For example, say I want to forward all of my email from (1) JasonIsTheMan@gmail.com to my (2) jason@jasonhobbsllc.com

I would just need to set up a forward with in the Gmail interface for JasonIsTheMan@gmail.com.

This is a pretty simple process once you understand how it works and by the end of this post, you should understand how to make it happen.

1. Login to Gmail in your choice of Browser
2. Click this right side of screen
3. Choose the Forwarding and POP/IMAP Tab
   
4. Click the button to add a forwarding (email) address
   
5. Fill in the new email address, this is the (2) email address in the example above
   
6. Click Next
7. Click to Confirm your forwarding address
8. You will then get this message: A confirmation code has been sent to verify permission.
9. This means that an email was triggered to your (2) email address.
10. Here is the email, it’s from the Gmail Team

(1)email has requested to automatically forward mail to your email address (2) email

Confirmation code: XXXXXXX (7 numbers)

To allow (1) emailto automatically forward mail to your address, please click the link below to confirm the request:https://isolated.mail.google.com/mail/vf-32a507619-jason%40jasonhobbsllc.com-XXXXXXXXXXXUtlIG4k6mGNhyY5A

If you click the link and it appears to be broken, please copy and paste it into a new browser window. If you aren’t able to access the link, you can send the confirmation code 1736486 to (1) email.

Thanks for using Gmail!
Sincerely,
The Gmail Team

The key here is to click the link in bold

Once you have confirmed control of your email, by clicking the link in the email, you are ready to setup the forward.

Return to the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab and click the second option, use the first drop down (labeled (2) email address in the image below), to choose the email address you want the email forwarded to and then use the second dropdown to choose how you want to handle the inbox of (1) email.

You have these options for the inbox of (1) email, you are choosing how you want to handle the mail there, keep a copy, archive a copy, or delete the copy:

Once that is done, scroll to the bottom of the tab and click save.

Have questions? Let me know in the comments

The post Forwarding emails in Gmail appeared first on Jason Hobbs LLC.

Stop selling stuff.

The first point in Carmine Gallo’s list, is to stop selling stuff. Stop talking at customers and start talking with customers. Remember: We have 2 ears and 1 mouth. Any small business or organization with goals involves relationships.

Unleash Inner Genius

Empower your customers! Take a cue from home improvement stores and help your customers do more. Someone once said that persuasion is understanding. With this philosophy in mind, help persuade your customers to understand more about the unique problems you can solve for them.

Enchantment Has Pillars!

Mr. Gallo names the pillars likability, trustworthiness, and quality.   For those already being likable, trustworthy, and delivering quality consistently: a sigh of relief. It’s a mouthful but it works.  Rinse, repeat and all that.

Are you on pace to your Goals and Objectives for 2012? Focus on the point of the whole exercise. Your customers.  How can you improve their lives?

My Two-Cents

Can you improve your customers connections with their loved ones? Its not hard to see opportunities to accomplish this. For example, nursing homes offer opportunities for improving client experience for their residents (and their families/friends). To build on this, you can create a secure network for your residents to share pictures, links, and conversations with their loved ones.

Just as important for your success?

Simplify the interaction with technology.  . Put an iPad in their hands and see them become empowered. Lines of communication are so enriched and easy to use these days, (not to mention extremely affordable) when the technology is available to the users.

 Follow The Steps Of Service

Approach with a customized, warm greeting. Probe politely to understand the customer’s needs. Present a solution the customer can take home today. Listen for and address unresolved questions. End with a fond farewell and an invitation to return. Guy Kawasaki’s Blog

Fantastic. Not hard to see why Apple’s foray into retail was so successful.

The post Guy Kawasaki + Apple Insights = Your Small Business Win appeared first on Jason Hobbs LLC.

Copyblogger Media at SXSW

I Got (I’m sure someone somewhere will swear I swiped it, but I’m sticking with got or borrowed) the idea from Copyblogger Media

This post is my echo to Copyblogger’s Entreproducer series, “Agile Content Marketing.”

I am following my own advice and publishing this puppy Friday, April 27th at Noon ET. Period. (I was late on this, by just about 10 hours but its live now, so I’ve got that going for me.).

In the end, I’m sure we’ll all agree it was magical.

So, Why Am I (Finally) Writing Content?

By now, I’m sure all Copyblogger Community Members have absorbed that content marketing is core to success, however, in this instance I was spurred to speak. Today, I tuned in for my Copyblogger Crack err, daily dose, ohhh, to find, shock of all horrors, Copyblogger preaching to my choir. (Where Copyblogger’s the preacher and I’m the choir)

Instantly, I knew I was going to have to put this content out there for the world to see. Is it just me, or did stuff just get REAL up in this piece? What if Brian Gardner shares this article? He’d never say anything good about it though. Right?

If HE did, all of CM-Mafia would see it and start shooting people to my lonely, widdle website and put WebSynthesis‘ ability to handle traffic spikes to a REAL world test.

I’m cool. No worries, it’s only my future on the line. It’s normal to realize tightness in my chest as I fall to the floor…

Right?

…
It’s Iterative

I’ve watched the process work like clock work on me over the entire line of Copyblogger Media products.

From their Customer’s perspective: Solve a pertinent problem and follow it up with continual solution improvement across regular updates/refreshes.

Great examples:

All update their product over time, taking into account user suggestions and requests with best practices gleaned from the customer support desk. (Bold, capitalized A, means Affiliate Link, which means: you click, you buy, they pay me for introducing ya’ll).

• Easy Content Types WordPress Plugin by Pippin Williamson/PippinsPlugins (aka Mordauk)
• Restaurant Engine by Brian Casel/CasJam Media
• A Premise Landing Page Plugin by Copyblogger Media
• A ScribeSEO WordPress Plugin by Copyblogger Media
• A Catalyst Theme For WordPress

A StudioPress hooked me with a strong headline, closed me with a common-sense call-to-action and years later I continue to use and affiliate with all their products.

I recently joined the introductory mailing list for the new Blueglass and Copyblogger Media Joint Venture, where they tell you nothing but allow you to subscribe for updates to your email once they are ready to tell you something. Just tell me where to stand. Good customer.

Additionally, I am a long-time lover of Genesis WordPress Framework and accompanied (40+) Child Themes, I use ScribeSEO everywhere (to say, every website I input any content), I install the Premise Landing Page Plugin for WordPress on all sites and Copyblogger Media’s WebSynthesis servers host all my websites.

Jason Hobbs, LLC 3.0

Third iteration redefines small business/non-profit organization user experience.

Digest that. Redefined. Safe to call this my biggest step yet. My goal is to simplify the online experience for small business owners and non-profit organizations. All of us have unique problems that require specific solutions, not to mention goals and objectives.

Perfect Timing

I’ve enlisted Bruce Tang Design and Copywriter Denise to help bring my vision to life in creating Jason Hobbs, LLC 3.0, by redesigning the LLC website and product offering.

My goal?

Show fellow small business owners and non-profit directors how to accomplish the same for their organizational goals.

Things Done Changed

Thanks to the awesome folks at FreshDesk, Jason is poised to take customer support and turn it on its head (Jason finds that Jason likes talking about Jason like this).  The plan is for you to get answers to the questions you care about most as a small business owner or non-profit marketing decision maker and accomplish that Simply, Affordably, and Successfully.

To be clear

LLC Redesign Goals: Simplify. Convince, Convert. White-space is good.

Home Page Design Options:

• Choice of Child Theme or Dynamik Skin
• $100/hr for Bruce to modify choice of child theme or dynamik skin
• Fantastic $1,000 Design by Bruce Tang Design (My Choice)

My Pitch:

I’ve prattled on long enough.  The point of this exercise?  Very exciting happenings on behalf of small business owners and non-profit directors by Jason Hobbs, LLC.  Want to be a part of the BETA? Contact Me.  Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

The post Ready, Fire, Aim appeared first on Jason Hobbs LLC.

“I feel the need, the need for speed.”

This post touches on my hosting recommendation, websynthesis by the Copyblogger Media people.   All small businesses and non profit organizations require hosting for their website, I haven’t tried them all, but I have tried most.

I have the attention sp.. Ooh Glittery!

In other words, I have a very short attention span and even less patience online. Which makes me normal since short attention spans permeate the interwebs. Your site visitors (aka your customers) are no different, so asking customers to wait for a page to load is not a good idea. They do not stick around or return. In the online world, speed is required and a lot of that speed, not all, but a lot of it comes from Hosting.  Which is latin for:

Hosting Is Super Important

When I first dipped my toe into the online waters, hosting was not my concern. Price was my only factor when choosing hosting, lower the better and less is best. After running into my first server issue, followed by multiple emails, hours researching how to fix it myself, and long phone calls with support chasing my tail. The realization dawned on me that customer service and expertise were actually more important to me than price when choosing hosting. I had zero interest in learning the intricacies of hosting and servers and….associated gobbledy gook. So I accepted that service and expertise were key and before too long, I even got the drift that page loading speed is just as important.

WebSynthesis

Aka, Jason’s Happy Place Disclosure: I am not an affiliate of WebSynthesis WordPress hosting solution, but only because the affiliate program isn’t active yet. I am an affiliate of services and products I believe in and websynthesis fits that to a “T”.

The Point

Three reasons I recommend Websynthesis to anyone looking for awesome, hands-off hosting.  Which just happens to be every small business owner and non profit decision maker I have met.

1. Performance

Its fast, but don’t take my word for it. Visit my site, go to Copyblogger, StudioPress, Entreproducer, WebSynthesis, etc.  They all load without hesitation. Previously, I tried hooking up W3-Total Cache Plugin, its a fabulous plugin that works very well. It was the equivalent to my trying to negotiate for my life in Mandarin. (Scary and frustrating).  Websynthesis requires me to activate the W3-Total Cache Plugin with a click, and then import all my settings with a click.

Two-clicks, no muss, no fuss.

2. Security

I just want to be protected. They have a plan and they execute the plan. If you want technical specs etc, get them here. (I read through that stuff when I need help falling asleep)

3. Expertise

Cody, Jerod, and Derick have been awesome.  Sure, we have grown apart since my account got migrated and situated but I know they are there if I need them. They answer questions without condescension (Trust me, my questions, both pre and post sale, made it quite clear how ignorant I am about servers) but more importantly, they get it right and let me focus on my business. We never get to talk anymore, maybe I should email them just to say hi.

Just Do It

My point?  They just lowered their pricing for the base plan, which will be MORE than enough for most any business starting out and will stay that way for quite some time for a majority of businesses. Only $27.00 per month for fantastic hosting and the peace of mind it brings, I’m telling everyone I can.

Without hesitation.

The post Hesitation Kills appeared first on Jason Hobbs LLC.

This is important, so please stop multitasking for a sec and read this.

In addition to all the great features Premise already has, people can use the new and improved version of Premise to:

1. Build rock-solid membership sites with WordPress
2. Take recurring payments with automated access management
3. Automatically drip content out over time
4. Securely sell ebooks, software, and other digital downloads
5. Confidently create private forum areas with vBulletin
6. Quickly set up password-protected content libraries
7. Easily build check-out pages for PayPal and Authorize.net
8. And it still works with any WordPress theme or framework!

Now, this is the really important part…

Premise is now a complete digital sales and marketing system for WordPress, but instead of raising the price right away, we’re offering the Ultimate Plan for Premise 2.0 for $70 off the regular price of the old Premise! 

Here’s why…

We’ve been pretty busy at Copyblogger Media, so Clark and Rafal haven’t finished the new site that shows all the new features.

Instead of holding out on this awesome release, Brian wrote a post for Copyblogger that details all the new features and benefits, and mentions the promotional discount.

Thing is, once Brian and Rafal finish the site, the deal is over and Premise 2.0 jumps up in price by $70.00, but don’t take my word for it, read CopyBlogger’s post by clicking the affiliate link below.

Premise 2.0: The Complete Digital Sales and Lead Generation Engine for WordPress

The post Premise 2.0 | So much more than Landing Pages appeared first on Jason Hobbs LLC.

Nice talking with you on Twitter. How does Catalyst compare to Genesis & Thesis? I’ve been using Genesis almost exclusively

I’d love to hear your thoughts on it all, as it seems you’ve been using several different frameworks, so have a better point of reference.

Im really curious to know if I should look at a different framework for my clients, one that will speed up my development time, easy to change the design/layout/widget areas, etc., has solid internal coding, and good SEO.

My clients are local small business owners, so having an attractive website that ranks at the top of search for their local keywords is of most importance.

Thanks,

@SpearsMarketing

Hey Seth, thanks for asking!

Let me begin by clearly stating that I’m an active affiliate of both Genesis and Catalyst, if that offends anyone then stop reading this comparison.

With that said, I do have a documented obsession with WordPress Themes.

When it comes to Genesis and Catalyst; I love both themes, their support, and the companies behind the themes.  I own the developer option from each as well.

Manual Or Automatic

Adopting a WordPress premium theme for personal use is akin to choosing between manual and automatic transmission.  In this metaphor I view Genesis as the manual transmission.  Very powerful, built to be driven by specialists at high speeds, where the learning curve for a noob-off-the-street can be quite steep for customization.  As for SEO, I linked below to a review done by Yoast, a respected 3rd party and developer of a Premium SEO plugin, etc.

In my experience, the Catalyst Theme is akin to the automatic transmission.  Hop in, buckle up, check the mirrors, and go where you want to go.  Custom Layout for a Page you just thought of adding to your website?  Crazy simple.  So simple I can do it; AND add custom widget areas to the layout with ease.

SEO with Catalyst?  Couple things, it works for me, but I am not Yoast.  I found I have options with Catalyst however, since there is a single kill switch for all SEO options in Catalyst to allow use of a plugin for SEO that you prefer.  You can’t go wrong.

Below is a short measure of the tape for each theme, and here is my other response to the questions.

End User Tip

Catalyst and Genesis will work well for any end user. Especially when you throw in the WP101 Series WordPress plugin to help end-users lay a solid foundation and get more from their WordPress website.

What Did I Miss?

Let me know your questions in the comments, your choice, ask follow-ups to Seth’s question or let me know your questions for future Q&A’s in this series.  Click Catalyst or Genesis to get a copy for yourself and let me gain a few bucks in the process.

The post Q&A: Comparison of Genesis, Catalyst WordPress Themes appeared first on Jason Hobbs LLC.

I’ve observed three successful strategies for serving these two markets.

1st – Developer Focused

Building with developers in mind is how the Thesis theme by Chris Pearson took the community by storm.  Boasting clean code, speed, and designed to simplify the process for designers, Thesis delivered a sound starting point, which drastically simplified their process of building amazing websites for businesses and organizations.

The Thesis theme for WordPress was gobbled up by many end-users (me included), due in large part to @Pearsonified having the developers legitimately cosigning his theme.  I had the basics at my disposal, but very little beyond that without additional investment on my part.

2nd – The Middle Ground of Mass Appeal

Genesis lies somewhere in the middle of an awesome starting point for hardcore developers and a turn-key solution for the noob-turned-web-person to take care of their goals.

Genesis courts and promotes the top developers (and designers for that matter).  In my humble opinion. they also boast two of the top developers in the field, @BGardner and @NathanRice.  Genesis was built to compete with Thesis for the top developers and learned to leverage Child Themes to gain a huge chunk of the end-user segment.  I had more control and a TON more starting points with the Genesis Child Themes but I still felt constricted because the custom post types, custom widget areas, and the other accoutrements of the top WordPress Developers was still out of my grasp.

3rd – Converting Noobs to Heros

Catalyst, went after the end user from a whole different perspective. Before Catalyst, as an end-user, I was stuck with what I could get.

“What I got,” was dependent on my resource levels (think money and time), the standard setup of the themes I found in my searches (which were limited), along with the amount of time I was willing to invest into the research required to secure the info necessary to make a successful decision.  Find the right option to accomplish my business goals.

Of course, I could always learn to code. An invitation extended to me by all theme shops at some point in my support conversations with them.

It was a question of support versus customizations.  I didn’t grasp the difference for some time, but I quickly learned there is a big price difference between the two.  Hiring a good developer is never cheap, all are terminally busy, so your time frame must be on their schedule.  This arrangement works for some and fails for other end users.

Normal folks do not want to learn to code, it is not feasible. They want to capitalize on their business savvy.   Not navigate the gruesome learning curve for internet savvy.

It’s no longer necessary, the Internet exists to simplify small business success.

Not get in the way of business success.

My Top Features of Catalyst

• 200+ Page Catalyst Cheat sheet
• Front end, visual CSS Editor
• Custom page layouts
• Custom widget areas
• Custom hook boxes
• 22 skins (with more on the way)
• Child themes starting to roll out
• The Promise of Catalyst 1.4

There is still a learning curve, but it’s the equivalent of learning to drive an automatic versus going back to school to learn to rebuild engines or transmissions.

What Did I Miss?

Let me know your questions in the comments, your choice, ask follow-ups to Seth’s question (you are reading part 2 of my reply), here is part 1. You’re also invited to click Catalyst or Genesis to get a copy for yourself and let me gain a few bucks in the process.

The post Building WordPress Themes For End-Users or Developers appeared first on Jason Hobbs LLC.

Questions?

Let Jason know in the comments below.

The post Add A PayPal Button To Your Small Business or Non-Profit Website appeared first on Jason Hobbs LLC.

Questions?

If you have further questions let Jason know in the comments to this post.

The post Add Image Gallery To Your Website appeared first on Jason Hobbs LLC.

My answer, in one word:  WordPress.

Here is a WordPress installation tutorial I wrote in January of 2011.  At this point, it’s useless.  Oh, it was great for a few minutes, but time flies in the WordPress community. (Page.ly, mentioned below, installs WordPress automatically, updates it automatically, backs it up automatically, well, you get the picture.)

2 Reasons for Building Your Small Business Website Using WordPress

• The community
  The community surrounding WordPress is phenomenal.  Then you factor in the support offered by the multitude of top premium theme providers, which is phenomenal and comes in addition to the basic WordPress community support.  (I have personal experience with the awesomeness from Catalyst, Studiopress,  iThemes, Headway, Press75, and Thesis)  It’s a documented addiction on my part.
• The Process
  This means WordPress continues to grow and evolve over time, so we WordPress users have that going for us.  There are regular security updates along with major “point” releases, such as WordPress 3.0.  As the landscape for small businesses online continues to evolve, I am comforted by the flexibility and talent associated with the WordPress Industry.  Simplifying the process for publishing one’s content, either personal or professional, is something I continue to attribute to the WordPress community.

So in the spirit of open source, here are the first 5 steps to building your small business website.  This puts a top notch website at the disposal of your small business and hosts it, covers your domain, etc for a yearly total under $700.00.   (Plus your time spent setting it up and then managing and maintaining said website over the year.)

Step 1: Pagely

[$19.99/month for basic plan] Signup for Hosting through Jason Hobbs, LLC Reseller Account

For your small business website to be accessible to the world, you need to host it on a server.  Pagely is the best WordPress hosting solution that I have found, hands down.  And I have looked high and low.

Yep, I am well aware of the various thirty-cent options that are available across the internet.  You get what you pay for and while I know that Page.ly will never be perfect, I also know its value in making my site faster and more secure is money well spent for me, because its money spent on my customers.

Here is why:

• Security by Firehost, the web’s most secure provider
• Speed
• Built specifically for WordPress
• The Hosting control panel is part of the WordPress backend, in the form of a WordPress plugin. Genius!
• Simplicity of adding Google Apps for your business (Google Apps Free edition is what I use)

I no longer dread setting up someone with hosting on my reseller account (Once Page.ly allows me to apply for and then setup my reseller account that is) becuase Page.ly makes it all easy and they support you throughout, actually taking it beyond that and offering some of the most aggressive customer service I have found. (that is totally a good thing btw) You can sign up for Page.ly WordPress Hosting

Step 2: Catalyst Theme

[$97 for personal edition and $174 for the developer edition]

I’ll keep this simple, with Catalyst you are in control of your website.

• You want to build it yourself? Not an issue.  With a minimal learning curve, you can make changes and updates yourself.
• Robust support community
• Documentation and tutorials
• Comes with a 200+ page Catalyst Cheat Sheet which offers a TON of additional value at no additional cost
• Click Here to get Catalyst

Step 3: ScribeSEO

[Options from $17/mo up to $97/mo | $ Back Guarantee | Signup Here]

Easy content marketing and seo help for publishing your content to the internet.

This is a fantastic plugin that doesn’t get near the recognition it deserves since it can fill a lot of gaps for a small business starting out online without the budget to spend on other SEO tools.  ScribeSEO will help you get going and then you can add other tools or consultants as you have the need and the budget.

ScribeSEO helps you:

• Optimize content faster
• Choose great keywords
• Preserve reader engagement
• Build quality links
• Increase targeted traffic!

Step 4: Premise

[$85 and $165 options] | Get Premise Here

Landing page software has never been this easy, thanks to Copyblogger Media, landing page creation has leapt years ahead of where the natural progression would be at this point in time.

• Includes graphics for use on your landing pages,
• Copywriting advice from one of the top sources in the world
• The plugin iterates over time.  They just launched a new version of Premise (1.1) with a bunch of new stuff added.
• Premise makes split testing a snap.  A million times easier than it should be at this point in time, imho.

Step 5: Google Analytics for WordPress

[Free WordPress plugin and Google Analytics is Free as well]

Say what you want about my level of skills (or lack thereof) but before this plugin, I had a lot of trouble just trying to get Google Analytics setup, much less to actually work over the years. That is the main reason I moved away from the extensive and free Google Analytics solution to the paid, getClicky analytics solution.

At this point, I have Google Analytics on my main site, with more sites to come very soon.  This plugin has exceeded my expectations.  Simple to use, does what it says and it is a free solution available from one of the cornerstones of the WordPress community.

Coming asap: Testimonials Plugin

[Free but currently unsupported]

This is the best testimonials plugin I have ever run across, by a WHOLE LOT.  Likewise, testimonials are a HUGE component to small businesses successfully marketing themselves online.

Sadly, this WordPress plugin is no longer being supported by the folks that wrote it (something to do with the WordPress Plugin submission process or something).

Which means I am going to have to find and compensate a WordPress Ninja to help me provide support for the plugin going forward.

If you know a WordPress developer, that has the skills to do this, let me know in the comments or by emailing me here.

Why I must fork and continue the plugin:

• Pictures! You can upload the person giving the testimonial’s image, use their Gravatar (haven’t been able to get that to work yet), or link to an image already on the web.
• Easy styling with minimal understanding of CSS
• Multiple Widgets Available across your small business website
  • Which is huge when using the Catalyst Theme EZ Pages
• Stupid-simple creation of a dynamic Testimonials Page

Let me know in the comments if you are interested in using this plugin, it’s the plugin I use for my Testimonials on my home page and testimonials page.  I will get you a copy of the forked plugin, free of charge.

You Can Do It

I know these tools work.  I use them to cost-effectively manage my small business website and engage my community of customers.  Of course, if you are looking for help, I love to help!

The post Build Your Small Business Website appeared first on Jason Hobbs LLC.