Your Small Business Toolbox - More Value For Less Cost http://101freetools.com/articles Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:02:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 4 Ways To Master Multi-Media For Promotion and Profit http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/09/4-ways-to-master-multi-media-for-promotion-and-profit.html http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/09/4-ways-to-master-multi-media-for-promotion-and-profit.html#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:02:27 +0000 Tonya R. Taylor http://101freetools.com/articles/?p=1462

Solopreneurs, Home based business and small business owners: take a look around you multi-media is everywhere. From podcast to video these are a great way to build your brand, increase your website or blog traffic and improve your online sales.

Here are four ways you can use multi-media in your business for promotion and for profit:


1. For lead generation, this works like crazy

When it comes to marketing your business the goal is to find new ways to generate more leads. No doubt about it, what’s even better if these “new ways” are free, right? If you have audio or video content already created you should stop what you are doing to implement what I am going to share NOW.

2. Your secret weapon for creating new streams of revenue

Straight talk about a secret weapon your small business can use to turbo-charge your income and turn your re-purposed content into gold! This is an easy no-cost tool for marketing your small business, creating new streams of revenue and increasing customer loyalty. This information is only for those small business owners who want to “Act big on a small budget”.

3. One Tool and Five Ideas To Add Video To Your Small Business

This is one of those rare business tool finds that’s jam-packed with so many features it’s REALLY hard to believe it’s free. Use this tool to make short videos of less than 5 minutes with a PC or a MAC.  You can use this one tool and these 5 ideas to add video to your business.

4. Grow your business on YouTube, Facebook & Twitter

Did you know YouTube replaced Yahoo as the number two search engine? I have discovered one simple tool too easily (honestly it can’t get any easier than this!) create professional video for you to grow your business on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and more.

With any one of these methods you can use multi-media to boost your small business to the next level.

Photo courtesy: microsoft.com






Copyright © 2010 Rising Star Ideas, LLC. All Rights Reserved


Tonya R. Taylor, Your Savvy Online Business Builder, is dedicated to helping you learn how to use the internet to build a bigger more profitable business. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter Building Blocks to get how-to articles, tips and resources so you can Spend Less and Make More.




If you liked today's article check out these related articles:

  1. Grow your business on YouTube, Facebook & Twitter
  2. Your secret weapon for creating new streams of revenue
  3. One Tool and Five Ideas To Add Video To Your Small Business

]]> http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/09/4-ways-to-master-multi-media-for-promotion-and-profit.html/feed 0 Gone Fishing: 5 Ways To Keep Your Small Business Running Without You http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/08/gone-fishing-5-ways-to-keep-your-small-business-running-without-you.html http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/08/gone-fishing-5-ways-to-keep-your-small-business-running-without-you.html#comments Fri, 27 Aug 2010 04:02:52 +0000 Tonya R. Taylor http://101freetools.com/articles/?p=1448

We are fast approaching the unofficial end to summer and unfortunately the end of vacation season too. How many times have you wanted to hang that gone fishing sign on your computer this summer? Sadly, for solopreneurs and small business owners going on vacation can feel more like a burden and less like a relaxing time away from the office. Ask yourself these questions:

  • When was the last time I had a vacation?
  • When I get-away do I completely shut down?
  • Am I afraid to take time away because it will be too hard to catch-up when I return?

You don’t have to give me your answer but let me tell you mine… when I asked myself these questions I was amazed to find out:

  • I have not had a “real” vacation in well over 3 years. By “real” I mean, more than two days, no laptop or mobile phone, just plain ole’ relaxing while reading a book or magazine.
  • When I get-away I usually have my laptop and now I am even more connected with my brand new Droid mobile phone I love so much.
  • Yes, I am afraid to because there’s always tasks to do and email piles up quickly.

So what can you do as a solopreneur or small business when you need time away to recharge and refuel your mind and body?

Here are 5 tips and resources to help you keep your small business running without you while you take a vacation:

1. Use autoresponders. You can create sales messages, email, newsletters and more well in advance so you can constantly communicate with your prospects and customers while you are away.

2. Schedule your social media updates. You can create and schedule updates in advance for all your social media marketing this is a great way to keep your website or blog traffic steady while you are relaxing.

3. Offer live customer support. You can easily add online chat support to your website or blog so your customers and prospects can get information and answers in real-time. Keep in mind you will need to outsource monitoring to a freelance professional or virtual assistance.

4. Use a small business phone system. You can create multiple extensions to route calls to a specific voice mail messages with further instructions or forward calls to an answering service where a real person can assist or take a message. Keep in mind you will need to outsource monitoring to a freelance professional or virtual assistance.

5. Organize your email. You can create multiple accounts for different areas of your business to make it easier to identify which messages need to take priority, which can be deleted completely and which messages can be read later. For example:

  • Sales
  • Billing
  • Support
  • Info
  • Newsletter
  • Personal (for your friends and family only)

You could use an autoresponder to automatically follow-up or outsource responding to a live person.

But look – if you just can’t turn it off or you want to do a “Work-Cation” instead take a look at my article Ten ways to take your business out the office and into your phone.

Either way I hope these tips will help you relax and have fun while you’re Gone Fishin’.

How do you keep your small business running while you are on vacation? Leave your tools, tips or thoughts in the comments below.

Photo courtesy: flickr LivingOS






Copyright © 2010 Rising Star Ideas, LLC. All Rights Reserved


Tonya R. Taylor, Your Savvy Online Business Builder, is dedicated to helping you learn how to use the internet to build a bigger more profitable business. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter Building Blocks to get how-to articles, tips and resources so you can Spend Less and Make More.




If you liked today's article check out these related articles:

  1. Ten ways to take your business out the office and into your phone
  2. Can your small business phone service do these 7 things?
  3. Your secret weapon for creating new streams of revenue

]]> http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/08/gone-fishing-5-ways-to-keep-your-small-business-running-without-you.html/feed 0 Get Globally Recognized In Half The Time http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/08/get-globally-recognized-in-half-the-time.html http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/08/get-globally-recognized-in-half-the-time.html#comments Fri, 20 Aug 2010 04:02:01 +0000 Tonya R. Taylor http://101freetools.com/articles/?p=1433

When it comes to marketing your small business online the one question I get asked the most is “How to increase web traffic?” Well for starters, you need a “Checklist to bring more traffic to your blog or website” and “You Are Invited” to easily attract more customers. Both of these are articles I have written to provide solutions to help you build a bigger more profitable business online.

These articles explain the benefits of leaving comments, writing guest blog post and answering or asking questions in forums to increase your web traffic. The more of these you do the more likely you will attract more visitors. And as an added bonus this increased visibility will help propel you to expert status in your industry. Remember that old saying a picture is worth a thousand words?

It’s true!

You want people in your industry to know it’s you by recognizing your name as well as your picture. But will they?

Not if you don’t have one. Have you ever seen that snowflake looking image next to someone’s name and comment? I’m sure you have and I’m sure they probably don’t know what I am going to tell you.

What’s worse… what happens when you have left hundreds of these along with your picture then need to change it?

Good question!

I have the answer.

You need a Gravatar.

A Gravatar is a Globally Recognized Avatar. Basically it is a picture that follows you around the internet which is linked to your email. Don’t worry the account won’t cost you a cent and signing up is easy. All they need is your email to send you a confirmation password.

That’s It!

Over the years I have left hundreds if not thousands of comments, blog posts and forum questions. So it doesn’t matter if you have old comments or are ready to write some new ones. You can still create a Gravatar. In fact, so many it would be a daunting task to remember them all.

You may have noticed phase 1 of my rebranding efforts in action, which has caused this very issue for me. Then I remembered I can easily swop the old picture with the new picture using my Gravatar.

Sidebar: Have you seen my new look on Twitter @RisingStarIdeas, my Facebook profile and on Linkedin (I know, I know this blog picture is long overdue I’m working on that next)?


Just in case you have a need for more than one picture they have you covered. Say you need a professional picture and a fun picture you can have multiple emails with a different picture (or the same) tied to each one. You can add additional information to your public profile that includes your contact info, your social media sites and a detailed bio with additional links. They even provide you a link directly to your profile so you can always keep your about me details up to date (here’s mine http://gravatar.com/talk2rsi).

If you don’t want to end up with several different pictures you can’t change (or that awful snowflake!) scattered across the internet make sure to get a Gravatar.  Want to see your Gravatar in action NOW? Leave a comment below your Gravatar will appear beside it.






Copyright © 2010 Rising Star Ideas, LLC. All Rights Reserved


Tonya R. Taylor, Your Savvy Online Business Builder, is dedicated to helping you learn how to use the internet to build a bigger more profitable business. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter Building Blocks to get how-to articles, tips and resources so you can Spend Less and Make More.




If you liked today's article check out these related articles:

  1. You Are Invited
  2. Small Business: Improve Your Website No Webmaster Needed
  3. One Tool and Five Ideas To Add Video To Your Small Business

]]> http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/08/get-globally-recognized-in-half-the-time.html/feed 0 Small Business Secret: A New Way To Accept Credit Cards http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/08/small-business-secret-a-new-way-to-accept-credit-cards.html http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/08/small-business-secret-a-new-way-to-accept-credit-cards.html#comments Fri, 13 Aug 2010 04:01:48 +0000 Tonya R. Taylor http://101freetools.com/articles/?p=1425

Shhhh, here’s a small business secret for accepting credit cards you need to know about because…

“We no longer take cash”.

Those were the words I heard from a flight attendant on a business trip a few weeks ago. The flight attendant was giving the cabin information on the list of cocktails available to purchase.

I’m thinking (but said allowed without noticing), “Huh?! Really, who doesn’t take cash?”

We are 10,000 feet in the air; all WiFi enabled electronic devices are now in airplane mode which means no connection. How will they process a credit card?

To my surprise the flight attendants were equipped with handheld devices to swipe a credit card that immediately returned an authorization number. NICE.

Guess what!?

Did you know you too can accept credit card payments anywhere? There is a new way for businesses to accept credit cards without having a merchant account.

Time to be Square

Square is a card reader where you can accept credit card payments on any device with an audio input jack.

You guessed it! This includes your mobile phone.

It works on the iPhone also on the iPad or iPod Touch and on Google Android phones (sidebar: I got a Droid two weeks ago and love it). Square was created by Jack Dorsey. Yes, the same Jack Dorsey who is cofounder of Twitter.

Square allows you to start accepting card payments (and cash too) at anytime from anywhere. Square is different from a merchant account because there are no contracts, no monthly fees, or hidden costs. You don’t even have to pay for the equipment; which is just a small mobile card reader device.

Square Greens Your Business

With Square there is no paper to store or keep track of for your business or customers.

Using Square you can review track and manage the money you are paid online with their simple, easy to use payments page. All Square transactions; your cash, credit card purchases and credit card payments can be accessed securely from anywhere. You can quickly see how much you’ve made for the day, organized by tax, payment method and tips (if you accept them).  Best of all your data can be downloaded in other programs.

All receipts are sent to your customer’s mobile phone and kept in a well organized view.  You customers can browse photos of every item they purchased, read descriptions, and share the list with others.

How To Get Your Square

If you are ready to get your square (remember it doesn’t cost you a cent to get one) here’s what you need to do:

  1. download the app form iTunes or the Android Market
  2. follow the instruction on the app to create an account

Important Square TIPS

  • You have to be approved to accept credit card payments. You must provide your SSN, DOB and receive a simple background check (same as a merchant account)
  • You have to wait to receive your Square card reader until you are approved
  • You have restrictions on getting your money (due to fraud potential). Limited to the $1000 immediately, $1000 each week then 30 days you get the rest. The Square team is working on ways to increase the limits.

Just like Twitter, Square will be the next big thing for small businesses, so get your now. Are you using Square for your business? Let me know in the comments below.

Photo courtesy: microsoft.com






Copyright © 2010 Rising Star Ideas, LLC. All Rights Reserved


Tonya R. Taylor, Your Savvy Online Business Builder, is dedicated to helping you learn how to use the internet to build a bigger more profitable business. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter Building Blocks to get how-to articles, tips and resources so you can Spend Less and Make More.




If you liked today's article check out these related articles:

  1. Ten ways to take your business out the office and into your phone
  2. 3 tools to help your small business get paid faster
  3. Your secret weapon for creating new streams of revenue

]]> http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/08/small-business-secret-a-new-way-to-accept-credit-cards.html/feed 2 Small Business: Improve Your Website No Webmaster Needed http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/08/small-business-improve-your-website-no-webmaster-needed.html http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/08/small-business-improve-your-website-no-webmaster-needed.html#comments Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:37:14 +0000 Tonya R. Taylor http://101freetools.com/articles/?p=1412

On Wednesday I had the pleasure of attending the #SmallBizChat hosted by Malinda Emerson affectionately known on Twitter as @SmallBizLady.  #SmallBizChat is a weekly fast-paced talk show on Twitter for Small Business Owners. @SmallBizLady conducts the interview by typing questions to the guest via Twitter. The participants can chime in with additional questions or comments too. You can learn more about upcoming shows and how to participate here.

Anyway, this week’s guest was @RaymonRay a technology evangelist from smallbiztechnology.com; ; a former tech consultant; hands on tech expert; frequent speaker including Inc. 500 and SmallBizTrends; a frequent writer of more than 7,000+ blog posts; and is frequently quoted in the media – including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and beyond. The topic for the #SmallBizChat was “How to Improve your Small Business Website”.

This was one of the most active TwitterChat’s I have participated in. The tweets were coming by so fast at times; it was hard to keep up. Little did I know (or had realized) I was so passionate about this topic.

I had written a few articles with tips, tricks, do’s, don’ts and reviews on various ways to grow your website. Here is my collection of articles jam-packed with little known ways to improve your small business website without contacting or paying your webmaster:

  • Checklist to bring more traffic to your blog or website – Are you worried about the economy? Who isn’t! In today’s tough economic times small businesses owners need to find and/or create innovative ways to earn more money. I guess that’s why I am constantly asked “What can I do to drive more traffic to my blog or website?” In an economy that has been so challenging, it’s nice to be reminded there are free and low cost resources available to help grow your business.
  • Is your website ready for the Smartphone faceoff? – Major brands and small business owners are quickly attempting to create a mobile version of their website or blog. And you should too! Here are 3 no charge ways to make your website Smartphone ready.
  • 10 things I HATE about visiting your website – Small business owners don’t waste money and time building a website that emphasizes the bells and whistles. This type of website rarely generates leads or creates new sales because they frustrate and confuse visitors.
  • 3 tools to make your website or blog social media friendly – Want to make it easy for visitors to share your content on Twitter, Facebook, email or one of the many social bookmarking sites?
    Don’t worry if you have not or afraid to jump on the social media bandwagon you do not need a Twitter or Facebook account to use these tools on your website or blog.

Do you want to improve your website? Have a question or a comment? Let me know below.






Copyright © 2010 Rising Star Ideas, LLC. All Rights Reserved


Tonya R. Taylor, Your Savvy Online Business Builder, is dedicated to helping you learn how to use the internet to build a bigger more profitable business. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter Building Blocks to get how-to articles, tips and resources so you can Spend Less and Make More.




If you liked today's article check out these related articles:

  1. How To Automatically Improve Your Website And Marketing ROI
  2. How to create a website Your visitors will LOVE
  3. You Are Invited

]]> http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/08/small-business-improve-your-website-no-webmaster-needed.html/feed 0 How To Automatically Improve Your Website And Marketing ROI http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/07/how-to-automatically-improve-your-website-and-marketing-roi.html http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/07/how-to-automatically-improve-your-website-and-marketing-roi.html#comments Fri, 30 Jul 2010 04:31:11 +0000 Tonya R. Taylor http://101freetools.com/articles/?p=1403

Small business owners: do you want to improve your website and marketing ROI?

Easy!

Monitor your website or blog analytics data. Do you know who is visiting your website? When was the last time you checked your website statistics? Do you want to improve your website and marketing ROI? Want the answer? Keep reading…

Every week I review my website stats to find out what marketing efforts are working and what’s not. I need to know what keywords people are using to find me, how long they are staying on the site and which articles they are reading.

I am a contributor to Boomer-Living for the Boomer Entrepreneur and Baltimore’s Social Media Examiner for the Examiner.com as well as a frequent guest blogger for other websites and eNewsletters. So it’s important for me to know where the traffic to my website is coming from.

To get this data I use Google Analytics because they provide some of the best statics for gathering the data I need in an organized way. I know I have a ton of things going on in my business and personal like as I’m sure you do too. So I know it may be hard to remember to routinely login in to your Google account to check you stats, but you should often.

Here are 3 ways to automatically receive your stats without every logging into Google Analytics:



1. Email Reports – create a custom report with the details you want to track. Schedule your reports to be emailed each morning, on Monday’s, the first day of the month or the first quarter of each month. Your analytics report can be sent in common formats such as PDF, CSV, or Excel. And as an added benefit they can be emailed to more than one person.

2. Receive Intelligence Alerts – Intelligence Alerts automatically monitor the traffic on your website. These alerts are built in to Google so you don’t have to do anything extra except check the “enable automatic alerts” button. You can create custom alerts to monitor traffic spikes, conversion rates, specific campaigns and so much more. The alerts can be emailed immediately when its triggered, each day, week or month.

3. Download Outlook App – If you are still one to use Outlook (I am) you can download a free app created by Red Critter. Their Analytics App provides statistics such as number of visits, page views, pages per visit, bounce rate, average time on site and percent of new visits for configurable date ranges. RedCritter works inside Outlook in its own window gathering information.

Sidebar: If you are an avid Outlook user take a long look at Red Critter’s App Gallery. Lots of cool stuff there for you to have fun playing with.

Do you know who is visiting your website? When was the last time you checked your website statistics? Let me know in the comments below. If you like this article, click the retweet button or like button.

Photo courtesy: microsoft.com






Copyright © 2010 Rising Star Ideas, LLC. All Rights Reserved


Tonya R. Taylor, Your Savvy Online Business Builder, is dedicated to helping you learn how to use the internet to build a bigger more profitable business. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter Building Blocks to get how-to articles, tips and resources so you can Spend Less and Make More.




If you liked today's article check out these related articles:

  1. Search engine marketing: A little known way to gain an edge
  2. Article Marketing! Yes, it really works!
  3. 3 tools to make your website or blog social media friendly

]]> http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/07/how-to-automatically-improve-your-website-and-marketing-roi.html/feed 0 Checklist to bring more traffic to your blog or website http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/07/checklist-to-bring-more-traffic-to-your-blog-or-website.html http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/07/checklist-to-bring-more-traffic-to-your-blog-or-website.html#comments Thu, 22 Jul 2010 05:07:13 +0000 Tonya R. Taylor http://fakeituntilyoumakeit.com/?p=262 Are you worried about the economy? Who isn’t! In today’s tough economic times small businesses owners need to find and/or create innovative ways to earn more money. I guess that’s why I am constantly asked “What can I do to drive more traffic to my blog or website?” In an economy that has been so challenging, it’s nice to be reminded there are free and low cost resources available to help grow your business.

Check out this traffic generating checklist full of FREE resources:

1.    Analyze website traffic
In the old days, you could use a basic hit (also known as a web) counter to measure visitors. Fortunately, those days are long gone! The analytics tools today are far more sophisticated, easy to understand and best of all FREE.

If you are serious about driving traffic to your site and not using Google Analytics, well, you should be! Once you understand the power of this tool you will make profit-generating improvements to your advertising which will drive more traffic to your website.

  • Review search keywords visitors use to find your site
  • Review what geographical area visitors come from
  • Review referring sites

2.    Leave comments
Leaving comments is a cheap form of advertising without blatantly shouting your sales pitch. This basic effective strategy is often overlooked because many entrepreneurs just don’t understand the power. Leaving comments builds a relationship, shows that you care and want to share your opinion with others.

Engage other commenter’s by asking and answering thought provoking questions. Bloggers reward commenter’s with “dofollow” links which boosts your website rank in search engines. Best of all leaving comments on popular blogs in your industry is the best way to be known around the Internet.

  • Be the first to comment because they are most often read
  • Make it easy for your visitors to comment with ShareThis
  • Get backlinks

3.    Write articles
Whether you are a beginner or an expert to article marketing this strategy will get you backlinks that improve your search engine PageRank. There are literally hundreds of article marketing sites to choose from. However there is one feature rich FREE article marketing site that stands out, EzineArticles.com. Your articles will be sent to over 400+ niche email alerts indicating new articles are available that match their unique interests.

  • Use archives for past newsletters, blog post, comments from forums or blogs
  • Only use original content you wrote
  • Create articles between 400-750 words

4.    Use social bookmarking
According to Wikipedia, social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to store, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web pages on the Internet with the help of metadata. Social bookmarking is the perfect way to let the world know about your site. Sharing your links will get you increased content distribution and more backlinks. Because social bookmarking sites have an enormous amount of monthly visitors and extremely high page rank your links will benefit.

  • Bookmark your comments
  • Bookmark your articles and those of others
  • Make it easy for your visitors to bookmark your website or blog with ShareThis

Using this checklist will keep you from staying awake at night thinking about how you can attract more traffic to your website. Start reaping the benefits today.






Copyright © 2010 Rising Star Ideas, LLC. All Rights Reserved


Tonya R. Taylor, Your Savvy Online Business Builder, is dedicated to helping you learn how to use the internet to build a bigger more profitable business. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter Building Blocks to get how-to articles, tips and resources so you can Spend Less and Make More.




If you liked today's article check out these related articles:

  1. Remarkable Results!
  2. 3 tools to make your website or blog social media friendly
  3. You Are Invited

]]> http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/07/checklist-to-bring-more-traffic-to-your-blog-or-website.html/feed 1 Search engine marketing: A little known way to gain an edge http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/07/search-engine-marketing-a-little-known-way-to-gain-an-edge.html http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/07/search-engine-marketing-a-little-known-way-to-gain-an-edge.html#comments Fri, 16 Jul 2010 04:03:05 +0000 Tonya R. Taylor http://101freetools.com/articles/?p=1386

What do you do when you want to find information?

These days not many people turn to the yellow pages to find information on a business.  So what do they do when they want to find a business, service or any other type of information?  Google it!

That’s right.

Google has made it easy for your business to get a free page and get found locally.

Yes, free!

Do you know about Google Places?

In September 2009, Google changed the name from Local Business Center to Google Places. Along with this new name came powerful easy-to-use tools to manage your own business information directly on Google.

Google Places is a free online business page kind of like a yellow page listing only much, much better.  With your Google Places you reach millions because your business listing will be found on both Google.com and Google maps. In fact, you can edit your listing any time of day or night; add photos, videos and coupons.

What an opportunity!

I’m sure you have seen these pages show up for restaurants, retail shops and local hotspots. Don’t worry. The good news, it does not matter if you have a store front or not you can get found locally by claiming your Google Places page.

All you need to do is follow these three simple steps:

  1. Submit your information, from basic contact info to photos and video.
  2. Verify your listing by phone or postcard.
  3. Wait for your listing to appear on Google. (no more than 12 hours according to Google)

You are required to supply a physical address and phone number. Remember your location will show up on Google Maps therefore it is not recommended to use your home address. You can choose to display or not display your address on the map and on your places page.

Google places provide dashboard with a wealth of information and statistics. Much like Google Analytics the statistics show how many times users saw your business listing as a local search result. You also get stats on how many times users click on more info on the map, driving directions and click to your website.

Promote your business with Google

Flat rate advertising

They have an unbelievable offer that’s a flat fee of $25 a month which you can cancel anytime. At that price you can try it out to see what kind of results you can get. Google Tags is a unique feature that lets you advertise your business on the Google Map when local searches are made. Your business stands out because the searcher will see a yellow marker with scissors.

Printed or mobile coupons

I love this feature! Create and update the coupon yourself. You can even add an image, expiration date and coupon code. They give you the option to have your coupon printed or formatted for display on a mobile phone.

As of April 2010, four million businesses claimed their Place Page on Google, have you?  Claim yours now.






Copyright © 2010 Rising Star Ideas, LLC. All Rights Reserved


Tonya R. Taylor, Your Savvy Online Business Builder, is dedicated to helping you learn how to use the internet to build a bigger more profitable business. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter Building Blocks to get how-to articles, tips and resources so you can Spend Less and Make More.




If you liked today's article check out these related articles:

  1. Pssst. People are Talking… About Your Business!
  2. 10 things I HATE about visiting your website
  3. Make money 24/7 here’s how…

]]> http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/07/search-engine-marketing-a-little-known-way-to-gain-an-edge.html/feed 0 Is your website ready for the Smartphone faceoff? http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/07/is-your-website-ready-for-the-smartphone-faceoff.html http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/07/is-your-website-ready-for-the-smartphone-faceoff.html#comments Fri, 09 Jul 2010 04:03:51 +0000 Tonya R. Taylor http://101freetools.com/articles/?p=1377

Have you ever taken a look at a website or blog on your mobile phone?

I know I have.

I find myself more and more scanning websites from links I find on Twitter while waiting in a long lines (especially at the grocery story). Or as a quicker way to access information without the hassle of lugging my laptop around.

Curious how my blog would display on my somewhat older phone, a Motorola Q, I pulled it up and was not happy with the results. The page was very slow to load, it did not display properly and I could not click on some of the links. Since then, I have been on a mission trying to figure out how to make my blog mobile phone friendly.

I’m not the only one; major brands and small business owners are quickly attempting to create a mobile version of their website or blog. I have read a few marketing articles indicating consumers are connecting to their favorite brands via mobile devices more than ever before. In fact, according to an article posted on Mashable.com a “New Study Shows the Mobile Web Will Rule by 2015”.

Here are 3 no charge ways to make your website Smartphone ready (Yes, that includes the iPhone and Adroid too!):

1. Use your RSS feed

Mippin – Use your website or RSS feed URL and some simple customization you can make your site available on over 2000 phones worldwide.

  • Mippin will make your slow website easily mobile ready. Works on any phone and guarantees all sites will be displayed perfectly.
  • They even provide a mobile phone emulator so you can see how your site will look in advance of going live.

2. Use PHP code

Though this option is only four steps you need to be an advanced user who understands PHP and .htaccess. Otherwise have your web developer complete this hoption for you.

3. Use a Wordpress Plugin

If you are using Wordpress for your website or blog consider yourself lucky!  The good news, the plugins directory has 174 choices when you search using the word “mobile”. The bad news, many of this plugins have not been updated in months and only work on the iPhone or the Android.

  • I chose the WordPress Mobile Pack plugin because it was recently updated, it works with several of the most popular phones and you it will shrink you current theme to fit a mobile phone.
  • There are a few kinks I need to work out but so far it appears to be working. Take a look on your phone, tell me know how it looks.

Is your website or blog ready for the Smartphone mobile web faceoff? Let me know in the comments below.

Photo courtesy flickr: Closari






Copyright © 2010 Rising Star Ideas, LLC. All Rights Reserved


Tonya R. Taylor, Your Savvy Online Business Builder, is dedicated to helping you learn how to use the internet to build a bigger more profitable business. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter Building Blocks to get how-to articles, tips and resources so you can Spend Less and Make More.




If you liked today's article check out these related articles:

  1. Small Business: Improve Your Website No Webmaster Needed
  2. Small Business Secret: A New Way To Accept Credit Cards
  3. 3 tools to make your website or blog social media friendly

]]> http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/07/is-your-website-ready-for-the-smartphone-faceoff.html/feed 0 10 things I HATE about visiting your website http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/07/10-things-i-hate-about-visiting-your-website.html http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/07/10-things-i-hate-about-visiting-your-website.html#comments Fri, 02 Jul 2010 04:05:18 +0000 Tonya R. Taylor http://101freetools.com/articles/?p=1368

Small business owners don’t waste money and time building a website that emphasizes the bells and whistles. This type of website rarely generates leads or creates new sales because they frustrate and confuse visitors.

If visitors find it hard to navigate your website, locate information or find it worthless they will quickly click away to your competitor’s website. So just keep it simple.

Yes, it’s 2010 and unfortunately business owners are still using these outdated techniques.

Here are 10 things I HATE about visiting your website:

1. Flash intros – are only interesting (maybe) the first time you visit a site. Avoid using heavy flash intros because surveys show 80 percent of visitors hate them and they hurt your searchengine optimization efforts.

2. Animated GIFs and scrolling text – are a major distraction, especially when they areoverused.  Unless an animated GIF or scrolling text complements the information on your page, don’t use them.

3. Distorted pictures – are a dead give-a-way your site was not created professionally.Use a cropping tool to evenly distribute the image dimension or use an image gallery that will automatically crop the images for you during upload.

4. Poor placement of advertisements – are frustrating and annoying. You run the riskof loosing high dollars from selling your products or services to an ad that will probably only generate a few pennies.

5. Outdated content and broken links – are very unprofessional and shows lack ofcommitment. Remember if it’s July you don’t want to continue promoting your June event. Use automatic tools like calendars and RSS feeds to keep you content fresh.

6. Under construction pages – are unnecessary and may cause you to lose business.Create a basic page listing your contact address, phone number, email and add a short paragraph about your products or services then ask the visitor to opt-in to your email list for website updates.

7. Too many choices – are confusing and a confused mind always says no.  Limit yourmenu choices between 5 and 7 then make sure your navigation appears in the same spot on every page.

8. Too much content – can overwhelm the visitor because no one wants to read adissertation. Make your website about the visitor by providing them with essential information like the benefits of doing business with you. If needed give them the option to click to learn more.

9. Playing music – is a major annoyance especially when there are no controls to turn it off, mute or lower the volume. Not to mention just because you like the music doesn’t mean your visitor will have the same musical tastes. If there’s not a compelling reason to add music, don’t.

10. Hit counters – are useless because they only track one element of site statistics. Seriously there are plenty of sophisticated, easy to understand and free analytics tools available. You can try Google Analytics or Clicky for a real-time solution.


What are things you hate to find when you visit a website? Let me know in the comments below.

Photo courtesy Flickr: Blakeemrys






Copyright © 2010 Rising Star Ideas, LLC. All Rights Reserved


Tonya R. Taylor, Your Savvy Online Business Builder, is dedicated to helping you learn how to use the internet to build a bigger more profitable business. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter Building Blocks to get how-to articles, tips and resources so you can Spend Less and Make More.




If you liked today's article check out these related articles:

  1. How to create a website Your visitors will LOVE
  2. How To Automatically Improve Your Website And Marketing ROI
  3. The biggest mistake most small business owners make when. . . (and how to avoid it)

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