Archive for Systems & Organization
Is it Time for an iPad?
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Convinced you need an iPad to make your life complete? You’re not the only one! The latest estimates say that there are some 7.5 million iPads already being put to use by rabid consumers world-wide, and those numbers are bound to rise even further with each holiday season.
So if you want an iPad, what’s the next step? Here’s what you need to do:
Decide if you want to buy from Apple or from a reseller
I always recommend buying from Apple, because of the added confidence you’ll have in being able to get repairs or a refund if something were to go wrong. Also, if you purchase an Apple product elsewhere than the Apple Store, they will not replace it if there’s a problem. The lower price isn’t worth the hassle; go with Apple.
Decide if you want to buy online or from an Apple Store
With over 300 stores world-wide, there’s a good chance there’s an Apple Store near you. But if you don’t want to deal with parking, lines, and “the mall” (where most Apple Stores are located), you can buy your iPad online with free shipping. Just go to their website or copy and paste this link in your browser to see your choices:
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_ipad/family/ipad
Choose a 3G or a Wi-Fi model
There have been problems with the Wi-Fi model; our next door neighbors barely picks up the household signal, even when their iPhone and laptop are picking up a strong wireless signal. If you plan on using it outside your home at all, I recommend going with the 3G; the monthly data plan is very reasonable, and the ease of being able to pick up a signal anywhere is a huge convenience.
Choose your size
$200 for four times the storage space seems like a no-brainer to me, but I’m one who firmly believes that bigger is better, at least when it comes to hard drives! However, if you don’t plan on using your iPad to store videos or audios, you may find the smaller sizes perfectly adequate. Remember though; just as with closets and garages, if you have the space, you’ll use it. And the more space you have, the more you’ll use your iPad.
That’s it. The only other question you may have is what accessories you’ll want, and if you want to engrave a pithy saying on the backside of your iPad (think of it as an electronic tattoo). The process is painless, as it should be. And setting up your new baby will take even less time than buying it did.
How to Backup Gmail to Thunderbird
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What would you do if you lost everything in your Gmail account? It’s happened to some people – some Gmail users recently suffered a data loss. Gmail was able to get everything back for them eventually. However, it woke many people up to the possibility of losing everything in their account.
If you use Gmail, chances are your life is stored in those archived messages. So how do you protect it?
A Variety of Choices
There are actually many services you can use to back up your Gmail. Backupify is a paid service that backs up Gmail, Facebook, Flickr, Google Docs, Twitter, and many additional web applications. It’s a “set it and forget it” type of backup security system. Another option is to use TrueSwitch and back up your Gmail into a Hotmail account. Gmail Backup is another free option for backups. If you prefer to have all of your backup data in your possession, rather than stored on an outside server, then consider Thunderbird.
Thunderbird is Mozilla’s free email application. If you use Firefox as your browser then you may be familiar with the application. The steps to backup with Thunderbird are easy.
Simply visit the Mozilla Thunderbird download page and click to download. Save the set-up exe file on your computer. Once it is saved, open the file and click “Run” to install.
Step #2 Change Your Gmail Settings
In the meantime, log into your Gmail and change the settings to enable POP for all mail, and set Gmail to keep its copy.
Step #3 Finish Installation
Follow the procedures to finish the installation and set-up for Thunderbird. You can import your Outlook or Outlook Express settings if you use that software.
Step #4 Back In Gmail
On that same settings page “Forwarding and POP/IMAP” in Gmail, you’ll see a link at the bottom of the page. It says, “Configure your email client (e.g. Outlook, Thunderbird, iPhone) Configuration instructions.” Go ahead and click the link. Follow the instructions for Thunderbird and you’ll be good to go. Your information will now be backed up on Thunderbird and you’ll have a second tier of protection.
If you like to have a third tier of protection, consider backing up everything to an online service. This way, if you’re ever hacked and they gain access to everything, you haven’t lost anything.
The Right Balance for Email Marketing
Posted by: | CommentsEmail marketing often involves a tightrope walk between selling and connection. If you sell too much, you’ll lose your customer’s interest and burn out your list. Focus too much on connection and not on selling and you won’t generate enough revenue.
What’s the right balance?
Between 10% and 20% Selling
Generally the right amount is somewhere between 10% and 20% selling, with between 80% to 90% of your content being focused on quality, solving the customer’s problems and making a connection.
80% to 90% content is enough to get your customers in the habit of opening your emails. They’ll know that by and large, emails from you will be of a high quality.
Having 80%+ of your content be connection-based also does one other thing: it essentially buys you the right to sell to them.
When someone gets immense value from the emails you’re sending, they won’t feel resentful when they read a sales message. In fact, they’ll read your sales messages with an open mind, knowing that there’s a good chance they might get value from the product you’re offering.
If you oversell, people will resent being sold to. If you consistently provide high quality content, people will look forward to your next product and eagerly read your sales message.
The 5 to 1 Email or the “At the Bottom” Style
There are primarily two different ways you can split your selling and connection content.
The first method is to send only emails that have connection and problem-solving content, then every once in a while send a 100% sales message.
If you use this method, make sure that your sales messages also provide value. Even if you regularly send out quality content, you still can’t just send out a spammy ad. Instead, you have to provide value even as you’re selling them.
By sending only one sales message every 5 to 8 emails, you keep up with the 10% to 20% rule.
The other method is to sell regularly, by putting an advertisement or one or two promotional sentences at the bottom of every email.
This method works very well, because instead of trying to get a home run of sales in one email, you’re getting a steady flow of sales with every email that you send.
Try to tie in your sales message with the email itself. For example, if your email talked about all the most common obstacles graphic designers run into when looking for clients, then pitch an easy way to find clients in your promotional sentence, even if your product covers a lot more than that.
Walking the fine line between over- and underselling in email marketing can be a little tough. As a rule of thumb, sell between 10% and 20% of the time to maximize customer connection while still pulling in strong revenues.
Web Analytics for Solopreneurs
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Website analytics can tell you a lot. For a solopreneur, understanding web analytics is a crucial skill. Your analytics can tell you whether people understand what you’re offering, whether people like your brand and whether or not your website is helping you make money.
Here are some of the important numbers every small business should be watching in their web analytics.
How Many Visitors Are You Getting?
The first and most important number you should be watching is how many visitors you’re getting. In addition to the raw number, also pay attention to whether the visitor count is going up or down.
As your marketing efforts progress, you should see a direct boost to your visitor count. It might not happen right away, but within a couple months you should see a measurable increase.
How Many Hit a Goal?
Every website should have a very clear goal. For example, your website might be designed to get someone to fill out a form for a free sample. Or it might be designed to get someone to print out a coupon for a free appetizer and bring it into your restaurant.
Whatever the case, you should be carefully tracking the goal hit rate for your website.
Use the “Goals” feature in Google Analytics to track this.
Geographic Location
Are the people who’re landing on your website the right kinds of people? If you have a small local business, check to make sure the traffic you’re getting is actually from your area.
Where Does the Traffic Come From?
How do people end up on your website? Do they type something into the search engines and end up on your site? Or do they enter your URL manually? Is someone else sending people to your website?
Tracking your traffic sources and your referrer data can give you valuable information about what’s working and what’s not working when it comes to generating traffic.
The Bounce Rate
The bounce rate measures the percentage of people who land on your website and leave without visiting a second page on your website.
A high bounce rate usually means that visitors came to your site expecting one thing but didn’t find what they were looking for. If your bounce rate is above 60%, you might have some serious revamping to do. Of course, if you are looking at the stats on a one page sales letter, your bounce rate is irrelevant.
Are People Coming Back?
Finally, check to see whether or not people who visit your website come back again.
For some businesses, this is an irrelevant statistic. For example, a restaurant’s website doesn’t really expect to get repeat visitors. People just use the website to find the address or phone number so they can show up.
But for most solopreneurs, you do want people to keep coming back to your site. If people are coming back time and again, that probably means people are finding your website useful. Check your returning visitor rate to see how well you’re doing in this department.
These are some of the many things that your analytics system can tell you. Learning to understand analytics can really help you steer your small business in the right direction.
The Business Plan: Why You Need One
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Do you have a new business? Are you revamping your existing business? Whether your business is old or new, you can greatly benefit from a proper business plan. Many people think that a business plan is only beneficial if you are trying to raise money for your company and while this is one reason to write a business plan, it is certainly not the only one.
Creating and writing a business plan for your company is a great idea to ensure the success of your business. Your business plan will greatly increase your chances of being organized and successful with your business. When you have a plan with set goals, it is easier to achieve those goals. This is a much better business practice than leaving things to chance or being so unorganized that you can not track your progress.
What is included in a business plan?
So what does your business plan need to include in order for it to be sure it is successful and complete? You will need to have a description of your business, details of what it is and how it will operate, some information regarding ownership, a start up summary as well as market research and target market information.
You want to walk through the business and the function of your business from the beginning all the way through. What is the purpose of your company? Do you sell a product? Do you provide a service? What are you offering to customers? How much experience do you have and how are you qualified to perform the job duties? Ask the same questions of your employees or business partners.
Why Create your Business Plan?
So why is it worth your time to write and create a great business plan? There are different reasons, as we mentioned before. One popular reason why people choose to create a business plan is to try to convince potential investors and lenders to fund money to your business.
Most of all a good business plan will help you determine whether or not your business has a good chance of producing profit. If results show that you will not make a good profit, you might need to adjust your business plans and goals somewhat. It can also serve as a great way to estimate your start up costs and needed investments to start or continue the business.
Do you want to spruce up your business plan or create a simple, easy to use plan for your business in 2012? Join me for the Business Planning Work Day on Monday, January 2nd. Find out more information by going to:
