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.

2004 — August 22
As of summer 2004 english-test.net receives about 1100 visits each day. Most people find us through Google — they search for a certain key word or key phrase such as «business English test» and amongst the top listings they find one of our pages. So, chances are that when you read this text you are one of the many english-test.net users who have arrived here through Google. One of the reasons why I write this electronic diary is that Google indexes every new page of the netlog within a very short period of time. That means that Google reads and «spiders» every single phrase I write. A thrilling thought to be honest. Now, of course I don't write for Google although I do like the services and support this company provides. This netlog is a place for people who have similar interests and ideas to ours. For instance earlier this year the owner of Vocaboly.com contacted us via email after he had read about our marketing techniques in the netlog. By the end of 2004 I want to have developed this diary to a point where it attracts at least 100 new english-test.net users every day. Do you think this is possible? Of course it is. I can make the commitment of adding one new entry a day so each month the netlog will grow by 7 pages per month or 35 pages until the end of 2004. Actually you have to double this number because each page comes in a print version too. So, if we feed Google with 70 more netlog pages we should be able to bring in 100 new english-test.net users per day. What do you think?

2004 — August 21
High quality content is the single most important factor to online success. It's the same with a store down the high street — if you walk in and find the product and service you were looking for, the likelihood that you will share your experience with your family and friends is very high. This principle is called word of mouth and as such it's the most effective of all marketing tools - no matter what business you run. So, when it comes to online promotion what do you think is the best method to increase the popularity of a website? Yes, you're right. There are different things you can do but there is still one goal you have to achieve and that is: create a positive experience for your users, make them return to your website and even better, make them spread the word amongst their friends and colleagues. Just think how many websites you visit on a regular basis? Let's say, you have marked 15 addresses as your favourite places on the web. How many of those addresses do you remember by heart? Every day you are exposed to thousands of commercial messages - adverts are literally everywhere and a growing number of them contain web addresses. Yet, your capacity to memorize different URL's is very limited. However, when you browse the Internet and come across a website you find useful you might want to send that address to your friends via email. This is exactly what happens with english-test.net Our site's access statistics show that a constantly growing number of people use their free webmail accounts to refer their friends, colleagues and family to english-test.net Also, every day at least 3 people type «www.english-test.net» into a search engine. This means, that someone has told them about the address (either over the phone or in a personal conversation). So there is a constant stream of new users — some of which will return to our site often and that's the best reason for us to add new content on a regular basis.

2004 — August 20
With Google being our partner you can now use their technology to search our site for key words and phrases. For example if you type «time» into the Google search box you will find Alan's time expressions tests. As you know there are lots of possible combinations with the word «time» because it describes such an important good. A quote by Jim Rohn underlines this fact:

«Time is our most valuable asset, yet we tend to waste it, kill it, and spend it rather than invest it.» How often do we use the phrase «I don't have the time.» Many people want to learn English but they never get around to doing so because «they don't have the time.» It's a truth that every person has got the same amount of time at their disposal — 24 hours a day to be precise. It's not a question of how much time you have but what you make of your time. When it comes to learning English, you can accomplish a lot by changing your daily routine. You learn when you change your habits. To change your habits you don't need more time but more self-discipline. What is the first thing you do after you get up in the morning? Do you listen to the radio while having breakfast? Chances are you switch on your favourite station, which plays a lot of pop songs and brings you the latest news. So, why not listen to an English radio channel instead? Have you ever tried it? What about your mobile phone? Have you changed the menu language to English so you get used to the terminology? How many SMS do you send a day? Most of those messages contain very simple words. You could communicate with your friends and relatives in English as well. Do you like movies and TV shows? Start watching them in the original American English version instead of getting everything translated into your mother tongue. This list of proposalS could go on and on — you could find ways and methods to integrate English language activities into your daily routine and you would be surprised at the results. Eventually you could even make more time for other things you enjoy doing. Think about your kids for example — you could help them do their English homework. Here are some tests with time expresssions:

ESL Test: Time Expressions 1
ESL Test: Time Expressions 2

2004 — August 19
IPO stands for «initial public offering» and occurs when a company first sells its shares to the public. This is exactly what happened earlier today with Google — they finally went public so you now you can buy Google stock. Yes, Google has reached a tremendous level of popularity worldwide and the implications are quite obvious. With greater recognition comes more responsibility for all parties involved — Google users, their growing number of advertisers and now also for their shareholders and investors. As of August 2004 more than 65 million people use Google every day. 65 million people — that's almost the entire population of the UK! A couple of days ago the two Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin gave a detailed interview in the Irish edition of the September Playboy in which they revealed a lot af information about their amazing success as well as their future plans. The publication reminded me very much of another interview taken in the mid 90s with the Jerry Filo, one of the two Yahoo! founders. Today, Google clearly is the search engine with the most sophisticated technology and apart from that the company has a certain human touch that makes people like it. We all know that there are various factors that determine the image of a corporation. Especially when a company is still quite young its founders have a huge impact on the way people perceive it. With Brin and Page still being young themselves their personal characters count even more in forming Google's public identity.