Year: 2006

Blog Business Summit Provides some thought provoking ideas

The international Blog Business Summit has just finished in Seattle and provided some thought provoking ideas. What’s clear from the summit is how much the blog business world is focused on itself, rather than it’s readers and customers. For instance, one of the speakers claimed your blog was useless unless

Internet marketers should be selling Christmas presents now

It’s only the end of October and there are nearly nine weeks until Christmas, but if your web site isn’t selling seasonal specials now, you could have missed out already. Some new research on shopping habits shows that 40% of people have completed their Christmas shopping by the end of

Film Makers Don’t Get the Internet Picture

You would have thought, wouldn’t you, that those creative types based in Hollywood would be really switched on when it comes to new technology like the Internet. But they are not. In spite of a few examples, such as the Blair Witch Project, film makers in Hollywood have yet to

Berkshire Businesses Realise Importance of Blogging

I’ve just got back from a meeting of the West Berkshire Business Club where I spoke about blogging for small businesses. I was asked several questions about the way to set up blogs, how to get visitors and how to make money from them. There was only one person in

“In the Know” women’s magazine on blogging

“In the Know” is a weekly women’s magazine who called me up a couple of weeks ago to talk about blogging. Their article “Confessions of the housewife bloggers” appears in today’s issue and quotes me as saying that blogging can be as good as therapy for many people. True.

CISCO has new virtual meeting tool

CISCO, the technology company, has just launched a new virtual meeting tool which it hopes will replace typical video conferences links. The product competes directly with Hewlett Packard’s “telepresence” technology which some people say is so realistic they even try to shake hands with people in the meeting. These new

Internet success depends on flexibility

Yesterday I was running a workshop on blogging where I pointed out that you should include an email address in all articles you publish. That way, I argued, you can get to know exactly who is interested in your information. If you only included a link to your web site,

Top websites are not always the best

An interesting comparison of highly ranked web sites reveals some interesting findings. The researchers looked at the top 10 web sites for helping people lose weight. They then analysed the quality of the material offered on those web sites. The Mayo Clinic, for instance, ranked 9th in terms of web

Social networking moves to the mobile phone

A fascinating step forward in the social networking phenomenon has begun in Australia and is about to move worldwide. Called “FunkySexyCool” the idea is social networking on mobile phones. The system has been on show in the past week at the annual European Technology Round Table in Barcelona. Although the

Internet psychology – it’s all about normal life

I’ve just been listening to a programme on BBC Radio Four where there was a man from the Sherlock Holmes Society of London talking. He spends part of his life dressed up as Watson, playing the Victorian, fictional character. Alongside 65 other members of the society he recently went to

MySpace is not for the young – just for the young at heart

All the media coverage would have us think that MySpace is the place where teenagers and those in their early 20s hang out. But demographic data from MySpace shows us that this is far from the truth. Indeed less than a third of the users of MySpace are aged under

Carphone warehouse goes the same way as Time Warner

So, Carphone Warehouse has bought AOL UK after Time Warner decided to get rid of it. In a deal worth £370m, Carphone Warehouse has acquired the name and the 2.1m customers of AOL UK. Plus the deal will allow cross selling of each company’s products. However, ask yourself why did

Miami teachers exploit Internet for education

It was great to read that teachers in Miami are exploiting the Internet and modern technology to help teach children. According to the Miami Herald newspaper one art teacher is using blogging to engage more with children in classes. Another teacher has started using iPods to deliver digital content to

Your web site will need GPS facilities

New market research suggests location based services are going to take off in a big way. According to the research published in eMarketer, the current 12 million subscribers to location based services will skyrocket to more than 300 million in the next five years. Location based services mean you integrate

Google and the YouTube deal

So, Google has bought YouTube for $1.65 billion. Wow! In case you don’t know, YouTube is an online video sharing web site. You can post your home videos up there and anyone can have a peek at them. So why is Google that interested in YouTube? Advertising. Pure and simple.

Internet jargon still baffles users

Internet users are confused by the jargon surrounding them. Research from Nielsen/NetRatings shows that people are buying new technology and are using it, but have significant misunderstandings because they are faced with so much jargon and “geekspeak”.  According to the research Internet users have little idea what “podcast” means and

Bloggers need to be aware of the law

There are currently 50 lawsuits in the USA against bloggers, or people who have commented on blogs. You can expect to see a substantial rise in that number in the coming months, as well. Bloggers are covered by the same laws as people writing in printed publications. So if you write

Newspaper blogs still have a long way to go

I was interested to read that newspaper blogs are still largely one-way. You’d have thought they would be two-way, with plenty of interaction. Maybe it’s because publishers haven’t yet worked out how to use blogs. They are using the technology but haven’t thought about how to get the best out