SmallBusinessNewz

84% of Organizations Use At Least One Cloud App

Is everything moving to the cloud? According to a recent poll by CDW, 84% of organizations say they employ at least one cloud application. “The most commonly used cloud services are commodity applications typically offered via public cloud, such as email,” a representative for CDW tells us. “However, while many organizations are using cloud-based applications, few have a formal adoption strategy for cloud computing, with small businesses in the lowest percentage at just 21%.”

Why Wouldn't You Include Links in Your Press Releases?

Press release distribution service BusinessWire shared results of a poll, which found that 85% of those who send out press releases put links in them. That means that 15% didn't. Granted, this is only a small poll of less than 300 people, but it may still be indicative of a greater issue that not all businesses include links in their online press releases.

Tips for Successful Small Business Social Media Endeavors

A new poll from Employers Holdings found that half of small businesses believe a social media presence is important, but only 16% actually utilize it. The poll revealed that although there are nearly five million small businesses leveraging social media, that figure only accounts for 16% of the 29.7 million small businesses in the United States based on figures from the Small Business Administration.    Some findings from the poll:

Small Businesses Still Waiting to Hire

In the Small Business Opinion Poll from EMPLOYERS, small business decision-makers indicate that it will require over 12 months for their businesses to return to pre-recession levels, in terms of annual sales. In addition, 41% say it will be more than 10 months before they start hiring.

Are You Delivering the Mobile Experience Customers Want?

Placecast recently shared findings from a Harris Interactive poll on Americans and location-based shopping. The firm found that a fair amount of consumers are interested in receiving opt-in mobile alerts from their favorite places. "Consumers are interested in receiving alerts on their mobile phones from brands that they care about, provided they can opt-in and the messages are relevant," says Placecast.

What Consumers Think About Recession-Related Marketing

Adweek Media and Harris Interactive polled 2,186 U.S. adults between September 25 and 29 to find out what American consumers think about advertisements that use the economy as a marketing tactic. As the firm says, advertisers have to decide how to deal with the issue of the recession. Some simply ignore it, but many have incorporated it into their messaging.

Postage Rates and Your Advertising Budget

As postage rates continue to rise, many small business owners are finding that it is digging into their advertising budgets.

Ways the U.S. Government is Disappointing Small Business Owners

Yesterday American Management Services released results from a poll it conducted with Suffolk University that indicate that U.S. small business owners are not very happy with the government when it comes to small business affairs. "The results are clear. Our country's 23 million small business owners are disappointed with the lack of action on their behalf," says American Management Services CEO George Cloutier.