Taken from DMNews SearchBuzz
Google offers demographic bidding feature for AdWords
Google is now offering a new demographic bidding feature for AdWords advertisers.
According to a Google AdWords blog entry posted on Friday, this new feature enables advertisers to modify their bids or restrict their ads' visibility “based on the age and gender of the users” who see the ads on participating sites within the Google content network.
In January, Google started inviting selected advertisers to test out the new demographic bidding feature, according to Google. The company did not respond to requests for comment on this story.
Only some sites within the Google content network will offer demographic bidding. These include social networking sites like friendster.com, myspace.com and blackplanet.com, as well as other sites that ask users to identify their age and gender, Google said.
Google already offers demographic site selection. Based on data from ComScore, this feature enables advertisers to identify Web sites that attract specific audiences, Google said.
Yahoo has provided demographic targeting as part of its display advertising offering “for a while now,” said Kristen Wareham, director of corporate communications at Yahoo, when reached by e-mail.
“Though this feature is something we're considering extending into our search marketing offering down the road, there isn't anything to announce at this time,” she continued.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Demo Targeting With Google AdWords
Monday, March 24, 2008
More Borders News
Taken from DMNews
Borders explores strategic alternatives & new site launch
Borders Group Inc. has said it will explore strategic alternatives, including a possible sale of certain divisions or of the entire company.
The company is “taking stock of where it is and where it wants to go,” said Anne Roman, corporate affairs director at Borders. She added that, as Borders considers some new initiatives, such as its recently opened concept stores and the upcoming launch of a stand-alone e-commerce site, it “wants to make sure there is financial flexibility for those things going forward.”
After partnering with Amazon.com for an e-commerce site for several years, Borders has said it will launch an independent site by the end of its fiscal first quarter, which ends on May 3. The recent announcement regarding exploring strategic alternatives should not impact this time frame, Roman said.
The announcement is really about exploring a wide range of alternatives, Roman insisted, including the possible sale of Borders's UK-based Paperchase division. Paperchase is a gift and stationery business with 100 locations in the UK and 300 shops within Borders stores.
A potential deal might also include the sale of Borders international operations, Roman said.
As part of a $42.5 million financing commitment from Borders stockholder Pershing Square that was also announced, the latter has agreed to a backstop purchase that will give Borders the right to require Pershing Square to purchase its Paperchase Australia, New Zealand and Singapore subsidiaries as well as its approximately 17% interest in Borders UK for $125 million.
Borders also reported financial results, indicating that consolidated sales totaled $1.3 billion in the fourth quarter. Excluding the impact of the extra week during fiscal 2006, this represents a 2.8% increase over the same period a year ago.
Sales at domestic Borders superstores during the fourth quarter totaled $957.8 million. Excluding the impact of the extra week during fiscal 2006, this represents an increase of 5.1% over the prior year. On a comparable store basis, transactions increased by 1% for the fourth quarter and same-store sales in the segment increased for the period by 2.1%.
For the full year, Borders Group's consolidated sales totaled $3.8 billion. Excluding the impact of the extra week during fiscal 2006, this represents a 4.2% increase over the prior year.
Sales at Borders domestic superstores for the full year totaled $2.8 billion. Excluding the impact of the extra week during fiscal 2006, this represents an increase of 5.3% over the prior year. Same-store sales for 2007 were up 1.5% in the segment.
Sales within the Waldenbooks specialty retail segment were down 17% in the fourth quarter for a total of $228.3 million. Same-store sales increased 1.2% during the same period.
For the full year, sales in the segment totaled $562.8 million, which when adjusted for the extra week in 2006, represents a decrease of 14.1%. The company closed 75 underperforming Waldenbooks stores in 2007 and will continue to aggressively close Waldenbooks locations that are not achieving targeted returns. Same-store sales increased 2.2% for the full year.
International sales totaled $138.5 million in the fourth quarter, up 34.6% compared to the same period a year ago. For the full year, international sales totaled $364.8 million, up 37.2%.
Happy Feet - Shoes To Consider (Part 1)
I wasn't blessed with the best feet in the world. Mine are sensitive, and the bottoms of my feet tire rather easily. Standing or walking for long periods of time is my personal Kryptonite. If you are picky about what you place on your feet or are sensitive to footwear like I am, I would urge you to checkout the following products.
Type: Business or Casual
Brand: Johnston & Murphy
Style: Shuler
Price: $125.00
These are easily the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn! The best way I can describe them is that they are like slipping your feet into soft formed butter - but don't worry they're not messy at all!
I purchased my first pair a couple of years ago at a local Johnston & Murphy store. I actually went in there looking for a "dressy" pair of boots when the sales person asked if I would be willing to try on the most comfortable shoes known to man - he was right. I purchased them on the spot - a tan pair of "athletic" style Shulers that have since been discontinued.
I loved them so much that I returned a few weeks later to get a pair in black, this time opting for the "bicycle" style shown in the above photo.
Not only are these extremely comfortable, they are stylish and look great with slacks in the office or tooling around the town in jeans. They have that popular over-sized look, but in a subtle way that is not bodacious like some of the other designs you may have seen or owned.
If you attend trade shows, these are perfect for making the long days walking a show or standing in a booth tolerable.
Simply put, these get my highest recommendation.
This Could Really Help Bolster The Economy...
Taken from DMNews iMarketing News
NY bill threatens online ads
Microsoft, Google and AOL are getting ready to meet with New York assemblyman Richard Brodsky, a Democrat from Westchester County, to discuss a privacy bill that he is developing, which could have strong implications for the online advertising industry.
“The bill is very broad and it would make a lot of legitimate practices illegal. [It] would basically make ad networks illegal,” said Mike Zaneis, VP of public policy at the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB). “Publishers usually offer up thousands of ad impressions into an ad exchange, which are bid on by dozens of entities in real time.”
The bill would also mandate that all relationships between publishers and advertisers be contractual. Some Internet advertisers feel that, if a contract is required, it may slow down the process and exchanges that take place in an automated ad exchange.
Brodsky's office is meeting with these Internet giants to discuss and help finalize the proposal, which was based in part on the best practice guidelines set by the Network Advertising Initiative, a group of online marketing and analytics companies. Yahoo met with the Assemblyman last fall.
“We are looking to clean up the language and are looking to these companies in the industry to tell us what they think,” said Kent Sopris, legislative director at Brodsky's office.
The bill first came to life last June in response to Google's offer to acquire DoubleClick, which, after a series of reviews, has been approved.
“Assemblyman Brodsky was not satisfied with the focus of privacy that the [Federal Trade Commission] was looking at and wanted to make sure that a big company like Google cannot track a consumer's behavior and then target them with advertising based on these ads,” Sopris explained.
Google, Yahoo and Microsoft did not return phone calls for comment. AOL declined to comment on the proposed bill until it meets with Brodsky.
The IAB is pushing for consumer and legislator education about how online advertising technologies work and the benefits that it can have for consumers.
“While it claims to be looking out for consumers, this bill is not consumer friendly,” Zaneis said. “Advertising is the engine that drives the Internet today. It pays for free services and content for consumers.”
John Ardis, VP of corporate strategy at ValueClick, agreed, “The problem with this kind of legislation is that while it usually starts with good intentions, without a fuller understanding of how some of these things work, it can cause unexpected harm to both consumers and the direct marketing industry.”
ValueClick itself was just fined $2.9 billion in a settlement with the FTC regarding a complaint for allegedly violating CAN-SPAM. (See story, P4)
According to Ardis, raising questions about online privacy may lead legislators to consider direct mail and telemarketing, where much more personal information is tracked. “The focus should be on protecting data,” he said.
But not everyone in the industry thinks that this proposal is bad. Quinn Jalli, chief privacy officer at Datran Media, which was fined $1.1 million in March 2006 to settle a lawsuit brought about by former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer concerning a privacy breach, said that the industry should have seen this coming.
“We as marketers need to remember that at the end of the day, our business is about serving consumers,” he said. “From an industry perspective we should be thinking about giving the best consumer experience possible and making it easy for them to opt out.”
Still, Jalli said he thinks that legislators should use language that would prevent the prohibition of behavioral targeting.
While Sopris did not say how the bill would be enforced, he did say that it could go further than New York. The bill could be especially problematic for those businesses that do online business across state lines and globally.
“This could be the impetus for a larger federal piece of legislation, but that's something we'll have to wait and see about,” he said.
Connecticut is also proposing a similar bill in the current assembly session. In an e-mail to DMNews, Jerry Farrell Jr., commissioner of consumer protection in Connecticut, said “Connecticut has not passed a law barring the tracking of consumer behavior online. There are legislative proposals that have been made that would deal with some aspects of such tracking. But, at this point, they are strictly proposals and would need to work their way through the legislature by early May, in order to become law.”
The proposed New York bill is currently in the Consumer Affairs Committee, and will be sent to the floor when the proposal has been finalized.
The issue of consumer privacy online is not a new one. Last November, the FTC met with nine privacy organizations, including the Center for Democracy and Technology, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, Public Information Research, Privacy Journal and World Privacy Forum, about implementing a do-not-track list that would protect consumers from having their online activities tracked, stored and used by marketers and advertising networks without their knowledge.
The list would require advertisers that use tracking technologies on consumers' computers to register with the FTC all domain names of the servers involved in the tracking. There is currently a cookie available from the FTC that consumers can download to see individual sites' tracking habits. No legislative action on this proposal has been taken yet.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Top 10 - 1978
#1
Artist: Van Halen
Title: Van Halen
Comments coming soon.
#2
Artist: Nazareth
Title: No Mean City
An incredibly underrated release that doesn't get a lot of hype as an album in general or even as part of the Nazareth catalog. This is my favorite offering from Nazareth.
Things open up hot and heavy with the fast paced rocker "Just To Get Into It".
#3
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Some Girls
After putting out several likable though not fantastic releases, Mick and the boys bounce back with what many consider to be The Stones' last great album.
There isn't a lot of filler material to be found here, and "Some Girls" impresses the listener in ways not seen since 1972's "Exile On Main Street".
Casual listeners will recognize such hits as "Miss You", "Beast Of Burden" and "Shattered" from the radio airplay they received. But there is much more to be found here. Further listening will show the title track in its raw and blunt form as well as the country/blues jangle of "Far Away Eyes" to be standouts as well both of which harkens back to something they would have recorded in the late 60's or early 70's.
#4
Artist: Kiss
Title: Ace Frehley
If you asked anyone who followed KISS in the 70's, you would probably find that they had a favorite member of the band. Of the four members, lead guitarist Ace Frehley would probably win honors as the most popular.
I remember people thinking that he was one of the greatest guitar players in rock. Of course, hindsight proves this to not be the case, but that doesn't diminish his work on this solo album in any way. Whether he was the most popular member of the band among fans is moot. This is by far the best solo title any of the four members released during 1978.
His self-titled solo album is filled with quality material, and the radio airplay of the track "New York Groove" didn't hurt in exposing this release to the public. I'm sure the success seen by the sales of his solo album gave him the confidence to soon depart the band for good and explore a career as the leader of his own band.
It's too bad the other three solo albums couldn't approach the material found here. It might have caused unity within the band instead of the increased dissintion among the group which ultimately lead to the dissolve of the original lineup.
#5
Artist: Foreigner
Title: Double Vision
Comments coming soon.
#6
Artist: Boston
Title: Don't Look Back
Comments coming soon.
#7
Artist: Billy Joel
Title: 52nd Street
Comments coming soon.
#8
Artist: Queen
Title: Jazz
Comments coming soon.
#9
Artist: Jackson Browne
Title: Running On Empty
Comments coming soon.
#1
0
Artist: Cheap Trick
Title: Heaven Tonight
Comments coming soon.
Happy Easter!
Type: Trail/BMX
Make: Giant
Model: MTX 125
Price: $265.00
Since Easter is this Sunday, I thought everyone might want to see what the Easter Bunny told me he was giving to my 7 year old son. This will be his first "real" bike without training wheels. We should have a lot of fun this spring learning to ride on two wheels, and hopefully not too many tears!
Mr. Bunny could have found one that easily was half the price of this one. But this bike has top notch, durable components and an aluminum frame making it about 2 lbs. lighter than a steel framed bike. This will be easier for the little tyke to control while learning to ride. It should also last him for 2-3 summers until he is ready for a bigger bike.
Notice the black water bottle and cage? That's so the little tadpole can be just like the big guppy!
I'll post a follow-up review once we've had some time with this item.
Here's hoping the Easter Bunny is good to all of you and yours as well!
Happy Feet - Shoes To Consider (Part 4)
Type: Outdoor/Casual
Make: Nike
Model: Goapath
Price: $140.00
Comment coming soon.
Happy Feet - Shoes To Consider (Part 3)
Type: Casual
Make: Adidas
Model: SS 2G LS
Price: $35.00
Comment coming soon.
Happy Feet - Shoes To Consider (Part 2)
Type: Athletic or Casual
Make: Brooks
Model: Adrenaline GTS
Price: $95.00
Like most others who are reading this post, my trials and tribulations with athletic shoes runs deep and wide. Back when I was in middle school (a long time ago), if you were cool, you wore Adidas. Then Nike emerged as the "in" brand and everybody who was "somebody" were sporting those.
Sometime right after college when my metabolism started to slow down, I became more interested in comfort as opposed to how cool I looked based on what I wore. Still, it seemed that the items I slapped on my poor feet didn't quite live up to my expectations of comfort. It didn't matter what brand I tried, it seemed nothing really worked well. Perhaps I just had odd feet.
If you're lucky, at some point you actually listen to what others "in the know" have to say and you actually learn something. For me, that was when a co-worker of mine (who ran several miles each week for exercise and hobby) suggested that I go to a store specializing in shoes for the runner. He told me they would analyze my foot and tell me what type of shoe I needed based on my foot structure.
So I took his advice and went to a local running store. They told me I was in need of a shoe that offered support and quickly pointed me to several model by various brands. The Brooks Adrenaline GTS were the third pair I tried on and the ones I ultimately purchased.
These are the best feeling athletic shoes my feet have encountered and their liberal use of mesh means your feet will stay comfortable in hot weather to boot. I spent an entire week walking through the various Disney World properties this past fall (yes, I said week) with these shoes. Not once did my feet burn or tire from the hours of walking and standing I did.
Brooks has offered the Adrenaline GTS in their lineup for a number of years - they are currently on their 8th generation. Though they have made some minor cosmetic and structural changes, the longevity of this model proves that if it ain't broke, you don't need to fix it.
Of course, nothing is more important than consulting with a trained expert regarding the specific type of shoe you need. If your feet are such that you need support, you can safely add this model to your short list when shopping.
Music Management Software
If you have been thinking about transferring the music on your CDs to a hard drive for playback via computer, there isn't a better time to get started. Adding an internal or external hard drive to your PC as a dedicated home for your music collection is a relatively simple task, and the price for storage seems to drop daily. Finding a program to manage your collection is another story.
I've been using the software provided by AlbumPlayer for several years now. There are many things I like about it, which I will try to point out below.
While many will be perfectly happy using Apple's iTunes for such a purpose, there are those among us that prefer something a little more robust with more features/options.
My first consideration was finding a program that would allow me to use a lossless file format of MY choice. For those new to the game, a lossless format preserves the original quality found on your discs while converting them. Most formats whether lossless or lossy use some form of compression when ripping and storing your data. It's important to distinguish the terms here because I think many folks automatically think of a lossy format when they here the term "compressed" - which simply is not the case.
Being the audio purist that I am, I wanted to use a lossless format, and I already had one in mind: FLAC. I won't go into specifics about this format as it's really not the main topic for this post, but if you would like to learn more about it, you can click here for more in-depth information.
The second thing I required was a program that provided access to my music in a graphical nature. They say a picture is with a thousand words, and nothing is more cumbersome to my eyes than trying to hunt through a bunch of text looking for the artist or album I want to play. There is no denying the elegance of iTune's flip cover display, though it can get bogged down a bit when your collection of music starts to grow. I wanted something similar to what they provided.
Finally, I wanted a program that was flexible. By this I mean I wanted a simple way to perform back-up's of my music data as well as change directories/locations for the data without a lot of fuss and labor on my part.
Well, AlbumPlayer fit all of my desires, so I tried out the demo and soon after, purchased their program. It's been a real pleasure for me to use, and I can't think of any other program that has provided me so much enjoyment. My computer is connected to my home stereo via the digital output on my PC's sound card. I access AlbumPlayer remotely via a laptop computer in my music room using a program called AnyPlace Control. I rip the audio files from my CDs to my hard drive in FLAC using a program called Direct Audio Converter.
However, my music is not confined to just this room. Using the digital files now stored on my PC, I can get music wireless in other areas of my home through my wireless network and the aid of a Squeezebox (review to come in another post).
So don't be afraid to make the move to PC music. It's a rewarding project that will provide you convenient access to your music in a manner that wasn't possible just a few years ago.
Borders In Trouble?
Yet another major retailer pondering its future...
Taken from DIRECTNewsline
Borders Group May Sell; Lines Up $42.5 Million Infusion
Borders Group Inc., the direct marketer and retailer of books, said Thursday it may put itself up for sale and has lined up $42.5 million to stay in business.
First off, the Ann Arbor, MI-based firm has hired J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Merrill Lynch and Co. as financial advisors as it explores whether to sell the company and/or certain divisions.
Meanwhile, Borders has received a financing commitment from Pershing Square Capital Management L.P. for a loan $42.5 million and an offer to purchase certain of its international businesses.
The company also said it suspended its quarterly dividend program “in order to preserve capital for operations and strategic initiatives.”
For the fourth quarter, Borders posted net income was $64.7 million compared to a net loss of $73.6 million in the prior year.
The company reported total consolidated sales of $1.3 billion in for the quarter ended Feb. 2, a 2.8% increase over $1.26 billion last year.
“This will be a challenging year for retailers due to continued uncertainty in the economic environment,” said CEO George Jones, in a statement.
Read more...