TECHS Tip Archives - Page 4 of 4 - Technology Solutions

SSD or HDD

Solid State drives and why they are the biggest upgrade for your pc or laptop.

Are you the sort of user who finding simple things like starting your pc or laptop seemly tend to take too long? How about having outlook, internet explorer, excel or word and many other applications opening at that first boot in the morning?

You might as well go make a hot cup of coffee cause of the long wait. Most people tend to think when this happens it’s time to ask advice from that friend who’s in the IT Industry. Just upgrade the memory some tell you or just buy a new computer.

The fact is if your machine is from mid-2006 onwards it’s still cheaper to buy a new SSD drive and gain the performance like a new machine from this 1 simple upgrade.

We had a high usage client in the office recently. This user had high outlook usage which included large outlook files and multiple accounts loading. Before the upgrade it took from seeing the windows 7 boot logo to windows desktop and all start up applications being loaded and ready to use over 3 minutes. We replaced his normal spinning hard drive with a solid state drive.

Imaged his old drive to the new drive and started it for the first time. It took only 45 seconds to desktop. Just using the laptop became snappy the response was immediate. The laptop now seemed like a new machine. This is one example of the difference it makes in the real world.

SSD’s cost is per gigabyte is the only pit fall. An example currently you can buy a 500 GB HDD for only $80-$100. For a 256GB SSD it would cost you around $300 dollars. Now if you have a desktop adding a SSD in the pc and running 2nd HDD for storage in ideal you get the best of both worlds. However if you’re running a laptop you normally want to match GB for GB unless you have an external USB drive. If you’re a business user or home user you will notice upgrading from HDD to SSD more than any other upgrade you can do to your system. This makes for a snappy, faster experience.

Pros: Speed, Durability, Noise, No Fragmentation.

Cons: Cost per GB, Harder to recovery data in case of faulty drive.

Search Engine Optimisation

TECHS Talk, TECHS Tip, Web Design

WHAT IS SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is getting your website, not only into Search Engines, but at the top of results in Search Engines.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Having your business at the top of search results is really becoming an important part of business marketing for a number of reasons. Teenagers for example, no longer look to the Yellow Pages, or read the newspaper for business listings, but simply Google what they want. If another business is at the top of the ranking, that’s what they will likely choose.

GETTING STARTED

This might seem silly, but if you don’t submit your site address to Google, it won’t get indexed properly and your site simply won’t show up anywhere near the top.

Don’t know if you are?

Simply do a search in Google for SITE:YOURSITENAME.CO.NZ

SUBMITTING SITE TO GOOGLE WEBMASTER TOOLS (GOOGLE)

Go to https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/submit-url?pli=1
Enter in your website URL into the text box then click on Submit Request.

SUBMITTING SITE TO BING

Go to http://www.bing.com/toolbox/submit-site-url
Enter in your website URL into the text box then click Submit.

5 BASIC TIPS

GREAT CONTENT!

Simple, original and real content will win over fake reading stuff nearly every time. Explain what you’re talking about in the best way you can.

PAGE TITLE AND PAGE NAMES

The <title> element inside of your pages is used as a suggestion for the title in Search Engine’s search results. Use it to describe the business and page in a concise informative phrase.

It’s also important to keep the names of the pages simple. If the user is searching for cheese and sees two options, one being blocksofcheese.html or prodid?435435 what do you think they would click?

META KEYWORDS AND META DESCRIPTION

While <meta name=”keywords”> and <meta name=”description”> do not raise your Google Pagerank (website’s “value” in rankings), they help the user click on your page with helpful descriptions from keyword searches.

Info: http://moz.com/learn/seo/meta-description

HEADER TAGS

Wrapping headers in header tags (<h1>, <h2>, <h3>, <h3>) to show their importance will tell Search Engines the important bits of your pages.

SITEMAPS

A sitemap tells Search Engines what pages are your main ones and shows how they are linked together. You could use a generator to make things simpler: http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/

So if you’re in need of some help with improving your search results, or even just some friendly advice, get in touch with us.

To discuss how Tech Solutions can help call us on 0800 878 878 or email office@techs.co.nz.

Facts for Figures

Software, TECHS Talk, TECHS Tip

Most businesses reach a point where their accounts need to be processed by a computer. Selecting an appropriate package can be bewildering and many businesses become ingrained with systems with disparate purposes – the software package only performs basic accounting and a smorgasbord of spread-sheets and manual forms drive the day to day business functions.

This can lead to inefficiencies and plenty of scope for human error. Expending some time on researching applications that reflect the needs of business (combined with accounting functions) will enhance the company’s operations and consequent service to its clientele. Some items to consider when selecting a suitable package:

Pricing versatility – ability to set pricing levels based on customer, quantity, group, discounts, etc. Easy to update and revise.
Point-of-Sale – fast sales processing with barcodes, integrated EFTPOS to ensure accuracy.
Job Costing – create quotes and estimates, easy entries of actuals and materials, comparison of quoted versus actual.
Job Scheduling – assign Jobs to calendars, schedule regular equipment maintenance.
Reporting – reports providing decision making information rather than static facts and figures.
Multiuser – good performance on all network sizes, undemanding of resources.
Most accountants will recommend a package that suits them – choose one that suits your business.

To discuss the specific needs of your business on what the most appropriate, economic and effective accounting package would be for you, please contact our expert, Ian Hannan

Search Engine Optimisation

TECHS Talk, TECHS Tip, Web Design

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is getting your website, not only into Search Engines, but at the top of results in Search Engines.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Having your business at the top of search results is really becoming an important part of business marketing for a number of reasons. Teenagers for example, no longer look to the Yellow Pages, or read the newspaper for business listings, but simply Google what they want. If another business is at the top of the ranking, that’s what they will likely choose.

GETTING STARTED

This might seem silly, but if you don’t submit your site address to Google, it won’t get indexed properly and your site simply won’t show up anywhere near the top.

Don’t know if you are?

Simply do a search in Google for SITE:YOURSITENAME.CO.NZ

SUBMITTING SITE TO GOOGLE WEBMASTER TOOLS (GOOGLE)

Go to https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/submit-url?pli=1
Enter in your website URL into the text box then click on Submit Request.

SUBMITTING SITE TO BING

Go to http://www.bing.com/toolbox/submit-site-url
Enter in your website URL into the text box then click Submit.

5 BASIC TIPS

GREAT CONTENT!

Simple, original and real content will win over fake reading stuff nearly every time. Explain what you’re talking about in the best way you can.

PAGE TITLE AND PAGE NAMES

The <title> element inside of your pages is used as a suggestion for the title in Search Engine’s search results. Use it to describe the business and page in a concise informative phrase.

It’s also important to keep the names of the pages simple. If the user is searching for cheese and sees two options, one being blocksofcheese.html or prodid?435435 what do you think they would click?

META KEYWORDS AND META DESCRIPTION

While <meta name=”keywords”> and <meta name=”description”> do not raise your Google Pagerank (website’s “value” in rankings), they help the user click on your page with helpful descriptions from keyword searches.

Info: http://moz.com/learn/seo/meta-description

HEADER TAGS

Wrapping headers in header tags (<h1>, <h2>, <h3>, <h3>) to show their importance will tell Search Engines the important bits of your pages.

SITEMAPS

A sitemap tells Search Engines what pages are your main ones and shows how they are linked together. You could use a generator to make things simpler: http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/

So if you’re in need of some help with improving your search results, or even just some friendly advice, get in touch with us.

To discuss how Tech Solutions can help call us on 0800 878 878 or email office@techs.co.nz.