Get in the spirit with AdSense

It's all Hallow's Eve! Tonight the streets will be teeming with ghosts, fairies, and superheroes (along with a few presidential candidate look-alikes, we imagine).

To get you in the Halloween spirit, consider these ways to celebrate with AdSense:

- wear a witch's hat while viewing your AdSense reports
- perform some optimization magic on your ad units
- change your ad unit color palette to orange and black*
- create an ad placement that highlights your spookiest (or, okay, most prominent) ad units to advertisers
- eat candy corn, then use your AdSense payments to cover the dental work

Over here at the Mountain View campus, we're keeping it festive, too.


Happy Halloween from the AdSense Team!

*This color scheme, while eerie and appropriate today, may not be very effective the other 364 days of the year.

Posted by Julie Beckmann on behalf of the AdSense Team

Happy Halloween (and a tip, too)

We know that many advertisers set up seasonal campaigns for specific holidays and occasions. Well, if you didn't set an end date for your Halloween campaign yet, here's a quick reminder to log in to your account and pause it. (You can always use it again next year.)

And of course, Happy Halloween from the Inside AdWords crew!


Posted by Vivian Leung, Inside AdWords crew

More powerful APIs now available for managing Google Apps

Posted by Andrew Olsen and Lily Xia, Google Engineering

Organizations using Google Apps can take advantage of our APIs to make Google Apps fit their unique businesses processes and technology environments. Customers have pulled off some useful customizations, like synchronizing Google Calendar with Microsoft Exchange and updating email preferences for all of their users. Today we're making our Google Apps APIs even more powerful.

First, we're improving the API for Google Docs, which is now capable of updating the actual content of documents, sharing documents, and moving documents into and out of folders programmatically. You can learn more about this API here.

We're also making our APIs even more versatile. Domain administrators can now use OAuth authentication to access GData feeds for users on their domains. This lets admins do things like integrate with document management systems, enable third-party workflow applications, centralize backup of documents and contacts, and monitor document sharing inside and outside of the company. Using OAuth, administrators can enable this type of functionality for end-users without any end-user involvement. Premier and Education Edition admins can enable OAuth in the 'Authentication' section of the 'Advanced tools' tab of the Google Apps administrative control panel.

Creative Applications for Managed Network Services

Perhaps the restaurant sector doesn't immediately come to mind when you think of creative applications of current business technology. But, that's exactly why it can provide a distinctive competitive advantage for a savvy forward-looking company.

Popeyes quick-service restaurant was founded in 1972 and has expanded to over 1000 franchised locations globally. A Popeyes franchise owner of multiple U.S. east coast locations became interested in using the latest communications technology to reduce his operational costs and streamline back-office functions at each site.

This upgrade included installing a new voice and data network that could manage secure credit card transactions. The decision was made to research a solution to update communication capabilities with a private Internet Protocol (IP) network.

A network using Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology was procured, replacing the cumbersome and outdated analog communication lines. Once the private voice, data, and video network was in place, the next logical step was to determine how to further gain cost advantages by leveraging this advanced infrastructure.

Built on a Solid Foundation
After carefully evaluating several telephone system solutions, the decision was made to use a hosted Voice over IP (VoIP) service from Geckotech, layered over the new backbone network. As a hosted service provider, Geckotech manages an off-premise voice solution that has built-in disaster recovery and very high reliability.

The Popeyes franchises are now able to fully realize the advantages of an outsourced VoIP phone system without having to purchase, maintain, or manage separate phone systems at each location.

All restaurant sites can easily reach each other using simple 4-digit extension dialing. They also benefit from one consolidated monthly telecom bill -- which includes unlimited local and long distance, advanced features like Auto-Attendant, eFax, Conferencing, and Unified Messaging.

Moreover, all of the outdated phone systems were replaced with one advanced VoIP solution, using Cisco Systems hardware end-to-end. As a result, Geckotech enabled the franchise owner to prepare for future business needs, based on a solid communications foundation.

The multiple locations benefit from a built-in disaster recovery plan, which reroutes all calls to a different office location should any site experience a disturbance or natural disaster. The new voice system has reduced overall operational costs by almost 40 percent at each site.

The Power of Strategic Foresight
In reality, there are few enterprises in the 21st century that are inherently low-tech. Every industry has its early-adopters of business technology that assess all the options, survey the competitive landscape, and then take decisive action.

The rewards clearly go to those business leaders who keep and open mind, and willingly embrace change –- especially when it equates to a quantum leap in progress.

Network Marketing Prospecting-Big Al's Top Internet Recruiting Secrets

I hope you enjoyed the info copy writing expert and guru John Carlton had to share.

Now, we will get back to network marketing prospecting and how to do it the right way on the internet.

Let's see what additional secrets Big Al Schreiter has to share!

Welcome to Lesson #2 of the 'Big Al Internet
Sponsoring Home Study Course.'

In lesson #1 we discussed that we want long-
term permanent distributors.

To get these distributors, we will:

1. Create a steady stream of qualified prospects.

2. Build relationships with these prospects.

3. Sell these prospects on our service, product,
or opportunity through our web page, e-mail
messages and personal follow-up.


>> So where do we start first?

The #1 goal in our prospecting efforts is to
COLLECT the prospects' e-mail addresses.

If we only send our prospects to our web page
where they can read our selling copy -- and if
they don't join on their FIRST visit, they will
never return. And worst of all, we have no way to
re-contact them.

Very few prospects join on their first exposure to
our business.

So we want to create a way of capturing the
prospects' e-mail addresses -- so we can continue to
follow up with our prospects and build a
relationship with them.

* The initial goal of our web page is not to sell
the prospects, but to collect the prospects' e-mail
addresses.

* The initial goal of our e-mail messages is not to
sell the prospects, but to collect the prospects'
e-mail addresses.

We want prospects to opt-in to our mailing list.
We want them to give us permission to continue
contacting them about our business opportunity. We
want to create a mailing list of hot, qualified,
'volunteer' prospects.

Another way of saying this is:

'Our initial goal is not to sell a stranger,
but to create a prospect.'

All of our initial marketing efforts will be
directed towards collecting our prospects' e-mail
addresses.

This means that your web page will have a form to
collect your prospects' e-mail addresses. On your
web page you may use:

* a reward
* a free giveaway
* an offer for more information
* or some other inducement for the prospects
to leave their e-mail addresses.

On all of your e-mail messages, you'll want to
direct your prospects to subscribe to your mailing
list, or to go to a web page that contains a
subscription form.


>> So how you collect or keep track of
all these addresses?

It is easy. You'll use a tool called an
'autoresponder.'

Autoresponders are inexpensive mailing list
managers that collect your prospects' e-mail
addresses and automatically sends your messages to
your prospects.

You can create a series of messages or letters in
your autoresponder. For example, let's say that I
am a prospect, and I requested to be on your
mailing list.

Your autoresponder could automatically send me:

1. A welcome letter immediately.

2. A letter about one of your products two days
later.

3. An announcement about an upcoming incentive at
your company three days later.

4. A testimonial from one of your excited
distributors four days later.

5. A message to call you to discuss your
opportunity five days later.

6. Etc.

You create the messages you want your
autoresponder to send. You also control when
those messages are sent.


>> Homework:

To learn more about autoresponders, check out some
of the autoresponder services on the Internet.

You don't have to sign up for a service right now,
but read how autoresponders work by visiting these
sites:

http://www.123response.com
http://www.aweber.com
http://www.getresponse.com


-Tom 'Big Al' Schreiter


P.S. Want more prospects? Read the step-by-step
methods in 'How To Get Swamped With Prospects
Begging To Join Your Network Marketing Business.'
Go to:
http://www.fortunenow.com/public/136.cfm


Tom 'Big Al' Schreiter
Fortune Network Publishing
Phone +1 (281) 280-9800
http://www.fortunenow.com
PO Box 890084, Houston, TX 77289, USA

Good stuff from Big Al. This is an area where I kind of messed up on with one of my You Tube videos, but have since then learned my lesson after seeing thousands of people leave my video without my having a way to collect their info!

How crazy for sure!


To Your Success,
Monique Hawkins
mentormonique@gmail.com
540-858-2885
Skype: Monique371
Be A Mentor With A Servant's heart

If you need help generating leads for your business, feel free to contact me.

Grab a copy of this free ebook today that helped me get on the road to success: http://mentormonique.bigmlmtruths.com/?mad=90911

Looking for powerful tips, ideas, and secrets about achieving success, visit http://www.squidoo.com/tipstoexplodeyourhome-basedbusiness/

Improvements to Ads Quality

We're always working on improvements that will help us show the most relevant ads to our searchers, and we're excited to tell you that we'll soon introduce two changes designed to enhance how we calculate Quality Score and rank ads. The first change helps better evaluate the precise quality of your ad - regardless of its position on the page. The second change improves how we promote ads to positions above the search results. Let's take a look at both of these changes in more detail.

More precise Quality Score calculation
Clickthrough rate (CTR) is the most significant component of Quality Score because it directly indicates which ads are most relevant to our searchers. As you probably have observed, ads in high positions typically earn better CTR than those in low positions, because ads in high positions are more visible to searchers. To calculate the most accurate Quality Scores, it's important that the influence of ad position on CTR be taken into account and removed from the Quality Score.

In the coming days, we'll update the portion of the Quality Score algorithm that accounts for ad position. This will result in more accurate Quality Scores, ensure that ads compete fairly for position based on their quality and bid, and enable Google to show the most relevant ads to searchers by rewarding high-quality advertisers with better ad positions.

Higher quality ads above the search results
We're also improving the way we determine which ads show in the yellow region above the search results. These positions are particularly valuable to advertisers because they are prominently positioned on the page. Given their prominence, it's especially important that these ads be high quality; we therefore place extra emphasis on quality when determining which ads to show in this location.

To appear above the search results, ads must meet a certain quality threshold. In the past, if the ad with the highest Ad Rank did not meet the quality threshold, we may not have shown any ads above the search results. With this update, we'll allow an ad that meets the quality threshold to appear above the search results even if it has to jump over other ads to do so. For instance, suppose the ad in position 1 on the right side of the page doesn't have a high enough Quality Score to appear above the search results, but the ad in position 2 does. It's now possible for the number 2 ad to jump over the number 1 ad and appear above the search results. This change ensures that quality plays an even more important role in determining the ads that show in those prominent positions.

Keep in mind that these enhancements may cause changes to your ad position, spend, and performance. We're launching these updates soon so that you'll have enough time to review your accounts and prepare for your holiday season advertising. While we don't believe that any immediate changes are needed on your part, we encourage you, as always, to watch your key metrics and to make adjustments as appropriate.

We'll post again once these changes are live.

Posted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew

SLAs for Google Calendar, Docs, Sites and Talk

Posted by Jeremy Milo, Google Apps Marketing Manager

We've got more good news for Google Apps users. Today we're pleased to announce that we're extending the 99.9 percent service level agreements we offer Premier Edition customers on Gmail to Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Sites and Google Talk. Check out the Google Blog to read more about the announcement and how the reliability of Gmail compares to on-premises alternatives.

Upcoming Seminars for Success

Want to attend an in-person training for AdWords or Analytics? Seminars for Success offers day-long trainings on AdWords and Analytics for all skill levels from Beginner to Advanced. If you want to get started next week, you can check out an AdWords seminar in Seattle and Adwords and Analytics seminars in Los Angeles.

And if you won't be in Seattle or Los Angeles next week, don't worry. In the coming months we'll also be offering Seminars for Success in the following cities:

AdWords
November 3: Los Angeles, CA - AdWords 301: Advanced
November 5: Seattle, WA - AdWords 301: Advanced
November 13-14: Philadelphia, PA - AdWords 101: Beginner, AdWords 201: Intermediate
November 17: Las Vegas, NV - AdWords 301: Advanced
December 1-2: Honolulu, HI - AdWords 101: Beginner, AdWords 201: Intermediate
December 2: Washington DC - AdWords 301: Advanced
December 4: Houston, TX - AdWords 301: Advanced

Analytics
November 5-6: Los Angeles, CA - Analytics: Introduction, Analytics: Advanced
December 8-9: Seattle, WA - Analytics: Introduction, Analytics: Advanced
December 8-9: Montreal, QC - Analytics: Introduction, Analytics: Advanced

Sign up for Seminars at least 7 days in advance and we'll even throw in a $50 AdWords credit (View the terms and conditions of advertising credits).

For more information about Seminars for Success, including registration details, course outlines, and past attendees' comments, please visit http://www.google.com/awseminars.

Posted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew

Virginia Supreme Court Overturns Virginia's Anti-Spamming Law

In a rare move, the Supreme Court of Virginia withdrew its prior opinion in Jaynes v. Commonwealth, issued on February 29, 2008, and effectively reversed itself in a new opinion issued on September 12, 2008. The new opinion can be found at http://www.courts.state.va.us/opinions/opnscvwp/1062388.pdf. In its new opinion, the Court found that Virginia’s anti-spamming law, Virginia Code section 18.2-152.3:1, was unconstitutional.

The Court's original 4-3 majority opinion, discussed in our prior blog entry, affirmed the criminal conviction of Jeremy Jaynes, who sent over 50,000 unsolicited email to AOL subscribers. Jaynes was found guilty in a jury trial and sentenced to nine years of imprisonment for violating Virginia Code section 18.2-152.3:1. See our prior blog post: http://unfairbusinesspractices.blogspot.com/2008/03/spammer-to-slammer-unfair-business-of.html. The withdrawn opinion can be found at this link: here.

The Court issued its new opinion after granting a petition for rehearing pursuant to Rule 5:39 of the Rules of Supreme Court of Virginia. That Rule provides that: "No petition for rehearing shall be allowed unless one of the justices who decided the case adversely to the applicant is of opinion that there is good cause for such rehearing."

The Court's new opinion declared that section 18.2-152.3:1 was unconstitutionally overbroad because it violated the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment protections. Section 18.2-152.3:1 provides that "Any person who: 1. Uses a computer or computer network with the intent to falsify or forge electronic mail transmission information or other routing information in any manner in connection with the transmission of unsolicited bulk electronic mail through or into the computer network of an electronic mail service provider or its subscribers . . . is guilty . . . ."

The Court first explained the constitutional test: a successful First Amendment overbreath challenge "suffices to invalidate all enforcement of that law upon showing that the law punishes a substantial amount of protected free speech, judged in relation to the statute’s plainly legitimate sweep." Op. at 10 (internal quotes omitted).

The Court expressed its concern that the statute chilled the protected right of anonymous speech:

[B]ecause e-mail transmission protocol requires entry of an IP address and domain name for the sender, the only way such a speaker can publish an anonymous e-mail is to enter a false IP address or domain name. Therefore, . . . registered IP addresses and domain names discoverable through searchable data bases and registration documents necessarily result in a surrender of the speaker’s anonymity. The right to engage in anonymous speech, particularly anonymous political or religious speech, is an aspect of the freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment. By prohibiting false routing information in the dissemination of e-mails, Code [sec.] 18.2-152.3:1 infringes on that protected right.

Id. at 22 (internal quotations omitted). The Court also found that the statute was not narrowly drawn to further a compelling state interest. Id. at 23.

The Justices seemed to suggest that the Virginia legislature could redraft the statute to avoid constitutional infirmity: Sec. 18.2-152.3:1 "is not limited to instances of commercial or fraudulent transmission of e-mail, nor is it restricted to transmission of illegal or otherwise unprotected speech such as pornography or defamation speech. Therefore, . . . 18.2-152.3:1 is not narrowly tailored to protect the compelling interests advanced by the Commonwealth." Id. at 24.

Further, the statute "would prohibit all bulk e-mail containing anonymous political, religious, or other expressive speech. For example, were the Federalist Papers just being published today via e-mail, that transmission by Publius would violate the statute." Id. at 26.

The Court's concern about suppressing free speech tracked those expressed by the dissenting Justices to the Court's original opinion. In her dissenting opinion, Justice Elizabeth Lacy wrote that the "current use of the Internet as the marketplace for expressing political ideas, views and positions emphasizes the need for insuring that use of this medium not be chilled by the threat of criminal prosecution. Those persons wishing to use this medium should have the same ability to express their views anonymously as did Thomas Paine during the founding of our country." Jaynes v. Commonwealth, 275 Va. 341, 367-68 (2008).

The new opinion also addressed the Commonwealth of Virginia's argument that 18.2-152.3:1 was in the "form of trespass and thus not entitled to First Amendment protection," noting that section "does not prohibit the unauthorized use of privately owned e-mail servers." Op. at 19. In this context, the Court drew a distinction between civil cases between private parties where "the courts have held that the unauthorized use of the Internet service providers' property constituted common law trespass and that a First Amendment claim could not be raised against the owner of private property." Id. at 20. Thus, this decision is not an open invitation to spammers or other types of businesses to engage in unfair business practices by wrongfully using another company's servers or other computer equipment.

BlogRush Is Out Of The Blog Marketing Business

By Luis Galarza - Internet Marketing Tips.

John Reese Just Announce That He Is Shutting Down BlogRush, Which Is Now Completely Out Of The Blog Marketing Business Market!

This type of news are the ones showing that even top Internet marketing experts and gurus can have a failure, this time John Reese the marketer that made over one million dollars in one day in from of a huge crowd in a one of his seminars just announce that he is shutting down his blog traffic exchange service called BlogRush, a viral blog marketing tool that he created back in 2007.

John develop a big launch campaign for this blog promotion tool, I even announce the launch and a test project of the viral marketing tool on this blog to see its traffic generation potential by myself. Many other bloggers had a lot of bad feedbacks about Blogrush, but most of those bloggers were geeks, and we all know that geeks don't like marketing or business related blogs or sites, that's why their feedback about a marketing tool or product has no value for me or many smart online entrepreneurs.

The Blogrush idea didn't appeal to a lot of bloggers that just blog for fun, but it actually created a huge buzz in the world of online entrepreneurs, where most bloggers are using online content management tools to make money online or to promote their businesses or to provide a better customer experience. But, the tool awake big concerns about the service longevity, usability, and performance. And there was a big confusion if the service was worth using or not, because at the beginning you only heard good feedbacks about it, but most of them were from affiliates trying to get you sign-up under them, for that reason I needed to try it and tested myself to see if it really work, but I knew it wouldn't have the power John said it had.



Fail The Test.

Like a said before I put the service to the test in two of my sites, and the results were very similar, I notice that the service had a lot of loop holes, and only high traffic blogs were able to really reap the traffic benefits from the tool. Leaving most new or low traffic blogs with no chance to use the service successfully, and actually it hurt their them because you were licking you hard work traffic to other blogs, gaining almost nothing in exchange. Other problem also were:

- Low click-thru rates, very low, which give you low chances to turn it into profit.

- The click-out to other blogs were higher that the actual click-thru, meaning you were giving a lot for nothing.

- The quality of most of the blog was low, which give your readers a bad taste of your personal recommendations that can turn into loosing visitors.

- The traffic wasn't instant like John said.

Those were the reasons I decide to take the Blogrush widget off my blogs, and the funny part was that after I took the widget off, I was getting one or two visitors per month from the service, that is just another loop hole on the service.


Recommended Blog Marketing Tools.

If you really want to bring steady quality traffic to your blog I recommend you to use service like:

- Zimbio Wikizines.
- Social Bookmarking sites.
- Squidoo Lenses.
- Google Knols.

I also recommend you to focus on article marketing and SEO for better results.


To get unlimited advice about blog marketing visit the IE Club.


Recommended Resources.

- Bookmarking Demon. Social bookmarking automation software.
- Atomic Blogging. Top blogging system.
- #1 Internet Marketing Training Course. Learn Web 2.0 and more.
- Search Marketing Lab. 24/7 SEO and PPC Up to date training.
- Web Traffic Machines. Complete traffic generation system.


In Conclusion: Well, I see you in the conference. Just remember to learn as much as you can about social media and web 2.0, the best way to do it is make a Internet marketing plan base on a social campaign and then list the services, tools, or technology like social bookmarking or new sites that you want to use in your promotions and then get some time to learn how to use each of those tools the right way.

To your success,

Luis Galarza, Internet Marketing Consultant In Massachusetts.

.

You're invited to the new AdSense Help Forum

The AdSensePro team would like to cordially invite you to the opening of our new English AdSense Help Forum.


We hope that by now you've found the AdSense Help Forum to be the best place to ask questions and share tips with other AdSense publishers. We've been listening to your feedback about forum features you'd like to see, and we're excited to announce that we're moving the English Forum from Google Groups to a brand new platform. (For those who participate in the Forum in another language: rest assured that our engineers are working on making this new platform available in additional languages, although we don't have a set date at this time.)

As of today, we've closed up shop and moved the English Forum next door to the AdSense Help Center. We've been jealous of the Help Center for a while now. Its innovative interface, clear categories, and snazzy search powered by CSE left us feeling like the odd man out.


Now we've almost got it all. We have the look and feel of the Help Center with the same CSE to search across the Forum, the Help Center, and the blog. We have the same categories as the Help Center, so you can easily transition from one category to the another. We even have some extra things we hope you'll really like: a system of levels to reward your contributions to the Forum, and profiles where you can put a picture next to your name. You can subscribe to the Forum (or to individual discussions) by RSS feed. You can post a question and receive your answer by email. You can even vote on which response best answers the question and mark a best answer to a question you asked.


We hope you'll come take a look, and we hope you'll stay a while, sign into your Google Account, and ask and answer questions.

Posted by the AdSensePro Team - AdSense Help Forum Support

Rise of Venture Capital has changed the Innovation landscape

Today, over 64% of all technology is sourced from outside the enterprise, up from 24% in the 1980s - this according to the latest white paper from Synchrony venture management, a leading think tank on Innovation Capital.

What is Innovation Capital?

According to Synchrony, it is the use of corporate venture investment to create new opportunities and options:
• Attract high-value options through investment and interaction
• Generate two-way value through complimentary assets
• Establish game-changing portfolios of innovation assets that create new opportunities
and competitive advantage

Synchrony believes that fundamental "structural changes and the constant flow of innovative venture-backed firms represent a huge opportunity for savvy, forward-looking corporations."

Synchrony has established a new practice and platform that helps mid-market companies innovate faster, better and cheaper by enabling corporate venture capital as a fundamental external innovation option.

I recommend reading the attached whitepaper, and learning more about Synchrony.

Three Traffic Tactics that won't Cost You a Cent

The more you understand about any subject, the more interesting it becomes. As you read this article you'll find that the subject of is certainly no exception.


Are you constantly banging your head in frustration on not receiving all the internet traffic you would like to get to your web site? Are you tormented from information overload listening to all the unused free website traffic tactics and not being able to understand any of it? Are you dejected of people trying stint and night to harassing you to max out your credit card and impress loans for Google clicks, and in the process loose your credit score? Are you stupefied by the way your website just dropped out of the Google search results? Or are you just too broke and all you have to rely on is getting some free website traffic tactics?

You can employ website traffic tactics without spending dime. However, knowing how is the real activity. Here's the score:


1. Link it

Of all the effective website traffic tactics that can get you best effect, linking to and from other websites is the one of the most widely - used method. Just make indisputable that the Internet business you are exchanging links with is relatively if not utterly related to your own business. And of course, don't overkill as this might ban you from search engines.

Sometimes the most important aspects of a subject are not immediately obvious. Keep reading to get the complete picture.

2. Meet Meta Tags

Another way of to acquire your desired traffic for your website is through having your Meta tags contain usually used keywords that target your business. Meta tags help search engines in describing your web page. If you're quite adept with the HTML aspect of your web pages, manipulating your meta tags would be a breeze.

3. Keyword - stinking rich AND sensible content

Writing or acquiring articles that provide solid information regarding your business is one of the best ways. Making use of free keyword suggestion tools such as Overture will help you on which keyword or phrases to work on to better lead more traffic to your website. Creation these write - ups very readable and genuinely informative will make you many repeat visitors to subsequently change into repeat clients.

Submitting these articles to various article directory listings will provide more visibility for your business as long as you keep your resource box grease tact to create for yourself numerous back links.

These methods, if employed properly, will not unequaled make your web site popular but will make you finish your most desirable result - higher conversion rate.
You can't predict when knowing something extra about will come in handy. If you learned anything new about in this article, you should file the article where you can find it again.

One year later - a BOOT rumour comes true. Carlson Wagonlit in France (starts) to move from Amadeus to Sabre

The world of GDS is never that fast moving so it is probably no surprise that a GDS rumour that I spread in July 2007 has taken until Oct 2008 to come true. Back then I predicted that Amadeus would lose Carlson Wagonlit in France to Sabre. Well that "Scoop" is now confirmed as true (here is French news story from earlier this month). Of course in saying that the article says that the deal is "still not official" but that "testing is about to start" (my translation) .

This aritcle is about 4 weeks old. Anyone out there have access to something more recent?

Opportunities for Advancement in an Economic Downturn

Can the current economic environment actually create an opportunity? Even though the present financial crisis will adversely affect capital investment, the uncertainties are also creating new demand for the application of certain business technology offerings.

"In particular, ICT solutions that shift costs from a capital to variable component, focus on productivity increases and cost reduction, and support organizational restructuring and acquisitions are likely to see growing demand," says Andrew Milroy, ICT director at Frost & Sullivan.

Four Areas of New Demand
This belief that there will be a strategic increase in IT demand is the result of the consulting company's latest global market study.

While their assessment acknowledges some ICT setbacks, it identifies four key areas that are likely to experience heightened demand -- sustainable IT; outsourcing, managed and hosted services; information management tools; and those services that support mergers and acquisitions.

Sustainability initiatives range from server or storage virtualization and low-energy consumption hardware, through to the use of online collaboration tools, thin client technologies and power consumption modeling. Most of these activities have the dual aim of reducing costs, as well as lowering carbon emissions.

An Increase for Online Collaboration
The anticipated reduction in business travel will create a corresponding increase in demand for conferencing tools. These applications will allow more employees to work remotely, further cutting travel costs and emissions. Secure remote access solutions will therefore experience demand.

The need for cost controls and a desire to minimize risks will place greater focus on variable costs, leading to an increase in demand for software-as-a-service (SaaS) and hosted service models.

Frost & Sullivan's research suggests that the hosted model will be adapted to suit a wider range of services -- including storage and unified communications. New opportunities are expected in many areas of managed services -- such as managed handsets, managed network services and leasing services.

Change Creates Abundant Opportunity
In a summary of their findings, Milroy adds, "We believe that there are opportunities for solutions and services that can help organizations to cut costs, change cost structures, or increase productivity."

The lean times ahead of us will foster the environment where all "business as usual" thinking is challenged -- and, rightfully so. Forward-looking leaders will not falter; they will grasp that potential for new sources of advancement and take the appropriate action.

Perhaps all IT and business decision makers must now ask themselves the ultimate question -- is my organization preparing for a purposeful advance, or an unpredictable decline?

WebInTravel: Makemytrip and Yatra talk India online travel with PhoCusWright – very dismissive of Expedia and Travelocity

Ram Badrinathan of PhoCusWright hosted a panel at WIT this year with Yatra CEO Dhruv Shringi, Makemytrip CEO Keyur Joshi and Phanindra S the CEO of online bus ticketer RedBus.

As Ram described it, India is just entering Web version 1.0. This is characterised by similar concepts we saw in the late nineties in the US and Europe:

• lots of start up and entrepreneurial activity;
• focus on flights; and
• commission driven business (rather than media or merchant model).

However, there are a couple of big differences in the Indian version of Web 1.0. A couple of highlights:

• Air is not the only transport game: While flights are the high profile business to look at, there is enormous activity in ground transport – rail and road. RedBus claim 20% of the bus market is now booked online. Indian Railways in the largest online travel business in Asia (according to Ram) measured by transaction numbers. However in both cases the average booking value is very low – measured in the tens of cents;
• The OTAs and LCCs play nice: Unlike the battles in Europe and the US between low cost carriers and the online travel agents, in India OTAs such as Makemytrip and Yatra are critical to the distribution of LCC inventory. According to Ram’s research, 10-15% of the low cost carrier volume in India is coming through OTAs.
• Localised but English: When western companies expanded across Europe the key guideline was to localise as much as possible – language, look’n’feel and product. In the case of the Indian OTAs the best way to reach the target market of middle class Indians is to keep the product in English, not in one of the many local languages. This is not true for the lower booking value RedBus but very true for the full service providers; and
• Hotels need dramatically more technology support: It took a long time and arguably the economic after effects of the 9/11 attacks for hoteliers in the US and Europe to be convinced of the need for online distribution. The barrier was to convince them to join the channel, the barrier was not technology. In the case of the Indian market technology is an issue. Indian hotels tend not to have the CRS, PMS and Internet connected architecture that you expect to see in a US/Euro hotel. Yatra are approaching this problem by building a property management software suite and giving it away to hotels. Naturally it comes with means to connect to Yatra but the suite also stands alone as a property management system (according to Yatra’s Shringi). Nice idea.

The local players are not alone in exploring Web 1.0 in India. I asked from the audience what impression Expedia and Travelocity where making in the market. Both recently launched in India with localised approaches (in English) that match the expansion approach each has adopted in Europe.

Yatra’s Shringi and Makemytrip’s Joshi were dismissive of these efforts by Expedia and Travelocity in India. They very confidently claimed victory for the big local players (I presume including Cleartrip and Travelguru) over the global giants. When I put this to Jens Uwe Parkitny of Expedia later in the day (new Managing Director-Distribution, Asia Pacific), his quick reply with a smile was “that is exactly what they [competitors] said when we entered Germany and France”.

What’s next? If the trends of Europe and America apply then we should see the large local Indian players move into hotels and cross sell, frenetic consolidation and investment activity, PPC cost inflation and the arrival of the of the media model. Fun times ahead.

FYI - Ram has just published a very good report on the Indian market for PhoCusWright (costs money).

FUNK TO SHAVE FACIAL HAIR FOR MOVEMBER

That's right folks, the beard, burns, moustache, everything is GOING, GOING, GONE! Wow, I think it's been 100 years since I had no facial hair, but for Movember, I'm in.

Movember (the month formerly known as November) is a charity event held during November each year.

At the start of Movember guys register with a clean shaven face. The Movember participants, known as Mo Bros, have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their moustache, raising money and awareness along the way.

Movember culminates at the end of the month at the Gala Partés. These glamorous and groomed events will see Alex Trebek look-a-likes battle it out on the catwalk for their chance to take home the prestigious Man of Movember title.

While growing a Mo is left to the guys, Mo Sistas (women that support their guys or just love Mos!) form an important part of Movember with their powerful feminine touch, by recruiting Mo Bros, helping to raise funds and attending the highly anticipated Gala Partés.

But it's not all fun and games, so why the extreme behaviour?

Which ever way we look at it, men are far less healthy than women. The average life expectancy for men is five years less than females.

Men lack awareness about the very real health issue they face. Many feel they have to be tough - "a real man" - and are reluctant to see a doctor about an illness or to go for regular medical check ups.

The aim of Movember is to change this attitude. Make men's health fun by putting the moustache back on the face of Canadian men and raising some serious funds for prostate cancer.

Every year around 24,700 Canadian men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and about 4,300 die of the disease, making it the number one cancer threat to Canadian men.

Movember is very proud to be partnering with the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation of Canada

All donations made will go directly to the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation of Canada who will use the funds to create awareness and fund research for prostate cancer.

I will teaming up with my crew from Workopolis to help fight Prostate Cancer. I can just see it now, an entire office of guys with moustaches....classic!

Oh and at the end of Movember, when I see you all at one of the many Galas, be prepared for Funk to look like this:

Help Funk Roberts and Donate today

Clicks, conversions, and Christmas 2008

One of our favorite and most useful posts from last year was an in-depth look at cost-per-click behavior during the 2006 holiday season by none other than Google's Chief Economist, Hal Varian. In the post Hal explained how CPC's and CPA's (cost-per-actions) vary over time to affect advertisers' ROI.

This year we have two new posts about CPC's and holiday trends over at the newly launched Google Retail Advertising Blog, a great source of information tailored to the needs of retail advertisers. The first post is Hal's updated look at the new data from the 2007 holiday season. The second has some tips regarding scheduling and consumer behavior specifically for your campaigns this winter. Remember, it's never too early to start your holiday planning.

Posted by Christian Yee, Inside AdWords crew

Google Apps Goes Experimental with Google Labs

Posted by Gabe Cohen, Google Apps Product Manager

There is a widely held belief that technology progress in the enterprise is slow and methodical, that adoption cycles are long, and that experimentation is inappropriate. Here at Google we believe that experimentation is a good thing - even in the enterprise space.  Some of our best ideas have emerged from experiments, products like Google Maps and snazzy new Gmail Labs features like Calendar and Docs gadgets, as well as Google Suggest and the collection of enterprise search labs.

Today we're extending that innovation and announcing Labs for Google Apps, a set of experimental features available free to businesses and schools using Google Apps. The first set, available now, are derived from tools Google uses internally and can be installed easily from the Google Solutions Marketplace by Google Apps domain administrators.  Once installed (see walkthrough), users on your domain will be able to log in and access these features alongside existing applications like Gmail and Sites, and your domain administrators can configure them using the standard Google Apps control panel.

The new experimental features are:

• Google Moderator: Take Q&A to a whole new level -- manage feedback from the smallest video conference to the largest all-hands company meeting.  Learn more
  
• Google Code Reviews: Collaborate with others to catch bugs in software changes before you check them in. Learn more
  
• Google Short Links: Create easy-to-remember links for both your internal and external web pages Learn more
  

These new Google Labs tools are built on Google App Engine, the same scalable, efficient, and reliable infrastructure publicly available to developers. Read more about Labs features and App Engine.  We're also planning on opening up the Labs for Google Apps platform to third party developers, so that new and existing vendors can build apps for the million-plus businesses using Google Apps today. Going forward, we'll also be adding more of our own Labs applications for your teams to experiment with and benefit from.

Check out the new features and let us know what you think!

Recession Busting Ideas For Your Business

Many people are justifiably concerned about the state of the world's economies. I decided to post some ideas on how to save on necessary expenditures within your business (or personal lives) that I have utilized (and continue to do so).

I have always operated my small business with the mindset of "is this expenditure justified"?

I do not believe that "one size fits all" and that conducting your business or personal life in an exact manner as someone else does theirs will result in the same of similar conclusions. However, by trying to maintain a frugal approach to doing business, we have never gone into debt for the business and this has helped the business through various low periods, including the one we are currently experiencing.

Here is a short list of things I routinely do (or have done) in my business that have helped conserve revenue include:

1. Shopping for office supplies at dollar stores.

2. Reviewing the sales flyers from office supply stores for sales on items that may not be available at dollar stores - I found an incredible deal on an new laser printer last winter after Christmas that was less expensive than buying a new toner cartridge for the old printer.

3. Consolidating trips - try to schedule as many of your local trips to the bank, office supply store (dollar store) or other business related travels into one or two days a week.

4. Get rid of your dedicated fax line (if you can) - I saved about $4-500 a year by getting rid of the dedicated land line for receiving fax messages - I found a service that provides a "dedicated" 10-digit fax phone number for our business (without extensions) that costs only $34 the first year and $24 each "year" thereafter.

When someone sends a fax to our number, it is translated into a PDF document and emailed directly to our email inbox. I can then open it, read it and print it out (if necessary) - most of the time it does not require printing so it is simply stored on the PC hard drive.

This also has saved us on paper costs since we used to receive daily spam fax messages which were a total waste of paper (and time).

5. Using credit cards that provide a rebate on all purchases.

6. Taking advantage of online shopping for business services or products - I saved $70 this past Winter when shopping for tax prep software - I found an Amazon vendor who had it for half the price, then Amazon had a special deal on opening a credit card with them which gave us $30 against our first purchase and we ended up getting the $75 software for $5 and it included free shipping.

7. This one is something we actually did about 5 years ago - our business was based primarily on direct mail from 1988 through 1998 - we used to spend thousands of dollars a year on paper, printing, envelopes and postage. As our Internet marketing expanded we also saw a steady decrease in the ROI from direct mail.

Approximately 5 years ago, we ceased using any direct mail as email and our web site had tripled our revenue from what direct mail had ever achieved. Electronic marketing is saving a lot of trees. ** One suggestion I would have for a business that is still utilizing direct mail is if they do not mail enough to warrant a bulk mail permit, I would be buying the "forever" stamps to inventory for future mailings and especially prior to the next increase that is sure to come.

8. Diversification - we have always been flexible and constantly searching for products and services that complement what we already offer. Some services that once produced thousands in income a month now produce hundreds, some services that produced thousands are no longer offered, this is simply the ebb and flo of the marketplace. But because we have been constantly researched and discovered new service or product vendors, we have been able to maintain our level of sales and so far this year our revenue is slightly ahead of last.

Remember, Benjamin Franklin's saying, a Penny saved is a Penny earned and whether it is pennies or dollars, this proverb still holds true today in business or personal finance.

Hope this list of suggestions, based on my own experience, will help others weather the current economic storm.

Your comments and or ideas are welcomed.

Ron Coble
http://www.importexporthelp.com/

How to Build MLM-How to Sneak Past Skepticism

How to build mlm-Increase your writing skills.

This is part three in a four part series on how to improve your copy writing skills as a networker.

If you learn this skill, it will greatly assist you as you build up your mlm prospect list.

Let's hear more on what guru John has to say.

How To Sneak Past Your Prospect's
Natural Skepticism And

Reluctance To Buy

From: John Carlton
"The most ripped-off and respected copywriter alive."

Howdy...

I've long since misplaced it, but I once owned perhaps the sneakiest and nastiest "how-to" book I'd ever seen.

It was all about getting revenge.

Safely and without paying any consequence.

I shudder to think that book is still in print somewhere. Lord knows we already have enough psychopaths out there nursing grudges.

Still, it was a pretty fascinating read.

Most of the tactics involved non-lethal methods that would only wreck your enemy's marriage or get him fired.

You know, like planting phony love letters where your opponent’s wife would find them... or having disgustingly raunchy magazines sent to your rival’s office in his name. That sort of thing.

I've never used any of these dirty tricks... but I'm glad I'm aware of them.

Because a new wave of this type of terrorism is upon us. And knowing how the slicksters operate gives you the best defense you'll ever have.

Consider this: A close friend just recently had some twerp send him threatening emails under a stolen identity.

This is where knowledge is power. What could have been a truly confusing and nasty situation was defused, because my friend was hip to this possibility, and had an uber-geek track the real culprit down following the cyber-trail of the email.

The guy was flabbergasted at being caught. And the person whose identity had been stolen never knew the drama was even taking place.

So there's a practical side to having otherwise unhealthy interest in dirty tricks.

Which I do. (There was a TV show on cable that featured hidden video that people took of their roommates and friends and spouses and such... and it will shatter your world-view seeing what otherwise normal people do when they think no one else is watching.)

(Yes, they do look through your stuff.)

Anyway... one of the least obnoxious tricks I read about in that "revenge" book was to give someone a $50 gift certificate... toward a brand new Cadillac.

If you do this for the right kind of guy, you can ruin his life from that point forward.

Because some people will see that Cadillac as "almost" theirs (at least the first $50 of it)... and bankrupt themselves trying to come up with the other $32,950.

That's sneaky.

And it's almost a great marketing tactic.

In fact, here are 3 variations based on it:

First variation: I’ve just put $50 in your account here.

I’ve used this as a headline for quick messages to house lists. Instead of discounting the product by $50, or half-off, or whatever... I just convince the client to open a special account for everyone on their list.

And into this account, put a $50 (or whatever) credit.

Which can only be used for products the client sells. It’s also perfectly legitimate to make the "money" good only for the product you’re trying to sell at the time.

Put a time limit on it. The "money" is only in the account for the next 11 days, say. Then it’s gone. If you act fast, you get $50 off your order.

And if you dawdle... you lose it.

Now, that's an All-Star bribe.

It's also a prime example of the "take away" tactic that all great salesman use.

Here's another version...

Second Variation: I have one set aside here in my office with your name on it.

If you can, put the prospect's actual name on the box or the product.

It's earmarked for ya, Bucko. Got your name on it. Sitting here. Waiting.

But there is such a limited quantity, that... if you don’t call in and claim it (and pay for it) within, say, 11 days... well, we’ll have to take your name off of it...

... and give it to the next guy down the list.

Imagine a friend calling you and saying he's just put a thick, juicy fifty-buck imported Kobe steak on the barbeque for you... and it's yours, everybody there knows it's yours... but there are 15 other people at the party and not enough meat to go around.

So, if you aren't there in 11 minutes, he'll be forced to give your nice, juicy, succulent, mouth-watering steak to someone else.

That's dirty pool.

And great marketing.

Third Variation: "There’s just one small catch to this offer..."

This is a classic paragraph that many top marketers insist on putting into every pitch.

What this wording does is to provide a small, reasonable, and non-hassle "condition" to the offer.

Which serves to make it all the more believable.

See, when non-world class marketers create an offer, they often go too far. They remove all risk, make the price as low as they can, and guarantee everything under the sun.

Which, when read by a skeptical prospect, can sound "too good to be true."

There is genius, however, in taking the promise down a notch. So it, very suddenly, isn't too good to be true.

This "catch" or "caveat" is usually a version of the take-away: "There’s just one small catch to this offer. It’s a small matter, and very reasonable. But it may affect your decision. You see this deal is not for everyone. If you are afraid to..."

And then you list all the reasons many people would, logically, not be "right" for the offer. Scaredy cats, cheap bastards, cynics, and looky-loo’s, for example.

The "take away" is one of the most powerful tactics you will ever have in your bag of tricks.
It's just stunningly effective at riveting the reader's attention.

"Hey," You want him to say to himself. "If I don't get on this, like, right freakin' now, he's gonna give it to someone else!"

Can't have that, can we.

Okay...

That's plenty for this lesson.

I hope you've gotten a good, healthy taste of what I offer people who come to me for advice in marketing and writing.

Don't forget to jump back over to www.SimpleWritingSystem.com/blog/.

There's a lot more specific info -- including tactics you can use -- waiting for you. And it's the place where you'll learn how and when you can immerse yourself in my Simple Writing System.

Stay frosty,

Until the next time,

To Your Success,
Monique Hawkins
mentormonique@gmail.com
540-858-2885
Skype: Monique371
Be A Mentor With A Servant's heart

If you need help generating leads for your business, feel free to contact me.

Grab a copy of this free ebook today that helped me get on the road to success: http://mentormonique.bigmlmtruths.com/?mad=90911

Looking for powerful tips, ideas, and secrets about achieving success, visit http://www.squidoo.com/tipstoexplodeyourhome-basedbusiness/

cutlery and gifts from Arthur Price

I have a great taste for silver products, be it in silver plated or silver filled.. the shine and luster makes my heart go flutter flutter. If you are a lover of silver cutlery and gift items too, them visit this place for sure. I went through all their products, and i think i have chosen this beautiful elegant candle holder that is an extremely impressive centrepiece for any body's center table and this superb silver plated 4-Piece 'decorative' tea set comprising tea pot, coffee pot, cream jug and sugar bowl with Lid as my favourites. These are also available individually, but would i be able to savour the eternal pleasures of tea and coffee with any one piece, missing??

Arthur Price is a family run company with more than 100 years' expertise in manufacturing and retailing top quality cutlery flatware and silverware. No matter what the budget is, everyone can afford to enjoy the extra style and quality of Arthur Price.

If you know someone whose getting married, or if you are marring yourself then cutlery will obviously be one top priority in your shopping list. Or else, gift your close ones lovely crafted silverware to adorn their shelves with, they will be proud of you and your choice!


There are other exclusive gifts for him, her and kids too! Cute table accessories that will help kids enjoy their meal with, or can be gifted to them when babies during baptism, birthdays or while they're growing up. These lovely designer silver gifts will be cherished by them forever. I used to collect souvenirs, tiny cutlery or jewellery from my grandfather as a kid and i still keep them, as they're precious and can never replace even the most expensive and beautiful material in the world!!

Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth visits us on diwali(the festival of lights)

******************************************************
The festival of lights, Diwali is being celebrated in India.. Though it is the biggest and important festival of the Hindus, but people of different nationalities, races, religions and backgrounds also come together to celebrate their universal brotherhood and inter-religious harmony, on this day.

What i feel so excited about, is the beautifully lit up streets with lamps called diya's which is done to greet the goddess Lakshmi(goddess of wealth). This goddess is known to visit each home and grant luck and wealth to everyone that welcomes her into their homes, through the open doors and windows.

The festival is celebrated for about five days, and on the third or fourth day the worshiping of the goddess takes place late evening, and sweets and specially made dishes are served to guests and friends who come over to exchange greetings and gifts.

The most, most exciting thing that takes place for even those that are not worshipers is the bursting of fire crackers, and my kids love this part!! I think almost child awaits this festival because of all the lights, food and enjoyment that this festival brings along with it.

But there is lots more to this traditionally celebrated festival, if you want to know more please visit HERE .. I've also known so more i never knew before!! Wish everyone a happy and prosperous Diwali/deepawali!!

This Blog: Making it Work for You

Posted by Ellen Petry Leanse, Google Enterprise

Same Blog but New Look

Mike Holm and I are pleased to join the law firm Williams Mullen. We have given the blog a new look to provide the reader with links to our new profiles and Williams Mullen's website resources. While the look is different, our focus on unfair business practices remains the same. Mike and I look forward to continuing this blog and we will add new content shortly. Thank you for your readership.

Managed Service Providers: Serving Small Businesses Worldwide

Thousands of small businesses in the United States have already embraced managed services. Now, thousands of additional businesses across the globe are climbing aboard the managed services bandwagon.

Consider the following data points:

• Asia Pacific organizations will spend more than $10.25 billion on hosted and managed services by 2010, up from $6.47 billion in 2007, according to Frost & Sullivan.
• Australia's managed security market will grow roughly 20 percent annually through 2013, the same research firm predicts.
• Small and mid-size enterprises will drive nearly half of Europe's managed services revenues -- jointly spending nearly 11 billion euros in 2008, estimates Forrester Research.
• Small business managed services spending will reach $5.4 billion in 2008, according to Techaisle. The data covers the US, United Kingdom, Australia, China, Brazil and India. In the US alone, small business managed services spending will hit $1.5 billion this year, Techaisle predicts.

Quest for Managed Service Guidance
When you string those data points together a clear pattern emerges: Small businesses worldwide have overcome their fears of the IT unknown, and they're turning to trusted advisers for managed services guidance.

So, what services are small businesses outsourcing most frequently to MSPs? The answers include:

• Remote administration (94%)
  
• Help desk services (90%)
• Managed security (82%)
• Managed storage (65%)
• VoIP and telephony (57.1%)
• and unified communications (32.1%)

The data, culled from MSPmentor.net's global survey of managed service providers, reinforces a clear fact: Small businesses across the globe are realizing they need to focus on their business strategies, while outsourcing core IT responsibilities to external professionals.

THE CREDIT CRISIS, VOLATILE MARKETS, RECESSION AND MEDIA

The churning flood of economic developments and the desperate measures of governments to lay financial sandbags to control the torrent present not one, but three calamities for media managers. Those that escape one may well be swept away by another.

Most media can survive the collapse of credit markets because media firms have high cash flows are typically require less short term credit than manufacturing and retail firms. Because most can acquire their most important resources without accessing credit lines or issuing commercial paper, banks struggling to keep their heads above water are not a major short-term concern. However, those media firms with large debts due in the short-term that were hoping to refinance face significant hurdles. Some will be rapidly shedding media properties in order to stay afloat.

The more immediate problem for some publicly owned firms is the financial damage caused by the dramatic drop in share prices following the credit market collapse. Because a number of companies use debt financing linked to the value of their shares, the drop in prices makes their debt more risky and thus triggers automatic increases in interest rates and debt payments. This puts even more financial pressure on the firms and is sweeping them along with the flood.

Media firms that escaped the rising financial damage of the first two problems are nonetheless being sucked into the swirling waters of a recession. Because manufacturers are cutting production and laying off workers and because credit is tightening and making it harder for consumers to buy, advertising expenditures are eroding rapidly. Further, consumer spending and confidence are directly related to sales of media products so one can expect declines in sales of media hardware, recordings, books, and other products as well as consumers concentrate their expenditures on paying mortgages and other debt.

At the moment there is no means to effectively project how deep the recession will be, but whatever the depth it will be difficult for media. In the case of advertising, a 1 percent decline in GDP produces about a 3 to 5 percent decline in advertising. So a 3 percent decline could produce a 15 percent decline in income for many media firms. Print media tend to be most affected by recessions and their declines tend to be 3 to 4 times deeper than television because of differences in the types of advertising they carry.

Media companies that are financially strong will weather the financial storm, but those whose managers leveraged their companies to make acquisitions, those whose owners recently purchased the firms primarily using debt financing, and those that have been poorly managed will be struggling to survive. The current financial storm is a classic example for why conservative financial management of a media firm debt is crucial.