U.S. NetworX

(Read last week’s article on the Chrome browser by clicking here.)

Unlike Chrome, Wave certainly has its short-comings. Yeah, I know it’s still by invite only, and Google has slapped some big notices how it’s a preview version and not even in beta testing. In other words, like old maps show, “Here be monsters!”

The gist of Wave is Google trying to make an online tool for communication and collaboration, with some fancy widgets built in. Think of it like a chat room on a bad batch of steroids.

I received an early invite to the system and have spent some time in it with friends kicking the tires. The result? It’s got growing pains, but shows some potential. Socially, I prefer Twitter to keep in touch with friends. Wave, however, is more of a big chat room. You create “Waves” that you can think of like a topic. In that wave, you invite from your contact list folks you want to participate with. Inside that wave, you can post messages, upload files, add images, even little games and poll questions.

Here’s an example: let’s say I want to organize a dinner party with friends. I create a wave, give it a name/short post (“Let’s have supper before the holidays get here”), and add participants to it via my contacts list. Within that wave, I can start suggesting dates, time, location, etc. At any time, my contacts can reply with their own comments, via text, images, links and such. We can also input widgets like a polling question (“Will you bring a covered dish? Yes – No – Maybe”).

After a couple months of usage, though, Wave to me is not the end-all, be-all email or chat/message board killer some are making it out to be. The big gripe is the invitation-based method currently in use. If I can only Wave with folks who have accounts right now, what about other friends and family? In addition, it still is buggy and slow in use, even when I use Google’s own Chrome browser to use it.

Short answer: Neat idea, but much left to be desired. Now, Wave goodbye.

I’ve given two of Google’s products a spin recently, and here are some thoughts and notes I’ve collected. By no means am I CNET-caliber in covering online technology, but an above-average Internet user. So maybe I have an idea of what to expect and how things should work.

The Chrome browser

At home, I was frustrated with the slow download of photos from a photographer’s website. I had previously tried Chrome at home (Hey, that rhymes!) when it was released, but I deemed it too buggy and some sites didn’t react too well to it, so I returned to Firefox.

With the current version of Chrome, though, the speed increase over an updated Firefox was noticeable. Chrome loaded more quickly and didn’t stall and eventually crash like FF did. Winner, winner, chicken dinner! With that result, I’ve started using Chrome at the office as my go-to browser. It’s only crashed once on me; probably the good ole PEBKAC issue.

The other bonus for me was the search function, especially when I need to find a word in a long post or list of links. Firefox does it well enough, but I noticed that Chrome not only highlights the word, but also adds little notches in the vertical scroll bar to help say, “Hey! Look! Go up HERE to see another instance!”

Only thing I’ve seen as an issue with Chrome was a Flash website that took longer to run and didn’t match the look of the same site in Firefox. Honestly, I don’t know how much of that is a Chrome bug vs. that site developer not taking Chrome into consideration.

Verdict: It’s worth a try if you feel like experimenting with a browser that’s Internet Explorer or Firefox. There is a speed difference in your favor, too.

Next time: Google’s Wave

Necessity is the mother of invention.  That’s what recently went through my mind as a co-worker at USNX talked about our challenging economic times, and the need of some small businesses to pay for their website in installments.  He stated what we all know, that more and more consumers are turning to the web when looking for products and services, and business owners realize they need to improve their web presence if they want to remain competitive and continue to grow.

Therefore, over the next few days we researched financing options, and were sorely disappointed by what we found.  Tight credit, minimal options, unattractive terms.

So we decided to invent our own website leasing plan.  Our goal was to make it as simple and easy as possible, by offering terms as long as 48 months, with no downpayment.  With the USNX leasing plan, our clients can get quick approval, conserve their cash, gain possible tax advantages, and preserve their business credit.

I met with a company yesterday who told me a horror story of the time that their server crashed with all of their accounting and historical information on it.  They were doing tape backups every week, but guess what?  When the tapes were accessed, nothing was on them!  They were able to get some files back to the tune of $11,000 dollars, but most of the information was corrupted and completely unusable.

In a world of earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, fires and more, I urge everybody -  BACKUP YOUR INFORMATION, preferably in a secure data center.  Most of us have experienced that horrible dismay of realizing not only has your computer crashed, but you haven’t backed up in months.  Imagine if that happened to your entire organization’s information!

Do yourself a favor now, TODAY – double-check your backup processes.  If they are insufficient, contact your hosting company immediately to get this resolved.  Your entire company’s information could be wiped out in a matter of minutes.

Why?

I have been in this business for a while, and I regularly run into this statement.  These are the questions I ask and the answers I get:

Question:  Did you put your website address on all of your marketing material and advertising campaigns?

Answer:  No

Questions:  Did you put your website address on your business cards (to me, this is a given, but…)

Answer:  No

Question:  Did you market your website to search engines?

Answer:  No

Question:  Did you keep your site updated with fresh information on a regular basis?

Answer:  No

Question:  Did you ask people who contacted you how they heard about you?

Answer:  No

I think you’re getting my drift.  If you build a website, no, they will not come.  But if you promote it properly, keep it updated with useful information, and actually refer people to it; then, yes, they will.

Some ideas to consider:

1.  Put your website address on that billboard or television commercial that you spent a fortune on.

2.  Put your website address on your voicemail, answering machine, automated attendant message, etc.

3.  Make sure your email address and your website address match.  I cringe when I see somebody who has a website using an @aol.com or @yahoo.com email address for their professional email.

4.  Put your website address in the signature line of your email message.

5.  Ask a qualified professional how to optimize your site to search engines.  It’s worth the effort and cost, I assure you.

6.  Keep updated information on your website.  If a visitor sees outdated material, chances are, they will never be back.

7.  Ask people how they heard about you.  This is valuable information, especially if you are promoting your business through various media.

These things are not difficult to do, but definitely necessary.  So, if your website isn’t working for you, now you know why.

In light of recent economic occurrences (we’re in a recession — or not, depending on who you listen to), it’s understandable to keep a tighter rein on the company funds.  However, don’t sacrifice cost-efficient ways to promote your business, i.e.  your website.  Now, I know I am in the web business, but the facts speak for themselves:

1.  An e-commerce site is waaaaayyyyy more affordable than a brick and mortar store.

2.  Why spend a fortune for an ad in a magazine or newspaper or a television commercial that only a few people will see a limited amount of times, when you can have a website that is available globally 24-7?

3.  Yellow Page ads?  You’re still doing those?  What happens if your ad gets printed wrong (happened to us!)  They’re not going to print a retraction, you know.  You’re stuck with it a whole year.  If you’re going to advertise in the Yellow Pages, at least do it online!

4.  How many of you store owners are working at midnight?  Okay, maybe some of you.  But with an e-commerce store, you can sell while you sleep.  If you’re like me, you work in your sleep anyway, might as well get something out of it.

5.  How many of you that have websites have a way to edit the content?  If you don’t, then call your web developer today.  Talk about an inexpensive way to promote your company – just a little bit of your time.

These are just a few facts.  I’ll add more as I think of them.  And, if you have some cost-saving tips of your own, shoot us an email or give us a call!  I’ll post them on our blog!

Yes folks, Google is at it again.  They are out to revolutionize online communication.  “How?” you ask.  Well, the Wave, of course.  This application, which is being designed by the same people that brought us Google Maps, intends to combine email, chat, blogs, photo-sharing, and wikis to create the extreme online experience.

Wave is currently in beta testing by a select group of people, but Google plans to release it to the public by the end of this year.  Read all about it here.

That’s what Microsoft researcher, Gordon Bell, said about storing details of our lives on a computer instead of in our heads -  and, he’s serious!  Microsoft is actually working on this contraption called a SenseCam that hangs around your neck capturing everything in your daily life.  Then, you would just keep all of that information on a computer so you can relive it later.

Imagine if we could upload all the information in our brains to a computer (for some of us, that wouldn’t take very long).   We could relive it all and show our kids and grandkids what we were really like (I’d password protect a large portion of mine!).  And, of course, we’d have to be able to access this information at anytime using our cell phones.  We could find out where we left our keys and where our car is in the mall parking lot.  Wow!

To read more about this story, click here.

Congratulations to our clients on their brand new websites:

www.madisonservices.com

www.stjameslighting.com

www.meridianlittletheatre.com

www.superpave.com

www.ronlewislaw.com

www.telesouth.com

When was the last time you updated yours?

Have you heard that Twitter is now getting into the phone business?  Apparently, there’s an IP communications company, Jajah, that has released “Tweet-to-Talk”  JAJAH@call, that the company says lets users make calls via Twitter for free.  Yes folks, they said FREE.

According to the article, the “@calls” are made without revealing the caller’s phone number, and the callers don’t even have to know the number of the person they want to call — just their Twitter username.  Wow!

Now, I’ve got to admit, when I first heard about this Twitter stuff months and months ago, this “What are you doing now?” nonsense, I thought that was the silliest thing I’ve ever heard.  Who cares?  Looks like everybody cares, and this calling thing is just the tip of the iceberg.  Now, Salesforce.com and Motorola are launching Twitter friendly products.  Who’s next?  I bet Ma Bell is turning over in her grave about now.

Read it for yourself   http://bit.ly/PPdu1

I’ve got to go, Twitter’s calling me.