TechSuccess is your source for technology tools, tips and resources to help you leverage technology to market, manage and grow your business.

Ruling Social Networking With Outlook Rules

by Janice Gentles-Jones on September 11, 2008

I recently joined a new social networking group and was immediately tuned off by the amount of emails I got from members.  I mean within an hour of signing up I got about 30 emails!!!  They were mostly friend requests and people commenting on my wall (which I thought was a little unusual since most of the other online networks you have to be a friend before you can post a comment but that’s for another blog post).  So being the inbox clutter-resistant freak that I am (well maybe just a little over zealous) I cancelled my account with this social networking group the following day (after which I had gotten about another 30 emails) and said good riddance to inbox clutter!

A respected colleague of mine told me about the successes he was having with this online networking group so I decided to give them another try.  But things would be MUCH different this time.  I was going to control to be in control of those incoming emails. So I put my handy-dandy “techie hat” on so I could think about how to handle this situation.  Did I mention I was a techie geek?

And then I remembered that Outlook has a rules feature that I can use to manage my emails.  So here’s what I decided to do using Microsoft Outlook:

1)      Create a folder for that online networking group.

2)      Create a rule to automatically move any message from that online networking group email address to the folder created for them.  If you’re lucky, even though most of the emails are coming from different people, the email address will be same.

3)      Check the folder at my discretion to see what has come in.  Twice a day is good for me.

4)      Take any necessary action on those emails and then delete everything.

Another thing you can do is check the “my settings” area of any social networking website you’re a part of and see what options you have for controlling emails.  A lot of social networking sites will allow you to choose how emails are delivered to you and some have the option of you reading the emails when you log on to their site.

Anyway, I feel hope again for joining yet another social networking but this time I’ll be ready for all those emails and you can be too.

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Converting An Email Into An Outlook Task

by Janice Gentles-Jones on August 20, 2008

You’re inbox is filled with tons of messages.  You have emails from weeks, months, maybe even from last year sitting in your inbox…and you’re tired of it.  Well here’s a cool tip for taking emails and converting them into action items and getting them out of your inbox.

Goals This Tip Support

  • Reducing inbox clutter
  • A way to remember that an action is needed for an email message

Step By Step

1) Select the message you want to convert into an action item. Do this by holding down your left mouse button on top of the email message.

2) Drag the email message on top of the Outlook’s task folder. This will turn the email into a Task.  All of the contents of the email message will now be in the body of the Task.

3) Change the subject of the Task to the action that needs to be done for the email. By default the Task subject is the subject of the email.  It will be more helpful when you look at the task in the future if it has the action item in the title.

4) Set any reminders or due dates for this task. Now that you’re email is a task you can use the Task functionality of setting a reminder or due date for this task to help ensure that it will get done.

5) Click Save & Close. Once saved your email is now on your Task list and Outlook can remind you of it if you setup a reminder.

6) Decide what you want to do with the original message. Now that your email along with its content has been converted to a task you have two options for the original message:

  • Delete It: If you do not need to keep the original message then delete It.
  • Put in Reference Folder: If you need the original message for future reference, move the email from your inbox to a reference folder.

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Down For Me Or Everyone Else: Cool Tool for Checking Availability of a Website

by Janice Gentles-Jones on August 20, 2008

Have you ever wondered if a site was down or was it just your computer? That happened to me this weekend. I couldn’t get on Excite.com and I was wondering if it was me or was the site really down. Excite.com is a popular site with lots of traffic but it’s usually up so I wasn’t sure. Now-a-days you can’t always tell. A good friend of mine had a similar problem last week. She had an invitation on Evite but couldn’t get on the site. So she called me to see if it was up; which it wasn’t.

There’s a cool website where you can check to see if a website is down on your computer or down for everyone else. Now you don’t need to call and ask anybody. You can use this website to check for yourself. Check it out at: http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/

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How To Leverage Technology For Business Success

by Janice Gentles-Jones on August 19, 2008

All businesses will need to leverage technology if they are to remain competitive in the marketplace.  Before you buy the latest technology gadget or sign up for the latest online social networking tool, here are five tips to help you leverage technology for business success.

1. Define your business goals first.

It’s hard to get where you want to go if you have not clearly stated where it is your going.  A simple as this may sound must people do not define their vision.  If you want to be successful in your business then you first need to set your vision and determine the goals needed to help you achieve it.  Remember to create SMART goals; Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic and Timely.

2. Choose technology that supports your goals.

Once you’ve define your goals choose technology that supports your goals and adds value to your business.  Do your research and find out what technology is available to help you achieve your goals and automate the process.  If you don’t have the time to do all the research, consider hiring a consultant to help you determine the best technologies to support your goals.  One of my favorite sayings that’s often quoted by America’s favorite organizer, Barbara Hemphill is “half of any job is having the right tools”.  Ensure that whatever technology you use adds value to your bottom line.

3. Don’t let the “fear of technology” constrain your business vision.

After you’ve chosen your tools the next step is to learn how to use your tools.  It makes no sense to come this far and let fear or lack of training prevent you from using the technology.  Invest in a training program or consultant that shows you how to use the technology as this can save you lot of time.  Most technology tools are only as good as the owner; it’s kind of like buying a piano and thinking that you will be able to play like Mozart.  Use the technology to expand your value proposition beyond what you can do today.

4. Make the technology an integral part of your business daily.

You know the old saying “Use it or lose it”.  And that definitely applies to technology.  This part shouldn’t be too hard because you specifically choose your technology to support your goals.  So if you’re serious about achieving those goals use the technology you have and incorporate it’s usage into your daily routine.

5. Stay current and re-evaluate your existing technology along the way.

New technologies come out every day that may tempt you with their “new and improved” proclamations.  You really have to stay focused on your goals to make sure any decisions to purchase new or updated technology really supports your visions.  Business needs changes so you want to ensure that your current technologies still supports your existing goals or new goals you may have.  It helps to have a trusted technology advisor or resources such as technology blogs and articles you can turn to if you need to make a decision about your existing and new technology.  This can help reduce your research time.

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27 Things Every Website Should Have For Online Success

by Janice Gentles-Jones on August 19, 2008

Here’s my list of 27 things every website should have for online success. They are not in any particular order but each one is important in achieving the success you would want online.

1. A goal/purpose

2. Quality links linking back to your site

3. Unique title tag on every page

4. Title tags with your keywords

5. Website tracking tool like Google Analytics or Woopra

6. Call to action on every page

7. Copy that converts clients

8. A professional look

9. Unique meta descriptions for every page

10. Meta keywords for every page

11. A listing in dmoz.org

12. RSS feed for syndicating your content

13. A contact us form

14. A phone number to call you

15. A sitemap for your visitors

16. A sitemap submitted to Google, MSN Live & Yahoo

17. Daily or weekly backup of your website

18. A blog

19. A frequently asked questions page about your products or services

20. A free offer in exchange for their name and email address

21. Urls that includes your keywords

22. A webmaster for making changes or for asking questions

23. Ability to get to the home page from any page

24. Submissions to high rank online directories

25. Ability to get back to the home page from any page

26. Use of H1 and H2 style tags throughout your content

27. New content as often as possible

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