Product Review: Business & Traveler Tech Gadgets

Posted on March 1, 2009 by Rob.Thrasher.Me

I recently purchased a new tool that, as a business traveler, I use extensively. My standard M.O. was to go to a gas station and buy the cheap car chargers for my phones and then have to throw them out in a few months because they are so cheap. For around $10 you can buy most of the ones you need at most places, HOWEVER, the recurring cost is too high. I found one of the best-kept secrets for the small business traveler, medium or big business traveler. For a small start-up cost you can get charger attachments for around $10, or less, but the base of this device has six connections, as well as a means to plug it into a home base or a car. Learn More

It is a comprehensive solution that I wish I had found years ago, if it existed. This high tech device is called ChargePod and it a wonderful tool. You can charge almost EVERYTHING with the ChargePod!! And the attachments can be removed so you are not limited to just six devices. You can charge SIX devices at a time. Is that awesome or what? I just went and got a charger for my new BlackJack phone, which I will review soon, for less than $10, BUT I can use it in the car or at the home-office-airport, etc. I also bought one of their BlueTooth headsets, but I can’t review it because my laptop needs updating. When I upgrade the laptop, I will review all sorts of BlueTooth devices. I personally have not had much luck with the BlueTooth technology yet. Learn More

Also, if you like it, and have a website with some traffic, you can easily become a reseller. This is one of my greatest finds since I have been in business and had to travel for a living! I like this thing so much I bought the company. Well, I became a reseller. A little humor there. Sorry. Learn More

High Tech Business Product Reviews: More High Tech Product Reviews, Best Web-Based Phone System, More Web Based Phone Systems, High Tech Author

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Product Review: Small Business Web-Based Phone Systems

Posted on February 27, 2009 by Rob.Thrasher.Me

If you own a small business there is nothing more damaging to your company than a busy signal. Your competitors will use that against you and your potential customers will get a bad taste in their mouth immediately.

The next most damaging thing to your small business is an answering machine. It makes people think you are not accessible. It is better to have the owner answer the phone than the answering machine. So, you need a small business phone system that will track you down, or best case, have a professional sounding answering system, not a machine. Learn More

When we first started doing business, we found GotVMail and we looked immensely more professional immediately.

Before I found GotVmail we spent about $4,000 on a board for a server computer to handle voicemail and incoming calls, which also included roll-over lines. Later, I discovered GotVmail, which completely changed our company. We spent a very small amount of money and got a professional voice to answer the phones and changed our business model immensely. Learn More

The GotVmail folks also recently dropped their prices which makes them the MOST cost effective phone system for small business on the planet. Learn More

As many of you already know I am a serial entrepreneur and have many small businesses as well as one fairly large business and the one thing all these businesses have in common is that we use the Web-based phone system(s) available through the GotVMail system.

For less than $10 per month you get UNLIMITED extensions, sometimes the appearance of big is a key business factor or, at least, a better display of organization. Use different extensions for Sales, Support, Customer Service, etc. It gives the caller the impression that you are a bigger firm, but also a well organized firm, but you can place a return caller on the inbound sales calls by alerting them that there are leads that they need to call as soon as possible, while you or another person can be alerted of the other calls. Be a small home based business, but don’t look like one. Learn More

At the very least, you can explain that you are small, but lean and efficient, as a small firm. If you grow, which I’m sure you plan to, you can get 1,900 more minutes and two more toll free or local numbers for under $50 per month.

I have tested dozens of other system as well as purchased IBX phone systems for thousands of dollars and this Web-based system does it all, plus more. For a small fee we usually get a third party, pleasant, voice mail voice to answer the phones for us when we can’t get to them and calls go to voice mail. Learn More

I liked the system so much I bought the company. That’s a fib, I became a reseller, for full disclosure, but this is a great small business tool for a fraction of the cost.

You can look up numbers for free. Follow the link at the end of this article, then click on “Sign Up” to look up available numbers now. It doesn’t sign you up just to search the numbers. Learn More

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Your Search Engine Optimization Strategy

Posted on July 9, 2009 by Rob.Thrasher.Me

Search Engine Secrets: As simple as 1,2,3.

Part I)
Since I was in the New York Times way back in 1996, I observed, in horror, people who claimed to be experts touting the newest secret of the search engines. Some will say to place white words on a white background, but they were defeated by newer search engine technologies. While I never did jump on board with tricks because much as in life in general, the easiest things to do are rarely the most effective and long term strategies. Example: One of my customers decided they would follow the rest of the lemmings over the cliff, even if this isn’t what they do, and get a Facebook profile page. Sounds great right? I mean, don’t you always do what every other person does because it is popular? And don’t run your business by blindly jumping into the next big buzzword! How about Twitter? How about NOT! Pass on these sites, at least until you have an actual plan!

Part II)
If you haven’t even produced a basic keyphrase strategy to develop your online marketing plan then you’re leaving your online strategy up to chance! Is that how you run a business? When you get into Facebook and twitter, how will people find you there? In Google? When you get into these, or other social networks, like CyberVillage or FaceBook, you need to have a strategy. This strategy includes the frequency you will post to your social network pages, what the titles of these posts will be, and keyphrases to include in the text and tags. Otherwise you are flying blind.

Read the rest of Your Search Engine Optimization Strategy now.

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Amazon’s New Kindle Reviews

Posted on June 4, 2009 by Rob.Thrasher.Me

Thinking about investing in a Kindle? It might be better than stock investing, but I digress. We have researched this new device extensively. From what we can see there are very few bad grades for the Kindle, with the worst being people who owned Kindle 1. It seems as though it is difficult to go from 1 to 2. But for those who have not yet used the Kindle, there seems to be universal agreement amongst the thousands of people that this is a great new product. It is very easy on the eyes and the DX is almost 10 inches diagonal. But even the slightly lower cost Kindle at 6 inches is still pretty easy on the eyes. One other common complaint was a battery issue, but it charges through a USB connection, so we don’t see any battery issues.

Click on the image below to learn more about the Kindle book and PDF reading device. DISCLAIMER: We are an Amazon Affiliate. Big deal! We still like it.

Mohawk Valley (CNY) CyberVillage – News, Jobs, Food & Fun

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Best Value to Price Ratio: Carbonite

Posted on March 19, 2009 by Rob.Thrasher.Me

The Thrasher Best Value To Price Ratio: Carbonite Online Backup

This product gives small business owners and home computer users the most value for your buck. It not only saves you from the eventual hard drive failure, or theft of a computer, but it does so at a comparatively low price. I recommend this product to everybody I talk tech with. Trust me, if you ever have to recreate docs, or have to pay to get them off a broken drive, if you can get them at all, this pays for itself. And it isn’t a question of WILL your drive fail, it is more like WHEN will it eventually fail.

All Carbonite Online Backup customers can now access their backup from any computer with an internet connection using our new remote file access feature. This feature adds a layer of convenience by allowing users to securely retrieve single files from the Carbonite.com website. They continue to improved the value of the Carbonite product, by adding several new features including a searchable restore drive and a new Mac version.

Carbonite Pricing:

· 1 year: $54.95

2 year: $99.95

3 year: $129.95 (Best Value)

Carbonite for Mac: Announcing Carbonite Online Backup for Mac! Carbonite for Mac is the simple, reliable and affordable backup solution for Mac users. Your customers will enjoy unlimited backup space for only $54.95/year. And unlike other backup methods, with Carbonite for Mac you just “set it and forget it.” The Carbonite application runs quietly and unobtrusively in the background, automatically backing up your important emails, documents, photos and other files.

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Product Reviews: Quickbooks For Home & Business

Posted on February 27, 2009 by Rob.Thrasher.Me

WE recently took a closer look at Quickbooks and are VERY impressed with the features, more than most small biz people will use. The most important factor for the small business person that we think a very important aspect is that if you have ANY plans to go online with sales. Most of you do let’s face it. Well, Intuit offers the full spectrum from the ground up. Your financial books, payroll and online sales, all tracked and in the can. In our opinion, this is the absolute best one-stop-shop for small business people who want full financial software. Learn More About Features

- More High Tech Gadget Product Reviews

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Jupiter-Venus-Moon Triangle

Posted on December 2, 2008 by Rob.Thrasher.Me

 This was one of the coolest sights of the year for me. Last night, I saw what is called the triangle of the Moon, Jupiter and Venus. This is a fairly rare event, but very rare that it can be seen as well as tonight. According to Chattabox.com, “…this scenario will not be again visible till March of 2012, but a situation as close as this will be visible only after 44 years in the year 2052.”  Read The Full Post: Venus-Jupiter-Moon Triangle Pictures

High Tech Business Product Reviews: More High Tech Product Reviews, Best Web-Based Phone System, More Web Based Phone Systems, High Tech Author

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Google Genius Incarnate

Posted on November 23, 2008 by Rob.Thrasher.Me

OK, this is yet another in a long series of ingenious inventions from Google. If you don’t have a Google account yet, this has to be the straw that breaks the back. I don’t know when this launched, but I found it today, and I have to tell you that this is one of the coolest things from Google since they launched their intelligent search engine years ago.

You now have the ability to delete results from your search results, comment on them and promote them. The deletion feature is the easiest to see since it removes items from your search results immediately that you don’t think are the right things you were searching for. I like the comments tool, but I am not sure yet how that comes into play. I commented on some results and clicked to promote them, but don’t see where they come up for other people.

They might be working out some quirks and I will edit and add to this post many times. It is likely that there is a delay built into their system so that there is a wait time for a certain period of time before the comments are published. Just a quick check to be sure that the comments aren’t ridiculously inflammatory or flat out illegal.

The thing about Google is that they have found the formula for genius. They promote and foster genius. They give their coders and people time to think. They promote thought. They promote genius thought. Google is an incubator for genius and thought. I might argue that if you put the Google team against the most genius think tanks, no matter what the party affiliation, you might expect the Google team to win. Google is not just a business, it is a new millennium think tank that also might have the audacity to make a profit. Crazy stuff.

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Product Reviews: Web-Based Phone System

Posted on November 23, 2008 by Rob.Thrasher.Me

Web-based phone system video review. The entrepreneurs phone system Fox Money video.

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