Twitter looks to start making some money

Twitter Inc.’s co-founders say the rapidly growing online communications company will eventually charge fees for its services, but it’s unclear which ones and what will drive revenue.

“There will be a moment when you can fill out a form or something and give us money,” said Evan Williams, co-founder and chief executive officer.

“We’re working on it right now,” Williams said at The Wall Street Journal’s D: All Things Digital conference.

Williams and Twitter co-founder Biz Stone mentioned possible revenue-generators, including a service that would authenticate the source of information. For example, Dunkin’ Donuts could pay to make sure that impostors don’t send messages under its name.

Still, after nearly one hour of questions from journalists Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher and from the audience, the co-founders gave no clear picture of Twitter’s business model. Stone demurred when asked what would be the company’s key revenue driver in two years.

Williams said he wasn’t opposed to banner advertising but was unenthusiastic.

“I think it’s probably the least interesting thing we could do,” he said.

Williams said one of his top priorities was hiring more people to help grow the company but he didn’t give a headcount target. San Francisco-based Twitter has 43 employees, he said, double its count in January.

Twitter allows anyone to write about what they’re doing or what’s on their mind in messages sent through the Web or cell phones, also known as “tweets,” which are limited to 140 characters. The unconventional, free service has attracted millions of users.

The co-founders said they know the hype surrounding Twitter won’t last forever.

“If you pay attention to it too much, you can run yourself off the rails,” Stone said. He added, “Pretty soon, everybody’s going to hate us.”

The privately held company has been a subject of buyout speculation by a big technology company, but Williams said he believed Twitter would remain independent.

There are plenty of ways, what about looking into the business models of the other websites that allow free access for its users? like Facebook, Myspace or Shareapic

Web sites to charge for content: Rupert Murdoch

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch expects News Corporation-owned newspaper Web sites to start charging users for access within a year in a move which analysts say could radically shake-up the culture of freely available content.

Speaking on a conference call as News Corporation announced a 47 percent slide in quarterly profits to $755 million, Murdoch said the current free access business model favored by most content providers was flawed.

"We are now in the midst of an epochal debate over the value of content and it is clear to many newspapers that the current model is malfunctioning," the News Corp. Chairman and CEO said.

"We have been at the forefront of that debate and you can confidently presume that we are leading the way in finding a model that maximizes revenues in return for our shareholders... The current days of the Internet will soon be over."

Murdoch said the experience of the News Corp.-owned Wall Street Journal had proved that charging for content could be made to work.

He said 360,000 people had downloaded an iPhone WSJ application in three weeks. Users would soon be made to pay "handsomely" for accessing WSJ content, he added.

Murdoch said he envisaged other News Corp. titles introducing charges within 12 months.

Murdoch's international newspaper empire includes the New York Post, the News International stable of UK titles including the Sun and the Times, and a cluster of Australian papers including the Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun.

His comments come with the U.S. newspaper industry in a state of crisis amid plunging advertising revenues and falling circulations with several historic titles already going out of business.

Joshua Benton, Director of the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University, said Murdoch was not the only executive looking to generate new income streams from online content.

"News executives are starting to recognize that online advertising revenues are not enough on their own," Benton told CNN.

But he said the challenge for media organizations was finding a balance between advertising and subscription revenues and figuring out how to charge for content without alienating existing users -- which could lead to Web sites offering tiered levels of free and paid-for material.

"I suspect within any readership there is a small slice -- maybe three percent -- that is willing to pay. News organizations are going to have to find a way of getting money from that slice without driving away everybody else," Benton said.

"I don't think you can afford to put a lock and chain on the front page. It is a matter of figuring out which products you can charge money for."

Benton said the U.S. newspaper industry was in a "horrible state" which was likely to get worse.

"We're starting to see holes where newspapers were. The question is, will new Web sites fill the holes, will traditional names come in -- or will they just not get filled?"

Earlier this week, the 137-year-old Boston Globe said it would be forced to shut down unless it reached an agreement with unions over a $10 million program of cost-cutting measures.

The paper's owners, The New York Times Co., postponed plans to close the paper after reaching a deal with six of seven employees' unions but said the Globe was expected to lose $85 million in 2009 if it did not make major cuts.

The developments followed the demise of print editions of The Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colorado; The Seattle Post-Intelligencer; and The Christian Science Monitor.

The Rocky Mountain News shut down completely; both the Seattle paper and the Christian Science Monitor remain in online editions.

At least 120 newspapers in the U.S. have shut down since January 2008, according to Paper Cuts, a Web site tracking the newspaper industry. More than 21,000 jobs at 67 newspapers have vaporized in that time, according to the site.

Despite the general mood of gloom over the state of the economy, Murdoch said he believed the worst of the financial crisis had passed.

"I'm not an economist and we all know economists were created to make weather forecasters look good," he said. "But it is increasingly clear the worst is over."

Thoughts? Would you pay to use news websites?

R.I.P. Geocities

Maybe you’ve already heard by now that, But Yahoo is shutting down Geocities. Yes, the same Geocities it paid $3 billion dollars for a mere 10 years ago for.

Yahoo has shut down the Geocities website. Geocities was a free website service and online community. It was one of the hottest properties on the internet during the late 90s. Yahoo overpaid for the service in 1999, paying a whopping $4.9 BILLION for it in a stock deal.

CNET calls Geocities a "relic of Web's early days." PC World says "So Long, GeoCities: We Forgot You Still Existed."

The Geocities website now contains the following message.

After careful consideration, we have decided to close GeoCities later this year. We'll share more details this summer. For now, please sign in or visit the help center for more information.

Yahoo has also posted a faq about the closing. "Yahoo will be closing Geocities accounts by the end of the year". The faq states, "Later this year we will be closing all GeoCities accounts and web sites. We'll send you more details this summer."

It remains to be seen whether the failure of Geocities is a lesson for today's ultra hot web communities like MySpace and Facebook.

The first thing I thought about when I heard this news was MySpace.

Before you laugh out loud, I’m not talking MySpace the darling amongst teens and music artists today, I’m talking about MySpace 10 years from now. Take a ride in your time machine to the year 2019 because it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if by then MySpace has met the same grim fate. A lot of MySpace pages are nothing more than Geocities type over-busy pages with sound. The major difference is MySpace is more ‘social’ whatever that means.

There will be something cooler than MySpace within the next 10 years and the inevitable shut down will follow. That’s not to say MySpace is a complete waste of time today so don’t think I’m trolling here but I think the sobering news about Geocities being here today gone tomorrow within 10 years – a lifetime on the internet, BTW – should be a wake-up call for MySpace users.

What do you think, am I wrong? Will MySpace have more longevity than Geocities? If you need another example of a waning giant, look at eBay vs. Craigslist. It’s tough staying relevant, popular and cool online. For that matter, what about Facebook? it's not really all that hot as it was back just a few years ago is it? (I still don't get what the big deal is) or for that matter, Twitter, whats THAT all about? will we be reading about these in the cyber obituaries a decade from now? remembering back to what life was like when these "giants" were around?

Thoughts?

Top 10 Reasons your company should NOT Be "tweeting"

Mainstream media is in an orgiastic frenzy of coverage about Twitter. Everyone's Tweeting these days it seems, from celebrities to CEOs according to CNN, The View, Today, the NY Times, the Wall St Journal and just about everyone else. Each of them covers Twitter like it's some overnight phenomenon that came out of nowhere, although Twitter has been gaining traction for three years and now has over 14 million members.

So, Should your company be on Twitter? Not necessarily.

Top 10 reasons not to join Twitter:

1. every Tweet has to be approved by legal. Twitter is a social network where conversation is fast and interconnected. If you have to wait a day, or even a few hours for your 140 character Tweet to gain legal approval, Twitter will be the wrong platform for you.

2. you plan to use Twitter like a giant RSS feed, broadcasting nothing but headlines, deals. People follow people they find interesting. If all your Tweets are a one-way street: Block!

3. you think using Twitter is a social media strategy. It's a tactic, a tool, not a strategy. It works if you already have an online following who'll view your Tweets as a way to interact with your company on a human level

4. you think it's a good idea to have someone tweet as if they are the president of the company. Authentic and transparent are the keys. It's fine if someone besides the CEO tweets for your company, as long as they say that's what they're doing

5. you are not going to respond when people direct tweets at you. Twitter is like the new watercooler. If you walked out to the water fountain and talked non-stop to people gathered there, they'd certainly be happy when you left. Ditto for Twitter.

6. you think paying for followers might be a good idea. Followers are earned on Twitter. Be interesting, make only every 10th Tweet about you and you'll gain and keep a following.

7. you think all that matters on Twitter is getting a lot of people to follow you. Quality trumps quantity.

8. you want to protect your updates. If people have to ask permission to see what you're posting on Twitter, you're defeating the purpose - which is conversation.

9. you plan to track Twitter with Google Analytics. Google Analytics won't give you true tracking. You need to track the urls you post with a service like budurl or bit.ly and use one or more social media tracking tools so you can get real-time stats on Twitter

10. You think you can market to people with whom you have no relationship Listen first. Monitor what's being said about your brand, your industry, your products. Then join the conversation and become part of the community. Then your occasional marketing messages will be accepted, or at least tolerated because you also add value to the community.

Newspaper future in advertising: Google CEO

Google Inc.'s chief executive Eric Schmidt told newspaper publishers Tuesday that they should continue to rely on advertising but seek new ways to reach readers.

Without providing any specific recipes, Eric Schmidt laid out a few possibilities, including a site for medicine similar to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, which lets users collectively contribute and edit entries. He urged publishers to focus on mobile technology and the development of new platforms for delivering news.

Schmidt said there's still room for subscription and pay-by-the-piece journalism but he emphasized advertising, the source of 98 per cent of Google's revenue, thanks to its success matching ads with a user's search terms and other keywords.

"The important thing here is that advertising that is useful is going to work," he said.

Schmidt commended newspapers for staking claim on the Internet in the 1990s but said there wasn't a second act. He says news websites take too long to read, even slower than flipping through a newspaper or magazine, a shortcoming that can be addressed by improving technology.

"At Google we're working hard to address the technological questions," he said at the Newspaper Association of America's annual convention. "We don't have any answers here."

He said technology for reading news on devices like mobile phone must ultimately be as pleasant as reading a magazine.

"From my perspective, the online experience can be thought of as terrible compared to what I view as this wonderful experience with magazines and newspapers."

Schmidt's wide-ranging remarks for about 45 minutes came before an audience whose businesses have plummeted as the recession compounds a decline in print advertising that began with the shift of some advertising to free or low-cost alternatives online.

Schmidt told reporters he was deeply concerned about the decline in quality journalism but had no easy answers for the industry's woes.

His appearance came one day after The Associated Press announced a news industry initiative to track down copyright violators on the Internet and try to divert traffic from Web sites that don't properly license news content. The AP didn't name any potential targets, but some news reports focused on Internet search engines like Google.

Schmidt said Google has a multimillion-dollar licensing deal for AP content.

"I was a little confused by all the excitement in the news in the last 24 hours," he said.

Best to check things twice

no,no, no!!! They meant the OTHER kind of stimulus!

The Liberals launched a new website today to provide their own assessment of the government's attempts to stimulate the economy.

But future visitors to the site are only a small, common typo away from getting something far... uh... less partisan, let's just say.

OnProbation.ca promises that "you can help us keep the government on track."

OnProbation.COM promises... lets put it this way, there keyword description on Google is : "OnProbation .com - Black Asian Interracial Porn Videos & Movies. "

Liberals say they weren't aware of that other site when choosing their name. (geeze, you'd think someone would have checked for availabilities and checked the sites for the names that were taken... who was sleeping on the job here??)

It remains to be seen which site will get more traffic in the coming months.... Not that i'll be going to them ;-)

Google starts tracking browsers to target ads

Google is getting to know you a little better in order to send you ads you'll more likely like.

The Mountain-View, Calif.-based internet company is starting to gather information about the websites people visit using an individual web browser in order to target ads to their interests, Google has announced on its blog.

"By making ads more relevant, and improving the connection between advertisers and our users, we can create more value for everyone," the company said. "Users get more useful ads, and these more relevant ads generate higher returns for advertisers and publishers."

"Interest-based" advertising was launched Wednesday as a beta test on third-party sites that carry Google ads, as well as the YouTube video site that Google owns.
Demand from partners

The blog entry called advertising "the lifeblood of the digital economy" and said Google's advertising and publishing partners have been asking it for a long time to offer interest-based advertising, which is already used by some other companies.

Google's system will be able to infer users' interests based on the sites they visit, which will be associated with their browsers using a tracking file called a "cookie."

For example, each time a user visits an adventure travel site that carries Google advertising, a cookie will be placed in the browser. If the user visits many such sites, he or she will be flagged as someone with a strong interest in adventure travel and more ads for activities like hiking trips to Patagonia or African safaris will show up in the browser even when:

- The user is on a Google partner site that doesn't involve adventure travel.
- When someone else is using the browser.

"This kind of tailored advertising does raise questions about user choice and privacy — questions the whole online ad industry has a responsibility to answer," Google acknowledged, adding that other companies that provide interest-based advertising deal with this in different ways.
Won't add 'sensitive' interest categories

However, the company promised that:

- It will not collect the user's name or any other personal information.
- It will not use sensitive interest categories such as those based on race, religion, sexual orientation, health or "sensitive financial categories."
-Users will be able to view, delete and add interest categories associated with their browser.
- Users can opt not to accept advertising cookies from Google partners.

In addition, users will be able to clear the cookies used by Google's targeted advertising the way they usually clear cookies from their browser.

Until now, Google's ads have been targeted based only on the site that the user is currently viewing. For example, the user would receive adventure travel ads only while on an adventure travel site or reading an email about adventure travel.

However, other companies have been offering personalized advertising for some time. For example, social networking sites MySpace and Facebook have targeted ads to individual users based on their profiles since 2007.

Appraisal pegs value of Facebook at $3.7B

Facebook Inc. quickly concluded it wasn't worth anywhere near the $15 billion US market value implied in a 2007 investment made by Microsoft Corp., according to confidential information obtained Wednesday from court documents.

In a transcript of a June court hearing that was closed to the public, lawyers arguing over a legal settlement revealed Facebook's own appraisal had priced its privately held stock at $8.88 US per share, giving it a market value of about $3.7 billion US.

The Palo Alto-based company relied on the appraisal to value employee stock options fairly and avert possible tax problems.

Facebook, which currently runs the internet's largest social network, made the assessment after striking an October 2007 deal with Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft. As part of a broader advertising partnership with Microsoft, Facebook agreed to sell a 1.6 per cent stake to the software maker for $240 million US.

The Microsoft investment implied Facebook's stock was worth $35.90 per share — a figure that was relied upon in the settlement of a lawsuit that accused the company's founder, Mark Zuckerberg, of stealing the idea for his online hangout from three former classmates who started another social network called ConnectU.

Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt declined to comment on any of the figures obtained from the court documents. Microsoft had no immediate comment.

Debate over worth of shares

In last June's court hearing, Facebook's lawyers argued the company's appraisal of its common stock couldn't be held up as an apples-to-apples comparison with the Microsoft investment because the software maker bought Series D preferred stock.

Microsoft also had an incentive to pay a premium for Facebook's stock because it wanted to deepen its ties to the company's popular website, whose worldwide audience of 150 million people could eventually attract billions of dollars in advertising.

Analysts believe Facebook generated somewhere between $250 million US and $300 million US in revenue last year.

Lawyers opposing Facebook said the company cited the $35.90 US per share figure in the settlement negotiations.

Zuckerberg's former classmates — Divya Narendra and twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss — balked at settling the case last March after learning Facebook determined its common stock was worth about one-fourth of the value derived from Microsoft's investment.

U.S. District Judge James Ware decided to enforce the settlement despite ConnectU's contention that it had been misled about the true value of Facebook's stock.

ConnectU's resistance to the settlement triggered widespread speculation about how much Facebook's stock is really worth.

Settlement reached this week

Facebook fought fiercely to keep the details of its market value and the ConnectU settlement under wraps. Before last June's hearing, Facebook lawyers persuaded Ware to remove reporters from a San Jose courtroom so the final details could be hashed out in private.

Large portions of that hearing are redacted in a transcript of the June hearing, but the Associated Press was able to read the blacked-out portions by copying from an electronic version of the document and pasting the results into another document.

Under their settlement, Facebook agreed to pay ConnectU $20 million in cash and 1,253,326 shares of common stock. The stock was worth $45 million US, based on the Microsoft valuation, but only $11 million US under Facebook's own appraisal.

That means ConnectU received anywhere from $31 million US and $65 million US for settling the suit, depending on which stock valuation is used.

Facebook's stock probably is worth even less now because of a severe recession that has decimated the values of companies around the globe.

The $65-million settlement amount has been reported in the media this week, based on information that was inadvertently leaked by a law firm that represented ConnectU in the case against Facebook.

The firm, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, boasted about the $65 million US figure in a newsletter that was obtained this week by The Recorder, a legal publication.

ConnectU fired Quinn Emanuel before Ware signed off on the Facebook settlement.

Film like ratings for websites?

Film ratings needed for websites: British minister

Britain's culture minister says that websites should be rated in the same way that films are, to protect children from offensive material.

Andy Burnham says his government has plans to discuss the idea of international rules for English-language websites with the administration of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.

"We have got a real opportunity to make common cause [and] this is an area that is really now coming into full focus," Burnham told Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper in an article published Saturday.

The minister, who called the internet a "dangerous place," said age-appropriate ratings may be the way to go.

He would also like to see internet-service providers (ISPs) offer parents "child-safe" web services where the only websites accessible are those stamped suitable for children.


Burnham also suggested the internet follow television's example, which often doesn't broadcast violent or sexually charged material prior to 9 p.m. There should also be a set time in which sites such as YouTube or Facebook would have to remove offensive or harmful content, he said.

Burnham has denied that he's attacking free speech.

"The internet has been empowering and democratizing in many ways but we haven't yet got the stakes in the ground to help people navigate their way safely around," Burnham said.

"There is a wider public interest at stake when it involves harm to other people. We have got to get better at defining where the public interest lies and being clear about it."

I really don't see how Mr. Burnham propose we do this? Almost all ideas seem great on paper, but when it comes to practically don't it, it just isn't possibly or do-able (think back to before the Wright brothers finally invented the plane, before that we had people strapping boards to there arms, take a running start, flapping there arms and jumping off cliffs...sure on paper that might sound like a good idea, I mean, the boards are like wings, and if birds, who have wings, can fly like that, why can't people?) How does Mr. Burnham propose we "shut off" internet website content prior to say 9pm so that children and minors are protected from things like that? I'm sure Mr. Burnham must have some sort of idea written out on how he thinks it can be done, I don't think he'd just propose it without a plan? or could he?..hmmm...

Isn't there already something in place for parents to protect there children (I may be wrong, correct me if I am) for offensive, inappropriate content and websites they do not approve of?
Off the top of my head I can name:

- CyberSitter
- NetNanny
- SafeEyes
- Cyber Patrol

And I do know that there are several other quality programs for parents, With these programs already in existance, do we really need to go with rating systems?

What do you guys think about this?

The 12 scams of Christmas

'Tis the season for joy and giving -- but for malicious types hanging out in cyberspace it's also a time to take advantage of naive web surfers. Scams run high leading up to and over the holidays, Here are 12 scams to watch out for to ensure a Merry Christmas for yourself.

Not everyone is feeling the festive spirit, as many scammers are attempting to take advantage of your kindness. Here are of 12 scam warning signs to watch out for.

Charity Phishing Scams

How it works: The hackers send fictional emails that appear to be from well-known charitable organizations, such as the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and Oxfam that direct consumers to fake websites designed to steal their money.

What to do: Don’t ever click on a link sent in email -- type in the name of the organization directly.

Email Banking Scams

How it works: the bad guys send an official-looking email that asks consumers to confirm account information, including their user name and password. These emails often try to fool consumers into thinking that if they don’t comply with the instructions, their account will become invalid.

What to do: Don't ever click on a link sent in email. Visit your bank website directly by typing in the name in your browser. Call your bank by telephone if you’re concerned about your account. Never give your account details out as a result of an email request.

Holiday e-cards

How it works: Scammers may send you an e-card that appears as if it’s coming from Hallmark asking you to download an attachment to pick up your e-card. However, the attachment isn't really an e-card -- it's a Trojan.

What to do: A few clues that an e-card is not legit are spelling mistakes, errors in the message, unknown senders or senders with bogus names and odd-looking URLs. When in doubt, don’t open it.

Fake Invoices

How it works: The bad guys create a fake invoice or waybill and send it via email as an attachment. Once the consumer opens the email attachment there are a few variations -- the recipient may be asked to confirm or cancel an order, they may be told that the parcel service was unable to deliver a package due to having an incorrect address, or the recipient may receive a customs notification about an international package.

What to do: Never give your financial details over email to an unknown recipient or open a suspicious attachment. If you want to ensure you are reaching shipping sites like FedEx or UPS, open a browser and directly access the website.

You’ve Got A New Friend!

How it works: As the joy of the holiday season brings people together and reignites old friendships, many of us are excited when alerted with a message that says, “You’ve got a new friend!” when using popular social networking sites. Sadly, in some cases, after clicking on the notice, you NOT only do not have a new friend -- you have downloaded malicious software that you can’t even detect. Of course, it’s designed to steal personal and financial information.

What to do: Delete the email immediately. Stay away from “friends” you don’t know.

Dangerous Holiday-Related Search Terms

How it works: You get an email or see a pop-up window that says "Free Santa download” or "Free Santa holiday screensaver" but when click on it and download the proam, it's malware.

What to do: Don't trust these emails or pop-up windows. If you want to download holiday-themed PC extras, go to a legit site like Download.com, which houses files that contain no spyware.

Coffee Shop Cyber criminal

How it works: An attacker might set up a rogue wireless access point nearby a coffeehouse. If somebody unwittingly connects to the attacker’s network, the thief can watch just about everything that goes on while that connection is in use and can redirect traffic, sending the unknowing user to the dark alleys of the Internet.

What to do: Make sure you have a firewall install and stick with wireless networks you know and trust. Free is tempting, but could cost you a lot in the end.

Password Stealers

How it works: A North American holiday shopping survey found that 53 percent of consumers admit they use the same password for multiple websites or online services. If someone finds out (or guesses) one of your passwords, it could put your entire digital life at risk.

What to do: Be sure you use have an updated comprehensive security software suite to help prevent access to password-stealing malware -- this includes anti-virus, anti-spyware and a two-way firewall. And create complex passwords such as h@ppYh0lid@y$

Fraud Via Auction Sites

How it works: Shoppers on auction sites must be aware of scammers who will use the increased activity of the holiday season to prey upon new victims. Be sure to read the security and safety policies from such sites as eBay to learn how to protect your account and buy safely.

What to do: eBay’s Online Safety Advisor, Rich LaMagna, recommends to use your common sense (if an item looks too good to be true, it probably is), carefully review the seller’s ratings and feedback to be sure that he or she has a positive rating and pay with a safe payment method such as PayPal or your credit card.

Holiday-themed email attachments and spam

How it works: A recent holiday survey found that 49% of consumers have opened or would open an email with a holiday themed attachment. Consumers should beware of emails that prey upon their holiday spirit.

What to do: Be weary of friendly-looking emails from strangers that say something like “Happy 2009 to you!”, “Merry Christmas, friend!” and of course don’t open attachments or click links that take you to a website.

Online Identity Theft

How it works: McAfee says online shopping offers the 3 Cs: cost, convenience and choice -- but there’s one more we learned about from the recent McAfee Shopping Survey: Concern. For example, sites that store your personal information can be vulnerable to cybercriminals who hack in to steal your identity.

What to do: look for the mark of trusted security approvals, such as McAfee SECURE, which appears on more than 80,000 sites that pass daily testing for more than 10,000 known hacker vulnerabilities.

Laptop Theft

How it works: While you're out enjoying the festivities of the season, someone is looking to take home YOUR laptop as their gift.

What to do: Make sure to be particularly vigilant at this time of year and never leave your laptop in sight in your car. For further protection, be sure to purchase a product that safeguards important files – including photos, music and bank/credit card statements, in the event your laptop is stolen.

See Spottt fetch more visitors

To bring more visitors to my blog, I looked for a service to help give my page more exposure. I wanted something that could be both easy to use, and affordable. I found Spottt! Spottt is the latest invention of Phil Kaplan, the founder of Adbrite and earlier of F***edcompany.com.

What I really love is that it's wonderfully straight-forward: It lets sites exchange ads, to boost each other’s traffic (you help me, I help you, what could be better?). Publishers provide an ad for another site, in return for accepting an ad from the other site. Spottt does this for free, but later on will presumably take a cut. Spottt is promising because most sites have ad space that can go empty for periods of time, after an advertising campaign ends, for example.

The idea first arose in 1996, when Tony Hsieh launched a company called Link Exchange, which i'm sure most of you have heard of by now. By its first year, 30,000 Web sites were using it. A million were using it in 1998, when Microsoft bought it for $250 million. However, Microsoft shut it down this year, Hsieh tells us. This is consternating, given the tens of millions of blogs that could use this service. Kaplan has recruited Hsieh as an advisor for the new effort.

The ads are of 125×125 pixel size, and must run “above the fold.” Sites apply for admission to Spottt, and choose a category. Then one shoe retail site can exchange ads with a shoe repair site, for example. Right from the moment you submit your site, Spottt is easy to use. Free...easy to use....and brings visitors to your webpage... really can't get much better then that!

Getting your website on Googles 1st page

It's a dream come true for a webmasters site to appear at the top of Google's search results, especially if the website is actually selling a product or service. In a competitive industry this would mean that the orders would start rolling in with such a force that the business would grow incredibly quickly.

Is it all just a dream? NO! Hundreds of businesses do it with regularity, and you can do it for yourself too.

The first and foremost task when trying to get your site to the top of Google is to start link building, not just any old link building but having your keywords included in your "anchor". Anchor links are when the links are actually clickable, if for example you were selling green buttons the link would not be a www link. It would actually say "green buttons".

The next step is choosing the correct keyword phrases for your site. Now most people want to be on the first page of Google for a one word phrase like "Buttons". However, if you only sold buttons made of silver, it would be bringing you the wrong type of customer. It would be best to choose keyword phrases like "Silver Buttons" or "Buttons made of Silver". This would bring you the right type of customer and it your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) efforts would show results a lot quicker.

Integrate the keyword phrases throughout your site with your best ones on your homepage. Without the keywords on your site, your site will not perform at all.

The next step is to actually go out and get some back links to your site, be smart about whom you get links from, as websites that are relevant to your industry will have far more weight when it comes to giving you good results. Getting a few powerful links with a page rank of 6 or 7 will give you almost immediate results (It's even possible to see your results within just a couple of days!)

Shopping online safely

With the holiday shopping season upon, we're all thinking about those on our gift giving lists, and with that, the malls will be getting busier... but a new trend is building steam with each passing month/year/holiday season.
The volume of online shopping is increasing. According to some estimates, holiday e-commerce spending totaled $29 Billion in 2007, an increase from $24 billion in 2006. While online shopping can be convenient and time-saving, you must shop smart and take precautions to mitigate the risks.

The following are some helpful tips to follow for a safe online shopping experience:

- Enhance the security of your computer. Be sure to install a firewall and make sure your computer has the most current anti-virus and anti-spyware software before you begin your online shopping. Set your default settings on your computer to "auto update."

- Use strong passwords. When creating passwords for online accounts, use at least eight characters, with numbers, special characters, and upper and lower case letters. Don't use the same passwords for online shopping websites that you use for logging onto your computer. Never share your login and/or password.

- Guard the security of your transaction. When submitting your purchase information, look for the "lock" icon on the browser's status bar and be sure "https" or "shttp" appears in the website's address bar. The "s" stands for "secure."

- Don't email your financial information. Clear-text emails are not a secure method of transmitting financial information such as your credit card, checking account, or Social Security numbers.

- DO Keep a paper trail and check your credit card and bank statements regularly. Print and save records of your online transactions, including the product description and price, the online receipt, and copies of every email you send or receive from the seller. Read your credit card and bank statements as you receive them and be on the lookout for unauthorized charges.

- Don't respond to pop-up messages. If you get an email or pop-up message while you're browsing, don't reply or click on the link in the message, especially if it is asking for personal or financial information. Legitimate organizations don't ask for this information in these ways.

- Check the privacy policy and terms of service. Know what information the merchant is collecting about you, how it will be used, and if it will be shared or sold to others. You can do this by checking the web site to make sure these articles are posted, and that you're comfortable with the way your personal information is treated under that policy.

- Look for seals from privacy enforcement organizations like TRUSTe or the Better Business Bureau (BBBOnLine). Be suspicious if you're asked to supply personal information not needed to make a purchase, such as your Social Security number, mother's maiden name or other personal information.

- Limit your online shopping to merchants you know and trust. If you have questions about a merchant, verify it with the Better Business Bureau or the Federal Trade Commission.

- Pay by credit card. Credit or charge card transactions are protected by the Fair Credit Billing Act. (Debit cards are covered under the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, but the potential protections provided will depend upon when you report the error, loss or unauthorized use.)

- Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, in the event of unauthorized use of your credit or charge card, you generally would be held liable only for the first $50 in charges. Some companies offer an online shopping guarantee that ensures you will not be held responsible for any unauthorized charges made online, and some cards may provide additional warranty, return, and/or purchase protection benefits.

- Use temporary account authorizations when available. Some credit card companies offer virtual or temporary credit card authorization numbers. This kind of service gives you use of a secure and unique account number for each online transaction. These numbers are often issued for a short period of time and cannot be used after that period. Contact your credit card company to see if they offer this service.

- Know who you are doing business with before placing your order. Confirm the online seller's physical address and phone number in case you have questions or problems.

What to do if you are a victim of online fraud or encounter problems with the online shopping site:

If you have problems during a transaction, you can contact the seller merchant or site operator directly. If those attempts are not successful, you may wish to file a complaint with the BBB or the FTC.

Using the tips above, you should be able to make this holiday season a lot easier on yourself, both in terms on finding values easier and faster, not having to be out in the cold winter and traffic, or have to put up with those awful crowds of eager shoppers in the malls.