Web Sites Have Sex Appeal

Web Sites Have Sex Appeal

By TechWeb News

Men and women are very different in what catches their eye on the Internet, which means a website can appeal to one while unintentionally turning off the other, a university study showed.

A study at the University of Glamorgan in the United Kingdom found that the sexes reacted very differently to sites when surfing the web.
Males, for example, favored the use of straight lines, as opposed to rounded forms, few colors in the typeface and background, and formal typography. As for language, they favored the use of formal or expert language with few abbreviations. Women were nearly the opposite.

The study also found that men and women preferred web sites designed by their own sex.
"The statistics are complicated, but there is no doubt about the strength of men and women's preference for sites produced by people of their own sex," statistician and co-researcher Rod Gunn said in a statement released Monday.

Nevertheless, a look at the web sites of 32 higher education institutions found 94 percent displaying a masculine orientation and just 2 percent a female bias, the study said. This was the case, even though all the schools' target audience was almost equally balanced between the sexes.

Research also found that a man or a predominantly male team built nearly 3 in 4 of the sites, while a woman or a female team designed just 7 percent of them.

`How to Draft an Effective Internet Policy'.

`How to Draft an Effective Internet Policy'.



WHY DOES MY ORGANIZATION NEED AN EFFECTIVE INTERNET POLICY?

It doesn't matter whether your organization employees just a single part-time worker or hundreds of thousands of full-time staff, granting access to the Internet via your corporate system places your organization's assets, reputation and even its very existence at risk.

According to emarketer.com 32.6% of workers surf the Internet without a specific objective. businessweek.com suggest that as much as 40% of lost productivity is due to personal Internet use.

Misuse of the Internet, whether it be accidental or intentional, costs money and could impact your
organization's bottom line.


WHY?

Regardless of how the Internet is misused, a monetary cost is almost always the inevitable consequence in one form or another.

Loss of productivity caused by staff using the corporate Internet access for personal use has been highly publicized and the impact should not be underestimated.

However, use of the Internet whether it be for bona-fide business purposes or personal use can also expose the organization to other legal, reputational and IT risks, arising from:

* the downloading of material of an offensive nature
* unauthorized downloading of copyrighted software, music, video or other files
* increased vulnerability to the introduction of viruses to the corporate network
* posting inappropriate messages on newsgroups and bulletin boards using the employee's corporate email address
* breach of confidential information using web-based Internet email systems or Instant Messaging services

INFORMATION BREACH
A breach of confidential information is likely to result in competitive disadvantage - it could lead to the loss a specific sales contract, market share, or provide opportunities for a competitor to exploit that information at your organization's expense.

LEGAL ACTION

Similarly, legal action brought about as a consequence of misuse, such as breach of copyright or sexual harassment caused by the downloading and distribution of pornographic material may lead to severe financial penalties imposed by a court.
EMPLOYEE RISKS

It is also important to note that inexperienced or disgruntled employees are not the only ones who can expose an organization to these risks - senior or other experienced employees are just as likely to, intentionally or otherwise.

Further detail and examples highlighting the need for an effective Internet Policy can be found at
www.internet-policy.org

SUMMARY

An effective Internet Policy establishes a comprehensive set of rules and guidelines to enable your organization to manage the risks, allowing you to communicate the tandards and behaviors expected of employees.

So now we've established the necessity of an Internet Policy regardless of your organization's characteristics (large, small, operating in a regulated or unregulated industry, etc.), how do you go about drafting one?

`How to Draft an Effective Email Policy'.

`How to Draft an Effective Email Policy'.


IN A HURRY AND LOOKING TO TAKE A SHORT CUT?

The Corporate Email Policy from WorkingDocs.comTM has been drafted utilizing these guidelines. If you need to get your email policy up and running quickly, without going to the trouble of following the detailed instructions contained within this mini-course, then consider obtaining a copy of the Email-Policy toolkit available immediately from http://www.Email-Policy.org
The purchased product also comes with a free implementation plan to ensure effective adoption within your organization, thereby ensuring that your new policy is not seen as `toothless'.
Click here now for immediate access: http://www.Email-Policy.org

WHY DOES MY ORGANIZATION NEED AN EFFECTIVE EMAIL POLICY?

First, let us recap why it's important to draft an Email Policy and implement it effectively within your organization.

It doesn't matter whether your organization employees just a single part-time worker or hundreds of thousands of full-time staff, granting access to your corporate email system places your organization's assets, reputation and even its very existence at risk.

According to the 2002 Computer Securities Institute/FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey, 78% of employers reported staff abusing email and the Internet systems whilst at work.

Misuse of the email system, whether it be accidental or intentional, costs money and could impact your organization's bottom line.


WHY?

Regardless of how the email system is misused, a monetary impact is almost always the inevitable consequence in one form or another.

For example, a breach of confidential information is likely to result in competitive disadvantage - it could lead to the loss a specific sales contract, market share, or provide opportunities for a competitor to exploit that information at your organization's expense.

Similarly, legal action brought about as a consequence of misuse may lead to severe financial penalties imposed by a court.

Loss of productivity caused by staff using the corporate email system can, in addition to the lost work-time, also lead to increased IT network traffic and storage requirements, whilst also increasing the organizations vulnerability to the introduction of viruses to the corporate network. All these have cost implications in one form or another.

It is important to note that these risks do not always arise from direct employee misuse but from third parties sending unsolicited or other email to staff within the organization. However, if employees are not aware of how they are expected to deal with these offending emails
(specifically what they should not do), the risks can still be realized, sometimes to devastating effect.

Lastly, be aware that it is not always inexperienced or disgruntled employees who expose an organization to these risks. There are numerous examples of senior professionals - including CEOs of both large and small corporations as well lawyers who should know better - who have damaged their company's reputation by sending emails of an inappropriate nature which have been leaked to the media or posted on the Internet.


THE CONSEQUENCES OF A REAL-LIFE CEO EMAIL BUNGLE

Neal Patterson, CEO of Cerner Corporation, was upset at his employees' level of commitment to the company so he decided to email to his managers.

But what an email - it had everything: "SHOUTING" in capital letters, threats and a very crude measure of performance, how many cars were in the parking lot before and after normal working hours.

Here's an excerpt:

"Hell will freeze over before this CEO implements ANOTHER EMPLOYEE benefit in this Culture...We are getting less than 40 hours of work from a large number of our KC-based EMPLOYEES. The parking lot is sparsely used at 8 a.m.; likewise at 5 p.m. As managers - you either do not know what your EMPLOYEES are doing; or YOU do not CARE.... You have a problem and you will fix it or I will replace you.... What you are doing, as managers, with this company makes me SICK."

Unfortunately for Mr Patterson, someone forwarded the email on, and it made international news.


THE RESULT?

Cerner's stock slipped 22 percent in just 3 days and its reputation as well as that of its CEO was severely tarnished.

Further examples highlighting the need for an effective Email Policy can be found at http://www.Email-Policy.org

Media Plans

Media Plans

The largest category in your advertising budget is likely to be your media costs--the dollars you spend for air time on radio or for ad space in newspapers, magazines, and more. Because of this, it makes sense to have a sound plan to manage that investment.

You'll want to set goals. You'll want to describe strategies for achieving them. You'll have to organize the day-to-day tasks of carrying out the strategies. The tool you'll need to do this is a media plan that begins with an overview and works its way down to the details. It will help you with every phase of your advertising.

Here's how many businesses manage their media buying. The person in charge of the budget starts saying yes to the salespeople who call. Advertising appears here and there as a result. When the budget's gone, the person in charge starts saying no, and the ad campaign is over. It's a method, but you wouldn't call it a media plan. And if that approach sounds familiar, you can bet you're passing up opportunities to maximize your return on investment.

Media planning is the process of choosing a course of action. Media planners develop yearly plans that list each media outlet--print or broadcast. Planning then gives way to buying, as each separate contract is negotiated, then finalized.

The media plan is a document in sections. A ring binder notebook is a good way to keep a media plan, because it's easy to update and easy to refer to. Or if you prefer to work on computer, simply think in terms of folders and files. The sections in your notebook will be:

• Media outlets (newspapers, etc.). This section lists all of the media in which advertising will be placed.
• Goals. This section describes the goals of the advertising, and explains why and how this plan meets these goals.
• Audience. In this section, collect all the information you can about your target audience. You will want statistics by demographics or lifestyle; your professional association can help you find this information, as can trade journals or your banker. Look for any relevant articles or information about your potential buyers. Pay attention to everything that helps you imagine an individual buyer who is typical of the whole.
• Strategy. You will write a statement of strategy backed up by a rationale. The action steps you describe here will guide a year's activity.
• Budget and calendar. Your media plan will outline what money is to be spent where, and when.


The document you've compiled in this notebook guides you in the execution of the plan throughout the year.

Over time, these plans provide a history of your advertising. If you make alterations to the schedule in the course of the year, be sure to record those decisions in your notebook. Ring binders make it easy to update your plan as it evolves.

When you've finished this section, you will have an overview and the tools you need to create a media plan for your business. Let's start with basic vocabulary. The term you'll hear most often is CPM, or cost per thousand. CPM analysis is the method media buyers use to convert various rate and circulation options to relative terms. CPM represents the cost of reaching one thousand people via different types of media. To calculate CPM, you find the cost for an ad, then divide it by the total circulation the ad reaches (in thousands). By finding this information and calculating this cost for each of your options, you can give them a numerical ranking for comparison. CPM is a basic media concept.

Print advertising prices are based on the circulation of the publication in question. Publications will quote you a circulation figure based on paid subscribers. The audited circulation figures are verified by monitoring organizations.

The publications will try to convince you that actual circulation is higher by including the free copies they distribute and the pass-along readership they claim. Sometimes these claims of "bonus" circulation are valid--for example, magazines distributed on airlines get at least eight readers per copy. Still, you should be wary of inflated circulation figures.

Audience is the equivalent of circulation when you're talking about broadcast media. Audience size varies throughout the day as people tune in and tune out. Therefore, the price for advertising at different times of day will vary, based on the audience size that the day-part delivers.

Penetration is related to circulation. Penetration describes how much of the total market available you are reaching. If you are in a town with a demographic count of 200,000 households, and you buy an ad in a coupon book that states a circulation of 140,000, you're reaching 70 percent of the possible market--high penetration. If, instead, you bought an ad in the city magazine, which goes to only 17,000 subscribers (households), your penetration would be much less--8.5 percent. What degree of penetration is necessary for you depends on whether your strategy is to dominate the market or to reach a certain niche within that market.

Reach and frequency are key media terms used more in broadcast than in print. Reach is the total number of people exposed to a message at least once in a set time period, usually four weeks. (Reach is the broadcast equivalent of circulation, for print advertising.) Frequency is the average number of times those people are exposed during that time period. To make reach go up, you buy a wider market area. To make frequency go up, you buy more ads during the time period. Usually, when reach goes up, you have to compromise and let frequency go down. You could spend a lot of money trying to achieve a high reach and a high frequency. The creative part of media planning comes in balancing reach, frequency, and budget constraints to find the best combination in view of your marketing goals.

In developing your media plan, you will:

• Review your marketing objectives through the "lens" of media planning.
• Review the options available.
• Evaluate them against your objectives.
• Set your minimum and maximum budget constraints.
• Create alternative scenarios until you uncover the strategy that accomplishes your objectives within those constraints.
• Develop a schedule describing ad appearances in each medium.
• Summarize your plan in the form of a calendar and a budget.
• Negotiate with media representatives to execute your plan.


* Source Streetwise Do-It-Yourself Advertising

Six Steps to Developing Your Public Relations and Media Plan

Six Steps to Developing Your Public Relations and Media Plan

Marketing experts will tell you that a well planned public relations campaign is often far more effective than advertising. This tutorial will assist you in developing and creating the core of your public relations campaign in six easy steps.

• Step 1: Define and write down your objectives for your publicity or media plan.

How will you design your public relations campaign? Will it be designed to:
o Establish your expertise among your peers, the press, or your potential clients or customers?
o Build goodwill among your customer, supplier, or your community?
o Create and reinforce your brand and professional corporate image?
o Inform and create good perceptions regarding your company and services?
o Assist you in introducing a new service or product to your market?
o Generate sales or leads?
o Mitigate the impact of negative publicity and/or corporate crisis?

You may be wondering why I am asking you these things at the beginning of a tutorial that is supposed to show you how to create and your develop publicity plan? The answer is easy. In order for your publicity and media plan to be successful it's first most important to determine and define your objective. With a clear objective in mind you have laid the ground work to the complete the remainder of this tutorial.

• Step 2: Define your goals in achieving this objective. It is important that your goals be specific, measurable, results-oriented and time-bound. These goals must be in-line with your overall business, marketing, and sales objectives.

• Step 3: Determine who your target audience consists of. Who is it that you want to reach with this campaign? What do you want your key message to be?

• Step 4: Develop a schedule for your public relation campaigns. Create synergy by coinciding your public relations plan with other marketing and sale

• Step 5: Develop your plan of attack. What communication vehicles will you use to get your message to the public? Examples may include:
o Press releases
o Articles
o Customer Success Stories
o Letters to the Editor
o Press Conferences, Interview, or Media Tours
o Radio, Television, or Press Interviews
o Seminars or Speaking Engagements
o Event Sponsorships
Select three from the list and beginning researching and developing your approach.

• Step 6: Put measures in place to track the results of your PR Campaign. After each campaign sit down and review the results. Did you achieve the defined objectives and goals of this campaign? Should you consider modifying your original plan? If so, how and why?

Laura Lake

A Newsletter Can Be Completely Different

A Newsletter Can Be Completely Different

Why is a newsletter so different? The answer is that unfortunately some are not!

I see a lot of newsletters that look like the organizations brochure, but just under a different name. The owners think that by calling the publication a newsletter, their audience won't
notice that all it does is carry on shouting about the same old stuff over and over.

So they fill their newsletter with pages of articles about how great they are, with some dull old news that no-one is ever gonna read and with statements from the President and so on…*VERY DULL*.

I've yet to see a convincing example of this type of newsletter and seriously doubt that it is ever actually cost-effective to produce something like this. How can it be? It's boring, extremely unconvincing and at best, it might just be perceived as another corporate brochure.

Your newsletter is capable of so much more!

Understand Why Newsletters Work So Incredibly Well!

Understand Why Newsletters Work So Incredibly Well!


Whoever you're producing a newsletter for; yourself, your company, your club, society, school, voluntary organization - whoever…the chances are that it's intended to present you in a good light and can therefore be considered as a PROMOTION for your organization.

There are lots of ways to promote yourself; brochures, sales letters, the web, perhaps newspaper, radio or even TV. But they all have a disadvantage that few have noticed or taken the time
to discover.

The problem with all the other forms of marketing covered above is that everyone already knows that the sole purpose of producing the advertising is to promote you (your organization).

There's nothing wrong with blatant promotion. We all need to do it. It is just that the public (businesses, whoever) are simply all too sophisticated to think that you're trying to do anything else.

So no matter how clever or sneaky your advertising, they'll see it for what it is. You're trying to sell them your product or service. Period!

But this isn't the case with a newsletter...

How THE Key Secret is to Build Trust

How THE Key Secret is to Build Trust


Think for one moment about the biggest factor that encourages people to buy or join one organization over another. The answer is “trust”.

People go with organizations that they trust or they know from somewhere. It's just human nature! But let's see why?

Imagine for a moment you require an electrician or a plumber to do some work in your home. Who do you turn to if you don't have a regular person you use?

Nine out of ten times you'll turn to a family member or close associate for a recommendation of an electrician or plumber that they used recently and were happy with.

Why is this?

The answer is that we'll trust the recommendation far more than we'll trust somebody who we located via the Yellow Pages.

Don't think that the above situation only exists in home life. No, it exists in business and all other environments. We always prefer to work on recommendation - we always look for an organization or individual that we can trust.

Now the chances are that you cannot win sufficient work, members (or whatever your objective is) through recommendation alone. So you're going to need an alternative model to work from. A
newsletter is that model and resource!

By publishing a newsletter, rather than another sales brochure, you will build credibility, inform your potential clients, and most critically of all - develop vital trust between you and your potential marketplace.

REMEMBER: Trust Builds Through Communication. So we now know that building trust is vital and the simple lesson is that the absolute key to building trust is great communication. And I can't think of a better communication tool, than a newsletter!

How Newsletters Can Build Incredible Credibility

How Newsletters Can Build Incredible Credibility


“A newsletter is the greatest credibility building marketing tool known to man.”

Re-read that sentence and think about it for a moment…

The public has grown cynical of glossy self-congratulatory brochures and salesy marketing letters. Consider for a moment how many times on average per week, you receive a brochure or a letter through your mail trying to sell you additional credit cards. Most the time you just rip them up without a glance - right?

In short people have grown accustomed to receiving sales based marketing material.

But a newsletter is different - completely different…

That's because a newsletter doesn't appear to seek to sell you anything as its first and primary objective. Instead it seeks to inform, to educate, to build knowledge.

The secret to a newsletter success is that it can lift the credibility of your organization over all your rivals.

How To Write A Newsletter Without Doing All The Hard Work!

How To Write A Newsletter Without Doing All The Hard Work!


One of the greatest challenges for any newsletter editor is not as the job title suggests 'editing', but finding or producing the content.

Some people view newsletter editors in the same light as magazine editors. Nice comparison shame it just isn't true!

You see a magazine editor probably has a sub-editor, a photographer, a picture editor and a number of reporters. They probably still complain that they are badly under-resourced. But they're not compared with you of course.

So you've got to learn a few shortcuts! Here's one to start with:

Conduct an Interview and Tape It.
Get hold of a key member of staff, head of the sailing club, whatever is appropriate. Tell them that you know that there's an audience out there who would just love to hear about his/her views and that you're coming down to do an interview (this can be done over the phone if need be).

Now set your Voice Recorder, Answering Machine or Dictaphone running and ask the key questions you know your readership is waiting to hear the answers to.

Remember to ask the open ended questions. Those are the ones starting with; who, what, why, when, where and how.

When you've finished the interview off you go with say 20-30 minutes of recording and your job is simply to play it back and write it out, editing as you go.

by Michael Green

Secret: Debunking The Many Newsletter Myths!

Debunking The Many Newsletter Myths!

For some reason newsletters production seems to virtually "attract" legends and myths.

Let's start by debunking some of the myths that have grown up around the subject. I'm letting you in on these secrets because if you believe them, you'll never end up being an award winning newsletter editor. We don't have space to deal with them all here , but here are three from the list right here.

Myth 1 - Don't I need to be a professional writer?
You don't need to be a novelist to write a newsletter. You need a plan and a structure and then you really are ready to start.

The tips I'm giving you are to get you started. What you do need though is the ability to speak to people, ideally a sample of your readership, and ask them for ideas. What would they like to see in the newsletter?

So you certainly don't need to be a novelist or a writer. Your job is to try and get inside the heads of your readership and give them what they want.


Myth 4 - Won't I need to be an expert in everything I write about? Don't think you have to have the ability to write about all topics. Write about what's of interest to you. And, if you want to tackle a subject that you don't know a great deal about, then ask someone who does.

Most newsletters articles do not descend into great detail so, once you've got the facts together, you will find you can edit an article on virtually any subject even if you don't have personal knowledge.

I was editing an article about nuclear science - a subject that I do not know or understand anything about. I was still able to edit down the facts and present a short 450 word article that made perfect sense to my readership. You can do the same no matter how complex the
subject matter.


Myth 9 - My newsletter is being paid for by my organization, so that's all it should talk about.

This is really about striking a balance between product-oriented and Value-Added material.

Some people still think that “every article in my newsletter must feature my product and/or company, club, society”…(fill in the blank).

But as I've already touched on, one of a newsletter's many strengths is "credibility". If your newsletter contains no solid, practical information, readers are more likely to perceive it as 100 percent sales-oriented, and less likely to read the next issue. Strive for a balance by providing some useful information that doesn't require purchasing your product or service.

I think this balance can be as much as three-quarters Value Added Interest material and just quarter product/service or "about you" orientated. Come to your own balance, but please keep the balance in mind at all times.

'Deciding How or Where to Publish Your Newsletter'

'Deciding How or Where to Publish Your Newsletter'


It used to be that printing was really the only option when it came to producing your newsletter. But now there are some clear choices:

• Printing
• Internet
• Email
• Other electronic means (like CD Rom, DVD, etc).

The Internet provides a tempting and cost-effective alternative as an answer to both producing and distributing your newsletter. But there are some important factors you should take into account.


PRINTING - THE ADVANTAGES
If you're looking to create sheer impact then there's no doubt that a printed newsletter still has a significant edge over publishing on the Internet. The fact that a printed newsletter is real; you can pick it up and feel the quality of the paper, along with its weight, texture and colors, does ensure a longer lasting impact on your reader.

• A printed newsletter is more portable than an Internet version.

• You can read it literally anywhere; plane, train or even in your bath.

• It requires no electricity or special equipment.

• Paper is more comfortable to read from than is a computer screen.


Think of printing this way. Despite the Internet now being very firmly established with high levels of access in both the home and work, and considering that many newspapers publish themselves completely free of charge online, newspaper sales globally have barely been affected.

This is because it is just easier to read a paper over your morning waffles or cereal, than it is to be hunched over your computer screen reading the news online.

PRINTING - THE DISADVANTAGES
There are three key disadvantages of a printed newsletter:

• The cost of the Print
Whether you intend to photocopy your newsletter or go for a better quality printed version, there will almost always be some costs attached to the actual production of a printed newsletter.

• The cost of Distribution
How are you going to distribute your newsletter? If it is by postal service then you need to factor this into your budget. Or maybe you'll hand it out personally, over the counter or in some other way that doesn't add to your expenses.

• Timescale delay with Print
From the moment you provide your printer with the final artwork there will be a pause before you receive the newsletter back. How long? This will depend on the complexity of your printing.

INTERNET OR EMAIL NEWSLETTERS

An Internet published newsletter can take a number of forms:

• This can be in HTML (that's regular web pages).

• PDF's (Portable Document Format). This format can be read on screen, but is frequently intended to be printed out.

• By Email to be sent directly to a subscribers list for your newsletter. This can be as regular plan (ASCI) text or the email can be made to look like a web page (in other words an email can actually contain HTML code).

• Your newsletter can be a combination between an email and a web page! This can be an interesting format as the reader would typically see a headline and read a summary or lead in paragraph of an article, before clicking on a link which takes the viewer to the full article online.


GOOD FOR YOUR POCKETBOOK
The greatest advantage of an online newsletter - in any of the forms above - is that it is virtually free to publish (though not quite, you will have some Internet Service Provider costs). Interestingly this actually turns out to be the greatest
draw-back of an online newsletter too. Because they are so cheap to produce, there tend to be a lot of them. As a result it becomes harder for the reader to select 'quality' newsletters over something akin to junk or Spam mail.


LESS IMPACT MAYBE, BUT EASIER DISTRIBUTION...
As we've already discussed, an online newsletter doesn't have the impact of the printed version. But it does have some obvious distribution advantages over a printed version of the newsletter.

Suppose that you're publishing your newsletter and sending it out to your membership (customers, potential customers, potential members…fill in the blank).

Where do you actually send it?

In most cases to their home or to their work.

But what if they're not at home or work? One great advantage of email and internet based newsletters is that the recipient can typically pick up their email from anywhere in the world. This means they can read your newsletter from anywhere in the world too! And when it comes to time sensitivity, you really can't beat the online world. It's instant. Or at least as instant as the regularity with which your reader checks their email or browses to your newsletter website.


FACTORS HELPING YOU DECIDE WHETHER TO PUBLISH IN PRINT OR ON THE NET.

You've probably already developed a good sense as to whether you plan to publish in real life or online, but just in case you're still in two minds, here's a quick check list:

• Budgets - if they are very tight then the Internet is your best bet.

• Impact - if you've just got to have stunning impact, then printing is always going to win out.

• Portability - Both printing and Internet versions have their advantages here. Paper is generally more portable, but the Internet has faster global reach.

by Michael Green