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Getting out of Spreadsheet Hell

Thursday, May 16th, 2013

The value of using spreadsheets like Excel to keep track and run a portion of your business operation is amazing.  In the beginning it’s an excellent way to keep track of hours, or inventory, budgets and so much more.  But there comes a time when the demands on your spreadsheet become so big that your spreadsheet becomes a trap that consumes your time and energy, and now you’re stuck in spreadsheet hell.

As an example, lets consider Jim, a property manager who now manages 50 summer rental properties, using Excel to manage availability and pricing.  When a customer calls Jim looking to rent a place, he needs to quickly look through his spreadsheet, clicking on little tabs looking for an available unit.  The excel spreadsheet works fine for him, but he knows he is near his limits.  Keeping track of inventory for 2000 or 5000 properties with his current system is unrealistic, and there are so many vendors that have a large inventory that want to work with him, but he can’t grow his business.

What do you do now?  What are the spreadsheet alternatives?

Having a custom web application made is a solution that will save time and effort.  In the case of Jim, the application let him enter his properties with pictures, details and availability, and makes them easy to search.  He can also choose to have this data show right on his website, letting potential customers see the pictures of each unit with calendars of when that unit is available.

There are many benefits to putting your data into a web application with a database, where your data is in the cloud.

  • Many people can access your data
  • Have different levels of users with appropriate access
  • Data is in the cloud, so you don’t have to worry about back ups
  • Your data is searchable
  • Solution is scalable – Got LOTS of DATA? No problem

Everyone has custom needs, and converting spreadsheets into web apps is something we do on a regular basis here at Oracast.  Whether you need a cloud solution, or you want a mobile app, help is just a phone call away.

Posted in Oracast News, Web Applications | Comments Off

Avoiding Dangers of Adwords Broad Match

Thursday, May 9th, 2013

Are you using Adwords with broad match (the default match type)?  Do you know what search terms are you actually showing up for?

Adwords makes these search terms easy to see, which lets you refine your campaign, which we’ll look at in a bit.

Start by going into an ad group, picking a keyword then clicking on Keyword Details which brings you a menu of options:

keyword_details

Now you get to see some of the search terms that Google actually showed your ad on.

searchterms

 

Google doesn’t show you all the search terms – sometimes with good reason, as they claim to not show search terms that contain personal information about their users.

Othersearch

Note that it’s pretty common to have a huge number of your impressions under the Other search terms

How to Use this info?

1. Negative Keywords

When using Broad match, Google will match your keyword to queries that you don’t want. When you see what you are getting clicks on, you will most likely start by adding some keywords as negatives.

negativekeywords

Note that if you use the Add as negative keyword button, it defaults to use the [keyword] as your negative, which means just that exact keyword is negative. In the example above, you might want to change the [real estate tools] to just tools, so it won’t appear in any combination of keywords.

2. New ads

Now that you’ve looked at your list of queries, you might be wondering why some users would click on your ad, when their search wasn’t related to your keyword.  For example, say you saw shredding chicken in your search terms report, and you’re a paper shredding company advertising the keyword shredding paper.  Before you yell out WTF, let’s look at your ads – Are they too generic?

Before

After
shred-ad shred-ad-new

 

In this case, if you were the user doing a search on Google, the ad title is vague enough that you might click, but if the title were Paper Shredding Expert there isn’t  a problem. Now’s a good time to review your ads and make sure they have a clear message.

3. New Keywords

The good part about using broad match is that Google may match your ad to keywords you hadn’t thought of originally when you set up the account.  In this case, you can select the keywords that you want to add through the check boxes beside each keyword to add them, or create a new add group with more targeted ads.

4. Change Match Type

Using Modified match often makes sense to use when you aren’t happy with the results from broad match.  All you need is to add the + before each keyword, and then Google will display variants on that word like plural/singular, but that word is required in order to match the user’s search term.

So for my keyword +real +estate +software the search terms are much closer to my clients service (notice the CTR improvement):

modified-terms

 

 

 

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Posted in Oracast News, Search Engine Marketing | Comments Off

Take your business to the cloud

Tuesday, February 5th, 2013

Why jump on someone else’s cloud when you could have your own? Did you know that it’s possible to centralize and manage almost any aspect of your business in the cloud? If you’re looking for a better way to manage your projects, time tickets, invoices, employees, customers, inventory, resumes, and anything else that’s important to the operations of your business, we can help. For over 10 years we have helped businesses go from spreadsheets and/or manual systems to their very own web-based cloud.

Once you have your very own web-based cloud, customized to your unique business, it is very easy to manage your information in one central location. Furthermore your web-based cloud can easily scale with the increased growth of your business. This is something that most people who have used spreadsheets over a long period of time really appreciate because the amount of spreadsheets typically grow out of control. Many of our customers who quickly embraced their web-based cloud began adding new components to their system such as mobile devices, new features, and additional security policies.

We have also seen a trend with customers who are looking to provide a better experience for their customers; not to mention a competitive advantage. Let’s say you have a customer in downtown Calgary who has hired you to provide staffing for a big job in northern Alberta. With your web-based cloud, your workers up north can enter their time tickets into the system and perhaps upload some pictures showing their progress. You or anyone in your office, depending on their security permissions, can log-in to the system at any time and generate invoices, track invoices, manage projects, communicate with team members, and generate instant analytical reports; just to name a few. Now in the spirit of engaging your customer and maximizing their experience with your company, we can enhance your cloud to allow your client(s) to log-in and see the real-time progress of the project, see pictures of their progress, and communicate with the workers in the field. Try doing that with a spreadsheet.

Taking your business to the cloud will help you become more organized and more efficient; while saving time and money in the process. Is your business ready for a change? Let us help by taking it to the cloud. We’ve been doing it for over 10 years.

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Ready for a Mobile Optimized Website?

Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012

Summer is almost over and back to school shopping is in full swing. While your customers are on the move, will your website provide them with a great mobile experience? Is your website optimized for mobile devices? If not, don’t worry, many businesses haven’t optimized their website to be mobile-friendly, which presents a great competitive advantage for you and your business. Did you know that smart phones have overtaken the PC industry?

What is a mobile-optimized website? Why should I do this with my website?

A mobile optimized website provides the best user experience on mobile devices. It provides mobile users with faster load times and it makes your messages easier to read. Check out the following “before and after” picture:

mobile optimized web

The good news is that creating a mobile optimized website is quick and inexpensive. Your customers are already browsing the web on their mobile devices; are you ready to give them a better experience than your competitors? Call us today and take advantage of our 10% discount on all mobile optimized websites until the end of September 2012.

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The Power of Web-based Project Management

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

Spreadsheets can get out of control while commercial software does everything but manage your projects effectively.

A web-based, centralized project management system can help boost your productivity and make your operations more efficient. Managing time effectively within your company will help deliver projects on time, on budget and increase profits.

Many companies are looking for an alternative to spreadsheets and commercial software; especially when it comes to managing projects or jobs. The ability to keep a the pulse of each project is faster and easier with a web application. Converting your existing project management processes onto an online platform isn’t hard; in fact it’s quite easy. Once it’s up and running, all of your team members can access the necessary features of the application, such as entering expense line items, with any web-enabled device such as PC’s, Laptops, iPhones and iPads.

Web Applications have fostered the ability to centralize data so that your customers, suppliers, vendors, employees, and stakeholders can easily access and share important information, instantly, from anywhere in the world. Furthermore, centralized Web Applications have eliminated the hassle of painful software installations, upgrades, and expensive licensing costs associated with traditional software.

Not only is your data centralized with a web-based project management system, but it is accessible by anyone from anywhere with an internet connection and the correct log-in credentials.

In Summary, web-based project management can:

  • Increase productivity and accessibility
  • Manage projects/jobs easier
  • Centralize your data (tasks, expenses, resources, financials, etc)
  • Provide enhanced security through user roles
  • Instantly generate valuable reports
  • Allow your team to communicate with customers
  • And more!

Posted in Oracast News, Web Design | Comments Off

Does your website work?

Wednesday, January 4th, 2012

Sure your website is online and running, but does it work?

In our opinion, a website should be doing one of two things (if not both): make you money by generating leads, or save you money by making your operations more efficient. When looking at your website with these two components in mind, is your website working? Our philosophy is to make your website an investment; not an expense.

 

Making you money: Lead generation is the name of the game. Whether you are using Organic SEO to move your website to the first page of search results or whether you are implementing a Pay-Per-Click advertising campaign, the key objective is to attract qualified leads. Once you have the lead, your website needs to be structured in such a way that will help convert the lead into a sale or, at the very least, qualify them further into a hot lead.

In addition, if you have considered implementing a “drip marketing” campaign, it’s important to have a strategy that will build-up your “prospects” database that will enable you to provide education-based marketing techniques such as frequent newsletters, whitepapers, and auto-responders.

 

Saving you money: If you were able to save time by becoming more efficient in your operations, resulting in higher profits and greater savings, would you do it? Many people would, some wouldn’t, but a lot of them don’t know how. If you manage the operations of your business using spreadsheets or off-the-shelf commercial software, we can help you become more efficient by create a web application that is tailor-made for your business. Imagine how nice life would be if you could manage your entire operations online, in a centralized location, and have the ability to instantly track and report on various projects/jobs/tasks.

If you would like to learn more about any of the topics discussed, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We want to make sure that you are well-informed of all of the capabilities a website can bring to your business. Most importantly, we want to make sure that you have a website that works.

Posted in Oracast News, Search Engine Marketing, Web Design | Comments Off

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Seasons Greetings!

Friday, December 23rd, 2011

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Seasons Greetings! Or whatever your thing is… from all of us here at Oracast, we want to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season!

 

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Oilfield web apps

Friday, November 18th, 2011

The Oil and Gas industry is rapidly changing to become safer and more productive through the use of technology. Web applications (web apps), in particular, have been gaining momentum in the O&G industry.

If you are an Oil & Gas service company that is looking for an alternative to spreadsheets or commercial software, we want to speak with you. Our custom-built web applications can help your business become more productive and efficient while saving money in the process. Furthermore, as your business changes, your web application can scale to those changes, and can provide a framework that can be accessed by advanced technologies such as a Blackberry or iPhone Apps that can be leveraged by employees/contractors in the field.

Here is a quick list of benefits that a custom web application can bring to your business:

  • Custom-built to suit your unique business processes and systems
  • Effectively manage any aspect of your business
  • Manage invoices and automatically submit to 3rd party solutions such as OpenInvoice
  • Accessible from anywhere with an internet connection
  • Secure
  • Scalable
  • Provide easy database backups
  • Instant reports without human error
  • Excel spreadsheet import
  • Export analytical reports in Excel or PDF format

 

Each web application is unique; your web app may have different features but it will be built to suit your unique processes. This flexibility is a clear advantage over spreadsheets and commercial software. Web applications are specifically built for your business.

Contact us today and let’s discuss how a custom web application will benefit your business, improve your operations, and save you money in the process.

Posted in Oracast News, Web Design | Comments Off

Google Algorithm Change Promotes Freshness

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

Google recently announced that they have made further changes to their search algorithms to provide “fresher” results. In addition, they claim that this change will impact 35% of searches. What type of searches does it impact? Google says:

  • Recent events or hot topics. For recent events or hot topics that begin trending on the web, you want to find the latest information immediately. Now when you search for current events like [occupy oakland protest], or for the latest news about the [nba lockout], you’ll see more high-quality pages that might only be minutes old.
  • Regularly recurring events. Some events take place on a regularly recurring basis, such as annual conferences like [ICALP] or an event like the [presidential election]. Without specifying with your keywords, it’s implied that you expect to see the most recent event, and not one from 50 years ago. There are also things that recur more frequently, so now when you’re searching for the latest [NFL scores], [dancing with the stars] results or [exxon earnings], you’ll see the latest information.
  • Frequent updates. There are also searches for information that changes often, but isn’t really a hot topic or a recurring event. For example, if you’re researching the [best slr cameras], or you’re in the market for a new car and want [subaru impreza reviews], you probably want the most up to date information.

Posted in Oracast News, Search Engine Marketing, Search Trends | Comments Off

Do you have an online strategy?

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

If searchers can’t find you online they will find your competitors.

Tell me, what is the purpose of your website? Is it purely informational or do you want people to find you on search engines? What keywords are you targeting? Is your website optimized around those keywords? Is your website designed with “calls to action” to convert leads into customers? The list goes on.

The point here is that having a website just isn’t enough. If you want to be on the first page of Google and outsell your competitors, having an online strategy is critical to the success of your overall business plan and marketing efforts.

Give us a call or send us an email to schedule a phone call or face-to-face meeting and we can discuss some strategies that will take your website to the next level.

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