Non Stop Portals Blog

Content Writing For "Regular" People

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:23:29 +0000

My daughter, Jennifer Jarrell, was kind enough to provide me with some feedback on my web site. In summary, she thought that some of the content was too technical for a new small business owner to understand. My first inclination was to write a series of articles labeled "... For Dummies". Like, "Web Portals for Dummies". I decided that using the word Dummies could be a possible trademark infringement on the very popular books. So, I decided to look up the word dummy online. Here's the definition I found:

Main Entry:	dummy
Part of Speech:	noun
Definition:	stupid person
Synonyms:	blockhead, dimwit, dolt*, dullard, dunce, fool,idiot, ignoramus, moron, numskull, oaf, simpleton
Antonyms:	brain, genius

To be honest, the substitute words for dummy seem very insulting. So, I've decided to embark on writing a series of blog posts for regular people. Non-technical and easy to understand. Sure the site will still have lots of more technical stuff, but I will periodically write regular stuff as well. Thank you Jennifer for the suggestion! Jennifer lives in Charlotte, NC, providing urban ministry services through Hyaets. .

Social Media Return On Investment (ROI)

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:23:36 +0000

Twitter has some good information from time to time. I just ran across a Twitter hash (#roi) that has a series of posts about measuring return on investment for social media sites.

A Twitter hash is used in each individual article so that it is easy to search for articles of interest. In this case, if you do a search on #roi, you will find all articles that are related to Return On Investment.

The following article is a great start to measuring ROI, which follows our process for helping clients improve their sales and profitability. Social Media ROI Framework Here is a simple, five-step framework for developing a social media ROI measurement program. Remember that not all social media initiatives will result in short-term ROI generation. It is also important to comprehend the results of programs that result in non-financial value or impact. (For a quick refresher on the difference between value and ROI read this). Holistic measurement programs should be designed to track and measure non-financial impact as well as ROI. By Don Bartholomew (Twitter name: donbart) Read The Rest of the Article Non Stop Portals is ready to help you implement solutions that will have measurable benefits to your organization!

Search Engine Optimization - Keywords

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:16:10 +0000

I just ran across a good article on Bing about writing content with an emphasis on keywords. It is a great basic tutorial on generating better results for your page rankings. The bottom line summary of the article is to write natural content that is focused on specific keyword phrases. By natural, the writing should provide information to the reader instead of using tricks to try and manipulate the search engine. Yes, it is still important to match your site meta tags with the contents of the article, but it is just as important to write good copy for your content.

Have You Attended A Meetup?

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:15:03 +0000

A Meetup is a group of people with common interests that schedule meetings to discuss their topic of common interest. The Meetup.com website facilitates finding groups of interest, administering group membership and posting upcoming events. Basically, the Meetup structure is a social media network that allows individuals to connect with other individuals in their area. Each group is self-administered and meets locally. Individual group leaders register a group of interest and solicit their friends to form the core group. Word of mouth and self-promotion are normally the means utilized to get new members to join. Topics of interest for Meetup groups vary widely by location. I live in the Raleigh, NC area and obviously have a strong interest in web site development, search engine optimization, and project management. Local Meetup groups exist for each of these topic areas. After I register as a Meetup user, I can request membership in any group listed. Once approved by the group leader I will receive all upcoming meeting announcements and events. I RSVP to any meeting that I am planning on attending. Meetups are a valuable resource to learn more about your areas of interest and to share what you know with others. The group depends upon members sharing with each other. Give it a try!

Cloud Computing

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:12:19 +0000

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cloud computing is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet.^[1]^[2] Users need not have knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure in the "cloud" that supports them.^[3]

Some of the vendors providing Cloud computing services

The concept generally incorporates combinations of the following:

infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
platform as a service (PaaS)
software as a service (SaaS)
Other recent (ca. 2007–09)^[4]^[5] technologies that rely on the Internet to satisfy the computing needs of users. Cloud computing services often provide common business applications online that are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on the servers.

The term cloud is used as a metaphor for the Internet, based on how the Internet is depicted in computer network diagramsand is an abstraction for the complex infrastructure it conceals.^[6] The first academic use of this term appears to be by Prof. Ramnath K. Chellappa (currently at Goizueta Business School,Emory University) who originally defined it as a computing paradigm where the boundaries of computing will be determined by economic rationale rather than technical limits.^[7]

Virtual Webmaster

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 14:11:02 +0000

A full-time internal webmaster easily costs over $75,000 per year in compensation, taxes and benefits. Is this payroll commitment really providing the value to your organization? Perhaps you should consider a virtual webmaster for your organization. A virtual webmaster works on specific assignments as directed by you. Let's be honest - most companies don't really need the overhead associated with hiring a webmaster to be on their staff.

Get Ready For The Rebound

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:03:35 +0000

The economy has been in turmoil for the last several years. Speculative home buying fueled by easy home mortgage financing could not really last indefinitely. When the economy started seeing signs of a recession, the housing industry was hit harder than many other industries. The collapse of the financial industry is one of the primary reasons for the current recession. There have been recent signs that the economy is starting to show signs of a recovery. You need to position yourself to take advantage of any improvements in the economy. Many businesses have responded to the popularity of the Internet by creating a web site presence. Unfortunately, many have been disappointed with the results. If is much more important to create your own "brand" and Internet web sites are just one little piece of branding. Non Stop Portals can help you create your brand with a variety of tools. Many of the tools are free or very inexpensive. The biggest mis-conception about creating a brand is the concept that you can pay someone else to do it for you. You still have a lot of work that you have to do on your own to create a successful brand. For example, many have found it very useful to write small articles on a Blog. Blogging sounds easy, but the effort required to write one new article each week is surprising. At a high level, some things you can do to get your brand known are:

Write blogs.
Participate in several different social media platforms (e.g. MySpace, Facebook, Twitter).
Post information about your business on Internet sites that do not charge for the posts.
Participate in local networking events.

Non Stop Portals can help you learn more about creating your brand and provide you with the resources you need to sell more. It's a lot more than just creating a web site.

Who Can Benefit From Our Services?

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:50:57 +0000

The services provided by Non Stop Portals are designed for any business. In addition to creating a superior web site presence, our solution includes a flexible system for you to post content on your site. As an example, the target audiences for the commercial broker and home realtor are different. The commercial broker is targeting business owners who want to buy and sell property. The home realtor is obviously targeting individuals wanting to buy or sell a home. In many ways the marketing techniques for all companies is the same. Creating a recognizable brand and prospecting for new customers. The commercial broker may interact with fewer people than a home realtor, but it is equally important to maintain strong customer relationships with either group. We will be happy to provide a free assessment of your current environment, your target audience, and your unique goals to help you decide if our solution is a good fit for you.