Friday, August 29, 2008

What About RSS?

RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication.  It can give your business great exposure and visits back to your web site.  It is a traffic generator.

RSS lets subscribers know when something new is placed on your web site so that they can visit your site.  And generating traffic to your business web site is what you want, especially if you are selling online.

I will be soon placing RSS feeds on my site, and if time permits, I will have a "how to" section on doing RSS.

In the mean time, check out my other offerings at http://www.alphacomputer.ca .

Have a great weekend all.

Jeff

Monday, August 25, 2008

Using Twitter?

As a business, are you using Twitter? Say what?  Twitter.com is a web site where you can let your customers know what you are doing.  You can develop contacts who will follow you and your business.

I saw CNN last light using Twitter is get info on people's opinions about the Election.  If they are using it for business, maybe you should look at Twitter also.

I started to Twitter a couple of weeks ago and I have four followers already.  Followers are people who are following your updates to Twitter.  It does not take me long to make updates, and it gets my business name out farther into the Web.

Have a good first day of the week all.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Buying Office Supplies

Yesterday I headed off to Staples to buy office supplies.  For a moment I thought I was at an Obama rally, there where people every where.  I only needed a binder.  Kids are going back to school soon and the stores are going to be a bit busier than usual for the next little while.

Speaking of kids, I have two girls.  How things have changed!  What used to take ten minutes to get out the door, now takes two hours.  Getting to work on time now requires real planning on my part with lots of patience. My girls are great ...I am a parent of teenagers.  Can you identify with that?

Have a great weekend!

Alpha Computer

Monday, August 18, 2008

Overcoming Fear

One of the challenges that I have when training is overcoming fear in my participants.  Many people figure they are one click away from blowing up their computer.  Now I know this is not true, but perception is everything for the learner.

Creating comfort and several successes along the away will greatly increase future computer use and training.  Once a person feels comfortable, they will start exploring and learning on their own.  Hence, Alpha Computer is like booster cables - I get people started.

If you have employees who need training, focus on creating a level of comfort around the computer when helping them and let them experience a few victories.  Once they figure out that the basics of computer use are relatively easy, the rest will be history.

It's Monday, have a great week.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Protecting What You Create

I had a problem with a business stealing/copying one of my videos and using it on YouTube as their own.  They did not acknowledge the source of the video and this went well beyond fair use.  I looked the next day and YouTube appears to have pulled their video.

As a business, you need to protect your creations.  This means you will have to put your name and/or logo everywhere.  I use a alphacomputer.ca logo in all my videos, especially now since this happened.  A title slide alone will not do.

So when ever you create something, get your logo on it.  If some one does steal it, at least your logo will be seen and your business promoted, if but in a weird way. 

Have a great Sunday.

Friday, August 15, 2008

New Microsoft Word Training Videos On Web Site

Just added 4 new Microsoft Word Training videos and alphacomputer.ca web site.  Take a look and let me know what you think about them.  You can find them at http://www.alphacomputer.ca/Microsoft_Word_Training.htm .

Have a great day - weekends coming!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

New Excel Videos On alphacomputer.ca Site

I just added new Microsoft Excel videos to my http://www.alphacomputer.ca web site.  One video gives an overview of what Microsoft Excel can do.  I plan to do some videos on Microsoft Word.  It has been real busy this Summer with all the training I have done. Check it out and send me some feedback.