This whole SMO thing has become a phenomenon. An effective marketing tool.

A funny Poem..An Ice Breaker..

Here are the most important trends to watch for the year and how to make them grow and increase sales in the business :
Consumer Trends
1. College Grads
Searching for the most marketable group to move up sales. The Internet would be the best or primary source among college grads, whose top planned purchases upon graduation are professional clothing, travel/airline tickets, health insurance and furniture according to the “Y2M: eGrad College Graduate Survey”. Nearly 80 percent of respondents are online purchasers, making them ideal candidates for your online campaign.
2. Affluent Working Women
This group is growing and the best way to keep in touch with them is through online. Since the affluent working women with family incomes of $75,000 or more are growing in number, and 94.3 percent access the internet during an average month according to the Media Audit.
3. Asian Population Growth
The southern region of the U.S. boasts the fastest Asian population growth rate (31 percent), followed by the Midwest (24 percent), the Northeast (23 percent) and the West (19 percent), according to an analysis of Census Bureau data in the “American Community Survey” by Kang & Lee Advertising. Asians represent a prospect group with higher than average household incomes and education levels. Can you offer a product or service that will appeal to this growing market?
4. Word-Of-Mouth
This is the most powerful trend as U.S. Adults: Word of Mouth Communications,” found that women were more likely than men to share a positive experience with a business or recommend an enjoyable product.
Trends in Traditional Media
5. Yellow Pages
Only 28 percent of teens said they would turn to print Yellow Pages first to find a local business, product, or service, while 47 percent said their first choice would be search engines. And just 44 percent of respondents between the ages and 18 and 34 favored print Yellow Pages.
6. Simultaneous Media Usage
70% percent of web users, for instance, watch TV occasionally to regularly while online, according to BIGresearch’s “Simultaneous Media Survey.” It also found that nearly 65 % watch TV while they read, and 51% of radio listeners read the newspaper while listening. The rise in multitasking among consumers mandates an integrated media approach and an increased emphasis on advertising within the most relevant and engaging content.
7. Newspapers
This is the most important source that most of us do read. They’re successfully attracting 18-to-34-year-olds to their sites, and the online readers are more upscale, which can make them a more desirable audience. If you’re an advertiser in the “print” newspaper, you can negotiate for a combo rate to run online as well to reach these additional readers. And if advertising in the print newspaper is too expensive for your business, you may find more affordable rates online by drilling down past the main pages to place ads on content-rich, but less frequently visited web pages.
Hot Online Trends
8. Web Conferencing
As business travel becomes increasingly challenging due to increased security, advance check-in times and transportation delays, online workshops and meetings that require no travel are coming to the forefront. It’s more desirable than ever to demo your new product to a group or make a sales presentation without anyone ever leaving home. Participants can watch your presentation on their computer monitors and hear you live on their computer speakers or by phone. In fact, I’m now transitioning to this technology to deliver webinars, and you can, too.
9. Online Research
Whether you sell exclusively online or primarily through a brick-and-mortar site, online search will have a profound impact on your sales in 2007. When asked how often they researched products online before buying them in person or in a store, 87 percent of nearly 7,500 respondents to a BIGresearch “Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey” said they did so occasionally to regularly. And a comScore research study showed that 63 percent of searchers completed a purchase in offline retail stores following their search activity. So no matter whether you sell online, off-line or both, you need a great website with deep, persuasive content that keeps your prospects and customers shopping on your site or sends them to your store.
10. Local Search
Aim higher ranking at search engines like google, yahoo and a lot more! They’re successfully attracting 18-to-34-year-olds to their sites, and the online readers are more upscale, which can make them a more desirable audience. If you’re an advertiser in the “print” newspaper, you can negotiate for a combo rate to run online as well to reach these additional readers. And if advertising in the print newspaper is too expensive for your business, you may find more affordable rates online by drilling down past the main pages to place ads on content-rich, but less frequently visited web pages.

The following are Top cyber crimes for 2007:

* Indian Hackers ” Pump and Dump ” Scheme: On March 12, federal officials unsealed an indictment charging three individuals from Chennai, India, with conspiracy, securities and wire fraud, and identity theft tied to the hijacking of online brokerage accounts in what authorities call a “hack, pump, and dump” scheme. According to the indictment, last year the defendants, based primarily in Thailand and India, set up online brokerage accounts, hacked into other accounts to buy thinly traded stocks, and once the stock had risen, they sold off their own shares. Among the victims are at least 60 customers and nine brokerage firms in the United States and overseas, with over $2 million in losses.
* Accurint Computer Fraud and ID Theft: On March 5, a federal judge sentenced five men for conspiracy to commit computer fraud and identity theft tied to intrusion of the Accurint database. Using Trojan horses, social engineering, and other techniques, the defendants obtained user login IDs and passwords and then made unauthorized entries into the Accurint database, which is widely used by law enforcement. All five men are restricted from using computers and were ordered to pay $105,750.29 in restitution to Lexis/Nexis (Accurint’s owner) and the Port Orange Fla., Police Department.
* Cisco Defrauded of Millions of Dollars: On February 27, Michael A. Daly of Danvers, Mass., was charged with using false identities and private mailboxes in at least 39 states to allegedly defraud Cisco Systems of networking equipment. Daly stands accused of carrying out the fraud at least 700 times, asking for replacement parts, selling them for a profit, and spending the money on, among other things, classic automobiles.
* Virus Transmitter Nabbed by FBI: In February, Richard C. Honour of Kenmore, Wash., pleaded guilty to releasing malicious computer viruses that infected DarkMyst and other Internet Relay Chat systems. Until the FBI showed up at his door, Honour got his kicks by inviting fellow IRC users to click on a movie link, which downloaded malware and created backdoor access to their computers.
* Theft of Morgan Stanley Hedge Fund Secrets: On February 1, federal prosecutors announced the guilty plea of Ira Chilowitz to charges tied to the theft from his ex-employer, Morgan Stanley, of hedge fund trade secrets. Chilowitz oversaw secure computer connections between Morgan Stanley and its Prime Brokerage clients, and had access to numerous internal documents, including a list of all of the firm’s hedge fund clients and the formulas used to calculate rates they paid for certain services. He pleaded guilty to four counts of conspiracy, transportation of stolen property, theft of trade secrets, and unauthorized computer access.
* Child Pornography Cases: The feds continued to rack up arrest after arrest of online traffickers in child pornography, working through Operation Predator (run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and the Innocent Images Initiative (run by the FBI). Among the latest perps: Billy Joe Bowser, 34, and Anthony Adams, 49, of Springfield, Ill. Between them the two men had more than 100,000 images of child porn that included kids under 2 years old, trading them on a chat room called “Kiddypics & Kiddyvids” using WinMX software for “peer-to-peer” file sharing. On March 5, Bowser received the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; Adams got 19 years.

Major Computer Viruses over the last 25 years:

- ELK CLONER, 1982: Regarded as the first virus to hit personal computers worldwide, “Elk Cloner” spread through Apple II floppy disks and displayed a poem written by its author, a ninth-grade student who was designing a practical joke.

-BRAIN, 1986: “Brain” is the first virus to hit computers running a Microsoft Corp. operating - system DOS. Written by two Pakistani brothers, the virus left the phone number of their computer repair shop.

- MORRIS, 1988: Written by a Cornell University graduate student whose father was then a top government computer-security expert, the virus infected an estimated 6,000 university and military computers connected over the Internet. Although viruses had spread over the Internet before, until “Morris” none was widespread.

- MELISSA, 1999: “Melissa” was one of the first to spread over e-mail. When users opened an attachment, the virus sent copies of itself to the first 50 people in the user’s address book, covering the globe within hours.

- LOVE BUG, 2000: Also spread via e-mail attachment, “Love Bug” exploited human nature and tricked recipients into opening it by disguising itself as a love letter.

- CODE RED, 2001: Exploiting a flaw in Microsoft software, “Code Red” was among the first “network worms” to spread rapidly because it required only a network connection, not a human opening an attachment. Although the flaw was known, many system operators had yet to install a software patch Microsoft made available a month earlier to fix it.

- BLASTER, 2003: “Blaster” also took advantage of a known flaw in Microsoft software and, along with the 2003 “SoBig” outbreak, prompted Microsoft to offer cash rewards to people who help authorities capture and prosecute the virus writers.

- SASSER, 2004: “Sasser” exploited a Microsoft flaw as well and prompted some computers to continually crash and reboot, apparently the result of bad programming. Although “Sasser” is hardly the last malicious software, the ones since then have generally received less attention as networks install better defenses and profit-minded virus writers try to avoid detection and removal of their works.

A Genius Man (used the aliases “Iceman,” “Aphex,” “Darkest” and “Digits as aliases) stole credit card and identity information from thousands of people by hacking into the computers of financial institutions and credit card processing centers, Max Ray Butler, 35, of San Francisco, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on three counts of wire fraud and two counts of transferring stolen identity information. He could face up to 40 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine if convicted on all charges.
He was charged in Pittsburgh because he sold more than 100 credit card numbers and related information to a Pennsylvanian who is cooperating with the investigation, He also operated a Web site that served as an online forum for people who steal, share or use others’ credit card information illegally in a practice is known as “carding.”
The indictment charges Butler with e-mailing people about buying stolen card numbers and selling them for several hundred dollars per batch. Witnesses told agents they were present as Butler moved to various hotel rooms where he would use a high-powered antenna to intercept wireless communications. From there he allegedly hacked into financial institutions and credit card processing centers to obtain confidential card information.

How can you use pop-over strategy without annoying, or worse yet, scaring away your website visitors? Here are 7 strategies for an effective pop-ups:

1. Delay the entrance of the pop-up. Most pop-up programs have a timing delay feature that enables the website designer to program a 5 or 10 second (or longer) delay before a pop-up will appear on the website. Give your visitor a short window of opportunity to read what’s on your site before asking him to take action.

2.Don’t create a monster pop-up. Today’s software permits a highly configurable pop-up that lets you to specify the size, location on the page, and type of image for the pop-up. A smaller static pop-up that’s on the right side of your page is quite effective, or a smaller ad that floats in and out again subtly conveys your message.

3. Determine the purpose of the pop-up. I think the primary purpose of a pop-up on a service business owner’s website should be to help that business owner grow his list. Subscribing to some type of service with pop-up banner ads is a big no-no, as is anything else that is unrelated to this website’s business. Make sure that the purpose of your pop-up ad directly relates to the purpose of your business.

4. Give your visitor what he wants in the pop-up. Assuming that you’ve given your visitor a short amount of time to peruse your site, your pop-up should contain a compelling offer that makes the visitor want to take action. The offer could be an invitation to subscribe to your free email newsletter that’s chock-full of the kind of information he is seeking, or the opportunity to receive a free ebook, audio file, or ecourse also containing additional information about the topic that caused him to land on your site.

5. Make the pop-up easy to close. Give your visitor an easily identifiable way of closing the pop-up. Sometimes that’s a link that says “close” or it’s an “X” within the pop-up window. Don’t force your visitor into a situation that he’s unable to exit; otherwise, he’ll just simply leave your site.

6. Limit the exposure of the pop-up. You don’t want to completely distract your visitor from the rest of your website. Limit the amount of time that a pop-up appears as well as the number of times that a pop-up appears. A time of 30 seconds is usually more than adequate to inform you visitor of your pop-up offer, and make sure that the offer appears only once, not on every single page of your website.

7. Gather information upon exit. Instead of creating an entrance pop-up, ask your visitor a question upon exiting, or remind him about subscribing to or requesting your “compelling offer”. In this way, there’s nothing that impedes your visitor’s viewing of site until he chooses to exit.

This combination of new pop-up technology, along with a bit of Internet marketing savvy, can help you harness the power of your website to create a sure-fire strategy that will convert visitors into customers.