Google just announced a new service called Google Voice (click here for Mashable’s story).  According to Mashable:

The service looks a lot like Gmail
for voicemail, although you don’t have to be a Gmail user to use it. It lets you retrieve transcripts of your voicemail, archive and search all your sent and received SMS messages, and you can make calls directly from Google Voice’s interface. The calls are free in the US, and cost a small fee internationally.

You can call Google Voice and leave yourself messages.  Google will automatically transcribe the messages into text and email them to you!

Hello my name is Laura Gonzalez, business owner of Virtual Business Solutions. I am a certified QuickBooks Pro Advisor, software trainer and business consultant with over 18 years experience providing software training.

I have produced audio and video tutorials for my clients that educate and provide a deeper understanding of their software solutions.
The Commercial Creation Center makes creating professional sounding audio with background music very easy. The audio recorder makes it simple to record individual audio, and the Audio Mixer seamlessly combines multiple pieces of audio and even adds background music. The Commercial Creation Center even comes with its own selection of professional background music. If you’ve never tried creating audio or video before, this is the perfect program with which to start.

Turbo Tax and QuickBooks
Here is a fun video about Turbo Tax.
You can import your QuickBooks into Turbo Tax
Here is a QuickBooks Community forum about QuickBooks and Turbo Tax
http://www.quickbooksgroup.com/webx/forums/importexport/intuit_products/
For more information about Turbo Tax

Business Tips – 7 Key Web Pages for ECommerce Websites

Here is a video of 6 key web pages for your website.

About US
Contact Page
Site Map
Why Buy From Us
Terms and Conditions
Testimonials

These are very true and can really give your potential customer key
information to help them say “yes” to work with your business.

This video was created by a UK business but it proves true
that no matter where your business is in the country these pages are universal.

If you sell products I would have to add a 7th page to your site
that would be essential and that is a shopping cart page.

There are many shopping carts that integrate with Quickbooks.
Godaddy.com, oneshoppingcart.com
etc.
One thing you want to make sure your your cart or add-on software
should be able to handle single orders or large batches.
QuickBooks offers an area that gives you many third party options to integrate
QuickBooks with a shopping cart
http://marketplace.intuit.com/AppID-2193-Overview.aspx

I also would recommend using QuickBooks Merchant Services instead of going with an
outside credit card processing service.
http://www.quickbooksmerchantservice.com/services/support.php

Not everyone knows what a podcast is so I thought I would explain.

A podcast is a digital media file, or a series of such files such as mp3 files, that is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers. The term “podcast,” like “radio,” can mean either the content itself or the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also termed podcasting. POD stands for Portable On Demand.

A QuickBooks Podcast is an audio file that has QuickBooks Tips and Tutorial articles on them. These are portable files so a busy business owner can take them on the go to listen to them.
These files are also syndicated using RSS Feed so you can subscribe to them through a RSS Reader such as yahoo reader or google reader. I have provided several rss choices when you subscribe to this feed.

Please feel free to subscribe to QuickBooks Tips and Tutorials.

QuickBooks Radio has audio files that you can listen and learn more about the features QuickBooks has to offer.
Download the mp3 file and take it with you so you can listen to it on the go. These are also called “Podcasts”.

A podcast is a digital media file, or a series of such files, that is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers. The term “podcast,” like “radio,” can mean either the content itself or the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also termed podcasting. POD stands for Portable On Demand.

You will also find my QuickBooks Tips & Tutorials there as well.

Hello my name is Laura Gonzalez, business owner of Virtual Business Solutions, Certified QuickBooks Pro Advisor with over 16 years experience as a Business Consultant specializing in “Business Makeover & Tune-ups” “Business Setup” and “Providing Solutions For All Your Business Needs”.

Welcome to Tips & Tutorials for the busy business owner on the go.

Here you will find QuickBooks tips and tutorials that are written text with screen captures, videos and audio podcasts.I have written and recorded these articles to help you make more sense out of your QuickBooks Software . I also have invited Top Expert Instructors in their area of business expertise to write and record content.

If you’re already “pulling” news feeds, rss, xml or podcasting choose your icon to subscribe. Enjoy and Welcome.
Please visit www.virtualbiz4u.com/blog for more audio and video tutorials.

Have you ever wondered out loud about the business value of an RSS feed? Well, wonder no longer.
Virtual Business Solutions can help you use RSS Feed to promote your business in ways a traditionally built website can not. Setup an appointment to have Virtual Business Solutions provide a business website makeover or business website tuneup to provide a powerful marketing and advertising tool for your business.

Future-proof your business website by using improved language called XML, RSS Feed is an extension of XML and what I want to focus on explaining to you.

While websites were once built on HTML, now can be written with improved language called XML. XML allows for vast amount of functionality that HTML cannot provide. HTML displays data whereas XML carries data. XML uses tags to identify fields.HTML is the foundation of the Web whereas XML is the future of web. With XML, information is indexed quickly because search engine bots are better equipped to interpret it. This means that your audience will receive your posts faster and more efficiently.

By utilizing RSS, an extension of XML, business blogging can take on dimensions most business owners never thought possible. In addition to effectively tracking information, RSS can help you to deliver information to your audience far more efficiently than ever before. Built on the foundations of XML, RSS is a dynamic tool that encapsulates and transfers data to specified targets.

Using RSS to reach your target market.

Today RSS has become the most effective way for a business to reach their target market. Before using RSS, it is important for you to have an understanding of how that information flows, resulting in exposure to a worldwide audience.

By updating your feed and “pinging” these directories, your content is updated and easily found on these directories. A recent survey (Jan2006) conducted by Technorati revealed that there were over 75,000 thousand blogs created daily that play an integral part in delivering content to internet users who use RSS & Blogs to get content and information. Thus, RSS & Blogs has influenced buying decisions. Users are adopting RSS at a rate that is doubling approximately every 4-6 months.

Thousands of commercial web sites and blogs now publish content summaries in an RSS feed.

Here are some examples of how you can distribute all types of content.The potential for RSS as a content distribution method is significant, the following is a sampling of uses for RSS feeds:

New Homes – realtors can provide updated feeds of new home listings on the market

Job Openings – placement firms and newspapers can provide a classifieds feed of job vacancies

Auction Items – auction vendors can provide feeds containing items that have been recently added to ebay or other auction sites.

Forum Headlines – support forums can provide a listing of new forum threads

Product Sales or Specials – one look at Amazon opens the mind to the endless product sale potential using RSS. Currently Amazon delivering a headline-view of the top 10 bestsellers in that category or set of search results.

Airlines – report flight delays

Schools – schools can relay homework assignments and quickly announce school cancellations.

Entertainment – listings of the latest tv programs or movies at local theaters

Press Distribution – feed for press with new releases

News & Announcements – headlines, notices and any list of announcements

Document listings – lists of added or changed pages, so that people don’t need to constantly check for updates

Bookmarks and other external links – perfect for sharing lists of external links

Calendars – listings of past or upcoming events, deadlines or holidays

Search results – to let people track changing or new results to their searches

The possibilities are simply endless !

Listen to Live QuickBooks Remote Training.

Thanks to Internet technology, Virtual Business Solutions® works closely with individuals and small businesses without having to be physically present.

Offering LIVE Remote Training session right on your own computer. With this connection, the instructor can walk you through problems and perform accounting or bookkeeping functions like they are sitting there with you.

You can interact with the software you are working on as the instructor answers your questions. The instructor can guide you through the answer by showing you right on your computer screen.

If you prefer the instructor to fix your problem, this can be done remotely as you watch and learn while the instructor fixes the issue.

Remote Connection Support & Training
Entering your PC through a remote communication
of your choice:

PC Anywhere®
Remote computers securely across multiple platforms to resolve issues quickly

Web Conference & Training Room
Take a webinar class with a group or receive training one on one.
Virtual Business Solutions will provide you with your own user name and password
to enter the room.

QuickBooks Remote Access
Some QuickBooks software products include a free, one-year subscription to a
QuickBooks Remote Access plan.

Click
here to see a pop-up chart which compares the features of Remote Access.

Phone Support & Training

Telephone Support can prevent hours of frustration, aggravation, and embarrassment.
Providing virtual software training and software technical support. Answering
your questions and participate in training sessions. Telephone Support can be
set up on pre-paid blocks of hours or can be charged by the minute.

Email Support & Training

Emailing you answers to specific questions. This allows you a hard copy of
the solution so that you can reference back to it. Backup your company file
and upload to server or email your file so your data can be viewed, making changes,
setup up your accounts, etc.

Website: http://www.VirtualBiz4u.com
Blog,Podcast,VideoCast: http://www.VirtualBiz4u.com/blog

Tips & Tutorials for the busy business owner on the go. Here you will find QuickBooks tips and tutorials that are written text with screen captures, videos and podcasts.

Listen to QuickBooks 2006.

I recently received my issue of PC Magazine and saw an article in
the magazine reviewing QuickBooks 2006. They rated QuickBooks 2006 one of the Best of the year 2005.

They also stated in an eariler article that QuickBooks Premier 2006
is one of Intuit’s most substantial releases ever,
and we recommend that every small business take a close look.

I personally know that QuickBooks software is top notch but is nice to see a magazine endorse it as well.

Some of the new features of QuickBooks 2006 are

New Home Page gets you there in 2 clicks
Start new tasks and find existing ones from the new, simplified Home Page.

Instant access to key information.
See your entire relationship with customers, vendors and employees instantly

with the new Centers

Customer Center
View your customers, their contact info, and estimates, invoices,
or payments in a single window.

Vendor Center
In a single glance, view your vendors, their contact info and all past activities,
including bills and checks.

Employee Center
Instantly view your employees, their contact info and past activities,
including paychecks, in a single window

Key inventory tasks are automated for product-based businesses
Check Inventory Status Quickly see your complete inventory status on an item,
all on one screen, as you write orders, with the new "Available-to-Promise"
feature —
previously only available in packages costing thousands of dollars more.

QuickBooks is always listening to their customers feedback to improve their
software.
This is one of the many reasons I recommend this accounting software to
my small business owners to use.