Never Lose Those Vital Snippets Of Information Again

I've been using Evernote for more than a year now and it's become an increasingly important part of my work routine.

Evernote software allows you to type notes, copy text, save screen shots and store photos. You can even store voice recordings and "handwritten" notes. It's available as a free, easy-to-install download.

All the information your store with the Evernote software can be backed-up on their servers and accessed via virtually any web browser. Versions of the software are also available for a very wide range of mobile phone operating systems, which again can automatically synchronise with your data storage on the Evernote servers.

But will you use it? 

That was the question I first asked myself. I quickly found out the answer was yes. The primary reason being is that it makes it so quick and easy to save useful items of information. Just those sort of items that in the past you may have written on a sheet of paper or saved in a folder, then never have been able to find again.

Evernote allows you to quickly store information in "notebooks" that you can create to suit your particular needs. All this information is also searchable, you can even search for text within images.

How do I use Evernote?

There are four key areas where Evernote has really helped me:

1) Preparing articles like this one. You can quickly "clip" related information from web pages and documents. Start sketching out the structure of your article. Write individual paragraphs. Even complete the whole article. All the information is in one secure, easy to access place. Which is especially useful if you want to develop the article over an extended period of time.

2) Saving key sections from emails and letters. How many times have you rewritten virtually the same paragraph because you couldn't find the place you originally used it? Evernote has allowed me to quickly save and retrieve those those treasured snippets. A massive time saver.

3) Have you every searched through a PC or software user guide to find a vital piece of advice and then have to repeat the process again a couple of months later? With Evernote, I've found it really easy to store and retrieve the particular instructions that are useful to me. 

4) Inspirational thoughts, neat ideas, great quotations. I couldn't begin to count the number I've come across then lost track of. Evernote has helped me to build up a store of little inspirational gems.

I'm sure there must be dozens of other ways in which people use Evernote. If your already an Evernote user, please let us know about your favourite application below.

What Does It Cost?

There is no cost to download the software and the free Evernote subscription allows you to upload up to 60MB of data to their servers every month. The $5 per month Premium version extends that to 1GB per month.

Conclusion

The thing that has really made Evernote important to me, is the speed with which you can save, organise and retrieve, even the smallest items of information.

Evernote have just passed 8 million users. In the next few weeks that could hit 10 million users, I'd strongly recommend that you're one of them.

Do You Offer Rewards For Referrals?

Referral Key is a website which offers to help you simplify the process and reach more referral partners.

This networking resource is aimed primarily at small business operators. It allows you to post a business profile and link with other business people. Membership is free.

Referral Key has been around since 2007 but has expanded dramatically since it started allowing members to offer a “reward” for successful referrals. The value and terms for awarding the reward are entirely up to the member making the offer. It can be in the form of gift vouchers from a selection of companies, or simply cash payments.

Importantly, the website also provides a facility allowing you to automatically track referrals, both given and received.

Whilst some professions have a code of conduct that prevent them from accepting such inducements, in other instances it may prove a nice way to reward people for taking the time and effort to send you referrals.

Referral Key is based in Boston, USA and was featured in this Boston Globe article.

I can't see this facility ever matching the benefits of face-to-face networking or the facilities available on LinkedIn. However, I've decided to give it a go and offer a reward of $100 for successful referrals. I'll let you know how well it works.

You can link with me on Referral Key at http://referralkey.com/richardcarter

Referral Key - Referrals for Small Businesses Video

Three Simple LinkedIn Features You MUST Consider For Your Website

Make it easier for website visitors to promote and connect with your organisation.

LinkedIn have recently made available a new range of facilities that can be integrated with websites. The three features I recommend you implement are:

Member Profiles - Facilitates the display of Profile Summary Cards for selected LinkedIn members e.g. company staff. Your website visitors will also be able see how they're connected to the displayed personnel. Profile Summary Cards will not only encourage prospects to make initial contact with your organisation but will also help to grow stronger relationships with your existing clients.

Company Insider - This feature shows your website visitors which company employees are in their LinkedIn network. Once again, making it easier for people to build stronger ties with your organisation.

Share on LinkedIn - Provides a simple way for individuals to publish favourable comments. The button provided allows visitors to send a LinkedIn Status Update without leaving your website. The update automatically includes a link to your website and space for comments.

For website visitors to experience the personalised aspects of the above features, they will of course need to be logged-in to LinkedIn. However, it is no longer uncommon for businesspeople to remain continuously logged-in to key services, such as, Google and LinkedIn.

The features highlighted are free and relatively simple to implement. They provide an innovative way to grow relationships with both clients and prospects. What are you waiting for?

How do you implement these features?

To access these features go to the LinkedIn Developer Network. This sounds a bit daunting but don't worry, the features I've selected have been made as simple as possible to implement.

The above link will take you to a page showing the various LinkedIn website "plugins" that are available. Select the feature you require via the "Get it" button, enter some basic information, then click "Get Code". You will be provided with the HTML code required for your website.

If you're already doing your own basic website support, entering this HTML code should be plain sailing. Alternatively, it is a simple task for your website development company.

You will notice that there are some other "plugins" which are available from LinkedIn. Some of these may also be attractive for your website but just be aware that they require significant HTML expertise to implement.

Share Files The Easy Way

Just select the files you want to share via your browser.

Ge.tt is a recently launched free file sharing service which makes the whole process as simple as possible. Once you have selected the file you wish to share, Ge.tt provides a website address (URL) which you can pass on to people who may wish to download the selected file. 

The stand-out benefits of Ge.tt are:

• Simple drag-and-drop process to load files to the Ge.tt website.
• Immediate access to the service which uses your web browser only, no software to install.
• Supports almost any file type including documents, pictures and videos.
• No file size limitations (although some web browsers may only handle up to 2GB files).
• File downloads can be started immediately, even before your file is fully loaded on to the Ge.tt website.

Your files may be deleted from the Ge.tt website if they have not been accessed for over 30 days. If you want to get some larger items distributed quickly, however, this is a great way to do it.

Hint: If you're on the Ge.tt website and want to get back to the file sharing page, just click the the Ge.tt logo.

Dump That Email Footer

Many, many emails now include a footer imposing conditions, disclaimers and instructions related to the email.

By James Cridland

Do you ever read them? Should we be wary of their contents? Is the footer on your emails valid?

According to The Economist "Many disclaimers are, in effect, seeking to impose a contractual obligation unilaterally, and thus are probably unenforceable". Click here to read their full article "Spare us the e-mail yada-yada".

So, should we discard email footers altogether? Has anybody come across a legal case reliant on the contents of an email footer? Your comments are welcome.

How to use LinkedIn to Boost Search Results for your Business

Having your business well positioned in Internet search results is a great way of improving sales opportunities. So when the chance arrives to easily improve your search results, grab it!

By MarioSundar

Just such an opportunity has arisen because Google are ramping up their use of information that is posted on social media websites. LinkedIn and Twitter are two of the most highly "ranked" social media sites and what's happening on these sites is going to increasingly influence search results. Interestingly, many feel that Facebook may be much less significant because they don't allow Google to view all of their data.

An example of the search power of social media websites is often seen when searching for a specific company. The personal LinkedIn profiles of employees at that company are often right up there alongside the company's own website.

Here are 5 STEPS* that will allow you to take advantage of the rising importance of social media websites:

1) Create a Twitter account at https://twitter.com/. It's pretty straight forward just enter your name and email address, then create a username and password.  

Don't worry! I'm not going to suggest you spend all day tweeting. But as you'll see in the next step, there is a way to use Twitter without any extra work at all.

2) Connect you LinkedIn account to your new Twitter account. On LinkedIn go to "Settings" then "Profile" then add your Twitter username under "Manage your Twitter settings". Once this is done your LinkedIn status updates will automatically go out on Twitter as well. Great web search exposure with no extra work!

3) Establish a Google Account at https://www.google.com/accounts/. This simply needs you to enter an email address and create a password.

4) Then complete your Google Profile at http://www.google.com/profiles/ . A short cut here is to cut and paste the "Summary" section from your LinkedIn profile to the "Introduction" section of your new Google profile.

5) Connect your Linkedin account and your Twitter account to your Google profile. You do this by inserting your "Public Profile Address" for each account into the "Links" section of your Google Profile. Public Profile Addresses are the actual website addresses for your profiles. They will look something like http://au.linkedin.com/in/NAME and http://twitter.com/USERNAME

* You may not even need to take all 5 of the steps if you already some of have the appropriate accounts established.

GOOGLE PROFILE

The above steps will do two things to improve search results for you and your business. Firstly, your status updates will get exposure on both the LinkedIn and Twitter websites. Secondly, Google will better understand your presence on social media and who are your business contacts. Scary? Well yes, slightly. But consider that Google are now giving preference to information associated with you, IF they know your connected to the person doing the search On that basis, it really does pay off if Google are aware who are your business contacts. Google do also commit to not sharing your private information with any other third party.

To further help your web search rankings remember to also do the following: continue to increase your LinkedIn connections; publish regular LinkedIn status updates; make sure all employees have LinkedIn profiles with customised weblinks to the company.

NO TIME? Implementing the above steps yourself really is worthwhile and will cost you nothing. However if you don't have the time or inclination, for $110 we'll carry out the above 5 step process for you. Just email me at richardc@business-connections.com.au to have this done.

Can you suggest other ways to improve search results using social media? Please comment below.

How Your Virtual Network Effects Google Searches

Your virtual networking activity is becoming more important in Google searches. This video shows why.

European Commission Promotes Use Of Free Software

The European Commission has adopted a set of software purchasing guidelines that promotes the use of free, open-source software. See the full story in the New York Times.

Online Networks Increasingly Used To Publish Business Information

The amount of people who use online networks to distribute business information continued to increase in 2010. For more information go to: http://mashable.com/2011/01/13/social-web-participation/

Time To Make Your Business Server Free?

The great range of free (and very low cost) facilities now available on the Internet means that many businesses will no longer need to invest in costly servers, software and the associated IT support. 2011 will be the year when more and more businesses make use of free resources to save money and give themselves a competitive edge.

A recent article by Joe McKendrick - Rise of SFA, the 'server-free architecture' - gave some examples of how even software development companies had become server free. It's time to start thinking about how your business can slash IT costs, because your competitors may already be on the move in this area.

Cloud Computing - The State of Play.

Many of the best free business resources are hosted in the Internet "cloud". But what exactly is this cloud? This article from the Economist provides a great overview of the state of play with computing clouds.

http://www.economist.com/node/17797794

 

Firefox Becomes Europe's Top Internet Browser

Microsoft's Internet Explorer overhauled for the first time in a major market. For more details see Reuters article at : http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70324F20110104