What Can KTG Do For Me?          

In the Tech-Adviser newsletter I usually try and provide technology advice for small businesses. This month I'm taking a little different approach by telling you what KTG can do for your business. As you know I'm a big proponent of free and near-free services for small businesses so I'm starting off my list with some of the free or near-free stuff I provide.

KTG Seminars

About every other month I will provide a seminar to local small businesses and non-profits. The most common seminar is one where I cover the best free business software. I will demo email and collaboration software, customer database software, and website software. You can see what events are coming up by visiting http://www.ktgdenver.com/events

Free Technology Consultation

I'm always willing to meet with someone for one hour to answer tech questions for them. Perhaps you wonder if you are using a computer program in the correct way or you want to know ways to decrease you IT costs. Just contact KTG and setup a free one hour meeting.

KTG's Technology Blog

The Technology Blog is a place where I try and list tech news that is applicable to small businesses. In the blog I'll provide software reviews and explain trends in the IT world. Check out the blog at http://www.ktgdenver.com/technology-blog

KTG Services That Cost Money (It's worth it, trust me!)

Online Backup

KTG offers an online backup services that costs a business about $7.00 a month to backup 8 gigabytes of data. The backup software works on Windows, Mac and Linux machines. Unlike the majority of backup providers, you don't have to pay per computer. If you have more than one computer to backup you can save a lot of money. You can also access all your backed-up files through a secure website. Learn more at http://www.ktgdenver.com/backup

Email and Collaboration

If you need a larger Inbox, shared calendar or mobile contact and calendar sync KTG has a product for you. We specialize in Google Applications which give you up to 50 emails addresses at your company domain for free. Each user get a 7 gigabyte Inbox. If need more powerful email or are paying a monthly fee for email KTG can help! Learn more at http://www.ktgdenver.com/email-small-businesses

Virtual Private Networks

If you have employees that need to access office servers and printers from home or on the road KTG has an affordable VPN product for you. The VPN software will work on Mac, Windows and Linux machines. Learn more at http://www.ktgdenver.com/small-business-virtual-private-network-vpn

Content Management Systems (CMS)

If your business is rapidly changing your website should as well. KTG creates websites where the business owner controls the website content. With a CMS you can format your website as easily as editing a Word document. Business employees can also easily add photos and video to the website. You can also integrate a blog or community forum into the site. Learn more at http://www.ktgdenver.com/denver-based-drupal-cms-design

Save Time and Money with KTG

All our IT services are based on open source software or Software as a Service. Because open source software is free you only pay for KTG to setup the software and provide support. For our clients this means we can provide powerful IT solutions as a low price.

You save time with KTG because we know the small business market and know what software works for small businesses. We ensure that we complete all our projects on time and within your budget.

I hope you have learned a little bit more about KTG. I really believe that we provide the best value to small businesses in the IT services market.

Have a great thanksgiving!

Jonathan Stoddard

PS: Please give me you ideas for future emails. Contact me and let me know what technology topic you would like me to cover.

Do you like the work I did for you?  Share it with others by writing a comment on Facebook. 

KTG Product of the Month:

Remote Secure Backup:  For only a few dollars a month you can back up all your important documents in a safe and secure location.  

KTG will help you setup the backup software to ensure everything works correctly.  

Help write the newsletter

Please help me make this newsletter relevant to you.  Send me an email with a topic you would like me to cover. 

Help Wanted

I'm a new business, and I need your help to continue to grow.  Please tell others about the technology services I provide.  

About KTG

KTG provides software consulting and servicess for Denver small businesses.  From email systems to backup systems to e-commerce websites, KTG can equip your business with software that helps your business suceed.  

Want your own copy of the newsletter?  Click Here to Subscribe. 

Customer Relationship Management for Small Businesses             

One of the great things about open source software and software as a service is that it gives small businesses access to great software they normally couldn't afford.  Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software is an example of software that is now accessible to small businesses.  In my opinion CRM is software that most every small business should use.  

What Is CRM? 

In short, CRM is an application that makes it easy to keep track of your leads and customers.  CRM can be very simple (your Outlook contact database) or incredibly complex.  

The goal of CRM software is to provide you with a complete view of your customers and leads.  This means that each customer should have a profile.  In addition to having basic contact information that profile should have all the work you've done for that client, meetings and notes associated with the client, as well as email communications.  

The customer profile makes is very easy for you to contact a customer and know their entire past history with your company.  If your company has multiple employees, the CRM software would show all emails between your company and the customer.  

I usually recommend two different CRM choices: Zoho.com and SugarCRM.  Zoho is free for a limited number of users and SugarCRM is open source--so it is free for all.  Each software has pros and cons and I'm happy to help you figure out which CRM package would be best for you.  

Watch a Video Overview of Zoho

Watch a Video Overview of SugarCRM

How can CRM help me convert more leads to sales?

CRM software is great for helping you manage the stack a business cards you aquire after a business event.  Whenever you get a new lead you should make a habit of adding their info into your CRM software.  The next step would be to use your CRM software to schedule follow up contact with the lead.  Perhaps you set a reminder to email the new lead in two days and then follow up with a phone call in 7 days.  The CRM software will track all this for you. Imagine two weeks go by and you don't hear from the lead, you can use the CRM software to lookup all the leads that you haven't heard from within two weeks.  CRM help you prevent leads from slipping through the cracks.    

How can CRM encourage repeat business? 

If you enter your sales data into CRM software, you will be able to schedule follow up contact with your customers.  Perhaps you want to provide a follow-up call 6 months after you've completed work for a customer.  Your CRM software can schedule this and send you a reminder when six months rolls around.  By keeping up with your past customers, you can remind them about your services and help ensure customer satisfaction, thus encouraging repeat business.  

How can CRM help me know my best market? 

A CRM product can help track where your leads and sales come from.  You can then generate reports that show you who your best customers are and where you find them.  CRM software will be able to provide you with a pie chart that shows what percentage of leads came from different sources.  This can be very helpful in letting you know where to spend your time getting leads.  You can take this reporting one step further by seeing what lead sources produced the most sales, thus allowing you to further pursue your best markets.  

I'm just a one man (or woman) shop can CRM Help Me?

CRM is great for small one person operations.  In addition to all the benefits I've already listed, some CRM software will make it easy for you to market to your customers and leads.  I think that Zoho is the best choice for very small businesses.  Zoho has an email marketing component (it costs money) that will integrate with the CRM.  Zoho will also allow you to create custom lists, like every lead that lives in a particular zip code.  You can then use the software to send an email to each of those leads.  The software also makes it very easy to create mailing labels from these custom lists.  

I've got several employees, will free CRM options work for me?

If you have a company with several employees, you should be able to see the benefit of having a single location where employees can see all past sales and communcations history for a client.  There are other cheap CRM solutions like Salesforce.com, but Zoho.com and SugarCRM provide most of the same features--and frankely most small businesses probably won't use most of the features in more expensive CRM options.  

I'm interested now what?

If you are interested in using CRM in your business I'm happy to meet with anyone (for free) to talk about the options.  Just contact KTG!

For those "do it yourself" types here are some resources to help you get started:

How to install and run SugarCRM

How to setup Zoho CRM

View KTG's Guide to CRM

I hope that you find this newsletter interesting and useful.  If not, let me know what technology related topics you want me to cover.  

Do you like the work I did for you?  Share it with others by writing a comment on Facebook. 

Upcoming Events:

Back by popular demand, I'm holding my "How to run (or start) a business and pay nothing for software" seminar again. Register Now!

KTG Product of the Month:

Remote Secure Backup:  For only a few dollars a month you can back up all your important documents in a safe and secure location.  

KTG will help you setup the backup software to ensure everything works correctly.  

Help write the newsletter

Please help me make this newsletter relevant to you.  Send me an email with a topic you would like me to cover. 

Help Wanted

I'm a new business, and I need your help to continue to grow.  Please tell others about the technology services I provide.  

About KTG

KTG provides software consulting and servicess for Denver small businesses.  From email systems to backup systems to e-commerce websites, KTG can equip your business with software that helps your business suceed.  

Want your own copy of the newsletter?  Click Here to Subscribe. 

One (Free) Phone Number to Rule Them All

This month's newsletter if for anyone looking to setup an affordable, yet powerful phone system for his or her small business.

If you have ever looked at getting an office phone system installed you know that it isn't cheap.  While some businesses need the complex phone systems offered by voice companies, I'll bet many small businesses would do just as well using the free Google Voice service.  

What is Google Voice?  

While Google Voice is officially a service for individuals, it can provide small businesses with a very powerful phone system.  

Google Voice provides you with a single phone number that you can then link multiple phone numbers.  When someone calls your Google Voice phone number it simultaneously rings on the phones you've linked to your Google number.  This multi-ring function can be very handy if you run a virtual office where you want people to be able to call a single number that would then ring on several employees mobile phones.  The multi-ring feature can also be setup to ring certain phones based on the caller. 

Watch a video overview of Google Voice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Q9MJdT5Ds

Google Voice also has an advanced voicemail system.  When someone leaves a voicemail the recording is converted into a text message and can be emailed to sent via SMS to others.  You can also create multiple voicemail greetings depending on who's calling.  

Watch a video overview of the Voicemail features: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq33UDLaAtc

Google Voice isn't for everyone, but here are two scenarios where I think Google Voice would work well.  

Senario 1:  A small business with a virtual office.  

Imagine a small business with several employees who all work out of their homes.  In order to present a professional image the business wants a singe phone number that customers can call.  This number should ring on the mobile phones of the employees.  If no employees are available customers should reach a voicemail box that can be accesses by the all employees so the first available employee can respond to the caller.  The business also needs to ability to have conference calling and record certain phone calls for future reference.  

With the multi-ring and voicemail features employees can share the same phone number and work from home.  Employees can also easily create conference calls and record important conversations.  

Scenario 2:  A home based business with a single employee.  

The business owner wants to have a separate business phone and voicemail but doesn't want to pay for an additional phone line.  The business owner can use Google Voice to have an additional number plus voicemail.  Because outgoing calls can be placed though Google Voice the businesses phone number will be completely separate from the owners personal numbers.  

Some other features of Google Voice are:

• Google Voice allows you to record phone calls and store them online.  Watch a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LipDc2sFvQY

• Google Voice will automatically block known tele-marketer numbers.  

• Free calls and SMS messaging within the US.  

• Create conference calls. Watch a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zY00-KBaog&feature=channel

• Google Voice allows you to add a Widget on your website that allows website visitors to easily contact your Google Voice number.  (See an example.)

Wow this is pretty cool, what's the catch?  

Well, the catch is that Google voice is only available through an invite from Google.  As Google increases their ability to support Google Voice, they will continually extend invitations to new users.

 You can register to get an invite to Google Voice by filling out this form.  

I hope that you find this newsletter interesting and useful.  If not, let me know what technology related topics you want me to cover.  

Jonathan Stoddard
President
Kahuna Technology Group, Inc. 

Do you like the work I did for you?  Share it with others by writing a comment on Facebook. 


KTG Product of the Month:

Remote Secure Backup:  For only a few dollars a month you can back up all your important documents in a safe and secure location.  

KTG will help you setup the backup software to ensure everything works correctly.  

Help write the newsletter

Please help me make this newsletter relevant to you.  Send me an email with a topic you would like me to cover. 

Help Wanted

I'm a new business, and I need your help to continue to grow.  Please tell others about the technology services I provide.  

About KTG

KTG provides software consulting and servicess for Denver small businesses.  From email systems to backup systems to e-commerce websites, KTG can equip your business with software that helps your business suceed.  

Want your own copy of the newsletter?  Click Here to Subscribe. 

Google Applications: Get it while it's free

This month's newsletter idea came from all the hubbub that resulted when Google "accidentally" removed the link to the free version of Google Applications.  While Google claimed this was an accident, it created a ton of rumors in the blog world.

Take this email as a warning...sign up for the free version of Google Apps before google gets stops offering it to new users.  

Google Applications comes in a free (they call it standard) edition.  For free, Google provides functionality that rivals (and some times exceeds) Microsoft Exchange Email Server.  

This review is for people who need the ability to collaborate with others in the office, but don't want to pay over $1,000 for Microsoft Exchange.  

Who should consider using Google Apps?

The real value of Google Apps is apparent in offices where people need to share information, calendars and documents.  While Google Apps is a great value for a one person company, businesses with 2 or more employees will benefit the most.  

Before getting into some of my favorite features of Google Apps please watch a video that provides a good overview of the product.

Still interested?  Watch a video about how small business are using Google Apps.

Some of my favorite features about Google Apps:

Mobile Support: If you use an iPhone, Blackberry or Windows Mobile Device, Google Apps has the ability to sync your email, calendar and contacts with your mobile device.  

No more servers:  While I love computers, I also know that they break.  When you run an email server in house you need to ensure you are making regular backups and performing security updates.  Also, you run the risk of the server crashing and having email downtime.  With Google Apps all your emails and information is backed up by Google and you are given a 99.9% reliability guarantee.  

Google Sites:  I think Google sites is a great way to create a corporate intranet site for a business.  It is very easy to post documents like the employee handbook, policies and procedures.  Google sites is also a great way to create an internal collaboration webpage for a business. Because of some limitations, I wouldn't recommend using Google Sites for your primary website, but for internal sites it'is a great product.  Learn how one business used google sites to create a corporate site.  

Outlook Compatibility: You can sync Google Apps email and calendar with Microsoft Outlook (If you need to sync your contacts you will need to pay for the premium edition $50/user/year).  Google Sync with the Premium version.  Calandar sync with the standard (free) version.   Email sync with the free version.  

Access your email, calendar, contacts and documents worldwide:  With Google Apps you can access all the information you need from wherever you have an internet connection.  With 7 gigabytes free email storage (25 Gb for premium users) it will take you a while before you fill up your inbox.  

Up to 50 users for free:  Need I say any more?

What is the difference between the free version and premium version?  

For most small businesses the free version will work great.  Here are some reasons why you would want to look at the premium version of Google Apps:

 - You need complete Microsoft Outlook Synchronization

 - You need advanced control over spam filtering

 - You need the ability to set email retention and archiving policies.  

Here is a comparison of the two versions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Apps#Differences_between_editions

I'm interested, what next?

If you want to setup google applications on your own here is a video tutorial to help you get started:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv7t8Y0B_X4

Text instructions to setup Google Apps: http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/static.py?hl=en&page=guide.cs&guide=22229&ctx=go

This is also a service that KTG provides and I would be happy to sit down with you and discuss your needs.  Contact KTG to setup a free meeting.

Conclusion

I have used Google Applications since starting KTG and am very pleased.  I've stopped using Outlook and use only the web client to access my email and calendar.  Any company that needs corporate email (group calendar, shared contacts, mobile email) should consider using Google Apps.  It's a free service (at least for now) and I think it is hard to beat in terms of reliability and fuctionality.  

I hope you find this information useful and enjoy the summer!

Jonathan Stoddard

PS: Help me reach 300 local denver businesses.  Please forward this email on. 

Do you like the work I did for you?  Share it with others by writing a comment on Facebook. 

KTG Event:

How to run (or start) a business and pay nothing for software.  

17 July, 11:45-1:p00PM
Ross-Cherry Creek Library
 

KTG Product of the Month:

Remote Secure Backup:  For only a few dollars a month you can back up all your important documents in a safe and secure location.  

KTG will help you setup the backup software to ensure everything works correctly.  

Help write the newsletter

Please help me make this newsletter relevant to you.  Send me an email with a topic you would like me to cover. 

Help Wanted

I'm a new business, and I need your help to continue to grow.  Please tell others about the technology services I provide.  

About KTG

KTG provides software consulting and servicess for Denver small businesses.  From email systems to backup systems to e-commerce websites, KTG can equip your business with software that helps your business suceed.  

Want your own copy of the newsletter?  Click Here to Subscribe. 

The Yin-Yang of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

"Yin-yang is a dynamic equilibrium. Because they arise together they are always equal: if one disappears, the other must disappear as well, leaving emptiness"  www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang

People generally accept that being ranked near the top for applicable search terms on Google is great for business.   In fact, I know several businesses that exist only because they are ranked near the top of a Google search.  

Unfortunately, I believe there is a lot of bad information about SEO as well as people who overcharge for SEO services.  

In order to get my site listed for several search terms I've spend a good bit of time learning how all this works, what doesn't work, and what small business owners can  do to help push their own sites up to the top for relevant keywords. 

Note: I am not making any of the SEO information up.  If you follow these techniques, they will work for you as they have for me.  I've included references for just about everything, and most of the references come straight from people at Google.  Those references that do not come from Google are from sites that I've found to be trustworthy and provide accurate information.  

First the Basics:  Content and Trust.  

Google (and most of the major search engines) decide their ranking based on two things: 1. Website Content, 2. How trustworthy is the website.  

Website content is very easy to change and simply is how relevant are the words on my webpage to the search terms.  

Trust is primarily build on links that point to your website and where those links come from.  A link from cnn.com would have a much bigger impact than a link from ktgdenver.com.  

The thing is that both content and trust (links) are equally important.  You can't expect to succeed in SEO without both.  Thus why I call it the Yin-Yang of SEO.  

Watch a video:  What is more important content or links?

Content

Content is essentially how relevant a webpage is to certain search terms.  If someone searches for "bike shop," Google will pick a website that mentions "bike shop" ten times over a site that mentions "bike shop" five times.  

   example: Search for "denver small business technology services"  Notice how many of those keywords I've placed on my homepage.  

    Content is the easiest part of SEO for us to control.  Once you know what keywords people will use to search for your product or service make sure you are using those same keywords in your site.  

    Google also pays attention to the placement of your words.  You should make sure the website title is relevant to your keywords.  Google assumes that the words in a website title will describe what the page is about.  

    You should also make sure you use appropriate heading tags.  Headings (h1, h2 ,h3 etc) should contain appropriate keywords because this helps Google know what the website is about.  

Watch a video: Does the ordering of heading tags matter?

    Another thing to pay attention to is the name of the URL.  A URL like www.example.com/how-to-ride-bike is better than www.example.com/node/45.  URLs that contain applicable keywords help Google know what the web page is about.

    Like with many things, some people will try to abuse headings and keywords.  Google is prepared for this and will punish your site in search rankings if it suspects abuse.  For instance, if you write your whole site in h1 headings or repeat keywords fifty times Google won't like it.  

Watch a video: More than one H1 on a page: good or bad?

Trust

Google is trying very hard to rank pages in the same way a human would.  Google wants to give you the pages that contain the best information about your search.  One way that Google tries to determine the quality of the web page is how many people link to it.  

You can figure out who is linking to your site by signing up for a webmaster tools account. 

Not only will webmaster tools give you info about who is linking to your site, but it will provide you with all kinds of useful information about how Google views your website.  

At first I found it difficult to figure out how to get people to link to my site.  Then I realized that I could do much of the work myself.  

Note: Many SEO companies will charge a lot of money for what is called 'link building'  This is simply getting people to link to your site.  There are a number of legitimate ways to do this as well as some that Google doesn't like.  

Watch a video: Two questions about the link: operator

The thing to remember is that a link from a trusted website is much better than a link from a small or untrusted website.  Be sure to ask anyone to is going to do link building for you, what types of links they are getting.  

There are many lists online that you can submit your website to.  Many are free.  Spending a few hours to list your sites on these webpages is a good first start to getting links to your site.  

Another tool that I've found useful is to submit my blog postings to digg.com and reddit.com.  This allows me to gain a link to my site plus a few of my blog posts have been picked up by others who decided to link to my blog article.  

 example: This blog post was dug by six other people and was linked to on several other sites.

The ultimate way to get people to create links to your site is by offering something that people want to share.  (You see again why content is important?)  If you can create blog posts or something on your site that is useful and peole want to share it (free advice/information is always good) people will be likely to create a link to your website.

Watch a Video: Whitehat linkbait

What next?

Here are some steps that you can take:

Create a blog.  A blog is an easy way to create content on your site.  Make the blog relevant and useful.  With blog posts that you think are extra good, submit them to sites like digg and reddit.  This will promote your blog post and provide you with an inbound link.  

Find search terms that are within your grasp.  As a new business it would be hard for me to rank on the first page for 'computer consultant' or even 'denver technology consultant.'  These  search terms are very compeitive and will require many more inbound links than I currently have.  Instead I've choosen what are called long tail keywords.  My site now ranks on searches like 'denver small business technology services' 'small business technology consulting denver' 'denver small business technology' 'remote secure backup'  These keywords are less competitive, but also likely to be used if a Denver small business owner is looking for technology help. 

Make your website search engine friendly.  Ensure that appropriate keywords are prominently located on your site.  For anyone looking to upgrade their website, I highly recommend drupal which will make it very easy to make your site search engine friendly. 

Create a plan to get links to your site.  Did you graduate from link building high New Mailingschool yet?

Create press releases that cover something noteworthy or new about your business.  A free press release site like www.prlog.org will post the realease for free.  Include several links to your site within the press release. 

     example: search for "secure backup denver"  Notice how one of the first results is a press release I created?  Not only does this provide me visibility on the first page of a google search, but the press release contains several links back to my site.  

Resources:

HubSpots Inbound Internet Market Blog: Great information about how to drive webtraffic to your site.  

Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide: Written by Google, I consider this the source document for making your website Google friendly.  

Google Webmaster Central Channel: All kinds of videos that answer common questions about SEO.  

If there is something mentioned that you are interested in contact me.  I like helping others out.  KTG also offers many of these website SEO services to small businesses if you don't have the time/experience to do it yourself.  

I hope you find this information useful and enjoy the summer!

Jonathan Stoddard

PS: Help me reach 300 local denver businesses.  Please forward this email on. 

Info:

Do you like the work I did for you?  Share it with others and leave me a comment on Facebook. 

Where is KTG?

Don't miss KTG at the Denver Young Professionals Event  I have a booth this event.  Stop by say hi and pick up some free lip balm.   

Help write the newsletter

Please help me make this newsletter relevant to you.  Send me an email with a topic you would like me to cover. 

Help Wanted

I'm a new business, and I need your help to continue to grow.  Please tell others about the technology services I provide.  

About KTG

KTG provides software consulting and servicess for Denver small businesses.  From email systems to backup systems to e-commerce websites, KTG can equip your business with software that helps your business suceed.  

Want your own copy of the newsletter?  Click Here to Subscribe. 

Because of the large number of people who signed up for this newsletter after I originally sent it, I am re-sending the May edition to new subscribers.  I hope the information is useful and please let me know what topics you would like to see covered in future editions.  

Please help me make this newsletter relevant to you. Send me an email or leave me a comment on Facebook on what question or issue you would like me to cover. 

Thanks to a suggestion from a reader, I decided to provide a list of some of best free software for your business.  Something that may surprise you is that since I've started my business I've spent $0.00 on software.  This isn't because I had all the software I needed previously, its because there are a lot of great free options for businesses.  Most of this software falls under the open source and Software as a Service (which is what KTG specializes in). 

Some of the  options are easier than others.  I've created a  key to let you know how difficult each software package is to get up and running. 

    Easy – Takes little time to setup; requires basic computer understanding. 
    Medium – Can take several hours to setup; more advanced computer knowledge. 
    Hard – A multi-day project; requires advanced computer knowledge. 

If you find software that you are really interested in, but can't set it up on your own, that is where KTG fits in.  Even though I will have to charge for my services, you will still be saving money because you aren't paying for the software. 

The Best Free Software For Your Business

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Want to get your website ranked higher on Google, but have no idea where to start?  Some SEO companies charge an arm and a leg to tell you how to do this, but there are free options, here are some of the best. 

Hubspot's Website Grader: This tool will analyze your website and let you know how your website compares to other websites in terms of SEO.  Additionally, the report will tell you specifically what you can do to improve your site's ranking.  What I like best about the site (besides the great information it gives) is that you don't have to provide your email or contact info to use the service.  (Easy)

Google's guide to SEO: Straight from the horses mouth, this pdf will tell you exactly what Google looks for when it crawls your website.  BONUS: If you use a website engine like Drupal, there some packages that will automatically make the changes recommended by Google.  (Easy)

Google Analytics:  This free utility tells you all kinds of information about the people who visit your website.  From how people get to your site, to what they click on, to how long they spend looking at pages, this tool is very valuable in helping you understand visitors to your website.  (Medium)

Email

Google Applications:  Hands down, this is the best email option for small businesses.  I have used this service for 6 months and am still pleased.  Google will give you up to 100 email addresses on your business domain name for free.  Each user will get around 7 gigabytes of email storage, as well as excellent spam filtering.  Additionally, users have access to a shared calendar that many people think beats Microsoft Outlook in functionality.  If you do need to use Outlook, Google Applications will interface with it.  If you ever considered upgrading from your current email system, this is the best option.  Google also has a premium edition that has more features, but you will have to pay for it.  (Medium)

Office Productivity and Collaboration Suite

Zoho.com:  This company offers a little bit of everything.  From email, to customer relationship management to database creation.  While they will charge you for multiple users, they offer many of their applications to a limited number of users for free.  Additionally Zoho is software as a service which means you don't have to worry about installing any software.  (Medium)

Website System

Drupal:  If Fedex, Beyonce and the Federal government trust Drupal to run some of their websites, then so will I.  Drupal provides a very good foundation for creating your website.  One of the most powerful features of Drupal is that there is a vast library of add-on modules that provide additional functionality.  (Medium)

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

CiviCRM:  This web-based CRM integrates with Drupal and Joomla.  Although it was created for non-profits, this software can benefit many small businesses.  CiviCRM offers the standard CRM functions, but I particularly like the email marketing functions, as well as the online event registration.  (Medium)

SugarCRM: More robust than CiviCRM this software rivals much more expensive options.  You can automate tasks and customize the information you track.  This software is well supported and has many add-ons that provides additional functionality.  (Hard)

Email Marketing:

CiviCRM: While primarily a CRM package, the email marketing package is very powerful.  With CiviCRM you can easily create online forms to allow users to signup for your newsletter.  This software also tracks all the standard email marketing information like who views your email and clicks on links.  (Medium)

Graphics Editing

Inkscape:  Don't want to shell out a few hundred dollars for Adobe Illustrator?  I've used Inkscape for all my vector graphics editing and been very pleased with the software.  The software is fairly easy to use and provides all the functions a small business needs to create professional looking brochures and handouts.  (Medium)

Social Networking

Elgg:  Want to create your own social network?  Elgg allows you to create your own website that works like mySpace or Facebook.  The best thing is that your are in charge of the site.  (Hard)

Document Management

Alfresco:  Always bumping into other users who are editing the document you need?  Alfresco provides a really powerful document management package.  With Alfresco you don't have to worry about accidently overwriting someone's changes to a document.  All versions of a document are archived so you don't accidently loose important information.  (Hard)

Firewall and VPN

Smoothwall:  Many people would like to work from home, except they need to be able to access office resources, like email and electronic files.  Smoothwall provides a very secure office firewall and protection from outsiders, but what really makes it stand out is the option to create a Virtual Private Network.  With Smoothwall you can access all electronic resources like printers, files servers and email from wherever you have an internet connection.  (Hard)

As you can see, there are many free software options for small businesses.  So remember, next time you are think you can't affort a certain softare package make sure you check to see if there are open source alternatives.  ( I bet that you will be able to find one.)

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the beautiful May weather. 

Jonathan Stoddard

PS: Help me reach 300 local denver businesses.  Please forward this email on. 

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