Get Your Site Optimized and your Feeds smoother: Upcoming Website Optimizer online seminars

If you are going to get your web site optimized, (Good websites give Good Feeds!), then I think you attend two web seminars provided by Google's Website Optimizer team has brought about.
I am going to register as soon as post this post.
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The first online seminar, Introduction to Website Optimizer, will be geared towards those who are unfamiliar with website content testing and optimization. Tom will discuss the importance and benefits of optimizing your website design and content, and he'll provide a detailed introduction to Website Optimizer and review the product's latest features (including A/B Split testing and the ability to delete experiments).

The second online seminar, Website Optimizer: Creating & Launching Experiments, builds on the first and is designed for those who have previous experience with Website Optimizer or other site testing tools. Tom will give a step-by-step demonstration of how to successfully launch multivariate and A/B experiments, and he'll also answer your questions.

Other members of the Website Optimizer team will be available during the online seminars to chat individually with attendees and answer questions in real time.

Here is the schedule and registration information:

Introduction to Website Optimizer (New or inexperienced users)
Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 10:00 - 11:00am PDT
Register to attend.

Website Optimizer: Creating & Launching Experiments (Intermediate and advanced users)
Thursday, November 1st, 2007 10:00 - 11:00am PDT
Register to attend.

Once you've registered, you'll receive an email from WebEx with participation details."
Google Analytics Blog: Upcoming Website Optimizer online seminars

The Gap between PR Professionals and Media is Widening According to Journalists

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The results of Bennett & Company’s 25^th anniversary survey suggest the divide may be growing between PR professionals and the media. This year’s survey polled more than 29,000 journalists, with 688 completing the survey, or 2.3%.

When asked if they see a growing divide between PR professionals and the media, 49 percent of journalists say “yes”.

Bennett & Company found that 62 percent of journalists now obtain less than 10 percent of their content from PR firms. “Communication channels have expanded to the 1000s, including grassroots social networking, and therefore, our relationships with the media are one of many tasks we do every day; twenty five years ago when this survey began it was how we spent the majority of our day,” explains Laura Bennett, president of Bennett & Company, in reference to this year’s results.

One reporter responded, “I don’t feel a growing divide, but I don’t see the divide getting smaller either. PR professionals need to become more informed on the needs of print media.”

Building a relationship with the reporter fills one such need and makes a difference. Thirty eight percent of journalists said the number one reason they open their email is because they know the sender. Reporters are more likely to use a responsive source they know and trust.

PR professionals need to be just as reliable when things get negative. “Speak openly and honestly when bad news happens. We are seeing a trend of PR people trying to avoid the media or ignore bad news. It only makes things worse,” wrote a network television news director.

The prevalence of “fluff” remains a distracting put-off for busy journalists. “Be fair. Don’t stretch the truth or tell half-truths. When words such as “first,” “best,” “biggest,” or “only” are used, there better be supportive explanations,” one journalist noted.

However great or small the divide is between PR professionals and the media, building relationships with open communication and reliability are still the key. After 25 years, Laura Bennett does not personally feel there is gap, but concedes that her team’s approach to marketing is now more holistic than it was five years ago. Bennett concludes, “The media plays a very important role and PR professionals serve best when they know and respect that role.”

Bennet & Company

Tags: PR professionals, the media, journalists, Communication channels

RSS Feeds, PodCasts Turns to Phonecasts

Feed your podcast feeds directly to a phone!
VOIP IP Telephony: PodCasts Turns to Phonecasts

Tags: Feed, podcast.phonecast

Popuload Feeds for While You Wait

Popuload is a free RSS reader with a difference: it appears and disappears alongside your computer's loading bar. The innovative idea is that computer users will never sit there bored waiting for their computer to perform tedious functions. While waiting to download, copy and print files, with Popuload, you can read the latest news, sports result, celebrity gossip or the news feed of your choice. Indeed, the choice of feeds is vast; from news to entertainment, Popuload offers an expansive range of top quality news feeds. Additionally, if users see a piece of information that is of particular interest to them, they can simply click on it to take them instantly to the full article online. Now when you are waiting to download that file or movie, you can browse leisurely through the news snippets to keep you both informed and entertained with the latest information.

The main difference between Popuload and other feed readers is that Popuload loads automatically with your computer's loading bar. It is also designed so that it can be accessed at any time. In addition, rather than the common method of displaying news feeds in a list, Popuload allows users to interactively browse news items individually through its streamlined, compact window. This feature eliminates the frustration of being confronted with too many feeds at once. Best of all, Popuload is free, and very easy to use. All these features, when taken together, are what makes Popuload truly innovative. Entertainment while you wait has never looked better.

Popuload is free. Go to www.popuload.com

Tags: feed reader, popuload, rss news

China Blocking RSS feeds, Any RSS Feed

Ars Technica reports that China is blocking any RSS Feeds to China. I verified this with the WebsitePulse' china firewall test none of the feeds were available from Bejing,China, but the same feeds were available in Hong Kong.
ARS begins with
" As many readers who follow the antics of the Chinese government know, when it comes to enforcing the "Great Firewall of China," consistency isn't exactly its strong point. While certain phrases, concepts, and entire web sites are regularly blocked from reaching the eyeballs of many Chinese Internet surfers, things like high traffic are enough to let a number of forbidden concepts slip through. And then there's the indecision of China's Public Security Bureau (PSB), which has blocked certain sites (such as Blogspot and Wordpress blogs) on and off for some time now, and enforces the blocks inconsistently between provinces. For a One True China, there are certainly many interpretations of what is and isn't allowed through the country's cyber connection."

Tags: Great Firewall of China, Public Security Bureau, One True China, RSS, RSS Feeds blocked, blogspot