Note: Some Links may be out of date.

Blitz Ezine # 196 January 6, 2003

Note: This is an archived issue. Some links and/or content may be outdated

Happy New Year
The Blitz-Promotions News Letter.
Issue no. 196, Jan. 6, 2003
************ In This Issue **************
Comments
Food for thought
Articles
The Classifieds
Next Issues
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Blitz Comments
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Happy New Year! Hopefully you made some great goals and revolutions (no that's not misspelled) for your business.

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Food for thought
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The Jan. 2003 issue of Inc. magazine had some excellent articles on Zingerman. I snipped these quotes from there.
http://www.zingermans.com/Index.pasp

To give good service:
1. Figure out what the customer wants.
2. Get it for them - accurately, politely, enthusiastically.
3. Go the extra mile.

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Creating A Database (Contact Management)- Off the shelf solutions.
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This month's articles are all about how to build databases to help your business run smoother. This week we're going to talk about some off the shelf solutions. Next week we'll start building a follow up database. Next week we'll finish it and then we'll work on a customer database.

There are many different types of solutions, with a variety of price ranges. I've really only skimmed the surface with some snippets below, but you'll get an idea of some of the things you can do and the price.

You can find tons more at the link below -
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/Databases/

For your PDA -

HanDBase - lets you build the databases that you want. Around $30.00, integrates with your desktop. Lots of things you can do with it.
http://www.ddhsoftware.com/

Data on the Run - Similar to HanDbase but for around 13 bucks.
http://www.biohazardsoftware.com/index.htm

For your Desktop -

Goldmine- Very robust includes everything you would ever need, but it does have a hefty price tag $174.95 (from Amazon). You can also add modules to put your database on the web.

http://www.frontrange.com/goldmine/

Act - Robust tools - $189 (from their site).

http://www.act.com/

Maximizer - does the same things, at about the same price - $189.00.
http://www.maximizer.com/

My recommendation -

My favorite is a simple (but powerful) program called the Internet Information Manager. It's very robust, and less than $50.00. More details can be found at the following link.

http://wetrack.it/budgetware/af.cgi?25

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Newbie Guide Part 12
Finding the Look
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Now we want to find a good 'look' for your site. The easiest way to do this is by finding templates on the web and then modifying it as you wish. Some things to keep in mind -

1. Colors - the customers have to read what you have to say... so make sure that the font, and colors of your site make it easy and enjoyable to read. You can read a bit more about colors at the following link.

http://www.blitzpromotions.com/designtips3.htm

2. Fast loading - most people still surf the net with a modem. Make sure that your images and site are optimized so they load fast.

You can find a nice selection of free templates for you to use at the following page.

http://www.blitzpromotions.com/designtips4.htm

http://www.blitzpromotions.com/blitz181.htm - Part 1
http://www.blitzpromotions.com/blitz182.htm - Part 2
http://www.blitzpromotions.com/blitz183.htm - Part 3
http://www.blitzpromotions.com/blitz184.htm - Part 4
http://www.blitzpromotions.com/blitz185.htm - Part 5
http://www.blitzpromotions.com/blitz186.htm - Part 6
http://www.blitzpromotions.com/blitz187.htm - Part 7
http://www.blitzpromotions.com/blitz188.htm - Part 8
http://www.blitzpromotions.com/blitz189.htm - Part 9
http://www.blitzpromotions.com/blitz191.htm - Part 10
http://www.blitzpromotions.com/blitz192.htm - Part 11

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Tidbits
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2003 is here. If you're like me you will forget when you write a check. So what I do is fill out the end portion of the date. I usually prefill a couple of the check packets... hopefully by the time I finish those I will remember.