5 Quick Tips to help get Website Traffic

Your website is one of the most important aspects of your business.  It is normally one of the first places a potential customer will go to find out about your business, you products and services and you! It is also where many potential customers will find out how to contact you, usually via a contact page but also your other means of communication, for example a phone number or social media links.

The more visitors you have to your website the better your sales and profits (one would hope!). These tips presume you know your niche and your keywords. I also presume that you conduct regular keyword research to stay on top of what's popular within your niche.

1. Make sure you are actually tagging your keywords.
   
   Online, one of the most significant keys to success is getting website traffic.  The more visitors you have, the better your sales and profits.  Presumably you have a niche and you know your keywords, and regularly conduct keyword research to stay on top of what’s popular.  Based on those assumptions here are five quick and easy tips to get website traffic fast!
   
   
   Do you spend a lot of time optimizing your content and then neglect to tag them on your webpage?  Tags are where search engines look and if there are no tags they’ll pass right by your web pages.  Here’s a quick brief on tags.
   
   There are a number of tag types including,
   
   * Title tags.  Title tags are quite possibly the most important place to situate your keywords.  Here’s what they look like - <title>Primary keyword phrase here. </title>
   
   Your title tag is where you place your primary keyword or keyword phrase.  The sentence will describe your business in less than 90 characters. 
   
   * Header Tags.  Header tags are next in order of importance to search engines.  They’re ranked in order of importance and look like this - <h1>Primary and/or Secondary keywords here</h1>
   
         The “1” designates this header as the most important header on the page.
   
   * Meta Tags. Meta tags provide the small descriptive text found underneath the title tag on the search engine results page.  Like title tags these should be kept brief, informative and up to date.
   
   * Alt Tags.  Alt tags are used to provide a text description of a graphic.  Each graphic on your site should have a description and an alt tag. 
    
2. Add content to your site regularly.
   
   Content is essential for traffic and a top search engine ranking.  Content is what search engine spiders look for and index - without it there’s nothing to index or rank.  Give visitors and search engines a reason to visit and index your site. Make a commitment to provide regular, optimized content and your traffic should increase.
    
3.  Procure valuable and relevant incoming links
   
   The more websites which link to your webpages the more valuable search engines perceive you to be, though not all links are created equal.  Search engines give more leverage to links from sites which are popular and credible and from sites which are relevant to your website topic. 
   
   There are different types of links.
   
   - A direct link looks like a basic website address, for example, www.yourwebsite.com
   
   - A text link occurs when the webpage address is embedded in the text.  Readers simply click on the link and are redirected to a new website page. 
   
   - If the link is to an internal web page, for example an article published on a website, rather than the home page, it is called a “deep link.”
   
   
   You can encourage linking to your website by:
   
   * Adding content to your site. 
   * Submitting to article directories. 
   * Publishing press releases. 
   * Blogging and participating in social networking forums, chat rooms and social networking sites. 
    
4. Be Social!
   
   Now more than ever before, internet marketing is about building a community.  Whether you offer a forum on your website or you participate in social networking sites, social networking is a valuable traffic generating tactic.  Sites like Facebook and Twitter can be powerful tools for generating links and traffic to your site – create a profile and then post comments, links to your site and ideas which generate conversation. 
   
   Get involved - many chat rooms and forums are industry specific, find those which cater to your industry, and begin participating.  Speak to and connect with a highly targeted audience. 
    
5.  Advertise for more exposure and traffic
   
   Advertising, when handled strategically, can be used to promote your content and products or services.  PPC advertising is often the tool of choice because you control the advertising budget on a daily basis and have the tools to test and track your advertising efforts.  Once you’ve honed your PPC ads the return on investment can be phenomenal in terms of traffic and purchases.   
   
   I hope that in this blog there are some tips that you can take back to your own business to help gain more traffic to your website. Although no expert, these are some of the things that I have learnt over the years and have helped me with my business.

Why use Cloud Technology?

'Why use cloud technology?'

This is a question I get asked quite often now in these evolving days of technology. I hope to give my personal opinion in this blog whether you agree with it or not.

Cloud technology allows you to work more flexibly, whether you are out and about or sat in your office you can have access to all your documents, files, work etc. Rather than have an existing (possibly expensive) server sat in the corner of an office or a dedicated room a lot of the cloud technology is purchased on a subscription basis, based on the number of users. This means that as things change in a business (staff numbers etc) you will only be paying for what you use.

An example of a popular cloud technology is Office365 from Microsoft that we use here at Convallis Software. As the name suggests this is the familiar Office suite of applications but in a cloud environment using secure servers. Another example is our own product, ConvallisCRM, a customer relationship management solution that has a desktop or cloud based option. Most of our customers are now subscribing to the monthly cloud option which allows the flexibility of usage.

In my personal opinion cloud technology is certainly the way to go for a modern business. If you want to find out more how this works please take a look at the following video from Microsoft showing an example of how it works for a small business in the UK.

What does Database mean to you?

The word database can mean different things to different people. To some a database is their collection of names, addresses and telephone numbers of contacts for their business be it either on a spreadsheet, an address book, entered in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution or as a batch of business cards in a box somewhere.

For others a database is a list of stock available for sale or any list to do with their business.

According to Wikipedia, a database is an organised collection of data. The data is typically organized to model aspects of reality in a way that supports processes requiring information.

If you have multiple databases you sometimes find that information is duplicated or you cannot find the data you are looking for. Here at Convallis Software we are specialists in the development of bespoke databases and can help you get your business databases organised.

If you would like to find out more about how we can help you, we offer a free initial one hour consultation (depending on location) to discuss your personal requirements.

Windows Server 2003 - End of support July 2015

Are you currently using Windows Server 2003? It has been announced that support and upgrades will end on 14th July 2015 - this might seem like a long time away but it isn't. Start thinking about what you would like to do in your business NOW!

The following video will explain more:

If you're unsure of how you would like to go forward we offer consultancy services to help you make the right decision for your business.

Thinking of investing in a CRM? Some things to consider.

Putting the customer right at the centre of the organization is the be-all and end-all of successful Customer Relationship Management (CRM). To do that you have to know what your customers really want and really think about your business and then use that to deliver better products and services, improve customer service and increase sales opportunities yes CRM has a purpose it is not just a concept!

Companies that invest in CRM systems can learn even more about their customers and offer more personalized products and services because they receive relevant information daily in a way that allows them to spot trends.

Implementing new business strategies always includes an element of risk but proper change management practices can reduce this dramatically. The reason many projects fail lies with poor project execution. Many companies have made the mistake of rushing headlong into CRM without a well thought out plan. So when investing in CRM:

1. Have a CRM strategy because CRM initiatives launched without a strategy invariably cause pain. Do not think of CRM as a project separate from your overall business plan. That way madness lies. CRM only works when there is clear understanding of why the organisation is doing it and how it will improve service and loyalty, cut costs or increase revenue.

2. Understand the technology. Far too often CRM is considered an IT project not a business initiative and it should not be thought of like this; but this means that the business has to understand the technology and what and how it can do for them and what it cannot do for them. The greatest success will come from the coordinated efforts business users, IT and supplier.

3. Focus more on business processes than technology. CRM is about an organizations internal and external business processes becoming more customer-centric. Understand your “customer flow”. The systems are merely the enablers, not an end in themselves.

4. Don't try and design the perfect CRM system that will meet 100% of each and every persons wish list and do not expect the new CRM solution to just mirror current business processes. Instead, accept that not everyone can have everything they say they want and use the new system as an opportunity to invent and use new processes that improve customer service, reduce costs and provide better customer service.

5. Do not try to change the whole organization overnight. Go for the highest priority and highest return areas first. Take small, manageable steps not giant leaps and bring the whole organization along with you.

6. Think about the user interface and plan it carefully. For people to use the system, it must be useful to them and easy to use. Every extra field you ask the people to complete, especially mandatory ones, the greater the chance that they will enter garbage or only use the system under duress.

7. Especially if you haven't implemented a CRM system before get help and expect to pay for it even if it is just a day of a suppliers time to go through the issues. They'll see the pitfalls that you can't and you will not waste time and money on trying to do things that can't be done, expecting them to happen in a certain way and then be disappointed or miss out on crucial issues that are essential to successful implementation.

8. Make it somebody's responsibility to own the data, and to make sure that it is correct and complete. Sounds obvious but so many projects just ignore this central detail and CRM systems stand or fall by their data integrity and data quality.

9. User acceptance is the single most important success factor for a CRM system so invest in training. Training is essential to ensuring user acceptance. Never let an untrained employee have customer contact.

What businesses can use a CRM?

When I go out networking and to other businesses about what we do, when I mention CRM (Customer Relationship Management) solutions I often get asked 'Well what kind of businesses use that?' and 'Why have a CRM?'

We have many different business sectors using our ConvallisCRM product. These include sports clubs, retailers, cleaning companies, a pyrotechnic company and holiday cottages. These businesses have a varying number of employees and users of the system.

If you are just starting out in business you may think that you do not need a formalised system of recording your contacts, maybe you keep a box of business cards, a record in a notebook or a spreadsheet. Over time this will become uncontrollable and you could potentially lose some essential information. Getting a CRM system in place early on allows you to keep control of your records from the start in one central location and reduces the need to do something later on when your data may be starting to become out of control.

As your business grows you might end up taking on more staff. A CRM allows you to add additional users (you may have to pay for additional user licenses) to enable everyone in your business access to important client data. This reduces the need for multiple contact spreadsheets - sometimes duplicating data more than once - not very efficient I hope you agree.

Going back to the original question, 'What businesses can use a CRM?' personally I think any size business would find a use for a CRM to help keep accurate records and to have a central database for all their contact data, I say this as we have businesses from one single user to 50 users using our CRM.

Listening to your Customers

What do you do when you receive customer feedback about a product or service you supply?

Here at Convallis Software customer feedback has played an important part in the development of our ConvallisCRM product.

ConvallisCRM has been developed and improved over many years and this improvement is ongoing, quite a bit in part to feedback received from our customers. The software started out as a very simple contact management solution but over time has been developed into a far more functional customer relationship management (CRM) solution.

One example of a feature that was integrated in the software following customer feedback is the 'personal' details section.

Example of Personal information in ConvallisCRM

This feature came after talking to two clients, one runs a holiday let and wanted the medical conditions box to make notes if their clients were disabled or ill and needed and special facilities and/or access. The date of birth feature came from a club that wanted to make a report each month of their member's birthdays so that they could send them a birthday card or special offer for their birthday.

This is just one example of how listening to your customers can allow you to improve a product or service, but don't forget that as businesses we may sometimes get negative feedback. This should also be acted on appropriately and can still help to improve your business product or service.

Are you still using Windows XP?

Are you still using Windows XP as the operating system for your PC or laptop?

In September of 2007 Microsoft communicated their plans to end support for Windows XP SP3 and how that may affect your business.  Microsoft recognizes how integral Windows XP may have been in your operations and valuable to your employees, thus they have provided support for these past 12 years. The time has come for Microsoft and us to invest our resources toward supporting more recent technologies such that we can continue to deliver great new experiences for you as your IT environment evolves to meet the changing needs of your users in this increasingly social and mobile world. 

After April 8, 2014, technical assistance for Windows XP will no longer be available, nor will automatic updates be sent that have helped protect your organization’s PCs (including home users). For specific details, please review Microsoft’s Windows XP end of support information here. 

Microsoft continues to take steps to help all users, including home users, of Windows XP understand what end of support means, when it will take place, and what steps they can take to move to a modern operating system (ie. Windows 8.1) and Windows devices. Therefore, beginning March 8th, 2014, users using Windows XP (Home and Professional editions) who elected to receive updates via Windows Update will receive an end of support notification through Windows Update.   The message will state, “Windows XP End of Support is on April 8^th, 2014. Click Here to learn more.”  While the message is scheduled to recur monthly, users have the option to click “Do not show this message again.”  Enterprises that are managing their infrastructure using WSUS will not receive the notifications.

If you are still using Windows XP now is the time to consider upgrading your operating system, we use Windows 8.1 here at Convallis and can assist with your upgrade decision.

Don't leave it too late and leave your computers vulnerable plus don't forget not all modern software works with Windows XP.

What is CRM?

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. This is an integrated system of managing data which is used to schedule, plan, and control both the post-sale and the pre-sale activities engaged in by an organization. CRM’s objective is to improve long-term profits and growth of a company. Contact activity, indirect and direct sales, tasks and marketing efforts are some of the things that can be covered by CRM applications.

It is believed that CRM systems provide more accurate feedback and better-focused data concerning the aforementioned areas. Reports can be generated directly from the CRM to provided this detailed data.

The first component of CRM that was ever made available was SFA, or “sales force automation”. Automated field service, call centre activity, and SFA were all running down parallel tracks during most of the 1990s and late in that decade all of those began to merge with marketing plans to finally emerge into CRM.

So. CRM is actually not a technology and not something tangible at all. During the dot-com era, many people began to think of CRM as a technology in its own right. There are those who have implemented CRM technology just because they are technophiles or think that any new technology can in and of itself increase their business’ profits. But CRM technology is not about that. Too many businesses start using CRM technology without the slightest idea of how it is supposed to be used, or what the true CRM principles are. This is nothing other than putting the cart before the horse.

CRM is supposed to reflect your methodology of doing sales and marketing and customer service, supported by data and by the interpersonal relationship that you have with each individual customer that does business with you. CRM technology enables a front line person, a sales or marketing agent or a customer service rep, to instantly access all of the most relevant and important data about a client when that client contacts you, and use that data to give a personalized, relevant, and up-to-date response to the client. CRM technology implementation lets you have smooth transitions between stages of a client’s relationship with you both in terms of projects and in terms of the client’s own activity. At the same time, you keep very detailed and accurate notes about every contact with a client.

If you are looking to implement a CRM solution why not take a look at ConvallisCRM and take a free trial today.

Adapted from: http://plrplr.com/89090/what-is-crm-2/

What is Software Development?

One of the services that Convallis Software offers is custom software development, but what exactly is software development?

There are various opinions that I have discovered where some people think that software development and software programming are the same thing, and others that say that they are totally different things altogether.
In my personal opinion they are totally different things, programming is part of the process involved in creating the final software product. Software development is the complete process from inception to installation.

Developing software can be a long process which starts with planning what the software needs to do before even starting coding. The actual programming process can take a long time, and along the way the software needs to be tested to ensure that the software being developed actually works as it should. When programming has finally finished more extensive testing is then carried out to ensure that everything works as it should and there are no underlying bugs. More often than not the final testing before release to a customer is done by someone other that the programmer as they will more than likely act more like a user of the final product.

Once the customer has their software installed they can then test and use it in a working environment which is better than a development environment, there may be some minor adjustments required, but this is not always the case.

If you are thinking of investing in custom software for your business please get in touch to discuss your individual requirements.

Why Have a Website?

The following post was originally written by Richard Isaac on the Convallis Software website in 2009 but I think that the points are still relevant today.

Over the past 12 months I've seen 3 or 4 news articles saying that, shock horror, many UK small businesses don't have a website. One such article put the number at something like 44%, but I suspect that figure might be on the low side.

These days it seems that it's taken for granted that a company should have a website and that if your company doesn't, then it is somehow missing out. I'm not sure that is entirely true, after all there are a minority of businesses for whom having a website is an unnecessary expense, but for the vast majority there are good reasons to have one:

• A simple 'brochure' type site provides useful information about your company, who you are, what you do, where you are
• Marketing your service/product 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• Global as well as local reach
• Allows those customers who use the internet to find you when they need your service/product
• E-shops can provide another income stream
• Low cost compared to a high street shop front

While a website is an expense, there's no getting away from that, site owners don't need that much technical knowledge to get them up and running and so the cost can be much less than you think, but the return on investment could be large indeed, although it may not be something easily quantifiable.

How many times have you searched for a company online, perhaps doing a little research on them before getting in touch? Perhaps you were put off when you found that they didn't have a website because you couldn't find out what you needed to know, so you searched for another company that did have a web
site and found what you wanted. Now just think for a minute, that could easily be a customer looking for information about your company!

Convallis Software offer a range of website packages as well as custom website solutions. Why not get in touch today to discuss your individual needs.

Do you ask for Customer Testimonials?

How do you get an independent review of your business? Are you asking your customers for testimonials?

Testimonials are a great way of getting feedback from your customers and also offer an independent review of the work that you have done for them. If a customer is happy with a product or service and you approach them for a testimonial most are happy to provide one for you so don't be afraid to ask.

Once you have a testimonial for your business make sure that you put them on your website, if you add a link to your customers' website it will be positive for them too as your website visitors might be interested in what they do. Other uses for testimonials are your marketing materials, add quotes to your leaflets and brochures and let your potential customers know what a good job you have done for your previous customers and give them an idea of what to expect from you.

Like to see some of our testimonials? Please check out the links below:

Testimonials

Website Testimonials

ConvallisCRM Testimonials

How to Deliver a Quality Service to your Customers Using CRM

In these challenging economic times we are all aware how important and cost effective it is to retain existing customers and build future loyalty when securing new business.

Many small to medium sized businesses find that as they grow, to ensure efficiency and effectiveness, it is vital to move from informal systems to more efficient computer based records. This helps to ensure that any information that you have is up to date and accurate, contacts are made when promised and all staff can access a central database for consistency.

To deliver a quality service to customers you need to:

• Keep Clear Records: if you want to give a professional service you cannot rely on a messy collection of scribbled notes plus a random collection of sticky notes, held in different places or even by a number of different people! Consistency and ease of access have to be the order of the day. A computer based system can help store emails, details of quotes and orders, notes from telephone calls, letters, appointments etc and recall them at the touch of a button.
• Save Time: you don't need multiple software packages. Use a CRM to store all of your customer or contact information allows you to have instant access to it in one place. This helps save time searching for what you need and helps improve efficiency. A CRM also allows searches to be saved to use again and again.
• Ensure Everyone has Access to Consistent Records: anyone from your business who speaks to customers should be able to access customer records. People are busy and wish to achieve their outcome in a single call where possible, so help them achieve this. All staff involved in service delivery need to know of the promises or deals made, so then can ensure successful, timely delivery.
• Email/SMS: save time by sending messages directly from your contact information. Use mailing lists for sending messages to specific groups and personalise these messages.
• Target Your Marketing: marketing is now probably more vital than ever before, but it can be expensive in terms of both time and money. Ensure that all marketing and sales activities are as targeted as possible by mailing specific sectors of your database.
• Use Mail Merge: set up your own direct mail campaigns to promote your special offers, exhibitions, vouchers or other events. Remember you need a critical mass of people to hear about your offers to help ensure that your marketing initiatives succeed!
• Create Task Lists: start each day with a clear list of things to be achieved and ensure that every promise to contact a prospect or customer by a certain day is honoured. Ensure you never forget that follow up call or mislay contact details again!

If you would like to deliver a quality service to your customers why not consider ConvallisCRM a simple to use customer relationship management solution. Available as either desktop or cloud based solution please take a look at our dedicated website and take your free trial today.

Why Ask for Advice?

In all aspects of running a business there are times when you don't have an answer to a question and you need to ask the advice of an expert - or do you?
With the advent of the Internet and search engines such as Bing, Google, Yahoo etc many of us (me included) look at this as the first port of call to get the answer. Yes, I agree the answers can be there, but quite often there could be conflicting advice as to what to do so you could still be in the same situation as you were at the start.

This is where asking an expert for advice is a great idea. If you have a problem it's worth asking your friends, contacts if they know someone with the expertise that you need and then get in touch to get advice to resolve your problem. I know getting advice from an expert will cost you money, but consider how much time and money you may have wasted looking for conflicting advice online. Sometimes advice is not just for resolving a problem, it's for help in getting a new product or some software that could help with your business growth.

As a business we offer IT Consultancy to help you with not just your IT problems but helping you gain the most for your IT investments. This could be recommending you have some software developed for your business or just some general advice.

If you would like us to come and help you with your IT issues or are thinking of having some software developed to help run your business more efficiently please don't hesitate to get in touch today.

The Down Side of the Cloud

I've been using Windows 8 for months and I'm not ashamed to admit that I like it. One of the features I've found particularly useful is the ability to share settings between different PCs once you have linked your Microsoft account (formerly known as a Windows Live ID) to your PC login.

I regularly use two machines, a multi-monitor desktop in the office and a touch enabled tablet. The tablet is used both in the office and when I'm out and about and having my settings replicated on each machine (particularly IE bookmarks & links) is proving to be a great time saver. This is achieved by seamlessly copying the settings to and from the cloud.

The cloud features heavily in other ways as well, with Microsofts' SkyDrive storage service being pushed as the way to store your documents, photos etc. allowing them to be accessed anywhere. Windows Store apps (formerly known as Metro style apps) also have limited local storage capabilities and are encouraged to store their data in the cloud, certainly for any meaningful line of business applications it will be the only option as databases such as SQL Server can't be directly accessed from the new Windows runtime (although they still can from a desktop application).

Relying on the cloud to store settings and data is all well and good if you've got the connectivity, but it soon unravels when you don't. Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot of people in the tech industry who assume that we are connected to the internet wherever we are all of the time.

Read more...

Just One Reason to use a CRM

Example from ConvallisCRM - keeping accurate records

A recent phone call I received from a life insurance company has prompted my to write this post as it is something I feel quite strongly about.

Just after lunch ABC Healthcare called (I'll keep them anonymous) asking to speak to me. I asked what they were calling for and they were trying to sell me life insurance. I wasn't interested but mentioned that they had called a couple of weeks ago asking the same question and my answer hasn't changed since then. Just after the call the other week I also had a call from a charity asking me if I would like to purchase life insurance from the same ABC Healthcare, of course I said no and told them that ABC Healthcare had already been in contact with me.

What this tells me is that ABC Healthcare doesn't seem to have any sort of accurate record keeping of contacts with people on their database (I don't know how I got on their database but that's a whole new conversation!). If they use a customer relationship management (CRM) solution such as our ConvallisCRM they can keep a record of calls and interaction with people on their database and not waste mine and their time by repeating a sales calls that I said no to very recently. It makes me wonder what types of systems do these companies have in place, from experience many companies have multiple databases containing duplicate records so one person working there will not necessarily see what someone else has been working on and repeat an action. Databases need to be centralised and organisations should have systems in place so that everyone can access the same data, maybe within some sort of authentication as to what they can do with the data, read-only, change data etc.

If you would like to have all your contact data in one place please take a look at ConvallisCRM, we offer a free 30 day trial of the desktop version but are also able to offer a cloud solution from only £20 + vat per month. Please contact us if you would like to find out more.

Introducing our Facebook page

Although we have had the Convallis Software Facebook page for quite a while now I really haven't used it to its full potential for our business. Since winning the social media book I am slowly putting some of the ideas into practice and am starting to see an increase in visitors - although I would still like for the 'Likes' to go up, but more things still need to be done.

I am hoping to continue to post useful articles related to technology, plus some useful pieces of information about what we get up to here at the office. I have also added a contact form, therefore if you have a question you would like to ask or just want to get in touch you can directly from the page.

Social Media - When's the Best Time to Post?

I've just been adding a few things to the Convallis Software Pinterest boards and came across an interesting pin about when to post on social media. (sorry forgot to save pin, but interesting facts all the same!). As a user of various social networks I think I may have to take another look at the times that I post on the different networks as there are best and worst times for publishing posts.

The infographic showed that Linkedin users were more likely to view posts early in the morning - before 9 am or between 5 - 6 pm in the evening, in comparison to Google + where the best time to post is between 9 am and 11 am and not at any other time. Just the details for these two sites alone make for a re-evaluation of when to post, never mind for the other social networks that I use so I think I may take a look at my social media strategy and re-assess what I am doing.

What do you think? Do you agree with the infographic posted by socialcaffeine.com or do you have other ideas? What times do you find are the best to post on the social networks and do you find a difference in responses between the various social networks?

If I've Seen it Once...

When I first joined Twitter there seemed to be a lot of excitement around it and I remember that 'join the conversation' was often quoted as a way of encouraging users to interact with each other. But I have to say that four years and four thousand odd tweets later I'm finding it harder and harder to maintain my enthusiasm.

Over the past few months there have been many times when I've taken a break and realised that I haven't started up my Twitter client that day, and then realised that I hadn't really missed it. Was that because I was incredibly busy? Or something else? Well certainly I have been busy and if I'm out of the office I won't bother with Twitter (I've no interest in tweeting while I'm out and about). But many times I think it was more fundamental than that, you see I think I'm getting bored with Twitter.

Read more .....

Data Backup

The single most important aspect of any IT maintenance regime is ensuring that you have regular backups of your data, and that those backups would work in the case of disaster. Ideally a backup should not require the involvement of the single greatest point of failure, us, unfortunately we humans tend to be the weak link.

So for a backup regime to work effectively it's much better if it doesn't require any human involvement. That means an automated system running on a pre-determined schedule. Here at Convallis we have a multi-layered approach to our Backups. For local network backup we use a tool called SyncBackSE which synchronises the contents of specifed folders on our computers with folders on a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device, for instance my 'My Documents' folder is synchronised with a 'Documents' folder on the NAS. This happens every evening as a schedule has been setup to start this process (so that I don't have to remember to do it).

That is all very well but it still leaves us with a problem, what happens if there is a fire and the computers and NAS device are damaged? Or perhaps there is a theft and the devices are stolen? In either case all the data is lost. One approach is to backup the data onto removable media such as a flash drive or DVD and take it off site (to your house maybe?). But that's only any good if the data is smaller than the capacity of the media, and of course it relies on the unreliable human to remember to change the media (and even put it in in the first place) and then remove it from the premises.

An alternative approach is to make use of an online backup service, this immediately gives you an offsite backup. Using the software provided by the service provider the data to be backed up is selected and then scheduled for backup at a convenient time. Most services encrypt and compress the data before it is uploaded to the server, after the initial backup (which obviously makes and uploads a copy of everything) the software will only upload those files that have changed, which can save a considerable amount of space. This is the approach that we've recently adopted, we chose PerfectBackup as our provider and we were so impressed with the service that we decided to become a reseller. 

As well as PerfectBackup, for some business and our personal use we use SkyDrive from Microsoft as an additional backup solution. This is where I like to keep backup of my photographs and important personal documents as well as work documents that I may need when out and about as I can have access to them from my tablet or smartphone.

Please note that as of 1st August Microsoft will have to rename SkyDrive after a legal challenge from BSkyB