Month: September 2007

Here is an interesting twist -- a Bank whose marketing value proposition is "ethics." The bank is called The Co-operative Bank.They have features including a card that offers 0% on purchases and balance transfers for six months. Another option is a card that earns money for your chosen organization as you make charges to your card.

All in all they have a variety of credit cards for just about any need.Their ethics are their key differentiator though. Looking at some of their statements, they make comments such as:

Another example of one of their ethical actions:

Read more about this bank with the innovative focus on ethics at their web site.

A new Microsoft's Live Search has just launched:

The latest iteration of Microsoft's Live Search, which was first "leaked" last week, is now live and in the wild. According to the Live Search team, the improvements cover four major areas: an expanded index (reports say Live now searches 20 billion pages), faster load times, a new look and feel, and more integrated content.

Read full article

Ipipi is a web based service that allows you to send sms text messages to anybody with a cell phone.

What makes Ipipi different is it allows you to send and receive SMS from a computer OR from any mobile phone. With over 6 years in business, 400,000 users and serving Global 1000 corporate clients it caters to international text messaging needs. Learn more at Ipipi.com

What a tangled web we weave when ones intent is to deceive. This was a great example of how 'spammy' sites can game Google and rank well for a season. Historically, their ranking is short lived as Google will change their algorithm or ban the spammy site.

Read more at:

Google Loves Transparent Links & Hit Counter Spam

This new Web 2.0 app shows promise. Taskbin is a collaboration tool that allows you to share and manage to-do lists among groups. You can flag tasks in order of urgency to prioritize and write notes for yourself or share them with group members.

Unlike other project management tools, TaskBin doesn't force you to enter deadlines. It's a simple list manager that gives an unlimited amount of users a lot of flexibility for getting things done.

Check it out at Taskbin.com

I have a few friends who recently entered MBA programs. Personal essays that most college or graduate applicants must fill out can be a challenge for many people -- you want to look your best on your application of course. A service called AdmissionsEssays provides an profession essay and personal statement development service on the Web. They can help craft memorable, striking, and effective personal statements and application essays to help you get into the school of your choice.

Unlike competing sites, AdmissionsEssays cites "Ivy-League educated editors and writers" on their staff who offer critique and proof-reading services. This service was featured in the Los Angeles Times, Business 2.0, and Yale Daily News.

Read more at AdmissionsEssays.com.

Ran across this site -- SEOyak.com. It's sort of a Digg for SEO topics.

Read more about SEOyak.com - Social SEO News

Came across this very nicely done site: Convertup.com. The founder of this site (make sure to subscribe to his ConvertUp web usability blog -- the articles are great) has numerous tips about web usability testing. ConvertUp publishes articles and offers services to help people increase their site’s conversion rate by offering a usability testing service. The premise of this site is that, in general, by making your site more user-friendly you will be able to convert your existing site traffic into more sales. (Get it? "Convert Up").

I liked what the author said about this himself:

I consider myself an “Internet Marketing Coach”. I am passionate about helping people create successful online businesses. Whether it be usability (my specialty), search engine rankings, or general website marketing strategy, internet marketing is on my mind all day, every day. When I find precious few hours to sleep, I dream about internet marketing. I realize the internet is a big place, but I have this silly notion that I can make it better and more user-centric by sharing my usability knowledge through my service and my blog. Source

Well, I don't always dream about internet marketing in my sleep, but I like to read articles by someone who does!

The search giant's market share among home, work and university Internet users climbed from 42.7 percent to 43.1 percent from March to April of this year--up from 36.5 percent in April 2005, ComScore said Monday.

In second place, Yahoo saw its market share hold steady at 28 percent between March and April, a decrease of 2.7 percent from last year. Less than 6 percentage points separated Google's and Yahoo's respective market shares in April 2005.

Read more at: Google retains lead in U.S. search market

Are you an IT employee wanting to improve your career track by getting certified?

Preplogic helps IT professionals and students worldwide learn new skills and enhance their careers with fast and affordable certification training.

The Preplogic service offers a wide variety of training and test preparation options. They offer free audio training samples, web based video training, and free demos of theiir practice exams -- unlike many competitors you can try before you buy and know what you're getting in advance.

Certification training and exam preparations are available for a wide range of topics including Microsoft certification training, CompTIA, Cisco, Oracle, and many others.

Read more about this service at http://www.preplogic.com