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Archive for the ‘Small Business’ Category
Google AdWords…$25.00 per CLICK?!?!
October 8th, 2008 by Gregory Silvano Posted in Small Business | No Comments »Stature has used AdWords in the past with not-so-great results. I just don’t think a software consulting business is the right client for AdWords. People don’t call Stature because they saw an advertisement on Google. They call because they talked to me, talked to my partner, or talked to one of our clients. It’s a very “network” kind of business (aren’t they all?).
Given the economic meltdown in the past week, I figured I’d get some new ads on Google. I wanted to get some ads that people would see if they wanted to outsource their software development in an effort to trim costs.
Look at the minimum bids for the keywords below. Who in their right mind would pay $25 per click? Are they insane!?!
Tags: cost per click, cpc, google adwords
Essential Applications for Business Users, Part I
June 26th, 2008 by Gregory Silvano Posted in Small Business | 1 Comment »If you had to set up your new computer right now, which apps are you going to install first? Which applications are your mission-critical, must-have apps? Besides Microsoft Office, here’s my list of the must-have applications for any business user:
MindMapper 2008 Professional Edition
If you haven’t used a mind mapping tool, Google “mind mapping” right now. Aside from the cheesy name, it really is a very intuitive and productive way to jot down your ideas. We downloaded a half dozen tools and found MindMapper 2008 to be the best of the bunch. MindMapper had the most polished UI and was the only option that allowed us to quickly create mind maps without needing the mouse.
It’s not easy to mock up your ideas into something visual. I have seen clients create mockups in Powerpoint, Excel, Word, HTML, Visio, Paintshop Pro, and just about any other tool imaginable. We stumbled on Axure and absolutely love it. It’s the first one we’ve used that actually enabled you to quickly create mockups without a steep learning curve or fighting the tool.
Conference call, share your screen, draw on your screen, make any attendee the presenter. All with a 2MB download and $50/month. Perfect. We have several licenses and spend hours a day on GoToMeeting. It does exactly what you need it to do, and nothing more. GoToMeeting knows what it’s designed for and it doesn’t try to be something it isn’t. If you collaborate with colleagues in several locations, GoToMeeting is an absolute must.
OK, nobody likes use cases, but if you’re trying to create business requirements for an application they’re really a very good way to organize and communicate your goals. But they’re not fun to create. And sorry, they’re still not fun to create - even with CaseComplete. But they’re a whole lot easier and more intuitive. All you have to do is type in outline format. It will help you build a dictionary of definitions, actors and requirements. It’ll output the results into one of many Word templates (which you can customize) and the latest version will create diagrams for you.
Tags: business users, gotomeeting, mind mapping, mockups, prototypes, software, use cases
Keep Your Great Developers Happy
June 13th, 2008 by Gregory Silvano Posted in Developers, Small Business | 1 Comment »I have a trick for keeping our top developers at Stature, and it’s not money or incentives (although they help, don’t get me wrong). It goes right to the core of what every great developer wants: a challenge.
All new projects at Stature are kicked off by our best developers. Great developers don’t want to be bogged down for 6 months writing reports, suffering through code maintenance boredom. They want to work on the new stuff. They want to design and be creative. Some of them want to lead a team of developers and be in charge.
Our method of managing developers works. Perfectly. A new project comes in and we’ll take one of our best developers to start the design and planning. A junior developer will move up in the existing product team to fill the void. In time, when he or she is ready, that junior developer will become the lead developer for the existing product and possibly lead a new product in the future.
The cycle need not be long. Sometimes we find a prodigy developer who can lead a project within months. But more often than not, lead developers happen because of experience and maturity, not skill alone.