A technology solution should meet at least one of the following four criteria:
1. reduce operating expenses
2. automate existing (efficient) processes to enable growth
3. provide an effective means to communicate
4. enable your business to improve its products and/or services
Before the first dime is spent, insure that your examine these criteria.
If your internal processes are efficient, then applying a technology solution will automate your operation. This in the only true path to a proper return on investment (ROI).
On the flipside, if your process is inefficient, then applying technology will be costly and likely work against itself. Technology for the sake of technology is not going to solve anything.
In fact, without the proper process and strategy, you will likely create problems and reduce your margins by applying the wrong technology solution. A technology "solution" should always solve something.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Adwords Primer (Part I)
Google Adwords can be an efficient strategy to drive more potential clients to your website. Notice, we say "can be" since advertising on Google's search engine can be expensive and not very efficient if managed incorrectly. This article will serve as a primer to get started with a simple, yet effective Adwords campaign.
If you are unfamiliar with Adwords - this is Google's main advertising engine. You can see it in action by going to google.com and entering popular search terms. The search results will have up to three sponsored listings at the top, along with several sponsored listings in the right margin. These "sponsored listings" are what advertisers (or you) will bid on via Adwords.
The first thing you will need is a Google Adwords account. Google has consolidated many of their services so that you can use the same logon for all of the them. Once you have created or linked your login, you are ready to create your first campaign.
Creating the campaign should only take about 10 minutes to complete. You will start by clicking on +Create New Campaign and follow the prompts.
When writing the actual ad copy, think from the readers point of view. Make the ad simple, yet enticing. You'll want to create curiosity, but make sure the message is VERY relevant to your product/service. Take a look at some ads that show in the top 5 slots for various keywords.
If you are unfamiliar with Adwords - this is Google's main advertising engine. You can see it in action by going to google.com and entering popular search terms. The search results will have up to three sponsored listings at the top, along with several sponsored listings in the right margin. These "sponsored listings" are what advertisers (or you) will bid on via Adwords.
The first thing you will need is a Google Adwords account. Google has consolidated many of their services so that you can use the same logon for all of the them. Once you have created or linked your login, you are ready to create your first campaign.
Creating the campaign should only take about 10 minutes to complete. You will start by clicking on +Create New Campaign and follow the prompts.
When writing the actual ad copy, think from the readers point of view. Make the ad simple, yet enticing. You'll want to create curiosity, but make sure the message is VERY relevant to your product/service. Take a look at some ads that show in the top 5 slots for various keywords.
Friday, October 24, 2008
3 Tips For Speeding Up Your Computer
Even though we've been working with Microsoft products for over 20 years, sometimes very strange things happen on our perfectly configured computers.
Here are three things we look for immediately to speed up a system:
1) Remove all unnecessary programs that are running the systray (the systray is all the little icons in the bottom right next to the clock). You can turn them off permanently by going into msconfig.exe and unchecking the programs that shouldn't be there. Just be careful with what you are unchecking.
2) Uninstall programs that you will never use again. Go to Startup>Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs (only on Windows XP).
3) Finally, AFTER unwanted programs are removed, clean out your Windows registry by using a registry cleaner. We recommend RegCure.
As always, make sure your virus scanning software is up to date and run full scans once per week. We recommend AVG - the free version works just fine.
Here are three things we look for immediately to speed up a system:
1) Remove all unnecessary programs that are running the systray (the systray is all the little icons in the bottom right next to the clock). You can turn them off permanently by going into msconfig.exe and unchecking the programs that shouldn't be there. Just be careful with what you are unchecking.
2) Uninstall programs that you will never use again. Go to Startup>Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs (only on Windows XP).
3) Finally, AFTER unwanted programs are removed, clean out your Windows registry by using a registry cleaner. We recommend RegCure.
As always, make sure your virus scanning software is up to date and run full scans once per week. We recommend AVG - the free version works just fine.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
4 steps to creating real-time online proposals
Here's a simple method for creating online proposals. By using Google's 'publish' feature in Google Docs, you can quickly create a unique webpage that is your proposal. No HTML required. Best of all, the webpage is dynamic. When you make a changes to the proposal, your customer can view the changes immediately.
No more emailing documents around and wasting precious time during the sale close!
Here are the steps:
1) Login to your gmail account and click "Documents" in the upper-left.
2) Once inside Google Docs, click on New > Spreadsheet.(Alternatively, you can upload an existing Excel spreadsheet if you have one.)
3) Format your new spreadsheet to resemble a proposal, complete with a signature line. (You can also choose a Template from the "New" button.)
4) Now, click "Share" in the upper right and then choose "Publish as Web Page." Also check the box "Automatically re-publish when changes are made"
That's it. Copy and paste the hyperlink that appears and drop it into an email to your client. If you have to make updates to the document, just tell your client to click on the link in the original email and they will see the updates.
They will see an option to print the document.
TIP: Put your fax number right on the document with instructions to sign and fax. Done deal.
No more emailing documents around and wasting precious time during the sale close!
Here are the steps:
1) Login to your gmail account and click "Documents" in the upper-left.
2) Once inside Google Docs, click on New > Spreadsheet.(Alternatively, you can upload an existing Excel spreadsheet if you have one.)
3) Format your new spreadsheet to resemble a proposal, complete with a signature line. (You can also choose a Template from the "New" button.)
4) Now, click "Share" in the upper right and then choose "Publish as Web Page." Also check the box "Automatically re-publish when changes are made"
That's it. Copy and paste the hyperlink that appears and drop it into an email to your client. If you have to make updates to the document, just tell your client to click on the link in the original email and they will see the updates.
They will see an option to print the document.
TIP: Put your fax number right on the document with instructions to sign and fax. Done deal.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
10 Reasons To Love Gmail
1) All contacts and email content is immediately searchable.
2) The 'Star' feature gives you a quick and easy to-do list.
3) It's free and ubiquitous.
4) The 'archive' feature lets you maintain a clutter-free inbox.
5) You can send/receive emails from multiple addresses. (i.e. jsmith@gmail.com or jsmith@acme.com)
6) Virus scanning on incoming messages (again, free).
7) Access from just about any cell phone.
8) Gmail can host your corporate email system (again, for free).
9) Perfect functioning spam-filter.
10) Did I mention it was free and ubiquitous.
2) The 'Star' feature gives you a quick and easy to-do list.
3) It's free and ubiquitous.
4) The 'archive' feature lets you maintain a clutter-free inbox.
5) You can send/receive emails from multiple addresses. (i.e. jsmith@gmail.com or jsmith@acme.com)
6) Virus scanning on incoming messages (again, free).
7) Access from just about any cell phone.
8) Gmail can host your corporate email system (again, for free).
9) Perfect functioning spam-filter.
10) Did I mention it was free and ubiquitous.
Monday, July 28, 2008
4 must-have online tools (and they're free!)
Mozy (mozy.com )
You have probably suffered the minor (or major!) tragedy of a crashed hard drive. Eventually, they will all stop spinning. Mozy in an online data backup service that will automagically encrypt, transfer and store your most precious files. For individual users, they give you 2gb in the free account. Not bad at all. Depending upon your broadband connection speed, the initial backup could anywhere from a few hours to a few days.
Once the first complete backup is done, subsequent backups will finish much quicker. To get started, you need to download the client software and install on your computer. They have a version for PC and Mac. They also have a Pro version for Windows servers or multiple computers.
Google Apps is THE killer app of the last 10 years in this authors opinion. It is possible to create all types of standard documents using Google Apps. And, again - it's free. Google Apps offers word processing, spreadheets, presentations and online forms. All Google apps run in a browser, of course, and can be used with Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari, among others.
One killer feature for their apps is the collaboration and publishing. You can create a standard "word-like" document and invite other people to collaborate and view the document online. The best part, your original version stays in-tact. Once an invited users edits your document, a new version is created and all past versions are saved separately. You can revert to any version at any time. Think about how valuable that is for contracts and legal documents. No more emailing redline documents.
Here is an example of a sales proposal published using the spreadsheet app. You can also view the original version of this article, which as created using the Google Apps word processor.
Google Reader (google.com/reader)
Google has so many products and services to use other than their search engine. The Google Reader is significant because it can aggregate just about any content that is viewable on the web. Content aggregation or "feeds" is nothing more than email-like threads of information that is specifically chosen by you. If you like sports, biking and fishing, you can "subscribe" to those topics using Google Reader and it will consolidate articles or websites and present to you all on one page. And it's real-time. As new content is published, you will see the updates on your personalized reader page.
This is great for business too. If you are an accountant for example, you can subscribe to tax updates, local business events and even the competition and it's all visible in one place. There is no limit to the content to which you can subscribe. This can also be overwhelming, so choose wisely.
37signals is a killer software company. Their mantra is to create software that provides a core set of highly valuable features. Not a ton of bells and whistles - just elegant web-based software solutions. They have several products, but Basecamp is their flagship product and it provides automation for project management.
As with all their software, Basecamp is highly collaborative in nature. You can login and create a project, add several tasks and milestones within 10 minutes. Then, notify everyone involved in the project about their role and keep track of progress. No training is required to use Basecamp and their support is incredible. For $12/mo. you can run three projects at a time. Great for freelancers and small businesses.
Another cool feature is the file storage. Any type of file can be uploaded and shared with the project team. Oh yeah - you can subscribe to your project updates via Google Reader and watch progress in real-time!
There are plenty more free online services, but these can boost productivity without adding any overhead. Check out our blog for more helpful information.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)