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Point of Sale Re-implementation project
A client purchased a Point of Sale system and was not able to implement it properly themselves. I came in and assessed the work that had been done, fixed what was done incorrectly, and got them up and running on schedule. I then stayed on to complete the entry of new products and create a repeatable system so they would be successful going forward. Do you have a similar need? Complete a Project Request Form!
CRM Implementation project
I worked with a company who was looking for a new CRM solution to manage their sales and services operations. I researched and presented several options to them, they selected Microsoft Dynamics CRM as an addition to Office 365. After mapping their processes and incorporating best practices, I implemented their system, cleaned and imported all of their data and trained everyone. I stayed on until it appeared they had everything under control. During this time I created training videos for any new hires and moved their reseller of record to PowerObjects so they could make use of their ong
Event Management project
I regularly use Constant Contact’s Event Management functionality to create fundraising Event landing pages for a non-profit with online donation options and the ability to purchase event tickets online. Do you have a similar need? Complete a Project Request Form!
Is there ROI in Webinars?
Return on Investment. Those magical words that tell you what something is worth. That "investment" word usually applies to costs which includes your time. In my opinion, you should take advantage of any possibility to reach a broad audience with your message - as long as you can afford it. Marketers believe there is still value in webinars, even though the medium has been around since the beginning of the internet. Most believe a successful webinar gives away free content in exchange for the possibility of a qualified sales lead. Anyone who attends a webinar and sits through most or all of
Content Marketing Tips for Non-Profits (and for-profits too!)
Consider content marketing in everything you do online. Did that sentence just send you into a panic? Relax, it's not that hard. Even the most experienced marketer needs a reminder once in a while, and tips are always helpful! Here are a few of my own: Have you visited a site where the top post is several months (or years) old? How did that make you feel about that information? Unless you post regularly (like every day) and unless your posts are specific to a timeline, consider turning off the date/time stamp on your posts. ALWAYS make your content about your target, not about you. If
How to Pitch Anything in 15 Seconds
If you can’t tell me what you do in 15 seconds, I’m not buying, I’m not investing, and I’m not interested. Building a message map can help you pitch anything (a product, service, company, or idea) in as little as 15 seconds. A message map is the visual display of your idea on one page. It is a powerful tool that should be a part of your communication arsenal. Here is the three-step process to using a message map to build a winning pitch. For this exercise you will need a notepad, word document, PowerPoint slide, or whiteboard. Step One. Create a Twitter-friendly headline. Ask
5 Best Practices in Creating Infographics
Infographics do more than tell data and statistics. They tell a visual story about an important topic. Though concise and simple, infographics are filled with valuable information that is presented in a user-friendly and easy-to-recall layout. In fact, infographic search interest on Google increased nearly nine times more over the span of five years. Similar to our recommendations for PowerPoint presentations, with infographics "less is more". Bullet points, short statements and a lot of graphics are the key. But unlike a PowerPoint, you will not be making a presentation using this tool
A Beginner’s Guide to Infographics
Infographics have been around for thousands of years, we've just called them by different names. Infographics are another attempt to explain and present the world around them through a combination of words and visual representations. From primitive cave paintings to Egyptian hieroglyphs, history shows us that human beings are visual creatures by nature. We know infographics as a fun and quick way to digest and absorb information without a ton of heavy reading, and this is very valuable (and necessary) way to reach today's markets. Here are a few ways you can use infographics to convey
Video Marketing Basics: A Look into YouTube and Vimeo
Video marketing has changed the way businesses create multimedia content. From boring infomercials and sales gimmicks, businesses have shifted to creative and engaging videos. In a survey of over 600 marketing professionals, 93% of them used video for marketing and communications! If you already have videos or are planning to produce videos, consider one of these online tools for your video distribution. If you want to make videos and you don't know where to start, we would love to help you! YouTube: Online video has become synonymous to YouTube. Owned by Google, YouTube is the
Seven Ways Technology Makes Your Small Business Grow Faster
When properly harnessed, technology has the ability to change lives for the better. In fact, its impact extends far into the business arena — to the extent that technology has the potential to make or break most businesses; this is especially true for small businesses. Does this mean that technology can negate the effects of bad business fundamentals, poor management, or inept leadership? Absolutely not! However, it does mean that small businesses who at least score average in most areas can benefit immensely from the tech sector. Namely, it can help them grow and become more effective.
A clean inbox is key to a productive day
Try this tool to clean up your inbox. A clean inbox, checking email less frequently, and taking action on each email you receive are keys to a more productive day! Visit the web tool unroll.me Sign up using your email address unroll.me will search for all subscriptions attributed to that email address Choose whether you want to keep the subscription in your inbox, unsubscribe, or add it to your "rollup" list. When you have completed your list, the next step allows you to choose the time of day you wish to receive a digest of your subscriptions in your inbox. Choose how freq
How to Outsource 8 Time-Consuming Tasks to a Virtual Assistant – Skillshare
Ask yourself What would it mean to you if you could save more time, and be more productive? How would you life and business change as a result of having more time and more energy to accomplish your goals? Imagine, how would you feel right now if you actually had more free time to do the things you wanted? But… what if you’re already working at maximum capacity, or you’re working long hours everyday? How can you possibly relax and get the rest you need when you have so much to do? How can you get more time out of your 24 hour day and get more accomplished? The answer is s
Why You’ll Never Make Your Employees Accountable
You can't make employees more accountable, but being a great leader and manager will naturally result in a higher level of accountability among your team. Source: Why You’ll Never Make Your Employees Accountable
8 Small Changes That Will Instantly Enhance Productivity
By Armela Escalona When we fail to resist behaviors, they become habits. Habits can be good or bad, chronic or temporary. In many cases, they are the cause of decline in our productivity. When we develop destructive behaviors, they make us do unnecessary things that waste precious time. We lose important hours to do useful work. However, it is important to note that productivity fluctuates. Like levels of happiness, it is often affected by our mood and the environment. A newly hired employee may be productive on the first few weeks on the job; however, when comfort sets in, he will fin
6 Steps to Getting Organized
By Rieva Lesonsky Are you an organizationally challenged small business owner? These 6 steps to getting organized will help you get a grip. One of my biggest challenges as a small business owner is getting organized—it’s something I’m always trying to get better at. Apparently, I’m not the only one pursuing this goal. In a recent study by Office Depot, 83 percent of small business owners say a well-organized office is important to a business. What’s more, nearly two-thirds (63 percent) believe that the more organized the office, the more profitable the business. Specifically
How Can Technology Help My Small Business?
SCORE, the nation's largest network of volunteer, expert business mentors, has gathered statistics on popular small business technology, such as mobile tools and the cloud, while revealing a need for improvement in customer relationship management (CRM) and data security. Mobile technology is prevalent: 80% of small business owners use a mobile device at least once a day 56% use it for communication and scheduling 30% take notes and create to-do lists 29% check social media 24% bank online The cloud is popular with entrepreneurs: 92% use at least one cloud-based solution, a
8 ways your small business can outshine your big business rivals
By Nicky Tatley Owning Owning a small business is not easy when you’re constantly in the shadow of major chains and online retail giants – but there are some perks to being petite. The trick is to take advantage of what your bigger rivals can’t achieve. Here are eight ways a small business can shine: Be agile Go niche Get personal Be brave Be choosy Make friends Innovate Get flirty Read More: 8 ways your small business can outshine your big business rivals
5 TED talks that will help to reinvigorate your career |
Do you love the job that you do, or is it just ‘okay’? If you’ve been working in the same profession, or job, for 10 years or more, it’s likely that you’ve become a little bored or disillusioned with certain aspects of it, and maybe your output is no longer your best. Often we continue to ‘make do’ simply because we worry that making changes could be risky, or push us too far outside of our comfort zone. But considering we spend at least 40 years of our life working, it’s important that we’re doing something we enjoy. The good news is if your career has become a bit stagna
Should You Hire A Virtual Assistant?
There comes a time in every successful startup company where you have tooutsource work. As a business owner, you know that your time is valuable, and it should be spent doing the important things you excel at. Don’t get me wrong, every part of running a business is important, no matter how small- but some things are worth paying someone else to do. One of the first things that people outsource are small administrative duties, which a virtual assistant can do. What Is A Virtual Assistant? A virtual assistant by definition is usually a self-employed professional who carries out many differ
14 Things To Do On A Slow Day
You probably don't experience slow days too often, but when you do, you'll want to make the most of that time. With help from Mark Strong, a life, career and executive coach based in New York, Teri Hockett, the chief executive of What’s For Work?, a career site for women, Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert and author of Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant, and Cynthia Kyriazis, president of Productivity Partners, Inc., here is a slide show list of the 14 things you could do on a slow day at work. View slide show: 14 Things To Do On A Slow Day At Work
20 amazing features in Office 365 that you probably don’t know about
Microsoft's Office 365 cloud software has become a wildly popular alternative to Microsoft Office. Office 365 is a little unusual in that it is cloud software and you install it on your PC or Mac, to give you the best of all worlds. As you or your company keeps paying for it, Microsoft automatically adds cool new features. We asked Microsoft to send us a list of the best, little-known things you could do with the software. Read the tips: Useful hidden features in Office 365
3 Steps to Keep Customers Subscribed to Your Email List
Your email subscription list is incredibly valuable and needs to be protected. To make sure your subscribers are engaged, keep these pointers in mind whenever you send an email: Timing Content Value Frequency Email marketing is one of the oldest forms of digital marketing. It’s also the type of marketing most used and abused by marketers. Sending too many emails—or emails that don’t matter to your customers—will decrease your subscription list faster that you can hit the “Junk” button. Read More
Your perfect webinar companion
Enjoy a best-in-class experience along with your attendees. With GoToWebinar mobile apps, it's now easy to take a pulse on your audience's engagement and see what they see. Sign in with your GoToWebinar account today and see why their new mobile apps are the perfect companion for your upcoming webinars: See what resonates most. Get instant feedback every time your attendees tap the heart icon. Monitor real-time attentiveness. View a graph of audience attentiveness on a scale of 1-100. Enable social sharing. Attendees can share their favorite moments and promote your webinar in the
Direct Correlation between Email Campaign Effectiveness and Number of Images and Text Lines Featured
Constant Contact Data Reveals Direct Correlation between Email Campaign Effectiveness and Number of Images and Text Lines Featured. Analysis of over 2.1 million small business emails also finds differences between industries. Read More: Constant Contact Data Reveals Direct Correlation between Email Campaign Effectiveness and Number of Images and Text Lines Featured
New Data: How the Amount of Text and Images Impact Email Click-Through Rates
Email click-through rates are one of the most valuable pieces of data when it comes to measuring the effectiveness of your email campaign. While open rates tell you how many people are seeing your email in the inbox and deciding to open, your click-through rate tells you how many of those people are acting on the content you send out. Read more, with charts: New Data: How the Amount of Text and Images Impact Email Click-Through Rates
Replace Yourself: How to Hire Your First Virtual Assistant
Many solopreneurs and even big time CEOs feel inundated with “to do” lists and deadlines. Do you think you need an assistant? Answer these four questions: Do you often feel that you need more “day” at the end of your workday? Do you avoid certain tasks or make excuses for why they remain on your to do list? Do you hate doing certain tasks in your business? (admit it, you do) Are there parts of your business that you need to spend more time on, but you can’t or don’t because you’re caught up in other parts the business? Read More: How to Hire Your First Virtual
What you need to know about the critical policy changes from Gmail and Microsoft
Critical policy changes from Gmail and Microsoft will take effect on June 30, 2016 and this affects your email deliverability! You know, when you send an email you want to make sure it gets to the person or people you emailed. This is especially important when you publish your newsletter and send transactional emails to clients, customers and members of your membership sites. It is important to take immediate action to ensure that emails continue to be delivered. Read More: What you need to know about the critical policy changes from Gmail and Microsoft
GoToMeeting App: Best Productivity App 2016, Appy Awards
GoToMeeting has been selected as the winner for “Best Productivity App” in the 2016 Appy Awards, which recognize creativity and excellence in app design! The GoToMeeting App allows users to host and join a meeting from their smartphone or tablet. Schedule forthcoming meetings, start a meeting instantly and enjoy the integrated audio, video and screen sharing that allows everyone to work together for increased productively, no matter where they are. What is the GoToMeeting App? No computer? No problem. With GoToMeeting on your smartphone or tablet, you can start a meeting or join a m
Mobile Capabilities
Free GoToMeeting mobile apps make it possible for people to attend meetings on the go from their iPad, iPhone or Android device. After a quick download from the App Store or Google Play, attendees can easily join meetings and view presentations wherever they can use their phone or tablet. GoToMeeting organizers can initiate meetings from iPhones and iPad users can present content and share face-to-face video! GoToMeeting app features: Attend GoToMeeting sessions from anywhere. View presentations, mockups and reports – anything the presenter shares on-screen. Connect to audio t
HDFaces Group Video Conferencing
During GoToMeeting sessions, meeting participants can share up to 6 high-resolution video conferencing streams while viewing the presenter's screen. A resizable viewer and customizable layouts allow you to adapt to numerous monitor and projection configurations. HDFaces is included with GoToMeeting at no additional cost. All you need is an Internet connection and a webcam to begin enjoying a face-to-face experience! Share or Stop Webcams from the Control Panel You and your attendees can share webcams in any of the following ways: Click the webcam icon on the Grab Tab. Click the Sha
Integrated Toll-Free Audio Service
GoToMeeting customers can enhance their online meeting experience by adding Integrated Toll-Free Audio Service to their GoToMeeting sessions. You do not need to add this service to use GoToMeeting, however if you want to offer a toll-free service to your clients, this is a very nice solution to consider. Flat-rate toll-free packages purchased from Citrix Online Audio make it fast and easy to provide attendees with a toll-free conference call number. Capabilities Lets you set up the meeting and the toll-free call in one click. Enables seamless recording, without any additional sof
Key Benefits of GoToMeeting
GoToMeeting: Is the easiest-to-use collaboration product on the market. Enables face-to-face group video conferencing in high definition. Provides users on any Internet connection the best experience available today. Supports mobility by allowing people to attend meetings on their Android devices and host meetings iPad or iPhone. Helps companies achieve a significant return on investment—getting more great features (including HDFaces video!) for one flat fee. Includes administrative capabilities that make it easy to manage. Outshines its competitors by combining practi
Constant Contact Makes Significant Update
The updated product is much more intuitive and incorporates more drag-and-drop functionality. It's now easier than ever to: Dynamically re-size columns Wrap text around images Create an email from a PDF Create columns with intuitive drag-and-drop editing Insert personalized contact fields Edit your social buttons Fix your spacing Insert links to a PDF document In addition, there are significant changes to contact management, image production/editing, reporting and more. Constant Contact is beginning to roll out its updated Toolkit to current customers in ear
Library – Managing Images and Documents
Create Images from Scratch - New Functionality Added! Go beyond our image editing tools and create original artwork right from your Constant Contact account with the addition of Artworktool. You can select from four different image sizes optimized for logo, header, hero or article. Customize Images - New Functionality Added! Get additional editing features such as: overlays, stickers, adjustable vignettes, brushes, red-eye removal, adding text and more. Try Constant Contact, or ask us for a tour!
Contacts and List Management
Merge Lists Ideal for customers with large lists, a new function of Constant Contact allows you to combine segmented lists so you can get relevant info into the right inboxes. Import with vCard and Other Apps Now you can easily import your contacts directly from Apple Address Book, Quickbooks, Gmail, Outlook, Salesforce, and more. Text to Join Set up Text to Join in your Constant Contact account and start gathering new contacts! Use the information in this post to try it out. Try Constant Contact, or ask us for a tour! Constant Contact News For Email Marketing you ca
Is it Cold Calling or Warm Calling?
I read an article recently that claims "cold calling is dead". I'm one of those people who reads the comments at the end of the articles. In this article, one person commented "The only way a cold call will work is if you have something they want or need." I've never worked with a company with enough $$ laying around to spend it on sales & advertising practices that aren't at least somewhat targeted. I would guess, in some perverse way, even those annoying junk calls I get on my home phone, office phone and now even my cellphone are probably targeted in some way. So if they are targe
Solving the Landing Page Mystery
Landing pages are any location on the internet that a web visitor can "land on". In their purest form they are independent web pages and the only way on is to have the direct link (from an email, text or other communication) and the only way off is to interact with some kind of call to action - completing a form, clicking a link, etc. This guarantees you know where the visitors are coming from, and if the landing page does it's job to attract a prospect, only "warm" leads will interact. A landing page may look just like your website or have a completely unique design. Like building a g
10 Qualities You Need to Keep Your Virtual Assistant Clients Happy
I was thrilled to see this list of 10 Qualities in Entrepreneur magazine. Excerpted from Shelby Larson's book, Moonlighting on the Internet, they define our business model. Reliability Accuracy Integrity Kind and friendly personality Resourcefulness An “ideas” person Help grow the client’s business Follow through and follow up Work well under pressure Ability to multitask Source: 10 Qualities You Need to Keep Your Virtual Assistant Clients Happy
Know All of Your Competitors
If you own a sandwich shop your competition is pretty clear. But if you sell services it gets a little fuzzy. Depending on your market area, you may have a few direct competitors: other electronics repair shops like yours, a fair number of auto mechanics offering similar services, a few pet groomers with splashier advertising, etc. Each market may require a different type of advertising to gain new customers and keep your current customers. But what about the unseen competitor all service-based businesses (and some specialty businesses) share - APATHY? Merriam-Webster defines apathy
Surveys
We understand that great marketing starts with knowing your audience and discovering what they like most about your business. We’ll build you an interactive online survey or poll that delivers meaningful results–and this feedback will allow us to create effective marketing campaigns around what your audience really wants. This tool can be used as an online form as well - ask us how you can "think outside of the checkbox" when using Constant Contact survey and polling! Constant Contact News For Email Marketing you can trust.