Archive for the ‘Tips & tricks’ Category

The October 24, 2010 New York Times did a Q&A with Kenneth Feld, chairman and CEO of Feld Entertainment, producers of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus and Disney on Ice.  When interviewing prospective executives he asks this:  “You’re really smart, but do you know how to make money?  Tell me some things about how you made money.”

“Let me tell you, nothing kills an interview like that,” Feld said.

Even if you work in the public sector — no, especially if you work in the public sector –  you should have an answer that question.  It will keep you focused on your mission and on your bottom line.

(In the mid-1980s, while working at PR Associates, I did local media relations for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.  Buy me a drink sometime and I’ll tell you about booking the bear act on “Kelly & Company.”)

With the election less than a week away and three registered, active voters in our household, we’re besieged by robo calls.  Why?  Because they’re so gosh-darned cheap, it turns out.

“Hmmmm,” mused Eric Dueweke a lecturer in the University of Michigan’s Urban and Regional Planning program.  Why not bring robo calls back from the dark side, for use by the forces of good?  At those prices, community groups could send meeting reminders, schools could notify parents when classes are cancelled, families could even use them for reunions or birthday parties.

A quick Google search revealed many commercial services, some of which even will send text messages (be careful with that one).  Here’s one I found that offers a low-use free account, or pay-as-you-go calls as low as seven cents each.

Trying to schedule a meeting with several busy people?  Andrea Brown at the Michigan Association of Planning turned me on to Doodle.com.  You don’t even have to register.  Just go there and use it, free.

I’m part of a group of five busy people who network together a couple times a year.  It usually takes us a week of “reply all” emails to find a date and time.  With Doodle, I pulled it off in 30 minutes.

If you’re thinking about starting a business, you can participate in one of a number of training programs, depending on your level of computer skill, your business concept and the time you have available.  For a quick introduction to what’s available, come to TechTown on September 8 from 3 to 6 p.m.  You’ll meet with a mentor (I may be one of them!) who’ll describe the options and, if you’re interested, you can sign up for the class that suits you.  More information here

Think of all the ways online ticketing could make your business or personal life easier.  You could collect money for charity or political fundraisers, concerts, plays, sports leagues and field trips.  You could use it to sell “coupons,” which customers could redeem in your store.

Online ticketing services offer a wide array of features.  Some are free for small events.  They will sell and mail the tickets or you can print them on site, or buy bulk tickets to sell at the door.  Some services will produce lanyards, or badges for multi-day events.

Here’s a quickly-researched selection:

• http://www.inticketing.com
• http://www.brownpapertickets.com
• http://www.mycommunitytickets.com
• https://www.ticketleap.com
• http://www.boxofficetickets.com

Would you like to create a customized online magazine?  Using a Web-based reader, many of which are available free (e.g. Google and Yahoo), you select the sites you want to follow and, on one page, it shows you the latest headlines from all their newest stories.

The magazine is created using RSS, which stands for “Real Simple Syndication.”  “Subscription” might be a better word, though.  Here’s a site that explains it better than I can.

Last month’s post about Web-based mapping software is already the most-viewed post EVER on our blog.  Read more about one user’s delight.

“I got so excited when I clicked on your link today.   But alas, I still have no time!  So, I  passed it along  to my new staff accountant who, within an hour, had downloaded a five-year history of our labor relations clients and mapped them, complete with color coding by type!  I am so geeked right now, I can hardly wait to celebrate this with the management team tomorrow and I PROMISE to give you credit!   I love your newsletter, there is always something I use!”  Nan Pearson, Chief Financial Officer, Michigan Association of School Boards.

Here’s the link to the article about mapping. 5/27/10

Adagio Graphics, one of our design contractors, recent contacted an SEO consulting firm on behalf of their clients.  They learned that the consultant’s minimum fee was, I kid you not, $40,000.

Without a doubt, there are companies out there making enough money selling over the Internet to justify that cost.  But even the smallest companies can do several simple, effective things to help themselves get found by their prospective customers.  Once again, American Express’s business-advice website comes through, with this article on SEO for beginners.

If my earlier posts have encouraged you to sign up for the Kim Komando e-newsletter, then you already saw this link.  If not, and if you want to browse a plethora of picture-related applications, click here.  We’ll see you when you come up for air next week. 5/27/10

Do you want to know if or how geography brings you customers?  Do you need to create delivery routes?  Would you like to put a custom map on your Web site showing your store locations?  There are several free Web-based applications that’ll do the trick.  It took me all of two minutes to map a list of addresses from Excel using Batchgeo.  Mapalist looked promising.  To use The Map Monster, your data needs to be in a Google Docs spreadsheet.  This site has instructions for a more detailed process which enables you to put a map on a Web site with customized icons and additional detail about each map point, e.g. hours of operation, or locational information (“Just north of 12 Mile Road”).   4/28/10