A Boy’s Secret Santa Letter Reaches The North Pole

This Christmas season is not like all the rest, my work shop has been overflowing with toys for months now. Everyone here is busy putting the finishing touches on things. There seems to be more and more good children every year! Here at the North Pole we always keep our Christmas trees decorated and our wreaths on our doors. Everyone here at the North Pole loves to live with the joy of Christmas all year long. But we are always preparing for that special night of celebration – the night when I visit all the good boy’s and girl’s all over the world! It’s a wonderful time indeed.

Just this morning I received a Santa Letter from a special little boy that lives very far away from the North Pole. He wrote to tell me a secret Christmas wish and to ask for a special Christmas gift. Of course Santa doesn’t share secrets so I can’t tell you what this little boy wants for Christmas. But I’ve already checked my list and he has been nice all year long and I know that’s not always easy to do. This little boy always remembers to leave out my favorite snack (cookies) for me on Christmas too! In fact, last year he even left out treats for my reindeer. They get tired and hungry during our long trip to all the good little boy’s and girl’s houses around the world.

I’ll write a letter back to this little boy later tonight. I try to answer all of the Santa letters I get but sometimes that’s hard to do. I get letters all year long from boys and girls that live all around the world. I always write letters in the evening, after Mrs. Claus and I eat supper and eat some of the tasty cookies kids send us! It’s a nice way to end the day.

Believe it or not, I get letters from grownups too. After all, they want things for Christmas and I guess sometimes they feel like I’m the only one that can help. I’m happy to do it. I love to make people happy. I think the good in Mrs. Claus has rubbed off on me! Did you know that she usually brings me a plate of warm cookies and milk while I’m writing?

The only day of the year that I don’t answer letters is on Christmas Eve. On that day I am just too busy. I have to be sure I have everything ready for my long trip around the world. There’s so much to do when you’re packing Christmas gifts for people all around the world!

Article created by Santa Himself. In a recent phone conversation Santa discussed the many letters he receives from children, and adults from around the world. He said that on a daily basis he sends out thousands of Personalized Santa Letters because he realizes that children look forward to receiving them. In fact, Santa Claus said that parents routinely tell him that their Christmas letters from Santa are some of their most precious childhood keepsakes. Santa said that is why he will continue to write letters for as long as he can.

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Bigmouthmedia And Econsultancy Reveal Companies Plan Increased Social Media Spend In 2010

The Social Media and Online PR Report, published by Econsultancy in association with bigmouthmedia, has revealed that most companies are planning to invest more in social media next year but are struggling to find the time and resources to manage their activity.

The report is based on a survey of over 1,100 companies and agencies, and is the most comprehensive study of its kind around how companies are using online PR and social media for marketing and customer service.

The results showed that 86% of companies plan to spend more money on social media in 2010, and a further 13% are planning to keep the same level of budget. 54% cited their biggest barrier to better social media engagement was a lack of resources, with 90% of businesses stating that social media is taking up more time internally than a year ago.

“The growth of social media and online PR has been meteoric, but until now there have been very few hard facts available on precisely how UK business is using the new channel and what they’re getting in return for their investment,” said Phil Gripton, Managing Director of bigmouthmedia UK.

“These statistics – the most detailed yet available – show that while an increasing number of companies are embracing social media, many are struggling to effectively manage their engagement and are consequently failing to make the most of a potentially enormous opportunity.”

The research found that many companies are experimenting with social media without yet reaping any measurable benefits. Only a quarter of companies said that they have gained “real, tangible value” from social media whereas 60% said they had gained “some benefit but nothing concrete”. However, 52% of respondents who are heavily involved said they have gained real value, compared to only 13% of companies who “experimented but not done much”.

Michelle Goodall, Econsultancy’s social media and online PR consultant at Econsultancy, said: “Before they think about their strategy and the best tactics, companies need to go back to basics and think in detail about how online PR and social media can help them deliver against their business objectives.

“The reality is that most businesses understand how to listen, what to measure and where to engage but are struggling to define the value of engagement and reputation in social spaces.”

There view of the benefits of Twitter is mixxed, with 31% of respondents saying there are “tremendous opportunities” available, but half reported their companies are “open-minded but not fully convinced about the value to the business”.

The majority of organisations (62%) are using the micro-blogging site for publicising new content, with 54% using the channel for marketing or brand monitoring (47%). Only 27% of companies are using Twitter as a customer service tool for reacting to issues and inquiries, while 25% use Twitter as a customer feedback tool. 7% felt that Twitter is over-hyped and a fad.

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eCommerce Sites Add Festivity and Enhanced SEO this Holiday Season

SEOWhat.com, an Internet marketing, search engine optimization and web design firm helps prepare clients’ sites for this year’s holiday shopping season with festive banners, improved rankings and social media buzz. The holiday season is one of the busiest for online shopping sites and this year’s economic situation will increase the competition among merchants.

eCommerce Sites Add Festivity and Enhanced SEO this Holiday Season

“Industry experts and surveys show that consumers are likely to increase their online shopping to complete their holiday shopping lists this season,” said Catherine Seven, founder, SEOWhat.com. “The challenge for e-tailers this year will be to win the trust and loyalty of shoppers in an increasingly tight-fisted economy. And this year, the key to being relevant is to make the entire shopping appealing to customers.”

The design team at SEOWhat.com specializes in creating eye-catching banners, holiday logo enhancements and overall web site design. Clients like www.bigsmiletoys.com chose a holiday-themed logo to make its site welcoming to potential customers. In addition to aesthetics and SEO site development best practices, SEOWhat.com generates buzz for clients and manages their reputations online employing the myriad of new and emerging social media and social networking tools available.

SEOWhat.com helps clients improve search ranking through a combination of search engine optimization strategies that include, but is not limited to, social media optimization/Web 2.0, social bookmarking, press release and article writing and submission, on page/off page optimization, niche keywords and long-tailing, link building, meta tagging, Yahoo! merchant sites (Y! Stores), YouTube/video submissions and more.

Ranked best in Social Media Optimization by TopSEOs.com, SEOWhat.com creates buzz through the use of social networking tools such as blogs, social bookmarking sites and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The full service agency provides a la carte or full service SEO strategies tailored to the needs of B2C, B2B, products and services, businesses, educational and not-for-profit organizations. With a talented team of web engineers, graphic designers, copy writers, editors and online/offline marketers, SEOWhat.com is the only competitively priced firm of its kind that is based entirely in the U.S.

About SEOWhat.com
SEOwhat.com is an SEO services agency that helps companies navigate the dynamic world of internet marketing, integrating search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), social media optimization (SMO) and Web site design to increase a site’s visibility. Specializing in Yahoo! and Google optimization, SEOWhat.com develops search friendly Web sites on a variety of platforms including Yahoo! Stores, WordPress and custom built sites. In addition to Google SEO, SEOWhat.com provides organic search results, without the price tag, creating powerful web sites that appeal to human eye and search engines alike.

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JLT Findings Underline Benefit Of Tracesmart’s Existence Product

Following an assessment of their clients’ member screening procedures, JLT Benefit Solutions Ltd (JLT) established the distinct advantages of Tracesmart’s Existence checks facility. JLT were one of the first companies to employ Existence Alert in conjunction with Tracesmart’s tracing service and are able to quantify fully, the benefits of comprehensive screening and batch pension tracing.

Commenting on the service, Andrew Marson, Head of Administration Consulting, JLT said, “All JLT clients using this service are benefiting from the improvements it brings. A number have saved significant sums of money as a result. Our relationship with Tracesmart is well established.”

Tracesmart Corporate provide a broad spectrum of data intelligence services to the financial sector, including a multi-tiered consumer tracing solution utilised by a growing number of FTSE 100 companies. Tracesmart is also one of a small number of companies to receive a weekly feed of current UK Death Registration Information (DRI) from the General Register Office, crucial data which is employed to enhance the mortality screening functions of its anti-fraud services.

Established as the preferred choice within the pension industry for conducting existence checks, Tracesmart’s Existence service can boast the vast share of the relevant market. The process utilises DRI, historical death indexes and commercially aggregated mortality data to flag any deaths in the UK, whilst also confirming residency and identifying gone aways. This is carried out on a continual basis, permitting appropriate action to be taken to mitigate risk at the earliest possible moment.

Remarking on Existence and his company’s performance within the pension sector, Tracesmart’s Managing Director, Mike Trezise remarked, “Tracesmart’s combined existence checks and tracing services are industry leading. We are the principal player in this market now because we essentially understand the needs of the sector. As JLT has confirmed, our existence service delivers significant advantages. The process appreciably benefits all concerned, except that is, the fraudster.”

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Businesses Would Love To Never Have To Buy Another Server Again

Rackspace Hosting, the world’s leader in hosting and cloud computing, has announced the results of its latest survey, which highlights the growing problem of businesses struggling to cope with the demands of managing their own servers. More than half of the businesses surveyed responded that they would ‘love to never have to buy another server again.’

Rackspace’s online survey research was conducted in September 2009 and involved 441 US and UK-based IT decision-makers at companies with 100-500 employees

The research underscores Rackspace’s recent launch of No More Servers, a campaign and community dedicated to a new way of buying IT which includes managed hosting, cloud computing and email hosting. The new service has been created to help free businesses from the hassle of in-house server management and to enable them to instead shift their focus onto mission critical applications, core competencies and innovation. Rackspace is augmenting this initiative with Rackspace.co.uk/NoMoreServers, a location for companies to learn the benefits of hosting services.

The study, conducted by LoudHouse on behalf of Rackspace, investigated the views of more than 441 IT managers at mid-size enterprises and revealed that approximately one third of their IT staff’s time is spent on server management, which is liable to limit their ability to focus on strategic initiatives that could benefit the business. Fifty eight percent of respondents cited the ‘hassle of managing servers’ as a challenge for their organization, while 61% of IT managers said ‘time to drive innovation’ was a challenge.

Additionally, on-site servers were seen to also cause ‘server stress’ for IT managers, who cited ‘the need to be available 24×7’, ‘hardware issues and maintenance’, and ‘after-hours calls and issues’ as the top three server management issues. The survey also found that 51% of respondents have made mistakes in their server capacity planning. Fifteen percent have bought too many servers and 36% have failed to buy enough. This leaves businesses exposed to the risks of financial waste and the inability to cope with user demand by not getting server spending right the first time.

The survey also revealed that 35% of companies identify themselves as ‘proactive and slightly ahead of the curve’ when it comes to describing their approach to new technologies, while 28% remain ‘cautious and reactive.’ When it comes to hosting and cloud computing, barriers to adoption include assurances of reliability (29%), evidence of cost savings (28%) and assurances of security (27%).

“IT should be an enabler,” said Lanham Napier, president and chief executive officer of Rackspace Hosting. “The survey seems to reveal that a huge chunk of time and resources are spent keeping the lights on and preventing problems. Rackspace, with its world class Fanatical Support, can free organizations from the hassle of server management and enable their IT teams to focus on strategic initiatives that will positively impact the business.”

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Translator Network tolingo Launches English Language Website

The translator network tolingo (www.tolingo.de) has launched an international version of its translation portal. The website (www.tolingo.com) is in English and the aim is to ensure that the company’s services will also be used increasingly by customers from outside Germany.

“After a very promising start, we see the international site as the logical next step. We have a worldwide network of over 2500 qualified translators available. Why then shouldn’t customers around the globe benefit from it too? Besides the fast and uncomplicated processing of the submitted texts, the 24 hour global availability is one of the great benefits of offering translation services online,” says tolingo Managing Director Hanno von der Decken.

tolingo provides customers with quotations in real time, while this usually takes several hours or even days elsewhere in the industry. Automatic selection of the best available translators within the network for each document means that tolingo delivers translations of consistently high quality while keeping translation times to a minimum. In this way, the processing times that usually stretch to days in the industry can be shortened to just a few hours. Yet the prices for the translations are markedly lower than those of a conventional translation office.

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Translation Services Firm Increases Sales By Providing Free Content

According to Ken Zwerdling, CEO of Foreign Translations, Inc., a global translation services firm, “Today’s savvy Internet user leaves little room to be directed by companies to take a particular course of action. The consumer has become the expert and is in control.” We have seen this change of power especially within the real estate industry. Consumers are on-line analyzing local markets and exploring homes via virtual tours with no help from a live individual, all the while making decisions without involving professionals. This trend has overflowed into many industries around the world. What does this mean for professional service companies that want to earn business? Be the first to offer consumers educational information about your services and give it away for free.

Be Known As The Expert In Your Industry

For companies that almost never achieve a face-to-face meeting with customers or potential customers, its on-line presence is the only means for consumers to validate its expertise and knowledge. This validation goes beyond graphics, ease of navigation, and client lists. It is found in the quality of the information that company provides. Some visitors know exactly what is wanted: price estimate, quote request, or contact information. Other visitors want to learn more about the different service offerings, while still others seek valuable free information to better understand the industry and guide the decision on who is contracted for service. By fulfilling the information needs of consumers via tutorials, instructional content and free tools a company will become the recognized expert in that field.

Keep the Consumer Coming Back

Free instructional articles are a valuable tool that directly serves the needs of many website visitors. The average number of page views a website visitor sees is only three. Offering instructional content will result in visitors who stay longer, view more pages, learn more about your company and become more educated. The key is to think like a customer and freely give away what is wanted. A company needs to ask itself, “What kind of information would I research if I wanted to learn more?” To stay ahead on consumer desires, a company should publish new articles periodically to accommodate ever-changing consumer interest. At Foreign Translations, Inc., the company offers a vast array of valuable instructional content. It provides white papers on topics such as How to Prepare for Globalization, Laws of Quality Translations, How to Find Growth in Non-Traditional Markets, Language Translation and Social Media, Marketing to Hispanics and Selling your Products and Services in Other Markets. In addition, there are informational articles on business etiquette in major countries such as China, Germany, and South Korea, the history of the world’s major languages, and what to expect when traveling to specific countries across the globe.

Some customers are simply looking for information. They want to complete due diligence and research the service needed before finalizing a purchase. You want to be the company that offers these consumers more than is expected, more than what can be gained from your competitors. Service companies must understand that instructional content can take many forms such as whitepapers, industry research, tips and free tools. Use this content effectively to make your website indispensable. Encourage your visitors to return again and again.

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Self Storage Finders Increases Sales and Clients in October 2009

Self Storage Finders announced today year over year comparable sales increased 597%, exceeding company expectations. Self Storage Finders is one of a few online self storage directories experiencing staggering growth within the last several years. Comparing year over year sales for the month of October, the company has increased its sales by 597%. In comparing year over year clients, they have also increased their Preferred Membership 318%.

Self Storage

Selfstoragefinders.com has been in business for 2 ½ years and is starting to build a solid brand around their unparalleled Search Engine Optimization, allowing them to continually rank highly for many self storage terms. Their clientele consists of self storage facilities of all sizes, self storage management companies, marketing companies and several web based companies. Marketing Executive, Brian Barwig said “Strong sales and a large increase in Preferred Members tell us our clients continue to use Self Storage Finders as their choice for generating quality traffic, clicks and most importantly rentals.”

Barwig goes on to say, “We plan to continue to grow Self Storage Finders sales through our broad expansion nationally with greater penetration of new city markets due to our high SEO visibility, as well as with partnerships with leading companies in the storage industry.”

“Our directory is unique, effective and irreplaceable in many cities where the competition is too fierce for storage facilities to be able to manage their SEO and rank their own websites.” The system is ideal for storage owners and managers who need to concentrate on their day to day operations and do not have time to carry out the innovative marketing and SEO strategies Self Storage Finders can provide. The company insulates its Preferred Members from the everyday hassles of storage marketing. In addition, Selfstoragefinders.com works closely with its storage partners to ensure the highest customer satisfaction.

An increase in sales and clients can be attributed to proper business plan execution, advanced marketing techniques and partnerships with highly respected companies in the industry. Mr. Barwig adds, “Self storage is becoming a highly aggressive industry and every owner needs a competitive advantage. Our Preferred Members are able to attract customers before their competitors do, expand their business and increase overall profits all for a minimal monthly fee. We are most proud we can provide solid traffic to owners, while keeping it easy on the budget.” Self Storage Finders has been able to dramatically increase their sales and clients all while keeping their monthly rates near lowest in the industry.

Selfstoragefinders.com is committed to aiding customers in finding self storage locations quickly and easily by providing storage unit locations and contact information for facilities around the country. Prospective tenants can search through the Preferred Member listings and Neighboring Member listings on the site to find the best personal fit. The company offers unique opportunities to storage owners in addition to prospective renters. Selfstoragefinders.com generates exposure for its Preferred Members by offering premier visibility on major search engines connecting prospective renters to self storage owners.

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Santa Letters by Marty The Mouse Surpass Letters From Santa Himself

Little Marty the Mouse couldn’t wait to start writing his first Santa letter. After his recent worries about the possibility of being on Santa’s Naughty List, Marty was finally feeling a little relief. His cousin Jingles, who happens to one of Santa’s Christmas Mice and official mail helpers, gave Marty some great tips about Santa Claus and how to stay on his Nice List. You see, Jingles gets to read letters written to Santa, as well as personalized Santa letter written by Santa Claus himself.

It seems that Santa just wants children everywhere to be the best they can be. This of course includes things like school work, helping around the house, and just being nice – but it also means listening to adults. That is the part that worries Marty the most. After all, his school work is good and he always does his chores, and everyone says he is one of the nicest mice in the wall of the big house. But Marty does sometimes disobey his parents.

In case you didn’t know – our little Marty is full of adventure. He loves to explore the big house, but the problem is, Marty is not supposed to venture out into that big space by himself. But if you know Marty, you know that his sense of adventure sometimes gets the best of him and he gives in. That’s why Marty plans to write lots of Santa letters this year.

He plans to build up the momentum of what he wants to say. Marty knows that he shouldn’t start out by asking for Christmas presents. Instead, Marty has decided that his first Santa letter will simply be a ‘thank you’ for all the great things that Santa Claus brought him last year. Last Christmas was wonderful! Not only did Marty get a new bike, but he also got a collection of books about his favorite hero, “Courage Mouse”. Marty wants to grow up and be just like Courage Mouse; this little hero travels the world to find mouse families that need help in some way and then he makes sure they get just what they need. Courage Mouse is nice to kids, grownups and animals. Marty will be sure to add some details about some of the fabulous journeys of Courage Mouse so Santa will know just how much he likes the books.

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Lovetropolis.com Promotes New Option for Latin Dating

Lovetropolis.com, an online dating service and subsidiary of The Lombard Company, Inc., is promoting a new option they have added for Latin Dating. They made the announcement this morning from their Bowie, Maryland headquarters to introduce the new service as part of the online dating service they recently started in February 2009.

“In order to ensure a more accurate match and pleasurable dating experience, we have added five new ethnic and religious categories where our users can focus their efforts,” the statement read. “Our goal with this is to offer as many choices as possible to those looking for companionship. General dating pools are not right for everyone. In the case ofLatin dating, many times family structures and language familiarity dictate the criteria for choosing a partner. With our new Latin Dating service, we have found a way to address that.”

In addition to Latin Dating, Lovetropolis.com is also adding Black DatingAsian DatingJewish Dating and Christian Dating. Each of these groups will be able to take advantage of the social networking platform Lovetropolis.com put in place back in February which offers users live chat, webcam dating, blogging, internal secure email, video upload capability from YouTube, and a selection of applications that can help users improve the look of their profile.

“We have used every social media tool that has been developed in the past decade in the development process of this website,” said a company spokesperson. “The end result is a user experience like no other in the world of online dating. You can meet and get to know someone intimately before you even meet them in person. In today’s world, that makesonline dating less scary and far safer for those who prefer to avoid the club scene.”

All five ethnic and religious groups are now available with Lovetropolis.com, and they are building their membership with a number of incentives and referral programs. Foremost among these is a “Free Membership for Life” program they have initiated where you pay a one-time profile approval and activation fee of $17.95 and then no monthly or annual fees for the life of the account.

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