I don’t know if you have heard this or said it before. But I have heard a number of people over the last few years use this idiom.

If you have this attitude about your customers, then you shouldn’t be in business. Your customers are what make it possible for you to stay in business. Even if you aren’t in a position that works directly with customers, you should respect them.

Your customer isn’t always right, but your customer deserves your respect and your gratitude. Considering your customer a liar won’t get your more business… in fact, it will likely do just the opposite.

Tags: Buyer, Customer, Liar

Well, according to the MPAA, it is terrible. According to local governments in Los Angeles (after following New York’s lead), not only is piracy bad, but it "substantially interferes with the interest of the public in the quality of life and community peace, lawful commerce in the county, property values, and is detrimental to the public health, safety, and welfare of the county’s citizens, its businesses and its visitors." (I added the emphasis)

I think they have gone a little far in this depiction of how bad piracy is. I mean… really, causes health, safety and welfare concerns?

I agree that it is, and should be illegal, to violate copyright laws. I make my living on writing and designing and want my content to be mine. I am building a business on custom software applications and I don’t want someone to distribute that without me getting my cut. I don’t care if someone uses my content as long as I get credit, but I would never say that you are causing health concerns by stealing my content.

What really confuses me is on sites that are centered around file sharing (those that are accused of aiding and abetting the crime of piracy) still get plenty of advertisements. You might think that most of the advertisements come from fringe or illicit material websites… but you would be wrong. Notice the Verizon and the Netflix ads I found on one such site. I won’t take you there via a link because I don’t want to be accused of perpetuating the problem. But, I wonder, does advertising on a site that has been under fire for years of providing these sharing services actually legitimize the act of piracy? What’s more is that I even saw an ad from NBC on the same site but I refreshed too fast to get a screen shot.

You might ask, "What is the real business case for this discussion?"

Well, I am glad you asked. The real issue is that file sharing is here to stay. You aren’t going to change that. Sharing a book, a cassette tape, a CD or DVD has been around for a long time, but what is different now is the ability for someone to proliferate it more quickly than ever before.

Many TV shows are now available online after they air. So, many of the networks get it. If you can provide your content in a medium that people want it, you can likely monetize that it other ways. Until the MPAA understands that people don’t want to spend $20 on a DVD that cost them $.20 to produce, they will always be at odds with their customers. Here’s a thought… Provide it on-line to view for $1. Or provide the ability to download an burn to your DVD for $3. Make it affordable and people will stop stealing.

Now, this isn’t a rant on copyright protection. It is a discussion of not being at odds with your customer. As long as you don’t provide your product or service in a way that your customers want to receive it, they will find other venues to obtain it. That is called competition… get used to it.

Tags: Content, Piracy, Software

In looking to ways to increase my traffic, I am looking to my friends and social networking to help me out. I decided to start Twittering. Their site is riddled with code problems, but it is a pretty cool service.

I like my blog because it gives me an opportunity to talk about what I am thinking. I have come to like Twitter because it gives me a change to talk about what I am doing. Moreover, it gives me a chance to follow people and know what they are doing right now.

There are many different opinions on how to use Twitter in business. Justin Foster had a post today on what he calls “Twitter Magic.” It was at his recommendation that I sign up.

One thing that Justin suggests is that a company doesn’t need a Twitter strategy. He is referring to the idea that as a company, we don’t want to have a strategy about how to connect with people… we should just connect.

Last week, Misty Khan posted at Arrow Tips her thought on a Twitter strategy. For the most part, I am inclined to agree that personally, you should have a strategy. In my opinion, her strategy is more about being a good conversationalist than about Twitter.

If you want, follow me by clicking on my Twitter badge on the right. If you are interesting to me, I’ll follow you back.

Tags: Communication, Conversation, Social Web, Twitter

A good day at work is not defined by the number of hours you spend on a project, sitting behind a computer or talking with clients. A good day at work is measure by what you have accomplished that is meaningful.

Don’t confuse busyness with working. Don’t think that just because you put in 8, 10 or 12 hours that you actually accomplished something.

If you can’t look back on your day and honestly say that you have completed something of consequence or significance, then you didn’t have a good day at work.

Tags: Accomplishment, Efficiency, Hard Work

So often, in a store, you will notice a sign that says, "Please don’t take unpaid merchandise in the restroom."

The word "don’t" is a very negative approach and you can find that "don’t" will cause people to shy away… even if that is not intended. Try to take a positive approach to things you would hope your customers would understand.

Last month when I was in Hawaii, I went shopping at Hilo Hattie. I noticed this sign:

It is amazing that you can say the same thing but be far more friendly when saying it.

Tags: Aloha, Convenience, Hilo Hattie, Restroom

I mentioned last week that communication management tends to be the hardest part about project management. I have also mentioned in the past that I am a big fan of Mac… but I use a PC as my primary computer for various reasons. One of those reasons is the productivity of Outlook.

Communication management is a bear, so there are companies that have added efficiency tools for Outlook. TechHit.com contacted me and asked me to do a review of their product… they gave me a free license on three of their products so that I can put them through the paces. I told them to be aware that I will give an honest review… even if it is bad. I’ll talk about the first tool today.

SimplyFile is the first Outlook plug-in I have tried from TechHit. Installation is pretty straight forward. When you restart Outlook, you get a new toolbar that appears:

First, I need to tell you the basic premise of the application. The idea is that you spend a lot of time filing away your emails into separate folders or scheduling appointments and tasks from an email message.

For example, I know that when I want to file away messages into various folders, I have to first find the folder and then drag and drop. Or, if I want to schedule an appointment, I  will copy the body of the email and then paste into a new appointment.

This toolbar adds some pretty cool functionality to Outlook. It took a little for me to figure out the best approach since I am averse to reading instructions (just ask my wife). But, the first thing you do is click the SimplyFile button on the far right and click "Train SimplyFile…" It will pop up the window on the right here.

When you click "Start Training" it will look at all the messages in your inbox and all your folders and start to figure out how you file messages. If you have a lot of messages, be patient, it will take some time.

After you have trained SimplyFile, you will have a lot of options available in your toolbar to file those messages away. You will notice that when you click on a message in your inbox, the tool bar drop down message will change to indicate where SimplyFile thinks you want to file that message to.  SimplyFile does a pretty good job getting the location right, but you have the option to change the folder location. As you change the locations, SimplyFile will learn your habits and become more proactive at suggesting the right one.

If you get an email that you just want to file away quickly that SimplyFile doesn’t know what to do with, you can click the QuickPick button. What I like about this is that you can refresh the folder list and see the current folders. It shows the full path of the folders, so it takes a little to get used to it, but it does make it easier in the long run.

Of course, there are the "Task It" and "Schedule It" Buttons. I don’t set many tasks from an email (although I probably should - I am still on a pad of paper for my tasks - I know what you are thinking, "That dumb web developer and blogger uses paper for tasks?!?"). But, I do set a lot of appointments from an email. This saves a lot of copying and pasting time. This is a great feature.

My favorite feature, though, is what you can do with sent items. Typically, you have all of your sent items go to one Sent Items folder. Many times, you want to save a sent item for a certain client saved in a different place (some people I know save them in the same folder for one client - all messages for one clients in one folder whether sent or received.)

You can turn this feature off, but I have kept it on. There are many times that I don’t want to save a message when sent. But, it gives you a lot of options that you didn’t have before.

So, my overall thoughts? If you are accustomed to filing messages manually, without Inbox rules, this may be a good product for you. If you use Inbox rules and are happy with them, this probably won’t work for you because this doesn’t route messages automatically, as far as I can tell but you may find that changing some habits can actually increase your efficiency.

The other con: it doesn’t help you with email management if you don’t really have a good strategy for what you want to do or don’t want to take the time to put one in place. If you are happy with keeping your messages in one location or don’t have the discipline to click a button and have it automatically file for you, then it may not be right for you. That is the biggest problem I have. I move on to the next message so quickly, that I forget to file it away.

In my opinion the only real con is the price. It costs $39.95 per user. That seems like a hefty cost. I like some of the features, but I don’t know that I personally would gain enough to cover the cost.

The pitch is that you don’t have to change your filing habits but just make them better. I have to change my habits to make this worthwhile because I am so inefficient in the way I handle email. I am going to use this as the impetus to become more efficient, so later I may think it worth $40… but not right now.

My recommendation to TechHit? Give away a lite version of the app. Strip it down to one or two features that people would like and then sell the rest of the features. Or even sell the stripped down version for $10 with a $30 upgrade. $40 is a lot to bite off when you will likely need to change the way you do things to become more efficient. After all, that is what they are asking their clients to do… change habits to become more efficient.

Try it out on their 30 day free trial and let me know what you think.

Tags: Communication, Outlook, Tech Review, Tech-Tip

When I consider project management, I find that managing what needs to be done in a project is rather easy… as long as I am the only person I have to manage. What really becomes a challenge is trying to manage communication with various people.

I have to manage communication with clients, partners, vendors and employees. It can be a daunting task.

For a professional project manager, there are tools like MS Project that can help bring things together. I don’t like that sort of tool for the projects I manage because it offers far more than I want to learn. I don’t think in terms of a Gantt Chart. I don’t like to worry about some of the things it manages…. especially since my projects have 2 or 3 resources to worry about.

You can go for something online like BaseCamp. It is a pretty good interface that sends email reminders of when something needs to be done. But, it doesn’t answer the real problem with project management… and that is communication management.

I use Outlook for everything. I have it synchronized with my Gmail so that I can get my email on the road or on my mobile phone. The problem is that I receive a few hundred emails in a given day. That means sorting into folders and setting up reminders (if you need them). But, it is still a daunting task.

One of the things we implemented for my web development projects is a weekly development meeting. My project manager and I have a weekly meeting to discuss the status of each site. We have a checklist on each site that we go through in detail during that meeting. Now, we still talk through the week about projects. We still email, Skype or phone each other, but the face to face time provide a significant enhancement to our process.

“But,” you may ask, “how does that help with communication with vendors, partners or clients?”

“Well,” I would say, “I am glad you asked that question!”

We take that opportunity to review what we are waiting on from our partners and vendors. If we have already sent an email and don’t hear back from them, we call them. The same is true for our clients.

Minimally, we compose an email that states exactly where the project is, what we are waiting on from others and what we think people are waiting for us to do. If we have missed anything, it gives our client an opportunity to call us on it.

This is just our attempt at providing a greater level of transparency in what we do.

We aren’t perfect at it, but it has made a huge difference in how we communicate.

How do you manage communication? What have you done that has seen success…. or even failure?

Tags: Communication, Email, Project Management

In light of my last post, I wanted to post a link for a forensic accountant.

This is offered from Business to Business CFO provides CFO services to growing companies and offering financial fraud investigation, litigation support, forensic accounting, and expert witness services to litigating attorneys on a nationwide basis.

They offer a directory service for a link exchange at their site. Take a look you might find a category to make it worth your while to post a link on your site.

Tags: Attorney, CFO, Forensics, Link Building

I am starting to receive some requests for link sharing. It can be a daunting process to manage many requests… but I realize that link sharing is a great way to get inbound links and improve page traffic.

Ultimately, the way I really want to exchange links is by building a relationship. If you comment on my blog with something relevant, I may just link to you without asking for a link back. But, if you spam my blog with a comment that really doesn’t relate for the sole purpose of a link… you won’t get anywhere. If I like what you are offering on your site, I’ll link to you pretty readily.

So, here is how I want to do it. If you want to share links with me:

Here is what I want if you are a blog:

1. Right a post on your blog that links back to a post on my blog… that way I notice you.
2. I’ll subscribe to your blog because I always subscribe to those that link to me.
3. Write something compelling that I might be interested in.
4. Drop me a line letting me know that you linked to me and a post that you want me to comment on. My email address is on my about page.
5. I’ll write a post and link back… always. If you are a blog that relates to business and technology (or that I can relate to business and technology) then I really don’t care what your page rank is.

If you are a directory service or a non-blog site.

1. Since I have a page rank of 4, you should have a page rank of 4 at least. If your page rank is lower than 4, you should have a compelling reason for me to want to participate.
2. Send me a request via my email found on the about page.
3. Your link directory must match my category of business and technology
4. The page I link to must be related to business or technology.
5. I must be able to work the link into a blog post.
6. My blog post will indicate that the link is for the purpose of a link exchange. I want to be fair to the readers of the blog. My blog post can contain as much text as you want… so email me what you think I should say. I’ll edit it to match the way I talk.
7. I’ll send you an email back with the link, alt tag and description that I want for the link back to me. Please be considerate and post quickly so that I don’t have to call you out.

In either case, I won’t accept money for a link. I won’t even consider money, so don’t offer. If I see a request come through offering money for a link, I will simply delete your message.

Tags: Link Building, Link Sharing

So, I have been trying to figure out a number of ways that I can build site traffic. I mentioned last week that I have doubled my traffic in a couple of months. Here are some of the things that I have done that have made a huge difference.

1. I write on a more regular and consistent basis. If I want people to visit, I have to continue to write. Not only do I write for my blog a lot, I maintain OfficeProductNews.net, I write for HP and I write for other publications. Every little bit helps.
2. FriendFeed - I just started, but I have seen some traffic already. You can subscribe to my FriendFeed if you like. Of course… I would prefer you just subscribe to the right. But, I can’t deny that I have gotten some traffic this way.
3. StumbleUpon - I have had thousands of hits from StumbleUpon. I must admit that I am not as good as I should be about recommending sites, but the toolbar they have is pretty good. If you want to add me as a friend, my StumbleUpon Page is at http://coreyasmith.stumbleupon.com/. If you would like me to Stumble a page for you to get more traffic, let me know and I’ll tag it and write a note for you.
4. FuelMyBlog - I just signed up the other day for this service. I have already seen a few hits. You can see the widget on the right. You can help me out by Fueling My Blog there. You can get an account at FuelMyBlog.com. Now… to be honest, I am not really sure how it works. I get a little message that says that I haven’t added any friends yet, but it isn’t really clear on how to add friends… so I don’t know how effective it really is going to be. Help me out here and I’ll add your blog as a friend if you ask… even if you don’t ask very nicely. I don’t even know how to link to my profile… but I have seen hits.
5. ShareThis - I like to make it easy for people to Share a post. You may notice at the bottom of this post (and every post) is a Share this icon. Sign up for your account at ShareThis.com. They have an easy WordPress plugin. You can send this post to other people via email or various social networking sites. If you have an account, you can see what was shared. Share this post with someone… it will make me happy and will make me notice you
6. Technorati - I have seen a lot of hits from my account at Technorati. I like the authority component. If you link back to my blog from yours, my authority goes up. So, why not a little link love… you want me to review something on your site and give you a link back… just let me know. Of course, a little link love my way doesn’t hurt.
7. Directories and link exchanges- A great link building activity. In bound links have helped my site go from a Page Rank of 2 to 4. I am not exactly sure when Google made the update… but it was in the last day or so. One catalog that I am submitting to… if you are interested it is at 4 Your Information. Their Page Rank went from zero to two during this page rank update. The advantage of these types of services is they want a link back… so, as their rank goes up, the better the link back to you. I would expect my blog to show up there in a day or so. I’ll let you know. The reason they are doing this is to get a link back to their gift site where they sell incentive gifts to help improve performance. The likelihood is that you will only see the benefit in the search engines and not likely to get direct traffic… but it is still worth it for the inbound link.
8. Feedburner - I really like this service. Sign up at Feedburner.com. I like that people can signup via email or RSS Reader. Of course, I would love for you to subscribe to this blog. I think it is pretty cool. You’ll see the signup at the right sidebar at the top.
9. Email signatures - I have my blog in my email signature. I am surprised at how many click-throughs I get from people through an email client. If you simply add your site or your blog to your email signature, you’ll get traffic that you didn’t expect.
10. Blogrush - You may have noticed Blogrush on the right. Everyone in the network has this on their site. Now, I have been syndicated at least 5000 times and have had 3 clicks…. so, I don’t know if it is any good or not. I am leaning to no. But, it is real estate that is easy to give up… especially since I pulled off advertising. I would be interested to hear your perspective. Add your blog using this link and let me know your results. They wouldn’t let me add my copier and printer news service to the system… so you’ll need to add a site with original content.
11. Commenting - I get clicks from comments I have left in the past. I know that professional link builders use this approach, but I don’t want to hire them. I only want my comments to be very relevant to the conversation as that reflects on my brand.

Well.. that is the short list of what I do… it may seem long. But, if you want results quickly, you have to be willing to put in the time to make it happen.

Let me know your approach to building traffic. I want to find new approaches and with the evolution of the web, it can be daunting to stay on top of it. So, any advice you can give will be very helpful.

Tags: Link Building, SEO, Site Traffic