Using Technology to Manage Customer Loyalty

Posted on by

Don’t let your customer satisfaction research initiative collect dust on a shelf. Integrate technology with research to optimize the use of customer information.

The typical company spends 80% of customer research time and effort gathering information, and only 20% of that time using it. Companies conduct research to gather information, but it is only useful if it can be turned into positive action.

In the audio book, “Sound Advice on Customer Loyalty,” author Steve Walker suggests that integrating technology with research lets companies act on customer feedback intelligently everyday, translating into more loyal customers, and more profit at the bottom line.

Walker outlines three key applications of technology that help make customer research more effective.
Continue reading →

Business and Climate Change News

Posted on by

Seems to be quite a week for this… Earlier in the week, I pointed to the op-ed by airport executive Mike Clasper arguing for carbon taxes in the UK. Something similar was going on in the US, according to a Grist story this week: companies ranging from GE to Duke Energy to Wal-Mart were arguing for a carbon cap-and-trade system in front of Congress. And at Marketwatch.com (via Sustainable Log), columnist Thomas Kostigan makes a strong case for green business practices, including on of my favorite points:
Continue reading →

Adsense: Color Choices to Increase Clicks

Posted on by

Picking colors for your website and ads is one of the most important decisions you can make. You want to make sure to draw subtle attention to your ads, making them seem valuable but at the same time blended into your content making them look like they belong. A lot of websites use strong graphical elements that catch the eye but distract the user from adsense ads. When you use adsense you want to play close attention to your choice of fonts, font size, colors, images and other visual aspects of your pages layout.
Continue reading →

Ad formats and “Making them click”

Posted on by

Figuring out how to display ads and where to place them is the next step. There are so many different types of ad’s and configurations that it can be overwhelming. Some people leave Googles default settings, which is a big mistake. Controlling the looks and the placement of your ads makes all the difference in getting clicks. If it looks like an ad, most people wont click it. It’s as simple as that. The general web surfing public is very educated and familiar with ads and will ignore them in most cases. That’s why its so important to blend your ad’s with your website to get them as seamless as possible. If you make ads with bright colors, images or borders it will be easily recognized as an advertisement and people work extra hard to ignore them. Placement also has similar effects. If you place an ad at the very top, bottom or some far corner of a page , it will easily be ignored. If you want to get clicks on your ads, make them look like a regular part of your content.
Continue reading →

Starting with Google AdSense

Posted on by

Alot of people have heard about Google AdSense and wonder where to start. First is the obvious, a website. Almost all of my domains are purchased and hosted with Godaddy.com. I find them very reliable and inexpensive, great for websmasters just starting out. At the time of this writing you can use promo code SAVETEN to save 10% off any purchase. There are alot of promo codes out there to save $1 or $2, or $5 off $30; just do a google search for godaddy promo codes and you’ll find plenty.

The first thing you’ll need to do is decide on a name for your domain. It’s not very easy these days with so many of the obvious choices being taken already. You’ll have to get a bit creative in some cases. You can always link words together with a hypen “-” . You’ll want to think about the words you use carefully because they may make the difference when you are trying to get high scores on search engines later on. If this isnt an issue for you, then choose whatever sounds best.

Hosting is your next concern. Hosting ranges anywhere from shared hosintg, to dedicated servers and the prices can be as cheap as $3 a month to over $150 a month depending on what you choose. I recommend Godaddy.com which has hosting as low as $3.95 a month, or lower if you pay for 12-24 months at a time. You most likely wont be experiancing lots of traffic in the beginning so this is a great hosting plan until its time to upgrade. After taking care of the domain name and the hosting, you are set to begin. Not sure what to add as far as content? Check back later for an entry about creating your website. Good luck!

Microsoft’s Windows arrives on Apple’s Macs

Posted on by

Is this a breakthrough for Apple or a betrayal of its own operating system? Click here to have your say.

Apple, the computer maker, today shocked its army of fans by unveiling software that will let its newest Macintosh machines run on Windows, the operating system developed by arch-rival Microsoft.

The watershed decision could help Apple to dramatically expand its share of the computer market.

The company has already seen sales of its computers boosted by the massive popularity of its iPod music player, dubbed the “halo effect” by analysts. But more than 90 per cent of home machines still run on Windows.


Continue reading →

Optimizing Adsense For Better Performance and More Money!

Posted on by

So you want to make money with Google Adsense? I don’t blame you, who doesn’t want residual income! This article will show you how to better optimize Google Adsense to make more money from your web site(s).

Before we get into it, learn more about Google Adsense here:

http://www.google.com/services/adsense_tour/

First and foremost is: Positioning

Where you position your Adsense link boxes and banner ads is extremely important. Trying to make money from the bottom of your pages within your website just won’t cut it. You need to add your Adsense links right in the heart of your template or right in the heart of your content. I would personally suggest both actually.

Adding Adsense in the heart of your template:

Link Units:

Since the introduction of Google Adsense “link units”, we can now add what looks like a “menu system” to compliment our menu system within our website. This is HUGE. Have you ever just clicked on a website and kept clicking on the menu links? I know we all have. By adding a “Google link units” to your menu, you will get more clicks than you thought possible. Try adding the link units near the top for better performance and try creating your link units to match the color of your menu system in place. Once in a while I find myself clicking on a menu link unit without even realizing it which in turn gives more money to the website owner.
Continue reading →