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TeamworkPM update

suz — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:50:48 +0000

I have written about the online project management tool Teamwork before in a previous post and I just wanted to let everyone know about some new and exciting additions to the app’s web site.

The popular Project Management software is now available as an Android app as well as an iPhone app, making it more mobile for even more users. You can now access your tasks, find out about the latest activities on your projects or join in the conversation all while being on the road.

The other major addition to the site is the new Dropbox integration feature. Dropbox is a free file synchronization, backup and hosting service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily with anyone.

DropBox is now integrated with TamworkPM on the Business 2, Corporate and Enterprise plans. When you link a Dropbox account with your Teamwork account you can reference your Dropbox files through Teamwork so that they appear within the files tab of your projects. You can find step by step instructions on how to set this up on their web site.

Why paying for an online invoicing tool is a bad idea

suz — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 01:23:17 +0000

When your business grows so does the number of clients. Hence, it becomes difficult to keep track of accounts. Companies have separate departments to do the billing, however freelancers cannot afford to have such a facility. This is why web based invoicing software has come as a boon to freelancers which support and control their commercial growth.

These invoicing applications are loaded with several features and functions which in the past were the domain of large companies only. It is important to select the right invoicing software. Once the freelancer adopts any invoicing software it becomes difficult to migrate to another with ease. There are many online invoicing tools that are available free of cost. Not only that but they offer everything you will need for the invoicing process. Apptivo’s Invoicing is one such application that may just be the right thing that freelancers require.

Shoestring Budget

Generally freelancers are on a tight budget. They may not be able to afford the cost of paid online invoicing tools. Every expense adds to the cost. Free invoicing software is a great advantage to freelancers. Not only do they not have to pay a penny but the whole process of billing their customers becomes streamlined and easy. They are able to send professional and elegant looking invoices. With the help of free online invoicing tools such as Apptivo Invoices App they are able to send bill reminders to forgetful clients. The freelancers are able to receive payments through various channels such as Paypal and in multiple currencies. The invoicing tool has a simple and easy to use user interface which can be used by even a layman.

Extra Baggage

Today most invoicing tools come with a host of features and functions some which freelancers may not even use. Why should you pay for the whole software when you are using only certain features and functions. You ought to pay for what you use. This is only fair.

Trial Period

Freelancers may eventually decide to pay a nominal amount for using the online invoicing tool. After all, the invoicing company has to make money and the freelancers should return the favour for benefiting financially and otherwise from the tool. However, it is a risk buying invoicing and billing software before evaluating it. Thankfully, several invoicing companies offer the freelancers the opportunity of using their software for a limited period free of charge and then buy it if they like the features of the software. So if you are a freelancer this is a viable and practical option. You pay only after you are satisfied with the product. The element of risk involved is thus minimized.

Finally, with so many quality free online invoicing tool available freelancers are confronted with the luxury of choice. They can pick and choose and get the best deal for themselves.

About Author: Maya Pillai is very passionate about helping small businesses, freelancers and independent professionals find easier and inexpensive ways to manage their business. She guest blogs on Small Business University among many other places.

How your anti virus program can break your website

suz — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 00:16:52 +0000

A few months ago my ancient computer finally had enough and stopped working. So a few days later I bought a new one. My new computer was great and all was working well but all of a sudden all my WordPress sites stopped working, I could not make new installations, if I upgraded a site it would stop working, even my themes were not working properly and I was very confused.

I looked up the error message that I was receiving and the advice was to re-upload all files again as there may be a corrupted file. But repeated uploading later I was still getting errors and nothing was working the way it should be.

My hosts didn’t know what could be causing this, I had no conflicting plugins and I tried using a different ftp program, still nothing.

Eventually I put two and two together, everything stopped working around the time that I started using the new computer. The biggest change on the computer was the anti virus program that came with it. The program seemed to interfere with downloading of files as well as the uploading of them as part of it’s scanning. So I uninstalled it and downloaded Avira AntiVir and have not had any problems since, everything is working great again. I thought I would share this story in case someone else is experiencing similar problems.

Get an affordable web site using design contests

suz — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 05:51:05 +0000

Small businesses and individuals starting out on their first internet venture often struggle to afford a web site developed by a web design agency. This is one of the reasons why design contest (or crowdsourcing) sites are becoming more and more popular. The way they work is that a client submits a brief with their design needs and a number of different designers submit design ideas. From this pool of designs one winner is chosen by the starter of the contest. This approach has some benefits aside from the reduced cost in that often there is more variety and choice of design styles submitted then if the job was handled by one single designer or agency.

Design Contest is one such crowdsourcing site where you can start a contest to find the right design for your website. It is not only for website design, any number of design jobs can be sourced here like logo design, t-shirt design, brochures, menus, twitter backgrounds and lots more.

Designers too can benefit from using crowdsourcing sites like DesignContest. It is a way to gain new clients, DesignContest even allows one on one projects where a client can hire an individual designer and work exclusively with them. It is also a way to gain experience for new designers who are looking to add to their portfolio. Even if a designer’s work did not win the contest clients still have the chance to purchase the design for other projects if they wish. In an upcoming feature designers will be able to sell their un-purchased designs on the DesignContest site giving them them even more earning opportunities.

Although crowdsourcing does have its critics, it does have its place in the design world. Rather then replacing traditional web design it is yet another option that is available both to designers and clients, giving both parties more choices. Crowdsourcing has grown hugely over the last few years and is likely to become even more popular in the years to come.

Manage all your projects online with TeamworkPM

suz — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 02:08:19 +0000

The secret of getting any task done is to break it down into small manageable tasks. This is true of any project, whether you are an individual, a business, working alone or as a part of a team. When you are working as part of a team however, management of projects can get even more complicated. Communication between team members is very important and it really helps to know how far each team member has progressed with their tasks, what is next etc. This is why project management software has become so popular over the last few years.

Online collaboration is one of the best reasons for businesspeople to embrace the web. It allows team members to share information, updates and statuses with other members fast and from their chosen device (whether it’s their PC or on the go with their mobile phone). There is no longer any need to email attachments back and forth, and you always know that you are looking at the most up to date version of a work-in-progress.

TeamWork PM is a simple project management tool that is easy to use and comes with many great features. One such useful feature is the ability to set up recurring tasks, making this tool even more productive. You can see at a glance what each member of the team is doing today, as well as what tasks were completed on any given day.

One of the many advantages of online project management as opposed to the desktop version is that there is no need to worry about upgrades and other software problems and issues. Instead, any difficulties you may run into gets answered by a customer service team. TeamWork PM has a customer service team who will reply to your messages fast and are a big part of the service TeamWork PM offer.

Doculicious – a web based forms builder

suz — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 04:17:46 +0000

Doculicious is a web based forms builder for web developers and designers who want to easily create web forms which in turn create PDF documents when submitted. It is a complete form builder, includes a GUI form designer complete with many useful features and a handy on-line form entry interface and PDF export. It also works in reverse, you can upload some PDF forms and have them automatically be converted to web forms. Uploading a PDF file with fields means you will have a working web form in minutes after uploading it to Doculicious.

The web forms can be placed onto your site using a simple copy and paste of the code found on your Doculicious Dashboard. When you design and lay out your form template, you are also designing and laying out the fillable PDF form that will be created for it.

The application’s goal is to allow people to create formatted, graphical documents in their browser and eliminate having to use static PDF documents which usually forces users to download, print, hand write and submit forms. Every time someone fills out one of these forms they are also able to download and save a printable PDF copy of all entered data.
Some people are even using Doculicious to sell the output of their forms, for example they are selling a range of forms like Government forms, award certificates, applications etc.

Free and paid plans are both available when you sign up to Doculicious which determine the features that will be available for use.

Web poll software and survey tools

suz — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 08:14:09 +0000

There are many survey tools available on the internet today. They range in complexity (and pricing) from a simple multiple choice poll to multi page surveys with many options and possibilities. A lot of survey software sites offer a free plan which you can upgrade later to receive more options and/or to remove advertising or branding which may appear on the free version.
Below is a list of web polls and survey tools.

SiSSurvey – Create surveys and polls using templates or create your own. In-depth reporting engine to aggregate, print and export your results. Has foreign language support.
FreeWebsitePolls – Up to 15 polls for websites, free with a link back to their site.
KISSinsights, free online survey tool – Like many of the other survey tools it has a free version with the option of upgrading, to be able to customise the survey and to be able to get more responses.
eSurveysPro – Allows all users to create short questions, embed them into web pages and gather feedback quickly.
Flisty – Create very simple polls without having to sign up
Micropoll – Create and publish polls and analyze the results. Lots of features, all free.
Idea Informer – Feedback 2.0 – A platform for putting together your visitors’ ideas and recommendations on your project or site. Ask your users what they really want, receive feedback and let others vote on it.
SurveyMonkey – Their free plan allows up to 100 answers per survey, real time results and customer support.

Email Archiving

suz — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 03:11:06 +0000

With businesses relying on email more so than ever before for business communications, an always increasing amount of critical information passes through a company’s email system. Information ranging from business invoices, transactions to important details regarding business obligations. All of this information needs to be stored, sometimes for legal or for customer dispute purposes. Not only does there need to be a way to store the vast amounts of information safely but there needs to be an easy and fast way to search for it as well in order to be able to quickly recall the relevant emails. Email archiving is not just an option but an absolute necessity. It can however over time become an organizational and storage nightmare costing much time and money.

Email archiving with Microsoft Exchange can be done locally but this can become a problem when there is a lot of data and it begins to take up too many resources, costing more money as well as possibly slowing systems down. There is also the issue of backups, off site backups and recovery of data in the case of a disaster, file corruption or other problem.

Professional email archiving management software is a good solution for the above problems and works by diverting emails and their attachments away from the overworked Microsoft Exchange Server and onto separate, inexpensive off site storage from which the data can be searched for and recovered faster and using less time and resources. Professional email archiving is a good solution for medium to larger businesses and solves a good number of concerns and issues.

Icons-Land icons

suz — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 02:52:40 +0000

IconsLand is a royalty free stock icons archive, featuring a very nice collection of icon sets which can be used in web design, software or application design, print etc.

The images are Vista style, glossy and attractive. Icons can often explain things much more effectively then text alone could and they are also very attention grabbing – which is rather helpful when visitors need to be directed to a particular area of a web site as well as adding to the overall design and attractiveness.

IconsLand icons can be bought individually from just $5 per icon or you can choose to download a whole set of them in the one package at a discounted price. Once purchased, you can use their stock icons in an unlimited number of software applications and web sites, you don’t need to purchase them more then once. If you are a programmer, web developer etc, you can even use them in your clients’ web sites or applications for no extra fee.

Icon categories on offer include:

Sport – with more then 50 different sports represented including: archery, badminton, baseball, basketball, bicycling, billiards, bowling, boxing, cards, chess, climbing, football, golf, figure skating, skateboarding and lots of others.

Transport in Vista style or Vector Icons – Pretty much any form of transport you can imagine, cars, trucks, police, excavators, tow trucks, ambulance, taxis, helicopters, ships and lots more with over 200+ variations on 40+ modes of transport.

Music and Multimedia – 58 unique icons with over 500 variations featuring CD and DVD players, equalizers, speakers, music notes, microphones, Sound Spectrum, Cameras and lots more.

Other categories include Weather, with all sort of different weather conditions, Halloween, Navigation Arrows as well as others, not to forget some emoticons too for social media, chat or forum sites. Most icons come in 7 different sizes so that you can use them in different types of projects.

Aside from having the royalty free icon sets available there is also a custom design service available (yes you can get a free quote) where you can either request a whole new custom set of icons or you can order the customisation of an already existing icon set. If you have a larger project in mind, they are also able to offer the design of animation and 3D, Skin Design, Software Box and DVD cover design and logo design so that all your graphics and illustrations can be matching and in the same style. Click here to visit Icons-Land.

Help Desk Software

suz — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:20:45 +0000

Unless your web site is purely a personal one, chances are you will have questions and comments from visitors. Until a site reaches a certain volume this can be handled manually via email by one person. However as more and more questions, comments, complaints, orders etc come in it can start to become overwhelming not to mention confusing.

Customer support can quickly start taking up a lot of time and many hours can be spent answering questions, many of which are the same ones time and time again. This is where helpdesk software can come in very handy.

Most helpdesk software can usually handle support tickets, you can create canned responses so that you are not typing the same answer time and again as well as other features, depending on the software you choose.

If you are looking for a free php Helpdesk option (runs using Php and a mySQL database) Hesk is a choice worth looking at. It offers the above mentioned options as well as a knowledge base, unlimited administrators (in case there is more then one person handling the customer support) and lots more handy features.

The software can be downloaded and installed for free with the option of paying $40 for a license which grants you the option of removing the “powered by” link at the bottom of pages. This is optional however and you can use the free version of the php help desk for as long as you need without any limitations.This is a good way to decide if this option is right for your particular web site or not.

The company also offers a remotely hosted option (for a monthly fee) in case you don’t feel comfortable installing it or running the software from your own server or don’t want to have to bother with upgrades.