Entries from April 2010 ↓

Many web hosting companies offer free email. However, they don’t come with the calendar and they don’t synchronize with mobile devices or multiple computers. Instead of buying a $3000 Microsoft exchange server consider an $8 a month membership with a FREE version of Microsoft Outlook through www.sherweb.com. It’s a great service and works wonderfully. All the features of Microsoft exchange without the hassle of cost and an it administration. With this service, if you delete or move a email to a folder on your phone, its instantly updates your laptop and computer. If you are serious about email management, consider exchange through sherweb. Trust me, we have done our research and they blow away the competition.

Websites can be expensive. Not to mention depending on your provider, you typically can’t edit them. If you can’t afford a website and need a presence fast, consider creating a Facebook or Linkedin page. The big buzz now is being found on Google. The reason is because 80% of all the searches on the internet are via Google. However, Facebook has OFFICIALLY surpassed Google as the #1 site on the internet. Why wouldn’t you want to be on that website?
Social Media is by far the quickest and easiest way to be found and provide information to the internet. Its easy, fast and best of all FREE!

A client of ours turned us on to 99designs, and in our opinion it’s the Holy Grail of original design and artwork. 99Designs lets you post a brief describing your company and the type of artwork you want. You then select the amount you are willing to pay for a logo or business card. They typically start around $150. Once you submit the brief, talented artists from around the world submit designs to you. Don’t be surprised if for $150 gets you upwards 100 original entries. Where else can you go to get 100 different original creative designs for $150? Now let’s say you find a design you really like but you want to make a few changes. You can communicate with each designer to have them tweak the design. Once you have the design you like, you select the winner and download your logo. Only the designer you picked gets paid. The 99 other designers don’t get a penny. It’s great for the ‘creative inept’ but sucks for the designers who put in the effort. 99Designs.com

Online marketing is more important then ever. There is no reason to be intimidated though. Sure a sophisticated organizational hierachy for presenting your marketing materials would be great but who has the time? Leverage those old marketing flyers, VHS Tapes, presentation videos, scanned post cards or survey results. Google’s search bots will still find them and the more relevant information you have available to the world, the more people will find you.

The referenced article makes several great points:

1. Online proliferation has no borders, throw everything at it you can.

2. They want video. Why read it when you can watch it.

3. Buyers do their homework online. The Internet is the first stop when it comes to gathering info.

4. Access to free information is appreciated.

For more info check out this article: Why Online Marketing Collateral

Selling online is a great way to generate business and create exposure. Unfortunately, it can be rather expensive if you want to sell from your website. First you have to create a website, an ecommerce cart, setup encryption, and get a merchant account. Then you have to lead people to your website through Search Engine Optimization and Adwords advertising.

We recommend that you test the online market first before you make an investment in your website. Their are several established marketing mediums to use that take very little investment to penetrate and they dont require you to advertise. Using these mediums will also alert the millions of people to your company. If you are selling a service, try using Service Magic, or CraigsList. If you are selling a product, setup an eBay store or a Craigslist ad. These are the quickest and easiest ways to sell online. Please remember, they are established marketing mediums. Your listings are guarenteed to be seen, no advertising necessary!

If you have cold feel about selling online, try these options first to make sure online selling will work for you before you make the hefty investment in your website. If you would like more info, email us at Solutions@InfoStream-LLC.com

Customer relationship management systems are typically expensive and complex. Not to mention, businesses usually only use a small percentage of the CRM’s capabilities. The solution? Business Contact Manager from Microsoft. It retrofits into Outlook and builds off your current contact list. It can track contacts, prospects, projects, sales leads, sales opportunities and an online marketing caimpaign. The information can also be shared with the rest of your colleagues and vice versa. I recommend it as the first step if you are intersted in a CRM. Especially since you can pick it up for less than $100. For information, check out the top 10 benefits to try BCM.

It is difficult for a small business to have someone dedicated to answering phones. It is even more difficult to purchase a high end phone solution that has an autoattendent. The solution, my1voice.com for $10 per month. Bring your team together with one number and instantly portray a bigger company image to callers with a company greeting. It. Check it out My 1 Voice.

LinkedIn is easily the Facebook version of the Business World. It can be very beneficial, but you need to follow a few steps. I have scoured the internet and this is the best article I have found so far:
“How to Get Started With LinkedIn”