Unemployment Rate Falls to 10% – Duration Still Rising

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Unemployment Rate Falls to 10% – Duration Still Rising

In another positive sign for the U.S. economy, fewer-than-expected job losses in November and an unexpected drop in the unemployment rate helped send markets opening higher this morning.

The Labor Department has determined that 11,000 jobs were lost due to unemployment in November, considerably fewer than the estimated 125,000 unemployment losses from a survey of economists at Bloomberg News. The unemployment is also far below ADP’s figure of 169,000 job losses earlier this week, which had been cited in a blog Wednesday by Zacks senior strategist Dirk van Dijk, CFA.

In addition, overall unemployment reduced from 10.2% to 10% in the month — a further signal that the U.S. economy is finding its footing.

That’s the first word that comes to mind — wow! The Unemployment Report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) was far better than expected, with a loss of only 11,000 jobs in November. Consensus expectations were for the unemployment report to show a loss of 125,000 jobs for the month.

The good news does not stop there. The unemployment rate fell to 10.0% from 10.2% last month, and is half-way back to the 9.8% level in September, according to the employment report.

In addition to the lower-than-expected unemployment report numbers for November, the job losses for both October and September were revised sharply lower. As of last month we thought we had shed 190,000 jobs in October — now we find out that the economy “just” lost 111,000. We thought we had lost 219,000 in September, but now we find out that we “only” lost 139,000 jobs.

Add the revisions to the surprise for this month to the unemployment report, and we have 273,000 more jobs in the economy than we thought we had as of last night. That is very good news. In addition, as the first graph below (from http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/) shows, the year-over-year percent change in job losses has finally turned the corner. As you can see from the graph, historically that has been a very significant inflection point.

However, even though the unemployment report indicates we have turned the corner, the year-over-year change in unemployment is still further in negative territory than at the nadir of any previous recession. On just about every metric, this is a massive improvement from where we have been. However, we should not forget that this is a cumulative damage-type situation. While we only lost 11,000 jobs over the last month, over the last year we have lost 4.759 million jobs.

The unemployment report showed that improvement in the unemployment rate was widespread, with a decline in every major demographic group. For adult men, there are now 10.5% unemployed, down from 10.7% last month; the rate for adult women also dropped by 0.2 points, to 7.9% from 8.1%. For teens, the unemployment rate fell to 26.7% from 27.6% last month. The unemployment rate for whites fell to 9.3% from 9.5%, the rate for Blacks fell to 15.6% from 15.7% and for Hispanics it dropped to 12.7% from 13.1%. While the unemployment report direction is encouraging, the rates are still far too high, and for every major group except Hispanics (unchanged) the unemployment rate is still higher than it was in September.

The biggest improvement the unemployment report illustrated is happening at the low end of the skill scale. The rate for people who never finished high school fell to 15.0% from 15.5%, the rate for people with just a high school diploma fell to 10.4% from 11.2%. On the other hand, people who had an associates degree, or who went to college and never finished was unchanged at 9.0% and the unemployment rate for people with a Bachelors degree or more actually rose to 4.9% from 4.7%, according to the employment report. Still, the more than 3:1 ratio between college grads and high school drop-outs still points to the value of education, particularly in economic downturns.

Some of the more deep-in-the-weeds internal numbers in the unemployment report were also much better than expected. The most important of these was that the average work week lengthened to 33.2 hours from 33.0 hours. While 0.2 hours a week (aka 12 minutes) might not sound all that significant, there were still 131 million non-farm jobs in the country. That extra 12 minutes a week translates to the equivalent of an extra 794,000 more jobs in the economy (33.2/33.0 * 131 million).

In manufacturing, the average work week rose even more, to 40.4 hours from 40.1 hours. The average amount of over time rose to 3.4 hours from 3.3 hours. That rise came on top of a increase from 3.0 hours in September.

This is a very encouraging sign looking forward. When business starts to pick up, the first thing a company is going to do is restore the hours of its existing workers that have been cut back. It is good for morale, and it is also less costly to the employer than hiring new people since most of the time-benefit costs are the same if a worker is working 35 hours a week instead of 33 hours a week. The cost savings are much smaller, and sometimes non-existent if the employer has to pay time and a half overtime rates. So if employers see that they are having to pay a lot of overtime, it is time to start posting positions on Monster (MWW – Analyst Report).

In another positive development for unemployment, the number of people who were working part-time for economic reasons fell by 34,000 to 9.194 million. The sharp rise in these people who want to work full time, but have had their hours cut back, or the only job they could find was a part-time one, has been particularly sharp in this Great Recession relative to past downturns, as is shown in the second graph below (also from http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/). When the recession started, there were about 4.5 million such people, and a year ago there were 7.2 million. While the improvement on that front might be a false dawn, it is also an encouraging sign.

The other thing an employer will do when business picks up is that they will start hiring temps. In November, temp jobs expanded by 52,000. This is the third straight month in a row that temp jobs have increased, rising by 44,000 in October and by 17,000 in September. Once employers become convinced that the upturn is real, they start wanting to have their own employees on the job, rather than handing over a big chunk of their payroll to Kelly Services (KELYA – Snapshot Report). While temp jobs might not be people’s dream job — and the improvement on that front might explain why the drop in the unemployment rate was so much more dramatic at the low end of the education spectrum in November — temp jobs are a (good) canary in the coal mine for the economy.

The much slower rate of unemployment from the employer survey is more significant than the drop in the unemployment rate that comes from the household survey, but there is not much conflict between them. Part of the reason for the drop in the unemployment rate is that the civilian participation rate dropped to 65.0% from 65.1% in October and 65.2% in September. In other words, fewer people were unemployed, not because they found new jobs, but because they dropped out of the work force.

The participation rate will of course never hit 100% — toddlers are not expected to be looking for work, and people do retire as well. Over time, the current demographics suggest that the participation rate should be declining as the Baby Boomers start to retire. However, one way or another it is people with jobs that have to support those who are not working. Sometimes it is wanted support, as in parents supporting children, sometimes it is less welcome support, as in taxpayers paying out unemployment benefits to the jobless.

Perhaps a more important number than the unemployment rate is the employment rate or the percentage of the population that is actually bringing home a paycheck. Technically, this is referred to as the employment population ratio, and is shown in the third of the graphs from http://www.calculatedriskblog.com. In November, the employment rate was unchanged at 58.5%. The stabilization of this is a very welcome development since the employment rate has been in an absolute free-fall during this recession. Note that there was a secular rise in it, underlying very distinct cyclical effects, from the early 1960s through the end of the century. The last economic expansion, though, did not come close to bringing it back to its prior peak.

The secular rise in the unemployment ratio was particularly sharp during the late 1970’s and most of the 1980’s. This was due to two powerful demographic forces. First, the Baby Boomers started to enter the work force (people tend to get their first jobs between ages 18 and 24, depending on how much education they get; the “baby boom” started in 1946, so the first effects would have been seen in the mid-1960’s).

The second demographic force was that back in the 1960’s, if you saw a magazine article about women and labor, the odds were that is was about childbirth. Clearly that is no longer the case today, although the employment ratio for adult women is still well below that of adult men. In November it was 55.6% for women vs, 66.7% for adult men. A year ago the rate was 70.5% from men and 57.6% for women.

The decline in the unemployment ratio over the last year shows that this downturn has been much tougher on men than on women. Probably because, on average, women earn less than men, so employers would rather get rid of the high-cost help first. However, a bigger part is probably due to the mix of industries that men and women tend to work in. Men still dominate goods producing industries like manufacturing and construction much more than they dominate the service sector, and particularly the one area that has seen consistent growth in employment during this downturn, health care.

The participation rate has also fallen for both genders over the last year, from 75.6% for men to 74.6% now, and from 61.0% from women a year ago to 60.4% now. The difference between the participation rate and the employment rate roughly corresponds to the unemployment rate. It is noteworthy that not only has the unemployment rate for men risen much more than for women in this downturn, a greater proportion of men have also decided to leave the workforce altogether.

While the unemployment data in the report were generally much better than expected and offer substantial cause for hope, we should not lose sight of just how nasty this recession has been and just how much work is left to be done to repair the damage. The employment losses as a percentage of peak pre-recession levels for every recession since WWII. The only other recession that has come close to the Great Recession in terms of depth of downturn is the 1948 recession as the economy struggled to demobilized from the WWII effort. But that was simply an unpleasant side effect of a generally good situation.

There is nothing comparable going on this time around. Indeed, by this point after the peak, back in 1948, not only had the economy stopped losing jobs, but it had regained everyone that it had lost an then some. In fact, every postwar recession but four (and next month it will be three) had already fully regained all the jobs lost by 23 months after peak employment. The three that will remain after next month are a cause for concern, since they are the last three downturns — and each has taken successively longer to get back to pre-recession peak levels.

In the case of the 2001 recession it took 46 months, or almost four whole years to get back to a new high in terms of total jobs. That was up from 30 months in the 1990 recession of unemployment. Both of those downturns were extremely mild in terms of the depth of the downturn. This suggests that we will be extremely lucky if the total number of jobs in the economy surpasses the November 2007 peak by October 2011.

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Chance shows that Microsoft is still leads

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Chance shows that Microsoft is still leads

It’s a pretty well brought-up stage to take place Microsoft — but the company still has a lot in life to bear out.
Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and the full up roster of Microsoft’s top executives are discussion with economic analysts on Thursday to plan passй Microsoft’s strategy used for maintaining its leadership in the sphere of the corporate marketplace and catching up to Apple and Google in the sphere of the consumer seat.

Analysts spirit be present especially tuned in the field of on behalf of I beg your pardon? Microsoft says in the region of its tactics on behalf of remedy, Windows Phone 7, Bing and Kinect — businesses so as to all lag behind their rivals.

The company is advent rancid of lone of its strongest quarters continually in the field of provisos of revenue and profit, at the same time as Windows 7 and function sales give birth to soared on renewed demand on behalf of PCs. Microsoft has sold not quite 200 million Windows 7 licenses, demonstrating an faculty to bounce back from the Windows scene debacle. Many corporate clients, which tell somebody to up in the region of three-quarters of Microsoft’s customer found, are initiation to refresh their computers and software, and as a rule are projected to migrate to Windows 7 and function 2010 by the come to an end of after that time.

The software giant has and embraced cloud computing in the field of a way so as to impresses industry analysts. Microsoft (MSFT, kismet 500) responded to Google Apps’ hazard to function by launching a very functional, gratis online edition of function 2010 in the field of June. Microsoft’s unique “Azure” cloud platform helps businesses save money by poignant existing applications built on Microsoft’s platform — at the same time as many corporate applications are — on top of remote servers so as to are supported and serviced by Microsoft, allowing on behalf of remote access to data.

On behalf of consumers, on the other hired hand, Microsoft is struggling to keep regularity with its competitors.

With search engine Bing, Microsoft has integrated a few innovative and compelling ideas to tell somebody to search additional visual, intuitive and prophetic of users’ intent — Google (GOOG, kismet 500) has even uninspired many of Bing’s as a rule unique facial appearance. Bing has full-fledged its share of the search sell by in the region of 50% in the field of a trifling concluded a time, and the revenue-sharing deal with Yahoo (YHOO, kismet 500) can help it achieve ascend.

But Bing still trails Google by a vast margin, and it continues to hemorrhage money.

And after that there’s Windows Phone 7, lone of Microsoft’s biggest question characterscters.

With its preceding software liberation, Windows portable 6.5, Microsoft did absolutely well in the field of provisos of large-scale smartphone sell share, but the company was is improperly in the field of the United States to additional feature-rich phones like the iPhone, study in the field of Motion’s (RIMM) BlackBerry and Android-based procedure.

Windows Phone 7 is a complete spruce up of Microsoft’s portable offering, focusing on a clear-cut and unique user interface. But it’s not slated to entrance until this fall — an eon in the field of the fast-moving phone line of work, anywhere the iPhone and machine prolong to guzzle up sell share.

Medicine are besides a brilliant question with the aim of Microsoft strength of character need to concentrate on on Thursday.

With the before time accomplishment of Apple’s (AAPL, affluence 500) iPad, many analysts are predicting with the aim of the tablet liberty strength of character stay lone of the fastest-growing tech segments this decade, alongside smartphones. But Ballmer has solitary randomly articulated a very generalized strategy on behalf of tablet computers, namely with the aim of Windows 7 strength of character stay on medicine “soon.” But the first in command particularly canned a turmoil-fraught Microsoft tablet project with the aim of had been in the sphere of the facility almost a decade or else the iPad came to marketplace. Analysts require other real answers going on for how Microsoft diplomacy to compete in the sphere of medicine.

Xbox is perhaps Microsoft’s utmost source of strength with consumers, outside of Windows.

With the much-hyped, controllerless Kinect handbag organized to move out on selling this fall, Microsoft hopes to grow its user corrupt even other by adding together on the casual gamers who encompass embraced Nintendo’s Wii. Microsoft loves to put on the market Xbox’s facility to download media and cascade it across a PC, Zune or else Windows Phone. The consumer cloud is a high-growth liberty with the aim of many tech companies are quick to hold, but agreed its lack of accomplishment so far with Zune media players and Windows Phone, Microsoft has to stay concerned going on for what did you say? Happens if/when Apple allows its users to cascade their iTunes libraries across multiple policy in excess of the Internet.

Microsoft’s consumer divisions, which include movable, encompass botched to consistently achieve money on behalf of the company. The company consent to entertainment division chief Robbie Bach be in charge dazed the exit in the sphere of could.

Here’s a effective sign of how challenging Microsoft is decision with the aim of marketplace: Though it has many questions to answer on the consumer front, Don Mattrick, who replaced Bach, is not scheduled to have a word on Thursday.

Related: Dell Laptop batteries, hp Laptop batteries, Fujitsu Laptop batteries

 

Are You Still True to Your Target Market?

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Are You Still True to Your Target Market?

I just referred out a project to a PR person the other day that could have been 00’s of dollars in my pocket but you know what? The project wasn’t in my scope of the type of business I wanted anymore.

I used to take on projects like that (up until even this last February) but now I am much more focused on what and where I really want to spend my time and who I want to spend it with.

The client still hired me for a small portion of the project but with doing what I love to do – give feedback on their website to maximize that, write a couple follow up marketing letters to get the word out and to organize and write an email marketing campaign including working with some of their power partners.

This is the type of marketing I LOVE TO DO! I’ve learned that no matter what the amount of money I could make on a project, if it isn’t something I really want or love to do, then it will stress me out because I won’t want to get it done.

So why do that to someone (the client) and why do that to myself?

Just like I wrote in that article a few weeks ago – about being your true authentic self – I am truly living it and loving every minute of it.

You can do this too if you just DECIDE TO.

It can be hard if you’re struggling for money but I’ll tell you, it’s totally worth it if you can bite the bullet for a little while – the jobs you are meant to have and the people you are meant to work with will come but YOU MUST BELIEVE!

Who is your IDEAL TARGET MARKET and WHY?

- Who is the most obvious and most likely person or company to buy your products or services?

- How can you really narrow it down so that you know EXACTLY who and what that person/company looks like?

- What are the easiest products or services to sell for you?

- What do you love doing the most?

- How can you structure or reposition your business model so that you are only servicing the customers you like working with that will actually pay you and benefit most from your products or services?

- What changes can you make so that your marketing materials – your website, brochures, flyers, mailers, email newsletters and even your business cards – project the EXACT MESSAGE that will best attract that SPECIFIC TARGET AUDIENCE and make them take action and buy the products and services YOU WANT to sell?

Ask yourself these questions and really BE TRUE TO YOUR TARGET.

I know you will find that you will instantly attract the kind of clients you WANT and the ones you don’t want won’t come around any more. But you must BELIEVE and TAKE ACTION to make a few mind changes and marketing shifts.

Related Target Audience Articles

Banner Advertising Still Clicks For Most Marketers

admin    Web Marketing     Advertising, Banner, Clicks, Marketers, Most, Still

Banner Advertising Still Clicks For Most Marketers

Banner advertising was prematurely declared deceased only a few years ago. If you visit any Web site today, you’ll find a strange trend: Banner advertisements are still a mainstay on most Web sites. They occupy their standard positions at the top of pages, fit comfortably into medium rectangle space to the right of content, and sometimes make an appearance at the bottom of articles. One look at any major content Web site is testimony that banner advertising is still a formidable marketing tool for advertisers across the Internet.

Users often complain that banner advertisements are “annoying.” When they first appeared, the annoyance was at its sharpest. Over time, banners became so much a part of the landscape of the Internet that Web sites often look strange without a few banner ads to liven things up. Today, banner advertisements remain a part of almost every Web site because they still work as a form of advertising. No matter how annoying people find them, someone, at some time, clicks one of them out of curiosity. Here are a few more reasons that banner advertisements are still the pet of all marketers.

High Visibility

It’s cheap to display banners and they’re seen by thousands of people a day. Publishers don’t make as much money as they once did because the cost of banner advertising declined. That’s a good thing for marketers. It’s possible to display thousands of ads across thousands of sites simply by signing up for a cost-effective advertising plan with a major ad network. It works.

Creativity

Banners have evolved over the years. The flashing lights and “YOU WON!” slogans of yesterday might have disappeared, but they’ve been replaced by new forms of banner ads that keep the format fresh and exciting. Interactive ads let people play games, audio ads let people listen to music by choice, and some ads allow people to vote on political issues. The banner ad can be seen without being annoying.

Effectiveness

The number one reason banner ads are still scattered across the internet is that they still work for marketers. They work for the little buy and the big corporation. Google lets the little guys design their own banner and display them across a network of millions of Web sites. With solid keyword research, it’s possible for people of every background and budget to create a successful banner ad campaign.

It’s Easy

Creating banners is one of the simplest activities on the Internet. Advanced, paid banner maker software can help out for large projects, and free banner maker software helps for the small stuff. With some research on color schemes and what customers like to see, it’s possible to easily create an appealing banner ad for any audience. Banner advertisements aren’t dead. They’re not even sick. As long as there are users on the Internet, there will be some form of banner advertisement that will appeal to an audience of Internet users that still enjoy seeing random information or products flashed across their screen. Eventually, someone clicks.

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Pay Per Sale Affiliate Programs – Still the Best Option for Advertisers?

admin    Web Marketing     $/sale, Advertisers, Affiliate, Best, Option, Programs, Still

Pay Per Sale Affiliate Programs – Still the Best Option for Advertisers?

Pay per sale affiliate programs have been around since the beginning of the affiliate marketing business, and due to it’s obvious fairness, it is still a popular commission model. The number of programs offering this commission model are plenty, far more than any other model available online.

The reasons for its popularity are many, but a big reason is advertisers full control over the margins. With any other commission mode, the advertiser needs to calculate the conversion ratio, number of sales and size of purchases very carefully to eliminate the risk of overpaying for clicks, leads or impressions. With the PPS model, advertisers know they will only pay a specific percentage of each sale, making every new affiliate – no matter how successful – will contribute to the revenue of the affiliate program.

Advertisers using other commission models stand a much greater risk of having a new affiliate join, only to see him send nothing but non-converting traffic, thus getting paid for nothing. PPC, PPL and PPM are also much more open for fraud, often in the form of auto-generated visitors (i.e. from a script) or other ways of generating impression, clicks or in some cases even leads. For newly started affiliate programs, showing limited cash flow, other commission models can prove hard in the beginning. Often it takes a while to get the ball rolling, and paying for anything but sales can cost a bit of money before you get some back. Be sure to calculate how long you can afford to pay for a certain amount of visitors if no one actually converts into a buying visitor.

There will of course be plenty of referred visitors who converts into sales, but there are no guarantees. If you where to use a PPS model, paying ONLY For sales, you would never have to pay a commission unless you are seeing a positive cash flow. This is true for the affiliate program as a whole, as well as on an individual affiliate level. They won’t get paid until they actually makes a sale, thus making the advertiser money in the process.

Some affiliate programs offer a fixed commission instead of a percentage, and if the commission is the same on sales for different amounts, the percentage will differ from one sale to another. Try to find an approximate percentage of commission to calculate the expected revenue for each affiliate sale. Calculating the minimum and maximum revenue is important as well, in order to keep track of the revenue of the affiliate program and its commission model.

Article written by Theo Swan.

Ipod Touch Giveaway 2010 And Ipod Touch For Free Still Works

admin    8615     2010, Free, Giveaway, Ipod, Still, Touch, Works

Ipod Touch Giveaway 2010 And Ipod Touch For Free Still Works

>>>The Secret Website That Gives You An Ipod Touch For Free No Scam<<<

iPod touch features Safari, the most advanced web browser ever on a portable device.  iPod touch at Starbucks If you have an iPod touch, an iPhone, or a computer with the latest version of iTunes, you get free Wi-Fi access to the iTunes Store and to Starbucks’ Now Playing content.  iPod touch gives you all the fun of the web’s best videos–pocket-size.  iPod touch uses iTunes to sync photos you have in iPhoto on a Mac or Adobe Photoshop Elements and Adobe Photoshop Album on a PC.  iPod touch now includes built-in Nike + iPod support.  iPod touch software enables the flick, tap, and pinch.  iPod touch locates nearby wireless hotspots, including protected networks.  iPod touch feeds it from anywhere with a special YouTube player built right in.  iPod touch plays it, shuffles it, pauses it, or names it.  iPod touch is a great iPod, a great pocket computer and a great portable game player.  iPod Touch is also compatible with all of the aftermarket mic-enabled earphones created for iPhone.

The iPod Touch’s improved audio circuitry is masked by mediocre earbuds, however, as with the 3rd generation iPod Shuffle.  The iTunes Genius feature, introduced with iTunes 8, works on iPod Touch, and it’s great.

An Ipod giveaway or a free ipod touch is rare to get, but this time it’s for real.

iPod touch lets you enjoy everything you love about an iPod, and then some.  ooo i do want an ipod touch.  Its an iPod Touch, which means you’ll be able to get all the benefits of using iPhones such as amazing touchscreen, iPod, access to a ton of apps via the App Store, email and websurf via WiFi but without the hazzle for a contract.  Remember this is the newest iPod Touch currently in third generation retailing for £234 on the Apple Store online. And this free secret service below is limited only.

>>>Get your Free Ipod Touch For Free In This Secret Service<<<

B2B Email Marketing: Still THE Killer App!

admin    Web Marketing     Email, Killer, marketing, Still

B2B Email Marketing: Still THE Killer App!

Email marketing is far from dead, no matter what the so-called experts say. In fact recent software applications are putting the power of Fortune 500 companies in the hands of Main Street businesses – leveling the playing field at last.

There are challenges to be sure, such as creating and maintaining an opt-in list – so you won’t jeopardize your company’s good name and your established goodwill in the marketplace. Delivering the message you want to the people you want to receive it – perhaps a special offer for people renewing their service contracts that’s only available to people beyond the first year after purchase. And properly managing responses so the right actions are triggered automatically!

But finally these issues can be handled cost effectively, so it’s not the big guys who are the only ones in a position to control email marketing anymore.

Here are three of the benefits of B2B email marketing – besides the obvious, that it is cheap, immediate, and interactive.

First, in the world of B2B your target prospect is probably at their desk 12 hours a day – or carrying their Blackberry or other handheld device – so you will most likely reach them immediately – as soon as the message is sent.

If they trust you (the From:) they’ll open your message the same day it’s sent. If the first message they see (the Subject:) is compelling they’ll read it. You just can’t compare this to any other form of communications.

Second, email integrates seamlessly into your total marketing campaign. You can use it to convert known suspects into prospects by getting them to request information relevant to your campaign message – perhaps moving them along the buying cycle to prospect. Follow up email can be used to qualify them and even turn them into 1st level customers. Now, when your sales people contact them by phone of for that matter in person – they are contacting a customer not making a cold call.

Third, In business virtually everything is about marketing. Your email newsletter and other regular communications for example. By imbedding links in your regular email that lead to special offers, limited availability opportunities etc. each time you touch a prospect or customer becomes a bit of a marketing opportunity.

The key to success in b2b email marketing is your list and it can be a challenge to build an opt-in list of email addresses and then manage them in such a way that the list grows not shrinks.

One way to build a list that grows is to ask permission before putting people on the list. Successful marketing in the 21st Century will be permission based marketing. The days of intrusion marketing are over, some marketers just don’t know it yet. Be the first company you know to adopt the strategy that will guarantee that people will be happy and prepared to hear from you.

You no doubt have the phone street addresses of your customers. When the completed forms in the recent past you probably asked for their email address as well. Be careful how you use it. Only you and your relationship with your customers will tell you if it’s OK to add them to your email campaigns, without their specific approval.

If you’re like most business people I know, you will be better served with a service that completely automates the entire email marketing process. One that collects the email address and the other information you’re looking for, sends the right email messages to the right people on the right list, and then handles the responses – with little additional overhead, and without having to take someone off the floor to do it all.

And finally you’ll want a service that allows people to be included in various kinds of scheduled mailings at the time they are added to the list – or as they move through the sales cycle. For example a prospect requests inclusion on an announcement list for a product scheduled for future release. Once released and they purchase the product they would be automatically removed from that list – so they will not keep getting announcements for something they’ve already bought.

And if the new product has add ons they can be systematically reminded of them and removed when they purchase them or turn them down. And in either case reminded when their warranty is about to expire so they’ll automatically renew it.

Marketing is not just about getting the first sale – it’s also about converting suspects into prospects, prospects into buyers and buyers into key accounts. B2B email marketing is the killer app for the 21st Century – the early part at least, when it is done with permission and precision.

Are keywords still valuable for optimization?

admin    Web Marketing     Keywords, optimization, Still, Valuable

Are keywords still valuable for optimization?

For those unfamiliar with the term SEO or search engine optimization and how it works and how the term ‘keywords’ come into play, here is your synopsis.

To start, we will only refer to Google as it is the most commonly used search engine. So, let’s say you have a business and of course you want people to find you – right? Of course you do. So what has to happen, you may ask. To start, you have to get into the mind of the person who will be searching for you. So, let’s say for example you sell vacuums. What will your potential buyer type into the search engine to find you? Will they type ‘vacuums’ or will they type in ‘vacuums for sale’ or even ‘cheap vacuums’? The terms people use are what we call keywords.

Now Google, who wants to provide the best webpage for your search term has to follow a particular criterion to help you get your match. Google uses a software element that is called a ’spider’ which scans websites and their text looking for the keywords within your site that match the user’s search terms.  Google will they show a results page that is made up of two elements – sponsored links and organic results. The sponsored links are paid for and are on the right-hand side. The organic results are in the left-hand column or what appears to be up the middle. Organic results are the free listings and the listings people strive to get on the first page for.

So how do you get on the front page of Google without having to pay? One of the many ways is by writing and optimizing text. This text not only has to be of value to its reader but include the keyword(s) you think your potential customer will be using. Your first thought might be to shove a lot of these keywords into your text. Don’t do this – it has been tried and while it worked for a short time it is now called keyword stuffing. Not only will this now turn your potential customer away but it could also get you booted off of Google for some time.

So how many times can one keyword be used on a page without a site getting penalized? Many SEO experts feel 9 to 15% is a nice ratio. To evaluate the number of keywords in your text, there is a formula, or one can simply use free software available online to evaluate their keyword density in contrast to the number of words in the text.

Hiring professional writers who can integrate keywords naturally into your text is key. You don’t want your pages to appear like spam and yet you do want it to meet Google’s algorithms. Understanding how Google searches pages in not truly known by anybody as it is kept somewhat under wraps, but through experience, SEO experts can tell you the software is able to observe general relevancy in addition to the keywords.

The second element to all of this is that the value of keyword density will hardly ever come from your main content, but rather from the optimization of all the other factors on your page. Keywords are not only taken into consideration from your main text, there are other elements Google’s spiders scan, they include:

•    Page title
•    Meta Tags
•    Meta Description
•    Images Description
•    Headers Tags

The last important element regarding keywords is knowing which ones to use. Are people typing in ‘vacuum’ or ‘vacuum(s)’? SEO professionals use a number of tools to find these keywords for their client’s use. A word plural or not plural can make a difference by the tens of thousands of searches, at times.

Search engine optimization is always changing and evolving, but one thing that has remained most consistent is the continued value and use of keywords. Are they still valuable for optimization?  You bet ya!

Is the Keywords Meta Tag Still Useful for SEO?

admin    Web Marketing     Keywords, Meta, Still, Useful

Is the Keywords Meta Tag Still Useful for SEO?

Many people who are new to the seo industry come across articles from the 1990s that stress the importance of meta tags.  Such advice is quite outdated.  A lot of search engines do not even look at this tag anymore.  Some of the search engines that do look at this tag, only do so to identify spam.  There are still benefits to including a keywords meta tag for every important page of your website.

Why Don’t Some Search Engines Use This Tag Anymore?

Back in the early days of the web, the search engines did not rely on links to determine how relevant a website is for a particular keyword.  Instead they primarily looked at on-page factors to determine rankings.  To get rankings and traffic, it was a competition of who could get their target keywords into all the right places of their website.  One key spot to put their target phrases was the keywords meta tag.  For some search engines this was the first on-page location they would check when ranking websites.

The problem with this ranking strategy is that it was extremely easy to manipulate.  Some people would simply copy their competitors meta tags in full.  Other more crafty internet marketers would include hundreds of words in their keyword tag.  The spammier marketers would list countless irrelevant, high traffic keywords – everything from adult to pharmacy keywords.  These people didn’t care how relevant their traffic was; they just wanted traffic volume.  These spammy techniques would work quite well and you could get rankings for nearly any keyword that you included in your meta tags.  It became one of the first search engine optimization techniques that was widely used by spammers. 

Eventually search engines had to ignore this tag because it no longer determined who was relevant.  Who would’ve thought that website marketers wouldn’t be completely honest when creating their meta tags?  In a perfect world, search engines could just rely on the honesty of website marketers to determine relevance.  With millions of dollars on the line in some industries, seo professionals pushed the boundaries of what was considered ethical marketing.  Everyone was suddenly in a rush to get a piece of the newfound website fortunes.

Then Why Is the Keywords Meta Tag Still Useful?

Although many search engines stopped relying on this meta tag, others simply put less weight on it.  They would still check to see if a keyword is in this tag, but it was no longer the silver bullet solution.  Including your target keywords in your meta tags still helps rankings on Yahoo and other smaller search engines.  Even if you rely on Google for your traffic, you should not ignore the potential traffic that Yahoo can provide.  You need every bit of help you can get to improve your rankings.

Another benefit of including a keywords meta tag is that it helps keep pages focused on certain keywords.  A content writer could check this tag to see which words to include in their writing.  A link builder could check this tag to see which phrases they should be targeting for link anchor text.

Is There a Downside to Including Meta Keywords?

As long as you don’t try anything spammy with your meta tags, they won’t harm your search engine rankings.  Just ensure that you are only including words that are relevant to the page content.  Ideally all of those words would be included in the page text as well.  Avoid repeating keywords too.  If you get spammy, be prepared for penalties from the search engines in time.

One potential downside that some people are worried about is the competitive intelligence that it provides.  At a glance, competitors could see exactly which phrases a page is targeting.  I don’t give this argument much credit.  Strong competitors can find out your exact target keywords by analyzing your page content and links.  There are even automated tools that provide this analysis.  Really if a competitor needs to see your meta tags to know this information, it is unlikely that they are actually a serious competitor.

More Keywords Articles

Kindle DX My Favorite Electronic Device Still !!!

admin    8615     Device, Electronic, Favorite, Kindle, Still

Kindle DX My Favorite Electronic Device Still !!!

Article By: Kindledxbuy.com

by Bookphile

As an avid reader, I have an aversion to reading on screens. Is it so hard for the eyes and the thought of it is repellent to me. When the e-readers began to emerge on the market, I gave them away because I could not believe that reading would not be similar to reading on a computer screen. I was very curious about the Kindle, however, and when a friend bought one and what we talked about how she liked it, I became more of an interest in the devices. I was thrilled when my local library has announced that it would loan off Kindle for a week at a time and, after waiting my turn on the long, long list, I spent a week with the library Kindle. I just picked it up and started using it, I was more or less instantly hooked and intent to purchase one.

Whenever I talk with friends and family, I can not say enough good things about e-ink. I still can not believe how close to a page that is printed. I can do and read my Kindle for hours without fatigue more than I feel after hours and hours with a book. Reading on a Kindle is nothing like reading on a computer screen.

The only real disadvantage is that the DX is great and a bit ‘cumbersome at times. I discovered that having a really good cover (like the M-edge leather jacket DX that I bought with my Kindle, which can also function as a sort of tripod) helps. I also prefer to balance the Kindle on a pillow on her lap while reading. All in all, however, I find that holds more work than trying to keep open a long pocket of a standard format or one of those juggling giant trade paperback DX. In fact, the Kindle eliminates hand cramps that come with holding a book with one hand. I will, however, that the buttons were on both sides of the Kindle. Even if they are right handed, there are times when you use the buttons on the left would be more convenient for me. This is a minor flaw in the design, in my opinion.

The advantage the rest of my Kindle has more than a printed book is that it fits nicely on the windowsill of my elliptical, which means that I can read while doing my workout. This is a great advantage for me, as I prefer reading to watching TV while exercising, and I prefer reading books that I stopped reading magazines that usually, because of space constraints on the ledge elliptical. I also find the press in the Kindle easier to read than the print magazine.

My only serious disappointment with the Kindle is the price of magazines and newspapers. I have a subscription to Time magazine and was very interested in moving to the Kindle version – until I discovered the price difference, that is. It makes little sense to me that the printed version, which involves more overhead, not to mention the shipping is much less expensive than the Kindle version. I was also considering subscribing to The New York Times via my Kindle, but again, I found the cost prohibitive price and decided against it. I think the editors of newspapers and magazines need to find a better price structure for devices such as the Kindle.

Soon I will be making a trip, and are very eager to travel with the Kindle. It will be extremely convenient for me to be able to pack just my Kindle instead of having to carry several pocket. Convenience is one of the best things about the Kindle. I take books with me to the park to read while my kids are playing, I take with me to the doctor’s office, while I sit in the waiting room, etc. One of my biggest Pet Peeves WAS having to carry two books when I was almost finished with one. Now, my books are conveniently located right on my Kindle.

You Can Read More Reviews at: kindledxbuy.com