The world around us

I wonder if all bloggers are this addicted to blogging, that after working a a 10 hour day, I’m still blogging at 1230am? Hmmm, I actually think a lot of bloggers are even worse. As much as I love to blog and be "connected", I love to take time off, far away from my laptop, internet connection, and even cellular connection. We managed to do just that for ten whole days in late December, when the entire family gathered at our ancestral home and yes, I survived 10 days without checking my mail, daily blogging sessions and writing my thoughts down for the world to read. But for the time being, I am a blogaddict and recovery is unlikely, with sporadic breaks at best.

Wal-Mart’s highly anticipated deal with Bharti Enterprises is going to be signed this month. the announcement was made by Sunil Mittal, the chairman on Bharti Enterprises. Once the deal is formalized, the two companies can get started on setting up stores, which they hope to start by early 2008. This retail venture is going to require 10 million sq ft of retail space in the country, to set up  a variety of formats including hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores.

One of my research projects involves a lot of time on the Internet, looking at a variety of advertising, marketing, branding and identity firms in the UK, US and Singapore. I have been through thousands and thousands of sites in the past few months and am getting to be quite an expert at judging a company by it’s home page. Well, I know, you’re not meant to judge a book by it’s cover, but I have seen that those firms that have great home pages, have a significantly higher chance of making a connection with a potential customer and making a sale.

The first rule of websites is to draw people in, just by the information, or lack of information, you have on your home page. While advertising companies have an advantage of being in the business of creativity, other business areas especially real estate companies, often have boring and repetitive sites. It’s important to put as much information as you can on your site, but overloading it also drives people away. A company that specializes in Real Estate Web Site Design along with Internet marketing services such as search engine optimization (SEO) specifically for real estate professionals is Collins Internet Marketing.

Being a specialized firm, Collins Internet Marketing can provide insight into the way potential customers think, search and make decisions and use this knowledge in creating an effective website for a company. Their SEO services will also tie in to the website and will be able to bring in targeted consumers instead of just passing traffic.

Here’s an interesting way to keep away unwanted visitors that I read on l-e-mental, although I’m not ready to use one myself. Suck UK has created a hotel style sign that lets people know if you want company or not. The same sign can be rotated to display both messages, "Go Away" or "Come In" which are written in a very interesting reversible font. It’s probably a good idea for college students to display on dorm rooms. I certainly would have loved one outside my door when I was in college, so I didn’t get woken up by my Singaporean roomate who enthusiastically would test her culinary skills and concoct five-course breakfasts on sunday mornings. If you’re not keen on keeping away visitors so obviously, there is also a door mat with the same message, which can be turned around depending if you want to meet people or not.