thinks

In Pursuit of Elegance by Matthew E. May (Book Review of the Week-ish)

"You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra In his new book, "In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing", author Matthew May offers a prescriptive any business can use to unlock their creativity and their potential. By focusing on 4 elements he ...

From the archives: Tim Peter thinks’ 6 (OK, more like 11) most popular posts this year

Can 2009 really be half over already? We've accomplished lots here at thinks Central so far this year, reaching new records in visitors and page views, growing our subscriber count and increasing Twitter friends. But half over?!? Sheesh. Well, before we move forward to the second half of 2009, now ...

4 steps to improve your online customer experience (Small Business E-Commerce Link Digest – June 26, 2009)

Everybody wants to do better by their customers. But what's the best way to do that? Check out these tips and you'll find it's not as hard as you might think: Before you can improve your customer's experience, you've got to know who your customer is. Mining your internal data gives ...

Guest post: Don’t leave data on the table

One of our favorite phrases here at thinks Central is that you can't manage what you can't measure. And you really can measure anything. But many people struggle with finding the data that can help them measure what matters most. That's why we're thrilled to have this guest post from ...

Is there such a thing as “too much SEO?”

It goes without saying that search engine optimization - SEO - is a Good Thing. You want your customers to find you when searching. And there are lots of individuals out there willing to tell you what constitutes best practices, what's "white hat" and "black hat" (i.e., techniques that ...

Keep it simple… 5 tips for better sales online (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest – June 19, 2009)

How savvy are your customers? Are they sophisticated in using the Internet? While I always want to give people the benefit of the doubt, it's important to remember that most people - no matter how much they use the Internet - don't spend much time thinking about the Internet. For ...

What does an A/B test look like, anyway?

You know A/B testing is the right thing to do, right? Do you know what a good A/B test looks like? No? Well, thinks is here to help. According to Neilsen data shown at GrokDotCom shares Nielsen data every month, showing the top converting websites. Amazingly, online flower and gift retailer ...

Feeling lucky? Is it the right time to take some risks?

As told by Peter Bernstein in his classic, "Against the Gods", no less an observer of economics than Adam Smith himself understood that that: "...[while] risk propelled economic progress....society would suffer when that propensity ran amuck." So, why - in the midst of this current example of "propensity run amuck" - ...

6 down and dirty e-marketing tips (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest – June 12, 2009)

Your time is at a premium. You know it. I know it. So today, we're going to dispense with the formalities and just answer some basic questions. Simply put, can you get business from Twitter? Can you turn traffic into sales? Can you connect with your customers more completely? Can ...

World Wide Rave (Book Review of the Week-ish)

David Meerman Scott is at it again. Not only is he the author of the outstanding "The New Rules of Marketing and PR" (and, yes, I did get a mention in that book for using Twitter to find and satisfy customers), but he's followed it up with the equally strong ...