Louis Halpern's View

Domains = Real Estate?

Louis — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 10:53:02 +0000

Domain names are one of the most important parts of the Internet. They have value in the same way as property does in the real estate industry. Unlike the real estate industry it is less obvious why a particular domain has a value, however, the principles of “Location Location Location” remain broadly the same.

In this case, one can liken the inherent value of a property’s location with the constituent words or characters, being close to an exact match, to a high volume of search queries. In other words, how close or accurate a match is a set of keywords to this large number of search queries?

Let’s put it another way, if a group of people approached a real…

Domain Valuation

Louis — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:41:21 +0000

Leaving domains with no content or no website inroads the potential value of your investment in their purchase. This is especially true when you’ve held the domain unutilized for a number of years in the hope at some point you’ll get to capitalise on your ongoing investment in renewals.

You will benefit from this investment in the following circumstances:

unlikely = somebody comes makes you an offer for the domain
possible = you find a direct reason to build a website on that domain
always = you want to use the website to help your other businesses online

The harsh reality is that most people hang onto the domains they purchase for years and never actually achieve any…

Can the Dragon change my life?

Louis — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:16:18 +0000

Yesterday, hopefully I purchased an amazing tool that is going to change my life.

It was thanks to an unknown blog post. I noticed the blogger had remarked that he was using Dragon Dictate and to take his notes on the go. He or she commented that it meant that he was now remembering all his good ideas, rather than forgetting most of them.

That led me to browsing and reading reviews of Dragon Dictate. The consensus was that the tool had improved massively over the last two years. So I gave it a go. I dug into my pocket found the credit card & laid out the money for the application.

Last night when using the tool my productivity…

Screenshot | Print Screen on a Mac

Louis — Fri, 13 May 2011 10:51:13 +0000

On a PC there is the Print Screen function but it’s not quite so obvious on a Mac.

This is how to take a Mac screenshot of:

the full screen – Command+Shift+3
part of the screen – Command+Shift+4
a window – Command+Shift+4 then space bar then click the window

Hope you find this useful

Lipstick Melodies of Pete Doherty

Louis — Wed, 11 May 2011 08:52:32 +0000

I was invited to the Shepherd’s Bush Empire last night by a good friend to see The Lipstick Melodies.

They happened to be supporting Pete Doherty. Pete eventually turned up just after 10pm, more than fashionably late. It was lucky that he actually made it. He had the most awful compere between the acts. The compere can best be described as a fat bloke from Glasgow who told us he could take anything the audience threw at him, which was lucky as he was reduced to being Donkey Kong dodging beer missiles. The crowd was ready to riot when Mr Doherty showed up but after a shaky start he managed to get a singalong started with the audience.

The

Search and Social Media Together Forever

Louis — Tue, 10 May 2011 17:24:54 +0000

Business wanting to drive conversions should use both search and social media Continue reading →

New Features on Twitter

Louis — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 17:57:52 +0000

The new features on Twitter.com are great news for online marketers and will ultimately provide Twitter with a far more efficient way of making money than its previous “promoted tweets” ads.

All of the new features are designed to increase users’ engagement with the content other users post – whether it be video from YouTube or geotagged maps from FourSquare, users can now see everything in a slick, self-contained window without having to click through numerous pages. The implications for brands using the new features are great.

Earlier this year Pixar were one of the first companies to pay for promoted tweets, in the run-up to the release of Toy Story 3 – opinion among experts is very much divided…

Hotel & Restaurant Review Websites Advice

Louis — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 10:37:04 +0000

Websites like TripAdviser can make or break a customer’s decision to book with a certain hotel or eat at a certain restaurant. Hoteliers and restaurateurs often ask me what they can do about negative reviews. I was asked earlier in the week to comment on a Daily Mail article that reported on a Company organising a group defamation action’ against TripAdvisor. May advise is…

Unless these reviews are factually incorrect, there’s not much that can be done. Instead, the brands need to consider how they can respond and engage with the community of people.

Put simply, hotels need to get their product right. If they are receiving an abundance of negative reviews, they need to look at why that…

ECB twitter ban would be no ball

Louis — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 18:00:51 +0000

The ECB should be careful not to be too hasty in disciplining or banning its players from Twitter. Although a ban would prevent leaking sensitive information and reduce the risk to its reputation from ill-considered player tweets, it could risk alienating an already distanced fan base.

Particularly in the case of cricket, where international games are no longer covered by terrestrial television, fans have never been more far removed from their heroes. Social media platforms such as Twitter can be a perfect tonic to those disenfranchised, non-Sky subscribers, giving the ECB and individual players a great marketing opportunity to tap into and communicate directly with their most loyal fan bases.

Having personalised twitter feeds means that players are in the…

200,000 Chinese want to come to your hotel

Louis — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 21:25:28 +0000

The growth of the Chinese tourist is the going to be the biggest change in the tourism industry for a generation.

Britain is on the approved list for China’s tourists. Half a percent of all Chinese tourists already head to the UK for their holidays, that’s over 200,000 people last year, and rising. Two mid market Chinese hotel groups are sniffing around for acquisitions – according to yesterday’s Sunday Times – to take advantage of this demand. That means it’s time to get on with some hotel marketing basics.

When you see a website in your own language you are immediately more likely to trust it. It shouts that the company values you…