Wireless Internet is a Political Issue?again

All over the world ubiquitous broadband Internet access is bringing countries closer together. It surprises many when they find out that in China the average citizen has access to much faster download speeds and at a much lower cost than the average American. Of course the Chinese have to deal with the fact that they are viewing a censored Internet, but even that is getting better everyday. In Europe a person would be hard pressed to find a place they COULDN’T connect wirelessly to the Internet, while in the US users must go to a specific coffee shop or airport to do the same thing. It appears that the United States is behind the curve in offering affordable Internet access to its citizens, and short of socialized services what can be done?

U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) introduced the Wireless Innovation Act of 2007 early this year to try and close the gap between the United States and other countries in the area of broadband Wireless Internet penetration within the consumer market. This very closely resembles the Wireless Innovation Act of 2006 sponsored by John Kerry (WINN) which failed to pass the previous year but has been reintroduced as well. Specifically the bill is intended to “make use of spectrum in the gaps or “white spaces” between broadcast channels two and 51 when the transition from analog to digital television is complete in two years. With the capacity to transmit data over longer distances with less power, this prime spectrum, now reserved primarily for television broadcasting, could support a wide range of innovative wireless devices and services that aren’t useable in other frequencies”, says Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) who is also co-sponsoring the bill.

WINN ’07 could be the ticket the country needs to increase the consumer market penetration of broadband wireless Internet, which would of course bring about new products and services both obvious and unknown. This type of legislature is designed to take fast, decisive action and correct an obvious problem. This of course means it will be delayed. So where are our ground breaking bills now?:

H.R.1597 – To require the FCC to issue a final order regarding television white spaces.
Sponsor: Rep Inslee, Jay [WA-1] (introduced 3/20/2007)

Latest Major Action: 3/21/2007 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet.

S.234 – A bill to require the FCC to issue a final order regarding television white spaces.
Sponsor: Sen Kerry, John F. [MA] (introduced 1/9/2007)

Latest Major Action: 1/9/2007 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

It is clear the decisive bill isn’t exactly tearing its way through the hallowed halls of the House and Senate. Of course bills take time to pass, and there is a lot of pork to be added to this one yet so we still have time. So why exactly is this bill important to the United States if its just going to let its citizens surf the Internet more easily? John Kerry said, “The bill would serve communities large and small, enabling the delivery of broadband that will connect business owners with their customers, students with dynamic new learning resources and first responders with victims in crisis.” With that in mind, the bill seems a bit more relevant to the county as something more than an entertainment device.

Internet Marketing Tip: is Your Opt-in Box Up to Snuff?

Oops! There it was…

Or rather, there it wasn’t.

A decent looking website with a great big hole in it.

No, it wasn’t missing a results-rich headline, a thoughtfully-crafted message or a pretty photo of the hopeful (but unfortunately, in this case, hapless) entrepreneur about whose site I was shaking my head and “tch-tching”.

It was missing an in-your-face client name and email address capturing opt-in box.

Bummer. Because the high hopes and expectations of that website’s woman business owner are surely going to be all washed up before she even gets started.

Women entrepreneurs: Your opt-in box is NOT optional! It is the only thing that creates a link, a bond, a connection between you and your busy, barely-paying-attention website visitor. Think of your opt-in box as the glue that gets your new-found relationship to start sticking.

Because once you have your visitors’ names and email addresses, you have the means to begin creating close-knit relationships. Relationships where you deliver boatloads of inspiration and information in exchange for your visitors’ buying your products and services.

Okay, now that you know your opt-in box is an internet marketing must-have, let me share with you five powerful internet marketing tips to make sure your opt-in box is doing the heavy lifting it’s supposed to do. That’s the whole POINT of the Internet: get the computer to do the hard work so the woman business owner can focus on creating soul and success in her business!

WARNING: If you have a faint internet marketing heart, a couple of these tips may cause you to make a quick excuse as to why you can’t do them. Please, recognize that’s just fear of being bold and brilliant happening and yes, you CAN overcome it.

Think of it this way: you can’t make a big difference in the world if your audience isn’t completely hooked on to you as their new Goddess (guys, think Hero here) of Wisdom on your topic. So stop hiding out behind excuses and start showing up with your brilliant self!

Internet Marketing Tip: Put your opt-in box where it can be seen.
That means the top right corner of every page. Better yet, have your web designer integrate it into the “banner” (that’s the colorful part of your website design that goes across the top of the page) so it automatically appears on each page and does not take up any of the main text area real estate.

Internet Marketing Tip: Use the right bait.
Offering a newsletter as bait is sure to catch…nothing. Nowadays you have to offer a special report, information product, audio mini-seminar, email mini-course or even discount coupons for stuff your visitors want. Include an “oh, by the way, you’ll also get f’ree valuable articles every other week” message as a bonus (that’s your newsletter).

Internet Marketing Tip: Use a graphic to catch attention.
The goal is to make your f’ree give-away feel like it’s something your visitor could hold in their hand. Ask your web designer to create a mock-up of a magazine cover, CD cover or spiral bound special report then paste it into your opt-in box.

Internet Marketing Tip: Give it a price.
Even though you don’t sell your f’ree information product, give-away or newsletter you need to create a sense of value. Give it a price (mine is valued at $197.00) and include the price in your web copy.

Internet Marketing Tip: Say something provocative.
Please, no more hiding out behind the ubiquitous “download my f’ree special report today.” Yawn. Make your download invitation challenge what your visitor already thinks they know, tell them what awful soul-twisting catastrophe is waiting for them if they—gasp!—fail to give you their name and email address or dangle a carrot in front of them that is so organic, juicy and scrumptious that their fingers tumble over themselves typing in their contact information.

Okay, now it’s time to take a peek at YOUR website and evaluate the power of your opt-in box. My marketing coach challenge to you: Get it up to snuff this week and you’ll start seeing more visitors opting in to the brilliant results that only you can deliver for them!

Ubiquitous Internet

Welcome to Ubiquitous Internet. Sometimes referred to the “always on” internet, the ubiquitous Internet is not just being measured on time, but increasingly measured in space. The Internet will continue to infiltrate the world of things, as intelligence is built into everything from toasters to entertainment centers. Things will become “smart” and capable of interacting with other things.

Brief Interruption.
Need a Vacation? Click here…

Yes, the Internet will change every aspect of our lives, as it continues to have a very powerful impact on our science, our communication, and our glimpses of emerging virtual reality applications. Considering how much time the average person spends on the Internet today, soon people will be spending the majority of their time on the Internet – and most of that time in virtual reality applications. Little by little, we will merge with our technology, which has much potential for discussion among scholars and everyday folk.

The Ubiquitous Internet gathers together informative internet articles, educational internet-related videos, and lively chatter and conversation about the emerging internet and how it relates to everyday life. Thank you for supporting this important website!    

Know About Internet Marketing Advertising?

Given my present understanding of my ubiquitous lack of understanding of the world in general, I ca not help but smile just a bit when I think about my beliefs when I was around 15 years old.  I was in 10th grade at the time and good god did I ever have it all figured out. On a pretty consistent basis I would use words like “ignorance, short sighted and unaware” when talking to my mother; and I guess probably most other people that had the misfortune of chatting with me.

As you can probably guess, it turned out that I really didn t know everything. Well, here I am a full grown adult and, fortunately, I am much, much wiser; I currently know that I don t know anything. And, if I ever start to forget that, I am thankfully reminded on a consistent basis how little I really know.

This just happened about 10 minutes ago, in fact. I thought that I had the internet marketing and advertising thing pegged. I was thinking about all those annoying pop ups and all the other advertising that frustrates me , on the up side this irritating new field of advertising has given rise to an unprecedented number of new jobs, for the people that are able to create all the software that shields the rest of us from the internet advertising. So, anyways I had my mind made up that people could be divided up into two camps—the good and the bad. To know more about it logon to but, much like the Haitian Revolution, things have much more complexity than just black and white.

Let’s get back to the topic at hand. I sort of saw the internet marketers as a group that found their financial success wherever it happened to be and without consideration as to what was necessary in order to achieve it. Don t get me wrong, I don t think they are killing puppies or anything.

But, I do think that there is a certain pride that can come from contributing something positive to the greater community and those that choose to directly and consciously work in means that are in direct conflict with that are not on the good side.logon to. But, I just was informed about a little thing that is throwing a wrench in my good vs. evil dissection of the world. It is the business that does networking for the internet advertisers and marketers. Now, it seems like the companies that are behind all the banner ads and the like are on the short end of the stick from these internet advertisers for the internet advertisers, the victim of uncouth internet practices.

This changes everything for me. I am not simply talking about internet advertising, but the multi-layered complexities that are a spider web of friends and foes and who is crossing who and back stabbing who, while helping who else.  Hmm, I have a lot to think about, but for sure I understand that I definitely don t know anything.

Corporate Internet Branding Fundamentals

The Internet is a ubiquitous Corporate communications and sales channel, however many companies are still not utilizing much of its power. That could be because of loyalties to comfortable old channels or that there aren’t enough Internet marketing experts to take their brands into the digital realm.

Regardless of the hold-ups in leveraging internal or external Internet communications options, consumer and B2B channels are growing their share of the market. Resistance is futile and with this change in how consumers and B2B buyers are reached, is a change in the symbolism, voice, and style of promoting brands. That doesn’t necessarily mean the Internet can’t play a supporting role for your offline or TV advertising. For many campaigns, the Internet is just another conduit for sales videos and corporate brochures. Some are satisfied with this, however the Internet’s own power to communicate and generate business shouldn’t be underestimated.

The Internet, whether through public Web sites, search engines, Internet radio broadcasts, and e-mail are very targeted. It is shown to reach the right target at the right time with the right message. It doesn’t matter whether you use a Web friendly, or search engine friendly approach to your online advertising and promotion. You need to be there anyway you can. It’s too important to let it slide.

Internet branding is a term in increasing usage because branding can be adapted to be effective on the Internet. That’s different from broadcasting your TV video ad or showing your marketing brochure on your Web site. With Internet branding, you’re taking into consideration that viewers have searched around and seen many other products similar to yours. They may have reviewed many more product or service features than they would think about while watching television or casually reading a magazine.

Your customer’s context then is different. The splashy video display generally isn’t there and surprisingly, few people are interested in seeing it. They’re pressured for time and want to find what they’re looking for. If you understand their quest for knowledge, you can better shape your value proposition and even your sales pitch.

Active Internet Positioning

The Internet appears to be a passive marketing environment, but it’s actually very active. To stay one step ahead of the elusive customer, you have to continually position your products and Web site to meet their needs ahead of time. An Internet marketing expert helps to tell you where people are going ahead of time. You may even position your brand better with this knowledge. You have returning customers whose loyalty you want to build and you have new prospects coming in searching and enquiring about different things. It’s not easy to position a brand to meet all those needs. There are experts in the field who can help you understand Web visitors and help you build powerful Corporate Internet branding strategies.

It’s easy to say you’ll advertise to reach all the same prospects you did with your TV campaigns, but Internet audiences are different. And, advertising, such as search engine advertising can be expensive. You may not be able to afford to reach those same people. That means you may have to plan a way to reach particular segments of that audience with more specific features and benefits. Only after you bring them to your Web site and established credibility with respect to the product they’re inquiring about, will you be able to present your corporate brand. Corporate branding is powerful today and corporate Internet branding even more so. You can introduce products more quickly and even reposition them more effectively. People see corporate brands all the time though and are not necessarily impressed that your corporate brand will make this particular product relevant to them. For instance, just because Nike makes golf equipment doesn’t mean their “big mammoth driver” is the right one. The corporate logo won’t be enough and forcing the brand on them isn’t going to make them buy it.

Search Marketing

Instead, Internet branding strategies, particularly those that deliver targeted visitors to your Web site, ensure your establish credibility and relevance. Remember that Web visitors are in an intense state of consciousness. They’re very often looking for something specific. If you want to get anywhere on the Web as a user, you have to have an idea of what you want, or you’ll sit frustrated in front of your computer. Television and magazines are very different. The channels and pages in these mediums are limited and the prospect is captured. Not on the Internet. There are billions of web pages and hundreds of millions of Web sites.

With search engines, consumers can get help finding what they’re looking for. High ranking sites get first crack at these motivated/directed consumers. Your corporate Internet marketing strategy should be heavily involved in search engine visibility. It is an opportunity to present your site many different ways to many different types of consumers. The potential reach is further enhanced because you have International reach and the cost of entry is so minimal.

Searchers are looking for quick solutions too. They’re not looking for fancy graphics and complicated menus that fly out all over the place. They’re looking for specific things about your products and services. Here, you have a low cost of adapting your brand imagery and communications to suit each group of visitors. Generally, it just takes another Web page designed and written for that group of consumers. You can fashion your homepage to let current customers get to what they’re looking for as well.

After these searchers have found your products and services relevant to their search, your corporate brand will then have the power to make the sale and establish brand loyalty.

Intelligent corporate Internet branding adapts to the consumer. It de-massifies to serve each person as they arrive; yet it still delivers the corporate brand communication at the right time after the visitor is satisfied. Rather than a boastful in your face confrontation with the consumer, your corporate image becomes a helpful one and is relevant and timely. You get credit for being there when they needed you.