News

The Sydney Writers’ Centre is running an intensive half-day seminar for business owners and entrepreneurs keen to learn the skills to write a business book.

Lady Danielle Di-Masi blogs about embracing LinkedIn and enjoying the connections it will deliver to your business.

“LinkedIn is a brilliant way to connect with associates all over the world, not just those that may be in your local business groups. You can connect with like minded entrepreneurs, or people in companies that you wish to work with, speakers or consultants you want to learn more from …”

The Government announced reforms designed to make it easier for people to switch banks overnight, with a Treasury-led working party to ensure the changes are enacted by July 1 2012.

The Do It Yourself (DIY) and home improvement industries are expected to flourish over the next 12 months, with other industries more likely to feel the crunch of limited consumer spending, according to new research by IBISWorld.

In part two of her blog series on whether marketing is manipulative, Phoebe Netto looks at how to ethically use three tools designed to trick or influence.

“Get to know your ideal customer. The idea is not to convince them of something that they do not want or need. If you do that you’re being manipulative and aren’t likely to see repeat business or positive word-of-mouth.”

Hamish Anderson blogs about the danger of believing your business is too small to be hacked.

“One of the biggest areas overlooked by business owners and managers is the area of software version control, or perhaps more precisely, keeping the software on all their machines updated; be this a new version or just a patch.”

Rick Mapperson blogs about finding out the hard way it’s vital you take good care of yourself.

“Have you found that if you are working long hours trying to get through a large task, that if you put it aside until you have had a good sleep, that you can complete the task in half the time?”

The five finalists for the University of Queensland (UQ) Business School Enterprize Awards 2011 have been announced.

Freelancer.com has expanded its crowdsourcing feature to accommodate all design categories, allowing small business owners access to a wide range of design needs including logos, smartphone app mockups, Photoshop editing and even personalised Twitter backgrounds.

Catriona Pollard looks at using an RSS feed to free up time in your business.

“The main purpose of an RSS is to manage the organisation and collection of information from the internet. RSS is a time management tool for businesses and people who regularly use the web.”

Robert Steers blogs about using new media to reach your market – on a budget.

“Advertising on new media has several unique elements. On Facebook, ads can be connected to a Facebook page, encouraging interaction within a user’s network. On news aggregators like Digg, advertisers can gather feedback about their ad through comments or votes… “

A Sydney-based start-up has received backing from AMP Capital Shopping Centres to get its iPhone app off the ground, which promises to assist retailers in engaging shoppers and boosting in-store traffic.

Accountants are expressing concern that the financial performance of their small business clients are being put in danger by the carbon tax, with many convinced SMBs won’t be adequately compensated by the Government when the tax is implemented.

Under newly introduced legislation, businesses will only have to pay one fee to register their company name.

A shortage of skilled labour is the biggest challenge facing small and medium businesses, according to a poll of state and territory winners and finalists in the 2011 Telstra Business Awards.

Alicia Beachley blogs about finding ideal brand ambassadors for your small business.

“Champions come in all shapes and sizes and can be really powerful resources for any sized business. It can be anyone from a celebrity ambassador to passionate early adopters who, particularly thanks to social media, can create buzz for your SME.”

If you’d like to find out whether cloud accounting really will be heaven for your small business, Dynamic Business has found a must-attend free seminar for Sydney-based business owners.

Julian Smith asks if you’ve given thought to whether you’ll be employable should your business fail.

“The important part to remember is that in the wake of every business failure is owners needing to head back to the workforce they left behind. This surprisingly, isn’t as easy as it seems.”

The Gillard Government will share $8 million of funding between 19 innovative companies, to assist them to get their pioneering products into the market.

LinkedIn has unveiled the next generation of its mobile experience, improving its iPhone and Android applications and delivering a new HTML5 experience for users viewing their account in a mobile web browser.