Website marketing is becoming big business and those companies who market the best will definately have the edge over future online businesses.

Companies such as Yahoo are capitalizing on this ever growing necessity to market your website.

Yahoo offers many different advertising plans and with their recent purchase of Overture are now starting to brand it under their name. Through their portal users are bombarded with advertising. In speaking with users, they know that they are being targeted by Yahoo to buy items online, yet they seem to accept it. Yet with other methods of advertising, be it print or television, people are starting to respond negatively to this.

When trying to market your website, for fast results the best options are always to go with either Yahoo’s Sponsered Search or Google Adwords. These are proven winners. If you are just starting a website and want to save a little money by going with a 3rd tier Pay Per Click program, think twice. I have used most of these companies out there for many different online businesses. None of them produce as Yahoo and Google do.

Next, if you feel that you have a little bit more money to spend, try some banners on major portals. Try banners through Yahoo or sites such as CNN. These are proven winners, as long as they are placed properly. The banners need to be professional looking and on pages that are related to your business. Beware, banners can be expensive.

Yahoo also offers Search Submit Pro and Search Submit Express. I have tried both. Search Submit Pro must be making Yahoo a ton of money as it took me about 5 phone messages for them to return one of my calls. They are too busy to even pick up the phone.

This product is also costly. I pay over seven thousand dollars a month for Yahoo to crawl my website and for it to appear on the 2nd tier of their results. The top tier of their results are the Yahoo (Overture) ads. They say, Sponsored Search, next to them. Oftentimes users do not prefer to click on these Sponsored Search items due to a history of finding that they are a waste of time. Many times they do not fit exactly to what you searched on. Whereas the 2nd tier fits better. There are exact matches of what you are directly searching for in these results. Little do users know that these are also paid advertising. The cost for my product, Real Estate, costs and additional .30 per click at this point.

Many times the Sponsored Searches cost less, but Yahoo states that sixty percent of the users performing searches go directly to this tier.

Search Submit Express is the same as Search Submit Pro, but you can enter URL’s individually to be crawled. Beware that this is not only costly, but many URL’s get denied by Yahoo’s editorial department for one reason or another. They do not tell you why either. They just provide a link to you in an email which shows their rules on website content. Not helpful at all.

Bethany Christian Services, a ‘Christian’ adoption agency that receives money from Choose Life license plate fees said it does not place children with Roman Catholic couples because their religion conflicts with the agency’s “Statement of Faith.”

The agency stated the rule in a letter to a Mississippi couple this month, and another couple said they were turned away for the same reason last year.

“It has been our understanding that Catholicism does not agree with our Statement of Faith,” Bethany’s state director Karen Stewart wrote. “Our practice to not accept applications from Catholics was an effort to be good stewards of an adoptive applicant’s time, money and emotional energy.”

Sandy and Robert Steadman, who learned of Bethany’s decision in a July 8 letter, said their priest told them the faith statement was not at odds with Catholic teaching.

Loria Williams of nearby Ridgeland said she and her husband, Wes, had a similar ordeal when they started to pursue an adoption in September 2004.

“I can’t believe an agency that’s nationwide would act like this,” Loria Williams said. “There was an agency who was Christian-based but wasn’t willing to help people across the board.”

Bethany, headquartered in Grand Rapids, Mich., has 75 agencies in 30 states, including three in Mississippi. The offices are autonomously incorporated and are associated with various religions, spokesman John VanValkenburg said from the agency headquarters. He couldn’t say whether any were Catholic-affiliated. The Jackson office is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church of America, he said.

Glenn DeMots, president of Bethany, said on Friday that the policy is open to interpretation. He alleges the national office does not ban adoptions to Catholic families, but does permit each branch to discriminate against the placement of children based on the agency’s “Statement of Faith.”

There are currently one hundred thousand unwanted children waiting to be adopted in the United States alone. Roman Catholicism condemns abortion and advocates adoption as a viable option. It is not known what stance Bethany Christian Services has toward Muslim or Jewish families looking to adopt through them. It is also not clear how Bethany Christian Services determined that Catholic parents are not fit to raise children as Christian.

The Las Vegas Convention Center is a top option for corporate conventions.

With Las Vegas being one of the top spots in the world for travelers, people attending conventions at the convention center can feel like they are on vacation while attending conferences.

The convention center itself boasts 3.2 million square feet of space. This is one of the largest convention centers I have ever visited. The enormity is astounding.

There are two restaurants in the convention center along with a multitude of concessions available. It is a world upon itself.

Computer hookups are available for business people who have to keep in touch with the office throughout the day. I brought my laptop and was constantly in touch with people from my office. It felt like I was actually still in the office.

The best part was at 5 o’clock I could walk out the front door and visit all of the other attractions at the convention center.

If you are looking for lodging near the convention center, this is the website I used BookYourStay.com.

Air travelers going to Super Bowl XXXIX this year should be aware
that not all tour packages include a ticket to the Feb. 6 game in
Jacksonville, Florida.

U.S. Department of Transportation consumer protection rules require
any operator marketing a Super Bowl air package that is promoted as
including game tickets to have the tickets in hand or have a written
contract for the tickets before the operator does any advertising.

The Department cautions travelers that if a game ticket is not
specifically mentioned in newspaper advertisements or other
solicitation material or listed as a tour feature, the ticket is
probably not included.

Starting in December 1994, the rules covering Super Bowl tours were
extended to all air tours organized for the purpose of attending any
sporting, social, religious, educational, cultural, political or other
event of a special nature and limited duration, and for which admission
to the event is advertised as part of the tour.

The Department’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division has been
monitoring Super Bowl activities covered by these rules, as well as
issuing consumer advisories, for over a decade. There has been little
evidence of misrepresentation by Super Bowl air tour operators in
recent years concerning the availability and inclusion in the tour
package of game tickets or other features.

Nevertheless, before purchasing a Super Bowl package, consumers should:

• Read carefully the tour brochure and any other solicitation material;
• Consider paying by credit card, where possible, which provides some degree of protection under fair credit practice laws.

The Department’s “Truth in Ticketing” rules state that if a tour was
described as including a game ticket and you do not receive one, you
are entitled to a full refund of the entire package price upon your
return.

If the tour operator increases your price by more than 10 percent
beyond what you originally agreed to pay, you have the right to cancel
and receive a full refund. No price increases are permitted during the
last ten days before departure.<

They dove through motel trash bins, searching for shreds of receipts bearing motel guests’ credit card numbers.

Then they used that information to illegally buy and sell at
least 10 Super Bowl tickets in Pinellas County in the last week,
according to sheriff’s investigators. The scheme was one leg of an
elaborate set of scams investigators say was performed by a group of
out-of-state con artists.

Detectives on Wednesday arrested two of the group at a motel
in Indian Rocks Beach. A third person remained at large late Thursday.

Investigators said the group used the stolen credit card
numbers to buy at least 10 Super Bowl tickets at $1,700 a pop from
brokers. They sold six of the tickets this week for $1,000 each at
Gators Cafe and Saloon on Treasure Island, and probably have hawked
more, investigators said.

Detectives said they believe the group ran a similar scam in
Nashville around the time of an NFL playoff game there Jan. 7. The FBI
has expressed interest in the case, and investigators expect the NFL
will be calling soon, sheriff’s spokesman Greg Tita said.

Donald Stenger, 37, of Peoria, Ill., and his girlfriend,
Christina Atkinson, 23, a Canadian, were being held at the Pinellas
County jail Thursday evening. Stenger is charged with grand theft and
credit card fraud, while Atkinson is charged with being a principle to
those crimes.

Stenger’s brother, Michael Stenger, 50, bolted in a 1982 beige
Oldsmobile Toronado with a Nevada tag soon after his brother was
arrested. Detectives are seeking an arrest warrant and suspect he is
heading to Key West, Tita said.

Tita said the Super Bowl tickets are legitimate, but the
sheriff’s office is asking people who bought them from the Stenger
brothers to come forward.

The buyers “are not in any trouble,” Tita said.

The victims in this case are the brokers who are out $1,700 per
ticket. None of the ripped-off brokers had been identified as of late
Thursday, he said.

The probe into the tickets sprouted from another investigation into the group that involved motorized scooters.

After the trio came to Pinellas County about 10 days ago, they
stole the credit card numbers from the trash at area motels and used
them to order scooters over the phone from distributors across the
country, Tita said.

They had the scooters, valued at about $1,500 each, delivered
to local motels, then sold them at local motel parking lots and shops
for about $500 each, said investigators, who are asking anyone who
bought a scooter from the group to come forward.

“They had a pretty elaborate scheme,” Tita said.

The brothers sold at least 50 scooters before a distributor in
Tacoma, Wash., received an order from Pinellas County and noticed the
credit card number was unauthorized. The distributor called
authorities.

The order was to be delivered to Emerald Shores Inn, 1912 Gulf Blvd. in Indian Rocks Beach.

Detectives in Tacoma contacted investigators here. The
distributor in Tacoma agreed to ship empty boxes to the Indian Rocks
hotel, and detectives decided they would set up a sting, Tita said.

Meanwhile, Emerald Shores Inn owner Debbie Becker received a
phone call from a man who identified himself as Bobby Watson, an alias
Tita said the Stenger brothers used during their schemes.

The man told Becker that his boss had accidentally shipped
packages to her motel, and he wondered if she could sign for them.
Becker, thinking the man was legitimate, agreed.

“He said “Oh, gosh, I’m sorry, my boss got the wrong address,” Becker said Thursday. “He was real nice.”

An hour later, a detective came to her motel and told her about
the scam. Becker agreed to cooperate with investigators and sign for
the boxes the next day.

The empty boxes arrived at the motel about 9:45 a.m.
Wednesday. The Stenger brothers arrived about 12:30 p.m. and were
greeted by two detectives, Becker said.

“They tried to run, but the office is kind of small and they didn’t get too far,” Becker said.

Detectives searched Atkinson’s room at Skyline Motel and
Apartments in Madeira Beach, where they found stacks of credit card
information and reservation receipts, along with Super Bowl and
motorized scooter information from the Internet, Tita said.

That’s when they learned of the Super Bowl connection, he said.

Tita said detectives didn’t have enough evidence to arrest
Michael Stenger until they found the evidence in Atkinson’s motel room.
By that time he was gone.

The total number of victims is unknown. .

“I saw a stack of stuff in the room,” he said. “This could be big.”

Every day thousands of new domains are purchased. The ultimate goal of each one of these new websites, is to be on top of the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS).

With this rapid increase in websites and competition, Search Engine Optimizer’s (SEO’s) are beginning to find a steady source of income. A few years ago, SEO’s were considered charlatans. Companies now are considering them as valued employees. Good SEO’s can make or break an internet company.

There are scores of SEO companies on the internet. Most of them work for themselves as consultants. Highly paid consultants. But more companies than ever are starting to hire on qualified SEO’s as steady Monday through Friday employees.

Just search Monster.com for ‘Search Engine Optimization’ and you will find scores of available positions.

We interviewed Michael Manning a full time SEO from Foreclosure.com. When asked about why he would take a full time position with a company, when the internet offers such lucrative income potential for home based entrepeneurs. Manning advised that he does have his own business, but working at home does have it’s drawbacks. “I find that keeping up with the latest technology is easier when working with others in the tech industry. I also come up with numerous other ideas while working for foreclosure that I would not have found working out of a home office.”

Are we being manipulated by the Entertainment Industry? With all the recent hoopla with the Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston breakup. Is it a mere coincidence that Tom Cruise starts his pre-engagement with Katie Holmes? This just seems very coincidental that Cruise and company needed to build up their latest movies. They saw how the BradJolie controversy really build an incredible hype for Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

With millions on the line for Batman Returns and yet another remake of War of the Worlds. This seems like a perfect opportunity for the movie studios to “kill two birds with one stone”.

We can only guard against this by advising the public that be very aware when you read or get interested in these personal events of stars. There may be an ulterior motive. If you think that this is reaching on our part to mention this, just remember a few years ago when it was uncovered that movie studios were hyping their new movies with false reviews from non existent reviewers.

With a dot com bust in the distant past. It has recently been surveyed that dot com salaries are now on the increase once again.

In Boca Raton Florida, tech capital of South Florida, statistics are showing that salaries were in fact on the decrease or stable until this year. Through websites such as Careerbuilder.com, Monster.com, and Hotjobs.com, specific jobs for tech employees are on the rise.

Right now the hot programming language is Java. With salaries for mid level programmers in the eighty thousand dollar range. This has been unheard of since the crash of the dot coms over four years ago.

A dot com company owner in Boca Raton recently advised OpenPressRoom that he is starting to find more difficulty in hiring tech professionals due to the high salaries they are requesting. “They are arriving at interviews with specific salary ranges stated on the job advertisements, but upon offers of employ, are requesting salaries far and above what the job advertisement offerred!”

Five states have filed lawsuits again Penis Enlargement advertiser, Steve Warshak. Warshak owns five different companies which sell the product Enzyte. The states filing suit are: Texas, North Carolina, Oregon, Arkansas, Illinois.

Warshak has recently spent a lot of money on television advertisement for Enzyte. See the picture of “Bob” on the advertisments, next to this article.

Warshak hasn’t been able to be reached for comment.

With the recent increase of housing
prices, economists in the US are predicting we are near closing in on
an end. Property values in Dade County Florida, have soared to a
point where they have almost doubled in 1.5 years. This is
reminiscent of the San Francisco / San Jose era of dot com. It is now
to a point where the San Francisco Bay area is being reported as a
housing crash. This appears to be an overstatement, but is this what
the rest of the country should start looking forward to?

Reminiscent of the Stock Market Crash,
people are getting rich too quick. Money Magazine has dedicated their
past two issues on people who got rich quick by gambling on the real
estate market. These articles could actually be enticing people to
try to do this on their own instead of reading the cautionary note
that the articles advise.

Home investors in South Florida are
still buying up properties at values unheard of 7 years ago. Homes in
Fort Lauderdale that in 1998 were selling for one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars have now moved upwards in to the low four hundred’s.

Investors are kidding themselves if
they think this will continue. 60 minutes last weekend also had a
feature story about investors and how they are basically purchasing
properties in South Florida, particularly Naples Florida from simply
searching on Realtor.com. The purchaser in the story tried to
rationalize it by stating that he knows the Naples area due to coming
down on summers as a teenager. Doesn’t seem like any irrationality to
us.. does it?

If you are really in the need to
purchase some real estate as an investment, just make sure that you
do your homework (i.e. shop some foreclosure, pre-foreclosure
websites) and also check the property out yourselves. Also, be
prepared for a correction that will happen.