How do you come up with the ideas for a new product? Or for a new advertisement? Most of us take the “grip it and rip it” approach. We start with writing a first sentence, and we charge ahead, writing whatever seems to logically follow it. That gets the job done, but it doesn’t always get it done well. Stepping back and thinking about alternatives often (usually?) produces better results than charging ahead with our first thought. We can improve our results by being “systematically creative”. If we ask ourselves probing questions about what our clients need and how... [...]

A couple of weeks ago, we received the following email: On 2015-10-16 08:23, xxx yyyy [we have hidden the name] wrote: (Since it is significant, forward the following E-mail to your CEO or relevant responsible person. Thanks) Dear CEO/Principal, We are the department of Asian Domain Registration Service in China. Here I have something to confirm with you. We formally received an application on October 16, 2015 that a company claimed “CondYmenp Company” were applying to register “imnewswatch” as their Net Brand and some “imnewswatch” Asian countries top-level... [...]

Thanks to Ghergich & Co. (and a special shout-out to Megan) for sharing this infographic with us for the benefit of our readers. Copyright Infringement: Images You Can and Can’t Share on Your Blog  [...]

E-Commerce sales in the U.S. totaled $306 billion in 2014 and are projected to pass $494 billion by 2018. With numbers like this, it is safe to say that e-commerce is here to stay and is only becoming more powerful by the minute. You might already run your own e-commerce store or are about to launch one from scratch; either way, there are six principles every e-commerce website should follow. 1- Clean Visuals Visuals and the overall look of your website are one of the most important elements in building trust with potential customers and in increasing their engagement on your site. If a website... [...]

What is Periscope? Periscope (http://Periscope.tv) is Twitter’s new live-streaming video app that allows you to watch live video from all across the globe. Periscope also has a function even more important to marketers, the ability to create videos that vcan be seen around the world. The beauty of Periscope is that it saves the video streams once you are finished, so that anyone can view them for up to 24 hours. Periscope’s live feeds can be shot from iPhones and iPads and watched through smartphones, desktops or laptops, either through the app or on the Twitter website. A viewer... [...]

One of the greatest things about the computer age is that it has become easy for individuals to instantly share their thoughts and opinions with others online. This can mean great exposure for businesses when happy customers leave positive reviews with friends and family on social media. While positive comments can be great for a company, negative ones can be quite dangerous. Online reputation management helps businesses monitor what others are saying online in order to build and track their company’s online reputation. Your brand is only as good as its reputation. As a small business, it’s... [...]

Since Napoleon Hill interviewed 500 wealthy men nearly 100 years ago and documented his findings in his iconic book, Think and Grow Rich, we have had an inkling of what personality traits, mental traits and psychological traits are demonstrated by those who become wealthy. Rich people think and act differently from those who are “just getting by”. By changing the way you think and act, you change the results you get. If you want to be a rich person, you need to think and act in the way that the rich have demonstrated lead to riches. Steve Siebold, himself a self-made millionaire,... [...]

For a long time, now, the FTC has required marketers to inform their readers of any partiality (due to an affiliate relationship, for example) when they endorse a product. Well, they have decided their rules aren’t stringent enough. Now, they want to make sure you don’t “bribe” people to be your ambassadors, by giving a reward for an endorsement or, in what amounts to the same thing, by withholding something until they do endorse you. What constitutes an endorsement? Ah, that’s where they are enlarging the scope of their rules. They say that a “Like” on... [...]

We reported a few days ago (here) that upgrade licensing terms were a bit murky for people wanting to upgrade from earlier versions of Windows® to Windows 10. Their issues seem to be the subject of an ongoing internal conversation. They had issued a licensing definition statement on their website about the licensing plans, but they just removed that web page, leaving observers to speculate whether they really know, yet, what their licensing terms will be. This article on InfoWorld gives more details about this latest licensing fuzziness. Digging into the Win10 licensing info Microsoft... [...]

As many others do, many online marketers use MS Windows computers in their business. After the less-than-stellar performance of Windows 8, many are hoping the Windows 10 release comes soon. And a lot of them are looking forward to a free upgrade to Windows 10. Microsoft has said that many people will be able to claim a free upgrade, but there are conditions on that offer. Not everyone who is expecting the free upgrade will get it. A new story published in ZDNet today gives us a detailed look at the issues and at who can be expecting to actually get the free upgrade. Get the whole story here: Windows... [...]