Member You - Internet and Businesses Online

Email Marketing Your Small Business
You’re a busy entrepreneur running a small retail or service business, and you don’t have time to learn all there is to know about email and internet marketing. You know one thing, though… more and more of your customers are using email, and you know it would be a great, cost effective way of contacting them. If only you could figure it all out.Email is truly one of the most powerful, flexible ways to communicate with customers that exists. That’s true whether you have an internet presence, a website, or not. Every day, off-line businesses use email to communicate important marketing and sales information to their customers

the Instant Messaging marketing including Microsoft (no surprise here)http://messenger.microsoft.com But, like most Microsoft technology/tools you pay a price for the software/services, albeit a small one. You have to register with Microsoft's NET Passport www.microsoft.com/myservices/passport service which is designed to be a universal login - this only takes a few minutes but be forewarned they also try to get you to setup a Hot Mail account, but you can work around this.

eBooks
Ebooks or electronic books are digital books. That means there is no paper needed and they can be downloaded through the internet. There are no printing costs, unless you print it out yourself, but normally it saves a lot of papers, so it is environmental friendly. There is also no inventory, no packaging, no distribution costs, no shipping, and so no waiting. Just pay and download the book onto your computer. That means that you can start reading within minutes after downloading the book. And don't forget that the internet is available 24 hours a day, not like a shop from 8 till 5.You can save a copy of the book on a disk o

Instant Messaging is rapidly becoming accepted in the business community as a viable communications tool and process - it's faster than e-mail, free on the client side, even a novice user can easily grasp the interface in just a few minutes and it enables remote workers and business partners to "talk" and share files and information effortlessly using the in-place infrastructure of the internet. Its mushrooming in popularity too - according to IDC, corporate and general business users will jump from 5.5M in 2001 to close to 200M by 2004.

What are some of the pitfalls and concerns you need to have when assessing and integrating Instant Messaging ("IM" another biz acronym) with your business processes? Be aware you are sending clear text messages over the public Internet - so all IM technology is inherently insecure. Privacy issues can also be raised - these messages are typically archived via the IM servers of the company whose services you are using and can be made public at a later date. Anyone with a network scanner may have access to and be reading your messages and if your are downloading files, you need to ensure your anti-virus software is setup to scan these files when you open them.

One of the biggest pitfalls of the technology and process is that it adds another communications layer to your busy day - but you can offset this by selecting or filtering who you communicate with at any point by using the IM interface to block all or selected individuals from "seeing" you when you are online.

Finally, like all things in today's computer industry (or many) each of the Instant Messaging vendors are trying to build applications which don't integrate with the other (no surprise here - arrogance has not faded away in the business community!). So, you need to assess the installed base of the market leaders and make a decision on which company's product you want to utilized - my recommendation would be to review Microsoft's or AOL/Time Warner's products - their installed bases are in the 200 million users plus when combined (these numbers include consumer and business usage) and they both work well and have user interfaces that are intuitive.

There is one alternative company that is solving the "IM Tower of Babel" issues and claims to integrate well with all proprietary apps by utilizing XML technology, Jabber, Inc., www.jabber.com So, if interoptability is important to you then I would recommend assessing their products.

Most of the IM providers including Microsoft are integrating voice communications with their IM clients - you may be able to bypass your local telephone carrier at some point using this technology, but don't bet on it anytime soon - all of those lobbyists here in the states need to keep generating fees on behalf of their telecom clients in Washington D.C. We use Microsoft's IM product and we have upon occasion utilized the voice and video features (you must of course have a multimedia setup for your PC and camera) and they do work. Although the video quality is a little jerky and the voice is akin to the old Citizens Band ("CB") radio - your Internet connection impacts the quality of both.

Whose technology do you choose? There are some clear market leaders in the Instant Messaging marketing including Microsoft (no surprise here)http://messenger.microsoft.com But, like most Microsoft technology/tools you pay a price for the software/services, albeit a small one. You have to register with Microsoft's NET Passport www.microsoft.com/myservices/passport service which is designed to be a universal login - this only takes a few minutes but be forewarned they also try to get you to setup a Hot Mail account, but you can work around this.

How to Hold a Successful Sales Meeting
Sales meetings. What kind of feeling does that term bring up in you? If you're a manager, do you struggle to find meaningful, fresh content each week? Or are you prepared and look forward to the chance to lead and inspire your sales team?If you're a sales rep, do you dread taking time away from the phone and think your company's meetings are just a big waste of time and energy?Here's the good news -- a good sales meeting can be a powerful sales tool and can provide valuable training and information that helps everyone perform better. If you're a manager use this outline to instantly improve the effectiveness of yo

ently insecure. Privacy issues can also be raised - these messages are typically archived via the IM servers of the company whose services you are using and can be made public at a later date. Anyone with a network scanner may have access to and be reading your messages and if your are downloading files, you need to ensure your anti-virus software is setup to scan these files when you open them.

Attracting Good Affiliates
Good affiliates can be hard to get. There could be any number of reasons for this, but I am going to focus on what I believe is the one major problem that prevents someone from attracting good affiliates. But first lets look at what the make up of a good affiliate may be. A good affiliate is:Hard WorkingPersistentMotivated to work their businessDoes not need constant reassuranceMakes and implements goalsOvercomes obstaclesRecognizes and takes good adviceAnd Never, Never, Never quits!The question some may ask is, "Where are these people at?" I'll tell you. Most of these

vendors are trying to build applications which don't integrate with the other (no surprise here - arrogance has not faded away in the business community!). So, you need to assess the installed base of the market leaders and make a decision on which company's product you want to utilized - my recommendation would be to review Microsoft's or AOL/Time Warner's products - their installed bases are in the 200 million users plus when combined (these numbers include consumer and business usage) and they both work well and have user interfaces that are intuitive.

Ladies and Gentlemen: The Vending Machine
The generation of today is very different than generations past. Times where Star Trek’s Replicator were light years away are now here in front of our very eyes, and technology is advancing at a very rapid rate. In the Star Trek series, a Replicator was a robot or mechanical device that could covert energy into particles or matter and do the same with small objects. What looked so complicated and surreal then has become everyday life for us now with many of our everyday demands being satisfied by vending machines.The robotic world we as human beings strongly rely upon is quickly and efficiently replacing human interaction

recommend assessing their products.

Enough About Me Let's Talk About YOU?
One of the biggest marketing mistakes I see constantly, in the newspaper, on the web, within company brochures, is the missing word: YOU.I cringe as I notice how enthralled these companies are with themselves. For instance, a sales letter I received late last year stated:==> "We have been in business for 10 years"==> "We’re having a sales contest to see how many we can sell"==> "We have won many awards…"==> "We serve clients in the Los Angeles area"Now, I hope you’re thinking what I'm thinking... "WHO CARES?"Right?There isn’t any mention of anything that benefits me. I

The other dominant IM product is AOL's ICQ product http://web.icq.com - it has similar functionality as Microsoft's application. The original technology was developed by a great Israeli company, Mirabellis, Inc., subsequently acquired by AOL. My chief complaint with this product is the irritating banner ads that AOL keeps pushing at you when you are utilizing their product. But, it's a small price to pay for a free product on the client side.

Yahoo also has an IM product ("Yahoo Messenger") but I am not convinced this will stay as a core part of their business, as they appear to be still trying to figure out what they are going to become in the post ".com gold rush era" market; i.e. Portal, Directory, Media giant, software/services company, etc. And, they've certainly jettisoned parts of their business the last 12-18 months and I would wager they've had discussions about getting out of the IM business.

Finally, IM is also quickly moving into other markets and devices including PDAs and Pagers - if you're a real geek and you can't stand to be out of touch while your in the shower and you have a water proof device you can ping away. But, I think we all need some down time for friends and family, but wanted to make sure I covered all possible bases with this column - until next time!

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You can put your message on t-shirts, hats, coffee mugs, pens and pencils, mouse pads, you name it. The trick is to have a compelling image or slogan.

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