thinks

New products, whether they succeed or not, often point the way forward for their markets overall. Here’s just one example. O’Reilly’s Radar points out an internet-connected GPS device called The Dash express. Key quotes: “…search Yahoo! local from the road…” and “…get alternate routes based on other Dash user’s traffic experiences.” Yep. Local, mobile and social, all in one box. I wonder when “alternate routes” will morph into recommendations. Then Dash will be “driving business” in more ways than one.

Linda Bustos over at Get Elastic offers up a big list of examples of retailers using social media for marketing. Fantastic opportunity to see what others are doing and learn from their practices.

I forgot to mention one point in my earlier post about appropriate link text. Brian Clark’s original point, that you should tell customers what you want them to do, is incredibly valid. Customers often need direction. Whether “click here” is the right direction is another matter, though. Note the home page for Future Now, Inc., a company that markets its ability to improve conversion rate. Not a “click here” in sight. Do you think I’m missing something?

Lisa Barrone from BruceClay.com and Brian Clark from Copyblogger are arguing about appropriate text for calls to action over at BruceClay.com . Back on Copyblogger, Ben Yoskovitz promotes not one or two, but five types of links to drive actions. Accessibility and usability practices both say “click here” has got some issues. Screen readers can simply list links, making “click here” utterly useless for visually impaired users, while the highlighting inherent to links leads to scanning, diminishing readability for copy containing “click here” links.

One thing I know for sure: Blaming the user (”reading comprehension.” Brian?) is never the right answer.

Simply brilliant. Unlike many folks offering pithy advice like “treat your customers well,” Seth Godin offers practical advice today about showing appreciation for customers . The criteria for naming such customers shouldn’t just be the folks who spend the most money while treating the staff like crap. Instead, businesses looking at similar efforts should think about what matters to their customers and what they’d most like recognition for. Is it service to the community, building a cool business of their own, running the town little league? Customers are more than just a checkbook; they’re friends and neighbors, parents and children, husbands, wives and partners. Of course they’re worth recognizing. Funny how often we forget. Thanks, Seth, for reminding us.

I don’t mean in the figurative, “down with it” sense. I mean for real. When will the Web (1.0, 2.0, mobile, what-have-you) achieve dial tone-like availability levels? VOIP, in particular, demands it. But so do your customers.