“Working in the Cloud” is big news these days for businesses of any size. For small and medium enterprises, cloud technology can be an invaluable tool that gives access to services and functionalities previously only available to larger operations. For those considering starting up, or already up and running, finding good cloud computing services can bring savings in both time and money. It can also reduce IT problems and offer incredible flexibility, however large or small your business operation is. Finding the right cloud computing tools for your business may take a little research but some key tools are listed below. (Editor’s note: Be sure to check out our previous post on the “Best Cloud Computing Services and Apps for Small Business”, too.) Essential Cloud Computing Tools for Business Google Play: Google Play has just been launched. This cloud solution may well be most appropriate to those working in the creative industries. It allows you to remotely store media, including books, music and – Read the full article
In today’s world, the Internet is being increasingly used for all kinds of business ventures. However, there is one industry – the health and fitness industry (fitness clubs and fitness professionals) – that doesn’t often make use of the Internet due to the mistaken belief that this kind of business can only be conducted face to face. As a result, they end up missing out on the enormous benefits that online marketing offers. Quite a number of fitness clubs, fitness specialists, and personal trainers promote their businesses mainly through word-of-mouth advertising. Some of them shy away from the Internet because they imagine it will be very costly to venture into online marketing, SEO, or social media marketing. This is the wrong mindset. Here to convince you (hopefully) is a list of ways you can immediately enhance your online presence. Blogging There are many free and easy-to-use tools available which can be used to create a business blog. For instance, – Read the full article
Ages ago (pre-Internet critical mass, sometime in the 1990s), if a customer had a complaint about a company or service, they called the company and complained. If they were lucky, they were apologized to and given a coupon to save the next time they bought. If they didn’t get the answer they wanted, maybe the customer would call the BBB. Today, if a customer complains, the first place they normally turn is the Internet. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, blog posts and comments make it easy for a customer to vent their frustrations and share their experiences with the world. With the explosive growth of user generated content (UGC), companies must use a variety of tools to monitor their brand and keep their online reputation clean. For this example, let’s look at the online backup service, SugarSync. Find New Content Google Alerts is the easiest way to start monitoring online content for a brand name or other term. Simply enter the search query – Read the full article
Facebook’s photo sharing feature has become increasingly popular among Web users. This feature has enabled people to share their special moments with their family and friends all over the world. Besides individuals, businesses have also taken advantage of Facebook photo sharing as a social media marketing tool to promote their products and services. The following are some guidelines that will help you use Facebook’s photo sharing feature more effectively. Name your albums Facebook automatically stores uploaded photos into an ‘untitled album’ (usually with the date of upload). You can change or arrange such albums easily according to your personal needs. When creating an album, the first thing to do is to appropriately name the album. Facebook automatically names albums according to the date when they were uploaded. However, a name such as ‘August 8, 2011’ is not likely to grab anyone’s interest. Therefore, select titles which are catchy and relevant to the photos contained in the album. Customize the album – Read the full article
On 28 January 2011, Twitter published a monumental blog post which detailed their censorship plan (or rather, lack thereof). The logic that representatives of Twitter utilized was both practical and easy to understand: the company simply lacked the manpower to review one hundred million tweets per day, and furthermore, they believed in the free flow of information and thus would only remove from Twitter illegal tweets and spam. In fact, Twitter in 2011 believed that discussion of topics in geopolitics made Twitter “fun” and “important”. Country-Based Censorship Needless to say, the alterations to this open-information policy just one year later came as a shock to Twitter users. On 26 January 2012, Twitter published a post on the same blog which explains their alleged need for selective, country-based censorship. This approach to sharing information is, according to Twitter, informed by certain countries’ views on free information. Content Control Specifically, Twitter will not be preventing content from being published. They will simply remove content retroactively, – Read the full article
Quality backlinks play a very important role in the search engine optimization of any site. Backlinks refer to links on other websites pointing to yours. So how do you go about getting them? The Natural Way If your web content is good, people are likely to begin linking to it. The more backlinks your site has, the better. However, it does not always follow that if you have great content, people will always want to link to you. This means that you might not be able to promote your website successfully through the natural way of building backlinks. You will then have to figure out alternative ways of getting quality backlinks. And even if you get many backlinks through the natural way, you could always use additional backlinks. Some of the acceptable methods of building links are through posting in forums, article directories, and blogs. The unacceptable methods (at least to Google’s eyes) include linking to link farms, buying links – Read the full article
If you got a pretty good site, which shows up on the first page of Google, you ought to be cautious about some possible threats. Hacking might be a huge issue indeed, but there is another form of threat lurking on the Internet these days. This threat is not a virus or a bug or a worm, yet it is very potent and can cause chaos for you and your adored website. Beware of Page Jacking! What is Page Jacking? The attack called page jacking mainly involves copying the content on your website onto some other site, so that the user believes that the other site is your legitimate site. If proper measures are not taken to secure your content, you are bound to lose your privileged spot on the first page of the search engine. The Consequences of Page Jacking Because the page jacker uses the same keywords and the same content, with a few exceptions here and there, – Read the full article
Raising funds online isn’t easy. Thank goodness there are useful social media marketing platforms like Kickstarter and Twitter. (Check out our tips for fundraising on Twitter and our coverage of some of the most successful social media fundraisers!) But if these tools aren’t flexible enough for your charity organization, political advocacy, or religious community – and if you think you’ll need a bigger Web presence, like a website or a blog – then you might as well create your own WordPress site. WordPress is Lakeshore Branding’s recommended content management system (CMS). Why? Because it’s focused on aesthetics. Because it’s built on evolving and upcoming Web standards. And because it’s so easy to use. To help rally your cause, we compiled this list of 15 WordPress themes sure to strike at the heart of your online audience. These WordPress themes are great for non-governmental institutions, public sector groups, charity organizations, environmental organizations, fundraising events and committees, advocacy groups, political aspirants, churches, – Read the full article
