Back around Christmas I got a Samsung Galaxy Active 2 watch to replace my old Garmin Vivofit. The watch is really nice, it has completely replaced my Garmin devices including a 230 running watch – so much better than that. But it has one really strange problem that I encountered the first time I used my ski machine. The watch connects to Samsung Health on a phone. I like this better than Garmin’s Connect dashboard. In the watch when you work out, you can choose from a lot of different workouts from walking to running to lifting to hiking to… Continue Reading
Productivity
Working from Home for the First Time?
I’ve been working from home since 2005 so it’s nothing new for me. But for those experiencing it for the first time, it can be frustrating. You may feel distracted, that’s a big problem. Or you may have family in the house and feel like you’re getting interrupted and not being productive. Here are some things that I’ve learned – they work for me, and may help you. Try to find your own work/life rhythm. Define working hours. Doesn’t matter when they are – middle of the night, early afternoon, whatever works for you. But stick to them and make… Continue Reading
Weekly Links Roundup – Top CRMs, Polling Plugins, Nonprofit Content Strategy, Local SEO
The top website and online marketing links of the week. Do you currently use CRM (customer relationship management) software for your small business that you like? Tell us about it in the comments below! But if you don’t, and you’re looking for one, here’s a review of 9 top CRM software tools for businesses. CRMs help you track notes, leads, contact info and much more for each of your customers. I use Freshworks for my helpdesk so am looking into Freshsales by the same company. Would you like to collect visitor feedback or run surveys on your site? Of course… Continue Reading
Weekly Links Roundup – Email Signatures, Asking for Referrals, Project Launches, Images in Posts
The top website and online marketing links of the week. Ever give much thought to your business email signature? Not for your newsletter – just your everyday email. I have to admit I hadn’t paid much attention to mine in quite a while, but this week a colleague pointed out that I could make that sig work a lot harder for me if I wanted to. While doing some research into this, I came across a post on 25 effective business email signatures from pros that might give you some inspiration as well. One of the top tips I got… Continue Reading
Weekly Links Roundup – Thanking Customers, Old Content, Too Many Choices, Trello
The top website and marketing links of the week. Making sure your customers know you appreciate them is an ongoing and critical task for business owners. Here are some ideas for thanking your customers from Constant Contact. What to do with the old content on your website is another constant question. Here are some good ideas for dealing with old content from Yoast. Don’t forget that you shouldn’t just delete an old post – if the old post has good-quality links pointing to it and you have a new post that fills the shoes of the old one, you’ll need… Continue Reading
Weekly Links Roundup – Site Structure, CRMs, Membership Sites
The top website and marketing links for this week. Starting your website off with a solid site structure (or Information Architecture if you want to get a bit more technical) is important and usually not too hard to do. But keeping that structure as your site grows can be more difficult – check out those huge menus and category lists you see on some complex sites! Note the lack of breadcrumbs that can help you see where you are at any given point. Learn how to recover that great site structure and improve UX as well as SEO. Are you… Continue Reading
Weekly Links Roundup – Standing Desk Mats, WordPress vs. SquareSpace, Better Contact Pages
The top website and marketing links for this week. First, not a web thing, but a work thing… Have you jumped on the standing desk bandwagon? I stand about half the time most work days, using a Varidesk Pro on top of my big black IKEA desk. But lately since I’m standing more I’ve noticed my 2-year-old anti-fatigue mat is seeming rather fatigued. This morning I ordered a replacement based on this review of non-flat anti-fatigue mats for standing desks (didn’t even know there was such a thing!). My butterfly mat will be here Tuesday, I can’t wait to try it… Continue Reading
Friday Link Wrapup – Font Size, Popups, Twitter, Trello
The top website and marketing links for this week. How easy is your site to read? Does it have tiny text that makes it tough for some users? The 12px font size became a norm in the late 1990’s/early 2000’s because Mac OS adopted the 12pt font as its default base size. 9-14px fonts were common during this period. By 2011, though, 16px had been adopted by most web designers as a good minimum size. Today, we’re starting to see sites with font sizes of 20px and more. Learn more about trends in font sizes here. Do you hate popups?… Continue Reading