Whether you use Google or not, you -er- should be using it! When you peek behind the curtain from the front page, you’ll find a staggering panoply of tray-kewl stuff. More than 23 specific “Search” refinements join 11 “Communicate/ Show/ Share” tools that you gotta wonder why you’re not using! What’s the web about if not finding stuff and sharing stuff? Goog-antua 101!

Many folks have not yet taken the time to customize their Google home page. It’s your iGoogle and after you sign up for a Google account, a customized home page is just one of the services.

You can even choose a graphic theme for your iGoogle page. The City Scape choice even uses time zones to reflect your time of day in your browser as the sun moves overhead. Sunsets are the best.

Columbia University in New York is the second-ranked school of business in the U.S. Professor of Marketing, Dr. Don Sexton, offers refreshing insights into the value of branding. The refreshing part is the measurability of brand value! That is always the marketer’s/advertiser’s lament: “I know about half of my budget is wasted! I just don’t know which half!”

Dr. Sexton has a number of intriguing observations about the merits and measurability of branding – not the least of which is the characterization of the equity in your brand to be an asset just like any other asset. I found this to be particularly courageous. Few experts want to come right out and quantify the results you can expect to get from your branding effort. According to Sexton,

“Estimated company brand equity values include $69.0 billion for General Electric, $53.3 billion for Microsoft, $42.1 billion for Toyota and $36.6 billion for Johnson & Johnson.”

I hope you are noticing all those ‘b’ words! If these kinds of heady figures surprise you, you need to continue to learn more about the whys and wherefores of branding! (Although, I was surprised to learn that Microsoft is No. 2, until I realized that G.E. is No. 1, of course!)

That thing you do - whatever it is - is your expertise. You know more than the average person about your occupation whether you’re in sales, marketing, production, distribution… doesn’t matter. You know more than most people about it. Surprisingly, this edge may be all you need to get an article published in an appropriate trade magazine! (It’s easy to publish on line, but it’s something else to see your name printed on dead trees. It’s heavy, man.)

“Euw! I hate to write - I can’t.” Save it. Yes, you can write about what you do. Why would you want to? Hinted above (the heaviness) of being published on paper can be an excellent branding/marketing tool. When people in your own industry see your byline, you gain immediate credibility, attention and respect. The potential of getting print published is highly likely to pay off as a lofty component of your reputation.

Here’s a good place to consider whether writing is for you.

But the best tip of all is this closely guarded secret: Magazines need ink! Many are actively seeking and enormously welcoming of an article contributed by someone in their field. I know this for a fact. Don’t delude yourself that they have great mountains of wonderful, professionally written articles just sitting around. Call an editor. Odds are, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Finding good people to populate your small business or startup is crucial. Without a pool of sharp, productive workers, your business is doomed. Payroll is one of your biggest ongoing expenses. This whole area of human resources is full of hidden opportunity costs as well as the hidden expenses of losing a key worker. You must not only find suitable candidates, you must be able to attract them to the point where they choose to work for you. Only then does the really hard work begin of retaining your most valuable people.

Business owners are naturally attracted to younger workers, even fresh graduates. After all, they have a fresh education and it’s possible to get productive results based on sheer talent rather than experience, which costs more.

On the other hand, the more experienced you become, the more you realize how valuable it is. As the bulging baby-boomer workforce ages, yes, they are older, but by now, they have acquired 20 to 40 years of experience. Here is an excellent article that makes the case for considering mature workers for employment in your company. Sure, there’s a fine line between “mature” and “geezer,” but many companies discount recruiting older workers because they think hiring the experience is too expensive. But, when you take a closer look, you just might want to reconsider your priorities.

Here’s how to use Google for rough market research. If I Google “How to start a business” and I get 281,000 results, I know I am in a hot area. Now, I’m certainly not going to start clicking through 281,000 responses, but, I’ve certainly learned that lots of people have advice, programs, products and services that cater to new businesses. It’s a rough measuring tool, but it’s also fast and free.

You can use Google for rough market research about your new company. Right off the bat, Google the company name you are considering… If you get no results, that’s pretty golden (but still NO guarantee, you must search the USPTO for definitive results!) Google the URL you want. That’s the fastest way to know if it’s available.

eHow is a site I subscribe to, therefore trust and endorse for finding out how to start a business, At eHow, you’ll find a large number of business-related articles. I’ve chosen two samples to give you a taste. One is a laundry list of steps, the other is a good roundup of grassroots marketing tactics.

The point is to explore eHow to find out how to do any number of things that interest you. I subscribe, and find I am often entertained, and frequently educated by the daily delivery.

It is possible to make the case that as an advertising message, “excellent customer service” has become a waste of time/ink. Everybody claims to adore their customers more than any competitor. People know it’s their credit card/checkbook that is adored.

Touting customer service as a differentiating factor is reminiscent of the 1950s, when offices and shops were just beginning to install air conditioning. Many advertised this fact with “It’s Cool Inside” door stickers and even in their ads. Today, advertising that you have an air conditioned facility is somewhat like announcing that you have “flat floors” or “adequate lighting.”

At the same time, there is far more to customer relationships than just promising to “care more” than your competition. “Defy conventional wisdom,” says Frances Frei, associate professor at the Harvard Business School. When you apply her insights to your business, you may come up with new ways of leveraging customer value. For example, learn how an insurance company quickly weeds out high-risk customers who end up denting their bottom line. Sounds implausible, but it just may be possible you don’t want to sign up every customer who lurches through your door!