We recently received some great feedback and and we have already added a link to your client information from your support tickets for our next release.
We also decided to add links to client information from invoices, timesheets, and other areas of 2ndSite to save you even more time. One concern that was apparent was how our application would look and function with so many blue links on the screen.
We ultimately decide to make our list of invoices, support tickets, and projects identical to how they are now. However, if your mouse happens to move on top of your client’s name, the text colour and mouse pointer would change to notify you that they are links.
Was this the best idea? We’ll have to hear from you to find that out. How might you have handled this situation?
Everybody is extra busy at 2ndSite these days. Lots coming down the pipe… rebrand… AND a new release!
We’re going to send an email about it soon, so you’ll get that if you’ve trialed the service. We’ll probably post some details here as well because we will be looking for people to get in early and test this release. Why? It’s something REALLY cool, but that’s all I’ll say for now.
We’re excited to let you know that in the near future we will be releasing a new forum for 2ndSite users. (You can find the old one here.)
The forum’s purpose is to build a sense of community amongst users and exchange ideas and information about 2ndSite’s service. For example, this is where you can share tips and tricks, make feature requests, discuss your experience of using 2ndSite, and maybe even tell a few good jokes.
Membership will be open (and free) for all users of 2ndSite, and we will let you know when it’s up and running.
With the first release of our 2ndSite API we have had a lot of interest and a number of users taking full advantage of its capabilities. However, we have also had a lot of people saying what is there is good, but what they REALLY need is….
Without further adieu comes our outlook on what will be coming with the next release of the API.
The new features of the API can be categorized into two areas: must-haves, and nice-to-haves.
Must-Haves:
Adding/editing/deleting multiple records (i.e. clients and invoices) at once to enable quick importing
Adding/editing/deleting invoice payment records
Adding/editing/deleting invoice items
Adding/editing/deleting support tickets
Nice-To-Haves:
Exporting clients and other records en-masse
Adding/editing/deleting recurring profiles
Adding auto-bill capable recurring profiles
Processing credit card payments
Adding/editing client contacts (secondary contacts on clients)
Let us know what you think our API should do for you by commenting below.
Our API package now comes with two PHP examples. These samples will allow you to create invoices and clients in your 2ndSite system from your own commercial website. You can read my earlier post about our API here.
Just got off the phone with Eric Mattson. He interviewed me in a half-hour podcast that I mentioned 10 days ago.
The call was fun. He is a cool guy and I’m totally jazzed. I especially enjoyed the after call when we ended the podcast, but continued a more personal note. Eric has lots to say himself. To me, what he had to say was more interesting than my droning on <grin>. We had a conversation about Eric’s definition of our ever flattening world… where it’s not so much the outsourcing of the work that makes the world flat, but the fact that those who are accessible to anyone, anywhere at anytime – whether the ask comes from high up in the media, or from a blogger – will be the winners.
Eric uses Skype to do his calls and unfortunately Skype cut out half way though our conversation and then the reloaded call’s file was corrupted. So the podcast is missing some interesting aspects. For example, we started to talk about Stories for Blogs which has a community and humanitarian aspect that I am very excited about and which is larger than any one business or person. That said, Eric was kind enough to link to it and I will be sure to ping him once the site is actually up.
Anyway… totally fun! Eric is a pioneer on the frontier of pod casting and media 2.0 (if I can call it that) and it was a treat to spend time with him “on the range” exploring.
-> Intro
-> My bio
-> About BrandMurder.com
-> Why we are doing BrandMurder.com
-> What is Web 2.0 in Mike’s eyes?
-> Synopsis of Brand Murder & mention of the upcoming BrandMurder.com case study
-> The making BrandMurder.com
-> Mesh Conference: the story
-> … call cuts out around here…
Here is some great feedback we recently received. One of our clients had a few suggestions regarding adding a new status to our invoices as well as adding links between our client and invoice pages. This client gave us his step-by-step process of how he uses 2ndSite.
“The process for contacting customers who have been sent 3 reminders and have yet to pay their invoice now:
1) Search through all sent emails for type “Late Invoice”
For Each Invoice with a Late Invoice Notice:
A) Click invoice to see which reminder it is
B) If it’s the third reminder, write down customer account number and invoice number
Repeat for each Late Invoice notice
Repeat the following procedure for each client written down in the step above.
A) Return to invoice screen and search for invoice number – find total and invoice details
B) Click Clients list
C) Search for client – retrieve phone number
OR
A) Search client list for client and open
B) Click invoices link – find invoice in question – get details
C) Return to client details and retrieve number
REPEAT FOR NEXT CLIENT
——-
After those 2 small changes are made
1) List invoice page by sent status and view “Sent3″ invoices
2) Click Invoice to open and view
3) Click the client name to retrieve number for that client
OR
1) List invoice page by sent status and view “Sent3″ invoices
2) Click the client name from the list to open client details directly – retrieve number
As you can see MUCH simpler.”
I can’t describe how helpful this type of feedback is to us. We are always looking for ways to improve our service and we almost always base design and development tweaks on your feedback. If you have any similar experiences or would just like to describe how some aspect of 2ndSite could be improved, please do not hesitate to post it.
I’m pretty psyched. Last week I was checking out, “The Blog Post that Launched a Thousand Podcasts“, Saturday I got an email from Eric asking me if I’d like to be one of the podcasts. REALLY cool project. Ambitious and fun. We’re working out the details of the call, but I’m looking forward to it. I’ll post the link the podcast once it’s live.
Writing comments SHOULD BE a personal connection. It’s different than writing a post because a post is one-to-many whereas a comment OUGHT to be one-to-one, but publicly available.
To make it more personal, HERE IS MY TIP: start your comment with the “NAME:” of the person who writes the blog. For example, if you are commenting to me on this blog, start it with “Mike: blah blah blah” It helps with establishing that personal connection.
Here is another take on that personal connection that makes comments “real”.
Marlon Brando used to worry about this “one to one” connection on set. Marlon liked to talk to the crew between takes. While talking to a camera person Brando would, say “start rolling film”. He would continue his conversation… while the camera rolled.
Why? The conversation was real, authentic, not acted.
Part way through the conversation with the camera person he would break into the dialog and the character of the scene. He used the conversation with the camera crew as a touch stone… to know where “real” was.
FreshBooks is an online invoicing and time tracking service that helps professionals in over 100 countries save time, get paid faster, look professional and focus on what they love to do — their work. Read our customer survey results — 99% recommend FreshBooks. FreshBooks users are served by a tight-knit team of 31 dedicated individuals based in Toronto, Canada who've been at this since 2003.
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