Monthly Archives: December 2009

AT&T Asks FCC for Business Change, to Kill Your Phone Line

Posted on December 30, 2009 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

What if AT&T, Verizon, and the other traditional “phone companies” no longer had to provide phone service?

It’s a tough predicament.

CLECs (AT&T, Verizon, et.al.) have a bunch of rules they have to follow that were made at a time when they held a different position. And let’s be honest: holding them to a standard that took into account a position they no longer hold really isn’t fair.

On the other hand: there are a significant number of people who still use CLECs in the same way they used them once upon a time, and dinosaur references notwithstanding it really isn’t fair to just cut them off.

On the OTHER other hand: the elimination of analog TV broadcasts was a similar issue when viewed from that last perspective, and the solution was simple: offer a converter box, and even subsidize it. ... READ MORE of this article, AT&T Asks FCC for Business Change, to Kill Your Phone Line from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (219 words, estimated 53 secs reading time)

Tagged with: at&t, DSL, phone service, verizon, voip
Posted in business change

Job Application over Twitter: Business Change 140 Characters At A Time

Posted on December 29, 2009 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

At Answer Guy Central, we receive job applications all the time. Sometimes they’re in response to gigs we have available, but more often they’re unsolicited requests for work.

If you’ve ever weeded through dozens or hundreds of documents like this, you know what it feels like; the very first time it happens you’re happy to have generated a response like that, and then you realize how much work is involved in reading all that material.

So why not limit the size of your next batch?

Here’s a job listing on Craigslist that’s been live for a few days. UPDATE: it’s gone now, so click this archived copy. Bottom line: it reduces the information requested . . . for that matter, the information accepted . . . to a few multiples of the 140 character limit for messages on Twitter. ... READ MORE of this article, Job Application over Twitter: Business Change 140 Characters At A Time from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (249 words, estimated 1:0 mins reading time)

Tagged with: 140, craigslist, twitter
Posted in business change

Social Media and Blogging Have Passed You By. Go Home.

Posted on December 28, 2009 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

Heads Up: I’m about to tell you more about business and this web site than you wanted to know. Please pay attention, because your business survival in the 2010′s depends on it. Your next business change could be “no more business”.

On Christmas, I received a gift that I’m going to share with you. It’s this blog post. Read it, right now. I’m serious.

Here’s why that post is so important: it shows what’s about to happen on the internet, and if you aren’t committed to enacting real business change, you’re about to get lost.

Have you ever wondered why this web site is arranged the way it is? We gets lots of compliments from writers, graphic designers, and business types, and thank goodness, because as business change consultants we’d better look good to lots of different types of people. Go a step further: we don’t only do business coaching and change management, we also do technology and computer support, hire out virtual assistants to do pretty much whatever your business needs done, and even produce some media. And Our Virtual C.O.O. Services will run your entire business for you. ... READ MORE of this article, Social Media and Blogging Have Passed You By. Go Home. from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (468 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Tagged with: "social media", blogging
Posted in business change

Microsoft Word. Still Illegal, Changing. Oops! No Difference!

Posted on December 23, 2009 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

Back in August, I told you about a Ruling in US District Court that effectively made Microsoft Word and Microsoft Office illegal. Banned. Not OK to sell. Well, that ruling has been upheld. Microsoft has been ordered to stop selling Word and Office, starting in about three weeks. And they’re complying.

So what kind of business change does this mean for Microsoft? How does “none” strike you?

Here’s the wrap: Microsoft has built software belonging to Canadian company i4i into Word 2007. They didn’t pay for that software. What does the software do? It compresses Word files into that janky .docx format that showed up in Word 2007. It wasn’t there in Office 2003, and it’ll be gone in Office 2010.

Right. While they’ll have to make an adjustment if they wish to keep selling Office 2007 between now and when Office 2010 is officially released, the reality in Redmond is that this doesn’t even qualify as a speed bump. ... READ MORE of this article, Microsoft Word. Still Illegal, Changing. Oops! No Difference! from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (301 words, estimated 1:12 mins reading time)

Tagged with: "intellectual property", "microsoft office", "microsoft word", banned, illegal
Posted in business change

Spend The Right Amount on Internet Search Engine Marketing

Posted on December 18, 2009 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

OK, it’s time. You need to make your web site do more than just look good. Now, you need traffic.

You can buy traffic, of course, but that’s expensive—and not because clicks generated on Google Adwords cost so much (and they can). The problem with Adwords is that you can spend a fortune driving the wrong traffic to your web site, and take too long doing it since most people don’t even look at the right side of the page.

So you need to make sure that people searching for keywords that represent your business have links to you show up on the left side of their results. This is organic search, and getting Google to rank you high on that side is an art/science based on many, ever-changing variables. It’s called Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Search Engine Marketing (SEM). They mean almost-but-not-quite the same thing. ... READ MORE of this article, Spend The Right Amount on Internet Search Engine Marketing from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (320 words, estimated 1:17 mins reading time)

Tagged with: "search engine marketing", "search engine optimization", Google, internet, marketing, SEM, SEO
Posted in business change, Search Engine Optimization SEO

David Pogue on e-Publishing: When Smart People Go . . . Stupid.

Posted on December 18, 2009 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — 2 Comments ↓

How smart is David Pogue? He’s an accomplished musician. A successful business person. An author with dozens of well-written books under his belt. The lead technology columnist for the New York Times, and a talking head on television. And I know him a little; he’s a great guy.

But wow, is he asleep on electronic publishing.

Yesterday, David blogged on the subject. He asked what sounds like an innocent question, and the response has been strong and pretty much of one voice: “David Pogue, you need to pull your head out of that orifice“.

Specifically, David was asking about copy protection. He framed the question as though it was meaningful, and to his credit has done some anecdotal (and flawed, by his own admission) research on the subject. And certainly it’s meaningful for content producers like David who make a living producing said content to ask these questions. But David Pogue has been in the business for a very long time, and knows all the angles way better than almost anyone. ... READ MORE of this article, David Pogue on e-Publishing: When Smart People Go . . . Stupid. from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (581 words, estimated 2:19 mins reading time)

Tagged with: david pogue, New York Times, publishing
Posted in business change

Free Wi-Fi for Everyone! (Thanks, McDonald’s)

Posted on December 17, 2009 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

Want Wi-Fi With That?

How’s this for (long overdue) business change? : McDonald’s, the place where your kids make you go for periodic infusions of too much fat and sodium, has decided that the Wi-Fi Internet access they’ve installed and almost nobody has been paying for should be . . . free.

Wow. You think?

I remember when McDonald’s first installed Wi-Fi a few years back, and it was free. Then I remember when they limited things so that you had to buy a meal to get a code that entitled you to a limited time online. At some point they decided we’d pay. Almost no-one did. Ugly path that McDonald’s took to get to this point notwithstanding, I applaud them for this latest move, scheduled to take effect in a few weeks. ... READ MORE of this article, Free Wi-Fi for Everyone! (Thanks, McDonald’s) from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (272 words, estimated 1:05 mins reading time)

Tagged with: internet, mcdonald's, wi-fi
Posted in business change

Bing, Android, iTunes, and the Coopetition of Business Change

Posted on December 16, 2009 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

Using an iPhone, but prefer the Microsoft Bing search engine? There’s an app for that.

In the latest proof that Business Change is about coopetition, Apple has allowed Microsoft to put a search application in the iTunes store. What’s next, a Bing application for Google Android?

Since unlike Apple, Google and Microsoft both have search engines they want you to use, that seems unlikely. On the other hand, Google doesn’t have the kind of rules for their app repository that Apple does, so if Microsoft wants in they can get there.

The question is . . . do they?

The Answer Guy says ‘yes’. Microsoft has nothing to lose by trying to grab the attention of their most formidable competitor’s customers, and with no real barriers stopping them from doing so making an Android version of the Bing application is a no-brainer. So the next question is: why bother? ... READ MORE of this article, Bing, Android, iTunes, and the Coopetition of Business Change from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (261 words, estimated 1:03 mins reading time)

Tagged with: Android, apple, bing, coopetition, droid, Google, iphone, itunes, microsoft
Posted in business change