Business

Today, the average small- or medium-sized business likely has a number of questions about how to promote itself on and offline. These questions might include "what is SEO marketing?" or "how can I use the internet to succeed in the real world?" Increasingly, companies who are asking these questions are finding answers in social media: several recent reports suggest that social media marketing will increase significantly over the next four years. After surveying more than 5,000 marketers, the cloud computing company Salesforce found that 70% of their respondents planned to boost their social media spending in 2015. Meanwhile, Forrester Research, an independent research company, predicted that social media marketing will hit $9.7 billion in the United States this year, eventually reaching $...

Houston, Texas, has topped a nationwide list of cities with the most master-planned home sales in 2014, with a total of seven of the state's communities making the cut. Yet the top seller overall was Florida, with over 2,600 sales in one community alone. John Burns Real Estate Consulting, based in Irving, California, releases a list each year of the 20 top-selling master-planned communities in the United States. Last year, around 13,200 of these types of homes were sold throughout the country. The top developer went to Houston-based Johnson Development Corp., which is behind three of the top sellers: Riverstone, Woodforest and Cross Creek Ranch. Fourteen other developers besides Johnson Development made the list. However, sales in Florida also ranked high. The Villages, developed by Vil...

If you run your own business, hiring an SEO company or online marketing firm to help direct your internet advertising campaigns likely seems like an obvious choice. These agencies are experts in search engine optimization, enabling them to help companies like yours improve their Google rankings and attract new customers with compelling content. But how would you feel about this choice if you knew that your SEO company was using a country's tragic event to help brand your business? In the past, this controversial strategy has used events like the bombing of the Boston Marathon in 2013 or the Ebola epidemic to sell products and draw attention. Now, a number of businesses have reportedly begun using the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks in France for commercial gain. But does the Charlie Hebdo mov...

A Florida teen will not face charges after posing as a doctor in a hospital -- for an entire month. According to CBS Miami, the 17-year-old pretended to be an anesthesiologist at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach. According to the incident report, the teen wore a white coat with the St. Mary's logo on it and a stethoscope around his neck. What's really alarming about the incident is that is points to a weakness in hospital security -- and to the potential for dangerous consequences for patients and the hospital. If the teen had caused any injuries, there may have been the potential for a medical malpractice lawsuit -- the median damage award of which is $600,000. "If there are no damages it is hard to say that there is actual negligence," says an Attorney from Tapella &...

The medium social media marketers will need to pay the most attention to in 2015 may be video, if updates to major social media platforms at the end of 2014 are any indication. “Every social network has begun to turn efforts towards the improvement of native video distribution and promotion services,” Juan Mendez wrote for Business2Community Jan. 21. Facebook, the platform probably on most marketers’ minds, will continue to prioritize video, with founder Mark Zuckerberg even commenting multiple times that he expects much of people’s newsfeeds to be filled with videos, rather than text or photos, in the near future. Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, has also launched a 15-second video ad option. Twitter, too, added native promoted videos to feeds for the first time in 2014, and has ...

A new study has predicted that the electric forklift will achieve near-universal usage by 2020, overtaking the lead-acid forklift batteries and diesel forklifts that are widely used today and allowing for fewer emissions of greenhouse gases, heavy metals and other harmful chemicals. According to a recent Navigant Research study, electric forklift sales throughout North America are poised to reach levels exceeding $500 million per year by 2020, a significant increase from the $100 million in sales generated in 2013. AutoBlog reports that the massive jump in electric forklift sales will stem from falling prices of the lithium-ion batteries that these forklifts depend upon. Currently, lead-acid batteries are more commonly used because they cost just a third of what it costs to operate a lit...

In just a five-year span, cloud computing has transformed from a niche tech solution to something used nearly ubiquitously in every corner of society. Given the incredible growth of the cloud computing industry, it's only natural to predict what's next -- an increased integration with another rapidly-expanding tech solution, IT managed services. According to a January 14 Forbes article, the cloud is still heavily underutilized by most businesses. Because of this, managed services, or a third party's proactive management of a business's information technology, is a key sector into which the cloud can expand. Already, many mid-sized enterprises are able to monitor their data collection, analytics and security with the help of cloud-based mobile apps; these are just a fraction of the thing...

A year after President Obama announced his plan for myRA retirement savings accounts, they are finally a reality. According to CNN Money, the accounts are geared toward middle- and low-income Americans who may not have access to a retirement plan otherwise. Between the years 2000 and 2010, the number of employers that offer retirement fund options for their employees dropped by 20%. Retirement is the storied conclusion of the American dream, but that future is not as dependable as it used to be. One in four Americans these days believes that they will have to work until the age of 80 to be able to retire comfortably, and 2% of retired Americans are actively seeking employment. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that sign-ups for the myRA (my retirement account) had begun, but t...

A California man was arrested in North Carolina last week after law enforcement found over 30 pounds of marijuana hidden in self-storage units across the state. Takaaki Ishibashi was arrested on January 16th and is being held on $2 million bond. The ordeal began on January 13th, when agents from the Homeland Security Investigations Task Force intercepted a package en route to a storage unit in Mooresville, North Carolina. The package was addressed to a Nathan Yong, of Dallas, with a return address of Long Beach, California. It contained approximately seven pounds of marijuana sealed inside metal cans. The mailing information was found to be incorrect, and investigators were unable to identify a suspect from the information. An additional 3.5 pounds of marijuana were seized from the storag...

Before Republican lawmakers get to work this year, there's just one thing left to do: take a retreat. The annual retreat, which is actually a three-day conference for the purpose of establishing policy agenda and planning for achieving goals in the coming year, will take place in Hershey, PA. Republicans in both the House and the Senate are attending the retreat this year, which hasn't happened in 10 years. The topics on this year's retreat agenda are expected to be the Affordable Care Act, immigration, budget issues, and transportation. The group is staying at the Hershey Lodge, which is one of Hersheypark's official resorts. The resort also boasts three swimming pools and a few full-service restaurants. The resort, which is a couple of hours outside of Washington, D.C., gives lawmakers...