Many of my readers are from the USA, some from Canada. Thanksgiving or sometimes called the “Turkey Day” is traditionally celebrated in those countries on the fourth Thursday in November, which is today. I thought I write a quick note to observe this day together with you.

I remember from the days when I had been living in New York, what a big deal that Day is. It's actually the beginning of the Holiday Season, and masses will start shopping for Christmas gifts probably as early as tomorrow.

If you are in a business to consumer market it's probably the best time to get started to think about some specials for Christmas and New Years. If you have not done so already. There is still plenty of time. Remember my article about “Speed of Implementation”.

Sorry that I tried to talk you into business on this holiday, but this is a business blog. What else do you expect me to do? The Holiday Season is one time a year. When would you like to take in your share of this business, if not now?

The origin of Thanksgiving is a religious one, thanking for God's favors and most families will say a prayer before dinner and some will go to Mass, too. In my thinking a very important part is, that families come together on this day, since it is more common in North America than in Europe that families are spread across the whole continent and are separated by 1,000s of miles throughout the year.

There is a growing number of people, who oppose commercialization and seek fulfillment in personal happiness. Also you can read in biographies of many successful business people and in the stories of today's bloggers that many share their wealth with less fortunate folks especially on Thanksgiving Day.

I hope that you can spend this evening and some of the following days with your family, and that you have a safe trip, if you are traveling. I also wish for you that you have something to share and that your life is fulfilled.

Yours
John W. Furst

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Update:

Chris Garrett had a nice idea by thanking his readers for their loyalty with giving them links to valuable resources. Check it out.

• Links To Be Thanksful For (↑)

One Blog that I did not know before got my full attention, among the marketing information this blog features real, solid case-studies from real businesses. Take a look.

• Sant Qiu's Speed Profit Blog, Case-Studies (↑)

I also appreciated the 23 tips derived from eye tracking studies. Usability research results applied for more profitability.

• 23 Actionable Lessons from Eye-Tracking Studies (↑) by Christina Laun

Enjoy and Thanks Garrett

I just came back from a long weekend and found this tip on Steven's Blog at AffiliateMarketingDiary.com (↑).

Yes, you can get Camtasia Version 3 for free from Techsmith. Optionally you can upgrade this to the latest Version 5 for just $149, which is a rebate of $150.

Check out the details and put some screen casts online.

• Camtasia Version 3 For Free (↑)

Yours
John

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P.S.: What is Camtasia Studio About?

Because it works [period].

That's kind of too short an answer. So let's start from scratch and define what a White Paper is and what it can do for your business. By the way it does not matter if it is B2B (business to business) or B2C (business to consumer) marketing what you are doing. A White Paper works in any situation. However, the tonality, the voice, the look and feel will be different.

• A White Paper offers your prospect solutions to their problems.
  
  
• It makes the reader curious about what you have to offer.
  
  
• It features a strong call to action to “talk” to you.
  
  
• It shows your expertise, but it's not a sales pitch, not a disguised product brochure, it does not “talk” about how great you or your company is.
  
  
• Most importantly: A White Paper must not be boring. It is not a dry technical document, nor thesis.

Offering free White Papers is part of a strategic education based marketing approach that sets you apart from many competitors. By offering information that focuses on the problem of the prospects, you gain trust, credibility, expert status (if the White Paper is written properly).

For example, if you sell some sort of Time Management Software Tools, you should advertise a White Paper on Time Management. That way you get a shot in setting the buying criterion for Time Management Software. I am assuming that you are selling a high quality software product.

Teach the prospect about Time Management, teach what kind of tools could be helpful with Time Management, and write about what features such good software should have and how to use it. However, don't forget the White Paper must not be too long. It's one piece in your marketing effort.

Buy setting the buying criterion properly you can make your product stand out.

Usually you get terrific response, when advertising problem-solving information and you also build your credibility as a quality source of information, instead of “just another peddler.”

If you want to learn more about White Papers, check out what my colleague Perry Marshall does. He is an expert in his field of Guerrilla - White Paper - and AdWords Marketing (↑).



Have A Nice Weekend
Yours
John W. Furst

It seems that I am in the mood of discovering more and more browser toolbars this month. Just recently I have recommended 3 browser toolbars, which are available for Firefox and Internet Explorer (IE).

• Google Toolbar and Alexa Sparky to check your rankings and the
  
  
• Stuble Upon Toolbar for discovering new Web sites and being part of the Stumble community of 3 million people Web enthusiasts.

Andy Beard says Google Toolbar Is Not Family Safe (↑) and removed it. Well, that might be true, simply don't let your Kids on your computer. There are many more areas of danger.

Today I have another 2 toolbars that I want to tell you about. Since I am using Firefox, I did not even check, if those or similar ones are available for IE.

This is an announcement for the next upcoming edition of the “Carnival Of Webmaster Articles”

We already have received some very good articles, but there is still some room for high quality writing.



I am looking forward to your submission. If you do not know what a Blog Carnival is good for, read my post “You Need Some Carnival” next.

Yours
John W. Furst

Technorati Tags: Carnival Of Webmaster Articles, Blog Carnival

I admit, I click the “Stumble! Button” every once in a while, and find some curious things from time to time.

Today, I came across the

“Tallest Virtual Real Estate Building In The World”

The thumbnail of this post shows it's base. My first associations were:

• Is it Web Art or a form of Advertising?
  
  
• Since you can rent a virtual apartment in this tower, it's more a form of advertising, but it certainly has some art-factor, too.
  
  
• What do you think?
  Leave a comment and let us know.

I have set up my Stumble Preferences that I get Web content related to my business as well as my hobbies, like photography.


For anybody that does not know what the “Stumble! Button” is:

The homepage of StumbleUpon.com is the entry point to a large virtual community, whose members discover, comment and vote for Web pages. Currently there are 3,864,876 Stumblers.

The free StumbleUpon Toolbar for FireFox and Internet Explorer becomes your steering wheel for exploring sites other Stumblers liked. Channel surf the Internet with the StumbleUpon toolbar to find great websites, videos, photos and more based on your interests. StumbleUpon learns what you like and makes better recommendations every time you click the Stumble Button.

It's a virtual social network and you can connect to your online friends easily and share your discoveries, meet new people that have similar interests, and check out what other people are discovering.

Most importantly, by default your preferences are set to “family safe”, which is a good thing in those decadent days.

Check it out: www.StumbleUpon.com

P.S.: If you like this article, stumble it with the icon below. If you are not registered yet, register, it's fun and being an active Stumbler will also bring more traffic to your Web site.

There is absolutely too much bad information on the Internet about “How to Get A Lot of Targeted Traffic To Your Website”. It is too easy for a newcomer to do it the wrong way and end up without any serious traffic.

I want to keep the story short, so I am simply offering you the free report

“How To Avoid The Top 20 Traffic Disasters”

This is not some dry report that you will fall asleep over, while reading it. The report I am giving you is written by one of the most prominent traffic experts on the Internet, Michael Cheney. This 37 page report in PDF format draws easy to understand analogies to real World examples.

Success on the Internet can be achieved quite simply. All you need to know is: