ZenDesk Alternatives – Web 2.0 Help Desk Software List

Posted in: Blog, Business Advice by chadConnects on May 18, 2010 | 6 Comments

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I’ve been using ZenDesk for a quite a while now and really enjoyed it. They kinda decided to beat up on their customers by changing pricing and there has been a lot of flack in the community for it. Since I just recently finished a bunch of research on what types of help desk software is out that that’s worth anything at all, I thought I’d pass my list along to anyone who is currently figuring out what type of helpdesk software they’re going to use:

ZenDesk- reinventing how companies support & engage customers. Has an iPhone app -pretty cool.

Vision Help Desk- kinda hard to take them seriously with a site design like that but seems like a pretty good product nonetheless. I really like the GoogleApps integration & the migration tool coming from other help desk software and discount for doing it!

Tender Support- These guys look they really understand simplicity. Probably the closest in look-n-feel compared to Zendesk. Kinda looking forward to the trial myself.

HelpSpot- Beyond efficiency is their slogan. Not sure what to make of that but this thing seriously looks like a tricked out help desk support suite. Looks like you can integrate this thing with just about anything out there.

TeamSupport- Support software that lets your team work together. I like pretty interfaces and this one seems like it has that. I kinda want support to “feel” good, so customer don’t hate you when they’re going through it. Most support systems “feel” like death.

Kayako- Speaking of support desk that have a bad “feel” and look like they’re left over designs from the 90s, this one is it. However, it must be pretty cool to someone in some way because I see this thing darn near everywhere! Why? Don’t know….

Cerberus- These guys just seems like really cool developers. Just reading through the text and how they put everything up on GitHub is downright cool. Looks like a cool product but the user interface will probably keep me away.

Yes, I know there are a few other help desk systems but I’m just being opinionated and showing you the ones I thought were cool or HAD to be on the list. If you really want to chime in with your favorite help desk software for the rest of the world to see, use the comment form below.

Multitaskings Suck!

Posted in: Human Psychology by admin on March 24, 2010 | No Comments

In an original article published on ScienceNewsDaily.com, there is evidence that multitasking makes you worse at everything at the same time. The article was titled ‘Divided Attention: In an age of classroom multitasking, scholars probe the nature of learning and memory‘.

Here’s one of the interesting parts:

“Heavy multitaskers are often extremely confident in their abilities,” says Clifford I. Nass, a professor of psychology at Stanford University. “But there’s evidence that those people are actually worse at multitasking than most people.”

Hilarious right?! You probably know ‘that guy’ in your office, huh?

Original article here in case you ARE that guy and don’t know it.

3 Skills You Need To Be An SEO

Posted in: Blog, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) by admin on March 23, 2010 | No Comments

Search Engine Journal published an interesting article for SEOs about what it thinks are 3 critical skills you need to be a pro SEO. I really enjoyed the article and thought I’d highlight them here because it kinda helps you understand what I do here at this company and the skillset it requires.

You have to be able to effective communicate strong thoughts and messages.

This is true of all marketing but in the context of an SEO it’s really about copywriting, talking with other site owners you might need a link from, my client’s potential customers & copywriting whether it’s email copy to try and get the link or on-page or on-site content.

You need to be able to understand the logic behind Google’s algorithm, website architecture and the interconnectedness of the web to be a true SEO. You might know the basic rules for SEO, but you can’t be advanced in SEO for a very long time by only knowing ‘the rules’ as they are set today. This year, Google will change their algorithm about 550 times. That’s more than 1.5 times each day!

This is so true. So many beginner SEOs just learn some basics, have some results and then think they walk on water and start getting clients. That could be you. What you need is someone who can react to what they’re seeing, keep their eye on the market and basically know when to make moves and what moves to make. Experience matters but only if you’ve taken that time to watch trends and try different reactions to them with your link building.

You also need to understand that your rankings in the SERPS will not always change overnight. A few factors involved in your ranking include i) aggregate traffic and ii) search traffic relative to your search ranking.

Geez, this one seems like common sense to me but you kinda have to explain it to the client. Just think it through, if you could get that #1 ranking in Google would you even want it? What that means is anyone else could just come along and usurp you when they decided they wanted it. You gotta work for it and that takes time. Generally, the longer it takes you to get there, the harder it should be for someone to knock you off….if you’ve done your job thoroughly.

Original article here

Be sure to check out my site for Phoenix search engine optimization information if you need to take your online business to the next level.

Phoenix Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Posted in: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) by admin on March 18, 2010 | 1 Comment

Phoenix search engine optimization (SEO) is done here. Does that we I can only work with you if you’re local? No. We can optimize for the entire internet. However, I specialize in what’s called ‘local seo’ which basically means if you have a local business here in Phoenix and want to bring more customers to your door.

Let’s kick some butt together! Fill out the contact form now!

Phoenix search engine optimization

Facebook & MySpace are GOOD for Youths Development

Posted in: Blog, Social Media by admin on January 31, 2010 | No Comments

“Though parents often have concerns about letting their teens use social media Web sites like Facebook and MySpace, a new study by University of Virginia psychologists suggests that well-adapted youth with positive friendships will use these sites to further enhance the positive relationships they already have.”

The reason this is so interesting is because I don’t really think it JUST applies to youth. I think it’s safe to say good relationships you have as an adult can be carried over into the social media realm. And, if that’s OK with you, why can you use it to grow your business? Good people hang out with good people and when you give them a good experience, maybe they can be your customer? Isn’t that kinda the whole point of social media done “the right way”?

Check out our Phoenix search engine optimization company or read the original article here.

Your Brain Can’t Handle Your Facebook Friends

Posted in: Blog, Human Psychology, Social Media by admin on January 30, 2010 | No Comments

Mashable.com has an interesting post about Facebook friends and your brain:

Ever heard of Dunbar’s Number? According to British anthropologist Robin Dunbar, it’s the cognitive limit to the number of people you can be friends with. The number is 150, meaning your brain can only handle that many friends, and — shockingly enough — it also applies to Facebook.

When I read about this stuff, it always brings me a back to that Malcom Gladwell book. I think they even borrow some examples from his book as well. Either way, it’s still pretty cool to see Dunbar’s stuff getting applied in a social media situation since that’s all the rage nowadays with internet marketing types.

Of course, you can still use a Fan Page or Group on Facebook to grow your business if you know what you’re doing. Even it you don’t, just create one and invite a few people. It can’t hurt and it’s free. Or, if you want to have someone from our company help you out, check out our Phoenix search engine optimization here.

Local SEO

Posted in: Blog, Social Media by chadConnects on January 5, 2010 | No Comments

Great little article that talks about predications in 2010 on local SEO. I think he’s right on a lot of stuff and this is gonna be one of the biggest in my humble opinion:

Reputation Management Wars
It seems like everybody’s working on a reputation management system to help SMBs get a handle on how they are being presented on relevant sites across the Web. Merchant Circle, Marchex, GetListed, Palore have all either rolled out or announced efforts in this area.  Expect to see big publishers and SMB ad sellers like ReachLocal, Webvisible, Yodle, etc. try to figure out how they can play in this space to create more value for advertisers.

I’m hoping to get an invite to Beehive personally as it looks pretty sweet. It would help me manage all my client campaigns pretty easily. Check me out if you need Phoenix SEO…or any SEO really.

A Facial Expression Is Worth a Thousand Words – Now Use That!

Posted in: Blog, Human Psychology by chadConnects on December 29, 2009 | No Comments

Interpreting this facial expression correctly (as a „baffled” expression) is very difficult based on this photo alone. When showing the corresponding video sequence, however, recognition becomes easy, which underlines the importance of the temporal dimension for effective communication.

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany, found out that we are able to recognize facial expressions in motion — for example in a movie — far better than in a static photograph. The video sequence needs to be at least as long as one tenth of a second to gain this dynamic advantage.

Original article here

Bottom line for marketers here is that if you aren’t using video marketing in your marketing strategy, you’re losing out. It doesn’t have to be golden produced video for it to communicate however so don’t go talking yourself out of it before even trying. Get your butt down to the Best Buy and pick up  The Flip Mino HD and you’re good to god. If you suck at improving, write a script out that describes the problem the user is having and then solve it for them. Then, mention you have a product or service that makes it easier.

And most of all, be genuine. Don’t try to be a TV commercial. You’re not. That’s good. USE that. Keep it real.

I do video marketing at my Phoenix SEO Company if you ever want to explore this with your company. We usually do 2-3 min infomerical type stuff with a wide distribution channel of over 100+ sites. It works when done right.

The Psychology Behind Link Giving Explained in Plain English

Posted in: Blog, Human Psychology by chadConnects on December 20, 2009 | No Comments

Broken down; many of our actions are guided by emotions that originally fueled by thoughts brought on by stimuli around us. These actions in turn have results, that often fuel future thoughts, and thus the cycle continues.

Original story here
Really neat piece that mixes SEO with psychology. Very interesting, well thought out points that flow in a nice manner. I wish I could say more but I really recommend you just read the original article. I just wanted to put it here in case other SEOs stumbled across my blog and wanted to learn more about stuff like this.

Learn more about about my Phoenix SEO company by visiting the rest of my site. I use this stuff daily.

You Should Encourage Your Jerk Customers To Complain More?

Posted in: Blog, Business Advice by chadConnects on December 19, 2009 | 1 Comment

Robert East, Professor of Consumer Behaviour at Kingston Business School, said it made financial sense for firms to encourage complaints because it helped them to improve their goods and services and could even lead to increased sales.

His review of the latest trends, called ‘Analysing Customer Complaining’, commissioned by the Institute of Customer Service, found that companies who are adept at monitoring customer satisfaction and are able to put things right can repair the damage, especially as vocal critics are often keen to make positive comments too.

See original story here

Well, this guy has a point. Often, people don’t speak up when they’re happy or just slightly unhappy. It’s always the people with hot tempers who start running their mouths and it’s sometimes hard to take them seriously with all that yelling.

The part about them using negative word of mouth and coverting them to positive word of mouth customers is an awesome idea. Yeah, hearing customer complaints and taking them to the bank is obvious. But getting them to turn the corner and be your evangelists of sorts is a GREAT idea.

Check out his 3 point checklist on how to do this right.

Phoenix SEO is what I do in case you’re interested. Seo is about so much more than search engine optimization when applied to a business. Just as this is a strategy, so it SEO. Choose wisely and win.