E-mail to E-commerce

Victorian Laptop with Wind-up Start

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 23:10:00 -0700

You are sure to get a kick out of this unusual laptop made by Datamancer.
Inside this intricately hand-crafted wooden case lives a Hewlett-Packard ZT1000 laptop that runs both Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux. It features an elaborate display of clockworks under glass, engraved brass accents, claw feet, an antiqued copper keyboard and mouse, leather wrist pads, and customized wireless network card. The machine turns on with an antique clock-winding key by way of a custom-built ratcheting switch made from old clock parts.

How Many Email Addresses Should I have?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 6 Apr 2008 20:22:00 -0700

I am kinda embarrassed to say how many email addresses I currently have because I have so many that I have forgotten the actual number. I started out like everyone else with one and that one happened to be created almost 15 years ago, does anyone remember the Internet service Prodigy? Well that was my very first email address. I then went on to get an email from this little upstart company some of you might have heard of called AOL. I no longer have an AOL address but my oldest current email address is about to celebrate its 10 year anniversary.

Ten years of having a Yahoo email address is not really that great but I would challenge you all to find out what is your oldest current email address and can you beat 10 years. If so please post how long you have had it and let me know if you have saved any emails from that address from so long ago. I have never deleted any of my emails from Yahoo and probably never will. Yes I KNOW I should delete the old ones but it really is a kick to see some of the emails I sent and received from people 10 years ago.

So at present count I think I have about 45+ email addresses both professional and personal and YES I do check them all. Some I don't check as frequent but I am very good and creating folders and setting up rules in Microsoft Outlook to keep most of them organized. My good friend Peggy Duncan who is a Professional Productivity Expert thinks I am crazy to have so many email addresses and even more crazy that I never delete any of the emails I get. Don't get me wrong I do delete most of the spam but the rest is archived and backed up on a regular bassist.

I am sure I don't hold the record for one person having so many email addresses. Who do you know that has more?

As a rule of thumb most small businesses should only have as many email addresses as they need to get their business done. If you are a soloprenuer like myself I would go with 3 professional email addresses to start. The first one you should have is your main email address Yourname@Yourcompany.com then I would go with info@yourcompany.com and sales@yourcompany.com I would then get 2 free personal email addresses from any of the free email services say gmail.com and yahoo.com. Use these email address for things you really don't want to come into your business email address or things you think you may get more spam then legitimate email. If you need more, I say GO FOR IT but only if you can keep track of them.
Don't lose any business because you forgot to check one of your many email addresses.

So, how many email addresses should you have? As many as you can keep track of and not have to hire someone to do it for you.

Digibabes Rule the Websphere

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:13:00 -0700

I got this idea from one of my favorite blogs techcrunch.com but I just had to go just a little further when it comes to the webs digital divas. TechCrunch did a blog on the many digibabes of the web who reported on everything that is technology. There were some great entries but one of my favorites was left out so I decided to write a blog entry about her and her show in hopes that she is included the next time around.

Created by Zadi Diaz and Steve Woolf, EPIC-FU is all about the things that make us geek out -- the coolest art, tech, and music from the online and offline world.

I am not sure why Zadi was not included she is a true digibabe and her show is extremely entertaining. I catch the show on youtube.com every chance I get but I have since been going to her website epicfu.com to see her in full effect.

So the next time you see a blog post giving some of these giga goddesses their due please give Zadi with EPIC-Fu some love.

Below is a youtube video from their 100's show. Congrats on the 100 and keep up the great work.

If you are not into the music or some of the content that Zadi brings to the table you can check out another digibabe that is more to the mainstream.

WebbAlert is Morgan Webb's website and daily videocast, covering the day's developments in tech news, video gaming, gadgetry, and digital culture. It's engineered to keep tech-interested people current on the news and trends that move the industry with a small investment of just a few minutes per day.

Please let us know which digibabe's way of bringing the tech content is your favorite.

Track the NCAA Basketball Tournament using Google

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 07:38:00 -0700

With all the hype over the NCAA Basketball tournament and March Madness fast approaching most viewers won't find it hard getting help filling out their brackets. All the major sports websites have online web based brackets ready and waiting for your office pool.

This yearly tradition has gotten so popular even Google has gotten into the act and now has a way to track all your favorite teams in their version called Basketball Bracket Battle. This feature can be created using the iGoogle gadget tool.

If you already have a Google Gmail account you can just add this gadget to your iGoogle desktop. Once you have added this gadget you can then create a bracket for yourself or even form a league with your friends or co-workers.

Once the NCAA Basketball Tournament starts you will be able to track all your chosen teams on the Basketball Bracket Battle gadget. As the tournament gets going you will also be able to see how you rank against your friends and co-workers brackets.

If you still want to print out your brackets as we did in the olden days check out Maddux Sports and print out a pdf file that you can just write in your team positions.

Domain Registry of America: Domain Name Hijacking

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 7 Mar 2008 19:59:00 -0800

I keep getting these letters in the mail at least once every other week notifying me that the domain name that I registered is about to expire. This letter looks very official and it is emblazoned with a graphic logo that depicts the American flag at the very top of the letter. Also at the top reads the words "Domain Name Expiration Notice"

This letter is strategically made to look like an invoice, complete with line items that spell out how long I have until my domain name expires and how much it will cost me to register my domain name for another year. It even gives me the chance to register my domain name for up to five years at a discounted price.

To most this letter would seem like an awesome reminder and even a better way to make sure I don't miss out on keeping this domain name secure for my current and future use. Unfortunately that is not the case.

I currently have 3 of my clients who were so inclined to take this company up on its offer to renew their domain names. Here is the best part, two of the three really thought this company was officially in charge of registering their soon to expire domain name so they proceeded to pay for three years in advance.

What my unsuspecting client didn't realize is that they were tricked into paying more than three times the price for registering their domain name to a company that had no control whatsoever in whether or not it expired. Instead of paying less than $30.00 for three years of registration they paid $30.00 per year to register just one domain name.

Once they paid this money, they automatically gave this company the right to become their new registrar of their domain name. We then had to go through and act of congress to get the domain names back but the money they spent would not be returned.

Why didn't they get their money back you may ask? Well the letter that they recieved was again made to look like an invoice but it clearly said in bold letters "This notice is not a bill" It also had some fine print on the back of the letter that spelled out what was going to happen if you paid for this domain name to be registered with their service.

Here are the steps involved in not getting your domain name Hijacked.

1. When registering a domain name make sure you remember the name of the registrar. Whether it's Godaddy.com, Networksolution.com or Proemailaddress.com make a note of the date you register the domain name and put in on your calendar.

2. If you cannot remember who your domain name registrar is or you own the domain name but your webmaster registered it for you, do a whois search of your domain. Going to http://www.whois.net/ will allow you to put your domain name in their search box and find out when the domain name is set to expire.

3. If someone else registers your domain name, say your webmaster/web developer make sure they put your email address as the one that will be notified when the domain name is set to expire.

Most domain name registrars send you multiple reminder emails months in advance notifing you that your domain name is set to expire.

4. This may be something you may not want to do but I highly recommend doing it if you are given the option when registering your domain name. Register it for more than one year. Some registrars like proemailaddress.com will allow 10 year registrations of domain names.

5. Finally if you do get one of these letters in the mail from Domain Registry of America or any other company other than the one that you acctually registered your domain name with, throw it in the trash with the rest of the junk mail.

The Conversion to Linux hosting is On

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 4 Dec 2007 20:43:00 -0800

Until recently all my websites have been hosted by a company that was using the Microsoft Window platform. At the time I chose a host that gave me the flexibility of creating multiple websites in a shared server environment. That was almost 5 years ago and the Microsoft IIS Server software was paramount and most dominant with the majority of hosted services.

I now have the need to use more applications that are built specifically for both the Linux and Mysql environment. I am currently converting all of my websites to Linux hosted environments. I was fortunate to choose a host that kept up with the times and was prepared enough to help me make this move rather seamlessly.

When I first looked to create a website I was looking for more of a personal website hosting company. Even though I was creating these websites for small businesses, I was treating them as my own property. What I should have been looking for is a business website hosting company. One that would give me the tools needed to keep my websites flourishing with activity.

Right now I am fairly happy with my current host but if I had to choose one that would give me the best of both worlds in a personal and a business website hosting company I would choose Burton Hosting. Burton hosting has all the makings of a complete host. By that I mean a hosting company that can give you all you need to be successfully and most of all reliably maintained.

Ipod vs Zune

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 23:12:00 -0700

I have been in the market for a portable mp3 player for a long time now. The Apple ipod nano has been the front runner for some time now but has come into question now that the new second generation Zunes from Microsoft have entered the market. Both come in 4gig and 8gig models. The one thing that keeps me debating whether or not to get the Zune over the ipod is the Wifi features. The Zune has Wifi sync and Wifi sharing. The ipod nano does not.

One other feature that makes me want the Zune over the ipod is that fact that I can put my Zune on any computer I want. I would be limited on putting my ipod on just one computer that is subscribed to itunes. This means I could download music and wirelessly sinc it to my Zune from any computer. I could only sinc to my ipod from my home computer that was registered with itunes.

Then I saw and ad for a refurbished ipod nano on couponchief.com that caught my eye and I could not resist the temptation to at least check it out. This ipod nano is only a 2gig unit but for only $79.00 is seam like a steal for a first time ipod buyer like me. If I can convince couponchief.com to give me the free shipping as well I think they may have a deal.

If I get the ipod for that price I can wait another year or so and see what the Zune does for its third generation of mp3 players. Maybe by then Microsoft would have caught up to the awesome attraction and innovation Apple has over it at this time.

Little Known Application Suite Zoho.com makes a Big Dent

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 1 Oct 2007 21:36:00 -0700

If you are a small business and you are thinking of purchasing software to run your business like the most well known business suite of software made by Microsoft Office, then you may want to read on and take a better look at what is out there.

Microsoft Office for Windows which consist of a suite of software programs that include Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, Publisher and Power Point. These programs are the core of software used by many small to large businesses. The most well know of the suite and most widely used is Microsoft Word which is a word processing program.

Zoho.com is a web based service that offers their own suite of programs for businesses. The one great thing about these online programs is that most of them are absolutely FREE. I am currently using 5 of the 12 main programs Zoho Writer (Word Processor), Zoho Sheet (Spreadsheet Program) Zoho Planner (Online Organizer) Zoho Project (Project Manager) and last but not least Zoho CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) .

My favorite program right now is Zoho Planner. Zoho Planner is a way for me to keep track of my business ideas and personal goals with an automated to do list. It also lets me stay organized by storing my documents and images while also sending me email reminders on what I need to get done for the day. The one thing that sets these online programs apart from their off line competition is the ability to share and collaborate with others in your business.

At a press of a button I am sharing my to do list with my wife, my spreadsheet with my coworker and my latest invoice with my accountant. All one needs is an email address to be put on a list for sharing secure access to any of my Zoho suite of programs.

The only draw back to this great way of sharing thoughts, ideas and documents is the fact that you have to be on the Internet to use the programs. If for some reason you don't have a continuous connection to the Internet you can't do business. Here is where the off line Microsoft products have their advantage.

So as a business owner I would need to way the circumstances and needs of my business. If being able to access your work off line is important to you, and you want to sacrifice speed, mobility and collaboration, then the more traditional Microsoft products may be your way to go.

Zoho.com has me hooked on business in real time. I totally enjoy being online almost all the time and reaping the benefits updated information that I can get right now. I also enjoy not having to be tied to a desk to do my most important work. I can do my work whenever and where ever I please in the world that has an Internet connection.

Zoho.com suite of online programs will give your business an affordable, fast and mobile way to conduct its operations.

The Next Cool Thing in Blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 23:48:00 -0700

I just came across this cool way to blog by using the new mini whiteboard technology a company called SketchCast.com has created. Check out the demo below and give me your feedback on what you have seen. I will be adding my own sketchcast very soon but in the mean time visit Sketchcast.com and create your own.

Tech.Ed in Sydney 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 4 Sep 2007 22:15:00 -0700

I just missed Tech.ED this past August but I am looking forward to next year's location, Sydney Australia. I have never been to Australia and have always wanted to go "down under" as they say over there. Tech.ED is what I would be going their for on business but I am so looking forward to going early and spending a couple days in some of the smaller cities of Australia. I have heard and read so much about cities like Perth and Adelaide. I don't want to just take in the bigger without visiting the smaller. Starting with the western side of the land and Perth.

I remember the Crocodile Dundee movies and seeing some of the beautiful countryside of the western part of Australia were it was mostly filmed. Perth comes to mind because I have read its one of the best places were you can see some of the most fantastic beaches and at the same time take in a safari. Technology has made it so easy that with a click of my mouse I can get an answer to my questions about any of the Perth Hotels via email or instant messaging.

Adelaide would then be my next stop where I would visit one of the cities another one of my favorite Sci-fi movies, The Matrix was filmed. Who can forget the leap Morpheus made from the top of one sky scraper to the next, only to see Neo not have enough confidence to make the same jump. My leap of faith is to use the internet and email to help me find a suitable hotel in Adelaide that would put me right in the middle of all the action. I've been told that most of the Adelaide Hotels are very accommodating and Adelaide is more know for its gardens and parks within and around the city. I also hope to see a professional cricket match in the famous Adelaide Oval.

Finally Sydney, the site where most of the finale of Mission Impossible II was filmed finishes my trek across Australia but begins my adventure of its most well known city. I hope to be in Sydney at least 2-3 days before Tech.ED starts so I can take in and enjoy all the Sydney accommodation Australia has to offer.

Yes, I am very excited about Tech.Ed as an IT Professional who looks to further his career with all the great workshops and certification specials. I just want to take advantage of such a once in a life time treat of getting both my Geek/Nerd and my vacation on. So I will see you in 2008 at the Sydney Convention Center, September 2-5th.

New Kid on the Block of Email Marketing Services

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 16:48:00 -0700

The space of web based email marketing services has been dominated by a very small group of companies. The most popular of them all has been one I have been affiliated with for almost 6 years. Constant Contact by Roving Software is by far one of the most easy to use and cost effective email marketing services on the market. I have seen many try and fail at coming close to what Constant Contact has to offer. One such company iContact.com formally known as Intellicontact.com has probably come the closest when it comes to features and pricing plans.

Today I was informed of another company that looks like it has a shot at playing with the big boys. Viper Logic Corp., a company out of Palms Springs, California has developed their own email marketing services called "Vipermailer". Vipermailer.com has a very simple website but from the looks of things, a very powerful presentation of features and mailer templates.

As of this writing I have only seen emailed examples of their templates and read about their dynamic features and pricing. I will do a follow up blog when I have been given the chance to try their service free, for 30 days.

Speaking of pricing, I really do think Vipermailer.com has an advantage with their service plans where cost is based on the number of subscribers they have to send email marketing message too and not how many individual emails are sent per campaign. Both Constantcontact.com and iContact.com share this type of pricing strategy.

So for I am very impressed with Vipermailer.com and I look forward to sending out my first test campaign to my subscriber base and see what they think of this new email marketing kid on the block.

Yourchildsname.com

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 18:15:00 -0700

I read an article in today's Yahoo.com News about a couple who had a birth certificate in one had and a domain name in the other for their new born child.

I had at one time thought about doing the same for my two children many years before they were born as well but never did. I at one time did own my own name but I let it go and never renewed it. As a result of this article on domain names for children my wife looked up our family's chances of domaindum and we went 3-4. My son's name was the only one not available. I did get a domain name for my daughter's dedication but I am still debating on acquiring her given name sake.

I have always seen domain names as a great way to promote one's business or brand. I have even written about how one should use their email address that includes their domain name "Use Email Address to Promote and Market Your Business" but I never really thought that domain names were meant for children. I do understand how sports figures or movie stars should try and acquire their children's name for the sake of their future. I mean where would the world be if Paris Hilton could not get her own domain name.

So for now I will just consider getting both my name and my wife's name registered in the near future and let my kids make the choice for themselves if they want their own domain name.
But if you are so inclined to step out on faith and purchase a slice of the internet for your child please try http://www.proemailaddress.com/

Imac 24-inch wins out over Vista

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 21:54:00 -0700

A client of mine had me help them fist find a new all in one computer for them to replace their old outdated windows pc that was running XP Home Addition. Of course I took to the web and went to Bestbuy.com to see what was the latest on all in one computers. The first computer I found was the Hewlett-Packard TouchSmart All-In-One Desktop w/ AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Mobile Tech nology TL-52. This machine looked perfect but had one flaw. It had everything my client wanted but would only ship with the new Microsoft operating system Vista on it. Unfortunately this was the case for many other computers I found including the Sony VAIO All-In-One TV Desktop w/Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Processor T2080 PC.

Vista was the only obstacle with my client. They didn't trust it and heard to many horror stories about it. Not wanting to force them into anything they didn't want to purchase I suggested taking a look at an Imac. I sent them a link to the fastest iMac ever, the 24-inch iMac on the Best Buy website. The liked the information they read on it so much they decided to go and see it in person at the local Best Buy store.

Well turns out that they fell in love with the Imac and decided to purchase it from Bestbuy.com and get a huge savings on their computer accessories by going to the couponchief.com and using a 15% off coupon.

My clients are now the proud owners of an awesome Imac 24-inch all in one computer and I have Bestbuy.com and the Couponchief.com to thank for it.

Online Poker and the IPhone

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 2 Apr 2007 21:30:00 -0700

The World Series of Poker gave away a prize of 12,000,000 dollars last year to a single winner. Many of the players at the final table were online poker players. Poker has taken the nation by storm. When ESPN, a sports reporting station is putting full coverage on such a high stakes game you know it has gotten quite popular. With the popularity you now have so many choices when it comes to playing poker online that it sometimes becomes very confusing.

Well there is a website that can help you navigate through some of the mystery around what online gaming site to choose from while catering to a small but inventive group of people. http://www.macpokeronline.com/ is a website that teaches you about the exciting game of online poker. Yes, it is geared toward mostly mac users but it has articles and news stories about the online gaming industry as a whole that keeps you coming back for more information.

I for one don't own a Mac and really have not been too in a rush to get one until Steve Jobs unveiled the IPhone. I was so impressed with his demonstration of this nifty new cell phone I crossed over from my PC world and took another gander at an IBook to use for my blogging and creating videos for You tube .

What I ultimately found out is that online poker players are really big mac and pc users. But what really surprised me to hear is that mac poker players get more girls/women then the pc poker players. Well, I don't know if that is altogether true statement but I do know that if I had a Mac and wanted to stay current on all the happening in the Mac world when it comes to online gaming macpokeronline.com is the site for me.

The release date of my IPhone is not until June 15, 2007 but you can see and become more aware of all your online poker needs right now at macpokeronline.com

Putting Pictures to Music

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 22:19:00 -0700

I have been uploading pictures to the Internet ever since I got my first digital camera almost 10 years ago. I started creating my own websites and putting my pictures in them using a photo editing program, html editor and a separate ftp program to transfer the files to the Internet. I would then have to use another program to create a slide show effect and yet another to add and mix the music. Lets not even look at the time and effort it took to put all these things together. I was looking at a good 4-5 hours of work just to get one group of pictures in decent shape to show my family and friends.

Forward the years to 2003 and lower the cost of a digital camera to the tune of about $150.00, down from the $800.00 price tag I bought my first digital camera for and you get an explosion of people taking digital pictures and wanting to share them with friends and loved ones. Now there are services like flickr photo, snapfish and shutterfly. These websites will store your photos online and let you present them in a slide show effect for free. Their money is made by convincing you that not only do you want to share those digital pictures of your beautiful baby girl but also purchase a set of picture prints to send to aunt Jane and uncle Leroy.

Well, its now 2007 and even big search engine websites like Google and Yahoo have gotten into the act of photo storage and display. We now have so many services to choose from and digital cameras now under the $100.00 mark, how is one to choose?

Music is my answer. I found a website called http://www.fliptrack.com/ that will not only allow you to store and display your many photos for free but they will magically mesh these photos with some of your most favorite songs. You get to tell a personal story with your pictures by mixing them in a music video style that is so easy to do. I was able to put together a flicktrack of my beautiful baby girl in less than 15 minutes. I do suggest you download fliptracks great picture and music mixing software to take advantage of all the many spacial effects if has to offer. Gone are the days of traditional picture taking. So lets all make sweet music with our digital pictures and give http://www.fliptracks.com/ the lead to our inner soul for sound.

Online Publishing has It's Advantages

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 16:40:00 -0700

Publishing on the Internet has had its ups and downs over the years. One of the many challenges is first finding people who want to read your words and sentences on a regular basis. Then if your online publication is lucky enough to have people coming to visit you really want them to come back again and again. But most of all your main objective is to make money off those frequest visitors. Hence you need to have advertising.

One of the fastest ways to make money from the content you publish is through contextual advertising. Services like Google Adsense and Yahoo Publisher give even the little guy an ability to make some extra money on a daily basis. I have been using both of these services on almost all of my websites and believe me when I say how good it feels to get paid over and over again for publishing just once.

One way of advertising that seems to be making a comeback is "Banner Advertising". Banner advertising was made famous back in early days of the Internet. Its effectiveness wore off after a few years as other forms of Internet advertising became more popular and cost effective.

Using a service like http://www.dclickads.com/ gives you the best of both worlds. Not only can you display banner ads that they will pay you for but they also have text link ads, and premium embedded link ads. So if you have not yet become an online publisher because you don't think you can make any money, try Google Adsense, Yahoo Publisher and www.dclickads.com

Traditional Shopping is Dead to Me

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 15:35:00 -0700

As a young boy living in the New York City, my mother took my siblings and me around to all the major stores to go shopping. I can remember walking through these huge buildings, floor by floor looking for the best deal my mother could find. With four children and on a nurses salary, my mom would go from one end of a city block to another just to take advantage of some competing sales one store had over the other. Oh and please don't let my mom have had a coupon she would cut out from the Sunday newspaper. That coupon was like a paper lighting rod that just had to get used before it was to expire at any cost.

Of course all I wanted to do was not be there--not be at any of those stores, because I knew at some point in time I would be left holding the bag. This is not a figure of speech. I was literally left holding my mother's bags of either clothes or groceries and she would be off somewhere in the store trying to pick up one last item. The most embarrassing part of it all was when she would forget an item just before we got to the cash register and I was left in the line in her place. She would tell me to stay in the line until she got back and of course she never got back in time. So there I was in front of the checkout cashier with no money and no mother in sight to rescue me from all the angry onlookers behind me waiting their turn.

Fast forward nearly 30 years and the intervention of the Internet and E-commerce. I am married now with two kids. I can buy just about anything over the Internet and never have to leave my home. If I want to shop at Target for my kids I can first go to http://www.couponchief.com/ and pick up a 10% off electronic coupon that will give me a discount when I finish my purchase at checkout. Not only can I shop online and get what I want without standing in any line but I can get a great discount on almost anything I purchase.

My wife and I will be celebrating our wedding anniversary this June. What a perfect opportunity to purchase a wonderful piece of jewelry from Blue Nile and get Free Shipping on all my orders. So, you can plainly see why "Traditional Shopping is Dead to Me" because with the advent of the Internet, Online Shopping and now discount coupons from The Coupon Chief there is absolutely no reason, and I mean N-O reason for me to be left holding the bag in a department store line again in my lifetime.

Are you a High Risk Business that needs to process credit cards?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 20:18:00 -0700

The only thing you have to be to considered a "High Risk" when it comes to doing business in this economy is anything against the norm. If you don't have a store front aka sticks and bricks location then you are considered a "High Risk". If you do have a store front but it is in a really bad town, city or zip code, you are considered "High Risk" and most of all if you have questionable or to put it bluntly bad credit you are definitely considered "High Risk".

So what is a business to do when they can't make the grade of a traditional bank or "Low Risk Only" credit card processor? Well, fortunately you do have a few options. One way I have gotten around not even having a merchant account is use services like PayPal.com and Google Checkout. Both services don't care if you are "High Risk" or not, all they want to is a verification of who you are and what you are selling. You can be up and running in minutes with any one of these services. PayPal.com happens to be my favorite and I have been a verified merchant of theirs for the past seven years.

Now their is also and answer for all you that want to step out there and go the extra mile and get a traditional merchant account. There places to go even if you are considered a "High Risk" business. Advantage Processors.com and Easycharge.net two places you can at least start. So don't stagnate your business by not accepting credit cards. Give one of these services a try and take your business 2 The Next Level.

Technology for Business Sake

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 21:20:00 -0800

Here is a great new Radio Show that is hosted by my good friends Brent Leary and Michael Thomas. You can listen to them weekly on Business Radio 1160 WCFO in Atlanta GA. They are looking to help small businesses take advantage of all the great things that technology has to offer. They will be talking about everything from how to choose the best CRM software/service to how to use the email on your Blackberry device more effectively. Take a listen to their first shows below.

You've Got High Tech Mail

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 23:31:00 -0700

You've Got High Tech Email to be more precise. This was the starting sentence of a Wall Street Journal article I read today saying that email marketing is getting another look from the heavy hitting marketers like IBM and Cisco Systems. These are the two of the many companies who shyed away from email marketing after the spamming wars of the late nineties. Their is a new company that is giving these fortune five hundred marketers a reason to send email again. Eyetools, a San Francisco software company has developed a technology called "heatmapping." This technology can tell marketers what parts of the their emails get the most attention. Heatmapping uses cameras attached to a computer that track a person's eye movements to figure out what part of the screen is being viewed. The results are displayed in vivid colors on what is called a "heatmap" that makes clear where on the screen people's eyes focus.

Eyetools has two email services. The first one discovers whether your key message is getting through and is tested in an email client. The second one is for email campaign optimization of landing pages. That way you can see how your offer performs from email open to landing page. Their pricing ranges by a per person cost to a ten person group study cost. Most of their clients want data collected as a group of people open their email and see what they click on as well as see what they are drawn to once the do reach their landing page. What say you. Would you use or encourage your company to use such a services before you sent out your next email marketing campaign? Let me know your thoughts.

Google Checkout "Gbuy" Has renewed my faith in them

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 11:44:00 -0700

I finally got the word from the Google Checkout here is the email that was sent to me today.

Hello Jeff,

Congratulations! Your request to remove your monthly payout limit has been approved. Effective immediately, your payouts will no longer be limited to $500 per month. We hope you enjoy the greater flexibility of your new payout schedule.

In accordance with our Terms of Service, your payouts may still be limited under certain circumstances. We may also request additional information from you in the future if your account status changes.

If you have questions please contact us by replying directly to this email.

Sincerely,
The Google Checkout Team

I was a little ... no a lot ticked off at them for putting me through this but I guess they had their reasons. I still would like to know how they made their decision. If anyone has any insights or have the same thing happen to them plase feel free to leave your comments.

Google Checkout "Gbuy" has me on Lock Down

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 8 Jul 2006 16:27:00 -0700

I was so excited when the announcement first came out that Google.com was going to have its own version of a payment service. As soon as I was able I then applied and was amazed at the ease of signing up for the service. Then came my disappointment. After giving Google all the necessary information they needed to get an account I was put off by one major aspect of the payment process, GETTING PAID!

Turns out I currently have what Google Checkout calls a "Payout Limit" on my account.

Here are the findings when I click on the Payouts tab in my account

Your payout amounts are currently limited to $500.00 a month. To increase your monthly payout limit, upgrade your account.

We when I got to the upgrade your account link it just brings me back to my settings tab and does not give me any instructions on how to upgrade my account.

I have since emailed the Google Checkout team via their email form and I am still waiting for an answer. I did get a standard reply email that said that they currently have my account under review and will get back to me on their findings.

It has only been a few days since that email but I am still not happy with such a process.

Here are the official words from Google on why I have a payout limit from their own FAQ's

What's a monthly payout limit? How do I remove this limit?

A monthly payout limit is a restriction on the total amount of earnings you can receive at one time.

When you process transactions through Google Checkout, your payouts are sent to you according to the standard payout schedule. With a monthly payout limit, however, your earnings will be paid to you over a longer period. For example, say you have a monthly payout limit of $500. If your total sales in July equal $600, only $500 will be paid to you in July; the remaining $100 will be carried over to your August payouts.

Not all sellers have monthly payout limits. If you have a payout limit, the limit amount will appear on your Payout Summary page, Payout Summary Details page, and payment settings page. On these pages, you may also see a notification message asking if you'd like to remove your monthly payout limit. By clicking the link in the message, you can request that Google perform a simple review and remove your monthly payout limit so you can receive your payouts more quickly. (If you don't see these notification messages, you aren't currently eligible to have your monthly payout limit removed.)

To my understanding this is clearly a bad feature if it comes down to my account being limited this way. Let's look at their own scenario in a very possible sales transaction.
I have charged one of my customers say $2500.00 to create a website for them. They then goto my website and use a Google Checkout "Buy Now" button to complete the purchase.

According to Google Checkout they will only allow me to have $500.00 of that money this month and keep the other $2000.00 until the following month and only give me another $500.00 NOT the balance of my original transaction.

So I ask you does this seem fair.

Why can't I get all of the money that was due me from the beginning?

I hope Google Checkout has a good explanation for this, cause right now I won't be using this account anytime soon.

If you would like to get another oppinion on what Google Checkout is doing against the likes of Ebay/Paypal.com please check out Brent Leary's Blog.

Blackberry Email in Jeopardy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 11:10:00 -0800

I have a client of mine that is very concerned that his Blackberry phone will not have the feature that he purchase the phone for in the first place. This whole patent infringement with the company NTP, Inc.

According to Gartner Dataquest's Todd Kort and various documents associated with the Research In Motion Ltd. case, the patent in question relates to work that NTP Inc.'s founder, Thomas Campana, did in the late 1980s as a subcontractor for AT&T Corp. AT&T wanted to add wireless e-mail features to its new Safari laptop computer, which it had acquired as a part of its purchase of computer maker NCR.

Campana had developed and patented a method of sending e-mail messages to wireless pagers, and it was a natural fit for AT&T. However, at the last minute, Kort said, AT&T decided not to use Campana's technology, and he lost a considerable amount of money as a result.

"So Campana and his guys sat on the [patents] for years," said Kort, until his holding company, NTP, contacted RIM in January 2000 regarding the patents. However, RIM claims that NTP "did not readily demonstrate any support for potential patent infringement." NTP filed suit against RIM in 2001.

"It's a little bit distasteful," Kort said of NTP's patent crusade, which he said is likely to extend beyond RIM to other companies with similar technology.

"What's happening is NTP is going back in time, asking people who have theoretically been violating their patents to pay up."

Even though my client does not have backup plan just yet I am going ask all who read this to make comments and suggestions on what the current blackberry users should do just in case this battle with NTP does not go their way.

Check out this article by Eric B. Parizo the editor of searchmobilecomputing.com to get additional information on this topic.

Personal vs Professional Life Email - Don't Squander Your First Internet Impression

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 6 Jun 2005 23:07:00 -0700

Summary: They say first impressions are everything these days. So why are you turning business away by sending a free email address to your potential customer? Better yet, why are you giving away a perfect opportunity to promote your business?

My first email address was with compuserve.com back when you could only have numbers for an email address. They then allowed us to have letters as well on prodigy so I switched internet service providers or internet content providers as they are better known to us geeks. My next stop was with the number one provider AOL and my name became an extension of my love for jazz music and I have had that email address ever since. I also have a yahoo.com email address that I use strictly for its Spam filter and free virus protection software that is built into the website. Free email addresses are great and I suggest you take advantage of their many no cost features. But I only use them for personal reasons. The main reason I don't use them for business is because I refuse to give the free email services anymore free publicity and not get anything in return.

The use of email addresses that promote anything but your business is a waste of great branding potential. Every time you send and email to a potential client or customer you have a perfect opportunity to promote your business. Yahoo and MSN will gladly give you a free email address because you help market their business with every click of the send button.

Earthlink and AOL get you to pay them every month to promote their service. I ask you, what are the chances of wemakewidgets@aol.com winning a ten million dollar contract over yourname@wemakewidgets.com Who do you think will be taken more seriously? Don'’t get me wrong I am sure there are many multi million dollar deals done using these services. But how many of them keep using it to create a more corporate and professional image.
Why not go to a website like Proemailaddress.com and register your own little piece of electronic marketing. This can be done for as little as $9.95` for a years worth of keeping your businesses name moving back and forth through cyber space. And get this; yourname@yourcompanyname.com makes a much bigger impression on those you look to do business with in the future.
I can't tell you how many business cards I have received with yahoo, msn, hotmail and especially aol.com email addresses on them and thought do I really want to do business with this person. Are they just a fly by night business? Can I trust a person who can'’t take the time and effort most legitimate businesses use to make sure they are recognized and respected industry leaders?

At one time just having an email address on a business card was impressive because not everyone had an email address let alone knew how to use it as a marketing tool. Gone are those days and in their place one has to step up their game and make more of a first impression. Using a professional email address does just that and more. Not only does a professional email address bring more promise and prestige to your company but it is one of the most inexpensive forms of mass marketing there is today. You are able to market your business to many potential clients while at the same time keeping customers informed and up to date through correspondence.
So in reading this article if you only get one thing that you can use please see to getting a professional email address and give your business the optimum chance to show its true worth.

E-mail: Could you live without it?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 5 Jun 2005 22:28:00 -0700

I never considered myself a writer even still to this day of writing one of my first blogs but I do find myself realizing how very important writing e-mail messages has become in this world. My quest is to find out just how important e-mail or email is to people. There are some who say they wouldn't miss a beat if they didn't even have and email account. But most would say they could not live, let alone do business without it. Some need it and rely on it so much there is not a day or in some cases and hour that does not go by when they are not checking it. I am going to try and interview as many people as I can find who will share their e-mail story with me. I would like to know if they still remember the first time they received on email message. How did it make them feel then and how does it make them feel now so many months or years later about e-mail.