Using Googlemail as a real time Anti-Spam Filter is the simple and free solution for companies, organizations and individuals who want to get rid of spam without buying and maintaining their own anti spam server or anti-spam software.

How it works
Lack of spam is one of top reasons for Gmail popularity. Obviously, someone processing millions of emails each day should know how to handle SPAM. Use the Google Anti-Spam technology for your own email server. You get a service that is at least as good as SPAMfighter, MessageLabs or Postini (a Google owned company) – for free!

How to use GoogleMail as hosted spam filter

1. Create a GoogleMail account

This account will be the filter between your email server and your local email client.

2. Let GMail process your email

You need to get the email from your email server somehow to GMail. There are two options for this:
(a) Use the Gmail POP3 feature and let Gmail collect your email by polling your email server every few minutes.
b) Collect your cleaned mail using POP3 via Outlook etc..  on your local machine!
c) Check the googlemail interface from time to time to clean out the spam folder and check for any false positives that have slipped through.

Big Bonus Point 1
You can use the POP3 setting in Google to leave behind a copy of any messages you download – When you enable this feature you have an effective and powerful way to back up every email you ever receive For Free.

Big Bonus Point 2
You can access all your email from any computer that has internet access – right in the Googlemail interface – no syncing problems as eveerything is live

Surely everyone realises the  importance of a great website in today’s business climate?

Using Wordpress  to create the framework of that site is a first step to getting seen in Google and getting visitors to call by.  But a good framework is not everything – content is vital too!

Your home page is the entry point to your website, similar to the reception area of an office or the entry point of a store. However, there is no receptionist or assistant to direct your prospects to their area of interest on a website. If you want prospective clients/shoppers to linger, your home page must be appealing easy to use and contain information relevant to the surfers requirements.

If it is not, they will leave.

You have just 7 seconds to get your viewers attention or lose them (according to several independent research surveys)

Customers appreciate an attractive layout with relevant content, consisting of useful information and quick loading images, they will also want to see an easy way to communicate with you.

Your home page should be completely marketing focused: Informing  prospective customers of the benefits of the products and services you offer – as well as a bit about your company’s background.

Include small logos of organizations of which you are a member, as well as brief details any relevant awards that your company, your employees, or you have received.

Testimonials are very important too

Special sales or promotions should be prominently displayed.

You HAVE to give visitors to your site a reason to stay and do business with you.

Links to all important pages should be located on your home page to enable visitors to easily navigate your website.  Nothing will cause a visitor to leave your site quicker than difficulty in using the site. As you can see, a well-constructed home page is vital to a great website which. Make certain that your home page is all that it can be

For the first time in at least 6 years, I opened my copy of the local yellow pages last week.  I needed a number, we had an internet issue andd I’d left my phone in the office – Otherwise I would have just Googled my enquiry as usual!

I know it’s that long  since I used them because this particular volume  travelled with us from our old home when we moved in 2003/4!

Two things struck me immeduiately! – firstly that the thing was still wrapped in it’s polythene packaging, pristine as the day it arrived, so clearly I wasn’t the onl;y person in the house who had not needed of it for that length of time, and secondly I was amazed at the size of it – it seemed to be much slimmer than I remembered it!

It doesn’t seem that long ago that tearing up telephone directories was sport for the more aggressive types amongst us, these days I reckon almost anyone could get into it!

And here’s another thought – even though that book is a lot slimmer than it used to be, it doesn’t cost any less to get an entry in it – in fact paper directory charges continue to rise whilst their usage declines – how does that work?

So – if people don’t use these directories to either promote themselves, or find goods and services they need – why do business  phones keep  ringing?

My theory is that pretty much everyone in business, and a huge percentage of consumers too, will  use Google as their yellow pages substitute.

I also think that whilst a percentage of  surfers will email or fill in a form from websites that interest them,  it’s pretty likely a larger number of them will simply pick up the phone and call the company concerned – I know I do.

If Google is becoming the new Yellow Pages, it’s important that your site has contact details on every single page – and that must include your phone number – miss that out and you could be missing out on the lions share of the available business.

If you’ve moved from paper Yellow pages to an online directory such as Yell.com you may be in for a nasty shock when you check out your website analytics – in amost all cases where I have clients using Yell or other web based directories, they contribute only a tiny number of visitors – I believe this is because the directory lists your competitors next to you, and lets face it 0  it’s just too easy to click and visit them too!

Need more help or advice

use the contact form or call me 07950 232926

If you’re like most small business owners, you want to maximise referrals and repeat business – so that you don’t have to spend your time chasing down leads, then convincing folks that they should do business with you. But building this type of business takes constant contact with your customers.

Here’s the problem, as the months go by, your past customers just aren’t thinking about you anymore. That’s the cold, hard truth. And no matter how great your service was, your customers are busy living their lives–odds are, they simply won’t remember you. And they definitely won’t mention your name at the next family picnic when Uncle Jack starts talking about the pains your product or service fixes.

Am I saying that good service won’t help you get a referral here and there? Of course not!

What I am saying is that if you want a strong customer base that is the backbone of your business, you must actively, systematically and methodically BUILD YOUR CUSTOMER BASE.

That’s where Secret #5 comes in: You Must Have A Living, Breathing Customer Database.

So, what do I mean when I say you need a “living, breathing customer database?”

Well, you need to actively build your customer database—every day, every week, every month! All of your contact, prospect and customer data, order & billing info… everything needs to be entered and stored in the database. You need these people organized into meaningful groups. And you need the flexibility to sort through the database so that on a moment’s notice you can pull up prospects or customers that might bring you more business.

And when you combine a solid customer database with the power of sequential follow-up campaigns (as I told you in previous messages), you have the ability to land lots of new business in a short period of time. You can effortlessly run a customer loyalty campaign that keeps your name in front of customers… and keeps repeat business and referrals coming your way.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can easily begin to build a customer database for your business, give me a call or send me an email. I’ll tell you about the options out there and explain the pros and cons of each.