It is incredible how a community can come together.  And when I ask for your help to raise money for our office manager Erin with her stage three cancer you all came.  I cannot describe in words how grateful we are.  Thanks you for saving Erin.

At opt(e)web, we understand this. We also know that businesses are constantly challenged by the task of managing the demands of business growth – while coping with continuous technology challenges. Our focus is on keeping your IT systems operational, available, and secure so that you can focus on the everyday demands of expanding your business, managing costs, and increasing revenues. We’re here to help you realize the productivity gains and ROI you have been expecting from your computer systems all along.

Managed Services from opt(e)web consist of various service level offerings that provide affordable, proactive IT management and support. Utilizing our unique framework for providing managed IT services, opt(e)web provides a range of proactive services designed to optimize your technology investment and maximize the productivity of your people and business. It’s not just about monitoring, which just lets you know something is wrong. And it’s not just about remote access to your systems to troubleshoot issues. It’s about a proactive, preventative approach to IT systems management.

This is possible through the use of a series of “Best Practices” that we have developed over years of collective experience – best practices for tasks such as:

• Spyware Protection and Removal
• Virus Protection
• Disk Drive Analysis
• Security Patch Management
• Application Usage
• System Auditing
• Backup and Disaster Recovery
• User Policy Enforcement

We use best practices that are embodied in an automated state-of-the-art infrastructure that gives you immediate response time, access to resources and proactive solutions. Our technology expertise becomes your competitive advantage.

DID YOU KNOW? 20 million person-days per year are lost due to technology failures! This is a cost that few businesses can afford. Any business supported by technology should consider both direct & indirect costs. opt(e)web will monitor and maintain your computer systems to minimize the risk of failure.

If you are a company that is looking for some TLC and maintenance for your computer system, then give opt-e-web test run.  Our service will include; Updates, and patches to your operating system, existing backup minoring, and best practices analysis,  For a medium company this should only take between 2-4 hours. And in return we will give you a gift certificate for a PC tune up valued at $85 and is transferable to anyone.

Buy 6 months of IT managed services and get the 7th month FREE

For those businesses they don’t have a full time IT professional Opt-e-webs managed services may be a great solution saving your company downtime and money

We’ve also been featured in the Statesman-Journal’s “Best Professional Services” category overview article (you’ll have to scroll down a little bit) here: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20120429/BESTOF12/304290017

We love getting the attention and appreciate your support of our business. But we try not to put too much stock in awards like these – after all, we exist to support your businesses – to help you bring in more customers and keep your computer systems working efficiently.

This is also a good time to do a shout-out to our SEO specialist, Rob McGuire. Though there wasn’t a specific “Search Engine Optimization” category in the voting this year, Rob does a fantastic job of getting your business found online and we’re lucky to have him around.

A couple weeks ago, we launched a new website for Creekside Golf Club in south Salem, Oregon. Creekside is an award-winning golf course that hosts many large events, including the NAIA college National Championships this year and next year.

• See more pictures of Creekside’s website in our portfolio
• Visit golfcreekside.com

We also recently launched a new website for Salem’s chapter of the YWCA. We’ve worked with the YWCA for several years and have donated many hours of IT work and other services to them. It’s a great opportunity for us to be involved in our community.

• See more pictures of the YWCA website in our portfolio
• Visit ywcasalem.org

Scott Mills was one of three candidates to receive an Entrepreneurial scholarship through Job Growers Inc. These scholarships will be awarded at the Job Growers Incorporated Annual Sparkle of Excellence Award Dinner to be held Thursday, April 19, 2012. The intent is to provide individuals training and support from the Chemeketa Community College Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to start, grow or expand a business. “I am ecstatic and honored to be selected for this scholarship.  This will make a huge difference in helping me with the growth of Opt-e-web, and besides I have 4 employees depending on me” Mills commented (the picture is of Scott and his wife Donna)

The main benefit of social media is Customer Engagement. Social media allows you to interact with your customer base and potential customer base easily and for a very low cost. Another benefit is that you can receive customer input and feedback on how they view your business.  Direct customer feedback is important when running a special or are introducing a new product to your market. In my eyes, these are two of the biggest pro’s of social media.

One of Opt-e-Webs success stories is when we introduced a Cold Stone Creamery franchise owner to the power of having a Facebook Business page and getting the word out.  They only had 100 members when we started and brought them quickly up to having over 360 members and growing… just in theSalemarea alone. We have taught them to be active consistently on their page and to make sure they get special announcements out a few times a week to keep their customers aware of new products and specials that they run at the stores.

Things have changed and modern marketers don’t make emotional decisions in the kinds of boozy, smoke-filled rooms seen on Mad Men. They want some statistical assurances before they spend one red cent, for which they’re relying on technology tools and expertise.

More businesses are exploring the web for more opportunities to market, and so they should.  The internet has become a great place to position your business, but takes time and money to do it right.  Remember an online marketing budget needs to be set up and implemented to be successful.  Using Social networks and CMS (Content Management System) websites, for example, has introduced direct customer interaction, and makes it easier to measure broadcast campaigns. Also monitoring Facebook and Twitter will get a sense of positive and negative sentiments, and the latest smartphones add the dimension of location awareness to Web and email advertising.

The thing that has changed most in recent years is that marketers want a more comprehensive, cross-channel examination of campaign results, and they expect more detailed analyses. It’s now all about the data. This is where IT comes in the picture with professionals that know how to manage and analyze that data

Although marketing execs don’t necessarily trust IT professionals to implement things, it’s high time for them to be working more closely with their marketing colleagues to understand marketing’s needs and goals.