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1million votes for anything QNAP. We have one at home that we use personally.
We recommend them to clients all the time. We are yet to experience an issue with any QNAP device (aside from needing ones that have more drive bays).
We have sold cheaper ones (i.e. Thecus) to clients who wanted the budget option – and they did nothing but whinge about the speed of them. You get what you pay for !
Have seen other clients with Netgear NAS devices that had strange software issues that could not be fixed (even with firmware updates).
Up0I use Basecamp as well to manage projects and time.
I combine this with Track Record – but this is a mac based program so no good for you.
What I would recommend is checking out this section (and the rest of the page) on the Basecamp website – http://basecamphq.com/extras#time
It outlines a number of different mac and pc time tracking programs. Some have integrated reporting in them – some work in conjunction with other programs like Freshbooks. I find it a great page of resources about useful programs… both cloud based and local.Cheers
TaraUp0I have people using my contact forms quite frequently – mainly for the quote request form as there are a few questions involved. Its an easy way of getting the person to tell you what you need to know.
My clients websites all have contact forms and I find they get used regularly as well. Typically we have full contact details across the site and the visitor can choose whether to use the form or emai !! l directly.
I personally dont have an issue with filling in forms. Just for the love of God – dont set up a contact form submission to go to an unmonitored email account. *Im looking at you half the tradies on the Sunshine Coast **
Up0With 2 computer repair stores as part of our company I can say that we only recommend Kaspersky. Its the only one we stock, its the only one we recommend.
We repair well over 100 computers a month and..time and time again we have customers come in with antivirus software such as AVG, Trend, Bullguard, Norton, MacAfee – with viruses (virii??). In many cases a scan with Kaspersky is the only software that picks up some of the nastier viruses.
When doing virus scans for customers, we scan with up to 5 different types of anti virus/malware etc software and Kaspersky continually comes up trumps.
I find it to be quite competitively priced as well. In our experience, you get what you pay for !!
As a mac user personally, I did run Kaspersky for Mac for a while… but it never picked anything up so I happily concluded I can continue in my blissful ignorance as a mac user that is not susceptible to viruses
Up0As we also have 2 retail stores (for our IT businesses) – I would like to say that I absolutely hate cold calling. I am busy enough as it is without being interrupted by some phone call with someone waffling on!
Send me a compelling email telling me how your product will fit in with my business and Ill be more likely to take it in!
Up0If you are like me and scan all your receipts onto the computer and use a program… scan AS YOU GO! Dont do what I did and leave months worth of receipts that suddenly need to be scanned !
On the upside – at least its done now, I can ditch all my paper copies and have a searchable library of pdf receipts – so so handy!
Up0Hi Bec,
We are on the sunny coast also and currently use Paramount Collections – http://www.paramountcollections.com.au/. They are based in Mooloolaba
You can submit the details of the debt via their website and then just sit back and wait.
Their fees dont seem too unreasonable. They haven’t had a huge amount of success with our debts – but ours weren’t really all that large and some people just don’t pay, which is a sad fact of life!
Best of luck to you !!
Cheers
TaraUp0seocourse, post: 79607 wrote:mmmm 2nd position for box trailer is Ebay
http://shop.ebay.com.au/i.html?_nkw=box+trailerin top 10…
http://www.hotfrog.com.au/Products/Box-Trailersup for grabs….
Yes – as I said, considering their budget and where they are now. They dont want to/cant produce any of their own content to keep costs down.
All the content on their website was taken from another website – upon their direct instruction and because they cant afford to and seem not to have the ability to create their own content. With duplicate content and a lack of funds to create fresh new content or carry out any other form of SEO, they will be struggling to achieve first page results.
Up0Nothing irritates me more to get a price only to discover that ‘gst excluded’ was in fine print somewhere that I didnt notice it.
I expect that when I see a price – its the total price of what Im going to handover. I expect that will include GST – its not like it can be escaped!
Im busy enough – some days my brain cant handle working out what the gst is on top of an advertised price! Those days Im flat out remembering that the milk goes in the fridge and not in the pantry!
My vote is to put the complete price with ‘inc gst’ somewhere on the page.
Up0Hi MediaMan,
You could try some of the products from the Omni Group. http://www.omnigroup.com/products/
I use OmniGraffle to design the structure of my websites etc. But some of their other products look like they could be more suited to your needs. Possibly OmniOutliner ?
They should at least give you a good visual element to the planning.
Download the free trial first to see if you like it!
Good luck!
Up0I would love it if a week would go by without an client forwarding me an email they have received from some other “seo company” promising them first page results within 1 week.
I then have to spend more time out of my week educating them the difference between adwords and SEO. and how the other companies cannot guarantee anything within a week etc etc.
Thankfully my major clients have got this figured out now and the results I have generated for them means they no longer question what I am doing.
And I also would suggest that not everyone knows what SEO is now. I recently rolled out a website for a customer and did make it very clear from the start, that simply creating a website would not get them first page.
They have some competitive keywords and it would take a fair effort (considering their budget and where they are currenlty) to get first page for ‘box trailer’. The poor guy rang me after the site went live, most upset that he googled ‘box trailer’ and he was nowhere to be found.
They are 65years old + and the poor things, I explained the concept and Im quite sure that he thinks Im trying to rip him off
I know its not my fault, as I clearly put it in writing and verbally advised him – but I didn’t realise just how much they genuinely did not understand what I was on about!The most he said to me was “cant you just get someone in India to do it for us really cheap”? . *sigh* Has no idea how SEO works or what it does but is quite happy to pay someone in India to do it for him!
Up0I have multiple email accounts, some using Google Apps, and some using MS Exchange. They are all set up in Apple Mail using iMAp so Im all synced and should I be on an unfamiliar computer – I can use the google apps webmail if need be (or OWA which is TERRIBLE!). Calendars are all used through Google Apps also and synced across iphones and all computers.
I’ve had Windows on my Mac for a while now and have just decided that I might like to start migrating back to Outlook – Im a huge Outlook fan and absolutely hate the Microsoft Outlook for Mac version – so rubbish and just ‘not same’! So I recently loaded it up and started using it.
Having said that, as someone has mentioned above, with Apple soon to release their new OS, Im hoping that there are significant improvements to the Mail and Calendar programs. If its decent, Ill stay with that otherwise its back to Outlook for me.
For anyone looking to checkout something new – try Postbox. Its for both windows and mac… I used it a while back when it was in its free trial phase – but then went back to using Apple Mail.
http://www.postbox-inc.com/index.php – its only $30 for a legit licence and has a world of features.
Up0Id also say me, but then Im also biased!
For anyone on a budget, I would say yes, you can go ‘cheaper’ to start with, but to save yourself a whole lot of wasted time, stress and money – put it on a platform that has scalability !
By this I mean a web based content management system that you can add to or expand on later if you change your mind about what you want to achieve with your site, or if you simply get more cash to spend later down the track.
So pick a well known content management system that has the capacity to potentially add e-commerce (if thats something you think you *might* ever need), one that you can change the design without too much fuss, one that lets you access most of the back end of the site.
I know some CMS’s – especially proprietary CMS’s developed by web firms especially, will lock down alot of the CMS so you need to go back to the web firm for any little change. I have a client like that at the moment, working on moving their site into Business Catalyst because they cant so much as change a menu in their website back end!
Ones I would stick with:
– WordPress
– Joomla
– Business Catalyst (an adobe product – has alot more functionality out the box and therefore does cost more).For the above you could start with a template site at relatively cheap cost then move to a custom design later when your budget expanded. They can all expand to accommodate e-commerce without too much fuss. And all have a great back end that lets you change what you want changed.
I developed a small business starter package for businesses wanted to get an online presence at little cost, which is $1,000 which includes first year of web hosting. Thats a template site in WordPress that you can add logo to and content etc. Not super fancy but does the trick when you are just starting out !
Theres alot of companies on here using WordPress or Joomla. Not sure about BC. Just be sure that whatever you choose – you ask as many questions as you can about what you are going to get!
Good luck!
Cheers
TaraUp0Id agree with a logo re-design. And if it were me, Id look at incorporating that circle image you have on your home page into your design. I think that is a really effective little graphic that pretty well sums up what you do in a small space.
One of our other businesses has had its website overhauled twice in 2 years, and even now Im not entirely happy with it and I tweak it constantly (http://www.totalmicrosystems.com.au). I think if you are any kind of perfectionist, you will always want to tinker and improve as you go. Websites especially have changed immensely in the last few years – I have to wonder what they will look like in another 2-3 years! (prolly come with smell-o-vision) or something!!
My advice would be to get a killer logo done, and work your way up from there as you can afford it. And always make sure you put your logo everywhere you can: email signature, website, cards, letter heads, fb, twitter etc etc -you really need to create that brand association.
Up0craiglongmuir.com, post: 78375 wrote:just used this site (http://www.dottourism.com/blog/view/setting-up-your-facebook-page-photo-strip/) to help make my photos work with my design…
the results here
http://www.facebook.com/pages/craiglongmuircom-web-designer-sydney/151712291564004?sk=wallLooks good Craig ! Now I just have to find time in the day to get onto doing this on my own page!
