Hallelujah! Google voice is now open to the public. If you're not familiar with it, Google Voice is a new service from Google, that allows you to connect all of your various phone numbers together via an easy to use web interface. Voicemail, call forwarding, all of the bells & whistles, all via one phone number. So, fo instance, my new Google number is (919) 386-9321. So, if you call that number, I can set it to ring my cell phone when I'm out of the office, my office phone during business hours, and my home phone in the evening. I can check my voicemail from any phone, or have .mp3's of my voicemail messages emailed to me. Google Voice has been in a testing phase for several months, but now that it's public, I foresee big changes in how we communicate.
So what does this mean for your business? Well, you now have the opportunity to be even more accessible to your customers. Imagine having a Google phone number for your customer service department that is completely managed online. Now that's power. So, I'm advising all of my clients to sign up for a Google voice number immediately. You can request an invitation, here.

I received a lot of feedback when I last posted about my new partnership with Kall8. Kall8 is a provider of cheap, virtual 800 numbers, as well as online local phone service. From their website:

"Kall8 is the only fully integrated toll-free service that offers traditional 800 service with a complete set of online tools to manage and track your toll free numbers in real time. With Kall8, you can instantly activate and forward your 800 numbers, view calls, and analyze the results of your ad campaigns online. Choose from a variety of toll free numbers to find the perfect one for you!"

The best thing about the service , however, is not the fact that they offer voicemail as well as fax capability, it's not the fact that they offer a convenient online interface. Frankly, the best thing about the service is how cheap it is! For only $2 a month, you can have a fully functioning virtual 800 number from one of the most respected providers in the industry. In the next few weeks, Hibbitts Consulting will be getting a completely new look, as well as a shiny, new, cheap virtual 800 number. I won't even have to raise my prices to pay for it. So, if you want to project a professional image, encourage new customers to contact you, and save a little money in the process, visit Kall8's homepage and give them a try.

I haven't been this excited since I got my first python script to work. The reason is that I've recently been messing around with a technique for creating javascript widgets or badges, popularized by Kent Brewster and known as Case Hardened Javascript. You can read more about Kent's excellent work here. Essentially, case hardened javascript is all about segregating your widget from the rest of the web page. It allows you to embed a widget in virtually any webpage using a single line of javascript, without needing to worry about whether the javascript will have an adverse effect on your page.

The widget below shows all "gigs" posted on craigslist relating to web development in the last 24 hours. The data initially comes from a Yahoo Pipe, which you can access here. That's also the reason why it takes so long to load. The Pipe actually pulls the RSS feeds from each craigslist locale, which means it's accessing something like 75 different feeds. I should probably figure out a way to discretize those feeds. In any case, the widget can be added to any website via this code:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://hibbittsconsulting.com/published/Widget3.js"></script> Feel free to use it on your own site, just copy & paste the above code and place it wherever you want it to show up in your html body.

Keeping track of who owes you money, is always a headache for any small business. Thankfully, there are several helpful tools out there that can help you stay on top of managing invoices. Two web based tools of note are Freshbooks
and Blinksale. Both are simple to use, easy to manage and contain powerful features that allow you to generate invoices, invoice templates, enter paymentsetc... You can even (for a fee) have your invoices mailed automatically. Freshbooks also has a very nice integrated time-tracker that allows you to track the time you spend on specific projects. However, for my money, nothing beats Bamboo Invoice.

You may have noticed the new badge over on the sidebar. That is hibbittsconsulting.com's web marketing score as calculated by HubSpot's Website Grader. From the site: "Website Grader is a free SEO tool that measures the marketing effectiveness of a website. It provides a score that incorporates things like website traffic, SEO, social popularity and other technical factors. It also provides some basic advice on how the website can be improved from a marketing perspective."

So, basically what the badge says is that hibbittsconsulting.com ranks in the top 26% of all websites on the internet in terms of its marketing effectiveness. That's right, out of the more than 182 billion websites on the internet¹, hibbittsconsulting.com is better at gaining access to potential new customers than 74% of them.

It takes a lot of skill, imagination & hard work to build a website that can reach out to new clients, and generate new customers. But that's what you'll get when you contact me to help you manage your internet marketing efforts.

Here's to new customers!


¹Based on the October 2008 Netcraft Web Server Survey: http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2008/10/29/october_2008_web_server_survey.html

One of the most important business tools available is the humble telephone. Even though the internet has evolved into an indespensible tool for business, the phone still has it's place. You customers, suppliers & partners still need the option of speaking one on one to a real human being. In fact, the internet allows small business owners to have professional grade telephone systems for a fraction of the cost that you might expect to pay. Tools such as Skype & Vonage allow your small business to have multiple local telephone numbers, 800 numbers, voicemail, automated call forwarding, etc... for little more than you're paying now for basic service. One tool that I especially like is Kall8.