Posted by Jesse Poe on December 10 at 10:46 AM
So you have heard the buzz about Google now including real time search results.
Some are probably asking:
What does that mean?
And then others are asking:
What does real time search results mean to my small business?
Well quickly real time search results means that key words such as "name of your Biz" are going to be showing up on the front page of Google in a real time search window. These will be brought in from Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, FriendFeed, Jaiku and Identi.ca for now, who knows what will be invented tomorrow.
So what does that mean for your business? That the time you are spending engaging with your clients/public is now going to be in the spot light. You have been saying good, encouraging, helpful, informative things on your twitter, right? Of course you have! So now when someone types in a keyword such as "bike repair", Mike's Bikerepair twitter account will be streaming in to the front page of Google. I will see all the helpful and courteous dialogue going on at Mike's and want to take my bike to Mike.
John's Bikerepair uses his 2.0 life to discuss how good his cereal is, so we'll know to call him for advice about cereal and Mike to fix our bike.
Remember three things about real time search results:
1. You will be seen, if you are participating in the 2.0 world.
2. Your competitors will be as well.
3. Your happy or unhappy public will also be seen there.
If you do not have a strategy in place to benefit from this, and also to damage control (when that time comes) then I suggest you get cracking! Or hire someone to do it for you.
Google has changed the rules of the game again and you can use them to your favor.
Posted by Jesse Poe on December 8 at 12:01 PM
Google blew the doors off yesterday with a bevy of new services. From analytics to the more commercial centered Google Goggles, they came out swinging. The funny thing is that there wasn’t really anyone in the ring to go down.
In Sunday’s New York Times article about the App store, Katy Huberty, a Morgan Stanley analyst said, “Applications make the smartphone trend a revolutionary trend — one we haven’t seen in consumer technology for many years.”
Ms. Huberty then likens the advent of the App Store and the iPhone to AOL’s pioneering role in driving broad-based consumer adoption of the Internet in the 1990s.
In no way am I being cynical, but I am curious what Apple has planned to keep it from going the way of AOL.
AOL claimed a demographic that it will maintain, until their grandchildren or younger friends, convince them that AOL is not the internet, but a website. So they can hang in there for awhile, Apple has massed enough cash they should be fine as well, but their demographic are tech loving youngins, artists, designers, etc. Nothing is there to keep that demographic if it's better, cheaper, easier and more open armed elsewhere.
While Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan were snuggling up over their Joe and AOL mail. AOL was conquered on the very groundwork they laid.
Reminds me of the age-old situational joke, where I struggle to open the bottle that’s honeyed shut, I do all the work, and then my kid brother picks it up and takes the lid off to much applause.
I just hope while Apple is standing around and “clapping-in” new kitchy apps everyday, somebody is in the back hard at work on something as good as all Google has to offer the world of late.
Posted by Jesse Poe on December 4 at 11:41 AM
People have been using Google as a dictionary for years. Simply typing the word or an approximation of the word, letting google correct it, copying it, pasting it and then moving on.
The fact that they added definition to their site is even more convenient.
Is it the best? Who cares?
Basic definitions are typically the most useful. Why? because when writing/speaking even though you might like to use the perfect word, the perfect word is always the word that is going to communicate the best and that is usually the most common definition of the word.
Communication is all about communicating.
With the exception of poetry and other such writing, people typically want to quickly clarify the definition and spelling, not do a word study.
For word studies I wouldn't go to dictionary.com (etc.) anyway, but a number of sources, in which case the spotlight on my Mac is the perfect solution. Dictionary, thesaurus, wikipedia all side by side.
Good work on Google's part, they understand what people want: ease.
Posted by Jesse Poe on November 25 at 12:46 PM
I am 34 (stated for demographic purposes).
I just read my first book on my iPhone, it was free, I enjoyed it, and now I have purchased my first eBook as a result, your talking about a man who treasures even the smell of a hardback. Why did I buy it, because I got one for free the content was good and I wanted more.
I got the NY Times app for free and now I have a weekend subscription. Why the content was good and I wanted more of it and in the way I wanted it. During the week I want it on the screen, on the weekends in bed with coffee.
I got the WSJ app, loved it, more than the NY Times. Murdoch canned the free app, I erased it. I got a deal in the mail for daily subscription to the WSJ less than my weekend subscription to the Times.... went right in the trash. No way would I want to give my money to someone who keeps information from people.
There are lots of people like me, and more each day, everyone younger than I for sure.
People think the music industry has tanked, and it has, but did you know that the wages of musicians have gone up?
There have been even more recent posts on the same idea that I have seen. If you check my google reader, you'll find them marked there.
The problem is not making money, the problem is out of date business models. There is plenty of money to be made everyday, however how to make it is changing and so should we.
Here is a very quick story:
1. worked for a very important literary journal (left unnamed out of respect)
2. reader/contributor base was monitored by the obituary section, so as to not waste money sending things to dead people.
3. young talented writers were turned away, why? because the reader base wouldn't like new fresh writing.
4. young talented writers posted their work on line
5. the review is now out of business
6. I have stayed in touch with a couple of the young writers who submitted, and they are now onto their 3 and 4 book deals. I think Clay has jus done his 5th!
So would you rather be well known for great thinking and insight, a voice of authority and point of reference, or would you rather have a small email list and follow the Unnamed Dead Journal above? Topics: Google, Internet, social_networking, strategy0 CommentsRead Full Post
Posted by Jesse Poe on November 19 at 3:19 PM
When I used to work for Apple the most common question I heard was:
"What's the most important thing to look for in a computer? I mean do I need bigger or faster? I don't want to buy a computer and then three years later it's obsolete."
My response was an aside, I got a watch to sell ya whisper, saying, "hey soon, Google will make an OS of their own and then that question won't matter, in essence you'll just need a machine that runs well."
The rummor I was spreading has come true here is Google video launched today to prove it:
And if an online operating system to revolutionize the way we use computers wasn't enough in one day, they have beat Microsoft at it own "humanity" game. It's new Search Stories are so captivating, clever and moving that I got a little choked up.
Posted by Jesse Poe on October 21 at 10:33 AM
A quick personal story of the "power of free" making money:
Last year I played at Terrastock 7 (a three day music festival of cult fame, American Apparel was even there making a film about it, looking forward to seeing that). I had the pleasure this time to play with one of Japan's greatest guitarists Makato Kawabato.
Instead of the typical cd sales plug from the stage, I changed my mind in mid-sentence,
"hey, there's so many great bands here with great records, so if you want my music, save your money, just bring me a cdr and I'll burn you whatever record of mine you want."
I can do that since I own the rights to my records.
I burnt a lot of cds after the show.
Success metrics:
Over next days of the concert, I never paid for a drink nor meal. People came back with friends and bought my other records. I was given cds as gifts which people had purchased from other artists performing that weekend. I was given artist prints, t-shirts, professional photographs, you name it. I played the first night and continued to sell cds the remaining days of the concert. People would come up saying they had missed my show but heard a cdr in the hotel of a friend and wanted to buy a record. Etc. I went home with more money than I had ever thought, and suitcase full of gifts.
The greatest result: Community. Many of the people who came to me with blank cds, are still in contact with me, they are a part of my community, which is better than a one time cd sale.
Isn't this the Google model?
How can do the same for your business?
We can help you.
There are many free tools that we use to keep our costs low, so that we can focus our efforts on tailored approaches to each client we work with. We stay up to date on the latest in an effort to always find the right tools for each unique situation. As an example, here is video of a new Google tool released yesterday.
DMDxd uses tools like this one to help people discover ways to grow their brand and find their audience. Helping them create meaningful relationships between that audience and their brand.
Google stalker? I was surprised, even though I shouldn't have been, that when I Googled "Google Stalking" there was a website devoted entirely to that lurid – but admittedly delightful – activity we all engage in. Topics: Google, Internet, social_networking3 CommentsRead Full Post
