This is the first post in my series on Cloud Computing. Click here for the introduction and index.

What is cloud computing?

Cloud computing describes computing where the Internet and Internet technology is a major portion of  an application. Examples of Cloud Computing include Web Mail programs, like Gmail, and photo sharing applications like Photobucket. Typically cloud computing only requires a web browser on the users’ computer, and an Internet connection.

Why is it called cloud Computing ?

Cloud computing got it name because about 15 years ago when people created diagrams of network connections they decided to make the Internet look like a cloud. (Don’t know why, but its always been that way.–they could have used a mushroom and called it mushroom computing…much more interesting.)

Why would you want use cloud computing

With cloud computing you don’t have invest in top of the line hardware to run sophisticated programs, the powerfull hardware is on on the server. All you need is a computer with a web browser, and an Internet connection. There are many applications that are free, and other applications can be used via subscription and may be more cost effective than purchasing an application for your PC . (This pay as you go method of prvoiding sofware is sometimes called Software as a Service or SaaS.) You also don’t have worry about updating your software and your data is stored on the server so you don’t have to worry about a PC crash destroying your data.

How about a picture of cloud computing ?

Cloud Diagram

What if I want to see real pictures of clouds ? 

Click here

How about a Cloud Computing Haiku ?

Why clouds and not rain/Rain makes the computer wet/Clouds block the sun’s glare 

Cloud computing sounds great so far.. but wait for  my next post where I talk about the advantages and disadvantages of cloud computing. (Storm clouds on the horizon perhaps.)

My Data’s up in a cloud, of that fact I may be proud.
You may or may not become wowed , but this info I shall shout aloud. 

I’ve always wanted to able to sit at any computer anywhere, whether at home or on the road, and be able to run my business with no worries about hardware or or software. Over the past few years the internet has grown to the point where this just may be possible for a small business owner. Among tech geeks, running your software over the internet  is known as cloud computing. If you’ve  ever used a web mail program like Hotmail, Google Mail, Yahoo mail, or AOL mail, you’ve already been computing in the “cloud”. 

I have started a few small business in my lifetime. Currently I am running a part-time home based business business that consists of this blog and a consulting business. Since this blog is about getting value from technology in a small business, I want to show you how I use technology to run my business better. 

Starting the business

Instead of paying a company to incorporate my LLC, I got on to the Georgia Secretary of State’s website, printed the forms and followed their directions to incorporate my LLC. This saved me about $100 in fees from a registration website. It may be worth your while to get to your states website and see if you can do this yourself. (I think you can only do this yourself if you register your corp. in the state you live in, but I’m not a lawyer and this isn’t legal advice.)

Internet and hosting

I use ATT DSL (So there’s no money saved there ). I registered my sites with GoDaddy.com‡ They usually have a good deals on website registration. While there are some free web hosting services, I also use GoDaddy‡ for my web hosting. They are very reputable, and since a good deal of my business comes from the web, it worth paying for hosting. GoDaddy has applications that you can install for free on its paid hosted sites, and I use a one of those, a blogging platform called WordPress  (So I didn’t pay for that at least). In any case I have  2 websites for less than  $120 per year  including annual registrations and monthly hosting fees. (Thats about $10/month !!!.)

Applications

I use both OpenOffice.org (a free MS office like office suite you install on your computer) and Google Docs for my Wordprocessing and Spreadsheet needs. Since both are free is saves hundreds ($250) compared to shelling out the big bucks for MS Office. For email I use Google mail (gmail). It allows me to consolodate my 5 email addressed (blog, consulting, 2 personal addresses, and one address that only my inlaws use) into a single location. Its easy to use and pretty robust for a web based email client

I do pay for my accounting software. I use Quicken Home And Business. But to save money I don’t upgrade it each year, I take about two and a half years between upgrades. I strongly belive that if it works, there’s no reason to upgrade (if you have to pay). I upgraded this last time becase they said that they were shuttng off my online bank access.

I think that, on average I have saved about $400 over the life of my business by making smart technolgy choices. 

I’m thinking of moving entirely to “the cloud” sometime soon so I’ll probably let you know how that goes.

No..this isn’t a political post, I’m just using the the successfull Obama campaing as a mini-case study for how you can use the web to improve your business. 

One of the thing that is frequently talked about in the press, was the Obama campaign’s use of the web to interact with  his supporters– To Summarize, he had the designer of the Facebook social network design his campaign website. His site allowed him to accomplish the following goals

1. Present his Platform (Product Information)
2. Collect Money (E-Commerce Sales)
3. Inform Supporters of Events (Promotions/Advertising)
4. Communicate with Supporters (Advertising)
5. Obtain Feedback from Supporters (Market Research/Customer Service)

If you are running a small business you hould want your web presence to accoplish as many of these goals as is possible.

Ok, you say “now that you have told me what I already know, how am I going to do it ?”

Below is a list of tools and hints and resources to help you:

1. Pick the right domain name. This link is to a Video blog about how to pick a good domain name by Bob Parsons at GoDaddy.com. You can also register you domain name at goDaddy.com‡. I have my Domains registered at with GoDaddy, as well as my web hosting and some of my email accounts.

2. Create a website with interactive features. Once you have a domain– Google has a great free tool called Google Sites, that allows you to create a website withn many features  (like announcements, Calendars) and other information and, it does not require any programming. Google Forms lets you collect data and information from site visitors and store them in a google Spreadsheet.

4. Ceate a blog. Blogs are a great way to ceate  personal interaction with you customers. I recommend you get blogging platform created for businesses. If you have some technical savvy you can use use the ‘quick install apps from goDaddy’s Hosting Connecton‡ (This blog is setup that way with a blogging program called WordPress), or you can have your blog hosted by WordPress.com for a reasonable prices.

5. Send an email newsletter. Newsletters are a great way to communicate with your customers. Make sure that you have valuable and informative content as well as promotional  information. A tool that comes well recommented for this purpose is  Aweber‡. They lots of tools to help you leverage your email list.

6. Setup a web store. You can use goDaddy’s Quick Shopping Cart‡ (I have used it, and found it to be pretty good) or one of the many other ecommece sites out there. Don’t forget to setup a payments, PayPal and Google Checkout are good options for a basic store.

I have been trying to figure out what to say about Windows Vista. It has certainly gotten a (somewhat undeserved) bad rap since its release. The real problem with Vista isn’t anything about the Operating System(OS) itself, the problem is Windows XP.  XP is pretty good, pretty stable, and works with most hardware and software. Vista on the other hand, doesn’t work with older hardware, some software, and didn’t bring any more stability to the table. Vista does have new gee-whiz features but they really don’t add to its underlying functionality, and an upgrade incurs significant costs for hardware and software upgrades.

However over time, you do have to upgrade to newer versions of the OS in order to keep up with new technological innovations, to fix bugs, and to maintain security. But you won’t need to upgrade to Vista to do this. Microsoft has just released its latest beta (test) version of the Version of windows that will follow Vista. Its currently called “Windows 7″ Microsoft has indicated that it may be out in as early as a year from now. The reviews I read indicate that it fixes a lot of the complaints that people had with Vista. So since something better is on the horizon, wait to upgrade. 

If you have to buy a new PC go ahead and buy a vista one (there’s no reason to pay extra for an XP downgrade.) You’ll have to make sure your software and peripheral hardware (printers, scanners, cameras, etc) are compatible, but Vista won’t disappoint you. 

Not more than a day after I posted my review of Jott, they sent me an email stating that they are out of Beta. They now offer three tiers of service– Jott Basic for Free, Jott for $3.95/month and Jott Pro for $12.95/month. Unfortunately they took away emailing, and Google calendar from the basic (free) service, but you still get 15 second notes with the free plan.  The Jott ($3.95/month) plan  is pretty much the same as the free Beta service I reviewed in my earlier post. I would have hoped they left some emailing on the free plan since I think that was Jott’s best selling point, but beggars can’t be choosers. If you need to do  emailing on the run, from a non-email enabled cell phone, the $3.95 a month plan may be worth it to you. I am still planning to use the notes feature myself since I forget stuff frequently, and its faster than writing.