Job growth patterns at both startups and existing firms are pro-cyclical. But during recessionary years, job creation at startups remains stable. Net job losses at existing firms however, are highly sensitive to the business cycle during a recession.

The data suggests that “growth would be best boosted by supporting startup firms” according to Robert E. Litan, vice president of Research and Policy at the Kauffman Foundation. He thinks the findings indicate America should be thinking differently about the standard employment policy paradigm.

Does that indicate venture capitalists are taking more interest in startups? Not necessarily according to a study by Pepperdine University. Although the vast majority of privately held companies are dependent on venture money to help them stay in business, investors are not taking much interest. The study reports 72% of the venture capitalists had a decreased interest for risk and that more than half of those polled expect their firms to do between zero and three deals in the next year.

The research does note that shake-outs are good for the industry and once the valuations stop falling, less desirable companies are closed or sold at a loss, and venture firms that cannot raise new funds close down, the venture capital industry will be much healthier because of it.

The tech sector in particular, is seeing a recovery that is underscored by the growing importance of the Internet. In fact, Forrester Research is upbeat and states global IT spending growth at 7.8% this year.

Are you a startup business? Do you aspire to be? What do you think could be done to enhance the outlook for startups? Comments are welcome.

Startup Businesses Growing Jobs. is a post from: Codero dedicated hosting blog

Digested farm waste (cow manure) could be turned into valuable energy to run data centers. Who knew? I grew up in a small Kansas town surrounded by farms where barnyard by-products were not considered a treasured valuable.

But a recent study by the world’s largest technology company, says otherwise. Hewlett-Packard Laboratories reports information technology and livestock industries have complementary characteristics that could help each other out.

Farmers need to properly dispose of their livestock waste which degrades the environment. Data centers are rapidly growing and consume substantial power. Why not work together for the benefit of both? The study outlines how a hypothetical farm of 10,000 dairy cows could fulfill the power requirements of a one-megawatt data center…about the size of a small computing center at a bank.

The concept would require building computing centers in more rural locales which would be a boon to those communities. H.P. engineers report a dairy farmer who rents land and power to technology companies could recoup an investment in about two years.

What a way to cash in on manure. At Codero, we rely on farms of another sort to power our operations. We made a commitment and substantial investment in 2009 to operate our data centers more efficiently and become an environmentally-friendly green hosting leader in our industry. Our dedicated server solutions are powered with 100% certified renewable energy sourced out of wind farms from the Pioneer Prairie Wind Farm, located in Howard County of Iowa. Confirmation is performed by the Center for Resource Solutions, the nation’s leading independent certification and verification program for renewable energy: Green-e. A Case Study by Green-e Marketplace offers more details about our search for the best renewable energy option.

Do you have an opinion on alternative energy sources? Is your organization doing something innovative to sustain the planet? Let us know. Comments are most welcome.

New source of energy for data centers or simply B.S.? is a post from: Codero dedicated hosting blog

You can snap or scan a tag image from your mobile phone and have instant access to websites, discounts, promotions and more. Can you imagine your business cards with a branded tag on it driving prospects to a special promotion on your website?

The MS Tag system works on most major mobile platforms including Windows Mobile, J2ME, iPhone, Google Android, BlackBerry and Symbian S60. The tag reader can be downloaded for free to your web-enabled camera phone.

Long URLs are easily handled and content can be dynamically changed. In addition, recent improvements to MS Tag include a new Heat Map and availability of Tag’s Reader in Italian, French, Spanish, Turkish and Simplified Chinese. CNET provides a great explanatory video about MS Tag below.

Microsoft is recording new uses for Tag every day including some of these creative implementations that make offline media and objects interactive:

• On a new walking tour of historical Chicago skyscrapers, MS Tag can be used to download information about the site you are visiting, complete with a map.
• TV Guide used tags on their magazine’s pages to reveal a YouTube experience with actors from its popular TV programs.
• A record company put live links in the palm of fan’s hands and uses tagging as a new way to market their artists, music and merchandise. They incorporated MS Tags in print, social sites, video content, posters, merchandise catalogs, music samplers and more.
• Wheaties cereal featured Olympians such as Shaun White on their boxes with tags. Once scanned, the tags take you to a social mobile experience and you can follow Wheaties on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
• With all its endless possibilities, where will MS Tag take you?

Create your own tag for free right now. Are you already working with MS Tag yet…tell us how?

New Marketing Tool Races to Finish First: MS Tag. is a post from: Codero dedicated hosting blog

Not complying with the CAN-SPAM Act can be detrimental to businesses who advertise and result in a decrease in deliverability to the inbox. Sophisticated spamming companies are continually trying to beat stricter Internet security measures. The last thing you want is to suffer a lack of trust with your own online customers.

Here are tips to help you stay compliant and boost the chances that your email messages get opened and viewed.

1. Ask for permission to send emails. Send an email asking recipients to opt-in or offer a website form. Express-permission options establish trust with the email recipient. Sending permission-based emails is your best safeguard to avoid CAN-SPAM legal troubles and it will make your emails feel more like correspondence from a reliable associate.

2. Disclose advertisements. Within the content of the email or in the subject line, clearly tell recipients your email is an advertisement for your product or service.

3. Create truthful, personalized subject lines. When your company name is included in the subject line, the recipient recognizes you as a company given permission to email them and it is more likely they will open your email. For example, “(FIRST NAME), Codero Newsletter— Are You CAN-SPAM Compliant?” quickly conveys who is sending the email and what is in the email. You can also personalize your message with your recipients’ first and/or last name on the subject line and to the body of your email message. This immediately establishes rapport and recognition for the recipient.  It also is an important step when sending to multiple recipients in the same organization. Many spam filters will block multiple identical emails sent at or near the same time.

4. Avoid deceptive email headers. “From” and “To” information must be accurate. Sending email addresses and other identifiers in the headers that mislead or conceal your identity is against the law.

5. Sexually explicit emails have separate rules.

6. Provide your address. Give a valid physical address for the sender in the body or footer of the email address to identify your company. It also helps to establish trust and recognition.

7. Ensure opt-out. With the CAN-SPAM Update in 2008, simple opt-out procedures are now required. Provide a functioning opt-out link or unsubscribe within the email body or footer.

8. One-click unsubscribe. Make sure the unsubscribe can be accomplished on a single Internet website page so the recipient never has to log in or click through to other web pages. A recipient should never have to enter more information than their email address to opt-out as well.

9. Honor the opt-out request within 10 business days of receipt of request. No fee can be charged, nor can you ask for more information beyond an email address.

10. Refrain from blasting emails. Emailing an overload of messages at once…or blasting… can alarm recipients. At the same time, you do not want to sporadically send your emails because you risk being interpreted as spam. A consistent, permission-based mail campaign can be a highly-effective touchpoint for both prospects and existing customers when properly created.

For complete details, review The CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business and always check with your attorney. If you hire a third-party email company to send out your messages, you may not contract away from your legal responsibility to comply with the CAN-SPAM Compliance Act. Both the business that is promoted in an email message and the company that actually sends the message may be held legally responsible. The sender must remain vigilant in verifying all aspects of the act are met.

You can enhance your company’s reputation when you respect the wishes of your subscribers and remember that email is a privilege given to senders by their subscribers.

What are your thoughts about the CAN-SPAM Act? Do you feel it has decreased the amount of spam in your inbox? What other aspects about email marketing would you like to see addressed here? Feel free to post questions or comments below.

CAN-SPAM Compliance (part 2)…It Plays a Part to Increase Open Rates. is a post from: Codero dedicated hosting blog

We had the great opportunity to attend Free State Social, which was hopefully the first annual of many Free State Social events to come. While there have been a vast number of recaps, write-ups, etc. following the event (and you can find most of them in the recap section of the Free State Social website), below is a small collection of the things that impacted us most.

Chris Brogan (follow on Twitter: @chrisbrogan)

• Having a social media department is like having a phone department. 100% agreed.  Regardless of how a company decides to utilize social media, it’s a responsibility that can fall on the entire company – not just one person/department. This gives a more honest, personable view of your company/brand to the world. Not the filtered, often diluted view.
• “Would you say that at a party?” – Things to think about before you post/comment in social media. Too often we scream/broadcast information out in social media. No one wants to hear how great we think we are. Have conversations and make connections to prove it.

 
Shawna Coronado (Follow on Twitter: @ShawnaCoronado)

• In social media – you are the brand. I think too many people forget this. If the content you provide via social media is stiff or stodgy, people will view your brand as such. If all you ever talk about is yourself (as a company/brand) people will get turned off and view you as arrogant. By being nice, personable and most importantly – being yourself, people begin to identify with you and stop viewing you as that looming corporate entity.

 
Sarah Evans (Follow on Twitter: @prsarahevans)

• Think like those you’re trying to reach. Too often corporations utilize social media and come off sounding, well, too corporate. With social media being an easy way to reach out and engage with people, companies should think and speak like those that they’re trying to reach.

 
Jeremiah Owyang (Follow on Twitter: @jowyang)

• Always ask why. When contemplating a social media tactic, companies should stop before jumping in and ask why. Don’t create a Facebook page or a Twitter account just to have one – you must realize how your customers will interact with it, and set aside time to really interact back with them. A passive social media strategy is a bad strategy because if you’re out there, people expect an immediate response, as too often in social media “real-time is not fast enough.”

 
What was your favorite moment(s) from Free State Social? Share with us!

Free State Social #FSSocial. is a post from: Codero dedicated hosting blog

In 2010, more than ever, it pays to take a fresh look at CAN-SPAM compliance…that’s short for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act of 2003.

CAN-SPAM compliance is an opt-out law. It established the first national standards for sending commercial email. Did you know one of the biggest champions of controlling unsolicited commercial emails was John McCain? In 2003, McCain was chairing the Senate Commerce Committee at the time the bill was passed.

The law was enacted in 2004, and amended in July of 2008. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) also adopted rules in March of 2005 to prohibit sending unwanted commercial email messages to wireless devices without prior permission.  

It’s not surprising, with all the laws out there, marketers continue to have questions regarding compliance. In fact, many businesses are still so fearful of violating the CAN-SPAM Act they simply do not use email marketing. 

At Codero, we view the laws as another way we can let our clients know we are a transparent company with principals and integrity. Most of the CAN-SPAM requirements are simply sensible business practices that show respect for your customers. By adhering to compliance regulations, you can establish a meaningful interaction with your own existing and prospective customers using easily identifiable emails in your marketing mix.

Who needs to comply? Any business or individual in the U.S. who uses email for marketing, including for newsletters delivered by email, must comply with the CAN-SPAM Act. Even if you are not a spammer, you need to ensure you are compliant if you are sending out commercial messages. Transactional or relationship emails used to email receipts, invoices, etc. are exempt.

Why comply? Spam complaints not only affect your ability to deliver email to your intended recipient, it also affects your hosting provider. We encourage our clients to establish trust and recognition with their own customers and to abide by the CAN-SPAM Act. 

Codero remains vigilant in helping clients understand the laws, but it is up to you to adhere to the federal regulations.  In order to protect clients on the same IP Block from feeling the residual effects from spam activity, our TOS contains a $50 charge assessment for each blacklisted IP address as a deterrent.

Bottom line – we can help you prevent emails from being considered spam and keep servers off server blacklists  through advisement. If your email server has been blacklisted, some emails you send may not be delivered. Too many spam complaints damage the reputation of the IP address from which you are sending email and reduce the delivery rate to the core of your list.

Codero sends out warning notifications when a complaint about spam is received and works with clients to resolve the issue.  If you do not comply with the warning or respond to it in two weeks, your service can be suspended or terminated for unsolicited emails coming from your server.

It is advisable to check with your attorney before you spend the money on your email marketing campaign to further ensure your online communications are not viewed as spam.

What happens if you do not comply? The legislation provides the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) with the ability to enforce the law. Each individual violation of CAN-SPAM regulations is subject to fines of $16,000. Financial consequences aside, sending spammy email messages reflects poorly on your business.

How do you remain compliant? The rules are in place to ensure the recipients can find you if they do not want to receive your emails or simply want to contact you.

Abiding by the law is not as difficult as you might imagine. Chances are, if you are a responsible business, you are already performing most requirements that meet CAN-SPAM compliance. In my next post, I’ll review 10 ways to help you stay compliant and ensure your email messages get opened and viewed.

If you would like to share your experience with CAN-SPAM compliance, please post it as a comment below.

CAN-SPAM Compliance… Just Good Business. is a post from: Codero dedicated hosting blog

At the 50,000-Foot Level

The Sustainability Initiative, comprising the MIT Sloan Management Review and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), surveys business leaders to create an annual report on The Business of Sustainability. It provides testimony of the few companies—GE and NIKE among others― that consider sustainability as a key component of their strategy and who utilize it as a source of competitive advantage.

Overall, the valuation framework is the coolest part of the report. You can use this to develop a business case of how your small business will create, leverage, and measure sustainable investments.

Don’t Forget About the Little Things

1. Avoid using styrofoam cups!

Styrofoam contains 57 known chemical by-products that pollute the air and ecosystems, is made with the non-sustainable resource petroleum, and takes nearly 500 years to completely dissolve. In addition, the base ingredient Styrene is a possible human carcinogen. Instead, kill two birds with one stone by investing in branded water bottles that employees and visitors can take home with them. Purchasing reusable bottles can also save you $$ in the long run.

2. Turn everything off!

Empower yourself and employees to turn off all lights and electronics when they aren’t needed. This can shave hundreds and even thousands of dollars off your business’ annual electric tab. Use common sense just as you would at home.

3. Get involved!

Your local communities host environmental events all-the-time and local governments are doing their best to bring like-minded companies together to promote sustainable practices.  Find these events and groups, then develop some fulfilling synergies. Not a big business? This is a great chance for you to network and harness the big guys’ secrets in your program development.

Sustainability (n.) [suh-steyn-uh-bil-i-tee]

The commonly-accepted definition of sustainability is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” This is a poignant definition and reflects what I believe is difficult to refute—we ought to make strides to slow the degradation of our planet so our children can live a more fulfilling life.

Do you have a sustainability business case? Share with us what you are doing in the present or what you foresee to be needs of future generations.

Not a Game.. We’re Talking about PRACTICE! (Sustainable Ones) is a post from: Codero dedicated hosting blog

A. Taylor Giddens, Codero

B. Andy Mahler, Applicure

C. Alyssa Felda, Parallels

D. Leeor Geva, LMG Solutions LLC

Takeaway #1

My largest takeaway from this past Parallels Summit was the number of hosting companies looking for additional revenue sources and products to offer their clients.  I heard how important security is and how customers are looking for the hosting companies to offer ways to help them meet PCI compliance.  I was also pleased to see a very good and enthusiastic turnout.

Takeaway #2

I’m keeping my eyes open for a hosted desktop solution for the small business.  I’m talking about law offices, interior designers, dentist offices—something that is highly secure (think medical and legal papers) and very flexible to run as a thin client.  Where all the data is constantly backed up, and the server isn’t sitting under the owner’s desk collecting dust…Since I’m talking about small businesses (1-10 employees), the monthly cost has to be competitive with that regular windows workgroup/domain scenario we see today.

It’s a dream that is slowly becoming a reality.

I look forward to the day I log on a website such as Codero’s and say “1. Create a network.  2. Add 1 server and 5 desktops 3. Install this software on the server, and this on the desktops”  and … done.  Client pays 1 bill every month, I manage the services and support the software, and you manage the infrastructure, backups, and other value-added services such as LogMeIn/VNC, anti-virus, etc.

How do you like my dream?

Takeaway #3

The Parallels Summit ‘10 presented the opportunity to meet many vendors that will allow XXX to expand the depth of our offerings, both for our current customers as well as our upcoming reseller program.  Along with meeting these vendors, many opportunities for mutually beneficial partnerships were established.  On the technical front, many great ideas were presented to Parallels by the Parallels Advisory Council, which members are eager to find the results of.

Takeaway #4

The goal of the Parallels Summit 2010 was to help partners and customers develop new strategies to transform their business and learn how to leverage Parallels technology that enables new services, better compete in the market through differentiated offerings and improve profitability through growth and operational efficiencies.  If partners came away from Summit 2010 with new insights around the Cloud – specifically how the industry is changing direction and how new strategies need to be implemented for offering cloud services – then the event was a huge success!  In addition to knowledge gained, the Summit networking sessions enabled our attendees to cultivate new relationships and opportunities to profit from the Cloud. As for our own take away, the needs of partners came through loud and clear. And it wasn’t idle chatter.  Parallels will be taking the valuable feedback gathered at Summit and enhancing the technology roadmap and the Parallels Partner program to better enable partners’ success.  We hope that everyone who attended Summit 2010 left fully armed with new tools and ideas to market their businesses better and found value in the new Parallels Certification training program.

The answers to the matching game are: A3, B1, C4, D2. How well did you do?

Final thoughts: Buzz went around that Parallels is looking to host PS ‘11 in Vancouver, Las Vegas, or New Orleans. If there is any validity to that claim, my vote is for New Orleans.

Did you attend Parallels Summit? If so, what is your biggest takeaway? If not, do you plan to attend next year?

Positive Takeaways from Parallels Summit 2010. is a post from: Codero dedicated hosting blog

Can ISP’s survive the FBI mandated infrastructure?
Having worked in the internet industry for the past eleven years, I have had numerous occasions where I have had to cooperate with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies on cases of child pornography, and it clearly is one of the most disgusting matters I have ever had to deal with.  I have no issues with, and wholly support, ISPs and hosting providers assisting law enforcement in tracking down those who participate in child pornography issues.  I do, however, find it troubling that the government might legislate what information must be stored and for how long the information must be kept.  The hardware and software infrastructure alone would be difficult for many ISPs to handle, not to mention the additional cost to the organizations in an industry where pricing pressure is already forcing margins to be minimal, if existent.

What data is kept?
Many questions are raised by this request, that all Americans (in our free society) should be asked:  What data will be required to be retained?  Will it merely be records of what customer had what IP address at what time, or will it expand into keeping copies of instant messages and e-mails sent?  Who will have access to this information, and truly in what instances can the government subpoena this information?

Will your future be affected?
While publicly it sounds great to say you want this data retained for child pornography investigations, it will inevitably be used for much more.  Remember those e-mails you sent where you complained about your elected official?  Well, an audit might just well be around the corner for you.  How about those perfectly legal adult sites you were visiting late at night?  Don’t be surprised if that doesn’t come up if you decide to run for a political office.

What do you think about the FBI’s request? Do you think it will change the way you browse the Web?

Big Brother is Watching. is a post from: Codero dedicated hosting blog

So how did your online store perform on “Green Monday” (two days ago), typically the busiest online shopping day of the year – to guarantee delivery by Christmas? And what are your prospects for “Free Shipping Day” coming this Thursday, the deadline for most free shipping, or next Monday, “Brown Monday”, when retailers start dramatic markdowns in order to sell their remaining holiday merchandise?

Since December offers so many opportunities to boost online sales (think…after Christmas, New Years Eve, etc.), it’s never too late to tune-up your site and sales strategy for what could be a profitable Cyber Month. To help out, we’ve listed a few tips and suggestions:

• Test your shopping cart and your storefront: Is everything functioning properly – fast, efficient, responsive, accurate? Are the keywords, descriptions, links and images all correct and constantly updated?
• Ramp up your merchandising: Does your cart/storefront promote cross-selling, suggested items, ratings and customer feedback? This holiday shopping season offers the perfect opportunity to generate increased sales through discounts, coupons and other incentives.
• Review and revise, if necessary, your SEO: It’s never too late to optimize your search keywords and use analytics to see how they’ve performed on past Cyber Mondays and other big sales dates.
• Reach out to customers: Email your loyal customers, use Twitter and Facebook to encourage a visit to your store. It’s easy and direct.
• Think about your offline sales, too: Not every shopper wants to buy online or during Cyber Month. Use your site to drive traffic to your brick-and-mortar store (if you have one) or catalog. Keep all your customer touchpoints in mind.

Any more ideas? Please share with us!

Cyber, Green, or Brown Monday? Why Not Cyber Month? is a post from: Codero dedicated hosting blog