Friday, July 27, 2007
Google Apps migration tools
In the spirit of celebrating small successes, I want to give a shout out to Google Enterprise Professional partner LimitNone, who recently passed the 100 customer mark for their gMOVE/gXFER Google Apps migration products.
These tools help Microsoft Outlook and Gmail users migrate their data to Google Apps, and complement some of the other migration tools available today, including our own IMAP migration feature.
Congrats to the team at LimitNone!
Is eBay Really Paying Attention?
Judging by this post on "The Chatter" eBay is listening regarding the new search, or "finding experience," changes.
I found the post very informative regarding how eBay is testing and what they're still working on in regards to changing the search. They actually say they're not happy with what the search results page looks like (neither was I when I tested it) and they address the major issue of integrating stores and completed listings into the search. (These don't appear now in the Playground version, but the explanation is that they wanted to roll it out to be tested before they added these and a few other components into it. As a former programmer I understand that would save them a lot of backtracking in their coding, but couldn't they have stated that up front?? Leaving stores out of anything on eBay is certainly going to raise issues - and tempers - with store owners.)
The section on "Multiple paths to the same inventory" was interesting and implies that sellers won't necessarily need to pay double to list an item in two similar categories. The new search will provide a multi-dimensional result for sellers searching by category. They explain it in the example and it sounds like a great idea.
If you haven't gone to eBay's Playground to try the new search and leave feedback, please take a few minutes and do so. It appears that they're actually paying attention.
I found the post very informative regarding how eBay is testing and what they're still working on in regards to changing the search. They actually say they're not happy with what the search results page looks like (neither was I when I tested it) and they address the major issue of integrating stores and completed listings into the search. (These don't appear now in the Playground version, but the explanation is that they wanted to roll it out to be tested before they added these and a few other components into it. As a former programmer I understand that would save them a lot of backtracking in their coding, but couldn't they have stated that up front?? Leaving stores out of anything on eBay is certainly going to raise issues - and tempers - with store owners.)
The section on "Multiple paths to the same inventory" was interesting and implies that sellers won't necessarily need to pay double to list an item in two similar categories. The new search will provide a multi-dimensional result for sellers searching by category. They explain it in the example and it sounds like a great idea.
If you haven't gone to eBay's Playground to try the new search and leave feedback, please take a few minutes and do so. It appears that they're actually paying attention.
How to Create the Ultimate Sales Letter For Your Home Business
Today's marketing tip is the final one based on a conference call I participated in a few weeks ago. It has to do with creating good sales copy.
Many home based business owners feel that they cannot do this themselves, or if they give it a shot, struggle with it. Even if they end up hiring someone, the sales copy is still bad.
What was suggested on the call is to record yourself or have someone record for you as you talk about your business and its benefits. You would just be speaking from your heart and be yourself. Then, you turn this into a sales letter. It is amazing how great this turns out.
I think that was a very interesting idea. You could save yourself lots of money to by doing it this way.
Many home based business owners feel that they cannot do this themselves, or if they give it a shot, struggle with it. Even if they end up hiring someone, the sales copy is still bad.
What was suggested on the call is to record yourself or have someone record for you as you talk about your business and its benefits. You would just be speaking from your heart and be yourself. Then, you turn this into a sales letter. It is amazing how great this turns out.
I think that was a very interesting idea. You could save yourself lots of money to by doing it this way.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
The Airline Industry - Wharton Style
Did not mean for a series to develop but it has. First I pointed to the Economist talking about the ills of the US aviation industry (esp customer service) and then NPR. Now a good read from Wharton called "Feel Free to Move About the Airport: Turbulence Continues to Roil the Airline Industry".
The article continues the list of horror stories for delays and customer non-service but in Wharton style tries to find the reasons (beyond Airline stupidity). Reasons discussed include:
The article continues the list of horror stories for delays and customer non-service but in Wharton style tries to find the reasons (beyond Airline stupidity). Reasons discussed include:
- The hub and spoke system being at fault because it is not a scalable and small shocks at one airport effect everyone;
- Over protective bankruptcy laws making airlines inefficient;
- Simply the record demand levels;
- Antiquated safety rules slowing down take off and landing (such a prohibition on being within 20 miles of a plane that took off before you);
- The lack of an economic penalty for bad service and delays meaning then is no incentive to improve; and
- Limited access for better run and more customer focused competitors.
If you love a list of hotel sites, you'll like (and hate) TOP 100 HOTEL SITES
Found this site while surfing around. Claims to be a list of the "Top 100 Hotel Sites". List is generated using
The URL of every Hotel site was found in multiple internet searches and the amount of mentions of site's addresses is used to generate the rating. Hotel directory and travel guide. Includes information on tours attractions, restaurants, hotels reservations, travel jobs and more.Whatever. There are some really bizarre rankings here. TripAdvisor is number one, Orbitz three, Booking.com four, Hotels.com five and Expedia six - all of which sounds find. However stuck at number two is myswitzerland.com, which undermines the whole list. Missing from the list are Wotif, HotelClub, RatesToGo, Rakuten and probably many more. Can't say either way if this is run by legitimate enthusiasts or just a link farm...and don't care. If you ignore the rankings and order, it provides a decent list a lot of the main (but also the minor) online hotel players.
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