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10 free Online Poll and Survey Applications:

admin — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:03:38 +0000

As a business consultant one of the most common things I urge businesses to do is to get feedback, know your customer, ask questions. During a recent meeting, a client asked me to provide a list of common poll/survey applications that can be utilized.

Here is a list of the different tools I have tried out, got any others, add them to the list:

1 Linkedin Polls: I have personally used Linkedin polls and have found it easy to use and simple. Easy to create. Can be shared with with your network or selected professionals. View real time results. Get external link that can be distributed to anyone.

2 Poll Code: Free. You can customize with colors and fonts. Quick post option for Myspace, Facebook and Wordpress.

3 FreeOnlineSurveys.com: Create email or web based surveys. Free. You can create upto 20 questions. Data Analysis feature available. You can insert videos from youtube or google video within survey.

4 Poll Daddy: Free. Real Time reporting. Embed pictures or html within poll/survey. International language support. Export data as XML, CSV, and receive results via email or RSS. Works with blogger, TypePad, Wordpress etc.

5 Facebook Poll: I haven’t had any problems but I have heard some complaints. Free. Application is easy to add. Can be added to personal profile or business pages. Allows you to add HTML tags to the polls.

6 Survey Monkey: Free version is quite powerful. Powerful designs available. Different lay out options, Send automated responses to those who haven’t responded or left the survey incomplete. Powerful reporting tool. Highly recommend it for the analytic tools alone.

7 Constant Contact: Free 60 day trial. Gives sample questions. Survey wizard is quite powerful. Customize poll with colors and your logo. Can be embedded within website or blog. Create custom invitation. Send auto-reminders. Analyze invitations and results.

8 Ace Polls: Free. Can be added to website, blog, myspace, wordpress, email link etc. Simple and easy to use.

9 Google Forms: Google Forms is a great way to collect information, I have utlized the online based system to gather information from clients or getting feedback specific to a client. You can create a private poll or a public one and publish it on the web. For more information about Google Forms and other Google Docs, read my post 10 ways to use Google Docs for Small Business.

10 Twt Poll: Another online based poll, great for social media usage. You do need to have a twitter account to use the product. Ability to customize the look and feel of the poll. To see more features, click here to see video.

Got any other suggestions? Email me at rabiyaj@lumenica.com or post a comment below.

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10 ways to use google docs for small businesses

admin — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:56:44 +0000

We are on our way to celebrate our two year business launch anniversary. As I reflect over the last two years, I started thinking about the different tools that we used that helped our business be a success. I quickly realized that we could not have been where we are without the help of Google Docs. Below are some of the ways we and other small businesses use Google Docs

1. Create word processing documents, we used it to write proposals and develop website manuals.

2. Share documents with other people on the same project, this was helpful when people involved on a project were not in the same physical location.

3. Created a document that could be edited by multiple people simultaneously for collaboration purposes. This was very important for us when we were trying to meet a deadline.

4. Divide documents into different folders/labels/projects-always nice to be organized!

5. Share folders with selected people, helpful to make sure there is a consistent way of sorting and organizing documents. You could have folders project based or sorted in what works for your organization.

6. Create forms to collect information from clients- For projects that required specific information, we would create simple forms and use them to gather the information we wanted. Made us look professional and helped us gather the information we needed.

7. Create forms for feedback after completion of projects-Always nice to get feed back in a professional way.

8. Email form or embed form in blog or website for quick responses-love this option!

9. Create presentations with Google presentation tools. Helpful if you don’t have MS Powerpoint.

10. Create spreadsheets using Google Spreadsheets-helped us with managing time spent on each project and amount of money owed by each client!

These are some of the ways we used google docs to help with our business. Do you have any stories to share? Tell us under comments or tweet them to me at @bizincubation !

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7 (plus 1) tools to make online collaboration easy

admin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:41:43 +0000

I recently read a post on 7 tools to make online collaboration easy. Where as I haven’t tried out all the tools mentioned on the list, over the next few months I plan to try them out. I would highly recommend the Google Apps platform for online collaboration, which is what we are currently using. I love the fact that multiple people can update a document in real time. It truly has made data more accessible and the new folder sharing information makes sure all parties involved with a project have the same information in a uniform way. One website not mentioned in the list, zoho.com is also a great resource of tool which we have used with project management. The basic package can be tried out for free but I would recommend using it and seeing if it fits your organization.

For a complete list of tools and the complete article by Jelmer de Jong, click here.

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Hiring a web developer – Things a smart business owner should keep in mind

admin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:35:25 +0000

Scenario: You are a small business owner and like most small businesses you don’t have a marketing budget. One way you decide to save money is by hiring your neighbors kid or asking a friend to create a website.

Pro: You feel like a smart business owner who just saved a few bucks

Con: You will most probably be stuck with a static website that you can’t update and possibly a useless worthless website.

So, how do you protect yourself?

No matter who is making the website for you, always always always ask for a contract, yes even your neighbor’s kid or friend. This contract should write everything in detail and should include the following:

Start of the contract- yes this is important, you want the web developer to meet your deadline, if any, to start creating the website
Samples- prior to the website development, you should specify how many mock ups you would like to see of the website.
The termination of contract policy- We never want to think that things can get nasty with anyone we are dealing with, but to save ourselves we should keep the termination policy in mind
Communication clause- how will everything be communicated, will there be a form used, who will be your account manager, how soon can you expect a response?
How will you be billed for website development and maintenance- will it be hourly, will be rounded up to the minute or hour, how often will you have to pay? All of these questions need to be answered in the contract. Make sure you understand the different billable things- website hosting, website development, domain name purchase, website maintenance
Who will have the rights to the content- yes it is important to clarify this.
Who will have the rights to the domain name – make sure you have those rights, life happens, you don’t want your web developer to be the only one with this vital information.
What will happen if the company liquidates- yours and theirs, it is important to specify this in the contract
What will the website designer create- make sure everything is listed
What will the website designer not do- it’s important to clarify this beforehand to avoid frustrations in the future
Make sure you have the capability of editing the website yourself. Ask for a user manual, ask for access. You need to be in control
Make sure there is a way to analyze the website – google analytics and other free services are out there, for FREE. Utilize them!

Having a good relationship with your web developer is important, being clear in communication is vital, being patient and offering as much information as you can helps web developers create a website to your liking. A smart business owner wants a good, easy to maintain website that they have control over and smart business owners have a thoroughly written contracts with their web developers to save their behind.

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Creating a Winning Business Profile on Twitter