Archive for January, 2006
Talk to a Human…
When will companies learn? How many times have you been irritated by this kind of message:
“Welcome to blah-blah company. Please listen carefully, as our menu has changed.”
Well, that’s a lie right off the bat. The menu hasn’t changed in over a year. But let’s continue.
“For service, press 1. For sales, press 2….” followed by,
“Your hold […]
Who Needs Yellow Pages Anymore?
Or for that matter, who even needs a phone book? They are large and cumbersome. They take up too much valuable drawer space. It’s easier to use the internet to look up names and numbers and businesses.
But in January, my entire neighborhood gets its phone directory deliveries, along with a few competing yellow page directories. […]
Don’t Sweat Your Logo…
Here’s another marketing secret that ad agencies don’t want you to know: if you’re starting a small business, the last thing you should be worried about is developing your logo or creating a brochure.
Those marketing activities can wait. Pretty marketing pieces…like fancy brochures and logos…don’t help a new business sell its products or services.
Truth is, […]
This Online Ad is Out of Context…and Effective!
Here’s a bit of seemingly counter-intuitive news: a study conducted by Next Century Media found that online ads displayed out of context generated more looks than when ads displayed on pages where the content related to the ads.
Further, the results indicate that ads unrelated to the page’s content generate interest even on repeat viewing. You […]
Small Businesses Need a Podcast Plan in 2006
Find out why every small business needs a podcast plan for 2006 in this 9 minute podcast!
In it, I cover why podcasting is important for small business, and how podcasting can help you extend your reach and enhance your credibility within your markets.
It’s 2006: What’s Your Podcast Plan?
Audit Your Website
January is a great time to audit your website. I’m frequently dismayed at the material that’s on my own site - links to other sites that no longer exist, dead internal links, out-of-date bios, copyright notices that still say “2005″.
I even saw an ecommerce site where “Copyright 2002″ was still in the footer of each […]
Think about MSN Search Again…
MSN as a search engine is currently the number three (or maybe even four!) ranked search engine.
Google and Yahoo are #1 and #2, respectively.
So MSN is trying harder.
In their next iteration of IE, I’ve heard that Microsoft is planning to integrate it’s new MSN beta search within the IE browser. That’s going to be hard […]
Another Overture Tool to Love…
This easy to use, free online tool not only shows you what the current bids and positioning are at Overture (the ad delivery system for Yahoo!, and other popular search engines) — it also shows you the number of searches delivered for each term in a recent one month period.
Very quick, very fast and easy-to-consume […]
Another Google Tool to Love
Here is a nifty Google Beta Tool called Google Suggest.
As you start typing your search phrase in the search box, Google takes a guess at what you’re about to enter next. Google offers up its ten best guesses in real time, as you type…using its popularity algorithms.
If you’re using Google for search, this is great […]
Content Management Systems Features List
How do you decide which Content Management System to use? The market for CMS is so fragmented, it’s not like you can make it a choice between five or six different systems. There are hundreds of good CMS programs “out there”.
Your first step, as always, is to decide on your business objectives and needs. Afterwards, […]
