SMB IT | Curtis Franklin » TAG: Web Publishing

December 14, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Teach Your Users Well

TAGS: Web Publishing

One of the issues many small businesses deal with is how to get product information and training to customers, employees, and partners. I know companies that use services like YouTube, though you can't really say that the popular video service does a lot for your professional appearance.
There's a new service, Neulio that is designed for putting courseware together and getting it to the users. The user interface is clean, the interface for building the course is easy to use, and it's quite easy to embed references to created content on your company web sites. If you start to build lots of content, you can even "private label" your Neulio site, and control who gets to see it how the landing page appears. I've been looking at the site since it was in beta, and I'm impressed with the ease with which you can create and share learning materials.
Now for a moment of full disclosure: I've known the developer of Neulio for a long time, and he and I wrote "The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Podcasting" together.

Speaking of podcasting, the Emerging Enterprise podcast will resume soon. We've run into a couple of minor re-starting issues, but they'll be worked out directly, and the podcast will start once again. I'll keep you posted on the progress. In the meantime, if you're a small business I.T. manager who's interested in being interviewed for the podcast, drop a note to me and we'll get the conversation started.

Posted by Curt Franklin on December 14, 2007 09:20 PM

August 21, 2005 | Comments: (0)

Don't Ignore Your Web Site

TAGS: Web Publishing

According to Boston-based Yankee Group, an increasing percentage of SMBs are either under-utilizing or downright ignoring their Web sites. The Yankees think that’s a big mistake, and I’d have to concur. A web site isn’t just an MBA-speak ‘must-have’. Sure, potential customers are likely to look at you funny if you don’t have a Web site, but a conscientiously maintained Web presence is also a truly valuable marketing tool.

The only trouble is that ‘conscientiously’ part. Time, effort and money are anathema to SMBs running IT on a tight budget. So outsource. Look for Web hosting outfits that offer extended functionality on an out-sourced basis. Look for those offering features or services specific to marketing, e-commerce as well as those that have partnerships with companies that do the same thing.

For more help with keeping your Web site up-to-date and maximizing its business benefits, check out these sites:

SearchEnginePosition.com (http://www.searchengineposition.com) can help you maximize your Web exposure.

Yahoo! Small Business (http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/) not only offers small business hosting with a number of marketing tools available, but also has lots of content on getting the most for your Web dollar.

Microsoft’s Small Business Center (http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/hub.mspx) doesn’t offer hosting, but does offer loads of content and Microsoft downloadable tools for burgeoning SMB web masters.

Posted by Oliver Rist on August 21, 2005 03:24 PM