Monthly Archive for December, 2009

iPod Touch Tips for Trouble-Free Use

Published on December 30, 2009 in these categories: Technology. 4 Comments Tags: , , .

I’ve had my 16 GB iPod Touch for almost a year. I love the fun and convenience it provides. Besides being a way to have my pictures and music with me wherever I go, it’s also a useful tool for managing my contacts, email, and other information about whatever projects I’m working on. It’s so useful, in fact, that when it powered down for no reason and couldn’t be turned back on today when I was out running errands, I had a moment of panic. How would I get through the rest of the day until I could get home and figure out what the problem was?

Fortunately, I realized there was an Apple store nearby. I headed over there straightaway to get some help. Instead of having to get a place in the customer service queue, I was able to get a nice support person to take a quick look. She gave me two tips that are quick and easy and got me out of my jam.

iPod_Touch_buttonsFirst she showed me how to get my iPod Touch to turn back on when it’s unresponsive to the normal pushing-of-the-home-button or sleep/wake button. You just press both of the simultaneously and hold them until you see the apple icon on the start-up screen. As soon as you see the apple icon, release both buttons and wait for the iPot Touch to start back up. It can take as long as two minutes when you do this.

The second tip was to be sure to completely power-down the iPod Touch at least once a day. Because the iPod goes into sleep mode, I rarely, if ever, completely power it down. Just like a laptop that gets clogged up and slow if you don’t reboot it regularly, the iPod Touch needs a little restart daily.

For more info about the iPod Touch, see Apple’s website. You can purchase an 8 GB iPod Touch there for $199. Shipping is included, and you can even get the back of your iPod Touch engraved for free. To save a little money, order your iPod Touch from amazon.com. They’ll sell it to you for $179. You won’t get the engraving, but you’ll save $20. Both sites offer free shipping. Note that if you’re reading this long after December 30, 2009, the prices will probably be different. Hopefully lower!

Email Campaigns

Published on December 9, 2009 in these categories: Communications and General. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

One of the best ways to stay in touch with your customer base is with email. An effective email campaign is designed to reach out to your customers in a timely and effective manner. Both the timing and the content of an email campaign can make a big difference in whether your customers actually read your email or whether they simply click Delete.

One of my clients is a hotel on the Oregon Coast. We use targeted email to announce special pricing for lodging at the hotel. To make the email enticing enough for people to read, we include other information of interest about activities going on nearby. Things such as dining, festivals, hiking, and other beach activities are typical stories. We try to include a balance of pictures and text to make the email aesthetically pleasing as well as interesting and informative to the reader. Click here to view a sample email created for this client.

When developing an email campaign, it is essential that the email only be sent to subscribers who have opted-in to receive the email. There are many service providers who manage email lists and help ensure your email isn’t treated as spam. More about this in another post.