This is the teaser for the MEA-I’s upcoming Blossom games, a series of Serious Game intended for learning how IT technology can help you in your everyday’s life. Target audience is would-be as well as existing microentrepreneurs.
http://www.mea-i.org
http://www.get-it-city.net
http://www.knowledge-city.net
Are you a business owner trying to figure out the whole blogging thing? Have you been wondering if it’s worth your time and effort to create a blog for your own business? By the end of this article, you’ll understand the many benefits and will be better able to decide if blogging is right for you.
Let’s start with a quick definition, just so we are all on the same page. A blog is simply a content-management system that allows you to publish information onto the Internet, quickly and easily. New information is typically added in reverse-chronological format, so that the most recent posts are always up top. The blogging program does most of the technical stuff for you.
That’s about as far as I’ll go into the technical definition. You’ll learn more about the inner workings if and when you decide to start a blog for your business. This purpose of this article is to give you some good reasons to make that decision. So without further ado…
1. Easy Publishing Tool
Type your post for the day. Add some hyperlinks or images with the click of your mouse. Hit the “publish” button. You’ve just updated your blog with new information, and it’s live on the Internet. Once you install the program, it really is this easy to use.
2. Search Engine Visibility
Starting a blog will not magically propel you to the top of the search engine ranks, as many people seem to believe. But with that being said, a blog has certain benefits that help with search rankings. It’s easy to publish new content for one thing, and this is key to online visibility. Also, blogs are text-rich and cleanly coded right “out of the box,” so the search engines have an easy time crawling through them and finding new information.
3. Expertise / Authority
If you as the business owner can demonstrate your expertise within your industry, people will be more inclined to purchase your products or services. By publishing quality information on a regular basis, you can more easily establish such authority. In other words, you can use blogging to position yourself as a “thought leader” in your industry.
4. Makes Your Website Sticky
Who wants to revisit a website that never updates its content? Not me. This is another area where a business blog can benefit you. If you have a wealth of useful content on your website, and that content gets updated regularly, your visitors will stick around longer. This increases the chance they will contact you, purchase from you, subscribe to your newsletter, etc.
5. Potential for Conversation
Most blogging programs come with a comment feature built in. At the bottom of each post, readers can leave comments in a box provided for that purpose. So instead of the one-way communication of a traditional website (where I talk and you listen), you now have a two-way conversation taking place. You can probably see the business-building potential of this.
6. Potential for Leads
Can you generate leads and inquiries through a blog? Sure you can. We just talked about the two-way conversations that often takes place. When people fill out that comment form, they usually include their email address. There’s a lead source right there. People will also feel like they know you after reading your blog for a while, so they’ll be more inclined to contact you directly.
7. Return Visits
Blogging programs make it easy for people to stay in touch. For example, your visitors / readers can simply subscribe to your blog’s syndication feed to receive future updates automatically. There are also programs available that can convert your posts into an email newsletter format. That way, people can sign up to receive future posts just like signing up for any other e-newsletter. It’s a handy tool that can keep people coming back over and over again.
8. Versatility / Multipurpose
I already mentioned how you can use a certain type of “plugin” to allow readers to subscribe. In reality, there is a mind-boggling array of plugins available that can do all sorts of neat things. How you use your business blog is limited only by your imagination. Use it as a news add-on to your existing website, or use it as a full-featured website with pages in addition to posts.
9. Encourages Trust
Let’s face it. Consumers naturally distrust unfamiliar companies. And who can blame them? People hear the word “corporate” and think of Enron-like characters plotting schemes that screw the little guy while lining their own pockets. It’s a harsh reality, but a reality nonetheless.
How does a blog fit into this? Well, it makes you seem like a person instead of a company, for one thing. It shows you’re not afraid to step into the spotlight and speak with people about your business and your products. This is one of the reasons people like Bill Marriott (of the hotel chain) have started blogs in recent years.
10. Dare I Say Fun?
Do you enjoy sharing information about topics you know well? Do you like to write? Are you interested in web technologies and seeing your words published live on the Internet? If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, there’s a good chance you will truly enjoy blogging. Who knows … you may even become addicted.
Source : Bandon Cornett ( http://ezinearticles.com/?id=1376600 )
Ning is an online service that allows users to create their own social networks and join and participate in other networks. Ning lets creators of networks determine the site’s appearance and functionality, as well as whether the site is public or private.
Most networks include features such as photos or videos, lists of network members and events, groups within the network, and communication tools such as forums or blogs. No technical skill is required to set up a social network, and there are no limits to the number of networks a user can join.
Ning offers no-cost networks, which are supported by advertisements, or users can pay for premium services that eliminate ads and let users choose network URLs that are separate from the Ning domain.
Although Ning does not provide usage statistics or numbers of registered users, the company does highlight the number of networks on its platform.
As of April 2008, Ning reported 220,000 networks, 70 percent of which were active within the past 30 days. Looking at the tag cloud and browsing the available networks, one sees that networks focus on a broad range of topics and are used for activities ranging from news, current events, and professional development to entertainment, dating, and support groups. Some networks are regional or municipal in their focus.
Some organizations use Ning to develop a social network that complements their primary website, and others have turned to Ning as the platform for the organization’s only website.
Some networks focus on particular commercial products, and in some of these cases, product representatives are active members of the network, which becomes a vehicle for “social advertising.”
Another clear trend is that many alumni groups, formal and informal, from high schools as well as colleges and universities, use Ning to develop networks where graduates can reconnect and stay in touch.
Registered users can create new social networks in very little time, with no technical skill required. Once a name and a URL are selected, assembling the network is a simple process of working through four screens.
The user indicates whether the network is private (only invited people can view or join) or public; writes a tag-line and description of the network; assigns keywords; chooses from a selection of features (such as photos or videos, a blog, events, groups, or gadgets) and uses drag-and-drop tools to place those features on the page; chooses a visual theme (colors, fonts, sizes) and can customize these choices; and decides what information users will be asked to provide to join the network. If membership is restricted, the creator can invite individuals to join.
The creator of the network has access to other options, such as importing photos from Flickr, adding Ning features to Facebook pages, requesting access to source code to further customize a network, and including JavaScript that allows external tools to track network usage statistics.
Members of the Ning social networks find functionality similar to that of more well-known stand-alone networks, such as Facebook and MySpace. Various features allow users to read news or learn about related events, join groups, read and comment on blog entries, view photos and videos, and other activities as set up by the network creator. RSS feeds let users subscribe to updates from specific parts of the social network.
Facebook and MySpace are consistently among the most popular sites on the web, demonstrating the public’s interest in social networking. Other online tools are also adding social networking features, allowing users to connect and build community.
Web users are constantly pushing the limits of available tools, looking for novel and interesting ways to use technology to discover connections between people and content and to find new answers to old questions.
With Ning, users have the freedom to channel this creative energy into designing and building a social network that looks and behaves exactly as its creator believes it should.
Moreover, to the extent that network creators have the technical ability to do so, they can create entirely new tools and features to respond to the changing needs and demands of the network members.
The flipside of the flexibility of social networks is that the norms and expectations for how such tools should work continue to evolve. Putting almost total control into the hands of users encourages experimentation and innovation, but such a dynamic landscape leaves most social networks in a near-constant state of change, with no clear model of organization and function that will best suit a particular community.
Ning touts the ability for users to join many different social networks, which, despite its obvious benefits, also adds to the growing burden of managing involvement in multiple personal networks and keeping track of perhaps dozens or hundreds of “friends” across networks. The growth of separate online communities has led some to call for an independent database that would allow users to manage their relationships and identities across a wide range of services, and Ning would seem to be a good candidate for such a tool.
Finally, because Ning hosts all of the content for the networks on its platform, some organizations will be reluctant to use the service for important or sensitive material.
The Internet community at large has consistently demonstrated its desire for social and community-based applications. Whether through virtual worlds, rich-media tools, or always-on access through mobile devices, users increasingly turn to digital tools for a sense of connection with other people.
Ning lets users experiment with online behavior and community tools, and through this process, “best practices” for social networking will emerge and rise to the top, resulting in a stronger sense of what functions technology can most appropriately serve.
Successive networks build on previous ones, and users will become increasingly sophisticated and discerning in their use of social networks generally and of individual tools in particular.
For today’s students, who spend countless hours on Facebook and MySpace, faculty participation on those networks is often seen as an intrusion into a private domain.
Ning provides an avenue for instructors to take advantage of social networks in a neutral setting, offering functionality and an experience that are familiar and comfortable to students.
By creating social networks around academic topics, or even about specific projects for a course, an instructor can facilitate a strong sense of community among the students, encouraging personal interactions that can lead to the creation of new knowledge and collective intelligence. Similarly, discipline-specific social networks connect researchers from around the world working on particular topics of study.
Colleges and universities can also use Ning to create networks that help current or incoming students build connections with the institution. Ning provides an opportunity for students to create their own social networks and learn how to cultivate and sustain a community of users that might resemble professional contacts and relationships.
A social network on Ning is also an easy way for a group of students-from an entering class, for example, or those who participated in a semester-abroad program-to stay connected through the college years and beyond, even as they transfer to other institutions, graduate, or relocate.
If you are interested in setting up your own NING Social Network follow go to www.ning.com
Ask any marketing expert and they’ll tell you “the money’s in the list”. Email is a powerful and easy way to build a list and communicate your marketing messages to leads and customers.
Here are the top 10 reasons to use email marketing:
1. Email marketing is virtually free. Email is truly unique in it’s ability to put your marketing message in front of thousands of potential customers at virtually no cost. This means that virtually 100% of revenue generated from email campaigns is pure profit.
2. Email is personal. Everyone’s favorite sound is the sound of his or her own name. Most email marketing solutions allow you to automatically customize email messages with personal data such as the subscriber’s name.
3. Valuable demographic data can be collected. When a lead subscribes to your email list, you can collect valuable data about your potential customers. This data allows you to better target your marketing messages to your list.
4. Email messages are sent instantaneously. With the touch of a button, your marketing message is sent to your list. There is no waiting for the post office to deliver the message to the customer’s mailbox.
5. Email is transparent. With email, virtually every marketing metric can be tracked with a high degree of precision. Among the metrics that can be tracked are delivery rates, open rates, click through rates, and conversion rates.
6. Email marketing is highly automated. Very little manpower is required to create an email campaign. Essentially, the only manual work required is the copy writing of email message itself. Other aspects such as delivery and tracking are done automatically.
7. Email messages do not necessarily require any design work. Unlike many other forms of marketing, email messages require little to no designing. In fact, it has been shown that plain text email messages with no HTML tend to be more effective. Plain text messages are much less likely to trigger spam filters and consequently have significantly higher delivery rates.
8. Rapid response time. Particularly if you sell products online, an email campaign can begin to generate a response almost immediately. Customers don’t have to leave their home and can make a purchase with the click of a button.
9. Email is the ultimate “word of mouth” marketing vehicle. If your email message is “viral” in nature, your customer can quickly and easily forward it to friends and family, spreading your message to new potential customers.
10. Email helps you build a relationship of trust with your customers. Email solves one of the greatest challenges in marketing: building a relationship with customers. Email allows you to keep in touch with customers, get their feedback, offer support, etc.
Email marketing is a powerful, inexpensive, and cost-effective marketing medium. Start using email today to build your online business.
BonArtisan.com is an innovative portal that enables small businesses to put their word of mouth on the Internet and consumer to select them in confidence. So far only in France and dedicated to craftsmen, BonArtisan.com is the largest database in France with more than 380 000 businesses.
Businesses can improve their visibility by creating a customized web site in a matter or minutes without any web technology knowledge. The real innovation lies in a patented fraud detection technology that enables consumers to rate the businesses in confidence. According to customer’s rating, craftsmen’s web site will display a color helmet from gold to bronze, or grey if no rating is available. A guest book is also available to leave comments.
Creating and hosting a web page with rating services only costs 14.90€ /month, a fraction of the cost of any other alternative and about the same price as a very basic directory service from traditionnal providers.
This innovative service is really the proof point that technology is now readily available and accessible to enable small businesses to promote their service effectively using the internet at a very low cost and with basic PC technology knowledge.
The consumer portal is designed with women in mind. This is a gold mine for people looking for the latest product or ideas in decoration and renovation. A forum allows consumers to share their experience with eachother and finally to choose a good professional near them. The site is accessible on mobile phone as well as traditionnal web browsers. So far vailable only in France, the service will expand to other service providers and soon countries.
Give it a try at www.bonartisan.com and tell people about it!
Phishing is the use of fake email and websites to trick a user into supplying confidential or personal information. These emails appear to be from a reputable organisation and would have a link to a replica website for that organisation. Any details entered (bank account details for instance) into such a website are stolen by those who created the website.
No institution will ever send an email requesting login details. In the unlikely event that you do receive an email from a financial institution requesting such details, contact them directly via your statement contact details (not the ones in the email) to check prior to responding. In general, any email requesting personal details it is not to be trusted. If you receive such an email, contact the sender directly to confirm the request and do not reply to the email.
Phishing websites look and feel exactly like the real Websites they imitate. In order to determine whether a site you are directed to is real, check to see whether it has a valid and correct certificate. If it is a website you use frequently, use a bookmark to access the site rather than any email supplied link.
As a rule of thumb, phishing requests are characterised by:
These emails and sites exist because they work. Many people, even those who know better, can be distracted or even accidentally comply with the requests in these emails. Should this arise, it is very important you contact the service or IT Services to report the matter, and change your account passwords immediately.
Viral Marketing has been around since 1996, but has been in a constant state of flux since it was first used as a marketing tool. Although many people have heard the term for years, it is very surprising how few people actually know what Viral Marketing is and how it works.
When used correctly, Viral Marketing can make a huge impact almost immediately. On the other hand, incorrect viral marketing can be a major waste of both time and money. How can we ensure that our viral marketing efforts deliver the desired results?
First, let’s make sure we are all on the same page regarding this mysterious advertising technique. What exactly is viral marketing? The definition of viral marketing is … a method of advertising products or services that causes recipients to pass them on to friends, associates and family members. Viral marketing got its odd name because the word spreads like a virus.
When done correctly, one person will give it to a few people who in turn will pass it on to several other people. This is what makes viral marketing so effective. For instance, let’s say you developed a training website and offered the training FREE to 10 people, who in turn forwarded the site to 10 people, who in turn passed it on to 10 people each. This simple viral campaign would put your website in front of 1,000 people almost immediately.
Now here’s where it gets fun … if everyone passes it on to 10 people and this progression continues just three more times, one million people will have access to YOUR website. Continue the progression twice more and 100,000,000 people (100 million people) will have been exposed to YOUR website. And because the Internet is so efficient, it could realistically happen in a matter of days, weeks or months.
In the beginning, email was the only way to effectively start and execute a viral marketing campaign. In the decade since, viral marketing has evolved from a marketing strategy to an art form and there are many ways to accomplish the objective of creating a successful viral marketing campaign. Here a just of few of the ways you can start a successful viral marketing promotion:
Email - This is where it all started. This is still the most widely used viral marketing medium, but government and ISP restrictions have made email marketing more challenging. Before investing in an extensive email marketing campaign, make sure you are working with a proven vendor and technology. When done correctly, this is still the best way to start and stimulate your viral advertising promotion.
Blogging - Providing the tools on your website to enable bloggers to interact with one another is a terrific way to get the message about your product of service out there and being talked about. Bloggers have their ears to the ground for new products and services.
Training Articles - By providing valuable resources to a targeted audience (home business owners, Internet marketers, pet owners, chefs, etc.), you can easily penetrate the market through the ‘back door.’ By offering high quality FREE training to specific niches, you increase your exposure and credibility, all in one fell swoop.
Newsletters - eNewsletter and eZines are a variation of email marketing and can be very effective tools. If you include enough timely and valuable information, a good newsletter can drive up the number of visits to your website.
Refer-A-Friend - If you add this with a statement saying that e-mail addresses supplied will never be shared with third parties, you can increase your potential customer list greatly.
The main thing to remember about effective Viral Marketing is that it all starts with a valuable tool or resource. The most effective viral advertising includes a product or service must provide tangible, measurable benefits at no cost to the recipient.
Once you have a product or service of value to offer, you have to get the ball rolling by ’seeding’ your viral marketing campaign. Think of it like a snowball rolling down a hill. In the beginning, you have to work hard to push the snowball while it gathers mass and speed. After the snowball reaches ‘critical mass’, it begins to take on a life of its own. Your viral marketing promotion is no different. Get it started, keep working at it, and soon it will begin to promote itself.
At iLearning Forum Paris 2009 last week the coveted European “iLearning Award” was presented to Jelena Godjevac, CEO of the Micro-Enterprise Acceleration Institute
iLearning Forum ltd and EIfEL, the European Association of eLearning Professionals, have awarded the Micro-Enterprise Acceleration Institute the top prize for their eLearning project in aid of entrepreneurs in developing countries. The Micro-Enterprise Acceleration Institute (MEA-I) initiative uses accessible information technologies to provide equal opportunity and access to learning, qualifications and social integration. Project submissions from Crossknowledge, Tata Interactive and Giunti Labs were also appreciated by the jury.
The Micro-Enterprise Acceleration Institute (MEA-I) is a non-profit international organization dedicated to providing training to micro-enterprise around the world. The main aim is to accelerate the economic development of companies with less than 10 employees. Mainly funded by Hewlett-Packard, MEA-I trains over 20,000 micro-entrepreneurs in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific every year.
MEA-I delivers tailored training solutions, adapted to local conditions, in over 30 countries, often in partnership with local aid agencies, with the aim of creating jobs and business success. The training package consists of an open learning center equipped by Hewlett-Packard, curricula of traditional classroom training, PC courses and an eLearning platform providing learners with serious games, videos, pod casts that blend into their learning programme via www.knowledge-city.net
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Google announced Tuesday it is adding video and audio chat to its free e-mail service, joining Microsoft and Yahoo in a race to make communication on the Web a more social experience.
Both Microsoft and Yahoo offer video with their instant messaging services, but have not integrated it into e-mail.
“I think it’s a nice addition and some people will use it, but I don’t think it will drive huge adoption of Gmail,” said Greg Sterling, of Sterling Market Intelligence, referring to Google’s free e-mail service.
Video chat is also a popular feature of Skype, eBay’s calling service, and has been the focus of a number of start-ups, including Paltalk, Stickam and Camfrog.
Gmail is the third-largest e-mail service, with 113 million worldwide users as of September, behind Microsoft, which had 283 million users and Yahoo, which had 274 million, according to comScore.
While e-mail was regarded as the killer app of the 1990s, prompting hundreds of millions of people to embrace personal computers, it is still not yet a moneymaker for Internet companies.
Advertising displayed around e-mail messages is not very successful, because users do not want to be distracted.
Lately, developers have begun to view e-mail as the starting point for connecting to other online services that people may be willing to pay for, such as Netflix.
Last month, Yahoo announced it was providing programmers the software instructions they need to write applications that can extend the features of Yahoo mail. Ash Patel, executive vice president of the audience product division, said the goal was to help hundreds of millions of users “communicate better and get more done.”Microsoft has also been upgrading its communication platform, known as Windows Live.
Using joomla since day 1 I often re-use a lot of joomla components over and over. There are a lot of components that give Joomla the power to be the best CMS on market today.
Here are the most useful components I used in the years for building sites. Of course the list is not exhaustive. I do not claim to have used all components and also I will not include any commercial components in this list. Commercial components will make another list .
The list is not in a specific order, the components are all good and mainly from different areas – so it would be hard to compare them to each other.. Continue reading »
