Real Value Matters

Home Business: Communication

In today's world, we have almost endless options for communication. Postal mail, email, and videoconferencing are just a few of our choices for keeping in contact with vendors and clients around the globe. Yet the sheer number of choices can lead to confusion. Many options are quite costly, so a balance must be found between function and price.

It is now possible to use a computer as a multi-purpose communications tool, Software applications are available that offer telephone service, faxing, videoconferencing, and internet. Alternatively, dedicated hardware can be used for each of these functions.

Whether or not to use your computer for various forms of communication depends largely on the power of your system. Communications tools are resource-heavy, requiring large amounts of free hard drive space, as well as taking over most of the computer's RAM when in use. Additionally, most programs become resident in your system tray, meaning that they use a portion of your resources even when not actively in use.  Powerful new computers can handle this easily, with no loss of usability. However, older or less powerful computers may show a decided decline in performance due to the utilization of virtual memory and hard drive space.

If your computer can handle it, software-based effective communication tools offer a number of significant advantages. One is office space. You will not need to dedicate desk space to separate components. Additionally, many programs, particularly those purchased as part of a package, work seamlessly together. Your computer can answer the phone, and then automatically direct the call to fax or voice as appropriate. You can set up a rather extensive voice mail network, instructing the caller to enter the appropriate code to leave voice mail for varying departments. This feature can actually add authenticity to your company, as even if you are a corporation of one, you will present the illusion of a busy office.

Continue reading Home business : Communication

Audio Advertising

Audio advertising is growing at a fast pace with more and more advertisers opting for audio classified ads.  It's no secret that a good sales letter makes all the difference in advertising and it's no different when talking about great audio advertising. Professional voice talent and seasoned studio engineers come together to produce top quality audio advertising spots.

Interactive audio advertising is generating extreme interest within the advertising community.  .

Advertisers

Audio advertisements have gained national media attention from national mass-market advertisers, the Wall Street Investment Community and discussed in the Wall Street Journal.  Currently this new online audio advertising provides advertisers with a new method to promote. 

Not just for major advertisers, but small niche advertisers like local business can utilize audio ads for local and regional advertising too.  Ads for audio content, such as pod casts or Internet radio stations, often use a "reservation" model, where advertisers reserve spots in audio streams for fixed fees. 

It's possible that this reservation model may not maximize revenue for audio publishers because many advertisers don't have resources to negotiate agreements for ad spots and don't compete for them. 

However, imagine an Ad Network where advertisers and publishers can interact, and pay-per-action type advertising becomes a possibility.  A publisher would set upon criteria for advertisers to match, and the system would determine which ads to play based upon relevancy and price.  Now, forward-thinking advertisers are recognizing that if it works on radio, it can work on streaming audio.

Websites

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Deception and Lies

A short while ago I was all ready to rant and rave about the unfairness of liars.  But in business, "deception & lies" are commonplace and "fairness" appears to have little value - especially on the internet.  So instead I've decided to be cool, calm and adult about my perceptions of other people and let you decide.

This, my interpretation of events, is inevitably biased.  So as to be "fair" it requires that I be as accurate as possible and although it covers only a relatively short period of time, it also requires a fairly lengthy post.

I consider myself to have been lied to and deceived by officers of...

Update March 3rd, 2008

Fortunately, the business and people about whom I originally wrote have proven themselves to be both honest and fair.

Shortly after making my original post I received an apology and a full refund. 

Some might see that as a good result, and in some ways it is.  But it's not actually what I wanted.  What I wanted was that which I had been promised when I first purchased their product.  And  the only reason I was not satisfied was because of a lack of communication.

Communication is a two way street.  Most differences of opinion, arguments, fights and I daresay, wars, come about as a result of communications all going one way.  Well I wanted this product, I wanted it to work and I didn't want a refund... so I opened a new channel of communication. 

I wrote this blog post, carefully and hopefully without too much bias.  Then I told other people about it, especially the people involved and their other customers.

My next step was to have splashed it all over the Social Networks - and when I say all-over, I am presently a member of 117 different social networks and bookmarking sites, accounting for several hundreds of millions of people (free advertising - I just love it). 

However, something in me said just hold on one moment, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

So I picked up the phone and phoned the main man at FavYouTube, Julius Moltgen.

It's strange, in this era of instant communication, we seem to have forgotten how to talk to one-another.  So he's a reasonable man and so am I (not something I think my First Wife would agree with - and Yes, she still is my First Wife). 

So we talked, Julius and I... and we resolved the issue, like civilised people should do.

I will continue to use the product, FavYouTube, because I think it's great... and I'll pay for it.  When FavYouTube opens up its doors to new members again, I'll advertise it... because I believe it's a good product by which one can generate an income, which is to say "Real Value".

And, because I prefer communication, I have offered my services to help with in the forum.  I hope that my friends there will read this amended post, in particular "John G", "Jessiem", "Kusuma", "Ryath", "Nirusan", "Yvoman" and "Yvonne".

So was it worth all the effort?  Well, it has taken up an enormous amount of my time - but, yes, for me it was worth it.

And next time you buy something that does not meet your expectation, ask questions of the supplier... keep asking questions until you get a satisfactory response. Don't lose your temper or patience... make a record of your conversations.   And if you don't  get a satisfactory response, publish an honest blog about your experiences and ask the supplier for their opinion - preferably before you splash it all over the internet.

Genius... Absolute Genius!

Yesterday morning my friend Richard sent me an email with the subject heading "Genius... Absolute Genius".

Having read the content of his email and the material to which it refers, I have to say that I heartily agree.

When I was a little kid, we often used to play a game at birthday parties called "Pass the Parcel".

All the children would sit around in a big circle and pass around a paper wrapped parcel whilst music was playing.  When the music stopped, whoever was holding the parcel got to take a layer of paper off and received a token for a present.

Shrieks of delight would vibrate around the room as one child after another would get a lovely present.

Eventually the parcel was completely unwrapped and there would be one big present left.

And yesterday when I saw my friend's email, I was reminded of this party game... only with one tiny difference... all the goodies were for me.

It is the work of a masterful genius... Harvey Segal.

• Just observing the process would be a graduate education in power marketing.
• The book is FREE - but has to be worth at least $47.
• The neat and simple "promotional techniques" made me stare in amazement.
• All the while my brain was exploring new possibilities, storing away every little detail for future reference.

And the biggest wallop is packed in the viral element - which allows YOU to profit from Harvey's work.

In short this is a MUST READ for everyone.  Anyone

Yes, that includes YOU.

No cost.  No implication on your wallet. Zero.

But an opportunity to learn, to earn - or to sit back and applaud a very intelligent piece of marketing on the Internet.

To get your copy Click Here

PayPerPlay Advertising

Over the past 3 days, initial testing successfully delivered 500,000 paid ads which were randomly distributed over the network through websites that get more than 10 hits in 1 day. During the testing the only problems were commission reporting which was promptly corrected. A member actually pointed out another commission payment reporting issue that was also corrected. Apart from commission reporting bugs that were squashed, the delivery of the ads was completely flawless.

Examining my own stats, I find that since 1st February 2008 (when advertising started) my sites have received 285,776 hits... based on present data, this equates to $198 income - no clicks required.

Once NetAudioAds have finished their testing programme the floodgates on advertising will open up. NetAudioAds are not able to give exact numbers yet but they anticipate the daily volume after the robot crawl could be as high as 2 million to as low as 500,000.

The reason for this weird staggering is to further ensure system integrity as we move to “all systems go”. If NetAudioAds were to open full throttle and somehow miss a tiny bug then we would all have a disaster on our hands. Take pride in the fact that this company is being cautious. We are all vying for our share of millions and millions of dollars in ad revenue.

Here are some exciting stats…

• With current advertisers on board we have the ability to serve 7 – 10 million ads per day, 7 days a week.
• The NetAudioAds servers are clocking 9,000 hits per second triggered from audio ad code in our distribution network (very impressive)

For those of you that are new here it took us just over 3 months to do this. Many new advertisers will begin their campaigns when we are at full throttle. We have a large team of sales people that are already working the largest names in advertising. All of us have the same opportunity to earn massive income by lining up ads.

What is the income potential if you line up a $1 million advertising contract?

How does a nice $300k commission sound?

It is hardly surprising that NetAudioAds is becoming the talk of the advertising town in a good way. It won’t be long before we are able to fill 750 million ad plays per day. Now is a good time to claim your share of the advertising pie or at least start thinking about it.

Click Here For Your Share

Whopper Freakout

Today I came across a BRILLIANT campaign from Burger King where they tell their customers that they no longer sell the "whopper"

They filmed their customers reactions and you can see how they freak out at WHOPPERFREAKOUT.com

They even give you embed code to place on your site (see below).

This is an effective way to create "buzz", which when connected with viral marketing, can explode over the internet within days.  There is a good mixture of humour and controversy... two very important factors in creating "buzz"... and then they leave you wanting to know more, so that you must go to the site.

Get Paid Every Time Your Website or Blog is Seen

Pay Per Play (PPP) is a service that will pay you for playing audio advertisements on your web site or blog.

The idea is similar to Adsense in that the PPP code picks an appropriate audio advertisement to play based on the content of the page, so the ad is targeted and therefore relevant to your visitors.

But rather than getting paid for a click, you get paid when the audio runs to its conclusion. The advertisements may be 5 seconds or 30 seconds, so you should have a fairly high conversion rate, particularly with the 5 second ones. You won’t get paid for 100% of your visitors, certainly, since some of them will leave before the advert has ended, but it should be a better percentage than Adsense.

For hosting the adverts, you earn 25% of what the advertiser spends to play their ads on your page. You can also earn 5% of what your referrals earn, and 5% of what their referrals earn.

The service is in pre-launch right now, so it’s hard to say what the actual cost per play (CPP) will be. Advertisers will bid for the key words, so expect the CPP to be low at first.  Bidding is scheduled to start on 1st February 2008.

Over time advertisers will see which websites are converting best for them and their competitors and consequently the bid value will rise.

The service sounds pretty interesting. 5 seconds is a fairly long time in Internet terms, but audio ads have a way of registering on the mind, even if you're not really listening... if that were not the case, why would companies advertise on the radio?


Click Here for further information and to sign up for Free

And a Debt Driven Christmas to You Too

"Do you want to save 10% on your shopping today Mr Phoenix?"

Well yes of course I do!

"Just fill out this form then, and we'll have your store account opened in a jiffy..."

Whoa there - wait a minute... I might have been momentarily distracted by your pretty green eyes, Debenhams' checkout girl, but I'm not falling for that old chestnut...

I'll never have one of your nasty, evil store cards, you hear me - NEVER!!

(No of course I didn't shout that out loud at the till... I politely declined her offer - but inside me the anger was burning...)

Store cards are the single most hideous form of debt you can get yourself into - Debenhams, Burtons, Selfridges, John Lewis... it doesn't matter who's peddling.  This form of lending is scandalous.

Look out for the signs in the run up to Christmas: you'll be targeted at the till if you've just made a fairly large purchase... you'll be offered a 10% discount on this and future purchases.

It will sound like a good thing. But be warned: These aren't financial professionals who know what's best for you. They are, in the main, lowly paid sales assistants who are incentivised based on how many accounts they open.

"But you're not a financial professional either, Mr "Big-Mouth" Phoenix"

88 Chances To Win - Every Week

It may surprise you to learn that I've never been a big fan of playing the lottery. Friends ask me why I don't bother and I always trot out the same, predictable line:

"Why would I? I've only got a 1 in 13,983,816 chance of winning!"

I read an article on The Times website recently that put this into perspective brilliantly:

"Casinos typically pay out more than 97 per cent of money staked. With Premium Bonds you actually get to keep your stake, plus an average of 3 ½ per cent, in prize money per year.

The lottery payout? Fifty per cent.

To represent the vanishingly small chance of a lottery jackpot in the game of roulette, you would have to build a wheel with close to 14 million compartments; to scale, the wheel would be bigger than London - too large, in fact, to fit inside the M25.

If you were picking a card, the pack would be three miles high."

And so on....

That's right my friend: "it COULD be you"!

One Step 4 Income (week 3)

Last week I mentioned the database management programme that I use to keep track of my internet interests. 

Promobuddy was written by Detlev Reimer using the very successful proprietary software, FileMaker Pro.  This programme was originally written for users of Apple Mac's and is very robust.  However, Detlev’s Down-load page for Promobuddy has thrown into the limelight one aspect of internet marketing that can have serious consequences.

Security