What Are People Writing About Your Business Online: Let Google Keep a Check

Businesses today are in the Digital Times. Since the mainstream introduction of the internet and its capabilities the way business is conducted has evolved and changed. With the mainstream inclusion of the Digital Media, the way businesses communicate with their prospective target audience and the way the audience communicates with the business has drastically changed.
Customers today are an evolved lot. They have every bit of information available online about what they are looking for and what they want to know about through the internet and mobile. Ways and communication methods have changed and so has the media and the medium.

The web 2.0 revolution!
Web 2.0 has revolutionized the way communication happens online. Its a two way communication methodology which empowers everyone to put forth their points of view and share comments. Content creation and information flow has also taken a new shape with information being available through easily and freely accessible social networks and other digital media.

What change are businesses feeling?
Though the businesses are feeling multiple changes around, one of the striking most aspects is what and where are people mentioning or talking about the business. Each business, whether small, emerging or established has a reputation to create, instill and manage and hence they have to be updated with what is being mentioned about them or said about them everywhere.

Internet is vast and hence its practically not possible for every business to employ people to keep track of what is being said about the business online. Social networks, Blogs, tweets, comments, presentations, videos, Online complaints, there are so many more ways in which either an employee or a customer or anyone related to the business can talk about the same. And so can your Ex-employees, customers etc.

As emerging businesses, how do we keep track of what is being said about us online?
One of the simplest and most effective methods of keeping a track of what is being said about your business online is through a free tool by Google called: Google Alerts!

What is Google Alerts and how can I access it?
Google alerts basically are alerts which Google sends to the subscribers through Emails whenever it encounters a new result anywhere on the web, for which the subscriber has marked the keywords for.Google alerts can be used to monitor anything on the web, Eg:

• businesses use Google alerts to know what is being said about them online
• monitor a developing news or story
• keep yourself abreast of news on market competitors and others
• maintain their personal reputation

Click on Google Alerts here to set alerts for your business/ personal self.

How does Google alerts work?

• You enter a query that you're interested in on the Google alerts query bar
• Google Alerts will automatically keep checking the internet to see if there are any new results for your query at all.
• If there are new results, Google Alerts sends them to you in an email, of which you can define the frequency. eg: if you want the alert to tell you immediately when something is being written about you OR do you want a consolidated Email at the end of the day.

How do I create my first alert?

Its fairly simple. All you need to do is, go to the Google alerts homepage and do the following:

• Enter your query normally in the Google alerts query box, just like you would do on the Google search bar
• Enter your email address : this is where you would like Google to send you the alerts

Once your alert is active you will receive an Email whenever Google Alerts find something new which is relevant to your query searched.

How can it be of help to my small business?

You can always keep yourself abreast of what is happening in your industry/ news and views relevant to your domain and what exactly are your competitors upto. You can also keep a strong check on what your employees/ customers are talking about you when they are mentioning you online. Google alerts also helps you manage your online reputation, as if you see a negative comment about your business online, you are now enabled and empowered to provide a justification and pacify your target audience. Also if you have the positives on your side, a thank you strengthens the relationship.

For more innovative ways of growing your business, drop in a comment to this post and IndiaMART Knowledge Services team will be happy to extend its help with its team of experts!

Google Apps for Your Emerging Business: Free Apps for a Successful Business

For every Small and Emerging business technology is a great boon. Since the inception of the Digital Media and the internet, how businesses are done has changed. The entire business ecosystem globally is evolving with new forms of communication, transaction, managing information coming up. In times of mobility today business applications have become essential. From managing time to productivity, reducing costs to automating content smart applications are helping organizations become smarter.

There are many sources of applications on the internet which you can subscribe to, but one of the most powerful destinations which is a suite of business apps and is free for use is Google Apps.

What all various types of applications does Google offer for Small Businesses?
Google offers a suite of apps which are highly beneficial for small businesses. these apps are categorized as follows:

• Messaging apps
• Collaboration apps
• Apps related to the digital world
• Additional business apps
• Apps for education

But how are these apps beneficial for my small business?

Lets take an example. You run a small, emerging company and are looking to start an Email service for your employees, either you buy a server space and keep increasing the same as the company grows or you use a hosted service like a Google mail for the first 50 accounts for your employees for free. Many start-ups and emerging companies leverage the power of hosted Email solution by Google to reduce their cost of implementing an Email service across the organization.

Productivity is a major concern for businesses today. While productivity is a major concern for emerging companies, much is taken care of by productivity apps. Businesses today are not a one of entity. Everything is interlinked and connected. Information from one part of the business can be leveraged as an input for affecting another business aspect. 

Collaborative apps play an important role here. Eg: if your project team is working on a spec document which is to be shared amongst 10 project members at the same time, either you can give a copy each to every member and keep adjusting the information or else you maintain a single copy which can be accessed by anyone at any point in time and be edited and updated in real time.

Google docs helps you achieve just this. hence project teams can be far more productive within the same span of time and that too at no extra cost incurred. For small and emerging businesses this is a fantastic advantage.

But is my data secure if I am using a shared space online?

Hosted services are fairly secure and are updated regularly for security purposes. Also automatic backups are taken at regular time intervals. Google provides SSO, forced SSL, Custom password, with a 99.9% uptime service guarantee SLA and a 24x7 support.

Where do I find Google Apps and how do I choose which are the apps for my business?

The basic logic which helps you make the choice of which business app to choose for your business is your business objective and the user for the same.

Once you decide upon what you want to achieve while including technology in your scheme of things, you will be able to better decided upon which business app to be used. If you want Google apps for your business, click here. 

How can I learn more about each of these specific apps?

To know more about specific apps you must navigate as follows: reach Google Apps home page: http://www.google.com/apps/, from where you must click on the relevant app base you want to explore. Eg: Google Apps.

Eg if you want to know more about Google Docs, click on Google Docs as shown in the screen capture below:

To know more about how you can better manage your emerging business using business apps, drop in a comment and our team of experts at IndiaMART Knowledge Services will be happy to help!

Free Video and Voice Calls Over Internet: Connect With Customers Globally: Travel Reduced for SMEs

Traveling could be a passion for some but with business its an incurred cost. Yes there are businesses where traveling is a must and cannot be avoided, more so in the case of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). As they have limited budgets, traveling is an additional cost which can shoot up expenses.

Technology has helped SMEs to reduce down cost of travel while connecting them with prospective customers globally. There are many online tools available which help you do web conferences, video calls, global meetings and all this while sitting in the comfort of your own office/ home/ establishment.

Skype it!
One of the most trusted and free tools online is Skype. Skype lets you make free calls using VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) technology. If you are calling another Skype user anywhere across the world, its free and hence for SMEs, one of the biggest advantages of using Skype is to connect with customers globally while investing only in an internet connection and time.

And not just this! Skype also lets you do free Video calls globally using the internet. You can simply arrange a multiple mode call with your customers globally and quickly shift onto a video mode which will help you see the other person LIVE.

What are the various features?

Other than just being able to make global calls to other Skype users for free, Skype also lets you call on land-line phones and mobiles at a very low cost. There is available conference calling which lets you connect with multiple people globally at the same time and collaborate. Like a normal chat tool, you can send IMs (Instant Messages) to people who will be contacted instantly if they are online, otherwise they will get the message once they log into Skype.

One of the major features of Skype is screen sharing, which allows business users to do product demos. Eg: software professionals who want to display the functioning and working of their software product can do it easily with global customers by sharing their LIVE screen with everyone.

Sending files (of a certain size limit) to another Skype user is also a quick function available with Skype. You can send the most widely used and commonly known file types (.doc, .pdf, .mp3, .jpg, .ppt, .xls, .wmv, .avi) to any other Skype user all across the world. A broadband connection is all that you need for this setup to work.

Skype for Small Businesses

Skype is a fantastic solution for small businesses globally. Other than making  calls at low rates (which is a basic feature of Skype), using instant messaging and being able to share large files for free, small businesses can instantly collaborate with customers, partners, vendors, suppliers globally. Also as a small business while you cannot afford to have a free global number to be called upon, you can use Skype as your 24/7 phone, where any customer can call you anytime globally, while saving on costs.

Is Skype available only for windows?

While Skype has evolved it is now available across platforms:

• Windows
• Mac
• Linux
• iPhone
• Symbian
• Android

Sounds good, but can Skype be used with the normal phone that I have at my office?

Skype Connect is the answer!!

Skype Connect provides connectivity between your business and the Skype community. By adding Skype Connect to your existing SIP-enabled PBX, your business can save on communication costs with little or no additional upgrades required.

To get Skype Connect, click here!

How can I be on the move with Skype?

You can get Skype on your mobile and take it with you wherever you go, while still doing free Skype to Skype calls. You can do it in these three ways:

1. Download Skype on your smart phone and start using just the way you use it on your computer (some features may be a little less)
2. Buy a Smart Phone with in-built Skype
3. Call from any phone by using the Skype Call to Go Number (for this you need to buy Skype Credit)

How does it help SMEs?

Skype is a great communication tool for SMEs. It greatly helps emerging businesses in taking their business global while still keeping the travel and communication costs low. 

There are many such tools available online which can help Start-ups and Small and Emerging businesses leverage the power of the internet to take their business to the next level. To know more, drop in a comment to this post and our team of experts at the IndiaMART Knowledge Services will be happy to help!

Is it About Fans on Facebook: How Should Small Businesses Engage With Prospects

Many Small and Medium Enterprises are confused with the new and emerging modes of communication. The digital media is one of them. Emerging businesses are struggling to understand the functioning of the media. While they do understand the low cost benefit of the medium as a marketing tool, but the lack of actual operational knowledge and relating the same to business benefits creates a roadblock which stints the actual power of the medium to be leveraged by the SMEs.

What after the facebook fan page?
In one of our recent posts on facebook fan pages for businesses, we explained how businesses must have a presence on facebook through a facebook fan page and not a personal profile.

But what happens once you have a facebook fan page? How do you get fans there? How do you ensure the quality and quantity of fans? How do you maintain and manage relevancy? These are the questions which are to be worked upon by every business and then converted into a strategy to manage the business presence on facebook.

Manage your facebook fan page!
Once you have the facebook fan page existing for your business, you must have a clearly defined and existing strategy of managing it. To understand it, it is similar as a website. If you created your official website when you started your business and haven't updated it for years, it will become a slowly degrading online asset and be stale food for search engines. In the similar manner to keep your target audience engaged you have to manage your facebook fan page by creating interesting and engaging messaging, which communicates powerfully with the intended audience.

But who manages the page for my business?
This is a critical and crucial decision to be taken by any business. Since the digital media is fairly new and understanding is little, majority of the organizations outsource this function to specialized digital agencies who upon understanding your business, create a digital media strategy and help your business gain strength online.

Many emerging companies are also working out the other way. They expect their marketing teams to be updated with the Digital Media as Digital Media is a form of marketing only, thereby making it an internal function. Small set-ups, especially emerging companies are tightly knitted units and hence the business understanding that they have cannot be easily transported and replicated to external agencies, which at times hinders the messaging and communication further resulting in un-even engagement with the target audience.

The ideal case should be your marketing team getting trained on the emerging media and its usage and then creating the right messaging and communication for your intended target audience.

Got it, how do I fetch relevant fans and is it all about fans?
Most of the businesses today feel that getting fans on facebook serves every purpose, which is not the case. There are many large case studies of businesses having lakhs and lakhs of fans on facebook but not many accounts of how much of it has actually converted into real and meaningful sales!

Once you have your facebook fan page existing, one of the initial steps that you must take is to promote your fan page amongst your relevant circle of facebook friends. Once done, you must notice the reactions and conversion ratio. Why are your friends/ their friends liking your page and why are they not. Once you have the nerve of your prospective target audience, you will be better able to create the right messaging to engage your target audience.

Shall I go ahead, start facebook Ads and fetch fans?
facebook Ads have a good success rate. Many businesses are investing heavily into advertising on facebook as it creates a long term quality asset for their business. What many businesses lack is the insight that to attract and engage the target audience there has to be quality content on the facebook page. And hence facebook ads are suggested only once you have a fairly sizable facebook page for your business with initial end user engagement.

The success of your facebook Ads again depends upon how well you know your target audience and hence your targeting.

You must first understand the online behavior of your target audience and hence create the right set of messaging and communication which creates a pull and pushes them towards calling their friends/ circle which is relevant to your business/ proposition. This is one of the best ways of maintaining relevancy of your facebook business fan page.

What other then this should I take care of to make a success on facebook?
To make a killer proposition and leverage the power of facebook as a social media tool, you must work on your content creation and sharing strategy. Content is the king and that is what engages your target audience and evokes their reactions.

Team IndiaMART Knowledge Services is committed to create new opportunities or SMEs to grow. To know more about how you can leverage the internet and new media technologies, drop in a comment to this post and our team of experts will be happy to help!

Why Pay When Its Free: Low Cost Business Software, Advantage SMEs

There is a new birdie in town which is working 24/7 for SMEs and recently gave us a sneak peek into some real amazing software which is a boon for Small and Medium Enterprises globally. There are no free lunches as they say, though what we are going to share today, are some of the most trusted software which is available for SMEs free as well as in paid versions, which are low cost.

But free is no good to my business!
Generally free is always related to less performance and no great good. Though Open Source technology has helped create a better perception, still what comes fro free is always welcome but with a doubt. Many businesses hence are already willing to pay. SMEs understand the criticality of IT as a support which will grow their business and hence budget expenses.

Get these killer apps and you won't regret them for your business!
We have shortlisted some amazing business apps which are till a certain usage level free, post which depending upon your business requirement you can buy the paid versions.

• Make VoIP calls - Skype

Source: http://images.gizmag.com/hero/skype.jpg

You can download the The latest version of Skype offers better audio quality while using far lesser bandwidth. The video calls are also improved compared to what they were before. A new screen-sharing feature allows you to share a document, presentation, or website with another Skype user. Skype charges for some features, but calls to other Skype users are always free. Also using Skype credit you can make calls to mobiles globally at rates which are far lesser as compared to the mobile.

• Basic Business Accounting - Quickbooks

Source: http://www.qbstore.com/images/quickbooks%20pos%20v8.jpg

Quickbooks lets you create create invoices, print checks, handle payroll, and manage up to 20 customer accounts while being 'free' for use. Though there are many book-keeping softwares available in the market and many online solutions as well, but QuickBooks is the best option for growing companies, because of its ease of setting up and use.

• Syncing calendar with Outlook

Source: http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/epicenter/2010/09/google_apps.jpg

Google Apps without any doubts is one of the most powerful online app engine available. For smaller and emerging businesses Google Apps is a boon as its cheaper and in many ways free for use, while being powerful for businesses. Many business users still don't want to move away from the basic Microsoft outlook. The Google Sync allows the user to sync from Google Calendar to Outlook or vice versa. Or perform a two-way sync based on a schedule you set. Hence you can be on the move and still access your schedule online.

• Web Conferencing: DimDim

Source: http://telehealth.ukzn.ac.za/ImageGallery/214/dimdim_logo-blacktext.png

For small and medium businesses web conferencing is a boon which has allowed reducing down cost of travel and also saved on time, while allowing people to connect online, complete meetings and be more productive. DimDim allows you to host an unlimited number of Web conferences with up to 20 guests for free. Meeting hosts can show PowerPoint presentations or share documents. You can also do software demos as DimDim allows you to share your desktop with other users in your web conference.

• Zoho Writer: Online Word Processing

Source: http://www.techshout.com/images/zoho-writer.jpg

An Indian product, Zoho is one of the most successful suite of products online. Zoho writer proves to be a fantastic alternative to Microsoft Word or Google Docs, Zoho Writer lets users collaborate on a document online, in real time. Other online products also provide the same set of services, but Zoho makes it easy and quick to use. It also has an offline mode, so you can work on documents even without Internet access. Zoho's 18 other free apps include a customer relationship management tool, database software.

These free business software will surely add onto your business success, taking it to the next level. For more drop in a comment to this post and out team of experts at IndiaMART Knowledge Services will be happy to help!

facebook pages simplified for SMEs

For Small and Medium Enterprises Social Media is a boon. Social networks have opened up many avenues for businesses. Especially the small enterprises have gained much from social networking. Businesses are connecting with prospects globally and hence scaling up to the next level of growth, while keeping the outreach costs as low as possible.

The facebook revolution: what SMEs are confused about?!
Almost everyone reading this blog post will be having a personal facebook profile and many of you must be having facebook profiles/ pages for your business/ company/ personal promotion etc. Many small businesses till date are confused with facebook, especially the part that how should they effectively leverage the power of facebook?

I am XYZ company and have a profile on facebook, what should I do next?
Many of our partner SMEs have previously come to us and asked about what should they really do on facebook. Many of them already have created "profiles" on facebook for their businesses, like they have their own personal profile and that is where it all starts getting confusing.

What should a business have: facebook profile OR a business fan page?
A business (small/ large) should have a facebook fan page. Facebook fan pages allow you to connect with "fans" (people who find your proposition relevant and like it). Profiles on facebook are meant to be personal profiles of individuals. A business entity making friends on facebook through a profile is not a logically good move.

Okay, got it, how do I create a facebook fan page?
Creating facebook fan pages is easy, but we recommend if you are a first timer, you take help from a professional who has created facebook fan pages before and has the updated know how of facebook and the fan pages.

If you want to go ahead by your own self, some of the pre-requisites you must be aware of are:

1. Know fbml (facebook markup language): this is the coding language which helps you design interactive facebook fan pages.
2. Have a good designer on board: good designs always attract your target audience
3. Have your target audience marked clearly: your facebook fan page must be attractive for your target audience and hence you must design the same with your audience in mind

To create your first facebook fan page click here! Once you reach on this page, click on the Create Page button on the top right section of the page.

As shown in the screen capture above, facebook allows you to categorize your fan page as: 

• Local business Or Place
• Company Organization Or Institution
• Brand Or Product
• Artist, Band Or Public Figure
• Entertainment
• Cause Or Community

Once you decide upon the category, click on the button and you are on your way to creating your first facebook fan page. For an example, here we select Company, Organization Or Institution. 

Once you enter the name of the company as the name of the fan page, you are good to go. Facebook will make you land on your facebook fan page, which will be empty and fresh as of now and like an empty HTML page on the web/ your website, your facebook fan page will need to be built upon.

So now that I have the fan page, what next?
Now that the facebook fan page is ready in its basic structural element, we need to make the fan page interactive and graphically appealing. One of the easiest ways to increase interactivity is by using facebook applications.

Now once your company's facebook fan page is existing and you have an official presence, you will have to create a powerful and engaging outreach with your prospective customers. This will happen only with the messaging you will propagate on your facebook fan page which will engage your prospective target audience. For this you have to have a proper plan which will help you manage and monitor the fan page.

Will every fan on the fan page be relevant to your business?
May not be. A 100% relevant community may not be possible, but sure it depends upon how you build and manage the community. The relevance also depends upon your messaging, interactivity and engagement. Though you must work towards increasing the engagement amongst the target audience.

How can I check on the relevancy of the fans?
Being the manager on the page, facebook allows you to see "Page Insights". These are statistics which help you understand the demographics of the facebook fans your business page has. Once you have the demographics you can keep evolving throughout the lifespan of the fan page and increase relevancy.

How does it help SMEs?
Reducing down the cost of outreach and marketing and engaging prospective customers, facebook fan pages help SMEs engage the target audience while taking the business to the next level. For SMEs facebook fan pages is a low cost way to marketing and engaging the prospective target audience.

Team IndiaMART Knowledge Services is committed to help SMEs grow to the next level. For more on facebook drop in your comments to this post and our team of experts will be happy to help!

Cloud Computing: What Should You Keep in Mind While Choosing Your Vendor

Cloud Computing is changing the way businesses work in the modern times. While we have all experienced and seen how cloud computing lowers down the cost of Information Technology infrastructure, its becoming increasingly prevalent for the Small and Medium Enterprise businesses. What many a small business are confused about is choosing the right vendor for leveraging the power of cloud computing. There are many technology players like Microsoft, IBM which are in the cloud computing space and are investing heavily in innovation and R&D, but for small and emerging players its another story. Choosing the right vendor is a critical decision.

What is cloud computing: a flashback!
Cloud computing promises that it can help businesses quickly increase their information technology capability and capacity, without being bogged down by the weight of buying new infrastructure or licensing software. The emerging technology has dramatically improved upon how emerging businesses are using IT increasingly.

Before we go ahead and help you find the best suited vendor, the basic step that needs to be in place is, understanding the suitability of cloud computing for your business. For many small and mid-sized businesses, managing information technology and networks can distract from other more fundamental aspects of the business.

Cloud computing providers other than offering emerging businesses lower prices for access to emerging sophisticated technology because the same resources are shared with other users, thereby reducing the overhead costs to the vendor of licensing software or buying servers.

What are the different types of Cloud Computing offerings?

• Software as a Service
• Infrastructure as a Service
• Platform as a Service

Once you determine which type of service suits your business requirements and needs (while keeping in mind the scalability), you must now essentially determine how much computing power does your business need. For determining this, you may hire external consultants or networking technology freelancers who are experienced with the technology.

Source: http://bluemilecloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/cloudstration.jpg

Great, but how should I land onto a good vendor now?

Before you go ahead and sign up a cloud computing vendor, you must keep in mind the following basic principles:

• Provider

Is the service provider a trusted source. Is the company reputable in the market. What sort of implementations has the company done before which are relevant to your business needs. This analysis will help you analyze if the service the cloud partner is providing suits your business needs.

• Product

How stable is the product ans is it easy to use? Does the product make your systems dependent on its use or can it be replaced in future. Can the produt help you better meet your business goals. Eg: if you are looking to reduce down time to fetch information OR make information access online 24/7, can the product help you do it both while you are a 5 member company and when you will be a 500 member organization.

• Technology transition

You need to understand what does it take for you to make the transition from the current technology you are using to where you would like to be in future, while keeping your business interests in mind.

• Security

Cloud services mean your data is being saved on virtual servers on the cloud which are shared. Security is a major concern, which is being taken care of by service providers. As a business you need to understand this criticality and ensure, the service provider you are assigning your contract to is highly reliable and secure. Eg: you must know how data backup is done and what happens in case of an emergency.

• Up Time

The cloud services must be up and running when you needs them the most and hence you must know the up time and the down time of your service provider. This you must verify and check from the various clients your service provider boasts of.

• Performance and Metrics

You must get these questions answered for yourself. How does your service provider define performance? What metrics do they use? How does their definition of performance satisfy OR fall in line with your business objectives.

• Customer Service

In case of cloud computing you are buying not just a product but essentially a productized service. Your service provider must be able to serve you well and provide complete technology support. One of the critical things here is does your vendor reveal which servers they are using and where are they installed. Answering this question instills the confidence and transparency in the vendor.

Team IndiaMART Knowledge Services is always committed to be a support for SMEs in their growth. We advice that before you sign up your cloud computing vendor, you must sign up with defined SLA's (Service Level Agreements) which define in a detailed manner everything which you as a business expect from the product and the service provider as well as how your service provider will provide the service. Also detail your expectations from the service and keep a window of change and evolution open for both parties as the technology evolves, you will have to adopt to change.

For more, drop in a comment and our team of experts will be happy to extend all possible help and support!

Adminsoft for SMEs

Small and Medium enterprises generally struggle with the real integrated implementation of accounting, sales management, CRM, procurement, managing inventory, manufacturing and production. Cash management, accounting and book keeping is a major activity which involves much time and for SMEs it becomes a challenge in terms of allocating dedicated resources for accounting and maintaining books.


A good accounting software can help!
A good, stable accounting software goes a long way in ensuring all of the above and much more for your business. Accounting is a crucial activity irrespective of your industry and the domain you might be operating in, retail, apparel management, etc. A well maintained accounting system goes a long way in ensuring smooth business operations. The senior management of the SME is always present to the financial stability and well being of the organisation. Especially for SMEs its an imperative to ensure that financials be strongly maintained and managed.

There are many accounting softwares, but they cost much!

There are many accounting softwares available in the market. From small single module softwares to full fledged applications, there are multiple options available. But small businesses always are on the look out for business applications which are easy to use in the first go and can be used with as minimum investment in the initial phases as possible.

Adminsoft Accounts can help. A completely free accounts management software, Adminsoft can help you record all your customer details, print sales invoices, keep track of who owes you money, record all your supplier details and keep track of who you owe money to, and so much more.

Adminsoft can help you manage the following business aspects:

1. Customers and Invoicing
2. Suppliers and payments
3. Stock control and Purchase Ordering
4. Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet

How can I start using Adminsoft?

Adminsoft Accounts is freely available for download HERE. All you need to do to install the software on your system is run the .exe file and it will automatically install on your computer.

There are many such online tools and platforms available, which are benefiting the Small and Medium Enterprise segment. To know more, get in touch with the experts at IndiaMART Knowledge Services. Do drop in a comment to this post to let us know what else would you want us to share about!

Never ever forget your To Do's: with todo.ly on Google

Internet has changed the way businesses are conducted. While businesses are competing on a global scale today, the executives running the show are going the extra mile to ensure a win. People not only at the top, but also at every level of business operations are being trained to be operationally active and smart.

Challenge for the SMEs: being a jack of all trades
When you are responsible for running and scaling up a Small and Medium company, one thing which you are bound to be dealing with is a lot of work. And the work may not just be of your domain/ expertise, infact you might have to become an expert into many things which come up your sleeve, just like that. From being a one man army to small sized teams, bandwidth is always a little choked and needs to be intelligently handled.

And while you are trying to manage with all the tasks in your hands, the one thing which you are bound to do is miss out on some of them. The major reason for the same is, when you just forget to schedule yourself for them and you dont realize that the deadlines have ended.

Manage your tasklist: be aware!
Though you can always go ahead and buy a paper calendar to keep yourself scheduled, life for the business executives has become far complex in times today. Each minute and hour is scheduled and almost everything you have to do impacts your business.

Todo.ly makes it all easy for you!
One of the simplest and the most amazing tools which can help you go a long way in keeping yourself scheduled is Todo.ly.

Its simple, its easy and its wow! All that you need to do to be scheduled is, open todo.ly in your Google Chrome browser (the Google app store) gives todo.ly as an extension, which you can install at the click of a button.

Once you are logged in with your Google account, you will be redirected to the screen, as shown in the screen capture below:

How do I schedule a new task?

All that you need to do is write down the task as shown in the text field and add the task, as shown in the screen capture below:

You can also go ahead and print your task list (though we suggest that you save paper, as much as possible), that's why it is an online tool.

There are many such online platforms available, which are benefiting the Small and Medium Enterprise segment. To know more, get in touch with the experts at IndiaMART Knowledge Services. Do drop in a comment to this post to let us know what else would you want us to share about!

Manage Your Finances for Free with TurboCash

Its Open Source and Its free! Yes, the TurboCash accounting software is an Open Source software which is freely available to be used by SMEs.

Challenge for SMEs when buying accounting software
While small business have many choices in the market, bigger business accounting software brands generally give only a certain basic featured in their software to the SMEs at a certain small price. This obviously does not solves the purpose of the SME. Also it is difficult to get such softwares customized, as that takes way mor investment, which completely beats the purpose of the SME.

Moreover, the bigger challenge is the country specific accounting laws. Each country follows a certain accounting standard and practice. Hence customizing your software according to the one's in your own country is another challenge which the SMEs face.

TurboCash solves all this and much more
TurboCASH accounting software is flexible. It can be configured for any country and any small business. We currently have chart of accounts available for free download for the UK and USA. More countries and languages are being added continually. We strive to provide powerful small business accounting software that doesn't break the bank.

TurboCASH also provides you the facility of defining your accounting processes and practices if you are a services company or a retail entity. You can enter transactions and powerfully customize the software as a point of sale solution as well.

Its Open Source, Its all Yours
The TurboCASH software gives you the entire software code as a free download. You can take it up and put a local team of coders who also must understand your business processes to build you a custom software.

How do I download the Accounting software?
Its easy! The TurboCASH accounting software download is free. The TurboCASH CD contains exactly the same programme, but includes many extras that the download does not, such as the training movies, documentation and plug-ins. Being open source accounting software, the core TurboCASH programme is and always will be free.

You can also directly download the TurboCASH accounting software HERE, as shown in the screen capture below:

There are many such online platforms available, which are benefiting the Small and Medium Enterprise segment. To know more, get in touch with the experts at IndiaMART Knowledge Services. Do drop in a comment to this post to let us know what else would you want us to share about!

View and Print Full-Featured Presentations Without the MS Power Point

As a Small and Medium Enterprise, if you are not leveraging the power of free technology, which is being provided by some of the top technology vendors in the world, then you definitely are missing something. Innovation is the name of the game and if as an emerging business you are not upto it, then you surely have lots of catching up to do. SMEs require solutions which solve their very many needs, while being cost effective and within their operational budgets.

Free and Low Cost Technology Solutions for SMEs

There are many low cost technology solutions available for small and emerging enterprises, though not many are really aware of them. Technology makers and vendors are coming up with innovative solutions, some of them  free which are helping SMEs solve pending business challenges. SMEs have to keep exploring and implementing such solutions to reduce operational costs and be smarter in business functionalities.

Let PowerPoint Viewer work for you!

While Microsoft Word is an important office productivity software, it also makes it challenging for smaller businesses to buy costly licences to the MS Office productivity suite. Buying licenses for every team member becomes a challenge which obviously needs a solution. And who better than Microsoft coming up and providing a solution to the challenge.

While you cannot edit, but MS PowerPoint Viewer, allows you to View, print and copy full featured documents, even if you don't have MS PowerPoint installed. The Word Viewer, together with the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint File Formats, allows you open full featured PowerPoint presentations created in the following MS office programs:

• Microsoft PowerPoint 2010
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2002
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2000
• Microsoft PowerPoint 97

How do I get the PowerPoint Viewer?

You can simply download the PowerPoint Viewer from the official source of the Microsoft website. Once you start downloading the software onto your local machine, follow the below listed instructions:

1. Download the file by clicking the Download button (above) and saving the file to your hard disk.
2. Double-click the PowerPointViewer.exe program file on your hard disk to start the setup program.
3. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation

Once you have the Compatibility pack downloaded and installed on your local machine (laptop/ desktop) use the following instructions to learn how to use the software:

1. On the File menu, click Open.
2. In the Look in list, click the drive, folder, or Internet location that contains the file you want to open.
3. In the folder list, locate the file, or locate and open the folder that contains the file.
4. Click the file, and then click Open.

Once you have installed this download, from the Start menu under All Programs, open Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer.

PowerPoint Viewer registers with the .ppt, .pptx, .pptm, .pot, .potx, .potm, .pps, .ppsx and .ppsm file extensions only if a version of PowerPoint is not installed on your computer. If registered, double-clicking on these file types will launch PowerPoint Viewer

How does this software help my business?

While it does not allows you to edit and create documents, Windows PowerPoint Viewer allows you to view, print and copy the PowerPoint presentations, which is important in the manner that, small companies which cannot afford the licensed version of the MS office, can go buy a single license, and use the viewer on the other systems which require only being a dumb machine and are connected to the server to fetch any information. Its more a networked solution, which works best for SMEs.

There are many such tools available online, which are benefiting the Small and Medium Enterprise segment. To know more, get in touch with the experts at IndiaMART Knowledge Services. Do drop in a comment to this post to let us know what else would you want us to share about!

View, Print and Copy Word Documents Even if You Dont Have MS Word

For Small and Medium Enterprises, Innovation is the name of the game and if as a business you are not upto it, then you surely have lots of catching up to do. SMEs require solutions which solve their very many needs, while being cost effective and within their operational budgets.

SMEs and Technology
While many small and emerging businesses are waking up to the fact that they need effective use of technology at all times for being smart operationally, technology makers and vendors are coming up with innovative solutions, some of them  free which are helping SMEs solve pending business challenges.

Let Word Viewer work for you!
While Microsoft Word is an important office productivity software, it also makes it challenging for smaller businesses to buy costly licences to the MS Office productivity suite. Buying licenses for every team member becomes a challenge which obviously needs a solution. And who better than Microsoft coming up and providing a solution to the challenge.

While you cannot edit, but MS Word Viewer, allows you to View, print and copy Word documents, even if you don't have Word installed. The Word Viewer, together with the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint File Formats, allows you open Word documents saved in the following formats:

• Word Document (.docx)
• Word Macro-Enabled Document (.docm)
• Rich Text Format (.rtf)
• Text (.txt)
• Web Page formats (.htm, .html, .mht, .mhtml)
• WordPerfect 5.x (.wpd)
• WordPerfect 6.x (.doc, .wpd)
• Works 6.0 (.wps)
• Works 7.0 (.wps)
• XML (.xml)

How do I get the Word Viewer?

You can simply download the Word Viewer from the official source of the Microsoft website. Once you start downloading the software onto your local machine, follow the below listed instructions:

1. Download the file by clicking the Download button (above) and saving the file to your hard disk.
2. Double-click the wdviewer.exe program file on your hard disk to start the Setup program.
3. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation.
4. Install the Compatibility Pack.

Once you have the Compatibility pack downloaded and installed on your local machine (laptop/ desktop) use the following instructions to learn how to use the software:

1. On the File menu, click Open.
2. In the Look in list, click the drive, folder, or Internet location that contains the file you want to open.
3. In the folder list, locate the file, or locate and open the folder that contains the file.
4. Click the file, and then click Open.

One you are downloading the file from Microsoft's website, it re-directs you to the information page, where, it gives you all the information related to the software and the various instructions of its usage, which you can copy and past on a notepad in your local machine.

How does this software help my business?

While it does not allows you to edit and create documents, Windows Word Viewer allows you to view, print and copy the documents, which is important in the manner that, small companies which cannot afford the licensed version of the MS office, can go buy a single license, and use the viewer on the other systems which require only being a dumb machine and are connected to the server to fetch any information. Its more a networked solution, which works best for SMEs.

There are many such tools available online, which are benefiting the Small and Medium Enterprise segment. To know more, get in touch with the experts at IndiaMART Knowledge Services. Do drop in a comment to this post to let us know what else would you want us to share about!

Search Engine Optimization The Myths Answered for SMEs

Marketing has always been one of the constantly growing challenges for Small and Medium Enterprises. Every business, however small it may be needs to reach out to its potential customers. To attract prospects, marketing with the right message for the right audience is crucial. For emerging SMEs budgeting for marketing activities plays a crucial role. Achieving business objectives while effectively utilizing every marketing dollar is the aim always.

Let your message reach out to the relevant target audience: SEO
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is one of the most effective methods of driving traffic towards a website.Using SEO, you can position your website in a manner on the WWW, which will help your content to appear in search results on search engines, while the relevant people are searching for it online.

While going online many SMEs encounter the challenge of choosing the right help in terms of understanding how SEO is done. Each expert has their own views and recommendations for the same, which further on ads to the growing confusion.

Team IndiaMART Knowledge Services looked at some of the most common myths which the SMEs have which will help them make a sound decision:

Source: http://www.sme-blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/SEO1.jpg

• I need to re-do my website

Many small businesses believe that they will need a separate page on their website that is dedicated to SEO. This is invalid and not the right approach towards an effective search engine listing. For SEO to have maximum impact you will need to incorporate it cleverly into every aspect of your website design. From the design to the content, every constituent of your website adds onto an effective SEO and must be looked into.

• Flash content is not search engine friendly

There are many theories revolving around the topic of flash based content. There is no issue at all in using flash based content on your website. Though we will always suggest that you keep your important content (content which people will really want to read on your website and will get attracted with) out of the bounds of flash. One of the critical drawbacks of flash is its accessibility on mobile devices. Mobile devices may not support flash based content at times, hence rendering your website unfriendly on mobile.

• Image hyper-linking will fetch me more SEO results

There is no actual difference between text and image hyper-links when it comes to SEO. Search Engines have been able to index image links as well as they do for normal text based hyper-links. Though a special consideration needs to be taken into account for image based hyper-links. You need to ensure that you use the same terms that you would use in anchor text links in the image alt attribute text (alt tags).

• The entire website design needs to change to make it SEO friendly

In some cases where the site does need to go in for a revamp, nothing better, otherwise for SEO there is no need to revamp your entire website. All you need to do is, look at the content of each page again and optimize the pages with 2-5 different keywords. These keywords will keep evolving and hence you will need to ensure that according to your customer's online search trends you update the keywords across your entire website.

• The more the pages, the better my rankings

This is one of the earliest myths. Yes it always helps having the right landing pages with just the relevant information available which helps the customer make an informed choice and hence may be a decision, but this is not always a mandatory requirement.

• More the keywords better the rankings

Spamming on keywords may ban you from search engine listings. 2-5 keywords per page are a good number. You should just keep changing them as per your understanding of the proposition being displayed on the page and the target audience. You can get a hang of what sort of traffic is coming to you by using Google Analytics.

We suggest that you keep these pointers in mind while investing into SEO for your website. These are common questions asked and mistakes done which ensure no results even after a lot of hard work.

Team IndiaMART Knowledge Services is committed to create new opportunities supported with powerful information for Small and Medium Enterprises. To know more or contact our experts, drop in a comment to this post and we will be happy to get in touch.

Design Your Websites for Free With WebPlus

For Small and Medium Enterprises its an imperative to keep in control the operational costs. SMEs have to use capital wisely, especially for marketing. Being a core business function, marketing has to be taken seriously. But SMEs struggle with defining separate marketing budgets.

Marketing Budgets: Challenge for the SMEs

The one challenge for the SMEs is intelligently controlling costs of marketing. While you start your own business or while you are scaling up, marketing is one essential which not only helps a business reach out to the relevant target audience, but also, it helps in taking business to the next level of growth. 

But SMEs don't have budgets enough to leverage all sorts of media and channels to reach out to their target audience.

Do you have a website yet?

There was a time when starting a business was really about simple steps and most of which was really about offline engagements and interactions. Now the moment you launch your company, you have to have a strong and dynamic web presence. Having a corporate website is a sure must and has to be your first step when you announce yourself into the big league.

Free software is here to help!

FreeSerifSoftware has launched WebPlus, which is a free website building tool:

What can the WebPlus do for you?

Being a free software in no way categorizes WebPlus to be lesser than the others available. The starter edition of this software is 100% free and is available for download, right HERE.

The various features of this website building Software are:

• Drag-and-drop design system makes creating websites fast and easy
• No HTML knowledge required!
• Design from scratch or use the easily-customisable templates provided
• Import text & images and stream YouTube™ videos
• Add web gadgets like blogs, forms, and hit counters for free

The best part about using WebPlus is that you donot have to be a trained web designer to create your own website. The what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) editor ensures that you are able to Design multi-page sites with your own mix of text, pictures, photo galleries and much more with easy drag-and-drop simplicity. Create entire sites with attractive layouts, navigation bars, and interactive features without using a single piece of HTML or any other web programming language.Also you do not need to know anything in terms of coding to add impressive and engaging tools and applications to your website, all you need is WebPlus to add impressive hit counters, surveys, blogs and more using smart online services that are provided and hosted free of charge by Serif.

How do I get this software?

All you need to do is to download this WebPlus on your desktop from the link given above. Once done, you are ready to use this software to create great looking websites for your emerging business for free.

After logging in, you need to activate your account, as Serif takes your Email Id. Once you are done, you will be good to go.

How does it help my emerging business?

Greatly! While you are able to save cost of creating websites and blogs and other online properties, you are wisely and intelligently using your capital and saving it while still creating fantastic websites for your business to reach out to the relevant target audience.

What about the future though?

Obviously as your business grows, so will your needs and hence your customer's perception about you and your offerings. WebPlus could give you a good looking website for the initial stages of your business. Once you reach a particular scale, you might want to get the next level of websites done by professional designers.

There are many such online platforms available, which are benefiting the Small and Medium Enterprise segment. To know more, get in touch with the experts at IndiaMART Knowledge Services. Do drop in a comment to this post to let us know what else would you want us to share about!

Ensure Safety of Your Data With These Free Online Storage and Backup Tools

In this knowledge economy that we conduct business in, data is one of the most critical aspect for any business. Business information and communication is a crucial aspect which needs utmost importance and attention.

Data Backup: Challenge for the SMEs
Data backup has always been a challenge for the Small and Medium Enterprise segment players. Data back-up and storage requires investment both in terms of time and money. While the business depends upon the availability of accurate information in real time, at all times, there are many business functions which rely completely on correct and updated information.

Eg: the finance department of an organisation depends upon the availability of information from the HR as attendance of employees to ensure the salaries

The challenge for SMEs here is the huge cost of hardware. Also while the SMEs grow, the only option they have is to ramp up the existing hardware or set up new data storage units, which is not always a cost effective feasibility.

How do SMEs generally backup and store data?
SMEs generally maintain backups of critical business data in external hard-drives, servers which is not a scalable option and also require huge costs to install and maintain..

Since SMEs do not have major budgets allocated for IT and Security, data backup is one challenge they face while looking for feasible and scalable solutions for the same.

Are there other low cost/ free options available to backup and store data?
Team IndiaMART has always been a proponent of the Internet for SMEs and hence we provide a list of low cost and in some cases Free online services which can go a long way for the SMEs to store and backup data while having access to it at all times online.

There are various online tools available with different storage options. Many of them are free but some of them do charge for the service provided. Some of the good options available online are:

• Windows LIVE Sky Drive

Source: http://www.techmixer.com/pic/2011/03/Windows-Live-Sky-Drive.jpg

A popular Cloud Based service, Windows SkyDrive offers as much as 25GB free storage space to ts users. The usage is fairly simple, the user logs in with his/ her LIVE id to the Windows SkyDrive account. Post which all you need to do is drag and drop your files in the designated folders. These files are now online and can be shared as a hyperlink with anyone you would want them to be accessible to.

• Idrive

Source: http://www.techmixer.com/pic/2011/03/IDrive.jpg

Idrive is another backup tool which provides upto 5GB of storage free. For more space its a paid service. With enhanced 128 bit SSL encryption, Idrive ensures your data safety.

• Gmail Drive

Source: http://www.techmixer.com/pic/2011/03/GmailDrive.jpg

With a simple Gmail account you are good to go. Gmail Drive creates a virtual file syste around your Gmail account and allows you to use Gmail as a virtual file storage system.

Gmail drive creates a virtual drive on your system and hence you can connect with it while being on your desktop.

There are many more tools like Dropbox which provide storage and backup options. The above mentioned are highlighted and are the best possible placed options for SMEs.

Team IndiaMART Knowledge Services is always aligned to creae opportunities to help SMEs grow. If you have any queries/ questions, drop in a comment to this post and our experts will be happy to touch base with you.

The Gems and Jewelery Industry in India: An Opportunity

The Gems and Jewelery industry in India has been evolving at the speed of thought as they say. Gems and Jewelery have always been a traditional part of the Indian culture. As times have evolved the consumer's choice for not only Gold but articles such as Platinum, Silver, Diamonds have also increased along with an increased demand for semi-precious articles as well.

Gems and Jewelery Industry: An Overview
The Indian Gems and Jewelery sector is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 13 per cent during 2011 - 2013 on the back of increasing government efforts and incentives coupled with private sector initiatives, according to a report ‘Indian Gems and Jewellery Market Forecast to 2013’, by RNCOS. Source: IBEF

Size:

• Large market size with domestic sale of over $10 billion
• 4 per cent of the global Gems and Jewelery market
• India is the largest consumer of Gold jewelery in the world
• India is the third largest consumer of polished Diamond after USA and Japan

Structure:

The Gems and Jewelery industry in India is highly fragmented, with large number of Public and Private sector players vying the market. Though this industry has been existing for long and much has been achieved and much has evolved over time, but still, a large part of this industry is still un-organized. India has been gaining large prominence globally in terms of the demand for designer jewelery at a lower cost.

The high quality labor available in India at a lower price band makes it a lucrative destination for consumers globally to buy Jewelery here. This has impacted India at the bottom of the pyramid as well. Artisans in Rural India who have the creative ability and the art which has been passed onto them through generations are finding a global consumption base for their products.

Some of the large International retailers like WalMart and JC Penney import exclusive Jewelery items from India.

Government Policy:

The Indian Government has been liberal with the Gems and Jewelery industry with 100 per cent FDI allowed in the same through the automatic route. There have also been SEZs created by the Government to support the growth of the Gems and Jewelery sector.

Future Outlook

The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) suggests the growth of the Gems and jewellery exports from India by 30-35 per cent in 2010-11, on the back of revival in demand in the international markets.

Source: http://www.culturalindia.net/jewellery/gifs/indian-jewelry.jpg

While the industry is getting organized with structured players like the Gold Souk creating their presence pan India. With multiple brands under one roof, consumers get a wider choice and at regularized pricing. Government supported initiatives such as MMTC have seen immense growth and potential in the domestic consumption.

The Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council has initiated IIJS Signature to promote India as the preferred source for jewellery and eventually build brand ‘India'. Signature was conceptualised to showcase India's ability to produce quality jewellery that will match the lifestyle trends world over.

Statistics

Jewelery demand in India grew by 36 per cent to 184.5 tonnes in the third quarter ending September 2010, according to the WGC. The sale of jewellery items stood 135.2 tonnes in the July-September period of 2009. India's jewellery demand reached a remarkable US$ 7.42 billion in the third quarter, 67 per cent higher than the same period of 2009. Source: IBEF

For the SMEs in India, Gems and Jewelery sector is an emerging opportunity to be a part of. As the government is taking steps to regularize the sector, there is a visible opportunity for SMEs to create specialized services such as: jewelery designing, antique art forms etc.Changing lifestyle and urbanization are also fuelling the growth in the gems and jewellery industry, mainly in branded jewellery, which is expected to grow over 40% in the coming years.

Team IndiaMART Knowledge Services is committed to creating new opportunities for the growing SMEs of India. To know more about various sectors or get expert insights into your domain, drop in a comment to this post and our team of experts will get in touch with you!