To be…. Or not to be unlimited…That is the question Tweetdeck

We where just notified that TweetDeck is going to make Twitter posts more then 140 Characters….. This means if you use TweetDeck, you will have unlimited Characters to use which will be displayed in full with other TweetDeck users friend feed. If you don’t you use TweetDeck, you will see 140 characters with a web link connecting you to a page hosted by TweetDeck with the remainder of the message.

Although some people welcome the idea of this, I think it needs to be analysed more.

Twitter was designed to be a short notification system. From the beginning there was never an intention to increase this size. I mean, i use twitter to share my thoughts, location, and news to ask questions about anything like where to Eat, Pub Locations, latest tech news….ect. However,  if TweetDeck changes this structure and increase the characters we are now only going to see long blog like posts directly on our Tweetdeck Friend Feed… To be honest i would prefer TweetDeck not to be filled with 500+ Character posts.  Duane Jackson said he would cry if this new feature becomes available and would consider changing twitter client to avoid the essay tweets. We know some people out there are welcoming the idea… But is it really necessary?

Please post your comments.. We are eager to hear everyone’s opinion.

My Top 10 Applications for Service Businesses

 

After blogging recently about recommended Apps for the Service Industry, we decided to centralise the recommendations into one Top 10 List that we think any business, whether service based or not should have!

1. Google Chrome

Speed: It’s faster to load up any site, including Connect2Field

Compatibility: Connect2Field is designed to work with Google Chrome

Works on Mac and PC: It doesn’t matter if you are on a Mac or a PC, it will work perfectly

Searching: Searching on Google is made easier

Choosing a browser is important, as this is the interface in which you connect to Connect2Field…. Using a browser which is slower (like Microsoft Internet Explorer) will have an effect on the experience and performance of Connect2Field…

2. Google Apps for Mail

Running your own Exchange Servers can be painful and a costly exercise – you have to cater in the costs of infrastructure ownership, hosting and support costs. At Connect2Field we use Google Apps for our mail.

Google Apps mail gives you the flexibility and scalability of working in the cloud from anywhere in the world.

We found some of the most useful components of Google App mail is the integration with other Apps like Snapengage for live customer help chat and Google Documents so you can share all your Excel, Word and PowerPoint documents in real-time.

Google Apps have also just released Desktop Notification services for Google Chrome, which alerts you of new emails, even if you’re not looking at your browser..

If you don’t want the costs involved of running and maintaining your own exchange or mail server move to Google apps today

3. Bria by Counterpath with Localphone

Counterpaths Bria, in conjunction with Localphone.com VoIP Solution is just perfect for any small business. These products can reduce your phone bills dramatically and give you additional features like Voip numbers to call from your Mobile to even further reduce your costs.

4. TweetDeck

Tweetdeck allows you to manage all your Twitter and Facebook accounts with multiple column and search queries from one location. You’re not getting the full effect of Twitter until you start using a product like TweetDeck.

5. Skype

Skype has now become the business grade chat and video call program. We used to use MSN Messenger as every company did, however we found their Video and Connection wasn’t really reliable. You can use Skype for VoIP, however we found their service to lack quality and it can often be more pricey then Localphone.

6. Gotomeeting

Whether you’re running a service business or just have family or friends contacting you for support and IT related questions, Gotomeeting is the ticket. Built on Citrix, you can connect with customers and share screens while talking through VoIP provided by the application. This enables you to demonstrate products, share PowerPoint presentations or just help someone install a basic driver. This product is a must for any business that needs to perform presentations or offer IT support.

7. 1Password

Remembering all login details and passwords is a nightmare! These days most people will have well over 50 different logins and passwords. By using 1Password you can store all the details in a secure digital safe allowing you to access them with just one password. It really is a massive time saver.

8. WordPress

WordPress is not really an app but a service, however we couldn’t live without ir. WordPress allows you to create blogs and websites with ease and with the Iphone app you can keep creating posts while on the road.

9. ScreenSteps

Depending on the type of work you’re doing, sometimes you need to create tutorials/lessons/manuals for your customers. ScreenSteps is a program that allows you to build these tutorials easily. It’s such a great program that it should be kept a trade secret .. Opps too late, the word is out! 🙂

10. Online Accounting Applications

Using an Online Accounting application allows you to access your accounts from wherever you’re located. They also allow you to streamline your back office. Try looking at Saasu, Quickbooks Online, Xero and Kashflow.

We would love to hear if you have any additional Apps to recommend or if you have any comments about our Top 10!

How to Build SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for your business

Search Engine Optimization helps you further your reach to your potential customers by improving your search results through websites like Google, Bing or Yahoo.

Wiki Definition is;

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the “natural” or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results.

Here at Connect2Field we are asked all the time by our customers about SEO, so we decided to share a few tips with you on how to build an SEO website and help target your customers audience more accurately.

Firstly, we will start with your SEO website

1.    Know your geographical market

If you are based in the UK, make sure you have a URL with .co.uk. Also try to host your servers in the UK as well, this helps in the SEO overall.

2.    Keywords

In include your keyword(s) into your URL. If you’re a plumber, make sure your include the keyword “Plumber”. Due to the Dot Com Boom in the 90s, most URLS have now taken, so you might have to use hyphens to achieve this.IE www.battersea-plumbers.co.uk

3.    Keyword Research

To find your primary Keywords use programs like Google AdWords Keyword tool, or Wordtracker . You want between 5 – 10 primary keywords to use. Keywords would end up like, Sink, Repair, Bathroom, Kitchen, installation ect.

4.   Content Building.

Now its time for you to create all the content about your company, product and service, pricing, Service areas ect. The trick here is the more content you create the better.

“A very important aspect of this process is to use your primary Keywords in all of your content.”

Once you’re completed your content dived into approx.. 4  – 5 sections.  This will help you later in the layout of your website pages and navigation.

5.   Design Navigation System

Draw up a rough navigation system for your website. (How all your pages will connect to each other etc. A diagram below gives you an basic example) (CON Stands for Content)

The above diagram shows the early stages of constructing a navigation system. The green section (Sub-1) shows how all other sub sections will be. The Home page, All 5 Sub-section, About us, Terms, Contact, Privacy, Resources and Sitemap pages are always interlinked with each other forming 12 strong pages.

6.   Build your pages

Now you have all your content including keywords ect, start building your individual pages. Each page should be seen as an individual website.

Page title should reflect the content of the Page

(This next step is more for website developers, however you can find out more about Meta elements on Wikipedia)

Meta keyword tags, (although not overly important), should list 4 or 5 individual keywords related to the Page you have created.

Meta Description tags, this should be a short concise description describing what the Page is about. This is very important as a selling point as you can manipulate the search engines in to displaying this when the person searches for the keyword used in the description. As an example “Provides information about the latest KEYWORD products and services”

7.    Now you have you site layered and with all the your content, have a friend or colleague read over to make sure you haven’t made any mistakes.

8.    Hyperlink – Make sure you hyperlink all your keywords and link references to their dedicated pages.

9.    Publish you site into live.

10. Great your done. But there is still a few more things you can do to help ongoing SEO.

BLOG, BLOG and BLOG some more –

Create a company blog on your webpage and write articles relevant to your industry, your customers and suppliers. Blogs appear in searchers using the keywords which you have build into your website. Categorize your blog with your keywords, and file your articles under these categories. Don’t forget to hyperlink on your blog articles back to your webpages.

Twitter –

Twitter is growing as a very important business tool. Its very important for you to create a twitter account, and make available for your customers, potential customers, and industry based companies to follow you. When your write blogs, make sure you twitter about them.

A couple of great products to help you with twitter are,

Tweetdeck

Twitterific

Tweetie

Industry recommendation and review websites –

These sites are great for driving traffic to you website. Using these websites and posting reviews can really help draw potential customers to you and increases your SEO

A couple of suggestions for the trade industry are;

http://www.ratedpeople.com/

http://www.findatrade.com/

http://www.plumbers.uk.com/

There are many more available on the Web, you just need to do some searching. Some are free; some you have to pay per click (Be careful not to set your budget too high on these ones) some are a flat fee Per Mth.

We hope you have found these tips to be useful, and wish you all the best in building your business.

If you have any feedback or success stories we would love to hear from you info@connect2field.com

What SaaS means to SMBs

SaaS has been around for a few years now and SMBs are taking notice in a big way. It was only 12mths ago we where being asked by our potential customers everything about SaaS , because they had little or no understanding. Now it seems they have all done their Masters on the subject and seem to know everything there is too. How did this change so rapidly? Well for one, the recession has really help advertise the finical benefits of SaaS to the SMB’s, but how do they know all the additional details of SaaS.

The answer is, SMB’s are now becoming more self-educated and following the hype/discussions through Blogs, Forums, Twitter ect. This is really great news for SaaS venders\suppliers because customers are in a more education position to sign up without direct contact by phone or email. This gives venders time back to focus on research and development, new features, and integration with other applications, which in turn benefits the customers.

There are really 3 main reasons we find SMBs love SaaS.

1. Capital – (Cash is KING) SaaS helps maintain capital while giving business owners manageable monthly costs, which can be easily justified.

2. Availability – Managing your business from anywhere, anytime

3. No Contracts – Try, buy, and Cancel. No longer are SMBs locked into length contracts and expensive consultant services.

Sure there are many more benefits to SaaS, but we believe these 3 reasons are what really matters to SMB’s.

Let us know what matters to you most?