Tag Archives: B2b

B2b, Dedicated Servers, Domain Names, E-mail, Hosting, Internet, Secure Hosting, Services

Report Says That Firms Are Not Measuring If Their Website Is Working

Fasthosts, a leading web hosting provider and domain name registrar, reports that 43 per cent of UK companies admit that they have no quantifiable method of measuring whether their website is effective, according to recently released research released.

The study of 430 UK firms (431 UK businesses with a website surveyed via electronic feedback form) by Fasthosts found that whilst the average business has published a website for 3-4 years, a huge number of businesses have no numerical grasp on how well their website is performing, or whether it is leading to sales. One in four owners do not believe their website has potential as a sales channel. A remarkable 77 per cent of firms fail to measure any type of ‘return on investment’ for their websites, and 1 in 3 owners (34 per cent) admit that they have never considered checking the popularity or effectiveness of their website. The research suggests that many companies are failing to analyse and optimise online as diligently as they do other areas of their operation.

Whilst studies show that the majority of business owners today realise the importance of having a presence on the Internet, it appears that a great many do no more than publish their website. Fasthosts’ survey of 430 small local businesses using a website, found that over 40 per cent currently do not use data (such as a graphical web statistics tool to assess whether their website is working to support their business goals. During the first half of 2009, the vast majority of SMEs (83 per cent) have not analysed their websites performance against their business plan.

Despite half of businesses feeling happy with their websites and 43 per cent viewing these as integral to their marketing efforts, it would appear that a great many firms simply do not know whether their website is making the right impact. Only 57 per cent of firms do monitor their website performance by checking an overall traffic volume statistic for their homepage. However, only 40 per cent currently analyse where their website visitors are being referred from, an essential element of effective online marketing. Furthermore, only 33 per cent of owners who do measure their website look at the click-through rates to individual sections of the site.

It is perhaps unsurprising over three quarters of businesses questioned (77 per cent) make no assessment of ‘return on investment’ for their websites. Only 11 per cent of those surveyed, judged the effectiveness of their website in terms of ‘clicks vs. sales’ or ‘web cost per order’. Worryingly, the research would suggest that for a significant number of companies, expectations for their website are rather low. 1 in 4 owners (23 per cent) still do not believe their website has potential to be a sales channel.

However, nowadays easy-to-use tools are available for any business owner to evaluate the effectiveness of their website themselves. For example, Fasthosts provides its hosting customers with a free MatrixStats tool, a graphical web statistics tool that provides an instant snapshot of how well websites and domains are performing.

Steve Holford, CMO Fasthosts Internet Ltd., said: “By taking note of their website statistics and making necessary changes, many companies we work with enjoy a real fiscal impact.”

Via EPR Network
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B2b, B2C, Database, eCommerce, Online, Search, Searching, Services, Tracing

Tracesmart Won The South Wales Chamber Of Commerce Excellence In eBusiness Award For 2009

The Cardiff based people search specialists, Tracesmart, have won the South Wales Chamber of Commerce Excellence in eBusiness award for 2009. The award was presented to Tracesmart by the distinguished journalist and television personality, John Sergeant at a glittering ceremony and dinner to honour the best in Welsh business. The event was the culmination of the Chamber’s Business Week in Wales.

Following 10 years of growth, investment and continued technical advancement, Tracesmart has developed one of the UK’s leading people tracing facilities. Utilising a range of consumer datasets, including the continuously updated electoral roll, the online resource delivers an intuitive tracing service to the general public.

The web based facility offers, amongst a multitude of functions, an address search feature, affording consumers an easy to use resource to find relatives and friends. The facility has, over the years, helped reunite thousands of families and friends, whose stories have often attracted media attention.

Mike Trezise, Tracesmart’s Managing Director commented, “We are delighted to have won the Chamber of Commerce Excellence in eBusiness award, it’s a notable mark of distinction and a tribute to the work we do at Tracesmart. We constantly strive to develop and improve our online services, and it’s great that our work has been recognised.”

Tracesmart’s Communications Manager, Owen Roberts added, “The South Wales Chamber has built up an excellent reputation within Wales and has firmly established itself as the nation’s most prominent business support organisation. We are proud to be associated with the Chamber and are extremely pleased to have won the award. The company has changed and grown significantly over recent times and we are now reaping the benefits of our hard work.”

Tracesmart will now receive automatic entry to the British Chambers of Commerce national awards.

Via EPR Network
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B2b, B2C, Internet, Online, Services, Website Localization

Foreign Translations, Inc. Unveils Its New French Language Website foreigntranslations.fr

This week Foreign Translations, Inc. unveils its new French language website (www.foreigntranslations.fr). The Company has created this new website specifically to offer French translation services for companies throughout Europe. As English slowly becomes less common as the primary business language of the Internet, Foreign Translations, Inc. is keenly aware of consumer interest in conducting business in the native language. In response to this ever increasing demand, Foreign Translations, Inc. is launching this French website on the heels of its Spanish language website.

Website Adapted For French Culture

This newly designed website provides a richer, more informative experience for the French community which is proud of its French language and culture and places great value in the French translation of content into its native language. With research indicating that French is the sixth most popular language on-line and the most widely used in Europe, Foreign Translations, Inc. decided that creating a French language website would allow the French speaking community an easy and verifiable way of connecting with this highly qualified company that assists in international communications and global ventures into new markets. Like its English counterpart, the French website delivers an array of helpful resources. Through the new French language website, Foreign Translations, Inc.’s French clients are given information on its quality assurance and guarantees, the ability to request quotes, and information about its translators, processes, and pricing.

Focus is on Targeting French Companies in Europe

As with all of Foreign Translations, Inc.’s ventures, the company completed its due diligence in analyzing the French culture and adapting its French website – www.foreigntranslations.fr, to include services and procedures that complement this target market, research and application of culturally appropriate color schemes as well as Multilingual Search Engine Optimization strategies. According to CEO, Ken Zwerdling, “The roll out of our French language website provides us direct access to French businesses in France, Germany, Spain and Italy as well as the French speaking population located in other regions around the world. French companies now have a more cost effective means of acquiring English to French and French to English Translations. It is another step in the process to expand the Foreign Translations brand worldwide.”

The continuing development of the Foreign Translations, Inc. multilingual website network is part of the company’s strategy to remain at the cutting edge of the highest quality translation services offered to its valued clients.

About Foreign Translations, Inc.

Foreign Translations, Inc. (www.foreigntranslations.com) is an 11- year old foreign language translation, interpreting and website translation firm headquartered in Greenville, SC.

Via EPR Network
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Advertising, B2b, Events, Internet, News, Online, Search, Searching, SEM, SEO, Web Marketing

Fujitsu Has Chosen bigmouthmedia To Lead Its International PPC Campaign

Fujitsu Technology Solutions GmbH selected the Edinburgh based search engine optimisation company following a multi-agency pitch. Bigmouthmedia will now lead the company’s paid search advertising campaign in more than 25 countries worldwide, including Germany, France and the United Kingdom.

David Hardy, bigmouthmedia group’s international sales and marketing director, commented on the deal saying: “We’re delighted to be working for such an internationally renowned brand like Fujitsu. One of bigmouthmedia’s key strengths is our international scope, and our demonstrable expertise in running complex multi-language campaigns has been a key factor in winning this account.”

He added: “Over the past 12 years we have established a proven track record in managing big brands across multiple territories, and I am confident we will enjoy similar success with our strategy for what promises to be a challenging and exciting campaign.”

Fujitsu’s digital marketing requirements also included an increase in the profile, turnover and traffic on their international sites as well as the capacity to oversee new product and service launches. Beginning work immediately, bigmouthmedia now develops and manages Fujitsu’s PPC campaigns in more than 25 countries, including Italy, Spain, Turkey, Scandinavia and the Eastern European countries.

About bigmouthmedia
Founded in 1997, bigmouthmedia is Europe’s largest and most experienced digital marketing agency and was rated the UK’s #1 Search agency for Search Engine Optimisation and PPC in the 2009 NMA Marketing Services Guide.

Bigmouthmedia’s 200+ online marketing experts across 12 international offices maximise online brand exposure for our clients by means of integrated digital strategies incorporating SEO, PPC, social media marketing, affiliate marketing, display advertising, online PR and copywriting.

Via EPR Network
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Advertising, B2b, B2C, Domain Names, E-mail, eCommerce, Events, Hosting, Internet, ISPs, Services, Web

BT Business And Google Today Announced An Agreement To Offer Digital Marketing Services To Small Businesses

The alliance will involve BT Business becoming a Google AdWordsâ„¢ Authorised Reseller. Small businesses can now access Google’s base of millions of UK users and receive professional, full-service AdWords account management, from account setup and activation to ongoing campaign monitoring and optimisation, through BT Business.

More than one million businesses already served by BT Business, including the 350,000 members of BT Tradespace, will benefit from the agreement.

“Small businesses are looking to the internet to compete and grow in these tough economic times,” said Bill Murphy, managing director at BT Business. “Our own research across 700,000 small business websites shows that the majority need help to optimise search and effectively use search engine marketing. They don’t often have the skills internally to manage this and need affordable services and support. Working with Google AdWords will enable us to help smaller companies promote themselves and engage with customers, partners and suppliers online as well as larger businesses.”

The addition of the Google AdWords online advertising platform means BT Business can now offer customers a complete range of digital marketing services to help them promote their businesses effectively on the Web. From setting up a website and managing an online marketing campaign to ensuring they can effectively extend their business relationships through customer management tools and business social networking profiles such as BT Tradespace and other business applications.

Matt Brittin, Managing Director at Google UK & Ireland said: “Many businesses already use Google AdWords to reach new customers locally, across the UK and across the world. BT Business can now offer targeted, accountable and cost effective AdWords advertising to more than a million small businesses in the UK. We look forward to working with BT to help more small businesses get the most out of the online opportunity.”

About BT Business
BT Business understands the challenges that businesses face in the current climate, and supports cost control, improved productivity and winning business with technology including business broadband & internet, domain names and web hosting packages, IT support and mobile services including BlackBerry.

Via EPR Network
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B2b, B2C, Database, Online, Search, Searching, Services, Tracing

Data Cleansing Experts Shortlisted for Industry Award

Consumer data specialists Tracesmart have been shortlisted for a new industry award. Following the submission of an application into the ‘Best PR/Advertising Campaign’ category of the CSA (Credit Services Association) Awards, the Tracesmart Corporate ‘Nobody home?’ campaign has made the shortlist.The winner is to be announced at the CSA’s annual Gala Dinner, which concludes the CSA & DBSG (Debt Buyers and Sellers Group) Conference in Brighton later this month.

Tracesmart’s ‘Nobody home?’ entry, employs a variety of promotional mediums to communicate its message. The campaign promotes the Tracesmart Corporate data cleansing and debtor tracing services, which can be utilised to verify debtor residency and trace people.

The message which the campaign conveys is that Tracesmart’s services make it simple to confirm whether a debtor is resident or not – a task which is even more pertinent in the current economic climate, as more individuals attempt to avoid paying debt. Commenting on the imagery used to symbolise how difficult it can be to confirm residency, Adam Smith – Tracesmart’s Marketing Manager – commented,

“Our creative brainstorming session led to the idea of a vacant house to symbolise someone who may no longer be resident, however this concept did not deliver the striking imagery we required. It eventually evolved into the more abstract concept of an empty tortoise shell. This image ticked all the boxes; whilst the shell appears empty, it could still have a resident, thus epitomising the problem of confirming debtor residency.”

The concept has clearly worked for Smith’s team as Tracesmart have seen impressive results from the campaign. Commenting on the effectiveness of the ‘Nobody home?’ campaign, Chris Rothwell – Sales Director for Tracesmart – remarked, “The campaign’s creative concept has been well received by the industry and this has been reflected in the campaign results to date.

So far, in comparison to our last financial year, lead generation is up 53% for the sector, which has significantly boosted sales of the services promoted by the campaign. From a brand awareness point of view, this campaign has definitely helped to highlight how we can help debt collection agencies and enforcers verify debtor residency and locate gone aways.”

Via EPR Network
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B2b, Internet, ISPs, Programming, Security, Services, Software, Web, Web 2.0, Web Design & Development

A Free Trial Security Scanner That Identifies Security Weaknesses In Web Applications

GamaSec has launched a free trial option of its web vulnerability scanner, which allows companies to check for Cross Site Scripting (XSS), SQL injection, Code Inclusion etc.. ) as well as site exposure risk, ranks threat priority, produces highly graphical, intuitive HTML reports, and indicates site security posture by vulnerabilities and threat exposure

Security Scanner

The GamaSec Free trial of Web Vulnerability Scanner (WVS) is available immediately at: https://www.gamasec.com/gsf/FreeTrial.aspx

According to the Gartner Group, “97% of the over 300 web sites audited were found vulnerable to web application attack,” and “75% of the cyber attacks today are at the application level.”

Everyday there are thousands of new internet users online. Despite the fact that more people all the time are making purchases on the internet, there are a great deal of consumers who remain uneasy about the process and because of that are timid about the internet. Consumers are becoming more and more smarter, more savvy and more guarded about what can put them at risk. Online customers need to be confident that their personal information is safe and that their privacy will be upheld at all times.

“Companies don’t realize the danger their web sites are under and are therefore reluctant to invest in web vulnerability scanners. Consequently, security officers don’t have the tools to protect their websites. The GamaSec free trial scanner will give security officers access to a professional security tests of web applications and detects Cross Site Scripting, SQL Injection and other web application vulnerabilities and produces recommended solutions that can fix or provide a viable workaround to the identified vulnerabilities, when you need them, not when it is already too late,” said Avi D.Bartov, GamaSec CEO.

GamaSec vulnerabilities scan requires no installation, no set-up, no hardware purchases, no software development, and no IT security expertise. Customers do not need any special training to use it.

About GamaSec Web Vulnerability Scanner
GamaSec web application scanner crawl the entire website, analyze in-depth each & every file, and display the entire website structure. The GamaSec Scanner built from the ground up on a completely different technology backbone than its competitors; GamaSec goes beyond signature-based tools to find more “real” vulnerabilities.

Via EPR Network
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Advertising, B2b, Internet, Online, Search, SEM, SEO, Web Marketing

Bigmouthmedia Has Responded To Google’s Decision To Open Up Its Adsense System To Third Party Networks By Stating That If Successful, The Move Will Change The Shape Of The Online Display Advertising Industry Forever

Under the terms of the policy change, advertising networks that have traditionally focused activity on big brand sites will now have access to Google’s extensive network of blogs, forums and websites. Opening up a potential new revenue stream for thousands of site operators worldwide, the move underlines the search giant’s determination to extend its reach beyond text advertising and into the world of display.

“This is an event that should make all intelligent publishers and advertisers think hard about their activities. Google is clearly determined to make a serious impact upon the display sector and if this move works, their dominance over online advertising will be extended,” said Lyndsay Menzies, Chief Operations Officer at bigmouthmedia.

“Traditional ad buyers will face a new world if Google manage to make this work. They’ll be looking at an environment where site owners can block entire networks if they don’t perform or can block specific advertisers. Display will be less about big deals and negotiating with decision makers and will become much more like search marketing in terms of its scientific and performance led nature.”

Welcoming Google’s insistence that only networks that meet their privacy, speed and quality guidelines will be included in the expanded AdSense, bigmouthmedia believes that the move will require significant changes to the thought process behind a display campaign. Micro-management will become more important as individual publishers are given the opportunity to opt out of entire ad networks or ban ads from certain sites.

“This is a very interesting move which will work if the thousands of AdSense publishers out there support the move. If there’s enough demand from the AdSense publisher community then ad networks will certainly not want to pass on the opportunity,” said Andrew Girdwood, Bigmouthmedia’s Head of Search.

About bigmouthmedia
Founded in 1997, bigmouthmedia is Europe’s largest and most experienced digital marketing agency and was rated the UK’s #1 Search agency for Search Engine Optimisation and PPC in the 2009 NMA Marketing Services Guide.

Bigmouthmedia’s 200+ online marketing experts across 12 international offices maximise online brand exposure for our clients by means of integrated digital strategies incorporating SEO, PPC, Social Media Marketing, Affiliate marketing, Display Advertising, Online PR and Copywriting.

Via EPR Network
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B2b, Dedicated Servers, Domain Names, E-mail, Hosting, Internet, Secure Hosting, Services

Fasthosts Internet Announced That An API Is Now Available To Their Resellers Free Of Charge

Fasthosts Internet, a leading reseller web hosting provider, has announced that an API (Application Protocol Interface) is now available to their resellers free of charge through their control panel. Allowing for automation and enhanced control, this complimentary tool gives Fasthosts’ resellers easier management of their reseller business and customer base.

Fasthosts’ API is a flexible and powerful resource that can be seamlessly incorporated into resellers’ websites. Fasthosts partners can customize the interface to perform tasks that are best suited to their needs. Most importantly, its automated performance leaves business leaders with more time and energy to put towards things like marketing and sales.

For Fasthosts, this is an important step in boosting the company’s appeal within such a competitive market. Stephen Holford, Chief Marketing Officer for Fasthosts, highlighted that the company is committed to providing a world class service for its resellers and believes this API will be an extremely valuable reseller tool to Fasthosts partners.

The API allows resellers to automate new customer signups, create admin tools for end-customers, and process customer orders automatically. Resellers using the API can have their customers set up hosting directly from their website and secure domain names in real-time. What’s more is the potential for resellers to increase their profit margins – this API is an efficient mechanism for running a smooth and profitable business operation.

Fasthosts is automatically including the API into its reseller control panels. It is accessible using any server side language, and provides full documentation and examples for all API functions. Resellers are also given test scripts as another way to customize the API for their business needs.

About Fasthosts
Fasthosts is the UK’s leading web hosting company. Based in the UK and operating 24×7 from its dedicated UK data centres, Fasthosts keeps over 1 million domains running smoothly and ensures over 6 million emails are delivered safely each day.

Via EPR Network
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B2b, Dedicated Servers, Domain Names, E-mail, Hosting, Internet, Secure Hosting, Services

Report Says Non-Profit Websites Grow Amidst UK Recession

Fasthosts Internet Ltd, a leading web hosting provider and domain name registrar, today reported a marked increase in the number of .ORG domains registered by non-profit organisations during the past year. The domain suffix has out-grown in percentage terms many other non business top-level domain suffixes, indicating an increase in the number of non-profit and charitable projects being launched in the first half of 2009. The unique growth lends weight to the theory that many such organisations have initiated or grown web-based projects in response to the global recession.

The .ORG domain name is the domain of choice for organisations dedicated to serving the public interest. Data from Fasthosts, one of the UK’s largest domain name registrars, shows that .ORG registrations made by its customers grew by 27% compared to the same period in 2008. The domain has seen the highest demand over all other non-business domains. Whilst domain success can often be skewed by short-term price promotions, the growth of .ORG comprises like for like growth over the 12 month period.

As many UK charities have reported falls in donation income since the economy slowed down, such growth in .ORG domain registrations may suggest that non-profit bodies have stepped up investment in the internet. Web solutions now offer such groups extremely cost effective and scalable channels for gathering support and participation for causes, and taking donations directly from a website.

Steve Holford, CMO Fasthosts Internet Ltd, said: “It is pleasing to note the growth of the .ORG community and witness the remarkable difference that the web can deliver to non-profit organisations. In challenging economic times, such groups are wise to leverage the efficiencies and visibility that online projects can offer.”

Holford added: “Just as the recession has led UK businesses to step up ecommerce efforts, the Internet is the right logical step for non-profit groups to broaden their reach and safeguard their revenues.”

iT4Communities, a Fasthosts customer, is a charity that runs a large UK-wide network of IT volunteers who support hundreds of charity IT projects a year. They have seen a steady increase in requests for volunteer help with websites for small charities year on year. It remains the largest area of request for help as charities strive for a good website that helps them reduce costs and attract more support.

Anne Stafford, Programme Manager for iT4Communities, said: “Charities are relishing the benefits of websites with a CMS, making it cost effective to update their information and easier for volunteers to help as building a good site can take much less time”.

Fasthosts is a leading provider for shared and dedicated web hosting and business-class email solutions, and is the UK market leader for reseller web hosting.

Via EPR Network
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Advertising, Affiliate Program, B2b, SEM, SEO, Social Networking, Web, Web Marketing

Lakestar Media Signs With Sunwin New & Used Motors To Provide SEO And PPC For The Company’s Motor Sales And Bodyshop Website

Lakestar Media today announced that it has driven through a deal with Sunwin New & Used Motors to provide SEO and PPC for the company’s motor sales and bodyshop website. Part of The Co-operative Group, Sunwin Motors operates a number of car and van dealerships and bodyshops throughout the North and Midlands.

Lakestar Media Signs With Sunwin New & Used Motors To Provide SEO And PPC For The Company’s Motor Sales And Bodyshop Website

Lakestar Media’s director of sales Scott Reed said: “We’ve developed a solid and mutally beneficial working relationship with The Co-operative Group over the last 18 months and we’re delighted to provide SEO and PPC for another part of this leading UK retailing group.”

Sunwin MD for specialist commercial business Mike Austin said: “This partnership is based on both companies understanding that the key to success lies in striving to exceed customers’ expectations. We do that for our customers and we expect Lakestar Media to do the same for us. From what we’ve witnessed of how they handle other parts of The Co-operative Group’s online promotion we are confident of success.”

Lakestar Media recently moved into larger premises in order to accommodate an ever-expanding list of clients, and has increased their services offering in order to help cement their place in the digital marketing world as a leading UK agency.

Lakestar Media is a leading digital marketing agency offering a professional and individually tailored service to its diverse and exciting client portfolio. Established in December 2007, Lakestar Media delivers a mix of search engine optimisation (SEO), paid search (PPC), affiliate marketing, display advertising (OMP) and social media services for their customers.

Via EPR Network
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B2b, B2C, Database, Online, Search, Searching, Services, Tracing

Identity Verification Experts Reach Half-Million GRO Mortality Records

Tracesmart, the data and fraud prevention specialists, this week reached a landmark half million mortality records received from the General Register Office (GRO) as part of the Disclosure of Death Registration Information (DDRI) scheme. The UK Death Registration Information (DRI) was first released in September 2008 and Tracesmart Corporate were the first organisation to be approved by the GRO to receive the weekly update of the DRI following rigorous examination. The DRI is only accessible for the purposes prescribed by law and is stored within Tracesmart’s secure data facility.

Identity Verification Experts Reach Half-Million GRO Mortality Records

The Home Office estimate that identity fraud costs the UK economy over £1.2 billion a year and the half million death records accumulated since the beginning of the scheme less than a year ago, supplemented by Tracesmart’s additional and vast database, will significantly help combat today’s ever increasing and resourceful fraudster. Mortality data is a key tool in the battle to beat identity fraud, especially its derivatives – impersonation of the deceased (IOD) and the lesser known concealment fraud.

Although both IOD and concealment fraud involve deceiving organisations into the belief that a deceased person is still alive and dishonestly claiming and receiving lines of credit and other beneficial services, the perpetrators differ greatly.

IOD fraud is often committed by professional fraudsters who utilise previous occupant’s mail or obituaries to assume an individual’s identity and obtain credit or benefits illegally. In contrast, concealment fraud is often committed by the deceased’s spouse or dependents, who deliberately neglect to notify the correct parties of the deceased’s passing in order to receive illicit funds.

Tracesmart is one of the UKs leading providers of identity fraud prevention tools, and its clients benefit significantly from the DDRI scheme as electronic identity checks and mortality screening searches are conducted utilising the weekly feed of the DRI. In addition to its identity verification facility, Tracesmart also provides a data cleansing service and an online resource to trace people for positive or negative intentions.

Highlighting the benefits of the DRI to Tracesmart and its clients, Mike Trezise, the company’s Managing Director commented, “Regularly updated mortality information has become crucial in our fight against fraud. Obviously, the more information we hold, better the chance we have of highlighting discrepancies within client databases and possible cases of fraud. The half million records of new mortality data received since the inception of the DDRI scheme is certainly a landmark and has already significantly helped Tracesmart, and our service users, expose fraudulent activity.”

Via EPR Network
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B2b, Dedicated Servers, Domain Names, E-mail, Hosting, Internet, Secure Hosting, Services

Study Shows That 53 Per Cent Of US Business Owners Seek More Involvement In The Purchasing Of Their IT Services, Such As Hosting, Than Ever Before

Fasthosts Internet Ltd, a leading web hosting provider, has released a study showing that 53 per cent of US business owners seek more involvement in the purchasing of their IT services, such as hosting, than ever before.

Study Shows That 53 Per Cent Of US Business Owners Seek More Involvement In The Purchasing Of Their IT Services, Such As Hosting, Than Ever Before

The survey of 132 US business* owners found that in the past year, over half (53 per cent) have purposefully sought a greater understanding of the IT services they use as a direct result of economic pressures, and intend to be more involved in selecting their IT service providers going forward.

F r o m those businesses that use dedicated hosting services, 1 in 4 owners wish to renegotiate associated costs this year. As businesses worldwide scrutinize IT costs, Fasthosts is encouraging UK companies to review their hosting costs and seek out the best possible technology for their money. Fasthosts is also helping UK businesses to lower their server costs by reducing its dedicated server prices with discounts of up to £480 per annum for the life of the contract.

Steve Holford, CMO Fasthosts commented, “Every business owner understands the importance of procurement. One should review their web solutions periodically, and push through necessary changes. In a challenging operating environment, it is imperative that every business gets what it pays for and pays only for what it needs”.

Fasthosts dedicated server solutions have been tailored to support business needs with high-speed performance and connectivity, no bandwidth charges and 24/7 UK-based support. All dedicated servers are housed within a state-of-the-art data centre in Gloucester and designed to provide demanding users with high specifications and excellent service levels. Business owners can contact advisors at Fasthosts to discuss their requirements and potential cost savings for their business.

Via EPR Network
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B2b, Dedicated Servers, Domain Names, E-mail, Hosting, Internet, Secure Hosting, Services

Survey Shows Fear Outweighs Cost Concerns With Business IT Needs

A new survey by IT specialists Fasthosts Internet has revealed that companies are being forced to re-evaluate their IT systems and question what they really need due to the unsettled economy. In these difficult times, one-third said they still hesitate to consider a replacement server even if it is necessary. At the same time, 53% of business owners are becoming more involved in decisions relating to their IT needs in light of the challenging economy.

Survey Shows Fear Outweighs Cost Concerns With Business IT Needs

When times get tough, a company’s budget spending strategy can seriously affect the quality and quantity of the company’s technology resources. The Fasthosts survey showed 29% of respondents have reviewed their budget for servers in the past six months. Nearly twice that number (54%) has analysed their finances during the last 12 months.

For many people the fear of what might happen when they replace their server looms over their decision. One in three survey participants (33%) said they would be fearful of switching to a new provider because of a potential disruption to their service. Perhaps bound by this fear, 22% have not updated or changed their server solution in at least three years even though at least 25% said they want to lower their external server costs.

Stephen Holford, chief marketing officer of Fasthosts Internet, says the company understands where its customers’ fears lay and hope they are able to clear up questions about servers.

He said: “Fasthosts products are offered by the leading provider for reseller web hosting in the UK, and one that is making a strong mark in the US. We try to emphasize that a background in IT isn’t necessary to use and profit from our servers and reseller solutions so that smaller businesses can better understand their IT needs. If given a closer look, they will see the top-of-the-line solutions that Fasthosts offers at very competitive prices.”

Getting the most value for their money is a concern many have when deciding how much should be spent on their IT provider, especially regarding servers. Almost half (45%) of survey participants said they felt overcharged for costs including monitoring fees, server management, additional memory and IP addresses, back-up space, consultancy fees and server traffic. One third of the respondents, however, pay more than just their provider to upkeep their server.

Holford added: “Balancing a budget is difficult, especially when there is uncertainty concerning necessary versus peripheral costs. IT solutions, like servers and online services, are important to any company. It seems that people must realize that there are providers out there like Fasthosts that can alleviate concerns by offering solutions that exhibit both quality and value for a reasonable cost.”

Via EPR Network
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APIs, B2b, Blogs, Database, Internet, Online, Programming, Services, Software, Web, Web Design & Development, Web Images

Convert2xhtml.com Has Launched Their Website With New Look And 50% Off On All PSD To XHTML Conversion Services

Convert2xhtml.com, a provider in PSD to XHTML conversions services, on Monday announced the PSD to XHTML, PSD to XHTML, PSD to WordPress, PSD to Joomla, PSD to phpBB conversion services for discounted price while launching their new website look.

PSD to XHTML

In very short time convert2xhtml has come up as best quality PSD to XHTML provider. When it comes to integrate PSD design with PHP systems like wordpress, Joomla and phpBB convert2xhtml.com uses the skill set of Einfoway, a company known for PHP work past 9 years.

Many branded companies used to outsource PSD to XHTML or integration jobs to einfoway. So einfoway started its own website convert2xhtml.com with aim to provide highest quality of PSD to HTML or PSD to XHTML service to its customers at lowest price. Many designers and coders lack skill to convert psd to valid XHTML so they outsource to convert2xhtml and they concentrate on their skill set.

Converting PSD or design to valid XHTML or HTML is not an easy job for every one. It takes lots of efforts and special skills to get this job done. Quality does matter as your websites needs to look same with different browsers and search engine friendly.

Till June convert2xhtml.com was providing same service for min $79 for PSD to XHTML and $59 for PSD to HTML. Now convert2html has droped its prices from $79 to flat $45 for XHTML/HTML and also reduced the prices of PSD to WordPress, PSD to Joomla and PSD to phpbb with free 30 days technical support.

There are lots of companies providing PSD to XHTML service, but convert2xhtml stands out of all, for their quality and cost. When customer has to convert many pages from PSD to xhtml going for high cost websites is not affordable when compared to high quality provided by convert2xhtml at lower price. Convert2xhtml.com has added advantage of its PHP expertise from einfoway with solid 9+yrs of exp.

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B2b, B2C, Database, Online, Search, Searching, Services, Tracing

Standards And Services Body Employ Tracesmart’s Proprietary Existence Checking Service

Origo, the eCommerce standards and services body for the UK financial services industry, has appointed Tracesmart Corporate as their exclusive service provider to deliver their new online facility – the Origo Data Matching Service (ODMS) on a 3 year contract. The bespoke data screening service allows financial providers to check their customer data against key sources of information, including records of deceased UK individuals and those no longer residing at a given address, which in turn helps them to manage payments in-force, reserves and identify fraudulent activity.

Tracesmart, the Cardiff based tracing, identity verification and data cleansing agency, is one of a small number of companies to receive a weekly update of the UK Death Registration Information f r o m the General Register Office (GRO), and this information, along with Tracesmart’s vast consumer database, drives the company’s proprietary service “Existence Alert” which distinctively fulfils Origo’s requirements for its new data matching service.

Paul Pettitt, Managing Director of Origo, commented on Tracesmart’s commission, “Origo is delighted to announce the launch of this service, which addresses fraud issues and delivers immediate bottom line benefits for providers. Origo is uniquely placed to identify collective requirements, following which we have procured a cost effective service to meet those requirements. We are looking forward to working with our chosen supplier, Tracesmart, to deliver immediate benefits to providers.”

The ODMS will assist providers in mitigating risks associated with annuity overpayment to the recently deceased, combat ‘Impersonation of the Deceased’ fraud and highlight ‘gone aways’ policyholders who have moved f r o m their last known address. Tracesmart currently provide similar services to numerous other financial institutions throughout the UK, including the vast majority of third party administrators within the pension sector.

Following exhaustive examination and assessment, Tracesmart emerged as the preferred data supplier for Origo’s new service and Mike Trezise, Tracesmart’s Managing Director, commented, “We are delighted to have secured such a significant account. Tracesmart’s ability to fully recognise Origo’s requirements is fundamental to our success. The provision of relevant data, accessed via an easy to use platform will significantly help Origo’s members to verify customer residency and flag gone aways, in addition to mortality screening their databases. We look forward to working with Origo and their associates, to deliver the best possible service.”

Rick Williams, Actuarial and Technical Support Manager of Friends Provident, one of Origo’s original members and sponsors, added, “ODMS will allow Friends Provident to keep in touch with its customers in a simple and non-intrusive manner, without the bureaucracy that annuity providers have traditionally used. Using better technology to reduce costs, whilst not losing sight of our customers, is what we are all about. As the first company to use ODMS we have been fully involved in the development of this service and are looking forward to our relationship with both Tracesmart and Origo.”

About Tracesmart
Established in 1999, Tracesmart Ltd is a leading provider of consumer intelligence services. It specialises in the provision of both online tracing and identity verification. Prominent in the pensions, legal, financial and retail sectors, their fraud prevention and anti-money laundering solutions are employed by a growing legion of businesses ranging f r o m SME to FTSE 100 companies.

The company’s management has recently embarked on a rapid growth strategy, recently doubling, staff numbers and office accommodation at its Cardiff Bay headquarters in addition to opening its City of London office to satisfy existing and anticipated future demands for its products and services.

Mike Trezise
Trezise is the founder and Managing Director of Tracesmart. With over 25 years tracing and fraud analysis experience, his unrivalled knowledge provides the company with a distinct competitive advantage.

About Origo
Origo was launched by 16 of the UK’s leading life assurance companies in June 1989 to facilitate the development of electronic trading between principals and agents for Life, Pensions and Collective Investment business. In February 2006, the scope of Origo’s activity was extended to include mortgage business.

Origo’s main purpose is to address cost and efficiency issues for the UK Life, Pensions, Investment and Mortgage sectors by delivering common eCommerce services and standards. Origo drives the adoption of eBusiness by creating a standards-based, competitive and secure trading environment in which industry goals are being met.

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B2b, B2C, Database, Online, Search, Searching, Services

Enterprise Level CRM Data Cleansing By Acquirelists

Bad data within your CRM system can drastically reduce the effectiveness of your sales, service, and marketing organizations. Duplicate companies and contacts, incorrect addresses, and incomplete information results in a CRM system that 1) is underutilized by your employees, 2) creates conflict within your sales organization, and 3) is a wasted investment. Acquirelists CRM data cleansing services ensure that data within ERP or CRM silos, Data Marts or Legacy Systems is accurate and complete across the enterprise. Enhance the value of your data by intelligently enriching it with data from trusted sources.

Commenting, Acquirelists Marketing Manager George Goss said “Acquirelists new CRM data services are already widely used by all the industries; we are now bringing CRM data solutions to all types of business to business sales companies. Whether they require CRM data enrichment, CRM data cleansing, CRM data appending or market intelligence, Acquirelists have a commitment to ensuring the ongoing success of its partners.”

Enhance the Value of Marketing Data through Acquirelists CRM Data Enrichment Service

1) Append Contact Name, Title,Email, SIC Code, DUNS Number, Revenue, Phone & Fax Number etc or other internal or external information to your data
2) De-dup your data and merge duplicate records based on clearly defined business rules
3) Remove garbage data to reduce time wasted by your staff
4) Standardize and clean up addresses, phone numbers, and other existing data
5) Add new emails, phone numbers, and titles to your contact database
6) Add detailed company data such as assets, revenues, employees, and addresses
7) Identify parent-subsidiary relationships

Acquirelists CRM data cleansing services extract, deduplicate, standardize, analyze, validate and enrich data. The result of these services is a CRM system that is well organized with accurate information to be leveraged by your sales and marketing organizations. Our cleansing approach is driven by our experience in business rules management and in data governance compliancy.

• Remove any Existing Duplicates
• Match Phonetic, Miskeyed, Abbreviated Data
• Prevent the Addition of Duplicate Records
• Automatically Case Names & Addresses
• Relocate Data Elements to Correct Fields
• On Demand Cleansing, Real-Time or Batch
• Merge / Purge, Intelligent Lookup
• Data Enrichment

Company:

Acquirelists offers a range of email services to help Sales & Marketing Execs drive lead generation and build sales pipelines. AcquireLists is a leading provider of quality Business to Business and Information Technology mailing, email and telemarketing lists. Led by seasoned B2B lead generation experts, AcquireLists enables marketers to deliver higher quality and quantity of leads to sales teams We specializes in providing business and consumer mailing lists that are privacy-compliant, accurate and affordable. Our continuously updated email/direct mail lists allow you to target your market, grow your sales and increase your profits.

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B2b, Internet, SEM, SEO, Services, Traffic, Web, Web Marketing

SiteBooster Has Put Together An Affordable SEO Service Package By Writing, Optimizing And Submitting SEO Articles

Site Booster has devised affordable website promotion services in form of SEO service subscriptions for small businesses. Website and blog owners can easily subscribe for a period of 6 months and leave their link building campaigns to Site Booster at discounted fees. They will receive reports on the search engine optimization services on a monthly basis. During this period, article marketing service is combined with search engine optimization and social media marketing.

SiteBooster

It has always been a concern for various websites to conduct content creation according to SEO copywriting techniques. They prefer to focus mainly on their own businesses. With the emergence of Bing alongside Google, things have become even more complicated. Article marketing is the safest method of content creation and content syndication that builds lots of one way links.

“Based on a whole range of different experiences, we’ve realized that writing, optimizing and submitting article is one of the most time-consuming efforts that online businesses face” says Rahman Mehraby, the SEO specialist at Site Booster. “As website promotion company, Site Booster has got proficient resources to perform this for its clients on a subscription basis, which makes it very affordable for small businesses.”

SEO service subscription at Site Booster requires clients to go through two stages: website optimization service as a one-time setup job and then monthly website promotion services. At setup stage, Site Booster checks up and optimizes the site or blog of the clients. At the next stage, it proceeds to conduct content creation and syndication. The performance reports at the end of each month help clients realize what has been achieved for them.

Site Booster conducts website promotion services on a regular and consistent basis for at least a period of six months. As many have felt relieved by not having to do this job themselves and seen results improving their search engine rankings at Google and other major search engines, they prefer to continue subscription. So, such affordable SEO services are the solution Site Booster has offered.

About Site Booster
Site Booster is a website promotion company providing affordable SEO services for its clients conducting keyword discovery, content writing, article marketing, press release and social media marketing.

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Advertising, B2b, eCommerce, Events, Internet, Search, Services, Web 2.0, Web Directories, Web Marketing, Wikis

Bizwiki.com – Change The Way Local Search Works By Enabling Its Users To Build Up The Most Detailed And Up-To-Date Index Of Business In The United States

A new website called Bizwiki.com has launched across the USA today, promising to change the way local search works by enabling its users to build up the most detailed and up-to-date index of business in the United States.

Bizwiki.com

In a break with traditional Yellow Pages websites, Bizwiki invites business owners and representatives to get involved in adding and improving their records with everything from contact details to prices and opening hours, completely free of charge.

“We put up an early Alpha-version of Bizwiki.com to test it on the web in December 2008, and already traffic levels have grown to several hundred thousand users per month!,” said Bizwiki co-founder Matt Aird. “There is definitely a strong demand for the sort of information a Web 2.0 business site can deliver, and the increasing amount of users on the site provides a compelling motivation for businesses to get involved in adding and editing their listings.”

“Today’s launch is officially a fully-functional beta, but we already have several hundred thousand pages on the site, with more being added each day. We’ve tried to take ideas and concepts from some of the most successful user-created websites in the world, such as Wikipedia and the Open Directory Project, and improve them to where the ‘anyone can edit’ principles of a wiki can be used in a business-environment. The biggest single difference is probably that our site is built in a consistently structured format, allowing us to rapidly scale-up the amount of information and also give our users an easy way to search the site.”

The Bizwiki difference:

• It’s free – Unlike many established publishers that charge for inclusion, Bizwiki is free to search, free to edit and free for companies to list on.
• It’s editable – The ‘anyone-can-edit’ approach is a challenge to frequently the out of date records of conventional printed Business Directories.
• It’s a wiki – The wiki approach allows far more depth of information about each business to be compiled than anything conventionally available.
• It’s structured – Bizwiki is built using structured data, allowing reusability of information, bulk updates from chambers of commerce or webspiders, and an easy search experience for users.

Bizwiki was built by industry-veterans with years of business directory and meta-search experience behind them, including Keith Hinde, Matt Aird, Craig Sefton and Arthur Jenkins who between them have helped develop directory and search products for Infospace, local directory publisher Thomson Directories, TradePage and Webcrawler.

To try the new Bizwiki site, or even add and edit a business record, visit http://www.bizwiki.com.

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Advertising, B2b, Events, Internet, News, Online, Search, Searching, SEM, SEO, Web Marketing

Bigmouthmedia Welcomes The New Search Partnership Between Yahoo And Microsoft’s Bing Search Engine, Stating That The New Arrangement Could Rejuvenate Competition In A Market Currently Dominated By Google

Although details of the deal are as yet unclear, reports from numerous credible news outlets worldwide suggest that after many months of negotiation, the global giants are set to unveil an agreement that will see Yahoo sell search ads under Microsoft’s nascent Bing brand. While estimates of the global market share the partnership will hold vary from 12% to 30%, Europe’s largest independent digital marketing agency believes that the news will have a positive impact upon the industry.

“It’s been 18 months since the rumour mill first started touting the possibility of a deal involving Yahoo and Microsoft, and the industry as a whole will be delighted to see what’s become the search business’ longest-running soap opera finally approaching a conclusion. The devil will be in the detail, but given the alarming dominance that Google has held over the market for so long, the prospect of a serious challenge to their position is good news for everyone,” said Lyndsay Menzies, Chief Operations Officer at bigmouthmedia.

“Although the impact in the UK will be minimal, with the combined entity still only accounting for a market share of around 5%, competition in any market is good for consumers. If the partnership succeeds in growing their market share still further, the renewed challenge could force Google to become more competitive.”

With the precise details of the agreement still a closely guarded secret, the news that Yahoo has finally succumbed to Microsoft’s advances has spawned widespread speculation over the deal’s possible ramifications. While the prospect of a serious competitor to Google’s Adwords system is being touted as a move that could help push PPC advertising prices downwards, other commentators have suggested that the deal could force the search giant to reconsider its policy against paying commission to partner agencies.

“There are still more questions than there are answers about this deal, but If Yahoo’s paid search ads are powered by Bing then we will have another credible search engine to consider for paid search budgets. That may result in some instability as bid management platforms adapt to cope with the new landscape, but it will help keep cost-per-click prices down,” said Andrew Girdwood, bigmouthmedia’s Head of Search.

“But if Bing is only going to supply Yahoo with organic results then it still means Yahoo is out of the search game. They’ll not be developing their search engine, are unlikely to return to it and will in essence become an ad management platform – the long term effects of which remain to be seen.”

About bigmouthmedia
Founded in 1997, bigmouthmedia is Europe’s largest and most experienced digital marketing agency and was rated the UK’s #1 Search agency for Search Engine Optimisation and PPC in the 2009 NMA Marketing Services Guide.

Bigmouthmedia’s 200+ online marketing experts across 12 international offices maximise online brand exposure for our clients by means of integrated digital strategies incorporating SEO, PPC, Social Media Marketing, Affiliate marketing, Display Advertising, Online PR and Copywriting.

Bigmouthmedia’s multilingual digital solutions deliver outstanding ROI for over 300 world leading brands including British Airways, Tesco, ebay, Sky, Cisco, BT, Comic Relief, Barclaycard and Europcar.

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