Will Desktop Computers Soon be Extinct?

In this recent article, one of Googles European executives predicts that desktop computers will be a thing of past within 3 years!

In a more in depth view, this second article elaborates on this statement and gives us a bit more insight on how far we've come in technology and how it has changed how we live and run our business.

As you go about your day of running your business, are you embracing technology and using the internet to help you increase your business, or are you resisting the change that the world wide web can bring you?

If you are serious about growing your business and keeping up with your competitors, a well-planned, professional website is no longer a niceity, but a necessity. Your website is your online homebase for all of your online activity in social media, blogging, etc. And even your local customers have come to expect you to have some kind of online presence for them to find your phone number, email, or address.

Now, we may not all be kicking our desktops to the curb in the next few years, but it certainly is a sign of the up and coming times, that the internet is here to stay and affecting our work and lives in ways that not even the industry experts could have predicted.

Here's a couple of quotes from the one article that may make you smile:

"A 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us."
-- Western Union internal memo circa 1876

"Television won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night."
-- Film mogul Darryl F. Zanuck of 20th Century Fox, in 1946

Where will you be when the desktop computer goes away? Will you already have your online presence established? Or will you be scrambling to compete in an internet age that can't find you or doesn't know how to contact you?


Here’s to Your Online Success!

Betty Walker, the Wise Web Lady
Cape Coral, FL Empowered Networking Chapter

http://www.wiseweblady.com/
http://www.ccstechpros.com/
bettywalker@wiseweblady.com

Google Alerts: Who is Talking About You Online?

Google Name Alerts

by Felice Gerwitz

What are People Saying?

You have been online for some time, and now you wonder how you are doing. Is anyone talking about you? Are your products interesting? Does anyone care about your blog, twitter or facebook posts?

Other than asking your friends, your blog readers, or posting a query on your social media pages, it would be difficult to really know. After all, how do you tactfully ask... "Is anyone paying attention to all this great information I'm giving you?"

Going Deep Undercover with a little help from Google:

Google to the rescue. You can set up a range of queries to check the internet to see what people are saying about you and recieve the informaiton via your email address. It is very simple. Go to the following url:  http://www.google.com/alerts Here you can set up the information you want queried. Make sure if you have a common name to include a middle initial or name.

Here is what you will be asked:

Search Terms:
Type:
How Often:
Email Length
Deliver To:

You would type in the search term you would like to find. As for type you can search blogs, news, web, video or groups. I have mine set to "comprehensive" which means all of those items will be searched. As for how often, I set mine to once a week. Options are once a day, or as it happens. For email length you can select up to 20 results or 50 results. For delivery you can use your email address.

Search Terms

You can search as many terms as you would like. If you sell a particular product you can query the name of the product. You can use this to go to a blog post and answer or comment. This allows you the added exposure of posting to blogs where you have good information to offer. Remember you can fine tune your search results to blogs or specific areas such as news. In the meantime when you see your name mentioned when appropriate post a comment. You don't want it to appear that you are spying on the person mentioning your name, but you can use it to your advantage.

Random Views without Purpose

You can get carried away with this, and all online pursuits if you do not have a purpose or focus. Remember to keep your marketing plan in mind. Use this service in the way it is designed, to obtain information that will help you to give great customer support, and fill a need, or learn what your customers really think.

Have you used this service effectively? If so, share your results or tips with us.

Convert Word Docs to PDF Online - for Free!

PDF is an electronic document format that can be read by using the freely available Adobe Acrobat Reader. It is widely accepted as the format of choice across most major browsers, computers. mobile devices, etc.

There are many advantages to supplying your commonly used documents in pdf format on your website:

* Your document will look exactly as you expect it to look for anyone, no matter what kind of computer they have - MAC or PC or cell phone - and no matter what browser they use - Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome, etc.

* If you need to make a change to a document, all you need to do is upload a new one to your website so your recipients can download the latest version.

And just imagine all the money and trees you'll save by not having to throw away those outdated printed price lists and marketing materials by letting them download your information directly from your website in electronic format. When you need to make a change, just modify your original Word document, convert it to a pdf, upload it to your site and you're done - no waste and no expense!

And best of all, here is my Wise Web Lady secret tip -- a great free resource where you can upload your Word docs online and convert them to pdf format - for free:

http://www.pdfonline.com/

I use this service frequently and I've always been happy with the pdf document that is created. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you!

Here’s to Your Online Success!

Betty Walker, the Wise Web Lady
Cape Coral, FL Empowered Networking Chapter
http://www.wiseweblady.com/
http://www.ccstechpros.com/
bettywalker@wiseweblady.com

What is Your Internet Strategy?

We all start out with good intentions when we decide to build a website for our business.

But if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.

The sad truth is few businesses have a well thought out website business strategy.


Most know that having a business website can be important to increasing their business bottomline, but few will see any significant improvement in increased sales or profit unless they have a well thought out online business plan.

Finding the time to develop an effective internet strategy can be difficult and time-consuming if you don’t know the right questions to ask. There are so many other things in your business that require your attention, it can be tempting to push ahead with building a website before taking the time to prepare.

But without a clear strategy in place, poor online business decisions can put an added drain on your already strained budgets, and can even be the difference between staying in business or closing up your doors.

To be effective, your website and online marketing strategy need to be part of your overall business goals and objectives. It needs to be aligned with your current offline business plan and strategies so your online tactics work with your business and not against it.

Once you know where you want to go, your path to get there becomes very clear and the tools that will help you get there become even clearer.

Here’s to Your Online Success!

Betty Walker, the Wise Web Lady
http://www.wiseweblady.com/
http://www.ccstechpros.com/
bettywalker@wiseweblady.com

Domain Name Tips for Small Business

Your domain name plays a key role in your online business success. It is what your website is called and how it can be found. Anytime you type into the address bar of your browser, you are using a domain name. For example, when you type http://www.empowerednetworking.com/ into your browser, you are typing in the domain name for the Empowered Networking website.

Choose your domain name wisely. When choosing a domain name, be sure it is something that people will be able to remember or recognize. Often times, a potential customer or a business associate may not know your physical address or phone number, and going to the internet and bringing up your website is the best way for them to find you. So try to keep your domain name simple and easy to remember.

When you’re ready to get a domain name for your website, you must first search to see if the domain name you choose is available for “purchase”. Now, I put “purchase” in quotation marks because in actuality you are not really purchasing your domain name, you are claiming it, or reserving it, for your use for the time you have registered it for.

You can search for a domain and purchase it at any domain registrar. Examples of domain registrar sites are goDaddy.com, eNom.com, and NetworkSolutions.com. Which domain registrar you use is up to you, as they vary in price and ease of use. Or if you have a webmaster, they can typically handle registering your domain for you.

Purchase your domain name for more than one year. When it comes to search engines, age matters. And the longer you reserve your domain, the better it is for search engines. If you purchase your domain for 3 or even 5 years, the search engines view your website as a more established business and will give it more weight and higher ranking in search results.

Keep your domain registrar login information in a safe place. Be sure you keep track of who your domain registrar is and be sure you have your login and access information stored in a safe place where you can find it. You need this information each time to renew your domain or if you need to move your website. If you do not know your domain login information, ask your webmaster to get it for you so you have it on file.

Be sure you renew your domain on time. If you do not remember to renew your domain before it expires, you run the risk of losing it and giving someone else the chance of purchasing it away from you. Talk about identity theft! Forgetting to renew your domain is like leaving your storefront unlocked, you’re just inviting someone to steal it away from you.

Most domain registrars will email out notices to let you know that your domain is due for renewal, so be sure you keep your contact info and email address up-to-date with your domain registrar so you will get their notifications. And, as an added precaution, you might add a reminder in your Outlook calendar to remind you a few weeks before your domain expires so you remember to renew it on time.

Verify your domain registration information is correct. Be sure your domain has been propertoy registered in your name. You can check this by going to http://www.whois.org/ and typing in your domain name. Be sure your name and contact information shows under the Registrant portion of the domain. If you have a webmaster who setup your domain for you, their name should show as the technical contact. But be sure your name is showing as the actual registrant for it. So, in case you have a falling out with your webmaster or need to move your site yourself, you want to be sure you have the information you need to take control of the situation and take control of your website domain if needed.

Here’s to Your Online Success!

Betty Walker, the Wise Web Lady
http://www.wiseweblady.com/
http://www.ccstechpros.com/
bettywalker@wiseweblady.com