The newest trend in the internet today is joining one of the many social networking websites. Here, you will be able to keep in touch with your old friends as well as your relatives and you will also be able to make new friends as well as meet new people. With social networking websites, you will see that it will make the world a smaller place.
One social networking website that is so popular among many people from all over the world is Facebook. In this website, you will be able to post your pictures, discuss your interests and hobbies as well as do other great things.
In the past, Facebook was restricted to Harvard College students. In time, it expanded to other schools and universities until it became available for everyone above the age of 13 from different parts of the world.
Presently, the Facebook website now has more than 62 million active users worldwide.
Now, if you have an online business, you will see that Facebook can significantly help you promote your website and your business. Facebook marketing is now one of the hottest trends among online entrepreneurs today. Just think about it, with over 62 million active users worldwide, you will definitely have a lot of potential clients to do business with.
Because of the amount of people joining Facebook, a lot of online business owners are now joining this social networking website in order to market their products or services. With Facebook, you will definitely be able to effectively market your website.
The great thing about Facebook today is that anyone will now be able to join it. Whether you are a college student or you are an entrepreneur looking for a niche market, Facebook is the place that you should go to.
In fact, Facebook is now very popular that it is now investing a lot of money for advertising in order to attract more people to join. With this kind of benefit, you will see the potential on what your business can have.
Facebook as well as other social networking websites are now just beginning to see its full potential.
Today, you will see that Facebook has now launched its Facebook Ads system that will allow you and other fellow business owners to formally advertise your products and services. You have to consider the fact that people are three to five times more likely buy a particular product if their friends recommend it. If you advertise in Facebook, you will be able to increase your sales.
Facebook is now very popular that it now contains ads for big corporations, such as Microsoft, Coca-Cola and other companies.
So, if you are thinking about marketing online for your business and you want to increase your company’s sales, then you may want to try out Facebook. Here, you will be able to increase the advertising potential for your company. Also, you will be able to reach out to more people as well as get a niche market for your products and services.
So, if you think that online advertising or marketing is not working for you, you might want to try out marketing on Facebook. Here, you will be able to see how effective marketing is by using this one of a kind social networking website and you will be able to increase your sales.
Online Classified Advertising is prolific throughout the internet. It isn’t very hard to set up a classified site but are they worth using?
Like standard paper advertising it is about finding the right classified site to advertise with. All site proclaim to have the most comprehensive readership but there are few questions you should ask before you waste any of your precious time.
1. Is the site free? If it is free are there options to promote your classified for a fee?
2. How many classifieds are currently listed in your desired category?
3. Where are the classified targeting?
4. Do the classifieds have individual counters?
5. Do you have to put banners on your site or other reciprocal links to have your classified listed?
6. Will my classified be listed in the search engines or other reciprocal classified sites?
Lets look at each question one at a time.
1. Free sites can be very good but it does depend on the readership and the promotion of the sites. Consider how you came across the site and what the ads are that are listed therein. If you think that the site may be worthwhile put your classified in and see how it goes. Some of the free sites allow for you to pay to have your listing promoted at the top of the category. Depending on your finances and how many others are listed in your category it can be worthwhile. Also check how long a paid listing lasts compared to a free listing. Even so, it would be recommended you wait until you monitor the site further with your free classified.
2. You really need to look at how many listings there are under the category you wish to put your classified in. The reason being your competition may be really hefty. If you can put your classified in a less obvious category if you find the obvious one has a huge amount of listings. For example if you have a classified on business opportunities, try placing your ad in advertising or marketing. It may seem a bit broad but you may also find a better response.
3. Some classified sites are very specific and others are very broad. Consider the site you are looking at and what the type of classified listings are. Obviously you would not list a business opportunity in a car classified site. Also consider where geographically the classified site is targeting. If you have a product or service that is only applicable in the USA don’t place a classified in Australia. Whilst this seems obvious you would be surprised at how many would not consider this.
4. Individual counters on classifieds are very useful. What these count is how many times your ad has actually been opened on the classified site. If your classified is not being opened very often you should consider your headline. It is the headline that will encourage people to look at your classified in the 1st instance. If you are getting lookers but no sales 1st look at your classified content then at the statistics of your website if you can. Your website statistics will tell you who has actually gone into your site from the classified. Very useful.
5. If you find to get your classified displayed you need to add reciprocal code or banners you are not really in a classified site but a traffic or banner exchange. That is ok if you don’t mind using this type of service but if it is a pure classified site you are after skip this type of site. A discussion on traffic and banner exchanges is beyond the scope of this document.
6. Classified sites that either work on a reciprocal classified site, have the classifieds indexed into the search engines or both are well worth listing with. If they are free as many are this is all the better. There is great value in this type of listing as you enhance the opportunity for sales. If the site does list with search engines and reciprocal classified sites make sure you understand any fees that are involved. Whilst we have found very few require a fee many may do.
Summing up we recommend you consider classified advertising for your online marketing. It is a smart and inexpensive way to build your business. We do not however advocate that this be your only way of advertising should you really want to increase your online business income. There are numerous options out there that will cost very little in time and money to implement and maintain.
On occasion The Official PLOS Blog presents Thought Leadership interviews with scientists leading the way on issues integral to the transformation of science communication and advancement of Open Science. Previous interviewees include Bruce Alberts and Trevor Bedford. Here we present our conversation with Sandra Schmid from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
Image Credit: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Over the years, Sandra Schmid has gained a reputation for academic strength and leadership, most recently as Professor and Chairman of the cell biology department at University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW) Medical Center. She’s also gained a reputation for her honesty regarding varied issues, including the position of post-docs, “if it were a job, we’d pay you better and give you retirement benefits,” the training of faculty, “few of us as mentors, as Principal Investigators, were ever taught how to run a lab or how to mentor individuals” and how she participates in open discussion of research before publication “mostly over beers.”
Schmid has been particularly vocal about the misuse of journal impact factors (JIFs) as a way to evaluate researchers and, as she claims, “the unfortunate consequences to the scientific community of their misuse.” At UTSW, Schmid’s home institution, there has been no overt discussion among the leadership regarding JIFs and where faculty should choose to publish. There is no formalized preference for high impact journals. “In fact, we celebrated the founding of eLIFE [a journal which rejects the use of JIFs] and have faculty on the Editorial Board of the journal,” says Schmid. The JIF was “never intended to and indeed does not measure the quality or impact of the individual papers in a journal,” says Schmid. It was originally developed and commercialized by Eugene Garfield to help librarians decide on which journals they should spend their subscription dollars.
“Individuals and institutions are being spuriously judged – by other scientists, funders, governing bodies and administrators – based indirectly on JIF, rather than directly on the quality and impact of their work,” Schmid wrote in “Negative Consequences of the Misuse of Journal Impact Factors for Scientific Assessment” as part of the 8th Forum on the Internationalization of Sciences and Humanities.
Flawed Statistics
The JIF is a statistic calculated based on the average citations of a selection of papers in a given journal. One major problem with the JIF is that citations are highly skewed, with most articles receiving fewer citations. Since citation distributions are skewed, averages are meaningless. “Indeed,” writes Schmid, there are journals that “flaunt their JIF in marketing material to authors that would ironically not accept papers reporting such flawed statistics.” This skewed distribution was clearly demonstrated last year through a collaboration between multiple publishers, including Université de Montréal, Imperial College London, PLOS, eLife, EMBO Journal, The Royal Society, Nature and Science (see Measuring Up: Impact Factors Do Not Reflect Article Citation Rates). The analysis, posted on bioRxiv, showed that citation distributions of journals with clearly distinct impact factors greatly overlap—in other words that all journals publish many papers with similar lower numbers of citations, and few highly cited papers.
A Better Option: Citation Distributions
The authors of the bioRxiv analysis call for publishers to make publicly available the actual citation distributions of their journal’s articles, rather than rely on irrelevant and misleading JIFs. Since journals use many different techniques to artificially increase their impact factor, including publication of review articles (which are often more highly cited than the original research papers they review) and front matter, including commentary and mini-review articles (that generate citations but are not counted as “citable” content) comparison across journals is problematic. It is hoped that public disclosure of article citation distributions will lead to more granular comparisons and better informed decisions by authors on where to submit their work.
Then and Now
From the perspective of a senior investigator with a long-established career and history of publishing quality work at all tiers of influence, what has changed for Schmid when deciding where to publish is that in the past, “journals had different purposes and different scopes” and that was good. Before there was the JIF there was an understanding of what journal went with what type of data. “We sent our best biochemistry to Journal of Biological Chemistry; our best cell biology to Journal of Cell Biology. If we happened upon a new and potentially important discovery, even before we understood mechanism, we’d communicate it rapidly in Science and Nature because they were three figure papers.” Before the advent of supplemental materials, more meaty, in-depth studies were published in non-page limited, subject-specific journals.
When asked in the post-print era, how do researchers decide where to publish, Schmid replies, “That is the unfortunate part.” A lot of the decisions are being made by postdocs telling her about impact factors, although she cautions that “publishing in high impact factor journals doesn’t mean it’s high quality work.” Early career researchers are looking at numbers as a distinguisher between journals, says Schmid, so her efforts are focused on getting these scientists to think more broadly. Her response and recommendation? First and foremost is to choose the journal where the work will get in front of the audience that matters the most. Schmid is crystal clear when outlining her main considerations for deciding where to publish her work and the work from her lab:
Are the people who handle my paper able to identify qualified referees?
Are the editors going to understand the discussion and criticisms and be helpful in handling my papers; do they understand my field?
Do my peers read and respect the content in this journal?
Unintended Consequences
The real question for Schmid is how to get the “impact factor genie” as she calls it, “back in the box.” Why is this so important? Scientists and publishers often focus on the limitations of JIFs and the benefits of evaluating work at the article rather than journal level. However, there are more than just limitations to the JIF. According to Schmid there are very “specific and unintended consequences of the abuse of JIF as a tool for individual and institutional assessment.” Many of these, she notes, are direct; others are subtle, downstream ramifications:
Deferred communication of discoveries that might launch new fields as reviewers and editors demand more information per paper
Discouraged follow-up or augmentative studies to verify results due to over-interpretation of findings for the purpose of artificially inflating a work’s value
Misguided evaluation of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty by their individual papers rather than the combinatorial impact of their work in context
Wasted time and resources spent satisfying unnecessary demands of reviewers and editors in high-impact journals
Demoralized early career researchers forced to package an entire thesis or postdoctoral project into one comprehensive paper
A Better Option: Article-Level Metrics
Perhaps wanting to get that impact factor genie back in the box was more than a mistaken mixing of two idioms. The difficulty of reverting to a situation that formerly existed (putting the genie back in the bottle) combined with the repercussions of doing something that causes unexpected and unintended negative consequences (opening a Pandora’s box) does describe the situation the scientific community has with JIFs. Fortunately, this is not an impossible situation to remedy. Article-Level Metrics were developed by PLOS as a better means to assess research value in an electronically networked world. They are gaining acceptance across a broad swath of the scientific community, from scientists to funders and more, since they provide granularity, breadth and proximity (PLOS ALMs are updated daily to monthly, depending on source and age of the individual article). ALMs also allow different scholarly research outputs to be tracked, such as policy impact, datasets, software and code. Schmid also recommends simply using PubMed as a portal for assessing the influence of an article, stating, “from title to abstract to download is a good metric,” although not as complete as a suite of ALMs.
Leadership in Practice
In 2013 as Schmid took up the position of Chair of the Department of Cell Biology at UTSW, she offered an employer’s manifesto (published as a Science Careers column) on the approach her department would take in hiring new assistant professors. This manifesto promised “a better job of screening applicants—and to avoid inappropriate criteria such as journal impact factors.” The idea was to encourage applications from qualified candidates who “might feel sidelined because their paper has yet to be, or perhaps won’t be, published in a high-impact journal.” Schmid closed her column with an enthusiastic “Let’s run this experiment!” Four years later, she shared some of the results with PLOS. Using their Academic Jobs portal the entire faculty is engaged in viewing applicants and every candidate that has piqued the interest of even one faculty member is interviewed via Skype, removing the need for reaching a ‘consensus’ that might rely more on JIFs. Those few candidates whose programs are most likely to thrive in the department’s specific environment are invited to campus to visit. Since taking this approach “our new faculty are indeed thriving,” says Schmid.
This approach suggests that a reduction on emphasis of JIFs in favor of more constructive and meaningful measures of evaluation, both quantitative and qualitative, fosters an assessment program that is both fair and thoughtful. This is how science should be; if it works for people it can work for research outputs as well.
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Sandra Schmid is Cecil H. Green Distinguished Chair in Cellular and Molecular Biology, Professor and Chairman, Department of Cell Biology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She was co-founding editor of Traffic, Editor-in-Chief of Molecular Biology of the Cell and president of the American Society for Cell Biology. Schmid was elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Vice-Chair of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory Scientific Advisory Committee.
A new consumer phenomenon is called "tagging" or "folksonomies" (short for folks and taxonomy). Tagging is powerful because consumers are creating an organizational structure for online content. Folksonomies not only enable people to file away content under tags, but, even better, share it with others by filing it under a global taxonomy that they created.
Here's how tagging works. Using sites such as del.icio.us – a bookmark sharing site – and Flickr – a photo sharing site – consumers are collaborating on categorizing online content under certain keywords, or tags.
For instance, an individual can post photographs of their iPod on Flickr and file it under the tag "iPod." These images are now not only visible under the individual user's iPod tag but also under the community iPod tag that displays all images consumers are generating and filing under the keyword. Right now Flickr has more than 3,500 photos that are labeled "iPod."
Tagging is catching on because it is a natural complement to search. Type the word "blogs" into Google and it can't tell if you are searching for information about how to launch a blog, how to read blogs, or just what. Large and small sites alike are already getting on to the folksonomy train. They are rolling out tag-like structures to help users more easily locate content that's relevant to them.
Although tags are far from perfect, marketers should, nevertheless, be using them to keep a finger on the pulse of the American public. Start subscribing to RSS feeds to monitor how consumers are tagging information related to your product, service, company or space. These are living focus groups that are available for free, 24/7. Folksonomy sites can be also be carefully used to unleash viral marketing campaigns – with a caveat. Marketers should be transparent in who they are, why they are posting the link/photos and avoid spamming the services.
In order to be successful using forums to do viral marketing there are some things that are required.
Do Your Homework: Prior to joining any forum, you must do some research.
1. Join relevant forums that are in some way related to the promotion’s primary sales market. For example, someone involved with a health related product, many types of forums could apply….everything from holistic medicine to stay-at-home moms.
2. Choose popular forums. There is no point in wasting your time and energy on forums that few members and few posts. Page raking and the amount of active members are two good ways to check for this.
3. Choose forums that allow sig tags. If it’s possible read the rules before joining and pay attention to them. Your time is important, too. It is better to find out that a forum doesn’t allow posts with sig tags before you go to the time and trouble of joining.
After You Have Joined: OK…you have chosen two or three forums that meet your requirements…now what?
1. Keep your sig tag short and update it regularly. The ideal thing is to limit yourself to one link, preferably to your main website.
2. Never create posts that are nothing more than an advertisement. This all but a universal rule and only displays the marketers lack of experience if he does so. At best this kind of post will be deleted by the monitors….at worst, it is grounds for being banned.
3. Work the room. Be an active member on the forum. Plan to spend at least an hour each day there and take the time to get to know the users. Take the time to introduce yourself with intelligent questions depending upon the forum’s topic.
As a marketer becomes a regular member, they will hopefully develop a good reputation and without saying a word about their promotion, those who are interested in their product will approach them.
Although kings, rulers and powerful people have always been able to pay for entertainment to be provided for them and in many cases have paid for public entertainment, people generally have made their own entertainment or when possible, attended a live performance. Technological developments in the 20th century meant that entertainment could be produced independently of the audience, packaged and sold on a commercial basis by an entertainment industry. Sometimes referred to as show business, the industry relies on business models to produce, market, broadcast or otherwise distribute many of its traditional forms, including performances of all types. The industry became so sophisticated that its economics became a separate area of academic study.
The film industry is a part of the entertainment industry. Components of it include the Hollywood and Bollywood film industries, as well as the cinema of the United Kingdom and all the cinemas of Europe, including France, Germany, Spain, Italy and others. The sex industry is another component of the entertainment industry, applying the same forms and media (for example, film, books, dance and other performances) to the development, marketing and sale of sex products on a commercial basis.
Amusement parks entertain paying guests with rides, such as roller coasters, train rides, water rides, and dark rides, as well as other events and associated attractions. The parks are built on a large area subdivided into themed areas named "lands". Sometimes the whole amusement park is based on one theme, such as the various SeaWorld parks that focus on the theme of sea life.
One of the consequences of the development of the entertainment industry has been the creation of new types of employment. While jobs such as writer, musician and composer exist as they always have, people doing this work are likely to be employed by a company rather than a patron as they once would have been. New jobs have appeared, such as gaffer or special effects supervisor in the film industry, and attendants in an amusement park.
Prestigious awards are given by the industry for excellence in the various types of entertainment. For example, there are awards for Music, Games (including video games), Comics, Comedy, Theatre, Television, Film, Dance and Magic. Sporting awards are made for the results and skill, rather than for the entertainment value.
Google AdSense is a program run by Google that allows publishers in the Google Network of content sites to serve automatic text, image, video, or interactive media advertisements, that are targeted to site content and audience. These advertisements are administered, sorted, and maintained by Google, and they can generate revenue on either a per-click or per-impression basis. Google beta-tested a cost-per-action service, but discontinued it in October 2008 in favor of a DoubleClick offering (also owned by Google). In Q1 2014, Google earned US $3.4 billion ($13.6 billion annualized), or 22% of total revenue, through Google AdSense.
At some point in our Internet lives, a majority of us have received a message from an autoresponder. It could have been a short response letting you know that the individual is away, or an email thanking you for something that you have done. Perhaps it was even an email letting you know about upcoming products, or even an email letting you know that a message you tried to send couldn’t be delivered.
Each one of these messages is all but a different version of a useful program known as an autoresponder. Autoresponders are very useful tools, as they will automatically send out an answer to any email that they receive. The answer that they send out however, will all depend on the messages that you have the program set up with. Autoresponders are very flexible, and most will hold a variety of pre set messages.
The very first autoresponders were used with email providers or email transfer agents. Whenever an email you sent out couldn’t be delivered to the recipient, it would send you an automatic response letting you know that your mail couldn’t be delivered. Although these programs were somewhat helpful, they weren’t all that sophisticated.
Over the years, autoresponders have changed quite a bit, proving to be very useful with big companies and even Internet marketing. These days, autoresponders are used by businesses and companies to give immediate response and feedback to interested clients and subscribers. This could include a response about programs, information about pricing, specific details regarding a product, and even a time that someone from the company can get in touch with the client.
In the world of Internet marketing, staying in touch with clients is easier than ever with an autoresponder. They will save you a quite a bit of time, especially when you think about how long it would take you to personally send email responses to each and every email you get. If you run a business, you probably get hundreds of emails a day. An autoresponder can simplify your life, by sending out a preset message response to each and every email you receive.
You can set up an autoresponder using either one or two methods – an outsourced ASP model and server side model. When using an outsourced ASP model, the company wishing to use the autoresponder will their business model will contract through an outside provider. This outside provider will then give the company user access to a web based system, or control panel. From the control panel, the company or individual can set up the autoresponder, preset messages, and decide how the autoresponder will handle the many different types of emails. One of the best services we have found is www.Automatic-Responder.com their service is top notch. To use these types of services, the individual or company will have to pay the autoresponder provider a flat monthly fee.
Server side autoresponders are a bit different. Basically, they are programs that a company or individual installs themselves and runs it on their own computer or server. You can save money with these programs, as you don’t have to pay a provider to operate the autoresponder. Although server side autoresponders weren’t user friendly in the beginning, they have become easier and easier to operate over the years – and are now the most popular type of autoresponder.
In all actuality, autoresponders are great to have. They are very reliable, and can easily save you a lot of time. The way the different types work can be a bit perplexing, although most are easy to use and easy to implement into your website. If you own or operate an online business – an autoresponder is something you should never find yourself without.
Low cost internet advertising agencies are the ideal way and most recommended means to make your product or service known and for your web site to earn money. There is such a very huge range of affordable internet advertising agencies that are now found in the Net.
There are various Internet advertising agencies according to the kind of product or service they provide. Here is a list of a few of these kinds of online marketing agencies.
1. Web design agencies
These are focused on building web pages for a website. Many web developers are now offering affordable services if you just know how and where to find them.
2. Logo services
Production of web site logos is the main concern of these agencies. Hundreds of pre-designed logos could be purchased or even customized to complement your website better.
3. Copywriting Agencies
In adjunct to search engine optimization, these agencies provide quality content that targets the attention of the market you intend to tap. Looking for the best deals with copywriting services will be a cinch if you know where to look. If you prefer freelancers, they are often found with their own websites.
4. Search engine optimization companies
These companies analyze and modify websites in order to achieve the highest possible search engine ranking. They improve your website's design and content to better attract more traffic. Link building could also be employed by these e-marketing agencies to benefit your business. They are actually a combination of all the services mentioned above. Sometimes they also go by the name of Internet marketing consultancies or something of that sort.
5. Domain registration companies
Your business's name in the web is the business of these companies. Looking for the best amongst a wide array of these agencies is like looking for a needle in a haystack. But if you are determined enough to do your homework with these marketing services, results would be more than rewarding. Just make sure that you don't register with those whose only intention is to rip off those who can't afford the most reputable domain registration agencies.
These are just a few of the Internet advertising agencies that a web marketing newbie could turn to. Examining your needs first will better your chances in getting in touch with the cream of the crop of these Internet marketing agencies minus the hefty price tag.
In the 1960s, campaigns featuring heavy spending in different mass media channels became more prominent. For example, the Esso gasoline company spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a brand awareness campaign built around the simple and alliterative theme Put a Tiger in Your Tank. Psychologist Ernest Dichter and DDB Worldwide copywriter Sandy Sulcer learned that motorists desired both power and play while driving, and chose the tiger as an easy-to-remember symbol to communicate those feelings. The North American and later European campaign featured extensive television and radio and magazine ads, including photos with tiger tails supposedly emerging from car gas tanks, promotional events featuring real tigers, billboards, and in Europe station pump hoses “wrapped in tiger stripes” as well as pop music songs. Tiger imagery can still be seen on the pumps of successor firm ExxonMobil.
