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Envision It! |
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| We
just launched a new web site for Elaine Wilson,
owner of Gardens By  Design
with Gardens to Go. The site was a real collaboration
between Elaine and me, with her intimately involved
in guiding the logo and design process to express
her vision. We are both very pleased with the result.
Visit the new site at either:
http://www.gardensbydesign.tv
http://www.gardenstogo.tv |
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Really Cooooool Sites! |
Journey to Wild Divine |
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 Deepak
Chopra is once more on the cutting edge, promoting
an incredible Internet game — enchanted
journey meets biofeedback — that can
help us improve ourselves and our lives. The
Journey to Wild Divine is the first "inner-active" computer
adventure that combines ancient breathing
and meditation with modern biofeedback technology
for total mind-body wellness. Progress through
the realm using the power of your thoughts,
feelings, breath and awareness. Not just
a game, it's a tool for physical and mental
health.
Click here to demo the Journey today!
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Help Desk |
Basic Training Workshop |
The Return of the E-mail |
What
you absolutely, positively need to know about
your computer and the Internet. |
A lot of our questions are, indeed, frequently
asked  questions (FAQ), so we'll feature one
in each edition of the newsletter. Better listen
up. There may be a quiz! :-)
Q. My e-mail to my friend just got returned,
but I know she has an e-mail account and that
the the address I used is correct because I've
used it before. What's wrong with my server?
A. Returning e-mails probably has nothing
to do with your server, it is the server of
the proposed recipient that returns the email.
One common reason is that many companies have
quotas and if your e-mail arrives when the
recipient’s box is “full,” it
will bounce. Another e-mail to the same address
may go through at a different time because
the recipient has read their mail and the box
is no longer full. |
Many of my clients know very little about
their computers or the software applications
that allow them to surf the Internet and use
e-mail. This can lead to a huge communications
gap when I try to explain, for example, how
to set up an e-mail account and my client doesn’t
know what that is, what to use to do that,
where to find the e-mail application on the
computer, or the difference between creating
an account and forwarding to an account.
So, I’m going to offer a workshop in
January entitled “What you absolutely,
positively need to know about your computer
and the Internet.” The two and a half
hour workshop will covers PC basics, Web basics,
and e-mail basics. The workshop will also give
you the vocabulary to communicate with help
desk people, repair people, Internet people,
even the occasional “propeller head!”
So, what do you think? Would you like to be
fluent in geek? It will be an
opportunity to learn in a small, safe group
or people who also know very little about computers.
The group will be limited to four to six participants.
A workbook that can serve as an easy reference
and lunch will be included. the price is $75.
Call 310-836-7141 for more info or to let me
know if you'd like to attend. |
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Industry News You Can Use |
New Powerhouse Browser Released
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Amazon Start Up Challenges Google and Yahoo |
Earlier this month the Mozella Foundation in
Mountain View Calif., announced the release of
the Mozella Firefox 1.0 browser boasting powerful,
user-friendly features like:
* Pop-up Blocking.
* Online Fraud Protection.
* Faster, Easier, More Accessible Search.
* More Efficient Browsing
* Live Bookmarks
And it is extensible with hundreds of add-ons
including the A9.com (see Amazon Start Up),
Google, and Yahoo! toolbars, which make Firefox
even more customizable and convenient to use.
It is currently available for Windows, Mac
OS X and Linux.
Mozilla Firefox 1.0 can be downloaded for
free or purchased in a CD-ROM Edition with
a Firefox Guidebook from the Mozilla Foundation
at http://www.mozilla.org/ |
Amazon.com, the e-commerce giant, plans
to take aim at
the Internet search king Google with an advanced
technology that the company
says will take searches beyond mere retrieval
of Web pages to let users more
fully manage the information they find.
A9.com, a start-up owned by Amazon, will offer
users the ability to store
and edit bookmarks on an A9.com central server
computer, keep track of each
link clicked on previous visits to a Web page,
and even make personal "diary" notes on those pages for viewing
on subsequent visits.
The A9 service will include a Web browser
tool bar that has several
innovative features, like the ability to create
instant lists from
individual Web pages and then use the lists
to move among those pages.
Moreover, it will offer a home page giving
users the ability to edit and
move Web links easily for later retrieval.
Learn more about how it works:
http://a9.com/-/company/whatsCool.jsp
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Internet Marketing Showcase |
Newsletters and eZines
e-Marketing with a Small Budget |
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As many of you may be aware, it has become almost
impossible to get a decent listing on any of the
top search engines without paying for it. Web site
optimization costs about twice what you paid to
develop the site in the first place. Bidding for
keywords in pay per click programs with Google,
Overture, and now Yah oo can be very effective,
but that gets pricey too if you have keywords that
are in demand like "real estate," or "computer
services."
I have been working hard to try to find a solution
to the problem, and I'm happy to be able to tell
you that I have found what I believe is very good,
cost-effective solution — an e-newsletter
or eZine. A good example is the newsletter shown
here that was designed for our client the Airport
Marina Counseling Center. the eZine matches the
look and feel of the organization's Web site.
I think that this marketing communications tool
is especially effective for businesses like yours
that are marketing to a local audience and don't
need to pay big bucks so that somebody in Minnesota
or New Jersey will find them at the top of a Google
or Yahoo search result.
Here are the reasons that I think an e-mail newsletter
will help your business grow:
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Keeps you in touch with your clients
and prospects on a regular basis.
-- An e-newsletter can keep you and your business
on your customers and prospects 'radar
screens,' and can do it in an unobtrusive
and informative way. So, when they need
someone to provide the kinds of services and
products you market, they'll likely think of
you first.
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Subtly and effectively spreads the word
about you and your business.
-- A good e-newsletter can expand your pool
of prospects exponentially. If the newsletter
is well-done and informative, your readers
will be very likely to pass it on to friends
and colleagues. That principle — clients
passing on the word about your product
or service — is
called 'viral marketing.'
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Captures the e-mail addresses of your
Web Visitors -- Every visitor to your site
today isn't ready to use your services today,
but they could be a client up the road. By
inviting your site visitors to to sign up for
your free newsletter that features helpful
information on the topic at hand, you create
a win/win situation. Your prospects get helpful
information and you stay in the forefront of
their minds.
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Builds traffic to your Web site.
-- Articles and items in the Newsletter will
be linked to appropriate pages on your
Web site, like this one is, building traffic
and repeat visits. If you are selling
products on your site, the email application
has the power to track sales that result from
your newsletter
Click here to go to Vision
Quest Multimedia's newsletter site and
sign up for a free 60-day trial with our partner
Constant Contact.
Vision Quest Multimedia Offers a Turn-key Solution
All of us entrepreneurs are too busy to see straight,
and I know that the last thing some of you want
or need is another job figuring out what to put
in a newsletter much less writing one. If that
description fits you, you don't have to do it.
I'll do it for you.
As a veteran journalist and marketing communications
professional, I am highly qualified to gather and
edit informative tidbits of news in your industry
and mix that with your upcoming events and/or special
promotions in order to produce an effective monthly
e-newsletter. You approve it before it goes out,
and I do the rest. Call 310-836-7141 for a quote. |
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Gross National Happiness
His Holiness, The Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is
supporting the movement for  happiness to be adopted
as an economic indicator. In a letter of support
to an international conference in Bhutan on Gross
National Happiness, he writes:
“As a Buddhist, I believe the purpose of
our lives is to overcome suffering and cultivate
happiness. But by happiness, I do not only mean
the temporary pleasure that is derived from material
comfort alone. I am thinking more of the enduring
happiness that results from the thorough transformation
and development of the mind that can be achieved
though the cultivation of such qualities as compassion,
patience and wisdom. At the same time, on national
and global levels we need an economic system that
enables such a pursuit of true happiness. The purpose
of economic development should be to contribute
to rather than obstruct this goal.”
A group of western economists, inspired by Bhutan’s
concept of Gross National Happiness, are working
to get the idea adopted internationally.
FURTHER
INFORMATION
http://www.grossinternationalhappiness.org
Thanks for visiting with us!
Marcia Torrey-Jay
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