I’m going to see if I can use Google+ instead of my. Click here to find out what I’m doing

I’m on vacation this week. My wife wanted to go to a restaurant with a catchy name, that we had driven by earlier. Before we went, I looked it up on Google places. The comments and ratings were not favorable. We didn’t go. Before social ratings we would have eaten there because, as vistors, we wouldn’t know about the restaurant before we ate there. It’s more important than ever to provide excellent service, since bad experiences are broadcast to a much wider audience.

Over that past year a number of ‘freemium’ services have been limited or removed. (Freemium is a method of selling web based apps where you get a basic version for free, and pay to upgrade for more features). Just recently Google, change the terms of is free version of Google Apps to include 10 users instead of 50 users.  Other freemium apps have been eliminated as well. (QuickBooks Simple Start online, and Working point also eliminated freemium in the past 12 months) .

Freemium apps have been a boon to small businesses, because you could get a basic set of functionality at no cost. In most cases the free version had most, if not all, the functionality you needed at a great price –free. If it was missing something, in a lot of cases you could work around it.

There are a lot of quality freemium apps out there, and thats the problem; of all of the freemium apps that I currently use, or that I have used (probably about a dozen),  I have only upgraded one of them to a paid version. That means that these companies are support infrastructure, security, and features for me, and not getting paid for it. With a conversion rate like that, I suspect that you will see less and less fremium services in the future.

Update: Added Zoho Books

Here is a a list of web based programs to help a freelancer run her/his business (This has a tech freelancer slant but should be usefull to anyone.) I was kind of disappointed that Free versions of QuickBooks Online and WorkingPoint are gone. Also before you use these tools read my posts on the risks of Web Based (Cloud Computing)

• Cloud Computing: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
• Have A Backup Plan When The Internet Is Down

Domain Name: GoDaddy.
Cost: Less then $20.00 per year
Extras: Free Email Address, iPhone/Android App

Email Client: Gmail (Google)
You can have it pull and send your email from your GoDaddy Email account with POP
Cost: Free
Extras:  iPhone/Android App
Alternate: GoDaddy’s web email client
Cost: Free

Office Applications: Google Docs
Cost: Free
Extras: iPhone/Android App
Alternate: Zoho
Cost: Free
Extas: iPhone/Android App

Web Hosting: Blogger (Google)
Cost: Free
Alternate: GoDaddy Website Tonight
Cost: $5.00/month

Accounting: Quickbooks Online Simple Start
Cost: $13.00/month
Extras: Mobile freindly website
Alternate: WorkingPoint
Cost: $10.00/month
Alternate: Zoho Books
Cost: $24.00/month

Job Tracking: Zoho Support
Cost: Freemium*
Alternate: Zoho CRM
Cost: Freemium
Extras: Mobile friendly website

Time Tracking: Toggl
Cost: Freemium
Extras: iPhone/Android App

* Freemium means you get basic version with with less features or some/limitations but you can upgrade to get other features. Freemum versions are, however,  fully functional

Now that I am an ‘Apple-head’ (big time iPhone user), I have discovered that the way I read emails have changed.

Since I only have a small screen, I read the screen full of information and then decide if the email is worth reading further. This means if you haven’t given me a reason to scroll down, I’m deleting your email. I’ve discovered that on a number of occasions, the important part of the email was out of view and I never read it. I suspect this may be true with others too.

So, in conclusion, make sure you either get to the point at the beginning of the email, or let the recipient know there’s more to read.

You customers don’t use the yellow pages to find you anymore, they use the web.  I have listed four major directories you need to be listed in. These are the ‘yellow pages’ of the 2010′s. If you’re not listed in these directories, not only do you run the risk of being invisible to your customers, your competitors can ‘hijack’ your listings and steal your  customers from you.

1. Google Local. The 800 pound gorilla of everything Internet. With a listing here,  your company will show up on local searches on the web, and on cell phones. It also helps to ensure that when someone types your business name into Google, they will get accurate information.
2. Bing Local Listing Center. Bing is currently  a chihuahua nipping at Google’s heels. But, you should never underestimate  Microsoft with billions of dollars to spend on marketing their new search product.
3. Yahoo Local. While not the behemoth it was 10 years ago, Yahoo still has significant reach — especially with all those yahoo mail users.
4. Yelp. Yelp is not a search engine per se, its a group of listings with comments and ratings. If Yelp covers your area, and users are commenting on your industry and/or business, you need to claim your listing respond to comments.

Not only are these directories available on your potential customers’ desktops, they are also on your customer’s mobile phones.  Making sure you are listed gives you a better chance of being found in the home and on the road.

Related Articles

• Are you invisible to potential customers?

What do you think about local search ?

Toilet Paper Entrepreneur ‡

Since its after Christmas, and you are probably flush with a bit of holiday cash, and you are ready to start on a new business endeavor…how about about spending some of that money on a book? The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur is small book (175 pages) that cover a lot of ground about starting a business.

Ok, before I start, why might you ask would I review a business book on a tech site?  Two reason: first, most computer books are boring, you probably wouldn’t want to read them even if they were ‘good’. Second, this book is peppered with tips about how to use tech to help run your business on a shoestring budget.

The book’s primary focus is small ‘bootstrapped’ start-ups. If you are  planning a $5MM venture round, while some of the techniques in the book could be useful, you are probably not the focus of this book. On the other hand, if you’ve got an idea for a small business, or you are running small business this book may be for you.

The first two sections of the book cover motivation, and creating a vision of where you want your business to go, while the second part deals with a more nuts and bolts approach to running your business.  If you are just getting started running your business, or trying to decide where you want to go with a business,  this book could be very helpfull to you. Be warned, the author, Mike Michalowicz uses some crude language, so it’s not for the under 16 set, but its very easy to read, and he is able explain concepts well.

Here is the tech tie in, throughout the book there are gray boxes with TPE TIPS, a good number of them deal with Internet tools to help you run your business. Its like a getting an extra bonus in your book.

Whether you get the book or not, the author also has a blog that’s worth reading.

Buy this book at Amazon‡

I used it briefly for a blog about 6 months ago, but its been dormant since then. It’s is currently registered with goDaddy. If you are interested,  email domains@solutions4tech.com

To all Veterans, those actively serving, and all their families: Thank you for your service and your sacrifice.

To the Families of those who have died defending our country: Thank you for your sacrifice, it is appreciated and valued.

All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.
Winston Churchill

I moved my business to Google apps a few weeks ago. I wanted to add some email addresses and consolidate my docs online. It’s also a step towards a ‘cloud’ based architecture where the computer I use becomes irrelevant. The conversion was fairly painless, although the some of the directions for modifying domain info on goDaddy were out of date. I now have multiple email addresses,a nice Google-mail based email client, and the ability to store my documents in the Google docs application. Apps also has a shared calendar app that I’m not using now, and the ability to quickly create websites for projects.

Now that I’ve gotten everything set up I’m planning to convert my business documents to Google docs. I also plan to start creating websites for each of my clients major projects. I hope that will make communication easier.

By the way, Google apps standard edition is free. With it you get up to 50 users, shared calendars, shared contacts, websites sites, and docs. Since it’s free, you do get ads in the email client.

Because of it’s functionality, and value Google apps is a great tool for very small businesses. But, before you take the plunge, read my post on the the ‘Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ of Cloud Computing