Finding the right company to design or radically overhaul a website is incredibly difficult. It shouldn’t be, but it somehow is. In theory you just need to find someone who can produce what you want for a reasonable price. But all too often you’ll find companies who don’t reply to emails, don’t read the brief you send them, can’t follow … Read More
Interruption versus While-You’re-Here Marketing
Neil Davidson recently wrote an interesting post on Interruption Marketing: Rumors of its Death have been Greatly Exaggerated: “It’s hard to interrupt us, but it can be done. Not by being loud, but by being different. Be witty, tell a story, and tell it to us when we want to be interrupted, and you can leap out from the clutter.“ Google … Read More
Does facebook advertising work?
Despite the obvious popularity of facebook, their future rests on two factors, both of which lie partly out of their control. The first is their ability to make money from a great idea. The web may have changed the delivery method and reach of interesting ideas, but the fundamental law of business still applies. Profit is required. The second is … Read More
Poke the box is bad for you
Seth Godin’s new book, Poke the Box, is annoying me. The main criticism I hear of his ideas is that although they’re  brilliant, they’re not practical. Interesting but not actionable. This is true. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Seth speak twice, speaking with him and grinning like an idiot with him once, and have read most of his books. … Read More
Five mistakes your website is making
Mistakes on your website result in lost sales and lost customers. Your website is making at least four out of five of these mistakes right now.
Poor support is worse than no support
I recently bought a new version of an application that securely remembers my passwords and logins. The problem is that it keeps crashing my browser. I brought it to the company’s attention on January 27th. They claim to have fixed the issue five times, but this hasn’t been the case. Their latest piece of advice came on February 21st – … Read More
Google are naughty – but not evil
The problem with Google’s “don’t be evil” approach is that it often seems to bite them. The other problem is that it sets the stage to be black and white – with no grey. Good and bad. I don’t believe that Google are evil, but they’re undoubtedly guilty of questionable behaviour. The latest bee in my bonnet lies in their newly … Read More
The myth of SEO guarantees
It’s that time of year again. The thrill of the new year has worn off, and some of the more diligent companies have realised that almost 15% of the year has gone by, with many of their 2011 goals untouched. At least that’s my theory for why we always start getting a surge of enquiries for our services around the … Read More
Google get deceptive
You may have noticed that ads displayed on Google are starting to look a little more discrete. In days gone by they were pushed to the right hand side of the browser, were clearly marked as Sponsored Links, made heavy use of mixed case in the display URL, and the few that were placed above the organic listings were clearly … Read More
Your product will never be ready
Get it out there. The great software success stories all began their public lives as buggy and quirky. But they were first. If you’re developing something truly exciting, you need to have released it yesterday. Being first doesn’t mean that you’ll forever dominate your market. But when the clones and blatant copies appear, you’ll have a better chance than they … Read More
