Running a business can be EXTREMELY hard, especially if you ignore some of the fundamental principles of running a business.  I know, because I’ve been there before.  I’ve tried to be all things to all people, and in the process, I probably disappointed a lot more people than I needed to… and I worked myself WAY too hard to produce those results.

Thankfully, I had someone sit me down and pull out a piece of paper and draw the following for me:

You don’t necessarily have to marry 2 of these (although most businesses do)… but you better make sure that your clients do.  You can be the fast, cheap, (mediocre quality) widget maker for one client and the high quality, expensive widget maker (who takes a long time to produce his product) to another.  This type of variety might make business planning a challenge, but it’s still a possible approach.

Just don’t end up pursuing all 3 at the same time.  You might think, why wouldn’t you want to deliver all 3 for your clients?  Surely, you would dominate your marketplace, right?

If you can do it without burning out or feeling resentful, maybe you would.  Chances are, you’ll realize that you’re producing better work than your competitors, working much harder than they are to complete it quickly, and making less money.  So pick 2 and be happy… or pick 3 and be miserable.

This morning I opened up my web browser, like I always do, and read the topics on MSNBC’s homepage to see if there was anything interesting in the news today. Surprisingly, one of the featured articles was about spammers using Google to avoid spam blockers.

Hmm…. as an avid Shoemoney reader, this article seems awfully familiar… as in, Jeremy posted this story 4 months ago! So, is MSNBC late to the party on this, or are they ripping off a hard-working blogger without giving any attribution?

But starting in January, spammers began flooding inboxes with a new kind of spam that uses a much simpler form of deception…

Really? Starting in January??? Nice research MSNBC. You guys are awesome!

A wish becomes a goal once it’s written down… or in this case typed into Wordpress. As I start this blog, I want to lay out a few goals for its growth, and my overall approach to this project. Generally, I think these are good goals for any blog as it begins:

• Although this site IS monetized, and I intend to track and report earnings that are generated by this blog, that isn’t going to be my focus. I intend to write quality content that adds value to my readers (thereby gaining readers). Any blog earnings are a fortunate byproduct.
• Post Daily - In preparing this blog, I have already mapped out 30 pillar post to address, with many more rough concepts planned… and that’s not even taking into account all the news and happenings that will provide writing opportunities. There’s no excuse to miss days with so much to say.
• Encourage readership growth by commenting on other blogs (at least 3 posts per day). I read several great resources daily, and often have additional thoughts based on the articles I read. Adding value to someone else’s blog by posting quality comments will only do good for increasing my readership.
• Be generous with my linking. I want to reward great sites by affording them exposure and enhancing their search position. I will link to sites I like and use targeted anchor text.
• First milestones to pursue:
  • 100 RSS Subscribers
  • 1000 pageviews / day
  • March 7, 2008 - This site should have at least 40 posts
  • When milestones are reached, I will post about the tactics that enabled me to achieve them, and set new goals.

Microsoft is making an unsolicited bid to purchase Yahoo, which obviously will change the dynamic of the search marketplace, but aside from improving the combined financials of the two companies, what’s the big deal? What does this mean to Joe Average internet user / search engine marketer?

Honestly - not much. The most significant aspect of this potential deal in Microsoft’s favor is that they gain Yahoo’s profitable presence in the search world to offset the LOSS that Microsoft’s online division is presently producing. In addition, they can shed off duplicate staff in the merged company to provide the same operations at a lower cost… but that’s not really the problem Microsoft or Yahoo have been facing. They are suffering because they supply inferior product offerings and branding than their main competitor (Google).

Google will still hold a 2:1 advantage in search users over the combined companies… and I don’t think we’ll see it change anytime soon. Google has become ubiquitous with search. You don’t search for something, you “google” it. Google has become an ingrained part of our culture, and the merger of 2 also-rans isn’t going to supply superior brand equity. They will need to fundamentally improve their search offering if they want to take marketshare from Google.

So, what does a combined MSN-Yahoo need to do to succeed?

• Improve the back-end experience for advertisers who pay for placement in the search results. Yahoo and MSN have user interfaces that are fairly clunky compared to Google. This needs to change. Make it easy for people to spend their money and track the results.
• Distribute ads across both search platforms as quickly as possible, extending advertiser reach from one control panel. At my day job, we have plenty of clients who have been reluctant to advertise on Yahoo or MSN because they don’t feel the limited reach is worth the effort (and cost) required to maintain the accounts.
• Pick a brand and BUILD IT! Microsoft has a recent history of scrapping established brands. Hotmail vanished to become part of the MSN mail system, MSN search is rebranded as Live. None of this is helping to build customer loyalty. I don’t expect Microsoft to do it, but they should run all search efforts under the Yahoo brand.
• Consider reducing the company cut on ads to build the user base. This might not seem like the smartest thing in the world to do after dropping $40 billion to purchase a competitor, but by substantially reducing the company cut on publisher network advertisements for a period, the new company could attract a slew of publishers to their content network. Google’s content network produces a significant amount of revenue while enforcing the Google brand. MSN/Yahoo needs to pursue this market aggressively if they want to make a legitimate run at Google.

There are other approaches that would prove helpful as well, but these 4 are a good start. Especially considering that the search market is still in its relative infancy. Consider, from the MSNBC story above that:

Advertisers around the world are expected to double their spending on the Internet during the next three years as more people get their news and entertainment on the Web instead of television, radio, newspapers and magazines. The trend is expected to create an $80 billion online ad market in 2010, up from an estimated $40 billion last year.

There’s tremendous potential in the online search market, with a lot of future profit up for grabs. Just getting bigger doesn’t insure that those profits will flow to MSN / Yahoo - they have to get better.

What do you think? How can this merger challenge Google, and what does it mean to you the average internet user and search engine marketer?