Monthly Archives: October 2011

Where Business Change Meets Journalism: EVERYWHERE

Posted on October 31, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

Back in the day, I served a couple of years as President of an international journalism group. The Computer Press Association was a collection of people who, as the name suggested, wrote about technology and took the tenets of journalism pretty seriously.

I’m not a journalist any longer, but I feel qualified to discuss the subject, as I have here on several occasions. And I can honestly say that at this point I’m having a hard time deciding what journalism is.

Former TechCrunch write cum venture capitalist MG Siegler? Not a journalist. Never was. Siegler is a great writer, but he’s nothing resembling unbiased, which in my opinion is one of the most important delimiters for any journalism/not journalism debate. Of course, in the Internet age, with even writers for large newspapers concerned about click rates and things like Search Engine Optimization, it’s pretty easy to argue that journalism is dead. ... READ MORE of this article, Where Business Change Meets Journalism: EVERYWHERE from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (425 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

Tagged with: "search engine optimization", blogging, business change, journalism, SEO, trust
Posted in business change, Search Engine Optimization SEO

Netflix, The Video Game

Posted on October 28, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

As business change continues to swirl around video games and other media properties, Redbox prepares a 20% price increase (albeit one that shouldn’t have a bad impact on or create fallout from their customers), and Netflix keeps making stupid mistakes, you might be wondering where you’re going to get your next movie rental.

There’s a big problem building.

I was discussing the salient part of this with a client earlier this week. He’s about fifteen years younger than I am, and that was enough of a spread in ages that when I explained that in my youth the only time you could see The Wizard of Oz was once each year, on TV, at the hour determined by the TV network that had broadcast rights to tha film, he was flabbergasted. ... READ MORE of this article, Netflix, The Video Game from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (574 words, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)

Tagged with: business change, media, movies, netflix, video games
Posted in business change

USPTO’s New Stupidity Record (Apple 7,657,849 & 8,046,721)

Posted on October 26, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — 2 Comments ↓

Slide to Unlock

Shouldn’t Intellectual Property need to include something intellectual?

Yesterday, The United States Patents and Trademarks Office (USPTO) set some kind of new record for granting stupid patents. Apple is the proud new owner of not one, but two patents on “Slide to Unlock”. The Slide To Unlock patent numbers are 7,657,849 and 8,046,721, and now Apple, at least in the United States, is the only company allowed to sell touch-screen devices that unlock by touching that screen and moving your finger.

I’m not kidding.

7,657,849 and 8,046,721, (I’m not sure why there are two patent numbers assigned to this unbelievably obvious “no one invented anything” idea) are just the latest examples of the people who administer patents in this country not understanding what a patent is for. In short: ... READ MORE of this article, USPTO’s New Stupidity Record (Apple 7,657,849 & 8,046,721) from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (351 words, 1 image, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

You can’t patent an idea—only things and systems can be patented
You can’t patent something obvious or non-unique

Tagged with: "intellectual property", 7657849, 8046721, apple, patents, slide to unlock
Posted in business change

The Biggest Business Change You Never Heard of: The CMS

Posted on October 25, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

Sometimes, “Good Enough” is good enough. But only sometimes. And when designing your web site, you need to step up to something better than good enough.

This isn’t going where you think it is.

When Answer Guy Central was very young (and in fact was just the home of “The Computer Answer Guy“, this is how our web site looked:

As I looked at that this morning for the first time in about a decade, there was a part of me that liked it. It was simple, it pointed at the things that were important to my mission at the time and nothing else, and in short, got the job done. I had done about all there was to do with the tools available back in the day, and in its way it was innovative. A textured background? Items aligned in a table instead of just one long vertical stream? I ROCKED! ... READ MORE of this article, The Biggest Business Change You Never Heard of: The CMS from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (876 words, 2 images, estimated 3:30 mins reading time)

Tagged with: "content management", business change, CMS, good enough, H1, HTML, internet, wordpress
Posted in business change, Search Engine Optimization SEO

Video Games: Fertile Ground For Real Business Change

Posted on October 24, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

About a year ago, I told you about a court ruling that (maybe) makes selling software you no longer use illegal. It’s going to take years for that issue to resolve, and when it does you can bet that some attorneys will find a way to claim that certain kinds of “software” aren’t software at all—while others will take the opposite tack.

Let’s assume, just for argument’s sake, that video games are software.

Despite video games having become so big a business that by some measures they’ve surpassed movies, I don’t write about them very often. I enjoyed telling you about business change by the makers of Angry Birds, was horrified when StarCraft became a college-level home economics course, and pointed out that Disney Studios didn’t understand what the business change issues were in Epic Mickey, but mostly, video games have been a back-burner issue here at Answer Guy Central. ... READ MORE of this article, Video Games: Fertile Ground For Real Business Change from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (466 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Tagged with: business change, video games
Posted in business change

A Timeline of The Trademark Dispute Over Timeline (Patents)

Posted on October 21, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

One of the things we do at Answer Guy Central is Intellectual Property Consulting. I don’t talk about that area of our expertise too often because … well, because it’s not very interesting. Besides, combined with our position in Search Engine Optimization, talking about Intellectual Property is so complicated that once I get started I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop!

Facebook’s Timeline Version, of all things, has given me a chance to talk about Intellectual Property.

The new version of Facebook was supposed to start rolling out almost a month ago. If you’re registered as a Facebook Developer you can turn on Facebook Timeline Version, as I have, but it hasn’t really gone live just yet, because Facebook is being sued for trademark violation by a company with a registered trademark on the word Timelines. ... READ MORE of this article, A Timeline of The Trademark Dispute Over Timeline (Patents) from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (647 words, 1 image, estimated 2:35 mins reading time)

Tagged with: "intellectual property", "software patents", business change, facebook, timeline, trademark
Posted in business change

New York City Marshal Linda Swift and Legalized Extortion

Posted on October 20, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — 10 Comments ↓

Ever had your car towed away unexpectedly? How about being removed from your car by someone implying themselves to be a law enforcement official? I’d like to introduce you to the New York City Marshal program, and particularly to one City Marshal, Linda Swift.

Let’s start with full disclosure: ... READ MORE of this article, New York City Marshal Linda Swift and Legalized Extortion from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (1143 words, 3 images, estimated 4:34 mins reading time)

I’m fully aware that I’m venting here
That’s OK; I use examples from my personal life to talk business change all the time
While a long description of the actions I suffered this week at the hands of one New York City Marshal might not seem to have any business lessons, I promise, they do
I don’t think Marshal Linda Swift broke any laws

Tagged with: business change, extortion, linda swift, mayor michael bloomberg, new york city marshal
Posted in business change

Here’s Why You Can’t Sell to Small Businesses

Posted on October 17, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

Are you still cold calling? Have you noticed that selling to small business in particular is all but impossible (and of course, selling to large business is even harder)?

Business changes. All the time. I’m fascinated by business change, and our clients know we help them create and get them through the process of business change. Sure, I’m all about that pesky Search Engine Optimization stuff, and I love talking about how SEO works particularly in relation to long tail marketing, but I get really hopped up on the pure academics and how they intersect with reality.

John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing gets this. I’ve been reading John’s work for a couple of years now. As the name of his business and web site suggest, John’s all about the simple and practical kind of stuff that we all understand almost intrinsically, yet keep managing to overlook. ... READ MORE of this article, Here’s Why You Can’t Sell to Small Businesses from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (718 words, estimated 2:52 mins reading time)

Tagged with: "long tail marketing", business change, sales, small business, smb
Posted in business change

Yahoo Begs for Links, Offers Bribes. Is That SEO?

Posted on October 14, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

If there was ever a doubt in your mind about how important SEO Consulting and Search Engine Optimization are, you may now thank the good folks at Yahoo! for defining the issue clearly. SEO matters, and Yahoo! is handing out bribes.

Never mind the irony of poor grammar in that missive (We think you’re writing … is great? Really?), just think about what it all means. Yahoo, a content farm if ever there was one, is trying to become a bigger content farm, rumored to be trying to merge with another huge content farm (AOL), and simultaneously offering smaller content farms the SEO juice that all content farms crave.

Understand why you need Search Engine Optimization? ... READ MORE of this article, Yahoo Begs for Links, Offers Bribes. Is That SEO? from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (283 words, estimated 1:08 mins reading time)

Tagged with: "search engine optimization", business change, content farm, SEO, yahoo
Posted in business change, Search Engine Optimization SEO

Google Worries. (Siri on iPhone 4S NOT a Virtual Assistant)

Posted on October 13, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

Any second now, Apple’s iPhone 4S is going to be “real”. October 14 is the official launch date for the latest version of iPhone, and once it’s “out” people will be walking around talking to their phones, giving us all something new to be frustrated by and driving a new wedge between manners and technology.

As I told you when Steve Jobs left us last week, I’m actually considering moving from my nearly-two-year old Droid to an iPhone. And I like Android. A lot. And my issues with Apple are huge. The new iPhone is that good.

One of the cool features in the iPhone 4S is cutting-edge voice recognition and language parsing software. Or as Apple would like you to think of “her”, Siri, your virtual assistant. ... READ MORE of this article, Google Worries. (Siri on iPhone 4S NOT a Virtual Assistant) from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (518 words, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

Tagged with: "search engines", "virtual assistant", apple iphone, business change, Google, siri
Posted in business change

The PressPausePlay Business Model: GIVE IT AWAY. Or Not.

Posted on October 11, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

The guys who made PressPausePlay have a problem: as they make abundantly clear in the film, anyone can make music or movies using inexpensive equipment that they might well already own. But whether that’s a good thing or bad is up in the air.

When I’ve written about the music business and the movie business before, my focus has generally been on the business change that big companies with lots of money are making or trying to stave off. The Redbox/Blockbuster debacle is one example, and Pink Floyd slapping their record label around in court is another. In PressPausePlay we have a discussion of the issue from the other side; anyone can create art and distribute it. Music labels have become all but passé, and movie studios are headed in the same direction. ... READ MORE of this article, The PressPausePlay Business Model: GIVE IT AWAY. Or Not. from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (465 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Tagged with: "music labels", business change, business model, movies, PressPausePlay
Posted in business change

The Real Reason Steve Jobs Was Such a Great Salesman

Posted on October 7, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — 2 Comments ↓

Steve Jobs Could Sell Anything

You know why Steve Jobs could sell us anything? Because he didn’t care what we wanted.

OK, so that’s not exactly true. Steve Jobs realized we didn’t know what we wanted, and rather than ask us what appealed to us, he told us what it was.

Of course, it didn’t hurt that Jobs could figure it out, and correctly.

When I was writing my short ode to Steve Jobs yesterday I left out something that felt Jobs-esque enough to talk about but didn’t feel like it belonged in that piece. Once when asked what market research went into the iPad, Mr. Jobs replied: “None. It’s not the consumers’ job to know what they want“. ... READ MORE of this article, The Real Reason Steve Jobs Was Such a Great Salesman from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (255 words, 1 image, estimated 1:01 mins reading time)

Tagged with: business change, sales, steve jobs
Posted in business change

Thank You, Steve Jobs. RIP

Posted on October 6, 2011 by --Jeff Yablon/The Answer Guy-- Business Change & SEO Consultant — No Comments ↓

I’m not one to jump on bandwagons.

But today, I can’t think of anything to write about that isn’t related to Steve Jobs. I know, everyone’s writing about Steve Jobs today. Rest in Peace, Steve. Steve, we’ll never know another like you.

Steve Jobs wasn’t just about business change; Steve Jobs was about changing the world.

I’ve picked on Apple plenty. I don’t like the way they do business (although they’re certainly effective and their products are great, and consistently innovative). I’ve fliply referred to Steve Jobs as “Chairman Steve”, and I think the comparison to the long-time head of the Chinese Communist Party is apt; you did things Steve Jobs’ way, because when Steve Jobs wanted something it … just … happened.

But snark aside, Steve Jobs was a genuine game changer. Chris Taylor’s Memories of Steve Jobs made me smile this morning. This commentary in Harvard Business Review made me happier, still. ... READ MORE of this article, Thank You, Steve Jobs. RIP from Answer Guy Central, your Business Change, SEO Consulting / Search Engine Optimization & Computer Support Source by Clicking Here (208 words, estimated 50 secs reading time)

Tagged with: business change, steve jobs
Posted in business change