Question: What is Yahoo Answers?

Yahoo Answers is one area where Yahoo trumped Google. Google's short-lived site, which I don't even remember the name of, that's how short-lived it was, fell flat but Yahoo Answers has now over 200 million answers! Check out the best of at best at "Best of Answers". 200 million and growing -- keep it up. As as one recent commenter posted, it may even be a good way to drive traffic to your own site!

Question: What is a POS Machine?

POS stands for Point of Sale and in the business world it means a device or system which allows you to complete the sale transaction. It usually is at the checkout counter and involves a device to enter the transaction price and log the sale into the accounting system. POS systems can range from cash registers connected to computer networks down to as simple as a cash box and a notepad. A POS machine usually integrates the acceptance of credit cards for processing.

Question: Why Does Google Want to be on Your Mobile Phone?

One word -- Advertising! Google's bread and butter (and 99% of their revenue) is advertising and Google is always looking out for the future. Google knows that in 10 years, most people will access the Internet not via home computers but via mobile computing devices like cell phones and PDAs. Google doesn't care one bit about monthly service charges or per kb fees -- it's all about capturing an entire generation of eyeballs on the ads that they can serve on open and free cell phones.

Question: Where's Web 3.0?

Is is here yet? How would we know? That's the problem -- there is no one definition which everyone agrees on. For example, Reed Hastings, founder of Netflix, had this to say about the web:

Web 1.0 was dial-up, 50K average bandwidth, Web 2.0 is an average 1 megabit of bandwidth and Web 3.0 will be 10 megabits of bandwidth all the time, which will be the full video Web, and that will feel like Web 3.0.

So in his mind, Web 3.0 could be considered a completely video web where people communicate in two directions using video. We are starting to see this, of course, with the rise of video sharing sites like YouTube. You will still be able to find the best diet pill out there, but maybe this time the search will involve videos of people's testimonials, clinical research or infomercials.

Question: What is Semantic Search?

Knowing is the hard part -- there is no one definition which everyone agrees on. Here's another popular notion about Web 3.0: Turning the Internet from a collection of pages on servers to a giant database. What's the difference? Well in a database, information is stored in structured table which can be queried. As such data is defined by meta data which describes the content. The thinking is that search engines, instead of just matching words, will be able to match meanings and discern the value of content as it relates to a query.

Question: How Can You Sell Safety?

Well it all depends which type of safety you are involved in? Safety in cars and trucks is all about the ability of the vehicle to withstand a crash and keep the occupant safe. When it comes to home alarm systems, its all about deterrence and protecting you from the unknown. To this extent you can sell safety as the form of a product which protects you from the world. In both cases you are directly addressing the fears of the person and how your product can protect you.

Question: How Will Advertising Online Change inthe Future?

One area I think that has a lot of untapped potential is for the use of video to sell stuff. Think about it -- most search these days is based on text search and text results. Well what happens when the web becomes more filled with video and real time content? Well I think that search results will include more and more videos and as such they will also have more and more video advertisements. From the best diet pills to the newest invention to keep you from snoring, video ads are coming to the web. Its only just a matter of time as the web becomes more and more like television.

Question: Why Isn't Hulu.com for European Visitors?

I guess it has to do with copyright and the U.S. owners of the tv shows. That's too bad because if it were to open up to global visitors, I think that Hulu.com would have a chance to become the premiere online destination for TV viewing. It could be the TV on the Internet. Being able to watch television whenever you want to, with limited commercial interruptions is what the Internet should be all about. It is a good time and its only going to get better.

Question: How Will Travel Rebound from the Great Recession?

"Great Recession" has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Well that's what the media is referring to the current economic downturn as. Vacation and travel has taken a really big hit these days as people have less money to spend. For instance Vegas vacations are down a lot this year and many hotels are operating at lower than needed capacity. How will they rebound? Well its true that one day the economy will turn around but they rebound won't be even for all -- instead it will be the companies which have the most aggressive, most creative, and most appealing marketing!

Question: Why Won't Yahoo Search Quit?

If Yahoo did give up search, what could they use instead? I've got it -- Google. No seriously, think about it. If Google has the superior search and advertising system, why couldn't Yahoo partner with Google to provide their search and share in the ad revenue. Then Yahoo could focus exclusively on content -- something they are good at. MySpace does it -- why not? Yahoo needs to give up and focus on building their brand for content -- Flickr is a good start.

Question: Which Products Don't Advertise on TV?

Here's a brain teaser for you. Please participate through comments. Which types of products or industries don't advertise on TV. It could be tough to come up with even just a few. Tons of products from Burger King to Progress lighting products are advertised on TV, so what is left? Well here's my contribution to the list -- what about Car Tires? See those adds on TV or just in magazines? Or how about computer monitors? Think about it and comment.

Question: How is AJAX Used on the Web?

AJAX, which stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, is a type of web application used in Web 2.0. The benefit of AJAX is that is allows small parts of a web page (or web application) to be refreshed without having to refresh the whole page. This is where the "Asynchronous" part of the word comes from. This allows for a smoother running of interactive web pages. Interactive animation on web pages also benefits from this technology.

Question: Can You Name Your Own Price for Insurance?

The latest gimmick in the world of personal insurance is the "name you own price" insurance offer. Name your own insurance rates? How can that work? Well its easy -- you name your price and the company tells you how much insurance you can afford for that price. The ultimate power is with the insurance company because they can adjust how much coverage you get for that price. $100 a month for car insurance? Sure, but you might only get $50,000 coverage. If you offer to pay $125, then you might get $100,000 liability insurance.

Question: Have You Binged?

If you have surfed the web this week, you've probably seen the advertisements for Microsoft's new search engine -- Bing. What's up with the name Bing? Well its no secret that Microsoft wanted to pick a search engine name that could be used as a verb without a large stretch of the imagination. Jealous of Google? You bet they are!

Question: Why Do Stars Sell Out?

Ok, sell out is a judgmental term. What I think you mean here is when stars, either film, tv or music stars, put their names on products and advertise them. Many stars only o this in overseas markets where they think their local (e.g. U.S. fans will not see them. That was before the Internet -- now there is little room to hide for these sell out celebs. So why do they still do it? Well getting paid millions of dollars for a few hours of your time is not going out of style. Think about stars selling severe acne medicine or their own brand of perfume -- its all the same!

Question: How Much of Google Does Google Control?

Here's the amazing part -- when Google first went public as a company back in 2004, they only sold a fraction of their shares to the public. The IPO was 19,605,052 shares (at the Dutch auction price of $85 per share). So how many shares did Google hold back? A staggering 271 million shares! Why would Google do this? Well they obviously valued their company at more than 1.67 billion dollars -- they valued it at $23 billion but they only felt they needed less than $2 billion to raise to grow. Smart Google!

Question: Are People Still Searching for Mesothelioma Lawyers?

Apparently yes, they are! All joking aside, Mesothelioma is an awful disease and if you have been attacked by it to the negligence of others than you should get compensated for it. Medical bills suck. I guess this is why millions of people still search for Mesothelioma lawyers online every year. The power of Google search results ranking when it comes to traffic to your website and company is amazing and cannot be denied. If you are on the first page for good search results keywords then your business will get a lot of web traffic.

Question: What Can a Corporate Blog do for Speed of Message?

A blog can be very valuable for your website for marketing. Two major characteristics of a blog most help the marcom effort: Speed and Interaction.

Speed: The ability to publish information within a couple of minutes means you can spread your messages with ease. This also can be dangerous if the message is not carefully reviewed beofre posting, so use with caution.

Interaction: Getting comments is not just valuable feedback to examine, but also means that you are creating a conversation about your message. The blogosphere is full of people who like to interact -- create a good blog and they will respond.

Question: How Will Mobile Google Change Advertising?

Forget about using Google to search for car prices or nuphedra reviews -- how about using Google to find the best deal around you? Imagine this scenario -- your mobile device, say an iPhone, has a built in GPS which "knows" where you are int he world, and Google search which wants to advertise products for you. Combine the two and you could get customized advertisements based on what's physically around you in terms of shopping and stores!

Question: What is Strategic About Strategic Marketing?

Like most things in business (and in life), resources are limited and must be focused on the right areas (those which have the greatest positive effect on the organization). Strategic Marketing follows the same theme -- strategic marketing is the process of focusing limited resources on targeting the market segment which can have the greatest impact to your bottom line. Strategic marketing focuses on the long term or large scale marketing goals of a company instead. It asks the question "What is the ultimate goal" instead of "How are we going to sell?"