Archive for the Business Category

Study: Only one-third of online retailers have mobile-optimized sites

April 12, 2013

This is a guest post by Jim Dougherty, Writer and chief of miscellany at leaderswest.com

Mobile-optimized sites should be old hat for businesses these days, especially for businesses that do sales on the Internet. After all, this year the number of mobile devices will exceed the planet’s population. And one-third of Internet users own tablets. And mobile traffic worldwide accounts for 13% of all internet traffic, and in some places it has surpassed desktop. And the amount of money spent on eCommerce sites has increased three-fold year-over-year…… you get the point: mobile is a big deal.

But in a new study by eCommerce resource Briteskies, they reveal that only 35% of businesses have mobile-optimized sites. This indicates that a number of businesses are mobile laggards.

What constitutes a mobile-optimized site?

In a recent (great) piece, Johan Johansson discussed the three main ways to build a mobile-optimized site:

Responsive Web Design – where the viewable website adjusts the layout of the page to reflect the layout of the user’s screen
Dedicated Mobile Site – where a separate mobile site is developed independent of the desktop site
Responsive web design + server-side components – a hybrid of sorts, where there are mobile-only and desktop-only aspects, aligned under one site.

What I love about Johansson’s piece is that he lays out the pros and cons of each, showing that the challenges of creating a mobile-optimized site are much more complex than many people make it out to be. Particularly for businesses that have spent a lot of money on web design, or put a lot of effort into social media, or are too engrossed in running a business to put effort into their web properties, spending money to further enhance their web properties may seem unnecessary. And 13% of web searches doesn’t seem huge… though it is.

How big is the mobile opportunity?

13% isn’t a percentage of people. It’s a percentage of searches. And when are people most likely to search on mobile? When they are local. Disregarding mobile is to disregard local, which for many businesses could be the lowest of low-hanging fruit. Nevermind the fact that smartphone users are 18-35 year old demographic, a sweet-spot for merchants.

But I want to close by posing the question – how important is mobile to businesses right now? Is it an overreaction to say that businesses are hurting themselves by not having a mobile-optimized site? Please leave a comment and state your case.

Illustration by Susanlesch (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

This entry is filed under Business, Tools and tagged mobile, web.

Evernote Web clipper, 3 great ways to put it to use

April 5, 2013

Evernote is one of those things that, the more you use it the more uses you can find for it. If you are an Evernote user you will know what I mean. One of the most useful additions is the ‘web clipper‘. This allows you to record in a notebook the whole web page, the text of the article, save it as a PDF or just record the URL.

As you can see above, you can select which notebook it goes in to and which tags to use.

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Web Clipper is available as a Chrome extension, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer (comes with Evernote for Windows)

The secret to Evernote is how you use it and knowing what you want out of it. For me, the most helpful is using Evernote as a research tool to help write blog posts and to record the new things I learn about WordPress. For example;

Use tags to aid research

One of the things I do is to clip pages that are on a similar theme or subject. As a blogger following social media and Internet marketing, I look at many similar blogs. When I see a story building, for example there is something Facebook is up to, I will clip the relevant pages. I will tag them with ‘facebook’ or something else to group them together. If I write an article about it, I have a bunch of pages I can use as research.

Creating a personal knowledge base

I love creating WordPress sites, hacking themes and writing my own plugins. Each time I come across something that I don’t know how to do, I look it up and clip it. If I need some example code to see how something works – I clip it for later so I can reread it. Hopefully, I will build up a ton of information and having it tagged means I can find what I need quickly.

Because Evernote is flexible with no real defined rules of use, people use it for many different things.

Book publishing

These quotes comes from a post on the Evernote blog, How Tim Ferriss Used Evernote to Write His New Book, The 4-Hour Chef…

Tim Ferriss, entrepreneur, Evernote Advisor, and author of The 4-Hour Workweek and The 4-Hour Body, just released a new book, The 4-Hour Chef, which he researched and wrote almost entirely with the help of Evernote.

Tim used Evernote as the repository for everything related to The 4-Hour Chef, including thousands of photographs, illustrations, hundreds of interviews, and research ranging from recipe notes to Web Clips. While his latest book covers a phenomenal amount of information related to food and cooking, it’s also very much about how anyone can learn to master anything in a short period of time with the right approach and methodology. In order to sift through enormous amounts of research and intelligently organize it, Tim used Evernote for gathering and organizing.

Are you using Evernote in your business? Love to hear about the different ways it can be used…

This entry is filed under Tools and tagged clipper, evernote, tim ferriss. | 2 Comments

Will ‘Google Keep’ make a dent in Evernote usage?

March 29, 2013

This week saw the launch of Google Keep, the new service that is supposed to be competing with Evernote. I say supposed because only tech journals are saying it is. If you are thinking of trying it out, feel free. However, if you think it will replace Evernote then please think again.

So far, Google Keep is an Android app. If you want to access what you have ‘kept’ then you need to go through Google Drive. It sync’s everything there and it’s the only place you can access your stuff via a computer.

Evernote on the other hand, can be access via Android, iOS, Windows, Windows Mobile, OSX and on a Linux system (with either a browser or replacement client app). Everything is sync’d to everything.

Evernote has quite an ecosystem going on, lots of add-on apps for Android etc and even offers business users more features with subscriptions.

Google Keep is aimed at non-business mobile users. Perhaps get them hooked and later offer a more professional version? The problem is, just how long will it actually be around? Considering that Google Reader has been terminated after many years of being available, will Google Keep go the same way? I hate to build up a large collection notes etc only to find Google has taken it all away.

Evernote has been around since 2004 and has a very solid user base of 34M Users of which 1.4M are paying. I can’t seem them going away any time soon. With few features, there is no organisation to speak of, Google Keep is going to have a difficult time making it’s mark.

Reviews and comments on PC World and Mashable.

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This entry is filed under Tools and tagged evernote, featured, google keep, note taking.

Does your business website have the hosting it deserves?

February 7, 2013

This is the first post this week because I have just upgraded my hosting. I changed over to another company who were offering business hosting, that is they provide solid connectivity and great backing-up services.

When I started out with websites back in 1999, I selected my hosting company based on price. My websites and subsequent blogging activities were on what I would now call, ‘hobby hosting’. Great price but no great promises on reliability or security of databases and files.

I am wondering if business are selecting their hosting based on prices, not on services.

With my new host I pay almost double than before. It’s worth it because I now have business hosting. I can speak direct to the management and support staff. They have redundant systems to ensure 99.99% uptime and I know that I won’t loose any data.

It is more important to me that my sites stay on line, after all if they go offline I risk loosing a potential client or income. That should be the same for any business who is online, do you really want to be offline when a potential client is looking for you? Extended down time can reflect badly on you. It’s like a bricks and mortar shop that randomly closes, especially on it’s most popular days.

Make sure you get the hosting your business deserves and make price just one of the considerations and not the only one.

This entry is filed under Business and tagged business, hosting, services. | 2 Comments

Handy Evernote trick for emailing data to your notebooks

January 16, 2013

The more I explore Evernote the more I love it. There are so many practical uses for it and not just for organising projects or staff. I really like the idea that it can be used as an organised repository of data. Use it for client management, storing important company data or sales literature. I am sure you can think of a ton more.

Here is a trick I worked out to help me use Evernote better.

Each user has a unique email address provided by Evernote. If you have not already discovered yours then check out this knowledge base article, Adding content to Evernote using email. That address can be used to email content to your Evernote notebooks.

Your email address will look something like this, ‘[your username].abc123@m.evernote.com’, which is rather difficult to remember. To send information by email to a chosen notebook, the subject line is used to indicate which one – for example, ‘handy info @info-notebook’. The knowledge based article I mentioned above explains it in full.

My only problem is remembering the full address, so here is the trick. I logged in to my hosting account where I can setup new domains and email address. In the email section, I created a new address called evernote@…. (fill in your chosen domain). Then, in the section for forwarding, I used the new email address to forward to the Evernote email address.

The benefits are…

I now have an easy to remember email address that I can use to send documents to chosen Evernote notebooks.
If I wanted, I could share that with others if I wanted them to send documents or project ideas to my Evernote account.
The Evernote email address is hidden, I can use a professional company email address instead. It provides privacy and a better sounding address.

What are your Evernote tricks? Leave a comment below…

This entry is filed under Business and tagged address, data, email, evernote, information.

Do you have customers or clients?

December 3, 2012

Clients or Customers?

It may seem like a silly question, do you have customers or clients? Most think they are the same but are they? Lets take a look at their definitions…

From Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Client

: one that is under the protection of another :dependent
a: a person who engages the professional advice or services of another <a lawyer’s clients>
b:customer <hotel clients>
c: a person served by or utilizing the services of a social agency <a welfare client>

Customer

: one that purchases a commodity or service
: an individual usually having some specified distinctive trait<a real tough customer>

A client is someone seeking advice, needs your expert opinion on how to solve problems. He puts himself under your care. It’s a relationship will evolve over time. A customer is looking to buy doesn’t ask your advice and happy to leave empty handed

As business people, we want to turn customers in to clients. This is where social networking comes in. A lot is said about ‘brand building’ and ‘creating trust’. However, social networks can also be the place where we turn customers in to clients and create long lasting relationships with them.

This entry is filed under Business and tagged clients, customers, relationship.

7 tools I use to keep organised and on top

November 29, 2012

Recently I have updated the tools I use. I’m not using Facebook as much and now favouring LinkedIn and Twitter. I have also started using other services to keep me organised. Most are online services that I can use anywhere. A few are installed but use the Internet to access servers, like Evernote. I am still trying to move away from a dependence on any particular operating system. At the same time, I am also trying to use free or Open Source sites, services and programs.

I have a two fold aim, one is to make sure I can use any computer to access my information and services, the other is to be as mobile as possible. That means testing out many different apps on my Nexus 7 tablet to see what works.

So the tools I currently use are…

Gmail and Google calander- used for all my accounts, works well on my tablet too
TweetDeck – I use the browser version on my laptops
Evernote – using it to organise projects and keeping notes. Works on Windows as a program, Android app version on my table but access by browser for Linux.
Libre Office – great (free) replacement for MS Office and there is a view app for Android. You can take you files with you, view only but then I don’t really want to edit on a tablet.
The Gimp and Inkscape – two great open source image editing programs. Available for both Windows and Linux
WordPress – possibly the worlds best blogging/CMS system. All you need is a browser, however there is an app for Android and iPhone to access your sites and create posts.
Skype – just about the de facto Internet calling service. Available on Android, iPhone, Linux as well as Windows and other smartphones.

The only thing you can count on these days is change. So I am sure I will be using different or additional services, apps and programs in the future.

So which tools do you use and why?

This entry is filed under Business and tagged apps, organise, programs, services. | 4 Comments

Your business domain name is more precious than you thought

October 2, 2012

Domain Name

Your business home on the Internet, the place where clients, customers, visitors and readers come to see what you do. It’s very much like a lease on a shop. When you buya domain name you don’t buy it out right. You buy the right to use it.

Like a lease on a shop, you have a right to your domain name for a certain period of time. Shortest is a year, some domains you can have for 10 years. The price and duration depends on the companies who register domains.

The really good domain registration companies will let you know when your domain will expire and send you an email. However there are far too many who don’t.

When domains expire

If your domain reaches expiry, you have only a certain time to renew it. UK domains have a 30 day grace period. Your domain registration company can get it back for you but it will cost.

If the grace period ends, you no longer own the domain. You can buy it again but it’s also available to everyone else – even your competitors.

When the domain has gone…

Losing your domain is like losing your lease on a shop. People won’t know how to find you and you no longer have a business address. All that investment in business cards, stationary, leaflets and of course all those Social Networking sites – will be wasted. If your email is based on your domain then you will lose that too. All gone…

What should happen

Good registration companies will let you know when your domain is due to expire. Remember, only the registration company – the company holding your domain – will email you to let you know it’s due to expire. You may also be contacted by a registrar such as Nominet – the UK official body for domains. If anyone else writes to you claiming to help you renew then it’s most likely a scam.

The best thing you can do is mark in your diary the date 10 days before it’s due to expire. Double check when you need to pay.

If you are not sure then you can check yourself by checking the WHOIS record. Test it yourself via Domain-Tools website

(Photo by: Anna http://www.anna-OM-line.c- om via Stock Xchng)

This entry is filed under Business and tagged domain, domain name, domains.

Using the Cloud, 3 ways to be more flexible

September 19, 2012

using the cloud for email, notes and email

As I move further in to Cloud computing, the more flexible my work methods become. I use the Cloud for all of my email accounts, for note taking and storing files. As many of these services are accessible on different OS’s and devices, you get the choice of where you want to access your information and when.

Email in the Cloud with gMail

I use gMail to access all of my email accounts. They all end up in the same inbox which I can access on my Android phone, Android tablet and on my computer. If I am out and about and there is an important email to deal with, I can respond or head back and use my laptop.

Files in the Cloud with Dropbox

I use Dropbox not only as backup location but also as a place to store documents that I might need when I am travelling. It has the option to share with others if needed. The main benefit is that all I have to do is put files in to a folder marked Dropbox. In the background the files are synchronised with the Dropbox website. Once they are there I can access them from my Android phone or Tablet, Linux computer, Windows computer or a Mac computer if I had one!

Notes in the cloud with Evernote

I use Evernote for organising projects, recording information and just basic note taking. It synchronises in the background so I can access the same information on Android (phone or tablet) as I can on Windows. There is a client for Mac but Linux users will have to make do with using a web browser.

Why though?

I like the idea that where ever I am I can access my data. If I am with a client, while I am on a train or just taking a break from the computer, I can view my notes or check my files in Dropbox. It’s just as easy to check Emails while out and about.

I can find somewhere relaxing and review PDF files, read over project notes or just keep an eye on email. By making it flexible you can decide where and when you want to work.

One other important factor for me is that the services I use are as hardware independent as possible. If my computer fails then I can always use another device and carry on. Flexibility is usage as well as where and when you work.

This entry is filed under Business.

Poll: Do you have mobile marketing plans in place?

August 29, 2012

Going through Googles Mobile Playbook site reveals some impressive statistics for mobile phone usage. Tablet usage is going the same way. More and more people are using their mobile devices to search the web, mostly local searches.

It’s taking time but businesses are starting to realise that people like to stare at the small screen in their hand. It happens when they have the time (on a trip, between meetings, on the way to and from work etc) rather than engage in conversation or pick up a book or newspaper.

Does your business have any plans to make use of the mobile market place? Do you have plans for mobile marketing?

Please take just a minute to answer our simple poll below.

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This entry is filed under Business and tagged marketing, mobile, poll, tablet.

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