Category Archives: Internet

B2C, E-mail, Internet, Online, Search, Searching, Services, Tracing

Online People Search Company Sending Out the Right Message

Tracesmart private customers will receive a new look newsletter from the online people search website this month, as a result of a revamped email marketing campaign. The online tracing facility has enjoyed continued growth since the website launched in 2004, with approximately 10,000 trace and address search requests performed every day.

The company has helped to reunite thousands of families and friends, many of whom may not have had contact for several decades; a large proportion are found instantly through a simple electoral roll search. Tracesmart has simplified the tracing process, taking the hassle away from family researching, which can quite often be daunting for new users.

“The customer service team here at Tracesmart assist visitors with different enquires ranging from an in-depth trace to a straightforward postcode search,” Sarah Lawrence, Tracesmart’s Customer Service Manager explained. “We hope this new look newsletter will stimulate many customers who may have abandoned their people search, to come back and try again, after all, our database is updated every day.”

The new look email, which will be distributed to all subscribers, includes news stories and tracing tips to help individuals conduct a successful people search. The ever changing facets of marketing practices have seen a shift in the way companies communicate with their customers. Tracesmart has implemented many of the industry standards with the aim of attracting new visitors and increasing the popularity of family tracing.

Tracesmart historically corresponded with customers both through the post and via email, but are reducing the use of surface mail wherever possible. The people search specialists are eager to meet green guidelines and reduce their carbon footprint in line with government targets. “Tracesmart are working closely with ‘E-shot’, an email marketing company, ensuring correct procedures are implemented and employed,’ commented Owen Roberts, Tracesmart’s Communications Manager. “They have over ten years e-marketing experience, and we are confident that Tracesmart will benefit enormously from this new campaign.”

    About Tracesmart

  • Sarah Lawrence boasts over 17 years experience in the field of customer services and satisfaction. In her role at Tracesmart Consumer she ensures the smooth day to day running of the customer services team.
  • Owen Roberts has worked in the creative, advertising and communications industries for over 25 years and is the voice of Tracesmart. Heading up the communications team, he raises public awareness of the company through various media driven PR campaigns.
  • Tracesmart Ltd – Since the launch of its website in 2004, Tracesmart Ltd has established itself as one of the UK’s leading providers of online people tracing tools.www.tracesmart.co.uk combines state of the art search technology with an extensive collection of consumer data, providing one of the most powerful and successful systems to trace people.
Advertising, B2b, Contextual, Internet, News, Online, SEO, Services, Web, Web Marketing

Bigmouthmedia Reports That Further Changes Unveiled By Google To Its International Trademark Policy Could Cost The World’s Major Companies Millions In The Short Term As They Struggle To Protect Their Brands Online

While not unexpected, Google’s decision to allow anyone to bid for trademarked keywords in a total of 194 countries including Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Russia is widely predicted to lead to price rises in the markets affected. However, evidence from the UK – where the policy change was first rolled out in 2008 – indicates that while bidding on some brand terms could increase by as much as 500% in the short term, the impact is unlikely to be permanent.

“While dropping trademark protection didn’t send costs skyrocketing to the extent many feared in the UK, during the initial scramble to bid on competitor brand terms we saw cost-per-click (CPC) prices rise by an average of 400-500%. Those levels proved unsustainable in the long term however, and we would expect any spike in keyword prices to normalise within a matter of weeks, “said Lyndsay Menzies, Chief Operations Officer at bigmouthmedia.

“Our international offices have been working with such a system in the US and UK for years and we know how to deal with it, but the news is likely to precipitate changes in some international markets as brands move budgets about within digital channels to maximise return.”

Bringing the new territories into line with its North American and UK businesses, Google will now allow open keyword bidding on all terms in 194 countries worldwide. This means it is now possible for more than one advertiser to appear in the list of sponsored links that appears after a user has typed in a search query using a trademarked term.

Experience from the UK indicates that successful legal challenges to the rule changes seem unlikely, although commentators will note that Google has yet to relax restrictions in France, Italy or Germany, where copyright laws are particularly robust.

While bad news for major brands, the move is likely to be good news for smaller competitors looking to close the gap. The announcement is also likely to have a profound effect on all affiliate partners, with the ability to bid on competitor keywords greatly increasing the scope and range of their operations.

“While brands might be tempted to bid on competitor keywords in the newly opened markets, Google’s rules mean that while they are allowed to bid on brand terms they can’t use them in their advert copy, something that frequently results in a low quality score and a high average CPC. They are also likely to experience poor conversion rates, because the fact of the matter is that if a customer searches for a particular brand name, that’s the one they’re interesting in buying,” said Robin Richmond, bigmouthmedia’s Head of Pay Per Click (PPC).

“Google’s revised rules will add new layers of complexity to the search landscape though. Look at affiliate marketing and PPC: many brands restrict their affiliates from brand bidding but these policies may now need to be reviewed if they wish to protect their real estate from direct competitors.”

About bigmouthmedia 
Founded in 1997, bigmouthmedia is Europe’s largest independent digital marketing agency. With a team of over 200 staff across 12 offices in 10 countries, the company maximises exposure for major brands online through a variety of fully integrated digital marketing channels: PPC and search engine optimisation, Online Media Planning, Affiliate Marketing, Social Networking, Brand Monitoring, Online PR and Web Analytics. Bigmouthmedia also provides up to date daily digital marketing news to ensure clients are fully informed and aware of all industry developments.

Leading the digital marketing strategies of a third of the UK’s most trusted brands, bigmouthmedia services over 300 big-brand customers globally including: Hilton, British Airways, Tesco, Air Berlin, Barclays, Sky, British Telecom and Wall Street Institute.

Via EPR Network
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Advertising, B2b, Internet, News, Online, SEO, Services, Web, Web Marketing

Bigmouthmedia Has Been Named The UK’s Number 1 SEO And PPC Agency In The New Media Age Marketing Services Guide 2009

Widely regarded as the definitive guide to Britain’s digital marketing landscape, the NMA league table is ranked on income, with bigmouthmedia’s range of big brand client wins, cross-channel expertise and experienced management team cited as being key to the company’s industry-leading status.

“Like every industry the search sector has faced a lot of challenges recently, but despite difficult economic circumstances the blend of effectiveness and measurable ROI that online marketing provides is still proving a winning combination,” said Lyndsay Menzies, bigmouthmedia’s Group Chief Operations Officer.

“There are many factors behind our success, but the most important is the dedicated, skilled and passionate bigmouth team that underpins everything we do.”

Highlighting the international expertise offered by bigmouthmedia’s offices in the UK, US, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, France and Spain, New Media Age attributed the company’s success to an unequivocal impact on clients’ bottom lines: “The increased investment in search during the recession reflects the drum beaten by specialists and search pioneers over the past decade: that it’s an incredibly effective, cost-efficient and wholly trackable marketing discipline.”

Citing the latest available research, the guide’s editors expect to see further growth in the year ahead. According to the recently published 2009 UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report, half of Britain’s senior marketers are set to increase their online budgets over the next 12 months.

The 2009 guide pointed to bigmouthmedia’s retention of British Airways’ combined PPC and SEO campaign – together with winning both the Sky and Europcar accounts – as the highlights of another successful year for the UK business. Editors also noted the launch of the agency’s Online PR division and a raft of high profile executive appointments.

About bigmouthmedia 
Founded in 1997, bigmouthmedia is Europe’s largest independent digital marketing agency. With a team of over 200 staff located across 13 offices in 10 countries on 3 continents, the company maximises exposure for major brands online through a variety of fully integrated digital marketing channels: Search engine optimisation, PPC, Online Media Planning, Affiliate marketing, Social Networking, Brand Monitoring, Online PR and Web Analytics. Bigmouthmedia also provides up to date daily digital marketing news to ensure clients are fully informed and aware of all industry developments.

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Colocation, Dedicated Servers, Events, Free Stuff, Hosting, Internet, Secure Hosting

Waveform Technology Is Now Offering Two Months Free Server Colocation For Unemployed Workers Who Want To Start Or Expand A Business

With the unemployment rate in Michigan continuing to rise, there are plenty of smart, talented individuals from information technology who are now out of a job. Waveform Technology is encouraging those people to take their great Internet start up ideas and form new companies to rebuild Michigan’s economy.

Waveform’s Data Center, located in Troy Michigan, is now accepting servers for colocation through the new Start program. With Start, new companies can bring servers online quickly and have no worries about data center fees for the first two months.

Parishpilot.com will be the first organization to take advantage of Waveform’s Start program. Parishpilot.com provides low cost Internet services to Detroit churches, including websites and E-mail. “I’m tired of jobs leaving Michigan,” said Bill Wilson, who founded parishpilot.com after twelve years in the information technology industry. “I’m going to become part of the solution and start something that can help Michigan grow. I’m proud to join forces with Waveform on this.”

Data centers are where start ups begin. Flexibility and reliability are always important when selecting a data center, but cost is also key for new businesses. With Start, Waveform Technology will provide trusted colocation for start ups and a helping hand in tough economic times.

Colocation is the hosting of user owned servers in a data center to take advantage of superior Internet connections and other support systems such as backup power. Colocation is excellent for developing start ups because they have complete control over their machine, there is no sharing of server resources or conforming to the provider’s preferred software installations.

Participants are eligible as long as they can provide proof of unemployment. Interested parties should contact Waveform Technology through the website, http://www.michigan-colocation.com, or by calling 1-866-Waveform.

About Waveform Technology, LLC
Waveform Technology is a Michigan based data center operator and metro Ethernet provider. Waveform’s Troy data center is a world-class facility, featuring Liebert cooling and uninterruptible power systems, along with backup generator support, unmatched connectivity, and advanced security. Tenants of all sizes colocate in Waveform facilities. Waveform Technology is a privately held company in operation since 1992. More information is available at http://www.michigan-colocation.com or 248-784-7000.

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B2C, Cloud Hosting, Hosting, Internet, Secure Hosting

Rackspace to host SaaS and the Cloud Seminar

Rackspace has announced it is to host the SaaS and the Cloud Seminar – a half day, best practices seminar which aims to reveal the key strategies and techniques needed to build a profitable Software as a Service (SaaS) business.

Taking place on 20 May at the Microsoft Campus in Reading, SaaS and the Cloud Seminar will feature Rackspace Hosting clients and partners discussing the key issues involved in building a successful SaaS business.

Speaking at the seminar will be a number of experts in the SaaS field, including Rackspace’s own Director of Strategic Alliances, Brian Garvey, and Director of Product Management, Simon Abrahams, Microsoft’s UK Lead for Partner Hosted Services, Martin Walker, and Anders Trolle-Schultz of SaaS-it Consult. Also speaking at the seminar will be Ivan Farneti, a partner at Doughty Hanson & Co. Technology Ventures, Piyush Shah, the CEO at Deltion and Hamish Edwards, Managing Director and Co-Founder at Xero.

Those attending the seminar will hear discussion on topics including how to make the move from on-premise to Software as a Service, how to fund an emerging SaaS business and the future for SaaS hosting in the cloud. Other subjects covered will include secure hosting for on-demand applications, how to develop a cost effective go-to-market strategy and tips on how to exploit social media techniques to build a community of loyal users.

The half day seminar will conclude with a Q & A session with all the speakers followed by a networking lunch, where attendees can question the speakers at the seminar individually and confidentially.

Those wishing to attend the SaaS and the Cloud seminar can find further details and register at www.rackspace.co.uk.

About Rackspace Hosting:
As the world’s leader and specialist in hosting, Rackspace Hosting is changing the way businesses worldwide buy IT. Rackspace delivers computing-as-a-service, integrating the industry’s best technologies into a flexible service offering, making computing more reliable and affordable.

A trusted partner to companies of all sizes, Rackspace enables IT departments to be more effective. Rackspace is distinguished by its award-winning Fanatical Support, furthering the company’s mission to be one of the world’s greatest service companies. Rackspace featured in the top 30 of both the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies To Work For list and the Financial Times Great Place to Work Awards, 2008.

Rackspace’s portfolio of hosted services includes managed hosting, hosted exchange, hybrid hosting and cloud hosting.

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B2C, Internet, Online, Search, Searching, Services, Tracing

Tracesmart Share Their Success On BBC Daytime Show

Following the conclusion of the second ‘Missing Live’ series, Tracesmart can look back on a job well done as they once again volunteered their services to the production company, offering their people search facility and further providing case study examples for the program.

The BBC 1 early morning broadcast raised awareness of the nation’s missing people, making live appeals for individuals to come forward with information. Tracesmart were more than happy to assist and the online people search company made two separate live appearances during the series, which was viewed by over 1 million people daily.

The programme makers, Leopard Films, work closely with the police and the charity Missing People, to report on cases that require the help of the general public. Some cases have been open for many years; others that were featured involve people who have vanished very recently. Viewers are urged to contact the helpline with any information that may help find those that have disappeared.

Last year, the program introduced heart-warming stories involving families that have been reunited after a considerable time apart. As specialists in this field, Tracesmart were invited back for the second year running to discuss how to find relatives and friends. As Tracesmart’s lead family researcher, Louise Hewlett was interviewed by the BBC’s Rav Wilding on the subject of people tracing, further adding a brief introduction to online family searching using the electoral roll.

This year, a reunion transpired that involved a viewer of the first series – Julie Cook wrote to Missing Live, asking for help to find her cousin, Clement Jackson. The letter she wrote was given to Hewlett live on air, with the hope that Tracesmart could help trace Clement. When Louise returned to the office and performed a name search on the Tracesmart system, she located him immediately. Ms Cooke was ecstatic and also relieved to hear that Clement had been located, after searching for him for nearly 40 years.

Louise commented, “It was lovely to meet Clem and Julie in the studio. It’s rare for me to meet the families we are able to help through our online people search facility, so I was delighted to be able to share the experience with them. They were both very grateful toTracesmart for reuniting them, and could not believe the trace was completed after a single name search.”

Owen Roberts, Tracesmart’s Communications Manager added, “There is no doubting the importance of this series, it’s vital to highlight the plight of the missing, and it’s great that we at Tracesmart can help as much as possible. We do hope the BBC will re-commission another series.”

About Tracesmart
Tracesmart Ltd – Since the launch of its website in 2004 Tracesmart has established itself as one of the UK’s leading providers of online people tracing tools. www.tracesmart.co.ukcombines state of the art search technology with an extensive collection of consumer data, providing one of the most powerful and successful systems to trace people.

Louise Hewlett is a driving force in Tracesmart’s Missing Person’s campaign and has been tracing people for 3 years. Louise has previously appeared on BBC1’s Missing Live programme to discuss tracing and various successful reunions.

Owen Roberts has worked in the creative, advertising and communications industries for over 25 years and is the voice of Tracesmart. Heading up the communications team, he raises the public awareness of the company through various media driven PR campaigns.

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Entertainment, Internet, News, Online, Social Networking

Twitter Made The New Heights Of Traffic With Sole Appearance On The Oprah Show

You can answer the question “Are you happy to have Oprah on twitter” on twitter.

Twitter made the new heights of traffic with sole appearance on the Oprah show. The day when show was live there where millions of Oprah fans watching and signing up with Twitter with Oprah.

While writing this story Oprah had near to half a million followers on twitter. Unexpectedly the fans of Oprah joined twitter to follow Oprah and hear the smallest tweets from her.

According to Hitwise the traffic monitor company, the traffic on twitter jumped up to 43% due to the Oprah effect. The hashtags “Oprah” where also found to be among the top ten tweet tags used on twitter.

The question “Whether they are happy to have Oprah on twitter” is still a question.

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B2b, Internet, ISPs, Online, Services

BT Has Released A New High Value Business Bundle Offering Broadband And Calls To UK Landlines, International Destinations And Mobile Numbers For Just £30 A Month

Businesses will also have the added freedom to build their own BT communications package, from the most extensive range of options, covering calls, broadband and mobile offered by a UK communications provider, following the introduction of a range of new BT One Plan call packages.

By adopting a new way of buying communications services, businesses can now create their own custom package, such as, BT Business Total Broadband Option 1 and their calls to mobile, international destinations and landlines fixed for only £30.

When compared to buying services separately, businesses taking a call package along with their broadband package in this way will gain an additional 20% in value from their broadband commitment. Businesses can build their own communications package including as many or as few options as they want, gaining more value the more they bring together in their flexible bundle.

The new BT One Plan call packages feature inclusive calling minutes to UK landlines, fixed calls to UK mobiles and international destinations for a low fixed monthly cost. Additionally BT has introduced savings of up to 50% on the price per minute for calls to UK fixed lines for businesses taking a call package with their broadband package.

Bill Murphy, managing director of BT Business, said: “In uncertain times, cash flow is king. Knowing what your monthly outgoings are, is as important as keeping them low. With the introduction of these changes, BT is helping businesses manage their communications spend with one low fixed cost package that they have the power to define themselves based on what they need. BT is offering businesses a premier a la carte service with the value and cost predictability benefits of having a set menu. If the dessert is not to your taste – why keep paying for it? This is a natural evolution in the market of communication services.”

All service and billing enquiries will be dealt with through one number, and one bill will cover all services for customers through BT Business One Plan. BT Business Broadbandoffers a 99.99% reliable broadband service, with nine out of 10 faults resolved in less than four hours and 95% of calls to the 24/7 UK help desk are answered within 30 seconds.

To achieve greater savings across communications spend, businesses can also get unlimited calls within their business depending on which components they opt for and 5% reward on their bill when they hit their committed spending levels.

About BT
BT is one of the world’s leading providers of communications solutions and services operating in 170 countries. Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to our customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband and internet products and services and converged fixed/mobile products and services. BT consists principally of four lines of business: BT Global Services, Openreach, BT Retail and BT Wholesale.

In the year ended 31 March 2008, BT Group plc’s revenue was £20,704 million with profit before taxation and specific items of £2,506 million.

British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.

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B2b, eCommerce, Hosting, Internet, Online, Services, Web

Easyspace Has Added A New Range Of Low Cost, Feature Rich, Shopping Cart Solutions To Its Product Portfolio

Easyspace, one the largest web hosting providers in the UK, has this week added a new range of low cost, feature rich, shopping cart solutions to its product portfolio.

With the ability to accept payments via a number of the most popular methods already built in (including Paypal and Worldpay), as well as exporting options allowing you to easily list your products on sites such as ebay, Google Base and Kelkoo as well as on your own site, the new eCommerce solution from Easyspace offers an intuitive way for users to start or improve their business online.

Easyspace already provides solutions for all other aspects of setting up a business online, from simple domain registration and a variety of hosting options, through to security and dedicated website design. The new Online Shop products, starting at just £14.99 per month, provide customers the final step in the process.

“We’ve offered off the shelf eCommerce solutions in the past,” states Errol Vanderhorst, Sales and Marketing Director for Easyspace, “but in all honesty, the high price associated with them in relation to the price of our other services, meant that they weren’t a natural fit or upgrade option for the customer. Our new Online Shopping packages have been developed specifically with the customer and our general pricing in mind, meaning the customer can now add a shopping cart with an extensive range of features for a low monthly cost.”

The Shopping Cart range from Easyspace is delivered in 3 packages – Starter, Business and Pro – ranging from £14.99 per month through to £44.99 per month depending on requirements. Features included a selection of payment gateway options, marketing gateway options, import / export / discounting options, several security options and more.

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Entertainment, Events, Free Stuff, Internet, Online, Services, Social Networking, Web, Web 2.0

Melonbytes Is The World’s First Experience Encyclopedia

Look out, Twitter — social networking has taken on a new face. MelonBytes is the world’s first Experience Encyclopedia — an online community where users share experiences f r o m their lives through stories, photos and videos. It’s a way for people to learn about one another — and about life — through the unique perspectives of individuals f r o m all over the world. Whether it’s an exciting travel narrative or an intimate story about a first kiss, MelonBytes helps us become aware of the remarkable moments that make up our daily lives.

MelonBytes creator Scott McCarter is a Waterloo-based web designer with a truly innovative approach. “I want MelonBytes to help people understand what it’s like to live the life of someone else: to see what they see; feel what they feel; and experience what they experience,” he says. He has taken extreme measures to protect user privacy on the site, keeping last names and emails unpublished and allowing users to update and edit privacy s e t t i n g s at any time. “I know what a huge priority security is for everyone using social networks,” says McCarter. “I want people to feel they can share anything they like, without having to worry about censoring their writing.” 

Experiences are grouped together based on similar content, and are easy to find through a traditional keyword search, through topic categories and authors’ personal attributes. Features like a random experience button, a handy MelonBytes toolbar and “My MelonBytes” link buttons are added bonuses.

With an innovative concept and an already-dedicated user community, MelonBytes is poised to be the next big breakthrough in social networking. It’s only a matter of time before millions of users are vying for space on the site’s central “featured experiences” section, sharing their stories with a captive global audience.

Start sharing at www.melonbytes.com.

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Cloud Hosting, Dedicated Servers, eCommerce, Events, Hosting, Internet, Online, Secure Hosting, Services, Web

Rackspace Recognised By The European Business Awards 2009 For Customer Focus Excellence

Rackspace Hosting, a leading provider of IT hosting services, has announced that it has been successfully recognised as one of Europe’s leading customer service organisations by the European Business Awards 2009.

The European Business Awards recognises and rewards excellence, best practice and innovation in companies across the 27 EU member states. Now in its third year, the European Business Awards serve to showcase Europe’s most successful business achievements, with hundreds of companies entering each year. This year Rackspace Hosting achieved a top 10 place in the Award for Customer Focus category at the high profile awards ceremony, held in Rome on 7th April.

Brian Thomson, Managing Director at Rackspace, commented: “This recognition is particularly satisfying for us, as it really underlines our mantra of Fanatical Support. In the competitive IT hosting marketplace, everyone claims they deliver excellent customer service, so it’s great to prove that with Rackspace, customer focus is a reality, not just hype.

“2009 has already been a great year for recognition of our endeavours. This success follows closely on the heels of Rackspace being voted 15th best company to work for by the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies Awards, moving up nine places from 2008. This European recognition comes after Rackspace won the overall award for customer focus in the 2008 National Business Awards”.

The recognition Rackspace has achieved at these awards highlights the company’s total commitment to its customers through the Fanatical Support service which focuses on the 5 important key criteria of responsiveness, ownership, resourcefulness, expertise and transparency.

About Rackspace Hosting:
As the world’s leader and specialist in hosting, Rackspace Hosting is changing the way businesses worldwide buy IT. Rackspace delivers computing-as-a-service, integrating the industry’s best technologies into a flexible service offering, making computing more reliable and affordable.

A trusted partner to companies of all sizes, Rackspace enables IT departments to be more effective. Rackspace is distinguished by its award-winning Fanatical Support, furthering the company’s mission to be one of the world’s greatest service companies. Rackspace featured in the top 30 of both the Sunday Times 100 Best companies to work for list and the Financial Times Great Place to Work Awards, 2008.

Rackspace’s portfolio of hosted services includes managed hosting, hosted exchange and cloud hosting.

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Entertainment, Events, Free Stuff, Internet, Online, Services, Social Networking, Web

Divine Help For Success, Abundance, Peace And Prosperity

Online Pooja, Online Protection, Online Peace … The century old belief in the mind of millions of people that – after offering PUJA (worship) or Pooja and prayers at these temples nobody return with empty hands and their Desires get fulfilled. Online Puja or Pooja; Online Homa, Havan, Homam; Online Vedic Astrology etc. all are the parts and process of invoking Divine powers to remove your obstacles … to save you from your troubles & crisis… and to paves the way for giving you success, abundance, prosperity and peace in life… …with the Blessings of Hindu God & Goddess. These are some Indian Idols… INDIAN SPIRITUAL IDOLS… sometimes made of Soil, sometimes made of stones or sometimes made of wood …rested silently in temples …seems to be inert …but the vast store house of Spiritual powers… gateway to the Eternal Divinity …

Visit: 

http://www.kalighat.net, 

http://www.kalighatonline.com and

http://www.geocities.com/kaalighat 

to know more and explore the way of getting Success, abundance, peace and prosperity in life by means of spiritual act i.e. online Pooja, Online Homa and online Vedic Astrology.

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Domain Names, Hosting, Internet

Web Host Easyspace offers .TEL for General Availability

Easyspace, one of the largest web hosting and domain name providers in the UK, is now offering the popular .TEL domain extension during its General Availability launch stage.Having just complete its Sunrise and Landrush launch periods, the .TEL has proven to be a highly sought after extension, generating several thousand sales despite the premium price attached to it during those phases.The .Tel domain name Landrush period closed (and general availability opened) at 11.59pm, Monday 23rd March. As part of the transition, pricing and registration restrictions have changed, with the cost dropping to just £12.50 and minimum registration term dropping to just 1 year. Extended registrations are available up to 10 years.The .Tel is a new Top Level Domain (TLD) which enables individuals and businesses to store, updated and publish all contact details, web links and keywords directly on the internet under one unique .Tel domain name. The .Tel extension offers an integrated solution for all communication listings giving unlimited control over how and when users are contacted.Easyspace.com is one of only a handful of UK based domain name registrars who offered the .Tel domain name during its Landrush period, and is one of only a handful to offer it during General Availability.

“The .Tel extension received a massive response during its Landrush launch period despite the premium price attached to it. With that in mind, we’re expecting even more interest now that the price and minimum registration terms have reduced so significantly as part of the transition from Landrush to General Availability.” comments Errol Vanderhorst, Sales and Marketing Director for Easyspace.

To find out more, visit the .Tel domain pages on the Easyspace website at www.easyspace.com/tel_domains

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Advertising, B2b, Internet, News, Online, SEO, Services, Web, Web Marketing

Bigmouthmedia Uncovers Britains Missing Millions

Bigmouthmedia reports Britain’s top companies stand to lose out on a raft of sales in 2009 after an analysis of the FTSE 100’s digital marketing activity revealed that some of the country’s biggest brands are missing out on a potential online revenue stream worth over£370million.

While the majority of the UK’s leading companies run successful affiliate marketing campaigns responsible for increasing internet sales on average by 15%, many major corporations are still failing to exploit the channel. Now, after extensive research bigmouthmedia has revealed that based on available figures, a raft of household names stand to lose potential affiliate revenues of £376.3 million in the next year alone.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg. The research focused solely on FTSE100 operations, but if Britain’s biggest companies are failing to capitalise on such a lucrative revenue stream, the amounts being lost across the entire UK business spectrum could be quite remarkable,” said Lyndsay Menzies, Chief Operations Officer at bigmouthmedia.

Lyndsay continued, “Affiliate marketing is a well established and proven digital channel, and the fact that so many leading companies continue to ignore it is remarkable in light of the current economic situation.”

Online FTSE100 revenues were calculated using recent British Retail Index estimates that 15 pence in every pound is now spent online. Figures included only income derived from goods and services sold direct to consumers.

In the interests of accuracy, only FTSE listed companies trading with the public were included in the analysis. Due to the current unpredictable nature of the savings and loans sector, banking organisations were similarly discounted.

Although there is broad industry consensus that affiliate marketing campaigns that are run according to best practice guidelines can boost online revenues by up to 15%, bigmouthmedia calculated the listed companies’ potential 2009 income from the channel based on a more conservative figure of 10%.

“Affiliate marketing is a pay for performance model – you can see exactly where your pound is being spent. It’s a proven channel for acquiring new customers, driving incremental sales and getting brand exposure on sites that you would not necessarily traditionally target through other online marketing strategies,” said Jen Brain, Affiliates Manager at bigmouthmedia.

Jen concluded, “The low financial risk associated with the affiliate channel makes it an ideal marketing tool in the current economic environment and one that all transactional websites should look to invest in.”

About bigmouthmedia 
Founded in 1997, bigmouthmedia is Europe’s largest independent digital marketing agency. With a team of over 200 staff across 12 offices in 10 countries on 3 continents, the company maximises exposure for major brands online through a variety of fully integrated digital marketing channels: Search engine optimisation, PPC, Affiliate marketing, Social Media Planning, Online PR and Web Analytics. Bigmouthmedia also provides up to date daily digital marketing news, to ensure clients are fully informed and aware of all industry developments.

Leading the digital marketing strategies of a third of the UK’s most trusted brands, bigmouthmedia services over 300 big-brand customers globally including: MTV, Adidas, BT, Hilton, AOL, British Airways, Cisco, Tesco, Aer Lingus, BP, Barclays, Fasthosts, Jumeirah, Top Man, Debenhams, Air Berlin and Wall Street Institute.

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Advertising, B2b, Events, Internet, Online, Services, Web, Web Directories

Market Square Group Launched To Promote Events Industry

1 Month After its launch Market Square Group is already seeing a high volume of traffic as the economic conditions dictate a closer focus on the profitability of business activities.

The Market Square Group Website aims to provide:

a meeting place for market and festival traders, town centre managers, event organisers, event service providers, product wholesalers and businesses involved in corporate hospitality.

• What They Are Offering – Events, links, contacts and information that will benefit a range of individuals and groups all of whom need each other to grow and promote their businesses.

• A Forum – As Events Organisers ourselves we recognise the pressures on promoters, traders and service providers alike. One secondary aim in developing this website is to provide a forum for all those involved in events.

• Value in Events – The Market Square group believes that the demand for themed events and traceable products is growing. They aim to ensure value and validity in each venture they undertake.

Paul Kennedy managing director of Market Square Group Ltd says that all businesses must now be more competitive in terms of the services or products that they are offering. “We are first and foremost event organisers, but over the years have accumulated a wealth of knowledge in all aspects of the industry – so often the difference between success and failure is down to having the right contacts and local knowledge. When we think back to all the things that we might have done differently with the benefit of hindsight, it becomes clear how valuable such experience might be to others in the industry.

I suppose some might say that we are being over generous with the information that we are prepared to share, but we see it as a way of ensuring long term business relationships with our customers and, just as importantly, ensuring that events continue to attract visitors by developing the right themes”.

Market Square Group sees the development of its website as an addition to the traditional marketing techniques that it has always pursued. It believes that there is no replacement for direct personal contact when dealing with customers and we always take care to understand exactly who we are dealing with. New traders, event organisers, town centre managers, hospitality organisers who register on the site will always receive a phone or a personal e-mail from one of us in the office. Not only does the customer gain some reassurance, but it helps the company to determine how they might best be of assistance.

The company has seen a marked reduction in calls and e-mails from traders already on their books since the launch of the website. According to Annie Antor who is responsible for direct customer liaison, this is down to the fact that most of the questions are now answered by the information carried on the site. “Whereas in the past, stall holders have tended to call as each new question arises, they can now sit quietly in front of the PC and gain a thorough understanding of what we as a company are trying to achieve and how they might best benefit from our business. For example, we have made great efforts to give as much information as we can on our venues and events without rewriting the books on history and demographics. The addition of links to venue maps and venue reviews from the town centre mangers and event organisers provide extra help in decision making. Ultimately, we are presenting the facts – it is then for the customers to decide – the website is equally a reference tool as well as a marketing tool”.

There is no denying that the Market Square Group website is an attractive fellow, colourful, image driven and with a gently ironic nature. As many have learnt to their cost, however, there is no mileage in a website that is just a pretty face. So how does the back end assist the administrative side of the business and are the potential customers finding what they are looking for?

Paul Taylor from Byte Design, the company who built the site gives his point of view “Market Square Group came to us with a budget and a pretty good idea of what they wanted in terms of functionality and look. It was clear from the start that they knew more or less what they wanted from the start; our job was to provide a fully functional database that would provide an administrative system for the office whilst at the same time and use a little artistic licence to ensure that the site stood out from the crowd. I would rank the end result amongst the top 3 sites that we have delivered. This was made possible in part the nature of Market Square’s business and part by the demands of the Market Square’s MD – we really accepted a challenge with this one, but the end result will have long term benefits for us as well as the customer”.

The proof of this pudding should perhaps come from Lesley Collins who runs the admin side of Market Square Group “Until we had this database facility on the website, bookings and orders could come my way from a variety of directions including faxes, envelopes and notes on pieces of paper from phone bookings and printed off e-mails. Now, they all just sit there in cyberspace waiting for me to log on an pick them up – the best thing is that they can’t be accidently filed in the wrong box or dropped in the wastepaper bin. Less paper in the office too, and that to a large extent is what Market Square Group is really all about with its Keen Green and Ethical Trade Events.

So if you are a market or festival trader, event organiser or town centre manager visit the Market Square Group website today to explore ways of improving your business model and your revenue.

Via EPR Network
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Advertising, B2b, eCommerce, Internet, News, Online, SEO, Services, Web, Web Marketing

Bigmouthmedia Summit To Map Out Finance Sectors Online Battleground

Bigmouthmedia reveals that one of the UK’s leading online business experts is set to tell an audience of financial sector executives that the digital media will be a key battleground in their fight to beat the downturn.

Speaking ahead of the bigmouthmedia finance summit in April, Econsultancy CEO Ashley Friedlein believes that the finance industry faces a fight on two fronts over the coming year. In addition to coping with an uncertain market, he says the beleaguered sector will also be forced to come to terms with the explosive growth of social media.

“While the financial sector faces an unprecedented crisis of consumer confidence, it is also operating in an era where the way that businesses interact with the public is changing at a breakneck speed. The remarkable popularity of social networking applications such as twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook has taken many businesses by surprise, but the medium has already become a key commercial communications channel,” said Friedlein, “Coming to terms with these new channels and keeping pace with the rapid developments within them will be one of the critical challenges facing businesses in the months ahead.”

Drawing upon Econsultancy’s wealth of industry research, Friedlein plans to use the event to demonstrate how businesses can effectively engage the social media. Joining a line up of some of the UK’s best known online finance specialists, his presentation will contribute to an agenda designed to take participants through the key marketing strategies recommended to help businesses prosper in the current economic climate.

He will be joined by Senior Head of Financial Services at Google UK Ian Morgan and Tom Pearman, Finance Manager at Microsoft Advertising. Comscore’s Paolo Barbesino, Yahoo Finance Category Director Jeremy Fawcett and Will Cooper from New Media Age will also be presenting.

“It may be a tough time for the finance sector, but there are still opportunities for smart, successful companies working towards the recovery,” said Chris Cathcart, Senior Finance Strategist at bigmouthmedia.

He continued, “We designed this summit to highlight the positives, and the attendees can look forward to an exciting event focused on successful strategies, informal networking and a chance to speak directly with the people at the forefront of online finance in the UK today.”

The bigmouthmedia Finance Summit takes place in London on 8th April and is a free event aimed at senior marketing and ecommerce executives. Places are limited, but those wishing to attend can call 0845 130 0055 or email hello@bigmouthmedia.com for an invitation.

About bigmouthmedia 
Founded in 1997, bigmouthmedia is Europe’s largest independent digital marketing agency. With a team of over 200 staff across 13 offices in 10 countries on 3 continents, the company maximises exposure for major brands online through a variety of fully integrated digital marketing channels: PPC and Search Engine Optimisation, Online Media Planning, Affiliate marketing, Social Networking, Brand Monitoring, Online PR and Web Analytics.

Leading the digital marketing strategies of a third of the UK’s most trusted brands, bigmouthmedia services over 300 big-brand customers globally including: Adidas, Hilton, British Airways, Tesco, Aer Lingus, BP, Barclays, Castrol, Conrad International, Dorling Kindersley, Early Learning Centre, , Fasthosts, Jumeirah, Canon, Samsung, Starbucks, Top Man, Debenhams, Which?, Lacoste, Euler Hermes and Wall Street Institute.

Via EPR Network
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Internet, Online, SEO, Services, Web Design & Development

Web Site Company Focused On Disable Friendly Designs

Companies are becoming more aware of how their web site appears to users and how to improve their accessibility. However, there is an audience that is still being forgotten when designing a web site; the disabled.

Disabilities range immensely, but The Creare Group is working towards creating their websites to cater for some of the conditions people possess that affects their use of the Internet. The Creare Group is a company who is discovering different tools to use on their site to ensure they are user friendly for everyone.

With video files integrated on their site, The Creare Group sees this as a tool that may be appealing for those with limited eye site. The percentage of web sites that are accessible to people who are visually impaired is less than a third and there needs to be ways to make websites far more user friendly.

The videos explain what the Creare Group can offer a customer in terms of a web design, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and to also explain their new franchise opportunities that have opened this year. These videos are such a proven success that The Creare Group is now offering their customers a web design to enhance usability.

The Creare Group is always looking out for ways to cater for different audiences. They have done thorough research and have contacted a variety of charities to enquire about tools that could help towards making sites friendlier to those who have limited eyesight, difficulty with navigation and other disabilities that affect a persons use of the Internet.

The information that has been found is vital to the growth and improvement of not only The Creare Group sites, but also for their customers, by working towards making their web sites more accessible for the disabled. There has been a progress of what requirements are needed to aid those with accessibility difficulties.

Research is on going, but the progress The Creare Group intends to make will hopefully make their sites far easier to access and to make time online less stressful for those that have unique requirements.

Via EPR Network
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Affiliate Program, Entertainment, Internet, Online, Web

Virgin Casino Joins Single Wallet System

Virgin Affiliates casino player reports will be unavailable for seven days (starting Thursday, March 12) for essential upgrade work. Tracking will remain unaffected while this is taking place, and all your new players will show up in your reports as soon as the new system in live. Virgin Poker and Virgin Bingo tracking and reporting will work just as usual too.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

As part of this upgrade, please note that the Virgin Casino signup bonus will increase tomorrow (Thursday 12/03/2009) from 100% match Bonus up to £50 to 100% match Bonus up to £100.

We thank you in advance for updating your sites accordingly.

What is happening at Virgin Games?

Virgin Games is historically a marketing company that has promoted gaming services from three different gaming operators (Wagerworks for Casino, Boss Media for Poker and St Minver for Bingo).

We have made the big jump Last November when we officially became an operating company in our own right. That’s when Virgin Poker was added to our new shiny single account/single wallet system.

This is now Virgin Casino’s turn. From tomorrow onwards your Virgin Casino players will be able to switch seamlessly between Virgin Poker and Virgin Casino play, using the same wallet and same Virgin Games account and qualifying for common bonuses. As an affiliate you will be rewarded for all their Poker and Casino activity without having to promote the products individually.

The circle will be completed in May, when Virgin Bingo joins the party. At this stage Virgin Bingo remains independent from the rest, and you should still promote it as an individual product.

What does it mean for the players?

Becoming an operating company not only means Virgin Casino customer will now be helped by our new in-house call centre from tomorrow, it also means we will own and manage player databases and payment processing systems.

Improved customer experience

Customer service is at the core of the Virgin philosophy. Up to now, this part of our Virgin Casino support business has been in the capable hands of Wagerworks, but the time has now come to get our hands dirty and leverage what Virgin is best known for. Our plan is simple: inject Virgin’s tradition of great customer care to the world of online gaming, and make sure our visitors are welcomed, entertained and supported the way they deserve to be.

Centralized, owned and managed player database

Each of our gaming products has required individual registration. Until now it was hard for our players to browse seamlessly through our game offerings. This is about to change. No more Virgin Casino, Virgin Poker or Virgin Bingo players, we’re building a happy home where all of our players will become Virgin Games players, regardless of their game-play preferences. Once all our products are integrated, new players will only need to register once, after which they will have access to our full library of games. Whether they prefer slot games, multi-table poker or a quick game of bingo, they’ll only ever be a few clicks away from thrilling entertainment.

Centralized, owned and managed new single wallet

Imagine owning three different wallets for your shopping: one to buy bread, one for vegetables, and a third one for milk. Doesn’t make much sense, does it? Not to worry: as Bob the builder would put it, our single wallet will fix this! Under the new system, all deposits, awarded bonuses and winnings – regardless of the type of game played – will be safely stored in the new Virgin Games single wallet, which will allow your players to use their funds wherever they want, whenever they want. Just like in real life, only without the queue at the supermarket checkout.

What does it mean for you, the affiliate partner?

From increased cross-product revenues and holistic player reports to across-the board prime commission rates, this brings our affiliates nothing but good news!

More cross-product revenue

By making it easier for our players to get in touch directly with us, register, deposit, withdraw and – most importantly – switch quickly and seamlessly between game types, this is guaranteed to generate increased cross-product revenue for the affiliates sending us players.

Only prime commission rates

We are keeping the 50% welcome rate for 2 months, after which our standard base rates jumps from 30% to 35% flat for both Poker AND Casino, and we are dropping the tiered system.

Virgin Bingo rates remain unchanged at this stage.

Confused? Here’s an example :

You are a new affiliate who sends us a new player from a Cleopatra or Elvis banner from your site. Chances are this player likes playing slot machines. As the affiliate who sent us this player, not only will you get 35% (or whatever rate you’re on) revenue share on his slots game-play, but you will also – should this player decide to play poker a few days later – get a full 35% on his poker rake. Whatever game the player you sent decides to go for, and whatever the software provider, you will receive prime rates for their play, across all games all the time.

New reporting

Even though most of our promotional strategy through the affiliate system will remain unchanged (we will still provide game specific banners and marketing tools), the boundaries between products and type of players will slowly fade, and your reports will change accordingly.

When is this happening?

Virgin Casino will be integrated tomorrow 6am GMT. From this time onwards everyone you send who registers at Virgin Casino will become a Virgin Games player, earning you automatic commission on both Casino and Poker gameplay.

What is going to change, and how?

Player report

Your new “Virgin Games” Player Report will now show Virgin Games players who have played at Virgin Casino AND Virgin Poker (as opposed to one report for Virgin Casino and another one for Virgin Poker). Virgin Bingo will remain as a separate tab until it joins the party next May.

Filters will be added to the Player Report so you will be able to run it only for Poker or Casino gameplay, or both.

A drop down archive report will also be available for you to check your old stats:
– pre Virgin Casino integration – taking place tomorrow,
– pre Poker integration (i.e. before 19th November 2008, but that\’s already available in our system)

It might get a bit confusing at first but you will soon be able to make sense of it all. In any case, help is – as always – just a click away:
affiliates@virgingames.com.

Snapshot report: unchanged.

Creatives report: unchanged.

Payment report : unchanged.

Marketing tools

Important: Virgin Casino signup bonus is changing from 100% match bonus up to £50 to 100% match bonus up to £100. Make sure you modify our bonus information on your sites accordingly.

Virgin Casino Banners will be automatically updated with the new bonus, nothing for you to do here (unless you host the banners yourself, then read the end of this email).

Casino Bonus aside, no other change, each product will be promoted individually, the only difference is that a player coming from a Virgin Poker banner could make most of your commission on Virgin Casino without you having anything to do about it.
Groovy!

Tracking

There will be no change to our trackers. We take pride in the backwards compatibility of our system, so you will not need to do anything when switchover happens tomorrow. You can keep on using the same tracking links you’ve always used, as we took care of plugging them into our new database.

Graphics, Banners, Branding

New structure generally involves new branding, and we won’t be the odd ones out: new logos, new messages and imagery are part of the reshuffling, and that’s exciting news. Again you will not need to move a finger. We’ll make sure our banners, logos and other graphic materials are overwritten with the flashy new version, so the updated versions will show automatically on your site.

Note: if you are hosting the banners locally, it is your responsibility to get the updated version from our site.

We remind you that Virgin Casino will increase signup bonus from 100% up to £50 to 100% up to £100. Make sure you pick up and host the new banners!

We understand it may be more practical / reassuring for some affiliates to host the banners themselves; but if you do you will be responsible for the extra work that goes with this decision, i.e. you will need to manually update all of your outdated banners. This is really important as the last thing anyone wants is a visitor getting to our site through an interest for an outdated promotion. This is as bad PR for us as it is for you (the affiliate), as we will have to apologize to the player and explain that you should have updated your site and didn’t.

Via EPR Network
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Affiliate Program, Internet, Online, Searching, Security, Services

UK’s Leading Online People Search Facility Establishes A New Affiliate Marketing Campaig

Tracesmart, the UK’s leading online people search facility continues to go from strength to strength despite the economic conditions, as the company sees year on year growth approaching 25%. Tracesmart provides a quick and easy way to search the electoral roll to conduct an address search or people search and thousands of their customers have been able to find relatives or long lost friends using the service.

This week Tracesmart will launch its new affiliate program whereby partners or affiliates will promote the company’s service by way of banner advertising on their respective websites and receive commission based on sales attributed to their banner link. The aim is to attract as many websites as possible to sign up to the program to increase the company’s brand awareness and drive traffic. It will, in addition, generate income for our affiliate members, as leads are converted into sales.

Matthew Hopkins, Tracesmart’s Internet Marketing Executive and Affiliate Manager commented, This affiliate program is an important development for our people search, address search and electoral roll search facilities. This project will help deliver my key objectives over the next twelve months and we are hopeful of witnessing further sales growth from our online people search service.”

Hopkins added, “Following exhaustive research, online marketing company, Deal Group Media or ‘DGM’ were chosen to deliver and administer the project on our behalf. DGM is probably the UK’s most experienced affiliate network, specialising in affiliate and search engine marketing. It’s important to get the right partnership in place to manage such a key program as this.”

The internet has become a far bigger proposition nowadays, becoming a key consumer authority, a means of discovery, research, reference, discussion and help. For many, the internet is now the first port of call for many activities including people searching and genealogy and Tracesmart are proactively tapping into it.

Affiliate marketing has become an essential channel for driving customer growth. As broadband penetration and consumer online spending continues to rise, so does the importance of a successful affiliate program. The online sector is changing dramatically as traditional TV and radio revenue declines. The online medium is taking the lead as a new generation of consumer is emerging, influencing the significance of affiliate marketing.

Owen Roberts, Tracesmart’s Communications Manager stated, “We are confident that the affiliate program will significantly add value, to help promote our services, generate brand awareness, and increase traffic to our online people search facility, and ultimately boost sales. It’s an exciting period for us at the moment.”

  • Tracesmart Ltd – Since the launch of its website in 2004, Cardiff based Tracesmart has established itself as one of the UK’s leading providers of online people tracing tools. www.tracesmart.co.uk combines state of the art search technology with an extensive collection of consumer data, providing one of the most powerful and successful systems to trace people.
  • Matthew Hopkins has been working within the field of Internet Marketing since 2002. He is currently responsible for driving high volumes of traffic to the Tracesmart website through SEO, PPC and Social Networking. Matthew has now taken on further responsibility as the Tracesmart Affiliate Manager.
  • Owen Roberts has worked in the creative, advertising and communications industries for over 25 years and is the voice of Tracesmart. Heading up the communications team, he raises the public awareness of the company through various media driven PR campaigns.
Free Stuff, Internet, SEM, SEO, Services, Traffic, Web Marketing

Free SEO Tools Collection

For companies looking to promote their sites on search engines and over the Internet, a new collection of SEO Tools has been published by Dixon Jones, the managing director of Receptional through his personal blog. Search engine optimisation professionals are often fiercely protective of all the tools and systems that they use to develop their craft, even though most tools are fairly accessible, so it is always helpful when those in the industry share some of their secrets.

The tools that Dixon is advocating include some “home grown” seo tools and differ from some of the many page rank checkers and auto submission software that still pervades the industry to this day. His Link analyser makes an effort to extract signs of quality from Yahoo’s Back-link data API, for example, rather than simply relying on the back-link count. Dixon Jones said: “To be honest – we have a considerably more powerful system for mapping back-links than this tool, but the one I have shown here is free for anyone to use and has the advantage of being able to quickly compare the relative strengths of two competing websites.

Dixon’s company has also developed a tool that quickly shows developers how a web page is likely to be viewed by Google when it has been indexed. The S.E.R.P.S. Preview Tool” is an SEO Tool that helps developers avoid creating pages that a user will never click on from a search result.

Another tool reflects the modern day approach to Internet Marketing, by providing a simple – but effective way to manage your passwords over multiple social networking sites, In the current age of Internet marketing, it is entirely possible – even likely – to develop hundreds of passwords just to “keep it altogether”. This presents a very real security risk if you use the same password across multiple systems. If any one system gets compromised, one’s whole social network could also be compromised. This tool allows you to remember one password, yet generates unique passwords for all domains.

All the SEO tools are free to use, although some are third party. Dixon Jones is due to speak in Iceland and Ireland in March about Search marketing and SEO. (Ref: Qvswr)

About Receptional.com
Receptional.com caters for the growing number of companies who wish to realise the potential of their web sites. The company offers a portfolio of internet marketing services to maximise and monitor web site traffic and has an enviable reputation for the management of paid and unpaid search for its clients. Receptional remains one of only ten UK search engine marketing companies granted Overture accreditation.

Via EPR Network
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