IT support Cape Cod MA, Computer help Cape Cod MA

Email Advice

aadams — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:39:49 +0000

The Right Way to Respond to a Nasty Email

Very often in business, the important thing is not
how you act, but rather how you react.

For example, at some point you’re going to be on the receiving end of a nasty
email. It might come from your boss or a co-worker, a client or customer,
perhaps even a stranger. But regardless of the origin, it can feel like a slap
in the face. And chances are good it’s going to result in hurt feelings, anger,
and a strong desire to answer in kind.

I speak from experience: Over the weekend, I received an accusing, insulting
email from a PR person who didn’t like something I’d written about her company’s
product. I was so taken aback by this (most of the PR people I deal with are
total pros), I broke my own rule: I immediately fired off a heated reply.

That was a mistake. Having dealt with my share of mean-spirited emails over
the years (and allowed myself to get dragged into some very painful arguments),
I’ve learned a few things about how to handle them:

1. Step away from the keyboard. Give yourself a chance to digest the message,
to consider the viewpoint of the person who sent it, and to just generally clear
your head. People often write things in e-mail that they’d never say in person
(or over the phone), and they’re usually just looking to vent.

2. Wait at least an hour before you respond — and make sure you spend that
time focusing on something else. If you let that initial anger fester, you won’t
be thinking clearly when you reply, and things may get further out of hand. Take
the high road; be the bigger person.

3. If you do decide to respond (after first considering whether any good will
come of it), end the email cycle and pick up the phone: “Hey, I wanted to talk
about your email and try to get this worked out.” Most of the time, that’s a
quick and effective way to resolve bad feelings.

4. If that’s not an option, try this: write out the meanest, nastiest
response you want — but don’t send it. In fact, write it in your word
processor. If you use your mail client, a momentary impulse might trigger a
click of the Send button. Writing is a great way to calm yourself down
and get some perspective on a tough situation.

Most importantly, remember that email can be a very poor form of
communication, one that can easily be misinterpreted. Indeed, misunderstood
messages often lead to nasty exchanges that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.
One of the best ways to avoid this is with liberal use of the smiley emoticon.
It’s a simple, effective way to say, “just kidding,” or, “I’m not being
serious.”

Cape & Plymouth Business 2012 40 Under 40 winners announced

aadams — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:12:30 +0000

Cape & Plymouth Business 2012 40 Under 40 winners announced

Our owner Kevin MacArthur was in the first class of the prestigous 40 under 40 awards, and this year another one of our employees was recognized. This list also honors many of our business associates and clients. Congrats to all!

May 3, 2012 – Cape & Plymouth Business’ 40 Under 40 Awards spotlight the region’s top young business leaders who excel in their industry and show dynamic leadership. This program honors distinguished businesspeople under the age of 40 who have made a mark in our region at an extraordinarily young age. These top young business leaders excel in their industry and show dynamic leadership characteristics. The winners have started companies, found success at a young age at established businesses and made nonprofits stronger.

The 2012 class is exceptional in many ways, showing the diversity of paths to success in our region. Working in conjunction with the Cape Cod Young Professionals and South Shore Young Professionals, hundreds of nominees have been culled down to the 40 individuals who best exemplified an entrepreneurial spirit, commitment to community service and potential to positively contribute to the future of our region.

Cape & Plymouth Business is proud to announce the 2012 40 Under 40 Awards honorees: Abigail Adams, Secure Networks; Holly Alberti-Evans, Holly Painting; Edward Alfieri, HarborOne Credit Union; Jennifer Armandi, TD Bank; Jennifer Bayuk, Nauset Disposal & WESLB.com; Jitka Borowick, cleangreen; Michael G. Briggs, Chatham Bars Inn; Jamie Carpenter, J.F. Carpenter Construction; Amy Carroll, Riverview School; Angela Cenzalli, Fairway Landscape and Lawn Care; Michelle Chapin, Cape Medical Supply; Scott Clifford, Esq., Epstein, Lipsey & Clifford; David A. Cox, The Mac Guru; Matt Cronin, School Leaders Network; John Curley, Curley Direct; Tim Delude, Nauset Disposal; Elizabeth Dunton, Emerald Physicians; Robert K. Fox, R.K. Fox Builders; Paul Garganigo, Seamens Bank; Gabrielle Gould, Theatre Workshop of Nantucket; Lisa Guyon, Housing Assistance Corporation; Katie Howard, SSWBN; James Kenneway, J. Kenneway Enterprises; Meaghann Kenney, Breakdown Lane; Jeni Landers, Wynn & Wynn; Alecia Jean Orsini Lebeda, Good Natured Dog Productions and Falmouth Community Television; Ryan Mann, Harwich Conservation Trust; Stephan P. McMahon, Shepherd & Goldstein; Kristin O’Malley, Cape Cod Foundation; Michael Patterson, Centinel Financial Group; Garran Peterson,
Cape Cod Sea Camps; Sean Richardson, The Farm; Philippe Rispoli, PB Boulangerie
Bistro; Michael Robinson, Rogers & Gray Insurance Agency; Stephen Roy, Fresh Ketch and 586 Bistro & Bar; Leonetta Scappini, Malloy, Lynch, Bienvenue; Maegan Storey, Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce; Jeff Viamari, Comcast Commercial Services; Joseph Weeks, Bay State Community Services/Quincy College; and Christine Zuendt, Mason & Mason Insurance Agency.

The honorees will be celebrated at a special event on June 14, 2012, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at Indian Pond Country Club in Kingston. The Master of Ceremonies will be Mark Hellendrung, President of Narragansett Brewing Company. This annual event brings together the current class with colleagues, cients, family and friends. Come help us celebrate their achievements and ecognize the top young talent in our area.

Sponsors to date of the Cape & Plymouth Business 2012 40Under 40 Awards event include Constant Contact, Comcast Business Class, Convention Data Services, MyPayrollHR.com, Cape Promotional Products, Cape Cod Broadcasting and 95.9 WATD.

To learn more and to register for this event, go to www.capeplymouthbusiness.com.

Avoid Deceptive SEO Companies

aadams — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:09:25 +0000

Five Tips for Avoiding Deceptive SEO Companies

The Internet is hands down one of the best ways to get customers to come to your business. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process through which a website can move up in search engine results and become more visible. Sadly though, too many people do not understand enough about SEO and either discount it altogether or get taken advantage of by deceptive SEO companies.

Deceptive SEO companies use ‘black hat’ or unethical techniques to get your site to the top of the search engine rankings. The techniques may work well in the short term and bring lots of traffic or great rankings. However, over time they won’t produce good, lasting results – or worse – they may get you banned from search engines. And once penalized your site may be practically worthless.

The worst part is that many small business owners are not well versed in SEO and may not be aware of the deceptive techniques a company is using. Or they do not examine what their SEO company does to get their site ranked well.

First of all, it’s important to distinguish between deceptive SEO tactics and tactics that are debated but not necessarily deceptive. Some of these include whether its better to use hyphens, underscores, or no space between keywords in your URLs. Or the best CMS (content management system) and site structure for SEO value. These practices won’t prevent your website from being well indexed.

Then there are tactics that are clearly deceptive. They usually involve trying to hide or mass-produce something that should happen naturally (or organically) over time. Google has published a lengthy list of deceptive practices.

The first sign of a deceptive SEO company is any guarantee of rankings on competitive search keywords. While they may be able to get high rankings for a keyword term that no one searches for (and that is essentially worthless), it is always a red flag when they make guarantees for popular search terms.

It’s important to remember that SEO companies do not control search results and therefore can’t guarantee anything. Instead they can take specific actions to create the best chances of ranking well amongst the hundreds or thousands of other sites.

Here is a top five list of some negative or deceptive SEO practices, based on my experience:

Putting too many keywords on your web site. If a website repeats words or phrases so often that it’s unnatural to read, it’s called keyword stuffing and could get the site penalized. Some sites hide keywords in the text or code of the site which have nothing to do with their site. They might use the same words over and over but otherwise give very little information and no news value. You might find web sites that have hundreds of keywords in the footer or bottom of a web page – this is ineffective and your SEO company should not employ these techniques.
Overuse of bolded text or too many links. Not only does this look terrible but it also doesn’t build trust with people or help your search engine rankings over time. Again, while it’s important to create search engine-friendly content, writing for people will be better in the long run.
Hidden links. Sometimes these links are hidden in the code of a site or in the footer of a website. They code the site to hide the links or they are the same color as the background so you can’t see them. The links are often unrelated to the site but even a huge list of related links that are hidden can hurt you. My blog was recently spammed so that every time it loaded there were links to viagra sites. You couldn’t see them but they slowed down my site considerably. I got it cleaned fast because a friend of mine recently had his site banned by Google for the same problem.
Complicated link schemes. Google can detect unnatural linking patterns and there are many variations of link schemes. An example is that overnight your site has thousands of links when you did nothing to deserve those links. Some people build programs that add links automatically or that create new web pages or blogs (splogs) full of spam content and links.
Multiple domains or subdomains with essentially the same content. These sites or pages have practically the same information but with different keywords. Here’s an example I saw when I was looking for a locksmith. When I type in a city name the same site comes up again and again. The only difference is they have a different domain for each city or state. They are not regional but contract out to various cities. The page for Denver is the same as the page for Las Vegas, only with the words “Denver” swapped out for “Las Vegas.” There are many variations on this tactic which may work short term but long term they are risky. Example of duplicate content:
www.completelocksmith.com/locksmith_city.php?cid=denver
www.completelocksmith.com/locksmith_city.php?cid=las vegas

The Google webmasters guide says: “In some cases, content is deliberately duplicated across domains in an attempt to manipulate search engine rankings or win more traffic. Deceptive practices like this can result in a poor user experience, when a visitor sees substantially the same content repeated within a set of search results.”

A good rule of thumb is to create a good experience for your site visitors. This means good, original content or other elements that make people want to link to you. Anything that is artificially creating content or links or interfering with a good user experience on your site should be avoided.

In the end, one of the best ways to find out about your SEO company’s practices is to ask. Hiring an SEO firm is like hiring any service, you should always take into account what others are saying about them.

* * * * *

About the Author: Janet Meiners Thaeler is an Evangelist for OrangeSoda Inc. and the principal blogger for their corporate blog and Twitter account. She regularly advises clients on blogging and social media strategies. Her own blog is Newspapergrl.com (and Twitter account @newspapergrl). She is passionate about online marketing and is always looking for new insights, resources and trends to help her clients.

Originally posted:

By Janet Meiners Thaeler
April 16, 2009
In Marketing Trends
smallbiztrends.com

Is Technology Hurting Your Body?

aadams — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:07:22 +0000

Four Ways Your Gadgets May Be Harming Your Body

Does your neck ache after gazing down at your mobile device for a long time? Do your thumbs get sore after firing off a string of emails on your smartphone?

Those are just a two of the physical ailments caused in part by technology. Sporting such names as “text neck,” “computer vision syndrome,” “Blackberry thumb,” and “iPad elbow,” these syndromes may sound phony, but they’re every bit as real — and painful — as carpal tunnel.

Here’s a look at four increasingly common ailments associated with improper or overuse of gadgets, plus recommendations for how to avoid the problems.

Condition: Text neck
Text neck is usually caused by excessive use of smartphones or tablets. Due to the popularity of text messaging with teenagers, the condition is more common in adolescents and young adults, but can be seen in anyone who spends hours looking down at mobile devices.

Think of your head as a bowling ball sitting on a spring. Tilting the ball forward for an extended period of time stresses and bends the spring, says Robert Hayden, an Atlanta chiropractor. The more this happens, he says, the greater the chance of flattening the natural curvature of the neck vertebrae. Eventually, you put added pressure on the discs of the cervical spine and more strain on the muscles and ligaments of the neck.

Solution: Stop looking down.
You can prevent text neck by taking frequent breaks and using range of motion exercises. Try flexing your neck by looking side to side and putting your ears down against your shoulders, Hayden says. You also can simply try holding your device higher so you’re not angling your head down to see it.

If the problem persists, ultrasound and electrotherapy can alleviate pain. Long-term remedies include resistance exercises to rebalance the muscles.

Condition: Computer vision syndrome
Overhead fluorescent lighting, the viewing angle of the display, and small font size can contribute to the eye pain and strain of computer vision syndrome, according to Dr. Jim Sheedy, an optometrist and director of Pacific University’s Vision Performance Institute in Forest Grove, Ore. Undiagnosed, common eye problems like presbyopia — a reduced ability to focus on objects that are near — can exacerbate the condition.

Solution: Keep your eyes in shape.
Resolving the problem involves a two-prong approach: making the task less visually demanding and taking visual breaks, Sheedy says.

For example, turning off the overhead light and using softer desk and floor lamps can help. Also, try making the top of the display level with your eyes so you’re looking down about 10 degrees when viewing it. Adjust font sizes so you can read them easily.

To keep your eyes in shape, Sheedy recommends the 20/20/20 rule: Every 20 minutes, look away to a distance of at least 20 feet for at least 20 seconds. Such frequent breaks can help because computer vision syndrome is a fatigue problem, not an injury, Sheedy says.

Condition: BlackBerry thumb
Caused primarily by excessive texting, BlackBerry thumb is a strain of either the tendon that extends the thumb or the tendon that brings the thumb into the palm. The strain causes tiny tears to connective tissue.

The severity of the condition depends on how long, how fast and how hard you use a handheld device. But it doesn’t affect only those using mobile keyboards — it can result from any repeated finger motion.

“What happens when people don’t rest is they go into chronic phase because there’s so much scarring and trauma,” says Dorit Aaron, president of the American Society of Hand Therapists and an occupational therapist at Houston Hand Therapy in Texas. That means the pain might never go away.

Solution: Give your fingers a rest.
If you’re writing lots of emails on your phone or tablet, take breaks and slow down, Aaron says. Fast texters are more vulnerable because they have more repetitive motions. You also can switch to a touch screen, which may be better than a physical keyboard because it requires minimal pressure.

Condition: iPad Elbow
A repetitive strain injury, iPad elbow can affect a variety of tendons from the wrist to the elbow, depending on how you hold your tablet. “People who are using laptops and tablets often don’t focus on the ergonomics of it,” says Christopher Morris, a Kingsport, Tenn., rheumatologist. Many tablet users curl up on a couch to get more comfortable, he says, rather than paying attention to proper posture.

Solution: Try an iPad holder.
While orthopedists are still getting a handle on this particular condition, taking breaks can help reduce the pain. “The biggest thing with any kind of repetitive activity is to listen to your body,” Morris says. “If doing something for an hour straight is going to make it hurt, don’t do it for an hour straight.”

This article originally posted on Entrepreneur.com

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) Pros and Cons

aadams — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:16:53 +0000

Pros and Cons of Bringing Your Own Device to Work

Let your users bring their own device, but consider the
potential issues as well.

By Tony Bradley, PCWorld

The concept of “bring your own device” (BYOD) is a growing trend for business IT. There are a variety of benefits to allowing users to supply their own PCs and mobile
devices, but there are also some concerns. Make sure you understand both in
order to embrace BYOD with confidence.

It used to be that IT departments drove technology, but that has changed
dramatically in recent years. The consumerization of IT revolution — sparked by the iPhone — has shifted the IT culture so that the users are the ones getting the latest, cutting edge technologies first,and they want to bring those devices to work.

Benefits

Businesses that embrace BYOD have some advantages over competitors. For starters, BYOD programs generally shift costs to the user. With the worker paying for most, or all of the costs for the hardware, voice or data services, and other associated
expenses, companies save a lot of money — as much as $80 per month per
user.

You might expect users to revolt against paying for the devices and technology
they use at work. Not so. As the Good Technology State of BYOD Report states, “50 percent of companies with BYOD models are requiring employees to cover all costs — and they are happy to do so.”

That brings us to the second significant benefit: worker satisfaction. Users
have the laptops and smartphones they have for a reason -– those are the devices
they prefer, and they like them so much they invested their hard-earned money in
them. Of course they’d rather use the devices they love rather than being stuck
with laptops and mobile devices that are selected and issued by the IT
department.

There are two corollary advantages that come with BYOD as well. BYOD devices
tend to be more cutting edge, so the organization gets the benefit of the latest
features and capabilities. Users also upgrade to the latest hardware more
frequently than the painfully slow refresh cycles at most organizations.

Concerns

BYOD isn’t all wine and roses, though. There are some issues to consider as
well. By embracing BYOD, organizations lose much of the control over the IT
hardware and how it is used.

Company-issued IT typically comes with an acceptable use policy, and it is
protected by company-issued security that is managed and updated by the IT
department. It is a little bit trickier telling an employee what is or is not,
an “acceptable use” of their own laptop or smartphone.

Make sure you have a clearly defined policy for BYOD that outlines the rules
of engagement and states up front what the expectations are. You should also lay
out minimum security requirements, or even mandate company-sanctioned security
tools as a condition for allowing personal devices to connect to company data
and network resources.

There is also an issue of compliance and ownership when it comes to data.
Businesses that fall under compliance mandates such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, or GLBA
have certain requirements related to information security and safeguarding
specific data. Those rules still must be followed even if the data is on a
laptop owned by an employee.

In the event that a worker is let go, or leaves the company of their own
accord, segregating and retrieving company data can be a problem. Obviously, the
company will want its data, and there should be a policy in place that governs
how that data will be retrieved from the personal laptop and/or smartphone.

If you’re not already taking advantage of the BYOD trend, you should
definitely consider it. Just make sure that you’re aware of both the pros and
the cons, and address any potential issues up front.

Should your Small Business Virtualize Servers?

aadams — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:25:44 +0000

It’s Time For SMEs To Virtualize

By Techilicious| Published: April 24, 2012

One of the most advantageous technological tools available to companies is server virtualization. Who doesn’t want to get rid of physical servers while at the same time make their organization more efficient? Virtualization has become mainstream for large and medium companies, and now it’s time for small businesses to virtualize.

There are five distinct reasons why you should virtualize your small business systems.

Increased Server Efficiency
The main reason to virtualize servers is to centralize computing resources while making them more efficient. With virtualization you can take multiple applications and put them onto one physical server that’s set up to run multiple virtual servers. This means fewer machines commanding less physical space, operating with a higher level of efficiency and a reduction in your capital expenses.

Improved Disaster Recovery
Disaster Recovery – returning business functions to a normal state after a disaster – is an important issue for all companies. If a fire destroys your building and servers with it, you face months of rebuilding and an unpredictable amount of lost profit. With virtualization, you can store your servers and data away from the building and be operational in another location in a short time.

Test Security and Patches
Server virtualization provides the IT department with a virtual environment to test security updates and patches before they are applied to the machines in the organization. If done correctly, your IT department can apply the updates in the virtual environment, observe and fix the problems, then apply to the physical equipment. This results in less downtime when security or update related problems occur.

Reduced Power and Maintenance Costs
When you run fewer servers there are multiple cost savings. Any company who has servers can attest to the cost of powering, cooling and maintaining multiple servers. The costs add up over time, but with virtualization you’ll be running fewer servers which means lower power consumption, cooling and maintenance costs. The decrease in machines also allows the IT department to focus on core business functions rather than spending time on maintenance.

Opportunity for Growth
With proper implementation, virtualization can give you the infrastructure you need to support continued growth, without the need to invest in new technology. A business set up to capitalize on this will definitely see a distinct competitive advantage emerge.

This entry was posted in General Articles B, Virtualization – General and tagged 2012Apr24_Virtualization_B, DR, QS-2, Security, Server Efficiency, Server Virtualization, Virtualization, Virtualization advantages, Why virtualize

EMR Time Running Out for Incentives

aadams — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 18:57:04 +0000

Time is Running Out for Meaningful Use

By Editor | Published: April 18, 2012

If you implemented an electronic medical record (EMR) in 2011, you’ll need to start your meaningful use process by July in order to get their attestation done in time.

As you probably know by now, healthcare practitioners can earn federal incentives of up to $63,750 for meaningfully using a certified EMR.

To be a meaningful user of a EMR, you’ll need to meet 20 of 25 possible criteria. Some criteria are simple (such as recording demographic data), and some are complex (such as distributing clinical summaries to all patients you see).

The deadline to show compliance for 2012 is October 3, 2012, but it’s trickier than stating a date. That’s because in order to earn your incentives, you’ll have to comply with these meaningful use criteria for 90 days in the initial incentive payment year. So, if you started in 2012, you have to start 90 days prior to October 3, or the beginning of July.

Because you likely need some time to get your EMR set up and begin meeting the meaningful use criteria, you’ll probably want to start thinking about this now.

Selecting an Operational System for your Business

aadams — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:43:35 +0000

Make Your Small Business More Effective

February 24th, 2012

Over the years, I have seen small business owners develop, multiple spreadsheets systems, databases and manual processes designed to keep data about their clients and the operational sides of their businesses. These systems take hours of time to keep up-to-date and they are always behind in updating them.

I ask the question why? When there are packages available that they can use to run their business on a day to day basis that will provide them with all of the information they need to run and grow their business.

QuickBooks, Xero or MYOB for your bookkeeping and accounting needs and they have plenty of support available.
ACT, Zoho, Sales Force or PlanPlus Online Customer Relationship Management packages for managing your sales and customer contact programs.
Point of sale systems for retail outlets to assist them in managing their sales and controlling your inventory.
Service Management systems such as Miracle Service for businesses that send technicians into the field to service equipment and bill out on a time and materials basis.
Studio Management Systems for photographers, graphic designers and website developers.
Job Bag systems for printing companies, that track the customers job through the printing process.

These are just a few off the shelf systems that are available for small business owners to manage the day to day operations of their business and at the same time collect valuable information that is critical to the decision making process for growing and developing their business.

Remember, when you are looking for a system to run your type of business, always look at what information you can get out of the system, these reports need to provide you with the information you need to make decisions in your business. Then, look at how it operates and how easy it is to use.

Most small business owners will cite cost as one of the main reasons they do not invest in these systems. From my experience, the problem is, they waste valuable hours of time trying to update and maintain the manual systems and then don’t have any time left to properly evaluate the information and make quality decisions for their business. Which in the long run cost significantly more?

If you want more time and greater profitability, search for an operational system that that is designed for your type of business, use it to run the day to day operations of your business and reap the rewards.

via:www.ommm.org

If you need assistance in selecting an operational system for your business, aks us- we can definitely help out!

Email Effectively in 2012

aadams — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:09:33 +0000

Email Like It’s 2012, Not 1999

by Karen Talavera

Published on April 9, 2012

Tags: Email, Email Lists, Email Marketing, Email Subject Lines, Metrics

In this article, you’ll learn…

Three areas of email marketing that have evolved
How to modernize your email marketing for success in 2012

Though all things Internet seem to move at the speed of light and come or go overnight, commercial email marketing is, impressively, approaching its 15th anniversary.

I remember becoming involved with email first in 1999 and being impressed by the creative and technical possibilities—even though dial-up Internet connections still outnumbered broadband!

Although anti-spam software and abuse-prevention delivery rules have often thwarted the channel’s technical capabilities since its early years (video in email was possible in 2000), no excuse justifies emailing like it’s still 1999.

After a decade of following so-called best-practices, we should examine the core components of our email programs to be sure we’re applying contemporary thinking and capabilities rather than simply running what worked (or was assumed to work) in the past.

Many best-practices are far from evergreen, and if they are not examined continually they become the No. 1 reason an email program slowly degenerates into mediocrity and produces diminishing returns.

List-Building

1999

Opt-in permission was a much-supported standard of early email marketing, but it was not legally mandated in the US. The result? To develop email lists, marketers often disregarded permission, favoring quantity over quality and adding email addresses to their files via all possible means—co-reg deals, list swaps, compilation of data from directories or prospect files, etc.

Long story short, plenty of large email lists were amassed via less-than-opt-in means, and a huge percentage of people on those lists were disengaged and unresponsive.

2012

Examine your methods for gathering email addresses: Are they clearly permission-based? And do you offer a unique value proposition (UVP) that entices subscriber engagement?

Valuing quality (of list members) over quantity always results in better-qualified, more-engaged list members—which translates into better response performance and return on investment (ROI).

Keep in mind, too, that large percentages of inactive, disengaged subscribers can affect your deliverability and reputation because some of those inactives will include abandoned accounts that turned into spamtraps. And hitting spamtraps can land you on blacklists.

At least two major Internet service providers (ISPs) are now monitoring email-address-owner engagement and using that information as a determining factor for inbox placement. Keeping broad swaths of “zombies” on your list, therefore, will (over time) harm your ability to reach the people who really want your email because your messages will increasingly be relegated to the junk folder.

So, either re-engage your inactives with an orchestrated campaign, or suppress them, and conduct regular email list clean ups to identify and remove spamtraps.

Subject Lines

1999

The conventional wisdom on subject lines dictated that you “keep ‘em short and sweet,” “long subject lines will be truncated,” and “don’t use the word free.” None of those practices are relevant today.

2012

Though it’s true that long subject lines may still not be fully visible in many email client viewers, their content itself is rarely ever cut off or truncated. New research by Alchemy Worx, a London-based email service provider (ESP), found that long subject lines are powerful motivators of not only opens but also clicks. Long subject lines, then, are better relevancy indicators than short subject lines.

Long subject lines also allow for the inclusion of multiple (vs. single) topics when email messages contain multiple offers or benefits; such more descriptive subject lines better set and manage the recipient’s expectation of the email’s contents; accordingly, they correlate to higher email response rates vs. merely email opens.

And, yes, in the early days of email, when content filtering was king, the word “free” did sometimes trip spam filters and result in junked campaigns. Free, however, remains one of the most powerful words in direct response, and it rarely triggers content filters today. So whether you have a great free piece of content, free trial, or free gift, be sure people know it!

Measurement and Analysis

1999

Basic email marketing metrics measured the number of delivered messages, opens, clicks, conversions, and unsubscribes. Was there more revenue than cost at the end of the day? Great! Positive ROI!

2012

Though basic email process metrics and ROI remain staples of campaign analysis, they don’t tell the whole story… so we can’t stop there today. Contemporary, smart email marketers look beyond open/click/conversion rate (How many people took an action on campaign X?) and examine open/click/conversion reach (What percentage of people on a list has ever opened?; What’s the frequency distribution?).

In addition, contribution metrics like average order value (AOV) and revenue per email address (RPE) paint a richer results picture than simple ROI and serve as meaningful metrics when comparing the results of one campaign with another, or when comparing head-to-head test groups.

How to Email Like It’s 2012

In 2012, successful email marketing isn’t simply about being in the red or the black at the end of a campaign or business cycle. Today, email marketing is about maximized potential and continual improvement—achieving optimal delivery, response, and financial contribution from the channel. Today, email is about getting the biggest “bang for our buck,” achieving the maximum with the minimum, applying the most efficient use of resources, and most astutely implementing the most relevant strategies.

Times have changed, and, with them, the rules of email, which have evolved and will continue to evolve. Success in this channel is (and always will be) defined by flexibility, agility, and innovation.

Stay nimble, always question your assumptions, don’t be afraid to experiment, and you’ll be light years ahead of the pack who still email like it’s 1999.

Karen Talavera runs Synchronicity Marketing (www.synchronicitymarketing.com) and writes about email, social media, and other online-marketing conversation channels on her blog, Enlightened Emarketing. Follow her on Twitter (@SyncMarketing) and Facebook for daily tips and links to emerging email and social-media marketing trends, facts, and research.

Cloud Computing even Better for Small Business

aadams — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:48:24 +0000

8 Reasons Why Cloud Computing is Even Better for Small Businesses

By Fredric Paul / April 6, 2012 10:00 AM

This post is part of our ReadWriteStart channel, which is dedicated to helping savvy entrepreneurs start and grow new businesses with resources, tips, insight and analysis. The channel is sponsored by TriNet.

Sure, cloud computing offers benefits to companies of all sizes. But the clouds’ advantages apply even more dramatically the smaller and newer your company. At the same time, the standard objections to cloud computing matter less to small companies than to large ones.

On the plus side, the cloud’s economies of scale naturally make a bigger difference when your company is too small to generate similar savings and capabilities on its own. And on the flip side, many of the issues blamed on the cloud in large enterprises – security, integration, compliance and so on – often cause fewer problems in small companies that can’t properly deal with them anyway.

1. Economies of scale: This one’s obvious. The larger the company, the easier it can generate economies of scale on its own. Small companies, by definition, have more limited resources. Anything that can give them access to scale in purchasing and pricing is a big win!

2. Enterprise-class functionality. Big companies have the heft to create the custom functionality they need. Small companies simply don’t have the resources to do that. In the cloud, though, they can leverage development, maintenance and upgrades across many, many small businesses… And, increasingly, consumers as well.

3. Money Matters. Startups and small companies are often undercapitalized and pay-as-you-go cloud computing solutions typically don’t require lots of upfront cash. Even if they don’t end up saving much as the monthly fees add up over the long run, avoiding capital expenditures can be a make-or-break issue for cash-strapped small businesses.

4. Infrastructure vs. Applications. For the enterprise, cloud computing often means complex Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) projects that have to be installed and integrated into a company’s existing systems. For smaller companies, cloud computing often means complete cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) applications and application suites. No IT required.

5. The Legacy Issue. A common enterprise objection to cloud computing is how will it work with the company’s legacy applications. Small businesses – and especially new businesses – typically have fewer and less complex legacy apps. Taken a step farther, that means startups and small businesses have less installed infrastructure they’d need to throw out to move into the cloud. As for new businesses, why would you actually buy anything you could “rent” instead?

6. Security Problems. I’m not saying security isn’t important to small businesses (though many don’t take it as seriously as they should). I’m saying that while security in the cloud may still be shaky by enterprise standards, it’s almost always far better than what small businesses are able to provide for themselves.

7. Compliance. Because you don’t necessarily know where your data is stored in the cloud, IaaS can cause confusion as to whether it complies with local, national and international regulations. That’s a huge issue for multinational corporations, less so for most small businesses.

8. Reliability. The cloud is more reliable than most people think. When widely used cloud services and applications have outages, it makes national news. When an individual company – large or small – has a similar problem, they work hard to make sure you never even hear about it. The bottom line, though, is that even accounting for network connectivity hiccups, the cloud is probably a lot more reliable than what small businesses can afford to provide for themselves.

When it comes right down to it, cloud computing seems made for startups and small businesses. It’s the best way to get enterprise class – or better yet, consumer class – functionality without having to develop it yourself or lay out a big chunk of cash to buy it. And even though cloud computing still isn’t fully mature, its remaining issues simply carry less weight when viewed from the perspective of a startup or small business.