Are you heading to Las Vegas for the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Expo next month? If so, stop by Booth 3219 and meet some of the Microsoft Office Small Business team. We’d love to share some of the exciting ways real estate professionals are using our services. Plus we’ll give you a chance to win the amazing grand prize package we’ve put together just for the NAR event.  EACH DAY during the show we’ll award a grand prize worth over $3,800* that includes:

·         ASUS pink laptop ·         Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate ·         Microsoft Office Small Business 2007 ·         Windows OneCare (1-year subscription) ·         Office Live Premium (1-year subscription) ·         Fujitsu ScanSnap  color scanner ·         $500 of Web design services from Website Pros

 Other great things are happening in Booth 3219, too. For instance, we’ll show how Microsoft Office Small Business  can help you and your team manage customers and sales opportunities more effectively and create impressive sales and marketing materials in-house.  We’re also teaming up with Fujitsu  to demonstrate how you can scan documents directly to your Office Live Small Business account.  And last but not least, the folks at Website Pros will join us to show you how to create, update and advertise a professionally designed business Web site.

So be sure to stop by Booth 3219. We’re looking forward to meeting you!

Office Live Small Business Marketing Team

* Please go here to see the contest rules

So you want your Web site to make you look big. More power to you.

But the business experts I talked to recently say small is cool with customers too. Small businesses, they say, have a personality, flavor, and sensibility that big businesses can’t match. And when it comes to what you put on your Web site, they urge: Don’t be afraid to tout your smallness.

"Small businesses can have more fun with their sites, more so than large corporations," says Alice Bredin, president of Bredin Business Information, a Cambridge, Mass., company that helps large business-to-business companies market themselves to small businesses. "A small-business site needs to include something that reflects the creativity and personality of its owner."

Maybe you’re a couple working side-by-side in a spare bedroom, or a fourth-generation entrepreneur working to someday hand it over to a son or daughter. Maybe you’re putting yourself through grad school. Or you operate from a remote site in the hinterlands and you use only recycled materials. Presented well on a home page and/or an “About Us” section, all of these may have unique selling points to customers.

"People want character; it has meaning," adds Kelly Cutler, chief executive of Marcel Media, a Chicago-based Web advisory firm.

Tip No. 1 for giving customers what they want in a Web site, these experts say, is Tell Your Story Online --- as interestingly and compellingly, and honestly, as possible. Point out to customers why you are unique, and worth their time and attention. But be concise; you don’t need to write a book.

What else do customers want? See this Office Live Small Business article.

Monte Enbysk

We all hate getting spam in our inbox.  Unwanted e-mail is a nuisance that keeps us from getting work done.

So at Microsoft Office Live Small Business, we want to make sure we continue to do our part to reduce the amount of unsolicited e-mail clogging inboxes – both yours and ours! We’ve launched an effort to add to our ongoing fight against spam – and what you need to know is that it will temporarily change the way the e-mail service works for some of you when you send messages to multiple recipients. Here are the details:

• Temporarily (while the system figures out you are not a spammer) some accounts will be limited to sending e-mail to a maximum of 10 recipients at one time.
• Temporarily (while the system figures out you are not a spammer) some of you may be required to solve Human Interactive Proof challenges (where you type the numbers and letters you see in the picture, aka as HIPs). This test helps prevent automated programs from creating accounts and sending spam.

As you continue to use the mail system, and “gain” a favorable reputation for not sending spam, it will increase the number of recipients that you can send a message to.

That’s basically it. We hope you’ll agree that any temporary inconvenience is worth it if the end result reduces spam.

Sincerely,

Microsoft Office Live Team

Some cool things are unfolding in the Microsoft Office Live world that we think are really, really exciting.

First is the announcement about our new free online service called Microsoft Office Live Workspace beta. Office Live Workspace gives you a single online place to store, access and share Microsoft Office documents you create in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. That means you can get to your files from any computer with Internet access… at anytime … from anywhere (like the airport, coffee shop, your in-laws’ house). What else can you do in an Office Live Workspace? You can let other folks – including those who can’t access your company’s network—look at and comment on your documents. Or share meeting agendas and presentations. This is really useful stuff – for work, for school, even organizations you belong to. You’re really only limited here by your imagination. And did we mention that this service is FREE?

There is a hitch: This beta offering (which means we’re still tweaking it a bit) will have limited availability at first. So if you’re eager to try it out, you need to get on the pre-registration list and you’ll be notified when your workspace is ready.

The second thing we want to mention may not seem like a big deal but, trust us, it is. We’ve changed the name of Microsoft Office Live to Microsoft Office Live Small Business. This is important because it really clarifies what our product is all about. Our service is now totally focused on helping small businesses establish a successful online presence. We’ve got the tools you need –and they make it super easy—to design and create a professional-looking Web site. Plus you get e-mail accounts, search advertising, business applications and more. If you’re a small business, we like to think of your online success as our success.  So sign up today if you haven’t already!

See you online …

Office Live Small Business Marketing Team