We love free stuff. Marketers world-wide know this. In the olden days, we could anticipate the occasional free sample coming in the mailbox, but today postage costs prohibit the mass send-off of free stuff. Instead, parties interested in acquiring something free can find any number of things online.

Online Marketing

Marketing online is no different in essence than traditional marketing. The best way to get a potential customer to use the product is to put that product in his hands. Once someone has used and enjoyed a product, it is much more likely that he will begin to purchase the product on an ongoing basis. To get a person to buy it, you must get a person to try it.

Postage prices keep increasing, which makes it too difficult to send small packages of products through the mail. Other products are hard to give away inside grocery stores or shopping malls. Services can be offered free, but you must make customers aware of them. The internet has become the one true medium of free stuff. (more…)

Pong was terrific. It was the start of a concept that has since developed into one of the largest and most profitable segments of the entertainment industry. Arcade style video games quickly transitioned to computer games, and then of course went on to console games. While each style of game (arcade, computer, and console) has its respective fans, only one style of game can be accessed from anywhere, anytime and be updated almost instantly – the internet game.

Evolution of the Internet Game

Original computer games required discs to play. Important missions were interrupted as you switched out floppy disks and waited for it to reload. As computers got faster and data storage improved, games improved as well. Floppy discs gave way to CD-ROMs and then with the advent of the internet, games went online. (more…)

What started as simple online journals has become an expansive industry. Blogs are a special kind of website dedicated to a more casual presentation of information. They can be written conversationally, with more emphasis on opinion and commentary than a more specialized report. The internet is the ideal location for this style of writing, so it’s no wonder blogs are quickly becoming a favored style of website.

Simple

To design an entire site can be complicated and time consuming. Pages must be constructed and changes are not always rapid. A blog can be designed in a matter of hours, and adding new content or making changes is simple. In many cases, it doesn’t even require any coding or software knowledge.

Beginners are using blogs to share experiences or thoughts online, and professionals have taken the blog well beyond this point. Blogs now are as fully developed as websites with pages, archives, links and feedback features, but are still easier to build and maintain. Blog designs are also easier to modify when the mood strikes – especially if you’re using a template. (more…)

Sometimes a little background music can make work fly by. Internet radio is wonderful for this very reason. Many of the stations or feeds available through the internet have few or no annoying commercials (even about the channel itself) and the quality is better than that found on most commercial stations due to the digital aspects.

Personalized Radio

With so many internet radio channels to choose from, it’s no wonder more people are tuning in every day. Not only can you experience music hard to find on the traditional radio, but in many cases, you can customize your radio channel for your own listening experience.

While it may not be as exactly customized as your iPod play lists, there is still a bit of mystery with internet radio. You never know if you might find a new favorite song or get an unexpected treat when the station plays an old favorite you haven’t heard in years. (more…)

Despite the warnings and training offered to parents, more children than ever are hopping online without correct supervision. Unfortunately, many of the unethical webmasters who like to target these young visitors with ads, pop-ups and inappropriate content hear the same messages as parents and quickly find ways around firewalls and blocking software parents install.

So what’s a parent to do? If the bad guys know all the tricks the good guys know, is there any tool left for parents in the fight to protect their children? The answer is a resounding – YES!

Parental Supervision

The number one diversionary tactic parents can use to protect their children online has little to do with a particular website or brand of software. If parents simply monitor what their children are doing online, many problems would be diverted. Of course there are terrific websites and online options available to aid in this supervision, and parents should explore all of their supervision options fully. (more…)