Now this is a true story, I have changed the names to avoid any potential embarrassment or future legal proceedings.

I work in a small office where we work hard, 5 of us as a team, we build, develop and market websites, each area of our enterprise is kind of symbiotic, mutually supportive and generally intertwined with each other. A designer designs a site in order for the task of development to be as easy as possible, he/ she also takes into consideration how the elements of the design will perform with regards to search engine optimisation and customer retention. So you see, we are a team with many disciplines working towards a common goal.

We, as an agency, make use of some of the major web players as marketing tools, we use Google, Overture and other such companies to make online marketing a more profitable process.

One of these companies, who I should not name, though I will : “Google”, makes a well appreciated effort each year in sending out Business Gifts to agency staff. In the past they have famously distributed Google radios, Computer Accessories and other such well received gifts.

Last year the search engine company decided to present marketing staff worldwide with some beautiful LCD screens. This would have been a great idea had the search engine company not taken the decision to award these most enviable gifts to only 2 members of our team. To see the two ‘marketing’ people swaggering around with their corporate gifts irked me hugely. I took this up with the search engine company immediately, I emailed complaining that their antics had caused division and resentment in our office.

Now you may wonder how a company gains global dominance in a few years, reaches a turnover of billions and sits, with the untrendiest man on the planet, as pioneering leaders and shakers of the Internet can be trendier than sliced bread. Well the answer is this… they sent me and my other colleagues LCD Screens as Business Gifts, they saw the humour in my request and ensured that their logo made it into our hearts and Christmas stockings.

ParkatmyHouse.com is a new and innovative website that enables local residents with empty driveways and garages, and businesses or venues with unused car parks, to rent them out to drivers needing somewhere to park.

Motorists on their way to a hospital, sports stadium or train station for example, can make an arrangement with a homeowner to use his or her driveway on a one-off or regular, short-term or long-term basis.

ParkatmyHouse.com is being welcomed as a green solution to parking.By reducing on-street parking, the service will help ease traffic congestion and make the roads safer for pedestrians and cyclists. It will also preserve land which would otherwise be used for the construction of new parking facilities and cut down the amount of carbon emitted by vehicles circumnavigating areas in search of a parking space.

ParkatmyHouse.com was founded by 23 year-old Anthony Eskinazi whilst on holiday in San Francisco. Since its launch, the website has featured on BBC radio stations and in nearly all the national newspapers including The Times, The Daily Express and The Observer as well as in an array of international media.

On line web directories can serve a beautiful dual purpose for both the businesses listed and the customer.

Initially as many people come to a well made and sensibly structured directory such as the dMOZ they will be able to browse down through categories and refine their search until they land on a page with just what they are looking for.

It can be so much better than using a search engine as with each step you refine your selection.

On the other hand a business owner knows this and will surely want the customer to find them. The customers who eventually land on their site by means of such a business directory will, naturally, be good customers who, rather than randomly dropping in will actually have a real and targetted interest in the site’s products or services.
A further advantage to the business owner is that some search engines base their ranking upon inbound links from trustworthy sources, so a link from a bona fide directory will enhance the website in search engine optimisation terms also.

Directories will contain many useful subcategories such as at the Finance Section of the DMOZ, where one is able to see purely Finance Related Links.

Alexis Svenn at Article Alley

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