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 — September 16
So, what does SEO stand for after all? You got it right — «Search Engine Optimization» which is developing into an array of services. The underlying idea of SEO is that a website's value is only as great as the exposure it receives. In internet marketing terminology a website's popularity is measured primarily by its «traffic». Traffic is basically determined by how many people access a page (or preferably several pages) per day. There are lots of ways to promote a website once it is launched. If you operate on a tight marketing budget, it is crucial for you to focus your promotion efforts on the various search engines, especially in the first weeks and months after the start of your online project. Search engines provide you with an ideal channel to spread the word about your website. Yet, as we mentioned earlier, it is getting more and more difficult to use the web-based search services in an online marketing campaign. First of all, thousands of new websites are getting listed on the major search engines everyday, which makes it harder for you to get a top ranking with your website. Another reason is that the search engines themselves are raising their requirements for a website to get listed. That's where SEO — «Search Engine Optimization» comes into play…

2003 — September 15
A couple of days ago, we talked about what impact new technology has on the English language. You see, a language is not static, it constantly changes — new words and phrases emerge; oftentimes replacing others. A language reflects the environment it is used in and therefore its vocabulary and structure continuously develops. This means that even a native speaker of English has to learn new words. Especially when it comes to internet and online marketing, there is an entire new language forming. Although it is based on English, many native speakers might not be familiar with all the terms. Take «spider» for example. When you ask someone to give you an explanation of this word, chances are they will come up with «an animal than spins a web, an arachnid». The internet marketing person however will tell you that a spider is a software system that automatically indexes and tracks webpages that are available on an internet server. There are many more examples of new English words and abbreviations. One of them we mentioned a while ago is SEO which could easily get confused with «CEO» although it is something completely different. Despite this term being very new, you still will get almost 300,000 entries when you type it into Google. This week we will eleborate on SEO a bit more…

2003 — September 12
Last Monday, the first person from the Republic of China (R.O.C.) — better known as Taiwan, subscribed to our newsletter allowing us to communicate with readers from both «Chinas». You might be wondering how I know what country a subscriber is from. Well, with this particular one it's pretty obvious — she has a yahoo.com.tw email account. It's amazing to see how the initial idea of the two search engine pioneers, Jerry Yang and David Filo, grew into a network that is available worldwide and represents a wide cultural diversity. In this regard, the internet truly is an equalizer — now, your financial situation is not as important as it might be in the «real world». Regardless of your mother tongue, country of origin or your social status, we all use the same communication system. Especially when it comes to web-based email or search queries, it's very likely that many of us are using the same brand. And still, as the Yahoo example shows, this medium is tailored to our specific national and cultural needs. Yahoo, like any other internationally operating search directory, employs local people to compile and maintain the country's web catalog. After all, Jerry Yang himself is a Taiwanese native…

2003 — September 11
Exactly two years ago an atrocity happened that shocked the world. Really whatever your personal opinion on the events of September 11th might be, I’m sure you were moved by this tragedy in one way or another. Our diary is too small to cover every aspect and all the circumstances that eventually led to this catastrophy, but what happened should be the following reminder for all of us: while we are making progress in almost every industry, we still haven’t found a solution for the challenge of making world peace! We are not able to bring about and maintain harmony on this planet although there is only one earth for all of us to share. Even the best «state-of-the-art» technology doesn’t mean anything if we are not capable of using it to the benefit of as many people as possible. War and destruction always serve the purposes of a tiny fraction of mankind and yet they will prevail if we forget to direct our efforts to useful ends. Now that the world is getting more connected through the internet, it should be even easier to exchange suggestions on how to live together in harmony and engage in fair competition rather than in senseless killing. Everyone can do something to prevent events like September 11th — start thinking about it today and you will probably come up with some good ideas. If you like, you can swap them with us…