600th Post: What are people seeking on the Net?

To celebrate our gala 600th post, here are just a few of the search terms that people around the world have used to get to this blog today. It's always fascinating to study how people find information. Sometimes even I’m not sure why Google and MSN and others directed people here – but isn't that part of the magic of the Internet?

bronfman john roy climate change (I have no idea what this means)
ed Mirvish (a great entrepreneur who passed away earlier this year)
jim pattison tactics (I wish I knew them)
westjet profit magazine (sounds like a winner)
women entrepeneurs in canada (we got them)
profit sharing program examples (yeah, we got them too)
Top entrepreneurs in north America (what part of “Canadian” don't they understand?)
Rick segal recession (how is he going to explain that?)
Questions to ask an entrepreneur (this topic came up so often on searches that I wrote a custom post with that exact title – and now I’m No. 1 on Google for that phrase. Worth at least two hits a day.)
entrepreneur conferences+upcoming
Why is Simon Cowell so successful? (Yes, we wrote about Simon one day)
Popular Canadian Entrepreneurs (We got ‘em)
"Rick Spence" (blush)
teresa Cascioli (The Lady from Lakeport is the single most oft-searched entrepreneur on this site. Maybe because she’s single and dazzling and rich?)
canada's important people (Yeah, we got those too)
free disney ringtones for canada virgin mobile phone (It takes all kinds)
getting people to call your business (another common search)
small growing compaines quebec
BACKSTREET BOYS WHEN THE HORSE IS CALLING (It would take too long to explain)
entrepreneur pitching site (a new sport?)
top entrepreneurs Alberta (We got those, too)
entrepreneur quotes (A new one every Monday for 50 weeks)
5 important characteristics of an entrepreneur (a 2005 post on this topic still brings them in – so I just added it to the “Favourite Posts” list, below-right)
quebec companies (Quebec is one of my favourite parts of Canada - and it shows)
Showing Up for Work and Other Keys to Business Success (sounds like a plan)
quebec business magazine
top reasons to be an entrepreneur (Yep, we had a post on this)
"atlantic canada" "fastest growing" (used to be a contradiction in terms, but not anymore)
Simon Cowell billionaire (again?)
Canadian beverage consumption trends (in 600 posts, you cover a lot of ground)
Stay in the mind (I have no idea)
Delighting (For some reason, we are the eight-ranked site on Google for this word)
writing an obituary for your business marketing (no clue)
entrepreneurship best practices (we got those)
free sample of biography of business man achievers (double huh?)
"it’s all written in his vigorous, personal style" (I was the only person on the Internet to have written this phrase – until someone entered it in a search box)
need money for family (I didn't write that)
entrepreneur nice (Nice!)
divorce stalling tactics Alberta (this only came up because of a post I wrote about Jack Welch in March 2005 – honest!)

What’s the takeaway from all this? Well, it’s a reminder that everything you've ever written on the Internet – the good and the bad – will always be there to haunt you.

But it also suggests that if your business isn't blogging yet, maybe it should be. Even small blogs score high on Google and other search engines because they are usually updated often, include many links back and forth, and build up a massive database of information and comment related to a specific topic. That's marketing power in an easy-to-use box, and it costs you only your time.