Knowledge Concepts and Solutions LLC

Content Management System using Joomla! TM

2009-06-17T16:23:00.000-07:00

You can easily create a "content management system" when you follow these basic steps...

The software is free, but knowing what to do after downloading your Joomla! TM software is where the basic steps get confusing.

If you read my blog, you know I'm a big believer in intranets and online web portals to improve
collaboration and information sharing.

Joomla is a very powerful software with lots of features including:

RSS feeds
Printable versions of pages
News flashes
Blogs
Polls
Website searching
Language internationalization
Over 4000 Plugins (background extensions) can be added that extend Joomla! with new functionality

Learning Joomla shortcut secrets by video can save you tons
of time and aggravation.

Check out the complete video series,
"The Ultimate Guide to Joomla"

http://www.conversiongeneral.com/joomla/registerjm.htm

and have your new site up in a day.

Looking for an income opportunity? Buy this 7 hour
video series and become a Joomla website designer.
Small businesses are looking for alternatives to
expensive webmasters.

Watch this quick video to learn more...

Don't delay, be a part of the growing internet business
world that is desparate for people with training in
small business online solutions.

Kevin
"The Conversion General"
http://www.conversiongeneral.com

Webinar Tonight-Podcasting

2009-04-14T16:15:00.001-07:00

I just found out that tonight Paul Colligan will
hold a FREE bonus Webinar for all people who have
purchased the Preview Call on Podcast Secrets
and the replay will be available for all who
purchase over the course of this week. He'll
cover how to create a podcast.

If you missed the Preview call, sign up here:
http://ping.fm/4bX7Y

Tonight's event:
What: "How to Create 3 Podcast In 30 Minutes" - The Webinar
When: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM PDT
Where: http://ping.fm/6fO5T

2009-04-12T14:40:00.001-07:00

Happy Easter to everyone. Just finished a great meal, cooked by me :)

Using SharePoint for Project Management

2008-12-22T04:34:00.000-08:00

SharePoint is a great content management platform to do project management. Check out my latest video below.

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Moose Travelers

2008-11-23T05:45:00.001-08:00

Why I love Northern Maine in October.

In San Diego with Frank Kern and Mike Koenings

2008-07-20T19:12:00.001-07:00

A little free entertainment at San Diege charity event sponsored by Frank Kern and Mike Koenings

Organization Growth Video Series

2008-05-17T15:30:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to announce that my Audio-E-Coach Video Series: 52 Tips to Propel Organization Growth, is now available. In fact for a limited time I am offering this 52 week series absolutly FREE. Yes, FREE! I am preparing material for another project and anyone who signs up for this FREE video series may have an opportunity to contribute to a future project I am creating. So take advantage of this series where you will be exposed to over 150 time tested elements that are keys to your personal and organization growth. Register today and start receiving a 5-8 minute weekly video and handout that will propel your organization growth.
Register here

Marketing Unveiled in Atlanta

2008-04-30T17:09:00.000-07:00

What a weekend. I just got back from Atlanta and had such an eye opening experience on marketing techniques for the 21st Century. A most interesting fact is some of the leading techniques at the turn of the last century still apply, the're just being used in a different medium. The principles that Robert Cialdini goes into great detail in his book Influence, are alive and well, especially on the internet. A revolution has started. You need to figure it out before you get left behind. Another BigSeminar has come and gone. I can't wait for the next one! If you aren't selling your products and services on-line, why not? Check out the definitive training system you need by Armand Morin, Internet Marketing Explained.

Organization Growth Strategies

2008-02-21T15:49:00.000-08:00

Recently I had the opportunity to talk with Laurie Taylor, owner of Flashpoint, Inc, a management consultancy specialing in business growth. If you are a small or medium business owner looking to take your company to its next level of growth, you may be interested in Laurie's techniques for growth. You can see a sampling of her approach and techniques by visiting her website at www.igniteyourbiz.com. If you are a CEO looking for the right tools to get you out of chaos and time constraints that are slowing or preventing your growth, you should check out Laurie's site. I hope to do more collaboration with her company in the future because I believe she has a sure winner approach for growing companies.

Mastering an Intranet Strategy Teleseminar

2008-02-21T15:43:00.000-08:00

My thanks to the listeners during my Teleseminar "Mastering and Intranet Strategy" Tuesday night. If you missed the free call, no problem, I will be offering another free teleseminar on March 18. Claim your free registration at www.masteranintranetstrategy.com/ts1/index.html

If you can't wait until then, you may purchase the audio or transcript at:
www.masteranintranetstrategy.com/ts1/purchase.html

Organization Strategy- Marketing

2008-01-27T09:48:00.000-08:00

As you develop and implement Marketing strategies for your business, one of the most effective methods of marketing today is using the internet. If you are not using the internet except as a place to list your company website, you may be missing important sales opportunities.
This week, a major online marketer, Armand Morin released a comprehensive course on online marketing. It's already started to happen. After hearing Armand's final teleseminar training, people were extremely excited. Listen to the replay yourself and you'll findout why: http://www.internetmarketingexplained.com/lastchance.php?af=426110.

After placing their order, people have started receiving "the" box and their initial reaction has been... "Holy crap!" That's the WOW factor that Armand Morin teaches and he has followed his own advice right down to the tee. Take a look... http://www.internetmarketingexplained.com/lastchance.php?af=426110
During this entire week he's piled on some of the most talked about bonuses we've ever seen and people have been racing to get their own copy of the course. Here's a word of caution...
---------------------------------------------
ALL BONUSES WILL BE REMOVED SUNDAY NIGHT!
---------------------------------------------
With over $12,373 of value packed into THE biggest course on the Internet marketing, Armand has gone all out and I highly recommend you take a look asap. He's going to be removing all the bonuses after this weekend including the Video Resell Rights package, his "Persuasion X" series as well the Big Seminar Audio Resell RightsPackage. Go here now, listen to the free training and then take a look at all the bonuses that are included with this course: http://www.internetmarketingexplained.com/lastchance.php?af=426110

P.S Although I only mentioned three of the bonuses in this blog, it's worth noting that there are total of 8 with the whole package.
http://internetmarketingexplained.com/lastchance.php?af=426110

Intranet Launch: Quick Start Kit On Sale

2008-01-18T16:01:00.000-08:00

I have been writing about Intranet Strategies this past month and am pleased to announce my latest digital book, Launch an Intranet: A Quick Start Kit for Small and Medium Intranet Launches, is now available for sale. Clicking on the title will provide you more information and purchase details.

The digital book uses Microsoft SharePoint (WSS 3.0) as the basis for most of the material, but even if you are using a different application, many examples for governance, site management and helpdesk support are applicable.

Don't forget to join me on February 19, 2008, 8PM EST, for a 60 minute Teleseminar on "Mastering an Intranet Strategy" Register FREE

Marketing Training for your Company

2008-01-18T09:57:00.001-08:00

For an interesting approach to on-line marketing for your company
Click Here to read "An Obvious Truth" from Armand Morin

Intranet Technology- A Snap with SharePoint

2008-01-13T10:17:00.000-08:00

Small and medium sized business businesses today now have a great opportunity to build an intranet solution througth Microsoft SharePoint Server (WSS 3.0)and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS 2007).

When combined with the Microsft Office suite, businesses now have a potent combination to improvecollaboration,content management, and business continuity. SharePoint is a user friendly, (with little training required), application that can be implemented quickly at a reasonable cost. The toughest part of a SharePoint implementation is mapping the current and future business processes to the technology. Business are well served in developing their vision, goals and objectives for their intranet site and ensuring management support is in place for a launch and daily maintenance afterwards.

Webpage developmet, wiki's, blogs, content management, archival, and security are just some of the areas that must be managed so that chaos, sprawl, and content issues don't become problematic. SharePoint is a powerful platform that can tranform the way users organize and edit company documents quickly and easily. Documents can be organized using any number of different criteria and collaborative editing is also possible using the Microsoft software.

SharePoint also includes updated navigation features and the ability to search documents using a number of different methods. Importing excel spreadsheets and access databases are a snap. If you need collaboration software to improve project team work effort,workflow planning, discussion boards, programmable alerts, communications and more,then SharePoint may be just the right web portal solution for you.

Join me as I host a free Teleseminar on "Mastering an Intranet Strategy on February 19, 2008, 8PM EDT, and expand on a SharePoint solution for your business. Register at: http://tinyurl.com/37l9bg

Master an Intranet Strategy Free Teleseminar

2008-01-05T11:34:00.000-08:00

I hope you will join me on Tuesday, February 19th, 6:00 CDT, 8:00 EDT for a FREE Teleseminar on the topic, "Mastering an Intranet Strategy" For 60 minutes or so, I will present in non-IT tech talk how you can build a strategy to obtain a very inexpensive yet powerful intranet capability for your business. If you are a small to medium sized business with less than 100 employees, I will share with you how easy and quickly you can have a company intranet site working and functionally supporting your needs. As you have seen from my earlier blogs, the intranet world is really coming alive for small and medium businesses who could not afford the capability in the past. But now, thanks to some very clever improvements in web portal technology, a private, secure and powerful intranet site is within the reach of small business, even if you're only one or two people, and at a very affordable price.

I will present:

1. Simple steps to determine your business needs for an Intranet capability

2. A strategy to successfully move your business and improve its resiliency through a web portal solution

3. Suggestions on how to implement your intranet for less than $2.00/day for businesses under 100 employees

Here's a few additional areas I will cover:

- Is your business prepared for disaster?
- Is your communication plan up to par?
- Are you still in the email and shared files era searching for lost documents?

Intranet web portal technology is here to stay. Join me on the 19th to discuss this very important topic. You can register by Clicking Here

Even if the topic is not of interest to you, you may want to register and listen in to see the technology combination I'm using that includes the web, telephone, e-commerce tools, and audio. It may spur some ideas for you or anyone you know that has a small business and wants to pursue better ways to market their products or services on-line.

PS: When you register, you will also be able to listen to the event via a live webcast feed if your prefer that over a phone. Just see the instructions when you Register.

Learning more about an Intranet Solution

2007-12-26T17:09:00.000-08:00

In my last post I discussed a simple but powerful intranet application, Microsoft SharePoint. If you Google SharePoint, you will find plenty of material for your reading pleasure. To save you a little time, I went to Microsoft's site and found one of their benefits pages for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2003. Even though they now have a 2007 version out, I think the benefits are still applicable. When looking for an intranet solution, you can add these benefits to your checklist of functions you should be looking for. Here they are:

1. Provide a simple, familiar, and consistent user experience.
2. Boost employee productivity by simplifying everyday business activities.
3. Help meet regulatory requirements through comprehensive control over content.
4. Effectively manage and repurpose content to gain increased business value.
5. Simplify organization-wide access to both structured and unstructured information across disparate systems.
6. Connect people with information and expertise.
7. Accelerate shared business processes across organizational boundaries.
8. Share business data without divulging sensitive information.
9. Enable people to make better-informed decisions by presenting business-critical information in one central location.
10. Provide a single, integrated platform to manage intranet, extranet, and Internet applications across the enterprise.

For two companies I have assisted in an intranet solution, the two major functions they needed included security and connectivity from anywhere with an internet link. SharePoint fit very nicely into their plans. Both entities were up and running with their own site, provided by a hosting company, in less than a day. Long gone are the days when you had to have a bunch of programmers taking months to get you an intranet solution. Stay tuned for more on this subject as well as my upcoming annoucement after the first of the year for a free teleseminar on mastering an Intranet strategy. Have a wonderful New Year's holiday and I'll be back to the blog after the 1st. kb

Business Continuity for Small and Medium Companies

2007-12-18T08:31:00.000-08:00

Protect your Company with an IT solution

In my last post, I mentioned that fact that today’s small and medium business owners are thinking more about business continuity since Hurricane Katrina and other recent devastating disasters. Larger companies with budgets for full time staff that design and implement business continuity plans and programs are more likely to recover from a disaster compared to the small businessman.

With the new functionality of Web 2.0, the Internet has opened up some very useful features that small and medium businesses can take advantage of to protect their business information from harm. The concept I refer to is the addition of an intranet capability for a small to medium sized business. The Intranet is basically nothing more that a “private web based” internet for a company to use as a means of internal communication, knowledge sharing, and collaboration.

The benefits of an intranet capability are numerous. First, with storage capacity reasonably priced today, it makes sense to consider an intranet solution that allows a company to save important documentation in a manner that is independent from internal computer shared drives or servers. This is accomplished by using a hosted vender that can provide the software and storage for free or at an inexpensive monthly fee. Secondly, a company that needs to capture intellectual information must have a process that allows for the free flow of ideas, best practices and “tips of their trade”. An intranet solution supports these processes by making collaboration and information sharing very easy to use.

If you search around the web, you’ll find a number of free products, to include Google’s Business Solutions that allow for document storage and a host of other free services. But if you’re like me, you may want a solution that gives you a little more security and privacy that can be easily implemented and user friendly.

There are several companies offering a hosted solution that allows a company to have a private website available that as long as you have an internet connection, you can reach the site. This is a great advantage for companies who employ staff that work from more than one location. This functionality allows employees to be independent from the email and shared files processes we are accustomed to. If you already have an investment is Microsoft software, the application I recommend is Microsoft SharePoint. In my next post we’ll explore some benefits of a SharePoint solution for your business, whether you’re a one person CEO to a staff of 100.

Business Continuity for Small and Medium Companies

2007-12-16T05:43:00.000-08:00

An Affordable Solution

With the recent ice storms hitting several cities this past week, I am reminded of the potential impact that natural disasters can have on a business owner. Many of you will probably remember the devastation to business owners due to Hurricane Katrina. For years, small and medium business owners tended to neglect business continuity planning for their companies, and as a result, lost everything or close to it after being victims to disaster. What’s an entrepreneur to do?

Business continuity planning, with the aid of technology, has gotten much easier and affordable to the average business owner. Through the improvement of web technology, it is now within the reach of small and medium businesses to be as agile as larger companies who can afford to have a team of employees dedicated to preparing and sustaining their companies ability to operate after a disaster.

Over the next few weeks I will be writing about this topic and sharing my observations as I work with clients to improve their approach to this subject. Many companies today are savvy in knowing the importance of having an internet presence on the web for customers to find you and learn more about your products and services.

With the changes in web portal technology over the last few years, in addition to public websites, more companies are building private web sites, known at intranet sites. When intranet capability first came into popularity, it was fairly expensive to hire programmers to build a customized site, but today, pricing for an intranet site is now within the reach of even a one person operation.

Many off the shelf software systems, known as knowledge management or collaboration software, are being marketed with prices ranging anywhere from free to thousands of dollars. These software products can be used for the creation of an intranet, or private website, to various degrees of capability. I will be focusing on a relatively inexpensive option that can work for a one person operation up to a 100 person company in my future posts. I will explain how you can design a capability that can be implemented in days vs. months, and will give your company the resiliency to be supporting your customers within hours vs. weeks after a disaster, especially for service companies.

For anyone looking to brush up on some simple terms before my next post, just google “knowledge management” or “intranet” to learn more. Til’ next time…..kb signing off

Building your Personal Brand

2007-12-09T11:40:00.000-08:00

Call to Action Through Learning

Last week I covered a small step you can take to start branding your image by simply creating a signature block for you email account. This week I’d like to introduce you to two books I recently read that I recommend to improve thriving in your workplace. Kevin and Jackie Freiberg’s newest book, Boom- 7 Choices for Blowing the Doors off Business-as-usual, is a must read if you’re feeling stressed about work or wanting to re-program yourself for a different future. You will read throughout their writing a theme that focuses on personal choice, challenging yourself, attitude, passion and service. If you are experiencing anxiety or stress that is impacting both your professional and personal worlds, you will find some comfort in their words. I came away realizing that personal choice and gratitude impacts everything you do or say, and by understanding how to reprogram your mind to act and think differently, you can improve your situation, no matter the circumstances. You’ll read how to wake up and smell the coffee, re-invigorate your call to service, and building a signature performance attitude.

To compliment the Frieburg’s book, I recommend you pick up a copy of Bruce Judson’s book, Go It Alone. If you make a decision to go solo in a new endeavor, Judson’s success principles can help you shape your plans. Judson describes in great detail several principles that can kick start a solo effort in a new product or service business. You will read about extreme outsourcing, affirming you determination, building relentless repeatable processes, and using to your advantage off the shelf products and services. In today’s information overload culture, you’ll need to figure out how to take yourself off the clock, be flexible,
and be a continuous learner and innovator. Judson will give you some great insight on these as well as business system creation, market development, and using Application Service Providers (ASPs). Just click on the Amazon links to the left to order your copy today.

If stress and anxiety are creeping up on you, take a few minutes to listen to a Coming Up for Air podcast from a good friend of mine, Dr. Brian Luke Seaward, owner of Inspiration Unlimited.

Government Blogging

2007-12-05T17:33:00.000-08:00

For my government clients, you may be interested in reading an article on government blogs in the December issue of Government Executive, pg 47, or online at: http://www.govexec.com/features/1207-01/1207-01admt.htm

More agencies are exploring how blogs can be used in a positive way for collaboration, stakeholder communications, etc. Check out some tips for government blogs at: www.usa.gov/webcontent/technology/blogs.shtml . kb

SharePoint Videos

2007-12-05T07:25:00.000-08:00

To view any SharePoint videos on my blog, scroll down to the bottom of the blog. Click on the arrow to start. Enjoy! kb

Branding your Professional Image

2007-12-03T11:33:00.000-08:00

With all the hype on having a presence on the internet, how does one build a professional image without resorting to a personal website or MySpace.com? Through a little bit of trial and surfing, I found a few free options that can help you get "a presence" on the web without too much pain. These steps can potentially improve your connectivity to your professional and business associations who may want to "check you out" for potential business teaming and or other opportunities. There's probably several different freebies you can choose from. For an easy approach to create presence, follow the steps below to create the two that work for me.

Steps: (Create a BLOG account)

1. Go to Google: sign up for a free blog by joining blogger.com
2. Follow the prompts to set up your blog template
3. Click on the "Post" to establish the RSS feed for your computer.
4. Create your first blog. You're in business !
5. Tip: you will find Google won't pick your blog up at first till you get some usage going. See below for steps to get the search engine thing going.

Steps (Create a Professional Profile site)

1. Browse to http://www.linkedin.com/ and create an account.

2. Follow instructions to build your profile

Now with these two applications done, the last step is to create a nice looking signature block you can use in your email that directs people to these two sites as well as your company or personal website if you have one.

Inside LinkedIn, look for "email signature" available when the My profile tab is clicked on.
There are several galleries to choose from. One way to customize it is to copy and paste it into a word document. You can add your phone numbers, address, etc. The Key part is to create the hyperlinks for your LinkedIn profile and your blog. You can add your website too if you have one.

Once completed it should look something like this:

You now have a pretty powerful brand signature block with links to your company, email, your LinkedIn profile (lots of professional details) and your professional blog. By creating your professional brand, you will be in a great position to grow your business network for the future. Good luck!

Note: You should use the Blog you've linked in the signature block for professional material only. Posting personal stuff is at your own risk! Use your professional blog to post links to YouTube videos, write articles (like this one), etc. Have fun with it!

Tips for getting your blog search engine recognition (see credit to blogger who provided this at end the para).

You have some work to do - you won't get listed by Google (or any other search engine), automatically. You have to do some work, let them know that you're there, that you want to be listed, and that you are worthy of being listed.

1) Get your friends to link to your blog, where your blog is relevant.
2) Participate in forums, where your blog is relevant, and include the URL.
3) Comment on other blogs, in relevant comments, and include the URL.
4) Put relevant and useful content in your blog.
5) Some search engines may index your blog using the site feed. Be sure to activate the feed.
6) When you have done all of the above, your blog will have some weight.
Submit your blog to the search engines, for indexing. http://bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com/2006/07/publicising-your-blog.html
Remember though, none of this happens overnight. Search engines can take months to index your blog fully. And even when indexed, don't expect for a search to some key element in your blog to give you an entry on the first page of the search hits. http://bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com/2006/08/patience.html
Chuck [Blog*Star 2006 - 2007] Real Blogger Status: http://bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com/

KaneNotes Connections Replay Windows SharePoint Svs 4 of 6

2007-12-02T12:43:00.001-08:00

Improving Integrated Processes

2007-11-28T18:19:00.000-08:00

I'm currently working with a client to prepare for a KM software migration to new servers. The platform is SharePoint and the migration will be the easy part. The hard work is the upfront decisions that need to be made to implement new business rules for future content mgt, knowledge and information sharing. The client has 4 web portal applications at their disposal and my goal is to assist them in framing an effective utilization strategy keeping both internal and external stakeholders in mind as they grapple with optimal solutions for the organization. A huge challenge but the client is committed to improvements,which is always a good thing!