As our site grows every day we want to share some information with you on the way we are operating the project. We call this section «Business Blog» as it is similar to doing a log book where data is recorded in a chronological order. «Blogging» is gaining popularity with more and more people picking up the habit of publishing their experiences and thoughts on the Internet. Our Blog covers various topics — from TOEFL, TOEIC, MBA, GMAT, ESL/EFL test preperation to cultural traditions and current political events.
There will also be some Internet marketing terminology and if you have any questions regarding the information simply let us know.

The Business Blog is written by Torsten Daerr and edited by Alan Townend.

2003 — October 08
Which do you think is the most effective marketing channel on the internet? Yes, I know this depends on various factors such as what kind of service or product you are offering, what your target market is or rather for whom your services are designed, their level of education and a whole lot of more. And yes ideally, you have to use different communication channels and combine them to build trust and credibility — a feat that is much more difficult to achieve on the internet than in the real world where you can see your customers face to face. Still, there is one single element that stands out above all else. What is that? Maybe, this could even be a good question to run a poll on in our forum? Well, if you can't wait until the poll has been completed you can tell us your opinion either via email or on the forum. I'm really curious…

2003 — October 07
When we started our site this summer Google™ used to return about 2 million pages on the search term «english test». Now this number has risen to more than 11 million. You can narrow down the search result by putting the words in quotation marks like this "english test". This time Google™ will offer you about 43000 webpages to look at. I think that only a tiny little fraction of all internet users choose this advanced option — the vast majority just types in the word or phrase they search information on. And I sometimes wonder why all these many webpages are indexed and listed in a search engine when most of them will never get looked at. Consider this fact you and you'll realize the importance or even power a company like Google™ possesses. But then again, this situation is very similar to the «real world». We tend to forget that the internet is a creation of us human beings. Still, the question whether the internet changes us or we change the internet provides grounds for controversy, don't you think?

2003 — October 06
Now our Forum has been open for a week and the first postings have been submitted containing feedback, questions and proposals. Slava was right when he suggested starting the forum now rather than waiting and getting prepared. A website is a process, not a static object. It develops and grows in various directions and every website is unique.
Also, I'm quite glad we receive only a few postings to our forum per week at this point because it gives us time to respond more individually and think about our replies before answering. Looking at other internet forums I can see the potential of this interactive medium — it can be turned into a real community. Interestingly enough those places are also known as «virtual» communities — the word «virtual» indicating that its participants don't get to know each other in person or do they in fact? At any rate, the upcoming weeks will be exciting as every single day something new is happening…

2003 — October 03
Today is an important day for quite a number of reasons: For starters it's the 13th anniversary of Germany's reunification. Now, I'm not just happy because the Germans have re-united — this is a process that will take generations anyway. What I like about this event are all the new opportunities I have been given: I'm free to travel to any country I want. I can decide who I want to work with and on what project. I can say what I think and listen to what other people have to say. And I'm a citizen of the EU — a community of various nationalities rather than just one country…
Today also it is exactly one month since english-test.net has been a media partner of Google™ and our partnership has turned out to be a successful one. Now we can see a clear path to achieving a higher level of independence. And it's fun to work on this website whenever we want and see people react in a positive way.
What was that other good thing about this day? Ah, it's Friday and I'll have some time to write a few more lines of my book…