It's Good to Self-Google

I've been Googling myself for several years. It's good because with so much info out there, it's good to know what info might be out there about you. You can bet your future boss or spouse will Google your name. If there is any negative information, you might have to do some work to fix it.

You can counter it by doing your own AdWords Campaign, in which you can ensure your chosen information about yourself is at or near the very top of the results page. I've been running mine for over 4 years. Google "Kirk Lancaster" and you'll see my little ad.

Often you'll have people and companies with the same name show up in the results, and you actually have to advertise and optimize your site in order to have someone find you quickly.

The point is you have to make sure your name and your company's name is fairly clean in the results of internet searches. Google yourself. It's good for you to know what's out there.

Here's a good article at Wired.com about it.

Perfect Example of Getting Customers Involved

Can't write it up any better than this. And this will work for small companies too. Example: A landscaping company could have a "Worse Lawn in Town" contest and give away a lawn makeover. Not a bad way to get people to talk about your company. Think locally!

I'll probably even pick HD over Lowe's on my next trip.

http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/2007/12/12/depot_1213.html

Ahhh, the Joys of Christmas 2007

Ahhh, the joys of Christmas 2007... a huge variety of Christmas songs old and new downloaded from iTunes, shopping online from our favorite e-tailers, and avoiding the inconsistent service of local retail.

Yes! THIS is the future of marketing revealed!

Radiohead, one of the world's most popular rock bands, is selling their new album in various formats directly from their site. But for just the download of the music, fans have the option of what to pay beyond the small processing fee. It's like an honor system. Common sense says that most of the downloaders will pay nothing, but the beauty is that they must provide their detailed contact information, so Radiohead will definitely get to market to their listeners directly with tour info, merchandise sales and new releases. Brilliant!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/10/01/bcnradio101.xml

Make sure you know what you want your website to do

There are only so many reasons for your business to have a website. Make sure you know what you want your website to accomplish, and once you pick your reasons, make sure you're fulfilling each one as simply and user-friendly as possible.

• Tell people about your business, service and/or products


• Tell them enough about your business to get them to contact a sales person


• Sell your items/service, 24-7 online


• Promote your company 24-7 online in search engines (the new "phone book")


• Enable two-way communication between company and customers, employees and partners (blogs, instant chat, email, form data... etc.)


• Learn more about your customers and what they value; what they're looking for