Please do come along. Hope to see you there.

That’s it — a free e-mail marketing account forever. The only restriction seems to be on importing lists — for that you’ll have to upgrade to a paid account — but if you’re building your marketing list from scratch, or just want to give e-mail marketing a whirl it’s a great option.

But hurry… the offer only runs until 31 August — get your free account NOW!

Benchmark Email has whitelist agreements with major ISPs so our clients can enjoy industry-leading deliverability. Use one of our 100+ professionally designed email newsletter templates or one of your own for beautiful permission-based email marketing campaigns. Track the performance of your email blasts at a glance with our charts and graphs that are populated in real time. Easily set up, organize, and leverage your mailing list to boost your email marketing into overdrive! Your personal hosting area for images to be used in your Benchmark Email campaigns Benchmark Email combines sophisticated features such as surveys, autoresponders, and Signup Forms into one easy-to-use all-inclusive product. Try Benchmark Email for free for 30 days. Check out our features. Create and send emails. Manage your lists. Just sign up. You won’t even need a credit card. Free 30-day no obligation trial

Have you been wondering if you should be on Twitter or how you can use Facebook to promote you business?

There are still places left for Friday’s workshop “Hands On: Your Own Site PR Campaign”. If you already have a website, this workshop will help you get more business through the site using methods that you can do yourself, if you have basic skills in using the internet.

I’ll be take you step by step through:
- identifying your target market and where these people go on the internet
- setting up a Link Building ‘campaign’ (including how to update your own Links page)
- setting up accounts on Social Networking sites and learning how to best use them to promote your business
- identifying potential partnerships with other sites for guest posts and articles to promote your business and your website.
- how to measure the success of your campaign

Please note that you will need to bring your own laptop to participate in the workshop. Click here for requirements.

Due to the great response with these first two workshops we are planning to continue on a monthly basis. the next workshops scheduled are:
- Your Email Marketing Campaign, 4th September
- Your PPC Campaign, 2nd October
- Your Own Blog (date to be determined in September)

Click here to read more about “Hands on: Your Site PR Campaign” or contact me if you want to book or would like further information: 023 8835287 or email ebusiness4@omahonydonnelly.ie.

You can also see more about the topic on my blog: Link Buiding: more than just Link Exchanges

SohoSolo member Caroline Jennings did.  Well, she thought she did. She received a call today from a company that was offering to set up a Google AdWords campaign.  She was suspicious and told them they’d have to talk to her web developer, me.  Luckily I had heard about this company and that they were targeting Irish businesses.

Matchmaker Marketing, based in the UK, are an online marketing company that sets up and manages Google AdWords campaigns for businesses.  They are not Google, nor do they have any special relationship with Google.

See my blog post for more information: Google Will Not Ring You To Advertise On Their Website

Image by Krishna De via Flickr

What’s happening with SOHO Solo?

It’s a question I’ve been asked more and more by members, former members and potential members of the network over recent months, and the truth is I have absolutely no idea.

The last communication I had from SOHO Solo Ireland relating to the future direction of the network was back in March. Since then, nothing, nada, zilch.

At that point the decision was to hold quarterly, rather than monthly facilitated meetings and to encourage informal, member-driven meet-ups on a more regular basis. There was also a proposal to redevelop the SOHO Solo Ireland website to incorporate more social media / networking / community features that would add genuine value for members.

There has been one quarterly session on blogging, but nothing else, and the only development on the SOHO Solo Ireland website seems to be that most of the member profiles have been taken down, including mine… (although I can still log in and edit the details, so the profiles are still in the database).

So essentially I’m asking the same question as every other SOHO Solo out there: what’s happening?

Options for SOHO Solo West Cork

1. We wait to see what transpires with the current SOHO Solo network, and continue to arrange our own monthly meet-ups as usual.
2. We use our established relationships to set up our own independent West Cork network for home based entrepreneurs / businesses – informal, run for members, by members.
3. We establish a West Cork “node” of Open Coffee, applying our own twist.
4. We call it a day and do our own thing.

At the moment I’m hovering between options 2, 3 and 4.

What do you think?

Image by Denis Collette…!!! via Flickr

When: 12:30 on Wednesday 08 July

Where: Kingfisher bar, Celtic Ross Hotel, Rosscarbery, Co. Cork

Subject: SOHO Solo West Cork Open Coffee Club… how do we want to move forward? Anything else you’d like to announce, chat about.

See you there on Wednesday to discuss the way forward for SOHO Solos in West Cork and anything else you feel like talking about… see you there

Tux Paint screenshot

As you are bound to be a computer user if you are reading this I thought I would draw your attention to a great piece of open source software.

As is often the case it is better in many respects than the commercial offerings (certainly if you consider the price!). In addition it can open peoples eyes (young and old) to what is being achieved in the open source world.

In my view open source can and should be the way forward for small and solo busnesses as the size of the community that supports these projects and the very nature of their objectives means that these products are striving for inter connectivity and complience without being tied into any particular operating system or other vested interest.

Tomorrow (June 16, 2009) marks the 7th anniversay of the very first
release of Tux Paint!  To celebrate, The developer has decided to name it “Tux Paint Day,” he’s asking for some  help.

Despite how much people — even my closest friends — love and enjoy
Tux Paint, they have friends who still have never heard of it.
You can change this!  Help me celebrate “Tux Paint Day” tomorrow by
telling just _two_ friends about Tux Paint!

Some things to mention to your friends:

(1) It’s free!
(2) It works with Windows, Mac OS X and Linux
(3) It knows over 80 languages
(4) It’s great for kids ages 3 to 12 years old
(5) It’s easy enough for most adults to use as well (they may need help kids).
and, of course, they can download it right now from:

(5) www.TuxPaint.org

(Oh, and kids: remember to get permission and help installing software unless you are sure you can do it without getting caught!)Also — They’re working on a new version of Tux Paint.  It will have over
a dozen new Magic tools, including a tornado, snowflakes, toothpaste,
train tracks, and a realistic-looking rainbow!

(For the technically-saavy parents out there, drop them a line if you’d
like to help us find and fix bugs!  I’ll tell you where you can download
a beta version.)
–
via -bill- Lead programmer of Tux Paint, and overworked father of a 2-and-a-half year old

For full details on the upcoming workshop – Hands On: Your Own Blog

Future worshops:
- Your Site PR Campaign, 7th August
- Your Email Marketing Campaign, 4th September
- Your PPC Campaign, 2nd October

For details on the entire series: Hands On: Online Marketing Workshops

I am also offering one on one training in Online Marketing and Search Engine Optimisation if that better suits you.  Contact me for more information at 023 88 35287 or ebusiness2@omahonydonnelly.ie

Here’s the SAGE Press Release:

Sage gives Free Accounts and Payroll Software for start-up and small businesses

Sage is giving its software – TAS BOOKS Basic and Quickpay Free to start-up and small businesses Free of Charge.

“We at Sage have been thinking about how we can help in the current recession and it is very clear that there are lots of jobs being lost and hence lots of people that may have ideas about setting up a small business”, explains Liam Mullaney, Managing Director, Sage Ireland. “We think we can help here and we have identified two of our business software applications that could be made available absolutely free to new start-up and small businesses”.

“TAS BOOKS Basic has everything a business needs to keep accurate sets of books without any fuss. It is simple to use and free from the usual accountancy jargon. With more than 25 standard reports, TAS BOOKS Basic helps businesses keep track of their finances. Quickpay Free is designed for the small business that needs a fast and efficient payroll package to take care of all Irish Revenue requirements, including PAYE, PRSI, PRSA’s and BIK (Benefit in Kind). “When times get tough, the best thing you can do to help your business survive and prosper is by making sure you keep on top of your finances – especially the cashflow”, continues Liam. “TAS BOOKS Basic makes it easy to see who owes you money and professional customer statements help encourage prompt payment. Keeping an eye on your outgoings is important too and with this software users can track all their different costs. Quickpay Free is absolutely free for up to 5 employees and this ensures that any new start-up does not have to worry about accurately paying their staff in addition to keeping up to date with their PAYE and PRSI and BIK obligations”.

Commenting on this announcement the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan said “At this particularly challenging time for small businesses I welcome this type of initiative which may prove very beneficial to start up enterprises. Our SME sector is going to play a central role in Ireland’s economic recovery and the availability of key basic software tools, without cost, to start up businesses will be warmly welcomed by our budding entrepreneurs”.

TAS BOOKS Basic even includes Accounts ProcessorTM. It’s what makes TAS different from other accounts software – quite simply, it means even if a mistake is made, it’s easy to correct it – just click, change and save.

“Why are we giving software away for free?”, adds Liam. “Well, we were a small business once. Although we may have grown over the past two decades we haven’t forgotten what it’s like being a small business. We have built our business and our reputation on providing the best tools to help small and growing businesses. We would like to give a little something back to help start-up and small businesses in these tough times”.

Those interested can download and install TAS BOOKS Basic and Quickpay Free very quickly and getting started is easy and straightforward. They can be downloaded at www.tassoftware.ie/free.