Google first launched its Apps program back in 2007 as an alternative for businesses to the traditional Office suite of tools.  Whilst most businesses will be more than catered for with the free version, there is a Premier version that gives tech support and more email storage for a paltry $50 per year per user.  Plus, in April this year, Google added the ability for businesses to pay just $5 per app per user per month.

Who's using Google Apps?

According to Google, 3 million plus businesses and 30 million plus private persons are signed up for it.  That's a powerful user base to allow Google to go even further, because you know many of those will be paying customers = more revenue!  Their impact on small and medium-sized businesses has caused Microsoft to release its Office 365 recently in the hope it will offset the inroads GA has been making on MS's core customer base.

The 5 reasons GA is transforming business

1. Cost effective cloud storage.  Businesses can get the tools they need when they need them without investing in large amounts of space or applications.  These apps don't need any software or hardware, and require only

One of the most common questions I'm asked is, "Is meta data still useful?"  To which my answer is an ambiguous, "No!"  Let me qualify that a bit...

For SEO (search engine optimization) purposes, yes, they truly are dead.  At least from Google's point of view.  And, I would say, the other 2 biggies in search - Yahoo and Bing - would be right behind Google (albeit a long way behind!).  Have a look at the video below from the head of Google's Webspam team, Matt Cutts (you can also look at his blog here).  He is VERY definite about Google not caring less about how many hours you've spent crafting beautiful meta tags.

That said, if you picked it up from the video, the description meta tag is still worth using, if only to entice potential visitors to your site.  It's the one we spend the most time on to get right.  As Matt said, this is the one that, if it seems to state really well what the page is about, that Google will display as the snippet in an organic search result.  This can be very important to give the potential visitor a taste of what

Maybe you, like me, remember the "good old days" of marketing on the Internet.  The late 80's and early 90's were very much the wild, wild west of having an online presence.  Clunky websites with little pizzazz, zero visitor interactivity, and the same information you'd find on the company's brochures.  In short, their website was just a brochure - and usually done with way less class than the original!

In a report from earlier this year, Forrester Research Inc from Cambridge, MA, USA, identified 5 critical trends for 2011 and forward in e-Commerce.

1. The growth of multi-channel monster.

An increasing number of retailers are now multi-channelling their marketing efforts and seeing more of their sales through their web divisions than previously. This tendency for the web channel to outstrip the physical retail store has been going on for years.  But much of this growth is coming at really critical times, like Christmas. In another study, Forrester conducted in December 2010, 49% of online shoppers agreed with the statement: "I shopped at stores less because I bought online instead" when thinking of thier Thanksgiving experiences (Source: Forrester and Bizrate Insights Holiday Flash Survey.).
And there is nothing to show that

I am often met with fear and trepidation when I ask clients to give me some content for their website.  "I can't write!" I hear very commonly.  The good news is you don't have to - we can do it for you!  So, what, we're experts on every subject?  Hardly!  But we do know some good questions to ask, and this allows us to write great articles about any subject that you give us the information on.  Here's a brief idea on the sort of things we can ask to jog you into giving us facts we can then weave into content.

• When did you start your business and why?
• What's your USP (Unique Selling Point)?
• What are your <insert number> major products/services?
• Who are your staff?  Tell us about their background (better still have them write it).
• What concerns do customers in your industry have?  How does <insert company name> help them overcome those worries?

When writing articles, be they ordinary website articles or blogs, think of the potential reader, and then think WIIFM - what's in it for me?  Let's face it, we all WANT!  And, generally, we want new, improved, more depth, etc.  We don't want yesterday's