Tune in to http://www.madeintheshadetravel.com tomorrow 6/29/10 from 7pm-11pm eastern and take part in Carnival's 4 Hour Blowout Sale! Some of the great cruise deals being offered are listed below.

Enjoy!


Here are just some of the sailings available:


Carnival Imagination MIA 3 DAY 2/11/11 Nassau $259

Carnival Sensation MCO 3 DAY 11/18/10 Nassau $259

Carnival Imagination MIA 4 DAY 9/20/10 Key West & Cozumel $239

Carnival Sensation MCO 4 DAY 12/05/10 Freeport & Nassau $259

Carnival Destiny MIA 5 DAY 12/13/10 Eastern Caribbean $349

Carnival Elation MOB 5 DAY 1/24/11 Western Caribbean $329

Carnival Inspiration TPA 5 DAY 12/13/10 G Cayman/Cozumel $349

Carnival Triumph MSY 5 DAY 12/11/10 Western Caribbean $349

Carnival Freedom FLL 6 DAY 11/14/10 Western Caribbean $449

Carnival Freedom FLL 6 DAY 12/12/10 Western Caribbean $449

Carnival Freedom FLL 6 DAY 1/23/11 Western Caribbean $439

Carnival Spirit SDG 6 DAY 1/03/11 Baja Mexico $429

Carnival Conquest GAL 7 DAY 1/23/11 Western Caribbean $529

Carnival Legend TPA 7 DAY 10/31/10 Exotic W Caribbean $509

Carnival Liberty MIA 7 DAY 1/29/11 Western Caribbean $509

Carnival Splendor LAX 7 DAY 12/12/10 Mexican Riviera $529

Carnival Valor MIA 7 DAY 10/03/10 Exotic W Caribbean $469

Carnival Victory SJU 7 DAY 1/30/11 Southern Caribbean $529

Carnival Freedom FLL 8 DAY 1/15/11 Exotic W Caribbean $619

Carnival Miracle FLL 8 DAY 10/26/10 Exotic S Caribbean $629

Carnival Spirit SDG 8 DAY 11/04/10 Mexican Riviera $649

All Prices are for Inside Staterooms.

Additional Ships and Sail Dates Available

The company reserves the right to re-instate the fuel supplement for all guests at up to $9 per person per day if the NYMEX oil price exceeds $70 per barrel.
Terms and conditions

Cruise rates are in U.S. dollars, per person and based on double occupancy. No name changes allowed. Cash back offer is nontransferable. Cash back is provided as a refundable onboard credit to your Sail & Sign account of $40 per person up to a maximum of $80 per stateroom on select 3 - 5 day sailings and up to $80 per person up to a maximum of $160 per stateroom on select 6, 7 or 8 day sailings. If your Sail & Sign account has a cash balance at the end of the cruise after all authorized purchases have been applied to the account, any remaining unused portion of the cash back onboard credit will be delivered in check form to your stateroom on the morning of debarkation with your final Sail & Sign statement.

Cash back offer is capacity controlled and is not combinable with any other discount or promotional offer. Combinable with Fun Select rates only. Rates are subject to change at any time without prior notice. Category restrictions and exclusions apply. Minimum purchase of category 4A is required. Blackout dates may apply. Valid on new individual bookings made between 6/7/10-6/30/10. Promotion is applicable on select ships and departures between 6/16/10-2/28/11. Government taxes and fees are additional for all guests. Cash back may not be applied to cruise fare or government taxes and fees. Please request fare code OCB. Ships' Registry: The Bahamas & Panama.

Carnival does not endorse nor authorize the practice of blast faxing or unsolicited faxing of any materials promoting Carnival or its products. Materials promoting Carnival may only be faxed to individuals who have requested the promotional information. If you would like to stop receiving promotional emails, please call 1-800-438-6744 ext 65480 or fax 1-877-245-1171.

© 2010 Carnival Cruise Lines

Getting a high ranking on Google and other search engines requires a great bit of due diligence. But there is a right way to do it and a wrong way. If you choose the wrong way, you run a serious risk of getting blackballed from the search engines. Once this happens, it’s nearly impossible to bounce back.

In case you hadn’t noticed, Google is a pretty big deal. They have created a cornucopia of information and have blown the doors for finding information in a matter of seconds wide open. And if you’re a business looking to rank on the world’s most trafficked website, the last thing you want to do is get on their bad side.

Google, as well as other search engines like Yahoo and Bing, have created new ways to search, find, discover, shop, communicate, educate, research, and analyze. This phenomenon has led to the decline of many forms of traditional advertising, such as newspapers, commercials, and big yellow books because most people prefer the convenience of point-click-consume.

There are specific practices built around the creation of relevant links and awesome content that enhance your ability to get found on search engines, but it’s also important to understand the things you don’t want to do that will lead to an inevitable ban from the powerful pages of Google and other search engines. Since Google is the most used search engine on the Internet today, we’ll focus on them.

If you want to stay on Google’s good side, you’ll aid them in their axiom of “take care of the user and the rest will follow.” This is achieved by delivering quality results within their existing guidelines. This is known as “white hat SEO.” On the other hand, if you exploit the limitations in Google’s software and try to manipulate it into ranking a web page that normally would not be ranked, that does not benefit the user. This term is known as “black hat SEO.”

When optimizing your site for Google, here are some sure-fire things you want to avoid:

Link Farms - While a high number of quality links to your site is a strong element of SEO, generating these links through a link farm is taboo. A link farm’s only purpose is to generate links to any given web page and are not connected to any website of relevance. These sites are not real, the links are automatically generated and have no signals of quality whatsoever.

Keyword Stuffing - This means placing too many sets of keywords on certain portions of a web page and hoping Google will rank it for that keyword. It’s a waste of your time because search engines caught on to this practice a long time ago.

Cloaking - This technique means you are delivering different content to Google’s web crawler than you are to real users in hopes the search engine spiders will rank you for a certain term. Then, different content is sent to the user. Remember, Google has real people working for them and they can simply visit your website to see if you’re cloaking. If you are, get ready to be banned immediately.

Automated Content Generation/Duplication - Creating unique, incredible content requires time and energy. In order to create content more frequently, some people try to auto-generate submissions from other sites and republish it. However, Google knows how to spot natural content versus computer-generated nonsense that holds no value.

Hidden Text - This involves hiding text on your web page so search engines can see it but humans cannot. For example, placing white text on a white background would be a form of hidden text. It’s not visible to the naked human eye, but the computer still sees it as existent.

In order to stay on the safe side, your best bet is to focus your attention on creating quality, valuable content that provides your audience with something they’re looking for. At the end of the day, it’s about the customer’s experience. If you put yourself in their shoes and think about the experience you enjoy, it will translate over to the content you create.

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Organic food seller Whole Foods has shot down the theory that Internet Marketing cannot work in an “old school” environment. They use their Whole Story blog to keep their customers and subscribers “in the loop” on happenings within their company, as well as the natural foods industry. This has led to the growth of a solid customer base and enormous Social Media following.


Many businesses who haven’t adapted to the ‘new-school’ ways of reaching their customers operate under the belief that traditional marketing is the only way to promote in an ‘old-school’ marketplace. However, Whole Foods is proving them all wrong.


Whole Foods has introduced new age Inbound Marketing concepts to one of the world’s oldest industries. With their blog, Whole Story, Whole Foods is creating new ways to reach their customers, far removed from simply posting store hours and coupons on their websites like most other grocery stores. They create valuable, useful, and exceptional content that attracts customers who they proceed to build relationships with, thus building the important element of trust and leveraging the power of word-of-mouth advertising via those customers.



Their blog has been up and running since July of 2006 and, due to their incredible content, now boasts over 1600 pages in Google’s index! Over 12,000 other websites link to these 1600 pages, which means Whole Foods has 12,000 different ways for a new customer to find them.


Whole Foods’ ability to adapt to new marketing strategies has led to over 400,000 Twitter followers and over 58,000 Facebook fans. They also have tens of thousands of blog subscribers who get sent a link every time Whole Story posts a new article. With the number of pages, links, and subscribers, they’ve earned authority status, and Google knows their content is worthy of prestigious ranks for important terms.


6 Lessons You Can Learn From Whole Story
When it comes to Inbound Marketing, Whole Foods is doing everything right. Here are just a few things you can learn from the Whole Story blog:


1) Create Incredible Content - Whole Foods realized that customers wanted more than coupons and a sales pitch…they wanted advice, information, and pointers. In that regard, Whole Story delivers the goods and then some. It overflows with remarkable features, stories, and product information that provides education, which, in turn, builds trust and increases the chance of developing a loyal customer.


2) Build Deep Connectivity Through Reader Comments - A sure-fire way to tell if you’ve generated emotion from your reader is through their comments. Whole Story, while providing the information their subscribers desire, has created its own community of followers who will go to the ends of the earth to share their own discoveries on their products through the blog, as well as promote Whole Foods’ name through other various social networks.


3) Domain Branding – Instead of creating a second brand, Whole Foods set up their domain name to include their store name as well: blog.wholefoodsmarket.com. This enables them to extend their brand through another channel while eliminating the possibility of confusion by establishing another brand for customers to follow.


4) Passionate People Who Care – In order to be successful on any level, you have to believe in what you’re promoting and have a passion to be the best. Whole Story has several people involved with the production of their blog who specialize in areas like organics, green practices, and other food-related items that have proven to be enticing to their following.

5) Create Social Media Presence - As I mentioned before, Whole Foods has created an enormous Social Media following thanks to their intuitive ability to understand their customer and relate to them in a way that’s attractive and easy to understand. They built a solid foundation of incredible content, developed relationships with their customers, and the rest simply fell into place.


6) Utilize the “Soft Sell” - Blatantly selling non-stop make it very hard to attract followers and subscribers because, eventually, people get tired of hearing about your product. Over time, they know what it is…so they don’t need to hear about it. Whole Story does a tremendous job of creating content that doesn’t sell their products at all. Instead of talking about why people should buy a particular product, they talk about how it’s made, its origin, and how you can use it in your every day diet. This is more appealing than your everyday run-of-the-mill sales pitch, don’t you think?


Building a popular blog requires time, dedication, effort, and incredible content that people want to read and share. Your blog will not reach ’superstar’ status overnight. But consistently providing content that doesn’t sell, but rather educates, will get you there faster. Follow the path of Whole Story and your blog will have the potential to be a tremendous asset to your company.


www.linxonesolutions.com

Social Media, along with search engines and blogs, represents 1/3 of the most visited and frequented websites on the Internet today. The evolution of sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, and YouTube have changed the way we connect, share, learn, shop, and exist…both on personal and professional levels.


Companies have re-directed large portions of their marketing budgets towards creating substantial social media campaigns because they realize the chances of reaching customers in the social mediasphere far surpasses a traditional ‘megaphone-style,’ interruption-based commercial format.


The question is: Is YOUR Company On Board With Social Media Management Yet?


Social Media: It’s More Than You Realize
Many think Social Media is limited to sites like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. However, there are hundreds of social networks on the Internet today.


But, did you know social networking is not limited to just these sites? Social Media and Networking also includes, but is not limited to:


Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linked In, Foursquare, MySpace, etc, etc. (like I said, there are hundreds of these out there!)

Blogs

Videos and Podcasting

Customer Reviews

Social Bookmarking Sites (Digg, Reddit, Delicious)

Message Boards, Forums, Wikis

In short, any site where socializing is featured is a form of Social Media.


Why Your Business Needs a Social Media Manager
One of the greatest perks to Social Media is that it allows companies of all shapes and sizes to effectively and efficiently reach their target audience, regardless of the size of their marketing budget.


One of the biggest downfalls is that many business owners and managers can’t find the time in their already jam-packed schedules to effectively and efficiently make Social Media work for them. Or, they just don’t know where to start.


Enter: The Social Media Manager!


“The Cocktail Party” comparison is an oft-used analogy for social media that says meeting people on sites like Facebook and Twitter should be done with the same sort of behavior you’d use in a live social setting. And with that thought in mind, if social media is the party, then the Social Media Manager is the party planner!


A Social Media Manager ensures your company is following the right people by building a targeted audience. They promote important information, support you in marketing choices, handle logistics, and makes sure the “party” runs smoothly so you can relax and connect with your guests (followers and customers).


Most of all, they stay in the background and make you look good!


With the reach Social Media has gained, Reputation Management is a huge feature of a Social Media Manager’s responsibilities. They keep your profiles fresh and updated, and act as the front line defense in regards to customer service. If a customer has a complaint that’s posted via Social Media, your Social Media Manager can be sure it reaches the correct party, or handle the problem right on the spot!


A Social Media Manager can alleviate much of the learning curve for you by helping you decide what strategy would be best for your business, execute that strategy, then nurture your brand and build relationships with your customer base. They can perform market research to determine who is best to follow and where the largest group of potential clients is gathering online.

Small, medium, and large businesses from all corners of the world, in thousands of industries, are jumping on the Social Media bandwagon because it presents an extremely cost-effective way to market online. Plus…


IT’S WORKING!!!


Advertising in a big yellow book, magazines, and newspapers has lost an extreme amount of effectiveness with the rise of the Social Web. Those mediums are outdated and simply don’t work anymore! Plus, they’re probably costing you THOUSANDS of dollars and resulting in little to no return on your investment.


Marketing has evolved to Social Media and the Internet, meaning you and your business need to do the same!


Are you ready to dive in and build your presence on Social Media? Keep in mind, the right Social Media strategy can lead to better results and greater returns than your offline efforts. And you don’t have to embark on this journey without a guide. Having the right Social Media Manager can help you eliminate outdated “selling” techniques and replace them with relationship-building tactics that bridge the gap between you and your customer and assists them in making their purchases with you.


www.linxonesolutions.com

Do you market your business in big yellow books and newspaper advertisements? If you do, you’re aware of the fact that your return on expense has changed dramatically. The reason is because consumers have adopted new ways of finding the information they crave. In order to stay competitive, you need to position your company to satisfy those cravings.


Inbound Marketing has changed the game. It has introduced new ways to market your business that don’t involve interrupting your potential customer’s day. It allows you to brand your company as an authority by providing information relevant to the needs of your potential customers and positioning that information where your customers can find it.


One of the biggest complaints I’ve ever heard is the ratio of television program time to commercial time. Back in the day, it seemed as if you’d get five minutes of your show, then get hit with 3-5 minutes of commercials. It was a strategic ploy that ensured viewers would “stay tuned” while the commercials aired, because they didn’t want to miss what was coming next.


This same strategy still exists today, but with the advent of DVRs and TiVos, viewers now have the ability to fast-forward the commercials by recording their favorite shows. It’s just another initiative to enhance entertainment value by eliminating the distractions produced by Outbound Marketing.


As the consumer continues to develop clever ways to avoid being “pitched” or “sold,” companies have to apply an equal level of stealth to ensure they stay in business. After all, customers still need the products. They just want to pick the time and place to hear about them.


This is where Inbound Marketing stakes its claim. As companies grow increasingly aware of their customer’s reliance on the Internet, the more you see Inbound Marketing strategies come into play. By going the route of interacting with their customer base and providing information that aids in their decision-making, companies show they have an understanding of how customer’s buying habits have changed over time.


The Proof Is In the ‘Soda’


The grand stage for Outbound commercial advertising has become the Super Bowl. The viewing audience grows every year, thus giving companies with large marketing budgets the ability to reach an enormous amount of people. 30-second spots normally range around the $2-million-per mark. It’s an incredible amount of money that usually leads to companies firing their most creative and comical marketing bullets.


So why, in 2010, with that sort of audience tuning in, did the worldwide soft drink entity known as Pepsi decide not to advertise during the Super Bowl? We are talking about a company who has been producing quality commercials for Super Bowl viewers for 23 years!


Well, other than the fact that Pepsi dedicated a large sum of money to award as grants to community projects, they decided to spend 60% more on online advertisements in 2010.


This action alone shows the paradigm shift the marketing world is experiencing today. If a company who had spent nearly a quarter of a century advertising on the world’s biggest Outbound Marketing stage decides to re-allocate their marketing funds towards the Internet, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t, too! Many companies continue to advertise the ways they feel safe and comfortable. But in an ever-changing world, “safe and comfortable” doesn’t always translate to increased profits.


Inbound Marketing will completely revolutionize the way you market your business because you’ll no longer need to worry about having a lofty advertising budget to stay competitive. What you’ll need is knowledge of your niche, the ability to produce valuable content, the means to position that content so customers can find and utilize it, and an undying resolve to understand your customer by communicating with them, not at them.


The way customers avoid interruption-based marketing techniques and discover information through Inbound Marketing strategies continues to evolve every day. The quicker you understand how significantly social media, blogs, and search engine traffic can affect your business, the more success you will have marketing your business going forward.




www.linxonesolutions.com

Jason Cercone Becomes Featured Blogger on Network Pittsburgh
Jason Cercone, CEO and Co-Founder of LinXone Solutions, has become a Featured Blogger with Network Pittsburgh. Cercone has been blogging for nearly two years now and is excited to be featured amongst Network Pittsburgh's star-studded blogging lineup.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PR Log (Press Release) – May 28, 2010 – PITTSBURGH - Jason Cercone, CEO and Co-Founder of LinXone Solutions, announced he will be a featured blogger with Network Pittsburgh, a website whose mission is to help professionals who live, work, and do business in the Pittsburgh area network with one another.

"I'm extremely excited about this opportunity to be featured with Network Pittsburgh," Cercone said. "I love this city, its people, and its professionals. By providing insight on my blog through Network Pittsburgh's tremendous platform, it's my chance to connect with other professionals, as well as provide some education on my area of expertise."

Cercone's blog posts will be based on marketing in the new consumer-friendly market. Cercone currently creates content on his company blog for LinXone Solutions, an SEO, Internet, and Inbound Marketing agency located in Pittsburgh. The content of Cercone's new Network Pittsburgh blog will be an extension of his continued work and dedication to building LinXone Solution's blog.

"Today's consumer market is geared heavily towards the customer's ability to make their own decisions, without being swayed by the traditional marketing practices of old," Cercone explained. "Our mission at LinXone Solutions is to partner with businesses and do their online marketing for them, as well as educate them on innovative, cutting-edge marketing strategies that are growing much more popular in business today. I will be discussing this and much more in my Network Pittsburgh blog posts."

Network Pittsburgh is a place to share ideas, leads, vision, jobs and information. Their mission is to attract professionals who want to share, network and learn from each other to better themselves, their work and their professional careers.

Cercone also serves as Principal Marketing Consultant with LinXone Solutions and puts a lot of emphasis on the education of others. He and his business partner, Jason Collins, aim to show businesses how important building a strong web presence is on sites like Google, Facebook, Twitter, as well as through content publication on their company blog, articles, and press releases.

"It's a new ballgame, and customers are finding new ways to block out the 'noise' of commercials and sales pitches," Cercone said. "Today, it's all about getting found on the Internet when customers are searching for you. This principle is the foundation of our work at LinXone Solutions and what we aim to educate all businesses on going forward."

You can become a subscriber of the LinXone Solutions blog by visiting http://www.linxonesolutions.com/blog.

Also, follow Jason Cercone's Featured Marketing Blog on the Network Pittsburgh site by visiting http://www.networkpittsburgh.com/blogs/posts/jasoncercone

# # #


LinXone Solutions works with businesses to help build their web presence and improve their search engine rankings. Our goal is to ensure our clients dominate their specific markets by implementing laser-focused marketing campaigns that increase exposure.

Twitter allows you to send messages, relevant content, and up-to-date information to your list of followers. Many companies are using Twitter as a marketing tool that enables direct communication and interaction with customers, clients, and list subscribers. Twitter has created a great platform for exposing messages and building brand awareness in an quick and efficient manner.


If you pay close attention to TV and radio ads these days, many companies, both large and small, are promoting their Twitter and Facebook accounts just as much as their websites. In some cases, more than their websites.


One of the major reasons that businesses are using Twitter as a marketing tool is because it has the potential to reach so many people. And unlike a less targeted, traditional commercial that speaks to a massive audience, your Twitter messages will reach a group of people (your followers) who actually want to see your message.


Changes in consumer buying patterns have brought about changes in the marketplace, which naturally has led to changes in how businesses market to their potential and current customer base. Interruption-based marketing techniques such as commercials and mailers are losing steam as consumers are finding new ways to avoid them. The rise of DVRs, TiVos, and satellite radios give people the opportunity to avoid commercials, meaning the money invested in producing a 30-second spot, as well as the air-time, is wasted because a significant part of the intended audience never sees it.


With Twitter, you can interact with your customers, provide them with relevant content about your products, announce happenings and advancements within your company, and alert them of any deals, discounts, or new product launches. And, since your followers are following you for a reason, you can be assured your messages are being well-received by an audience who wants the information.




www.linxonesolutions.com


Here are four (and a half) reasons why using Twitter as a marketing tool can greatly benefit your company:


1) Reach - As I mentioned before, you have the potential to build a large and targeted following through Twitter because so many people use this free service…to the tune of over 20 million people.


2) Value - Twitter provides a great opportunity to share valuable, remarkable content with your audience. By doing this, you build a reputation as a trusted source of information that isn’t just concerned with selling. Your audience will recognize this and be more prone to buy from you because you’ve established trust through being a credible resource.


3) Timeliness - If you launch a new product, create a press release, blog post, or new web page, you can send out a quick tweet to your followers directing them towards the new content. Or, if you come across information that relates to your niche, you can tweet that, too. And, it’s in real-time. It reaches your audience immediately and they can link to it when they’re ready to consume it.


4) Personality - Twitter is a great place to build your brand and inject personality into your marketing. Social media is about being social. Therefore, use Twitter to brand your company as not only an authority, but a fun and personable entity that customers, clients, and other people in your niche enjoy interacting with.


1/2) Simplicity - I list simplicity as a half because using Twitter is very easy. However, there are countless amounts of people and companies who misuse the service. A general rule of thumb to keep in mind is that no one likes a “spam-bot.” If you spend your day doing nothing but spamming out links to your business instead of providing valuable content, you’ll quickly build a reputation as a spammer. This will lead to lost credibility, a horrible reputation, and worse, Twitter blacklisting you from their service.


So…keep it simple, but don’t misuse and spam all day.


Twitter and social media as a whole has caught the eye of many companies because it provides an opportunity to interact with customers and supply them with instant information. If used effectively, your message can reach a large audience who is ready and willing to receive it.


www.linxonesolutions.com