The newest College University… The University of Stress Free Service

“College Hunks Hauling Junk” was started in the summer of 2003 simply by a group of college friends trying to make money. They started by borrowing a beat up cargo van. The “College Hunks” were called anytime someone in the neighborhood needed some strong guys and a truck for transportation or removal. In 2012 College Hunks Hauling Junk is a national company with clients including the government, Fortune 500, and over 70,000 homeowners. Many companies may be similar to this, although the “Hunks” like to think they are much different. They focus on providing friendly, knowledgeable, and clean-cut employees. They focus on customer relationships and developing close friendships with every one of their customers. This company is now considered a “college university” in a sense. They are currently the largest employer of college students in the nation. This business builds America’s leaders and is a perfect model for future entrepreneurs. The future of The Hunks is very bright.

You may ask, “What can we learn from this?” Well, this is a perfect example of how anyone in today’s world can become successful if they word hard and commit themselves to the task at hand. Someone as young as a college student can make a difference in this world, it just takes diligence.  The College Hunks have not only developed an outstanding business model, but also taught a very important life lesson. It is going to be interesting to continue to hear about the Hunks and where this business goes in the future.

Professional athletes have been making headlines for many years here in the United States; however, some have been making headlines based on posts that they made on their Twitter pages. For those who do not know, twitter.com, is a microblogging social media outlet. Posts are 140 characters are less and many celebrities, athletes, and TV personalities have been using it to gain more fans and followers. Today athletes have been causing arguments based on how professional it is for them to be using Twitter especially during competition or about their team that they are employed by. Two of the more controversial tweets  by athletes over the past two years have been by NBA mega-star Lebron James. He tweeted:

This was in response to many people who criticized him on his decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat. The other one was by Pittsburgh Steelers starting running back Rashard Mendenhall:

This was in response to the news that Osama Bin Laden had been killed.

The bottom line is that these men and women are in the limelight 24/7 whether they like it or not. That is what they signed up for when they became a pro athlete. They do not have to be role models per se and everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but I think some of these athletes need to be more conscientious about their social media “game.” Twitter is a great use and following many celebrities and athletes is worth while, but due to their place in the public eye it is their duty to make sure that they are responsibly keeping up with their social media networks. That is my opinion, what is yours?

Do you have your own social media network page? Of course you do. It has been the craze of the millennium and billions sign on to use these websites everyday. Facebook.com has been the most popular social media over the past few years; however, on June 28th, 2011 Google Inc. launched their version of social media called Google+. Immediately a buzz surrounded the social media globe as many suspected that with the entrance of corporate powerhouse (Google) into social networking that it would soon over take Facebook as the leader in Social Media. Now over six months in to their campaign, Google+ still sits behind in the rankings compared to #1 Facebook and I believe (along with others) that is exactly where Google+ will remain for a long time.

Google is entering into the social media game a little too late. This is not like when Facebook overtook MySpace as number 1. Why? Well when Facebook entered into the battle over number 1 with MySpace, Zuckerberg took information management to the next level which MySpace simply did not have the vision to do. The change Facebook made compared to MySpace was huge, but the proposed ideas Google+ are making are simply not “BIG” enough to smite Facebook. Google+ will never gain enough respect to surpass Facebook because Google Inc. will always be seen as the search engine corporation. In marketing terms (as taught by the great Dr. Powell) “It is better to be first than to be better.” This means that since Facebook was the first at enhancing and mastering information sharing they will always be the go-to network even if someone can better their ideas (much like people believe Google+ has done).

Still don’t believe me? Here’s a quote form the Kanzuru Blog called “Why Google+ Will Never Surpass Facebook – Sorry Google Shareholders, it is not the next Facebook Killer” or as seen on technorati.com  under the title “Why Google+ is not the Facebook it Thinks it is.” The article says, “People will always see Google as just that: Google. Google is merely about information and passing information from one person to the next, from one point to another. This is all about marketing 101 – branding.” The article continues by going on to say, “Google is an information or “search for information” brand, not a social networking brand. Google+ does not have all of the quirks that made Google, “Google” when it came into the business of transferring information. Google was in and of the same – it was it’s brand but it was also it’s action, and it’s essence.” Though Google is a huge corporation and undoubtedly has created some of best innovations of the 21st century, it will never become the number 1 social media network it wants to become. Mainly, because Facebook is just better.

Here’s the link to the Kanzuru Blog that I used my quotes from:

http://onekanzuru.wordpress.com/2011/07/18/why-google-will-never-surpass-facebook-sorry-google-shareholders-it-is-not-the-next-facebook-killer/

Welcome to part two of my study on WordPress. Part one can be found <a href=”http://internet-entrepreneurship.com/wordpress-is-a-wonderful-whimsical-world/”>here</a>.

WordPress is actually a blog system, but it can easily be customized to create powerful websites. There are thousands of themes, plugins, and widgets that can help manage, promote, and improve your website. Just starting out? No problem. Go to wordpress.com and sign up for a free account. You can play with the online management interface, different themes, cool plugins, and even practice SEO techniques.

Have questions about WordPress? Feel free to email me: dabonz413@gmail.com

Want someone to develop a site for you, in WordPress or even full custom code? I offer the best prices on the market! Email me at dabonz413@gmail.com

I also post weekly here. Check out some of my other articles!

There are many ways to name a new company.

• Use the founder or inventor’s name (Hewlett-Packard)
• Describe what you do (Southwest Airlines)
• Describe an experience or image (Sprint)
• Take a word out of context (Apple)
• Make up a word (Google)

But, what should you be thinking about when deciding on a name?  The name of the business is crucial to its success.  It is what your customers will search online to find the company.  All other forms of advertising will be wasted if customers can’t find your website on Google.  One key aspect of naming that entrepreneurs often overlook is how the customers will find the business.  Most business schools will teach entrepreneurs to focus on how the name will influence the thoughts of the target market.  The only problem with this method is that they have to find the company before their perceptions can be changed.

Let’s look at how to make a good searchable business name.

Step 1:  Eliminate names that have similar abbreviations to well-known companies or organizations

What will people find online if they search my business name or an abbreviation of it?  Indigo Business Management Co. sounds like a great business name, right?  What do you find when you Google its abbreviation?  The trick for this step is to have a business name that won’t have to compete against an SEO giant when shortened.

Step 2:  Use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool to find relevant words that have high search numbers with as little competition as possible.

The goal here is to find terms that people are searching but that few companies use.  Make a list of words that are relevant to your business.  Take out the ones that violate the first step.  Then use the Keyword Tool to narrow your list to the terms that are winnable.

Step 3:  Take your filtered & strained alphabet soup and brainstorm business names

After you have finished steps 1 and 2 you can continue with conventional business naming wisdom.  Your future SEO work will be much easier.  Now, people will be able to find your company website after they see your commercial on TV.  The IBM will have to do their own advertising.

If you have an online business then you probably have some form of customer support.  Often this appears as a “Contact Us” tab on the menu of your website.  From your experience as a customer, can you honestly say that you have ever been happy with a standard web form?  When you are trying to resolve an issue you usually want to talk to someone from the company that is courteous and really knows the product.

Traditional human tech support associates can be very unreliable and expensive.  There’s the lease on the building, salaries and training costs.  All of this might add up to several hundred thousand dollars and humans can be very unreliable.  What if there was a computer generated AI that could listen to customer questions and answer intelligently?

Sydney based MyCyberTwin is a company that attempts to fill the online customer service niche.  Their CGI customer service representative will answer almost any question quickly and intuitively.  The good news is that any company can afford this technology.  Prices range from $25/month to $15,000/month + a $300,000 startup fee for the super customized version.  You can ask her questions just as you would ask a human.  When you ask her “Do you have Twitter?” she will respond with the companies Twitter ID.

Unfortunately, as a technology professor at Grove City College says, computers are idiots.  They only do as their programming tells them.  They can’t improvise very well when faced with an unexpected question.  When this Virtual Human was asked “If I ordered a pair of shoes now, when do you think I can get them shipped to me?” she replied, “Things often look more complete when they are in a pair, less lonely perhaps. Would you agree?”.  Artificial Intelligence still has a long way to go before good old fashioned humans are obsolete.