On my door step today is the "current" edition of the Qwest phone book. I find it interesting that this is even printed anymore.

Oh, I know that people use it. I know that some people actually don’t have the internet. Not those in the circle I roll with, mind you, but I know they exist.

But still, I question the relevance of a phone book. I especially question the relevance of a phone book from one company.

You see, I have been so unhappy with Qwest, that I haven’t been a customer of theirs in three years. I know many people who have phones that aren’t Qwest customers. With wireless providers offering unlimited minutes, Cable getting in to VoIP (at a ridiculously high price, mind you) and all of the real VoIP providers like Packet8, Vonage, Phone.com and VoIP.com the percentage of customers that companies, like Qwest, have to put in the phone book is dwindling.

Because I haven’t been all that happy with VoIP providers, I have opted to use my cell phone with unlimited minutes for my communication. (I have to admit that my home phone is still a VoIP provider… no plugs because they aren’t great).

Here is what I am getting at. More and more customers are leaving traditional phone companies for other forms of communication. Not only that, phone numbers change. As fast the book gets printed, there are already changes.

I thought, maybe, the online form of the "phone book" at http://www.dexknows.com would have more data than just for Qwest. I am not listed because I am not their customer. So, I thought that I would check at http://www.yellowpages.com/ but, the same Corey Smiths show up on their list for Idaho. I thought that I would try out http://www.yellowbook.com/… they have two more listings for Corey Smith, but I am still not on the list. I wonder if, for the most part, they are just using the same database… could be.

At least I am on the first page at Google.

So, the phone book becomes obsolete the moment it is printed and even their online services don’t contain the phone number for people that aren’t their customer (not to mention people that opt out).

So, what is the purpose? Why does it exist? Why do people still use it?

At least I have some free fire kindling now.

I get questions all the time from clients about RSS… I am often asked to give them a newsroom area to posts current news and events, but then I am asked to simply turn off the RSS icon. I think that a lot of people must not understand the beauty of what RSS can do.

You can checkout my post titled What is RSS and Why Should I Care?

Don’t forget to subscribe to my RSS feed at the right.

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.

So, I was doing a little maintenance on LinkedIn and saw this fancy little ad for Microsoft Vista Ultimate.

Of course, I had to click on the ad because I was curious to know what spin Microsoft was going to put on Windows Vista now trying to prove to public at large that Vista is a "stellar" product. Just because I use it, that doesn’t mean that I think it is a great product.

Funny thing happened when I clicked through. I ended up at their Small Business Center Site and see this error message:

So, in order to see this at it’s best, I have to download a piece of software that isn’t even a final release, wait for it to install and then restart my browser? Oh, and I couldn’t see the whole error in FireFox… only if I logged in with Internet Explorer. On FireFox, I wouldn’t have any idea what to do.

Of course, in small print at the bottom, I can see in HTML, but I bet most people that would end up here would click the big install button.

So, here is the best part… I decided to install the update to see what I would get… to see why it was so much better in a technology that is not in final release and requires me to take a minute or so of my time to install.

When I installed, it told me to restart my browser. I did. Opened it to my normal home page. No way of knowing (unless I copied it for this blog) where the page is.

So, the brilliance of all this is:

1. Pay for click through to your site.
2. Tell people to install your software.
3. Tell them to leave.
4. Don’t provide a way to get them back.

By the way, it is not worth the install or the time spent viewing the videos because they don’t tell you anything that you can’t already do, more easily on your Mac.

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 just launched another client site. I have posted the press release at OfficeProductNews.net.

Here is an excerpt of the press release.

Current Business Technologies, a Texas-based Hewlett-Packard Office Printing Solutions partner, launched their new website today. The new site features the company’s full portfolio of solutions including printers & multifunction systems, managed print services and workflow solutions.

“Our company continues to expand our capability to add value to our clients,” said Tim Cislo, President. “This new website helps communicate the scope of the services that we can provide.”

The site features CBT’s core competencies of helping clients optimize their print infrastructure, manage their environment and streamline their workflow. This messaging coordinates with HP’s Print 2.0 strategy.

Read the rest of the press release here.

I just launched one of my client’s brand new sites. Here is an excerpt from their press release:

Document Systems, an Oxnard, CA based document solutions provider, is pleased to announce the launch of their new website at www.documentsystems.com. The new website offers clients a comprehensive overview of the company’s new solutions offerings.

“We are excited to let our clients know about the new areas where we can help reduce costs and improve productivity,” said George Dauphine, CEO of Document Systems. “The new site gives our current and potential clients a true snapshot of the value that we can bring.”

Read the rest of the press release at Office Product News.

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.