very online business is in need of successful online marketing. This is done through the aid of various factors that serve as the very foundation of every business. One of which is the email which was often taken for granted and misused by online marketers before. Nowadays, more and more online entrepreneurs are starting to realize the true potential of business email marketing by way of email newsletters.
It is through email newsletters that an entrepreneur gets to successfully build a firm relationship with his customers. This type of business email marketing arrives to its recipients on a semi-regular basis that comprise various types of useful and interesting details. Basically, it includes useful internet links, reviews of new products, computer tips, introduction of newly offered products or services, news stories, and a whole lot more.
These emails are then usually ended with short statements and your contact details. For some, writing newsletters can be hard and challenging. This is why there are those that resort to hiring themselves a writer to do the job for them. This also comes to be effective as writers are also capable of coming up with effective email newsletters.
Newsletters can either come in plain text or HTML formats. Emails made out of HTML are like web pages from which you are given with various tools to use for graphics, fonts, and other details. However, the downside is that HTML emails have a much greater risk of viruses and the larger fill size. Email client incompatibility can also occur with HTML emails. This is sometimes the reason why a lot of online firms and entrepreneurs prefer plain texts for their emails.
Email newsletters in pain text forms are also more appropriate to use as it displays formality and is the common choice of readers. In business email marketing, you sometimes have to be able to determine which particular option works best for your online business.
It is through newsletters that entrepreneurs are able to stay in touch with their prospects. This is very effective as customers are sure to think of your business first whenever they are in need of purchasing a product or service you are offering. Newsletters should also provide customers the opportunity of automatically unsubscribing with the service any time they want.
Newsletters are indeed very effective in successfully promoting an online business. Airlines, telecommunications companies, and banks use newsletters to make their businesses clearly visible to their targeted customers.
One of the most important things that must be greatly considered in email newsletters is the use of an opt-in approach. In this type of strategy, subscribers are obliged to validate their email addresses through the links sent to their emails. This greatly helps an online marketer to avoid any fake sign-ups which is often the case of today. From this discussion, you can clearly see the vital role that is being played by newsletters when it comes to effective business email marketing.
Andie Riley is a marketing professional that has developed and utilized email marketing systems his whole career. For more on email newsletter service and business email marketing.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andie_Riley
Jumat, 04 Desember 2009
Strategic Marketing
Once your in business for yourself, it's easy to get tied up with the day to day operational activities that it take to be profitable and successful in your chosen business. With all the demands on the time of a busy business owner it's become increasingly difficult to manage a comprehensive marketing program that will drive more and more qualified customers to your business.
This is the first part of a series called "Marketing 101-Develop your Ideal marketing plan"
Step one: Needs analysis
The first step in developing your marketing plan is to do a needs analysis for your particular business. Each business has specific types of needs, there is no one size fits all when it comes to an Ideal marketing plan. your needs analysis should begin with a close look at what the current marketing strategy is. What sort of programs have been used in the past and what has been the result of those efforts.
What are the areas of your business you feel offer the most potential for increase in sales and profits?
What is going be your target market?
What sort of specialty products and services do you offer?
How much are you going to budget for your on going marketing activities?
Who are your customers and where are they coming from?
What do you feel will be an acceptable return on your marketing dollars?
What are your competitive advantages in your particular business?
Are you competing strictly on price or are there other factors to consider?
These are some of very important first steps to consider before you fire off thousands of dollars in advertising money and take a wait and see what happens approach to your program. Marketing is a essential and vital part of your business and if managed properly can lead to greater profits and greater satisfaction.
MVP Marketing
Create * Execute * Profit
Specialty marketing services for today's small business owner
http://www.mvpmarketing.org
Get a FREE no obligation Marketing Consultation
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Scott_Florin
Scott Florin - EzineArticles Expert Author
This is the first part of a series called "Marketing 101-Develop your Ideal marketing plan"
Step one: Needs analysis
The first step in developing your marketing plan is to do a needs analysis for your particular business. Each business has specific types of needs, there is no one size fits all when it comes to an Ideal marketing plan. your needs analysis should begin with a close look at what the current marketing strategy is. What sort of programs have been used in the past and what has been the result of those efforts.
What are the areas of your business you feel offer the most potential for increase in sales and profits?
What is going be your target market?
What sort of specialty products and services do you offer?
How much are you going to budget for your on going marketing activities?
Who are your customers and where are they coming from?
What do you feel will be an acceptable return on your marketing dollars?
What are your competitive advantages in your particular business?
Are you competing strictly on price or are there other factors to consider?
These are some of very important first steps to consider before you fire off thousands of dollars in advertising money and take a wait and see what happens approach to your program. Marketing is a essential and vital part of your business and if managed properly can lead to greater profits and greater satisfaction.
MVP Marketing
Create * Execute * Profit
Specialty marketing services for today's small business owner
http://www.mvpmarketing.org
Get a FREE no obligation Marketing Consultation
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Scott_Florin
Scott Florin - EzineArticles Expert Author
Purchasing Trends Of Tendering Department
Departmental Requirements
The central & provincial governments comprise a wide range of ministries which look after many relevant departments, with even a wide range of purchasing requirements.
If you want to start tender business or want to expand your business or want to expand your existing tendering setup, it is very important to research and identify some specific departments and ensure to match your goods & services with the requirements of these departments.
Once you are confident that your products fulfill the requirements & specifications of the items demanded in the tender, you are in a position to invest your earnest money, and you will be able to execute the contract on time, if the tender is awarded to you, only then you should seriously consider about participating in the tender.
Purchasing trends
Whereas in the past suppliers may have sold specific products to the departments, these same departments may now buy these products as the part of a wider service. This may mean you have to market yourself to the main contractor instead of the department or possibly be prepared to initiate or enter joint ventures which can offer complete service solutions.
Similarly, as more government activities are outsourced, the relationships between purchasers & suppliers have become increasingly important. Government buyers are seeking reliable supply partnership, which can provide not only basic goods and service, but can add value to the process. Suppliers who can provide innovative and cost effective solutions to purchasing requirements are viewed far more favorably than those who simply supply goods & services.
For its part, the government is encouraging the departments to support "local" suppliers whenever possible if the quality of the goods is according to the specifications of the indent.
In the following pages we are providing a list of various departments of central and provincial governments. Please read carefully and select a few departments where you want to get enrolled as a registered contractor. You can also study the previous tenders already awarded to different contractors by these departments to gain an insight to what the departments actually needs and what are the usual terms and conditions for pre-qualification. In this way you can save a lot of time and you will only participate in those tenders which suits best to your firm.
Dr.Irfan Ahmad is the Chief Editor of http://www.tenderserviceonline.com and CEO Tender Service Pakistan.He has twenty years of experience in providing tender information services to the clients. He has written two books on tendering by the name of "Managing Tender Business" and "Combating Procurement Frauds"
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr_Irfan_Ahmad
Dr Irfan Ahmad - EzineArticles Expert Author
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The central & provincial governments comprise a wide range of ministries which look after many relevant departments, with even a wide range of purchasing requirements.
If you want to start tender business or want to expand your business or want to expand your existing tendering setup, it is very important to research and identify some specific departments and ensure to match your goods & services with the requirements of these departments.
Once you are confident that your products fulfill the requirements & specifications of the items demanded in the tender, you are in a position to invest your earnest money, and you will be able to execute the contract on time, if the tender is awarded to you, only then you should seriously consider about participating in the tender.
Purchasing trends
Whereas in the past suppliers may have sold specific products to the departments, these same departments may now buy these products as the part of a wider service. This may mean you have to market yourself to the main contractor instead of the department or possibly be prepared to initiate or enter joint ventures which can offer complete service solutions.
Similarly, as more government activities are outsourced, the relationships between purchasers & suppliers have become increasingly important. Government buyers are seeking reliable supply partnership, which can provide not only basic goods and service, but can add value to the process. Suppliers who can provide innovative and cost effective solutions to purchasing requirements are viewed far more favorably than those who simply supply goods & services.
For its part, the government is encouraging the departments to support "local" suppliers whenever possible if the quality of the goods is according to the specifications of the indent.
In the following pages we are providing a list of various departments of central and provincial governments. Please read carefully and select a few departments where you want to get enrolled as a registered contractor. You can also study the previous tenders already awarded to different contractors by these departments to gain an insight to what the departments actually needs and what are the usual terms and conditions for pre-qualification. In this way you can save a lot of time and you will only participate in those tenders which suits best to your firm.
Dr.Irfan Ahmad is the Chief Editor of http://www.tenderserviceonline.com and CEO Tender Service Pakistan.He has twenty years of experience in providing tender information services to the clients. He has written two books on tendering by the name of "Managing Tender Business" and "Combating Procurement Frauds"
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr_Irfan_Ahmad
Dr Irfan Ahmad - EzineArticles Expert Author
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The 6th Product Manager Sense
Does the recession have you down? How's your product doing - nobody buying, nobody interested? Cheer up - it turns out that this is actually the best time to be a product manager. Recessions are some of the best times for product managers to create new products that shake up the market and make your existing customers want you even more. The secret is to realize that what you have to do is to challenge convention...
What Does A Product Manager Need To Do To Survive A Recession?
If you decide to hunker down and try to wait out the current recession, then what you are really doing is acting like a blade of grass that doesn't realize that the lawnmower will eventually come around and get it. All product managers know that ideas are cheap. You don't have to spend a lot of money to solve problems with your product, instead what you do need to spend is that most precious of all resources: your time.
Dr. Andrew Razeghi is an author, consultant, and teacher at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management who has written about how to prosper in tough times. He has some suggestions for all of us.
He points out that product managers only need three things in order to innovate: ideas, talent, and capital. As we are all probably painfully aware of, your company is probably currently totally focused on capital and what they can do to conserve it.
Just so that we're all on the same page here, let us agree that the right thing to be doing is to be mindful of capital spending even as we stay in front of our customers so that we can hear what they are telling us. We then need to use this information to make investments in our product that will pay off in the long term.
The Worst Thing That A Product Manager Can Do
Right now the #1 thing that most product managers don't want to do is go out and be in front of our customers - why bother, nobody's buying. This is exactly the wrong thing to do. Cutting off communication with your customers is (always) a terrible thing to do.
When your customers and potential customers stop hearing from you this causes them to start to wonder. They start to think to themselves "Are these guys still in business?", "Should I buy from them - are they stable?", etc.
The right thing to do now is to find more ways to stay in contact with your customers. Your goal needs to be to do everything that you can to increase your customer's confidence not only in your product, but also in the company that stands behind that product.
What Should A Product Manager Be Doing?
Saying that you should be challenging convention is one thing and actually doing it is something else. Forget about flashy Superbowl ads, the key thing to remember is that anything that you can do that will save your customers time or make their job easier will always be relevant and interesting to them.
In this age of Internet-everything, one possible way for a product manager to make his / her product more relevant to their customers is to engage in some sensory branding with your customers. This sounds all new-agey, but it's really a very old concept.
Product marketing that is done over the Internet can only really appeal to one of your customer's senses: sight. That leaves four others that are not being used. If you can find a way to engage two or more of these senses, then you've got a much better chance of making a lasting connection with your customer.
This could be as simple as postal mailing a letter to your customer that is printed on heavy parchment paper. It has been shown that people still trust what they read on paper more than what they read on a screen. The use of heavy paper will appeal to your customer's sense of touch and will add "weight" to your words.
What All Of This Means For You
It's all too easy to get yourself down during a recession - your sales are slipping and everyone (including your customers) seems to be in a blue funk. Hold on a minute, since when were you ever taught to do exactly what everyone else is doing?
Since no product manager ever made their product a success by following the herd, this is exactly the time for you to try different things - what's the risk? One simple and effective technique that any product manager can try is to study how they are currently connecting with their customers. The next step is to build on this and find ways to engage more of your customer's senses in order to build their interest in and desire for your product.
These are both the best of times and worst of times. As a successful product manager you need to take action to make sure that both you and your product come out of it ahead of the pack.
Dr. Jim Anderson
http://www.TheAccidentalPM.com
Dr. Jim Anderson has been a product manger at small start-ups as well as at some of the world's largest IT shops. Dr. Anderson realizes that for a product to be successful, it takes an entire company working together. He'll share his insights and guidance on how to make your products a fantastic success.
Subscribe to the FREE Accidental Product Manager newsletter to get the information that you need to have a successful product and a successful career. Go here to to get your free subscription: http://tinyurl.com/p4ru9d
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Jim_Anderson
What Does A Product Manager Need To Do To Survive A Recession?
If you decide to hunker down and try to wait out the current recession, then what you are really doing is acting like a blade of grass that doesn't realize that the lawnmower will eventually come around and get it. All product managers know that ideas are cheap. You don't have to spend a lot of money to solve problems with your product, instead what you do need to spend is that most precious of all resources: your time.
Dr. Andrew Razeghi is an author, consultant, and teacher at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management who has written about how to prosper in tough times. He has some suggestions for all of us.
He points out that product managers only need three things in order to innovate: ideas, talent, and capital. As we are all probably painfully aware of, your company is probably currently totally focused on capital and what they can do to conserve it.
Just so that we're all on the same page here, let us agree that the right thing to be doing is to be mindful of capital spending even as we stay in front of our customers so that we can hear what they are telling us. We then need to use this information to make investments in our product that will pay off in the long term.
The Worst Thing That A Product Manager Can Do
Right now the #1 thing that most product managers don't want to do is go out and be in front of our customers - why bother, nobody's buying. This is exactly the wrong thing to do. Cutting off communication with your customers is (always) a terrible thing to do.
When your customers and potential customers stop hearing from you this causes them to start to wonder. They start to think to themselves "Are these guys still in business?", "Should I buy from them - are they stable?", etc.
The right thing to do now is to find more ways to stay in contact with your customers. Your goal needs to be to do everything that you can to increase your customer's confidence not only in your product, but also in the company that stands behind that product.
What Should A Product Manager Be Doing?
Saying that you should be challenging convention is one thing and actually doing it is something else. Forget about flashy Superbowl ads, the key thing to remember is that anything that you can do that will save your customers time or make their job easier will always be relevant and interesting to them.
In this age of Internet-everything, one possible way for a product manager to make his / her product more relevant to their customers is to engage in some sensory branding with your customers. This sounds all new-agey, but it's really a very old concept.
Product marketing that is done over the Internet can only really appeal to one of your customer's senses: sight. That leaves four others that are not being used. If you can find a way to engage two or more of these senses, then you've got a much better chance of making a lasting connection with your customer.
This could be as simple as postal mailing a letter to your customer that is printed on heavy parchment paper. It has been shown that people still trust what they read on paper more than what they read on a screen. The use of heavy paper will appeal to your customer's sense of touch and will add "weight" to your words.
What All Of This Means For You
It's all too easy to get yourself down during a recession - your sales are slipping and everyone (including your customers) seems to be in a blue funk. Hold on a minute, since when were you ever taught to do exactly what everyone else is doing?
Since no product manager ever made their product a success by following the herd, this is exactly the time for you to try different things - what's the risk? One simple and effective technique that any product manager can try is to study how they are currently connecting with their customers. The next step is to build on this and find ways to engage more of your customer's senses in order to build their interest in and desire for your product.
These are both the best of times and worst of times. As a successful product manager you need to take action to make sure that both you and your product come out of it ahead of the pack.
Dr. Jim Anderson
http://www.TheAccidentalPM.com
Dr. Jim Anderson has been a product manger at small start-ups as well as at some of the world's largest IT shops. Dr. Anderson realizes that for a product to be successful, it takes an entire company working together. He'll share his insights and guidance on how to make your products a fantastic success.
Subscribe to the FREE Accidental Product Manager newsletter to get the information that you need to have a successful product and a successful career. Go here to to get your free subscription: http://tinyurl.com/p4ru9d
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Jim_Anderson
Selasa, 01 Desember 2009
E-book Mindset Bisnis
berbisnis online di jaman yang serba TI seperti agaknya telah menjadi pilihan yang cukup menjanjikan,buat anda yang merasa bosan untuk terus jadi pekerja dan ingin berusaha untuk mandiri dan kerja santai di rumah, bsinis online bisa jadi pilihan
bayangkan! cukup bermodalkan komputer, dan koneksi internet (lewat warnet juga bisa) anda bisa berbisnis, meraup rupiah atau dollar dll.
mau tahu cara bisnis online?terlebih dahulu kita harus punya mindset dan rencana bisnis yang mumpuni, nah ada E-book bagus neh
download disini yaa
[url=http://sharecash.org/download.php?file=169250]http://sharecash.org/download.php?file=169250[/url]
bayangkan! cukup bermodalkan komputer, dan koneksi internet (lewat warnet juga bisa) anda bisa berbisnis, meraup rupiah atau dollar dll.
mau tahu cara bisnis online?terlebih dahulu kita harus punya mindset dan rencana bisnis yang mumpuni, nah ada E-book bagus neh
download disini yaa
[url=http://sharecash.org/download.php?file=169250]http://sharecash.org/download.php?file=169250[/url]
Alexa
nama di atas bukanlah nama sebuah band yaa haha
Alexa Internet, Inc. is a California based subsidiary company of Amazon.com that is known for its toolbar and website. Once installed, the toolbar collects data on browsing behavior which is transmitted to the website where it is stored and analyzed and is the basis for the company's web traffic reporting.
The company's premises are in Building 37 of the Presidio of San Francisco in San Francisco, California.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Operations and history
* 2 Accuracy of ranking by the Alexa Toolbar
* 3 Redesign and new statistics
* 4 Spyware
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 External links
[edit] Operations and history
Alexa Internet was founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat[2] claiming it would improve internet searching by tracking user decisions and using that data to aid future searches.
The company's name was chosen in homage to the Library of Alexandria,[3] drawing a parallel between the largest repository of knowledge in the ancient world to the potential for the Internet if the alleged search problem could be solved. In addition, ALEXA was originally an abbreviation for Address Lookup EXperts Authority.
The company offered a toolbar that gave Internet users suggestions on where to go next, based on the traffic patterns of its user community. Alexa also offered context for each site visited: to whom it was registered, how many pages it had, how many other sites pointed to it, and how frequently it was updated.[4]
Alexa includes archiving of webpages as they are crawled. This database served as the basis for the creation of the Internet Archive (also located in the Presidio) and its Wayback Machine.[5] Alexa continues to supply the Internet Archive with web crawls.
In 1999, Alexa was acquired by Amazon.com for about $250 million in Amazon stock[6] as the company moved away from its original vision of providing an 'intelligent' search engine. Alexa began a partnership with Google in spring 2002, and with the Open Directory Project in January 2003.[1] In May 2006, Amazon replaced Google with Live Search as a provider of search results.[7] In September 2006, they began using their own Search Platform[clarification needed] to serve results. In December 2006, they released Alexa Image Search. Built in-house, it is the first major application to be built on their Web Platform.
Alexa has "site info"[clarification needed] for the A9.com search engine.
In December 2005, Alexa opened its extensive search index and web-crawling facilities to third party programs through a comprehensive set of web services and APIs. These could be used, for instance, to construct vertical search engines that could run on Alexa's own servers or elsewhere. In May 2007, Alexa changed their API to require comparisons be limited to 3 sites, reduced size embedded graphs be shown using Flash, and mandatory embedded BritePic ads.[8]
In April 2007, the lawsuit Alexa v. Hornbaker was filed to stop trademark infringement by the statsaholic service.[9] In the lawsuit, Alexa alleges that Hornbaker is stealing traffic graphs for profit, and that the primary purpose of his site is to display graphs that are generated by Alexa's servers.[10][11] Hornbaker removed the term Alexa from his service name on March 19, 2007.[12] Nevertheless, Alexa expressly grants permission to refer its data in third-party work subject to suitable credits.[13]
On November 27, 2008, Amazon announced that Alexa Web Search was no longer accepting new customers, and the service would be deprecated or discontinued for existing customers on January 26, 2009.[14]
[edit] Accuracy of ranking by the Alexa Toolbar
Main article: Alexa Toolbar
Alexa ranks sites based on tracking information of users of its Alexa Toolbar for Internet Explorer and from integrated sidebars in Mozilla and Netscape.
There is some controversy over how representative Alexa's user base is of typical Internet behavior. If Alexa's user base is a fair statistical sample of the Internet user population (e.g., a random sample of sufficient size), Alexa's ranking should be quite accurate. In reality, not much is known about the sample and possible sampling biases. Alexa itself notes several examples.[13] A known source of bias is the self-selecting, opt-in nature of Alexa traffic tracking software installation, but the significance of this bias on rankings is not reported.[clarification needed][13]
On April 16, 2008 many users reported dramatic shifts in their Alexa rankings. Alexa confirmed this later in the day with an announcement that they had released the new Alexa ranking system, claiming that they now take into account more data sources "beyond Alexa Toolbar users".[15]
[edit] Redesign and new statistics
On March 31, 2009 Alexa.com got a complete redesign and new metrics including: Pageviews per User, Bounce Rate, and Time on Site.[16] In the following weeks they added new features including Demographics, Clickstream and Search Traffic stats.[17]
[edit] Spyware
The Alexa toolbar is regarded by many vendors, such as Symantec and McAfee, as spyware. Symantec classifies the toolbar as trackware.[18] McAfee classifies it as Adware, a "Potentially Unwanted Program."[19] McAfee Site Advisor rates the Alexa website as yellow, with the warning:
"In our tests, we found downloads on this site that some people consider adware, spyware or other potentiall
Alexa Internet, Inc. is a California based subsidiary company of Amazon.com that is known for its toolbar and website. Once installed, the toolbar collects data on browsing behavior which is transmitted to the website where it is stored and analyzed and is the basis for the company's web traffic reporting.
The company's premises are in Building 37 of the Presidio of San Francisco in San Francisco, California.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Operations and history
* 2 Accuracy of ranking by the Alexa Toolbar
* 3 Redesign and new statistics
* 4 Spyware
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 External links
[edit] Operations and history
Alexa Internet was founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat[2] claiming it would improve internet searching by tracking user decisions and using that data to aid future searches.
The company's name was chosen in homage to the Library of Alexandria,[3] drawing a parallel between the largest repository of knowledge in the ancient world to the potential for the Internet if the alleged search problem could be solved. In addition, ALEXA was originally an abbreviation for Address Lookup EXperts Authority.
The company offered a toolbar that gave Internet users suggestions on where to go next, based on the traffic patterns of its user community. Alexa also offered context for each site visited: to whom it was registered, how many pages it had, how many other sites pointed to it, and how frequently it was updated.[4]
Alexa includes archiving of webpages as they are crawled. This database served as the basis for the creation of the Internet Archive (also located in the Presidio) and its Wayback Machine.[5] Alexa continues to supply the Internet Archive with web crawls.
In 1999, Alexa was acquired by Amazon.com for about $250 million in Amazon stock[6] as the company moved away from its original vision of providing an 'intelligent' search engine. Alexa began a partnership with Google in spring 2002, and with the Open Directory Project in January 2003.[1] In May 2006, Amazon replaced Google with Live Search as a provider of search results.[7] In September 2006, they began using their own Search Platform[clarification needed] to serve results. In December 2006, they released Alexa Image Search. Built in-house, it is the first major application to be built on their Web Platform.
Alexa has "site info"[clarification needed] for the A9.com search engine.
In December 2005, Alexa opened its extensive search index and web-crawling facilities to third party programs through a comprehensive set of web services and APIs. These could be used, for instance, to construct vertical search engines that could run on Alexa's own servers or elsewhere. In May 2007, Alexa changed their API to require comparisons be limited to 3 sites, reduced size embedded graphs be shown using Flash, and mandatory embedded BritePic ads.[8]
In April 2007, the lawsuit Alexa v. Hornbaker was filed to stop trademark infringement by the statsaholic service.[9] In the lawsuit, Alexa alleges that Hornbaker is stealing traffic graphs for profit, and that the primary purpose of his site is to display graphs that are generated by Alexa's servers.[10][11] Hornbaker removed the term Alexa from his service name on March 19, 2007.[12] Nevertheless, Alexa expressly grants permission to refer its data in third-party work subject to suitable credits.[13]
On November 27, 2008, Amazon announced that Alexa Web Search was no longer accepting new customers, and the service would be deprecated or discontinued for existing customers on January 26, 2009.[14]
[edit] Accuracy of ranking by the Alexa Toolbar
Main article: Alexa Toolbar
Alexa ranks sites based on tracking information of users of its Alexa Toolbar for Internet Explorer and from integrated sidebars in Mozilla and Netscape.
There is some controversy over how representative Alexa's user base is of typical Internet behavior. If Alexa's user base is a fair statistical sample of the Internet user population (e.g., a random sample of sufficient size), Alexa's ranking should be quite accurate. In reality, not much is known about the sample and possible sampling biases. Alexa itself notes several examples.[13] A known source of bias is the self-selecting, opt-in nature of Alexa traffic tracking software installation, but the significance of this bias on rankings is not reported.[clarification needed][13]
On April 16, 2008 many users reported dramatic shifts in their Alexa rankings. Alexa confirmed this later in the day with an announcement that they had released the new Alexa ranking system, claiming that they now take into account more data sources "beyond Alexa Toolbar users".[15]
[edit] Redesign and new statistics
On March 31, 2009 Alexa.com got a complete redesign and new metrics including: Pageviews per User, Bounce Rate, and Time on Site.[16] In the following weeks they added new features including Demographics, Clickstream and Search Traffic stats.[17]
[edit] Spyware
The Alexa toolbar is regarded by many vendors, such as Symantec and McAfee, as spyware. Symantec classifies the toolbar as trackware.[18] McAfee classifies it as Adware, a "Potentially Unwanted Program."[19] McAfee Site Advisor rates the Alexa website as yellow, with the warning:
"In our tests, we found downloads on this site that some people consider adware, spyware or other potentiall
Dakwah
Dakwah adalah kegiatan yang bersifat menyeru, mengajak dan memanggil orang untuk beriman dan taat kepada Allah Subhaanahu wa ta'ala sesuai dengan garis aqidah, syari'at dan akhlak Islam. Kata dakwah merupakan masdar (kata benda) dari kata kerja da'a yad'u yang berarti panggilan, seruan atau ajakan.
Kata dakwah sering dirangkaikan dengan kata "Ilmu" dan kata "Islam", sehingga menjadi "Ilmu dakwah" dan Ilmu Islam" atau ad-dakwah al-Islamiyah.
Ilmu Dakwah
Ilmu dakwah adalah suatu ilmu yang berisi cara-cara dan tuntunan untuk menarik perhatian orang lain supaya menganut, mengikuti, menyetujui atau melaksanakan suatu ideologi, agama, pendapat atau pekerjaan tertentu. Orang yang menyampaikan dakwah disebut "Da'i" sedangkan yang menjadi obyek dakwah disebut "Mad'u". Setiap Muslim yang menjalankan fungsi dakwah Islam adalah "Da'i".
Tujuan utama dakwah
Tujuan utama dakwah ialah mewujudkan kebahagiaan dan kesejahteraan hidup di dunia dan di akhirat yang diridai oleh Allah. Nabi Muhammad SAW mencontohkan dakwah kepada umatnya dengan berbagai cara melalui lisan, tulisan dan perbuatan. Dimulai dari istrinya, keluarganya, dan teman-teman karibnya hingga raja-raja yang berkuasa pada saat itu. Di antara raja-raja yang mendapat surat atau risalah Nabi SAW adalah kaisar Heraklius dari Byzantium, Mukaukis dari Mesir, Kisra dari Persia (Iran) dan Raja Najasyi dari Habasyah (Ethiopia).
Fiqhud-dakwah
Ilmu yang memahami aspek hukum dan tatacara yang berkaitan dengan dakwah, sehingga para muballigh bukan saja paham tentang kebenaran Islam akan tetapi mereka juga didukung oleh kemampuan yang baik dalam menyampaikan Risalah al Islamiyah.
Dakwah Fardiah
Dakwah Fardiah merupakan metode dakwah yang dilakukan seseorang kepada orang lain (satu orang) atau kepada beberapa orang dalam jumlah yang kecil dan terbatas. Biasanya dakwah fardiah terjadi tanpa persiapan yang matang dan tersusun secara tertib. Termasuk kategori dakwah seperti ini adalah menasihati teman sekerja, teguran, anjuran memberi contoh. Termasuk dalam hal ini pada saat mengunjungi orang sakit, pada waktu ada acara tahniah (ucapan selamat), dan pada waktu upacara kelahiran (tasmiyah).
Dakwah Ammah
Dakwah Ammah merupakan jenis dakwah yang dilakukan oleh seseorang dengan media lisan yang ditujukan kepada orang banyak dengan maksud menanamkan pengaruh kepada mereka. Media yang dipakai biasanya berbentuk khotbah (pidato).
Dakwah Ammah ini kalau ditinjau dari segi subyeknya, ada yang dilakukan oleh perorangan dan ada yang dilakukan oleh organisasi tertentu yang berkecimpung dalam soal-doal dakwah.
[sunting] Dakwah bil-Lisan
Dakwah jenis ini adalah penyampaian informasi atau pesan dakwah melalui lisan (ceramah atau komunikasi langsung antara subyek dan obyek dakwah). dakwah jenis ini akan menjadi efektif bila: disampaikan berkaitan dengan hari ibadah seperti khutbah Jumat atau khutbah hari Raya, kajian yang disampaikan menyangkut ibadah praktis, konteks sajian terprogram, disampaikan dengan metode dialog dengan hadirin.
Dakwah bil-Haal
Dakwah bil al-Hal adalah dakwah yang mengedepankan perbuatan nyata. Hal ini dimaksudkan agar si penerima dakwah (al-Mad'ulah) mengikuti jejak dan hal ikhwal si Da'i (juru dakwah). Dakwah jenis ini mempunyai pengaruh yang besar pada diri penerima dakwah.
Pada saat pertama kali Rasulullah Saw tiba di kota Madinah, beliau mencontohkan Dakwah bil-Haal ini dengan mendirikan Masjid Quba, dan mempersatukan kaum Anshor dan kaum Muhajirin dalam ikatan ukhuwah Islamiyah.
Dakwah bit-Tadwin
Memasuki zaman global seperti saat sekarang ini, pola dakwah bit at-Tadwin (dakwah melalui tulisan) baik dengan menerbitkan kitab-kitab, buku, majalah, internet, koran, dan tulisan-tulisan yang mengandung pesan dakwah sangat penting dan efektif.
Keuntungan lain dari dakwah model ini tidak menjadi musnah meskipun sang dai, atau penulisnya sudah wafat. Menyangkut dakwah bit-Tadwim ini Rasulullah saw bersabda, "Sesungguhnya tinta para ulama adalah lebih baik dari darahnya para syuhada".
Dakwah bil Hikmah
Dakwah bil Hikmah Yakni menyampaikan dakwah dengan cara yang arif bijaksana, yaitu melakukan pendekatan sedemikian rupa sehingga pihak obyek dakwah mampu melaksanakan dakwah atas kemauannya sendiri, tidak merasa ada paksaan, tekanan maupun konflik. Dengan kata lain dakwah bi al-hikmah merupakan suatu metode pendekatan komunikasi dakwah yang dilakukan atas dasar persuasif.
Dalam kitab al-Hikmah fi al dakwah Ilallah ta'ala oleh Said bin Ali bin wahif al-Qathani diuraikan lebih jelas tentang pengertian al-Hikmah, antara lain:
Menurut bahasa:
* adil, ilmu, sabar, kenabian, Al-Qur'an dan Injil
* memperbaiki (membuat manjadi lebih baik atau pas) dan terhindar dari kerusakan
* ungkapan untuk mengetahui sesuatu yang utama dengan ilmu yang utama
* obyek kebenaran(al-haq) yang didapat melalui ilmu dan akal
* pengetahuan atau ma'rifat.
Menurut istilah Syar'i:
* valid dalam perkataan dan perbuatan, mengetahui yang benar dan mengamalkannya, wara' dalam Dinullah, meletakkan sesuatu pada tempatnya dan menjawab dengan tegas dan tepat.
Kata dakwah sering dirangkaikan dengan kata "Ilmu" dan kata "Islam", sehingga menjadi "Ilmu dakwah" dan Ilmu Islam" atau ad-dakwah al-Islamiyah.
Ilmu Dakwah
Ilmu dakwah adalah suatu ilmu yang berisi cara-cara dan tuntunan untuk menarik perhatian orang lain supaya menganut, mengikuti, menyetujui atau melaksanakan suatu ideologi, agama, pendapat atau pekerjaan tertentu. Orang yang menyampaikan dakwah disebut "Da'i" sedangkan yang menjadi obyek dakwah disebut "Mad'u". Setiap Muslim yang menjalankan fungsi dakwah Islam adalah "Da'i".
Tujuan utama dakwah
Tujuan utama dakwah ialah mewujudkan kebahagiaan dan kesejahteraan hidup di dunia dan di akhirat yang diridai oleh Allah. Nabi Muhammad SAW mencontohkan dakwah kepada umatnya dengan berbagai cara melalui lisan, tulisan dan perbuatan. Dimulai dari istrinya, keluarganya, dan teman-teman karibnya hingga raja-raja yang berkuasa pada saat itu. Di antara raja-raja yang mendapat surat atau risalah Nabi SAW adalah kaisar Heraklius dari Byzantium, Mukaukis dari Mesir, Kisra dari Persia (Iran) dan Raja Najasyi dari Habasyah (Ethiopia).
Fiqhud-dakwah
Ilmu yang memahami aspek hukum dan tatacara yang berkaitan dengan dakwah, sehingga para muballigh bukan saja paham tentang kebenaran Islam akan tetapi mereka juga didukung oleh kemampuan yang baik dalam menyampaikan Risalah al Islamiyah.
Dakwah Fardiah
Dakwah Fardiah merupakan metode dakwah yang dilakukan seseorang kepada orang lain (satu orang) atau kepada beberapa orang dalam jumlah yang kecil dan terbatas. Biasanya dakwah fardiah terjadi tanpa persiapan yang matang dan tersusun secara tertib. Termasuk kategori dakwah seperti ini adalah menasihati teman sekerja, teguran, anjuran memberi contoh. Termasuk dalam hal ini pada saat mengunjungi orang sakit, pada waktu ada acara tahniah (ucapan selamat), dan pada waktu upacara kelahiran (tasmiyah).
Dakwah Ammah
Dakwah Ammah merupakan jenis dakwah yang dilakukan oleh seseorang dengan media lisan yang ditujukan kepada orang banyak dengan maksud menanamkan pengaruh kepada mereka. Media yang dipakai biasanya berbentuk khotbah (pidato).
Dakwah Ammah ini kalau ditinjau dari segi subyeknya, ada yang dilakukan oleh perorangan dan ada yang dilakukan oleh organisasi tertentu yang berkecimpung dalam soal-doal dakwah.
[sunting] Dakwah bil-Lisan
Dakwah jenis ini adalah penyampaian informasi atau pesan dakwah melalui lisan (ceramah atau komunikasi langsung antara subyek dan obyek dakwah). dakwah jenis ini akan menjadi efektif bila: disampaikan berkaitan dengan hari ibadah seperti khutbah Jumat atau khutbah hari Raya, kajian yang disampaikan menyangkut ibadah praktis, konteks sajian terprogram, disampaikan dengan metode dialog dengan hadirin.
Dakwah bil-Haal
Dakwah bil al-Hal adalah dakwah yang mengedepankan perbuatan nyata. Hal ini dimaksudkan agar si penerima dakwah (al-Mad'ulah) mengikuti jejak dan hal ikhwal si Da'i (juru dakwah). Dakwah jenis ini mempunyai pengaruh yang besar pada diri penerima dakwah.
Pada saat pertama kali Rasulullah Saw tiba di kota Madinah, beliau mencontohkan Dakwah bil-Haal ini dengan mendirikan Masjid Quba, dan mempersatukan kaum Anshor dan kaum Muhajirin dalam ikatan ukhuwah Islamiyah.
Dakwah bit-Tadwin
Memasuki zaman global seperti saat sekarang ini, pola dakwah bit at-Tadwin (dakwah melalui tulisan) baik dengan menerbitkan kitab-kitab, buku, majalah, internet, koran, dan tulisan-tulisan yang mengandung pesan dakwah sangat penting dan efektif.
Keuntungan lain dari dakwah model ini tidak menjadi musnah meskipun sang dai, atau penulisnya sudah wafat. Menyangkut dakwah bit-Tadwim ini Rasulullah saw bersabda, "Sesungguhnya tinta para ulama adalah lebih baik dari darahnya para syuhada".
Dakwah bil Hikmah
Dakwah bil Hikmah Yakni menyampaikan dakwah dengan cara yang arif bijaksana, yaitu melakukan pendekatan sedemikian rupa sehingga pihak obyek dakwah mampu melaksanakan dakwah atas kemauannya sendiri, tidak merasa ada paksaan, tekanan maupun konflik. Dengan kata lain dakwah bi al-hikmah merupakan suatu metode pendekatan komunikasi dakwah yang dilakukan atas dasar persuasif.
Dalam kitab al-Hikmah fi al dakwah Ilallah ta'ala oleh Said bin Ali bin wahif al-Qathani diuraikan lebih jelas tentang pengertian al-Hikmah, antara lain:
Menurut bahasa:
* adil, ilmu, sabar, kenabian, Al-Qur'an dan Injil
* memperbaiki (membuat manjadi lebih baik atau pas) dan terhindar dari kerusakan
* ungkapan untuk mengetahui sesuatu yang utama dengan ilmu yang utama
* obyek kebenaran(al-haq) yang didapat melalui ilmu dan akal
* pengetahuan atau ma'rifat.
Menurut istilah Syar'i:
* valid dalam perkataan dan perbuatan, mengetahui yang benar dan mengamalkannya, wara' dalam Dinullah, meletakkan sesuatu pada tempatnya dan menjawab dengan tegas dan tepat.
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