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Apps that your business needs.

Posted by Linda Chambers on Fri, May 30, 2014 @ 10:00 AM

It use to be if you where an outside contractor (not at an inside office) you could not live without a pager for the office to reach you. Then that moved to you could not live without a basic cell phone, then a Blackberry and now a iPhone, iPad or similar smart device. And with this increasing technology boom new applications or Apps as they are called are being made and coming out at an alarming rate, almost 1000 or 1 every 90 seconds are submitted to Apple every day. Of that number about 625 are approved and added to Apples list every day. The Google Play Store is just as prolific. With those kind of numbers it is no wonder I am hearing, seeing, and finding new apps every time I look that small business owners like a pressure washing contractor could be using in their daily performance of their jobs.

Many now are kind of old hat like job estimators, square foot calculators, directions and map programs, but here are some other ones I think you should check out.

Flashlight for when you can't find the one that should be in your truck.

Dropbox great for sharing documents, photos and more with anyone that also has the application.

Documents 2 by Savy Soda is an upgrade of a whole office suite and file manager that will work with any Microsoft file. Transferable to PC with USB or Wi-Fi. Includes Dropbox intergration.

Task Pro by AlifSoft Not just a To Do list maker, it allows subsets, easy emailing, searchable and sortable. Allows for multiple lists at one time so you can make a list for every job, work crew, or task you need.

Evernote one of the most used organization apps. This allows you to store notes, photos, to-do lists, even dictate voice reminders and is completely searchable. OneNote is the Android version.

Hours Tracker by Calos Ribas (Free with displayed advertising) Voted Best Time Tracking App for the iPhone. To remove ads you must pay for app.

Device Tracker by iT Guy Technologies $1.99 Use it to list every piece of equipment you have. Can list by rig, add photo, list specs, part numbers, serial numbers, warranty info.

GoPayment from intuit great especially if you use QuickBooks for seamless accounting intergration and comes with a card reader.

Square Register enables you to scan cards with a free reader for a flat 2.75%, deposited in 1-2 business days to your account.

PayPal Here if you just need a lower cost credit card application. Only 2.7% of payment amount per swipe and again no contracts with third party banks or card processing companies.

or PayAnywhere that can handle credit cards with or without a card scanner. With the GeoTax feature on it can calculate sales tax based on GPS location. Also has cash drawer compatibility.

Scanner Pro by Readdle One of many scanning programs currently out there.

Shoeboxed Receipt Tracker can send data to QuickBooks and other programs or to Excel. Free download but it does cost for use with bought credits.

Mint.com Personal Finance makes it easy to track daily expenses in a single place. You can create a budget and the mint.com website can track your bank, credit, loans and more budgets.

BillMinder helps you remember recurring expenses and reminds you when bills you enter are coming due. Has a complete group of reports and graphs for tracking.

Expensify lets you scan receipts with you phone camera and later syncs them up with your credit card transactions. With the GPS on it will track mileage and generate an exportable summary report that can sync with QuickBooks or Google Docs.

Dragon Dictation lets you use that dead driving time to get work done. It learns your speech pattern and allows you to dictate for later review, work, printing or e-mailing.

These are just a few of the many App possiblities out there now to help you while you are mobile and out running your business in the field.

 

Give information to your readers.

Posted by Linda Chambers on Mon, May 12, 2014 @ 10:00 AM

Improve your web site with informational or educational links, pages, blog posts and or white papers available for down load for readers. The more content and the more often you update this content will increase your sites SEO, increase the number of visitors, get loyal readers and over time new customers. 

Here is a list of suggested topics for various types of cleaning contractors: 

Roof washers 

What is that dark stuff on my roof? (This is all most a must have to explain Gloeocapsa Magma algae) 

Wash don't replace your roof. 

How a cleaning a roof increases the life of your roof and your home.

 

House washers 

How a wash will increase the value and life span of your home.

A mold free home is a healthy home.

Exterior home safety.

 

Fleet washers 

Spending on maintenance saves money.

Clean vehicles saves fuel costs.

Clean vehicles improves company image.

 

Window cleaners 

All windows are not the same and what makes them different to clean?

Why double or triple pane windows fail?

How window coverings keep your house cooler? or warmer? (which ever you need in your area)

The list could go on and on but idea is the same. Search the web for info to use and see what your competitors are doing but Please create your own educational pieces and don't just copy, plagiarize, someone else's work from their site. Give readers information and education on your site and in your blogs to keep them coming back and eventually buying your service.

Tags: web marketing, Business, SEO, white paper

Start your own Blog with Word Press

Posted by Linda Chambers on Thu, May 01, 2014 @ 08:00 AM

Now I do not use Word Press since our Blog is part of a soft ware platform that is integrated with our CRM, Hubspot and Salesforce. But our business as a B2B, is totally different than yours, as a B2C service business. And Word Press is the #1 blogging platform out there for a very good reason; easy and inexpensive for the individual and small business person. So I am going to show you the steps you need to take to get your business started with blogging. 

1) Open your WordPress account. This is very easy and doesn't have to cost you a thing. Go to  http://www.wordpress.com and click on “Get Started”.  Next fill in an email address, choose a username and password. If you are like us we have a main e-mail we just use when setting up on line accounts which is totally different than the ones we put out to the general public that is linked to our web site. One reason is it would be less likely for hackers to find and try to use this e-mail than the public ones. So you might think about doing this first and use it for all future new accounts for your business. Your username will never be seen or shared with your blog but I still would choose a general one dedicated to the business and not to a person. And choose a password that is not the same as others you use and can be easily changed every 30-90 days with out having to think too much about it. 012014Blog is an idea that you can change the first of each month. So if you know what month it is you know your password.

2) Choose your blog domain address. WordPress will let you know if the one you picked has already been taken and will show you options for similar ones that are available. Make sure the name is relevant to what you want to blog about not just because it is available.

get started31 

If you choose to go the free blog route your blog address will look like this http://www.yourblogname.wordpress.com. You can also pay WordPress to host your blog then your address would be just be the name of your blogs website: www.yourblogname.com. I won't post pricing here because it can easily change and they have specials at different times with third party affiliates so check what the going rate is now and look around the web for offers.

3) Choose your Blogs Title, the tagline, which is a brief description of your blog, and if possible the goal of what you plan to bring to your readers. This can be very important because you want to catch and hook new readers to want to first read at least one post and hopefully then click to follow all your future postings. And this is where blogging starts making you new and loyal customers.

step1 wordpress1

4) Choose and customize a theme for your blog. Your blog will follow a template depending on what content you will mainly be presenting. There are free ones and ones you can pay for, but all can be changed so if you start with one you can switch later. Also just because you choose a theme that is heavily photos and videos does not mean you can not write some blogs which are mainly text or visa versa. 

choose theme

5) Now you are ready to start the real work by posting to your blog.

create first post

Each post starts with a format tool to choose the content for that post. If you don't know what you want yours to look like use the "Inspire Me" link or do a search in WordPress for other blogs that have a similar theme. Don't try to copy one, just see what you like and what you think your readers will like.

Make sure you fill out the public profile that generates the "About the Author" section that will be listed with each post. Here be sure to list your main web site your business name number and other important info that will draw you prospects.

post example11

Each post can be tagged and placed in a category of your choosing and is a great way to keep your posts organized and makes your contents searchable to others looking for the type of things you are sharing. 

6) Your Home Page. This is the place you check your latest blog posts and the blogs you have chosen to follow. Here you also can view stats, how many visitors you have had and see any comments readers have left you about a post. It helps to know when you readers are viewing so you learn the best time to post to be the most engaged with your readers.

stats wordpress

7) The Dashboard. This contains a lot of information but once you know what each section is for it is easier to understand. You can choose what you want to see on your dashboard with screen options, to make it more effective for you to see what you want to know in a glance.

dashboard screenshot

  • Home: Shows you everything from the home page, blogs, posts, comments and stats. You can use omnisearch to find a page, comment or image.

  • Store: If you want to add a store for $99 a year you can create and mange not just a product but a service or package or special. I believe you can even switch items off and on to be seen for imited time and not have to delete and recreate them.

  • Posts: This area is where you see all posts viewed by tag or category.

  • Media; Where all your images and videos are stored and are linked from to the different posts. A single image can be used in multiple posts.

  • Links: This section show all of the links that you blog posts link back to.

  • Pages: Lists pages you have created like the About Me or ones you have made for each type of service you provide.

  • Comments: Allows you to search, filter or delete comments left. Some times it is better to comment your self to a negative comment rather then delete it entirely.

  • Feedback: Is a section where info you have asked from your readers shows up, you can create and view polls, see your blog rating and reader feedback.

  • Appearance: This is where you can customize the look of your blog such as colors, fonts, header, background color or image, etc.

  • Users: Is where you can add new users that you want to have access to adding and changing your blog, your profile and settings.

  • Tools: Is where you can create buttons and share content from the web on to your blog and link to verify your blog with Google, Bing, Pinterest, Twitter etc.

  • Settings: The last section where you can ask to me emailed when someone comments, your email preferences and all the options for writing your blog. 

While it will take a little time to first set up a blog in WordPress, once it is running it is super easy to manage and will gain you a lot of free SEO and hopefully new and engaged customers. So think about staring a blog soon.

Tags: Blog, Social Media, SEO, WordPress

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