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For the most part, our computers work effectively and tirelessly without much intervention from our part. There often comes a time however, when things don’t go quite as planned – In order to get back on your feet as quickly as possible – here are the top 5 things that all business owners should know about their own computers:

1. Administrator passwords

‘Local administrator accounts’ have full access to make changes to your computers.  If you have a server, there may also be a ‘domain administrator’ account.  Make sure you have a record of these account passwords in a safe place.  If your business provides laptops and mobile phones to your staff, also keep a record of any passwords or PIN numbers that are used to secure these mobile devices (e.g. are prompted for when the device is turned on).

2. Domain name details

If you have your company name registered as a domain on the internet (e.g. for your website or email addresses), make sure you know when your domain is due to expire.  Domain name registration only lasts for a certain period (commonly 1, 2 or 5 years) and must be renewed.  We’ve seen websites and emails stop in their tracks because the domain name registration company couldn’t (or didn’t) contact the business owner to process the domain name renewal.  Also associated with your domain name is a password or PIN number (sometimes known as a registry key).  This proves you are the rightful owner of the domain and is required for making any changes.  It’s a long process if you need to get this password reset because it’s been forgotten, so make sure it’s stored in a safe place.

3. Internet connection details

The modem that connects your computers to the internet is configured with some details that are specific to your account with your internet provider.  This may be as simple as a username and password, but may also include security settings or even ‘port numbers’ for allowing or denying internet access to some software programs.  If you have internet connection problems and the modem needs to be reset back to the factory defaults, this information will be lost.  It can also happen due to a power failure or if the modem is faulty.

4. Last successful backup test

Your backups are only as good as your last successful data restoration test.  If someone else manages your backups, ask them to regularly test that they can recover a random selection of your files and provide you with a monthly report so you know it’s been done.  If you look after your own backups, make sure this testing is performed by someone in your company and that you receive a report from them to show when it happened.

5. Software licensing proof

Like the financial and taxation side of your business, the responsibility for legal software ownership rests with the business owner.  Don’t think that you’re only a small business so no-one will audit you.  Keep a safe record of your software license keys and proof of ownership (e.g. purchase receipts).  This also makes license numbers easy to find if your computer software needs to be re-installed or moved to a different computer.

Author Bio: Sonia Cuff has extensive corporate IT experience in the banking, health and government sectors. Now a member of the world’s largest IT franchise, Sonia and her fellow Computer Troubleshooters are passionate about helping small business owners around the world with the right technology advice and support.
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Customer service is a huge factor in securing return customers  and further to that, inspires existing customers to tell others about you and your business. Best of all, it normally doesn’t cost a cent. I am constantly amazed that more businesses don’t work on their customer service – But I guess it’s like common sense – Not all that common.

Here are 7 tips to help you offer amazing customer service.

1) Respond quickly

Your customers don’t care how busy you are, or how important you think you are. Respond to emails and phone calls promptly. Even if just to say “I received your message and your order will be processed before close of business”.

2) Don’t be a robot

It’s perfectly OK to laugh every now and then, compliment someone or even put a “smiley” in an email.

3) Follow up

If you submitted a quote and haven’t heard back – follow up. They may have forgotten about you or it was simply lost (Or are too busy talking to another supplier). A quick phone call or email can work wonders.

4) Say “Thanks”

When a customer places an order with you, don’t just send them the bill and be done with it – Say thank you and show sincere appreciation of the fact they chose to order from you. Whether it be a phone call, an email or a hand written message on a with compliments slip, it’s worth the extra few minutes.

5) Get to know your customers

I don’t mean to the extent of their family history or even their cuisine habits – But asking how their weekend was, joking that it’s Friday or even asking them how their morning has been proves to your customers that you care more about your relationship with them then you do the money you receive from them.

6) Under promise, over deliver

This phrase has become incredibly common and for good reason too – giving your customer more than they expected will pleasantly surprise them.

7) Smile

Arguably the most important, smiling allows you to appear approachable and trustworthy. Even when talking on the phone, customers can sense a smile.

Customer service isn’t all that hard and carries a lot of weight when your customers are making potential purchasing decisions. Take the time to get it right and it will pay dividends again and again.

Author Bio: Jake Thomas is a small business owner based in the southern Suburbs of Sydney. Dividing his time between operating Emroy – Print Design and being editor / administrator of Small Business Forum has given Jake a keen understanding of all things business, marketing and management. To learn more about Jake, view his profile.

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In any type of business, it’s very important to find as many ways as possible to attract more clients. On the internet today, there are numerous methods people in business can utilize to drive traffic to their website. But how do you keep track of how you’re doing online? One of the most helpful ways is Google Alerts.

Businesses of any size that operate mostly on the internet can benefit from using Google Alerts. This is another valuable service from the world’s leading search engine Google that is very easy to use.

What is Google Alerts?

Google Alerts is a notification or alert system that informs you every time Google finds a web page featuring your name, business name, your articles and relevant keywords. In fact, you can set an alert for any string of words you choose.

If you’re keen about monitoring where your business appears online or your articles are picked up by other sites in your specific niche, then it is worth your time to be using Google Alerts.

Google alerts can be found at www.google.com/alerts

How to Set Up Google Alerts

All you need is to set up a Google account and once you have your username and password ready, you can start using this effective alert system.

You can decide which types of alert you’d like to receive. There are six categories available such as news, blogs, web, comprehensive, video and groups. You can freely set up an alert for each category if you want.

As to the frequency of notifications sent to your mailbox, you can choose to get alerts once daily, as it happens or once every week. There is also another option that pertains to email length. In other words, you can decide if you’d like to receive up to 20 results or up to 50 results.

Normally, you would use keywords specific to your business when setting up a Google alert. You can create as many as a thousand alerts if you like. However, you may have to first delete some existing alerts or you can request that the notifications be sent to a separate email address.

Alerts are usually sent in an HTML format. However, you can choose to receive notifications in plain text only except for the video alerts. All you need to do is to go to the Manage Your Alerts page and change the format of the emails from the default HTML to just plain text and you’re done.

As an example, I’ve set up a Google Alert for Savvy Web Women and chose the category blogs. What happens then is that every time my business name appears in another blog, I get an alert. Whether it’s the article I wrote or an event I did that was posted on that particular blog, I am able to track who is sharing my content, utilising my resources and adding links back to my site.

So by using Google Alerts, you are able to find relevant back links to your site that search engines value most when ranking websites and blogs. This should be reason enough to inspire you to consistently promote yourself and your business on the internet. Once you’re consistent and with your alert system all set up, you can just let Google Alerts do the monitoring for you.

Author Bio: Wendy Moore is the founder of www.savvywebwomen.com and creator of the Savvy List Building Blog – the information packed resource that shows business owners and entrepreneurs how to better understand the internet to build a highly responsive, targeted list of clients specific to their business niche. To receive your free Special Report and weekly how-to articles to expand your online List Building toolkit, visit www.wendymoore.net.

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