Aaron Wall over at SEOBook.com has some interesting thoughts about what he calls “trust eaters.” Now some of these things you can’t help (if you’ve only been in business a month, you’ve only been in business a month) but AdSense on your home page? For a store?? Be sure you’re not doing any of these things.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Financial Planning, Dilbert Style
Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, has some great ideas for managing all the money you’ve made from your thriving e-business. Don’t worry, there are no SIVs, CDOs or derivatives involved in his plan!
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Young guy makes WSJ’s “Gift of the Week”
36 year old Marc Andreessen, the founder of Netscape, gave $27.5 million to Stanford University Hospital. Wow! Here’s Marc talking about the gift on his blog.
Mrs. Thatcher used to say, “No one would remember the Good Samaritan if all he had were good intentions. He had good intentions and money.” (If you haven’t this story in a while, you can read it here.)
Even if you can’t give $27.5 million, I’m sure you can make some room in your business budget to support a cause that’s meaningful to you. It’s a powerful way to influence the world around you in a positive direction.
Free Willy … I mean WSJ!
Mediapost announced yesterday that Rupert Murdoch is planning to do away with the paywall in front of the Wall Street Journal. This is great news for bloggers who will no longer have to parenthetically remark subscription required after linking to Journal content – and it’s also a great boon for the reading public who will now have free access to America’s best business journalism. And – fingers crossed – this new birth of economic literacy might even have some impact on the know-nothing statements coming out of the current crop of GOP presidential candidates.
“… unfortunately, fealty to the most extreme supply-side views is de rigeur in some segments of the Republican party.” — Greg Mankiw
Of course, this stupidity isn’t isolated to the GOP or the campaign trail – take a look at this this gem from our beloved Congress:
Some pro-business Democrats joined Republicans in expressing concern that the carried interest provision could hurt venture capital and real estate investors as well as hedge fund managers making hundreds of millions of dollars.
Oh please. The “carried interest provision” is a proposed change in tax law that says billionaires like Stephen Schwarzman should pay the same rate of income tax that you and I do. What a surprise that a coalition of bought-off scumbags should rise up with righteous indignation to defend their paymasters. Clearly the current 28% of approval rating of Congress is far too high. (Undecided on carried interest? Even the Financial Times of London – hardly a leftist mouthpiece – says it should be taxed like ordinary income upon realization.)
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Almost 90% of British Online Buyers Experience Transaction Problems
New work from our friends over at Tealeaf on the UK online experience:
A couple of interesting take-aways:
- Website operability issues lead to a general perception of insecurity
- Operability is more important than loyalty programs
… 40% of those who experience problems when conducting an online transaction reported that, when they have transaction issues, they are likely or very likely to question a company’s ability to keep their private information secure.
92% of British consumers who have booked travel online reported that the ability to complete a transaction without encountering a problem was important or very important to them, whereas only 24% reported that the travel provider’s loyalty or rewards program was important or very important.
Monday, November 12, 2007
MMM: Overcoming your moods
One of the foundational steps in Stephen Covey’s prescription for self-mastery is developing a sense of honor which is so important to you that it becomes greater than your moods. So if I’ve made a commitment to do something, the fact that I don’t feel like doing it is irrelevant; I’ve promised it, and my sense of honor is greater than my moods, so I must do it.
But moods strike us still, and we need techniques for managing them. The advice of our grandmothers (well, my grandmother at least) was always,
- Get some exercise.
- Count your blessings
The folks over at The Positivity Blog have built out this advice a bit. Take a look.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Veteran’s Day, 2007 – listening to Gilgamesh
Only the gods live forever; death is the fate of all mankind. So enjoy your life: let your belly be full. Make every day a day of rejoicing. Dance and play every night. Let your raiment be clean. Let your wife rejoice in your breast, and cherish the little one holding your hand.
Here’s an interview with Stephen Mitchell about the process of creating this new edition of a timeless story.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Weekend Break: The Gang of Four
No, not that Gang of Four. This gang of four.
Summer of George
Jerry Seinfeld was on NPR’s Fresh Air recently, and the interviewer asked him about the lexicalization of phrases from his TV series Seinfeld. A friend of the interviewer’s scheduled a six week break between leaving one job and beginning another, and everyone called it her “Summer of George.”
Personally, I thought the interview was gold, Jerry, gold!
Seinfeld on Marketing
The folks at ubereye wrote an e-book called Seinfeld on Marketing which you might enjoy. I particularly liked lesson 6, which argues against adding a loyalty program to an unperfected business. Fix the customer experience first, then add retention measures!
Friday, November 9, 2007
Newsletters: What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
Don’t you hate those vendors who just hammer you with newsletter after newsletter when each one is just the same sales pitch with no added value?
By contrast, I get newsletters every week from Borders.com and I almost always open them.
So what’s the difference between the ones that get read and the ones that don’t?The ones from Borders always have interesting coupons. And they’re not always the same – so I’m curious to see what this one is. There’s a lesson in here if you’re sending a newsletter to your clients.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Building trust, breaking trust
A recent post on Seth Godin’s blog about trolling calls from the BBB reminded me of the calls I used to get from these losers who would surf the whois database looking for new domain registrations.
Losers: Hi Scott? This is Jason!
Me: Huh?
Losers: Jason! From aPlus dot net! We saw you just bought some domains – do you need any help developing them?
Me: You’re pitching web development to me? Did you not notice that my business was web development? Didn’t the name That Software Guy hit you with a clue-by-four?
Losers: Ummm…. no….
Me: So now you’re spamming me with solicitation calls?? Is this your business model – to violate the TOS of whois and phone spam people?
Losers: Umm…. no …. ummm… it’s not really a solicitation; it’s … ummm…
It went downhill from there, believe it or not.
I was so appalled that I did a Google search on them … apparently lots of other people feel the same way.
What’s the take-away? There are legitimate and not-so-legitimate ways of advertising. The old cloaked sales call (“call me back!” with no reason; “I’ve been trying to reach you” when they haven’t, etc.) falls into the latter category. BBB should be ashamed of itself. There’s some question as to whether their business model is sustainable in the first place; this kind of tactic will only accelerate their decline.
