Interesting new feature from Google - SMART FOLDERS for Gmail Users

Google continues to release interesting new features designed to help email users. It has improved filtering and helped us save time doing standard email-related tasks. But Gmail's newest feature, Smart Folders.

The Smart Folders automatically identifies bulk email messages and puts them in a “special” folder.

Email Marketing

What is it?

Though there are many online marketing methods to generate leads E-mail marketing can be defined as a means of direct marketing in which the email is required being a medium to speak with your targeted audience. 

As the penetration in the Internet is growing, businesses are finding e mail marketing an easy way to focus on their audience and pitch their services or products.

Why Email Marketing?

Email is an ideal solution for brand reinforcement, product testing, promotional offers and customer surveys. It's fast, cheap and easy to send special announcements, newsletters, and promotional offers to their customers via email.

Email marketing is an effective tool to pursue internet business. It can be a concept that invokes immediate response or action from the prospects. 

Email Marketing has many features. I’d like to list out the important features below,

• Inexpensive 
• Drive traffic to your website 
• Increase profits 
• There are various tools like auto responders, bounce messages, read receipts and clicks to trace the email messages. These help out with correlating sales with marketing and measuring the negative or positive responses. 
• Can make sure that the message reaches the targeted audience 
• Cost effective way of reaching a targeted audience to distribute information 
• Encourages customer loyalty, strengthens relationships, and builds trust. 
• Increase brand awareness

Well, the recent survey says that “Consumers want personalized e-mail from marketers” - More than half of US and UK consumers said they would be more receptive to e-mails from marketers if they were personalized and highly-targeted. That is among the key findings of a new report issued from e-mail service provider - e-Dialog, June 07, 2010.

Next Generation Messaging - Facebook Email Service

Facebook announced Monday that it is building a full-fledged e-mail system into its 500-million-member social network. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the new e-mail offering will be introduced over the next couple of months to all FB users. 

As of now they began to offer a few thousands of e-mail addresses to U.S. members that consists of their user name followed by @facebook.com. It will take little time to make it available to all 500 million members.

FB founder and CEO Mark introduces a new Facebook E-mail Service.

"This is not an e-mail killer, It is a messaging system that includes e-mail. We don't expect anyone to totally switch from Yahoo or Gmail to Facebook." Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at a press conference in San Francisco.

Facebook is clearly trying to match all the services Google provides around its core search capability. Beyond its messaging capabilities, you share links, photos, instant chat and videos as well. A partnership with Skype allows you to make voice calls from the platform; Google only recently added this capability to Gmail. E-mail is the piece that has been obviously missing, and now it is here.

According to eMarketer, Facebook would collect $1.3 billion in worldwide ad revenue in this 2010, Which is twice that what FB did in 2009.

Getting the Most from your Online Marketing Budget

SEO or search engine optimization has become the heart and soul of the Internet marketing industry and many Canadian MSPs and VARs are looking at Search Optimization as part of their overall online marketing strategy.

Each and every reseller or service provider wants to be on the top of search engine results page (SERP). This has created a need for search engine optimizers who alter and optimize the Web sites in such a manner that they become search engine friendly and bring in traffic and revenue to the organizations.

Like any competitive field of business, SEO hasn’t escaped from the hands of crooks and ne’er-do-wells who make tall claims on search engine optimization. It is important for you to detect such frauds before you assign them an optimization job. Here are a few tips which will help you in sorting a fraud SEO service provider from a real one:

• Guaranteed Ranking: The only people who can guarantee you a ranking are search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing but the fact is none of them do SEO! Not even the top ten optimizers in the world in the world can guarantee you a ranking so never fall for such tall claims.
• Quick results: Good SEO is a time-consuming process. It takes time to organically rank a Web site high. It takes at least a month to effectively reflect growth after optimization. So stay away from catchy claims like ‘First page ranking in 15 days’. ‘Guaranteed results in 7 days.’
• Too-Good-To-Be-True Rates: ‘Quality never comes cheap.’ If you choose the wrong SEO service provider, it can be an exercise in futility costing you time and money. The Internet is a great tool to search for market-standard rates. Do not go to optimizers who quote unbelievably low rates.
• Black Hat Techniques: There are lot of unethical techniques for getting your Web site higher ranking on the Web. The down side of this is such practices might invite permanent penalty from the search engines and prove detrimental for your Web site. Make sure your optimizer doesn’t use black hat techniques for optimization.
• Secret and Proprietary: As the owner of the Web site, you are entitled to know what are the exact optimization techniques that your Web site is going through. In case any service provider denies you the information citing secrecy and proprietary information, it is advisable to stay away from them.
• Technical Brainstorming: If your SEO service provider is bombarding you with technological terms and high end techniques it is most likely that he/she is poor with the application of what business is looking for. Good optimizers seldom talk in technical language with their clients and fake optimizers might want to hide their lack of knowledge with such terminology.  The old ‘dazzle them with BS’ truism comes to mind.

Keeping these things in mind will help you in choosing the perfect SEO optimizer for your job.  It is critical that you find a SEO provider who also understands your target market and the industry that you are in.  Search Engine Optimization is not guaranteed, involves hundreds of variables and is a continual process of adjustments and building authority over time. It is a fine mixture of art, science, and research and never comes cheap. And the most important thing – there are no guaranteed results is SEO.

By Stuart Crawford

Source: ChannelBuzz.CA

Microsoft's Docs.com Within Facebook Groups - Cooperate with each other

Microsoft's Docs.com announced yesterday that it now supports sharing documents within Facebook Groups. Microsoft's Fuse labs brought Docs.com to Facebook back in April, but the service hasn't necessarily taken off, in part because sharing documents with a specific group was unwieldy, as you had to add people manually.

Now Docs.com ensures integration into Facebook Groups, something that wasn't previously possible for third-party apps. Users can share documents within a Group for others to view or edit. Updates to Docs.com will post a story to the Group's Wall as well as to the newsfeeds of its members. And you can leave comments about documents on the Group Wall or within the document itself.

We don't need to have Microsoft Office installed to use Docs.com, but the system only supports Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF file uploads.

By: Audrey Watters

Source: Read Write Web

Motorola Charm coming to India this month for Rs.15K

Motorola India seems to be slowly launching most of it’s Android handsets in India. The latest one to hit India will be the Moto Charm which is currently available in USA on T-Mobile. It’s an Android QWERTY handset with chic looks.

The Flipout was launched recently and was targeted at women. Seems like the Charm will be landing in India for a price of around Rs.15000 by November end.

Submitted by Varun Krish

Source: FA - FoneArena

Google Engineers test Driverless Cars

The founders of GOOGLE are discovered many latest technologies to resolve several issues. Here is again they are gonna launch another technology. I have found a very good article which is really interesting to me. I believe you too like.. sorry would love it. 

Larry and Sergey founded Google because they wanted to help solve really big problems using technology. And one of the big problems we’re working on today is car safety and efficiency. Our goal is to help prevent traffic accidents, free up people’s time and reduce carbon emissions by fundamentally changing car use. So we have developed technology for cars that can drive themselves. Our automated cars, manned by trained operators, just drove from our Mountain View campus to our Santa Monica office and on to Hollywood Boulevard. They’ve driven down Lombard Street, crossed the Golden Gate bridge, navigated the Pacific Coast Highway, and even made it all the way around Lake Tahoe. All in all, our self-driving cars have logged over 140,000 miles. We think this is a first in robotics research. 

Our automated cars use video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to “see” other traffic, as well as detailed maps (which we collect using manually driven vehicles) to navigate the road ahead. This is all made possible by Google’s data centers, which can process the enormous amounts of information gathered by our cars when mapping their terrain. 

According to the World Health Organization, more than 1.2 million lives are lost every year in road traffic accidents. We believe our technology has the potential to cut that number, perhaps by as much as half. We’re also confident that self-driving cars will transform car sharing, significantly reducing car usage, as well as help create the new “highway trains of tomorrow." These highway trains should cut energy consumption while also increasing the number of people that can be transported on our major roads. In terms of time efficiency, the U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that people spend on average 52 minutes each working day commuting. Imagine being able to spend that time more productively. 

We’ve always been optimistic about technology’s ability to advance society, which is why we have pushed so hard to improve the capabilities of self-driving cars beyond where they are today. While this project is very much in the experimental stage, it provides a glimpse of what transportation might look like in the future thanks to advanced computer science. And that future is very exciting. 

Well, The search giant says that although the development of the automated cars is very much in the experimental stage, it provides a glimpse of what transportation might look like in the future.

Source: Official Google blog

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Google Android becomes 2nd most popular smartphone operating system

Google’s Android operating system now has a market share of 25.5 per cent worldwide, up from 3.5 per cent in the same period a year ago, according to the latest figures from Gartner.

That means the smartphone platform is now second only to Symbian, which enjoys a 36.6 per cent share, down from 44.6 per cent over the same period the previous year. It puts Google Android well ahead of rival Apple, which has a 16.7 per cent share, and Research in Motion, with a 14.8 per cent share.

More than 20.5 million Android handsets were sold in the third quarter, up from 1.4 million devices over the same period a year ago, said Gartner.

“Manufacturers such as Samsung continued to launch high-end Android devices like the Galaxy S, but manufacturers also launched Android devices at lower prices to target different consumer segments,” read the Gartner report.

“For example, ZTE launched a sub-£100 Android phone with Orange in the prepay UK market. For its part, Google is maintaining a fast pace of OS updates. Each version brings new features and polish to Android, and the level of innovation is a major differentiator.”

Gartner said that Google Android was particularly dominant in the United States, with an estimated 75 to 80 per cent of all smartphones sold by Verizon in the third quarter running the Google platform.

“Smartphone OS providers have entered a period of accelerated platform evolution, stimulated by more regular product releases, new platform entrants and new device types,” said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner.

“Any platform that fails to innovate quickly — either through a vibrant multi-player ecosystem or clear vision of a single controlling entity — will lose developers, manufacturers, potential partners and ultimately users.”

Source: Telegraph Media Group Limited


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Metal USB Flash Drive TubeFlash: Logo Branded USB Stick by MemoTrek™

The full-metal TubeFlash USB drive is a well-designed and attractive tube-shaped USB flash drive that will shine on any key-chain. TubeFlash USB flash drives come equipped with high-speed A-grade NAND flash memory in 4GB, 8GB, 16GB and 32GB capacity, these innovative metal USB TubeFlash drives are well-designed and a freshly brewed and branded designer USB flash drives are sold in wholesale batches by MemoTrek™ Technologies, leading B2B wholesale supplier of branded USB flash drives to cooperate customers worldwide. 

Its coated silky-touch surface, the rounded shapes of the supporting foot, the key-ring functionality and the solid weight of this exclusively designed metal USB flash drive makes this a new classic among our large selection of branded USB flash drives and promotional USB marketing tool.

"TubeFlash USB drive is a high quality and functional computer accessory that certainly is going to be used frequently by your customers", said a MemTrek™ Technologies representative.

Source: PR WEB

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Cold Calling - Is it Good...!!!!!!

Why it's good that cold calling is so difficult for most sales people??????!!!!!

Cold calling is traditionally the most challenging part of the selling process.

Moreover, for most sales people cold calling is becoming increasingly difficult - because the prospective customer's time is increasingly pressurized and therefore increasingly protected, and so cold calling sales people are increasingly resisted.

Prospects and decision-makers are increasingly difficult to reach, on their guard, and very sensitive and resistant to obvious 'sales techniques'.

Consequently the sales person feels extra pressures, not helped by scripted or contrived language, or an over-zealous sales management or system, which understandably creates a feeling in the prospect of being pushed or manipulated. In these circumstances any hope of forming vital trust is of course lost at this point, and recovery is virtually impossible.

However, sales people who adopt a positive and skillful approach to cold calling generally find that cold calling becomes easier.

This is because cold calling itself is influenced hugely by market forces, i.e., all the other cold calling sales people attempting to do it.

The more difficult cold calling is for the majority, then the easier it becomes for the successful minority.

If the cold calling challenge were easy, then it would be easy for everyone, and therefore very difficult to achieve differentiation or advantage, to stand out, to be noticed and respected and valued - to succeed.

Happy surfing!!!

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Begin an Email Campaign

E-mail marketing has evolved, moving from simple one-way messages and autoresponders to a much more sophisticated way of communicating with your customers. There are a few basic things you need to know about e-mail marketing to build deeper relationships with your customers to generate revenues, grow your business and get ahead of your competition. They are,

Efficient & Effective Communication

Build a List

Even if you only have 10 e-mail addresses, you need to start somewhere. Add those to your database. Once you have your list started, make sure that you launch a campaign to keep in touch and in front of your contacts without overwhelming their inbox. I suggest two e-mails per month maximum. It's not about e-mail quantity; it's about quality.

Set up Contact Information Capture Forms

It's easy to add forms to your website or blog to allow visitors to give you their contact information, such as e-mail address, name and phone number.

Decide What You Want to Accomplish

Before you launch your first campaign, you need to decide what it is that you want to accomplish. Do you want to deepen the quality of relationships, take your list through the sales cycle, educate them? Why are you sending your e-mails? Set clear goals before you send your first e-mail, and build your messages and campaign around those goals.

Set up Auto-respond E-mails

Set up at least six e-mails that will automatically release on the dates and times you choose to send out to your list. Keep them short, simple and to the point. Do not make them "sales pitchy"; use autorespond e-mails to educate and build relationships, and the rest will follow.

 

Add Triggers to E-mails
Triggers are used to send clients into a new sales cycle based on topic. If your client clicks on a link in one of the e-mails you sent her about your product or service. As soon as she clicks on that link, it automatically triggers the release of a message sending her information about a similar product or service based on the original link.

Monitor Results
Once per month, look at reporting to see which e-mails are more effective and have a higher rate of opening as well as click-through. Use the lessons learned to build your next campaign. It's important to know how your list is responding to the e-mails that you send. If you aren't getting a good click-through response, the problem is either the quality of your message or the topic.

E-mail Marketing is an effective way to increase relationships, response rates and conversions through smart, targeted communication.

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Essential Tips for Doing Competitive Analysis

For anyone trying to grow a business, one of the first tasks is to map the competitive landscape. With a good understanding of the competition facing your company, you'll be able to spot and exploit opportunities as they develop. These dozen points should help you draw and refine your map, beginning with your earliest efforts to plan your new venture and continuing for as long as you stay in business.

1) Be a customer. Bring a notepad and pencil to competing establishments and ask a lot of questions. Testing a firm's ability to serve you will reveal much about their business. And don't just pretend to shop from competitors. Buy something. It's the only way to gain first-hand experience with the company's products and services.

2) Find out as much as you can about the people who run competing businesses. Where did they go to school? Where have they worked? How long have they been in the business? What are their strengths and weaknesses? This information can help you anticipate your competition's moves. For example, a local, life-long farmer will run an Indiana seed company very differently than will a young MBA.

3) Buy stock in your competitors. If you're competing against a publicly traded firm, consider buying a few shares of its stock. That way you'll receive regular updates on the firm's financial results and business strategies.

4) Talk to your competitors' customers. Why do they buy from your competitors? Is it because of the quality of the product or service, the price, the location, or the customer support? What do they dislike about the company? What do they wish that company would provide? Why don't they buy from you?

5) Use the Internet. Online services such as Dow Jones Interactive allow you to search through thousands of publications for information about your competitors, especially if they include large companies. Searches are free, but you'll have to pay a fee for articles on Dow Jones or for a monthly subscription. You also can learn a great deal about competing businesses simply by going to their Web sites.

6) Check public filings. As an entrepreneur, you already know that companies must disclose information to government agencies. Such disclosures are required to undertake public offerings, receive building permits, register for patents or trademarks and so on. Many of those filings are public record and contain information about the company's goals, strategies, and technologies.

7) Get to know local librarians. Many are virtuoso researchers and can save you a great deal of time and effort. Your library also will have local publications that may have information on competitors in your area.

8) Attend industry conferences and trade shows. Your competitors' representatives will be pounding their chests about their firms' products or services. Take advantage of the opportunity to familiarize yourself with their product offerings and strategies, and how they sell themselves.

9) Assess the competition's goals. A competitor trying to increase its market share might lower prices; a firm attempting to increase profits may cut costs; and a business that wants to accelerate sales growth might kick off a marketing campaign. If you know your competitors' goals, you'll be better able to anticipate their strategies.

10) Be aware of the potential for new competition. These days, the competitive landscape can change faster than Net-stock valuations. A national chain may not have entered your region yet — but what if it does? Likewise, companies that don't currently compete with yours might shift their focus and pit themselves against your firm.

11) Don't delegate the job of keeping up with competitors. You might appoint someone to work with you on the task, doing research and the like. But as the entrepreneur, you're in the best position to appreciate and act upon information about your competitors.

12) Define the competitive landscape broadly. Your competition includes anything that could draw customers away from your business. For example, movie theaters compete not only with other cinemas, but also with restaurants, live music venues, theater —l even cable TV, video rentals, and video games.

Source: All Business - A D&B Company

Facebook New Feature

Facebook is gonna release new security feature that allows users can log out of their accounts remotely from another computer.

To do this, go to "account settings" on your Facebook page and click on "change" next to "account security." There, you'll see where else your Facebook account is logged in, including the type of device and the city it's in or near. To log out of any of them, click "end activity."

Facebook is gonna release this feature in next upcoming weeks.  Be Secure & Happy Surfing!!!