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Converting website visitors to customers

| By Sarah
0

This is a guest post by Shabana Shiliwala, who owns The Financial Sort, a financial planning company based in Austin, Texas.

Something about reading online shortens our attention spans. When was the last time you actually waited for a slow homepage to finish loading? If it takes longer than 30 seconds to find the information you’re looking for on a website, do you keep looking or go back to the Google search results to consult a different site (of which there are an infinite number)? It seems there’s an inverse relationship here–the more information is available to us, the less patience we have.

What does that mean for you as a business owner? You’ve got 30 seconds or less to convert visitors to your company website into customers.…


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Customer Spotlight: Sam loves user friendly invoicing

| By Reshma Roy
1

You never know when life is going to throw you in a spot where you have to save someone’s life. Sam Thomas has worked with Red Cross for more than a decade. He now runs Philly CPR Classes, his own venture, where he trains workplace responders, students and many more to be prepared for that moment. He instructs individuals on First Aid, CPR, AED and other life saving techniques.

Sam at training

With people all over the country calling him and numerous training sessions that keeps him busy all day long, he wanted a robust and user friendly invoicing software to help manage his business. His friend suggested Zoho Invoice and Sam says ‘it just clicked!’  He manages his clients list, their payment history, credit owed and tons more on our invoicing software.…


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Push Comes to Shove

| By Sridhar
3

In 2008, I wrote a post Why We Compete with Google, in response to the persistent question at that time “How can you guys survive Google in the online office space?”

My basic argument was that business software, due to its extensive sales and support requirements, simply does not have the productivity or profitability of consumer internet businesses, and could never produce the margins that Google enjoys in search or what Facebook enjoys in social networking today or for that matter how today’s margins at over-the-hill Yahoo and getting-there eBay compare to the still-hot Salesforce. I concluded that post (keep in mind it was written in 2008) with:

When push comes to shove – and there is a lot of very messy push and shove in the business software market -  Google’s resources are going to flow into figuring out how to monetize the humongous traffic of YouTube or compete in online auctions, rather than figure out a way to squeeze a bit more margin compared to Oracle or Adobe or Salesforce.

…


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Customer spotlight: Mobafone simplifies its accounting with Zoho Books

| By Naren
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Mobafone case studyOur accounting software continues to entice the customers by simplifying and streamlining their accounting processes. One of our happy customers, Jerome Schultz, General Manager of Mobafone GmbH found Zoho Books to be perfect for his business needs. His company engages in mobile application development and mobile service consultation. Being in the industry for more than a decade, the company aims to create unique customer experiences in the mobile internet space by developing the most innovative mobile apps.

Jerome is based in Germany but he frequently visits Mobafone’s offices in Thailand and Indonesia. Jerome would be away from Germany for almost half a year which means he has to record mutiple transactions while he is on the move.…


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Zoholics Event Next Week

| By Raju Vegesna
1

Our first Zoholics event in US is less than a week away. If you still didn’t register for the event, you might want to get your ticket right away as we only have a handful of tickets left.

We have great line up of speakers including Paul Greenberg, Gene Marks, Doug Sleeter and our own Sridhar Vembu. We have attendees from 19 states and 7 countries attending the event and frankly, we are surprised by the interest we have seen for the event.

If you are flying in to San Francisco, you can take the free shuttle form the airport to Hilton. If you are interested in the event, but couldn’t make it, we will keep you updated through our Twitter account. All sessions will be recorded and posted on Zoholics site after the event. The hashtag for the event is #zoholics.…


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PayPal Payflow Pro : New addition in the gateway list

| By Reshma Roy
1

Zoho Invoice and Zoho Books now support PayPal Payflow Pro payment gateway. You can configure Payflow Pro as your online payment option and have your customers make online payment on the same page without being redirected to any other site.

​​​​If you are from US, CPayflow Proanada, New Zealand or Australia and your company processes large number of transactions on a daily basis, then Payflow Pro is a good choice for you. Your customers will love you too as they don’t have to wait in the long queue to make their payment.

​​Payflow Pro requires you to have an Internet Merchant Account, essentially an account that handles the funds received via credit card payment from your customer. The real beauty with Payflow Pro is the extensive reporting it offers.…


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The New JOBS Act and Crowdfunding Opportunities for Entrepreneurs

| By Sarah
0

If you own a private company, chances are you have considered going public or plan on doing so after you have accrued enough resources. And if this is your vision for your small or medium-sized business, a new legislative act put in place last week may be the impetus needed to turn that vision into reality.

Known as the Jumpstart Our Business Startups, or JOBS Act, this bipartisan legislative package aims at helping the growth of startups and small or medium-sized businesses, ultimately creating more jobs and boosting the overall economy. The bill consists of measures that reduce SEC restrictions on small and medium-sized companies and create new investment opportunities.

Specifically, the JOBS Act:

  • Eases certain rules and restrictions the SEC imposes on small companies, allowing them to go public with less resources and in less time.

    • …


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