Affiliate programs

Affiliate programs have become very popular home-based businesses. Why? Because they are very easy to get started and usually require very little start up cost. Affiliate programs are where a person, called the affiliate, agrees to sell goods for another company and earn a commission from what they sell. There are many online companies and large well-known companies that have affiliate programs. The company sets up the affiliate program, which involves basically structuring and tracking a commission and sales program. When a person signs up to be an affiliate they get a unique affiliate ID number, this affiliate ID number is critical to the whole process of making money through the Program, whenever an affiliate makes a sale their ID is what identifies that specific affiliate and tells the company who they are to pay for that sale. Affiliates usually set up and market their own websites in order to make sales and this is normally the only cost that is going to be accrued. One of the biggest misconceptions about affiliate programs is that they do not require a lot of work, many people think they just merely sign up and they'll start making money and this is just not true. The key to making money with an affiliate program is to get the assigned affiliate ID number circulating out there through positioned marketing. You cannot make money without making your specific affiliate ID number available to prospects and this requires work in which the affiliate must advertise what they have to offer. Over time, after the affiliate has established a customer base, the workload will lessen. If you plan to start a home Business, affiliate programs are the cheapest and easiest home Businesses to get started. But I must worn you that you must not fall into all the hype that is all over the Internet, some will tell you that you can do their system with little work or they will tell you all you have to do is sign up and they will do all the work for you. Do not buy into that! You must go into your home Business knowing it will take time (give it 1 year). Remember it would take you months and thousands of dollars to start a mom and pop store. With affiliate programs, you could get your business up and running for fewer than 100 bucks. Remember it's a business not a job you must invest in a business, with affiliate programs investments are minimal. There are a couple of things that you must have, "if and only if" you are committed to doing affiliate programs. A Website so you can promote more than one program and an auto-responder to send promotion to you customer base. Affiliate programs are fairly simple to operate, they allow a person to have a home based business and make money without having to create or maintain neither product inventory nor do they have to process sales or handle customer complaints. It is no surprise why affiliate programs have become so popular.

Bill Shultz is the owner of http://PipelineIncomes.com/ he offers valuable information that will enable you to achieve your business goals online. To learn more visit: http://PipelineIncomes.com/
Source:http://www.isnare.com/

Finding-A-Profitable-Website-Niche-Part-1.html

In order to become a successful business blogger you need to research a profitable website niche idea before attempting to build a blog. Your goal should be to build up your blog in such a way that you can dominate that niche, or at least grab a large chunk of that niche market. I call this "niche domination". This article is intended to get you started with finding a profitable website niche by explaining how to get started with your market research. Selecting a niche idea requires a lot of market research, so if you are doing this for the first time it can be quite time consuming and repetitive. Like all things though, it does get easier the more you do it. There are also some great tools out there that can make your market research much easier, which I write about on my website. For the purpose of this article I use only Google to do my initial market research. Getting Started So what interests you? It's much easier to research things that interest you, so get a pen and paper and write down some of your favourite subjects. Look around you now, and have quick wander around your office or home and make notes of any items that you notice. To give you a quick example, I'm writing this on my Dell PC. I have 2 LCD monitors connected to my PC via a dual display graphics card. Also connected is my Microsoft trackball mouse, a wireless keyboard, a set of desktop speakers, and a Skype video phone. I'm also connected to the internet via my broadband modem/router. Plugged into the front of my PC is a USB memory stick and a cable connecting my iPod to my iTunes library. If I extend my search and look around my home, there are hundreds of things I could add to my list. Many of these things are something that I may be interested in, because at some point I've bought them. If you check your email you will normally find receipts and information about products and services that you are interested in. You get the idea…there are many items around you that you could write about, so keep an open mind and don't rule anything out until you've performed some market research. It's also important to remember that you really only need to build this initial list once and just add to it once in a while. Create a shortlist Of all the items listed, you will need to make a shortlist of the ones you want to research further. I use a Spreadsheet application like Microsoft Excel to add the items I want to research. I create the spreadsheet with the following columns: Subject / Google results / Google Ads / All in title / All in anchor The purpose of this next exercise is to find (and eliminate) a product or topic that you've already short-listed. Also, keep in mind that a niche can be anything related to the topic(s) you've chosen. In part 2 of this article I will cover the next steps of researching related keywords for your chosen topic(s), but first let's use a real (and completely random) example: Earlier I listed a few things around my office that were connected to my computer. From this list I will use "wireless keyboard" for my example. I will add this phrase to the "subject" column of my spreadsheet. Next I will fill in the spreadsheet step-by-step to see if the subject could be something worth considering for my niche domination. Step 1 - Check Google Results * Go to www.google.com and search the web for "wireless keyboard" (without the quotes). * On the top right of the page I get 16,100,000 Google results, which immediately tells me this is a very popular subject. * Add the results figure to the "Google results" column in the spreadsheet. Step 2 - Check Google Adwords Ads On the same Google search results page from the step above you will see "Sponsored Links" by Google on the right of the page. These are pay-per-click (PPC) adverts of your potential competitors. You need to count how many there are. If there are more than one screen's worth of ads then you will need to click the link to "show all sponsored links" to view all of them. * If there are no Adwords ads then the market is relatively undiscovered, or more likely is not profitable as there is not much interest in it from advertisers. * If there are many pages of ads (e.g. 4+) then the market is extremely competitive. For the search I've just completed I have 10 Google Adword results. Add this result to your "Google Ads" column. Step 3 - Check Google "allinanchor:" Results If you prefix your search term with "allinanchor:" then Google with show only results where the search term is in a URL. To do this: * Go to www.google.com and search the web for "allinanchor:wireless keyboard" (without the quotes). * On the top right of the page I get 165,000 Google results. * Add the results figure to the "allinanchor" column in the spreadsheet. The results of 165,000 initially tells me that this is way to high for that search phrase to be a profitable niche. Basically, you would need to beat 165,000 other websites that link to the phrase "Wireless Keyboard". There's no need to worry at this point though, we will do our advance keyword research in Part 2 for much better phrases (long tail search phrases). For example, "allinanchor:wireless multimedia keyboard" brings back only 17,800 results. As a general rule, the lower the results the easier it is for you to dominate that niche, providing the traffic is there to be captured. Step 4 - Check Google "allintitle:" Results If you prefix your search term with "allintitle:" then Google with show only results where the search term is in the title of a page. To do this: * Go to www.google.com and search the web for "allinanchor:wireless keyboard" (without the quotes). * On the top right of the page I get 148,000 Google results. * Add the results figure to the "allintitle" column in the spreadsheet. 148,000 is again way to high for me to consider that search term as the title of my blog, however "allintitle:wireless multimedia keyboard" brings me back 620 results which is excellent! Already, I've built up a basic picture of the market that I'm considering creating my business blog for, with the idea of making an income from pay-per-click adverts and affiliate links. Once you've completed this initial research for your short-listed topics, you may find that you already have a good idea of the subject that you want pursue for your website niche domination. All you need to do now is perform some advanced keyword research for the topics you want to look at in more detail. I will cover this in the Part 2.

The Web Review Center provides information and training on how to make money blogging online. The site will help you build a successful blog that will earn money. We publish reviews on all the tools and memberships that have helped make my blogs successful.
Source:http://www.isnare.com/

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December 18, 2007

BOOKS OF THE TIMES

Campaign Song 2008? Strike Up the Broadband

By MICHIKO KAKUTANI

Already, the influence of the Internet and new media has been felt on the national political scene — from the success of Barack Obama in raising large amounts of money from small donors over the Web, to the George Allen “Macaca” clip posted on YouTube, which played a key role in his losing his Senate seat in 2006, thereby helping turn over control of the Senate to the Democrats. In his lively new book, “The First Campaign: Globalization, the Web and the Race for the White House,” Garrett M. Graff — the founding editor of the blog FishbowlDC.com and editor at large of Washingtonian magazine — asks how the technology that is transforming the global economy is going to affect the “first campaign of the new age.”

Because that campaign is still in medias res, his book circles around this question without coming to any real conclusions. But along the way Mr. Graff raises a lot of provocative questions about how candidates are grappling with “the new campaign paradigm” (which, he says, emphasizes a dialogue between candidates and voters, instead of a one-way conversation); how they are planning to chart America’s course in a new, globalized world that is increasingly reliant on broadband communication and technological innovation; and how his own generation (born in the 1980s and “more technologically savvy and more civic-minded than the one before it”) regards the current state of politics.

Although many of the more compelling ideas in this book are heavily indebted to the works of other writers — most notably, the New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman’s writings on globalization — the astonishingly young Mr. Graff (who was born in 1981) proves in these pages that he is a cogent writer, willing to tackle large-scale issues and problems.

Unlike some bloggers, who, as Matt Bai noted in his recent book, “The Argument,” willfully eschew a historical perspective, Mr. Graff grounds his narrative in lots of historical analogies and a broad spectrum of reading. The one big flaw of his book is that while he can be eloquent on the positive effects that the Internet has had on American politics — including making vast amounts of information easily accessible, increasing voter involvement and empowering grass-roots movements — he does not come to terms with its downsides: its tendency to fuel partisanship (which in turn makes compromise and legislation on the big issues facing the country more difficult); its blurring of the lines between subjective analyses and rigorously fact-checked reports; its tendency to promote commiseration among like-minded people instead of reasoned debate between individuals with different points of view.

Mr. Graff got his start as Howard Dean’s first Webmaster and he makes it clear in these pages that he believes that “the reins of power online are firmly in the hands of the Democrats” — even though the veteran political reporters Mark Halperin and John F. Harris suggested in their 2006 book, “The Way to Win,” that the new media overwhelmingly favors conservatives, not only because of the ascendance of Fox News, the Drudge Report and talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh, but also because the right showed with its Swift Boat attacks on John Kerry in 2004 that it knew how to manipulate the new-media landscape.

In contrast, Mr. Graff argues that Republicans have been slower to capitalize on Internet fund-raising than Democrats like Barack Obama, that the G.O.P. signaled its wariness of the Internet this year by trying to scuttle a YouTube debate, and that “a new power structure of ordinary bloggers” like Daily Kos has emerged on the left that poses a potent threat to conservatives.

“The left’s blogosphere,” Mr. Graff writes, “has grown up in an era when Republicans controlled government, giving them a target and an ongoing battle to wage. The right’s blogosphere has grown only in fits and starts within a party that’s both in power and by its core nature more hierarchical.”

When it comes to Washington’s understanding of the need to build a technological infrastructure for the 21st century — expanding broadband access, encouraging research and development, and educating and recruiting new-economy workers — Mr. Graff is gloomier about both sides of the political aisle. Whereas the cold war helped set off a boom in science- and government-sponsored research, he says, the United States now “risks being overtaken in the world that it created.”

Mr. Graff writes that America “is no longer a net exporter of high tech, going from a $54 billion surplus in 1990 to a $50 billion deficit in 2001”; that in 2005 only one out of the 25 largest I.P.O.’s worldwide was held in the United States; that only 3 of the Top 10 recipients of American patents in 2003 were United States-based companies; that as a percentage of gross domestic product, federal research and development dollars fell to less than 1 percent in the early 2000s from nearly 2 percent in 1965; and that the United States now ranks 12th among major industrialized nations for broadband penetration.

Today, Mr. Graff observes, “the nation’s best minds quickly end up in places like Silicon Valley or Wall Street,” not the government, leaving Washington increasingly “out of touch” with the new economy. “This disconnect points to one of the biggest problems that the country faces today,” he goes on. “The new economy lacks a political infrastructure. The older industries are the best organized and most entrenched and therefore the most powerful. They’re able to land the meetings with officials that lead to government loans; it’s their armies of lobbyists who can operate in back rooms, slipping in tax breaks and making competition for newcomers more difficult.”

Echoing arguments that Bill Bradley made in his 2007 book, “The New American Story,” and Charles E. Schumer made in his 2007 book, “Positively American,” Mr. Graff suggests that the erosion of quality in American education poses a serious threat to American competitiveness in a global environment in which countries like China and India are capturing more and more of the high-tech jobs that once went to the United States.

Given globalization, Mr. Graff argues, education and job security, like energy policy, are no longer simply domestic issues, adding that the question of whether the United States “will make the investments and decisions necessary to compete in the coming decades must be front and center” in the presidential campaign of 2008.

So far, this does not seem to be happening. While some candidates are learning to embrace the digital age as a means of getting their message out, none have yet made the issue of technological innovation and the challenge of globalization centerpieces of their campaign.

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December 17, 2007

E-COMMERCE REPORT

A Quicker Resort This Year to Deep Discounting

By BOB TEDESCHI

KMART made a generation of bargain hunters react like starving dogs to a ringing bell. Now Internet companies want to bring the blue-light special to the cellphone — only this time, the bells are text messages telling shoppers that Valentino clutches, Christian Dior sunglasses and other luxury items are selling at more than 50 percent off.

That is the concept behind Ideeli, a Web site that will officially be introduced Monday, offering members a chance to buy heavily discounted luxury items — as long as they are quick enough. Some items sell out within hours.

Ideeli is partly shopping as sport, but it also speaks to the nervousness of retailers this holiday season. Because of economic fears linked especially to the subprime mortgage trouble, retailers and brand producers scaled back their inventories with early holiday promotions last month amid concern that consumers planned to spend less.

That has proved to be a boon to sites like the online liquidator Overstock.com, Bluefly and others that sell highly discounted products — what is known in retailing as “distressed inventory.”

For online shoppers, this has meant deals on items that are rarely discounted until after Christmas, if at all, and deeper discounts on other goods that would have sold out at higher prices in previous years. And although the prices on some items may still be beyond the ability of straitened shoppers, they could make other gift givers look like heroes.

Bluefly.com, which also sells discounted apparel and accessories from upscale brands, has had an easier time finding inventory this year than in the past, said Melissa Payner, its chief executive.

Although she declined to name specific brands for fear of offending the luxury manufacturers she counts on as suppliers, Ms. Payner said that the flow of designer handbags has been so strong that the site has been sending e-mail messages to its customers twice a week to promote new bags. In years past, Bluefly has not had enough stock in this category to justify a single e-mail promotion, she said. A quick check of the site on Sunday showed that brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Furla, Goldenbleu and Linea Pelle were being featured.

“We couldn’t necessarily have gotten the selection in our designer handbag and accessory areas,” Ms. Payner said. “You may have seen the same names there, but not the breadth or depth of assortment.”

Patrick Byrne, chief executive of Overstock.com, said the supply of distressed goods “isn’t just limited to apparel.” Electronic goods and jewelry are also plentiful, with diamond necklaces flourishing on the site.

“Retailers in general had a terrible Columbus Day so they didn’t reorder like they usually do,” Mr. Byrne said. As a result, he said, manufacturers began offering him items in November, well before other years. That has put Overstock in the unusual position of carrying discounted products that were still available at full price at Macy’s andNordstrom.

Like Overstock and Bluefly, Ideeli works as a clearinghouse of sorts for goods that did not sell elsewhere at full price. And, like Bluefly, Ideeli limits itself to high-fashion goods. Unlike these other companies, though, Ideeli is focused squarely on women, and it does not operate like a typical retailer.

•

Users gain access to Ideeli through an invitation from the company or from existing members. (The company said it would open memberships until midnight Tuesday). The site sells just three or four products over the course of a week, which members can preview. They then stand by for e-mail or text messages saying when a specific product has gone on sale.

Then comes the rush. Over the roughly six months of testing the site, Ideeli’s chief executive, Paul Hurley, said, items sell out within two hours, and sometimes within 10 minutes. “We’re careful to maintain a sense of scarcity,” Mr. Hurley said. “And women love this. There’s a whole sort of game aspect to it.”

Shoppers who want to increase their odds of scoring a bargain can pay $8 monthly to shop an hour earlier than general members. About 10 percent of the site’s 10,000 current members do so.

There is, of course, a downside to scarcity. Because the site carries enough of a given item to satisfy only about 5 percent of the customer base, many customers will go away disappointed. But Sucharita Mulpuru, a retail analyst with Forrester Research, said the strategy is important for selling prominent luxury items. “This is a good way to drive a sense of urgency without diluting the marquee nature of the item,” she said. “They’re not just dumping everything on a site.”

Ideeli just received $3.8 million in venture-capital financing from, among others, Kodiak Ventures, which also backed ChannelAdvisor and Groove Media. Those backers will not get rich selling four items a week in limited quantities. Next year, Ideeli plans to more aggressively sell advertising to brands that want to reach its fashion-conscious audience. Premium memberships can also be expected to increase revenue.

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In introducing a site that helps apparel and accessory makers find a market for slower-selling items, Mr. Hurley’s timing is good. He said he has seen many manufacturers “having a tougher time this year, so there’s more product available.”

Big offline liquidators, like Genco of Pittsburgh, said they too had seen subtle changes in the market. Robert Auray, president of Genco Marketplace, the company’s liquidation division, said that while most categories had shown little change, retailers and manufacturers of apparel and consumer electronics were liquidating more goods than in years past. “Super-high-end brands are doing fine,” he said, “but mass-affluent brands are having a tougher time, so more product is available than there was.”

Mr. Auray, whose company sells more than $1 billion worth of distressed goods annually, said: “Retailers are getting more and more careful with buying, so they may be canceling orders. Everyone’s a little nervous about the health of the consumer right now.”

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December 18, 2007

World Food Supply Is Shrinking, U.N. Agency Warns

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

ROME — In an “unforeseen and unprecedented” shift, the world food supply is dwindling rapidly and food prices are soaring to historic levels, the United Nations’ top food and agriculture official warned Monday.

The changes created “a very serious risk that fewer people will be able to get food,” particularly in the developing world, said Jacques Diouf, head of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

The agency’s food price index rose by more than 40 percent this year, compared with 9 percent the year before — a rate that was already unacceptable, Mr. Diouf said. New figures show that the total cost of food imported by the neediest countries rose 25 percent in the last year, to $107 million.

At the same time, reserves of cereals are severely depleted, the agency’s records show. World wheat stores declined 11 percent this year, to the lowest level since 1980. That corresponds with 12 weeks of the world’s total consumption, much less than the average of 18 weeks’ consumption, in storage during the 2000-2005 period.

There are only 8 weeks of corn left, down from 11 weeks in the same five-year period.

Prices of wheat and oilseeds are at record highs, Mr. Diouf said Monday. Wheat prices have risen by $130 a ton, or 52 percent, since a year ago. United States wheat futures broke $10 a bushel for the first time Monday, a psychological milestone.

Mr. Diouf said the crisis was a result of a confluence of recent supply and demand factors that, he said, were here to stay.

On the supply side, the early effects of global warming have decreased crop yields in some crucial places. So has a shift away from farming for human consumption to crops for biofuels and cattle feed. Demand for grain is increasing as the world’s population grows and more is diverted to feed cattle as the population of upwardly mobile meat-eaters grows.

“We’re concerned that we are facing the perfect storm for the world’s hungry,” said Josette Sheeran, executive director of the World Food Program, in a telephone interview. She said that her agency’s food procurement costs had gone up 50 percent in the last five years and that some poor people were being “priced out of the food market.”

To make matters worse, high oil prices have doubled shipping costs in the last year, putting stress on poor nations that need to import food and the humanitarian agencies that provide it.

Climate specialists say the poor’s vulnerability will only increase.

“If there’s a significant change in climate in one of our high production areas, if there is a disease that affects a major crop, we are in a very risky situation,” said S. Mark Howden of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research organization in Canberra, Australia. Already “unusual weather events,” linked to climate change — like drought, floods and storms — have decreased production in important exporting countries like Australia and Ukraine, Mr. Diouf said. In southern Australia, a significant reduction in rainfall in the last few years led some farmers to sell their land and move to Tasmania, where water is more reliable, said Mr. Howden, one of the authors of a recent series of papers on climate change and the world food supply, published in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“In the U.S., Australia and Europe, there’s a very substantial capacity to adapt to the effects on food — with money, technology, research and development. In the developing world, there isn’t.”

Ms. Sheeran said that on a recent trip to Mali she was told that food stocks were at an all-time low. The World Food Program feeds millions of children in schools and people with H.I.V. and AIDS. Poor nutrition in these groups increases the risk of serious disease and death.

Mr. Diouf suggested that all countries and international agencies would have to “revisit” agricultural and aid policies they adopted “in a different economic environment.” For example, with food and oil prices approaching records, it may not make sense to send food aid to poorer countries, but instead to focus on helping farmers grow food locally.

The food organization plans to start a new initiative that will offer farmers in poor countries vouchers that can be redeemed for seeds and fertilizer and will try to help them adapt to climate change.

Yeni Dünyada Pazarlama

Philip Kotler, "Günümüzde Pazarlamanın Temelleri" adlı kitabında bu alanda şimdiye kadar kendisine en çok sorulan sorulara yanıt veriyor.

Dünyada pazarlama biliminin en önde gelen temsilcilerinden olan Philip Kotler, Amerika’da Chicago Northwestern Üniversitesi’nde uluslararası pazarlama profesörü. Pazarlama yönetimi alanındaki birçok kitabın yazarı olan Kotler, Management Centre Europe tarafından "stratejik pazarlama uygulaması alanında dünyanın en önde gelen uzmanı" olarak nitelendiriliyor. Kotler pazara dayalı şirket gelişmesi hakkında kapsamlı ve kışkırtıcı perspektifler sunması ile ünlü. Her zaman pratik ve çağdaş. Amerika, Avrupa ve Asya’da düzenli konferans ve seminerler düzenliyor.

Kotler, "Günümüzde Pazarlamanın Temelleri" adlı kitabında pazarlama ile ilgili temel soruları yanıtlıyor. Bunlar, aynı zamanda dünyanın farklı ülkelerinde verdiği konferanslarda kendisine en çok yöneltilen sorular. Kotler’in en çok sorulan sorulara verdiği yanıtları sizler için derledik. 

Geleceğe yönelik üzerinde düşünmeniz gereken mega trendler nelerdir?Teknoloji ve küreselleşme, ekonominin görünümünü temelden değiştirmiştir. İnternet ve ticaretin serbestleşmesi sayesinde şirketler artık herhangi başka yerdeki şirketle rekabet edebiliyor. Rekabet başta gelen ekonomik güç halini almıştır, yani şirketler satılabilecek miktardan fazlasını üretebiliyor, bu da fiyatlar üzerine ağır bir baskı getiriyor. Bu durum şirketleri daha büyük ölçüde farklılaşmaya da sürüklüyor. Ancak, bu farklılaşmanın esas kısmı gerçek değil psikolojik oluyor. O halde bile, bir şirketin o anki üstünlüğü fazla uzun sürmüyor, çünkü bu ekonomide, her üstünlük anında kopya edilebiliyor. 

Şirketler müşterilerin gittikçe daha eğitimli hale geldiği ve alışveriş yaparken daha ince eleyip sık dokumak için ellerinin altında internet gibi araçlar bulunduğu olgusunu dikkate almak zorundalar. Bir zamanlar güç imalatçıdan dağıtımcıya doğru kayıyordu; şimdi artık müşteriye doğru kayıyor. Artık müşteri kral olmuştur. 

Kitaplarınızda Küreselleşmenin, Aşırı Rekabetin Ve İnternetin Pazarları Ve İşletmeleri Yeni Baştan Yapılandırdığını Söylüyorsunuz. Bu Dinamiklerin Pazarlama Üzerindeki Etkileri Nelerdir?
Bu etmenlerden üçü de fiyatlar üzerinde aşağıya doğru bir baskı yapıyor. Küreselleşme, şirketlerin üretimlerini daha ucuz bölgelere taşıması ve bir ülkeye götürdüğü ürünlerini oradaki yerel satıcılardan daha düşük fiyatlarla sunması demektir. Aşırı rekabet aynı müşterinin peşinde daha çok sayıda tedarikçinin bulunması demektir, bu da fiyat düşürücü bir etmendir. İnternet ise insanların fiyatları daha hızlı bir şekilde karşılaştırabilmesi ve en ucuz teklife yönelmesi demektir. O zaman pazarlamanın sorunu, bu “makro eğilimler” ortamında fiyat ve kârlılık dengesini kurmanın yolunu bulmaktır. En fazla değeri sunma yolunda ilerlemeyen hiçbir ülkenin sanayisi müşterilerine yetişemez. Bunu yapabilmenin yolu da hedef koyma, farklılaşma ve markalaşma konularında daha başarılı olmaktır.

Aynı zamanda, dünyanın çeşitli bölgeleri daha bütünleşik ve daha korumacı bir nitelik kazanıyor. Bir bölgenin üyeleri aynı bölgenin diğer üyelerinden özel tercih hakkı koparmaya çalışıyor. Ancak suni ticari tercihler, köklü bir değer bozukluğu karşısında fazla uzun ömürlü olmaz. 

Pazarlamanın Temel Süreçlerini Ve Bunların Önemini Nasıl Özetlersiniz?
Pazarlamanın temel süreçleri şunlardır:
>> Fırsatı tespit etme,

>> Yeni ürün geliştirme,

>> Müşteriyi çekme,

>> Müşteriyi tutma ve bağlılık yaratma,

>> Siparişi karşılama.

Bu süreçlerin tümünü yerine getiren bir şirket normal olarak başarıya ulaşır. Ama bu süreçlerden herhangi birinde başarısız olan bir şirket ayakta kalamaz.

Pazarlama Esas Olarak Bir Birimin Mi?, Yoksa Tüm Şirketin Mi? Felsefesi Ve Pratiği Olarak Görülmelidir?
Yıllar önce Hewlett Packard’ın yaratıcılarından David Packard şöyle demişti: "Pazarlama, pazarlama birimine bırakılmayacak kadar önemlidir." Dünyada en iyi pazarlama birimine sahip olan bir firma yine de pazarlamada başarısız olabilir. Neden? Çünkü imalatçılar düşük kaliteli ürün çıkarabilir, yükleme departmanı işi geciktirebilir, muhasebe departmanı hatalı faturalar kesebilir vb. Bunların hepsi sonunda müşteri kaybına yol açar. Pazarlama, ancak tüm personel söz verilen değeri sunarak müşteriyi tatmin ya da memnun etmeye yönelmişse başarılı olur.

Günümüzde Şirketlerde Hâlâ Varlığını Sürdüren Başlıca Yanılgılar Arasında Sayabilecekleriniz Nelerdir? Sorunu "Kavrayamayanlar" Kimlerdir?
Pazarlama, iş çevrelerinde ve halk arasında son derece yanlış anlaşılan konulardan biridir. Şirketler pazarlamanın, imalatı desteklemek amacıyla onu elindeki mallardan kurtarmak için var olduğunu sanıyorlar. Oysa gerçek bunun tam tersidir, imalat pazarlamayı desteklemek için vardır. Şirket her zaman imalatını şu ya da bu yöne kaydırabilir.

Şirketi şirket yapan pazarlama teklifleri ve fikirleridir. İmalat, satın alma, AR-GE, finans ve diğer şirket işlevleri onun müşterinin bulunduğu piyasadaki çalışmalarını desteklemek için vardır. Pazarlama çoğu kez satışla karıştırılır. Satış, pazarlama buz dağının yalnızca uç noktasıdır. Görünmeyen kısmı geniş çaplı piyasa yoklaması, elverişli ürünleri araştırma- geliştirme, doğru fiyatlandırma, dağıtım kanalları açma ve ürünü pazara tanıtma çabasından oluşur. Bu şekilde pazarlama, satıştan çok daha kapsamlı bir süreçtir.  Pazarlama ile satış neredeyse birbirinin tam karşıtıdır. Zorlayıcı satış şeklindeki pazarlama kendi içinde bir çelişkidir. Çok önce şöyle demiştim: "Pazarlama, yaptığınız şeyi elinizden çıkarmanız için akıllıca yollar bulma sanatı değildir. Pazarlama gerçek müşteri değeri yaratma sanatıdır. Müşterilerinizin daha iyi konuma gelmesine yardımcı olma sanatıdır. Pazarlamacının sloganı kalite, hizmet ve değerdir." 

Satış, elinizde bir ürün olduğu anda başlar. Pazarlama ise daha ürün olmadan. Pazarlama, şirketin insanların neye ihtiyaçları olduğunu ve şirketin ne yapması gerektiğini bulması için önündeki ev ödevidir. 

Bir ürün ya da hizmet sunumunun pazarda nasıl yürütüleceğini, nasıl fiyatlandırılacağını, nasıl dağıtılacağını ve nasıl ilerletilebileceğini pazarlama belirler. Pazarlama sonradan sonuçları alıp değerlendirir ve sunumunu zaman içinde iyileştirir. Bu sunuma ne zaman son verileceğini de pazarlama belirler.

Bugün ürün arzının bütün ihtiyaçlarımızı karşılaması mümkün müdür ve pazarlamanın önünde duran problem karşılanacak ihtiyaçların giderek azalmış olması mıdır?

Pazarlamada hep bekleyen ihtiyaçların karşılanmasından söz ediyoruz. Hâlihazırda ihtiyaçların çoğunu karşılayacak pek çok ürün vardır. İtalyan arkadaşım Pietro Guido "İhtiyaçsız Toplum" adlı kitabında pazarlamacının tıpkı Sony’nin yeni elektrik donanım alanında yaptığı gibi, ihtiyaç yaratmasını öğrenmeleri gerektiğini ileri sürüyor. Şirketler pazar tarafından yönlendirilir olmaktan (tüketici ihtiyaçlarının yönlendirilmesi) çıkıp pazarı yönlendirici olmaya doğru kaymalıdır. Yıllar önce kimin walkman’e, dev TV ekranlarına, minicik video kameralarına, daha bir sürü şeye ihtiyacı vardı ki? Şirketlerin yeni ihtiyaçları ve yeni pazarları öngörmesi rekabetin yeni gereği olmuştur. 

Bir Şirketin Pazarlama Birimi Önünüze Yeni Fırsatlar Süremezse O Şirketin İşini Kaybedeceğini Söylediniz. Peki, Sizce O Kadar Çok Güzel Fırsat Kaldı Mı Ki?
Denebilir ki, bir ekonomideki fırsatların mutlak sayısı iş çevrimi ile teknoloji çevrimine göre değişiklik gösterir. Durgunluk dönemlerinde ve yeni teknolojilerin henüz ortaya çıkmadığı zamanlarda fırsatlar seyrek olur. 

Ama fırsatlar her zaman vardır! Göz kamaştırıcı yeni görünüm, yeni ya da büyüleyici buluşlar kataloglarını doldurmaya devam eden yeni ürünlere bir bakmak yeter. Elinde bir ürün ya da hizmet bulunan bir şirketin onları değiştirmenin, başka şeylerle birleştirmenin, farklı ölçülerde sunmanın veya onlara yeni özellikler ya da hizmetler

eklemenin yollarını bulabilmesi gerekiyor. Bir sunum farklı pazarlara göre baştan biçimlendirilmenin ötesinde, tamamen yeni bir bağlamda da ele alınabilir.

Fernando Trias de Bes ile birlikte kaleme aldığımız "Yatay Pazarlama" adlı kitapta yeni fikirler bulmak için dikey pazarlamadan (yani, dilimlere bölme) farklı olarak yaratıcı bir yaklaşım sunuluyor. Dikey pazarlama belli bir pazarın içinde işe yarar; yatay pazarlama ise ürünü yeni bir bağlamda tasavvur eder. Buna birçok örnek verilebilir. Bugün benzin istasyonlarında yiyecek alışverişi yapabiliyoruz; bir süpermarkette bankacılık işlemlerimizi halledebiliyoruz; internet kafelerde bilgisayara girebiliyoruz; cep telefonuyla resim çekebiliyoruz; sakız çiğneyerek vücudumuzda belli ilaçları alabiliyoruz; hayvan şekilli şekeri andıran kahvaltı tahılları yiyebiliyoruz. Ben fırsatların tükenmiş olduğuna inanmıyorum. Olsa olsa bazı pazar-lamacıların fırsatları görme yeteneğinin kalmadığına inanabilirim. Bir durgunluk döneminde pazarlamacılığın bozgun yaşaması gerekmiyor, yalnızca düş gücü olmayan pazarlamacılar başarısızlığa uğrarlar. 

En Berbat Pazarlama Türü Hangisidir?
Pazarlama özünde müşteri ihtiyaçlarını anlama, ona hizmet etme ve karşılamanın önemini savunan bir felsefedir. Pazarlamanın en büyük düşmanı; amacın, uzun vadeli bir müşteri yaratmaktan çok ne pahasına olursa olsun satış yapmak olduğu "vur-kaç" türü satıştır. Müşteriye olta atma, abartılı reklâm, yanıltıcı fiyatlar gibi uygulamalar pazarlama kavramına sekte vurur. 

Küreselleşme Ve Yeni Teknolojilerin Işığında Pazarlamanın Rolü Bugün Nasıl Değişmektedir?
Bildiğimiz pazarlamanın piyasa araştırması, dilimlere ayırma, hedef koyma, konumlandırma ve 4 temel oldukça yavaş değişen bir dünyadan doludizgin bir ekonomiye doğru geçerken yeni baştan kavramlaştırılması gerekiyor. 1980’li yıllarda şöyle diyorduk: ’Hazır ol, nişan al, ateş’ 1990’larda ’Hazır ol, ateş, nişan al.’ Bugünse, ’Ateş, ateş, ateş’ diyoruz. Önceden kitlesel pazarı hedef alırdık; bugün tek tek her olasılığı hedef alabiliyoruz. Eskiden oldukça uzun bir yaşam döngüsü olan ürünler üretirdik, şimdi her ürünü alıcının arzusuna göre şekillendirmeye yatkın tutuyoruz. Önceden ürünlerimize kendimiz fiyat biçerdik; şimdi fiyatı alıcılar söylüyor. İnternetin ortaya çıkması ve müşteri veri tabanlarının gelişmesi pazarlama üzerinde devrimci bir etki yaratmıştır. Bu kavramların çoğu yine geçerlidir ama yeni tercümelere ihtiyaçları vardır.

Kotler’e Göre Pazarlamada Yeni Eğilimler
*Yap-sat pazarlamacılığından ihtiyacı sez ve karşıla pazarlamacılığına,

*Varlık sahibi olmaktan marka sahipliğine,

*Dikey bütünleşmeden fiilen gerçek bütünleşmeye (dış kaynak),

*Kitle pazarlamacılığından özelliğe göre pazarlamacılığa,

*Yalnız geleneksel pazarda faaliyet göstermek yerine, internet ortamına da girmeye,

*Pazar payından müşteri payı kazanmaya,

*Müşteriyi çekmek yerine müşteriyi elde tutmak üzerinde odaklanmaya, 

*İşlem pazarlamacılığından ilişki pazarlamacılığına, 

*Müşteri kazanmaktan müşteriyi elde tutma ve müşteri memnuniyetine, 

*Aracı kullanarak pazarlamadan doğrudan pazarlamaya doğru değişim yaşanıyor.

Kaynak:Kobifinans Dergisi 12.Sayı

Report Says That the Rich Are Getting Richer Faster, Much Faster

By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON

The increase in incomes of the top 1 percent of Americans from 2003 to 2005 exceeded the total income of the poorest 20 percent of Americans, data in a new report by theCongressional Budget Office shows.

The poorest fifth of households had total income of $383.4 billion in 2005, while just the increase in income for the top 1 percent came to $524.8 billion, a figure 37 percent higher.

The total income of the top 1.1 million households was $1.8 trillion, or 18.1 percent of the total income of all Americans, up from 14.3 percent of all income in 2003. The total 2005 income of the three million individual Americans at the top was roughly equal to that of the bottom 166 million Americans, analysis of the report showed.

The report is the latest to document the growing concentration of income at the top, a trend that President Bush said last January had been under way for more than 25 years.

Earlier reports, based on tax returns, showed that in 2005 the top 10 percent, top 1 percent and fractions of the top 1 percent enjoyed their greatest share of income since 1928 and 1929.

The budget office report takes into account a broader definition of income than tax returns that is known as comprehensive income. It includes untaxed Social Security benefits, welfare, food stamps and part of the value of Medicare benefits, giving a fuller picture of incomes at the bottom than tax data.

Much of the increase at the top reflected the rebound of the stock market after its sharp drop in 2000, economists from across the political spectrum said. About half of the income going to the top 1 percent comes from investments and business.

In addition, Congress in 2003 cut taxes on long-term capital gains and most dividends, which advocates said would encourage people to turn untaxed wealth into taxable income. Some economists have said that the increase in incomes at the top is illusory and is in good part simply converting untaxed assets into taxed income to take advantage of reduced tax rates.

The Congressional Budget Office report made no attempt to explain the increases in income in its annual report on effective federal tax rates paid by people at different income levels.

Asked how much of the increase at the top was from the tax cuts rather than market gains, Peter R. Orszag, the budget office director, said, “I can’t give you an answer to that because we just don’t know.”

Chris Frenze, Republican staff director for the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, said the increase in top incomes is much more modest if viewed over longer time periods. Since 2000, he said, the average income of the top 1 percent has risen $97,900, or 6.7 percent, the same percentage increase this group had from 1992 to 1997.

Jared Bernstein, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington who characterizes the Bush administration’s policies as YOYO economics, based on You (Are) On Your Own, said the differences in income growth explained why so many Americans have told pollsters that they are feeling squeezed.

“A lot of people justifiably feel they are working harder and smarter, they are baking a bigger and better pie, and yet their slice is not growing much at all,” Mr. Bernstein said. “It is meaningless to middle- and low-income families to say we have a great economy because their economy looks so much different than folks at the top of the scale because this is an economy that is working, but not working for everyone.”

At every income level Americans had more income, after adjusting for inflation in 2005 than in 2003, but the increases ranged from almost imperceptible for the poor to modest for the middle class and largest for those at the top.

On average, incomes for the top 1 percent of households rose by $465,700 each, or 42.6 percent after adjusting for inflation. The incomes of the poorest fifth rose by $200, or 1.3 percent, and the middle fifth increased by $2,400 or 4.3 percent.

The share of all federal taxes paid by the top 1 percent grew, but only slightly more than half the rate of their growth in incomes because of the tax rate cuts. The top 1 percent paid 27.6 percent of all federal taxes in 2005, up from 22.9 percent in 2003, while the share paid by the middle fifth of taxpayers declined to 9.3 percent from 10 percent in 2003.

The share of their income that the top 1 percent paid in all federal taxes and in income taxes fell. The total tax rate dropped 1.8 percentage points, to 31.2 percent, from 2003 to 2005 while their average income tax rate declined one percentage point, to 19.4 percent, largely because of the cuts in taxes on capital gains and dividends.

Source:http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/business/15rich.html