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    Networking for Your Small Business
    Networking is perhaps second only to cold calling in terms of the contention it creates as an effective small business marketing strategy. Some small business marketing experts say that networking is a waste of time; others insist that it’s the only small business marketing tool that’s really vital to success.The debate probably arises because of differences in what networking is. Staying in touch with past customers, for example, is undoubtedly a highly effective and important small business marketing tool. Regularly attending networking functions may or may not be as effective a small business marketing tool.So let’s consider those two types of networking separately:Networking type 1: Staying in touch with past and current
    re and track all of your PPC accounts closely.

    If this sounds like too much work, you may want to look at an outside service to take care of it for you. A variety of new services have opened recently to help combat the click fraud problem.

    1) Keyword Max: http://www.KeyWordMax.com

    Offers up a service called "Click Auditor," which monitors the activity on your PPC accounts and alerts you to any suspicious activity. You can request a free demo at the site.

    2) Click Detective: http://ClickDetective.net

    A website monitoring service that uses sophisticated tracking mechanisms to determine whether "visitor behavior" is normal or not. Offering a 15 day free trial. Easy to use, you just copy and paste a snippet of code on your page and add a campaign ID by logging into your account.

    3) Click Assurance: http://ClickAssurance.com

    An Internet Security Firm that specializes in click fraud. They will audit your PPC accounts and go after any

    Marketing-Minded Financial Planners--Appearing on TV? Tell the World!
    It doesn't matter how cruel the reality programs get, there always seems to be an endless supply of people willing to humiliate themselves to get on television. There's just something exciting about appearing in front of millions of people.In fact, just knowing someone that's going to be on TV or on the radio is exciting, so when you know you are going to be on the air, send an alert to your mailing list.Send notes, e-mails, faxes – whatever it takes – so they know when they can catch you. You'll be surprised at how many people tune in. After all, they now know a real celebrity!Of course, most people will still miss it. It isn't as easy to send a "reprint" of a TV or radio appearance, but it can be done. Get a video copy of you
    Pay per click search engine advertising is one of the most popular ways to promote a website. With Overture and Google leading the pack, the industry as a whole has grown immensely in the past few years. According to a report by PriceWaterHouseCoopers, they estimate that Internet Advertising brought in more than $9 billion in 2004 alone.

    With PPC advertising you choose "keywords/phrases," then bid how much you'd like to pay for each click. When a searcher goes to a search engine and types in one of your keyphrases, your short text ad appears, and if they click on it your account is then charged. In a "perfect world" this is the way it would work, but thanks to unscrupulous people, there's a dirty little secret known as "click fraud."

    Click fraud is simply the act of clicking on ads for the direct purpose of costing the advertiser money. It's similar to paying out cash for false leads. According to InternetWeek.com, 60% of those who responded to a survey conducted by the "Search Engine Professional Organization" had stated that fraud is a problem when it comes to PPC advertising.

    So where does click fraud come from? Well, there are actually a few different sources:

    1) AdSense Users: Google Adsense has a program called "Adsense" that pays website owners to run their Adwords ads and compensates them per click. Google does monitor this and it's against their terms of service to click on any of the ads on your own site. If they find a publishers doing this, they will lose their accounts, but some may still be clicking under the radar.

    2) Your Competitors: Your competitors could be clicking on your ads over a period of several days in order to deplete your ad budget.

    3) Software: There are those who use automated clicking tools, such as robot programs, to click on PPC listings.

    In some Asian countries, people are often paid to click on PPC ads for hours. Many don't know why they do it, and don't care, only that they'll be well rewarded for their efforts. If you do a search on any search engine you'll see plenty of sites looking to hire people for just this purpose. For more on this see...http://tinyurl.com/2ka5g

    Most PPC networks have measures in place to protect you against click fraud. Overture tracks more than 50 data points, including IP addresses, browser info, users' session info and what they call "pattern recognition." They have a "proprietary system" in place for detecting fraud and a specialized team that monitors things and works with the advertisers to stop it.

    Google offers suggestions to avoid click thru fraud, such as "using negative keywords" to keep your ads from showing up for products and services that are unrelated. They also suggest adding tracking url's to your links so you can track the traffic coming from Google. An easy way to do this is to add a ? to your links along with the identifier. For example, a tracking link to identify Google would look like this:

    http://www.yourdomain.com/?referer-google

    If you go through your log files, you'll be able to see your Google traffic at a glance.

    If you suspect fraud, Google asks that you contact them right away, as they have a team of researchers that will investigate. They also take action to block future impressions from anyone they identify as committing click fraud. Like Overture, they also have "proprietary technology" that distinguishes between normal clicks and invalid ones. Google never bills you for any "bad clicks" that are caught by their system.

    So what's an honest website owner to do? You need to be alert to any "suspicious activity" by researching your server logs or stats. If you're experiencing a lot of clicks and no sales you'll also want to take a closer look. You need to watch for any spikes in traffic, usually on one keyword or phrase and coming from only one PPC source. You need to measure and track all of your PPC accounts closely.

    If this sounds like too much work, you may want to look at an outside service to take care of it for you. A variety of new services have opened recently to help combat the click fraud problem.

    1) Keyword Max: http://www.KeyWordMax.com

    Offers up a service called "Click Auditor," which monitors the activity on your PPC accounts and alerts you to any suspicious activity. You can request a free demo at the site.

    2) Click Detective: http://ClickDetective.net

    A website monitoring service that uses sophisticated tracking mechanisms to determine whether "visitor behavior" is normal or not. Offering a 15 day free trial. Easy to use, you just copy and paste a snippet of code on your page and add a campaign ID by logging into your account.

    3) Click Assurance: http://ClickAssurance.com

    An Internet Security Firm that specializes in click fraud. They will audit your PPC accounts and go after any

    Effective Sales People Need To Find a Way to Contact Prospect
    Effective sales people are selling something that they believe in and they know they must get in to talk with those are interested in their services or products and those that can make the decision to purchase them. But how do you get past the front desk and how do you get to the person on the phone that you wish to contact so that you can find out if they are interested or not?You need to talk to the decision makers and get your information in front of them or you need to get them on the phone somehow and ask them directly. This is not an easy task for a salesperson and you should know this.There are always ways to get in front of the proper Prospect to contact them and if you are smart you will find a way. Perhaps it may not be a
    conducted by the "Search Engine Professional Organization" had stated that fraud is a problem when it comes to PPC advertising.

    So where does click fraud come from? Well, there are actually a few different sources:

    1) AdSense Users: Google Adsense has a program called "Adsense" that pays website owners to run their Adwords ads and compensates them per click. Google does monitor this and it's against their terms of service to click on any of the ads on your own site. If they find a publishers doing this, they will lose their accounts, but some may still be clicking under the radar.

    2) Your Competitors: Your competitors could be clicking on your ads over a period of several days in order to deplete your ad budget.

    3) Software: There are those who use automated clicking tools, such as robot programs, to click on PPC listings.

    In some Asian countries, people are often paid to click on PPC ads for hours. Many don't know why they do it, and don't care, only that they'll be well rewarded for their efforts. If you do a search on any search engine you'll see plenty of sites looking to hire people for just this purpose. For more on this see...http://tinyurl.com/2ka5g

    Most PPC networks have measures in place to protect you against click fraud. Overture tracks more than 50 data points, including IP addresses, browser info, users' session info and what they call "pattern recognition." They have a "proprietary system" in place for detecting fraud and a specialized team that monitors things and works with the advertisers to stop it.

    Google offers suggestions to avoid click thru fraud, such as "using negative keywords" to keep your ads from showing up for products and services that are unrelated. They also suggest adding tracking url's to your links so you can track the traffic coming from Google. An easy way to do this is to add a ? to your links along with the identifier. For example, a tracking link to identify Google would look like this:

    http://www.yourdomain.com/?referer-google

    If you go through your log files, you'll be able to see your Google traffic at a glance.

    If you suspect fraud, Google asks that you contact them right away, as they have a team of researchers that will investigate. They also take action to block future impressions from anyone they identify as committing click fraud. Like Overture, they also have "proprietary technology" that distinguishes between normal clicks and invalid ones. Google never bills you for any "bad clicks" that are caught by their system.

    So what's an honest website owner to do? You need to be alert to any "suspicious activity" by researching your server logs or stats. If you're experiencing a lot of clicks and no sales you'll also want to take a closer look. You need to watch for any spikes in traffic, usually on one keyword or phrase and coming from only one PPC source. You need to measure and track all of your PPC accounts closely.

    If this sounds like too much work, you may want to look at an outside service to take care of it for you. A variety of new services have opened recently to help combat the click fraud problem.

    1) Keyword Max: http://www.KeyWordMax.com

    Offers up a service called "Click Auditor," which monitors the activity on your PPC accounts and alerts you to any suspicious activity. You can request a free demo at the site.

    2) Click Detective: http://ClickDetective.net

    A website monitoring service that uses sophisticated tracking mechanisms to determine whether "visitor behavior" is normal or not. Offering a 15 day free trial. Easy to use, you just copy and paste a snippet of code on your page and add a campaign ID by logging into your account.

    3) Click Assurance: http://ClickAssurance.com

    An Internet Security Firm that specializes in click fraud. They will audit your PPC accounts and go after any

    A Facilitator's Guide to Running a Stakeholder Analysis Workshop
    This facilitator’s guide to running a stakeholder analysis workshop is for people whose success depends on getting other people involved with their objectives.It contains two exercises, one to work with stakeholder groups, and one to emulate stakeholders where it is not easy to bring them all together. The aim of both is to engage stakeholders in dialogue, brainstorming and decision-making to secure their buy-in to an idea, project, or plan.There are five key principles underpinning success in both exercises. These are:1. People are motivated to co-operate when they stand to gain personally from the effort they put in. You will struggle to involve someone if they are not motivated to attain something important to them, i.e. som
    d don't care, only that they'll be well rewarded for their efforts. If you do a search on any search engine you'll see plenty of sites looking to hire people for just this purpose. For more on this see...http://tinyurl.com/2ka5g

    Most PPC networks have measures in place to protect you against click fraud. Overture tracks more than 50 data points, including IP addresses, browser info, users' session info and what they call "pattern recognition." They have a "proprietary system" in place for detecting fraud and a specialized team that monitors things and works with the advertisers to stop it.

    Google offers suggestions to avoid click thru fraud, such as "using negative keywords" to keep your ads from showing up for products and services that are unrelated. They also suggest adding tracking url's to your links so you can track the traffic coming from Google. An easy way to do this is to add a ? to your links along with the identifier. For example, a tracking link to identify Google would look like this:

    http://www.yourdomain.com/?referer-google

    If you go through your log files, you'll be able to see your Google traffic at a glance.

    If you suspect fraud, Google asks that you contact them right away, as they have a team of researchers that will investigate. They also take action to block future impressions from anyone they identify as committing click fraud. Like Overture, they also have "proprietary technology" that distinguishes between normal clicks and invalid ones. Google never bills you for any "bad clicks" that are caught by their system.

    So what's an honest website owner to do? You need to be alert to any "suspicious activity" by researching your server logs or stats. If you're experiencing a lot of clicks and no sales you'll also want to take a closer look. You need to watch for any spikes in traffic, usually on one keyword or phrase and coming from only one PPC source. You need to measure and track all of your PPC accounts closely.

    If this sounds like too much work, you may want to look at an outside service to take care of it for you. A variety of new services have opened recently to help combat the click fraud problem.

    1) Keyword Max: http://www.KeyWordMax.com

    Offers up a service called "Click Auditor," which monitors the activity on your PPC accounts and alerts you to any suspicious activity. You can request a free demo at the site.

    2) Click Detective: http://ClickDetective.net

    A website monitoring service that uses sophisticated tracking mechanisms to determine whether "visitor behavior" is normal or not. Offering a 15 day free trial. Easy to use, you just copy and paste a snippet of code on your page and add a campaign ID by logging into your account.

    3) Click Assurance: http://ClickAssurance.com

    An Internet Security Firm that specializes in click fraud. They will audit your PPC accounts and go after any

    Creating, Recognizing & Measuring Value
    Price is what you pay - value is what you get. Warren Buffett, Chairman of Berkshire SecuritiesDeliver value that your customers recognize, appreciate and reward. If you want your customers to value what you offer - you must demonstrate that you value them.Value implies trust so start by building trust. Always under-promise and over-deliver. Be known for keeping your promise and then some. Be honest. Never promise what you cannot deliver.Don't confuse value with cost. A product's value is almost never equal to its cost. For example, your product might cost you $2 and you sell it for $10. The value to you is $10. The value to the customer will usually be more than the selling price. If it was only worth $10 to the customer then
    g link to identify Google would look like this:

    http://www.yourdomain.com/?referer-google

    If you go through your log files, you'll be able to see your Google traffic at a glance.

    If you suspect fraud, Google asks that you contact them right away, as they have a team of researchers that will investigate. They also take action to block future impressions from anyone they identify as committing click fraud. Like Overture, they also have "proprietary technology" that distinguishes between normal clicks and invalid ones. Google never bills you for any "bad clicks" that are caught by their system.

    So what's an honest website owner to do? You need to be alert to any "suspicious activity" by researching your server logs or stats. If you're experiencing a lot of clicks and no sales you'll also want to take a closer look. You need to watch for any spikes in traffic, usually on one keyword or phrase and coming from only one PPC source. You need to measure and track all of your PPC accounts closely.

    If this sounds like too much work, you may want to look at an outside service to take care of it for you. A variety of new services have opened recently to help combat the click fraud problem.

    1) Keyword Max: http://www.KeyWordMax.com

    Offers up a service called "Click Auditor," which monitors the activity on your PPC accounts and alerts you to any suspicious activity. You can request a free demo at the site.

    2) Click Detective: http://ClickDetective.net

    A website monitoring service that uses sophisticated tracking mechanisms to determine whether "visitor behavior" is normal or not. Offering a 15 day free trial. Easy to use, you just copy and paste a snippet of code on your page and add a campaign ID by logging into your account.

    3) Click Assurance: http://ClickAssurance.com

    An Internet Security Firm that specializes in click fraud. They will audit your PPC accounts and go after any

    Values in Globalization - Nu Leadership Series
    “ Every failure is a blessing in disguise, providing it teaches some needed lesson one could not have learned without it. Most so-called Failures are only temporary defeats.” Napoleon HillWith fierce global competition, organizations need to change. Global values (GV) may be the key term for the millennium. Building on similar values will be crucial for multi-national organizations. Let’s explore this thought closer. Twenty-first century organizations can no longer create values independent of others without any market input. Why should today’s leaders be concerned with organizational values? Conflicts in values between leaders and followers can have a dramatic impact on the bottom-line of an organization. Hamel, author
    re and track all of your PPC accounts closely.

    If this sounds like too much work, you may want to look at an outside service to take care of it for you. A variety of new services have opened recently to help combat the click fraud problem.

    1) Keyword Max: http://www.KeyWordMax.com

    Offers up a service called "Click Auditor," which monitors the activity on your PPC accounts and alerts you to any suspicious activity. You can request a free demo at the site.

    2) Click Detective: http://ClickDetective.net

    A website monitoring service that uses sophisticated tracking mechanisms to determine whether "visitor behavior" is normal or not. Offering a 15 day free trial. Easy to use, you just copy and paste a snippet of code on your page and add a campaign ID by logging into your account.

    3) Click Assurance: http://ClickAssurance.com

    An Internet Security Firm that specializes in click fraud. They will audit your PPC accounts and go after any refunds you are due because of fraud.

    4) Who's Clicking Who: http://WhosClickingWho.com

    An independent auditing service that tracks individual users for fraud. Can also detect abuse coming from proxy servers. A one month subscription is $79.00, which includes free installation and up to 50,000 transactions per month.

    5) ClickLab: http://ClickLab.com/products/click-fraud

    This service isolates bad clicks with a scorecard based detection system. Pricing starts at $50.00 per month and is based on the number of sites you need to track and their page views.

    ClickLab also has a nice white paper you should download while visiting: "How to Defend Your Website Against Click Fraud."

    Click fraud isn't going away anytime soon. If anything, it will probably get worse before it get's any better. It's up to you as a vigilant website owner to do what you can to keep your PPC advertising costs down. You can't stop it, but with the right tracking in place, it can be managed and controlled, and hopefully kept to a minimum.

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