Advertising, when done correctly, is part art and part science. Unfortunately most small businesses only consider the art – they spend money on design services, copywriters, color selections and logos. Completely ignored is the science: documenting and measuring user actions, analyzing results, feedback loops. Today’s guest contributor, Sara Morgan, is an author and marketing consultant. She recently conducted several online advertising experiments for her own business and has kindly offered to share her experience and conclusions.
Is Paid Advertising a Waste of Money for (My) Small Business?
I am a former corporate web developer who now focuses on producing easy to follow technical guides for small business owners. Through the years, I have tried various paid advertising campaigns using Google Ad Words, but always met with no success. I had pretty much given up on Google entirely, until the day I got an e-mail from LinkedIn. They offered me $50.00 off one of their Direct Ads and it was at that time that I decided to do a little experiment.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Mostly Marketing
Looking at the iPad from all sides
Read part 1 of this review.
The iPad has been available for a little over a week and Apple just announced that they have to delay international sales because demand in the US has been much greater than expected – apparently over 500,000 were sold in the first week. Cynics will say that it’s just a bunch of Apple fanboys and lemmings that blindly buy anything bearing the fruity logo, but I think there is something more at work here and that real business users are snapping these up.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Business, Mostly Marketing
iPad standing tall after 48 hours
Update: Read part 2 of this review.
After spending most of the last 48 hours with the iPad in my hands I have to agree with Walt Mossberg that “…this beautiful new touch-screen device from Apple has the potential to change portable computing profoundly…” The folks at Apple like to shake up entire industries – iTunes and the iPod certainly changed the music business and Apple is now the largest music distributor in the world, and the iPhone showed the stodgy telecommunications industry what a phone should be, while Apple sold over 70 million so far. It’s too soon to know whether the iPad will have the same impact, but the early results suggest that it certainly has the potential.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Business, Mostly Tech
With the rapid proliferation of smartphones (Apple’s iPhone, Palm Pre, Blackberry, Google Android phones) people are suddenly broadcasting their location wherever they go. There’s an obvious benefit when emergency services need to find you following an accident, but it also presents some disturbing security implications. Ignoring the police and stalkers for now let’s take a look at how average people and businesses can use these services.
A few of us recently started experimenting with something called Foursquare. This company just celebrated its first birthday so they’ve had time to polish the rough edges on the service, and it’s pretty interesting. Basically, they provide two things: 1) an easy way to let people know where you are; and, 2) a way for travelers to find things to do in a new city.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Mostly Marketing
Google Fiber Optic Test
Google today announced an initiative to build broadband networks in local communities around the US as part of a test. Quoting Google:
“We’re planning to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States. We’ll deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We plan to offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.”
The full announcement can be found on Google’s blog:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/think-big-with-gig-our-experimental.html
If you ever wanted fiber optic broadband to your home, office, or school now is your chance. Go to the following page and submit your information:
http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi
Good luck, and let us know if you win.
Posted in Business, Mostly Tech
pdfmyurl
During the ’90s, computers made training manuals and technical books obsolete. During the oughts, PowerPoint made printed presentations obsolete. Over the next few years, e-readers will make paper news and fiction obsolete. But once in a while you still need to print things, or just distribute a copy of something where Internet access is not available, and that can be difficult because Web pages are not designed for good-looking paper output.
A new Web site can simplify the process of grabbing a Web page and turning it into a PDF file. Called simply pdfmyurl, this Web site does exactly what it says. Enter any Web page address (URL) and it will hand you a PDF file.
There are other Web sites and desktop tools to this already, and Apple computers have the capability to create a PDF built right in. But Windows users have to go looking for the proper tools, and the results have been mixed. pdfmyurl is fast and handles formatting of complex pages very well.
If you frequently need to print Web pages pdfmyurl can save you lots of paper. After getting the PDF file you can easily delete unnecessary pages before printing them, such as a page filled with ads and Flash video, or skip printing the last page if it only contains a footer with navigation links.
Posted in Mostly Marketing
Regardless of what you want to call it (smartbook, netbook, web book, e-reader) 2010 will be the year that we all realize we need a fourth computer device in our lives, and wonder how we got by so long without it. By the end of 2010 our personal IT infrastructure will fall into four categories:
Desktop computer – The old standby, and still the best tool for most work. Prices are low for powerful, multi-display devices that have high quality speaker systems and can serve as a media hub for the whole office/home.
Notebook computer – The only way to travel with most of your office in a backpack. Large keyboards, decent screens and good battery life make today’s notebooks ready for serious work. Some people are starting to eliminate the desktop computer in favor of using a notebook full-time, but the most powerful are too big and heavy for frequent travel.
Net-smart Book-tablet – This is where the new category fits into the lineup. It’s a device that is smaller and much lighter than a notebook/laptop computer, but bigger than a cell phone with an 8 to 12 inch screen for easy reading. It is primarily designed for consuming media, that is: reading books, magazines, newspapers, and blogs; watching television, movies and YouTube; browsing Web sites for work, school and fun; and listening to music. Skype will allow you to use these wi-fi devices as a phone, but some will no doubt be sold with cell phones built in (the Kindle already includes a cell radio, but only for data). The current crop look mostly like small notebooks, using a clamshell design. But the old notebook form factor isn’t very convenient for reading on the couch, in bed, or in the bathroom, and weight is a big problem. Expect the new 2010 generation to be very light and more tablet-like, or have clever folding or sliding systems so they can be held flat. You’ll take this new device places you would never think to bring your notebook, but not everywhere like your cell phone.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Mostly Tech
Use your iPhone to Swipe Credit Cards
Have you ever wanted to accept credit cards for your small business, or just during your weekend garage sale? For many people the process of getting a merchant account, paying the minimum monthly fees, and setting up the software is just too much trouble and expensive so they don’t bother. But that could result in lost sales and unsatisfied customers. Finally, a new company called Square, Inc. is making it much easier. According to the Square Web site you can “Start accepting payment cards immediately with Square. No contracts, monthly fees, or hidden costs.”
Sign for Your Purchase
Square has created a clever little credit card reader that plugs into the audio jack on the iPhone. (The Web site actually says any device/phone with an audio jack, but it appears that they currently have software only for the iPhone.) The little scanner reads the credit card and uses audio to transfer the data to the iPhone. Customers sign the receipt on the iPhone screen. The phone then encrypts the information and uses its Internet connection to authorize the purchase, just like a Web site would authorize a credit card.
Besides simplifying the actual credit card process Square is also providing customer relationship features. For example, they can track repeat customers for you so, for example, the 10th bagel or coffee could be free.
A nice security feature is the ability to see a customer’s photo to verify their identity. But this would require the customer to set up an account with their picture in advance – not very likely until Square becomes hugely popular.
One of the people behind Square is Twitter co-founder and chairman Jack Dorsey so the team certainly has the resources to make this successful.
We will be signing up for a Square account and will update this post with first-hand information as soon as possible.
Posted in Business
