What you may not realize is that your online reputation can also impact your business in a very real way. Even if you make no efforts at all to build an online presence, you might find that one has grown in the vacuum, with consumers complaining that you have no website, or competitors posting malicious commentary or false statements regarding your company. So you definitely need to take action in order to build and safeguard your online reputation. Here are a few tips and tricks to help you create the positive online image that will ensure your virtual success.

• Make inroads. The place to start when it comes to building an online reputation is by creating and expanding your online presence. This begins with a designing a website that represents your brand and acts as a hub for all of your online efforts. Considering how many people now look for products and services online rather than thumbing through the Yellow Pages, this is an absolute must. You should also consider listing with online directories so that potential customers can find you more easily. From there you need to join the community by participating in forums and blogs (or even penning your own on-site blog), and you should definitely set up social media accounts in order to connect with consumers on a more personal level and push content in a non-threatening manner. Creating this foundation is essential to developing the positive presence you want in the online arena.
• Provide quality content. It can be tempting to engage in corner-cutting practices like keyword stuffing and linking schemes, but these will almost certainly put you on Google’s black list before long, potentially resulting in your site being delisted. Instead, try to follow the rules in their current algorithm by creating the high-quality content that consumers (and web crawlers) are seeking. It will benefit your business in the long run.
• Utilize SEO. Creative web design and quality content are only useful insomuch as they can be found by prospective customers. So if you want to build an online reputation of your choosing it’s in your best interest to engage in SEO practices that will ensure your positive efforts rise to the top of Google’s list for targeted searches. In this way you can displace any negative commentary that has thus far dominated.
• Beef up customer service. One of the best ways to safeguard your online reputation is to ensure that customers are satisfied so that they aren’t inclined to put negative information out there. With customer service options that include, say, prompt email assistance, an automated phone service (with actual operators available as needed), or even live chat, you’ll ensure that consumers have a chance to address grievances directly with your representatives rather than airing them publicly.
• Hire professional help. You have a business to run, which means you may not have time to manage your reputation on your own. It is for exactly this reason that online reputation management services exist. These professionals can help to erase negative content (to some degree), but they also have the resources and expertise to build and protect a positive brand image for you. It may cost you, but a boost in recognition and sales should sweeten the pot.

Leon Harris is a contributing writer for Reputation.com. Harris lives in Southern California, and enjoys eating healthy and exercising with his two Golden Retrievers.

What’s going on in the wide world of blogs this week? Let’s find out.

Having recently flown across the Atlantic, I found Darren Barefoot‘s post on the best time to buy a plane ticket to be of particular interest. In his highly unscientific experiment, he found that the difference between buying three months in advance and buying the day before… was just $50. I’ve seen both bargain basement last minute deals and hugely expensive last minute fares, so I suppose it can go either way.

What about when you’re staying closer to home and trying to minimize your carbon footprint? This was on the mind of Karly Pinch as she and her partner were deciding on their wedding venue. They wanted to keep thing simple, hosting the ceremony and reception in the same place, and they wanted to keep environmental considerations in mind too. Local beer at a local brewery and restaurant that is easily accessible by public transport? Sounds like a win in my books, Karly!

What did you want to be when you grew up? Graeme McRanor wants you to read his essay on his lack of early aspirations, his misguided adventures through Mexico and how, now, he’s 42 and he just wants to “do everything because I don’t want to regret anything.” He’s right. Committing to a career while still in grade school “seemed like an awfully big decision.” I thought I was going to be an architect, but I guess I’m building something else these days.

You may have heard that Google Reader will be shutting down on July 1st. Sharon Hurley Hall explains how you can continue to read her blog when that happens. You can visit the site directly, of course, but you can also migrate to Feedly, get updates via email, or get the blog on Kindle. All three of these options are available for Beyond the Rhetoric too, as well as staying updated via Facebook and Twitter. I’m sad to see Google Reader go, but it’s not the end of the blogging world.

There are very few cities in this world that are quite as iconic as Paris, France. There is a definite romance associated with the City of Light. Maybe it has to do with the French language, French cooking or the French wine. Whatever it may be, Paris is the very definition of a world class city and it was definitely one of the biggest highlights for my first ever trip to Europe.

And so, just as I did for Amsterdam last week, I have now put together a set of photos that I took while in Paris to share with you today. Seeing how I took somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 photos in Paris, the curation and editing of this photo collection took some time and it’s naturally not fully representative of everything I saw, ate or experienced. But it does give you a taste of la Ville Lumière.

Paris is an iconic city and it is filled with a lot of iconic architecture. There is the Eiffel Tower, to be sure, as well as the Arc de Triomphe, the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Sacré-Cœur Basilica and more. It’s exhausting, but it’s an absolute joy exploring all the different buildings and architectural styles in Paris, from the artsy alleys of Montmartre to the decidedly modern and overbearing Montparnasse Tower.

By far the easiest way to get around is with the robust Metro system. While there are day passes available, they’re not really worth it unless you’re riding a lot of subways to get everywhere. Instead, I’d recommend getting the books of ten tickets for about 13 Euro. Each ticket gets you one trip, including any necessary transfers. The ticket machines only take credit cards and coins, so if you’re buying with a Euro note, you’ll need to see the attendant at the booth.

Of course, no visit to Paris would be complete without visiting the museums. And there are a lot of them. It’s worth it to get the Museum Pass, not only to save some money, but also to skip the lines. There is usually a separate entrance for pass holders, as most of the lines are simply for people buying tickets.

The Rodin Museum was naturally a highlight for me. The Louvre is massive and crowded; we spent the whole day there and only covered about half of it. I’d also recommend checking out Napoleon’s tomb, located in the same complex as the Army Museum and Les Invalides.

And then there’s the food. You can walk into just about any patisserie (pastry shop) or boulangerie (bakery) and you will not leave disappointed. Pick up a croissant or a pain au chocolat just about every chance you get for about one Euro. Crepes from the street range from about 3-6 Euro and are great for a quick snack on the go.

I’ve already written about La Jacobine Restaurant and we also visited Le Petit Prince (third picture). Both dinners were about 70 Euro total for the two of us. We also indulged in a wine tasting, which was very educational for us wine novices. You’ll learn that the French typically list their wines by region (Bordeaux, Sancerre, etc.) rather than by grape (Chardonnay, Pinot noir, etc.), because they believe the terroir is more important.

The city is split up into about 20 arrondissements (administrative districts) and this is a good way to help plan your visit. If you check the postal code for any location, the last couple of digits will represent in which arrondisement you’ll find your attraction of choice. I also found that most Parisians can speak some English, but it is best if you at least attempt to speak French with them first.

As I make my way through the rest of my pictures, I’ll be adding more to my Flickr photostream under the KwaninEurope tag, so be sure to check that out from time to time.

My first job ever was working for my dad at his convenience store in West Vancouver. My first REAL job was being a busser (what they called service assistants or SAs) at a Bread Garden. The work was menial and the pay was low… just like anyone would expect from a job requiring no pre-requisite skills or knowledge. If you could spell your name, you’re in.

At that point my career goals of being a chef were still very clear to me. I was going to cooking school and even had my first job lined up after I graduated. The pay of a chef is relatively low compared to other industries. The ratio of work and the type of work in relation to the compensation is pretty bad too. But no matter. You simply bottle in your frustration, because through hard work and perseverance, you’ll get a raise every so often and comfortably settle into life. Well, that’s the plan anyways.

You ever notice no matter how much money you seem to make, it never seems to be quite enough? At first, I thought this was a phenomenon caused by a lack of discipline. And while that’s certainly a large aspect, there’s another player involved, and it’s called inflation.

Well, Duh

Everyone knows that. Inflation, for those that don’t know, is the word used to describe the devaluing of money. And so you can see how making more money wouldn’t necessarily mean a better lifestyle. While this fact may seem obvious, what isn’t so obvious is the relation that minimum wage has on inflation and the impact it has on people’s day-to-day lives.

Raising Minimum Wage

BC minimum wage was recently raised to $10.25/hour (an increase of approx. $2.00/hour). Minister Of Labour Margaret McDiarmid said, “British Columbians who made $8.00 per hour last year could now have more than an additional $4,000 in their pockets this year. That’s good news for individuals and families– and that’s good news for the economy.”

That sounds alright on paper. It makes complete sense that raising minimum wage would be good for the province. More money in people’s pockets means a stronger economy, since people are spending more. So, why the stagnant lifestyle? As I mentioned, it has to do with inflation and here’s why.

What’s Inflation Got To Do With It?

Okay, so it’s not exactly inflation per se. It’s the effect of inflation. Inflation is the weakening of the dollar. This happens when more dollars are brought into existence. The increase of minimum wage does exactly the same thing. When you consider that 10% of the workforce in BC will have their wages affected by that increase to $10.25, that’s a big enough influence on the economy to affect the demand for products and services in the province.

More people will be buying iPhones, eating out more, and otherwise buying things they can’t afford since the more money they have, the more confident they feel about paying down debt. So, what happens to the farmer who’s working just as hard as he was before, but now there are more people who can more easily and afford his goods?

He raises his prices.

And there you have it. The correlation between inflation and the increase in minimum wage. And this is a phenomenon not exclusive to farmers. It happens clear across the board. When it’s that easy for money to enter the economy, the price of commodities skyrocket.

Minimum Wage Isn’t Salvation

While the onus of making ends meet still weighs heavily on the individual, you can see why simply increasing minimum wage and organizing your finances may not be enough. If the goal of financial gain is important to you, you need to take a page out of Warren Buffett’s book:

“The best hedge against inflation is to constantly increase your earning power.”

“I almost wish we were butterflies and liv’d but three summer days – three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain.”

Quality is far more important and valuable than quantity. And this is particularly well represented by English poet John Keats.

He only lived to the age of 25 and he only actively wrote poetry for six years, but he is widely regarded as one of the biggest and most influential figures of the Romantic period in the early 19th century. John Keats wasn’t fully appreciated while he was alive; it wasn’t until some time after his death that his reputation and popularity grew to what they are today. In a sense, he really did only live for “three summer days,” but he made a monumental impact in that short time.

Consider how so many people begrudgingly go through the motions each day, living out their “fifty common years” in silence and mediocrity. Life is too short and too precious to let those days go to waste. We have to live them to their fullest. And it is through this philosophy that the name of John Keats can easily be uttered in the same breath as a William Shakespeare or John Milton. Perhaps I’m drawn to these great writers, both because of my chosen profession and the fact that I graduated from university with a English Literature minor, but you can see how these universal truths hold true.

The quote above was taken from a love letter Keats wrote to Fanny Brawne and love is surely a wonderful thing. At the same time, that sort of mindset also applies to life in general. Quality is far better than quantity.

When we were in Rome earlier this month, we paid a visit to the famous Spanish Steps. John Keats lived out his final days in an apartment near the base of the stairs and a plaque, shown above, is now there in his honor. Keats was taken from this world at far too young of an age (he died from tuberculosis) and it is said by many that if he had lived as long and wrote as much as Wordsworth did, Keats would instead be seen as the representative of the Romantic period.

“A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.”

John Keats may have lived “but three summer days,” but the “loveliness” of his work continues to increase to this day.

When it comes to international travel, you want to soak in the culture. You want to enjoy the sights and sounds of every city you visit, but you mustn’t forget to indulge your taste buds too. And that was one of our main goals on this Europe trip.

In Amsterdam, we visited Pannenkoekenhuis Upstairs. In Paris, we had a nice French dinner at La Jacobine. We had a very short stay in Nice, but it seemed like the most popular dish at many of the restaurants was moules frites. I normally associate moules frites with Belgium, but here it was at all the Italian restaurants in a French town. Go figure.

It’s called Al Barattolo Ristorante and it’s located along a main pedestrian-friendly drag of restaurants and shops one block away from the famous Promenade des Anglais. There were several restaurants here proudly advertising their moules frites (mussels and fries) and they were all priced roughly the same, but Al Barattolo was the only one with unlimited mussels. Maybe we should have taken that as a sign.

Unlike nearly all the restaurants in Paris, the restaurants in Nice don’t typically offer standard two and three-course menus. You simply order each item separately. To go along with my meal, I got a glass of the house rose. You can see it here next to the spritzers of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Considering that I didn’t have any in Paris, I decided to go with the beef tartare. Yes, that is raw beef. It is effectively a steak that has been chopped up and mixed with some onion and parsley. It was topped with shaved fresh parmesan and a cherry tomato. On the side is a bitter greens salad.

I was surprised by the portion size. The beef tartare took up half of the (10 to 12-inch) plate. The actual flavor wasn’t anything particularly special, unfortunately.

It was also served with a side of fries. Again, the fries were quite uninspiring. They lacked seasoning, so I had to add a fair bit of salt and pepper myself. They weren’t crispy and they tasted like they belonged at the golden arches at best.

And here is Susanne’s first bowl of mussels, served in a spicy tomato sauce. It didn’t look too bad, but the mussels themselves were quite small and the bowl contained quite a few empty shells. We definitely prefer the moules frites at Chambar in Vancouver.

And here is Susanne’s second bowl of mussels, served in a curry-based sauce. This definitely contained fewer mussels than the first bowl and it had just as many empty shells. The mussel meat was equally small too. While I could see that the sauce was curry based, it lacked the spices that we’ve come to expect from an Indian or Southeast Asian curry.

Since the mussels were so tiny and since there were so many empty shells, Susanne ordered a third bowl. It was unlimited, after all. And then, we waited. And waited. And waited. Looking around us, the other tables were also waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

It seemed that they had run out of mussels, since other dishes–like the pizza and pasta–were still being delivered. At long last, after almost an hour, her third bowl arrived. The mussel meat was a little larger this time, but after waiting that long, it wasn’t much of a saving grace. It also didn’t help that our server was rude and anything but attentive.

I was cautiously optimistic, but Al Barattolo left a lot to be desired. We would have liked to dine in “Old Nice” instead, but it was too long of a walk from where we were staying. And even then, we’re not sure if the experience would have been any better. All said, dinner for two came to 37 Euro.

I’ve written several editions of Grammar 101 that focus on word pairs (or word trios) that sound the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings. You might remember the post on there, their and they’re, for example. Today, we’re approaching a similar topic, except the exact same letters are used in exactly the same order… there just happens to be a space in the middle.

Do you know the difference between sometime (one word) and some time (two words)?

It’s easy to see how someone, whether or not they learned English as a first language, can use sometime when they really mean to use some time (or vice versa). This is especially true when so much of our communication is verbal rather than written and, even when it is written, it can be filled with all sorts of errors and mistakes.

Sometime, when used as a single word with no space, usually refers to a vague or unspecific period of time.

I’ll go to the store sometime tomorrow afternoon.

In that sentence, it is being declared that I will be going to the store tomorrow afternoon, but I am not specifying an exact time. It will just be sometime in that “tomorrow afternoon” window. You can see how this kind of construction is similar to someday (one word), referring to some unspecific day within a period time.

Don’t put off to tomorrow what you can do today, because someday never comes.

You may also find sometime being used as an adjective, to mean occasional or longtime. For example, you might say that Tim is a sometime advisor to Jerry. This could mean that Tim advises Jerry on a sporadic or periodic basis.

Some time, when used as two words, could be used two different ways. First, it could mean quite a while.

I’m hoping that the USD-CAD exchange rate will improve to 1.30, but that’s probably going to take some time.

In a related manner, some time could also simply mean an unspecified quantity or period of time.

It takes some time for the water to boil in the kettle.

As you can see, even though sometime and some time are spelled using the same letters in the same order and are pronounced the same way, they are not interchangeable. It is important to take notice of this difference in any of your written correspondence.

If you have a suggestion for a future Grammar 101 topic, please leave a comment on this post. I’ll get to it sometime in the future.

Every Wednesday, I share five interesting blog posts that I’ve found through my travels on the Internet. Let’s jump right into this week’s selection.

Starting with Josepf Haslam, we gain insight to the 12 most important life lessons we can learn from Forrest Gump. He may not have been a smart man, but he knew what love is. And he knew that your actions speak far louder than your words.

Just yesterday, I posted up my pictures from Holland, but I’m not the only one who has been there. It wasn’t that long ago that “Mananetwork” Tomasz Wagner posted up his Amsterdam photos too. He people-watched and people-photographed.

Reaching a big milestone is Internet entrepreneur Tyler Cruz. His blog has now been live on the web for seven and a half years and he just published his 1,000th post. He’s learned (and earned) a lot in that time. In the next couple of months, I’ll be hitting post number 2,500 on Beyond the Rhetoric.

While we talk about blog advertising from time to time, the advertising world of TV is an entirely different beast. Anny Chih gives us a tiny glimpse into that world, showing us where upfronts are better than waffles. An “upfront” is a party that a network may throw to attract agencies to pre-buy advertising for the rest of the year.

And finally, we have Brent Beshore telling us about the frenemies we should dump. They say that you are the average of your five closest friends and that the company that you keep is reflective of who you are. Do you have a Debbie Downer in your life? How about a Needy Nancy or a Listless Larry? Do you need to find new friends?

As you may recall, the first leg of our trip through Europe took us to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The city is perhaps best known for its Red Light District and its marijuana-dispensing “coffeeshops,” but there is actually a lot more to see, do and eat in the canal-filled Dutch city.

All in all, I took something in the neighborhood of 600+ photos in our three days there, but I’m naturally not going to post them all. Here are a few highlights that should give you an idea of what to expect should you make your way to the land of pannenkoeken and stroopwaffels.

The primary mode of transportation for the locals is the trusty bicycle. The terrain is very flat and you can park your bike just about anywhere. As a tourist, you can rent a bicycle too, but we found ourselves walking and using the metro as our main methods of getting around.

Amsterdam isn’t particularly known as a foodie kind of city, but there is a decent variety here to be found. There is a surprisingly large number of Argentinian steak restaurants, for instance, as well as a strong Indonesian influence. You’ll also find some locations that sell random deep fried things out of a wall for about a Euro each. No human interaction required. And you can’t visit Amsterdam without having some pickled herring.

What other attractions can you expect? A casual stroll along the canals is always nice, as well as a visit to the Rijksmuseum (buy your tickets in advance online and still expect to wait to get in), Anne Frank House, the Heineken Experience, and the Natura Artis Magistra Zoo. You’ll get the best value by investing in a Holland Pass.

The main library next to the central train station is worth visiting too. Yes, it’s “just” a library, but the architecture is amazing and the interior design is something else. They have iMacs set up everywhere, including access to a large music library.

I’ve got a lot more photos from my travels through which I need to sift, so you can probably expect a few more blog posts the other cities I saw along the way. Stay tuned!

When I was 15, I remember going to ICBC to get a book to study for my learner’s license. Once I passed, it was already agreed with my parents that they would buy my first car. I was pretty excited about the whole prospect. One thing that struck me, even amidst all this excitement, was what we could call the trend of ever-increasing prices at the pump.

At the time, I remember sitting on the bus, going past a gas station with my buddies, staggering at the $0.35/litre signs. Just the year before, it had held pretty steady at the $0.20 range. Then, it just went nuts! We were seeing $0.50, then $0.60, then $0.70 and so on. In 2012, we saw a record high as gas prices went above $1.50/liter. In the cafeteria at school (where all the problems of the world are so very easy to solve), it seemed that the obvious reason for all this was that the oil companies were just getting greedy.

When I was in grade 12, I remember a picture circulating on the Internet of the home of a owner of a Middle Eastern oil company. It was pretty ridiculous. This guy owned a castle for a few people to live in, plus a car collection that looked like I was at the Richmond Auto Mall. On the news, even grown-ups were confused, as reporters gave reports on why they thought this was happening. Now that I’m older and wiser, I’m here to say that it has a lot more to do with greed.

Oil Is Like Any Other Commodity

Commodities are the raw materials that we use for everyday life. Things like fuel, the food we eat, lumber, metals, fabrics for clothing, and so forth. They have an interesting relationship with the economy. During times of inflation, the prices of commodities skyrocket. The idea is that with more money circulating in the economy, purveyors charge more since money is easier to come by. Basically, the value of money is lower. Oil is no different. And so the short answer to all this is simply inflation.

To illustrate, in 2008 the Wall Street Journal published a report showing the rise in gas prices backed against currencies of the world for the ten years prior. In those 10 years, the price of oil went up 350% backed against the US currency. Against the Euro, it went up 220%. Against the Canadian dollar, it went up 280%. Against the price of gold, it remained perfectly flat. So you see, it’s not that oil is getting more expensive; it’s that the buying power of your dollar is getting weaker. Do note that the same phenomenon happened with everything else. You’d see a spike in produce, clothing, homes, everything.

So, why is it that oil get singled out?

Is Greed Involved?

In any industry, capitalism is driven by the desire to build assets, no doubt. And the revenue generated in the oil industry is monstrous. And the owners of these companies make so much money, it’s hard not to believe that they’re not milking everyone for everything they’ve got. Like any other commodity, the profit margins on oil are quite small. It’s the sheer volume and demand that give it this illusion.

Case in point: about 5% of a barrel of oil is actually used for gasoline. The profit margin on that 5% of crude is actually 2%. That’s not a lot when you think about it. On an annual basis, the world uses 1.4 trillion liters of gas. If we worked out the numbers in CAD, the gas industry is generating $1.9 trillion in revenue. And 2% of that works out to almost $38 billion in profit. And that’s after paying the CEO’s salaries and not including the other uses for crude. We’re only looking at it from a gasoline for cars point of view in this post. There’s still 95% of that crude oil that isn’t being accounted for. That’s a LOT of money!

Oil Is Something To Keep An Eye On

Next to gold and silver, I consider oil to be one of the most important resources. The simple fact is that EVERYTHING we buy and use on a daily basis has some relation to oil. Trucks were used to deliver goods to factories, where they may have used oil in the manufacturing of the goods, and those goods ultimately ended up on another truck to be delivered to the store, which you drove to in a car… powered by oil. An increase in the price of oil means an increase in the price of everything… Or should I say the inflation of your dollar means an inflation in the price of everything?