ERRSS was recently authorized to carry World Bride Magazine. Launched in 2007, this magazine is published twice a year and covers bridal ideas for all cultures. For a more in-depth overview, check out their website here.

Add a copy of World Bride Magazine to your account here.

If you’ve ever read the books Purple Cow and Free Prize Inside by Seth Godin you’d get a couple great marketing ideas that can get your business some incredible attention.

He lists one that I thought was just ingenious. A local lawn mowing crew had brightly colored Frisbees custom printed with their logo and business info enticing people to use their services. As they drove by a lawn that they didn’t currently service they would throw a Frisbee in the yard.

I really like this because they are giving you something fun instead of sending you another piece of pointless junk mail. Even if you don’t use them to mow your lawn, you still have a new toy for your dog or kids. It’s a win-win situation.

While looking over my daily blogs, I found this idea for personal trainer’s business card.

http://streetlessons.com/446-the-ultimate-business-card-series.html

How great is that!

Just an FYI – Stuff Magazine has been discontinued. We don’t offer this magazine in our catalog, but if you have a subscription through the publisher be sure to ask for a refund on all remaining issues. I’m not sure if you will be sent Maxim as an alternative.

Here is their website. Stuff Magazine

EBSCO Reception Room Subscription Services now carries Nylon magazine. Launched in June 2006, Nylon is a hip fashion magazine for teens and 20-somethings. Nylon also covers social culture, beauty, music and film. View their website here.

Add a copy of Nylon magazine to your account here.

We have recently been authorized to offer several comic books from DC Comics. We have some of their big sellers to businesses that cater to children including Scooby-Doo, Superman, Batman Comics, Cartoon Network Block Party, and a whole bunch more…check out our new Comic Book Category.

Many times having a sense of humor is all we need to get people talking about us. I found this today on one of the many blogs I read and had to share it. I always find it amazing how a little creativity can go a long way when making an effort to get more customers to walk in the door.

Ben’s post is sage marketing advice. I’m not sure if his photo says 1000 words, but it certainly tells a great joke. Check it out on Church of the Customer blog (from the authors of Citizen Marketers)

I did a newsletter article a couple months back that helped folks catch bogus phishing email in their inbox. I recently found a website with some better information and a very nice test so that you can test your scam-spotting skills.

I scored a 9/10 and it said I was a Safety Guru. I missed the Amazon example. They make the test a little difficult because on some of the examples they don’t let you see the address bar, which by the way is always the dead give-away. See my past newsletter for details.

Scammer Test - Measure your abilities You can go there, but they took it down on Sunday…sorry, I will see if I can find another.

On Prancer, on Donner, but not you Vixen…Sorry folks Vibe Vixen, the Vibe Magazine women’s spinoff is no longer in service.

Please login, then submit a cancellation (under the Your Account area), and we will take care of the refund procedures for you.

This is a shame, what in the world is going to entertain me in the grocery shopping checkout line now?

What’s up with all of these publications going under? I believe the publishing industry is just cleaning house in an effort to become more profitable. Although I will miss Bat Boy, Big Foot, The 50 Pound newborn and all those End of the World predictions that change every year when they don’t come true.

Please login, then submit a cancellation (under the Your Account area), and we will take care of the refund procedures for you.

The last issue of JANE magazine will be in August.

Please login, then submit a cancellation (under the Your Account area), and we will take care of the refund procedures for you.

I hear this question a lot when people find out I manage a website. I now say…

Not so much any more. Here’s why…

Google, Yahoo, EBay, YouTube, MSN and several other popular web services are jumping on the geo-targeting bandwagon. This means that now is the best time to be a small business and to get started using the web to market your business. Why?

One piece of data gathered by many websites is your Internet address. This address, also called the IP address, is the number issued to your computer by the server owned by the company who provides your dial-up or high-speed Internet connection.

Once the site knows your IP address they have a general idea of your geographic location. Most of the larger web services (like those listed above) have set up their systems to provide you with content that is more “localized” to your region. So in most cases, search engines will transparently serve more links for websites to businesses and organizations that are in your local geographic location.

This means that if you are smart you will make sure that first you have a website. And second, that every website and blog that you have includes your name, business name, physical address, and phone number. Not sure where to start, you don’t have to spend a lot of money or effort? Check out what one marketing guru and popular author recommends here - Seth Godin

Just one other thing…

The iPhone is also launching June 29th of this month so there is yet another opportunity there. Scroll to the bottom of my January 19th 2007 Newsletter for why the iPhone (and all future phones that copy it) will be important to your local business.

Guideposts Sweet 16 will be discontiuned.

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Thank you for stopping by the new EBSCO Reception Room Subscription Services Blog!

Why did we start a blog?

We wanted to keep you in the loop without forcing you to sign up for our bi-weekly newsletter. Now you can get all the same benefits such as special discount promotions, new magazine launches, discontinued magazine alerts, business marketing ideas, scam alerts, links to other interesting blogs and websites.

If you want to stay connected, subscribe to our RSS feed here – not sure what RSS is, read this.

To celebrate this launch, we are offering a $5 off your next order promotion. To redeem, go to www.ebscomags.com.

Shop for your favorite magazines or renew the magazines on your list by adding them to your cart. When finished click the Checkout button and enter the following promotional code on the first page: BLG07

This code expires July 31st 2007, so be sure to use it soon!

As I stated in our recent newsletter on May 24, 2007; American Heritage magazine will be out of print as of June 1st. You can still enjoy this history magazine for free on the American Heritage website here.

Not getting our newsletter? Sign up here if you want our latest information like this sent directly to your email inbox…

In the last post I talked about using Google Alerts to notify you if someone mentioned your name, business, or specific product. What if you want to spy on the thoughts of other people talking about more broad topics related to what you sell or personal interests?

Try Google Reader.

I use it all the time to read about people’s thoughts and experiences while in waiting rooms. You’d be surprised how many people blog about the discomfort they feel when waiting to see their doctor. Anyhow, I have found Google Reader to be an excellent automated tool that will seek out blog posts with the general terms and words that I specify.

In order to use Google reader, you must sign up for the service (it’s FREE). If you already have a Gmail email address account then it will be added to your other account services. Once your subscription begins, you can enter a term or phrase you want Google to search for in blogs and news feeds. To do this, use the Add Subscription button (on the left). Each “feed” will be listed as a link below, and will also show up every time you start Google Reader.

Google Reader has two presentation modes and can be changed with the two blue tabs on the top right of the interface. I keep my Reader settings in the Expanded view mode since I like to get a brief snippet of what is in the post/article. This is unlike the List view mode where it only shows the Headline.

So what is the difference between Google Reader and Google Alerts? Not much really, but I believe it’s more how you use them. I use Alerts for very specific terms like my name and the division of the business where I work. I also use Alerts for more specific terms because I pay more attention to my email inbox than I do any other application on the computer. In specific term cases, response speed is a factor. I use Reader to corral posts on more general terms because I don’t want to clutter my email inbox with alerts every time someone types the individual phrases/words “waiting room” or “magazine.”

Give it a try! I think you will be pleasantly surprised how much insight you get when you can quickly review the personal thoughts of others all over the world. You may even find some blogs so entertaining that you’ll want to keep reading week after week by adding their RSS feed to your iGoogle account. Reader can also be a helpful resource when you need ideas and/or topics to talk about on your own blog.