This insightful web surfing tip is written by ForeSite Insight guest blogger, Thomas Clifford…

Thomas Clifford is a Fast Company “Expert Blogger,” speaker, three-time co-author for the “Age of Conversation” book series and an award-winning multimedia producer. Tom is passionate about speaking, writing and helping organizations use digital media to communicate with a personal touch.

In 2010 and 2009, Tom was awarded Hartford Business Journal’s Strateg-e Award for “Best Use of Blogs.” Many of Tom’s articles and his highly popular LinkedIn article can be found on his blog. You can follow Tom on Twitter at @ThomasClifford.

How Anyone Can Turbo-Charge Their Web Reading Experience

Would you rather drive to the newsstand to get your news?
Or would you rather get your news delivered to your doorstep?

What a ridiculous question, right?
Now let me ask you one more question.

Would you like to waste your time everyday clicking to your favorite websites just to see what’s new? Or would you rather subscribe to your favorite website and have all updates delivered directly to your computer screen– without you ever going to the website?

Hmm. That’s a no-brainer, right?

So how is it possible to read your favorite updated web articles without ever going to the website?

You simply subscribe to the website using RSS.

What is RSS?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Sounds kinda techie but trust me, it’s not.

Think of RSS as being “Really Super Simple.” RSS is like a waterfall: it’s a running stream of content.

RSS allows content to be syndicated on the Internet. The RSS “feed” is just a stream of that site’s content. Most blogs and sites have feeds you can subscribe to.

How does RSS change your web reading experience?
You know how you keep going back to some of your favorite sites and blogs to see if anything is new?

Click. Nothing new.
Click. Nothing new.
Click. Nothing new.

If you keep going back and nothing is new, it kinda stinks. You feel like you’re wasting a bunch of your precious time.

You won’t be wasting your time anymore when you start reading the feed

When you read the feed, your favorite site’s content is delivered right to your computer screen.

How does RSS work?
RSS updates are read through an RSS reader. Google Reader is by far the most popular Reader and it’s free. Once your Google Reader is registered, you simply subscribe to your favorite site’s feed using the “Add a Subscription” feature. Easy-as-pie, huh?

When you want to read what’s new, you don’t go to 10, 20 or 30 sites. You just read all the updates in your Google Reader.

How do you know if a site has a feed?
You can usually tell if a site or blog has a feed by the icon where the URL address is located.  Here are some common logos for RSS:

PC users can click on the big orange icon with two semicircles on the page. This lets you subscribe to the site’s feed just like you’re bookmarking the site. Instead of bookmarking the website address, you’re now bookmarking the site’s feed.

Mac users using Safari can click the blue RSS icon to the right of the URL. When you see the feed, click the + icon to the left of the URL. Then, bookmark it in a folder.

How does RSS change your reading experience on the web?
There are four big changes you’ll discover when reading from feeds:
1.    You’ll save a ton of time by surfing less.
2.    You’ll never miss any updates from your favorite sites.
3.    You can sometimes unsubscribe from many email updates from the sites you subscribed to.
4.    You can quickly scan the headlines to see if you want to read more- all the headlines are listed in a row.

Once you start reading the feeds, you’ll never go back to surfing and wasting gobs of time trying to keep up with all your favorite sites.

What’s the difference between a feed and email updates?
The difference between a feed and email updates depends on each individual site.

When a site publishes content, you’ll pick it up through your Reader. Some sites also give you the option to subscribe to their content by email instead. That’s all well and good.

But there is one thing to keep in mind.

Some sites offer additional content to their email subscribers like monthly newsletters, etc. that are not published on the site. This means you won’t read about any updates that are promoted only through email– if you cancel their email update option.

Does this sound a bit too technical?
Trust me- it’s not. Really.

For example
Can you bookmark your favorite website? Then you can subscribe to your favorite websites using RSS. Using RSS is simply bookmarking a website’s feed rather than the website’s website address.

If you’d rather have information delivered to your doorstep instead of surfing around trying to keep up with everything, consider reading the feed.

Reading a feed will put hours of time back where it belongs: in your hands.

Here are your next three steps:
1. Check out this quick tour of Google Reader and get your Reader active.
http://www.google.com/intl/en/googlereader/tour.html

2. Go to a favorite website and bookmark the feed.

3. Continue to bookmark a few more feeds on other sites.

Kick back and watch all your updates be delivered right to your doorstep.

This three part series is written by ForeSite Insight guest blogger, Thomas Clifford…

Thomas Clifford is a Fast Company “Expert Blogger,” speaker, three-time co-author for the “Age of Conversation” book series and an award-winning multimedia producer. Tom is passionate about speaking, writing and helping organizations use digital media to communicate with a personal touch.

In 2010 and 2009, Tom was awarded Hartford Business Journal’s Strateg-e Award for “Best Use of Blogs.” Many of Tom’s articles and his highly popular LinkedIn article can be found on his blog. You can follow Tom on Twitter at @ThomasClifford.

Social Media Isn’t for Business. Yeah, Right. Pt 2

Social media doesn’t work.
Yeah, right.
Don’t tell Gary Vaynerchuk.
Gary, the wine guy phenomenon, wrote a NY Times Bestselling book based on his social media success.

Social media doesn’t work.
Shhh.
Don’t tell David Meerman Scott.
David, a popular marketing strategist, wrote one of the most downloaded e-Books ever and now consults worldwide.

Social media doesn’t work.
Um.
Better not tell Steve Woodruff.
Steve, a distinguished marketing and training consultant, is wicked busy creating endless business opportunities with social media.

What’s their secret?
There is no secret. They just didn’t have any misconceptions about using social media.

Not having any misconceptions about using social media lets these people do two things:
1. Make time to use social media; and
2. Learn to use social media.

That’s it. See? There is no secret.

We learned in the first article that while everyone is running around saying there’s no time for social media, we do, in fact, have time for social media.

Now it’s time to tackle the second misconception. What’s the second misconception?

Misconception #2: “Social media doesn’t work”
Why do we think social media doesn’t work? We think social media doesn’t work because we don’t understand it.

We don’t’ understand social media because of a thing called the “law of first knowledge.” The “law of first knowledge” states: we believe what we first learn.

Well, if we first learned that social media is a fad and has no long-term value, guess what? We’ll continue to believe that social media is a fad and has no long-term value. That becomes our truth.

How do we change our “truth” about social media?
To change our “truth” about social media, we have to begin asking ourselves, “What do we mean by “it doesn’t work?”

How are you measuring “work?”
• In dollars?
• In meeting new people?
• In creating a community that spreads our message?
• In generating new ideas for future projects?
• In creating referrals?
• In creating value for your customers by answering their questions?

Which one is best for you? Every business is different. If you know someone using social media for business purposes, you can begin by asking them. If not, define it yourself. Once you define what “works” means, you begin realizing that social media does work.

How can we tell if our social media efforts are working?
You can tell if your efforts are working because you can measure them against your goals. Easy, huh?

Don’t know what to measure?
If you don’t know what to measure, especially if you’re new to social media, there’s nothing better than a real life example.

Take a look at Impactiviti
Impactiviti is owned by Steve Woodruff. One of Steve’s main business goals is to increase the size of his network. How does he do that? He does it by increasing his networking opportunities. Enter: social media.

Steve uses multiple social media channels (industry blog, LinkedIn communities, Twitter, e-newsletters) to create a network of clients and vendor and partners.

This network is used to gather and make recommendations on “best fit” vendors for various training and marketing needs, dramatically reducing the inefficiencies of new business development (on the vendor side) and vetting potential suppliers (on the client side).

Steve’s entire business model is founded on a trusted network approach. While his current business is focused on pharmaceuticals, Steve’s approach is spreading into other areas of his business. Social media tools have been instrumental in creating and growing this network.

Oh, yeah. Steve’s business went from zero at start-up to self-sustaining with a six-figure income in 2 years.

Social media works
It just takes an open mind to see possibilities you didn’t see before. Start by setting a small goal. Gradually increase the size of your goal. Hey, you never know. You, too, just might be sitting on a best selling book, e-Book or a huge network opportunity.

The last article will address the third social media misconception: Who cares what I have to say?

To read part one of this three part series is written by ForeSite Insight guest blogger, Thomas Clifford, click here.

If you work with  businesses in Massachusetts, there is another aspect of the new identity theft regulations that you need to be aware of.  As part of the regulations, Massachusetts organizations must also confirm that their service providers are taking appropriate security measures when handling personal information by requiring them to complete a “201 CMR 17 Third Party Compliance Contract”.

Personal information includes social security numbers, credit card or bank account numbers, PIN numbers and/or passwords to access financial accounts.  Law firms, insurance agencies, realtors, financial services brokers and IT firms are just a few of the many businesses  who will be receiving the contracts as their Massachusetts clients complete the checklist for 201 CMR 17.

In order to be compliant themselves, companies must select and oversee third-party service providers that are capable of maintaining safeguards for personal information and contractually require that they adhere to them.  Compliance is a process that takes time to implement.  Don’t jeopardize lucrative client relationships - use the 201 CMR checklist to create a Written Information Security Program (WISP) for your company BEFORE you are asked to sign off on a Third Party Compliance Contract.

I polled IT professionals from the ForeSite team and beyond to determine what key things every business owner, director of a school or nonprofit should know about their network.  My goal was to create a checklist that will help “nontechnical” people who have the ultimate responsibility of making technology related business decisions and protecting sensitive data to better understand what questions to ask of their IT professionals - whether you rely on an internal IT staff or a technology firm.

Some of the questions are obvious, such as making sure that your critical data is being backed up and that you know important passwords.  But there were also questions that could be eye-opening, such as “what remote access is being allowed?”.  I think back to a meeting with a Head of School when this question was asked, and it was determined that a former vendor and two former employees still had remote access to their server (and the data residing on the server)  simply because no one had thought to regularly audit the remote access and disable accounts that were no longer valid.

We hope this checklist will help you to get the information you need to make informed decisions about your network.  Your comments and questions are welcome!

5 signs that it’s time for a web site redesign:

1.  Your site isn’t effective in helping you achieve your goals (more sales, brand recognition, community awareness, etc)

2.  Your site is no longer an accurate representative of who you are and what you offer.

3.  The site looks very dated.  Not sure about this?  Check out your competitor’s sites to see what you are up against.

4.  You don’t have a scalable web site that you can update with new content, add a blog or integrate easily with social media.

5.  Users have asked for features or made other suggestions for changes that cannot be accomplished with your current site.

Looking for specific recommendations for your web site?  Let our team of experts evaluate it!

A quick reminder for business owners that we’re nearing the deadline to purchase and install new hardware and software and qualify for the Section 179 deduction.

Please contact us ASAP at 1-866-GO-SITE if you need assistance with a quote for replacement equipment or assistance with installation.

Over the years, I’ve worked with businesses, schools and nonprofits to help them find the right technology resources to meet their particular needs and goals.  In many cases, the “devil they know” is the resource that they continued to use year after year -  either because they were concerned that change might not bring something better, or because they weren’t sure if their expectations of a better partnership were realistic.

Let’s start by considering when you might look for a technology partner.  The obvious answer is when you don’t have a full-time IT person, web site designer or developer on staff.  But even if you do have someone handling the day-to-day needs internally, planning for a project that they haven’t done before or discussing possibilities of how technology can help you reach your goals may be areas where you can have the best of both worlds - someone who knows your environment and your culture and someone who can bring an outside viewpoint and a wide-range of experience and training.

No matter what your specific network includes or what your challenges are, there are 5 critical factors that you can use to evaluate your technology resource - whether you rely on internal staff, outside consulting or a combination of the two.  Download the list of 5 critical factors to keep in mind as you plan for 2010.

Good news!  In response to concerns voiced by many small business owners in Massachusetts, the Office of Consumer Affairs has announced revisions to the identity theft regulations that were set to take effect on January 1st 2010.

New language in the regulations includes risk-based in implementation -  requiring safeguards that are more appropriate to the size of the business, the amount of personal data stored (client or customer data and employee files), and the type of business.

The revised regulations are more consistent with Federal law, and therefore an appropriate guideline for businesses and other types of organizations in Connecticut to measure their risks and identify what steps they can take to minimize their exposure to security breaches and the potential remediation and litigation that follows a breach.

A public hearing will be held on the changes on 9/22/09 at the Transportation Building, 10 Park Plaza in Boston at 10 a.m.

Click the link below for a copy of the compliance checklist: 

http://www.foresitetech.com/forms/download_compliance

As a business owner, it’s sometimes difficult to think about upgrading things that seem to be “working”, especially in tough economic times.  The question is, “are they really working as hard as they can be for your business?”.  A great example of this is your company’s website.  While it was OK 5 years ago to have someone take your brochure and turn it into a website so you could put it on your business cards, that’s just not the way the web is working today for businesses who are taking full advantage of it.

Today, the first thing most people do when they are looking for a product or service, even if it was referred to them, is Google it.  The first few seconds form a large part of the impression the visitor will have of the target business forever (remember what your mom always said about first impressions).  Below are a few key things that people react to  - whether they know it or not.  You should keep them in mind as you look at your own web site, even if you think it doesn’t matter for your business (because it does).

1. Is the design attractive and does it look “current”?  A design that was nice 5 years ago does not always stand the test of time.  Compare how your site looks to others in your industry, or even other sites you feel project the type of image you want for your company.  You might be surprised.
2. Is your date specific content up to date?  If the last newsletter or news item you posted was in 2006, you should probably pull that section of the web site out.  Its hurting you more than helping you.
3. Is your site cross browser compatible?  While the world used to only view the web through the eyes of Internet Explorer, other browsers such as Firefox and Chrome have come a long way in gaining market share.  Make sure your web site looks the same (or at least presentable) in all of the major browsers available today.

These are just a few items that can make a good first impression.  But once people decide they are “OK” with you, you need to keep talking.  There has to be enough valuable information on your website to make the visitor (prospect) contact you instead of the next person on the search list.  Keep it interesting.  Add content regularly and give people reasons to come back.  If they browsed by but weren’t ready to buy the first time, impress them with fresh content and ideas the next time they “stop by”.  People want to get to know you by visiting your web site and be comfortable that you can take care of them.  You have to work to keep that conversation going, especially when you sometimes don’t even know that the conversation is happening (we’ll talk about how to know exactly when someone is on your web site in a future post).  One of ForeSite’s web site experts wrote a paper on “10 Tips for Developing an Effective Website“.  Check it out if you are interested in how to upgrade your web presence.

In general, think of your web site as your ultimate marketing tool which if used properly will bring leads (and ultimately new business) to you so you don’t have to go searching for it yourself.  View your site through the eyes of your prospects.  And if you are having difficulty doing that, ask some of your current customers to do it for you.  Make sure that the conversation prospects are having with your web site is the same one they would have with you if you were in front of them.

Download 10 Tips for Developing an Effective Website