Sweet Victory

Compare your website traffic to four of your competitors at Alexaholic .

Given that there are approximately 50 million .COM domains registered, it is indeed true that the low-hanging fruit domain names are overwhelming taken, and your chances of lucking upon an unnoticed available three-letter acronym (TLA) are close to zero, and your only recourse would be to haggle with domain speculators. How tough is it to find a good domain? Click here to find out.

Give people what they need , not what they say they need -- interviews are tricky. People will swear up and down that they would buy a product you describe if only it were available, and then fail to do so as soon as it is. Likewise, in conversation an idea can sound terrible, but in actualization the idea can become a compelling product. You have to sherlock out the truth of the interest people express, and "yes/no" questions are usually less useful than "how much" or "how bad" questions. Really, you should read the entire article , but that was the phrase that resonates most with me. It reminds me of an old phrase (which curiously I couldn't find attributions for on ye ole' Internet): The problem the patient brings you is never the real problem. If they were strong enough to face the real problem, they wouldn't need you.

If you fund your company, even a little, you've just sold it. Maybe not today, or tomorrow, but one day. That's because rational investors are funding your company in the expectation that you are going to sell it and make them a profit. (sure there are exceptions, but not many). So, if you don't expect that your company will be easy to sell for a big profit, or you don't ever want to sell your company, it's not a smart idea to raise money for it. From Seth .

Another study Renvoise quotes asked people to accept money for placing a large billboard in their front yards. The success rate was more than seven times higher if the homeowners had first agreed to display a much smaller postcard in a window. The moral: Don’t underestimate the power of starting small. For more, go here .

Thought about Search Optimization and Paid Search? A great place to start is this post: On the heels of Hugh (who’s a big hero of mine), and Guy , I present you with the top 10 SEO lies told by ad agencies. 1.You really need metatags …if this was 1999. Now you need social bookmarking, press releases, content syndication, a blog and someone to run it, some viral content as linkbait, and about 500 more good sites linking to yours with your targeted anchor text, but we don’t actually DO any of that yet. 2. We shouldn’t have a problem ranking you for “home loans”. Actually, we could probably buy your way in on PPC if you can afford $5 clicks. Even if you had 100k budget to spend just on ranking for that phrase you’re probably screwed, but you’ll be fine just ranking for “low rate home refinancing loans in detroit” instead right? 3. Links aren’t really that important. Don’t worry, our crappy corporate-speak content should attract them naturally. If it doesn’t we’ll just continue to ch...

Great link from Tick : The first step is to only aim at one niche at a time until you have mastered it. Step two is to create a dynamic message which will address the main desire or fear of your customers. Step three is to become an obvious expert. Step four, therefore, is to identify 100 important present or potential customers/clients and contact them at least every ten days with your best marketing message (see step two). Step five is to develop a referral system which would include features such as asking for introductions, developing an industry group and appreciation activities.