Spam King Just A Criminal Joker

Spam King Indicted on Multiple Counts of Fraud, ID Theft

May 31, 2007, By Gina M. Scott

On May 30, 2007 Robert Alan Soloway, one of the most persistent professional spammers, was arrested after being indicted by a federal grand jury for Mail Fraud, Wire Fraud, Fraud in Connection with Electronic Mail, Aggravated Identity Theft, and Money Laundering.

"Spam is a scourge of the Internet, and Robert Soloway is one of its most prolific practitioners," said Jeffrey C. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington. "Our investigators dubbed him the 'Spam King' because he is responsible for millions of spam e-mails."

According to the indictment, between November 2003, and May 2007, SOLOWAY operated Newport Internet Marketing Corporation (NIM) which offered a "broadcast e-mail" software product and "broadcast e-mail" services. These products and services constituted "spam" i.e. bulk high volume commercial e-mail messages that contained false and forged headers and that were relayed using a network of proxy computers (also know as "botnets"). Soloway and NIM made a number of false and fraudulent claims about the products and services on their Web site. Among them was a claim that the e-mail addresses used for the product and services were "opt-in" e-mail addresses.

Soloway has been a long term nuisance on the Internet according to the Spamhaus Project which tracks the Internet's spam related issues. Soloway has been sending enormous amounts of spam for years, filling mailboxes and mail servers with unsolicited and unwanted junk e-mail. Because he spammed through hijacked computers and open proxies, he has repeatedly violated both the Computer Abuse and Fraud Act of 1984 and the CAN-SPAM law of 2003.

Soloway's violations of the U.S. CAN-SPAM law and various state anti-spam laws resulted in his being sued successfully by a number of plaintiffs, including Microsoft Corporation and Robert Braver, owner of an Oklahoma-based ISP. Both Microsoft and Braver received damage awards of millions of dollars. Soloway never paid these awards, claiming that he lived off of the proceeds of a family trust and was therefore "judgment-proof." In September 2005 in Oklahoma City, after Soloway had fired his lawyers and then failed to appear to represent himself in court, U.S. District Judge Ralph G. Thompson issued a permanent injunction against Soloway, forbidding him to continue sending spam that violated the CAN-SPAM act. Soloway ignored this injunction as well and continued to spam.

Soloway constantly "moved" his Web site, which was hosted on at least 50 different domains. In at least one instance Soloway used another person's credit card to pay for the domain name used to host the NIM Web site. The spammed messages used to advertise the NIM Web sites contained false and fraudulent header information, and were relayed using botnets to disguise the true originating IP addresses of the spam.

Many of the false headers contained forged e-mail addresses or domain names that belonged to other real people, businesses, or organizations, causing these other innocent parties to mistakenly be blamed for spam transmitted by Soloway. Innocent parties whose e-mail addresses and domain names were forged by Soloway sometimes had their legitimate addresses "blacklisted" as spam sources, as a result.

Soloway refused to remove e-mail addresses from his distribution lists, leaving some victims with no choice but to close their e-mail accounts or cancel established domain names to stop the spamming. Soloway and NIM have been the subject of hundreds of complaints to the Federal Trade Commission, Better Business Bureau and the Washington State Attorney General's Office.

As part of the indictment, the government is seeking $772,998 as proceeds of Soloway's unlawful activities.

Email Marketing Best Practices White Paper

 

Listrak Publishes Email Marketing Best Practices White Paper

Listrak provides email marketers a checklist of best practices to follow when outsourcing HTML newsletters.

Lititz, PA (PRWEB) May 31, 2007 -- Listrak, an award winning provider of hosted email marketing solutions, announced today that it has recently written and published a white paper that gives email marketers a guideline to follow when outsourcing their HTML newsletters to an outside advertising agency, search engine optimization firm, application service provider, or interactive marketer. The white paper is available for free download in the email marketing resources area on Listrak's website.

"Even though we provide an easy to use email marketing solution, we still come across many companies that choose to outsource these processes rather than perform them in-house," says Ross Kramer, CEO of Listrak. "This guide will help the marketers and the firms increase the deliverability and usability of their email campaigns."

One of the biggest challenges for HTML newsletters is making sure that images render properly in different email clients. Listrak's white paper discusses in detail the steps that marketers can take to ensure the emails are delivered properly with all of the graphics and content blocks in place, including programming, sizing, and formatting issues. The white paper also discusses other email marketing best practices, such as personalization, list segmentation, landing page optimization, and testing specifications.

About Listrak
Listrak is a leading provider of hosted email marketing software that allows permission-based marketers to manage, send, track and grow their email marketing investment. Listrak services clients such as Daimler Chrysler, Motorola, L'Oreal and the Islands of the Bahamas from its Lititz, PA headquarters. Listrak was named the 2006 Small Business Technological Excellence Award winner by the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, the 2006 Emerging Business of the Year by the Central Penn Business Journal, a Top Fifty Fastest Growing Company in 2006 and 2005 by the Central Penn Business Journal, and the 2005 Growth Company of the Year by the Technology Council of Central PA. To learn more, visit www.listrak.com.

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Press Contact: Megan Ouellet
Company Name: Listrak
Phone: 717-627-4528
Website: http://www.listrak.com

Can Foreign Nationals Work In The United States?

The H-1b Cap Has Been Met; What Is Left For The Foreign National Who Wants To Work Legally In The United States?

Elise Schwarz (www.SchrefflerSchwarz.com) comments on the recent introduction of the yearly cap on the number of H-1B visas granted to foreign nationals in specialty occupations and why it has been effectively withdrawn, at least until April 2008.

(PRWEB) May 31, 2007 -- New York Immigration attorney Elise Schwarz comments on the recent introduction of the yearly cap on the number of H-1B visas granted to foreign nationals in specialty occupations and why it has been effectively withdrawn, at least until April 2008.

The first day to file the application for the visa this year (to become eligible to work in October 2007) was April 1, 2007. "The cap was pretty much reached on the very first day," states Schwarz. Foreign nationals holding a Masters degree or higher from a U.S. University had the advantage of an additional 21,000 chances to get the visa. But that cap was reached in the first month. While nationals of certain countries and employees of certain organizations receive more welcoming conditions and exemptions in this visa category, for the most part, the H-1B has had its day, at least for this year.

"All is not lost, however, for many foreign nationals who want to work in the United States in a non-immigrant capacity," continues Schwarz. "There might still be a visa that fits."

Under the North American Free Trade Agreement, Canadians and Mexicans whose occupations are one of 64 listed under the NAFTA schedule can come in to the United States to work under the TN-1 and TN-2 visas, respectively. Like every other non-immigrant visa, the individual must show that he or she does not have intent to remain in the United States permanently.

Other treaty based visas fall under the "E" category. If a national is from a country with which the United States has signed a Treaty of Commerce and Navigation E-1 and E-2 visas are available for the purposes of trade and investment. The E-1 treaty trader must be coming to the United States to carry on substantial trade between the United States and his or her country of nationality.

The E-2 treaty investor must be coming to the United States to develop and direct an operation or enterprise in which he or she has invested, or is actively in the process of investing, a substantial amount of capital. Executives and specialized employees may also qualify for this visa.

The E-3 visa, also treaty based, is available to Australian professionals who come to the United States to perform a professional specialty occupation. The qualifying Australian must have a Bachelor's degree and the position that person will fill must typically require a related bachelor's degree for entry-level employment.

For those from countries other than those with which the United States has signed a treaty, or for whom, for whatever reason, a treaty-based visa is not appropriate, other visas are available. Individuals employed by, or owners of, businesses abroad, can qualify for a B-1 visa to come to the United States and perform services here which benefit their foreign employer or business. Although they cannot accept local employment in the United States and must not render productive services here, this is, nonetheless, an extremely useful visa for those who, for example, need to attend numerous business meetings or negotiate a cross-border deal. Indeed it is used by a range of individuals in a range of circumstances, including foreign corporate personnel who come to the US to set up a subsidiary; individuals exploring the possibility of investing in the U.S.; those attending an executive seminar or those participating in scientific, educational, professional, religious or business conventions, to name a few. The visa can be issued for "as long as is reasonable for the business to be performed" although it is typically issued for an initial six months to one year, it can then be extended in six month increments so long as the purpose for the visa remains.

Plenty of visas are available that do allow for gainful employment in the U.S. Managers, executives, and those in a position requiring specialized knowledge, who work for U.S. firms, corporations, or other legal entities or their affiliates or subsidiaries of a company abroad, and have done so for one year out of the last three, can come to the U.S. on an L visa for intra-company transfers.

Those coming to the US to do on-the job training have two main options. The H-3 visa is available to individuals coming to the United States to complete training which is not available in their home country. This visa, however, can be issued for a maximum of 24 months only. If the individual requires an extended period of stay, a more suitable visa is likely to be the J-1. The J-1 is an ideal visa for students and professors, au pairs and nannies, as well as industrial trainees and specialists, although it does require a sponsoring entity. The J-1 is initially valid for eighteen months, but various waivers and extensions are available.

And there's more. The O category of visa is available to those foreign nationals who can prove their extraordinary ability in the arts, sciences, business, education or athletics, or extraordinary achievement in film or television. There is even a related visa for their accompanying essential support personnel. Internationally recognized entertainment groups and sports teams can work in the United States under the P visa. Religious workers may come to the United States to work in their religious professions or vocations under the R visa. Foreign press, radio, film, or other foreign media personnel can use the I visa. And for the culturally curious, the Q visa is available for cultural exchange programs which have been designated for the purpose of providing practical training, employment, and the sharing of history, culture and traditions of the country of aliens nationality.

There are other visas available, including some which are not based on the recipient's own employment but allow that individual to work nonetheless.

While none of these visas fully substitutes the general applicability and availability of the H-1B visa across the board for professional specialty occupations, it is clear that, perhaps with some further probing of a foreign national's specific circumstances, oftentimes, there is another option which will make it possible for that individual to come and work legally, prosperously, and, hopefully, mutually beneficially, in the United States.

This article is intended for general immigration purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice, nor is it intended to serve in place of legal advice. You should consult with an attorney for individual advice regarding your own situation.

Elise Schwarz is a partner at the New York, NY Law Firm of Schreffler Schwarz. Her practice areas include immigration law and business litigation. Neil Schreffler is also a partner at the Manhattan based Law Firm. His practice areas include Personal Injury, Nursing Home Abuse and neglect cases and Matrimonial matters. Their website is SchrefflerSchwarz.com
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This press release has been distributed by SalemGlobal Internet Interactive Public Relations. Based in New York City, SalemGlobal (salemglobal.com) optimizes websites to increase traffic from search engines for the legal, healthcare, automotive and real estate industries, provides lead generation, and improves conversion of site visitors to buyers. Other services include general website marketing, search engine optimization, ecommerce solutions, content management systems, website hosting, web design and maintenance. Contact CEO Raphi Salem at 646-217-4733.

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Press Contact: RAPHI SALEM
Company Name: Schreffler Schwarz
Phone: 646-217-4733
Website: http://www.schrefflerschwarz.com

Global Mailing List Search Tool

NextMark Goes Global with Mailing List Search Tool

NextMark, a leading provider of tools and resources to buy mailing lists, sell mailing lists, and learn about mailing lists, today announced it has enhanced its mailing list search tool to classify mailing lists by more than 50 countries and 10 languages. These new features are intended to facilitate better direct marketing throughout the world.

Hanover, NH (PRWEB) May 29, 2007 -- NextMark, a leading provider of tools and resources to buy mailing lists, sell mailing lists, and learn about mailing lists, today announced it has enhanced its mailing list search tool to classify mailing lists by more than 50 countries and 10 languages. These new features are intended to facilitate better direct marketing throughout the world.

"Direct marketing is going global and so is NextMark," said Joseph Pych, founder and president of NextMark. "With global markets and global competition, it's more important than ever to deliver relevant marketing communications. This enhancement enables you to be more precise in selecting prospects for your direct marketing campaigns and to communicate with them in their preferred language."

NextMark was previously limited to classifying mailing lists by United States, Canada, and Other International. More than 14,000 of 60,000 mailing lists in NextMark's database were coded as Other International. This limitation made it difficult to reach people in specific countries outside the United States and Canada.

With its new software upgrade, NextMark now enables classification of mailing lists by virtually every country in the world. The list of supported countries now includes Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Islamic Republic of, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Republic of, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, and Venezuela.

NextMark also previously had no way to classify mailing lists by spoken language. This made it difficult to find prospect lists for campaigns in a specific language. NextMark now enables mailing list classification by more than 10 languages including Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

The new internationalization features were released as part of version 6.4, which included 56 other features that facilitate the processes of buying and selling mailing lists. In the coming months, NextMark will work with its list management clients to properly classify their managed lists by countries and languages. Once completed, NextMark's mailing lists search engine will be enhanced to utilize this new information.

Publishing mailing list information in NextMark's database is free through its MarketMax SE service. NextMark also provides a free mailing list search tool on its website and offers free trials on its advanced list research system.

About NextMark, Inc.
NextMark provides tools and resources that help organizations to buy mailing lists, sell mailing lists, and learn about mailing lists. NextMark currently indexes and tracks more than 60,000 mailing lists from 700+ sources. Its solutions have been proven through more than 2,500,000 mailing list searches and 50,000 direct marketing campaigns for thousands of catalog merchants, retailers, fundraisers, politicians, banks, telcos, entertainers, broadcasters, publishers, and other organizations that reach their market directly. NextMark is a privately held corporation based in Hanover, New Hampshire USA and on the web at NextMark.com.

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Press Contact: Joseph Pych
Company Name: NextMark, Inc.
Phone: (603)643-1307
Website: www.NextMark.com

Study Dispels Myth That Content is Spam

Lyris EmailAdvisor Study Further Dispels Myth That Content is Major Reason ISPs Filter Legitimate Email Marketing Messages Into the Spam Folder

Q1 Study Reveals that While Delivery is Still a Key Challenge, Most Problems Are Based on Sender Marketing Practices, Not Content

Emeryville, CA (PRWEB) May 29, 2007 -- A new deliverability study provides further evidence to dispel the widely-held myth among marketers that message content is the key reason ISPs filter legitimate email marketing messages.

That's the primary finding of the Lyris EmailAdvisor ISP Deliverability Report Card for Q1 2007, a quarterly research study that monitors deliverability rates for permission-based email marketing. The EmailAdvisor Report Card also reveals that a majority of the largest US-based ISPs have the lowest rates of delivering email to the inbox. The complete PDF report can be downloaded at http://www.lyris.com/resources/reports/deliverability_report_Q12007.pdf

According to the EmailAdvisor Report Card, message content is not a major cause of deliverability challenges for most email marketers. More than 1,705 unique emails were run through the EmailAdvisor content scoring application that includes the content scoring rules subset to the widely adopted Spam Assassin open source project. The average content point score of these 1,705 unique emails was 1.04 - well below the filter's generally accepted spam identification level of 3.0 or higher.

"The main message of this quarter's EmailAdvisor Report Card for email marketers is that there are no easy fixes to senders' deliverability challenge," said Stefan Pollard, Director of Consulting Services at EmailLabs, which along with J.L. Halsey's Lyris and Sparklist brands has integrated with the EmailAdvisor deliverability monitoring tool. "Changing a few keywords in the hopes of boosting inbox success rates is no substitute for adhering to email marketing best practices. It's an oversimplification to place blame primarily on content filters when a campaign has poor returns, when in fact most delivery challenges are due to subscriber feedback." According to Pollard, such feedback typically takes the form of complaints by recipients who mark the message as "spam" in their respective email clients and problematic traffic patterns such as bounces and spam trap hits. "That's why both EmailLabs and Lyris have developed deliverability programs that build on EmailAdvisor and focus on the real issues that affect a sender's deliverability," he said.

How Does Your Content Rank?
Of the emails subjected to content scoring, two Spam Assassin rules that were frequently triggered - generated content filter point scores of significance. According to Pollard, most marketers should find that easy to correct. The first rule cautions against heavy use of images, which can increase spam scores up to a full point and render poorly in email clients with image blocking enabled. The second problem, sending messages with a "From Name" composed of numbers or symbols rather than an actual name, can also increase the likelihood of the message being flagged as spam and ending up in users' junk/bulk folders.

Inbox Delivery Still a Challenge
Of the 25 U.S. ISPs tracked by the EmailAdvisor Report Card, several leading providers rank among the top ten domains with the highest rates of delivery to the junk folder. These include Gmail (3rd with 28 percent), Yahoo! (4th with 19 percent), and Hotmail (6th with 16 percent). Noticeably absent from the top ten ISPs with the worst inbox delivery is AOL, which ranked 14th on the list with a junk delivery rate of only 2.33 percent.

For the study's top-ten ranked U.S. ISPs, gross deliverability was more than 90 percent in all cases, with average deliverability of 83.8 percent across the sample. CompuServe had the highest rate of inbox delivery at 88 percent, with the remainder of the top-ten ranked ISPs achieving delivery rates of more than 81 percent in all cases. Among international ISPs, European ISPs performed the best, followed by Australian, Canadian and finally U.S. domains - although the disparities between regions were all within +/- five percentage points.

"Fighting spam and other types of malicious messaging continues to be a major challenge for ISPs, who err on the side of protecting their customers and users," said Dave Dabbah, Lyris' Senior Director of Marketing. "Marketers who adopt authentication protocols such as Domain Keys, SPF and SenderID and who actively manage their sender reputation with deliverability best practices are able to reach the inbox with their campaigns giving them a distinct advantage over other marketers that lack deliverability know-how."

Deliverability rates can be adversely affected by a number of factors in addition to individual ISP policies and sender content, including the sender's mailing history, number of complaints the sender receives, data collection practices, use of sender authentication protocols and other reputation factors. "There are a lot of different variables to keep track of when managing deliverability," Dabbah said. "That's why Lyris and EmailLabs deliverability consulting packages have developed metrics that give marketers a quantified way to view and understand their deliverability scenarios." Lyris encourages senders to adhere to email marketing best practices in order to optimize their deliverability rates.

Behind the Statistics
For the period beginning January 1, 2007 and ending March 31, 2007, the Lyris EmailAdvisor service monitored the full delivery trajectories of 440,694 production level, permission-based email marketing messages sent from 69 different businesses and non-profit organizations to multiple accounts at 54 ISP domains in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia.

Messages were chosen to represent a cross-section of typical email marketing and newsletter activities. Examples of email message types monitored by the study include publishing, business-to-business, retail, travel, finance, among many others. In all cases, the recipients to whom the emails were sent had made an explicit "opt-in" request to receive the messages at the specified email addresses.

About EmailAdvisor

EmailAdvisor from Lyris Technologies is a leading deliverability monitoring solution. Features include Inbox Snapshot which shows how emails render in more than 50 email clients; Delivery Monitor which shows what percentage of your emails were delivered to the inbox or junk/bulk folder; Content Analyzer which analyzes your message content against 30 different spam filters; Blacklist Monitor checks to see if your IP addresses are listed on any of 300 blacklists; and ISP Monitor provides real-time information about email delivery delays at more than 30 ISP's. EmailAdvisor is integrated into Lyris ListHosting, EmailLabs and Sparklist or is available as a standalone service. For more information visit http://www.lyris.com/products/emailadvisor/index.html.

About Lyris Technologies

Founded in 1994, Lyris Technologies provides leading-edge email marketing software solutions to more than 5,000 customers worldwide. Our suite of products, led by our flagship product ListManager, offers powerful tools for opt-in email marketing, list management, database segmentation, and deliverability assurance. Lyris offers both hosted and software versions for publishing email campaigns, newsletters, and discussion groups. Our commitment to permission-based marketing, outstanding deliverability rates, and our extremely positive ISP relations make Lyris' solutions among the best-selling email marketing applications on the market today. Headquartered in Emeryville, California, Lyris is a subsidiary of the J.L. Halsey Corporation (OTCBB:JLHY), a leading provider of technology solutions to marketers at mid-size businesses. J.L. Halsey's other brands include ClickTracks, EmailLabs, Hot Banana, and Sparklist.

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Press Contact: KENNETH GREENBERG
Company Name: Lyris Technologies, Inc.
Phone: 818-990-5001
Website: www.lyris.com

World's First Intelligent List-based Email Address Finder

Razorfish, LLC Releases World's First Intelligent List-based Email Address Finder

IdeaList™ finds email addresses for a list of personal and company names. IdeaList lets you build and maintain your own email lists, eliminating the need for expensive and unreliable rented lists.

Rockville, MD (PRWEB) May 25, 2007 -- Razorfish, LLC, an innovator of business productivity software, announced today release of its IdeaList™ email address finder software that allows its users to find email addresses for a list of individuals given their first, last, and company names. The email addresses are populated into lead lists along with other pre-existing information for each individual. IdeaList lets you manage your lead list so you can target your commercial email to people who would be most interested in your products or services.

The intelligence behind IdeaList is an algorithm that uses a combination of SMTP validation, a web search, as well as inferences drawn from other email address on the same domain. Razorfish has filed several patent applications on their approach. IdeaList will also verify supplied email addresses if they're already in the list.

IdeaList installs on and runs on any desktop or laptop PC and merely requires an Internet connection to find and verify valid email addresses in a lead list. It processes typically 1 record per second (on a cable or DSL connection) and has an email address discovery accuracy between 80 and 90%, depending on operating conditions. Supported list file formats include .CSV, tab-delimited .TXT, and .XLS.

"With IdeaList you can own and manage your lead lists; you no longer have to rent unreliable email lists," said Kathy Floam, owner and president of The Pomerantz Agency, a strategic marketing and design firm that specializes in the technology industry. "And you can use IdeaList to track where your leads go when the individual changes companies. I know that my company as well as my clients will find IdeaList very useful for commercial email marketing programs."

About Razorfish:
Razorfish is a fast moving team of entrepreneurs who have a wealth of experience in developing business productivity solutions (both hardware and software) for a wide range of applications. Razorfish is headquartered in the greater Washington, D.C. area.

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Press Contact: Technical Support
Company Name: Razorfish, LLC
Phone: 703-282-4383
Website: www.idealistsw.com

Postal Service Goes Digital to Promote Stamps

 

U.S. Postal Service Goes Digital to Promote New Star War Stamps

Starting today, the Postal Service will provide broadcast-quality video downloads of the production of the new Star Wars Commemorative Stamps series, as well as footage of several Star Wars movies, courtesy of Lucasfilm. The video downloads are available from the NewsRoom section of the U.S. Postal Service web site. (http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/allnews)

Fort Launderdale, FL (PRWEB) May 23, 2007 -- USNG On Demand (www.usngonline.com) has delivered an online solution for the U.S. Postal Service that streamlines and expands its media outreach.

Starting today, the Postal Service will provide broadcast-quality video downloads of the production of the new Star Wars Commemorative Stamps series, as well as footage of several Star Wars movies, courtesy of Lucasfilm. The video downloads are available from the NewsRoom section of the U.S. Postal Service web site. (http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/allnews) Video, images and graphics of the Star Wars stamps and other Postal Service news events are available at no charge for use by broadcast, online and print media.

"We are extremely excited to be working with the U.S. Postal Service and the Star Wars Commemorative Stamps release," said USNG On Demand President Jack Hambrick.

"We developed a Branded Broadcast Room for the Postal Service. It allows their communications team to service online and broadcast media 24/7, freeing up valuable time and resources. Plus, journalists can go right to the source for video and information. Sourcing of video is especially important in today's newsrooms."

B-roll footage of the Star Wars Stamps is now available, ahead of the official unveiling at a press conference on Friday May 25, 2007 in Los Angeles. Video from the event will be added to the existing video content.

USNG On Demand is a designed to assist communications professionals in taking the first step into the world of digital broadcast quality video distribution. USNG On Demand allows journalists to access broadcast quality video and web streaming ready video 24/7 in the formats they use most.

USNG On Demand is also the first digital media solution that allows communications professionals to reach the 700 Pathfire enabled newsrooms across the U.S. and Canada, right from their web site.

"Pathfire is essential to any plan to reach television producers and journalists with video. USNG On Demand is the first to provide organizations the ability to reach these broadcasters right from their web site. Competitors in this field such as The NewsMarket and Medialink have no path to Pathfire for online downloads, and this severely weakens their ability to reach American broadcasters," said Hambrick.

The Star Wars Commemorative Stamps go on sale at Post Offices nationwide Friday, May 25, and can be purchased online at usps.com. The official first-day-of-issue gala is being held during the opening of Star Wars Celebration IV at the Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA on May 25, at 7:30 p.m.

About the U.S. Postal Service
An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits 146 million homes and businesses, six days a week. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products, and services to cover its operating expenses. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $73 billion and delivers nearly half the world's mail.

About USNG On Demand
USNG On Demand is leading the way in broadcast quality video distribution and media management. Broadcast reporters, producers and assignment editors have come to depend of USNG as a credible source of news and information. The company was founded by veteran television reporter Jack Hambrick and has offices in Fort Lauderdale and Boston.

Contact
Mignon Young
USNG On Demand
media @ usngonline.com
954 525-1080

Website URL:
http://www.usngonline.com/pressrelease102.php

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Press Contact: Mignon Young
Company Name: USNG On Demand
Phone: 954 525-1080
Website: http://www.usngonline.com/pressrelease102.php

Send Email Newsletters to Large Groups

Webmail.us Helps Customers Send Email Newsletters to Large Groups

The Email Hosting Company Provides Customers with Email Marketing Capabilities

BLACKSBURG, Va. (PRWEB) May 22, 2007 -- Webmail.us, a leading provider of email hosting services to more than 45,000 small, medium, and geographically dispersed businesses, today announced the launch of its email marketing service, a service that allows customers to send opt-in email newsletters to large groups. Email newsletters can be used to send vital communications to customers, subscribers, or others who wish to receive the communications.

By employing eight years of experience in the email services industry, Webmail.us has designed this service to help customers use email to communicate more effectively with large groups of recipients, achieve the highest possible delivery rates, easily manage email campaigns, and track the effectiveness of those campaigns. More importantly, customers are now able to communicate directly with large groups while remaining compliant with industry anti-spam regulations. In fact, the company recently joined the Email Sender and Provider Coalition (ESPC), a group that was formed to fight spam while protecting the delivery of legitimate email. "We are pleased that Webmail.us has joined ESPC and our mission to combat spam while protecting legitimate email by following best practices and adhering to emerging technology standards," state James Campbell, Assistant Director of the ESPC, "and we look forward to working with them to promote these practices with other large senders and receivers."

"We decided to develop an email newsletter service because our customers have asked us for the ability to communicate in bulk with their customers, via email," said Pat Matthews, chief executive officer of Webmail.us. "And it is essential that we help them accomplish their goals while employing best email practices and staying compliant with CAN-SPAM and other industry regulations."

Embedded into the system are compliance management features, including one-click unsubscribe capabilities, protection against spammers using the system to send unsolicited bulk email, and the ongoing management of relationships with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to make sure distributed emails do not end up in spam folders or on blacklists. The system has also been deployed in an infrastructure environment that is physically separate from where the company's email hosting customers are hosted, in order for deliverability rates and IP addresses for the two systems to be independent of one another.

"Email newsletters are a vital form of communication for our customers," said Matthews. "When our customers send an email they need to know it's going to be delivered. We make sending email easy and safe."

Webmail.us has been experiencing rapid growth, adding more than 15,000 businesses to its email hosting system in the last four months.

About Webmail.us, Inc.
Webmail.us, along with its growing community of private-label reseller partners, provides more than 45,000 small, medium, and geographically dispersed companies with corporate email hosting services. The company manages and maintains the email software and hosting infrastructure, freeing up personnel resources and eliminating the need for organizations to purchase email-related hardware, software, and security services--all for a fraction of the cost of purchasing and managing email services in-house. The company's mission critical software applications are housed in carrier-grade data centers to ensure maximum uptime. Founded in 1999, Webmail.us is privately held and headquartered in Blacksburg, Virginia. To learn more, please visit www.webmail.us or call 866.392.3336 x181.

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Press Contact: PAT MATTHEWS
Company Name: Webmail.us, Inc.
Phone: 5405523222
Website: www.webmail.us

Subscription Acquisition Mailings for Eating Well Magazine

CGSM Awarded Subscription Acquisition Mailings for Eating Well Magazine

Strategic Marketing Firm Helps Publisher of Award-Winning National Consumer Magazine Reach Subscribers and Advertisers

WILTON, CT (PRWEB) May 21, 2007 -- Canterbury Graphics Strategic Marketing (CGSM; www.cgsm.com), a direct-marketing agency, has been selected by Eating Well magazine to assist in the publication's ongoing effort to increase circulation and galvanize advertisers to the brand whose mission is to deliver ideas, knowledge and inspiration for lifelong healthy eating. CGSM has been awarded the creation and production of Eating Well magazine's new business mailings.

"CGSM's experience in magazine publishing and increasing new subscribers were deciding factors by Eating Well magazine in choosing to work with our team," said Mark Kolier, CGSM president. "We are pleased to have been chosen by Eating Well magazine to help accomplish its mission for both readers and advertisers."

The Eating Well campaign is a strong direct marketing effort that includes refreshed creative and copy for a classic editorial 6 X 9 package and a monarch (voucher style) package. CGSM expects the campaign to begin in June 2007 and continue throughout next year.

About CGSM
CGSM is a privately-held direct-marketing agency specializing in the marketing strategy, design and production of direct mail-packages and inserts. Its print production skills combined with a focus on data analysis and modeling make it possible for CGSM to offer a unique approach to customer acquisition and retention that takes into account all the complex details of a direct-mail marketing campaign without ever losing sight of the overall business objectives. For more information, please visit http://www.cgsm.com or call 203-563-9233.


For a press kit or to schedule an interview, please contact:
Jill Cirigliano
Communication Strategy Group for CGSM
www.gocsg.com

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Press Contact: Jill Cirigliano
Company Name: CGSM
Phone: 631-239-6335
Website: www.cgsm.com

Opt-In Marketing Now Available for Small and Medium Sized Businesses - Video at 11

Powerful Fortune-Tested Opt-In Marketing Now Available for Small and Medium Sized Businesses

Ernan Roman launches 3-step program for direct marketing. Opt-In Marketing is achieving double-digit response rates.

Douglas Manor, NY (PRWEB) May 17, 2007 -- A sophisticated process for direct marketing that has been successfully used by Fortune 500 companies to achieve double-digit response rates is now available -- and proving its success -- for small and medium sized businesses. The 3-Step Opt-In Marketing Process™ was created by marketing guru, Ernan Roman, President of Ernan Roman Direct Marketing.

Increase response 300%
Fortune 500 companies have long been achieving double-digit response rates using opt-in marketing, a research-based, integrated marketing process. According to Hewlett-Packard's Gary Dawson, Manager, Marketing Communications & Strategy, "Marketing waste was cut by 50% or more. Program results have improved 3-fold or more. In very controlled programs, response rates have been 30%."

IBM, Microsoft, and many other blue-chip corporations have achieved unprecedented response rates using the 3-Step Opt-In Marketing Process™. For detailed case studies, please visit www.erdm.com.

According to Roman, "Small and medium sized companies have been asking us to scale and price the 3-Step Opt-In Marketing Process for them. We responded and early results indicate that this process which has been effective for huge corporations is scalable for smaller companies with comparable double-digit results."

Small companies, big success
Guy Berger, owner of Palms Trading, says, "I was skeptical whether these Fortune 500 company techniques would work for a small company like mine. However, since we started working with Ernan, we have increased bottom line revenue 10%."

Dave Schatteman, President of Progressive Hydraulics, Inc. reports, "We have just started Ernan's 3-Step Opt-In Marketing Process, and it has already provided us with customer insights and expectations which will help us transform how we engage customers in deeper, more value-based relationships."

Guaranteed double-digit response
According to Roman, "The reason we can guarantee companies double-digit response is because we have been battle testing and refining opt-in marketing for 23 years for the leading Fortune 500 companies. It has worked for them and is working now for small and medium companies."

The key to Roman's 3-Step Opt-In Marketing Process is the ability to gather uniquely detailed customer self-profiled information which enables companies to deliver the right offer to the right consumer at the right time via their preferred mix of media.

Step 1 is Voice of Customer (VOC) Relationship Research which provides unprecedented insights into customers' expectations, preferences, and aversions regarding product or service offerings, pricing, competitive differentiation, and messaging.

In Step 2, the VOC intelligence is used to create opt-in programs that achieve unprecedented levels of customer engagement and build highly targeted databases populated with unique self-profiled preferences unobtainable any other way.

This drives Step 3, the delivery of customer-requested value propositions via integrated, multichannel marketing programs.

For more details about these 3 steps, please visit www.erdm.com, "New: Breakthrough Services for Small/Medium Co's."

"We have built into a scalable 3-Step Opt-In Marketing Process what great salespeople have always done one-on-one," says Roman. "We first learn what our client's customers want, when and how they want it, and then we develop the disciplined marketing process to deliver it – per their individual preferences. This is what guarantees double digit response rates."

To learn more about how the 3-Step Opt-In Marketing Process can help your small or medium size company, contact Ernan Roman at ernan (at) erdm.com or 718-225-4151, or visit www.ERDM.com, "New: Breakthrough Services for Small/Medium Co's."

About Ernan Roman
Ernan Roman, President of the strategic marketing consultancy Ernan Roman Direct Marketing, is the pioneer who created the Consensual Marketing Opt-In Process and the Integrated Direct Marketing methodology. He authored the text "Integrated Direct Marketing: The Cutting Edge Strategy for Synchronizing Advertising, Direct Mail, Telemarketing and Field Sales" and co-authored "Opt-In Marketing: Increase Sales Exponentially with Consensual Marketing," the first printing of which sold out in six weeks. He has appeared frequently on ABC TV and numerous radio stations to discuss issues facing marketers and consumers. In 2004, he was named to "B to B's Who's Who" as one of the 100 most influential people in Business Marketing by Crain's B to B Magazine. Clients of his marketing consulting firm include Microsoft, NBC Universal, Reliant Energy, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Walt Disney, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, United States Postal Service, Computer Associates, Golden Rule Insurance and Starwood Hotels.

For more information, contact:
Ernan Roman
President & Founder, Ernan Roman Direct Marketing
718-225-4151
ernan @ erdm.com
www.erdm.com

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Press Contact: Ernan Roman
Company Name: Ernan Roman Direct Marketing
Phone: 718-225-4151
Website: www.erdm.com

Business Book Gets the Conversation Going

New Business Book Gets the Conversation Going

Lois Kelly's "Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word of Mouth Marketing" is released and has people talking.

Marblehead, MA (PRWEB) May 11, 2007 -- We all know that to become relevant, you need to engage your customers. But are you ready to have a real conversation and tell a good story? As Lois Kelly says, "Enough with the marketing blah blah blah -- let's talk about something interesting."

Beyond Buzz: the Next Generation of Word of Mouth Marketing, is Kelly's actionable and engaging guide on how to transform traditional marketing and communications practices into two-way conversations.

The first book to focus on the message -- not just the mechanics -- of conversational marketing, Beyond Buzz provides practical advice, tools, and techniques for listening in new ways, creating fresh ideas to talk about, and re-designing marketing roles and functions.

Author Lois Kelly also shares real-world stories of companies who are succeeding with conversational marketing, like Sun Microsystems, Unilever's Dove Brand and Women and Infants Hospital, as well as some organizations and executives who have been less successful.

Beyond Buzz shows how to:

• Uncover amazingly interesting "talk-worthy" ideas that exist in every organization.
• Create a fresh point of view that lights up conversations and gets people to say, "That's interesting. Tell me more."
• Develop word of mouth messages based on the nine things that people like to talk about the most
• Overcome the most common obstacles to succeeding in a word of mouth world.
• Listen in new ways, making customers feel heard and gleaning valuable business insights.
• Tap into nine fundamental themes that always get people talking.
• Rethink how the marketing organization, showing how to evolve the eight marketing functions most important to conversational marketing.

The bottom line is that marketing today involves engaging in conversation, and with Beyond Buzz, the author has boldly defined the best methodology for igniting the conversations, and making long-lasting meaning, not just buzz.

The book's web site is here - http://foghound.com/BeyondBuzz/ .

About the Author:

Lois Kelly, co-founder of strategic communications firm Foghound, believes the root cause of most business and marketing problems is communications. She's dedicated her career to helping companies talk about their companies and issues in ways that get people to buy, believe and change, no matter how complex the topic or how competitive the market. Clients have included SAP, Sun Microsystems, Sapient, FedEx, The Business Innovation Factory, Communispace, eRoom, Copernicus, Orange, and SAS Institute.

Previously, Lois was fo-founder and president of Thunder House, a pioneering digital marketing agency, senior vice president of The Weber Group, a high-tech public relations agency, and an executive speechwriter and issus management and crisis communications specialist.

Lois' articles have appeared in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Brandweek, Advertising Age, and Adweek, and she frequently speaks at conferences on marketing and communications throughout the world. She blogs at http://blog.foghound.com.

Lois is a board member of the Tony-award winning theater, Trinity Repertory Company, and is an advisor to Northeastern University's fast-growing Communications Studies program.,She's a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and Harvard University.

Contact:
For review copies or interviews with Ms. Kelly:
Nettie Hartsock, Hartsock Communications
512-396-1067

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Press Contact: NETTIE HARTSOCK
Company Name: Hartsock Communications
Phone: 512-644-6471
Website: http://foghound.com/BeyondBuzz/

New Business Classifieds Online Marketplace for Businesses

TheBusinessClassifieds Launches its Online Marketplace for Businesses to Connect

Today TheBusinessClassifieds.com launched its free site, which connects business buyers with business sellers.

New Jersey (PRWEB) May 7, 2007 -- Today The Business Classifieds, the newest addition to the online marketplace at http://www.TheBusinessClassifieds.com, unveils their dynamic online portal for connecting business buyers with business sellers.

Unique to TheBusinessClassifieds.com is its multiple access points to all the listings that individual sellers or professional brokers offer. Instead of going through ad by ad on a printed newspaper, users can save time by only looking at ads that interest them through advanced search functions. "Another exciting feature that the website offers is The MATRIX which is an exclusive display portal for all the listings that are on the site which are of prime value," says Anna Siroy, founder of TheBusinessClassifieds.com.

Some of the benefits to users are:

For Buyers
Instead of going through ad by ad on a printed newspaper, users can save time by only looking at ads that interest them through advanced search engines. In addition, if a user wants to look for a business broker, there is a directory of brokers by state. Registration is free.

For Individual Sellers
Sellers benefit by having their listing appear on the site for 60 days. To increase visibility, users can opt to have a "featured ad." This will allow their ad to appear on the main page.

For Business Brokers
Business Brokers will receive a free Broker webpage that includes their company info and current listings. They have the ability to post unlimited listings.

A great addition to the site is the "Resource Room" where there will be an abundance of articles pertaining to the buying / selling of businesses.

The Business Classifieds offers the ability for business buyers and sellers to fuse together in a very clean and trouble-free environment, allowing businesses to manage transactions.

For more information about "The Business Classifieds" please visit their website at http://www.TheBusinessClassifieds.com or contact its chief principal Anna Siroy at 848-248-8467

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Press Contact: Anna Siroy
Company Name: The Business Classifieds
Phone: 8482488467
Website: http://www.thebusinessclassifieds.com

Google Analytics To Track Email Marketing

 

Listrak Email Marketing Announces Integration with Google Analytics

Listrak combines powerful email marketing tracking capabilities with web analytics for increased accuracy and relevancy.

Lititz, PA (PRWEB) May 2, 2007 -- Listrak announced today that it has integrated Google Analytics with its award winning email marketing solution. The result is a powerful marketing tool that tracks open, read, and click-through rates of the email campaigns and then tracks the interaction the subscribers have with their websites after they clicked-through the call to action link on the email message. This gives Listrak users a better understanding of their subscribers' online habits, which allows them to increase the relevancy of future campaigns while accurately predicting subscriber response. Combining both email tracking features and web analytics data gives marketers a complete understanding of their subscribers.

Google Analytics gives marketers quick and easy access to information that allows them to build accurate subscriber profiles while tracking overall goal conversion. With Google Analytics, marketers can tie goal conversion back to a specific email address or to a link through a specific email campaign, gather information on the average amount of pageviews per visit tied to a specific email address or to a specific email campaign, capture overall conversions from a specific email send, and summarize number of total visits across all email campaigns.

Ross Kramer, CEO of Listrak, says, "The combination of Listrak email marketing and Google Analytics results in a robust reporting tool that marketers can use to create timely, relevant email campaigns targeted to individual subscribers."

Google Analytics offers many marketing benefits to companies using it in accordance with their email marketing strategies. For example, companies will be able to see which subscribers added items to their online shopping carts but abandoned the carts before completing the purchase. Since the analytics are tied to their Listrak email marketing solution, marketers can easily send emails to those subscribers to complete the sale. Also, marketers can use Google Analytics for trending analysis, landing page optimization, and entrance and exit point reporting. Because it is integrated with Listrak email marketing, users can apply the knowledge instantly so they communicate better with their customers.

For more information, please read Listrak's white paper "Using Google Analytics to Increase Reporting Capabilities of Email Marketing Campaigns and Boost Relevancy and Response".

About Listrak
Listrak is a leading provider of hosted email marketing software that allows permission-based marketers to manage, send, track and grow their email marketing investment. Listrak services clients such as Daimler Chrysler, Motorola, L'Oreal and the Islands of the Bahamas from its Lititz, PA headquarters. Listrak was named the 2006 Small Business Technological Excellence Award winner by the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, the 2006 Emerging Business of the Year by the Central Penn Business Journal, a Top Fifty Fastest Growing Company in 2006 and 2005 by the Central Penn Business Journal, and the 2005 Growth Company of the Year by the Technology Council of Central PA. To learn more, visit www.listrak.com.

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Press Contact: Megan Ouellet
Company Name: Listrak
Phone: 717-627-4528
Website: www.listrak.com

Law EBooks

 

EBooks about Law - The Worlds Where Lawyers Roam

Easy to find and simple to use - eBooks About Law offers legal information at a fraction of the cost you would expect to pay. Tenants, landlords, the unhappily married, and divorces parent can all find answers to their legal question. Whether the culprit is the landlord or the boss (or even a life partner) this is the place to find out what you can do about it.

Pasadena, CA (PRWEB) May 1, 2007 -- eBooks About Law (www.eBooksAboutLaw.com) announces the opening of a new store designed to offer the best in legal information). Enter a whole new universe of information with just one click of your mouse. Titles cover everything from running your own law firm to bankruptcy, consumer protection and even criminal law.

EBooks About Law has the best selection of legal information for the layman in electronic form available today. Books from Nolo Press alone cover information about Worker's Compensation, child custody and living wills. Other titles include information of medical malpractice, patents and even taxation.

As an eBooks About Everything (www.eBooksAboutEverything.com) store, eBooks About Law offers customers reward points for registering, writing an online review or telling a friend. These points can add up to huge savings anywhere in the large and growing list of EBooks About Everything bookstores.

Pat Palmer, book critic says; "the eBooks about Law store has as wide a range of eBooks about the law as any place on earth. You can find your legal information in the eBook of your choice. You can even browse away those hours when you are patiently waiting for the urge to sue someone who is driving you insane. Just click on www.ebooksaboutlaw.com and transport yourself into a place where your legal problems are quickly put in perspective.

It's extremely easy to find what you are looking for. Want to find out about trial law, depositions and juries? Try this:

    Think It!    eBookAboutlLaw.com
    Click It!    (from administrative practices to wills)
    Read It!    Find the book you want and buy it

EBooks About Law is one of the EBooks About Everything family of stores. EBooks about Everything (www.ebooksabouteverything.com) has books for everybody, everywhere, everytime (24/7/365). EBooks About Everything: Think it; Click it; Read it!

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Press Contact: Henri Reynard
Company Name: eBooks About
Phone: 760-327-5100
Website: www.eBooksAboutLaw.com