Free Conference Calls
Posted by admin in Business Tools on May 19th, 2009
If you own a business, you understand the need to stay in contact with your employees. With telecommutors a large part of the workforce, costs of utilizing conference calling services can deter productivity. What if you could have up to 150 people on one call, on a reliable network, have the ability to record, playback and even download your meeting to an MP3 AND have this all for FREE?
Well, you can. AlwaysFreeConferencing.com offers this free conferencing call service. Signup is a breeze, all you need is an email, and you are instantly ready to start.
Uses for Always Free Conferencing calls are not limited to businesses. Students can record a lecture and replay it over and over for total recall. Teens can record a merry greeting for a sick friend. Churches can organize prayer groups, or keep in touch with missionaries. The possibilities are endless.
Use of this service is completely free, but like all your calls, your minutes or charges are dependent upon your phone plan. I have an unlimited calling plan, so conferencing is easy, simple and free.
Give AlwaysFreeConferencing.com a try, and let me know what you think.
Twitter Updater for Wordpress
Posted by admin in General, Twitter Marketing on December 4th, 2009
I finally updated my Twitter updater Plugin for Wordpress. Hope post test doesn’t generate 49 thousands tweets. Was So annyoing. I do a lot of posts and then edit a lot – dumb I know. Probably due to too much caffeine.
UPDATE: OK, worked great. All posts are perfect. If you want the Twitter Updater Go Here
Importance of a Client Contract
Posted by admin in Business Tools on December 2nd, 2009
Web Design and Graphic Design Contracts
Many years ago I wrote an article for ezinearticles.com about the Importance of a Client Contract.
Whether you are just starting out in a business or a seasoned “professional” you should have a contract when doing business – if not for your own safety, but for the safety of your clients.
Not a day goes by that I don’t hear horror stories about misunderstandings on projects that could have easily been prevented with a simple contract.
Simply, they state the work you are providing and the cost involved. They should also indicate what is not included, such as incidental material costs and excessive copy changes, etc. Always put into writing your intent and email it to the client.
With the exception of long-terms clients, I still use a client contract for any projects I work on, regardless of the size. It details work to be provided by both parties – clients have obligations, too. Even now, I have issues with clients maily due to their failure to read the contract.
I strongly recommend Graphic Designers to have a contract (written in easy to understand, Plain English – leaving out the technical jargon you know most customers won’t understand). I also recommend Clients to read their contracts, ask questions on what you do not understand and retain a signed copy of the contract in your files for reference.
Spend Your Advertising Dollars Wisely
Posted by admin in Business-to-Business Marketing, Marketing on November 24th, 2009
How to Get Customers to come to you
Business-to-Business Marketing
FREE CD on Guerilla Marketing Tactics from Perry Marshall
If you spend more time chasing sales than closing them, you are wasting your advertising dollars. Businesses of all sizes have an advertising budget but many aren’t getting a good Return on Investment (ROI). Why? They are missing the main principles for eliminating cold calling and wasted advertising dollars.
A finely tuned marketing and publicity system delivers a predictable number of quality sales leads to you every day, month in and month out, so your salespeople only spend time with people who already understand what you do and who have proactively asked you to help them solve their problem. — Perry Marshall
Perry Marshall, truely the first Internet Marketing Expert, is offering a FREE CD on his Guerilla Marketing Tactics.
HTML Editor Only $29, Limited Time
Posted by admin in Software, Starting an Online Business on November 24th, 2009
Software so you can Make Websites
For a Limited Time CoffeeCup Software is saying Thank You by offering their flagship product at 1996 prices. Until December 1st, you will get HTML Editor for its original price, just $29. Plus: You’ll get to choose a special free bonus!
This is a limited time offer and won’t last long.
About CoffeeCup
Since 1996, CoffeeCup has been providing easy-to-use software to help you develop and improve websites. If you are just getting started on your website presence, or if you already have a Website this is the place to start. You can even try out their software before you buy.
Pheominal software, great prices and great support. When you purchase software from CoffeeCup you get support for life.
Instant Amazon Affiliate Business
Posted by admin in Business Tools, Software, Starting an Online Business on November 19th, 2009
If you have been considering starting an online Affiliate Home based buiness, but not sure where to start – a good place is C3Scripts.com. You can integrate their cgi-bin Perl affiliate scripts into your existing website or use them to create standalone websites. With C3scripts you can quickly and easily promote products from over 180 different merchants.
I have used C3 Amazon script for several years. It is easy to install and optimize. They come already installed with template designs, but you can use your own if you prefer. Should you have issues with installing the product, feel free to contact me and I would be happy to help.
From now until January 1st, 2010, the following yearly licenses are on sale:
Visit C3Scripts.com
DySE::Calendars (Calendars.com) license: $9.95 (regularly $24.95/year)
AE (amazon.com) new license: $24.95 (regularly $99.95)
AE (amazon.com) renewal license: $9.95 (regularly $24.95/year)
sitemap.pl one-time license: $9.95 (regularly $14.95)
FIND A LOW COST OR FREE TEMPLATE DESIGN
SIGN UP FOR AN AMAZON ASSOCIATE PROGRAM
Twitter Can Forge Friendships and Build Business
Posted by admin in Starting an Online Business, Twitter Marketing on July 19th, 2009
When I first talked with my friend about Twitter, I was extremely skeptical. She emphatically tried to convince me it was this fantastic new marketing medium, when all I could see was another way for spam, false opinions and junk. Well, fortunately, and unfortunately, we were both right.
While Twitter has grown exponentially over the past several months, so has the onslaught of spam, objectionable material and rumors. However, I have also found a great many helpful, warm and friendly people. Like in your real life, you enjoy a handful of close friends that you like to hang with – ones you trust and whom trust you.
And once in awhile, among these select few, come a smattering of quality business projects that fit you like a glove. I have been fortunate to not only have established great friendships, but forged business relationships.
If you are thinking Twitter is simply another frenzied forum of opinionated, rude and confrontational people – you are right. But it is also a place to connect with like-minded individuals. And unlike the real world – you can block whom you don’t wish to associate with.
New Tool to Stop Twitter Spam – TrueTwit.com
Posted by admin in Business Tools, General, Twitter Marketing on July 19th, 2009
Every day, reports highlight the growing problem of Twitter spam. If you’ve been on Twitter for more than a day, you know it too – separating spammers from true followers can be almost unmanageable.
TrueTwit is a Twitter validation service that verifies the humanity of those who follow you. Here’s how it works:
- You sign up for a free account a TrueTwit.com
- Any new followers receive a Direct Message (DM) requesting validatin through a unique link
- The follower then must fillout a CAPTCHA form showing they are human, not a bot
- When they validate, you receive an email that a human has followed you
Any new follower that is already registered with TrueTwit.com is authoirzed immediately. This may cause some problems as the spammer may just sign up and then spam.
The only failing the site is still in BETA and some features are not available, like removing the automatic follow other TrueTwits. If you plan to sign up at TrueTwit.com – don’t choose automatic approval [a checkmark in your signup]. There may be followers you just don’t want to follow back.
UPDATE: just DM’d with Chad Brandt, A consultant and software engineer working for Kettle River Consulting as Developer on TrueTwit.com, and he informed me that the feature for changing the auto follows “will be in the admin area today or tomorrow.” [as of July 18, 2009]. You can follow Chad on Twitter or visit their blog at http://www.truetwit.com/blog/.
If you are looking for a great way to stop Twitter Spammers, then I suggest you check out this free and powerful tool. TrueTwit.com
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UPDATE: I personally stopped using TrueTwit as it seemed to hinder more than help – at least for my account. My account seemed to stall – getting only 3 new followers in a month, so I have decided to manually monitor my account. I believe TruTwit is still a good choice for many, and highly recommend it as a deterrant from spam follows.
When Tweets are like Day Old Fish.
Posted by admin in Business Tools, Twitter Marketing on June 22nd, 2009
Using Twitter as a Business Tool
After several months using Twitter I have concluded it is a great way to connect with customes and clients, so long as you can filter out the junk mail and tire-kickers. Like e-mail and junk mail, I sift through accounts that interest me. I find that a quick note from time to time from followers makes the start of my day interesting. Yet, like fish, some begin to stink in a few days, inundating me with a barrage of 10 or more tweets in a row.
While I remain patient, I start to feel pressured to read or buy from these twitter salepeople. Anxiety starts to rise. I am annoyed because my tweet from Kevin Spacey has moved off the main view scope. I decide to pull my favorite twitters in to my RSS reader – ahhh, I can now read them at my liesure.
Now, when I go to Twitter it is to search for new interests, to deal with new and potential clients and unfollow those who clog up my twitter home.
Establishing Yourself as a Big Dog over the CopyCats
Posted by admin in Starting an Online Business on May 26th, 2009
When coming up with the next big product on the internet – the trouble is staying ahead of the copycats. Unlike developing a new green-energy efficient car engine, there are millions of online people looking for an undeveloped idea to take, make better, repackage and sell as their own – and in a very short time frame.
You rarely have second chances on the internet to become the next big thing. Your product has to be so unique that it literally has everyone jumping on the bandwagon. And like little children – they want more.
Online business owners want to know how this new product will help them make more money; Affiliate marketers want to know how much money the product can make for them; Joe Sunday wants to know how difficult it is to use; and the youth want something fun and engaging.
The trick to online success is not to be one step ahead of the pack, but three or four leaps ahead before your Grand Opening. Put your product to the beta test before you officially launch. Nothing kills a brilliant idea better than a sloppy product filled with bugs.
Don’t sell yourself short on time and quality. If the idea is sound, work through all the angles first, ask the best people to do a thorough beta test, and when you launch understand you will be watched, scrutinized, and evaluated. If you are found wanting by the Internet Community, it could mean a swift execution. But if you win their hearts, they will stick with you faithfully and tell thousands of their online friends.
How to Avoid Information Overload
Posted by admin in Starting an Online Business on May 20th, 2009
You are ready to start your first website. You find a plethora of information on the Internet and BAM! You are bombarded with so much information you don’t know what direction to take or whom to believe. There are literally thousands of products giving your information on the “best way to do….” whatever. There is literally there is too much information for your mind to absorb and become completely overwhelmed.
Too much information could push any marketer and designer into a comatose state. At this point, nothing gets done and you find yourself flying from one course to another looking for that simple blueprint. Unfortunately the more sites you sift through, the more overwhelming it becomes. This information overload can defeat and kill your enthusiasm for online marketing.
The best way to start is be aware there is more information on the Web than you could possible read. Your best course is to concentrate on one or two sites for all your information. Eliminate the clutter and by utilizing a few key resources for information you will eliminate the frustration.
Once you become comfortable with your new found knowledge, you can expand your resources to marketers who back up their claim with actual results on the web. There are many who are regurgetating information, charging $19, $49, up to $97 for these “trade secrets”. Be cautious when paying for information, especially when you are first starting out, unless it is a trusted source.
I still use my first sources of information. Wilson Web provides a lot of quality information on how to market on the Internet. You should also know a little about HTML coding, even if you hire someone. A good place for tutorials and information is HTML Goodies .
Just remember to do your homework and test the information you gather. I know this may be difficult in an unfamiliar arena, but it can be done. Eventually you will be able to recognize the wheat from the chaff.