The Gilman Company Blog

A few simple facts to recognize about the Internet today

Most people access content through a search engines and social media.

People spend a lot of time on Facebook and YouTube.

Other than a very few exceptions, the concept of web portals is over (i.e. no one will start with your company page...not even you).

People don't use address bars and bookmarks as much as they used to.

The point: You can't expect your customers to visit corporate or product sites like they used to. These types of sites, more often than not, are in place now as a necessary backup. If at all, you can only expect your customers to visit your corporate or product site once and most of those visits will not go through your gateway. This is part of the reason why blogs, including Twitter, can easily be more relevant to a company or product than a corporate site or product site.

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The Deep Linking Myth

It definitely doesn't surprise me, but I still bump into business owners who have outdated deep linking policies, or their terms of use statements are not in line with their online objectives.

In today's online environment where relevant content is especially important, you can shoot yourself in the foot with a policy that prohibits deep linking to your site, especially if you put resources into developing new content. Also, if you happen to be advertising online, say, with a Google AdWords account and you're not leveraging your content development regimen, your SEO isn't, well, optimized.

A three step plan to improve your performance online:

1. Develop relevant content about your market or business, make the content conducive to deep linking and publish it online.
2. Adjust your online ad program to leverage that content.
3. Adjust your site terms of use statement to allow deep linking.

Presto!

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Protecting Your Data with Exit Interviews

Letting one or more of your staff go? Typically, staff who have access to data may be looking for another job in the same industry or with one of your competitors. This is at least one good reason to have an exit interview process (there are many other reasons too).

Because electronic data is especially portable, you can use an exit interview to clearly communicate to your outgoing staff that your company is the sole owner of all data that the company works with on local and shared electronic media and all physical files as well. In the exit interview, it will also be important to note that your company is the sole owner of all work product produced by all company staff while they are employed by the company. Here, no ex-employee is entitled to use company data for any purpose.

This focus on data during an exit interview will also be a good opportunity to develop a checklist to cover in terms of understanding where each employee's work product may be stored (email, shored drive documents and files, local drives and even the systems of companies or customers that your company may be working with.

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Technology in Your 2010 Strategic Plan: Quick Tip

It's that time again folks. If you're not already immersed in your 2010 strategic plan, it's still not too late to get started or to integrate a few overlooked elements.

Incidentally, The Gilman Company is offering a unique complimentary 2010 strategic plan to a limited number of companies who qualify. If you would like to learn more about a complimentary 2010 strategic plan for your company, please feel free to contact me.

If your fundamental approach to technology isn't in the strategic plan mix, well, it's just not done yet. Whether your a small service company or a large developer, technology in your strategic plan is a great way to sort out substantial cost savings, open new market segments or expand marketing in a cost effective way. Here, you can build on current technology resources or enhance them, close the doors on outdated and inefficient resources or earmark some budget dollars to develop a new approach.

Staff is a critical element of an effective technology plan. It could be training or talent acquisition. When you're looking at staff in terms of technology, a good balance of non-human technology resources and human resources is important if you want to leverage technology in the most effect way for your organization. There's little point in hiring a hot shot programmer if your software or hardware properties aren't up to par.

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Why I Like Apple, Even if Begrudgingly

Apple experience 1: The second generation iPod, my first Apple, changed the way I relate to music on a fundamental level. Back then, the iPod was a brick and the user interface wasn't color. But it gave me an experience with music that, up to that point, I didn't think possible. Since then, the iPod and iTunes haven't improved much beyond more storage software whistles and bells. Either way, I still can't imagine another device playing a larger role in the way I relate to music.

Apple experience 2: After several generations of iPods, yep, the second generation iPhone. This mobile device changed the way I relate to mobile communication from the ground up and, honestly, the telephonic abilities of this device is the least interesting thing about it.

Yet, I, like legions of other computer users, am faced with the need of a new computer from time to time, a desktop or a laptop. The problem for Apple: I'm good at keeping a PC in good shape, I'm fine with point and shoot images that are 90% there and I'm not in the recording business. Here, an Apple computer will not change my life anymore than switching to a Zoon would.

A little bit "first in time" or a little unparalleled innovation can last a lifetime.

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How to Make it Better vs. How to Make it

Rethinking an existing system, product or process from the ground up can be especially enlightening if this product or system has been in place for some time. Rather than trying to to discover a way or ways to make something better, complete an exercise in developing that same thing from the ground up based on current technology or the latest innovations.

What's the point? Technology and innovation move quickly. Chances are, an "old faithful" system or product could have been drastically improved upon a long time ago. By letting a product or system go without innovation, you could be dealing with a substantial amount of easily achieved and unrealized value. Also, a commitment to innovation will mean your transition to improving systems, products or processes will be less disruptive to your enterprise.

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Recharacterizing the PC

Dell is taking a hit and the culprit is likely a greater demand for low-end PCs from non-commercial buyers. Of course, the economic downturn is a player, but even more so, could it be that a fundamental change is taking place in the minds of PC buyers?

Coming full circle, the PC is about getting basic things done. Really, the high end bells and whistles come up short more often than not for home users and the the advent and flood, or perhaps more importantly the idea of netbooks has effected a change in the way people think about personal computing. Dell's problem here may not be so much about the machines, but more about the machine users.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and write that most non-commercial users don't know how to leverage the power of a high end machine. Here, high end machines aren't realizing actual value. Microsoft's cumbersome operating systems play a part in this problem. Selling the machine to vendors before it's sold to the user is probably another one. Trying to generate revenues outside of core products typically presents a challenge.

PC users are making especially practical buying decisions and most have been there and done that. Welcome to the new, re-characterized PC.

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Google Adopts "Innovation Reviews"

Flipping through the print edition of the Wall Street Journal, it's interesting to see that Google is reorganizing its effort to leverage the ideas its employees come up with. The fact that Google encourages its staff to take one work day a week to work on projects that are not related to their jobs has led to some interesting innovations. But how do you harness the value of those ideas? After all, Twitter was developed by former Google employees. If your Google, you harness those ideas by managing your innovation resources. Here, the company has drawn more dotted lines to senior management and executives and a process is developed that lets innovation easily trickle up for review by executives.

This process certainly puts more responsibility on senior management and executives, but when your competitors are biting at your heels and you've invested a lot on employing the best of the best, you want to make sure that very little or none of the innovation you're paying for slips away. This issue of managing innovation, also marks a unique problem for rapidly growing companies and intellectual property.

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Minimum Pricing Deals on the Block: Manufacturers Tame the Internet

That's right. Consumers have gone to the Internet in search of better deals and online retailers are giving it to them. Now, since some who use the Internet to sell products have found ways to increase efficiencies, reduce supply chain costs and make a profit by selling for way less, the U.S. Senate, responding to manufacturer complaints, is considering a bill related to fixed pricing.

The problem, if you're a big name manufacturer, is that some online sellers have innovated to the extent that they can offer a pricing model that turns MSRPs upside down. If you sell enough Gucci handbags at 40% off, this starts to change the retail value of Gucci handbags in the minds of consumers. Retail forums like eBay are a perfect example of this. As manufacturers attempt to control pricing and manage consumer values, some merchants are going so low that pricing alone is causing accusations of counterfeiting.

Of course, there is a line separating manufacturer pricing policies and Antitrust, but it's nearly impossible, especially for smaller retailers, to show that certain agreed upon manufacturer minimum pricing policies are illegal.

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Image File Names as SEO Strategy

This blogger has worked with a number of companies who are interested in optimizing search engine results. Who isn't, right? You've put a lot of effort into making your site look great and getting it to do everything you want it to. Great, but one of the most common SEO issues I regularly see has to do with image file names.

Guess how many image searches on Google happen in comparison to basic "Web" searches? Yep, a lot of them. Now guess how many images on professional websites, e-commerce sites and catalogs still have file names like ".../images/DSCN465872.jpg." Yes, a lot of those too. When Google image queries happen, they look to the file name. Here, the problem is that no one searches for "DSCN46587" or "image_457" or "7856941".

People do search for things like "triton bicycle" and a file name that includes "triton_bicycle" will give this image a fighting chance.

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