For small business owners, an online collection of honest, authentic customer reviews can help boost both the company's search rankings and reputation. Most consumers check out what others have to say before deciding to patronize a local business, so it's in your best interest to encourage customers to write a review based on their experience with you.
Yelp.com is the current go-to for most local-business reviews, but it's far from the only place consumers are looking. If you want to take greater control of your business's Web presence, here are seven other websites where you can list your company and collect customer feedback.
Angie's List
One of the longest-running and best-known review sites on the Web, Angie's List has become a household name in providing consumers with honest, accurate information about local businesses. Users pay a membership fee to read and write reviews, which are given in the form of a letter grade. Once businesses are signed up, they can add details to their profiles, respond to reviews and interact with members. Additionally, highly rated businesses can earn eligibility to advertise deals and discounts. If you're not listed yet or want to claim a business profile created by a consumer, you can sign up at the Angie's List Business Center.
Facebook
While customers who "like" your business's Facebook page are able to leave their feedback in the form of posts and comments, you can also have them leave formal reviews and ratings. Starred Facebook reviews first debuted in late 2013, and now any page categorized as a "Local Business" that lists its physical address can enable the review feature. Since many small businesses use Facebook as a primary method of connecting with customers, it's a smart and convenient platform to encourage, showcase and respond to customer feedback. To learn how to set up Facebook reviews, visit the Facebook Help Center.
Foursquare
Foursquare is best known for its "check in" feature, which allows people to share their locations via social media. Local businesses who have claimed their listing give customers the ability to not only check in, but also leave ratings and "tips" (reviews) for other customers when they visit. Signing up for Foursquare for Business lets you access user analytics data, add your own tips and offer customer rewards.
Goodsnitch
The Goodsnitch app is more than just an alternative to Yelp. In fact, the company views itself as the "anti-Yelp" because it enables customers to give private feedback about an organization. Good feedback, such as outstanding customer service or a high-quality product, is publicly posted, while negative feedback is delivered directly to the business, allowing the company to privately address the issue with the customer. With its mission to recognize hardworking employees and business owners for their good work, Goodsnitch isn't about covering up consumer complaints — it's about creating a culture of encouragement and positive feedback among businesses and their customers.
Google Reviews
Most small business owners understand how important it is to be findable via online search, especially Google. One of the best ways to boost your search rankings is to establish a presence on Google+ Local and encourage customers to leave reviews. An active Google+ business page signals to Google that customers are engaging with and searching for you — plus, higher customer ratings means better search visibility for you. To learn more, visit BND's Google+ Local guide.
Manta
Manta is a small business directory that helps local American businesses connect with their customers and each other. While reviews are not the primary function of the site, visitors who find your free business profile can leave a recommendation for other users. Manta does offer tips and marketing tools for its business members, but one of the site's most valuable features is the Manta Community, a highly active forum for business owners to ask for and share advice.
MerchantCircle.com
Established in 2005, MerchantCircle.com aims to connect customers with deals, advice and price quotes from local small businesses. The site's search functions are structured primarily by city and business category, and by default, it populates a list of the "best" (highest rated and most frequently reviewed) merchants in the area. The MerchantCircle Help Center has numerous articles to help new businesses get set up on the site, and offers free business listings and marketing tools to its members.
In today's crowded job market, you need a résumé that will help you stand out from the crowd.
This is especially true for new graduates who are entering the workforce for the first time. For employers to give you a second look, your résumé needs to summarize your skills, be targeted for the specific job you want and be error-free, said Wes Lybrand, assistant director at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Career and Professional Development Services.
"The purpose of the résumé is to get you to the interview stage of the hiring process, so it should showcase your most relevant skills and qualifications," Lybrand said in a statement. "It should be focused, clear and concise."
Hiring managers often spend only a few seconds reviewing the résumés they receive, so they have to make a quick impression.
"If you don't make an impact in that time, you'll get passed by for the job," Lybrand said. "If you do make an impact, they [hiring managers or recruiters] will at least take a more in-depth look at your résumé."
Lybrand offered several tips to help recent graduates and other people entering the workforce for the first time craft the perfect résumé:
Target it to the job you want. Don't write a generic résumé that could work for any job. The vast majority of employers think your résumé should be tailored for the position you're applying for, Lybrand said. Be sure to prioritize your skills and qualifications for each job you are trying to land.
Choose the right words. Because many employers use computer software to eliminate some applicants, include keywords from the job posting in your résumé to help you get a second look, he said.
Proofread. One of the quickest ways to get eliminated from consideration is by having grammar and spelling errors in your résumé. Lybrand said recent research revealed that nearly all employers reject candidates due to these types of mistakes.
Be concise. People who are entering the workforce for the first time should stick to a one-page résumé. To save space, eliminate the objective statement and the "References available upon request" line, Lybrand suggested.
Highlight your accomplishments. Rather than just listing your experience, highlight what you accomplished in those jobs. Nearly all employers prefer to see verifiable achievements on a résumé because they show how well you performed in past jobs.
In most industries, the current job market favors employers, so it's very important to follow these guidelines, Lybrand said.
"They are often receiving hundreds of applications per position, so you really need to stand out from the crowd," he said.
Does your business's social media marketing strategy rely on your Facebook Page? Don't be surprised if your Page's reach and traffic tank.
Facebook announced that it is revamping its News Feed with a major change that will directly affect Page owners: Instead of featuring posts from a wide range of sources, News Feed will now promote posts from a user's friends by placing them higher up on the feed. This presents a big shift for small business owners, who can now expect less visibility for their posts and, consequently, a decrease in Page traffic.
Here's what we know about the update and what small businesses can do to mitigate the damage and improve their Facebook marketing campaigns.
Facebook's News Feed algorithm change aims to give users "the right mix" of content based on their connections — friends, businesses, organizations, public figures and other types of accounts — [their] interests and what matters to them the most, the company wrote in its blog. This is all based on feedback the social network gathered from users to improve their News Feed experience.
There are three parts to the update:
Promote friends' posts. News Feed will promote a user's friends' posts — everything from status updates to photos, videos and links — by placing them higher up on the screen so they will be harder to miss. These posts will supersede those by Pages, groups and other accounts, giving the latter less visibility.
Less irrelevant content. Previously, posts that friends have liked or commented on also appeared throughout News Feed. Users have said that they don't care about seeing these posts, so this content will now be placed lower in the News Feed, if at all.
Additional posts. To make News Feed more diverse, Facebook prevented multiple posts by the same account from appearing on News Feed. This is no longer the case, so now more of a user's friends' posts will show up on that person's feed, further displacing posts by business Pages and other accounts.
For many businesses, the question is whether these changes will greatly impact their posts and Page performance. Facebook says this will "vary considerably" based on your followers and posting activity, but that post reach and referral traffic may "potentially decline."
Facebook advises Page owners to keep posting content that resonates with their audience. Recommendations include:
Make sure to post quality content on a consistent basis. Facebook suggests scheduling posts for optimum visibility, such as when most of your followers are online and when you have major announcements and events.
Highly target posts based on your type of message and demographics, such as gender, age, location, interests and other factors.
Keep it fresh with new and timely content, and then test to see what performs best and makes for more successful campaigns.
Use Facebook Ads to promote exclusive discounts and promotions
For more ideas on improving your Facebook marketing strategies, visit Pages best practices, which will also show you how to measure your Page's performance and determine whether it was affected by the News Feed update.
As an employer, you want to make sure your employees are happy. After all, your people are the ones who keep your business going. Your organization's workers may be pleased with their telecommuting options and free snacks, but some companies go above and beyond to make sure their employees really love their jobs. Here are 12 unusual but awesome benefits offered by large and small businesses across the country.
No official work hours. What 9 to 5? At Netflix's California headquarters, vacation days and work hours aren't tracked. The company only measures what people get done; so as long as employees do their work, it doesn't matter when or for how long they're in the office. But Netflix's staff members know better than to slack off — abusing this policy gets you a one-way ticket out the door.
Tons of time off. When you work hard, it's nice to have an employer that lets you play hard, too. Some big-name companies like Glassdoor and Virgin Group offer unlimited time off, but this type of policy usually discourages employees from actually taking vacation days, since there's no incentive to "use it or lose it." Boston-based Metis Communications does put a cap on its employees' paid time off, but the amount is incredibly generous — on top of the standard three weeks of vacation time (four, if you've been there four years or more), staff members get their birthdays off, a bonus vacation week during the last week of December and, after five years of employment, summer Friday vacation days.
Focus on family. Forget standard maternity leave. Facebook offers some pretty incredible perks for parents and parents-to-be. New moms and dads get four months of paid parental leave, reimbursement for day care and adoption fees, and $4,000 in "baby cash" after their child is born.
Similarly, fast casual restaurant chain Capriotti's Sandwich Shop allows its on-staff parents to take time off, no questions asked, to attend their children's events and activities.
Food for thought. Lots of companies offer employee enrichment programs, but for most, these beneficial lectures and events typically only happen a few times a year. Footwear brand BucketFeet sponsors a monthly Learning Series, an hour-long gathering where employees listen to and ask questions of a guest speaker. Co-founder and CEO Raaja Nemani said that the team really values these informal sessions, which usually have a clear tie to the company's mission and values.
On-site health services. Everyone seems to want to work for Google, and for good reason: It's the king of amazing employee benefits. There are lists dedicated to all of Google's perks, but the company's commitment to its workers' health is truly commendable. In addition to medical doctors, you'll also find physical therapists, chiropractors and massage therapists on the Google campus.
Total wellness. It may not have on-staff physicians like Google, but the Institute for Integrative Nutrition does a pretty good job of making sure its employees have what they need for physical and mental wellness. A professional chef prepares a healthy organic lunch for the staff every day (breakfast and snacks are also provided), and fresh flowers are placed on everyone's desk. If biweekly chair massages and in-house yoga classes aren't enough to de-stress you, just go on the staff yoga retreat.
Continuing education. Higher education is undoubtedly valuable to any employee, but it's a privilege that not everyone can afford. Last year, Starbucks announced its College Achievement Plan, a program that allows all eligible U.S. employees (those who work 20 hours or more per week) to earn a bachelor's degree through Arizona State University's online program, with full tuition coverage.
While smaller companies may not be able to afford four-year degrees for their staff, they still find ways to invest in their employees' personal development. For example, Los Angeles-based Konnect PR offers financial assistance for employee classes and other educational interests.
Midday surfing. It makes sense that a company selling outdoor clothing and equipment would want its employees to stay physically fit. Based in California, Patagonia provides company bikes, volleyball courts and on-site yoga for its workers. Employees are also encouraged to catch a wave or two in the middle of the workday: The reception desk posts daily surf reports and makes companywide announcements on especially good surf days.
Volunteer hours. Millennials are known for their social consciousness, and numerous studies have shown that this generation in particular values brands and employers who emphasize doing good in the world. That's why companies like The Goddard School, Jennifer Adams Worldwide and Zimbra give their employees paid time off and/or flexible work hours to engage in volunteer projects. In another Business News Daily article, Zimbra CEO Patrick Brandt said that civic engagement is a necessity in the modern workplace, and ultimately boosts the morale of a company's staff.
Event tickets and transportation. Employees of Quicken Loans in Michigan don't get into all events for free — just the ones happening at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Quicken CEO Dan Gilbert owns the Cleveland Cavaliers, so workers get transportation and tickets to home games. They can also snag seats for the various concerts, comedy shows and other events happening at "The Q."
Game time. Quicken employees may be content to attend basketball games, but Zynga staff members actually get to play on the company's full-size courts. The San Francisco-based gaming company (perhaps unsurprisingly) also has in-house relaxation lounges with classic arcade games and Nintendo, Xbox 360 and PS3 gaming systems for its workers to enjoy.
Extra credit. At Weebly, every employee gets a company credit card, presumably for anything the company's workers might need during the workday (with no set hours, just like Netflix's policy). As if that isn't enough, the Web-hosting company also provides a $50 monthly credit to Exec, a housecleaning and errand-running service, for when its workers are too busy enjoying their free meals, gym membership or bi-monthly massage.
The Dell Latitude E7450 earns 4 stars out of 5. Credit: Jeremy Lips
With a top-notch keyboard, good performance and an attractive, lightweight design, Dell's new Latitude E7450 can easily run with the best business notebooks out there. Starting at $1,000, the 14-inch machine also offers a bunch of perks for business users, including great security and a pointing stick for precise mouse navigation. But with some stiff competition from PC makers like Lenovo, should Dell's E7450 be your next mobile workstation?
Design
The E7450 looks like a notebook designed for business, with a modest black-on-black design that doesn’t draw attention to itself. But high-quality materials, including a matte-finish carbon fiber lid and a charcoal gray magnesium alloy edging, give the machine a premium look and feel. Plus, the tapered design of the edges gives the E7450 a more streamlined look than Lenovo's boxy ThinkPad T450s, which is this notebook's closest competitor.
Dell's laptop comes with plenty of durability to match its good looks. The notebook is rated to withstand high and low temperatures, humidity and dings, among other forms of abuse. If you want even more durability, the touch-screen model comes with extra-strong Gorilla Glass, which resists scratches.
You can tell how durable this machine is just by picking it up — it feels really solid. That's a big plus for road warriors who need a notebook that can take a beating over long business trips.
Size and weight
Measuring 13.3 x 9.1 x 0.8 inches, the Latitude E7450 is slightly larger but thinner than the T450s (13 x 8.9 x 0.83). Both notebooks are quite compact, and will slide easily into your work bag.
The weight of the E7450 varies depending on your hardware configuration, but it starts at 3.43 lbs. without a touch screen, which is about the same as the ThinkPad T450s. Ultraportable notebooks like Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon (3.15 lbs.) are lighter, but generally offer fewer ports and connectivity options. And there are plenty of heavier options, such as Acer's TravelMate P645 (3.5 lbs.).
The bottom line is that the E7450 is thin and light enough to carry on your daily commute without a struggle, though it's not in the most portable class of business laptops. That's the trade-off you'll make for a notebook this rich in features.
Keyboard and touchpad
A good keyboard might be the most important feature on a business notebook, and the E7450 gets it right. The individual keys are well-spaced and offer a satisfying level of feedback, without feeling mushy. They also have a good amount of travel at 1.5 millimeters, which is slightly above average for notebook computers overall, and noticeably deeper than most laptops this thin. That's good, because deeper keys usually provide a more comfortable, desktoplike experience. In addition to feeling great to type on, the keyboard has an optional backlight that can be toggled on for low-light productivity.
But as good as Dell's keyboard is, the keyboard on Lenovo's T450s is better. Its keys are even deeper, with 1.9 mm of travel, and they feel more comfortable. They also have a nice sculpted shape, which makes them easier to navigate by touch than the Dell's square keys. Finally, the T450s has full-size arrow keys, which are easier to press than the shrunken-down keys on the E7450.
I have no complaints about the touchpad, though. Cursor control feels smooth and responsive, as do gestures such as two-finger scrolling. The E7450 sports two dedicated buttons below the touchpad, which many users might prefer to the ThinkPad T450's clickable touchpad, which is a bit less precise for right clicks. On the other hand, dedicated buttons hog some space that could have been used for a roomier touchpad, so it comes down to personal preference.
Pointing stick
A pointing stick is a nice perk in a business notebook, since it lets you control the mouse cursor without moving your hands away from the keyboard, and it arguably has more precision than a touchpad. Dell's pointing stick — sandwiched between the G, H and B, as usual — work very well, though I prefer the rounded top of Lenovo's TrackPoint stick to the concave design of Dell's stick. It's not a deal breaker, but I found my index finger occasionally slipping off the stick when I wanted to make quick cursor movements.
Three buttons located above the touchpad allow for easy left, right and middle clicks. Like the touchpad buttons, they have a nice, soft feel, so they don't produce an annoyingly loud click sound when pressed.
Performance
Our E7450 review unit came with the following hardware:
2.2-GHz Intel Core i5-5200U processor
8GB of RAM
256GB SSD
Integrated Intel HD Graphics 5500
It felt nice and speedy during my testing time. I didn't notice any slowdown, even during heavy multitasking that included editing a large spreadsheet with more than a dozen tabs open in my Web browser and HD video streaming on YouTube. The bottom line is that the E7450 is more than capable of handling just about any workload you throw at it.
BUY Dell Latitude e7450 >>>
Display
Dell sells the Latitude E7450 with configurations for the 14-inch display, with resolutions of either 1366 x 768 pixels or 1920 x 1080 pixels. Touch-screen functionality is optional with either panel, though I recommend forgoing that option, since it adds weight and costs an extra $168.
My review unit came with the full-HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) screen, which was bright and sharp but a bit dull. That's because it has a matte finish, which isn't as vibrant as glossy displays, but also diminishes annoying reflections from overhead office lights. In other words, it's a perk if you're going to use the machine for spreadsheets more often than movies. Most competing business notebooks come with a similar matte finish.
One nice bonus is that the screen can be opened a full 180 degrees so it's lying flat on a conference table, which could come in handy for collaborative work projects.
Ports and connectivity
You get a very healthy selection of ports on the E7450, but most of them are located on the back of the device. That means they're less convenient to reach than the ports on machines like the T450s, which is a bummer if you plan to move the notebook around a lot. On the other hand, if it's going to stay mostly parked at your desk, the rear-facing ports will leave fewer wires jutting out from the sides of your machine.
All you get on the sides of Dell's laptop is a single USB 3.0 port, a full-size SD card slot and the headphone jack. Around back you get two additional USB 3.0 ports, an Ethernet port for wired Internet and network access, HDMI and DisplayPorts for connecting to monitors and projectors, and the charging port.
Docking
On the underside of the E7450 you'll find a docking port, which lets you connect to Dell's Latitude E-Port Replicator docking station. The benefit of a port like this is that it lets you connect your notebook just by setting it down on your dock. That way you can use desktop accessories like a monitor, mouse, keyboard and external hard drive (as well as a charging cable) without reconnecting them individually each morning.
Dell's dock includes two USB 3.0 ports, three USB 2.0 ports, one Ethernet port and a DisplayPort, DVI port and VGA port for video out.
Software
The E7450 comes with a relatively clean installation of Windows 8.1, but Dell will let you opt for Windows 7 instead, free of charge. That's a nice option in case your office still runs on the older operating system, which offers a more traditional Windows interface. Lenovo charges an extra $50 to get the T450s with Windows 7.
Otherwise, you get most of the same preloaded apps you'll find on other systems. That includes productivity software like Microsoft's OneNote for taking notes, OneDrive for saving files and documents to the cloud, and Skype for basic videoconferencing. You get a free, one-month trial of Microsoft Office 2013, which includes Word, Excel and PowerPoint, but you'll have to shell out for the full version to keep using the software beyond that.
Security
Like any good business notebook, you get some nice security features with this one. That includes Dell's Data Protection software, which lets you (or your IT manager) set secure encryption policies for your system, with enterprise-level auditing and reporting functionality. Plus, the notebook has full hard drive encryption via Microsoft's BitLocker. My unit also came with a smart card reader, so the system can be configured to require a physical card to verify each user's security credentials.
It's possible to purchase the E7450 with a fingerprint scanner, which would help you keep your work notebook locked down in case it's lost, stolen or otherwise compromised. My review unit didn't come with that feature, though, so I didn't get a chance to test it for myself to ensure that it's reliable.
Battery life
One area where the E7450 soundly beats the ThinkPad T450s is battery life. Dell's notebook ran for an impressive 8 hours and 36 minutes, which beats the Lenovo by more than an hour (7:31). Both last longer than the average for thin-and-light notebooks (6:08). On the other hand, the ThinkPad T450s is compatible with an optional extended battery that extends that machine's battery life to an epic 16 hours. However, the extended battery costs an extra $100, increases the machine's thickness by half an inch and ups its weight by nearly half a pound. Dell doesn't offer an extended battery on the E7450.
Configurations
Dell offers a wide range of configuration options for the E7450, with a top-end model that comes with a fifth-generation Intel Core i7-5600U processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB solid-state drive (SSD) and a full-HD touch display. A much more affordable sweet spot configuration for average business users includes a Core i5-5200U processor with 4GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD and a full-HD, nontouch display for about $1,300.
The competition
The Lenovo ThinkPad T450s is our favorite overall 14-inch business notebook, but it has shorter battery life than the Latitude E7450, and it's a bit thicker, too.
The Toshiba Tecra Z40, meanwhile, is lighter than most competing machines at just 3.24 lbs., but it tops out with a low-res 1,366 x 768 display that feels a bit cramped for serious multitasking.
Bottom line
After reviewing Lenovo's superb ThinkPad T450s, it's hard to recommend another 14-inch business Ultrabook, but the Latitude E7450 manages to give that machine a run for its money. It offers fast performance, a sharp display and excellent security features. You also get a keyboard that feels almost — but not quite — as good as Lenovo's industry-leading QWERTY layout.
The T450s is still my top pick, but Dell's notebook has a slight edge in a few areas, with a slightly thinner (but larger) design, and an extra hour of battery life. On the other hand, its keyboard and pointing stick don't feel as good as the ones on the Lenovo. But however you slice it, the Latitude e7450 is a solid option for business users in the market for a feature-packed mobile workstation.
