ShiftWeb Solutions

5 Reasons Your Business Should Have a Blog

ShiftWeb — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:02:09 +0000

If you are a business who aren’t completely convinced that having a blog is important, remember this: content is king. It doesn’t matter what you do, blogging will only increase your exposure! Blogging is a fast, budget-friendly way to generate more revenue in the short and long run. A business can benefit greatly by taking the time to set up and regularly update a blog. Here are the top five reasons why blogging is important:

1. Increase Traffic to Your Site

A blog is a great tool to generate more traffic to your business website. A blog that is regularly updated and filled with SEO optimized articles will rank higher on search engines. This means that a potential customer is more likely to see your website when searching for general terms related to your business. In addition, people will be able to quickly share your website with others by linking to it in an email or social media outlet. More website exposure means more people are seeing your information, which will lead to more sales.

2. Increase Credibility

A blog that has well researched information will show your customers that you are knowledgeable in the field you work in. You can also use new blogs to share important up-coming information that relates to your business. This will show customers that you stay informed and up-to-date. A blog is a great tool to set your business apart from competitors by proving that you know more about the topic than others.

3. Become the Expert

While you are using your blog to generate more sales you will also be learning. In order to write informative blogs you will have to constantly research your field and discover new information. Use this information to improve your business and restructure the areas that need work. Blogging three times a week is the equivalent to studying your business field three times a week. Well-informed business owners are better able to serve their customers and increase their sales.

4. Create a Conversation, Build Good Customer Support

Unlike with regular business hours, your blog will be available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Customers will be able to find your business information anytime they need to. The comments section of your blog will allow established and potential customers to offer useful feedback that will instantly give you valuable information to better your business.

5. Be Heard and Keep Them Coming Back

Unlike a typical business website that rarely updates its information, a website with a blog creates continuously changing content. Customers will return to visit your website to read your blogs. This will keep your business name fresh in their minds. Customers will come to enjoy the blog as a source of reliable information. A blog will also make a larger company seem more approachable to potential customers. The more return viewers your website creates the more return customers your business will see.

A blog is a very cost-effective way for your business to increase income. The price of starting a blog will be minimal compared to the immediate results you will see. Starting a blog will create more pages for your business website, which will in turn make your site more visible and desirable to the public.

Need help building content for your blog and website?
Contact us, we have an awesome solution for you!

Why Is Social Media Important For Your Business?

ShiftWeb — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:01:13 +0000

What is Social Media?

Social media is a term that covers both social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin, as well as social bookmarking sites such as StumbleUpon, Digg, and Google Bookmarks. Social media marketing is the use of these types of sites to promote a business. It promotes a business by increasing a site’s visibility on the web, increasing awareness of the business among people of similar interests, provides free traffic, and gains backlinks to the business website.

Initially social media was viewed as a gimmick and not much more than an ego trip for people with too much spare time. The emergence of two hugely popular social media platforms in the form of Facebook and Twitter has been a game changer. The use of social media is now at the heart of all good online strategies.

How does social media benefit a business?

1. Brand Awareness, Identity, and Protection

Social media is a fact of life and increasingly, a part of everyday life for billions of people. A business needs to be where the customers are and create an awareness of its brand. Online is now the equivalent of the old idea of “footfall”. Not being a part of this is to ignore the reality that this method of doing business is very much here to stay. By being part of the online community and creating a “buzz” businesses are able to place themselves at the center of all the activity.

Brand identity is a vital component of any business strategy. Having an active online presence through the use of social media is a highly effective and cheap method of promoting awareness of a brand. Using social media also allows a business to monitor and respond to positive, negative and even inaccurate mentions of a business online.

2. Niche Marketing

The assumption is often made that niche means small. It might often mean small in the offline world but due to the global nature of the Internet niche can often be massive. Conversing and forming relationships online with people of similar interests can be highly lucrative when done correctly. One of the great benefits in this area of social media marketing is the fact that because of the shared interests many visitors are already pre-sold.

3. Site Traffic Generation

Promoting and sharing a site using social media such as Facebook and Twitter can often mean substantial traffic to a site. Reports suggest that in excess of seventy percent of online referrals come via Facebook. Both Twitter and Facebook boast very high click through rates to content mentioned on their platforms.

4. Search Engine Results Pages

Increasingly the major search engines are displaying Facebook and Twitter pages of the relevant search term in their search engine results pages. A Facebook page that is properly search engine optimized is an excellent method of attracting free traffic to a business site.

Social media drives SEO.

Facebook and Twitter are the two main social media agents but there are many more. Google+ is being heavily promoted by Google in a determined effort to get a slice of the lucrative pie that is social media. The use of Google+ and Google’s own domination of the search engine results pages will surely see Google+ become a major force in this area of online marketing. If a business develops trust and offers real value to its online contacts it can greatly improve its bottom line.

A business needs to carefully promote itself online; it needs to offer real value. If a business “keeps it real” in its use of social media the rewards can far exceed anything the offline world could offer. If a business is to survive in an increasingly competitive business environment it simply has to have a prominent online presence. Engaging in social media marketing is at the core of securing a high profile on the Internet. Social media has taken the idea of networking to a far higher level.

Ask ShiftWeb how we can help you with social media marketing.
We designed packages that will add value to your business!

WordPress vs. Tumblr

ShiftWeb — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 15:17:52 +0000

For businesses that use the Internet to reach their customers, blogs have become one of the foundation stones of any good web presence. They give more than just the sales information and introduction to a business that a good website provides, allowing your business to keep customers easily updated on new developments and to become a trusted source of advice. They also provide a platform for a business to talk to customers.

However, there are myriad blogging platforms out there. It can be hard to decide what is best for your business, and difficult to make an informed choice. This article compares two of the most popular blogging platforms – WordPress and Tumblr, in an attempt to make this job a little easier.

Tumblr – Not Just For Teens?

Tumblr is the new kid on the block among blogging platforms. Launched in 2007, it already has as many blogs as WordPress. Attempting to fill the niche between the 140-character brevity of Twitter and the more traditional blog format, Tumblr aims to make it as quick as possible to share content with the internet. However, this is combined with proprietary hosting, which means when Tumblr’s servers go down, your blog goes down, and a lack of customizability. And perhaps irritatingly for customers, you need to be a Tumblr member to comment on blogs. It is currently far more popular with teenagers and college-age adults than with other demographics.

WordPress – Flexible And Lightweight

Four years older than Tumblr, WordPress is regarded as the standard for blogging and content management online. Unlike Tumblr, the blog format is much more flexible in WordPress, and as it is open source software, it is infinitely customizable – anyone can edit the source code. It does, however, require rather more set-up than Tumblr – instead of the instant gratification of the microblog format, it requires a fair amount of configuration for a satisfactory result.

So now you know what I’m talking about, how do these compare side-by-side?

Set Up

Both platforms have a wide variety of included themes, which makes a basic “out of the box” blog easy to create. They’re all rather generic though, so if you’re serious about making your blog one of the planks upon which your business rests, you will need to customize. Tumblr isn’t hugely demanding in terms of web development knowledge, relying on a few basic HTML calls. However, this is a product of the tight boundaries within which Tumblr operates. WordPress requires rather more expertise, as it has moved from being a simple blogging service to more of a content management system. A surprising number of websites run on a WordPress engine, due to its unparalleled stability.

Content Management

WordPress wins here hands-down. Tumblr has almost none of the powerful content management features that make WordPress the system of choice for enterprise-level content management. Being open source means WordPress is completely customizable, so it can meet the content management needs of any business. Attempting to do this on Tumblr would be impossible, or at least incredibly unwieldy.

Design

While Tumblr can seem limited by it lack of customization features, its blogs are often incredibly tidy and streamlined in appearance – it is really rather difficult to have a “cluttered” looking site on the platform. The interface is very user-friendly and easy to navigate. Nevertheless, WordPress offers a clear advantage in terms of design. Though building a site on the platform requires a little more effort, it also offers a pleasantly clean interface with which to get started. Unlike Tumblr, every aspect of a WordPress blog can be tweaked, allowing your online presence to be the visual representation of your business you want it to be, and not one from a template. Additionally, WordPress is W3 compliant, meaning your blog should render correctly on any browser.

Extensibility

When it comes to networking, Tumblr has proven itself to be a very powerful tool indeed – it is excellent for connecting to social media. It also makes it easy for interested parties to follow all of your content using tags and keywords. However, it is worth bearing in mind that Tumblr is a microblogging platform, and as such lends itself heavily to visual media content and providing short bursts of information. Unless you are looking to use Tumblr as a way of extending your social media reach, it may not be enough to support the kind of website you wish to provide. WordPress hits a rare stumbling block in this respect as, despite having a far larger user community, it is not as adept at helping them to build networks. This platform demands more work on the part of the user to connect with their audience, but the potentially high levels of audience participation it allows is likely to be worth the extra effort.

Conclusion

I hope this has perhaps lifted the fog a little on the realm of blogging platforms – now you can enter the dynamic and competitive blogging marketplace armed with the information you need to make a smart decision on how you carry out your blogging strategy.

WordPress vs. Google Sites

ShiftWeb — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 14:58:09 +0000

As an individual user or a small business, an online presence is vital in today’s world, due to the limitless power of the internet and unique opportunities for your individual needs or as a small business. WordPress and Google Sites are two web platforms that give you the option to create a site where you can draw in traffic so that you can reach your target audience easily to sell your products and services. These two platforms are vastly different, and as such, it is important to know the differences so you can make the best decision that will see you maximize your resources and become more efficient online. In this post, we’ll look at a comparison of the two platforms, list their advantages and disadvantages.

What is WordPress?

This is an open-source platform that you can use to build a site or blog. It has become the most popular option for most people looking for an efficient website solution due to its flexibility and the option of it being customizable.

…and Google Sites?

Google Sites is a Google product that’s also used to create simple websites for individuals, organizations, and small businesses. Google Sites is hosted by Google servers, which guarantees a stable internet infrastructure.

Now, let’s look at some of the aspects that both these platforms have to offer, in comparison with each other.

Set Up

Google Sites users are able to set up a site in ten clicks or less. It would take the average internet user less than 30 minutes to come up with a basic Google site, and start posting in no time. WordPress is a bit more complex, and has a higher learning curve for first-time users. The good thing, however, is the fact that while it might take you a bit longer to set up a WordPress site, the end result is that you get a professional-looking site that is detailed and has the feel of a professionally done website. In the end, the time that you spend setting up your WordPress site pays off, and allows you to take full advantage of the endless features that this platform has to offer.

Extensibility and Flexibility

Google Sites has little or no when it comes to extensions and plugins. However, you’re able to embed pictures, video, documents, and other content. WordPress is quite untouchable when it comes to it’s extensibility options. You have the option of adding third-party plugins to your site, which means the possibilities are quite endless. With WordPress, you can have a professional site and make it function however you need it to.

Themes

Google Sites has a variety of themes available that allows you to design your site the way you see fit. However, the number of available themes is limited. The great thing about WordPress is, given its open source premise, new themes are added to the list on a daily basis by developers collaborating on this vast platform. This gives you a wide range to choose from. In addition to the vast number of themes available on WordPress, you can install unique custom made themes by developers, which can give your site complete edge.

Search Engine Optimization

If you’re a business looking to be ranked higher in Google page stats, allowing you to be visible and draw traffic to your site, then you need to have an understanding of what exactly Search Engine Optimization is. This is a way of promoting your blog or site by including links and having more page views to your site. Google Sites may have this optimization, but it’s limited due to the fact that page ranks have more to do with people linking your site to others, and sharing pages from it. Because of the low customizability of Google Sites, SEO is a limited experience. WordPress shines in this area, as most people who visit your site are able to link it due to the fact anyone can comment and share your posts. Also, the low cost in starting up a WordPress makes it a better option if you’re a small business looking to build a site showcasing your products and services on a moderately sized budget.

Organizational Collaboration

Google Sites allows you to build a website that can be accessed and edited by people inside your organization, meaning that various parts of your website can be assigned to different departments, that is if you’re part of a large business with varying inputs and needs. WordPress doesn’t have this functionality, but this might be a good thing due to the fact that there is a central administrator allowed to make changes to the site, giving it a uniform and concrete outlook, compared to people adding and changing site aspects as they see fit.

As an individual or small business owner, it’s important to list the pros of cons of both platforms so that you can choose the one that fits your needs and enhances your online presence in the best and most efficient way possible.

Why Google Apps?

ShiftWeb — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 01:36:15 +0000

Google Apps is a service provided by Google in which several of their products like Gmail, Google Calendar, GTalk, Docs, and Sites are all used simultaneously under one page. These various services can be accessed at anytime, anywhere there is an internet connection. Using this web based tool can be beneficial for your business or organization because it is easily accessible, manageable, secure and free. Also, working with Google Apps makes it simple and possible to work in conjunction with other internet users and requires no hardware or software since it is web based. We outline some of the key features that play a big role in making Google Apps one of the best services out there.

Gmail and GTalk are one of the best webmail and IM services on the internet and offers many perks when using it such as:

-25gb of email and IM storage
-accessible anywhere
-less spam
-less annoying ads
-advanced filter search
-sync with mobile platforms

Google Docs let users edit web based documents, spreadsheets, presentations along with other users simultaneously so the files are always current and updated. Here are some the benefits of Google Docs:

-accessible anywhere
-works across operating systems and supports formats like .doc, .xls, .ppt, .pdf
-upload and share files easily
-share and revoke file access

With Google Calendar you can manage meetings, schedule appointments, share project calendars, and send invitations and RSVPs. Google Calendar is accessible on mobile devices and is integrated into Gmail as well. This service cuts down costs and is efficient for many users and businesses and minimizes IT hassles.

There are many advantages using Google Apps, and your business can have an edge over others when using this service. We, here at ShiftWeb, are a suppporter of Google Apps. It is a tool that should be taken advantage of, especially when it’s free!

WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com

ShiftWeb — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:15:17 +0000

Some people get confused when first learning about WordPress. There is a big difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. Both are brought to you by Automattic, but they serve different purposes. Below you will find the important feature differences:

Wordpress.org	Wordpress.com
Self hosted You will have to download the software and find a server to install it in. Self hosting means you can choose any hosting company to store your files so you can make it available on the world wide web.	Hosted by Automattic No need to find a hosting company because Automattic will store all your files for you in their server.
Expenses Because you have to find a hosting company, this means you have expenses. Hosting with a shared server can be as cheap as $6 a month.	Free Without hosting fees, you can build a website or blog for free.
Full control The small expenses to pay is completely worthwhile because you get full control of your website! You can manipulate, add, edit whatever you need because it is a free open source software.	No control Since it isn't self-hosted, Automattic has full control of the back-end. If you aren't a developer, you may think this isn't important, but when you experience having full control of your own website, you will realize that you just opened the doors to all types of possibilities. With this revelation and depending on your needs, you may not find much use for WordPress.com.
Full theme support A theme is a design you install for your website. Talented developers all around the world have created thousands of themes that you can choose from. You have the opportunity to install any of these themes! If you have development experience yourself, then you can create your own theme(s). You have full control whether you are experienced with web development or not.	Limited themes You only have access to a limited number of themes. Although there are hundreds of themes available to choose from their database, it's still a drawback for those who wish to be very creative or unique. As a developer, you can not design a theme and upload it here.
All plugins allowed Just like the access you have with themes, you have full access to the thousands of plugins that have been created. Plugins can extend your site to do almost anything you can imagine. They can range from tools to remove functionality or it can add functionality. Again, if you are a developer, you can create your own plugins.	No plugin upload Just like the limited access to themes, you have limited access to plugins. If you have an open mind and/or needs that you want to add to your website, you may find that you can not do so because of the limitations.
Ability to sell ads If you are a business, you have no choice, but to use WordPress.org. You can advertise whatever you please.	No ads allowed This drawback alone is enough for ANY business to choose WordPress.org. You can not advertise anything. WordPress.com is limited to blogs only, whereas WordPress.org you can create a website that is much more than just a blog.
Your own brand Again, WordPress.org is perfect for creating a website for your business. As you can see, WordPress is much more than a blogging platform. Many talented developers and web design companies around the world have adopted or converted to only using WordPress because it is a smart and powerful software.	Not for brands If you only want to blog, or if you're not selling or advertising anything, and you do not care about the limitations, then WordPress.com is perfect for you!
Site maintenance With full control comes the inevitable maintenance. Some people see this as a very small price to pay and it is worth the "hassle". Others see site maintenance as a chore. Quite frankly, if you're a business and this turns you off... I'm not sure why you have a business anyway? :) Depending on your needs, site maintenance can actually be very easy and cheap (if not free). WordPress is always working hard to improve so updates come pretty frequently. How easy is it to update the software? It's so easy that it takes about 2-3 clicks of a button. While you may find little problems most of the time after updating, you have to beware that the mixture of certain themes and plugins can cause your site to break. Each case/website is unique, so consult with your trusted web designer if you have questions.	No maintenance You don't ever have to worry about keeping your site updated because Automattic will automatically do it for you. :) You don't ever have to worry if your theme or plugins are compatible with the update and this is perfect if all you want to do is write blogs!

Favorite Typefaces

ShiftWeb — Sun, 22 May 2011 15:23:50 +0000

Here is my collection of favorite fonts. This will be updated whenever I find a new font I love.

Sans Serif Fonts:

The League of Moveable Type | Download Raleway

Find Avant Garde

Andrew Paglinawan | Download Quicksand

The League of Moveable Type | Download Ostrich Sans

The League of Moveable Type | Download Junction

Typemade | Download Josefin

Find Helvetica

Yeah Noah | Download Existence

Download Century Gothic

Serif Fonts:

Find Century

Find Garamond

Find Bodoni

Find Goudy Old Style

Here are a few of my favorite resources for fonts:
The League of Moveable Type
Typekit
Typemade
Google Web Fonts
Font Squirrel
Jabroo
1001 Free Fonts

Favorite Premium Themes

ShiftWeb — Sun, 01 May 2011 20:37:35 +0000

I’m very excited to share with you my favorite sources for premium WordPress themes. I trust these sources and love their work! I wanted to put together this list to personally keep track of all my favorite resources as well as share them with you in case you’re looking to find themes on your own. I’ve also included a few that seem like a great source for premium themes, but I have not used. The websites with an asterisks (*) means I have used their themes and have had great experience with them.

What makes a good WordPress theme?
Themes with state of the art code and smart design architecture, which essentially mean search engines clearly see your content. Another big plus is when the theme is constantly updated and the theme builders fix the bugs when needed. WordPress is constantly updated so it means the theme will most likely need to be updated as well. Great support and documentation is also a plus.

WooThemes*

I wish I started using this site earlier! This is a great resource for developers or people who need access to a lot of GREAT themes. Join the club and get access to a HUGE library of themes with solid code framework. They also provide great support and helpful forums.

Organic Themes*

LOVE their themes. Their designers have a great eye. My first place to look for themes. From their site: “Organic Themes are professionally designed without excessive flashy effects, gradients, drop shadows and other unnecessary added “hormones” of the design world. In addition, our code is clean, easy to understand, and the theme options are not overwhelming. This allows for faster load times, setup and customization of your theme. We believe that less can be more.”

Feather Weight*

I absolutely adore this guy’s work. Allan Cole’s design vision is beautiful and right up my alley. A couple of years ago I used one of his themes when it was free. That’s okay with me that it’s not free anymore, I’d pay $15 for a great theme any day. I also have one of his free themes featured in my “Favorite Free Themes” blog post.

StudioPress*

One of the very first places I went to to find premium themes a couple of years ago was from here. They’ve grown quite a bit since then and they have gained a lot of credibility in the WordPress world. You can trust their design team to provide great themes and support!

Theme Forest*

The founders of Theme Forest, Envato, is a company that I highly enjoy following. They provide so many great things for developers, it’s hard to not know who they are when you’re looking for great resources. ThemeForest features themes you can buy at a great value from different developers. There is a HUGE library of themes to choose from! Make sure you look specifically for WordPress themes because the site also provides themes for other CMS sites. Since each theme is created by different developers, I always look for the themes with good ratings and read the comments from other buyers.

Elegant Themes*

Want access to 60+ premium themes for only $39? This is the place. With a deal that great, I feel like I’m robbing them. “I created this website to provide WordPress themes of quality and integrity. I craft my skins with a goal of simplicity and professionalism and strive to inject each design with a dose of modest elegance.”

Press 75*

“Every theme on Press75.com has been built on a solid code framework which has been perfected over time. For designers and developers looking to customize, you will have absolutely no problem finding your way around.”

Standard Theme

Seems pretty steep for one theme, yes? But I’m tempted to try it out one day. Seems pretty neat. From their site: “Our framework is the perfect foundation for your next web project. For designers, it’s practically a wireframe with a design kit to boot. For developers, it’s well-documented, semantic code, with a user guide to get started.”

WP Zoom

“We provide top quality premium WordPress themes at amazing prices with excellent lifetime support included.”

Obox Design

“Extraordinary Premium Themes – Gorgeous design and functionality that you would normally only be able to attain from expensive, professional agencies. Obox creates plug ‘n play themes, built across multiple platforms.”

Why WordPress?

ShiftWeb — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 18:33:06 +0000

If you googled “why wordpress” you would get an overwhelming amount of articles from all kinds of people about why they love WordPress.

Here are the top 5 reasons on why you should use WordPress. More specifically WordPress.org:

1. Free

WordPress is an open source software and is developed under the GPL. It is free because it has been developed by a worldwide community of developers who love the open source spirit. The software is constantly being improved! You are also free to do whatever you like with the WordPress code, extend it or modify in any way or use it for commercial projects without any licensing fees. That is the beauty of free software, free meaning not only price but also the freedom to have complete control over it.

2. Easy to use

WordPress is not just for experienced web developers. Many people choose to use WP because it is intuitive and easy to use. Someone with little experience can make a professional looking website with little or no help from a professional. Installing WordPress and upgrading from previous versions and other software is a piece of cake. Try it and you’ll wonder why all web software isn’t this easy.

“I’ve tried a few CMS packages back in the day, including Mambo/Joomla, Drupal, PHP-Nuke, Post-Nuke, and countless others. None really stood out to me like WordPress. To put it simply, it just did what I expected. I chose WordPress in the first place because I couldn’t find any better option.”

3. Robust and Reliable

You can rest assured that with WordPress you will be on the cutting edge of the technology. Developers have gone through great lengths to make sure every bit of code is in full compliance with the standards of the W3C. This is important not only for interoperability with today’s browser but also for forward compatibility with the tools of the next generation.

“There is no reason to use anything else because WordPress can pretty much do it all.”

4. Highly customizable, Flexible and Extensible

Someone with little experience can achieve a unique look for their website. There are hundreds of themes and plugins you can choose from (for free) in order to get what you need. If you are a developer, you can modify files to your liking. Not many other CMS offer such customization freedom!

“Why would anybody do 10 clicks when with WP you can do it with 2?!”

5. Security

There are a great number of simple things you can do to make your website/blog secure from hackers or spammers. See this great blog post to read more.

6. Great community

The community is one of the greatest things about WP. The forums at WordPress.org and the other WordPress-related sites contain tons of threads about everything WordPress-related.

“You can rest assured that with WordPress you will be on the cutting edge of the technology available.”

To see more great info on why WordPress is great, check out the following sites:

WPShout.com
Quick list of WordPress.org features

Drop what you’re doing and install DropBox!

ShiftWeb — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 23:53:54 +0000

I get a lot of people who come up to me and ask me for advice on how to organize their business better. For the most part, these are real estate agents that ask me, and they ask me because of my reputation in helping top producers in the business become a little more organized. Real estate agents are great to be surrounded by because they are business minded people who essentially each own their own business and are self-employed. They’re not always the most tech-savvy people, but that’s where I come in.

The very first thing I tell people is so simple.
GET Dropbox.

Dropbox is free desktop synchronization software that lets you store a copy of a file on your computer and then access that same file from anywhere.

You get 2gb of storage for FREE, so there is no need to hesitate. Just do it. Installation takes 5 minutes.

Dropbox works seamlessly and you don’t ever have to think about it. It’s just a simple folder that you keep your documents in on your computer, just like “My Documents” on PC and “Documents” in Mac. I keep ALL my files in the Dropbox folder. That’s it. And that folder will be synced wherever you want it to. My favorite thing about Dropbox is having a piece of mind that all my files are safely and securely stored.

I don’t just recommend Dropbox to small business, but I also highly recommend it to individuals. No need to “back-up” your files on an external hard drive every week or month or so. With Dropbox, it’s all done for you automatically.

Dropbox is GREAT for a team. I used to work with a real estate team with about 5 people. We all had Dropbox installed in our computers. When someone adds a new document or file, it automatically updates the rest of the computers that are synced. No need to ask the admin person for this and that anymore!

After installing Dropbox, now you should organize your files! Stop putting everything in different places! Stop putting everything on the desktop! Create appropriate folders so it doesn’t take you forever to find it next time! It baffles me when I see digital files spread out every where. You can save a ton of time and work so much more efficiently if you just start with organizing your digital files.

I really couldn’t do with Dropbox. Seriously.
And I have no idea why you wouldn’t use it.

But Dropbox is so much more than backing up your files. See the information I took from their site below. It’s simple and straight forward and I didn’t really see a reason for me to rewrite everything they already explain in their website.

Your files, anywhere

Any file you save to Dropbox also instantly saves to your computers, phones, and the Dropbox website.
• 2GB of Dropbox for free, with subscriptions up to 100GB available.
• Your files are always available from the secure Dropbox website.
• Dropbox works with Windows, Mac, Linux, iPad, iPhone, Android and BlackBerry.
• Works even when offline. You always have your files, whether or not you have a connection.
• Dropbox transfers just the parts of a file that change (not the whole thing).
• Manually set bandwidth limits — Dropbox won’t hog your connection.

Simple sharing

Shared folders allow people to work together on the same projects and documents.
• Invite friends, family or teammates to a folder. It’ll be as if you saved the folder to their computers.
• See other people’s changes instantly.
• Create photo galleries viewable by anyone you choose.
• Send a link to any file in your Dropbox using your Public folder.

Dropbox mobile

Apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, and BlackBerry keep your Dropbox at hand, even on the go.
• Bring your files with you when you’re on the go.
• Edit files in your Dropbox from your phone.
• Easily upload your photos and videos to Dropbox.
• Share freely with family and friends.

Your stuff is safe

Dropbox protects your files without you needing to think about it.
• Dropbox keeps a one-month history of your work.
• Any changes can be undone, and files can be undeleted.
• All transmission of file data occurs over an encrypted channel (SSL).
• All files stored on Dropbox are encrypted (AES-256).

Now that you have signed up for Dropbox, check out this awesome article with useful tips from Mashable.