Posts tagged ‘energy’

It’s been more than two years since Google’s last big big to enter a government-regulated offline business. They offered some $4.6B for wireless spectrum in an auction in 2008, but it seemed that the multi-billion bid was merely a ploy to get some of their demands for the spectrum met. But that’s not quite the case with Google’s recent application to buy and sell power “much like utility companies do,” according to the New York Times . Google told the Federal Energy Regulation Commission that they need this capability to support their power-hungry facilities with more renewable energy sources. Google created a subsidiary last month, Google Energy, to handle this. As the NYT points out, this isn’t Google’s first look at energy: This is hardly Google’s first foray into the energy world. Over the years, Google has invested in renewable energy projects through its philanthropic and venture capital units. It has also embarked on a number of engineering projects and partnerships to, for example, advance plug-in hybrids and offer tools to measure home electricity usage. And it has an ambitious goal to help develop renewable energy that is cheaper than coal. Bill Weihl, Google’s green energy czar, discussed many of those initiatives and goals in a lengthy interview with The New York Times published on Thursday. Google insists that they’re not getting into the market to trade energy, but if their application is approved, they could sell any surplus energy they own. What do you think? Is this just Google’s carbon-neutrality quest, or a back-door entry into another market?

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Google Applies to Enter Energy Market

When most people hear the word exploit they automatically think that you are doing something unethical or illegal.  However, exploit actually means to take advantage of a situation or to use or develop something in order to gain a benefit.  Thus, exploit is actually the perfect verb to describe how you should approach the online business because you want to take advantage of the fact that the web offers easy access to millions of potential consumers and you want to develop the recession proof business venue to produce high sales figures.  The only thing you need to know now is how you can exploit the online business world in four easy steps, and believe it or not it’s not that hard! Find your target audience- First off; you need to discover where your target audience is located on the web and what their interests are.  It is much easier to see results from your advertising and marketing campaigns if you start by aiming them directly at the crowd of web browsers who are most likely to purchase your product or service.  You can conduct your own research to find their tastes or simply hire a consultant, but you will see much higher sales profits if you go out and find them instead of waiting for them to come to you. Utilize social media- The largest advertising tool on the internet right now is also conveniently very low cost and easy to use, social media websites.  Social networking is becoming the ‘IT’ thing in pop culture even more so every day since you are not somebody until you have a Facebook and Twitter account.  Take advantage of the easy exposure and free advertising venue via status updates by joining and offering users easy access to your company.  Additionally, this is a great way to collect consumer feedback which can help you improve your business in the future. Develop your website- If you had an actual store you would never let the door way and front side look as if it were ancient, so why would you leave your website looking this way?  Your homepage on your website is the first thing that people see when they head over to take a look at your product or service.  In this increasingly technical age people are highly critical of website design, webpage usability, and overall current information.  If you are lacking any of these elements potential consumers will move on to another website that has them, even if your product is great.  So remember, your sale starts with your homepage, not with the actual product introduction. Delegate!- Finally, this is the key to any group project or large business project, in order to accomplish all of your business objectives you cannot be afraid to delegate.  The truth of the matter is that people who try to handle every aspect of their business on their own are doomed to fail because there is not enough time in one day to handle mundane tasks and still have time left for future development and expansion.  Hire a virtual assistant or outsource some of your smaller tasks and web tasks that are outside your area of expertise and you will be surprised with how much time to put your energy where it really counts, into the future progression of your business!

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How to exploit the online business world in four easy steps