Magro International’s recently released video.

Happy New Year!

It’s been a while since we were active on our blog.  2008 has been a successful year for Magro International, it kept us busy with various business operations, new service offerings, new and old clients, more research and learning.

This year we plan to be more active and bring you useful internet marketing resources to help you grow your business.

Here’s a couple of new things for you:

1. Blogflux a portal designed to be a central destination for the blogosphere, providing you everything you need to get your blog up and running – Blog Flux Local – Michigan

2. Stay connected to Magro International on Facebook.

More to come soon…  In the meantime may 2009 be a prosperous year for you and your family.

My 2 year contract with Sprint expires in December.  My service with them has been very good (I switched because T-Mobile’s coverage was so bad I couldn’t use my cell phone in my own home)….and now, do I dare switch providers again just so I can get a coveted iPhone?  I checked out an iphone review that lists all the + and – of the iphone, but I still can’t make up my mind.  It would be nice to have it in certain instances when I want to browse the internet or when I am traveling.  I would love to be able to upload some Thomas the Train videos to it so my toddler would be entertained.  But then I think of switching networks and I get a little bit nervous – what if the coverage with AT&T isn’t very good?  I guess I have a few months to decide….I’ll let you know.

Earlier, I posted about the fact that Google Maps can integrate with a BMW – but only in Germany.  But now the technology will be coming to the US.

OnStar and Mapquest are now integrating with each other.  OnStar subscribers will soon be able to send MapQuest maps to their systems.  The new feature will be rolled out to test subscribers this summer, with full-scale implementation at the end of this year or beginning of next.  You can read all about it on www.Onstar.com

The Internet will change the way that customers find your business (and now get to your business).. don’t be left behind.  Make sure your business can be found on the internet and that the information listed is accurate.

Daylight savings time will begin the 2nd Sunday in March this year because in 2005 Congress passed a law that stretches daylight savings time 3 weeks earlier in spring and one week later in fall.  The Detroit News had a great article on their website today that covers how this change will affect business from the computers we work on to the packages we get delivered.  You can read the entire article here.

I got a new laptop about a month ago and decided I was going to install Netscape on it to see how it compares to IE. I would be 100% converted if it weren’t for one thing….there is no Google toolbar for Netscape – which really isn’t the fault of Netscape. So sometimes, I reluctantly have to open IE again and work from there so I can use the toolbar to see the Google PageRank.

But for anyone who doesn’t need the Google toolbar, I think you should take another look at the browser that you probably started using the first time you surfed the net. It is great!

Here are six technological tools I think businesses should consider implementing this year. The first three deal with ways in improve your marketing efforts, the second three deal with ways to streamline your internal operations.

1. Email Marketing
Email marketing is successful when used correctly for just about any business. Yet many people write-off email marketing because they only think of the emails they receive from online retailers boasting of their latest sale with “free shipping.” The term should actually be used to describe targeted, traceable communications to potential and current customers, or individuals who can refer others to your business. Maybe you have services that your customers don’t know about, maybe you have excess inventory that you would like to get rid of, maybe you hired someone new that may bring certain customers in your door, maybe you opened up a 2nd location – there are hundreds of events that you can announce to keep in contact with your customers. Tracking who opened your emails and how many clicked on the links in your email to go to your website offers a measurable way to track the success of your advertising. As long as your emails are relevant, timely, and valuable, your customers will appreciate getting your latest news and will reward you with loyalty. http://www.strategicwsinetsolutions.com/page.asp?PId=49046

2. Pay-Per-Click
An advertiser once said “half my advertising doesn’t work, the problem is, I don’t know which half.” December’s newsletter focused on the benefits of pay-per-click advertising – You only pay when someone clicks on your advertisement. Did you know that you can set up a pay-per-click campaign even if you don’t have a website? Did you know that if you do have a website, you can use pay-per-click to tract the specific phone calls and emails you receive as a result of that ad? When using pay-per-click advertising no one has to wonder which half of their advertising is working. Online demo: http://www.strategicwsinetsolutions.com/WSILocal.asp?PId=45178

3. Streaming Video / Video Email
As more households sign-up for high-speed internet access, the amount of time spent viewing steaming video is increasing. Over 50% of internet users view online video (eMarketer). Most of us associate video with news providers, but there are a number of reasons beyond the latest headlines to offer streaming video. Product demonstrations, service descriptions, facility tours, interviews with employees or executives, and job descriptions are just a few examples of ways streaming video can move beyond the realm of the daily news with streaming video on your website. Looking for something really unique to capture your clients attention? Try adding streaming video to your emails. Online demo: http://www.strategicwsinetsolutions.com/VideoEmail.asp?PId=40891

4. eLearning
Consistency, traceability, and resource management are the reasons most companies incorporate an e-learning solution into their internet strategy. Consistency – eLearning provides a way to ensure that all of your employees receive exactly the same material in exactly the same way. You don’t have to worry about different trainers covering different topics, or some document being left out of the training manuals. Traceability – Track exactly which modules in your e-learning system employees have read or viewed, test them on their knowledge, and allow them to virtually interact with other e-learners or trainers on the modules – with written documentation on everything. Resource Management – free up time for yourself and your employees by putting your training online. The time saved won’t only be on the employee’s first day, it will continue through the employee’s first weeks. Instead of coming back to ask questions that were covered the first day, the new employee can logon to their e-learning page and look up the information themselves. E-learning Hint: Have an employee leaving and haven’t hired a replacement? Have the employee record a going away training message for the yet-to-be-hired replacement. Online demo: http://www.strategicwsinetsolutions.com/e-LearningSolutions.asp?PId=36870

5. Document Management
We all know the woes of having documents stored on a variety of discs, computers, and servers and wondering “am I using the latest version?” Why not make this the year that you take control of your documentation? A document management system allows you to track the who, what, when, and how of your documentation. The best part is that the system is web based allowing for employees to access documents anywhere there is an internet connection. Online Demo: http://www.strategicwsinetsolutions.com/DocumentManagement.asp?PId=36873

6. Web Conferencing
Although the benefits of web conferencing are obvious to most of us – reduced travel time and costs – the technology is barely used by most small and medium sized businesses because they think it is only something for the “big guys”. The truth is web conferencing is a very cost effective tool. This is an on-demand system that can be used when you need it with no monthly fees. But what exactly is web conferencing you may ask? The term web conferencing can actually refer to various technologies, including video conferencing where each participant can see and speak to each other via steaming video; it can include having everyone logon to a centralized platform where a presenter shares his desktop or PowerPoint presentation; or it can include recording presentations for viewing by other employees or customers at a later date. No matter what form of web conferencing you use you can be assured that company communications will improve. Online Demo: http://www.strategicwsinetsolutions.com/WebConferencingSolutions.asp?PId=36871

Wouldn’t it be great to look back on 2006 with satisfaction because it was the year that you saw your business grow by increasing your customer base with new e-marketing methods and streamlining your operations with the latest tools?

Who are the lucky 7?
Troy, Birmingham, Royal Oak, Madison Heights, Pontiac, Oak Park and Wixom.

Why are they the lucky 7?
These are the 7 cities that will be providing free wireless connections to their businesses, residents, and visitors by the end of year.

How will the lucky 7 affect small businesses?
Once free wireless is available to everyone on phones, PDAs, and laptops in these cities, the way people search for businesses is going to change. Once these cities go wireless it it going to become much easier for people to grab their phone or PDA and use Google’s phone search to find a business than to open the yellow pages or get referrals. Need to order some flowers for a friend’s birthday? Turn on your phone, type in “flower delivery rochester mi” see what comes up. Dial the number on your phone and place your order. Are you a businessman on the road, looking for someplace to take your clients to eat for lunch? Turn on the Palm, search for “Indian food Troy Mi” in google, get the number, call and make the reservation.

You get my point. People won’t access multiple sources of information once they can search and implement their desires all on the same device.

Interested in searching Blogs? Try using Google or Yahoo!

Google:
http://blogsearch.google.com/

Yahoo!
http://news.search.yahoo.com/