Posts Tagged ‘GrandCentral’

What are some Web 2.0 services you couldn’t live without? This blog post is inspired by one of my all time favorite blogs TechCrunch.  Here is my list of Web 2.0 services I would recommend to all the Soloprenuers and Small Businesses. Life would not be the same without these services may they never cross into the deadpool.

• PayPal
• Zoho CRM
• GrandCentral (GoogleVoice)
• iContact
• WordPress
• Google Reader
• Mint
• Twitter
• Hulu
• Facebook
• Linkedin

PayPal

PayPal.com: I have been using PayPal for almost 9 years now and still can’t do without it. Point blank if you are a Soloprenuer or Small Business owner and don’t have a PayPal account you are clearly missing out on  major revenue streams. Please check out my blog post PayPal.com Makes Ecommerce Easy for Solopreneurs and 10 Great PayPal Tips for Solopreneurs and Small Business Owners

Zoho CRM

Zohocrm.com: Clearly one of the best CRM’s for Small Business. I was at one time a very heavy Salesforce user until I found Zoho. Been using Zoho for over a year now and my Free version is still going strong. Check out my blog post Zoho.com Gives Solopreneurs a Suite of Successful Business Tools then go and get yourself a Free ZohoCRM account and let me know what you think.

GrandCentral/Google Voice

GrandCentral.com: One phone number you can have for life. Most of us have multiple ways to be contacted by phone.  We have a home number, work number, cell number and in many cases a second home office line.  I, only give out one phone number my GrandCentral number and it automatically forwards my calls to any one or all of my other numbers. Please read my post, Solopreneurs Stay In Touch With One Number From GrandCentral for more information on this great service.

iContact

iContact: Email marketing has come a long way from just gathering email addresses in Outlook and sending them through your local Internet Service Provider. The key to  using a service like iContact is taking advantage of all the broadcast email features like Open and Clickthrough Tracking, Message Scheduling and List Segmentation. Yes, there are many other email marketing services on the market like Constant Contact and Vertical Response but iContact is by far the better bang for the buck.

WordPress

Wordpress: I have been using WordPress to power this blog and many others I have created. I used to use the Joomla CMS for my blogs but decided to move them all to the WordPress platform and have never looked back. Although both platforms were what I was looking for in Open Source, I was really impressed with the amount of plugins and themes WordPress had to offer. Please check out my post WordPress 2.7 Is Finally Here!.

Google Reader

Google Reader: Google has many great tools to choose from and all of them are good. Google Reader is one of my favorites because it helps me manage and keep track of all the blogs I enjoy reading on a regular basis. As long as the blog has an RSS feed I can bring it into my Google Reader. I can also create Blog topic folders to help keep the 100 plus blogs I subscirbe to in order. If you are new to using a RSS reader for all you blog reading I highly recommend Google Reader.

Mint

Mint: With all that is going on with the financial challenges of our nation and the world many of us need to make sure our current finances are in order. Mint is the ultimate way to keep track of almost all  your finances online. I have been using it for over a year now and it has made a big difference in my financial bottom line. Please check out my blog post Web 2.0 Solopreneur Site Of The Week: Mint.com out how it can help you and your small business.

Twitter

Twitter: @jbrath is officially on the Twitter bandwagon and suggest you all come ride it with me. Twitter is a micro blogging service that is currently taking the Internet by storm. And when I say storm I mean it literally has helped people navigate storms, hurricanes, earthquakes and in my personal case house fires. See my blog post Twitter Gives First Response News On House Fire In The Bronx Everyone now wants to look like the Twitter interface with Facebook and just recently FriendFeed changing their look to imitate Twitter. I currently have just over 1100 followers and have had my Twitter account for almost 2 years yet @Oprah just got on Twitter 2 weeks ago and will have one million followers by the end of 2 months.  Now that Oprah is on Twitter we can be rest assured that Twitter will have a way to make profit soon.

Hulu

Hulu: I don’t watch much television anymore but I really don’t have to with Web 2.0 video services like Hulu. I was one of the first beta testers of Hulu thanks again to TechCrunch and have been a huge fan ever since. Hulu allows you to watch some of your most favorite TV shows on-demand for FREE. I watch past episodes of  shows like Burn Notice, The Family Guy, Lie To Me and Rescue Me. Hulu’s mission is to help people find and enjoy the world’s premium video content when, where and how they want it. I still own a TV but Hulu makes it so much easier to watch quality programing on my computer.

Facebook

Facebook: Like everyone else on Facebook I am pretty hooked. I don’t spend as much time as I used to on Facebook but that’s because my business keeps me on another social networking site that I will talk about next. Facebook is great for keeping up with all my high school and college mates. I have also recently used it to invite many of my Facebook friends to attend a teleseminar I held.  Facebook is awesome for keeping track friends and family members without having to call them on the phone or sending them an email.

Linkedin

Linkedin: LinkedIn has over 40 million members in over 200 countries and territories around the world. A new member joins LinkedIn approximately every second, and about half of our members are outside the U.S. Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members. I have been concentrating me efforts on Linkedin for the past few months because I feel it is the best social networking site that meets the needs of most profesionals.  Soloprenuers should create a profile on Linkedin and start making connections. Take a listen to the Teleseminar I did with Linkedin Expert Lewis Howes.

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If you read my post last year on how much I love Google’s GrandCentral (Solopreneurs Stay In Touch With One Number From GrandCentral) take a gander at all the cool new features Google Voice has to offer. GrandCentral is now Google Voice and yes it is still free. The only change in the cost factor is that you can now make international calls at very affordable rates.

There are still a couple of things not that quite ironed out yet. One is the fact that this upgrade to Google Voice is only available to current GrandCentral users. Another not so great thing is that when you upgrade your account from GrandCentral to Google Voice your GrandCentral contacts and phone numbers are not automatically imported into Google Voice. At this time you have to manually export your contact out of GrandCentral as a .csv file and then import them into Google Voice.  Last but not least you still cannot port your current phone number to become your Google Voice number therefore you will have to give out a new number to take advantage of all the awesome Google Voice features.

Take a look at some of the videos of just a few of the Google Voice features. Enjoy!

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Google is not just about search and email. Google has many online tools that can help your Small Business or Solopreneurship get 2 The Next LEVEL of Success. I have listed the 10 Google tools I use the most.

1. GrandCentral
2. Google Analytics
3. Google Adsense
4. Google Docs
5. Google Reader
6. Google Bookmarks
7. Google Notebook
8. Google Alerts
9. Google Checkout
10. Google Apps

1. GrandCentral: I have written about GrandCentral before in my blog post Solopreneurs Stay In Touch With One Number From GrandCentral With GrandCentral, you can be reached with a single number, answer a call at any phone you want, seamlessly switch phones in the middle of a call, and even know whether a call is important before you take it.

Why should Solopreneurs or Small Businesses use it:
Can it save you money: Yes
Can it make you money: Directly: No, Indirectly: Yes
Can it save you time: Yes

2. Google Analytics: Use Google Analytics to learn which online marketing initiatives are cost effective and see how visitors actually interact with your site. Make informed site design improvements, drive targeted traffic, and increase your conversions and profits.

Why should Solopreneurs or Small Businesses use it:
Can it save you money: Yes
Can it make you money: Directly: No, Indirectly: Yes
Can it save you time: Yes

3. Google Adsense: Earn money from relevant ads on your website Google AdSense matches ads to your site’s content, and you earn money whenever your visitors click on them. AdSense for content automatically crawls the content of your pages and delivers ads (you can choose both text or image ads) that are relevant to your audience and your site content—ads so well-matched, in fact, that your readers will actually find them useful.

Why should Solopreneurs or Small Businesses use it:
Can it save you money: Yes
Can it make you money: Directly: YES
Can it save you time: Yes

4. Google Docs: Create and share your work online. Upload from and save to your desktop. Edit anytime, from anywhere. Pick who can access your documents. Share changes in real time. Files are stored securely online. It’s FREE!

Why should Solopreneurs or Small Businesses use it:
Can it save you money: Yes
Can it make you money: Directly: No, Indirectly: Yes
Can it save you time: Yes

5. Google Reader: With Google Reader, keeping up with your favorite websites is as easy as checking your email. Stay up to date Google Reader constantly checks your favorite news sites and blogs for new content. Share with your friends Use Google Reader’s built-in public page to easily share interesting items with your friends and family. Use it anywhere, for free Google Reader is totally free and works in most modern browsers, without any software to install.

Why should Solopreneurs or Small Businesses use it:
Can it save you money: Yes
Can it make you money: Directly: No, Indirectly: Yes
Can it save you time: Yes

6. Google Bookmarks: With Bookmarks, you’ll be able to save time with quick links to your favorite websites. Use Web History to find the sites you visit frequently and bookmark your favorites. Use the Google Toolbar for quick access to your bookmarks and to easily create more. Get your bookmarks on any computer. No matter where you may be surfing the web, your bookmarks can stay with you just by signing in. Keep your bookmarks organized. Add searchable labels and notes to your bookmarks to find them easily and keep them organized.

Why should Solopreneurs or Small Businesses use it:
Can it save you money: No
Can it make you money: Directly: No, Indirectly: No
Can it save you time: Yes

7. Google Notebook: Google Notebook help you clip and collect information as you browse the web. Clip useful information. Add text, images and links from web pages without leaving your browser window.

Why should Solopreneurs or Small Businesses use it:
Can it save you money: Yes
Can it make you money: Directly: No, Indirectly: Yes
Can it save you time: Yes

8. Google Alerts: Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:

* monitoring a developing news story
* keeping current on a competitor or industry
* getting the latest on a celebrity or event
* keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams

Why should Solopreneurs or Small Businesses use it:
Can it save you money: Yes
Can it make you money: Directly: No, Indirectly: Yes
Can it save you time: Yes

9. Google Checkout: Find it with Google. Buy it with Google Checkout.

Want a faster, safer and more convenient way to shop online? You got it. Stop creating multiple accounts and passwords.

With Google Checkout^TM you can quickly and easily buy from stores across the web and track all your orders and shipping in one place. Shop with confidence.

Fraud protection policy covers you against unauthorized purchases made through Google Checkout, and we don’t share your purchase history or full credit card number with sellers. Control commercial spam.

You can keep your email address confidential, and easily turn off unwanted emails from stores where you use Google Checkout.

Why should Solopreneurs or Small Businesses use it:
Can it save you money: Yes
Can it make you money: Directly: YES
Can it save you time: Yes

10: Google Apps: Software-as-a-service for business email, information sharing and security

Whether your business is moving everything to the cloud, just wants an affordable email solution or struggles to give employees access to critical information, Google Apps will help you stretch resources and work smarter.

Messaging
Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Talk are powerful tools that can save your company money and time.

Collaboration
Google Docs, Google Video and Google Sites complement traditional office software to make teamwork easier. Companies or departments can use these apps on their own to be more productive.

Security for on-premise email
Email security, archiving and encryption, powered by Postini, complement Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes and other solutions. Web security is also available.

Why should Solopreneurs or Small Businesses use it:
Can it save you money: Yes
Can it make you money: Directly: No, Indirectly: Yes
Can it save you time: Yes

In future post I will go more in dept of how and why I use each of these Google Tools. For now I just want to list the ones that impress me the most.

All the best

JB

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If you are a solopreneur or small business owner that is on the go and has more than one phone number you will definatley appreciate this post. What if you can could be contacted using one phone number on any of your main phone devices. Most of use have at least 3 different phone numbers. Home, work and cell and if you miss a call on any one of these numbers you have to get the message from 3 different voice mail boxes.

Enter GrandCentral one number for life. As a fellow Solopreneur I need to make sure I don’t miss a call. But if I do miss a call I don’t want to have to check three different voice mail services. Right now you can get a GrandCentral phone number for Free while it is still in Bata. When someone calls that number it calls me on any of the phones I choose and if I miss the call I can check the messages via my phone or better yet I get an email message and I can check the voice mail via the web.

My favorite feature has to be the ability to screen any of your incoming calls. We all remember the best thing about having our old answering machines was being able to listen to the person who called and decide if we wanted to talk to them. Well you you can do the same thing with your GrandCentral number. When someone calls you and you are unsure you want to talk to them just hit the 3 button on your phone and you get to screen the callers message.

If I decide after listening in on the callers message I want to talk to them all I have to do is hit the Star Key (*) on my phone keypad and I can join the call. What’s great is just like an answering machine the caller can’t hear you or know that you are listening and if you decide you don’t want to talk to them they just leave their message on the voice mail.

I now have one number 404-287-0848 and one number only. Numbers on GrandCentral are going fast so I suggest you get one ASAP.

All The Best

JB

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