Jump Out of Your Skin

If you have ever Googled a service or business or service you may have noticed a listing of results with a Google Map to the left with the business names next to them.  These results are generated by using the Google Local Business Center service.  Add your business listing and details to this service and put your business name into the appropriate category and it will be added to the listing. Google helps you to step through the process very easily with a video and help files.  As part of my Web Design business I do this as part of my service for all clients.

If there is a lot of competition for your market and related businesses your site may not appear on the listing.

You then have to work on site SEO to ensure that Google lists you higher.  However if your competition has not added their site then you may possibly be the only listing there!!

Here are 5 tips for adding your business to the Local Business Center your site – far from comprehensive but will make some difference.

1. Fill in all the categories that are there for your niche (research your keywords to make sure the categories are accurate).  You can create your own categories if you do not like the ones Google presents to you.
2. Ideally have a phone number with the local prefix.
3. The closer your business address is to the city centre the better as Google checks this.
4. If possible add some additional information, an image or a video as this shows up attractively on the map and also shows that you are not just a spammer.
5. If you have not done so on your site create your address in a hcard format which is an XML standard for writing your contact details.  The current buzz is that this makes your details more accessible to Google and the Business Center.

So the new OS is out.  Apple told us there were 100 new features.  But I suspect that the number of actual visible user features are less so I tried to list the user features that are in the new OS.  I got stuck on 22 Can you help?

1. Cut, Copy and Paste (count these as 1 – not sure but I have)
2. Copy and Paste photos worth a list item I guess
3. Landscape keyboard
4. Spotlight search in applications
5. Search in Mail, Calendar, and iPod ‘ slightly different from previous search
6. Multimedia Messaging – MMS
7. Tethering – aka use you iPhone as a modem – network dependent
8. Support for new calendar types
9. Improved stocks application. The stocks application now allows you to read related news.
10. Stereo Bluetooth A2DP audio.
11. Note syncing with iTunes.
12. Automatic login in Safari.
13. Shake to shuffle music. You can turn this off for when running or walking.
14. Wi-Fi auto-login.
15. Anti-phishing. Mobile Safari now can warn you against malicious sites trying to scam you.
16. Extended parental controls.
17. Voice Memo Application
18. Send and receive files
19. Push notification
20. VOIP in apps
21. Rumbling e.g. the device will move like a joystick does.
22. Enhanced App Store
23. Delete or forward a single SMS onto another without the whole conversation.
24. New search facility on home page – just swipe left.

I am in the process of updating my iPhone to the new 3.0 release.  I have blogged about this recently and of course when it became available here in Europe I was excited.  So I downloaded it (nice and quickly).  Then when I went to upgrade it told me that the activation server was unavailable.  The fact that my kids with iPod touches did not have this problme (plus I paid for it ) was annoying.

But I decided there were at least 5 things I could do in the meantime that are of muc more value.

1. Tidy my desk.  My desk is in a mess with all my manuals, Spanish books and print outs.  iPhone server may still be available but my desk will be accessible.
2. Catch up on my e-mail and paperwork and update my todo list on paper – it is a day or two old.
3. My running log and marathon plan is on track currently but I need to print out my calendar so I have my goals for next week.  VIsible goals are important.
4. Have a beer – there is a nice cold one in the fridge MUCH  nicer than any OS.
5. Write this blog for you and prepare a review for tomorrow for the blogosphere.

As the US awakes I guess it could be tomorrow before I am upgraded. Sigh back to the beer.

I have been reading tonight about building an online brand a new term in social media.  At the moment I accept that I am present on-line but do not have a distinctive on-line brand.  However besides the linked article above there are some steps that I have taken to build my brand.

Twitter Presence

i work hard on Twitter to build my presence, share with other people what interests me and forward information that I find interesting.  I am a big fan of Twitter and think that it is a very powerful tool in social media.

Blog Regularly

I  keep this blog up to date regularly with information that I am passionate about and that I think people will find interesting.  I put solid work into this and make sure that the information is crisp and up to date.  A blog is really a personal perspective on the topics that are close to your heart.  It is great if people come visit, learn, add to their RSS feed but ultimately it will not change the focus of the content that you produce. Comments are useful however and in my recent PowerPoint post I did get some useful feedback that I plan to include in an update soon.

Build a Solid Business Proposition Web Site

I recently updated my web design site so that it can provide the best information about my products and offerings.  I work on it most days and hope that is also a valuable resource.  Even if you were not interested in using me to build your site I think it would be a good starting point in answering the basics on what is required for starting a web site and on-line presence.

Other Social Media Tools

I am still peering from a distance at tools like Stumbleupon, Friendfeed, Facebook, and Linkedin as  I do not want to enter this apce without think about where I want to end up.  I will probably dedicate a week or so to each of these tools over the coming months, enjoy what htey give me and in the process continue to build an on-line presence.