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What would you have done differently in these last 12 months?
The end of the year is a strange time that we assign a lot of importance to. We celebrate the passing of the old year and jump up and down and wave our arms around at the stroke of midnight to welcome in the New Year. Yet the reality is that we're simply one more second older than we were before the stroke of midnight.

We're not renewed; the world stays the same, what we did in the old year will still impact on us in the New Year and there really is no fresh start. Yet we like to think otherwise. We like to package up what happened this year and pretend that new things are going to happen because the time on the clock has changed the date on the calendar.

In reality all that the end of one calendar year and the start of another does is to provide a reference point for us. We can use that reference point to look back at what we have done in the last 12 months and plot the course for our business for the next 12 months.

So, looking back over the last 12 months what would you have done differently? Here are a few things that I wish I had done differently.

Buying links
I wish I had started buying links for a few of my sites much sooner than I have. Yes, I know that Google says that those who buy links will be banished to eternal damnation but what Google doesn't like to tell you that there are plenty of ways to buy links and Google only knows a couple of them.

All you have to do is think outside the box and you can come up with some quite legitimate ways to buy some very valuable links ... and it won't cost you an arm and a leg either. If you can't think outside the box there are still some valuable ways to buy links without incurring Google's wrath.

And just sometimes paying for inclusions in several of the big directories can help kick-start a new site so in this coming year I'm going to be a little bolder when it comes to buying links.

Working too hard
Over the last 12 months Steve and I have put in some long long hours as we have worked to keep our customers happy. After all that hard work we really are drained and we are so looking forward to a few days off over Christmas.

In the New Year we're simply not going to work that hard. Ultimately we suffer because it affects our health and the clients suffer because they are not getting the best from us. So in 2007 I'll be raising our prices and turning work away.

Now that may sound a bit radical but the market is maturing and the Webmasters and sponsors who want to make money these days understand that good written work is important if they want to attract new members and retain old ones. They also understand that if they want to make money then they have to spend some too.

Mainstream
This past year we have done a little bit of work for mainstream clients but have found it frustrating to say the least. So many small businesses in this tourist area understand that they need a web site but don't seem to be able to grasp the importance of factoring in some ongoing search engine work.

They are still locked into the 'build it and they will come' attitude and we have wasted too much time working up proposals only to have them turned down because of the cost of search engine optimization. However, there are a few that are beginning to understand the true cost of building a website so we'll continue to work in mainstream with local businesses.

What we will change though is the way we conduct the initial interview to make sure that people understand how important it is to do more than just build a website and wait for something to happen.

Have fun
And we're going to have more fun in the coming year. It's way too easy to get caught up in work 24/7/365 and this coming year we're going to avoid that ... or at least try a little harder to avoid it than we did in 2006. Both of us have hobbies that we have let slide for a couple of years and now it's time to revive them.

Well those are our plans for 2007 and you will notice that I called them plans and not resolutions. Resolutions are just made to be broken whereas plans ... well let's review them this time next year.