Do you have a website? Want visitors to tell their friends about it? Social Bookmarking is the new way of spreading the word about your website (ie. business). I wrote an article in July 2008 (click here to see) about how quickly word can spread, especially when website visitors can let all their friends know about your website using websites like Facebook, MySpace and other not so well known but still important websites like dig.com, reddit.com etc. Continue reading Use social bookmarking and email referrals to make yourself popular
Category: Services
Services provided by EzyLearn
How the Apple iPhone converted me to Macs
I thought it was time to write some general interest news. Having used Windows computers for the last 20 years, it was with reluctance that I accepted an iPod to have a play with. I know, computer trainer for 15 years and just received (not bought) an iPod to play with. Loved it so much that I decided to buy an iPhone as my next mobile phone/camera/calendar/music storage etc….One of the best things that Apple have done is link their iPods and iPhones to their iTunes music player. iTunes not only organises and plays music, but acts as the syncing software to ensure that you have what you want on your iPhone, this includes images, videos, music, calendar entries, emails etc. Another great features of iTunes is the massive library of songs which you can purchase individually for a couple dollars, but the most amazing thing I found was that you can also buy software for the price of songs.I downloaded a program called SpeakEasy for $2.49 and am now able to make audio recordings on my iPhone. Now, OK, I had that same functionality with the last phone I had, an iPaq, running Windows mobile software because all the functionality was built-in. In other words, it was FREE, but the amazing thing about the iPhone software is that it’s only $2.49, no minimum transaction size and no extra charges. How else could you actually buy software that cheap? This is the beginning of the next software explosion.Why will there be a software explosion? Well, if software can be sold easily for as little as the price of a song, there will be more incentive for entrepreneurial software developers to write software programs with the home of selling much more software through sites like iTunes. This will be encouraged by the fact that devices, like the iPhone, won’t come equipped with everything on them but you’ll have to download software to use the features you want, like video for example… you can’t take videos using your iPhone as it comes in the box, but there are several softare programs out there which will allow you to. All the hardware is there, it’s just the software that’s needed.Finally with the ease of using the iPhone and it’s delicate touching interface, the logical navigation to get things done and the ease of connecting to your computer, I can see a huge rush towards consumers buying Macintosh computers. Think I’ll go along and check out my nears Apple SuperStore today 😉
How word spreads like wildfire on the net
These days if there is a good product on the internet the news spreads like wildfire, but why? How is it that word spreads to millions of people in such a short time? With Social media, social bookmarking (we have that on our sites using the AddThis service… so make sure you use it and tell your friends about us), blogs, Vlogs, Wikis and RSS you can tell someone and they can tell someone else and before you know it, your word of mouth recommendations get to thousands of people.
I found a great site that teaches you in plain english how these website work. Please send me an email or reply to this post with your comments. Here’s the link:
http://www.youtube.com/user/leelefever
Enjoy,
Steve Slisar
Sketch your own website banner
Want to have better looking graphics on your website? Now you can do it yourself with a great website that helps you create banners for your website.
This website is just like an image editing program, but it’s on the Internet rather that installed on your own computer. This means that you can access and use it for free from anywhere. This website is indicative of the growing trend of software applications that you can use on the Internet. They call this type of application “Software As a Service” and it seems to be the way that all programs are going because the owner of the program has complete control of usage.
I hope I didn’t go off track then, but I find “Software As a Service” a very interesting business model… It’s like hotmail, gmail and most online applications, in that you are offered something for free for a while and then when you realise just how valuable it is in your daily life. It starts to become important and (most interestingly) valuable to you and it’s probably at that point when the industry will reach the stage (that they are touting will come), the stage where these “valuable” service become “paid for” services.
Anyway, back on track, the good news it that these services are currently free so get to know them, learn how to use this type of program and get some better results on your website.
The website that I’m talking about it www.bannersketch.com
Please feel free to subscribe to my blog and leave a comment 🙂 Steve
Create your own flash intros for free online
Here is another example of everything becoming free online. I’ve just discovered a website where you can create your own flash animated intros without having any experience using Flash.
You can create either html or swf files from the site and if you decide you want to use more of the features that they have to offer, you can join the site for less than $5 per month. Have fun with it.
Specific is terrific for your website and online marketing
Many website owners believe that they can create content and plonk it anywhere on their website and they’ll be inundated with emails and calls. They are missing the fundamental fact that people who are browsing the internet have potential 10-30 other website to visit until they find the one that they think is the best.
Here’s a couple examples of the goals I have for some of my websites.
- Get website visitors off your home page (otherwise they’ll bounce)
- Get people to take a short tour of what you can do for them (using images and maybe audio)
- Give people a reason to interact with your website (like a free sample or information report)
- Know the website goal and how to measure it (eg. the number of people visiting the website compared to the number of people who actually get to your Contact/subscription/ordering page etc).
Some fantastic news for you is that Google has all the tools to help you attract website visitors, funnel them to goal pages and measure your success. Advertising with Google costs you money, but most of the other tools are completely free (like Google website optimiser and analytics).
A great aspect about Google Adwords is that although it costs you money, you actually attract very specific potential customers to your website, customers who have typed in very specific search words and/or phrases. Better still you only pay for actual clicks to your website and not the people who just see your add.
So remember that when you promote yourself online you are looking for people who want something very specific so you need to find them and then funnel them to your own specific goals for them.
If you need some help please call me on 0413 007 481 or email steve@slisar.com.au
Landing Pages to focus your website
A landing page is a web page that contains specific information on it that will appeal to website visitors who are looking for something specific.
For example, if I send an email newsletter which promotes Microsoft Excel Training and I insert a link to my home page (eg: www.slisar.com.au) then people who click on and follow the link from the newsletter may be a little disappointed. Why? Because they were expecting to find information about Microsoft Excel Training but now need to navigate around my website to find the information.
So, I create special “landing pages” that cover a specific topic and when a website visitor gets to the page they are pleasantly surprised because they see all the information they were searching for. This is an example of a landing page: http://slisar.com/main/page_landing_learn_microsoft_excel_online.html .
You could put special links on your landing page that “funnel” website visitors to exactly where you want them to go and thus acheiving your website goals. Notice that the URL of the above “landing page” contains keywords that are used to search for the service offered? This is one aspect of Search Engine Optimisation and makes your website attractive and “Relevant” to Search Engines.
After creating some specific landing pages I can create ads on Google Adwords, Microsofts adCentre or promote these ‘landing pages’ in email marketing campaigns so that when people click on them, they get a very specific response and are funnelled to the webpage that you want them to get to.
Creating these pages is possible using the 123ezy website builder and I have used this technique to successfully attract thousands of people to my websites and online services. If you need some help with your website design or Internet marketing, please contact me in Australia on 0413 007 481 or email me at steve@slisar.com.au
Who wants to create their own movies?
Movies are something that you may not have thought about creating for yourself. I mean, why would you? Who’s going to see them anyway?
I helped a client create a movie from their last ski trip only last week and it tooks us less than 4 hours from the client not knowing anything about Microsoft Movie Maker. Not only did we create the movie, but we shortened selected video clips, created transitions between clips, muted the audio from the video clips and even put two sound tracks going in the background to add a real ‘feel’ to the movie.
When I say video clips, these are snippets of video that we get from a video camera (and let’s face it, a normal digital camera is also a video camera these days) and combine in an order that we choose and re-arrange if needed.
Finally we converted the video into a movie file format (just a couple clicks) and before you know it, the movie is ready not only to burn to a CD, but also to easily publish to YouTube for the whole world to see your creation (if you want them to). Thought I’d just throw in a small comment here … more and more businesses are creating their own video/movie style ads and placing them on YouTube to build awareness and it’s easier to do than you think..
Let me know if creating a movie is something that you’d like to learn more about?
How do you sell your household stuff “online today”?
The reason for the question is that our Dee Why office is closing and we have a whole bunch of things that we want to get rid of, but it is not worth going through the trouble of listing each one and paying for each listing in an auction site like ebay.
We have things like filing cabinets, office chairs, office desks, cork boards, folding machine, VCR player, lightbox, paper binding machines (2), air conditioning unit, display stands etc.
My first step was to do a search for some of these things at Google.com.au, this provides a valuable first step as it shows you the various classifieds sites that people use to sell their things. Here are a list of some free classifieds sites… there are many more than you think:
http://www.annonz.net/?r-New-South-Wales
http://www.dclassifieds.com.au/public/main.aspx
http://www.freead.com.au/PN_zClassifieds.html
http://www.search4stuff.com.au/
http://www.simpletrade.com.au/
There are also websites where you can go to list your business like http://sydneyexchange.com.au/ .
What I found most interesting is that people are even using online image storage areas like picasa (part of Google), www.flickr.com and others to show the images of their products and then provide their contact details. Just like this lady who is moving house: http://picasaweb.google.com/householdgoods/FurnitureForSale
So, there’s a little bit to think about next time you want to get rid of any household or office ‘stuff’. Happy selling…. by the way, i also used our email newsletter to let people know that we have things for sale 🙂
Office Equipment sale on 3rd May
We have a lot of equipment that we no longer need in our move from Dee Why to Brookvale and they will be available for sale on Saturday 3rd May from 1pm to 4pm. Items available include: Computers, monitors, keyboards, powerboards, power extension, power cables, printers, fax machine, folding machine, binding machines, water cooler, Taymar display stands, office desks, office chairs, bar fridge, coffee maker, filing cabinets and more….
The address is 26 Oaks Ave, Dee Why (opposite Woolworths)… see you there
New Domain name transfer policy
The auDA, the organisation that managers Australian domain names, announced on Monday, 14th April a relaxing in the rules to transfer domain names from one licence holder to another for any reason.
There are still some restrictions, particularly designed to protect companies and individuals who own trademarks from domain name hoarders who buy them for the sole purpose of selling them to make a profit.
For more information follow this link: http://www.auda.org.au/news-archive/auda-14042008/
Steve’s Outa Dee Why
“Dee Why is growing up and all the buildings are being demolished to make way for a new modern suburb, so I’m moving to Brookie” says Steve Slisar who is moving his business from Dee Why where he has been operating his computer training since 1999.
As a result of more students using online training, having more sophisticated and specific requirements and the development that is currently going on in Dee Why, Steve is closing his Dee Why office and moving to Brookvale. His new training centre is smaller than Dee Why and as a result he has computers, desks, chairs, binding machines, kitchen appliances, stationary and many more items up for sale.
The sale of the Dee Why office contents will take place on a Saturday very soon and you’ll be able to name your price on some items. To be informed about when the sale takes place, visit his website at www.slisar.com and join his Email Newsletter by clicking here.
Steve Slisar builds local online learning community
Today (11th April 2008) EzyLearn Pty Ltd director, Steve Slisar, launched the companys’ first “Community” website for Sydney’s Northern Beaches where the company began teaching people how to start using their computers in 1999.
“With websites like MySpace and Facebook, ‘Social Networking’ is what all the talk is about these days. It’s how real people can collaborate with other real people in a fun and interactive way on the Internet and it’s part of what they call Web 2.0” says Steve Slisar. “I’m excited to see how our customers take to this new technology… seeing that many of them are beginners and have only recently used computer for the first time”.
EzyLearn’s launch today of the Social Networking site also means that they are able to provide a very similar service via their 123ezy website business to website clients.
Howard Gov’t Funding dried up
This announcement is regarding the Workskills program that was initiated by John Howard and the Australian Federal Government.
EzyLearn computer software training videos, workbooks and exercise files were being used at training centres in Dee Why, Chatswood and Perth to help Workskills students gain the qualification of Certificate II in Business.
When the Rudd Government took control of Government they initiated quotas that were in the contract offered to RTO’s (Registered Training Organisations) and we found that this made it impossible to enter new students into the Government enrolment system.
As a result, Steve Slisar (director of EzyLearn Pty Ltd), decided to make a selection of his online e-learning computer software training courses available for free at a website called www.freecomputertraining.com.au.
The good news for potential students is that the Rudd Government has a new initiative that has promised more places for a larger spectrum of the community.
Register with this blog to make a comment (see top right of the webpage) or join the EzyLearn “free computer training” newsletter, to be informed about developments regarding Free Computer Training. Click this link to join the email newsletter: http://www.freecomputertraining.com.au/main/page_product_gallery_email_newsletter.html
Start your own training business for $999
EzyLearn has announced the plan to build an elearning platform that will allow any person to operate their own computer training business from home for less than $1000.
Ezylearn director, Steve Slisar, announced the plans today saying that “anyone who has good computer skills, is good with people and wants to earn some money helping their friends, family, school members, mothers group members, or seniors club will be able to use all the existing EzyLearn learning workbooks videos and exercise files”.
The new e-learning website will have an open registration system, where anyone visiting the website will be able to register and enrol into the Excel Beginners (Course 301) for free. “By registering and enroling and then using one of the EzyLearn courses, potential clients will see how easy and cheap it can be to learn new computer software skills online” says Steve Slisar who has been developing and updating the training material since 1998.
Anyone interested in learning more about the “work from home business opportunity” should join the EzyLearn email newsletter by visiting this site: http://www.ezylearn.com.au/_mgxroot/page_10703.html and entering in their name and email address or by calling Steve in Australia on 0413 007 481.
Google Customised Search Engine for your own 123ezy website
Creating a customised search engine for your own website is simple with 123ezy websites and Google. The special script made available by Google is called “Customised Search Engine” and you can put a search box on your own site that only searches your “own” site (or couple sites if you have a couple).
Take a look at how it works…. Visit www.ezylearn.com.au and you’ll notice the Search Box at the top of each page (in the page header). Type some text in this box, something like “Email Newsletter” and then press Enter (or click the search button) and you’ll be taken to a different page in your website that shows the search results. Ads do appear in the search results, but you can pay Google $100 per year and they will no longer appear if you really don’t want to see your competitors ads appearing.
The best part of it is that this facility is provided free by Google and the 123ezy website allows you to accomodate the code easily and quickly. Notice that it also takes people to other pages within your website and allows them to search for any text that they want to…
If you want to get a little fancy, you can actually link this search to your Google Adsense account and make money every time someone clicks on one of your competitors advertisements. But we’ll talk about that another time…
Finally, you may have noticed that when you entered the search string and pressed Enter, that search results appeared from several different websites. This is because we asked Google to search all the websites that work with EzyLearn, including Maxis Solutions in Chatswood and Steve Slisar in the Northern Beaches of Sydney.
If you want some helps setting Google Customised Search Engine on your website, please feel free to call EzyLearn on 1300 888 869 or send an email to support@123ezy.com.au.