New York SBDC Research Network

From eMarketer : The promise of online sales and traffic has got retailers across the board focused on investing more money online, but many retailers are still falling short in some of the basics of digital. According to a study by Retail Systems Research (RSR), retail websites take an average of 9.5 seconds to load on mobile devices, and 16.6 seconds for desktop. The study of 80 major retail sites was conducted in April and May and was commissioned by Yottaa, which helps retailers speed up loading of their pages. Among the reasons for slow page loads were digital bells and whistles: live chat, product recommendations, and personalized offers, to name just a few. Retailers in the study used an average of 70 third-party e-commerce applications, and waiting on them takes up as much as three-quarters of the time required to load a page, the study found. Another speed block is images. The RSR study found that 55% of site content is images, many of which simply wouldn’t load.

From Bplans : So, you know by now that having a presence on social media is important for your business. Not only that, you’re interested in the potential benefits of social media marketing, and you’re getting a sense of what marketing on the various social media platforms entails. Maybe.. marketing your small business on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and YouTube... The trouble is, you can’t do it all. Unless you are planning on creating a position within your business for someone to take charge of your social media accounts, focusing on any social media marketing is going to come out of your time. As a small business owner, that time is precious, so it’s important to put it to good use. Ultimately, you’ll have to choose which social platforms to focus on—you won’t be able to do it all. While you may intuitively know right away that some are a good bet and that there are others you’d rather avoid, I’ll go over a few questions to ask yourself before you pick.

From Complete Payroll : The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) is a tax credit the federal government provides to employers for hiring people who typically struggle to find employment. We're going to go over how WOTC works, the types of people employers can hire to become eligible for the credit, how the credits are calculated and how employers can apply for WOTC. To become eligible for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, an employer would have to hire a qualifying member that meets at least one of the following criteria... Veteran Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients Food stamp (SNAP) recipients Designated community residents (living in Empowerment Zones or Rural Renewal Counties) Vocational rehabilitation referrals Ex-felons Supplemental Security Income recipients Summer youth employees (living in Empowerment Zones) For more details on each of the target groups, and how to determine if an employee is eligible, check out this page from the United S...

From Bplans : When it comes to funding, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. Depending on where you’re at in your business, what type of funding you are seeking, and the amount you need, where you’ll look can vary widely. We’ve compiled a list from a variety of places to help you research and narrow down the options that are best for you... Alternative lenders are institutions that provide loans or lines of credit as an alternative to traditional bank loans or the government... Venture capital is really only an avenue if you fit the specific criteria... Depending on what kind of business you’re starting or running, there could be funding from an industry-related fund or organization.

From MarketingProfs : What if we thought about customer feedback the way we think about interior design? Around the middle of the last century, the "it" aesthetic was a clean, open look. Free of the ornamentation that ruled other eras—when the value of a building was literally weighed in gold, marble, and limestone—mid-century modern was about airy spaces, natural light, and beauty through simplicity. That aesthetic is having a moment again among design fans, but its lessons can be applied beyond showroom floors and furniture studios. Take customer feedback, for example. Today, marketers can add more flourishes than ever to surveys. They can ask customers questions at the cash register, the online shopping cart, in an email, or via text—or in all these places. They can also pile on as many questions as they want... They have the technology to do it, so why not? As it turns out, there are many reasons why less is more when asking customers for their input. The "d...

From the Federal Trade Commission Roundtable info The Federal Trade Commission announced that its  Economic Liberty Task Force will host a roundtable in Washington, DC on  July 27, 2017  to highlight approaches that make it easier for workers in state-licensed occupations to offer their services across state lines or move between states. Most occupational licenses are not portable, meaning that workers who move to a new state often face financial or administrative burdens of applying for a new license. Restrictions on the portability of occupational licenses are especially hard on military families, who move often. The  July 27  roundtable, which will take place from  2 p. m. to 4 p.m. , will be the first public event held by the FTC’s new  Economic Liberty Task Force . Acting Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen established the Task Force earlier this year as her first major policy initiative for the agency. The Task Force is considering how occupationa...

From Entrepreneur magazine : The fact that he’s a famous actor is probably the least fascinating thing about Alan Alda these days. A likable and inquisitive guy, Alda spent 11 years interviewing scientists for the documentary show Scientific American Frontiers. The experience of trying to understand brilliant minds doing important work inspired him to partner with Stony Brook University to establish the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, which teaches scientists strategies for conveying their ideas to laypeople. It also inspired him to launch a deeper investigation into how people -- scientists, teachers, businesspeople, dentists and so on -- communicate. The fruit of that research is his surprisingly useful new book, If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating. Entrepreneur: I was surprised to learn you used to work in sales. Alan Alda: Yeah. I had to do something as a young actor to supp...