What Exactly Is Vonage?
January 23, 2008
What Exactly Is Vonage?
by: Amy Nolan
Vonage is one of the leading providers of commercial and residential VoIP telephony. In a short span of three years, it has acquired more than a million customers for this recent communications technology. The company is based in Holmdel, New Jersey and offers quality-rich features as a part of its VoIP offering to customers. Customers throughout the United States can avail Vonage services; Vonage started its Canada and UK services in 2004 and 2005, respectively.
In order to make use of the services provided by Vonage, customers need a broadband internet connection and a good quality VoIP router or adapter. Vonage is different from IM-based VoIP services such as Skype as it offers greater ease of use and a greater selection of plans. A number of monthly packages are offered by Vonage; these include fixed minutes as well as unlimited use. The minutes allotted can be used for communicating with anyone in the U.S.; long-distance charges are applied for international calls. These charges are far less than those charged when using traditional telephony. Vonage offers a 14-day or a 30-day money-back trial period for customers to test the features and quality of VoIP service provided by Vonage.
Rich Media - Exploring New Territory
January 22, 2008
Until recently, audio, video, Flash, and static graphics were all independent components used as enhancements to text based messages on the Internet. We’re now seeing technological breakthroughs that allow us to combine these various elements into exciting web-based presentations that not only simulate our television experience but also take us to a whole new level of user interactivity. This technology is called Rich Media.
Rich Media is comprised of a combination of audio, video, graphics, and other techniques that, when put together, create an Internet experience that is personal, relevant, and largely unmatched by other print or broadcast media.
Rich Media is in its infancy but companies cannot afford to ignore its’ potential impact as a business tool. The "dot bomb" crash in April, 2000, notwithstanding, the Internet is still the fastest growing medium in history and continues to attract thousands of new users everyday.
Most of us come to the Web to perform specific tasks. We send mail, we read the news, and we research topics of interest. We also come to the Web to browse and shop for goods and services. The Internet, unlike other forms of media, allows us to take immediate action. We’re urged to click on banners, click on text links, write letters to the editor, create greeting cards, and upload our family pictures for the world to see. Is it any wonder that we have higher expectations of the Web than we do from browsing the newspaper or passively watching TV?
Constant Change Is The Only Certainty In Online Marketing
January 21, 2008
This old saying which addresses the variability of the weather in Montana is also applicable to the volatile market dynamics for an online business. If there is one thing that is certain about the future of online marketing, it is that it will continue to constantly change.
A generation in Internet marketing seems to last 12 months or less and therefore it is very important for online marketers to reassess their marketing plan frequently. It wasn’t too long ago that popups and banner ads were all the rage and now they’re about as welcome as a telemarketer or a lawyer.
In earlier times, just getting traffic to your website could spell success. That just is not the case today. In the current environment, Internet marketers have many tasks before them including increasing traffic, maximizing traffic quality, and improving conversion ratios. Much simpler said than done, but the key element is to understand that we are dealing with a dynamic marketing landscape where change is almost a continuous process. A successful Internet marketing campaign will always be a work in progress.
A dynamic internet marketing campaign will be a continuous process of monitoring & analyzing, followed by tweaking & experimenting, followed by measuring the impact (more monitoring & analyzing) of the changes made.
Microsoft Certification: The New MCTS Tracks And Exams
January 20, 2008
Microsoft Certification: The New MCTS Tracks And Exams
by: Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933
Microsoft is revamping its certification tracks, and will eventually retire the familiar MCSE certificatons. The new certification setup is much like Cisco’s, where there are specialist certifications to go along with the more general CCNA, then mid-level certifications such as the CCNP, and then a more-advanced practical exam modeled somewhat after the coveted CCIE certification.
Microsoft’s new specialist exams are the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) exams. As of March 2006, there were five separate MCTS Tracks. Three of them deal with .NET Framework 2.0; these are the Web Application, Windows Applications, and Distributed Applications certifications. Each of these separate certifications requires the candidate to pass two exams. There is also a one-exam SQL Server 2005 certification, as well as a BizTalk Server 2006 single-exam certification.
Got Web Traffic but Still Low Sales? Ten Ways to Selling Success - Part 1
January 20, 2008
Have you put a lot of effort, time, and money into your site and are frustrated with lackluster sales? Are you planning to put a new Web site and don’t know where to start?
If you are like many business professionals out there, you know your subject, you are an expert speaker or coach in your field, and you are even passionate about it. You have great products and services to sell.
But do you translate those into benefit-driven headlines that pull sales? If you have already put your Web site up did you address your purpose? Do you want to inform, communicate, and help? That’s fine, but if you want to sell something, you will drive your potential customers away with such non-effective phrases as “welcome to my site,” Here’s by product ” long paragraphs of your bio on the home page, your book’s introduction, or “subscribe to my ezine.”
You have only 10 seconds to impress your Web visitors. They don’t care about anything except what you can do for them.
Give them a reason to buy.
How Do I Improve My Web Site Conversion Rate? Part 1
January 19, 2008
Question 1.
What do you mean by conversion? Do you mean getting someone to answer the simplest call to action such as "read more here" or actually selling a product or service?
What you’re talking about here are two different ways to measure your website. "Read More Here" is what I would call a variable affecting your conversion rate. I call these kinds of variables "Micro Conversions" because they are all small (microscopic even) steps toward a full conversion. A micro conversion is something that you should test and measure. "Read More Here" might get a worse click-through rate than "Click here to find out how to win a month’s supply of vintage wine." So by improving this click through, you get the person browsing to take another small step toward your final website goal. By doing this, you improve your overall conversion rate, which in this case is to get someone to register or subscribe to win a month’s supply of vintage wine. Micro conversions can be tracked by measuring the click through of links, or the read time for content, or the bounce rate for headlines and copy. Full conversion is persuading your visitors to do what you want them to do. In my example, it would be registering to win wine, but it could be subscribe to a newsletter, download an audio file, buy a product, sell a service or whatever, but it should reflect what your website’s business objective is.
6 Steps To Your Own Website
January 18, 2008
A lot of people these days are interested in getting their own place on the world wide web. Whether itīs a personal site like a blog, or a business site, they all need to have a decent plan before they get started.
A few years ago I started designing and creating websites myself. I started just to show off to others, but I noticed it wasn’t as easy I thought it was. I mean, it is easy to get a site online; you just buy a template, pay a coder, and pay some one to insert content and advertise for you then you’re done. But if you want to do things yourself, that’s where it gets tricky.
After a few sites, I managed to find a certain pattern in the process of creating and managing my websites.
1. I always start with an idea for subject and content. Believe me - never create a website about something you hate and know nothing about. Instead create a website about something you know a lot about and like to tell other people about. What also works is writing about a subject you would like to know more on, after doing your own research. Newbies can explain information to other newbies easier then proīs explaining information to newbies.
How To Use a Message Sequence to Increase Your Sales
January 17, 2008
If there’s one thing I’ve learnt in over 3 years of web marketing, it is this: you *must* follow up with your visitors.
The statistics are very clear about this: the 1st contact produces 2% of sales, the 5th to12th contacts produce 80% of sales.
I knew about this for years but didn’t act on it. Then, about 8 months ago I wrote a 5 Day Email Course about my eBook (Ezine Writer) and offered it to my visitors.
The response was amazing - my sales almost doubled.
This is how it works:
When visitors leave the index page of my website, a popup appears inviting them to join my newsletter.
When they join, they also receive a free subscription to my 5 Day Email Course, which is delivered by sequential autoresponder.
But there’s an important detail here. You don’t want the popup appearing when your visitors click on the ‘order’ link - it distracts them and you could well miss a sale.
So the popup has to be designed so that it *doesn’t* appear when the order link is clicked.
Redscowl Bluesingsky: Why the Google Sandbox Doesn’t Exist
January 16, 2008
Redscowl Bluesingsky: Why the Google Sandbox Doesn’t Exist
by: Eric Giguere
Despite Google’s statements to the contrary, many website
owners still believe in the existence of the Google sandbox.
According to this theory, new sites discovered by Google’s
crawlers are always placed in a special “sandbox” separate from
the main Google index. Sites in this sandbox are kept out
of the main index — and the search results pages — until
the next major update of the Google index, which could be
months away. Domains that are already out of the sandbox
are therefore perceived as being more valuable to own.
Google’s official line, however, is that the sandbox
has never existed. A recent search engine optimization (SEO)
contest, the Redscowl Bluesingsky Contest, has proven them correct.
Sponsored by SEOlogs.com (see http://www.seologs.com/contest.html),
this contest revolves around a made-up phrase previously not
found in the Google index, “Redscowl Bluesingsky”. Webmasters
had 62 days to get a page with that phrase into Google’s index.
The winner would be the page ranking #1 on the most of Google’s
data centers (because Google results are served from several
Streamline Your Training Costs with Streaming Media
January 15, 2008
Streaming Media?now a well accepted Internet technology. Yet streaming is still not being widely utilized by members of corporate training staffs. Why is this? I would venture to guess that lack of direct experience, hesitation to try new methods, and fears about costly “TV type stuff” have all contributed to make streaming seem like something too difficult to attempt successfully.
Granted, streaming media still has its limitations especially in the area of delivering full- screen, full-quality video. But most of the big players on the Internet, even those in head-to-head competition for the fast-growing streaming audience, agree that as bandwidth continues to improve, streaming provides a value added service to the Web. Live and on-demand streaming has definitely arrived on the Internet and on corporate intranets as part of a multimedia mix for all kinds of applications including sales, marketing, and training. (I think that the entertainment value need not be disputed.)
Streaming is economical and extremely affordable. Once the training production has been completed, there is no need for expensive tape, or CD-ROM, duplication and shipping charges. The stream is available 24 hours a day without human intervention and can remain on the company site for an indeterminate time. Streams can also be archived for easy access by new employees, customers and visitors. The cost of hosting and archiving these streams is minuscule compared with the costs associated with tape duplication, storage, mailing, and the personnel required to perform these tasks
