U.S. Gets First Internet Addiction Center

By Mike Sachoff

Located near Microsoft headquarters

A new Internet addiction center has opened in Fall City, Washington, that claims it is the first of its kind in the U.S.

The center called reStart is a 45-day program costing $14,500 and is located near Microsoft's Redmond headquarters. reStart says its program is specifically designed to help Internet and video game addicts overcome their dependence on gaming, gambling, chatting, texting and other aspects of Internet addiction.

The center was co-founded by Cosette Rae, MSW, and Hilarie Cash, PhD.
According to reStart, current research indicates that anywhere from 6-10 percent of the online population is dependent on the Internet. Among gamers, those playing MMOGs (like World of Warcraft) appear to be addicted at much higher levels.
reStart argues that the United States has been slow to recognize the problem of Internet addiction and its program is part of the process of drawing attention to the issue.
The mission of the program is helping people, addicted to video games and the Internet, find balance, and reconnect to the real world. The program includes individual and group therapy, life-skills coaching, cooperative living, physical and nutritional education, mindfulness training, skill building and 12-step meetings.
The American Psychiatric Association currently does not have a listing for Internet addiction in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The possibility of Internet addiction making it into the manual will not happen until its next update in 2012.

Google Expands AdSense Euro Reporting

By Chris Crum

Now Available for More European Locations

Google has expanded the number of European places where Euro reporting is available for AdSense. Users who are in the following locations can now switch to local currency reports to view their earnings in Euros:
- Cyprus- Luxembourg- Malta- Monaco- San Marino- Slovenia- Vatican City
"Once you make this change, any earnings generated from advertisers paying on other currencies will be converted to Euros each day," says Arlene Lee of Google's Inside AdSense Team. "This also means that if you're receiving payments in Euros, there won't be any additional conversions at the end of the month when payments are issued."




Google recommends that users download and save copies of their past reports in US dollars for their own records, before they switch to local currency reports. After that, the company says to look for the green prompt in the upper right-hand corner of the Reports Overview page, and click the link in the prompt, where you'll be asked to agree to a new set of terms and conditions. Google says that it is a good idea to switch to local currency soon, because in the future, it will be a required update. More information about the new reports can be found in the help center. Google also suggests contacting your lawyer if you have questions about the new terms.

Acquisition Rumors (Re)surround Facebook

By Doug Caverly

Yahoo "needs them," Zuckerberg fond of Spotify

Facebook might soon be involved in another acquisition. New analyses/rumors are swirling, anyway, with one person suggesting that Facebook should be bought, and another indicating that the social networking company could extend an offer to a smaller firm.

Let's start with the idea of Facebook itself getting acquired. Scott Moritz, a senior writer at TheStreet.com, appeared in a video this morning saying that both Google and Microsoft would be smart to acquire Facebook. He then continued, "Yahoo really is the one, I think . . . it needs them the most."

Moritz supported his argument by saying that both Facebook and Yahoo act as destinations and sell ads, and that Yahoo would do well to receive traffic from Facebook.



As for the possibility that Facebook will go on the prowl, Michael Arrington discovered that Mark Zuckerberg recently updated his status update with the message "Spotify is so good." Spotify is a music service similar to iLike, which MySpace is buying, so a move here would help Facebook keep pace. Facebook and Spotify also happen to share an investor - Li Ka-shing.

Social Networks Leaking Users Data To Tracking Sites

By Mike Sachoff

Browsing profile linked to unique identifier

Many popular social networking sites typically make personal information available to companies that track users' browsing habits and allow them to link anonymous browsing habits to specific people, according to a new study by the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).

"When you sign up with a social networking site, you are assigned a unique identifier," says Craig Wills, professor of computer science at WPI.

"This is a string of numbers or characters that points to your profile. We found that when social networking sites pass information to tracking sites about your activities, they often include this unique identifier. So now a tracking site not only has a profile of your Web browsing activities, it can link that profile to the personal information you post on the social networking site. Now your browsing profile is not just of somebody, it is of you."



Social networks use third-party tracking sites to learn about the browsing habits of their users. Cookies are managed by a browser and contain information that allows tracking sites to build profiles of the websites visited by a user. Each time a user visits a new website, the tracking site can review those cookies to offer ads that might be relevant to the user.

Wills says social networks go to far by allowing the transmission of unique identifiers. "Users put a lot of information about themselves on social networking sites," said Wills.

"A lot of that information can be seen by other users, by default. There are mechanisms users can use to limit access to their information, but we found through previous research that most users don't take advantage of them."

With a unique identifier tracking sites could gain access to a users personal information. Wills says this could lead to having one's identity linked to inaccurate browsing profiles, depending on how many people use the same computer.

"Tracking sites don't have the ability to know if, for example, a site about cancer was visited out of curiosity, or because the user actually has cancer," said Wills. "Profiling is worrisome on its own, but inaccurate profiling could potentially lead to issues with employment, health care coverage, or other areas of our personal lives."




"Once someone is in possession of your unique identifier, there is so much they can learn about you. And even if tracking sites do not use the information themselves, can they guarantee that it will never find its way into other hands? For these reasons, we feel this issue is something that we should to be concerned about."

Is a Picture Worth 1,000 Clicks?

To get the most out of the images on your site, you have to optimize them. According to R.J. Pittman of Google, good image optimization starts with having the best quality of images that you can have. The next step is to have an expressive title as well as rich descriptive content that explain the image.

Webmasters also have the opportunity to provide topic tags, which are keywords that a searcher might use in a query. As Pittman tells special guest WPN correspondent Eric Enge, the more information that the user provides for the image, the better Google can index and surface the image.





Google is even developing RDFa tag structure, which would allow it to work off of a new language vocabulary that users could embed into their Web pages. The html structure would provide a means for search engines to identify various features of the image and thus provide more accurate image results.

Despite all the additional exposure images could bring to websites, Google is not seeing images being utilized as well as they could be. Pittman encourages webmasters to embrace images since they improve understanding and, ultimately, click-through rate (CTR) once they are indexed by the search engines.

Are you embracing the use of images?

Effective Tools for Every SEO

It is difficult to know which tools to use for your website since there are so many options to choose from. Aaron Wall, the well-known author of SEOBook, explains his favorite tools in this video, which just might make your selection easier.

First of all, Aaron recommends Google’s Search-based Keyword Tool. This tool allows users to find keywords organized by categories. It also displays the competition for a keyword, its suggested bid, and more.

Competitive research tools have become increasingly popular over the last year. They give users an insight into what their competitors are doing and provide an opportunity for them to capitalize. Aaron recommends the following competitive research tools:

- Google Keyword Trends
- Google Search Insights
- Alexa
- Compete
- SEMRush
- KeywordSpy

Lastly, Aaron humbly explains his own SEO Toolbar. The toolbar does a number of things, but in summary, it lets users select keyword tools, gives data on the number of links to a site, tells the amount of traffic coming into the site, estimates the value of the traffic, provides competitive research tools, and is easily exportable.

Is SEO Dead?

The stability in the future of search has recently been put into question due to the impact of social media on search. Since people are doing more and more searches on social sites such as Facebook and Twitter, does it mean that social media will eventually replace search engines?

Both Twitter and Facebook have launched real-time search engines within their service offerings, and the major search engines are still struggling to enter the real-time search arena. Heather Dougherty, the Research Director at Hitwise, said:

“I think this [social media] will become integrated as part of search but certainly not circumvent search entirely.”

Based upon this information, it is however fair to say that social media has changed SEO permanently. According to Hitwise data, the number of visits to social networking sites exceeds the number of visits to email sites. As a result, Dougherty suggests that marketers increase their efforts with social media in order to reach their customers better.

How have your SEO efforts changed as a result of social media? What role do you see social media playing in the future of search?

Guarantee Conversions on Your Landing Pages

Given the economic environment we are all living in, businesses cannot afford to not have their landing pages convert. In this video from SES NYC, Tim Ash gives two distinct ways to ensure that they will convert.
1. Apply best practices to it2. Ask your audience
One of the biggest problems Tim sees when analyzing landing pages is a problem with clutter. The business needs to have a clear call to action. Allow the customer to focus on their current transaction and don’t confuse them with too many options. Consider basic usability tips when applying your best practices.
Businesses have to keep up with the current trends and know what their audience wants. It is vitally important to get involved and communicate with the audience. If you give your audience what they want, you will have better results, which translates into more revenue.
On the topic of tools, Tim gives 2 recommendations. The first is Google Website Optimizer. This is a free tool that Google offers which allows users to conduct both A/B split testing and multivariate testing. Tim says it is a very powerful tool that is effective for both beginners and advanced users.
The second tool that Tim recommends is OnDialog. Tim prefaced this solution in an interview with us at PubCon South. OnDialog provides landing page creation software that puts the marketer in control. Tim’s company, SiteTuners has partnered with OnDialog and incorporated its tuning engine technology into their software. The tool allows more tests in parallel and bases data on actual results.

Discover Who Your Audience Is

How well do you know your audience? Many advertisers think they know their audience well, but unfortunately, some do not utilize all the resources that would help them know their audience even better.
Avinash Kaushik, Analytics Evangelist with Google, explains how tools such as Google Ad Planner and Google Insights for Search provide data that help advertisers truly understand the demographics of their audience. These tools essentially allow users to build a target audience profile based on actual data and analytics.
Avinash says, “The reality is, you can focus by using data.”
He went on to say that he has found that many advertisers only have opinions on their audience but neglect to run experiments and tests to validate their views. Although experiments and tests take time, they save advertisers from targeting the wrong audience.
Is your advertising campaign working? Can you prove your target audience with data? If not, you may need to re-evaluate and make sure you truly know who you are targeting.

Selling Software Made Easy!

Look at your computer screen, what do you see? Well apart from the open tabs and the snazzy desktop wallpaper lurking behind, what do you really see? Software.

When someone asks you what makes a perfect computer your mind is immediately flung into thoughts of RAM and Graphics cards, LCD monitors and Hard Drives but that is all hardware, obviously it is important but so is software. When you think about it everyone needs software, your computer could not run properly without it. You need it to browse the web, read documents, play music, watch DVD's, scan for viruses – the list of what you need software for is really endless. For every task needing to be accomplished on your computer a piece of software is required.

There is a free report on the internet that could possibly change how your perceive software and its uses. Conquering the Software Niche will make you understand how to sell this software that everybody needs. It is not a case of some computer users will need software others will not – here is a tip for you, software is essential to the running of your computer. Its need is universal.

In Conquering the Software Niche you will find everything you need to know about selling, marketing and (most importantly) profiting from this never ending business. The best part is most of it can be done on autopilot, it's not as if you have to go down to the post office and post the software, it is done electronically. While your asleep you could have sold loads of software and had it send to the purchasers by the time you've had your first cup of coffee.

Selling software is for everyone, read this free report and decide if you want to be involved in this million dollar industry.

Click Here To Download Your Free Conquer The Software Niche Report

Internet Marketing, Advice and Guidance

Marketing a product online can be a daunting task, where do you even start? We see so many advertisement's in different forms on the internet: popup ads, flash videos, reviews, banners, text ads, there is just so much to take in. So many different ways that we can reach a large, diverse and dynamic audience.

That is why you should have something to get you started. Something to lay the fundamental building blocks of your internet marketing campaign so that you can build upon them. "The Brutal Truth About Internet Marketing" does just that.

In this brilliant little report you will find some excellent tips and recommendations on how to be successful in the internet marketing realm – from avoiding the scammers to helping your business grow to what to look for when purchasing, it's all in this crafty little report.

Most people fail or are scammed when it comes to internet marketing. Why? Because they don't research. They buy a product that is lousy, insufficient or perhaps just doesn't even exist. Consequently many will give up as a result of this, leaving the world of internet marketing as a failure. It is said only a few people out of the thousands of new recruits to affiliate marketing will succeed – some 90% will fail. This is because they end up being scammed solely because they do not know any better.

Internet marketing offers you a great chance to make your presence felt on the World Wide Web, whether you own a business or are an individual, you can really make a splash by reading this free report. Two types of people inhabit the internet marketing world, winners and losers; don't let yourself fall into the second category.

Click Here To Download "The Brutal Truth About Internet Marketing" For Free!

Understanding Semantics and Its Impact on SEO

Although there is no clear definition of semantics at this point, semantic technology and how it impacts search is sparking a lot of conversation of late. In the past, the search industry has focused primarily on keywords, but now, everyone wants to dig deeper and find the true meaning, or the semantics, behind various actions.

All the search engines have recently stepped up their efforts with semantic search and hope to better understand each user’s intent. For example, if a user searches for “cougar” are they looking for an animal, a car, or a TV series? Semantic technology has potential to provide a better understanding of that intent.

While many questions pertaining to semantics remain, one certainty that Dana Todd of Newsforce points out is that semantics go beyond keywords and produce new and intriguing data layers to calculate.

Where do you think semantics will take us moving forward? Do you have concerns about semantic search?

Learn About Craigslist

More DIY videos at 5min.com

Google Matt Cutts Explains Caffeine Update

Google announced yesterday that it has been working on a project called “Caffeine” that will re-write the architecture for Google’s Web search. As Matt Cutts shares exclusively with WebProNews, Caffeine is comparable to the “Big Daddy Update” back in 2005, which consisted of changes to the way Google crawls and indexes websites.

How much of an impact will Caffeine have on results? Matt says there will, hopefully, not be a big difference. Google will integrate Caffeine slowly and take user feedback into consideration.

Matt says, “If we push forward as fast as we can, double down on innovation and try to do the best that we can, [and] do the right thing for users, everything else will work out.”

This infrastructure modification will lay the foundation for future indexing changes and will also allow for the expansion of website speed and size. Incidentally, it could even provide a stronger architecture for potential real-time and semantic efforts.

If you would like to try Caffeine, you can check it out at: http://www2.sandbox.google.com.

Using internet marketing techniques on offline businesses...

As an internet marketer, I know just how lucrative it is to make money marketing online businesses. However I have to let you on a secret I just stumbled upon. I have just found out that instead of concentrating only on online businesses, it is just as easy to earn easy cash using internet marketing techniques on offline businesses!

The main reason for this is because to offline businesses, internet marketing proves to be something new. They are not aware of this market and avenue of free marketing, which brings increased sales and profit for them.

We as internet marketers have nothing to lose as all we have to do is to teach all of them the tricks of internet marketing. Basically, offline businesses at present carry out similar marketing and advertising tactics like using coupons for promoting their businesses and perhaps getting listed in the yellow pages.

They save while we earn

However what they do not know is that they can save money through internet marketing (while we make money!). Instead of spending money printing coupons, we can teach them how to use online coupon companies for free. And instead of getting listed in the yellow pages, we just have to show them the global audience the business gets by listing their business in online yellow pages and directory sites.

We can also carry out workshops to teach them all there is to internet marketing and earn some money by charging for attending the workshop. We can also offer to start blogs for them, and manage them by adding fresh content on a regular basis, and by perhaps starting an e-newsletter for interested people to sign up for.

So you can see that by offering our internet marketing skills to offline businesses, not only do these businesses flourish, we can also earn a sizeable amount through their internet marketing.

There are more tips and techniques to learn by implementing internet marketing techniques in offline businesses. This is why I highly recommend you download this free report called Easy Offline Cash. It discusses everything about using internet marketing techniques in offline business. If you care at all about making more money with what you always to, you will at least download and read the report, it's free!

Click Here To Download Your Free Easy Offline Cash Report

Make Money When Visitors Leave

Since the internet has come into existence, webmasters have looked for ways to keep visitors from leaving their sites. Well the newest great invention might just involve letting them(attempt to) leave your website. Visitors who attempt to leave your website are called "exit traffic". This exit traffic can actually be a great source of opt-ins to various things. There are multiple scripts built to try and keep users on a site when they attempt to leave.

One such script is the customer support script. When a visitor tries to leave, an alert pops up and tells them that a live representative wants to talk to them first. This in turn brings up a small chat window where you can talk to a (possibly real) representative. I (as well as many others) find this particular script extremely obnoxious. If I want to leave a site, I certainly don't want to chat with a live person who will try to sell me their product.

Another script is a simple alert pop up. First an alert pops up saying they have a fantastic new offer and you should not leave until you see it. Then it redirects the page that you are currently on and takes you to one with an audio file embedded to it. This is extremely effective because it is hard to leave when there is a real voice saying "please don't leave until you check out this great offer", or something like that. This method isn't too obtrusive and can cause visitors to feel bad about leaving even.

Exit traffic commonly converts to over 300% added to normal opt-ins. There is a free report detailing how you can use this to your advantage, it's called 3 Easy Steps That Will Increase Conversion Rates By 300%. This excellent report covers many topics about exit traffic and how to optimize it to increase your income revenue by leaps and bounds.

Click Here To Dowload Your Free Exit Conversion Report

Make Easy Money on the Internet selling Computer Software

Are you looking for ways to enhance your income? Is your mind completely boggled by the numerous Internet opportunities? Are you contemplating which one might work for you? If so, you are like so many other individuals. In today's world just about everyone could stand to add some income to their pocket each month, and many of us are even in the market for a brand new career. If you are one of these people you really are in luck.

Making money on the internet can be a reality. However, you must be diligent in finding the right opportunity. There are numerous scams out there that will take your money and run. If you are serious about generating money you will want to look for a niche that is wide open with money making opportunities. One such area is the computer software niche. After all, all computers run on software programs and people are constantly in the market for different types of software for their computer. What is even more important is that people are willing to pay for software products.

You may now be wondering, how complicated is this to get started and can I really make money? The answer is that it really is much easier than you think and yes you absolutely can make money selling software. Basically all you need to do is to design and set up a website to sell the software and then contract with software companies to sell their products. There are an abundance of software companies out there that will be willing to contract with you. And, there are programs you can purchase that show you step by step exactly how to set up your money making venture.

If you are now thinking, selling software to turn a profit just may be for me, you will certainly want to download this free report Conquer The Software Niche. It discusses everything you will need to know on how to get started with your own money making software business. The report goes into detail and gives step by step instructions on how to get started and how to build your cash flow. So don't wait any longer. Download this free report today and get started on your money making adventure.

Click Here To Download Your Free Conquer The Software Niche Report

Is Twitter Scaring Google?

There have been multiple reports that Twitter could replace Google. Twitter has quickly risen to become one of the most powerful sources on the Web. In 2008 alone, Compete found that the microblogging service grew 752 percent. Do you think this might make Google, the long-standing Internet giant, a tad-bit nervous or jealous?
Chris Brogan says, “…I think Google is a bit envious. I think they don’t know what to do with it all yet.”
Does this mean that Google is letting their feelings influence how they return Twitter results? There have been some rumors that Google may let the “authority” of Twitter users play a role in their results. For example, a celebrity or a well-known “authority” such as Chris Brogan could rank higher in Google results than an average Joe user.
Do you think Google is jealous of Twitter? If so, what do you think the company’s next move will be?

Make Money When Visitors Leave

Since the internet has come into existence, webmasters have looked for ways to keep visitors from leaving their sites. Well the newest great invention might just involve letting them(attempt to) leave your website. Visitors who attempt to leave your website are called "exit traffic". This exit traffic can actually be a great source of opt-ins to various things. There are multiple scripts built to try and keep users on a site when they attempt to leave.

One such script is the customer support script. When a visitor tries to leave, an alert pops up and tells them that a live representative wants to talk to them first. This in turn brings up a small chat window where you can talk to a (possibly real) representative. I (as well as many others) find this particular script extremely obnoxious. If I want to leave a site, I certainly don't want to chat with a live person who will try to sell me their product.

Another script is a simple alert pop up. First an alert pops up saying they have a fantastic new offer and you should not leave until you see it. Then it redirects the page that you are currently on and takes you to one with an audio file embedded to it. This is extremely effective because it is hard to leave when there is a real voice saying "please don't leave until you check out this great offer", or something like that. This method isn't too obtrusive and can cause visitors to feel bad about leaving even.

Exit traffic commonly converts to over 300% added to normal opt-ins. There is a free report detailing how you can use this to your advantage, it's called 3 Easy Steps That Will Increase Conversion Rates By 300%. This excellent report covers many topics about exit traffic and how to optimize it to increase your income revenue by leaps and bounds.

Click Here To Dowload Your Free Exit Conversion Report

How does craigslist work?

I have heard so much about Craigslist but don't know how it works.
Go to Craigslist.org. The various Craigslist pages are presented by location. There are more than 500 locations in 50 countries. Craigslist may be an international website, but it works on a local level. The assumption is that things you are looking for need to be close to you. Find the geographic area closest to you and click on the link.

Craigslist essentially is an Internet classified ad page. It is just on a larger and more comprehensive scale than other classified ad pages. It is immensely popular because it is mostly free and it works for many users. It gets 10 billion page views per month and has an estimated 40 million users. Craigslist says they list jobs, housing, goods, services, romance, local activities, and advice--just about anything.

What Do You Use Craigslist For?

Craigslist is an exceptionally-popular, free community website.
Here's a good description from a USA Today article: Craigslist is a giant Internet bulletin board where people buy and sell their stuff, trade humor and political wisdom, look for dates, seek home repair advice, share their poetry and often just rant. Jon Jason ('Not Udell') Kottke has a nice case study about a mover in New York that's getting most of his business for free (in terms of advertising dollars) through Craigslist.



How To Post Craigslist Ads That Receive Considerable Attention?

To learn how to do this effectively, you need to explain the concept of the forum-based website. Craigslist, a classified site, linking communities of people all over the world together, to find work, buy or sell items or even date others, is a powerful marketing tool for your business. There is a multitude of categories and subcategories where individuals can find whatever their heart desires/needs/calls for, etc.

Within a local sense, one can click their home state and/or city closest to them to find things relative to them. For others, looking all over is effective in finding new customers, new work, etc. Ultimately, whatever works for you is the way to go!
It takes a few minutes for the ad to appear sometimes.

How do I use craigslist?

I love craigslist. I buy things off of there all the time. Just remember you set the price and you compete against others on there with same item for lower or higher prices.
Depending on what you are selling there is of course small rules on there not hard to follow at all but then of course you get stupid people that don't agree with what you say in your posting sometimes and flag it (takes a lot of that) to get your posting erased off of there so got to stay on top of it.
And describe what you are selling exactly and it helps to post PICTURES they sell the item for most part. It is for mainly your locals around you it’s not like eBay where you have to ship everywhere. It’s easy. Click post ad and fill out the boxes title price location description and then add picture. Something’s sell faster than others so be prepared for lots of emails or phone calls. You have to go to your email and verify it and to post it until you make an account which if you are going to sell lots of stuff is a good idea.
Answer any questions you think someone may have on it in your ad because you will get a lot of emails or calls asking the same questions most of the time. Meet at a local spot if possible not your house.

As long as you have something good to offer for the right price, you should have no problems. Look around and see what others are selling for, this will give you an idea of how much to sell your for as well.



Can You Use Craigslist To Make Money?

When money gets tight try and make ends meet through craigslist.
You can really earn a full time income just by using Craigslist? The site itself gets a massive 40 BILLION page views each and every month.
I’m sure your product won’t apply to all of the visitors, but don’t you think at least a few are bound to be interested? The key here is that there is room for just about anything…whether you sell a tangible product, an eBook or offer some sort of service. If you are posting lots of ads then you can use an auto poster.



Who is using Craigslist?

One final advantage to searching for a new job through Craigslist is an impressive amount of available positions. More and more employers are beginning to realize how widely Craigslist is being used and are also beginning to realize they cannot afford not to place their available positions on Craigslist.

Companies of all sizes realize they cannot afford to miss out on the wealth of potential employees who are flocking to Craigslist in search of exciting new job opportunities. Available jobs positions appear on craigslist communities from small mom and pop companies to multibillion dollar corporations.