Reviews

Review of Rework by Jason Fried For Contractors

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If you think your business needs a reset button, there is no better book to get you started than Jason Fried’s Rework. In it you will learn why simple is better. Not just for your bottom line but for your brain too. Since easy IS easier, you should take a few days to absorb this book and how it can make your business life a bit…well, easier! get the book Rework now. Can’t see the video? Click here.

The Angie’s List UnReview: Or Why I Hate Angie’s List For Contractors

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Why anyone would use a pay service for reviews in 2011 is beyond me. And why would any contractor use a service whose whole reason for being is to rip contractors? Face it, more people use Angie’s List to bitch than they do to praise. In the final analysis, Angie’s List takes your money for the privilege of you having to someday defend yourself  in the court of public opinion…which you NEVER win! Pass….

UPDATE: 5/31/2011

Below is a email marketing follow up I received just a few days after the above video post. If you are a contractor paying advertising dollars to AL, how do you feel when the very people you are giving money to to help promote your business is also forcing you to lower your prices? Let me ask you, is Angie’s List lowering their costs to help out contractors while the economy recovers? In a word…No!

contractor marketing with angies list

 

Update: 6/1/2011

So, I am leafing through this month’s issue of Inc. magazine, when I get to the advertising section, and what do my wondering eyes should appear? And ad for Angie’s List. If you read the ad, it says in the opening sentence, and I quote “Companies can’t pay to be on Angie’s List, so you can trust what your reading”. So I have to ask, what kind of spin-doctoring are we going to hear when someone from Angie’s List tries to clarify what that sentence means when Angie’s List DOES take money from companies to be on Angie’s List.

I am sure there is an explanation, but to you guys at Angie’s List, you realize that this all just looks bad don’t you?

 

angies list review

Review of Manta.com

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It’s funny this thing called the Internet. It was supposed to tear down borders and make the world closer by being able to reach out across the planet and talk to any one at any time. Little did we know that it would take less than 20 years for the Web to come full circle and have us all concentrating on what we already had…local relationships. Sites like Groupon, Yelp, Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook Places, Google Places and LivingSocial have us all checking in and commenting on our experiences with local merchants in almost real-time, not to mention the number of [...]

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When Tech Attacks

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For as much as I like technology and all that it provides; the ability to run a business from anywhere, the ability to compete with larger companies and the ability to bring you ideas and suggestions to help improve your own businesses, sometimes technology sucks. A little background While I do like most things shiny and new, I am relatively slow to adopt. For example, I don’t have an iPad, I still use an old iPod, and I do just fine with my old 35” TV…for now.

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My Direct Mail Rant

Warning — this post is a bit of a rant! First of all, I like getting junk mail. As any good marketer will tell you, I will steal an idea from anywhere. But if you are a window company in the Philadelphia area and advertised in this month’s Money Mailer, you got screwed with your pants on. And by the way, I use the term “junk mail” for a reason. Here’s why I have a client who calls me the General Contractor of marketing. I guess they call me that because I work with many companies to help market the [...]

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Review: Namechk Name Availability Service

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Although you may just be getting your feet wet in the social media space, it doesn’t mean that someone else out there doesn’t have the same personal or corporate name as you. Check out Namechk.com to see if your most commonly used user name is still available. Even if you are not planning on working inside some of these platforms, it still makes sense to protect your brand online. From the site: Namechk.com was designed by David Gosse and Andy Edinborough  to instantly show you if your desired or branded username was available at the majority of the top social [...]

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Review: Is Thumbtack an Answer To Google Instant For Contractors?

Since the sour economy has taken its toll on most advertising budgets, many contractors have become reliant on Google Maps and Google Places marketing platforms to promote their businesses for free. According to many of the contractors I talk to these two methods of free advertising has been a huge hit. But all that came under fire last week when Google launched their “Instant” search results. If you are not familiar with the new way Google displays results as you type, check out my short video here and Google’s video here. Is there a savior for local search? Introducing Thumbtack! [...]

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Review: Inc. Magazine’s How To on Optimizing Your Site for Search

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I have been an avid reader of Inc. magazine my entire adult life. Even through the newspaper and magazine downturn over the last 5 years Inc. continues to pump out great content. They don’t really have much competition when it comes to small business magazines; Fast Company is probably their closest competitor. But the differentiator is the Inc. 500, a list of the top 500 fastest growing private companies, which I devour and refer back to all year until the next Inc. 500 arrives at my doorstep. One more reason Inc. rocks is their How-To section, and this month is [...]

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