Council questions mayor's plan to buy old YWCA building (KTBS Shreveport)

 The Shreveport City Council has called a special meeting on Friday to question Mayor Cedric Glover about his desire to spend $900,000 to buy the old YWCA Allendale branch, the council president said today.  Councilman Ron Webb said a local church bought the building for $600,000 last year -- and he questioned how the property value could appreciate 50 percent in a year.  Glover did not return ...

Bomb threat closes BCC building

Bomb threat to Job Link closes BCC building (Florida Today)
TITUSVILLE - A bomb threat closed a antiquity on Brevard Community College's Titusville campus for the rest of the day. The threat was against a Job Link office, which is in the M. Earl Jones antiquity and unaffiliated with the school.

Students building eco-friendly movement

Gower students building eco-friendly movement (The Doings Weekly)
What started out as a social studies assignment has turned into a mission for a trio of boys from Burr Ridge. They've taken it upon themselves to educate architects, builders and consumers about the importance of building eco-friendly homes.

Review of Women's Health

Women's Health

by Tanya Irwin , Friday, August 14, 2009
While many magazines are barely keeping their collective heads above water, Rodale's Women's Health is flourishing. Earlier this week, the title raised its rate base for the sixth time since its launch in October 2005. Starting with its January/February 2010 issue, it increases its rate base 11%, from its current 1.35 million to 1.5 million.

Publisher Jack Essig said in a statement that consumer demand drove the rate increase. Women's Health's total paid circulation has increased 30% in 2009 compared with the same period last year. "Women's Health has editions covering 21 countries and reaching more than 11 million readers around the world," Essig said. "Women everywhere are embracing the brand for its straightforward and unique approach to health, fitness, beauty, sex, relationships and fashion coverage, which has led to its tremendous success."

So what is it about this magazine that has women so excited? Its appeal could be that while it tackles serious topics, it's also borderline trashy. Take the cover blurbs: "17 Super-hot sex secrets!" "How to talk so he'll really listen" and "8 Fashion trends: Cool now, classic later." These could just as easily be in Cosmo, the headmistress of trashy goodness, as Women's Health.

While standing at the newsstand debating between reviewing Women's Health and Natural Health, I flipped open both magazines to the middle to see what I'd get.

Women's Health easily sealed the deal with "Let your girls in on the action" which features a huge shot of a half-naked woman pushing her "girls" inward as she strategically covers her nipples. "Your boobs are wily little seductresses," the article begins. "They poke provocatively out of bikini tops, peek over lacy push-up bras, and flaunt their fabulousness naked in bed - turning any red-blooded heterosexual male into a panting pile of mush. But what most women don't realize is that their boobs can give them heaps of satisfaction too." Take that, Cosmo.

Besides sex ed, there's a slew of other good info in this issue. I read with particular interest the article, "You can be a runner." My gym membership has lapsed and I've been trying to come up with other fitness options that might be easier on the wallet. I used to run in college, but would I still be able to do it without killing my aging joints or other body parts? This straight-to-the-point two-page article assures me that I can and should run. It debunks much of the bad press the sport has gotten (no, it doesn't ruin your knees or lead to chronic back pain. And it doesn't make your skin sag; runners may just look like they have more wrinkles because they are thinner. I can live with that.)

I'm not a fashion aficionado, but I appreciated the looks featured in the "Cool now, classic later" piece. I could easily see myself investing in a sheer blouse or a pair of kicky boots, although the idea of spending $775 on the Michael Kors booties featured on one page makes me feel a little nauseous. Boots, or more than half of the mortgage payment? Not a tough decision.

Thankfully, not everything is out of range for the working-class woman. The $12.50 Hue fishnets are a much better alternative to the $138 BCBG Max Azria tights, thank you very much.

I'd never heard of the cover girl, actress Mila Kunis, but after reading the amusing profile of the 26-year-old upstart, I will seek out her movies. Angelina Jolie better keep an eye on Brad Pitt, because Kunis looks like a younger, hotter version of her without the Billy Bob Thornton baggage. But unlike Jolie, I'll bet Kunis isn't a homewrecker. She comes off as too nice for that.

"Secrets of the skin doctors" is a great piece in which four dermatologists are grilled about what products they recommend for various skin types. Although I've always been blessed with good skin, it's good to get some product tips to handle the inevitable aging issues. The article includes prices and store info right in the text, which I find preferable to having to flip to a separate "where-to-buy" section.

Honestly, it's hard to find much of anything to criticize in this magazine, which probably explains its popularity and profitability. It definitely has a user-friendly feel to it. In some pieces, for example, text is highlighted in yellow at the beginning of new thoughts, which helps break up the copy. Let's face it: The Internet has changed the way people read and consume information. And only the magazines that are responsive to that will survive. Like Women's Health.

Published By: Rodale Inc.
Frequency: 10 Times Per Year
Web site: http://www.womenshealthmag.com

This commentary is insightful. I recommend it to others.
Post your response to the public Magazine Rack blog.
See what others are saying on the Magazine Rack blog.
Irwin can be reached at tanya@mediapost.com.

Magazine Rack for Friday, August 14, 2009:
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=111709

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Web Site Optimizer Flaw Exposed

If you have used Google's Web Site Optimizer you know what a useful tool it can be. If you have used it a number of times you may found some limitations with testing what you want, in the way you want to test it.

Well, I thought I found a flaw in how the Optimizer works, and Google has just confirmed that I am correct in my thinking. It's a little confusing to explain, so I will really try to make it clear what the problem is with a simple example:

Goal: To find which of two home page versions convert better.

Method: Create two variations of the home page and see what visitors that hit the home page fill out a form and then see a "thank you" page. Conversion tracking code is located on the "thank you" page and there are no direct links to this conversion page on the site.

Test: The test runs and after some period of time enough data is collected and we may or may not have a "winner" depending on how the conversions went.

Traffic sources: Organic traffic and some paid search traffic to the home page and other topical pages.


So, this sounds like just about every test you have run, right? Therein lies the flaw. Did you spot what the problem is?

I didn't either until I ran a test over the past few weeks, and the results for 9 variations were not only unclear, but also kept changing. This is also something I have seen before, but this time it got me thinking about the process and here is what I realized:

Because there is NO CONTROL over where the traffic lands or it's potential path to the conversion page, one cannot be sure that the conversion ( or lack of conversion ) had anything to do with the page being tested.

Visitors may enter the site at the home page, or they may enter someplace else. If they enter someplace else, then see the home page, they will be included in the test data. And if they do hit the home page, then visit another page which causes them to convert, it will be counted toward the home page version, even if it was really another page that resulted in them converting.

So, the answer to this is to set up your experiment so that you control what people are seeing and what options they have for converting. What I plan on doing in the future is setting up the test on a special page of the site that only gets PPC traffic so I know where it is coming from, and also a special conversion page as well. Visitors may really like our test page, and it may be behind a conversion on a later page, but there is no way to know that so the data really is not that useful and should be excluded.

To restate my solution, I will be setting up landing, contact, and conversion pages. If the conversion results from the test page, I will capture that info. If the visitor leaves the landing page without converting, but converts later, it will not be counted in the test. This will result is some test conversions being lost perhaps, but the data will not be inflated when it should not be. Those of you with one-page sites have been and will still be able to run perfectly accurate tests. :-)

PPC Conversion Fraud Uncovered

Almost anyone that does search marketing and pay-per-click advertising or PPC is aware of the concept of click fraud. They may think it's a small problem or a huge one, but we all know it exists. While advertisers may blow it out of proportion due to poor conversions and sales, the truth is that a poorly run campaign could be partly or completely to blame.

On the other hand we have the search engines that tell advertisers almost nothing about the problem other than that they have "advanced detection methods" in place. Some even provide large refunds from time to time but in most cases refunds are small and seem inappropriate to the lack of ad campaign results. But it can be hard to impossible to tell where the true numbers are.

Most advertisers rely on conversion numbers to tell them if a campaign is working or not, or if it needs to be adjusted. Lack of conversions can also indicate click fraud. Higher conversion number means it is working and should be generating revenue that justifies continued spending.

This post is to inform advertisers, and search engines that care to listen, about what seems to be a growing trend for those committing fraud to cover their tracks: Conversion Fraud.

Here is an example from a contact form:
===========================================
Remote Address: 98.172.1.169

Form Sent From: http ://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/aclk
?sa=l&ai=B4IPZS8jy13AP_7qCtG64YiHYAADM_f___8Yn
uboAo7ACZbbAEdLdYYgq6OAUQABUEAA&num=2
&adurl=http ://www.thisistheurltomyclientswebsite.org/%3F
type%3Dcontent%26keyword%3Dmachines%26adid
%3D2164885665%26placement%3Dbugabo.cn&client=
ca-afdo-pub-1913393681262590

HTTP User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; SV1)
===========================================

Here is what the info is and where it comes from:

- Remote Address:
The IP address of the user

- Form Sent From:
This URL is captured in the form script when executed. It should ALWAYS be the page the form was submitted from. I have edited the first part of the URL so it is not valid, but the placement and publisher info is correct.

- HTTP User Agent:
Browser type

==========================================================
The only possible conclusion one can reach when looking at the evidence is that
someone connected to the parked domain owner has taken the click URLs from
some or all of the ads, and loaded them into a script that submits our form with
the listed data, using the parking page ad URL as the referrer.

This is click fraud that shows as conversions to the advertiser.
==========================================================

Here is the PHP code that is used for this section of the form:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Remote Address: $_SERVER[REMOTE_ADDR]
Form Sent From: $_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]
HTTP User Agent: $_SERVER[HTTP_USER_AGENT]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Adding this code, or code like it for other scripting languages, can provide advertisers with more information about who is clicking on their ads and why.

And you notice that we are capturing the IP address of the person submitting the form.While this can indicate fraud as well, for months now we have seen fraudulent clicks and conversions from IPs on Comcast and other ISPs. While I cannot provide proof, my feeling is that most of these are from infected or "botnet" computers, designed to steal small amounts of money on a vast scale. If I was in the fraud business, that's what I would do!

I suggest that anyone concerned about click fraud also be aware of conversion fraud. In this case, it is done with a program and is easy to spot. If cheap labor is used and your forms filled out by a person, you will have no way to know what is going on except from a lack of sales and perhaps invalid from information. At this time there is no way to update your PPC statistics and change the number of recorded conversions to be more accurate.

My proposed solution to end click fraud is a simple one, but one that is still dismissed by those that hear it: Flat rate advertising. Google actually has something like this with their site targeted option, but since you pay for impressions rather than clicks, you can have what I call "Impression fraud".

Only by having ads displayed for a set period of time at a set price can we ever hope to be free of these kinds of fraud.

First U.S.-Canada-Mexico summit

Obama attending first U.S.-Canada-Mexico summit (USA Today)
President Obama travels to Guadalajara, Mexico, on Sunday for talks with the presidents of Canada and Mexico.

Governor Signs Historic Building

Governor signs NY's historic building rehab tax bill (The Goshen Chronicle)
BUFFALO, N.Y. Gov. David Paterson has signed legislation aimed at helping municipalities and developers rehabilitate historic buildings across New York state.

Recycled Solar Heat Reduces Energy Bills

SolarAttics Recycled Solar Heat Technology Significantly Reduces High Energy Bills

SolarAttic, Inc. announced that recycling the solar heat energy found within roofs and attics, either commercial or residential is significantly reducing energy bills.

Elk River, MN, July 30, 2009 -- Ed Palmer, SolarAttic's president said: "Treasure Island Water Park in Sunray, Texas decided to recycle the heat found in the attic of their clubhouse. According to Sunray City Manager, Greg Smith, most public pools lose money to begin with and so it is important if you can find something that will save money or at least keep your expenses from getting higher. Smith in a recent television interview said he expects recycling the heat in the clubhouse roof and attic 'will save the City of Sunray between $5,000 and $10,000 annually in pool heating costs.'

"Buffalo, New York resident, Mike Bradshaw, had a similar experience cutting his operating costs by recycling the heat from his roof and attic. Bradshaw also indicated in a separate interview that recycling the heat in his roof and attic had drastically cut his utility bill. He said, 'it cost $339 dollars to heat the pool for one month with my old gas heater. After I installed the new system, my monthly bill dropped to $45 bucks.'

"Both the commercial experience of the City of Sunray, Texas and the residential experience of Mike Bradshaw of Buffalo, New York are typical examples that it pays to recycle the heat in your roof and attic."

Recycling the roof and attic heat can be used to significantly reduce space heating, water heating and pool heating costs.

Contact Information
SolarAttic, Inc
James Kantorowicz
763-441-3440
james@solarattic.com
www.solarattic.com

Solar Industry Sustainability

AltaTerra Research Announces Solar Industry and Sustainability Series

Solar power is among the most environmentally-friendly energy technologies. Yet, opportunities remain to reduce environmental impacts of solar companies all along the supply chain. This series explores ways of expanding solar's environmental benefits.

Palo Alto, CA, August 07, 2009 -- AltaTerra Research is pleased to announce a new series of events on environmental issues in the solar industry. The "Solar Industry and Sustainability" series will examine the status and value of environmental sustainability in the solar industry, current efforts such as product lifecycle analysis and recycling, costs, and future scenarios for industry standards. These topics will be explored through a number of web-based and in-person conferences and research gatherings.

The first event in the series, "First Solar: Toward a Sustainable PV Industry", will be held on Tuesday, August 25th at 9 am Pacific Time. In this one-and-a-half hour web conference, First Solar's Vice President of Sustainable Development, Lisa Krueger, will present and take questions on her company's leading-edge efforts to implement a comprehensive environmental plan.

Ms. Krueger will explain First Solar's approach to environmental practice, product lifecycle assessment, carbon footprinting, and energy payback time. She will also describe the company's module collection and recycling program, management of toxics, plans for the future, and recommendations for the industry as a whole. AltaTerra's Managing Director Research, Dr. Jon Guice, will introduce and moderate the session. Ample time will be devoted to questions and discussion.

Further details about the web conference and registration are available on the event webpage: www.altaterra.net/event/firstsolar. A limited number of press passes are available.

About AltaTerra Research
Founded in 2007, AltaTerra Research is the first research consultancy dedicated to corporate environmental sustainability and commercial markets for clean technology solutions. With consulting services, industry research reports and executive events, AltaTerra helps business leaders make informed decisions on green business. Current topics include commercial solar and green power, the corporate carbon footprint, carbon credits and environmentally-friendly product strategy. More information is available at www.AltaTerra.net.

Contact:
Anneke Mueller
AltaTerra Research (New York Office)
Anneke.Mueller@AltaTerra.net
(212) 537-5044 ext. 683

Contact Information
AltaTerra Research
Anneke Mueller
212-537-5044 x683
anneke.mueller@altaterra.net
www.altaterra.net

Followers = Sheep

I've noticed something interesting on Twitter: the #followfriday craze has spawned loads of users saying that's great, but tell me WHY I should follow this person.