First things first. You have to make sure your company’s SLAs(Service Level Agreements) are met. That means you are going to need a server that’s running smoother than a baby’s bottom. You don’t want to leave the health of your server to chance. Bad things can happen, and you’ll be blamed. Remember, we live in the social media world now. Even the smallest problem on your end can blow up to a huge PR snafu once Twitter gets a hold of it.

Well, keeping a functioning server isn’t as hard as it sounds. We have scoured the net and found 7 insanely useful server monitoring tools. Give these a try and secure some peace of mind.

1. Pingdom

Pingdom is available on PCs and as an iPhone application. It makes sure your website is reachable and responding properly at all times. It goes as far as to provide you with SMS alerts if it’s not. It also monitors uptime and overall performance, which it illustrates via easily understandable charts and tables.

2. McAfee Secure

McAfee is a trusted name in computer security. McAfee Secure constantly monitors your servers for potential security breaches and threats. It’s goal is to protect end-users of your website from all manner of Internet danger, be them credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses or online scams. Every day the program tests your site and, if passed, awards the site with a certification mark to give your users a little confidence. The program currently certifies over 80,000 websites.

3. Webmetrics GlobalWatch

GlobalWatch by Webmetrics does exactly what it says it does. It watches. The service monitors a broad range of websites and Internet services. It keeps a lookout for downtime, errors and other poor performance problems. Then it sends you a diagnosis rich with easily digestible reports and measurements. It supports Web 2.0, AJAX, Flash, Java and more.

4. Solarwinds Orion Network Performance Monitor (NPM)

Orion NPM checks the efficiency of your servers, but that’s not all it does. It also monitors all of your routers, switches and wireless access points, throughout your entire network. Not bad. It’s really easy to set up, and aesthetically pleasing. What’s more is the support staff are easy to get a hold of which can be rare in the server world.  A true plug and play system.

5. Nagios

Nagios is the go-to IT infrastructure monitoring system out there. It provides a snapshot of your entire operations network and also keeps perfect tabs on the health and status of just about everything affiliated. This includes applications, network protocols, system metrics, services and operating systems. If anything smells fishy your staff will be sent instant alerts via email and SMS. Nagios is also compatible with most in-house and third party applications.

6. ENVIROMUX Server Environment Monitoring System

This system is perfect for use in a variety of places, including data centers, web hosting facilities, telecom switching sites and server closets. It’s or more or less a “real world” monitoring system for your server. It keeps an eye on temperature, humidity, liquid presence, motion, intrusion and vibration. This ensures that your server is operating in tip-top shape. You can also attach up to 8 video cameras to the system to give you that bird’s eye view.

7. Simple Server Monitor

This is the cheapest, yet serviceable, monitoring system on the market. It’s just $69.95 and this follows a 30-day free trial. However, don’t be fooled. It’s a pretty useful suite of programs. It gives minute-by-minute monitoring of uptime and sends accessible performance charts. It alerts your admins to problems via popup messages, desktop alarms, email and SMS.

It  can sometimes be a struggle in this world to, you know, get paid. This is made harder when your billing system is a mess, never knowing what should go where and to who. As anyone with a successful business knows, moving away from the paper realm to Web-based technology can be a major boon to your organization and productivity. Well here are fifty of the best and brightest online invoicing tools available. They are grouped into three of the major groups that need online invoices: Small businesses, freelancers and web designers. Enjoy!

Small Businesses

AcceptPay is from credit card company American Express. It’s often a pay service but does offer a free option with AcceptPay Lite. This allows you to email 10 invoices per month and maintain an unlimited number of customers in your account. The full version  is $20/month. It may be worth it as it integrates with QuickBooks, accepts online payments, ACH, and eChecks.

Ballpark is an online invoicing service that focuses on communication. Their dashboard tracks the back and forth conversation between you, your customer, and your team. They offer a free personal plan and the small business plans start at $6/month. Not bad a deal.

BambooInvoice is free and open source The two magic words. You load it on your own servers. It doesn’t offer it’s own hosting capabilities which can be a drag but hey it’s free. It offers a good online support forum as well.  This is the only open source application of it’s kind.

BillingBoss is a service that if useful for both small businesses and freelancers.  A really cool thing you can do with this software is you can use your existing merchant account with their Payment Plus option for $5/month. The main invoicing tool is free.

BillingOrchard offers an amazing Auto-Invoicing feature that is all the rage in the online invoicing world. It’s free to try for 15 days and then the lite version is $9.95/month. When you use the auto-invoice features, there is an additional cost per month, by number of transactions.

Blinksale targets small businesses and creative professionals who want to send well-formatted invoices  with no sweat off their backs. Their lowest price plan starts at $6 for 6 invoices a month, but you can have as many customers in the system as you want. It also integrates with Basecamp.

CannyBill is a web-based billing service that could work for small businesses or web deisgners. It offers a fully functional free account with up to 10 invoices per month. Pricing ranges up to $48/month at the enterprise level.

Cashboard is all free and lets you invoice, send estimates and accept payments online. The service also offers desktop widgets for Mac and Windows as well as as an iPhone app. There are a number of payment plans and a free lite option.

CurdBee has a free unlimited version.  It even allows you to accept Paypal and Google Checkout. However, the free version puts a logo stamp on everything.  Curdbee Premium level is only $5 a month and lets you remove the Curdbee logo from emails and invoices.

Endeve offers an eternally free plan with an unlimited number of invoices and customers. The Professional Plan is $20/month and allows you to create Pay Now buttons with Paypal, customize your invoice layouts, and manage your expenses.

Enliven Software is well suited for small or medium sized businesses. It is integrated with Microsoft Dynamics GP, Peachtree, and QuickBooks and automates accounts receivable and accounts payable processes for vendors and for customers.

Freelance Total is actually aimed at small businesses, despite the name. Their web-based software allows you to take a client-centric approach to invoices as you manage the project. Plans start at $4.95 a month. They do, however, offer a free trial.

Freshbooks is more or less the market leader in this kind of thing. It has all the bells and whistles, like time tracking and the ability to manage subcontractors who are also working on your project. They integrate with other accounting and project management systems such as QuickBooks and Basecamp. They offer a fully free plan with limitations to plans that go all the way up to $149/month.

Invoice Journal is completely free. It doesn’t offer any pricing info and suggests it will be free forever. Not the most featured of the bunch but serviceable.

The Invoice Machine is a flexible program. You can add line items in your invoice manually or from the project time tracking tool with a few clicks. You can create an HTML email invoice or attach one as a PDF. The plans range from free to $48/month.

InvoiceMore is an online billing and invoicing solution for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and businesses. It offers multiple features so that you can create, download, store, backup, print, and email PDF invoices to clients. You can also track overdue balances. They offer a free plan and plans up to $95/month.

InvoicePlace is a free service that offers payable options to the tune of $20/month. Check out the tour as it explains the suite’s many features.

Invoicera offers invoices, estimates, and client reporting that you can use to track by specific product or service. You can add team members to a client and track their invoicing as well. Plans go from free to $149/month.

Invoices Made Easy offers an online invoicing service exclusively for small service-oriented trades.  From landscapers to consultants, they offer the standard online invoicing options, but they also have an “EasyMail” service which will send your invoice via postal mail. Free 30 day trial, then $9.95/month.

Invotrak is both an online invoicing and timesheet tracker. They offer good reporting tools as well as iPhone and iPod Touch apps. They have a limited Free plan up to an Unlimited plan at $45/month. It integrates with Basecamp. Fully featured.

LiteAccounting offers four simple plans from free up to $18/month. The dashboard showcases three main options: Products/Services, Customers, and Invoices. They have a nice demo which answers most questions so you can decide without all the hassles of a sign-up.

Nett30 provides an online service for small businesses and contractors who need to make invoicing quick and user friendly. You can view real-time account summaries at any time. Send invoices as PDF, e-mail or have clients access them online. They have four varying price and service plans.

PaySimple comes at online payments with a Merchant Account background. Their service is oriented at credit card payments, ACH, eChecks, and online payment forms. They have a free setup (usually $129) and $34.95/month, then transaction fees.

Ronin is perfect for large or small businesses. Clients can log in to get their invoices or you can email them. You can try it out free without any worries of a time limit, but the free version is branded as powered by Ronin. After Free, plans range from $15/month up to $48/month.

SantexQ is a project management and time tracking tool that also lets you bill clients directly from the service. It offers web-based reporting, but also lets you export to Excel for customizing reports as you like. For a single user it is free, but limited, then only $9.95 per month for unlimited users.

Sbzone.com is a comprehensive online application suite combining sales, customer management, and accounting functions in one place. It offers a 30 day free trial and two plans: Limited Free plan and a $39.99/month.

Simplybill offers a clean and fully functional timesheet program. The dashboard offers three tabs: Invoices, Quotes, and Clients. They offer the ability to keep in contact with your customers via reminders and thank you notes. There is the standard 30-day free trial, then $5/month up to $25/month.

Simplifythis offers two services that start at $9/month: EasyBill and EasyBook. There’s no credit card required to start the free trial so why not give it a shot?

Simply Invoices keeps it simple(Like the name.) Check out the tour on their website. They offer a completely free plan and a paid $25/month plan.

Winkbill offers a robust online invoicing app at the free level all the way up to their platinum plan for $39.95/month. You can put your own logo on invoices with the free plan, but you can’t send them as a PDF. They also offer gads of templates.

Moobiz is a great suite of software with features that handle accounting, invoicing, CRM, Ecommerce, project management, website management and Email marketing. Work from anywhere, online.

Freelance

InvoiceMore is an online billing and invoicing service developed for freelancers. It provides a simple web interface for creating and sending invoices to clients and recording payments for them. You can email and generate PDF invoices, print and snail mail them, and just keep track of your clients and their payments in an easy and organized way. Not bad, guys.

Bill4Time is a web based time management and time billing software for lawyers, accountants, consultants, and other time billing freelance workers.

Zoho is an easy-to-use online invoicing program that helps you send invoices for your projects and customer expenses, receive payments and track the overall health of your freelance accounts.

BillMyClients is the perfect piece of billing software for freelancers that have a lot on their plate. Simple and easy to use.

LessAccounting is a piece of invoicing software that was developed using the Ruby On Rails platform. Again, perfect for freelance workers.

INTUIT is fast, easy and free. It allows you to create customized and professional invoices and also to send them by email. Save time by tracking overdue payments and invoice status. The all-in-one resource.

Sendinvoice does what the title purports it to do. It sends invoices to clients you are working with. The format is easy-to-read and easy to return with payment.

Invoice Journal is a web application that handles the creation and dispersal of business invoices. It is primarily for freelancers looking to get paid.

Paper Free Billing is an easy to use, safe and convenient way to send and manage your online invoices. This is a great solution for graphic artists, photographers or anyone that bills their clients directly.

Siwapp is an open source web application meant to help manage & create invoices in a simple, straightforward way.

Kashflow is another easy-to-use invoicing program aimed at freelancers.

Working Point is aimed at both freelancers and small business owners, but freelancers seem to get more use out of the product.

SideJob Track lets you quickly and easily manage your side jobs with simple, straightforward project tools. Side Job Track’s flexible data entry lets you to decide how to best fit your specific needs.

Web Designers

WORKetc offers a wide range of functions, including contact management, calendars, email marketing, project management, and of course invoice management. There is even a 14 day guarantee since web designers are so indecisive and all.

Time59 is designed for independent web designers. It can handle time and expense tracking as well as invoicing and payments. The price is only $49.95 per year and there is a risk-free 30 day trial.

Invoice2Go provides over 300 professional invoice templates to choose from. You can also send the invoices and track payments, with a free trial that lasts for thirty full days. Sort of like Netflix!

Veetro is a great little software suite aimed toward web designer. Draft invoices, send them out and keep track of payments.

Invoice2go is the perfect tool for creating invoices, purchase orders, quotes and all types of business documents. Invoice2go is the fast and easy way to invoice, estimate, bill, collect and report.There are over 300 Templates to choose from.

Microsoft’s search engine division came roaring back to life this week with the release of the Internet Explorer 9 Beta. IE9 brings a whole host of innovations to the table, which finally brings IE to the adult’s table to sit with Firefox and Chrome. In some instances, actually, it shoves those other browsers right to the kiddie’s table.

So what does it do? Well for this post we are going to focus in on what the new update means for web designers. However, let’s do a general overview. First and foremost, the browser is thin. It doesn’t use that many resources, unlike IE iterations of the past. Even Firefox is becmoing quite the resource hog in recent years so this makes IE and Chrome the skinniest browsers of the lot. This is important for, well, just about everyone. Who wants a browser who is gonna muck up the entire waterworks? Nobody.

The browser even looks thinner. Check out the photo below.

Microsoft is so dedicated to this aspect that IE9 comes standard with a function called “performance monitor” which does just what the title implies: It monitors your browser’s performance and lets you know about any situations that are causing lag and gives you the tools to stop it in it’s tracks.  This is far and above what the competing browsers have offered.

Now we come to the main course. What’s in it for you burgeoning web developers? Well, first and foremost, IE9 features robust connectivity with HTML5. The use of HTML5 is opening up new arenas for developers to create all manner of applications and in-browser games. This, potentially, could work as a more “legit” and well-rounded version of the Firefox add-ons system. Steve Ballmer of Microsoft has likened his vision to that of the Apple App Store. This is great news for developers. It’s about time Microsoft decides to team up with developers and not try to bury them.

These applications could come in the form of helpful apps to make browsing easier, games or entire websites. Check out this neat game of pool made with HTML5 for IE9 below.

The functionality is full of little touches to make lives easier for developers. For instance, IE9 lets you use a wide variety of fonts without having to Photoshop images of them. No more dragging images in and out. Over and over and over. This feature alone could save dozens of manpower hours for each individual application.

HTML5 isn’t alone. Internet Explorer 9 allows the use of CSS 3 code also. This is pretty standard with the major browsers but, until now, has been conspicuously missing from Microsoft’s product. So now you all can make rounded corners until you are blue in the face. This should go far to make IE9 an all-around flashier experience.

Best of all, it’s free to use and free to get started developing for. That’s the great thing about browsers. They are free and easy to take for a test spin. If it doesn’t work out, Chrome and Firefox are waiting in the wings.

There has been a lot of hesitation lately regarding the evils of Facebook. Some argue they sell our private information. Some argue the chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, is some kind of monster-in-training. There’s even a movie about it. Whether or not Facebook is nefarious, the way it handles our private information has begun to ruffle some weathers. So what now?

Well this is the Internet. When some “infallible” institution, um, fails us, we move on to something better. Remember Facebook? Myspace? We used to use these in droves. Now Facebook is the go-to destination but this may not always be the case. Enter Diaspora.

Diaspora is a social network unlike any other. It’s currently being developed by four students of New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences with a consumer alpha scheduled for October of this year. So, what is it and how does it work?

Simply put, Diaspora is a social network that puts privacy controls absolutely in the hands of the user. There will be no outsourcing of information. No other websites will automatically know when you “like” something due to some backroom content-sharing deal. It makes the user the master of their own destiny. How does this work?

First of all, it’s completely open source. Betas have already been made available to would-be programmers and content developers. When money is (somewhat) taken out of the equation then the worry of privacy snatching somewhat diminishes as well.

The website has been described as a “network that allows everyone to install their own “seed” — i.e. a personal web server with a user’s photos, videos and everything else — within the larger network. That seed would be fully owned and controlled by the user, so the user could share anything and still maintain ownership over it”. (Mashable.com).

In addition to the revamped ideas of privacy, the service is going to offer some other notable functions. It will set up secure servers for sharing of multimedia files between contacts. It will also feature Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) integration. It will also feature it’s own instant messaging service, akin to Facebook chat.

Although the site is not live yet, the developers have been having their string of good luck. The press has been coming hard and fast and they started a fundraising site in order to raise $10,000 to help with developing costs. In mere days they had raised twenty times that, their final amount clocking in at more than $200,000. Certainly the idea has struck a nerve. Oddly, even Mark Zuckerberg himself donated, calling it a “cool idea.”

So let’s keep a lookout for October 2010, when the alpha becomes available to consumers. Also, let’s press on our favorite current sites, like Facebook, to implement some of these ideas into their UI. Let’s keep privacy, um, private. Once again.

More information on Diaspora can be found here.

Presentations. They are a terrifying and important part of adult life. How else to emphatically get information across to a large group of people at the same time. And no, the Internet doesn’t count. Still, it takes a certain kind of person to really knock presentations out of the ballpark. Or does it? Read along and practice these tips and you are sure to have them rolling in the aisles. Don’t worry, you won’t have to imagine anyone in the audience naked.

Plan. Plan. Plan.

This might seem obvious but a presentation is really only as good as the amount of practice that went into it. Write it out. Tinker with the words until they are perfect.  Then, practice. Practice for your loved ones. Practice for your hated ones. Practice for anyone that will listen. While you are planning it all out, always consider the audience. What are you trying to convey to them? What is your main point? Never lose site of that.

Metaphors are your friend

Often you will find yourself giving a presentation on a complicated subject to a group of people who are not in the know. How do you make sure they get your main point? Well one good way is by use of metaphors, comparisons and analogies. Re-brand the idea to a simpler set of terms that the audience is sure to follow. For example, “PPC is like your direct marketing, but with the advantage of instant feedback”

Demonstrate

If at all possible, show your idea in action. This could be via Powerpoint, a short film, or even via a chalkboard. Take the famous adage “A picture is worth 1,000 words” to heart. Many people simply can’t process information by the spoken word alone. If all else fails, go for a case study. A minor caveat: Do not rely solely on Powerpoint, however. This is a common mistake made by presentation newbies.

Get the audience involved

This may seem like a no-brainer but it’s amazing how many presentations I’ve seen where the emcee doesn’t use their most valuable asset: us. Do whatever it takes to get the audience actively engaged and involved. Ask for questions and comments. Conduct a Q&A session. Hand out relavent paraphernalia.  Remember, there are those that learn via the spoken or written word and there are also those who learn via visual cues. Finally, there is a third set of people who learn via active engagement. Be sure to target all three groups.

The big question

The big question your audience members are running through their heads is “Why should I care?” This must be answered almost immediately upon beginning your presentation. Put yourself in your audience’s shoes and try to figure out what problem is solved via whatever idea you are discussing. Tackle that quickly and succinctly and you’ll have their attention and, hopefully, their admiration.

Short sentences rule

There is a reason the 140-character Twitter has taken over the web. People love to have ideas delivered to them clearly and concisely. The more you can reduce your idea, the easier it will be to impart to the audience. Edit. Edit. Edit. This isn’t to say you should speak like a caveman. Just go at your notes with Occam’s Razor. Anything that isn’t absolutely vital can go. Which leads us to.

The rule of three

The rule of three can be used to maximize your audience’s understanding. Keep your presentation, and your idea, distilled to three main points? Why just three? Think about how effective this rule has been in drama(Plays have three acts) and humor(Most jokes follow this rule to a tee.) There is something about the human brain and groups of three that just seem to gel. Besides, you want your audience to remember just about everything you said. Why makes things more complicated than they have to be? You aren’t reading from a textbook. You are giving a presentation.

Heroes and villains

Throughout the “narrative” of your presentation, you should develop some clear-cut heroes and villains. The villain should be whatever is the problem you are looking to solve, or some kind of representation thereof. The hero, then, should be the idea you are proposing to solve said problem. If dirty floors are the villain then the wonder-mop you are discussing is the hero. Get it? More PPC-speak, the villain could be antiquated media channels. Both hero and villain will become obvious once you’ve worked out your idea well enough. Also, begin this narrative early on. The villain should be pronounced as soon as you can. You want to get people thinking about it.

Talk about what you love

Now this isn’t always possible in the real world, but love is infectious. You are going to have a certain amount of trouble faking excitement. You are in the business, and not acting, world after all. Try to stick to presentations on subject matters you are actually interested in. Trust me. The audience will pick up on this and your excitement will soon become their excitement.

That is about it. Remember, don’t stress out about it. At the end of the day it’s just a presentation.  Follow these simple steps and you’ll do fine.

Mozilla’s new iteration of it’s popular Firefox browser runs up to fifteen percent faster than it’s predecessor, various reports indicate. This, however, still puts the browser behind the speedier Google Chrome and Apple Safari browsers. JavaScript three times faster than Opera 10 and more than four times faster than that paragon of pokeyness,  Internet Explorer.

Mozilla Firefox accounts for 25 percent of all browser use, worldwide. Internet Explorer boasts 63 percent of the market share and feisty upstart Google Chrome  captures just 5 percent.

Oh trolls… what ever happened to the saying “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”  Here are some tips on how to cope with these disruptive folks.

DFTT:

Don’t Feed the Trolls!  Try not to acknoledge the disruptive behavior.  Encourge other users to do the same.  With out fuel, there is no fire.  This unfortunately will not work 100% of the time.  Some are stubborn, but this is a great way to start.

Study them:

Find out about your troll.  You can access their account information.  You can do a visual check and see if it all seems like a legitimate person.  Maybe even drop their info into Google and seeing what comes up.  Also don’t act on impulse, it may be a compromised account of valuable member or a contributor having and off day.  Understanding your troll can help in the diffusing of them.

Reverse Psychology:

Kill them with kindness.  Try to hear them out and get them to participate in a more constructive manner.  This might make them stop, change, or become even more of a nuisance.   It is worth a try.  Take the high road.

Buffer:

You can enable comment moderation.  This will require approval for each comment posted.  This will allow you to ignore the trolls attempts to upset your blog.  But, this can also harm the normal flow of your active visitors.  Waiting for moderation can be time consuming and kills the constant discussion aspect.  Maybe a temporary use of this will cure your troll infestation.  Feel it out.

Observe and report:

If things get out of control, cover your bases.  In extreme cases, threats and excessive harassment can lead to legal action.  If you feel that your troll might go down this path, document it.  You never know what may happen.

What is the key to successful managed, digital marketing solutions?

Digital Marketing, the term itself can easily be misconstrued. Let’s start with a definition.

Digital marketing refers to the practice and approach of promoting products and services using digital distribution channels to reach prospects and consumers in a timely, relevant, personal and cost-effective manner. What are the key components of a digital marketing solution?

1. Website development and Search Engine Optimization and Marketing (SEO, SEM)

2. Lead Generation with Pay-Per-Click

3. Social Media implementation (setting up twitter, blogs, listings on social networks)

4. Traditional print design

5. Cross-Channel or Cross-Media Marketing with Personalized URLs

6. Implementation and review of traffic analytics

The key. Like many things the preparation and key to implementing successful digital marketing solutions, is the ability to plan and execute the individual steps that align with your business objectives. Self-examination of your particular niche and reaching that niche is the main objective of any organization, but also knowing your audience will go a long way in your preparation for your effective digital marketing endeavors.