Your Antivirus is SLOWING you down…
I don’t normally write about Antivirus.. It’s more of a nerd tech thing… But in this case I feel that I have to. It’s required if your in business though here’s why:
- Down time sucks – and if you can prevent it, you should.
- You probably have sensitive customer information on your PC
- You don’t need the hastle in general
So…. I recently discovered something I just had to share…
I’ll admit – for years on Windows XP/ Windows 7 I never ran antivirus. Call me a crazy person, or maybe even some kind of super hero 
But I rarely if ever (in fact practically NEVER) got viruses… because I knew not to download or run ANYTHING from an untrusted source and I never touched other people’s thumb drives.. (probably a good rule of thumb hey?).
LOL Ok, anyway… THIS is antivirus I think is awesome…
http://www.cloudantivirus.com/en/forHome/
The whole thing operates in the cloud and GET THIS!! It only requires 64MB of ram and uses NONE of your processor, hard drive storage or ram when it’s not working away.. incredible. This is the way it should be, don’t you think?
My Blog Got HACKED and how I fought BACK!
Way back in May of 2009 (yes 3 years ago!) I was running a WordPress site called CompetitionDemolition which featured top internet marketing news, advice and tips. Some really cutting edge keyword research excel tricks, jedi mind maps on internet marketing (well not quite) but really cool stuff!! I woke up one morning and found my site had been hacked. You’ll notice I hadn’t even brushed or Gel’d my hair yet.
I managed to recover about 80% of my blog because I did regular backups of my WordPress blog the old fashioned way.. waiting HOURS via FTP or performing background tasks when I remembered to. Sometimes a backup took several days… So i stopped backing up the images and only backed up the database and text posts… Which is why many images were lost on the blog that I could never get back.
Today, I use an automated backup tool that saves me more time and energy than you can imagine. Truth is, I don’t tell everyone this because it’s kind of one of my personal secrets.
Some of the cool things about this tool is that it’s process for backing your stuff up is super painless. Whether you backup to the cloud, to FTP, to your hard drive or to a zip file in your email inbox on Gmail storage… It saves you time and money and if you DO get hacked, you’ll be back up and running again in minutes. You can also schedule these backups so you don’t have to actually remember to do this, because you won’t… I know, we’re all busy.
Here’s an image of how fast the restoration process goes… Simply amazing. Fastest restoration from zero of an old blog i’ve ever seen and i’ve used all the big tools out there like the twin things. I love this thing.
DO NOT take my word for this, seriously. Watch the video and be shocked like I was when I first saw it. If you bill at even $10/hr, something that saves you 5 hours on just ONE job or ONE customer service issue will be worth every penny. The video has a walkthru of backup creator.
But, let me be straight up… I’m a human, i’m not letting the cat out of the bag on this cool tool because I wanted to make up a cool blog post or do a huge favor to my wordpress selling friends, in all honesty they’re holding a contest where if I made 8 sales I get a Kindle Fire. I could seriously use one of those Fire devices for work. I promise to write loads of posts on how the Fire works, what hacks are available and how it works with editing WordPress sites if you I wind up getting one.
Blessings,
Daniel J Deyette
Why you should never stop doing boring jobs!
I still remember back in the day in 1999 when I applied for and worked for the Kirby Vacuum cleaner company. One of the strangest things I heard them say was “Never make yor goal NOT to sell Vacuums”…
Let me tell you! Telling this to a new hire who’s clearly TIRED and has sore feet and is TIRED of carrying this stupid, heavy, awkward, bulky, overpriced piece of… that you should never make your goal to not do THIS?!? anymore? Uh.. I can only begin to tell you my first goal was to get to ambassador and not have to sell them any more and manage a TEAM of salesmen! Heck yeah, I wanted to have OTHER people do this job…
But that goes against the core value “Never make yor goal NOT to sell Vacuums”…
Skip ahead to 2006… While working at The Internet Marketing Center, they always had this core belief that even the managers should have a mentoring client. Those who were managing mentors (aka coaches) should have at least 1 or 2 clients they’re actively working with… Get this! A manager, doing the same job as those they manage… You can’t really become out of touch with your staff when you do what they do, right?
One of the biggest things CEO’s learn on that show “Undercover Bosses” … Is what they FORGOT what employees deal with being at the lowest level of the company ladder. Every episode you see CEO’s shocked at how much they forgot, how hard the struggles were or how tough the circumstances, or how hard this or that was…
My point?
Never stop doing the boring jobs, the hard jobs, or the annoying jobs in your company. NO, i’m not saying stop managing and start doing the stamp licking jobs, but I’m simply saying do all you can to not loose touch with those jobs. I know several CEO’s of painting companies, who still paint now and then. Several CEO’s who own marketing companies who still go out and pitch now and again… These guys know what their staff are dealing with, they never get these pie in the sky ideas, they never view the company from their 38 floor sky skrapers and mercedes cars and jets.. They get the challenges, and in a recession they could jump in and help their staff… Because they’re out there every day…
It’s hard when a recession hits to jump back to the routine of working when you’ve given yourself a 1 year vacation, heck ask a student how hard it is to get into school work after 2 month’s off. What’s worse is, as the leader of a company, unlike school, it’s often NOT the same challenges you faced last year that you come back to, but NEW challenges… and you’re not as well prepared as you could be if you’ve spent more time in the office than on the production floor.
WP e-Commerce Checkout Goes to Products Page
This is how to fix a common error with WP e-Commerce. In fact, with this error ,clicking ANY link sends you back to the products page.
It becomes very frustrating and has a simple solution.
Log into your WordPress back end, go to Settings. Then click on Permalinks.
In there, change your permalinks to the top option “general” then back to whatever you had (probably custom structure or post name).
Problem solved
How Confidence Works
The other day, while sitting in a big lineup of traffic in New Westminster, I was looking up and marvelling at the large columns of concrete that held up the SkyTrain system.
In this particular spot, the track was about 3-4 stories high. I sat there just imagining how scary it must have been for the very first concrete structure that would have been smaller and held that kind of weight on top of it, and need to withstand the constant vibration, earthquakes and other such things.
In the small things…
As my mind wandered I realized that at some point someone must have experimented with smaller concrete designs of similar natures… We’re talking in the 1800s or 1900s. Someone studied these early structures and discovered the limitations of the medium (concrete and steel bars in this case) and must have applied stress tests and such. The original engineer and architect would then probably have the confidence necessary (after testing) to build something larger…. Guessing that if he had no problems with the first, a second should be fine… and so on until we arrive at the largest size…
The surprise…
What surprised me by this analysis that I came up with is that someone had to try first. Someone had to risk failure. Someone had to potentially be wrong, or screw up somehow. Someone started with NO confidence, experimented and eventually succeeded.
Confidence… starts with trial and potential failure. Confidence is developed with small successes that come from TRYING things.
Bottom line? You can’t wait until your confidence is there. In fact the opposite is true. You have to get out there and DO SOMETHING. The next time your thinking you can’t do something, or your starting to worry about the level of difficulty, please re-read this and think about it. The only way you’ll gain confidence is by trying, and eventually succeeding.
Nozbe – staying organized in chaos
One of my favorite iPhone apps is coming very shortly to Android as well, but it also has a mac desktop application AND a Windows PC version as well.
I previously used Things which also has a complimenting mac application. They both look and function quite similarly, but the major difference is in how they sync.
Nozbe has a web based version, a desktop software AND an app, where as things is simply a desktop app and a phone app. The two “Things” apps have to sync via phone hooked up to computer and I found I never had time for that.
With Nozbe, it has a free version for 5 projects, and the app costs $4.99 which is a pretty reasonable price for something that keeps you as organized as Nozbe does.
This system along with Things is a GTD system based on the teaching’s of David Allen in his book “Getting Things Done” which is a best seller and quite the must read for small businesses, entrepreneurs and busy people in general.
BUT WAIT!! It gets even BETTER!!
What’s also really cool about Nozbe is it’s integration with popular services like Dropbox, Evernote and other things AND that you can add notes, comments, images and audio to your tasks! Wouldn’t it be cool write “fix painting clients website” to say to your client or boss “ok now speak into my phone and tell me everything to fix”. and have all that recorded on the note, or take a picture of a recipe card! How genius!
You won’t regret joining up with Nozbe, it’s quite the powerful tool – IF You use it. Now what really rocks is that there’s an iPad app, an android app coming soon and with the mac and windows desktop softwares you can type everything in and yet still have all your reminders with you on the road.
Do prospects waste your time?
Yes, sadly many prospects unintentionally waste people’s time. They don’t know what they don’t know and they’re likely hunting for the right product or service and certainly – it’s not their fault they found you.
Let me tell you a real shocker though, there’s no need to waste time with those people who aren’t going to make you any money, or certainly shouldn’t call you now…
First off, I won’t get into how to make a landing page that pre-screens and pre-qualifies leads for you, that’s exactly what we do @ AnswersWanted Services, however…. I will tell you HOW we do it.
#1. Identify the Pains & Needs
Does this person NEED or have the pain required to buy this product? This is usually the easiest one to figure out. Those who do NOT have the following problems need not apply:
- are concerned about…
- wish they didn’t have to…
- don’t like doing…
- wish there was a product that…
#2. Are they the decision maker?
It’s so easy to waste time with someone who’s simply out there collecting information for the real decision maker, if they’re not the person who really makes the decision, it might be best to ask WHO to send the information packet about the product/service to. Who should this information be addressed to? Who will make the final decision, what are THEIR needs?
#3. Is this in their budget?
Some people are the right prospect, the right person who makes the call, they need it, they will see HUGE benefit from it and this frustrates many salespeople time and time again. They can’t afford it. You don’t have to tell someone pricing straight up front, but it’s important to find out what their rough budget is or what they’ve spent on solutions like this in the past. You can always sell your price and how much they get for it, but if they can’t afford it there isn’t much point.
#4. Is this the right time?
One last thing, if this is the right guy, he needs it, and he has the money… but he’s not in the market now.. maybe he’s investigating for a future purchase, or looking at options down the road… You still don’t have someone who’s a hot lead, but a great person to put on your calendar for follow up later.
NOW WHAT?!
Ok, so if you have the right prospect – all you need to do now is establish the benefits of your product, the proof that it works and the credibility (industry logos, testimonials, etc etc) and your ready to sell sell sell!
Mike Koenigs new book
I was planning to write a really awesome review of just how great this new book is. It’s currently only available via Kindle, which is fine because that’s usually the only way I like to buy books anyway, but it’s great stuff.
If you know Mike, you know how awesome most of the ideas he has and products he produces are… You’ve likely heard of Traffic Geyser or some of his video production formulas.
Here’s what he says about his own book:
- the little-known strategies successful authors use to write bestsellers in less time
- how to write your next bestseller, start to finish, in a few short months
- how to end writers’ block NOW… and have fun doing it!
- the 1st thing you should do before you begin writing
- the 3 key elements of the book writing process
- fun, interesting ways to keep yourself motivated throughout the process
- the secrets to creating a productive, consistent writing habit
- best practice for working with freelance writers, editors, and ghostwriters
- how to create a productive ‘feedback loop’
- innovative ways to use social media and the Internet to write a better book
- how to build a positive support group
Here’s my take, i’ve already read a bit of it and I love it. Besides, how can you afford NOT to spend a BUCK!
Your getting quite the awesome gift for a dollar, and if you have EVER faced writer’s block – this is something you need in your back pocket.
Go check it out, it’s onAmazon
Dropbox gives MORE space when you refer people.
Recent news came out that the popular service Dropbox is now offering even MORE free space when you refer your friends to the online utility. The prior amount was 250MB BONUS space on your account for each new member you refer. The new bonus amount is 500MB.
Most don’t fully realize the power of this simple and free utility.
Dropbox has many uses, and there are likely a number of posts out there that I don’t need to re-write about how many different uses there are for a Dropbox account.
I do – however – want to share with you what I use Dropbox for.
#1. I love collaborating on documents with developers, clients and friends in a shared folder where we all have access to the resources we’re working on at different times. To those who don’t have the app installed, we can still share a link to download files.
#2. I love using it to attach large files to emails, rather than using one of the many “Yousendit” type free big file sending utilities that can often take forever to upload the file when you can let Dropbox upload it in the background.
#3. I love using it as a CRM for client files. I create a word doc on every client and update it via the web or via my mac or maybe even via my android tablet or iPhone and being able to access those files from anywhere and always have the latest version of the Word doc with me.
#4. I love putting my client file folders with me so even if my entire house burnt down and office too, i’d still have all the info I’d need to get a cheap laptop and keep moving even run my entire business from a coffee shop.
#5. Ever noticed how iTunes doesn’t work with every file type? Or who the heck knows how to put a Word doc or special ebook file on your iPhone? No need to worry with Dropbox, just install the Dropbox app, then stick the file in your computer’s Dropbox folder and there ya go. Easy peasy.
Here’s MY DROPBOX link. If you sign up via MY Dropbox link, I’ll get more space. Wanna help a feller out? Since I told you all my cool secrets?
Cheers,
Danimal
SEOQuake updates toolbar
The popular tool bar has been an excellent source of information for SEO and online marketer types alike. It’s really required for any one in online marketing sales too. It is essentially a quick snap shot of some pretty important factors.
Factors like AGE can tell you how old the client or competitor’s domain names are.
Factors like LD: (links to domain) tell you how popular the website might be and how many people have linked to it.
Factors like PR tell you how important this site is to Google… (bearing in mind that PR isn’t updated too often)
BUT… with the addition of Twitter & Facebook, we’re now starting to see SocialRank creep in. Showing how often a link has been tweeted or shared on Facebook really starts to let you see how ‘social’ a site has been. If it’s not getting mentions, there’s likely some PR work to be done which inevitably leads to links and as such of course increases in SEO.
