Todd Miechiels offers clients efficient way to capture and nurture leads through Internet marketing automation

Atlanta, GA January 29, 2008 — Atlanta-based Internet marketing consultant Todd Miechiels now provides marketing automation solutions to B2B companies through Pardot, an industry-leading provider of on-demand marketing automation solutions. Miechiels’ marketing automation services include strategy, implementation, and ongoing counseling and management.

“For years I’ve been wishing my clients had more efficient and accountable ways to handle the leads our programs generate for them,” explains Todd. “Pardot provides a cost-effective solution that marketing and sales can put to use from the moment they sign on. Since offering this service, it has really changed the way my clients and I think about Internet marketing. It puts much more emphasis on how leads are handled and it makes everyone’s jobs more rewarding as we’re better able to track new leads, all the way through to closed sales.”

One of the most common complaints and challenges among B2B companies is that marketing leads often find their way into an abyss once the marketing team hands them off to the sales team. According to Miechiels, about 78% of B2B leads are mishandled and not followed up on a timely basis. Even worse, close to 90% of those leads end up buying from a competitor within six months. By implementing an automated marketing solution, such as Pardot, sales teams can become more proactive in lead management, minimize dropped leads and maximize their close rates.

Through Pardot’s Prospect Insight tool, sales and marketing teams can score, grade, route, and automatically follow up with new and old leads. The on-demand web marketing automation suite maximizes efficiency for companies with multi-touch sales cycles by showing sales teams exactly where to spend their time and automatically nurturing existing leads. Companies can track all prospect interaction, score prospects based on parameters, prioritize sales reps’ time, send automated drip emails to prospects according to rules, and automatically notify sales reps of online prospect activity.

Since becoming a certified consulting partner with Pardot, Miechiels has brought the solution to several existing and new clients. He is making it a major part of a holistic approach to online lead generation in 2008.
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DeSilva+Phillips, Media Investment Bankers, releases its tenth annual Report on the Media M&A Marketplace, which assesses and analyzes the near-record year of 2007 and predicting trends for 2008. 2007 was the year that the long dormant consumer magazine sector exploded with acquisitions and the long-awaited storming of digital media properties by traditional media companies finally took place. There were 135 transactions in the sector, down slightly from 2006 but more than any other year in the past ten, and deal value was $9.6 billion - less than half of 2006. DeSilva+Phillips is cautiously optimistic for media deals in 2008.

New York, NY January 29, 2008 — DeSilva+Phillips, Media Investment Bankers, releases its tenth annual Report on the Media M&A Marketplace, which assesses and analyzes the near-record year of 2007 and predicting trends for 2008. Here are the highlights.

• 135 transactions - down from the 2006 number but more than any other year in the past ten, with dramatic loss of momentum in the 4th quarter.
• Deal volume: $9.6 billion - less than half of the 2006 total.
• Strategics did 33% of the top 15 deals but 62% of dollar volume.

The Advertising Market
• The ad market lagged the economy, delivering only 0.2% growth.
• An historic event: the consumer magazine sector may overtake the newspaper sector to become the second-largest media sector, after TV.

Public Media Companies
• DeSilva+Phillips’s basket of 11 public companies declined 2.3% - the first time this century publics moved in the opposite direction to the markets.
• 3 of the basket’s companies have disappeared from the public markets.

The Top 15 Deals
• Consumer deals dominated, with 10, including the 2 biggest, Gemstar-TV Guide and Primedia’s Enthusiast Group. Consumer deals were 72% of the $8.06 billion total value of the list.
• Top B2B deals were the sales of Advanstar and ALM. 3rd biggest: Dolan Media’s IPO, 4th best performing out of 90 NYSE IPOs.

Traditional Media Using M&A to Converge with Digital
• Traditional media built digital capability on a big scale.
• Niche rather than platform acquisitions prevailed.
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SyberWorks, Inc., a leader in custom e-Learning Solutions and the Learning Management System (LMS) industry, today announces an article available in the SyberWorks Online Media Center: “How-to” Guide to Creating Online Tests, by Dana Fine, Senior Instructional Designer at SyberWorks, Inc.

January 29, 2008 — SyberWorks, Inc., a leader in custom e-Learning Solutions and the Learning Management System (LMS) industry, today announces an article available in the SyberWorks Online Media Center: “How-to” Guide to Creating Online Tests, by Dana Fine, Senior Instructional Designer at SyberWorks, Inc.

Dave Boggs, CEO of SyberWorks, states, “The article provides a thorough overview of how to create online tests. It covers topics such as how the main objective and parameters of the course impact a test, determining the level of difficulty for the test, safeguarding the test from cheating, and other concepts.”

Boggs continues, “The article also discusses how to assess your online test and the implications of some common question types often used in online courses.”
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Leading search marketing software firm Engine Ready, Inc., announced receipt of an industry coveted award recognizing their leadership in managing paid search accounts.

San Diego, CA January 28, 2008 — Leading search marketing software firm Engine Ready, Inc., announced the receipt of an industry coveted award recognizing their leadership in managing paid search accounts. Microsoft awarded Engine Ready with the exclusive “adExcellence” certificate signifying that Engine Ready has attained expert status in managing paid search accounts.

“We are very excited that Engine Ready has been granted the adExcellence Certification, in return for our contributions of testing, documenting, and providing feedback to Microsoft regarding their AdCenter technology,” reports Engine Ready’s Senior Search Marketing Manager Mike Poserina.

Designed especially for Microsoft’s advertisers, the adExcellence program is Microsoft’s official accreditation program that gives advertisers the opportunity to become a Microsoft adCenter expert.

The latest credential is added to Engine Ready’s “AdWords Qualified Company” certificate from Google and Yahoo’s “Search Marketing Ambassador” designation. These Internet marketing certifications compliment the firm’s strong knowledge in strategic search marketing and web analytics.

Even in a relatively new marketplace like Internet Marketing, old-fashion business rules still have their place. “Our backgrounds are rooted in web analytics”, comments Jamie Smith, CEO. “We have a strong affinity for numbers, and base all of our decision-making on in-depth analysis. It’s the combination of our depth of experience in search marketing and web analytics that makes us uniquely qualified to meet our client’s needs.”
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Stylishwebdesign.us will launch a new service which combines web design and SEO optimization to help customers achieve maximum efficiency within limited timeframes.

January 25, 2008 — As of the beginning of February 2008, stylishwebdesign.us, which is one of the most innovative providers of web design services, will launch its new web design related web directory. This so-called “optimized web design service” will feature a number of the services traditionally offered by the company, combined with new features like custom web design and website re-design. Special deals will also be available for Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Anne R., web designer at stylishwebdesign.us, said: “Are you having problems thinking of new color combinations? Do you wish that you could have a reference file for evaluating new color combinations when designing websites? There area many helpful tools and websites out there that list good combination colors but wouldn’t you prefer to look at designs implementing these colors? I would. I have created about 45 different simple designs implementing workable color combinations, and I will add to this list at regular intervals.”

The main benefit of their web design directory is the originality. A website will be designed exclusively and nobody in the world can have the same one, because beneficiars will own the copyright for this design. Another advantage of ordering a custom made website is that the owner can choose how his website will look and get the desired functionality for it.

Anne R. expects the directory to expand over the years so a listing on their directory will help to promote web design companies, websites and they fully expect the Web Design Directory to be a really useful resource for anyone searching for web designers and web site design services throughout the UK - United Kingdom in England, Wales and Scotland.
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