Few emails that you should be ready to read after the financial meltdown.

General Electric Co., GE investing – Sign up for Money Morning’s free daily investment e-newsletter and you’ll receive your FREE copy of this just-released report on GE’s stock performance:

General Electric: Buy, Sell or Hold?

In this FREE investor’s report, a top analyst details whether traders should buy, sell or hold GE

Enter your email below for the GE Buy/Hold/Sell Play:

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What investor wouldn’t want to own General Electric Co. (GE)?

The 132-year-old company is the oldest Dow Jones stock, but the secret to its longevity is its ability to profit from tomorrow’s big trends – beginning with Thomas Edison’s vision of electric lamps in every household.

For the past couple decades, GE has been planting seeds in rapidly growing (and energy-starved) emerging markets: from Latin America, to Northern Africa, to Eastern Europe, and of course China.

And all the while, it’s also raised its dividend almost every year.

But many Wall Street insiders were shocked when GE missed earnings this year, causing the stock to sharply sell off.

Bottom line: Is GE a buy… especially at a discount? Or will it continue to slide?

The answer is in this free report…

Access to the remainder of our investor report is reserved for Money Morning subscribers. To join our FREE investor community, simply sign up below…You will also begin to receive our reports on the global equity boom, free of charge.In addition to this free investment report, we’ll send you a free report about the hottest investments in Asia to your e-mail address.

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The day has come for Google to realise that they can boost their revenues by hundred of millions specially during this financial crisis. I would say it could reach 1 Billion extra pounds for Google during the next coming 8 months.

Don’t promote online gambling or related sites when targeting ads outside Great Britain.

Advertising for the promotion of online gambling websites is not permitted to target locations outside Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales). Ads for online gambling will not be displayed in other countries.

Online gambling includes, but is not limited to, the following:

* sports books and sports betting
* lotteries
* bingo
* poker
* sites that provide tips, odds, and handicapping
* software facilitating online casinos and gambling
* gambling tutoring online
* gambling-related eBooks
* ‘play for fun’ gambling or casino games of skill including sites where the primary purpose is ‘play for fun’ gambling
* affiliate sites with the primary purpose of driving traffic to online gambling sites

Advertising online gambling in Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales)

Google AdWords allows online gambling advertisements to target Great Britain (England, Scotland, or Wales) as long as the advertiser is registered with the Gambling Commission and provides a valid operating license number. Advertisers based outside the UK and within the European Economic Area who wish to target online gambling ads to England, Scotland, or Wales must be licensed to advertise online gambling in their respective country.

If you meet the above requirements and want to get started, review our Great Britain gambling application process below.

Great Britain gambling application process

To apply to advertise online gambling with Google AdWords, you will need to:
- Create a new Google AdWords account solely for your gambling campaigns (this applies to both new and existing advertisers).
- Fill in the application form and legal declaration. Please be sure to submit your new AdWords Customer ID, located at the top of any of your account pages. To ensure the quick progress of your application, fill in all of the requested information. We will review your request as quickly as possible and let you know whether we were able to approve your application or not.

Application to Advertise Online Gambling in Great Britain
Google Ireland Limited
Gordon House, Barrow Street
Dublin 4, Ireland
Tel: +353 1 436 1000
Fax: +353 1 436 1005

At this time, Google AdWords only allows online gambling advertisements targeted to Great Britain (England, Scotland, or Wales) where the advertiser has a valid licence for the remote advertised gambling activities in the UK, Malta, Isle of Man, Alderney, Gibraltar, or Tasmania. If you are licensed outside these jurisdictions but within the European Economic Area (EEA), we will need to consider your application further. To apply to advertise online gambling with Google AdWords, you will need to:

1. Create a new Google AdWords account solely for your gambling campaigns (this applies to both new and existing advertisers).
2. Complete the application and declaration form below. Please be sure to submit your new account’s ID in the AdWords Customer ID field.

To ensure the quick progress of your application, please provide all of the requested information.

* indicates a required field.
Customer Details
* Full Customer Name :
* Customer Registered Address :
* Contact Name :
* Address :
* Telephone :
* Email :
Subject : Application for Gambling Advertising
AdWords Account Details
* Website(s)
This must be the website(s) to which the Gambling Advertising relates. :
* AdWords Customer ID
This must be the ID for your account to which the Gambling Advertising relates.
Format: XXX-XXX-XXXX :
Previous AdWords Customer ID
If already have an AdWords account that you use for advertising content unrelated to online gambling please specify the ID here.
Format: XXX-XXX-XXXX :
Gambling Licence Details
* Licensee
The Licensee may be a different entity to the Customer if the Licensee subcontracts its gambling operations to a third party. :
* Licence Number :
* Territory in which licence held :
* Regulatory Authority :
* Date of Licence
Format: dd/mm/yyyy :
* Term of Licence
format: dd/mm/yyyy :
* Attach a copy of your licence
Copy of license must be attached to this form or application will be rejected. (“the Licence”) :
Additional Terms

1. Your use of the Adwords Programme is subject at all times to your acceptance of and compliance with these Additional Terms and the Adwords terms and conditions, currently located at adwords.google.co.uk/select/tsandcsfinder, which are incorporated by reference (the “Advertising Gambling Terms and Conditions”). A defined term used in these Additional Terms which is not defined in these Additional Terms shall have the same meaning as set out in the Adwords terms and conditions. “Gambling Advertising” means any advertisements for gambling activities submitted to the Programme by you or on your behalf pursuant to these Advertising Gambling Terms and Conditions.
2. You further warrant, represent, and undertake that:
1. all Gambling Advertisements will comply with the terms of the Licence and all applicable laws, regulations and any relevant codes of practice, including but not limited to the Gambling Act 2005, the CAP Code, the Gambling Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising and the Gambling Commission Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice;
2. the Gambling Advertisements do not relate to any activities which constitute foreign gambling for the purposes of the Gambling Act 2005 section 331;
3. either you and/or the Licensee hold a valid licence or other permission for your advertised gambling activities which is required by the Gambling Act 2005;
4. you will carry a prominent link to www.gambleaware.co.uk and/or www.gamcare.org.uk on the first web page to which an end user is directed from a Gambling Advertisement, or you will otherwise display such link prominently on the Website(s) before an end user is able to gamble or required to enter any personal data; and
5. with respect to your gambling activities, you will not invite, encourage or permit under eighteens to gamble (save to the extent permitted by UK legislation) and will maintain appropriate age verification systems and procedures, including:
1. warning potential end users that underage gambling is an offence;
2. requiring end users to affirm that they are of legal age;
3. regularly reviewing your age verification systems; and
4. ensuring that relevant staff are properly trained in the use of age verification systems.
3. If you subcontract the provision of your gambling activities and/or Gambling Advertisements in whole or in part to any third parties including but not limited to the Licensee, any agency or affiliate entities, or any of your associated companies (“Affiliates”), you are responsible for compliance with these Advertising Gambling Terms and Conditions by such Affiliates and for any acts or omissions of the Affiliates pursuant to these Advertising Gambling Terms and Conditions.
4. If the Licence is terminated, you must immediately inform Google and remove all Gambling Advertisements from the Adwords Programme.
5. If the Licence is amended in any way, you must immediately inform Google and send an updated copy of the licence as soon as possible, together with an explanation of the changes in so far as they relate to the advertising of your gambling activities lawfully in Great Britain.
6. You must inform Google immediately if you are the subject of any ruling by the Gambling Commission, the ASA, any other legal or regulatory authority, or any industry body, that may be relevant to the Gambling Advertisements.
7. You are currently only permitted to display Gambling Advertisements within England, Scotland and Wales. If you attempt to set your account to target other jurisdictions, without prejudice to any other remedies which we may have, we may terminate your account immediately.
8. Customer shall indemnify and defend Google, its agents, affiliates, directors, officers, employees and Partners (“Google Indemnified Persons”) from and against any claims, losses, liabilities, expenses, damages and settlement amounts (including legal fees and costs) incurred by any Google Indemnified Person(s) arising out of Customer’s or any Affiliate’s breach of these Advertising Gambling Terms and Conditions.
9. Unless otherwise indicated by Google, Gambling Advertisements will not appear on Partner Properties.
10. No binding agreement is entered into until such time as Google notifies you that your application has been accepted. Google reserves the right to terminate the Gambling Advertisements at any time in accordance with its rights set out in the Adwords terms and conditions, or if it otherwise decides to no longer include gambling advertisements as part of the Adwords Programme.

I HAVE READ AND ACCEPT THE ADVERTISING GAMBLING TERMS AND CONDITIONS. I AM DULY AUTHORISED TO ACCEPT THE ADVERTISING GAMBLING TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR AND ON BEHALF OF CUSTOMER.

I waited so long to read some posts from Hal. Varian where I knew him first from Paris Dauphine Unieversity and his book Information Rules that he wrote with Shapiro.
Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy

There’s some interest in how and why “quality scores” are used in search engine ad auctions. In this post, we will try to describe “why” we use quality scores; a later post will go into “how,” including more information about bids.

Hal Varian Shoots and Scores Google Ad Quality Auctions

When a user types a query into a search engine, it will typically return both natural search results and advertisements. Google and other major search engines use an ad auction to determine which ads are shown and how much advertisers pay for them.

In the auctions, advertisers enter bids that reflect how much they are willing to pay for a click on their ad — this is called their maximum cost per click (CPC). Ads are then ordered by the product of the bid that is entered and the estimated ad quality score. People often ask why ad quality enters the formula — isn’t the bid per click enough? Why can’t advertisers just buy their way to to the top ad position? To see why both components are important, let us look at a simple example.

Suppose that two advertisers are bidding on the keyword “jet airplane.” Joe’s Jets is selling actual jet airplanes, while Moe’s Models is selling models of jet airplanes. Since jets are expensive, Joe is willing to pay a lot per click. But not many people can afford to buy jets, so Joe won’t get many clicks. Moe, by contrast, is willing to pay a lot less per click, but he will also get many more clicks.

Which ad should be listed higher in the “sponsored links” section of the search results page?

What matters in this decision is not simply an advertiser’s value for a single click -– the maximum CPC that the advertiser is willing to pay — but rather the total estimated value of showing that ad: the value per click times the number of clicks that the ad is likely to receive.

The number of clicks that the ad is likely to receive depends on the historical clickthrough rate, which is an important component of the ad quality score. Thus the bid per click times the quality score gives us an estimate of the total value of displaying an ad over time. Joe’s ad may have a higher value for a single click, but if Moe’s ad gets a lot more clicks over time, it could easily have a greater total value. In that case, Moe’s ad will be shown in the more prominent position. (Click on the image to view larger.)

The quality score gives search engines a way of aligning the incentives of the buyers, the sellers, and the viewers of ads. The search engine wants to sell ad impressions, but advertisers want to pay for clicks. The solution is for advertisers to bid on a cost-per-click basis, while the search engine estimates the total value of the ad over time: bid per click times the expected number of clicks.

This is a neat way to align incentives, but it has a problem: since the advertiser only pays on a per click basis, it may as well seek as many ad impressions as it can so that as many users as possible will be exposed to the ad. Joe might well want to buy the keywords “rocket ship” even if he only has jets to sell. Why not? Joe only has to pay if someone actually clicks on the ad.

This is where another distinct, but related quality issue arises: an ad that gets very few clicks shouldn’t really be shown. It is just distracting from the viewpoint of users. The advertisers may not care much about annoying users but the search engine certainly does. Why? Because if it shows a lot of irrelevant ads, people will likely stop looking at or clicking on ads. They may develop a terrible affliction known in the trade as “ads blindness.” Better ad relevance leads to a better user experience.

So search engines often apply a “disabling rule” that inhibits ads with very low clickthrough rates for a given query from being shown. Or they might set a relatively high minimum cost per click for ads that don’t attract much interest from users as a way to discourage advertisers from showing ads that annoy users and deliver few clicks. A high cost per click can easily be consistent with a low cost per impression when clickthrough rates are low.

So why are quality scores important? Answer: they lead to a better auction by allowing advertisers to buy clicks, publishers to sell impressions, and users to see relevant ads.

Posted by Hal Varian, Chief Economist

I recommend you to read this part of his book Information Rules:

# Recognizing Lock-In

* Examples of lock-in
o Bell Atlantic
o Çomputer Associates
o Aircraft repair and cargo conversion
o Small switching costs matter
o Switching costs are ubiquitous
* Valuing an installed base of customers
* Classification of lock-in
o Contractual commitments
o Durable purchases
o Brand-specific training
o Information and databases
o Specialized suppliers
o Search costs
o Loyalty programs
* Suppliers and partners face lock-in, too
* The lock-in cycle
* Lessons

# Managing Lock-In

* Lock-in strategy for buyers
o Bargaining before you become locked-in
o Keeping your options open
* Summary of lock-in strategy for buyers
* Lock-in strategy for sellers

“The Lonely Planet guide is yet another resounding vote of confidence in Beirut.

View Larger Map

-

World’s top 10 cities for 2009 by LonelyPlanet.com:

Antwerp

Beirut (Lebanon Map)

More videos about Lebanon:

Chicago

Glasgow

Lisbon

Mexico City

Sao Paulo, Brazil

Shanghai

Warsaw

Zurich

Source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/oct/15/glasgow-scotland
http://www.lebanon-hotels.com

Please ask this question whenever you meet a marketing consultant:

What’s Your Bailiwick?

Each situation is a multiplayer game, either you win or you loose?
No one of course like to loose but at the end of the day there is always loosers and winners.

What is it what you have to say to people to get them take actions you want them to take? How would you say that?

Mr. Marketing consultant: How can you help me?

Marketing consultant answer:
I would be managing your Total Marketing Effort : ( he means he will spend your whole marketing budget and if he can get some from the production budget, he will do it)

Is your marketing consultant specialized in Developing and Implementing Results Oriented Marketing Programs for Entrepreneurs?

Bailiwick comes from Middle English baillifwik, from baillif, “bailiff” (ultimately from Latin bajulus, “porter, carrier”) + wik, “town,” from Old English wic, from Latin vicus, “village.”