Part of the logic and emotions that drive paying to be listed in a business directory, is whether there is competition. Directories push the fear that because your competition is listed, you are missing out and letting them run away with all the business. We marketers react emotionally, often signing up out of fear…or arrogantly [...]

Two personal oberservations of mine, brought together to define what good service should be all about:
Be engaged:In the car the other day, I heard NPR’s Terry Gross interviewing Jerry Lewis. Not something I would have planned to do, but there it was. Jerry explained two things about how he works:1. He has an internal critic [...]

I am preparing my talk for the InfoCommerce Conference coming up in a couple weeks. At the same time I am working on renewing my ThomasNet contract. I think you will see much of my posts leading up to the program centering around online directories.
Here’s a fun one to start…Googling “thomas register globalspec” lead to [...]

Another major Google Dance is upon us, apparently. According to this article, Talking To Google About Jagger, you can register your complaints to Google, using a special ‘jagger1′ keyword. Nice way to separate the whiners from the playerz.
The article has some interesting tidbits on issues regarding Google search results and webspam and is worth reading [...]

Gosh, if I’ve read a business book, chances are it has already tipped and I don’t have to say very much. Ideas ‘tip’ into sudden popularity, but even though Malcom Gladwell does an excellent job of explaining why in The Tipping Point, the question remains if this is something you can actually harness…especially as a [...]

An ‘appointment specialist’ from the Zycon Manufacturer’s Directory called me this morning. The what? I thought. Typical spiel, promising an email with more info and appointment to talk to a salesperson, which I accepted, if only to learn more for you, my loyal readers. Do I really feel like dealing with the a sales pitch [...]

We’ve all seen recently closed businesses with signage still entact–a ghost of commerce past. Suppose it was an upscale business? How about renting the building and putting up ‘going out of business sale’ signs and selling off-brand merchandise? That’s was has happened right here in town:
Signage controversy confusing customers at furniture store:
“Flashy going out of [...]

I am the ruler over my computer and know how to get it to do almost anything. But today I learned something I didn’t know. Something helpful that I didn’t even expect, and its so easy:
Adobe Acrobat can ‘Save As’ the following file formats: jpg, ps, rtf, txt, eps, png, and tif. Now I can [...]

I received a postcard from Graphic Controls yesterday. It was addressed to our company without a name or title to go to. Apparently the receptionist assumed it was for printing services and put it in my mail. That may be the biggest problem with this nitwit…sending a mailer without directing it anyone. (And after a [...]

If you haven’t got this nifty tool, go get the new version 2.0.Free Monitor for Google
It just quickly queries Google for your ranking for a URL by keyword. Painless…unless it delivers bad news, anyway.