A Business Made Easy: 09/01/2010

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Receive 12 Free Bonuses valued at $1164 just
for signing up for our 7 day FREE Trail to Social Media
List Builder. http://ping.fm/E9SYz

Motivation Articles - Spirits in Development of Social Self Environment - Amazines.com Article Search Engine

Motivation Articles - Spirits in Development of Social Self Environment - Amazines.com Article Search Engine
What we think is generally reflected in our attitude, behavior and actions. Our thought process is the outcome of our experiences, knowledge and norms of the society. What is running in our mind is reflected in our deeds. Positive mindset can bring the desired changes in the life of an individual. The human mind is never at rest, the thoughts keep on seeping inside the mind of an individual. The kind of thoughts that seeps in the mind of the personage decides and guides the lifestyle of an individual. Positive mind set enables the man to develop an optimistic view towards life and enables him to look out for success even in the failures. As the person feels that this failure is for his betterment or is a moral lesson to what not to do in times to come. Peale has divided the course of positive outlook in three parts namely recurring self-hypnosis, becoming one with god for ones own development and evading all the pessimistic thought in life.

Having an optimistic view towards life enables the personage develops a healthy body and healthy mind. It helps in decreasing the level of stress or anxiety, making the immune system strong enough to make it resistant to common cold; it helps in minimizing the menace of the cardiovascular ailments, making the individual live longer.

The inner voice of the personage or the involuntary thinking can be either optimistic or pessimistic. When the mind set of the individual is negative it is clear indication that the will power and self control is lacking in an individual. In this case the logic and rationale of an individual has been succumbed by miss-conceptions, and vague thoughts. To develop a healthy mind set it is necessary for an individual to tidy these miss-conceptions and vague ideas and become realistic and life asserting.

Self improvement and self control are the key factors, which help in the development of an individual. Meditation is the best method of developing an affirmative stand towards life. It not just a technique for reposing your body as generally believed by some ignorant people. It is the age old technique of providing contentment and tranquility to your mind and making it free from fixating and irksome thoughts and frets. Meditation helps in self healing of the body and its development making the body charged with all the positive energy. Yoga also is an effective method and is used widely for managing the stress and depression, which is the outcome of today’s competitive world. Breathing exercise helps in making the body’s immune system better and thus making it healthy, which is the dwell of healthy spirit. One should try and look for happiness even in all the trivial events of life. Events around us altars the mood swings of the individual, it is the attitude of the individual, which makes us sense bliss or gloom. One should avoid getting into long arguments, which have sense of negativity attached to it. The individual should not breed any feelings of jealousy and hatred.

The process of self development is initiated by the adaptation of the positive mindset, which is the key to better health and augmented cheerfulness. Having affirmation in life makes the individual deal with all the adverse situations with open arms and develop a better self. Enthusiasm is a necessary factor, which kicks the individual to work towards the attainment oh his aspirations. But a person can be enthusiastic only if the person has the optimistic view towards life. Thus for ensuring the development of the self it is necessary to have the right spirit of sport and life.

Dennis Hampton is a Social Media Internet Consultant and specializes in showing Business Owners how to leverage the Internet and Social Media sites to increase their sales, control and reduce their advertising expenses, and how it can all be done for FREE. http://tinyurl.com/2667y7y

Receive FREE Social Media Training for Facebook, Twitter and more by visiting http://freetraining.socialmedialistbuilding.org

Motivation Articles - Spirits in Development of Social Self Environment - Amazines.com Article Search Engine http://ping.fm/nbuaj

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

5 Ways to Use Google Voice for Your Business

5 Ways to Use Google Voice for Your Business
This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

Google Voice, which the search giant introduced in 2009, recently became freely available to everyone in the United States. Even though the service hasn’t dramatically changed since then, it’s still very useful to those that run small businesses, because it can give them an extra edge and make professional life much easier — at least, it can if you know how to use it.

When you register you can choose a virtual phone number in any area code. You can use that number to send and receive text messages, record voicemails and even receive and make calls over the Internet, but it becomes particularly useful when you attach it to the number associated with your mobile or landline phone.

There are some features we’d like to see added, but the current suite is still impressive. Google Voice can forward calls directed at your virtual line to your physical line, record voicemails and calls at both numbers, transcribe voicemails, share those voicemails with other contacts, block callers, apply special rules for individual callers or groups of callers, receive e-mail notifications of calls and text messages, and make unlimited free domestic calls and very cheap international calls. It even enables you to listen in on voicemails as they’re being recorded, giving you the option to pick up if you want to talk to the person who’s leaving the voicemail.

Here are our picks for five ways you can use all these features to make your small business more efficient. Add your tips in the comments below.

1. Search and Prioritize Your Calls

Most of Google Voice’s features fall into this category, but be aware that you have to actually provide contacts with your Google Voice phone number to use them. You can’t use many of the features we’re listing for calls received at your old number. This is a huge problem for small business owners who have already amassed an extensive list of contacts using their old number(s), but if you’re planning on switching pace and only handing out your Google Voice number, you’re all set.

Google will record voicemails on your behalf, then e-mail or text message you digitally made transcripts of every voicemail you receive. The robot transcripts aren’t perfect, but they’re usually clear enough that you can tell who is calling and what he or she is calling about. More importantly, they’re searchable.

Just like you can search your Gmail inbox or the web using Google, you can search the transcribed text of your voicemails. Voicemails have never been searchable before. If your business gets a high volume of calls, this is a killer feature because it allows you to avoid losing important calls.

Since voicemails and text messages are all up on the web for you to search and sort, you can process a lot of calls more efficiently than you would be able to with a regular, call-in voicemail system.

2. Use Different Rules and Greetings for Different Contacts

You can assign contacts to user-defined groups when you dig into Google Voice’s settings menu, then adjust behavior for those groups. You can say that certain individuals or groups should be connected to certain numbers when they call, or block some people from contacting you at all should you become harassed by unnecessary calls.

For example, you can determine which contacts will be calling to discuss business development deals and which contacts will be calling for product support, and forward those calls to the appropriate team member inboxes automatically.

You can also create custom voicemail messages for important clients or to represent certain divisions of your business. For example, the voicemail messages for your customer support and sales divisions could greet callers in different ways and with more relevant information on who to contact.

3. Share Calls with Your Assistant or Partner

Because calls, text messages and voicemails are sent to you via e-mail, you can easily forward them to other people working at your business. But that’s not all you can do. You can actually embed the audio recordings of voicemails and share them via e-mail or other communications media with anyone you want.

Furthermore, you can press a button while on a call to begin recording that call. The recorded audio will appear on the web, and it will be shareable as well. This can be very helpful for collaboration, or for looping a partner in on an important conference call that he or she couldn’t attend.

As we mentioned in the previous point, you can configure calls from certain contacts to go to specific team members, but you can easily transfer a call to a different number once you’ve received it, too. This is of course standard for normal office phone systems, but many of today’s small businesses are operated via mobile phones on the go. This is a welcome feature for business owners in that situation.

4. Set Up Shop Anywhere, or Nowhere At All

Google Voice allows you to pick virtually any U.S. area code, and that can be a boon for small businesses in a big world. Do you have a large concentration of clients in Chicago, but you’re based in San Francisco? Set up a Google Voice number in the 773 or 312 area codes so they have a local number to call for support.

From your perspective, the area code is completely irrelevant because all your domestic calls through Google Voice are free, but that might not be the case for clients, customers and other important contacts.

Let’s say you run a consulting business for Hollywood screenwriters, but you’re actually working from Dallas. Some of your potential clients won’t take you seriously if they feel you’re not connected to the City of Angels, so set up a number in area code 323 — downtown Los Angeles.

You can also use Google Voice to make dirt-cheap international calls. That can save you a sizable sum in this age of Internet business and e-commerce, when national borders have little bearing on who you might do business with.

5. Specify When and Where You Want to Receive Calls

You can tell Google Voice which times of day you’ll be at which numbers, or recover your sanity by saying you don’t want the phone to ring at all outside of business hours. You can also change these rules for specific contacts or groups, as described above.

Let’s say you’re about to go on vacation; you’re leaving the office at 1:00 p.m., then you’ll be in transit until 7:00 p.m. After 7:00, you want to clock out. Just tell Google Voice to connect calls received before 1:00 p.m. to your office landline, to connect calls received between 1:00 and 7:00 p.m. to your mobile phone and to block all calls after 7:00 p.m.

And of course, you can make exceptions for important contacts, such as your business partner, who’s holding the fort while you’re gone and who knows what news is important enough to merit an interruption. Specify that his or her number can reach you on your mobile at any time and you’re all set.

Do you use Google Voice for your small business? If so, let us know how you’ve found it most helpful or hindering in the comments below.

5 Ways to Use Google Voice for Your Business http://ping.fm/FoxXk

Monday, September 27, 2010

22 Social Media Marketing Management Software & Services Reviewed - Online Marketing Blog

22 Social Media Marketing Management Software & Services Reviewed - Online Marketing Blog
With every online marketing channel and discipline, there must be tools to make the task of marketing more efficient and effective. Social Media Marketing is no different. Over the past 6-9 months, I’ve been researching and reviewing a variety of social media management tools that help with everything from source network connections to campaign & social content management to monitoring & measurement. While there numerous tools that manage single platforms (like Twitter) this list includes services that manage multiple social network accounts, content and measurement.

At some point we’ll do more with individual reviews, but in the meantime, here is a list of 22 different social media marketing management tools, platforms and services to help manage and scale your online marketing efforts on the social web:

Shoutlet – Manages social media marketing communications with one platform for building, engaging and measuring social media. Includes multiple account and platform support, social CRM and ecommerce for Facebook, email marketing and mobile features.

direct message labs
Direct Message Lab – Provides consulting, implementation and a platform (REACH) for centralized management of social media promotions & contests, advertising and measurement.

Objective Marketer - Offers social media marketing and analytics with integrated campaign management (Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, YouTube), multi-channel execution, engagement reports and user management.

Wildfire Interactive - Platform for easy creation, implementation and management of branded interactive campaigns including: sweepstakes, contests and give-aways.

strongmail social media
StrongMail Social Studio – Comprehensive social media marketing platform with a referral marketing platform, social sharing tool and campaign management application. (Disclosure: StrongMail is a TopRank client)

Sprout social media
Sprout - Cloud-based visual authoring software used to build interactive Engage Ads and Engage Apps that deliver rich, interactive, and social content across the web and mobile devices.

Spredfast - Enterprise social media management system that allows an organization to manage, monitor, and measure its voices across multiple social media channels. Also offers a white label option for agencies.

socialTALK – allows brands to create (text, photos, videos), manage (customize workflow & approval process), publish (single source, scheduled publishing to multiple platforms) and measure (aggregated analytics dashboard) their content strategy and posting schedule.

crowdfactory
Crowd Factory – Suite of social media marketing tools include Social Campaign, that enables marketers to acquire new customers through simple social gestures and custom social marketing campaigns while easily tracking ROI.

Awareness - Social marketing hub that centralizes social media content publishing, management, measurement and engagement. Also includes access to 7 white-labeled, best practice social networking applications.

@this moment – Built on the @this moment platform, DEC is a system for managing a brand’s presence across multiple online environments combining multimedia UGC, and a variety of real-time inputs which are distributed across social platforms including YouTube Brand Channels, Facebook Fan Pages, MySpace Brand Communities & the iPhone.

MediaFunnel – Offers a Business Social Media platform for Facebook and Twitter supporting multiple users per profile and editorial review. Includes monitoring and integrates with Salesforce.com.

virtue
Virtue – Works with clients and agencies through a Social Relationship Management (SEM) platform offering Facebook tabs & applications, a publishing feature for Facebook & Twitter and mobile solutions.

Sprinklr – Social media marketing platform and consulting services for consumer & B2B marketers as well as agencies. Provides social media audience research, acquisition, content promotion and measurement tools.

janrain
Janrain – Web based platform of tools including: Engage to make it easy for users to connect a site with their social networks, Federate to facilitate navigation across multiple web properties & partner sites with a single log-in (currently supports 16 networks), Capture to leverage user data for personalized experiences.

Sprout Social – Affordable social media dashboard, monitoring, team workflow, influencer and contact management, performance metrics and daily or weekly email summaries. Supports Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Yelp and Foursquare.

Sendible – Social media marketing platform that supports 30+ networks & services offering management of: accounts/profiles, messages & content, social contacts, content discovery, engagement, blog content & promotion, monitoring and analytics. Also offers a white label version for agencies.

KickApps – Self service social media web site authoring and social content management system system supporting video, social networking, social graph & activity streams, apps & analytics. Enables web publishers and marketers to develop branded communities, social applications and interactive widgets on their websites and across the social web. Solutions for small and large business.

Postling – Local business social media marketing platform to create content, stay organized and reach customers. Currently free for small business or personal use.

pop.to
pop.to Social Marketing – A social marketing suite, including feed-enabled social gestures and widgets, social dashboard, segmentation tools, influencer identification, conversion tracking and built-in friend casting.

HootSuite - Social media dashboard for managing social content and engagement on multiple networks with team workflow and statistics.

seesmic
Seesmic – Web and desktop tools to manage social marketing activity on Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, Google Buzz and Linkedin plus a plug-in marketplace for more social management options.

This list of social media marketing platforms & services “ad hoc” was compiled by bookmarking various services as they were discovered or pitched to us (we don’t reply to pitches). Here’s another useful list of SMMS was compiled in March 2010 by Jeremiah Owyang.

What social media marketing dashboards, software and management tools from the list above have you tested or use? Reviews, observations, insights and questions are greatly appreciated!

Obviously, tools are only as good as the expertise of the people using them, so TopRank Marketing is always interested in helping companies develop their social media roadmap and recommend the right supporting software for implementation.

22 Social Media Marketing Management Software & Services Reviewed - Online Marketing Blog http://ping.fm/wWJru

Sales Articles - How to Build Great Relationships through Cold Calling - Amazines.com Article Search Engine

Sales Articles - How to Build Great Relationships through Cold Calling - Amazines.com Article Search Engine
How to Build Great Relationships through Cold Calling by Ari Galper, Founder of Unlock The Game®

Master the foundation for cold calling success

Sometimes the finest solutions are the simplest. Focusing on relationships when making cold calls is one of them. It keeps us genuine, and eliminates our dread of making cold calls. We’re real people talking about real things. We’re interested in the conversation, and it shows.

Most of us dislike putting on our “salesperson persona” when we make cold calls. We think it’s needed, however, because we’ve been trained to make the sale. And yet we’re interacting with a live, breathing person without having any real connection to him or her. It often feels fake, and it often is.

This artificial role puts a great stress on us, and sabotages our cold calling conversations. When we aren’t genuine, it’s a red flag to the other person that we have a sales agenda. This puts nearly everyone “on guard.” They’ve never met us and are wary of possibly being manipulated.

Have you ever noticed that most cold calls break down the moment we try to “move” things along towards a sale? It’s as if we’re getting ready for battle, and the tension pushes us along.

But the person we’ve called doesn’t know us. The momentum we’re trying to impose puts him or her in a defensive position. They’re protecting themselves from a potential “intruder” who might have a self-serving agenda.

So how can we to shift into something more positive? We begin by focusing on the relationship rather than salesmanship. We call with the anticipation of meeting someone new, and looking forward to a pleasant conversation to find out whether we can be of service. This mindset is subtle but powerfully felt by the other person.

Building relationships humanize our cold calling conversations -- and ourselves. We are less artificial. Cold calling conversations become more natural. And people tend to respond with more warmth and interest.

The point is not to use the “technique of building relationship” to improve sales. That’s having a hidden agenda rather than a relationship. Our goal is to see if we can provide something that will benefit the other person. If it doesn’t, then we prefer not to continue interrupting their day. That’s a real relationship, even if brief.

When we’re being real people treating others as real people, the difference is amazing. Both people are both more at ease. We anticipate talking with someone who may possibly have an interest in what we have to offer. And if they don’t, we’ve enjoyed our time with him or her.

When others feel this relaxed mindset from you, they are much more likely to welcome you into their day. But if you rigidly follow a script or launch into a mini-presentation, then your call is immediately pegged as something initiated primarily for your own gain. And that puts most people into resistance.

Here are 8 keys to building relationships in cold calling:

1. Focus on the other person’s needs rather than on securing a sale

2. Surrender to the outcome of your cold call so you can connect with your potential client at a human level

3. View the human connection as an exciting journey in which you encounter new and interesting people

4. Speak graciously and naturally as you would with any new acquaintance

5. Remember it’s about how you come across, not about how many people you call

6. Allow the conversation to evolve naturally

7. Invite both of you to decide together whether it’s worth your time to pursue the conversation further

8. Use phrases that are non-aggressive yet very effective

So try this. Practice shifting your mental focus from salesmanship into a place of relationship. You’ll find that your genuine enjoyment of the conversation rubs off on the other person. They’ll be less defensive and more likely to share with you truthfully.

One of the best ways to build relationship is by using phrases that carry the human element very well. Start out by asking, “Hi, could you help me out for a minute?” The most common response will be, “Sure. What do you need?”

Your next question might be to ask whether they are open to the idea of looking at different ways to, for example, reduce their expenses. Most of the time the reply will be something like, “Well, sure, what kinds of expenses are you talking about?”

Now you are able to open the conversation between the two of you and build an initial relationship. It’s easy and comfortable to continue from there.

When you do this, you’ll experience so much success and satisfaction that it will really change the way you do business. And it will bring sales success beyond your imagination.

Ari Galper, founder of Unlock The Game, makes cold calling painless and simple. Learn his free cold calling secrets even the sales gurus don't know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit http://utg.infusionsoft.com/go/UTG/dhampton

Receive FREE Social Media Training for Facebook, Twitter and more by visiting http://freetraining.socialmedialistbuilding.org

Sales Articles - How to Build Great Relationships through Cold Calling - Amazines.com Article Search Engine http://ping.fm/x9HK8

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Marketing Articles - Making the Most Out of Social Networking Websites - Amazines.com Article Search Engine

Do you belong to an online social networking website? With their recent rise in popularity there is a good chance that you do. However, it is one thing to be a community member and another to actually participate in online discussions, as well as the many other network features. That is why it is advised that you learn how to make the most out of your social networking experience.

Many internet users already think that they know everything that they need to know about their social networking community. Unfortunately, not everyone does. In fact, you can find numerous posts online of people ranting or stating that they wished that their social networking website, such as Yahoo! 360, MySpace, Orkut, FriendWise, or FriendFinder, has a particular service and feature. Too many times, those posters did not look before they started speaking because, as it turns out, many social networking websites have what people want, just everyone doesn’t know about it.

The first step, in making the most out of your social networking experience, is to familiarize yourself to the online community or communities that you belong to. This can easily be done by closely examining the website. There are too many internet users who are focused on meeting new friends that they get started right away. While it is nice to start meeting new people right away, it is also nice to know what your social networking site has to offer. This can only be done by closely examining the website. Whether you take one hour or one day examining the website, you will likely be pleased with your decision to do it.

When examining the website of the online community that you belong to, it is advised that you examine the terms of use agreement. This agreement often outlines what you can and cannot do online. Despite the fact that a large number of online networking sites, such as MySpace, have little rules, there are other websites that have them. These rules and restrictions may limit the content that you can have on your site, as well as your pictures, videos, and other media. Many websites, including social networking websites, will terminate your membership if you are found violating these agreements. By reading all of the rules and restrictions of the social networking website you belong to, you should be able to ensure that you can continue to use and enjoy the site.

One of the many benefits to fully examining the social network you belong to is that you could be alerted to network benefits, features, or services that you were previously unaware of. In addition to giving you your own profile page and allowing you to invite other internet users into your network, there are a number of other things that you can do with online social networking websites. A large number of websites have created features and sections that include horoscopes, quizzes, polls, instant massaging, chat rooms, and much more. However, before you make use of these member benefits, you must know that they exist.

If you are interested in making new online friends, it is likely that you have already joined an online social networking community. Whether you are interested in joining more or you are a first time user, you will to carefully choose your networks. By researching each social networking website online, you should easily be able to famialrize yourself with the advantages and disadvantages of each. And, since most social networking websites are free to use, there are no risks associated with giving the network a try. If you happen to come across a website that requires a paid membership and you would like to try it, you are advised to lookout for free membership plans or free trail periods. They may be able to help you determine whether or not the social networking website that you are interested in joining is worth the cost.

As you can easily see, there are a number of different ways to go about making the most out of your social networking experience. The control is in your hands. It is your decision as to whether or not you want to spend a small amount of time researching your network and everything that it has to offer. However, it is important to note that not doing so may literally mean that you are missing out on all of the fun.

Dennis Hampton is a Social Media Internet Consultant and specializes in showing Business Owners how to leverage the Internet and Social Media sites to increase their sales, control and reduce their advertising expenses, and how it all can be done easily for FREE. http://tinyurl.com/2667y7y

Receive FREE Social Media Training for Facebook, Twitter and more by visiting http://freetraining.socialmedialistbuilding.org

Marketing Articles - Making the Most Out of Social Networking Websites - Amazines.com Article Search Engine http://ping.fm/l3TTC

Friday, September 24, 2010

Think you are maximizing your Social Media websites? Think Again... You have to see this to believe it... You HAVE to see this! http://ping.fm/8VPM7

10 Dead Simple Gmail Tips, Tricks & Shortcuts

52 minutes ago Amy-Mae Elliott 1

10 Dead Simple Gmail Tips, Tricks & Shortcuts

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Gmail Stamp Image Gmail can be tweaked almost endlessly with various Firefox and Chrome extensions, and offers some pretty nifty Labs options too. However, we’ve taken a look at some simple tips, tricks, tweaks and shortcuts you can use without going down the plugin or experimental route.

These 10 features will help you get so much more out of the webmail service, from an enhanced chat experience, to smarter filters, to offline access.

Have a read through now and let us know any neat Gmail () hints you’d like to share in the comments box below.

1. Add Emphasis in Chat

Gmail’s instant messaging Chat function is one of the more basic options around, but there are a few bits of formatting you can use to add nuance to your online communication.

To bold a word, asterisk it like this: *Mashable ()*

To add italics, just underscore before and after the word like this: _Mashable_

And to strike a word through, add hyphens before and after like so: -Mashable-

2. Customize Your Web Clips

You’ve no doubt noticed the “Web Clips” line of text that appears above your Gmail inbox which contains news, blog posts, ads and other info. But did you know you can personalize it to make it more relevant to you?

Simply go to “Settings” on the top right of your screen and select the “Web Clips” tab. From there, you can search, browse from the categories, and add and remove items to your heart’s content.

3. Create Variations of Your E-mail Address

Although technically you only have one Gmail address, you can create as many variations of it as you wish to help manage your incoming mail.

You can do this by adding a word after your name with a plus sign (if the site you’re entering the address into allows it). So, yourname+newsletters@gmail.com, yourname+shopping@gmail.com, and so on.

This alias system then comes into its own if you also set up filters to direct those messages where you want them. For example, they could skip the inbox and be archived, have a label applied, be forwarded to another account, and so on.

To set up a filter, go to “Settings,” hit the “Filters” tab, select “Create New Filter” and follow the simple steps from there.

4. Access Gmail When You’re Offline

This is a useful option for anyone on the go, as it allows you to access your Gmail account when you’re not connected to the web. You can search, read and compose e-mails when you’re not in a Wi-Fi zone, and Gmail will simply auto-update (and send/receive any new mail) when you next reconnect.

To set up your Gmail to be available when you’re offline, you have to download Google Gears, but it’s a simple process from within Gmail. Head over to your “Settings” menu, hit the “Offline” tab, and check the option to “Enable Offline Mail for this computer.”

Once you save the changes, Gmail will auto-prompt you through the process and even gives you the option to create a desktop shortcut for quick access to Gmail when offline.

5. Chat Off the Record

Gmail handily saves your chat history for conversations with other Gmail users and makes them searchable too (use the search term “is:chat” to look for a keyword term). But there might be times you want to chat and not have it recorded.

To chat “off the record,” open a chat window with whom you want to talk, click on the “Actions” drop down menu and select “Go off the record.” The person you’re chatting with will be notified of this change, and you can go back on the record in the same way.

6. Get New Mail Desktop Notifications

Gmail offers a free Notifier () as a quick download that will alert you with a visual pop-up and audio cue when new mail has arrived, even if you don’t have Gmail open in a browser.

It automatically checks for new mail every two minutes, with the icons changing to show unread mail in case you miss the notification. The app is available for both Windows PCs and Macs. It should be noted that downloading this will also make Gmail your default e-mail program, which you might need to consider if you don’t want this to be case.

7. Use Gmail’s Advanced Search Operators

While Gmail’s keyword search works well enough for basic queries, there are some advanced options that can help refine your process.

For example, entering to:me is:unread in:inbox will bring up any unread mails in your inbox. Entering has:attachment will show you a list of e-mails with files attached, and after: 20/08/2010 before: 25/08/2010 will offer up a list of messages from that specific time period.

You can view the major search operators over at the Gmail support site — it’s well worth memorizing a few.

8. Improve Gmail Priority Inbox

Gmail’s “Priority Inbox” functions by highlighting what it considers your most important mail, and has launched to positive feedback. But you can improve it as time goes on.

In order to help Gmail better recognize what really is important (and conversely, what isn’t), simply select an e-mail message and hit the little plus or minus arrows at the top of your inbox.

9. Find Out if a Message Was Sent Just to You

Useful for prioritizing replies if nothing else, there’s a setting in Gmail that will enable you to see if a message has been sent just to you, or a mailing list.

To activate it, go to “Settings,” then scroll down to “Personal level indicators” and select “Show indicators.” This will now mean that every message in your mailbox shows how many recipients there were at a glance.

No arrows will show if the message was sent to a mailing list, “>” shows up when the message was sent to you and others, and “>>” indicates the message was sent to just you.

10. Play a Gmail-Inspired Game

And finally, on a lighthearted note, did you know there is a free online game you can play that’s inspired by Gmail?

“Galactic Inbox” was created by Paul Truong, a creative technologist “in part, as a ‘thank you’ to the Gmail team for their ongoing work to improve the webmail galaxy.” If you want to show the gTeam some love too, then hop on over and have a play!

More Gmail Resources from Mashable

- 5 Great Unofficial Gmail Themes
- HOW TO: Undo “Send” in Gmail
- 5 Ways to Spice Up Your Gmail Signature
- Gmail Priority Inbox: 5 Tips for Better Productivity
- HOW TO: Give Your Inbox a Master Cleanse

A Business Made Easy

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Motivation Articles - Spirits in Development of Social Self Environment - Amazines.com Article Search Engine

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

5 Ways to Use Google Voice for Your Business

1. Search and Prioritize Your Calls

2. Use Different Rules and Greetings for Different Contacts

3. Share Calls with Your Assistant or Partner

4. Set Up Shop Anywhere, or Nowhere At All

5. Specify When and Where You Want to Receive Calls

Top 3 Stories in Social Media and Tech This Morning

Monday, September 27, 2010

22 Social Media Marketing Management Software & Services Reviewed - Online Marketing Blog

Top 3 Stories in Tech This Morning

Sales Articles - How to Build Great Relationships through Cold Calling - Amazines.com Article Search Engine

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Top 3 Stories in Social Media and Tech This Morning

Marketing Articles - Making the Most Out of Social Networking Websites - Amazines.com Article Search Engine

Friday, September 24, 2010

10 Dead Simple Gmail Tips, Tricks & Shortcuts

10 Dead Simple Gmail Tips, Tricks & Shortcuts

Do you like this story?

1. Add Emphasis in Chat

2. Customize Your Web Clips

3. Create Variations of Your E-mail Address

4. Access Gmail When You’re Offline

5. Chat Off the Record

6. Get New Mail Desktop Notifications

7. Use Gmail’s Advanced Search Operators

8. Improve Gmail Priority Inbox

9. Find Out if a Message Was Sent Just to You

10. Play a Gmail-Inspired Game

More Gmail Resources from Mashable