AdSense on Google Page Creator

We’re excited about Google’s new Labs creation, Google Page Creator. You can use it not only to easily design and publish web pages, but also monetize those pages using AdSense.

To assist publishers using Google Page Creator with code implementation, here are some instructions:

1. Log into your AdSense account at www.google.com/adsense .
2. From the AdSense Setup tab, customize and generate your AdSense code.
3. Copy the generated code from the 'Your AdSense code' box.
4. Log into your Google Page Creator account.
5. Select the web page you'd like to display AdSense ads.
6. Select the field where you'd like the ads to appear.
7. Click 'Edit HTML'.



8. Paste the AdSense code in the HTML source code of the page.



9. Click 'Save Changes'.
10. Publish your web page.



Your ads should appear shortly!

Posted by David Jones - AdSense Publisher Support

Emirates First class video

First attempt to embed a video in the blog. Video here of Emirates first class - Wow! You can actually close the "door" to your seat.


This Airline Has Everything! - video powered by Metacafe

NEW: I found a bootleg Mark Joyner video online

From: Luis Galarza "The Success Guy" Blog

Hi everyone,

The guys at Nitro Marketing are launching a hot new product they created from a private $10k consultation they received from Mark Joyner.They just showed me an awesome 20 minute online video clip from the "eXtreme Business Makeover"course:
http://www.extremebizmakeover.com/g.o/cogni

I am sure you know the quality of information that Mark Joyner "The Godfather of Internet Marketing" has been bringing to the Internet for almost a decade. This course is probably THE most important course anyone with their own business needs to own. Watch the clip and see how much you'll learn in 20 minutes. I did.

Best Regards,

Luis Galarza, a Business and Telecommunication Consultant & CEO of Cogni360 and Associates or http://www.Cogni360.com/ . A proud member of The International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs
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Not all conversions are created equal

Interesting little piece reported by e-tid (registration required) on conversion rates for different search behaviour. Concludes that - not surprisingly - users of general search engines are poor converters when searching with generic terms (I assume such as a destination name), especially when compared to those customers using a suppliers name in a search. Comscore Media Metrix has more on the study in their press release. This confirms my belief that you can no longer look at conversion as one number in business planning and tracking. It has to be worked on a channel basis. That is looking at conversion from each source of customers - PPC, direct marketing, email campaigns, affiliate referral etc. It is also important to find ways to capture where a customer was first introduced to a site differently from where the customer ultimately was led to purchase.

MONEY TIPS: An urgent update for your business

From: Luis Galarza "The Success Guy" Blog

Dear Friend,

If you use email to communicate with your customers and subscribers, then you'll want to pay CLOSE attention......

I have some extremely important updates for you!

Even as you're reading this letter, a massive industry shift is taking place that's going to dramatically affect whether or not 40% to 80% of the email you send gets delivered -- or filteredas spam!

Obviously, if your email isn't getting delivered, your sales and profits are going to seriously suffer!

So on the following webpage, you're not only going to discover the exact email marketing strategies that one guy used to generate $291,756.42 and 44,901 new opt-in email subscribers in the last 30 days alone...... you're also going to learn how you can get "whitelisted" with Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail -- and guarantee the delivery of every email you send...

Plus you'll read about the 3 NEW criteria used by "spam filters" to deliver (or delete) your email -- accreditation, reputation, and email authentication! To get all the details, visit: http://www.marketingtips.com/emailsecrets/t.cgi/879338

I hope you enjoy this!

Luis Galarza "The Success Guy"

P.S. By the way, if you visit this page during the next 3 days only, you'll ALSO get six bonus reports, valued at $394.73 but yours FREE... Including the details of how you can send email tothe 2 BILLION consumers using mobile devices -- like cell phones and BlackBerries! To get all the details, visit http://www.marketingtips.com/emailsecrets/t.cgi/879338


All the best...

Luis Galarza, a Business and Telecommunication Consultant & CEO of Cogni360 and Associates or http://www.Cogni360.com/ . A proud member of The International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs
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Four Tips on How to Use the Mass Media for Zero Cost Publicity

Four Tips on How to Use the Mass Media for Zero Cost Publicity
Copyright © Monique Hawkins

http://moniquerh.payitforward4profits.com

This is an article I recently wrote about how to obtain mass medial publicity for zero cost! This is a home-based business owner's dream. I hope you have your pen and paper ready. This is great stuff!

All business owners, both online and offline, could benefit from more publicity. As many business owners know, getting publicity through advertising can be expensive. Not only can advertising and marketing be costly, businesses have to be better than their competitors. After all, everyone knows the best marketer always wins! So, how can this be done without blowing a budget? The secret is free publicity through the mass media of radio, TV, Internet, and newsprint.

Using mass media can enable a business to reach a huge number of people at one shot. Imagine what would happen if a business were the topic of a popular radio talk show, had a spot on the Today show, Oprah, or Larry King! What would be the result if a business was on the front page of the business section in USA today? Are you beginning to get the picture? One appearance and you could be set for life!

Here are four tips on how to get free mass media publicity for your business.

1. Use the News Search Engines. The news search engines are Yahoo, Google, and Topics.net. Everything that happens in our world, in case you haven’t noticed, ends up on the Internet. Information about any topic can be easily obtained by typing in a keyword. For example, if you wanted to search on a news topic related to your business on Google, you would go to news.google.com. Next, you would type in your keyword and then click on the links that show up about various stories. What is nice about this is that you will find reporters who have written stories in your area of interest in newspapers, TV, press releases, etc. With just one click, many times you will find information to contact them. One excellent method to use when contacting a journalist is offering a tip list. Journalists love tip lists since they are easy to plug in for stories they are working on. Plus, any free information is always appreciated!

You will also find that some journalists have a comments box. This is a huge gift to the business owner who wants to get free publicity. In that comment box you can talk about how you read their story, what you thought about it, and then offer the reporter additional tips. This also is a way to get to know them and if you continue to do this, be viewed as an expert resource.

Another great thing you can do is to sign up for News Alerts with Google and Yahoo. From the homepages of these search engines, all you need to do is to click on the link, give your email address, and then type in the keywords you are targeting. Google and Yahoo will then send you daily, weekly, or monthly (based on your preferences), all the stories that come across the Internet related to your business interest. This will give you a huge edge in finding reporters to contact.

2. Go to the home websites for publications such as USA Today, The Washington Times, Boston Globe, New York Times, and other major newsprint publications. Next, type in your keyword of interest. You will find a wealth of information and reporters who you can start building a relationship with.

3. Write a press release. For many people, just the thought of a press release can be intimidating. The truth is, they are not that difficult if you know what you are doing. All you would need to do is to study some that are well written, and then use the same elements and same order in the right format. When done right, a press release can result in a huge amount of traffic to an online business site or even more phone calls to an offline business. To study two well-crafted press releases, go to http://www.publicitygoldmine.com/stinkyfeet, and http://www.publicitygold.com/snakeoil.

One excellent online press release resource to use is Prweb.com. This company is one of many online press release distribution services. They have access to all the major search engines such as Google and Yahoo Keep in mind that PR web won’t let just any junk go through (poor English, sentences don’t make sense, etc.) after all they do have editors who will view press releases before distribution, but they are very open to press releases of “how to” topics, tip lists, and the like. In other words, your press release doesn’t have to be hard news.

What is great about PR web is that they will distribute your release for free. If you want to track statistics, receive extra support and help from an editor, and get even more exposure, all you would need to do is to make a contribution. Press releases are a great way to get publicity for little to no cost! For more information about press releases, visit http://www.publicitygoldmine.com/internet-publicity.

4. Start Blogging. If you can market your business through a blog, it would be a very valuable tool for your business. Google’s Blogger.com enable you to set up a blog for free. Blogs are a great way to attract attention and to get your business out in front of lots of people.

The key to a blog is not being bland and boring. People love it when blogs are controversial. When I say controversial, I do not mean raising issues about race and religion. Being controversial is just being yourself, showing your personality, and not being afraid to state your opinions about issues. Use a blog to get a good discussion going and as a tool to stay connected with your readers. Telling stories, talking about newsworthy subjects, and then linking the blog to your business is a great way to drive traffic to your site or to increase phone calls to your offline store. The message here is to start blogging right away!

Getting free publicity is within every business online and offline business owner’s reach. Use these four tips and watch your business grow like it has never before.


About the Author:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://moniquerh.payitforward4profits.com
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My Number One Rule

As an ebay seller, my number one rule is, “Think like a buyer.”

When I’m creating a listing, I do my best to look at the item objectively and answer the following question: If I were shopping for this, what would I want to know about it? Some things are obvious – color and size if I’m listing an item of clothing, for instance. Be as descriptive as you can be when talking about the color. “Robin’s egg blue” may be more specific than “light blue” and certainly better than just “blue.” If size is a factor, certainly all sizes are not created equal, so don’t forget to include measurements in your listing. Measure a garment lying flat and include chest width, waist, length from the waist, sleeve length, inseam length, whichever measurements would help you, if you were the potential buyer, decide if the item is likely to fit. How about fabric type. Is it silk or cotton? Is it washable or dry clean only? Just what are the care instructions? If they are included with the garment, include those in your listing.

Remember to be very specific when describing the condition of an item. “Good condition” may mean something different to you than it does to me. If it’s a book, is there any writing in the book? A name written inside? Is the book new? If you have read the book, it is NOT new, regardless of how carefully you turned the pages and how clean you kept the cover. “Read once but gently cared for, this book looks, feels, and smells as good as new and includes no writing, dog-eared pages, or stray marks” would be enough information to make me, the potential buyer, feel good about the book I’m about to bid on. Speaking of smelling good, do state if the item, book or otherwise, is from a smoke-free or pet-free home. Sorry, smokers, but the non-smokers out there will be able to tell and we won’t be happy when we receive your otherwise beautiful book that makes our eyes water and our noses run. You’d might as well be honest about that up front if you want to keep your buyer happy.

If you’re thinking like a buyer, you will certainly want to include a picture when you list your item. Invest a little bit of time into taking a clear, bright photo of the item, then take one more step and crop the photo so that only the item is included in the final picture. I’ve seen more kitchen counters, couches, and carpets in pictures on ebay when none of those were the item being sold! This buyer doesn’t want to see your room décor, I want to see details of the shoes I’m thinking seriously about buying from you. If you don’t have a good photo editor, one that is very easy to use and reaps excellent results is called Picasa, a great, free product from Google. You can find it at http://picasa.google.com/. I love this program!

There are many things that buyers think about when they’re shopping on ebay and these are just a few examples. You’ll think of more. When you’re writing your listings, simply always remember to make them as complete as possible. For some additional ideas to consider when creating your auction listing, read my ebay guide called “Make Your Listing Stand Out!” Click on the title to go to the guide. Now, put on your buyer’s hat and go sell something!

P.S. A great resource for ebay sellers is The Cyber-Moms’ Guide to Creating Home Income with Internet Auctions. You don’t have to be a stay-at-home mom to benefit from the excellent advice included in this 300-page book. Highly recommended!

MONEY TIPS: What Motivate People to Start An Online Business

From: Luis Galarza "The Success Guy" Blog

I was doing some reasearch on the Home Business Industry and I found a report from Yahoo Business about what motivated people to start an Online business venture and from a survey to over 1200 online entrepreneurs and marketers they got the next results:

• 25.5% Wanted to be their own boss
• 20.9% Wanated flexible hours plus more time with family
• 25.9% Wanted to promote their existing offline business
• 11.4% Wanted to make more money than their previos job
• 16.2% Had a great idea or product to sell

Another thing you should know is that 97% of all people want to improve their way of life... That's why business related services or products are one of the best things to sell or promote Online.

All the best...

Luis Galarza, a Business and Telecommunication Consultant & CEO of Cogni360 and Associates or http://www.Cogni360.com/ . A proud member of The International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs
.

Maintenance on Saturday, July 29th at 10 am PDT

This Saturday (7/29), we’ll be performing routine system maintenance at 10 am PDT. Although you won’t be able to access your account for approximately 6 hours, ads will still be served to your pages, and your account stats and earnings will continue to be recorded.

Thanks for your patience – have a great weekend!

Posted by Arlene Lee - AdSense Publisher Support

Hourly reporting for account and campaign performance reports

Ever wonder what time of day your ads are searched and clicked on the most (or the least)? Is it early in the morning, during regular business hours, or late at night? To answer this question (and any others you may have on hourly performance), we recently introduced hourly reporting for Account Performance and Campaign Performance reports.

Hourly reporting allows you to see impression, click, cost, CTR, and average CPC data for your entire account or specific campaigns on an hourly basis – on either specific calendar dates or across a designated time period (such as Last Week or Last Month). Use hourly data to gather information on customer behavior or to help you determine the best times of day to run your ads using our ad scheduling feature.

For more information on hourly reporting, please visit the Report Center section of the AdWords Help Center.

Posted by Judy, Inside AdWords crew

Please plan ahead...

This just in, straight from our tech team:

On Saturday, July 29th, the AdWords system will be unavailable from approximately 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. PDT due to system maintenance. While you won't be able to log into your account during this time, your campaigns will continue to run as usual. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

Hello from my52cents

I'm Susan, also known as my52cents, my userid on ebay. You've heard of ebay, right? I guess just about everyone has, or at least it certainly seems that way.

Ebay has literally millions of buyers and sellers. If you're reading this, you probably count yourself among them. I've been a buyer on ebay for a number of years and an active seller for some time now. I also believe that as ye sow, so ye shall reap. Therefore, my purpose here is to sow some seeds of ebay success - in order that you the reader may also benefit from many of the business and marketing tips, for both buyers and sellers, that I have learned during my ebay career. I hope that together we can become better, more productive members of this huge online community.

There's a lot to learn about ebay - and my goal as an ebay seller is to learn something new every single day! I hope you'll join me here and visit often in order to harvest some fruit of the ebay wisdom that I share, wisdom that hopefully you can apply to your own ebay business. Thanks so much for visiting my blog. Now, let's get started!

A billion here a billion there and pretty soon your talking Cendant

Finally accounting confirmation of what we all knew - you can't turn 7 into 4.3 without impacting the bottom line. Cendant has taken a charge of more than a billion dollars (US) to reflect the difference in the book value of the Travelport assets (the sum of the acquisition prices less any earlier adjustments such as the write-down of ebookers) and the sale price to Blackstone. The good news is that Travelport is now clear of all of that baggage and can focus on growing the business in anticipation of likely breakup by Blackstone. The bad news is that this is the last we will ever hear of more than $2.7bil in wasted shareholder money and missed opportunity. It will become nothing more than a footnote in US corporate history (and an under-read blog post here).

AdWords 101: Setting up a campaign (Part 1 of 2)

After going over account structure, how ads are targeted, and how to navigate the AdWords interface in previous AdWords 101 posts, we figured it's time to talk about creating campaigns.

Today, we'll cover keyword-targeted campaigns, one of the two types of AdWords campaigns available to you. To get started, click the "keyword-targeted" link next to Create a new campaign" on your Campaign Summary page. Now you're ready to create your campaign - let's run you through the basics and some tips:

1) Choose a name for your campaign and its first Ad Group. Be sure to choose something descriptive as the title; "Summer Shoe Promotion 2006" is a lot easier to locate and identify in a list of campaigns than "Campaign #1." Similarly, Ad Groups named "Women's Flip-flops" and "Men's Sandals" will be a lot easier to understand and remember when you look at the list of different Ad Groups within your Summer Shoe Promotion campaign. You'll then be asked to choose the target language(s), as well as location targeting options.

2) Enter your preferences for location targeting, be it countries and territories, regions and cities, or a customized selection. Remember to think about where your potential customers are located, and more specifically, where your potential customers for the product or service you are trying to sell within this campaign are located. For example, let's say your company has stores across the country; but this campaign is dedicated to a promotion available only in your California stores, then you should target your campaign to users located in the state of California, and not the entire country.

3) After you've specified your targeting preferences, you will be asked to create your ad. If you are someone who experiences writer's block, have no fear. All you have to do is take a minute and brainstorm about the following:

• What product or service are you offering?
  Perhaps your store carries an imported brand of Spanish espadrilles, or a line of specialized orthopedic footwear. Be specific and tell your customers exactly what you have to offer, preferably in the first line of your ad.
  
  
• What is different about your product or service that makes it better than your competitors'? Do you have a special offer?
  If you’re running a sale, tell your customers that your shoes are 50% off, or that you offer free shipping on all orders over $100. (Make sure these special offers are reflected on your site.)
  
  
• What is your "call to action", or the action that you want searchers who see your ad to perform?
  If you want searchers who see your ad to browse your product selection, then say that. Or if you want them to sign up on your mailing list to receive a coupon, mention that in your ad text.

Tip: In our experience, ads that are specific about a product or service, that mention differentiating factors, and have a strong call to action tend to perform better than ads that are overly generic. Also take note of the character limits for each line: 25 characters for the first line, 35 characters for the second and third lines of text, and 35 characters for your display URL. (You may also want to check out our previous post which explains the difference between a display URL and a destination URL.) Once you complete your ad, the AdWords system will review it to make sure it complies with our editorial policies.

4) Choose your keywords. The same principle of being specific and targeted applies to your keyword selection as well. For more details on how to create a good keyword list, review our post on this very topic.

5) The last step in creating your campaign is setting your daily budget and Max CPC. Determine the maximum amount you are willing to spend on your campaign each day, and specify the maximum cost-per-click. After you submit these amounts, you can review all of the details of your campaign and make additional edits if necessary. Finally, click "Save" and watch your campaign go live!

Posted by Vivian, Inside AdWords crew

Ziff Davis Media Makes "Marked Leap" with Google Search Appliance

When it comes to evaluating technology products, who would know better than Ziff Davis -- with two dozen web sites, and between 11 and 12 millions unique visitors a month to popular destinations such as pcmagazine.com and eweek.com?

That's why we're especially proud that when it came time for Ziff Davis to select a search product for themselves, they selected the Google Search Appliance.

"The goal of search is the same as the goal of our websites: connecting people to the information they need as quickly as possible," says Jason Young, president of consumer and small business for Ziff Davis Media. "We have made a marked leap forward with the Google Search Appliance by bringing more relevant content to the forefront."

It is a marked leap both in relevancy and in advanced search capabilities. Working with LTech Consulting, a Google Enterprise Professional partner, consumers can now refine searches and drill down within dynamically generated categories -- such as the specific price of a camera on pcmag.com.

While search results are better, so was the process of achieving them. "Once you have the Google Search Appliance installed, it requires little – if any – human intervention," says Nino Tasca, director of Internet Technology for Ziff Davis. "That has saved us countless hours in comparison to our previous search product."

Thanks Ziff Davis, for yet another valuable review.

New International Email Marketing Strategies

If you use email to communicate with your import export
business customer base or potential customers, then you'll
want to pay CLOSE attention as you most likely already have
read my global b2b update titled "Is Email Killing Your
Global Marketing Efforts?"

Well there are some extremely important updates you need to
know! Even as you're reading this post, a massive worldwide
industry shift is taking place that's going to dramatically
affect whether or not 40% to 80% of the email you send gets
delivered -- or filtered away as junk -- never to be seen by
it's intended recipient!

Obviously, if your email isn't getting delivered, your sales
and profits are going to seriously suffer! So on the webpage
listed below, you are not only going to discover the exact
international email marketing strategies that one man used to
generate $291,756.42 and 44,901 new potential customers who
signed up to receive his emails in just the last 30 days.

You will also learn how you can get "whitelisted" with Yahoo,
AOL, and Hotmail -- and guarantee the delivery of every email
you send... Plus you will read about the 3 NEW criteria used
by "junk mail filters" to either deliver (or delete) your
email -- accreditation, reputation, and email authentication.

I hope you find this new information as valuable as I have....
to get all the latest international email marketing strategies
for success, visit:
New International Business Email Marketing Strategies

Ron Coble

P.S. Oh, yes, by the way, when you visit this page be sure to
read it in it's entirety as you will also learn how you can
obtain the insider international email marketing strategy to
sending email to the 2 BILLION+ consumers who use
mobile devices -- like cell phones and BlackBerries!

To learn about this email marketing strategy and more, visit:
New International Business Email Marketing Strategies

How to Increase Traffic to Your Home Business Site

We all know the importance of traffic when it comes getting our site out to potential prospects. Having a strategy to build links and traffic is important. Here are some tips in how to do this. Remember to visit http://moniquerh.payitforward4profits.com if you are interested in never paying for leads out of your pocket again!

Secrets to Gaining Traffic to your webstie by sam barns

Highly Targeted Traffic effectively increases popularity of you website Very low cost highly targeted traffic plans to greatly enhance your return on investment.

The problem with a new site is that it often takes a long time before it is indexed by the search engines. This means you are missing out on getting traffic and making sales. Google places new sites in the \\\"sandbox\\\" which means they are on \\\"hold\\\" for a period of time before they rank.

The main ways to gain traffic are:

1. Submit your site in chat rooms. This is a guaranteed hit. Youre guaranteed to at least get 50% of the people in the chat to visit your site. Imagine you submitting to over eighty people, and they all visit. That is a lot of hits!

2.Submit to Top Site Lists. It helps in some way. Most people won\\\'t visit your site if it is a low rank, which isn\\\'t that good. So try to take a top site list that lets the people vote. This way, even if your hits aren\\\'t that good, you can possibly achieve a high rank. Even if your site is a low rank, at least it is there.

3. Submit to specialty search engine directories you may wonder why I havent mentioned submitting to the major search engines. When you work on building the link popularity of your site, it automatically places you in the main search engines.

You can also research the link partners of your competitors sites by entering your favorite keyword in the search engines. Once you have found a number of top ranked sites, download the Google toolbar and check their back links. This can save you a lot of time researching other areas to find quality links.

Once your site been indexed by the search engines and included in the directories, focus on adding more content and continue building your link popularity. This will help you to maintain and/or increase rankings with the result of gaining more traffic to your new web site.

The other best way to bring free traffic to your website is writing articles. With a little work on a monthly basis, writing articles, you will be surprised by all the free traffic this will bring to your website.

All you really need to write an article is a subject to write about. Choose something you know enough about to write about it. Whether it be about how to \\\"organize a home based business\\\", or if you are a stay at home mom, you could write an article \\\"tips for work at home moms. There are endless possibilities to what you could write about.

After you have written an article, you will want to write a few sentences about yourself (this is known as a resource box). Make sure you have included your website address. To see an example of what a resource box is, look at the end of this article to see how I have done this.

Webmasters are always looking to publish articles. Why? Because it will help their Search Engine rankings, by providing useful content on their website. When you submit your articles to other websites, this will be beneficial to you as well. How? When you have an article published on someone\\\'s site, a portion of their visitors will visit your site. Once you have submitted enough of your articles on the Internet, your traffic will dramatically increase and so will your Search Engine ranking. Make sure you add your articles to your own website because search engines love new content to a website.

About the Author

The author is a internet consultant.

Do you know the way to San Jose?

We hope so, because that's where we'll be from August 8th-9th. The Search Engine Strategies conference features a slew of informative speakers, sessions, and a trade expo. Among the people you might bump into at the Google booth are several of our optimization specialists -- they're excited to meet you in person and can help you optimize your site on the spot. Also, if you've been longing to give us your feedback in person about optimization or about AdSense in general, this is your chance.

On the fence about whether to attend? Thanks to our friends over in Google Analytics, we're happy to offer publishers a promotional "Priority" code for 20% off when you buy a Conference or Day pass to SES San Jose. The Priority code is 20GOO2 (two-zero-gee-oh-oh-two). To redeem the Priority code and purchase a pass, go here or follow the link below:


If you've been thinking about going, we hope this will encourage you to attend. We look forward to seeing you there!

Posted by Christine Lee - AdSense Product Marketing

Jetstar's big gamble

News all over Australia of Jetstar's announcement of it's first international service to Bali. Demand was so high - promotional fares from AU$169 - that it brought the Jetstar site crashing down.

Will be interesting to see how customers react to having to pay extra for food, blankets, movies etc.

"In-flight entertainment kits - including portable video on demand and headsets - will cost another $10, while so-called "Comfort me" packs -with a blanket, pillow and amenity kit - will be charged at $7 each."

Some of these flights are 7 plus hours long. What will Jetstar do if people either do not pre-book food or bring their own. I can see these great scenes where customers try to get on with camp stoves and cup-a-noodles. "Madame - put down the cheese sandwich and step away from the porta-cooker..."

Don't Hassle the Hoff

From his talking Trans Am on the television show Knight Rider to his suped-up patrol boat on Baywatch, David Hasselhoff clearly has an eye for performance machines in sleek packages. That's why, when he stopped by Google's London office this week, he was excited to take the Google Search Appliance out for a spin with our UK sales manager, Robert Whiteside. Add an oscillating red light to the front of the appliance, and we think it's ready for a cameo in David's latest video.

Estimating invalid clicks

Over the past few months, we've provided answers to your invalid click questions. Now, Shuman Ghosemajumder, Business Product Manager for Trust & Safety, is back to provide details on a new related feature.

Today, we’re announcing the launch of a new AdWords feature enabling advertisers to have a much more detailed picture of invalid click activity in their account. The metrics of “invalid clicks” and “invalid clicks rate” will show virtually all the invalid clicks affecting an account.



These clicks are filtered in real-time by our systems before advertisers are charged for them. The resulting data will of course differ from one advertiser to the next. In addition, a much smaller number of invalid clicks may also be credited to advertisers’ accounts after-the-fact, as the result of a publisher being terminated from the AdSense program for invalid click activity. These will appear as account-level credits.

One of the most controversial issues related to the topic of click fraud has been estimating how big the problem is. Estimates from third-parties (usually from consultants who have a financial incentive to make the problem seem very large) have been both inconsistent and greatly exaggerated due to their methodologies. Advertisers have always been able to compare their log data with their AdWords charges to calculate an estimate of the number of invalid clicks in their own account. This new tool will make estimating invalid click activity much easier.

Remember, when we determine that clicks are invalid, you aren’t charged for them, and they don’t affect your other campaign statistics. You may include the invalid clicks and invalid click rate columns in yearly, quarterly, monthly, and daily reports. More information about the new reporting can be found here.

Update: Changed to reflect the fact that monthly, but not weekly, reports are available at this time.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

Where did my 'framed pages' checkbox go?

Some of you may have noticed that the 'framed pages' checkbox has disappeared from your account – but don't worry, you can still place ads on framed pages by generating your code as you would for any other page. You'll no longer need special ad code, and we'll target ads based on the text content in the frame where the ad code is pasted. To receive relevant ads, please be sure to paste your ad code into the same frame as the primary content of your page.

Posted by Arlene Lee - AdSense Publisher Support

Enterprise Unplugged

If you thought walking and chewing gum at the same time was hard, try walking and searching your corporate information! But wait...now that the new Google Search Appliance Mobile edition has hit the streets, you can do just that. Access your enterprise info while on the go, including searching your corporate network, databases, various content management systems, and your public website. You can even leverage our Google OneBox for Enterprise technology to get real-time info from a range of other business applications!

To make this even more useful, we’ve partnered with Motorola to integrate enterprise search powered by the Google Search Appliance with the next generation of the MOTOPRO Mobility Suite.

Best Car Wash and Wax Tips from the Pros

Best Car Wash and Wax Tips from the Pros by David Maillie

It is a proven fact that the better your car looks the higher the value you will get at resale or trade-in. Proper car care to include washing, waxing, and polishing will not only make your car look its best, but will help retain its value and make it last longer. For the purpose of this article we questioned numerous detailing experts and other similar professionals as to what works best. Here are their best car care recommendations:

Start by using a garage or shaded area. The hot sun will make proper car care and cleaning hard, if not impossible and could be detrimental to your car's finish. Next thoroughly wet down the car. This will remove dirt and road debris which will cause scratches if you skip this step and start using a sponge and soap on the car. If it is a hot day, be sure to routinely wet the car so it does not dry suds or cleaning chemicals on it.

Next use a car wash solution, don't use general purpose detergents and cleaners that were never meant for car care and car washing. A car wash solution will not dry out your paint or strip and possibly remove protective coatings. A long armed, soft bristled wash brush will greatly reduce the time it takes to thoroughly clean your car. It will also make it easier on your back and muscles. A good quality brush can be cheaply obtained at Walmart for about $10-$15 - buy one, you will be glad you did. When you have finished washing the whole car, use a chamois to dry off your car. A chamois will remove water quickly and not leave lint which terry cloths are prone to do. Routinely washing your car will remove things like bird droppings, bugs and industrial fallout which are all detrimental to your car's paint and finish. If there is road tar or stubborn bugs left after washing you should use a bug and tar remover prior to waxing and polishing.

It is a good idea to follow washing with the application of a cleaner/polish. This will remove minor imperfections in the paint caused by the environment and sun damage, remove minor scratches, and provide a good surface for car wax or car polish. Follow the directions on the bottle. Basically you apply cleaner wax as you would wax - in a circular motion and you treat one area or panel at a time. Use modest pressure and then let dry to a whitish haze. Buff with a clean cloth towel and reapply as necessary.

Then you need to decide whether to use car wax or a polymer car polish. According to the experts, carnauba car wax has the deepest and wettest looking shine, but it is also the weakest protection for the harsh environment (acid rain, extreme temperature ranges, bird droppings, etc...). Car polish is easier to apply as it requires less effort to apply and remove. It will also last much longer (some have polymers and even Teflon and will last as long as 52 car washes after 1 application). Car polish will still give you that new car look and was the unanimous recommendation from our experts for any outdoor use (car wax was recommended mostly for car shows). Both car polish and car wax are applied in the same way and many come with a cloth or foam applicator. Apply in a small circular motion same as with the cleaner/polish. Car polish will go on easier and come off easier than car wax and requires only one coat for great protection in any climate. After allowing it to dry to a haze, buff it off, but use a microfiber towel as it will leave a smoother finish quicker and without any lint.

The above recommended steps for properly washing, waxing and polishing your car will leave you with the best shine, maximum protection, make your car last, and maintain its highest value. Remember, a little proper car care can and will go a long way.

About the Author
David Maillie specializes in automotive safety products and information. He holds numerous patents and awards for his patented headlight cleaner and restorer. For more information, tips, and money saving products for your auto please visit mdwholesale.com

Learn about Buying a Ford Vehicle in my other blog and purchase a domain name for your own car web site.

Shades of green and blue or a combination of earth, sea and sky

Eyefortravel are quoting Travelport sources as describing the new logo as

"symbolis[ing] the three key elements of travel—earth, sea and sky, but also embod[ing] the continuous integration of the company’s core businesses—Orbitz, Galileo and GTA; moving together in a forward motion"

OR - its a mash of blue, green and greeny blue triangles that were hastily put together while trying to get Blackstone to take the conglomerate over as quickly as possible to save the spin-offs of Wyndham and Realogy.

Also - who signed off on the phrase "moving together in a forward motion". Yuk!

That all said, I think Travelport is a good name for the group. It and Trip.com were two great brands at the former Cendant TDS that lost application as their sites/business units were replaced with larger/better acquisitions (ie Orbitz).

I also think that ironically green is the right colour - Blackstone knows money and started the first phase of a predicted breakup through the issuing of bonds to help clean up the balance sheet and finance the leveraged buy-out of the group.

Consider a backup credit card

Earlier this year we posted about backup credit cards. For those who haven’t taken advantage of this new billing feature, a backup credit card ensures continuous delivery of your ads, even if your primary credit card gets declined. (Note that if both credit cards are declined, your ads may stop running and you’ll need to log into your account and edit your billing information.)

Additionally, in response to customer requests, we’re now showing the last four digits of the credit card used to process a payment on the Billing Summary page. This makes it much easier for you to distinguish which credit card (e.g. primary or secondary) was used.

Posted by Judy, Inside AdWords crew

Webjet's big numbers - profits up, charges too

SMH is reporting on the latest announcement from Webjet. Expecting full year profits in the A$3.2-3.4 range and cash reserves of A$23.1 (mainly for the S8 option sale). I am not impressed by the claim that "this is 330% above last year" as happiness is a low base. However I am impressed with their focus and profitability and even more impressed that they continue to attract customers even though they are charging more than A$20 in service fees on domestic fares. Their TSA technology is great at aggregating different carriers into a screen but it is still based on the same pricing and availability as going direct to the supplier or any of the other aggregator technology sites (travel.com.au and flightcentre.com.au for instance), none of whom charge anywhere near $22.75 (service charge on today's search on Webjet). The airlines charge nothing beyond credit card fees and travel.com.au and flight centre are in the A$6-7 range. I don't begrudge Webjet charging whatever they want but am impressed/amazed that customers are paying it.

How to Find Key Niche Markets

Hey, did you know that one of the best ways to have an on-going exploding AND profitable home-based business is to make sure you find a niche market? In other words, don't just sign up for any offer that comes along! You have to do your reseach and make sure that the opportunity you are investigating will be profitable. Skipping this important step is death many times to home-based businesses. If you would like some training in how to do all of this right from the very start, get your free online site, plus get marketing training like I have never seen with any mlm or network marketing company, visit http://moniquerh.payitforward4profits.com

Ok, now on to our featured article for the day.

The Keys to Finding Niche Internet Markets
By Jim Bradley

Finding an internet market is easy. Finding a niche internet market that is PROFITABLE can be a bit more difficult, but actually quite simple when you understand what you are doing. The world of internet marketing and niche marketing is so vast that over 90% of internet marketers spend weeks and even months on the wrong market, only to find out after great investments of time and money, that there is nothing profitable to be made. So pay close attention as I reveal the secrets to finding a niche internet market to profit from.

There are thousands of ways to find your own niche internet market. Search some popular keywords using popular search engines such as google, yahoo, and msn, get a feel for what other people are doing on the web. You could also always get to a Barnes & Noble or library looking for some common applicable book genres. Personally, I've done both of these methods when I first began developing my own internet marketing campaign, and these were the most time consuming and inefficient appropriation of funds i've ever experienced. People have said to "go for a market you have passion about". Well that will get you just about no where, because if something is popular or personal to you, it still may not sell well at all. And that is the whole point of getting into the internet market, to sell.

I use 2 powerful tools to find wealth building niche internet markets that you may have never seen before.

1) Clickbank.com - The endless supplier of niche internet markets. This e-powered affiliate marketing empire contains over 10,000 information programs you can promote for strong commissions. With so many niches at your fingertips its remarkable. This is the number one place to find hot niches to promote and prosper from.

Its completely free to sign up for an account, and they pay out checks bi-weekly, the 1st and 16th of every month. Go here to sign up for free:

clickbank.com/signup

then browse the infamous clickbank marketplace. You have free reign on these programs, from topics such as home based business opportunities, make money online, sports & recreation, home & family, Society & culture, and many more. With over 10,000 legitimate business opportunities, the only trouble you'll have is deciding how many profitable niche markets to use.

But the greatest reason to go here is this: you are not selling anything as an affiliate, and all goods are information products. What does this mean, well for one you never have to process shipments of actual packages. No hassle of the post office, shipping supplies, and annoying returns, just simple instant access information based products that created a whopping $1 trillion dollar industry last year alone.

2) Ebay.com - The cash auction machine. Ebay is one of the greatest ways to start getting into internet marketing and finding strong niche markets. This is where I personally began my online endeavors, selling all sorts of retail products, to health foods, to agricultural supplies and the money can really start to come in.

Personally, I find the selling of products so much more time consuming and un-cost effective that it would take 10 times longer to develop wealth selling tangible products as apposed to information products. But don't get me wrong, ebay is a great place to get started and learn how to find some hot niche internet markets.

Go to ebay.com and when you get there click "all categories" or "see all categories". From here you can begin to delve into the ebay internet marketing world, with info on what is selling and how many products are being sold in each specific category. The trick is to find something specific, so you will need to browse some major categories. Instead of sporting goods, as a broad genre, get more specific with something like "men's tennis racquets" or "female sports attire". Within sports, for example, you can find hundreds of niches, so imagine when browsing all categories.

Now you have some valuable information that you will find useful in your hunt for niche internet markets. Keep your options open and do research before getting involved in any program. For reviews of the webs best clickbank and ebay opportunities go to this source : http://www.TopJobsReview.com

James Bradley has been involved in internet marketing and affiliate marketing for over 4 years. He has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine. http://www.supermoneymakingsecrets.com Hope you found this helpful! Remember to visit http://moniquerh.payitforward4profits.com so that you can get off to a rocking start!

The time to optimize is now

If you've been roving around the AdSense Help Center, you may have noticed there's now a bigger, better version of our Optimization Tips page. If you're new to optimization, or just looking for some new ideas to increase your earnings, you may find the new page especially helpful. We've added more info on choosing successful color palettes and how to enrich your site through effective use of Google services like Blogger, AdWords, and Sitemaps (among others). You'll also find new, detailed suggestions for improving your AdSense performance on specific kinds of sites like blogs and forums. Many of the entries now include images like screenshots and heatmaps to make our tips easier to understand, and we think the new layout will make the whole thing easier to absorb and implement.

Posted by Jordan Blackthorne - AdSense Publisher Support

What Is A Niche Market Anyway?

What Is A Niche Market Anyway?
Copyright © Monique Hawkins

http://moniquerh.payitforward4profits.com

You are interested in starting a home based business. You also want to use the Internet as the tool for your work at home ideas. But, you are not sure if you can make money online. To make matters worse, you are confused about what home based business opportunity to pursue.

If this sounds like you, the fact of the matter is money can be made online with a home based business. You don't need to study for years until you can reap rewards. There are sound business concepts that have been taught and been proven to be true for many years by some of the most highly successful marketers in the world. What is the top sound principle that will greatly ensure your success? It is choosing the right niche market.

You might be wondering what is a niche. A niche is simply a group of people with similar interests and needs. They are very passionate about their topic of interest. Think of a small pond packed with starving fish and you have the bait specific to them; meaning the will like what you have to offer the best. This, in essence, is a niche.

Why niche market? Well, unless you are a huge corporation with bottomless pockets, niche marketing is the way to go. You see, most of the large corporation blow off niche markets because they are not trying to make an additional $1000 to $15000 per month like many home based business entrepreneurs and other small business owners. They are seeking to make millions per month, which is good for you because you don't have to compete with those companies that have massive marketing budgets.

It really is easy to find potential customers in niche markets. Here are some examples:

Motor Home Owners
Carpet Cleaner business owners
Restaurant owners
Winter camping enthusiasts
Siamese cat owners
Dentists
Landscape company owners

You get the picture.

Before you decide which niche market to target for your home based business, here are four important points to consider:

1. Is the market easily defined and reachable? Do you know where they hangout? What kind of trade journals or publications do they read? Do they have clubs or are members of particular organizations?

2. Is the market small enough that there are not tons of competitors, but still large enough for you to make a good profit?

3. Does the market have the money to spend?

4. Does the group have an insane passion for their hobby or topic of interest? Do they eat, sleep, and breathe their hobby? Are they constantly seeking more information related to their subject? A great example of this would be golfers and NASCAR enthusiasts!

Doing research related to these questions will help you pick the perfect niche market for your home based business.

As you think about starting a home based business and what market to target, follow the above suggestions and you will be way ahead of many other home based business opportunity seekers seeking to start a work at home business.
About the Author:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://moniquerh.payitforward4profits.com
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Run, don't crawl, to the new Site Diagnostics page

If you've ever wondered whether our crawler is able to reach all of your pages, you should try out the new Site Diagnostics tool. To determine the meaning of your site and show relevant ads, our crawlers need to be able to access your pages. Site Diagnostics enables you to see some of the errors our crawler finds while it's crawling. You can find the Site Diagnostics page listed under the Reports tab of your account.



If our crawler is having trouble reaching any of your pages, you'll see those URLs listed in the Blocked URLs section of the Site Diagnostics table. At the moment, we're displaying two types of errors:

URL not found – this means our crawler wasn't able to reach your pages, most likely because your server was temporarily down

Robots.txt file – this indicates that your robots.txt file was blocking our crawler from visiting

For help resolving either of these issues, just head over to the the AdSense Help Center. You can also access more general information about our crawler.

If you don't see any errors listed on your Site Diagnostics page but still want to improve the relevance of your Google ads, visit the following entries:

Why are my ads not relevant?

Why am I getting PSAs?

Posted by Nikhil Achwal - AdSense Publisher Support

Zoo in the Dog House

Travelzoo results are out. Fantastic, amazing, huge, great, sales up 77%, income up 42% - stock plunges 14%. Proof again that internet stocks are "priced to perfection" with no room for missing targets.

Groping for Group

Groople is starting to generate some buzz for targeting online group travel. They recently appointed Mike Stacy as CEO. Mike was also part of the Cendant/Travelport machine, initially heading up marketing and sales at Cheaptickets.com before leading efforts to integrate Orbitz after that acquisition. Stacy says that group is a $40 bil market not online yet. A number of sites have purported to offer group but it had always ended up in an email to the customer care centre to be fulfilled offline. Keep a watch on Groople to see if they (1) automate this and (2) make a stand-alone business out of it. The first is a big challenge but I think the second even more so. We have seen a lot of new and reborn second tier online travel business emerging in this latest internet flurry. Making new products into a stand-alone business will not be easy.

Resolved: Inside AdWords mailing list issue

If you're a member of our Inside AdWords mailing list, over the last 18 hours you may have received a series of unrelated emails via the list. We wanted to let you know that our tech team has now resolved the issue and you should not receive any additional unrelated emails.

We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience and can assure you that this should not happen again. We remain dedicated to sharing the latest product information, news and tips about AdWords with you, and we hope that you'll continue to visit us at http://adwords.blogspot.com or through our mailing list.

Posted by Vivian & Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

And the Survey says...

A recent reader poll at ITWire found that 88 percent of respondents consider Google a serious threat to Microsoft's corporate search business.

We like to think of it more as an alternative, than a threat. But we're still glad so many people agree.

The article also said, "analysts believe the experience that users are getting typing natural language queries into the Google search box on the web will translate to natural language searching for corporate records, rather than users drilling down through applications and directories to find records."

That's something users have been telling us for years. We're glad the analysts now agree.

How I Learned to Stop Guessing and Use Analytics

As a product management intern with the Enterprise team this summer, I've seen a number of Mini customers use its reporting features to optimize their site and search - with great results - and it seems like a no-brainer to me to enable our customers to go a step further, using Google Analytics. Analytics is a sophisticated and free web analytics product that provides both key integrations with Google Adwords and comprehensive reporting on visitor behavior, content performance and e-commerce. Google Analytics is an easy-to-use, web-based system designed to reveal how users interact with your site and to help you improve your web presence. More often than not, we're finding that the customers who are concerned about search performance and who are purchasing Minis are the same customers who are turning around and using real usage data to optimize their websites.

So after only about a month here, I'm really excited to announce the completion of my first project - the distribution of free Google Analytics accounts to all current Google Search Appliance and Google Mini owners!

Google Analytics will help Enterprise customers answer questions like:

"What is my most popular content, the new product pages for our big release or the company party pictures?"

"Which Adwords are the most profitable, and which campaigns are best?"

"How popular is our user registration process, and how often do those who sign up then purchase a product? Or are users just after the free content?"

"We've heard internationalization is a good thing – but where are our visitors coming from and what technologies are they using to access our site? Wouldn't it be neat if we could visualize all of these visitors on a world map?"

If you're a customer, you can locate your very own account code by signing into your http://support.google.com/enterprise account and clicking on the Profile link on the left-side bar. Once you retrieve your account code, go to https://www.google.com/analytics/home/ and click on the "Sign Up Now" link. Upon filling in your account details and pressing the "Create my account," button, you'll be given the ability to enter your Analytics account code. Also on http://support.google.com/enterprise, you'll find a brief document which summarizes the advantages of Google Analytics and how to pair it with the Mini.

With the combination of the Google Mini or Search Appliance and Google Analytics, I expect we'll see a ton more success stories like the great ones in these customer videos.

Keep checking back!

-Matt Kulick

Zuji marketing screws up - or it is something worse?

Received this in an email as marketing material from Zuji today at 4.23pm on Wed 19th July heavily promoting a great fare "from $1,296++" with "Airline of the Month" Virgin Atlantic. I am being very specific on the time and date I received the email because if you look at the fine print the

"Offer [is] available until 21 July"

This gives the customer just shy of 31 hours to book at this price (assuming it is good until midnight on the 21st). We all know that fares like this are looked at by people on Thursday and Friday of a week, discussed with the other half on the weekend then booked on the Monday. This makes this fare all but unavailable to every normal shopper.

It could be that this is just a screw up by Zuji marketing. However, the darker reading is that this could be an "bait and switch" - using a low fare to entice customers and then sticking them with a higher fare. Am tempted to not give Zuji the benefit of the doubt here. Bait and switching is not only illegal in Australia it is also stupid behaviour. It pisses off customers, wastes your marketing efforts and is just plain annoying for everyone. Here's hoping (if your Zuji) that it is just another screw-up.

How can IT be seen as innovators?

Its just not fair. Information Technology (IT) departments seem to always get the short end of the stick when it comes to being "liked" inside the company. In the absolute best case, when everything is going perfectly, they go unnoticed. In the more normal case, they are the "bad guys" who either can't give users what they want, or worse yet -- ban products and services that users bring into the workplace.

In his recent article, In Depth: Is Centralized IT Killing Tech Innovation?, Thomas Claburn of InformationWeek takes on this interesting topic looking at the problem from both sides. Our own Dave Girouard is also quoted from his recent talk at the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium.

Video ads best practices

Since our video ads announcement and the subsequent feature release, we've received a lot of requests for video ad creation tips and best practices. So, over the next few weeks, Bismarck from the Video Ads team is taking to the street to talk to the people who are creating and finding success with video ads. This week, he caught up with Todd Tracey, one of our first video ad customers, and the Senior VP at TurnHere Incorporated (a company specializing in video production), to get a few tips. Here's what he had to say:

Bismarck: Why is video such a compelling advertising medium?

Todd: With video, you tug at people's emotions and this provides for a higher recall rate than a static image or a text ad.

Bismarck: Can video work online?

Todd: The Internet gives everybody a voice. Small advertisers are able to get the same level of engagement and reach that the large companies, such as Nike, have been getting on broadcast TV for decades, and, at a fraction of the cost. With regard to cost per individual user reached, there is nothing out there that performs better.

Bismarck: Are video ads for everyone?

Todd: Videos are as integral to a company's presence as is their website.

Bismarck: Now for the best practices. What should advertisers look for when creating a starter image?

Todd: Consider the goal of the starter image - it is to entice the user to hit play, so you want to make sure that the starter image grabs the user's attention, but remains relevant to the actual video ad. Use bold, vibrant colors and try to limit text to a minimum.




Bismarck: What kind of content should be included in the video ad?

Todd: Again, make sure to keep the user's attention. Try to tell a story - and stay clear of the product-based infomercial. Use people - owners, customers and the like to tell their story with the product.

Bismarck: How about animation? Does it work?

Todd: We use animation when we're trying to explain a complex idea, but whenever possible, we try to use real people.

Bismarck: Is there an ideal length for an ad?

Todd: Most ads will be watched for less than 30 seconds, so make sure that even if you make your ad longer than 30 seconds, that you front-load your important messages. Movie trailers or short films are obviously watched longer, but even they start to see a drop off at around 90 seconds.

Bismarck: Anything else you would like to share with our advertisers?

Todd: One more thing - avoid using scripts unless you're hiring actors to help you shoot the ad. You want your users or potential customers to believe you and scripting comes off as phony in many instances.

Bismarck: Thank you for your time.

Todd: My pleasure.

We hope you've found this helpful. If you have any video ad tips of your own that you'd like to share, please let us know.

Posted by Sarah, Inside AdWords crew

How to Get out of the Rat Race

There are thousands of people who are desiring to start a home-based business and get out of the rat race. There are tons of benefits to this. Let's check out what some of them are.

Home CareersBy Michael Colucci

If you are looking for a way out of the rat race, you are not alone. Millions of Americans are unhappy with their jobs, and wish to become financially independent. A home career is the best way to achieve this. In our fast paced world of today, many people are forced to work long hours at their jobs, and have little time to spend with their families. This has led to a society where many family relationships are under strain, and studies show that the US has one of the highest divorce rates of any country in the world. Having a home career will allow you to spend more time with those you love.

In addition to this, many people are tired of working hard for corporations that are becoming wealty off their efforts. While they become wealthier, your own well being is sacrificed in the process. Many employers today fail to reward their employees for their hard work, and many employees become resentful. They may even begin to hate their jobs, and will dread going to work each day. If this situation describes you, it sounds as if you are a person who wants to become independent. While there may be risks involved with pursuing a home career, the rewards are well worth it. First, there is no limit to the money that you can earn at home. Your income will be determined by your skill, not by the raises that you will be given by your employer.

The second advantage of having a home career is that you pick your own hours. If you need to reserve a day to be with your family, there won't be a need to get the permission of your boss. You will have the power to pick the hours you want to work. While having a home career will give you power, this power will not come without responsibility. People who procrastinate are unlikely to succeed. When you have something that needs to be done, you must not let anything stand in your way. If you are thinking of starting a home based business, the first thing you will want to think about is the field you will work in.

Picking the right career is important. While it should be something that excites you, it should also be something that has a high income potential. What are you good at? Most people are either good at technical subjects like math, or they are good at subjects like writing or art. There are a few people that can use both sides of their brain effectively. You must first decide where your skill level lies. If you are a mathematically oriented person who enjoys dealing with numbers, why not become a freelance programmer? Even if you don't know any programming languages, you can do research to find out what programming languages are in demand. After you've done this, you can take a class at your local community college.

If you are looking to start a home career, one tool that you will not want to be without is a computer and the internet. The internet is the best friend of those who wish to start home careers. The internet can allow you to get the tools and resources you need to start your business, and you can network with people all over the world for a very low price. There is no limit to the number of things you can do with a home based business, and the benefits are well worth it.

Michael Colucci is a writer for Home Careers which is part of the Knowledge Search network.

I hope you enjoyed this article by Michael. If you are seeking a way to make money online, and begin an internet home based business with three easy steps which also includes free training, a free website, and free traffic secrets, visit http://www.3stepsecret.com/

Sensis is partying like its 1999

Seen in the streets of Sydney yesterday were outdoor campaigns promoting GoStay.com as Sensis continues its offline marketing strategies for new online businesses. So while Wotif expands into affiliate deals, Webjet (tries) to launch new products and Lastminute.com.au/Travel.com.au hired a new GM Commercial with extensive online experience, GoStay print more books and posters. Gostay will be gone in a moment if they do not wake up to marketing online businesses 2006 style rather than 1999 style.

Import Export Business Due Diligence Suggestions

OK, back to some Import Export Business questions and
answers. If you have a question or an opinion on something
your find here at the Import Export Business blog, please
use the comment link at the end of this post to send it to
us. If we use your comment, it will provide you with a
valuable link to your web site at no cost, except the little
time it took you to make the comment or send the question.

**********************

Hi there,

Was hoping to gain some more relevant information from you.

I have read through you info on this site and found it very
informative.

In regards to due diligence as well as doing the checks by
cold calling and checking their website, is there a pack
which I should put together to ensure the least risk possible.

Any pointers in the right direction would be much appreciated
as these people can seem very trustworthy and I myself or
employees of mine can have a set procedure in place to make
sure we have covered ourselves as well as we possibly could.

Kind regards,

Manny

**********************

Our Import Export International Business center answer:

Hi Manny,

I am not aware of a 'package' of details that you can check.
I have compiled some items that are listed on our company
page at:
http://www.importexporthelp.com/company.htm
which you and your employees are free to use any time.

These are not all that are available, I am sure, but if you
follow that list you should be able to find any negative
details on someone, if there are any on record.

I am not sure if you are in the USA or not, but the US has
or had a program through their embassies that you could pay
$100 or more to have the embassy rep do a background check
on the potential importer.

Another thing you can do is ask for references of other
businesses they have dealt with and then actually contact
those references. I know of one supplement manufacturer who
would not even bother following up a lead if they would not
provide them with at least one reference.

You will want to cross reference the reference also to make
sure you aren't calling the guys brother or brother in law
who is in on the deal with him.

Last, confirmed letters of credit are about the safest way
to go when it comes to payment, but they are often very
difficult to get and much more expensive than regular LOC's.

Ultimately there are no guarantees of keeping you from getting
ripped off. I have personally talked with several exporters &
importers who worked for some time with their buyers/sellers
in smaller quantity orders. Then a larger order comes in and
they end up never getting paid for it or if they are the
importer, they send the money and never receive the
merchandise.

This last type of deal is the old confidence game where they
use small orders to gain your confidence, pay for them up
front or ship them right away and then hit you with a big
order which is never paid for and you can never seem to find
the person in their office at any time.

It is an unfortunate fact of business life (and personal)
that you have to approach every transaction as if it is a
fraudulent one and be very firm in your requirements of the
other party. Sometimes so firm that it may cost the deal
but it is better to walk away.

Hope this has helped and I wish you the best.

Regards,

Ron Coble
http://www.importexporthelp.com

Blogs launch in Spanish, Dutch

We're excited to announce the launch of two new AdSense blogs -- Inside AdSense: Het Officiële Nederlandse Google AdSense Blog and Dentro de AdSense: El blog oficial de AdSense en español.

Now Dutch- and Spanish-speakers can keep up to date with the latest AdSense tips, features, and announcements in your own language. You can look forward to localized case studies from publishers who have increased revenue through optimization, and read posts from the AdSense team members who support the Dutch and Spanish markets.

Subscribe today to have posts sent directly to your inbox!

Posted by Geert van 't Riet and Ruth Sanz - AdSense Publisher Support

Crystal clear value

BusinessObjects' Crystal Reports business reporting tool and their BusinessObjects XI platform allows many organizations to access, analyze, and more intelligently use the information in their ERP systems and data warehouses.

BusinessObjects' desire to make information useful and their focus on the user made them a natural fit for a partnership with us. As a first step in that partnership, they've opened up their vault of information to Google Search Appliance users by creating an integration kit to allow inclusion of their content in Google search results.

They've created both a OneBox module and a content feeder for the Google Search Appliance that will allow Crystal Reports, Intelligence documents, and Dashboards from your BusinessObjects BI platform to be incorporated seemlessly into search results.

For good measure, they've also written a Google Desktop plug-in so you can find that Crystal Report you've saved but forgot to publish.

Obviously we're excited about this growing partnership and the value it'll bring to our users.

Bloomberg on AU online public companies

Interesting read from Bloomberg here. In classic Bloomberg style is more factual than analytical but gives a nice summary of some of the key online public companies in AU including the travel guys Wotif, Webjet and Travel.com.au.

When getting to Brisbane is neither getting to Sydney or for that matter Brisbane

I think I jinxed myself. Fog has rolled in again in Sydney, closing down the airport and condemning all incoming flights to time on the ground in Melbourne and Brisbane. In my case – brisbane. There was a tortuous moment in our flight at 6.45am Sydney time (with about 60 minutes to go to get to Sydney) the pilot announced that there was fog in Sydney and that we “might” have to turned to Brisbane. He was going to give the weather until 7.10am to clear. If at 7.10am we felt the plane turn right it meant we were not going to make it home anytime soon. You could see the whole plane sweating over the clock. Each minute that passed, the agitation built and the clock watching intensified. Then at exactly 7.10am the plane turned right, Sydney became further away and the plane let out a collective groan. Now I am in bad shape – left New York 23 hours ago and am still hours from home, but there are those on the plane worse off. There are some poor bastards on this plane whose ultimate destination is Brisbane. Why are they poor bastards – because they are not allowed to “deplane” here. For some technical/safety/blah blah reason a diverted plane cannot let people off. These guys have to wait on the ground in Brisbane with the rest of us, then fly down to Sydney where we will have to wait in the air with the other planes for a landing spot, clear customs wait for a connecting flight back to Brisbane, fly back and finally make it home. It doesn’t make me feel better that there are those worse off but am looking for some good news.

UPDATE - took 39 hours door-to-door to get home