Archive for the ‘General’ Category
Deciding on a company name can backfire
September 19th, 2011So over the weekend, Netflix decided to split their business into 2 separate companies – the Netflix we know and love which will be responsible for streaming video (to your DVD player, computer, smartphone, etc) and a new company called Qwikster which is responsible for the physical DVD shipments (which is actually the original Netflix business model). The problem is, they didn’t secure all of the relevant domains and social media accounts to go with their new name. On Twitter, there’s been a user called qwikster which does not represent Netflix and will see a significant jump in his mentions and follower count simply because of the confusion.
So what do you do as the company? Just get over it? Try to buy the name (which violates Twitter’s terms of service) ? Or something else? With a marketing group and M&A team as large as Netflix, was this an oversight or just one of those things that people didn’t think was important?
As a business owner or marketer, what would you do?
Google issues another corporate slap down for violating search engine rules
February 28th, 2011Last week we wrote about how Google penalized JC Penny for something their search engine optimization company did – essentially broke the rules of ethical search engine ranking and placement. While Google really tries to not publicly point out one company or another, in this instance the New York Times grabbed a hold of the story and ran about 2 pages in the sunday edition – that’s a lot of copy for very obscure business (Search Engine Optimization). Basically their outside firm paid a number of other companies who were nothing other than listing sites (big pages with links to other web sites) to help JC Penney get to the top of search results for lots and lots of every day words. See the NYT article for an in-depth view: article.
This week, Overstock.com was caught using a similar tactic – they worked with a some universities and had them list links to overstock’s web site using key words. In the internal Google search engine ranking calculator, links from schools give a web site a lot more credibility than a link from regular site. This week Google notified Overstock they were in violation of the terms of use. Subsequently, their search engine ranking dropped like a stone.
So, what’s the lesson here? For the next few months, lots of reporters are going to be digging into every company’s search engine placement and try to find any issues. If you are a company big or small, make sure you or your search engine consultants are playing by the rules. If you have good content and you have good inbound partners to link from, then you will be rewarded. Google is constantly tweaking the search results grading and will continue to work to refine how companies are graded and ranked. Play by the rules is their creedo and you will be rewarded.
So what do you think about the recent ‘de-ranking’ by google of these major companies? Do you feel like you’ve been treated unfairly by Google’s ranking system? Or is is that you’ve been promised that first search engine ranking placement by a search engine consultant and they have yet to deliver?
Simple things that will ruin your day, analog issues meet a digital world.
January 5th, 2011So just before the December holidays our office building sprunk a leak. Some roof shingles came off from a windstorm and the next time it rained, we started to get water in the office. But wait for the kicker – the leak was right over the top of my desk. Our landlord (we rent our office) ran around and found a roofer to get up there and put a tarp over the top of the affected area. This worked great, until another windstorm came and blew the tarp off the roof, just before New Year’s Day. So after me calling the landlord 3 days in a row and the landlord calling the roofer 3 days in a row to get the tarp put on, it proceeded to rain – A BUNCH!
I had left the office assuming the tarp was being put back on and left some documents on my desk and a laptop as well. Suprise on Monday – documents ruined and water all in the laptop – and NO TARP ON THE ROOF. Those of you who know me, understand that I remained calm (not!), called my landlord calmly (not) and explained the situation calmly (not!).
So this week, they are working on resolving the roof issue, but as you can tell – I now have a bunch of documents I have to recreate and a laptop which MIGHT be able to be salvaged (we’re still trying to dry it out and see if it will start). So what are the lessons learned from here?
- Never assume someone else is going to do something they have shown they are not going to do
- Plan for the worst, a simple thing like a roof leak can cause major damage
- Know what to do and who to call in the event of an emergency or issue.
- Be persistent when an issue is not being resolved to your satisfaction
So an analog world issue causedhavoc in my digital world – a simple water leak causes digital damage and sets me back a day of work. What would you have done in this situation? Should I have done something different? What’s your plan if something like this happened?
What are you doing different in 2011?
January 4th, 2011W.L. Bateman said “If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always got.”
Over the past couple of years, I’ve tried the resolution route, that”This year I’m going to…”, inevitably 90% of these are abandoned by March – either because the original premise was too complex or in the end on March 1 it wasn’t as important as it was on Jan 1. The resolutions I’ve been able to carry from resolution to habit to just another thing I do are the ones where I can see the potential benefit, are easy to integrate in my day to day life and take only a few minutes a day.
For those of you who know me, you know I’m not a “This year I’m going to exercise every day” or “This year I’m going to volunteer 40 hours a week at the local charity”. While these are great goals they are just not something I would do. But things like “Take a portion of my salary every month and put it aside to make our year end taxes easier” or “Write a blog post once a week” or even “Get back to doing 1 fun thing as a complete family once a month” – these are things I can handle.
So here’s this year’s plan for both the business and personal
- Pay more attention to our clients. While I am always listening to what our clients say, I think I’ve been avoiding the tough discussions with them. This year, it’s more proactive conversations with clients.
- Do 1 fun thing with our family every month (like we used to). In January, it’s an Atlanta Thrashers hockey game.
- Get to blogging at least once a week – wordpress.com motivated me with their The Daily Post challenge (you can find out more by reading my Jan 1 blog).
- Give myself a mental break from work 1 day every weekend – since the middle of the year it’s been a 7 day a week operation around here – every one’s mind needs a break. I was pretty sick in 2nd half of December and it forced me to take a mental break, I was able to come back recharged and ready to go.
There’s some others more minor stuff that I’m trying out this year, but the 4 above are the big ticket items.
So what are you going to do different this year, in your personal life and at work? Are you going to use Twitter more (or less)? Are you going to finally get that start-up company you’ve been dreaming about off the ground? How about that vacation you’ve been dreaming of – are you going to start saving for it? Trying to run a half-marathon this year, what’s your training plan?
The reality of it is, if you keep doing the same things over and over, you can only except the same results. How are you going to change the result you are getting by changing the things you are doing? Let me know, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Blogging Every Week for 2011 #postaweek2011
January 1st, 2011I’ve decided I want to blog more. Rather than just thinking about doing it, I’m starting right now. I will be posting on this blog once a week for all of 2011.
I know it won’t be easy, but it might be fun, inspiring, awesome and wonderful. Therefore I’m promising to make use of The DailyPost, and the community of other bloggers with similar goals, to help me along the way, including asking for help when I need it and encouraging others when I can.
If you already read my blog, I hope you’ll encourage me with comments and likes, and good will along the way.
Signed,
Joe Vivona
Yes, Small Business, There Is a Helpdesk Solution
December 2nd, 2010Let’s face it — if your business is supported by computer technology, you need a Helpdesk. You deserve a Helpdesk. One of the main reasons a business fails (outside of negative revenue generation) is the inability to recover quickly from an IT disaster. Disaster — it’s a big scary word. And if your only desktop computer or your only server goes down and no one is able to recover the data from it, or recover it in a timely fashion, you’re toast. No longer do you have a customer database, no longer do you have an accounting history, no longer do you have a viable business.
This year, give yourself the gift of security. Enlist a capable and responsible IT company to be at the ready when you need them.
Better yet, give yourself the gift of preparedness and proactiveness. Take the time to have your systems upgraded and cleaned up. Create a plan of action for the New Year to extend the life of those precious machines. Allow an IT professional to research the best equipment for your needs now and into the near future at the best price (because many are approved vendors and can get a better deal than you might).
A viable IT company offers professional service and advice on:
- Preventative Maintenance
- Remote Patch Management
- Equipment Purchases
- Helpdesk and Support Services
- On Call for Break/Fix Issues
As you, business owner, prepare for the annual holiday party, grant vacations and leave of absences, think about who’s taking care of your business while you are out running your business. Have you checked with your IT guy to see if he’ll be around on Christmas morning for you if need be? A back up plan of action is always a good idea.
A&J Computers Inc. has provided Helpdesk and IT support services for 21 years.
Julie Settle
A&J Computers Inc.
Today’s the Day — Tech and Legal Join Forces
November 19th, 2010Drumroll, please…LawPivot is here! The Q&A site meets Social Network concept is a self-described startup “Quora for legal” that allows technology companies to confidentially ask legal questions to expert attorneys. The founders are attorneys with technical experience. Jay Mandal, CEO, was a lead mergers and acquisitions attorney at Apple and co-founder Nitin Gupta was an intellectual property litigation lawyer.
For now the site is free for both companies and attorneys. It’s a great resource for startups, especially those who have not yet established a relationship with an attorney. Questions are completely confidential. Each question posed will receive confidential answers by various attorneys who cannot view each others answers.
If you are any type of attorney, I suggest you check out the site and see if it’s for you. I imagine a lot of start ups will. Visit http://www.LawPivot.com for details.
^ Julie Settle, A&J Computers Inc.
Motorola Is Planning a Tablet Device for Early in 2011
November 6th, 2010The creator of the Droid smartphone is planning on releasing a tablet device next year. They will continue to go head to head with Apple, competing with the iPhone and iPad.
Co-CEO Sanjay Jha comments, “Just as Droid was competitive…with iPhone, we want to make sure that any tablet that we deliver is competetive in the marketplace. We will only deliver that when that occurs. Hopefully that’s early next year.”
Other companies competing in the tablet device wars are Research in Motion (RIM), Cisco, Hewlett-Packard Company, Lenovo Group Ltd. and LG Electronics Inc.
^ Julie Settle
A&J Computers Inc.
Back to Basics, Please… and Thank You
November 6th, 2010Let’s face it …we’re all adults here. Truth be told, and I try to tell the truth as much as possible, some of us adults ain’t handlin’ email etiquette so good lately. And your business may be suffering because of it.
The top etiquette blunders are listed below for easy reference:
First things first:
Keep work email and personal email SEPARATE. There’s a variety of reasons to do this, and let’s just point out that there is a proper place for Aunt Sally’s “forward this to 8 friends now” message and also that your customer doesn’t need to know that your personal email address refers to you as captainunderpants@freeemailaddress.com . (BTW, there’s no need to test that address. I did and it goes nowhere).
Second:
Please keep tone and personality out of it – or make very sure it comes across – as intended.
Third:
How many emails do you receive a day? i can receive hundreds. When sending a professional message to someone, don’t expect them to remember the previous ‘conversation’. Confirm the meeting with date/time/reason. Another accepted method is to respond using the email with the conversation trail included. A little more work on the recipient’s part, but at least helpful.
Fourth:
Respect the privacy of others. We all send Group emails. No one needs to see everyone it went to. It’s also most likely considered an invasion of privacy. Do you want your home address plastered all over some mass distribution? Neither does anyone else. Use the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) option which will shield the addresses.
Fifth:
Check, double check, and then triple check when forwarding emails to make sure that sensitive information from someone else is not included. I’m sure we are all guilty of this. It’s very embarrassing.
Sixth:
Keep the jokes at bay at work. Forwarded (again, personal) emails of jokes and photos are best sent to the personal account (read #2 again).
Seventh:
Step away from the attachments. No joke. Unless a document must be sent as an attachment and the recipient is aware that it is coming, just don’t do it. Attachments (like vermin) carry all sorts of malware, intended or unintended. A recipient’s box can quarantine the message, it can be sent to the Spam folder or it may just plain be manually deleted without being read.
Last:
Don’t send an album of photos (see #6). It’s better to upload to a photo album site and then let friends know about it.
And my personal pet peeve:
Check out the source of a ‘warning’ email before warning your friends and family. Websites like Snopes.com can truly help cut out a ton of life-saving emails with a little research effort on the sender’s part.
Thank you for your time today.
^ Julie Settle
A&J Computers Inc.
It’s Customer Satisfaction That is Important
October 23rd, 2010I recently heard someone speak on the topic of Customer Service and how important it is to improve and maintain it. True? Yes…to a point. What I think is more important than Customer Service is Customer Satisfaction. So what’s the difference?
Let me first explain that I work in a vertical that is largely unseen. You can’t really see what we do, when we do it, or how it’s done. That’s how the IT world works – unseen, off-hours…usually late at night or weekends. Basically it’s during the periods when you (the client) may be the least busy – at least online. Let me also say that we run a tight ship here. Never does a systems update, performance check, antivirus checks or clean up session get missed or overlooked. We sweat the technical details. It’s just what we do. And by the next business morning, when our client is back in their office, turning on their desktops, and opening up Outlook email and other necessary programs, everything boots up right on schedule and runs smoothly. And it used to be that because of that, every once in a blue moon, we get a call from a client telling us that our services were no longer required. And when asked, “Why”?, the answer was invariably, “Because everything always runs just fine.” Huh, go figure.
Now in this scenario, the client has received excellent service and is satisfied. Everything’s great, everything’s groovy for them. So where did we fail? We didn’t let them know that the reliability is courtesy of us. We worked ourselves out of a job. Customer service and satisfaction were there…just…not attributed to our efforts.
You bet we immediately took measures to change the way we interacted with our clients. We do a great job and we let them know on a periodic basis just what we did for them to get such great efficiency out of their network, website, email, Blackberry, hosted applications, remote back up, whatever. We make every effort to be proactive in our maintenance efforts. We know when something’s about to break and usually take care of it before the client ever knows it was a problem. And then we share that with them. And they are satisfied. And then so are we.
^ Julie Settle
A&J Computers Inc.
