| I’ve been having a lot of discussions about what an Internet presence encompasses. Only a few years ago this conversation would have been brief, discussing primarily website presence, but today an Internet presence has dramatically evolved into much more! Today Internet presences aren’t centralized around just a website. While a website is an absolutely essential aspect, other presences have also become vital in ensuring an edge amongst competitors. Chances are if you’re not there, your competitors are and they’re gaining business from potential customers that don’t even know you exist. This is almost like if you were a farmer trying to sell your fruit and vegetables on a side street when there’s a huge farmer’s market around the corner. Quite simply… by not using common sense you are missing out and helping your competitors to get rich while you accept the status quo! |  |
Monthly Archives: January 2012
To SOPA or not to SOPA… how does it impact me?
First of all, let’s look at the purpose of SOPA and consider what it’s intended goal is:
Taken from one of my favorite sites, Wikipedia, ironically one that would be blocked if SOPA was enforced, here’s a definition of what it is:
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“The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a law (bill) of the United States proposed in 2011 to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods. Proposals include barring advertising networks and payment facilities from conducting business with allegedly infringing websites, barring search engines from linking to the sites, and requiring Internet service providers (ISP) to block access to the sites. The bill would criminalize the streaming of such content, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison.” |
User-content websites such as YouTube would be greatly affected. Concerns have been expressed that they and many other similar sites would be shut down if the bill became law. Entire domains could be blocked if something was posted in a single photo, video, blog, article, etc. Taken to extreme, practically any website on the Internet would be infringing due to their content.
Internet website acronyms and abbreviations
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After years of discussions with thousands of business owners, I’ve come to the realization that there’s no single location to find clear, concise and non-technical descriptions of keywords related to our industry. For this reason, I’ve decided to create a list of acronyms and abbreviations used when describing projects related to Internet presences on all mediums – web, mobile and social media. |
Because technology evolves so quickly I will be adding to this on an ongoing basis so that hopefully it can remain a helpful and useful resource for our leads, clients and any website visitors that may come across this. If there are acronyms or abbreviations that you feel are too technical and require a more simplified description, or if you feel I’ve missed one that should be added to the list, please leave a comment.
Please feel free to bookmark this resource and refer to it on an as-needed basis.
What makes Brent tick?
While it’s only been a month since my blog has existed, I’ve already received dozens of emails from my readers, the majority complete strangers asking me to talk a little bit more about myself within my blogs. As a result, I’ve made a decision that from now on I’ll also be including personal blogs within the mix starting with a brief introduction about what makes me tick and how I’ve gotten to where I am today.
If any of my personal blogs don’t interest you, please, feel free to skip them. On the other hand, if they do and if you find that we have mutual interests and are compelled to reach out, even just for a chat over coffee, then give me a call. If there are three things in life that make me smile every day, it’s family, friends, and coffee!
So then, what makes me tick? It’s story time… jump into my time machine and let’s go back a dozen years.
The Dimensions of a Successful Website (Part 4 of 4): Functionality
Welcome to the last of the 4-part series that focuses on the dimensions of a successful website. Congratulations, you’ve made it through all four parts and can pat yourself on the back because clearly you’re dedicated to ensuring the success of your website! Last in this series, but not least, I’ll be addressing functionality.
The Dimensions of a Successful Website (Part 3 of 4): Organization
Welcome to the third of a 4-part series that will focus on the dimensions of a successful website. Today I’ll be addressing the topic of organization. I’ve had tremendous positive response to this series already receiving dozens of emails, comments and inbound links from all over the Internet so clearly I’m hitting on a valuable topic that many business owners understand the importance of leveraging the Internet as an important ingredient in gaining and maintaining a competitive advantage in what many would refer to as the new economy, one that is significantly more volatile than historically.
Before I get into the topic I’d like to re-iterate what I consider to be a successful website.
The Dimensions of a Successful Website (Part 2 of 4): Design
Welcome to the second of a 4-part series that will focus on the dimensions of a successful website. Today I’ll be addressing the topic of design, but, before I do, I’d like to thank all of my readers for their comments, emails and phone calls over the last few weeks. I never thought that only a month into creating my blog I would have more than 2,000 views and several dozen emails and calls. I am truly blessed to be able to help so many wonderful businesses take their success to the next level! It’s a privilege to make a difference one valuable customer at a time.
Before I get into the topic I’d like to re-iterate what I consider to be a successful website. To me, a successful site is one that accomplishes all of the following goals consistently on an ongoing basis.
The Dimensions of a Successful Website (Part 1 of 4): Content
Welcome to the first a 4-part series that will focus on the aspects of a successful website. Today I’ll be addressing the topic of content.
Before I get into the topic I’d like to address what I consider to be a successful website. To me, a successful site is one that accomplishes all of the following goals consistently on an ongoing basis.
- Revenue generated by the website (directly or indirectly) exceeds the expenses of operating the website.
- Positive cashflow (revenue minus expense) is growing year over year at least 15% (please note: this doesn’t sound like a lot but due to the power of compounding, your profits will triple over 9 years at this rate)
- Your customer base is consistently growing and you have a way to communicate with and solicit repeat business
* Please note: I do realize that not all websites are in existence to earn additional revenues and some websites may be created solely for the purpose of reducing expenses (e.g. online technical support, online help, etc.). The criteria of this type of website is essentially the same, however, its goals are reached by reducing expenses as opposed to increasing revenues.
Once any of these goals are no longer being successfully accomplished, it’s time for a refresh; your website has either aged too much and is no longer current or competitive with other companies in your industry. Remember, just because your site is doing fantastic for you today, it can all change overnight when one of your competitors takes charge of their Internet presence and revamps it entirely!
Do Not Choose Your Suppliers Based On Price Alone
Happy New Year! I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and is ready to make 2012 their best year yet!
Over the holidays I had a couple of challenging situations with companies contacting me to help with emergencies. Ironically, these emergencies could have likely been prevented had some cautionary steps been taken to prevent them from occurring in the first place.
These emergencies occurred because these individuals simply chose their suppliers based upon price alone. These suppliers both were new in their own respective industries, smaller companies with very few testimonials and mixed online reviews. A quick review of the quality of their products revealed several clues that they were most likely not very experienced in their respective industries.
If you were ever to require an emergency operation, and have the option of two potential surgeons; one that has performed a dozen operations with a 50% success rate versus one that has performed a thousand operations with a 95.3% success rate but costs marginally more, which one would you choose? Now that you’ve answered this question, think about why you’re willing to take so much more risk with the success of your business? Is it simply because it’s your company’s life on the line and not your own?
Learn the Secrets to Online Success 