Online Marketing: Math or Myth?
September 30, 2007
The numbers are supposed to be big in online marketing, but are they significant in the online marketing of music? Clearly, we need someone with ‘Net experience to set a few things straight. Scott Meldrum is a businessperson and musician with a dry wit and a background in bulk mail. Oops, excuse me, direct response advertising. He’s also the man called on by major labels when they want to brand an artist and reach millions of fans via the Internet.
Beginning with Papa Roach in 1998 and continuing with such platinum-selling artists as Avril Lavigne, Dido and Jennifer Lopez, Meldrum’s Long Beach-based firm, Hype Council, is one of the prime marketing weapons utilized by the world’s largest entertainment companies.
Taking center stage for a Monday evening presentation by NARIP (National Association of Record Industry Professionals) at the Beverly Garland Hotel in Los Angeles, Meldrum began with some facts about the Internet. Does that sound a bit dull? It wasn’t. His presentation quickly revealed things about the ‘Net that should be known by every marketer (that’s you, if you or your artists are selling music online).
THE GLOBAL AUDIENCE FOR MUSIC.
Hens Lay Eggs (HLE) by Silke Stahl
September 29, 2007
"HLE" is a bit of a joke term, (or possible tongue in cheek could be a better label) coined in my Network Marketing Group - it stands for “Hens Lay Eggs” and is a take on the exponential growth theory - recruit two people, who recruit two, etc, and in six weeks you’ll have 50,000 people sending you $250,000 - the false promise of MLM.
The MLM exponential growth chart makes sense mathematically but is flawed. Unfortunately the ordinary person can’t see the flaw, so buy into it, and you get your 95% of people who do MLM and can’t make it work. We all know the story.
The logic is the same as “Zeno’s arrow”, based on an ancient greek philosopher and mathematician who preceeds Archimedes and Pythagoras. Or in the famous "missing pound" logic problem. More on these in future issues.
But here is the HLE analogy explained:
A hen lays six eggs. If the chicks grow up to be hens they also lay eggs and the hen becomes a "grandmother". There is no guarantee that all 6 chicks will lay 6 eggs, etc. Also there’s nothing to stop the hen laying another batch of eggs, maybe six, maybe 5 or 8. It’s not set or guaranteed.
15 Exercises for Learning a new Programming Language
September 28, 2007
15 Exercises for Learning a new Programming Language
by: Prashant N Mhatre
I’ve working knowledge of a bunch of programming languages but job demands to learn a new language frequently in a short time. Instead of reading hundreds manual/book pages, I quickly read 10-15 pages of tutorial or primer. (As you know google is the best search engine to look for such stuff). I keep printed copy of the language syntax reference card handy. (There are many reference cards available over internet. Type in ‘language to learn’ + ‘reference card’ in google.)
First of all, get familiar with Compiler, compiler option, editor shortcuts or integrated development environment (IDE). Start with a simple ‘Hello World’ program. Compile it. Use basic functionalities of debugger like setting break points, printing variable values, moving to the next or specific position, stopping debugger etc.
To grasp basics of a new language quickly, here are the exercises I use. Remember some programs may not good for beginners.
(1) Display series of numbers (1,2,3,4, 5….etc) in an infinite loop. The program should quit if someone hits a specific key (Say ESCAPE key).
(2) Fibonacci series, swapping two variables, finding maximum/minimum among a list of numbers.
Unlock Your Prospects Mind From The Inside
September 27, 2007
A prospect’s mind is an intimate place where something I call The Inner Score Keeping System dwells.
Simply put, it’s a fundamental model that you can use as a metaphor to help explain the way prospects govern their inner decision-making.
It’s true that a potential buyer will profile several things in the background while evaluating an offer. Many little decisions are made along the way that lead up to the BIG yes or no final decision.
Some of these are subconscious thoughts while other times one may even notice their own mind chatter. However, in any case, a decision process is in action.
In the situation where a prospect is evaluating a sales offer, here is an overview of events going on deep inside the prospect’s mind.
While responding to the offer, the prospect instinctively invokes a scoring system, which helps in evaluating the offer.
We ALL have this judgment system inside of us that we respond with.
This Inner Score Keeping System occurs mostly behind the scenes as we don’t focus on the inner process. Although it is transparent to us, it’s still there.
What You Always Wanted to Know About Scanning
September 27, 2007
What You Always Wanted to Know About Scanning
by: Ismael D. Tabije
One of the most useful attachments of a computer is a scanner which has now become indispensable for both home and office usage. Scanners analyze an image and text and process them in such a way that the optical characters can be saved in a file on your computer. These images and text can be altered as per the need and then printed or used on your web page.
Among all the various types of scanners available, Flatbed scanners (also called desktop scanners) are the most versatile and common. The other types are sheet-fed scanners and hand-held scanners. Whereas the sheet-fed scanners are like the flatbed scanners except that the document is moved while keeping the scan head stationary, hand-held scanners need to be moved by the user in place of a motorized bed. Hand-held scanners do not give good image quality but they can capture the text very quickly. Finally, there is another type of scanner called a Drum scanner that is used to capture extremely detailed images and is normally used by the publishing industry.
The following steps describe how a scanner works:
Web Accessibility Myths
September 26, 2007
With more and more countries around the world passing laws about blind and disabled access to the Internet (including the Disability Discrimination Act in the UK), web accessibility has been thrown into the spotlight of the online community. This article attempt to put a stop to the misinformation that has been thrown around and tell you the truth behind web accessibility.
1. Creating a text-only equivalent is sufficient
Creating a separate text-only equivalent can lead to a number of problems:
- A text-only version is not necessarily accessible
- Two versions of the same website represents a huge time and money investment for you
- Your primary site may not be accessible to many users
- An ‘extra’ accessible website for blind and disabled users can be one more way to make them feel marginalised from mainstream society
Web accessibility isn’t just about blind and disabled Internet users being able to use your site - it’s about everyone being able to access it successfully. It really doesn’t have to take very much time or money to make your website accessible.
2. It’s complicated and expensive to make my website accessible
The Myth of Internet Marketing: aka The Golden Carrot
September 25, 2007
Why am I so mad I could throw my computer right out of my upstairs window?
Well, I’ll tell you. But first I want to tell you who I am.
My name is Cathy Smith and I work at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie Michigan. In the past two years the Governer of our state has cut the state funding for higher education by a whopping 20%. This has resulted in layoffs and job eliminations at our university.
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We used to have a four person office but now thanks to university DOWNSIZING we only have a two person office.
I am one of the “lucky” ones who survived the cuts and still have a job. I not only have my own job but the jobs of the two people in our office who were eliminated. So now I have three FULL-TIME jobs. See how lucky I am?
Google Page Rank Is Dead - Or Is It? - Part I
September 24, 2007
For a long time now, marketing gurus all over the world have been talking about google page ranking. Page ranking is simply Google’s way of measuring your pages accordingly.
But there is a problem…
More and more we tend to see NO consistency with page ranking at all. Please don’t confuse the difference between “page ranking” & “search engine ranking”. The two are completely different.
With this method of measurement, we could quickly see how much or how little a person has put into promoting their website. A high rank of 6,7,8,9,10 is sometimes held as something honerable to have for your site but does it really matter?
In some aspects it does and in some it doesn’t.
As I mentioned above, page ranking has nothing to do with your search engine success. It (did) have everthing to do with “importance”. The only problem is (like so many marketing ventures online), this measurement method is dying off with the rest of them. People online are very intuitive about these sort of things and tend to over saturate ways to beat them and/or improve on them quickly.
Attract New Subscribers With Magnetic Ads
September 23, 2007
One of the most effective methods of advertising your e-zine is placing ads in OTHER e-zines!
There are many reasons why, but the top three are:
First, you’ll need to get your ads ripe and ready. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to write them - it should only take you about 10 minutes.
5 Ways To Automate Your Site
September 22, 2007
Automating your online business is one of the most important steps you can take to insure your success on the internet.
If you have been on the internet for any time at all, you know that there are just too many tasks to do each day to be really efficient and productive with them all.
Learning to delegate some of those routine, daily activities is one way to insure your site’s success and to give you much more time in the day for the most important task which is that of promotion and marketing your site.
HERE ARE 5 SIMPLE WAYS TO AUTOMATE TODAY:
1) USE AUTO-RESPONDERS:
Probably one of the best-known and popular ways to handle routine messages to inquirers is the use of auto-responders.
It is simple and easy to set up your messages which usually involve several follow-up messages to remind your visitors what you are offering and how to find your site again.
Here are some free ones:
http://www.freeautobot.com/ (ad free also.) http://www.getresponse.com/ http://www.sendfree.com/ http://www.sendthisfree.com/
2) MAILING LIST MANAGEMENT:
If you are trying to run your own newsletter, handling the process by yourself can eat up a lot of valuable time.
