Smartphones: Are they good for your small business?

The answer is yes! Have you been less than enthusiastic about adding new technology to your business? Fret no more because smartphones can be of benefit to you and I’ll tell you how. Smartphones are essentially small personal computers that allows you to make phone calls and you get to carry it with you. You may run into a situation where you need to schedule an appointment but you don’t have your calendar in front of you. A smartphone calendar app will solve that problem. Let’s say you’re a vendor and you haven’t purchased a credit card processing machine yet.

Maintain your calendar and contacts on both your home computer and smart phone. Allowing yourself to have mobile access to your calendar and contacts will not only release you from your physical location, it will also allow you to become more productive by managing information when you’re on the go.

                         

Increase your productivity by accessing files on your computer. There may be important data in an Excel spreadsheet or Word document that you need but is at home on your computer. An app like Dropbox can help you in this scenario. You can sync files from   multiple computers to your cell phone.

                         

Download apps that can help you improve the bottom line for your business. Google Docs is another excellent platform to use for your small business. With Google Docs you can upload, access, edit and print your documents from anywhere. You can even access them on your mobile phone.

                          

More important than any app that any smartphone can offer, is knowing which phone is right for you. I can’t stress enough how getting the wrong smartphone for your needs and skillset can hinder your productivity. If you’d like some pointers on choosing the right smartphone, check back here because I’ll have an article to help you make the right choice.

5 Tips to Help You Get Started on Your Social Media Campaign

Okay, so you’ve heard of Social Media and know that it will help you expand your business, but you’re just not sure of where to start. These 5 tips are intended to help you get started on your journey through establishing your presence on the web.

1. Establish exactly what you want to get out of the experience.

Figure out EXACTLY what you need from expanding your business on the web. Do you need more customers? New employees? An easy way to communicate with your customers? If you don’t know exactly what you would like to get out of the experience, how will you know whether or not it is a success?

2. Determine how you are going to achieve that goal.

How will you go about reaching that goal? There are many tools out there to help you with your journey like HootSuite, Seesmic, Facebook and Twitter but how do you use them all? In this process, know that there are inputs and outputs. Tools like HootSuite and Seesmic are inputs and tools like Facebook and Twitter are outputs. Think of the first two as ways you can put together your campaign to publish to the last two which reach wide audiences.

3. Determine how you will know when you have reached that goal

Let’s say your goal is to get 50 new customers out of this experience. Knowing this information allows you to set your goals using the tools you’ve identified and monitor your progress. This is important because you’ll need to know how well your campaign is working. You’ll also need to know if you need to make some modifications in order for it to become more successful.  Knowing how you will reach your goal will also help you determine how well your progress is going.

4. Create a plan that includes all the things necessary to reach your goal

If you’re a small business and you intend to start using a social media marketing plan, you’ll need to know who is going to do the research for content, who is going to monitor the progress, who will make the posts regularly and who will respond to customer inputs when they come? Will this be a new job or will these tasks be spread among a few people? You’ll have to make your game plan early on because if you don’t, you’ll find your employees are too busy with their regular tasks to engage your social media campaign.

5. Monitor your activity to determine whether or not your goal is being met and set new benchmarks if need be.

Tools like HootSuite and Facebook offer analytics that will tell you how many customers are interacting with your social media updates as well as what links they are clicking on to get there. These can be the most powerful pieces of information necessary to help you determine the success of your campaign. Sign up for the products, go through their tutorials, play around with the information a little to ensure you are comfortable with it before you begin. Before you know it, you’ll be a pro. If you’re stuck in the very beginning, you can always engage my consulting services. The first thirty minute consult is free.

7 Tips for Writing E-mails That Won’t Get Deleted | Inc.com

7 Tips for Writing E-mails That Won’t Get Deleted | Inc.com.

Are you a business owner that dreads writing email? Do you feel like you have so much to get across that you just can’t fit it into one small email? Fear not, the article “7 Tips fr Writing E-mails That Won’t Get Deleted” from Inc.com has some sure-fire ways to ensure your email messages will get read.

Even though we are in the age of technology, if you can’t say it briefly in an email, its best to make the phone call. If necessary, schedule a time to speak with the person. There are a million things to consider when you are representing yourself in every way. Rize is here to help bring you the resources you need to make yourself successful. That’s a sure-fire bet!

Google Voice Users Can Now Export Texts, Voicemails & Phone Numbers

Google Voice Users Can Now Export Texts, Voicemails & Phone Numbers.

Are you a small business owner or a nonprofit? Are you constantly struggling to find resources that fit into your budget? My answer to your struggle is Google. Some may disagree, but if you are just starting out and need resources right away to get your business moving, then this is an extremely viable option for you.

Many people worry that using services from Google means that you’ll expose all of your information but that is only partially true. While Google does collect quite a bit of information about you to customize your search experience, you can control how much you share with them. You can access all of your information through Google’s Dashboard for your account and modify or delete it. You can even delete your social profile on Google while retaining your basic account.

Nothing beats a little research. In this instance you can now download your voice, text messages and phone numbers. That is an awesome capability. Click here to learn more about Google Voice and sign up.

Problem Solved!!

One of the very best things about being a natural thinker and troubleshooter is that it’s relatively easy for me to solve my own technical issues. 😉

Blog set up issue is solved, look forward to more posts coming soon!! (as in later on today)