A recent post from this blog relates how startup businesses are responsible for fueling job growth. Entrepreneur reports the real economic stimulus is the recession itself. The upside-down economy is actually creating entrepreneurial prospects. With the many digital services available to businesses now, it is easier than ever to start a company…particularly if it is an online organization. You can outsource your technical needs and use services like managed hosting to free up time to focus solely on your core business.

What are your thoughts on starting or running a business? Do you know what kind of questions to ask yourself before you take the leap into entrepreneurship?

What Does It Take To Be An Entrepreneur? is a post from: Codero dedicated hosting blog

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

However, those changes will not apply to credit cards used primarily or exclusively for business purposes. The Fed concludes credit cards could become more expensive and more difficult to obtain for businesses if Congress were to provide the same protection to them as that extended to consumer credit cards.

Some bankers are applauding the Fed report because they think small-business cards should be treated differently than consumer cards. They believe small businesses could lose access to borrowing from credit cards if lenders are restricted in their flexibility to manage risk.

The report did find most small businesses pay their cards off each month. In fact, only 18% of firms with fewer than 50 employees carried a monthly balance not their credit cards in 2009.

The Fed does admit small businesses could likely benefit from improved credit-card protections, but it still does not recommend any new actions.

So for now, all types of small businesses may more likely qualify for credit cards that have more reasonable interest rates, but they will continue to remain susceptible to the surprises their credit card companies may deliver…including harsh penalties for late payments and changing terms and rates on the card members at any time, for any reason.

How do you feel about the lack of credit card protection for business owners? What kind of experiences have you had with credit card companies as far as interest rate increases?

Small Businesses Not Covered by Credit Card Reform. 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

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

So how do small businesses go about transforming their company green and making a splash about it? These few tips don’t require a lot of resources but can position your company when the consumer considers green in their buying cycle.

• Measure your environmental footprint by analyzing monthly utility bills, calculating average monthly KWh usage, and using a greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator. (This is quicker than jumping through hoops to obtain the source breakdown from your energy provider)
• Plant trees to effectively offset your CO₂ emissions. Either do this by yourself or partner with an organization. A climate change calculator can tell you how many trees you need to plant for your organization.
• Create a recycling program. Distribute collection bins and deliver to the nearest recycling center.
• Coordinate community service events for employees, especially on Earth Day and Arbor Day.
• Establish a green coalition to encourage community service. Benefits can include accountability, identifying synergies, and networking among the participating businesses.
• Investigate your supply chain. Have your partners gone green? What claims do they enable you to make?

No matter how you proceed, your business can always become more socially and environmentally responsible. So make sure your claims are accurate. Ask yourself two questions to get started in the right direction:

1. What is your business doing to achieve greater sustainability practices?
2. What are you doing to let your customers know about it?

When you formulate a response, make sure to post it as a comment below. We want to hear about it! Consider green hosting to create an environmentally-friendly website.

Green Tips for Small(er) Businesses. is a post from: Codero dedicated hosting blog

Managed Hosting from A to Z. is a post from: Codero dedicated hosting blog