Best Uses of SMS Marketing

Utilizing text messages to market to your customers directly via their smartphones-the one device that is almost always with them-can be a very effective approach for small businesses. Knowing how and when to do this, however, is critical in order to ensure the full success of such a campaign.

Knowing your audience goes back to marketing basics. The end goal is to know your target audience better than they know themselves. Provide what they needed to have before they had thought of in. It is important to put different SMS mobile marketing strategies into a larger and more meaningful context. Following are some of the best ways in which to utilize the power and benefits of text message marketing to your small business customers:

• At Events
  Depending upon the nature of your event, you have multiple options for how to incorporate SMS marketing. If you are giving a presentation and want to be able to share the file with attendees, simply have them text a code to you and they will receive a reply text with a link to obtain the slides.
  
  You could also send out texts with promotions that are valid only during the event to spur immediate action. If you wish to engage your audience to be more interactive, use text messaging to poll people about different topics-all relevant to the event, of course.


• In Store
  The best time to get people to buy your products is while they are already in your store. Take advantage of text messaging to alert customers about specials that they can enjoy while shopping at that very time. You could even suggest related or accompanying products to encourage the upsell process.


• Anytime Touchpoints
  While certainly the end goal of any overall marketing program is to sell, sometimes there are individual campaigns that are designed to create goodwill or customer loyalty. Text messaging can be leveraged to do this by sending special messages to customers on their birthdays or near select holidays. Including some marketing efforts that are not directly aimed at selling is a smart way to stay in touch with customers without making them feel pestered by you or pressured to buy at every moment.

Texting is easy and extremely inexpensive. This makes testing a campaign with SMS marketing well worth your time. We also believe it will be more than worth your investment and pay many times over for itself when implemented properly.

Edward Kundahl is president and owner of Allentown-based BusinessCreator, Inc., an Internet marketing agency and Web development company that offers clients total search marketing and interactive media solutions. His roots are in small-business search engine optimization and marketing and making sites user friendly and accessible to search engines. He can be reached at ed@businesscreatorplus.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8412630

Why Apple's IOS8 Operating System Should Excite Users and Developers

Apple's new iOS8 operating system was recently revealed at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco.

While iOS8 may not be a game changer it certainly offers many new features for business use and should excite developers wishing to share and create applications within the new framework.

On the business front, Apple has focused on stronger security. Data protection will be expanded to more applications to enable finer control over such items as mail encryption.

The expanded data protection will include basically all pertinent apps as well as user credentials. These credentials will be protected by a pass code until after a device is unlocked following a reboot.

Apple says it is unleashing a variety of enhanced productivity tools with iOS8. Inbox mail management should be easier as a quick left or right swipe enables a user to mark messages as read or unread or flag them for follow-up.

The new calendar view enables you to see your colleague's availability to schedule a meeting, easing the effort of finding a time convenient for all parties.

Work execution will be easier with iCould Drive. Apple touts you will be able to work on any file anywhere. This will include presentations, PDFs, images and more. This will work right from the iCloud on any device you use, whether it's a MAC or PC.

Need access to corporate documents? Third party document apps can be used to access corporate file servers so you can get to the document you need right from the app you want to edit it in. Apple promises you will be able to transfer files to and from a MAC device even without an Internet connection.

Enhanced connectivity should be a great benefit. Apple says users will be able to start an email on one device and seamlessly continue it on another. iPhone users will be able to answer phone calls on their MAC or iPAD and send SMS messages from any of them.

Those who use photos will enjoy the ability to edit and organize every photo one takes on all your devices though the iCould photo library.

Messaging too will have new features. You can add your own voice into a text message and send a video of what you see as you are seeing it.

Should you wish to workout with colleagues, the health and fitness apps will utilize an easy to read dashboard to share communication with friends, your trainer and even your doctor.

"Spotlight" will serve as a type of answer search engine. It will provide information from Wikipedia and offer trending news and more.

IT departments will have better data and device management tools. iOS8 has more ways to manage information securely without burdening employees with complex rules and work personas. IT staff can now push iBooks, ePub and PDF documents automatically to user devices using mobile device management, MDM, tools. Users should have access to what they need when they need it.

These new tools will give developers deeper access and even more to work with. This will include new keyboard options and still more ways to share content.

Developers will find the ability to create and utilize apps that communicate with other an exciting enticement as Apple pushes the boundaries with this new innovation.

By Marc Arbesman

Scrum Transformation: How Transparency Is Offered

I was having a conversation with a good friend of mine over "transparency" and the effect of Social Media. It amazes me how the new generation so easily communicate their day to day activities and how they feel with no fear. With the help of technology they are a generation of openness.

Yet organizations have not caught on to this. To transition to scrum you need a dedication and commitment to transparency. It is not only one of the five scrum values, it is crucial to the success of any transformation. With openness there is trust. Without trust your project is doomed to chaos and potentially fail. In scrum, transparency is offered through the scrum ceremonies. Let's walk through these.

Sprint Planning:

In sprint planning the team and product owner work together in determining what work will get pulled into the sprint. The team should openly communicate when a story is too large or not ready to pull into the sprint. Design approach is established, tasks are openly defined. The team communicates what they plan to deliver. They also communicate what criteria defines done for them.

Daily Stand Up:

The stand up is yet another opportunity for transparency. It is all about sharing information and identifying dependencies. The team should discuss how and what they plan on doing that day. This is all about communicating the plan of the day and what blockers or impediments the team has crossed. The power of the stand up is often under estimated. Many new teams feel it is unnecessary, not really understanding the value it offers.

Demo (Review):

The demo is held at the end of each sprint and facilitated by the product owner or scrum master. It is all about showing the product owner, stakeholders, and or sponsors the work that was completed. The team shares the work that was committed, the challenges over come and listens for feed back. Sponsors, stakeholders, and or product owners provide open feed back to the team. It is important to understand this ceremony is an exchange, and not an opportunity to thrash the team or hide behind requirements. It should have a cooperative and friendly feel.

Retrospective:

The retrospective is an opportunity for the team to openly discuss what went wrong, and how they can improve. It is a tool to review and improve the dynamics and processes of the team. This is another ceremony not used properly and sometimes not performed. If used correctly it should motivate and help solidify the team.

By Leonor Urena

Understanding Shopify and How to Get the Most of It

Starting a small business is one of the best things that you can always do. Being an entrepreneur requires one to always think outside the box and come with solutions that are really good. Entrepreneurship is a very dynamic process that changes rapidly. For instance, starting good business years ago is very different from starting a business today. The biggest factor that has challenged this process is that of technology. Today, for a business to do really well, it is very important for the entrepreneur to think of the best way to incorporate technology into it. Failure to do this will lead the business being outdone by the vicious competitors. Therefore, this article explains a few details about Shopify and how to get the most out of it.

Shopify is a dynamic web application that allows a person to come up with a good web store that he can sell anything imaginable, from goods to services. For one to effectively use Shopify, there is no need to be technical but a lot of interest in trying to discover new things. The good thing is that you do not need to shut down your brick and mortar business model to incorporate Shopify and e-commerce into it. You can still decide to use the two models and creates a better company.

There are many advantages for using Shopify for e-commerce. One, using Shopify for e-commerce is cheap and affordable. Any business can afford to get the services of Shopify. This is simply because the charges go from less than $40 per month . As such, anyone can afford this service. You should note that in the past, e-commerce website designs used to cost a lot of money such that many entrepreneurs were locked out of the industry. Secondly, using Shopify is very easy. All you need is to create an account, get a theme and place in your items. The shopping cart has been designed and all you will have to do is to put your specific details for payment. In addition, thousands of e-commerce stores are now using Shopify as their base platform. The ratings from these firms are very impressive.

To implement a good Shopify strategy, it is very important for one to get a good designer who has been in the industry for a long time. The benefit of this is that when you have an expert, various things are bound to happen. For instance with a good Shopify web designer you will be at a better chance to get a custom designed theme which goes in line with your company's theme. In addition, when you have a good Shopify designer, search engine optimization will be enhanced. As such, it will be very possible for you to rank very high in the search engines. This will have two important benefits to your company. One, you will increase the margins of the business by reducing the cost of marketing. You will also be available to many people without any payment. This will reduce the customer acquisition cost.

By Annie Mishra 

HTML Code for Virtual Assistants

Let's talk about HTML code. Call it what you want - code, HTML, geekspeak, and so on. Can you read it? No?!? Then learn!

Why should I learn some HTML code?

If you, like so many other small virtual assistant solopreneurs out there, are creating your website on your own.. you should know code. Not at the uber-geek level, but some general code. Knowing how to read code can save you a ton of time when it comes to updating widgets, creating campaigns and tweaking changes here and there.

You also are going to have clients who need a little something changed, fixed, or updated. Be proactive and get formatting errors, mismatched type, and broken links fixed.

If you use WordPress for your site, you can still incorporate HTML.. and sometimes it's simply easier to snag a generated HTML code snippet and paste it into your WordPress post or page. In this type of situation, once you have the generated HTML code, go to WordPress and start your page or post. To the top right of the body field you will see "Visual" and "Text." Text is where you would paste your HTML.

Do I Need Special Software?

No. You can write code in Notepad, which every PC has. There are also a bunch of WYSIWYG ("What You See Is What You Get") online HTML editors out there too. If you need a quick change or tweak, they are handy to bookmark.

Do I need to know anything else?

Keep in mind that code is sort of like a highlighter. You highlight the parts that you want to fancy up but putting HTML before AND after the special bits. The code is trapped inside carrots, otherwise known as these little things: <>

Back in the day, we used to call 'em less-than and greater-than signs.

Tip: Remember you need to open the carrots and close them.

The internet has evolved over the years and because of that, there can be more than one set of HTML codes for the same thing. For example, see the codes for italics below.

OK.. Short List Me!

There are ton of basics out there, so let's get started (and keep in mind that this won't show the actual formatting):

• Paragraph: <p></p>
• Bold: <b></b> This is how to <b>bold</b> text.
• Italics: <i></i> This is how to <i>italicize</i> text.
• You can also use <emphasis></emphasis> in lieu of <i></i>

If you're used to using Microsoft Word's Styles & Formatting, then you are familiar with Header formatting. HTML also uses headers H1-H6:

• <h1>Title goes here</h1>
• <h2>Sub-Title here</h2>
• <h3></h3> and so on..

Just as important as formatting your type is, it's also important to insert links.

• Link to a page: <a href="http://www.yoursite.com">Your Site Name</a>
• If you want the page to open in a new tab/new window, then you would use: <a href="http://www.yoursite.com" target "_blank"></a>
• Link to email: Send an email to me at: <a href="mailto:you@yoursite.com>me@mysite.com</a>

Other HTML Codes

There are a few HTML codes that do not require a close.

• Horizontal line: <hr>
• Line Break: <br />
• Adding an image: <img src="http://www.yoursite.com/image1.png">
• If you're image is too large, you can tell the code how big to make the image: <img src="http://www.yoursite.com/image1.png" width="400" height="350">

Did You Know?

Did you know that you can view the HTML for any website? Depending on your browser, you can see the geekspeak by

• Internet Explorer: Right click on the page and choose "View Source"
• FireFox: Right click on the page and choose "View Page Source"
• Chrome: Right click on the page and choose "Inspect Element"
• Opera: Right click on the page and choose "View Page Source"

At the end of the day, any additional knowledge or experience that you add to your VA toolkit will only add to your value and make you indispensable to your clients.

About Out of the Office Virtual Assistance:
At Out of the Office, we offer ideas and ways to increase your productivity, decrease your workload, and work more efficiently. We nurture a successful business relationship, while continuing to grow as your business partner. We are focused on streamlining your administration, social media planning and execution, and offering creative solutions for your business success. Schedule your free 30 minute consultation by visiting our website.

By Denise Dukette

The Top 10 Reasons to Pay for IT Support

IT support may not be something that you WANT to pay for, but there are lots of reasons why you should. You may be trying to do it on your own. Or you may have individuals on staff that is providing it for you. Either way, it can be advantageous to outsource your IT so that you can enjoy better IT services.
Here are 10 good reasons why you want to pay for your IT support.

1. It's more affordable. You may not want to believe it, but by working with a third party, you can actually spend less on your IT than paying someone on your staff to focus on it 40 hours a week. And if you pay more than one individual, that's even more money.
2. You get more. With IT support from a third party, you get to tap into all of the services that they have. You may currently be limited by what your employees (or you) can do. As soon as you reach out for support, you can do more for your company.
3. Offer a better product to your customers. When your customers go to your website, they want a service. If your website is lacking, they may not be able to pay online or order online. As soon as you get support, you begin offering a better product.
4. Eliminate downtime. With IT support, you can eliminate or dramatically reduce downtime. If your IT department doesn't know what they are doing, you may have downtime when upgrades are being made. If they take too long, you may lose a lot of money.
5. Eliminate staff. You can eliminate a lot of unnecessary staff because of learning how to use technology to your advantage. This includes your receptionist thanks to hosted phone solutions.
6. Help is a phone call away. There are going to be times when you need to know how to do something. If you have IT support, you can pick up the phone and get answers.
7. Issues won't linger. The moment you need help, help is dispatched to you. This is simply because you are paying to get your problems fixed.
8. Get the documentation you need. It's important to get a guarantee on your downtime and everything else. If you aren't paying a third party, you don't get this guarantee.
9. Use technology more efficiently. Technology is everywhere you look, but it may not be in use where you need it the most. Let IT support tell you how to enhance your business with all of the latest software and all of the latest process management that is currently out on the market.
10. Utilize your time better. You don't have time to focus on every aspect of IT, which means you should hand it off to someone else. The money that you spend in IT services will come back to because of being able to work on more projects - and even enhance your sales so that you can increase profits.

Formed in 1997 and located in Houston, Dallas and Austin Texas and in Dubai, ERGOS is an IT solutions provider that stays ahead of the curve, providing innovative IT services. We provide our clients the kind of service that we would want. ERGOS provides managed IT services, IT infrastructure, Cloud IT and business solutions that Power Your Business and empower your work force. Our three technology divisions, Managed IT Services, Cloud IT Solutions and Business Solutions (Web Hosting and Development, Search Engine Optimization, Business Process Analysis) will address all your IT needs.

By Jeff Weigang

3 Major Benefits of Custom Software Application Development

Computer applications have reduced human effort significantly, apart from also improving service delivery within organizations. Many businesses have in the past adopted custom software solutions for diverse operations. The main aim of using these programs is streamlining business functions and enhancing the overall operational efficiency. In order to undertake custom software application development your firm needs to put together a team is comprising of a system analyst and programmer/custom software developer. You can also choose to hire custom software development companies to help you.

There are several advantages of utilizing custom software programs within an organization. These include:

1) Coordinating Business Processes

Business Web applications enable firms to achieve coordination of various processes, through a central information repository, an act that boosts communication in different departments. Various stakeholders can utilize the centralized software in the firm, which enhances efficiency and service delivery. Developers of custom business software analyze organizational needs then come up with software best customized for the firm.

2) Updating New Content

Your company can update as well as manipulate content within custom business web applications. This provides them with an avenue to host new, accurate details on the website. Such applications help your firm to keep up with the latest industry trends. A web developer can easily install new tools plus designs in websites that are already customized. A fresh and regularly updated online presence will help your firm to not only retain old clients but also attract new ones.

3) Integrating Business Functions

Software developers design custom mobile apps while having your company in mind. These programs are crafted to fit into your organization's processes without a glitch. Their aim is to integrate the multiple functions performed by your staff within the organization. Users of custom mobile applications need not try fitting their processes into a different application. Management and employees both get relieved by the gains which come from adopting custom mobile apps. Procedures for training are easy, as employees would have been acquainted with the processes used.

It is in fact your staff that designs the custom software applications utilized by your organization. As a result, your business firm will not require obtaining any licenses in order to operate them, since it owns the license and rights of using that software. This means your company can do anything with it. Custom software application development comes in handy especially where huge numbers of personnel get to use them for free. An additional benefit is that your company will also not require any authorization when conducting changes in future to accommodate business growth.

By Harikrishna B. Patel