Kingdom Keys Blog

Finding the most searched long tail keywords in your market niche

Fri, 18 May 2012 00:00:00 +1000

The age of website directories has long gone. People now just type a clever combination of words and somehow manage to drill down rather quickly to what they are looking for. Miss out on showing up in this kind of search and you are out of existence in cyberspace.

Time is the essence and convenience is king.

So how does a smart web surfer can cut to the chase and land only the results they are after? In a nutshell the answer is: by being specific enough.

Let's try it. You want to shop around for a computer in your area. So you type two words "cheap computer". That will return who knows what so you decide to be a bit more specific. You don't like the cheap connotation so you say low price instead. Then you don't say computer you say laptop. Now you've typed "low price laptop".

Again you find that some of the vendors are on the other side of the world so you add your location. Now we have "low priced laptop in Sydney"

The long tail label stems from the field of statistics where a distribution tapers off in a bell curve shape. A simple tool to try is http://google.com/sktool if you search "long tail keyword research tool" you are bound to return scores of services that will help you keep ahead of the pack.

So where do marketers and consumers meet? The answer: wherever new buzzwords arise. Think of all the lingo that would be unintelligible to someone who was transported in time from say 10 years ago. What would they make of social media, web 2.0, global warming, political correctness, green gas emission, stimulus package, raft of measures, ecommerce, iphone, gforce, handheld device, smartphone, etc...

For search engine advertising, each of these words combinations had become an auction where you bid against whoever wants to show up there as well.

For the savvy internet boffin which we are all becoming, the name of the game is to uncover quickly enough the results that will address our problem, appeal to our senses or just entertain us about our areas of interest.

For marketers the challenge is to pre-empt what tomorrow's jargon will be and to position yourself in from of those people before everyone else catches on.

If you have the mind of an investigator and read the leading blogs and reviews you might pick up what is hot. If you yield enough influence you might start a new trend and see if it takes off.

Who will resurrect the electric car?

Fri, 11 May 2012 00:00:00 +1000

When you see how fast the technology in appliances like computers and smartphones improves in leaps and bounds you are left wondering why the promised electric car is still around the corner. Why local authorities interfering with more and more regulation do not require power points in new car parks or provide tax breaks as an incentive for getting us to leave our gas guzzlers behind?

Is there a conspiracy to delay such a strategic technological move? In the days of horse and buggy there was obviously no oil lobby, the Suez canal was not a strategic landmark and there was free fertilizer on the road for whoever wanted (or was paid) to pick it up...

You would think this is a prime opportunity for companies to show case their technology, for financiers to raise capital for a worthwhile project, for investors to bankroll a life changing technology, for politicians to earn (much needed) kudos for improving our daily lives, for governments to restore our trade imbalances and cancel our dependence on oil...

Obviously someone benefits from the current status quo. In 2006 a film documentary "Who killed the electric car" exposed some of those issues and now 4 years later we are no closer to see those silent wheels grace our streets...

Electric cars are available to those yuppies prepared to pay for them. There does not seem to be any plans to make it a vehicle for the masses, a remake of the "Volkwagen", "the car of the people". There is a fast electric sports car the Tesla Roadster and Toyota has been leading the charge (pun intended) with the Prius. Unfortunately the quality control scandal has left that carmaker with egg on their face.

An interesting development though is a crowd called Better Place who aims to launch some large scale projects in Israel and elsewhere. Obviously oil dependency for the Jewish nation in the heart of the Middle East has something to do with it and it should be seen as a strategic (military?) move.

The two drawbacks of the electric car are of course the time to recharge the batteries and its lack of noise. Those working in a warehouse environment know how dangerously an electric forklift can sneak up on you. That really is an easy problem to fix. Just have a loudspeaker play something like a creative ringtone - let your imagination go wild... in a car park pedestrians need to know that a vehicle is creeping up behind them. An appropriate noise is the answer.

The time taken to recharge the battery is addressed for city commuters. The car charges overnight in the garage. As the technology gains acceptance, shopping centres, office and residential buildings should offer power points with credit card swiping facility (someone has to pay for the energy used). For the long haul travellers there is no easy fix unless a network of outlets offers battery swapping on the go.

Smart Phones - The Way of the Future

Fri, 04 May 2012 00:00:00 +1000

When people use their mobile phone as a remote control you know it has become indispensable. In fact couch potatoes use it to check their email during a TV commercial break.

I have heard all sorts of fancy ringtones in the restrooms and you wonder why people are so long in there...

We used to have the Blackberry which could sync its clock by itself the night of daylight saving. The undisputed king of course is the iPhone but it has now reached saturation and people concerned about Apple's marketing dominance are looking for alternatives.

The android has come of age with most applications being ported to that platform. At least it is an open standard but Google is lurking around.

Useful applications are a voice recorder to tape your telephone conversations (for quality and training purposes of course...) If government departments and call centers want to play silly fools you can now return the compliment. What about taping a convivial conversation with your ex and play it back at the family court?

For hypochondriacs there is an app to monitor your heart beat. For people who love pets there is an animated fish tank.

For astute shoppers there is an app to scan barcodes and lookup competitive prices, reviews etc... before you go through the checkout and feel sorry you bought a dud.

If you felt romantic one summer night under the stars and your mate is asleep you can point your smart phone at the sky to be told the names of the galaxies you're looking at.

There is a strange download mechanism involved. People would search on a laptop or standard PC with a comfortable sized screen and mouse/keyboard. A 2D barcode is displayed. You aim your smart phone camera at the barcode and it logs on to that url with the phone's web browser to download the actual app.

Cloud computing is another converging technology and some websites can recognize when they are being viewed on a small screen and simplify the page layout accordingly.

The flipside is that there is no place you can hide from big brother. Wherever you are email, text messages and whatever else can find you and disturb your peace.

For an online accounting service suitable for a smart phone click here

For an online goal tracking tool click here

Facebook Friends - Finding Quality Connections

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +1000

Are you a bit mouse shy when it comes to social media? You'll be surprise the big uptake now on facebook are people 45 and over...

Different people use facebook for different things. But by and large there are some common rules to get involved without drowning into some selfish monologue.

The obvious way to grow your network of contacts is through friends of friends. Just like being introduced at a party you broaden your horizon by the intermediary of someone who knows both parties and acts as a go-between.

There the analogy stops. If you don't post straight away on the wall or your new friend but merely let them read your stuff we don't have a conversation going - simply someone thrusting a brochure into someone else's lap...

One of the telltale signs of a marketer in guise of a cyber friend is the number of posts versus the number of comments. If there are lots of the former and none of the latter this is a lone self-promoting account. (Some of them are just automated RSS feeds publishing blog articles from other sources.)

Another thing to watch for is the number of friends your new contact has. If it is above a few hundred chances are it is impossible to keep up on a personal basis with so many people. This could be another self marketer in disguise or simply a celebrity in arts or entertainment.

Another approach is to look for fan pages or interest groups that share your values. The page itself might not be that crash hot but the people who "like" it might be worth talking to. You will have to step out of your shell and introduce yourself.

Some people use facebook to keep up with relatives overseas and share photos. Others use facebook to play silly games and you get invite to find a lost goat in Farmville...

Facebook has more than 500 million active users, which is about one person for every fourteen in the world. You would be considered a dork if you didn't want to be on it!

It's a great way to spy on your teenage daughter or find out what your ex is up to. It's so easy to open a fake account. The police and the FBI are on facebook to stamp out teenage stalkers trying to groom an unsuspecting soul into meeting them at a public location. That's definitively not what you would call a quality connection. School pupils are not innocent either. They have used facebook to defame teachers who have no avenue of redress. In French Canada facebook is referred to as fessebook (fesse = buttocks) and the website shows the hind part of a cow. Some of us have seem the movie The SocialNetwork which gives some insight as to its sleazy start on campus.

So facebook is here to stay whether you like it or not - you might as well make the best use of it.

For information about the affiliators facebook application click here

The demise of article marketing

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +1000

In recent months I have seen some frantic email activity from articles websites such as ezinearticles, goarticles, hubpages, etc... to shore up their authors contributions.

What is going on? I have a sneaking suspicion that their business model is coming to an end. Soliciting content from as many so-called authors as possible and living off the proceeds of PPC advertising may be running out of steam.

Just like in the good old days of banner advertising people have developed a blindness to PPC ads. The only people to avidly click on them could be your competitors and the issue of click fraud is becoming a big concern.

Authors are starting to realize that the precious links planted in those articles hold little sway in the eyes of search engines. Indeed it is getting harder and harder to sprinkle inbound links for your site after the wave of no-follow links to stamp-out the spamming of blog comments.

Further you have no control on what happens to your dear content. It is often republished without your link on some duplicate content sites. So you get penalized even if you are the original source!

Last but not least you want to be seen in the right neighbourhood. If you are surrounded by score of affiliate marketing sites who are peddling innovative variations of the old get-rich-scheme you get tarnished by their stench.

As Seth Godin puts it you want to be remarkable by going to the edge.

Rickie commented:
With the latest Panda algorithm from Google the traffic to ezinearticles and hubpages has dropped some 70%

Privacy issues - scare or concern?

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +1000

The internet is a wealth of information and it cuts both ways. You can find tons of information just about everything - likewise people can find things about you too.

There is a term for this - ego search. Type you name into a search engine and be amazed at how popular you are.

Here is a list of some privacy issues:

Facebook phonebook page
People use social media to meet folks. But some shy person was upset that the phone numbers of all his friends were there for him to see. So don't become friends with people you don't know or don't list your phone number on your profile.

Google maps and street view
People can see the front of your house and maybe read the license plate of the car parked there.

Google maps and satellite view
People can literally see into your backyard. Realtors can tell if you have a swimming pool there or whatever else their clients are after. If your house is not for sale - too bad.

Geo-tagging in JPEG images
Smartphones with GPS technology will readily tag photos taken by the built-in camera with latitude/longitude data which gives the precise location of where the photo was taken.

Phone calls recording
Corporations and government departments have long advised callers that they were recording the conversation "for quality and training purposes". Now this is an application you can download for most mobile phones. You can have a proof that so-and-so told you this-and-that if you have an axe to grind.

Wi-Fi networks
Without a password you allow your neighbours to surf the net at your expense. In an airport you may actually not connect to the net at all but to someone's PC posing as so-called "Free Public Wi-Fi"

The list goes on and if you are not paranoid by now you should go dig a hole and hide. Really most issues discussed here are not new and were available before the net. Cyberspace makes those things easier to get that's all. It works the other way too. You could setup a webcam at your front door and check it remotely on your smartphone. How about that for those concerned about burglars? (Would they come in through the front door though?)

Spy agencies and private investigators have a field day scouring through all the data available. Cyber attacks on sensitive government facilities are on the increase - so people keep on trying especially in Russia and China.

Questions Google can't answer

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +1000

If you want to be remarkable why don't you step out of the mould and specialize in something nobody else can copy?

It has become a knee-jerk reaction to click on your favourite search engine and blindly assume that it will accurately locate your best answer...

Why not spread some conspiracy rumours that Google tries to manipulate the minds of the masses by showing only the results they want you to see.

This really brings home the notion that we should be cautious about what we can get for nothing. As the saying goes there is no such thing as a free lunch.

What about having a website to post tomorrow's lotto numbers? The knowledge of the future does not belong to us. Would you like me to find out both your date of birth and your date of death? Even though it is a certainty you don't really want to find out when that is.

What about a website to match people of compatible temperament? Psychometric tests are unreliable. 40% to 70% of people retested show different results! How more scientific can you get than that!

What about a website to find a needle in a haystack? Have you tried a magnet?

The inter-connectivity of our world means that the local expert has been bypassed. The first entity to hold prominence in a given field has an unfair advantage because people flock to number one and don't bother the check out any alternatives.

The good news is that if you find a niche to be number one in, then you will have the lead over all the me-too copycats.

So any ideas what you could be number one in? You might want to read MAD Magazine for some inspiration. Or you might want to trek in the forest and observe an ants' nest.

Here is a handy list of inventions not yet found on Google:

* Robotic vacuum cleaner that takes dirty socks to the laundry
* Rope that changes the direction of the wind (handy for sailing)
* 12V cigarette lighter powered microwave oven
* Dowsing rod that does find water
* Toothpaste that dyes your teeth fluorescent colours for Halloween
* App to memorize tests results when slipping iPad under pillow
* Lullaby to induce toddlers to eat food they never tried before
* Treadmill that generates electricity - be paid to exercise!

Debbie R commented:
Looks like we've become lazy and worship Google as the hall of knowledge it is not.

Who owns your tablet?

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +1100

Rather than being empowered with computing power at your fingertips wherever you are - you find yourself instead being reliant on some cloud computing setup where you lose control and therefore ownership of your data.

There is a disturbing trend in regard to portable touch-screen devices known as tablets - either the Apple iPad or those built around Google's Android Honeycomb platform.

The majority of software providers love to get you to sign up for some download which turns out to be a crippled demo version unless you part with cash.

In the 21st century you would think the major computing tasks of word processing, spreadsheet, database (ie contacts list, appointments calendar), filing documents (such as photos, audio and video clips) would be settled once and for all.

Instead you find that the most blaring feature of those tablet operating systems is the lack of a file manager.

If Murphy's Law is to be applied here it is when you are on the platform of some convention giving your speech that the notes for your presentation will freeze. They are being stored not on your tablet's memory but on some remote server. Any glitch in your WiFi connection will have you dangling in the ether.

The myth of synchronizing all your devices through some cloud computing server is just that - a myth. It is time you regain control of what happens to your data. You don't want to be delayed at boot up by some background task chewing your bandwidth and processing power just to check if one comma has changed between two versions of the same file.

You generated your data - you are the best person qualified to decide which version is current - if there needs to be several versions. This flies in the face of what a personal device was supposed to be. Remember those USB memory sticks people used to attach to their key ring? The idea was to keep your most important files with you on the go. Now let me ask: How many tablets do you see with a USB port to access that external memory? Furthermore do they provide the software to read AND write the most common file formats? Open Office was trumpeted as the open source alternative of choice to Microsoft's monopoly of the desktop. Have you seen a version of Open Office for the iPad or the Android? Why not?

Video Wars

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +1100

Are we going through a replay of BETA versus VHS tussle? Have you been annoyed by conflicting video standards? Furthermore have you ever wondered how to save a video to your hard disk? You may need to watch it later on a tablet and save on bandwidth charges if you wish to play it again in the company of some interested party.

The broader picture is that some internet publishers are concerned about their precious content reappearing somewhere else. You wonder why because You Tube encourages people to embed their video clips in as many places as they could (they carry advertising, remember...) I thought plagiarism was a mark of success.

The web browsers are where the battle is being fought. In order to play the video or audio clip it has to be buffered on your computer first in some temporary file on your hard disk.

All it takes is a clever application to rescue this hidden file from oblivion and saving it with a descriptive name in a folder of your knowing.

Scrapbooking material from the internet is always a gymnastic. For text you would think that a simple copy and paste would do the trick but formatting can get in the way. The saving grace is to store the data in a plain vanilla editor - store the plain text and quote it as needed.

For images a right mouse click on the picture should open a floating menu giving you the option to save the photo on your file directory.

For audio some podcast sites will let you copy the raw mp3 file where you want it to be. Unfortunately others choose you use some flash contraption which is obnoxious at best as to what to do with the stuff you have already downloaded and paid for out of your bandwidth allocation.

Do a search for "video capture" to find some useful tools to regain control. There is no such thing as a free lunch and so even the so-called free tools come with a payload bonus - forcing you to see unsolicited advertising or baiting you to pay for advanced features. But the net being what it is it pays to shop around and use the stuff that will do the trick for you.

Apple made a name for themselves with their insane iTunes platform which mangles the mp3 file names. I like a plain mp3 player that looks like a USB memory stick. Sync tools are a real pain in the neck. I know how to move files around, delete those I have finished with and group related ones in a folder of my choosing.

In 2011 we still need to reclaim control of our desktop. History has a habit of repeating itself.

Really Simple Syndication

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +1100

Is your inbox filled up with things that shouldn't be there? Would part of it be of your own making?

Subscribing to email newsletters is fine if the content is relevant to your current interests but why should you use email for something you can readily read in a web browser instead?

The issue of course is how you can keep track of many interesting sources of information without being tied down to the computer all day.

There is a simple technology to cope with this challenge. Instead of scanning scores of favourite websites to hunt for new interesting content by hand use an RSS feed to spot the new releases across a large spectrum of sources.

Competitive intelligence is a must for more and more people - this is a clever way to keep track of who says what in cyberspace. Most decent content management and blog platforms provide their information in RSS format. All you have to do is subscribe to these and you are presented with a combined log of new articles across all the sources you follow.

RSS is a text format and busy executives might use a computerised voice reader to go through it while they are (dare we mention) in the bathroom for instance...

The plot thickens if the original article included graphics or worse videos. Then you would have to click to the original webpage the RSS feed came from.

Nevertheless if people condensed their articles with a good opening paragraph and highlighted their conclusions towards the end you would have a pretty good idea if it is worthwhile to look at the pictures or play the video.

Another use of RSS is for syndication. There can be an automated process where some article on one website suddenly reappears in another website. Plagiarism is a compliment and so you shouldn't be upset if some deemed it worthwhile to augment your exposure.

The software you use to process all your RSS subscriptions is called (you guessed it) an RSS feed reader. It can be standalone or built into a web browser. RSS has only been a standard since 2006 but if it is your job to know what's going on in your field of expertise this would be a way to make your time count and restore your inbox to its primary use - receiving mail from people who have a message just for you; messages to a larger audience can go to RSS instead.

Did you get one of those referral emails?

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +1100

Hi Wilma,

If you're taking on new clients, I'd like to include you in my private referral network to send you business leads through Referral Key

Please accept my invitation below. Thanks!

Like many who received such invitations I gave it a go. It smacks of multi-level marketing where you have to get another 5 people to sign up under you to get your full profile. There is a tool to siphon out your contacts from LinkedIn and invite them to join you at ReferralKey. It even appears that their IP address 50.57.77.129 has hit the junkemailfilter blacklist for some destinations.

Then I googled around to get to the bottom of the matter. Alexa shows a big spike in traffic in May 2011 and Hubspot brags about how they helped them fine tune their SEO. Also in the past there was a paid membership. It looks like they gave that away to grab market share from LinkedIn and slap advertising later on when nobody is watching.

There is a Christopher Ott posing as your personal guide but it is just an automated response which fools no-one. On the positive side there is definitively a viral effect going on and a few of my friends have taken to it with abandon. Indeed we are taking on new clients - you bet!

By now the phenomenon has reached critical mass and has become unstoppable. There is a plentiful supply of contacts downunder in Australia where I belong - so I assume it has well gone past the boundaries of the USA.

Originally the brief must have been to allow people to network within their geographical area but now you can befriend strangers from overseas as long as they are friends of a friend.

Another little detail which doesn't quite fit the model is this: I would normally refer business to someone who gave me good service. But if I need a dentist, a solicitor or a graphic designer who am I going to call? There is a search bar at the top of the page but you can't pull a list of names within a category - all you can do is randomly hit a keyword in their company name...

Now since LinkedIn IPO the stakes are high for a new social media dotcom boom (and bust). There is no shortage of clever marketing nous in the facebook genre. At the end of the day: "Are you taking on new clients?"

Mind the laser beam

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +1100

Pointing a laser beam at night at the cockpit window of an aircraft about to land is not a prank - it is an act of terror.

What about the laser beam at your checkout register?

Have you noticed that they no longer point towards the ceiling hitting everything in view but are now aimed at the tummy of the operator - hopefully where there are no eyes (except the eye of a child). That would be a big concern for those new self-serve checkouts where little girl wants to do just like mum... and get her eyes zapped in the process. All that because the supermarket chains want to replace labour with machines...

If you open up a CD player or look at the DVD drive of your PC you will see a prominent yellow sticker warning you of a beam of light lurking inside if the power is on and the cover off.

Laser beams are neither good nor evil - it's what you do with them that makes them so. Lasers are a wonderful tool in the hand of a surgeon because of its pinpoint accuracy. Even now they claim they can correct short-sightedness (the flip side is those people will have to wear glasses in their old age like the rest of us...).

Since the movie Star Wars people have been dreaming of duelling it out with rays of light. The Federal police is concerned about the importation of powerful hand-held laser guns from China. They are now prohibited goods. Even laser pointers once the touch of class from a presenter at a conference are now shunned upon.

People who work in fiberoptics have been reminded of the danger of glancing at the end of a cable where no apparent light is shining. If it uses an infrared spectrum (like the remote control of many appliances) you can't see it but it can burn the back of your retina very quickly because it is a focused beam.

And you though being high-tech was hip! A technician working on a fiberoptic cable in a van, in a manhole or on top of a pole has to follow some strict safety procedures just to make it for the next day. The tiny chards of glass which are left over when a cable is cut and trimmed can cause internal bleeding or even death if dropped into your lunchbox.

So in short if you come across a laser appliance which is defective - throw it out and buy another one. You have no business trying to fix something which is a disposable commodity.

Kath Wilson commented:
That's quite scary. Looks like the authorities come up with all sorts of regulations to justify their existence while at the same time new abuses fall through the cracks.

How the internet killed network marketing

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +1100

The ever increasing connectivity of cyberspace puts consumers directly in touch with producers and a transaction takes place. The middle man (distributor?) is left out and the residual income turns into a residue.

Some good attempts have been made to leverage the power of a well thought out website to support a network of distributors. Product demonstration and training videos, taking orders and signing up new members online was impressive but what was the benefit of dealing with Tom, Dick or Harry when they are all selling the same product or service? The stigma of network marketing and the competition between distributors was such that recruiters had to conceal the name of their network until the end of the business presentation where they might hopefully sign-up a convert.

The vast majority of network marketers are women because the mums' economy makes them much more connected than men. Besides, who does the shopping in your home? "I'll buy your hand cream to support your fledging home business because it's good and I like it and because you'll bring it to me next time I see you picking up the kids at school. I probably could buy a similar thing cheaper at the store but you might do me a favour as I know I can call on you to bring my child home if I'm stuck at the office or in the traffic..." Men just don't get a chance to match that sort of arrangement.

There is a high cost for gaining each new customer therefore it needs to be offset by distributing consumable goods which can be sold over and over again as they run out.

Furthermore there are issues with home delivery as major retailers have found out at their own expense. It might be OK to salivate over a pizza that's arriving anytime soon now but ordering your groceries online and having it delivered to your door is fraught with danger. You have no idea at what time of the day or night the truck might show-up. The dog next door licks your meat and the ice-cream melts in the sun.

Extended trading hours in shopping centres have cancelled out the appeal of the personal service from a distributor. Besides there are scores of things (the majority?) you can't buy through network marketing. You'll have to go to the shops anyway. There you can touch, smell, taste and compare - try doing that through a catalogue!

Customer loyalty has gone out the window. In fact studies have shown that a satisfied customer is very likely to go and try something else - people like variety and so you are wasting your time trying to pamper people who will fall at the next stimulation.

Network marketing had its day since Amway the grand-daddy of them all was found to be a respectable business by the FTC in the 1970s. People no longer buy encyclopaedias - you can find Wikipedia online for free. You might try to join the Amazon affiliate program but why would people want to land on your website where you can only promote a handful of items?

Alison Frederick commented:
Always had mixed feelings about multi level marketing but certainly the net exposed the bad guys for what they really are. The rumour has it that those very few who made a big income in this, worked at it full-time setting up new networks of distributors in Taiwan, India, China, etc where the concept was unknown.

How to spot deadwood in cyberspace

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +1100

Ever came across a website and had a fishy feeling it was not up-to-date?

Check the copyright year. If the webmaster can't be bothered to update that, then chances are the content on display is stale.

Is a forum overrun by spam postings? If the moderator is asleep at the mouse the Russians are having a field day... Check out Tipd...

Sort a forum members page by joining date or number of posts and you will quickly find out whether it is worth joining a community of real active people or just ghosts...

What about original content? How can you spot if they are recycling someone else's material? Article marketing was in vogue to spread copies of the same text as long as the author's signature and extra links in the resource box remained intact. The net result is that you might read in good faith something published yesterday when it fact the original was written 6 months ago! You can get to the bottom of this practice with copyscape

Often the article you are trying to read is split in half across a batch of advertisements. For a start it is annoying to say the least but it also tells you the webmaster cares more about advertising revenue than give you some content you can make sense of and use. By then you have clicked the back button already...

Interesting blogs would release a new post at least once a week and advertise it on twitter also. You can subscribe to their RSS feed - saving you having to poll their page just in case something new showed up there. Or you can subscribe to receive new posts via email.

Some sites offer software to download but as you go about to bring the file to your computer you find out the option to obtain a license has been disabled. What a waste of your time.

Ever downloaded an e-book only to find out it was written seven years ago? It happened to me and fortunately I got my money back through PayPal.

There are more obsolete websites out there than you can click your mouse at. It's like webmasters are too ashamed to admit the site was a flop and are reluctant to take it down (the hosting companies don't mind as long as your keep paying). Better still, they could redirect the traffic to what we are really looking for - but they don't care...

Bad Links versus Good Links

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +1100

Bad links are bad but good links are good sometimes exceedingly so.

Bad links come from bad neighbourhoods like gambling, porn sites or link farms where people somehow pile hundreds of unrelated links hoping that this will tally to the credit of somebody.

Good links come from thematically related sites to yours. There is a congeniality of interest between people operating within the same market niche or interest group. Exchanging links with those people isn't just a brilliant idea - it's a must for your site to gain prominence with people (traffic) and search engines (page rank).

Some have concerns about doing reciprocal links but why should you expect to benefit from the SEO charity of others? Search engines won't penalise you as long as you are sharing some common keywords. Link building is free but it is not cheap. It takes time to gain exposure in cyberspace but in doing so you force yourself to come out of your shell to meet folks and show some interest in what they do.

Some put all their budget into advertising but it is difficult to get value for money when every keyword has become an auction and you have to bid higher and higher for evasive clicks.

Some are scared of sending traffic to a competitor. Consumers are smarter than you give them credit for. They already know who your competitors are. They have read reviews on blogs. As a buyer, the internet is the perfect place to do your research. And guess what? If people will click away from your site after a few seconds they might still bookmark you for being well connected and come back later. But if you don't exchange links with others in your field you won't get any traffic from them either. It's like in every capital city. All furniture stores, all car dealerships tend to congregate in the same street. The reason is obvious. People drive there because they like to compare. If your business is incomparable - in cyberspace it is noted by having lots of inbound links. They are the vote of confidence of those who are happy to send people to you because they trust and value what you do and what you are standing for. So let's put the shoe on the other foot. Who do you vote for? Who do you patronize? Who do you appreciate? It's worth telling others about it by carrying a link on your site.

If you are serious about promoting your site to the level it deserves or just replacing your existing links you are bound to lose someday - responding to link exchange requests is a good habit to develop.

How much radiation did you enjoy today?

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +1100

Mobile phones and other wireless equipments are spewing daily copious amounts of electromagnetic radiation. Are we seeing a repeat of the love affair people had with X rays at the dawn of the 20th century? People were fascinated with an X ray photograph of their hand wearing a wedding ring. Fashionable shoe stores had an X ray machine to show you what a good fit it was for your foot!

Eventually after the death of Clarence Dally, Thomas Edison assistant, people realised that seeing through matter had its cost. Today people are fascinated with microwaves. I used to be a ham radio operator and there was anecdotal evidence that engineers who worked on radar equipment never fathered sons - only daughters...

The human body is extremely resilient but when is it too much? What we know is that the effect of radiation is cumulative - a tiny bit each day has the same detrimental effect as a larger dose in a short period of time. So just like passive smoking you might be irradiated whether you use a mobile phone or not. WiFi and other wireless networks are transmitting data literally through your body and maybe one day we might get a bionic antenna to pick up on all that information that passes across our head...

That might be a great script for a Dr Who episode but right now people are up in arms if a mobile phone tower is erected next to a pre-school.

If you are bored at home one afternoon why not experiment with a microwave oven. Have you tried to microwave eggs in there and see them explode? Have you microwaved a DVD-R to see the effects of electrical discharge through its metal film? Have you microwaved some potatoes wrapped in foil? (Turn off the lights in the kitchen and watch the show...)

These are some of the innocent pranks people can get up to but without being facetious the bottom line is that we do not have a clue what the long term effect of radiation will be on the next generation.

You would be considered a dork if you refused to use a mobile phone today. Everybody has one. It is a piece a jewellery and a toy you can enjoy all day. It is a great wife retriever to check-up on what your darling is up to. It can keep your children quiet at church while the sermon drags on. Clearly the advantages outweigh the scare mongering.

iPhone Mania Tag Cloud

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +1100

Instead of adding the letter e in front of a word to instantly create their own product name for instant recognition Apple chose the letter i instead. We offer here some extra ideas...

adipiscing Aenean Aliquam aliquam aliquet amet ante Apple bibendum blandit iBurp condimentum congue consectetur consequat convallis iCraze dapibus diam dictum dictumst dolor Duis egestas eget elit enim est euismod Facebook iFad iFart iFind fringilla Google habitasse hac hendrerit imperdiet interdum ipsum justo laoreet lectus leo libero iLife ligula lobortis Lorem lorem iMac iMania massa mauris metus Microsoft mollis neque nisi nisl non Nullam nunc odio orci iPad pellentesque Pellentesque iPhone placerat platea iPod porttitor posuere Praesent iPuke pulvinar purus quis Quisque iRon sapien scelerisque sed Sed semper seo sit iSneeze Suspendisse tempus iThink therefore iAm tortor iTunes Twitter ultrices urna varius vel venenatis Vestibulum vitae Vivamus volutpat Yahoo iZombie

Enslavement of the press

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +1100

Are we witnessing the death of investigative journalism? Can you really trust news that you didn't pay for? How can newspapers re-invent themselves in cyberspace?

If you are a journo, your job is at risk. Even before the stoush between Rupert Murdoch and Google the issue of who pays for news is open for debate. Consumers expect to find things for free on the net and there is no shortage of smart operators who gain exposure by recycling someone else's material.

The net has definitively blown out a cosy arrangement between advertisers, journalists, mass-media and consumers.

Blogs have been sprouting everywhere and whoever has an axe to grind or a passion to share can find their audience instantly! Journalists spend as much time searching the net than seeing their sources face to face.

The infamous media leak has now a website of its own where anonymous people can embarrass governments, political parties and corporations.

Another issue is how much people really read from a computer screen? Some are banking on the release of tablet type devices which supposedly reduce eye strain to make us switch from paper.

In a world where everybody does as they see fit freedom of information takes on a new meaning. The propaganda machine is running overtime to blast its message unaware that mass-media is dead and that people have developed a blindness to ads (on TV, on the net, etc...)

What is even more worrisome is the lack of debate where new ideologies are being pushed to the masses without any obvious sign of resistance. For example: How come the feminist lobby does not castigate muslins about the stereotype of women in their civilisation?

Elections have become a popularity contest and far reaching issues are not being addressed. How come nobody is lifting up a banner to address the housing crisis?

How come nobody exposes the hidden interests fighting hard against the worldwide release of the electric car?

How come we never hear much about Chinese foreign policy activities? A regime that stands by North Korea, spies on its people overseas, has an appalling track record in human rights and hides behind heavy censorship?

How come nobody questions whether Australia needs 3 layers of government - federal, state and local?

Where are the true leaders in politics? People who had fire in their belly and a vision for their country? Would people who enter public office be reported on fairly and be applauded for their achievements? Has political life become a mud-slinging match where more is done to pull down your opponent rather than gaining support for a brilliant idea?

Unless we find ways to sponsor a journalist we will remain ill-informed and the consequences do not abide well for a democratic society.

How to negotiate for a win-win outcome

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +1100

Almost everything is negotiable except selling your mother in law to a slave trader.

Your strategy should operate on 3 levels simultaneously.

Information Do your homework and give the impression that you know more about the other person's background and needs than they know about your own history and requirements.

Time Give the impression that you have a rubbery deadline especially if you know the other person is caught by a given date. Your opponent can eventually be worn out by an unfinished business and can eventually give in for the sake of having the matter closed at last.

Power Give some vibes that you have more connections and authority than is really the case. If you have to take some risks make sure you are not the only one to carry the can but that some other partners are sharing the risk with you.

Being a consumer gives you ample occasions to practice your negotiation skills. Instead of walking in a store and portraying yourself as a buyer of goods think of yourself as an investor in technology. What's the difference? You are no longer purchasing an item - you are selling money!

Whenever the salesperson tries a test close on you like: "If you were the take this item home, would you like it in red or in blue?" Of course answering that question implies that you have already mentally bought the thing. They are softening you by shifting the major choice down to a minor choice. Introducing competition will drive your money further. Inadvertently mention the fact that you were tossing the idea of buying a new car or taking the family for an overseas vacation. Suddenly the salesperson is dragged out of his comfort zone having to argue the benefits of cruising in style as opposed to the benefits of experiencing a foreign culture and relaxing from the rat race. He might have to throw in a few extras fro free to tilt the balance in the favour of the car.

Playing dumb is a powerful disarming tactic. Pretending you have a poor grasp of the English language does wonders as every migrant knows or you can try stammering. Ask questions even if you think you know the answer. Asking the same question twice over a period of time may trigger your opponent to soften his stance and offer an alternative. When you listen hear what people say and also what is being omitted.

Never finish with an ultimatum. Don't try to corner your opponent with a "Take it or leave it" confrontation. Instead give the alternative of two options - one being so bad they'll pick the one you want them to choose but you don't want them to lose face.

Finally before you walk away with a great deal - ask yourself: "Was it a great deal for them too?" You never know when you might have to meet with those people again. If you leave behind a bad taste chances are you will pay for it the next time around which could be sooner than you think. Getting what you want doesn't need to be at the expense of someone else. Be creative and go for the top prize. Why not do business and make friends at the same time? Now that the power play is behind, you have a unique opportunity to make it right for both parties. Don't miss a chance to do good. Sow goodwill for the future you never know when it might become handy to call on an old associate's favour.

Famous internet crazes

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +1100

The web is notorious for its ability to spread far and wide the most stupendous ideas. Since it is both a global marketplace and a speakers' corner we should not be surprised at the stupidity or heart cries that come across.

Coke and Mentos experiment
The reaction caused by dropping mint lollies into a bottle of carbonated cola had millions download the video on YouTube. Coca Cola had a muted resposne while Mentos lapped up all the free publicity, running a contest and parading the winners on talkback shows.

Virgin Mary grilled cheese sells for $28,000 on EBay
Religious superstition combined with the ability to position yourself in search results ensured many me-too operators tried to replicate this achievement.

I am too young for this!
A support group for young cancer sufferers

Girls fight back
A support group for young women to learn self-defence

Napster
The music download site that flew in the face of copyrights. Ironically new budding musicians figure out that giving out some of their music for free is the best way to spread interest in their work.

Chat Roulette
A service to make a random video call with strangers.

Save the dog park
Tom Edwards gathers enough local support to change the mind of town planners.

Opportunity International
Micro lending charity bringing sponsors and recipients together directly

TripAdvisor
A facebook application to bait people to a travel booking site

My School
Controversy as Australian government exposes school performance thru lead tables

Wiki Leaks
A portal to leak out documents and embarrass governments or institutions.

How nice it is to believe a lie

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +1100

Not everyone likes to be confronted with the truth. As the famous saying goes: "I've made up my mind, don't confuse me with the facts..."

Obviously people don't go outright to find some falsehood to stick with. Nevertheless we often like to hang on to a convenient story when it suits our purpose. Marketing is one of those areas where the problem is endemic. If you are a competitor to a market leader and their brand image is well entrenched you will find it next to impossible to wake up consumers to the spell they are under.

People will go out of their way to buy such and such a brand simple because it makes them feel good, it allows them to join an elite group of trendsetters (when in fact they are really trend followers) and paying a double or foursome premium is no objection for the benefits derived.

Value is indeed in the eyes of the beholder. This phenomenon is not confined to the consumer market but is also found in the corporate world. In the past people used to claim; "Nobody has been fired for buying IBM." Later on we heard: "Nobody has been fired for buying Microsoft."

This is an interesting twist to the herd mentality. The appeal of implied benefits in being seen as a member of an eclectic group is overwhelming. All you have to do is buy a certain item in demand despite logical reasons not to.

It is clear by now that people do not buy an item because of its features but because of the benefits to them. This explains why the same car can be sold under one brand at a certain price but more than double the price when sold under a more prestigious label (Volkswagen Touareng versus Porsche Cayenne).

Is our self-esteem so low that we have to buy ourselves toys (for men) or clothes (for women) to gain some kudos? Are we so vain and self-centred that everything turns out to be a popularity contest?

Be as it may the main reason people like to hang on to a lie is that it is humbling to admit you were wrong. The longer you persist in towing the party line the more difficult it is to let go of it. This is especially so if you have nothing to replace the identity boost you derived from believing the lie.

Can you ever trust your favourite brand?

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +1100

The people you have loved to trust may be just an empty shell. Let us look behind the scenes at some very quiet operators who are the recipients of some many famous brands outsourcing their design and production.

Ideo is a think-tank doing a lot of design work for many famous brands. So if you think a brand you love had a reputation for expertise and know-how - think again.

If you think we live in a healthy competitive market where the best design, the best quality and the best service wins the dominant market share - think again.

If you think that as a consumer you have a choice - think again. You merely have a choice of distribution channels all pumping out the same merchandise repackaged in different flavours to give you the illusion of choice...

Accountants like to set aside an amount under "goodwill" or "industrial property" to quantify the know-how of a given firm. As an investor what do you make of a company who has divested its intelligence and know-how to a third party who also works for your competitors?

The argument behind idea factories like Ideo is that it is very costly to retain the best design brains in the world and keep them busy year-in year-out. So brands have given up being competitive anymore and have surrended to a monopoly of good ideas. Perhaps they take turns in a round-robin arrangements where competitors decide between themselves who will release what and when... Definitively not a good arrangement for consumers...

If you favourite brand can't be bothered to design its own unique products anymore it appears they can't be bothered to manufacture them either. We live in a virtual world, a global village where we are at the mercy of anything happening at the other end of the globe. The following brands are listed as using Flextronics facilities: Cisco Systems, Inc, Eastman Kodak , Ericsson Telecom, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Sony-Ericsson, Western Digital, Sun Microsystems - even Lego toys!

As the Icelandic volcano air travel disruption pointed out we live in an interconnected world where a Japanese car manufacturer can be held-up by parts made in Ireland and shipped by air-freight.

iPad kills

If you think you have a duty of care as a citizen of planet earth and become an environment-conscious consumer have you ever considered the plight of Chinese workers who make your iPad?

How long can companies live a double life through a carefully choreographed marketing campaign? The truth is that when you buy an iPad you are party to a scheme of slavery and mental abuse. Check out the not so glorious record of Foxconn a Taiwanese conglomerate employing 800,000 people in mainland China including those working at the massive Shenzhen complex.

So instead of advertising the virtues of Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, Nokia, Motorola, Cisco, etc... shouldn't we scrutinize the shortcomings of Ideo, Flextronics and Foxconn?

Interrupters interrupted

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +1100

In-your-face advertising is on its last leg. If you work in marketing it might be time to un-learn what you knew worked so well for so long and do something else...

Since the sixties magazine, radio and television advertising was based on the premise that you had to interrupt as many people as you could with your wonderful self-promoting message.

Cyberspace is pulling the plug on this cosy arrangement - now consumers are googling for what takes their fancy and the smart operators who offer real value are being found at literally no cost to them.

Marketers who want to keep a tight control on their corporate image risk isolation. What matters is being willing to lose control to let a good story spread.

Savvy consumers care more about what social media says about a given topic or brand than what a political candidate or corporation says about themselves.

People are shopping online in droves. Some may like to go down to the local shopping mall but only after doing their research on the net.

Journalists scan the net for bloggers in the know. The official channels of communications are being challenged.

Stakeholders don't buy your corporate gobbledygook anymore. Instead they send an email to your CEO. Some companies waste millions in market research but fail to capitalise on the wealth of trends and feedback that comes freely in their inbox from interested parties.

God has given us one mouth and two ears. It is time for marketers to use them in that proportion. The era of the marketing corporate monologue is over. Instead companies need to engage with their marketplace and it is being done in full view of everybody including your competitors (gasp!).

Corporations have been caught off-guard for ignoring pesky requests when in fact their customer service policies were being scrutinised in broad daylight unbeknown to them.

Today you can't pick and choose the image you wish to broadcast. Your corporate behaviour IS your image. The net is an excellent medium for investigative journalism. Any passionate blogger can get to the bottom of a corporate misnomer and blast the truth from the rooftop.

Even a champion of marketing like Apple got it wrong when they tried to cover-up issues with the iPhone 4 antenna.

Marketers had it so good for so long. Now it is the turn of consumers to call the shots.

Social media makes us autistic cyberpunks

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +1100

Can you survive in a world deprived of non verbal clues? Remember the smileys at the end of SMS text messages? Can you really make yourself smile, frown or giggle on demand? What is the quality of a conversation with total strangers when you can't hear the tone of their voice and read their facial expression?

The average facebook users has 250 friends - half of which they have never met face to face. Quantity will never make up for quality. If we are all crying out for purpose and significance is social media a saving grace or a total delusion?

We are made for fellowship with other human beings - that is the fabric of society. On our own we are incomplete. It's only through interaction with other fellow human beings that we can reach our full potential. Social media can become a very void popularity contest.

In the past people would entertain in their own homes. You pick-up innumerable clues about somebody by visiting their environment. Sharing a meal with someone is the basis of hospitality and fellowship. Being brave enough to be yourself in your own home and open up to new friends makes you active in your community.

Today we have become avatars in a virtual village. You can project your own personal brand in cyberspace and you will end-up a solitary lunatic clicking away from one post to another where nobody really knows you. Personal accountability goes out the window.

The sad reality though is that because half of marriages end up in divorce there is a vast supply of broken homes out there where people would rather not let you know how dysfunctional they really are. So we survive in a pretence made-up world where we decide who we want to be in the mouse clicks of others.

We only end-up hurting ourselves in not being real. Personal accountability starts where you are right now. Has it ever occurred to you that by taking the risk to be yourself you can empower others to also drop their mask and receive healing in the process?

Facebook picked up on this by providing instant messaging chat with your friends who happen to be online. But really you should go one step further and setup a video call on skype. Then you can see and hear each other. It all boils down to how you manage your time. Being unselfish is to make time for others. It shows them they are important to you. Starbucks is not in the business of selling coffee. They are selling you an environment where you can unwind and meet people - without the liquor and the gambling that prevail in pubs and bars.

They are only 24 hours in a day. Since you need to sleep 8 hours each night and work 8 hours each working day that only leaves 8 hours for yourself. If it is wasted commuting, doing errands and whatever else no wonder you feel disenfranchised. In the past people used to have writing pals. Today we maintain a clicking diary of our unfulfilled lives. Nothing wrong with that. It's good to leverage technology. But make sure that it leads to meeting real people face to face.

iPad or iFad

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +1100

I recently walked into an Apple Centre and quizzed the staff about the iPad. "See, I just bought this book (Blink from Malcolm Gladwell) at Dymocks. Can you show me how I could have downloaded it onto an iPad instead?"

The clerk proceeded to enter the title and name of the author and the search returned zilch. The excuse was the local Australian download site was just being setup and there were very few titles available. My next question was: "Can I download an ebook as a PDF document and read it on the iPad?"

Again the Apple staffer disappointed me by saying that their gadget was running the Safari web browser and as a consequence it may not be able to download the file. Instead I'd better use another computer and then transfer to the iPad.

My last statement was: "And you want AUD $500 for the privilege of using this?" He corrected me and said "No, AUD $629." I said "That's a joke!" end of conversation.

Never did he mention I could go to amazon and download the thing as a Kindle file, then run the Kindle application on the iPad. Company policy I suppose. Why should we enquire about a new product from an Apple logo knuckle-head?

I think I'll stick to paperbacks for a while until the dust settles down. An electronic reading device is bound to become a commodity. When that happens prices will be affordable and the range of titles available will grow exponentially. But shall we see a repeat of the VHS versus BETA war of incompatible standards? I hope not but you can bet we will see some strong arm marketing tactics from one dominant player to corner the market.

In this information age we have seen Google raiding the public libraries and who knows who will be next at pushing the boundaries. Lurking behind the scenes is the whole issue of copyrights and intellectual property. We've seen it with music CDs, we've seen it with DVD movies and now books are going to be the next field of Chinese piracy. Whenever there is a demand and whenever there are crooks a black market will emerge.

Maybe this is the time to self-publish your memoirs before nobody remembers how to turn a page anymore...

Paul Szilard commented:
iPad is not perfect, but then neither am I. However it has some major usability benefits. The mistake people often make is that they expect it to be an alternative, or replacement for a Windows or Mac laptop, which it is not. The iPad is a "Data Delivery Portal" device. It is like no other before it, although, I am sure that now that a new niche has been created, there will be plenty of challengers to come. I love mine for the following reasons: - It is totally silent, no fans whatever. Ideal to use in libraries, lectures or in bed when my wife is asleep. - It is almost instant ON. I do not have to wait for 10 minutes while my Windows laptop comes out of hibernation, or suspend, only to discover that it then wants to download updates to it's antivirus program, do a system scan, update Windows, or any one of a myriad of system background tasks. I can be checking my email, looking at a web pages within 60 seconds of turning on my 'pad. - Rotational sensor. I am looking at a web page holding the iPad in landscape mode, and then I bring up a long news article. I merely rotate the device to portrait mode and can see the article, much more conveniently. In Windows, I would have to got to screen Properties, then settings, then rotation, then choose, then Apply, then OK. Even if used a hot-key combo, having a laptop in portrait mode with the keyboard sticking out is hardly comfortable. - Pinch and zoom. Try that on a PC inside 1 second! I could go on, but there is no need. The importance is to use the iPad for what it is, not bemoan what it isn't. After all it isn't for everyone, so only buy one if you find it useful. I did, and glad of it...

Everybody needs a PC repair toolkit

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +1100

Even though you hope you will never need to use it you do carry a spare tyre in your car with a few related tools. Likewise if you use a PC the next puncture may not be far off. Are you going to scream in anger or are you going to prepare for it?

I want to review here two outstanding tools that do the job quite well. The first is malware city a virus removal tool. This tool stands out by the fact that you do not have to download any program onto your PC. It does not just spot any virus. It actually removes them. It all works from your web browser (as long as you allow it access when asked about it). It does not try to install some sentry system to give you "peace of mind" and slow your machine in the process. Be warned though it can take something like 3 hours to run the thing and do a complete scan and removal. It can be downloaded free of charge.

The second tool is a clean-up utility. Your desktop thanks to Microsoft has become a marketing platform from which scores of eager marketers aim at interrupting your work - literally - to peddle any manner of products and services. They sneak in through your web browser and consume processing power. They remain under the radar until you notice a significant loss of performance with your machine. IObit has a great utility (free of charge) which goes over your PC registry and cookies and removes what should not be there. A new PC always seems faster partly because it has a faster processor but mainly because the hard disk is not cluttered with all sort of junk you collect along the way.

Since a PC and the internet have become part and parcel of our cyberspace lives we are all becoming IT persons. So bookmark those two useful websites - they are your toolkit to address the next puncture. (I have no financial gain in promoting these two companies. They came very handy in my time of need and they offer the basic version of their software tool for free. I thought it worthwhile to pass the word around.)

Specialists and generalists

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +1100

As information technology becomes a very mature industry we see a pattern of diversification not unlike what is found in the medical profession.

Just like you have cardiologists, chiropractors, dentists, gynaecologists, podiatrists and nurses we now have system administrators, PHP programmers, security advisors, web designers, solution implementers, data warehouse architects, user interface artists and help desk assistants.

But where are the general practitioners?

The ability to navigate through the maze of options and the deliberate choices that you make to keep yourself on target can make or break your project.

Many have bowed the knee to swear allegiance to all mighty Micro$oft. Others have chosen to be hip and different and gladly pay a premium to do so with Apple. Still others have been proselytising the benefits of open-source and the strategic benefits of tinkering under the hood with Linux.

One thing is certain - people do not swap camps easily. There is a captive market for each IT denomination and their followers believe each platform can do all things to all people. It wasn't so in the beginning. Apple made its mark with the advent of desktop publishing and the release of laser printers and postscript fonts. But Apple do not want to run flash in their web browser. Linux runs more than half of the web servers thanks to Apache. Attempts to sell Linux powered desktop machines or laptops were cleverly thwarted by Micro$oft who threatened to embargo hardware vendors who broke ranks.

If you live in Eastern Europe and devise viruses and security exploits then Micro$oft is your platform of choice. Then you can sell subscriptions for sentry software to combat this ever increasing threat.

Once you've settled on a certain camp you have to realise you can't do everything yourself. The operating system is what it is and you'd better know how to backup and restore your hard disk. But maybe you don't worry about that and have moved to cloud computing instead. There the FBI and whoever else can read all your files divulging your trade secrets long before you launch to the market.

Y2K was supposed to be the apocalyptic downfall of everything computing but 1st Jan 2000 passed just like any other day. Thanks for the hard work of all those who figured out we'd better have more than two digits to store the calendar year.

So if you are a generalist and just want things done with a minimum of fuss without too much concern about the fine details you eventually have to trust someone else to deliver their part. The saving grace is that most projects have a life span of just about two years - and after that - who cares! Nobody can predict what the landscape will be like in two years from now. The same large players will try to bully each other out. Thankfully some smart operators will carve themselves a market niche and nurture a faithful following - there again - specialising in a certain market segment.

Bane of affiliate programs

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +1100

I want to relate an experience I had with a service called NeuroLinker which appeared at face value to be a worthwhile endeavour.

Searching high and low for some clever way to improve my inbound links I decided to give it a try. Basically you carry on your site a page of "resources" links and likewise the participating members will return the compliment.

Neurolinker claim to have a unique algorithm to qualify your field of activity and endeavour to group you with other sites of similar categories. To my dismay I was bundled with ventures such as tattoo parlours, psychic readings and other dubious activities. Even though you have the freedom to veto each individual link that shows up on your resource page it was a daunting task when they number in the hundreds.

The value of an inbound link is inversely proportional to the number of links on the page so I decided to pull out and may I say to the credit of the scheme operator I got an instant refund.

The idea was a good one though but it was spoilt by a bad neighbourhood. I don't know the background. It may have been yesterday's glory but something happened and all the good guys left leaving newcomers to contend with second class urls.

This was impressed on me by the fact that the copyright notice on the portal page was out of date and also one of the testimonial websites featured no longer existed. These are obvious pointers that when things are not properly updated something is amiss.

Another discovery was that you had to pay through Clickbank which was an eye-opener to me. This is a place where you congregate with scores of enterprising people peddling all sorts of ebooks you can download online. There is even a guy selling you a wonderful tool to uncover niche markets in seldom used keywords so that you can get a commission on driving traffic to some other site.

That was another reason for my flight for cover. I didn't want to be seen in that sort of company let alone have that sort of offerings advertised on my site. If those guys have such a brilliant product let them have the skills to market it also.

In the meantime you can get a link by adding your url here.

Government Advertising - A Worrisome Trend

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +1100

Ever since the days of Nazi propaganda governments everywhere have felt the need to teach us how to think in not so subtle ways. Should bureaucrats spend public money to buy advertising?

The original design of democracy was to have an elected body of representatives to consult with the people they represent and then report back to the legislative assembly and pass into law what was the agreed consensus.

Things go awry when there is no consensus and when the representatives are not representative of the electorate (a hung parliament).

Then came the emergence of lobby groups who have a vested interest in one thing or another (usually financial because they are captains of industry). For those people the concept of one person equals one vote is disproportionate. They command a lot of power in their field of control but are only mere mortals politically. Since they have plenty of money to go around the appealing idea is simply to buy votes. Hence one master of industry can now sway the votes of hundreds or thousands of electors.

Those captains of industry through their money control many go-between who work in advertising and public relations to advance their agenda. They control the media, the topics covered in the latest movies and if they could the curriculum in our schools.

The next step besides buying votes is to buy politicians. Everything is legit as long as you don't get caught. If you do, just one phone call to a person of influence whom you have formally compromised will bury the issue once and for all.

This is how the world runs in western democracies and then they are surprised when fledging governments in the Middle East can't shake off corruption or adopt a Westminster type of government (!)

Now the process goes full circle when governments themselves feel the need to waste public money to influence opinion. They have capitulated to the law of who shouts the loudest and has the most billboards.

Announcing a new phase: political correctness. Not content with running the country authorities now want to play God and preach their gospel of carbon footprints, tolerance to diversity, equal rights and imposing the views of minorities at the expense of the silent majority of law abiding citizens.

In the past governments had their own source of income through state monopolies such as utilities and some strategic institutions like some banks, defence suppliers and infrastructure.

Today governments are broke and print money to survive. They will soon capitulate to a world government with a single world currency and a single world religion.

To find out more about Christian values check out http://witness4christ.net

Carbon Credits For Our Footprint

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +1100

Although caring for the environment is a commendable cause, politicians have done everything in their power to fail the trust of their electorates. The political correctness about the environment and other issues makes law abiding citizens smell a rat.

You can now download some software to calculate the total set of greenhouse gases emissions caused by a company or a household. The next step is to mitigate the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through alternative projects such as solar or wind energy or reforestation. The plot thickens when you consider that using electrical appliances or an electric car is not in itself immune from the equation. It all depends how the electricity was produced. Since we are all connected to the grid rather than producing our own power individual households have precious little control over that.

The bottom line? In an utopian world where there are no wars, no thieves, no deception you might imagine such a scheme to work. Carbon trading was trumpeted as the meeting point for all participants. Now let me ask you: Does your superannuation fund invest in carbon futures? No - that was another great idea which never saw the light of day.

If politicians can't produce a decent return for the taxes we invest in their government what makes us think they will be any more successful at playing god and controlling the weather?

One thing is certain. This is the age of the new spin doctors - the globalist peddlers. Their unspoken goals are world government, one world currency, one world religion. They control mass media and are experts at putting thoughts in our minds which are not our own.

Their mode of operation is to whip to a frenzy issues that didn't exist even 20 years ago and unite the world to action by getting nations to relinquish their sovereignty to some doubtful World Bank, IMF, European Union, etc...

The best way to portray yourself as an expert is to invent a new field of expertise. Just like in sport where connecting a kite to a surfboard creates a brand new sport called kite-surfing, in terms of global issues you can argue that the nuclear radiation from Chernobyl knew no borders - therefore, move aside, let the experts take charge.

Few politicians will oppose them because by definition a politician is someone who can sniff the prevailing wind and move with the flow - the sooner, the more kudos. You want to be seen as a leader right?

If you are looking for a rewarding job, target government departments recruiting pseudo-scientists who can justify just about any foregone conclusion with expensive research.

All you have to do is put your integrity in your pocket and tow the party line. If you have any misgivings left it's because you haven't been to all the seminars yet, to build your mind to think like a globalist.

Just a few more earthquakes, epidemics, financial crisis, eclipses of the sun, tsunamis, systemic failures of infrastructures and you have all the ammunitions you need to justify your crusade.

The last straw will be when out of the blue; about one third of human population will vanish in thin air. A sudden event that never took place before and never to be repeated. That will keep those left behind abash, wondering what the supernatural will bring next. I thought magic was for nursery rhymes. But everything is under control will the antichrist claim on a simulcast news update.

To find out more about Christian values check out http://witness4christ.net

We don't need information - what we need is revelation and impartation

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +1100

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. Churches are full of people doing their own thing and wondering why they are not hearing from God.

Comfort is a cunning enemy. It lulls your senses into believing everything is OK when in fact you are miles away of where you should be spiritually. Jesus is a personal God who does not live in nice buildings but in the heart of believers. Ouch! Do you have some clean up to do to accommodate this new tenant?

So how do you hear from God? He transcends technology and does not need to send you a text message to get through to you. If He is indeed the creator of the universe (that includes you as part of His creation) He knows exactly where to hit you to get your attention. God also is a gentleman who does not push Himself onto people. If you turn your back on Him, He will quietly leave you alone to do your own thing. He will not even challenge those who want to believe there is no God!

But if you turn back to Him, even for the second time He will move in as long as you make room and are willing to change your life priorities. One of the highest privileges we have as human beings is worship. The ability to praise God just for who He is has the potential to bring us into intimacy with Him. It is in the secret place of your prayer closet where you fellowship with God that He will impart to you what you need for the day.

You might be pining away at some issue that really burns your heart when God seems to ignore the situation altogether. The deal is that if you truly offload that burden at the foot of the cross, then it is His responsibility to fix it - not yours! He may not do anything significant about it in the natural but the sheer fact that you are able to pull through one more day, and another, and then another is proof in itself that He has given you the strength to go through it.

As believers we are called to be Christ-like which means we cannot share in His glory if we do not want to share in His suffering also. Do not despise your season of refining. You will come out of the furnace as pure gold. You do not want bad company in heaven with people who somehow bypassed the steps. When you have been stripped down to what really matters then you will hear from God. You will get a unique revelation just for you and will be imparted with what you need. God always enables those He calls.

To find out more about Christian values check out http://witness4christ.net

Starting Your Own Home Based Business

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +1100

Adversity can be the best motivator but going off at a tangent is a real danger too. In order not to be out of kilter you will have to juggle 3 roles: the marketer, the engineer and the accountant. Most people who venture out on their own have either the first or second bias. Rarely would a beancounter start out into business except to setup a public accounting practice of course.

The questions you have to ask yourself are: Where would my customers come from? What unique product or service can I offer that would make me stand out from the crowd? How long can I last before my first sale? Do I need a second job to keep my cash flow until the business takes off?

Being your own boss requires the ability to critique yourself, question the obvious and investigate alternative routes. Let us review the 3 segments you have to balance:

The world is replete with great dreamers who are starving to death because nobody else caught on to the value of their dream. Unless you find customers - people who are eager to trade cash for what you offer - commercially, you do not exist. Women tend to have an advantage here because they are usually well connected through children at school, etc...Who will spread a good word for you? Will your Facebook friends turn out to be real friends or silly bystanders? Will you erect a sign by the main highway to drive a path to your door?

What is unique about my product or service? If you do not have a bullet proof answer to that question you are just a me-too, competing solely on price. Do what hasn't been done before. Do something people will remember and talk about. In the fast paced western world it's all about convenience and time-savers. People don't have servants (maybe they should) but they are happy to pay for someone to mow their lawn, walk their dog, do minor repairs in the house, wash their laundry, etc... is your business proposition bound to your geographical location or can you generate business from elsewhere?

Finally you are in business to make a profit. Your profit is the difference between what people pay you and what you have to spend to meet their expectations. Unless you keep a keen eye on the figures you have no way of knowing whether you are moving ahead or falling behind. Can you charge more for what you do? Can you spend less on what you have to buy? A sense of accounting will keep the dreamer's feet securely on the ground!

To find an online coach to set your business goals click here To find an online cashflow forecast and bookkeeping service click here

Bookmarking Internet Income Opportunities

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +1100

The internet gets us all connected and new opportunities abound - so we've heard. But isn't it the playground for all manners of scam artists trying to get one step ahead of the gullible public?

Two aspects of traditional business are at stake: real estate and advertising costs. "The world is your oyster" - so you feel you have an unlimited reach. What you didn't realise was that the number of your competitors also increased geometrically..

The online advertising market has been cornered by the dominant search engines. Each prized keyword becomes an auction where large players flex their muscle for dominance. Click fraud becomes a big concern when you can't explain why so many visitors only spend a split second on your site - you didn't think it was that ugly...

So what about getting a little help from my friends? You mean the majority of your Facebook friends you've never seen face to face? What loyalty can you expect from people you don't know from a bar of soap?

Network marketing has had a rebirth in cyberspace. It's called an affiliate program. Send traffic to a given website and they will share a part of the profit with you.

One question that comes to mind is why would they want to share money with strangers? Next is the issue that you could compromise your online presence by promoting products or services you know nothing about? Would it be worthwhile bookmarking them out for yourself before passing the word around?

Isn't that what viral marketing is supposed to be? Somebody upload a stupid video on YouTube and voila - the world goes bananas about it. How do you convert that to marketing dollars?

Cloud computing provides the opportunity for people to work from home on a collaborative system. Is that what you would call an internet income opportunity or is it just a standard employment situation taking advantage of new technology?

You can offer your services as a ghostwriter and be paid a pittance for articles to be blasted on an exponentially growing number of blogs.

You can transcribe mp3 files sent to you and return the typed document.

If you are a programmer you can bid for jobs like so many others. By the time you have submitted your quote you may have wasted as much as half the time it would take to do the job itself - only to find out you have been undercut by someone desperate to work for less.

You can join an affiliate program and be like thousands promoting stuff on amazon or eBay but how can you differentiate yourself that way?

When everything has been said and done, why not try affiliators to know more. Another internet income opportunity is to write aptitude or knowledge tests in a field where you have expertise. Visit Aptitude Tests to find out how.

Running foul of the marketing bullies

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +1000

I was green with envy at those smart cookies sporting an iPad wherever they go. I do a lot of writing and I like the tactile feedback of a proper keyboard. Squinting at a screen covered with slimy fingerprints isn't my idea of productivity either.

So for a third of the price I got a micro laptop. It runs 3 operating systems: Windows 7, Android and Linux Ubuntu. I dislike Apple for their obnoxious ways in cultivating a captive audience of customers. It started with the iPod. I just gave up on iTunes. Why can't you just drag and drop MP3 files between your hard disk and the USB memory? Why do they have to mangle the filenames beyond recognition?

But I have discovered that Mircrosoft and Google are just playing the same silly games. Migrating from Vista to Windows 7 I discovered that Microsoft Mail was missing on purpose. They want to leverage their hotmail portal and copy what Google did with Gmail. Then they also remove the ability to change the desktop background as an incentive to part with cash to upgrade from the Windows 7 Starter version... Fortunately there is a free utility to download to do just that. I also used Thunderbird mail client made by the same people who released the Firefox web browser. Of course for a $250 micro PC I am not paying for a Microsoft Office license. I use Open Office instead...

The Android operating system is an abomination. I used it on my Samsung phone for 6 months but for a tablet it is next to useless. There are no native applications for word processing, spreadsheet and the like. Even though it is a port of Linux the Open Office suite isn't available for it. Furthermore in order to use Android Market you have to have a device registered against your Gmail address. So every time I try to download something on the micro PC it ends up on my phone instead. In their attempt to rule the world and track who downloads what they forgot to figure out the same person might use more than one android device...

If you take the time to download the entire CD for Linux Ubuntu you will have a pleasant surprise. It loads real fast and comes complete with a suite of applications to do computing on the go. It has a multi boot utility so you can pick and chose which operating system to run at startup.

Cloud computing has a dark side to it. Big brother wants to monitor everything you do. In the future people might use their gmail address to transmit bogus emails to fool eavesdroppers as to their real activities... In the meantime we have to put up with idiotic behaviours from marketing behemoths who think they own their user base and can make us do what they want.

Marketing Plan With Potential to Go Viral

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +1000

What do people say about you? Do they know you actually exist? A marketing plan on the internet could go along the traditional lines of SWOT analysis (detailing your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) as well as the four Ps (referred to as Place, Promotion, Product and Price). The catch 22 is that unless people get involved with what you do they will have nothing to say about you.

So what would cause people to stumble across what you do when everybody is mouse trigger happy, clicking aimlessly it seems from one site to another not really knowing what they are looking for? What are the chances of you making it to the front page of Digg? Getting a high score on Stumble Upon? Getting your blog featured on the WordPress homepage?

The stark reality is that you can't do it on your own.

Enters the WOW! Factor. Are you remarkable? Do you offer something so unique everybody will want to have it? (thinking of the iPhone, etc...?)

People will not compromise themselves to promote something commercial on their Facebook page but they will gladly repost, retweet and rehash some stupid stunt on YouTube - because it's cool -

In other words once the ball is rolling a pace already, everybody wants to be in the action and shine amongst their friends for being the one to introduce the idea to them.

How many great ideas died into oblivion with their inventor returning to a 9 to 5 existence after burning all their spare cash? How many articles do you need to write to get some buzz going?

If you then need to enroll folks on the net to promote your widget what incentive can you provide for them to do so? What about sharing some of the profits with those who help you get there? There is a term for this: affiliate programs. How do you connect with people eager to collect a few bucks here and there for republishing your story? How credible is their testimony if they have a financial interest in promoting a given story? What are the chances of mingling with unsavoury characters peddling everything from tarot card reading to tattoo parlours?

The internet pioneers have moved on at the turn of the century. Cyberspace is a crowded and mature marketplace. All the big players have made their claim. A small business or a new internet venture is like a small aeroplane. You need enough momentum to get airborne - otherwise you will crash at the end of the runway.

Beware The Fine Print - Credit Card Tricks To Avoid

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +1000

Buried in pages of legalise terms of service a not-so-customer-friendly clause could have you trapped with a recurring subscription credit card charge.

In this day and age of transparency and openness some internet vendors resort to trickery to build themselves a captive customer base.

You would think this would be the hallmark of fly-by-night tricksters who will disappear shortly but the practice has been uncovered with reputable well-established vendors.

When you take up membership to a service on the internet you usually receive an email prior to expiration to offer you to renew the service for another period. If you do nothing the service lapses - end of story.

Some smart lawyers have made their mark with some companies by convincing them to take the opposite view. The service is renewed automatically on expiration unless you specifically cancelled it before the expiration date. Hidden in paragraph after paragraph of terms and conditions is a nasty statement that spells out the practice.

Not exactly your "money back guarantee" type of approach. In fact it is exactly the opposite. They grab your money for a second term without asking you if you benefited from their service in the first instance. This is deception by stealth.

Fortunately you can dispute a charge on your credit card statement with your bank. They will always ask first if you have made contact with the vendor to cancel the transaction. When you explain the policy of "charge first, let you discover you have forfeited your right later" the bank will investigate.

Finally you might consider making your credit card details invalid by cancelling your card before the expiry date and taking your business to another provider. Banks themselves will re-issue your card with no questions asked and slap you with a renewal fee.

The issue is that so many websites and vendors might keep your records on file and might suddenly issue a charge as explained above. On rare occasions those sales records have been compromised and some crooks have gone on a spending spree at the expense of unwitting consumers. Banks did back-pedal to reverse the damage but if you are unlucky to be caught in that abuse it is a worry and inconvenience you can do without.

Despite all the doom and gloom talk, internet purchases hit new highs year after year. Big names like Amazon, EBay and PayPal have their business model at stake. Banks welcome all that new activity. So everybody tries to maintain the status quo. Identity theft is happening but if you have been spared that nonsense then for you it does not exist.

Click here for an online bookkeeping tool to manage your finances and forecast your cash flow.

What is your social media clout?

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +1000

Are you blasting the same self-marketing message through the stratosphere or are you engaging with and helping real people?

We are in danger of becoming autistic cyberpunks. Autism being the mental disorder which prevents sufferers from picking non-verbal clues - cyberpunk being someone living in a virtual world on the other side of the computer screen.

You might be a very gifted engineer, being able to solve intricate problems, but unless you are also a gifted communicator you will starve with all your good ideas.

People don't care about what YOU do until you care about what THEY do. If you are a problem solver then there are many opportunities in this crooked world to showcase your skills. Giving out freely of your substance is the best advertisement you can give. As you have heard - it is more blessed to give than to receive.

The internet is the one opportunity to connect with the right interest group for the issues that resonate with you. There are many forums where you can engage and participate.

Learn to screen the flow of conversation. Facebook provides fan pages and Twitter uses hashtags. How do you filter out the noise and get to the core? Simple those who don't respond to your comments are indulging in a monologue. Those who get back to you are those worth engaging with.

I once asked someone who had over 1500 friends on facebook: "How do you keep up with so many people"? The answer was simple: "It is always the same ones who converse with me. The others, I never hear from."

God in his infinite wisdom has given us one mouth but two ears. I take it we should use them in that proportion. Listen attentively first to what is your realm of expertise. Then and only then provide some tip, some word of encouragement, some testimony.

People will love you for it because you are relevant to their cause - not peddling the same "look at me" desperate call, irrespective of the audience.

Marketers are discovering that the name of an authoritative figure is as valuable as a brand. Tools appear everywhere to measure the social impact of a given individual by cross-referencing their various accounts in social media. Such tool is klout.com which rates you across sixteen squares for your level of involvement. I guess people would rush to compare their score with some celebrities they know or just the guy down in the office.

It is not so much what you do that count - but the reason why you are doing it.