POSTED: Advertise @ Craigslist

How it all started:

Craigslist was founded on 1995 by a web-oriented software engineer in the person of Craig Newman. It all started started as an email list for friends and co-workers about events going on in the San Francisco Bay Area. When he retired in the field of IT, he decided to work fulltime for craigslist. Though it all started as a hobby, craigslist was incorporated as a for-profit in 1999.

About Craigslist:

Craigslist serves as a local classifieds and forums site for 570 cities in 50 countries worldwide. It is community moderated, and largely free. Basically, craigslist is almost about anything: housing, services, jobs, services, local events - literally anything. It operates in different languages including French, German, Italian, Portugese, and Spanish and the site receives more than 1 million job listings per month.

Benefits you can get from Craigslist:

1. User can post their advertisements as many times as they want provided that each ad should not be similar with one another.

2. It gives the people, particularly the users, the voice. They have the freedom on how each advertisements will be presented.

3. Gives both the users and the viewers the sence of community trust and even intimacy. The users will be able to monitor personally their propect clients' needs since they are the one updating their posts.

4. Gives the viewers a sense of security. Craigslist allows the viewer to flag a particular posting which appears to them violating the site's policies.

For more information about Craigslist, visit http://chicago.craigslist.org/

Google Apps Premier: Everything Comes in One Package

Who said that online-based communication, mobile updates, documents, site building and a calendar can never be accessed all together using a single account?

This perspective is definitely wrong. Here comes another google-base application which will surely fit either your personal, business, or school need. You can now enjoy keeping in touch with other while enjoying the adventure of browsing new tools. All of this in one account. Complete your Internet expedition with Google Apps Premier.

Google Apps Premier is an account which offers several other applications aside from the usual email and chat. It bridges the gap between the virtual world and the real world. In general, it offers a wide-range and a must experience web- based program and allows the user to store and create files without the need to install a software.

Signing up is as easy as some usual email accounts. The only difference is that, Google Apps Premier's services are paid. This is due to the fact that this application is commonly used by companies, educational institutions, and other organizations in order to communicate to their members and followers in the easiest way possible. The owner of the account can add multiple users, all at the same time making it easier to manage. And, you can create you own domain name for your account to be easily accessed.

A Tour on Google Apps Premier...

Gmail and Chat...

Email is one of the most common communication function an account has to perform. What separates the email option of Google Apps Premier to other account is that, you can manage your account in the most convenient and accessible manner which will best suit you according to your choice.

One additional feature for email is label. You can label each mail according to color which will determine your priority. You will be the one to personally choose what color will go in every label you make. Video clips can also be viewed directly through the email account you have.

Additional feature is the Gmail chat which allows the user to shift from emailing to chatting in one particular window. Gmail chat allows the user not only to chat via text but also video chatting, voice chatting, and even group chats.

Google Talk...

Google talk is another feature of Google Apps which functions more like a communication tool for the user. This could be use for sending and receiving instant messages, PC-To-PC voice chat, voice mails and even file transfer. It is advantageous to use google talk to send files since there is no file size distinction. This also gives Gmail notifications in the users desktop, so, while you are chatting, you will be able to know if you have message in your Gmail.



Calendar: Be reminded, Get Updated

Google Apps Premiere also features a google calendar which allows you to book some appointments and at the same time, be reminded of these appointments. The google calendar sends out email notifications to the user whenever there was a scheduled activity for that particular day.



Google Docs...

Google docs is actually a separate program offered by google but through Google Apps Premier, signing up means having Google Docs at hand. This application allows the user to create presentations, spreadsheets, documents and even forms. Once created, the material done will be automatically saved by the network making it more convenient to use. You will no longer have the worries of having unsaved files when power interruptions occur. Another plus factor also is the fact that you don't have to download particular softwares to have your files created.



Google sites...

Google sites allow you to create your own web template for a website minus the process of downloading a particular software. By using this particular application, you can have you site posted on the web right at that very moment. After creating your own site, you can still have it edited, manage your account, add additional pages, subscribe to other accounts and also to share you accounts to others. By managing your site, you can set its viewing preference whether to make it public, private.



Google Apps: Go Mobile

Google Apps can also be updated through your mobile phones. Email alerts and calendar reminders can be received through your mobile phones using this application.

Administrative Panel: Managing Google Apps the way you want it

The admin, or the owner of the Google Apps account has all the right to manage it. By using the administrative panel, the administrator can have the a particular application to be activated or deactivated. He also has the control who will be the users of his domain. All in all, the administrator has the full control in all the accounts applications he can make changes whenever he wants.

Salesforce: More than just a software

"The leader in customer relationship management (CRM) & cloud computing"

A business is nothing without its customers. If this happens, it will be more like a human being, struggling to live after having one of his vital organs removed. If advertising is the life-blood of any newspaper, customer is the life-blood of every business. How any business entity manages its relationship with its customers will define the company's success in the field.

Salesforce, marking itself as the leader in customer relationship management (CRM), offers programs which helps entrepreneurs maintain good relationships among their customers while they are marketing their products. Here are some basic facts about the company.

Starting-up...

Salesforce was founded in 1999 by former Oracle executive Marc Benioff and it went public only in 2004 under the stock symbol CRM (customer relationship management).

The site offers services like consultation, certification, training, support, and finding a partner which are all beneficial for every business' success.

Assurance from Salesforce CRM

1. Ensures that the client's sales, marketing, and support efforts are in line with each other as they work together towards one common goal and that is - to have your business succeed in a new level you are not expecting.

2. Automation of business processes are highly possible.

3. Gives everyone in your company a complete view of the customer.
4. Provides deeper analysis and insight into critical sales and customer metrics.
5. Ensures that the customers you already have will be happy and satisfied while you are also focused in getting more customers.

For more information, visit http://www.salesforce.com/

...Jumpstart

Student life was over..Here I am now, facing the real world. Creating a picture beyond my brush could ever paint...beyond my pen could ever write about. I am no longer what I used to be three months ago - carrying a "backpack-full" of books and folders loaded hard copies of the articles needed to be submitted in order to beat the deadline.

After graduation, "job" was my main target. Surfing the net while looking for job vacancies and being a "visitor" to job fairs in the city were just but normal to freshgrads like me. Two months have passed and I almost loose hope - just almost. But indeed, keeping my faith was of great help.

It seemed like my agony ended when I was given the chance to work for Virtual Assistant. This has given me the opportunity to jumpstart my career outside the school campus.

First task which was given to us was a 'telecom research task'... Despite the ordeals I have gone through before I was able to complete the task, I really enjoyed doing the research. Through that research task, I was able to explore other sites which seemed to be 'alien' for me (like finding out that there are such companies like Millicom and Orange which offers telecom services). I was also able to learn new computer applications which helped me do the task.

Now that I have somehow experienced doing actual tasks done by a general task virtual assistants, I am expecting harder and more complicated tasks that are soon to come and at the same time, close encounter with the clients are highly possible.

Through observation, I must say that there are a lot of possible circumstances which keep the VA's life more challeging. This may include dealing with clients who have different wavelenghts as you are, beating the deadline, and also keeping the company's (and your own) credibility as you come up with outputs which are not merely acceptable but satisfactory.

These are just but few of the insights I have as I start my career with VA. More learnings are still on their way...