Log into multiple Google accounts with one click

God    Uncategorized     accounts, clients, cookie swap, Firefox, google, plugins, tools

There are probably many people out there that have multiple google accounts and it’s a pain to constantly log into each one. I know I was having this problem until I stumbled upon a forum thread about others having this problem. Didn’t think there was a solution until I read on and they were discussing CookieSwap, a Firefox plugin.

You can set up separate accounts and go between them seamlessly. For example I created one for my personal and one for business. Then when I manage twitter, facebook, or other accounts, for clients I can set up one for each. This makes life so much easier!

Services for Canadian Small Businesses

God    Canadian, Online Tools     bank, banks, Canada, credit card, currency exchange, Financial services, hsbc, mbna, money, Paypal, RBC, saving, Shipping

It is very important to have the right tools for your business. Having the right tools can save you time and also money and this builds up.

I have research lots of different options and these are the services I use:

Financial Services:

Bank Account: HSBC.ca – Business direct

One of the few no fee banking services but unlike others which are usually credit unions there are many locations and a powerful online banking where you can do a lot of different transactions.

Currency Exchange: VBCE (Vancouver Bullion Currency Exchange) and Oanda

These two have a lot lower rate than the banks and other currency brokerage houses. Oanda has the lowest rates for smaller volumes around $10,000. I find that at higher volumes they are about even. For me I use VBCE because people are nicer and Oanda gave me such a hassle when I tried to sign up. Also VBCE uses HSBC so when I wire them money, it’s free and they wire it back to my HSBC USD account.

USD based bank account: RBC USA bank

Paypal requires you to have a USA based account to withdraw fees. What that means is the bank has to be physically based in the US. I recommend calling them to sign up, the branches are clueless about setting this up and will often tell you that they can’t do it or you need are not approve or other crap. It’s very easy and quick when you call in. You will need to put this under your personal name. You will get a credit card as well to use, I discovered that if I use credit card for transactions outside the US they charge a 1% fee. Be aware of this.

Credit Card: MBNA Smart Cash

No annual fee, 1% back, 2% on gas and grocery. Nothing beats this!

Transportation:

Shipping: E-shipper.com

Unless you have high volume shipments you are not going to get a special rate from UPS or Fedex. E-shipper gets a volume discount and passes part of the savings to you. Shipping within Canadian cities are very inexpensive. Going to the US, I’m not sure the savings that great and it doesn’t offer much for international savings.

Shipping: FreightCenter

For larger item shipments FreightCenter seeks rates at the different trucking companies and gets you the lowest price. The prices are actually lower than directly contacting the trucking companies yourself.

Free online tools for the virtual office

God    free, Online Tools     basecamp, dropbox, free, gamil, Google Docs, online, tools, yammer

1. Dropbox – virtual hard drive – gives you 2GB of data
2. Basecamp – Simple Project Management tool, helps keep track of shared tasks.
3. Yammer – Internal company twitter. Great to keep updated on what everyone is working on
4. Gmail and Google Docs – Free collaboration on excel and word documents.

Review of best recorder mic – Zoom H1

God    Gadgets     Canon T2i, DSLR, mic, mp3, voice recorder, Zoom h1, Zoom h2, Zoom H4N

With all the advances in technology and gadget there is still a need to record voice conversations and memos. While you might be able to use your Iphone or Blackberry, if you are in need recording for a long period of time or often, it’s best to get a dedicated mic.

The Zoom H1 is the best suited for this. The mic is small, high quality, and intuitively easy to use.

Great features I love:

1. Dual mics pointed in each direction for stereo recording
2. Easy big and bold record button
3. Rec light indicating when it’s on
4. Display but no menu option – The higher models H2 and H4N has menus which makes it more difficult to use
5. Easy side buttons for increasing the input level, play, fast forward, rewind, pause and delete
6. Speaker for playback
7. Volume for speakers
8. Output for headphone
9. input for other mic or lapel mic
10. USB connection to sync with your computer

You can choose WAV or MP3, MP3 it will last you 36 hours with the 2 GB card. I used this and it is great. I would choose this over the any of the higher models, H2 and H4N. Without a menu, this is so much easier to use and navigate. Also the small size makes it very easy to transport. I use this with my DSLR Canon Rebel T2I. I shoot from afar and use this to record the audio, so much easier.

You can also get the kit which comes with a great set of headphones (good quality but not the most expensive), windsock, mic holder, carrying bag, usb, charger, and high quality tripod.

Check out this great review, I viewed this before buying:

Tools to help you choose the best domain name for SEO

God    SEO     .asia, .biz, .co, .com, .de, .eu, .ie, .info, .mobi, .net, .org, .uk, archive.org, domain, domain history, Free Keyword Tool, Google Adwords, Google Search Autocomplete, Hosterstats, SEO

There is a process that you should follow to choose the best domain name.

1. Generate a list of words that your customers will search for
2. Try different combination of the words and see which one you like and is available
3. Get a domain that is old – Google gives higher ranking to older domains

How do you choose the right words? You might already have a name, let’s say it’s call Tom’s and you sell flowers.

1. Go to Google and enter flowers and you’ll see an autocomplete drop down which shows the most common words people search for. Try to enter these into your name.
   
2. You can also go to Adword Keyword Tool for SEO and find out the number of people entering those words. With the Adword keyword tool you’ll be able to see the competition, Global monthly searches and local monthly searches, as well as the local search trends.
   
3. The Psychic Whois tool combines both of the steps plus it lets you know if the .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, and your country domain instantly.

Now see which one is available.

1. Domize.com gives you variations of the name by deleting end letters from name. I’m not sure how valuable this is. For example I typed “FashionBlog” but it tells me “FashionBlo” is available.
2. The most powerful tool has to be Bust a Name, this automates the process of combining the names.

While you are doing this you would also need to find out the domain name to use. An older domain name will give you more Search Engine ranking from Google. There are 3 tools.

1. The first one is the domain history tool. It shows the domain history of any domain. This may be no accurate.
2. I would also check with Archive.org to see if there are any past history of the site.
3. However I find the most reliable would be from Hosterstats. This gives you the hosting history of a domain name from 2000 forward. This is the most accurate statistic. However the drawback is that it is only focused on the .com .net .org .biz .info .mobi .asia .ie .eu .co.uk and .de domains.
   

Best SEO Plugins for WordPress Blog

God    SEO     bing404, blog, leads, Optimization, Search Engine, SEO, wordpress

The success of your site depends on SEO on your site. And I highly recommend using WordPress which is what this blog is based on. If you do, here are the top plugins to install:

1. All in one SEO – Many custom features to optimize your site
2. Bing404 – Biggest issue with sites is that there can be dead links, a dreaded 404 page. Don’t waste that SEO juice, get Bing404 and it will provide search results from your blog or from Bing search engine.
3. Disqus Comment System – People can communicate quickly then you will get more traffic.
4. Efficient Related Posts – This grabs a bunch of related posts and publish it on the bottom of your post. This provides more links and keep your readers on longer which both is great for SEO. I’ve try a few and this one provides more relevant posts.
5. TweetMeMe – Shows the number of tweets and enable people to retweet your post. More links on twitter and more traffic, the better!
6. WP to Twitter - Updates Twitter when you create a new blog post.

Other important plugins:

1. Ultimate Google Analytics – Make sure to track your site and monitor traffic. Google Analytics is the top free tracking software.
2. Follow me – If you use twitter, this makes a custom link on the side of your blog for people to follow you on twitter.

Pros and Cons of Ereaders – Review of the Kobo Ereader

God    Gadgets     Calibre, chapters, ebook, ebook managament, epub, ereader, gadgets, kobo, pdf

To be successful you have to constantly upgrade yourself. I read a lot of books and with all the hype I figure I’ll get an ereader. I didn’t need anything special I just wanted to read, so I got the bare minimal one, the Kobo ereader from Chapters. Since I’ve bought it I haven’t really used it much, still finishing my paper books. Here are the pros and cons of the Kobo reader:

Cons:

1. With the decades of reading on paper my mind can still read a lot faster from a paper page than from the ereader. One reason is because of the lower contrast from the black text to the grey background compare to black text on white paper.
2. Turning pages on the Kobo is slow so there is time wasted between pages and lost of continuity. My friend told me that it’s faster on other ereader such as his Sony ereader.
3. Hard to reference certain pages to go back and forth.
4. Long time to start up, takes about 30 seconds to start up and find your book and start that up.
5. I don’t have all the books I want on the ereader.
6. You can use Calibre to convert your pdfs to epub for the reader but certain pdfs still don’t show up good on the reader such as the manual for my Canon DSLR camera.
7. Images are hard to see.

Pros:

1. It’s easier to carry than books. You can fit so much more in it a book. Great for minimal packing.
2. Easy to handle and able to handle with one hand. I bring this on the subway and it’s easy to hold with one hand and don’t need to turn pages.
3. Holds more books. This is helpful when you are traveling and is not sure what to bring with you.
4. You can convert and load PDFs using Calibre ebook management software (free). Very easy to use.
5. Save money on buying ebook rather than the physical ones. Personally I like to still purchase real books because some of the cons listed above.

If you travel a lot and read books on the subway or bus than an ebook reader is right for you. For all the other occasions I would stick with good old paper.

List of top 99Designs.com designers

God    Uncategorized     99designs.com, logo design, Outsourcing, website design

In this post I discuss tips on using 99designs.com. It is an effective way to get great designs for your website or logo. It is very important to invite some top designers to enter, after many hours of searching through all the designs here are the top designers.

Logo designers:

1. customlogographic
2. Krishna99
3. Athenabelle
4. PixelSolider
5. Janks
6. Marry
7. DeAngelis Designs
8. bluehat
9. ilegit616
10. DanaG

Website designers:

1. Lordbandit
2. Ryan Mitchell
3. Divine Style
4. Carey Creative
5. Richard de Pijper
   
6. RT Design
7. T-Bone
8. ngMedia
   
9. PradG
10. Michhael Bei
11. Dawid Milewski
12. marshaan
13. 7ocean
14. MaxPro
15. Fourth
16. FusionIdea
17. ssmita
18. CH-Webart

If you want a Web 2.0 style design, check these designers:

1. diamond_webdesign
2. RTDesign
3. lazy-boy
4. bearbrick
5. alfredms
6. netbluez
7. darkosss
8. Melwyn2010
9. usmanmd

If your winning design is from any of these designers, you can’t lose.

Tips for using 99Designs.com for website, logo, and graphic design contest

God    Uncategorized     99designs.com, logo design, Outsourcing, website design

If you are looking for a website or logo and are picky or not sure what you are looking for then 99Designs.com contest might be right for you. You post a ‘contest’ where people can submit logos and website designs to you and you pick the one you like. If you don’t like any then you would get your money back.

The contest cost have risen recently and while hiring a professional designer might cost less now, what you get is choices. Another thing to keep in mind is that you get to give direction and get what you want but it does require some time to communicate with the designers.

Here are 10 tips for you to get the most out of your contest:

1. Contact Designers
   The higher your reward is the most submissions you will get. However in both of my contest which was at different tier prizes most of the top designs were from designers I invited. If your award is the lowest one it is important for you to invite many designers.
   The best I find is to give them a compliment. Pick designers that you like and tell them which designs you like and why. Don’t waste time with designers you do not like.
   See below for my list of top designers.
2. Provide full supporting documents
   Provide as much supporting documents as you can to help the designers. If a designer ask for something, attach it publicly so everyone can see.
   Here’s a list of what you should provide:
   1. logo – both with transparent and dark colour background
   2. pictures
   3. fonts
   4. other design elements such as brush strokes or icons
   5. company brochure, posters, or business cards
   6. images of similar designs you like
   7. website that you like (if you are designing a website)
   8. mood board (if you use an agency before or a designer, they might have created you a mood board which is a collage of images to create the ‘mood’ of your design)
3. Write full details in your description
   Remember to write as much detail as you can on the direction you want but keep your mind open for better solutions.
4. Provide timely feedback
   Designers are like humans (because they are actually humans!), they can lose interest quickly and lose the ideas in their mind. Keep them motivated and ideas fresh in their mind. They might need 4-5 revisions before you get what you like so the sooner you provide feedback the more revisions you can get before the contest ends.
5. Tell them what you like
   The best way to avoid wasting time is to communicate what you like publicly. When you respond directly to the designer people can’t see so you might need to tell each designer over and over again. The best way is to post reviews on the main area so all the designers can see.
6. Guarantee your prize
   Guaranteeing your prize will build confidence from the designers and get you more submissions. I recommend you doing this as soon as you know you will go with a particular designer. The design does not need to be perfect, usually the designer is more than eager to provide changes to make you happy.

   The sooner you guarantee your prize the more time you will have with motivated designers. That’s why it’s important to provide as much feedback at the beginning as possible so you’ll get a design you like and guarantee sooner.

7. Sort out the details as soon as you can
   Think about your whole project.
   It is expensive and time consuming to organize these contests so likely you would like your winning designer to more work in the future. If not then you should consider this, finding a good designer is hard and providing a consistent theme for your brand is important. I would recommend you sort out the pricing and other details as soon as you feel that the designer is right for you. For example tell him what you need, ask him about his skills, and what prices does he charges. That way you will feel confident in investing your time in coaching him along.

   It is also important to make sure the communication styles match. Make sure he responds quickly and answers your question clearly. For me I look for response within 24 hours and that each point I brought up is addressed. If you find that some of your points are missed or if they do not understand you, this could be a red flag. Communication could also be your issue too, if you see that many designers are not understanding you then it’s probably you and not them.

   The worst is if you find someone you like then realize that you guys can’t come to terms with designing additional pages to your site. As well as before you select the winner you have the negotiating advantage.

8. Show them what you want
   Pick sites you like and explain why
   Graphic designers are visual people it is a easier to communicate with them in pictures then in words. Before you start your contest discover what you like and compile it. You can send them links to your favourite sites. But I recommend that you browse through template sites, it has a larger variety; you can browse a lot quicker; and you’ll eliminate those dreaded moments when you think, what site should I go to now.
   1. Template Monster
   2. SiteGround – templates
   3. Free web templates

   When you attach the templates, note what you like about it such as the colours, how clean it is, the layout, the cool icons etc. It is important to have a direction first and show only consistent ideas. Don’t pick one that is nice clean and conservative with blue and also pick a funky one with red and orange and add it. Only pick the ones where you can envision that being your site.

9. Don’t forget to remind them-If you forget, they will too
   If there are designers that made a version or couple of revisions and did not finish don’t be afraid to remind them. Also if there are designers who promised to submit a contest but have not done so, do not hesitate to remind them but most likely if they haven’t been active in making a design your reminder will not help.
10. Prepare for the busy last 24 hours
    You can expect a lot of things happening around the last 24 hours
    I suggest you book some time in your calendar for the last 24hours, that’s when a lot of things happen. This is crunch time and many of your designers are making final changes for you, it’s important that you are available to give feedback and accept revisions. While your designers can be from anywhere in the world you don’t need to be there for the whole 24 hours, just make sure you check in throughout the day. In additional many designers do not want their designs copied so they won’t release it till the last day.
    With this in mind I suggest you start your contest on Tuesday so that the last 24 hours fall on Monday. This is good for you because you will be in the office (if you have an office). As well as the designers can work on Monday to finalize it, Monday is more likely chance that they are free then on Sunday. Also recommend starting your contest earlier in the week as people get more busy later on.
11. After the deadline
    The deadline is over but the contest is not. You can still communicate with the designers and get them to email you designs but don’t use this as an excuse for not communicating and providing feedbacks during the contest. If you are getting a website remember to ask them for the rate of designing additional pages. Maybe they would even offer to do it for free, if your prize is high enough so they win. I was in a situation where I chose a design because he offered to do the additional pages for free.

These are the tips I have for making your 99designs.com contest a success. Please provide your feedback and come visit often as I will be adding more tips from my experiences.

Couple of other sites you might want to check out is LogoSnap which provides free logos and charge $99 for a custom logo. Or HatchWise which provides same service as 99Designs but some say has higher quality submissions.

Cold calling the right way

God    Sales     Christin Comaford, cold calling, leads, mixergy, sales, tips

The biggest challenge I find with doing sales is contacting leads. I find it somewhat unnatural to ‘manipulate’ and ‘maneuver’ to turn a ‘no’ into “sure I’ll give you a chance to introduce your product/service”. There’s a solution that makes so much sense.

Was listening to Christine Comaford on Mixergy today and she bought up a good point and technique for handling leads. It’s a waste of time and energy trying to make someone who doesn’t want to buy into a customer. It’s better to find the right type of customers that do want to buy. Here’s her amazing tip:

1. Put your product or service into a benefit statement and ask if they are interested.
   i.e. “Are you interested in making money off your website while you sleep?” If no then say thank you and good bye. If yes go to 2.
2. Ask for a meeting time
   i.e. “Would you be able to meet for 45 minutes where I can explain to you how my service can make you money while you sleep?” If no then say thank you and good bye, they are not serious. If yes go to 3.
3. Ask for the decision makers
   i.e. “Will you be able to get all the decision makers there? And if the product/service is able to meet the needs I promised, would you be able to make a decision then?” If no then say Thank you and good bye. If yes then set a meeting.

This technique makes so much sense. This is natural and easy. You are not trying to manipulate the person. As well you prime them and is able to get all the decision makers in one spot. This is absolutely brilliant.

The goal is to find the right type of customer instead of trying to convince the wrong type of customers, you can do it but there is a lot of resistance. Also be careful, the script may not be right so you’ll have to playing around but the idea is there.

See the interview here.