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Displaying posts from February, 2010 (Clear Search)
By Tyler King    |     February 8th, 2010 View Comments
Improvement doesn't always involve new features
In my last post, I talked about how everything can be improved.  I didn't make this distinction at the time, but I implied that I was talking about improving existing features as opposed to creating new ones.  Obviously new features can be great and they can help expand old products, but t...
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Tags: Optimization, Feature Bloat
By Tyler King    |     February 11th, 2010 View Comments
Need to spice up your design? Try gradients.
This post is for those of you that aren't professional designers, but still find yourself responsible for coming up with basic designs for things like websites, email templates, logos, brochures, etc. If you find that your design just doesn't stand out enough, but you're not sure what you can do to fix it, there's an easy trick that you should try out: Add gradients.
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Tags: Design, Tips
By Bracken King    |     February 12th, 2010 View Comments
Even the big boys have to prioritize
As you may have gleaned from our previous posts, Tyler and I are pretty big fans of many Google software products. Among other things, Less Annoying Software uses Google Voice to handle telephone service, Google Apps for email and documents, and Adwords for the majority of our advertising. It prob...
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Tags: Business Decisions, Google
By Tyler King    |     February 16th, 2010 View Comments
Being better is a decent business plan
As you probably know, Google released a new social networking feature called Google Buzz.  Just like any Google product, some people love it and some people hate it.  There are a lot of legitimate criticisms (mostly about the major privacy holes), but there's one criticism that I just can'...
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Tags: Less Annoying Software, Business Models, Business Decisions, Google
By Bracken King    |     February 17th, 2010 View Comments
The Rocks way or the highway
Over the past few years in graduate school, I've somehow ended up managing the computing resources for our lab. Prior to joining the lab, I didn't have any real system administration experience, so while I've learned a lot over these years, I'm still learning plenty whenever something breaks or we d...
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Tags: Using Technology, Best practices, System administration
By Tyler King    |     February 18th, 2010 View Comments
How to make a simple website logo
I'm going to walk through some really simple tricks you can use to make a logo for a website. To demonstrate, I'm going to make a sample Less Annoying Software logo.
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Tags: Design, Tips
By Tyler King    |     February 22nd, 2010 View Comments
When tags and labels shouldn't be used
In the software world, there are two primary systems for organizing information: folders and tags (also called labels).  The difference is most noticeable as people transition from Outlook to Gmail, but I want to talk about the more general uses of tags and folders.  Specifically, I...
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Tags: Using Technology, Software

About this blog
This blog helps small businesses find and use easy, effective software. Most technology is meant either for individual consumers, or huge corporations. We'll help you find the tools that are powerful enough to help run your business, but simple enough that you can start using them by yourself.

This blog is written by the co-founders of Less Annoying CRM. We build an easy customer management tool that helps small businesses organize customer information and track leads.

If you have any feedback about this blog, please feel free to contact us.
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Optimizely makes website A/B testing simple, fast, and fun
Google Affiliate Network connects you with online advertisers
Google Apps accounts now have access to the full Google catalog
Microsoft Security Essentials - Free PC Antivirus Software
Tip: Imagine what your future self will think about how you spend your time
Microsoft adCenter works as advertised (as long as you have a Windows machine)
What it means to be a Lean Startup, and why we chose this model
Microsoft adCenter only wants your business if you use Windows
Testing vs using in software development and evaluation
Workflowy Review - Online workflow and to-do list
Register a domain name for cheap at Namecheap.com
Don't let grammar get in the way of expression. Don't blindly follow the rules.
How to build a great programmer portfolio site
RegExr makes regular expressions easy(er)
If a company wants to create a great product, they need to own the experience
October (22)
Sometimes you just have to use a site to really evaluate it
Vote with your wallet
The gap between mobile apps and mobile websites is shrinking
Ninite installs all your PC applications for you (no more clicking "next")
When a client requests a new feature, imagine that they're not your client anymore
Microsoft continues its push into the cloud with Office 365
The differences between graphic design and user interface design
Book (chapter) review: Built to Last
Get started with link building by submitting your site to directories
Need to hire a programmer? Make sure they have a good portfolio.
Rocket Lawyer: one stop for legal documents, referrals, and advice
If you write a blog, just accept the fact that people can steal your content
Run a quick audit on your web security with the Gmail Security Checklist
Windows Phone 7 reviews highlight how fast technology is advancing
Try out a new web service this weekend
The very basics of writing scripts in Google Docs
Tip: Pin your taskbar to the side of your screen
Check domain name availability quickly and easily with Domize.com
How User Generated Content Helps SEO
What we can learn from Google Wave's failure
September (20)
The predictive power of search
Dealing with negative blog comments
Perform a simple mail merge in Google Docs
Flavors.me makes it easy to create a personal website
Join.me provides free simple screen sharing
Bluffing is easy when you're not actually bluffing
Great Google Docs templates for flowcharts, business plans, and more
inDinero automates finances for small businesses
Use Q&A sites to get your name out there
Syncplicity update: Google Docs sync now working (but slow)
Gliffy Review - How does it stack up against LucidChart and Visio?
Syncplicity doesn't live up to it's name
How will Google Instant impact online marketing?
Google Instant - blurring the line between searcing and browsing
Usability trumps aesthetics in UI design
Three ways Canonicalization can help with SEO
The principles of a good password system
The best customer service is the kind that never happens in the first place
What a good help section looks like
Gmail offers a new type of inbox to help you prioritize your emails
August (21)
Quick Tip: Give Chrome application shortcuts their own profile to manage multiple logins
Apps vs. the web: how do you read your favorite content?
Using a no-reply email address tells your customers you don't care about them
Keep the 80-20 rule in mind with your SEO
Revisiting Disqus vs. IntenseDebate - I choose neither
Choosing the right communication medium
Submit your blog to Google News
Tutorial: Create a Wiki in Google Sites
Why you shouldn't base your software off open-source projects
What is your software worth
Amazon's affiliate program pays you for referring business
Set up a wiki to keep your team organized
Google Small Business blog offers tech tips for SMBs
Create application shortcuts in Google Chrome on a Mac
SheerSEO Review - Track and analyze your site's SEO
Planning is important, but most people don't plan the right way
Check out our new white paper on customer management software
Forget Visio, LucidChart makes great flowcharts online
Fast(er) switching between Google accounts with Quick Google
Productivity Tip: Use more than one computer monitor
July (23)
Dear craftsmen: sometimes your tools deserve the blame
Learn from the LAPD and be glad that you aren't running a big company
Stop writing business plans, and start writing business reviews
SEO Checklist: 6 easy things you should be doing
Real simplicity doesn't make your software easier, it makes your life easier
Access your Google Analytics data in Google Docs for custom reporting
Blog Software Reviews - Wordpress, Tumblr, and Blogger
Blogger.com Review
Apologizing like a pro (and not like Apple)
Google Webmaster Tools - Free SEO Tools for your Website
How much money can you make with a blog?
Check out your online competition with SEMRush.com
Blog planning: marketing and user engagement
Get started online by spying on your competition
Blog planning: choosing your content
Get questions about web apps answered at Web Apps - Stack Exchange
Optimization Tip: Start at the Beginning of the Funnel
How Unix style file permissions can guide your file sharing policy
Become an expert in your industry by following relevant blogs
Great software doesn't need an "advanced" section
June (22)
What does Google's new web index mean for search and SEO
Zoho: The web-based productivity suite that we don't talk about
Quick Tip: Use stock photography to fill out your website
The differences between inbound and outbound marketing
What should we learn from Square
Control your online brand by taking over the first page of Google
Tutorial: Make an Invoice in Google Docs
Revamped Hotmail has a nice feature list, might be missing the point
How inbound link anchor text affects SEO
Product Update: Organize your contacts into groups, and invite your friends
Start selling online in 15 minutes with Shopify
Wordpress Blogging Software Review
A quick look at Microsoft Office Web Apps: not ready for prime time
Read all your favorite websites in one place with an RSS Reader
10 web browser extensions to help small businesses with SEO and more
Use Twilert to monitor what people say about you on Twitter
Disqus vs. IntenseDebate - Why we switched
Evolving your business software
How to make an online form with Google Docs
Evolve your business, literally
May (24)
Find better alternatives to your current software on AlternativeTo.net
You can tell a lot about software by looking at the pricing model
Analytics reviews - Clicky, Chartbeat, and Google
Put your company on the map with Google Places
The basics of a good landing page
7 tools to help small businesses find online success
Tumblr review - Simple blogging software
3 steps to help improve your search engine click-through rate
Facebook launches a new mobile site - is this the future of the web?
Help Microsoft Office and Google Docs Users Coexist With OffiSync
Google Docs has templates for invoicing, project management and more
Clicky Web Analytics Review
AdWords: the other half of search
Use the Hubspot Website Grader to evaluate your website
Product Update: Reminders and Improved UI
Finding the long tail
Book Review: The Referral Engine
Google Analytics Review
Chartbeat review - Real time analytics software
4 reasons to update your blog at least once per week
Playing to your strengths: NFL edition
The history of search engines: Why Google cares about inbound links
Access your web applications even when you're offline
Tip: Monitor your brand with Google Alerts
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