yoga 2-3 times a week, regardless of schedule or travel....

To minimize such costs and risks, here are five great prototyping tools that seasoned designers and non-coding product owners will enjoy using equally. PowerMockup Why should you bother with adopting another tool when you can power up an existing one? That’s what PowerMockup does. It’s a handy Microsoft PowerPoint add-in that turns the app into a full-feature prototyping tool. It adds a library pane to the original application, thus offering you quick access to all the included wireframe and mockup shapes to use for quick prototyping....

In the past, big corporations like JPMorgan, Sony, and Target have experienced serious data breaches resulting from cyber-crimes, while small organizations have attracted less attention. This does not mean that small businesses are not victimized. Here are the reasons why they need to start taking cyber security seriously: 1: Cyber Threats Are Real According to a Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, 60 percent of cyber-attacks target small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs)....

Whether you are looking for a creative twist on an existing idea or need to start completely from scratch, these 5 startup name generators will help you get your business off the ground with some flare. NameBird (from Shobia) – This startup name generator is what you use to get a little extra inspiration. If you have a name already, just put it in and watch the hundreds of other options fly across the screen....

As with any issue that faces businesses, there’s a research report to help. “Inside Social Media: Course corrections ahead” is a paper released this year from our friends at Universum Global. Here’s a quick look at the highlights from the study on social media recruiting. Know Your EVP The Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is an integral element for any business using social media to drum up employees. If you don’t know what you provide, you can’t offer a clear, clean, enticing social media post....

Mobile security breaches are on the rise: about 39 percent of users have downloaded malware, many of them without even suspecting it. Smartphones and tablets are not just toys anymore – people use them for business, handling finances, shopping. Mobile devices store sensitive information, therefore their security is vital. We cannot afford carelessness with which we have been treating mobile up until now. The following is the list of essentials recommended to keep your data safe....

For top-of-the-funnel (“TOFU”) content marketing, blog posts and social media activity undoubtedly rule the roost. But for the next steps, the middle of the funnel (“MOFU”), when your audience is ready to start learning in detail about the specifics of your solution, articles aren’t going to cut it. In recent years, eBooks have emerged as the go-to format for long-form, deep-dive content marketing, which makes a lot of sense. eBooks get shared a lot, they’re timeless, and they’re great for developing a reputation for thought leadership....

As Jennifer Lachs explains in her guide to becoming a digital nomad, a study conducted by Upwork found that: As the creator of Digital Nomad Girls highlights, this may be because of the extra motivation, inspiration and professional network acquired when traveling while working online. This list of online resources will help all digital nomads make the most out of their location independent careers: Nomad List Nomad list is probably the largest online community for digital nomads....

While geo-arbitrage may allow you to have a more lavish lifestyle for less, the prices for airfare can still make a serious dent in your pocket. Getting from one part of the globe to another may not be the time of your life when you are on an overbooked flight either. These strategies should help you minimize the unglamorous side of frequent air travel. Take Advantage of Your “Free” Schedule Unlike the majority of the population, you are not forced to take vacations strictly at the appropriate times like Christmas or Thanksgiving....

Industry analyst Mary Meeker’s 2018 Internet Trends presentation relies on data gathered across 2017. It’s one of the best bellwethers the tech industry relies on to predict what is on the horizon for the rest of 2018 and the first half of 2019. Here’s a look at the top six findings that startups will find the most relevant. Voice AI Is Trending Up Why Tech Startups Care The voice AI ecosystem is the perfect entry point for a startup: Small enough to get a foothold, but growing quickly enough to scale up rapidly....

And if you really want to make sure you are keeping clients and customers happy when it comes to web design, these seven tools will go a long way in helping you out. Webflow Webflow is a great tool for emerging web designers or the DIY crowd. Instead of using a good old pen and paper for prototyping and wire-framing, you can now use the simple drag and drop interface for doing the job for you....

According to Unique Support Services the biggest cause of illness in the workplace is simply dirty hands. “Recent research found that levels of bacteria were significantly higher in shared workspaces than on single occupancy desks.” If you are starting to look around and wonder where the germs are hiding, keep reading. In a historic study by the University of Arizona (UA), in consultation with Charles Gerba, a professor of soil, water and environmental science at the UA, hygienists from Kimberly-Clark Professional conducted The Healthy Workplace Project collected nearly 5,000 individual swabs from office buildings housing more than 3,000 employees....

There is Strong Demand Nothing says business success quite more than strong demand. If your products are selling well and way beyond what you originally forecasted, you’re obviously on the right track. Know, however, that great demand requires great supply. Failing to meet market demand means turning away orders and potentially helping your competitors succeed. Can your company adapt and meet the demand head-on? Great Feedback Happy customers are often one of the best indicators of a thriving business....

To keep this post as useful as possible, we’ll break down the eight stages of VC investment so you can keep track of where you’re supposed to be and when: Pre-Raise A good investor will know about you, your company, and your market before you speak to them for the first time. Good VCs track AppAnnie, Alexa, Linkedin, GitHub, ProductHunt and similar services to spot interesting companies and monitor trends....

The good news is that over the past decade these numbers have been in decline, and some of the reasoning is tied to awareness, accessibility of testing, and better treatment. Regardless of the decline, an estimated 40,610 women will die this year because of breast cancer, and that is why new organizations continue to fight back against it. Now in the middle of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we’re taking a look at some of the ways startups have been combating the disease, and how examinations are becoming more accessible around the world....

During his sessions talk “Driverless Cars: Implications for Travel Behavior” Bhat posed the question: what will the connected car look like further down the road? As the title of his talk says, Bhat believes that humans are on the brink of evolving the connected car into the driverless vehicle. To start, he posed that there are effectively 5 different levels of the connected car: Level 0: No automation whatsoever.Level 1: Function-specific automation like cruise control....

Creating a Data-Driven Marketing Strategy In 2014 Pep Boys Chief Marketing Officer Ron Stoupa moved to Sports Authority to take over the same role there. In a recent interview with a Forbes writer, Stoupa explains why he championed a data literacy movement: Data literacy gives marketers the power to prove their campaigns were successful. It also gives them the power to move on from unsuccessful campaigns more quickly, saving the company money....

Since advertising continues to freefall, that’s welcome news for the journalism industry. They’re still headed towards a risky, deathly transition from one model to another, but at least it finally appears that they’ll have a firm ground to plant themselves for the future. Ad Revenue Is Plummeting In 2005, U.S. newspapers earned $47.4 billion in print revenue and $2 billion in digital revenue. In 2014, they earned just $16.4 billion in print revenue and had only pulled their digital revenue up to $3....