Traci A. Smith, CEO and founder of The S.H.E. Agency, requested I do a blog that focused on how business owners can communicate with their clients without giving out their personal phone number. This is especially a concern for entrepreneurs who work out of their homes. While we need to be visible and accessible in order to earn a living, our safety is a real concern. I felt this was a great opportunity to present [...]

“Hand me that Kleenex”. “I’m going to Xerox these forms”. “Google that information for me”. These are brands that have become a part of our everyday language. Sometimes the popularity of a brand becomes so large that its name is used synonymously with an action or thing, even when that particular product brand is not actually being used. They even have a name for this. It’s called a genericized trademark. A genericized trademark (also known [...]

Freelance Freedom #54 by N.C. Winters featured on freelanceswitch.com and on ncwinters.com

In this age of social networking, where the world wide web brings people from all parts of the globe together across the Internet bandwidth within seconds, more-than-likely a portion of your clients will meet you through your web presence before they ever meet you in your physical presence; if they ever meet you face-to-face at all. With that in mind, I’m always baffled by how little effort some businesses, many businesses, put into their web [...]

When I first started hearing of iPhone’s ability to surf the web while talking on the phone on the AT&T network I thought, “What’s the big deal? I don’t need to surf the web while talking on the phone. And don’t all smartphones and carriers allow you to do that?” I quickly realized that, no, all phones don’t allow you to do that and, yes, there are times I want to (or need to) talk [...]

You would never think a company like Google could capitalize on the the emotional aspect of marketing. While we know technology can be used to streamline certain functions in our daily life, it can also be used in a more personal sense. This campaign is aimed at showing off all the wonderful features the Google Chrome has to offer. A father uses Google Chrome in combination with its other products (YouTube, GMail, Pacasa) to chronicle  [...]

In times of old “buzz” about the royal weddings was restricted to the words and bell of the town crier. Now with twitter, Facebook and various blogs, buzz can spread much faster and wider. Webtrends put together statistical data that shows how  the royal wedding was talked about across the internet. Surprisingly, The United States held 65% of the chatter while the site of the wedding (UK) only had 20%. Twitter claimed most of the [...]

Freelance Freedom #51 by N.C. Winters featured on freelanceswitch.com and on ncwinters.com

There’s always something touching and emotional about a solider coming home after a deployment. It’s one of those things everyone can rally around and feel good about. Budweiser presents the build up of this event in a great fashion. The Commercial opens up in split-screen with the solider calling his family and letting them know that he is coming home. As the commercial progresses, on the left side it shows his journey home and on [...]

When I do Featured Freebie I try to find things that are 1) free(of course) 2) Useful for small businesses and 2) something that I would gladly pay for if there was a charge to it. The Square Card Reader is one of those products. Basically Square will turn your apple or Android mobile device into a mobile credit credit card reader. It’s ideal for businesses without a standard location, for salespeople who work out [...]