For CopierCatalog.com, I needed to get a good live chat software. I wanted to make sure that I was available to talk with clients that needed immediate assistance. Both from a sales perspective as well as a support perspective. I started some research.

I first thought about using Skype as my software because I am in Skype all the time. But the problem with that is that in order for someone to chat with me via Skype, they need to have Skype loaded with an account. I wanted this to be easy for them so I didn’t want them to have to load anything. Skype should consider making an anonymous web client.

I looked at few services. One of the most common (at least that I see) is LivePerson. They have some pretty cool features, but it was more than I needed. They have tracking and analysis and the whole nine yards. But, the cost is $99 per month. Even then, I had to contact them to get the price.

I wanted something free. I wanted something reliable.

I ran across Volusion. They have exactly what I need. I downloaded and installed their free version of the chat software. I get pop-ups (configurable) when someone wants to chat. I can change the appearance with an easy to use interface. It is really easy to use.

The only catch is, I have to have a link back to their site… after all, they want to sell the service. That’s a fair trade off.

If you would like to see how the software works from a customer perspective, here is my chat. if I am online, you can chat… if not, it will just send me an email.

If you only have a couple of people that need the service, it will cost less than LivePerson at only $30 per user. When you are ready for your fourth user, you may consider looking at LivePerson, but I think this is a great service and offers a lot for the price.

I have a lot of clients that need to send me files. It sometimes is a chore to teach them how to use FTP because they first have to download an FTP client, get it configured properly and then upload to the right folder. Not to mention that I have to set up the FTP account on my server so their files don’t get mixed up with other clients’ files.

WinXP made it pretty easy, but as people are moving to Mac or Vista, FTP isn’t as easy as it used to be. So, I decided to checkout a few online storage locations. There are a number of free services out there. I think that box.net is really the best option.

Here is how you do it.

They offer a few plans. The basic plan, the lite version, provides 1GB of space online for free. You can get more space for a monthly fee. With the lite version, the maximum file size is only 10MB. When you sign up for the lite version, you have the option to upgrade to the next level (giving you 5GB of space and 1GB max files size) for 14 days for free. The problem is that you have to provide credit card information and they will bill you at the end of the trial if you don’t cancel it.

box.net is designed for multiple people to have access to your files. It allows you to organize your files into folders and provides an opportunity to keep the files private or invite people to have access to them. You can multiple files and the only reason you would need to install anything is if you want to use the drag and drop feature. Even then, it sets it all up for you automatically.

The best feature, I think, is they have some add-ons that enhance the user experience.

You can add on a lot more like a GMail connector and an eFax connector.

If you have files smaller than 10MB to share, this is a great way to share files. If you have to share files larger than 10MB, you might consider it worth it to pay the $8 per month. But, you can also buy large file credits. If you have only the occasional file that is larger than 10MB, you should consider buying the credit. Then, you can get the free service, but still upload an occasional large file.

Let me know if you have found other files services out there that work for you.

I find it fascinating how often I.T. is assigned to the task of building a website. For the uninitiated, this may seem like a logical thing to do. After all, a website is technology and requires programming and stuff, right?

Wrong.

A very small part of a website is programming. A very small part of a website is technology. Oh, it might take a lot of work. It might be a requirement for the site to function properly, but I.T. should really not have a say in what the customer sees… the face or the marketing aspect of the site.

In my opinion, here are the top five components of a website… in order of importance.

1. Graphical Presentation - all the pretty pictures. All the pretty buttons. This is the first thing someone sees. This is the first thing that can turn them away.
2. User interface - This tells people where to go. What do they do next, etc. this may be second to the graphical presentation, but it is a very close second.
3. Content - Well, you need to content to put on the buttons and graphics, but there is also core site content. People will see pictures and captions of pictures before they ever see this. The may not even read this.
4. Social aspects - Blogs, forums and support features. If you don’t have the core content or pretty graphics, this won’t matter. It especially won’t matter if people don’t know how to get there from the user interface.
5. Programming - programming comes last. Of course, there may be programming required to accomplish any of the above, it is last for one very important reason. If you don’t have the above figured out, programming doesn’t matter. If your designer doesn’t create graphics, your programmers can’t install it. If you don’t know what you want the user interface to look like, your programmers can’t build it. If you don’t have your content written, your programmers can paste it in.

So, get I.T. out of the website design and put marketing on it. Either get it done with an in house marketing team to do it or outsource it. Either way, don’t depend on I.T. to build you a great website. Oh, they might be able to pull it off, but those types of I.T. people aren’t nearly as common… besides, even if they could, should I.T. really be setting your marketing direction?

I was talking with a friend who is, now, the only programmer supporting a key system for the DMV for the entire state of Idaho. He had someone else working with him on the mainframe system up until about a month ago. This other gentlemen had been working on the system for better than 20 years but suddenly lost his life and left the office with all his knowledge.

Fortunately his was very good at documentation. He documented everything that he did. He worked hard to make sure there was a record.

The problem is that he has a very unique filing system. 120 folders each with sub-folders documenting a different part of the system. Each file labeled based on his way of doing things with no standardization. Not to mention that his filing system evolved over the years… as all of our systems do.

Now, other departments ask my friend to support the things that the other gentleman supported and the only thing he can say is… "I’ll see if I can find the documentation."

You may have a lifer in your organization that understands the ins and outs of your system. You may be convinced that this person won’t be going anywhere.

If you think you are immune to the example above, you are woefully wrong.

What is your insurance against losing someone with all the knowledge on how your business runs? What is your insurance if the key sales person, accountant, IT manager or office manager leaves? Do you have documentation for their jobs? More importantly, is that documentation in a format that you can get to and understand readily.

If you don’t have a strategy… you better get one.

I have a few servers hosting my client accounts. I spend a bit of time on occasion with technical support. I prefer the live chat option because I can ask a question and easily do other things while waiting for the answer instead of having to worry about listening… I get to communicate in my time.

I find it interesting on their live chat they have  "Real Photo" (look in the bottom right corner of the pictures). I decided to take a screen shot of the last four that I found… notice the names.

Either they are quadruplets or it isn’t really a "Real Photo."

I am betting they aren’t quads. In fact, I have noticed at least four or five other names with the same picture (since I communicate with them often, I notice these things).

Here’s a thought… if you are going to use real pictures, use real pictures.

I often have conversations with clients about setting up blogs for their employees. These blogs can be for internal use only as a way for employees to have a level of internal communication without flooding email accounts for other employees that really don’t care. These blogs can be on the public internet site allowing anyone to see.

It surprises me how often I hear the concern, "What if the employee says something that we don’t approve? I don’t want to have to police their writing all the time."

To this I ask, "Do you proof all of their emails? Do you listen to all their phone conversations? Do you go to all your client appointments with them to verify their speech?"

You are stupid to think that your employees always say things that are along company lines. You are naive to think that you can monitor and control all of your employee communication.

The fact is, a blog provides you with a level of security that you may not have had before. If the employee is dumb enough to say something in appropriate in a blog, you can address that with written proof. If the employee has a private conversation and says the same thing, you have nothing.

Get into the now and stop living in the past. The fact is, your employees are saying things… just give them a forum that you can monitor and maintain.

Businesses who blog can take a few different approaches to how the blog can be presented. If you are going to follow a business’ blog, what type of posts would get you to continue to follow that blog?

Option 1 (Fact Based Information):

An informational blog that provides keys bits of information relating to products and services they sell.

Option 2 (Industry Opinions):

An informational blog that provides opinion on topics surrounding their industry and topics that might interest their target market but not necessarily be related to products they sell.

Option 3 (One Big Sales Pitch):

Every post relates to a product they sell with a call to action like "click here to learn more about this product."

Option 4 (A Little of This… A little of That):

A general opinion blog from someone in the company. Wouldn’t be too unlike a blog you would find on MySpace… just random thoughts and personal commentary.

…

So, what do you think? Which is the best option for a business blog?

My seven year old son bought a Rubik’s Cube with some money that he saved. He wants to learn how to solve it but isn’t quite experienced enough to do it all on his own.

As the leader of this house, it falls upon me to figure it out and teach him (that, at least, is the excuse I use because I have always wanted to learn how to solve it).

So, I have been spending quite a bit of time learning how to solve it. I can solve it in about 3 minutes now and have all of the major patterns memorized. I am starting to learn some of the simpler patterns so that I can learn how to make it easier for him (plus, I think it is pretty cool).

I realized, as I was spending some time this weekend, that there are many lessons that can be learned from the Rubik’s Cube. Applying these lessons to life and business will help us get a lot more accomplished.

Here they are (or at least the top ten that I came up with).

1. If you spend six, ten or twenty hours on something, you can’t expect someone else to learn it in 10 minutes.
2. If you make the same decisions based on the same variables, you will get the same results.
3. If you make different decisions based on the same variables, you will get different results.
4. If you make different decisions based on different variables, you will get unpredictable results.
5. One small change to one small thing can have large ramifications on other things.
6. Messing something up is easier than putting it together.
7. After you have done it once, it will only get easier the next time.
8. Learning the patterns makes all the difference.
9. Nothing great was ever accomplished without a lot of time, patience and persistence.
10. If you give up, you will never get it done.

Do you sometimes tell your customers you don’t have time for them because you are not available or because you think your are not available?

Think of this as you read this anecdote (I don’t call it a story because I am not sure if it is true):

George Phillips of Meridian,  Mississippi , was going up to bed, when his wife told him that he’d left the light on in the garden shed, which she could see from the bedroom window. George opened the back door to go turn off the light, but saw that there were people in the shed stealing things.

He phoned the police, who asked "Is someone in your house?"

He said, "No."

Then they said "All patrols were busy.  You should lock your doors and an officer will be along when one is available."

George said, "Okay"  He hung up the phone and counted to 30.

Then he phoned the police again.

"Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people stealing things from my shed. Well, you don’t have to worry about them now because I just shot them!" And he hung up.

Within five minutes, six Police Cars, a SWAT Team, a Helicopter, two Fire Trucks, a Paramedic, and an Ambulance showed up at the Phillips’ residence, and caught the burglars red-handed.

One of the Policemen said to George, "I thought you said that you’d shot them!"

George said, "I thought you said there was nobody available!"

The next time your customer asks your for some support, take into consideration the importance of that request to your customer. If you really are too busy for them, be careful, they may just prove you wrong.

When you are redesigning or redefining your company’s image, one of the things that is very hard to do it to step back and understand who your real audience is.

Designing a logo, a website, a brochure or even something as simple as a blog post is not a task to have the attitude of, "I like it, so it is good."

The most important thing about any design is to remember your audience. Who are the people that you want to attract? When you do something personal, it is all about you. When you do something for you business, it is all about them.

So, next time you have to create something… write an article, design a brochure or redo your website… make sure that you don’t let yourself fall into the trap that you know better than your target audience what they need.

Ask members of your target audience then take their advice seriously.

Remember that every time you design anything your customer will see, you are redefining who you are.