So a video's worth ... 10,000 words?

If traffic statistics on video sites are any indication, web surfers have a growing appetite for moving pictures. One of the most interesting aspects of working on Google Video is seeing all the videos that come in, on literally all sorts of topics -- from the air guitar championships to how caffeine works. With so much great content, wouldn't it be great if you could publish this content on whichever site you want?

Last week, we launched a feature on Google Video that allows you to embed Google Video content in your website. Does your site cover films? Show the trailer for Pixar's new movie "Cars" right on your website. Explore Google video and you'll find a wide selection of content that can be displayed on your site. Here's an example:



Just look for the 'Put on site' link on the video's playback page. It's free, it's fast, and users don't have to download anything to enjoy video right from your site.



Posted by Jon Steinback - Google Video Product Marketing

'Oscar' eat your heart out

With the academy awards just around the corner, everyone's thoughts turn toward the red carpet, designer dresses, never-ending acceptance speeches, and long lists of thank you's to producers, directors, mentors, hair stylists, neighbors... you get the picture.

Today, the Google Search Appliance was awarded the "2006 Best Product: Information Management" in Network Worlds Best Products Issue. Although the Google Search Appliance stylists do deserve much of the credit (come on, you love the swiss cheese look - yellow is the new black), we'd simply like to thank you, our customers and partners for making the appliance the premier enterprise search solution. Since its inception 4 years ago, Google Enterprise appliance customers (now over 3000 strong) have found our products easy to install, easy to configure, and easy to maintain. Most importantly, users have found what they are looking for, and isn't that the ultimate measure of a search product?

Thanks to the folks at Network World for the endorsement, we do appreciate it. And of course, thanks to the whole enterprise team for making this moment possible. Without you, we wouldn't be here... (wait a minute, this is starting to sound like one of those Academy Awards speeches... roll music)

eCPM -- what exactly is that?

eCPM is a bit of industry shorthand that seems here to stay. You've seen it listed in your AdSense reports; it means, "effective cost per thousand impressions." So how is eCPM calculated, you ask?



eCPM is calculated by dividing total earnings by total number of impressions in thousands. It is a great performance measure for your various ad units, so when experimenting, you can use eCPM to compare your results.



But what if your site doesn't receive enough impressions to have a large sample size? Even for smaller sites, eCPM can be a useful statistic to track ad performance.

For example, let's imagine we have two custom channels named 'Blue Skyscrapers' and 'Red Rectangles', respectively, which reflect the types of ad formats we're testing on our site. During our test, the 'Blue Skyscrapers' channel receives 370 page impressions and $1.48 in total earnings. The 'Red Rectangles' channel receives 187 page impressions and $0.97 in earnings over the same period. To make these figures more comparable we calculate eCPM -- i.e., the estimated earnings for every 1,000 impressions received. We find that eCPM for blue skyscrapers is $4.00 while the eCPM for red rectangles is $5.18.

This means if we received 1,000 impressions of blue skyscrapers, we would earn roughly $4.00. But for 1,000 impressions of red rectangles, we would earn about $5.18. Therefore, assuming that our sample size is large enough, it is to our advantage to switch to red rectangles throughout our site because they generate more revenue per impression.

Posted by Theresa Chow - AdSense Publisher Support

Advanced account search

Here's a tip from Ann-Lee, on the account management tools team:

This week, you may have noticed an Advanced Search link next to the search box on the Campaign Management page, as well as on the Tools page of your account. These new links bring you to our suite of account management tools, such as the Find and Edit Max CPCs tool. While we haven't changed the way you use these tools to make account-wide changes, we hope this makes searching your account easier and faster. So, if you need to find ad text across multiple campaigns or keywords that meet certain criteria such as number of clicks, average position, or clickthrough rate, these searches are now just a click away.

As always, check out our past posts to get a refresher on how to leverage these account management tools or to read up on our latest additions.

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

All you ever wanted to know about Google Base but were afraid to ask

You may have heard of Google Base, a beta product we launched a few months ago which allows content owners to easily make their information searchable online. Well, to provide you the most up to date and accurate info, we recently caught up with Denise from the Google Base team:

What's Google Base?

Google Base is an extension of Google's existing content collection efforts like the web crawl, Google Sitemaps, Google Book Search, and Google Video. It's a place where you can post all sorts of information and have it show up on Google.com and other relevant properties like Froogle and Google Local for free.

The goal of Google Base is to improve the overall quality and breadth of Google Search results by collecting an even wider diversity of content. Allowing content owners to describe and assign attributes to the information they submit will help us use this meta-data to better target search results to what users are looking for.

So how might an AdWords advertiser use it?

Google Base can direct traffic to specific URLs on your own websites for free! It complements Google AdWords by driving additional traffic to your sites from another Google property. Though you can't control the rank of your site in the search results, Google Base allows you to help decide how people find you -- you can add relevant item details and define your own keywords to help others find your stuff more easily.

Can content owners submit lots of information at once?

We make it easy for you to post lots of items at once through feeds or bulk uploads in tab-delimited, RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0, and Atom formats. In addition, you can create custom attributes in your bulk upload files. Attributes, or item details, are words or phrases that help describe the characteristics or qualities of your items. For example, if you're trying to describe a recipe you want to share, you might include attributes such as 'Cuisine: French', 'Main Ingredient: Eggs', and 'Course: Breakfast'. You can also add images in JPEG and GIF formats.

What's new with Google Base since its initial launch?

Since its launch, Google Base has proven useful for both personal and business use. People have uploaded their favorite recipes, podcast links, events, personal profiles, clinical trial information, and even protein databases. And, as expected, a subset of Google Base items have been listed for sale. To improve the user experience for these item types, we're planning to start letting people buy Google Base commercial items using their Google Accounts.

Many of you may already use your Google Account to sign in and pay for a number of Google services, like Google Video and Google Earth. Now we're introducing similar functionality for Google Base: buyers will have a convenient and secure way to purchase Google Base items by credit card, and sellers can take advantage of easy to use transaction processing as they manage their Google Base items. We're starting off with a very small number of sellers, and we expect to include more over the next several months. If you're interested in getting an announcement when this feature is generally available, let us know.

By providing buyers and sellers a convenient and secure way to purchase and sell Google Base items, we hope to make it even easier for people to use Google Base to post and distribute a wide range of content, from details about a family reunion to a used bike for sale.

Posted by Arielle, Inside AdWords crew

UK publisher Dan Moore 'tells us how'

Tellmehowto.net is a site where users can share hints and tips on just about everything -- from do-it-yourself projects to travel and self-improvement. Set up by Dan Moore in 2002, it became part of the AdSense content network in 2004. Dan has some great optimisation feedback and would like to share his AdSense story ...

In 2005, Dan began a full review of his site to improve ad-serving and therefore, increase AdSense revenue. A period of trial and error followed whilst Dan tried out different optimisation tips, including different placements, colours and combinations of ads. Some things worked better than others -- this period of experimentation allowed him to see what worked best for his site and his readers.



One key improvement was to make ads more visible. Dan said, "Before, I had small ads shoved away in the corner of pages. I learnt that I had to make them bigger and put them where people would see them -- at the top left of the page -- since this is where people look first."

He also tried rotating the colours of the ads, but this was not successful on his site. In fact, through experimentation he learned the most successful change was the one he least expected. "The best tip was to blend the ad into the site. Don't make it contrast with the site and therefore stand out," Dan explained.

The figures prove what an enormous impact these changes had: Following a couple of months of testing, his revenue increased from $18 to $150 per day.

"The optimisation tips are really just common sense but you don't think about it or realise what can be done until someone suggests it. In the past I read stories from publishers claiming they were making hundreds of dollars a day on AdSense but I just thought, yeah right. This proves that it really is possible and a few simple changes can have a significant impact!"

Posted by Kate Hammond - AdSense UK Product Marketing

To the intranet…and beyond!

At trade shows, I used to go on about how much information the Google Search Appliance could discover on an organization's intranet. Turns out, that promise can be about as exciting as telling people how much lint they can find under their couch. For many companies, the official intranet is a relatively tiny set of company-approved web pages containing such gems as the cafeteria menu and company holiday calendar.

I realized that here at Google, we use the term intranet to refer to an entirely different beast – a mash-up of content that includes literally anything that's accessible over our corporate network. Our Google Search Appliance hoovers up employee file shares, product team databases, marketing Wikis and engineering blogs and adds them to our internal search
index. As a result, I can quickly find everything from recent sales presentations to product launch plans right from the search box.

Your organization probably has these content sources and more, but may not refer to them as part of the official intranet. Maybe we just need a new word to get us on the same page. Something like “Enternet,” for Enterprise-network, could work. So next time you're looking for that revised customer proposal or product launch plan, consider taking a wing dip at the intranet and then rocketing over to the Enternet to get the freshest organic content...I like it.

Check that date range

On occasion, the AdWords support team receives emails similar to the one below, which we've paraphrased to shorten it up a bit:

On my Campaign Summary page, the number of clicks and impressions has not accurately been displayed. This has led me to a big charge of $52.39 which I was not aware of. According to my Campaign Summary, I have only accrued $11.23 in clicks... If there is something I'm missing please let me know as soon as possible. - Five days with AdWords

The issue at work here is that many newer advertisers (and even a few old timers) are not aware of the date range for which they're viewing their account statistics.



This date range setting is designed to allow advertisers to quickly view account statistics for a day -- or range of days -- of their choice. This extremely useful setting is found near the top right of your Campaign Management pages and provides the eight pre-set date ranges shown above -- as well as the opportunity to select any individual day, or range of days, since you first created your account.

One important point to mention is that the date range setting is "sticky" -- your selected date range stays where you put it until you modify it again. For example, if you set it to look at your stats for February 14, 2006 (Valentine's Day), that's where it would stay until you actively changed it.

So, be sure to check your date range setting immediatly upon logging into your account. This'll help to avoid unhappy surprises such as the one experienced by 'Five days with AdWords,' whose date range may well have been set to February 14, 2006 when he actually wanted statistics for 'all time.'

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

Please plan ahead...

This just in, straight from our tech team:

On Friday, February 24th, the AdWords system will be unavailable from approximately 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. PST due to system maintenance. While you won't be able to log into your accounts during this short downtime, your campaigns will continue to run as usual. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Update: System maintenance will take place from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m., not 12 p.m. :)

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

Meet Mike Gutner, AdSense Optimization Specialist

We caught up with Mike Gutner, an optimization specialist here at AdSense, to introduce you to one of the people whose job is to make you more money.



How did you get to work this morning?

I cycled. I live in San Francisco and enjoy bicycling the 40 miles to work about once or twice a week. I cycled across the United States a few years ago and like to re-live those days of getting up at 5:30am and cycling the pre-dawn miles.

What do you do on the AdSense team?

I work on AdSense optimization. We run tests to identify the best ways in which AdSense publishers can make the most of their Google ads.

Can all publishers take advantage of these optimization tips?

Of course. We publish a tips page, which is updated regularly with best practices and optimal ways to use new features, such as link units. We also frequently post tips on this blog, including optimal implementation techniques for forums and blogs, as well as refreshers on new features like site targeting. We'll be doing more optimization-related posts in 2006 -– to stay tuned, subscribe to Inside AdSense so you can receive updates automatically! (Subscribe by entering your email address in the text box to the right of this post)

What are the top 3 tips you like to tell publishers?

1. Opt into image ads. Doing so deepens the pool of advertisements competing to appear on your site, and allows AdWords advertisers to target your site directly with CPM image ads. This can improve monetization on the site real estate you've devoted to AdSense.

2. Use custom channels to track the performance of your ad units. Then, you can see which ad units perform best and experiment with color, placement, and format changes to figure out what works best for your site.

3. Integrate ad units into the content of your site. Place ads in locations on your page with heavy eye traffic, such as within article content (wrap the text around the ad unit) and at the top of the page below the your horizontal navigation unit. Check out our heat map for more placement ideas.

Do the same optimization tips apply across all websites?

No, certain types of sites perform differently with AdSense. In general, we've seen that ads placed above the fold of the page perform best. However in some cases, Google ads perform quite well below the fold. On article pages, for example, people often want more information about the topic after they've finished reading a story. Placing an AdSense ad unit immediately following an article provides relevant links to readers who want to continue reading about the subject. The same idea applies to forums; people tend to go straight to the bottom of interesting threads to read the most recent posts, and Google ads can perform really well there.

Any other advice?

Never stop experimenting! Don't get frustrated if changes you make to your ads don't have immediate positive effects. Keep tweaking your ad colors, formats, and placement, and track how these changes perform with channels. You'll eventually find the optimal ad implementation scheme for your site.

Posted by Suzie Dewey - AdSense Publisher Support

Import Export Business Opportunity

Yes, the import export business is an opportunity. However, the import export business opportunity is far removed from the hundreds or even thousands of what I refer to as “junk” business opportunities that you will find advertised on and off the Internet.

The import export business opportunity requires a dedicated period of learning on your part to become proficient, at the least, in understanding the processes of how an import export business operates.

Does this mean you have to be able to ‘do’ all aspects of exporting or importing to be successful. The answer is NO. But, the more you understand of the processes, the less likely you will be ripped off completely or lose a commission you earned.

Do not be fooled into paying thousands of dollars or more for some course or ‘program’ that “promises” you success – even if they are advertised on Google or other major search engines.

Remember:

A. Anyone can set up a web site (or multiple ones) for a few dollars per year and have a telephone number that gets you a boiler room sales operator who is highly trained on separating you from your money.

B. Anyone can ‘pay’ to have their advertised listing within Google or Yahoo or MSN’s search engine. The fact they are paying for advertising simply means they know that they are making a lot of money off the people who purchase their expensive ‘programs’ that promise to hold your hand while walking you down the yellow brick road to the enchanted city of being successful.

Let me share a recent email exchange with a potential customer for the Tool Kit training package we offer to train you for success in the import export business opportunity: (this email is on file in our email program)

1.) My first question is for a beginner like myself who has no previous experience in the import export business but wants to earn an income as an agent what are some ways I can go about learning this business the correct way?

My Answer: First, download all our FREE Small Business Resources including free reports and ebook about starting up an exporting business - they are located throughout our web site - if after you have read the ebook you are still interested in pursuing this type of business then the very best course we offer is the Import - Export Tool Kit.The tool kit is advertised in the Ebook and in our web site - first rule of this business or any business is to learn to do your research before taking action.

2.) Also recently I read about a course on google.com that being an agent bringing buyers and sellers together can earn a significant income doing this and would like your opinion on it based on your experiences?

My Answer: There are many different offerings on the Internet - some may be valid, some may not be - there are so many springing up each day, I pay little attention to them any longer. Our Import Export tool kit course costs a few hundred dollars, period.

There are courses on the internet offered for thousands of dollars - SAVE your money. If you are willing to expend $7-8,000 or more for your business, do this - Purchase our Import-Export Toolkit for a few hundred dollars and invest the rest in a certificate of deposit for the next year. At the end of a year you will either be a successful import or export agent/broker or you will not be, but guess what, you will still have almost all of your original money.

Our make money in international trade course (or any course or 'program') will not "guarantee" you success in any field - if they do - grab your wallet and run.

3.) Lastly in terms of being an agent in this business would there be a certain amount of startup capital I'd need to get started?My Answer: Generally if you have a computer, a telephone line, you can get a fax to email line for about $30 a year so basically beyond the training the only other cost I would recommend an expenditure for is a good "paid" trade leads service, either the Export Leads online service we offer. So in answer to your question, if you add up the cost of our make money in international trade course and a subscription to our online export leads and some other basics like a fax number, etc. you can come in under $600 TOTAL.

*** End of this email exchange ***

Another person inquired about an import export business opportunity provider they found on the Internet that stated they would provide the opportunity seeker "guaranteed" accounts. To this person I replied: if this is true, wouldn't it make more sense for the company offering these “guaranteed accounts” to simply hire people at minimum wage (or a little higher) and keep the accounts themselves??

Folks, what I am trying to tell you (not sell you) is USE A LITTLE COMMON SENSE.

If you apply that COMMON SENSE and a little bit of thought processing, wouldn’t you begin to ‘wonder’ just a little bit that if these ‘guaranteed accounts’ were so lucrative why would they be giving them to me? OR, could it just be possible that they are making more profit from taking my $7,000 or $8,000 plus than what these ‘guaranteed’ accounts might be worth (if they really exist at all???)

I don’t know about you, but $7,000 or $8,000 or more is a "LOT" of money. That is a LOT of house payments, groceries, Christmas presents (I guess you can still use the word Christmas??). $7,000 to $8,000 or more is not easy to come by, but you must make the decision of what is worthy of your hard earned dollars. I am sure of one thing, it probably took you a lot of mornings of getting up for work, commuting to work, working long hours at your job and commuting back home again to get those dollars.

What I have tried to do here is simply give you some things that "I" would think about and contemplate before I would give a total stranger $7,000 to $8,000 or more of my hard earned money.

Just a couple more things to think about and check out before deciding who you trust to provide you with training for the import export business opportunity:

1. Be sure to check out their web site thoroughly – visit their site maps and click on all of the links. If you find that many of the links take you to a “Page not found” – that should tell you something, I hope – remember use your common sense?

2. You should also perform a complete "due diligence" on the company or business you are considering handing your hard earned money over to, whether us or them (I know that isn't proper grammer). If you do not understand or know the meaning of “due diligence” go to http://www.webster.com/ and look it up.

Quite frankly, if you are too lazy to perform due diligence on an import export business opportunity provider, whether them or ‘us’, you should reconsider, entirely, if you are suited for starting and operating this business or any business. Blunt, yes, but a cold hard fact.

Here is a direct link to the "DUE DILIGENCE" resources that we have posted at our web site – I encourage you to use them to check us out and any other import export business opportunity provider you are considering doing business with.

Consider this a FREE lesson and resource for success in the import export business opportunity and be sure to bookmark it or save it to your own computer. The business resources listed on this page are all independent import export business resources that I have used and continue to use. These business resources will be very useful to you in your import export business.

I am also going to give you one more BIG resource, FREE of Charge, here today before ending my rant.

If you are going to focus on the Export business side of an import export business, one of the BIG things the high prices courses and training programs promise you is access to their super secret database of suppliers and/or manufacturers.

The largest database of USA manufacturers is now online and the last time I checked, access to it was FREE.
You simply have to register and you can search through tens of thousands of manufacturers, by name, products, services, etc.. That web site is http://www.thomasnet.com/index.html

The BIGGEST keys to success in dealing direct with a manufacturer or other potential supplier is having the confidence in knowing two things:

1. That you have viable trade leads (importers/buyers) you can bring to the table.

2. An understanding of the process of exporting so you are not perceived as a rank amateur or what many call a ‘wannabe’ in the industry.

3. Confidence in yourself (this is definitely elevated when you possess number 1 and 2)

Now for you potential Importers.

The primary method I recommend to people for locating a manufacturer or supplier from another country is to contact that country’s embassy and ask to speak or correspond with their on staff trade representative.

Most, if not all, embassies have these personnel on staff and their sole purpose is to help promote trade with companies in their country by helping potential buyers/importers (like you) get in touch with manufacturers in their country.

You can find contact information for just about every embassy located in the USA at http://embassy.org/

That is my rant for the day. I do not wish to scare you away from the import export business opportunity, but to hopefully help you in making a more ‘informed’ decision about it and about those with whom you are considering entrusting your money and your future.

The import export business is a great business. I will tell you about my first deal in a later post. But, I will tell you that I continue to receive checks to this day from a company that contacted us in 1997 and asked for us to help them develop new overseas markets. We did just that in early 1998 and still receive checks from them to this day.

Hopefully the last paragraph will also dispel those potential critics who I sometimes get phone calls or emails from who say something like “you have never exported or imported, have you”. The answer to that question is YES, I have done both and continue to work in the field as an export agent but only on deals that I decide are worthy of my time.

I hope that this ‘long’ post has been helpful to you and I wish you success in your future endeavors, whatever they might be.

Regards,

Ron Coble
Coble International
Import Export Business Help Center

EMAIL MARKETING TIPS: Want To Email Your Solo Ad For Free To Thousands? Spam Free!

By Luis Galarza, from Cogni360.com

Free Email Marketing Tips & Advice.- Is this really possible? Of course! Lots of internet marketers pros and rookies are using different systems to achieve this. Email marketing is one of the best internet marketing channels that you can use to rich your target. Out there are many top quality ezines and mailing list services where you can submit your ad for a fee, and you can even send to a niche list or ezine that specialized on your target market.

Are this ads Free? Sorry but No!, they can go from really cheap to extremely expensive, depending on the kind of ezine ads you decide to use. There are 3 different type of ezine ads:

- Solo ads: This type of ezine advertisement are the most effective, because your ad doesn't have to compete with other ads or content. Very expensive...

- Main Sponsor Ads: This is the type that you see on the top of the ezine before the content body. And this are less effective than Solo Ads.

- Ezine Sponsor Ads: This are the ones that you see in between the content body of the ezine, and of course are even less effective.

- Ezine Classifieds: This are those ads that you see at the end on the ezine content but before the ezine's publisher contact information. And these are the least effective ads, and is ways to advertise here for free. I'll explain how on my next post...

So, if Solo Ads are really effective but expensive, how can I send Solo Ads for free? By using Safelist (safe mailing list, protected against spam). These mailing list services are call SafeList, because everyone whom subscribe to the list agree to receive emails from the list members. Don't worry they don't have access to your email address, they need to use the list site to send their email promotion to all the members.

To sign up they will ask you for to email addresses; One is for you to receive members emails, and the other one is for your account contact information. I recommend to use a random email from Yahoo or Google to receive members email offers.

Using this systems you can send lots of free Solo Ads to all the Safelist web sites members. Make sure that your promotion appeals to business owners and entrepreneurs, because this is mostly the market that you are going to hit. But, don't forget that this business owners are also people that like other things, too. So, just make sure you make your promotion good enough to pull sales out of this free ads.

Know that your Subject Line is your ad title and this title needs to make people open their email to see what you are offering. Remember the classified ads strategies when writing your promotion title and content.

Here some of this Safelists that you can try, there absolutely free:

http://www.oneclickpromotion.com
http://www.safelistplanet.com

Good Luck on your new promotion system...

Just test, test, test, and after that keep testing... Until you get that winner ad.

About Author: Luis Galarza is a Business and Communication Consultant. Learn how to save money own your phone bill at: http://www.cogni360blog.co.nr/. And get your free business tips at: http://LuisGalarza.blogspot.com


Also check #1 best-selling Internet Marketing Course, Free 30 Days Trail!
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Search Across the Enterprise (Desktop)

There has been some discussion about the new Search Across Computers feature released last week in Google Desktop 3 beta, and we want to chime in. Admittedly we're of two minds on this: on the one hand, we know that our friends on the Desktop team have gone to great lengths to protect users' data and privacy.

On the other hand, we are the Enterprise team, and we understand that a company's data is more precious than gold -- and you don't go passing your gold around. So we should point you to Google Desktop 3 for Enterprise (beta) which can put your security fears to rest. This product has all the features of the consumer version -- and then some. It also includes full administrative control. Administrators can use the standard group policy settings to completely disable product features, such as the Search Across Computer functionality, so users cannot send documents from the work computer to their home PC.

The folks at Gartner have written about this, and we agree with their recommendation: "Enterprises that are not using Google Desktop for Enterprise but are allowing employees to use Google's desktop search application should start using the enterprise edition immediately and restrict its use accordingly."

In addition, Enterprise customers have asked for some features we've now added. These features include the ability to set time-based document retention policies for different content types, and a policy to control the indexing load on your Exchange servers. We think that the Enterprise version only strengthens a solid product. If you're reading this at work, you should consider it.

Use keyword variations (I say Turin, but you may say Torino...)

Once every four years, all eyes are focused on bobsledders, speed skaters, and ski jumpers as they take center stage to compete for Olympic gold. This year, Olympic glory is being achieved in the mountains of Turin, Italy...or is it Torino? Though Americans primarily refer to the city as Turin, the English translation of the Italian Torino, these two names for the Olympic city have become interchangeable during this year's competition.

So, what does this mean for AdWords advertisers? Well, it's a good reminder to always include keyword variations in your keyword list. If you're running an Olympics campaign for shirts, you want to ensure that you include both 'Turin Olympics shirts' as well as 'Torino Olympics shirts' in your keyword list. This will ensure that you reach your entire target audience.

Remember, you can always use the Keyword Tool to find additional variations. So, take a minute to add any relevant keyword variations to your account, and then sit back and enjoy a few more days of curling and figure skating.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

AFFILIATE MARKETING: Focus To Duplicate Sales

By Luis Galarza

Free Affiliate Marketing Tips & Advice.- Don't make your web pages a multiple affiliate sales promotion for all your visitors. This will make pages just end up being a confused mess of affiliate banners and links that don't do any selling.

Use the "One page per product" system - not only does this help you focus the whole page to sell this product, but it also helps this page rank well in the search engines, by using related keywords on the page. Once you've created a page for Product 1 then you can basically duplicate this page for Similar Product 2 and Similar Product 3, just change the names, alter the content and specific product details - you now have 3 highly targeted selling pages.

Then submit this pages one by one to search engines (http://www.submitexpress.com) at least once a month, after you do some content updates. don't change the content add more selling points to it, change it only if you have to, like if the product is no longer available. Now if you keep adding affiliate partners to your site just keep using the same system for each.

Meaning that you will have a lot more pages on your site so remember that a good navigational system is important to allow the visitors to find their way around. Good pages and site design goes a long way, so keep it clean of banner clutters.

About Author: Luis Galarza is a Business and Communication Consultant. Learn how to save money own your phone bill at: http://www.cogni360blog.co.nr. And get your free business tips at: http://LuisGalarza.blogspot.com
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Start Your Own Import Business

Most people are under the mistaken belief that to start your own import business you will need to order container-loads of products. Nothing could be further from the truth.

If you get the right training when learning how to start your own import business you will learn how and where to find foreign manufacturers and suppliers who will sell small quantities to you.

Small quantities can be a gross (144) that can be shipped via the postal service direct to your door. Many small importers sell their import products via mailorder, on the Internet, on eBay and some sell strictly at flea markets on weekend and make $500 to $1,000 or more. The key to success when you start your own import business is having the right tools and resources.

If you start your own import business will you be rich by the end of the month? Sorry, I hate to be the one to burst your bubble, but if you are looking for the golden goose home based business opportunity that will make you rich or pay off your bills by the end of next month, you need to wake up and smell the coffee.

To start your own import business, you have to first dedicate yourself to learning the processes involved from professionally produced import business training materials.

Second, you need to apply what you learn from your how to start your own import business training course. Believe it or not, 95% or more of people who purchase training courses of any type (not just importing business courses) never take the first step to applying what they learn.

Third and probably most important, you need to have patience. Rome was not built over night as the old saying goes and your success when you start your own import business will take time and time means patience.

Persistence goes hand in hand with patience when you start your own import business. Take as an example a New Jersey man who imported a car clothes rack and his only means of marketing was via small ads. It took him a year but he was able to generate over $100,000 from one product in that year.

Start your own import business, apply what you learn from professional training materials and follow the successful examples of others. Another small importer ran test ads for a product used by fishing enthusiasts and was able to generate $70,000 in 3 months.

Is your success guaranteed when you start your own import business? By no means and if some one makes that guarantee or promise to you, grab your wallet and run as fast and as far away as you can.

However, by learning how to start your own import business, applying what you learn and combining you low cost import products with the worlds largest Internet marketplace called Ebay or selling from your own web site, or via mail order you have a very good chance for success.

I have been studying the import export business since 1986 or 20 years now. In that time I have purchased most of the training materials on how to start your own import business (and export business). I have also had 'many' courses and training materials given to me due to my long tenure in this business.

All of the other how to start your own import business courses pale in comparison to the sole training package we now detail at our web site. The How To Start Your Own Import Business course detailed is the "ONLY" training package we offer on starting an import business because no others provide the level of detail or are as professionally produced as this course.

One last thing, if you are seriously interested in learning how to start your own import business, be sure to thoroughly check out the people or businesses from whom you are considering getting your course. Our business has been in existence since 1988 and we have a very detailed list of resources and references listed on our company page.

When you visit the web page detailing our Start Your Own Import Business course, be sure to also check out (and bookmark) our company page. The "due diligence" import export business resources we have outlined there will be a resource that you will (and should) reference often.

Take care and I wish you success.

Ron Coble

From the mail bag -- link unit edition

Rushabh asks: My Google ads look funny – All I see is a list of topics displayed next to the 'Ads by Google' logo, but there aren't any actual ads.

We say: Do you see something like this?



If so, you've implemented a link unit rather than a regular ad unit. While you may want to incorporate both ad units and link units into your site, make sure to select the 'Ad unit' radio button when generating your ad code in order to display regular Google ads on your site.



Bart asks: When I view my link unit, all I get is a small search box with the phrase "View ads about" next to it.



We say: You might see this happen If there is not enough text-based content on your site for us to determine its meaning, or if there is a limited inventory of ad topics relating to the content of your site. Users can then enter their own search terms into this box to view ads related to their query, and you'll receive earnings for clicks to these ads. A suggestion - you might try adding more text-based content (i.e., sentences and paragraphs) to your site to help us determine relevant topics to display.

Patti asks: Can I track link unit earnings separately?

We say: Yes, when generating your code you can use custom channels to track earnings for individual link units. Channels allow you to see how link units are performing relative to regular ad units, and can also help you experiment to determine the optimal location on your page for your link units so that you can maximize your revenue.

Posted by Theresa Chow - AdSense Publisher Support

Print ads auction...extended!

Last week, we told you about a special test we were running to place ads from our AdWords advertisers in select print publications. The auction allows you to bid for ad space in well-known magazines. Since the auction is a new process for many, we are providing some extra time for you to get your bids in; the auction will now close on February 24th. So for those of you who are reading about this for the first time, and for those who are interested but have been procrastinating, be sure to visit http://www.google.com/printadsauction and name your price.

Posted by Vivian, Inside AdWords crew

Cover all your 'Bases'

Looking for a place where you can easily share your site content with the world? Try Google Base, Google's database of information submitted by businesses and individuals like you. In a nutshell, Google Base is a free service that helps you publish virtually any kind of information -- be it your latest riveting screenplay, your physical business locations, or your famous brownies recipe.

So what's cool about Google Base for publishers? For starters, it allows you to make your content more accessible and useful. You can describe the content you upload with your own keywords and attributes so users can easily find it when they search Google Base, Froogle, Local or Google.com. For example, if you're posting a recipe, you might include attributes such as 'Meal: Breakfast', 'Main Ingredient: Eggs', and 'Servings: 4'.

The other cool feature is that you can choose to share a lot of your content, or just a little. You can post individual items by completing a simple UI form, or you can submit a bulk upload file with multiple items in standard formats including TSV, RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0 and Atom 0.3 formats. This means that if you already have RSS or Atom feeds, you can easily submit your content to Google Base without much additional work. To keep yourself informed with official news and tips about Google Base, read the Google Base blog or join the Google Base Help Group.



Posted by Naureen Kabir - Google Base Support

We asked...you answered

Some time ago we asked for your ideas about how we could make this blog more useful and effective for you. And while we didn't exactly receive a flood of responses (can this mean you're all satisfied?), there were several messages that had "well worth doing" written all over them. So, here are a few of the excellent suggestions that we will work on implementing in the near future:

I wish you would have more descriptive subject lines. I file most of your bloggings in an email file...and sometimes go back to them. "Now, where is that note on how to advertise on selected content match sites only?" I ask myself but the titles of the email says things like "Advertise smarter" or "Because you don't want Hallowee..." Notice how that last one got cut off, which is typical, since most of your email already has [Inside AdWords] taking up valuable subject line real estate. Nuf said. - Robbin

Robbin, both of your points are well taken. We'll focus on creating short, descriptive titles that'll also catch the attention of our readers. We love a challenge!

As an aside, if a truly powerful search function within your email account would interest you, we just happen to know of an email program you might want to consider. (Oh, and don't forget that you can search right here on Inside AdWords by using the search box over on the top right.)

Our next email is from Cheri T., who writes:

Okay, I'm new at this, but I'm finding these explanations rather mystifying. I have to click on all these words, read more mystifying stuff. How about walking us through an EXAMPLE or two of what you mean? That would really help.

We'll definitely keep in mind that examples would prove useful. It's worth mentioning that we've also heard that some of our posts are "too basic," which just confirms for us that our readers include advertisers at every experience level. Examples are a good idea for everyone, though, so thanks for the suggestion.

Finally, we'll hear from two readers who are clearly on the same wave length:

How about some case studies? - Ted F.

I suggest...you use examples of different small businesses in a “narrative” to show your customers how your service, the Internet and related can be used relative to improving their marketing... - Wayne C.

Ted and Wayne, we think case studies and real-world examples are a great idea, and we'll plan to include more of them in the future.

That's about it for now. By the way, there's still time for you to influence the future of the Inside AdWords blog. How? Well, tell us what you'd like to see!

Posted by Blake, Inside AdWords crew

BIZ BLOGGING TIPS: Super Charge Your Blog With This Free Blogging Tools!

By Luis Galarza

Free Business Blogging Tips & Advice.- Below is another of my personal list of blog tools that you can use to super charge your blog sites. I'll be teaching some tips on how to use some of this free tools to gain free marketing and to serve your customers better.

Adminimizer Toolbar - The easiest tool for updating your Blog with Internet Explorer 6

ashnews - a simple program using PHP/MySQL that allows you to easily add a news/blog system to your site

AvantBlog - a very simple interface which will allow you to post to a blog from your Palm or WinCE device via AvantGo

b2 - A news/blog tool

b2evolution - a multi-lingual, multi-user, multi-blog engine. It was developed to provide a free, feature rich, extensible, and easy-to-install solution for efficient Web publishing of information ranging from professional news feeds to personal weblogs. b2evo can easily be installed on almost any LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) host in a matter of minutes

Bleezer - a powerful blogging client. Blog from anywhere. Work with any blogging service. Add tags for any tag service. Create custom markup. Spell check. Advertise. Work online or offline

Blog - An automatic web log program which allows you to update your site easily without the hassles of HTML editing and having to use a separate program to upload your work. Windows client freeware

Blog Navigator - makes it easy to read blogs on the Internet. It integrates into various blog search engines and can automatically determine RSS feeds from within properly coded websites

BlogAmp - a web audio player for bloggers. Blog-Amp can be positioned on a web page or displayed in a mini pop-up window. BlogAmp does not require listeners to use media player applications which means that everyone with a web browser can listen. For bloggers themselves it couldn’t be any easier when it comes to managing, programming and tracking their Blog-Amp. Simply upload any recorded MP3 files to your secure online media manager

Blogarithm - a web service that let's you subscribe to blogs and be notified by email when they have new content. Also has a tool to generate stickers you can add to your own blog to make it easy for readers to subscribe to you. A way to be reminded about blogs you read and to generate more views of your blog

BlogBack - Allows visitors to comment on your weblog posts, without the need to host the service yourself

Blogbox - Blogboxes provide exciting, instantly deployed functionality for your blog or Web site. They are free for non-commercial use

blogBuddy - A small Windows client providing a front-end to the blogger.com website

BlogChat - a browser-based chat window that you can attach to your weblog or site. When you are online your visitors can engage in a text discussion with you in real time. The chat can be a popup window or you can embed it right in the page. All you have to do is put some links on your page, we provide the service. If you run PHP and mySql, you can host your own single blogchat by running the original free version. It has less features and requires your hands-on maintenance, but comes as source

BlogCollector - Backup your blog. Publish your blog into a book

BlogCounter - Free comprehensive site statistics and web counter system for bloggers which tracks host/IP (both proxyfied & 'real' IP), referrers, Search Engine keywords, user agents, date & time, resolution & color, operating system, online time spent, page impressions, browsed page paths, currently online visitors and more!

blogdex - System built to harness the power of personal news, amalgamating and organizing personal news content into one navigable source

blogdexter - Will help you jump to the page on blogdex that displays the web addresses of people who have linked to your URL

BlogFace - provides a weblog-style interface to a cataloged collection of objects, without requiring that the catalog or entries be modified, or even know about the BlogFace at all. It will work with any catalog and collection of entry objects, so long as the catalog provides an ISO format date attribute for each entry record

BlogFlix - Use this blog and online service to add video effects (pan and zoom) to blog photos. Also delivers Flash video clips in a small frame in your blog. Just paste a snippet of code to make movies appear. Supports all major blog hosting services

Blogger FAQ blog - The blog formerly known as Blogger archive/template troubles, featuring fixes for problems with Blogger's archives, templates, and more

BloggerBot - Blogger AIM client

BlogHoster - written in PHP and uses a single MySQL database. The entire system includes no flatfile data storage, which means that backing up your system is as simple as downloading your MySQL database. To install BlogHoster, your server only needs PHP 4.2.0 or higher as well as an available MySQL database

Bloglet - offers an email subscription service for your blog

blogLinker - a free tool to manage your web links on your blog/website and to dramatically increase traffic to your site. It can be embedded anywhere in your web page and can be easily configured to fit the existing design of your site. blogLinker is the only tool of its kind

BlogMax - An Emacs package that aids in the creation of a weblog

BlogPHP - has typical features of blog scripts including the ability to post blogs, comments, categories, upload files, add static pages, links and unique features such as an amazingly easy-to-use template system, built-in support system plugin system, complete stats program (uniques and views) and lastly converters for wordpress and onecms

Blogrolling.com - This site provides a free, easy to use service to manage your buddy lists on your blog that works with every major blog tool and website.

BlogSnob - The better, faster way to publicize your personal site

blogsnow - 'reads' blogs, depending on what's going on between 100 and 240 a minute. Out of this stream of information it extracts links and displays them in different views every 10 minutes

Blogster.net - Top 25 -

Blosxom - [pronounced "blossom" or "blogsome"] is a lightweight yet feature-packed Weblog application designed from the ground up with simplicity, usability, and interoperability in mind - Mac OS X

bookmarklet.ping - Allows a user to ping the weblogs.com update server via the
Userland pingSiteForm

bplog - a minimal weblog/news script for use with Apache+PHP+MySQL

Bricks Site Builder - A Dynamic HTML (DHTML) layout tool that runs on Apache + mod_perl + Mason. It enables a web designer to quickly build assemblies bricks (dynamic components, such as images, or weblogs) using a web-based select-and-submit interface

Chronicle Lite - provides a friendly client application for people who use Blogger.com for all of their journalling needs. It also looks to satisfy the needs of the "power users" who want to interact with files on their local computer, and publish them to their online journal. Helpful shortcut keys speed up editing of HTML content, and drag-and-drop support allows tags to be created simply by dropping a file onto the Chronicle Lite window

CityDesk - runs on your Windows desktop, using any web server. Files uploaded via FTP

CocoBlog - a free weblogging software tool based on Apache Cocoon and Apache Xindice

corzblog - a drop-in-and-blog content management system for human beings. stylish, intelligent, easy-to-use blogging with automatic rss/rdf news syndication, secure editing, one-click blog archiving, and expanded bbcode entry. a blogging system with character. worth a look just for the cute archives menu. the bbcode to html to bbcode parser can also function in stand-alone mode, navigate to /inc/cbparser.php for its built-in demo

csBlog - a powerful blog (web log/journal) management tool. Use the script to create ongoing news items or journal entries. csBlog allows you to quickly and easily manage entries into your website with ease. CGI / Perl script. $49.00

DAWG project - The goal: write a cool, easy to use, easy to install, attractive, and VERY flexible weblog generator using PHP 4 and its XML-related functions

diary2002.cgi - is an online journal or diary script. You may call it also a blogger or weblog. fact is you will be able to write, read, search and delete your own articles or stories from your browser. diary2002.cgi is designed for easy setup, use and maintaining. web publishing has never been that easy. your articles will be stored in text file format, so no database like for example "mysql" is needed

dotcomments - Free, distributable PHP-based comment system used on hundreds of individual and group weblogs

Drupal - A full-featured content management/discussion engine suitable to setup a news-driven community or portal site

Easy Blogs - By uuba.com. Allows anyone to write and publish his or her very own web log or "blog". Simple enough for the non-technical, and yet with enough extra features to please the demanding too. Use one of the many included web-site templates or build your own. Templates are designed to be sharable with other Easy Blogs users. Store your Blog on your PC. Automatic publishing to your web site using FTP. Windows? XP, 2000, ME, 98, NT4 Compatible

EasyMoblog - an open-source platform for personal weblogs and moblogs. It allows the creation of customizable and easy-to-use weblogs: you'll be able to update your EasyMoblog contents just sending e-mail messages

ecto - a feature-rich desktop blogging client for MacOSX and Windows, supporting a wide range of weblog systems, such as TypePad, MovableType, WordPress, Drupal, Nucleus, Blogger, and more. ecto is the successor of the wildly popular Kung-Log, which has been in use by thousands of Mac users and which earned a 4.5 mice in the MacWorld July 2003 issue. ecto earned high ratings at VersionTracker.com, and at MacUpdate.com

Eggblog - a skinable, small, simple, secure and open source blogging package. Anyone with a php and mysql enabled server can make use of our easy to install package to create their own personal blog. Features include Skinable upload or create your own skins to change the colours, graphics AND layout Blogs, instantly post and edit blogs Blog Archive, An archive by month of each blog posted Blog Comments, visitors can post comments to individual blogs Forum, egglbog comes complete with a forum, allowing visitors to start topics and post messages Photo Album, Post your photos online with comments for each one About Me, An about me page allowing you to tell your visitors who you are, where are and what you do Administration Section, A secure admin section from where you can post/edit/delete blogs, comments, forum topics, forum posts and photos RSS Feeds, XML RSS feeds for your blog, the forum and each topic in the forum

Elicit - a desktop blogging client that integrates Web and RSS services from Google (desktop search, news, blog search), Yahoo (news), Microsoft (news), Bloglines (RSS aggregator), Amazon (catalog searching), Flicker (photo sharing), Technorati (blog tagging) , del.icio.us (social book marking), Furl (personal Web), and Chitika (blog context ads) in one desktop application for the purpose of creating content for blogs. Elicit allows the blogger to manage their blogs with a calendar. Many bloggers have more than one blog that are hosted on a variety of hosts

enetation - is a play on words of annotation, the adding of remarks or comments to something. The aim of enetation is to provide a system that allows users that are not able to afford hosting or have the technical knowledge to install scripting to have commenting on their website

EzWebBlog - Professionally Designed Complete Blogging System

Falou & Disse - commenting system for blogger.com

Falasério - commenting system for blogger.com - in Portugese

FeedBlitz - a service that monitors blogs, RSS feeds and Web URLs to provide greater reach for feed publishers. FeedBlitz takes all the headache out of converting feed and blog updates into email digests, delivered daily to subscribers' inboxes. FeedBlitz manages subscriptions, circulation tracking, testing, and is compatible with all major blogging platforms and services such as Blogger, Typepad and FeedBurner

Firedrop2 - an open source client-side blog tool written in Python. It features categories, auto-ftp, three different markups for entries supported, archives and rss feeds auto-generated, flexible templating and macro system. It also has various plugins - emailer, spell checker, etc.

Frequency - a desktop weblog client. If you have a weblog you manage with Blogger, Radio, Movable Type, or other Blogger API or metaWeblog API system, you can use Frequency to add new posts instead of logging into the web site every time. Comes in three versions: Mac OS X, Windows2000/XP, and Mac OS 9

Geeklog - allows you to create your own virtual community area, complete with user administration, story posting, messaging, comments, polls, calendar, weblinks, and more! It can run on many different operating systems, and uses PHP4 and MySQL

googlebox js - online form for creating a googlebox

GoogleBrowser - this lets you browse Google recursively, finding connections between sites. Enter any URL, and then follow the arrows to see other related sites.

Greymatter - For anyone interested in creating an online weblog or journal, Greymatter offers a new level of power and control handX webLog for Palm OS - Allows you to use your Palm OS device to create webLog (blog) entries for a web site

iBlog - you post messages to your weblog using blogger XML-RPC API

Instant Gratification - a way to get AIM instant messages when someone reads your blog. Only requires adding a small fragment of HTML to the blog that you want alerts from

InTerra - a blog engine, rather simple at first sight, but extremely powerful inside. Moreover it is extremely scalable and extendible thanks to 3tier architecture and high-end design guidelines
Jabber - The first application of Jabber technology is an instant messaging system focused on privacy, security, ease of use, access from anywhere using any device, and interoperability with IM, phone, and web-based services

Jericho - a Java-based weblogging tool which interfaces with the Blogger and Manila XML-RPC interface

jogger - Powered by Jabber, this new weblog service (or blog) allows anyone to update their own personal journal through a normal Jabber client. Jogger is intended to demonstrate how Jabber can be used as a platform for application communication

Journaling Script - Free CGI script for publishing your own journal or weblog

JustBlogIt - a Mozilla / Firefox extension to allow easy right-click posting to a weblog. From any website your new blog post is only a right-click away

Link Feedback - see and show where your visitors come from! - a very simple set of links that you can insert into your pages to automatically track incoming links and echo them back to people who visit your site. Basically it's automated link-exchanging, but hopefully with more interesting results - Sean Nolan

LiveJournal Meme Tracker - From this page you can see the most popular URLs referenced recently on LiveJournal

LuckyPolls.com - Add a free poll to anything that supports HTML: Myspace, Xanga, Live Journal, AOL Instant Messenger, Blogs, and much more

Manila - An Internet server application that allows groups of writers, designers and graphics people to manage full-featured, high performance Web sites through an easy-to-use browser interface

MarsEdit - a weblog editor for Mac OS X that makes weblog writing like writing email—with spell-checking, drafts, multiple windows, and even AppleScript support

Master WebLog - Written primarily for maintaining WebLog pages

MobiLog! - a powerful standalone blogging tool that allows you to update a mobile weblog ("moblog") remotely using any email-capable device, such as a cellular phone

monaural jerk - Allows one or more authors to regularly publish content without touching HTML. It has a nifty web-based editing/publishing sytem. It has a built-in search engine. And it is free for personal or corporate use, under the GPL: this is open-source software

Movable Type - Six Apart's powerful, customizable publishing system which installs on web servers to enable individuals or organizations to manage and update weblogs, journals, and frequently-updated website content

MozBlog - a tool to enable people to a blog with mozilla while they surfing

myMediaList.com - a free, web-based tool for all blogs. It lets you embed and remotely manage a list of music, books, films and computer games anywhere in your blog/webpage. Fully customizable design. Beats coding html; just copy and paste a single line of code

MySmartChannels - an Application Framework Server that lets anyone quickly and easily publish, organize, and reuse information in a secure Web environment. Beneath the MySmartChannels interface lies a powerful Web services platform that provides a solid foundation for corporate blogging, knowledge management (KM), enterprise collaboration (EC), and a collection of services for solving a wide variety of content-oriented problems. A FREE MySmartChannels User Account is available

NanoBlogger - a small developement & demo site for a small weblog engine

NewsBruiser - A simple but full-featured weblog management system. It is almost entirely self-contained, requiring nothing but SSI and Python (1.5.6 or greater) to be happy

Nucleus - allows you to easily maintain your own weblog(s) on your own server. It offers a system that is easy to install, but still offers maximum flexibility

Open Journal Project - Free, perl-based open journal script you install on your Web server to maintain a Web log or online diary

Particle Blogger - allows you to set up a blog in minutes just by entering your database settings and running the installer script. You can then begin blogging with automatic archiving of posts my month, an integrated RSS feed and the option to turn on static (search engine friendly) URLs. Requirements: PHP 4.x or above. MySQL 3 (4 recommended)

Personal Weblog - PHP/MySQL include file for adding a weblog to a home page. It is highly configurable and can be changed to fit any web page style

PhoneBlogger - a tool for publishing to a blog via a phone call. It is an automated voice application that first asks you for info about which pre-configured blog you wish to post to. After collecting the necessary information, PhoneBlogger records your audio message. Finally, it posts a blog entry that links to the recorded audio

PHPBloggerAPI - a PHP implementation of the Blogger XML-RPC API. The code is available as a collection of "free-standing" functions, or a fully OO class

PHP-Blogger - a free script for posting and sharing news, pictures and slideshows with your friends and family. It provides tools for posting and editing posts without the need for an FTP client. It provides authentication for a single-user and allows the user to customize certain aspects of the UI. Of course, since the script is open-source it can be completely modified from the ground-up for those who like to dabble in PHP scripting

phpWebLog - A complete news-driven website package with lots of bells and whistles. A few features include interchangeable templates/themes, multilanguage translations, fully configurable web-based administration, rdf import/exporting, internal links / statistics pages, search / archiving capabilities, and more

PikiePikie - A collection of CGI scripts, written in the Python language, with which to create collaborative web sites in the tradition of WikiWiki. Each page can contain its own weblog, and the page layout can be customised extensively. The latest version supports skins, or themes, with which visitors can select their preferred appearance for the site

Ping-O-Matic - will let you send a ping to various weblog tracking services such as weblogs.com, blo.gs, Technorati, BlogShares, and more, to let them know that you have updated your content

Pivot - a web-based tool to help you maintain dynamic sites, like weblogs or online journals. Pivot is released under the GPL so it is completely free to use. It is written in PHP, and does not require additional libraries or databases to function

Pix8.net - Free Image Hosting - Provides free image hosting to customers. Take advantage of free hosting offers today without having to signup for a webhosting account. Good for ebay and yahoo advertisements, weblog users' images. No signup required

Planarchy - an application that lets you easily publish news, reports, statistics and so on to your website with ease. You do not need any knowledge of HTML (although it is an advantage) or require the use of an external FTP client. This is because Planarchy takes care of it for you; hit New Entry, type in your new entry, then click on Publish and your brand-new entry will be uploaded to your site. Windows

pLog - a PHP and MySQL based blogging platform and its main goals are flexibility and extendibility. It uses a powerful template system based on the Smarty template engine to render the templates, whick makes the platform highly customizable and safer to let other people customize the templates, since the presentation code is isolated from the PHP code

pMachine - is blogging/news software with a LOT of extra features, like member registration, mailing list manager, random content displayer, search engine, birthday calendar, hit counter.... and, well... MORE! pMachine runs on your own server and installation is a breeze

Polywogg - was designed to allow users to view journals on the web. Polywogg Publisher and Polywogg Reader provide links to the web. In addition, anyone can go to www.polywogg.com to view journals, read and leave comments, view user profiles and to send feedback to Polywogg management. for Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) or Higher

Popdex - the website popularity index

The Posting Station - Excellent blog/website creation tool that allows users to create photo galleries, categorized posts, and much more. The site features an email notification system that allows your site's visitors to subscribe to topics and the Posting Station will email your subscribers automaticly when you create posts. No more fuss about having to notify people to take a look at your site when it is updated, the posting station will do this for you

PostNuke - an Open Source content management system

Psychoblogger - PB or Psychoblogger is a PHP/MySQL based Blogging tool. Requirements: PHP 4.1.0+, MySQL 3.23+, Web Server
PWAIN - a windows client that uses WYSIWYG editing and ftp upload. It has full image support
pyLJclient - a Live Journal client written in python and wxpython

Quick Topic bookmarklet - makes adding a Quick Topic "Discuss" link to your weblog (or any web page) super-easy

Quickblog - an automated web publishing tool currently in beta test. Quickblog offers many of the same features as other popular blogging tools such as Blogger or LiveJournal

Radio UserLand - An easy-to-use Weblog tool that runs on your desktop. Automatically builds your site, organizes and archives your posts, and publishes your content -- without any knowledge of HTML, FTP, or graphic design

Reblogger - Allows readers of Web Logs managed by Blogger to post comments on a post. Reblogger features a post counter, which indicates how many comments have been made on a certain post

Roller - server-based weblogging software - a web application that is designed to support multiple simultaneous weblog users and visitors. If you want to see Roller in action, take a look at the

Blogging Roller weblog

scoop - A "collaborative media application". It falls somewhere between a content management system, a web bulletin board system, and a weblog

ScratchLog - a Weblog/Journal script based on PHP and MySQL

Serendipity - a weblog/blog system, implemented with PHP. It is standards compliant, feature rich and open source. Needs a PHP installation together with a MySQL or PostgreSQL server

Simplog - provides an easy way for users to add blogging capabilities to their existing websites. Simplog is written in PHP and compatible with multiple databases. Simplog also features an RSS/Atom aggregator/reader. Powerful, yet simple.......

SIPS - Simple Internet Publishing System - web based system for publishing news stories, and it will in later versions have options for letting users discuss these stories. It also has an integrated search/link indexing system

SnorComments2 - a script programmed in perl that can be run on most web servers with cgi capabilities. It can be used for adding a commenting feature to Blogger.com blogs

Soapbox - an easy to use, open, cross-platform, web application for creating, managing, and publishing weblogs

Squishdot - Host your own weblogs with software similar to slashdot.org. Built as a plug-in module for the Zope Application Server

Stickam - allows you to easily place streaming video, slide show, music, and live video chat on your blog and/or web site. You can also play them on your Stickam profile page. With Stickam, you can instantly play your videos online using just your web browser, a web cam and microphone (optional). There is no software to download, you just copy and paste the Stickam Code into your web site or blog where you want it. You can also upload pre-recorded video, enjoy talking to your family, friends, and visitors to your web site. Your video can be viewed by virtually anyone with no software to install and will play on any operating system including Linux, Windows and Mac

Tangelo - termed "web publishing with a twist," is a departure from most traditional weblog publishing tools. Instead of installing or using weblog software on an Internet web server, Tangelo is installed on the user's computer as a standalone application, providing much easier installation, greater weblog control, and ease of use. Tangelo streamlines organization of weblog text and images, and publishes the weblog to both an Internet web server and to the user's own computer for better control and backup. In addition, Tangelo features integration with NetNewsWire 2.0 for posting RSS news items.

telnet7 - Bloggy - simple and yet powerful web blogger for websites that use free webhosting services like Tripod, Angelfire, etc. telnet7 Bloggy is still in its alpha stages but can already be used

texting.com - "This is a simple concept. We tell people about cool websites. Sites are ranked by how many times our users add them. To make texting.com useful, you should join the fun. The more the merrier"

TextRouter - paste text to Blogger.com or Manila weblogs

thatware - Based on Apache/PHP3/MySQL

Thingamablog - a cross-platform, standalone blogging application that makes authoring and publishing your weblogs almost effortless. Unlike most blogging solutions, Thingamablog does NOT require a third-party blogging host, a cgi/php enabled web host, or a MySQL database. In fact, all you need to setup, and manage, a blog with Thingamablog is FTP, SFTP, or network access to a web server

thumblogger - with this tool you can blog picture galleries

Tinderbox - A personal content management assistant for making, analyzing and sharing notes. A tool for making Web logs and news sites. It's superb for collecting and understanding complex information. Tinderbox for Macintosh will ship in February 2002. Tinderbox for Windows will follow

tkblog - - free blogging application. standalone, cross-platform. does NOT require blogger.com, etc. or xml, or php/mysql, or running your own server

Tojo - an online collaborative journal/diary system written in PHP, allowing multiple users to add entries to a page, with a new page every day. It is designed for small groups in mind, and thus works differently from a BBS/forum or blog

TowerBlog - Fast & powerful weblogging program that runs on any server supporting PHP 4.1 or greater. Features a customizeable layout via CSS & templates, a fullly searchable archive & category system, as well as quick and efficiant backup and restores

Traction Software - The leading Enterprise Weblog software. Easy to use, secure blogging software designed for business and group use

Trellix - Create your own weblog using client-side windows based software. No HTML experience required

TypePad - a personal publishing service designed to provide a simple yet full-featured environment for you to put your thoughts, ideas, and experiences on the web, whether it be a weblog, journal, photo album, diary, or an entirely new creation. With TypePad, there's no installation or configuration required. Your website and all the tools are managed by the service, and upgrades and updates to the TypePad application are included in your service subscription fee

Userplane AV Blogger - an easy-to-use system allowing the creation of audio and video recorded messages for use in blogs, websites and email

Vanilla - simple and extensible hypertext system which subscribes to the Wiki philosophy and is written in Rebol

w.bloggar - Blogger API client

Web Engine - a highly flexible, feature-rich web publishing system that empowers individuals, organizations, and companies around the world to create dynamic, content-driven websites

Weblog Translator - Bookmarklet for Google's Translate feature

Weblogs.Com - Read the hot list of weblogs most recently updated. Have your site included with the Ping-Site Form

Weblogs ping bookmarklet constructor - Simple as can be: enter the name of your blog and its URL and click submit to get a page with a bookmarklet which will ping weblogs.com in a popup window whenever you select it from your links toolbar

webpad - a web-based text editor which gives the user access to files from: the users' computer, the server it's installed on, any remote FTP server, posting to Blogger.com accounts and even the source code of webpages

WheatBlog - a web journaling application, similar to blogger in some respects, but designed for personal use on your own server

WordPress - born out of a desire for an elegant, well-architectured personal publishing system built on PHP and MySQL and licensed under the GPL. It is the official successor of b2/cafelog. WordPress is fresh software, but its roots and development go back to 2001

Wordsmith - a versatile blogging tool designed to help writers get their words out in no time. It's based on PHP/MySQL platform and supports most of the standard blog functionality, and much more

Write2Left - Post a site and have it forwarded via FTP to your host. By Tim Dorr

Xoops - an open source portal script written extensively in object-oriented PHP. Backed with a number of databases (currently only mySQL), XOOPS is an ideal tool for developing small to large community websites

YACCS - a service that allows you to place a comments section in your blogger entries. It's very easy to set up and use; you don't need a server that supports php, you don't need to upload any files to your server, and you don't need to know any programming languages. Created by Hossein Sharifi.

YesI! - a PHP application that allows you to build a tree-structured website via a browser. It lets you store text, images, grab webpages from other sites, share your data with others in a multi-user mode, create on-the-fly weblogs, store your contacts in the addressbook and store your appointments in the personal calendar.

Zempt - a desktop tool for the Movable Type content management system

If this list was helpful please feel free to link to this blog marketing resource list by adding the next URL to your site, forum, or blog: http://luisgalarza.blogspot.com/2006/02/biz-blogging-tips-super-charge-your.html

About the Author: Luis Galarza is a Business and Communication Consultant. Learn telecommunication tip at: http://www.cogni360blog.co.nr/. And get your free business tips at: http://LuisGalarza.blogspot.com.

What kind of CTO do you want to be?

(Cross posted at my java.net blog)

When I was growing up back in the 60's, I wanted to be a CTO. Yup, during the excitement following Kennedy's pledge to put a CTO on the moon by the end of the decade, and with TV shows like "CTO Trek" and movies like "2001, a CTO Odyssey", all I could think about was how great it would be to be a CTO...
Of course I am kidding, I never even heard the term CTO until sometime in the 90's.

Recently I participated in some discussions on how to grow a management team, and I was pointed to an article by Roger Smith: "Maximizing the CTO's Contribution to Innovation and Growth".

This article is great food for thought, because it discusses what a CTO is, and it points out that there are at least five distinctly different types of CTO. The article is specifically about CTOs, but you can easily see similar characteristics in your managers, team leads and project leads.

As I read through the article, I found myself wondering which type of CTO I would be...

The first category is Genius:

“The Genius CTO is usually skilled at creating something new, possessing vision and confidence, and exploiting a unique opportunity”.

That sounds pretty good, but I’m not a genius.

The second category is Administrator:

The Administrator CTO “must defend the organization’s budgets from overspending on technology products, services, and project labor.”

Oh dear, I do so love shiny new toys… this role might be a stretch for me.

The third category is Director:

The Director CTO “is willing to give up direct hands-on research in order to create an environment in which others are enabled to do outstanding and valuable work.”

Promising… that sounds like the role I filled at my last start up. A pity it went belly up.

The fourth category is Executive:

The Executive CTO is used “to assist in guiding strategic decisions and managing the innovation process. The Executive CTO is a businessperson who measures innovation, research, and experimentation by the contribution it makes the company’s revenues and future competitive advantage.”

That’s very attractive to me, but of course it depends on the business. I am a Technologist, so unless the business involves technology, I probably don’t fit this role.

The fifth category is Advocate:

The Advocate CTO “is generally focused on the customer’s experience of and interfaces with the company…. These CTOs do not usually direct the creation of technology, but rather select and combine the best products for their specific business capabilities.”

Having started my programming life as a User Experience guy, and with my current focus on business processes, I might do a fairly good job as this kind of CTO.

For a moment, aspire to be a CTO. Which type of CTO do you think you’d be?

Are you doing the right things in your career to prepare you for the role? Even if you are sure that you will always want to be a programmer (and you are never too old to be a programmer), it is always a good idea to have options.

Returning to your current role; which type of CTO would you rather work for? Which of these guys (or gals) is going to make your job more fulfilling? We can’t always pick our boss, but understanding the role your boss really plays can be a big help in dealing with them.