responsible

The Internet has changed the whole nature of markets. The purchaser is now in the driving seat. He or she can get a mass of information on available products without revealing who they are to potential sellers. This changed world has been described in previous newsletters. In theory, it all sounds fine. In practice, it's not turning out that way.

This week someone asked me to identify how I was being irresponsible to my business. My first reaction was denial. I am not irresponsible. I work long hours. My middle name could be "Responsible", for goodness sake.

What is PPC? Pay-Per-Click is a paid form of advertising, popularized mostly by the "search engine" GoTo (now called Overture). The concept is fairly simple. Businesses bid to be placed at or near the top of the search results for particular keyword phrases. The bidding is done on a "per-click" basis, meaning that a company pays a specific amount every time the engine sends them a visitor. In addition, the top results on Overture also show up in the results of many of the popular search engines (usually listed as "sponsored" or "featured" results). Google has also recently come up with a similar version of PPC (AdWords Select) that has taken over some of the engines that used to display Overture results (most notably AOL Search).

Do you ever think to yourself, "I can't do that?" Most likely, it is your present beliefs that may be causing you to doubt your own abilities. After all, the only thing that can ever stop you from doing or getting anything is a thought.