Archive for December 2011

Setting up your own email

December 6, 2011 Business Tips, Guides, Tools No comments
email-at-work

Although there are lots of free email services like Gmail, Windows Live and Yahoo!, setting up a domain name and customised email address is much easier than it sounds and can be done by anyone who has a moderate level of computer literacy. If you can follow instructions, type and use a mouse – you can set up your own email.

It’s really worth doing this if you’re in business. It makes you look more professional, it’s cheap and it means that you are the master of your domain (pun intended) so that your email address won’t change of you swap your ISP. It also means that you can set up multiple email addresses for different purposes.

Also, it means that you can separate your home life from your work – a good thing for freelancers trying to ensure that the work/family balance is maintained.

One other thing – it should only take an hour or so to set up the email account but it can take up to 48 hours for the changes to take effect. You’ll be editing something called a DNS record for your domain and it can take a couple of days for the changes to propogate across the entire Internet. However, it’s possible that the email will be active in less than a couple of hours.

This isn’t a comprehensive guide – it’s an overview of the process. Most service providers have comprehensive instructions on their websites. The problem I’ve found in the past is that knowing where to find those instructions is a challenge.

Step 1 – Register a Domain Name

A domain is a unique name that’s used to identify a internet resources. When you look at a web address it will be in the form www.journoadvice.com. The domain name is the “journoadvice.com” part.

To claim or register a domain name, you need to go through one of the companies that has been authorised to hand out domain names. This company is called a registrar.

There are lots of different registrars to choose from. And although they are all selling similar products, they all offer different extra services and, therefore, charge different prices.

If you’re purchasing a regular “.com” domain name, then it’s pretty much a free-for-all. Sure, you can’t purchase a domain that would obviously misrepresent you and thou can’t cybersquat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybersquatting).

When you’re choosing the registrar you’ll be buying the domain through, makse sure that you will have the authority to make modifications to the domain’s DNS record. I know that sounds very complicated and nerdy but it’s actually easy as long as you’re allowed to do it. Most registrars allow this but a few charge extra.

I usually purchase my domains from GoDadddy (http://www.godaddy.com). You’ll need either a credit card or PayPal (http://www.paypal.com) account to make the purchase. It’s important that you shop around. Although I use GoDaddy – I’m not necessarily recommending them as being a good choice for everyone.

If you do choose GoDaddy, pay attention as you go through the ordering process. The ordering processing has some fairly heavy onselling so make sure you don;t buy anything extra that you don’t need. In particular, don’t pay four the email hosting option as there are free options available.

Domain registration for a “.com” address is about $12AUD per year from GoDaddy.

If you want a “.com.au” domain, then you’ll need to go to a registrar that is accredited for Australian domains. There’s a list of Australian domain registrars (http://www.auda.org.au/registrars/accredited-registrars/) at the AUDA website. You’ll need an ABN in order to register a “.com.au” address.

Step 2 – Set up the email service

Once the domain is registered, you’ll need to create an account with an email provider.

There are several options here. I use Google Apps but there’s also Microsoft’s Live and Crazy Domains offers unlimited email storage and up to 50 different addresses for less than $20 per year. A web search for “free email hosting” will reveal lots of options and leads.

If you choose Google Apps, then you can do the domain registration there so that Step 1 and Step 2 are combined.

Once you’ve chosen your preferred provider you’ll need to enter some information. You will need an alternate email address as well as the one you are setting up. Your current, non-business one will suffice.

This process is very straightforward. All you need to do is follow the instructions. There’s nothing tricky or technical to do.

Step 3 – Putting the domain and email service together

Back in Step 1 we said that you needed to ensure that you had control of your domain’s DNS record. The DNS record is the information that tells the world what to do when someone tries to access your domain.

For example, it’s the DNS record that directs the world to your website when the enter “www.yourwebsite.com”. It’s also the DNS record that tells the world where the mailboxes for tour domain are so that email is delivered correctly.

In order to make the appropriate changes with your email provider, you’ll need to prove to them that you own the domain you’re registering. To do that, you typically either need to upload a file to your website or make a chnage to the domain’s DNS record. If you haven’t yet set up your website, changing the DNS record is the easiest thing to do.

If you’ve chosen Google Apps for your email, they provide detailed instructions for modifying the DNS record. In summary, the process involves:

  1. Logging in to your domain registrar’s website.
  2. Going to the Account Management area of the site
  3. Opening the DNS record for the domain you’ve registered
  4. Making the changes as instructed and saving the changes

The process should only take a few minutes to do but up to two days to take full effect.

Once your ownership of the domain is confirmed, you can change the DNS record so that your email uses the new domain name. This involves changes the MX (Mail Exchange) records in the DNS.

It’s important to enter the information exactly as directed, including any trailing fullstops and ensuring that there are no extra spaces accidentally typed in or other errors.

Online Accounts Software Compared

December 4, 2011 Business Tips, Tools No comments
accounting

As a freelancer, it’s tempting to focus completely on the business of your chosen profession be it writing, taking photos, designing or developing. But the cold, hard reality is that there are a bunch of business administration tasks that need your attention. One of those tasks managing your accounts. Until just a few years ago, that meant purchasing and installing fairly expensive software that was difficult to use. It wasn’t that the functionality was lacking. It’s just that the software was complex and looked like it had been designed by accountants for accountants.

Modern accounting software has evolved and, like many other applications, has moved to the cloud. There are several advantages with a cloud solution. Firstly, rather than having to export and send data files to your accountant, you can simply give them direct access to your data. Also, a cloud based solution means that you can hop from one computer to another without the need to instal anything – very handy if you move between client sites and computers. The other benefit is that when the software is enhanced, you get the benefit of those improvements instantly without having to manually update your software.

Of course, there are some other things to consider. Backing up your data remains your problem. Although most cloud providers do look after things well, it is important to make your owen backups up accounts, invoices and other important data. Also, cloud services tend to work on a subscription model so there’s an annual fee – something that can be avoided if you only buy your accounting software once every few years and don’t upgrade as new versions are released. This software distribution model is often called SaaS – Software as a Service.

A couple of good options for online accounting software are Saasu and Xero.

Saasu

Saasu has a simple user interface that makes it easy for business people to focus on their business, rather than admin, Saasu makes a tedious task less painful. Creating invoices, receiving payments, entering expenses and reconciling bank statements are all trivially easy. All of Saasu’s screens are clearly laid out. When you need to add a new piece of basic information, such as the contact details for client or a new expense category, you can do that while creating your transaction.

There are full payroll facilities that comply with Australian tax rules and Saasu is regularly updated. Completing a regular BAS becomes trivially easy as Saasu automatically creates a worksheet with all the data neatly presented.

Saasu can interface with banks so that transitional information can be downloaded directly from your accounts to Saasu. This makes statement reconciliation easy and reduces the potential for errors in your accounts.

We used Saasu from PCs and Macs using a variety of browsers without any problems. It works nicely on the iPad although the cash-flow graph doesn’t appear in Safari. There’s also an iPhone app that makes it easy to enter invoices, payments and expenses.

Saasu is free for up to 20 transactions per month. If you need more than that, there are monthly, quarterly and annual subscription options.

Xero

Xero provides a clear, one-screen snapshot of your business’s cash-flow and other activities.

Entering transactions is easy as all of the forms are neatly laid out and setting up recurring transactions is a snap. If you have clients that require regular statements, Xero makes it easy to create and send them with just a few clicks and there’s a simple pie chart that shows which clients owe the most money.

Regular tax reporting is very easy as Xero produces an activity statement report that lists the BAS form boxes and the amounts you need to fill in for the tax office. Other reports such as profit and loss and balance sheets are easy to produce.

Running a payroll is easy. You can create a pay run that completes payroll for all your staff in one go with customised payslips so that you maintain a totally professional appearance. All other forms and documents, such as statements and invoices, can be customised with your own logos.

One neat feature is that if your clients or suppliers use Xero, you can have statements automatically transferred from one Xero user to another, negating the need for sending separate email with attached invoices. Although its usefulness might be limited today, it’s smart way to get companies interested in Xero.

Xero offers an iPhone app as well as broad browser compatibility. There’s a free trial with paid options starting at $29 per month.