Recommended: Live Drive
Published May 24, 2011 | 
A technical recommendation; a long-time client just lost several months of medical data from a crashed hard-drive and has to re-enter it from printout. It will cost them $1000′s. I hate to see that.
If you are *not* running a web-driven backup solution then go set one up now; they are reasonably priced, effective and protect from exactly this problem. Here’s my favorite. I am paying about $17 a month for over 350gb of backup and online storage. There are plenty of other services, I researched quite a few, and in my assessment, this one was the best.
Live-Drive is cost-effective, easy to set-up, works on both mac and pc, and allows web-based access to files.
http://www.livedrive.com/?tid=3XJRWCF7
Once installed, it has a pretty easy to use control panel with two major services:
The briefcase service maps a web-folder to your computer as a network drive, works with mac or pc…or even FTP, so if you use Linux (like I sometimes do), you can set up a script to ftp to it as well.
Plus, there is a web interface on livedrive.com that will allow you to access, download or even view some files on-line. So, if you are ever at a client’s site, or friends, and forgot something, its there if you can get to an internet connection.
We are most interested in the back-up services. They are pretty easy to configure. At install, a wizard will walk you through set-up, and if you ever need to change settings you can open the “live drivecontrol panel” from your start menu and modify the backup settings in the services tab.
Click the “manage backup settings” you will get a file tree. To make sure that you get proper back-ups, you need to know where your various software stores the information you want to back-up. In current windows software most information is stored under the user directory under “appdata” but some older programs (like the medical billing program this client uses) store data in directories off the C:\ drive or elsewhere. You can usually find out where data is stored by looking in the software’s preferences or settings. If you have trouble, contact the vendor, or let someone like me know, who can probably find it by remote desktop if needed.
The first back-up may take several days to run, so just leave the computer on, after that, it runs small changes and goes much more quickly.
If you don’t like LiveDrive, use something, just make sure you back-up your work.
You ARE what you PUBLISH
Published June 15, 2010 | You ARE what you PUBLISH. Think about that.
In this Internet world, so many of us are interconnected through social media and I want to encourage my clients and friends to think about what they publish online. Publish what you want to publish, I am not suggesting that you censor yourself. I am making the radical assertion that you want to be responsible and conscientious about what you publish.
With the flattening of communication so we all have the power to reach hundreds, if not thousands, most of us are suddenly and irrefutably accountable for what we publish on-line.
For example, I was reading on Facebook a note from one of my former youth (I was a youth adviser for a while) that was a rant, full of 4-letter words about something they thought was out of line. Even if their Facebook settings publish that only to their friends, maybe one of those friends has a feed out to other sources. Its hard to control where information on the Internet winds up.
Think about it. Its not uncommon for employers and HR folks to go to Google or Yahoo and type in the name of a candidate, their city, and a few keywords. Right or wrong, its common practice, and since the information is in the public domain, its fair game. Try this interesting exercise. Go to Google, type in your name, city and something about yourself that you might put on a job application and dig around a bit…
Even if your various profiles are not public, when you write status, share thoughts, comment on-line and publish videos, you are publishing to the largest interconnected, grass-roots network the world has ever known. One of the most beautiful things about the ‘net is that information is free – so no, you don’t get to control where the things you publish wind up.
The power at your fingertips is immense, humbling and staggering. “With great power, comes great responsibility.”
Yes, I will continue to write technical posts for every-day people on this blog. Next we’ll get into the basics of reading analytic data. I am also going to provide some coaching and reflection about wielding this great power that we all suddenly find in our fingertips through Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Wordpress, Blogger, Google Connect, Yahoo Groups and more!
So, when you next click “Publish” – remember, the great power the Internet offers is a mighty double-edged sword.
“With great power, comes great responsibility.”
Next up, free options for web analytics.
Posted in Social Networking, Strategy | 
Facebook, Myspace, Social Media, Strategy, Twitter, Website Planning, WordPress | 
Leave a commentInfluence: The Best Little Sales & Marketing Book
Published June 6, 2010 | I consider this to be the most important strategy book in my library. Robert Cialgini defines six ways humans influence each other. It is the best perspective I have ever read on how we influence each other’s decisions and attitudes. Just read it.
If you work with other people at all, in any capacity, it will provide tools and resources to help you. Or, if you want to understand how other people influence your own choices, it helps there too.
| Here’s a link to order a copy at Amazon. A knowledge of the six “weapons of influence” is useful not only in a proactive way, but is also helpful to improve our awareness of when the principles are influencing our own choices. |
Influence discusses the six “weapons of influence” and how they impact our decision-making.
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I highly recommend this book to anyone in business or who is trying to collaborate and work with clients or peers (so pretty much everyone).
Posted in Social Networking, Strategy | Influence, Marketing, Strategy, Web Design, Web Marketing, Website Planning | Leave a comment