Social networking and social bookmarking in Dubai, a by-product of the Web 2.0 era allows users to voice their thoughts over the internet and interact with each other better, socially as well as professionally. Most networking sites like BlogMemes, Reddit and Badoo feature handy tools like discussion boards, communities or groups on particular interests, access to a member’s blog page, and review boards.

Social bookmarking in Dubai, which is actually part of social media marketing strategies, is one of the techniques utilized by SEO experts in Dubai. This strategy allows businesses and marketers to promote their brands by displaying them on different social media networks like StumbleUpon, Reddit, Digg, etc.

The tag and ranking options provided on such sites allow the content of a website to be displayed in search engine result pages. The crawlers pick out the targeted keywords and business names, which occur in the discussions that are either threaded or linked to. The more often a page is linked or ranked, the better its chances of a higher search engine positioning.

There are a lot of forums, blogs and even websites that feature icons below articles or photos or random content. These icons allow a user to tag or bookmark the part of a page he finds interesting. It is then featured on his profile in the social networking or bookmarking site he belongs to. Users visiting his site can also view the bookmarked pages and do the same, thus widening the audience.

Such options are more relevant as they do away with classifications worked out by mechanical web crawlers that are on no account as accurate as humans.

Cosmos Star Consultants, a professional online marketing company makes use of social bookmarking in Dubai to boost your website’s visibility.

The virtual real estate or domain name business is clearly having a lot of takers ever since the days when domain names like ‘Business.com’ were sold for a hefty $150,000 (1997 price). Today, names like ‘Bookmarks.com’ and ‘Diamond.com’ sell for a cool $300,000 and $7 Million each.

Auctions similar to the one held earlier in the year in the ballroom of the Renaissance by DomainFest, have avid executives, giant corporates and even small businesses vying with one another to purchase names that will gain them massive profits in terms of online marketing in U.A.E. and higher search engine placement.

There are some who even ‘flip’ names just like regular real estate investors. ‘Flipping’ in regular real estate refers to houses or plots that were bought for a certain amount, held for a while and then re-sold for a higher amount at a later time. Domain names have been known to have been re-sold for a profit of around a million dollars if not more.

In August 2006, there were an estimated 92,615,362 websites known to populate the Internet. The chances of a domain name that suits your business not existing on the Internet are slim, emphasizing the lucrative potential of a business in domain name real estate.

At our SEO company in Dubai we specialize in online marketing in U.A.E. and Dubai web development via search engine promotion services. Get in touch with us for more information on how your website can be optimized to reflect your business, both online and offline.

Krishna's presentation was very interesting and here's a few "to-do's" I have taken away from it:

• set PuddleDucks up on Twitter
• create a PuddleDucks photo page on Pix.ie - maybe show photos of our our lovely gift wrapping
• register on key social networks
• check and maybe update my personal profile on social networking sites
• check on RSS reader on our blog and allow email subscriptions to the blog
• put link to our Xtreme PuddleDucking video on our next email newsletter!

The afternoon sessions were also very enjoyable especially Fred Karsson of DoneDeal.ie who shared his experiences of building a successful online business. Fred's presentation was both informative and humerous and it's amazing how DoneDeal has built their business to be so successful in a relatively short time. One tip I have taken from Fred's talk is to check our spend on Google Adwords and reduce the Cost per Click for the top performing ads.

Of course the networking opportunities are very important too. I met Liz from StyleBible- who had very kindly written a review of PuddleDucks on her site. I had a long chat too with Roseanne of IIA blog fame about Twitter (she live-twittered the event), blogging and how her kids love wearing their PuddleDucks "fireman's trousers".

Overall a very enjoyable day. Thanks to all the organisers and presenters.

-- Aedan

You might recall the elaborate viral marketing campaign that was created for the ABC television series Lost. The Lost Experience garnered support from a host of prominent corporate entities like Monster.com, Verizon, Sprite, etc.

The perceptions of television viewers world-wide were certainly grabbed by the horns, so to speak, by this series which in itself was an unusual television concept to begin with.

That’s what viral marketing is all about- difficult to box into a set definition yet rather easy to recognize. Using the influential potential promised by online marketing in Dubai, viral marketing is a very powerful concept.

Dr. Ralph Wilson at Web Marketing Today chalks out some very pertinent elements of the viral marketing concept citing the word “free” as the most powerful word in a marketer’s vocabulary. The music group Nine Inch Nails, left behind free USB drives in their concert restrooms containing embedded images that could be viewed using a spectrograph, and songs from their new album with encrypted MP3s.

In order for Dubai internet marketing to really stand out from the traditional medium of advertising, using concepts like viral marketing can be very advantageous. The internet involves minimum resources and setting up shop in its by-ways is the best investment you could make.

Contact Cosmos Star Consultants for more help on Dubai online marketing via viral marketing concepts.

1.    Get listed on Google Local Business Centre. It puts you on Google’s Maps and sometimes even on the 1st page of Google’s search results.

Get Your Local Business Listing at -  http://www.google.com/local/add
2.    Make sure you Submit Your website to these 3 Search Engines:

•    Google – http://www.google.com/addurl/
•    DMOZ – http://www.dmoz.org/add.html
•    Yahoo - https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/submit

3.    Install Google Analytics on Your website. This will allow you to easily track who is visiting your website, for how long, where they are coming from. An invaluable tool for measuring your website and marketing performance. It’s also Free!

http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=66983

4.    Setup an Email Signature, providing contact details, your name, business name and web address. And make use of a polite PS – to promote specials, deals, and offers.

See - http://email.about.com/od/signatures/Email_Signatures.htm

5.    Track and store the, emails you send to contacts, leads, customers, in an online location, that you can access 24/7.  This is great as it stores your emails in a safe online manner that you can access from any computer, anytime. Basically an online Contact Manager , Address Book, and Customer Relationship Management tool all rolled into one! As they list on their website – you can use Highrise to:

•    Review a colleague’s notes before calling her contact at the printer
•    See all the follow-ups scheduled for this week
•    Set a reminder to write your client a thank-you note next Friday
•    Keep all important emails from a customer together on one page
•    Schedule a follow-up sales call with a lead in 30 days
•    Enter notes from a call with a potential client

Visit – www.HighriseHQ.com and learn more about their free start-up account.

6.    Create yourself a lens on Squidoo. Why? Because Squidoo is free and allows you to quickly and easily create
.
•    A signpost about something that matters to you.
•    A place to recommend your favorite stuff.
•    A popular way to get found more on the web

Google also LOVES content posted on Squidoo, so make sure you include a link to your own website in the Introdution. This will (over time) help improve your website’s page ranking on Google and other search engines. It’ll also give people more ways to find you and your business online (rather than the other way around)

Get Started - http://www.squidoo.com/wizard/step1
Need more help?  http://www.squidoo.com/creating-lenses

7.    Brand your car with your Web Address.Think about how much time you spend in traffic with someone staring at your car’s rear window. Captive marketing at it’s best.  Better still -  include your mobile number and a message for them to call you now to chat! (as long as you have a hands-free kit)

8.    Measure your Marketing, so that  you know what’s working and what isn’t. Keep a log-book/ record of how people found out about your business. You should do this for all telephone enquiries.

And if you’re really smart – register a number of slightly different versions of your web domain and use these in your different marketing campaigns. (i.e. use a .net.nz for one, .co.nz for another, .info for yet another)

Why? Because you can then set-up redirects for these domains to your normal web address, and count every single visit that gets referred from them (as long as you’ve installed Google Analytics in Step 3)

This allows you to measure radio adverts, print adverts, brochures….  There’s no need to guess anymore whether your marketing is driving leads to your website … or not.

Make sure you do this on your website too (get your web developer to add a small drop-down menu of options as to how people found you) You can create your own form and replace your current email address link on your website.

Visit: http://www.formlogix.com/Form_Maker.aspx

9.    Add a Social Bookmarking Toolbar to your Website. This a great way to get other people to spread the word about content on your website.

Visit - http://www.addthis.com/web-button-select.html

10.    Set-up and Send-out out an Online Customer Survey. It’s a great form of marketing, and allows you to :

-    Get Customer Feedback on Your Service and Product (always make sure to ask what is Good, and How You can Improve things too)
-    Gain Marketing Testimonials (make sure you ask permission to use them)
-    Make contact with previous customers

Think about questions you’d like answers to about your business. Like:

“How did you hear about my business?”
“What are the Things You Enjoyed about Doing Business With Us?”
“What are the things we Could Improve on?”
“Would you recommend us to someone else?”

Then spend some time gathering email addresses from your email client/ inbox, and draft a polite email asking people to visit the survey online. It’s often a good idea to provide a small incentive to customers to complete the survey like a discount off their next purchase etc.  This in-turn will promote business!

You can gather up to 10 responses for free using - http://freeonlinesurveys.com
OR for more serious surveys try - http://www.surveygizmo.com
I hope you have found them helpful and more importantly … useful.
Feel free to contact me to give your feedback and thoughts.

Cheers - Mick

+ You can Also Download this Info as PDF +

If you look at statistics for employment rates of small businesses as recently as last month, there has been an increase in job creation.  America is still doing business.  People are still buying things and somebody has to sell it to them.

If anything, this is a good time to out manuever your competition.  While they stand still in a hyped up panic, you can run circles around them.

Web marketing has shown to be an effective and thrifty form of promotion for businesses.  Compared to many of the traditional forms of advertising, a lot of bang can come from a smaller web marketing buck.  How are you capitalizing on your website right now?  Are you utilizing it to its fullest extend?

Here are a few thrifty web marketing ideas to consider:

1. Submit press releases to online press release syndication services such as PRWeb and PRLeap.
2. Start a blog and a syndicate it through services such as Feedburner and Technorati.
3. Create a page on Facebook and/or MySpace to promote your business.
4. Put on a webinar.
5. Optimize your website for relevant keywords that customers are searching on.
6. Try a pay-per-click campaign, such as a Google Adwords, for very direct marketing to your target audience.
7. Start an enewsletter campaign to your customer base.
8. Create promotional videos that can be used on sites like YouTube.
9. Use your website statistics to get a better idea of your market and how to better tap into them.
10. Donate online to charity - not exactly a marketing tip, but it will yield a positive return down the road.

It is with much anticipation and pleasure that we are starting this blog today. Our intentions are to share thoughts and ideas about the role of direct response in online marketing. We are passionate about the subject and hope this blog will be a good place to discuss.

Cheers.

eMarketer is expecting the economy to recover by 2011 coupled with an increase in online video advertising to push the online ad spending to more than $40 billion that year. They then expect online advertising to grow by about $10 billion each year after that to 2013. eMarketer gets its projections by benchmarking against the Interactive Advertising Bureau numbers.

Digital marketing doesn’t only include online advertising – it includes everything from online video ads to search media to in-game and mobile advertising. A report from analyst firm Parks Associates also forecasts growth in digital media advertising segments. Parks Associates gives a breakdown of everything from Internet display, rich media, search, DVR, mobile and in-game advertising. New categories, such as in-game ads and mobile ads will have the highest gains because they’re starting from lower bases than other forms of digital advertising like online ads.

Parks Associates projects digital media to compose 10 percent of overall ad spending or about $24 billion by 2010. eMarketer predicts a higher number for 2010 of about $33 billion.

Of course, these are all just predictions, and each research firm has its own numbers that tell a different story.

JupiterResearch, for instance, forecasts display ad spending to reach $7.2 billion by 2010, while Parks Associates forecasts display ad spending to reach only $2.4 billion.

JupiterResearch believes by 2010 search marketing will reach $7.5 billion in revenues. Parks Associates sees search marketing growing more than that – up to $9.7 billion. 

New categories like rich media, in-game and mobile advertising shows the most growth according to Parks Associates. Internet rich-media ads are projected to bring in an estimated $5.7 billion by 2010. In-game ads will grow at least 50 percent according to the study, bringing in about $430 million annually. Mobile advertising is expected to grow to $2 billion in the same time period.

Even though all the numbers are different, quite different, actually, they are all projecting an upward trend for digital marketing. The Parks Associates report says that media is moving from mass to niche, forcing advertisers to adapt to new content and ad formats. “We believe that advertising over the next five years will go through some changes,” said Parks Associates Research Analyst Harry Wang in a Webcast presentation of the report. “For content providers as well as media publishers, they have to provide content in a form that the audience prefers.”

For those entrepreneur hopefuls interested in cash gifting programs, the question “How does cash gifting work,” often arises.  Cash gifting offers are well-liked by many start up entrepreneurs because of the lucrative potential of such offerings.  Cash gifting programs are unique and profitable opportunities, which, in truth are businesses which are fairly simple to start up if one accesses an outstanding cash gifting program.  With this in mind, hopeful entrepreneurs can certainly profit from learning the workings and processes behind today’s extraordinary cash gifting programs.

To address the question of how does cash gifting work, it is necessary to provide an explanation of what cash gifting is first.  In brief, a cash gifting offer is, as defined by the Internal Revenue service, an act that involves delivering monies to another individual in the form of a gift, and if that delivered gift falls under 12,000 dollars within a given year, there are no tax consequences presented for the gift in question.  Cash gifting programs have been in existence for many decades and now, thanks to the advent of the Internet, such programs are available to a broader range of participants.  Participants in a cash gifting offer become a member of a quality team where every member of the cash gifting team benefits equally at all times.

Let’s attempt to address the question: “how does cash gifting work?”  Some of the present cash gifting programs available today are built upon the basic business practices of appropriate marketing and conversion.  If an entrepreneur hopeful gets in on a superlative cash gifting program, he or she can get the full support of marketing professionals who will help the entrepreneur get their cash gifting program established.  Through high quality web content which proves both compelling and powerful, the participant in a cash gifting program can prompt web visitors to act on offers which lead to tremendous conversion rates.

Successful cash gifting operations depend upon high quality, intriguing website content, successful marketing, and campaigning, appealing visual and audio aids, and every measure must be used to attract web visitors, web traffic, and further, to prompt web visitors to act on offers being presented.  The true power behind any quality cash gifting program exists in the programs automated processes; the more powerful and persuasive the automated processes are, the more simplified the cash gifting endeavor.

Cash gifting programs are systems which do the majority of all networking and work for the entrepreneur.  While there is still a certain level of work required of the entrepreneur, the notion is to “work smarter, not harder,” through high quality cash gifting systems and programs.  Cash gifting programs which deliver website templates, content, and automatic response systems help the entrepreneur to establish and unbeatable and persuasive web presence, which, in turn, naturally generates the success of cash gifting offers.

Are you interested in participating in a legal and superlative cash gifting program? contact  www.MyCashGiftingPrograms.com or www.AbundantLivingSystems.net for further details on how you can get in on an extraordinary and first-rate cash gifting venture today.

The losses came despite aggressive moves by the Fed and Treasury to stem the pain in credit markets and as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke hinted at a cut in interest rates, writes Matt Krantz on USA TODAY

The Dow lost more than 500 points and all the major indexes slid more than 5 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 index saw its first close below 1,000 in five years.

"The calls I'm getting — every money manager I deal with, and every client I talk to — are just very emotional. This is a very, very emotional time, and most of them are taking steps to shore up their defenses, reducing exposure to stocks just to defend their portfolios," said Hugh Johnson, chairman and chief investment officer of Johnson Illington Advisors.

The magnitude of the stock market's plunge is reflected in the Dow's grim stats:

• It has fallen 33.3 percent since its record close of 14,164.53, a year ago Thursday.

• Tuesday's close was its lowest close in five years, since Sept. 30, 2003.

• In just five trading days this month, and in the fourth quarter, it is down about 1,400 points, or 13 percent.

The Dow's percentage loss Tuesday was 5.11 percent, actually a better performance than the 5.74 percent suffered by the S&P, the market indicator most watched by traders and anlaysts. The Nasdaq composite dropped 5.8 percent.

We have the solution to keep you on top of your follow-up and make you a leader in business prospecting.  Our  Prospect Follow-up Service - Cards to Cash, provides a quick turnaround to those new business acquaintances and presents a professional image of your business.

Our package offers:

• Each business card scanned into a working database
• The design of a real Follow-up card with your logo or business card imprinted on the inside flap
• The card is mailed to the new prospect on your behalf
• One telephone call is attempted to the new prospect to set an  appointment
• Business cards and database file will be mailed back to you for future reference
  

And the best part is that this service is very affordable, around the cost of a nice cup of coffee.

Are there business cards right now laying in your top desk drawer?  Have you been too busy to follow-up with the contacts you made at the last Tradeshow?  Contact us and we will get your name back in front of these potential new clients.  Visit our website at www.avirtualbiz.com,  or email to info@avirtualbiz.com.

Since it's client-side, will the ad servers be able to pick it up? Probably not, but if you know, please post a comment.

Also, I'd love to know the adoption rate of this--however small.  Sounds more like an attempt as a "buzz generator" that anything else. However, more of a buzz with advertisers than with the consumer.

Marketing is an ongoing process of planning and executing the marketing mix for products, services or ideas to create exchange between individuals and organizations.

Marketing tends to be seen as a creative industry, which includes advertising, distribution and selling. It is also concerned with anticipating the customers' future needs and wants, which are often discovered through market research.

Essentially, marketing is the process of creating or directing an organization to be successful in selling a product or service that people not only desire, but are willing to buy.

Therefore good marketing must be able to create a "proposition" or set of benefits for the end customer that delivers value through products or services.

The nicely designed app has seven main functions. Allow me to start from the bottom up.

First there is the page titled “Issues”, where the user can quickly look up where the Obama/Biden ticket stands on over 20 key voter issues from the economy and taxes, to technology.

Next is the Media tab, a centralized place where both up to date video and still photos can be found of campaign events. When selecting a video, the app gives a short description and a link to the video on YouTube, which in turn opens up the built in YouTube app on the iPhone. The Photo tab allows users to quickly thumb though the most recent photos. I do not know where the official feed is from, most likely an RSS feed from barackobama.com/.

One of the most powerful tools in the Obama app is the “Local Events” tab, which uses the iPhone’s built in GPS to locate near by Obama events. It includes everything from Debate Watching Parties to live radio broadcasts to fundraisers and town hall meetings. This is sure to become a very power tool in the grass roots movements.

While the app also encompasses an Obama related News tab, the ability to sign up for SMS and e-mail updates and contact info for your nearest Obama HQ, I believe the most powerful tool on the app is the Call Friends feature.

The “Call Friends” tap sits atop all of the other Obama app features, emphasizing its importance to the campaign. The features accesses your Contacts list and parses them according to state. And with one click, the user is able to call any friend, organized by “key battle ground states”, and encourage them to vote Obama and get more involved in the campaign. I believe the most power part of the app is the “Call Stats” page, which keeps users up to date on how many friends they have called, how many people other Obama ’08 app users have called and who has called the most number of people. This sense of competition should fuel more participation. And the ease of use helps too.

Overall, the Obama ’08 iPhone app is solid. The UI is clean, and the easy of usability is superb. Not only that, but it is useful. The pictures, videos and news updates give the user up to the minute reports on the campaign, and the multiple calls to action are sure to get some users on the offensive.

- Kolby Goodman

Hello, and welcome to my blog. My name is Larissa Klusman. I am first and foremost a wife to my husband, David of 7 years, a home school mom to my two sweet children Benjamin, 6 and Hannah almost 2. They are my pride and joy. I truly enjoy the opportunity to be home with them full time. I would not exchange my job and role with anyone. They are my highest priority and my greatest gift from God.

Yes, we are a christian family. Messianic/christian. I love God with everything and look to Him for the source of my strength and direction. We delight in keeping His Feast (holidays) and sabbath. This is a true pleasure and source of peace in our home.

I have many interest in life. My desire to learn more seems to never really stop. I love: homeschooling in which we use mostly the Delight Directed method, I enjoy reading and researching especially about health, the bible, some self help, bible commentary from a Hebrew perspective, and just about anything that strikes my fancy at the moment. I am a nature person. Love to hike, camp, fish, just be outdoors. Love to garden, although I am by no means an expert. When we vacation we feel most at home immersing ourselves in nature. I do like to sew, have tried scrapbooking which I enjoyed. Love cooking and baking. I love singing (aIthough I am sure I need voice lessson), music in general. I like health and fitness. Just love to have fun and develop relationships. I am also an entrepreneur at heart and have been as far back as I can practically remember.

The entrepreneur desire started for me as a child in play. I was always the one starting little neighborhood clubs, the "leader" of my friends (whenever they got bored or needed something to do they looked to me). I had "counseling" sessions on my front porch when I was in third grade...maybe it was 2nd? Ha! I thought I was something. Always trying to help friends get along with there siblings while I didn't have any save one that was not with us most the time. And they actually came and followed my recommendations. I started selling cards with a kids program when I was around 12, had my first real job landscaping when I was about 13. And did various thing from there. 18 I sold with Avon for awhile until the company did me in with there continuous mistakes.

I got really serious about a home-based business when I was pregnant with my son about 7 years ago. I started with Melalucea from an add about natural solutions to cleaning. I was concerned with my environment while being pregnant. So, I jumped on board and felt I was pretty successful, especially my first month. Long story short, I just found that wasn't my home. Basically explored a few different options over the past few years and really tried my hand at a couple. Always around health and wellness.

I am still with a phenomenal health company as I love their products. But, as I can now see their were two main problems with my failures with a home based business. 1. Not really having the right leadership and know how and 2. me not really staying focused and being persistent. At the time I really didn't need to.What, with one child, which I was severly experiencing morning sickness with and some bad health later for a time and David was making very good income. So, I just mostly focused on caring for me and my child and working my business as a "hobby"

This brings me to now. My true desire is to have a completely online  business. I don't want to be consumed with running around town several times a week, imposing on others with the 3 foot rule, and missing my kids bedtimes with parties. I am not saying those methods don't work. They can.  And they did for me for awhile. And I still enjoy sharing with others about health. But, for the most part I simply want to be home. Believe me when I say I really don't need a lot of extra add ons. Really just need an efficient and enjoyable plan.

So, I searched for an online program with the intent of helping  me create a truly online business. A resource source so to speak . Something I could apply to my nutritional company.  And discovered something that I am excited about. Not only for the resource information, but also as a way to compensate for my work and get paid instantly. I am really excited about this. Mostly because I feel like I now have at my fingertips everything that I need to make me successful and turn me into a successful leader. That is another passion. I really do love to encourage and inspire people. I don't only want to work from home to make our goals and dreams come true. But, I want to help you to make yours happen as well.

I am learning more all the time not to sale on a product or company. Rather instead to brand myself. That way I am not barking down peoples throats constantly chasing them around when they are truly not interested. Instead relying on just being me, presenting myself, and attracting those who are most compatible with me to me. This is the new trend in home based business.  And it is very exciting.

Well, I think that about sums it up. Please stay tuned to my blog. I will eventually be adding more sites where you can get to know me better.

Wishing you much success,

Larissa

It's pretty straightforward and has a lot of useful information to people looking to engage in word of mouth marketing.  The "types of influencers" chart I'm sure will help in more than one new business presentation.

Honestly though, much of it wasn't news to me.  A lot of brands in the action sports have been using word of mouth marketing for some time... just not calling it that.  Mainstream brands could still learn a thing or two, at least from my recent experiences.

The biggest issue I'm finding with people engaging in word of mouth marketing is fear.  They either don't fully understand it or can't commit to it for the long term without a justifyiable ROI.  While I understand both concerns, just because your ad buy guarantees you a metric (according to your ad rep), that doesn't guarantee results besides that you paid your rep for that metric.

Wie funktioniert es im Einzelnen? Einige Betreiber von Gratis-Blogs erlauben keine direkten Links zu Affiliate-Programmen. In diesem Fall brauchen Sie zunächst eine sogenannte Landing-Page. Das ist eine Seite, auf der Sie Ihr Affiliate-Produkt bewerben und einen Link zum Anbieter setzten. In Ihrem Blog können Sie dann einen Link auf diese Landig-Page setzten.

Nun können Sie Ihren Blog einrichten und anfangen, Beitrage zu posten. Recherchieren Sie Ihr Thema ein wenig und schreiben Sie am besten eine gewisse Anzahl von Beiträgen im Voraus und posten Sie sie in regelmässigen Abständen (möglichst jeden Tag) Bieten Sie Ihren Lesern interessante Informationen, damit Ihr Blog auch gelesen wird und die Leser auf den Link zu Ihrer Verkaufsseite anklicken. Ein langweiliger Blog wird schnell weggeklickt.

Es gibt die verschiedensten Affiliate Programme. Suchen Sie sich eines aus, mit dem Sie sich identifizieren können, dann fällt es Ihnen leichter, es zu bewerben.

Demnächts mehr dazu, wie man ein Affiliate-Programm erfolgreich bewirbt!