Technology Startup Guide, Part 2

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This is the second installment of the technology guide for non-profits. Here’s Part One.

In this part, we will discuss a few items to help you manage your new technology.

4. On your new computer, download Open Office. Two reasons: it’s free and you will barely notice any difference from Microsoft Office. If you are feeling particularly brave, you can try using Google Docs online. They have just deployed a feature that allows you to work offline.

4b. If you don’t want to try your hand with Open Office, you can head over to TechSoup.com. Even if you want to use Open Office, you need to check out TechSoup. TechSoup manages a program that provides full-featured software at incredible prices. Actually, the software is generally free, but you must pay an administrative fee. For example, you can snag a copy of MS Office 2007 for about $20. A word of caution: You can only receive one order of software per year from most vendors. So if you purchase 5 copies of Microsoft Windows on 1 January 2008, you are not eligible for another order until 1 January 2009. Keep this in mind when you decide on quantities. If you expect your organization to grow it may be best to order more licenses than you currently need or to hold off on the purchase until your staff size stabilizes.

5. Make decisions about your communications structure. It is much easier to implement things like Gizmo5, Skype, and FreeConferenceCall.com before anyone establishes a routine with other products. If you decide to use Skype, for example, it might be a good idea to set up all the staff computers with this software, sign up for accounts, and purchase any hardware before your staff grows accustomed to using other services.

6. Google Analytics. Since you already have your website up and running, now is a good time to install the tracking code for Google Analytics. The main reason you want to do this is because it is extremely helpful to know where your visitors are coming from. Google Analytics is very easy to use. Once you sign up for an account, you simply add a new website profile from the home page. Analytics generates code for the site, basically a string of characters, and you copy this into the website. Google provides more detailed instructions, but rest assured, it is a simple matter of pasting the code into your site. It is essential that you do this on all of your pages to get valid information. The easiest way to do this is to install the code in the footer of your site. This will ensure that the code appears on each page.

Now you have a website, email accounts, a new computer, an office suite, a communications plan and a way to track new visitors.

Congratulations!! You’re in business.