Over at the American Express Open Forum site there are some great videos featuring Sir Richard Branson. Here is one I particularly like. “Stolen from Virgin Atlantic.”

It shows how an initial reaction to a problem would have been a missed opportunity had it not been for an innovative solution and a step away from the balance sheet.

We received the following email recently here at Big Ahha HQ:

Hello, my name is Chuck XXXXXXX and I am an internet marketing specialist. I was looking at websites under the keyword cuban coffee and came across your website http://bigahha.com. I see that you’re not ranked on the first page of Google for a cuban coffee search.

I’m not sure if you’re aware of why you’re ranked this low but more importantly how easily correctable this is.

There’s no reason you can’t have a top three ranking for the keyword cuban coffee based on your site structure and content. You have a very nice site.

What Chuck failed to see is that Big Ahha doesn’t sell or have much of anything to do with Cuban coffee beyond consuming a cup or two when given the chance.

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So I was struck by lightning a couple of weeks ago. It wasn’t that big a deal really. Luckily the guy upstairs felt it wasn’t my time and the only after effect was a numb arm for a couple of days. But in the vein of life flashing before your eyes I saw this new start up on Guy Kawasaki’s blog the other day. It is a company called Kronomy. If you go to Guy’s post, Make Your Life Flash Before Your Eyes, you can see his example using the new app. Like Guy I think beyond showing someones life I see a lot of potential for businesses to use this technology internally and as a marketing took to communicate within teams and to potential clients. It has the “sexy” factor that can keep people engaged in what you are trying to communicate. Check it out and ask how you could use it at your company. Oh and on a side note, most lightning strike deaths occur after a storm moves through an area so just because the storm is over doesn’t mean you may not be in for a shocking experience if you wander outside. Do yourself a favor and wait at least 30 minutes after the last lightning strike. That’s the recommendation from FEMA Thunderstorms and Lighning.

Alright time for a trip back to the 80’s. We all remember Field of Dreams , the baseball movie with Kevin Costner . Even if you didn’t see the movie you probably heard the quote…”If you build it, they will come!”

Well the business world isn’t a Hollywood movie with Kevin Costner. This quote comes to mind quite often when working with clients who have had a website for awhile and just aren’t seeing the results they hoped for. Having someone build a site for your business is only one part of having an online business and a small part at that. What is your strategy for marketing your website? I’m sure you have thought about how to market your business but specifically how are you driving people to your website? Just because you build it does NOT mean the business will come. Have you thought about any of the following?

• Email marketing campaigns to existing and or potential clients
• Sponsored links on search engines
• Google Ad words
• Start a blog about your company
• Create a MySpace or Facebook page for your business
• Make sure your website address is on all other marketing and client touch point material
• Check to be sure your site and your business is listed on all of the online directories of local businesses in your area
• Ask vendors or business partners to place reciprocal links on their sites and you will do the same for them

Those are just some of the ways we help our customers create and implement a strategy to successfully drive more business to their websites. Because if you just build it and don’t do the rest you could end up all washed up like Kevin in one of his less popular movies.

Waterworld