Sad to say it's not snowing any more here in the Dallas area. Perhaps more will come, though.

Consumer Watchdog has sent the U.S. Justice Department a Google document presenting the best corporate arguments for why Google should not be viewed as monopolistic, along with a duplicate of the presentation marked up with comments from an expert countering the claims. The nonprofit consumer group received both documents from an anonymous industry insider.

In the presentation, Google seeks to deflate increasing criticism that it is too big and powerful by spin meant to minimize the notion its search and advertising businesses are virtual monopolies. Commentary surrounding the presentation in the second document delivered to Consumer Watchdog presents information countering Google’s contentions in what is described as a “Charm Offensive.”

“As the Justice Department examines the Google book deal and other Google enterprises it deserves to see the play book Google has prepared to deflect scrutiny and insider commentary on how many Google myths lack a basis in reality,” said Consumer Watchdog President Jamie Court. “Google’s charm and spin should not be allowed to deter anti-trust regulators from seeing the real problems with Google’s dominance and setting appropriate limits to protect users.”

The original Google presentation can be downloaded here:
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/Googlepresentation.pdf

The marked up presentation by the insider can be downloaded here:
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/charmoffensive.pdf

Or it can be viewed in a web browser here:
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/corporateering/articles/?storyId=27175

Among the points made in the analysis of the presentation are these:

-- Though Google says it has only a 30 percent share of 2008 online advertising revenue, its 2009 1st quarter revenue increased 6 percent. By comparison Yahoo!’s 1st quarter online advertising revenue plunged 13 percent and Microsoft’s fell 16 percent.

-- Among the big four – Google, Microsoft, AOL and Yahoo! – Google takes in 65 percent of online revenue.

-- Google’s presentation says that technology models evolve quickly, citing as an example the move from dial-up dominated by AOL to broadband dominated by telecom companies like Verizon, AT&T and Comcast. The analyst points out Google’s propensity to buy companies offering new technology citing: YouTube, DoubleClick, Grand Central, Picassa, Keyhole, Blogger, Feedburner, Baidu, dMarc, Orion, JotSpot, AdScape, Jaiku and Postini.

Google’s presentation concludes, “Google welcomes competition because it stimulates innovation, makes us all work harder, and provides users with more choice.”

The commentary reaches a different conclusion:

“[Google’s] charm offensive doesn’t match actions…

“—Competition: All for it when DOJ believes you’re anti-competitive and seeking to extend monopoly, but different tune when marketing advertising dominance of AdWords, Page Rank, etc.

“—Openness: Pushes ‘open’ on competitors, but not itself… Among the most non-transparent on ad auction system, quality score, Page Rank, use of private user data, Google.org, etc.

“—Privacy: Silence is deafening… No discussion here at all of privacy record, despite practices being high on FTC/Congress agenda and privacy groups...”

More businesses are turning to the Internet to find and engage with baby boomer customers. Boomers are using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and social networking sites in increasing numbers. Business leaders will gather at the What's Next Boomer Business Summit (www.boomersummit.com) on March 19 to find out how to effectively reach baby boomers online. "Boomers are a natural fit for social networks and technologies. They have the time, the life experience, and--more and more these days--the need for social tools to help them accomplish their own goals." said Matthew Lees, Vice President, Analyst, Patricia Seybold Group.

Las Vegas, Nevada (PRWEB) March 2, 2009 -- More businesses are turning to the Internet to find and engage with baby boomer customers. Boomers are using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and social networking sites in increasing numbers. Business leaders will gather at the What's Next Boomer Business Summit (www.boomersummit.com) on March 19 to find out how to effectively reach baby boomers online.

"Boomers are a natural fit for social networks and technologies. They have the time, the life experience, and--more and more these days--the need for social tools to help them accomplish their own goals." said Matthew Lees, Vice President, Analyst, Patricia Seybold Group.

Boomers are a natural fit for social networks and technologies. They have the time, the life experience, and--more and more these days--the need for social tools to help them accomplish their own goals.
Boomers are a natural fit for social networks and technologies. They have the time, the life experience, and--more and more these days--the need for social tools to help them accomplish their own goals.
While it's true that Millenials (the 13-24 generation) share content at double the rate of baby boomers (56%), 31% of Baby Boomers share their own user generated content. This could be in the form of reviews, blog posts, comments, discussion forums, etc.
"The fact that they've been relatively slow to embrace social media underscores more of an opportunity than any innate inability or aversion. But they don't want to be marketed to.Those organizations that can use social media to engage with, learn from, and support boomers will find especially receptive partners and, consequently, greater business success than those who see social media simply as another marketing channel," Lees added. Lees will present information about boomer online activities and insight into how to effectively reach them.

Baby boomers are also actively engaged in user generated content such as ratings and reviews. "While it's true that Millenials (the 13-24 generation) share content at double the rate of baby boomers (56%), 31% of Baby Boomers share their own user generated content. This could be in the form of reviews, blog posts, comments, discussion forums, etc." noted Sam Decker, Chief Marketing Officer of Bazzaarvoice. Decker will be at the Boomer Summit speaking about boomers and user generated content.

David Weigelt, co-author of Dot Boom, Marketing to Baby Boomers Online through Meaningful Online Engagement will speak about how to connect with boomers online. The book unites a developmental marketing approach and a new definition of online engagement specific to baby boomer consumers -- a combination that provides an actionable framework for connecting with these consumers online.

In the current economy, more businesses are seeking effective ways to reach the 58 million baby boomers online. The What's Next Boomer Business Summit (www.boomersummit.com) will include: New research on the new attitudes of baby boomers in this economy; how to market successfully to baby boomers online; search engine and key word strategies that work; how to create online boomer communities that build trust and sales; and, new ways to reach the 44 million caregivers.

Other speakers include:
Entrepreneurship and social media: Guy Kawasaki, Author, founder Alltop

Networking -Ellen Levy, Vice President Corporate Development & Strategy, LinkedIn

Demographics - Jody Holtzman, Senior V.P., Research & Strategic Analysis, AARP

Money -Sandra Timmermann, Executive Director, MetLife Mature Market Institute

Caregiving - Andy Cohen, Founder & CEO, Caring.com

Online communities - Elisa Camahort Page, Founder & COO, BlogHer

Boomer women online - Carol Orsborn, PhD, Senior Strategist, Vibrantnation.com

Boomer volunteers - Sarah Christian, Director, Strategic Partnerships, VolunteerMatch

Brain fitness - Jeff Zimman, Co-founder & Chairman, Posit Science

Search engine strategies - Bill Leake, CEO, Apogee Search

Leading edge boomers - Jennifer Keating Magee, CEO, Keating Magee

New research- Steve French, Managing Partner, Natural Marketing Institute

About the Boomer Business Summit

The Sixth Annual What's Next Boomer Business Summit is produced by Mary Furlong & Associates. Program, speaker and registration information is available at www.boomersummit.com. The Summit is held in conjunction with the Aging in America Conference of the American Society on Aging and the National Council on Aging, March 15-19, 2009.

Attendees include brand managers, corporate strategists, entrepreneurs, non-profit executives, marketing agency executives and publishers responsible for growing their boomer business.

Sponsors include: AARP, Microsoft, Council on Aging Silicon Valley, Wells Fargo, Alltop, Caring.com, EquityKey, HeartMath, Immersion Active, Keating Magee, LiveWorld, MetLife Mature Market Institute, Myine Electronics, Posit Science, The Stress Institute, Verizon, Vibrantnation.com, VolunteeerMatch, Retirement Living TV, ReadHowYouWant, HipCricket, Life Stages Financial, grandparents.com and Moving Mavins. Southwest Airlines is the official airline sponsor of the What's Next Boomer Business Summit.

Mary Furlong & Associates (www.maryfurlong.com) works with companies seeking to capitalize on new business and investment opportunities in the boomer market. MFA provides business development, financing strategy and integrated marketing solutions to entrepreneurs, corporations and non-profit organizations serving the 50+ market.

Former NHLer helps businesses be seen more prominently on the search engines through new business venture that takes what was learned from past experiences and passes that knowledge on to new clients throughout the online world.

Toronto, Ontario (PRWEB) March 2, 2009 -- Search engine marketing is the key to attracting new business to your website, says a former NHL hockey player who has turned business professional.

"One of the things I've learned over the last few years is that the majority of businesses are not seen when people look for them on search engines," says Luciano Borsato, former Winnipeg Jet and CEO of his newly incorporated online marketing company, YSN Group Inc.

One of the things I've learned over the last few years is that the majority of businesses are not seen when people look for them on search engines
We help business websites stand out so that potential customers can find them as they research products and services
Businesses assume having a website will automatically draw thousands of customers. Unfortunately, many people launch their sites and are stunned to find out nobody is visiting.
Good content and effective design are only two of the many keys to getting more page views for your site. And the best way to do that is to get ahead of your competitors on-line.
"We help business websites stand out so that potential customers can find them as they research products and services," he adds.

Borsato -- who holds a marketing degree from Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, where he attended school on a hockey scholarship -- educates businesses on what people search for online.

After achieving high rankings for brampton.com and other websites by way of their own in-house development through Brampton Media Corp, he and his partners decided to branch out and assist other businesses do the same with their websites.

"It used to be that businesses wanted customers to come to their store and tried everything they could to get them in the door. But the Internet has been a big game changer.

"Businesses assume having a website will automatically draw thousands of customers. Unfortunately, many people launch their sites and are stunned to find out nobody is visiting."

Borsato says YSN Group Inc. has smoothly made the transition from working on their own websites to helping many businesses make the most of their Internet presence. Rewording website content through keyword selection and altering code has drawn additional traffic and, ultimately, boosted sales for clients. But, he adds, it's not an overnight miracle.

A number of recent projects have included achieving first page rankings for dozens of significant 'Toronto' keywords; 'botox Toronto', 'used cars in Toronto', 'lighting stores Toronto' and 'Toronto debt', to name just a few.

"It takes time," continues Borsato. "Good content and effective design are only two of the many keys to getting more page views for your site. And the best way to do that is to get ahead of your competitors on-line."

For a free research report or to find out more about search engine marketing please call Luciano Borsato at (416) 200-9054 or visit www.ysn.ca

About YSN:
YSN Group Inc is a leader in online and search engine marketing. Thorough research, helpful people and attention to detail are our main focus. With a team of helpful specialists, we not only provide your business with additional exposure, but concentrate on the options that are best suited to your success.

Lanaham, MD (Vocus/PRWEB ) March 2, 2009 -- Vocus, Inc., (NASDAQ: VOCS) a leading provider of on-demand software for public relations management, today announced that it will hold its eighth annual Users Conference from June 3-5, 2009 at The Mandarin Oriental in Washington, D.C. The 2009 Vocus Users Conference, "The Time is Now. Lead," will feature leading PR, GR and PAC experts offering techniques and best practices to help Vocus customers communicate effectively and emerge as a leader in today's world.
2009 Vocus Users Conference
2009 Vocus Users Conference

The 2009 Users Conference will offer customers new ways to leverage Vocus' software to improve results and demonstrate their contribution to the bottom-line. Professionals will

* Hear from industry leaders who will discuss how organizations can emerge as leaders in a tough economy.
* Gain a better understanding of how technology and social media are accelerating the convergence of PR and Marketing.
* Choose from Basic and Advanced PR, GR and PAC training sessions to help maximize the success of campaigns.
* Build relationships and share best practices with hundreds of other professionals to help grow business networks.
* Learn how to maximize the value of their investment in Vocus to meet the organization's needs.


"Today's tight budgets mean doing more with less without sacrificing results," said Bill Wagner, chief marketing officer at Vocus, Inc. "The Vocus Users Conference is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for our customers to learn new ways to leverage our software to not only increase the momentum of communications campaigns in today's economic climate but also demonstrate their impact on company success."

Register by April 3, 2009, and take advantage of a $100 early bird discount on normal conference registration rates. For more information, please visit the Vocus Users Conference page.

About Vocus, Inc.
Vocus, Inc. (NASDAQ: VOCS) is a leading provider of on-demand software for public relations management. Our web-based software suite helps organizations of all sizes to fundamentally change the way they communicate with both the media and the public, optimizing their public relations and increasing their ability to measure its impact. Our on-demand software addresses the critical functions of public relations including media relations, news distribution and news monitoring. We deliver our solutions over the Internet using a secure, scalable application and system architecture, which allows our customers to eliminate expensive up-front hardware and software costs and to quickly deploy and adopt our on-demand software. Vocus is used by more than 3,300 organizations worldwide and is available in seven languages. Vocus is based in Lanham, MD with offices in North America, Europe, and Asia. For more information please visit www.vocus.com or call 800.345.5572.

Notabene.net, one of the largest online marketing companies in Scandinavia, has acquired UK-based Guava Ltd. (www.guava.com). Notabene.net A/S (www.notabene.net), which focuses primarily on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM), is quoted on First North under Copenhagen Stock Exchange OMX.

In a market with giants like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft dominating the headlines of online marketing globally, Danish Notabene.net A/S is about to create a strong niche for its own Search Engine Marketing business. It is Notabene.net’s intention to become Northern Europe’s leading player in the field of online marketing, an objective that Notabene.net has planned to achieve through acquisitions, internal growth, highly-qualified employees and technological developments.

With its acquisition of UK-based Guava Ltd., Notabene.net has now taken a decisive step toward achieving this goal.

Acquisition of Guava Ltd.
Guava is one of the largest and most well-respected search engine marketing and web development companies in the UK. Guava specialises in the field of Search Engine Marketing (PPC), Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and web development providing services to a wide range of large companies both in the UK market and internationally, including ebookers, BT, Travelbag, WHSmith, STA Travel and others.

Guava Ltd. is a perfect fit with Notabene.net’s aggressive business development strategy.

“It is our plan to become Northern Europe’s market leader in the field of online marketing and we are going to achieve this objective through acquisitions and internal growth,” says Brian Mertz Pedersen, the CEO of Notabene.net.

“Through the acquisition of Guava, one of the largest and most well-respected search engine marketing companies in the UK, Notabene.net acquires some of the most qualified search engine marketing employees available. We are delighted that the transaction has completed which will ensure Notabene.net will be among the market leaders in one of Europe’s most mature markets,” continues Brian Mertz Pedersen.

Guava Ltd. was established in 1998 and now has 20 employees. Graeme Radford, Guava’s present Managing Director and co-founder, continues as the Country Manager and UK CEO.

“I am excited about becoming part of Notabene.net as it is clearly a rapidly expanding company with excellent knowledge of search engine marketing within the European market place. I am looking forward to strengthening and expanding Notabene.net’s position within the UK,” says Graeme Radford.

Other acquisitions in sight
The acquisition of Guava Ltd. is only the first in a range of acquisitions which Notabene.net expects to complete in the coming year. It is the intention of Notabene.net to make additional acquisitions, within Germany and the UK to further strengthen Notabene.net’s position within these markets. Notabene.net has in the last year acquired 6 businesses in Denmark and Sweden.

For further information, please contact:
Brian Mertz Pedersen, Group CEO, Notabene.net. Phone: +45 70 27 80 89, Mail : ir @ notabene.net
Graeme Radford, CEO, Guava Ltd. Phone: +44 0118 932 1100, Mail: graeme.radford @ guava.com

Om Notabene.net A/S
Notabene.net is Scandinavia’s leading and most rapidly growing Agency in the field of online marketing. Notabene.net specialises in online marketing, including SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), and has more than 3,000 customers throughout Scandinavia. The customer portfolio covers some of Scandinavia’s leading companies, such as International Health Insurance, Novasol, Danware, Viasat, Oracle, Toyota and others.

In May 2006, the company was first quoted on First North under Copenhagen Stock Exchange OMX. Since being quoted, the company’s shares have increased by approx. 90%. Notabene.net is planning to apply for admission to official listing on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange OMX during 2007/2008.

Headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, Notabene.net has offices in Denmark, Sweden and England.

The Sawmill Limited has announced a further expansion into the streaming media analysis market with the addition of two important media server platforms: Adobe Flash Media Server and Microsoft Media Server. This announcement brings the total number of formats supported (analyzed) by Sawmill to 13, consolidating its position as the #1 analysis tool for streaming media server log files.

Sawmill supports over 750 different log file formats providing accurate data for web, security, and IT professionals worldwide. Support for Streaming Media Servers is a key application area for Sawmill with support for 13 different log file formats, and more on the way. "No other analysis tool approaches Sawmill as the universal analysis solution for providers of streamed content" commented Les Ferrington CEO of The Sawmill Limited. "Content providers can now gain access to key performance statistics and provide usage and service level reports to their customers across all the most popular streaming server platforms."

Currently supported Streaming Media Server log files:

Adobe Flash Media Server Log Format
Microsoft Media Server Log Format
Quicktime/Darwin Streaming Server Log Format
Quicktime Streaming Error Log Format
Helix Universal Server (Style 5) Log Format
SHOUTcast W3C Log Format
Blue Coat RealMedia Log Format
Blue Coat Windows Media Log Format
Helix Universal Server Log Format
IceCast Alternate Log Format
IceCast Log Format
RealProxy Log Format
RealServer Log Format
New formats implemented on request

Steve Mack founder and CEO of LuxMedia (www.luxmedia.com) in a recent article for Streaming Media magazine had the following to say about Sawmill and the tools available to analyze streaming media log files (the full article can be viewed at http://www.streamingmedia.com/article.asp?id=9604&page=1

"Sawmill is a fully featured log-processing solution available in three different versions: Lite, Professional, and Enterprise. The Lite version is limited both by the number of profiles you can have (more on this below) and the amount of customization you can do. The Professional and Enterprise versions are the flagship products, with nearly identical functionality, except the Enterprise version includes external database support, multi-processor support, plus extensive customization of the user interface.

Sawmill includes rich documentation that explains how to install, operate, and customize the software. Sawmill can run either as a CGI program, or as its own standalone web server if you don't have a web server with CGI access. Sawmill runs on practically every OS and has a simple install process. After you install the software, you create profiles to process your log files.

Sawmill is very, very slick. From the install process through profile creation and report generation, it's rare that you need to consult the documentation -- it just works. For example, creating a profile couldn't be simpler. From the Administrative interface, you click the Create New Profile link at the top of the page. This causes a small window to pop up, which then walks you through the process. First you tell Sawmill where to find the log files you want to process. If the log files are on the same machine, you can browse to the directory using the Browse button. If they're on another machine you can tell Sawmill to retrieve them using FTP or HTTP."
Steve Mack, Luxmedia (www.luxmedia.com)

About Sawmill Profiles
Sawmill pricing depends on the number of profiles you need. Each streaming format requires a separate profile. Additionally, if you want to supply separate reports to clients, each client will require their own profile. So if you support Windows Media, RealMedia, Flash, and QuickTime, and have 10 customers for each then you will need 40 profiles to provide individual reports to each client on each format.

Sawmill Licensing & Pricing
Sawmill Lite starts at $99 for a single profile license, Sawmill Professional starts at $249 for a single profile license, and Sawmill Enterprise starts at $695 for a single profile license. Licenses are available in profile sizes as follows: 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 500, and unlimited. Upgrading profiles and upgrading the product are very simple and straightforward operations, with no loss of previous investment. Sawmill licenses may be purchased online in all three currencies (US$, UK£, Euros) at www.sawmill.co.uk or by contacting the sales desk at e-mail protected from spam bots or by telephone to +44 (0) 870 741 8787.

About The Sawmill Limited
The Sawmill Limited is the publisher of Sawmill software and provides commercial and technical support via distributors and resellers world-wide. Every copy of Sawmill includes email support and free access to minor releases. Support upgrades to Premium Care are available providing telephone assistance and free access to all updates, minor and major. Premium Care costs an additional 25% of the license fee.

NextEra Media is debuting its Pay-Per-Click Video Network after several months of beta-testing. NextEra CEO, Jaffer Ali said, "Since the beginning of the year we have aggregated 127 video sites into a network. Our goal was to offer a reasonably priced PPC program to advertisers and marketers. All clicks are generated in conjunction with video clips and the initial results have been extraordinary. All video sites are "safe-for-work" and currently serving over 300 million video views per month."

This is not the first time NextEra has created an advertising network. Back in 1999 NextEra aggregated content-based email publications into what became the largest e-zine network online. At its zenith NextEra controlled the advertising inventory of several hundred e-zines with over 63 million opt-in subscribers. Today's announcement marks the evolution from an email-centric model to a web-centric network utilizing state of the art streaming and licensed video content.

Ali continued, "The technological challenges are always a matter of development and tweaking, but getting licensed, fully legal content is what posed the major challenges. Fortunately our subsidiary video portal, EVTV1.com, has secured licenses with studios and producers which enables us to put our client's messages in and around thousands of professionally produced clips. Links to these content clips are placed on our network's video sites with the view either terminating on a special, branded landing page or the marketer's very own website. Our video player can be embedded anywhere so the client controls the environment in which their message is viewed."

It is estimated that 45% of all online advertising is spent via the PPC model. NextEra Media is marrying the most popular form of online advertising with the new Belle of the Ball -- online video.

Ali concluded: "Our Video PPC program addresses the two major concerns that clients have with online video advertising: the legality of the content used in their promotion, and the atmosphere that their message will be seen in. Our technology and fully legal content create a safe haven for marketers and advertisers alike. Quality video content will now be used to drive traffic."

Mobile search engine marketing expert Gregory Markel, Founder/President of www.InfuseCreative.com , discusses the Apple iPhone's impact on the mobile browser's experience and mobile search engine marketing in both Investor's Business Daily and CNN articles and downloadable PRWEB Podcast this week.

"The iPhone browser is among the first true Web browsers," Markel said. "As a mobile search services provider, we, (Infuse Creative), need to become intimately acquainted with the iPhone browser, search and Web user experience."

Markel discusses the reasons why the Apple iPhone browser will serve to dramatically upgrade the mobile search engine user and browser experience.

Along with Nokia's S60 and Opera's mobile browsers, the iPhone browser takes mobile users into a new era of a more desktop browser like experience, with combined usability of the three browsers including:

Web 2.0 rendering including Ajax., (Though Flash rendering and Java support remains MIA. Adobe is rumored to be providing a version of Flash for the iPhone within 60 days.), Multiple rendering modes, Improved user interfaces, Keyboard shortcuts, Open second window, Memory manager, designed specifically to handle out-of-memory situations on the device; Mouse Pointer, delivering a desktop-like navigation experience, Web address auto-complete, Password manager, Find in page, Frames rendered as tables, Full support for "Text Search" capabilities, Reference UI, a reference implementation of standard browser user-interface features; Full mobility support for dynamic HTML and the scripting language that enables it, Preservation on mobile screens of original designer-intended web page layouts, with text custom-fitted to the mobile display width, Overview mode, Intelligent zoom, Opera Widgets and Greater security.

A helpful site that provides software that will allow users and developers to simulate the iPhone's mobile browser experience can be found at: http://www.marketcircle.com/iphoney/

Markel goes on to say, "One simple example of how the mobile search engine marketing experience has been changed by the iPhone can be found by simply loading Google.com. The user gets the normal, desktop version of Google.com rather than the default mobile version of Google.com, which is currently the case on my Treo, for example.

However, one obvious shortcoming remains, the inability to render Flash, which is a shortcoming for many sites, our client, New Line Cinema's hairspraymovie.com being an example. There may be good news on the horizon about this. My sources indicate that Adobe may be releasing a version of Flash for iPhone within the next 60 days."

Gregory Markel will be speaking publicly about the iPhone and mobile search engine marketing at the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose, August 20th, 2007.


CNN Article
Investors Business Daily Article
Apple iPhone

About Gregory Markel and infusecreative.com:
Gregory Markel, recognized as one of the early "pioneers of search" and his Infuse Creative search engine marketing company, are internationally regarded as one of the premiere tech driven lead generation, ecommerce, branding/awareness and entertainment focused search engine marketing companies in the world with clients that include; Mazda, Pacificare, Secure Horizons, United Health Group, Realty Executives, Natrol, National Geographic Channel, Kazoo Toys, The Venetian Resort, John Robert Powers, Prudential, Universal, CBS, EA Sports, FOX Network, New Line Cinema, Sony, Time Warner, Warner Bros, and many others representing dramatically varying client types. Infuse Creative was a 2006 Los Angeles Business Journal nominee for it's "Excellence in Business" award along side companies including Mattel, Inc.

Tracy Fredrychowski, SEO Professional announced today that a specialized Search Engine Optimization Workshop is scheduled for August 20-24, 2007 to be held at the Radisson Hotel Charleston Airport in North Charleston, South Carolina.

Tracy Fredrychowski of SEAofSC stated that, "Companies are looking for solutions when it comes to their on-line marketing efforts. In today's competitive Internet marketplace it is vital that companies can position their Web site to be found on the Internet. Being able to offer this type of workshop to area business owners and being able to teach them the latest principles and strategies needed to gain those top positions on Google, MSN and Yahoo! is very exciting."

In describing the 5-Day Mastery Workshop, Fredrychowski added, "Many companies spend hundreds even thousands of dollars monthly on PPC (pay per click) ads. Showing companies how they can achieve top organic (non-paid listings) search results can save them valuable marketing dollars previously spent on PPC ads."

In the past many companies have outsourced their search engine marketing plans. By offering hands-on, non-technical workshops, business owners can learn to optimize their Web site in as little 5 days and see results quickly.

Web site owners attending the workshop can expect to learn:


How to Utilize User-Generated Content for Attracting New Traffic
Social Media Marketing Strategies
6-Step System for Gaining Top Rankings
Keyword Research
Which Search Engines and which Directories are Most Important
Advantages of Paid Inclusion
How to Stay out of Trouble with the Search Engines
How to Build Link Popularity
Working with Blogs
Converting Visitors to Buyers
Affiliate Marketing
In-depth Review of Google, Yahoo and MSN
Latent Semantic Indexing
Link Reputation
Truth and Myths About Search Engine Robots
Why Cascading Style Sheets are so Important
Article Marketing
Work Around Strategies - Frames, Flash, Databases Sites, Image Maps, JavaScript
Pay Per Click Advertising
Web Site Statistic and Log Analysis

Any business owner who wants to understand exactly what the search engines are looking for without guessing will truly benefit from this workshop. After class each student will receive an added bonus of 6 Months free Mentoring that will help them put their SEO skills to work on their own Web site.

Fredrychowski stated, "Students will work on their own Web site during the workshop and learn to recognize its strengths and weaknesses, along with applying their newly discovered SEO skills…putting the power of Internet marketing to work for them."

Fredrychowski concluded, "We have been offering SEO services to our clients for over 7 years and we know the significant impact good quality optimization has on a Web site. Being able to provide Web site owners SEO skills is just the beginning in making their Web sites more profitable."

The Search Engine Academy of South Carolina is the exclusive authorized training workshop to deliver SEO Training throughout the state of South Carolina.

For additional information on workshop dates and locations please contact Tracy Fredrychowski or visit http://www.searchengineacademysc.com

In order to help organizations find experts in the search industry, topseos.com is releasing its top Internet Marketing & Services Vendor Rankings online and in print via the new Visibility Magazine.

Plymouth, IN (PRWEB) July 9, 2007 -- Topseos.com, a resource for evaluating internet marketing and services, announces the newest group of top Internet marketing and services vendors from organic optimization to PPC, email marketing, training, linking, web development and design, and more.

"The July 2007 rankings have a rare distinction. These rankings are the first to be simultaneously featured in print, i.e. in the Visibility Magazine which is releasing this month." Bill Peden said during the announcement of the release of the latest monthly rankings from topseos.com.

Internet Marketing and Services Vendor Rankings for July 2007 include:

Organic Optimization
1. SEO Image, Inc. - New York
2. Intrapromote LLC - Ohio
3. Bruce Clay, Inc. - California
4. SEO Inc. - California
5. Arteworks SEO - Texas
6. Ionic Media - California
7. YELLOW7 Interactive - Texas
8. Customer Magnetism - Virginia
9. TopRank Online Marketing - Minnesota
10. WebMama.com Inc. - California
11. USWeb.com - California
12. icrossing - New York
13. Service Internet Solutions, LLC - Connecticut
14. iProspect - Massachusetts
15. High Position Limited - United Kingdom
16. Dexterity Media LLC - Texas
17. Neutralize - United Kingdom
18. Submit Express - California
19. 1st on the List Promotion Inc. - Canada
20. Inteliture - Utah
21. Unreal Marketing, Inc. - Pennsylvania
22. Web Targeted - Utah
23. 87 Interactive - Pennsylvania¬¬
24. VKI Studios - Canada
25. First Page SEO - Canada
26. Reprise Media - New York
27. Prime Visibility - New York
28. eTrafficJams.com - Florida
29. Fathom SEO - Ohio
30. Blizzard Internet Marketing, Inc. - Colorado

Pay Per Click Management
1. Ionic Media - California
2. Intrapromote LLC - Ohio
3. SEO Image, Inc.- New York
4. SEO Inc. - California
5. SearchAdNetwork - Colorado

Link Popularity Services
1. Intrapromote LLC - Ohio
2. Ad Maiora - Italy
3. Patrick Gavin Inc. - USA
4. TextLinkBrokers.com - Arizona
5. LinkExperts - New York

Training Programs
1. Bruce Clay, Inc. - California
2. Search Engine College - Australia
3. Global Strategies International - Connecticut
4. Laredo Group - Florida
5. Apex Pacific Pty Ltd. - New Jersey

Email Marketing
1. VerticalResponse, Inc. - California
2. Topica Inc. - California
3. Constant Contact - Massachusetts
4. Double Click - New York
5. Mailworkz.com - Canada

Content Creation
1. InfoSearch Media - California
2. Ascent Copywriting - Massachusetts
3. Content Domain - California
4. The WriteContent.com - Canada
5. Smith Content - Maryland

Press Release Marketing
1. 24-7pressrelease.com - Canada
2. PR.com - New York
3. PR Web International, Inc. - Washington
4. Business Wire - California
5. PR Newswire Association LLC - New York

Website Traffic Analytics
1. Omniture, Inc. - Utah
2. Mondosoft - California
3. Web Trends Inc. - Oregon
4. Maxamine, Inc. - California
5. Click Tracks - California

Hosting
1. Rackspace Ltd. - Texas
2. Hosting.com - Kentucky
3. Interland, Inc. - Georgia
4. Hostway Corporation - Illinois
5. GoDaddy.com, Inc. - Arizona

Web Design
1. Oxidev Interactive - Florida
2. Ionic Media - California
3. ecisive.com - Florida
4. DeepBlue - Georgia
5. 352 Media Group - Florida

Web Development
1. red : rain Solutions - India
2. Red Clay Interactive - Georgia
3. 2advanced.com - California
4. DeepBlue - Georgia
5. avenuea-razorfish.com - Washington

Click Fraud Monitoring
1. Click Tracks - California
2. Click Authority - Florida
3. KlickPatrol - Georgia
4. ClickDetective Limited - Colorado
5. Clickrisk, LLC - Canada

SEM Tools - 5
1. Web CEO - Ukraine
2. ClickDetective - Colorado
3. BidMaximizer - Australia
4. SEO Suite - Australia
5. WebPosition Gold - Georgia

Criteria Topseos.com uses to evaluate applicants include:


What are the applicant firm's competitive advantages?
How are the applicant's services and pricing levels superior to the competition?
What is the availability of customer and technical support?
What is the average response time and time-to-resolution for client problems?
What SLA does the applicant provide?
What other attributes/innovations does the applicant provide to set it apart from the competition?
What is the average rating for the firm in terms of customer service?
What is the average rating for the firm in terms of efficiency?
What is the average rating for the firm in terms of overall performance?

Internet marketing and services companies wishing to be considered for the topseos.com Top 30 Directory can complete an application by registering as a service vendor and applying for rankings at: http://www.topseos.com/index.php?option=com_rank&task=GetYourFirmRanked

Companies that wish to research and evaluate internet marketing firms can easily do so at: http://www.topseos.com

About topseos.com
topseos.com was founded in 2002 by e-ventures and serves to provide the search engine marketing industry and companies with a single source for researching internet marketing vendors as well as a place for internet marketing and service providers to showcase their services. http://www.topseos.com

Dealerskins, a division of Dominion Enterprises and a leading provider of automotive dealer web solutions, announced today that it has been recognized by Google as an AdWords Qualified Company. Google awarded this status to Dealerskins based on strict qualifications including Dealerskins' team, which has three Google AdWords Certified Professionals, the size of the total AdWords accounts managed by Dealerskins, and Dealerskins' experience with AdWords campaigns.

Nashville, TN (PRWEB) July 9, 2007 -- Dealerskins, a division of Dominion Enterprises and a leading provider of automotive dealer web solutions, announced today that it has been recognized by Google as an AdWords Qualified Company. Google awarded this status to Dealerskins based on strict qualifications including Dealerskins' team, which has three Google AdWords Certified Professionals, the size of the total AdWords accounts managed by Dealerskins, and Dealerskins' experience with AdWords campaigns.

In late November of '04, Google announced a new certification program. The goal of this new program was to recognize those companies that had distanced themselves from others in the field in their abilities to design and manage Google AdWords Pay Per Click programs. In order to be considered for this recognition a company has to demonstrate a complete understanding of the Google Pay Per Click system over a period of time and also pass rigorous testing to demonstrate knowledge of all aspects of these programs.

Pay Per Click (PPC) search engine marketing is a technique to reach and attract search engine users to business web sites- when users see and click on ads that appear in search engine results. Ads are created using keywords or phrases related to web site content. When consumers search on Google using one of the keywords, the ad may appear next to the search results. Now the business is advertising to an audience that is already interested in their products or services. The consumer can simply click on the ad to make a purchase or learn more about the business.

Businesses may either create their own AdWords account and go through the time-consuming process of account setup, activation, ad campaign monitoring, reporting and optimization, or employ the services of PPC search marketing specialists such as Dealerskins, to manage all these tasks.

Dealerskins account managers are currently working with numerous clients to create complete web solutions and Internet marketing strategies that include pay-per-click programs, paid inclusion, search engine optimization, website tracking and link building strategies.

"Our staff trains constantly to stay on top of the ever changing technology of Search Engine Marketing and Optimization," said Amanda Tossberg, Marketing Director with Dealerskins. "Being recognized by Google as one of their qualified companies is an important step in making sure that we provide our clients the best management of day-to-day and long-term campaign needs."

To find out how Dealerskins can help maximize the return on pay-per-click programs through their customized solutions, contact 404.314.5089 or email Ups(at)dealerskins.com.

About Dealerskins (www.dealerskins.com):
Dealerskins, a division of Dominion Enterprises, provides automotive dealers beautiful, powerful, distinctive web solutions. The company's expertise comes from real-world dealership experience and a passion for listening and responding to dealers' needs. In fact, company founders designed, built and used the first Dealerskins websites while employed at a top-50 dealership group. Dealerskins recognized that automotive dealers require high-caliber, dynamic websites to meet car buyers' needs. Dealerskins was founded in July of 2000 to serve those needs. Dealerskins` websites have won numerous awards for excellence. For more information visit www.dealerskins.com

About Dominion Enterprises:
Dominion Enterprises, headquartered in Norfolk, Va., is a leading media and information services company serving employment, real estate, automotive, recreation and industrial markets in the United States. The company operates a variety of technology businesses that offer Internet marketing, Web site design and hosting, lead generation, CRM, and data capture and distribution services including Advanced Access, PowerSports Network, and Dealer Specialties. The company has more than 500 paid and free magazine titles such as The Employment Guide, For Rent, Harmon Homes, Boat Trader, Cycle Trader and RV Trader with a combined weekly circulation of over 5 million, and more than 40 market-leading Web sites such as EmploymentGuide.com, ForRent.com, Homes.com, and TraderOnline.com, reaching more than 8 million unique monthly visitors. The company has nearly 7,000 employees nationwide and 2006 annual revenue of more than $850 million. For more information, visit DominionEnterprises.com.

As website owners know, obtaining a top 10 ranking at the search engines where an online storefront can be quickly spotted by a target audience that is ready to buy can be a daunting task, especially without firsthand knowledge of how the search engine works, which is why natural search expert James Martell has just released a series of free informative sessions from his sold-out Backlinks Workshop.

"Most site owners remain confused about legitimate, 'non-spammy' techniques that can be used to drive free from the search engines to their websites because they simply but lack the understanding of what it takes to obtain top rankings," Martell explains. "They don't realize that the search engines, especially Google, determine where a page is listed in the search results by analyzing others pages on the Internet that are linking to it," Martell, successful publisher, speaker and author of the Affiliate Marketers Handbook - '2006' (THIRD EDITION)," adds.

As he explains in the Backlinks Workshop sessions, the search engines use these "incoming links" (also known as "backlinks") from other sites as "votes" to determine where a website page should reside in the search results.

This explains why if a Webmaster wants a site to rank highly in the natural search results, with Google and other search engines alike, they need other search engine trusted websites linking to the site.

"In short," as Martell says, "There's just no other way."

Aside from releasing the free five 30-minute sessions for Webmasters of every level, Martell has also just announced his next live Backlinks Workshop, right on the heels of the first Backlinks Workshop, which boasted record attendance and sold out in a matter of days.

Slated to begin July 17, the engaging workshop will be delivered to participants desktops via Martell's online conference room technology, providing live, media-rich instruction of every step of Martell's proven inbound link campaign process.

This allows participating Webmasters to learn by watching then by doing, having questions answered by Martell as they go, ultimately providing Webmasters with the tools needed to develop their own links, and a thorough backlinks campaign that gets results.

The night-school style classes will be held every Tuesday, starting at 6 pm (Pacific Time) and last for approximately 90 minutes. Each session is broken into two parts: During the first part, Martell provides live instruction, followed by the second part, which includes an important interactive question and answer period with Martell and participating site owners.

Additionally, the Backlinks Workshop sessions can be reviewed at any time online or through downloadable video, MP3 audio files or written transcripts, providing participants with both the flexibility and ongoing support needed to achieve the strong results desired.

As attendees of the previous sold-out Backlinks Workshop know, website owners will learn the same techniques and strategies Martell has relied on to achieve and maintain his own online success for more than seven years now.

"The inbound link workshop is straight-forward, detailed and systematic," says student Jim Stenson. "James Martell has done it again! I know when I fully implement the system I will finally be ranking in the search engines at a level that will generate the traffic needed for my success."

Fellow student David Caban concurs.

"Martell's backlinks workshop opened my eyes to the true "secret" of getting my sites to rank highly in the search engines," he says. "I loved the week-by-week approach to learning the material and thought it was highly effective. The best part for me was that each session was recorded. Since I wasn't able to make each week's meeting, I was so relieved to know I could watch the video at a later date and still get the information I needed!"

According to both Stenson and Caban, by following along, participating Webmasters will create inbound links to their website, as well as develop a comprehensive system that provides ongoing links, with the cutting through the clutter and delivering real long-term results.

To learn more about James Martell's Backlinks Workshop, and to download five FREE 30 minute sessions loaded with spam-free strategies, tips and techniques for gaining higher rankings at the search engines, go to: http://www.BacklinksWorkshop.com.

About James Martell (http://www.jamesmartell.com)
James Martell resides with his wife Arlene and four children Adam, Justin, Shelby and Victoria in little seaside community (White Rock, British Columbia). Although a carpenter by trade, James is a self-taught entrepreneur who has been a recognized expert of natural search techniques since 1999.

James is the author of the best-selling downloadable Affiliate Marketers Handbook 2006, which now, five years later, has been revised and updated to become the most comprehensive affiliate marketer's handbook available today.

This 389-page training manual and companion video series are continually relied on by people worldwide who, using James' teachings as a roadmap, have guided themselves and their families to home-based business success.

James is also well known through the affiliate marketing industry for his legendary live Coffee Talk interviews, which include candid discussions with some of the top professionals in this field, and his Affiliate Buzz audio newsletters, both of which provide website owners new and old alike with information, resources, tips, tools and techniques on online publishing that website owners can use to achieve their own online success.

IndexTools (Inc.), which broke new ground last month by launching its Partnership Alliance Program, pleased to welcome Leads2Business, a dynamic online direct marketing agency as its first Strategic Alliance Partner.

"Leads2Business' personnel have a wealth of knowledge and experience in the field of web analytics. We believe that their knowledge will provide a strong background for IndexTools web analytics products in the Netherlands" - said Charlie Holbech, Head of IndexTools Partner Division, of his firm's new Holland-based partner.

The Partner Alliance Program is geared toward commitment and long-term perspective in the IndexTools partner network. Benefits to Strategic Alliance Partners such as Leads2Business now include among other things:

- Ready access to IndexTools training sessions and Professional Services
- Direct engagement in IndexTools product developments

Of particular interest to Leads2Business is an innovative program activity tailored specifically for lead generation. Moreover, IndexTools provides is partners with access to vital marketing and sales resources. As the first sales collaboration, IndexTools and Leads2Business jointly participated at the Digital Marketing Event in Amsterdam, on June 5/6.

"The partnership connects Leads2Business with one of the most important web analytics suppliers of the Dutch market: IndexTools," said Michiel van Gaalen, director of Leads2Business. "This cooperation enables Leads2Business to produce even better results from the online campaigns and optimize the web sites of our clients. We now have a direct line to the product development of IndexTools, so that we can offer a tailor-made solution. This in combination with the extended training program transforms the most complex questions into user-friendly, flexible and profitable solutions."

About Leads2Business
Leads2Business is an online direct marketing agency that helps clients get the best results from their online marketing activities. Leads2Business sets up creative and innovative campaigns that drive traffic, revenue and profits. Insight into the effectiveness of campaigns and the clients' websites are key to gaining higher ROI and customer satisfaction. That's why Leads2Business works closely with their clients in both implementing IndexTools and getting the most out of the analysis. They help define business requirements and KPI's, as well as to guide the implementation process and offer analytical services.

About IndexTools
IndexTools offers a highly customizable and scalable analytics platform for companies' online marketing activity in each phase of the customer lifecycle. With IndexTools Web Analytics and Bid Management, businesses gain accurate, insightful and timely intelligence about the effectiveness of their online marketing.

IndexTools' services have boosted the online performance of more than 3000 clients worldwide, including Tesco, Vodafone, PriceRunner, and Jamba. IndexTools serves its worldwide client base directly and through a network of more than 200 local partners in over 25 countries around the globe. IndexTools was founded in 2000, operates from New York City, US and has an extensive Technology Development Center in Budapest, Hungary EU. IndexTools' competitors include Webtrends, Visual Sciences (WebSideStory), Omniture and Coremetrics.

Journalists are increasingly relying on blog content as they write stories and corporate blogs are now an important way for businesses to reach members of the media, says David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to use news releases, blogs, podcasts, viral marketing & online media to reach your buyers directly.

"Until very recently, the only way to influence journalists was to have a direct personal relationship with them or to send out a generic press release and hope for the best," says Scott. "But today, blogs allow organizations of all kinds to tell authentic stories directly to the market. Journalists increasingly rely on blog content when they are researching stories."

Over the course of more than a year of research for his upcoming book, Scott reviewed hundreds of blogs and interviewed dozens of bloggers who have found success. He also spoke with journalists to understand how the put their stories together. The book includes dozens of case studies of organizations that use blogs, podcasts, online media, and viral marketing.

"Smart marketing and public relations professionals understand that corporate blogs are one of the best ways to deliver their story and influence journalists, but press releases and personal relationships are still part of the overall mix," Scott says. "Business blogs make it easy to deliver a viewpoint into the sprawling marketplace of ideas. When the posts are indexed by search engines and delivered via RSS feeds, journalists all over the world will see the thoughts and ideas and they will command attention. If the posts are compelling, stories will be written."

Scott's book "The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to use news releases, blogs, podcasts, viral marketing & online media to reach your buyers directly" is available wherever business books are sold. The book features a foreword by Robert Scoble, Vice President Media Development, PodTech.net, co-author Naked Conversations, and blogger at Scobleizer.com. ISBN: 0-470-11345-6

David Meerman Scott is an online thought leadership and viral marketing strategist. The programs he has developed have won numerous awards and are responsible for selling over one billion dollars in products and services worldwide. He is also an instructor for Pragmatic Marketing and he has lived and worked in New York, Tokyo, Boston, and Hong Kong and has presented at industry conferences and events in over twenty countries on four continents. Check out Scott's ideas on his own popular marketing blog.

Michael Campbell an internet marketing consultant, coach and author, today published Internet Marketing Secrets Issue #124, which is read by over 35,000 internet marketing professionals, search engine optimizers, affiliate marketers, sales people, and webmasters around the world.

In This Edition #124:

1) The Secrets of Selling More.
2) Letting Your Own Morals Guide You.
3) SEO Training for Competitive Markets.
4) Best Way to Monetize Type-In Traffic.
5) Passive Income from Your phpBB Forum.
6) How to Profit From Google's Universal Search.
7) How Practicing the Fundamentals Leads to Success.
8) The Biggest Mistake in PPC (pay per click) Advertising.

Pricing & Availability:

The newsletter is a free PDF download. Bonuses include Michael Campbell's best-selling ebooks Clickin' it Rich and Revenge of the Mininet (a $125 value) free when you subscribe to the Internet Marketing Secrets Newsletter.

Published since 1999, the Internet Marketing Secrets newsletter provides breaking news, FAQs and real world testing in SEO, SEM, search engines, affiliate revenue, PPC advertising, sales, persuasion and conversion, in addition to inspirational articles and encouragement.

Michael Campbell is a search engine optimization specialist and highly sought after internet marketing consultant. He has written three best-selling books on internet marketing, several white papers, and has contributed to dozens of internet related publications and software packages.

Search Engine Trust, http://www.getsearchenginetrust.com, an Internet marketing company that owns over 3,000 websites, has developed an innovative search engine optimization program that helps websites improve their rankings in the major search engines.

The search engine optimization program developed by Search Engine Trust is simple to use. Search Engine Trust owns over 3,000 websites that have a Google Page Rank ranging from 1 - 7. When a business subscribes to Search Engine Trust, that business is given high quality one-way links pointing at the business's website. As any search engine optimization specialist knows, getting high quality links pointed at your website is the most effective tool for getting high search engine rankings. With Search Engine Trust, businesses get access to receive high quality one-way links from thousands of websites.

Peter Geisheker, a marketing consultant and search engine optimization specialist states, "I have to admit that I was extremely skeptical of Search Engine Trust when I joined it. However, after using the Search Engine Trust program for only two weeks, my website jumped from being ranked #17 on Google to being ranked #5 on Google for an extremely competitive search term. I was absolutely blown away because it only took me about 30 minutes of link building on Search Engine Trust to achieve this result. To make sure this wasn't a fluke, I tried it again with another website I manage. In a span of only 8 days, that website went from being ranked #35 on Google to being ranked #8 on Google. I have found no other SEO system that even begins to compare with the results I have received from Search Engine Trust."

Ed Dale, one of the world's most respected Internet marketing consultants states, "I hated search engine optimization and all the work that went into getting high search engine rankings for my websites. Then I found Search Engine Trust. I tried it and I was simply amazed by the results. The websites I promoted with Search Engine Trust received top 10 search engine rankings within about a month. All I can say is that if you are frustrated by bad rankings in the search engines and a lack of traffic to your website, Search Engine Trust is the answer to your prayers."

For more information on Search Engine Trust and getting improved search engine rankings ,please visit http://www.getsearchenginetrust.com.

About Search Engine Trust http://www.getsearchenginetrust.com
Based in New York City, Search Engine Trust is the world's premier Internet marketing firm. It is also the largest private owner of websites, with over 3,000 websites under its management.

Web sites who are constantly battling for Visibility are going to need to focus on external content such as link building and other media formats. This has been confirmed with the launch of Googles Universal Search.

Universal search integrates all formats of information from image, maps, to video into one, providing and over all search. Google is indeed looking to provide the ultimate searching mechanism, the best result possible across all formats.

"Google analyses over 200 different elements in its algorithm to provide accurate results. At the same time, external content such as link building, videos and social linking have had a major effect of top results" said Paul Easton, author of the newly released book, Link Traffic: A Plan for Free Web Traffic

"Many opinions have been formed as to what works in regard to how to get to the top of Googles results. I set out to provide proof that link building from external sources proves to be the most effective. From a results point of view, nothing is more convincing than the real facts, which I uncovered" said Paul Easton

Many web designers have claimed to SEO (search engine optimization) proficient, without the use of external content. In the New media world of the Internet, they are unlikely to achieve any success. This would result in low website traffic and a lack of belief the Internet as a marketing channel.

All web designers, web development and ecommerce managers looking to capitalise on more visitors to a website, at the lowest cost, need to be aware of the tactics and strategies that work. The ROI on free web promotion, done the right way can bring an endless source of targeted long term customers that can form the base of a reliable database.

The knowledge alone is not enough -- activation of the concepts, in the right way, will improve the reach of any reputable company online increasing market share and branding.

"Developments in the fast moving world of marketing on-line where competition is high, Link building and what others say about you will be around for many years to come as its an effective way for Google to provide the best results and keeping its market share"

Sproose, an upcoming search engine with technology allowing users to rank the index of results, launched today a new voting platform inteface so users can easily rank their favorite sites. Former Netzero Executive, Bob Pack who helped raise its initial funding in 1998, founded Sproose.

Users are given control over search listings. Search engine Sproose.com lets users rank the index. With its self voting platfom the more popular sites move up to the top of the index of search results.

Sproose uses a "human popularity voting" model where users can self- rank the index creating personalized search results. The more users that vote a site the further up in the ranking it goes.

"The new look is much more visual providing a total score of the voted sites and a ranking system that improves upon the algorithmic based order," says Bob Pack, CEO of Sproose. Users merely need to click on the "I like it" icon next to the search result and the index will refresh immediately moving that site up.

Registered users may also display their voted sites if they elect to. "This connects people in a social way to share knowledge through (search), states," CEO Bob Pack.

The Sproose website is at www.sproose.com

About Sproose
Sproose provides a consumer search engine whereby the users can influence the ranking of the index by voting on the results. Each user is able to create a different set of search results when searching under the same keyword. With its proprietary 'Knowledge Rank' moderated directory technologies, Sproose users can effectively categorize and index sites, tailored for personal or group usage. The rating of search results is done without downloading applications to ensure privacy.

New media production agency, Podcast Production Ltd, is helping business take advantage of this new and exciting communication channel throughout Europe. The Company was formed by a group of media, marketing and technical specialists in order to make the dynamic and engaging media of Podcasts accessible both to the corporate business community and its customers.

Sales and Marketing Director, Stephen Ballard commented, "Corporate customers are now recognising Podcasting as a unique marketing channel that will give them a fast track connection to the iPod generation. Giving users the flexibility to listen to information on the move has undoubtedly been the key driver in making Podcasting such an effective new communication channel. As a marketing professional I would recommend that customers embrace this technology to provide competitive advantage."

A Podcast is a series of multimedia "episodes" much like the chapters of a book, delivered via an audio or video file to which a listener can subscribe and receive regular updates. Having subscribed using free and easily accessible software, listeners automatically receive the episodes as they are published. All this happens within affecting the users email account so SPAM is not an issue. Each Podcast episode can be automatically downloaded to an mp3 player such as an iPod, mobile phone or simply played back on a PC.

Communications Director, Robin Wolstenholme has discovered a knowledge gap within business, "When we talk to new customers about Podcasting, they think a Podcast is just an mp3 download. For me, the real power of Podcasting lies in the subscription mechanism, building up a listener base."

Another misconception that Podcast Production has encountered is a lack of imagination when embarking on a corporate Podcast. Rob Granville who heads up the production department at Podcast Production elaborated, "We have found that formal interviews, chaired discussions and short market reports adapt well to Podcasting, but the possibilities extend to many other areas of application. For example, a customer newsletter delivered by Podcast is more engaging and dynamic than a paper equivalent. It is also more accessible and environmentally friendly than a paper delivery for a socially responsible business or organisation"

Ballard summarized, "Podcasting is not a replacement for existing communication channels, but a powerful ally in the struggle for voice in today's fast-paced business world. "

About Podcast Production Limited
Podcast Production Ltd is a full service pan-European Podcast and media production agency run by marketing, technology, media and audio engineering professionals based in the UK, close to London and international airports.