I found this article today to be pretty good. Check it out below, most of these apps are so common now
A few weeks back I wrote a popular post about the best apps for job seekers that was very well received. I promised I’d share the top apps I use to make my life as an entrepreneur easier. It wasn’t easy, as I have over 100 apps on my iPad and Android (don’t judge me). It might seem like overkill, but it’s important as a small business owner to be able to do business anywhere, any time, with anyone. And to do that, I need the apps to be on both devices since I’m never without one or the other. You never want to miss an opportunity to turn a contact or chance meeting into a client.
Here are some of the apps I use to keep my business humming along.
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My Finances:
Square- Let’s start with the obvious. I need to be able to take a payment anywhere, any time and the days of those bulky POS (the S stands for SALES…get your mind out the gutter) terminals. Square allow me to insert a little square dongle (hence the name) into my device and with the click of an app and swipe of a card, I can process credit card payments on the spot. It only costs me 2.75% per swipe and my money is transferred into my bank account within a day or two. There are no other fees and even the dongle is free. Easy breezy. And I just heard they came out with a device for cabbies that they’re testing in New York. Go Square!
Paypal- OK I know some folks don’t like Paypal, but honestly, I’ve been with them since the very beginning. They now have an app where I can just log in, send a payment request to someone and they get an email letting them know to make a payment. I use the standard service and I don’t pay any monthly fees. They charge you on a sliding scale 2.2 – 2.9% plus 30 cents each transaction. I can even create invoices. But what I like about Paypal is that I can process higher priced services like consulting fees and the like without a cap on transaction amounts. Plus some people just prefer to pay via Paypal.
Intuit Online Payroll- Yes! You can even process your payroll via an app. Intuit let’s you set up your account online (a tedious but well worth it process) and you download the app to your device. Then you can process payroll for your employees. The app is free but the service is $39 per month. Right now they are offering a 30 day free trial. They also offer the GoPayment service that is similar to Square. But if you have employees and you’re always on the go, Intuit Online Payroll keeps you current and professional.
And for honorable mentions, the banks and investment brokerages I use all have apps so I can access information about my money at all times. I also use Mint.com (there’s an app for that!) and XE Mobile Currency (which is a foreign currency converter). It comes in handy when you’re traveling abroad and need to do a quick on the spot currency conversion.
Productivity:
eFax Mobile- I have been using eFax since the beginning of time. I love being able to access my faxes (albeit rare) via email instead of relying on a bulky machine and phone line. eFax has an app where you can view all of your faxes from your devices. You can send, view and sign faxes with eFax Mobile.I can opt to store them in my eFax account or move them over to my Dropbox. The app is free, but the service carries a fee. If you get minimal faxes, then the Plus subscription would suit you. You get 150 faxed pages per month for $16.95 per month. The Pro subscription comes with 200 faxed pages and it’s $19.95 per month.
USPS Mobile- I hate standing in line at the post office. With this app, I’m able to determine postage and buy postage without having to endure those long lines. I can also schedule pickups, track packages and scan packages. I can say it’s been a life saver for me. The only thing it can’t do is check my P.O. Box. LOL
Qrafter- Speaking of scanning, I use this app to both read and create scannable QR codes. I simply use the camera on my device to capture the image and I’m all set. There is a basic and a Pro version. The Pro version costs $2.99.
Printback by Xerox Mobile- I don’t care what they say. There is some comfort in knowing that you’ll be able to print anywhere as long as you have that app. This app is free and supports most Microsoft Office and PDF documents. The best part is you’re not running around looking for a computer to stick your flash drive in or looking to connect or download software to connect to your laptop. You simply choose your document (usually from a Dropbox folder), determine the size you need, then let the app do the rest.
DocuSign- How many times have you had a deal delayed because you have to wait until you received the documents (or send them to a client) to sign and get started? DocuSign takes care of all of that. I keep a standard version of all my contracts and agreements in Dropbox (that name keeps coming up quite often, doesn’t it?) for easy access. Once the documents are updated and ready to execute, I log into DocuSign to get the required signatures…without having to use a printer. You can sign a Word, JPEG or PDF document. The only thing I don’t like is I have to use my finger. I’m waiting on a stylus type instrument to make it easier to sign.
QuickOffice Pro- This is a life saver! If ever I need to edit a word, excel or powerpoint document on the go, this app is my saving grace. Now, I did opt for the paid Pro version, which was $14.95, but because you can only view PDFs on it and not edit, I had to supplement it with another new find (which I’ll talk about next). You can create, edit and share all Microsoft documents with this app. And you don’t lose any formatting! I have not regretted buying the pro version.
OnLive Desktop (powered by Microsoft)- I like that this also allow you to edit and work on Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents. OnLive opens up to look just like your Windows desktop with the icons for each program on the ‘desktop’. You can open documents you’ve stored in the system in any of the programs to edit in real time just like you would on your PC. Don’t believe me? Check it out. It also allows you to store documents, so Dropbox may be repetitive. Both QuickOffice and OnLive Desktop can be synced with your Dropbox account.
Dropbox- OK, if you haven’t heard of Dropbox by now, where the heck have you been? I keep my important documents in Dropbox to use from any device at any time. I have a free account but you can opt for a paid account. My basic account has 2GB of storage. The more people you invite or refer to Dropbox, the more chances you have to earn additional storage space. You can instantly send a document right from your smart phone or tablet after an impromptu meeting and it gets delivered right to their inbox. It’s a must have for easy access and quick retrieval.
Read More here: http://www.empowerme.org/index.php/2012/03/08/apps-entrepreneurs/
Category : Blog &Business &Business Cards &Business Credit &E-mail &Internet &Technology Thursdays
What is a CDN
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a network of server localities that deliver your content in multiple locations. Normally, if someone visited your website, they’d pull all your locally hosted static files (images, js, css) off your server directly. Otherwise with a CDN setup, they would pull those static files from their closest CDN, so for example if you were in Texas, the files would be served from a locality in Texas or close to it. What this means is that the files would load quicker because they are served from that location. This means that the person surfing your website will view the page quicker.
Amazon Cloudfront
The main advantage is an increase in the speed with which the content is delivered to the users. CDN users can therefore deliver high definition content with high Quality of Service, low costs and low network load. This can be images, video, streaming media and other types of dynamic media.
What is Amazon Cloudfront
Amazon Cloudfront is part of Amazon Web Services for content delivery. Cloudfront integrates with AWS to give developers and business an easy cost effective way to distribute content to users or web surfers with low latency, and high data transfer.
Some other benefits using a CDN:
- Distributed data centers – Most CDN’s provide localized data centers which are closer to the user in return making page load time faster.
- Boosts performance and saves money – The CDN helps disseminate the load, saves bandwidth, increase performance and can reduce your existing hosting cost–mainly if you have a high traffic website.
- Files may be pre-cached - If someone visiting your page has already visited a site using the same CDN, the file has already been cached by your browser and want have to be downloaded again.
Category : Blog &Business &Internet &Technology Thursdays
Submitting articles to article directories is another one of the link building strategies that can be used to build links for a forum. There are 100’s of article directories available and most are not worth it, as the search engines tend not to index a lot of the articles, so they pass no backlink benefit (link juice). Also, because of duplicate content of the articles, even if they were indexed by the search engines, the value of any links in the articles are not going to be worth much.
I use article submission to build deeplinks to valuable threads and discussions on forums to help them rank higher and get more of the threads indexed in the search engines. This is important in getting ranked for some of the long tail searches and also getting some indented or extra listings in the search engine results.
There are two strategies I use here. Ezine Articles is the number one article site (it has a PR of 6), so I submit one or two articles a week to them on topic that are related to topics under discussion on the forums. Your profile at Ezine Articles can also have several links to your site as well. To ensure that the articles I write and my profile are well indexed (and pass the benefit of the link), I use Linkvana to, not only get links to the forums, but also get direct links to my Ezine Articles, so they can pass more link juice to my forums. Traffic is also generated to the forums as the Ezine Article ranks better from the links to it. JnairbDesign.com has great affordable link building services.
Read More of this article here: http://www.forumdr.com/article-directory-submission/264/
Category : Advertising &Internet &Marketing &search engine optimization &Search Engine Ranking &SEO
Find out for yourself how our website graphic design, print design and link building services are different and better from the competition. We provide innovative as well as completely original website design services for all types of business professionals, including doctors and lawyers. Our website design services are so extensive, that we can provide you with all of the wants and needs that you have for all of your website, marketing, promotion, search engine and business needs.
We can ensure that your website will be fully customized to suit your every need, to help keep you heads above your competition. Our content management systems can help you with the creation and management of all of your web pages, sub pages as well as your layout. We can also give you a number of professionally written press releases, which will cover only the most exciting and valuable information concerning your website, products and services.
We also proffer continual updates to both your website and your content, so you never have to worry about it. With our user management systems, you can manage all of your e-mail and profile creations, your user’s registrations, updates and much more. Conversely, if you would rather not have the stress associated with these types of updates, we can provide you with web maintenance and updates services as well.
In order to help you boost your search engine ranking and increase your organic traffic, we will also help you to create a customized blog. With this blog, you can create your own online community, which will keep your past, present and future clients coming back over and over again. In addition to a customized blog, we can provide you with marketing services that include e-mail newsletters.
E-mail newsletters are one of the most highly effective marketing tools available. E-mail newsletters serve as exemplary promotion for your company, your products and your services. Often, these newsletters generate repeat traffic, because of the immediate communication that they provide to all of your potential as well as current clients. E-mail newsletters also provide a personal touch, in an increasingly impersonal world.
If for any reason you need PDF design and development services, we can provide you with interactive, unique and professionally created PDF files for any application. Also, we understand that a high search engine ranking is vital to maximizing your sales and increasing your traffic to your website. For this reason, we will provide you with search engine optimization services, which will allow all of your potential clients to find you on Google, Bing, Yahoo, AOL and more.
Our website design services also include analytics set up and management, which will provide you and your website additional exposure. We can create Google and Yahoo pay per click campaigns for marketing, as well as banner advertising. This will increase your website exposure and visibility, thus increasing traffic and sales.
We at JNAIRBDesign strive to provide you with every website graphic design, marketing and business promotion tools available on the web today. You can contact us on the Internet any time at www.jnairbdesign.com, where you can find out more about our products, services and how we can help you in all of your business ventures.
Category : Internet &Marketing &Printing &search engine optimization &Search Engine Ranking &SEO &Web Design &Websites
Press Release Distribution is a great way of gaining exposure for your website as well as getting a high quality source of backlinks. To give you an inkling of how popular online news search is, comScore has reported that half of all internet users visit an online news site in a given month. Also, of all the online news sites including MSNBC, the New York Times, CNN, etc., Yahoo! News is the number one online news destination.
- Press release increases the visibility of your online business. One benefit of submitting your press release to an optimized press release directory can substantially boost your business exposure online. It is estimated that over 80 million people get their news online everyday. Many of these people can be viewed as potential customers. But, do not turn your press release into an advertisement.
- Press release distribution is fairly inexpensive. Many companies write their own press releases, while submitting themselves leaves them with the only expense of time. The only expense comes with hiring a press release distribution service to get your story in the hands of your market or potential clients. But this is still inexpensive, especially when compared with paid advertisement.
- Press release improves your SEO Ranking. Improving SEO is significantly important when it comes to making money online with your internet business. There are great advantages of having an optimized SEO web press release. Backlinks can be embedded into your press release, a nice way to gain quality backlinks of which is one of the most important factors of improving your SEO.
- Press release boost your company’s visibility. Although small companies need to fight for exposure, this is also true with larger corporations. Press release is comparable to other forms of advertising in which that you let customers know who you are, what you do, and why they need you.
Have you experienced some benefits of Press Releases? Share by leaving a comment.
When it comes to your business, it is vital that you have a website that provides your customers with everything that they need and want. This includes not only the products and services you offer, but an exciting, unique and innovative website that provides stunning graphics and is easy to navigate. For this reason, you need the best Website Design services available, in order to maximize the promotion of your products and services. However, with so many different website design companies on the market today, it can be increasingly difficult to find the best one for you. However, you can narrow down your search significantly, when you choose a website design company, that has an extensive and professional portfolio, but also provide you with link building services as well.
In addition to your incredible website graphic design, usability and superior showcasing of your products and services, with link building services you are sure to maximize your traffic, sales and much more. Your website design company will be able to provide you with directory submissions, which are an incredibly easy and fast way to improve all of your search engine rankings. As you know, search engine rankings are vital to your business, as most people will not look past the first page when they are looking for a specific product or service. You will also be provided with local business listings, which will submit your business is information to local directories, such as Google maps and the Yellow Pages. You will also be provided with extensive keyword research, which is vital to your search engine ranking. This keyword research will be taken from the most popular search engines, and in turn, these highly targeted keywords will be used in a variety of article marketing and submissions. These articles are a very popular and effective way to promote your website, products and services.
In addition, these highly valuable keywords will also be used in the distribution of a press release. The press release will be jam-packed full of information about your website, services, products, advantages and much more. This is a superior way of getting exposure for your website, and will provide you an excellent source of back links. To continue the benefits to your website, you will also be provided with a Squidoo lens and a Hub Page. Hubpages and Squidoo are a spectacular way to boost your website promotion, because both Squidoo and Hubpages are PR8. This means, having a back link from either one of them or both, is of superb benefit to you and your website. However, it does not end there, as your website design and link-building services will provide you with social bookmarking. Social bookmarking is easily the fastest SEO option available, and may be the most effective. There are over 400 million people that use Facebook alone, so taking advantage of social bookmarking is a superior way to increase your organic traffic, boost your exposure and much more, so you can watch your sales and customer base increase dramatically.
Best Regards,
Brian
Category : Advertising &Blog &Internet &Marketing &Web Design
During Blogworld Expo in Los Angeles, I was given the opportunity to interview Jim Farley, Ford’s Group Vice President, Global Marketing, Sales and Service live on stage. The discussion was focused on a powerful theme, putting your brand in the hands of customers. Certainly for any business, large and small, the idea of empowering customers to shape and steer your brand can be perceived as both frightening and dangerous. But here, Farley brings a refreshing perspective on why businesses, including Ford, need to engage customers in a more human and genuine manner. He looks beyond marketing to bring executives, employees and customers together in building a stronger brand, more relevant products and services, and investing in meaningful relationships to ultimately create a remarkable business…a business that matters beyond its goods.
“My responsibility is to teach the organization something they’re not willing to learn. If I get fired because of it or if I don’t fit, I should not have been there any way. We live in a new paradigm…with a new opportunity.” – Jim Farley
I think you’ll enjoy this video. Please take a moment to watch and share…
Category : Advertising &Blog &Business &Internet &Marketing &Video
Online Marketing has always been a task that most online business owners don’t want to tackle when trying to get traffic to their website. I know because I was one of those who faced this challenge when trying to keep consistent traffic to my website. Now, there are cost effective ways to get this done.
Manual directory submission and manual article submission is now considered a powerful and at the same time cheap web promotion and link building tool used by internet marketing companies and Search Engine Optimization firms or SEO experts. Even most newbie’s know that incoming links to their site can help increase traffic and help the site’s ranking.
Submitting your website url to directories along with submitting articles to article directories, social bookmarking, press releases, blogging and even posting to relevant forum topics can increase search engine visibility and high quality targeted traffic.
Category : Blog &Internet &Marketing &search engine optimization &Search Engine Ranking &SEO
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Category : Blog &Internet &Marketing &Newsletter
Because there are fewer competitors, local search engine optimization is not nearly as challenging as broader categories — but it still has its challenges. Many of the same core SEO rules still apply, but thanks in part to improvements on the part of search engines and the intersection of search and social, it is far simpler than at any time in the Web’s short but rich history to optimize for local search.
Be Everywhere That Matters: From Google Places to local directories, local links and user citations are the primary influencers of high rankings for geo-specific terms. Local users go deep for information, so even small, seemingly low-volume destinations can result in quality links. They may not receive a lot of traffic individually, but a few links from relevant blogs can go a long way – on the search result pages and even in your local community.
Ask for Reviews: If you’re a local business and are not collecting reviews, you won’t be in business long. Search engines rely on content, and in the eyes of search engines today there is no more reliable signal of businesses’ authority and relevance to an individual query than the presence of reviews. You don’t just need to ask for reviews here and there, you should consider making it part of either your business processes or marketing campaigns. If you run a dry cleaning business, what’s 25 percent off your patron’s next visit for a review? You don’t need hundreds, but in order to remain fresh and relevant, your review assets do need to be constantly appended.
Set Up a Schedule: It sounds basic (perhaps overly so), but ask the next local business owner you encounter when was the last time they checked their position on the search results pages for keywords and phrases relevant to their business. The answer will likely be “it’s been a while”. Setting up a schedule to monitor position and the impact of individual promotions, just like spending time delivering paychecks to your employees, is a neccessary function of business.
Category : Advertising &Business &Internet &low cost advertising &Marketing &search engine optimization &Search Engine Ranking &SEO &Websites
