Tag Archives: secret

The secret to getting the BEST deal on your next computer.

Business, Computers, concepts, Entrepreneurship, , , , , , , , , ,

This is part of my Computer series of blog entries, click here for the others.

Ok almost everyone, and every business needs a computer to do their day to day business. For most people a computer is a large purchase.  For some businesses that buy hundreds of computers it can be a major part of their budget.  So getting a good price on this major purchase is very important.

What I am about to tell you is a secret that the people in the computer industry do not want you to know, in fact when I was running my retail store I have fired people for telling customer this.  The secret is this, computers are very easy to build, and you can buy the parts directly and shave off 30-50% of your purchase price.  It has always been cheaper to build your own but recently it has become very easy.  The parts are designed to work together, and you can mix/match them almost any way you like.

If you think that this is an off the wall idea then you would be very wrong.  The large computer companies are called Tier 1 Companies in the industry.  The rest of the companies that sell over 100,000 computers a year are called Tier 2 Companies.  The rest are simply called White Box, the industry word for Generic.  For the last 5 years the white box makers have been gaining market share, according to intel they sold over 57% of their CPUs in the white box channel.  During this same time the number of computer stores has fallen dramaticlly.  So how can this be, the answer is because millions of people and business are building their own computers.  The number one largest user of computers in the world, Google, has never purchased a server or workstation, they have built them all.  Microsoft is the same way, so is many of the fortune 500 companies, and millions of smaller businesses.  Many shop online, or they go to stores that sell parts.  Fry’s Electronics has built an empire on this with mega computer stores selling parts, but Frys is over priced, has very little help and it is hard to return things to them so I would never suggest you buy from them.  The best bet is your local computer company, if you are in Arizona call on us to provide your hardware, if you are outside of AZ you can still call us for advise, we can even tell you where to get the best deals online.  It is now said that as many as 1/3rd of all new computers are built by the end user, so why are you not doing it.  Let me tell you how.

So here is how you do it. First you need to buy the parts.  Only buy new products from a good company and you will be good.  Pick out the CPU you like, I usually suggest AMD because they are good, but in reality it matters little, as for most people any $80 cpu will do.  Now you get a motherboard that supports the CPU, just look for any new one that has the same socket.  I like MSI the best for motherboards, they are high quality and well priced. Basically every new computer uses DDR2 memory, so buy that, I would get at least 2GB if you plan to use vista.  Next you need a hard drive, again for most people just get the size you need then find the best price.  For most businesses the 160GB is the best to shoot for.  I like WD for the brand but others will also do, just make sure it is SATA.  Now you need a optical drive, I suggest a DVD burner, they do everything and only cost a bit more.  I usually suggest people get a card reader for all that digital memory.  Last you need a case to put the whole thing into.  The case will come with the powersupply and most will be good for basic systems, for really advanced systems with lots of extras a good powersupply is a good investment. That is it, you have everything you need to get started.  Guess what, you can do all this for well under $250.

Now lets talk about ad ons.  For most business systems you really don’t need a video card, just get a motherboard that has one on board.  You only need a video card if you want to run two monitors or if you play 3D video games.  If you play games then there is much more to consider, I will talk about that at a later time, but mostly this is a business blog.  You may also want a new keyboard, mouse, speakers or monitor with your new computer.

When you get all the parts simply open the case and start putting everything in.  I suggest putting the drives in first, then the motherboard, then the CPU, RAM and connect all the wires.  Don’t force things but use firm pressure where needed.  The hardest part is connecting the case wires to the motherboard, but there is a chart in the motherboard book if you get lost.  Next you boot on your OS disk, install the OS, then install the drivers.

Doing all of this may take 3-4 hours the first time but you should save at least 300-500 by doing this, and for most people they don’t get paid $300 for 4 hours of work.  For a business that is buying 20 computers they probably just saved over $8,000 and even if they don’t want to build the computers they can hire someone to be an IT person for a month for way less than that much.

By building the computer you also will get some added benifits, first the parts are much higher quality then most name brand computers.  Next if anything goes wrong with the computers you have common parts that are easy to replace, unlike the pripority computer parts most large companies sell.  Lastly you get a clean OS installed, without all of that added on spam and advertising that the large companies put on all their computers.

So next time you need a computer buy the parts and build it, you get a much better deal that way, even if you need to hire an expert to help you.

The Secrets to Better Marketing

Entrepreneurship, Marketing, , , , , , ,

For the last week or so I have been thinking a lot about the idea of graphic design, and the image your company gives to the world.  What is clear is that SO MUCH of what is out there simply does not work and is very bad, there is plenty of room for improvement.

One thing is that the world has changed and people are hit with much more, but better targeted advertising.  But because there is so much more, so many people ignore it, so you really need to get right to the point.  I can not figure out what they are selling on at least half of the online ads that I see.  If you are a small company you don’t have the time to do this huge ad campaign where you spend a ton of time talking about something that is unrelated to your product.   Just simply tell people what you do, and what make you DIFFERENT from your competition.

The different thing is key, open up any phone book and almost all of the ads say the same things.  Like under plumbing they all have basically the same list of what they fix.  As a small business with a limited budget you need to look at what your competition is doing and basically say we do everything they do plus this and this that they don’t.  Focus on the differences.  Never say things that can’t be proved, or are total cliché like “Fastest Service” “Friendliest techs” or “Cheapest Prices”, everyone has heard this 1000’s of times and they just don’t get it.  You need to PROVE it.  Say “We are at your house in 20 minutes after you call” or “Our hourly rate is $45 while the average of our competition is $85”.  This will bring people to you.  If you don’t have any differences then maybe you need to change your business so you do.

If you are starting a company it is important to pick a name that is EASY for people to understand what you are doing.  Our new company we are in the process of making is called World Sales Team, because we are a team of sales people that will be located all over the world.  You chance at success is MUCH higher with a good name.  Also think about the future, you don’t want to be called a regional name if you plan to grow larger.  In most cases you also don’t want to have your personal name in the company name, it causes problems if you want to start over, or sell the company.  Also someone may have the same name and work for your competitor and that can cause issues.  Before you  name your new company make sure you can get the domain name, because people often look for you online.

Just as important as a name you want a good slogan, probably show your major benefit or your major difference.  If you make a product that has packaging you also need to be very clear and direct.  When you item is on the shelf you will only have a second or two to get someone attention and they will be far away, so make your text large, bold and to the point.

So I wrote all of this because I have been thinking about how to make my web sites more effective.  What I have seen that seems to work VERY well for the companies that use it is to create a video, talking about the company or the product.  I have seen VERY few companies actually do this, but every one that has is doing much better than their still counterparts.  To this effect I am learning video editing.  So far I am very bad at it, but I have just created some new videos and posted then on my youtube.

The next thing is that most web sites are either too much stuff or too little stuff.  I think the best website is one that has only a small amount of stuff, but that all the details are there somewhere, in an organized easy to find way.  That is what I have tried to do with my Emerald Computers website.  I don’t think I am there yet but it is getting better.  One of my biggest peeves is when I find something that I am interested in and the companies web site has almost no information.  I then search Google or somewhere and half the time I find negative stuff about that company, and they just lost my sale.  Please, if you want to make money, keep people there, tell them the whole story, let them go as deep as they want to.  Also put photos on the site, of people using your product.  I too need to follow this one much more.   If you have enough active customers then consider creating a forum for your customers to interact.

So here are my resolutions, make things much more to the point.  Have a clean website, but have more info there somewhere, remember content is king.  Put video online.  Put more graphics online.

I hope this helps you, please leave a comment.