Welcome to the Consumer Friend slice of the neighborhood. Thanks for visiting.
What if they had a new Jay Leno show this fall on the NBC Network and you couldn’t watch? WHDH Boston as of April 3, 2009 is thinking about running a newscast in the 10PM hour and not Mr. Leno.
Enter oversight. Obviously the suits at NBC are displeased and are putting pressure on WHDH for a change of heart. How much? You can be sure they are looking at the contract with their affiliates to see if they can be forced to carry a non-controversial program.
Options would be to have WHDH lose their affiliation and NBC could look to start their own station or have an independent come aboard.
I don’t watch Leno or Letterman and have no stake in this. I am for freedom of choice. If Boston wants to go for the news as long as 50.1 percent or more of their viewers agree, they should. If the majority want Leno that should be delivered.
NBC has got to be displeased with a market the size of Boston even considering not to air the program.
Stay tuned for details same bat time same bat channel, blog I mean.
From the Consumer side of the fence have a great Saturday.
A great lady and her words from 2008
April 3, 2009
Welcome to the Consumer Friend side of the fence. Thanks for visiting.
A women with great talents and a large smile that I’m proud to call a friend sent me this recently. Words from the heart and words from the soul that combine to show a time and place you may know.
Losing all hope felling nothing but pain,
Confused with no change hurt from betray.
Holding on tight losing grip of sight. What was?
Once love is nothing but pain. Hurting inside lost
And confused trying to figure out what to do? How
Can you go on when there’s nothing left to lose. Sad
And sorry for what you did but you know now there’s
Nothing instead. The heart is broken tears have fallen
Nothings left except a gap that cannot be forgotten. A
Peace of me is missing because of you the happiness
The Sadness I have no idea what to do? Where should I walk?
Where should I go? Should I start over can I start over?
Or what will it do will it lead me back to you? I’m lost I’m
Confused all I can picture is you, your smile your laugh
And even when you’re mad I miss you so bad I love you so
Much what happened with us? Someday I hope you
Realize how much I cared and think of all the things we
Shared. I love you so much I don’t want to let you go
But sometime soon it will be time to let go.
From Mandy P
***
Thanks Mandy and to all of you from the Consumer Friend hang-out on Weekend Road at Smile Brightly Blvd.
Will this make it more of Google Tube Than You Tube?
April 3, 2009
Welcome to the Consumer friend World Center at Almost the Weekend Road. Thanks for visiting.
You may use You Tube for marketing, research, to laugh, to rock, or to question why so much content has been deleted the past year but did you know that on or about April 16th, 2009 the site will get a face lift? Changes are coming and that is always open to interpretation (good or bad).
Check out the link and see what you think!
Almost the weekend at Consumer Friend Center, thanks for visiting and remember think for yourself.
Hello Consumer Friends from ther 77th floor of the 2 story Consumer Friend World Headquarters. Thanks for stopping by on a busy Thursday.
If you are looking to buy or lease a vehicle 2009 for example there is a site with an abundance of information:
The Auto Channel
http://db.theautochannel.com/db/newcarbuyersguide/
Once you arrive and get a parking spot you can navigate around the site by checking out SUV’s, Hybrid’s or everything in between.
The opportunity presents itself to see the cost of the vehicle and how it stacks up against others.
They aren’t pushing you in any direction. That is why the Consumer Friend feels comfortable sending you there for a look. The information is written and you make the decision if anything seems perfect for the budget and the heart.
I’ll go now and sign off from the Consumer Friend local at Consumer Friend Road and Be well Avenue. Thanks for visiting and always stop by!
Welcome to the Consumer Friend section of the block. Thanks for visiting.
Tomorrow evening the New Yankee Stadium with all the amenities a fan could want will be open for the first time. The first of two exhibition games with the Chicago Cubs kicks off the new home for the Bronx Bombers.
The new home is not a House. There are certain things that don’t get replaced, the Beatles, Coca-Cola, the Montreal Forum, and the original Yankee Stadium.
For any that walked through the doors suddenly time stopped. The three hours or so were uplifting and if you spent it with your mom and or dad it was that much more meaningful.
The word progress is thrown around frequently but newer isn’t always better. In fact I would have been content if the original configuration of the old stadium didn’t change when it was renovated in the 1970′s. Right field 296 feet away (not 300) and the monuments located not behind center field but on it!
If all goes well the Yankees will put over 4 million people in the park and as a fan spelled f a n a t a c, I hope there is plenty of post season baseball. It was sorely missed in 2008.
Anything but a World Series victory in Yankee land is a failure and when the glitz is gone the championships shine on forever.
Good luck to the 2009 New York Yankees. Bring the title back to New York City.
From the Consumer Friend Headquarters time to get some food for tomorrows game. Thanks for stopping by.
Calling all Cars (Chrysler, Ford, & GM)
April 2, 2009
Welcome to Thursday at the Consumer Friend Headquarters somewhere near Information Alley & Partly Sunny Blvd. Thanks for visiting.
You can’t get too far in the morning without hearing the rumors about the automakers. Will one or two go bankrupt, will there be a merger, does the government need to submit even more bail out funds.
What is the answer? There is none. Whatever road you take there are advantages and pitfalls. Some will argue that good money is being given to bad. They feel not once, not twice… the car makers have not come up with a structure to give quality, service, and financial stability. The other side of the line is if even 1 of the big 3 fold the total job loss would severely damage the path to economic recovery.
A merger? Will that solve the issue? You still would be dealing with large debt and even if buying a competitor helped in the very long term initially wouldn’t that mean more lay-offs, early buyouts, and cuts in man and woman power?
Would incentives work? Buy an American car and you get a tax rebate and a gas card for the first few hundred miles. Refer somebody else and get a small check.
A tough delimina for an early Thursday morning.
Thanks for sharing part of the day with the Consumer Friend. Enjoy spring!
You Can Be In 3 Places At Once ask the Grateful Dead (The Dead) as it happened March 30, 2009
April 1, 2009
Welcome to Consumer Friend’s 77 Story Headquarters in a 2 story building. Thanks for visiting today.
If you find it hard to be in 1 place at a time how about the Grateful Dead (The Dead) playing 3 sets in 3 different New York City venues on March 30th, 2009.
The very first song of the night was Dire Wolf and the last Not Fade Away. For everything in between why not head to one location to make your travel plans a bit easier than theirs!
Come Hear Uncle John’s Band and have a great day from Consumer Friend!
http://otherones.net/setlists/
What if they gave a Post and nobody came?
March 31, 2009
Welcome to Tuesday at the Consumer Friend Ranch:
Thank you for taking time to stop in.
Blogs and forums are an excellent resource to expand your on-line presence. It may be for your product, business, or even to tell a point of view.
There is give and take. What many marketers overlook is if they want the posts to be successful they have to create trust and break down the walls. If you are seeing a post that has great potential to be well read (getting your message to the masses) but the views are as low as the temps in Antarctica during December stop and think for a moment.
For somebody to take the time to read your post, isn’t it only right that you have done the same for them? Have you given thanks on the forums for those that helped you and supplied excellent information for others? Are you rooting newcomers on or are you talking down to them?
Do it the right way. When you register on a forum make sure that if people welcome you, you reciprocate. When somebody registers say hello. If there is a post that you have the answer or a link of use please make it available.
When somebody is excited about their new blog and website and ask for a look, take a moment to check it out. You would want them to do the same for you.
Nobody is too big where they can’t afford a few moments to help and nobody is that large they don’t need some new customers.
The more threads in a forum and the more responses the more people that will join and that only spells “Traffic” to your site.
Join the party and don’t be the one to make it end.
From the Consumer Friend World Headquarters at Somewhere and Maybe Roads, thanks as always for reading.
They Wrote What In The Headline?
March 30, 2009
Writing a proper headline for your advertisement:
It’s a windy day around Consumer Friend World Headquarters and I’m glad you took a few moments to drop by. Thanks!
There is no denying the fact that the success of an advertisement lies mostly in the headline. The headline should attract the reader and make him read the rest of the advertisement. The headline should be simply catchy and various key points should be embedded when deciding on the headline for the ad. The headline should catch attention of the eye at the first glance. Words in headlines should act as tags for the advertisement. It should say it all about the content that follows. If a company is selling reasonably priced furniture, the headline of their advertisement should be ‘Durable furniture for less price’. This headline will attract the right customers who are on a look out for durable furniture as well as low cost furniture. If the customers to be reached belong to a category that are interested in decorating their house with beautiful furniture and aren’t concerned about the price to get the right look, then the headline can be ‘Change how your house looks by our oriental furniture’. Anything other than the prospects should not be included in the headline. If both men and women can use a product, both of them should be referred to in the title, missing out even one of the category is like losing a huge number of potential customers. The title should be instant product seller. According to a research, five times more readers read just the headline when compared to those who read the complete advertisement. So the investment is of no use, if the title isn’t good enough to sell the product. There can be a possibility that the content of the ad isn’t strong enough. All the harm can be undone by having a powerful headline. The headline should be centered on the product and not the company that is selling the product. The customer’s interest should be reflected and he should feel that he is directly addressed. Start with ‘you’ and not ‘we’. So if the client specified on mentioning the company’s name, don’t start the sentence with it. For example, instead of writing ‘ABCD – solution for sever cold ’, write “Got sever cold? Try ABCD”. Never forget to mention the name of the product in the headline. The product name should be of top priority. A snapshot of the benefits of the product should be given in the headline. This is an important quality of a well-phrased headline. The customers look out for advantages when he thinks of buying a product. Keywords like whiter teeth, nutritious cereals, or miraculous growth should be incorporated in the title. If inculcating all these factors have made the headline long, it should be remembered to write the product advantages in bold. If a visual is placed in the advertisement, it will be a good complement. As a picture speak thousand words. But care should be taken that the headline should say some part of the story and the visual should say the rest. Don’t repeat the headline or the picture. Too much of cleverness should not be applied to design a headline. There are nearly five hundred advertisements in a local newspaper on weekends. A regular reader reads the headings of all of them. He will be able to classify between a false heading and a genuine heading. No false promises or information should be included in the headline. Over smart headlines are good for award competitions, but don’t really work with the savvy customers. The headline should give out a positive feeling to the reader. Negativity should be totally excluded as it not only creates a negative impression but the mind will also be not receptive friendly. It sometimes confuses the mind and it interprets a negative meaning of the message being delivered. Confidence should be reflected in the headline. Don’t include any doubtful words like if and but. Conditional phrases are a strict no. The sentence should be in present tense, instead of past or future.
That’s it for this edition of Consumer Friend speaks, or is that writes? Thanks for stopping by and please join us again for out next episode.
Hello from Consumer Friend Avenue at Safety Road. Thought Monday would go better with this one.
What’s in a Burger?
In what could be called an oxymoron marketing campaign a minor league baseball team West Michigan Whitecaps have gotten more publicity on Yahoo and other sources than many pro teams the past several days. It isn’t because they have 7 can’t miss prospects destined for Major League Baseball stardom.
A four pound burger that will cost you a twenty dollar bill and put 4800 calories into the arteries will be featured this season. With five patties and an equal amount of cheese I don’t have to go into the details of what this will do to the insides of the average person.
On the one hand the marketing team comes up with a product that has gotten them world wide publicity for free. The other side of the bun is the health backlash.
Will the team keep the burger or have its number retired? The season will answer that question. In the mean time if you feel hungry maybe a quarter pounder would be less dangerous and not set you back as much.
Signing off from the Consumer Friend Hang Out but wishing you health and sanity first.
A Movie Review (Maker that is)
March 30, 2009
Welcome to a new week of Consumer Info. I thank you kindly for finding your way to our information street.
Windows Movie Maker Video Editing Software:
If you have a Windows based operating system such as XP or Vista you may have noticed that there is a free Video Editor included called Windows Movie Maker. For the average use it more than serves a genuine purpose. You have the ability to view and edit your projects and they can include video, photos, and audio.
There are a couple of things you should know since initially some that have used this with the hope they would upload videos to You Tube (you can) forget 1 step.
When you are working on the project and want to save the contents you click Save Project from the File drop down. When you want the actual project turned into a video you click from the File drop down Save Movie File.
Since the application is not geared toward the advanced user there are certain formats that will not open in Windows Movie Maker. Try to get into the habit of working with what is referred to as an MPEG. It is very universal and You Tube is going to convert the file to what they call FLV (Flash) anyway.
One point of frustration to many is that when you use the option to print text either over a clip or on its own you are limited on spaces before you have to start another line. It doesn’t work the way a word preocessor does (letting you type forever). Please keep this mind because of you were putting my website for instance as text:
http://www. consumerfriend.wordpress.com you would need to use the appropriate font and font size so that it would not be split over two lines.
Once you get used to the basics you’ll have the opportunity to share the videos or become a You Tube future star.
If video editing is something that you begin to enjoy and want to explore further there will be an endless ocean of choices for the Windows user. Start with the free program first since there is no financial obligation.
Enjoy the day and consume will, thanks for being here.
Consumer Friend is signing off for now….
As I look out the 77th floor from a 2 Story Consumer Friend Hang-Out, thank you for giving me a few moments today.
I’ll often explore the free information on the Warrior Forum, which entails anything from new products to reviews, and search engine information to finding a web host.
One of the regular contributors is Craig Fenton who is an author of rock and roll books on the Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship and a public-speaker with a former Grateful Dead member and a long time rock photographer. Craig pointed something out to a marketing newcomer not too long ago that would be suitable for many to digest.
The post on the forum was something to the extent if somebody can show screen shots of their checks from Click Bank
(people sell and promote products through them) and if the payments are large does that correlate to potential success for the new marketer wanting to invest in the product?
Craig mentioned that not only could screen shots be faked but if you even pretend that every person was honest in their ClickBank information the amount of profit the creator of a product makes is not the key for somebody wanting to fulfill their own dream.
Let’s look further at what he talked about. We can use any numbers you want. For the sake of the post pretend that Marketer XYZ has made 100,000 through Click Bank for a product they launched 2 months ago. Somebody sees this and stars over-take their vision.
It isn’t the profit they made in total that is the key. How much of the 100,000 was because somebody purchased their product and how much was because of the information found in the contents were applied and brought in a good source of income?
If 99,000 came as a result of sales throughout the world the marketer is only profiting on the sale of the creation and not from the actual information.
You as a consumer would rather see honest proof that 31.4 percent of the profit was due to the implementation of his or her own strategy such as article writing, Google AdSense, and so on.
Before you jump because a number seems large please break it down to the smallest segment and then if it can stand on its own it may be worth a look.
Always get impartial information about the service. Does the product that is being sold for traffic generation or blogging for thousands have a money back guarantee, are there complaints about it on the forums or through the Better Business Bureau, and is there an email or phone number you can use to ask questions before the sale?
Take small steps and I hope you make giant dollars.
Signing off with a large thank you from Consumer Friend Headquarters until next time.
Finding Your Blogging Niche or think 1
March 29, 2009
Welcome to the Consumer Side Of The Road,
thanks for being here on Sunday.
Why do people blog and is it right
for you?
Finding Your Blogging Niche
Finding your blogging niche should be one of the aspects of blogging which the blogger carefully considers before starting a blog. This is especially important if the blogging is being done for the purpose of financial compensation. Ideally a blog owner should select a blog subject about which they are passionate and knowledgeable. However, bloggers should also carefully consider the direct competition as well as the purpose of the blog before starting their blog. This article will discuss these considerations in greater detail in an attempt to assists bloggers in choosing a subject for a new blog. This information is applicable to both bloggers who are completely new to blogging as well as experienced bloggers who are considering starting a new blog.
Isolating Your Interests
One of the first considerations for a new blogger is his personal interests. This is important because a blogger who is passionate and knowledgeable about a particular subject will not only have an easy time coming up with ideas for new blog posts but will also likely be highly successful. This success will likely be attributable to the fact that blog visitors can sense his passion for the subject matter and greatly appreciate the knowledgeable posts which are informative and accurate.
The interests of the blogger may run the gamut from subjects which are widely popular to subjects which are of interest to only a small subset of the population. However, there will likely be interested readers regardless of the subject of the blog. Therefore bloggers are not discouraged from opting to blog about even the most obscure subjects. However, bloggers who are seeking financial gain through high blog traffic should consider selecting a topic which appeals to a larger audience.
Evaluating the Competition
Once a blogger has selected one or more subjects he is considering for a blog, it is time to begin evaluating the competition. This includes viewing other blogs covering the same subject matter. This will not only give the blogger a good indication of whether or not the market is already saturated with blogs on this subject and the quality of the existing blogs on this subject. Based on this information the blogger can make an informed decision about whether or not he feels capable of competing for blog traffic with the existing blogs.
Considering the Purpose of the Blog
Another important consideration for bloggers is the purpose of the blogs. Blogs can be created for a variety of reasons including financial compensation, personal use or to promote a cause. Bloggers who are starting a blog for personal use may only wish to consider their own interests when starting a blog because they are not likely seeking high blog traffic. However, bloggers who are creating a blog for purposes of generating a profit or promoting a cause do have to consider factors such as the ability to generate blog traffic. In these cases the blogger should choose a subject which appeals to a large audience. Additionally, the Internet should not already be saturated with blogs on this subject because it will likely be difficult for the new blog to garner a share of blog traffic. Finally, blog owners should consider the quality of the blog they are capable of creating on a particular subject. The blogger should choose a subject where he is confident he can not only make regular posts but also ensure these posts are original, informative and interesting.
From the 77th Floor of the 2 Story Consumer Friend home, have a
great consumer day!
In this Web We Find: A bit about a web site for a Sunday
March 29, 2009
In this Web We Find:
It’s Sunday in Consumer Friend Headquarters. Welcome to a slice of the morning.
Don’t focus only on the home page, keywords and titles.
The first step to sales when customers visit your site to see the products they were looking for. Of course, search engine optimization and better rankings can’t keep your customer on your site or make them buy. The customer having visited your site, now ensure that he gets interested in your products or services and stays around. Motivate him to buy the product by providing clear and unambiguous information. Thus if you happen to sell more than one product or service, provide all necessary information about this, may be by keeping the information at a different page. By providing suitable and easily visible links, the customer can navigate to these pages and get the details.
Understanding Your Target Customer
If you design a website you think will attract clients, but you don’t really know who your customers are and what they want to buy, it is unlikely you make much money. Website business is an extension or replacement for a standard storefront. You can send email to your existing clients and ask them to complete a survey or even while they are browsing on your website. Ask them about their choices. Why do they like your products? Do you discount prices or offer coupons? Are your prices consistently lower than others? Is your shipping price cheaper? Do you respond faster to client questions? Are your product descriptions better? Your return policies and guarantees better than your competitor’s? To know your customer you can check credit card records or ask your customer to complete a simple contact form with name, address, age, gender, etc. when they purchase a product.
Does your website give enough contact information?
When you sell from a website, your customer can buy your products 24 hrs a day and also your customers may be from other states that are thousands of miles away. Always provide contact information. Some sites will have the ability to view the contact information on every page. There must be a sense of legitimacy in the eyes of the potential customer.
From Consumer Headquarters we wish you a productive and all around monumental day.
If the world feels like a coliseum here is a forum
March 29, 2009
Sunday In Consumer Land, welcome!
If some of you are wondering about the pros and cons of an internet business such as affiliate marketing (ClickBank products for example) why not get free information. Explore the ground, check the terrain and see if you feel stable.
ClickBank Success Forum http://www.clickbanksuccessforum.com/forum/
If you want a more broad based scope of the internet marketing landscape why not book a trip here:
Internet Marketing Forums http://internetmarketingforums.net/
Knowledge is a wonderful thing when there is no charge to listen, learn, and read on.
If you have some time today and are not rushed why not look at the forums and see what looks good, bad, and palatable.
Next train leaving now.
From the Consumer News Desk we wish you a great Sunday.
Tools to monitor your website or how we can make some noise
March 29, 2009
Tools to monitor your website
Welcome to the Consumer Friend Info Quarters:
You can’t just put your website on the net with right keywords and all the right touches and expect your traffic and ranking will remain constant. As the web is an ever changing landscape, you have to keep track of your own web results like what is happening with the competition and also the best and highest ranked sites. There are many useful tools to help you find out what exactly is happening.
1. A tool which you can use to test your own website links or other websites for broken links:
http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html
2. With this tool you can check search engines for the number of back links to your URL i.e. other web pages linking to your site:
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/backlinks/
3. It sometimes becomes important to know where the servers of your hosting company are physically located. Because, some search engines like Google have the ability to filter search results based on their physical location called geo-targeting. This could be used to determine why your site is showing in only a certain country. This link can also be used to research the country location of a particular competitor’s website:
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/website-country/
4. In order to track the location of the visitor or a customer to your website:
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/geovisitors/
5. In order to check the Yahoo! web ranking of yours or your competitor’s website use:
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/webrank/
6. Here is a link to check the web ranking of a website using a Mac or Apple computer:
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/pagerank-mac/
7. You need a Google AdSense account for using this. This link provides you with charts and reports which will help you analyze traffic, clicks, and results from your AdSense advertising
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/adsense-charts/
8. If you have an AdSense account, you can analyze your website address or another website address to see what Google ads will be displayed when the customer selects certain website names or keywords:
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/adsense-sandbox/
9. This link will take you to a cooperative advertising network where you can join to display and
Share your ads with other website owners:
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/ad-network/
10. You can add the Search Functionality on your website which uses Google. This works only if your site is listed in the Google Index.
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/search/
11. Here are some links to free website counters which you can use on your website to track your traffic and hits:
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/counter/
http://www.amazingcounters.com/?ref=gad033
http://www.cyber-counter.com/signup.php
http://www.statcounter.com/free_hit_counter.html
From the Consumer Friend Desk enjoy the day!
Search Engines and the Search to make the engine roar:
March 29, 2009
Search Engines and the Search to make the engine roar:
Welcome to the Consumer Friend Info Center!
It is the search engines that finally bring your website to the notice of the prospective customers. When a topic is typed for search, nearly instantly, the search engine will sift through the millions of pages it has indexed about and present you with ones that match your topic. The searched matches are also ranked, so that the most relevant ones come first.
Remember that a prospective customer will probably only look at the first 2-3 listings in the search results. So it does matter where your website appears in the search engine ranking.
Further, they all use one of the top 6-7 search engines and these search engines attract more visitors to websites than anything else. So finally it all depends on which search engines the customers use and how they rank your site.
It is the Keywords that play an important role than any expensive online or offline advertising of your website.
It is found by surveys that a when customers want to find a website for information or to buy a product or service, they find their site in one of the following ways:
- The first option is they find their site through a search engine.
- Secondly they find their site by clicking on a link from another website or page that relates to the topic in which they are interested.
- Occasionally, they find a site by hearing about it from a friend or reading in an article.
Thus it’s obvious the most popular way to find a site, by search engine, represents more than 90% of online users. In other words, only 10% of the people looking for a website will use methods other than search engines.
All search engines employ a ranking algorithm and one of the main rules in a ranking algorithm is to check the location and frequency of keywords on a web page. Don’t forget that algorithms also give weightage to link population (number of web pages linking to your site).
Don’t pay for foals gold. Those that
Guarantee number 1 page ranking in Google within 24 hours also have ocean front property in a ghost town for sale. Before you invest even 1 cent for a consultant or software you want to have impartial feedback about the service. Post on internet forums and try to separate fact from fiction and sense from lost cents and dollars too.
From the Consumer Friend Weekend Office thanks for checking out the post.
From the Consumer Friend Hang-Out welcome one and all:
It is all too rare that somebody wants to help because it is the right thing and not the monetary voice speaking.
There is a successful businessman Roy Carter that is known for his achievements in the Internet Marketing/Home Based Business World. The other day he furnished information to a family that he not only could have attempted to do so with a price tag but with a sales pitch to every product on his resume. He did neither. His motives were to help somebody because they are in a position he once faced.
I found out about his compassion with a nightly visit to the Warrior Forum. Looking over the vast selection of topics on marketing is a learning resource that never reaches over saturation.
Below is the link to the forum and a couple of Roy’s products. There is no compensation for me posting the information, as you can clearly see the links don’t include any affiliate information and the Warrior Forum is free to view and free to post.
http://www.CaseStudyCashClub.com
http://www.InfoProductsMadeEasy.com
For Roy, I am glad you didn’t forget where you once were. For me I often can’t remember the street of the Consumer Friend Headquarters but maybe one day I’ll get a navigation unit.
Thanks for reading and consume but don’t be consumed.
