Hooray! Technigrafa received XoopsFactory's award for top XOOPS site for the month of September. The site received 52% of the vote from the XOOPS community.
Click here to read the announcement.
Thanks goes out to Marcan at Inbox International and Jeff at ThirdEye Software for their support!
Technigrafa
Print design, web design and web hosting in Raleigh, NC
919.374.3014
toll-free: 1.877.GRAFA.NC
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Friday, October 27, 2006
Paypal Scams (aka Phishing) and Identity Theft
I'm sure you've gotten emails that look like they are from someone they aren't. Many scammers send out mail posing to be from a bank. Paypal is notoriously spoofed. The basic rule of thumb to identify these spoofs is if the email starts with "Dear Paypal User." Paypal emails will always be addressed to your real name. Don't be fooled by links that look like http://www.paypal.com in the emails. It might look legit, but often the link really takes you to a site that looks just like Paypal's site, but instead collects your Paypal account info so they can later rob your account.
If you get one of these emails, posing to be from Paypal, but obviously are not, forward it to spoof@paypal.com and they will track down the scammer.
Here's some tips from Paypal on how to handle other Paypal Scams:
Print design, web design and web hosting in Raleigh, NC
919.374.3014
toll-free: 1.877.GRAFA.NC
If you get one of these emails, posing to be from Paypal, but obviously are not, forward it to spoof@paypal.com and they will track down the scammer.
Here's some tips from Paypal on how to handle other Paypal Scams:
Please follow the instructions below to report an unauthorized transaction associated with your PayPal account:Technigrafa
If you are able to log into your PayPal account:
1. Log in to your account at https://www.paypal.com
2. Select the "Resolution Center" subtab.
3. Click "Open a dispute."
4. Select "Unauthorized transaction," then click "Continue."
5. Enter or select the transaction ID for the transaction you would like to dispute, then click "Continue."
6. Complete the report for Unauthorized Use on a PayPal Account, then click "Continue."
7. Confirm that the claim is correct, then click "Submit."
If you cannot log in to your account, follow the instructions below to report an unauthorized transaction associated with your PayPal account:
1. Go to https://www.paypal.com/
2. Click on the "Security Center" link located at the bottom of any page.
3. Under the "Report a Problem" column, click on "Unauthorized Transaction."
4. Click "Continue" under "Unable to log in?"
5. Confirm that the transaction in question is unauthorized then click "Continue."
6. Complete the report for Unauthorized Use on a PayPal Account, then click "Preview."
7. Confirm that the claim is correct, then click "Submit."
8. Confirm your account ownership by entering the financial information requested, then click "Continue."
Lastly, we recommend taking a few steps to protect yourself from identity theft:
1. Download the SafetyBar, a toolbar for Outlook and Outlook Express, which identifies known spoof emails.
2. Get eBay Toolbar with Account Guard which warns you when you're on a potentially fraudulent (spoof) Web site.
3. Sign up for Equifax Credit Alerts for PayPal Users, a program that provides an early warning detection system in the event of identity theft. Find out more by visiting the PayPal Identity Protection Center at www.paypal.com/idprotection.
4. Frequently monitor your PayPal account for suspicious activity.
Print design, web design and web hosting in Raleigh, NC
919.374.3014
toll-free: 1.877.GRAFA.NC
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Firefox 2 Released
Firefox 2 was released recently and offers a slew of security and performance improvements. The main user interface change I've noticed is tabs now have their own button to close them, rather than using the "master" close tab icon that was on the right in earlier releases.
If you aren't using the Firefox web browser yet, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!!! :-) It really is way better than Internet Explorer. And it's FREE!
Get it here, or upgrade if you have an older version.
If you aren't using the Firefox web browser yet, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!!! :-) It really is way better than Internet Explorer. And it's FREE!
Get it here, or upgrade if you have an older version.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
OSCommerce Shopping Cart Book
One of the shopping cart systems we utilize often is OSCommerce, for many reasons. One, it's been around a long time and is very stable and there are a lot of plugin contributions readily available. Two, it's open source. And three, we work regularly with an amazing OSCommerce programmer - Monika, who recently wrote this book.It does a great job of providing easy to understand instructions on how to modify the OSCommerce shopping cart. I recommend it heartily and if you are interested in customizing OSCommerce - this is a must have book.
Monday, October 16, 2006
Technigrafa Now a Member of the BBB
Technigrafa is now a member of the Eastern North Carolina Better Business Bureau. The BBB is a great organization to belong to because it is recognized by many people as a reputable company that makes sure that it's members are also reputable companies. Becoming a member allows you to use their logo in your printed materials as well as on your website, which is important to establish credibility for your company.
You must have been in business for over a year and agree to their terms reguarding operating your business in a moral manner. Of course there is a yearly membership fee as well, based on how many employees your company has.
You can sign up for the BBB Online program here, but remember, you must be a member of a local chapter as well.
Daniel Trimpey
President of Technigrafa, LLC
Print design, web design and web hosting in Raleigh, NC
919.374.3014
toll-free: 1.877.GRAFA.NC
You must have been in business for over a year and agree to their terms reguarding operating your business in a moral manner. Of course there is a yearly membership fee as well, based on how many employees your company has.
You can sign up for the BBB Online program here, but remember, you must be a member of a local chapter as well.
Daniel Trimpey
President of Technigrafa, LLC
Print design, web design and web hosting in Raleigh, NC
919.374.3014
toll-free: 1.877.GRAFA.NC
Friday, October 06, 2006
Starting a Business - What do I do first?
Being in the logo design & branding field, we run into a lot of people who are starting up a small company and need to get their promotional items created (business cards, brochures, web site, etc.) A lot of the time it can be confusing knowing exactly what you need to do to start up a business right.
Here are a few tips to make sure you get everything set up right. This is by no means a complete list, or a sequential list, but just a set of recommendations based on some common problems we run into with clients and some lessons we've learned well from our own experiences:
1) Get Ready to Spend Money
It's true that you have to spend money to make money. It may be tempting to go the cheap route, but if you want your business to succeed, I've found that doing it right the first time is worth the money your spend up front. If you try to cut corners, you may not be real happy with the results. Get a loan and pay off these expenses later when you have money coming in. At least you can know that you are putting your best foot forward and you're not sabotaging your business's success over the relatively minimal amount of money you need to spend up front to develop a good image for your company.
2) Pick a good company name
It sounds simple, but it can be one of the hardest tasks you face. You want a name that reflects the services or products you offer, but you also want to be catchy. That's tough. A good trademark attorney will help you with this process, and this leads to a very valuable point: Trademark your company name! This is a painful (and sometimes costly) process, but a good idea because it keeps another company for taking you to court over your name and it keeps other companies from stealing glory from you by resembling your business. If you own a small bait & tackle shop on the edge of a lake in the middle of no where, trademarking your business may not be so important, but we're not all so.... err.... lucky.
There are two primary ways to trademark your business:
At this point you will probably need to get a federal tax ID for your business, or EIN. You also need to file with your local secretary of state to register your business name. You may also be required to get a business license/permit. Here is a good website for people in NC. You'll need to figure out if you want to do business as a sole proprietor, LLC, S-Corp, etc. too. Your accountant can help you with that and you can file online or get an attorney to help you. Then you can get a bank account as a DBA or "Doing Business As" if you are a sole proprietor or get a bank account in the name of your corporation if you incorporate. Usually you need to do business for about 2 years before a bank will let you open a company bank account. DBAs are immediately available to you though. Also note that if you incorporate later, you'll need to get another tax ID and your bank account will have to be closed and reopened with the new ID. Fun!
3) Get your Logo and Branding Done
This step goes hand-in-hand with the second step. Find a graphic design company that does logos, corporate identity and branding and get a logo created that you really like and you feel represents your business well. They should work with your attorney to make sure your logo doesn't conflict with another logo that is already trademarked. This is the building point for all your marketing materials. To have a consistent corporate identity, you want to get your logo on everything you put out there: business cards, letterhead, website, etc. Why is corporate identity important? Why can't you just put out generic marketing materials? Well, you can, but studies show that people need to see (or hear about) your company up to seven times before company recognition occurs. Having consistent branding helps to build credibility and help people remember you. Think "The golden arches" or the Nike "Swoosh."
4) Market your Business
Whether you find a marketing agency or do this yourself, you need to figure out how you are going to promote your new business. Believe it or not, just getting some business cards and a website most likely won't bring a mass exodus of customers to knock down your door. You have to get the word out. There are many ways to do this, such as press releases, phonebook ads, online ads, TV and radio, ads, etc. A marketing company can help you determine where your money is best spent to get the most return on your investment. Your marketing agency will work with your designer to develop good marketing materials like postcards, flyers, brochures, etc. They can also help you figure out where postcards need to be sent and where you can send email promotions to get the best response. Note: Marketing companies, despite what they tell you, are not always the best equipped to design your marketing materials. Some marketing companies have good internal design teams or contract out with good design agencies, but often you can run into pretty unimpressive stuff if you don't get a designer involved.
There are also many other things you can do to get the word out like joining your local Chamber of Commerce, attend trade shows, etc. Networking in this way can prove to be very valuable and it's pretty inexpensive.
5) Run Your Business Well
Well, duh! If you don't do a good job of running your business, all of the above will be for naught. Sure, you'll make a few mistakes along the way, but don't let that keep you from forging ahead. Make sure you get a good attourney to take care of any legal concerns, get some insurance for your company - and you may want to look into disability and health insurance while you're at it. Your accountant can help advise you on setting up a retirement account too. Better safe than sorry!
One of the keys to running any business successfully is to provide friendly and prompt customer service. So establishing a way to handle that up front is important. Impersonal phone systems, busy signals and answering machine messages are usually going to send a cold message to your customers. People are starved for good customer service these days and most people don't mind spending a little extra money to know that they are being taken care of well.
Daniel Trimpey
President of Technigrafa, LLC
Print design, web design and web hosting in Raleigh, NC
919.374.3014
toll-free: 1.877.GRAFA.NC
Here are a few tips to make sure you get everything set up right. This is by no means a complete list, or a sequential list, but just a set of recommendations based on some common problems we run into with clients and some lessons we've learned well from our own experiences:
1) Get Ready to Spend Money
It's true that you have to spend money to make money. It may be tempting to go the cheap route, but if you want your business to succeed, I've found that doing it right the first time is worth the money your spend up front. If you try to cut corners, you may not be real happy with the results. Get a loan and pay off these expenses later when you have money coming in. At least you can know that you are putting your best foot forward and you're not sabotaging your business's success over the relatively minimal amount of money you need to spend up front to develop a good image for your company.
2) Pick a good company name
It sounds simple, but it can be one of the hardest tasks you face. You want a name that reflects the services or products you offer, but you also want to be catchy. That's tough. A good trademark attorney will help you with this process, and this leads to a very valuable point: Trademark your company name! This is a painful (and sometimes costly) process, but a good idea because it keeps another company for taking you to court over your name and it keeps other companies from stealing glory from you by resembling your business. If you own a small bait & tackle shop on the edge of a lake in the middle of no where, trademarking your business may not be so important, but we're not all so.... err.... lucky.
There are two primary ways to trademark your business:
- Text only
- Stylized graphic logo
At this point you will probably need to get a federal tax ID for your business, or EIN. You also need to file with your local secretary of state to register your business name. You may also be required to get a business license/permit. Here is a good website for people in NC. You'll need to figure out if you want to do business as a sole proprietor, LLC, S-Corp, etc. too. Your accountant can help you with that and you can file online or get an attorney to help you. Then you can get a bank account as a DBA or "Doing Business As" if you are a sole proprietor or get a bank account in the name of your corporation if you incorporate. Usually you need to do business for about 2 years before a bank will let you open a company bank account. DBAs are immediately available to you though. Also note that if you incorporate later, you'll need to get another tax ID and your bank account will have to be closed and reopened with the new ID. Fun!
3) Get your Logo and Branding Done
This step goes hand-in-hand with the second step. Find a graphic design company that does logos, corporate identity and branding and get a logo created that you really like and you feel represents your business well. They should work with your attorney to make sure your logo doesn't conflict with another logo that is already trademarked. This is the building point for all your marketing materials. To have a consistent corporate identity, you want to get your logo on everything you put out there: business cards, letterhead, website, etc. Why is corporate identity important? Why can't you just put out generic marketing materials? Well, you can, but studies show that people need to see (or hear about) your company up to seven times before company recognition occurs. Having consistent branding helps to build credibility and help people remember you. Think "The golden arches" or the Nike "Swoosh."
4) Market your Business
Whether you find a marketing agency or do this yourself, you need to figure out how you are going to promote your new business. Believe it or not, just getting some business cards and a website most likely won't bring a mass exodus of customers to knock down your door. You have to get the word out. There are many ways to do this, such as press releases, phonebook ads, online ads, TV and radio, ads, etc. A marketing company can help you determine where your money is best spent to get the most return on your investment. Your marketing agency will work with your designer to develop good marketing materials like postcards, flyers, brochures, etc. They can also help you figure out where postcards need to be sent and where you can send email promotions to get the best response. Note: Marketing companies, despite what they tell you, are not always the best equipped to design your marketing materials. Some marketing companies have good internal design teams or contract out with good design agencies, but often you can run into pretty unimpressive stuff if you don't get a designer involved.
There are also many other things you can do to get the word out like joining your local Chamber of Commerce, attend trade shows, etc. Networking in this way can prove to be very valuable and it's pretty inexpensive.
5) Run Your Business Well
Well, duh! If you don't do a good job of running your business, all of the above will be for naught. Sure, you'll make a few mistakes along the way, but don't let that keep you from forging ahead. Make sure you get a good attourney to take care of any legal concerns, get some insurance for your company - and you may want to look into disability and health insurance while you're at it. Your accountant can help advise you on setting up a retirement account too. Better safe than sorry!
One of the keys to running any business successfully is to provide friendly and prompt customer service. So establishing a way to handle that up front is important. Impersonal phone systems, busy signals and answering machine messages are usually going to send a cold message to your customers. People are starved for good customer service these days and most people don't mind spending a little extra money to know that they are being taken care of well.
Daniel Trimpey
President of Technigrafa, LLC
Print design, web design and web hosting in Raleigh, NC
919.374.3014
toll-free: 1.877.GRAFA.NC
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