Last year Facebook had 150 million users with 200 million people visiting the website monthly. Now Facebook has more than doubled in size to 350 million users. It is estimated that by summer 2010 over half of all Internet users will visit Facebook at least once a month.

So, that is impressive right? Sure but consider this: “175 million ( 1/2 of all registered users ) log into Facebook every day.” Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook.com

Advertising your business on social media sites like Facebook.com can give you a very targeted group to market your goods and services. Plus, people have “friends” that typically share alot of the same hobbies and interests as they do.

For example: Let’s say you own a Soccer Sporting Goods Store with a retail ( brick-and-mortar ) offline location. You want to drive more foot traffic into your store. Consider building a FREE facebook fan page and use Facebook advertising, along with your website,  to promote and build that page. You can market your Facebook advertising to those people who are in your geographic location even further segmenting it ( if you like ) to those interested in sports. Maybe you want to target only “Soccer Moms”…you can do that. And, when you reach someone and they become a “Fan” they advertise it for free on their profile page to all of their friends. Talk about viral!

Need the ins-and-outs to advertising on Facebook and other social media websites? We can help!

Social Media Ad Spending - “Top Priority”There is a new report out from the Society of Digital Agencies and reported on by Marketing Pilgrim suggesting marketers plan to further shift budgets from traditional forms to online media. The top budget allocation considerations are as follows:1. Digital Infrastructure2. Digital Advertising3. Search Optimization4. Social Networks5. Mobile6. Viral Campaigns7. Blogger Outreach8. Email Marketing9. Games10. OtherDirectly from the report at: http://sodaspeaks.ning.com/page/digital-marketing-outlook:

• 81% of Brand Execs expect an increase in digital projects for 2010
• 50% will be shifting funds from traditional to digital media
• 78% of global participants believe the current economy will actually spawn more funds allocated to Digital

Social Media is propelling the rise of the Consumer:

• “Rather than spending another misguided year trying to “engineer” viral campaigns that will propagate themselves, regardless of consumer intentions, it’s time to refocus our marketing efforts to align with the way that people actually behave.” – Ivan Askwith, Big Spaceship
• “2010 will be the year that social media-fueled technology and behavior is responsible for more content consumption choices than ever before. As the media landscape becomes increasingly fragmented, marketers will need to become more nimble than ever, and start getting on the leading edge of trends, as opposed to waiting for them to emerge.” – Ian Schafer, Deep Focus
• “The most effective digital platforms have shifted from “disruptive” to “productive” by providing a service or utility…[They] fundamentally change the approach from “how we reach our customers” to “how we make their lives better.” - Ken Martin, Chief Creative Officer, and Ivan Todorov, CEO & CTO, Blitz

“The web can be anywhere, and physical interaction with brand and the extension of commerce into the real world are the convergence point in the next wave of digital marketing.” – Peter Connolly, Obscura DigitalTeeth Laser Whitening

According to comScore Inc., online retail sales during the holidays were up 5% over the same period last year topping $4.7 billion. Among the biggest days was Cyber Monday when the sales reached over $885 million matching a 1-day record set last season. Surprisingly, the day AFTER Cyber-Monday ( Tuesday ) sales reached $886 million.

 “We have now passed the halfway point of the season with the 4% growth in online spending to date slightly exceeding comScore’s forecast of an overall 3% growth rate for the entire season,” says comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “It will be interesting to see if the encouraging growth continues as we head into the busiest days of the season. Nonetheless, I do expect that we will see the industry’s first $900 million online spending day during this next critical week of the season.”

Those with the distinctive competitive advantage were the larger, more established retailers. Larger retailers were more equipped to offer considerable discounts in an economy where price was a major determining factor.

The other hot holiday choice for consumers this year was “Free Shipping”. 44% of those purchases during the final weeks before/after Christmas included some kind of shipping offer which as up 40% over 2008. Consumers clearly recognize “shipping” as a major deciding factor when choosing to spend money online. In fact, during the week of Thanksgiving, 50% of the purchases included a shipping offer.

If you are a retailer consider the following: “The average value of orders that include free shipping is 15% higher than for orders without shipping offers.” This suggests that retailers are convincing customers to buy more to meet thresholds for free shipping.

It is almost time for baseball! Make sure your Little League players have the baseball equipment they need for a successful season. Check out online retailer HitRunScore.com today! See also: http://hitrunscore.mlblogs.com/

Tom Angley Pete Allen Dick Adkins Fred Applegate Walter Zink Walter Anderson

George Abrams Elbert Andrews

Joe Ardner Gus Alberts

“82% of Mobile Phone Users would use their phones to access the web more often if only your site would load faster and provide a reliable experience.”According to Nielson Media Research, over 50,000,000 ( 50 Million ) USA mobile subscribers access the web each MONTH on their mobile device. The mobile audience grew 74% since 2007. But, most sites lack a mobile-friendly VERSION of their website and instead ignore millions of potential clients/customers/visitors. Gomez, Inc. hired Equation Research to conduct a study of consumers’ mobile Internet usage and their perceptions. This survey of 1001 mobile web users found that mobile device users have very high expectations from their mobile web experiences. They expect websites on their phone to open as fast or even faster than websites open on their desktop/laptop/home or work computer. “It also discovered that unsatisfactory mobile Web experiences not only have a negative impact on your revenue but increase your customer support costs and damage your brand equity.”The report, as detailed by Marketing Pilgrim,  has some important information that anyone with a business and a website should be concerned with. For example, the survey asked: “If websites loaded faster and worked as reliably on your mobile phone as they do from your home or work pc/laptop, would you use your mobile phone to access websites?” 82% reported they would.Concerned yet?  Well consider this: “If a mobile phone user can’t complete a transaction within a minute, they are going to leave your website.”

• Wait 1 - 30 seconds for the mobile site to load: 38%
• Wait 31 - 60 seconds for the mobile site to load: 35%
• Wait 60 - 90 seconds: 16%
• Wait 91 - 120 seconds:

Still need convincing? “When viewing a website on your mobile phone, how long are you willing to wait for the website to load before giving up and exiting the page?”

• Less than 1 second: 4%
• 1 - 5 seconds: 16%
• 6 - 10 seconds: 30%
• 11 - 15 seonds: 16%
• 16 - 20 seconds: 15%
• More than 20 seconds: 20%

Got mobile? Need Mobile?

A recent report from Nielson and reported by ClickZ states: “Time spent on social networking sites nearly tripled in the past year, and ad spending on those sites very nearly kept pace.”  Time spent on social networking sites rose by 11% in August 2009 to 17% while advertisers were eager to cash in on this growth by increasing spending by 119%! (estimated $49 million in August 2008 to $108 million last month).

There is a great recap of the report from Frank Reed over at Marketing Pilgrim.  Check it out!

Baseball Equipment

http://www.kaboodle.com/jmbinfo/baseball-bats.html

New website launch by YELLOW7.com 

Patients Seeking Body-Jet Liposuction Now Have Online Resource

BodyJetDocs.com, an online resource designed to match patients interested in Body Jet Liposuction with quality physicians in their geographic area, has been released to the public. Visitors to the site can learn more about Body Jet Liposuction, view body jet before and after photographs, read testimonials, frequently asked body jet questions and browse Body Jet doctors profiles all online. Those seeking more information from a Body-Jet doctor in their area can simply complete the quick contact form located on the doctors profile page.

Body-Jet is a revolutionary and effective fat removal solution designed to be less traumatic on the body than traditional liposuction. BodyJet uses a thin, fan-shaped water jet that is channeled into the fat tissue. The fat, as a result, easily loses its structure and is released. The results are excellent, allowing assessment of contour and fat removal during surgery much easier.

Advantages of Body Jet include:

• Better Results
• Less Bruising
• Less Swelling
• Less Pain
• Faster Recovery
• Smoother Results

In addition, the procedure can be performed while the patient is awake with no need for general anesthesia.

About BodyJetDocs.com
BodyJetDocs.com is an online resource developed to match people seeking Body-Jet liposuction with Body Jet Doctors in their area. Body Jet Doctors can use the site to promote their practice and provide additional information about the procedure.

For more information visit www.bodyjetdocs.com or call 1-888-518-1988.

Originally posted at Subash Gives Nothing for Anything , blue tooth has moved to the wrist watch.  Sony has started to produce a watch with blue tooth where as your phone rings a simple glance at your watch will show who is calling.  Great concept that promises to add additional functionality to the watch.  Now, check the time, check the date, and who is calling you…or called you.  Read the whole story here.

While browsing through SEOChat today I came across an article titled “Getting Creative with Content for Universal Search” by Terri Wells.  It is a great read and brings up some interesting information to consider.

A search these days on Google brings up more than just links to websites.  Now it is common to see videos and images mixed into the organic search listing results.  This is known as Universal Search and should be considered during content creation for an effective SEO strategy.  We all have our “tricks-of-the-trade” but anchored deep in any SEO strategy is the need for quality content.  After all, “Content is King!”  That content used to be paragraph after paragraph of text organized in an easy to find ( spider ) structure.  To a large extent that is still important but now consider what images or videos you may have that will help your rankings for a particular keyword.

If you think your cell phone is a vital part of your life now….just wait a few years.  The cell phone will become your Personal Management Device and, oh yeah, it will make telephone calls too!  IBM has a great piece on their site called the 5 - in - 5.  It stands for the 5 best innovations that will change our lives in the next 5 years.  Though I’m not sure if 5 years is a realistic timeframe, I am really excited about what is to come in the mobile device market. 

In the next 5 years, your cell phone will become your banker, ticket broker, personal shopper, appliance manager and more.  You will be able to connect with our friends in more ways than simple text messaging.  You will be able to involve them into your experiences.  Your phone will be equipped with technology that will allow you to snap a photograph of an item and then search the web for the best prices, comparable products, where to buy them ( both on- and offline ), how to get there, instant purchase options and more.  You will be displayed more photographs of that item, implementation instructions, schematics, chemical makeup, dimensions, weight…..

When you get home, your phone will be your universal remote, it will dim your lights, close your garage door, turn on your sprinkler system, feed your pets ( via an automatic pet food dispenser of course ), sync to your refrigerator and pantry to take inventory and create a shopping list, order take out ( because after all, your fridge said you were empty ), and allow you to access your answering machine ( duh…its a phone! ).

Available in the next 5 years?  I hope!

Cigarrest Blog

Find a California Day Spa near you.

http://dir.free-press-release.com/89-1.html
Press Release: Hermosa Beach Spa for Mother’s Day

The latest in RVs are the toy haulers.  These RVs have a built in garage to haul your toys where ever your destination may be. Check them out at one of our Texas RV Dealers.

Review the latest news involving personal injury lawyer.

Google is at it again…Total World Domination.  The Walmart of the Internet has created Google 411. A fast, easy and FREE directory assistance service.  From any phone, dial 1-800-Goog-411 and simply answer the questions:

1. What city and state?

2. What business name or category?

You are then given a few choices to go with….all voice activated.

Google uses the information provided by Google Maps to list your business so make sure your phone number is correct on your Google Maps / Google Local listing.

A few of the FAQs have some hidden information about what you are giving Google. 

For example:

How can I limit the information Google collects when I call Goog-411?

Google says:

There are a couple of ways you can control the way we collect and store information from your calls.

First, to delete any information we’ve associated with your phone number in the past, press the star (*) key at the beginning of your next call to GOOG-411 and follow the steps from there. Your phone number and all information associated with it will be deleted from the GOOG-411 system. We still keep anonymous information about all calls, but this information won’t be stored with your phone number.

Second, to avoid having any information associated with your phone number in the future, just block your caller ID before you call. With many phone services, you can do this by dialing *67 before the phone number. In most cases, you can also block your number through the menus on your mobile phone. For specific details on how to block your caller ID, contact your service provider.

Can I advertise on this service?

Google says:

At this point, we do not have advertising opportunities for this service.

Does anyone believe that won’t change in the future?

Looking for Dallas Office Space? Visit DFW Office.

http://blogs.ign.com/jmbinfo/2008/03/10/83415/

California Massage | Glen Ivy Hot Springs Spa | Hot Springs California

Smoking is an addiction that stops many people in their tracks.  It is very difficult to stop once you start.  The best method to stop is never start.  However, for many that is no longer an option.  The Cigarrest method could help you stop smoking.  Cigarrest is designed to help stop the cravings that are associated with nicotine. 

http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200805/1211573314.html