I agree that knowledge should be free, but the next person I see revealing their hard attained business practices in a public forum, I am going to feel the need to approach them, make them choose their own switch from an outside tree, then whip them with it.
This is the mistake I see most small businesses make: running their mouths too much. I understand you want to be helpful. I understand you want to pass knowledge around. Telling someone where to find a font is okay. Telling someone where to find cool clip art is okay. Telling someone your methods of placing Google Adsense to maximize revenue is kind of foolish.
The internet gives us a false sense of many things: security, popularity, and most importantly anonymity. People are too quick to blab; not realizing what they post is being indexed, linked, viewed, and monitored. Just think if your competitor came across your post, the one that revealed your business practices. That could really affect your business in negative ways.
For example, I have my own personal method of placing Google Adsense on my pages. If you visit any of my sites, you could probably figure out easily what the placement method is, it’s not that hard, kudos to you if you figure it out. However, if someone asked me about Google Adsense placement, I’d send them to this page: https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=17954&ctx=en:search&query=placement&topic=0&type=f I don’t like to tell anyone my methods because I don’t want my competitors to know and information tends to be digitally raped at this place called the internet.
Just use your head before you lend knowledge to others. If there is a certain way you do business that is out of the norm, something that is tailored to your business, or something you had to figure out a solution to on your own, it’s probably best you don’t go around making posts about it on the internet.
With saying that, I feel so much better now. This probably saved someone from getting a spanking.
“Ignore what other people think you like and listen to your heart, it’s your passions in life no one can rightfully criticize.”
Tia is CEO of Client Centers, LLC, an internet and graphic service business based in Florida since 2000. She is also the editor and founder of www.NerdByte.com
