FAP762: Free iced coffee at Dunkin Donuts, federal student loans

FAP762: Free iced coffee at Dunkin Donuts, federal...

Student Financial Aid News
+ Chronicle: Several financial companies that have formed partnerships with colleges in the “school as lender” program are cutting or terminating the scholarship payments they make to colleges, dealing another severe blow to a program already facing the possibility of elimination by Congress.
+ A number of lenders, including Sallie Mae, Nelnet, Citibank, and Student Loan Xpress, have notified their partner colleges in recent weeks about the reductions or terminations. Others, such as Edsouth, are considering similar moves, according to college and banking officials.
+ Inside Higher Ed: The new head of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators urged Education Secretary Margaret Spellings in a letter Wednesday to consider using federal funds to ensure that lenders continue to have enough money to make student loans and provide benefits to borrowers this fall. In the letter, Philip R. Day Jr., who became NASFAA’s president and CEO this winter, endorses calls by lawmakers and others for the department to push to ensure the viability of alternatives to the guaranteed loan program, including expanding access to the competing direct loan program and the government’s “lender of last resort” initiative involving guarantee agencies. But because “these options are largely untested,” Day also asked Spellings to consider bolstering the lender-based guaranteed loan program by “allowing non-bank student loan providers to use the loans that they have been unable to sell as collateral to borrow funds from the federal government so they can make loans this fall and to pursue other financial strategies in order to provide a backstop for this element of the marketplace.” Some lenders and federal lawmakers have urged such actions as well, as a growing number of loan providers announce plans to stop originating student loans.
+ We petitioned on March 9 for this exact thing
+ Chronicle/WSJ: The Wall Street Journal is reporting that HSBC Bank USA, the M&T Bank Corporation, and the TCF Financial Corporation have all decided to stop offering federally guaranteed student loans following last year’s decision by Congress to cut lender subsidies by more than $20-billion over five years.
+ All three are among the program’s 50 largest lenders, together providing more than $560-million of the $119-billion in federally backed loans issued in the 2006 federal fiscal year, the Journal reported.
+ Turbulent times - yesterday I reported that we were suspending origination of federal student loans. After hard work by our senior management team, we’ll be turning those back ON Tuesday morning, so Stafford and PLUS loans will be available again from the Student Loan Network.
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com
+ Private student loans at AlternativeStudentLoan.com

Scholarship Update
+ The UVM/GIV Engineering Institute offers you the adventure of a lifetime! Discover cool careers in engineering and learn how technology will impact the future of our planet. The University of Vermont College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences and The Governor’s Institutes of Vermont announce their 2008 UVM/GIV Engineering Institute June 28 - July 5, 2008. Challenge yourself to think outside the box with a hands-on project, laboratory experiences, faculty presentations and enlightening tours. You’ll learn how technology impacts the human experience. Experience the thrill of creating sand arches at the beach and become part of an innovative team to work on one of the following diversified projects that will stretch your brain! * Renewable Energy Systems * Robotics Technology * Aeronautical Engineering * Engineering Sustainability
+ The cost to participate in GC is nothing. Students who are interested in science, math or engineering should check out the camp and the program (www.globalchallengeaward.org). Students who have not started this year’s competition are still eligible for the summer program scholarship if they express and interest and commitment to trying the program next year. For those who incur travel costs and those costs would be prohibitive we do have some travel funds available to students with demonstrated need. Our goal is to encourage any student to explore STEM topics in a global, collaborative online curriculum. These scholarships are open to anyone regardless of sex, race, financial status, etc. The nomination criteria is an interest in the subject. Please feel free to nominate students or pass this information directly to them.
+ Open to high school students ages 14- 17
+ 40 full tuition scholarships
+ $60,000
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Free Stuff Friday
+ Reminder: free 16 oz. iced coffee at Dunkin Donuts today
+ PocketMod minibooks of your stuff
+ Google Gadgets for Spreadsheets
+ Free recycling of old gadgets at the Post Office
+ Similar to PhoneRaiser - except they get the money instead of you. Use PhoneRaiser if you have gadgety friends at your school to raise some tuition funds
+ Google Grants for Non-Profits
+ SmartSleep for the Mac laptop
+ Your legal rights as a photographer
+ Two free music albums
+ It’s About Time from Kevin Reeves
+ Collective by Duwende
+ Breakaway for Mac iTunes

Free Song of the Week
+ From Duwende’s Collective, here’s Come Back

Promo
+ NCAA 2008 Men’s Basketball March Madness Charity Pool

Did you enjoy today’s show? If so, please consider subscribing for free to get it delivered to you. Subscribing for free means you don’t have to remember to download it every day.
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Direct MP3 file download: Click here to download the MP3

Reminders
+
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook
+ Open an FDIC-insured savings account today!
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Student credit card information at StudentPlatinum.com
+ FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com
+ Grad student? Get graduate financial aid information at the GradLoans.com blog!
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

I want to hear from you! Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208.

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

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Tags: federal student | Dunkin Donuts | iced coffee | FAP762 Free

Dealing With Googleâs New Rules

Here’s a podcast of this blog post
Or you can listen to it here:

(The audio is different than what I wrote below)

If you’re using Google Adwords, you’ve probably already seen or heard about the change that’s coming on April 1, 2008:

Important Change to URL Policy Enforcement
Starting in April, display URLs for new ads will be required to match their destination / landing page URLs, without exception. Please adjust your URLs accordingly when creating new ads.

I’ve had a few people ask me about how to deal with this so here are a few thoughts:

1. For People Doing Direct Linking
I have 3 solutions for how to deal with this for people who are direct linking to affiliate programs.
First, get better at adwords than your competitors and out rank them. By out rank them, I mean write a better ad that gets a better CTR and hence a higher ranking ad in google’s results. If you do this, you can use the merchants display url with your affiliate link and your ad will be shown above all other affiliates.

If the merchant is advertising for themselves on your keyword…I don’t really have a solution for you. Very often if you outrank the merchant they’ll get really mad at you for being better than they are at selling their product and they’ll kick you out of their affiliate program.

However, if you’re just competing with other affiliates, writing a better ad will usually do the trick to get your ad shown.

One thing you need to realize in this is that while google doesn’t dislike affiliate marketing, it doesn’t help their core business. Affiliates usually fill an inefficiency in a marketplace. Google doesn’t like inefficiencies and if they can take care of them without having an affiliate in the mix, they’ll be more than happy to do so.

As a direct linking affiliate, you’re fighting an uphill battle. Not that it can’t be fought, but over the years google has shown a consistent pattern of making it more and more difficult to do direct linking as an affiliate.

Knowing this, you can either make the choice to continue doing it, fighting the uphill battle, or you can chose to evolve and do something that google isn’t fighting against.

At this point, it’s like the days when adsense died. Google had made it clear that they didn’t like sites that were made for adsense (MFA sites). At one point they made a change where it became very difficult to continue with the page generator/adsense business model. Smart people changed their model. Others continued doing it because it was the easiest path, and today they’re really struggling (at least…I don’t know anyone who is still succeeding with that model. If you do, I want to know them).

Second, set up your own domain. You have a few options in doing this. You can set up a simple iframe landing page where your domain just has a page with an iframe on it. The src= part of the iframe is your affiliate link. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t know how google is going to deal with it with their new rules. But, doing this, you can have your display URL be the same as the actual page where the person ends up (because they’re on your website).

Another option for your own landing page is to try and add value to the transaction you’re trying to create. As an affiliate, you’re trying to get person A (buyer) to buy product B. If all you’re doing is providing a link to product B, you’re not adding very much value to that transaction.

However, if you can give person A a reason to buy product B (You give this reason on your website), now you’re adding value to the transaction and now you’re starting to build a business for yourself.

In doing this, you leave the realm of people google is fighting against and join the side of people google likes…information providers.

Google knows that the first reason someone goes online is to find information. It’s always super simple to find someone who will sell you something, google knows that. They also know that it’s much more difficult to find someone who will give you good information without selling you something (or even someone who will give you good information before selling you something).

They also know that the first 2 steps in the buying process (browers and then shoppers) are looking for information. If you can be a voice that someone trusts in those first 2 steps, they’re very likely to trust you when they’re ready to whip out their credit card.

So how do you give a person a reason to buy?
Here are a few ideas:

Write reviews that tell the person which product is the best
Solve a problem the person has and give them the solution if they buy through your affiliate link
Give them a free something (report, mp3, video…) that partly solves their problem, and then tell them to buy product B to completely solve their problem
Write about your personal experience with product B and how it solved your problem and how it will solve their problem too

There are a ton of ways to add value to the transaction. I think most affiliates who are doing direct linking would be surprised to see their conversion rates go up after creating a good landing page.

Third, try cloaking.
You can set up a landing page that just has content on it that’s related to your keywords so that google will give you a high quality score, and then cloak that page (either by a redirect or a straight cloak…there’s software that will do this for you) to go to your affiliate link. This will allow you to pass that visitor on to the final landing page (not your own url) but will have google think that the person actually is landing on your url (so your destination URL is your domain, and google thinks the person is going to end up on your domain (so they’re ok with it for their new rules), but the person actually ends up on the final landing page through your affiliate url).

Just be warned. This can be tricky, it is considered black hat, Google doesn’t like it, and it can get you in trouble.

Lots of people do it.

That’s all I’m going to say about it.

2. For people using adwords for testing
Brian Todd wrote a good piece on how to split test url’s using Adwords even with google’s new rules.

Read it.

3. Go use Yahoo/MSN
Obviously this isn’t a way to deal with Google’s new rules, but I think that most affiliate just blatantly ignore Yahoo/MSN ppc.

Mistake.

While there isn’t as much traffic from either of those as there is from google, and both of their systems are more difficult to use, I consistently find that the traffic I get converts better. Less money spent + more conversions = higher ROI (Yes, I understand that it doesn’t always mean higher profits).

Conclusion
As far as I can tell, what they’ve said is that this will effect “NEW” ads that are created after April 1. It shouldn’t (not yet) affect things you’ve done in the past. But, if google is moving this direction, you better believe that at some point they’ll make this rule retroactive.

This is a good point for affiliate marketers using adwords to make a decision about what they’re going to do in the future with their businesses. As far as I’m concerned, I think it’s time to evolve.

Let me know your thoughts.

Tags: Google Rules | Dealing With

FS #201: Chicago 10 / Flower of My Secret / Top 5 '60s...

March 14: The boys are back after a week off and ready to blow off some steam, fight the man, and storm the old Chicago Amphitheatre alongside Abbie Hoffman, Rennie Davis and David Dellinger in director Brett Morgen's latest kaleidoscopic gonzo-documentary "Chicago 10." Featuring the vocal talents of Hank Azaria, Mark Ruffalo and Jeffrey Wright, the film chronicles the 1968 Democratic National Convention riots and subsequent trial of its alleged instigators -- inspiring Matty and Adam to share their Top 5 '60s Movies (movies set in the '60s, not from the '60s).

Also on the show: Listener Feedback, Massacre Theatre and Filmspotting's Pedro AlmodÃ³var Marathon launches with a review of 1996's "The Flower of My Secret."

Music by Wilder Embry from his new album "Squander."

Filmspotting is presented by Spout, a gathering place for people who love movies. Spout.com presents BUTTERKNIFE, a new generation detective series made by a new generation of filmmakers. Up now at butterknife.spout.com!

...And by Audible.com. Download a free audiobook of your choice today at audiblepodcast.com/filmspotting.

...And by TLAVideo.com. Buy DVDs online at the Filmspotting store!

Filmspotting #201
:35-17:34 - Review: "Chicago 10"
Music: Wilder Embry, "Karaoke"
18:23-24:25 - Voicemail, Polls, Notes
24:26-25:25 - Matty's Movie Minute: "Semi-Pro"
25:26-34:39 - Feedback (Actors We Wouldn't Cast)
Music: Wilder Embry, "Answers"
36:10-39:36 - Massacre Theatre (Winner: John Damer)
39:37-47:00 - AlmodÃ³var #1: "The Flower of My Secret"
Music: Wilder Embry, "Two Hearts Beat"
47:27-52:36 - New DVDs, Donations
52:37-1:03:50 - Top 5: '60s Movies
1:03:51-1:06:34 - Close/Next Show/Outtakes

NOTES/CORRECTIONS
- Brett Morgen was kind enough to respond to my follow-up query about the use of music in "Chicago 10." Here is what he had to say about the use of music: "There was no music added or cut since Sundance and all the cues are the same." So there you have it. Frustrating indeed to not be able to account for the difference in my perception of the music from then to now. That said, I'm starting to realize that your festival experience can often be very different from your non-festival one.

- Turns out we were right the first time... Josh Brolin is playing Dubya in Oliver Stone's upcoming "Bush," not Bush 41. Apparently IMDb has the credit incorrect.

- 'IKEA' Knightley and Orlando 'Bland' are names popularized by the BBC's Mark Kermode.

- During our AlmodÃ³var discussion, we pronounced Leo's name (short for Leocadia) as LEE-oh. It should have been LAY-oh. We are Midwestern hicks, after all; but in our defense, watch the movie and you barely hear the distinction when the characters pronounce the main characters name.

- My apologies to Zach in Atlanta. I misspoke when saying that he left a voicemail thanking Matty for introducing him to "After the Wedding" and "This Is England." It was actually "England" and "The Wind That Shakes the Barley."

Tags: Secret Movies | Chicago Flower

FAP770: Two new scholarship search secrets

Listen now:

Student Financial Aid News
+ AP Newswire: Seventeen of the nation’s 50 largest cities had high school graduation rates lower than 50 percent, with the lowest graduation rates reported in Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland, according to a report released Tuesday.
+ Nationally, about 70 percent of U.S. students graduate on time with a regular diploma and about 1.2 million students drop out annually.
+ This may be a consequence of No Child Left Behind - the system has incentives for schools to increase standardized test scores, and the easiest way to do that is to encourage low performing students to simply drop out, boosting the high school’s scores
+ Food for thought: the United States graduates about 1.3 million people from college each year - the high school drop out rate is approaching the college graduate rate at an alarming pace
+ I’m leaving today for Atlanta to teach the fine folks at the SREB GoAlliance about new media tools to hopefully increase college access and affordability, and reach at-risk audiences
+ One of the most disheartening emails I’ve ever received on the show was from a girl on MySpace who will remain unnamed who said she wasn’t good enough to go to college
+ What does all this have to do with financial aid? In the big picture, statistically college graduates make more money over a lifetime than high school graduates. The more we can make college affordable and accessible, the better and stronger our country will be overall - and that means lower taxes for all of us, a better economy, improved society and culture
+ The Student Loan Network remains committed to helping you pay for college and will be coming out with some new resources this month

Scholarship Search
+ Today’s guest tips come from Nolan, a listener and reader of our free college scholarship search secrets eBook - Nolan’s racked up over $5,000 in scholarships so far
+ Searching local high school’s websites for local scholarships (higher chance of winning) and using a system like Google Alerts to check for updates.
+ Having a digital “filing system” for scholarships based on date due (Named “3-15 XYZ Scholarship” so it’ll be sorted by date due). Inside of the folder I have any relevant documents that go with the scholarship including the application (pdf or word), any relevant web pages printed out in PDF (using CutePDF) for easy printing and accessing, and any passwords or login information needed. With the deluge of information, this really helps me know where everything is and that it’s filed away on my flash drive and accessible wherever I need it (online or offline).

Mail Bag
+ Patti wrote in: Thanks for the helpful information on the Financial Aid Podcast. This is new to me. We have just established a Scholarship Coordinator position at the University of New England and I am that person!
+ I will be working with students in their search for external scholarships.
+ I am writing to ask for any advice you might be able to send my way to assist in my goal of pairing students with available scholarships. I have downloaded your publication - Scholarship Search Secrets - great resource!
+ Should students complete profiles on several web sites - or does the information go to the same data base?
+ I am listening to the Podcast as I write this. Our University is holding an “Experience UNE” Day today - and I’ve met with one family already. I sat with a student yesterday, while she completed a profile on www.scholarship.com
+ I intend to send the link to your Financial Aid Podcast to students in the hopes that they will use this resource and share it via their Facebook accounts.
+ I appreciate any advice you might be able to offer.
+ No harm in applying multiple places
+ Check privacy policies!
+ Help students create a system

Promo
+ Financial Aid Podcast Live: Surviving the Credit Crunch

Did you enjoy today’s show? If so, please consider subscribing for free to get it delivered to you. Subscribing for free means you don’t have to remember to download it every day.
+
+
+

Direct MP3 file download: Click here to download the MP3

Reminders
+
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook
+ Open an FDIC-insured savings account today!
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Student credit card information at StudentPlatinum.com
+ College search and college admissions resources at HowToGetIn.com
+ FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com
+ Grad student? Get graduate financial aid information at the GradLoans.com blog!
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

I want to hear from you! Visit: http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/contact/

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

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Tags: search secrets | FAP770 scholarship

New TV Spot For Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the...

A new TV spot is now online for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and it’s moderately superior to last month’s clunky teaser trailer. The “genius” line between Harrison Ford and a stiff-haired Shia LaBeouf has the kind of smart ass pop that the classic adventure franchise warrants. Also, notice that the scene most snarked at by fanboys in the original trailer, where Indiana Jones fell ass-first into the windshield of a moving vehicle and awkwardly punched out a goon, has been replaced, wisely, by a Steven Spielberg credit. Otherwise, nothing much new here.

[See post to watch Flash video]

You can also watch the new tv spot in HD: 480P | 720P | 1080P

A new TV spot is now online for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and it’s moderately superior to last month’s clunky teaser trailer. The “genius” line between Harrison Ford and a stiff-haired Shia LaBeouf has the kind of smart ass pop that the classic adventure franchise warrants. Also, notice that the scene most snarked at by fanboys in the original trailer, where Indiana Jones fell ass-first into the windshield of a moving vehicle and awkwardly punched out a goon, has been replaced, wisely, by a Steven Spielberg credit. Otherwise, nothing much new here.

Not sure why the theme music dozes off right when it should go for it; and the spot’s pacing is still off for this kind of mega-anticipated event film from three Hollywood titans. In my opinion, Crystal Skull doesn’t yet feel like a sure thing, no Dark Knight goosebumps or Iron Man ahh’s, but it’s getting there slowly but surely.

Discuss: Even though it’s a TV spot, is this better than February’s teaser trailer? In your estimation, where is Indy stacking up against the other summer films as we get closer to the kickoff?

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull hits theaters on May 22nd, 2008.

Tags: Crystal Skull | Jones Kingdom | Spot Indiana

Podcast238: K-12 Online Conference - Free Professional...

This podcast (introduced by my wife, Shelly) is a recording of a session I shared at the 2008 Oklahoma Technology Association (OTA) conference in Oklahoma City on February 5, 2008, titled “K-12 Online Conference - Free Professional Development on Web 2.0 Technologies.” The conference program description for this session was: The K-12 Online Conference offers a fantastic, free opportunity for educators around the world to learn together about innovative and effective ways web 2.0 (read/write web) technologies are and can be used to engage students as well as improve opportunities for learning. Each October, over 40 free presentations created by teachers around the world are posted on the k12onlineconference.org website. Over 50,000 educators from around the world participated in the conference in 2007. A series of live events as well as asynchronous interaction options are available during and after the conference. Learn how you can participate, AND earn professional development credit. Learn more on www.k12onlineconference.org.

Show Notes:

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Technorati Tags: education, learning, reform, school2, schoolreform, k12online, k12online07, k12online06, k12online08, online, onlinelearning, professionaldevelopment

Tags: Professional Development | Conference Free | Podcast238 Online

Musical Geek Friday #1: Crypto

I looked through my mp3 collection and found some really geeky and funny songs. I thought, why not add a little more fun to my blog! The songs are really geeky and my readers might like them.

I’ll be posting a song each Friday until I run out of songs (I have 6 songs at the moment, and maybe I find some more). I’ll also try to add some comments, what it is about, in case someone has not enough geekiness to understand it

The first song I present to you, as the title suggests, is about cryptography. Particularly about a cracker trying to defeat a 56 bit and 128 bit symmetric key algorithms, such as DES or RC4, used in secure online communications. Note that 56 bit symmetric keys are no longer recommended as they can be broken in no time with special hardware and modern computers.

Song’s title is “Crypto” and as I found out, it is a parody of Banana Boat Song by Harry Belafonte.

Download this song: crypt-o.mp3 (musical geek friday #1)
Downloaded: 2153 times

Unfortunately, I could not find the author of this parody. In case you know, please tell me in the comments, so I can give proper credits.

Here are the lyrics:

Crypto
It’s in Crypto
Crypto come and the crook go home
Safe?
Is it safe?
It’s all safe
Pretty safe
It’s okay
It’s okay-o
Cracker come but he won’t break code
World get small when the internet come
Online come and we shop from home
Download the software ’till the morning’s done
Daylight come and me hard drive full
Punch in my credit card order me a dancer
Dancer come and me g-string go
Come Mr. Businessman join in the bonanza
Shopper come and the overhead’s low
56 bit key is a great big bunch
Crypto come and the crook go home
128 bit even harder to crunch
Cracker try but he just grow old
Crypto,
It’s in Crypto
Crypto come and the cash can flow
Safe?
Is it safe?
It’s all safe
Pretty safe
It’s okay
It’s okay-o
Crypto come and the crook get boned

Download Crypto Song

Download this song: crypt-o.mp3 (musical geek friday #1)
Downloaded: 2153 times

Download lyrics: crypt-o lyrics (musical geek friday #1)
Downloaded: 29

Click to listen:

Tags: Friday Crypto | Musical Geek

Brain Storm! Business Podcast: SalesConX Lets You...

Click here to listen to the podcast.

In today's Brain Storm! Business Podcast, we will discuss SalesConX with its CEO, Evan Sohn, and how you can, in a very straight-forward manner, buy and sell introductions to the people you need to contact.

I was introduced to SalesConX by the owner of a business opportunity directory. She had signed up for the affiliate program and we were all offered a $25 credit. I figured "Why not try it." So far, I'm glad I did.

Ever want to find your perfect target market, but have no clue how to do that?

With SalesConX, you write out a detailed description of who you want an introduction to, put a price on that introduction, and also possibly a bonus price if the introduction leads to a closed sale. Or, if you know of someone who needs particular services or products, you can post their need and offer to sell someone an introduction to that person. Of course, you are not to blindside people you know by sending strangers to them - you discuss the connection with your contact and see if they are interested.

You get to the the "Go To" guy for all of your clients.

As we've talked about before, being the person your clients turn to for any of their needs can be a huge differentiating factor between you and your competitors. SalesConX lets you find other people who can help your clients in non-competitive ways.

Hitting Singles, Aim-Fire, and Shouting Out the Window

Evan Sohn discusses the challenges he is facing with SalesConX, and also what he has learned during his 5 start-up career. We talk about endurance, commitment, risk taking, changing your goals and paying the right person for the right warm introduction. I think you'll learn a lot, be encouraged and challenged, and possibly find a great place to find leads for your business as well.

Penny Haynes, Online Community Magazines
[COMMENT]

Tags: Directly Sell | SalesConX Lets | Business Podcast | Brain Storm

Internet Gambling

The Internet poker party is over-- at least if you're living and wagering in the United States. Federal prosecutors are targeting the Web's busiest gambling venues and Congress is preventing credit card companies from processing payments to them. But some legislators are beginning to push back against the anti-gambling statutes, arguing that current laws infringe on our personal liberties. And at least one international organization says they're a violation of free trade. Tech Tuesday explores future of online gambling.

Tags:

Brain Storm! Business Podcast: SalesConX Lets You...

Click here to listen to the podcast.

In today's Brain Storm! Business Podcast, we will discuss SalesConX with its CEO, Evan Sohn, and how you can, in a very straight-forward manner, buy and sell introductions to the people you need to contact.

I was introduced to SalesConX by the owner of a business opportunity directory. She had signed up for the affiliate program and we were all offered a $25 credit. I figured "Why not try it." So far, I'm glad I did.

Ever want to find your perfect target market, but have no clue how to do that?

With SalesConX, you write out a detailed description of who you want an introduction to, put a price on that introduction, and also possibly a bonus price if the introduction leads to a closed sale. Or, if you know of someone who needs particular services or products, you can post their need and offer to sell someone an introduction to that person. Of course, you are not to blindside people you know by sending strangers to them - you discuss the connection with your contact and see if they are interested.

You get to the the "Go To" guy for all of your clients.

As we've talked about before, being the person your clients turn to for any of their needs can be a huge differentiating factor between you and your competitors. SalesConX lets you find other people who can help your clients in non-competitive ways.

Hitting Singles, Aim-Fire, and Shouting Out the Window

Evan Sohn discusses the challenges he is facing with SalesConX, and also what he has learned during his 5 start-up career. We talk about endurance, commitment, risk taking, changing your goals and paying the right person for the right warm introduction. I think you'll learn a lot, be encouraged and challenged, and possibly find a great place to find leads for your business as well.

Penny Haynes, Online Community Magazines
[COMMENT]

Tags: Directly Sell | SalesConX Lets | Business Podcast | Brain Storm

2Web Crew #22: Futility

Join TPN’s Cameron Reilly, World Communities Laural Papworth, Sydney social media commentator Stilgherrian and TechCrunchâs Duncan Riley
for a chat on

Underbelly

P2P networks, BitTorrent and distribution

Telco’s and innovation

Crikey.com.au

Media impartiality.

The audio quality has some issues this time round, but you can still listen in, and we’ll be back live next Wednesday.

download it for later

Tags: Crew Futility

Carrie Underwood - All American Girl

This song is almost country and almost pop.Â Carrie Underwood - All American Girl.

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Tags: American Girl | Carrie Underwood

Wizbang Podcast #77

Sorry for the long absence. I was busy. I hope I can keep it up again. Here's what I thought you'd like to hear about today:

What's Really Going on in Basra?
What Really Went on at Bear Stearns?
What would a Hillary Presidency Look Like?
What's Really Going on with FISA?
What's Really Going on with Real ID?

Listen:

Download
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What's Really Going on in Basra?

The anti-war media, like the NY Times and the Washington Post, have been spinning the recent uptick in violence in Iraq as a loss for the Americans and the Iraqi government, and a win for Muqtada al-Sadr. Here is the Times on April 1:

Last week, Iraq's defense minister, Abdul Kadir al-Obeidi, conceded that the government's military efforts in Basra met with far more resistance than expected. Many Iraqi politicians say that Mr. Maliki's political capital has been severely depleted by the Basra campaign and that he is in the curious position of having to turn to Mr. Sadr, a longtime rival, for a way out.

David Price writing at Dean's World, in a post headlined: Sadr's Triumphant Surrender writes

I haven't seen the media swoon this hard over a militant anti-American in decades. Is Sadr the new Che?

To get another view of events in Iraq, I listened to the Pentagon podcast recording of a press conferences in Iraq with Major General Rick Lynch.

We've heard from him before on the Wizbang podcast. He has a rather direct approach to events on the ground, a refreshing change from the spin of the Times. Lynch has been in charge of the area south of Baghdad for the past 13 months. In this clip he summarizes the progress he has made over that time, in terms of numbers of attacks per day, down from 25 to 2, or a 90% reduction.

Play clip.

In that clip Gen. Lynch attributes the end of hostilities to his success on the battlefield. In the minds of the press, the violence stopped because Sadr told his side to stop. Both are true, of course, but it's a matter of what caused what. He is also asked about reconciliation with his enemies. He has an interesting response.

Play clip.

He clearly is not happy with Iran sending munitions to kill his soldiers. And an unhappy General Lynch is going to make the enemy in Iraq very unhappy.

What Really Went on at Bear Stearns?

The recent melt down of the investment bank Bear Stearns as a result of a gradual, and then suddenly quite steep decline in the value of their asset base, which included many derivatives based on mortgage backed securities. Here is a somewhat simplified description of the events by the head of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke,

here describing the events that lead up to the merger of Bear into JP Morgan Chase on Sunday March 16 for $2 a share, down from $160 a share less than 12 months ago. The focus is on a liquidity crisis. Their assets on the books were significant, but they could not get access to them when they needed them due to other firms not wanting to do business with them.

Play clip.

So the fed extended liquidity to Bear to help them get to the weekend, when they then assisted with negotiations for the merger with JP Morgan Chase. But what is the taxpayer at risk in this arrangement? There is talk of a $30b bailout by the Fed. In fact what happened was the Fed extended credit terms and received assets in return that were "marked to market". This is a term in the financial community that reflects the valuing of an asset from its book value to how much a willing buyer would pay for it. Here is Bernanke explaining that to Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota. The Senator's speech is slurred due to the emergency brain surgery that saved his life in 2006. Back then, he was rushed to the hospital to repair serious bleeding in the brain. That he has recovered well enough to conduct questioning at this hearing is remarkable. He asks some excellent questions. The first question is about risk to the taxpayers, and the other is about the Moral Hazard problem. This is the economic term for the idea that if the government helps one firm out of a jam, others will behave in a more risky manner, knowing that they will get the same treatment if they get in trouble. Regulators take extra care to prevent the creation of a moral hazard by preserving risk.

Play clip.

Later on, the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange commission, Christopher Cox discusses role of the SEC and the capitalization of Bear Stearns. Bear Stearns was in fact solvent throughout the crisis. The problem was that no other firm would lend them cash, even if the loan was backed by solvent assets, like treasury securities, the most risk-free investment in existence.

Play clip.

Keep these facts in mind when you hear people like Hillary Clinton and others claim that the fed bailed out Wall Street, but can't afford to bail out Main Street. Speaking of Hillary Clinton, our next topic is...

What would a Hillary Presidency Look Like?

I am not a fan of Hillary Clinton. As my Wizbang colleagues have repeatedly pointed out, she is notto be trusted. Here she is on Jay Leno's show talking about a mythical 11 year old boy's remarks to here. Thanks to Rus Roberts at Cafe Hyak for pointing out this clip, also available on Wizbang Blue.

Play clip.

What that remark points out is Hillary's total confidence that she can fix any and all problems. If someone's hourly wage is too low, just legislate a higher one. If the firm that employs the person can only pay a fixed amount, legislate no reduction in hours. As Rus identifies, this is foolishness on stilts:

I wish Jay Leno had pointed out that the cut in hours was the result of passing the minimum wage--that it was as inevitable as gravity. I wish he'd said that the story showed how the minimum wage is a false promise of prosperity. I wish he'd pointed out that fighting isn't enough, caring isn't enough, that prosperity can't be legislated any more than self-interest can be made illegal. I wish Jay Leno had said that when you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging.
And if that little boy really exists, I'd like to tell him that a Senator fighting for you is a losing proposition. You have to fight for yourself. If your Mom wants more money, she needs to go back to school or work a second job. And as for you, stay in school. It's the best way to avoid earning the minimum wage.

What's Really Going on with FISA?

The Democrats in Congress have blocked the renewal of a modification of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. As a result, the process of watching and listening to terrorists in foreign countries is more difficult now that it was before Congress mandated that the modifications expire. Here is a clip from Attorney General Michael Mukasey appearance at the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco. This section is part of the question and answer session after the speech. There are two issues that are holding up the FISA modifications. The first is the ability to listen to phone conversations of suspected terrorists when the conversation signal goes through wires in the United States, and the second is immunity from lawsuits against the phone companies who provide the access to those lines. This clip deals with the immunity issue.

Play clip.

Later on Mukasey also talks about the need to know what the terrorists are talking about. He is asked if we profile muslims at airports.

Play clip.

He clearly takes is personally.

What's Really Going on with Real ID?

There is a lot of bunk out there on the subject of the Real ID Act, which is Homeland Security's attempt to improve the identity cards people use to board planes, cash checks, and authenticate potential employees, namely drivers licenses. Here is the Governor of Montana on NPR blowing smoke about the Act:

Play clip.

He is right that this is an unfunded mandate. In fact, that is probably his primary objection. He'd like to get money to pay for the infrastructure that will be required to support Real ID. What he is not saying is what the act actually will do. For that, we can listen to a speech at the Heritage Foundation on January 16 by Stewart Baker, Assistant Secretary for Policy, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Governor Schweitzer is not telling the truth about Real ID. Surprised?

Play clip.

So it's not just a matter of some high school students faking ID's. There will be an online authentication process to ensure that a document presented is what was issued. The objections to Real ID are from governors holding the fed's hostage for money to buy systems to track identities, and from others who are using the threat of big government to scare people and prevent the adoption of safe and effective means of issuing identification cards. I recommend listening to the entire presentation at the Heritage web site.

That's it for now, podcatchers. I'm Charlie Quidnunc reporting from Mercer Island.

Tags: Wizbang Podcast

Morning Reading List, 04.04.08

Good morning Washington. It's Kitty Kelley's birthday and the 40th anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination.

Quickly navigate Morning Reading List:

Ok, so maybe you can't run, but you can do 20 push ups non-stop.

Today's "Angry Journalist" rant of the day: "I'm angry because I've had nothing to do for the last three hours. But because 'something might happen,' I need to stay here -- on the clock -- wasting my own time and the company's money."

REVOLVING DOOR

A release announced, "Veteran newsman Richard Willing has joined the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as its Director of Public Affairs. Willing, 59, covered civil and criminal justice issues, as well as intelligence and national security, for USA Today from 1997 until this January."

NewsHour with Jim Lehrer announced that Betty Ann Bowser will be the new Health Correspondent. She will replace Susan Dentzer, who is the new Editor-in-Chief of Health Affairs.

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NEWSPAPERS

Bloomberg reports, "News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch said a purchase of the Long Island newspaper Newsday would give his New York Post a 'more secure future' and help compete with the New York Times for advertising."

Politico's Michael Calderonereports, "WashPost's Dan Balz considers buyout"

Reuters reports, "Tribune Co is at risk of defaulting on its debt in as little as 18 months if the newspaper business deteriorates further, and it fails to unload more properties."

Forbes.com reports, "Thinner. Lighter. Skinnier. There's a good chance your daily newspaper is a lot easier to lift off your front stoop than it used to be. Economic pressures and competition are brutal, forcing newspapers to slim down. Industry experts warn that editorial quality could suffer. But does dieting have to be a negative development? No."

Bloomberg reports, "Tribune Co. Chairman Sam Zell will have to sell assets besides the Chicago Cubs baseball team and its Newsday newspaper on Long Island to pay back debt maturing in 2008 and 2009, bond research firm Gimme Credit said."

A White House press release announced, "The New York Times Mistakes Its Own Blindness For Presidential 'Invisibility' --
Apologist For Democrat-Led Congress' Inaction, Paper Criticizes President Bush For Public Unawareness Of Housing Event Old 'Gray Lady' Forgot She Failed To Cover"

Romenesko reports, "A study of blogs and audience engagement during the week before the fall 2006 elections found that most newspaper staff-produced blogs contained a small number of postings, failed to create much interaction between the blogger and the audience and attracted few audience comments. 'Newspapers might consider spending staff time monitoring blogs as sources of news rather than trying to re-create the blogosphere on their websites,' says j-prof Lori Demo."

Politico reports, "WSJ may endorse in '08; first time since Hoover!"

City Paper's Mike DeBonis reports, "On Monday morning, the Washington Post flooded the proverbial zone on its Nationals Park coverage -- more than 20 reporters documented every last aspect of the ballpark's first official major-league game. The Post also flooded the paper with an inaccuracy: that the stadium cost $611 million."

From a Postie regarding this, "How many pulitzers do you think the post will lose in the buyouts? Sue Schmidt is just the first band in that parade."

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TV

TVNewser reports, "The AP reports Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have accepted the invitation of CBS News and the North Carolina Democratic Party to debate on April 27. The 90-minute debate will follow 60 Minutes and be moderated by Katie Couric and Bob Schieffer."

The Baltimore Sun reports, "For decades, local TV stations in cities like Baltimore were cash cows for the companies that owned them. Even though one or two stations with the most popular anchors often came to dominate each market, everybody made money. Local TV was that surefire a business -- even for last-place and poorly managed stations. But not today."

TVNewser reports, "The number one network morning show last week was again NBC's Today show. All three networks saw increases in their A25-54 demo viewership."

TVNewser reports, "A producer/reporter working for the Brian Ross investigative unit at ABC News was roughed up Tuesday as he tried to get an interview with a West Virginia energy company executive. The unidentified producer, DV camera in hand, was trying to get an interview with Don Blankenship, the CEO of Massey Energy."

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ONLINE MEDIA

Tech Crunch reports, "As Al Gore's Current Media gets ready for its IPO, the cable channel is drawing more on its Website audience for TV content. Today, it is launching Current News, a three-minute wrap-up culled from audience submissions on the Web that will play every hour on Current TV. As such, the site now has a new look, with the audience contributions front and center. Each one can be voted up the page, and at the very top are the most popular, which get packaged together every hour on TV in the new Current News segment. The video can also be seen on the Website."

ClickZ.com reports, "A classified ad industry research firm says Craigslist could 'easily' rake in $100 million with a few minor changes to improve service. The company, Classified Intelligence of Altamonte Springs, Fla., estimates Craigslist's 2008 revenue will be about $81 million this year, a figure Classified Intelligence Principal Peter Zollman called 'amazing' in light of the laid-back operations of the mostly-free classifieds Web site."

Wired.com reports, "Google argues that the plummeting click-through rates on its ads are a good thing -- but advertisers aren't buying it. A major change Google made in early March to its AdWords algorithm is resulting in a double whammy for some advertisers: The rates they're paying for ads have rocketed while conversion rates for those ads have dropped. Disgruntled advertisers have dubbed the move the 'Google slap.'"

Politico reports, "Gawker uses Nielsen data to chart the political leanings of news web site readers. Mother Jones is found to bring in the most liberal, with Fox News topping the conservatives."

Slate's Jack Shaferis "Grumbling about the misuse of hyperlinks on news sites."

TVWeek.com reports, "Ads embedded in YouTube videos perform just as well as ads on television, Google said. Those are the findings from a study commissioned by Google to measure the effectiveness of 30-second ads on YouTube, on TV and embedded into content online. Harris Interactive conducted the study."

Reuters reports, "Yahoo Inc on Wednesday unveiled new features to make Web search easier and more relevant to mobile phone users, the latest step in its battle with Google Inc in the next frontier for Web use."

Bloomberg reports, "Google Inc. reported the biggest workforce reduction in its nine-year history, cutting jobs at DoubleClick Inc., the online advertising company it bought last month for $3.24 billion"

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RADIO

DCRTV reports, "DC-based XM Satellite Radio joins with EWTN Global Catholic Network to launch a six-day channel covering Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the USA, including a major public event at DC's new Nationals Field. It'll be on XM-120 from 4/15 to 4/20"

The New York Times reports, "Randi Rhodes, an afternoon host for the progressive Air America radio network, was suspended Thursday after repeatedly insulting Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton at an event last month."

Also from DCRTV, "DC-based lefty radio talker Bill Press releases his latest book, 'Trainwreck: The End Of The Conservative Revolution (And Not A Moment Too Soon),'" today.

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WEST WING REPORTAGE

TVNewser reports, "When You Think GQ, You Think... Karl Rove, right? The former Bush deputy chief of staff and current Fox News contributor is featured in a lengthy Q&A by Lisa DiPaulo on GQ's web site today. Rove describes his new job at FNC as 'odd.' 'It's weird for me,' he says. 'But it's interesting.'

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JOBS

National Women's Law Center is looking for a Communications Mgr.

National Public Radio is looking for a Staff Tax Accountant.

Smithsonian Magazine is looking for an Editorial Intern.

The Roanoke Times is looking for an Editorial Writer.

PBS Interactive is looking for a Senior Designer, PBS KIDS GO! Broadband.

PBS is looking for a Production Associate and an Assistant Director, Program Project Management.

The Advisory Board Company is looking for Staff Writers for Online Daily Health Publication.

The Capitol Hill Current/Voice of The Hill is looking for a full-time reporter.

Congressional Quarterly is looking for a Committees Reporter.

Georgetown University is looking for a Senior Writer/Editor.