Our company was visited last week by some of our partners from Norway and Greece. We had a discussion on what the directions of our projects will be in the next few years.I think most of BlogDeManila’s readers already know that our company (where I am working as a full-time consultant) is developing and providing value added services  to the Maritime industry. Our projects in this industry is basically more on providing communication services.

Our guests discussed what are the essential needs of the Maritime industry aside from SMS and emails. Since we are developing our services to take advantage of the social network technologies such as Facebook and chatting (YM, Skype, MSN, etc) and more features, they are inviting our company to present our latest products in various European maritime events.

I’d actually attended a maritime events here in the Philippines. One was a trade show for the latest shipping technology and the latest one was about manning and training conference. I can proudly say that we had one of the best booths during these events because we used a modern pop up booths. Pops ups are very easy to setup and transport too because the materials used like the frame and vinyl are so light. In fact, we still have our trade show pop up in our warehouse just in case we’ll use them in some future events.

And I guess, the invitation of our partners in Norway and Greece is a signal for our company to show our leading-edge technology products is some parts of the world. By the way, this is secret between us alright, our company’s project is now the much preferred solution for the communication needs of the maritime industry. Shh! I told you this is a secret.

Since we will present our projects abroad, our company decided to have a new pop up trade show displays.  They want it to have dynamic theme like our projects.  They want a much lighter materials for the pop up displays since we will transport them around Europe. They also prefer to have the  display background to be detachable so we can change it anytime depends on where country and what events we are participating.

I’m so excited on these trade shows. I may not be the one to present our projects abroad but I’m overly excited that I’m part of a project that is being used by a number of users already and now will be presented to a broader audience too.

By the way,  here’s a small trivia to end my post, did you know that the Philippines is the world’s largest crew supply nation?

I just read in an online news today that Smart Communications, one of the biggest telecommunication companies in the Philippines, launches wireless meters and payment application. They’re gearing the traditional market of voice and text messaging to an “enterprise” services. This idea is not new actually. It’s is being used widely already by some restaurants and fast food chains (Yellow Cab delivery), and even a battery store (Motolite Express Delivery).

Unfortunately, this technology of being able to process an order and accept credit card payment virtually anywhere is not being utilized by small business enterprises. They still have vague idea that this is too costly for them where in fact, there are already available solutions in the market that are relatively profitable for their businesses.

In reality, they don’t really need to open a new bank account for this kind of transaction. All they have to do is go to a merchant gateway provider. These establishments are directly connected to all major credit card companies, banks and various financial institutions. One company that is providing these services is Merchant Account Provider – a company established in 1997 that provides credit card processing solutions to companies for various industries.

How would you know if the credit card processing company is not a fraud?

Easy, just remember these tips:
Check whether they are providing a 24/7 service, credit cards support, fraud protections, secure line, virtual terminal, and fast speed transaction.

As I’ve mentioned, one good example is Yellow Cab.The company is utilizing a restaurant merchant account wherein they can deliver anytime of the day (on branches that are open 24/7) and can process a credit card payment right on the doorsteps of their clients. This is what you call “wireless credit card payment”, – a type of credit card reader that handles authorization process and sends the billing to a credit card processing company.

The wireless credit card payment is secured and a matured technology already. I just hope that a lot of business owners will take advantage of it, not only for the convenience of their clients but this also ensures stability of money flow on their business and allows less clout on their accounting books as well.

Nearly half of online shoppers say they have stopped or cancelled their online orders due to security fears, according to Harris Interactive.

With so many online scammers in the virtual world, you’ve got to make your site more secured for your customer to trust you. You’ve got to gain the trust of the online shoppers before you can make a sale.

Here are the 5 easy steps which can help your online business establish a trust among your customer.

1. Make your site appealing, easy to navigate and has the same quality as other established online business. Look how simple Google and Facebook are. No elaborated design, no misleading banners.

2. Brag about your Awards and Recognitions, and put a testimony page. Showing your awards and recognitions, including a third party testimonials is a big boost for your online business. Potential clients will feel more comfortable in making a transaction from you since you have positive feedback already.

3. State your shipping and return policies upfront. Put the big mark “Money Back Guarantee” if possible. This will give your potential customers a feel of security once they make their purchase. It means your business means business.

4. Grab a “SSL Secured” badge. Go and check that most big online traders have this either on their sidebar, footers and displayed on their Cart page too. Don’t just put the words there but you really need to purchase an SSL certificate. The certificate will ensure your customer’s  information that you ask from them is secured, encrypted and safe during the transmission to a third party such as banks, credit card companies and other payment gateways.

5. Stand up and be recognized by known entities. Get all necessary third-party recognition such being a Microsoft partner or any known businesses. Show a Visa, Master Card or even PayPal logo if you are processing payment for these popular merchants.

With all the fraudulent hackers who are always on the lookout to victimize online shoppers, it is more important than ever to safeguard your website for consumer use.

Implement these starter tips from day one you opened you online store and I assure you that your customers will feel more comfortable purchasing products from your site.

Online trust will come if you invest and put on the necessary security, and assurance in your shop for even greater peace of mind of your buyers. With online trust gained, you’ll be well on your way to receiving increased sales as well and repeat orders too!

A lot of bloggers doesn’t know that there are different types of web hosting. I don’t blame them because the web host providers doesn’t even explain it to them.

Not if you are an internet marketer or a enterprise level company, you don’t have any excuses not to know these.

Web Server Hosting Rack

If you will diligently  review the different web hosting options of most  providers, you will actually can see the types of web hosting that they are offering.  Unfortunately, you might be facing an array of somewhat confusing information on what are those categories.

In general, there are 3 Types of Web Hosting that can be  can be summarized as follows:

1. Virtual (shared) Web Hosting – This is the most common web hosting arrangement in which more than one domain shares space on the same web server. This is the least expensive way for a company to create a web presence.  This type of web hosting is enough to  provide sufficient reliability and security assurances for basic web sites such as blogs.  This is not recommended for  companies that are  running mission-critical information over the internet or highly trafficked sites such as those being run by some internet marketers.

2. Dedicated Web Hosting – This is almost the same like the shared web hosting except that the whole server or more server are dedicated to one company. This is the right kind of arrangement for internet marketers. This setup  provide additional security and reliability often needed to accommodate the high traffic and the high bandwidth needs. The company using this services can have their own public IP address. This is also the recommended setup for those who want to setup their online store.

3. Co-location – This is a hosting arrangement in which a company provides the servers, but leases data center space, and of course the internet connection. A data center leases their space in terms of Rack. A Rack is simply an enclosure wherein you can install multiple servers.  This type of web hosting forces the company to have full control of their servers  while benefiting from the much better security, high-speed internet access, temperature controlled environment  provided by the data centers and it’s network infrastructure. This is a great option for a company capable of handling their own network management.

For a simple WordPress blog, the Virtual (shared) web hosting is enough to cover all your needs as long as you don’t run any scripts that can jeopardize your neighbor blog.

Do you really need a website to promote your business?

In the USA alone, the e-commerce avenue in 2007 was already at more than $100 Billion.  If you can get even just a small piece of this revenue, say .1%, that means you can have $100 million.

Even if you are just starting on your business IT’S A MUST to have an online presence already, even if you don’t have the technical know-how. You can either hire another company to do the dirty job for you. This is called outsourcing. Or, you can also get the services of some internet marketing company specializing in business web site design that will host your e-store for you.

A good example of an e-commerce  is Market America. This is a full-pledged international marketplace where people get paid to shop. This online store was put up by MA WEBCENTERS. It is a company that offers a complete e-commerce solutions for any company that wants to have an online presence without needing a full-time technical team just to setup a website.

Market America portal has one of the largest online shopping networks available.  Think of Market America as a product brokerage company. They have on their inventory thousands of products provided by their partners.   Visit Market America Profiles where they showcase the accomplishments of of their partners. Through this site, Market America  gives recognition to their deserving partners or distributors and provides inspirational success stories as well.

Another site that is hosted and being managed by MA Webcenters is Market America International Convention. This website is actually a social network  site that give  instant access to  regional conventions along with seminars, trade shows and conventions in the USA.

A badminton buddy of mine who owns a franchise of e-Games cafe of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) asked for my help to install  both hidden and non-hidden cameras . For those who are not from the Philippines, PAGCOR e-Games cafe is an internet cafe dedicated to casino games only.

The non-hidden cameras are for the customers playing in the cafe. We actually placed the cameras where the customers can see that they are being watched. This is to at least give them some warning not to cheat or don’t do any unlawful  act while playing.

You may ask what is the hidden camera for?

The hidden camera is for my friend to monitor his two employees managing the e-Games cafe.  My friend had an experienced before when one of his employee (actually a family relative – his own cousin)  stole some cash from the cash registers. His cousin denied the wrong doing but my friend was certain that he was the culprit. He couldn’t fire his employee-cousin because he doesn’t have any evidence at that time. Later on, his cousin resigned from his work just a week after the  incidence.

This is the reason why my friend installed a hidden camera in his e-Games cafe – to avoid any further incident  like what happened between him and his cousin.

The camera or should I say surveillance camera is designed to look and function like just a regular wall clock. Below is  almost exactly the same kind of surveillance camera we installed.

Wall Clock Hidden Camera

Can you see where the hidden camera is?

I was actually fascinated with this gadget because you could never really tell that this standard wall clock is actually recording the motion within the room. Of course, nobody knows about it except me and my friend (and yes – his wife too). My friend even let me view the recorded videos two days after we installed it. Luckily we didn’t find any irregularities or scandalous acts on his cafe.

Next week, I’ll gonna visit my badminton friend again so we can configure the hidden camera to stream the video over the internet so he can view his e-Games cafe from home.

Go41 Sample Restaurant Site

Do you want to have your own restaurant website in few minutes like the sample above, even if:

1. You don’t have computer technical knowledge?

2. No design skills?

Yes, you can create your stunning restaurant website in minutes by simply following the 4 steps provided by GOA41.com on their site:

1. Choose a template and colors – Currently goa41.com has 3 templates but of course you are free to change the colors and fonts.

2. Insert Pictures – You can upload your own images.

3. Write few sentences – just write and edit all the contents of your site by using GOA 41 designer like the menus of your restaurant and all other necessary  information. You can also preview your site anytime.

4. Publish your site – and if you are ready, publish your site and announce to the world your new restaurant website.

Impress your customers and friends, go to GOA 41 and create your stylish restaurant site.

Bon appétit everyone!

Image from TheList Company

Let me start by telling you  that this post is about business blogging, but in general it is also applicable to any type of blogs.

Almost every business owner wants to grow their market and reach a larger audience. There is no better tool nowadays but to give your “brick and mortar” business an online presence. This is where business blogging comes in.

Gone are the days when static pages are the king of the web landscape.  The power of blogging has been fully recognized by the business community as a powerful tool in reaching more potential customers.

If you are into business blogging then congratulations! You’ve done the first step (and sometimes the most important).

Since you already have a physical product  to offer  ( it applies to digital products and services too), all you have to do is to sell, sell and sell.

I won’t talk about landing pages here nor the aesthetic design of your business blog. I want to emphasize on this post on how to promote your product or business online in the quickest way possible.

Let’s forget the technical details of a blog. We don’t need the perfect keywords at this time,  in short we don’t need SEO. Believe me, it  will take t time for a search engine to index your business blog. Let’s forget social media such as Facebook,  Myspace, Twitter, etc..  Let’s keep those in the background for a moment.

Your goal is either to make or increase sales. In order for you to achieve this, you need to inform your potential buyers about your business blog. In blogging, the right term is to drive traffic in your site.

so… How can you promote your product as fastest as possible?

By using  a LIST. Most if not all internet marketing gurus will tell you that without list there will be no traffic. Some equates LIST with Profits. In some way it’s is true.

Spread the word about your business blog  by  building a list. But wait a minute, isn’t building a list takes a loooooonnng time?

Well, definitely yes.

But what if, instead of building YOUR OWN LIST, you can LEVERAGE on other people’s list? If you can ask favor from other people (internet marketer) who are willing to share their list, or do a swap so much the better. Just give a share for every sale (like an affiliate).

If you cannot find other people to promote your product through their list, there are companies out there whose specialty is building a list and either you can rent or buy from them. What’s so good about these companies, is they already have market segregation. If you are looking for a consumer list, you can request them to segregate the data according to your criteria such as geography, age, income, purchasing behavior and more. They can even provide you a special list according to your target such as business list, auto insurance list, etc.

I hope I’ve given you some initial idea in promoting your business blog.

Having a business blog pays – but having a profit pays even better!  This can be easily done the fastest way by leveraging on other people’s list.

This is another cool free application guys. If you have small and home-based businesses, Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2009 can come in very handy for you.

Why 2009 and not 2010? It is for the reason that Microsoft is no longer distributing this very handy and useful software after November 2009, but you can still download it from other third-party websites such as download.cnet.com.

Microsoft Accounting Express

Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2009 is an easy-to-use accounting software that works with any of the existing Microsoft Office suite of applications, with which you can easily create invoices, track expenses and banks, and do a wide variety of accounting works which can help you easily manage your business.

Importing data from Office Excel, etc. is also pretty easy which lets you start from where you are. Just check out this Office Accounting Express 2009 – You won’t even have any difficulty working with its features and tools.

With the help of step-by-step wizard, you can even get your accounting tasks commenced immediately, and best of all, this Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2009 can come to you 100% free of cost!!

All it takes is just download Office Accounting Express 2009, and you can get started! This free version works with Windows XP/2003/Server/Vista.

However, of note, this free version is designed for US and UK based small business only and does not support requirement outside of these two countries.

If you are looking for a “Must-Attend University for Bloggers” or if you feel that you are trying to learn a foreign language whenever you see the words “WordPress, FTP, Filezilla, Webhosting, RSS” and other alien words…

Or, if you just simply want to know the step-by-step process on how to setup a blog from choosing a domain name to using the “FeedBurner”…

Then… look no farther. I’m presenting to you the 10 Easy To Follow Videos Showing You How To Create Your Blog From Scratch!

These videos are for veteran bloggers too who wants to do some reviews  on their skills (no examinations needed! )

By the way, the course is FREE

Here’s the Menu and Outline of Each Free Video:

Video 1 – Why You Should Use WordPress

Discover why it is so important to use WordPress for your blog and how you can learn, for FREE, how to set up your very own blog.

Video 2 – How To Get Your Own Domain Name

Discover how easy and fast it is to get your very own domain name for your new blog or website

Video 3 – How To Get A Web Host

Discover how easy and fast it is to set up your own hosting account for your new blog or website. And you’ll also be surprised at how very affordable it is to host your own blog.

Video 4 – How To Install WordPress

Discover how you can install the WordPress platform for your new blog! It’s free and it’s very easy to use once you’ve installed it.

Video 5 – How To Upload Files To Your Webhost Using FTP

Discover how to upload files to your own website or blog using FTP. Don’t worry, FTP is just like sending an email with attachment to your friend.

Video 6 – Choosing A WordPress Theme For Your New Blog

Discover how easy and painless it is to get your own free theme for your new WordPress blog.

WordPress 2.8 Ready Theme

Video 7 – How To Install And Use WordPress Plugins

Find out how you can easily install and use WordPress plugins for your new WordPress blog. Plugins are extra tools for WordPress.

Video 8 – How To Create Your First Blog Post And Blog Page

Discover how easy, simple and fast it is to create your first blog post and blog page. If you know how to type, you’ll find this video very easy to follow indeed

Video 9 – What RSS Is And Why You Need It

Discover what the mysterious letters “rss” means and learn how it can make you super effective on the information highway

Video 10 – How To Use Feedburner For Supercharging Your RSS Capabilities

Learn about “feedburner”, and how you can use it to help you boost your rss capabilities.

If you have any comments or questions on setting-up your blog please send me a personal email or feel free to add some comments on this post. Enjoy!