BitBlog

Upcoming "Using Email to Grow Your Business" Workshop in Lakeport, CA

March 17, 2009

Introduction

Email is a proven and effective communication and marketing tool, but many people don’t use it to its fullest potential. Is your business using email to achieve its goals?

A 2008 study by the Direct Marketing Association shows a return on investment of $45 for every $1 spent on email marketing. This is over twice the ROI of other forms of Internet marketing, and nearly triple that of “offline” marketing such as postal mail or telephone. In these tough economic times, we can’t afford to waste marketing dollars!

About the Workshop

Eric SchlangePart of the “59 Minutes to a Better Business” monthly workshop series, this workshop will be conducted by Eric Schlange, former chairman of the Chamber’s technology committee. Eric runs three different Internet-centric companies including BitSculptor, a local website development, hosting, and marketing firm. He also consults with customers on a regular basis, helping them market effectively via email.

Topics covered in this short seminar include:

  • Email List Marketing
  • Managing Your Email Workload
  • Composing Effective Emails
  • Avoid Receiving (and Sending!) Spam
  • The Future of Email


Monday, April 13, 2009
6:00 PM -
6:59 PM
At the City Council Chambers, 225 Park St. in Lakeport, CA

Registration

Cost is free to Lakeport Chamber members, or $10 for non-members. Space is limited - make your reservation today! Please RSVP online, by phone at (707) 263-5092, or via email at lakeport@lakeportchamber.com

More information: Email the Chamber (707) 263-5092


Posted 3/17/2009 in Tips & Tricks

Block Adobe Acrobat PDF Trojan Attacks

October 29, 2007

If you are running Windows XP and Internet Explorer 7, be sure to update your Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader software to avoid falling prey to a new Trojan horse virus that is making the rounds.

Essentially, a newly discovered flaw in Adobe's Acrobat Reader let hackers place a Trojan horse virus in a PDF file, which is then sent via email (often with convincing subject lines such as "Invoice," "Statement," or "Bill.") Opening the PDF file infects your system with the virus.

Adobe PDF software has built-in automatic updates that will eventually update the software to patch the problem, but we recommend doing it now to stay safe.

Read more about the issue at PC World's site >

Visit Adobe.com to download the PDF updates >


Posted 10/29/2007 in Tips & Tricks

Organize, Edit, and Send Your Photos with Picasa… Free!

October 17, 2007

Picasa logoOur clients often ask us for software recommendations, and a frequent request is for decent, cheap photo editor. In this age of digital photography we often find ourselves with hundreds or thousands of images on our systems, but no way to easily edit the images, send them in compressed formats via email, or even get them organized.

Picasa changes all that, and does it for free. It allows you to easily organize and edit your photos, then let the world know about them thru email, prints, or posting on the web.
Some of the free software that comes with digital cameras can do what Picasa does, but I’ve always found said software (from Kodak, Canon, etc) to be slow and unwieldy.

Picasa screenshotPicasa, on the other hand, is very user-friendly, automatically doing what you want it to, and making everything else pretty easy.  If you aren’t inclined to tackle one of the more full-featured photo editors out there (like Adobe’s Photoshop or Lightroom), Picasa’s basic photo editing features may be just what you need. Image editing is easy: you can adjust brightness, contrast, color temperature, crop, rotate, convert to black and white, and much more.

As a professional photographer I use Adobe Lightroom for my photo processing, but I’ve personally used Picasa for a couple years now as a way to organize my photos and post them to my Picasa Web Album because it’s easy, fast, and free.

Did I mention it’s free? Check it out.

Until Next Time,
Eric Schlange
President
BitSculptor: Websites that click.


Posted 10/17/2007 in Tips & Tricks

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