I just came across this excellent blog about pimping your office. Your office may have to have some of the conventional office things in it (a desk, chair, storage unit), but it doesn’t have to look drab. Check this blog out for some home office decorating tips that could boost your creativity and morale.
Archive for the ‘Small Business Stuff’ Category
Setting Up Your Home Office
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010IBM BigSheets to Help Businesses Comb Through Web Data More Effectively
Monday, March 1st, 2010IBM’s newest product for the Web makes it easier than ever for businesses to analyze just about anything. BigSheets provides “broader data management - not just database management,” according to IBM.
Here are a few of the benefits of using BigSheets, according to IBM:
- Better understand your customers, research competitors, diversify supply chains, or be the first to discover relevant industry trends. Extend and take control of your web analytics with this customizable rich web tool.
- Go beyond structured database management into unstructured data management with BigSheets. Seeing the whole picture will help all levels of your business make better decisions.
- Provides business users with a new approach to keep pace with data escalation. By taking the structure to the data, you can mine petabytes of data without additional storage requirements.
Check out this BigSheets video for more info.
Yahoo! Online Search Share Sharply Declining
Thursday, December 17th, 2009
CNNMoney reported today that the Yahoo! share of online searches is sharply declining. The company’s search market share fell from 18% in October to 17.5% in November, according to the monthly comScore report.
The November figure is the lowest share ever recorded for Yahoo!
Bing, however, appears to be doing quite well; Miscrosoft’s newest search engine gained 0.4 points to cover 10.3% of online searches in November. Google is still the leading search engine, owning a solid 65.6% of the market, which is an increase of 0.9 point since July.
What the Microhoo?
With Microsoft’s Bing success, one wonders why Microsoft forged a 10-year deal with Yahoo! to combine search engine efforts. The joint venture, called Microhoo, was developed to combine the market shares of Yahoo! and Bing together to give the new Microhoo a 28% stake in online searches. Under the terms of the coupling, Yahoo! would be powered by Microsoft’s search engine. In exchange, Microsoft would give Yahoo! 88% of the revenue gained from searches on Yahoo! sites. (more…)
Writers and Online Marketers: TEST Your Email Marketing Campaigns
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009One of the most important things for Web writers and online marketers to do is (shocker) TEST their email marketing campaigns. With the free tools that come along with today’s email marketing tools, there’s no excuse for not testing email marketing campaigns.
Folks running email marketing campaigns should know:
- How many people are opening their emails.
- What links people click on when they open emails.
- What links people DON’T click on when they open emails.
- Who is opening emails (it’s great if you have demographic information about your email newsletter subscribers, too). (more…)
Ape Image of Michelle Obama Gives Insight into How Google Works
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
CNN.com published an article today that addressed the now-infamous Michelle Obama photo in which she has been Photoshopped to resemble an ape. According to the article, some experts believe that Google may have tweaked its algorithm after discovering that the offensive image climbed in search engine results.
“When [analgorithm] doesn’t do what they want it to do, they go back and start tweaking things,” said Danny Sullivan, a search-engine guru who runs Search Engine Land. “Long term, you look at how they got there. When you search for Michelle Obama, do you really think that kind of image is one of the most popular things about her on the Internet? I don’t think so.”
Google already has an automated tool that prevents Internet users from “Google Bombing” - or pulling together to force a specific result (ie: the epic “miserable failure” = George Bush episode of 2003 and the 2007 effort by Stephen Colbert fan to return Stephen Colbert’s bio when searchers Google “greatest living American.”). (more…)
Web Writers: Be Sure You’re Up-to-date with FCC Changes Regarding Testimonials and Endorsements
Thursday, November 19th, 2009All Web writers need to be sure that they review the Federal Trade Commission’s updated regulations regarding testimonials and endorsements. 
For the first time in nearly 3 decades, the FTC has updated its regulations to account for blogging and online advertising. The purpose of the updated regulations is to help ensure that consumers are not getting misleading or false information from social media sources that they may be more inclined to trust than traditional advertising sources.
These changes will take effect on December 1, 2009. Read about them here.
In short, the FTC regulations require that:
- Bloggers who receive free products to review in their blogs disclose that the products were provided to them for free.
- If a blogger makes a claim about a product that cannot be substantiated - or that is incorrect - the blogger and the company who provided the blogger with the product can be held liable.
To be sure that they are being mindful of the new regulations, bloggers and Web writers should provide as many facts as possible to support their claims. (more…)
Simon & Schuster Launches Vook - Video Book
Thursday, October 1st, 2009Publishing powerhouse Simon & Schuster has launched the newest book-related technology: Vook. A vook is a combination of a traditional book and a multimedia platform that allows publishers to include video and other multimedia displays within the vook device.
A vook is similar to the Kindle in that it is a technologically advanced derivative of the old-fashion paper book format. However, unlike the Kindle, a vook has multimedia features that engage a reader in ways that the Kindle cannot.
In addition to the vook device, other publishers are adding multimedia value to traditional books by encouraging readers to log onto Web sites to view presentations or interactive displays related to the book. Check out this New York Times article in which writer Motoko Rich describes how the novel “Level 26: Dark Origins” can turn into an audio/visual experience for readers when they log onto a related Web site.
Not all writers are thrilled by the hybrid technology; “As a novelist I would never ever” allow videos to substitute for prose, said Walter Mosley, the acclaimed author of “Devil in a Blue Dress.” “Reading is one of the few experiences we have outside of relationships in which our cognitive abilities grow,” Mr. Mosley said. “And our cognitive abilities actually go backwards when we’re watching television or doing stuff on computers.”
My opinion: holding a read, actual, paper bound book is comforting and traditional - but it also clings to Jeffersonian ideals. Even Jefferson noted that we cannot dissuade technological and social advances. As a writer, it’s important for us to be prepared for these coming changes…and, I believe, embrace them.
Users Can Now Annotate Web Pages Using Google Tool
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
Google has launched Sidewiki - a tool that allows them to publicly annotate Web pages with their own notes. The tool is helpful for folks, like me, who want to take notes as they read and share opinions or facts that correlate to whatever it is I’m reading. Sidewiki is, in essence, similar to adding a note in the margin of a library book for all to read.
Each note not only contains whatever the writer wants to say, but also the writer’s name, date of the post, and the writer’s avatar or photo. Talk about making the Internet more personal!
Sidewiki will come with a version of the Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer and Firefox. The tool has a special algorithm that filters high-level comments from low-level comments. High-level comments will be moved to the top where they are more easily seen by the public.
While many companies have experimented with annotation tools on Web pages, Google’s tool has, perhaps, the most potential for success. After all, it’s a Google tool and Google is the gold standard for Internet tools.