Class Marketing

Six Champagnes Under $100

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:42:00 +0000

More Americans are planning to celebrate this new year's eve with a small group of friends at home instead of going out to clubs and restaurants. What better way to enjoy the evening then to share a bottle or two of bubbly by the fireplace.

There's no need to spend a lot of money and feel like you have to have a good time and forcing your better half to dance just because an orchestra is playing. Also, if you order a good bottle of wine at a restaurant, it will cost you twice as much as the one you have at home in the cooler.

Since wine prices have come down in the past couple of months, there are some great bargains out there if you do a little searching. There are some excellent champagnes and sparkling wines under $100.

- Perrier Jouet Fleur De Champagne 1998
in the famous flower bottle. Apple and peach flavors with a bit of vanilla and and a trace of citrus. A favorite which can be found for $99. At that price it's a great deal.

- Schramsberg 1999 J Schramm can be found online for $78. This California sparkling wine in one of my favorites. It's creamy and has the traditional hint of brioche and tropical fruit.

- Taittinger Brut La Francaise
Description: A fine, very pure style of Champagne. Has hints of toast and citrus fruits that come together in a style that is almost the essence of Champagne. Crisp, rich and complex. Wine Enthusiast Score: 92.

- Bollinger Special Cuvee Champagne
93 points Wine Spectator: "Complex aromas and flavors of rose, grilled nuts, citrus and a gently oxidative note course through this muscular, full-bodied bubbly. Despite its power, there's a gracefulness. The aftertase combines citrus and spice. Drink now through 2008. $47

Description: Shows elegance and finesse, but also an understated power, as the initial richness gives way to the firm structure, setting the stage for biscuit, honey and ginger notes. Fine length. Drink now through 2010.Wine Spectator Score: 91. $42

-Louis Roederer NV Brut Premier Reims
WS 90 Pts. - Delicious. Smooth and complex, revealing flavors of yeast, berry, ginger and citrus, allied to a firm structure. Ends with a firm, tactile sensation and an aftertaste of candied citrus. Drink now. $37

-Veuve Clicquot Brut
The famous yellow label. According to Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: "The NV Brut offers up attractive notes of smoke, tar, rich ripe pears and flowers in a medium to full-bodied style. There is a good measure of persistence..."$ 38

A good bubbly goes well with just about every type of food. It's one of the few wines you can drink from start to finish of a great meal. A dinner of lobster with drawn butter and a glass of champagne is the ultimate treat to start the new year.

Ad Banner - Post #8

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:28:00 +0000

It took me a while to figure it out, but with a little help from Santana, I did it.

Email Marketing - Post #7

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:02:00 +0000

For this assignment I signed up with Verticle Response. I was apprehensive about sending this email to friends because it really wasn't for my own website, but for the class. Most of my friends and associates live outside the San Diego area, so attending the class doesn't apply to them. Also, I'm concerned that because of this mailing, when I actually do future mailings for my business, because this was not directly related to my own business, my friends will ignore mail from me.

A few days after the mailing I received a call from Verticle Response asking how I liked the product and when I was planning to do another mailing. Very friendly, no pressure.

As far as using an outside mailing service at this time, I don't think I'm ready. Until I'm ready to launch the website and have put together a contact list, I'll just do a bulk mailing from my Email client.

The Hot New Wine for 2009 - Post #6

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 20:48:00 +0000

Chances are, when you think of sherry you think of little old ladies at the turn of the century, sitting in a drawing room sipping wine from small crystal glasses. Well, maybe those ladies knew something we've forgotten- sherry is a delightful, food friendly wine. Today, most sherries that are sold are commercial blends, which ensure consistantcy, but don't offer sought-after complexity. Fortunately, with the popularity of Spanish wines today, that is changing. Consumers are discovering a whole new world of sherries, from the dry, crisp Finos to the oh-so-sweet Pedro Ximénez wines. And, just like Champagne, sherry is only sherry if it comes from Jerez region of Spain.

With today's interest in food and wine pairings, sherry has become a star player - especially with tapas. Tapas are small plates of appetizers such as cold meats, sausage, olives and cheese. According to "The Joy of Cooking", the original tapas were slices of bread or meat which sherry drinkers in Andalusian taverns used to cover their glasses between sips to keep the flies off. Whatever the origin, the pairing of tapas with sherry is a perfect match. In fact, recent scientific studies have shown certain compounds in dry sherries actually accentuate the taste and flavors of certain foods such as cheese, meat, fish and mushrooms.

If you feel adventurous and want to begin enjoying sherries, start with a dry, light fino or Montilla . Serve it cold with proscuitto, salted, roasted almonds or green olives.

A little more full-bodied Amontillado goes great with Stilton or Gruyère cheese or an Oloroso with goose liver pate or beef teriyaki.

Cream sherries, such as Harvey's Bristol Cream, are sweet dessert wines. Try dried fruit or custard to bring out the flavor.

Serve the very sweet Pedro Ximenez at room temperature. The raisin-like flavor is great for dipping a biscotti to finish off a meal.

The good news is a good quality sherry won't break the bank. You can find a bottle of Don Fino for less than $12.

Sandeman Amontillado Sherry Medium-Dry Character is a more full-bodied wine. Because a small amount of PX (Pedro Ximenez) is added late in the aging process, it has a touch of sweetness. Under $18.

To round out the sherry experience, try Osborne Sweet P.X. It has a nice brown sugar smell and taste. Great over vanilla ice cream or in a glass to linger over by the fireplace. The alcohol content is 17%, so sip it slowly. Under $20.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Hot-New-Wine-For-2009&id=1755870

Affiliate Programs - Post #5

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 03:14:00 +0000

This exercise was important because it showed me that I have to research affiliate programs to find out if, 1. the affiliate is on the up and up, 2. the products offered are good for my site, 3. I'll make money!

Here's a rundown on the 3 programs, CafePress, AllPosters and RocketProfit:

I chose CafePress/Commission Junction because the products offered worked well into my site. Commission Junction recently settled a lawsuit regarding third party software hijacking clicks. A million dollar payout was divided with 30% going to advertisers and 70% going to publishers. Because of the lawsuit CJ has enhanced it's tracking software.

CafePress
Offers a monthly payment schedule with a minimum payout of $100.
CafePress outsources it's affiliate program to Commission Junction. In return for tracking, paying and managing the accounts, they get a small piece of each transaction. Publishers earn a commission based on the price of each item sold. One reason I like this affiliate is they have a tutorial for beginners and advanced users. They show you how to make your site user-friendly in order to maximize your income.

AllPosters
You get paid monthly, 30 days after the end of each month, as long as your commission balance is greater than your minimum payment amount. That minimum amount is $20.00 for domestic affiliates and $100.00 International affiliates. They have a simple payment schedule:

Total Sales/Month Commission
Less than $500 25%
$500 to $2000 26%
$2000 to $5000 27%
$5000 to $10,000 28%
$10,000 to $20,000 29%
$20,000 and up 30%

RocketProfit
An interesting affiliate. While CafePress and AllPoster state in their agreement that you can't have sleezy items on your website, RocketPocket promotes sleeze.

RocketProfit promotes sites like "SexxyMofo.com, Cyclotrim.com - a weight loss company, and ForexGTG.com that claims that you can earn a six-figure income from your home by trading in the Forex Market.

The advertisers on this site, by far, pay the highest commissions. RocketProfit also has a rewards program if you are a high-earner. The parent company, Traffix, Inc icludes GroupLotto.com and AtlasCreditGroup.com, which is a sweepstakes, as well as dozens of other entertainment sites. The two guys that started this company are pretty interesting characters who have been in the marketing business for decades and are best known for "Miss Cleo", the psychic Jamaican shaman who turned out to be an actress from Los Angels.

I will definitely look into this company again, once I get my original site up. Sleeze sells.

The TwitPitch - Post #4

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:18:00 +0000

Using Twitter to Market Your Business

You've just taken that big step and decided to start your own business. You have a great name, a cool web site and now you're ready to let everyone know that you are open for business. Then someone asks the dreaded question, "What do you do?"

How do you describe your business to this potential customer so he understands exactly what it is that you do without having to hand him your business plan?

The first thing every business owner learns is that you have to have a 30-second "elevator pitch." A good elevator pitch is short and to the point. In a few sentences you should be able to tell someone - in the time it takes to ride an elevator, what it is that your business does.

The new elevator pitch

In the world of social networking you take the same idea of the elevator pitch and narrow it down to 140 characters or less - about 20 words. 140 characters is the maximum length of a message on Twitter. If you want to get attention by using social media you have to be brief because everyone is already on information overload. A brief message with one link to your web site is all it takes.

Comparing Domain Name Services - Post #3

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:19:00 +0000

www.GoDaddy.com

The last few names I've registered have been with GoDaddy and I'm happy with the process. It's a simple, easy to use interface. Prices to register are generally $9.99 and if you buy 6 or more domains at the same time, you get a 65% discount. What a deal! For those entrepreneurs who can't wait to start using their domain names, they can get you up and running almost immediately with their do-it-yourself WebSite Tonight - although the templates are pretty limited.

Moniker
I haven't used Moniker yet, but I'll definitely try it in the future. Their prices are a bit less than GoDaddy and the interface is easy to use. Promo ads are a little cleaner and easier to read than some of the other sites and I found myself actually reading them. As part of Moniker's Web Site Promotion Service they partner with Monster.com, which is a plus for any business that does hiring. What they don't have, even though they promote it, is web hosting. They partner with a company called coolhandle.com.

Network Solutions
This is the company I registered my first domain name back in the 90's when it was the only game in town for top level domain registration. Also at that time the prices were much higher because of a"tax" that went to the National Science Foundation for R & D.

Using Network Solutions is easy, just like the other registration sites. The interface is a little better than most. The problem with NS is that it has had it's share of negative publicity. Complaints regarding people checking if a domain is available and if it isn't registered at the time, NS parks the name so they can't register it at any other site for several days. This should scare anyone away from using them.

Net Neutrality - Post #2

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:50:00 +0000

Net Neutrality - What does it mean and why should I care?

The internet has become the main source of communication for most Americans. We start our day by checking email, reading the headlines, trading stocks or balancing the checkbook - all before we even step out the door. Other times we use the internet for entertainment. We can watch a TV show or a movie online or we can share photos and videos with family and friends or listen to music being broadcast from stations around the world. We enjoy all these resources through our Internet Service Providers (ISP's) who enable us to access any website we want, whenever we want, at the fastest speed available.

The ISP's, like Time Warner, Comcast, ATT and Verizon want to charge a premium (tax) for companies that use a high percentage of bandwith to ensure speed of delivery of their products. In addition to your internet service, this includes your TV and phone service. At the current time the FCC regulates whether or not the telecoms can charge a tax. The ISP's have lobbied Congress and the Senate and legislation has been passed to allow providers to do what they call "traffic shaping" which allows certain types of content to have priority bandwith over their long distance connections - at a premium, of course.

The problem arises when deciding which content or "data packets" get priority and which don't. Companies or "content providers" who pay a premium will get the most bandwith, while those that don't have the money to pay will be at the mercy of the remaining bandwith. This could change the way you use the internet. What if you were in the middle of transferring money from you savings account to your checking account and your internet connection began to slog along? Get the picture?

There is also something more serious to consider here - whether or not the ISP's should be allowed to block some packets. On one hand some say the ISP's should be able to block such things as kiddy porn. On the other hand, who would know if the providers were paid by one client to block the content of a competitor?

We've only seen the tip of the iceberg on this issue. Will our Federal government be swayed by smooth-talking, money spending lobbyists? We'll know soon enough.

Hi there! - Post #1

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:46:00 +0000

This is the first post for a great new class at Grossmont College called Practical Internet Marketing. Having an internet-based business is something I've been planning to do for some time now and hope to have the website up and running by the end of the the year.