Interactive Map Lets You Find Dinosaur Tracks, Extinct Volcanoes | Live Science

June 4, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Want to trace the footsteps of dinosaurs or pinpoint the exact location of extinct volcanoes? A new interactive geological map of Texas lets people browse everything from where dinos once roamed to the whereabouts of oil and gas formations.

The U.S. Geological Survey map, which can be accessed for free online, offers a unique window into the history of the ground beneath the Lone Star State. The map shows Texas at a scale of 1:250,000, and allows users to zero in on geographic layers of interest, such as specific fault lines or types of rocks.

5 Ways to Monitor Competitor Website Traffic | Small Biz Trends

June 4, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The entire goal of SEO (search engine optimization) is to get ahead of your competitors, by whatever Google-friendly means necessary. And just like in warfare, if you want to know how to get ahead of your adversary, you need to know their strategies.

Luckily, Google and other search engines make it pretty easy for you to monitor competitor website traffic strategies by using a number of useful tools.

Identify Competitors

To begin, know your enemy. You can’t expect to get ahead of your competitors if you don’t know exactly who they are, what their mission is, and how they plan to execute it. Your biggest competitors may not be who you think they are. Search engines no longer base comparable companies on size. Just because a company is small, doesn’t mean that they won’t be dangerous to your business.

Take the time to jot down a list of your biggest challengers by searching your own top keywords in search engines. The first 10-20 most common competitors on the list are most likely your biggest threat, and those are the companies you’ll want to closely analyze in order to learn what they’re doing right for such high rankings.

Why You Should Be Asking Your Customers for Referrals | All Business

June 4, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

I have said this time and time again: you must ask for referrals if you want to grow your business. Referrals can contribute to a larger percentage of your revenue if done correctly. In fact, approximately 50 percent of my revenue is generated from referrals. Without them, I would be stuck putting in countless hours online trying to drum up fresh leads.

Referrals are easier to generate than you may think. The hardest part is getting up the courage to ask. Some people think they will offend customers by asking for more business. In reality, your customers will be more than happy to send people your way if they are satisfied with your work. As such, it is important that you develop a good relationship with your clients and develop a plan to seek referral business from each and every one of them.

If you are not yet sold on asking for referral business, here are a few facts that will hopefully convince you:

Referrals don’t cost anything.

People always know someone who can benefit from your services.

Your customers are better at marketing than you.

Referrals can lead to more referrals.

Here’s How Disney is Controlling Your Mind | Page19

June 3, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

What does it take to be the Happiest Place on Earth? You can use a lot of words to describe it—fantastic, magical, paradisiacal—but one thing it isn’t is accidental.

Though the atmosphere might feel fanciful, at The Magic Kingdom, every sight, sound, and smell has been painstakingly calibrated and adjusted to create an atmosphere. Be Our Guest, by Theodore Kinni, goes in-depth to explain just what kinds of sugar and spice go into everything nice at Disney.

Smell

Have you ever wondered why you can smell popcorn first thing in the morning at Disneyland? Much like a real estate agent spraying fresh baked cookie smell all over a house he’s about to show, the popcorn smell is used to create a cozy and festive atmosphere.

How to Make Your Office an Inviting Place to Work | Getentrepreneurial.com

June 2, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The office is your space to be productive. It’s where you do most of your work, spend most of your weekday waking hours and where you need to be able to focus. The same can be said for your employees. Because of this, many business owners focus on productivity – on having the right equipment in the right spaces to ensure every task can be accomplished on time.

What about making your space more inviting? What about making it a place that you and your employees want to show up at every day, where collaboration that leads to measurable results can happen and where each person can be the best they can be to reach company goals? It all starts with making your office a little more inviting. Follow the 10 tips below to get started.

Eliminate Awkward Silences

Silence happens. While many business owners see silence as a positive, a sign that progress is taking place, many others see it as a distraction. While distracting noises and loud music might be detrimental to a positive working environment, other sounds may be more beneficial. In fact, one study found that work output increased 6.3 percent by adding background noise.

This Texas Gas Station Turned Camels and Karaoke Into a $30 Million Business | Inc.com

June 1, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Editor’s note: This tour of small businesses across the country highlights the imagination, diversity, and resilience of American enterprise.

Come for the cheap gas and tacos. Stay for the livestock and karaoke.

This is a typical Saturday night at Fuel City in Dallas. Two police officers direct traffic as cars line up for unleaded gas at $2.39 a gallon. All three taco windows are mobbed, as are the carts peddling elote en vaso (corn in a cup). Customers wander into the karaoke trailer (complete with disco ball) to belt out Tejana favorites, country classics, and oldies. Out back, longhorn cattle snooze on the ground. The zebra remains standing.

“Our slogan is ‘Where dreams come true,'” says Fuel City founder John Benda. “Maybe that’s a little corny. But that’s what I want this place to be.”

5 Horrible Traits That Push People Away | Entrepreneur

May 29, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

There are certain horrible habits that some people have that simply drive others away. As the old saying goes, every person has something good to offer. But for some, it’s when they leave the room. Are people happy when you walk in or overjoyed when you walk out?

Here are five horrible traits that push people away, how to recognize if you have them and how to get rid of them for good.

1. You’re a downer.

We’ve all been around these people. They whine, they complain, they talk about how much is going wrong in their lives and they want to tell you every detail of it.

How do you know if it’s you that’s the downer? Pay attention to what you’re talking about the most. Did you complain about traffic as your opening line when you got to your meeting this morning? Did you make sure to tell those around you how little sleep you got last night, how hard you’re working or how busy you are?

Steps to a Successful Product Launch | Business News Daily

May 28, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Got a great idea for a new product? In addition to its design and logistics, you’re probably already thinking about how you’re going to launch it.

A well-executed launch is your chance to grab customers’ attention and make a strong impression with your product. But like all first impressions, it’s hard to correct a product launch if it doesn’t go smoothly right off the bat — especially if it’s your very first product.

“Product launches are tricky because, unlike other marketing efforts, you really only have one chance to get it right,” said Daniel Waldman, president of PR and marketing firm Evolve Communications. “There’s not a lot of room for testing and refining tactics. Launches need to pack a punch.”

Train Employees to Avoid Inadvertent Cyber-Security Breaches | Payroll Link

May 27, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

How much do you know about cybersecurity? Small business owners often lack the resources to enact a strong defense against cybercrimes and take for granted that their IT systems are relatively safe. To better understand some of the common ways employees can unwittingly become a conduit for hackers, take the following quiz. This quiz was adapted from a resource offered as a public service by AFCEA, an association of data security professionals.

True or False

1. Mobile applications downloaded from major brand online stores are generally safe.

False: These stores may try to vet mobile applications for malicious behavior, but there’s no guarantee they’re safe. Some online stores may not assess the legitimacy of an app at all, or not adequately.

2. The address or URL you see in the link is always the actual website to which you’re being directed.

False: Masking the real website address in links is a common way cybercriminals use to fool unsuspecting victims into visiting malicious websites. To see where a link actually leads, let your mouse hover over the link without clicking on it.

3. What you or your employees do on social media could have a negative impact on you or your organization.

True: Identity thieves, robbers and other criminals are adept at piecing together data bits from various social media sites, and using the information to plan online and physical attacks.

Selling your Android phone? Don’t. It keeps your data. | Money CNN

May 27, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

If you recently sold your old Android phone, chances are your text messages, emails, pictures and Facebook key are still in there, even if you wiped its memory clean.

A new study by computer researchers at the University of Cambridge shows that “factory reset” — at least on Android devices — doesn’t actually erase everything.

Sometimes it doesn’t even come close.

The used smartphone market is huge and about 630 million phones out there are susceptible to this problem, according to the study. Wall Street analysts expect the market will keep blowing up in size until at least 2018.

Researchers tested 21 phones made by Google (GOOGL, Tech30), HTC, LG, Motorola (MSI) and Samsung (SSNLF). In every case, they were able to recover text messages, Google account credentials and conversations on messaging apps. A few emails remained on the device 80% of the time.