Someone to help you streamline, organize, set up and administer things you are not so good at. Today I’d like to give some attention to scheduling, notes and the use of Google Documents. If you do not use Gmail at this time as an email solution, you are missing out on a lot of great features that could make your life easier.

Did you know that your domain emails can be managed by Google Apps enabling you to use the full set of features Gmail has to offer using your i...@mydomain.com email?

Did you know you could easily share folders, files and presentations with clients, colleagues and contacts via Gmail?

This also keeps a copy of a file online, accessible through ANY computer with an internet connection. Making it unnecessary to travel with a USB key or laptop to where you need to be?

Are you sitting at a meeting, taking avid notes? Share them in one step with all present and absent members that need to remain up to date, at the click of a button.

Send editable proposals via Google Documents, course material and any other file your contact needs to be prepared to meet and work with you.

Make appointments and check each other’s calendar via Google Calendars.

Well I’m a raving happy Google Documents user, the best part is it’s free.

Another great benefit of having a Google Email management account is, if your PC crashes, your emails are still online in an ever growing inbox, so you can archive to your hearts content and never loose a contact ever again.

Last but not least, BlackBerries have calendar support and so do iPhones, a lot of smartphones can synch with the calendar making is accessible on the go!

We offer virtual assistance to all our clients and can help you set up your Google Apps email inbox system for your domain, quickly and hassle free. You can also use all these features if you have a Gmail account!

How has Google helped you streamline the way you work lately?

In one night I received triples of 20 different emails from spammers via the “contact us” form from one website and another has a user that’s been spamming on a weekly basis up to 45 posts in under a minute about weddings, this all on a health website.

Come Wednesday morning and what do I find, a pretty little gem of a post, that answers the questions I’ve been having. Is having a contact form really a good practise?

According to the article 5 Items to Delete from your Website by Kipp Bondar over at Hubspot.com contact forms are among the 5 things you should seriously consider getting rid of from your website. This of course in favor of targeted landing pages with effective conversion forms.

To understand this advise I’d like to propose you imagine your contact form is a mailbox, would you rather have it indiscriminately filled, causing clutter and confusion and have absolutely no control or oversight on what comes in OR would you like to make it so that incoming mail is organized according to what the sender is interested in or wants from you at that particular time?

The landing page comes with the possibility to allow people interested in a particular service or product come to you just for that, you receive an email and it’s not an initial greeting that may lead to more interactions where you finally discover what it is they need/want from your company. The contact established through a landing page is many times more straightforward and direct.

So cut the time you spend sifting through spam emails and random contacts that do not want your services and focus on creating real leads, getting the mail you want and hope for and let go of ever receiving any spam, ever!

I’m certainly convinced that I will do this for the websites I currently manage, to free them from unnecessary email bulks, especially because the one doing the sifting is usually me, but most of all because we all want to focus our time effectively, don’t you?

In this case I was the implementing party, contacting the existing website manager or web host service provider, only to look under the hood of the website to find the bare minimum amount of settings and freedom.

Ranging from very huge limitations on disk space and bandwidth, — who uses 250 MB as disk and bandwidth now a days, really?!?!– to missing functions like PHP, SQL and support for client autonomy, and with that I mean clients are unable to independently add new email accounts, email forwarders, subdomains, folders, meta-data and let alone upload new files for their website. Even if they wanted to add a new page or change content, some were so tied up by the limitations, the only way to get any updates was through their gatekeepers.

I have even encountered some who claim the website is their copyrighted material and so the client gets to never access the coding, html or layout of their design, SAY WHAT?!?! So basically then, you are paying to make use of their website, your preferred domain name belongs to their company and requests to adjust the Whois are swatted down with a, “but changing this is not a free service”.

I have to also warn that very, very cheap hosting only leaves room for a limited amount of pages and often just supports a static website. Say goodbye to hosting and tailoring your own conversion forms or calendars, adding e-commerce functions and any other features conveniently dubbed “extra”.

The funny thing is if you buy from hosting providers like Hostgator.com, you may be paying that same low price for a whole lot of features, support for a full fledged site with RSS, Blogs, Galleries, Slideshows, Audio, Video and so much more, straight from your own server account.

Yes, there are plenty of work arounds, which offer free options, like, Wufoo.com. They have a very decent form service. The free account allows you to make 3 forms and they offer varying paid subscriptions, which charge monthly fees to allow you more freedom.

But someone that has no idea how to workaround these limitations ends up coughing up payment for all sorts of charges to “upgrade” their hosting and wait, yes, wait for these guys to get around and find time to schedule in your request.

My two cents: hosting providers working like this have no sense of what a website should be, it is a product, it should belong to, YOU, the customer, they are a support team, ready 24/7 to help solve technical issues, but a lot of the freedom and responsibility should be on the client, because a website is no longer a commodity but a tool and if you do not adapt, soon, these web hosting providers will become irrelevant.

All in all be aware of what you buy, shared hosting servers are fine for starters, but for extra protection from possible spammers on your server, which can get your mail server blacklisted, go for a Virtual Private Server account and if you can dish out the extra dough and really want to be on your private island, get a dedicated server.

Always make sure you are receiving the following base services (this is just a short-list, not all the things are listed, yet):

• PHP 4 and up support
• Ftp Account
• Cpanel or any similar hosting management solution
• MySQL server acces, management and databases
• Automated account creation, login and password retrieval system

It’s just plain important to NOT need the provider for every little change. Most of all, real time changes need to be allowed, which really means you need to be in control. It sounds easy to let some “expert” deal with it, but you spare yourself a lot of headaches if you are in full control and have full access and send in a reliable, trustworthy Virtual Assistant to set things up for you when you need it, as fast as you need it.

That is the working relationship we offer here! We are a web hosting reseller for Hostgator and we give all our clients full access, meaning they can work on it whenever they choose to, if there are any serious technical issues they can’t handle, we are ready to deal with the technical team at Hostgator for you and have the problem addressed within 24 hours. And if they decide to let us manage things for them we do this as Virtual Assistants and try our best to be ready when you call!

Then when push comes to shove you find yourself with a heap of information, terms you can barely distinguish and mile long price and features lists. A few words slapping you in the face are web design, web development, website design and Internet Marketing.

You might shrug them off as different names for the same animal and neglect asking what they mean and how choosing one over the other affects what you get.

The low down.
A lot of companies on Aruba have websites that score very low on Hubspot’s Website Grader grading tool. This counts for websites that have been around for way longer than 5 years and have high numbers of inbound links and MOZRank.

A lot of these websites are product of website design; just the bare minimum of work and planning plus zero marketing. You will find that the titles, headings and filenames are not optimized for search engines and to top it off they are tied to limiting and debilitating “service” packages. Try changing the logo, pictures or add more email accounts, and you’ll find yourself with a lot of waiting, hassle and probably an offer to upgrade your service package, aka more costs.

How this affects your company varies depending on who your target market is, if you ever get found via the search engines, that is. It is especially crucial to know or have the support of a knowledgeable partner in this journey.

It’s very important to determine what you want your website to do for you. Is it to increase sales, build a relationship with clients, attract new leads, entertain, educate, engage and activate, showcase your unique expertise or just being a digital flyer?

Your answer alone should affect whether you choose design or development. — And soon you begin to see that more thought and careful planning needs to go into your website!

The differences between design and development

Truth be told, you could do without a designer, if your developer has great internet marketing insight. This means they are up to date with the relevant best practices to help you work towards getting your ROI. This also means that getting a website should not look like the process of getting a new business card design.

Below is a list comparing website design vs. web development.

1. Basic graphic design vs. In-depth goal oriented development: Your website should not be just a pretty page people see online, where your logo shines. It should include advanced internet marketing practices to ensure visibility, readership and conversion. Your website should get you found, keep visitors coming and turn those visitors into leads and customers. By simply having the look worked on without doing some planning, research and targeted implementation your website will fail to reach this objective.
2. One time activity vs. dynamic tracked continuous process: The website design process often looks like this: Basic 5-10 page site with basic company information, this is dumped onto the internet for people to see, end of process. How often will visitors return, knowing the content will never change? Not that often! The internet is all about where the eyes are, and to keep the eyes on you, you need to be dynamic, engage your visitors and give them something for their time on your website. But before you know how to do this, you need to be on the ball, and continuously track your performance.
3. Limitations vs. Freedom: A web developer will take into consideration your objectives when selecting a platform for your website. Too often I have seen designers dress up as developers, offering CMS that is easy to use for the client. Just edit title here, menu name, and content. The problem is, that’s also it! You can’t change anything else, easily add images or new pages. This varies from CMS to CMS, which is the area you may get to log in to to change content as needed. Some packages are even more restrictive, allowing only a set number of pages per package, having no FTP account, no user interface for changing content and limitations on email accounts. A web developer should in any case foresee growing internet needs and advise a package that leaves you room to grow beautifully and become the traffic magnet you deserve to be.

These are ONLY three points I covered in this article, my post is getting very long and there really is a lot to say about this topic. Which is why I will be writing a few more covering other aspects to help you identify what you need, on a side note, the truth is that in the next few years you will have wasted your time and money if you get only the web design package. i see it on a regular basis, customers come in wondering why no one finds them online and what they should do to see traffic increase and what’s next after that.

Sites that have no RSS, no conversion forms, no newsletter/subscription forms, sites that try to sell something without the possibility to do it right away online and websites with no new information are just glorified business cards, they accomplish nothing more than say where you are, that you are and that is it. Make it a good one, and let your website show who you are and why your company should get the visitor’s email, trust and eventually business.

Now we’re talking!

Which brought me to today’s revelation, why I do this work. Simple, I’m excited most about small non-profit organizations, their goals, objectives and ideas and being there for them to combine media, art and information to move people to act.

This is what I have been gathering all this information for, to help these advocates of social empowerment with the same tools as corporate and businesses, to attain results to improve their reach.

To be honest, this is what I was studying in Holland for, Cultureel Maatschappelijke Vorming, CMV for short, which combines Art, Education, Recreation and Culture to address issues in Society. A form of indirect social work, because you are the orchestrator of events, activities and information aimed at helping the people solve the social problems, become aware and work together. You are an ambassador for the people and connect the involved groups to come to collaboration.

As such, a website can accomplish a great part in giving non-profits the tools to inform, attract, engage and educate the society. From creating visibility online via social media, starting conversations about the topics and calling out to people to join the cause, volunteer and donate easily via your website.

A website can go to great lengths in reaching people and moving them by having great levels of involvement. For example, I was once checking a site in Holland aimed at getting the neighborhood active in taking care of the street, helping each other and create a feeling of unity. The activity was quite fun and simple, make a video of something in your street that needs fixing, the winner receives a certain amount for their street to pay for the repairs or changes and to have a party with all those living in the street.

It was fun to see how people became active in voicing their problems and then going on to asking their neighbors what they thought, simply by doing that they sparked the idea of a civil society. Simply by doing this a street get’s cleaned up, along with the social workers and the people that live in the street.

On Aruba we are far from getting to the concept of Civil Society, which basically means, every citizen is primarily responsible to address issues that are important ecologically, socially and otherwise. If a school in a neighborhood, serving the direct neighborhood is disheveled due to lack of funds or maintenance, the people in the area have the responsibility to make a note of this, reach out to help and set up for it to be addressed. Funding, which is often seen as a problem, can be addressed in many different ways, and most people never think of them, when it comes to things they expect a government to “fix”.

But imagine if your NGO website reached people to be more aware and not throw gum on the floor, and dump their trash correctly or appreciate the local waters and natural resources and handle carefully when they decide to build, or run businesses? Would you not have won half the battle?

That is what we, Creative Design Development, stand for, first and foremost, to be of assistance to these NGO’s, foundations, non-profits and small micro-businesses to reach their ultimate goals and help in our society in which ever way we can.

We thus have adjusted our pricing as of 1 of September 2010 for all corporate or business clients, but not for any of the non-profit clients and those to come in the future. We also have adjusted hourly rates for these organizations, where they can benefit of the same service and expertise at a price that fits a non-profit’s budget and needs.

We also donate domain names and new hosting accounts to very small organizations who have never been online, that means the first year the hosting is on us, to help you!

To be eligible you must be an organization operating in and for Aruban Causes, whether ecological, social and educational. This includes schools!

For more information about web development and design for non-profits email us at cau...@creativedesigndevelopment.com or call 297 743 9816.

Way to go doing it the lazy way!

The Domain name registrar management is not as straight forward as most when it comes to A, CNAME and other record changes or additions and this cost me a fair amount of airtime. Happily, once identified and changed the problem was resolved in a few hours. Just before I stepped out for a nice day at the beach on Sunday!

What have you guys been up to lately?

Kurt was wondering what to do about the content for his organization’s Facebook Landing page. He works with www.laalianza.org this is a Boston based non-profit that focuses on helping Hispanics acquire English language skills.

I shared these following tips with him.

Step 1: Define the purpose of the landing Page (sales, lead generation or just inform and share newest information)

• In the case of a non-profit, “sales” likely refers to getting more volunteers to sign up or donations.
• Lead generation is when you encourage the people that visit your Facebook Fan Page to sign up to some sort of newsletter or for updates on your new activities and programs.
• Lead generation: Encourage sharing the page, liking it and visiting it regularly.
• Just inform is pretty straight forward.

From there you would need to actually have the landing page designed to be:

• visually appealing
• direct, visitors see right away the WIIFM (What’s in it for me?)
• containing incentives to reach the desired goal.
• content fresh and dynamic (change it periodically).

Suggestion: Keep a segment for new events and update fans about the new schedule via updates and the wall, without telling them all of it, tell them there’s something new and exciting on the page and invite them to come and check it out and see if they want to join in and participate. Remember, they need a good reason to come to your page.

I wasn’t quite sure what kind of help Kurt needed, was it help developing what should go there (concept/elements) or the actual implementation (read here technical design of the CSS Landing page). I’ll be looking out for his reply to find out.

A few other things to consider:

• Conversion forms: Do you use any form of list building software service, like iContact or aweber? With these services you can easily make a form that you can put in the landing page to create a conversion form and build a list for your newsletters.  See my facebook landing page here: www.facebook.com/beththeimva for an example.
• Create Awareness via your current contacts network.
  • Place a link to your Facebook Fan Page in every email (email signature).
  • Invite people periodically to join, like and keep tabs of the activities you are doing for the community.
  • Ask people you know on your fans list to invite as many friends in the area to like and visit your fan page

• Get the party started: It can be challenging to get people to interact, usually it takes a bit of testing the water to see what pulls your audience in. With my business FB Page, I’m still testing what pulls in, FREE offers still have had no effect, but my current audience is not my target audience, so I’m not really answering any WHY/HOW for them. Comes to another point, it’s crucial to find out if these are the people who are your target audience, who will read updates and get involved.
• Invest a little: Try the Facebook ads every now and then, target the age group and area, depending on where you are active you have a large pool from which to fish for new fans, write an ad specifically designed to draw involved people who are passionate about what you do or the topic you discuss.

Have you already read my previous post on this website about the CSS Landing Page? You can read it here.

http://www.creativedesigndevelopment.com/2010/using-facebook-for-business/enhance-your-facebook-fan-page-add-full-css-landing-page

What have you tried that really worked? What would you do differently? Let me know, I’d love to hear how you are approaching the Facebook Fan Page Landing and interacting with visitors and readers.

Many companies still approach digital interactions in much the same way as they do PR. A recent article by Techcrunch surrounding an iPhone 4 antenna issue and how the direct complain was handled by the company’s PR brings to light an important factor to consider when you aim to engage the readers, customers and clients via your website’s blog or social media.

The article ends with a grand statement: “It’s not unusual for PR teams — … — to ignore or give vague or even misleading statements to the press.”

The same applies to interactions with website visitors and through social media channels: loose the PR mentality and get real, authentic and uncut.

DONT:

• Threaten: Your organization will look like a bully if you immediately threaten with legal action to shut up the commenter for voicing his/her views on what you did. Though, this may successfully get the person to stop any further comments, it also makes your organization look really bad.
• Be vague: People can read through vague excuses, vague explanations and blatant disregard to their needs, concerns and problems with your services.
• Ignore: In this case the best policy is to not ignore and give the needed attention to the issue, be ready to commit to offer to help and do so with sincerity.

Is your company in the habit of viewing complaints as just the product of annoying customers and not a marker for a much needed change?

It’s extremely easy to scratch criticism off as pure venting and just plain poison, especially if you are not really looking at your company with a sharp eye.

So always ask yourself:

• What could we have done differently to avoid the problem?
• Where did we go wrong?
• Have I allowed the person to explain the problem fully?
• How can I take ownership of this problem to resolve it?

At the end of the day it’s important to admit to failings, when they are present.

To really connect with visitors, your organization must:

• Reflect genuine interest
• Actually listen to the problem and/or remark
• Ask questions to assist the problem-solving process
• Avoid judgmental comments about the situation
• Use clear wording and avoid business jargon in the answer

Otherwise you will have wasted an opportunity to set the record straight and build trust.

What if there is really nothing you can do?

The last thing you want to do online is feed a visitor who has an obvious vendetta against your company. Who isn’t trying to come to any kind of resolution, but who does it simply to be poisonous.

Do not be quick to judge that all criticism is poison, but follow these steps:

• Offer to alleviate the situation
• Carefully observe their reaction
• If they refuse/ignore your offer chances are they are not looking to resolve the problem at all.

The way we are able to communicate now with website visitors and our social media network can also be a great opportunity to find ways to grow as a company to offer better services, be more aware of our activities and build trust relationships that last.

Finally user comments, reviews and visitor interactions eventually count as content on your website and you want it to reflect the best of you and give new visitors a reason to create a new relationship with your organization.

It’s really simple, write naturally. Yes, your starting point is the keyword seed list, and the related keyword phrases.

But when you go and draft the content DONT;

1. End every paragraph with the keyword phrase that covers your core business.
2. Start every other sentence with a keyword or keyword phrase.
3. Write sentences that sound like they were rewritten or translated to use a synonym of a keyword, sounding redundant.

I have read articles that were suggested to me, I don’t even remember where, one used the keyword “content development manchester” almost in every other third sentence. I read two paragraphs and closed the page. It felt like it was automated and it read really weird.

“That is why content development manchester is so beneficial!”

…It wasn’t even the company name!

Now, I know that with this I have just mapped my article for that keyword phrase, I’m okay with that to prove a point. Another thing is that there are quite some websites with copy that is like an unedited translation from one language to the next. And these are the worse, grammar is lost primarily in word order and the keywords pop up nearly twice in a sentence.

These are really extreme examples and serve the purpose of warning you, keywords need to be used, absolutely! But just like salt, sparingly and purposefully.

Readers are smart, they searched the term you are targeting and know the difference between an article meant to just pull them to your site and one that is aimed at engaging and educating them. When shopping for an SEO service provider, be careful about the keyword density suggestions and above all aim to engage.

In this way your website will not so easily be forgotten, given of course, the content is worth their time and adds value to their business as is.

Aside from keeping my creativity at a competitive level, passionate endeavors are fulfilling. Last night, I had once such experience. In two hours, we worked together to compose and arrange two songs. And I really enjoyed it!

Much like I enjoy writing poetry, an old habit of mine since I was in my early teens. Though I am less active writing poetry now, I do enjoy expressing my poetry as I write lyrics for songs.

It’s been a long time since I wrote anything in the local tongue, Papiamento. And last night it was as if Izaline Calister herself was nudging me to do it again. We were training in a room with 7 posters of her events, that I could count, and it just felt right.

Also, I have been toying with the genre/style I want to sing and write for. Initially, I really wanted to do something in the spirit of Within Tempation, The Gathering, Epica or at least Evanescene. And still somehow the journey and collaborations are taking a turn for alternative with roots in Blues, Reggea and Jazz. I’m really amazed at the process so far, and last night I decided to embrace it.

There is no point in fighting the journey that life takes you on, like it or not the destination you envisioned might not be what’s in your core. So, you need to trust the process.

It was also a moment to accept my own reservations, voice them and then still go with my gut. We have been programmed to think in rules, expectations, possibilities and impossibilities. Often these programs block us from reaching our full potential.

The same can be said with your website, online business, social media, inbound marketing. What are the thoughts blocking your process? What is stagnating your reach? Are there new horizons you need to explore but are not confident enough to just go ahead and do it?

As I analyze what I do, the people I have been blessed to work with and grow with I realized there is one recurring factor. They are all on the journey to grow, learn and expand their horizons. They are keeping up-to-date with current activities and best practices and this keeps me motivated to improve, discover and put in 200%.

When you become my client, I work for you and with you. It’s not just about giving a report and a list of what you could or should do, it’s also about feeling and addressing the deeper needs that are unique to you, your company and your vision.

This becomes the true meaning of tailored (virtual) services!

P.S. Later I will add a link to the songs we made that day!