Greater Philadelphia Area Office Space

How to Create a Twitter Account for Your Small Business

tweet@aecphilly.com (Raquel Spatzier) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:00:00 EST

Before we discuss how to use a Twitter account, it is necessary, of course, to describe how to create one.

First, go to Twitter.com. After you fill in a name, e-mail address, and password, you will see the screen below:

"Sample Account," of course, will actually be whatever name you enter in the prior page. At this screen, click "next."

Before you proceed, Twitter will first ask to "follow" up to five accounts based on a search for specific people, interests, or topics. You can enter search terms in the field in the top right-hand corner. In this example, we searched for Twitter's suggestion of "Lady Gaga." After you have followed a few accounts, click the blue "next" box as shown by the red arrow.

Then, Twitter will take you to your "home" page. Of course, it will be very simple at this point since you have just created your account. The "timeline" in the main area will show the latest tweets by the accounts you had just chosen to follow.

Now, click on "profile" in the menu bar at the top of your screen. You will be taken to your profile page, which will show your most-recent personal tweets. (Of course, there will probably be none at this point.) Click on the link signified by the red arrow to "edit your profile."

At the profile section, you can personalize your Twitter account according to your business. You can upload your company's logo (or perhaps a personalized image if you are a private consultant), enter your firm's name, list your location and website, and then write a company description in the "bio" field.

Of course, this is just the first step in using another aspect of social media to market your business. In our next post in this series, we will detail the top features to know about Twitter and how to use them.

10 Ways to Use Your Small-Business Facebook Page

tweet@aecphilly.com (Raquel Spatzier) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:00:00 EST

1. Offer discounts and special offers that will be advertised only on your Facebook page (and communicate this so people will have a reason to "like" your page and "follow" your feed).

2. Add photos of your products, staff, and events to the Photos tab in the top-left menu below your page's main picture.

3. Create a tab with a text-based document that provides further information on your products and services and more specific information about your business and expertise.

4. Upload videos, commercials, and similar recordings to a section of the page, all of which are listed in the upper left-hand corner below the main picture.

5. Post relevant links to your blog posts, notices of promotions and sales, and general articles of interest about your industry on your Wall.

6. "Like" and follow other pages in your sector or industry - as long as they are not competitors. Find relevant groups, pages, and communities, and participate as your page there in helpful, positive manners. (A tax attorney might find a Facebook Group or Page in which people are discussing tax law and asking questions about tax credits.) Offer free advice to showcase your thought leadership and get readers to click to your page.

Before you start commenting, it is important to switch your Facebook settings so that you are posting as your Page and not as you personally. When you are logged into Facebook in your personal account, you'll see a small, upside-down triangle in the upper right-hand corner. When you click on that, you'll see an option in the drop-down menu to "Use Facebook as Page." Click on that, and you'll see an option like this:

Click "Switch," and when you post on Facebook, your comments will appear as authored by the name of your Page, and anyone who clicks on the link will be taken to the Page.

7. Create a landing page to which new visitors will be taken (rather than the Wall, by default) that will encourage them to "like" your page before doing anything else. The landing page should be visually appealing and, in just a couple of sentences, express what it is you do in a way that entices people to click "like."

8. Import your e-mail address book and encourage friends to "like" your page - but ask only those to whom your page would be relevant and interesting.

9. Add buttons and links to your page on your website.

10. Invite existing clients and other relevant people to "like" your page so that they will share your posts.

These are just some examples of the ways that small businesses and private consultants can use Facebook pages. The full possibilities are limited only by your creativity and time.

Preferred Office Network

tweet@aecphilly.com (G. Michael Howard) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 12:00:00 EST

Recently, we announced that we have joined the Preferred Office Network, an organization that we are now pleased to recommend to our clients. American Executive Centers continuously strives to be a quality resource for people in the Philadelphia region who require furnished office space, virtual offices, and business-support services. And now, local businesses seeking to expand into other cities can easily use the same types of services via our relationship with Preferred.

Preferred Office Network is a network of executive suites in twenty states that allows clients to react quickly and easily to their geographic needs. Whether you require a presence in San Francisco for four months or in Boston for a year or longer, our new relationship provides you with convenience and flexibility.

When firms sign up with Preferred Office Network, they receive the following benefits:

Expanding into new markets quickly and efficiently
Having access to Preferred's Class A business centers
Never having to deal with auto-renewing agreements
Never needing long-term commitments
The need to give just 60-days notice before leaving at the end of any month - and no questions asked!
Paying only for the services you need
Not having to worry about hidden fees, restoration fees, and having the cost of an automatic virtual office added on

Preferred Office Network also offers executive-suite portfolio management as well as:

One Point-of-Contact - A dedicated Account Manager provides quick, effective solutions for your national-expansion needs
One Master Agreement for your entire portfolio - Accelerate your speed to market when opening and managing a new office, and use fewer corporate resources as a result
One Invoice, One Network, and One Bill - Our consolidated bill allows you to see the big picture and focus on controlling costs in a simpler, more efficient way.

We are excited about our new relationship and we encourage you to contact us for more information on the many advantages of working with American Executive Centers and Preferred Office Networks.

Good luck, and continued success!

3 Ways Social Media Can Help Small Businesses

tweet@aecphilly.com (G. Michael Howard) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:00:00 EST

First, social networks have greatly leveled the playing field for this particular medium of marketing. A properly-constructed tweet - through the use of "hashtags" and similar methods - sent by an organization of smaller size has nearly the same potential to reach the target market as one published by a larger competitor. If a start-up creates a Facebook page and gains enough "likes," it can choose a keyword-based Facebook URL to help with search-engine rankings. If the start-up's large competitors neglected to do the same, then the new firm will already surpass them in at least one marketing area.

Second, social media is a method in which to capitalize on "inbound marketing" - the process of making prospects come to you rather than vice versa through "outbound" types of marketing including T.V. commercials and unsolicited direct mail. While the large behemoths against whom small businesses compete spend (and many times waste) thousands of dollars or more on marketing methods that are increasingly less-effective, a start-up can gain leads for a fraction of the price via a strategic social-media campaign. However, it should be noted that while Facebook and Twitter are free, the amount of time needed to manage these accounts is a cost that must be considered.

Third, publishing and maintaining a blog can bring added value to customers and potential customers by providing information that is relevant to your audiences. A blog also has added benefits to your website as a whole -- Google loves blogs, and they often rank highly in search results. In addition, the more that a firm publishes blog posts, the more sales it will generally have - along with the branding that comes from being a thought leader in one's industry. Creating and using a Wordpress blog, for example, is free unless you want to have advanced items like one's own domain and web host. Whether you are located here in the Philadelphia region or elsewhere and whether you are starting a business in law, finance, high-tech or another industry, social media and blogging in many cases make a lot of sense: they are low-cost and effective methods to gain new business.

In this context, American Executive Centers is proud to announce our new Facebook fan page and Twitter account. In our own case, we aim to use our social media communities for the above purposes in addition to serving as a conduit through which our clients can network and receive the latest information to help their businesses expand while cutting costs at the same time. We encourage everyone to "like" and "follow" us today!

The Threat of Password Hacking - Making Passwords to your Online Accounts More Secure

tweet@aecphilly.com (Gwen Donnon) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 12:00:00 EST

For those of us who do most of our financial activity online, such as banking or paying credit cards, as well as opening new accounts or making online purchases, it's a fact that by doing so we make ourselves vulnerable to online hackers who are skilled at accessing our personal information. These people are experts at cracking our passwords to get into personal online accounts. Click here to read the article.

This is definitely worth the read for some great tips on helping you make your online account passwords more secure! We thank Tim and Scott for sharing this article with us, so we can share it with you!

Guidelines for Effective Mass Email Communication

tweet@aecphilly.com (Raquel Spatzier) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 12:00:00 EST

1. Decide on your objectives. Are you looking to promote, motivate purchase, increase event attendance, inform, increase loyalty or encourage more referrals?
2. Make sure your database is current.
3. Make sure your message is pertinent and of interest to your reader.
4. Make sure your emails look professional and reflect your brand.
5. Come up with a schedule for delivering multiple communications.

Note: Keep in mind that you should be collecting contact information from every customer interaction. You can build your list and collect contacts through service or sales calls, networking events and meetings, and website signup forms.

Describe the Immediate Benefit to the Recipients of your Email...

What's in it for them?
Why should they take action to your email now?

Additional Helpful and Important Guidelines to follow for your Email Marketing Campaign, include...

Focus on Delivering Valuable Email Content.

Email content should share your expertise by using facts and testimonials, or giving guidance and direction.
The most common types of emails to send are: Newsletters, Promotions, Invitations, Surveys and Announcements.
Techniques to consider for capturing the attention of the reader include: Discounts and Coupons, Contests and Giveaways.

Brand Emails Consistently!

When designing your email template you should brand emails consistently by including your logo, and using consistent colors and applicable graphics.
Create a call to action for your audience with

                 1) Links to click on
                 2) Information to print out
                 3) Phone numbers to call

Avoid underlining text in an email, if it's not a hyperlink it's easy to confuse the reader.
The key to finding the right design styles and email marketing campaign delivery techniques is to test everything multiple times before sending.
Never send an email without having it proofread first! Be sure to check links, spelling and format.

Determine the Frequency and Delivery Time for all email by creating a Master Schedule.

Determine when your audience is most likely to read the message. (My team and I have found the best days of the week are Tuesday or Wednesday between 10 am and 3 pm.

Make certain the "From" line is a name your contact recognizes.

The "Subject" Line should be short and simple; around 5 to 8 words.
Be sure to capitalize and punctuate carefully and avoid copying techniques you see on emails in your junk folder!

Help prevent your email from ending up in Spam by avoiding the following:

The words: Free, Guarantee, Spam, Credit Card
ALL CAPITAL LETTERS
Excessive punctuation: !!!, ???
Excessive use of: "click here"
$$, and other symbols
No "From" address

Also Very Important...

1) Do not send attachments, rather use a link to a website URL instead.
2) Messages must provide a way for the recipient to opt-out or unsubscribe.
3) Take advantage of reporting and data analysis to measure the success of your campaigns.

If you follow these guidelines and helpful tips, you are sure to be more successful with your next email marketing campaign!

Microsoft WIN 7 - Ready for Primetime?

tweet@aecphilly.com (Tom Heffren) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 12:00:00 EST

While it's fair to approach the new release of Microsoft Windows 7 with some apprehension, Microsoft's new desktop operating system has addressed the problems with Vista and has presented a product well worth consideration. This is a completely newly designed operating system, not a Vista upgrade or revision. From driver support to better battery management, to the most easy-to-use interface Microsoft has ever had, Windows 7 is a powerful, stable, and rich OS that should quickly cause users to upgrade from XP or Vista. I could fill a few pages with the features and benefits of this OS, but instead I'll present two blog postings (this being the first) to briefly cover a few key features that small business users will find desirable. To start, here are a couple of features worth noting about Windows 7...

Windows 7 introduces major changes to the user interface that make the desktop less busy and cluttered, while also providing better system memory management. The first change you'll notice is a redesigned taskbar on the Win 7 desktop. The small, quick launch icons have been replaced by larger icons, and you can "pin" any start menu, program, or desktop item to the new taskbar. If you hover your mouse pointer over the taskbar application a thumbnail view is rendered, which is called "live preview". One click on the live preview and the page opens. This is a useful improvement for switching between applications and - in Internet Explorer or your browser - switching between open websites. Gone is the default on desktop gadgets introduced in Vista (you can easily add). Additionally, dragging any window to the right or left of the screen will open the window to a half screen view.

Homegroups introduces a new way to quickly share documents and Libraries (Shared folder type collections) by allowing members in this group to share and grant permission to their folders and files. This simplifies what was sometimes a non-trivial setup of a small home or office business Microsoft network for sharing documents.

Windows 7 includes the new Internet Explorer 8 browser, which has improved security enhancements including Smart Filter (protects against dangerous Web Sites) and Inbrowsing (which removes traces of visited web sites), and in conjunction with the new taskbar features gives user the ability to easy open and move between open web site pages.

Microsoft has improved the backup feature that is built in to Windows 7, making it easier to use and providing more capabilities. The most significant here, is the ability to easily point and click backup selections at the file or folder level. A quick backup of all files is set by default, but in cases where you have limited storage for backup or only need to backup certain folders, this feature is valuable.

These are just a few of the many new features and advantages to be aware of when using Windows 7. Next month I'll share some insight on a few more worth highlighting.

For more information about Windows 7 visit the Microsoft Windows website at, http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/default.aspx

Latest Google App Lunch and Learn on Us

tweet@aecphilly.com (Dana Long) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EST

Come join us on Thursday, August 5^th from Noon till 1p.m. at the Radnor American Executive Centers location for a COMPLIMENTARY Lunch and Learn session: "HOW TO SAVE MONEY AND REDUCE SPAM USING GOOGLE GMAIL." Learn about the powerful and affordable option the Google Apps platform can offer your small business.

WHAT IS THE GOOGLE CLOUD? - AND HOW CAN IT HELP MY SMALL BUSINESS?
EMAIL: ANYWHERE, ANYTIME, ANYPLACE - With your mobile device or internet access

GOOGLE GMAIL SPAM PROTECTION

We look forward to seeing you on August 5^th!

Latest Google App Lunch and Learn on Us!

tweet@aecphilly.com (Tom Heffren) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EST

WHAT IS THE GOOGLE CLOUD? - AND HOW CAN IT HELP MY SMALL BUSINESS?
EMAIL: ANYWHERE, ANYTIME, ANYPLACE - With your mobile device or internet access
GOOGLE GMAIL SPAM PROTECTION

American Executive Centers is sponsoring Google Cloud/Gmail Lunch and Learn sessions at the following American Executive Centers' locations and the dates and times below:

Location:                             Date:                                   Time:
Marlton                                July 13, 2010                       12:00 - 1:00 pm
King of Prussia                   July 15, 2010                      12:00 - 1:00 pm
Bala Cynwyd                      July 27, 2010                      12:30 - 1:30 pm
Exton                                    July 28, 2010                      12:00 - 1:00 pm
Radnor                                 August 5, 2010                   12:00 - 1:00 pm

Learn more about American Executive Center's private office space in Philadelphia by watching this video.

Google Apps for Small Business

tweet@aecphilly.com (Tom Heffren) — Thu, 13 May 2010 12:00:00 EST

Google Apps is a collection of applications: Gmail, Calendar, Google Docs, Google Sites, and Google Groups. What differentiates Google's applications from traditional software suites is that all of these applications can be accessed with just a web browser - using an internet connection. Additionally, all of these applications are fully integrated and provide collaboration capabilities not only for your network users - but users and clients outside of your network as well. Google offers the Google Apps Suite in two (2) versions - Standard and Premier (also referred to as Google Apps for business). Both versions include the same applications - the difference is storage limitations, advertisements, and security. The Google Apps Standard edition is free, however there are limits on data storage, advertisements will appear when using the applications, and keywords can be scanned for targeting your area of interests. Google Apps Premier edition is $50 per year per user, and data storage limits jump up considerably (25GB for Gmail) - no advertisements are presented, and keywords are not searched for in content.

Gmail, Google's flagship application, comes with 25GB of storage (premier edition) and provides a solid e-mail platform. At $50 per year this application alone is priced considerably less than hosted Exchange or other traditional e-mail solutions. By using Gmail, small businesses can easily tie their domain name to their e-mail accounts - so instead of: yourname@gmail.com , your e-mail address is: yourname@yourcompanydomain.com. With the 25GB of email storage per premier user, Gmail surpasses (by far) all hosted e-mail storage limitations. Google recently purchased Postini, a leading provider in e-mail spam protection. This product filters spam before it gets to your mailbox and is included with a Google Apps Premier account. Additionally, the free product "Outlook Sync for Google Apps" allows the Gmail user to keep Outlook as a desktop e-mail application, while Gmail provides the back-end and easy access to the Gmail interface from any web connection.

Google Docs is a web-based suite for word processing, presentation building, and spreadsheets. As with all applications Google provides, the work is done within the internet browser, and the data is saved in the Google storage cloud. One of the most impressive features of this suite is the ability to collaborate in real time on any document, spreadsheet, or presentation. Multiple users can simultaneously view and edit documents, and the Google user can set different permissions (view only, view and edit) on their documents for other network users and outside collaborators. Although these applications are not as mature and robust as their Microsoft Office counterparts - Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, they do provide good functionality and are far superior in the collaboration features. Additionally, a 3^rd party product called "OffiSync" (available for $12/per year) fully integrates Microsoft Office with Google Docs. This enables users to take advantage of document creation and collaboration, leveraging the best of both software offerings.

Google Apps provides compelling benefits to small business customers - a cost effective e-mail solution, a fully integrated suite of applications that enable collaboration, integration with Microsoft Office and Outlook, and all of this available anywhere, anytime, from any Internet connection. If you're interested in trying Google Apps you can start a free Google Apps standard account and begin testing this software suite.

Coming next month, I'll provide additional information on this application suite and the many advantages and capabilities it provides.

Additional Information Links:

http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/details.html
https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gappssync
http://www.offisync.com/

Good Telecommunications For Small Business Owners

tweet@aecphilly.com (Anne Senski) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST

For most professionals starting a new venture, a good telecommunications framework is probably the one area of the set-up in their business that gets overlooked. It doesn't matter if you're a sole proprietor or a Fortune 500 company, I have come to realize as a veteran in my industry that telecommunications is critical to the success and growth of any business. Why is this so, you might ask? Well, if business development is key to the success of your business, then your accessibility for every prospect trying to reach you is crucial. When a customer comes calling for business, they expect someone to address their inquiry once the call is answered. In the event that their call is greeted by an answering machine, voice mail, or worse, lost in the auto-attendant purgatory, the customer will most likely hang up and call the next company on their list. If you don't have the right teleco infrastructure in place, then you can be certain you are missing out on calls from prospects. In today's economic climate and competitive business environment, no one can afford to lose a single sales call!

As part of your teleco plan, there are two components essential to the system's success. Firstly, you want to make sure you have the right staff fielding your calls - a team who knows you and your business well, knows your schedule and who your VIPS are and how you want their calls processed. Secondly, you have to have the right technology in order to provide your team with the best tools to process this segment of your business. Here are some "must have" Teleco features for start-up ventures...

Live Person to Handle Incoming Calls: This is so important as it provides your company with a strong professional image and gives your prospects a level of comfort, knowing someone is handling their request upon inquiry...or at least the person answering the call is able to answer routine questions without the customer going directly to voice mail.
Call Patching: The ability for your staff to seamlessly "patch" (transfer) a call to you when you are off-site is critical for business emergencies or new sales inquiries. It gives you the freedom and flexibility to step out of your office when you are waiting for an important call and the option to work from another location, if need be.
Voice Mail with Unified Messaging: This feature keeps all of your messages, whether voice mail or email, in one location for you to manage. It gives you the ability to listen to voice mail messages via your email account. (This is one feature I don't know how I ever lived without!)
Find Me Follow Me: Many clients who work with customers and or prospects in different time zones need a way to get these calls transferred to them during non-business hours without giving out their home or cell phone numbers. This feature enables your calls to be forwarded to a different, off-site number of your choice. Again, this offers further flexibility so you can leave your office at your set hours with the comfort of knowing you won't be missing important calls.
Caller ID and the ability to transfer a call from your phone to a third party: This a great feature if you recognize an incoming caller ID and you know it's for your associate. You can simply transfer the call directly to your associate without having to take the call, regardless if your associate has already left the office.

As an expert in office business center management, with extensive experience in telecommunications infrastructures, I hope you can take away and put to use for your business some of the information I have shared that I have personally found vital to the success of American Executive Centers. Check back next month and read about what some of our top vendors want to share. If you have any questions about this posting, please post a comment or feel free to email me at Senski@aecphilly.com

Lunch and Learn Sessions Address Internet Performance Enhancement And Best Practices for Internet Security

tweet@aecphilly.com (Tom Heffren) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST

If you would like to hear more about this topic, I will be hosting a series of "Lunch and Learn" sessions describing some of the recent upgrades we've made to our IT Infrastructure that improve internet performance and increase the level of protection provided to clients in our executive suites. We will introduce our new high-speed FiOS business class service and Fortigate enterprise class firewalls, and describe their benefits to our in-house clients. This session will also provide information on some of the common threats that need to be addressed in protecting your systems, as well as some best practice tips. A complimentary lunch will be served. The schedule for these sessions is as follows:

American Executive Centers Bala Cynwyd Executive Conference Room
12:00-1:00 pm Wednesday, December 2^ndTwo Bala Plaza, Suite 300
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004

American Executive Centers Radnor Executive Conference Room
12:00-1:00 pm Thursday, December 3^rdRadnor Financial Center
150 N. Radnor Chester Rd., Suite F 200
Radnor, PA 19087

American Executive Centers Exton Executive Conference Room
12:00-1:00 pm Wednesday, December 9th
102 Pickering Way, Suite 200
Exton, PA 19341

American Executive Centers King of Prussia Executive Conference Room
12:00-1:00 pm Tuesday, December 15^th1060 First Avenue, Suite 400
King of Prussia, PA 19406

If you have any questions or would like more information about this posting, please post your comments below or email Tom Heffren, IT Manager at American Executive Centers, at theffren@aecphilly.com

Basic Wireless Router Protection

tweet@aecphilly.com (Tom Heffren) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EST

Staying on top of the latest technology, IT changes, alerts, and advancements is an essential requirement for my role as the IT Manager of American Executive Centers. Like many fast-paced industries, changes are constant within the IT world...and it's my job to pass this information along to our clients as part of our commitment to their success. With the recent launch of the AEC Blog, I will be sharing IT news and information on a monthly basis with the intention of bringing valuable knowledge to our visitors. Below please find some helpful news and tips related to securing your small business technology from hackers.

Today small business owners increasingly depend on technology and the internet to manage their business and clients. Until recently, large corporate environments have been the target for hackers and other malicious efforts. A recent gathering of experts speaking at Visa's 2009 Security Summit agreed that today "smaller businesses offer a much more attractive target than larger enterprises that have steeled themselves with years of security spending and compliance efforts." http://www.darkreading.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=215901301

Although many small businesses may be protected in their offices with business class firewalls, many use laptops that are also brought into their home for use. Home use of the internet typically involves using a wireless router that needs to have security set both on the wireless capability and for the network as well. By default, the security settings are not usually set on most routers. Below I have identified some basic best practice settings for wireless routers to better protect the computers used on your home network. (Although a variety of wireless routers are available for home use, most of these are consistent in the type of settings that can be configured. I'll describe some basic settings that you should use, and you can then refer to your wireless router's documentation for the specific steps required for your router)

You can gain access to the Login Screen for your wireless router by typing in the IP address from a browser. There are typical IP addresses used by most of the routers (e.g. 192.168.0.1, 192.168.1.1) and a default User Login ID (usually "admin") is used to login and configure settings. Once logged into the router, you should set a good password for the "Admin" ID. This is typically done under an "Administration" menu item. Additionally, there should be a setting for "Remote Management" which I recommend setting to "off" or "disabled". This will limit management of the router to local network users.

To avoid intruders accessing your wireless network connection (WLAN), you should configure your wireless setting options (usually under "basic wireless settings"). Here you will find an option to create an SSID name. This is the name that your wireless router will broadcast to wireless devices within the range of the router. I recommend that you record this name and set SSID broadcast to "disabled." This will prevent unauthorized users from sharing your WLAN. A setting for network authentication and encryption should present several choices for encryption (listed here from weakest to strongest level of protection):

WEP (64 Bit) - Weakest, but better than no encryption
WEP (128 Bit)
WEP (256 Bit)
WPA-PSK (data encryption TKIP or AES)
WPA2-PSK (data encryption TKIP or AES) - Strongest

Choose one of these methods and configure this according to your documentation - an encryption code, key, or passphrase will be used to configure the encryption depending on which method you choose.

As a final recommendation you can look for a setting on the router (usually Advanced WAN settings or WAN settings) named "Respond to Ping on Internet WAN Port". Set this to "disabled". This will prevent your public IP address from being exposed to hackers.

For more information or for IT assistance contact Tom Heffren, IT Manager, at theffren@aecphilly.com.