In today’s web economy there are words that you may have never heard before, but need to. Below is a list of 10 terms becoming more and more popular online.
1. Advermation- A combination between advertising and information. Primary purpose is to give information to the viewer more so than marketing to them.
2. Angry Garden Salad- Slang for a poorly designed and incorrectly coded website. Mostly seen when you click a link it and launches something completely different.
3. Cornea Gumbo- An overly animated or graphic website that is visually distracting
4. Infosnacking- Quickly or intermittently getting online throughout the day.
5. Interstitial- An ad that appears in a pop-up browser window when a you move from one page to another. This is not a banner ad and include large graphics, streaming video and applets.
6. Mash-up- When two or more services or tools are combined together to create a new multi-level tool.
7. PeelAway- A pop up ad in the upper right hand corner of a web page. Similar to a page in a book that can be “peeled away” to uncover an ad beneath.
8. Plugoo- A widget that allows you to chat with your website visitors in real time, that is connected to your IM provider.
9. Rasterbator- A compulsive digitally manipulating web designer who obsessively tweaks designs and overuses Photoshop.
10. TweetBeep- A free tracking and alert service that monitors conversations that mention you, your company, etc, and sends you an email when the mentions happen.
There you have it. Ten of the latest and greatest web words that you need to know. Resource used and referenced for this article was Entrepreneur Magazine. For more information see Entrepreneur Magazine February 2009 edition.
Why is it that some people get to wake up and do what they love while others get up to the grind? How does one find their passion in life, much less get paid for it?
Surely, once upon a time you knew your passion. You know, that thing you did, that when you did it hours passed by in what felt like minutes. I believe everyone has a passion or many of them. The trick gets to be how to you find it if you lost it in life and how do you make money at it too?
The first trick is to find that lost passion. There are some questions you can ask yourself to remember yours. Things like, “If tomorrow were my last day on Earth, what would I wish I had done?” Or, "Name one thing I do that makes hours go by in what feels like minutes?" Or maybe, "If I had unlimited time, money, and resources, and could do anything I wanted, and would not fail, what would it be?” (for a worksheet on how to find your passion, email inspirational expert, Sharmen Lane at shar@sharspeaks.com)
After you find your passion the question becomes, how can you make money at it? Well, here are a couple of examples that can help you think outside the box to make your passion your profession.
One woman I know loved to read. So she started getting paid to proofread books for publishers. Another example is a person who loved to knit. She could do it in her sleep. So she wrote a “how to” ebook and created a website where for a few bucks people could buy and instantly download it. Then she started to hold six week classes at a local yarn store. Last example is of a man who was a personal trainer. He knew he could make more money if he could find a way to train people without being in front of them. He put together instructional videos and again made them available for download on his website.
These are just three examples of ways to turn a passion into a profession. Look outside the box and think of creative ways to make money at your passion.
Many, if not all, know the customer is not always right. However, it is very true that we can always do right by the customer.
How many times have you been the customer asking for something that may not be part of the company’s “policy”? Perhaps you were asking to return an item without a receipt or make an exchange that was past the exchange by date. Some companies will let you do this, others won’t.
You know the feeling of frustration when you are not given what you want especially when it will have no negative effects on the company. But, they say no because “It’s not their policy.” Hopefully we all know the opposite feeling as well. You get exactly what you asked for even though it’s not policy, but they did it anyway. Where are you likely to do business in the future?
In tough economic times service is more important than ever. As the business owner do you go out of your way to make your customer happy? Maybe you have your policies, but do you deviate from them when it comes to keeping a customer?
At the end of the day, people will return to those places where they are treated well and their patronage was appreciated. Sometimes being right is far less important than doing right by your customer.
Social media seems to be all around us. No matter where you turn you hear about Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and the like. Connecting with others had never been so easy. However, have you noticed that we aren’t connecting with those we know? I think all the social media sites have made it so easy to connect with others in far away lands that we have forgotten about those in our own backyard.
When was the last time you called your friend instead of just texted or emailed? When was the last time you got together in person instead of talked on the phone? Has social media made us lose our social skills?
When it comes to people you have to connect, in more ways than one. Sometimes text and email or a Facebook update isn’t enough. As nice as a Twitter what I’m doing is, isn’t picking up the phone and actually talking to someone an extra something special? I think we have gotten so comfortable behind our computers that we have forgotten to have that human touch.
Whether it’s personal or business, go that extra step and reach out to your friends, family and customers beyond that of just an email or social media update. That little extra personal touch can really change the lives of those around you. If you are in business it can really make a difference when you connect with your customers in the good ole fashion human way not just the electronic way.
No matter what product or service is, if you are not staying in touch with your past clients someone else is. I’m amazed at the number of people who don’t make contact with their past clients. It happens at just about every company I’ve ever known or worked with.
The people you are selling to are relationships and like all relationships they need attention. How many times have you been disappointed to have lost a new sale to an old customer because you didn’t stay in touch? Maybe you don’t know because you have never made contact with a past client before. You already have a relationship, they’ve purchased from you before. If you don’t stay in touch with your past clients you are missing many sales opportunities.
There is at least one reason every month to stay in touch with past clients.
For example:
January- New Years and Martin Luther King Day
February- Valentine’s Day and President’s Day
March- St. Patrick’s Day, Daylight Savings begins
April- First day of spring, Easter, Passover
May- Memorial Day and Mother’s Day
June- Father’s Day and the first day of summer
July- Independence Day
August- End of summer, back to school
September- Labor Day, first day of autumn
October- Halloween and Columbus Day
November- Daylight Savings Ends and Thanksgiving
December- Christmas, Hanukah, First day of winter
Every month you have at least one reason to drop a note in the mail or send an email to say hello to your past clients. Make it a point to stay in touch with your past clients and you will grow your business.
Why reinvent the wheel? Chances are you are involved in a
business where someone else has been before. You can
significantly shorten your learning curve by learning from those
who have been where you are. You should find people who have
done what you are looking to do and ask them to mentor you. Now,
it may take a little time to find someone to say yes, but I am
confident you will find someone willing to help you. There will
be people who believe that there is not enough to go around and
they will not want to share in the abundance. Therefore, it may
take a little time to find one that believes in abundance and
that there is more than enough to go around.
Sometimes you may find someone who you admire or respect who
is willing to teach you the things they wish someone taught them
when they were where you are. Just ask. What do you have to
lose? If they are not mentoring you now all they can say is no
and if they do you are no worse off than you already are.
Finding a mentor or going through a mentoring program can really
give you the edge and help you shorten the learning curve with a
lot less time, money and pain.
