Welcome to the Web/Internet newsletter for business people

From the Editor

Spring is in the air and a young man's thoughts naturally turn to...... business development.

Now those who know me are obviously aware that I'm not referring to my self when I say 'young man'. The business development bit IS something that's inside my head at the moment though.

As I write this newsletter the sun is shining outside and the birds are singing merrily. Even though all is well in my particular view of the world, I can always do with more business.

It was for the purpose of growing the business that Clarihon took a stall at the recent Business League business show at Treganna Castle in St. Ives. Although I've never exhibited at a business show before it seemed something that I ought to try.

With just a covered table as a starting point we had to produce some appropriate 'branding' material and update & print our advertising leaflets etc. It's 'we' now as my wife kindly offered to help and to co-man the stand. Although Pam nominally works in the company, her input to date has been restricted to a little design work, some admin, a fair amount of 'financial direction' and a spot of 'managerial input!

First stop was a couple of 6ft pop-ups with the basic company info on. One for general webby stuff and one for the tourist accommodation sites that we're starting to focus on. We got these done by Jennifer and Ness at Mercury Print in Exeter - and a super job they did too.

Next stop was a pair of updated advertising flyers and then a set of selected articles from the web site. Finally we prepared a pair of matching name tags and we were ready to go.

On the day we had a good selection of visitors to the stand, including a few decent prospects. Nothing's come of them so far but it's early days yet.

Would we do it again? I think so, yes. We weren't the only 'webby' people there but it gave us chance to show that the 'no technobabble' stuff is for real and appeals to the majority of potential clients that we see.

Nigel

All about domain names

Domain names, (think of them as web addresses) appear everywhere we look - on TV, billboards, magazines, advertising literature and cars to name but a few places.

But did you know that you can have more than one address to point to your web site and the sorts of addresses you can register?

To find out more about web addresses/domain names, read the full article on my web site

News & developments

Resizing images - Not everyone owns a copy of Photoshop. Even for those that do, it's not necessarily the best tool for resizing photos for an online gallery or e-mails. Two free programs come into their own here.

The first is PIXresizer and is produced by Bluefive Software.

The second is an old favourite of mine and has been around for some time but keeps being updated. It's Irfanview and is produced by the company of the same name.

Mind mapping - I've never used mind mapping as a technique but there are lots of people who swear by it. If you're tired of doing it on paper then needing to update or alter it, enter electronic versions.

Mindomo is web-based (you run it in your browser) and FreeMind runs on your PC.

That's two double doses of free software. Am I good to you or what?!

Lastly, for those that want to migrate to Vista - Microsoft are offering a downloadable tool to check what your PC is capable of, Vista-wise. Unless you're a bit of a geek, a lover of the 'bleeding edge' or love to run your business on the edge, I'm not sure why you'd want to 'upgrade'. With a dearth of drivers for older devices like printers, scanners etc you'll be stepping into the unknown. Don't say I didn't warn you......

Hints & Tips

Tip 1: If you use Google to do your Internet searches, have a look at this article on how to refine them, and Google's own 'cheatsheet' for a lot more.

Tip 2: Following on from my tip on Skype last time, here's an article on 25 Tips to Improve Your Skype Experience

Tip 3: If you work from several locations or have a workforce who do, it's worth a look at solutions like Professional Virtual Office. If you want to do it properly (and more), have a look at a company called Symetrics run by a great guy called Tim Naylor in Bude

Tip 4: I mentioned this in the last newsletter but I get much/most of my business through referrals and business networking has been a very effective way to get them.

The Business League (new web site now here) have 15 clubs across Devon, Cornwall & Somerset and are set to open another 10 in the months ahead. I'm the chairman of the Launceston and Liskeard club and we meet every Thursday at the Lifton Hall Hotel just outside Launceston. Why not come along and see how it all works at one of our breakfasts? If you'd like to know more, please call me on 01579-342360 or drop me a note at nigel.day@clarihon.co.uk.