1. Make it more than just a keyword. A name made up of two or more keywords is often the first thing that new business owners lean towards – and is usually not successful. They are easily forgotten, confused with other companies, and can lack interest – in other words, BORING.

For example, when you hear bestwidgets.com, betterwidgets.com, superiorwidgets.com and greatwidgets.com it is obvious than none of them stand out in a unique brand.

2. Make it sound different. The name you choose should sound like nothing else. Here is a bad example – Claris, Clarins, Claritin, and Claria. It’s hard to remember which names refers to software, line marketing, antihistamines or cosmetics. Even if you did remember it’s likely that you would associate all words in one category.

3. Verb Potential. Think ‘Xerox’ or ‘Google’. A generic pronounceable word that means nothing is the best launch for a brand to become unique. Words such as these develop their own verb. There isn’t a day where you hear someone say ‘google it!’ If you hear someone spending their time saying “[your name]-ing it” then you’ve got a promising brand name.

Kudos Brandbucket.com

Let’s start with the universal note taking app that is available on not only the iPad, but the iPhone, Android, desktops, in fact, just about anywhere you live electronically.  That would be Evernote.  This application can hold text notes, pdf’s, photos, business cards, recipes, well you get the idea. Once your note is saved it becomes not only accessible from anywhere, but it also becomes searchable, even the text within images if the image is clear enough. That feature is brought to you by the wondrous technology of Optical Character Recognition. Big words for a big job. Why do I bring that particular technology up you might ask, well we’ll get to that in a minute so stop being so impatient.

I truly find Evernote to be the most valuable application I’ve ever downloaded.  For me personally,  on the phone I take photos of receipts and have them uploaded and indexed.  On the desktop I save web pages that have code snippets I want to search through later.  Also, after a phone call I’ll pull up my client folder and type in a few notes for quick reference later.  On the iPad I store my meeting notes.

When I first started using the iPad for meeting notes I just typed them into Evernote directly with the on screen keyboard, but to be honest, I missed the actual act of writing things down in a pen to paper sort of way. So I tried to do just that, but quickly found I’m not much of a “writing with my fingers” sort of guy. After a quick internet search I found the perfect implement to simulate the real thing. A pogo sketch stylus. This little wonder has a special tip that functions superbly on capacitive screens like the one on the iPad. My only complaint is that I wish it was a tad bit thicker and had a little more heft to it, but thats just splitting hairs.

Armed with the pen, I needed the paper. Unfortunately, as of right now Evernote for the iPad does not take touch/pen type input directly into the note taking features of the app.  For that I had to look elsewhere.  After trying several different notepad style apps for the iPad I found my biggest problem was the multi touch functionality of the device.  I like to rest my palm on the surface when writing.  For pen input, that simply wasn’t working. But lo and behold after trying about 5 different solutions I found the one. Penultimate. Penultimate has an option for detecting your palm resting on the screen and ignores it. That leaves you free to write to your hearts content. Now this app isn’t without its shortcomings. Namely the lack of adjusting the pen tip size, but that is hardly enough of a barrier to dimish the usefulness of the app. In fact it’s really not much of a barrier at all in the great scheme of things.

So how does this fit into my Evernote workflow? Penultimate has a handy feature where you can email both a single written page, or an entire notebook. Evernote, in their great wisdom, happens to have issue each user an email address that allows you to email notes into your notebook. Voila, a hand written, searchable note is now accessible wherever I am. Did you catch that searchable part? Told you I’d get back to that character recognition stuff (if your handwriting is clean enough).

That’s my iPad note taking workflow. I think it’s pretty solid but if you think you can improve it, or if yours is just better, let me know below.

There are tons of categories incentives can fall through. Here are some types – hopefully from this list you can choose what may be a best fit for your company and consumers.

Material incentives: tangible rewards often monetary — wages, fringe benefits, patronage

Solidary incentives: intangible rewards from the act of association — sociability, status, identification

Purposive incentives: intangible rewards related to the goals of the organization — e.g., working on an election of a supported candidate

Bonuses -One of the most popular sales incentives is cash, and a great way to offer it is through incentive-based raffles. Use a chart to identify defined goals, and each time an employee achieves one of the goals she is given a raffle ticket. Hence, the more goals an employee reaches the more raffle tickets she receives and the better the chances are she will win.

Gifts – Offer the winning staff member a gift from your store’s merchandise, which could be a new flat-screen television or an all-expenses-paid vacation. They key is to ensure that your staff members all continually want to make a sale.

Promotions -When a position becomes available you can hold a sales incentive competition to award it to the highest seller. In this case, it’s best to run the competition for several months so you see who can sustain a high level of performance and deserves a position of more responsibility. Typically, these competitions are limited to a small group of employees.

It is important to understand how much incentives can affect your company – both positively and negatively. With this economy it might be tough to gain positive influence to your company by using incentives, so it is best to start mildly with an incentive to see how much influence it may gain. Keep reports of your progress.

When you want to attract new customers creating a mailing list is a nice option to promote your incentives. A newsletter is a wonderful incentive that allows your company to show off honesty, credibility and trust. These newsletters should mostly contain sales and coupons. Give people a reason to sign up – for some valuable information. Also, be sure to keep your content fresh, The biggest reason that people unsubscribe to newsletters is that they don’t feel the information is relevant to them any longer. A handy tip to get more exposure: keep your incentives personal. Keep track of your specific customers. If you have a large amount of customers who go in your store and only purchase outdoor items, offer an incentive that goes out to them only. Identify your target markets and keep them organized within your newsletter/email campaigns. Make them personal.

A free download is another great incentive to include on your web site, email marketing or newsletter. A free download means instant gratification and is perceived as a ‘must-have’ item. Make it valuable to your customers. Pay attention to your graphics as well. I personally like buttons that look ‘click-able’ or ‘touchable’ make sure you choose a nice graphic that has a nice ‘call to action’ mood to it. See don’t you just want to click it?

Kudos answers.com & rockstar affiliates

Take, for instance, the Batman movie series wisely ousting director Joel Schumacher and replacing him with Christopher Nolan.  Very good move, indeed.

And then there’s Yellow Bot.

Yellow Bot’s refreshing new spin on themselves has opened up new and improved ways for local businesses to connect with customers.

Reinventing yourself can be a great way to not only draw in new and old faces to your website, but by paying heed to Yellow Bot’s new design structure, you begin to notice a couple of subtle, yet possibly important ways for local business listings to say hello to consumer search:

1. Ease of Access: Right off the bat, Yellow Bot improves the one thing that escaped business owners from doing as soon as they got there: submission of business. Err, let me rephrase that: you could submit your business listing the whole time, it’s just for “user-friendly” experience, you kind of had to go Sherlock Holmes on the website before you could find the “Add Business Listing” icon.  Nowadays, there’s an icon at the bottom that’s big, blue and looking for you.
2. Speedy Exposure: Once you’ve claimed your business and added the proper information, Yellow Bot has always been very good about placing your listing up in a timely manner.  Only thing is, this time you’re the star of the show for a day.  By that I mean your newbie listing is given top-shelf treatment via any photos you’ve included.  You’re only given three picture slots, so make them as pleasing to the eye as possible, because the right picture just might turn in the lead you’ve been looking for.

Just like Google’s subtle change to their home page, the warm, inviting colors used by Yellow Bot make the site look appropriate for today’s web design pallets.  Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that Yellow Bot lets you run rampant with your business listing, allows you to add numerous tags and such.

So go on, embrace change and get active with your business listing today!

(1)The most practical, unique designs come out of sustainable packaging. The less material used the more unique the product is – and of course this has a less of an impact on the environment – A win win. Here is an example

(2) Re-using recycled material for your product or packaging creates a familiar, unique and personable essence for your company, as well as create sustainable trust. Here is an examples:
1                                                                                       2.

5. Sustainability / CSR Reporting

Depending on the size of a company and its public profile, it may make sense to develop a formal sustainability report. Go with Web versions to save paper. Have an online database that others can access and have meetings over them – to also save paper.

6. Integrating Sustainability into Your Brand

Green marketing doesn’t have to be a niche product or service.If sustainability is integrated into a company’s operations,sustainability can be the main selling point of the whole product line. Having corporate culture that fosters sustainability is the most constructive way of seeing sustainability permeate the product or service line.

kudos thedieline & environmentalleader

Even though a “brand’ is intangible, it refers to the reputation behind your company’s name. A carefully built brand is worth more in actual dollars than all the tangible assets put together. To start, you must decide how you want people to perceive your business – visually as well as internally. Create a mission statement.

I have some experience myself with brand loyalty, as many others do in their shopping. For instance, many people purchase only a certain kind of shampoo and have been using it for years because they trust the brand. Whether it has been in the family for years or just because the product is very efficient, the level of comfort your brand is very important for prospective and long term customers. So how do you go about creating brand loyalty?

Create a logo! Take Nike and Mcdonalds for example, you do not need to read the company’s name to understand what it is. Your logo should allow your brand to be instantly recognized by those familiar with it. To this extent, your logo helps create and reinforce brand awareness. The logo you create should be able to be used consistently in a variety of different media. It should be suitable for corporate letterhead and business cards, as well as for your website and corporate signage (if any).

————-

http://www.brandbucket.com/ ( We offer a selection of quality hand-picked premium logos and domain names available for sale as ready-to-use brands for your business startup, new product name or blog name. ) My Brandbucket Profile – Need a domain/logo? Buy mine!

————-

Identify and Describe Your Target Market- Decide whether you want to target lthe entire webhosting community or only a segment of it such as small business websites. Describe your market.

For one, you need consistent advertising. Decide what you can do for your customers, what is the true beneficiary of your product or service. Create a ‘sell line’ that defines your company in a nutshell.

Customer Service – Employ people who can get on board with your brand  – One small non cooperative experience with a customer can greatly affect your business by word of mouth.

Public Relations – Keep the promises you make! Make it easy for your customers to do certain tasks (like return an item, buy online, etc) See what your customers are disappointed with, and make it better/easier

Use the internet – A company with no web presence is archaic. Even if you’re only interested in local sales right now, your customers are on the web, and they’ll want to see you there, too. Get it done now.

Kudos entrepreneur.com

What’s the hubbub with HubPages and why should it matter to you, me and everyone we know?

Well, for one, HubPages has many characteristics in common with Squidoo. Every published Hub Page is like a Squidoo “Lens” with informative tools about either your business, a product you carry, or some completely random topic to help generate visitors and link juice to and from your Lens and the website of your business. Secondly, you can include photos, videos, and other decorative background displays to give your Hub Page an identity all its own. And the most obvious similarity between HubPages and Squidoo is the shared community in which your page resides.

Ummmmm. Ok. What if I’m lazy and I don’t want to create another page?

Suffice it to say, procrastination’s not the answer. Not for you or the online marketing potential that HubPages brings to the table. That’s generally just a bad outlook all together.

Yeah, but where’s the bells and whistles?

That comes in the form of tags and proper categorization. If you’re the owner of an amusement park and you want to write off a number of detailed pages inviting the viral community on down, you can zero in on a variety of specific interests. Want to write an article about your new water slide, “The Hydra”? Your category will be setup as so: Sports & Recreation…Theme Parks…Water Rides. Your amusement park’s had a sparkling safety reputation since opening. Why not create a page detailing your park’s illustrious history and the proper safety measures your company has taken over those years? Suprisingly, there’s a third tier category titled, History of Theme Parks & Famous Accidents, that would fit that page.

It’s almost as if HubPages is psychic, eh?

No, they’re just properly organized. They present a number of great marketing methods available for small businesses, large businesses and everything else in between to make their presence known. Instead of confusion, it’s an orchestra of voices that can help promote what your business has to offer. Just put a little creativity towards your articles and you could be establishing a plethora of quality links back to your business’ website.

That’s it?

That’s just for starters. For now, here’s a starter kit to chew on until then.

Here are my top 10 web sites I attend on a daily basis. (Not including the large amount of social media and networking sites I seem to live by)

Smashing Magazine
Get your daily tech fix! Check out the top 100 on anything media related! Catch some new design techniques! The site is ENDLESS on tutorials, best of the best, and eye candy

Logo Pond
My daily logo inspiration

Design Observer
This web site is great for catching up on news in the arts, media, and and advertising/marketing. This site holds an endless amount of topics that range from popular culture to technology.

Design*Sponge
Oh heavens, the mother of design blogs. Interior design, colors, patterns, and much journalism

Vectips
Get BETTER at vector! And look at pretty posters + creatures!

Web Creme
Want a reference/inspiration site about web design? Sleek, Contemporary, Functional Web Design. Period. Helps you define how you want YOUR site to look.

G4TV
Get caught up on everything TECH! Well, and viral.

Kuler
COLOR SCHEME! Pick out your palette for anything! FUN and EASY.
Get that guest room painted and decorated the right way.

Wooster Collective
Get urbanified! Check out whats going on in the Graffiti Artist world. ( I wish KC was woostered-up )

Ads of the World
You like cleverness, don’t you? Check out these wonderful ads showcased internationally. You’ll get some smiles, promise.

Get in touch! Get updated! Get involved! Get better! Hopefully these sites will get you there.

We recently expanded our office space and I am now on my third desk at Adcuda. While I love my new digs, this desk lacks the necessary drawer space (or any drawers for that matter) needed to house my collection. Enter NeatDesk™

NeatDesk is pretty much my new favorite organizational tool. It’s a high-speed desktop scanner and digital filing system that can scan a bunch of your receipts, business cards and documents all at once. The included NeatWorks software identifies and extracts important data and automatically organizes it for you. You can save your digital output as a JPEG or PDF. Documents can also be sent to Outlook, Excel, Quicken and Highrise, which is the CRM that we use. NeatDesk is available for Mac or PC.

Do you use NeatDesk? If not, what other tools do you use to keep your desk organized?

I was giddy with excitement today to find out the one area lacking in Local.com’s previous version, the business description’s limit, has been freed from the 155 character shackles and given room to breathe. How much room has yet to be determined, but so far, it’s more than enough to insert the necessary information about your business. With that much space, your description can be given some much needed SEO keywords, phrases and other strategies to call upon a customer’s keyboard stroke against the search engines. Not only that, but the general layout for entering information has dramatically improved, making it easier to fill every required category with ease.

For example, nothing creates a bigger headache than a local search site that completely erases everything you entered from the previous page of your listing. A majority of online directories are pretty good at saving your previous information, but for some reason, there’s a couple out there that love to play Houdini and just decimate the information you spent a good amount of time entering in. Local.com’s new version was never the case. In fact, if you took a break from finishing the listing, the session itself will time out, but one click backwards will happily return your ammunition.

Also, finding an optimal way to categorize your business has been cleared up. Nearly identical to Google’s outstanding setup, Local.com suggests a myriad of possibilities, letting you decide exactly which customers you’re trying to flag down.

Same goes for the Services, Products and Brands sections. The previous version gave you tiny boxes to cram in what your business offers, but the outcome looked like a bunch of fragmented words packed inside a sardine can. Now you have individual sections allowing you to easily see everything you’ve entered. Plus, the space itself is just as liberating as the business description.

Again, the format almost reminds me of Google Local, but imitation is a form of flattery. And seeing how important and effective putting your listing up on Google is, well that’s just another step in the right direction for visibility.

Update done correctly? That’s an emphatic “yes”.