If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed so you can be notified of new posts. Thanks for visiting!

I’ll ask the question again.  Do you think there is such a thing as business ethics?

For me my answer is NO!

Now hold on before you start thinking that I am not ethical.  There could be nothing farther from the truth.

Let me explain myself.

I don’t believe in business ethics because I believe there is only Ethics.  To me, if you truly desire to be ethical then you need to live by only one standard of ethics.

Too many people today try to live by different ethics for different parts of their lives.  Most people try to have business ethics while at work, personal ethics while at home and spiritual ethics while at church or whatever place you choose to worship.

Just What Are Ethics?

As defined by Webster’s dictionary, ethics is “a principle right or good conduct or a system of moral values”.  No matter what part of the world you live in this definition holds true.

What Happened to Ethics in Business?

I wonder what happened to ethics in most businesses today or a least most businesses in the U.S.  There have been too many corrupt business that have been discovered that make you wonder if there are any ethical businesses anymore.  There are too many businesses that have gone bankrupt due to bad financial practices.  These companies lied about their financial statements and in doing so cost their employees their jobs and the stockholders millions of dollars.  I am sure there are some ethical businesses but they are getting to be fewer and fewer every year, at least as I see it.

Personal Ethics Test – Do You Pass or Fail?

Before you answer that let me ask you a couple of questions to help you.  If someone gave you too much money back at a store, would you give it back or keep it?  Have you ever taken paperclips or a pen from work?  Have you told a lie so you would not get in trouble?

Think about those questions for a moment.  How we handle these situations says a lot about our ethics.

My Promise to You!

I promise to run an ethical business.  My decisions on what to post, what to promote and who to promote will be based upon doing the right or good thing for you.

Final Questions about Ethics in Your Life

Where do you want your career/job to take you?  What kind of impact do you desire to make?  How do you plan to do it?

Why is it okay for you to not be 100% ethical but you expect it from others?  Is it okay to use situational ethics, where right/good is determined by the situation?  Is ethics always clear?

How you answer these questions says a lot about the life you want to live.

I look forward to hearing you thoughts on these questions.

The other day I was blog hopping and commenting on other blogs and noticed something that I had not paid much attention to before.

I noticed that quite a few bloggers did not have the date displayed next to their blog posts.  I decided to do some research and found that approximately 30% of the blogs I visited did not have the dates displayed on their blog posts.  At first I found this kind of strange so I decided to research the reasons bloggers may want to remove the date from their blog posts.

The theory behind this idea is to focus on timeless content.  That is content that will be useful tomorrow, next week, next month, and maybe even next year.

My question then became, should I remove the date from my blog posts?

There are many top blogs on the Internet that Do Not have the date on their blog posts:

• http://digital-photography-school.com
• http://www.copyblogger.com
• http://www.doshdosh.com - date removed from single post pages
• http://www.davidwalker.tv
• http://robbsutton.com
• http://www.underdogmillionaire.com
• http://bigredtomatocompany.co.uk - date removed from single post pages
• http://netprofitstoday.com
• http://www.dailyblogtips.com - subtle date below post preview on main page

Should You Remove the Post Date

The way I see it the date on a post shows your readers when the post is written and allows the readers the opportunity to judge the relevancy of your post.  The date signals to your readers that the post is either current and potentially worth reading or that the post is dated and not worth reading.  

A date on the post could actually be a distraction to your readers. If a reader arrives at a post of yours and sees that it was written in 2007 the reader will most likely think that it is not current and might clickaway and leave your site and never return.

However, if a reader arrives at a recent post and sees the date they can actually get a good reaction because they can get a sense that what they are reading is your latest thoughts or tips you have shared.

Obviously there are advantages and disadvantages.

Other Potential Options

There are other options available to you as a blogger when it comes to adding or removing dates from your posts. Here are a few other options that I noticed during my blog hopping:

• Dates on Recent Posts But Not on Older Ones - I saw one blog that had the date only show up on the post within the last 3 months.  This allowed the blogger to take advantage of both.  I thought this was ingenious  I have not figured out how they accomplished this but I sure they hacked their blog theme code.
• Dates on Front Page but Not Single Posts – This is another another solution that I saw on quite a few blogs.  Depending how many blog posts you have on your front page, you will only have that many posts with the date and the other (archived) posts will not.
• Subtle Dates - Another option is to use dates on your posts that do not ”scream at your readers” that the post is old. Some examples could be dates at the bottom of posts, dates in a smaller font than the headings or even dates that are in a lighter color that the regular text color.

Would you be more likely to link or comment on a post without a post date?  Would you be turned off by it?

Do you have dates on your posts? Why or Why Not?

Are there other options?

Have you noticed the newest feature on Twitter?

It’s called the  ”Suggestions for You” feature.

When I was on Twitter this past Saturday I noticed something new when I followed another Twitter user.  After I followed someone  I noticed that below the Follow button a list of 3 suggested Twitter users displayed along with the message “Since you just followed [user name], you might also want to follow:”.

After some research I found that the new “Suggestions for You” feature is based on algorithms built by Twitters user relevance team. The suggestions are based on several factors, with the most notable factor being the people you follow and the people they follow.  You can also hide this feature if you wish not to use it.

Basically, suggestions are made of people for you to follow based on your own interest in the people you currently follow and the people they follow.

Twitter has also placed a “More Like” suggestion widget in the right sidebar of your Twitter page.  This feature can also been seen on other profiles on Twitter.  These recommendations are based on the tweets of the person who’s profile you may be viewing.

It looks like Twitter has taken a lesson from Facebook’s “Friend Suggestions” feature.

I am really excited about this feature as I think it will help expand my social sphere of influence.  I also think this will help Twitter more relevant than it currently is.

Do you think this new feature will be useful to  you?  If so, how do you see yourself using it?

Are you tired of paying someone to create your ebook covers?  Would you like to save some money and learn to quickly make your own ebook covers?

A good friend of mine, Sally Neil, has created a video to show you how to create your own ebook covers.

She created this video after I mentioned that she should have a class on creating ecovers because of the awesome ecover she created for an interview she did with David Walker.

Sally shows you everything in the video you need to get started.  Sally is always willing to help others learn how to do things to help with their business.

Yes, you can pay someone to creat your ebooks but if you are just starting out and are a little strapped for cash then you can create you own.  Who know, you may get so good that you start your own business of making ecovers for other marketers.

Check out the video and start creating your own ecovers today.

Enjoy!

I wanted to let you know that there are several giveaway events for you to join as a contributor so you can build your subscriber list.  You can also join these giveaway events as a member if you just want to get you hands on some free ebooks and software.

I decided to create a page dedicated to JV Giveaway Events.  I will update the page when new events are released.

To see the giveaway events click on JV Giveaway Events.

I recently received an email from a reader with a great question, so I thought I would share it with you and get your opinion.

The question was “As a blogger, where do I draw the line of how much free content I should put on my blog versus creating and charging for a content packed e-book?  Should that ebook be exclusive information that is not posted on my blog or should it be an edited and nicely formatted version of my best posts?”

What’s your opinion about this question?