To understand and make use of blogging as an internet business tool, beginner bloggers first should understand what a blog is and why it can be so popular, convenient, and effective as an internet business tool. Blogging can be compared to a public forum or journal, where any topic of interest can be discussed at length by various users. This is a perfect tool for sharing thoughts and ideas, and this concept is easily applied as an internet business tool for beginners as well as old hats.

Text blogging is the simple form, meaning that entries are typed out for others to read. Audio blogging takes the same blogging concept however the entries are created through an audio feed, allowing users to listen to their message rather than read it. (Read the full post about ‘Blogging for Success - A Basic Guide for The Beginner Blogger’…)

Night Lights

Don’t tell me the thrill is gone at 9 pm!

Why should you light your office or shop beautifully after hours?

• To draw Attention
• To add Interest
• To create Desire

If this sounds familiar, that’s because it’s three-fourths of the most widely-used acronym in Marketing: AIDA.

Attract Attention, Provoke Interest, Stimulate Desire, Lead or “call” to Action.

Sexy? Sure. You’re helping customers fall in love with what you offer.

You can’t exactly issue a call to Action when you’re closed, but you can be memorable at a time when almost no one else is.

(Read the full post about ‘Tip of the Week: What Are You Doing For Me After Hours?’…)

Faster Than a Speeding *yawn*

If you’re bored, get out. Take an afternoon off; read a new perspective; ask a colleague for an honest opinion; take a trip. Your boredom is infectious, so stand on your head, if you have to, until you find the cure. Get back the thrill of pleasing others—that’s what you do for a living. Now envision the future, and plan to take your business there.

If your staff is bored, lead. Don’t set out new directions and expect everyone to fall in line. It won’t happen. Instead, ask questions; listen to the answers; craft direction and improvements together; find ways to draw out the inner leader in each employee.

(Read the full post about ‘Is Boredom Killing Your Business?’…)

Fragrant Harbour by John Lanchester is a novel that is hard to praise too highly. Set in Hong Kong, it presents the stories of four main characters, each of which is an immigrant to this city. Behind them at all times is a culture that rules their lives, sets the limits of what might be possible, but is always hard for outsiders to penetrate. That the culture affects all aspects of their lives, however, is a given.

Each character pursues self-interest, the different eras they inhabit defining and characterising the different stages of the city’s development. Thus we see its pre-war emergence from a dirty nineteenth century right through to its contemporary role as a driving force of free market globalisation. (Read the full post about ‘Fragrant Harbour by John Lanchester’…)

Honesty

Honesty is hardly ever heard
And mostly what I need from you”
—Billy Joel (Honesty, 1978)

The banner above my personal email reads, “totally free checking.” A lovely Flash-dance tells me that yes, it’s totally, completely, honestly, *blah blah blah* free. A lot of blah blah. The animation ends with “Mouse over to explore…

(Read the full post about ‘Click Here for Details, Honestly’…)

Are you waiting to hear, sorry, there’s no hope for you?

I don’t mind losing to competition (okay, I do!). What I can’t stand is losing to our biggest competitor: Doing Nothing. Why? Because I want you to succeed, and when we at VisionPoints spend time exploring approaches and planning how best to position your business for growth, we are saddened by prospective clients who choose inaction. I feel this way about clients who never made it to calling us, too, but when you’ve acknowledged the Pain Points in your own Customer Experience, recognized the need for Experience Design and found the Solution that’s right for you, why give up?

After a recent disappointment with a fascinating new client firm, I can only wonder—are some owners seeking an out?

(Read the full post about ‘This Is No Occasion for Doing Nothing’…)

Wednesday Words

To Go Where Your VisionPoints, a few inspiration points for you and your business.

It is possible that the telephone has been responsible for more business inefficiency than any other agency except laudanum…. In the old days when you wanted to get in touch with a man you wrote a note, sprinkled it with sand, and gave it to a man on horseback. It probably was delivered within half an hour, depending on how big a lunch the horse had had. But in these busy days of rush-rush-rush, it is sometimes a week before you can catch your man on the telephone.”
—Robert Benchley, U.S.

(Read the full post about ‘Inspiration Points: Technology, the Time-Waster’…)