TeraBytes

Social Media Marketing for 2010 and Beyond

2010-01-04T18:12:00Z

Frank DePalma of Totera discusses Internet marketing changes for 2010 including social media strategies and options.

Now that a new decade is dawning, it is a great time to review your marketing efforts. What worked, what didn’t and what’s changed? The biggest transformation Totera has observed in marketing has been the explosive growth of social media.

Powerful tools such as Facebook, Blogs, and Twitter are changing the way millions of people...

Avoid Getting a Virus, Scammed or Phished

2009-12-29T18:15:00Z

Donna Winter of Totera shares some tips on how to keep your computer and personal information safe online by avoiding phishing scams and viruses. I see the warnings every day but not everyone is following social media to the extent

7 New Features in Your Google Analytics Account

2009-12-03T16:40:57Z

Donna Winter of Totera Web Systems shares an overview of new Google Analytics features.

I feel like I’ve gotten an early holiday gift. If you missed me whining about having to complete a lengthy Google Analytics survey, good. If you caught me whining, I take it back.

It may look like it’s mostly written in Klingon to you but...

What technology should you use?

2009-09-03T16:14:05Z

Frank DePalma of Totera Web Systems, a web development and SEO company shares insight on project development decision-making. Should your next website or software app use PHP, ASP, AJAX, JavaScript, Flash, or another technology that you’ve just heard about? Should it be hosted on your LAMP or Windows server, or reside in “The Cloud?” I recently had a friend pursuing his entrepreneurial spirit who wanted advice on how to create a new interactive website. He has a fantastic idea and some basic understanding about current Internet technologies and...

Ways to Use Twitter volume II: Seesmic and TweetDeck for Power Users

2009-07-24T21:30:27Z

Donna Winter of Totera Web Systems discusses Seesmic Desktop and TweetDeck Adobe Air applications for Twitter "power users."

The differences between TweetDeck and Seesmic are so minor that it is down to personal aesthetic preference and some minor functionality. The two seem to be in a friendly competition to see who can add the greatest features and functionality as quickly as possible. TweetDeck founder Iain Dodsworth (left) and Seesmic founder Loic Le Meur (right) even made a prank video

View Twitter Search Results Along With Google Results in FireFox

2009-07-02T01:11:20Z

Donna at Totera Web Systems shows you how to load up FireFox so you can see Google search results AND Twitter search results for searched items. Mashable shared that Bing is going to show Twitter results along with regular search results in your browser. The problem is they’re currently being choosy about which Twitterers merit indexing; currently it's only the big Twitter accounts/users...

Ways to Use Twitter volume I: Browser add ons

2009-06-26T23:06:48Z

If you don’t know what Twitter is stop reading now and switch to this post Twitter Wave. I was hoping to get through all of the various Twitter tools, apps, add ons, etc in one week but that was a goofy, goofy dream (even though I’m a goddess). I believe I’ve seen about 10 new Twitter tools introduced just since I began on Monday and I’ve realized this will have to be a multi-part report. Browser add on honesty part one: I use Mozilla FireFox. Internet Explorer 8 does have add on capability ...

Using The Totera Project Intranet

2009-06-08T07:28:03Z

A Quick Guide To How We’ll Manage Things Together

There are a million ways to communicate. We call. We email. We send text and instant messages. It can get a bit overwhelming. Projectpath is a web site that’s designed to keep everything in one place. Using this system will…

• Keep all of our communication together over the length of the project
• Organize each step of our process by topic
• Archive all of our progress by date
• Make our project accessible all the time, from any computer ...

Facebook Announces Interactive Ads

2009-06-04T23:12:58Z

Facebook announced today that now their ads can now be customized for Pages and Events.

One way to quickly compare how it’s going to work is to look at how Facebook already allows you to already interact with other items in your right sidebar:

Facebook Page vs. Group

2009-05-29T23:15:57Z

That’s the question of the day. Before Facebook’s most recent makeover, I would have said: Not a heck of a lot. It took me a while to get used to the “new” Facebook but, being me, I jumped right in to figure it out. I now find the differences between Groups and Pages to now be enough to warrant putting some thought into your choice. Facebook Group I will liken a Group to a club. It can ...

Google Wave

2009-05-28T19:01:00Z

There was buzz that Google was going to announce something über-wonderific at the I/O conference. Once again, they fail to disappoint. Meet Google Wave, what may be the epitome of collaborative mashability. Part instant messaging, web chat, file sharing and project management, Google Wave claims it will provide it all plus pretty pictures of the collaborative group to boot.

Twitter Wave

2009-05-20T01:37:15Z

When I first started hearing that Twitter was planning to ask users to pay for their product I thought: Dream on. Nothing kills an online product like giving it away for free then requiring paid subscriptions. It seems Twitter knows that too, as they claim they will continue to provide the basic Tweeting abilities we all love free. Twitter co-founder Biz Stone announced yesterday that they do plan to release Twitter business tools by the end of 2009, which they will charge for. They do not plan to sell advertising but enhanced services like light analytics and enhanced methods for ...

Master of your Domain

2009-05-02T21:40:03Z

What’s in a name?

How strong is your domain name? You’ve spent a lot of time branding your domain. It’s on letterhead, products, emails, and already indexed in search engines.

It is very important to have a domain that represents your company and ideally contain a keyword or two. I have several domains that we use for promoting services. Our parent domain (Totera.com) is what we brand on our letterhead and emails. But we also utilize keyword-rich domains (PortTownsendWebDesign.com, Seattle-Web-Design-Firms.com) to ...

Inserting Hyperlinks in Your Blog

2009-03-31T17:48:38Z

Links are crucial for sharing information, educating your readers about your blog topics and increasing your topic validity in the eyes of the almighty search engines (if done correctly...but that's a whole other blog topic). Not all links are short and pretty and most often it makes more sense to use a few descriptive words or an image to be clear about what you are linking to.

Clarifying our Business Strategy

2009-01-01T09:51:00Z

The past year has been very exciting. By expanding our existing client relationships and forging new connections we experienced double-digit growth for the 4th year in a row. The best business strategy is built on a clear understanding of our expertise and where we stand in the marketplace. Totera's role in the market is to help our customers grow and prosper. As our customers prosper, we prosper. And that is the way we believe it should be. A proactive approach to 2009 As some businesses are cutting costs and waiting to see what happens next, ...

Blogging, Facebook, Twitter and Ning...these are a few of my favorite things!

2008-12-19T03:35:00Z

No, I'm not singing with a Julie Andrews voice (unless your hills are alive with a howling dog named Julie Andrews). I'm sitting here watching the snow fall, amazed that 2008 is almost over, pondering the fun projects I've had this year. There has been concern over the current economic state and that, with the impending Hood Canal Bridge closure, business in our local area could decrease.

How to take a "Screen Shot" or "Print Screen"

2008-11-19T00:36:00Z

Taking a screenshot involves capturing an image of a window or screen and then placing that screenshot into a graphics program for saving. These directions apply to PCs running on Windows ...

Google Site Search

2008-08-04T20:24:00Z

TAGS: Google Site Search, Google Custom Search Blog

I recently attended a Google Webinar on Google's improved Site Search feature.

Site Search is a tool which can be implemented on a Web site allowing site visitors to use a search field to access information and products specific to the site they're on. This is great for potential customers, registrants, etc to find exactly what they're looking for on your Web site. There is an even better bonus for the site owners, though: all search information input is tracked and calculated ...

Washington State Destination Tax Software

2008-07-01T22:52:00Z

As of July 1, 2008, Washington State retailers will need to collect sales tax based on the destination of the shipment or delivery - "destination-based." This only affects shipments and deliveries to locations within Washington State.

Basically, all WA businesses that ship products to WA state addresses are now required to charge the correct sales tax for the destination city. For example, if you are a Washington business and sell an item online that is to be shipped to Bothell, WA, then you will have to charge the same sales tax as any store operating in Bothell. So tax charged to Bothell orders will be different than Seattle orders.

According to the Washington Dept. of Revenue, the tax tables will be updated quarterly.

Totera is currently developing a software solution that will be integrated into an wide range of shopping carts. Our solution will automatically reference the state database to determine the current tax rate based on the shipping zip code and then add the correct sales tax to the shopping cart during checkout.

The Godfather of Search

2008-05-17T07:00:00Z

Google has turned itself into a verb synonymous with "search." Just like we ask for a Q-tip or Band-aid in the United States instead of a cotton swab or bandage, we call our Internet searches "Googles."

Enter the Titanic, because that is only the tip of the iceberg...

Those of us with websites want to be ranked (indexed) high with Google when someone is searching for something we sell. Luckily for us, Google gives us all the tools to figure out how to make this happen--and they give it to us for free! They may change ...