web

I was recently at a family BBQ enjoying a beer and a sausage in bread when I was asked the following: ‘Hey mate, you work in computers(sic), what’s all this Cloud computing stuff about?’

Now, being the families resident ‘computer nerd’, I’m often asked computer related questions (either that or cartoon related questions). Usually the questions are along the lines of ‘should I buy a Mac’ or ‘why isn’t my email working’. Most can be fairly easily answered with a paint-by-numbers answer, but this one required a bit more effort. Effort that by the end of the conversation – which only ended because if we didn’t stop talking, all of my auntie’s awesome trifle would’ve been eaten without me getting any – still could’ve been delved into a lot more.

This ‘Cloud computing stuff’ question became a 45-minute discussion about a bunch of seemingly unlinked topics – business, computers, iPhones and iPads, MYOB, the Patriot Act, Russians; the list went on and on. Read more

Does this idea have legs?

Our bricks-and-mortar (B&M) retail stores are in strife.

Prices high. Service poor. Wages stagnant. Jobs gone.

But there may be an answer …

Ethical shopping!

Radio days

Years ago if you wanted, say, a radio cassette recorder, you could make a day of it.

Travel to a certain road with a string of electrical stores. Read more

Friday 23rd March 2012

Happy Friday!  A taste of what’s to come ahead has officially blown into Australia’s South Eastern states today, with Adelaide, Hobart, Canberra and Melbourne all experiencing a rather unseasonable cold snap…signalling that it’s time to farewell those thongs and singlets and start thinking about boots and scarves!

While the change in weather might not be so positive, the latest from our Federal Government is a great step in the right direction for Australian SME’s.  MYOB CEO, Tim Reed shares his thoughts on why this is a positive move for all business owners.

Before you run off to enjoy another weekend, make sure you check out latest from the news sites…

Half of Australian businesses are now online

It’s been a year since we launched our ‘Getting Aussie Business Online‘ initiative with Google, with a goal of helping small businesses (SMB’s) make the most of getting online.  Read more

The LiveAccounts websites found at liveaccounts.myob.com.au and liveaccounts.myob.co.nz are being retired, with all the content moving into the main myob.com.au and myob.co.nz websites. We’re doing this to consolidate all the information about our products and services into one location, making it easier to find.

To assist in this transition, we’ll be redirecting key locations on the old websites. That means if you try to visit liveaccounts.myob.com.au, you’ll automatically be taken to its new home, myob.com.au/liveaccounts. As a bit of housekeeping if you have bookmarked any of these old locations, you might like to update them with the new location. Read more

A look at what you may be doing to annoy your connections.

For some reason, when we network online, we really forget how to communicate with the person on the other end of the computer. In fact we forget that there even is a real person on the other end of the computer. Basic real life etiquette flies out of the window as we try and do everything at a trillion miles an hour to get connected, friended, followed and now pinned to as many people as possible.

But slow down, connection collector, relax, and be more meaningful in your approach, and avoid some of the things that I see all too often that really bug me. If you want to develop a business relationship with your connection, don’t get off on the wrong foot. Read more

How do you come up with something new to write about frequently enough to build a successful blog? As blogs become more common, so too does the problem of blogger’s block: that awkward moment when you feel as though you’ve run out of things to say.

Coming up with enough material to write a weekly post is a big challenge for many people – so unless you have a background or passion for writing, be careful about the frequency you commit to. Read more

It took me a while to buy in to the whole Twitter thing. I didn’t really see the point of it. 140 characters to tell a mostly faceless audience about how you ‘just bought a #hamburger’ or how you are ‘sitting on the #toilet thinking about how funny #howIMetYourMother was last night’.

How was this stupid platform in anyway benefiting the progression of mankind?

But one day it dawned on me that there were some pretty switched on people on this thing. And they were all constantly sharing little tidbits of really cool information. So, I jumped on board and became one of the 27% of Twitter users who just watch but don’t participate in the conversation. Read more

Ever had your car, house or store broken into?

I’ve recently had the online equivalent. I’ve had someone break into my website causing my email to be disabled and disrupting things for a couple of days and I’m finding myself hacked off by hackers.

And for what end? A cheap thrill? A test run of hacking prowess? Something more sinister? Read more

Life at the pointy end.

Hearing a rising howl about Pinterest, my first thought was, ‘Not another bloody social media fad!’

My second thought was, ‘I ignored Twitter for months, only to find it’s one of the most useful things ever.’

Then, when someone claimed Pinterest generates more leads than Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn COMBINED, I had to take a look.

What is it?

Pinterest is an electronic version of the scrapbook you may have kept as a kid.

‘Pinning’ (scrapbooking) is actually quite calming and … fun. Read more

Between Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube, there’s so many social media pies that small business owners feel the pressure to get involved in.  Daily commentary tells us constantly why it’s the best way to reach out to new customers and build relationships with current ones,  and I don’t blame business owners for feeling slightly overwhelmed – after all, you’ve got a business to run in between all those tweets and likes!

And just to add more to your social media to-do list, the newest kid on the social media block is having a moment in the sun, posting some incredible growth figures.  Pinterest, once a niche network loved by brides-to-be has just blown Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined out of the water for referral traffic in January. Read more