I recently bought a new version of an application that securely remembers my passwords and logins. The problem is that it keeps crashing my browser. I brought it to the company’s attention on January 27th. They claim to have fixed the issue five times, but this hasn’t been the case. Their latest piece of advice came on February 21st – … Read More
Google are naughty – but not evil
The problem with Google’s “don’t be evil” approach is that it often seems to bite them. The other problem is that it sets the stage to be black and white – with no grey. Good and bad. I don’t believe that Google are evil, but they’re undoubtedly guilty of questionable behaviour. The latest bee in my bonnet lies in their newly … Read More
The myth of SEO guarantees
It’s that time of year again. The thrill of the new year has worn off, and some of the more diligent companies have realised that almost 15% of the year has gone by, with many of their 2011 goals untouched. At least that’s my theory for why we always start getting a surge of enquiries for our services around the … Read More
Google get deceptive
You may have noticed that ads displayed on Google are starting to look a little more discrete. In days gone by they were pushed to the right hand side of the browser, were clearly marked as Sponsored Links, made heavy use of mixed case in the display URL, and the few that were placed above the organic listings were clearly … Read More
Your product will never be ready
Get it out there. The great software success stories all began their public lives as buggy and quirky. But they were first. If you’re developing something truly exciting, you need to have released it yesterday. Being first doesn’t mean that you’ll forever dominate your market. But when the clones and blatant copies appear, you’ll have a better chance than they … Read More
Five ways to distract your visitors
AdWords, SEO, press releases, social networking, time-limited discounts – all have the potential to pull in large volumes of targeted traffic to your website. Once they get there, here are five of my personal favourite ways to distract them. 1 – Interesting external links. Prominent testimonials are all fine and well, but if they’re linked and look a little too … Read More
Yes but can I trust you?
You probably know the feeling. You like the product and would like to buy it, but don’t know whether you should trust the company behind the website. If I order a product online and it never arrives, I can email the company and try to call them. But what if they simply don’t reply? There’s always some degree of risk. … Read More
The great SEO myth – the stupidity of numbers
Why are there people who still follow the idea of keyword density? Why are there people who still believe the world to be flat?
Fewer people are looking for your software. More people are itching.
Google trends never lies. Less people are looking for your software than ever before. And the trend suggests a continuing decline. The reason is simple. They don’t need it. When people have a problem, they go looking for a solution. If people don’t realise they have a problem, they look for pictures of cute animals. And if technology means that … Read More
How much can you crap on your users before they notice the smell?
Many people are concerned by how much information Google have on them. Yet many of these same people share an incredible amount of information with their Facebook friends, and often with friends of their friends. I use Facebook, and think it’s great. But I’m careful to the point of paranoia with what I share. Like AdWords, many of Facebook’s defaults … Read More
