News:

Hard Drive Prices

Due to recent flooding in Thailand, hard drive production facilities have been forced to shut down causing hard drive prices to skyrocket. This not only affects the price of the drives themselves, but also the price of desktops and servers. It might be many months before production and prices go back to normal.

Tips & Tricks:

How To Make A Computer More Efficient

For a PC to run efficiently it must be properly maintained. Here are some suggestions and routines that can improve performance and keep your computer running smoothly.

General

• Keep the computer clean – only install program that you actually NEED. The more programs you install the slower your computer will get.
• As a general rule do not install freeware/shareware programs (like Toolbars, backgrounds, screensavers, etc…). These programs tend to slow down your computer and are often bundled with malware or ads. Staying free of malware is one of the most important things that you can do to keep your computer running fast.
• If the “Java” update icon appears in your taskbar, click it to start the update.
• If prompted to update “Adobe” or “Flash”, select yes.
• Leave your computer on at night or at least most nights. During nighttime hours your computer runs maintenance tasks that keep it running efficiently.
• Do you tend to have a lot of programs open all at once and switch back and forth between them? This is a very common but inefficient situation. The solution? Get split screens. A dual-video card is less than $100, and LCD monitors are very cheap. The efficiencies gained by implementing this will pay for itself in a month or two. Some users can benefit from having 3-4 monitors. Again, this will pay for itself in a very short period of time.
• How much memory is in your computer? By today’s standards you should have at least 1-2GB if you have Windows XP, and 2-4GB of you have Windows Vista or Windows 7. Some users require even more depending on what programs are used. How do you check this? Go to Start > Control Panel > System. The amount of memory should be displayed in “MB” or “GB”.
• How old is your computer? If it is 4 or more years old there is probably little that you can do to make it faster other than to replace it.

Monthly Routine

1. Run “Disk Cleanup”. This will clean up temporary files and other junk from your hard drive. Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup. It should only take a minute or two to complete.
2. If Windows XP, run a Disk Defrag. This will reorganize files on your hard drive so that programs load and run faster. Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter. Select “Defragment”. Do this over lunch or at the end of a day as it will take 30-60 minutes to complete. Note: there is no need to do this with Windows Vista or 7 because this is already done automatically at night. But if you turn off your computer/laptop at night, then you should manually run this each month.
3. If you use Outlook you may consider cleaning up your Inbox, Sent Items and Deleted Items folders. Outlook will perform better the smaller these folders get. This is not necessarily an easy thing to do since you may not want to delete these items. It would be better to archive them in a place that gets backed up. Please discuss this with your DuraLogic technician.

As we promised, here is the second eNewsletter in this series that is dedicated to helping you create a successful and profitable website.

In this piece we continue to discuss the most important ingredient in creating a successful website, and that ingredient is “content.”   Well written and powerful action-taking content always begins with learning that ….

Headlines and sub-headlines will make or break your site

Why?  Because visitors will not read your site like a book (beginning at the first word and reading until they get to “the end”).  Websites are different.  Many studies have been performed that verify what really happens – visitors will “scan” your site, and here’s how they’ll do it.

Their eye sequence goes like this:
  
• They first scan the Upper Left side of the screen
• Then they proceed to the Center of the screen
• Then Left again, from the center to the edge of the screen
• After this they will be scanning Screen Right looking for something that hits their hot-buttons
• The Last place they look is the Screen Bottom

So here is how your page should be laid out

First:  Put your logo and company name in the upper left.  This is to let your visitors know they have landed on the right site. 

Second:  Global navigation goes either along the top or down the left side.  We prefer it to be on the top, so other important links can be along the left.  But if you have so many separate subjects or hot-buttons, or you have a very large site, then Global Navigation may have to go along the left.  But this is usually the exception to the rule.

Third:  Your Headlines, especially your main headline should be in the center and be bolded and in a larger font size.  And if you can include a keyword, so much the better!  But don’t give up a great headline for the sake of a keyword, it isn’t worth it.

Fourth:  Your Sub-headlines are next…and you need a ton of them.  You need to break up your body copy with as many sub-headlines as you can.  Why?  Because that’s what visitors will use to scan your site to find issues that are relevant and match their hot-buttons. 

White Space:  Make sure you leave plenty of white space between headlines, sub-headlines and body copy, as well as separate paragraphs.  Most sites are so afraid of making the reader scroll down the page, that they squeeze way too much on every page.  If someone has told you in the past that people won’t scroll – wrong!… people will scroll for as long as you keep their interest.

OK, back to where we started, and the most critical part of your website content…which is Headlines!

How to Create Powerful Headlines & Sub-headlines

Creating interrupting and engaging headlines and sub-headlines is one of the most critical factors in any successful marketing piece or campaign…and no more so than the content you write for your website.  Why? 

Headlines are tools we use to interrupt and engage prospects.  We call headlines “the ad for the ad”.  It should be an activator that interrupts the reader and paints a mental picture for the prospect.  And it needs to be focused and created using your prospect’s hot buttons. 

Sub-headlines should do the same and also promise to further educate prospects that are engaged.  Remember, people won’t initially read every word on your website – they’ll scan it first, looking for information that interests them, meaning, their hot-buttons.

Writing effective headings, headlines and sub-headlines are the catalyst that keeps visitors on your site for an extended period of time.  The average website visitor stays on any given site for only 22 seconds!  What can happen in 22 seconds?  Exactly…nothing!  If you want to increase that number to a number that we average with our sites, which is 3.5 – 5 minutes, or longer, then stay with me.

There are 3 Unique and Effective Techniques for Writing Headlines

1. Say it in plain English
2. Use headline starters
3. Borrow from our Headline Bank

1. Say it in plain English
Using plain English means just that.  Say what you have to say and formulate a headline out of it.  For a garage door company the headline might read:  “If Your Twenty-Year-Old Garage Is Creaking, Making Weird Sounds and You Might be Worried About the Safety of Your Children and Cars…”

It’s powerful because those are scenarios that homeowners understand.  Then we can continue the headline with problematic hot-buttons that would engage the reader: “And You Would Like To Install A High Quality Garage Door That Won’t Creak, Rust, Rot, Sag, Lean or Smash Down on Your Family or Cars…”

2.  Use Headline Starters
Have you ever had to light a fire and used a fire starter.  It’s a little wax-log that’s been soaked in Kerosene.  To use it you just set it in the middle of some paper and sticks, light it with a match and watch it easily start your fire.  It pretty much works in any type of weather.

Headline starters are the same as fire starters.  Whenever you are in a situation where you can’t think of a headline, use the headline starters.  They will ignite a creative spark in you almost every time.  We break headline starters into 4 groups:

1. News
2. Inflammatory approach
3. How to
4. Comparison

3.  The Headline Bank

The basic concept of the Headline Bank is to emulate existing headlines to create powerful new ones.  The Headline Bank includes the top 150 headlines of all time, written by some of the world’s greatest copywriters.  We use all 150 of them to help our clients.  Here’s a sampling:

1. The 5 Biggest Mistakes Most People Make When Hiring a Plumber.
2. What The Eye Surgeons Don’t Want You To Know.
3. Major Diet plans:  Which Ones Actually Work … And Which Ones Are Guaranteed To Torture You, Cost a Fortune, And Leave You Fatter.
4. Three Fairy Tales You’ll Hear From Brokers … Even Honest Ones!
5. If Your Pharmacist Goofs, You Could Be Dead – How to Protect Yourself.
6. A Little Mistake That Cost A Farmer $3,000 A Year.
7. Something You Probably Didn’t Know About Rolex Watches.
8. Every 15 to 25 Years, A Major Innovation Completely Changes The Face Of The Copier and Printing Business.
9. Of course You’ve heard of Laser Vision Correction.  But Have You Heard Of AFFORABLE Laser Vision Correction?

Putting it all together:  Creating Headlines & Sub-headlines For Your Site

Is it difficult to create headlines for your own site?  The answer is both No and Yes … creating headlines is like any other skill, the more you do it, the better you get at it.  And we both know you didn’t get into business to spend your time creating headlines.

Over the past 10 years we’ve created thousands and thousands of headlines and sub-headlines for multiple industries, so of course we now have a knack for it … especially when it comes to making sure that those headlines are hitting your prospects hot-buttons.  But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try and put some together for your website or other marketing.  The more you do it, the better you will get.

But the most important thing you should take out of this, is not necessarily how to create them yourselves, but that they should be created on every page of your website … and in every marketing piece you ever create.

If you now clearly understand how important and critical headlines and sub-headlines are to the success of your website,  then you will be ahead of 99% of your competitors.

FREE Website Evaluation
($300 Value)

We would like to take a couple of hours and do a thorough evaluation of your website and your competitors sites, then meet with you for 30-45 minutes to review the evaluation.  There will be no charge for the evaluation or the review … and I am certain that you will leave our meeting with a better understanding of your website and how it might be more effective and productive for your business.

Hopefully you’ve found this information helpful.  Please contact Marc Miller so that we can start the evaluation of your existing or new site.

mmiller@duralogic.com
(651) 204-7231

As your IT advisor, we understand that your website is becoming more and more important in your overall business strategy … and is often times the first point of entry or introduction to your company.

… so it goes without saying, you want to get your website right!
 
Over the next several weeks we will be sending you a series of eNewsletters that will discuss how you can squeeze the absolute most out of your website.  To give you an overview of what will be coming, we’ve broken down this material into 7 Key components…

The 7 Critical Components of a Successful Website

#1 – Content:  This is the most critical part of a website, and the piece that 99% of your competitors get wrong…offering you a huge opportunity:

• Identifying your prospect’s hot-buttons – “emotional, real-world reactions”
• Creating headlines and sub-headlines using these hot-buttons
• The bulk of your content must be educational in nature
• How to use keywords effectively in your content
• Low-risk and risk-free offers and action steps

#2 – How are people and businesses finding your site?  Are they searching
for you using Google?  Are you leading them there with marketing …?

#3 – How effective is your Home Page?  Your Home Page is the portal to
your site…get it wrong and your visitors will be gone in 22 seconds

#4 – The 6 biggest mistakes that companies make with their websites.

#5 – Understanding Google and Search Engine Optimization.  What are
rankings and what are the advantages and disadvantages of organic
search and pay-per-click.

#6 – What are the best practices for layout and the design your site?

#7 – Creating a Plan that allows for the maximum impact for your website.

In this first eNewsletter we’ll begin discussing the most important piece of your website —

CONTENT – What does your website say?

And because you need to get this piece of it right the first time, in this first eNewsletter we’ll concentrate on where it all begins, and that’s with identifying your prospect’s hot-buttons.

You need to see the world through your customer’s eyes

One of the biggest mistakes companies make with their website is focusing their content on their own company. Too many websites and web copywriters take the stance that the reader/visitor wants to know all about the company and the company’s products — WRONG!  They couldn’t care less.  People are interested in mainly one thing—themselves.  They don’t care one iota how your life is going, or how your service will save the world.  Unless your content can show them how those things affect their life, their business or their health, then you’ve just wasted your time and theirs!

Unless you are willing to address their needs and solve their problems first, your website will always be underperforming…and worst of all, will look, smell and sound like everyone else’s.

How To Identify Your Prospect’s Hot-Buttons

When it comes to your product or service, how do you identify what’s most important to your prospect?  Well, you first have to get into their heads, and you have to identify their problems, their issues, frustrations and annoyances with your product or service.

Let’s look at a specific industry as an example – let’s use attorneys.

If you were looking for a lawyer, what would be most important to you?  Your first thought is probably going to be; “Can I trust this guy?”  Does this lawyer really care about me?  Will he treat me with respect and give me the time that I need to understand what’s happening?  Will he be available to answer my questions, or will he take many days to get back to me? 

Now let’s be honest, as a whole the reputation of lawyers/attorneys is probably more negative then positive.  Most of us know someone who hired a lawyer and then went through the frustrations of not getting return phone calls, being treated poorly, losing the case, or being assigned an assistant who seemed to do all of the work. The experience wasn’t exactly positive, so when it’s time again to hire an attorney, those emotions and issues will be center stage in our mind…they’re basically our hot-buttons.

Now, if you open up the yellow pages or do a quick Google search for attorneys, you will have a very hard time finding content that addresses those issues.  You may find one or two that address some of these issues in a round about way, but never in a way that resonates with the average person.  What you will hear is, “we’re a Top Lawyer in Minnesota, we’ll really work hard for you, we have 50 years of combined experience, we take one case at a time, we’ll protect your rights, etc. ”

These are the normal things you will find on 99% of all attorneys’ websites and ads.  And of course it’s not just the legal profession that has this problem; 99% of the content on all websites is written like this …which creates a great opportunity for your website!

When you get a chance, please go to our website using this link and read more about identifying your prospect’s hot buttons and why this is vitally important to making your website effective and truly productive:

http://duralogic.com/internet-marketing/your-prospects-hot-buttons

Once these “hot buttons” are clearly identified the next step is to create headlines and sub-headlines throughout your website that address those hot-buttons.  In the next eNewsletter we’ll show you a system on how to accomplish just that.

In the meantime, I’d like you to consider this … we would like to take a couple of hours and do a thorough evaluation of your website, then meet with you for 30-45 minutes to review the evaluation.  There will be no charge for the evaluation or the review … and I am certain that you will leave our meeting with a better understanding of your website and how it might be more effective and productive for your business.

FREE Website Evaluation ($300 Value)

Here’s a chance to get a professional and practical review of your website. We’ll take an hour or two to examine your site and your competitor’s sites.  Then we will give you some solid, real-world advice on how to make your site more productive and profitable.

Hopefully you’ve found this information helpful.  Please contact Marc Miller so that we can start the evaluation of your existing or new site.

mmiller@duralogic.com
(651) 204-7231

It’s storm season again. By far the biggest reason for a server to go down is a power outage. All of you should have a decent Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) connected to your server, Ethernet, switches, routers and firewalls.

UPS Tidbits:

• The purpose of the UPS is to keep the server from crashing during a short power outage. It is not designed to keep the company business network functioning during an outage.

• Never plug laser printers or other high voltage equipment into a UPS. They will render it useless during an outage.

• The lifespan of a UPS is around 2-4 years, depending upon wear and tear. Many models have inexpensive, replaceable batteries. If your UPS is more than 3 years old, or you’re not sure of it’s age, please contact DuraLogic to have it evaluated.

There are a lot of things to consider when planning to move your organization to another address. This article will touch on the technology issues that you may encounter when you relocate your business. Careful planning will make your move a smooth transition.

Telco
The most important technical item to consider prior to your move is your phone lines. You will need dependable service the minute you open your new office. This will require much planning and will need some coordination with your IT firm. If you don’t currently have a T1 or VoIP, now would be a great time to investigate these options (there are many benefits to T1 service versus DSL or cable). We can recommend some great local companies that offer these types of services.

ISP
Your organization likely has DSL or some other type of broadband. Your IT firm will need to coordinate with your ISP prior to the move as there will likely be changes of equipment, IP addresses, or changes in service altogether. This may also be a good time to shop around for better service and pricing for your broadband. You may want to consider an integrated T1, as this will allow you to maximize the bandwidth of your Internet connection while realizing the cost savings of integrating it with your phones.

Phone Vender
We will need to coordinate with your phone system vendor for them to move your phone system, and to implement any network changes that they require. Make sure to give them plenty of notice. If your system is old or lacking modern features, you will want to shop around for a new phone system. A system that supports VoIP (Voice over IP) might be the way to go. We work with a great local provider of phone systems and can get you in touch with them.

Voice/Data Wiring
Hopefully your new office will come pre-wired for both phones and computers, but it may be necessary to add a few jacks. Often times the new office space has to be totally re-wired. In either case, your Telco or your Phone System vendor can perform this duty. Again, they will need plenty of notice.

Where to Locate the Server and Switches
It is generally desirable to locate the servers and Ethernet switches in a centrally located, secure locked room that is well ventilated. Plan accordingly.

Power to the Server / Switch room
Simply put, you will need a dedicated electrical circuit installed in the location that the server and switches will be located. Absolutely do not plan on sharing the circuit with a laser printer or copy machine.

Business Continuity Planning
It is recommended that you create a Business Continuity Plan prior to your move. We have experience helping small businesses prepare, plan, and document procedures for dealing with extreme circumstances that may be caused by unforeseen disasters or complications of relocation.

Office Furniture / Cubicles
Another item to consider that relates to the placement of voice/data jacks and IT equipment is office furniture. Moving is the best time to replace your old and less than useful office furniture. Your old furniture may not accommodate your new office space very well either. We have excellent referrals for new and used office furniture.

Please contact us if you would like more information about planning for an office move. If possible, we will want to investigate the new location at least 4 weeks in advance.

Think about how your existing backup system functions. Tape drives are expensive and unreliable. Changing tapes can be a hassle. Archiving backup media is an often overlooked task. And full server system recovery can be complex, slow, and often times fails.

Now…..

• What if you never had to change tapes but could still get your data off-site?
• What if the backup system backed up changed files all day long, not just at night?
• What if it kept archives of your data forever?
• What if the backup was a disk-image backup that could restore all programs and settings to a different server?
• What if the backup system could “mimic” your servers during a crash to keep your employees working?
• What if after a fire or theft a new backup appliance could be aired in to act as your servers until you get new ones?

This “Utopian” backup system exists. We call it the “DuraBackup Business Continuity System“. This system was designed by the same company that engineered our “Remote Monitoring and Maintenance System“.

This technology will revolutionize how backup systems function, and will significantly reduce the chance for data loss and downtime.