Category: Tips

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Using Freeloaders to Your Advantage

You’ve hit the tipping point on all you do and now your website traffic is continuing to rise, in fact you’ve never had so many visitors to your website before, but your conversions have not grown at the same rate, what can you do?

First, it is great to be successful and have a high traffic site, but if you are not converting your readers into buyers you may want to consider a new strategy to specifically market to the reader-freeloaders on your website. Much of what you will select to do will be based on your specific sales goals.

If you are a local seller and your traffic has grown, but when you look in Google Analytics most of your traffic is outside of your service area, I would enjoy the numbers and know that Google will eventually award you with improved organic placement. However, I would put your out of area readers to work for your benefit by actively asking them to Google +1 your pages or like you on Facebook. You’ll then be able to get SEO juice off of the traffic that will never convert to a sale for you.

If you sell nationally or service locally but also sell products nationally, I would take a careful look at your traffic and the pages where you think you have freeloaders. On those pages you will need to evaluate if you should follow my advice on Google +1 and Facebook or if the pages are good areas for you to advertise the products you sell nationally.

If they are a good fit with product sales, then start by creating your own banners, buttons, and links to your store to promote your own products. If you are going to provide great informational content, you should work to have the readers who like what you say move into your store to buy, Google +1 you, like you on Facebook, or be added to your email subscriber list. Which direction you take or multiple directions will depend on the information specific to your site. The key is to put the traffic to work for you! Don’t just invest your time and money into a well trafficked website, move your readers to action that will benefit your long term approach and goals.

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Outlook 2010 Crashes Constantly – How to Fix

I have recently upgraded my computer to Office 2010 and I really like the programs especially Outlook. However when I set up Outlook 2010 on my laptop that was running Windows 7 I really ran into a crashing problem. When I say crashing problem, I don’t mean every now and then, but rather every time I opened the program and after about 3 seconds of use. With Microsoft pushing Windows 7 and Outlook being a Window 7 compatible product I was stymied as to why.

After much web research and trial and error on how to fix the problem, I found that many, many other people had experienced this same problem. There were prolific postings on forums asking for help and suggestions offered (which I tried nearly all).

Out of exasperation I tried this solution and it worked for me, so I wanted to mention it in a blog so that others may be able to benefit.

First for me the add-ons were not the problem. I still had crashes even after disabling all add-ons. What I found out was that Outlook 2010 wants to install your Outlook.pst file in your My Documents folder by default and really seems to have trouble if when you set up Outlook 2010 you let it find the .pst file in your old application data folder under local and then Microsoft then Outlook
location that Outlook 2007 uses by default. When I created a new .pst file in the My Documents folder, linked it to Outlook 2010 in the account settings I was golden. I have not experienced a crash since. Yes I had to reset up my mail account, import my calendar and contacts from my desktop, but I was finally able to use Outlook.

So if you are pulling your hair out over your Outlook 2010 installation, stop, take a deep breath and either create a new Outlook.pst file in the My Documents folder or move your Outlook.pst file there and you may have your problem fixed too!

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Google+ Adds Games to Improve User Experience

Google+ has grown at monstrous rates this past month, but new users have also started to finally drop off; leaving Google+ with substantially fewer users than Facebook. In an effort to enhance the user experience Google+ added games to their interface.

Some of the games they have added are popular games of which many are also available in the Google Chrome app store as well. One of the highest profile and most recognized names is Angry Birds. Some of the other games now available to play online at Google+ are:

  • City of Wonder which looks like Facebook’s Gardens of Time (I love this game
    and I never play games.)
  • Angry Birds
  • Monster World
  • Dragons of Atlantis
  • Sudoku Puzzles
  • Zynga Poker
  • Zombie Lane
  • Wild Ones
  • Flood-It
  • Dragon Age Legends
  • Bubble Island
  • Crime City
  • Edgeworld
  • Collapse! Blast
  • Bejewelled Blitz Beta
  • Diamond Dash

In this online world where stickiness (how long visitors stay and interact) really matters to your member growth, online buzz, and ad selling opportunities, adding games is a very smart idea at this point.

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Office 2010 Why This Is An Upgrade You Will Want

I have recently gotten a new computer and my husband strongly recommended that I move to Office 2010 when he loaded my applications. I was really hesitant after problems upgrading applications before and so I told him he had to upgrade first. Better he be the guinea pig than me. (He had hoped that I would upgrade first so he could decide if he wanted to.)

He upgraded first, and liked the new interface and features and so I have upgraded about one week ago. I have to say my experience so far with Outlook and Office 2010 is wonderful. I love the new options, control, and features. In fact my experience so far has been so good that I wanted to write this post to recommend it to you. (No, I am not being paid by Microsoft, just being an advocate for a terrific product.)

If you live in Outlook like I do, you will find the new features and options a bit daunting at first. To help, I got this book from my library called “Microsoft Office Outlook 2010 QuickSteps”. I have really come up to speed quickly using the book. Many of the options I knew how to use already, but it was all about where to find them in the new interface and how to use new features that I never knew existed or are brand new with Outlook 2010. The application is rock solid, fairly intuitive (although using a book really speeds up the learning process), has so many really great configurable options, and has many of the same features that each Office product share such as how to print, where to find the save button, and how to add quick steps.

As for the other applications in the Office Suite, the other one I use a lot is Word. The common elements that are shared between all Office products help you to get going fast. I thought I would be intimidated with the new ribbon features, but I have found with books and a video tutorial that I am getting proficient quickly. If you are moving from Office 2007 this is definitely a worthy upgrade. You will find many of the features you never knew you would like but now have and love in Office 2010. I got my software for about $400. The price is steep, but out of all the upgrades I have done or reviewed recently, this is one of the best. I highly recommend Office 2010 to you. Just upgrading Outlook to 2010 is worth the price.