The web site tr.im was a URL shortening service. Most of you have probably used one of these before, such as bit.ly, sn.im, is.gd and of course TinyURL.

Some examples of why people shorten long web addresses:

1. Character limitation. Examples are Twitter, MySpace/Facebook status update, cell phone or any other environment that imposes an under-200 character limit.
2. Client/service limitation. In instant messaging, if you try to send a huge link (such as one from Google Maps), you run the risk of the message not being "translated" properly by your recipient’s client, resulting in a bad link. Or, the IM service simply won’t allow it, period.
3. Email "readability". If the recipient of the email you’re sending has messages that purposely enter in line breaks after 76 characters on display (which many do), this may "break" a long link, rendering it useless at that point.
4. Print considerations. Some use shortened URLs on business cards.
5. Space-saving. Many use shortened URLs in email signatures.

The lesson learned from tr.im is that you shouldn’t shorten a URL unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Here are some examples of do and do-not situations concerning shortening URLs.

In Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Instant Messaging: Do shorten.

This is a semi-instant/instant style of communication with short-lived history, so it’s not exactly paramount that links need to stay "alive" for any indefinite period of time.

In Email: Do not shorten.

Email has much more permanence compared to Twitter and IM. An email you send someone may be referenced to six months later. If the shortened link is dead, the information in the email is worthless. And of course, when that person contacts you, you’re obviously not going to remember what you linked six months ago.

Fortunately the solution is simple: Hyperlink your text. All email programs and web-based mail services allow this.

It’s the difference between this:

http://www.llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch.com

(that’s a real web site by the way)

..and this: crazy-long web site URL.

Both do the same job; the linked text is obviously the better way to do it.

Example with Hotmail:

Make sure Rich Text is chosen at top when composing an email:

Highlight some text:

Click the Globe with chain link icon, type in your address, then click OK:

Your highlighted text will turn blue and underlined. That means it’s now linked to the URL you entered.

Note that this also works in the email signature.

Example with Yahoo! Mail:

First, enable the Rich Text editor when composing an email. Look to the far right of the subject field. If you see a "Rich Text" link, click to enable:

Type some text and highlight it:

Click the hyperlink icon (globe with chain link, right next to smiley icon). You will get this notice:

Type in your web address you want to link to, then click OK. Your text will then be blue and underlined, indicating it is successfully linked.

As with Hotmail, hyperlinked text can also be used in your email signature as well.

In Print: Depends on the type of print.

On business cards you’re better off purchasing short domain names specifically to link whatever you need to. "But all the good ones are taken." Not so. There’s a lot more than just dot-com, net and org. On a GoDaddy search there’s .ag, .am, .asia, .at, .be, .cc, .eu, .fm, .me and many others. Odds are at least one of them has the name you’re looking for. Yes, they will cost you more, but it’s a minor expense if it gets you business clients. Your best bet is searching for a dot-me.

For printed instructional documentation, the best thing to do is to have several different addresses for the same thing. If you provide a TinyURL, also provide a bit.ly, is.gd and sn.im as well. It only takes a few minutes and you have "backups" in case the first one goes dead.

In email signatures: Do not shorten.

You do not shorten for the same reason you do not shorten in the body of the email: You have the availability to use hyperlinked text.

Note that links are not the same as taglines due to the fact taglines usually do not link anywhere; those can be longer because they’re supposed to be descriptive phrases/sentences.

A few things to remember about linking:

Broken/dead links happen often on the internet. But with link shortening services, now there’s not one but two ways for a link to not work. Whenever possible it is always better to direct-link to an address rather than shorten it.

If a URL shortening service goes down, you most likely won’t be notified. Chances are you’ll probably find out about it from someone you emailed prior who writes you and says, "Hey, that link doesn’t work anymore!" And by then it will be too late because you have no clue where the original link went to.

I’m not saying not to use URL shortening services, but if tr.im is any example of where URL shortening is heading, it would be in your best interest to learn how to hyperlink text in email and never use a shortened address on a printed business card.

For your perusal:

If you want to get an idea of how many people use URL shortening services and moreover how it is a distinct concern that too many people are using it:

http://archiveteam.org/index.php?title=TinyURL

Check out all the URL services available near the tail of that page, and the usage numbers below it.

This will give you a very clear idea of what happens when one of these services goes down, i.e. it creates millions upon millions of dead links. Not good.

It’s most likely true you study the electronics products you intend to purchase before you buy them. You read web site reviews, watch a demonstration video of it if available, and maybe even print out a sheet with some notes before heading to the store.

You expect, as you should, the employee you encounter who will sell you the item to know the product line.

But there are times when this doesn’t happen. You encounter an employee who knows next to nothing about what he or she is selling. And that’s not helpful at all.

Here are 5 things you can do to make your tech shopping experience at electronics retailers more pleasant – even if you encounter the dopiest of employees.

1. Get the SKU of the item you want first.

Big-box electronics stores all live and die by the SKU because they carry so much product that it’s very difficult to make heads or tails of what’s in stock – unless you have the SKU.

2. Call before going.

Before going to the store, call. When on the line, ask if the SKU is in stock. If it isn’t, you just saved yourself from wasting gas.

Note: For clearance items and/or overstock, don’t be surprised if you hear an "I don’t know". Sometimes items slated for special sales are treated differently in the system and cannot be immediately looked up.

3. Dress for the occasion.

Dressing "corporate casual" will get you more personal attention once at the store. Appearance matters.

4. Don’t engage in small talk.

You’re trying to be nice, so you try to spark up a conversation with the employee you encounter. But dopey employees couldn’t care less about you. If you suspect the employee is dopey, can the small talk and stay on target with what you want to buy.

5. Go armed with a memo pad that has the SKU written down.

You already called beforehand and received confirmation your item is in stock, however it’s not over yet. Write that SKU down on memo pad and bring it with you. If you cannot find the item on the shelf, find an employee, hand the paper to them and politely ask if they have that particular SKU.

This is not a rude thing to do and in fact makes it easier for the employee to find what you want to buy. Even the dopiest of employees know what a SKU is and how to look one up.

Dave (owner of PCMech) has a ritzy/glitzy/sexy/super-cool Apple iPhone. And he really likes it. Furthermore he uses it a lot so he’s getting his money’s worth. He uses apps, he texts, he talks on it (obviously), uses Twitter on it, browses the web, etc.

I on the other hand am very anti-cell phone. The only reason I own one is to have some means of mobile telephone communications. As far as what I choose, I go for nothing but basic. To say it another way, whatever is the cheapest thing I can get is what I will usually go for.

Recently I switched off of a post-paid plan with Verizon and decided to go with TracFone, a pre-paid cell phone service.

The purchasing process

I purposely went to Radio Shack on an early Saturday morning figuring there wouldn’t be too many people in the store at that time of the day – and I was right. The store was basically empty.

Why Radio Shack? It’s because RS employees will actually set the phone up for you right at the counter so you don’t have to do it yourself – which they did. In case you weren’t aware, RS is still to this day one of the better places to buy a cell phone (it’s the #1 thing they sell).

Cost of the phone: $10.00 (a little over $11 after tax).

The phone itself: It’s a Motorola W175g. And THANK GOD it’s actually a one-piece phone instead of a this-will-break-in-a-year flip style. I’ll speak more on the phone in a moment.

The pre-paid TracFone service comes with 20 "bonus" minutes to start with. This is great because it means I had a phone ready-to-use for just over $10 that I could add minutes to later on, so I didn’t have to buy extra minutes up front. Very nice.

If you are the type who is big penny pincher, the absolute cheapest way to run a TracFone is to buy one 60-minute card every 90 days. You need to buy at least 60 minutes for it to be at a 90-day span between purchases. The 60-minute card costs $19.99 + tax.

If you do the math, the phone service will cost you just over $7 per month (assuming you don’t go over the minute allowance). You could opt for a 365-day instead of a 90-day, but 90-day will suit most people.

The phone itself

The Motorola W175g is a "candy bar" style phone. It’s not exactly thin but fits in the pocket easily. And – thankfully – it’s charged via a mini-USB connector. This connector is solid and not like those asinine funky-shaped power connectors Motorola used to have.

The screen is readable in daylight. The sound is just fine. Speakerphone could be a little bit better, but then again what do you expect for 10 bucks? Battery life is decent.

I will say this: This phone – which is notably inferior compared to a Motorola RAZR – sounds better and is much easier to navigate as far as the menu system is concerned. Furthermore it feels better in the hand when talking on it.

The TracFone service

I really like the fact TracFone makes it stupidly easy to know exactly what you’re spending.

The phone itself will tell you up front how many minutes you have left and how many days you have left for your current minute allowance – so you’re never out of the loop concerning that.

Minutes can be bought online at TracFone.com or by going anywhere that sells TracFone-enabled phones (Radio Shack, Wal-Mart, etc.) and pick up a card.

The service itself is fine. Reception is good; calls stay connected. The service does the job it’s supposed to do.

You would like TracFone if…

• You hate cell phones and only want one for basic communications or just for emergencies.
• You’re a parent and want to give your kid(s) a cell phone but also want something basic that can take a pounding – TracFone definitely fits the bill there.
• You want more control over your cell phone use/bill/etc. It doesn’t get any easier than TracFone.

I would not recommend TracFone for heavy-use cell phone users because you’d run out of minutes fast and it would cost you more in the long run.

However if you’re a light user, TracFone suits just fine. It’s basic, it works, it’s cheap.

This is also cheap enough where you could give it as a gift. If you’ve got someone in the family that needs a cell phone, TracFone makes it easy enough where you can get it set up and let the recipient of the gift know that to add minutes they just have to buy a card every 90 days.

I do understand that TracFone service isn’t the best in all areas. It works fine in Tampa Bay Florida but that’s just my experience. Seeing that you can test the service for just 10 dollars (the purchase of the phone), it’s not like you’ll be in the poorhouse in case the service doesn’t work for whatever reason.

There’s a lot of people that use Yahoo! and their services within, but most people never heard of Yahoo! Live.

Yahoo! Live is (and soon to be was) Yahoo!’s version of live broadcasting but it never really took off with the internet masses. As such it was forgotten quickly.

I tried it once and the service could be best described as lethargic. The interface was clunky, the lag time on video feeds was maddening and there was simply no way to get the number of viewers you could get on Ustream, Stickam, Mogulus, Justin.tv, blogTV or the like.

There are some things that Yahoo! does really well, but live broadcasting isn’t one of them so they’re waving the white flag on this one.

Giving credit where credit is due, the GOOG updated their Terms of Service for the Chrome browser. Section 11 now reads:

11. Content license from you
11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.

For those not aware, it previously stated something that literally said GOOG owns everything you do in the browser – but no longer.

Much better.

Obviously, you can always sell products on the Internet. But, what about selling a service?

A lot of people maintain websites in order to be a public face to services which they offer, whether offline or online. This is always great because the web can put your offering in front of the eyes of many people easily. More and more, people are turning to the Internet even to find local, offline business services. The yellow pages are so yesterday!

When you offer a service via your website, the most important advice I could provide would be to NOT have your website be little but a digital brochure. I see so many business websites out there that do nothing but say what they do and have a link to contact them. Boring! And it is even worse when they use some of the classic mistakes of marketing, like calling themselves #1 or using “they” when they are only a one-man show.

As I said earlier in this series, the era of doing business with big corporations is nearing an end. People do business with PEOPLE. They want real people.

Not only that, but you need to give people a reason to come to your website. Why would anybody come to it? The classic mistake of brochure style business sites is that people would only happen upon the site if they were looking specifically for that business. But, nobody is searching for your business name on Google!

So, some general advice (since this series is all about just hitting highpoints) for offering a service through your site is:

1. Provide real VALUE on your business website. Start a blog and offer freely available content having to do with the area of your business. Offer free value to your potential clientele. Much of your clientele is going to discover you because they’re searching for an answer. So, give them the answer and then say “Oh, by the way, you can hire me for more personalized service.”. This is a much better way to market your service online then a brochure-style website.
2. Don’t hesitate to hire somebody who knows what they’re doing to create your website for you if you don’t have the expertise. An amateur-looking website can have the exact opposite effect that you are looking for. If you look amateur, people will write you off as such. Remember, you have only a few seconds online to make a first impression once somebody arrives at your site.
3. Use local search. A very high percentage of people who search locally for something are actively looking to hire somebody! For example, if I search for “tampa bay mechanics”, am I just looking for general info about my car? No, very likely I am looking for a mechanic to fix my car! So, make sure your site is geographically centric if your business is. Use the name of your city in your website and in your site’s title. And if you do any internet advertising, make sure  you geo-target visitors specifically in your city.

Bonus Tip: Even if your business can cater to many cities, you can take advantage of local search. Create multiple landing pages to your site, all targeting different cities. Then let the search engines index these. Anybody searching for your product in those cities can then find you, even if you’re based elsewhere.