acrbo june mag
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Association of Computer Repair Business Owners June MagazineTRANSCRIPT
Computers, Networking, Websites, Advertising, Marketing & SalesWHAT’S INSIDE
ACRBO MagISSUE 006 | JUNE 2012
P13
P26
Question Time:How do you build web links?
INTERVIEW DEALS SUPPORT
Laura DownsThe NC businesswoman gives an inspirational interview exclusively to the ACRBO Magazine!
The Official Monthly Magazine of the Association of Computer Repair Business Owners
Exclusive OffersACRBO gives you some great discounts that can’t be found anywhere else!
A History LessonWe take you through the evolution of remote support
By Technicians, For Technicians
Useful Tips
MAKE BUSINESS STRATEGIC PARTNERS
Mobile Apps | P25
ACRBO Inbox | P4
AdWords | P16
IN THIS ISSUE JUNE 2012
P3 Editors Letter & Top Picks
P4 ACRBO Inbox Dan answers your questions
P5 Gillware - Fixing Dead Drives
P6 Featured Member Profile Laura Downs
Featured ArticlesP8 ScreenConnect
Advert
P9 Join the ACRBO! Get a premium account today!
P10 ACRBO Deals By Daniel Hand
P11 Resources for Technicians
P12 Computer Repair Business Lessons Learnt By Daniel Hand
P13 Growing Your Business With Strategic Partnerships By Steve Kjenner
P14 Don’t Promise Too Much
P15 Business Leads
P16 Google AdWords Promotion
P19 Competition
P20 The Evolution of Remote Support
P22 ACRBO Marketplace The people and products that helped make this issue
P24 The Ideal Business Deal
P25 Business Apps By Dennis Drew
P26 Link Building
P27 SurfRight
P28 Be Curious ... And a Successful Communicator
ContentsJUNE 2012 | ISSUE 006 | ACRBO MONTHLY | ONLINE
www.acrbo.com2
EDITORS INTROHELLO
Talk to us!
Welcome to this month’s issue of our magazine. This month we bring you some great new articles.
We have some great contributions for some super articles that you should get a lot out of.
If you haven’t had a chance to login to the Association site lately you might want to check it out especially the Preferred Vendor section and see if there are any vendors that can provide some benefit to your business model.
I hope you enjoy this month’s issue of the magazine, and as always please email me if you have any comments, contributions or feedback.
Lastly I’d like to congratulate you for investing your time to educate yourself by reading this magazine.
We are proud to be able to help all our readers, and look forward to serving you for many years to come.
Editorswords
Keep your valuable feedback coming. We try to reply to every email, we appreciate your input as it helps to make the ACRBO magazine possible.
www.Facebook.com/acrbo
“Association of Computer Repair Business Owners”
ACRBO MagazineFredericksburg VirginiaSwansea, Wales, UK
Advertising enquires:Send an email to [email protected]
Contribute articles:If you would like to be a contributing author for the magazine then send an email to [email protected] and let us know what you would like to write about.
Copyright 2012 ACRBO. All rights reserved.Reprinted with permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translatedor converted into machine-readable form or language without the written consent of the publisher. Articles express the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily those of the publisher
ACRBO MagazineDirector: ACRBO [email protected]: Jon May [email protected]
Contributors Various experts in their fields
The instructions and advice in themagazine is for entertainment purposes only. The creators, producers, contributorsand distributors of the ACRBO Mag disclaim any liability for loss or lack of results from following the advice expressed herein.
www.acrbo.com 3
ACRBO INBOX EMAILS
QUESTION:Should I have just one website for my business?
DAN, ACRBO:Really depends on your thinking. If you just get another domain name and use the exact same content it pretty much defeats the purpose.
But, if you are going to create unique content for each site then it will be worth it.
You can leave the same phone number, etc on it but content needs to be unique so you are not penalized by the search engines.
ACRBO InboxIf you’ve got a question, just fire it over to [email protected] and we’ll answer
them and include the top e-mails in each issue.
WebsitesSpecific or general targeting?
EmploymentHow much to pay a new technician?
QUESTION:If I hire a tech how much should I pay them?
DAN, ACRBOThat is going to be based on the area you are in.
Check around what the going rates are and base it off that.
Remember you are going to pay the employee, taxes and everything else that goes along with it.
Make sure you actually have enough work for an employee before hiring one only to find out that it’s not cost effective for you.
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“Be prepared and be realistic. It takes time to build a business”
Laura Downs tell us how she hated working as a
travel agent and had the entreneurial spark to
start her own business
BIG INTERVIEW FEATURE
www.acrbo.com6
Q Business Name?
HearthStone Computer
Repair Inc.
QWhere are you located?
Huntersville, NC
QEducation?
Associate in Arts Degree
from Central Piedmont
Community College plus several
computer-related courses at
CPCC. A+ Certified.
QWhat did you want to be
when you grew up?
A flute player in an orchestra.
I wanted to go into music
performance and not music
education, and was somehow
smart enough at age 17 to realize
that my lack of drive to practice
my flute wouldn’t get me very
far…so I became a Travel Agent.
QWhat was your worst job?
Working for a travel agency
which owned a charter company
chartering planes to Europe.
The agency defaulted on their
contract, stranding passengers
in Italy and Greece. Guess who
was receiving overseas phone
calls of death threats from angry
customers?
QWhat was your first job?
Waitressing at a local
family-owned restaurant named
Tasty Chick. Funny name but
the BEST fried chicken EVER.
They didn’t make us wear
t-shirts with the business name
on it. Phew.
QHow did you end up
owning your business?
I was taking computer classes
beyond my AA degree, hoping to
someday start my own business,
when I met a fellow classmate
in a class to prep for the A+
certification.
He brought me in to a school as
a part-time tech so we could job
share and take the time burden
off of his shoulders.
At that point I decided to just
start my business.
QWhat is next for your
business?
Focusing an advertising plan
in which I can build a larger
customer base in my town
and surrounding area, vs the
Charlotte region which is a
time stretch for me. Getting
my CCNA and Network + certs
before the end of the year.
QWhat advice would you
give someone thinking
about starting a business right
now?
Be prepared and be realistic. It
takes time to build a business,
especially in this industry. Read
about it and continue to educate
yourself all the time. Things are
constantly changing.
QWhere do you want to be
five years from now?
Five years…empty nest by then…
I may look for a tech job rather
than expand my business, it’s
hard to say.
Featured MemberThis month, Laura Downs talks to us and gives us a look into her life ...
BIG INTERVIEWFEATURE
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Years ago Steve developed an easy to build/edit website for computer businesses and was greeted with great success and praise from business owners.
Realizing the market has changed Steve has done a total revamp to the Tech Website Builder and it should be released very soon…
Top right is a picture of the old format that was used with great success. Really looking forward to this new release.
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KNOWLEDGETIPS
As technicians, we are used to the ever changing world of technology. Your education is never completed, but rather a lifelong journey. At times, keeping up with everything can be quite frustrating. Don’t despair; there are many high quality resources that can be found online. in this article i will be reviewing some of the resources that i would recommend checking out.
Khan Academy
http://www.khanacademy.com
Khan Academy is a nonprofit educational website created by Salman Khan. Khan was a graduate of MiT. Khan originally started by creating tutorials and posting them on YouTube. His site has expanded, and now contains over 3,200 videos. All the videos are completely free.
There are not many videos focusing on computers in general - but the wealth of information is incredible. Those technicians who are still pursuing their degree will find this site invaluable. i wish there was a site like this when i was in college; maybe i would have done better in my Calculus courses. There are also many videos focusing on economic issues that our government is facing today.
Coursera
http://www.coursera.org
Coursera is a company founded by professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller of Stanford University. its mission statement is to be “committed to making the best education in the world freely available to any person who seeks it”. Coursera offers courses that you would typically find in a college
curriculum. Most courses available are computer science related, but Coursera plans on expanding this in the future.
The format is similar to taking an actual class; there are quizzes, homework, and projects. Each week a new series of lectures will be available for you to watch, with work assigned for each week. Some of the professors are top notch. if you would like the experience of taking some college level courses without spending a dime, you should check out Coursera.
The New Boston
http://www.thenewboston.org
The New Boston is another site that originally started by the creator Bucky roberts making Youtube tutorials. The great thing about The New Boston is that almost all of the tutorials focus on topics related to computers, programming, and even gaming.
The tutorials are split up into about ten minutes segments, so you can easily learn at your own pace. Some of the more popular tutorials are Android & Java Programming.
TED
http://www.ted.com
it is likely you have already heard of TED. if not, it is something you must check out. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. it is run by a nonprofit group trying to spread “ideas worth spreading.”
TED does not have courses, or specific goals. Each TED talk is a
short talk about a particular topic. The topics range in scope, but there are many talks that are related to science & technology. More than 900 talks are available, and more are continually added. For those of you who want to broaden your horizons and be entertained, check out TED.
HP Learning Center
http://www.hp.com/go/learningcenter
HP Learning Center is a free service offered by HP that has tutorials on many computer related topics. The range of topics goes from simple things like learning Facebook and Twitter to more complex topics like security. Every course is laid out so you can go through it completely at your own pace. After each lesson, some topics may have quizzes or exercises for practice.
HP Learning Center does not have the wealth of information as the other sites, but you will find a few things that will grab your interest. Unlike the other resources we looked at, this site can be recommended to your customers who are still learning about their computer, or have just gotten into Digital Photography.
Hopefully, you will find these sites as useful as i do. i consider knowledge very powerful, especially in these rough economic times. The best thing about all these sites is that they are completely free - while others are paying huge sums of money for the same material. if you have any other recommendations, email me at [email protected].
Resources for TechsPaul Iommi gives us some tips on where to build on your existing knowledge to improve your own personal productivity and skills.
www.acrbo.com 11
STRATEGYPARTNERS
What if i say you can grow your business without working more hours, hiring staff, or any out of pocket costs?
You can, by seeking out strategic partnerships with companies or freelancers that have the skills, knowledge, or products you don’t already possess, and are difficult or costly to acquire on your own.
if done carefully, strategic partnership agreements can be just the ticket your business needs to increase revenues, expand services, increase coverage, and jump to the next level.
Strategic partners are different then a list of vendors that do a job and get paid; strategic partners are committed to the growth and prosperity of your business. They want to see you succeed.
A successful strategic partnership is an agreement between two parties to share or exchange resources, where both parties benefit.
i highly recommend creating a written agreement where the expectations are clearly spelled out for both parties.
There are challenges to creating strategic partnerships, but when executed correctly, i believe the benefits far outweigh the challenges.
One of the challenges to creating a strategic partnership is finding a partner that is a good fit for your business.
Since a strategic partnership is relationship based the partners must “click” and trust each other.
This can easily be determined during an initial meeting or two.
if after a couple meetings you
discover there is not a fit, continue your search for the right “candidate”, similar to the way you would look to hire an employee.
Once you find the right partner, you will need to cultivate and continually develop the relationship, particularly in the early stages where knowledge transfer and establishment of working protocols are important for success.
Approach the strategic partnership as you would approach a relationship with your customers. Be honest and ethical, and there should be few if any problems.
The benefits of successful strategic partnerships can be numerous for both partners.
The obvious benefit is the sharing of resources or skillsets. Both parties can utilize the resources and skillsets of the other and service clients they would otherwise be unable to; without hiring additional staff of their own.
Other benefits may include low cost or free marketing and sales assistance or technical support and training.
Strategic alliances can also enhance your appeal as an ‘invest-able’ business to investors or buyers if your exit strategy is to sell your business.
Done correctly, with mutually beneficial objectives and a written agreement of how the relationship will work, i see little if any downside to strategic partnering.
By cooperating with each other and working together, strategic partners can create a higher value; compared to the value they would create on their own struggling to
achieve a competitive advantage.
Certainly in uncertain economic times like today any strategy to grow your business is definitely worth a look at.
Strategic PartnershipsSteve Kjenner from Computer Medics of Dade County gives us some tips on growing your service business by working together
www.acrbo.com 13
STRATEGY PROMISE
I’ve recently bought a computer
system, taken my family to a theme
park and flown on an airline that
were all rated tops in their fields
for service. They had won awards
and were widely cited as leading
examples of service quality in action.
I ended up being disappointed.
Not that the service was bad -
compared with others in their
industries, they were clearly better.
But I had expected much more.
For example, the computer
sales representative had touted his
company’s No. 1 service ranking in a
highly recognized survey.
That was the key reason I
bought the system. Yet my calls for
installation, trouble-shooting and
integration with other hardware and
software weren’t the hassle-free
encounters I had expected.
The service people turned out
to be fallible human beings who had
some trouble answering the phone.
They were better than most of the
others I’d dealt with in the computer
industry. But in an industry that pays
scant attention to customer support,
that’s not saying much.
This is important to
understanding what causes poor
customer service. It is not always a
question of performance; it can be
about expectations, as well.
To attract new customers, many
organizations promise great service,
display their service or quality
awards, or show survey data that
put them at the top of their industry.
But those higher expectations raise
the bar. It becomes difficult to meet
them, let alone exceed them.
Here are some ways to keep
customer expectations within reach:
• Be very careful with
promises you make or imply in your
advertising, brochures, marketing
and public relations activities.
• Makesureyoursalespeople,
dispatchers, receptionists, order
desk staff, designers, or anyone in
your organization who has contact
with customers are promising less
than your organization can deliver.
• Continually research and
test your customers’ expectations
and the factors that most influence
them.
• Make it a personal and,
ultimately, an organizational habit
to promise a little and deliver a lot.
• Train your sales force to
go after only those market niches
where expectations match your
delivery capabilities. It should
become corporate strategy that all
sales dollars are not equal. Some
customers come with expectations
that you can’t meet or that will prove
very expensive.
• Don’t try to negotiate your
customers’ expectations downward.
You will lose this opportunity to
improve yourself; you also risk losing
the customer to someone who can
meet its expectations.
Low service performing
organizations set themselves up for
failure by raising expectations to
attract new customers. They over-
promise and under-deliver. High-
performing organizations know that
one secret of success is to under-
promise and overdeliver. That is how
they build reputations for service
and keep customers coming back.
The key to any successful busines is not to overstretch yourself by committing beyond your means and keep customers happy
Don’t Promise Too Much
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BREAK/FIXMSP
Anyone who runs their
own business can tell you how
challenging it is to generate business
leads on a consistent basis. Finding
good leads and generating more
sales is vital to the long term growth
of any business. There are many well
documented sources of business
leads – we will try to cover some of
the best in this article.
As any job seeker can tell you,
networking generates far more job
offers than simply reading the want
ads each morning. The same is true
of business leads. Networking with
your peers is likely to generate far
more business leads then putting an
ad in your local newspaper. That is
because of the exponential nature of
the social and business network.
Say you tell five associates about
your great new business. Each of
those five associates tells five of their
friends and associates, and so on and
so on. You can see how quickly your
circle can expand. Word of mouth
advertising is the most cost effective
advertising of all. It’s free and it can
generate an exceptional amount of
interest in your business.
Trade shows are another
excellent source of business leads.
Trade shows take the networking
concept a step further by gathering
together executives and business
owners for a common purpose.
Trade shows can focus on a specific
industry or a specific market. For
instance, we have a trade show
here each fall to which all the
local businesses are invited. This
provides an excellent opportunity
for business executives and small
business owners to meet each
other and discuss their products
and services. This show generates
excellent business leads year in and
year out.
Industry specific trade shows are
an excellent source of business leads
as well. For instance, the computer
industry holds many trade shows
throughout the year, including the
well known extravaganza in Las Vegas
each year. By concentrating on one
industry, the vendors know they will
be able to generate good business
leads among an audience that is
already interested in the product or
service they provide. This focus can
eliminate a lot of the wasted effort
that often accompanies efforts to
generate business leads.
Trade magazines can be another
excellent source of business leads.
Unlike advertising in your local
newspaper, or general purpose
magazine, trade magazines are
focused in on a specific industry.
Trade magazines are generally
read only by those involved in that
industry. Believe me when I say it –
no one reads Network Computing
for fun. By advertising in a trade
industry journal or magazine, you
can be assured of reaching a
targeted audience for a reasonable
price. There are a number of trade
industry journals, both online and
offline. Check their circulation rates
to make sure you are getting the
most bang for your buck.
Being flexible, creative and
friendly goes a long way when
searching for business leads. Be
creative, think of things the other
guy has not. Tell the people you
meet every day about your business.
The more you get the word out
about your business, the more
business leads you are bound to
generate. Always strive to be the
best in everything you do. Your drive
and determination will help you stay
a step ahead of the competition.
The more you get the word out about your business, the more business leads you are bound to generate
Business Leads
www.acrbo.com 15
MARKETING ADWORDS
To make the most of what
Adwords offers, you must have a
firm grasp on how to run an effective
Adwords campaign.
The first step you must take is
to learn everything you can about
Adwords. That means you must
invest time in researching Adwords,
and you may also want to consider
taking an Adwords course or
purchasing an Adwords guide.
Here are seven ways that will
help you increase your Google
Adwords revenue:
1. Once you have a thorough
understanding of Adwords, consider
how much you want to invest
initially to bid on keywords. Set a
budget that you are you comfortable
with, and stick to it. Once you drive
more traffic to your Web site and, in
return, make larger profits, you may
want to increase your budget. For
now, however, only bid what you
can comfortably afford to pay.
2. Know how to use keywords
to maximize your investment. Your
main keyword or keyword phrase
should be in the headline of your ad,
in the ad itself, and in the content on
your Web site.
3. Your ad must be innovative
and grab the attention of your
prospective customers. Illustrate
to your prospective customers
WHY they should click on the link
and visit your Web site. Remember,
the objective is for prospective
customers to click on your ad.
4. Your Web site must contain
information that is valuable to your
target market. Once prospective
customers click on the link to
your Web site, they want to find
information that they need and
can use. By providing unique and
compelling content, you’ll give
prospective customers to both sign
up for your list and visit your Web
site again and again (provided that
you add fresh content on a regular
basis).
5. Always keep track of the
competition. You must know what
your competitors are doing, so you
can ensure you’re doing enough
to get ahead - and stay ahead - of
them.
6. Use a variation of keywords,
including commonly misspelled
words. By using a variety of keywords,
you’ll reach a larger audience.
7. Avoid using negative or inactive
keywords. If a keyword isn’t getting
many hits, stop using it. Likewise,
avoid using negative keywords. All
of your keywords should be directly
related to your target market.
If you apply the right techniques,
you should see an increase in
traffic to your Web site which will,
hopefully, increase your overall
profits. Remember, you should only
bid as much as you can comfortably
afford.
To make the most of what Adwords offers, you must have a firm grasp on how to run an effective Adwords campaign
Google Adwords
www.acrbo.com16
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Site: www.TechNibble.com
Who Is Technibble For?
Technibble is for Computer Technicians (or soon to be
techs) who are looking to get into the IT industry, start
their own computer business or improve their existing
one. We frequently write about ways for you to get
clients, deal with problem clients and introduce you to
some great computer repair tools and software.
About Technibble
Technibble itself started in 2006. During this time the
founder (Bryce Whitty) was doing a lot of web
development work for clients. There were a handful of
sites available that talked about the business side of web
development such as how to get clients or how to deal
with troublesome ones. This helped him a great deal in
the web development world but eventually gave away
doing web development for clients and focused solely on
the computer repairs.
However, he noticed there wasn’t anything out there to
help Computer Technicians with their business in the
same way there was for web developers. From this,
Technibble was born.
Over the years, Technibble has grown into a vibrant
community of Computer Technicians sharing their
knowledge with each other.
Be sure to check out the Archives, Computer Repair
Tools section and the Computer Technician forum. .
If you are in the Information Technology industry then below is a list of must visit locations
Site: www.TheForceField.net
What is The Force Field?
The Force Field is the name of a podcast for IT Service Professionals, IT consultants, VARs, computer shops and anyone else in the technology field, particularly those who offer products and services to end users.
The half hour show is produced by Savoia Media and hosted by Rick Savoia, an IT Service Professional who is also a veteran in the broadcast industry.
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Last issue had over 2,500 views!
Technibble is a free resource for Computer Technicians and Computer Business owners.
Technibble helps Computer Technicians with informational and how-to articles published a few
times a week and has a strong community of Computer Technicians to help one another.
Technibble helps you by covering topics such as:
- How to start a Computer Business
- Advertising, how to get clients and keep them
- Business and legal issues
- Steamline your computer repair work
- Technician related product reviews and discounts
- New opportunities to look out for
- Stories from "the trenches" from your fellow Computer Techs
Technibble also has a large database of Computer Repair tools and adds a new one to its database every week.
Be sure to check out the Archives, Computer Repair Tools section and the Computer Technician forum.
www.TechNibble.com
www.acrbo.com18
FIBERCLOUDWEBCAST
Win a Brand New Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out book!
The ultimate, in-depth troubleshooting reference.
We will randomly choose a winner and e-mail the winner.Just send an email to: [email protected] and in the Subject line put: Win Book
Last month’s winner of the book is:Mike Gargano of Overdrive Computer Repair
Competition
Title: ACRBO Members - Join FiberCloud’s Partner Network
Date: Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM PDT
Sign-up here: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/469319894
Join us for an interactive session to learn more about how you can partner with FiberCloud to offer the best in cloud hosted software and cloud infrastructure products to your clients.
We look forward to meeting with you to talk about ways you can leverage the FiberCloud infrastructure and answer all your questions.
In this session we will cover the following:
• Program Overview • Benefits for Your Customers • Your Opportunity • Product Offerings • Resources to Make You Successful • Special Pricing and Incentives for ACRBO Members • How to Get Started Sign-up here: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/469319894
For more information visit us at www.FiberCloud.com or contact Andre Rincon at 206-453-6416.
FiberCloud Partners
www.acrbo.com 19
FEATURE REMOTE
The Evolution of Remote SupportThe Stone Age
For years, remote support and remote access tools have allowed technicians to connect to remote machines for the purpose of diagnosing problems, installing software, monitoring equipment, and overseeing individuals. In the past, solutions such as VNC and PC Anywhere had one common theme; they were installed on-premise and typically only used inside an organization’s network.
From the start, remote applications have sought to make the technician’s life easier. Instead of walking 300 yards across a facility techs could dissect an issue from the comfort of their desk. Sounds ideal, right? Well it didn’t start out so easy. In the beginning, cumbersome setup, lagging performance, and the hassle of annoying nuances were a regular occurrence of earlier products. But, it became a mission of the technician to make the software work. I look back on the circumstances and equate them to the guy that searches the entire house for the remote control instead of just walking over to the TV and changing the channel. I’m sure many keyboards were broken, a few monitors were cracked, and those poor little mice were slammed to pieces!
Rent-A-Software
Early adopters of remote support software would probably say little was
wrong with the original tools. Technicians devised methods to make them work and harbored that knowledge as a source of pride. But in order for the software to become mainstream, the tools and methodology had to become easier.
Stepping forward a few years, SaaS-based products hit the scene with companies like LogMeIn and Citirx leading the way. In the SaaS model, the parent company hosts the software and provides access at a low monthly rate (the low part may be questionable). The model seems great; the upside being no headaches of setting up firewalls on each machine and easy connections to any computer on the internet. Hosted solutions grew in popularity much to the surprise of many who compared renting software to paying for water! I mean who in the world would want to pay for water?
The SaaS model has flourished in the past decade as businesses extended internationally, internet speeds improved, and the term “Crackberry” became a common household word—and that was even before Google became a verb. The growth of this model has proved that ease of use is paramount for many consumers.
The Cycle Completes
First we owned and managed all software on-premise then we scaled down equipment and simplified our lives
by renting software. So what’s next? You guessed it; we bring it back in-house of course! Any seasoned business leader will tell you that all good trends cycle. This principal that is often associated with the manufacturing and fashion industry also holds true in the Information Technology world.
Although many companies love the simplicity that the SaaS-based solutions provide, the downside of mounting fees and sensitive data passing through external servers, make this model an easy target for change. At this time many companies are opting for potentially more secure, cost effective alternatives like self-hosted remote support software.
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FEATUREREMOTE
The Evolution of Remote Support
Self-hosted solutions like ScreenConnect and Bomgar are a far cry from their predecessors; they are simplistic, web-based, accessible inside or outside of a network, and require very little setup on the client machine. Initially, a self-hosted solution requires some simple configuration and port forwarding on the administrator end of things that SaaS software does not, but the advantages of ROI, security, and other peripherals such as branding and customization ultimately payoff in the long run.
Nostradamus Looks to the Future
Where is the industry headed? Companies like Google, Oracle, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Apple, and open-source projects provide many of the opportunities and hurdles for this industry. As they release new functionality and the line between mobile and traditional operating systems blur one thing’s for sure—the next ten years should be interesting! As a small player in a larger industry this is what we expect:
1. We are seeing more and more integrations and partnerships between MSP, data storage, help desk, ITSM, and other related industry products with remote support. Many of these solutions have a built-in product with varying levels
of capability. There will be more and more partnerships among different tools and remote support products to provide comprehensive suites.
2. It’s not just the computer geeks who want to have access to machines remotely. Accountants, lawyers, other professionals, and novice users are finding more and more uses for remote support tools.
3. Mobile support of tablets and phones is already a big request as iOS and Android continue to grow. Both operating systems will need to allow remote support tools to penetrate their marketplace as business and public demand increases.
4. Large companies like Apple, Intel, and Microsoft will continue to provide their own tools. It’s not a priority for them to make their solutions cross-compatible, so the third-party SaaS and self-hosted solutions will remain a big part of the industry for a long time.
5. An increase in private and public clouds will give users more options. As a self-hosted solution the growing VPS market is popular with many of our customers.
6. As more tools integrate they will become more expensive and difficult to use. Organizations will ultimately cycle to different products that provide a more simplistic use model and fulfill a specific niche. We are seeing this trend today with mobile applications.
7. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more pay-per-use or integration modules with open source products. There are a lot of smart people out there who can write apps and small tools that do one thing really well. If they can make a dollar or two per app that interfaces with the different RMM, MSP, or CRM tools that could be a very comfortable living.
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BUSINESS DEALS
A deal is an agreement that is reached after negotiation. An agreement is a mutual commitment between two or more people.
A deal is a type of contract that two parties agree to follow. Deals are very prevalent in business areas, thus we are constantly hearing terms like business deals, financial deals and more.
While making a deal with another company or person, there are a few things that you should remember.
When you are negotiating with another company, take charge of
the situation. it is important to be in control of the deal initially to ensure a smooth flow of positive activity.
You may sometimes face unavoidable situations when the opposite party cut a deal that leaves you exposed.
it is not always possible to shield yourself. Leaving those unavoidable instances, try to be in control of the entire situation when you are dealing with another person or company.
While you are dealing with another company, it is best to collect the money sooner than later.
Deposits, advances, and front-loaded payment schedules are ways of judging the reliability of the other company.
Cash is always safer than checks in deals, and a certified check is safer than a personal one.
While dealing with money matters, do not move beyond your budget. Take help from third-party financing, only after the deal is officially made.
in a deal, you should communicate clearly and specifically about your expectations, leaving no ground for misunderstandings.
Have a condition attached to your deal. in a deal, make the key items subject to your approval.
The best way of dealing with deals is to self inspect everything. Talk to the tenant and the franchisee to know how things are working.
in a deal, try to be the boss. Create a situation in the deal where the other party will report to you by giving you `various reports on the various stages of the deal.
There are very few companies that are self sufficient. Making deals with various companies not only increases the trust between the two, but also ensure a rise for both of them.
The Ideal Business Dealin a deal, you should communicate clearly and specifically about your expectations, leaving no ground for misunderstandings
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RAID TIPSGILLWARE
Business AppsPut simply, an app makes things easier; they make accessing
information quicker and more convenient for the user
The app market caters for everyone, apps can help customers find you, find out more about your business and interact with you. Businesses are now putting faith
in apps to generate revenue, raise brand awareness and increase user engagement. I compare it to the internet came about and people were wondering “Do I really
need a website?” The same can be asked of apps, and to me the answer is yes. If it’s affordable and doable why not implement it into your business.
Now available for Android and iPhones
$50 for the Android app, $125 for the iPhone version, or $150 for both(Prices reflect ACRBO membership discount)
Contact Dennis Drew [email protected] for more information
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STRATEGY LINKS
1. Contact various other website owners and provide a link exchange. it really is advisable to get in touch with site owners with sites in the similar niche as yours. You can create a ‘recommended sites’ page or listing on your own website where you can put links to other websites that accept a link exchange.
2. Make a ‘link to us’ section on your site. This is to make a proposal to your site visitors to link back to your site. give them all of the information that they’ll need to link to your website such as UrL and anchor text. Have a portion where they can leave their information for you to link to their website.
3. Make sure that your website contains quality information so that other webmasters will want to link to your website. Site owners do not want to be linking to a site that isn’t of good quality and so the quality of your site is always important for link building.
4. Search the internet for other sites that may cite your website or your website content but don’t include a link to your site. Contact those webmasters and ask them to include a link to your website.
5. Post feedback on blogs and include a link back to your site. Always make appropriate comments which are related to the post topic or your comment will not likely be accepted it looks like spam.
6. Make use of internal link building from within your own website. For example, when you make a new page or post on your site you can include a link to your main home page or other page on your site.
7. Article marketing is a really successful way to build backlinks. Write good quality articles and distribute them to article directories and put a link to your website in the author’s resource box.
8. Offer to make a guest post on another person’s blog. if you write a guest post for someone else’s blog they get the benefit of new content for their blog and you get the benefit of being able to include a link back to your website.
9. Look at your competitor’s backlinks and see if you can get some of those same sites to link to your website.
10. Make use of social networking sites such as Squidoo and HubPages to build backlinks to your website. it is easy and quick to make a Squidoo lens or HubPage and include a backlink in the content.
These are generally ten helpful link building strategies and you can utilize all of them or a few of them. The important thing is to utilize some strategies and put in the effort that is needed for effective link building.
Video Marketing is actually a scheme which facilitates and encourages people to pass along marketing video clips about services and products available.
info Product Creation can benefit a lot from video marketing in order to fulfill business objectives and be profitable.
Link BuildingHere are a few strategies to build some links with other websites, which can make you appear higher in search engine listings
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SURFRIGHTVENDOR
HitmanPro is a second opinion scanner, designed to rescue a computer from nasty viruses, spyware, trojans, rootkits, and other threats, that have infected the computer despite all the security measures taken (such as anti virus software, firewalls, etc.).
Just relying on a single vendor is not sufficient to completely protect the computer. A second source is needed to make sure the computer is secure.
Our statistics show that 1 out of 3 computers is infected, despite the presence of an anti virus program. www.surfright.com/home/press.
HitmanPro is designed to scan the computer quickly (in less than 5 minutes), and works alongside existing security programs without slowing down your computer. HitmanPro can be run straight from a USB flash drive, a CD/DVD, local or network attached hard drive.
ACrBO members can register as a partner for Surfright. Partners get discount on products in our webshop, and can earn commission on products that are sold through their activities. ACrBO members will receive a discount/commission of 35% (normal 25%) on all Surfright products.
Surfright Partner Program
resellers, Computer Specialists, website owners, bloggers, etc. can register as a partner for Surfright. Partners get discount on products in our webshop, and can earn commission on products that are sold through their activities.
Please note: You can use the free 30-day license to remove the infections from computers of home
users. And you can leave “your” custom version of HitmanPro on the computer of your customer (see our Affiliate Program for more details) and receive a commission when the customers purchase.
ACrBO members will receive a discount/commission of 35% (normal 25%) on all Surfright products.
1) reseller program, where you purchase licenses at a discount in our webshop.
2) Affiliate program, where you refer customers to our webshop (through links on your website or through a trial version) and receive a commission when your customers purchase.
3) incident licenses, one-time licenses that can be used to quickly clean the computer.
in all cases, you need to sign up on the Surfright website as a reseller, or as an affiliate, or both. After approval of your request, you will receive your user name and password to log in to the Surfright reseller dashboard.
resellers
As a reseller, you can purchase products at a discount in our webshop. in our reseller Portal you will see an overview of the Surfright products in the bottom of the screen. Click on one of the products which will bring you to directly to the shopping cart. Your discount is already processed.
You can sign up through https://www.cleverbridge.com/747/?scope=partnersignup&xp-source=ACrBO
Affiliates
Affiliates can refer their customers or web site visitors to the Surfright web site, web shop, or to trial versions of HitmanPro or Surfright Antispam.
When your customers purchase Surfright products in our web shop, the web shop will register these transaction as coming from you.
You can sign up through https://www.cleverbridge.com/747/?scope=affiliatesignup&xa-source=ACrBO
incident Licenses
HitmanPro can be used in “incident mode”. in this case, HitmanPro can be installed in free scan mode on all machines or on computers that are suspected to be infected by malware.
After an infection is found, the license key is entered and the HitmanPro malware removal function is activated on that computer.
Each activation expires a few days after the activation date, to allow sufficient time to remove the infection.
After HitmanPro has cleaned the malware from the computer, HitmanPro can continue to run in free scan mode, or can be removed from the computer entirely.
Organizations can purchase pre-paid incident licenses for multiple activations.
SurfRightSurfright is the ACrBOs newest preferred vendor with the main product HitmanPro licensing being explained in this article
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DEVELOPMENT CURIOSITY
There are many ways to improve the way you communicate. For example, you will always start things off on the right foot by opening the conversation in a way that creates mutual respect.
Using phrases such as, “If you have a minute, I’d like to talk with you about something that I think will improve the way we work together,” helps set your conversation partner at ease.
It tells him or her that you have positive intentions.
It is also important to know your purpose for the conversation. Some purposes are more useful than others.
A useful purpose is one you have power over. For instance, you can control your own reaction; you can share your view; learn about your partner’s view; work toward a sustainable solution.
On the other hand, examples of purposes that are NOT useful are: trying to change the other
person; attempting to control their reaction; or going in with a hidden agenda.
Be Interested
Of the many ways to improve your conversation skills, one of the best is to be interested.
Curiosity is one of the most useful tools in the communication toolbox. When you enter the conversation with “beginner’s mind,” you will necessarily adopt the attitude of a learner.
You will not have to pretend to ask honest, open questions. They will come naturally.
As you listen, you can reflect on what is being said (and not said). You will gain information and ease tension.
If you can’t think of a question, you can always acknowledge what you’ve heard, or you can say: “I see, tell me more about that.”
One of the reasons we’re not
curious more often is that we mentally equate curiosity with agreement.
We think that if we don’t disagree immediately, our conversation partner will assume we’re okay with whatever he is saying.
This is not useful thinking. It prevents you from seeing the whole picture and from learning where your partner is coming from.
The next time you find yourself in a difficult conversation, give yourself and your partner a gift by asking questions - questions to which you do not know the answer.
Watch what happens. You will learn a lot, and you will feel more powerful, not less.
Remember – listening does not equal agreement. It means you are a skilled and active learner, a good partner, and a conscious communicator. Live, learn, and enjoy the moment.
Good luck and good communication!
Be Curious...... And Be A Successful Communicator
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