Andy Parkinson’s World

This is a test post.

In a bad economy, people tend to buy only the things they need – not the things they want. This means your marketing probably needs to change. Most likely, you’re a “nice to have”. You’ve got to become a “need to have”. Seth Godin calls for changing your perception so you can change your story.
Marketing [...]

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTIONER
Title: Why Talent Is Overrated
Competencies: self-development, talent management, performance management
Who benefits: individuals with career aspirations, managers and supervisors of high potential employees, coaches
Consultant Usage: career development, career coaching, executive coaching
What’s it about? Two 22-year olds.  Recent college grads.  Hired by a large company along with a bunch of other guys (it [...]

At a party last weekend, I spent some time talking to a young man whose company was contemplating layoffs. One of my coaching clients wants to talk about what she and her husband should do if his company cuts his hours and his pay.
There are a lot of people in similar situations. Maybe you’re one [...]

I was at a dinner party the other day and observed the following fascinating exchange (names have been changed to protect the innocent ):
Cheryl is enjoying her wine and poking away at her Blackberry when she notices her acquantance Jude had just arrived. Cheryl gets up and walks over to Jude. They greet eachother with a hug’s and hello’s. Jude asks, “Hey! How [...]

Eighth in a series of articles on SEO and website marketing appearing every Thursday.
We have talked about what is important for search engines but it is also important to talk about what is important to customers.  Anyone who comes to your website is a customer or a potential customer.
There are three things that are [...]

As more and more marketers are discovering, press releases are a good way to increase your website traffic without much in the way of out-of-pocket costs. But with an average of more than 2000 press releases issued every business day, you’ve got to do more than just write a release. Sarah Evans has some good [...]

“I have to exercise in the morning before my brain figures out what I’m doing.”
Marsha Doble

Do you ever wonder if leaders are losing their mind based on the stupid decisions or actions they tend to make? Maybe the phrase “losing it” really has some scientific backing.
Indeed, all of us actually start to lose brain [...]

Consumers are telling researchers that free shipping is a critical buying factor these days. In a recent comScore study, 72% of consumers said that if an e-commerce site eliminated free shipping, they would switch to a site that offers free shipping. The LA Times found that nearly 80% of consumers are more likely to shop [...]

For anyone who asks me where to get started with web analytics, I recommend Google Analytics. It’s free, it’s comprehensive enough for most web owners, and it’s very intuitive. It also – I’m constantly reminded – tends to filter information in ways that don’t always allow the complete story to show through. This bothers some [...]