Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Making Money Scams

Another day, another honking big funding for another online start-up (and yet another broken embargo too!).

It’s like Groundhog Day in Silicon Valley as usual.

Today, Cambridge, Mass.-based HubSpot wins tech’s version of the lottery, grabbing $32 million from Sequoia Capital, Google Ventures and also Salesforce.com.

It is unclear what the valuation for HubSpot is now, although it is likely high given it has raised $65 million now.

HubSpot makes marketing software for businesses, who use it to find prospects and generate leads, along with tools to analyze the process. It claims it has “4,000 customers, over 50 percent market share, five million leads managed, and 70 million page views tracked monthly.”

The Series D financing included HubSpot’s existing venture investors–General Catalyst Partners, Matrix Partners, and Scale Venture Partners–and part of it will be used to cash out existing shareholders. In previous rounds, the start-up has raised $33 million.

Here is the official press release:

Sequoia, Google Ventures, and Salesforce.com Invest $32 Million in HubSpot

Marketing Software Company Attracts New Strategic Investors

CAMBRIDGE, MA–(Marketwire – March 8, 2011)–Today, for the first time ever, Sequoia Capital, Google Ventures and Salesforce.com all invested together in one company, providing HubSpot with a Series D round of financing through a $32 million investment. HubSpot provides all-in-one marketing software used by over 4,000 businesses to get found by more prospects, convert them into leads and sales, and analyze the entire marketing process.

“The fundamental way that people shop, learn, and buy has changed radically in the last few years. HubSpot helps transform the way businesses market from outbound marketing (cold calls, email blasts, and direct mail) to inbound marketing (Google, blogs, social media, mobile, etc.),” said Brian Halligan, co-founder and CEO of HubSpot.

Sequoia Capital has a long history of partnering with founders to help them build long-term, multi-billion dollar companies, including Google, LinkedIn, AdMob, YouTube, Yahoo!, Apple, and Oracle. “We back companies that are transforming their industries,” said Jim Goetz, General Partner at Sequoia Capital. “HubSpot is the emerging category leader in the SaaS marketing sector. Their customer base exceeds that of all the other relevant marketing software companies combined, including Eloqua, Marketo, Genius, and Manticore.”

“Today, every company needs to succeed in search, social, sales, and marketing–I can’t think of a more powerful trifecta than Google, Salesforce.com, and HubSpot. With 4,000 customers, HubSpot is already a clear marketing leader–now, with this new infusion of capital and recognition by Google’s venture arm and Salesforce.com, HubSpot has a great opportunity to separate itself from the pack and become the leading marketing platform in the small and medium business space,” said Brent Leary, co-founder of CRM Essentials.

Google Ventures Partner, Rich Miner (formerly co-founder of Android) said, “We agree with HubSpot’s belief that search engines, social media, and mobile devices have fundamentally changed how businesses should market themselves. We’re thrilled to support their efforts to help thousands of small and medium businesses reach potential customers.”

Dharmesh Shah, co-founder and CTO of HubSpot commented, “We founded the company based on a simple premise: Businesses want an easy-to-use, complete and integrated marketing platform that helps them get more leads and customers. We plan to use this new capital to further invest in this ambitious vision and further our existing lead in the marketing software category.”

Surface Encounters

Felony warrant issued for Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Aqib Talib

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Tampa Bay cornerback Aqib Talib in Garland, Texas.

Surface Encounters

REPORT: News Corp. In Talks To Hand Over Control Of MySpace To ...

News Corp. is in preliminary talks to give control of Myspace to Vevo.com, the site partly owned by top record companies, including Universal Music and Sony Music, according to a Bloomberg report. News Corp. has been looking to unload ...

Surface Encounters

'CBS Evening News' Sinks To Record Lows, 'World News' Only Show To ...

With the drumbeat of rumors that she is heading for the door, Katie Couric was likely looking for better ratings news than what she got Tuesday. Instead, the ratings for the first quarter of 2011 showed that the "CBS Evening News" drew ...

Surface Encounters

With few surprises, techies were underwhelmed with Apple’s iPad 2 announcement, but I’m confident that consumers will be thrilled with the product. Apple already had a massive lead in the consumer tablet market it created, and these “underwhelming” upgrades should keep the company comfortably ahead. Apple has given competitors an opening by sticking to 3G, and it did not further pressure them with a lower entry price point or higher-resolution display. However, Apple has three critical advantages.

1. Brand: When consumers are thinking about tablets, they say they are buying an “iPad,” not a “tablet.” The iPad was already the category and volume leader, and the iPad 2 builds on that. In this respect, Apple actually benefits from the crowd of new tablets hitting the market. If there were only one or two strong competitors, consumers would be able to weigh the pros and cons of each offering, but with dozens and dozens of options hitting the market over the next few months, decision paralysis can set in and many consumers will throw up their hands and make the “safe” choice: the iPad.

2. iTunes: The iPad is still the only tablet on the market with a huge digital marketplace for movies, TV shows, and music. Some competitors are taking steps in this direction (e.g., Samsung’s Hub), but iTunes remains a significant competitive advantage.

3. App Store: If all you want to do is browse the Web and check e-mail, any tablet will probably suffice. However, Apple has an enormous lead in purpose-built apps. The Android ecosystem is strong and app availability should improve significantly over time, but the iPad 2 is considerably more versatile than any of its competitors right now, and it appears unlikely to lose its lead any time in the near future.

So if you are competing with Apple, what should you do? Rather than copying Apple’s products, copy its old advertising tag line and Think Different.

Apple’s brand is focused on creative types (or those who aspire to be), which is why it spends so much effort creating things like GarageBand. Competitors should target IT managers, knowledge workers, outdoorsy people, or some other group and build software and hardware combinations better suited to those use cases. Of course, this will take imagination and the ability to tie hardware, software, and services together to build unique experiences. There are some companies thinking outside the box (HTC and RIM have clearly differentiated products on their roadmaps), but for the vendors who are trying to out-Apple Apple… good luck. Here are some pointers, you’re going to need them:

• Based on Apple’s financials, it is clear that the iPad with WiFi is Apple’s volume product and 3G versions are merely gravy. Why is the competition only targeting the gravy?

• iTunes remains a significant competitive advantage for Apple – I cannot easily explain to novices how to get a movie onto the XOOM. Rivals need an “iTunes” of their own, but having one just achieves parity with Apple, so partnering is an acceptable approach. However, half measures are not enough; digital media stores must include movies (including rentals) and TV shows and music. If multiple partners are used, the tablet vendor still needs to provide a common interface and single account/billing relationship.

• Nintendo has a significant base of game developers targeting the 3DS; if you cannot muster equivalent resources (for gaming, media playback, or some other use), adding 3D to your tablet is just a gimmick.

• Apple’s rivals can compete on 4G, higher-resolution displays, or a lower price. Even speed is a potential differentiator from a technical perspective; NVIDIA has quad-core processors sampling this month, so rivals could build even faster tablets for this holiday season. However, I must still caution vendors that all of these factors are irrelevant if consumers do not want your product.

Dirty Percent

Tuesday, 1 March 2011

It’s not hard to make the case that Apple’s new in-app subscription system offers numerous benefits to users, developers, and publishers. But whatever those benefits, they stem from the mere existence of these new subscription APIs. What’s controversial is the size of Apple’s cut: 30 percent.

No one is arguing that Apple shouldn’t get some cut of in-app purchases that go through iTunes. And, if Apple were taking a substantially smaller cut, there would be substantially fewer people objecting to Apple’s rules (that subscription-based publishing apps must use the system; that they can’t link to their external sign-up web page from within the app; and that they must offer in-app subscribers the same prices available outside the app).

The reasonable arguments against Apple’s policies seem to be:

Apple should be taking less, perhaps far less, than 30 percent.

Apple should not require subscription-based apps to use the in-app subscription APIs. If it’s a good deal for publishers, they’ll choose to use the system on their own.

Apple should not require price-matching from subscription offers outside the app. Publishers should be allowed to charge iOS users more money to cover Apple’s cut.

Apple should consider business models that simply can’t afford a 70/30 revenue split.

Let’s consider these in reverse order.

Apple Should Consider Business Models That Can’t Afford a 70/30 Revenue Split

Apple doesn’t give a damn about companies with business models that can’t afford a 70/30 split. Apple’s running a competitive business; competition is cold and hard. And who exactly can’t afford a 70/30 split? Middlemen. It’s not that Apple is opposed to middlemen — it’s that Apple wants to be the middleman. It’s difficult to expect them to be sympathetic to the plights of other middlemen.

Some of these apps and services that are left out might be ones that iOS users enjoy, though. This is the leading argument for how this new policy will in fact hurt users, and, as a result, Apple itself: it’ll drive good apps off the platform. Frequently mentioned examples: Netflix and Kindle. For all we know, though, Netflix may well be fine with this policy. Apple would only get a 30 percent cut of new subscriptions that go through the Netflix iOS app, and that might be a bounty Netflix can live with in exchange for more subscribers. Keep in mind, too, that Netflix and Apple seemingly get along well enough that Netflix is built into the Apple TV system software.

Kindle, and e-book platforms in general, are a different case. For one thing, Kindle doesn’t use subscriptions. Kindle offers purchases. Presumably, given Apple’s rejection of Sony’s e-book platform app last month, Apple is going to insist on the same rules for in-app purchases through apps like Kindle as they do for in-app subscriptions. If so, something’s got to give. The “agency model” through which e-books are sold requires the bookseller to give the publisher 70 percent of the sale price. So if the publisher gets 70 and Apple gets 30, that leaves a big fat nothing for Amazon, or Barnes & Noble, or Kobo, or anyone else selling books through native iOS apps — other than iBooks, of course.

But leaving aside the revenue split, there are technical limitations as well. The existing in-app purchasing system in iOS has a technical limit of 3,500 catalog items. I.e. any single app can offer no more than 3,500 items for in-app purchase. Amazon has hundreds of thousands of Kindle titles.

Something’s got to give here. I don’t know what, but there must be more news on this front coming soon. I don’t believe Apple wants to chase competing e-book platforms off the App Store.

Apple Should Not Require Price Matching

Why not allow developers and publishers to set their own prices for in-app subscriptions? One reason: Apple wants its customers to get the best price — and, to know that they’re getting the best price whenever they buy a subscription through an app. It’s a confidence in the brand thing: with Apple’s rules, users know they’re getting the best price, they know they’ll be able to unsubscribe easily, and they know their privacy is protected.

Credit card companies insist on similar rules: retailers pay a processing fee for every credit card transaction, but the credit card companies insist that these fees not be passed on to the customer. Customers pay the same price as they would if they used cash — which encourages them to use their credit card liberally. (Going further, many charge cards offer cash back on each purchase — they can do this because the cash-back percentage refunded to the customer is less than the transaction processing fee paid by the retailer.)

So the same-price rule is good for the user, and good for Apple. But Matt Drance argues that Apple could dissipate much of this subscription controversy by waiving this rule:

The requirement that IAP content be offered “at the same price
or less than it is offered outside the app,” combined with the
70/30 split, means developers must make less money off of iOS by
definition. They can’t price their IAP content higher to offset
the commission, nor can they price their own retail content lower.

If I am interpreting this correctly, I can’t bring myself to see
it as reasonable. […] I think a great deal of this drama could
go away if Apple dropped section 11.13 while keeping section
11.14: Your prices on your store are your business; just don’t
be a jerk and advertise the difference all over ours.

And I agree with him. Yes, the same-price rule is good for users and for Apple, but waiving this rule wouldn’t be particularly bad for users or for Apple, either — and it would give publishers some freedom to experiment.

I suspect one reason Apple won’t budge is that their competitors — like Amazon — insist on best-price matching.

Apple Should Not Require Apps to Offer In-App Subscriptions

I’m sympathetic to this argument, too. “If you don’t like our terms, don’t use our subscription system.” But it has occurred to me that this entire in-app subscription debate mirrors the debate surrounding the App Store itself back in 2008 — that 30 percent was too large a cut for Apple to take, that it shouldn’t be mandatory, etc. The same way many developers wanted (and still want) a way to sell native iOS apps on their own, outside the App Store, many publishers now want a way to sell subscriptions on their own, outside the App Store.

The fact is, the App Store is an all-or-nothing affair. You play by Apple’s rules or you stick to web apps through Mobile Safari. This alternative is no different for periodical publishers than it was (and remains) for app developers in general. A lot of these demands boil down to a desire for more autonomy for native iOS app developers. Apple has never shown any interest in that.

There’s one striking difference between the subscription controversy today and the App Store controversy in 2008: with subscriptions, Apple is taking away the ability to do something that they previously allowed. There was never a supported way to install native apps for iOS before the App Store. Subscriptions sold outside the App Store, on the other hand, were allowed until last month.

Apple Should Be Taking Less, Possibly Far Less, Than 30 Percent

Another difference between the App Store itself and in-app subscriptions is that with apps, Apple hosts and serves the downloads. Apple covers the bandwidth, even for gargantuan gigabyte-or-larger 99-cent games. The OS handles installation.

With in-app subscriptions (and purchases), however, the app developer is responsible for hosting the content, and for writing the code to download, store, and manage it. So — one reasonable argument goes — given that Apple is doing less for subscription content than it does for apps (or for music and movies purchased through iTunes), Apple should take less of the money.

Taken further, the argument boils down to this: that for in-app subscriptions and purchases, Apple is serving only as a payment processer — and thus, a reasonable fee for transactions would be in the small single digits — 3, 4, maybe 5 percent, say. More or less something along the lines of what PayPal charges.

Apple, I think it’s clear, doesn’t see it this way. Apple sees the entire App Store, along with all native iOS apps, as an upscale, premium software store: owned, controlled, and managed like a physical shopping mall. Brick and mortar retailers don’t settle for a single-digit cut of retail prices; neither does the App Store.

Seth Godin argues that Apple’s 30 percent cut is too big to allow publishers to profit:

Except Apple has announced that they want to tax each subscription
made via the iPad at 30%. Yes, it’s a tax, because what it does is
dramatically decrease the incremental revenue from each
subscriber. An intelligent publisher only has two choices: raise
the price (punishing the reader and further cutting down
readership) or make it free and hope for mass (see my point above
about the infinite newsstand). When you make it free, it’s all
about the ads, and if you don’t reach tens or hundreds of
thousands of subscribers, you’ll fail.

Godin’s logic strikes me as questionable. For one thing, he freely switches between a newsstand metaphor (arguing, perhaps accurately, that the App Store is too large for publishers to gain attention from potential readers in the first place — you won’t read what you never notice) and the economics of subscriptions. But subscribers are the opposite of newsstand readers. Newsstand readers are buying a single copy, often on impulse. Subscribers are readers who are already hooked, and who know what they want. Put another way, the size of Apple’s cut of subscription revenue — whether it were higher or lower — has no bearing on the “attention at the newsstand” problem.

Second, the problem facing traditional publishers today is that circulation is falling. Newsstand sales and subscriptions are falling, under pressure from free-of-charge websites and other forms of digital content. The idea with Apple’s 70-30 revenue split is that developers and publishers can make it up in volume — that people aren’t just somewhat more willing to pay for content through iTunes than other online content stores, they are far more willing. The idea is that Apple has cracked a nut no one else1 has — they’ve created an ecosystem where hundreds of millions of people are willing to pay for digital content. Thus, potentially, publishers won’t just make more money keeping only 70 percent of subscription fees generated through iOS apps than they are now with 96 percent (or whatever they’re left with after payment processing fees) of subscription fees they’re selling on their own — they stand to make a lot more money.

I’m not guaranteeing or even predicting that it’s going to work out that way. I’m just saying that’s Apple’s proposition.

Godin’s assumption is that iOS in-app subscriptions won’t significantly increase the number of subscribers. If he’s right about that, then he’s right that Apple’s 30 percent cut will prove too expensive for publishers. But Apple’s bet is that in-app subscriptions can dramatically increase the number of subscribers. Consider the app landscape. Apple’s 30 percent cut didn’t drive the price of paid apps up — the nature of the App Store drove prices down. It’s a volume game.

The App Store itself proves that Apple might be right. Like with app sales, in-app subscriptions won’t work for every publication. But it could work for many. It really is possible to make it up in volume.

And if a 70-30 split for in-app subscription revenue doesn’t work, the price will come down. That’s how capitalism works. You choose a price and see how it goes. I’ll admit — when the App Store launched in 2008, I thought Apple’s 70-30 split was skewed too heavily in Apple’s favor. Not that it was wrong in any moral sense, but that it was wrong in a purely economic sense: that it might be more than developers would be willing to bear. Apple, clearly, has a better sense about what prices the market will bear than I (and, likely, you) do.

Competition vs. Anti-Competition

One last argument I’ve seen regarding these in-app subscription rules is that it’s further evidence of anti-competitive behavior from Apple. That makes sense only if you consider iOS to be the entire field of play. Apple, though, is competing at a higher level. They’re competing between platforms: iOS vs. Kindle/Amazon vs. Android/Google vs. Microsoft, and in some ways, vs. the free web. Why should publishers make an app rather than just a mobile web site? For happier customers and more money.

Sony has a platform for e-books. Amazon has a platform for e-books. Barnes & Noble has a platform for e-books. Apple has a platform for e-books. But Apple is the only one which allows its competitors to have apps on its devices. And Apple is the anti-competitive one? I’m no lawyer, but if the iTunes Music store hasn’t yet been deemed a monopoly with Apple selling 70+ percent of digital music players, then I doubt the App Store will be deemed a monopoly for a market where Apple has never been — and, according to market share trends, may never be — the top-selling smartphone maker, let alone own a majority of the market, let alone own more than a single-digit sliver of the phone market as a whole. As for ruthless profiteering, consider that Amazon, with their e-book publishing, originally took the fat end of a 70-30 revenue split with authors.

One question I’ve been asked by several DF readers who object to Apple’s new in-app subscription and purchasing policies goes like this: What if Microsoft did this with Windows, and, say, tried to require Apple to pay them 30 percent for every purchase made through iTunes on Windows? To that, I say: good luck with that. Microsoft couldn’t make such a change by fiat. The whole premise of Windows (and other personal computer systems) is that it is open to third-party software. Apple couldn’t just flip a switch and make Mac OS X a controlled app console system like iOS — they had to introduce the Mac App Store as an alternative to traditional software installation. If Microsoft introduced something similar to the Mac App Store for Windows, Apple would simply eschew it. If Microsoft were to mandate an iOS App Store-like total control policy for all Windows software, they’d have a revolt in their user base that would make Vista look like a success.

iOS isn’t and never was an open computer system. It’s a closed, controlled console system — more akin to Playstation or Wii or Xbox than to Mac OS X or Windows. It is, in Apple’s view, a privilege to have a native iOS app.

This is what galls some: Apple is doing this because they can, and no other company is in a position to do it. This is not a fear that in-app subscriptions will fail because Apple’s 30 percent slice is too high, but rather that in-app subscriptions will succeed despite Apple’s (in their minds) egregious profiteering. I.e. that charging what the market will bear is somehow unscrupulous. To the charge that Apple Inc. is a for-profit corporation run by staunch capitalists, I say, “Duh”.

If it works, Apple’s 30-percent take of in-app subscriptions will prove as objectionable in the long run as the App Store itself: not very.

Surface Encounters

Surface Encounters

Recognizing Women's History Month, New Deal 2.0 tells the surprising story of how women became citizens -- and how their economic lives have evolved along with their rights. Allida Black urges action on UN Resolution 1325, which ensures equal citizenship for women across the globe.

The monumental elections of Presidents Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Liberia), Roza Otunbayeva (Krygyzstan), Dilma Rousseff (Brazil), and Prime Minister Julia Gillard (Australia) and the game-changing appointments of Dr. Michelle Bachelet as Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and Executive Director of UNWomen and Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State proved that women can govern, run preeminent human rights organizations, set international policy, and place women at the center of diplomacy, development, and peace.

But the question remains -- if women can be president, why can't they be citizens? Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares, "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and in rights." Yet it took another twenty years after its signing to get the international conventions on political and civil rights and on economic, social and cultural rights -- and, in the United States, another twenty plus years for Congress to adopt legislation ensuring women's political and economic rights. It took another thirteen years for the United Nations to ratify (without the support of the United States) the Convention to End All Forms of Discrimination against Women. And in 2011, the US House of Representatives and other foreign governing bodies still toy with legislation essential to women's identities, ranging from limiting access to reproductive health services and marriage to crafting sentencing guidelines that treat girls and women as felons and charges those that have abducted and abused them with misdemeanors.

In a 1946 column, written before she joined the UN Commission on Human Rights, Eleanor Roosevelt urged women to "call on the Governments of the world to encourage women everywhere to take a more conscious part in national and international affairs, and on women to come forward and share in the work of peace and reconstruction as they did in the war and resistance." More than fifty years later, at the dawn of a new century, the UN Security Council -- pressured by a well-organized international women's lobby, Hillary Clinton, and other stateswomen and embarrassed by the rampant use of rape and genital dismemberment as tools of war -- adopted Resolution 1325. It urged "Member States to ensure increased representation of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention, management, and resolution of conflict."

Now ten years later, the campaign -- indeed the struggle -- to enforce this resolution rages across the United States as much as it does across Egypt or the Congo or Afghanistan.

It is tempting to construct this resolution narrowly -- to see it as a tool of armistice rather than reconstruction, as a vehicle to protect women rather than empower them. To do so, to paraphrase Albus Dumbledore, would be to do what is easy rather than what is right.

UN1325 is on the front line in the campaign for women's citizenship. It is a battle to ensure that economic, social and cultural rights cannot be divorced from, or considered separately from, political and civil rights. It is the struggle to reclaim democracy promotion away from post-Cold War politics, self-interested development and the campaign against terror and place it at the heart of citizen participation.

Just as important, it is a campaign to ensure women's rights as citizens as much as it is a campaign to force governments to act responsibly to all its citizens. While equality and human dignity have no sex, policy designed without taking stock of gender differences often perpetuates discrimination.

As Eleanor Roosevelt would say, both citizens and governments must "recognize that the goal of full participation in the life and responsibilities of their countries and of the world community is a common objective" and one "which the women of the world should assist one another" in achieving.

This post originally appeared on New Deal 2.0.

Ask yourself, what are my company’s core capabilities? If your answer is simply, restating the product you sell, you are most likely incoherent. The coherence premium is a high level strategy used by some of the largest (and most profitable) corporations in America. Companies that are “coherent” can define 3-6 capabilities internally that differentiate them within their industry, build a deep workable strategy focused on “winning,” and develop product portfolio based around their capabilities.

What makes the coherence premium such an interesting topic? The fact that companies who are “coherent” are healthier, more profitable and better set up for long-term growth. Coca-Cola, a poster child for coherence, (almost 100 on the Coherence Capabilities Score) sees on average 20% higher earnings before interest and taxes than profiled companies with a Coherence Capabilities Score of less than 20.

Take Wal-Mart for instance, they’ve aligned all of their capabilities:

Aggressive vendor management

Expert point-of-sale data analytics

Superior logistics

Rigorous working capital management

Simple, but to the point, Wal-Mart understands their internal capabilities, which stretch from logistics all the way to IT. Capabilities should be specific enough that they exact a point of where you stop competing and start excelling your industry. A more thorough example of a capability would be, “A company’s ability to use customer-data mining to develop new products.”

Benefits

Strengthens a Companies Competitive Advantage

Companies are Better Prepared For The Future

Produces Efficiencies of Scale

Aligns Strategic Intent and Day-To-Day Decision Making

Steps

1. Ways to Play- learn how your company provides value and the way you will face the market.

Are we investing capabilities that matter to the way we play?

Are we clear about the way we choose to create value in the marketplace?

2. Capabilities System -determine your 3-6 core capabilities.

Have we defined how these capabilities work with our system?

Do all of our businesses draw upon this superior system?

3. Build a Strategy For a Balanced Portfolio – Build your future growth and product initiates to maximize your core capabilities.

Have we found our product and service “sweet spot”

Are new products and acquisitions determined on the way the fit within our capabilities system?

Understanding your core capabilities and becoming coherent is not necessarily the easiest thing to do. Your capabilities should be assessed with a healthy mix of both internal and external information and careful thought. All of this is worth the hassle; coherent companies consistently reap more profits, are better prepped for the future and place themselves atop their industries by innovating.

Surface Encounters

'CBS Evening News' Sinks To Record Lows, 'World News' Only Show To ...

Surface Encounters

Surface Encounters

Surface Encounters

'CBS Evening News' Sinks To Record Lows, 'World News' Only Show To ...

Surface Encounters

Women Making Money

The second wave of e-commerce is coming, buoyed by a flood of fresh cash. European flash-sales site operator Privalia, which offers short-term, steeply discounted fashion deals in Spain, Italy, Brazil, and Mexico, is expanding to Germany with a $280 million acquisition of rival Dress-For-Less.

The deal is funded in part by $123 million in fresh cash from General Atlantic, Highland Capital Partners, Index Ventures, and Insight Venture Partners, as well as debt and newly issued shares.

Those are big numbers, and they come on top of a $95 million round just last October from General Atlantic and Index.

Privalia is a private-sales site that offers members deep discounts on apparel and other items for a short period of time. Others in the flash-sales category include Rue La La, now owned by GSI Commerce; Gilt Groupe, which offers deals in apparel and travel; and One Kings Lane, a home-décor site. The limited time horizon for offers, combined with a curated array of merchandise and new social tools, serves to drive demand from consumers looking to buy something new.

That customer base — those who view shopping as entertainment and largely made up of women — is potentially much larger than the hardcore online shoppers who became loyal online shoppers a decade ago.

The first wave of e-commerce, transactional and efficient, did catalogs one better by offering a nearly limitless array of merchandise and selling it cheaply and quickly. It satisfied demand, rather than creating it.

Private-sales sites, daily deals purveyors like Groupon, and other new forms of e-commerce promise to do something much bigger and more difficult: create demand. Successful traditional retailers excel at this, turning their stores into showcases of consumer delight and convincing people to reach for their pocketbooks for something they had no intention of buying when they walked into the store.

Privalia seems to have an edge in fast-growing overseas markets. Gilt currently operates in the U.S. and Japan. GSI, which is publicly traded, spent $350 million acquiring Rue La La and could expand quickly. A lot of capital is flowing into the sector. But unlike earlier waves of e-commerce, which required building and stocking warehouses to guarantee the availability of those vast virtual shelves of merchandise, the new e-commerce tends to move products quickly, making it an appealing investment to venture capitalists who might shy away from plowing their capital into inventory.

Instead, the money in this second wave of e-commerce is going into customer acquisition, technology, and some financial maneuvers — like Privalia’s rollup of Dress-for-Less.

Next Story: On the GreenBeat: PlugShare app finds car chargers, Suntech beats First Solar in panel production Previous Story: Global LED market surges, doubling last year

16 Comments

cheeser

March 6th, 2011 at 1:37 pm

hes aight,… nuthin new tho.. where are the unique new artists that arent following trends..

concept is cool and kinda new… but noone sings anymore

[Reply]

Tawny

March 6th, 2011 at 1:37 pm

He’s the future.

[Reply]

Tony

March 6th, 2011 at 1:37 pm

Best song on the album.

[Reply]

My2Cents

March 6th, 2011 at 4:50 pm

Novacane Is Also A GREAT Track.

Brilliant FRESH New Artist.

[Reply]

La'Wayne

March 6th, 2011 at 6:35 pm

aka Lonny Breaux…He’s off the fuckin chain

this aint his best tho

[Reply]

DEEPERthanRAP

March 6th, 2011 at 6:57 pm

R&B??? wtf?

[Reply]

Lil' Nello

March 6th, 2011 at 8:54 pm

Song is pretty good except for the couple parts where he sounds to much like Wiz!

[Reply]

The Beast

March 6th, 2011 at 9:00 pm

Yonkers was some scary sh*t. I like this though.

[Reply]

hey

March 6th, 2011 at 11:33 pm

Ciara tweeted about this guy! listen to novacane!

[Reply]

jaa

March 6th, 2011 at 11:39 pm

‘strawberry swing’ is a devastating song.

same goes for ‘there will be tear’

i like the off center subject matter.

[Reply]

Leon

March 7th, 2011 at 4:10 am

The world doesn’t need another Drake; the one we have is devoid of worth and significance.

[Reply]

Douchebag Dude

March 7th, 2011 at 4:16 am

Nobody sings anymore. Even “love songs” arent real love songs. I’d rather these idiots copy Stevie Wonder or other classic artists than the current bs out now.

[Reply]

AAA

March 7th, 2011 at 5:26 am

I love this song I heard it!!!!!!! So good

[Reply]

Yes SIR

March 7th, 2011 at 8:05 am

Novocane is a helluva SONG!.. Frank Ocean is my near favorite artist!

[Reply]

Bernie

March 7th, 2011 at 10:36 am

dam iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit !

[Reply]

HipHopDiva

March 7th, 2011 at 11:58 pm

his ablum is really good. don’t sleep. check out “we all try” its a beautiful song :) here’s the link youtube.com/watch?v=NtZh_zWEcpY

[Reply]

Name

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Pawlenty Announces His Money Team - FoxNews.com

Republican Tim Pawlenty's exploratory committee has announced the key players who will make up Pawlenty's national finance team. The announcement comes as Pawlenty's team gears up for a major-donor fundraising effort.

Small Business News: Creative Marketing Secrets

Marketing for your small business can be part art/part science. But however you would describe it, it is the key to both getting new customers and keeping the.

News FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and Funny Pictures

Fox News is hard right heroine. They love pushing stories, even with only an ounce of truth and a pound of spin, to their audience. However, it is basically the only opposition voice people on the far right have besides talk radio. ...

Monday, March 28, 2011

Search engine optimization Vancouver For A Better Marketing Solution

When you begin your personal website there are many ways you will have to market it and something of the best ways is to use Search engine optimization Vancouver if you be in that area. The SEO or search engine optimization services would be the top method of getting more visitors to your site and therefore making more sales.

Now, you should know that you will not use SEO service if you are not an online business - but then again, if you don't come with an online presence if you are an offline business, then you will not allow it to be very far.

It is a well known fact that if you are going to really make it in the offline world you need to have an online presence. This is something that all people are learning the hard way. Something that you ought to also know is that it is not as easy as just establishing the website and leaving it to do its things.

This can be done in all sorts of ways, but these companies usually take advantage of multiple methods to create the perfect marketing technique online. It is possible to hire them to write articles for you, post on forums and blogs, create meta data and meta descriptions, clean up the code, add alt tags to the images and much more.

It is crucial that you do this because otherwise the company you have worked so hard for could end up losing the money. If you have an internet site that you want to create, then you will also use the services of a search engine optimization company, which stands for seo company. What this company does is actually go ahead and take best areas of your site, look into the code, create keywords and write various articles and documents to ensure your website is placed close to the the surface of the list for that major search engines.

By doing this the SEO company can not only increase your traffic, but also ensure that your website is fully optimized for the search engine spiders that'll be introduced to it. These spiders are used to analyze your website and place it in certain positions determined on certain keywords.

If you wish to make use of the Search engine optimization Vancouver then all you've got to complete is discover the top companies. It is through these how the SEO gets done effectively and efficiently. With so many SEO companies to choose from you have to be certain the main one you're going for is reliable. You should be in a position to request a failure of what you need, and the company also needs to be able to tell you know long they have been operating for. This can limit their email list to reveal the very best ones.

SEO Services Provided by Different Vancouver Web Companies

The Vancouver SEO company services are extremely beneficial for business growth as they provide quality services. If you are planning to create a website for the internet business, then you have arrived at right article as I will be explaining below how Web optimization Vancouver company services can increase your website ranking making it popular.

Before that, you should know what Seo is. It's not that complicated and i am sure you're going to get a grasp of it after reading my article. The primary goal of SEO is to have increased traffic aimed at your website and target audience. It is a good decision to select a Vancouver SEO company that are experts in this sort of work, which means that your website can be indexed by search engines like google.

There is no reason for you using a website without any website ranking whatsoever as you won't get any business and profits to survive. It is a very tough atmosphere available because there are so many internet business people just like you, who desire their share of pie. You must be aware of the fact that nearly 85% of world-wide-web traffic can be got from websites.

When a user types inside a keyword or keywords for which he/she really wants to know in different sites, these use crawlers to get websites using the relevant content and index them based on algorithms. You don't have to worry about the algorithms which these sites use as that is not important.

To appear in the first page from the google listing, you will need to hire professionals and pros who can do the needful to maintain your website one of the good books during these websites. These professionals can optimize your website content to ensure your site gets increased traffic.

When the traffic gets high, it is a sign that you are obtaining a service that will enable you to get more revenues. SEO Vancouver company do the next to create your site appear within the first page of search engine results.

Use keywords which are popularly used on search engines on your website content.
Possess a website design for the website which is simple because top sites are allergic to flash and weird designs.
Submit your website to directories.
Submit your site to directory websites.
Postings on blogs and forums with back-links to your websites. This is regarded as a very effective way to get more traffic aimed at your website as many online users use blogs and forums.

SEO Vancouver company also perform site diagnostics that is a significant part in online optimization as research and analysis on finding keywords may be the way to begin a SEO campaign. So, be sure you choose the best SEO Vancouver company.

Are you looking for more info regarding SEO Vancouver? Visit http://www.seo4vancouver.com/seo-services.asp today!

What to anticipate When Getting a Roofers

When it comes time to correct or even substitute your homes roof, it's really a daunting task to locate someone who is qualified for the job. There are many roofers out there, however the ones who will do a congrats for any reasonable price aren't often easy to find. If you are in the market for the service provider, make use of the tips below for interviewing as well as hiring the correct one.

Job interview as well as Consultation

The majority of roofers provide totally free consultations. This is particularly important, since it gives them an opportunity to evaluate what your roof requirements, also it gives you a chance to assess all of them. As with all businesses, trust your intuition about the individuals you allow up on your roofing. No issue exactly how good the contractor's status or even recommendation, he ought to begin by presenting you with a business greeting card. If the service provider arrives looking as well as talking within an unprofessional manner, chances are that the task he's going to perform will also be unprofessional. This isn't to say that you ought to anticipate companies to arrive in suits. They will be climbing in your roof, therefore the majority of will be dressed up in denim jeans as well as function footwear or even sneakers. If the actual contractor seems to be interested in speaking on his mobile phone while on your roof compared to he's within analyzing your roof's needs, that may be another sign that he is not really the one for the job. For your lawful safety, be certain that the actual service provider offers sufficient legal responsibility insurance coverage.

Roofing Assessment

Expect the service provider is going to be going up on your roofing. Actually, any kind of contractor who does not need to increase on your roof to judge the problem should be instantly discounted. Those who're seriously interested in their own work may possibly make a drawing of your roof's surface and mark problem areas on it as they go through their assessment, or even they'll take pictures or video clip of the surface while they're up there. This is an extremely important action, since it allows you to see exactly what the troubles are as well as understand how they will be set.

Estimate

The next step would be the written estimation. The service provider will require out his calculator and come up with an itemized estimate. Some contractors will go to their own vehicle or van as well as write up the actual proposal, while others will crisis the actual numbers for the job prior to you. Once you are because of the proposal, make sure that you understand which products will be utilized, how long the job will take and when there are any additional or even hidden costs that may arise throughout the restore from the roof. The contractor will be able to answer many of these questions with ease and forewarn you of any additional expenses that could be sustained should the roof's ethics end up being broken inside.

After you have received a few written estimates from roofers, assess what every company or contractor would like to provide for the cost. Do not necessarily discount the highest bid, simply because sometimes the greatest bid will in reality be the service provider who the job correctly. Additionally, be wary of bids that are not nearly as expensive other people. They might be using inferior products or perhaps be untruthful about the chance of hidden costs. Most importantly, trust your intuition and go with the contractor who makes you feel quite comfy about giving more than your money.

Seven Uyghurs Sentenced to Death

2011-03-23

Critics of the sentences say China has politicized the robberies as acts of terrorism.

AFP

A Uyghur man walks past armed Chinese security forces in Urumqi, July 17, 2009.

Chinese authorities in the northwestern region of Xinjiang have ordered the executions of seven ethnic minority Uyghur men convicted of "violent" crimes, official media said on Wednesday.

The death sentences were handed down by the Supreme People's Court in recent days, according to state media in the regional capital, Urumqi.

The men were accused in connection with three separate attacks late last year in the Silk Road city of Kashgar, according to the news website Urumqi Online.

According to another website, the Xinjiang-based Tianshan news site, Aimaiti Tuheti, Yiming Dawuti, and unnamed "others" killed a security guard at a pedestrian mall as part of a failed Aug. 7 robbery attempt.

In a separate incident on Oct. 12, it said, Nuermaimaiti Aobulikasimu and 11 others broke into a house, bound and killed the couple living in it, and took their possessions.

It said the group also broke into the homes of two brothers, robbed them, and killed six people in a Nov. 11 attack in Kashgar.

The report gave no information about the victims or the schedule for the executions.

Three of the men were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, a sentence that is normally commuted to life imprisonment in China's judicial system.

They were convicted of deliberate homicide and armed robbery by the Kashgar Intermediate People's Court in the first instance.

'Strike hard' campaign

A Han Chinese resident of Urumqi surnamed Yang said a reference to "terrorism" in official news reports on the case showed that it was being politicized by the authorities, who have launched a series of "strike hard" campaigns in Xinjiang following deadly ethnic violence in July 2009.

"There is an implied political meaning; that they were somehow engaged in separatist activities or ethnic divisions," said Yang.

Exile Uyghur groups said the trials had been conducted behind closed doors, with scant opportunity for public scrutiny.

"The entire process against these men, from the trial through to the judgment, was opaque," said Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress.

"There was also very little reasonable evidence to convict them on a legal basis, because all the evidence came from one side of the case," he said.

"We strongly condemn the Chinese government for continuing to pursue their policies of ethnic division," said Raxit.

"We are also strongly opposed to the death penalty in this case."

Earlier cases

Last month, the Supreme Court sentenced four Uyghurs to death for alleged involvement in an Aug. 19 bomb attack in Xinjiang’s western Aksu city.

The World Uyghur Congress pointed to concerns over lack of transparency in those cases too.

The Aksu blast left eight people dead, including two of the bombers, and 15 wounded after a man riding a three-wheeled vehicle threw explosives at a group of uniformed patrolmen. Four Uyghurs were arrested shortly after the attack.

State media characterized the cases as acts of terrorism and unrelated to longstanding ethnic tensions between Uyghurs and Han Chinese in the region.

Exiled Uyghur dissident Rebiya Kadeer has warned that attacks like those in Aksu will continue to occur until Beijing addresses the underlying source of tension in the region.

Millions of Uyghurs—a distinct, Turkic minority who are predominantly Muslim—populate Central Asia and Xinjiang.

Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness despite China's ambitious plans to develop its vast northwestern frontier.

Those frustrations erupted in July 2009 in deadly riots that left nearly 200 people dead, by the Chinese government's tally.

At least 26 people, mostly Uyghurs, were sentenced to death in the aftermath of the riots, many of whom have been executed, according to state media.

China is believed to execute more people each year than the rest of the world’s countries combined, although the government does not publish official figures.

Rights groups say Beijing may execute as many as several thousand prisoners annually.

Chinese authorities blame Uyghur separatists for a series of deadly attacks in recent years and accuse one group in particular of maintaining ties to the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

New training scheme

China on Wednesday also announced a training scheme which places ethnic minority graduates from Xinjiang in work elsewhere in China.

Governments of the destination cities will spend 450 million yuan (U.S.$ 69 million) for the program, while Xinjiang will spend 400 million yuan (U.S.$ 61 million), the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The program targets some 60,000 jobless college graduates in Xinjiang, around 80 percent of whom are from ethnic minorities, and 60 percent of whom are women.

However, some commentators see the move as an attempt to assimilate non-Han Chinese into mainstream Chinese culture.

"From the point of view of ethnic minorities, the graduate work scheme is really taking the cream of youth from the minorities and using them to 'further cultural development,'" wrote one ethnic minority user on a popular microblogging service.

"In fact, the culture that is being advanced is Han culture, and this group of young people will have been totally brainwashed," the microblog update said.

An Urumqi resident surnamed Li agreed.

"They have run senior high school schemes like this before during the past few years," he said.

"Whether it's high-schoolers or graduate training programs, these are measures that are aimed at thought control and brainwashing, and the 'Partification' of their education," he said.

Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Wikileaks and the Uyghurs

through holly on Dec 20, This year
Henryk Szadziewski, Supervisor, Uyghur Human Rights Project

Whether it had been ever uncertain, info acquired through the whistleblower web site, Wikileaks, has confirmed Chinese language federal government fears over it's ongoing charge of the location it calls Xinjiang, which is also known as East Turkestan. The leaked cables from U.S. diplomats demonstrate the degree that Chinese language authorities attempt to persuade governments globally to adopt its position on issues impacting Uyghurs. The cables additionally show the United States' issues and views concerning the ongoing repressive measures in the area.

The majority of lighting of Chinese language federal government stress would be the wires pointing to Chinese frustration, or the specter associated with Chinese ire, within the release of Uyghur detainees in Guantánamo to 3rd nations. The Dec Twenty nine, 2008 cable relates how Chinese Helper International Minister Liu Jieyi met using the U.Utes. Ambassador in order to The far east to tone of voice Beijing's powerful opposition of launch to any country apart from China, which if the Ough.Utes. did certainly accede for this ask for it would "avoid injury to bilateral relationships and also to cooperation ‘in essential areas'". In addition, a Feb '09 cable describes the way the Chinese Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Zhang Yannian, regarded the actual possible discharge of Uyghur Guantánamo detainees as "an unfavorable behave toward us" and a "slap in the face". The U.Utes. government stood company within not really liberating the detainees in order to The far east illustrates the actual degree of the politicized character of the Chinese language judicial system. Genuine issues over terrorism tend to be easy to understand, however in the actual U.Utes. government's observe the detainees would most likely face torture as well as delivery when they returned to The far east

Chinese federal government stress regarding the actual Uyghur Guantánamo detainees was not only put on the U.S. government, but additionally to New Zealand along with a number of European government authorities that were thinking about resettlement. Albania, Indonesia and Finland, in addition to European Union member states just about all have the symptoms of borne the actual impact associated with Chinese government unhappiness. Regarding Indonesia, that was at first prepared to think about two Uyghurs on purely humanitarian reasons, Uyghur Guantánamo cases were less better than additional detainees because of the unwanted effects taking Uyghurs would have on relationships with The far east. A Might Eight, 2009 cable television relates how "German Ambassador Michael Schaefer documented that Germany had informed The far east from the U.S. request to simply accept some Uighur detainees kept from Guantánamo coupled with already been consequently warned by China associated with ‘a heavy burden on bilateral relations' if Indonesia were to accept any kind of detainees".

The diplomatic wires also talk about the actual unrest within Urumchi, the actual local capital, within July '09. A July Thirteen, 2009 cable television discussing bulk incidents within China states:

"Ethnic riots such as those who work in Xinjiang This summer 5-7 and in Tibet in 03 of 2008 differ substantially within source as well as nature from mass occurrences, XXXXXXXXXXXX stressed in order to PolOff [Political Officer] upon XXXXXXXXXXXX. Both existing severe problems for the Party, XXXXXXXXXXXX stated, however the Party leadership wouldn't wait to open fireplace on Uighurs or even Tibetans when they deemed this essential to recover purchase. Mass incidents present another kind of threat, he said, as the management is actually ‘afraid' to fire on Han rioters for anxiety about causing huge public outrage that will change against the Party."

This can be a chilling opinion, especially when one considers evidence offered in two reviews launched this year through the Uyghur Individual Privileges Project (UHRP) and Amnesty International which fine detail eyewitness accounts from the utilization of lethal live fire against Uyghur protestors within July '09. In addition, the observation that fire would not be used against Han Chinese language protestors offers resonances for that various strategy used by Chinese security causes in Urumchi in order to Han Chinese language protests in September 2009. Throughout individuals direct orders, after that Celebration Assistant, Wang Lequan, addressed protesters, that experienced required he let them know regarding federal government responses in order to protection issues. An identical request to satisfy using the Party Assistant through Uyghur demonstrators within July was not met.

The wider consequences of the unrest additionally noticed a short discussion on the effect it would possess on Iran-China relations, as well as on relationships with Sydney after World Uyghur Our elected representatives Leader, Microsoft. Rebiya Kadeer, talked at the National Push Membership in Canberra in July '09. Within the second option case, the Chinese government "privately warn[ed] a significant Australian financial institution which sponsors the National Press Club to use its influence to bar a Kadeer speech there".

The actual U . s . States' issues concerning the situation within the Uyghur area are available via in the cables. Inside a dialogue upon policy direction in Tibet, Ough.Utes. officials clarify that it'll end up being not possible for Chinese frontrunners to adopt a softer collection "if they look like doing so below worldwide pressure". The cable dated April 16, 08, one month following the outbreak of unrest within Tibetan areas, additionally relayed the declaration "that household stability remains the leadership's main concern above all else, which means there'll ‘almost surely' end up being no relaxation from the current hard line upon Tibet or perhaps in places such as Xinjiang." The info included in the cable television also sheds light on the extreme level of sensitivity that the Chinese government sights territorial integrity, and also the feasible spill over associated with unrest from Tibet.

The prospect associated with solutions to tensions in Tibet as well as Xinjiang as a result of civil culture are debated inside a February Twenty-four, 2008 cable television. Whilst suggesting that China's economic success will increase it's potential to deal with democratic change, the actual cable television also talks about exactly how Chinese frontrunners begin to see the usefulness of "a limited growth associated with civil society, including enhancements within the rule of law along with a more powerful role for approved religions, NGOs, charities along with other actors in areas that bring about sociable balance and do not problem Communist Celebration guideline." This can be a significant change in thinking, that has observed U.S. authorities market the notion that Chinese economic development, as well as economic relations along with The far east brings in regards to a progressively democratic society; however, more faith appears to be placed in a grassroots motion than one which starts from the best quantity of a Chinese federal government. Nevertheless, the actual cable television concludes that "[i]n areas such as Tibet as well as Xinjiang, driving a car associated with separatism leads to tight limitations about the growth of civil culture." This method can be regarded as counter-productive through the recognized, who suggests that the actual Ough.S. federal government "should continue to express...serious issues more than Beijing's human privileges record and attract China's growing awareness that higher respect for human rights, spiritual independence and also the guideline of regulation assists to promote the very improvement as well as sociable stability which China looks for in addition to to improve China's worldwide image." Such a technique would take substantial diplomatic abilities considering "China's paranoid concern the United States secretly encourages regime change and ‘separatists' within Taiwan, Tibet as well as Xinjiang".

The actual cables provide understanding of the actual daily business associated with diplomacy that's rarely afforded to the general public, and it is interesting to note the amount of work carried out nowadays upon Uyghur problems. The importance of the role of the United States as a keep track of associated with Uyghur human rights problems within personal conversations is created clear, and contrasts using its tactful public stance. Employees from the Uyghur Human Privileges Task is comfortable with the pressure china federal government exerts upon Uyghur activists; still, the facts of Chinese language federal government stress on its alternatives is actually illustrative from the diploma which Chinese authorities make an effort to control contradictory narratives. With more facts to come through Wikileaks, concerns more than Uyghurs may not grab the actual head lines, however the wires have get rid of brand new light on the documentation of individual privileges conditions in the Uyghur region.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Seo And Article Marketing Will Place You On Page One

Search engine optimization and article promotion are a couple of the strongest strategies that you can use to promote your site and get the revenue and success that you need for your internet business. Those two everything has been around to get a really very long time already however they still remain to be really effective. In reality, these have helped many people free themselves from your traditional means of money-generating options of society.

In the following paragraphs, I will be showing the ways how you are able to properly execute seo and article promotion for the betterment of your business website. Additionally, I will be also discussing the different points you need to consider if you are using these two internet marketing strategies to promote your website and get customers. Even though article marketing and Search engine optimisation have been in existence for a long time already, you have to know that the trends and choices as to how they are carried out are continually changing, which explains why you should stay up to date with these things through the help of Search engine optimisation forum sites to enable you to quickly adjust and learn to make your strategies more efficient.

In the past marketing with articles to various web-sites used to be so simple the effects that they produce for web-sites really was powerful. However, things have changed a lot today. Currently submitting exactly the same article to various websites is no longer a good suggestion because search engines have now changed to some huge extent in how they rank pages. They no longer rank contents which are identical like they used to in the past. This is one of the best samples of changes that happens to web marketing trends. This change has given birth to wide plethora of methods that online marketers are using today. The majority of web marketers now produce articles and submit them in really popular article directories and watch for targeted visitors arrive at their pages. Perhaps that most reliable Seo strategy that you can use. Aside from being effective, this delivers favorable outcomes on a regular basis. A small problem using this strategy is that the caliber of traffic that you'll get using this defintely won't be that good if you do not do proper keyword research beforehand and rehearse in-links. You first need for attending these two things before you decide to submit your posts so that you won't find yourself losing large amounts of targeted traffic. Which means that you must practice good levels of diligence if you want your advertising initiatives to work.

Aside from articles, you can also use writing a blog, which can be another really powerful form of online marketing strategy today because it's highly favored by the major search engines. Within this technique, you are able to choose to produce a single web log that specifically targets your selected market or you can give rise to other weblogs that are labeled as experts in your niche.

Learn effective Vancouver search engine marketing techniques in the Vancouver SEO website.

Roofing Companies Vancouver British Columbia

There are several things to consider when looking for the roofing contractor. Value, experience, along with referrals are a couple of the things you will probably be concerned about. Continue reading for even more ideas.

Finding a Roofers

Before buying roofing contractor, be sure to have a common idea of the work that you need to did. By no means is it necessary to be an expert. If you have the Roof Certification, read it carefully to find the information regarding your existing roof. Should you not have a Roofing Certificate, talk about documents authorized during final to locate your homes roof Inspection page. These documents should provide you with everything you need to know about your roof. Just before contacting the roofing contractor, you have to have a list of requirements and requirements to help you determine exactly who would work for your roofing project. Make sure you write down each potential covering contractor's answers and check all of them against one another. If you'll find any discrepancies, be sure to note this as well as take this into consideration when generating a final decision. There are no surefire ways to pick a roofing contractor, but when you take heed to the details provided, your chances of a successful roofing project are generally greatly improved.

One of the best ways of finding a roofing contractor is by recommendations. Try inquiring a friend or relative that has had covering work performed, and has been satisfied with the work. Get the name of the company and their own contact info. If you have no word of oral cavity referrals, attempt first hunting in the phone book and internet-based. A large ad or elegant website is just not necessarily a sign of the top quality of work, but sometimes be a very good tool with regard to measuring just how long and devotion they have placed in their individual profession. In addition, try finding current worksites and search at the roofing work that may be done maybe in the process of getting finished. If you're visually amazed, ask the home manager for your name from the roofing contractor along with their speak to information.

Research

When looking for a new roofing contractors, it really is imperative to first do your current background research. Purchasing in the phone directory or on the web is a suitable destination to find a builder, finding important information on these kind of businesses will probably be found in a number of other areas. Very first, check with areas like the Better Business Bureau, city, state, and state public records, and also local licensing agencies. Ask your roofer if they are a member of any roofing contractor associations. These kind of precautions can mitigate your risks. Also ask them what forms of roofing they specialize in. In addition ask your roofing contractor regarding any guarantees they offer on their own installed roofing. Find out what measures they decide to try avoid damage done to the rest of the home through workers. Items such as gutters, house siding, and chimneys are close in proximity and therefore susceptible to unintended damages.

Be sure all of this information is included in your published contract. Find out if you need a covering permit and/or permission from your home owners association beforehand. These agencies will let you know who is responsible for getting these allows and authorizations. If it is the duty of the roofing contractor, also have the idea included as part of your contract. If it is your duty, get stated permits and permissions collated using the estimated roofer project and also have it clearly posted or perhaps readily available.

Licensing and Referrals

Roofing Contractors are not forced to be qualified in all states. Contact local licensing organizations that oversee general development contractors for the list of requirements. Once you have received the requirements, create a list of comprehensive questions to ask your own potential roofer. This simple list should instantly help you to weed out the certified from the dodgy roofing building contractors. Qualified building contractors should be able to effortlessly answer questions or even tell you that they need to do further research prior to giving the definitive answer.

Even if any roofing contractor has all necessary licensing, you ought to ask to find out pictures associated with completed covering jobs and also speak to satisfied clients. Use a list of concerns handy must recent customers, such as the nature of the job, timeliness, and general satisfaction. Make certain these are latest clients and also cross reference if possible. When it comes to commercial roofing, make sure that the particular roofing contractor is actually bonded. Checking out these personal references is another added measure of protection to limit the list of potential roofing contractors.

Seo Through Content creation

Article marketing could be an extremely powerful type of Search engine optimization for your company websites. Quality written articles have the ability to enhance your websites SERP and add quality to your company website. Writing informative keyword rich articles is important in gaining new backlinks for a business website. Articles can and may be written on topics which can be unique for a business or industry. The articles can discuss a multitude of issues and ideas within your industry. Articles that offer your reader which has a resource will almost always be just about the most popular and many likely forms of articles that can bring about backlinks to your site.

Focus your posts in your potential readers or customers. Seo articles should address real questions which are asked by current or best buyers. Each article you are writing for you company includes detailed analysis and Seo keywords which will help associate your website while using content present in the site. Focus your articles on as much as 3 keywords , nor stray at their store. Consistency is vital when writing Seo articles. If you're currently talking about Vancouver Search engine optimization make sure your carry on and come up with information highly relevant to the keyword.

Give each one of your Seo Articles an engaging Title which will persuade folks you just read and bookmark your posts. Ideally, the articles you're writing will end up as links using their company websites that are much like yours. This alone might help improve the power of each one link and will assist your SERP. Be sure to end each article which has a keyword anchored link (see Easy Business Search engine optimization). This link will help to increase your rankings in the search engines and also other major search engines for your keyword coupled to the link. Submit the articles to your free article directory and Voila! In no time, your internet site could possibly be around the first page of Google.

Many thanks for reading. Can't wait to talk to your Seo articles!

Vancouver Seo Company Aims For Google Places With Complete Good results

When individuals type in research online term trying to find a business inside their local area, they will find that Google places and Google maps is showing listings of local businesses. It is rather eminent to enable them to be optimized and listed on this first page if they desire to generate business. Vancouver SEO companies should be educated of this type for their clients.

There will be a lots of new Vancouver SEO companies starting, simply because the requirement is there. Finding an SEO firm containing the client's best interest at heart could be tedious. The amount of keywords can they optimize for? Do you know the keywords along with the corresponding search volume? Do they discover how to optimize for Google places? And so forth. Search engine optimisation may be the business of landing at the top and Maxim Edge can get you there.

"My wife and i also started our Vancouver Search engine optimization company by accident. We now have learned from the school of hard knocks and learning from mistakes how to utilize the web to showcase any business. We began using the website, then a competition, after which of course building quality back-links to push a web site up in the rankings. It isn't pushing control button and watching what goes on type of business. It will take a lot of effort, lots of research and plenty of commitment. We give your very best for our clients and now we are very pleased with a high retention rate." Randy Neale says.

For additional info on Michael, a Vancouver Seo agency, please visit the website today at seo4vancouver.com

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Uyghur People from Eastern Turkistan

In the center of the desert landscapes of Taklamakan, in the north-western part of China, the province of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is a very least populated land while it covers near to a sixth from the nation's territory. Having resisted while in centuries the chinese domination, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, or Old Eastern Turkestan, fell under the Chinese Han domination in 1949. From then, its population is mainly Uyghur People and Turkic - speaking System.

Muslim mainly, the Uyghur people have a strong religious identity which usually, in specific, permitted them to preserve a strong big difference towards the Chinese invader. In fact, the Uyghur Empire of Mongolia knew a excellent civilization, until its absorption by the Mongolian Empire in the XIIIth century.

While in their background, the Uyghur People successively adopted Shamanism, Manicheism, Buddhism and the Nestorianism before lastly converting to Islam when the Arab conquerors beat the Chinese in year 751 BC., thus starting the way to the Islamization of the whole Central Asia.

Under the influence of the beliefs which they taken, the Uyghurs used successively, and sometimes in a competing way, a large number of written forms (turco-runic, brahmi, tokharien, soghdien) before developing their own graphic system.

The arrival of Islam was a great change because it was supported by the assimilation of the Uyghur land in the immense Turkic and Muslim Empire. Thus, the descendants of Genghis Khan progressively replaced their writing by a Arabo-Persan alphabet, still used presently.

If their own writing, their own language and their religion mark a real big difference with the tradition of Chinese Han, Uyghur People also are different from their aspect, so aspect of Central Asia's people. A shiny skin, eyes representing a whole pallet of colors, from black to deep blue, features directing out to the Mongolian, Turkish or Uzbek origins of these men and these women.

For a few years, China has integrated the proper identity of these remote people, although they represent only nine million people - a trifle for this particular great region. Thus, the Uyghurs are now part of the fifty six ethnic minority groups having been well known in an official way by the People's Republic of China.

This statute allows these people a few rights in a country exactly where their difference is very often repressed. Thus, Uyghur families escape the "single child policy" and their language is accepted as the second official language in Xinjiang.

The integration of the Uyghur people and their culture in the People's Republic of China, however, looks pretty illusory. The presence of all natural sources in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and its proximity with locations acknowledged as very sensitive, highly motivated the government to speed up the sinicization of this area. Million of Han thus came to settle in this new Chinese eldorado, monopolizing the more significant responsibility jobs.

In reaction to this true will to assimilate the Uyghurs into the Chinese culture, an independent party like East Turkistan Islamic Movement(ETIM) was born in the early 1990.

Saying more freedom, but specially the recognition of their true identity, this movement was seriously repressed by the power authorities in place Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The situations of September 11, 2001, were the perfect occasion for the Chinese government to justify true reprisals: they declared the "Uyghur freedom fighters" as dangerous terrorists linked to Al Quaida because of their Muslim origins and their proximity with Pakistan and Afghanistan... However, the terrible repression which followed did not calm down the anger. The Uyghur population continues today to proudly keep their identification and their culture , despite the fact that they become a minority on their own land.

For further information about Uyghur people, you can visit a Uyghur website called Uyghur News at http://www.uyghurnews.com

ation|Web optimization|Website seo|Seo optimization|Seo optimisation} Expert Advice - Getting Ahead Using SEO

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Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Make Making Money

Of all the interesting new tech that seems poised to garner a lot of buzz in 2011, near field communication (NFC), is probably the most exciting. If it takes off, it will transform the ways we communicate, share, and make payments with digital devices. This will likely take years to happen, but the groundwork is being laid right now. And RFinity is one of those companies at the forefront.

While Google and Apple are responsible for generating much of the buzz about NFC at the moment, the technology goes far beyond simply having the right type of chip in your mobile device. For example, how do you handle different types of data transfers being made from one device to another? And how to you ensure that they happen as quickly as possible? And most importantly, how do you ensure that they happen securely? Those are the things that RFinity is thinking about.

The company has just raised $4 million from Horizons Ventures in Hong Kong. And the space has gotten so red hot, in fact, that we hear they’re already out raising another round.

And it’s an easy bet for investors to make not only because of the space, but because of where the project originated: The U.S. Department of Energy. Specifically, RFinity was born when a bunch of infrastructure security experts working for the government were assigned to find all the vulnerabilities in cell phones. Through software they came up with, they were able to quite easily eavesdrop, manipulate SMS messages, and even compromise LAN security. Then they set out to figure out a way to stop people from doing those very things. That work led directly to RFinity.

Work originally began in the person-to-person and person-to-vendor sales space by way of mobile applications that route transactions through RFinity’s own secure servers. But now that NFC appears ready, RFinity is making sure they’re ready for it. The idea is that their technology could cut out the middle man here: themselves.

Obviously, the company isn’t going to share all the details on how they secure NFC transfers. But the basic overview is that they verify an incoming NFC signal and ask for a user’s permission before taking any action. Further, if the action is a transaction, it requires a PIN, just as you might do an ATM withdrawal. That’s all pretty standard. But the key is one-time-use transaction codes that RFinity creates on the fly along with complex cryptographic signatures. These ensure that an transaction is secure since it means that every transaction can only happen once. Even if those numbers were intercepted by a hacker, they would be useless beyond the one-time payment.

And even if your phone is lost or stolen, a thief couldn’t do anything without your PIN. And you can remotely shut down your NFC capabilities via RFinity. It’s enough to make me wish I could throw out all my credit cards right now. “Today’s identification and transaction systems are based on what? A magnetic strip on the back of a card, based on a 1950’s technology that relies on a base station to read the information embedded as a series of simple magnetic markers in plastic tape,” writes Josh Jones-Dilworth, who is working with the company to bring them to market.

Again, NFC as a technology is great and potentially game-changing. But the software is still needed to make it actually work. And some of the big guys began realizing that early on as companies like PayPal, Bank of America, and even Subway have been testing out different things with RFinity for some time. In fact, RFinity has actually been doing field tests of the software end of their technology since 2009 in places like Idaho, well before most people in the U.S. had ever thought about NFC.

But now people are starting to care. And soon, they could be caring a lot more. NFC is already built-in to Google’s new Nexus S device — and the company has put out a call for developers to start using the tech. Rumors have the next iteration of the iPhone gaining the technology as well. In other words, I suspect we may be seeing acquisition rumors starting to fly around RFinity in about six months or so. Provided their technology proves up to the NFC challenge, of course.

The biggest names in the tech industry seem to have collectively decided it's time to make the billions. Sure Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter have sold some ads and Foursquare brokered some promotional deals. But with the second wave of IPOs on the horizon and investors' eyeballs getting as round as the tech bubble, the time is nigh for tech demigods to show that they can make money off all those users they've spent years accumulating. And hopefully not alienate them in the process. Today, Mark Zuckerberg inched closer to that dream of a trillion dollars by offering streaming movies — and tanking Netflix's stock. Meanwhile, YouTube closed a deal on a production company presumably to make its very own content. Intel cast a wide net to examine tech companies' latest money-making ventures. Then we looked into our CrystalBall app to see what they might try next.

Facebook

Moneymaker: Warner Bros. just became the first Hollywood studio to stream movies directly on the social network. Facebook has been making a big move toward e-commerce lately, and the fact that you have to use Facebook Credits to buy movies and TV shows could be the tipping point to get users to hand their credit card info over to Mark Zuckerberg. Plus, studios looking for a way to stop Netflix's growth might not make Facebook suffer the same 28-day waiting period for new content.

Downside: At 30 credits (or $3) for a 48-hour rental for The Dark Knight, it will cost you. Plus, you have to "like" the movie or the director to get the privilege. Do you really want hundreds of your Facebook friends to see you "liked" and watched Valentine's Day on Valentine's Day?

What's next: Why should you use a credit card to buy Facebook Credits when you can use Zuckerbills (coming to a U.S. Treasury in 2020)?

Twitter

Moneymaker: In order to make money off its free iPhone app, this weekend Twitter introduced a number of new features, including Quickbar, a "forced trending topics bar" that includes promoted tweets — negating the idea of a service that quickly shows you what's actually trending.

Downside: Pundit John Gruber quickly dubbed the feature "Dickbar" after Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, but Gruber issued the unfortunate nickname on Twitter and it was widely retweeted. Advantage Costolo.

What's next: Can we pay someone to monitor our Twitter feed for us? It's getting overwhelming. Either that or design personalized lists of the best people to follow based on what's important to us, like updates on Libya and breaking bear-cub news.

Foursquare

Moneymaker: At SXSW this week, Foursquare is set to announce a partnership with American Express that will link users' credit cards with their Foursquare accounts. The incentive to consumers? Deals like "spend $5, save $5" at participating merchants. Although Foursquare said its motivation is to increase membership and loyalty and that it won't charge Amex for the privilege, it's hard to believe that will stay the case if it catches on.

Downside: We don't have an Amex card. And (confession) although we use the app for recommendations, we've never actually checked in anywhere. Sorry, Dennis and Naveen! But if they add other credit cards, we would.

What's next: How about a service that warns you beforehand if you're about to friend one of those compulsive people who check in with handfuls of people at name-dropping locales?

YouTube

Moneymaker: YouTube just closed a deal to buy Internet video company Next New Networks, the producers behind Auto-Tune the News, for less than $50 million. Although rumor had it that Google was trying to get into the video-production business, Business Insider reports that the move is actually designed to help existing YouTube partners make "more and better content." Which then leads to more users and, subsequently, more expensive ads.

Downside: Isn't YouTube's strength either grainy weird viral videos or pirated television, movie, and music content? The second could definitely use better quality, but does it even matter for the former?

What's next: How about veering into Hulu territory?

Skype

Moneymaker: Just regular old advertising on the Windows version of its paid video communications service.

Downside: Although Skype says it won't show ads during the video conferencing yet, this could devolve into a Minority Report-style advertising assault.

What's next: Would it be possible to embed microphone/receiver in our brain so we don't have to use the special headset? Just curious.

Update: TechCrunch makes an important clarification. Facebook hasn't announced its own streaming movie service. Rather the movie offering comes from Warner Brothers app that uses Facebook Credits' payment system. But if it proves successful and other studios follow suit, Zuckberg can still count on more personal credit card info coming his way. Someone better go tell Netflix's shareholders.

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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Dirty Percent

Tuesday, 1 March 2011

Apple Should Consider Business Models That Can’t Afford a 70/30 Revenue Split

Apple Should Not Require Price Matching

Apple Should Not Require Apps to Offer In-App Subscriptions

Apple Should Be Taking Less, Possibly Far Less, Than 30 Percent

Competition vs. Anti-Competition

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Monday, March 28, 2011

Job interview as well as Consultation

Roofing Assessment

Estimate

'Strike hard' campaign

Earlier cases

New training scheme

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Website seo is important today

Taking a search engine course

Seo training can be very helpful

Wednesday, March 16, 2011