The Gillmor Gang ? Doc Searls, Robert Scoble, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor ? takes turns sizing up the new season. With Steve Ballmer running out of room and close to the warning track, we talk about who might be called up from the minors. Dave Winer is back with a nifty pivot on Google Reader's trip to the showers. More than anything, Winer made the hard stuff look easy and gave the tech generation a voice.
Louisville's bench, including Bria Smith (21) and Shoni Schimmel (23), celebrates the winning free throws against Baylor during the second half of a regional semifinal in the women's NCAA college basketball tournament in Oklahoma City, Sunday, March 31, 2013. Louisville won 82-81. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)
Louisville's bench, including Bria Smith (21) and Shoni Schimmel (23), celebrates the winning free throws against Baylor during the second half of a regional semifinal in the women's NCAA college basketball tournament in Oklahoma City, Sunday, March 31, 2013. Louisville won 82-81. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)
Louisville's bench celebrates after defeating Baylor 82-81 in a regional semifinal in the women's NCAA college basketball tournament in Oklahoma City, Sunday, March 31, 2013. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)
Baylor 's Brittney Griner (42) shoots as Louisville guard Shoni Schimmel (23) defends in the first half of a regional semifinal game in the women's NCAA college basketball tournament in Oklahoma City, Sunday, March 31, 2013. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Louisville guard Shoni Schimmel, left, and guard Antonita Slaughter, top, pressure Baylor guard Jordan Madden (3) as she looks for a teammate to pass to in the first half of a regional semifinal game in the women's NCAA college basketball tournament in Oklahoma City, Sunday, March 31, 2013. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Oklahoma City Thunder NBA basketball player Kevin Durant poses for photos with Baylor players during a timeout in the second half of a regional semifinal game between Oklahoma and Tennessee in the women's NCAA college basketball tournament in Oklahoma City, Sunday, March 31, 2013. Tennessee won 74-59. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) ? From the opening tip of the season, there was only one question in women's college basketball: How do you stop Brittney Griner?
Louisville found the answer Sunday night, pulling off one of the biggest upsets in the history of the tournament.
Considered a lock for the Final Four ? and prohibitive favorites to win a second straight championship ? Griner and her Lady Bears got bounced 82-81 by fifth-seeded Louisville in an NCAA regional semifinal.
"I'm just sad," Griner said. "I didn't do what I needed to do to get my team to the Elite Eight and just disappointment in myself."
Baylor (34-2) had won 32 straight games and 74 of 75 behind Griner, among the greatest players ever in her sport. But the 6-foot-8 star didn't make a basket until the second half, then committed a foul with 2.6 seconds left that gave Louisville a chance to win.
Monique Reid made those two foul shots, rescuing the Cardinals (27-8) after they squandered a 17-point lead in the last 7? minutes.
The win made it quite a day for the school ? hours earlier, the men's team from Louisville beat Duke 85-63 to reach the Final Four.
Reid and the Cardinals will play Tennessee in the regional final on Tuesday for a berth in the Final Four.
Odyssey Sims scored 29 points, including two free throws with 9.1 seconds to go that put Baylor ahead 81-80. Sims had one more chance to save the season, but she was off-target and late on a desperation heave.
Sims dropped to the floor after her miss, pulling her jersey over her face and kicking her legs as she lay flat on her back.
Griner squatted near her and slapped the floor with both hands before pulling Sims up to her feet.
It was a stunning end of a remarkable college career for Griner, the second-highest scoring player in NCAA history. She also holds the career records for blocks and dunks.
"It's a tough way to lose," coach Kim Mulkey said. "It's hard to lose when it's your last game, but it's even harder the way that game ended. Makes it a little tougher."
Griner, who had averaged 33 points in Baylor's first two games in the tournament, didn't make a basket until she converted a putback with 15:20 left in the second half. She wound up with 14 points and 10 rebounds, making only four of her 10 shots and being a relative non-factor for her considerable stature.
Louisville surrounded Griner as she has been most of her career, using a zone defense Louisville coach Jeff Walz called the "claw and one." He put one player in front of Griner and another behind her, and often another one in the vicinity.
"I think I could smell what toothpaste she used," Antonita Slaughter said. "I was in her face the whole time with my hands up."
Unusually, Griner's teammates were unable to hit outside shots and relieve the pressure.
That wasn't a problem for the Cardinals, who scored 11 more points than anyone else against Baylor this season. They tied the NCAA tournament mark for 3-pointers reached by four other teams and made the most ever in the regional semifinals or beyond.
"Our goal was to score, score and score. I told our kids if we had to take 40 to 50 3s we would," Walz said. "I don't know if we could go out there right now 5-on-0 and go 16 of 25, but we did it in the biggest game of the year for us and now we're going to hopefully keep our momentum going and see what we can do on Tuesday."
The Lady Bears had been practically invincible for the past four months since losing to Stanford on Nov. 16. Baylor, which went 40-0 last season, had won the next 32 straight games mostly by double digits.
It's no surprise that the Louisville women were a 24-point underdog to Baylor in Las Vegas casinos, according to gambling expert R.J. Bell of Pregame.com. Odds on Louisville to win outright were 75-1, paying $7,500 on a $100 wager, Bell said.
It was Sims who eventually led Baylor's attempted comeback from a 17-point deficit in the final 7? minutes, after Louisville's barrage of 3-pointers finally came to an end.
Sims hit a pair of free throws and then got a steal in the backcourt for a layup that got Baylor back within a dozen, and the Lady Bears put together a 19-4 run to get within striking distance in the final 2 minutes.
Walz was called for a technical foul for arguing after he watched a scoreboard replay of an offensive foul whistled against Bria Smith, with a Baylor defender sliding under her after she took off.
Sims hit the resulting free throws and then a runner to get the Lady Bears within 78-76 with 1:49 to play.
After a Megan Deines layup off a baseline inbounds play, Sims answered with a 3-pointer to cut it to one with 35.8 seconds left. She then hit two free throws to put Baylor ahead after Jude Schimmel fumbled an inbounds pass under her own basket, Griner picked it up and passed it to Sims.
The Lady Bears still couldn't close it out.
"That's pretty remarkable," Mulkey said. "You're supposed to get blown out if you get 16 3s, and we didn't get blown out."
Mulkey criticized the game officials, saying she didn't care if she got fined, even after Louisville was called for 23 fouls compared to 14 for the Lady Bears. The Cardinals also had three starters foul out. Griner said she thought she got all ball on Reid's final drive.
"I thought the game started out way too physical, way too physical," Mulkey said. "I thought that all three of them, if they go past this round of officiating, it will be sad for the game."
Slaughter hit seven 3-pointers for 21 points and Shoni Schimmel had five 3s.
"Every 3 that they hit when we would cut the lead made it that much tougher. You keep thinking through the course of the game that they're going to start missing some," Mulkey said. "But they never did."
FILE - This Feb. 23, 2013 file photo shows New Mexico head coach Steve Alford directing his team against Colorado State in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Fort Collins, Colo. UCLA has hired New Mexico's Alford as its new head basketball coach, according to reports Saturday March 30. 2013. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
FILE - This Feb. 23, 2013 file photo shows New Mexico head coach Steve Alford directing his team against Colorado State in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Fort Collins, Colo. UCLA has hired New Mexico's Alford as its new head basketball coach, according to reports Saturday March 30. 2013. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? UCLA hired Steve Alford as basketball coach on Saturday, luring him from New Mexico days after he signed a new 10-year deal with the Lobos.
Athletic director Dan Guerrero said Alford is "the perfect fit for UCLA" because he connects with a new generation of players and brings an up-tempo and team-oriented style of play to Westwood.
"He's ready for this stage," Guerrero said on a teleconference.
Alford agreed to a seven-year deal worth $18.2 million, with a yearly salary of $2.6 million, according to Guerrero. He will receive a $200,000 signing bonus.
Alford will be introduced at UCLA on Tuesday.
"I have been so fortunate and blessed in my life, and an opportunity to lead one of the greatest programs in college basketball history is once-in-a-lifetime," he said in a statement.
Alford's deal with New Mexico was worth more than $20 million over 10 years. Guerrero said Alford is responsible for a buyout of his contract in Albuquerque, but that UCLA would work out the details.
Guerrero said UCLA reached out to Alford first, not knowing whether he would be interested in the Bruins. Once he confirmed he was, the details were finalized early Saturday, Guerrero said.
"He's not the kind of guy that will shy away from what UCLA basketball is all about," the athletic director said.
Alford, who is 48, succeeds Ben Howland, who was fired last weekend after 10 years and a 233-107 record that included three consecutive Final Four appearances and four Pac-12 titles. The Bruins were 25-10 this season, which ended with a 20-point loss to Minnesota in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Alford led New Mexico to a 29-6 record this season that included the Mountain West regular-season and tournament titles. But the Lobos were upset by Harvard in the second round of the NCAAs shortly after Alford's new contract had been announced.
His son, Bryce, was set to play for his father with the Lobos, continuing a tradition that Alford first established when he played under his own father, Sam, at New Castle Chrysler High in Indiana.
Alford had a 155-52 record in six years at New Mexico, with the Lobos making three trips to the NCAA tournament. He was selected Mountain West coach of the year three times.
Guerrero had said he wanted a coach who would help boost season ticket sales. The Bruins had just a few sellouts at newly renovated Pauley Pavilion this season.
"I think the UCLA family will embrace him. I think he'll be able to hit on all cylinders," Guerrero said. "He'll be able to energize the fan base in so many ways. Look at New Mexico, they get 15,000 a game, it's madness there."
His other head coaching stints were at Iowa (2000-07), Missouri State (1996-99) and Manchester College (1992-95) in his native Indiana.
Alford is a legend in the Hoosier state, where he starred at Indiana University from 1984-87 under coach Bob Knight. The Hoosiers won the national championship in his senior year. He also played on the gold medal-winning 1984 U.S. Olympic basketball team in Los Angeles as a college sophomore. Knight coached that team.
Alford was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in 1987 and played four years in the NBA before starting his head coaching career at tiny Division III Manchester.
As a high school senior, Alford averaged 37.7 points and was Indiana Mr. Basketball.
Besides Bryce, Alford and his wife, Tanya, have a son, Kory, and a daughter, Kayla.
If you're caught without your reading glasses, or you encounter some terrifically fine print on a box or contract, you have two options: curse your abnormal retina design, or pinch your fingers together. It's like adjusting the f-stop on your eyeballs.
Instructables poster mikey77 shows us how it's done, using three fingers?the thumb joined up against an index finger, with a middle finger forming the base?to create a small hole through which to see tiny things more clearly. It's obviously not for lengthy reading, but it can help in a ... pinch (sorry). Here's how it works:
You are effectively creating a pinhole lens. This gives a slight magnification and significantly increases your depth of field (the range that is in focus). It does this by greatly limiting the amount of light going through the lens in your eye. It is like adjusting the F stop in a camera.
Tried this out? Got another last-ditch reading and vision tip?
How To Make Instant Reading Glasses | Instructables
All Critics (105) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (100) | Rotten (5)
A real-life horror story, made no less shocking by the familiarity of its early scenes.
While the "Paradise Lost" films captured events as they unfolded in the heat of battle, "West of Memphis" has the luxury of at least partial closure.
A true-crime story that begins with a notorious murder case and grows into a chilling indictment of the American justice system.
And justice for all? Hardly.
It tells the story of a terrible crime compounded by a grave injustice that's been remedied, but only in part, so it's impossible to have a single or simple response to the movie.
What sets this film apart from previous efforts to document the story is that Jackson and Walsh financed a private investigative team with legal and forensic experts who re-examined old evidence, conducted new interviews and found new witnesses.
We feel like we're watching an overlong true-crime television episode and not a movie.
I would have preferred Jackson's clinically-presented project display a bit more reverence for the three young lives that were brutally taken some twenty years ago.
Moving and gruesome, West of Memphis is an eloquent disquisition on the banality of evil.
"West of Memphis" re-examines evidence and retells the story in a methodical and procedural fashion in which even the false steps lead somewhere.
More a recap and appendix to the Paradise Lost trilogy... one can't help but feel that the celebrities involved needed this document of their efforts to appease their vanity.
The case is more intriguing than the film about it.
Isn't unnecessary, but it's often superfluous.
The film suggests these powerless, poorly educated young men were scapegoated because they would be missed by nobody of importance -- the justice system equivalent of the cannon fodder recruited from the same socioeconomic straits.
It's nice to have all the twists and turns of the iconic case contained tidily in one well-crafted film, although there are no real revelations here.
"West of Memphis" becomes a greatest-hits concert of prosecutorial misconduct, and you'll agree when the film asserts that prosecutors knew they had the wrong guys.
Incredibly, after three documentaries on the subject, there are still things to reveal about the West Memphis Three.
"West of Memphis" does nothing to displace its predecessor films as masterpieces of investigative filmmaking, but complements them as a riveting capstone to an epic and tragic tale.
West of Memphis is the real vindication - even if it is incomplete.
In the end it won't matter if this is the fourth movie about the same subject; you can never learn its lessons often enough.
West of Memphis caps off the Paradise Lost/West Memphis Three saga with a line up full of perpetrators including the media, the West Memphis PD, the legal establishment and suspect gift wrapped with a smoking gun.
Injustice in West Memphis, Arkansas
Berg lays out her case with the logic of a first-rate prosecutor and the theatricality of a born storyteller.
No quotes approved yet for West of Memphis. Logged in users can submit quotes.
BANGKOK (AP) ? Asian stock markets were mostly higher Friday as momentum carried over from yet another record high on Wall Street.
The Standard and Poor's 500 index closed at its highest level ever Thursday, driven by more encouraging data on the U.S. economic recovery. The government said the economy grew at an annual rate of 0.4 percent in the October-December quarter, slightly better than previous estimates. The revision reflected stronger business investment and export sales.
South Korea's Kospi rose 0.6 percent to 2,004.89. Taiwan's TAIEX advanced 0.7 percent to 7,918.61. Markets in Hong Kong, India, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Philippines and Singapore were shut for Good Friday. Markets in the Europe and the U.S. are also closed.
Japan's Nikkei reversed early losses to rise 0.5 percent and close at 12,397.91. Gains were muted, however, as the yen leveled off against the dollar and the government released figures for February showing the country's jobless rate edging up while industrial production fell slightly.
Newly appointed central bank governor, Haruhiko Kuroda, has pledged to work with the government to end decades of growth-inhibiting deflation. His outspoken calls for action have raised hopes for results but some analysts said they may also have created unrealistic expectations for a turnaround.
"Unfortunately, the markets' expectations of the new Governor are so high that they will be almost impossible to meet, let alone beat," said analysts at Capital Economics in a market commentary.
Shares in mainland China were mostly flat amid limited trading volume, analysts said. The Shanghai Composite Index was nearly unchanged at 2,236.62 while the Shenzhen Composite Index fell 0.2 percent to 927.89.
Peng Yunliang, a Shanghai-based analyst, said shares in brokerage houses declined following the release Thursday of official policies aimed at tightening control over wealth management products.
In Europe on Thursday, markets responded positively to the calm reopening of Cyprus's banks. Banks in the Mediterranean island nation were shut for nearly two weeks as the government negotiated a rescue loan from international lenders to prevent the financial system from collapsing. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares, Germany's DAX and France's CAC-40 all closed higher Thursday.
Italy's political uncertainty will also remain in the spotlight. Following inconclusive elections around a month ago, the country is still without a government, and that's raised concerns over its future economic path. Italy is the third-largest economy of the 17 countries that use the euro.
The Standard and Poor's 500 index closed at a record Thursday, surpassing its previous record close of 1,565.15 set in October 2007. The Dow, which surpassed its previous all-time high at the start of the month, also rose.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.4 percent to close at 14,578.54. The S&P 500 advanced 0.4 percent to close at 1,569.19. The Nasdaq composite index added 0.3 percent to 3,267.52. U.S. stock markets will be shut for the Good Friday holiday. Thursday was the last trading day of the first quarter.
The New York Mercantile Exchange, where benchmark oil is traded, was closed for the Good Friday holiday.
In currencies, the euro fell slightly to $1.2819 from $1.2822 late Thursday in New York. The dollar fell to 94.03 yen from 94.13 yen.
A grand jury indicted a former superintendent and more than 30 other educators Friday in one of the nation's largest cheating scandals that rocked Atlanta's public schools.
The indictment named the former Superintendent Beverly Hall as well as several high-level administrators, principals and teachers. Hall faces charges including racketeering, false statements and theft. She retired just days before the 2011 probe was released, and has previously denied the allegations.
A state investigation in 2011 found cheating by nearly 180 educators in 44 Atlanta schools. Educators gave answers to students or changed answers on tests after they were turned in, investigators said. Teachers who tried to report it faced retaliation, creating a culture of "fear and intimidation" in the district.
The cheating came to light after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that some scores were statistically improbable.
The criminal investigation lasted 21 months and the allegations dated back to 2005.
Most of the 178 educators named in a special investigators' report resigned, retired, did not have their contracts renewed or appealed their dismissals and lost. Twenty-one educators have been reinstated and three await hearings to appeal their dismissals, said Atlanta Public Schools spokesman Stephen Alford.
The tests were the key measure the state used to determine whether it met the federal No Child Left Behind law. Schools with good test scores get extra federal dollars to spend in the classroom or on teacher bonuses.
Georgia last year was granted a waiver from the federal law, which allowed schools to count a host of measures in addition to standardized tests.
State schools Superintendent John Barge said last year he believes the state's new accountability system will remove the pressure to cheat on standardized tests because it won't be the sole way the state determines student growth. The pressure was part of what some educators in Atlanta Public Schools blamed for their cheating.
Alford, the schools spokesman, said the district was moving on from the scandal.
"This is a legal matter between the individuals implicated and the Fulton County District Attorney's office, and we will allow the legal process to take its course," he said before the indictment was announced. "Our focus is on providing a quality education to all of our students and supporting the 6,000 employees who come to work each day and make sound decisions about educating our students."
The Georgia Professional Standards Commission is responsible for licensing teachers and has been going through the complaints against teachers, said commission executive secretary Kelly Henson.
The commission considers cases as they are released from the district attorney's office. By Wednesday, they had received all but 26, Henson said.
The commission waits for the district attorneys before taking action on those cases because there is likely evidence that will be useful for the commission's own investigation.
"It is very routine for us to work with the DA's office and say we're not going to step on each other's toes and we'll work around their schedule," Henson said.
It's common for educators to receive professional sanctions from the commission but not be charged, Henson said. The commission only requires a finding of guilt based on good evidence of wrongdoing, while criminal prosecutions require guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Of the 159 cases that the commission already reviewed, 44 resulted in license revocations, 100 got two-year suspensions and nine were suspended for less than two years, Henson said. No action was taken against six of the educators.?
? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
If you have a business then it is impossible to stay out of internet marketing. An amalgamation of internet marketing plan with the business plan and its vision can make wonders in promoting and making the business a success. But to make the business grow and prosper you need to have an effective and proper internet marketing plan. This plan should also be good enough and focused to drive internet traffic to your website. To achieve that, the following tips or steps might help to create a good and effective internet marketing plan.
1.?The Vision
Before starting the most important step set the goal or vision. This will act as the starting point and also set goals for your internet marketing strategy. The clearly written vision is not only for you but it should be clearly and concisely communicated to the whole team that will be working for it. With time there can be changes in the goal or vision and necessary changes can be undertaken. This also needs to be effectively communicated with the team for them to understand clearly also. Every activity that is proposed or comes to the mind should be weighted for and against before implementation.
The goal or vision also should include a budget for the marketing activities, as it should not fizzle out after some time.
2.?Target market
Without a complete understanding of the target market any marketing plan is like building castles in thin air. Understanding the consumers, their behavior and the target audience or target market will help you device plans to drive traffic to your site, and thereby greater conversion rate. This knowledge will also help in developing proper goals and plans to achieve them.
3.?The Competitors
Understanding the market competition and knowing them provides additional knowledge that helps sustaining competition in the market. Reports on the competitor?s business, marketing plans and relevant information will give you an extra edge over them. This will also ensure you to avoid the loopholes or problems they have.
4.?The Solutions
There may be numerous businesses in the same niche, and providing customers and consumers with the same service or products. There is a huge possibility that they all provide them at almost the same price. So to stand out in the rest, the best way is to provide solutions to their problems also. Make sure that you provide solutions to their problems and have a dedicated page to address their problems. Establish yourself as an expert in that field. Also make sure that instead of bragging about your product or company, the content speaks what the company will do for its clients and how the clients will benefit from their product or service. Most consumers tend to look for information regarding their benefit.
5.?The Funnel
Using a funnel or an inverted pyramid to filter clients is a proven and an excellent strategy. The wide top of the pyramid or cone opens with low cost or freebie for the clients and the narrower segments slowly makes way for the costlier offers or products. Depending on the response, the strategies can be further developed, modified and planned.
6.?The Brand
The brand name for your trade or service is very important. This will also play an important role in using the domain for your website. Another important need is a perfect tagline that will be your identity in a line. Both these combined together makes your identity in the market and tells about your service and product to the customers.
7.?The Website
The website needs to be visually appealing to customers and consumers. It should have all the things to attract the customer?s attention, and it should also be graphic enough for the customer to understand what you have to offer. Moreover the page should be light in weight so that it does not take infinite time to load. Ensure that the pages also open fast on mobile or handheld devices.
Remember that content still holds the key, and make sure to describe the offers, services and products properly. Keep in mind that the content is more into informing clients about the offers and benefits and not tall tales about yourself.
Add pages for customer feedback and helpline pages for prompt customer interaction. Also ask for reviews and comments from customers or visitors. Ask them to subscribe for free services like upcoming offers, newsletters and so on.
8.?Business Managing Mechanism for online trades
Ensure that the site is safe and have required certificates on display to gain customer confidence. Also use best possible technology for safer internet buying and selling from your website. This is very important and also use best possible softwares for generating receipts and responses for buyers.
9.?Other marketing options & cost and Resources
Check out other marketing plans that can be implemented. Using pay-per-click or affiliate plans. Using social media and social bookmarking to plan an efficient internet marketing needs to be considered. Proper and good SEO needs to come into play as well. Look for every possible opportunity and option that might actually help you market on the internet effectively.
Once all these are done identifying the cost is very important. The in-house human capital and monetary strength needs to be ascertained. Calculate and budget for every step needs to be efficiently distributed. Outsourcing some work at cheaper options can be a good idea.
10.?To-Do list
Finalize the to-do list with all the nitty gritty details. It is best to use software to keep all the detailed data, and update it regularly. Divide the work to teams and take regular updates from each team to keep track of progress.
Final Word
The most important thing for success in internet marketing strategy involves the continuous monitoring of the data available and redesigning or strengthening areas that are working fine or not working. Measuring marketing plans and adjusting accordingly is also one of the better ways. Stay clear of any black hat SEO techniques of scam that might guarantee you instant results. Make your team co-operative and let them have a clean understanding of the goals and plans. Also they should be clear about their responsibilities.
But the best step is to put you in the consumer?s shoes and imagining what benefits and deals would attract them and design steps and plans accordingly.
?
?
About The Author: Kelly is a writer/blogger. She loves writing, travelling and reading books. She contributes in KEL Attorneys. Check here for more on KEL Attorneys
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Chesapeake Energy Corp's search for a new chief executive to replace Aubrey McClendon is likely to extend beyond an April 1 deadline, according to a person familiar with the situation.
McClendon is expected to step down on Monday even if a successor has not been named, leaving Chief Operating Officer Steve Dixon and Chairman Archie Dunham to lead the U.S. oil and gas company in the interim, the source said.
McClendon's departure was announced in late January, following a governance crisis and a liquidity crunch caused by heavy spending on oil and gas properties, and a collapse in the price of natural gas.
Chesapeake's board of directors is considering both internal and external candidates for the job they had initially said would be filled by April 1.
The reason for the delay was not immediately clear. A spokesman for the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma-based company did not return a telephone call seeking comment on the process.
Analysts said several factors may be complicating the search: the second-largest U.S. natural gas producer faces financial and regulatory headwinds, it has a knotty financial structure that needs to be simplified, and there is a crowded field of public energy companies on the hunt for a CEO.
McClendon, who co-founded Chesapeake in 1989, was one of the first oil and gas executives to recognize the vast potential of the country's shale basins. But he oversaw $43 billion in spending over 15 years to snap up drilling rights across the country, putting the company under severe financial strain when natural gas prices tumbled.
Chesapeake has to fill a projected $4 billion gap between cash flow and spending this year and sell up to $7 billion in assets to help make up that shortfall in an environment where deal valuations have softened.
A Reuters investigation last April found that McClendon had arranged to personally borrow more than $1 billion from a big investor in Chesapeake, EIG Global Energy Partners, secured by his interest in the wells.
That program granting McClendon stakes in the company's wells is the subject of a formal investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The U.S. Department of Justice has also launched a probe into possible antitrust violations related to land deals Chesapeake struck in Michigan. Those deals were first reported by Reuters.
A company probe of the same matter found no intentional wrongdoing on the part of McClendon.
"I don't think the company is out of the woods," said Phil Weiss, oil analyst at Argus Research. "They are going to need somebody who can get their leverage and budget under control and sort through all the joint ventures and off-the-balance sheet stuff."
Chesapeake has competition for talented executives. Other oil and gas companies that are looking for new CEOs, or executives who are meant to be part of a succession plan, include Encana Corp , Occidental Petroleum Corp and Marathon Oil Corp .
The search for a CEO typically takes about three months, but often takes longer because of the difficulty of scheduling interviews, negotiations over contract terms, and due diligence, according to executive search firm Egon Zehnder.
"From a board's perspective, it's a pretty complex thing when you talk about a CEO search," said Trent Aulbaugh, head of Egon Zehnder's Houston office. His firm is not involved in the Chesapeake search process.
A partner at Heidrick & Struggles, the recruiting firm that Chesapeake hired, was not available to comment.
McClendon, 53, appears eager to leave Chesapeake as quickly as possible, the source said.
He has created at least two new Oklahoma companies in the last few months, McClendon Energy Operating LLC and Arcadia Capital LLC, according to documents filed with the Oklahoma Secretary of State. The documents did not provide any details about the nature of the companies.
A spokesman for McClendon did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on his plans.
(Additional reporting by Michael Erman; Editing by Edward Tobin and Tiffany Wu)
Sony said back in February that it would deliver Jelly Bean for the Xperia TX, and the update has hit just in time.
Starting late last night, folks who have a Sony Xperia TX and the associated "PC Companion" software on their computer were being notified of an update. Luckily it is indeed the Jelly Bean update promised by Sony all the way back in the first week of February. The update brings big improvements to all of Sony's customizations, from the included apps to the launcher and home screen experience. The move to Jelly Bean of course brings Google's own set of goodies like Google Now, Project Butter and actionable notifications as well.
At this point the update only seems to be coming over that PC Companion software and not OTA -- which is unfortunate -- but the option should be there if you're ready to get your Jelly Bean on. Grab the update yet for your own device? Let us know in the comments.
A new era in sports science journals: The launch of BMC Sports Science, Medicine and RehabilitationPublic release date: 28-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dr Hilary Glover hilary.glover@biomedcentral.com 44-020-319-22370 BioMed Central
Open access publisher BioMed Central is proud to announce the launch of BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation, another addition to the BMC-series portfolio.
The journal's scope includes all aspects of sports medicine and the exercise sciences, including rehabilitation, traumatology, cardiology, physiology, and nutrition. It is journal policy to publish work deemed by peer reviewers to be a coherent and sound addition to scientific knowledge and to put less emphasis on interest levels, provided that the research constitutes a useful contribution to the field.
Deborah Kahn, BioMed Central's Publishing Director says, "This new journal is intended to move the BMC series into an exciting and fast growing field. The broad scope and open access nature of BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation offers authors and readers from a wide range of disciplines a unique venue to serve their communities' needs."
BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation also incorporates the recently closed Sports Medicine, Arthroscopy, Rehabilitation, Therapy & Technology (SMARTT) with an expanded scope and new Editorial Board. BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation will fill its own niche in the BMC series alongside other companion journals including BMC Physiology, BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders and BMC Surgery.
The launch articles reflect the breadth and scope of the new journal and include a study on the 'Determinants of pain, functional limitations and health-related quality of life six months after total knee arthroplasty' by Franois Desmeules et al. and an interview with Section Editor Michael Carmont examining the discipline of sports traumatology research. A systematic review by Emily Churton and Justin W Keogh also published amongst the launch articles highlights the constraints influencing sports wheelchair propulsion performance and injury risk.
BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation fills a key niche in the sports science field and Per Renstrom, PhD, Emeritus Professor at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden has said, "Sports Medicine by its very nature is multidisciplinary and the new BMC Sports Science, Medicine, and Rehabilitation with its broad scope and inclusive editorial policy will offer a home for diverse research in this area. The field of sports science and medicine is an area with a very high public interest and the transparent open peer review process on the journal shall provide a greater trust in the research the journal reports."
BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation is accepting submissions; please use the online submission system to submit your manuscript. For all enquiries about the journal, please contact: newjournals@biomedcentral.com.
1. A new era in sports science: the launch of BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation
Elizabeth Moylan and Genevieve Horne
BMC Sports Science, Medicine, and Rehabilitation 2013, 5:1
Determinants of pain, functional limitations and health-related quality of life six months after total knee arthroplasty: results from a prospective cohort study
Franois Desmeules, Clermont E Dionne, tienne L Belzile, Rene Bourbonnais, Franois Champagne and Pierre Frmont
BMC Sports Science, Medicine, and Rehabilitation 2013, 5:2
Constraints influencing sports wheelchair propulsion performance and injury risk
Emily Churton and Justin W Keogh Keogh
BMC Sports Science, Medicine, and Rehabilitation 2013, 5:3
A case report of semitendinosus tendon autograft for reconstruction of the meniscal wall supporting a collagen implant
Juan D Ayala Mejias, Roselyn, C Sciamanna, Manuel Perez-Espaa Muniesac and Luis Alcocer Prez-Espaa
BMC Sports Science, Medicine, and Rehabilitation 2013, 5:4
An interview with Michael Carmont, Section Editor for the Surgery, traumatology, and rehabilitation section on sports traumatology research: acute, overuse and chronic problems, early return to play and long-term outcomes
Michael Carmont
BMC Sports Science, Medicine, and Rehabilitation 2013, 5:5
Articles available at journal website http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcsportsscimedrehabil/ or here
http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcsportsscimedrehabil/content/5/1/1
http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcsportsscimedrehabil/content/5/1/2
http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcsportsscimedrehabil/content/5/1/3
http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcsportsscimedrehabil/content/5/1/4
http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcsportsscimedrehabil/content/5/1/5
Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.
2. BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation (http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcsportsscimedrehabil/) is an open access, peer reviewed journal that considers articles on all aspects of sports medicine and the exercise sciences, including rehabilitation, traumatology, cardiology, physiology, and nutrition. It is journal policy to publish work deemed by peer reviewers to be a coherent and sound addition to scientific knowledge and to put less emphasis on interest levels, provided that the research constitutes a useful contribution to the field.
3. BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector. @BioMedCentral
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
A new era in sports science journals: The launch of BMC Sports Science, Medicine and RehabilitationPublic release date: 28-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dr Hilary Glover hilary.glover@biomedcentral.com 44-020-319-22370 BioMed Central
Open access publisher BioMed Central is proud to announce the launch of BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation, another addition to the BMC-series portfolio.
The journal's scope includes all aspects of sports medicine and the exercise sciences, including rehabilitation, traumatology, cardiology, physiology, and nutrition. It is journal policy to publish work deemed by peer reviewers to be a coherent and sound addition to scientific knowledge and to put less emphasis on interest levels, provided that the research constitutes a useful contribution to the field.
Deborah Kahn, BioMed Central's Publishing Director says, "This new journal is intended to move the BMC series into an exciting and fast growing field. The broad scope and open access nature of BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation offers authors and readers from a wide range of disciplines a unique venue to serve their communities' needs."
BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation also incorporates the recently closed Sports Medicine, Arthroscopy, Rehabilitation, Therapy & Technology (SMARTT) with an expanded scope and new Editorial Board. BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation will fill its own niche in the BMC series alongside other companion journals including BMC Physiology, BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders and BMC Surgery.
The launch articles reflect the breadth and scope of the new journal and include a study on the 'Determinants of pain, functional limitations and health-related quality of life six months after total knee arthroplasty' by Franois Desmeules et al. and an interview with Section Editor Michael Carmont examining the discipline of sports traumatology research. A systematic review by Emily Churton and Justin W Keogh also published amongst the launch articles highlights the constraints influencing sports wheelchair propulsion performance and injury risk.
BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation fills a key niche in the sports science field and Per Renstrom, PhD, Emeritus Professor at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden has said, "Sports Medicine by its very nature is multidisciplinary and the new BMC Sports Science, Medicine, and Rehabilitation with its broad scope and inclusive editorial policy will offer a home for diverse research in this area. The field of sports science and medicine is an area with a very high public interest and the transparent open peer review process on the journal shall provide a greater trust in the research the journal reports."
BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation is accepting submissions; please use the online submission system to submit your manuscript. For all enquiries about the journal, please contact: newjournals@biomedcentral.com.
1. A new era in sports science: the launch of BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation
Elizabeth Moylan and Genevieve Horne
BMC Sports Science, Medicine, and Rehabilitation 2013, 5:1
Determinants of pain, functional limitations and health-related quality of life six months after total knee arthroplasty: results from a prospective cohort study
Franois Desmeules, Clermont E Dionne, tienne L Belzile, Rene Bourbonnais, Franois Champagne and Pierre Frmont
BMC Sports Science, Medicine, and Rehabilitation 2013, 5:2
Constraints influencing sports wheelchair propulsion performance and injury risk
Emily Churton and Justin W Keogh Keogh
BMC Sports Science, Medicine, and Rehabilitation 2013, 5:3
A case report of semitendinosus tendon autograft for reconstruction of the meniscal wall supporting a collagen implant
Juan D Ayala Mejias, Roselyn, C Sciamanna, Manuel Perez-Espaa Muniesac and Luis Alcocer Prez-Espaa
BMC Sports Science, Medicine, and Rehabilitation 2013, 5:4
An interview with Michael Carmont, Section Editor for the Surgery, traumatology, and rehabilitation section on sports traumatology research: acute, overuse and chronic problems, early return to play and long-term outcomes
Michael Carmont
BMC Sports Science, Medicine, and Rehabilitation 2013, 5:5
Articles available at journal website http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcsportsscimedrehabil/ or here
http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcsportsscimedrehabil/content/5/1/1
http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcsportsscimedrehabil/content/5/1/2
http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcsportsscimedrehabil/content/5/1/3
http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcsportsscimedrehabil/content/5/1/4
http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcsportsscimedrehabil/content/5/1/5
Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.
2. BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation (http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcsportsscimedrehabil/) is an open access, peer reviewed journal that considers articles on all aspects of sports medicine and the exercise sciences, including rehabilitation, traumatology, cardiology, physiology, and nutrition. It is journal policy to publish work deemed by peer reviewers to be a coherent and sound addition to scientific knowledge and to put less emphasis on interest levels, provided that the research constitutes a useful contribution to the field.
3. BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector. @BioMedCentral
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Mar. 26, 2013 ? Supernovae were always thought to occur in two main varieties. But a team of astronomers including Carnegie's Wendy Freedman, Mark Phillips and Eric Persson is reporting the discovery of a new type of supernova called Type Iax.
This research has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.
Previously, supernovae were divided into either core-collapse or Type Ia categories. Core-collapse supernovae are the explosion of a star about 10 to 100 times as massive as our sun. Type Ia supernovae are the complete disruption of a tiny white dwarf.
This new type, Iax, is fainter and less energetic than Type Ia. Although both types come from exploding white dwarfs, Type Iax supernovas may not completely destroy the white dwarf. "A Type Iax supernova is essentially a mini supernova," says lead author Ryan Foley, Clay Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). "It's the runt of the supernova litter."
The research team--which also included Max Stritzinger, formerly of Carnegie--identified 25 examples of the new type of supernova. None of them appeared in elliptical galaxies, which are filled with old stars. This suggests that Type Iax supernovas come from young star systems.
Based on a variety of observational data, the team concluded that a Type Iax supernova comes from a binary star system containing a white dwarf and a companion star that has lost its outer hydrogen, leaving it helium dominated. The white dwarf collects helium from the normal star.
Researchers aren't sure what triggers a Type Iax. It's possible that the outer helium layer ignites first, sending a shock wave into the white dwarf. Alternatively, the white dwarf might ignite first due to the influence of the overlying helium shell.
Either way, it appears that in many cases the white dwarf survives the explosion, unlike in a Type Ia supernova where the white dwarf is completely destroyed.
The team calculates that Type Iax supernovae are about a third as common as Type Ia supernovae. The reason so few have been detected is that the faintest are only one-hundredth as bright as a Type Ia supernova.
"The closer we look, the more ways we find for stars to explode," Phillips said.
The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope could discover thousands of Type Iax supernovas over its lifetime.
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Carnegie Institution.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Ryan J. Foley, P. J. Challis, R. Chornock, M. Ganeshalingam, W. Li, G. H. Marion, N. I. Morrell, G. Pignata, M. D. Stritzinger, J. M. Silverman, X. Wang, J. P. Anderson, A. V. Filippenko, W. L. Freedman, M. Hamuy, S. W. Jha, R. P. Kirshner, C. McCully, S. E. Persson, M. M. Phillips, D. E. Reichart, A. M. Soderberg. Type Iax Supernovae: A New Class of Stellar Explosion. The Astrophysical Journal, 2013; 767 (1): 57 DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/767/1/57
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
FILE - In this Sunday March 11, 2012 file photo Britain's Prince Harry gives a thumbs up during the award ceremony after playing a charity polo match in Campinas, Brazil. St. James's Palace say Monday March 25, 2013, Prince Harry is returning to the United States ? but this time he's skipping Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)
FILE - In this Sunday March 11, 2012 file photo Britain's Prince Harry gives a thumbs up during the award ceremony after playing a charity polo match in Campinas, Brazil. St. James's Palace say Monday March 25, 2013, Prince Harry is returning to the United States ? but this time he's skipping Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)
LONDON (AP) ? Britain's Prince Harry is returning to the United States ? but this time he's skipping Las Vegas.
The 28-year-old prince will travel to the U.S. east coast as well as Denver and Colorado Springs, Colorado, to support veterans' charities and get in a bit of polo.
Harry, a longtime supporter of charities that rehabilitate war veterans, will attend several events at the 2013 Warrior Games, a competition in which veteran athletes from both Britain and the United States take part.
"Prince Harry wants to highlight once again the extraordinary commitment and sacrifice of our injured servicemen and women," said Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, Harry's private secretary.
Harry recently spent 20 weeks in Afghanistan as co-pilot gunner on an Apache attack helicopter.
His May 9-15 visit will include trips to Arlington National Cemetery, Walter Reed National Medical Center and an exhibition on Capitol Hill about land mine clearance, a favorite subject of his late mother, Princess Diana. He will also visit areas in New Jersey hard hit by Hurricane Sandy.
Harry will also play in the Sentebale Polo Cup in Greenwich, Connecticut. Sentebale ? which means "forget-me-not" ? is a charity founded by Harry and Lesotho's Prince Seeiso that helps children struggling with poverty in the tiny southern African country.
On his last U.S. visit, the third-in-line to the British throne stormed into the headlines last year when he was caught frolicking in the nude with a woman after an alleged game of strip billiards in his Las Vegas hotel room.
Israel said it fired into Syria on Sunday and destroyed a machinegun position in the Golan Heights from where shots had been fired at Israeli soldiers in a further spillover of the Syrian civil war along a tense front.
It was not immediately clear whether Israel held Syrian troops or rebels responsible for what a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said had been a deliberate attack on Israeli patrols in the occupied territory.
Israeli forces ?destroyed a Syrian machine gun nest that fired twice in the last 24 hours on Israeli patrols operating to safeguard the border,? the spokesman, Ofir Gendelman, said on his Twitter page.
Read full article
This article was posted: Sunday, March 24, 2013 at 11:03 am
Author: Vladimir Mesic | Total views: 182 Comments: 0 Word Count: 989 Date:
There are so many scams on the internet so I understand if you are looking for safe online business opportunities which you can be sure are leading you in the right direction and at least to some sort of success without the lies, fake promises and unrealistic expectations.
Chances are, you have already spent money on some of the make money online products and courses or got involved with one of the thousands of online business opportunities promoted online. The hype sales pages promise you instant money from commissions coming into your bank account while you spend the time doing things you like, lying on the beach drinking a cocktail of your choice, an internet business in a box, push button, just copy and paste, type way to make money with hardly any work involved.
Unfortunately it's getting worse and the number of these types of products is growing daily. There are millions of people who are trying to make extra money online and are falling for these scams. Some will argue that these programs and products are not scams but if you use the criteria of what value is offered to the buyer and what is actually promised in the sales letter or sales video, then most of these online business opportunities are scams.
So what can you do to avoid paying or joining an online business opportunity that will just cost you money or more importantly your time and the risk that you will invest your resources, using outdated techniques and practices which could actually be harmful to your credibility or your success? Here are some important things to consider when searching for safe online business opportunities.
Only consider spending your money with someone who stands openly in front of the offer with their name, real proof of why you should trust him or her. Make sure that when you find out their name to search them in Google and at least look up if they are actually a real person. They should have their personal website, be on places like Linkedin, published something of value and have a positive footprint.
If there is a gorgeous young woman, a hired actress pitching an easy way to riches with a one shoe fits all approach that anyone can do with no experience or website needed, no technical skills needed, no writing needed, then just walk away and don't even bother to look into it. Just remember or write down the website address so you can avoid it in the future but best is to ignore it.
If there are amazing promises of unbelievable earnings and screenshots of those earnings of a zillion dollars and x amount of cents with a lot of mansions, million dollar yachts and offcourse the absolute must of all scam sales pages, a latest model red Ferrari, to mention a few, then just use your mouse productively and get out. This brings me to the next point.
If you've started watching the sales video or sales page and you are not sure about whether to trust this guy, if you click to close the page and get another page asking you to stay on the page for a Special Offer with a discount offered, you try to close it again and there is another discount and another, that is a sure sign that the value of that product is just as low as the discounts on offer. Again not worth wasting your time with that either.
I would recommend that you work on getting real skills and proficiencies first. It is important to first gain the basic knowledge of how things work on the internet. The subject is huge to talk about in this article but understanding the process of owning and hosting your website, content creation, search engine optimization, writing sales copy, traffic generation and many other links in the chain is a start.
However, this general knowledge is just the beginning. You must acquire skills which will enable you to do research and choose your field, register your domain, host your site, know how to optimize your site, add content to it, learn how to drive free and paid traffic , how to monetize your content and so on.
You need to be good at basics before you can go on and achieve great success and. Learn to walk before you can start thinking of participating in the World Athletics Championship.
The problem is people don't want to put in the hard work and gain the necessary skills which are a must to succeed at anything, rather they keep searching for an easy push button solutions and go from one opportunity to another.
The real diamond of information you can take with you from my article here, in my opinion, is that you need to concentrate on getting real online skills. You need to be able to do things like log into your website, change anything you want to it, add more content or change your links and banner ads for example without relying on someone to do that for you. You need to know the technical part of building a list and writing copy.
Believe me, all that requires a lot of work, meaning time which we all in this age have in limited quantities. Here is a thought I'll leave you with regarding safe online business opportunities. There is no such thing as, completely "safe", which is especially true when talking about business in general.
After saying all that, if you have at least some of the skills mentioned here, it will be easy for you to choose safe online business opportunities and work on building a business and not waste your precious time chasing one business opportunity after another.
Vladimir Mesic is an author, webmaster and an offline contractor, applying his gained skills and experience in building businesses in various niches which can help people looking for safe online business opportunities. Find out genuine and authentic advice and mistakes to avoid in your search. Go to www.bestnsafe.com to find out the truth and how to achieve success.
Related to: safe online business opportunities
1: Understanding Online Business Success
Starting a home based business to earn income online takes a significant amount of time and energy upfront to get things going. Not seeing results immediately can be discouraging and cause people to give up too early. In this article, we look at the process of starting a home based business and working through the frustrations to be there when the sales come flowing in.
2: Why You Need To Build Multiple Streams of Income For Yourself
Being an entrepreneur and earning multiple streams of income is a dream that many have, but in reality it does take some initial hard work to achieve this. Earning multiple streams of income is the wave of the future, and here are some tips and advice for you when you are looking for ways in which to do this for yourself.
3: What is Cyber Marketing And Why It Is So Important For The Success Of Your Website
Cyber marketing has now become an indispensable segment of e-commerce as well as the internet and World Wide Web related topics. Cyber marketing simply refers to a technique of attracting potential customers by advertising your products or services through such means as websites, emails, and banners.
4: Article Marketing Strategy: Putting Together a "Class Schedule" For Your Article Topics
Businesses go to so much trouble when there is one sure-fire, simple, very inexpensive way to attract new clients to a business: Teach a free class. That is what article marketing is like. Your articles are just like free classes. You teach your target readers something helpful in your article. Your resource box then says, "If you enjoyed this article you can visit my website and apply what you have learned."
5: The Best Way To Optimise Your Website SEO For Google Panda
If you want your SEO to work you now need to concentrate on appeasing Google Panda, and to do this you need to know what Google Panda's spiders/bots will be looking for. Find out here how to search engine optimise your website for the latest Google Panda algorithm, and achieve the success you deserve.
The Gillmor Gang ? Doc Searls, Robert Scoble, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor ? takes turns sizing up the new season. With Steve Ballmer running out of room and close to the warning track, we talk about who might be called up from the minors. Dave Winer is back with a nifty pivot on Google Reader's trip to the showers. More than anything, Winer made the hard stuff look easy and gave the tech generation a voice.
If you're caught without your reading glasses, or you encounter some terrifically fine print on a box or contract, you have two options: curse your abnormal retina design, or pinch your fingers together. It's like adjusting the f-stop on your eyeballs.
If you have a business then it is impossible to stay out of internet marketing. An amalgamation of internet marketing plan with the business plan and its vision can make wonders in promoting and making the business a success. But to make the business grow and prosper you need to have an effective and proper internet marketing plan. This plan should also be good enough and focused to drive internet traffic to your website. To achieve that, the following tips or steps might help to create a good and effective internet marketing plan.
Without a complete understanding of the target market any marketing plan is like building castles in thin air. Understanding the consumers, their behavior and the target audience or target market will help you device plans to drive traffic to your site, and thereby greater conversion rate. This knowledge will also help in developing proper goals and plans to achieve them.
There may be numerous businesses in the same niche, and providing customers and consumers with the same service or products. There is a huge possibility that they all provide them at almost the same price. So to stand out in the rest, the best way is to provide solutions to their problems also. Make sure that you provide solutions to their problems and have a dedicated page to address their problems. Establish yourself as an expert in that field. Also make sure that instead of bragging about your product or company, the content speaks what the company will do for its clients and how the clients will benefit from their product or service. Most consumers tend to look for information regarding their benefit.
The brand name for your trade or service is very important. This will also play an important role in using the domain for your website. Another important need is a perfect tagline that will be your identity in a line. Both these combined together makes your identity in the market and tells about your service and product to the customers.
Ensure that the site is safe and have required certificates on display to gain customer confidence. Also use best possible technology for safer internet buying and selling from your website. This is very important and also use best possible softwares for generating receipts and responses for buyers.
The most important thing for success in internet marketing strategy involves the continuous monitoring of the data available and redesigning or strengthening areas that are working fine or not working. Measuring marketing plans and adjusting accordingly is also one of the better ways. Stay clear of any black hat SEO techniques of scam that might guarantee you instant results. Make your team co-operative and let them have a clean understanding of the goals and plans. Also they should be clear about their responsibilities.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sLHkcxHrKuKEC9p4e6tE6mYafQy945N6c6t4KcpyCBjALfm4I948-Uym62sQTz9-1EwccESkVNlsPn8Fws7-cmXgXEuHB9Bv5MpmzmyO0=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 28-Mar-2013
Share ]