Last week, Aaron Lee (@askaaronlee) blogged about Ben & Jerry’s World Fair Trade Day Campaign. The campaign, called Fair Tweets, calls for tweeters to donate their unused characters per tweet. In simpler terms, when a tweet falls short of 140 characters, you allow Fair Tweets to append their message in order to raise awareness about Fair Trade. The problem I had is that … [Read more...]
How Much Will News Agencies Gain from the Bin Laden Raid Tweets?
Pakastani IT consultant Sohaib Athar unknowingly live tweeted about the US raid on Osama Bin Laden. In the hours that followed, Sohaib (pronounced Suhayb) fielded several media requests and was inundated with messages from social media users across the globe. The consultant, however, wasn't looking for fame or fortune (he actually owns a small coffee shop and tweeted that … [Read more...]
Question of the Week: What Defines Success?
Dictionary.com defines success as: the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like Like most anything, individual translations vary. Success, to each of us, can mean a different level or type of achievement. There are thousands of famous quotes about success. Winston Churchill said: "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." Does … [Read more...]
Question of the Week: Do You Go Out of Your Way to Avoid Ads?
Online ads—most commonly consisting of graphics and text—are a key component of many informational or "free to use" web sites. Advertisers usually pay for ads on a per-click basis. Some ad campaigns, however, interrupt our visit by using overlays (graphics and/or videos that cover up the site's content and require us to wait for the ad to lay through or click a skip button) or … [Read more...]
Question of the Week: Which is Your Shipping Carrier of Choice?
Many online stores offer one or many shipping methods from a single carrier. Using two or more carriers give customers options based on price, experiences with the carrier, and consistency in delivery. Do you have a favorite carrier? UPS, USPS, FedEx? Did you make your decision based on price or previous experiences? And, have you ever abandoned an online order because of the … [Read more...]
Question of the Week: Do You Research Quotes about Products?
Many companies rely on quotes from industry experts and publications to help push specific products and/or services. How many of us, however, research those statements to ensure quotes are accurately describing what we're contemplating buying? Last summer I wrote about mis-attributing quotes - a common practice by companies desperate to increase sales. Have you fallen victim … [Read more...]
Question of the Week: If You Could Pick Only One Google App/Tool…
I can't think of a single person I know who doesn't use Google tools and apps on a daily basis. From simple web searching to business-class apps, Google's all over our personal and professional lives. So, I ask you... If you could pick only ONE Google tool or app to use, which one would it be? … [Read more...]
Question of the Week: My Dad Hates It… Do You?
I was talking with my father this weekend. He never sugar coats anything (yeah, that’s where I get it from…). He’s looking at my web site and says, “I don’t like the lime green text at the top”. Now, your typical web designer talking to a parent who doesn’t conduct business on the Internet (he doesn’t even shop online) would simply shrug off such a comment. But being the … [Read more...]
Question of the Week: Do You Use Pros/Cons Lists?
Weighing the pros and cons is recommended of nearly any type of business opportunity. But how many of you actually sit down and build a list? Research shows that writing things down make issues more "real" and, in turn, make us think of more details and/or questions. Do you practice the creation of these types of lists? Do you log them on a computer, or write them on … [Read more...]
Question of the Week: What’s the URL to Your Facebook PAGE?
Have a Facebook PAGE? No, that's not your profile, which requires people to "friend" you, but a page used to promote your business. If you have one, I want to know about it, and so do others. So, what's the name of the page, the URL and what it's all about? Post your response like this: COMPANY / BUSINESS PAGE NAME url to page Brief description what the page is all … [Read more...]
Question of the Week: What’s Your Browser of Choice?
Internet Explorer. Firefox. Chrome. Safari. Opera... The list goes on. For designers and developers, running multiple browsers (and several versions of them) is a must. Web sites needed to be tested across several platforms. But for surfing the Internet, shopping, playing games, etc., what's your browser of choice? And what makes the browser you use so appealing? … [Read more...]
Question of the Week: Do You Use a Battery Backup?
Electrical power isn't foolproof. Here in Florida we experience flickers nearly every time a nice storm rolls through (in the summer months, that's pretty often). A battery backup has saved our hides on many occasions. A battery backup is an alternate power supply for your electronics. We use them on our computers, which keeps them running about five minutes after power … [Read more...]