What Makes Podcasting Different

What Makes Podcasting Different

by: Mahmood Bashaash

When the signs of a new technology for developing web content appeared, nobody was aware about its growth speed. Now, after months, the podcasting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting) is going to be more and more popular and new publishers are developing content, based on this technology. They have found this method intuitive and attractive to clients. But regardless of the fascinating aspects of multimedia content, what other options make the podcasting different than other methods of providing and publishing content? Here, I have listed five major differences. Perhaps, at the time that you read this article, as this technology is going to be more mature day by day, new reasons could be added to my list. I leave it to the readers’ interests to search for new options.

In spite of other known methods of delivering content which are mostly based on Push technology, the podcasting is based on pull technology. In push technology, the content is delivered, directed from the source to the consumer. The consumer has no control over it. For example, when a radio channel starts at a specific time, follows based on a predefined and fixed program and ends at a specific time, the consumer has no chance or permission to alter any part of it. If you lose a part of the program, you won’t be able to relisten to it. You can not rewind it, stop it and think a while about the subject then replay it. This is push technology. But, if you could have control of the flow of the content, it would be pull. The consumer selects the content and controls it. Podcasting is a kind of pull technology. You download selected content and use it based on your own desire and full control over the flow of content.

However there are many notifying and automatic content syndication utilities, but you should always surf different websites for different content. This is your responsibility, as the consumer of the content, to go and visit the source of the content, on a website. But podcasting removes this step. Just one time, for ever, you choose your desire radio channel, news feed, poet channel or else. Then the aggregation software would be responsible to deliver the most recent casts right in your mobile MP3 player. After a while, you would even forget the address of websites and just listening to the downloaded up to date content would be your daily fashion.

Internet connection is not that much easy to be available every time and every where. So, using web contents would be impossible in many cases. When you are driving, climbing, resting and walking in the morning, you would be deprived of having access to web content. No web log, no web surfing, no radio channel and else. But, the downloaded podcasts are available in the MP3 player which could be accessible to you in different occasions and places, making casts ready to use. No laptop and phone line to connect to the Internet is needed. No clean place to sit and use your PC for surfing the web sites is required. Everything is loaded in your tiny MP3 player which is able to play hours without any need to electricity plugged.

The device for using podcasts is a tiny, every time and everywhere available MP3 player. The iPod is a brand which is owned by Apple company. It is why this technology is called Podcasting. The Pod is derived from iPod and cast from Broadcast. The iPod is not the only MP3 device that could be used. There are numerous providers of MP3 player devices that the consumer could use for listening to podcasts. These small devices are mobile. Consume very low energy to work. They are light and small. They are not expensive and are available with different capacities. MP3 players are very popular and you can see many people in the street that have hung them over their neck and are listening to the music. They are now part of the daily life. It makes the penetration ratio of the podcasts deeper than other type of contents that are basically dependant of having a PC, or laptop and Internet connection.

Possibility of developing podcasts is high. It is cheap and easy to develop. From very professional radio channel owners to amateur poets who have little audiences among their school friends would be able to easily develop podcasts. Just a personal computer with very basic multimedia capabilities, like, microphone input, audio output and software to record voice, combine with background music and convert to low quality and small size MP3 format. Then you need just a FTP account for uploading the MP3s. A very basic knowledge about RSS 2.0 standards is also required. For this last option, you can use current available feeds and alter them for your own needs. I just started using this method, as learning RSS 2.0 needs times. I copied an already created RSS file and edited it based on my own needs and it worked without having enough knowledge. To download your podcasts, the consumer should install very basic aggregator software, one like iPodder (http://ipodder.sourceforge.net) which is free. And finally a MP3 player software like iTune (http://www.itune.com) or Microsoft Media Player which is already installed on Windows operating systems.

Podcasting, like web logging, is rapidly growing and every day, new podcasts in different fields, from poetry to technology, from training to radio channels are being created and published on the Internet. There are special directories and websites that index podcasts and podcasting websites. You can start from one of these directories and reach hundreds and thousands available and known podcasts on the Internet. One of these directories is http://www.podcast.net which has categorized podcasts in a directory structure. It could be a good start point for your adventure.

About The Author

Mahmood Bashaash is the owner of SGNetway (http://www.sgnetway.com) company which is focused on developing web sites and web applications. SGNetway is specialized on managing outsourced projects and uses Microsoft .Net platform with C# to develop complicated web applications and web services. Mahmood Bashaash is the author of www.MahmoodB.com and www.appliedmarketingtips.com websites focused on Internet marketing tips and tricks. To access his articles, visit: http://www.mahmoodb.com. His native language is Persian and his web site is totally in Persian language.

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 14

by Mahmood Bashaash

Marketing is a Patience Game

Marketing is a Patience Game

by: Darrin F. Coe

ขGet your positioning and your programs implemented properly, and the numbers will come. But you’ve got to have some patience.ข

– Jack Trout with Steve Rivkin

ขThe New Positioning. The Latest on the World’s #1 Business Strategyข

One of the biggest derailers of successful marketing is the process of continually changing your marketing strategy. According to Jay Levinson, author of the Guerilla Marketing series of books, says in the book ขGuerilla Advertisingข, that many great advertising campaigns are abandoned much to early before they have a chance to produce great results.

Understand that because consumers are bombarded by advertising images and messages constantly, they will perceive those messages and images that are consistent. You need to slowly work your way into the brain of the consumer. Bullying your way in may produce some short term results but given the way consumers think, a bullying approach will soon be dismissed and filtered out.

The key to great marketing is simplicity, focus, and patience. Continually being in the consumer’s awareness with a simply message and a strong focus will yield better long term results than a complicated, bullying message that slaps the consumer alongside their frontal cortex.

Again, referencing Jay Levinson, you should consider your marketing and advertising as a conservative investment that you expect to yield big payoff over time. Marketing and advertising is not a speculative investment, in which you win or lose big.

As you develop your marketing plan, build in patience and consistency. Consumers like stability in a business and one way to build stability is a consistent marketing message that they are able to get used to seeing and processing. This type of campaign is comforting to the consumer who is used to in your face advertising being blasted at them over multiple media channels. You may not see the numbers change immediately but they will come with patience.

About The Author

Darrin F. Coe, MA holds a master’s degree in psychology and is the operator of ขThe Center For Understanding Consumer Thinkingข at www.consumerthinking.com. His most recent special report, ขThe Internet Consumer Exposedข is available at http://www.consumerthinking.com/exposed1. Contact him for consulting at [email protected] or 17192755907 after 5:00 PM mountain standard time.

[email protected]

This article was posted on December 18, 2004

by Darrin F. Coe

Data Recovery 1on1

Data Recovery 1on1

by: Dan Fisher

For this weeks report we are talking with Greg Duffield of ACS Data Recovery http://www.acsdata.com

Q: Greg, since the late ก90กs there has been tremendous growth within the data recovery industry, why is that and what does it mean to the consumer?

A: Well, in the last 10 years the amount of data stored digitally has increased tremendously. With this trend towards simplification of file storage, the trend for losing this data has also increased.

Before computers you had to worry about your office burning down, or some other manmade or natural disaster that might have effected your paper files. Now with just about everything stored on computers, the fear is no different and the possibilities of catastrophic data loss occuring are actually greater.

The end result has been an influx of data recovery firms throughout the world assisting consumers with the recovery of their lost data. The benefit and the downfall to the consumer is having these companies openly competing for their business.

Q: The open competition is a downfall to the consumer as well?

A: Absolutely. For some companies, data recovery has become the latest กget rich quickก scheme. So they shop the market, see what the trends in the industry are and then offer subpar services at a substantially discounted rate. Many of these companies advertise complete data recovery for as little as $99 with no evaluation fees. Unfortunately for the consumer, this usually results in hidden service charges, and additional expense when the data is found กunrecoverableก. The sad part is, is that much of this data is actually recoverable, but the firm attempting the recovery just didn’t have the expertise to complete the task successfully.

Q: How do you see this effecting the data recovery industry as a whole?

A: I think the firms dedicated to providing their customers quality service will stand out no matter what. People like to make fun of used car dealers, well in that industry there are real sleaze balls and at the same time there are classA superior dealers that really do what is right. You see the same thing in every industry, and data recovery is no different.

Q: What should the consumer expect when they have lost their important data due to a hard drive crash or other calamity?

A: First of all, they will probably get a wide range of prices. On average I would say pricing for a standard IDE hard drive will probably run anywhere from $700 to $2,900. Thatกs a pretty big spread.

I would say stick with companies that do not charge an evaluation fee first and foremost. Many times an experienced data recovery technician can determine the type of hard drive failure within the first few seconds of starting the drive up. You know you’re either going to have to open the drive or your not. That element alone has a tremendous impact on the final price of the recovery and it can narrow the price band substantially.

When you send your drive in, don’t expect it to be completed overnight. We try to give our customers reasonable expectations, because thereกs nothing worse than making promises you can’t keep. We basically run our business by under promising and over delivering. We are up front with our customers and we know the boundaries of data recovery as far as what is and isn’t possible. As a consumer I would suggest you search until you find companies with a similar business philosophy. In other words, be wary of companies promising complete data recovery in less than 24hours. Depending on the amount of data needing to be recovered it can take that long just for the imaging.

Q: Where do you see data recovery going in the future?

A: I see consumers being supplied with more and more powerful tools to complete the easier recoveries on their own. However, there will always be a need for experienced data recovery firms simply because of the intricasies involved with invasive recoveries. These types of recoveries have to be performed in a class100 or better clean room.

Thanks for taking the time to be with us Greg, and best of luck to you in the future.

A: Thanks Dan, itกs been great.

About The Author

Dan Fisher is the owner of DataRecoveryReport.com a site dedicated to posting news, information, and white sheets regarding data recovery.

Greg Duffield is the founder of ACS Data Recovery http://www.acsdata.com ACS specializes in providing data recovery services to clients worldwide.

Copyright 20042005 DataRecoveryReport.com. This article may not be altered and can be distributed freely.

[email protected]

This article was posted on December 19, 2004

by Dan Fisher

Building Consumer Confidence Builds Sales

Building Consumer Confidence Builds Sales

by: Diane Hughes

Many small online business owners have yet to understand the sheer power that comes from building consumer confidence. They struggle with sales month after month, but still, when someone tells them their site design needs help, they get offended. กI spent a lot of time building my own site!ก is the reply.

Here’s my reply… กSo what?ก

It doesn’t matter who designed your Web site. If it isn’t cutting it, then it’s time to move on.

On the Web, we have about seven seconds to accomplish ALL of the following:

1) Relay the message ‘rest Easyก instead of กGet Out of Here NOW!ก

2) Build consumer confidence through words and images.

3) Gain the attention of the visitor.

4) Make a lasting impression.

That’s a lot to ask from a site. But professional Web designers have the skills and talent to deliver.

How do you know if your site design is the cause of your suffering? How do you know if your visitors are rolling their eyes instead of smiling? Ask!

ACTION STEP 1

Ask questions

Is the quality of your Web site design as good or better than your competition? Visit your competitors’ sites and see for yourself. If they are portraying a more confident image than you, chances are good that you need a redesign.

What do your visitors think? Conduct a survey and find out. You can use a simple and free tool found at http://www.surveymonkey.com to set up a survey. Post a link to the survey on your home page so your visitors can offer their opinions.

ACTION STEP 2

Be honest with yourself

Whether you designed your own site or your cousin’s 16yearold nephew did it, you have to dump your pride and focus on your site design from a business prospective.

Don’t shrug off what others tell you about your site design. Taking offense will only hinder your business growth and cause you to maintain an image that discourages consumer confidence in you and your business.

When you get honest feedback about your site design, be honest with yourself and look at the information logically instead of emotionally.

ACTION STEP 3

Take action!

If you find that you do need a site redesign, don’t pout. Take action! Start reviewing Web site designersก sites. Contact a few designers and ask for quotes on your project.

If you have the skills to follow someone else’s work, you can save money by having the designer create one page. You can then set up the remainder of the site yourself.

Ignoring the fact that your site design is causing a decrease in sales is simply not smart business. Taking measures now to change your online image is the first step to impressing your visitors and boosting your cash flow in the years to come.

Copyright 2005 Diane Hughes

About The Author

Diane C. Hughes * ProBizTips.com

FREE Report: Amazingly Simple (Yet Super Powerful) Ways To Skyrocket Your Sales And Build Your Business Into A Tower of Profits! ==>> http://madmarketer.com/diane

This article was posted on August 22

by Diane Hughes

How to Respond After Identity Theft Occurs

How to Respond After Identity Theft Occurs

by: Gary E. Cain

Identity theft has become one of the most frequently reported crimes. But, maybe you are asking yourself: What is identity theft? I am glad you asked.

Identity theft is the wrongful use of your name, birth date, social security number as well as financial records and banking information.

An identity thief obtains this information by going through your trash, or by pretending to be a bank officer, or government official, or by creating a false web site that looks similar to your online banking web site, your online auction web site (ebay, for example), or your online shopping web site (yahoo shopping, for instance).

This personal information is used to secure credit cards, bank loans, or to make furniture, and/or electronic goods purchases in YOUR name.

However, when identity theft occurs, you have certain rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). In order to effectively respond to suspected identity theft you should or can:

(1) Place a fraud alert in one of the three consumer reporting agencies and that agency will notify the other two consumer reporting agencies regarding your fraud alert.

The agencies are :

Equifax at 18005256285, or on the Internet at www.equifax.com

TransUnion at 18003973742, or on the Internet at www.transunion.com

Experian at 18006807289, or www.experian.com

(2) Obtain a copy of the identity theft report from a federal, state, or local police agency such as the FBI, State Department of Justice, or Sheriff’s office. You can find more specific information pertaining to the identity theft report at www.consumer.gov/idtheft.

(3) Put an initial theft alert in your consumer report file that will be valid for 90 days.

Yet, you can place an extended alert in your consumer report file that will remain valid for 7 years – if you also provide a copy of the identity theft report.

(4) Receive ขfreeข copies of the information in your consumer report file from each of the 3 consumer reporting agencies.

The extended alert gives you the right to receive 2 ขfreeข copies in a 1year period to help you remain aware of any fraudulent accounts open in your name.

(5) Obtain copies of applications and similar documents from creditors, banks, and other businesses used to open fraudulent accounts – but you must make a written request to the addresses of these businesses.

(6) Get information about debts as a result of identity theft from a debt collector. You may request the name of the creditor and the amount of the outstanding debt.

(7) Have a credit reporting agency block specific information in your consumer file that was caused by identity theft. It is important to remember that you must provide a copy of the identity theft report mentioned in item 2 above.

(8) Prevent businesses from sending identity theft transactions to a consumer reporting agency by the making a written request that includes a copy of the identity theft report.

Please note that all of your communication should be sent by certified mail with a return receipt requested in order to confirm receipt of your correspondence.

Besides identity theft, there are an evergrowing rash of Internet scams, schemes, and frauds committed by ขbad peopleข that can be effectively dealt with if you have the right ขknowhowข. Fortunately, such a source of information is available in the form of an ebook that covers the complete range of these crimes and scams.

The name of this ebook is Internet Self Defense: How to Protect Yourself While Online. Check this web site out now HERE.

By Gary E. Cain

Author

www.dollarsforever.com

About The Author

Gary Cain is a business teacher and Internet marketer. He is the author of Stop the Grammar! as well as Internet Self Defense the only Internet book of its kind designed to help fight spam, fraud, information theft, and clone web sites.

Both of these books can be found at … http://www.dollarsforever.com.

Subscribe to Gary’s straight forward, easytounderstand Dollarsforever Ezine about financial literacy, saving, investing, and earning money.

***Webmasters: You may post this information on your web site, but you must keep this ขownershipข box and the information contained herein unchanged.

[email protected]

This article was posted on February 10

by Gary E. Cain

Search Engine Keywords Selection

Search Engine Keywords Selection

by: Zaak OกConan

Search engines are the vehicles that drive potential customers to your websites. But in order for visitors to reach their destination your website you need to provide them with specific and effective signs that will direct them right to your site. You do this by creating carefully chosen keywords.

Think of the right keywords as the Open Sesame! of the Internet. Find the exactly right words or phrases, and presto! hoards of traffic will be pulling up to your front door. But if your keywords are too general or too overused, the possibility of visitors actually making it all the way to your site or of seeing any real profits from the visitors that do arrive decreases dramatically.

Your keywords serve as the foundation of your marketing strategy. If they are not chosen with great precision, no matter how aggressive your marketing campaign may be, the right people may never get the chance to find out about it. So your first step in plotting your strategy is to gather and evaluate keywords and phrases.

You probably think you already know EXACTLY the right words for your search phrases. Unfortunately, if you haven’t followed certain specific steps, you are probably WRONG. Itกs hard to be objective when you are right in the center of your business network, which is the reason that you may not be able to choose the most efficient keywords from the inside. You need to be able to think like your customers. And since you are a business owner and not the consumer, your best bet is to go directly to the source.

Instead of plunging in and scribbling down a list of potential search words and phrases yourself, ask for words from as many potential customers as you can. You will most likely find out that your understanding of your business and your customersก understanding is significantly different.

The consumer is an invaluable resource. You will find the words you accumulate from them are words and phrases you probably never would have considered from deep inside the trenches of your business.

Only after you have gathered as many words and phrases from outside resources should you add your own keyword to the list. Once you have this list in hand, you are ready for the next step: evaluation.

The aim of evaluation is to narrow down your list to a small number of words and phrases that will direct the highest number of quality visitors to your website. By กquality visitorsก I mean those consumers who are most likely to make a purchase rather than just cruise around your site and take off for greener pastures. In evaluating the effectiveness of keywords, bear in mind three elements: popularity, specificity, and motivation.

Popularity is the easiest to evaluate because it is an objective quality. The more popular your keyword is, the more likely the chances are that it will be typed into a search engine which will then bring up your URL.

You can now purchase software that will rate the popularity of keywords and phrases by giving words a number rating based on real search engine activity. Software such as WordTracker will even suggest variations of your words and phrases. The higher the number this software assigns to a given keyword, the more traffic you can logically expect to be directed to your site. The only fallacy with this concept is the more popular the keyword is, the greater the search engine position you will need to obtain. If you are down at the bottom of the search results, the consumer will probably never scroll down to find you.

Popularity isn’t enough to declare a keyword a good choice. You must move on to the next criteria, which is specificity. The more specific your keyword is, the greater the likelihood that the consumer who is ready to purchase your goods or services will find you.

Letกs look at a hypothetical example. Imagine that you have obtained popularity rankings for the keyword กautomobile companies.ก However, you company specializes in bodywork only. The keyword กautomobile body shopsก would rank lower on the popularity scale than กautomobile companies,ก but it would nevertheless serve you much better. Instead of getting a slew of people interested in everything from buying a car to changing their oil filters, you will get only those consumers with trashed front ends or crumpled fenders being directed to your site. In other words, consumers ready to buy your services are the ones who will immediately find you. Not only that, but the greater the specificity of your keyword is, the less competition you will face.

The third factor is consumer motivation. Once again, this requires putting yourself inside the mind of the customer rather than the seller to figure out what motivation prompts a person looking for a service or product to type in a particular word or phrase. Letกs look at another example, such as a consumer who is searching for a job as an IT manager in a new city. If you have to choose between กSeattle job listingsก and กSeattle IT recruitersก which do you think will benefit the consumer more? If you were looking for this type of specific job, which keyword would you type in? The second one, of course! Using the second keyword targets people who have decided on their career, have the necessary experience, and are ready to enlist you as their recruiter, rather than someone just out of school who is casually trying to figure out what to do with his or her life in between beer parties. You want to find people who are ready to act or make a purchase, and this requires subtle tinkering of your keywords until your find the most specific and directly targeted phrases to bring the most motivated traffic to you site.

Once you have chosen your keywords, your work is not done. You must continually evaluate performance across a variety of search engines, bearing in mind that times and trends change, as does popular lingo. You cannot rely on your log traffic analysis alone because it will not tell you how many of your visitors actually made a purchase.

Luckily, some new tools have been invented to help you judge the effectiveness of your keywords in individual search engines. There is now software available that analyzes consumer behavior in relation to consumer traffic. This allows you to discern which keywords are bringing you the most valuable customers.

This is an essential concept: numbers alone do not make a good keyword; profits per visitor do. You need to find keywords that direct consumers to your site who actually buy your product, fill out your forms, or download your product. This is the most important factor in evaluating the efficacy of a keyword or phrase, and should be the sword you wield when discarding and replacing ineffective or inefficient keywords with keywords that bring in better profits.

Ongoing analysis of tested keywords is the formula for search engine success. This may sound like a lot of work and it is! But the amount of informed effort you put into your keyword campaign is what will ultimately generate your businessก rewards.

About The Author

Zaak OกConan discovers and presents information on to enhance your site, newsletter, marketing and other Internet related topics. Youกll find his other articles that expand your horizons at http://WebWorkersWeekly.com.

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 30

by Zaak OกConan

DoubleClickกs Q3 2004 Report Shows Bulk Email Mark

DoubleClickกs Q3 2004 Report Shows Bulk Email Marketing Eficiency Increase

by: Iulia Pascanu

Internet marketing company DoubleClick published its final report over the bulk email marketing evolution this year. The figures show yearoveryear increase in delivery rates (cleaner emailing lists), and a decrease in open rates and clickthrough rates. The variations are light, proving a steady and maturing environment.

DoubleClickกs metrics

The data analyzed were based on more than 2 billion messages sent by hundreds DARTmail customers, measuring bouncebacks, open rates, clickthroughs and conversions (open to sales, or click to sales ratio). The results were reported for 2004 and compared to 2003.

DoubleClick used unweighted averages for all analyzed categories. This helps eliminating the influence that large email marketers could have over category averages, as the report states.

The email marketing categories considered in the study were:

Business Products & Services

Consumer Products

Consumer Services

Financial Services

Travel

Retail&Catalog

Publisher Business

Publisher Consumer

Email marketing performances

The bounce rates show a slight decline overall, and a more consistent decline in the Travel category, down 54.5% from 14.3% to 6.5%.

Business Publishers was the only category that increased open rates, however slightly, from 38.2 to 38.3. For other categories, open rates declined. The open ratesก decline in most categories is possibly owed to SPAM increase and reveals peopleกs reticence to open messages they are not highly interested in.

Click through rates increased in only two categories, Consumer Publisher and Travel.

More interestingly, emailproductivity has shown better figures in number of orders per email sent: 0.28% in 2004; but the average revenue per email sent declined 26.9 percent. The average email order throughout 2004 was $89, in a yearoveryear declining trend.

Conclusion

About the overall productivity of bulk email marketing the report concludes: กemail marketing is a maturing and relatively stable marketing tool. Improvements in list hygiene and address collection processes seem to have improved bounce rates, but flagging response rates suggest subscriber files are beginning to mature.ก

About The Author

Iulia Pascanu writes for http://www.emailmarketingsoftware.org/ where you can find more information about Email Marketing Software.

Please feel free to use this article in your Newsletter or on your website. If you use this article, please include the resource box and send a brief message to let me know where it appeared: mailto:[email protected]

This article was posted on January 21

by Iulia Pascanu

Consumer Styles: Research Review

Consumer Styles: Research Review

by: Darrin F. Coe

According to research done by Elizabeth Sproles and George Sproles (1990) in the Journal of Consumer Affairs, there is a significant link between peoples learning styles and their ขconsumer stylesข.

The perfectionist consumer style, which describes a consumer that searches carefully and systematically for the best quality in products tend to learn through serious, analysis and through both active and observation oriented learning. These types of consumers are highly goal oriented.

The brand conscious, price equals quality consumer tends to be oriented toward buying the more expensive, well known brands tend to find choosing known brands an expedient strategy that replaces thinking and learning in their consumer choices.

The novelty and fashion conscious consumer seems to line new and innovative products and gains excitement from seeking out new things. This consumer tends to not be concerned with the implications or consequences of purchasing new or innovative products and services.

The recreational shopping consumer finds shopping a pleasant activity and engages in it because it’s fun. This consumer engages in shopping as a social experience or because they like to be involved in their shopping.

The price value consumer tends to focus on sales and lower prices balanced against quality. This consumer tends to focus on active, fact acquisition. This consumer tends to shop the market indepth and do many comparisons to find the proper balance of low price and quality.

The impulsive consumer buys at the spur of the moment and are unconcerned with how much is spent. This consumer does not want to be bothered with new information or learning about products or services..

The confusedbyoverchoice consumer perceives too many brands and stores and experiences information overload in the market. This person is overly detailed and fact oriented in their consumer process and becomes mentally overloaded, especially in a complex multichoice market.

The habitual, brand loyal consumer repetitively chooses the same brands and stores. This consumer engages in a serious learning process to find products and services that provide them with positive experiences and then stick with them.

Research Implications

Know thy consumer. This research indicates how important it is to develop a psychological profile of your ideal consumer. You need to know what consumer frequents your market and from this you can begin to develop, first intuitively, then through ongoing research, a profile of your target customer’s consumer style.

For instance if you sell your product or service over the internet you can be pretty sure that you are marketing to people who operate out of a limited number of consumer styles such as the perfectionistic; the novelty/fashion; and

the price conscious consumers. These are all information oriented consumers who engage in seeking information before they purchase.

If you are marketing to other businesses then you’re once again probably going to need to market with an orientation to providing sound information coupled with powerful and relevant benefits because you’ll be dealing with perfectionist and price conscious consumers.

Also, realize that with this information you can work to turn people from one style to another. For instance you may be able to convert a price conscious consumer to one who is brand loyal by providing consistent quality for a lower price. You may be able to convert the confusedbyoverchoice consumer into a brand loyal consumer by providing simple, straight forward information combined with quality that cuts through the information overload.

Conclusions

Study your target market and actively work to know how they think and this will open up new marketing creatives that will better target their particular consumer style. This should prove to increase your bottom line if done thoughtfully and consistently.

Sproles, Elizabeth & Sproles, George (1990). Consumer DecisionMaking Styles as a Function of Individual Learning Styles. The Journal of Consumer Affairs. Vol. 24. Issue 1.

About The Author

Darrin F. Coe, MA holds a master’s degree in professional psychology and specializes in consumer thinking. His latest report, ขThe Internet Consumer Exposedข is packed with eyeopening insights about the psychology of the internet consumer at http://consumerthinking.com/exposed1.

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 01

by Darrin F. Coe

PowerPoint to DVD Creator

PowerPoint to DVD Creator

by: Lisa Janice

Microsoft PowerPoint has dramatically changed the way in which academic and business presentations are made. Suppose you need to create PowerPoint DVDs, aside from being very popular, the most common reasons that users want to burn PowerPoint slides to DVD are usability, portability, and storage. Since DVD is fast becoming the preferred video format for all kinds of consumer applications, as well as computer peripherals, saving ppts to DVD makes good sense for storing and sharing them with others. PCcreated DVDs can be shown on other PCs that support DVD or on consumer DVD players. (and, of course, create some for your own archiving and enjoyment).

Here I recommend presenters to use the PowerPoint DVD authoring and burning software. What I mean by this is that instead of simply packing their presentation to a CD or DVD and thereby needing to transfer or install it to another laptop in an emergency, burn a true DVD movie disc with most of your content and narration record, so that your boss or your friends can show it on a standard DVD player or leave it behind for a client or audience after the show.

The DVD movie disc can include an interactive menu linked to any video you want to present, and after you output your PowerPoint slides as still images (File > Save As and change the file type to BMP, JPG or TIF), you can import these into the DVD as slideshows. And with DVD/VCD, you can attach music and narration to accompany your slides show, which will really add to the ambience.

A disc burned correctly like that in a DVD burner will play through most consumer DVD drives and is easy to set up connected to a computer monitor or even a largescreen TV.

Many programs will enable you to create and burn such a PowerPoint DVD disc. At the low end thereกs ProDVDกs PowerPoint DVD Maker. If you want a more practical tool, I recommend Wondershare PPT2DVD (http://www.ppttodvd.com)

About The Author

Lisa Janice, teaches, trains and consults on business and professional presentations and eCommerce related matters.

This article was posted on August 23

by Lisa Janice

Online Classifieds

Online Classifieds

by: Michael Medeiros

Choosing a Classified Website and creating your advertisements.
The internet has opened a vast number of doors for people to market their products and services. Becoming selfemployed and obtaining a national or global audience has never been easier. Many of these quality Classified Websites will provide Entrepreneurs with their own storefront. In addition, their is no or little programming knowledge required for a Website, as the administrator of the Classifieds Website will ensure modern and enhanced features, for consumers to find and purchase products or services. However, there are a few elements to familiarize yourself with, prior to deciding where you want to advertise.
Free Classified Ads
If you scout the Internet, you will find a variety of Websites that are promoting, กFree Classified Adsก. Many advertisers will rush in and take advantage of these offers, without investigation. However, you should use caution when dealing with these types of Websites. If they do not provide a Privacy Policy, avoid them all together.
Always remember, maintaining a Website has a price. If they are not selling their advertisement space, another method is being used to generate income.
A common practice is the sale of Email addresses. In an online report by Tim Williams (Technical Services Specialist University of Arizonaกs Steward Observatory [http://www.u.arizona.edu/~trw/spam/]), describing how spammers obtain Email addresses, he found, กMany sites, when the dotbomb implosion hit, realized a list of email address was an asset to be sold. The people buying didn’t care if you only opted in one site they had your address used it and probably sold it off againก. There is a big market for Email addresses. The value of an Email address rose significantly with the new legislation that enforced the, กCanSpam Actก. By opting in to a Website, and providing your Email address, you are opening the doors for Email Advertisers to safely market your address.
There are some Free Classified Websites that are legitimate. Some sites may advertise, กFree Classifieds,ก but charge for extended timeframes of the advertisements run. For example, an advertisement that will run for one week is free. In contrast, an advertisement that runs for one month has a fee. In addition, some free classified Websites may charge a fee for additional features. This may include Featured Advertisements, Bold Text, Placing your advertisement above all others within a category.
In any case, look for a Privacy Policy. Ensure that Website clearly states they will not sell, trade, or share your registration information.
Features to look for in a Classified Website
When choosing a Classified Website to utilize, take a look at some of the features they offer. A good advertising venue should focus on consumer friendliness. Navigation should be clear and simple for the consumer. They should offer features that help consumers shop and compare. This is what will make consumers comeback to the resource for their shopping needs.
Here are some basic features to look for:
Classified Search Engine: While some people enjoy shopping through the variety of Classified Ads, others want a Search Engine that will filter out the ads that are not of interest to them. The site should offer a search engine, and an advanced search engine that allows consumers to sort ads by item specific information. For example, a consumer should be able to shop for cars by the Manufacture, model, location, price range, Mileage, and other details related to the car they want.
Classified Watch Listกs: Watch Lists are a newer feature that will automatically notify a consumer when an item is advertised on the Website. This feature ensures that advertisements are targeted to consumers that are interested in the offering you have. In addition, it informs the consumer without the need to continually browse the internet.
Simple Navigation: The consumer side of the Website should have clear and central navigation. If a consumer needs to pass through several pages before seeing items for sale, avoid the site. Consumers will not enjoy having to click on a variety of links to find offerings. Classification of the items listed on the Website should be easy and direct.
Target Audience: The Website you are advertising has a Target Audience. If you are advertising something in England, it would not be practical to place the advertisement on a Classified Website for the United States. This will hold true for other countries that speak similar languages.
Other Content: In addition to a Classified Marketplace, Websites need to offer additional content to ensure that users enjoy the Website. Content is what keeps people coming back, or draws people to a Website.
Writing your Classified Ad
What many may consider the most important part of advertising is writing an effective ad. The information that you provide in your classified ad may be the deciding factor if it is successful or a, กbombก.
Create a variety of advertisements that utilize various approaches. Be prepared to revise your content on occasion. This ensures that you are demonstrating different aspects of your offering. In addition, you can promote your offering from different angles, to see what will achieve the best results.
Choosing the angle of your advertising may vary, depending on what you are offering. Writing a Classified Ad is not much different than writing an essay, with the exception of a literary work. There are three general angles that you should consider using to promote your offering. These are Expressive ads, Persuasive ads, and Informative Ads. However, you should always implement a call to action regardless of the angle you choose. Additionally, it may not be a good idea to mix any of the three angles. This is because advertisements need to have focus and be concise.
Here are definitions and examples for the different types of advertising:
Writing an Expressive Classified Ad
An expressive advertisement is very personal. Expressive ads may be a good idea for a small scale business, wanting to utilize a personal approach. When taking an expressive approach, think of writing an excerpt of the day in a journal. As the writer of the advertisement, you want to express your personal feelings, thoughts, or opinions related to the offerings. For example, a Business Opportunity may be advertised as, กI made over $100,000.00 in one year. I cannot believe how easy it wasก. This eliminates the need to use examples or testimonials, as the author becomes the example.
Writing a Persuasive Classified Ad
A persuasive advertisement is used to convince the reader or change their opinion. To be successful with a persuasive classified ad, the writer needs to have a firm, direct, and clear point. The goal is to evoke a reaction that causes the reader to have the same pointofview as the Author. A very common form of advertising, that uses a Persuasive approach, is the Governments, ‘register to Vote,ก Campaigns. They are generally direct and to the point. They provide a concise reason why you should register to vote, กMake your voice heardก. By pointing out a simple benefit, they are achieving the task of the persuasive advertisement, getting unregistered citizens to register.
Writing an Informative Classified Ad
Informative advertising provides information to the readers and generally explains what is being offered. When constructing such an advertisement, the author should demonstrate observations, ideas, facts, statistics, or research data. This is becoming very common on the internet, as more people are becoming information hungry. Consumers want to know what they are buying. In addition, this is a wise choice, if consumers cannot physically see the item you are selling. An example of Informative Advertising is an Auto Manufactures advertisement for their vehicles (Not Dealerships). They generally print large advertisements that inform readers of the Vehicles Engine Horsepower, Torque, Maintenance Schedule, Improvements from prior models, available colors, Wheelbase, seating, trunk size, etc… All the information is based on facts and research. It allows consumers to compare their vehicles to similar Auto Models, without taking a test drive.
Headlines and Body of your Classified Advertisements
Headlines are often referred to as titles, and are very important in catching the readers’ eye. Headlines should always be typed in capital letters. In addition, use simple name recognition techniques. For example, if you are advertising a Car for Sale, input the Make and Model for the headline. In contrast, if you are selling Real Estate, you should use the street and Town the property is located.
Business advertisements should always use the name of the company. The more the name is seen, the better your Public Relations becomes.
Don’t overextend the headline. An example of an overextended headline is adding, ขCar for Sale,ข when placing an advertisement under a, ขCars for Sale,ข category. This text is simply not needed, as the consumer is already aware that they are looking at, ขCars for Saleข.
Consider what you see from professional journalists that writes columns in a newspaper. Simple and Straight forward, inform the readers what the Classified Ad is promoting. They never mention the words that already are in the columns’ header (Entertainment, Movies, Lifestyle, etc..).
The context or body of your classified is very important. First, the body of your advertisement needs to have proper grammar. Having a Classified advertisement with, ‘typoกs,ก gives a bad impression. Next, make sure the body is easy to read. This can be accomplished by using paragraphs with short sentences and avoiding all capital letters. Keep in mind, the body is not a headline; you already grabbed the consumers’ attention, as they are reading your advertisement.
The goal should be to make it pleasant at this point. Finally, end the advertisement with a call to action. How does a consumer proceed to accept your offer? What is the next step they need to take? Use power phrases similar to, กCall Now for Further Detailsก.
Consider the season of your target audience (Dependent on the Offering). In the winter, people may have different motives than in the hot summer. In addition, take into consideration upandcoming Holidays. Simply wishing a, กMerry Christmas,ก will evoke warm emotions when people are reading your advertisements. This may help take away the Hardsell frame of mind the consumer has, while reading your advertisements.

About The Author

Michael Medeiros is an Entrepreneur with a background in Business and Advertising. He works as a PartTime Real Estate Agent for Century 21 Hearst Realty, in Turnersville NJ . Michael Medeiros is also the founder of Mjmls online classifieds www.mjmls.com

This article was posted on July 15, 2004

by Michael Medeiros

SMS for the estate agent Targeted marketing tool

SMS for the estate agent Targeted marketing tool, or Legal Minefield?

by: Ken Norbury

Imagine having at your disposal a means to immediately inform house buyers that you have just the property they are looking for. Potential buyers have given their details and their preferences imagine that you can send them this information no matter where they are or what they are doing, they can read it at a time that’s convenient and can act accordingly in their own time. Imagine that you can do this quickly and easily, in a matter of minutes, regardless of the number of recipients.

Sounds too good to be true? Well itกs not itกs available now, itกs inexpensive and you can be taking advantage of it within minutes of reading this article. Itกs called SMS Text Messaging and of course you already knew about it didn’t you?

From the homebuyerกs perspective, SMS is a really convenient way to get information. Itกs personal and itกs discreet. Thereกs immediacy about the message, but at the same time itกs not intrusive, and they can handle the response at their convenience.

So you decide that this is a great idea and you want to get your company geared up for the 21st century. How do you get started? Perhaps your first thought is to get your friendly IT Consultant to take a look at the problem, right?

Stop! Don’t pick up that phone until youกve read the rest of this article. In common with many of these kinds of issues itกs easy to get so bogged down in the technicalities that we fail to consider some of the other issues involved.

First of all, letกs look at the legalities.

By 31st October 2003, all member states of the European Union will be implementing Article 13 of the Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (DPEC).A public consultation on how to implement the DPEC in the UK was launched by the DTI on 27 March 2003, and ran for 12 weeks, closing on 19 June 2003. Final implementing Regulations are now being prepared, taking into account the responses received. The DTI intend to publish details of these final measures by midSeptember 2003. The new Directive:

Replaces existing definitions for telecommunications services and networks with new definitions for electronic communications and services to ensure technological neutrality and clarify the position of email and use of the internet;

Enables the provision of value added services based on location and traffic data, subject to the consent of subscribers (for example, location based advertising to mobile phone users);

Removes the possibility for a subscriber to be charged for exercising the right not to appear in public directories;

Introduces new information and consent requirements on entries in publicly available directories, including a requirement that subscribers are informed of all the usage possibilities of publicly available directories e.g. reverse searching from a telephone number in order to obtain a name and address;

Extends controls on unsolicited direct marketing to all forms of electronic communications including unsolicited commercial email (UCE or Spam) and SMS to mobile telephones; UCE and SMS will be subject to a prior consent requirement, so the receiver is required to agree to it in advance, except in the context of an existing customer relationship, where companies may continue to email or SMS on an กoptoutก basis;

Clarifies that the Directive does not prevent Member States from introducing provisions on the retention of traffic and location data for law enforcement purposes;

Introduces controls on the use of cookies on websites. Cookies and similar tracking devices will be subject to a new transparency requirement anyone that employs these kinds of devices must provide information on them and allow subscribers or users to refuse to accept them if they wish.

So what does that mean to the potential implementation of your SMS service? Well, it seems quite clear, we must obtain the recipientกs permission before sending any SMS messages กunless there is an existing customer relationshipก. The exact meaning of กexisting customer relationshipก is however somewhat of a grey area in the act. For example, if it is interpreted as being someone who has at some time bought a product from the vendor, would that mean that the product being marketed would need to be the same type of product? If this were the case, a supermarket would only be able to send messages about a single line of product to people who have bought that product and would not be able to send messages about other merchandise or services. The DTIกs stance on this is that this particular issue is clearly covered in existing UK legislation under the Data Protection Act 1998:

‘these would restrict a business to direct marketing the kind of products the addressee would have reasonably expected it to market at the time they gave or agreed to use of their contact details i.e. a business could market the products available at the time, but not necessarily those of a business that it took over, or a substantively new product range.ก

So, therefore, it would seem that say a large supermarket chain, who got your name and address, phone number and email details whilst you were a customer buying groceries, should not be legally entitled to begin any form of communication with you using information about you gathered in this way if, for example, they were to start selling Insurance services or indeed start up an Estate Agency business? It would seem so.

So, in most cases, it would appear that your existing customers are open to you being able to send them SMS messages, as it would be reasonable to assume that they would expect you to send them property related information.

There are however other grey areas in the document.

The following is an excerpt from the DTIกs document on Article 13:

กGrey areas under the current rules include the status of systems which send SMS automatically and power diallertype systems which dial numbers automatically but are designed to establish a voice link with a live operator rather than a prerecorded message. Lack of certainty about the application of the TDPP (Telecoms Data Protection Directive) Regulations has made it harder to deal with the problems that these kinds of systems can cause. Power diallers, for instance, can cause problems to subscribers where they are used without enough call centre staff available to answer the calls being dialled, resulting in single or repeated silent calls, or calls which cut off after a few rings, in addition to any annoyance caused if they are used to ring subscribers who have registered on the TPS (Telephone Preference Service).

Limiting the definition of automated calling system does not mean that these areas will be unregulated. The sending of unsolicited SMS for advertising purposes is now explicitly covered by the Privacy Directive which treats them in the same way as email messages.ก

Anyone receiving SMS messages from you should have a clear indication of where the message came from and a clear method to unsubscribe from your service.

It would seem therefore that apart from any other considerations, there are many potential legal pitfalls to setting up your own emarketing system.

Looking at this from a slightly different perspective, the solution may well be a lot easier than you might expect. From the consumerกs angle, the approach to receiving SMS or email messages about products and services is something each of us would rather have much more personal control over. In 1998, my company at the time, Geoworks Corporation, did some extensive focus group research into consumer reaction to emarketing and in particular SMS. This research was conducted both here in the UK and in the US. At that time, SMS messaging had been available to mobile phone users for a number of years, but we had not acheived the massive volumes that were to be reached in the phenomenon which took place some 1218 months later when Pay As You Go services sparked huge SMS growth. To illustrate the point, all of the UK mobile phone companies at this time probably had only one or two SMS Controllers (a computer which handles the storage and routing of SMS messages) in their infrastructure. When the rampup suddenly began, the growth caught most of them completely unawares and meant that they had to try and commission new SMSCกs faster than the boxes could be ordered! What had been a fairly straight and flat line on a graph suddenly went vertical. Our research at Geoworks indicated that consumers were excited about receiving SMS messages about products or services provided that they were not being charged to receive the message and they had some control over what products and services they were going to receive messages about. กPermission Marketingก was the key what the consumer wants, when they want it and where they want it. Consumers indicated that they would be happy to receive all kinds of information supported by advertising on the same basis for example, Weather Information sponsored by X or Football Scores sponsored by Y.

It would seem then, that the key to success in this area is not in the hands of the vendorกs innovations or exclusive products, but in giving the consumer control. Without permission, any attempt to sell via this means becomes annoying and intrusive, causing the wouldbe potential buyer to become alienated against the marketer a selfdefeating exercise if ever there was!

So what should be your way forward? Look at other emarketing success stories for a clue. Amazon.com is, today, a well known and respected seller of books and much more which started from humble roots in the Seattle area and has grown to be a worldwide $multimillion success. Amazonกs success was based on giving you, the consumer, control and providing a topclass nextday service. You control from the comfort of your home or office, the parameters that determine what you get from Amazon. Itกs easy and convenient, and grew like topsy. Ebay is another example providing a worldwide auction service. Many other services provide กPortalก access for the consumer to select what information they wish to receive.

So it seems Portal services are the key to gaining the hearts and minds of the consumer. But as an Estate Agent, how does that help?

A Portal could provide a single access point for wouldbe housebuyers to register their interest in properties by locale, price and number of bedrooms. The consumer controls what they want to get. It is open to all Estate Agents who can register, quickly and easily, any property that is going on the market. Any technical or legal issues are the responsibility of the Portal and not of the individual Estate Agent.

From the consumer perspective, it’s one place to go, they register once, but potentially get messages from many Estate Agencies provided that they match their criteria. Itกs free to the consumer, and they have control to change their criteria or unsubscribe should they wish.

About The Author

Ken Norbury is Business Development Director at Arclid.com Ltd. a company who specialise in services for the Estate Agent market. He was formerly Vice President of Geoworks Corporation, a US company who pioneered many aspects of mobile communications including mobile messaging server systems and Operating Systems for devices such as the Nokia Communicator 9000 and 9110. Arclid.com Ltd. developed the qpAlert! www.qpalert.co.uk web portal service which allows house buyers to register their interest in properties by area, price and size.

This article was posted on April 28, 2004

by Ken Norbury

Benefits of Shareware

Benefits of Shareware

by: S. Housley

Shareware has been fighting the stigma of being misunderstood for decades. While corporate software giants can no longer ignore the marketing potential of a trial version, small software startups are struggling with new listings and bandwidth costs. Businesses and individual consumers need to take a closer look at the benefits of taking advantage of shareware marketing. The concept of a trial version is not a new one. Consumer expectations, and the need for immediate satisfaction have spurned the industry to realize the need for instant software. The availability of file downloads in the Internet era, is spurning a revolution of purchasers who never leaving their homes or offices. As a result, the Internet has taken the proliferation of shareware to a new level.
Why the Success?
Why developers have succeeded using shareware marketing under poor global economic conditions is fairly obvious. Shareware allows consumers to evaluate an application prior to making a purchase decision. There are no risks to the consumer, if the trial version does not satisfy a purchasers needs, they do not spend the money registering. Evaluating the software prior to purchasing also increases consumer satisfaction as they gain a complete understanding of the software they are ordering and there is little room for surprises. Trying the software before buying is no longer a novelty it is a consumer expectation.
Traditionally, because the barrier to entry is fairly low, companies participating in shareware marketing are usually small and willing to provide personalized service uncommon in large companies. Customers often speak directly with developers requesting feature enhancements, thus improving the software for all. Software support forums with users helping other users have become commonplace. These allow developers to focus on future upgrades, while repetitive user issues can be quickly dealt with. Software developers, who market via the shareware method, have revolutionized traditional support models.
Many of the shareware directories provide ratings and user assessments. Often the user reviews provide insight to important feature sets. Allowing consumers an opportunity to assess and compare multiple products prior to making a decision.
Let us not forget the delivery advantage the shareware model has over the traditional retail counterpart. Shareware allows for instant gratification, there is no need to wait for a shipment because consumers can download and use the software immediately.
What does this all mean?
Marketing via the shareware method is far less expensive than traditional advertising, the increased customer demands, personalized service and instant satisfaction all provide an added consumer benefits. With Shareware, software developers, have a great method for consumers to evaluate and purchase their software. Consumers can easily determine if the software is suitable. Ultimately, by allowing the software to sell itself, consumers often obtain top quality software that is priced far less than traditional retail applications.

About The Author

Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com, and http://www.smallbusinesssoftware.net

This article was posted on June 29, 2004

by S. Housley