…. You can focus your energies on the revenue producing side of your business while a virtual assistant does the “grunt work”. The more work you are able to delegate to your Virtual Assistant, the more focused you can be on taking your business to that next level, generating more income….
read more | digg story
This is a great article to help small businesses sort through all the business tools available to help them run. Not sure I agree with all of them personally, however, you’ll find it a very helpful read. The “read more” link will take you directly to the article.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What IT services and technologies can a small or medium sized business use to increase productivity and give them a competitive edge? 50 Quick tips that can be carry out by Joe Blogs, not Mr IT person. Ranging from VoIP, Blogs, Free Photos, Open Source, Online Apps, CRM’s to Backup Advice. Well worth a read for the small business manager.
read more | digg story
Well, I never would have believed it had I not experienced myself – ever since I submitted my podcasts to iTunes on December 20, 2006, my listener audience has skyrocketed.
In the last two weeks (December 20, 2006 through January 4th, 2007) I’ve personally experienced a major listener increase in both my podcasts.
Here’s the proof!
Podcast: Outlook Productivity Tips – 39% increase
Podcast: Business Productivity Techniques, Tools, and Ideas – 70% increase
What does this have to do with marketing my business? Everything! I’m also seeing more hits to my business website, www.virtualassist.net. Is this a coincidence? Maybe, but I doubt it. The increased exposure to my company and my knowledge via my podcasts in iTunes can only be a good thing. And what did it cost me? Nothing. I already had everything I needed in place.
I’ve been doing my Outlook Productivity Tips videos for over a year now. I create them in Camtasia Studio to capture my screen as I walk and talk through the targeted tips. These were made to fit an 800×600 screen and are very easy to see the details and follow along. Up until about three weeks ago I was dead-set against producing my videos in a format that shrinks them to fit onto an iPod or other mobile device. I thought it would be way too hard for people to see the video details. In October, the new version of Camtasia Studio was released and one of its major enhancements is the ability to easily produce your videos optimized for the video iPod, Zune, or other video device. It has a place to put iTunes info during the process, making it oh-so simple. One day I just decided to give it a try. I took the Outlook videos that I currently have, re-produced them in the iPod optimized format in Camtasia, and voila, piece of cake. I uploaded them to my existing feed I have for the other Outlook videos, submitted the feed to iTunes, and by the next day it was accepted. I looked a couple of the videos through iTunes on my PC and thought they looked very blurry. Why would anyone find this a better way to see these? That’s what I was thinking anyway. My audience size started to grow right away. hhmm… Great!
Last week my husband surprised me with a Zune. We’ve been looking around at some mp3/mp4 players for me to listen and watch the multitude of podcasts I’ve been subscribing to lately. I watched a couple of the Outlook Productivity Tips videos on my Zune’s killer screen. Hey, they looked pretty darned good for being so small. I was happy. Why didn’t I do this earlier? From here on out, I’ll create a full-screen version and a small-screen version of all my training videos. With Camtasia Studio 4 it’s a snap to do.
Andrea Kalli Virtual Trainer and Assistant, LLC
Your #1 resource for Outlook Training and SharePoint training
‘Tis the season for sharing.
With the New Year just around the corner you’re probably thinking about the different ways to locate, improve, and increase the information resources available to help you run your business. Perhaps you’re thinking how helpful it would be for this information to be gathered in a central location…I mean after all, you’re a busy person. And wouldn’t it be great if you were notified when new information was published and it was easy to find.
We’ve gathered some really great podcasters in our Small Business Podcast Network to bring to you plenty of free information that will help you in all aspects of running a small business.
Here’s some great podcasts that are being offered, and all of them are free for to you listen to or watch on your computer OR iPod-type device (mp3 players):
with more being added regularly.
We also have an Articles area for Small Business related topics, and a Forum for you to talk about your company, your products and services, and to start or participate in discussions for Small Business related topics of interest. (non-explicit, clean material allowed only. By Moderator approval)
In addition to all these wonderful podcasts, you will find Business-to-Business professionals that are advertising on our site. The services they offer range from Virtual Office Assistance to Web Design to Virtual Software Training and Support, and much more. A great place to locate the help you need.
Please visit our website community at http://www.smallbusinesspodcastdirectory.com.
Andrea Kalli
owner, the Small Business Podcast Directory
Skype users received an early holiday present, at least those in the USA and Canada, with a new year long pricing scheme that provides twelve months of unlimited calls from the USA and Canada to numbers in the USA and Canada for $29.95 a year if you sign up after January 31 2007 or up until December 31st, 2007 if you sign up now at the promotional
read more | digg story
Adobe Systems has announced immediate availability of the Adobe Acrobat Connect software product line and the Adobe Reader 8 software. The company said that with Acrobat Connect and Acrobat Connect Professional, it would transform the way knowledge workers meet and conduct business online with ‘always-on’ personal meeting rooms.
|
||||||
http://www.collaborationloop.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1849&Itemid=45
read more | digg story
Podcasting can have many uses for the home-based business owner. It can be useful not only advertise, but to also communicate your business message. Below are 5 tips on how to use podcasts to benefit your business:
read more | digg story
SharePoint v3 / OL2007 has a two way sync with calendars in Outlook, whereas before it only had a one way sync in the WSSv2 / OL2003 version.
So you create a Calendar in a SharePoint site, then go under Actions, select Connect to Outlook. Outlook will then ask you if it is OK to link to the site. Once you have added the site to your Outlook, you can drag/drop events from your main calendar, or create new events directly in the SharePoint calendar. Outlook will sync with the SharePoint Calendar and wallah, your events appear on the SharePoint site. Works vice versa too. Events created on the site will appear in Outlook.
Why is this awesome? Use it for:
You could have a central calendar in your Outlook, then several SharePoint calendars linked in, and you can drag/drop your pertinent appoints on the various calendars for their various purposes. Very cool!
By Heather Solomon, SharePoint expert
http://heathersolomon.com/blog/archive/2006/12/08/5965.aspx
read more | digg story