06.26.09
Posted in Finance, Strategy at 1:40 pm by Paul Mobley
I recently ordered some new business cards from OvernightPrints.com and was happy with the quality and price. A designer friend of mine recommended that I use them but only if I went with a matte finish and preset the Pantone/PMS colors in Illustrator (instead of expecting what was on the screen to match the printing). These were good tips and I was satisfied with the results.
One thing that he didn’t mention was to look for a coupon code before placing the order. I saved 20% off their already good prices by first going to RetailMeNot.com.
If you can’t afford high-end printing this is a good option to maintain quality and seriously save on the budget. Obvioulsy it helps if you have a good layout so spend the extra cash on hiring a designer and save on the printing.
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06.23.09
Posted in Media, Systems at 4:59 pm by Paul Mobley
Did you know that search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing don’t search active websites but rather their saved copies? This is one of the reasons that it can take a while have your results show up on thier websites. It takes time for them to visit (or crawl) your page so they can index it and include it in their rankings.
Often you can view their cached page instead of the one that is live on your website. Today this saved me from losing a webpage that was accidently destroyed in my database. I was able to find the cached page, open up the source code, grab the missing data, and re-publish the page.
Last year I wrote an article titled, Elephant in the Room. This post described how webpages can continue to live on even after they’re deleated from your servers. Today I found another example (and short-term archive) that exists on the web.
I’m glad that I was able to find an unplanned online backup of my data. However, it’s also an important reminder that what is published online never truely dies. It might be hard to find but it might not be gone.
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06.04.09
Posted in Marketing, News, Systems at 1:44 pm by Paul Mobley
Yesterday Microsoft launched is new search engine Bing with an expensive advertising campaign. I bet the owners of bling.com are super exited as the value of their domain has increased the chance that they can convert that domain into real bling.
Of course the first search that I completed was for “Paul Mobley”. I’m happy to say that Microsoft got that right by putting me up on top. =)
Yet, for me that will likely be one of the last times that I use the search engine. Is it me or is this new launch of little or no importance? How much market share will they be able to capture from Google and Yahoo? Do they honestly believe that a major marketing campaign will change the ingrained behaviors of millions of internet users? Even if their system was good why would we want to give them another monopoly?
I predict that Bing will go Bust.
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05.26.09
Posted in Finance, News at 9:40 am by Paul Mobley
Advanta has announced that they will be no longer offering small business credit cards. With only 3 days of warning they have indicated via e-mail and on their website they are no longer able to fund activity due to their own financing problems.
Small Business owners have appreciated the focus that Advanta has given them. Unfortenatly, this is going to make it more difficult to obtian working capital. For many small business owners Advanta was some of the first credit they they obtianed to operate their businesses.
Problems with the credit card companies is going to have a “trickle-down” effect and harm small business and the overall economy. Good bye Advanta. It was nice to know you.
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05.20.09
Posted in Good Idea | Bad Idea, Management, News at 12:31 pm by Paul Mobley
Back in August 2008 I wrote an article about Pandora. I mentioned that while the service was currently free they would likely go to a subscription format in the future. That day has arrived. (insert I told you so).
You can now subscribe to Pandora for $36/year and enjoy an ad-free experience.
Previously they only used web ads (which were easy to ignore). Now they’ve started to deploy audio ads inserted into your music station(s). They appear to only be a few seconds in length but they’re much more noticable.
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05.18.09
Posted in Good Idea | Bad Idea, News at 11:43 pm by Paul Mobley
Coldplay :: Good Idea – Provide a free album as a thank you to the fans.
Coldplay :: Bad Idea – Failure to test your system. Online album unavailable due to a technical glitch.
It’s a wonderful idea to give a free album every once and a while. However, you need to test the system to make sure that it actually works and does not anger or frustrate the fans. Coldplay announced last Friday that the new live album LeftRightLeftRightLeft would be available for free. You have to provide an email address and then it directs you to a download page. When you click “download” all that happens is that it prompts a request for a “Username” and “Password”. No album available… Just frustration.
Anyone planning on doing something viral remember that you want people to talk about how you did something cool, not how you screwed up. We don’t appreciate incompetence.
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05.15.09
Posted in Management, Marketing at 8:26 am by Paul Mobley
Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a FICO for your small business?
Judging personal credit is easy. You just look at the FICO scores from the three credit agencies and see how you stack up to the statistical average. What if that existed for small business. A FICO type score that took into consideration your branding, competitive advantage, innovative ideas, and market share. This would be a useful tool for the entrepreneur in determining which ventures warranted continued investment and effort.
Unfortunately, this tool doesn’t exist. Some of the best business ideas were launched at the wrong time and others were under-captatilized. The best in those four areas doesn’t guarantee success. Rather luck often plays a role.
Yet, despite the propentency to failure… America was founded on the idea of independence. That we are free to create our own path, and therefore, our own success or failure. If you have an innovative idea then you should cultivate it. If you have consistent branding then you should be rewarded. If you have a competitive advantage then you should exploit it. If you have market share then you should defend it.
If there was a FICO score that graded your business would you listen to it or continue to forge your own way? Would you abandon a business that had an excellent small business FICO but was under-capatilized or experiencing economic difficulty?
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