bizthreads.net: Business Information for Entrepreneurs by an Entrepreneur

I have been fascinated watching the rise and fall of “question” sites, in which users pay for answers to their questions. When I've looked at these sites I've asked myself, “Who would pay for that? How is this a viable business?” Google's decision doesn't surprise me here.

First, I can't imagine sitting at my computer as a freelance question answerer looking for questions. The pay doesn't seem really high (a couple dollars per question is what I've seen commonly). With some questions going for more, the real question becomes “How much can the market bear? How much is someone willing to pay for an answer?”

The article makes a very valid point: if someone looks hard enough they'll find the answer for free online. I just don't see a need for this kind of business.

I've been doing a lot of reading about business ethics recently. Employee theft is out of control. Bad CEOs and the whistleblowers make the news constantly. As I write this, I see this headline flash across my newsticker: http://moneycentral.msn.com/inc/news/providerredir.asp?feed=OBR&Date=20061122&ID=6219008 Yet another corporate ethics scandal.

Creating an ethical climate is important, not only to make sure that employees are serving customers properly, but so we can sleep at night and stay out of jail because of their actions.

I've read a lot about the idea of rewarding ethical behavior but I haven't heard many good concrete ideas. After all, how do you reward someone for doing what they are supposed to be doing day-in and day-out?

So, I'm posing this question to my readers: how do you reward ethical behavior?

Avid gamers lined up for days — yes days — in order to pay $600 for a brand new PlayStation 3 (which was released in a limited shipment to North America earlier this month).

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15854413/

In an interesting move by PlayStation's creator, Sony, they released the product in various stages around the world: November 17th in North America… not until spring next year for release in Europe!

As a result, ambitious entrepreneurs waited in line, alongside the gamers, to pay $600 and then resell them on eBay to European gamers for much, much more. Although rumors were flying around that the most paid was $15,000, I've only been able to see about $3000 as the standard resale price.

Not being a gamer myself, I would have a hard time standing in line for several days just to buy a $600 game system. However, as an entrepreneur, a $2400 profit for standing around for a couple days sounds pretty good to me.

This report was one of many telling of KFC's rebranding strategy and their attempt to create buzz by making some kind of gigantic logo, visible from outer space. There are actually two pieces of rebranding going on in this report and I'd like to be critical and complimentary to KFC.

First, the criticism - unless they are hoping to later leverage this gigantic picture into some kind of marketing scheme (perhaps combining Google Maps) it seems like a weak attempt at creating a buzz. It's a big picture that is viewable from space. So what?

Second, the compliment: It's great to see that KFC has rebranded “the Colonel.” I have watched with fascination as they struggled in the past few years to work through their identity. They made the huge corporate change from Kentucky Fried Chicken to KFC to get away from the negative association with “fried”… then they made some weak attempts at marketing KFC as healthy by suggesting that KFC meant “Kitchen Fresh Chicken.” Finally they are going back to their roots and eschewing the healthy aspect to instead adopt the down-home country cooking angle: a wholesome image from yesteryear that will likely resonate with their market much more clearly than an attempt at appearing healthy.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/291341_msft3d07.html

I'm a big user of Google's map function: with the amount of traveling I do I'm on there about once a week plotting my trips, both local and long-distance. I'm not a north — south — east — west person… I prefer landmarks (turn left at the church, turn right at the blue store, etc.) so I use Google's hybrid system which combines maps with satellite imagery.

Microsoft, in its ongoing attempt to unseat Google as the king of the online universe, is offering users the ability to zoom through 3 dimensional views of major cities. Google does offer a similar service but Microsoft's seems like it will be more widely available (at least for now).

This is helpful for landmark travelers like me. And, it's just plain cool. But more importantly there are some serious potential advertising opportunities as well: store owners will likely be able to create store-front images and electronic billboards targeted to the person searching (so that a senior looking for directions might not see an indie-rock music store but a teenager might).

Here's what I predict will happen:

1. In the near future we'll see some advertising sales.
2. Google will move their similar product into the mainstream (it is currently a separately launching program).
3. Users will prefer this function to maps.
4. Google will move forward with advanced advertising techniques.

It's reported in this article MySpace to Block Illegal Use of Copyrighted Music that MySpace.com is tightening its restrictions on users who post copyrighted music and video, including deleting the accounts of repeat offenders.

I am certainly in favor of strengthening copyright laws, which have been fairly lax online these past few years. And it's not just coming in a trickle; copyright support is appearing in a torrent and the most popular sites, including YouTube and MySpace are finally willing to risk losing users who violate copyright laws.

It will be interesting to watch the full impact of these decisions unfold in the next year or two as those who use and abuse copyrights face the consequences. Of course, it also spells opportunity for some enterprising individuals who operate within the existing laws!

In a previous blog I talked about Mark Cuban's critical analysis of YouTube.com being a copyright infringement lawsuit waiting to happen. Just a week later, Google bought YouTube for $1.6 billion.

No one sued YouTube before because it didn't make any money. But what about now that it is owned by the obscenely wealthy Google.com?

It seems that during the deal signed between Google and YouTube, some companies including Universal Music, Sony BMG, and Warner all are participating in some kind of deal in order to get in on the action as a way to (potentially) ward off lawsuits.

Then, one day later, and no surprise to anyone,YouTube deleted over 29,500 videos because a coalition of over 20 Japanese organizations wanted to deal with copyright infringement.

What's my take on this? The problems are just beginning. They'll get ironed out eventually but there will be more deletions before it's through.

But more than that, there's a greater copyright issue at stake here. The web is redefining what people think about copyright and how they treat it. It's so easy to copy and paste and call it your own that companies are struggling just to keep up… with very little to effectively deal with the situation.

I confess to not really being into video or computers games very much. I spend large portions of my day online running my businesses so I'm happy to turn off my computer and do something else. So perhaps you'll forgive me for completely missing this trend until now.

Recently, a news article reported that Reuters (the news agency)has bought into something called “Second Life.”

I didn't know what Second Life was so I checked it out. At first I thought, “Oh, it's just an online game; it's strange that Reuters would buy into it.” Then I looked closer.

It's more like a social site (like MySpace.com or Yahoo360 where people can interact with other people) in a computer-based 3D world. People can live personal and professional lives online in this Second Life world

What amazed me is, according to the Second Life website, there are nearly a million users and (at the time of this writing) almost $400,000 real dollars have been spent in the last 24-hours. These fictional people represent real people and these real people are buying real products and services… which is why Reuters has joined them.

Does your business have an opportunity to make money by selling products to computer-animated people? Second Life is inviting businesses to take part: http://secondlife.com/businesspartners

As you know (by reading this blog) a blog is an ongoing online diary-style site typically posted with the most recent entry at the top. Audio blogging is where you simply create an MP3 file (which is a sound file that computers can read) and place it on your blog for others to hear. (Video blogs — also known as vidblogs or vlogs — are very similar but use video instead of audio).

Audioblogger (http://www.audioblogger.com/) allowed users to create and post MP3 file without any technical knowledge by offering a phone number that users could call where they could simply talk. That call was recorded and transferred into an MP3 format and posted on the user's blog.

Okay, that was a long description just to tell you this…

Audioblogger.com is closing its doors as of November 1st.

Blogging is a great way to connect with your customers and audioblogging is quick and convenient, especially for those who don't like to type. If you have a blog and want to try audioblogging, don't despair, audioblogger.com isn't the only company. Try http://www.hipcast.com/.

Tomorrow I'm going to talk more about this closure and put it into the perspective of the web itself.

From time to time I lead local roundtable discussions between entrepreneurs who want to grow stronger by learning from other entrepreneurs. I love the fresh, frank, and spirited discussion that results from those roundtables.

DiscussThis email list management, a site to create and manage email discussion groups, comes as close as you can to that fresh and spirited discussion without being face-to-face.

Collaboration between employees and between business owners will make every business stronger. DiscussThis creates the means by which that can happen effectively.

· Create a list and share an ongoing business-building discussion.
· Keep customers in the loop to changes you see taking place in the industry that will affect them.
· Help employees interact more effectively.

Working together will make your businesses stronger!