Technology Toolkit

Electricity from the outlet is dirty! Ideally, the electricity would come out of the wall at an exact voltage and an exact frequency. Technically it is possible to have clean power out of an outlet, but financially, most consumers (homes and businesses) just don’t want to pay that price, so power companies will not provide it. They don’t have to; vacuum cleaners, fans, air conditioners, TVs, printers and light bulbs work just fine with that dirty electricity. Computers, on the other hand, are much more finicky about their electricity needs. Some of the spikes or brownouts are just a tad too much. When that happens, the computer starts misbehaving: 1. it goes to sleep, 2. it shuts off instantly, 3. it corrupts a file or two, 4. it goes into hibernate, 5. it burns out an electronic component. The consequences may be noticeable right away or appear at a later date; the consequences are never good.

At home or at work, a computer should always be on a UPS. Laptops have their own “UPS” and are excluded from this requirement; they have a battery built in.

A UPS is a battery pack that constantly monitors the electricity from the outlet. When the electricity from the outlet exceeds preset thresholds, such as too little power or too much power, the UPS kicks in and takes over.

Now, a surge protector is not the same thing as a UPS. A surge protector only protects from too high of a power from the outlet, such as surges or spikes. A UPS protects from too little power and too much power. This is important for a computer. A computer needs relatively clean power to function properly.

The return on investment, ROI, for a UPS is good. Just consider the hassle and price of corrupted files and you will realize that every computer must have a UPS and every server an even bigger one.

Since every computer has a different power consumption, it is hard to say which UPS is the right one for your computer or server. Typically you will find 300 to 700 Volt Ampere UPSs in the store. They have 300VA or something like that written on the box. It doesn’t matter which one you buy. The 700 VA UPS will last at least twice as long as the 300 VA UPS if the power fails. This could mean that your computer may keep running for 20 minutes rather than 10 minutes. Just realize that these UPSs you buy at the store are the cheap stuff; they are so-called standby-UPSs. If the power from the outlet becomes too dirty, a little switch will switch over to battery power. Some computer power supplies or motherboards can’t even handle the 5 milliseconds of no power when the switch activates. For people with such finicky computers it is better to go to the website of the UPS manufacturer and look for a so-called continuous UPS. These UPSs are more expensive, but the computer is always feeding from the battery and the outlet is just constantly recharging the battery.

Server rooms and any high availability hardware should always run off a continuous UPS.

Oh, never plug a laser printer into a UPS. The fuser, a component that fuses the toner onto the paper, needs so much power at once that it overburdens a UPS. Always plug a laser printer directly into the outlet of the wall.

Quality content, link-building, social media, and on-page optimization – these are just a sampling of the many aspects of SEO. Depending on who you ask, you will get a different answer about which aspect of SEO is most important. You may feel overwhelmed with the SEO tasks ahead of you but you can prioritize your duties by following these simple steps.

Determine Your Goals

Want to know how to prioritize your SEO efforts? Start out by defining your goals. Whether you want to sell products or services, build brand image, or increase site traffic, you need to determine what your priority is and focus on the aspects of SEO that will help you achieve that goal. Once you figure out what your top priorities are, create key performance indicators, or KPIs. The more specific your KPIs are the better. When you have specific KPIs, you can easily determine whether you are meeting or missing your goals. Some examples of KPIs include the goals to get 1000 new newsletter subscribers in one month, sell 10 information products in one week, or rank in the top ten Google results for a specific keyword term.

When you outline your goals and create KPIs, you will know what strategies are required in order for you to meet your goals. The tactic you use will depend on the goal in question. For example, if you want to rank in the top 10 results for “dog shampoo,” one of the steps you’ll want to focus on is link-building with anchor text containing that keyword. If you are trying to increase the number of subscribers to your newsletter, you may spend a lot of time creating and marketing killer web content that targets your particular demographic.

Decide Whether You Need to Focus on Quality Content or Link-Building

You may have heard that the most important aspect of SEO is link-building. This holds true more for new websites than old, established websites. Sure, links remain important no matter what but older sites that have already built up sufficient link authority can get pages ranked simply by adding new content and linking to it internally. On the other hand, if your website is relatively new, your on-page tweaking efforts will have minimal effects until you build link authority. Your basic on-page SEO factors such as optimized content, optimized title tags, crawlability, internal linking, and flat site architecture should be taken care of but your primary focus should be on link-building after that.

Spend Time on the Most Critical Aspects of SEO

Determining your goals and focus is important but no matter what your ultimate aim is, you should always keep the big picture. Pay attention to the most critical aspects of SEO, which are links, interesting content that is optimized for target keywords, crawlability, site structure and optimized title tags.

If you are in the early stages of SEO, focus your efforts on forging relationships with other people online in order to build links and attract traffic. Whether you are a newbie or a seasoned webpreneur, use target keywords in your title tags and make your site accessible for humans and search engines for better crawlability. And don’t forget to provide your visitors with content worth linking to!

Take these simple steps to ensure that you head in the right direction for SEO success. Define your goals in the beginning so you can determine which strategies will give you the most “bang for your buck.” Nevertheless, don’t neglect the critical aspects of on-page and off-page SEO in your quest for achieving specific goals.

Your business stationery is always working for you – or against you! Your letterhead, compliments slips, invoices and stationery generally are in constant sight with someone every single day whether it is a government office, a competitor, an existing client, a prospect, member of the press or media or the public at large. More than this, stationery is long lived and can be pulled out and looked years down the line.

What your business stationery says about you is absolutely vital. Of all of the items in your stationery kit, the most important are your business cards because they are going to be the front line troops for your business identity, handed out and passed around in volumes by sales staff, executives, administrators and not forgetting the CEO! Your business card will say a lot about you and not just the information you have printed o upon it, so it pays to invest some time and energy in getting your business card design just right.

You can look at the same boring corporate design business card if you like but try some of these suggestions and see what you take away from them.

Make Your Card Look Like Something it Isn’t

Try a card that has all of your information and contact details on it but turn the card into something else such as a cinema ticket, grocery coupon or luggage tag. This makes them stand out because they are looking like something they are not but they perform exactly the same function and as many business cards are never going to become a talking point at the water cooler, these certainly will.

Use Vibrant Color Images

If you have a drawer full of white, plain looking cards you are going to have a very hard time standing out from the crowd if your business card is also a plain, white card – here’s an opportunity to stand out by using a vibrant color set and better, a really good image that dominates the card such as a tropical sea blue or foliage green as backdrops to the card itself.

Don’t Use Paper

There are other materials you can use instead of simply card stock; the issue becomes the cost involved when you are using non-standard materials however, these really do stand out from the crowd and are likely to be kept forever instead of being lost in an office desk drawer.

Embossed metal really makes a statement and you can combine the metal card with something functional such as a letter opener – it is still the same dimensions as a business card but clearly something different. Perspex also makes a good business card with a clear, see through “card” and your contact information embossed or printed over it.

Opt for an Alternative Shape

You don’t have to be square with your business cards; you can opt for different shapes for your business cards as they are primarily used to provide a permanent aide memoire for your business information. You can use circular or odd outline shaped cards but remember they must be able to be kept in a wallet easily enough – there is no point in making a statement that becomes simply inconvenient.

A virtual PBX system is hosted online and offers many advantages over a more traditional system. PBX which stands for “Public Branch Exchange” is a common office feature found in most businesses and it is used to handle all your office communications. Online or virtual PBX is simply having all your internal/external phone communications hosted on the web.

In recent years, we have seen the steady rise in the number of companies, both big and small, who are switching over to these new web hosted services. Going with a virtual system does offer some distinct advantages, so here are five reasons why your company should consider using such a service.

1. Big Image/Small Company

Perhaps, one of the most significant reasons, you can project a BIG Company image with a virtual PBX service. You can have a complete phone answering service with auto-attendant, voicemail, call-forwarding, call conferencing, call controller and even professional greetings. Small companies and home based businesses can project a professional and sophisticated image to potential customers and clients. First impressions are extremely important for starting any business relationships and having a professional phone system will create that all important good first impression.

2. Cost

You can save on costs since such a PBX system is hosted online and you don’t need all the infrastructure or hardware of a regular system. Because it’s web based, it can be instantly set-up and you can have your service up and running within minutes. You can also take advantage of cheaper phone rates since most online phone and voip services are less expensive than ordinary phone services. Often these PBX providers also bundle other office communications such as online fax services so you really can save more money on the day-to-day costs of running your office or business.

3. Convenience

Again, since this is an online service it is completely portable and available wherever you have Internet access and these days that’s just about everywhere on the planet. This offers great convenience to any one running a business or company. Most systems will also have voicemail with email delivery and such features as call forwarding with FindMe/FollowMe, so you are constantly connected with your business or company no matter where you are located. This is great for home offices and for when you’re traveling.

4. Internet/Computer Based

You can’t overlook the fact that these PBX services are Internet and computer based; bringing your office operations into the modern computer age. It ties your company into the whole “wired” universe and makes it extremely easy for customers and clients to find your business.

5. Competitiveness

Another aspect that also can’t be overlooked is competitiveness. If your business earnings depends heavily on fast quick communications with your clients and customers, then having an online PBX service will make your company more competitive. It can help boost your sales and increase your company’s productivity. In this extremely competitive business environment, your company needs any advantage it can muster in order to survive and compete.

As you can see from above, using a virtual PBX system does have many advantages and benefits. It truly can give the smallest business that Big company look and feel. It can be cost-effective and make your office communications completely mobile and accessible from just about anywhere. And if you’re operating in a highly competitive business environment, using virtual PBX is the only way to proceed.

Email marketing software and small business go hand in hand. In fact, most online email marketing software are designed for small businesses: The costs of an email marketing software are minimal. Creating, sending and tracking an email take only a few minutes out of your busy day. And, without any previous experience, you get professionally designed email marketing software campaigns. What this means is that using email marketing software will help you stay in touch with important contacts and expand your client base, earning you greater profits even as the economy falters.

The bigger and better email marketing software companies charge only $10 for sending out 1000 emails. That amounts to only 1 penny per email, and that is the most you’ll be spending, since the more emails you send, the lower your cost per email. This is obviously thousands of dollars cheaper than paying designers and marketing agencies, paying for paper and print, or paying for any other form of media so that you can reach your target markets. Email marketing software companies also offer the use of their services free for a trial period. That’s a big bonus during tough economic times, as the opportunity to try before you buy means you’ll never waste money on an email marketing software solution that’s not right for you.

The best email marketing software programs are very user intuitive, which means creating a professionally designed email campaign is a very easy process that takes almost no-time at all. Email marketing software allow you to choose from hundreds of email design templates, which are neatly organized by interest category and email style. Then, it is merely a matter of uploading your images and cutting and pasting your text content in the email creation wizard. That’s it! You now have a customized and professional email marketing software campaign that’s ready to send. Going through the process of learning an email marketing software system takes all of 20 minutes. After the first time you go through it, it is so easy to use that it will take just a few moments to create your campaigns the next time around (and the next, and the next…). Also, if you ever have any difficulties, the top email marketing software will have great technical support available at all times by phone, live chat or email.

While the economy is in a depressed state, it is important to use every resource to reach your current customers and seek out new business. The problem is that resources are tight, so reaching out is more difficult and finding new customers costs more than you can afford right now. The transition from other media to email marketing software is easy to do and will save you thousands. On your website, you can have a web sign-up box, which is provided to you free of charge from your elite email marketing software provider. This will allow interested parties visiting your website to sign up to receive promotions or informative newsletters from you or your company. If you operate a restaurant, retail store, or any other business where you interact with customers face-to-face, you can also place a sign in your business location encouraging customers to visit your website and sign up for your email marketing software newsletter, promotions, etc. You can even ask for their email address during the business transaction (but just make sure you get their permission to send them emails). The last step is creating your campaign and sending it out. From now on, you have a targeted list of subscribers that are interested in what you have to offer.

Reaching new customers can cost you pennies. Because your ad budget is now a fraction of what it was, you can take advantage of email marketing software to gain new customers and watch your revenues soar, despite the fact that market analysts are declaring more bumps in the road ahead. Email marketing software can help your small business thrive. It will help you save money, expand your client base and enjoy the advantages of easy and cost-effective internet marketing!