How Could Website Hosting Be Green?

"Other people may not have had high expectations for me... but I had high expectations for myself."
~ Shannon Miller, Olympic Gold Medalist, Gymnastics

With so much talk about saving energy, the idea of being green has moved into every aspect of life. We think of the web as an electronic device run by millions of computers worldwide, but people rarely consider the environmental impact this huge energy drain has on our environment. Well hosting companies are waking up and have come to realize that being green applies to the Internet too!

What is a Green Host?
A green host focuses on three aspects of energy savings:
1) Saving energy by reducing usage through modification of data center design and technologies used
2) Utilizing renewable energy sources to ensure the electricity they use was generated in an environmentally friendly manner.
3) Saving energy in the manner they run their company.


How do they reduce energy usage?

• Purchasing servers that are more power efficient.
• Installing more memory into servers to make them run more efficiently.
• Raising the room temperature of their data center so not as much cooling is required.
• Designing the layout of the data center so air flow is maximized and cooling is kept to a minimum.
  

What renewable energy sources do they utilize?

• Electricity generated from solar panels
• Electricity generated from wind power
• Creating a green roof on the data center to naturally reduce inside temperatures
• Collecting rain water for use in air conditioning systems
  

How do they run an eco-friendly company?

• Renting in an office building that uses solar or wind power to generate electricity
• Purchasing carbon credits to offset their energy consumption. These credits are used to invest in the creation of renewable energy sources and reforestation.
  
• Allow employees to telecommute
• Creating incentive programs for carpooling
• Becoming a paperless office
• Plant a tree on behalf of every customer who signs up for hosting
• Doing an office energy assessment and turning off or unplugging unused electronics.
• Renting offices that use renewable energy sources for heating/cooling and electricity
• Recycling all paper and plastic waste
  

Who are these green hosting companies?
There are dozens of them out there, but these days the most talked about include:

• Dreamhost
• Rochen
• AISO.net
• SuperGreen
• GreenGeeks

If you care about the environment, it is very easy to switch your site to a green hosting company. It's a 1-hour project that can contribute years of positive impact on the environment.

Who is ready to win?

Keys to Effective Business Prospecting

“Never mistake activity for achievement” - John Wooden, Legendary UCLA Basketball Coach

Prospecting is separate from sales. Prospecting is discarding all the unqualified leads and retaining the qualified leads that are likely to buy your product now or in the future. Selling begins after this process is complete.

Prospecting takes time. Commit to prospecting two to eight hours every week, depending on your pipeline. Lock in that time in advance and build the rest of your schedule around those regular sessions. Work smarter, not harder - focus only on qualified leads and your sales should follow.

Lead Generation:

1. First, ask every existing satisfied client or customer for ideas on where you might find new business opportunities. Satisfied customers will often give you recommendations, leads and introductions if you ask for them.

2. Develop a pool of partners who share common prospects with you, but perform different or complementary services. Cultivate those relationships to stay “top of mind” and gain the most from your partnership.

3. Obtain a list of participants from key industry seminars, symposiums, and conferences. These participants may either be good prospects for you or they may become potential partners.

Other lead sources can include: webinars, seminars, third party reports, conferences, and podcasts. Use these tools to offer industry updates in which you can work synergistically with your partners. That way you share the cost and get access to their clients and prospects. You can also buy lists from many industry sources. They are usually harder to qualify, but you may be able to get a bigger pool of prospects.

Qualifying Criteria

Key criteria in qualifying your leads are: identification of decision makers, current supplier situation, their financial situation, decision timeframe, and price issues. Research every company and key executive on your target list.

Even if they’re not yet ready to buy, cultivate all long-term qualified leads. When they're ready, they will remember that you stayed in contact and offered good solutions to their needs. You will have already gained credibility. This persistence pays off when they are ready to commit to and buy your product.

Follow Up Activities:

1. Send out key information that provides value to the prospect and demonstrates your expertise in the marketplace. Provide white papers, case studies, research reports, press releases, or invitations to trade shows. Follow up with a phone call or email to make sure they received it, and schedule a time to discuss the material.

2. Have your follow-up materials at hand and make sure you record next steps into your calendar, CRM software or contact manager.

3. Your messages and talking points should include value statements that will provoke interest or action at each level of contact you have with an organization. Be familiar with your script it so it does not sound as though you are reading it. Have responses to all the common objections posed by your potential customers. Turn them into benefits wherever possible. Take notes and record key points, so during the next call, you can recite what they said last time and show you were listening.

Work with a coach to help you plan, prepare, network and hone your skills in the area of prospecting that lead to new opportunities.

Shape Up Your Accounting System

“If winning isn’t everything, then why do they keep score?” – Vince Lombardi, Legendary Head Football Coach, Green Bay Packers

Your accounting system is the eyes and ears of your business. Accounting systems are essential for reporting profits, expenses, sales, income, and more. The trouble is, many small business owners neglect their accounting systems. If you are not regularly managing your accounting system, you may have tremendous exposure to problems you are not even aware of. A good accounting system can be your best business partner, alerting you to issues that need to be addressed and keeping you apprised of your successes.

Just like any business activity, accounting needs to be an action that you schedule in your calendar and spend time on every week. Depending on the size of your business, you may need to hire someone whose full-time job is managing the accounting for your company. You may need only a part-time bookkeeper, or you may need a full accounting staff, dividing responsibilities into payables, receivables, cost and inventory accounting and reporting.

If you run a small business, you may be able to use an accounting service. There are plenty of part-time bookkeepers out there who will visit your business on a weekly basis to keep track of your books and make sure that you are current on paying bills and depositing receivables.

If you do your own bookkeeping, make sure to invest in software that can do a lot of the work for you. QuickBooks is the best example of bookkeeping software that can provide reports such as income statements, balance sheets and general ledgers and have tremendous flexibility to track any number of bank accounts, vendors, transactions, receivables and payables.

It’s important to understand the difference between a bookkeeper and an accountant. A bookkeeper does just that. He or she manages your books, writes checks and deposits money into your bank accounts. The bookkeeper can generate reports that tell you where you stand. A good bookkeeper can analyze those reports and alert you to potential shortfalls or expenses that are out of line. Remember, your accounting system is the most important diagnostic tool you have to analyze the health of your business.

Your accountant, who should be a CPA, will file your taxes, handle any government regulatory filings and produce annual statements with analyses. Your CPA should also be a business analyst who can be straight with you about the financial health of your business. CPA’s can be expensive, which is why if you are a smaller business, you are often fine using a bookkeeper for day to day accounting and save your CPA fees for annual reporting and tax filings.

So if you are still stuffing receipts into coffee cans and scribbling notes in your check register, and the bank statements are piling up in your office, make a commitment today to get your accounting system under control. Once you make the effort to implement a good accounting system, it’s easy to keep up with it, and you will have the information you need to make good decisions about the future of your business.

Are you ready to win?