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Proposable, the web app that will make project managers giddy | Bloomington, IN

Tim Skaggs — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:38:08 +0000

Need a proposal completed and sent? I would suggest using Proposable. This app does it all (or most) and isn’t overrun by features. Proposable allows you to create proposals, save pages in a library, archive proposals, email your proposal and get great feedback about the proposal from the client. A ‘comment’ feature is added to the submitted proposal for the client to give near realtime feedback. A submitted comment is then attached to the proposal in chat design and then the author is notified via email about the comment. The WYSIWYG editor is excellent and looks very similar to fckeditor but simpler.

I tested the app by copying and pasting a test proposal from Microsoft Word into the WYSIWYG editor and it formatted perfectly. I had to upload the images into the image placeholders and that was about it. I couldn’t find a feature to add a header or footer, but I’m sure that is coming soon. The simplicity of using this web app is outstanding.

Oh, did I mention that there is an analytics feature to measure the times the proposal was viewed, the total time , first view date, last view date, and a pie chart showing the sections clicked or viewed. The analytics are crazy cool! I’ve been in the business with proposals and it’s a pain to wait for a client to notify me that they viewed the proposal. Deep down I know the client looked at it but they are just too busy to let me know. Now, I’ll know that a client viewed it and much more… I feel sneaky.

Proposable is an excellent application developed by Sproutbox and the brainchild of James Kappen.

Let me know what you think of Proposable!

**All logos are property of Proposable

Collabtive | Collaborate and Project Manage | Open Source

Tim Skaggs — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:27:01 +0000

I’m a huge supporter of Open Source programs. Especially, if these programs have a great community backing to help troubleshoot and keep enhancing the program. A few open source programs that you might have heard of are Wordpress, Joomla, and Linux. Wordpress and Joomla are CMS platforms that can be installed on just about any Linux based server. Linux is the operating system that can run a personal computer or a giant server farm. There is a lot a power to be harnessed with open source programs. One of my favorite is called Collabtive.

Collabtive is an open source project manager that can be placed on your server. This project manager allows you to create projects, timelines, schedules, add/remove teammates, and adds a progress bar. Teammates can message each other about the project they are assigned and also upload files to the database. Installing is easy with Linux and MySQL and starting is a matter of creating an Admin account.

Here is the complete list taken from the site (http://collabtive.o-dyn.de/about.php):

Core functionality

Unlimited projects, milestones, tasklists, and tasks
Unlimited members with user profiles
Role-based permission management
Messaging and instant messaging
File management
Timetracking

Reporting and notifications

Timetracker reports, activity logs and messages in PDF format
Export user profiles as vCard
RSS feeds for messages and tasks
Synchronization of calendars via iCal task export
Excel files from activity logs and timetracker reports
E-mail notifications

Other

Search, tags
Basecamp import
Fully themeable
Available in more than 25 languages
Full UTF8 support

Let me know what you think of this program! I love it and makes project management easy.

Client Web Design tips | Bloomington, IN

Tim Skaggs — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:00:36 +0000

After working in web design for a couple years now, I have come to terms that potential clients are unprepared when speaking about what they want or what they need. I’m not bashing on potential clients because they don’t know what we need and it’s our fault for not expressing a clear view of the vision for the client.

Here are a few tips to people who want/need a website, web design, or type of web presence:

1) In your first meeting with a web design company please be prepared to express what you need in great detail for your small company, a personal site, or a new company. The web designers will need know your company in detail, your goals, your target market (and “EVERYONE!” is not a target market), budget, your current situation, and what you are expecting.

2) Trust the web design company because they need to know the information. They will not (and shouldn’t) judge you in your lack of knowledge in the web and you are there to get a good understanding of what is possible and what isn’t possible.

3) Bring material to the meeting. This material should be information you might want to display on the site or what you want to express on the site. Also, logos and print material with design and color will give the web designer a better understanding on what you want in a site design.

4) The web design company should ask a lot of questions about your company and what you need; and if they don’t, this should be a red flag about the company. It is in your best interest to get a great website developed to work best with your vision and your market. If they don’t know what you need or want, then they are just giving you a site based on assumptions and that is bad.

5) Finally, don’t be afraid to call or email any and all questions. After the quote and proposal is presented ask more questions to make sure you are getting what you are buying because you might give the designers information that they did not know.

HINT: When it comes to web design, you are getting what you pay for, so cheaper is not better.

The plan for your web design should include a SEO and Social Media plan. This will give you a great start in building your brand because websites are a huge in the current economy.

If you have any questions please send them via email or comments.

Why Social Media is important to small business | Bloomington, Indiana

Tim Skaggs — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 04:45:44 +0000

After working with some small businesses in Bloomington, Indiana; I have noticed that they are one step behind. This isn’t their fault by no means. Older mom and pop shops are now starting to need a web presence to keep up with competition and keep up with their customers. Here in the city of Bloomington an overwhelming change in customers happen every year in the month of May due to classes starting at Indiana University. This change is then spread to the small businesses that make up the downtown area and many of the business are starting to notice more change in customer needs. The overall change is due to the progression of development on the web with Social Networks and Social Media. I know for a fact that many of the students and current graduates will not go to a restaurant, use a services, or shop at a place unless the place has a web site or reviews on the web. This is why it is important for small business to use Social Media!

Social Media is not just a way to advertise but it’s a way to connect with your core market! This connection will build the brand to new heights by giving the core audience a feeling of trust and understanding about you and the company.

Let’s take Twitter as an example: Twitter is a way to quickly post a comment, suggestion, or idea to all your followers. This post is then read by the followers and this may initiate a conversation between a customer and the business. This conversation (if public) can be seen by all of their followers and the reach of your brand can be endless. This will build value into the company without spending a dime!

So, my message to all small businesses is that you should start using these networks to maximize your brand and build trust! Marketing with Social Media plus a great website will give you more recognition and hopefully get more customers.

Keep your files with you with Dropbox

Tim Skaggs — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:08:21 +0000

I’ve given you tips on how to manage your social media and video conference, but it’s time to focus on your files and documents. As a working professional you will probably travel from time-to-time, and from time-to-time you will forget a document or a file… we’ve all done it, don’t worry. Now, I’m going to give you a tip on what to do to make sure you can get to your files and folders.

The solution I’ve found most accommodating is called Dropbox. This web application works beautifully when you need a program or file. All you have to do is upload the files you want to access later, into your personal Dropbox. You can keep the Dropbox private or share it! You’re probably wondering if you’ll have to go to your browser and click upload for every file. Well, no but only if you download the very small application. This application syncs with your computer and now you can drag and drop the files into the virtual folder that the Dropbox desktop application creates.

Now the magic happens! So, you go to a meeting and didn’t bring the laptop, but instead of not presenting all the information to the client or partner you can now swing by a printing store, library, or friends house and login to your Dropbox account and download and print the documents you forgot. Say you don’t have time to do that, we you can use their iPhone App to access the files or the client’s computer. It’s that easy.

I use Dropbox religiously and probably won’t stop. Check out the website for more info: http://www.dropbox.com

Manage your social media on the go (iPhone required)

Tim Skaggs — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:31:45 +0000

Creating a brand name in social media take a lot of time and commitment. This commitment applies to your readers, followers, and especially your content. Constant quick updates about fun and relevant things on Twitter and Facebook will go a long way but doing the updates everyday/all day is key. Creating content driven and well-read blog articles is key to blogging. Now the questions is, “How do you manage all of this on the go?” Thanks to smart phones you can manage just about anything on the go. The following is a list of my favorite Social Media applications for the iPhone. The iPhone has the most apps available for social media, plus its what I personally own!

Facebook App : Facebook did a great job on this iPhone app. It simple and gets the job done. You can update your status all day and manage your profile in the simple to use app. Check it out here.
Gist App : After my review of Gist. in a previous article, you know I really enjoy their web app. So, it’s at no surprise that I would recommend their iPhone App. The ‘importance‘ feature let me quickly control the list of people/companies on the feed from an importance ranking from 1 to 100. I can narrow down to just tweets, emails, or blogs. It’s very similar to the web app, so it pretty awesome! Check is out here.
Twitterific App : Iconfactory made another pretty app that is simple and to the point. Twitterific only works with Twitter and gives you the power to manage your contacts, tweets, and feed. They did add a geo tracking feature that lets you view tweets near your iPhone geo location. Check it out here.
Skype App : This is basically the Skype desktop application in the palm of your hand. Chat and voice is allowed through the app and it works on 3G. I recommend this if you are working on the go. Check it out here.
Wordpress 2 App : For all of you using Wordpress 2.7+ or a Wordpress.com account for blogging, then this is the way to go! Create new posts, edit old posts, and review comments on your iPhone. Nothing beats that! I do recommend not using the app when writing any longer than a paragraph. Check it out here.

So, there you have it, my top iPhone apps for managing your social media on the go. If you have any other apps you want to recommend just comment on this post or email me. Let me know what you think!

DimDim, the online conferencing tool

Tim Skaggs — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:58:41 +0000

Traveling more than 60 minutes to a potential client meeting is a real gamble. You don’t know if you’ll be losing in wasted gas or gaining with a new client. I’ve had that experience many of times driving up and down to Indianapolis or Louisville. I’m based in Bloomington, Indiana so I have that option, but I recently wanted to stop the gamble. I started looking through the options of web conferencing tools. There were only two big options about a year ago that most people heard of, Skype and GotoMeeting; but now there is a third, and; in my opinion, an even better option! The web application is called DimDim. I know it’s a very odd name, but it’s a great web application. Each user will need to download a very small program to your computer that is just there to detect compatible video and audio equipment. Once that is all installed the rest of the program is in your browser. It’s really that easy.

Why does this cut down on time? Well, no more commuting and everyone will be on time to a web conference (maybe). Let me explain in a simple ‘Top 5″…

Top 5 reasons I like DimDim:

It’s easy to understand and clients can understand it easily
Its Free!
Basically nothing to install.
Presenting a PowerPoint, document, or desktop is easy.
There is Chat, Video, Audio, and Phone conferencing (this means the business partner on the road can call into a private number and enter the conversation.)

Thanks to DimDim I can stop traveling 60+ minutes and stay in the office and get more work done. Try it! It’s FREE! http://dimdim.com