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Ads can be placed now, the regional editors will be integrating the free ads links into the state and regional maps pages!

The new pricing for business wanting to sponsor the state level, regional level, or any category of classified ads (no two categories can be alike):

Exclusive sponsor of an exclusive free classifieds category: $99 per month: to understand why anybody would want to pay that, you must understand UpLog.org, the ads will rank on the search engines for every year make model, zip code…

The rest of the story: I have done it all before, and I knew it work all along: the regional editors are the contact people, the content editors and moderators, and they get 50% of the money! History:

original article is here:

Our packages can be customized to fit your needs and everything is solved with a proposal and contract that will include exactly what you need to get up and going. We customize the package for you, contact us and we’ll go through it together step by step. You may take this initial (little baby) step: this is the minimum amount to to deposit to warrant written analysis: $200 credit toward any service, with a promise: If you will take this baby step with us, we GUARANTEE ABSOLUTE SATISFACTION WITH OUR PROPOSAL OR YOUR MONEY BACK – NO QUESTIONS ASKED – WE KEEP THE PROPOSAL:

100 Faces in Common | New work-at-home-professional Lifestyle

Driving an hour or more in rush hour traffic to work in a cramped cubicle is outdated and expensive: the new model involves working from home:

According to this article, from The Wall Street Journal:

There are almost as many professional bloggers in America today as there are Lawyers:

Lawyers: 555,770

Bloggers 452,000

Computer Programmers 394,710

CEO’s 299,160 Firefighters 289,710

(Source: Bureau of Labor and Statistics)

This article, from The Wall Street Journal continues:

Demographically, bloggers are extremely well educated: 3 out of 4 are college graduates. …2% do it for a living successfully…it takes about 100,000 unique visitors per month to generate an income of $75,000 per year…..bloggers can get $75 to $200 for a good post….

That is not new information; but this is:

Bloggers: 452,000; Computer Programmers: 394,000; Real Estate Professionals: About 1,000,000:

From the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics

Projections Data About this section

>>>read more about the new workforce demographics and the changing landscape of B2B here>>>

Computers are changing the world. Are you keeping up?

Courtesy of Patrick Ciriello ; business consulting at Author Uplog.org

Publicity and Social Media are the Catalyst to New Reputation Management Bundle

Scottsdale, AZ, March 21st, 2011 – Are you ready to dramatically increase the Internet search rankings of your business? Do you want to start boosting your Web presence using social media, and organic search rankings? Your chance is here! Now!

10DayPublicity.com in Scottsdale, AZ and UPlog.org have partnered together to create an affordable, dynamic social media and reputation management package. We now show businesses how they can achieve Page One rankings on organic Google search results using a tested hybrid blend of social media, online press releases, and publicity. The result? The Ultimate reputation management program.

We’ve assembled a fantastic package for small businesses everywhere to get the EDGE over your competitors. Our combined Web knowledge at Uplog.org and 10daypublicity.com combines marketing’s most potent online tools into a multi faceted marketing attack.” said Israel Rothman, founder of Uplog.org. “We want to share our “strategic marketing hybrid” of social media, publicity, syndication, and reputation management with small businesses. This laser focused approach gains rapid awareness, new customers and most important, Cash!” States Bohlke of 10 Day Publicity.

Learn more at the 10 Day Publicity-Reputation Management page. http://10daypublicity.com/reputation-management/

The new “Reputation Management – PR Blast” package from Uplog.org and 10daypublicity will bring to businesses the most comprehensive social and online reputation management and PR service offered. Smart businesses will get:

1. Amazing online exposure using our tested Hybrid blend of social media, online press releases, social media publicity, and reputation management

2. A custom reputation management blog with hosting at UpLog.org for one year (an UpLog.org E-book Website)

3. A professionally written press release with your quote published within, guaranteed to be picked up.

4. Media outlets such as MSNBC, Yahoo News, Reuters, CNBC, Forbes and others.

5. Instant rankings on Google organic search for your keywords

6. Solid reputation management as a result of better news and higher search rankings.

7. Positive review on Yelp written by 3rd Party testimonials

8. One Year of ongoing support and training.

9. A sustainable solution, supported by the ROAR of all of us!

*Additional Services can be acquired for small fees. These services will include set up/and/or optimization of 4 main social media accounts (Usually Linked-in, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) and added links and integration for an existing website.

You will find your news stories about your business highlighted on major news networks like Reuters, MSNBC, USA Today, Yahoo Finance, TD Waterhouse, CBS MarketWatch, Dow Jones, NY Times, Denver Post, Google News and many more!

We know this because we are doing this every day for clients just like you!

Normally, most businesses pay high-priced PR firms retainers of $5K-$10K a MONTH for services like this. We think this is absurd, and we’ve broken down our payment plan into two easy payments of $746 to garner you Publicity and Page One rankings on Google search engines! It’s that simple.

We will help you acquire online credibility and cash conversions RIGHT NOW! No long term commitment required: continue only if you are completely amazed!

Please note: National Publicity IS credibility. Credibility equals Conversions. And Conversions equal cash sales!

Contact us for our Early Bird Promo where we are including a website design for our first 25 customers. Ready for your first PR blast ? Want to announce a new a new product or service? Want the whole world to hear you? Do it now:

Uplog.org is the top local news pr agency in the world according to Google organic search
(Bulldog Reporter is a magazine for PR agencies)

Why deal with anyone else? Questions? Israel Rothman (founder) 805-827-2450

779 K Video |Open source pitch video for social media, websites, marketing, it…

I am hereby open-sourcing this series of clips and modern pitches for SEO companies and website Design and marketing firms to edit, change, brand, white label, use at will: we generated $779,000 in nine months when we started social media systems. Happy editing!

Happy Valentines Day to Early Adopters | Uplog.org Raise in Pay

Effective immediately:

Pay increase: from this time forward, all sales at Uplog.org, other than joining in the first place, which still pays the referrer $79, will pay 30% of gross for Uplog.org offerings, which will be labeled Uplog.org products and services on the new shop page that we are building now that we have corrected the bug that was discovered in the affiliates program.  We felt this also a good time to make these other adjustments: you will also continue to receive override residual income of 10% for one year from people you bring in: it will come in handy then I am sure!

My hat is off to you who are my early adopters; we are on to something big here!  Here is a news flash: some of these people who sign up who are not deleted as spam are leads and they will become Uplog.org-ers: they are all fee game for you existing Uplog.org-ers!  People buy from those whom they know like and trust!  Do yourself and me a both big favor: go close a nice sale today with my help, keep all but 10%: make some money for yourself today: fire your boss!

>>> more about the Uplog.org Internet advertising business opportunity here >>>

1. Submit to Google local, and Yahoo and MSN local business centers: it is still free, and it is still the most underutilized, free advertising out there: if you are too lazy go to UBL.org and pay $30
2. Post partial posts on other blogs and groups – so simple: you write a great post like this one, post partial posts all over other blogs, Yahoo groups, Linked-in groups etc….
3. Start and manage a group that is on-topic – I do ot know why more people don’t go to the trouble: but they don’t: for instance my group I founded at Active Rain: http://activerain.com/groups/WEB20 – it has 810 subscribers and growing and only 415 posts, I would put to you that it is what I delete, that makes it successful, and not what I add, but it is still an available targeted marketplace for me.
4. Participate on other blogs and in other groups – you do not need to start a group to access it’s members, just join one.  I have found groups at linked-in and yahoo groups with 3-4000 ready prospects for me that read everything posted – heck I can join any group on meetup.com and have access to all the group members immediately by email.  From local politics to singles and all points between, there are groups that target your market.
5. Join the local chamber of commerce, go to all the events – the oldest, and still most underutilized business resources: the local chambers of commerce and local visitors advocacy groups – every city and state and even some counties have government backed groups and agency designed to create jobs, promote touristy, and otherwise benefit your local economy.  By getting involved you get exposed to the members, and potential members.
6. Warm calls – anyone who hangs out a card or brochure or group profile anywhere is fair game: I call them warm calls because they are advertising their business and must answer the phone: if you are looking at their yellow page ad or PPC ad or any type of advertisement the person paying or arranging for that advertising wants to know how and why you came to see the add: “warm”.
7. Follow up – nothing new, here, but just as underdone as the others: WAKE UP! THE HOTTEST PROSPECT YOU HAVE IS THE GUY WHO YOU HAVE ALREADY TALKED TO – FOLLOW HIM OR HER FOREVER UNTIL THEY BUY, DIE, OR ASK YOU TO STOP! If you do not mail-merge your prospects, clients, and contacts you are missing 50% of the business you could be doing.
8. Write about yourself – I cannot tell you how many times I have heard of someone being very perturbed at the constant self-promotion of a competitor – well, if you cannot beat them…join in: write about yourself!  Well placed articles properly formatted can completely control what happens when someone ‘Googles’ your proper name or company name – control your online reputation
9. Solicit reviews and ratings – from yelp.com to digg.com and all points between, this new world of user-generated, user filtered content is not going away, and it will become even more widespread – YOUR ENEMIES WILL ALWAYS FIND A WAY TO SLANDER YOU, BY ALL MEANS INVITE YOUR FRIENDS TO DO THE OPPOSITE!  – You can write your own reviews on Yelp.com, for instance..
10. Invest your time rather than your money – expensive advertising can work, but, if you supplement that which you must pay for with that that is free, you will leverage your reach – start a personal blog and make yourself famous one post at a time!

I make my entire living online: I work from home, work in cyberspace, and my company is low overhead giving us a competitive edge.  I am sharing the wealth here, please, join me, and join in!

I Would Want to Have a Relaxing Massage in Hollywood from Someone with This Kind of Attention to Detail!

The front page reads:

“If you’re looking for ultimate relaxation and a healthier you – you’ve come to the right place.  The specialized massage therapists at Relax, It’s Just Massage are committed to your comfort and satisfaction.Massage has been found to improve circulation, joint range-of-motion and flexibility.  It can reduce many common ailments such as stress, muscle tightness, aches and pains – even anxiety and depression.This is your time to relax and escape.Choose from a variety of services:Swedish Massage Deep Tissue Massage Hot Stone Massage Sports Massage Prenatal Massage Seated Chair Massage Out-call Massage to your home. Not sure what treatment is right for you? Our knowledgeable staff can assess your needs and help you choose. Book an appointment online:”

I have never seen a more well laid-out website for a Massage place, and they have taken over their own website, after suffering the ‘disappearing webmaster syndrome’.  This is WordPress, with Suffusion theme completely redesigned by the massage professionals themselves: they have followed every instruction:

They have written great articles all about every different type of massage, with pictures to go with the detailed explanations of all the services they provide.

They have completely redesigned their own look for the site, using the customizable theme.

These are not your average massage therapists: their credentials for Sweedish deep tissue massage, sports therapists massage, relaxing massage, ..
Relax, it is just Massage in Hollywood California, 90069

If you need massage, want massage, or enjoy massage in Hollywood California 90069 area, you owe it to yourself to check out http://relaxitsjustmassage.info

Believe me, I have had a good massage, and I have had a bad one: and you want these amazing therapists with this kind of attention to detail and this wonderful facility in Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard taking care of you!

You may have noticed lately the video megatrend that is taking place:  Gone are the static brochure websites and in are interactive communities with video and Web 2.0 features.  You can still find plenty of static, dead websites; but they become less relevant by the day.  Viral videos, even amateur videos, routinely rack up millions of views on the video sharing sites, creating an opportunity for companies that want to advertise in this medium a chance to reach an incredible audience. 

Google’s  advertising solution for video properties (including YouTube) is to offer “in a video” ads (see http://www.google.com/ads/videoadsolutions/advertiser.html )which take the form of graphical advertisements that initially appear on the bottom 20% of the viewing area of videos that are viewed on YouTube and other sites.  These ads can only be purchased by advertisers with a managed account, so a fairly large budget is required to get started; but there is a better cheaper option:

Google splits part of the revenue with the content creator via  partnership programs.  Like regular PPC,  partners receive and advertisers pay for each click-through an ad generates.  Since the ad content is only displayed on the bottom 20% of the screen, and because viewers can close that ad screen by simply clicking on an  X, very low conversion ratios require a large number of views.  Because I am a YouTube partner I can tell you that it is  incredible how many times a video can be viewed before it gets a single click with this method.  Higher quality branding and traffic can be generated if the ads are blended into the content itself.

At Social Media Systems we blog, and it is very effective.  You are reading this, and so are thousands of business people from all over  the world,  because our  marketing blog is syndicated internationally by many publications such as Web Pro News: our blog entries routinely show up on Google news and various other sites, then they stay there for extended periods of time, continuing to generate traffic to our website at socialmediasystems.com .  We have  been discussing ways to diversify our product and service offerings to better suit the needs of our sophisticated audience which includes marketing and advertising professionals.

We love to blog in text and video, and it’s fun, and it  generates lots of leads and exposure for our company and our clients.  We use many viral advertising techniques to promote our content and we are going to provide additional advertising and marketing opportunities in this blog and other blogging properties that we own.  We have decided to offer viral video advertising options DIRECTLY in our video blog posts and we are going to do an entire series of instructional videos on everything from social media marketing to website development; we think  that many of the business owners who read this blog will  love a cheap and viral way to reach our shared audience, so our foray into viral video advertising begins.  We have even secured advertising in a sci-fi movie that has received main stream press (AMC TV, ZDnet).

When you visit our mini-site at hitmypage.com you will learn  all the specific details of our new offering, and how you can put an advertisement DIRECTLY into  our video blog posts (these are published on this site, sent to all our subscribers, and blasted out on the top 10 video sharing sites) for less than the cost of two PPC clicks ($2.50).  Your advertisement will stay  in that video permanently, so that a viral sensation can get millions of views, and  you will continue to receive ongoing traffic, but you only have to pay once.  When you visit hitmypage.com you’ll see the videos that are available for direct advertisements and we’ve included examples and audience stats to answer all your burning questions.

Later this month we’ll launch viral video creation services to include commercials and web videos.  Contact us for a custom quote or watch this blog for more information.  In addition to providing these new services we’ll be writing extensively about how you can target quality traffic with viral video advertising.  This is one of the most important internet marketing opportunities ever, and one you must take advantage of in 2009!

photo credit: jphilipg

Now that race includes video, and another new trend: with more and more websites coming online, branding is taking back over, and small websites are seen less and less. We go to Expedia to buy Airline tickets, for instance, and now cheap Tickets.

The window for SEO supremacy is closing, as more and more mainstream companies embrace the emerging technology, the market will shift back 180 degrees to value the information itself over that way it is formatted, which is becoming more and more standardized.

Now the shift is back to the actual content production as having the journalistic value that creates the marketplace. While it still requires technical expertise beyond the novice, that gap will continue to close.

This means that conventional SEO companies and many web design companies need to completely re-think their strategies.

Not so long ago (I started my first company this industry in 2001) there was a race on to get to the top of the list – it was a wide open free-for-all with everyone shuffling to grab a huge emerging market: the need for search engine rankings and online PR of all kinds.

As SEO techniques become more and more defined as a distribution commodity, bought from Indian contractors, perhaps looked after very soon by major advertising agencies who used to control print budgets, this market is changing.

In the reality of this, my own company (socialmediasystems.com) is completely changing it’s definition to be involved with the creation and distribution of the content, rather than the formatting, and reformatting of canvas which is seen less and less:

Henceforth our emphasis will be on the creation and distribution of the content, rather than it’s formatting, which is quickly becoming standard.

We will move on to content creation and distribution – which is much more interesting anyway!

Who will control the first page of Google in the future? Why the best sources, of course.

Israel Rothman is the CEO of socialmediasystems.com LLC. To learn more about social media marketing, visit http://socialmediasystems.com.

There are many reasons for this: I will list a few:

• New sites are much harder to rank than existing ones, and it takes time: while an established existing site when certain things are done can rank overnight.
• It is not good enough to do a half-baked job on content: if the content is not real, genuine prose, pictures, movies – then nobody will link to you and you will never establish a subscriber base or rankings.
• Quality is better than quantity: a few very well written, properly documented and researched, properly syndicated articles with real value are more effective than a ‘splog’ at attracting real customers.
• Online advertising is about lots of effort and attention to little tiny details, like digg.coming and bookmarking and stumbleupon.coming your own articles – adding the right tags and key words: many people post lots but are not meticulous enough to get results.
• Duplicate content is bad: the data must be original, not just a regurgitation of others peoples spam.
• Some markets are very competitive: our beta testers in Denver did not rank immediately for broad Denver real estate searches: rather for lots of different long-tail real estate searches that they specifically wrote and optimized for.

In short, you can lead a horse to water, but cannot make him drink.

As a parting thought: the same diligence and attention to detail that gets traffic, also properly follows up and closes leads; the same people do well with paperwork, and customer relations, and the business plan in general.  Doing anything well is about attention to detail!  Social Media marketing is no exception to that rule.

1. Do Bookmark everything you write: digg.com it, stumbleupon it, onlywire it: get the word out about your content this way!
2. Ping the world when you post: it is possible to setup a pinger that lets several strategic places know about your new content.
3. Allow comments and interaction: it takes time and traffic to get it going, but user-generated, user-filtered content is great for placement and traffic building.
4. Solicit participation: ask your visitors to join the discussion, to log-in for free, to bookmark and share your content.
5. Include video: video will soon replace much printed material online: the video search engines are becoming more and more of a traffic source.
6. Host video on Youtube, Google video: it is free, and every time the video is played, it rises on the video search results!
7. Go to industry related other social media sites, and post link-bait articles that generate readers and participants for your blog.
8. Conquest hot topics on the search engines: even peoples proper names can be conquested on searches by writing about current events, news items, celebrities..
9. Build strong profiles: mybloglog, digg.com, linkedin and others are great for establishing a group of readers at these very heavily traveled sites..
10. Update your stuff: this blog for instance is updated at least once per week, always: this tells the search engines to visit often!

Related links: see

social-media-marketing-resources-the-sites-you-should-not-overlook

Until very recently:

• PR was done by a select few with connections to and relationships with mainstream publishers and media;
• Most advertising dollars were placed through mainstream advertising agencies;
• Prime-time TV, print, and radio got the lions share of advertising revenues;
• The Internet, although growing, controlled only a token of total ad revenues.

According to this article in Advertising Age magazine: http://adage.com/images/random/lna2007.pdf.

Those ratios are shifting quickly, with syndicated TV dropping 18% from 2005-2006, and network radio dropping over 25% during the same period, while Internet advertising has raised over 46%, and Spanish-language TV over 45%. The fact that you must download a clumsy PDF document to access information like that above tells you how slowly the advertising world is adjusting, and the fact that Google has found a way to access and rank that type of document (which was formerly invisible online) shows how fast Google is moving forward!

We at Social Media Systems LLC have received serious inquiries this year (for the first time ever) from large advertising agencies who are finally looking at Internet marketing as main-stream advertising strategy.

Huge interests like Associated Press, time-honored print companies like the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and traditional PR companies are loosing market share more rapidly that they can adjust – learning the hard way that the rules have changed with Internet marketing, Social Media Marketing, the availability of on-demand programming (no commercials) , telecommuting (changed work and viewing schedules and habits), and user-generated, user-filtered content like YouTube, Facebook, Digg, and a host of other website start-ups targeting nearly every niche market once controlled by niche print.

As you plan you next years budget and evaluate 2007′s results, I challenge you to ask yourself:

1. What has changed in my marketplace?
2. What am I doing to adjust?
3. Have I gained or lost market share?

One thing holds true for the internet marketplace and your role within it: these trends are accelerating,and will not flatten out any time soon; certainly not in 2008!

As a sales professional for this company, you WILL NOT be representing one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies selling garbage web sites, links, banners, pay-per-click, and generic search marketing campaigns.

You will be working for a motivated, successful, and industry changing company. An elite team of nimble and talented professionals offering services that establish our clients using social media. Our services and products place clients on-top of search phrases for competitive keywords on sites like Google, Yahoo, and MSN, it also allows them to leverage online communities like Myspace, Digg, and LinkedIn to find new ways of connecting with the marketplace.

Social Communities?
Been there, done that.

Podcasting?
We love to hear ourselves talk. (Hey, we are honest and clients love us for it!)

Online Video, YouTube?
Every one of our clients is a possible video star waiting to happen.

This is not a “sit back and relax” position.

It is “hands on and in the trenches” with a team of top-forming and talented members. The position requires the ability to deliver strategic leadership as well as stay involved in tactical execution.

Our services and products are in a niche category of online marketing that is explosively growing. The fundamental root of our company is based on awesome and dynamic personalities, able to make quick decisions and dance to a different beat on a moments notice.

When clients asks us about the latest technology, we look at the bleeding-edge of the online marketing world and ask “does that make sense for this client?” When it does, we leverage our like-minded clients to produce an economy of scale and entirely new service.

Sound interesting yet?

This is a great opportunity for a professional who can address the pain in a client’s current marketing and advertising solutions, and who is comfortable partnering with clients to utilize the latest and most effective cutting-edge technology.

What is in it for you?

That depends on how good you are. This is a sales position after all. For someone who knows how to address the top questions and ask for a signed contract, the realistic earnings for this position are well over 100k. For someone who has the right connections or knows how to source for the right decision makers, the sky is the limit.

Our sales compensation rides a line between sales and account management. Our commissions are on-going for the life of the client. That means our sales force is constantly in contact with a client and has the ability to make more income for themselves by growing existing clients, and are very interested in seeing a return in investment for everyone involved.

Do you know how to manage?

If you do… we’ll put you in as a sales manager and let you grow a team with people underneath you to drive results on a larger scale. Successful sales managers have the ability to establish regional sales teams that generate a lot of growth potential off of on-going clients, as well as developing niche products that focus on specific industries that they have previous experience with.

So to be blunt:

This business development position is a demanding opening for a unique and well-rounded professional with enthusiasm, talent, and personal drive. Ideal candidates have a track record of selling online or intangible marketing services, and have an understanding of online marketing with search engine advertising, branding, and some overall web savvy.

Fast-learning individuals with a business development or marketing background that want to evolve into a more lucrative position having a wide spectrum of development routes are encouraged to apply (everyone on our team has an entrepreneurial spirit!)

• “hunting” skills – willingness to prospect for new clients through calling and networking
• A “self starter” able to produce with minimal supervision
• Outgoing and extroverted
• Affinity for technology and experience with Internet technologies
• Problem solving skills or experience – the ability to understand general business problems and develop solutions based on the tools that will be made available to you
• Strong work ethic – willing to put in extra hours to acquire necessary skills, and for the right sales opportunities
• Professional demeanor and appearance

These heavily promoted gatherings where thousands of Realtors, vendors, coaches, and media connect annually for the one of the biggest exchanges of money and ideas in the world are amazing: you should attend if you can just for the education.

According to this article in the Arizona Republic quoting Remax insiders and industry reports:

“Industry sources estimate that as many as 80 percent of new agents quit in their first year and that more than 90 percent throw in the towel before three years…”

Yet these failing Realtors do not fail before they attend one or more of these conventions, and dump their life savings trying to become a successful Realtor!

I will not name names here, but there are actually companies who specialize in selling worthless, ineffective products and services to these rookies, which have been around for many years, and sold out multiple times for hundreds of millions, even billions!

What a herding operation!

In all honesty, there are also many successful Realtors who regularly attend these conventions also, to spend their marketing budgets for the year, and stay up on trends in their industry; and there are many legitimate vendors, large and small selling legitimate products and services.

The combination of these factors is nothing short of fascinating, and an amazing amount of money changes hands during these two-day events.

Don’t miss the show! We will be there at our booth selling off the world!

SEO consultants are often called SEOs for short. SEO began in the early 90′s as search engines began cataloging websites on the internet. Webmasters and website owners discovered that by changing certain factors, they could greatly influence the SERPS.

So Why SEO?

Because search engines provide huge amounts of potential traffic that can make your website successful. This results in increased sales, branding, and exposure. If done correctly, search engine optimization WORKS.

Websites that effectively implement an SEO strategy will see huge improvements in their search rankings and an increase in their bottom line.

The term SEO has become somewhat of a buzzword and is slowly changing to encompass many traditional Internet marketing tasks like pay per click ad campaigns, social media marketing, website design techniques and affiliate marketing strategies. This fusion of SEo and internet marketing strategy has given rise to such terms as search engine marketing, search engine advertising and anumber of other similar labels.

Being effective at SEO involves using and understanding many different types of technology. But before we can get into the nuts and bolts of SEO, there are some terms you need to know for all this to make sense.

Let’s begin with six basic definitions you’ll need to know. If you have lots of experience as a webmaster or are a power user, chances are you’ll probably already be familiar with these terms. Otherwise, stay tuned.

The terms you’ll need to know are: IP address, DNS, Registrar, Whois Search, PageRank and Toolbars.

The IP address or Internet Protocol Address is a unique number assigned to each individual website that tells your Internet browser e.g. IE Explorer or Firefox, where the physical files can be found. An example IP address is 216.239.51.100.

Think of all the computers on the internet and all the billions of web pages. An IP address is a mathematical way of locating any web page available on the Internet. It points to a physical location on a computer connected to the Internet. Every computer connected to the web, from a web server to an individual PC has an IP address.

Luckily for us, you don’t have to memorize IP addresses to view websites. This is because of something called a DNS or Domain Name Service.

A DNS translates the numerical IP address above into a set of specific words. These words then become your domain name.

Registrars are the companies that create and host the records for domain names.

A Whois search is an organized collection of information for domain name records. This includes every domain name owner’s address, phone number, email and more.

PageRank is a formula developed by Google to determine a web page’s inbound link rating. It determines the importance of a web page by analyzing the quality and quantity of links pointing a particular webpage. In short, the higher the page rank of the pages that link to you, the higher the rating they pass on.

In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But Google also looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages “important.”

If page A links out to page B, then page B is said to have a backlink from page A. A acklink is a term to remember; we will talk more about it in a later section.

Also note that PageRank is a number that is between 0 and 10, where 10 is the highest rating.

Toolbars are collections of buttons or shortcuts that install into an existing program and offer short-cuts to frequently used commands. They are normally found at the very top of your browser window and have many other functions worth taking the time to explore.

This is one more example of mainstream media continuing its slow crumble. We won’t see it disappear altogether for a long while yet, but we’ve all seen this happening to print media for years, as the internet and its user-base has become far more robust and advanced. This is old hat I know, but its more relevant than ever right now.

Though many papers, magazines and other types of print media are segueing into the online arena, they aren’t producing any significant kinds of online revenue models, so they continue losing money.

What print media needs to do is stop holding on to tradition so tightly and release their fear of the new. They need to concentrate on creating sites that cash flow and are monetized; there are many, many ways to do this. They need to pry themselves out of stagnation and get creative, supplementing their print media with an online source of revenue. Many print magazines and newspapers have been very successful in this respect, but they are the innovators of their breed, not the average.

A great example of this innovation can be found in one of our recent clients, RISMedia. One of the leading real estate news and business development sites, they have struck an excellent balance between success online and off, embracing the future of social media and the web while still maintaining their considerable influence offline.

1. Today is the day:  urgency is absolutely essential to get people to act, especially when it comes to spending money: if there is no reason to buy today, I will often put off the decision.
2. This is the place: if we do not establish that our company is somehow unique and the best to buy from, we may be making a sale and paying a competitor the commission when the prospect goes shopping after already deciding to buy from our presentation.
3. I am the guy (gal): nobody wants to do business with someone they do not like.  This is why some people are naturally good at sales, while others must learn skills to accomplish mediocre results.  If they like the product or service, but not the salesperson, they will buy from someone else.

Websites are no different from an in-person presentation in this regard: the goal is to get an inquiry; by phone, fax, email; the sale is to get somebody to inquire.  The prospect will only respond if you can establish the above three requirements in the time allotted, which, online, may be precious little (often a fraction of a second)

This can be done in a number of ways: but let me suggest that

• you use graphics (a picture paints a thousand words!);
• and that you give something away for free: perhaps, advice, information..
• And that you have a quick, easy form to inquire with, with only one required field: email.  if they inquire by email, at least you can ask for more contact info with an auto-response email, or a personalized one: and the email address often has a website address with full contact information.

I was taught to constantly ask myself “so what”, and then answer my own question for the prospect:

“We have a great product”  (so what, what does it mean to me?)

 ”We are  the best in the world at what we do!”  (so what, what does it mean to me?)

“I am a great guy who cares about his clients!”  (so what, what does it mean to me?)

 I hope this discipline helps you as much as it has me!  Next week we will discuss various technology options and why some are better than others

Nobody wants to refine a search  by making complicated decisions, fill out a long form with required fields, go back when they missed one, or have anything pushed on them!  So why do so many of you build requirements like this into your website?

If you want to have effective lead capture, you need to have a clear message, a clear call to action, a clear reason to inquire, and user-friendly navigation: NOT A COMPLICATED MAZE OF REQUIREMENTS, DECISIONS AND SURPRISES!

It seems so obvious, but it needs to be said; treat your visitors the way you like to be treated, and you will increase lead capture, decrease bounce rate (the rate at which people immediately leave your site after finding it), and people will spend longer receiving your message.

Clean, uncluttered pages, simple, intuitive navigation, simple, short lead capture forms, and a clear reason to use them are more effective than the former.

Think about it: suppose you actually get a few geeks from hell, or worse: competitors to fill out your long forms; what does that tell you, really, and what good is it.

If you are not going to harvest any email addresses (even when that is all you can get), or make any sales, or get any leads, why bother?

See this related forum post with examples: click here!

According to this recent article By DAVID BAUDER
AP Television Writer, the total viewership is about 37.6 million, down from 40.3 million for the same period in 2006.

Considering that (from the same article)  they collected about 8.8 billion in ad revenue, it would take a strong profit margin per customer to justify and/or cash-flow such an investment! (That is a very high cost per view!)

Fortunately, that advertising model is no longer necessary: more and more, we don’t watch the commercials anyway!

But when I want something, I can find it on Google, in seconds, with a key word search.

There are ads there too: it costs over $15.00 per click for many coveted real estate searches, but how often do you click a sponsored link or a pop-up banner? Chances are, you said rarely or never. Now, how often do you click a first page result? Five, ten, fifteen times some days?

But the first page results are not for sale; they are what Google and the other search engines give away for free, to get you to come to the site to see the ads.

The most cost-effective advertising available today (in my humble opinion) is to feed the search engines and directories the free information  they give away, in just the right format, so that you can be found on those first page results for just the right, sometimes even overlooked search terms.

Just in case you were wondering what exactly we do here at Social Media Systems, it has a lot to do with that marketing strategy, and our own special system of advertising: we make our clients’ websites into what people are searching for, and are willing to link to.

Suppose there are 100 cards in a hat, and one of them is yours. Your chances of randomly drawing your card from the hat are one in one hundred. If you add a card, you nearly double your chances. So how many searches do you come up under? More is better.

The Internet is made up of searchable databases linked together by service providers, search engines, directories, and networks (i.e., AOL, MSN) – and now social media communities like My Space, Active Rain, Linkedin… now most everything is findable by a specific key-word-search on Google in seconds!

The problem is too many steps. You search, you find an online mall; now you are asked to search again, or, worse, fill out a long form: they will harvest your information and sell it to the highest bidder!

PPC (pay-per-click) advertising, PPA (pay-per-action) advertising, and PPI (pay-per-impression) advertising cause an environment online which favors the lead-generators (sellers of advertising rather than products or services) over the actual content providers and end-vendors (people and companies who actually sell a product or service): they buy the advertising (banners, text ads) and sell the market back to the people who actually service it (the real vendors) removing a significant part of the profits and causing inefficiencies for the surfers (the buyers).

People want to find exactly what they are looking for in one click without further searching. Therefore, they type longer and longer key word search strings when searching as their internet savvy improves, and they ignore banners and text ads as much as possible.

To avoid the whole sorted process, niche communities now abound, where like-minded vendors and consumers can meet in a more controlled, more topic-specific or industry specific environment – often with rules to avoid spam, solicitation, and clutter: these can now be described as social media communities (and niche directories: some of these have yet to make the transition to the new WEB 2.0 standards).

The search engine proverbial hats have a hole: There are literally billions of documents going in, billions dropping out. The trick is to not only have enough cards (listed, indexed, maintained Web pages or pieces of information) in the hat, but also to keep your pages in the hats, when billions of pages are falling out of them.

Enter feeds: RSS (realy simple syndication) is the new way of feeding constantly updated, relevant information to the world in a timely fashion.

RSS feed technology ( simply a flow of updated data that can be subscribed to) allows the consumer to be empowered to get whatever information he or she wants (news, sports, weather, even ads) at will, without searching: completely turning the old advertising model upside down!

Now the best way to reach a market, is to serve it! More strategies and further explanation follow in this ten-part updated series.

Stay Tuned.