Get Professional With Your Digital Camera

Do better cameras really give you better pictures? So many people tend to believe that once you’ve got a great camera, all your worries about mediocre pictures are things of the past. And from that moment on, anything they shot would only have to be great.

While this is not strictly true, there is some truth […]

Oregon Scientific ATC-1000 Review

A low-price, handy headcam, but with very poor performance. I’d rather spend the money and get good quality, specially for those braggin’ shots I’m expecting to show off. With only 15 frames per second, the images are at best jerky, at worst unviewable, for instance as soon as there is any semi-fast […]

Personality Not Included Why Companies Lose Their Authenticity And How Great Brands Get it Back Foreword by Guy Kawasaki

The age of the faceless corporation is over. In the new business era of the twenty first century, great brands and products must evoke a dynamic personality in order to attract passionate customers. Although many organizations hide their personality behind layers of packaged messaging and advertising, social media guru and influencer Rohit Bhargava counters that philosophy and illustrates how successful businesses have redefined themselves in the new customer universe.

. .

Personality Not Included is a powerhouse resource packed with bold new insights that show you how to shed the lifeless armor of your business and rediscover the soul of your brand. Sharing stories from the ethos of the world’s weirdest city, to how Manga has taken the comic book industry by storm, to showcasing brands like Intel, Boeing, ING, and Dyson, Bhargava shows you why personality matters from the inside out.

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In Part One, you’ll be introduced to the key components to building a personality and learn how to:

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• Recognize the greatest myth that most marketers blindly follow, and how to get past it.
• Use the ?UAT Filter? to understand the personality of your organization and products in order to develop a communication strategy that drives your marketing.
• Create your company’s ?marketing backstory? using techniques pioneered by Hollywood screenwriters.
• Harness the influence of ?accidental spokespeople? and use it to your advantage.
• Navigate the roadblocks of using personality that come from bosses, peers, investors, and lawyers, without getting fired or flamed.
• Pinpoint and capitalize on the moments where personality can make a difference.

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Part Two is packed with guides, tools, and techniques to help you flawlessly implement your plan. It features practical, step-by-step lessons that help you effectively move from theory to action, and includes a valuable collection of guides, checklists, question forms, printable resources, and more.

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Don’t be another faceless company-learn the new rules for succeeding in the social media era with Personality Not Included.

. . . .

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Well written, great examples
This book provides usefull insight into how brands gain that little special edge that is so often elusive to the rational marketer. Its has more than its fair share of examples and analysis, so any reader can use the book to provoke thought and ideas for his or her respective brand.

5 Stars If you work in marketing communications or own a brad you should read what Rohit has to share
In my 13+ years of career as an advertising professional I’ve had the chance to read some of the greatest books in the field, from which I’ve learned important theories and concepts. Books written by famous thought leaders who are recognized world round, however because of that very reason, you cannot help to feel (if ever so slightly) that these concepts will remain a theory and will not completely be grounded in the real world.

That’s why a book like Personality not included becomes so relevant to professionals today. Not only does it covers very important concepts, thoughts and lessons; all illustrated with real life, up to date examples that help you think about your brand in a more real way, you get inspired by the fact that these ideas and thoughts come from a thought leader that also happens to be a professional like you, who even in some cases, manages the same brands and clients that you do. And this can make all the difference. It’s like having coffee with a colleague who can help you think about your company or brand in a new or different way.

5 Stars Great Cover…Great Book!
As a new business owner (Goosie Cards), I am always interested in other ways to market my business. The cover of PNI is refreshing…its how I feel about myself, my brand and my company. Having built my company on my personality, it was exciting to celebrate that with Rohit. Part One of the book is wonderful because Rohit gives you a lot of examples of what to do and what not to do based on real life scenarios. You can quickly understand how a company can benefit from being true to their brand’s personality. Part One gets you fired up and ready to take action in Part Two! In Part Two, Rohit shares his marketing techniques which helped me take my brand’s personality to the next level. These techniques helped guide my creativity in the right direction for my brand’s personality. I also gained insight to the power of social media which made the process easy to understand and apply to my business. I loved PNI…it’s straight forward and a great tool for entrepreneurs!

5 Stars A Good Read and a Great Resource
I’ve known Rohit Bhargava to be a thoughtful speaker and blogger, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into being a great author. In this case, he pulls the hat-trick.

Personality Not Included is first and foremost a strong primer and even a plea for why marketers need to develop brands’ personalities in different ways, with a constant outpouring of examples to back up his case.

Then there are all the reference materials, which will make you want to keep the book on your desk to thumb through when you happen to be launching or invigorating a company or campaign. It’s well organized, and it requires multiple reads to absorb.

4 Stars The Chicken Tells All
Rohit’s book is a must read for businesses seeking to understand the new landscape of branding. It’s equally good at explaining how an individual can benefit from standing out in a crowd, but as the primary reader of this book will be a business, let’s stick to that. Simply put, the book delivers.

What Rohit Bhargava shares with us is that companies who dare to expose their human side are the ones who will keep our business. As I write this, the economic downturn is throwing financial ripples in all directions. Good service is one thing, but a human-feeling relationship with your customers is most certainly equally important.

Filled with examples and suggestions on how you can implement similar efforts, the book delivers lots of actionable value. There are worksheets, web-based extras, and lots of easter eggs included in PNI.

I’m a big fan, and recommend this highly to companies looking for advice from an industry leader.

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The Basics Of Digital SLR Photography

It’s the age of the eyes - what with so much of visual entertainment that we have on call today. That’s probably why we have become more discerning when it comes to things we see as well. That’s probably why digital cameras are such a big hit today, considering how much visual enjoyment they provide […]

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Digital Photography: Art or Science?

Can you really classify digital photography? Is it a science or an art? Or is it a perfect blend? Let’s take a look at both sides so you can decide for yourself whether you can classify it as one or the other.

Well, looking at it from the ‘Art’ point of view, digital photography does give […]

Mastering Search Advertising How the Top 3 of Search Advertisers Dominate Google AdWords

Mastering Search Advertising shares insight and professional guidance from an expert Internet marketer on how to launch, manage and improve already-existing pay-per-click campaigns, providing an inside look into a largely undiscovered and exciting industry.

Richard Stokes, founder of AdGooroo, a leading search engine intelligence company, has over 15 years of experience in advertising and technology management and includes real-life examples, case studies and charts that reveal not only the basics of creating a pay-per-click campaign, but also break down the intricacies of the process into simple, easy-to-understand steps that will help any business leader focused on achieving a world-class marketing strategy. Successful tactics known only to a handful of elite search marketers are discussed in detail and include specific techniques on how to:

• Increase search traffic while simultaneously lowering costs
• Conduct keyword research
• Determine the best starting bid prices for new keywords
• Manage bids without expensive bid management software
• Launch a new campaign
• Understand the Google quality score algorithm

Stop throwing your marketing dollars away and learn how to dominate Google AdWords today!

“A well researched, truthful, and up-to-date guide for pay-per-click marketers.”
Mike Mindel, CTO, Wordtracker.com

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Outstanding Work!
While some might complain that this book is a marketing piece for their website/service, it really has some unique insights based on real experience. How well you AdWords campaign is running can make or break your business. Spend the extra effort to get it right.

5 Stars Mastering Search Advertising is a Concise, Transparent and Important Book
Mastering Search Advertising is a highly concise, unique and useful book covering search engine marketing / Google Adwords. Many a book on this topic has said much more, but explained much less.

I draw this conclusion based on the following:

- The Foreword of the book gives a brief synopsis of Richard’s journey of curiosity and passion for understanding and refining process, not an endless list of thank you’s. You immediately feel a purpose, direction and his passion for the subject.

- Richard is clearly self-taught and has deviated from the beaten path and anyone reading this book would benefit from his years of effort. It reminds me of how Tommy Emmanuel learned how to play acoustic guitar without ever reading sheet music!

- The book explains clearly and transparently some of the basic rules of search engine marketing in a way that is rarely seen publicly.

- Richard does all of this with simple and concise explanations that are written in actual business language. It sets a foundation for the eventual moving of this space from mystery to science.

- The first four words of chapter 10 explain search perfectly: “Search engines prize relevancy.”

- Some people might mildly object to his usage of his company Adgooroo as an example throughout the book. What those people don’t understand is that: A) it would have been almost impossible to achieve the conclusions that are the foundations of this book without the Adgooroo solution having been developed, B) he explains the steps you’d need to do to achieve the results without Adgooroo (but it would likely be too time consuming) and C) he openly talks about alternative vendor solutions in a mutually respectful way lessens the sales element.

Enjoy your future reading. Your visit to Facebook, Twitter and/or my blog to continue this dialogue if you so desire is welcomed.

5 Stars A must have handbook for anyone who spends money on the engines!
I stumbled upon this “find” by accident. A collegue reccomended it and let me tell you that after reading it I can say this book is a “must have” for any person who buys/manages keywords online. The author, Richard, provides great tips and techniques to improve your paid search campaigns.

A useful handbook for all people within the search industry from novice to advanced. I know I will keep this book as a reference guide for future search campaigns that I manage.

5 Stars Easy to read with great online advertising insight
I’ve been working professionally with pay-per-click advertising for several years and I’m in as good of a position as any to review books on this subject.

This book is a little different than the 300 page tomes one usually finds written about AdWords. At just over 100 pages, this is a quick and easy read. It’s evident that the author is an expert and is speaking from experience. It dives quickly into intermediate and expert-level optimizations that can have a huge impact on paid campaign results.

In fact, this is what I liked most about the book - it doesn’t waste time repeating the same kinds of things you can find in other AdWords books. For instance, there’s a great chapter which explains why high bids don’t necessarily translate to high traffic and how you can use this relationship to drive more first-page traffic while lowering your average bid prices. It seems like nearly every chapter presented some new insight, some of which go right in the face of common AdWords thinking

The main shortcoming of the book is that it’s not suitable to first time PPC marketers. If you haven’t run a campaign before, you’ll need some other resources in addition to this book.

In short, this book belongs on every professional search marketers shelf. 5 stars.

5 Stars The top 3% really do dominate Google AdWords…
…and only the owner of a company like AdGooRoo could write this, explaining why and how. It’s one thing to look at search results and study your Google account; it’s another to gather data from thousands of companies and show exactly what works and does not. That’s what Richard has done with this book.

As author of The Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords & having taught hundreds of thousands of people how to advertise on Google, I was elated to see Richard put hard numbers on many things I’ve believed but was unable to prove.

Richard shows:

–Specific types of keywords and searches and how they relate to buying behavior

–Hard factors that influence Quality Score and Click Thru Rate

–Information that is very hard to get from Google, like % ad exposure and relationships between bid price, ad position, Click Thru Rate and Conversion Rate

Richard explains the inner workings of Google’s formula, revealing why ultra-relevant advertisers get a wonderful advantage of being served *all* the available clicks and not just a portion. If you’re up against competition who is in that enviable position, you need all the intel you can get.

This book is not for beginners. I really don’t see that as a problem, though, there are plenty of books that do that (such as my own). There’s a whole class of Google advertisers who know all the basic stuff but are still perplexed by Adwords. They’re in hyper-competitive markets duking it out with hundreds of bidders and they need advanced info. This book is perfect for them.

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Canon PowerShot SD1000 Review

I have owned several Canon A series, Canon SD series, the Canon S series and also the S2/S3 IS. So here’s the skinny as an amateur user. If you don’t want to read the long review, here’s the summary. Buy the SD1000 if you are looking for the tiniest camera that you can take […]

AT&T Tilt Smartphone Review

well, I bought this phone on april 24th when it was offered for free after rebate, so in that regard I can not complain.
as for the phone its self, I also can not complain. when I recieved the phone it was very fast in response, and nothing to complain about what so ever. It […]

Nikon D200 Review

I posted one review regarding this camera in which I gave the camera two stars because of its tendency to consistently underexpose full green auto mode flash photos. However, after 3 emails to Nikon’s tech support, I’ve changed my mind. First of all, please allow me to say that Nikon’s tech support is top notch. […]

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Oregon Scientific ATC-1000 Review

A low-price, handy headcam, but with very poor performance. I’d rather spend the money and get good quality, specially for those braggin’ shots I’m expecting to show off. With only 15 frames per second, the images are at best jerky, at worst unviewable, for instance as soon as there is any semi-fast […]

Search Engine Optimization An Hour a Day

Search Engine Optimization An Hour a Day

Back and bracing as ever, Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day, Second Edition offers brisk advice, bite-sized tasks, and smart tools to help you increase visibility for your website on the major search engines. In this new edition of their bestselling how-to guide, SEO consultants Jennifer Grappone and Gradiva Couzin offer surprisingly easy do-it-yourself techniques as well as the very latest SEO strategies for small, very small, and large businesses, as well as for bloggers and web designers.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars For me those tips worked well
There is a lot of proud guys entered the 1 star to this book - DO NOT be mis leaded please, when you are choosing a SEO book. Right on, there is probably a lot of water inside, and I also do not like the spreadsheets what authors are suggesting to download and fill all the way - but hey - the information what they suggest enter on them - are useful, and worked for me. I started use the tips they suggest in July 2007, and back then according Google analytics the % of organic google search was 0.5 %. Now, it came up to 18 % (most are PPC still), and guess what - I never used another book for this, and all other books I read till now, or numerous suggestions in blogs and forums, well they actually are same, maybe small details missed.

I highly recommend this book. My personal example shows - generally the methonds they offer works.

3 Stars Paced learning program has benefits and issues
The book is well written and easy to read but having said that I find that the downloadable workbooks (of which there are a number) are of little value and far too basic.

I also would have liked the book written in 2 sections - Got on with it and Go through the Lessons whereas the book is simply ‘Go through the Lessons’ without a sensible way to read through and garner useful info.

The paced structure is, I find, limiting rather than enlightening.

Mind you for people who learn differently to me this book could be a veritable goldmine of information and could lead then toweards being very competent SEOers.

4 Stars A Bite Sized Guide To SEO
I’ve recently launched a B2C website and I know enough to know that it’s no longer the case that you “build it and they will come”. But I didn’t realise getting my website to be seen by enough people to make it financially viable would be quite this difficult!

Like many new businesses I have a limited budget so I wanted to see if I could tackle some of the SEO work myself or if I had to pay for someone to do it for me, I wanted to have some knowledge before I hired someone.

This book breaks up the multiple and often lengthy tasks required to tackle SEO. It makes technical terms easy to understand which helps if you’re not a technical person like me. And it allows you to do a bit of SEO work at a time meaning if you are even a little bit disciplined, you can fit some SEO work into your busy day.

Other SEO books I’ve read can make the task sound so daunting you don’t know where to start so you don’t. By breaking up tasks into bite sized chunks, this book motivated me to start my SEO work. Bring on the results!

5 Stars A truly great book!
Search Engine Optimization is a complicated process made so by the fact that Google, the number one search engine, has successfully kept its algorithms a deep, dark secret and continues to do so.

The book is divided into three parts: 1) Foundation, 2) Strategy and 3) Your SEO Plan. Foundation stresses the need to thoroughly understand what you want your website to do for you. Some people want to promote their businesses; but a surprising number just want to provide reliable information or publicize a provocative blog. Once you know what you want, you can start thinking about how to tailor your approach to SEO to meet those goals. Several downloadable worksheets are referred to, and the explanations on how to use them and how they are interrelated are clear and logical.

Many who read this book will be optimizing their own websites; but for those who are fortunate enough to have colleagues on whom they can draw, a number of suggestions for how to obtain their willing assistance are offered. There also is a 50-page chapter devoted to a four week plan on how to get ready to implement your SEO Plan.

The Plan itself covers three months and includes a systematic method for accomplishing the most important optimization tasks in the first instance, and then establishing the habit of checking them regularly thereafter.

At the rate of one hour per day, the average reader should be able to implement the entire program in four months, which is the intent of the book. Those who are more experienced at SEO may be able to complete the program in less time. Four months may seem like a long time, but as I said at the beginning, it is complicated. There is much to remember; and because the Internet doesn’t stand still, neither can the SEO process. Although there were a couple of URLs that no longer worked, the authors responded promptly to my e-mail asking for their assistance after I pointed this out to them.

On a final note, I need to say that I couldn’t disagree more with the reviewer who thought the book was “poorly organized.” Quite to the contrary, it is well organized and well-thought out. I warmly commend it to all who want to increase their Web presence.

Bruce Hoag, PhD

Co-author Managing Value-based Organizations: It’s Not What You Think (New Horizons in Management Series)

http://www.p-advantage.com

5 Stars A Solid Foundation for Long Term Success
This book is by far one of the better SEO books I’ve read and it has taken a prominent position on my shelf of website resources. Running SEO for a B2B company (and a couple of consumer oriented websites in my personal time) I utilize this book frequently. It is a good read to get a basic understanding of search optimizing fundamentals as well as a reference tool I routinely come back to. The search game is constantly changing and new books come out all the time with the latest tricks, but this one gives you a solid understanding of the fundamentals that have proven to be consistent over time. It helps you get beyond the trick of the month and sets a solid foundation for long term success.

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The eBay Sellers Tax and Legal Answer Book Everything You Need to Know to Keep the Government Off Your Back and Out of Your Wallet

Anyone running a wholesale or retail business must deal with legal and tax issues, and those who sell on eBay are no exception. Yet many eBay sellers remain ignorant of the consequences they may face if they disregard certain basic rules. Packed with stories of actual eBay sellers, this helpful guide takes readers through the most common eBay transactions, pointing out all the legal and tax issues they may encounter along the way.Readers will get practical advice on: whether their eBay selling qualifies as a “business”; illegal practices to avoid; what taxes must be paid and what they can and can’t deduct; spelling out a refund and return policy; knowing when a bid becomes legally binding; resolving seller-buyer disputes; protecting themselves when buying inventory and hiring employees; trademarking a business name and web address; customs, duties, and other considerations when selling internationally. Complete with sample contracts, forms, checklists, and disclaimers, this is a book no eBay seller should be without.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars A ‘must’ for eBay sellers
If eBay is your major sales outlet and you have little business experience beyond it, you need The eBay Seller’s Tax and Legal Answer Book, which packs in everything from what taxes need to be paid and what to deduct to protecting yourself when buying inventory and resolving seller-buyer disputes. Chapters address common problems with an eye to their legal and tax ramifications, come with sample forms, checklists and contracts, and provide clear instructions on communication processes with all entities, making this a ‘must’ for eBay sellers and for any general-interest public library catering to eBay sellers.

5 Stars Excellent Guide for all Ebay-ers
This book is a wealth of information for ebayers of all levels. Loaded with excellent legal and accounting advise.

5 Stars Full of Valuable Information
Cliff Ennico has written this book to be not only packed full of great legal information and tips, but his humor throughout the book made it fun to read. I am so glad I bought this book before I got too far into ebay (or any other online selling) because it answered so many of my questions regarding tax issues. Buy it, use it, and keep it handy! Definitely worth every penny paid!

5 Stars New Store? How to stay out of trouble.
My husband and I are thinking of starting an eBay store. We have been buying and occasionally selling since 1998. When you set up a store, you are creating a BUSINESS. There are rules that must be followed to stay out of trouble. This book says it all. A must for the serious seller.

5 Stars Great book for EBay sellers and also small businesses
The eBay Seller’s Tax and Legal Answer Book: Everything You Need to Know to Keep the Government Off Your Back and Out of Your Wallet

This is a great book written by an attorney who has a sense of humor who can have you laughing while you are realizing that the tax collector has his hands in your pocket.

The writing is crisp and to the point. It is well organized and indexed so you can find something you need to know when you need it.

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This is less a “pros and cons” review than a hopefully useful commentary about the Kindle compared with other eReaders and what it means for the eBook industry. (I believe that everything has changed with the Kindle’s creation.)
For many years I have been an avid reader of eBooks using almost every eReading device on […]

Magellan Maestro 3100 Review

I’m a long time TomTom user, and I bought this GPS for my wife because it is small, simple, and inexpensive. We’ve been very pleased! The SIRF star III GPS chipset is incredible! It was able to lock onto 8 satellites from INDOORS! My TomTom GPS receiver is lucky to find 4 signals in the […]

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— Digital Cameras And Lighting

A great digital camera could mean a super picture if you use it to its full potential. This means you have to have the right camera, the right color and the right lighting. So to get the best out of your camera, you need to know how to take advantage of these factors. The latest […]

]]> http://www.amysmuse.com/?feed=rss2&p=221 http://www.amysmuse.com/?p=220 http://www.amysmuse.com/?p=220#comments Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:17:05 +0000 admin http://www.amysmuse.com/lcd-hdtv-a-look-at-the-samsung-ln40a550 Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics

Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics

Are you getting the most out of your website? Google insider and web metrics expert Brian Clifton reveals the information you need to get a true picture of your site’s impact and stay competitive using Google Analytics (GA) and the latest web metrics methodologies. Which marketing campaigns work best? How do you quantify their success? What indicators should you track? Packed with techniques and insider secrets not documented elsewhere, this book has the expert guidance you need to enhance your brand and increase your site’s ROI.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Good overview
This book is intended to read cover-to-cover, not really a browse to the topic you’re looking for type of book. Still really good read, and after you have a great understanding on GA overall.

5 Stars THE BOOK for Google Analytics
This book is a MUST for anyone who is trying to use Google Analytics.

You will probably have to read through it more than once (at least I did) but that is because it was packed with information on how to best implement tracking, comprehend data and use it to improve your site with Google Analytics.

4 Stars How to find the needle in the haystack
This is the long overdue “how to” guide for Google Analytics. You can get started tracking your web traffic without this book, to be sure. But, this book goes beyond the help section provided on the Google Analytics site. If you’re trying to understand the web traffic on your site, try using Google Analytics. It’s easy and free. This book will help you along. While the title describes the book as Advanced, it’s not really that technical. Even the most technical sections are pretty easy to get through.

5 Stars THE Google Analytics guide
One of the few guides that covers the newer Google analytics ga.js code. I found chapter 11 an immeasurable help for guidance in monetizing a non-ecommerce website. Well laid out with useful screenshots and comprehensive scope, this is the one guide you will turn to everyday. I am always getting more ideas and finding different ways to get the most out of Google Analytics with the insights provided in this book.

5 Stars Great book, great writer, expert knowledge
Like some of the other reviews I considered myself to be quite familiar with Google Analytics, and I was very impressed with Brian’s book. I learned A LOT that will be very valuable to our company, many items I’ve already put into action. (ere’s a list of what I learned http://blog.dogster.com/2008/09/25/get-more-out-of-google-analytics)

Brian also does a really good job of building up the what the tools are, why you want to use them and then how. It’s a very modular book that doesn’t force you to constantly refer to other sections. It builds well and give good examples w/o digressing into obscurities.

If you are using Google Analytics at all for your business, you’ll want this book.

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ZAG

This is the eBook version of the printed book. “When everybody zigs, zag,” says author Marty Neumeier in this fresh view of brand strategy. ZAG follows the ultra-clear “whiteboard overview” style of Neumeier’s first book, The Brand Gap, but drills deeper into the question of how brands can harness the power of differentiation. The author argues that in an extremely cluttered marketplace, traditional differentiation is no longer enough — today companies need “radical differentiation” to create lasting value for their shareholders and customers. In an entertaining 3-hour read you’ll learn:

why me-too brands are doomed to fail
how to “read” customer feedback on new products and messages
the 17 steps for designing “difference” into your brand
how to turn your brand’s “onliness” into a “trueline” to drive synergy
the secrets of naming products, services, and companies
the four deadly dangers faced by brand portfolios
how to “stretch” your brand without breaking it
how to succeed at all three stages of the competition cycle.

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Titanium eBay A Tactical Guide to Becoming a Millionaire PowerSeller

Take it to the next level.

People who earn a living selling their wares through eBay are identified on the site as “PowerSellers” and awarded formal designations based on their monthly gross merchandise sales. There’s Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum—and at the very top of the food chain is the Titanium level, for those who generate gross monthly sales of $150,000 or more.

Titanium eBay: A Tactical Guide to Becoming a Millionaire PowerSeller is for everyone who aspires to reach the highest level of success within eBay, whether they’ve been selling through eBay for years at the Platinum level and want to learn how to grow their business, or they’re just starting out with ambitious plans. With over 60 chapters, coverage includes:
• Organization
• Product selection and pricing
• Advanced listing and selling strategies
• Auction management
• Brand building

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Not a bad general eBay book
Not impressed on the whole.

I’m a gold powerSeller with 10,000+ feedback and looking to take things to the next level. This is full of general information. How to get consignments. How you can sell obscure items. Or get in there quick on new items.

I already hire a packer and warehouse furniture and have it delivered.

The bottleneck in my business is getting stuff listed. Listing tools. Management tools. Perhaps these are not out there but when see PowerSellers doing 10,000 items a month I wonder how they get the listings up. How they manage inventory so that they don’t double sell stuff. The tools provided by eBay are limited.

Bottom line is I have never had more than 50% of my inventory listed at anyone time because I can’t find the listing tools. Turbo lister is looks like a student project.

This is what I was looking for when I bought this book. But doesn’t help.

Another point is he says that flash is not suitable for digital Photography. Thats a load rubbish. Checkout strobist.blog and see what people are doing with flash and digital cameras. The flickr group has 33,000+ plus members who also believe that flash works with digital cameras. http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist

The paper on the cover is of very poor quality. The book curls over so badly that it can’t be led down. The book is permanently open like an old paperback. You must place another book on top of it or keep it on the book shelf.

To say something positive, it is an OK general eBay book. If it was named “Making a living from eBay” or “Become a full time eBay seller” that would be more appropriate. Its not an expensive book. Its written in a friendly way.

It doesn’t live up to words like “Titanium” & “Millionaire” though as the title suggests.

3 Stars Not a bad general eBay book
Not impressed on the whole.

I’m a gold powerSeller with 10,000+ feedback and looking to take things to the next level. This is full of general information. How to get consignments. How you can sell obscure items. Or get in there quick on new items.

I already hire a packer and warehouse furniture and have it delivered.

The bottleneck in my business is getting stuff listed. Listing tools. Management tools. Perhaps these are not out there but when see PowerSellers doing 10,000 items a month I wonder how they get the listings up. How they manage inventory so that they don’t double sell stuff. The tools provided by eBay are limited.

Bottom line is I have never had more than 50% of my inventory listed at anyone time because I can’t find the listing tools. Turbo lister is looks like a student project.

This is what I was looking for when I bought this book. But doesn’t help.

Another point is he says that flash is not suitable for digital Photography. Thats a load rubbish. Checkout strobist.blog and see what people are doing with flash and digital cameras. The flickr group has 33,000+ plus members who also believe that flash works with digital cameras. http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist

The paper on the cover is of very poor quality. The book curls over so badly that it can’t be led down. The book is permanently open like an old paperback. You must place another book on top of it or keep it on the book shelf.

To say something positive, it is an OK general eBay book. If it was named “Making a living from eBay” or “Become a full time eBay seller” that would be more appropriate. Its not an expensive book. Its written in a friendly way.

It doesn’t live up to words like “Titanium” & “Millionaire” though as the title suggests.

5 Stars The Best eBay Book
I purchased a half a dozen books on creating a eBay business and I found this book to be the most complete and informative. Most of the others were junk. If you are starting an eBay business you must buy this book.

5 Stars A complete and deep book…
I loved this book…

It has a very broad look into opening a Ebay business. It starts with the general how to establish a Ebay business. Then it onfolds into the details of everything you need to know about making money on Ebay. There are a few chapters where I would haved liked them to be longer, like the dropshipping chapter. But on general you have everything there. This book is a must.

This book is like a textbook of your favorite class from college… its very detailed and details are what matters on business.

4 Stars Good information about selling on eBay
Skip is a very likeable writer who has obviously done well on eBay. I found this book to be well thought out easy to read. I met Skip at eBay Live last year and he was very helpful, which I appreciated. Unfortunately I also bought a book by Adam Ginsberg, only to find out through some news sites that he has been banned from eBay for shill bidding and failing to send multiple orders worth hundreds of thousands of dollars!

The only other comment I have about Skip’s book is that I would have liked to have seen a few more real world examples of how his techniques can be applied. It’s a small point though in a generally excellent book.

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Starting an Online Business All in One Desk Reference For Dummies For Dummies Computer Tech

• Eleven minibooks comprising nearly 800 pages offer would-be online entrepreneurs all the information they need to launch an e-business and succeed in today’s marketplace
• Unlike competing guides, this book explains how to redesign a site, retool marketing strategies, and run a nonprofit site as well as offering in-depth coverage of how to secure a site and move from retail to e-tail
• Minibooks cover online business basics, legal and accounting matters, Web site design, operational issues once a business is up and running, Internet security, how to boost sales, taking a brick-and-mortar business online, storefront selling at eBay and elsewhere, fundraising at a nonprofit site, running a niche e-business, and advanced e-commerce techniques and strategies

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars A Great Reference!
A wonderful reference to have at your desk. It truly is like having lots of books in 1 - 800+ pages!

1 Star Don’t be a dummie
This is useful in that it explains alot of online jargon, but as a required reading assignment, it didn’t peak my interest.

5 Stars Even experienced sellers will learn something
I have bought and sold stuff online for years and this book still had useful information in it. It gives useful, specific sources for many different categories of eCommerce.

I have paid much more for courses and books from so called marketing experts that didn’t have near as much information.

So often you will read or hear that you need to do this or that, but they never tell you the specific places that you can go to get it done.

The many different categories of selling advice would at first make you think that it just glosses over them but once you start to read you see that they are one of the strengths of this book… you just keep finding good advice to tweak and improve your online business.

From web site design and boosting traffic to credit card acceptance to keeping your customers happy or even legal advice for people just starting out, it’s hard to name just one part that would be considered the best part of this book. Site security to even the basics of chosing a business name are covered.

It doesn’t matter if you are only thinking about starting an online business or if you have various web sites and are an experienced eBay user, there will be something in here that will make you glad you bought it.

5 Stars Excellent- From Basic info to More Advanced all in One!
This book was a real surprise. I fully expected to use it as a resource for new Ebay/Web commerce users that we help teach but found it excelled not only in the basics but in pretty much the whole plan of where you would want to be online in the long run. I am particulary fond of books that discuss legal and accounting set up and this one covers a lot of good info like type of organization, record keeping, copyrights and trademarks, a tax overview etc. A great foundation for the new online business. There is a lot of information regarding web site design, internet security and boosting your sales. Usually many books would leave off in this area but not this one. It has information on taking your retail business online , selling from a storefront and covers some important ideas like affiliate marketing and finding a niche. Whether deciding to operate on Ebay or with your own website this book is jam packed with information. Even as an experienced online user I found myself making notes from many of the sections in the book including those with suggestions on what to do to expand sales, deal with changes and other customer issues. Just as a note this is one huge book. Over 800 pages including the index and for the price a bargain. For Ebayers I would recommend this book and a general Ebay book as a package to buy. If working directly on your own e-commerce site I would recommend this book with with a web 2.0 or social marketing book.

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The book Contains Jay’s basic philosophy and how to best profit from it, as well as how to integrate different strategies together for explosive results.

The Jay Abraham Mr. X Book Scandal

This is very interesting.

A past client of Jay’s — someone he made, literally, over 25 million dollars — after the relationship ended decide (for some crazy reason) to compete against him in training business owners. You’d think somebody that Jay made twenty-five million dollars for in two years would be happy just sustaining his business — but Jay said the man must have gotten bored.

The result was he took everything Jay had ever shared privately with him, every private document, every recording he shared with him of private consultations he’d done with clients, every expensive seminar (he’d done over twelve different programs of $15,000 to $40,000) and he put it all together in what turned out to be an extraordinary “knock off’ of Jay’s best marketing ideas, concepts, and strategies.

Jay’s Book and His Threat of Legal Action

When Jay found out he had done this he was pissed. Jay threatened legal action. This Mr. X had come to his senses. Jay took back the manuscript. And then he read it. It was great. Jays said the guy to his credit was a masterful organizer and could articulate Jay’s Mastermind Marketing basic philosophies well.  Forty thousand people around the world have paid more for this book than they’ve paid for a lot of live seminars they’ve attended.

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Making Digital Photography Easy

Whether it’s the business of photography or a personal fad, digital photography seems to have taken over as far as taking pictures is concerned. Film seem to be well on its way to being consigned to history. However, the changeover has been so quick that not many know exactly what digital photography is all about. […]

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Get Professional With Your Digital Camera

Do better cameras really give you better pictures? So many people tend to believe that once you’ve got a great camera, all your worries about mediocre pictures are things of the past. And from that moment on, anything they shot would only have to be great.

While this is not strictly true, there is some truth […]

Search Engine Optimization An Hour a Day

Back and bracing as ever, Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day, Second Edition offers brisk advice, bite-sized tasks, and smart tools to help you increase visibility for your website on the major search engines. In this new edition of their bestselling how-to guide, SEO consultants Jennifer Grappone and Gradiva Couzin offer surprisingly easy do-it-yourself techniques as well as the very latest SEO strategies for small, very small, and large businesses, as well as for bloggers and web designers.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars For me those tips worked well
There is a lot of proud guys entered the 1 star to this book - DO NOT be mis leaded please, when you are choosing a SEO book. Right on, there is probably a lot of water inside, and I also do not like the spreadsheets what authors are suggesting to download and fill all the way - but hey - the information what they suggest enter on them - are useful, and worked for me. I started use the tips they suggest in July 2007, and back then according Google analytics the % of organic google search was 0.5 %. Now, it came up to 18 % (most are PPC still), and guess what - I never used another book for this, and all other books I read till now, or numerous suggestions in blogs and forums, well they actually are same, maybe small details missed.

I highly recommend this book. My personal example shows - generally the methonds they offer works.

3 Stars Paced learning program has benefits and issues
The book is well written and easy to read but having said that I find that the downloadable workbooks (of which there are a number) are of little value and far too basic.

I also would have liked the book written in 2 sections - Got on with it and Go through the Lessons whereas the book is simply ‘Go through the Lessons’ without a sensible way to read through and garner useful info.

The paced structure is, I find, limiting rather than enlightening.

Mind you for people who learn differently to me this book could be a veritable goldmine of information and could lead then toweards being very competent SEOers.

4 Stars A Bite Sized Guide To SEO
I’ve recently launched a B2C website and I know enough to know that it’s no longer the case that you “build it and they will come”. But I didn’t realise getting my website to be seen by enough people to make it financially viable would be quite this difficult!

Like many new businesses I have a limited budget so I wanted to see if I could tackle some of the SEO work myself or if I had to pay for someone to do it for me, I wanted to have some knowledge before I hired someone.

This book breaks up the multiple and often lengthy tasks required to tackle SEO. It makes technical terms easy to understand which helps if you’re not a technical person like me. And it allows you to do a bit of SEO work at a time meaning if you are even a little bit disciplined, you can fit some SEO work into your busy day.

Other SEO books I’ve read can make the task sound so daunting you don’t know where to start so you don’t. By breaking up tasks into bite sized chunks, this book motivated me to start my SEO work. Bring on the results!

5 Stars A truly great book!
Search Engine Optimization is a complicated process made so by the fact that Google, the number one search engine, has successfully kept its algorithms a deep, dark secret and continues to do so.

The book is divided into three parts: 1) Foundation, 2) Strategy and 3) Your SEO Plan. Foundation stresses the need to thoroughly understand what you want your website to do for you. Some people want to promote their businesses; but a surprising number just want to provide reliable information or publicize a provocative blog. Once you know what you want, you can start thinking about how to tailor your approach to SEO to meet those goals. Several downloadable worksheets are referred to, and the explanations on how to use them and how they are interrelated are clear and logical.

Many who read this book will be optimizing their own websites; but for those who are fortunate enough to have colleagues on whom they can draw, a number of suggestions for how to obtain their willing assistance are offered. There also is a 50-page chapter devoted to a four week plan on how to get ready to implement your SEO Plan.

The Plan itself covers three months and includes a systematic method for accomplishing the most important optimization tasks in the first instance, and then establishing the habit of checking them regularly thereafter.

At the rate of one hour per day, the average reader should be able to implement the entire program in four months, which is the intent of the book. Those who are more experienced at SEO may be able to complete the program in less time. Four months may seem like a long time, but as I said at the beginning, it is complicated. There is much to remember; and because the Internet doesn’t stand still, neither can the SEO process. Although there were a couple of URLs that no longer worked, the authors responded promptly to my e-mail asking for their assistance after I pointed this out to them.

On a final note, I need to say that I couldn’t disagree more with the reviewer who thought the book was “poorly organized.” Quite to the contrary, it is well organized and well-thought out. I warmly commend it to all who want to increase their Web presence.

Bruce Hoag, PhD

Co-author Managing Value-based Organizations: It’s Not What You Think (New Horizons in Management Series)

http://www.p-advantage.com

5 Stars A Solid Foundation for Long Term Success
This book is by far one of the better SEO books I’ve read and it has taken a prominent position on my shelf of website resources. Running SEO for a B2B company (and a couple of consumer oriented websites in my personal time) I utilize this book frequently. It is a good read to get a basic understanding of search optimizing fundamentals as well as a reference tool I routinely come back to. The search game is constantly changing and new books come out all the time with the latest tricks, but this one gives you a solid understanding of the fundamentals that have proven to be consistent over time. It helps you get beyond the trick of the month and sets a solid foundation for long term success.

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The Basics Of Digital SLR Photography

It’s the age of the eyes - what with so much of visual entertainment that we have on call today. That’s probably why we have become more discerning when it comes to things we see as well. That’s probably why digital cameras are such a big hit today, considering how much visual enjoyment they provide […]