Bradley Chapple, IT Consultant & Owner of Aspen Computer Services, Loveland Colorado

The addition o f the blog here at Aspen Computer Services has been a big change around here, but it’s been worth it. We’ve also been working on some full articles on some other sites, such as Squidoo and others. We’ve already posted a “lens” over on Squidoo. See my Squidoo lens list here: http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/fort_collins_computer_consulting

Yes, it’s a lot more work, but we have already seen a little bit of an increase in traffic from it. It’s not much to brag about yet, but it’s still nice.

The biggest benefit so far has been in our jump from the 8th page of Google to the 3rd page of Google for the keyword phrase “fort collins computer repair”. This is huge. The change happened litterally overnight… the night of August 3rd to be exact.

The keyword phrase “fort collins computer repair” is pretty competitive among computer repair professionals here in Northern Colorado, primarily the Fort Collins and Loveland areas. According to statistics from Google, that string of keywords get typed into Google 320 times per month. That may not seem like a lot. But, considering each of those 320 people has the potential to become lifelong clients, then you start to see the possibilities.

Granted, even if our website ranked at the very top of Google’s home page for those particular keywords, we still wouldn’t get all 320 people as clients. For some, we may be too expensive. Others may just be calling around to get some free advice. Some of those 320 people doing searches may be unemployed computer repair technicians, researching on where to send their next resume. Who knows?

The idea, however, is to increase the chance of being one of the first places a person calls for computer repair in the Fort Collins area. If Aspen Computer Services makes it to the front page for “fort collins computer repair”, and a mere 1% of those 320 people call us and become clients then it’s an another 3 clients per month. If 2% become clients, it’s almost 7 clients per month. THAT is real opportunity. We are not going to pass that up.

By the way, if any of our readers have any ideas for blog posts, please let us know. Comment on any of our blogs, and strike up a dialogue. We would love to hear from you.

Bradley Chapple, IT Consultant & Owner of Aspen Computer Services, Loveland Colorado

Although it seems that blogging has been around since the dinosaurs, I’ve been too busy servicing the computer needs of my clients to commit to blogging… until now.

As many of my clients know, I brought Jason Sharp into the Aspen Computer Services earlier in the year. As Jason has progressively taken on more responsibility, it has taken a little bit of the weight off my shoulders and allowed some time to do a few things that I’ve put off far too long.

Oh, I still stay busy “putting out fires”, as we call it, but now I have a little more time to fine-tune what we do around here, such as:

• Enhancing customer service
• Defining (and improving upon) technical processes
• Publishing technical articles and whitepapers
• Implementing new marketing strategies to help grow the company
• Looking for ways to reduce expenses
• Implementing a new ticket handling system
• Blogging

Working on these things has not only improved resolution times for our clients, but its allowing us to offer better quality products, serve our clients better, and stay afloat in these uncertain economic times.

The goal of this blog is to provide weekly updates on technology that may enhance your life, keep you informed of technological threats (viruses & spyware), and hopefully help you avoid computer trouble in the future.  Although it may be challenging at times, we will attempt to update you with new posts every week.  It will be a place that we can share news about our company, our opinions on products and services, or a link to a website we may have found useful.

What this blog is NOT:

• This blog is not going to be overly technical
• This blog is not going to be a substitute for an on-site visit from a skilled and experienced computer technician
• This blog is not going to guarantee 100% accuracy (everyone makes mistakes sometimes)
• This blog is not going to be opinion-free.  We have likes and dislikes based on our personal experiences, and will share them freely.
• This blog is not going to be all things to all people.  Some may find valuable information here.  Others may not.

We try to keep an open mind about people, products, and other companies… and, for a bunch of techies who see computer problems all day, we stay suprisingly-optimistic.  But, just like you, we occasionly have a bad experience with a vendors, product manufacturers or technical “authority” in general.  If this happens, we may share this experience on this blog.  This is not done with the intention of belittling others, making ourselves look better/smarter/etc, or hurting anyone’s feelings.  It is only to convey our less-than-satifactory experiences with you, so that you may not have to go down the same path.

Also, this is meant to be an interactive medium.  If you have anything to add:  an opinion, a link, a contradiction, or just a “Way to go!” in general, please leave a comment.  It will encourage us to post more, post better and serve you better.

Thanks, happy reading, and good luck.