WHAT WE LEARNED THIS WEEK: Watch your words on Twitter

Any entrepreneur who keeps up with Twitter would know News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch made a few controversial comments last week regarding a piece of American legislation called the Stop Online Piracy Act.

Specifically, he attacked Google for opposing the legislation, saying the company actually harboured piracy.

While this isn’t the first time an entrepreneur has called out another company publically, it’s unusual for Murdoch to do so – and even more unusual for him to do so on Twitter. His comments prompted a quick backlash from users.

Entrepreneurs wanting to emulate his comments should take note – this doesn’t work for everyone. Not everyone is in a position where they can tweet disparaging comments against another company and get away with it. You’re far better off just keeping it to yourself.

A little bit of friendly sledging doesn’t go astray every now and then, and you’re certainly permitted to promote your own views, but taking down another company can backfire. Don’t do it unless you’re sure it will help you out.

Be a part of the domain name economy

The domain name industry has been around for years but a new report has revealed just how valuable it is to the Australian economy. During the 2011 year, Deloitte Access Economics found the industry pumped the economy with $475 million, with more than 60,000 registrations per month.

The .au domain industry is booming, and more domains are being added every day. But too many businesses forget this and don’t think about it when coming up with new ideas or divisions.

There isn’t a limit on how many domains you can register, so if you have a good idea, you should register it straight away. Otherwise, someone else will buy it and you’ll lose some precious branding power.

Another problem occurs when you let domain names expire, allowing another business or individual to swoop in and take it, especially if it’s a popular name. You may end up paying a lot more just to get it back.

Stay on top of your domains. It’ll save you plenty of money in the long run.

Give customers compensation when it’s deserved

If you run a website you’re sure to encounter a technical glitch eventually. The only question is how much you can stop it from affecting every single one of your customers.

Stayz, the holiday accommodation listing site owned by Fairfax, wasn’t so lucky. It suffered a glitch over the holidays that resulted in members not being paid.

But here’s the important part – they actually delivered some compensation to members. Affected members got their listings free of charge for two months.

This is how you turn a bad situation into a good one. The glitch was annoying, yes, but at least the members walked away with something in their pocket. Take note – this is one way you should handle any problems you encounter as well.

Be more social with your SEO

Google is constantly changing, but last week it took a big step forward in its SEO plans by more closely aligning its social network, Google+, with search results.

Now, whenever you search for various topics or phrases, you’ll see more search results for people in Google+, along with different communities and discussion topics.

While you may not want to be using Google+ right now, these changes indicate that Google has no intention of slowing down its push for marrying search results and social media. As a result, if you have the opportunity to register a Google brand page, you should do so right away.

Social is only going to become more important, so make sure you get on the bandwagon as quickly as possible.

Shoppers want more domestic online retailers

With all the talk about how offshore retailers are stealing Australian dollars, you may be forgiven for thinking the majority of sales were heading overseas. But that isn’t true.

PayPal Australia released some figures last week showing some of its clients recorded their highest online sales ever. And as Forrester Research data has shown previously, 70% of the purchases being made online are going to domestic retailers.

If you’re a domestic retailer, there is an opportunity to make money here. People want to spend money on local companies, and you should be putting yourself in the open to harness that opportunity.