In days gone by, it was considered good business practice to treat your customers well. They were handled promptly, courteously and with genuine respect. Thank goodness those days over. Today’s customers are disposable. As soon as their credit card details have been processed we can cut them off, forget about them, and ignore them when they need our help. Why? … Read More
Plagiarism, theft and business – why are so many companies stealing our content?
We all work hard to create and fine-tune our website content. And an unfortunate reality is that there are a lot of people out there who are quite happy to steal our content for their own purposes. Take this page on our own website, actually I should rephrase that. Take a look at our Google AdWords Management page: In particular: … Read More
Twitter is dying (again) – my first New year’s prediction
WebProNews are reporting that new Twitter accounts are on the decline for the fourth month on the run. At risk of sounding extremely old-fashioned, Twitter are yet to reveal how they’re actually going to make money. Yet if or when they do finally start producing revenue, there’s little doubt that only a very small percentage of their user base will … Read More
Optimize at your own peril
The word “Optimize” implies a sense that it is a worthwhile or a good idea. For example: Financial optimization – sounds like a good idea. Search engine optimization – we know that we should all be doing this. However, optimized ad rotation is not a good idea when it comes to AdWords. You may have noticed when setting up an … Read More
Is Google wave only a ripple?
I recently asked for a Google Wave invite through my Twitter account, and had a surprising number of people send them my way. Thanks to all who responded. But I have to admit to being disappointed. While I haven’t spent that much time in Wave, from what I’ve seen so far, I’m less than impressed. Firstly I’m baffled. I really … Read More
Don’t forget about the AdWords category exclusions
Hidden within your AdWords account, there is a little known section called the Site and Category Exclusion tool. Within this section you can exclude specific sites or categories of sites from displaying your ads on the content network. Adding site exclusions has been around for some time, and they can be added from within the AdWords Editor as well as … Read More
Recession may be the catalyst for a new era in business
The Confederation of British Industry have released a fascinating news release, speculating that the recession may be the catalyst for a new era in business. “The business environment of the next decade will be significantly different to what might have been expected just two years ago. The financial crisis and the recession that has followed have altered operating conditions by … Read More
Death through attention to detail: the curse of the small business.
You’re probably already familiar with the story of the tortoise and the hare. A hare mocks a tortoise and challenges him to a race. The hare is over confident, and keeps resting, sleeping and checking his email. What happens? The tortoise wins the race. The moral of the story is that slow and steady wins the race. It’s a good … Read More
Can anyone help with my itch?
There are three groups of people. People who need what you sell, people who want what you sell, and people who don’t need or want it. For the people who need it, as long as you communicate that your solution scratches their itch, they’ll buy it. The people who merely want it are another story. They require more work, and … Read More
Clarity: -=+
We’re all busy and we’re all overloaded. So get to the point. What can you do for me? What solution do you sell? I know what my company sells. We sell money at a lower price. You pay me $1,000 and I generate $1,500 in sales. I sell expertise that generates cash. I sell sales. What do you have for … Read More
