Tag Archives: WordPress.com

About 1909 days ago Online Marketing

Drive Traffic to Your Business Blog

our beautiful site

It’s one thing to start a company blog. It’s something else entirely to get people to visit. Driving traffic to your small business’ corporate blog takes equal parts old-fashioned marketing and contemporary Web tools. It’s a mix of common sense practices like printing a blog’s URL on company business cards with search engine optimization and blog software plug-ins to come up with the right formula to motivate people to visit, according to corporate bloggers and blog marketing experts. Whatever methods you use, aim for quality, not quantity, says Tac Anderson, a Web 2.0 expert and blogger at the LaserJet business unit of HP in Boise, Idaho. Using lots of Web-based bells and whistles can dramatically increase traffic. But if people don’t make return visits, or all that traffic doesn’t lead to more customers, better bonds with suppliers or other measures of success, it doesn’t mean much. Old school marketing methods No matter what your company’s blog is about or who writes it, start with the basics to spread the word that it’s there: Include the blog’s name and URL on printed materials such business cards, letterhead and brochures. Include it in employees’ email signatures, and prominently display it on the company’s website, either on the front page or another suitable location. MobileDataforce, a 45-person Boise, Idaho, maker of software for mobile devices, has a link to a blog written by CEO Kevin Benedict on the front page of the company’s website. On a recent trip to Australia, Benedict was walking down the street in Sydney and someone called his name “because she’d read my blog and recognized my picture,” he says. Encourage whoever writes the blog to network offline to promote it. At HP, Anderson is frequently invited to speak about Web 2.0 and social media at technology conferences, and uses the occasions to talk to people about his blogs. “Even if they don’t meet you personally, if they just hear you speak, they feel a little more connected, and they’ll be more likely to become regular readers,” Anderson says. Network online. too. Become a frequent visitor of blogs that cover similar topics or industries. Leave comments on those blogs and e-mail the authors. Include those blogs in the list of blogs, or blogroll, on your own blog. MobileDataforce’s software is used on rugged hand-held PCs, so Benedict links his blog to blogs at distributors and manufacturers of that gear. “You get more eyes, and Google ranks you higher if you have connections with other popular sites,” he explains. Search engine optimization and other tools Professional blog marketers suggest using a different bag of tricks to drive traffic to the websites, including: Search engine optimization (SEO) — An entire industry has developed around the science of placing frequently searched words and phrases into the text of blog posts so they’ll appear high in search-engine rankings and get more traffic as a result. Search engine optimization specialists such as Gary Pool, proprietor of White Rose Productions in Portland, Ore., swears by SEO software such as: Niche Bot, a subscription-based software tool that bloggers use to search for commonly used words or phrases. SEO Book, a regularly updated e-book with a variety of SEO tools. Word Tracker, another SEO tool that offers a free trial version. Plugins — Pool prefers to create blogs in WordPress because of the bounty of available plug-in software including: Add Meta Tags, which automatically selects keywords in blog posts that will get picked up by search engines. Share This, software that adds a button to the bottom of every blog post making it easier to subscribe it to a viewer’s RSS news reader. XML Sitemaps, software that produces a sitemap of a blog that makes it easier for Google, Yahoo, and MSN to search a blog. Blog directories — Pool also suggests that companies submit their blogs to blog directories for specific states, industries, or professions. If you use SEO keywords to drive traffic, don’t dwell on the details to the extent that you forget the big picture. If your blog is so crowded with key words people can’t find what they are looking for, you’ve defeated the purpose of bringing them to the blog in the first place, Pool says. And don’t forget to have fun with it. “If it’s personal, people will keep coming back. It doesn’t have to be heavy handed,” he says. In the end, content is still king. Present interesting information visitors want to read, and you never know where it will lead. At MobileDataforce, Benedict had given up ever getting an order from a large New Zealand company that initially expressed interest then stopped returning emails and phone calls. But they didn’t stop reading his blog. After six months of silence they called. “Their employees read my blog every week and they were ready to buy,” Benedict says. The blog “is an ongoing communication with customers that we don’t even know we have.”

About 1909 days ago Online Marketing

Drive Traffic to Your Business Blog

our beautiful site

It’s one thing to start a company blog. It’s something else entirely to get people to visit. Driving traffic to your small business’ corporate blog takes equal parts old-fashioned marketing and contemporary Web tools. It’s a mix of common sense practices like printing a blog’s URL on company business cards with search engine optimization and blog software plug-ins to come up with the right formula to motivate people to visit, according to corporate bloggers and blog marketing experts. Whatever methods you use, aim for quality, not quantity, says Tac Anderson, a Web 2.0 expert and blogger at the LaserJet business unit of HP in Boise, Idaho. Using lots of Web-based bells and whistles can dramatically increase traffic. But if people don’t make return visits, or all that traffic doesn’t lead to more customers, better bonds with suppliers or other measures of success, it doesn’t mean much. Old school marketing methods No matter what your company’s blog is about or who writes it, start with the basics to spread the word that it’s there: Include the blog’s name and URL on printed materials such business cards, letterhead and brochures. Include it in employees’ email signatures, and prominently display it on the company’s website, either on the front page or another suitable location. MobileDataforce, a 45-person Boise, Idaho, maker of software for mobile devices, has a link to a blog written by CEO Kevin Benedict on the front page of the company’s website. On a recent trip to Australia, Benedict was walking down the street in Sydney and someone called his name “because she’d read my blog and recognized my picture,” he says. Encourage whoever writes the blog to network offline to promote it. At HP, Anderson is frequently invited to speak about Web 2.0 and social media at technology conferences, and uses the occasions to talk to people about his blogs. “Even if they don’t meet you personally, if they just hear you speak, they feel a little more connected, and they’ll be more likely to become regular readers,” Anderson says. Network online. too. Become a frequent visitor of blogs that cover similar topics or industries. Leave comments on those blogs and e-mail the authors. Include those blogs in the list of blogs, or blogroll, on your own blog. MobileDataforce’s software is used on rugged hand-held PCs, so Benedict links his blog to blogs at distributors and manufacturers of that gear. “You get more eyes, and Google ranks you higher if you have connections with other popular sites,” he explains. Search engine optimization and other tools Professional blog marketers suggest using a different bag of tricks to drive traffic to the websites, including: Search engine optimization (SEO) — An entire industry has developed around the science of placing frequently searched words and phrases into the text of blog posts so they’ll appear high in search-engine rankings and get more traffic as a result. Search engine optimization specialists such as Gary Pool, proprietor of White Rose Productions in Portland, Ore., swears by SEO software such as: Niche Bot, a subscription-based software tool that bloggers use to search for commonly used words or phrases. SEO Book, a regularly updated e-book with a variety of SEO tools. Word Tracker, another SEO tool that offers a free trial version. Plugins — Pool prefers to create blogs in WordPress because of the bounty of available plug-in software including: Add Meta Tags, which automatically selects keywords in blog posts that will get picked up by search engines. Share This, software that adds a button to the bottom of every blog post making it easier to subscribe it to a viewer’s RSS news reader. XML Sitemaps, software that produces a sitemap of a blog that makes it easier for Google, Yahoo, and MSN to search a blog. Blog directories — Pool also suggests that companies submit their blogs to blog directories for specific states, industries, or professions. If you use SEO keywords to drive traffic, don’t dwell on the details to the extent that you forget the big picture. If your blog is so crowded with key words people can’t find what they are looking for, you’ve defeated the purpose of bringing them to the blog in the first place, Pool says. And don’t forget to have fun with it. “If it’s personal, people will keep coming back. It doesn’t have to be heavy handed,” he says. In the end, content is still king. Present interesting information visitors want to read, and you never know where it will lead. At MobileDataforce, Benedict had given up ever getting an order from a large New Zealand company that initially expressed interest then stopped returning emails and phone calls. But they didn’t stop reading his blog. After six months of silence they called. “Their employees read my blog every week and they were ready to buy,” Benedict says. The blog “is an ongoing communication with customers that we don’t even know we have.”

About 1909 days ago Blogging and Social Media

Drive Traffic to Your Business Blog

our beautiful site

It’s one thing to start a company blog. It’s something else entirely to get people to visit. Driving traffic to your small business’ corporate blog takes equal parts old-fashioned marketing and contemporary Web tools. It’s a mix of common sense practices like printing a blog’s URL on company business cards with search engine optimization and blog software plug-ins to come up with the right formula to motivate people to visit, according to corporate bloggers and blog marketing experts. Whatever methods you use, aim for quality, not quantity, says Tac Anderson, a Web 2.0 expert and blogger at the LaserJet business unit of HP in Boise, Idaho. Using lots of Web-based bells and whistles can dramatically increase traffic. But if people don’t make return visits, or all that traffic doesn’t lead to more customers, better bonds with suppliers or other measures of success, it doesn’t mean much. Old school marketing methods No matter what your company’s blog is about or who writes it, start with the basics to spread the word that it’s there: Include the blog’s name and URL on printed materials such business cards, letterhead and brochures. Include it in employees’ email signatures, and prominently display it on the company’s website, either on the front page or another suitable location. MobileDataforce, a 45-person Boise, Idaho, maker of software for mobile devices, has a link to a blog written by CEO Kevin Benedict on the front page of the company’s website. On a recent trip to Australia, Benedict was walking down the street in Sydney and someone called his name “because she’d read my blog and recognized my picture,” he says. Encourage whoever writes the blog to network offline to promote it. At HP, Anderson is frequently invited to speak about Web 2.0 and social media at technology conferences, and uses the occasions to talk to people about his blogs. “Even if they don’t meet you personally, if they just hear you speak, they feel a little more connected, and they’ll be more likely to become regular readers,” Anderson says. Network online. too. Become a frequent visitor of blogs that cover similar topics or industries. Leave comments on those blogs and e-mail the authors. Include those blogs in the list of blogs, or blogroll, on your own blog. MobileDataforce’s software is used on rugged hand-held PCs, so Benedict links his blog to blogs at distributors and manufacturers of that gear. “You get more eyes, and Google ranks you higher if you have connections with other popular sites,” he explains. Search engine optimization and other tools Professional blog marketers suggest using a different bag of tricks to drive traffic to the websites, including: Search engine optimization (SEO) — An entire industry has developed around the science of placing frequently searched words and phrases into the text of blog posts so they’ll appear high in search-engine rankings and get more traffic as a result. Search engine optimization specialists such as Gary Pool, proprietor of White Rose Productions in Portland, Ore., swears by SEO software such as: Niche Bot, a subscription-based software tool that bloggers use to search for commonly used words or phrases. SEO Book, a regularly updated e-book with a variety of SEO tools. Word Tracker, another SEO tool that offers a free trial version. Plugins — Pool prefers to create blogs in WordPress because of the bounty of available plug-in software including: Add Meta Tags, which automatically selects keywords in blog posts that will get picked up by search engines. Share This, software that adds a button to the bottom of every blog post making it easier to subscribe it to a viewer’s RSS news reader. XML Sitemaps, software that produces a sitemap of a blog that makes it easier for Google, Yahoo, and MSN to search a blog. Blog directories — Pool also suggests that companies submit their blogs to blog directories for specific states, industries, or professions. If you use SEO keywords to drive traffic, don’t dwell on the details to the extent that you forget the big picture. If your blog is so crowded with key words people can’t find what they are looking for, you’ve defeated the purpose of bringing them to the blog in the first place, Pool says. And don’t forget to have fun with it. “If it’s personal, people will keep coming back. It doesn’t have to be heavy handed,” he says. In the end, content is still king. Present interesting information visitors want to read, and you never know where it will lead. At MobileDataforce, Benedict had given up ever getting an order from a large New Zealand company that initially expressed interest then stopped returning emails and phone calls. But they didn’t stop reading his blog. After six months of silence they called. “Their employees read my blog every week and they were ready to buy,” Benedict says. The blog “is an ongoing communication with customers that we don’t even know we have.”

About 1909 days ago Setting Up a Website

Drive Traffic to Your Business Blog

our beautiful site

It’s one thing to start a company blog. It’s something else entirely to get people to visit. Driving traffic to your small business’ corporate blog takes equal parts old-fashioned marketing and contemporary Web tools. It’s a mix of common sense practices like printing a blog’s URL on company business cards with search engine optimization and blog software plug-ins to come up with the right formula to motivate people to visit, according to corporate bloggers and blog marketing experts. Whatever methods you use, aim for quality, not quantity, says Tac Anderson, a Web 2.0 expert and blogger at the LaserJet business unit of HP in Boise, Idaho. Using lots of Web-based bells and whistles can dramatically increase traffic. But if people don’t make return visits, or all that traffic doesn’t lead to more customers, better bonds with suppliers or other measures of success, it doesn’t mean much. Old school marketing methods No matter what your company’s blog is about or who writes it, start with the basics to spread the word that it’s there: Include the blog’s name and URL on printed materials such business cards, letterhead and brochures. Include it in employees’ email signatures, and prominently display it on the company’s website, either on the front page or another suitable location. MobileDataforce, a 45-person Boise, Idaho, maker of software for mobile devices, has a link to a blog written by CEO Kevin Benedict on the front page of the company’s website. On a recent trip to Australia, Benedict was walking down the street in Sydney and someone called his name “because she’d read my blog and recognized my picture,” he says. Encourage whoever writes the blog to network offline to promote it. At HP, Anderson is frequently invited to speak about Web 2.0 and social media at technology conferences, and uses the occasions to talk to people about his blogs. “Even if they don’t meet you personally, if they just hear you speak, they feel a little more connected, and they’ll be more likely to become regular readers,” Anderson says. Network online. too. Become a frequent visitor of blogs that cover similar topics or industries. Leave comments on those blogs and e-mail the authors. Include those blogs in the list of blogs, or blogroll, on your own blog. MobileDataforce’s software is used on rugged hand-held PCs, so Benedict links his blog to blogs at distributors and manufacturers of that gear. “You get more eyes, and Google ranks you higher if you have connections with other popular sites,” he explains. Search engine optimization and other tools Professional blog marketers suggest using a different bag of tricks to drive traffic to the websites, including: Search engine optimization (SEO) — An entire industry has developed around the science of placing frequently searched words and phrases into the text of blog posts so they’ll appear high in search-engine rankings and get more traffic as a result. Search engine optimization specialists such as Gary Pool, proprietor of White Rose Productions in Portland, Ore., swears by SEO software such as: Niche Bot, a subscription-based software tool that bloggers use to search for commonly used words or phrases. SEO Book, a regularly updated e-book with a variety of SEO tools. Word Tracker, another SEO tool that offers a free trial version. Plugins — Pool prefers to create blogs in WordPress because of the bounty of available plug-in software including: Add Meta Tags, which automatically selects keywords in blog posts that will get picked up by search engines. Share This, software that adds a button to the bottom of every blog post making it easier to subscribe it to a viewer’s RSS news reader. XML Sitemaps, software that produces a sitemap of a blog that makes it easier for Google, Yahoo, and MSN to search a blog. Blog directories — Pool also suggests that companies submit their blogs to blog directories for specific states, industries, or professions. If you use SEO keywords to drive traffic, don’t dwell on the details to the extent that you forget the big picture. If your blog is so crowded with key words people can’t find what they are looking for, you’ve defeated the purpose of bringing them to the blog in the first place, Pool says. And don’t forget to have fun with it. “If it’s personal, people will keep coming back. It doesn’t have to be heavy handed,” he says. In the end, content is still king. Present interesting information visitors want to read, and you never know where it will lead. At MobileDataforce, Benedict had given up ever getting an order from a large New Zealand company that initially expressed interest then stopped returning emails and phone calls. But they didn’t stop reading his blog. After six months of silence they called. “Their employees read my blog every week and they were ready to buy,” Benedict says. The blog “is an ongoing communication with customers that we don’t even know we have.”

About 1938 days ago Business Software

How to Choose In-House Blogging Software

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The biggest step in creating an in-house blog is deciding how you’ll use it. But once you’re over that hurdle, you’ve still got to wade through all the available options to find a technology platform that’s right for your business. Should you license software and run it in house, or sign up for a hosted service? Is open-source software the way to go or would proprietary tools be a safer choice? What to consider The right answer will depend on an individual company’s needs and desires, according to social-media industry experts. When evaluating blogging software, small and mid-sized businesses need to consider their budget, in-house technical skills, how much use a blog will get and how large it could grow, says Paul Gillin a new media consultant and author of The New Influencers. In addition, Gillin and other industry experts suggest that companies consider: Location — The biggest decision a company has to make is whether to host a blog in-house or use a Web-based service. There’s nothing inherently better about running blog software in-house, it’s more a question of corporate policy, the type of information that’ll appear on the blog, and whether a company has employees who can maintain the hardware and software, according to Anil Dash, vice president of evangelism for Six Apart, maker of Moveable Typeand TypePad blogging software. “It really has to do with your desire for control,” he says. Portability — The day may come when a company wants or needs to switch vendors, so make sure you create can be easily exported to a new platform, says Lee Huang, head of the New York City chapter of the Internet Strategy Forum and former digital strategy director at Nielsen Business Media. Customization — If you opt for a hosted service, find out how much you can customize it to suit your special needs and if additional plug-in functions are available. Vendor expertise — The biggest vendors of blogging software aren’t necessarily the ones with the most experience, according to the experts. Evaluate vendors by looking at their track record, customer base, support from developers, and the type of training and support that’s available directly or through developers and other users. Simplicity – “Any kind of technology gets left behind if people find it too hard to use,” says Dash, of Six Apart. SIDEBAR: Blogging Software Vendors Blog technology comes in as many flavors as ice cream. Some of the better known technology providers are: WordPress — This free, open-source blogging software from WordPress.org can be hosted on any computer server running PHP version 4.2 or later or MySQL version 4.0 or later. WordPress.com is a website that hosts free blogs written in WordPress. Blogger — The latest version of the free, Web-based blog service fromGoogle supports multiple authors, allowing for group blogs. Movable Type and TypePad – Movable Type is Six Apart’s blog publishing platform. Prices for the MT Enterprise Solution start at $295 for a five-user license. In December 2007, SixApart introduced the beta version of a free, open-source version of Movable Type called MTOS 4.1. TypePad is Six Apart’s free, Web-based blog service that’s based on Movable Type’s publishing platform. Joomla — Version 1.5 of this free, open-source content management system (CMS) debuted in January and includes blog software along with forums and chat software and many other features. b2evolution – This free, open source CMS supports multiple blogs, news feeds and other social-media features, and runs on Web servers with PHP and MySQL. Roller — Version 4.0 of this Java-based, open-source blog software from Apache Software Foundation debuted in December 2007 and includes upgrades such as custom blog themes. Blogtronix — This enterprise-level integrated social media platform can be used to create text, audio and video blogs, plus wikis, RSS, and networked communities on Microsoft’s .Net 2.0 platform. Blogtronix offers a free 25-user Express version with limited functions and paid support, and a 30-day free trial of its complete enterprise platform. SuiteTwo — Another social-media platform bundle that includes technology for blogs, wikis and other applications from Intel, SpikeSource, Simplefeed, Moveable Type, and others. Prices for software only or a hosted version start at $990, and for a hardware/software suite at $2,495 for a 10-user license.

About 1938 days ago Computer Security

Keeping Web 2.0 Platforms Private and Secure

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Blogs and social networks are changing how small and mid-sized companies interact with employees and customers. But using Web 2.0 technologies can make companies vulnerable to security and privacy breaches. Think of what could happen if an employee inadvertently posted company trade secrets on their personal blog, or spammers clogged the comments box on a company-run blog with solicitations for X-rated DVDs. To avoid that kind of exposure, companies need privacy policies spelling out what employees can and can’t do on company-sponsored social media. They also need to use available technology to safeguard their internal and external networks and blogs, according to social-media industry analysts and other experts. Put privacy policies into practice When it comes to protecting your company, the best defense is creating privacy policies and making sure employees know about them. Don’t wait until a blog or social network is up and running. Policies should go into effect as soon as a network or blog is live, says Lee Huang, head of the New York City chapter of theInternet Strategy Forum. “Employees are going to have a lot more power and control over community, and you have to have a policy about that,” Huang says. Other suggestions: Don’t reinvent the wheel. If you have an existing privacy policy, expand it to spell out how employees can use corporate social media, and what they can and can’t mention in personal blogs. One example of this is Yahoo’s guidelines for employees’ personal blogs. The guidelines remind employees that they are legally responsible for their personal blogs, barred from releasing any confidential or proprietary company information, and need to get their facts straight, among other provisions. Pick an individual or group to be the company’s privacy point person, Huang says. A corporate blogging policy white paper, from Six Apart, the maker of Movable Type and TypePad blogging software, also suggests creating a hot line — an e-mail address or phone number — that employees can use to send a monitor questions about the appropriateness of specific blog posts or comments. Larger businesses can take a page from Fortune 500 companies and create a network of privacy stewards, select individuals within workgroups, departments, or locations who act as the go-to people for privacy matters, according to Jay Cline, founder of Minnesota Privacy Consultants in Minneapolis, an independent privacy consultant. Batten the hatches with security software The popularity of blogs has given rise to blog spam, also known as comment spam, where spammers automatically and relentlessly post commercial messages or random messages to a blog’s comment or track back area. One example: in a recent post on the subject, a blogger at Tech Crunch, the Internet daily news site, said the site gets 15,000 spam comments a day. Thankfully, blog software vendors have come up with filter software that blocks it. One popular utility is Akismet, from Automattic, the company that makes WordPress blog software and runs WordPress.com, the free blog website. Akismet is built into WordPress.com and can be downloaded for WordPress blogs hosted on a company’s in-house servers. Independent Akismet developers have built plug-ins that enable the software to work with other blog software, including Movable Type, b2evolution and Joomla. Other security measures that companies can take: Use online resources — Wikipedia maintains a blog spam tutorial that includes a list of possible solutions, including keyword blocks, redirects and turning off a blog’s “Comments” feature. Go in-house — If you’re worried about security, host an internal social network on in-house servers, says Paul Gillin a new media consultant and author of The New Influencers. “If people are posting proprietary stuff there and you don’t want outsiders to get in, it’s important that whatever you’re doing be completely firewalled from the external Internet,” he says. “They shouldn’t be on the same physical server.” The same goes for in-house blogs. Putting public blogs and internal blogs on the same server “is asking for trouble,” he says. Stop spammers — Report network abuse and abusive users to the Network Abuse Clearinghouse, also known as Abuse.net.

About 1969 days ago Tools on Managing Technology

Essential Tools for the Solo Entrepreneur

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In last year’s Future of Small Business study commissioned by Intuit, the phrase “personal business” was used to describe the increasing number of one-person businesses, making up roughly 70 percent of the nation’s businesses.  Many individuals started these businesses to have more control of what they do, how they do it, when they do it, and where they do it from.  Mompreneurs, mothers who start their own home-based businesses to have a better work-life balance, are great examples of professionals opting to “go it alone” instead of climbing the corporate ladder.  In the past, a good number of people were forced into entrepreneurship, or in this case solopreneurship, due to layoffs and downsizings.  But now more than ever people are gladly stepping out on their own — and not just to do business with those in their local communities. These entrepreneurs can conduct business half way around the world.  With cheap, high speed Internet access, not only can you reach a greater number of people, you can do so in a more meaningful way. Just as important, you can make it easy for them to reach you. With the infrastructure in place for cheap broadband access, software-as-a-service (SaaS) is making it possible for solopreneurs to utilize tools and services that would have been unavailable to them just a few short years ago.  Marketing, ecommerce, Web conferencing, and other applications are now easier to use than ever before. Plus these tools are also inexpensive, easy to pay for on a monthly basis, and in many cases come with no long term contractual commitments. So everything is in place for solopreneurs to reach a worldwide audience. Here are a few tools the aspiring international solopreneur can use to build up their  Web credibility. Tools to build your Web presence This may seem a bit obvious, but you need a location on the Web that is yours.  However even in 2008 upwards of 50 percent of all small businesses still don’t have a website. If you’re planning on being a successful solopreneur, you’ll have to have a either a website, blog, or possibly both. For those with basic website needs, check out Microsoft Office Live or Google Apps for Domains.  For those with more complex needs like selling products online or working with affiliate partners, companies like Homestead and Web.com have made it pretty simple to set up a fully functional website quickly.  And if the website templates provided by them don’t do it for you, stop by Template Monster and pick out one.  Or use a service like Elance.com and place your web design project up for bid, at your price and timeframe.  You’ll be surprised at how many people are willing to meet your price.   If you’re looking to build a platform in order to be viewed as an industry expert, it takes all of five minutes to get a blog set up, allowing you to syndicate your knowledge to a worldwide audience.  Blogger is a free tool from Google you can use to get started.  However, if you don’t mind kicking out a few bucks for a more professional looking blog, you may want to consider Six Apart’s TypePad service, used by many popular bloggers.  And if you have a little more tech savvy and are looking for even more control over how your blog looks and functions, you can step up to WordPress or MoveableType.  And don’t forget to check out WidgetBox.com and pick up a little free “bling” to your blog to add style and functionality with just a few clicks. Tools to create interesting content Whether you choose to start with a blog or a full blown website, the content you create needs to attract the kind of people you’re looking to do business with.  And people expect great content to be delivered in multiple formats, allowing them to consume it on their terms.  That means in addition to the traditional whitepapers and slide decks, you’ll need to use a tool like Adobe’s Captivate to create compelling interactive demos and puzzles.  The popularity of podcasting is making it important to create audio content for people on the go.  Audio recording software Audacity or Apple’s GarageBand, along with a USB microphone, can quickly turn you into an industry commentator.  Or you can use a nice webcam like the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000, with a tool like Adobe’s Visual Communicator to create full-fledged professional looking video presentations.  And then add that video to your site, blog and YouTube as well. Tools to build your presence on the Web As important as it is to build your own Web presence, it’s equally as important to interact with people on their turf — meaning the rest of the Web.  Especially if you want all that great content you create to reach a lot of people.  According to Alexa.com, six of the top ten sites are social sites like YouTube, MySpace and Facebook.  According to Internet research firm Comscore, almost two-thirds of all iIternet users visit MySpace at least once a month.  And over half of these folks are older than 35.  Facebook has over 100,000 users older than 64.  And these sites are doubling in population at ridiculous speeds. Social sites have made it easier for us to leverage our relationships and connect with people on a much deeper level than we could have imagined a few years ago.  All because it’s very easy to collaborate and share information. And this can be as simple as answering a question on LinkedIn Answers, Digg-ing someone’s blog entry, or writing a book review that everyone in your Facebook network can see. Even share your Powerpoint slide decks with the world by uploading them to SlideShare.net.    These are just a few of the tools and services you can use to build your reputation and become a world-renown, international solopreneur.  Find the ones that let you create the kind of content that help those needing your services to find you anywhere on the Web. Brent Leary is a small business  technology analyst, advisor, speaker and award winning blogger.  He’s the host of “Technology… for Business $ake”, a weekly radio program on BusinessTechnologyRadio.com.   His popular blog can be found at www.brentleary.com.

About 1969 days ago Tools on Managing Technology

Essential Tools for the Solo Entrepreneur

our beautiful site

In last year’s Future of Small Business study commissioned by Intuit, the phrase “personal business” was used to describe the increasing number of one-person businesses, making up roughly 70 percent of the nation’s businesses.  Many individuals started these businesses to have more control of what they do, how they do it, when they do it, and where they do it from.  Mompreneurs, mothers who start their own home-based businesses to have a better work-life balance, are great examples of professionals opting to “go it alone” instead of climbing the corporate ladder.  In the past, a good number of people were forced into entrepreneurship, or in this case solopreneurship, due to layoffs and downsizings.  But now more than ever people are gladly stepping out on their own — and not just to do business with those in their local communities. These entrepreneurs can conduct business half way around the world.  With cheap, high speed Internet access, not only can you reach a greater number of people, you can do so in a more meaningful way. Just as important, you can make it easy for them to reach you. With the infrastructure in place for cheap broadband access, software-as-a-service (SaaS) is making it possible for solopreneurs to utilize tools and services that would have been unavailable to them just a few short years ago.  Marketing, ecommerce, Web conferencing, and other applications are now easier to use than ever before. Plus these tools are also inexpensive, easy to pay for on a monthly basis, and in many cases come with no long term contractual commitments. So everything is in place for solopreneurs to reach a worldwide audience. Here are a few tools the aspiring international solopreneur can use to build up their  Web credibility. Tools to build your Web presence This may seem a bit obvious, but you need a location on the Web that is yours.  However even in 2008 upwards of 50 percent of all small businesses still don’t have a website. If you’re planning on being a successful solopreneur, you’ll have to have a either a website, blog, or possibly both. For those with basic website needs, check out Microsoft Office Live or Google Apps for Domains.  For those with more complex needs like selling products online or working with affiliate partners, companies like Homestead and Web.com have made it pretty simple to set up a fully functional website quickly.  And if the website templates provided by them don’t do it for you, stop by Template Monster and pick out one.  Or use a service like Elance.com and place your web design project up for bid, at your price and timeframe.  You’ll be surprised at how many people are willing to meet your price.   If you’re looking to build a platform in order to be viewed as an industry expert, it takes all of five minutes to get a blog set up, allowing you to syndicate your knowledge to a worldwide audience.  Blogger is a free tool from Google you can use to get started.  However, if you don’t mind kicking out a few bucks for a more professional looking blog, you may want to consider Six Apart’s TypePad service, used by many popular bloggers.  And if you have a little more tech savvy and are looking for even more control over how your blog looks and functions, you can step up to WordPress or MoveableType.  And don’t forget to check out WidgetBox.com and pick up a little free “bling” to your blog to add style and functionality with just a few clicks. Tools to create interesting content Whether you choose to start with a blog or a full blown website, the content you create needs to attract the kind of people you’re looking to do business with.  And people expect great content to be delivered in multiple formats, allowing them to consume it on their terms.  That means in addition to the traditional whitepapers and slide decks, you’ll need to use a tool like Adobe’s Captivate to create compelling interactive demos and puzzles.  The popularity of podcasting is making it important to create audio content for people on the go.  Audio recording software Audacity or Apple’s GarageBand, along with a USB microphone, can quickly turn you into an industry commentator.  Or you can use a nice webcam like the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000, with a tool like Adobe’s Visual Communicator to create full-fledged professional looking video presentations.  And then add that video to your site, blog and YouTube as well. Tools to build your presence on the Web As important as it is to build your own Web presence, it’s equally as important to interact with people on their turf — meaning the rest of the Web.  Especially if you want all that great content you create to reach a lot of people.  According to Alexa.com, six of the top ten sites are social sites like YouTube, MySpace and Facebook.  According to Internet research firm Comscore, almost two-thirds of all iIternet users visit MySpace at least once a month.  And over half of these folks are older than 35.  Facebook has over 100,000 users older than 64.  And these sites are doubling in population at ridiculous speeds. Social sites have made it easier for us to leverage our relationships and connect with people on a much deeper level than we could have imagined a few years ago.  All because it’s very easy to collaborate and share information. And this can be as simple as answering a question on LinkedIn Answers, Digg-ing someone’s blog entry, or writing a book review that everyone in your Facebook network can see. Even share your Powerpoint slide decks with the world by uploading them to SlideShare.net.    These are just a few of the tools and services you can use to build your reputation and become a world-renown, international solopreneur.  Find the ones that let you create the kind of content that help those needing your services to find you anywhere on the Web. Brent Leary is a small business  technology analyst, advisor, speaker and award winning blogger.  He’s the host of “Technology… for Business $ake”, a weekly radio program on BusinessTechnologyRadio.com.   His popular blog can be found at www.brentleary.com.

About 1969 days ago E-Commerce

Essential Tools for the Solo Entrepreneur

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In last year’s Future of Small Business study commissioned by Intuit, the phrase “personal business” was used to describe the increasing number of one-person businesses, making up roughly 70 percent of the nation’s businesses.  Many individuals started these businesses to have more control of what they do, how they do it, when they do it, and where they do it from.  Mompreneurs, mothers who start their own home-based businesses to have a better work-life balance, are great examples of professionals opting to “go it alone” instead of climbing the corporate ladder.  In the past, a good number of people were forced into entrepreneurship, or in this case solopreneurship, due to layoffs and downsizings.  But now more than ever people are gladly stepping out on their own — and not just to do business with those in their local communities. These entrepreneurs can conduct business half way around the world.  With cheap, high speed Internet access, not only can you reach a greater number of people, you can do so in a more meaningful way. Just as important, you can make it easy for them to reach you. With the infrastructure in place for cheap broadband access, software-as-a-service (SaaS) is making it possible for solopreneurs to utilize tools and services that would have been unavailable to them just a few short years ago.  Marketing, ecommerce, Web conferencing, and other applications are now easier to use than ever before. Plus these tools are also inexpensive, easy to pay for on a monthly basis, and in many cases come with no long term contractual commitments. So everything is in place for solopreneurs to reach a worldwide audience. Here are a few tools the aspiring international solopreneur can use to build up their  Web credibility. Tools to build your Web presence This may seem a bit obvious, but you need a location on the Web that is yours.  However even in 2008 upwards of 50 percent of all small businesses still don’t have a website. If you’re planning on being a successful solopreneur, you’ll have to have a either a website, blog, or possibly both. For those with basic website needs, check out Microsoft Office Live or Google Apps for Domains.  For those with more complex needs like selling products online or working with affiliate partners, companies like Homestead and Web.com have made it pretty simple to set up a fully functional website quickly.  And if the website templates provided by them don’t do it for you, stop by Template Monster and pick out one.  Or use a service like Elance.com and place your web design project up for bid, at your price and timeframe.  You’ll be surprised at how many people are willing to meet your price.   If you’re looking to build a platform in order to be viewed as an industry expert, it takes all of five minutes to get a blog set up, allowing you to syndicate your knowledge to a worldwide audience.  Blogger is a free tool from Google you can use to get started.  However, if you don’t mind kicking out a few bucks for a more professional looking blog, you may want to consider Six Apart’s TypePad service, used by many popular bloggers.  And if you have a little more tech savvy and are looking for even more control over how your blog looks and functions, you can step up to WordPress or MoveableType.  And don’t forget to check out WidgetBox.com and pick up a little free “bling” to your blog to add style and functionality with just a few clicks. Tools to create interesting content Whether you choose to start with a blog or a full blown website, the content you create needs to attract the kind of people you’re looking to do business with.  And people expect great content to be delivered in multiple formats, allowing them to consume it on their terms.  That means in addition to the traditional whitepapers and slide decks, you’ll need to use a tool like Adobe’s Captivate to create compelling interactive demos and puzzles.  The popularity of podcasting is making it important to create audio content for people on the go.  Audio recording software Audacity or Apple’s GarageBand, along with a USB microphone, can quickly turn you into an industry commentator.  Or you can use a nice webcam like the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000, with a tool like Adobe’s Visual Communicator to create full-fledged professional looking video presentations.  And then add that video to your site, blog and YouTube as well. Tools to build your presence on the Web As important as it is to build your own Web presence, it’s equally as important to interact with people on their turf — meaning the rest of the Web.  Especially if you want all that great content you create to reach a lot of people.  According to Alexa.com, six of the top ten sites are social sites like YouTube, MySpace and Facebook.  According to Internet research firm Comscore, almost two-thirds of all iIternet users visit MySpace at least once a month.  And over half of these folks are older than 35.  Facebook has over 100,000 users older than 64.  And these sites are doubling in population at ridiculous speeds. Social sites have made it easier for us to leverage our relationships and connect with people on a much deeper level than we could have imagined a few years ago.  All because it’s very easy to collaborate and share information. And this can be as simple as answering a question on LinkedIn Answers, Digg-ing someone’s blog entry, or writing a book review that everyone in your Facebook network can see. Even share your Powerpoint slide decks with the world by uploading them to SlideShare.net.    These are just a few of the tools and services you can use to build your reputation and become a world-renown, international solopreneur.  Find the ones that let you create the kind of content that help those needing your services to find you anywhere on the Web. Brent Leary is a small business  technology analyst, advisor, speaker and award winning blogger.  He’s the host of “Technology… for Business $ake”, a weekly radio program on BusinessTechnologyRadio.com.   His popular blog can be found at www.brentleary.com.

About 2000 days ago Telecom and Wireless

Blogging Behind Closed Doors

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Paul Gillin calls it the hidden blogosphere. “It” is in-house blogs, and while they haven’t garnered the same hype as companies’ public blogs, they could be just as big, says Gillin, a new media consultant, blogger and author of The New Influencers, a book on social media. “Most companies don’t publicize what they’re doing, but by some estimates, the amount of blogging going on behind corporate firewalls is maybe even greater than the amount we see in public,” he says. The reasons are simple. Blogging tools are widely available, cheap, and easy to use. The way a blog disseminates information — from one to many — gives it an edge over e-mail, says Gillin and other business and technology analysts. And unlike e-mail, people can opt to subscribe only to information that interests them, or look at information when it’s convenient, “but they don’t have to have it pushed to them in a way that’s disrupts their work,” Gillin says. For companies contemplating starting an internal blog, the first step is deciding what purpose it will serve. For that, small businesses can take a page from their larger counterparts. Microsoft, for example, started a jobs blog that lists openings and lets employees who hold those positions post comments about what the job is like. Casio uses a blog to have departments quickly change content on the company’s intranet. HP has an internal blog platform employees can use to blog on their choice of topics, although 90 percent are about what they’re working on, says Tac Anderson, Web 2.0 strategic lead at HP’s LaserJet business group in Boise, Idaho. Next steps to blogging in-house With a direction in mind, companies can take these next steps: Choose who’ll write it. Some blogs are one-person affairs. Others are a team effort. Whatever the arrangement, someone needs to be the go-to person for choosing the software, making sure things stay up and running, and handling problems. What’s the topic? Blogs can cover a lot of ground, so limiting what’s discussed might be counter productive. A better approach might be deciding what not to write about. Trade secrets and other proprietary information shouldn’t be discussed in an open forum where content could easily be copied into an e-mail message and circulated for all to see, Gillin says. Get people to use it. HP’s Anderson suggests that an internal blog-meister enlist the aid of a few well-placed company cheerleaders who’ll help promote it by posting comments and talking it up in meetings. Tools of the trade When it comes to blog software, there’s something for everyone, no matter how minor the undertaking. With such a range of choices, it follows that costs are all over the map too. Companies that want to host their own blogs can download open source software like WordPress, b2evolution, orRoller, or proprietary programs like Moveable Type. Or they can sign up for a hosted service like Blogger, TypePad, or LiveJournal. Some vendors of enterprise social networks are starting to build blogging into their platforms, including Blogtronix and Awareness Networks. If companies choose to use a third party to host their internal blog, they should double check vendor agreements to make sure they retain rights to any information stored on someone else’s servers, says Lee Huang, a Web 2.0 consultant and former director of digital strategy and technology at Nielsen Business Media, the print and Web publisher. SIDEBAR: Blogs about In-House Blogs Now that everyone and their brother is blogging, there is plenty of information about tools, tips and protocol available in — where else — blogs. Several that discuss the mechanics and nuances of enterprise blogs are: NewCommBiz.com, Tac Anderson’s blog on Web 2.0 technologies Paul Gillin’s blog, Social Media and the Open Enterprise 56 Resourceful Blogging Tips and Tools For The Young & Old, from self-proclaimed “Wordpress Rock Star” Etienne Teo, which includes links to software platforms and vendors