Ben Dyer

At last year’s Future of Web Apps conference I sat through a fantastic business debate between Jason Calacanis (Mahalo and Weblogs fame) and Tim Nixon (Nixon McInnes). The debate was structured around the prickly subject of work/life balance. Jason compared work to the Tour de France or the Oly......

If, like me, you are a product person, then I think it’s safe to assume you spend a healthy amount of time thinking about how your product can make an impact on its market....

In a crowded list of Google results, a business with four or five stars will stand out - so how do you get positive reviews online?...

Recently I spent a very enlightening evening in the pub chatting to a friend’s son. Fresh from his first term at university, studying for a business degree, I thought I would pick his brains for some fresh ideas and inspiration. It turns out that using an impressive enterprising spirit, he has ......

Websites like Rated People, Checkatrade and My Builder put homeowners in touch with tradespeople. Ben Dyer investigates the power of referrals....

Competing on price threatens your margins and your reputation. Ben Dyer explains why small business owners should avoid price-cutting....

I have recently been spending a lot of time thinking about product launches. My employer, SellerDeck, is a few weeks away from rolling out a major update to one of its ecommerce software products. While we have the advantage of an existing user base, many of the fundamentals for launching are the sa......

I read with great interest this week the news that Twitter is getting into the ecommerce space....

One of my all time favourite films of the last ten years is the futuristic action movie Minority Report. I remember watching in fascination as our hero John Anderton passed through a shopping centre of the future. The whole sequence was brilliant. Billboards and advertising changed as people walk......

I have to admit I find Yahoo one of the most frustrating online companies I have ever encountered. However, I also consider it the biggest innovator, and that’s the frustration. The labs division of the company produces many fantastic products and services, yet only a small percentage of these ......

I love the internet; in the last 50 years has there been a more important development in the history of business? People compare the net to other important media developments, such as the printing press, the TV or radio. Wrong. The internet is bigger than all of those put together....

Thanks to the global economy and the internet, the world is a smaller place. And now, hiring staff is insanely easy thanks to the rise of the remote-working freelance....

In the middle of the most important day in UK politics for five years, I have a simple question: what happened to the “Internet election” we were promised?......

Recently I was lucky enough to spend some time with a voluntary worker for Oxfam. He was a fascinating chap and gave me some really valuable input into how the charity sector works. One of the major challenges Oxfam has faced recently is the perception of it being old fashioned. The brand was seen t......

Look back on the year’s major web-based success stories and you'll see one sector that has grown probably more than all the others combined: location-based services....

Working for SellerDeck, we have a pretty diverse set of customers selling some truly weird and wonderful products. However, regardless of the product or service being sold I always come up against the question of online marketing and best practice. ......

I absolutely love this time of year. As the clock starts to climb down to the end of 2009 I can feel a real sense of optimism. My renewed sense of buoyancy is partly down to our customers: working in the ecommerce industry the four weeks leading up to Christmas are their busiest. 2009 was a very tou......

I'm not sure if anyone has really noticed, but recently a fairly important document was published over in the good 'ol US of A. The document, imaginatively titled "Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising" is, I believe, the last ditch attempt by the industry to avoid the hard li......

In my role at SellerDeck I talk to a lot of small business owners. Apart from discussing the latest and greatest ideas in ecommerce a lot of them want to talk to me about social media and how it can work with their business....

It’s holiday season in the UK, the time of the year every company dreads, but every employee looks forward to. For business owners it’s a bitter sweet time of the year. I am no exception having just returned from an excellent weekend break to watch the F1 in Budapest....

Recently I have become utterly obsessive about ecommerce and business site design. This began after I spent a few hours reviewing a friend’s Pay Per Click (PPC) invoice. Apart from rivalling the deficit of a national bank his campaign was providing little success. Delving a little deeper, his p......

You can argue that the aim of marketing is to build momentum. You need to raise awareness and establish how people perceive your brand. Traditionally this worked well, but I have news for you -- attempting to set perceptions is becoming an increasingly dangerous strategy. You may recall a marketing......

My view of the UK democratic process has changed almost overnight. Having sat through the excruciating second and third readings of the Digital Economy Bill, along with half of the Internet, it would seem my faith has been rocked....

Buying a whiteboard could be the best £30 you spend......

I currently find myself in the fantastic city of Chennai, India. Sadly it’s a strictly business trip. I’ve flown in for six days to spend time with the SellerDeck team and hire a new team member. Hiring outside the familiar waters of the UK has been a very interesting process. Sometimes......

I am forever being asked what my favourite mobile apps are, and if you are reading this blog there's a good chance you’re one of the 11 million people in the UK with a smart phone....

Ben Dyer of SellerDeck has been keeping an eye on how IT firms price their products. And he thinks we could all learn something from them....

Maybe not the best place to find freelancers (Image: lhourahane on Flickr)......