I recently posed a question on LinkedIn (a great business networking site – if you’ve never checked it out, you really should!):

• If you were given two job offers at the same time, one is a job that you would love but didn’t pay much, and the other is a so-so job that payed much better – which would you take?

Not surprisingly, the vast majority of the answers were “take the job that would make you happiest”.

In a perfect world, of course that would be the best answer.  But is it that straightforward?  We are all in business to make money, and if you can make money doing what you love – that is the perfect situation.  Well, I suppose the “perfect situation” would be if you were independantly wealthy and didn’t need to work at all, but I digress…

Choosing the best job – be it freelancing, a contract job, full-time job, or the next project for your business – is not always that easy.  Other factors might include location of the job relative to where you live, your current financial and personal situation, resources at your disposal – just to name a few.

Your goal should be to be in a position where you can do what you love, and make a good living at the same time. But sometimes we have to take steps to get there – take some projects that don’t pay much in order to impress a customer, take a higher-paying job that might not be what you really enjoy to build up your financial position – as long as you keep your goal in sight, and always work on achieving your goal in the long-term.

In the past 20 years or so, people had the luxury to switch jobs on a whim, getting a nice pay increase each time.  Now with high unemployment, some of those people realize that their choices were short-sighted.  If they had stayed at a job longer, they might be in a better position to have kept their job longer through the layoffs that hit so many companies.  Then again, maybe not.

What are your thoughts?  Take the job for satisfaction, or take the job for the money?

It always strikes me as interesting the relationship of employment.  It is so similar to a marriage, or dating, that sometimes I have to laugh.

employee: “Boss, do you have a minute?  I need to talk to you.”

boss: “Not right now, I have a meeting coming up.  I have some time next Tuesday, say 9ish?”

employee: “Well, I’ll just make it quick.  I’m leaving – I found someone else”.

boss: “What? All of a sudden?  I thought everything was going great!”

employee: “It’s me, not you… I’ve been unhappy and… unfulfilled”.

boss: “Well, let’s talk about it.  What’s wrong exactly?”

employee: “No, it’s too late for that.  I’m going, here is my resignation.  My last day is Friday.”

boss: “Wait!  I need you!  I can’t do this without you!  Come back!”

Another sudden breakup.  It’s a common problem with employees / employers – there is no communication, no feedback, no caring.  It doesn’t take much, just a quick “thank you”, or “I’m very impressed on how you handled that” kind of statement.

I’ve heard people say to run a marriage like a business.  Maybe it’s time to run a business like a marriage.  What do you think?

Finding yourself with too little time on your hands?  Yeah, me too.

When I leave work, I put on one or many of my other hats, Mom, Wife, Volunteer, Jazzerciser, etc and don’t think about work until the next day.  I want so badly to read more books in the business and technology (in the web seo/design/marketing) arena, but time gets away from me.

That’s why I recently recalled a website my company created a while back (it was sold off, so Radius3 no longer hosts or maintains it now): www.BusinessBookReview.com.  They have a staff that reads the books for you and provides a 300, 600 or 900 word synopsis for you.  It’s not as good as reading the whole book cover to cover, but it sure saves some time!

I’m considering joining for $195/year (Individual membership; cheaper if your company signs up 1-many employees).  If I were to buy the books (library is an option too but I know I can’t finish a book in 2 weeks and I’m bad about renewing), they would cost approx $15-ish each at at one/month, that would cost $180/year.  What if I bought a book and never finished it?  Wasted money!  I despise waste.

Now if I were to read one review/week = 4 books per month => $60/mo =>$720/year value AND I could talk intelligently at business gatherings.  No more… “so what do you do?” rather “I’ve just read the book [insert book name here].  … ” and hence an intelligent conversations and business partnership starts to blossom.

Maybe it’s worth a look into if you have a short attention span, short amounts of time free, a wanderlust for information gathering…

I signed up for the newsletter to get a taste: Newsletter Signup – Business Book Review

Tell your company about it or call BBR at 1-800-653-2726 (x2218) - tell them that someone at Radius3, their original programmers recommended it; maybe I’ll get a free subscription for a year before I decide to join.

-NotesFromKris (Twitter)

For those of you who want to dig in deeper.  Tiny URL:  http://ow.ly/j9mu – See this guy’s post for examples on the differences between different methods of css. (Long URL: http://designorati.com/articles/t1/web-design/1041/basic-css-inline-embedded-external-whats-the-difference.php)

The next articles will bring SEO up a few levels; typically I’ll try not to get too deep.

Ok, so you’ve been told you need SEO work so your site can get found.  Prerequisite: read this before continuing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization

What types of SEO are there?  Short answer: 2.

1.  On-Site / Internal / Natural / Organic

or

2.  Off-Site / Link-Building / Pay for Service

On-Site optimization is when you pay your web developer to update your meta tags for each page, align your content copy with your keyword strategy, update your page names/images/alt text/variables to all align with your keywords and keyphrases.  That’s the short of it.  You have (depending on your content management system) direct control over this and the search engine “spiders” and “robots” will find you and draw you into their database of 1 Trillion other sites.  More later on local advertizing on the search engines.

Off-Site optimization is when your website development company determines keywords and phrases and then pays a service to push your optimized landing page (select one page and optimize the heck out of it) to searchers searching for a specific targeted key word or phrase.  Then, you pay this third party per click (PPC).  Downfalls:  if you don’t target the right audience, you’re paying for a click to your site for a customer that won’t produce a conversion (won’t buy anything/call you).  This is a tweaking process and you should not expect immediate or one time fees.  It’s like finely tuning a recipe; you take some stuff out, you add some more stuff, taste it and go back again.

Off-site optimization also includes linkbacks, search engine submissions and the ever growing social media-sphere.   The more links you have back to your sites – the more RELEVANT links – the higher your site will rank.

You could try it yourself first for a few months – the key is tracking tracking tracking.

For example, I’m on this nutritional cleansing “diet” (for lack of a better word) and I’m losing more inches around my body than weight.   If I hadn’t been measuring, I would have been discouraged about my 2-3lb weight loss.  But, since I’m taking the time to measure 15 parts of my body, I have a baseline to start with.

So…learn how to add the Google Analytics code to your site.  Start here:  http://analytics.google.com – watch the tutorials and be prepared to be overwhelmed.  Don’t worry about learning how to use all of the features – your first task is to just add it to start your baseline.  Kind of like getting a mammogram at 35…

I was recently at the airport, waiting for the announcement to start boarding the aircraft.

Casually sitting on the floor, since all of the chairs in the waiting area were filled with half-awake restless people waiting for the same plane, I overheard the customer service clerk speaking to an irate “potential passenger” that was unable to board the overbooked, sold-out flight:

clerk: I am sorry ma’am, this flight is sold out and we do not have space for you.

irate customer: I bought a ticket for this flight!  Now you WILL let me on this flight!

clerk: Actually, you bought a RESERVATION for a seat on this flight.  You did not actually purchase a guaranteed seat.  That’s how all the airlines do it nowadays.

irate customer: That’s not right.  I will never fly this airline again.  Let me speak to your manager!

There were also some choice words spoken, which I have left out.

I will say that the clerk was very calm and professional, even though the customer was making quite a scene.  It was, after all, not his fault – that is the way the airlines are set up to work these days.

They overbook all flights.

I understand WHY they overbook the flights – there are a statistically calculated number of passengers that will not show up for the flight for whatever reason, and the airline needs as many seats filled as they can.

Of course, hopefully they understand that they do this at a risk of losing customers when everyone shows up for the flight.  And, if everyone does show up, as did that day, they gave out four free round trip tickets to people that volunteered to take a later flight, which was not until six hours later.

So, not only did they manage to lose a customer, but they also had to give away four tickets to other people, round trip, which equates to eight seats on their airplane.

But in reality, what choice do we, the customers, have?  There are only so many airlines to chose from, and they all pretty much go by the same rules.

Unless….

Enough people complain about the rules, and they make a change (I am guessing that not many people will actually call and complain enough for anyone to listen) – or – an entrepreneur comes along and starts an airline company with a solution to this problem.

I know, starting a new airline does take a bit of money, and is all near impossible nowadays.  But the point is: be very careful how you treat your customers.  If you manage to anger enough of them, you will find yourself on a downward slope of sales and, and upward slope of negative publicity.

Comments?

This is a guest post from a good friend of mine, Stephen Fishman, Director of Solution Definition and Architecture at Macquarium.

Brandon Schauer, one of my past Sapient co-workers, now works at Adaptive Path and is relatively well known in UX circles for his thought leadership. One of my favorites is The Long Wow. In brief, “the long wow is a means to achieving long-term customer loyalty through systematically impressing your customers again and again.”

Well, true to my nature, I feel compelled to point out the flip side, which I call the long OW. In brief, the long OW is a means to achieving long-term customer hatred through systematically disappointing your customers again and again.

Where long wow companies like Apple and Nike continually look for ways to express to customers how much they appreciate them through phenomenally well designed, user-centric products and services. Long OW companies like Blockbuster, the cable companies and phone companies seemingly look for ways to contemptuously exploit their customers through products and no-service processes that are equally well designed, except that the products and no-services are dollar-centric.

I understand the mindset and organizational culture that drive the long OW companies to make decisions like these. Like many American cultural aspects they are all focused on $ tomorrow. What they fail to see is the long term lasting hatred consumers have for them and the taint these business practices have on their brands that can’t be washed away.

Blockbuster is the perfect case study for this. I know, I know… I pick on Blockbuster quite often… But THIS IS EXACTLY THE POINT! Neither I, nor other consumers have forgotten the YEARS of gouging we suffered from the late-fee nazis in Blockbuster management. Even when Blockbuster’s Click & Mortar offering is VASTLY superior to every online only offering – people still choose netflix. The people who still patronize Blockbuster do it only begrudgingly and silently hope for the day when a online & meat-space combo retailer will offer something better so that they can stick it to the man REAL GOOD!

Cell phone companies and the Cable companies have paved the way for this type of business model for decades! The Cable companies were first. Having regional monopolies, the combination of easy money and little competition has created crappy behemoths of companies who really could not give a rat’s ass about how much consumers hate them. Maybe instead of focusing on churn, they should focus on the root cause – the legacy of contempt they have shown for their customers.

How can the leaders of these companies not get it? Consumers generally feel that all the options suck it’s up to them to choose the one that least sucks for them and their lifestyle.

My recommendation for these purveyors of contempt is to either:

1) Go for a “truth and reconciliation” approach in which you actually try to make legitimate amends with people who despise your organization. If you decide to do this one, you have to do more than say “sorry”, you have to show you mean it. See my past blog entry on this topic for more information.

-OR-

2) Prepare for an upstart with a clean reputation to come and eat your lunch.

Rating Time:

Long Wow companies – Like them.

Long OW companies – Garbage.

Tell em’ Large Marge Sent Ya!

Stephen Fishman is the Director of Solution Definition and Architecture at Macquarium.  He has some excellent posts on customer service at his web site, threeoptions.blogspot.com

Starting From Scratch
[Secrets from 22 ordinary people who made the entrepreneurial leap]
by Wes Moss

Starting from scratch is a great read for any would-be entrepreneur, or a small business owner who enjoys reading about other successes.  Wess goes through the stories and trials of 22 people, who were searching for their dreams, and made it to their goals to achieve the success they desired.

I love reading about people who started with a dream, and made it to their success.  This book goes through the interviews Wes had with people across the country, and not only portrays their stories in a fabulous direct story, but goes through their feelings, struggles, hopes, and dreams.  Each person interviewed is an ordinary person – nothing amazing – but they each started out dissatisfied with their current position, and decided to make a touch change.

The interview stories are well edited and portrayed, and positioned in groups to exemplify what Wes calls the entreprenurial HUNT:

H: Harness what you have. Figure out what you do best, and what you love to do.

U: Underestimate your obstacles. My favorite part. Don’t get caught up with the problems and walls you hear about or face – find your way around them, surround yourself with believers, and plow ahead.

N: Notice your network. One of the most important lessons – don’t be afraid to call on who you know for help, references, or favors.  Be sure to return the favor when someone calls you, too.

T: Take the first step. Oftentimes the most difficult for us, but the most important.  If you don’t do anything, nothing will happen.  Take a step, even if it’s a small one.

Like I said – Starting from Scratch is  great read!  Inspirational and teaching, you won’t regret getting this book.  I finished it, and plan on going through it again with a highlighter.

The authors web site is http://www.wesmoss.com

Using keywords for optimal copy placement…per NotesFromKris’ last post – that’s me – I asked you to generate a keywords and phrases list and then to think about it.  Now, select only 2-4 key phrases per page and relate the keywords to the copy on your page.  You don’t want to saturate the keywords in the copy, just be true to your message and they (the search engines) will come.  How do we lay out the copy for an anti-gravity chair.

Let’s select as our primary keyword/phrase “executive office chair” and our secondaries as “ergonomic back support”, “anti-gravity lumbar support” and “chairs with back support”.  I picked these at random – there’s a whole process that your SEO expert can determine the best words for you.

So…when you lay out the page, use your H1 tag for the primary key word and h2, bold and placement for your secondaries.

<h1>Executive Office Chairs for Everyone</h1>

Chairs with back support and ergonomically designed for the boss, but affordably priced so you can have one too.  The anti-gravity support system offers lumbar support for aching backs that are tormented day after day with 8hrs of sitting (or more!).  The anti-gravity lumbar support system is the first of it’s kind.  Accept no imitations!

<h2>Ergonomic Back Support</h2>

Supporting your back is our job #1.  Easy to move from place to place that you won’t hurt your l4 or l5 lifting or moving this chair.  Optional foot rest available to the first 5 chairs ordered each day (starting at midnight:01:01:01 EDT).  Chairs with anti-gravity lumbar support will actually make your job enjoyable – not guaranteed – by providing ergonomic back support with adjustable height from the floor and adjustable arm rests (also removable).  Feel like a top-notch executive in this chair whether you work from home or in a dingy, cold, damp, flea-ridden, wolf spider infested, stinky office.

end example

So, the lessons learned here are:

1. select your keywords/phrases
2. use them in prominent positions in your copy
3. use bold to make the key phrases stand out (some experts disagree on this – I say – can’t hurt)
4. don’t overdo it!

Always remember that ranking is not immediate!  Once you have set your keywords, use Google Analytics to gather your data and analyze or hire an expert.  If you can’t retain one on salary; pay for a one time analysis with the result being concrete tasks for you to carry out.

Don’t change your keywords every week unless you are experienced enough to know how to do this.  Removing a keyword/phrase from a prominent position will affect your ability to properly track successes and failures.

I’ve been talking about keywords, but what I really mean is keywords and phrases for search engine optimization.  Our anti-gravity chairs (see other posts if you don’t know why I talk about these) are the best on the market, but is our target customer going to type into a search “best anti gravity chair”…maybe.

One of the free keyword research tools I use is from – no surprise – Google  https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal This is related to the display of ads on Google.  This will help you see what related word searches your ad will show on. Go ahead – click it – then swap back here.

Be sure to notice your options for ‘Descriptive words or phrase’ and ‘Website content‘.  Also to the right, there are tiny arrows that will expand to fit other options.  Selecting ‘descriptive words..’ option type in ‘ergonomic anti-gravity chairs’ (don’t forget the captcha image input).

Analysis of results:  one word: holymoley!  I sure picked a competitive market!

1. Select/click on ‘Local Search Volume’ to sort the most used keywords to the top.  We’re only going to look at the local market for now.
2. Select Advertiser Competition to sort by that column.  Select the keyword/phrases and select Add>> to add it to a list on the right.
3. Note:  as you look through the words, try to narrow down the scope of your product focus, for example, our chairs are not meant for outdoor, mostly office or sit-down jobs.
4. On the right side you can now add more words and then select ‘Get more related keywords’.
5. Go through that iteration until your keywords/keyphrases fit your target audience – you HAVE already done the market research….right?!?!

Think of this as an exercise in brainstorming, but you’re using Google as another brain.

Next step after searching for keywords and phrases, how about searching for keywords actually searched for on Google?  Search based keyword tool: http://www.google.com/sktool/#

‘ergonomic office chair,executive office chair,ergonomic computer chair,comfortable office chair,executive desk chair,zero gravity chair,ergonomic back chair,zero gravity chairs,anti gravity chair,cool inventions chairs’

Copy and paste the final keyword list you obtained from the aforementioned.  Click ‘Find Keywords’.  Now look at different sorts by column and print them out, save them to a file…just ruminate over them for awhile and determine your target.  You never want to compete (in my opinion) in the highest bid area.  For one, it might be cost prohibitive, and 2nd, you prefer 2nd or 3rd or even 4th place since that can sometimes provide a better return on investment.  Looks like I should start thinking about mixing anti gravity with zero gravity some more.

This is to give you a start with:

• creating copy
• adding meta tags (keywords, description, title)
• formulating a budget for PPC campaigns

All exercises are stepping stones to the final answer.  An SEO expert has the experience with PPC and can offer good insight, but don’t expect to get it for free.

All of this makes me thirsty.  Hope this helps in your strategy research.  Sometimes you have to step back a few feet to see where you are going.  Free keyword research tools are out there; some are low cost…you need to determine if this is what you want to do with your business time when you should actually be out there selling.