Tag Archives: Albany

About 1721 days ago Internet and Online Business

Six Ways to Track Your Competitors Online

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Executives love to read and quote the ancient Chinese military strategist, Sun Tzu, who famously noted in his treatise The Art of War that “if you are ignorant of both your enemy and yourself, then you are a fool and certain to be defeated in every battle”. Sun Tzu was talking about hand-to-hand combat on the battlefield, of course. But in the business world, he has become perhaps the poster child of competitive intelligence gathering. That being the case, Sun Tzu would have loved the Internet. Never has it been so easy to keep up with adversaries. Business owners have traditionally turned to their marketing department to churn up information on competitors. Nowadays they might be better off turning to their webmaster. “If your webmaster doesn’t ask you who your top three competitors are, then you probably hired the wrong webmaster,” says Sara Mannix, president of Mannix Marketing based in Albany, N.Y. Of course, premium information does come at a price. Just run a Google search on “competitive intelligence” and watch over 11,000 results pop up. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of consultants among those results that are available to help a small business owner help identify and gather the dirt on every competitor in his or her market niche. For those just getting their feet wet, however; save your money. Here are six ways to get started in being your own competitive intelligence gatherer on the Web and it won’t cost anything, but time. 1. Google alerts. “I use Google Alerts all the time. It’s probably the best tool out there,” says Mannix. Google alerts allows users to set up alerts by keywords and phrases that trigger an e-mail notification and link every time that word or phrase pops up on a site, blog, or news story — depending on how the alert is configured. A business primarily concerned about three top competitors, for example, might set up a Google alert on all three companies and their top executives monitoring every time they get a mention online. 2. Search engine and site analytics. It may seem like a no-brainer to keep an eye on the search engines and note which companies in your niche are beating you in the rankings. What to do about it is another matter. Mannix suggest the following tips: Check back links on competitor websites. A recent survey by the non-profit Pew Internet & American Life found that only 50 percent of American Internet users actually use a search engine everyday. So what’s a big factor driving traffic to a site? The answer is link backs. That is, other sites that link to the competition’s site. “What small businesses need to know is that they need to find links that drive traffic,” says Mannix. To make her point, Mannix tells the story of a local travel site in upstate New York, where her company is based, that researched its back links of a competitor’s site and found 80 percent of their traffic was coming from one site: RVParks.com. It only cost a hundred dollars to get linked from the site, which was obviously money well spent. Look at keywords. What keywords is the webmaster at your company using to boost the corporate site in the rankings? Now have the webmaster take a look at the competition’s keywords. This is easy information to gather from sites like Key Word Density. Another way is to simply look at the code of their websites. Simply go to the site and click on “View” at the top of the browser, then “Source” or “Page Source” depending on your browser. A page of htmlcode will pop up and the keywords will be buried in the code near the top of the page. Monitor traffic. Just as you are monitoring numbers like unique visitors, length of stay on the site, most viewed pages, and where visitors are coming from, follow those same analytics on other sites. This is easy information to track on such free sites as Alexa.com and Quantcast.com.  3. Monitor eBay. For online retailers, keeping an eye on eBay is essential and you can do it from trolling the search engines. Business owners need to be mindful of what’s happening in their line of products on eBay. Check prices. Follow what brands, colors, and models of products are moving faster than others. Note the number of sellers in that niche and which ones have a website presence, as well. “It’s a completely different world. Companies often throw their clearance items on eBay and use that to lure them into their real site,” says Mannix. 4. Monitor Twitter. For those business owners who have never even heard of Twitter, it may be time to get acquainted. Twitter is a social network site that allows members of its community to send short one to two line dispatches throughout their day updating what they’re doing, talking about, thinking about, etc. If this sounds like an invitation to monitor the minutiae of the lives of others, for the most part it is. However, it is also increasingly a place where industry buzz starts. “Twitter produces the edge of what’s going on. It’s where you often now hear the first low rumble of something. You have to participate, though. I’ve shown this to clients and you should see how their eyes are opened as to how much is being said about what’s going on out there,” says John Jantsch, author of the book and popular blog entitled Duct Tape Marketing. 5. Keep an eye on their staff. You can learn a lot about a company just by reading their “About Us” page and monitoring their job postings. Note the backgrounds of the top brass, especially new blood. Their resumes will give you an idea of where the company might be going. If your main competitor is a medical supply company and they just hired a new CEO with a background in surgical equipment, then there’s a clue which area they may plan to beef up sales. If the online bios of the executive team are vague, try researching them on one of the professional networking sites like LinkedIn or Plaxo. If a company has several postings for jobs in another state, chances are it’s expanding with a new location there. 6. RSS feeds. If this sounds like too many channels of information to monitor on a regular basis, there’s an easy solution to save time and simplify — RSS feeds. Jantsch is a big fan of RSS feeds for intelligence gathering. “You can keep up with entire industries, customers, and competitors by feeding things like Google Alerts, Twitter, and all of your other RSS feeds into one RSS feed,” says Jantsch, who recommends MySyndicaat.com as an effective tool to combining RSS feeds.

About 1844 days ago Data Security

Avoid Security Pitfalls with Subcontractors

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You’re a not-so-big company, and you simply must outsource some sensitive tasks — perhaps payroll or the 401(k) plan. But news headlines about laptops carelessly unencrypted by subcontractors and then stolen are everywhere. How can you protect your company from the errant security breaches of a subcontractor? In March 2008, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Agilent Technologies became the latest victim of this scenario — a subcontractor hired to handle the company’s employee stock plan left the information on an unencrypted laptop. The laptop was later stolen. In Agilent’s case, Agilent had a clearly stated policy that all such data must be encrypted, and that subcontractors must do it, too. But the subcontractor did not honor this policy, according to Amy Flores, an Agilent spokeswoman. While some risk always exists, experts say, you need to make sure the service-level agreement (SLA) you have with your subcontractor is as airtight and specific as possible, and that you constantly keep tabs on whether they are complying. They offer the following advice: Call your lawyer. “Knowing your exposure is specific to your industry,” notes Scott Almas, associate attorney with the Albany, N.Y.-based law firm Lemery Greisler. Almas, who has drafted many an SLA and litigated ones that have gone awry, says that your company lawyer should know what’s needed in terms of data protection to comply with such federal laws as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act (HIPAA). Spell it out. Explain the purpose of the application you are requesting that the subcontractor use and why. “Take the time to explain it — which data is private, what needs to be encrypted, the rules of who has access,” says Jack Danahy, founder and CTO of Ounce Labs, a Waltham, Mass.-based software risk management firm. Require specific protections. Insist on fingerprint sensors on all laptops the subcontractor uses, WPA encryption on their wireless systems, secure networks and careful protections on all remote access, says Almas. Look into NAC. Network access control (NAC) programs can allow you to scan any computer, PDA, or thumbdrive and keep tabs on any remote worker, subcontractor or not, notes Paul Roberts, senior analyst for enterprise security at the 451 Group, a technical analysis form in Boston. “If it’s not okay, you can quarantine the computer until the subcontractor cleans up their act.” NAC tools, offered by Cisco, Mirage Networks, Nevis Networks and others, are expressly designed to address the unique security breach issues raised by laptops and other mobile devices. But some note that the technology remains very new — and perhaps too pricey for the smaller business. A less expensive option is a hosted option, such as those offered by AT&T and other ISPs, says Roberts. Encrypt first. “Encrypting the laptop is one approach, but encrypting the data before ever transmitting it is the better approach,” says Ounce’s Danahy. Reviewing the source code to make sure that the subcontractors’ systems are in order is another approach that Ounce offers its enterprise customers, Danahy says. Include enforcement — and consequences. Reserve the right to enforce the agreement and check up on workers, says Ounce’s Danahy. “Put something in like, if we discover you’ve done this, you’ll be fined 5 percent per month, or we won’t pay you,” he says. Adds Almas: “They need to agree to indemnify and defend you against any losses.” Include destruction policy. When the project is over, make sure you’ve spelled out to the subcontractor how you’d like the sensitive information wiped or destroyed, says Almas. Otherwise, that laptop or PDA could be discarded someday with all that sensitive data still on it. If it’s your company that’s the subcontractor, showing a willingness to take security steps can help you seal the deal, notes Ounce’s Danahy. “Small contractors who ask the right questions and tell their potential client how they’ll encrypt the data, that can be a real differentiator for bigger companies,” he says. SIDEBAR: What to Do if Disaster Strikes Let’s say the worst has happened: your company’s sensitive data has been breached, despite your diligence. What can you do to contain your risk? The first step is to notify your clients or employees — those whose data is at risk — of the breach. Under California’s SB 1386 breach notification law, companies that tell their employees or clients of the breach as soon as possible, and can show that they did everything possible to protect sensitive data, are given a safe harbor. Experts say it’s also wise to offer employees or customers a credit-monitoring service for a time to help them track any possible identity theft. Agilent’s Flores reports offering this service to their employees. Even outside California, companies that don’t inform their customers/employees right away do so at risk. In March 2008, two separate lawsuits were brought against the New England-based Hannaford Bros. grocery chain for failing to notify customers until late March of a credit-card security breach that occurred Feb. 27, according to published reports. A breach can happen to anyone, but companies that show they did what they could will fare better — in the public eye, and in the courts.

About 3822 days ago E-Commerce

The Absolutist

The Fourth Annual Inc Web Awards: Start-up Strategies Company: 1Ricci, in Milwaukee URL: www.1Ricci.com What we liked: At a time when few consultants used the Web, Laura Ricci dared to start a company that required customers to work with her virtually After 20 years helping engineers and scientists win government grants, Laura Ricci knew two things. She knew she hated flying all over the country to client sites, where she would spend days or weeks advising technical teams about how to write their funding proposals. And she knew that her customers used the Internet — and had, in fact, been using it long before the World Wide Web bounded onto center stage. So in 1996, Ricci decided to launch a grant-writing consulting company from a spare room in her home. She would do practically all her work there, posting customized training manuals on a Web site and FTP-ing proposal drafts for both sides to mark up. Vendors, contract employees, and even customers would be required to work with her virtually. Face-to-face interaction would be almost eliminated. “It was an experiment,” says Ricci. “I was designing against being a road warrior.” The first virtual project Ricci managed was the construction of her own Web site by a developer in Albany, N.Y., that she had never met. She also took advantage of her early-mover status by snagging free prime placement in the consultant and marketing categories of Yahoo. But Ricci’s temerity was most evident in what she didn’t do. She refused, under any circumstances, to print brochures. “If people ask me what services I offer, I refer them to the Web. If they insist on a brochure, they’re not worth pursuing,” she says. In fact, in 1999 she broke off talks with a large computer company — one with a growing E-business specialty, no less — because it required printed marketing material. On the other hand, companies like Radian International and Lockheed Martin have been more than happy to play by Ricci’s rules. “Lockheed Martin is a big organization with a massive bureaucracy around contracting with new people,” says Ricci. “Yet it made a decision to pick me based on the Web site alone. That proves this can be done.” The Fourth Annual Inc Web Awards Start-up Strategies Rock Star Virginia Is for Manufacturers The Absolutist A Sharper Image The Dirtbag Demographic Please e-mail your comments to editors@inc.com.

About 4705 days ago Setting Up a Website

Do I Need to Plan Differently for a Dot-Com Business?

Inc.query Q: “I already own one company — a construction business — and am thinking about starting another one that would make use of the Internet to serve a consumer niche in the housing market. Before I make any decisions, I want to do some business planning. But I’m wondering, Should the planning process for an Internet-related company be different from what I went through when planning my first business?” –Joel Burtman, president of Burtman Construction Management Inc., a seven-year-old commercial and residential construction company based in Albany, N.Y. A: Your asking that question is understandable. Before this past spring’s shakeout in dot-com stocks, it did seem almost as though all the traditional rules of business planning had been thrown out. In the new economy, marketing plans and technology budgets seemed to matter much more than five-year income statements and balance sheets did. But experts agree that’s not the case. “Whether you’re dealing with an Internet company or any other type of business, a good plan can accomplish the same goals,” says Mark Sawicki, a business-planning consultant with Virtual Growth Inc., a provider of outsourced accounting and bookkeeping services based in New York City. “It helps you figure out where you’re going, identifies some things you need to worry about along the way, and then — depending on your specific needs — helps you devise a budget, begin to raise capital, or develop growth strategies based upon realistic cash-flow projections.” Lance Miller, a former banker and a cofounder of Intevo Inc., a New York City-based provider of E-mail-marketing services, worked on his company’s original business plan about two years ago. “In many ways the process I went through was no different from what I used to do for my banking clients — and I think that traditional strategies are even more important now in this period of stock-market volatility. Companies need to prove that they can generate profits. Putting your ideas down on paper and working through a variety of business models is a great way of coralling yourself into a framework that will help you achieve your goals,” he says. Rigorous business planning can also help a young company stick to a tight budget, a big plus if its owners hope to finance their own growth through the early stages, as Intevo’s did. “By the time we tried to raise outside capital, we had a great business plan to show prospective investors, plus a product, plus customers,” Miller says. Last year the company received a $1-million infusion of capital from a strategic partner in the media industry; for the current year Miller anticipates sales of more than $1 million. Although the business-planning process and its potential rewards are basically the same as they’ve always been, there is one key difference for today’s entrepreneurs: the speed at which many industries — and not just those in which dot-coms are thriving — are changing these days. “In the E age, speed to market is everything,” says Courtney Wood, a senior manager at Ernst & Young’s business incubator based in New York City. “In the so-called old days, a business plan would have been very detailed and would have gone to great lengths to explore all kinds of different strategic models and document the validity of the concept. Now there’s no time for that. Your instinct about a market niche becomes the hypothesis you’ve got to evaluate — and you must be able to do that very quickly or move on to something else.” Fortunately, the rise of the Internet has made it easier than ever to move speedily on the research front. “It’s really amazing how things have changed,” Intevo’s Miller says. “When I was trying to generate our financial projections and business description, it was very useful to read the SEC registration statements for Internet companies on the Web, especially the Management’s Discussion and Analysis section.” Another tip from Miller: examine the financial assumptions that underlie other companies’ cash-flow and other predictions. They’re an indication of what the competition expects to happen in rapidly changing markets. For most start-ups, Ernst & Young’s Wood believes, it’s better to carve out a sizable piece of the company’s long-term business plan (what she calls the “60% solution”) and research its viability than it is to get bogged down in an effort to prove your comprehensive model. “You need to move quickly and let the market do the ultimate testing of your business plan, so long as it basically looks good,” she says. “The way to mitigate your company’s risks while doing this is by concentrating on only one piece of your concept at a time.” As for knowing which 60% to concentrate on, Wood advises going with what you can get to market quickest, what you believe will win you a customer base the fastest, and what is likely to be validated the earliest. There’s another way that planning has changed in this quicksilver world of business: it has become a more continuous process rather than an annual or a semiannual review. “It’s not possible to have all the information that’s necessary when you complete your original plan,” says Virtual Growth’s Sawicki. “No one will expect your financial projections for later years to be accurate. What’s important is to establish some targets, put what you know down on paper, and then keep amending your plan as you gain more knowledge.” So when it comes to your business plan, it’s not really a question of whether you’re launching an Internet or a non-Internet company. For any entrepreneur the challenge today is figuring out how to adapt the intellectual rigors of traditional business planning to the rapidly changing demands and opportunities of an Internet-influenced commercial universe. Click here for additional information that can help you write a business plan at Internet speed. Please e-mail your comments to editors@inc.com.