Some industries have small consequences if you mess up.  A florist forgets to include one of the flowers in a display.  A painter uses the wrong color on a hallway. Other industries, such as law, consulting and insurance, potentially have much more severe consequences.  If you are in one of these industries, you would be wise to use a useful tool called a “Memo To File”.

A Memo To File is essentially a way to record important information and have it readily accessible if/when you need to remember it.

Usually when I discuss optimizing keywords I am referring to targeting search engines like Google, but what about the “niche” search engines that are mushrooming up all over?  Those search engines are often used not just by consumers, but also by job recruiters (among others).

I’ll take for example a site like Monster.com or Craigslist, both sites with tons of resumes posted on there.  How do you get your resume seen by as many recruiters as possible?

My blogging pal, Mitch Keeler, a seasoned writer about tech and web hosting, posted an article of mine on his popular blog Mitchelaneous.  My post covered some quick methods you can use to enhance you site from a search engine optimization (SEO) aspect.  Due to the large number of factors involved in SEO, I only covered some steps right on your site (as opposed to link building and other “off-site” methods).

Click here to view my search engine optimization article

Amazon has just announced that they are offering several widgets (small interactive units that can be placed on any site) to help Amazon Associates sell more products.

These widgets include interesting options like a tag cloud, a slideshow, your favorites, and several other personalized options you can modify from your Amazon Associates account.

Amazon’s widget builder includes support for all major blog systems, such as WordPress, TypePad, etc.

Example of an Amazon Widget

This development by Amazon is likely a move to catch up to Google, which just released its own version of Widget Ads, which will operate like Google Adsense, but with more interactive units.

Sprint, the cellular provider, has launched an a website called “Waitless” (http://www.waitless.org/) to promote their early night minutes feature, which starts at 7PM instead of most competitors who start at 9PM.  The site features video tips, called Sprintcuts, for saving time on everyday things like pouring ketchup (good tip), parking your car (terrible tip), and even how to soothe a baby.  Additionally, the site offers a calculator to help you figure out how much time you will spend in your life doing “boring” things.  Will this campaign succeed or flop?

Here is one of the (funnier) time-saving ads they made:

Mint, the web 2.0 online money management system, went live today.  Mint had been in development for quite some time, and I was excited to see how they planned to simplify personal finance.  I had a chance to take it for a test drive, and I have some good news - it is incredibly useful.  Best of all, it’s free!

What Can Mint Do?

Mint Transactions Screenshot

Apple announced today that it has sold 1 million iPhones in just 74 days, in a move that has the industry buzzing about the effect on software developers, cell phone manufacturers, and wireless service providers.

Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, stated that it took 2 years to sell the same amount of iPods. 

This development comes just a week after Apple shocked everyone and lowered the price of the iPhone to $399 ($200 off the original price).  That switch, while angering some past purchasers of the iPhone at the original price (who were eventually offered a $100 credit with Apple as appeasement), also allowed Apple to move more aggressively into the cell phone market.

A few years back, I consulted at a restaurant which was having trouble making rent. The total space was small to begin with, and gave off a stuffy feeling. On one side was a row of refrigerated display cases, sporting an assortment of salads, poultry and beef.  Across the walking space was a row of bar-type seating facing a wall.  The theme of the mostly takeout restaurant was Mediterranean food in a homey atmosphere, and behind the register were large jars of pickles on display.  On top of the soda machines were wicker baskets (used as centerpieces) that were being stored for the occasional catering job. 

I’ve been hearing friends and family complain about dealing with their wireless providers for years, and I’m sure you have too (or maybe you were the complainer?).  This is not uncommon, since many of the policies of cellular providers are unethical and designed to trick you. This post will investigate their incentive structure, and how to turn it around for your benefit.

Some of the more common unethical practices by cellular providers:

Google released a new feature on Google Maps called My Maps, which allows users to make custom landmarks such as road trip stops, vacation spots, favorite restaurants and more.  Additionally, My Maps allows you to share these maps with friends.  The platform aspect of this allows developers to import data into My Maps, which could help you geographically see where your friends are, see gas prices on the map, and all sorts of other nifty things.  To see this in action, I found a Googleplex My Map, which will show you around the Google Headquarters.  This is a new type of social networking which has many possibilities.  I have come up with just a few myself, but I’d love to hear of anything more you’ve thought of as a potential application of this new feature.