Admittedly, the current project and time tracking capabilities, while useful, leave much to be desired.  Our email box is full of suggestions.  As I have communicated to many of you, we shall continue to take these suggestions one at a time and make improvements in this area.

When you log in to your account and click on a project or task, you’ll notice a new menu option: “Show Time”.  Click on this to view the time entries for the selected project or task. Please do drop me a note with your thoughts on this feature addition.

We heard several complaints (yes… complaints) that Project and Time Tracking is not very useful, as it does not show all the information needed to manage projects.  Well, we are addressing these issues with highest priority.  To start with, now you’ll notice that we have added a new column in Tasks so that you can easily which project does a task belong to.  In addition, if you hover over a task or a project, you’ll get an unintrusive pop-up providing you more information about the project or task. 

 We have several enhancements planned for projects and tasks over next few weeks.  These include:

1. Visibility into time entries for each project/task.  Currently, you can only see the total time spent.
2. Ability to assign staff to a task. 
3. Ability to show projects, tasks, and time entries to your clients on a permission basis.
4. Add project details to invoices

Please drop me a note if there are other enhancements that you would like for make to projects section. 

Today we have released a new product: Easy-Book. This enables you to offer online appointment booking to your clients. If you are in services business and take appointments from your clients, you’ll find Easy-Book extremely useful. Key features include:

1. Online appointment booking that embeds within your website.
2. Automated email notification and reminder to your clients and to your staff.
3. If you don’t have a website, it will create a booking page for you with your logo and address.
4. Specify duration of service for each service that you provide. Appointments are based on staff availability and duration of service.
5. Option to show list of services and list of staff to your clients for booking purposes.

We have plans to add several features that we could not get to in this first release. Please feel free to drop us a note if you have suggestions or feedback.

All the existing customers get a one month free trial of Easy-Book, after which they can add it to their subscription.

Update:  After getting an earful from our customers, we are switching back to menus.  However, in the process, we were able to fix a few bugs related to menus.

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Many of you pointed out that contextual menu in Customer section and in project section were not behaving properly in some browsers. To take care of this issue, we have moved to buttons from menus. You’ll notice that when you click on a customer or a project, the menu does not appear any more. All the commands from the menu are now available as buttons at the top of the section.

Do you have a website? Now you can embed account pages in your website which will allow your clients to view their account history and make payments directly from your website. Not only that, you can fully blend-in these pages with the rest of your website.

Follow these simple steps to integrate customer account pages to your website.

1. Go to Settings and click on Change next to Your Web Address section.
2. Select the option for your own website. Enter the url of your website.
3. You will notice a system generated url for account pages. Make a note of this url. You’ll be using this url for an iframe within your website.
4. Create a page with an iframe on your website. Use the above url for this iframe. The content of the iframe will not have your logo or address, as we figure they would already be there on your web pages.
5. If you wish to blend the iframe content with the rest of your site, click on Edit CSS in step 2.

If you had someone else develop your website, please ask them to contact us and we shall be happy to walk them through these steps.

Let’s face it: as consumers, we put our money where our trust is. If you’ve been enjoying your morning coffee from the same corner café for years, there’s probably no advertisement effective enough to compel you to switch to a new locale. But if your co-worker continually raves about the delicious new bistro down the street, you might eventually decide to give it a try.

Word of mouth is the oldest, least expensive, and arguably most effective form of marketing there is. With today’s over-saturation of billboards, print ads, radio spots, and Internet pop-ups, we’re being bombarded with marketing messages from all directions, making it easier than ever to tune them out. The power of referrals lies in the credibility of their source—when a recommendation comes from someone we know well, we’re less inclined to view it with the skepticism that often comes along with direct selling.

Sure, it’s a great bonus when your customers spontaneously sing your praises, but you don’t have to wait for it to happen. Word of mouth can actually be a managed process, where you nudge satisfied customers to crow about your best assets. It’s called referral marketing, and we’ve compiled a quick list of some easy, cost-effective ways you can make it work for you:

• Just ask. Don’t be afraid to contact your established clients directly. Let them know you’re looking to expand your business and are seeking more high-quality customers like them. You may be pleasantly surprised by the quick list of qualified leads and enthusiastic offers to spread the word—all at no cost to you.
• Scratch each other’s backs. For B2B relationships, offer to engage in reciprocal marketing: if you agree to give your client some real-estate in your next email campaign, for instance, they may be willing to include a plug for your company in their next print ad.
• Turn “No thanks” into “Maybe.” If a prospective customer isn’t in a position to take advantage of your services but still seems impressed by you, tactfully ask if they might know of anyone else who would benefit from your offerings.
• Dangle a carrot. Incorporate referral marketing into your budget as a way of providing more enticing incentives for customers. For instance, you might offer a discount on future services for each referral sent your way. You can set the conditions for when the kick-back is awarded.
• Make it easy. You don’t want your customers to have to dig for your contact information or listing of features and benefits to pass along to would-be referrals. Provide them with plenty of literature, business cards, and brochures to have on hand for easy distribution.

In today’s sluggish economy, traditional advertisements are not nearly as effective or impactful as they once were. Skeptical of commercials, print ads, and radio spots, consumers are much more likely to buy into tried-and-true personal referrals when making their purchasing decisions. For instance, you might automatically file a mailed marketing piece into the trash, but if a colleague raves about his top-notch experience with that same company, you may find yourself digging it back out. There’s no denying the power of a personal referral to boost your small business, whether it takes the form of a casual recommendation over lunch between colleagues or the more direct endorsement of an affiliate marketing banner. Put the power of the grapevine to work for you.

Do you often need to send duplicate copies of invoices to your customers? Well, you do not need to anymore. With the release of this new feature, your customers can go to your personalized website with a subdomain name of your choice, securely view their account history, and make payments. You fully control which of your customers get access. You can discontinue or allow access at any time.

What do I need to do to use this feature?
Well, the first thing you need to do is go to Settings and choose a subdomain name. SimiplifyThis will create a personalized web page with your logo and address at the top. Your unique URL will be https://Yoursubdomain.simplifyaccounts.com. Once you choose a subdomain, whenever you edit or add a customer, you’ll notice a checkbox to allow access to this customer. Mark this checkbox and continue to save customer details. SimplifyThis will autogenerate a password and send a mail to this customer on your behalf notifying that s/he can access their account. This email will include your personalized URL, customer’s login id and password. The login id will be the same as customer’s primary email address.

What will my site look like?
The header of your site will show your logo on the left and your contact details on the right. If you have not uploaded a logo, it will show your business name in bold letters.

What can my customers do after they sign in?
Your customers can sign in to

• see their complete account history
• view invoices
• Save pdf copy of invoices
• Pay an invoice or make payment to their account
• Change or reset their account password

Why can I not see my customer’s password?
Well, we cannot either. However, your customers can change their password once they sign in.

Can I revoke access from a customer?
Sure you can. All you need to do is Edit customer details, and unselect the allow access checkbox.

Can I keep same email address for more than customers?
You can. However, once you have given access to a customer, you cannot provide access to another one with the same email address.

I already have a website. How can I integrate my account information to my website?
We are working on certain enhancements that will allow you to fully blend in these account pages with your website.

As you can expect, there will be some work required in your website as well.
Please have your website builder contact us at support@simplifythis.com and we will be happy to provide instructions on how to integrate these pages to your website.

In today’s high-tech informational age, getting a website up and running isn’t the daunting prospect it once was. In a matter of clicks, anyone can secure their own spot in cyberspace—blogging moms, nationwide corporations, even the owner of the corner deli.

Which is why it’s surprising that many owners of small businesses make the mistake of writing off a website as an unnecessary—and potentially costly—expense. They may assume they’re not “big enough” to warrant the effort, or may be skeptical that they’ll reap any substantive benefit. The truth is, whether you’re selling candles or trying to drum up business for your new laundromat, the power of the Internet can be instrumental in taking the success of your business to a new level. More so than the telephone or the Yellow Pages, a well-executed website can catapult you into direct competition with the big guys. Simply stated, technology has leveled the playing field.

Below, we’ve compiled a quick list of some of the things an online presence can do for your small business:

1. Drum up business through SEO. If you have a well-crafted website with quality content that’s rich in strategic keywords, you could find yourself suddenly thrust into single-digit rankings in the Yahoos and Googles of the world, translating into greater exposure and, ultimately, a boost in business and revenue. A website provides a free, round-the-clock marketing tool that requires little to no overhead.
2. Expedite account and bill payment. Bid adieu to the days of handwritten checks and postage expenses—a website provides you with an easy, cost-effective means of receiving and disbursing payments and reconciling invoices. Online account and bill payment has been proven as an effective strategy in shaping consumer habits and behavior in your favor, encouraging repeat website visits and engendering a sense of trust and credibility in your company.
3. Boost professionalism. One of the quickest ways to lose credibility in the eyes of a potential consumer is to admit that you don’t have a website—or expose one that is amateurish. A clean, informative, easy-to-navigate site gives your business immediate clout and inspires confidence in your target audience.
4. Get your mission statement across. Your website provides the perfect forum for conveying what you’re all about. This is your chance to tell would-be customers what sets you apart from your competitors.
5. Give customers an easy way to contact you. Including a quick and easy contact form on your website allows customers to get in touch with you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Plus, you can determine which pieces of information they’re required to provide, ensuring more efficient and informative communications.

So, what next? Unless you happen to moonlight as a programmer or have a friend who designs websites, you’ll need to find a company or freelancer to build one for you. The good news is, it doesn’t have to be a terribly expensive or time-consuming ordeal. Below are some quick tips for making the process as productive and cost-effective as possible:

1. Outline your specific needs.Do you just need an informational website to convey the basic objectives of your business? Or will you be capturing sensitive financial information in custom forms? Implementing custom service applications such as online bill pay will likely drive up the cost of your investment.
2. Try freelance websites. There are some great online forums out there that serve as meeting places between freelance providers and those seeking services. Sites like www.elance.com, www.guru.com, and www.rentacoder.com allow you to post your project, then invite professionals to place bids on the work. Just be sure to check their references and portfolios before committing to a contract.
3. Check out your competitors. As a source of inspiration, visit the websites of businesses similar to yours to see how they’re presenting content to consumers. This can be a great way to identify best practices you should adhere to for your particular industry.
4. Be clear about what you want. When describing your objectives to your chosen provider, you can’t provide too much information. Web designers aren’t mind readers—they need to know exactly how you envision your online presence. Create a detailed document outlining how your website should be laid out, any preferred color schemes, and examples of other websites you find appealing.

With today’s proliferation of affordable web developers and “instant” website generators, the question is no longer why one should establish an online presence, but why not. Developing a well-designed, effective website can help catapult a small business into a new level of professionalism and exposure, serving as a cost-effective marketing tool that can boost productivity and profitability.

I have been following recent blog posts by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff (Forrester Research) on the role of social networking applications in promoting businesses. I am not attempting to paraphrase the blogs here; I would recommend that you peruse through them yourself. They make an insightful and interesting read.

All these posts talk about the increasing importance and effectiveness of social networking applications in promoting a business. The persuasive nature of social networks (friends telling friends about a product/business) is far more effective when compared to expensive advertisements that merely attempt to spread awareness. These bloggers and others also argue that social applications are much cheaper as compared to awareness ads.

With all the buzz around Facebook and all the goodness talk on these blog posts and other places, I have been curiously looking for some prescriptions (without innovating my own) that (i) I can use to get the word out on SimplifyThis, and (ii) I can suggest to the users of SimplifyThis on how to make Facebook and MySpace work for them. I have seen many success stories being touted in various social print media. I also came across agencies that will put a structured program to promote a business on Facebook. Then I came across a blog post which in itself was not so tantalizing, but a comment on this post by Elyse Holladay was an eye opener in some sense. I have always been somewhat doubtful about the sustained effectiveness of programs that cram marketing through channels that are not meant for it.

Well, having said that, products and businesses are a part of our lives and there is always a reason to talk good or bad about them in our social network. The problem happens when such talk loses authenticity or firsthand experience. I think there is a clear need for a tool that promotes such authentic talk. A Facebook application that is very popular among my friends is “Books I Read” where people talk about and review books. The reviews sound authentic, and I do not see them being pushed by book publishers. We are in the process of building an application ourselves and will talk more about it as we get closer to releasing it.

Many of you told us that you often need to send an invoice to more than one email addresses. To work around this issue, some of you store the pdf copy of invoice on your computer and send it yourself. We also noticed that some of you were adding multiple email addresses in the customer email field.

No need for these workarounds any more.

Next time when you add or edit a customer, you would notice a field for alternate email address. If you need to keep multiple email addresses for a customer, put the primary one in the primary email address field, and all the other ones in the alternate email address field. The invoices will go to all the email addresses that you have stored in primary and alternate email address fields.

If you already have multiple email addresses in the primary email field, we recommend that you keep only one of them in the primary and move the rest to the alternate.