The following is a Guest post by Tom Walker.

Tom Walker is a blogger and designer who works for an ecommerce store (offering HP supplies) as the lead editor and writer on their blog about vintage advertising and print media design.

Successful blog authors have learned that reaching their goals comes through following proven strategies that are known to be effective in delivering new, consistent and productive visitors to any site. If you are new to the blogosphere, here are six rules every successful blogger has learned to implement. Put them into practice with your own unique flair, and you will see steady growth that may well lead to big things.

1. Be Uniquely You: Let’s start there, because to stand out in an increasingly crowded field, you’ll want to create a one-of-a-kind look that is compelling – as opposed to just weird! This will tell your visitors you’ve got a unique perspective and provide something they won’t read in the mainstream of your niche. An approach to the design of the blog that's uniquely individual will enhance the fresh perspective they are getting in your content. Don’t be afraid to do things differently. Add occasional video or audio or turn over the pen to an expert in the niche from time to time. Read plenty of other blogs in other niches and grab some good ideas, putting your own spin on them. Do some research on the idea of branding yourself, and apply what you learn to your blogging style. 

2. Deliver Consistent Value: Being unique is great, but if it is not backed up by consistent value, your visitors won’t stick. Post consistently, if not daily, and make every contribution count with new, usable information that your readers can use TODAY! Guess what – this takes work! Those willing to put in the work to be consistently helpful to their readers will be those who reach their blogging goals. That’s why there is always room in a niche for you if you are willing to do what it takes to make your blog a “can’t miss” event for your readers.

3. Work Harder & Smarter Than the Next Guy or Gal: We say “don’t work harder, work smarter!” Success comes from working both harder and smarter. Both characteristics are absolutely essential. When you work really hard to be relevant, helpful and unique, you are creating your own competitive edge. That kind of self-reliance is a hallmark of those who succeed in every kind of endeavour.

4. Be Honest: Ever hear the talk radio guy start casually discussing a product and ¾’s of the way through you realize he’s trying to weave sponsored content seamlessly into his show? Blog readers hate that! Don’t you? If you’re posting sponsored content, let your readers know. In addition, provide an “About” page that gives readers a chance to get to know you, including the intention behind your blog.  Most readers would expect that you blog in order to make some money. They will appreciate you being up front about any partners or affiliates you may have. This is called integrity, and it is foundational to building trust.

5. Care About Your Subject: If you are passionate about your subject matter it will bleed through your content. If you are not passionate, you simply will not be able to keep up the consistency, quality, and hard work it takes to succeed. There are a million topics you build your blog around. Choose one that deeply matters to you, work it really hard, be unique, and success – along with profits – will follow. Any seasoned veteran will tell you that.

6. Engage your Readers in a Conversation: Great blogs are two-way streets. Feature responses to your posts. Highlight great comments, not only in your response section, though that is important, but consider devoting a post now and then to the great feedback you are getting from your readers. This will build readership, and using reader content will mean you don’t always have to have something fresh to say! Harder, smarter blogging will absolutely produce more, and more dedicated, readers.

While blogging may be relatively new, the rules for achieving the success you desire are as old as humanity. These will put you well on your way to producing a blog that many readers consider their most reliable and valuable source of information on topics you cover.

Photo Credit: Mexicanwave's photostream

To choose the best web hosting service for your small business website, you need to first determine your web hosting requirements. For example, the hosting requirements for a law firm will be different to that of an online store selling handmade jewelry. The law firm would not need support for an ecommerce site where as the online jewelry store will definitely need support for an electronic store front. The online jewelry store also needs more space and bandwidth because users of such a website will be browsing through a lot of pictures of jewelry and ornaments.

The following are some questions that you need to ask to choose the right web hosting plan for your small business:

• Are you launching a brand new website?
• How much traffic are you expecting for your website?
• Is your website content heavy? Do you have multimedia content such as Pictures and Videos?
• What kind of software tools will be used to build your website? WordPress Blog? Ecommerce Shopping Cart?

In the following section we’ll look at the main features that you need to look for in a web hosting package.

1. Hosting Type

Web Hosting companies provide customers with different hosting options. The most common hosting solution for a small business website is either Shared Hosting or Virtual Private Server Hosting. In Shared Hosing your website will reside on a computer that host many other websites. Your website will share the same IP address as other websites in that computer. In a Virtual Private Server setup, your website will share the computer with few other websites. While your website shares the same physical computer with other websites, your website will have its own operating system and IP address.

For many small businesses Shared Hosting works just fine. In case Shared Hosting is not adequate for the traffic you receive, you could move to a Virtual Private Server setup. If the traffic volume is really high, then you may have to consider a Dedicated Server for your website. For information on different types of hosting, read my post titled Types of Web Hosting Solutions.

2. Guaranteed Uptimes

Your web hosting provider should provide you with guaranteed uptimes. Uptimes are usually indicated in percentages, for example, 99.5% or 99.9%. Web hosting companies have different ways to calculate the uptimes. Many hosting companies calculate this number for their advantage. For example, a hosting company might exclude scheduled maintenance from the downtime. The information on how uptimes are calculated is usually buried  in the fine print. Therefore the uptime % is not a great indicator of the service provided. But still it is important that you find a hosting company that provides some form of commitments to maintain uptimes. Instead of relying on the uptime information provided by the web hosting company, you should check uptime information published by independent review sites. The best way to find the reliability of a web host is to ask people who use it. TechThinker.com is hosted at HostGator and I am very happy with HostGator’s uptime. According to the site WebHostingStuff.com, HostGator has an uptime percentage of 99.99%.

3. Disk Space and Bandwidth

Nowadays almost all web hosting companies provide ample bandwidth and disk storage space. Bandwidth refers to the total amount of data that can be downloaded from your website on a monthly basis. Disk space refers to the amount of hard disk storage that is allocated to your website on the server computer. In order to exceed a bandwidth of 20GB a typical website should attract around 200,000 visitors per month!

4. Level of Technical Support Provided

Support is a very essential component of a good web hosting package. Make sure your web host provides 24/7 support 365 days of the year. Ensure that the web hosting company you choose provides phone support manned by actual people (instead of automated systems). Many times you can resolve an issue if there is proper documentation. Make sure your web hosting company has good support information and FAQs on their website. Some companies also provide customer support using Internet chat services. A chat based support system is very handy when you want to share a lot of information. For example, you can easily cut and paste the error message. But, reading out the error via the phone might be frustrating and time consuming.

5. cPanel Support

Most web host packages come preinstalled with a Graphical Administration Tool that can be used to perform various tasks. cPanel is the most common and popular admin tool. With cPanel you can do a number of tasks with ease. Example of such tasks include installing a Wordpress blog, backing up your website data, displaying web statistics and logs etc. Therefore it is important that you choose a web hosting package that comes preinstalled with cPanel. Another benefit of cPanel is that it allows you to easily transfer your website from one web hosting company to another web hosting company (provided both companies support cPanel).

6.Total Number of Domains Supported

Some hosting packages only allow you to use one single domain name. If the package does not allow multiple domain names then you can only host a single website on that domain. For example, the HostGator’s Hatchling Package does not support multiple domain names where as HostGator’s Baby Package does support multiple domains. If you plan to create new websites in the future under a sub domain, make sure that the package provides support for sub domains as well. For example, a sub domain will look like the following: smallbusiness.techthinker.com.

7. Linux vs. Windows Hosting

Unless your website is built using Microsoft software technologies (such as Active Server Pages) it is highly recommended that you choose a Linux operating system based web hosting package. Linux servers are generally more faster and secured than Microsoft Windows servers. They also have other benefits such as the ability to to create .htaccess file to give custom instructions to your web site.

8. Price & Payment Options

If you want a Shared Hosting package you should be able to get a good plan for about $10 a month. For a Virtual Private Server Hosting expect to spend anywhere from $25 to $50 monthly. If the price offered by the web hosting company is really cheap beware about the quality of the service they provide. Having said that it does not always mean a cheap price means poor quality.

Look for a web host who is willing to provide you with flexible payment options. Make sure that you are not locked into a contract. While by locking into a contract you may be able to get some discount, it will be hard to leave the web hosting company if you are not satisfied with the level of service provided.

9. Reseller Hosting?

Resellers buy hosting packages in bulk from a large web hosting company and then provide you a web hosting service. Resellers usually do not have direct access to all computer systems. Therefore in case of an issue they might have to contact the actual hosting company to get it resolved. Sometimes a reseller is able to provide you a better price than the actual web hosting company. Resellers are able to provide you a better price by stacking many websites into a single machine. Doing this might slow down the performance of your website.

10. Datacenter Close to Your Audience

It is best that you choose a web host that has the data center closer to your audience. For example, if you are from Australia and majority of your customers are from the United States, it makes sense to choose a web host from the US, instead of choosing an Australian based web hosting company.

Do you have any other tips for choosing a web host? Please feel free to share them in the comments section.

I am a big fan of using Wordpress for business websites. In one of my posts I covered the benefits of using Wordpress to power business websites. If you haven’t read this post, please read it.

If you are a small business owner you will find Wordpress to be the most cost effective solution to build a professional looking website. Instead of paying a web developer thousands of dollars you can create a Wordpress website for a fraction of that cost. In order to build a Wordpress based website, you do not need any technical skills. All you have to do is to install Wordpress at your webhost and customize your site using a professional theme.

The success of your Wordpress based business website, will heavily depend on the Wordpress theme that you choose. Most Wordpress themes are created to function as a blog. But, for a small business website, you will need static content on the front page. Your website needs to look professional and easy to navigate. Your customers should be able to quickly get information on your products and services without much scrolling.

In this post, I present 5 really good Premium Wordpress Themes that you can use to build a business website.

Avoid Free Themes

It is ok to run a personal blog on a free Wordpress them. But for a business website, you need to invest on a professional premium paid theme in order to create the best impression among your clients.

The 5 themes I have featured in this post have the following features:

- Easy to navigate menu structure

- Professional color schemes

- Ability to show key information on the front page without scrolling. Enjoy the themes!

Small Biz Theme

Enterprise Theme

Corporate Theme

Architect Business Theme

Yukon Business Theme

Which theme did you like the most? Do you recommend any other themes? Please feel free to share them in the comments section.

In 2009, when Facebook introduced custom URLs (also known as vanity URLs) for your profile and fan pages, Facebook claimed that the custom URL you choose can be only set once. Once the custom URL (example http://facebook.com/techthinker) has been set, it cannot be changed to another URL. But it looks like Facebook is giving a second chance to people who didn’t wisely choose their custom URLs for their profile page.

To change the custom URL of your profile page, simply go to Account –> Account Settings –> Username and click the link change. You will be now able to change your username for your profile page.

If you want to change the custom URL for your fan page for a second time, then you may be out of luck. I haven’t figured out how to do it.

Transferring the Profile Page URL to Fan Page URL

When Facebook introduced custom URLs last year, I secured the custom URL (techthinker) for my profile page as I couldn’t secure it for my fan page. In 2009, you should have at least 100 fans in order to get a custom URL for your fan page. Now this number has been reduced to 25.

Given that Facebook allows me to change the username for a second time, I was able to change my existing username (techthinker). By changing my username, I was able to release the URL techthinker.

Soon after I changed my username, I went to http://facebook.com/username and set the URL techthinker as the URL for my Facebook fan page!

The ability to change username for a second time gives you a chance to trade usernames with others. It also gives you a chance to transfer your profile page URL to your Fan Page URL.

Join me on Facebook.com/TechThinker

1. Choose a clean layout

2. Choose a readable font such as Helvetica, Calibri or Tahoma (avoid Times New Roman!)

3. Your resume should be no more than 2-3 pages long

4. Most recent work experience first

5. Do not just iterate your duties and responsibilities. Write about your achievement in each position you held. For example, “Reduced software defects by 25%”.

6. Put your name and title in a big bold font

7. List core skills on the first page (only the key skills, all other skills can be listed in the last page)

8. Assume that your resume will be faxed and scanned several times so please use a fairly large font size

9. Keep it short and concise

10. Start off with a few points highlighting your skills and achievements

11. Include hobbies and interests. Gives you an opportunity to talk about them at the interview, a chance to break the ice.

12. Use a skill table in the last page. Specify Skill, Skill Level & Last Used. For example, “Java | Expert | 2009”.

13. Name the resume file with your name, so that the people can easily indentify the document (example, David_Smith_Resume.doc).

14. Send resume in Word and PDF formats

15. No grammar or spelling mistakes

16. Add a cover letter to provide more information on why you are seeking this position

17. If you are a fresh graduate attach university grades (only if you have good grades )

18. Whatever you put in your resume, make sure that you can talk about them confidently at the interview

19. Use strong active verbs. For example, “developed the HR system” is better than “assisted in the development of HR system”.

20. Don’t feel obliged to mention everything you have done in the past. Doing this can overcrowd your resume and bury important points.

21. Leave a lot of white space, managers and interviewers will like to use this space for scribing.

22. Your work experience can be topical (by areas of expertise) or in reverse chronological order

23. Mention technology used with each position held. Employers are looking to find out when and where you used a given technology.

24. Make sure that your resume does not lose any formatting when the content is cut and copied into a text file. Many recruitment agencies cut and copy your resume into a database. If your resume has a fancy format, when you cut and paste, some content may get displaced.

25. Do not use the word “Resume” or “Curriculum Vitae” as the title of your document. It is obvious.

If you like this article please share it on Facebook and Twitter. Thank you!

Photo Credit: orangejack's photostream

In addition to being bad for the environment, printing documents costs a lot of resources and money for most businesses. In this post I give you 12 tips to implement a cost effective printing strategy for your company.

1. Think Twice Before You Print

Before printing a document think twice. Ask your self the following questions: Do I really need a hardcopy? Can I only print a few selected pages as opposed to the whole document? Can I take notes on a notepad instead of the printed document?

2. Print Multiple Pages

Most printers allow you to print more than one page of information on a single sheet of paper (for example, 2 pages side by side). In some printers you also have the option to print on both sides of the paper.

3. Scan Documents

Sometimes we only have a hard copy of a document. In order to distribute the document we take photo copies. By scanning documents you can eliminate the need for photocopying. When an document is in electronic format it is easy to store and share the document.

4. Print in Black and White

Printing in color is more expensive than printing in black and white. Only use color when it is absolutely required.

5. Select the Right Printer

Before you buy a printer find out what is its printing cost per page. If you have multiple printers at your company, choose the most cost effective printer from high volume printing jobs.

6. Draft Printing

Many times we take printouts for personal use. If the document is not a client facing document then you can print your document in low quality draft format. You can set print quality of a document by right clicking on your printer’s icon under Control Panel.

7. Multiple Paper Trays

If your printer has multiple paper trays then you can load low quality paper into one tray and high quality paper in the second tray. Most internal documents can be printed using the low quality paper tray.

8. Setup Multiple Printers on your PC

It is always advisable to set multiple instances of the same printer with different configurations. For example, if your printer is Called HP LaserJet 4000, you can create a printer called “HP 4000 Draft Quality” and “HP 4000 Fine Quality” on your PC. When printing internal documents you can choose “HP 4000 Draft Quality”  and when you print documents for your clients you can choose “HP 4000 Fine Quality”. The benefit of using two printer setup is that you do not have to change print settings each time you submit a document for printing.

10. Proof Read & Preview

Before printing a document, proof read it and preview the page. This way you will know how your printouts will exactly turn up.  By eliminating errors you are reduce the need for reprints.

11. Print to File

Many times we print a document because we may not have the software to view the document on another PC. By printing the document directly to a file (such as PDF) you will be able to use the document for later reference. For example, when you submit any document to the Primo PDF print driver the document is converted into a PDF file.

12. Use Graphics Responsibly

When creating a document use graphics responsibly. For example, if you create a cover page with a black background and white text you are going to waste a lot of ink on the cover page.

Do you have any additional tips to save money on printing? Please share them below.

Shop at Amazon.com for Your Printing Needs

Photo Credit: smil's photostream

As a small business owner you may have to outsource some work from time to time. Whether it be designing a new website or sales brochure, Elance is one place where you can find freelancers who can undertake your work. These freelancers are called Elance Providers. When you want to outsource a project, you simply create a new job at Elance. Once your job has been posted on Elance the providers will place their bids on the job. Usually you will receive an overwhelming number of bids for your job. The challenge here is to find the best provider.

In this post, I give you some tips on how to choose an Elance provider.

1. Portfolio

Make sure to first look at the provider’s portfolio to judge the quality of their work. Ensure that the work in the portfolio meets your expectations and taste.

2. Location

The location of the provider is very important. Firstly, if you and the provider are in different time zones it might be hard to coordinate the projects. Secondly, if the provider comes from a non-English speaking background you need to make sure that the provider has reasonably good knowledge of English.   

3. Feedback

Check out the feedback on the provider left by his/her previous customers. It is normal that not all feedback will be positive. But, if there are too many negative feedbacks then you should avoid that provider.

4. Repeat Clients

The percentage of repeat clients is a good factor to determine the level of service provided by the provider. If clients are happy with the work of the provider they are more likely to do business with the provider again.

5. Price

Make sure the price meets your budget. But, do not be tempted to go with the cheapest price. If the price offered by the provider is way too cheap then you might be compromising the quality of your project. Elance also gives you statistics such as the average price of all bids you have received for your job. You can use this information to negotiate with providers who quoted you with a higher price. 

6. Quality of Bid

When you receive the proposal from the provider look at the bid to see whether the provider has really read your job request. Some providers take the time to go through your job request and send you a personalized response. A very generic standardized response from the provider indicates that the provider did not pay attention to your job request.

7. Money Earned

The amount of money earned by the provider at Elance indicates the popularity of the provider. But, providers who make the most money can also be very busy. While earnings are important, they do not necessarily translate to a better service or product.

Do you have any other tips to choose an Elance provider? Please share them below.

Photo Credit: atconc's photostream

So far I have written on how to choose a good Twitter username and how to choose a Twitter profile picture. Today, in this post we will look at how to write up a great Twitter bio. Writing a Twitter bio is hard because you only have 160 characters at your disposal. The challenge is to get your message to your customers in 160 characters or less. While a great profile picture will make a good first impression, a well written bio can allow potential clients to make a connection with your business.

When writing up your bio you need to address the following:

1. Who you are & What you do

In this section you would describe your job title or area of expertise. For example, Software Developer, Life Coach, Internet Marketer etc. If you own a business you can describe your business. For example, “Principle Designer at NY based design boutique Graphic Design Co”.

2. How can you help

In this section you need to tell people how they can benefit from your products and services. For example, “I help businesses to create exceptional brand identities at affordable rates”.

3. Words describing your personal attributes

It is not all about your business. People like to know your personality as well. Since point 1 and point 2 would have taken most of the text in your bio, you can use keywords to describe your personal attributes. For example, Papa Bear, Hockey Fan, Avid Photographer, World Traveller etc.

The following is the profile description of Christine Gallagher who is a social media coach. This profile has almost all of the attributes that I have mentioned above.

Teaching small biz owners how to use relationship marketing & social media to attract more biz. Adores animals. Jersey Girl Entrepreneur. Info Junkie. Heck Yeah

Things to Avoid

It is important that you avoid the following when creating your Twitter bio.

1. Do not use the bio text to link to any other websites you own.
2. Avoid any sales pitch. The bio is there to help people get to know you better. No one will buy your products until they get to know you.
3. Avoid slang including SMS language.

What is your Twitter bio? Share it in the comments so that you can get feedback from me and other readers.

Many small business owners and entrepreneurs are often disappointed by the fact that their website does not bring new clients and business opportunities as they would like. If you are one them then you need to figure out why your website is not attracting new clients and prospects. Here are my top 5 reasons why customers leave your website very quickly. As you read these points think about whether your website has any of these symptoms.

1. Brochure Like Website

Many business owners make the mistake of designing their website like a sales brochure. The website has terrific graphs and pictures of cool looking people. But the site seriously lack quality content. Websites that fall under this category often has a couple of pages of information about the business along with contact information. Because your website lacks quality textual information, search engines are not going to bring you any organic traffic. Gone are the days when a user judged a website based on the quality of graphics. Nowadays more and more users are looking for quality content. Customers are looking for advice and information to solve their problems. Therefore it is very important to focus on writing good content.

2. Outdated

Clients love websites that are regularly updated. By updating your website periodically, you are telling your customers that you are very active in your industry. If the last update date on your web pages are few years old, people will assume that you are not active in your industry.

3. Broken Website

Make sure that your website loads and displays properly on all major browsers. You have to make sure that your website works well in Internet Explorer, FireFox, Chrome, Opera and Safari.

4. Too Slow to Load

If your website takes a long time to load then people are more likely to leave your site without checking it. Slow loading website can also harm your SEO rankings. Select a good webhost. It is worth the investment.

5. Not User Friendly

Your website should be user-friendly in terms of navigation, accessibility and  readability. It is important that you put yourself in your customers shoe and look at the website for their needs and requirements. Spend sometime with your website developer in nailing out the exact requirements for your site. Avoid technical jargon and pay close attention to the language used in your website. Do not leave these important decisions to the web developer.

Conclusion

It is extremely important that you give your website a soul. You do not have to spend thousands of dollars to build a quality website. But you need to give your time and closely work with your developers to make sure that the website truly reflects the nature of your business. Your developer might be an expert in web design, but she may not necessarily be an expert in your industry.

I have been using Twitter as the primary social media platform to promote my blog. Awhile ago I wrote a post titled 5 Social Media Tips and in that post I indicated the importance of using more than one social media network to promote your website. It is important not to put all of our social media efforts into a single platform because no one is sure which network is going to be the dominant player in the future. As stated in my post, do not put all of your eggs into one basket.

It looks like I was not following my own advice! So far most of my social media efforts have gone into Twitter and it is high time that I get into Facebook as well.

I am happy to let you know that my Facebook fan page is up and running. I hope this fan page will allow me to communicate with my followers and peers on a more personal way.

As you may be aware you need at least 25 members in your face book fan page to qualify for a custom URL (earlier this number was 100 but now Facebook has reduced it to 25). Right now I have only 15 followers and by getting 10 more followers, I will be able to secure my custom URL.If you are a regular reader of TechThinker, please join my fan page.

If you do not know how to secure a custom URL (also know as vanity URL) for your own fan page, you can read this informative article at TechHamlet.com.

You may have also noticed that TechThinker.com now has a new logo and tagline. I’ll write about these changes and my recent efforts in rebranding this blog in another post.

See you on Facebook. Thank You!