Internet Marketing Blog Questions
How do I get people to Opt-In to my internet Marketing Email List? I currently run a small internet marketing blog and I have an email autoresponder with which I offer a free 5 day mini course on my subject matter. The subject matter is: Internet Marketing and making money online. How would you suggest I promote the actual opting in to my email list to build a list of prospects etc.
Marketing of my blog? Hi All, I have started an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) & Internet Marketing related blog at URL: http://dominatingseo.net/blog/ Please suggest me how can I improve look and feel of my blog, so that it looks more professional and appealing. Any other suggestions related to blog are also most welcome. Regards, Altaf ---------Addition-------- Guys, please just write me how to increasing look & feel of blog. I am aware of all SEO tactics, so please do not write taking traffic in mind.
Any Internet Marketing Guru wanna invest into my Million Bucks hungry mind rich in niche ideas? Hi Wealthy Genuine Internet Marketing Guru, You know I am fed up with free signing up to all those numerous newsletters of so called Internet Millionaires where there's always a hidden catch of later having to pay this or that to proceed, etc. I've got an idea. Why don't we make a sort of partnership which both you and I would greatly benefit from? For example, if you've really proved yourself as a successful internet marketer, then I would be happy to be your "ambassador". In return, I would be pleased to come across your knowledgeable support and expert assistance in my ambitious striving to turn any of my niche business ideas into a top quality online business in the form of website, blog, affiliate or anything else that you might suggest would be great.
Virus and blog marketing? Hi :-) I'd like to make the service we offer known to the national and international public through the Internet. It's a web application (for business users) that will be soon active on a specific site. This site is already on line with an opening welcome page. I've often heard of virus and blog marketing. Are there any companies in charge of giving visibility and consequently producing traffic on the sites through virus and/or blog marketing? If there are, could you please give me a list of them? Thank you very much!! Max
Defendmyname,Internet Marketing Strategy That Will Help You Make Money With Any Business? When you have an internet home business you know that there are a lot of things that you will have to do in order to be successful with it. One thing you will need to do is to come up with an internet marketing strategy that works for you. There are a lot of different internet marketing strategies that you can use. Here are some of the marketing strategies that you will want to use for an effective strategy. One: Start your own blog - Blogs are free to start and they are a great way to market any work at home business. Search engines love blogs because they are always filled with unique and fresh content. Two: Search engines and or SEO - This is one strategy that you will want to implement right away in your internet marketing strategy. It will take time to get search engine traffic so start right away. You can write articles and submit them to directories, blogs will also help you get search engine recognition. Three: Viral Marketing - This is where you write an article or
What's a better blog theme: 2 column or 3 column? I have a blog for the purpose of educating people about health and fitness--down the road, I might get into internet marketing. I noticed that more of the successful marketers use a 2-column.. Just wondering what's better and why!
Is there an internet site I could publish an anti-marketing article? You find lots of websites that specialize in publishing articles related to web marketing and other information designed to help people optimize making money via the net. I want to publish articles warning people against some of these practices. Hypothetically, suppose I wrote an article with the headline "Want to Sell Your Soul? Become a web content writer." Now, that isn't a TRUE name of an article I would publish, but along the same lines. Any well trafficked sites that would be open to such type of muckraking or counter-cultural articles? I could always publish it on my blog, but it would carry more weight if it got picked up by a site I didn't publish myself.
it is one thing to blog but how do you get people to respond to them? I am tired of blogging to myself. I have some very vital and pertanant info regarding emotional literacy and highering achievment success from age 5 and up. I am not blogging useless info. I need a great blogging place that will get to the internet marketing place. where is the best place or software to create a very informative and thought provoking solutions to todays learning issues, or life changing needs. I have the phone lines open and emails to accept responds but how do I get out there in cyberspace informing and educating those who needs are going unfullfilled? Advice; where to set up a rss blog for free how do i get people to opt-in on comments I post. No more blogging for myself. I can be of great support in helping you achieve higher performance levels in school and in the job force. I am not blogging for my good. I am blogging to be able to really help others incorporate solutions to their needs. How do I get it off the blogger page into your homes?
Can you fix this IE7 CSS problem? I'm having a nightmare with a CSS rollover on my site. We managed to use hacks to get this working in FF2, Opera, and better: IE5 and IE6. We've had no joy with IE7 (which should be the easiest, no?) The problem is in the on-hover in our navigation bar. When you hover over each link the colour of the background and the text invert, which looks great and is a very common way to do navigation links. When viewed in pretty much everything except IE7, this works great! However, in IE7 the background colour doesn't stretch all the way to the bottom, leaving a 1px tall line of the original colour. This might be hard to understand so check it out here: http://www.logon.ie/internet-marketing-blog/ Note when you run the mouse over Home, Services, About etc, the rollover effect. Try this in IE7 and another browser. The style sheet is here: http://www.logon.ie/wp-content/themes/Internet-Marketing-Blog/style.css If anyone has a fix for this issue please help save my sanity! Thanks!
What is the best program for getting cash for clicks on my blog? I want to write a general-interest blog about my career change and a blog about investing in the stock market. I would like to get a little money out of it, and I'm always reading about Internet advertising increasing dramatically. What is the best program for getting paid when people click a hyperlink on your blog to other sites? Thank you, Houyhnhnm
A friend of mine proposed I start a blog and he be the web developer. What's a reasonable split for profits? I have no idea how much time it takes to write a blog versus creating, maintaining, and editing it (keeping up with and implementing the latest developments in internet technology and the blogosphere). My friend says he has 10 years of experience with web development and could provide all of the "internet marketing, e-commerce, blogging, search engine optimization, web application development, social networking, social media optimization, graphic design, interface design, copywriting, etc." He proposed splitting the profits from ads, affiliate links, etc. 50/50 and letting me keep 100% of the profits I get from referrals for my private counseling business, but 50/50 feels too high. What do you think is a reasonable percentage split of profits? Would you recommend splitting profits, or having some other business model (flat fee, hourly pay, etc.)? And any suggestions on how to fashion a prearranged buyout agreement in case we decide to split ways in the future so I can retain the site?
Does the Obama camp read this blog. Now and in the past.? As you know about 4 months ago Obama said that people in a certain area were "bitter", and cling to their guns. .. One week before this statement on this blog,,, I wrote that these people were "bitter" and it had nothing to do with slavery in the past. I understand the "cling to their guns", but the "bitter" part I didn't understand. .. Let's face it,, his "readers gang" saw that message and he stole the "bitter" word from me. You know he and his crew targets the internet market, and I think it's too much of a coincidence... Thief! Okay maybe just a coincidence..
How is my new WebSite? This time, its a blog and I have launched a blog on Search Engine Optimization, Internet Marketing and Money Making Resources. Visit my blog at : http://www.websack.net Please... let me know what you think!
Have you ever heard of the SEO Software - Only Submitter? I recently had a bunch of recommendations by internet marketing gurus to take a look at a tool called Only Submitter. Here is what it is supposed to do: Submit to: Web Directories (755) Article Directories (113) Blog/RSS Directories (82) Press Release Directories (15) Video Sites (35) Podcast Sites (87) Social Bookmarking Sites (73) It is a Firefox Plug in. It is supposed to be customizable. Here are my questions: Have any of you ever used it? If you have used it, what do you think of it? Has anyone ever heard of the guy whose name is on it? (Ross Goldberg) Is it worth the asking price?
Why do politicians lack an internet presence? It seems that companies cannot do well unless they are online, marketing everywhere, sponsoring tournaments, setting up microsites, blogs, & rewards programs. How can politicians get their message out with a site, a blog, and a myspace page. I know they have excellent coverage in news, but it seems that we're in a time when people want more and more information from the people they are going to elect.
How is expertise determined online? Ok - I work with hundreds of small businesses each day and assist them in building their online presence. In fact my company motto is "We Put Web Sites to Work". My company is established as a local expert in Internet marketing. After years of doing this and constant recommendation that I take my knowledge out to the world beyond the confines of my practice, I am slowly building channels wherein I can express my opinion on various topics involving small business and the web. We have begun our effort under the umbrella of "Employ the Web", our blog which contains articles and soon videos and a podcast. Ultimately, however, the challenge is in the formula needed to position yourself as an expert in, for example, local small business marketing. How should my precious 3 hours per day that I can allocate to such promotion be allocated? Where? To be specific, let's just assume this allocation is all for online promotion. I'm very curious to see the replies. Thanks!
Domain name suggestion pls? I'm opening a blog on finance, marketing, internet marketing and some other business relevant blog. But i can hardly think of any name for my domain. HELP PLS! *preferably 1 or 2 words without hyphen *preferably .com
I have a message/idea that I want share. How do I go about writing it all down and getting it published? I was told the following: I have to be: - an expert on the subject. - I should know 10 words for every word I write. For example If I write on success, I should already be successful. If I write on money, I should already be rich. If I write on relationships, I should already be happily married. Granted and I accept that, otherwise what is the point of the book? I would like to hear from people who have succesfully written non-fiction or fiction. Although my topic is going to be non-fiction I would like know how you went about it? How can I use the Internet to assist me in doing so? For example, having a blog, a website, email and so forth. And what about marketing the final publication on the Internet? This looks like a daunting task on its own. I look forward to your comments.
Is there any internet sites where I can share my business opportunity for free? I'm looking to share my work at home business opportunity with others on the internet. It's a Multi Level Marketing Business where you build a organization under you. I've found very few sites where I can help others who are interested in working from home, or earning a little extra money on the internet. I've tried free classified ads with little success. Can you help? I have a website that has more information and even videos. Should I create a blog? If so how do i do that, and where? I want to create a letter that explains the business opportunity and a link to my site where interested people could go to obtain more information about the business before they join. A well written letter that recruits people into the organization. Please help on how and where I can make this happen. The problem is MOST work from home businesses are scams. This is not, it's from a great company that has been in business for over 20 years.
Do you think that communication has been devalued in America? I see so much division here on the internet, on TV, and just in the nation as a whole. I believe that a major reason for the lack of progress on the problems that plague our nation today is that communication is too accessible. It used to be that someone with a good idea had to hold a rally, and if that idea caught on, more would listen and eventually they would be heard by millions. Now all they have to do is blog. No one has to earn the right to be heard anymore. As a result we, as citizens, are submitted to a deluge of uninformed and childish assaults rather than an intelligent debate from those who have earned the right to speak. Power no longer goes to those with the best ideas, but those with the best marketing team. What's your opinion on this and do you think there is anything that can be done about it? Yeah_but...: No, I don't want to live in the dark ages with no communication. That is a slippery slope fallacy. However, I wouldn't mind less ability to be heard if it meant that those who ARE heard have something valuable to say.
blog? who knows the technical side of blog --explain in simple terms? nowadays, everyone is talking about "blogs" -- I know vaguely that they are a new form to communicate. please dont refer me to look at other links. explain in non technical jargon their use -- and how can i contribute as a user of internet? --i.e. i know what e-mail does -- it speeds communications etc. what does exactly a "blog" do? who will visit it? do you have to market it? why was it put on the scene to begin with? where can i see interesting blogs (please no buying & selling) I am here to expand my cultural horizon not my "material being!" Hope you get my message, I am looking for a serious mentor to tell me about "blogs" in a simple, comprehensible manner. Thanks.
How much privacy are Americans willing to give up? Print E-mail story Most e-mailed Change text size Is Google's data grinder dangerous? It wants to know more about us than we know ourselves. By Andrew Keen, ANDREW KEEN is the author of "The Cult of the Amateur." ak@aftertv.com. July 12, 2007 WHAT DOES Google want? Having successfully become our personal librarian, Google now wants to be our personal oracle. It wants to learn all about us, know us better than we know ourselves, to transform itself from a search engine into a psychoanalyst's couch or a priest's confessional. Google's search engine is the best place to learn what Google wants. Type "Eric Schmidt London May 22" into Google, and you can read about a May interview the Google chief executive gave to journalists in London. Here is how he described what he hoped the search engine would look like in five years: "The goal is to enable Google users to be able to ask the question such as 'What shall I do tomorrow?' And 'What job shall I take?' " Schmidt's goal is not inconsiderable: By 2012, he wants Google to be able to tell all of us what we want. This technology, what Google co-founder Larry Page calls the "perfect search engine," might not only replace our shrinks but also all those marketing professionals whose livelihoods are based on predicting — or guessing — consumer desires. Schmidt acknowledges that Google is still far from this goal. As he told the London journalists: "We cannot even answer the most basic questions because we don't know enough about you. That is the most important aspect of Google's expansion." So where is Google expanding? How is it planning to know more about us? Many — if not most — users don't read the user agreement and thus aren't aware that Google already stores every query we type in. The next stage is a personalized Web service called iGoogle. Schmidt, who perhaps not coincidentally sits on the board of Apple, regards its success as the key to knowing us better than we know ourselves. iGoogle is growing into a tightly-knit suite of services — personalized homepage, search engine, blog, e-mail system, mini-program gadgets, Web-browsing history, etc. — that together will create the world's most intimate information database. On iGoogle, we all get to aggregate our lives, consciously or not, so artificially intelligent software can sort out our desires. It will piece together our recent blog posts, where we've been online, our e-commerce history and cultural interests. It will amass so much information about each of us that eventually it will be able to logically determine what we want to do tomorrow and what job we want. The real question, of course, is whether what Google wants is what we want too. Do we really want Google digesting so much intimate data about us? Could iGoogle actually be a remix of "1984's" Room 101 — that Orwellian dystopia in which our most secret desires and most repressed fears are revealed? Any comparison with 20th century, top-down totalitarianism is, perhaps, a little fanciful. After all, nobody can force us to use iGoogle. And — in contrast to Yahoo and Microsoft (which have no limits on how long they hang on to our personal data) — Google has committed to retaining data for only 18 months. Still, if iGoogle turns out to be half as wise about each of us as Schmidt predicts, then this artificial intelligence will challenge traditional privacy rights as well as provide us with an excuse to deny responsibility for our own actions. What happens, for example, when the government demands access to our iGoogle records? And will we be able to sue iGoogle if it advises us to make an unwise career decision? Schmidt, I suspect, would like us to imagine Google as a public service, thereby affirming the company's "do no evil" credo. But Google is not our friend. Schmidt's iGoogle vision of the future is not altruistic, and his company is not a nonprofit group dedicated to the realization of human self-understanding. Worth more than $150 billion on the public market, Google is by far the dominant Internet advertising outlet — according to Nielsen ratings, it reaches about 70% of the global Internet audience. Just in the first quarter of 2007, Google's revenue from its online properties was up 76% from the previous year. Personal data are Google's most valuable currency, its crown jewels. The more Google knows our desires, the more targeted advertising it can serve up to us and the more revenue it can extract from these advertisers. What does Google really want? Google wants to dominate. Its proposed $3.1-billion acquisition of DoubleClick threatens to make the company utterly dominant in the online advertising business. The $1.65-billion acquisition of YouTube last year made it by far the dominant player in the online video market. And, with a personalized service like iGoogle, the company is seeking to become the algorithmic monopolist of our online behavior. So when Eric Schmidt says Google wants to know us better than we know ourselves, he is talking to his shareholders rather than us. As a Silicon Valley old-timer, trust me on this one. I know Google better than it knows itself.
Please help us make a new policy for our company? we are a small company and we just decided that we need to market ourselves better on this powerful internet media. Our new strategy is to encourage Bloggers to write about us/our product (Good or Bad) on their own blogs and then we give them away a few free samples of our products ! We are sure, we would get a good response to this.But we only want to give it to bloggers who meet the minimum standards or in otherwords who are 'genuine'. So what standards do we need ? How can we judge if one is genuine or not? P.S: 1) Its not who writes first, its who comes with a full proof plan gets the points. 2) I dont need new marketing solutions or advice. Thankyou. What all I need is written standard which helps me judge if a blogger or genuine like: a) How to really know if the persons who claims it owns the blog, b) How much does he have to write c) etc..
Anyone hear about Wealthy Affiliate? this is the website of internet marketing course. i just join it less than one month. anyone members here? i had put some review in my blog: onlinestation.blogspot.com
I design Online Stores on eBay. I'm thinking about writing my own eBooks. Do you think this is a good idea? I am currently selling custom store designs such as eBay store logos, banners, custom blog designs, My Space designs, and a few eBooks that have reselling rights that were written by my friend, Danna Crawford, who is also an eBay Power Seller. Her eBooks about eBay selling tips and strategies are phonomenal! I am thinking about writing my own eBooks on selling strategies and e-commerce solutions about marketing, promotional, and advertising tools to give maximum exposure for optimal success for any Internet busines. Let's face it. Competition is getting harder on the Internet. I feel that my expertise in graphic design and web solutions can help others. Does this sound like a good idea to you? Thanks and please see my profile to see examples of my graphic design work.=) Have a blessed day, Tonya's Dynamic Designs (an eBay store) Click On My Picture to get a direct link to my eBay store! =)
Help, I started a new job and my boss wants me to add him on Facebook? My boss is a computer nerd and he's into everything hi tech. He's the owner of the company I work for and has the company's website, blog, youtube, facebook and so on, all over the internet for marketing purposes. He tries to get al his employees to join Facebook, rate the companys videos on youtube and make comments on the blogs and the websites. I do have my personal Facebook and youtube accounts which I use only with family and close friends; I certainly don't want him or anyone else in the company to read my personal stuff, and mix my private life with my work life. What can I do? Do you have any advice?
Breaking News!!? I found this in a blog------- Widely published wrestling journalist and author of the book “Wrestling Babylon”, Irv Muchnick, posted an update on his website claiming that well-placed sources within WWE have told him that Randy Orton recently attempted suicide. Muchnick was a guest on various TV programs when the Benoit tragedy was all over the news. The following is an excerpt from his website: A rumor is swirling that World Wrestling Entertainment star Randy Orton attempted suicide within the last year. Very well-placed wrestling sources tell me that the rumor is true. In the wake of the June murder-suicide of Chris Benoit and the scandal involving scads of WWE performers who ordered steroids and human growth hormone from the Internet gray-market dealer Signature Pharmacy, this is serious stuff. It’s already clear that WWE’s response to the Signature revelations — generated by the district attorney in Albany, New York, and reported by Sports Illustrated and others — is a joke. Some vague number of the miscreant wrestlers, not named, were “suspended,” but the suspension appears to have consisted of simply being downgraded for a few weeks in TV storylines. From the same evidence, Randy Orton was not touched at all. That is more than a little strange. Orton’s Signature Pharmacy order marked, at the very least, his second “strike” under WWE’s so-called wellness policy, which would have called for a 60-day (rather than a 30-day) suspension. The suicide whispers mark the problem as more than a game of “gotcha” or even taste (Orton acquired the gimmick “Legend Killer” after WWE blithely turned Eddie Guerrero’s 2005 death into just another “angle”). It’s a matter of life and death. Orton, 27, is a third-generation wrestler. He is engaged to marry Samantha Speno, a part-time gymnastics teacher, this fall. Last year Randy and Samantha moved into a country-club estate in High Ridge, Missouri (suburban St. Louis), complete with a gym, a hot tub, and four decks. what do you think about this? I think Randy is becoming the Lindsay Lohan of WWE! j/k about that last comment I made Randy needs serious help and someone needs to help him
How do you get free web traffic to your site? I just started a selling my products (consumer electronics) online and I would like to know some cost effective ways of driving traffic to my site. I don't want to continuously blog to try and get a search ranking. Even if I blog 24-7 can I really compete with the ad dollars saturating the internet in my market? There must be several quick ways to boost traffic and bring qualified leads to my site. Pay per click and redirects don't seem to be doing the trick. http://directtechdepot.com
Do you run an online business? What techniques have you used to generate consistent sales? I do NOT want "buy this guru's package" or "go to my blog" - I am looking for concrete responses of techniques that WORK. For example, the most effective marketing tool for my book "Aggressive Pleadings For The Non-Custodial Father" was FORUMS. I have not yet found a comparable marketing tool for my latest: "Don't Just Build A List - Build A COMMUNITY" If you are making money consistently off the Internet - share your knowledge AND your link (as a reference, of course). eric h: I am gathering ideas. If you have an idea, post it. Thank you.
make money using paypal - is this legal? Has anyone seen these postings: How to Make Money using Paypal? EARN EXTRA MONEY IN PAYPAL AS SEEN ON OPRAH AND 20/20 I did some research and found that PayPal does not allow pyramid schemes or chain letters. However, they do allow merchants to sell products online and collect the money. With that in mind, it is very easy to convert this make money using paypal idea into a legitimate cash generating e-business. The method is basically the same, only now you will be running an internet publishing clearing house and utilizing viral marketing. My question is, after review the business plan laid out in ths blog posting, is THIS Legal: http://money-wealth-investing.blogspot.com How it works: 1) Buy each of the reports below. (This is the important step that makes this system 100% legal!) You will be automatically redirected to the reports upon payment. 2) Upload these reports to your web server. (A free host will work fine!) 3) Go into your paypal account, under merchant services, and follow the instructions to create a “buy it now” button. Make sure you choose not to encrypt the link and choose add other options. This will give you a “buy it now link” for e-mail. 4) Copy and edit this report. Replace the link in report #1 with your own and move others down one spot, removing the final link. Post this edited copy in at least 200 news groups, forums, etc. Anywhere they are talking about making money online. Report 1) Living Off Your Blog ($1) https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=tysons_music%40yahoo%2ecom&item_name=Living%20Off%20Your%20Blog%20Report&amount=1%2e00&no_shipping=1&return=http%3a%2f%2fonline4millions%2egoldeye%2einfo%2freports%2fliving%2doff%2dyour%2dblog%2epdf&cancel_return=http%3a%2f%2fonline4millions%2ebrinkster%2enet&no_note=1¤cy_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dBuyNowBF&charset=UTF%2d8 Report 2) Traffic 2.0 ($1) https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=tysons_music%40yahoo%2ecom&item_name=Traffic%202%2e0%20Report&amount=1%2e00&no_shipping=1&return=http%3a%2f%2fonline4millions%2egoldeye%2einfo%2freports%2fTraffic%2d2_0%2epdf&cancel_return=http%3a%2f%2fonline4millions%2ebrinkster%2enet%2f&no_note=1¤cy_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dBuyNowBF&charset=UTF%2d8 Report 3) 100 Niche Articles Package with Resale Rights ($1) https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=tysons_music%40yahoo%2ecom&item_name=100%20Niche%20Articles%20Package%20%2d%20Resale%20Rights%20Included&amount=1%2e00&no_shipping=1&return=http%3a%2f%2fonline4millions%2egoldeye%2einfo%2freports%2f100NicheArticles_PLR%2ezip&cancel_return=http%3a%2f%2fonline4millions%2ebrinkster%2enet%2f&no_note=1¤cy_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dBuyNowBF&charset=UTF%2d8 Report 4) This Is Quick Money ($1) https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=tysons_music%40yahoo%2ecom&item_name=This%20Is%20Quick%20Money%20Report&amount=1%2e00&no_shipping=1&return=http%3a%2f%2fonline4millions%2egoldeye%2einfo%2freports%2fThis_Is_Quick_Money%2epdf&cancel_return=http%3a%2f%2fonline4millions%2ebrinkster%2enet%2f&no_note=1¤cy_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dBuyNowBF&charset=UTF%2d8 Here is the original posting I am refering to: How to make extra money in paypal as seen on oprah ? EARN EXTRA MONEY IN PAYPAL AS SEEN ON OPRAH AND 20/20 ______________________________________... Dear Friend, You probably have seen these, but they really really do work, give it a try -- think of how you waste $6 in a day, week or month. It's a minor investment with great rewards. This might really help you pay off those credit cards and give you the ability to move out. If you could start your own mail order list with an investment of $6.00, and make $800,000 over the next year would you do it? _____________________________________ ***Proven by various, highly-respected U.S. TV and Radio programs as being 100% legal, feasible and true.*** ***Oprah Winfrey and ABC's investigation team 20/20 also prove it can be done.*** IF A 15 YEAR OLD BOY COULD MAKE $71,000 IN JUST 5 WEEKS AND OTHERS $250,000 IN A FEW MORE WEEKS -- SO CAN YOU !!! Would you like to make $71,000 OR $250,000 in a few weeks? As seen on the Oprah Winfrey show and ABC's 20/20 ======================================... The true story that has everyone talking: Parents of a 15yr old boy find $71,000 in his closet: You may have seen this story featured on a number of major news programs (United States), and reported elsewhere around the world. His mother was doing some cleaning and putting some laundry away when she discovered a large brown paper bag that was suspiciously buried beneath some clothes and a skateboard in the back of her 15-year-old sons closet. Nothing could have prepared her for the shock she got when she opened the bag and found that it was full of dollar bills -- $71,000 to be precise!! "My first thought was that he had robbed a bank", says the 41-year-old woman, "There was over $71,000 in that bag, that's more than my husband earns in a year". The woman immediately called her husband at the car-dealership where he worked to tell him what she had discovered. He came home right away and together they drove to the boys school and picked him up. Little did they suspect that where the bills were coming from was going to be a bigger surprise than actually finding them in the closet. As it turns out, the boy had been sending out, via E-mail, a type of "Report" to other E-mail addresses that he obtained off the Internet. Everyday after school for the past 2 months, he had been doing this on his computer in his bedroom. "I just got an E-mail one day and I figured what the heck, I put my name on it like the instructions said and I started sending it out", says the 15-year-old. The E-mail letter he received had 5 names and addresses listed on it and contained instructions on how to send one $5 dollar bill to each person on the list. Then delete the name and address at the bottom of the list (Report # 5) and move the other 4 names and addresses down one step, finally adding your own name and address to the top of the list (Report # 1). The letter goes on to state that you would receive several thousand dollars in five-dollar bills within 2 weeks if you sent out the letter with your name and address at the top of the 5-address list. "I get junk E-mail all the time, and really did not think it was going to work", the boy continues. Within the first few days of sending out the E-mail, the Post Office Box that his parents had gotten him for his video-game magazine subscriptions began to fill up not with magazines, but envelopes containing $5 bills. "About a week later I rode my bike down to the post office and my Post Office Box had 1 magazine and about 300 envelopes stuffed in it." Over the next few weeks, the boy continued sending out the E-mail. "The five dollar bills just kept coming in and I just kept sorting them and stashing them in the closet, I barely had time for my homework". He had also been riding his bike to several of the banks in his area and exchanging the $5 bills for twenties, fifties and hundreds. "I didn't want the banks to get suspicious so I kept riding to different banks with like five thousand at a time in my backpack. I would usually tell the lady at the bank counter that my dad had sent me in to exchange the bills and he was outside waiting for me. One time t ... Well, you get the idea.
What are some good ways of rallying people to a cause? What is the most effective for the least cost? We have a issue with our local school board that we are trying to resolve through public pressure. We have created a website/blog and an on-line petition, we have commented on several of the media stories on the internet, and we have written Letters to the Editor. I still feel we do not have enough public support and have not gotten the word out as far as we need to. Unfortunately, we have a very limited budget ($0.00). I would love some ideas of other "guerrilla marketing" techniques that would bring us more publicity quickly. Thanks in advance...
Have you play : Second Life ? Economy ? The Coming Second Life Business Cycle By Matthew Beller Posted on 8/2/2007 | Subscribe or Tell Others | Matthew Beller's Second Life avatar, designed to resemble Ludwig von Mises Ludwig von Mises once wrote that an economist "must be conversant with mathematics, physics, biology, history, and jurisprudence, lest he confuse the tasks and the methods of the theory of human action with the tasks and the methods of any of these other branches of knowledge." In modern times, with the increasing popularity of computer-based interactive virtual worlds, it may soon be necessary for economists to familiarize themselves with the intricacies of virtual reality, lest they confuse the tasks and the methods of real-world economics with those that apply to virtual reality. Some economists might dismiss virtual worlds as an application for economics, given that they do not contain any resources that are traditionally considered scarce (lumber, steel, oil, etc.), but a closer inspection reveals that some virtual worlds contain real market economies complete with scarce resources, property rights, entrepreneurship, and exchange. Furthermore, real people underlie the inhabitants of virtual worlds, so we can therefore analyze their economies using Austrian economics and the science of human action. One virtual world that is currently popular is called Second Life. Second Life was created by the San Francisco-based company Linden Research, Inc. and opened in 2003. It is an Internet-based three-dimensional virtual world where its 8 million unique residents can interact with one another.[1] Residents can create virtual clothing, hairdos, houses, airplanes, concert halls, video games, and endless other items by using an infinite supply of "primitives," which are atomistic objects that can be shaped, colored, combined, and programmed to behave in a particular way. Residents can then replicate their creations and sell the copies to one another at whatever price they set. Second Life has attracted attention from Wired Magazine, The Economist, and other media with stories of a burgeoning economy and entrepreneurs earning their sole incomes by selling virtual goods and services. Accordingly, real-world economists and Second Life's residents alike could benefit from a closer look into the actual workings of its economy, and the effects of economic intervention. Second Life's economy could reasonably be compared to that of a small foreign country dependent on tourism. Consumers are inhabitants of the real world who take what are essentially pleasure trips to Second Life, perhaps to meet new people at a dance club, shop for virtual clothing, attend a conference, or gamble at a casino. Like real tourists, consumers exchange their real US dollars for Second Life's currency, the Linden Dollar (L$), typically on a currency exchange run by Linden, called the LindeX. They then use their L$ to purchase goods and services created by other Second Life residents, and if they have extra L$ when they're done, they can sell their L$ for US$ on the LindeX. Linden, essentially representing the state in Second Life's economy, does not generally interfere with economic activity. The Economist reports on Linden founder Philip Rosedale's attitude toward intervention, "Mr. Rosedale prefers to rule Second Life with Adam Smith's 'invisible hand' only. To him that means treating every resident the same, whether it happens to be Toyota or 'an 80-year-old woman from India.' Both will pay the same price for their [virtual land]; what they do with it is up to them." Proponents of private property and non-intervention would certainly laud such a hands-off policy. If Linden's goal is to create a setting for a stable, growing economy that will provide the most satisfaction to the most residents, it must avoid the pitfalls of interventionism that plague real-world economies. As Ludwig von Mises and others have shown, one interventionist policy creates distortions that must be fixed by other interventionist policies, which lead to problems that require further intervention, and so on, until the state controls every aspect of the economy. Unfortunately, despite Mr. Rosedale's free-market rhetoric, a look at Linden's actual practices reveals that it has already started down the path of intervening in the economy. One critical example of Linden's intervention is that it has granted itself the ability to manipulate the single-most important commodity in any economy: money. In the Terms of Service, the L$ is defined as "a limited license right available for purchase or free distribution at Linden Lab's discretion, and is not redeemable for monetary value from Linden Lab." By defining the L$ in such a way, Linden has granted itself the power of a central bank in managing Second Life's equivalent of a fiat currency. Linden can create as many new L$ as it wants, whenever it wants, and spend them or give them away at its own discretion. Also, because Linden maintains a peg of about L$270=US$1 on the LindeX, it gives the appearance that the L$ is as good as real-world money. Fiat currencies are subject to much criticism, particularly by Austrians. However, they are not criticized because they cause undesirable economic distortions in and of themselves. Rather, they are criticized because, unlike commodity monies such as gold, they can be created from nothing, so are highly susceptible to artificial expansion and manipulation. This expansion, as the Austrian theory of the business cycle shows us, is the source of economic distortions that lead to unsustainable booms, followed by inevitable busts. To establish whether Linden has in fact been manipulating the L$ supply and determine if Second Life is susceptible to bust, we can examine historical economic statistics published by Linden for signs of artificial growth in the L$ supply. The graph below shows Second Life's L$ supply since September of 2005, as well as the two consolidated sources of month-to-month changes in the money supply. Your eye might be drawn to the sudden acceleration in L$ growth at the end of 2006 coincident with a significant increase in LindeX sales (where Linden is creating new L$ and selling them for US$), but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Ignoring the problems with the US$, LindeX sales represent inflows of real wealth into Second Life. When residents purchase L$ on the LindeX using US$ that they have earned in the real world, they are foregoing consumption in the real world in order to spend or invest their newly purchased L$ in Second Life. It is actually the small, perpetual budget deficit that reveals something quite sinister. Unlike L$ sales on the LindeX, they do not reflect a flow of real wealth into Second Life. Instead, they are created by Linden to represent wealth, but no economic production was involved in creating them. These deficits occur when the weekly L$ stipends Linden pays to premium residents exceed its revenues from land rentals and other administrative services it provides to residents. In order to fund the deficits, Linden creates new L$ and injects them into Second Life. In the United States, the Federal Reserve's primary mechanism for increasing the US$ supply involves purchasing debt securities issued by the US Treasury. Linden's process slightly differs in that it creates exactly as many L$ as are needed to make up for its budgetary shortfalls without ever issuing any debt. Every time Linden runs a deficit, the L$ supply instantly increases by an equivalent amount. Linden's monthly budget deficit might appear insignificant in the graph, but in fact Linden has been increasing the money supply by an average of 6% per month this way. Annualized, it is more than doubling it each year. During the past year and a half, Linden created L$876 million through its deficits, which makes up over 33% of today's L$ supply. These figures certainly suggest that Linden has been artificially expanding the L$ supply, but there is one possible argument that would indicate otherwise. Premium members who receive weekly L$ stipends pay Linden US$9.95 per month for that privilege. One could argue that this US$9.95 represents an inflow of real wealth into Second Life to make up for the L$ created through deficits, but this argument is tenuous. These US$ revenues are presumably used by Linden to pay its employees, maintain its servers, and pay other operating and financing costs, with the remaining profit or loss passed on to its shareholders. Unfortunately, as the graph below shows, there have been months when Linden's US$ revenues would not have been enough to cover the new L$ creations. In September of 2005, Linden collected as much as US$98,000[2] from premium members, which is equivalent to about L$26 million at the L$'s current exchange rate. But during that month, it created L$36 million in order to fund its fiscal deficit. That means that even if Linden had not allocated a single US$ to its employees or incurred any real-world costs whatsoever, it still would not have collected enough US$ to match its newly created L$. $25 "Second Life's residents could benefit from a closer look into the actual workings of its economy, and the effects of economic intervention." Given the strong evidence that Linden has unnaturally inflated the L$ supply, Austrian economics tells us that there are a couple of potential outcomes that are likely to occur. In the first, Linden will stop running significant deficits at some point. With less L$ available to spend, residents will demand fewer goods and services, leading to lower prices and reduced profits. Previously profitable enterprises will go out of business and the wealth of many residents will decrease, slowing overall economic activity. The other possibility is that Linden will continue running deficits to the point that a sufficient number of residents and speculators will recognize the L$'s frailty. In what Ludwig von Mises referred to as a "crack-up boom," everyone will scramble to redeem his L$ for "real goods," which, in the case of Second Life, is probably the US$. As more and more people sell their L$ on the LindeX, Linden might choose to maintain its L$270=US$1 peg for some amount of time, but operating under the assumption that it has not maintained 100% US$ reserves, it will eventually run out of US$ or decide to stop selling them, and the L$ will depreciate rapidly. In either outcome, residents will discover that they possess less wealth than they perceived they had during the time leading up to the crash. To summarize, it appears very likely that Second Life will experience at least some form of economic recession. Depending on its severity, it might result in Linden's losing many of its customers. If Linden wants to prevent this from happening and foster a stable, growing economy within Second Life, it should apply the lessons of Austrian economics to its policies: abolish restrictions on content, strengthen the ability of residents to enforce their property rights, and, most important, tie the L$ to a real-world commodity money backed by 100% reserves. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matthew Beller is a former employee of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and currently works for the Securities and Exchange Commission in Los Angeles. Send him mail. Comment on the blog. The Securities and Exchange Commission disclaims responsibility for any private publication or statement of any SEC employee or Commissioner. This article expresses the author's views and does not necessarily reflect those of the Commission, the Commissioners, or other members of the staff. Notes [1] SecondLife.com/
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