I, along with many others, have been shouting the customer engagement mantra for a while now as online business continues to evolve. The upswing in social networking use, greater transparency through word of mouth and the ability for consumers to find virtually any information quickly and easily has meant businesses have had to begin communicating more openly with consumers if they wish to stave off negative publicity.

Google’s new Sidewiki project, recently launched in Beta, has removed any last doubt (official Google post). Sidewiki is potentially the biggest development in word of mouth marketing since instant messaging started, and a failure to take it seriously could be very costly indeed for some businesses. Sidewiki gives everyone the ability to leave comments - positive or negative - against every single webpage.

Including yours.

Anyone waiting for the backlash against Google’s continuing and irresistable rise to universal dominance may have a while longer to wait. The previews last week of Google Wave have demonstrated that - yet again - Google is shaping the web instead of merely using it and why that is the best business model in this brave new online world.

Suggest is the latest tool from Google, taking the effort out of thinking up keywords when searching. Google Suggest is going to change the way people search, by suggesting options as people type. Instead of keying in several words, after typing one letter Google will suggest a number of different options based on the first [...]

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a continual battle against your competition. You may be number one today, but tomorrow your competition may implement a new strategy and push you down the ladder. This constant race to the top is one of the least understood factors of SEO. Many clients believe that once they have achieved [...]