Christopher Nielsen is CRM 2.0 Certified, an award winning multimedia producer and open source technology expert. With rich product knowledge on systems such as Joomla CMS and Info at hand CRM systems. As the founder of CNPintegrations.com he is the principle CRM consultant, software configuration specialist and Social CRM technology evangelist.
Be sure to visit the new http://www.JoomlaDesignServices.com web portal and blog at http://www.cnpintegrations.com/myblog/
Configuration of Complex Joomla CMS and Customer Relationship Business Management Platforms
December 10, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Joomla is a powerful framework for delivering Complex web portals. With over 4700 extensions and counting, the largest developer network in the world and the most user friendly interface has made the award winning Joomla CMS the fastest growing open source CMS project perhaps in the world. With millions of users and enthusiasts from all around the globe and a low cost of entry this is quickly becoming the dominant content management system (CMS) for small businesses (SMB’s) and even larger enterprises and institutions. We compared Joomla vs Drupal and Joomla vs Wordpress which are other worthy technologies but Joomla seemed for us to be the best overall platform for recommending to our customers. As Joomla integrators and Joomla Component Developers we deliver complex Joomla configurations for a wide variety of customers. Joomla is a perfect framework for the micro small business owner that needs training and mentoring to work independently on building their web empire as well as the small business enterprise with complex Joomla configuration needs.
There are several layers in deploying a Joomla CMS project. * Planning and content architecture * Template Design and graphics * Components and Configurations * User experience * Customer Programming * Legacy System Integrations * SEO and Marketing * Joomla User Training * Ongoing Technical Support Just to name a few… With any technology there are different points of entry depending on the experience and technical aptitude of the humans interacting with the system, the technical and business process requirements and the overall dynamics of the organization implementing the particular solution. We (our CNP Consultants) try to help folks “Get the most value out of their technology investment”. Yea you will see this in our marketing but this is much more than hype. Value can be the key to success or failure. Among the biggest mistakes we have seen folks make and even made ourselves are:
Common Mistake #1 Just because you can do something with technology does not always make it practical. I have personally implemented many powerful tools that accomplish their intended functionality but they actually never get used to their full potential by the end customers. While these were fun for us to build as developers and to see something cool that works, it did not really serve any of us well since our clients customers do not use them and thus they have a significant investment they are net getting a return on and thus until this first investment is paid for they are not all that excited to engage us to build more stuff. The key here is determining first the business priorities of the project and then making sure everyone is listening to the needs of the end customer or user. Hey sometime folks build web tools just for themselves. I know I often post blog articles with a lot of links I want to not only share but also refer back to and we put plenty of tools online that we want to use ourselves as much as we want to and share with our customers. Just make sure you are clear why you are doing something and assess if it is going to deliver the right return on your investment.
Stay focused on what your customers are saying and what will yield the greatest return. Technology implementation can be a never ending pit you throw money into, something that my father used to say about owning a luxury boat. If you are building your site for the shear ego of having a beautiful site with all kinds of creative features and functionality, have at it and of course we love to work with entrepreneurs with big ideas. However, like any relationship and any good investment a long term strategy is often much more practical. Our consulting customers get good advice about products and services that can grow their business or allow them to continue to get value from their investments. I have seen folks to often go for a quick sell and end up with dysfunctional customer relationships that ultimately cost more than the profit you made in the first place. Ask yourself many questions including “Is what I am doing today going to matter a year from now”? If you ask the right questions up front this can help you get the most out of your initiatives.
Technology is a moving target One of the many reasons we got behind the Joomla CMS project as a core competency was because it was open source which offered freedom and scalable options for solving the greatest amount of business problems. We took the gamble from the trends in the market place that Joomla would continue to grow with features and stability and that the developer community would continue to be attracted to the Joomla framework thus building more confidence in the market place. With a scalable platform that is built on open source code for use was great since we wanted to work with technology that sold itself and that we could support and expand upon it to meet the needs of the types of customers we wanted to attract. Any kind of dynamic web portal project is a moving target and often needs to change course in mid stream. You have to keep good forward momentum yet listen to the trends in the marketplace so you can sail into the wind effectively. An innovative and scalable open source platform like Joomla is a perfect foundation for meeting this challenge.
But wait there is more… A couple years ago, after a good year of working with Joomla we were looking for solutions that could actually help us build an all-in-one web based framework for managing our business in a Virtual Office Environment (everything accessible on the web). This is when after trying and implementing several CRM and project management tools ranging from SugarCRM to MS Project to SharePoint we found Info@hand CRBM. This was the perfect platform since it was open source code base and integrated with the Joomla CMS and QuickBooks. Now after 3 years of connecting the dots we have a powerful web infrastructure with “Complete transaction life cycle management” and “Customer Relationship Business Management”. Very very very cool platform… we love it and so do many of the customers we have introduced to it. Though this system is also wired up with the DimDim.com conferencing and collaboration suite it also fills many gaps in client customer collaboration. These types of regular new innovations continue to add low cost of entry tools and value to the small business.
Sounds complicated but it is also very simple if you have time as your friend What we have learned as “early adopters” is that there is much more to it than the technology if you are going to be successful. Complex Joomla Integrations are getting simpler as this platform evolves. The old carpenters saying get the right tool for the right job is very good advice. Since there are so many tools now in our toolbox and we fully understand how they all can work together I know I can start talking about it and it does not take long to get that “deer in the headlights look” from a prospect. The trick here is making sure we establish a clear roadmap and strategy for implementing technologies that will bring the greatest reward to your business and value to our customers. This takes time and effort to get it right and should be done early on in your process.
Common Mistake #2 Just because you have the technology does not mean you should implement it. The second most challenging aspect of implementing a complicated project is the thought process of “let’s do it all at once”. I have often had clients that want to load up their sites with a ton of components and then they want to throw these new features out to their customers or workforce all at once. Well this is a huge horse pill that never gets swallowed. Hate to say it but until recently I have been guilty of this myself. There is a fine line between “Build it and they will come” and “Here take a bite and let me know if you like it”.
Remember this is all about relationship management I remember back in my days of dating that it only takes one or two words to “turn off” and scare someone away. Essentially this is a similar process we go through for attracting customers. While you want to make sure what you are presenting is honest and has substance you do not want to overload, overwhelm folks with more information than they are particularly interested in at the moment. You also want to put out information and web tools in a way that they want to have them presented. As in listen well and be a good conversationalist. Such is the case even more now with the Social Technology boon. I used to say “it is not hard to fall in love since people are impulsive by nature but the real challenge is falling in love with the right one”. The same is true with technology. It can be easy to get excited about some new features and want to add them right away to your site just because they are cooler than the site next door. However, every time you push something new out it may distract or turn off your customers. In relationships of any kind they are best nurtured over time. Deploying technology is a complex multi dimensional relationship. Moving too fast has greater risk of failure for everyone involved. You actually have several relationships and processes that need careful consideration over time: * Solutions: Customer Needs – Business Process Need – Technology Implementation * Relationships: Vendor Teams – Client Teams – Customers
In Conclusion work smarter with a good plan Plan carefully and gather the right information about your customers and how technology can get you the best results as it relates to your business strategy. Make sure you deploy solutions over time with good the right vendors and the right customers. These systems have enough complexity that you have to really keep your eye on the ball or you can and will often times fail. None of us want to waste time or money and the wrong decision in this economy could cost you business. Before you travel anywhere it is a good idea to get directions, a map or invest in a GPS. Why would you not want to invest in good quality consulting to help guide you along the path of implementing technology? Joomla Roadmap and Planning Guide
Value Builder Methodology We have since built consulting practices to address these two common mistakes folks make with complex technology implementations. Yea sure we have to be geeks and able to wire all this stuff up and yes we do this well but the trick to getting value out of your technology is much more that the groovy tools we can dish out. With a few exceptions, most of the technology these days is all ready built and what that means is there is a greater need for configuration and being able to map the humans with the technology in a way that will allow you to stay focused on your priorities. Just start asking yourself questions like: What actions will give the best long term results? What will put out the fires of tomorrow before they start? How can I make this profitable to my company and add unique benefits to my customers?This should help get you on the right path.
Can You Create Your Own Website? – Learn Web Design Basics
November 20, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Most people dream of having their own websites, either for business or personal reasons. But have you ever thought what you need to know before creating your own website? well its as easy as 1, 2, 3… but still not very simple for those who don’t know a thing about web development. In this article, we are going to explore the basic you need to learn before creating one up.First you need to have a concept of what the website you are creating is all about, it can be a gallery commerce site, blog or for serving any other purpose. All these have different requirements, levels of expertise required to develop, time needed for maintenance and many more.After determining what purpose the website will serve, Next step calls now for guts to challenge your skills in web development and design. Though times have change when only experienced programmers could make one, programs that work just as word editors allows you create you website as you would create a document giving you an opportunity to view it as it would appear on the internet. Having pointed this out, knowledge in Html and design will still be needed to make an excellent website.Third is Content development ,this is largely determined by the type of your website you are creating or type of product you want to promote online, a blog needs regular updates while a website describing a product needs to be updated when the product featured has changes to its description. For a website which is dynamic and requires regular updates, its prudent to use a content management system(CMS),this not only makes your maintenance work easier but also frees your time which you can use to create more content.Assuming you have qualified on the above and made a great website, it still needs to be visible on the internet. Fourth in line requires you to get a web hosting company that offers some space where you can publish your site for visitors with internet connections to access it. For identification on the Internet, a unique domain name is issued and related to it. This domain name is what your visitors’ type on their browsers to access it e.g. typing domain name A HREF=”http://syspag.com/articles/ on address bar of your web browser opens my blogsite.Last step after creating your website and hosting it on a web server; just like a car or house which need routine maintenance, so does your web. This involves updating and adding more content, site redesign and optimization, incorporation of new categories and features etc.
Sullivan Pau is a web Consultant and Webmaster at Syspag Studios ,A company offering web/blog design,web/blog hosting and SEO Outsourcing services.Rate this article and read more Internet Technology articles at More Blog/Web Design Articles .
Choosing the Best Location for Your New Blog
November 19, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
When businesses or freelancers decide to create blogs to supplement their websites, one question always pops up: “Where should the new blog be located?” Or in other words, should the blog be integrated into the preexisting website, or should it reside in a subdirectory, a subdomain, or on a completely new domain?
As you can imagine, the answer to this question is never straightforward. And it depends on several factors such as cost of implementation, search engine optimization concerns, and type of content.
If you opt to integrate your blog into your preexisting website, you will likely have larger development costs than either of the other options, because you will have to modify the existing website. You will also be restricted in terms of what content you can publish, because of the connection with the website.
However there are some great advantages to be had. First, you can use one content management system (CMS) to manage your entire website. And second, you will be able to take advantage of easy sharing of pagerank between pages, as well as increased ability to get traffic and target keywords.
Example:
Placing your blog in a subdirectory is similar to the website integration option, except that development costs will not be elevated because the preexisting website will not have to be modified, and a separate CMS would be used. You could also get away with slightly different subject matter, assuming that your blog design shows a marked difference between itself and the website.
Example:
Sometimes subdomains are an ideal choice. In addition to operating the blog as a completely new site, subdomains are great for branding because the visitor can always find the main website.
One key advantage for using subdomains is that they can be used for different topics. For example, our website is about web development. We could create a subdomain called “hosting” to focus on hosting packages, or “print” to showcase print design. And everything would still be recognized as part of “Velvet Blues”. Google does this all the time. It’s main website features the search engine. And its products are typically on subdomains. (ie. maps.google.com, groups.google.com, etc…)
At times, some people have chosen to place their blog on a new domain. The main benefits of placing a blog on a new domain are (1) the ability to choose a domain which better reflects the subject or keywords, and (2) the ability to create a blog which doesn’t have an obvious connection to your new site with regards to design or content. Some people also argue that a higher pagerank can be achieve by linking back and forth between two different sites.
In our case, we chose to integrate the blog into our website. In many ways, this was the obvious solution. We were already using IntelBuilder Social Media Platform as a CMS, and wanted the flexibility of using the same CMS for both the blog and the website.
Which option do you think is best? Do you see any obvious benefits for using either of the options?
Sofia Sapojnikova
Vesta Digital
http://www.vestadigital.com
Business Blogging – Why Bother?
November 18, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
“Communication is understanding” or so the saying goes. That saying is especially true when it comes to customers.
At first glance, business blogging may seem like a lot of work maybe even too much work. It is true that there is some work involved with blogging. However, that work will definitely pay off for your business in the long run.
Here are three reasons why you should consider creating a blog for your business:
Marketing
Blogging is a great way to get your marketing message across. A company blog allows you to reach your target market in a way that no other medium can. Someone who makes the extra effort to contact you through your blog, either by leaving a comment or through e-mail, is really interested in what you have to offer.
A good business blog will reinforce and enhance your company’s brand. The blog entries that you post help your clients and perspective clients understand who you are. Search engines will help you convey that understanding to people that you might not otherwise reach.
Finally, consider this: if you don’t have a business blog, it is likely that your competition will.
Cost
Blogging may be the most cost-effective marketing method that you will ever use. You can easily set up a business blog with very little cost. All that you really need is a domain name and place to host your blog. Even with these small expenditures, there is no other way that I know of to get as much marketing bang for your buck.
I recommend that you use a domain name related to your business and avoid using free hosting services like WordPress (www.wordpress.com) or Blogger (www.blogger.com). You can, however, download the WordPress content management system onto your own blog for free. There are many free business templates available on the Internet, so you don’t need to hire a graphic designer.
Communications
The bottom line is that a blog is about communication. With that end in mind you need to make sure that content on your blog is top-notch. Remember, the blog represents your company. For some people, the blog may be their first contact with your business.
Getting quality content for your blog may mean hiring a writer, or assigning the task to someone in your organization. While you don’t need to add new content to your business blog every day, it is important to post regularly. Your blog readers should feel that they are getting the inside scoop on your company.
A blog is more than just a series of articles, though. A business blog is a conversation between you, your customers, and your perspective customers. Make sure that comments are enabled and respond promptly and politely to anyone who leaves a comment. Be open and helpful. Blog with authority, but avoid turning your blog into an advertisement for your company.
Business Blogging – You Can’t Afford Not To Do It!
The prospect of running a business blog makes some business owners nervous. They either think that blogging will be a lot of work, or they think that it will cost too much. However, a business blog can be a valuable marketing tool. In fact, it is one of the most cost-effective methods of marketing that there is. A business blog can also open a valuable line of communication between you and your customer, fostering trust and relationship.
Craig Cannings is the owner and managing director of ESalesGuru.com, a innovative marketplace connecting ebusinesses with niche Internet Marketing Specialists and Firms worldwide. Visit us at: http://www.esalesguru.com.
Top 7 Sites to Help You Make Money from Your Blog
November 17, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Blogs are a simple and easy way for you to make money from your business. Not only can you use a blog as a public relations tool, you can also use it as a way to communicate with potential customers who visit your site. You can also use your blog as a way to generate income.
Before you try to generate income though, you need a blog. Below are seven sites where you can either get a blog where you can make money, or you can use the site as a passive income generator.
1. Blogger – http://www.blogger.com – Blogger allows you to create a free blog. Once you’ve created your blog, you can add Google Adsense to it. If you understand how to write HTML, you can also customize the template for your new blog site so that you can add other streams of revenue, or different streams of revenue. This is a great site to use to create a blog, especially if you don’t want the hassles of writing HTML or installing any scripts.
2. Writing Up – http://www.writingup.com – Writing Up allows you to create a free blog using the Drupal content management system. Similar to Blogger, your blog resides on the host system. What’s different is that blog creation is simpler, you share the revenue from your Google Adsense, and they market the entire site, which means they do your marketing for you. Although you can also market your site if you like, you don’t have to. This is a great solution for those who want a quick and easy blog set up that’s simple to use, as well as eliminating the hassles of marketing.
3. Qumana – http://www.qumana.com – Quamana is a blogging software you can use to publish posts to your blog. It also offers an ad program, which is actually images which look like text ads, that you can add to your page. Since the ad is an image, and it’s keyword targeted, you can use this in addition to Google Adsense.
4. Virtual Portals – http://www.virtual-portals.com – This site will help you do two things for your blog: you can offer a completely searchable Clickbank catalog, as well as integrate Adsense type ads into your blog. One caveat here: if you are using Google Adsense ads on one page, you probably shouldn’t put Virtual Portals ads on the same page. This is because Google’s terms of service state that Google Adsense ads cannot be placed on the same page as competing ads.
5. Affiliate Sensor – http://www.affiliatesensor.com – Affiliate Sensor is very similar to Virtual Portals in that it also offers Adsense type ads. However, it doesn’t offer a searchable catalog. Affiliate Sensor is best used to create ads for your alternate URL in Google Adsense so that your site doesn’t show public service ads when no other ads are available.
6. Google Adsense – http://www.google.com/adsense – This is probably the largest ad revenue program on the internet, and it’s very easy to make money adding Adsense to your site. This program also gives you an additional stream of revenue.
7. Chitika – http://www.chitika.com – This program allows you to place image type product ads on your site. You choose the keywords that you use, and Chitika will offer up ads from those keywords. These ads can be used in addition to Google Adsense provided you disable the contextual ads and choose your own terms. The only limitation in this program is that the ads are often for physical products like computers, so you will only want to choose this program if you can find ads that fit well with your blog content.
There are many ways that you can make money with your blog, including writing blog novels, writing product reviews for affiliate programs, and others. However, these programs will help you quickly get started in generating revenue for your blog.
Jinger Jarrett will teach you how to market your business on the internet for free. You’ll get thousands of dollars in valuable free ebooks, tools, ecourses, tutorials and articles, when you visit her blog at http://www.askjinger.com
Adsense Ready Websites – are They are Scam ?
November 17, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
I am pretty sure that as you are reading this article right now that you might see the Google Adsense that is on this site and that it says “Buy Google Adsense Ready Websites”. Google Adsense is a program in which you can make money but to do so, you need a website.
Making a website is easy nowadays as you can just get a content management system like e107 or even WordPress (Yes, it can be used to make a website), put some content on from some free articles sites (Getting onto the downside later in this post) and put some Google Adsense and then watch as people come to your website from search engines.
If you know a little about SEO and how search engines don’t like duplicate content then you wouldn’t even think of doing the above. Now, all a Google Adsense Ready website is the exact same … without the content management system.
Search engines don’t like duplicate pages and they are removed from the search index. Think about it, if no one is accessing your website from search engines then you ain’t going to get any money from Google Adsense – A waste of time if ya think about it.
If you check the people that sells these sites, that they mass sell them for something like $5 for 100 pre-made Adsense Websites. Now lets look at the key word is that – “pre-made”. Now just think for a few seconds and think what does the wrong pre-made mean to you. To me, it means an exact same thing that is ready to be used.
Search Engines don’t like duplicate pages so do you think they like duplicate websites ?
Well, that is what you get with a Google Adsense Ready Website – A pre-made website that has free articles that has likely been used a million times. Infact, not all Google Adsense Ready Websites has even got that content legally. Some just rip it from other websites but they ain’t bother, they are not going to use it which comes onto the next point.
With the people that are selling Google Adsense Ready Websites, they promise that you can make over $1,000 a month or soemthing along that line. If you think about it, that alone kinda makes you think second. If you could make over $1,000 a month then why ain’t they using it and keeping it for themselves or sell it for alot more then $3 one off fee.
As with everything else, there is another side to the coin. Lets pretend for a few seconds that the above works and that they are selling it for $3. Then perfect, we are making free money using Google Adsense but then you notice that you ain’t getting alot. Welcome to the “How to trick a Newbie Scam”.
This scam works very easy. Basically, you buy a pre-made Google Adsense website and then upload it to your webhost (Another thing I will be getting onto). This scam works by allowing the person to change the Google Adsense on the front page however all the links will point to someone else site (Often the seller). Not much good if all the traffic is going to someone else, is it ?
So to sum it up. Pre-made Google Adsense websites are mostly uses content that has been used alot of times before and therefore don’t get index by search engines. In order to even get the traffic, you need to get backlinks (Missed that above).
If you are a person or company that sells Pre-Made Google Adsense Websites, please don’t bother posting a comment that says that you are completely different. Contact me and send me the actual script and I will decide for myself. There are some out there that are different but they don’t cost a mear $2.
M.Kyle Tweek B.Ellis is an expert in Computing Security and Forenic. Move can be found at Snat.co.uk.
Web and Email Hosting – A Combo Platter to Save You Money
November 15, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Businesses need an Internet Presence, and that internet presence includes both a web presence (where customers can read about your products and services) but an email presence as well (where they can communicate with you directly.)
Web hosting is the use of a specific protocol (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) and its requisite services (called daemons, in UNIX parlances) to display web documents (or Hypertext Mark-up Language files). The usual extension for this type of file is .html.
A web hosting provider charges you for disk space (which is usually minimal) and for bandwidth, which is a cost that goes up as your web site gets more traffic. Most hosting providers do more than just host static web pages; many also offer management services (where you get a console that’s much easier to manage things than a straight UNIX terminal login), regular backups, domain name propagation services and more.
Additional web hosting services include database management services, where you have access to a MySQL or PostGres SQL database backend. This is in market difference to prior eras of web hosting, where you would be using a separate database server in most implementations.
If you do have SQL access, you may also be able to get database driven web site hosting, by use of a Content Management System (or CMS). A content management system can be as simple as a WordPress blog, or as complex as a DruPaul installation, or nearly anything in between. The trick is that a CMS allows you much more unified and complete control over how your web site looks.Your web hosting provider can tell you more about what services they offer.
By far and away the most common “additional service” a web hosting provider offers is usually email hosting. This makes sense. Email hosting is, for most online customers, an easily managed service and doesn’t consume too much bandwidth, provided the service isn’t being used to send out barrages of spam email.
However, that being said, there are a lot of options on email hosting as well, ranging from shared calendaring applications to managed mailing lists for customers to reply on. You may be able to get filtering software up and running, and email authentication going.
One thing you should do early on when setting up email hosting is determine what, if any, sort of web access to your email queue you want. If you are used to using programs like Thunderbird or Outlook (or Microsoft Email), you may not be aware of all of the options for this, from very simple web email readers to very complex ones that allow you to manage nearly everything email related on the server, from mailing lists to folders to automatic sorting of email into boxes.
The last decision you have to make regarding shared web and email hosting is what platform you want it on; there are two basic choices: Linux (which is an open source operating system modelled off of Unix, and is the major player in this space) and Windows Server (which will usually be Windows 2000 or later). Linux is more stable and more secure; it is generally the default option and is less expensive to administer in nearly every way. The Windows option makes sense if you have specific applications that call for it.
Derek Rogers is a freelance writer who writes for a number of UK businesses. For Business Internet Services and Web and Email Hosting, he recommends Iconnyx.
Joomla CMS – CRBM technology configurations – 2 common mistakes to avoid
November 15, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Configuration of Complex Joomla CMS and CRBM Platforms
Joomla is a powerful framework for delivering Complex web portals. With over 4700 extensions and counting, the largest developer network in the world and the most user friendly interface has made the award winning Joomla CMS the fastest growing open source CMS project perhaps in the world. With millions of users and enthusiasts from all around the globe and a low cost of entry this is quickly becoming the dominant content management system (CMS) for small businesses (SMB’s) and even larger enterprises and institutions. We compared Joomla vs. Drupal and Joomla vs. Wordpress which are other worthy technologies but Joomla seemed for us to be the best overall platform for recommending to our customers. As Joomla integrators and Joomla Component Developers we deliver complex Joomla configurations for a wide variety of customers. Joomla is a perfect framework for the micro small business owner that needs training and mentoring to work independently on building their web empire as well as the small business enterprise with complex Joomla configuration needs.
There are several layers in deploying a Joomla CMS project.
* Planning and content architecture
* Template Design and graphics
* Components and Configurations
* User experience
* Customer Programming
* Legacy System Integrations
* SEO and Marketing
* Joomla User Training
* Ongoing Technical Support
Just to name a few… With any technology there are different points of entry depending on the experience and technical aptitude of the humans interacting with the system, the technical and business process requirements and the overall dynamics of the organization implementing the particular solution. We (our CNP Consultants) try to help folks “Get the most value out of their technology investment”. Yea you will see this in our marketing but this is much more than hype. Value can be the key to success or failure. Among the biggest mistakes we have seen folks make and even made ourselves are:
Common Mistake #1
Just because you can do something with technology does not always make it practical.
I have personally implemented many powerful tools that accomplish their intended functionality but they actually never get used to their full potential by the end customers. While these were fun for us to build as developers and to see something cool that works, it did not really serve any of us well since our clients customers do not use them and thus they have a significant investment they are net getting a return on and thus until this first investment is paid for they are not all that excited to engage us to build more stuff.
The key here is determining first the business priorities of the project and then making sure everyone is listening to the needs of the end customer or user. Hey sometime folks build web tools just for themselves. I know I often post blog articles with a lot of links I want to not only share but also refer back to and we put plenty of tools online that we want to use ourselves as much as we want to and share with our customers. Just make sure you are clear why you are doing something and assess if it is going to deliver the right return on your investment.
Stay focused on what your customers are saying and what will yield the greatest return.
Technology implementation can be a never ending pit you throw money into, something that my father used to say about owning a luxury boat. If you are building your site for the shear ego of having a beautiful site with all kinds of creative features and functionality, have at it and of course we love to work with entrepreneurs with big ideas. However, like any relationship and any good investment a long term strategy is often much more practical. Our consulting customers get good advice about products and services that can grow their business or allow them to continue to get value from their investments. I have seen folks to often go for a quick sell and end up with dysfunctional customer relationships that ultimately cost more than the profit you made in the first place. Ask yourself many questions including “Is what I am doing today going to matter a year from now”? If you ask the right questions up front this can help you get the most out of your initiatives.
Technology is a moving target
One of the many reasons we got behind the Joomla CMS project as a core competency was because it was open source which offered freedom and scalable options for solving the greatest amount of business problems. We took the gamble from the trends in the market place that Joomla would continue to grow with features and stability and that the developer community would continue to be attracted to the Joomla framework thus building more confidence in the market place. With a scalable platform that is built on open source code for use was great since we wanted to work with technology that sold itself and that we could support and expand upon it to meet the needs of the types of customers we wanted to attract. Any kind of dynamic web portal project is a moving target and often needs to change course in mid stream. You have to keep good forward momentum yet listen to the trends in the marketplace so you can sail into the wind effectively. An innovative and scalable open source platform like Joomla is a perfect foundation for meeting this challenge.
But wait there is more…
A couple years ago, after a good year of working with Joomla we were looking for solutions that could actually help us build an all-in-one web based framework for managing our business in a Virtual Office Environment (everything accessible on the web). This is when after trying and implementing several CRM and project management tools ranging from SugarCRM to MS Project to Share Point we found Info@hand CRBM. This was the perfect platform since it was open source code base and integrated with the Joomla CMS and QuickBooks. Now after 3 years of connecting the dots we have a powerful web infrastructure with “Complete transaction life cycle management” and “Customer Relationship Business Management”. Very very very cool platform… we love it and so do many of the customers we have introduced to it. Though this system is also wired up with the DimDim.com conferencing and collaboration suite it also fills many gaps in client customer collaboration. These types of regular new innovations continue to add low cost of entry tools and value to the small business.
Sounds complicated but it is also very simple if you have time as your friend
What we have learned as “early adopters” is that there is much more to it than the technology if you are going to be successful. Complex Joomla Integrations are getting simpler as this platform evolves. The old carpenters saying get the right tool for the right job is very good advice. Since there are so many tools now in our toolbox and we fully understand how they all can work together I know I can start talking about it and it does not take long to get that “deer in the headlights look” from a prospect. The trick here is making sure we establish a clear roadmap and strategy for implementing technologies that will bring the greatest reward to your business and value to our customers. This takes time and effort to get it right and should be done early on in your process.
Common Mistake #2
Just because you have the technology does not mean you should implement it.
The second most challenging aspect of implementing a complicated project is the thought process of “let’s do it all at once”. I have often had clients that want to load up their sites with a ton of components and then they want to throw these new features out to their customers or workforce all at once. Well this is a huge horse pill that never gets swallowed. Hate to say it but until recently I have been guilty of this myself. There is a fine line between “Build it and they will come” and “Here take a bite and let me know if you like it”.
Remember this is all about relationship management
I remember back in my days of dating that it only takes one or two words to “turn off” and scare someone away. Essentially this is a similar process we go through for attracting customers. While you want to make sure what you are presenting is honest and has substance you do not want to overload, overwhelm folks with more information than they are particularly interested in at the moment. You also want to put out information and web tools in a way that they want to have them presented. As in listen well and be a good conversationalist. Such is the case even more now with the Social Technology boon. I used to say “it is not hard to fall in love since people are impulsive by nature but the real challenge is falling in love with the right one”. The same is true with technology. It can be easy to get excited about some new features and want to add them right away to your site just because they are cooler than the site next door. However, every time you push something new out it may distract or turn off your customers.
In relationships of any kind they are best nurtured over time. Deploying technology is a complex multi dimensional relationship. Moving too fast has greater risk of failure for everyone involved. You actually have several relationships and processes that need careful consideration over time:
* Solutions: Customer Needs – Business Process Need – Technology Implementation
* Relationships: Vendor Teams – Client Teams – Customers
In Conclusion work smarter with a good plan
Plan carefully and gather the right information about your customers and how technology can get you the best results as it relates to your business strategy. Make sure you deploy solutions over time with good the right vendors and the right customers. These systems have enough complexity that you have to really keep your eye on the ball or you can and will often times fail. None of us want to waste time or money and the wrong decision in this economy could cost you business. Before you travel anywhere it is a good idea to get directions, a map or invest in a GPS. Why would you not want to invest in good quality consulting to help guide you along the path of implementing technology?
Joomla Roadmap and Planning Guide
Value Builder Methodology
We have since built consulting practices to address these two common mistakes folks make with complex technology implementations. Yea sure we have to be geeks and able to wire all this stuff up and yes we do this well but the trick to getting value out of your technology is much more that the groovy tools we can dish out. With a few exceptions, most of the technology these days is all ready built and what that means is there is a greater need for configuration and being able to map the humans with the technology in a way that will allow you to stay focused on your priorities. Just start asking yourself questions like: What actions will give the best long term results? What will put out the fires of tomorrow before they start? How can I make this profitable to my company and add unique benefits to my customers? This should help get you on the right path.
Christopher Nielsen is CRM 2.0 Certified, an award winning multimedia producer and open source technology expert. With rich product knowledge on systems such as Joomla Integration, Joomla CMS and Info at hand CRM systems. As the founder of CNPintegrations.com he is the principle CRM consultant, software configuration specialist and Social CRM technology evangelist. Visit his blog at www.cnpintegrations.com/myblog/
Frequent Organic SEO Myths
November 14, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
The entire world of Organic SEO tricks is as convoluted as it’s extensive. Several Organic SEO myths are being followed by numerous webmasters for no good reason. Some are based partially, and others have generated, simply because it is difficult to prove what particular SEO action caused a resulting search engine reaction. Hence, let us now configure some of the most frequently committed organic-SEO myths that you must ignore while handling your projects:Submission of your URL to Search Engines: The techniques were definitely fruitful at one time but now, it has lost its effectiveness in earning good SEO results. Requirement of a Google Sitemap: An appropriately designed, crawler- friendly site does not require a Google Sitemap. However, it does not invite any negative processes but having a Google Sitemap is also not going to get you ranked better.Frequent updating of site is inevitable: Frequent updates to your pages only boost up the search engine crawl rate and not your rankings. Many top ranking sites on Google have not been updated since ages. Hence, if your site does not require any change, do not bother yourself for any sort of revamping. PPC ads influence rankings. Running Google AdWords does not affect the organic rankings. Neither it increases the ranking, nor does it decrease. Hence, relying on them is absolutely a waste. H1 (or any header tags) is essential for high rankings: Very few evidences suggest that keywords in H tags essentially affect rankings. H tags should be used only if they work well with your design or content management system.Words in your Meta keyword tag must be on the page: This is the most hyped myth amongst all. The truth is that the Meta keyword tag was basically designed to be used for keywords that were NOT already on the page and definitely not the opposite. SEO copy must have 250 words in length: There is no specific rule that says that an SEO copy must have 250 or above words. You must know that 250 is widely acceptable only because it appears to be a good amount on any page of marketing copy that can be optimized for 3-5 keyword phrases. Shorter copy ranks as good as longer copy.You must optimize for the long tail. It is certainly not important. In fact, long-tail keyword phrases are not competitive which means that not many pages are using those words, and not that many people are looking for them in the engines. Hence, ranking for long-tail keywords is simple, you just need to include them somewhere in a blog post or an article, and you will rank for them. However, it is not optimization.These are a few common organic SEO myths that still continue to exist on the Web. Hence, ensure to opt for an experienced SEO company who can properly handle your website’s SEO ranking. Select an SEO firm that not only understands the implications of its practices but also does not put your company’s search engine placement and reputation at risk with black hat tricks.
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5 SEO Tricks For Your Companyâs Blog
November 14, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
I see several blog mistakes everyday from corporate blogs that are not only hurting their search engine rankings, but in other cases making them obsolete. Here are 5 quick tips that can greatly improve your SEO without much effort. External Blogs: The biggest mistake your company can make is having an âexternalâ blog. The entire idea behind having a corporate blog is to get attention by bringing people to your company to sell your products or services. Why then would you want to bring people to an external site? (company.blogger.com, company.wordpress.com, etc.). You are already paying to host your website. By having an internal blog (http://www.company.com/blog), you will substantially improve traffic to your corporate site because people will be directed right to it. It is anathema to bring traffic to your website from a blog that is not on your website. It is incredibly easy to implement your blog from your own site. Just download the CMS (content management system), i.e., Wordpress, Joomla, Typepad, etc., onto your server in a folder (blog, etc.). It is just as easy to host your own blog as it is for them to host it for you. You are already paying for hosting and 95% of the time it will have a database included. Blog Titles: Make sure that the (title) portion of the blog page has the title of the article contained therein. I cannot express the importance of this enough. Naturally, your main blog page will have a generic title, but your comments page should ALWAYS have the title of the particular article. This could mean the difference between being on page 1 on Google or page 40. The code for the title is already in your template (blog section). Just copy and paste between your (title) tags. META Tags: META tags are actually not as important as the title, but are still very important. Although Google does not place much importance on them, a number of other search engines do. The META tags need to have relevance to your posting to improve search engine optimization. These tags should not solely be about your company. When I am writing a blog, I create a special field called âtagsâ and each time I write a new article I include relevant keywords to the article. You simply place the CMS form tag in your HTML (title) tags. Example: (title)some of the company information(tag or PHP code for CMS for tages)(/title). Email Field: Almost every blog has an Icon to subscribe to RSS feeds. Most people are not going to go through the work of an RSS feed unless they know you, even though it is a minimal amount of work at best. You need to allow them to just put in their email address and press subscribe. Not only is this extremely simple, it goes right into their email each time you have a new post. Due to time constraints, people are much more likely to read your posts in their email versus going to your blog every day. I use Feedburner.com. It is free, and super simple to use. By subscribing to the free service yourself, it will also ping your blog automatically to other media sites. Plug It: When you write an article/post, take ten minutes to plug it. There are several free sites out there that give you âinstantâ search engine results. You do not have to wait for Google or Yahoo to get around to crawling your blog. Search engines already have websites they crawl as soon as they are updated. Technorati, Digg, Twitter, Buzzit.com, are just a few of the networks who will get you on Goggle almost instantly. Not only will pinging and submitting your article give you almost instant Google results, it will also help your websiteâs SEO because you are going to generate a lot more link traffic, which is one of the biggest factors in getting you listed on top. All five of these changes you should be able to do yourself or pay a web developer professional to achieve for you inexpensively.
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