Speaker - March 2012

Fax is one of those technologies that refuses to die, and if you travel frequently and don’t want to be chasing your faxes around the world, consider Efax or one of its competitors. I have been using its free version for many years, and it has come in handy when a client wanted to get me a signed contract or a confidential document.

Inbound faxes come right to your email inbox as attachments, so you are immediately notified when they arrive. No more calling your hotel’s front desk to track them down.

There are other solutions for outbound faxing, but the inbound service is well worth a look. Efax doesn’t advertise its free service; you have to hunt it down here: www.efax.com/efax-free.

You are limited to 20 pages per month. If you need more, you can sign up for one of its paid plans that offers more, including a specific area code if you want to appear to have an office in another city. The free service assigns you a random area code (mine is in eastern Massachusetts, for example).

One of my best technology investments was a USB headset that includes both earphone and microphone. If you do any audio recording from your PC, or use any of the computer-voice services, having a decent headset is a lifesaver.

In a noisy airport, you can still carry on a decent conversation, and for making your own podcasts or to add audio content to your website, it is absolutely essential. Plantronics makes several models for less than $50, and the headsets available here from Skype are also worth a closer look: shop. skype.com/headsets/.

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Internet marketing expert Ford Saeks reminded me of something that every speaker needs to do that will take no more than an hour but has big rewards.

You need to “claim” your business on
a variety of online search services to
make it easier for your clients to find
you when they search for speakers. To
get started, bring up the following sites
in your Web browser:
• places.google.com
• www.bing.com/businessportal
• listings.local.yahoo.com
• LinkedIn.com
Before you start, you’ll need to
have a Gmail, a Yahoo Mail and one
free Microsoft email account to sign
up for each listing. For each site,
search for the name of your busi-
ness in the general search page (on
LinkedIn, you first want to go to the
“Companies” search box). Next, fill
out the various forms that each site
uses to specify your business name,
phone and website location. There are
also places to include keywords and
specialties: Use them liberally.

When you are done, both Google and Bing will mail a postcard to your business address. Bing will also create a QR code and a mobile-optimized site if you select these options.