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Creating a File Shortcut in Office Applications

I think that you will love this neat little shortcut that I have been using, if you don’t know about it already. Follow the instructions below to add a shortcut link on the system file menu screen for any Microsoft Office Applications. Now, I just wish Microsoft would allow me to create these handy shortcuts from any Windows and systems application.

I’ve inserted an image from one of my file menus just to the right so you can see exactly what I am talking about. As I do not save my files in the My Documents folder, it is helpful for me to have shortcuts to file locations that I use frequently on the file menu bar. Here’s how to do it so you can save time too.

  1. Open the office application of your choice (Word, Excel etc.). Microsoft calls this file menu the “My Places” bar. Navigate to and select, but do not open the folder that you want to add to the menu.
  2. Click Tools and then Add to My Places. Your selected folder will now appear at the bottom of the My Places menu bar. If you don’t see it, right click on the bar and select small icons as it may be hidden for the moment or resize the dialog box so you can see your new folder.
  3. To move your new folder up to the top of the menu on the My Spaces bar, right click on the item you want to move and click move up or move down as needed.

I find the addition of my most frequently used files to be very helpful and only wish that I could do this in all my computer applications. I think that once you try it, you’ll be doing custom file additions to your My Places bar too!

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WordPress Websites

I have been toying with doing WordPress websites and so have done quite a bit of research on the topic this past week. What I have found is that I do not want to “re-invent the wheel” by creating my own as there are some really great ones out there now. But what I did find was an excellent WordPress website theme that is perfect for my customers.

I highly recommend the Small Biz WordPress website theme. We find that this template has built in resources that help you place on local keywords, have search engine optimization features built in and is very easy to use even for the novice. If you buy from our link we will be paid a small commission, but that is not the reason for our recommendation.

We like this WordPress template for several reasons.

  • It is very easy to use and configure for your own personal needs.
  • There are numerous videos that illustrate how to customize your WordPress site even how to add videos.
  • Built on the back bone of WordPress this website allows you the site owner to add and change content at will with an online control panel.
  • The application files are easy to find and not buried in code that is hard to find.
  • It is one of the most user-friendly WordPress websites I have found to date.

I highly recommend this WordPress theme to you. If you decide to use it, we can install and configure it for you or just install it for you. The theme is not expensive and is available for $117 plus our hourly charge for installation. You will need to install it on a hosting plan that has PHP and MySQL. We like the Hostway Starter Plan for $168 per year as a very cost efficient resource for hosting for WordPress. Take a look at the Small Biz theme now and see what you think.

I think that you will agree that hands down it is one of the easiest yet robust themes that can be used for a website.

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April AdWords Trends

I have just finished doing my April reports for a large number of AdWords clients and I wanted to share with you a few interesting trends I am seeing.

  1. Impressions and clicks are up for many accounts.
  2. Conversions are trending up for many accounts as well. Some are showing results similar to February high conversion figures.
  3. Cost per click is really moving up for many geographic locations when local targeting is used. In some smaller metro areas the cost per click is staying static, but in major areas like New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, the cost per click is really moving up strongly as more advertisers move back into Google AdWords and competition for the first page of results is ramping up.

If  you are thinking of Google AdWords, this is still a good time to get into the “game”. I am seeing strong movement that allows me to believe that real economic improvement for many business sectors is just around the corner. Get positioned in the “mix” before the crest hits!

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Is Facebook Safe for Kids?

As a parent myself and one that works on the Web, my kids are very attuned to being online. That being said, I do not give my triplet 13 year olds “Carte Blanche” when it comes to choosing chat rooms or applications that their friends are using. In fact I do not even permit chat room use.

For me, I also do not allow at this time any instant messaging applications. I find them a distraction for my kids with the constant exchange with others while they should be doing homework or class research. I do however allow my kids to have Facebook pages, but I have set them up for them.

As a parent it is very important that if you allow your child to be on Facebook, that you carefully review their security settings yourseld. I found one of my kids had the city revealed in her profile and another allowed too much personal information to be shared to people other than friends.

I do monitor my own kids Facebook pages. I have friended each of them and their status updates appear on my wall. I do intervene both on Facebook publicly when needed to make sure my own kids AND their friends know that I am watching. I do periodically review that their privacy settings have not changed and I do periodically review their full profile online.

Kids want to be on Facebook, but it is important that you as the parent make sure that the Facebook environment is safe for them first by reviewing all the profile privacy settings.