Web-o-licious

Bend in The Road

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Slack) — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:44:00 +0000

When the road bends, you must not walk straight. This is what our webinars and workshops are all about. Please visit our website and plan on attending an upcoming presentation on how to recession proof your 2009 marketing budget in light of this economy.

Tres Dias

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Slack) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:14:00 +0000

Tres Dias is this awesome Boot Camp on Christianity, that in a weekend can help a person really experience the love that Christ has for all of us. My wife and I went through as a candidates back in May 2007 and we were blow away by the experience.

Since then, I have had the opportunity to serve on three a Tres Dias weekends at a campground just outside of Dallas. Being able to serve others during these weekends, has in many ways been more fulfilling than going through the first time. It is amazing to see how God can use normal people like you and me to touch the lives of others.

One of the folks from WebDex Media Group attended the weekend that I served and it really touched him in a positive way.

January Internet Marketing Workshops at WebDex Media Group

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Slack) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:02:00 +0000

Almost from the beginning of WebDex I have hosted a workshop to teach people how to increase leads and sales from their websites. I really enjoy these and past attendees have gotten a lot out of them too. We just set the dates for January: 1/21 from 1:00 - 3:30 1/22 from 1:30 – 4:00

We will host a Webinar on “How to Recession Proof Your 2009 Marketing Budget” 1/20 from 1:00 – 2:00. The workshop is free and will teach you how to: *Increase Search Engine Visibility *Improve Conversion Rates *Develop a Winning Internet Marketing Strategy For more information visit our workshop page on our website. All attendees receive a complimentary workbook and a web site evaluation. Call Christy Wyatt today 469-568-4200 X116 for more information or to register. If you can't make it in January, we will host a couple in February and beyond. As soon as those dates get hammered out, we will make another post.

Welcome to the Rate Race

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Slack) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:02:00 +0000

A cruise boat docked near a tiny Brazilian village. An American tourist
complimented a local fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how
long it took him to catch them.

"Oh, not very long," answered the man."

"But then, why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?" asked the
American.

The Brazilian explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet the
needs of his family.

The tourist asked, "And what do you do with the rest of your time?"
The local answered, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children,
and take a siesta with my wife. Evenings, I go into the village to see my
friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar and sing a few songs... I have
a very full life."

The tourist said, "I have an MBA from Harvard -- a highly rated business
school -- and I can help you. You can start by fishing longer every day.
You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the added money you can
buy a bigger boat, catch even more fish, buy another boat and yet another
so that soon you would have an entire fleet of fishing boats. Then,
instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can negotiate directly
with the processing plants and maybe even open your own factory. You can
then leave this little village and move to Rio, Los Angeles or even New
York. From there you can direct your entire enterprise!"

"How long would that take?" asked the Brazilian.

"Oh, twenty years or so," replied the tourist.

"And, after that?"

"Afterwards? That's when it gets really interesting!" answered the MBA.
"When your business gets really big, you can start selling stock in it and
make millions!"

"Millions? Really? And, after that?"

"After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the
coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a
siesta, and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends!"

Found this online and thought I would share it for all of us dysfunctional type A's!

The Difference a Father Makes

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Slack) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 16:25:00 +0000

I just finished a book by Ed Tandy McGlassson with the same title as this blog post. It was given to me by a friend of mine, Michael Rasa on a Tres Dias retreat. The book is about a dad’s responsibility to help their children understand that they are good enough and have what it takes to be a man or a woman, and also to help their children understand when they have crossed over from childhood to adulthood.

Ed’s natural father was a Navy pilot and was killed in a heroic plane crash before Ed was born. However, Ed was blessed with a terrific step-father, Dan, who knew how to encourage, coach, and develop Ed into the best he could be. In the book he tells a story about how Dan woke him up at 5AM one morning when he was 11 and asked “Son what do you want to be when you grow up?” Ed said he wanted to play professional football. Before he know it, Dan had strapped 5lbs weights on his ankles, drove him 4 miles from their home, dropped him off and said, “If you are going to do this son, you are going to have to outwork every kid in America who is asleep right now. I am going to help you do this. I am going home to cook you breakfast. What do you want?” They he drove away. That ritual continued 5 days a week all the way through high school. Ed ended up playing in the national foot ball league for several years.

In college, Ed blew out his knee and it looked as if he would never play football again. The night of the injury, he was visited by a friend who led him to Christ and asked God to heal Ed’s injury. Miraculously, Ed’s knee was healed to the astonishment of the doctors and coaches. On night, after playing pro football for many years, Ed heard God tell him to stop playing football and start preaching the Gospel. Ed was less than enthusiastic about the news. The next morning, on the very first play during practice, Ed blew out the very same knee that God had healed years before. That got his attention.

The purpose of the book is to help dads develop rights of passage to call out significance in their children’s lives. He mentions that other faiths and even God modeled this for us. You might recall the story in Matthew where Jesus is baptized by John and then the heavens open up and God says “This is my beloved son, whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:13-17. From there, after receiving a blessing from His father, Jesus begins His own ministry.

As dads our job is to help our kids discover what it is that God has purposed for their lives and to help them know and believe that they are good enough to achieve it. We must also set the goal line before them, so they know when it is time to stop acting childish and begin to pursue their purpose. We can do this by calling out our kids and speaking a blessing into their lives. Our words are like the rudders of mighty ships that are changing the course of our children’s lives for good or bad, and we need to take responsibility for the power of our words and actions. When we embrace this responsibility, we are being obedient to God and loving our kids the way that He loves us. When we ignore this responsibility, we are putting our kids out to sea without a rudder to be tossed about as life’s circumstances cash up against them. We are also setting them up for a life that will be full of doubt and potentially a life time of searching for meaning and purpose.

The book goes on to teach us how to do effectively call out our children and recommends the following steps:

Use positive affirmation with your kids – Our kids need to know that we are proud of them and believe in them. This is sometimes hard because we also must correct poor decisions and help them remember to “do their homework,” “clean their rooms,” “pick up after themselves,” and “ not to hit, bite, bully, bad mouth, yank, etc.” others. What ends up happening so often is that 90% of the things we say to our kids are negative to correct bad behavior. Therefore, we must seek out opportunities to affirm our kids and let them know that we are proud of them. Yesterday, my 15 year old son, Michael, who can be a handful, told me a story about how he was talking to a kid at school several weeks ago about God and he ran into her again last week. She told him that God had used that conversation to stir up affection for God and that now she is a believer. I can’t tell you how proud I am of him and blow away by him. I could never have been bold enough to talk to kids about God like Michael can when I was 15.

Bless your children publicly – Ed recommends that we not only affirm our kids, but we also call them out in a public setting. This cements our affection and acceptance of our children in their heart. One recommendation is to go on a trip with other families who know and love your children. Maybe a camping trip with other dads and sons. At some point during the trip, publicly acknowledge your love for your child and let everyone know how proud you are.
Develop traditions that highlight shared values – The book recommends that we find tokens or events that can serve as reminders of our affection to our children. Ed took his daughters to dinner and would give them a ring.

Spend time with your children – This is probably one of the most important investments we can make. Taking time out of our busy schedules to be with our kids and doing things they like to do, shows our children that we love them and are interested in them. My oldest son likes to make knifes, so we spend time going to the hardware store looking for metal or attending knife making conferences.

Build structure around your children – Ed tells the story of how he and his oldest son set aside a day to dream about where his son wanted to be in 10 years and what things could Ed do to support him. They built a plan together with shared commitment and accountability for both of them.

Celebrate over your children – We need to be our kid’s biggest fan. When they achieve victories, we need to be there to share in the moment with them. Remember when Tiger Woods won his first Masters and his dad was there and Tiger said “Daddy we did it!” Likewise, we need to be there for our kids.

Finally, the book challenges us to think about what kind of father each of us wants to be. Are we going to be active participants or passive bystanders in our children’s passage from childhood to adulthood? This book has certainly motivated me to get more involved and I now have some tactical things to focus on. If you are interested in the book, you can get copies of it at their website. Many thanks also to Mike Rasa for passing this book along to me.

Online Search Share, March vs. April 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Slack) — Tue, 27 May 2008 22:04:00 +0000

Google searchers could end up with a new type of bug

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Slack) — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:38:00 +0000

By Byron Acohido and Jon Swartz, USA TODAY

Cybercrooks are manipulating the computer code used to put the pizazz in millions of websites in hopes of taking over unsuspecting consumers' PCs.

The vulnerability occurs when someone does a Google search, then clicks on a result that has been secretly tainted by hackers. They will usually be taken to the Web page they expect. But at the same time, they are invisibly redirected to a computer server that installs a hidden program.
This program enables hackers to use the PC to spread spam and carry out scams. Typically, it also lets the attacker embed a keystroke logger, which collects and transmits your passwords and any other sensitive data you type online.

Any website indexed by Google that fails to carefully handle JavaScript — the coding that activates many cool Web features, such as changing the color of a button when someone mouses over it — is a potential target. That's seven in 10 sites, says tech security firm WhiteHat Security. Hackers have discovered ways to trick the website application to run malicious JavaScripts.

"We're in a phase where one or two smart guys are attacking a few dozen major websites," says David Dewey, manager of IBM's X-Force security division. "In the next few weeks I would expect to see copycats attacking hundreds of high-profile websites."

Attackers have secretly corrupted Google results that direct traffic to Wired, CNet, TV.com, USATODAY.com, ZDNet Asia, History.com and many universities, says Dancho Danchev, a Netherlands-based security researcher, and Finjan Software, an Israeli security firm.

Most Google search results are safe. But in March alone Dewey and other security researchers found several hundred thousand corrupted Web pages returned in common Google search queries. They fear crime groups have just begun to take advantage.

Google issued a statement saying it is helping affected websites fix the problem and is also developing new tools "to detect and block" malicious Web pages.

Security experts say consumers can protect themselves by keeping anti-virus subscriptions and software updates current. Running an anti-virus scan may help repair infected PCs, although more serious fixes may be necessary.

Spokespeople for USATODAY.com and Wired said each blocked the attacks as soon as they were discovered. CNet, owner of TV.com and ZDNet Asia, declined to comment. History.com did not respond to queries.

"It should be the responsibility of the website operators to stop exposing people to risk as soon as possible," says Billy Hoffman, a security researcher at Hewlett-Packard. Gail Hillebrand, senior attorney at Consumers Union, agrees.

Attackers have taken advantage of JavaScript before, but usually on individual sites. The search engine trick — which has been focused on Google, though it could work on Yahoo and MSN search engines — is new, Danchev says.

Attackers are thrilled "to capture even a small percent of the traffic" of a big site, Finjan's Yuval Ben-Itzhak says.

April Internet Marketing Workshops

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Slack) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:31:00 +0000

We just set the dates for the April Internet Marketing Workshops. They are April 16th and 23rd from 1:00 - 3:30. The workshop is free and will teach you how to:

*Increase Search Engine Visibility
*Improve Conversion Rates
*Develop a Winning Internet Marketing Strategy

For more information visit our workshop page on our website.All attendees receive a complimentary workbook and a web site evaluation. Call Christy Wyatt at 469-568-4200 X116 for more information or to register. If you can't make it in March, we will host a couple in next month. As soon as those dates get hammered out, we will make another post.

Easter Sunday?

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Slack) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 14:15:00 +0000

I wanted to reach out to those who think that Easter Sunday is just another Sunday because that’s how I felt until 2002.

I think if we are honest, we all know something is wrong in this world. We don’t have to look too hard to see violence, excessive materialism, and our infatuation with Britney Spears (sorry Brit) to realize that something just isn’t right. For me, not only did the world seem broken, but life was unsatisfying. Don’t get me wrong, I had moments of satisfaction, getting married, having kids, winning a big new client, but those moments tended to be fleeting and I was always on to another mountain to climb. By the time I hit my mid-30’s I think I was pretty burned out on the whole thing.

My view of God, was that if He existed at all, He was either an uninterested deity who created the earth on some whim and didn’t care at all how things would turn out, or He was very stern God waiting on the edge of His seat for me to screw up so He could punish me with bad circumstance or load me up with guilt. Because of this, Easter Sunday was just another day in the life of a man who was running the rat race.

Then something happened and I found myself reading the bible and in the company of Godly men who helped me understand the true nature of God. God loves each one of us and wants us to be extremely joyful and completely satisfied in Him regardless of our circumstances. I can’t tell you that I fully understand Him, life is a journey, but I can tell you that He is anything but an uncaring and vengeful God.

So why should Easter Sunday be different than any other day? Easter Sunday is proof of God’s complete love for us.

Romans 1: 18-31 tells us that through creation we all know that God exists on some level. Let’s face it, how can we look at a sunset, the Grad Canyon, or a new born baby, and not feel a sense of higher power. [On a tangent – why do we find things beautiful? Where did the sense of beauty come from? To me, beauty is proof that there is a God and that He loves us…OK back to the post.] Romans 1 also tells us that even though we know that God exists on some level, we decided to worship His creation (money, power, people, and material things) rather than Him.

Does this sound familiar, “Romans 1:28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.”

Because of this we would all be on a one way ticket to an eternal place that is anything but heavenly (you know where I am talking about) if it weren’t for Easter Sunday. Even if you don’t believe in Heaven or Hell right now, don’t you think its worth considering, if the Bible says that we are all immortal beings and we are going to spend eternity somewhere. [If Oprah said it, we would all believe it, and the Bible has been around a lot longer than Oprah.] By the way, eternity is a lot longer than the 70-80 years we will spend here on earth.

Thank God for Ephesians 2.

“1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Easter Sunday is celebrated thousands of years after a man was nailed to a cross and buried. There were many men crucified before and after Christ, but none of them are immortalized to this day. What makes this man different is that He rose from the dead to prove that He was God and that He has the power to overcome our sin and fix our relationship with Him. If God was an impartial God and did not love us, He would not have done this!

The whole bible points to this truth. This is why God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son (and then let him off the hook), so we could see a foreshadowing of what God was planning to do with His son. This is why there was a sacrificial system in the Old Testament. God was telling us that blood had to be shed to cover our sins, but because it was animal blood, they had to sacrifice over and over and over again. Have you ever wondered why there aren’t any sacrifices happening today?

So for me and millions of others around the world, Easter Sunday is an amazing day that shows us God’s love and mercy for His created people.

If you want to learn more here are some great resources for you:

http://www.thevillagechurch.net/resources/sermons.html
http://www.desiringgod.org/
http://www.truthforlife.org/site/PageServer

Jaduka Labs is Cool!

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Slack) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 15:13:00 +0000

Dallas, TX (March 4, 2008) - Jaduka has announced the launch of free Web telephony service and widgets that bring voice communication to Web sites, blogs, and email. Users can set up a free Jaduka Labs account that links their standard home, office, or mobile phone with their online activities. Jaduka is showcasing its ease-of-use and programming flexibility by offering something for everyone. New applications include:

dukaDIAL (www.dukadial.com) lets you make phone-to-phone calls to anyone in North America for free! Enter your number and the number of the person you’re calling in a single Web interface. When you click "Start your Call," the system automatically dials both parties and connects the call for FREE! You can also view call history and add numbers to the contact list that is shared with other Jaduka applications.

dukaLINK (www.dukalink.com) creates personal HTML hyperlinks that you can post on craigslist, Facebook, your blog or emails. When users click your dukaLINK, they're prompted to submit their phone number to automatically trigger a free phone call to you. Best of all, your real number stays private. dukaDIAL forwards the call to the number you've set up in your profile.

dukaBUZZ (www.dukabuzz.com) was developed for bloggers and social media junkies who want to hear from their readers. dukaBUZZ enables Web site visitors to leave "audio comments" or testimonials on your blog or Web site that can be heard by others through a nifty module. Instead of typing and posting written comments, visitors record audio comments using the dukaBUZZ widget and their standard phone. dukaBUZZ works with any blogging software, including bBlog, Blogger, Drupal, Moveable Type / TypePad, Serendipity, WordPress, etc.

dukaBAR (www.dukabar.com) is a handy toolbar plug-in that automatically scans Web pages and converts all phone numbers into clickable links that initiate phone calls. It also stores your frequently called numbers in a contact list so that you can speed dial right from your browser (no software downloads or headsets required).

duhBATE (www.duhbate08.com) lets you create your own presidential campaign by adding your voice to the likeness of your favorite politician (or the ones you love to hate). The interactive political parody uses your telephone as the microphone for you to record your campaign promises. When you're finished, the character will speak in your voice. With Jaduka's technology and a little imagination, the possibilities are truly endless!

Jaduka's vice president of marketing, Bill Binnig said, "Jaduka Labs applications are a tangible demonstration of the power of our award-winning technology and the clarity of our voice communications services. Every application in the Labs was developed using the same user-friendly application programming interface (API) now made available to third-party developers to create 'the next big thing' - in a week, thereby saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in programming time."

About Jaduka

Jaduka enables IT application developers and third party solutions providers to harness communications that create more effective business processes. Through its SOAP-based Web Services API, the company's award-winning technology allows applications to trigger individual or group telephone calls; provide automated alerts; manage surveys and other audio files; and administer call history and account information with virtually any phone. From reducing the cost and inconvenience of customer service "on-hold" wait times to integrating live voice with software applications, Jaduka is driving the evolution and deployment of communications-enabled business process solutions. For more information, visit www.jaduka.com.

Video Ads on Google – One step closer to replacing TV

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Slack) — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 14:59:00 +0000

Last week there was quite the buzz about Google testing video ads that would appear in search results.

Starting last Thursday, according to Marissa Mayer, Google VP of Search Products, ads began to appear in selected results. However, Google has not made public what results will show video ads. In the first phase of the release, users will hardly notice the ads are there. The user must click on a small “+" to see the ad. The video ad will be visible on the search result page. Soon to come, according to Ms. Mayer said, are thumbnail photos that can be clicked on to see the ad.

What does this mean for the advertiser?

I think that as video becomes a mainstream form of search engine marketing, that early adopters will see BIG results. We all know that our eyes gravitate more quickly to pictures over words. So when users start seeing thumbnail pictures in search ads, they will be compelled to click on them….maybe even more than the organic results. Search has always been a leveling playing field from small and medium sized businesses. These businesses are still for the most part locked out of TV commercials because of production cost and the high price of air time. We all know that the impact of TV commercials has been waning over the last couple of years. Producing web commercials is much more affordable than TV spots. Because these web ads can be displayed when a potential customer is actually looking for a product (rather than an interruption of their favorite TV show) and then have the ability to interact with a companies website, makes this next evolution of search marketing a big one!

March Internet Marketing Workshops

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Slack) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 23:16:00 +0000

We just set the dates for the March Internet Marketing Workshops. They are March 12th and 26th from 1:00 - 3:30. The workshop is free and will teach you how to:
*Increase Search Engine Visibility
*Improve Conversion Rates
*Develop a Winning Internet Marketing Strategy

For more information visit our workshop page on our website.

All attendees receive a complimentary workbook and a web site evaluation. Call Christy Wyatt at 469-568-4200 X116 for more information or to register. If you can't make it in March, we will host a couple in next month. As soon as those dates get hammered out, we will make another post.

God is a Nourishing Stream of Living Water

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Slack) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 17:02:00 +0000

What is God trying to say to us by referring to Himself as a stream or water so often? These versus don’t remind me of the mean God who sits and waits for us to screw something up so he can punish us ( a view so many of us have – including myself from time to time). God loves us and wants us to be completely satisfied in Him and through Him.

Psalm 1:3
He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

Psalm 42:1
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.

Isaiah 44:3-4
3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.

4 They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams.

Jeremiah 17:13
13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the LORD, the spring of living water.

John 4:10-14
10Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

11"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"

13Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

Revelation 7:16-17
16Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat.

17For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

How do you tap into this nourishing stream of living water? Ask and you shall receive….

Matthew 7:7-9
7"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Luke 11:10
For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Revelation 3:20
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

Search Engine Market Share

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Slack) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:02:00 +0000

According to Comscore, Google continues to be the 800lb gorilla in the search world. While Yahoo is still the most visited site on the web, Google still dominates where people search with 58.5% market share in January, 2008. Yahoo is a distant second with just 22.2% in January, 2008 down slightly from December 2007. Microsoft yet a more distant third with a very small 9.8% market share. If Microsoft and Yahoo, they would have 32% market share, still way behind the dominate Google.

Overall searching was up nearly 8% with 14.5 billion searches in January 2008. That’s nearly 500 million searches every single day. It makes me glad to be in the Internet Marketing and Search Engine Marketing business. The future so bright I have to wear shades.

The Internet and the 2008 Election

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Slack) — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 18:05:00 +0000

I’m not a political analyst, I just run an Internet Marketing company in the Dallas Metroplex, so what do I have to say about the 2008 election….not much, but I can share with you some interesting data and sites that can help you stay informed.

Online is not where the politicians are spending their ad budgets.
According to a Borrell & Associates study, spending on political advertising should reach nearly $5 billion for the 2008 election. Online ad spending will be a small fraction of the total ad spending with about $20 million spent online (half going to paid search). At the time of this post, a search for “2008 Election” had two ads running (one for John McCain and one for Mike Huckabee). Where are Obama and Clinton?

Online Video and Politics:
Thanks to sites like YouTube and the writers strike, online video has become a part of our daily diet. We will be spending a lot of time this election following the 2008 election via online video. Here are a couple of interesting links:

Campaigncircus.com has links to all of the political ads.

This link will take you to the latest videos on the 2008 election at YouTube.

Who is going online to get election news:
Overall, about 24% of Americans are getting some of their political information online, according to a recent PEW Research Center study. This is up from 13% during the 2004 election. If you are 18-29 years old then there is a 42% chance you will go online to get your election news and you will spend a lot of time on social networking sites. Some of the most popular sites for political news are:
msnbc.com - 26% marketshare

cnn.com - 23% marketshare

Yahoo! News - 22% marketshare

Google News - 9% marketshare (see they are not #1 at everything!)

Here are some other not some common sites for 2008 election news:

http://www.pageflakes.com/elections

http://redblueamerica.com/

Using Google Trends:
If you want to keep a pulse on the election by what people are searching for, you can go to Google Trends. At Google Trends you can type in search phrases and monitor search trend volume over time and by region. Here is the trend for the terms 2008 election, john mccain, mike huckabee, barack obama , and hilary clinton.

While it appears that traditional media will still be our primary means of news this political season, it is obvious that the Internet has become an important source for staying up to date with the 2008 election

Who Is Good Enough

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Slack) — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 14:09:00 +0000

I became a Christian in 2002. One of the biggest struggles I had leading up to that was a feeling that I wasn’t good enough for God. Most of the Christians I ran into seemed to have it all worked out. They appeared to be good parents, spouses, neighbors, etc., and I just didn’t measure up. I thought that becoming a Christian meant getting all cleaned up first and that if I could “white knuckle” good behavior for long enough, God would accept me.

Now I have learned that the bible has a lot to say about who is good enough for God.

One of my favorite people in the bible is Paul. He wrote half of the New Testament and was used by God in a mighty way. Here is what Paul has to say about how good he was:

“Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.” 1 Timothy 1: 13-16

Paul calls himself a violent man, the worst of sinners, who was ignorant and unbelieving…and in return God punished him severely?? No, in return for his violence, unbelief and ignorance, God showed mercy and poured out grace abundantly. Was Paul good enough? If he was, then you and I are too!

Christ also showed us who was good enough, through His actions here on Earth. Last night, Matt Chandler, the teaching pastor at The Village Church walked us through some of the first acts of Jesus during his ministry as found in the Gospel of Luke Chapters 4-6.

Starting in Luke 4:31 Jesus begins His ministry by healing many people who are sick or demon possessed. In those days it was believed that if you were sick or demon possessed, this was a result of your sin or the sin of you parents. One of the people He heals is a man who was covered with leprosy (Luke 5:12-15). Leprosy was highly contagious and most people with it were shunned and forced to live away from the general population. Not only did Jesus heal the man, He touched him. Imagine being so disgusting to everyone because of your disease, that hardly anyone would look at you let alone touch you, yet Jesus did! So we see in Luke that the first people Jesus went to were the outcast, certainly not the clean.

When Jesus calls His disciples in Luke 5, He doesn’t go to the chief priests and look for the smartest most educated pupils, He goes to a lake and chooses a few fishermen. In those days, only the best of the best of the best would be given the honor of being the disciples of a rabbi, and yet here is Christ, choosing the ordinary, not so smart guys to follow Him. You don’t need to be head smart or full of doctrine to be good enough.

Finally, in Luke 5:27, Jesus goes to Levi (eventually will be called Matthew) at his place of work. Levi was a tax collector. Tax collectors were hated and despised by the Jewish people. They were Jews who paid for the right from the Romans, to collect taxes from their people. The money collected was used to support the Roman army that was oppressing their nation. As Matt said last night, it would be like your next door neighbor forcing you to pay taxes to be used to pay the salaries of a mob that killed people you knew personally. Tax collectors were considered the scum of the earth. You must ask yourself, why did Jesus go to a tax collector and say “follow me.”? If Levi was good enough to be called on by Christ, then there isn’t anything you or I could do that is/was bad enough!

When Christ finally runs into the “church people” of the day, the Pharisees and Teachers of the law, starting in Luke 5:20, He challenges them and questions their actions and beliefs. In Luke 5:31 Jesus says “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

So if God is calling you and you are feeling that pulling in your heart, but you look around and see all of these good people and you don’t feel like you measure up, remember who Christ came to first; the violent and unbelieving, the sick and broken, the scum of the earth. If He came for them, He came for you and me too!

I end this post with Good News taught by Paul in Ephesians 2:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:1-10

Fireclick - B2C Benchmark Index

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Slack) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 17:31:00 +0000

Fireclick is an interesting site that provides an objective comparison of key metrics across seven industry segments (Top Line Growth, Fashion and Apparel, Electronics, Catalog, Specialty, Outdoor and Sports, and Software) of web business that use their web analytics.

The site provides conversion rate data on segments like first time visitors, repeat visitors, search engines (they call this keywords), emails, etc. They also provide other site metrics like avg. session length, duration, etc. You can look at the data over 1yr, 6mo, 30 day, or 7 day period.

They are owned by Digital River, one of my rival competitors back when I was with ReleaseNow.com. DR is a leader in payment processing for software companies.

We don't know how many of their customers have agreed to provide this data and while you can't expect to compare your sites statistics solely on this information, it is still a interesting trending tool to see what is going on in the market place.

MSN & Yahoo - A Marriage of Convenience

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Slack) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:41:00 +0000

For those of you who have attended the WebDex Workshop during the last couple of years, have heard me say that a marriage between Microsoft and Yahoo was imminet. When the leader in the industry has more than 3X the market share of its closest competitor, something has to give.

As advertisers, I think this is a good move for us. Google needs a stronger rival to keep them honest and focused on delivering a quality product. $44B seems like a lot to pay even if they are able to generate profits like Google through a combined effort. (This is a tangent - Exxon Mobil announced record profits of $40B on the same day....they could almost pay cash for Yahoo, thanks to $80BBL oil!)

Their best bet will be to offer a stronger tie between web content and the various devises we use on a daily basis (computers, phones, cars, TV's, etc.). And yes their will be ads in all of those places powered by Yahoo's ad network...remember that's how these guys make money. As long as there is relevance and they are able to provide value to the user, I am all for it. One of the great things about the web is connecting buyers and sellers in a very efficient and valuable way for both.

A Couple of Cool Sites from Kristine

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Slack) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:02:00 +0000

Kristine Macabare, our fearless production engineer at WebDex, turned me on to a couple of cool sites to help with productivity that are worthy of passing along.

One is Jott.com . This site lets you call an 800 number and to leave yourself or others a message. The message gets converted to text and then emailed. Its a great way to send yourself a reminder when your driving home at night and just remembered that important thing that didn't get done during the day. I haven't gotten that familiar with it yet, so here are some other uses. Best of all its free!

For good tips on improving your presentations, check out Presentation Zen. It's a blog that deals with issues around professional presentaiton design. There is plenty of helpful information and useful links. For example, here is a post on Where to get quotations for presentations?

Thanks Krisinte! By the way, be sure to visit Kristines Blog.

Upcoming Internet Marketing Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Slack) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:50:00 +0000

Almost from the beginning of WebDex I have hosted a workshop to teach people how to increase leads and sales from their websites. I really enjoy these and past attendees have gotten a lot out of them too. We just set the dates for February:

2/20 from 1:00 - 3:30
2/27 from 1:00 - 3:30

The workshop is free and will teach you how to:

*Increase Search Engine Visibility
*Improve Conversion Rates
*Develop a Winning Internet Marketing Strategy

For more information visit our workshop page on our website.
All attendees receive a complimentary workbook and a web site evaluation. Call Christy Wyatt today 469-568-4200 X116 for more information or to register.

If you can't make it in February, we will host a couple in March and beyond. As soon as those dates get hammered out, we will make another post.

My first post

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Slack) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 22:09:00 +0000

Since I couldn't get my production manager to build me a blog, I decided to start one my self. More to come later.