Doing the payroll for a small to medium size business is no fun. Who am I kidding, it’s not fun for any business!

Getting the hours right, calculating taxes, adding commissions, bonuses, subtracting the coffee fund fee—it’s complicated and easy to make mistakes.

PaymentEvolution says it makes doing a Canadian payroll fast and user friendly. I know as a small business owner that it can be confusing to keep everything straight. I often wish I had a software that let me keep track of everyone. Let’s take a look with this Payment Evolution review.

End The Headache of Setting up Payroll and Keeping Up With Tax Laws

PaymentEvolution is an online, cloud-based payroll system for small to medium sized Canadian businesses and accountants. With the easy-to-use interface, it takes five minutes to set up your account and start doing a pay run. You don’t have to worry about law and tax rate changes because the updates are automatic. It also easily integrates with other software you’re familiar with such as  FreshBooks, Kashoo,  PayChequer, Quickbooks and others.

Small to Medium Size Canadian Businesses and Accountants

PaymentEvolution is available only in Canada. Small to medium size businesses get secure, easy to use payroll processing at a reasonable cost. Accountants can offer payroll services to their clients through the service. PaymentEvolution also keeps track of payments to contractors, which makes it super efficient to handle all your payroll needs.

Easy to Set Up, Easy to Use, No Updates

PaymentEvolution has an simple interface. One reviewer said, “I actually learned how to use it within just a few minutes–and within about 15 min of registering, we had finished our first payrun.” It works with Quickbooks, Freshbooks, PayChecquer and many other accounting tools.  You can offer electronic payment services like direct deposit.

You can access the app from any browser. Each employee can also access her individual payroll history. It’s convenient because you don’t have to deal with paper checks unless you want to because they will handle your automatic deposit payments.  That makes it eco-friendly too! The company uses data centers that are state of the art and is “paranoid about keeping your data safe.”

You don’t have to update anything in order to stay current with Canadian tax law changes. It’s all handled by PaymentEvolution. You can add custom deductions and benefits. Basically you enter employee data and pay rates and the software does the rest.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

When you are ready to do payroll, your first step is decide the pay cycle.

Then you check that salaries and pay rates are correct.

At the next screen, you update the hours worked.

You can look at payroll reports based on a number of criteria. Here you see the full list of employees and their data.

Here you can access employee time-sheet reports.

Easy, Quick and Up- to-Date, Always

The goal of PaymentEvolution is easy payroll operations. The interface is simple to use and to figure out. Most people report getting up to speed in minutes. Information is available to managers and employees from any web browser. You no longer have to worry about changes to tax laws, all the updates are automatic. You can handle payroll with print checks or direct deposit. Get one-click reports on a variety of topics in order to keep track of your metrics.

Unfortunately the service is strictly for Canadians or those with Canadian employees. This is very sad, indeed.

Support is comprehensive.  Customer service is very friendly. You can get help by phone or online in the forum, via chat, support ticket, FAQ and Knowledge Base.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

The service is free if you have five or fewer employees and one user. Two paid monthly subscriptions are based on the number of users and employees.

Is it For You?

If you are looking for a simple, full featured payroll service for your Canadian business, PaymentEvolution is an excellent choice. You can get up and running in minutes and customize it easily. The price is awesome and I think anyone who owns a Canadian business should try this software.

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Keeping track of who is off work, how much time each employee has used and the vacation schedule for the business year is complicated. So is keeping everyone happy about time off, from workers to managers.

TimeOffManager says it has organized this tricky part of business life. Let’s take a look in this TimeOffManager review.

Who is Taking Off Too Often?

One of the knotty problems that every business has to deal with is who is abusing the time off policy. Managing sick leave and vacation time with all the attendant data is confusing. Without a clear record, people can take advantage of the system. With an organized set up, managers can effectively plan around time off and employees are more likely to comply with company policy.

Save Time and Money, Reduce Errors.

TimeOffManager works for small, medium and large companies. It’s a cloud-based attendance management system that reduces how much time you spend tracking time off. It makes it easy for employees to request time using their own log-in, and simple for managers to see at a glance who is off at any given time. Large businesses like Honeywell and Sony Computer are using TimeOffManager.

Easy to Use and Customize.

Employees request time off online, managers approve or reject them online and email is used to convey information, saving time and effort. It is easy to customize different types of time off, adding holidays or labeling certain days off limits. You can set particular requirements for each employee. It keeps track of sick leave, vacation and other balances for each worker.

It is simple to track how many requests an employee has made and how much time off in each category he has taken. Employees can see their totals at a glance. The software makes it impossible to request time if they have used it all. Managers can check absenteeism easily and   see at a glance how much vacation is being taken any given day or week.

It integrates with iCal, Google Calendar and Outlook. Each employee can be set up with a personalized calendar year; allotted time off can be prorated. You can track specific metrics; for example, if an employee has taken more than a certain number of sick days in a row.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

The dashboard shows you how much time is being taken off each day, week or month and by whom. 

The form requesting time off is complete and easy to read.

You can customize how you view information, types of time off, special days and other metrics.

 You can easily define specific types of days off

Your employee’s request is complete, easy to fill out and includes his personal balances.

You can get a monthly report of time off grouped in different ways, for example by types of users, by types of time off and by dates.

It is easy to check an individual’s time off and balances.

Organize and Manage Time Off

TimeOffManager can significantly reduce the amount of time you spend keeping track of employees’ time off requests and balances. With the ease of a web browser your workers can make requests and check balances. Managers can respond just as easily. Errors are reduced or eliminated with everyone working from the same set of information. It is simple to customize and since it is cloud-based, there is nothing to install.

There are several steps you need to run through in order to set up your company’s plan. It can be tedious but only has to be done once. It is important to get the right information in at the beginning so that policies are correct.

Support is offered in a FAQ, with an online contact form and by phone.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

The free plan is for companies with up to three employees. If you have more employees, you can try it out without charge for 15 days, no credit card required. If you continue, you have a choice of six monthly subscription plans based on the number of users.

Is it For You?

If you want to bring a sense of organization and clarity to employee attendance, TimeOffManager is a good choice. it is comprehensive, customizable and will reduce the time and effort you put into scheduling and tracking your workers’ vacation and sick leave.

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This week we review KiSSFLOW that offers a streamlined option for managing for workflow. Creating and managing workflows can sometimes be frustrating but KiSSFLOW takes the work out of by offering a more simplified process.

They have created the first known business workflow application used with Google Apps to allow for an easy-to-follow workflow system.

The set-up and steps are easy to follow as are the approval processes. I reviewed this product previous, if you’d like to see that review click here. This is a follow up review to talk about the new changes and updates.

Simple Set-Up Process

The first thing you will notice with the KiSSFLOW method is that it is easy to get started. No downloading or installing is required and you get started right away with your Google App ID. The easy five step wizard will guide you through setting up your workflow and teaching you how to streamline the process; this saves you time and relieves frustration by automating your different tasks.

Workflow For Business Owners And Developers

Regardless of why you use Google Apps, the workflow process by KiSSFLOW is going to be advantageous for you. As a cloud-based application, everything is available at your fingertips from any electronic device. This includes immediate access to your apps along with spreadsheets, documents, budgets, expense claims and other important files. Please refer to the original review for more about KiSSFlOW but now let’s talk about the updates.

Update: Real-Time Sync To Spreadsheets

KiSSFLOW now lets you automatically sync your updated workflow data to Google spreadsheets and is done in real-time. This is going to save users even more time and streamline the process even further. You can choose to export your workflow data to a spreadsheet of your choice for improved function. The spreadsheet allows you to analyze Google App data for an impressively easy workflow system. You can also increase a table within your spreadsheet that allows you to analyze and compare data from your workflow and expenses over time. Other charts are available on the Google spreadsheet, including pie charts, animated motion charts and line charts.

Update: New Masters And Users Look-Up Data

Among the recent updates to KiSSFLOW include the ability to look-up data and create masters data. This will let you assign different users as masters of workflow systems to better keep everything organized. Master data includes Vendor Master, Customer Master, Account Master, Item Master, and others. These can be created and imported easily with KiSSFLOW by granting permissions from your Google Apps marketplace and export the information to spreadsheets. Included is the new look-update within the Masters section of your workflow.

Update: Google Analytics Reports

KiSSFLOW is also now offering reports that let you utilize various methods of analytics in your workflow spreadsheets. Some of the reports include reports permissions, list reports, report aggregates, and export data. Reports are available for data within the last 12 months.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

KiSSFLOW not only makes creating and managing workflows more streamlined, but it is easy to use as well. The simple interface is easy even for someone brand-new to this type of workflow system. You will log in with your Google Apps ID and go through the wizard that helps you set up your account. Exporting to spreadsheets from your KiSSFLOW workflow is incredibly easy as you can see:

From the Masters tab, you will be able to access, view, edit or delete individual items quickly and easily.

Click on the Reports tab to view more in-depth information about each individual item within your workflow, including expense reports and other items to be managed.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

With KiSSFLOW, you get to choose from three pricing plans including Free, Business and Enterprise. If you want to try out KiSSFLOW, you can start with the Free plan which includes up to 10 users and workflow processes. When you feel comfortable with the workflow and how it works, you can upgrade to the Business or Enterprise plans, all of which are affordable.

Is it For You?

KiSSFLOW makes it easy to manage your workflow as you use Google apps for the many benefits to your business. This lets you keep track of your workflow without learning complicated coding techniques. The newest updates to KiSSFLOW, including syncing to spreadsheets and having more user capabilities, make it that much more beneficial to business professionals and business owners.

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Team Insights has been developed by a Brighton based company, HowToMotivateATeam Ltd, and that is exactly what it does. It works alongside existing HR software and process to survey your team and identify exactly where you need to focus to engage and motivate them.

Why is this important? Well there is a lot of research that clearly shows that a motivated and engaged team is more productive, happier and more profitable.

Continue reading this Team insights review for more information on this web-based program.

Increase Employee Engagement and Motivate Employees

The ‘How to Motivate a Team’ website gives you access to the web-based ‘Team Insights’ software for better staff performance.  All the tools and analysis will be done online, and can be accessed from any computer or device.

With this system, you will increase your employee engagement, increase productivity as a result of the better motivation, focus on any wasted effort and be able to see the results of the changes you have made. It is very simple to use the pre-built survey.

Team Insights identifies the factors which are having a negative impact on motivation, so you and the team can replace them with positive ones. Rather than being a staff survey the questions help you understand what you can do as a manager to improve the environment in which your team are working to help them flourish and deliver the best possible performance for your business.

Leaders, Managers and Directors Benefit From Team Insights

Any professional working in a supervisory role (supervisors, team leaders, trainers, managers, directors, HR directors and CEOs) will benefit from using this employee engagement software. It will help them understand in clear terms why their team are not performing as they should!

Your team will suddenly come into focus as you have a clear picture of how best to engage and motivate them and increase productivity in the process. Any busy manager, director or supervisor can get clear Team Insights with minimal effort on their part.

Why You Need Team Insights

You’re a busy professional and don’t always have time to analyze what your employees are doing and how to effectively motivate them. Team Insights can do this for you.

This includes improving the performance of your employees and team members by understanding how to engage them. This will increase your profitability, reduce staff churn and reducing your recruitment costs, reducing the stress and anxiety of your team and increasing productivity by reducing absence and sickness.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

If you would like to try Team Insights, you can do so by signing up for their free trial and send a free team survey.

You don’t have to commit to anything to use the trial – no credit card details are required and you get access to the whole product. After you sign up and activate your account by clicking the link in your email, you will be taken to the First Time Wizard. This helps guide you through the set-up process.

To build your team, click on “Build My Team.” From here, you will be able to add up to 500 email addresses in one box. This invites all of them at one time and saves you hours of time as you don’t have to invite them individually.

If you want to start new active surveys, you will need to purchase credits through PayPal. To do this, click on “New Active Surveys” at the top of the page and follow the instructions to purchase more credits. With a new account, you start with two credits.

After setting up your account, you will also be able to manage active surveys, view your action plan and view your team dashboard.

Pros and Cons of Team Insights

Like anything you try, there will be pros and cons to any software.

The only real disadvantage I found was having to purchase credits for certain aspects of the program. However this is a very small disadvantage when compared to all the benefits it gave me. Some of the best features of Team Insights are the graphical and colorful dashboard with graphs, seeing how your team compares to other teams, the custom action plan and the helpful email notifications of the results and survey progress.

Is It For You?

If you are looking for a way to increase productivity and improve the motivation and engagement of your employees then Team Insights is well worth a trial – it will undoubtedly tell you something you did not know about your team.

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The heart and soul of any online business effort is the mailing list.

Sendloop says they are making it easy to send good looking emails and conduct effective ad campaigns. If it makes my email process simpler, it’s worth checking out.

In this Sendloop review, the app creator Cem Hurturk says that he created it to make it easy for small to medium sized businesses manage their email marketing campaigns on their own. So today, I am reviewing Sendloop.

Email Campaigns Are Too Time-Consuming And Complicated

Email marketing is critical to pretty much every single business entity that exists today, even in the days of social media. Most online business owners just cringe at the thought of creating emails, making sure the right people get them at the right time and then figuring out if the campaign was successful.

Sendloop is selling simplicity to business owners.

No Advanced Skills Required

Sendloop prides itself on how easy it is to set up and operate. It’s a breeze to import your list, set up a campaign, design attractive emails and track how you are doing. They are proud of their up-time and state-of-the-art equipment.

Their service is for businesses that don’t have a lot of time or skill to devote to email campaigns. Their goal is to make the process and the advertising straightforward and effective.

Templates, Integration, Reliability And Real-Time Statistics

Sendloop offers itself as a platform that simplifies the process of putting together and personalizing emails to your customers. They give you templates and unlimited custom fields to make all emails sounds personal to each customer. For peace of mind, you can test them in their safe environment before actually sending anything out.

You can have as many lists as you want. They handle all your subscriber lists and subscriber segmentation.

Detailed reporting of who opened your emails, who clicked which links and who unsubscribed are clearly shown on the dashboard. It integrates easily with a number of popular platforms like Highrise, WordPress and Google Analytics.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

This shows the Sendloop statistics overview. You’re only a click away from all the categories.

 It’s easy to see how your current campaign is going.

On this screen you can check details about your subscribers.

They make it easy to send personalized emails to your list.

They have a variety of email templates to choose from, or you can use your own.

Easy To Set Up, Easy To Track

Sendloop makes it possible for someone without design or advertising agency experience to import a list of subscribers, create personal, effective and good looking emails. In addition, it enables the small business owner to track how they are affecting sales by just logging into the dashboard. It works with systems that you probably already own like Highrise, EvenBrite and WordPress.

They offer online support, a forum, extensive Knowledge Base and an excellent FAQ.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

Sendloop has a variety of pricing models. With the free plan you can send 2500 emails to 500 subscribers a month. For larger numbers and if you email seldom, you can buy credits as you need them.

For subscribers there are three levels of pricing, individuals, small and larger size businesses, on a monthly basis. They will work with you to create a custom plan that fits your requirements. There is a free 30-day trial requiring no credit card.

Is It For You?

Sendloop is a simple way to send great looking email to your subscriber base. They provide templates and other aids for creating them. They make it extremely easy to track how effective they are. Pricing is customizable too. One-click integration means you can use the systems you already own. For an online marketer or small business owner looking for ease of use, Sendloop is a good choice.

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Ideascale is a simple and straightforward place for customers, clients and stakeholders to come together and share ideas. Feedback and ideas from a variety of sources is shared on Ideascale, which has been a cloud-based system since 2008.

IdeaScale uses the tagline “Empower Innovation,” describing their value-add as the ability to bring out the best ideas from your customers and stakeholders via an easy cloud-based platform.

Let’s find out in this Ideascale review how this idea management app works.

Submit Ideas and Feedback

Ideascale has been around since 2008 when it started with many high-profile clients in the government including the FCC, VA and the Office of the President of the United States. After the first year of operation, the cloud-based system began introducing more private sector and enterprise clients. Many large brands utilize the tools and resources provided by Ideascale. Some features include customers sending feedback, communities discussing and voting on new ideas, and having access to the best ideas, many of which were chosen by your community.

Business Owners Find Multiple Benefits

Anyone who is in charge of a business or enterprise will find dozens of benefits to using Ideascale. It can often be difficult finding a single place for your customers, clients and stakeholders to come together in order to share ideas while offering feedback. Ideascale lets you do all of this and much more.

Dozens of Features

Aside from the cloud-based application that can be accessed anywhere, you also get access to many popular features. This includes having custom user fields, single sign-on, CSS customization, Facebook application, private communities, Ideascale app, 99.99% availability, campaigns, forums, comment voting, contract, community forums, custom URLs, custom development, email based access restrictions, file attachment, polling tool, profanity filter, and more.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

The first step to accessing Ideascale is by signing up for a free trial. All new users get a free trial that doesn’t require a credit card or bank account information. Once you have successfully signed up for the service, click on the link in your email to activate your account. This gives you immediate access. The first thing it asks for you to do is complete your profile including adding a profile picture. You can also click on “Profile” on the left-hand side to change your password, email, service or device.

If you want to create a new community, all you need to do is click on “Communities” on the left-hand side and then click on “Create a New Community.” Enter the community details including the company name, feedback community name, Ideascale URL, campaign information, select whether it is public or private and enter payment information.

Once you have communities entered, click on “Your Communities” from the left-hand column and this will show you all communities you have created so far.

To change information about your account or billing info, click on the “Plans, Billing & Invoices” link on the left-hand column. Here you can upgrade your plan, upgrade the market, get access to billing, invoices and receipts, change the communities owned and even cancel your account.

Pros And Cons Of Ideascale

With Ideascale, you get a cloud-based system making the idea creation and feedback method easier than ever. It also includes many new features like widgets, IP-based access restrictions, customizing status tabs, badges, leaderboard, Google Analytics and being mobile optimized. The disadvantage is that for access to more features, you need to choose a membership plan for a higher cost each month. In other-words, some features are not available in the less expensive memberships.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

Ideascale makes it easy to join and find a membership plan that is right for you. You will get a free trial from the beginning and no setup fees, contracts or termination fees if you decide to cancel your account. Ideascale offers four plans: Lite, Monthly, Annual and Enterprise. Each plan offers a different selection of features. The Lite plan gives you unlimited tags, logo uploads and email support, the Monthly plan will offer you unlimited campaigns, widgets and u to 5 moderators. With the annual plan, you get billed annually, one public or private community, single sign-on and custom CSS styling. The Enterprise plan is the most extensive and expensive with 99% up time, dedicated account manager and full API access. It can be quite pricey for small businesses who want access to all the features.

Is It For You?

If you’re looking for a simpler way to collect feedback and new ideas for your business or firm, Ideascale is a great way to accomplish this. With many different membership plans to choose from, affordable pricing and a no-risk free trial, there is nothing to lose.

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If you run a small business and are have been struggling with excess amounts of paperwork and confusing spreadsheets, you’re in luck. Outright is a comprehensive and easy-to-use online accounting program that simplifies the bookkeeping process. With Outright you will be able to organize your small business income and expenses, link your bank and credit card accounts and even have tax information at your fingertips throughout the year.

I actually use Outright for my bookkeeping needs. As you might have guessed, I am a freelancer. It’s just me, so I’m the worker and the accountant. I’m going to say up front that I love Outright and have been using it since it first came on the market, when it was completely free. Let´s start our Outright review.

Streamlined Bookkeeping

Outright will streamline and manage everything from your tax receipts and accounts to your business expenses and money coming in from invoices. No longer will you need to worry about when your office utility bills are due or be unsure about the stream of income coming in.

Outright was first launched in 2008 and has since grown to more than 200,000 users. In 2012, Go Daddy purchased Outright but they haven’t changed a thing. It still continues to be one of the leading bookkeeping software available for individuals and businesses.

Business Owners Save Time And Energy With Outright

As a small business owner, you have enough to worry about; the last thing you need is to keep track of files, documents and remember spreadsheet formulas for your expenses. Outright makes the entire bookkeeping process a breeze that anyone can do it. They use single entry bookkeeping instead of complicated double entry method.

Everything can be automated easily. Simply connect your accounts. For instance, I take all my payments via PayPal.com for my business. Therefore, I have PayPal integrated with Outright.com. I don’t have to do any data entry. Since all my expenses and income go through PayPal, there is no data entry. Sometimes, I do have to go in and delete a transaction that was not business related, or categorize it as “owners draw”. I am not concerned with that so I just delete it.

If you prefer doing all the data entry yourself, you can do so with Outright. Simply click either Expense or Income and use the handy “check book like” entry.

Tax season will be stress-free as the program has already prepared everything for you. As long as you chose the right categories, Outright saves you time, money and energy so you can get back to business. It literally took me two minutes to print out my schedule C for data entry into my Tax Software.

You’ll also be happy to note that if you pay for the software, (yes, they still have a free option) you will also have your quarterly taxes computed for you.

User-Friendly Bookkeeping Software With No Installing Or Downloading

Outright is one of the only types of bookkeeping software that doesn’t require downloading, installing and frustrating set-up. It can be used in just minutes after signing up and is easy enough for anyone to use.

Since all your credit card and bank accounts are linked to the program, you never have to go searching for a receipt or invoice again. Everything is available to view online or download and print for filing purposes.

You can also link other online accounts, such as if you sell products on Amazon, eBay or Etsy. This helps keep all of your business streamlined and available from one program. What’s more, Outright offers an iPhone app so you can access the software while on the go.

From the app you’re able to enter cash transactions, get alert when you get large sales, check balances and enter your mileage and other expenses to be used for tax deductions.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

Once you sign up for Outright, you will be taken directly to the set-up page. From here, you can link accounts such as your bank accounts, credit cards, PayPal, Amazon, Etsy and many others. All you do is click the button for that account and enter your information.

Once the set-up is complete, you will be directed to the dashboard where you can access everything you need. From the dashboard, you have immediate access to your expenses, income, reports, taxes, balances, profit loss for the past year, new sales or expenses, invoices, money you owe and money going out.

To view a more detailed list of your income, click on the Income tab at the top of the page. Here you will see all money in invoices you have sent out, which are still pending, money you owe, taxes, business and non-business transactions.

Income View:

You can also view detailed Profit & Loss Reports from the Reports tab. This gives you a list of your best customers, biggest vendors, your spending habits, sales by state and the type of income for each transaction.

Pros And Cons of Outright 

Outright offers you a very long list of benefits and very few disadvantages. If anything, the only disadvantage would be that you need Internet access or a mobile device to use the software. If your electricity is out or Internet goes down, you won’t have immediate access to the information.

However it includes a myriad of benefits, including the following:

• Free Trial
• Easy Set-Up
• Tax Information
• Balance Alerts
• User-Friendly Interface
• Detailed Reports
• Integration With Other Apps

One other issue I have experienced with Outright.com is that if you have several accounts that are already connected you may end up with double entries. For instance, I used to have Outright connected with Freshbooks and PayPal. Since Freshbooks would generate the same income that PayPal was generating when a client paid me via PayPal, I ended up having to go in and delete multiple transactions that were repeats. I simply removed the integration with Freshbooks and kept the integration with PayPal to eliminate this problem since some of my clients do not want to use Freshbooks and prefer PayPal invoices and all of my clients pay me via PayPal.  They also recently changed the way you delete a transaction so that you must delete only one at a time through multiple steps, instead of being able to delete multiple transactions in one step. While I’m sure bookkeepers love that because it makes it harder to delete a transaction, for my purposes it’s just irritating.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

A terrific feature of Outright is that you can create your account free of charge. This doesn’t require a bank account, credit card, expiration dates, or monthly fees. If you want additional features like Annual reports and sales tax tracking, you can pay a monthly fee for Outright Plus, but it isn’t required.

I do highly recommend that you pay the low monthly fee, however. The tax information, and the reports are truly priceless information. Plus, the cost of using the program is tax deductible for most business owners.

Is it For You?

If you’re looking for an easier and cheaper way to manage the books, including your income, expenses and invoices, Outright is the perfect option.

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Vorex provides an excellent Professional Services Automation (PSA) solution that is above anything you may have considered before, a true project management tools and resources to help you simplify your projects and entire business.

In this Vorex review we will describe some of the high-quality tools offered that include expense tracking, time tracking, reporting, HR, invoicing, payments, CRM, control, security and more. Continue reading to learn more about Vorex and what they can offer you.

Simplified Project Tracking

Vorex not only provides CRM and project management, but they pride themselves on offering easy to use tools and tracking apps. With Vorex, you get immediate access to workflow software management, including project management tools, time tracking for different tasks and projects, integrated invoicing, and an advanced integrated CRM solution for tracking your contacts, opportunities, quotes, and other purposes.

Business Owners Receive Streamlined Opportunities

By using Vorex, you can have streamlined opportunities (leads) that develop into projects with s single click, and the ability to assign different employees and management to various projects. This enables you to control all aspects of each project including time spent, and more. You can create projects using the advanced software tools for tasks and clients, have CRM integration, real-time billing of hours and expenses, budget control tools for tracking and monitoring your expenses, ticket management, smart staffing, and even advanced forecasting which is one of the top features offered by Vorex.

User-Friendly Interface

Aside from the many tools you have access to for your project management, another benefit to Vorex is the user-friendly interface. You can literally begin using it immediately; that is how easy and simple the solution is. I’m serious. It’s easy. I have used other CRM systems as well as project management tools and in every aspect Vorex creators have thought of it all. Everything is cloud-based, which means it is all online and accessed through Vorex’s website. All tools, apps and resources are in one place making it even easier to manage your various projects, clients and employees.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

When you first sign in you can see the different ways you can unify your business. They make it super simple to get started.

You can select either A, B or C to learn about what each area accomplishes for your business and how it works. This is what happens when you select “A” you get a list that explains each step on how to add users, create a project, manage and staff a project and entering time and expenses. Nothing could be  simpler.

The other areas, B and C are just as informative. Once you close the tutorial you can move on with your business. This is the opening screen.

As you can see, it is self-explanatory and simple to set up a project, manage a project, add users, and more. In one glance you can see if there is any task you need to deal with immediately. One feature I really love is the ability to look at each section as a graph, which allows for immediate knowledge of what is working and what is not working. Here is an example. Keep in mind that I have nothing added to the categories since I have no invoices. But you can get the idea.

Pros and Cons

The only real disadvantage is that there is so much to learn! But their easy tutorials will help. I guess another con would be the price, which could get high for some types of businesses with large number of employees, since the cost is per user. Other benefits include having a user-friendly interface, tracking and monitoring of your projects, data migration packages at no extra cost, no setup fees, and managing a large number of projects, clients, invoices, and employees in one location. It is, of course cloud-based which means it can be accessed from anywhere. It is compatible with all major web browsers, as well as Android, iPhone and iPad. This makes managing your entire business on the go super easy.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

One of the great things about Vorex is that you can choose from three different packages. Each package has a different set of tools and features and a different price. So if you’re just starting out, you can choose the least expensive plan and upgrade at a later date. You will also get access to a free trial when you first sign up, which doesn’t require a credit card until you’re ready to purchase one of the three packages. The prices are very reasonable for all the offerings, and there are neither long-term contracts nor setup fees associated with new accounts.

Is it For You?

If you run a business that requires project management, workflow management, financial controls and more, then you can’t lose with the free trial and multiple packages to choose from, there is no reason not to try the project management software available by Vorex.

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Lexity is an excellent source of tools for e-commerce websites including real-time analytics, visitor tracking and several other insights. It includes a variety of tools such as extensions, apps, plugins, Amazon Shopping, Google Shopping, Facebook Retargeting, Facebook Live Store and other marketing tools.

If you want to run an e-commerce site, Lexity offers all the tools and resources you might need to get up and running and keep the site maintained. These tools are compatible with popular ecommerce platforms like Virtuemart, Shopify, Prestashop, Volusion and Magento.

Let´s find out more with this Lexity review.

Unique and Effective App Platform

The app platform offered by Lexity is one of the best for e-commerce purposes. It includes marketing and organizational apps for your e-commerce site among many other benefits. Lexity began as a company who wanted to offer affordable, quality and effective management apps for e-commerce site owners. They abide by certain core principles including loyalty to their customers, increasing website sales, improving distribution and creating awareness through site tracking and analytics.

Lexity is Beneficial for E-Commerce Owners

Anyone who is running an e-commerce site will find the tools and apps useful on Lexity.

With Lexity Live, you will be able to monitor your site and customer activity in real-time, chat with your visitors and encourage closing of sales. You can look at your site traffic and revenue, get marketing insights you can use for more sales and view the trends of your store to look for peaks and drops. These tools will let you be more educated and informed on your store’s progress, get marketing advice and use the data to improve your success in the future.

Lexity is Effective and Easy to Use

One of the great things about Lexity is how easy it is to use from the very start. Once you sign up for the apps and tools, you can start using them right away. Lexity makes marketing your e-commerce site a simple process with their user-friendly database. You can use unlimited apps, tools and resources as offered by Lexity for your site.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

Lexity Live is Lexity’s free flagship application that provides real-time visitor tracking and analytics. Here’s what the main dashboard looks like:

Here is your Insights page. Your data will be analyzed and you’ll end up with recommendations.

You can see at a glance the revenue you’re bringing in.

Pros and Cons of Lexity

With Lexity, you will find very little disadvantages and dozens of benefits. Some advantages include having marketing apps and tasks, code snippets and detailed information about your site’s performance, platform permissions so that only you have access to the analytics and tracking apps, the ability to add apps at any time and not have a limit on the apps you use, importing of data that is quick and easy, and conversion as well as non-conversion marketing strategies. The main disadvantage is that each app costs a small fee and there isn’t a free trial.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

Lexity Live is a free app but they also offer other paid app options. Lexity charges on a per app basis. Each app is priced competitively and varies according to your monthly advertising budget. This is beneficial because instead of paying a monthly subscription fee, you have the option of only paying for the apps you know you will use  You also have a credit card stored on your account that will be charged every time you choose and install an app to use.

The Bottom Line

If you’re running an e-commerce site and looking for more management, marketing and tracking apps, Lexity can help you accomplish success.

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AIMcrm offers unique and powerful software and apps for customer relationship management (CRM). The software goes above and beyond the CRM you will find elsewhere, offering excellent tools, Internet marketing advice, automation software, up-to-date technology and the ability to capture and track customer relationship information with ease. As a freelancer who uses a CRM on a daily basis I was interested through this AIMcrm review in seeing how it worked for myself.

CRM Offered by Internet Marketing Experts

Active Internet Marketing, a marketing consultant firm that has been around since 2001, offers AIMcrm. Active Internet Marketing has over 15 years of marketing and advertising experience for small to medium-sized businesses offering many services for marketing. As experts in the field, they not only provide CRM applications that are state-of-the-art but other tools as well including web design, web development, search engine optimization (SEO) tools, pay-per-click advertising and more.

Small Biz or Large AIMcrm Works!

Nearly every type and size of business uses some form of customer relationship management tools at some point. Marketing — Internet marketing specifically — is the key to your success in today’s online marketing climate. Whether you have a bricks and mortar business, or you are strictly an Internet Marketer, you need a CRM devoted to your online marketing endeavors. Today, effectively managing customers is about having access to cloud-based software you can view and update from anywhere and get even more resources for improving your marketing strategies — AIMcrm does that and more. They have a unique process called the “Active Internet Marketing Process” which includes exposing your business to future customers, converting visitors into leads, automatically nurturing your leads, gathering real-time data automatically, optimizing the data and focusing more on increasing sales.

Advanced Technology and Capabilities

AIMcrm offers so many tools and capabilities that it would be impossible not to see why it is so beneficial to companies of all sizes and industries. You get automation for your marketing and sales force plus management of your employees and projects. You’ll end up with excellent client satisfaction rates after using the software. The call center technology and user-friendly database training can’t be beat. In addition, once you’ve set it all up, everything is also automated which makes it even easier for you.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

With AIMcrm you get exactly what you need in a CRM. You get a database of prospects, clients, and all the tools to ensure you wind up with the best conversion rates you can get. You get the analytics, record keeping, and control that you want, plus some. Useful features such as task management tools are built right in to the software. This makes it simple to use AIMcrm for every aspect of your marketing efforts. No need to set up a separate task software! So, let’s get to how it looks. Very detailed campaign tracking at a glance! And the awesome Task Manager! By using all the features that AIMcrm has, you’ll be that much more likely to close your sales. You’ll be able to keep track of every prospect or lead as it comes in, and every action you take with each and every lead. This will help multiple sales staff know best how to approach a particular prospect. You’ll have more control than ever, and you’ll close more deals than ever.

Benefits and Drawbacks

When you sign up for AIMcrm, you will see that there are many benefits and advantages to their cloud-based software application. In the beginning, there is fast and unlimited training that is optional if you want to learn more about CRM and how their tools work. Everything is web-based which of course benefits you in the long run because it can be accessed from anywhere. It is great for a variety of industries as well as it can be customized but they say it’s mostly for people with goods to sell, education, health care, manufacturing and professional services. The drawbacks are that you don’t get access to a free trial, but a live demo is available. You will also not be given pricing information until you finish the demo and contact the company, but I can tell you that the pricing can be a road block for some smaller businesses or low revenue businesses.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

Pricing depends on your needs and the structure of your business. But the price is based per user, so if you have a large business it can become quite high.

Is It For You?

The free demo on AIMcrm will let you see how the software works and give you reasons why you should try it out for yourself. Sign up for the demo and decide for yourself whether it will be useful for your business and ultimate success. If you need a lead management system/ client management system/ customer relationship management system (CRM) that has fabulous analytics, integration, automation and fabulous customer service then it’s worth a try.

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This product is essential for meeting and talking with your customers choosing between different communication media and, if your desire is to convert visitors to customers, it allows  you to proactively engage with them, based on their navigation behavior.

Easily meet with your customers and conduct a one on one conversation via this platform. Vivocha allows you interact right on your website, with chat, video-chat, VoIP, CallBack or WebLead.

Simply copy and paste a single line of code, and a widget will appear on your website or blog, allowing the customer to contact you from there via their favorite media. In this Vivocha review we will look at the possibilities with this software in terms of customer relations, help desk, eCommerce and customer support.

Solve your Customer´s Problems On the Spot

This platform allows you to solve the problem of communication with website visitors. Normally, the visitor goes to your site, clicks around and reads or not reads and you have no way of reaching out to them unless they sign up for a newsletter or something like that. Now you can offer live communication at the time of their visit and when they’re most interested or have the most questions.  You are able to log in and access all of your clients from one area. You can chat with them, request callbacks, and much more, knowing who they are, their navigation history and seeing what they are seeing in real time. This tool is bringing you closer to your customers, improving communication and fostering the creation of a stronger relationship with them.

Any Type of Business Owner with a Website Can Use This Software

Whether you provide a product, or a service, Vivocha can improve your customer service exponentially. As a freelance writer, I can use it and be available when visitors come to my website and be right there to answer questions. I could also hire sales/support staff to be there and use the product to push sales or offer an help desk service.

Stop Losing Customers With Vivocha

You have mere seconds to impress a website visitor. If they’re clicking on and clicking away fast, this is another way to figure out how you can best serve your website visitors and turn them into clients. You can do so much with Vivocha aside from chatting with clients. You can call them back, collaborate, help them find what they want on your website,  You can set automatic proactive rules that will engage customers (via any of the communication channels available) depending on their behavior on the website, to target the most promising ones. Many businesses need this, from real estate agents, to freelance writers, to just about anyone who sells any product or service and want to have a better relationship/understanding of their customers.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

The platform is very visual. You’ll see your stats as soon as you log in.  This is very useful information to see how you’ve done during the specified time period. It will show you graphs of the different number of people you have talked to and if you have improved or decreased in visitor numbers

The interface is easy to navigate on and is not cluttered with a lot of data that can confuse you.

The Dashboard is where you’ll start.

Then you can look at your stats

And you can always get the support you need.

Positives and Negatives

Let’s get to the many positives of this awesome and useful software.

The pros are:

1. You can connect to many clients through one platform
2. You do not need to worry about logging in to a bunch of different places
3. Connecting virtually is more convenient for people
4. Your stats are recorded
5. Easy pricing options, starting at 19$/mo

The cons are:

1. If your Internet is down for the day, you cannot connect to your customers
2. Some clients prefer a traditional way of communicating
3. Someone has to be there to chat live

Fits Almost Any Budget for Almost Any Business

This platform is designed to fit into anyone’s budget and is inexpensive. The best part about this product is that it does not cost a lot of money. A program like this, that connects you to so many different clients and allows you to communicate with them, would be expensive, right? No! This product is extremely affordable and you get free credits. For the price of a gym membership you can use this platform. But, honestly, what is the cost of losing a customer?

Is It For You?

It’s definitely a good bargain and a great opportunity. Business owners can definitely manage and market their business effectively through this tool. You can be up and running in no time with Vivocha, you may as well give it a try. Just remember, someone needs to be available to chat live for those features to work.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 4/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 4/5

Try Vivocha for Free

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Businesses today live and die by having access to the right information at the right time. Unfortunately, most businesses have the tools they use to analyze and understand various data points scattered from one end of the World Wide Web to another. It makes it difficult to keep up with all the information, as it’s needed.

That’s how Cyfe came to be. Deven Patel, founder of Cyfe, saw a real need in the business community for a method of gathering and collecting data in one place. As an entrepreneur, he was well aware of how much time was spent on gathering data, creating reports, and interacting with various portals and services throughout the day. Today, in my Cyfe review, we’ll find out if Deven succeeded.

All Your Key Business Data in One Convenient Location

There was a need in the business community to provide access to vital information in one convenient location. Not only is gathering information from all corners of the Internet a painstaking process, but it’s also time-consuming. Cyfe makes the entire process fast and easy.

Cyfe is an all-in-one business dashboard app that helps you monitor and analyze data scattered across all your online services like Google Analytics, MailChimp, Pinterest, Alexa, Klout, Instagram, SEOmoz, PayPal, LinkedIn, AdSense, Facebook, Constant Contact, AWeber, Salesforce, WordPress, and more.from one single location in real-time. You can connect your website, blog, email, social media accounts, and so much more to your Cyfe dashboards. You can even bring your company’s internal data into Cyfe via custom widgets.

It’s more than a simple dashboard or access point however. You can download reports, schedule email reports, and share the information with your team so that everyone is on the same page – literally.

You don’t have to stare at tiny little widgets all day and pray your eyesight holds out either. You can use TV mode to easily switch one or more of the dashboards on your monitor to the big screen monitor. If you prefer a certain look or want branded reports, the customization options available with Cyfe are sure to please too.

Internet Business Owners and Email Marketers – This is the Tool for You

There’s finally a tool out there that’s designed to make your job on the Internet much easier. Anyone who does a lot of switching back and forth on the Internet, for whatever reason, though can greatly benefit from Cyfe. This includes social media mavens who are constantly switching from Twitter to Facebook, LinkedIn, KLOUT, Pinterest and all points in between.

Startups can utilize this tool to monitor their day to day operations such as keeping tabs on number of new sign ups, conversions, and revenue.

Stock analysts who need real time access to data about stocks as they stream across the Internet are other people who can appreciate the capabilities that Cyfe represents for them.

Cyfe dashboards help you make better business decisions and save a ton of time by bringing all your business performance data under one roof and not having to log into multiple services every day.

The Basics: What Does it Look Like?

Based on your specific business needs you can configure Cyfe to look like however you want. You can have a social media dashboard, web analytics dashboard, business operations dashboard, or marketing dashboard. There are infinite possibilities. Below is an example of a fully configured dashboard.

Once you sign up for the Cyfe free membership, an excellent starting point for anyone considering Cyfe, you’ll be taken to the dashboard area where you can begin installing widgets.

There is no need for complex or lengthy instructions. The “back office” area of the dashboard is extremely self-explanatory. You click on the little box on the tool bar to install your widgets and choose from the drop down menu. The widgets then appear on your blank canvas for you to arrange as you prefer.

Once you have the widgets you want installed (free trial subscribers have access to a limited number of widgets, you’ll have to upgrade your account for more) on your dashboard, you’re free to play around with the background and layout. You can add your own background or you can use one of the preset options available through Cyfe.

The Good: Fast Access to Vital Information – The Bad: Temptation is Front and Center

The best thing about Cyfe is that it gives you all the information you need at your fingertips. No more sorting through open windows in your browser. No more accidentally shutting down the wrong window because you have so many open that your mouse is constantly finding the wrong one. The Cyfe solution for getting all your vital information in one location is so elegant and simple it feels as if it’s almost too easy. This dashboard is the perfect eye candy for anyone with a slight deficiency in the attention department.

The downside however, especially for those who find social networks to be a supreme temptation or who have trouble not checking email boxes every five seconds is that temptation is there, right before your very eyes with Cyfe. There’s no hiding from it unless you have the willpower to delete the widget. In other words, you must exercise self-control. On the flip side, having real-time access to business performance data means that you can fix problems occurring in your business as fast as possible.

Will it Fit Your Budget?

This is perfect question to ask and the answer is a resounding, “Yes.” Free works with almost any budget. While you’ll only have access to a limited number of widgets, your free Cyfe account is the perfect tool to allow you to explore the potential of this dashboard for your Internet business and play. If you find the limit too restricting then you can explore the surprisingly affordable upgrade options.

Is It For You?

If you’re a serious business owner or manager looking to take your business to the next level with invaluable real-time insights then, it’s for you. With a free membership, there’s no reason to put off finding out for you. Try it on for size and see how you like the fit and feel of all your favorite places online on your all-in-one business dashboard.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 4/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

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Businesses today need every edge to ensure that they come out ahead of their competitors. Thankfully programs like AtMail come along. The problem for many small businesses trying to make it big on the World Wide Web is that there are many tools and programs promising impressive results.

Because there are so many, it it’s difficult to know what you need for your business now, and what you can do without until a later date. One thing that no business is going to survive long without, however, is a solid email platform. In this AtMail review we will see how it delivers email for businesses in a really big way.

AtMail is much more than a simple email program for business. It’s an email solution for small to medium-sized businesses that need the flexibility of shared calendars, seamless mobility, simple syncing, and easy-to-implement branding options from their email.

If you’re on the go as much as I am, you’ll see the real beauty of AtMail is that it allows you to switch from desktop to laptop to tablet to mobile phone without sacrificing any of the full, rich features you expect from the AtMail service.

Email Solutions for Today’s Busy Marketers

Business owners today have sales teams that are more mobile than ever. Many managers, executives, and other workers take their work away from the office almost as much as they’re in the office – if not more — in fields where the bulk of the work is done on the road. Even freelancers like me take a lot of their work on the road, to the park, the library, hotels, and well, just about anyplace other than the office.

Traditional email methods lack easy synchronization in the best of times. That isn’t the case with AtMail.

Great Looking Email Management System with Clean Lines and Adequate White Spaces

You don’t have to worry about losing the important stuff in the clutter when you use AtMail services. The pages are easy to read and navigate. The lines are clean and well-defined whether you’re working on a desktop computer, tablet devices, or through mobile phone apps.

One area where other productivity-type programs fail is in finding the balance between work and home life. What I particularly like about the AtMail program is the fact that it allows users to identify personal and professional activities on the calendar as well as who has access to which calendar. This comes in handy for me.

In other words, not everything on the calendar is freely shared with the entire team. Anyone that has tried to juggle two calendars in the past knows how tricky that can be.

From a business perspective, the fact that you can truly take AtMail email and make it your own with logos and other branding tools is a huge plus for most small and medium-sized businesses. It gives a small business the ability to look “big” with these features.

You can also use as many domains as needed. You can even cluster domains to identify specific groups of people you’d like “read in” on your email, calendar, or to have access to your storage area. Users have the option of including everyone in their address books to make major announcements.

Many businesses struggle with the notable differences between different platforms. That isn’t a problem with AtMail. The ActiveSync is another boon that makes AtMail really stand out from the crowd.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

The AtMail website provides important clues about the platform itself. The site is open, uncluttered, and attractive to visitors. This is also the case of the email and calendar.

Once you sign up you’ll want to get started right away. The great thing about AtMail is that they don’t leave you wondering what to do. They take you to the page where you’ll get things going for your business and the site offers easy-to-follow instructions about what comes next.

Now that it’s time to check your email, you’re sure to love how simple it is to access and read.

The calendar is an organizer’s dream with options to make some information public, keep other information private, and easily identify personal or family commitments and business commitments at a glance.

The Good: Easy to Use and Personalize The Bad: Not the Right Choice for All

AtMail is a fairly simple product to use. This means that it won’t take a large amount of time to train team members and support staff to use the system. More importantly, the organizational aspect of this particular email program may actually help your team become more productive and profitable. That’s the real reason businesses are interested in programs such as this in the first place.

Also worth note is the exceptional customer service you can expect when doing business with AtMail before and after the sale. That’s a rarity in this day and age by itself. Not only does AtMail offer sales tickets that allow you to ask detailed questions about their services, but they also allow you to explore their own Wiki page that explains a great deal about what AtMail is and what their products and services have to offer before you even become a member.

However, it should be noted that this is not the right solution for all businesses. Large businesses may find AtMail somewhat cumbersome or restrictive where small and medium sized businesses are more likely to see broader appeal.

Pricing: Will It Fit Your Budget?

Perhaps the best news about AtMail to small and mid-size business owners is that it is a budget-friendly product. While it is still a “per user” it’s not something that even a sole proprietor can’t afford.  It’s priced much lower than its nearest competitor on the market and offers more features. You don’t purchase the product outright. Instead, you purchase a yearly license that allows you one year of outstanding customer support and service.

Is It For You?

As I’ve mentioned before, AtMail isn’t the right solution for all businesses. I’ve yet to see a one-size-fits-all platform that works well for all businesses all the time. However, for medium and small businesses in need of greater efficiency and time/resource management, it’s hard to imagine going wrong by using AtMail for your email needs. Take advantage of the free trial and see how quickly AtMail has you ready to sign up for a longer-term commitment.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 4/5, value 3/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

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Customer Service Relationship Management is one of the most important functions you will perform in your small business. It doesn’t matter what type of business you have. If you have customers, you need to form and maintain relationships with them. Whether you need to have a simple way to store all contact and correspondence with a client, or a way to assign customer service tasks to employees and contractors, having a way to do this in the most efficient and cost saving measure is paramount to being successful in your small business.

Salesforce for QuickBooks is a powerful cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) program used by many sales oriented businesses. It has many bells and whistles and is a terrific CRM and combined with QuickBooks it also seamlessly handles invoicing and billing. However, for some small businesses the price is prohibitive. Fortunately, there are alternatives for smaller businesses that also need robust solutions that don’t break the bank, but offer the types of service they need to run a successful business and manage client relationships.

Zoho CRM

Zoho allows you to do the books, invoice clients, create reports and other functions that QuickBooks does. You can read more about Zoho Books here. But did you know that Zoho CRM  is a customer relationship management app (CRM) targeted to small and mid-sized businesses that offers customer relationship management too? Offering three separate editions makes it easy for any small business interested in using a robust CRM to improve their company’s bottom line. Your business can start with the smallest version, expanding with a simple upgrade as the need arises.

Being customer centric makes the most sense in today’s competitive environment. Having access to a CRM is essential for survival in today’s competitive marketplace. The downside to Zoho is that some features such as CTI, IVR, ACD and flexible call routing is unavailable so it might not be a good choice for multi-channel contact centers. But, if you need a simple help-desk, or operative a small contact center, it is a viable choice over Salesforce.

Who should use Zoho CRM?

With Zoho you can be super productive, track sales, connect with customers, and also use it with Google Apps and with your mobile device! If you have a small to midsized business and you need a good CRM to use, and don’t want to have to worry about in-house tech support, or space for your CRM then check out Zoho. It may not have all the frills of a software like Salesforce, but it offers just what you need, with the online access you want, for less. Zoho CRM is good for most companies who desire to combine online bookkeeping with customer relationship management.

Service Sidekick

The whole job of Service Sidekick is to make your business run more smoothly from customer relationship management to managing your staff. You can easily input follow up tasks for customer service professionals with the CRM, and schedule new jobs and tasks right from the easy to use calendar, which incidentally integrates with other calendar apps too. You can even have a shared calendar so that your whole team stays on the same page.

What’s really awesome is your receptionist can schedule calls right from the calendar, and everyone can be kept up to date automatically with mobile access. Even better, it integrates with QuickBooks whether you have QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop. Service Sidekick has a lot of useful videos to help you set up your Service Sidekick the best way so that you can run the most useful reports including the ability to manage estimates from one central location without the need for a technical expert on staff.

Who should use Service Sidekick?

Do you have a service business? Maybe you run a plumbing business, computer repair service, air conditioner service, maid service, or really any type of service industry at all, then you’re in luck with Service Sidekick. With a team of 2 to unlimited team members you can use Service Sidekick to organize employees, contractors, and work with customers too. Start with a smaller version and work your way up as your business expands. This is truly a useful application for any type of service business.

Let us know if you have experiences with Zoho CRM, Service Sidekick or any other CRM App that you consider an alternative to Salesforce for Quickbook users. We are always happy to hear from you!

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Manage your social media with new flair. Small business owners use social media with the intent of improving customer relationships, expanding their brand, and ultimately getting more customers. But, it can take a lot of time, effort and skill. Graphic design, writing, and business knowledge are all required to create a successful social media campaign.

Today, I will review a fabulous, life changing, cloud-based utility application called GroSocial.

Breathe Life Into Your Social Media Marketing Campaigns

Without customization Facebook and Twitter Pages just look boring. They’re the same as everyone else’s. Customization can make all the difference, but it requires time and skill, (or an entire staff) that some of us just do not have.

GroSocial  teaches you exactly what to do, giving you the tools to do it, to make your Facebook and Twitter Pages as unique as possible. Plus, GroSocial gives you the tools to start prompting right away, integrating Facebook and Twitter immediately.

You’ll be able to create Facebook tabs, timeline covers, Twitter backgrounds as well as manage the content on each in an expert manner efficiently, all from your GroSocial account. These features can allow you to get new followers and “likes” as well as help you get new signups for your email lists, just by clicking a few buttons.

Small Business Managers Need GroSocial To Grow

If you’re a small business owner, manager, or freelancer GroSocial is software that is made for you. The best way to grow your business today is via relationship building, and what better relationship building tools do we have today than Facebook and Twitter. Everyone is using both, from small business owners, to big business moguls, to politicians. You need to be using them too if you’re serious about building your business.

Every business needs a Facebook Page and a Twitter because that is where their customers and potential customers are today. If you’re busy, or just confused about how to use GroSocial properly, you can even get expert help setting up your account. GroSocial can help your business create and maintain its unique voice in the crowd, plus make your reach that much bigger.

Boost Your Social Media Presence Using Powerful Features

Create Facebook Tabs, Timeline Covers, Twitter Backgrounds, and manage your content for each from your Launchpad on GroSocial. Each click on a topic will open a new area where you can choose a theme type, and then choose a theme.

It’s also possible to choose a blank canvas so that you can create your own theme. Any theme can be edited using widgets and settings. And, Live Help is available during normal business hours. If they’re not available you can always contact an expert to get help with any of the features.

Create email sign up forms, contact forms, contest entry forms and more with GroSocial with just a few clicks. GroSocial seeks partnerships with other platforms to help you make the most of your social media. Build your email list, plan events, and simply do more all from the Launchpad with no expert coding experience, or no more knowledge than it takes to start a Facebook page or a Twitter account.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

When you first sign on you’ll see that GroSocial has a very pleasant look and feel to it. With bold colors, and large clickable areas so that you don’t accidentally miss any of the features. Once you have signed up you’ll be able to access your Launchpad.

Once you’re inside the Launchpad you can choose what you want to do next by clicking on any of the choices. It’s very clear what you can do. There is even a block that gives you access to weekly social media training via GoTowebinar. From your Launchpad you can do everything with GroSocial.

When you click through you then get another screen that is also just as clear. Simply by looking, you can intuitively choose what is the right action to take next. Below I clicked on the Twitter backgrounds icon from above.

From here I can create a new Twitter background by clicking create new twitter background.

As you see, the system tells you what to do. So, it’s not hard to learn even though it does so much. This is only the Titter background feature. But each feature from the Launchpad is just as simple to understand and implement. So often a new software is introduced that is supposed to help but it only makes it harder. But, with GroSocial, this cloud based software makes growing your social media simple.

So Many Features, So Little Time

GroSocial has so many features that you can easily become confused trying to figure them out all at once. The best thing to do is try out one task from the Launchpad at a time so that you don’t get bogged down in the details of so many activities that you can do with GroSocial, and run away from overwhelm.

Imagine being able to easily, right from the Launchpad on your GroSocial account to add in such incentives as a promotion only for people who have just liked your page. On GroSocial this is called “Like” to Reveal and is a very powerful way to get new “likes” on Facebook.

In addition, you will be able to get content ideas from the content management area of the Launchpad based on your search terms, and the current discussions on your Facebook page, or you can perform a custom search by adding a #hashtag or search term to get even more content ideas.

Probably, the best course of action is to try building a Twitter background or Facebook tab first, and once you’ve conquered that, move on to another feature. You’ll soon realize how simple it is to add tabs to your Facebook page such as a contact form, contests, promotions and even more fun features to your Facebook pages. What’s more, you’ll have fun doing it too, because it truly is very simple. However, know this: GroSocial is about so much more than backgrounds. It is a powerful social media management application that allows you to easily create professional looking promotions that get results, as easily as you will create that Twitter background!

Will It Fit Your Budget?

It’s free to try for 30 days. When you are ready to upgrade the price is reasonable for any small business and varies based on the number of Pages you want to use GroSocial with. You must have a credit card, as they don’t take PayPal.

Is It For You?

If you want to empower yourself to conquer social media, once and for all then I highly recommend that you try GroSocial. It works as advertised, and is a very powerful addition to your social media arsenal. GroSocial does so many things that it would be difficult to properly cover them on in the space allowed for this review.

If you want to improve the speed at which you get your social media marketing campaigns launched, trust me, GroSocial is for you. So, since it has a 30 day free trial I highly recommend you try it. I cannot give a high enough rating to this cloud-based application.

[review title='Our Verdict' pros="Awesome Social Media Management Utility " cons="Not enough time in my day to use every last feature, but boy do I want too!" score=10]

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 5/5

Try GroSocial for Free

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One of the biggest problems small business owners deal with is staffing. Many employees consider a position within a small business a stepping stone to something bigger, often leaving with little or no notice when something else comes along.

Owners or supervisors end up having to take care of their own duties, fill in for the leaving worker and try to find a replacement all at the same time.

Today’s technology has stepped in to help out. Apps are available to post job openings, consolidate and sort through resumes, set and track appointments for interviews and note the candidates with the best potential.

What’s more, they’re cloud-based, which means you can access them from anywhere, with multiple devices.

LinkedIn Finds The Talent You Need

LinkedIn has over 175 million registered users. It is one huge pool of talent, just waiting for you to get involved. The recruitment component allows you to enter information about your company and the position and then does the searching for you. Anyone registered, who has entered the qualifications you listed for the search, will receive an alert about your job. You define who and what you are looking for and LinkedIn sends you the results of your search. Contact potential employees through the system and receive a higher percentage of replies than if you had cold called the prospects.

Zoho Recruit Helps You Source, Track And Hire New Employees

Zoho Recruit integrates with the most popular job boards on the Internet. Create the job description with a list of qualifications and have thousands of people reading your ad daily. Use the programs built-in forms to have candidate information sent directly to a database designed to capture the information you deem most important. Look at the starred fields and create a new database for setting up interviews; supervisors will be notified of the time and date when the interview is created. Results and opinions from the interviews will be kept organized and detailed so you can easily determine who you should hire. Nothing is left to guesswork when you use Zoho Recruit; it is all there in front of you.

Use Dropbox For Ease Of Access

Being able to have any document at your disposal no matter where you are is a huge time-saver. Dropbox allows you to access anything you drop into it from any device you have it downloaded to. Set up different folders within the “box” allowing others to access them. It is simpler than email attachments. Drag a resume into the folder and everyone with access to that folder can read it immediately; from a smartphone, tablet or computer.

Google Apps For Business Is Like A Personal Assistant

Google Apps can help you keep track of your schedule, create spreadsheets and word documents, send alerts, search the Internet and be accessed from your smart phone or computer. Information sent to you through Google mail can be instantly added into any of the other apps you are using. Most of the applications can be shared with anyone who needs to see the information and projects can be worked on by multiple users simultaneously.

You no longer have to contact a newspaper to put an advertisement for a job opening, wait for people to call and ask about the position, sort through numerous HR applications and resumes and meet with an untold number of unqualified applicants before finding someone to hire. The Internet, mobile apps and social media have made recruiting an entirely new process. Take advantage of the different apps, bundle them together and save yourself time, money and some hard work. It’s a new world, enjoy it!

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Many software developers swear by Pivotal Tracker. It is a cloud based tool that helps teams manage the flow of a project. Each person is always looking at the same snapshot, from micro task level to the overview.

It works for many companies that use agile development where the emphasis is on collaboration, step-by-step planning and adapting as the work progresses.

Teams that use the agile approach may also want to check out two other tools available that each use a slightly different approach.

LeanKit Kanban

A type of agile method, Kanban means a way to visualize a set of tasks. LeanKit Kanban provides a web-based graphical tool to show work-flow in real time that is geared to both distributed and physically close teams. Color coding, avatars and visual indicators of importance and dates all help make it easy to figure out where the project stands at a glance. This emphasis on the visual makes it easy to locate bottlenecks and slowdowns.

Uses Scrum Methodology — Teams that employ the scrum methodology for software development are right at home with LeanKit Kanban. With scrum, a team focuses for a set period of time called a sprint. The goal is to deliver a usable product in two to four weeks. Teams gage how they’re doing in a daily meeting or scrum. Leankit Kanban fits easily into this methodology and in addition, provides real and meaningful metrics.

Data is Current – And, available as it happens. This removes a lot of guessing and helps a team make changes at the beginning of a problem, not late in the process. Teams that need to use diagrams to show the average time it takes to get from the Start Lane to the Finish Lane appreciate the Cycle Time diagram views. These can be all the types of work, or separated out by class of service, by type of task and by priority.

Seeing is Believing — Seeing where the different aspects of the project are: in process, waiting or completed,  is easy with the Efficiency Diagram. It can show the percentage or the actual number of work items in each state. The interface is intuitive and easy to set up. With one click, a board can be created from scratch, using templates or cloned from an existing board. Moving around is simple. The user can navigate anywhere in the system from one screen. This ease of use is built into the design which uses common sense as its guiding principle.

PlanBox

The selling point for PlanBox is the ability to drag and drop items onto its version of a virtual story board. Each person can filter the view to show just what he is working on. It is cloud-based and simply needs a browser and internet connection. Both small and large teams find it a useful tool. PlanBox emphasizes that it is adaptable and fits the needs of any size company and of a variety of departments, not just IT and software development.

Great for Students — Students have discovered how useful it is for keeping track and prioritizing tasks and so they hand in assignments on time. They find it especially easy to collaborate with others on class projects. Breaking big jobs into component parts is straightforward using the two levels of projects the tool offers. PlanBox also offers students free accounts with no user limits which makes them extra special.

Collaborate in Real Time — Everything on the PlanBox board is shown in real time. This makes collaborating easy whether the team is in the same building or in other countries. Comments, descriptions and how-to information are shared as they are posted. PlanBox also has a mobile app so info can be checked and updated on the road. Meetings can be logged without delay. It is easy to customize with apps and to integrate with other software.

Makes Work Distribution Simple — The amount of work for each member of the team is clearly outlined so loads can be distributed fairly, making the best use of each person’s time. It supports all the agile methods, including Kanban and scrum with their emphasis on team interaction and customer feedback. Since changes appear as they happen, it is easy to adapt and adjust on the fly. The interface is both easy to set up for beginners to the agile method and full featured for advanced users.

As you can see these two cloud-based project management solutions are excellent alternatives to Pivotal Tracker. Why not give them a try to see if you like them. Let us know your thoughts!

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Traditionally, recruiters spent a lot of time creating job advertisements, reading applications and resumes and meeting with candidates before hiring a new employee.

References and any required certifications and licenses need to be verified. The whole process was very time-consuming and frustrating.

While meeting a prospective employee face-to-face has its advantages, the process up to the interview can be greatly simplified by using different social recruiting apps, programs and social media.

With social recruiting apps you take fully advantage of the power of social media. No more need to resort to just the newspaper, regardless of the size of your business.

Social Recruiting Apps

Let’s take a look at a few new cloud-based apps that recruiters can use. If you want to learn more about the app, click on the app name.

Zartis

The number of people who use social media is amazing. People all over the world are in contact every day, sharing and exchanging ideas and information. Zartis is the ultimate job board. Add a post for your job offering and watch as the referrals start to pour in.

The program is fully integrated with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, the social media sites used by the most people in the world.

Use the applicant tracking system to filter through all the candidates and the auto-email responder request more information or set up interviews.

Everything you receive can be shared among the personnel responsible for hiring.

Recruiterbox

Keeping track of applications, deciding on questions for interviews, organizing the results of a job posting and sharing all the information with everyone that needs it can be maddening.

Recruiterbox does all this for you and eases up the hiring process ten-fold.  Set up different folders for different jobs, write up the posting once and have it sent to all the different social media sites, automatically!

Any results and responses can be put into the appropriate folder and gone over as needed. Everything is kept in one place and can be accessed by everyone. The beauty of Recruiterbox is it can be accessed from any device that has Recruiterbox downloaded.

LinkedIn

This social media site is all about professionalism. People create a profile that is basically a resume. Recruiters can use search filters to find potential job candidates and contact them directly through the system.

It really does not get much easier than this. Type in what you are looking for and then use more filters until you get down to a reasonable number of candidates to contact.

People who are looking for a new job will also be going through and searching for openings. You will have more potential candidates than you will ever need but you can easily sort them and decide who to contact for more information or an interview.

Many large companies have learned to rely on social media and mobile apps for their human resource needs. Small businesses need to take advantage of the same strategies. Time, money and resources are being wasted on simple tasks that can be handled easily with today’s technology.

All the work up to an interview can be handled with a few search filters. Due to the fact that unemployment rates are high, a single job opening can result in hundreds of applicants. Small businesses can be choosy in who they hire, but to get the best employees they need to have the best candidates. Finding them is easy when social media and specialized recruiting apps are used.

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Freelance writers are  their own bosses, often working with a variety of clients on a daily basis. There is a lot to keep track of, as well as important marketing activities a freelance writer has to do on a daily basis to keep the jobs coming in. After all, there is no paycheck of a freelance writer isn’t writing.

Even if you happen to be the owner of a small business that has several editors under you, there are important tasks to keep track of, such as keeping writers organized, keeping writing on task, tracking and assign writing and editing and so forth. It’s a lot to do for a freelancer. But, with the advent of so many fabulous cloud-apps, it’s not a problem! Here are some great apps that freelance writers can use immediately.

To Keep Writers & Editors Organized With Ease: WordPress

We’re talking about the WordPress that you can download and upload to your own server space. It’s one of the most important apps for a freelance writer because it can be used in so many different ways. Articles can be written, uploaded, organized and scheduled all via WordPress.

In addition, writers and editors can have different administrative rights depending on what you give them to edit, approve and publish the work. A really fabulous feature is the ability to have a special profile with a picture of each writer and editor on your team. Best of all, this app is free of charge. The only charge you will encounter is hosting costs which range from 5 dollars a month and up depending upon the space you need.

To Manage Clients Relationships and Contacts: Zoho CRM

As with any business writers and bloggers need to establish relationships with clients, influencers, experts, other writers and their audience.  Zoho is a customer relationship management app (CRM) that has many features to help you keep track of opportunities for interviews, guest posting, and more. It also allows you to assign tasks to your collaborators effortlessly.  What’s even better is that you can use the free edition for up to three people, perfect if it’s just for you and a couple more writers on your team. What’s more it integrates easily with other apps such as Evernote, Gmail, Freshbooks, MailChimp, CampaignMonitor and many more so you can synchronize contacts, send notes and keep tracks with all the interactions you have with third parties in your Zoho CRM history.

To Automate Communication: Twilio

Twilio enables you to build easy communication solutions with your team and clients. You can assign cloud-based virtual numbers to your team, and easily integrate with other apps so you can be informed automatically when each new article has been published in WordPress as an example.  Twilio is a great way to stay informed about where your team is in terms of accomplishing their tasks.

To Automate Marketing & Promotions: Twitter

We all know how valuable Twitter is for keeping followers informed about new articles, blog posts, and other information about your business. We also know how much time social media can suck from our day. As a writer, you don’t have too much time to spend outside of writing. But, did you know that you can tweet your new articles automatically? Talk about freeing up your time and painless marketing!

Anything you can do to free up time for writing is an important part of being a freelance writer because you still need to market, track work, and run your business just like any other small business owner.

What Is The Total Cost?

WordPress – Free or if self hosted $5.00 per month

Zoho CRM — Free to 5.00 per month per user

Twilio — Depends on call rate about 1 dollar per user, per month

Twitter — Free

CloudWork (for apps integration)– Free

Is It Worth It?

You have to ask yourself if it’s worth the price to stay organized, manage customer relationships, communicate with all your people, and manage marketing as easily as quickly as possible. As a freelance writer, it’s always worth it if it gives you more time to write. Writing is where your bread and butter comes from. Any time taken away from writing is wasted and can mean the difference between failure and success for your freelance writing business.

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Think Subscription is a subscription management service offered to companies that have subscriptions for their services or products. If you run a company that has a large number of customers or clients who subscribe to your various products or services, you will find benefits to using the service Think Subscription provides you. Some of the subscriptions you can manage include those from newsletters, memberships, e-books, metered usage, magazines, pay-per-view, archives, services, CD, software downloads, online services, and directories.

Improved Subscription Management And Billing

The subscription management system provided by Think Subscription includes advanced software solutions and billing solutions for all of your subscription needs. Think Subscription has been in the subscription business for more than 20 years and is PCI level 1 certified. They have multiple subscription models and tailor each service to your business models. With Think Subscription you can increase your return on investment by improving your subscription billing process and being able to improve the subscription life-cycle events. Many options and benefits are provided by Think Subscription and the management tools. No matter what type of subscription products or services you sell, you can find benefits to utilizing Think Subscription’s software and tools

Offer Your Customers More Payment Options With Think Subscription

Think Subscription is beneficial to any business that sells or provides their customers with subscriptions. With Think Subscription services, you will keep your business on the cutting edge with the advanced subscription tools and have one solution to help manage your business. Some of the feature you will receive with Think Subscription are billing and invoicing tools, a variety of billing and payment options for your customers, taking payment at point-of-sale, micro payments, flexible billing plans, selling your subscriptions worldwide in any currency, calculating shipping, commission and tax fees, and giving your customers more options such as mailing in payments, paying with credit cards, credits, or direct debits.

Subscription Express And Think Enterprise

Another big benefit to choosing Think Subscription for your subscription billing and management needs is that you have two main solutions to choose from; Subscription Express and Think Enterprise. Both have similarities, such as being flexible and PCI certified, and many other advantages. These solutions are great for media and publishing subscriptions include niche business subscriptions. You will also be able to facilitate physical subscriptions like magazines, CD, journal, software downloads, e-books, whitepapers, directories, and newsletters. With THINK Enterprise, you get scalable models, total system control and robust subscription features. Subscription Express is great if you’re looking for an SaaS hosted solution at a lower cost of ownership but is also PCI certified with a managed infrastructure.

The Basics: What Does It Look Like?

Once you receive your log-in details and get to your account management page, you will discover how streamlined and user-friendly Think Subscription is. From the first time you enter your account page, you will be able to navigate your account quickly and easily.

From your account page, you can view all of your recent orders with comprehensive details about each one. You will see when the order was placed, the ID, description and who placed the order.

To search for a customer, you can easily do so by clicking on “customer info” and entering their first or last name, address, customer number and email address.

To view a customer’s info, click on the “Customer” tab and you will see everything from their addresses and personal information to how many current orders, promotion offers and renewal offers they have.

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Think Subscription

As with any online service, the subscription management system by Think Subscription has advantages and disadvantages. When you first visit their website, you will notice a lack of sign-up information and pricing information. This is because the company asks you to sign up for a demo first so you can watch how it works. This is a disadvantage because it helps to know pricing before you even get that far.

However, there are numerous benefits as well. With Think Subscription, you get more than a management solution; you get an extensive system. This includes hosted services, implementation services, report writing services, data services, and THINK integration services.

System features include having multiple subscription models, email notifications, address cleaning, earned and deferred revenue, and payment integration. Additional benefits of Think Subscription include keeping your clients rather than finding new ones, developing long-term relationships with your subscribers, predicting your revenue stream, auto renewals and trials, different demographics and International currency support.

Will It Fit Your Budget?

Think Subscription does not list their pricing or membership options, therefore you will need to sign up for the demo in order to view what the software provides you, and get more information after the demo about pricing.

Is It For You?

If you’re a company that sells digital or physical subscription products and services, it can be difficult to manage your customers, billing, and other details. Think Subscription goes a long way toward simplifying the entire process for you and giving you a cloud-based software program that allows you to access everything in one convenient location.

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