Just launched by marketing guru Larry Chase, this is a free directory of handpicked resources for marketers, advertisers and publicists. Topics covered include Affiliate Marketing, Contests, Copywriting, Customer Retention, Marketing Calculators, Pay Per Click, Search Engine Marketing and Spam, among many others. "Not zillions of search results, just the ones you need."
http://searchengineformarketers.com/

If your job involves any kind of industry research or competitive intelligence, RSS news readers can be a powerful strategic tool, helping you monitor many information and news sources quickly and easily.

Jordan Ayan - RSS news readers help you keep up with a world of information

Reading News and Blogs via Really Simple Syndication - Spam Free
http://email.about.com/cs/rss/a/rss_spam_free.htm

This has got to be the worst acquistion mechanism snafu that I've seen in some time.

So, I'm on the SPSS website looking at some web analytics products. Having been convinced that they might have something for me, I click on the well placed "Contact Sales" button at the bottom of the page I was just reading.

Upon clicking on the "Contact Sales" button, I'm asked to login. You want me to WHAT? Login? To your site? You mean, I have to get a username and password to your site just to have someone call me to try to sell me something? What the hell is this crap?

In the wake of the new federal CAN-SPAM Act, an EmailLabs audit of more than 100 opted-in emails (non client) discovered that a majority of permission marketers are exceeding most requirements of the Act, but remain confused over administrative aspects of the law.

In a new benchmark audit of major email marketers, EmailLabs found that 95 percent include an unsubscribe process, as mandated by the law. At the same time, just 56 percent were in compliance with one of the simplest aspects of CAN-SPAM - the new requirement to add a postal mailing address.
http://www.emaillabs.com/article_CANSPAMAudit.html

If you're a member of the American Marketing Association, (or consider joining if you're not) you might want to check out the virtual panel on CAN-SPAM starting on 2/2. It's part of the Internet/eCOM SIG (Special Interest Group) and will feature the following folks who might know a thing or two about the different aspects of how CAN-SPAM is affecting marketers.

Since the new federal anti-spam law risks getting legitimate e-marketers in trouble, companies must train employees, especially those in sales and marketing, to be fully compliant, writes columnist Neil J. Squillante. A separate article discusses a new report by Jupiter Research that estimates the costs of blocking legitimate e-mail will increase from $230 million in 2003 to $419 million in 2008.

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/ResumeRead.html "I've been going through a big pile of applications for the summer internship positions at Fog Creek Software, and, I don't know how to say this, some of them are really, really bad. This is not to say that the applicants are stupid or unqualified, although they might be. I'm never going to find out, because when I have lots of excellent applications for only two open positions, there's really no need to waste time interviewing people that can't be bothered to spell the name of my company right. So here are a few hints to review, if you're sending out resumes."

Get a new computer for christmas? Have an old 'box' or two in the closet? Dont' throw those old computers away (unless you donate to charity!). Here are a few ideas from a DesignTechnica article: Don't Throw That Old Computer Away.

Many non-profit organizations are benefiting from a Google initiative that has quietly been in place for several months: free ads steering traffic to their sites.

The Google Grants program still is officially in the test stage, and the search company would not say how many non-profits it has helped.

Google's application period deadline has been extended to: January 30, 2004, so you'd better get cracking!

From Internetnews.com:
http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/3303971

Google Grants Home
http://www.google.com/grants/

Green Bay, January 21, 2004: Balance Studios announced that Dana VanDen Heuvel has been appointed to the position of New Media Director effective Jan. 12, 2004. VanDen Heuvel has demonstrated success in leading Internet marketing and sales technology initiatives for companies like Krueger International and Warner Brothers.

Anti-spam organizations recommend you always report spam to the FTC, which maintains an email spam database that is the reference point for taking action against those who send deceptive or fraudulent email.

If you have a specific complaint about an unsolicited commercial email you received, you can fill out this FTC Consumer Complaint Form. This is also the form they want you to use if your "opt-out" request was not honored.

If you want to report any fraudulent spam or violations of CAN-SPAM, simply forward the offending email directly to uce@ftc.gov. You do not need to fill out a complaint form for this.

In January 2003, two acquisition announcements rocked the online meeting marketplace. On January 16, Macromedia announced the acquisition of Presedia. Presedia's flagship product, Express enables non-technical professionals to use tools, such as PowerPoint, to annotate presentations with audio, and combine these elements into a streaming Macromedia Flash application delivered via the web.

Less than a week later, Microsoft announced its agreement to acquire PlaceWare. By combining key assets and working in tandem, the two companies aim to provide customers with innovative and easy-to-use online conferencing solutions.

The real beauty is in the emerging technologies of Flash and the power of webcasting. Recent developments within Macromedia Flash (which is present on over 80% of the Internet desktops) such as the FLV file format, will make streaming video and audio more deliverable and accessible than ever.

Just how big is webcasting and collaborative technology going to be? Well, the META Group said, “The business value of web conferencing is so strong that we believe 90 percent of Global 2000 knowledge workers will have access to web conferencing services by 2007. Along with instant messaging and teamware, web conferencing completes the next-generation collaboration troika that will enable companies to dramatically lower business coordination costs during the next 10 years.”

Dylan Greene shares his 10 reasons why RSS is not ready for prime time. I agree with most of them, but don't really care about things like wasting bandwidth. Think about it. Most of those who've been smart enough to figure out how to get RSS feeds are on broadband and could give two shakes about bandwidth. I also disagree that "reading" RSS requires too much work. Reading is the great part. I read 25 sites through RSS and it's the most time I could save in a day. I do think, however, that they're a bitch to find and subscribe to, and there are too many standards, as Dylan states. I wish that every site I likes had an RSS feed, but they don't...

Dylan, you might also be incorrect on the number of posts that RSS readers can keep current with. NewsGator and BlogLines, both of which I've used (although I've switched to Bloglines simply because I don't have Outlook everywhere I go...) allow me to download as many RSS entries as I want. I just grabbed 250 entries from Scoble's blog.

BTW, check out the RSS Winterfest today and tomorrow.

I'm currently blogging from Kavarna, a coffee shop in downtown Green Bay, WI, which has recently added Wi-Fi Internet access to it's menu of customer offerings. I'm ecstatic.

There are great articles on this trend at both Trendsetters and The Economist.

Having gone through a fairly intersting branding and naming brainstorm session today, I was pleasantly surprised to find this timely post from Fast Company on "The Brand Called..."

While FC said that Wordlab seems to be a silly-ish side projects undertaken by the fine folks at Igor International, a naming and branding agency based in San Francisco. The main Web site is actually quite useful -- if not more so -- than their Worldlab spoof, and they've even been kind enough to outline their naming process for others to follow.

David Cohen has an interesting article in ClickZ today about maintaining credibility and objectivity in front of clients, relating specifically to the situations when you realize that Interactive marketing is NOT right for that client. How do you tell? When would YOU recommend that a client NOT do Interactive, vis-a-vis other "non-interactive" marketing tactics (I'll let you my Marketing Principles textbook if you need to refresh :).

Ironic as it seemed to me when I first started with an Interactive company, Interactive is not always the best way for us to market for the purpose of obtaining new clients and establishing our credibility as an Interactive company to those who may require our services.

Part of the exictement about being with a small company is that they are willing to experiment with marketing tactics and techniques with the intent of making sales and penetrating the market. It's doubly entertaining considering that we're in the tech/media/entertainment market, which makes all of tech-centric things we want to do like weblogs and webcasts perfectly logical ideas.

On the subject of webcasts, the BlinnPR Report published a great viewpoint in their January 2004 newsletter on how the webcast has evolved from a tool to communicate quarterly earnings conference calls to a true strategic communications tool for marketing, sales, and the rest of the organization.

Robert Moskowitz wrote a great piece on the benefits, advantages and trials of the mentor - mentee relationship. This little bit of history was especially enlightening.

According to mythology, Ulysses' son Telemachus learned his most significant lessons about life and about becoming an effective and much-loved ruler at the feet of an important and wise teacher, the great Mentor.

Since then, Mentor's name has been used to describe thousands of people who have shared their experience, expertise, and wisdom with others.

I've worked with a mentor since before graduating from college, and have also had "ad-hoc mentors" in different jobs and positions. I've never had anything but sheer benefit from these people. They've kept me focused, disciplined, right-minded, and forced me to think and reflect when I was doing everything but...

Robert goes on to outline some of the guidelines to work by alongside your mentor.

• Feb. 2 - A Penny For...


• Feb. 3 - Businesspundit


• Feb. 4 - Ensight.org


• Feb. 5 - The Entrepreneurial Mind


• Feb. 6 - Venturepreneur


• Feb. 9 - Dana's Blog


• Feb. 10 - TJ's Weblog

Check out the official BBBT Homepage.

A List Apart featured a piece called "The Perfect 404." I'm a big fan of custom 404 pages, the just make sense while presenting the user with the message that you care about their site experience.

Welcome to the world of the Error 404 page. You've requested a page -- either by typing a URL directly into the address bar or clicking on an out-of-date link and you've found yourself in the middle of cyberspace nowhere. http://www.alistapart.com/articles/perfect404/

Richard Ries of Big Ring Adventure.com has a timely article in the Indianapolis Star about getting your bicycle tuned up this winter, before spring hits. (while we're under several inches of snow, I'm really not ready for spring yet!)

Nevertheless, it's a great reminder article, which basically tells you to replace or tune-up the following things:

Herman Miller's Juggelzine newsletter recently featured an article by Sally Abrahms on fitting a regular excercise routine into the way-too-busy schedules that most of us keep.

A Tight Fit: Squeezing exercise into even the busiest schedule, gives some unconventional ideas for keeping fit between travel, kids, elevator rides, and long hours at the office. Some of the basic guidelines are as follows:

ABC News: HOW Funky is Your Town?

Here's a list of the top 25 US cities for "creativity," as determined by Richard Florida, the author of The Rise of the Creative Class, and founder of The Creative Class.

http://classweb.gmu.edu/accent/
"This site examines the accented speech of speakers from many different
language backgrounds reading the same sample paragraph [in English]...
Everyone who speaks a language, speaks it with an accent. A particular
accent essentially reflects a person's linguistic background. When people
listen to someone speak with a different accent from their own, they notice
the difference, and they may even make certain biased social judgments
about the speaker."

Save for the obvious potential bandwidth issues, and the simple fact that I'm aPC user, this is a damn cool service. I'd love to have my home music collection available anywhere.

"TunesAtWork lets you listen to your personal iTunes music collection while
at your office or lab, even though your iTunes collection resides at home.
TunesAtWork is a specialized web server that runs on your home Macintosh
and serves web pages that present your music collection (including
playlists) organized visually much the same as in iTunes itself. This makes
it easy to find what you're looking for."

http://www.tunesatwork.com/

Every time I get an email from 'webmaster', or 'info', or 'newsletter', or blah-dity-blah-blah no name can't distinguish you from my cat, email sender, I reply to that company suggesting that they change their From name so that I know who the hell they are.

Out of all of the one's that I bitch about, there are still so many that have not changed this very simple element of their email campaigns. Seriously people, everyone sends emails this time of year stating "2004 e-Marketing Predictions". If you consider yourself worth reading, and your From name is 'newsletter', do you think I'm going to read yours, or the MarketingSherpa email I got yesterday?

Hopefully, all of the email marketers who are not yet enlightened will read the most recent article from ClickZ called "Sender Line More Important Than Subject Line."

Read it. Implement it

As the most effective form of branding-oriented advertising on the Internet, rich media spending will rise at a strong and steady pace. Rich media's effectiveness is supported by the continued strong uptake of broadband access, both in the home and at work. Those factors are behind eMarketer's spending projections, which show U.S. rich media ad spending passing the $1 billion mark in 2003 and approaching the $2 billion range by the end of 2005. The New York-based research company expects spending will grow by 31.9% this year, and by next year rich media ad spending will make up more than one in five of the total online ad dollars spent in the U.S. If you don't believe eMarketer about rich media's effectiveness, consider that rich media ads get a click-through rate more than five times higher than for nonrich media, as DoubleClick reported in October 2003.

I'm trying to compile a list of all of viable "Internet & Technology Industry" sites to which one could submit articles for publication, for the purpose of knowledge sharing, and, of course, business building & development. From what I've been able to gather, many consultants or people who run smaller 'agency type' firms could directly benefit from this type of publicity and credibility boosting. (please correct me if I'm wrong)

Also, does anyone's opinion differ greatly? Do you feel that this the 'publishing exercise' is a complete waste and provides no benefit? I'm very curious.

So far, I've put together the list you see below:

1. Marketing Profs
2. Line 56
3. CIO Insight
4. ClickZ

I'm always a fan of shameless self promotion for your business. I'm happy to have run across this little article by Judy Cullins on why you should be writing and publishing articles as one tactic to help promote and build your business.

Judy outlines the benefits of giving a little to gain a lot in return.

1. Writing articles brings free publicity.
2. Publishing articles is an effective means of positiong you as an expert.
3. You receive global attention when articles are web-based.
4. The more exposure your articles get, the more you are perceived as an expert.

There are a couple more...check out the article.

The only problem I have with this, is that I have yet to directly correlate my publishing with business. Granted, I was only doing a little freelance, but still, I see how they matter from a positioning perspective, but I'm not 100% convinced that publications actually drive business upward.

Oddly enough, Bonnie Jo Davis has a similar article titled Reaping The Amazing Benefits Of Writing E-Zine Articles, which has a few more reasons why you should be doing all of the above.

I recently attended a presentation where one of the speakers talked about how their weather-dependent products were being marketed very well on weather sites where the demographic targeting is almost done by default (for starteers, you have to enter your zip code or city to get your weather, not something advertisers get with most web properties). The results were almost unreal, and so was the ability to target.

For example, if you live in the Northeast, and your zipcode is one that just had a weather report of snow, a company could have demographic triggers set on their advertisements for shovels, snowblowers, fireplaces, snowmobiles or whatever winter gadget you're selling, and present the snow-struck weather seekers with precisely targetted ads. Brilliant.

Weatherbug, one of the leaders in getting online advertisers into this targeted space, just published four (4) of their targeting lessons in an interview with iMedia Connection.

Lesson #1: Online demographic targeting really does work.
Lesson #2: Use Internet applications to target large, loyal audiences.
Lesson #3: Target people in their world.
Lesson #4: Target outside the box.

Adverblog: Registration: the key to successful targeting

Media Post just reported on a soon-to-be-released Gartner report is predicting that "advergaming"- simply defined as games that incorporate marketing content-is set to surge in the months ahead.

Advergaming online seems to be gaining in popularity, and why shouldn't it! What really bugs me though, is that people are coming at it saying it's such a new thing. It's not. It's a basic human interest to be engaged and entertained, even more so in today's media driven economy. Games come in all forms, sweepstakes, lottery, chance, and those funky useless tricks you see going on in the middle of the mall where if you throw something into the window of a truck you win a prize.

More to the point, combine several of the elements listed above with your advergame, like we did with the KI NeoCon matching game. We already know that sweepstakes drive traffic and conversions, and there's now evidence that advergaming does as well. Put them together, and you're damn near unstopable!

WebTrends surveyed 1,000 US adults between 3 and 7 December 2003, 632 of whom had researched or purchased a product online. The survey determined that having to enter too much info, surprise costs at the point of checkout, or a lack of supporting product or service information were the most likely factors contributing to shopping cart abandonment.

This relates to an earlier study conducted by CatchFIRE Systems that illustrated the lack of understanding of how the web works and how to keep shoppers from abandoning sites on the part of most marketers. Now marketers have some information to work with...

Bottom line: It's no longer acceptable to have a piece-of-crap shopping cart or online shopping experience. If you're getting into the e-commerce game at this point, or if you're still in the game, you simply can't afford to be playing a c-level game!

The upcoming 6.0 release of EmailUnlimited software will also provide an add-on service that lets you publish your email newsletter in RSS automatically, being hosted on our own web site.

Then you won't have to worry about the tech part of RSS anymore, but simply push a button and it will be done for you.

**Update - I think this list has really gotten out of hand, but then again, it is a compendium...**

It seems that everyone and their brother has written a piece on CAN-SPAM. Here are links to a few of the more reputable pieces on the subject. Also, if have a dedicated email campaign manager/service provider for your marketing emails, contact that vendor for their take. We have been getting a ton of stuff from Email Labs, our email vendor, on how they are working to get all of their clients in compliance with the act.

3/2/04: Internet Retailer: How CAN-Spam helps marketers sharpen their e-mail skills
http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=11412

3/1/04: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - GETTING spam under control
http://www.jsonline.com/bym/tech/news/mar04/211385.asp

2/28/04: Mondaq - United States: The Federal CAN-SPAM Act -- New Requirements for Commercial E-Mail
http://www.mondaq.com/i_article.asp_Q_articleid_E_24583

2/23/04: Opt-in News - THE Great CAN-SPAM Freak Out
http://66.102.98.167/4-9-15-00.html

2/23/04: AZCentral.com - Companies battling spam despite new law
http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/0223spam23-ON.html

2/18/04: PC Magazine - Spam: A Reality Check
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1529307,00.asp

2/10/04: InformationWeek - Can-Spam Changes Life For Legit E-Mailers
http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=17602839

2/9/04: BtoBOnline - CAN-SPAM alters e-mail list rental practices
http://www.btobonline.com/cgi-bin/article.pl?id=12276#columnb

2/9/04: DMNews - List Firms Provide E-Mail Suppression Services Under CAN-SPAM
http://www.dmnews.com/cgi-bin/artprevbot.cgi?article_id=26424

2/6/04: Arial Software - The Top Five Questions and Answers about Responsible Email Marketing
http://www.arialsoftware.com/topfivesummary.html

2/4/04: eWeek.com - Keeping Up With CAN-SPAM Act
http://www.eweek.com/print_article/0,3048,a=117732,00.asp

Biz Stone mentioned this sweet little online Etch-a-Sketch!!! At last - the new supreme online time killer!!!

The study by the Perseus group on the sheer number of weblogs that have been abandoned is a bit disturbing, but it makes me wonder... How many of us have had free email accounts at one point or another which we've since abandoned? While these are slightly more private and not subject to be reported on like public blogs, I'd be willing to bet that the numbers would be a bit alarming.

What I propose is a "Weblog Expiration Policy", which would simply state, like Hotmail does, that if a blog has not been updated in some acceptable length of time (3 months?) that it would be deactivated. This will reduce clutter and get "tire kickers" to think before they march off into blog land.

The customer retention rate for Chevrolet vehicle owners in the US is the "highest in the industry", according to the newly published J D Power and Associates '2003 Customer Retention Study', which measured the ability of motor brands to retain their owners for new vehicle purchases. On average, the study found that approximately 50% of consumers will repurchase the same type of vehicle. Chevrolet ranked highest in customer retention, retaining 60.8% of its owners, followed by followed by Toyota (59.3%), Mercedes-Benz (58.7%), Ford (58.1%), Honda (57.1%), and Lexus (55.5%)...

Full story: http://www.thewisemarketer.com/news/read.asp?lc=l30577px833zs

John Porcaro mentioned a great new blog by brand and strategy consultant Jennifer Rice called Brand Mantra, covering Brand Strategy News and Views.

Jack Aaronson is talking about "beyond the browser" in ClickZ today. Jack. We've already moved beyond the browser. Dozens of companies are using things like Flash Remoting to extend the capabilities of their site through highly interactive rich-media pieces of their site. Many site designers realize that we've moved beyond the page-based paradigm in web design and are now breaking into more "application development." than ever before.

What I'd like to focus on is this: What does this transition mean for the small developer?

When I was in college back in 1994, I was doing small time web dev for the college and a freelance client. Many others around me were doing sites as freelance work with basic HTML skills. Up until now, you could still get away with this. Many freelancers (most from graphic design roots) have become good web designers and even picked up HTML along the way.

Enter .NET:

We experienced this little transition within my last employer when we were deciding to move to .NET while simultaneously deciding to incorporate more Flash-based rich-media into the site. Where did we draw the lines? IT wanted to do the .NET stuff, but they wouldn't touch Flash? How can you seperate the two when they are now so intertwined? Moreoever, how does this bode for the graphic designer/web developer who is NOT an application developer by nature?

I don't have any answers in this post. Stay tuned for more. However, the point is, we will get to a day when rich-media in the "application based paradigm" vs. "page based paradigm" is the way of the web, for much of the web. HTML isn't going anywhere, but it's also not growing. Everything from project management nuances to freelancer's paychecks is about to change.

In light of further corporate customer measures and IT departments downsizing,
outsourcing is growing at a steady 6 to 8 percent per year, according to tech consultancy Gartner Inc. As highlighted in an earlier post, IT outsourcing partnerships are not always success stories. According to annual surveys conducted by business information provider Dun & Bradstreet, one in four outsourcing arrangements fails within two years because of unrealistic expectations, the wrong vendor, or poor oversight. Here are six things you can do:

1. Do your homework. Portals such as OutsourcingCentral.com and The Outsourcing Institute (www.outsourcing.com) offer provider directories and information on available services, how to choose a vendor, and how to write a service agreement.

2. Figure out where you need help. According to the Aberdeen Group, a Boston-based IT market analysis firm, 30 percent of all IT outsourcing is for simple help desk support. But you can outsource virtually anything, from basic Web design to enterprise resource planning application maintenance, freeing your technical staff to develop new ways to streamline your business.

3. Consider cost. The range and cost of outsourced services vary widely. Inforonics, a managed services provider based in Littleton, Massachusetts, charges anywhere from $2,000 a month for hosting a simple Web site to $1 million a year for managing a full-blown e-commerce operation.

4. Pick on someone your own size. Find a specialist who is used to dealing with companies your size, and make sure to ask for client referrals. If you're a $5 million business, do you want to go to huge company to manage a couple of departmental Web applications? Probably not.

5. Get it in writing. After you've picked a vendor, you'll want a detailed service agreement that spells out exactly what the outsourcer will provide and at what cost. Include performance goals as well as incentives and penalties for missed goals.

6. Start slowly. Begin with a pilot project and phase in core business functions as you develop trust in your outsourcer.

The Green Bay YPN Presents:

Networking for a Living

To be held Wednesday, January 28, 5:00 – 9:00 PM at the Sports Corner.

The event will feature Marilyn Robinson from Dale Carnegie Systems providing techniques to enhance your YPN experience.

Details
Date: Wednesday, January 28, 2004.
Time: 5:00 – 9:00 PM Program starts at 6:00 PM.
Place: The Sports Corner (500 Grant St., De Pere).
Program: Learn the Dale Carnegie techniques for
networking with fun and ease.
Cost: $5 Members / $15 Non-Members.

Download the PDF invite here.

Peter Montoya highlighted a recent experience with a campaign donation that necessitates a reflection for pause on whether you may be annoying your customers with your persistent marketing. When is it too much?

A few guidelines from Peter:

Lee at Commoncraft published a nice succinct overview of some of the current web conferencing alternatives to expensive platforms like WebEx and the former PlaceWare- now Live Meeting.

Popinteractive.com, a San Francisco web design firm, has put together a nifty checklist of things that you should review on and about your website as we head into the new year.

This year's checklist covers the following items:

1. Review Your Domain Name Record
2. Check Website Email Addresses
3. Update Your Confirmation and Automated Messages
4. Test Your Forms
5. Validate Your Links
6. Check Your Site's Search Feature
7. Check Your File Sizes and Download Times
8. Review Your Stylesheets, Standards, Accessibility and Compatibility
9. Update Your Time References and Copyright
10. Check Your Search Engine Visibility
10.5 Assess Your Site's Content & Features

I agree with all of those, but there are a few more business objectives that should be reviewed in concert with the technical ones.
11. Does your site still concur with corporate sales and marketing objectives - If the site was designed as a lead generator, and you only have one acquisition point, which is hard to find, the site may need to be brought in line with objectives
12. Give customers every opportunity to communicate with you - Phone, fax, email, postal, International, branch locations around the country should all be listed on the site, and easy to find from anywhere on the site. Just because a customer is reviewing your website, doesn't mean that that's the mode of communication they'll use to contact you.
13. Newsletter subscriptions - If you offer a newsletter, offer a persistent signup form everywhere on the site.
14. Design for the "lowest common technological denominator" - Be sure to test your site on multiple computers and browsers and monitor sizes. That great new Flash 7 feature that you added may not be so hot for all of your dialup visitors who are still on Flash 5 and will require a download before reviewing your newest feature.

The full checklist is available at:
http://www.popinteractive.com/webinsights/031231.htm

During the late 80's and early 90's, many companies, in an effort to facilitate the creation of their Internet presence, shifted control of the website and Internet technologies from their IT department to their marketing, or E-Commerce department. Yet, the average marketing manager is out of touch with what the web can really do, and IT management is just still feeling left out in the cold on the web. Results and relations would improve appreciably if marketing and IT were to embed liaisons within each others' teams to forge new synergies.

Review the full article here.

The January 12th edition of Business Week has a commentary on some of the pitfalls of outsourcing coding and IT work (helpdesk, tech support, etc.) to offshore countries such as India, China, and the Philippines. The article reads as if issues like project management gaps, quality and security concerns, communication missteps, and budget overruns as if they are unique to this new thing called offshore outsourcing.

Seriously, it’s as if we’ve never handed off a project to a vendor before. Whether it’s a call center, helpdesk or customer service, web development, or ongoing coding work for software development, you should never hand over the reins without undertaking a confidence building mission and pilot project. Every time we’ve taken on a new vendor relationship, it’s always started small and been closely monitored, well managed, measured against critical success factors, and

There are dozens of vendors out there, whether they are across the street or across the world, you need to do your due diligence.

A new report on the changing workforce by the Families & Work Institute indicates that small business owners are better paid and more satisfied with their work than salaried employees. While entrepreneurs work the longest hours, with 38 percent working more than 50 hours a week, small business owners and self-employed independents find their jobs more creative, have more opportunities to develop their skills and abilities and greater freedom to decide what to do in their jobs.