Net Notes
by Lundy Wilder

Net Notes is a column about using technology to help make your business or personal life run smoother. They are hints that I have used or know people that have used them. Like any recommendation…caveat emptor. See if it works for you! The hints provided here are all unpaid and unsolicited. If you have other hints email me and I’ll pass them on. lundy@mobilebaybusinessjournal.com



 

 PhoneTag – You’re it! 
Are you one of the many who check email more often than you check telephone voice mail? Or do you have secondary phone lines whose message box rarely gets checked? For a small fee, PhoneTag will transcribe your voice mail and send you an email with the content. This new service is $10 for 40 messages per month or $30 for unlimited service. They also have a flat 0.35-cent per message rate. They do a remarkable job in the accuracy department too, even from ESL speakers. 
   PhoneTag also includes a wav file of audio they transcribe in case you want to listen for yourself. If you are checkin
g your email by phone, most phones can play these files. It is very easy to setup. You call your phone carrier and tell them to forward unavailable calls to a new number and you'll be up and running about 5 minutes after sign-up. http://www.phonetag.com  

Battery-low ?
 iPhone® users usually love their new gadgets but many complain about the short battery life. Check out: http://www.thewwwblog.com/how-to-improve-your-apple-iphone-battery-life.html  for suggestions on how to get more juice from your Apple.



Can’t find your webpage
   Do you have any idea how many people reach a web error (404) page on your site? If you look at server stats, you might be surprised at the number of 404s that get shown to your visitors and to the search bots.
   The thing to do is to make a custom "404.html" page that has a politely encouraging message and a link back into a useful part of your site. To take helpfulness one step further and automate that, Google has just introduced a great free service whereby you place a very short snippet of javascript code into your custom error page and Google creates a helpful message on the page that says 'did you mean… and links back into your site and/or gives a site-specific search box that uses Google's indexing of your web pages to help your visitor get back into your website's content. Go to Google's Webmaster Tools to get your code snipplet. http://www.google.com/webmasters  

Direct mail marketing ideas
Rarely does a freebie magazine entertain and offer great ideas page after page, but I find that Deliver magazine from our very own

US Postal Service gets my creative juices flowing. The clever and colorful artwork alone makes it worth a look. When the first couple issues showed up in my mailbox, I had a hard time believing that this sleek little magazine actually came from our postal service. Aimed at people who do direct mailings, Deliver covers marketing from many angles and inspires creative ideas through a very well conceived format. www.delivermagazine.com  

Templates mean savings on forms
If you are spending money on the creation on business forms and related office print projects you may be able to save a little by utilizing the multitude of free business templates that Microsoft offers. You can sign up for a weekly email that concisely lists new additions to their ever-expanding free template downloads. Many of the templates are for MS Office but some are handy for home use. They offer in-house templates from Microsoft as well as top notch user-submitted creations. http://www.microsoft.com/beta/downloads/Notifications.aspx  

Drop.io – an upload center that works like a FTP site.
As a small business owner, I often have occasion to pass large files along to other people, but I can never be sure that their email program, ISP, or spam filters will allow me to email them large attachments. That is where a terrific free service, Drop.io, comes in handy. I can upload files to the Drop.iop servers and my clients or friends can access them whenever it is convenient.
   Drop.io requires no account registration, no email addresses so it is especially quick and easy. Each

 
'drop' is private and only as accessible as you choose to make it. Drops are not 'searchable' and not networked; they just exist as private points for exchange of information between individuals or groups. You can create as many 'drops' as you want.
   Each 'drop' has four ways to get it on their servers--the web, voice, email, and fax. Anything that you put into a 'drop' can be retrieved on the web at that assigned drop location. It works great. Check it out at www.drop.io  

Gmail, a cure for multiple email address mess?
Do you manage multiple websites or have multiple email addresses? If so, I have found that routing the associated email accounts to one easily accessible Gmail account is invaluable. Gmail is the free web-based email service from Google.
I set my individual emails on each site to auto-forward to my gmail account so I only have to keep one browser window open to see as emails enter during the day. If I am not sure what the senders comments refer to, I can click 'details' to see from which account the email was forwarded. This usually tips me off as to what the message refers too.
Gmail allows me to tag my messages using one or multiple tags and the search feature of Gmail is unparalleled. If I can just remember just one word or a name in the email, I can do a search and Gmail will retrieve it for me. What a life saver! This free web-based email service does not have the junky associations that other free email services have and the spam filter is very effective. Visit www.google.com .

 

Goog 411…
FREE info anywhere!! Google has a new local voice search option – Goog 411. The new information service is free, fast and easy to use. Imagine, no more 411 charges on your cell phone. How’s it work? Dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411). Tell them where you are or put in a zip code; speak or text the business name or type (i.e. pizza delivery) you’re looking for; select which business. Bam! You’re connected. You can even get a map if have mobile internet service.

www.SpotCrime.com
When traveling to a new city I can access www.SpotCrime.com to see a graphical representation of the amount (and types) of crime in different parts of the city. This is a big help in choosing the area of town in which to make a hotel reservation or if you’re buying a house and want to know more about the neighborhood.

Do you have a favorite site or piece of software that you recommend? Send me a note.