• Intro
  
• Article - Keeping Your Marketing Efforts on Track by Martha Retallick
  
• The Office Corner
  
• Grammar Question of the Month - Spelling out numbers
  
• Tech Tips by Terence Kierans - Access keystrokes and Word
  
• Tech Corner
  
• Writing Corner
  
• Word of the Month - Attribute (transitive verb)
  
• Recommendations
  
• Judy's Corner
  

Today I'm featuring a product created by client and colleague, Martha Retallick: The 25 Marketing Tools Tracker. Martha created the Tracker and she uses it. It works for her. And others. Read what rich media expert Ronni Rhodes of WBC Imaging says about the Tracker: http://www.passionatepostcarder.com/25_marketing_tools.html

While we were discussing the article, I asked Martha to discuss Internet business trends. Voila! Five trends According to Martha:

1. Being on the Web is commonplace now.

Websites are not the novelty that they were 10 years ago. People expect you to have a site now. And also an e-mail address. (If you don't have these things, you'd better have a good reason why!)

What this means is that doing business via the Internet has become as commonplace as picking up a phone and calling someone.

2. As for the current frenzy over blogging, I think that it will run its course in another six months or so.

Why? Because while it's easy to start a blog, it takes a lot of time and energy to maintain it and keep people coming back to it.

I think a lot of business people underestimate these things, and that's why I predict that many blogs will end up being abandoned.

3. Shhh-pam is here to stay.

If you're doing any sort of communications by e-mail, such as a newsletter or just routine correspondence with your clientele, shh-pam is definitely an issue. And one that won't be going away anytime soon.

Publishers of e-mail newsletters are reporting that they aren't as effective as they used to be, hence, the interest in alternatives like blogs (see my thoughts above) and RSS feeds, which the average Internet user doesn't understand. At least not yet.

4. Word of Mouth is still very important.

And, with the Internet in such widespread use, Word of Mouth is now global. Which makes it all the more important to keep your customers happy. Or, if something goes wrong, make things right quickly.

For more on how an employee at a well-known Big Company (United Airlines) made things gone wrong into things gone right, read: http://www.cluetrain.com/book/index.html

5. All things being equal, people are still going to do business with people they know and like.

That's why, even in this hyperlinked world, people still ask friends for recommendations of whom to do business with. Or they'll patronize that guy they know from church or the Kiwanis Club.

So, don't be an Internet recluse. Get out there and mingle with your fellow humans!

Martha Retallick
Western Sky Communications Web & Graphic Design
Phone: 520-690-1888
Web: http://www.WesternSkyCommunications.com

by Office Support Services Client Martha Retallick

You know you need to promote your business if you want it to succeed. And that, of course, spells M-A-R-K-E-T-I-N-G.

But when it comes to marketing, what should you be doing? How do you keep track of your activities?

And, if those two questions don't get your mental gears spinning, consider this:

Marketing takes time. And it seldom yields instant results.

This means that it's easy to get discouraged and give up. But giving up on marketing is not good for your business.

To help keep my business marketing efforts on course, I created the 25 Marketing Tools Tracker. I use it in my business every day.

The 25 Marketing Tools Tracker is an Excel application that you can start using right away. It offers a fast, easy way to keep track of your marketing on a daily, weekly and annual basis. It also helps you stay motivated!

The centerpiece of the 25 Marketing Tools Tracker is a spreadsheet with 25 commonly used marketing tools. These are tools that you can put to work for your business. Every time you use a tool, reward yourself with an "x" mark in a box.

Then watch those marks add up throughout the day and the week. It's fun! And it's the kind of fun that will motivate you to do even more marketing than before.

And that can be very good for your business!

The 25 Marketing Tools Tracker Spreadsheet enables you to keep track of 25 different marketing activities. They include:

* Seeking publicity
* Sending postcards
* Advertising
* Offering free samples
* Giving and getting referrals

You can save your Tracker Spreadsheet reports as individual Excel .xls files and import them into your Word documents. And, if you have the full version of Adobe Acrobat (not just the free reader), you can also save your Tracker Spreadsheet reports as .pdf files.

But this is more than just an Excel application to have fun and stay motivated with. You will learn:

1. The two most important questions that you should ask yourself at the close of each workday.

2. How to quickly and easily evaluate your marketing efforts on a weekly basis.

3. How to create a results-oriented annual report for your business that won't take more than 15 minutes to write. This report will help you make your next year in business even better.

But there's more to the 25 Marketing Tools Tracker than the Tracker Spreadsheet. It's a comprehensive package that helps you build your business. You'll actually get 4 great tools:

1. The 25 Marketing Tools Tracker Spreadsheet. It provides a fast, easy way to keep track of your marketing on a daily basis.

2. The 25 Marketing Tools Tracker Media Planner. It helps you create a visual plan of what you plan to do, and when.

3. The 25 Marketing Tools Tracker Budget vs. Spent Evaluator. Here is where you can crunch the numbers to see how your actual expenditures stack up against what you had planned to spend. Or, you can play "what if" games with hypothetical numbers.

4. The 25 Marketing Tools Tracker Metrics Evaluator. It will help you figure out how much it costs to get a customer. It also helps you decide which method of marketing costs the least and brings in the most revenue.

In short, what you're buying is a marketing and business results tracking system that you can use for years to come!

System Requirements:

The 25 Marketing Tools Tracker requires a PC or Mac that runs Microsoft Excel 2000 or later.

What You'll Get:

A ZIP file containing a PDF file with a complete set of instructions, plus an Excel application containing the 25 Marketing Tools Tracker.

Full Information:

http://passionatepostcarder.com/25_marketing_tools.html

1. STOP SALES CALLS: For people in the U.S., you can register up to three phone numbers, including cell phones. It takes 31 days to be in full effect, and your numbers are removed for five years.
http://www.donotcall.gov

2. MICROSOFT OFFICE TIPS
http://www.cof.orst.edu/net/software/office/tips/

3. GENERAL OFFICE GRAMMAR AND STYLE MANUAL: If you can only afford one reference other than a dictionary, get The Gregg Reference Manual by William A Sabin. Spiral bound is best. Its index is very easy to use. You can buy the book new and used at websites like www.amazon.com.

Q. If I'm writing "one and one-half" in a sentence, is it better to write out the words or to use numbers (1-1/2)and do I write them with or without a hyphen?

A. The "word" style of numbers, says The Gregg Reference Manual, Ninth Edition, is used mainly in high-level executive correspondence, and in nontechnical material, where the writing is more formal or literary, and the use of figures would give numbers an undesired emphasis.

Essentially, most style guides (except those that are scientific or technological in nature) recommend that we spell out all numbers from 1 through 100 and all round numbers above 100 that require no more than two words (like sixty-three thousand or fifty-five million). Anything technical or scientific would use all numbers.

The guidelines given by the Associated Press are quite different than for other print publications. I'll address that in the next issue, and will also print any comments that help clarify using numbers.

We often see numbers from 1-9 spelled out and higher written as numerals. It's often for convenience. And for more space. The entire area of spelling out numbers is highly controversial, and I expect some crackling comments. Which I will value. And print in subsequent issues, if you like.

Here are some related links:

Using Numbers and Numerals
http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/numbers.html

Numbers in Writing
http://www.kent.k12.wa.us/KSD/KR/WRITE/GEN/numbers.html

Style Rules for Numbers
http://www.njit.edu/publicinfo/ucomm/numbers.php

Numbers
http://www.wsu.edu/identity/editorial-style/numbers.html

Numbers and Dates
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedit/handbook/numberdate.html

ACCESS - THE KEYBOARD CAN BE QUICKER THAN THE MOUSE

F11 - this takes you directly to the database window in your database. The only place where it won't work is if you're viewing a Record Source via a form or report.

F2 - Toggles the Edit mode. If you use the Tab key to navigate to a control on a form or to a cell on a datasheet, any existing data will be already selected. When you start typing, that data will be deleted. To get out of Edit mode press the F2 key again.

F4 - opens a combo box list with the keyboard. If you are using the Tab key to navigate a form, it enables you to open a combo box without taking your hands off the keyboard.

Ctrl+F2 - Triggers the builder button from the Properties window. This particular button will only be displayed when you click a specific property and it has three little dots displayed.

F6 - to move between panes in the Design view of a table. As a reminder it is displayed on the bottom left corner of the screen too.

Shift+F2 - Opens the Zoom dialog box. You can also open this window via the shortcut menu in most spots. Pressing Shift+F2 will work even when Zoom doesn't appear on the shortcut menu.

As a bonus - To select items with the keyboard, instead of clicking and dragging with the mouse, hold down the Shift key and use the arrow keys to move the cursor around to select. This is virtually indispensable when you are doing major data editing and any coding.

WORD - WILDCARDS

Terence Kierans
Cyberspace Virtual Services
tkierans@virtualservices.com.au
http://www.virtualservices.com.au/
We keep your project on the boil, while you sleep

1. YAGOOHOOGLE: Displays side-by-side searches of your topic through Google and Yahoo!
http://yagoohoogle.com/

2. MACROMEDIA FLASH PLAYER DOWNLOAD CENTER FOR WINDOWS: Get the lastest Flash Player for Netscape, Mozilla, Opera, and CompuServe.
http://tinyurl.com/3tuy

3. BROWSER CAM: BrowserCam's Screen Capture Service lets you submit multiple URL's, choose the browsers and operating systems you want to see, and in about a minute returns screen captures of your webpage oaded in the different browsers and operating systems you selected.
http://www.browsercam.com/Features.aspx

1. TRANSLATE ENGLISH INTO MANY LANGUAGES AND VICE VERSA:
http://dictionary.reference.com/translate/text.html

2. WORDPRENEUR NEWS ARTICLES: Content and Articles to Improve Revenue; How to Write Great Movie Reviews for Your Entertainment Website.
http://www.wordpreneur.com/news-html/066.html

3. JACK FORDE'S COPYWRITER'S ROUNDTABLE EZINE:
http://www.jackforde.com/

Main Entry:2at£trib£ute
Pronunciation:*-*tri-*by*t, -by*t
Function:transitive verb
Inflected Form:-ut£ed ; -ut£ing
Date:1530

1 : to explain by indicating a cause *attributed his success to his coach*
2 a : to regard as a characteristic of a person or thing b : to reckon as made or originated in an indicated fashion *attributed the invention to a Russian* c : CLASSIFY, DESIGNATE synonyms see ASCRIBE
–at£trib£ut£able \-by*-t*-b*l, -by*-\ adjective

*By permission. From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary at www.m-w.com by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.

1. IF YOU HAD X-RAY VISION WHAT WOULD YOU SEE?
http://www.chess.cornell.edu/pubs/xrybrchr/index.htm

2. PENOPLY A fountain pen website. Includes history of pens, pen construction, filling, inks, troubleshooting, why old pens?, and pen glossary.
http://www.rickconner.net/penoply/

3. THE BABY NAME WIZARD
http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html

This month I've added a new language skill: teenspeak. It came about because of a recent family visit. Example. Grandson says, "Grandma, may I use the hose in the back yard to clean up some bird droppings?"

Grandma thinks, "How thoughtful."

Grandson and friend proceed to spend a brief time cleaning (like 5-10 seconds), and much more time in a full-fledged, rambunctious water fight. Are we ever too old to learn? "Never," says Grandma Judy, as she took notes on teenspeak.

This shot, taken Mother's Day 2005, shows my daughter, Shannon and my niece, Michelle. Both are blessed with teenage sons and both understand teenspeak. Superbly. Which is why the boys are so wonderful.

ARCHIVES FOR ALL COMMUNICATION EXPRESSWAY ISSUES
http://www.ossweb.com/ezine-archive-index.html

Questions, comments, recommendations?
Contact Judy Vorfeld at judyvorfeld@ossweb.com

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go to http://www.ossweb.com/ezine.html