listicles

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who sues most of all? These 10 companies based on trademark lawsuits from 2001-2006 taken from the sidebar of this article:

1. Microsoft
2. Cendent
3. Altria/Philip Morris
4. Best Western
5. Dunkin’ Donuts
6. Lorillard Tobacco
7. Levi Strauss
8. Baskin-Robbins
9. Chanel
10. Nike

So what can be gleamed from this info? Either these companies are overprotective or have several others infringing on their IP.

[via Kottke]

Over the last two years, blogging (and social sites in general) have been big sellers for Griffio. The short answer is because they work in boosting exposure, influence, and opportunities. But sadly, the blog drop-out rate is ridiculous. I’ve heard as little as 1% of all newly created blogs continue publishing after only a short while. To counter that futile fate, here are (5) guidelines for building a successful blog should you decide to start one: (more…)

Use It lists the top 10 web design mistakes for 2006 with a lot of good ones to boot! Notable pet peeves include poor search on sites (I’m guilty when I don’t use Google on a site), PDF files (ditch ‘em everyone!), poor usability by not changing the color of visited links (guilty here), and force opening new browser windows (annoying).

If I can change, and you can change, we can all change… Hit the source link for the goods.

UPDATE: Added forgotten link. Whoops!

A blog can be an excellent tool for building “You Inc.” For those out of the loop, a blog is nothing more than an easily updateable Web site intended to inform or influence. Here are eight things to avoid while blogging to help attract site visitors, garner trust, heighten exposure and increase revenues. (more…)

Steve Pavlina writes: “Having been a non-employee for about 14 years now, I’ve made my share of stupid business mistakes. I’ve also coached a number of people to start their own businesses, and I’ve seen many of them make similar mistakes.” (more…)

For all you salesman out there (which is just about anyone who tries to influence others), here are three of the most consistent prospecting methods:

1. Asking for referrals. Remember to always ask clients, colleagues, even prospects if they know anyone who could benefit from your services.
2. Executive Networking. Let your work speak for itself. Get your client CEO’s to call or email others in their industry on your behalf. Executive-to-executive sales will always outperform seller-to-executive sales.
3. Cold Calling. Yup. That’s right. Contrary to popular belief, the reason this method keeps re-occurring in sales is that it works. No other method can increase your prospecting efforts like cold calling can. (I have personally closed many profitable clients this way.)

There are lots of other ways to build your pipelines, but hopefully this will prioritize them and remind you of what works.

[Source: Power Prospecting by Patrick Hansen]