As an Internet Marketer, I am always looking at services and products that make my life easier. While attending Grad School at Full Sail University #FSIMMS I started using Mobile Me and really do like the service. As an Apple service It is on par with the companies other exceptional services.
I do also use additional hosting services so offering MobileMe for FREE would be a great thing as I plan to continue using the service. I'm sure that many of my fellow Alumni and friends that have dropped the service would be very willing to pick it back up especially if its FREE.
IF IT'S FREE IT'S FOR ME!! Kudos for Apple
http;//www.Facebook.com/AniseSmithMarketing
http://www.AniseSmith.coAmplify’d from news.cnet.com
More rumblings point to free MobileMe in April
Once again there are reports that the long-rumored free version of MobileMe will arrive in April, some three years after the paid service became generally available and months ahead of initial estimates for when Apple planned to revamp its Web suite.
In a story this morning, blog iLounge cited a person it called a trusted source at a major educational institution as saying that the institution was unable to buy MobileMe subscriptions. Additionally, the source said Apple was planning to release a revamped version of the service as soon as next month. In the interim, Apple is said to be encouraging users who wanted to get their hands on a paid subscription to use Apple's free, 60-day trial instead, since the new version of the service, according to iLounge, may be "quite different."
MobileMe, which costs $99 a year, had originally been introduced as a replacement for Apple's .Mac service (which had formerly been dubbed iTools). Among MobileMe's hallmark features was a sync service pitched to consumers by Apple CEO Steve Jobs as "Exchange for the rest of us." It synced bookmarks, contact information, and calendar information across devices.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
If its free its for me, Free #MobileMe?
Monday, January 31, 2011
Business Web Apps, Mobil Apps, Marketing and More..HOT Microbusiness Oppportunities for 2011
Amplify’d from smallbiztrends.com
So, how do you find microbusiness opportunities with staying power?
1. Experiential products and services. This overarching trend will impact everything else in the consumer economy. This is not necessarily about changing what you sell, just changing how you sell it. People have, experts say, entered a new period of austerity … but not really. What it means is that people don’t want to collect stuff anymore. On the other hand, they will pay for experiences because they last longer — a lifetime, in fact. From a marketing point of view, that means you need to go beyond the features vs. benefits meme and focus on experience (emotional) over benefits (material).
2. For the technically inclined, mobile apps (and especially phone apps) for business are very hot. Added benefit: This opportunity is not anywhere near glutted yet. Microbusiness programmers might consider developing low-cost phone apps for their fellow microbusiness owners; that fortune at the bottom of the pyramid is not to be sneezed at.
3. Another technical B-to-B niche that’s very hot right now is Web apps for business, especially small business. Once again, if you can develop a product that is affordable for microbusinesses and will save them time or money, you’ll have that niche almost all to yourself. Too many developers chase the small business market but run from the microbusiness market, so the field is wide open.
4. Marketing services, believe it or not, are back and big but, once again, it’s all about the specifics. Social media is gathering momentum, and some creative people (like the folks behind Swipely.com) are combining it with e-commerce in interesting and profitable ways. The same goes for mobile marketing, which is still pretty leading-edge and has a bright future ahead of it.
5. This one is a bit of a blast from the past: fitness products and services are making a comeback. (I’m reminded of Huey Lewis’ Hip To Be Square.) People are still busy and always on the go, so the challenge here is to develop fitness products that can be used anytime, anywhere. Promising variations include small group training and home fitness products. Above all else, find a way to connect to your customers and make it an experience!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Clients owe you money? Grab your phone, pay them a visit and collect your Cha-ching on the spot!
Amplify’d from www.good.is
How to Accept Credit Card Payments on Your Phone: Just Swipe It
The credit card processing industry rakes in over $40 billion each year a few pennies per swipe. As plastic payments become more ubiquitous, especially with growing online sales, cash is starting to seem obsolete, sadly. Transaction services are safe bet for a growth sector. So it's no wonder a new entrant to the game is bringing the action to mobile phones. And this one might actually help the little guy.
Square is an smartphone app–and a little white square (pictured below)–that lets anyone who downloads the free app process credit card payments right on their phone. All you need is a U.S. bank account, a social security number, and a street address. Oh, and a smartphone with an internet connection. The company will send you the smallest credit card swipe machine you've ever seen. It inserts into the headphone jack of your phone, but you don't even need that to process payments, it's just way more fun. The Wired pop-up store was even giving them away to anyone who stopped by.
Once you download the app and set up your account you can start collecting all manner of old debts, inappropriate door charges to dinner parties or, more likely, conveniently make a few extra sales in your small business. This seems like a tool we could include in our tips for becoming a carft show superstar.
Mobile credit card processing machines aren't revolutionary, and it's always been relatively easy in most places to point a customer to a computer and ask them to make an online payment if there wasn't a processing machine connected to a phone line nearby. So Square is no game changer for small business. But the elegant interface might just facilitate a few extra entrepreneurs in getting out and setting up (a small) shop. Or getting your little brother to finally pay you back that $20 he never carries in cash.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Your 2011 Social Media Strategy, Review 2010, Plan 2011 then go...
Amplify’d from www.squaremartinimedia.com
Reviewing Your Social Media Strategy To Ensure A Successful 2011
Honest Benchmark – It starts with an honest review of where you are at in Social Media. I am assuming if you are reading this post you are one of the many businesses which implemented Social Media this year. If I was meeting with you in person I would ask if you followed through with your Social Media strategy and goals this year. So many businesses jump into Social Media with great plans and a minimal strategy only to decide to abandon Social Media because they realize it takes more than just setting up a few profiles. Even some of our clients at Square Martini Media after creating a detailed Social Media strategy discovered in the process that Social Media is a big of a commitment and had to reconsider moving forward. Social Media takes someone within a company or a firm like ours actual hours, time, and money to make successful.
Review Analytics – Use Google Analytics or something similar to review your site traffic for the year. If you are using Social Media as a marketing tool to bring traffic to your hub (website or blog) you should clearly see what areas within Social Media are working and which one are not. This is a great way to discover opportunities while having some reality checks at the same time. What worked and what can be improved on? Are there areas within Social Media that you are spending a lot of time yet not getting the desired results? Make the decision to change or abandoned what is not working and focus your resources on new strategies or expanding what is working.
Blogging and Facebook Business Pages – Are you creating new content? Did you commit to a certain amount of posts this year and did you follow through? Have you adjusted your posting calendar for both your blog and Facebook business page this year and have your reviewed the results? Are there certain topics, themes, or discussions that seem to be more successful than others? For many businesses their blog can be the majority of the traffic for their site. Take some time and discover the posts that are still driving traffic to your website and how you might expand on them for 2011.
Social Media Profiles – When is the last time you updated your Linkedin Profile? And speaking of profiles have you seen your Facebook profile lately? Many business owners set up a profile and never look back. Business goals and messages change, make sure your message is congruent with both your personal and business brands. Block out time to review and make needed adjustments to your main Social Media profiles.
Show me the money! – Let’s talk about sales! If you are using Social Media to create sales make sure to review your sales and see where they are coming from. Is the time, effort, and money you are spending on Social Media bringing new sales to your business? I have to make it clear that I am assuming you are tracking your sales. Not kind of tracking or broadly tracking, but really making sure that you and every employee is making every possible effort to identify where each and every sale is coming from. I have talked to many business owners this year who swear they are tracking their sales. Typically when I dig deeper and ask more questions about their sales they realize they are not tracking as well as they thought. This is one of the biggest mistakes made in business today. You must have great sales tracking to know if Social Media or any marketing strategy is working. If you cannot clearly identify sales from Social Media it is time to adjust your tracking methods.
Friday, December 17, 2010
5 Cha-Ching filled reasons why you need a Social Media Manager
This is one time that you will NOT be judged for jumping on the Bandwagon. With that said, Get with the program peeps!
Amplify’d from www.socialmediatoday.com
5 Reasons You Need A Social Media Manager
Business owners around the globe are asking themselves whether or not they need a social media manager. However, more and more of them are noticing the popularity of social media, but don't know how, where, when, or why they should jump on the bandwagon themselves. They notice their colleagues, peers, friends, children & family have jumped on board, on a more personal level. But, what so many of them fail to see, is that their present and future customers have jumped on for a ride too!
Wouldn't you love the opportunity to be in that cart flying down the road too? Do you want to know what your customers are saying about you? Do you want to be able to effectively converse back with them? Wouldn't you love to hear, first hand, about their experiences? Wouldn't it be great to know how they felt about Sally so you could enforce stronger cashier policies?
There is no excuse for you not being in that bandwagon yourself. If you want to continually grow your business every year with the goal of higher profits and better ROI's, then you need to be in that cart. Most importantly, you need to be sitting in the cart as strategically as possible so your customers don't mistake you for luggage!
If the last four paragraphs didn't provide you with enough reasons as to why you need a social media manager...don't fret! Here are five more:
- Contrary to popular belief, just because your 14 year old niece has a Facebook account, that doesn't mean she could (or should) create your own businesses fan page. Hire a professional. Your goal should be to have a better social presence than all your competitors. Better website, Facebook, Twitter etc. Hiring someone who has extensive knowledge on the platforms best suited for your business will benefit you enormously. Social media is so constantly evolving, that you want a professional handling yours that you know is up to speed with the latest tools, platforms, & strategies.
- You must have a well thought out social media strategy if you want to succeed. You must have a plan. One that will provide a road map for you so you don't get lost. You need to be consistent with your content and most importantly, you need to make sure your content is *valuable*.
- Just because you already have social media platforms in place, that doesn't mean you are using them correctly. If you have a Facebook business fan page or Twitter account that gets updated once "every now and then" (when you find the time) ... you're in trouble. It actually looks worse for your business to have inactive pages than not having any at all. Also, you want them all integrated together so they are working for you, and not the other way around.
- You need someone to remind you -not- to be a broadcaster! It is extremely easy for someone to "hide" you on Facebook and "unfollow" you on Twitter. So easy, it can be done with one click of the mouse! You need someone helping you develop content strategies that are focused on providing engaging valuable content that people enjoy reading and make them feel comfortable enough to join in on the conversation. One of the most successful companies at doing social media is Zappos.com. Check out their Facebook site to see what I mean about engaging content.
- Having a social media manager saves you, the business owner, time (our most valuable asset). Even though an effective social media campaign requires an "all hands on deck" approach to be effective, having a social media manager undoubtedly saves you time. They can provide you with a road map and content strategy that should make it easy for you to distinguish what is considered good and bad content. They also could take away the burden of having to log onto your computer and manage comments and updating content regularly on all platforms. They do all that for you leaving you more time to concentrate on your livelihood ... your business!
Monday, November 15, 2010
Twenty-Million Dollar Businesses you've never Heard of
This is motivation to continue trying to create your own business.....You never know what will actually work.
Amplify’d from www.forbes.com
Twenty Million-Dollar Businesses You've Never Heard Of
Read this before you toss your nutty business idea aside.
In Pictures: 20 Million-Dollar Businesses You've Never Heard Of
While visiting Las Vegas in 2004, auto-dealership fleet manager Rico Elmore decided he needed some stylish sunglasses for his honeymoon. Elmore is six-foot-three, weighs 300-pounds and has a head to match, so finding shades that fit proved a struggle.
"I must have tried on 300 pairs and literally found nothing that fit," recalls Elmore, 36. "I walked out and said, 'This is ridiculous.' I decided to make sunglasses for people like me with fat heads." Elmore's company, Fatheadz, now sells "full-figure" glasses, for $28 to $54 a pair, and is on track to hit $2 million in sales this year--up from $700,000 in 2009.
Have a nutty business idea and need some inspiration to pull it off? We went looking for small companies that generate at least $1 million in annual revenue in unexpected ways. Look hard enough and they are legion. For a list of 20, click here.
In Pictures: 20 Million-Dollar Businesses You've Never Heard Of
Read more at www.forbes.com
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Fun Uses for QR codes
A lot of people don't get Qr codes and what their practical uses are. So I thought I would find some really cool ways to use them.
Amplify’d from androidandme.com
After you create your own QR code, there are many creative uses. They can be placed on the back of business cards so that your contact information can be scanned to someone’s phone in seconds. Advertisers can place them in print media to send customers to their product website. Bands could place them on the back of a CD case allowing you to hear an audio preview or purchase concert tickets. Secret messages can be hidden inside for people to find.
I’m already planning to place a QR code on my next order of business cards. We might even use them in some future promotions too. What other innovate uses can you come up with?
Read more at androidandme.com
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Quick and Easy QR code definition & usage
Many people ask about Qr Codes so whenever I find an article that simplifies the definition, I like to pass it on.
Amplify’d from www.switched.com
What is a QR Code?
At its most basic, a QR Code is a barcode on steroids. They're used for encoding information in two-dimensional space -- like in the pages of magazines, in advertisements and even on TV and Web sites. They were originally used to track auto parts, but have become popular (especially in Japan) for much broader, often commercial purposes.How is it different than a barcode?
Whereas a barcode encodes data in only the horizontal plane (as scanners read the width and distance between the vertical lines), QR codes encode data both horizontally and vertically in a grid of tiny squares. This allows for much more data to be encoded in a smaller space. Barcodes, then, though ubiquitous, are good for little more than identifying products and objects. Specially programmed scanners can read barcodes, and match them to product names, prices and inventory, but that's about it. QR codes, on the other hand, can actually embed that information in the code itself, and, when read with the proper software, can trigger actions like launching a website or downloading a file. Additionally, QR codes can be read from any angle, while barcodes must be aligned properly.So what exactly can I do with QR codes?
QR codes are tailor-made for quickly and easily linking to content on smartphones. Simple uses include magazine advertisements that link to websites. Putting the codes to more complex use, start-up Pingtag uses them as a sort of digital business card for sharing LinkedIn accounts and contact info. Android uses QR codes to link directly to apps in the Android Marketplace, and the municipality of Bordeaux, France has posted them all over the city in order to track parking meters, provide links to information from the World Heritage Foundation and guide visitors to nearby shops or parking locations via Google Maps. In turn, Google has been using QR codes to promote local businesses (and itself) with the Google Places business directory, which includes reviews, contact info, and, if the business so wishes, coupons.How can I use them?
There are a number of apps in the iPhone App Store that can read QR Codes, including the free QRReader. Most Android phones and BlackBerries are able to read the codes right out of the box, as can newer Nokia handsets. Windows Mobile users can download QuickMarks. All you need to do is launch the appropriate app, and point your phone's camera at the QR code you want to scan. QR codes are only bound to become more common in the coming months and years. We're increasingly reliant on our mobile devices, and typing out URLs or other data on their tiny keyboards is still not very efficient. These squares of elaborately arranged boxes are a shortcut around that problem, can easily be integrated with various services, and incorporate geo-location data. Advertisers may not have figured it out just yet, but QR codes are their best friends.Tags: barcode, barcodes, features, in a nutshell, InANutshell, QR code, qr codes, QrCode, QrCodes, top