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Internet Marketing is an all-inclusive term for marketing products and/or services online ; and like many all-inclusive terms, Internet marketing means different things to different people.

Essentially, though, Internet marketing refers to the strategies that are used to market a product or service online, marketing strategies that include search engine optimization and search engine submission, copywriting that encourages site visitors to take action, web site design strategies, online promotions, reciprocal linking, and email marketing ; and thats just hitting the highlights.

Online marketers are constantly devising new Internet marketing strategies in the hopes of driving more traffic to their Web sites and making more sales; witness the increasing use of blogs as marketing tools for business, for instance.

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Mobile phone giant Vodafone said today it remained on track despite the economic storm buffeting its southern Europe markets.

The group posted revenues growth of 1.5 per cent to £10.8 billion for the quarter to June 30, helped by continued strong trading in emerging markets such as India and Turkey and a resilient performance in the UK.

Revenues in its home market rose 1.7 per cent, with growing demand for smartphones and data bundles offsetting a competitive market and an industry-wide cut in the rates that operators charge to handle other networks’ traffic.

However, economic pressures meant service revenues declined by nearly 10 per cent in Spain and by 1.5 per cent in Italy, while Vodafone also reported tough trading in Greece.

Chief executive Vittorio Colao said the company’s spread of markets and drive for more data revenues meant targets for the financial year remained in place.

He added: “We have made a good start to the year, reporting robust results despite challenging macroeconomic conditions across southern European economies and the impact of cuts to mobile termination rates.”

Vodafone shares opened more than 1 per cent higher following today’s trading update.

NASHVILLE — Tennessee’s unemployment rate keeps ticking up, rising to 9.8 percent in June, the state Department of Labor & Workforce Development said Thursday.

The rate was up one-tenth of a percentage point from May’s revised rate of 9.7 percent.

The national unemployment rate for June was 9.2 percent, up from the May revised rate of 9.1 percent.

The department will release county-by-county jobless rates next week.

“The decline in employmentbined with a slight expansion in the labor force explains the higher unemployment rate,” state Labormissioner Karla Davis said. “This is the third month in a row in which the unemployment rate has slightly increased.”

According to the agency’s household survey, the number of employed Tennesseans decreased by 3,200 from May to June. The civilian labor force increased by 1,800, and at 3,143,900 is the highest on record.

“The increase in employment levels over the last 12 months is still positive with more than 74,000 jobs gained,” Davis said.

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WASHINGTON — Unemployment rates rose in more than half of U.S. states in June, evidence that slower hiring is affecting many parts of the country.

The Labor Department said today that unemployment rates in 28 states and Washington, D.C., increased last month. Rates declined in eight states and were flat in 14. That’s a change from May, when 24 states reported falling unemployment rates.

The jobless rate rose in Tennessee (from 9.7 percent in May to 9.8 percent in June) and in Arkansas (7.8 percent in May to 8.1 percent in June). The rate in Mississippi remained flat, at 10.3 percent. Mississippi has the nation’s eighth highest unemployment rate.

Twenty-six states, including Arkansas and Mississippi, reported a net gain in jobs in June, while 24 states, including Tennessee, lost jobs.

The changing trend in state unemployment rates reflects a weaker economy hampered by high gas prices and lower factory output. Nationally, employers added only 18,000 net jobs in June, the second straight month of feeble hiring.

The U.S. unemp

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One of the obvious challenges with Facebook ads is that it is a social network. Unlike search, which lends itself to ads targeted to a particular search query, the site is generally being used as a tool of leisure.

That makes creating ads that stand out difficult.

Recently, one Facebook advertiser observed that an ad containing a picture of beer delivered its best CTR. In fact, it performed 57% better than any other ad tried.

Beer, of course, didn’t have anything to do with this advertiser’s business, but beer, for obvious reasons, seemed like a good way to grab attention.

So FeeFighters, a company that helps businesses obtain better rates on merchant accounts, decided to replicate the beer experiment.

The result: close to 396,000 impressions of the beer ad delivered just over 1,250 clicks. With a .018% CTR, this beer ad was one of the best performing ads for FeeFighters.

But, as you may have expected, those clicks didn’t exactly translate into action.

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WASHINGTON — Tennessee is one of five states that could have its bond issue ratings downgraded if the U.S. can’t resolve the debate over raising the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, Moody’s Investors Service said Tuesday, citing the state’s dependence on federal revenue.

“While all states are indirectly linked to the U.S. government to some degree, we have identified the five Aaa states that are most vulnerable to changes in the U.S. government rating,” said Nicholas Samuels, a vice president in Moody’s state ratings team.

In concrete terms, that means borrowing costs for the state and for local governments, including Memphis and Shelby County, can be expected to rise, said John Gnuschke, director of the Sparks Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Memphis.

Gnuschke attributed the likelihood of a debt downgrade to the perception that Tennessee is in a kind of political impasse tied to no-tax-increase pledges by politicians, a factor Moody’s did not mention.

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