Now it appears that Bill Gates joined Twitter with calculated intentions. After passing 100,000 followers in eight hours (now he has nearly 250,000 fans), the Microsoft visionary used his now-popular account to announce a new web project: The Gates Notes.

The new website offers a collection of Gates-related information with blog-like sections documenting everything from his travels to what he’s reading and thinking about. There’s even a “Curious Classroom” section serving to house Gates’s responses to students, and an “Infrequently Asked Questions” page to address reader questions.

So what’s the point of the site? On your first visit, you’re greeted with a letter from Gates explaining that he regularly takes notes about his work with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He’s decided to share those notes online “in the hope of getting more people thinking and learning about the issues I think are interesting and important.”

At launch, the site is already packed with notes, and we’re impressed and overwhelmed by the collection of content. Now that Gates has captured the attention of more than 200,000 Twitter users, we expect to see him use the platform to share fresh content with his followers and quickly gain an audience for this new online project.

Tags: bill gates, celebrities, social media, the gates notes

Go to Source

There are still a lot of details to be worked out from the sound of it, and since the change won’t go into effect for a year, maybe they will have enough time to get it right. However, publishers have been trying to get this right for years already, and are still struggling to find that true answer. You have to wonder, what makes them think they can get the details ironed out by then?

It would be one thing to announce it and start doing it. Other publications do this, but a year is an incredibly long time in the online world. There are so many things that could happen and questions that may still remain unanswered in the online news industry. News Corp. for example, has set off a firestorm over whether or not people should be able to freely link to free content on the web. There are just so many things that come into play that it seems rather strange to assume everything will fall into place a year from now. Who knows what condition the industry will be in by then? Publications that are using paid models right now may decide it’s not working and switch to a different plan. To reiterate, a year is a long time, particularly in an industry with so many question marks.

"This announcement allows us to begin the thought process that’s going to answer so many of the questions that we all care about," Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the company chairman and publisher of the newspaper is quoted as saying. "We can’t get this halfway right or three-quarters of the way right. We have to get this really, really right."

I would say the thought process has been in motion for some time, and it’s hard to imagine setting a deadline for the discussion to wrap up in such a timeframe. Does setting such a deadline suggest a hint of desperation? The Times says that any changes will be closely watched by other publishers of online content, and there is no doubt that this will indeed be the case.

The publication refers to Nielsen Online and analysts’ data indicating that NYTimes.com is "by far" the most popular newspaper site in the country with over 17 million readers a month in the U.S. alone.

Do you read the New York Times? Would you pay for frequent access or get your news from other sources? Share your thoughts.

Related Articles:

> New York Time’s Could Announce Paid Model This Week

> Do You Have the "Right" to Link?

> Is This the Answer for Online News Revenue?

Go to Source

BandCentral is a web tool that helps bands manage themselves online. BandCentral gives bands their very own online ‘Band HUB’ with all the tools they need to communicate with each other, store files, manage gigs/ merch/ music/ money/ tasks/ fans/ contacts and everything else associated with their band in one central, secure and instantly accessible place.

BandCentral is also great for Band Managers & record labels. By centralizing all aspects of a bands management activity, BandCentral encourages greater collaboration between the band, band manager and third parties (such as producers/ promoters) and minimizes the effort required to complete day-to-day admin tasks.

http://bandcentral.com/

Go to Source

Politics aside, you can count Google as a clear supporter of at least one aspect of Republican Senate candidate Scott Brown’s campaign — the use of online media. “He has definitely run a model campaign,” Google spokesman Galen Panger said in an interview with Digits. “He has really adopted every single tool in the Google arsenal.”

There’s been a lot of news out today about how Mr. Brown has used social networking tools to help his campaign against Democrat Martha Coakley for a crucial Senate seat in Massachusetts. But amid all the talk of Twitter and Facebook, a slightly less sexy but still powerful tool has often been overlooked — the campaign’s groundbreaking use of Google to drive volunteers and voters.

Beginning Thursday, the Brown campaign began what’s known as a Google network blast, an advertising tactic that floods Google content network Web pages in a particular geographic area with display ads from one advertiser. “If you were in Massachusetts, pretty much all day every day you would see a Scott Brown ad,” Mr. Panger said, adding that earlier ads encouraged people to volunteer for the campaign, while later ones focused on getting out the vote.

Kate Kaye, writing for ClickZ, points out that this type of advertising could be crucial for a campaign that began the race as a clear underdog in terms of both financing and voter registration. She quotes Mindy Finn, a digital campaign consultant, as saying: “‘When you need to conserve funds, targeting becomes extremely important.’”

The campaign also used ads in YouTube, gmail and search. Rick Klein of ABC News sees the use of online advertising as one sign that the Republicans might have closed the technology gap with Democrats that was so evident in the 2008 election. He mentions specifically the Brown campaign’s success in “using Google AdWords to direct people searching for both his name and Coakley’s to his campaign Web site.”

Robert Willington, Mr. Brown’s online campaign strategist, also has been a major proponent of using Google apps. His Twitter feed is littered with references to things like Google’s voice and wave applications. He even goes so far as to tweet that “It’s amazing how google docs is the foundation of the Brown campaign.”

Mr. Willington said in an interview that the campaign made so much use of Google apps because the tools were efficient and readily available to campaign workers. “We didn’t have much money,” he said. “We needed to be as efficient and quick as possible.” He said he wouldn’t have exact figures on the campaign’s online ad budget until after the election.

Google, although careful not to take sides, is clearly pleased with the trend toward the use of technology innovations — particularly innovations that involve Google — in political campaigning. “This guy has basically taken every lesson in the Obama campaign, and every innovation since then, and just run with it,” Mr. Panger said.

Go to Source

One in every three online Americans is what Forrester calls a “conversationalist,” defined as someone who updates her status on Facebook or tweets at least once a week. Conversationalists are also older, wiser than other online denizens — and predominantly female.

Forrester’s “The New Social Technographics” report (embedded below) is the product of surveying 10,112 U.S. consumers ages 18 to 88 in November 2009 to better understand social adoption.

Conversationalists are a new type of online content creator who accounts for 33% of the online population, and they’re sandwiched in between the most involved web users who either blog or publish web content — called “creators” (24%) — and the more passive “critics” (37%), who participate online as commenters and reviewers. In the social hierarchy, critics are followed by collectors (20%), joiners (59%), spectators (70%) and inactives (17%).

These conversationalists are quite the interesting bunch, especially for marketers, as 56% are female — the highest concentration of women in any of the groupings. Seventy percent are 30 years of age or older, and 24% are older than 44. According to the report, conversationalists also have household incomes “slightly above average, and they’re more likely than any other social classification to have college degrees.”

A few other findings of interest:

- The highest concentration of Gen Y online users is in the creators group, with 37% of individuals between the ages of 18 and 29.

- The average conversationalist has a annual household income of $81,300.

- 48% of collectors have earned a college degree or higher.

Introducing the New Social Tech No Graphics

image courtesy of iStockphoto, Graffizone

Tags: conversationalist, facebook, forrester, social media, twitter

Go to Source

Forrester’s been classifying online people as inactives, spectators, joiners, collectors, critics, and creators for quite some time, and its statistics regarding these groups have provided valuable about how the online landscape is changing.

The problem, as Forrester analyst Josh Bernoff noted earlier, is that these categories didn’t leave much room for normal Facebook and Twitter users.

So the conversationalists classification was introduced to represent Twitter users and Facebook users who make at least one status update per week.  Exactly 33 percent of online folks should fall into this grouping, and Bernoff added, "They’re 56% female, more than any other group in the ladder."

Also, "While they’re among the youngest of the groups, 70% are still 30 and up."

The above diagram pretty well shows the breakdown of other groups.  Now we just get to sit back and see how quickly people travel up the ladder as the social Web gains momentum.

Related Articles:

> Twitter Earns Itself A Candy Heart Phrase

> Employers Using Social Networks To Screen Employees

> Content Can Now Go Viral More Easily With Facebook

Go to Source

The research found 13 percent of adults shopped online for groceries in 2009, an increase of 63 percent over the last three years.

Although shopping online for groceries has become increasingly popular over the last few years, this section of shoppers represents less than one in four of those who buy goods and services online. This means there is a significant opportunity for grocery retailers to expand their online sales.

"People are increasingly mixing the channels they use for their weekly or monthly shop. Many are choosing to visit their local store on a regular basis, while purchasing a number of bulk items, like tinned foods and toiletries, online less frequently," said Joanne Denney-Finch, chief executive, IGD.

Online shopping for groceries in the U.K. is set to double to $ 11.7 billion by 2014. More demanding shoppers leading busier lifestyles will encourage greater online usage, while the development of online shopping from mobile devices should attract new shoppers and create new purchasing opportunities. Improvements in website capability and capacity, including enhanced search functionality and increased tailoring, will also drive growth.

The research concluded online grocery shopping will not overtake the dominance of the in-store environment and that the number of shoppers using supermarkets will actually increase over the next five years.
 

Related Articles:

>Cyber Monday Deals Attract Online Shoppers

>Walmart Wins Thanksgiving, Amazon Wins Black Friday

>Online Retailers See Strong Cyber Monday Sales

Go to Source

Online document management where you can organize and store all your organization’s documents in one secure location in the cloud. It allows you the freedom to access and work on your documents anywhere. Get to the Internet and login to all your documents. Create, edit, share and collaborate with others. Organize into folders based on clients or projects. Search the content of your Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF’s, and emails. Have the peace of mind knowing your work is backed up and secured in world-class data centers.

Ideal for large and small law firms, financial services, accountants and small businesses.

http://www.netdocuments.com

Go to Source

You are welcome to share more useful online diagramming tools that will be helpful and our readers/viewers may like. Do you want to be the first one to know the latest happenings at SmashingApps.com just subscribe to our rss feed and you can follow us on twitter and do not forget to become our fan on facebook as well.

Creately

Creately is an Online Diagramming and Design is a joy to use. Its designed for ease of use and collaboration. It takes ‘easy’ to a whole new level by intelligently adapting to the kind of diagram you are drawing. Creately has been designed so you can draw just about anything, fast and easy.

Mockingbird

Mockingbird is an online tool that makes it easy for you to create, link together, preview, and share mockups of your website or application.

Draw Anywhere

DrawAnywhere is an online diagramming website, where you can draw, modify and share flowcharts and other diagrams, with the look & feel of a desktop application. It runs on any browser with Flash 9 installed. There is no need to download and install any custom software. It runs entirely on the web, and thus it is an always-on-access-anywhere solution. It meets all your diagramming needs without installing, maintaining and purchasing expensive software.

Cacoo

Cacoo is a user friendly online drawing tool that allows you to create a variety of diagrams such as site maps, wire frames, UML and network charts. All you need is a browser to easily create attractive diagrams for documents like Blogs, Wikis online.

Lovely Charts

Lovely Charts is an online diagramming application that allows you to create professional looking diagrams, such as flowcharts, sitemaps, organisation charts, wireframes, and many more… With Lovely Charts’s extremely simple and intuitive drag’n drop drawing mechanism, you’ll be able to focus on what really matters. You won’t have to draw boxes and arrows, you won’t have to worry about what symbol to use.

Brought To You By

Do you want to advertise here? Click to get more info…

Go to Source

Come Recommended is an exclusive online community connecting the best internship and entry-level job candidates with the best employers. Unlike other exclusive recruiting networks, Come Recommended requires all members to provide at least three recommendations prior to accessing the community. Its “core” features are free to both candidates and employers.

Candidates and employers register and build detailed profiles. Before being accepted into the community, all users must first be recommended by at least three individuals. Using the site’s technology, users send recommendation requests via e-mail. In this e-mail, a link to a simple online form is provided, and all answers are automatically transmitted back to the user’s profile. Once a user has three recommendations, they are accepted into the community and can access all of our features.

http://comerecommended.com/

Go to Source

BlueSky is an online solution to the challenge of linking Performance Management and CPD objectives to your School Development Plan. It’s simple, efficient, cost-effective and web based, so it’s accessible anytime from anywhere.

http://blueskyeducation.co.uk/

Go to Source

Online SEO software for tracking key SEO metrics. Google, Yahoo and Bing SERPs. PageRank, link analysis, backlinks, keyword density tool.

http://www.sheerseo.com/

Go to Source

Photo by Ingorrr.

Last week reader Brady C Knight asked what great apps people run while they’re sleeping, and it got us wondering, too. So before we throw it out to you, here’s a few suggestions from our end:

• Automate Your Self-Repairing Hard Drive
• Run CCleaner on a Schedule to Keep Your PC Crap-Free
• Back up your hard drive. For online backups, try one of these five best online backup tools (I particularly like Mozy); for local backups, see our previous guide to automatically backing up your hard drive.

You’ve also got your other common overnight stand-bys, like downloading large files over BitTorrent. Remember, as I said above, just because you’re running a few maintenance tasks or downloads overnight doesn’t mean you can’t also save some energy when your computer isn’t working; just check out a few of our favorite methods for automatically shutting down your computer at a certain time for help in that arena.

Now let’s hear your thoughts: Share the apps and maintenance tools your computer’s running while you sleep in the comments.

Go to Source

“If the consumer wouldn’t understand that the endorser, whether it’s a celebrity or a mommy blogger, is being paid…to talk about the product, that’s something that we’re concerned about, because we think consumers are being mislead,” said Mr. Gordon in a panel discussion on Thursday.

He said the blogosphere “went a little crazy with visions of storm troopers taking down suburban houses and seizing the computers of mommy bloggers,” but that the FTC has no plans to enforce the rules so aggressively.

Instead, he said, the agency wants to focus on people who are being paid to make plugs for products in “non-traditional contexts” such as tweeting. In particular, they’ll go after companies that make claims that aren’t true or can’t be substantiated, essentially the same mission of the FTC in holding companies accountable offline.

While the FTC is still deciding how the new blogger guidelines will be enforced, it’s concerned that consumers may not have sharpened the same sense of skepticism for online claims that they’ve developed for sources offline.

But the line for whether or not disclosure is necessary will likely be drawn in cases where consumers have a “reasonable expectation” that the author was not being paid to plug a product. “If the consumer knew that the person who was making that endorsement was being paid, would the consumer view that endorsement differently? I think that’s the bottom that we’re trying to get at,” said Mr. Gordon.

Also, in response to recent New York Times coverage about the FTC’s potential move from an “opt out” policy for online behavioral targeting toward an “opt in” strategy, Mr. Gordon said the FTC is still crafting its next move.

While companies that engage in targeted advertising based on customers’ online habits are currently required to disclose what’s being done with the data they provide, Mr. Gordon said that studies show that most consumers don’t read privacy agreements, and many companies aren’t accurately disclosing where consumer data is going.

For example, retailer Sears recently settled with the FTC after it had offered customers $10 in exchange for installation of behavioral tracking software on their computers. The software was meant to monitor online browsing habits, but it also ended up tracking potentially sensitive information such as financial records and prescription drug orders, which the FTC said Sears hadn’t adequately disclosed.

He said the FTC might require such Internet companies to instead provide an “opt in” form, which could be equivalent to a standardized nutrition label that clearly warns consumers about behavioral targeting before it happens.

The FTC might also change some of its terminology when it comes to defining behavioral targeting. “What the commission is wrestling with now is whether harm should be defined more broadly,” said Mr. Gordon. While the FTC does not want to “kill the golden goose” of Internet commerce, he said, companies need to be more transparent about what they’re doing with consumer data.

“Consumers hopefully are a little bit skeptical of what they see in advertising,” Mr. Gordon said. “But if consumers aren’t using that healthy skepticism in looking at these things, then that’s a concern to us.”

Go to Source

The amount of money Conan O’Brien will get in a settlement with NBC and from a deal with a new TV network will likely be equal to at least a few percentage points of the entire online video market. Still, that’s not stopping Revision3 from offering O’Brien a job via an open letter.

While the online video network doesn’t specify a price — and the letter is obviously very tongue-in-cheek — they’re most likely a comma or two out of Conan’s asking price. Nonetheless, when you think about what’s unfolded over at NBC, the online outfit offers a number of compelling reasons that Conan should consider such a move:

- Ad spending in online video was up 35% in 2009

- No air time: People can watch Conan’s show at any time

- No censors: While NBC might be claiming the Masturbating Bear is their intellectual property, Conan can push the envelope even further on the web.

Is that enough for Conan to consider it? Almost certainly not, but I don’t think we’re far from a major entertainment personality testing the waters of an online-only show.

When you consider the benefits that Revision3 mentions, the huge audiences we’re starting to see for celebrity-themed live video (and the built-in audience for watching it on-demand on YouTube), and Internet-connected television, the stars are beginning to align for a Howard Stern-Sirius type moment for the medium. Just don’t bet on that moment being a Conan-Revision3 deal.

Tags: conan o’brien, media, nbc, ONLINE VIDEO, revision3, television

Go to Source

The bill was introduced into the New Jersey senate by Senator Raymond Lesniak (D-Union), who also introduced a separate bill which calls for New Jersey residents to vote on a constitutional amendment that would allow state-regulated sports wagering in Atlantic City casinos, and to state residents via an intra-state Internet gambling system.

New Jersey currently offers gambling on horse races to state residents through the 4NJbets.com website. The state would expand the law to permit online versions of games currently allowed in Atlantic City casinos, such as Poker, Blackjack and Baccarat. The Internet gambling system would be regulated by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, which would establish a Division of Internet Wagering to manage operations and licensing.

Joe Brennan Jr.
IMEGA’s chairman

"We’re happy that New Jersey has taken this issue into their own hands," said iMEGA chairman Joe Brennan Jr.

"New Jersey is recognized as having the toughest gaming regulators in the US, but as a leading gaming state with a long track record of doing things the right way, Internet gambling will have a great home here and the opportunity to begin normalizing the industry."

The iMEGA says it supports efforts in Washington DC by Representative Barney Frank (D) in the House and Senator Robert Menendez (D) in the Senate, to create a Federal path to regulation, the association worked with New Jersey legislators on the bill to establish continued progress toward regulate internet gambling in the U.S.

"The efforts to resolve the Internet gambling issue have stalled in Washington DC," Brennan said.

"If states assert their right to regulate gambling within their borders and take a serious look at permitting Internet gambling, one side effect may be a breaking of the deadlock in the US Congress."

Related Articles:

>U.S. Asked To Halt Online Gambling Rules

>Kentucky Supreme Court Hears Online Gambling Case

>Americans Favor Legalizing Online Poker

Go to Source

Meemov is an online tool that allows you to create a video.  What is great about it is that you can personalize everything,  write your own script and animate the story.

Feature :   Memoov is offering a unique set of Online Animation tools, including Character personalization,  Audio recording online, and a great timeline-based easy to use Animation method.  Their state of the art Video generation app and the YouTube synchronization service providing a whole new video creation and sharing experience.

They  are offering an open content development platform, enabling Animators and  Designers to create and upload their own Figures, Backgrounds and Objects that later  will be used in user generated videos, ensuring that new content is generated and added easily and its for Free!

Included an example of an animated video created on Memoov.

Main Image Source

Go to Source

The ranking found AOL Advertising remains the top ad network, reaching 187 million U.S. Internet users, or 91 percent of the total audience, followed by the Yahoo Network (180.9 million) and the Google Ad Network (178.1 million).

The fastest growing ad network by audience reach among the top 15 was Microsoft Media Network, which grew 31 percent compared to a year ago, followed by Collective Network (up 22%) and Audience Science (up 16%).

"Ad networks continue to be a powerful mechanism for delivering a large audience online, with eight different networks reaching at least 75 percent of the entire U.S. online population," said comScore senior vice president Jeff Hackett.

"Increasingly, however, ad networks are improving their capability for reaching more targeted audiences as well, which delivers enhanced value to advertisers and helps sustain higher CPMs for the channel. 2010 should bring us continued innovation and performance from this growing online sector."
 

Related Articles:

> Nielsen Shares Predictions for Advertising Trends in 2010

> Email Marketing Budgets Set For Increase In 2010

> Online Video Viewing Continues To Boom

Go to Source

While he is not the only one to raise such a point, Jason Falls of Social Media Explorer asked his Facebook fans a good question: "What if Conan went web-only?" More specifically, he asks:

- Would you watch it?
- Would you watch it regularly?
- Would you pay closer attention to the advertisers?

Jason has so far received some thought-provoking responses. One person compares such a prospect to what Howard Stern did when he went to Sirius Satellite Radio. Another notes that Conan reaches a young enough demographic to pull off such a move.

It would probably not be very hard for Conan to find a good partner to convert his show to the web and attract a good amount of advertising dollars. What if the show went a different route? Dare I say, even a paid route? Would you pay, let’s say a dollar a month, to see Conan’s show on the same regular basis?

Regardless of which way it was monetized, the show would have the potential to be successful (at least when compared to other online-only shows). But consider that consumers don’t have to turn to their computers to watch TV online anymore, perhaps the biggest obstacle for the medium. It was made abundantly clear at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that Internet-ready TVs are going to become much more common.

People watching TV online is a phenomenon that is growing rapidly already. Once the average TV watcher doesn’t have to get out of his/her easy chair to watch a show online on the same TV, what is to stop them from watching a show like a web-based Conan O’Brien show over the traditional TV alternatives?

In reality, it is highly unlikely that Conan will go this route. Maybe there’s too much at stake. But if it did happen, could it work? Would it? Share your thoughts on the topic.

Related Articles:

> YouTube And Hulu See Record High Video Views

> YouTube Gets Well Over a Billion Views Per Day

> NBC.com To Stream Late Night With Conan O’Brien

Go to Source

(…)
Read the rest of Star Trek Online Beta Available Now [Ready to Boldly Go Where No Other MMORPG Has Gone Before?]

© TFTS – Technology, Gadgets & Curiosities, 2010. |
Permalink |
No comment |
Add to
del.icio.us

Go to Source

The New York Times is likely to announce a metered payment model for its website within weeks, according to a widely cited report from New York Magazine. If the report is correct, readers would be able to view a few pages before being prompted to subscribe.

The motivation is clear: online ad revenues aren’t enough to replace plummeting revenues from the printed page.

Opinion is divided on the matter: online readers are accustomed to free content, and the New York Times competes with all sorts of outlets (including blogs like this one). Erecting paywalls may drive readers toward these free outlets and sacrifice reach in exchange for maintaining revenue. Putting some content out of reach also threatens the newspaper’s “link revenue” – Google’s PageRank is a currency of sorts that drives attention and traffic, but bloggers cannot link to articles they can’t read. Critics could also also cite the fact that Times’ first attempt at building a paywall – TimesSelect – was a failure.

Yet if readers are ever to be sold on the payment model, which the WSJ claims is working in that instance, little time remains to change user behavior. Proponents might also argue that maintaining revenues is critical to keeping quality high.

What do you think? Would you become a subscriber if the NY Times website began to charge?

Will You Pay for The New York Times online?(online surveys)

Tags: new york times, pay, Times

Go to Source

P&G has tapped ecommerce firm PFSweb to manage the online shopping site called the "eStore." P&G said PFSweb will own and operate the eStore and exclusively feature P&G products to consumers in the U.S. The eStore is set to launch this spring, following a pilot of the site with 5,000 consumers that will begin in the coming weeks.

"We are very excited about the eStore’s potential to reach more consumers and create new online experiences and innovations that build our brands online," said Kirk Perry, P&G’s Vice President, North America.

"Ultimately, our goal in working with an experienced e-commerce business like PFSweb is to test concepts and programs that can be reapplied with all of our online retail partners in ways that exponentially grow consumer affinity for our brands and mutually increase sales for P&G and our retailer partners."

The eStore will test a number of concepts to improve relationships with consumers and deliver ecommerce insights for categories such as beauty and grooming, health and well being, and household care. The test initiatives include subscription models and cross selling, targeted media and search ads, and the integration of social media with the online store.

According to PFSweb research, consumers expect brand websites they visit to be the best sources of information about the products offered, including access to packaging, size and product variations that meet their needs.

Related Articles:

>Cyber Monday Deals Attract Online Shoppers

>Walmart Wins Thanksgiving, Amazon Wins Black Friday

>Online Retailers See Strong Cyber Monday Sales

Go to Source

Trouble is, that’s what their competitors are doing also and in this day and age, it’s just not enough.

Does Your Business Stand Out Online?

Most advertising on the Web follows a time-honored format, although some might call it a time-worn format as it does little to differentiate itself. You can bet that a high percentage of this advertising will be ignored and the money spent on it will be wasted.

So how does a company stand out from the crowd online?

Thanks to an oversupply of similar text, claims, and presentation – coupled with a short 21st century attention span – your website has less than ten seconds to move a visitor to action. If it doesn’t, that visitor will click away to another site, and then another. Therefore, it’s critical that you find a way to break through the noise your competitors are making. But even that’s not enough.

Statistics show that even the best-looking websites generate conversion rates of under one percent, so for every 100 visitors you do manage to get, less than one will call or email you. Sound bleak? Thinking of redirecting more of your advertising budget back to the Yellow Pages? Don’t. You’re on the right
track – you just haven’t leveraged all the power available to you online.

One-to-Many Communication. On-on-One Feel.

Most websites are little more than electronic versions of Yellow Page advertising. For the most part, they don’t encourage interaction beyond the obligatory “Contact me for more information” plea. These sites don’t encourage trust any more than their print counterparts. They don’t give visitors the
warm-and-fuzzy feeling that a face-to-face meeting would. But they can.

Searching for a local service provider online can be a daunting prospect, but even more daunting than the search is deciding which provider to use once you get to the page, especially since most websites promise the standard good service, competitive pricing and high quality.

So how does a business differentiate itself from the sea of competition? Web video makes this possible on a grand scale. Thanks to rapidly improving technology, it’s easier than ever to add that warm-and-fuzzy, face-to-face element to your site, replicate an in-person interview, and offer your visitors an opportunity to check you out before picking up the phone. With Web video, you can present an interview that addresses all the questions and concerns of potential clients. You can keep them on your site longer and give them insight into the “business behind the business.” In a way that wasn’t possible even a few years ago, business owners can now speak directly to their audiences and showcase their personalities and areas of expertise. This is especially helpful if you are a professional service provider.

Any business that relies on conveying trust-ability will benefit from this type of web marketing. Really, it’s one-to-many communication with a one-on-one feel. It’s the perfect ice breaker and an efficient means of generating the interest and trust needed to compel potential clients to make an appointment
and do business.

A high-quality Web interview placed strategically on your site is a huge timesaver for you and prospective clients because you reach a wide audience in minimal time. Potential clients get the information they need to pre-qualify – and pre-sell – themselves before they call.

Online video delivers some of the best ROI of any advertising medium today and if set up properly, actually ranks higher than text now by the major search engines like Google. Short of spending valuable face time with a potential client (often times a poorly qualified potential client) there is simply no better way to forge a personal connection with them. With that in mind, here are 10 tips to help you get the most of your online video marketing efforts.

10 Tips for Making the Most of Online Video

1. Make Sure Your Video is Professionally Done.
This is an absolute must. The whole point here is to establish credibility and trust, but you’ll do the opposite with a poorly executed and produced video. Yes, many of the videos you find on sharing sites are mediocre at best, but that is changing rapidly as companies begin to see the value of promoting themselves in this manner. In fact, a recent Permission TV survey found that 67% of 400 hundred top executives intended to focus their online marketing efforts on video in 2009. The rush is coming – find a personable, engaging interviewer and a top notch production crew to really stand out.

2. Submit Your Video to as Many Outlets as Possible.
While YouTube is the clear leader here, there are many other video sharing sites worthy of consideration. Here are some others you won’t want to pass up:

    • Google Video
    • Yahoo! Video
    • Daily Motion
    • MySpaceTV
    • MetaCafe
    • Revver
    • Veoh
    • Blinkx
    • Break

3. Embed Your Video on the Front Page of Your Site.
Don’t hide what’s going to become one of your most effective selling tools on a dusty inside page. Get it out front. Customers and search engines will love you for it.

4. Find Out What Search Terms Your Potential Clients are Using
and Put Them in Your Video’s Title.
If you don’t know what words clients in need of your services are typing into Google and other search engines, get professional help or use some of the resources featured on this page. Once you’ve identified these terms, use the most popular in your video’s title.

5. Make Your Tags and Descriptions SEO-friendly, too.
Most video sharing sites let you tag videos with keywords and post a short description, so get the most out of these by sprinkling in the search terms you’ve identified.

6. Don’t Forget Your Thumbnail.
A thumbnail is a still shot from your video that appears along with search results. Don’t waste this opportunity to present yourself in the best light possible – choose a key moment from your video, preferably one where you’re smiling as you speak with your interviewer.

7. Link Back to Your Site.
Put your URL near the top of your video’s description. You’ll get a higher search ranking and potential clients will quickly learn where to go for more information.

8. Interact With Your Viewers.
Most video sharing sites allow viewer comments. Use this opportunity to answer questions, respond to comments, and further promote your business.

9. Consider a Pay-Per-Click Campaign.
Natural search engine optimization, while effective, takes time to bear fruit. In the meantime, you might want to jump start the process with a pay-per-click campaign that gives you a sponsored search listing. You can learn more about PPC advertising at:

    • www.google.com/intl/en/ads
    • sem.smallbusiness.yahoo.com/searchenginemarketing

    • advertising.microsoft.com/search-advertising

10. Add New Content Often.
Search engines look for it and so do potential clients. Keep your content fresh and up-to-date and keep visitors coming back for more.

With an ever-increasing stream of competition, it’s more important than ever to stand out from the crowd. These days standing out means maximizing your online presence and leveraging the technology to present the unique advantages of you and your firm. There’s no better way for a growth-oriented business to build a solid and secure future than by using effective and affordable online video.

Use these free resources to get a handle on the terms that potential clients are using to search for you right now.

    • Wordtracker
    • Google AdWords
    • Keyword Discovery
    • KwMap
    • Google Trends

Diana D’Itri is co-owner of IDR, LLC, a media production and marketing company. Since 2002, Diana has helped business professionals all over the U.S. to differentiate themselves from their competition and increase web conversions through online and cable television broadcasting. www.idrbroadcasting.com

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

10 Tips to Grow Your Business Using Online Video

Go to Source

As an affiliate marketer using these 3 tips will help your chances of success with your online marketing business. Using these 3 tips will help your online business survive the competition that is found in an online based business environment.

1. Give your readers free reports.
Either place these reports where they can be easily seen near the top of your website or alternatively give them as an incentive to visitors who are will to give you their name and email address.

Use a unique squeeze page, in other words one that is different from what everyone else is using, to offer your reports in exchange for their email address and make sure that you have an opt in box on that squeeze page that goes to your auto-responder account.

It is a known fact that the majority of people will not purchase anything the first time they see it. Normally it will take a minimum of seven views for them to make the purchase. Keep in mind that usually people are more willing to spend money with a person that they believe is trustworthy and has taken the time to build a relationship with them, they need to know that they are not just dealing with some faceless website but a real person who is willing to help them.

If the only connection is the product on your website, not only will you not build a list, but chances are that even if someone is interested in the product you are selling they will move on and in the end buy it from someone else.

2. Promote each product on a separate web page.

If you use this method of marketing your products you will be keeping the reader focused on one thing at a time and they will become less distracted than if there were too many things on the one page.

Help the reader to make a decision on each product by having a review for each one on your website. This not only gives it a more personal touch but also helps to encourage a sale. If you are able to get some testimonials from any of your previous customers who have already tried the product then this is something that you can use to your advantage.

Just be sure that those customers are happy to allow you to use their name and if possible their photo.

3. Aim to generate a lot of targeted traffic to your website.

There is absolutely no point in getting people to visit your site who have no interest whatsoever in the products that you are promoting. Write articles and submit them to ezines and article directories and focus on the niche that you are promoting your products to. There is no point in spending your time promoting your affiliate internet business where no one is interested in what you are selling, but writing articles and publishing them in article directories is a great way to become known and brand yourself and your business and the best thing is that this type of advertising will not cost you any money.

If you want to benefit from marketing your online business by using article marketing you will need to write a minimum of 2 articles every week. If you continue to do this consistently you will see that over time your traffic will increase and it will be people who are interested in your products and what you have to say.

None of these tips are really difficult to follow and take action on it just needs some time and thought from you. Try using these tips for a few of your affiliate internet based business programs and see how they will help your opportunity to survive as an online affiliate marketer. Another great thing about this is the increase in the pay checks you will be receiving.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Use These 3 Tips so that Your Online Income Affiliate Business can Survive

Go to Source

  

When designing a large website, especially one that contains a store, you may be required to design a system for ordering online, or a multi-step process of another sort. Walking users through this process by making it easy and intuitive is key to helping increase conversion rates. Any frustration along the way may cause them to leave and pursue other options. Progress trackers are designed to help users through a multi-step process and it is vital that such trackers be well designed in order to keep users informed about what section they are currently on, what section they have completed, and what tasks remain.

In this article we will look at various uses of progress trackers and see how they’ve been implemented, what they are doing well, and what they are not doing well.

What are Progress Trackers?

You may not be familiar with the term ‘progress tracker’, also called a ‘progress indicator’ — but chances are good that you have encountered one at one time or another. They are used in online stores when placing an order, signing up to an online product or service, or even when booking a holiday online. Progress trackers guide the user through a number of steps in order to complete a specified process.

An example of a progress tracker at Game

The Difference Between Progress Trackers and Breadcrumbs

As we have detailed previously in Breadcrumbs In Web Design: Examples And Best Practices, breadcrumbs are a way of enhancing navigation by revealing a user’s current location. Initially, breadcrumbs and progress trackers may seem very similar and in many ways they are, however, there are significant differences.

Breadcrumbs show you only where you have been (or what sections are above the current section in the application’s hierarchy), whereas progress trackers indicate a set path that a user follows to complete a specific task. Progress trackers show you not only where you are currently located, but also what steps you have previously taken, and what steps you are about to take.

Example of breadcrumbs at Coolspotters

Progress trackers are best used when there is a specific goal to achieve. They are synonymous with conversion and are used as a way of improving usability — which is key when optimizing conversion rates. Conversion is all about selling online so you will see a progress tracker in some form in almost every online store.

Now that we’ve reviewed what a progress tracker is, let’s look at situations that would require or even benefit from the implementation of a well-designed progress tracker.

Uses of Progress Trackers

As mentioned previously, progress trackers can be used in a variety of contexts. The following three are the most common.

1. Online Ordering
By far the most common application of progress trackers is in conjunction with online purchasing, since this usually involves multiple steps.

The progress tracker used by HMV.

The progress tracker used at Etsy.

2. Feature Tour Guides
Progress trackers are also used to guide users through the features of online products and services, as demonstrated in the following examples:

Progress tracker as used by Search Inside Video.

Flickr’s tour page provides a look at the features of their service.

3. Multi-Step Forms
If a form requires a lot of user input, it may be best to split the form into multiple steps.

Livestream’s progress tracker design.

The progress tracker used on Buffalo’s Project Planner form

Best Practices in Progress Tracker Design

Indicating a Logical Progression
Most progress trackers are designed to display the steps from left to right. In most lands, people read from left to right, so it makes sense that progress trackers follow that pattern. That isn’t enough though — there has to be something that informs the user that they are performing a multi-step process.

Blockbuster have included both arrows and numbers in their progress tracker, thus clearly communicating a logical progression.

Keeping the User Informed of their Location
One key aspect of good progress tracker design is keeping the user informed of where the user is in the process. This complements the logical progression because the user will know where they are in relation to where they have been, and what sections are to follow.

Mr and Mrs Smith indicates the user’s current location by clearly highlighting the current step and turning the arrow downwards.

Positioning
Since progress trackers are a form of navigation, it is best to place them below the primary and secondary navigation (such as breadcrumbs) and above the content that the progress tracker relates to. Also, while a progress tracker can act as a page title, it is best to place the title of the current section underneath the progress tracker, to reinforce the current location.

Gamestation places their progress tracker clearly below the primary and secondary navigation.

Implementations of Progress Trackers

Plain Text
Below is an example of a plain text progress tracker on Media Temple’s website. One benefit of a plain text progress tracker is that it can be edited easily.

Sprite-Based
Sovereign uses the popular CSS sprites technique to build their progress tracker and reduce HTTP requests going through the online booking process.

Design Mistakes to Avoid

Indistinguishable from Breadcrumbs
TypePad’s Design Assistant can be very easily confused with a breadcrumb navigation system.

Not Enough Information
easyJet’s old progress tracker on their booking path was poorly executed. Although it gave you the total number of steps in the process, it didn’t indicate which steps you’ve completed or which were remaining.

Their new progress tracker, launched within the last few weeks, is a big improvement, indicating current location, past steps, and steps to come. They now also make good use of the page title which has descriptive wording to complement the current progress tracker label.

No Sense of Progression
daniblack incorrectly uses a tab system for their progress tracker. The problem with this is that tabs don’t offer any visual representation of progress. The addition of numbers or arrows would give at least some sort of indication of progression in this example.

Progress Tracker Showcase

Now that we know what a progress tracker is, how it is used, and the best approach to its design, let’s look at a number of well-designed progress trackers currently in use.

Battle.net uses the method of incrementally filling a bar as you progress through the steps in their sign-up form.

Ikea

Amazon has a shopping trolley travelling across their progress tracker, leaving an orange line marking where it has been.

Organic Supermarket

Threadless

Urban Originals

Firebox

Apple

Vitradirect

Mouse to Minx

CafePress

Topshop

John Lewis uses an image of a truck travelling along their progress tracker.

Comet ticks off sections that have already been completed.

Boots‘ Progress tracker spans the width of the page.

Web MD uses a progress bar and percentage values as a way of tracking progress on their health check questionnaires.

Argos

Altrec

SurfRide

iWorkwear

Zumiez

Toys”R”Us

eBags

Foot Locker

The Ultimate Green Store

Crate and Barrel

Pistol Clothing

American Apparel

PC World

Abel & Cole

Ecco USA

Design Public

Golfsmith uses a combination of numbers and a progress bar with an arrow.

PETCO

Football Fanatics

The Habitat Company

Walton Garden Buildings

lookfantastic uses icons to visually enhance their progress tracker.

B&Q

Related posts

You may be interested in the following related posts:

• Showcase Of Modern Navigation Design Trends
• Designing “Coming Soon” Pages
• Call to Action Buttons: Examples and Best Practices
• Search Results Design: Best Practices and Design Patterns

© Tom Kenny for Smashing Magazine, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine
Post tags: progress, showcases

Go to Source

Here are 5 Free File Sharing Services/Sites that you might want to check out:

1.  Media Fire -  Powerful for tool for  business and yet simple enough to use for everyone.  The easy way to host and share any files including  documents, presentations, videos, and images.

2.  File Factory -  FileFactory is an award-winning online file sharing service.  Share all your files at FileFactory and never have to worry about disk space or  bandwidth again. Share files with your friends, family, customers, or thousands  of people worldwide.

3.  BADONGO -  You get unlimited storage space, Manage your files, and you can also share easily with friends and family through social networking platforms.

4.  File Den -   Free accounts gets you:

• Hotlinking allowed for all allowed file extensions, including videos and music files!
• 1GB of personal storage space.
• A 50mb maximum file size limit
• 5GB of monthly bandwidth

5.  File Box – Filebox is a powerful website designed to store, organize and publish all of your electronic media. Whether it’s important spreadsheets, documents, photos, or movies, Filebox allows you to store all of these files in one central location. Then, with the click of a mouse, share these files with your friends, family, or business partners. You can even generate income when they download this with our Filebox Profit program. So whether you are an individual or business, stop paying to store your files online, and start getting paid to store them.

Included a link where you can browse through 100 more File Sharing sites that would be suitable for your need. 100 Best File Sharing Sites

Main Image Source

Go to Source

Originally posted at Web Crawler

Go to Source

You are welcome to share more useful reminder web apps that will be helpful and our readers/viewers may like. Do you want to be the first one to know the latest happenings at SmashingApps.com just subscribe to our rss feed and you can follow us on twitter and do not forget to become our fan on facebook as well.

Google Notebook

Google Notebook is a free online application offered by Google that allows users to save and organize clips of information while conducting research online. The browser-based tool permits a user to write notes, clip text and images, and save links from pages during a browser session. The information is saved to an online “notebook” with sharing and collaboration features. Notebooks can be made “public”, or visible to others, and can also be used to collaborate with a list of users (either publicly or privately).

Zoho Notebook

With Zoho Notebook, You can create different types of content like text, image, audio, video, etc. It will allow you to share a whole book, page or just an object on a page by granting read/write permissions. There is an option to keep track of changes not only at the book or page level but also at the object level.

Yahoo! Notepad

Yahoo! Notepad is a place to write down and organize notes. You can access the notes from any computer, anytime—they’re part of your password-protected Yahoo! account.

Notefish

Notefish makes Internet research simple. If you are making a purchase or planning a trip, this is perfect for you. You can save information from the web into a single online Notefish page, then organize and share with anyone you want.

Springnote

Springnote is a great way for you to create notebooks for ideas, interests, multimedia, projects, and documents. It allows you to create pages, to work on them together with your friends, and to share files.

WebAsyst

You can make or keep notes online with WebAsyst. It would be thoughts, instructions, memos, to do lists, recipes, or plan a party or any kind of short text notes. There is an option to share your notes with friend and colleagues and having each with specific access rights.

Go to Source

ReachBy.com is a new online platform that lets users blog per the standard or act as a chief editor — accept contributions from readers, then edit or post them as-is. It’s an easy way to share news, stories, thoughts, links, pics, videos, or whatever on the Stream of messages. A ReachBy Stream provides all it takes to jump-start a new blog, build online audience, involve people to contribute, and if you choose to — make an extra buck or two by serving the ads from your own Google AdSense account.

http://reachby.com

Go to Source

WebMii scours the internet including Google, Facebook, Twitter, Bing, Yahoo! Search, and other search engines and social networks to build a picture of your online identity. You search using your last and first name and specify if you want your search limited to a region like the USA, France, or other countries listed, and then WebMii returns a huge laundry list of search results that provide everything from images to social network profiles.

WebMii doesn’t know which John Smith you are of course, but that’s a strength when you’re trying to get a picture of how you would be perceived through an online search. If you’re unhappy with the results you’ll want to take a peek at previous guides we’ve shared with you like how to manage your online identity and how to manage your Google reputation.

Have a great way to keep tabs on your online identity? Have a funny story about an online doppelganger? Let’s hear about it in the comments.

Go to Source

The Ad Council has launched a series of Public Service Announcements promoting the slogan “Think before you post.” One depicts a teenage girl who keeps getting creepy comments from people who seem to know intimate things about her. The football coach compliments her on her new tattoo. The ticket collector at the movie theater asks what color underwear she’s wearing today. Then we hear a voice saying “anything you post online, anyone can see.” Another video shows a girl posting a picture on a bulletin board that instantly reappears after someone takes it down, allowing everyone at the school– even the janitor– to get a copy. The message: once you post something online, “you can’t take it back-anyone can see it.”

The Family Violence Prevention Fund has launched ThatsNotCool.com, a site aimed at making teens aware of “textual harassment” has a series of videos featuring sock puppets, dolls and fruits talking about situations where their boyfriend or girlfriend’s texts seem controlling, and where they are feeling pressure to send nude pictures.

The site also has a set of “callout cards,” colorful icons people can share digitally that have anti-sexting messages. One card features mints and the phrase: “When you pressure me for nude pics, I throw up in my mouth a little.” Another says: “Congrats, with that last text you’ve achieved stalker status.”

Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that helps parents and educators become aware of media and entertainment issues, offers parents tips for discussing the topic with teens.

And Lake Superior State University suggested added sexting to a list of words that is believes should be “banned.”
It’s not clear what effect the ads are having but a December report by Pew Research Center looked at other methods for getting teens to avoid the practice. It found that parental restriction on the number of text messages teens could send was likely to lower the chances of their teens sexting. Teens whose parents checked their phones were no less likely to sext than those with less supervision.
The study also found 4% of cell-owning teens ages 12-17 say they have sent sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude pictures of themselves via text messaging. And 15% of teens say they have received them.

Readers, do you think these anti-sexting campaigns are effective? What approach should parents take?

Go to Source

MakeSomeTime offers easy-as-pie online time tracking for free. It has the ability to keep your times sorted by projects and clients and the ability to generate detailed reports of how you spend your time which can be included in invoices and reports.

http://makesometime.com/

Go to Source

The game is called Carrot Sticks. Its an online game site that will allow your kids to practice by themselves or compete with other kids.  At the beginning of the game, they will also be allowed to customize their own avatar.  They will need to solve math problems step by step and increase their scores for them to reach the next level.  There is no sign up required too.

Go to Source

Nearly three-quarters (72%) of Americans say they read one at least once a week while 81 percent read a daily newspaper at least once a month. Ten percent say they never read a daily

newspaper.

One reason for the decline of the daily newspaper is the aging of its audience. Among those aged 55 and older, 64 percent say they still read a daily newspaper almost everyday. Of those aged 45-54, 44 percent read a paper almost every day as do 36 percent of those aged 35-44. Just 23 percent of those aged 18-34 say they read a newspaper almost every day while 17 percent in this age group say they never read a daily newspaper.

One potential business model newspapers have considered is charging a monthly fee to read a daily newspaper’s content online. More than three-quarters (77%) of Americans say they would not be willing to pay anything to read a newspaper’s content online. While some are willing to pay, 19 percent would only pay between $1 and $10 a month for online content and only 5 percent would pay more than $10 a month.

Related Articles:

>Newspapers Not Effectively Using Social Media

>Google News SEO Tips-Ranking In News Search

>Newsday To Charge For Online Access

Go to Source

Social media activities run the gamut from Blogging, micro blogging sites such as Twitter, social networking communities such as LinkedIn and Facebook, video and music uploading sites, discussion forums, photo sharing and more. With so many different sites and ways to participate, it can be difficult to keep track of all your efforts.

Participating in social media doesn’t take a lot of money, but it is very time consuming and businesses want to know that all of this investment in time is paying off. Before launching a
campaign, you should have a firm grasp on what it is you’re trying to accomplish. Is it increasing website traffic? Getting more ezine subscribers? Having more people download your free ebook or whitepaper? Or maybe you just want to work on your company’s brand image. Whatever it is, you need to have a plan. As the old saying goes, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll never get there”. Have your game plan intact before getting started in marketing yourself, or your company with social media.

There are many different forms of social media, so it’s impossible to use them all. Pick three or four, and funnel the majority of your efforts there. Even if you won’t be working them all, at the very least you should claim your name or company name on as many social services as possible. You don’t want to find out later that someone has the user name that you want. If you need to see if your chosen user name is available try http://Namechk.com which checks dozens of social media networking and bookmarking sites all at once to see if it’s available. Claim your name now so you won’t end up being sorry later.

So how do you monitor all the buzz? How do you monitor your brand and protect your hard earned reputation? I thought you’d never ask. There isn’t one fool-proof method but there are many services and tools out there that will make it easy to see who’s talking about you online. Some are free and others will make you pull out your wallet.

These “online reputation management” tools, as they’re often referred to, will help you to define keywords or phrases you wish to track and then watch for any mention of your company name, products, or services. It’s important to defend and monitor your online reputation. Similar to High School reputations, protecting your image online is the name of the game, and just as in real life, everyone has one to maintain.

Let’s take a look at some of the measuring and tracking tools at your disposal:

1) http://BackTweets.com : A search engine for Twitter. See who’s tweeting your links and more. Can also sign up for email alerts of new findings.

2) http://Addictomatic.com : A little different than the others, you type in a keyword, topic or phrase and out it goes searching the top blogs, news sites, Google, Technorati, Ask, YouTube, Flickr, Digg, Topix and more. You’ll be given a personalized results page to bookmark with everything it finds related to your topic.

3) http://Buzzoo.net : All about Internet buzz, it tracks several different websites to bring you what’s “hot” right now.

4) http://Surchur.com : Search for the latest and greatest on topics that are popular right now. Type in a keyphrase and it searches blogs, social news sites, photo and video sites for your chosen topic.

5) http://Commentful.Blogflux.com : This service watches for comments on blog posts, Digg, Flickr, and others and notifies you of any findings.

6) http://AlertRank.com : A better way to organize and sort Google alerts. Get a daily report emailed to you in a spreadsheet format of what it finds.

7) http://BoardTracker.com : A search engine for forums only. Monitor discussion boards and be notified by email when a thread matching your search terms is discovered. Free to use.

http://www.google.com/alerts : I’ve been using this “secret weapon” for years. Simply type in your name or company name and receive daily emails of results found. They do the work, you receive the links. Free and nice.

9) http://BrandsEye.com : An online reputation management tool with a real-time, concise overview of your online reputation. Multiple levels of services and pricing available. Starting at $1.00.

10) http://Twazzup.com : Another Twitter only search engine.

11) http://SiteMention.com : Type in your url and find out what’s being said about you. The results returned are gathered from Google Blog Search, Twitter, FriendFeed, YouTube, MySpace, Digg, Delicious and many more.

12) http://Brandwatch.net: This service tracks your brands, companies, even the competition. Sign up for free weekly updates on any brand. Their detailed reports break down what sites like you, your most talked about features, weekly summary of all blogs and forum activity. Very similar to the old “press clipping” service.

13) http://Trackur.com : A tool that scans many websites, including blogs, news, image and video sites, forums and notifies you of any mention of your brand, products/services. Easy to use and affordable. Prices vary depending on need, a personal account is only $18.00 a month, corporate account $88.00 a month with other options also available. Try a “personal” account free for 14 days.

14) http://FiltrBox.com : This one searches online news sources, Twitter and others to find out what’s being said about you or your company. Pricing is based on the number of users, but there is a free version that provides “5 filters” and 15 days of what they call “article history”.

15) http://SocialMention.com/alerts : Just like Google Alerts but for social media. Enter your keyword phrase and email address to be notified of any new findings. Searches blogs, microblogs like Twitter, bookmarks, comments, events, images, news, videos and more.

16) http://BlogPulse.com : A search engine that searches only for data posted to blogs. Enter your keyword, hit submit and off it goes to gather results.

17) http://BackType.com : Billing itself as a “conversational search engine” they index millions of conversations from social networks, blogs and other social media.

18) http://sm2.techrigy.com : Industry insiders claim this to be the leading social media monitoring solution online. Choice of free or paid version. Free is limited to five searches and 1,000 results. There are three paid professional levels: Gold, Diamond, or Platinum.

19) http://ReputationDefender.com : This paid service finds out everything there is to know about you online, and if negative information is found they try to have it removed. Different types of plans are available such as “My Reputation”, “My Privacy”, starting at only $14.95 a month.

20) http://Topsy.com : Topsy will track your tweets that have been retweeted so you can find out who’s been sending you all that “link love”. Type in your Twitter user name and you’ll be amazed at what you find.

If you’d like to track incoming traffic from your various social media profiles, an easy way to do it using Google Analytics can be found here http://Tinyurl.com/kuc9rL

Just as there are many ways to market your company using social media, as you can see, there’s a multitude of tools and services at your disposal to track and see if all of that hard work is paying off. Smart companies realize the importance of social media in their marketing efforts and are utilizing it on some level. How smart are you?

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Are Your Ears Burning? – 20 Tools for Tracking Social Media Marketing

Go to Source

One of the top services coming from Mountain View, Google Docs is being upgraded over the next few weeks allowing users to upload, store and manage any type of files from their own computer.

(…)
Read the rest of Google Docs Allows You to Upload & Store Files Online [Google Docs to Bring Free Online Storage Space For Any Types of File]

© TFTS – Technology, Gadgets & Curiosities, 2010. |
Permalink |
No comment |
Add to
del.icio.us

Go to Source

The Star Trek fan’s equivalent of World of Warcraft is now playable thanks to an open beta test — and you don’t even have to spend $60 to buy the game as long as you can put up with a few bugs.

While Star Trek had become a struggling franchise in recent years, the blockbuster movie reboot from J.J. Abrams that hit last May renewed interest online and elsewhere.

Right now the easiest way to get a key to play Star Trek Online is to sign up for an account at gamer download mecca FilePlanet, but more choices will come.

Virtual worlds of one kind or another have always been part of Mashable’s territory, but positive news on that subject has been slowly drying up. Maybe Second Life didn’t turn out to be the revolution a lot of people hoped it would be, but that alternate reality social life is still going strong in the video gaming world.

Games like this are hardly mainstream, though. World of Warcraft’s creators brag that the game has 11.5 million subscribers, but quite a few of those gamers primarily play in Asian Internet cafes, which are a whole different world.

It’s true that there’s a chance Star Trek is now a big enough franchise to push social gaming in a persistent, virtual world into the limelight; interest is only going to grow with the recent announcement that a sequel is coming in the summer of 2012. But the problem is that this Star Trek Online game is actually based mostly on material from the ’90s TV series, not the new movie. It’s also PC-only software (most mainstream folks play on the web or on game consoles), so its niche is obvious: computer gaming geeks who grew up on The Next Generation, Voyager and Deep Space Nine.

Chances are you’ll be waiting a little while longer for these sorts of games to escape the hardcore gamer ghetto. It’s a pity, though. There’s a lot of potential there.

Tags: atari, beta, cryptic studios, gaming, MMO, mmorpg, Star Trek, star trek online, video games, virtual world, world of warcraft

Go to Source

The changing economy has led to a smarter consumer who uses technology to make more informed buying decisions, exchange information with others, make purchases on-the-go and shop multiple channels.

More than three-quarters (79%) of consumers want to use websites to access and print coupons, while 75 percent want to use mobile phones to find out where the nearest store is located and 66 percent want to see what items are in stock before going to a store.

"We are in a shopper’s market today, because consumer access to technology and information gives them all the power," said Jill Puleri, IBM Global Industry Retail Executive, IBM Global Business Services.

"Retailers cannot afford to sit still as this digital revolution happens. They must engage plugged-in consumers in new and different ways, on their terms, and with more bi-directional feedback and dialogue."

From the consumer’s point of view, the top areas of improvement for online retailers were around offering customized promotions and ensuring product availability. More than half (61%) of respondents said they would spend more with a retailer if they got these two areas right.

While IBM’s analysis found that consumers are increasingly ready to use technologies to interact with retailers and with other consumers, this trend is even more pronounced in growth markets. Consumers in India, China and Brazil, are almost twice as willing to use multiple technologies for shopping and making purchases. This is mainly because the adoption of new technologies is often faster in emerging countries.
 

Related Articles:

>Cyber Monday Deals Attract Online Shoppers

>Walmart Wins Thanksgiving, Amazon Wins Black Friday

>Online Retailers See Strong Cyber Monday Sales

Go to Source

The website SpeedCine.com makes it easy for users all over the world to find out what movies are available online and where.

SpeedCine is basically an aggregator of legal movie sites: It helps you find free movies or movies you can rent or buy. SpeedCine tracks Netflix, iTunes, The Auteurs, Crackle.com and dozens of other services, and offers users a choice of options quickly and easily.

This video gives you an overview of what SpeedCine does:

When the site launched this fall, its focus was on the U.S. — because many of the largest services are U.S.-based. However, as founder Reid Rosefelt explained to me via e-mail, that level of specification is far from ideal. The Internet is increasingly melting barriers between countries, and the idea of keeping content segregated for certain geographical locales is becoming increasingly silly.

SpeedCine will soon work all over the world, but the first big focus in the international rollout is the UK, because they have so many different websites. iTunes-UK, Blinkbox and LOVEFiLM are just some of the UK-specific sites that are supported.

In addition, SpeedCine has deals with all six iTunes stores to handle movies and arrangements with companies like TheAuteurs — which have relationships with distributors all over the world — so that people can access content regardless of location.

We think that this site is really brilliant, not just because it is useful — because it is — but because it can really make the process of finding content, regardless of location, easier for users. In turn, maybe the industry will take notice and start taking the initiative to work out rights issues, rather than just ignoring the international community.

How do you find movies online?

Tags: Film, hulu, netflix, speedcine, theauteurs

Go to Source

"Unlicensed, unregulated, illegal Internet gambling poses a tremendous threat to the citizens of the Commonwealth because of its ease, availability and anonymity," said Beshear back then. "The owners and operators of these illegal sites prey on Kentucky citizens, including our youth, and deprive the Commonwealth of millions of dollars in revenue.  It’s an underworld wrought with scams and schemes."

The Kentucky Supreme Court is expected to make a decision on the case in a set of decisions on January 21.

Beshear has seen a fair amount of criticism for the move, based mostly on the fact that the state of Kentucky does not have a law in place making online gambling illegal. Furthermore, the sites in question are based overseas.

Online Casino Advisory went so far as to launch a boycotting campaign on all taxable gambling products in Kentucky:

A judge in Franklin County Kentucky court saw things Beshear’s way, but the ruling was overturned by an Appeals court before making its way to the Kentucky Supreme Court.

John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), which has over 13,000 members in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and over a million members in the U.S. once told WebProNews that Governor Beshear’s attempt to block access to online sites in the state "is hypocritical and shortsighted."

Back in March, Attorney Clarke Walton, who owns and operates a site that is affiliated with the poker industry, talked about the case with WebProNews:

The suit is largely looked upon as a joke within the Poker community. Matthew Kredell with Poker news writes, "The lawsuit is ultimately pointless because the sites would continue to operate without their domain names. The only players who type in a domain name are the ones looking to initially download the software, and the search engines could easily be changed to recognize a new address. After the issue arose, Full Tilt Poker bought fulltilt.com as a precaution."

"By blocking online gambling sites in Kentucky, Governor Beshear is also blocking these sites for residents of other states and countries," Pappas said. "This clearly oversteps his bounds as Governor of Kentucky and likely violates several laws including the U.S. Constitution." 

In December, state lawyers said they would add names of specific (but publicly unnamed) U.S. citizens to the suit. The industry is optimistic that the KY Supreme Court will reject Beshear’s mission anyway, and that the next step in the process would be the U.S. Supreme Court, which is highly unlikely to hear the case.

Everybody may be finding out the next steps later this month. If the case doesn’t come up then, the next time it may surface would be in March, according to Kredell.

Do you think the state of Kentucky has a legitimate case? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Related Articles:

> Kentucky Governor Cracks Down On Online Gambling

> A Closer Look At Kentucky’s Online Gambling Plan

> Kentucky Judge Rules: Forfeit Gambling Domains

Go to Source

Put simply I would hate to see newspapers “go away”. It’s not likely that there will be no newspapers someday but it is likely that the consolidation and attrition in the industry will continue.

Many in the online space so “So what?! Goodbye and good riddance!” I don’t. The reason I don’t has nothing to do with the nostalgia of newspapers. If I never got ink on my hands again from flipping the pages I would survive. What does scare me, however, is just how the news is actually uncovered and then reported if there was not the front line of the traditional media.

A recent study in the Baltimore metro area showed that while there is significantly fewer traditional media outlets in the area the remaining ones are still responsible for the reporting of 95% of the “first run” news. The New York Times reports:

Looking at six major story lines that developed over one week last July, 83 percent of the reports in local news media “were essentially repetitive, conveying no new information,” said the study, by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, an arm of the Pew Research Center.

Despite diminished resources of established news organizations, “of the stories that did contain new information, nearly all, 95 percent, came from old media — most of them newspapers,” it said. “These stories then tended to set the narrative agenda for most other media outlets.”

95%? That’s a little scary if you are trumpeting the end of the newspaper medium. From an advertisers perspective it’s easy to pick on the industry but from a news uncovering and development perspective we need to be careful to not cut our online noses off to spite our face.

So is Baltimore indicative of the rest of the country? Maybe, maybe not. What is of interest though is that people crave information. They crave details on events. Let’s forget about the mindless blather of the celebrity world. If you want something that superficial and fluffy then anyone can produce it. It doesn’t matter. If a mistake is made in reporting about Oprah Winfrey’s weight we’ll all survive. In things that truly impact lives it is still the job of “journalists” to report and to hopefully give the information without bias (I know, I know that doesn’t happen but one can dream….). It’s at that point that bloggers and the like can comment and help shape the news.

Where are you on this one? Would it really be a good thing if newspapers and their reporting dried up and went away? Are there enough credible and scalable online news agencies to cover the amount of “stuff” that is generated and deemed important in each new 24-hour period? I don’t think so. As a result, I am a little concerned about what might actually happen if the online world got its wish and made the newspaper industry disappear.

Your thoughts?

Comments

Go to Source

The survey found sixty percent of taxpayers plan to use an accountant or professional tax preparer. The number of taxpayers turning to online tax programs now slightly surpasses those planning to use packaged software with 11 percent saying they will go online compared to 10 percent saying they will buy a packaged program.

Not surprisingly age was a factor in how people will pay their taxes. Online tax preparation is most popular among people 18-34 years of age, where 16 percent plan to use online tax programs and 8 percent packaged software compared to just 2 percent of taxpayers 65 or older using online tax prep and 6 percent using packaged software. Those 65 and older are the most likely to use a professional tax preparer, with 69 percent saying they will do so, compared to just 55 percent of 18-34 year-olds opting for this approach.

"Use of online tax programs is gaining momentum for a number of reasons," said Gary Lundberg, product management director for CompleteTax.

"A generation has now grown up regularly banking and paying bills online, and they are comfortable with the process. Online tax programs, such as CompleteTax, also allow you to try before you buy, making certain the program matches your needs, and offer a version that’s entirely free. So it’s an easy, safe and risk-free way to get your taxes done."

Related Articles:

> Turkey Asks Google For $47 Million In Taxes

> Legalized Online Gambling Would Bring In Billions

> NY Lawmakers Approve Internet Tax

Go to Source

An online event registration service that allows you to create, publish and promote your event for free. Set it up on your personalized event page with our easy to use registration system and have your event visible to the world at http://yourevent.doattend.com, within a matter of minutes. Provide your attendees with eTickets for that professional touch, even if its a free event.

You pay us a nominal fee, only if you sell tickets online.

From a corporate conference to a weekend cycling event. No event too small or too large. Tap into a wider, easy-to-reach online audience and promote your event successfully.

http://doattend.com/

Go to Source