Old School Marketing Twitter and an email form Chris Cardell

I have been on twitter for a bit tweeted some things agonised about decreasing and and increasing followers and then One weekend realised the down sides to twitter.

We (My family) went to a local food festival event (St Fagens).

You may think we found out about it by social media or the web site, no the only reason we found out about it was because we happen to drive past a sign (this is old school marketing).

I wondered why: well it easy I wasn't looking at my phone when they tweeted and the next time I did 300 other tweets probably from Mr Fry or even Alun John popped up there and the food festival was lost.

So for me; tweet by all means but somewhere that tweet has to hang around, because Stephen Fry is a prolific tweeter and a lot of people follow him, and Alun John does his fair share also!

Back to Chris cardell his email is below I have left all his links in the information I have had form him is sound and if anyone of my followers disagrees I want to know why they havn’t shared their millions with me!

I receive these emails because at some point I was looking for some information on marketing stratergy and I fell into this very American but successful give a bit receive a bit and ever since I have had an email from Chris. I personally have yet to give him any credit card details, but looks like many people have and to be fair, I agree with most of the information that comes my way, it is just not pertinent to what I am doing.

Dear Mike James,

I received an email last week from a customer. Here’s what it said:

“Hi Chris Why don't you use twitter? I really don't understand it. For a long time I have held you in very high regard as being a thought leader in both business and indeed specifically online marketing, yet when I come to your site and click the twitter link you seem to be very lonely.”

The great Twitter question….well here’s the answer:

I might be lonely but I also run a multi million pound online business so at least I can buy some good therapy.

I don’t use Twitter because it’s a complete and utter waste of time. Yes, I know that’s sacrilege and I’m supposed to be telling you that you must be on Twitter and selling you expensive Twitter courses. Well let me save you some time. It’s all BS.

I can count on one hand the number of businesses for whom Twitter is contributing to their online profits. Literally – one hand. Meanwhile, I can show you thousands of businesses who are making money from Pay per Click, Advanced Conversion strategies, Email Marketing, Online Video, Facebook Advertising and numerous other online approaches that actually work.

Welcome to the online version of the Emperor’s new clothes. You’re almost made to feel stupid these days if you question Twitter. If there is a Universal creator, I think the whole thing is a joke. He or she decided to give humanity a tool, the first four letters of which spell ‘Twit’ and see how long it would take anyone to notice.

Well, we’re still waiting.

People tell me tweeting is fun….in which case, go ahead and do it to family, friends….even customers if you want. But don’t confuse it for a minute with direct response marketing or making money.

I sat in a room last week, with 20 of the world’s most successful online marketers – all making millions online. We hung out for two days and compared notes. We talked about the cool, amazing stuff that can make you a fortune online…(including some very effective Social Media strategies) and I assure you, in that entire two days, Twitter was never mentioned.

Want to know what we did talk about? Stuff like this:

http://www.cardellmedia.co.uk/weekly/W9V-Video-Programme-Special.html

If you want to ‘play’ with the internet, don’t look at this. Go and Tweet. If you are serious about internet profits, and not just a sucker for the next shiny object, this is a ‘must have’

http://www.cardellmedia.co.uk/weekly/W9V-Video-Programme-Special.html

Best wishes

Chris Cardell

PS Please don’t email me and tell me I’m ‘missing the point’ unless you are making several million pounds online – and are willing to attach bank statements to prove it. It’s my policy in life to only take advice from people who are doing better than me at the thing they’re giving advice about. It’s an approach I highly recommend…..particularly when it comes to alleged ‘expert’ views about social media. Meanwhile, if you want to know how profitable online marketing is REALLY done in the real world, this will show you how:

http://www.cardellmedia.co.uk/weekly/W9V-Video-Programme-Special.html

Cardell Media Ltd

1 Northumberland Avenue

Trafalgar Square

London WC2N 5BW

How accounting software can help you run and grow your small business

How can accounting software can help?

Many  small business owners would agree that running a business can be a bit like a crazy plate spinning act, working out which parts (or plates) to prioritise so that everything doesn’t come crashing down.  Sometimes when you really want to be focusing on your company’s growth and future you find that you’re bogged down with laborious tasks such as salary payments, stock levels and unpaid invoices.  Accounting software can help rebalance your priorities, freeing up some of your valuable time to concentrate on other things and allowing you an invaluable insight into your financials. 

If you’re a small business owner, follow this quick guide to Accounting software to find out how it can help you run your business effectively and efficiently and achieve growth at the same time.

Accounting software in a nutshell

Accounting software is a computer program that helps business owners automate all their financial transactions and easily create instant financial reports.    Programs vary from supplier to supplier but most include the following basic modules:

• Invoicing - to help you create, print and send invoices to clients
• Accounts Payable - to help you pay bills and create purchase orders etc
• Accounts receivable – to help you keep track of money received
• Inventory - to help you keep track of stock levels and sales
• Payroll -  to help you create employee profiles, benefits, deductions and track hours and in some packages allow set up of automatic payment or electronic payment to staff
• Reporting -to run reports on an ad hoc basis to understand what is and what isn’t working for your business.

Other, more sophisticated packages or modules may include features such as Project and Job Costing, allowing you to ensure projects stay within budget and more commercial features such as Tracking and Tracing Returns, enabling you to manage returns efficiently and identify trends.

Which accounting software solution should I choose?

There are some important choices to undertake when selecting an accounting  Software package and supplier and it is important to take the time to find the best solution to suit your company’s needs.  Your main considerations should be:

• Your business sector -There are various accounting software solutions suitable for different sectors and it is important to choose the right one so that it offers the particular features and flexibility that are perfect for your company.  For example, there are programs specific to banking, construction, medical, not for profit and retail. 
• The size of your business – If your business has fewer than 50 employees, you can opt for a more basic software program.  Larger companies will need a more robust, more complex program.
• Your current software offering – If you already have an accounting software package installed and you’re upgrading to a new one, you need to consider how you will transfer everything from your old software package to your new one.  Ensure that your new Accounting software provider can provide help and support with this transition and make sure your old is compatible with your new solution.

What are the benefits of accounting software?

Accounting software can greatly benefit the day to day running of your business and its expansion. Some of the advantages are:

Reduced overheads - Accounting software can help reduce staff overheads but allow you to still keep track of the financials, enhancing your business’s overall productivity and efficiency.

More time to concentrate on other things - Accounting software can automate the laborious tasks such as invoicing or payroll to free up your time and allow you to concentrate on other aspects of your business.

Tidy up your finances – Accounting software allows you to easily organise your company’s financial information by storing it in a central location which can be accessed at any time.   This helps you keep on top of things and not allow important issues to be missed.

Better financial decision making – Accounting software can offer you budgets, forecasts and financial reports almost instantaneously, allowing you to better understand your business and make solid financial decisions.   This kind of access to relevant and critical business information at the touch of a button can make all the difference to the success of your business.

Running a company, whatever the size, is not an easy job.   Buying an accounting software package for your business will help you become a little less like a circus plate spinner and more like a successful business owner, allowing you to concentrate on the important things, like growing your business and making more money.

Originally written by Iris Accounting software.

Outsourcing

There are many reasons for outsourcing various types of work functions, the main one being cost saving. An example of this is “Do I need an in-house IT manager when all I need them for is several hours a week?”. Therefore business owners often find it’s better to outsource expertise than employ it.

Resons to Outsource

Cost savings – Lowering overall cost of the service to your business.

Focus on core business –Outsourcing of Bookkeeping, Finance Systems, Business Systems or IT (internet presence, computers) to a third party will free up investment, people and infrastructure to develop the core of the business.

Cost restructuring – Outsourcing offers a move from a fixed cost (permanent staff) to a variable cost (Outsourced temporary staff).

Improve quality – A higher level of quality by contracting out to experts with a new service level agreement.

Knowledge – Access to intellectual property and wider experience and knowledge.

Contract – Services will be provided to a legally binding contract with penalties. This is not the case with internal staff/services.

Operational expertise – Access to operational best practice that would be time-consuming and too expensive to develop in-house.

Enhance innovation – The use of third parties to supplement the capacity of product innovation that was previously limited in-house.

Leisure – Individuals may wish to outsource work to adjust their work/life balance.


http://www.blueinkconsultancy.com

Android Blogging

Now I can blog from anywhere, I am not sure if that is s good thing but I can.

I am using Blogger Droid on a Sony X10, and so far everything hangs together well.

I am very much liking some of the Google tech, I changed to Chrome some months ago and saw a masive improvement in speed for my web brouser and generally the computer overheads. Then the android phone and even a gmail account. Certainly being a bit partisan with the technology helps pull everything together.

Not a great spell checker here and I am quite Dyslexic so please be kind.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Do you take your tablet.

Since the release of the iPad I have been mulling the possible uses of the tablet PC and how it would fit into the day to day business world. I can think of a hundred reasons why it would be a great companion around the house, but in business, I am not sure especially as I  personally spend a large portion of my day at a screen already.

The technology makes me think of a 'Star Trek' utopian work place where various people are wondering around showing the captain shiny tablet devises with interesting glyphs. In that world there is little interaction with the Tablet they are transient message/list carriers or maybe a book replacement, but why would you want more when you can have a conversation with the computer and a holodeck.

I also wonder how much time and effort is spent trying to find a way to shoehorn this new technology into a business. In our business we are lucky in that we tend to deal with either new starts or new processes or products, we tend to look at the business as a whole and design the business process with technology in mind, the technology is not the driver, it is a facilitator.

So for me I would be only thinking of the tablet if the user connected with that part of the process was mobile, did basic data entry or data confirmation or needed to show information or media on the move. The key positions are sales and stock control. However, two things make me think beyond this; The power of the devices and the developments in cloud based services.

The power in the device means it can handle a lot more than just data entry, the latest offerings are going to be dual core with very light operating systems. Cloud services means a large part of the heavy work is done in the cloud, so as log as you have sufficient local storage to keep you going and a connection to the cloud in question all you need is the addition of a keyboard and a stand and what couldn't you do on a Tablet.

I am not about to ditch my work station, but I am looking forward to some of the new android tablets that are due to be released this year, I am not anti Apple just have a non Apple Inertia: Here is some further reading on the latest Android TablePC from Motorola by Matt Gunn of Bank Systems and Technology http://www.banktech.com/articles/229201118