Yesterday I was sitting in a free weekly internet marketing class and was reflecting on the last few months. So much has been accomplished; got the temp website up and running, made it 50% through development of the full site, sent out 2 newsletters, and filled some key personnel positions.
Then on Tuesday I found out something that made my week, make that my month. I found out that I rank #3 on Yahoo for "ideas for inventions" which is freaking rad (if there was ever a good time to use the word "rad," that was it). And on MSN I rank #6 for "idea patent." Thanks to the internet marketing class, I was able to use tips and tools to improve my rankings. Unfortunately I also found out about the dreaded Google sandbox, which essentially disallows sites under 13-14 months old to rank on highly searched terms such as "invention," "patent," and "idea." So it will be another year before I can rank on Google. But I'm still very happy with the Yahoo & MSN results.
A couple quick pointers for new entrepreneurs related to the above enlightenment:
1. Go to as many events, classes, seminars, webinars that you possibly can. Sometimes I've considered not going to one, and then afterwards I was so thankful I went because I learned something new, or met a good contact, or picked up a useful tip.
2. Get hooked up with your local SBDC (funded by the SBA). They have classes, sometimes free, cheap hookups for legal advice, FREE consulting, and other great resources. I've been to 10 events in 8 weeks and I recommend you do the same.

Godspeed.

Bryan

Post, request, buy, sell ideas for inventions, patents, trademarks at IdeaTango.com. Connecting Members, Empowering Ideas.

www.myspace.com/bryandaigle My myspace page that I rarely update.

So based on several recommendations, I picked up one of the many Guerilla Marketing books. The guy, Levinson has like 30 guerilla marketing books, so you're bound to find something in your niche. It's a great read, especially for someone with little (or no) marketing background. He gives you quickies on competitive advantages, benefits for customers, branding identity . . . that's as far as I've gotten. But I must say he has helped me define who I should attract, and how to attract them. In terms of influencing my business, this is definitely a top 5 read, along with a Robert Kiyosaki "Rich Dad Poor Dad" book, and various other entrepreneur starter books.
I also chose a design for my business card which was exciting. I used elance.com again - the same site I used to bid out my website development - and got a quality product for cheap. Designoutpost.com is good too if you prefer to choose among designs, on elance you choose among designERS and then work with them to choose a design. But designoutpost.com is a tad more expensive than elance.com because of that.
Over and out.

Bryan

www.ideatango.com
www.bryandaigle.com
www.myspace.com/bryandaigle

Questions about unique business models and products. So how did eBay know it would be a home run? How did google know it would offer a whole portfolio of successful services. This is the question that plagues me. Perhaps they are copycats that see something successful in the competition, mimick it, and then tweak it to enhance the features. Something like what the Japanese automobile makers do to the American automakers. Take something, improve it, and suceed.
It seems like it's almost impossible, if not fully impossible, to create something "new" these days. Basically everything we create is just an improvement on something else. Google on yahoo, internet on data sharing, refigerator on icebox. How do you distinguish something that is new or something that is merely improved? I beg this question because in creating my website people need to define if something is "new" or "improved". Perhaps it is too much of a grey area and I shouldn't give the user that power, but what choice do I have?

Bryan
www.ideatango.com

www.idea-tango.com
www.myspace.com/bryandaigle

So today was about Marketing. In fact, I plan to focus on marketing almost exclusively for the next several weeks, as it's the area I know least about. But it's amazing how one has to put oneself in the customer's shoes, think like them, behave like them, determine where to spend your money. Almost like a psychology experiment. I started reading one of the many Guerilla Marketing books by Levinson. He has some really helpful points in there, hopefully I can make it work.
Part of my marketing is evaluating my competitive advantage which is . . . well it's BIG BIG secret so keep it quiet . . . making the website easy to use for everyday people. So I spent some time calling up prospects and customers to see what they like, dislike, and would potentially want to improve their user experience.
I also think I chose a logo, for the second time. I decided to have a fun logo rather than a professional logo. I figure that's better because if I want attract the average consumer to register, the fun logo will help.
Website development has started, so I'll keep you posted.

Bryan


Buy, sell, trade, exchange, and develop ideas for inventions, patents, or other types of intellectual property at www.ideatango.com.

www.idea-tango.com
www.bryandaigle.com
www.myspace.com/bryandaigle