In physics, there’s a concept called ‘the path of least resistance’. The meaning is plain enough – objects that move in a system take the path where they will encounter the least challenges and hurdles in order to quickly move to wherever they are going.

Apparently, the same principle applies to hackers nowadays. Instead of targeting larger firms for that big ‘score’, hackers are now considering it more feasible and much easier to victimize smaller firms and companies, even for a much smaller amount of money.

Why is that? First, smaller companies generally have much more vulnerable IT systems. Security is minimal or average at best, and the hackers don’t get as much heat or attention when compared to trying to breach the much more complicated, state-of-the-art security systems of bigger firms and businesses. Take a small newsstand business in Chicago: cyberthieves were able to install a Trojan in the cash registers which sent swiped credit card numbers to Russia. When the jig was discovered, Mastercard subsequently demanded an investigation – at the expense of the business owner – and the proprietor had to shell out a hefty $22,000.⁽ⁱ⁾

A survey in the United States reveals that more than half of small or medium-sized businesses believed that they ran no risk of being victimized by hackers, and less than half of the respondents had security systems in place.⁽ⁱⁱ⁾ That looks like a path of least resistance, as far as hackers are concerned.

The loss of a few thousand bucks may not be much for a big business, but it can make a significant dent on the profits and sustainability of smaller organizations. And in the case of implanted viruses that steal credit card information, your reputation can also take a big hit. So if you want your business to stay truly safe before it’s too late, please contact us so we can discuss options and blueprints to make your business secure.

References: (i) and (ii)

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

Article contributed by:
David Spire, President
United Systems Computer Group
www.uscomputergroup.com

Here are some things to keep in mind if you look at PPC as an option for marketing your business online:

Landing Pages

When someone clicks on your PPC ad, you typically should not take them directly to your main website because it probably is not designed to receive traffic from a PPC ad.  Research shows that people who click on PPC ads are much more conversion-oriented, which means they are ready to make a purchase or complete an action.  So instead of taking people to you website, you should take them to a Landing Page that is specially designed to successfully convert visitors in some way that you can track: clicking a button to “Buy Now”; submitting information through a contact form; calling a phone # you can track internally; etc.

Ad Placement

Your PPC ad will appear higher than your competitors if you are willing to pay more Per-Click than they are.  The inherent problem with this model is if your competitors are running campaigns that aren’t optimized properly they may be artificially inflating the Cost-Per-Click for everyone competing for the same words and phrases.  Increasing your Quality Scores can help mitigate the impact of competing against poor campaigns.

Quality Scores

This is often something business owners are unaware of.  Google assigns Quality Scores to your PPC campaign based on the quality of your ads, the quality and substance of your Landing Pages, how long people are staying on your Landing Pages and whether or not they are converting.  If you have better Quality Scores than the other ads you are competing against, you will pay less than every time someone clicks on your ad—even though your ads are positioned above your competitors.

Return On Investment

If it costs you $5.00 every time someone clicks on your PPC ad, and you understand that average Conversion Rate for a PPC campaign is 10-15% (it varies from industry to industry) and you charge $15.00 for your product, you can quickly see the math doesn’t add up and a PPC campaign may not be the answer for you.  If your internet marketing team isn’t going through this exercise with you be prepared to spend a lot of money and not get any ROI.

It’s easy to throw a bunch of money at PPC and get traffic to your Landing Pages, but if that traffic isn’t targeted (i.e., they aren’t qualified leads) you are spending money attracting people to your Landing Pages who really aren’t interested in your product or service.  High traffic and no conversions means you are fighting an uphill battle.  Your business can’t afford to run a campaign this way.

Article contributed by:
Troy Newport, Business Development Director
Webtivity Design Solutions
http://blog.webtivitydesigns.com

The Manatee Chamber has partnered with CITSTLINC, International to offer individuals a chance at the trip of a lifetime.  Nine days in China at the unbelievable (but definitely accurate) price of $2,000 per person for members and $2,300 for non-members.

No, that’s not a typo.  What’s more, it includes your airfare from JFK in New York, three fantastic meals daily (you’ll eat Peking Duck where Nixon did), 4- and 5-star hotel accommodations, incredible shopping, and more. Tian An Men Square, the Summer Palace, the Yu Garden, pagodas, tea houses, and… the Great Wall of China.  What visit would be completed without it?

If you’d like to learn more about this amazing opportunity, visit the Manatee Chamber’s website.  An informational meeting is set for April 20 at 6:00pm in the Lakewood Ranch Office at The McClure Center. Ask specific questions regarding the trip and pay a deposit to reserve your seat.

The latest buzz around the Chamber office is our 2 new employees who have joined us recently. Chyanne Payne is our newest Membership Development Representative. She has many years of experience with two previous Chambers and we are glad she decided to join us. Cindy Unzicker, Business Development and special project Coordinator in the EDC, is sitting in Debbie Scott’s old seat but with new responsibilities. Cindy is busy helping prepare for the Economic Forecast Breakfast next week on January 20th at the Bradenton Auditorium. This annual event features Hank Fishkind, Ph.D who will give his economic forecast of the coming year for Manatee County. To RSVP for this coming event, contact Cindy directly at CindyU@ManateeEDC.com or call 941-748-4842 ext. 126. Welcome Chyanne and Cindy to the Chamber, we’re glad you’re here.

On that same note, Debbie Scott can be found at Senator Mike Bennett’s office in Bradenton. Congratulations on your new position, Debbie!

Our first coffee club of the year will be this week on Thursday, January 13 at the Manatee County Fairgrounds. Jim Vett will be there to officially kick-off his year as our 2011 Chairman. That same day beginning at 5 PM our Manatee Young Professionals will be at Urban Flats. No RSVP is needed for either of these events. For more information contact the Chamber at 941-748-4842 and Reba, our Information Specialist can answer any questions you may have or direct your call to the correct person for more details.

Tina West, our Better Business Council Manager, is busy proofing the 2011 BBC Directory this week. This publication is of all our current BBC members and will be published and placed in the January 28th edition of the Bradenton Herald. It will also be available in the Chamber’s two lobbies, downtown Bradenton and Lakewood Ranch if you would like additional copies. For more information about membership in our BBC contact Tina at TinaW@ManateeChamber.com.

Well, this week starts the beginning of planning and laying out the February issue of Current. The cover will feature the Pittsburgh Pirates and spring training. Look for it in your mailboxes the first week of February. All for now!

Karen Jones
Communications Director
Editor Current magazine

Since its inception, 170 players have been through the full-time Residency Program, and more than 60 of those players have moved on to Major League Soccer or the professional leagues in Europe. Fifteen players have also registered at least one cap with the full MNT: Freddy Adu, DaMarcus Beasley, Kyle Beckerman, Michael Bradley, Landon Donovan, Bobby Convey, Eddie Johnson, Justin Mapp, Oguchi Onyewu, Santino Quaranta, Chad Marshall, Eddie Gaven, Jonathan Spector, Heath Pearce and Josmer Altidore.

The U-17 players live on campus at the Academy and train in the morning under the guidance of Wilmer Cabrera and assistant coaches Paul Caffrey, Gerson Echeverry, Keith Fulk and Paul Grafer. In the afternoon, the players attend classes at Bradenton Preparatory Academy. While in the full-time residency program, the U.S. team not only trains daily under Cabrera, but also has access to the IMG Academy’s spacious facilities.

The team regularly uses IMG’s state-of-the-art strength-training facilities, as well as some of the nation’s best sports psychologists that work at the Academy. The IMG Academy includes top-of-the-line soccer equipment, three Bermuda grass fields, an indoor dome with artificial turf, two swimming pools, newly renovated student housing and dining facilities.

The EDC is proud that Manatee County is home to this wonderful program that trains the Team USA atheletes that we are all getting ready to watch in this year’s World Cup in South Africa .

Member:  “carey, how are you doing?”

Me:  “Peachy, thanks!  Yourself?”

Member:  “i am not fine  i need an urgent help from you”

Me:  “What can I can help with?”

Member:  “i need you to loan me some cash  i promise to refund it back to you  i am stuck in London  i was mugged last night at gunpoint”

Me:  “Sure you were.”

And suddenly they were no longer interested in speaking with me.  They knew I was on to them and were moving to the next person in an attempt to get some money.

I called the member and sent her an email so she’d know about the problem.  She’s working on the issue from her end, but it’s not going to be easy.  The moment the scammer got hold of her account, he / she changed the password and locked the actual person out.  This gives him free reign until Facebook responds to her request and helps fix the situation.  I’m not sure if they change the password and give access back to her OR if they simply cancel that account and she has to start a new one.

Either way, it always pays to be vigilant when it comes to online dealings.  Never be tricked into providing your information or into giving someone money from an online post.

I’ll take it a step further.  Never click on a shortened URL from a site.   I know, I said never.  But what if it’s someone you trust?  Well, what if their account has been hacked as the member above was?  There’s a great new service out that will reveal the real destination for shortened URLs (bit.ly, tiny.cc, is.gd, ow.ly, etc.)  You can download it or go directly to http://www.untiny.me and copy / paste the URL in the box.

Safety first, I say!  If you have any questions about the above post, please don’t hesitate to ask.  I would be happy to help you to the best of my ability.

You have the chance to hear about the Chamber’s Economic Development Council and its plans to carry-out that new mantra as it pertains to the recruitment of new businesses. I hope you will consider attending the EDC’s Business Buzz on Wednesday, April 14, 2010. For information, please visit http://www.manateechamber.com/articles/businessbuzz.htm.

You may say… yeah, right, Jacki… Manatee County can’t compete against the NYCs, Charlottes and Chicagos, but I believe we can – particularly if we concentrate on targeted industry segments and building upon the critical synergies created by our existing business base.

Did you know that, according to the Tampa Bay Partnership and Enterprise Florida:

• The Tampa Bay area is the 13th largest media market in the country, home to more than 3.9 million consumers and host to more than 20 million visitors annually?
• Port Manatee, with more refrigerated dockside space than any other Gulf of Mexico port, is the closest of the three Tampa Bay deepwater ports to the Panama Canal.
• Tampa Bay boasts more than 25 universities, colleges and higher education facilities.
• Florida’s economy encourages the growth of high tech companies. Florida led the Southeast and ranked 4^th nationwide in high tech employment in 2008.
• Merchandise trade valued at $103 billion flowed through Florida’s airports and seaports in 2009, making the state one of the world’s leaders in international trade. Economic development partners around the state provide valuable exporting assistance services to Florida-based companies looking to expand their markets internationally.
• Florida’s international businesses enjoy access to the second largest FTZ network in the country, encompassing 20 Foreign Trade Zones.

With successful recruitment efforts and continued nurturing of existing companies, Manatee County could easily become home to additional businesses from around the globe.

After all, one of the many important things we have is “location, location, location.”  See you at the Buzz!

In addition to the usual fantastic networking, our “celebrity bartenders” will be serving up drinks.  Since we’ve got half men and half women, Marie couldn’t resist turning it into a  guys vs. girls contest!  We’ll be pitting Bob Bartz, Stewart Moon, Chris Pennewill, and John Rice against Jacki Dezelski, Jan Hatfield, Trudy Moon and Marie Pender.

In my opinion, it’s no contest at all.  And I’m not just saying that because I’m female!

Psychological and marketing studies have proven that a picture of a woman will be clicked on more often than a picture of a man.  Why?  Because men prefer pictures of women and women don’t care which they click on.   I’m betting the same is true of bartending.

I hope you’ll be there to prove me right… or wrong!

Polo Grill & Bar
10670 Boardwalk Loop; Lakewood Ranch
Wednesday, March 17
5:00pm – 7:00pm

PS – folks wearing green (underwear doesn’t count) will be eligible for special door prizes!

I try to stay up-to-speed on ways FB – and other social media sites – can benefit the Chamber with our business plan and help our members become even more successful.  I ran across a cool article from Mashable the other day and thought some of you may be interested: http://mashable.com/2009/01/22/business-facebook-apps.

Something else to ponder: According to its site, Facebook has more than 400 million active users, 50% of whom are active on the site on any given day.  And, these users become fans of 4 pages per month. More than 1.5 million businesses have a fan page.  There are already 5.3 billion fans out there… with 20 million people becoming a fan of a page each day.

Does your business have a fan page on Facebook?

Are you a fan of the Manatee Chamber of Commerce?

So come on out and join me for complimentary appetizers, music, cash bar, an opportunity to win some wonderful auction items, and network with hundreds of Chamber members and guests.  I hope to see you on Thursday, March 4^th, from 4:00-7:00 PM, at our Lakewood Ranch Office at the McClure Center, 4215 Concept Court.