Unfortunately, Craigslist does not yet support embedded video.  Sure, you can include a link in your post, but people are generally reluctant to click on them.

There is a neat workaround, though.  Here’s what you can do:

1.  Go to your YouTube page and take a screenshot of the video

2.  Edit the screenshot so it’s just the video screen – nothing else

3.  Host that image somewhere online.  Example: Flickr.com

4.  Create a Craigslist ad using this HTML code:

<a href=”http://www.YourYoutubeLink.com” rel=”nofollow”>
<img border=”0″ src=”http://www.YourImageLink.jpg” width=”480″
height=”295″>
</a>

5.  Post your ad

Using the above workaround, your ad will look like a video screenshot, but will actually by an image of a video which is linked to your YouTube video.  The user sees your ad, is enticed by the video pic, clicks on it to watch it, and voila!  The video plays.

Use this technique for all sorts of Craigs ads, including employment ads.

Here’s an example of a Craigslist ad I was playing with last Friday night: http://honolulu.craigslist.org/oah/com/1787869451.html

I love that joke.  But it’s also germane to this column’s topic.

First, I found the joke on Wikipedia.  I didn’t open the yellow pages. Nor did I go to the bookstore.  The internet is the new Encyclopedia Britannica.

Second, the joke is the product of research by Richard Wiseman, who created a website called LaughLab.  The purpose of LaughLab was to crowd-source the collection and ranking of jokes.  His mission was to find the funniest joke in the world – independent of culture, religion and socio-economic status.  Note:  The joke was the top joke in the UK.

Lastly, the joke serves as a good metaphor for your website.  You think your site is a cute baby, but actually it looks like a monkey.

If you want your company to stay competitive,  you must invest the time and resources into leveraging your company’s website.

This is what you need to know:

Yes, you need a website.

If you have a business, you need a website. Period.  Last year I met successful ‘old school’ executive who earns business the ‘old fashioned way’:  word of mouth.  That still works and should be encouraged.  But the world is bigger now and referrals may not span oceans.  The executive learned this the hard way when his company lost a big contract because the company on the mainlaind which was awarding the job found his competitors online but not his firm…because he didn’t have a website.  The bottom line is:  Your customers, vendors and even your competition have already moved online.  You have to do the same.

Action item:  If your company doesn’t have a website, go to GoDaddy.com and register a domain name.  It costs $15 per year.  While you are there, purchase the cheapest Linux hosting.  It’s cost $10/month or so.  Don’t buy any extras.  No need.  You can add more features later if you need to.

Keep it simple.

Internet users are like fast food junkies.  They want it and they want it now!  Don’t design your website like it’s the next Taj Mahal. Yes, it must be professional and it must capture your brand, but don’t over design it or over engineer it.

Too often, business owners approach web design with an excessive emphasis on design. They think more flash (pun) and more shazam is going to bring more business.  Wrong.  Web users want to find what they are looking for.  They don’t want to watch a splashy opening sequence and they definitely dont want to read paragraph upon paragraph of mundane text.

Skip the bun.  Just give them the meat.  Let the home page start selling right there.  Show the benefits of your product or service.  Ask for sale.  Make the call-to-action.

Action item:  Take an hour and pretend you’re a potential customer.  How would you search for your company’s product or service?  What do you expect to find on the website?  Decide your site’s primary purpose and make sure your it is solely focused on that target.

Go ahead, be crappy.

Voltaire said: “Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien.” The better is the enemy of the good.  I have seen clients spend a year trying to make their websites look perfect before launch.  Meanwhile, the competition got started with what they had and benefited from a year’s head start.

Your website will never be perfect.  There’s always something that you will want to change and improve.  But don’t let small things get in the way of big idea.  Example:  Facebook was conceived, coded and launched in less than six months.  Was the original version the same one currently used by 400 million people? Of course not.  It evolved over time.  Your site can do the same.

Action item:  If you have a site in the works, get the core of it done, make sure there are no bugs, fix all the typos and launch the damn thing.  Business is war.  Don’t waste time polishing the canon.  You can get to that later.  For now, just get going.

It takes three.

Who builds a winning site? Is it the graphic designer who makes the attractive comps? Is it the geek who takes that design and codes it into a real website?  A successful website actually requires three types of people.  And it’s very rare to find someone who has all three skill sets.

The first is the designer.  This is the person who chooses the right colors, fonts, layouts, etc.  He/she has a real talent for what the human eye likes to see.  Important.

The second is the web geek.  This is the person who takes the design and turns it a web page.  So if the designer is the architect, then the web geek is the engineer.  The web geek typically has no design sense but can program like a champ.

The third animal is the one with business sense.  Just because a site is visually attractive and just because it ‘works’ on the internet without hiccups, that doesn’t mean you have a good website.  At the end of the day, your website has to deliver results.  It has to perform.  The third person is the one who focuses on the user experience and the site’s overall utility. He/she weaves together the designer and the web geek to ensure the site meet its overriding purpose.

Action items:  Look at your site.  What are the calls-to-action?  Is it to sell something?  Or to capture an email?  Also, when someone new comes to your site, does he/she ‘get’ within a blink what your company does and how it can help?

You get what you pay for.

I have seen companies pay $15K for a site which was really only worth $5K and I’ve had people wanting a $5K site but willing to pay $500 for it.

Websites are labor intensive.  If you want quality, you have to be willing to pay for it.  But be careful not to overspend.

What should you expect in terms of cost?  Well, it depends on what you need.  If your company needs a professional site just to share information about your products and services, expect to spend $2000-$3000 for site which is search engine friendly and can be easily modified and upgraded down the road.

If you want to want ecommerce added to the site, budget another $1000.

And if you need a database running in the background so clients can create profiles,  manage info, etc, then you’ll need to allocate another $2000.

I have a client who wants to clone Groupon.com, an e-coupon site on the mainland.  That’s $5000 to do it right.  I have another client who wants to emulate the functionality of StudentsofFortune.com, where students can post questions and get answers.  The site may look simple from the end user’s perspective, but the backend (the guts of the site) is actually pretty big.  Expect to spend $6000 for something like that.

In general, the more complex the site, the more it’s going to cost and the longer it’s going to take to get the job done.

Action item:  There are good website designers and then there are beginners.  Look for responsiveness, professionalism and quality work.  Most will want a 50% deposit at time of order and the balance due upon delivery.  Make sure you own (control) the hosting, the domain name, and the site itself.  Get a backup and all relevant passwords when work is done.  Keep everything in your name.

Avoid subscriptions.

A number of web design companies offer subscription based solutions. You basically lease your website.  The upside is you don’t have to pay get going.  The downside is you don’t really own the site and over the long run you will spend more money.  Although subscription business is smart business, I don’t recommend it.

One of the biggest reasons is control.  Most subscription business models give you only limited control over the website itself.  This means you may not be able to optimize the site for search engines, add multiple languages, integrate metrics, etc.  The bottom line is you ultimately need autonomy.

We have a dental client who signed up for one of those subscription based solutions.  They signed a three year agreement.  Unfortunately, it isn’t workng out well for the dentist.  All changes to the site must first be approved by the vendor and often it takes a week or more for the vendor to respond to requests.  Not good.

Action item:  Cost of ownership must factor in lost opportunity.  It may be cheaper to get started with websites you can rent, but ultimately you want to own instead of lease – especially if you expect your business to thrive.  Make sure you receive a complete backup of your site from the web designer, make sure the domain name and hosting is in your name, and make sure you have all logins and passwords:  domain name registration, hosting control panel, and FTP.

And consider using WordPress for your website.  WordPress is free, open source, and fully featured.  It’s a terrific content manager, meaning you can use it to update your site and create pages without having to know any techy stuff.  Cnn.com, NYTimes.com and SuperGeeks.net are done in WordPress.

Test. Measure. Repeat.

The neat thing about internet business is you can change things on the fly. Amazon.com is always experimenting with slightly modified layouts and color schemes, new features, special offers, etc.  You should do the same. Did you know you can automatically serve different versions of your website to potential clients?  The visitor won’t know the difference.  The good news is you can measure conversions (how many people accept the call-to-action), look at the metrics and determine which layout and which message generates the best results.

Action item:  Add Google Analytics to your website. Google Analytics is a free tool for measuring how many people are visiting your site, where they are coming from, what they’re drilling into and how long they stay.  It’s super critical info.  Takes only 10-15 minutes to install and configure but the data is invaluable.  Let me know if you need help installing Google Analytics.  I will gladly do it for you free of charge.

Also, check out Bit.ly.  Bit.ly will enable you to create ‘smart’ hyperlinks, so you can get data on who is clicking on your links.  This is useful when posting content online.

Socialize it. Participate. Share.

Social media is the new rock and roll.

First there was the phone, then the telex, then the fax, the copier, and email…Now there’s social media.  It’s a powerful tool for nurturing business relationships and – like it or not – it’s here to stay.  Regardless of whether you understand it or not, just jump in and started using it.

The way we market and sell has changed dramatically over the last few years.  Traditonal marketing like TV and radio was deliberately disruptive.  The idea was to grab your attention and say, “Here I am.”

Contemporary marketing is all about social media.  It’s more like honey.  The idea is create compelling content and share it with everyone.  Be the expert.  Be helpful.  And the sales will come.

Action item:  Create Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube accounts.  Use tools like Ping.fm and HootSuite.com to weave all those accounts together so you can reduce the workload.  Do more by doing less.

Create a Facebook business page.

After you create your Facebook profile, be sure to create a page for your business.  It takes only a few minutes to get started.

Facebook has some 400 million users.  About 50% log into their accounts on any given day and spend an average 55 minutes there.  You can’t afford to miss those eyeballs.

Action Item:  Facebook will let you create a vanity page once you have 26 fans.  A vanity page has a vanity URL, like Facebook.com/yourcompanyname.  For example, ours is Facebook.com/supergeeks.  A vanity page is easier to promote on your biz cards, packaging, store doors, etc.

Also, take a look at customizing that business page.  Facebook offers lots of free software to make your business page do what you want, like offer coupons, play an intro video, show an online registration form, and much more.

Brand it.

With everyone scrambling to be everywhere online, it’s more important than ever to stand out in the crowd.  What makes your company different than your competitors’?  What’s your story?  How will people recognize your company in a blink?  All of these things must be answered over and over again.  This is especially true online, where there’s a lot of noise and where web users have the attention span of gnat.  Be clear, decisive and bold.

Action item:  Customize your social media accounts so all of them carry the same look and feel.  Make sure your slogan is prominent and easy to understand.  Really spell out what makes your business different.

All roads lead to Rome.

Your website is your best salesperson.  It speaks 13 different languages, works 24/7 and doesn’t need worker comp insurance.  Make your site the epicenter of your marketing campaigns.  It’s OK if all those roads leading to Rome are unpaved.  Web users will take dirt roads.  Just make its easy for people to stumble upon and follow those roads.

Action item:  Go to Google Business Listings (www.google.com/local/add) and add your company.  Take the time to customize your listing.  It will appear in Google Maps and other directories.

Rank higher organically.

It’s called search engine optimization and unfortunately there are a lot of scammers out there ready to trick you into purchasing a product or service you don’t need.

Search engine optimization is important.  You want your website to hit the first page of Google’s search results.

The key to getting there is two-fold.  First, don’t try to sell everyone everything.  Think laser.  If you can sell some of the people all of the time, your business will grow.

Two, make sure the search engines love your website.  Search engines regularly send automated bots to troll and categorize sites on the internet.  Do you think those bots have any patience for a site which is difficult to read?  No, the bots will just move onto the next site.  For this reason, make sure your site is visible to search engines.  Customize your page titles, your page descriptions and your page content.  Avoid certain technologies like Flash which aren’t search engines friendly  Note: Search engines love WordPress.

Action Item:  Go to Google Keyword Tool (www.google.com/sktool/) and look at the actual volume of searches per keywords.  You can see how competitive certain keywords are for click thru advertising.

Caution: Don’t compete with the big boys.  In other words, don’t try to optimize your site and search engine marketing where it’s most competitive.  You will loose that battle.  It’s like challenging Michael Phelps to the 100 meter butterfly.  Instead, choose less competitive keywords and build your campaign and your site around that.

Pay for clicks.

I love a qualified lead.  A qualified lead is someone who is genuinely interested in the product or service you offer.  For example, because we dont sell tires, I wouldn’t get too excited if 100 people line up in front of one of my service centers looking for tires.  However, if 10 people showed up wanting computer help, then I’m interested.

That’s the beauty of click-thru advertising.  Since you only pay for actual clicks, you’re basically paying only for qualified leads.  And if you know what’s an acceptable acquisition cost, you can determine how much you can afford to spend on a click-thru advertising.

Google is the biggest player in this market.  You can create a Google Adwords account within minutes and start advertising online by sundown. You can target certain geographic areas, like Honolulu, and you can set limits on when those ads run and how much you want to spend.  It’s great.

Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube offer similar advertising models.  Their platform is interesting because you can deliver ads to more narrow demographics.  For example, I can show a very targeted wedding ring ad solely to engaged females over age 30 living in Hawaii.

Action Item:  Click-thru advertising will bring more traffic to your site.  But don’t send the qualified lead to your home page.  Chances are your home page is too generic for that targeted ad.  Instead, craft a special landing page for that specific ad.  Play with the layout and the copy of that landing page.  Measure the conversions and find what works.  In the end, online advertising is just a math equation:  (Cost per click) x (number of clicks) / (number of conversions) = cost per actual sale.

Study the competition.

You can learn a lot by studying your competitors.  Hop on their websites, see what works and what doesn’t.  Find the leader in your industry and emulate their best practices.

Please do not think you have to create every brochure and every ad campaign from scratch.  In business, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.  Model success.

We regularly mystery shop our competitors and it’s not uncommon to find policies, procedures and materials which were clearly ‘borrowed’ from SuperGeeks.  I tell my team not to worry.  Our job is to innovate and to lead the industry.  Focus on widening that gap between us and all of them and we will be fine.

Action Item:  Look locally, nationally, and internationally.  Find who is excelling in your market and emulate their best practices.  (Don’t plagiarize.) And be sure to study companies outside your industry.  You may find good inspiration there, too.  For example, we regularly study automotive repair, retail, and health care for new ideas.

Use these free tools.

Use Website Grader to see how you can optimize your site for search engines: www.websitegrader.com

Use this tool to make sure your site’s HTML coding is compliant with major browsers: http://validator.w3.org/

Check for broken links on your site: http://validator.w3.org/checklink

I hope this column is useful.  Please let me know if I can help with anything: help@supergeeks.net

James Kerr – Chief Geek, SuperGeeks (Twitter: supergeeks)

Let SuperGeeks build your new site or redesign your existing one. We build creative, compelling, cutting-edge websites at affordable prices.

Request a FREE quote for your project.

• FREE site review (if you currently have a site)
• Help me build a new site

As part of my presentation, I will explain a checklist of items every business can adopt and implement right away with little or no upfront cost.  The point is to get-going on the latest market trends to ensure your company’s mid to longterm viability.

By the way, it’s not too late to join the event.  I am confident you’ll find it relevant and useful.  For more info: http://bit.ly/bdM9Rv

Here’s my checklist for making your business tech-ready:

• Nuke your website. If you’re like most businesses, you spent a good chunk of money on a nice website…a few years ago.  Well, times have changed and as a result the site is probably dated in terms of design and features.  Your website is your most important face to the world.  It should also be your best salesperson.  Enhance your site using WordPress, which is a free, open source, content management system.  WordPress is easy to use, fully featured and search engine friendly.  It will also give you everything you need to start blogging.

• Use analytics for everything. Knowledge is power.  You need to know how many people are visiting your website.  You need to know what interests them.  The more you mine  the data, the better you can serve your clients.  Add Google Analytics to your site.  It takes just a few minutes.  I will gladly do it for you free of charge.  Also, go to bit.ly and create an account.  It costs nothing.  You can use bit.ly to create smart URLs, so you can measure what’s popular and what’s not.  The link in the third paragraph of this column in one of those smart links.  It will tell me how many people clicked on it and from where.

• Poll your customers, employees and vendors. I wish I had learned this one in high school.  If you want to know something, just ask!  Too often we business owners feel we must operate on instinct when the truth could be just a click away.  Go to SurveyMonkey.com, create an internal survey, and ask your employees what they think about you.  The survey is anonymous, so fasten your seatbelt!  Equally important, solicit feedback from your clients.  You can automate the whole process so every customer receives a thank you note and has the opportunity to give feedback. The info is gold.

• Use Google Alerts. Google offers a free service called Google Alerts.  You tell Google which keywords or key phrases interest you, and Google will email you a report every day summarizing where those keywords and phrases hit the internet.  Use Google Alerts to monitor your brand, market trends, your competition, and new opportunities.  Brilliant.

• Socialize your business. This is the boat you don’t want to miss.  Social media is here to stay.  Create accounts for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.  Use TweetDeck.com, HootSuite.com and Ping.fm to help you manage all those accounts.  You don’t have to understand social media, you just have to start using it.  You’ll ‘get’ it soon enough.  Don’t let your competitor eat your lunch.

• Use a reader. In the old days, newspapers printed what they considered news and we took what they gave us.  Now, you can create your own ‘channel’ of news and selected topics of interest.  Using Google Reader, you choose the content you want to read everyday and Google Reader will pull it all together for you into one convenient stream of info.  You are in the driver’s seat.  Google does all the work for you.  Free. You will need to stay on top of market trends so you can make blog posts and interact with others.

• Do webinars. I absolutely love GoToWebinar.com.  From the convenience of my home,  in my pajamas (!), I can give timely, relevant online presentations to my staff, to my clients, and to potential customers.  It’s a terrific way to keep your base informed and it’s a very effective sales tool: http://bit.ly/bcc35I

• Start a Wiki. Our mission in business is to make a difference, to make the world a better place.  This is what drives us.  Ultimately, though, we also want quality of life.  We can work hard when we’re in our twenties and thirties, but at some point we value freedom from schedule, the ability to affect change through philanthropy, etc.  If you run an organization, your most important tasks is to capture on paper your wisdom and knowledge.  In other words, you want to map out critical operational issues like policies, proceedures, and expectation, so in the event you get hit by the proverbial bus, your business has a playbook to use a guide to keep things going.  I highly recommend Zoho Wiki.

• Use Google Docs. This one is a no-brainer.  Microsoft Office is expensive; Google Docs is free.  using Google Docs, you can do Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. You can import ‘old school’ files from colleagues who haven’t yet migrated to Google Docs, you can work off-line, you can store everything online, you can share the same doc with others so it becomes a dynamic file, always getting updated, always current, etc. The sooner you move to Google Docs, the better.

• Do targeted advertising. There’s been a neat shift in the way we capture leads and convert prospects.  Conventional advertising like display ads and direct mail, for example, is alive and well. We do it religiously at SuperGeeks.  But we also use new weapons, like click-thru online advertising.  What’s really powerful about new media is I can target a very specific demographic, say engaged, college educated women living in Hawaii who speak Spanish, and I can present that well-defined group with a very specific advertising message.  Moreover, I can send that click-thru prospect to a custom-tailored webpage, full of analytics, so I can measure how many people actually purchase or take some kind of action, like request a free consultation.  This has completely reinvented the way we advertise and has given us extremely valuable metrics on what works and what doesn’t.  It’s both effective and a lot of fun!

To learn more about these and other tech tips, join us on the 13th: http://bit.ly/bdM9Rv

Register: http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/event/21671

PBN PRESENTS TECHNOLOGY FOR BUSINESS, A BREAKFAST SEMINAR

THURSDAY, MAY 13, 2010, AT THE SHERATON WAIKIKI, LANAI BALLROOM

Registration & continental breakfast – 7:00 a.m.

Program – 7:30 to 9:00 a.m.

Seminar topics include introductions to the following:

• Social media for business
• Cloud computing
• Internet security
• Programming
• IT outsourcing
• Internet connectivity
• Web site design/development
• APPS
• Servers/Networks
• Software
• SEM
• Optimization…and much more!

KEY TAKE-AWAYS INCLUDE:

• Cost cutting tips to get more out of your technology
• Gaining market share
• Increasing productivity
• Promoting your business through social media

Register by completing the form here and submitting or email dtavares@bizjournals.com.

DEADLINE TO REGISTER IS FRIDAY, MAY 7.

Call 955-8074 with any questions.

Read more: Pacific Business News (Honolulu): PBN Technology for Business

• Discover What People are Really Saying About You, Your Brand, etc:  http://twitrratr.com/

• Shorten URLs, Get Statistics, and More: http://bit.ly/

• 8 Traits of a Twitter Champion: http://www.bloggodown.com/2010/02/8-traits-of-a-twitter-champion.html

• 12 Social Media Secrets from the World’s Top Superstars: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/12-social-media-secrets-from-worlds -top-superstars/

• 10 Common Social Media Mistakes: http://econsultancy.com/blog/5684-10-common-social-media-mistakes

• 10 Twitter Tools to Help You Track and Perform Better: http://socialmouths.com/blog/2009/12/09/10-twitter-tools-to-track-and- perform/

• 5 Useful Twitter Monitoring Tools: http://www.georgescifo.com/2010/04/5-useful-twitter-monitoring-tools/

• How to Monitor What is Being Said About You Online: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/monitor-online/

• 10 Tips to Become a Great Business User of Twitter: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/business-twitter/19695/

• How to Use Twitter Lists: http://mashable.com/2009/11/02/twitter-lists-guide/

• 5 Quick Ways to Improve Your Facebook SEO: http://smallbiztrends.com/2010/03/5-quick-ways-to-improve-your-faceboo k-seo.html

• How to Create the Ultimate Facebook Fan Page: http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2010/03/24/10-steps-create-facebook- fan-page-brand/

Periodically checking things like oil levels and tire pressure is not enough.  Because the Mini is really a little computer on wheels, it needs consistent preventive care to keep it happy and healthy.

Unless the car tells us that something is wrong, we wouldn’t think to check for any vital signs on a regular basis.  And that’s a mistake.  Cars – like people - need proper care and feeding.
Your office network is the same. Sometimes it’s difficult to know when problems are brewing.  Usually, we don’t realize we have problems until something doesn’t work, like you can’t log onto the network, can’t print, or can’t get your emails.

How would you know your network is in trouble?

There are a few signs that indicate potential problems.  And if you catch those issues sooner rather than later, you can prevent expensive downtime and repair costs:

Persistent viruses

Do you get those annoying pop-ups?  Are your computers slow?  Are they locking up or freezing?  Are you getting warning messages?  These are good indicators of deeper problems and your network not being properly maintained.

Granted, no network is completely immune from viruses and spyware. However, if the problems are regular and persistent, something is amiss and it needs to get fixed asap.

Multiple and ongoing complaints

If several employees complain of computer issues and their productivity is legitimately affected by those issues, then you need to pay closer attention. Multiple complaints are a good indicator your network is in trouble.
Imagine you are sailing a ship and your crew members are reporting leaks from different spots on the ship. It’s probably time to dock and do some maintenance and repairs.

Sluggishness

If it takes forever to log into Windows, to open a program or to copy a file -
it’s a symptom of network trouble.

Remember, the original purpose of computing is to boost productivity, save money, and increase earnings. If you have to wait for several minutes to open a document, you are wasting your time and money.  The more employees you have who are affected by slow speeds, the more money your business is wasting.

Expired Updates

Do any of your computers have a little yellow shield with an exclamation point on it?  Typically you will find it in the lower right hand corner of your computer screen.
That shield is a warning message from Microsoft.  It means you’re missing important software updates.  It’s critical to update your software regularly to make sure you have adequate protection against viruses.

Likewise, if you’re logged into Windows and you are prompted to update Adobe, Java, or another application, it’s a clear sign the network is not being properly maintained.

No one knows

Does your office suffer from “no-one-know-itis”?  For example, no one knows where the important documentation is located, no one knows whether the backup works, and no one knows when the passwords were last changed?

If you were in a hospital and discovered your patient history is missing, no one remembers your name or that you are allergic to a certain antibiotic, you get out of that hospital as soon as possible.

As for your network’s health, it’s critical your important information, such as passwords and network map, is securely stored.  You also want to be sure there is a designated person responsible for managing that information.

You should be able to ask that person whether the backup was actually tested, when it was last tested, and whether there’s a recent backup offsite.

The bottom line is this:  If you feel something may be wrong with your network, or if your computers get in the way of your work, then your network probably has problems.

A healthy, happy network is critical to business.  Any downtime means high costs and missed opportunity.  Be sure to take care of the problems before they become expensive disasters.

Get FREE Network Assessment

James Kerr is Chief Geek of SuperGeeks.  You can also follow him on Twitter: Supergeeks.

To mitigate the cost of ownership, there are some free goodies out there you may want to consider installing while your computer is still fresh out-of-the-box.  And though ‘free’ in the computing world doesn’t necessarily equate to ‘good’, all of the software listed below has been thoroughly geek-tested and is wholly SuperGeeks-approved:

Enjoy your new computer.  Take good care of it.  Let me know if I can help with anything.

James Kerr is Chief Geek at SuperGeeks.  You can reach him at (808) 531-GEEK and on Twitter: SuperGeeks

After seven years in Japan and another 12 here in Hawaii starting various businesses, I have learned to love the rapid and ever-changing landscape of the tech industry. At the same time, as a business person, I have developed a deeper appreciation for what works – regardless of how boring the winning solution may be.

Here are some of the lessons I’ve learned:

Early adopters pay the price. We first started making digital cameras at Sony 20 years ago. The first few generations were built by hand and we produced only 15 cameras per month. We lovingly referred to the new cameras as ‘bleeding edge’ technology. As a manufacturer, the cameras were very expensive to make. For the consumer, digital cameras were very expensive to own and operate, too. Bottom line: Early adopters of technology pay more for their toys than the rest of us. And thank goodness! Someone’s got to pay for all that R&D.

Late adopters pay, too. Does your dad still own a pair of corduroys? Well, it may be painful to watch him wear those around town. But it’s very expensive if he maintains the equivalent in technology at home or at the office. I’m a strong advocate for using something until it dies. I love the new netbooks and I would take a new 3GS iPhone any day, but the stuff I have now works well so I will just keep things as-is until my Fujitsu LifeBook and older iPhone call it quits. However, when the cost of ownership of the older solutions exceeds the cost of ownership of the newer solutions, I would be silly to hang onto the old like a dog with a newspaper in its mouth. Lesson: Legacy hardware and software will kill your bottom line.

Avoid proprietary solutions. Proprietary solutions are custom solutions. They are typically designed specifically for a particular client or a specific industry. Try to avoid those. All proprietary solutions are expensive. They also seldom end well. After 2 to 3 years of using a custom solution, for example, your company will essentially become ‘married’ to the provider. And when the provider decides to raise pricing and skimp on the customer service, you will be wishing you went with someone else. As much as possible, use off-the-shelf solutions which can be easily supported by anyone.

Don’t neglect proper care and feeding. Tech is complex. Unlike nature, technology doesn’t yet have self-correcting and rejuvenate abilities. This means we have to take care of our systems like we take care of our children. Hardware and software need regular and ongoing maintenance – just like everything else. Be sure to steward the health and wellness of your equipment, or you will pay a bigger price for it later.

In the end, it’s gotta work. If you think about it, there’s probably no other device in our home or office which is more difficult to understand and use than the computer. The toaster is easy. The fridge is easy. Even the air conditioner is easy. But the computer is a headache. Whichever solution you choose, try to make it transparent to the user. For example, the break in my car works well. I use when I need it; it gets the job done well. I don’t need to think too much about it. That’s the way computers should be. Useful.

I really like this quote from Einstein: Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler. That’s the approach we should take towards technology. Focus on the benefits of the solution. Choose the one that works best. You will be happier in the long run.

James Kerr is Chief Geek at SuperGeeks. He can be reached at (808) 531-GEEK and you can follow him on Twitter: SuperGeeks

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Thanks to the internet, finding a job is much easier today than a decade ago.  With advances in technology, though, one must adjust with the times.

Here’s what you can do:

• Manage your digital footprint. Like it or not, there’s stuff online about us.  Some of it is good.  Some of it may not be so good. Do your best to mitigate the unflattering content.  Take a good look at your MySpace, Facebook and Twitter accounts, and clean delete or hide the unprofessional comments, pics, etc.  I was interested in hiring candidate recently, and then I started following her on Twitter.  Good thing I didn’t hire her!

• Personalize your approach. We all hate spam.  This includes HR managers.  Don’t spam blast out your resume to a gazillion different employers and hope they’ll be interested.  If you cant find the time to personalize your message, how can I find the time to read it?  If you’re applying for a job at SuperGeeks, customize your cover letter and resume for SuperGeeks.  It works.  Trust me.

• Use spell-check. Check your grammar, too.  There’s really no excuse for typos, misspelled words and poor grammar.  When I receive a resume with errors, I send it straight to the trash pile.  Harsh?  Maybe.  But I want someone who cares about the details. Take the time to do it right.

• Don’t share too much. Back in the day, we needed to include a mailing address on the resume – just in case the employment offer were mailed.  These days, it’s all about email.  Skip the snail mail address.  No need to include it.  If anything, keep it generic, like: Pearl City, Hawaii.   The same applies to your email address.  Create a Gmail account for your job search.  Gmail is free and takes all of 3 minutes to get going.  Again, keep the email address professional.  Something like ‘ilovewafflesinhawaii@gmail.com’ is not going to score points with the HR manager.

• Be persistent. You know the phrase, “The early bird gets the worm.”  Well, the persistent bird gets the worm, too. HR managers are busy.  Sometimes they don’t get back to you right away.  Follow through with a weekly email.  Follow through is a worthy trait.  HR managers value it.  I have one candidate applying for a sale position. I interviewed her twice and I like her, but she hasn’t shown any follow through. Even though I haven’t had the time to setup the next meeting, she is demonstrating any of the persistence required for that kind of sales position. As a result, I can’t hire her.

• Watch out for scammers.  Job sites have their share of people who will try to take advantage of you.  In general, about 2-3% of internet users are out to get you.  Popular websites attract the bad guys like flies. If somethings sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true.  And anything you send via email should generally be regarded as public information.  Use job sites to your advantage, but use caution and suspicion when reply to message and sharing private info.

The internet is a super efficient tool for finding that dream job.  Determine what interests you, craft your winning sales pitch, locate the job you want, and go get it.  Shoot high and go far.