04/29/2005
Yahoo Search Marketing announced its "Think Big" contest, which will award one small business with 10 million free ad impressions on Yahoo. Eight million of the ads will be on Yahoo sponsored search, and 2 million will be banner ads on the Yahoo network.
The contest is open to privately held U.S. small businesses with less than 99 employees who have a live website with "meaningful" content that is relevant to their business. Businesses in adult entertainment, gambling or travel-related industries are prohibited from entering.

Entrants must submit their business plans to Yahoo, which will be judged on the novelty of the business, the ability of the business Website to generate and convert customers, the quality of the Website's design, and the degree to which the business has an online and offline presence.
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04/27/2005
Epic Trends has started a new blog about usability.The blog will cover subjects such as help authoring, user interface design, demo and tutorial authoring, usability, copywriting and multimedia.
The blog will undoubtedly also discuss how to make software and web sites usable for special target groups such as teenagers, seniors, disabled users or foreign language speakers.
These issues are becoming increasingly important in software and web development, as the Internet audience is growing increasingly diverse.
Epic Trends has been an active member of the shareware community for several years and offers services such as copywriting and help authoring.

04/25/2005
While many marketers are scrambling for links, any links, an area that is often overlooked is topic-specific search engines. What many don't realize is that these engines do produce traffic, and they often contain traffic that is very targeted. Anyone who has taken the time to analyze weblogs and track sales sources will likely see that targeted traffic converts at a significantly higher rate than non-targeted traffic.

A savvy online marketer realizes that often, the quality of the visitor is far more important than the quantity of visitors. Web marketers should focus their energies on attracting targeted traffic whenever possible.

For example, if you sell saddles, advertising on a site related to horses or advertising on a topical search engine like http://www.horse-stall.net will bring significantly more sales than advertising on a generic web site or search engine.

Complete Article - The Power and Value of Topical Search Engines

04/22/2005
Designed for professionals who currently manage or want to manage multiple AdWords client accounts, the Google Advertising Professionals program can help you become a more successful ad manager – for free.

Google allows companies to small businesses to be companies as well.

04/20/2005
Enter your search term and SNAP will tell you related terms and the number of times the term has been searched on. As you type the terms it brings up related terms that include that text.

04/20/2005
Most people don't know that Microsoft hosts a Website that lists what it calls "incentives" but what you or I would refer to as "sales" on specific Microsoft products.
Currently, the Microsoft Incentives site is offering two such deals that might be of interest to small- and medium-sized businesses that are looking for ways to get professional services they would otherwise have to pay for.

Microsoft Incentives

04/19/2005
As recently as a decade ago, many companies viewed business ethics only in terms of administrative compliance with legal standards and adherence to internal rules and regulations. Today the situation is different. Attention to business ethics is on the rise across the world and many companies realize that in order to succeed, they must earn the respect and confidence of their customers. Like never before, corporations are being asked, encouraged and prodded to improve their business practices to emphasize legal and ethical behavior. Companies, professional firms and individuals alike are being held increasingly accountable for their actions, as demand grows for higher standards of corporate social responsibility.

Reflecting this new reality, ENTERWeb  has just opened a new section on business ethics and corporate social responsibility, which will provide you with everything you need to know on the subject (and more).

04/18/2005
There are no hard and fast rules on how to blog. Having said that, bloggers will likely increase their exposure by following some simple blog guidelines.

Read Complete Article - 10 Tips for Bloggers

04/14/2005
The Inc. 500 short questionnaire will be used to determine if your company qualifies for consideration for the prestigious 2005 Inc. 500 list. The Inc. 500 recognizes the fastest-growing private companies based in the U.S. Only independent, privately held corporations, proprietorships, and partnerships that have been in operation for at least four years should apply. The deadline for entries is May 1, 2005.

Apply Now

04/13/2005
While some traditional radio talk shows have begun providing podcasts of their regularly-scheduled broadcasts, the bulk of the podcasts that have cropped up tend to be independent broadcasters who have a fascination with technology. As a result, some podcasts are a little rough around the edges. Nonetheless, it is clear that the technology provides a significant opportunity and potential. Even nay-sayers believe that podcasting is more than a passing fad.

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04/12/2005
Submit your RSS feed to a categorized RSS search on RSS Network. The site allows you to find feeds that are topic specific.
RSS Network will even search all of the feeds items. Add your feed to this upcoming engine!

04/12/2005
ICANN, the Internet's oversight agency, has given final approval to two new Internet top-level domains. One is ".jobs" for employment and human-resource companies. The other is ".travel" for the travel and tourism community.

04/12/2005
Search for Newspapers and Magazines by title or use category navigation to find topic specific news and information. Great news resource.

04/11/2005
While many marketers are scrambling for links, any links, an area that is oft over looked is topic specific search engines. What many don't realize is that these engines *are* used and they often contain traffic that is very targeted. Anyone who has taken the time to analyze weblogs will see that targeted traffic converts at a significantly higher rate than non-targeted traffic.

A savvy web marketer should focus their energies on attracting targeted traffic whenever possible. Consider the following niche engines:
Investing Partners
Horse Stall
Digital Photo Tips

or even a directory engine like the one for RSS feeds at:
RSS Network

Imagine the targeted traffic that you can receive from a link in the above.

04/09/2005
A Virginia judge sentenced a spammer to nine years in prison Friday in the nation's first felony prosecution for sending junk e-mail, though the sentence was postponed while the case is appealed.

Loudoun County Circuit Judge Thomas Horne said that because the law targeting bulk e-mail distribution is new and raises constitutional questions, it was appropriate to defer the prison time until appeals courts rule.

A jury had recommended the nine-year prison term after convicting Jeremy Jaynes of pumping out at least 10 million e-mails a day with the help of 16 high-speed lines, the kind of Internet capacity a 1,000-employee company would need.

04/07/2005
The Web Marketing Association has begun its 9th annual WebAward competition for Website development and entries are being accepted at http://www.2005webaward.org/ in 90 industry categories. Entering the WebAwards is a great way to promote both yourself and your Website to the outside world. Winning a WebAward is a great resume builder and is an opportunity to generate publicity for your site and provides valuable links to support your SEO strategies.

For more information including past winners and the entry form, go to http://www.2005webaward.org/

04/06/2005
Google's AdSense has improved channels functionality: better tools to help you optimize

Tuesday Google has introduced 3 updates to channel tracking, to make this feature even more useful:

Channel reports in real-time: Until now, channel data was delayed 2 days before appearing in your reports. We've upgraded our system to provide real-time reporting, allowing you to quickly react to changes in your ad performance on a page-by-page basis.
Remove channels: Your channels UI has been cleaned up, by introducing a 'Remove Channel' option that allows you to remove channels from your active and inactive lists.
"Shift-select" for channels: When selecting channels from the Reports page selection box, use SHIFT+click to select multiple channels at once.
More information about URL and custom channels is available from the support center.
Improved reporting: ad unit impressions vs. page impressions

We've added new options to your reporting page, allowing you to select from page impressions or ad unit impressions when generating your performance reports. Not sure what this means? Check out the AdSense Support center for an explanation of page impressions versus ad unit impressions.

In addition, your browser will now remember your prior report settings each time you select a report. If you have a favorite report that you run often, you're going to love this feature!

04/06/2005
Great new topic specific directory for online marketers, webmasters and others interested in understanding online search. The Web Search Engines site is a topic specific directory that contains information on search tools, portals, resources, submission sites, forums and search engine promotion.

04/05/2005
Yahoo and Google settled their differences over a patent lawsuit involving paid listings last year, but Yahoo and FindWhat will duke it out in court later this month. Yahoo!/FindWhat Patent Dispute Headed for Trial

04/05/2005
CNET Networks, Inc., a leading interactive media company, today announced the launch of its BNET Web site, the latest addition to the company's portfolio of business-to-business properties. BNET, a comprehensive, high-quality source of business thought leadership, is designed to help self-motivated business leaders get smarter about what's working at work by finding the quality knowledge resources they need, regardless of their job function or industry.

From its soft launch a year ago to its redesign, which went live today, BNET has already made a significant contribution to CNET Networks' goal of expanding its content offerings and attracting a broader audience and new customer segments. BNET complements the IT content focus of CNET Networks' business technology Web sites -- News.com, TechRepublic and ZDNet -- with "must know" content beyond IT that is critical across corporate functions. It leverages the company's strength in creating richer, deeper interactive experiences by combining the wisdom and passion of users, marketers and its own experts.

BNET has amassed nearly 50,000 high-quality whitepapers, case studies, Webcasts, and audiocasts. Additionally, the site offers targeted email alerts and newsletters, hand-selected RSS feeds, and business blogs, including its award-winning "Leadership Now" blog.

04/04/2005
The Federal Trade Commission, the National Consumers League, and Microsoft on Thursday told consumers that they have the power to stop online identity thieves. Hedging its bets, however, Microsoft also announced it had filed over 100 lawsuits against alleged phishers.
Phishing, where criminals attempt to hoodwink consumers into giving up personal information, including credit card and bank account numbers, by sending them e-mail that directs them to legitimate-looking Web sites, is a huge problem, all three organizations said at a Washington, D.C. press conference Thursday.

04/04/2005
Online collaborative sites open to everyone enable the sharing of ideas.

There is a public Web site where people can find a Web log written by some prominent members of the government information technology community. Visitors can view a list of officials in the CIO Council's Communities of Practice and read ongoing revisions to a major government document, the data reference model. Members of the public also are contributing to the discussions.

An emerging technology called "wiki" makes this collaboration possible. The word comes from "wiki wiki," Hawaiian for "fast." Wiki technology creates what is essentially a public Web log, one which anyone with a Web browser can add to or modify.

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