How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7 – Sizes 11 +

How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
No More Frustration! No More Embarrassment! No More “We Don’t Carry Your Size!”
“How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7…In Sizes 11 & Up”
Andrea M. Pace
…An Indispensable How-To Shoe Guide! How And Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7 In Sizes 11 And Up is stocked full of practical tips. A valuable source of information that every full-footed woman should never ever be without! You’ll refer to it again and again!”
Legal Notice:
The author and publisher of this Ebook and the accompanying materials have used their best efforts in preparing this Ebook. The author and publisher make no representation of warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness, or completeness of the contents of this Ebook. This Ebook is for informational purposes only. They disclaim any warranties (expressed or implied), merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. The author and publisher shall in no event be held liable for any loss or other damages, including but no limited to special incidental, consequential, or other damages. As always, the advice of a competent legal, tax, accounting or other professional should be sought.
This Ebook contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited.
Cover Photo: Courtesy of Melissa Ketler ISBN:09769805-2-5
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents
2
About The Author
3
Strappy Suede Sandals Changed My Life
4
Wonderfully Made
5
The Quest For Larger Shoes
6
No More Disappointments
7
Designer Shoes By Size & Designer
8
Follow These 8 Time Saving Shopping Tips
22
Plenty of Online Plus-Size Shoe Sites
23
Bridal Shoes By Designer & Size
26
Shopping For Bridal Shoes On The Internet
28
Bridal Shoes In Traditional Stores
29
Help Your Teenager Shop For The Latest Styles
30
Shoeunique Gift Ideas
31
Shopping Resources
Traditional Shoe Stores
32
Online Catalogs
33
Other Shoe Related Products
34
Size Really Does Matter
35
Famous Full-Footed Female Celebrities
36
Our Digital Products
37
Tips For Safe Shopping Online
39
Recommended Sites
40
Andrea’s Articles
41
Free Bonus – Beautiful Feet Recipe
42
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
About The Author
Andrea Pace is a shoe lover who is well qualified to write a book like
How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7…In Sizes 11 And Up. She is an expert when it comes to expressing what women with large feet think and feel. Because she proudly wears size 11 shoes, she knows all too well how it feels to be frustrated, disappointed and embarrassed when it comes to finding and buying shoes in larger sizes.
Aside from being a published author and songwriter, she is the founder, publisher and CEO of 2 companies.
Clear Path Publishing, a publishing company dedicated to sharing
uplifting, inspirational and motivational publications & songs.
CPP E-Publications, an imprint of Clear Path Publishing, specializes
in creating valuable, practical digital content designed especially for
women with ample sized feet to feel better about
themselves and about walking in their shoes.
Andrea is also the author of several other Ebooklets:
• Your Feet Make You Unique: Tips For Women Who Wear Size 10 and Up
• Wedding Tips For The Full-Footed Bride-To-Be
• The Essential Holiday Gift Guide For Fabulous Women Who Wear Size 11 Shoes
Prior to becoming an author and publisher, Andrea spent more than 15 years in the Insurance Industry.
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Strappy Suede Sandals Changed My Life!
I really enjoy sharing this story with anyone who will listen. It was definitely a life changing moment in my life:
In March 2006, I had the opportunity to take a weekend trip to New York to see a Broadway play. Of course, my friends and I found time for a little sight-seeing and shopping. Have you ever been to Macy’s in New York? It’s just overwhelming. After I picked my jaw off the floor, I headed straight for a gorgeous pair of strappy, light-brown sandals. Mesmerized by this exquisite pair of shoes, I found a sales clerk and quietly asked her for a size 11. She politely took the shoe and went to the back and a couple of minutes later she came back to tell me what I already knew, “Sorry, this shoe doesn’t come in Big Foot Size.” Of course, that’s not what she said. After I worked through a few seconds of extreme disappointment, the sales lady asked me a simple, but life changing question, “Would you like to know who makes shoes in your size?” This simple, yet profound question was a definitive turning point in my life. Why hadn’t I ever thought to look up that information or even ask? Years and years of disappointment and embarrassment could have been avoided.
Somehow, I felt empowered by knowing names of designers who create beautiful shoes in my size. I actually felt better about the size of my feet. I wanted other women to feel better too.
That’s why I created my first digital product, “Your Feet Make You Unique: Tips For Women Who Wear Size 10 and Up.” Now women can instantly access information about the kind of shoes they want to wear in their size. I’ve also included practical tips and other information that will make women feel better about the size of their feet and make their lives just a little easier.
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Wonderfully Made
When I was younger, I used to cram my size 11 feet into shoes that were clearly too small. Because I didn’t accept the fact that my feet were wonderfully made, now I have curled toes, better known as hammertoes. It’s always better to accept the feet God gave you. Believe Me!
Accept everything about yourself — I mean everything, you are you and that is the beginning and the end — no apologies, no regrets. – Clark Moustakas
Happiness can exist only in acceptance. – Denis De Rougamont
Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. It means you have decided to look beyond the imperfections.
- ThinkExist.com Quotations. “Acceptance quotes”
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. Psalm 139:14
- The Bible (KJV)
To be happy, it first takes being comfortable in your own shoes. The rest can work up from there.
- Sophia Brown
Women with ample feet are truly unique.
- Andrea M. Pace
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
The Quest For Large Size Shoes
If you wear a size 10 or larger shoe, you have probably experienced challenges in finding styles that will fit your feet. Shoe stores will often carry a very limited supply of large size women shoes, and often styles need to be special ordered. Department stores generally don’t carry sizes larger than 11. However, retailers are slowly coming to the realization that women’s feet are getting bigger. Soon, the quest for large size women shoes may be a distant memory. In the past, shoe buyers were reluctant to buy big inventories of large shoe sizes. This made sense as the average woman wore a size 6 or 7. Women with larger feet were forced to choose from a few unflattering styles if there was any availability at all. These days, large size women shoes sell quickly. The most commonly purchased size is now an 8 1/2 and over 30 percent of women are buying shoes in a size 9 or above. Because of the demand, retailers are scrambling to fill their racks with shoes sized up to 14. Along with the retailers, shoe manufacturers are paying attention to the growing size of women’s feet. High-end shoe designers, such as Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik are creating their styles in sizes up to 12, and sometimes higher. The online retailers have taken this trend to a new level by developing virtual stores that solely cater to large size shoes. A woman can now choose from hundreds of styles that are readily available in her size. Along with being able to shop from the comfort of home, many of these online retailers offer top notch customer service, free shipping, and lower prices than those at traditional stores. This new availability is certainly a welcome relief for every woman who has struggled to find a pair of flattering, large size shoes. While once the selection of sizes 9 through 14 was a few orthopedic looking styles on a shoe rack in a department store, now the choices are plenty. The development of the large shoe market seems to grow every day. Retailers and manufacturers know that there is money to be made in big shoes, and they will be increasing the number of styles available because of demand. So, the quest for large size shoes may soon be over, and women with big feet will be the winners in this fashion battle. Christy Diaz is a fashion advisor for plus size women. She has been helping women of all sizes look their absolute best while helping them find fantastic deals on plus size clothing. For the hottest tips, secrets and additional articles, not to mention some great, plus size deals visit Plus Size Fashion Secrets.
Article Source:http://http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christy_Diaz
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
No More Disappointments
If you’re anything like me, you’re just excited to find a pair
of shoes on the shelf that actually fit your feet and look half way decent. You don’t really think about the name brand.
Since that faithful day in March 2006, I have started to notice which designers make size 11 shoes. It’s funny; you don’t realize you really need to know this type of information.
Instead of blindly picking up a pair of “girl you got to have these” black strappy evening sandals, you educate yourself. You memorize this list or at least have a working knowledge of designers who make your size. I promise, you will bypass feelings of disappointment, anger, frustration and embarrassment simply by knowing “XYZ Shoemaker” designs shoes in your size. Knowledge is power (especially for us full-footed girls.)
Now, this is not an exhaustive list of every plus-size shoe designer out there, but its close.
So take this information to heart. Check out your closet. I’m sure just about every pair of shoes in your closet is on this list. If you don’t see a particular designer on my list, email me and let me know. I’ll be happy to add it to my database and share it with my Your Feet Make You Unique blog audience.
I just want to help women feel better about the size of their feet and make their lives just a little easier.
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Designer Shoes By Type & Size
I think this list, which will continually evolve, is worth its weight in gold. When you find something, it doesn’t matter how insignificant you think it might be, that will make your life easier, you should grab it and never let it go.
Just imagine how something as simple as knowing a name can change the way you think, shop and feel about yourself. This is not an exhaustive list, but it should give you a running start. It’s the perfect shoe shopping companion. Print this chart out and stick in your purse before your next shopping trip. Check off your favorite designers.
You can even use this quick, easy guide while shopping online. You don’t have to scroll around the Web site to figure out if Nine West makes your size. It’s all right in front you.
SIZE 11
Athletic Shoes Size 11
Athletic Shoes Size 11
Boots Size 11
Adidas
DuFFs
Aerosoles
Adio
Dunham
AK Anne Klein
akademiks
DVS Shoe Company
akademiks
Alias Footwear
Easy Spirit
Annie
Asics
Ecco
Aquatalia by Marvin
Asolo
Ellessee
Arche
Avia
etnies
Ariat
Awol
Etonic
Awol
Bally
Fila
Azaleia
Bedford Stu
Five Ten
Bacci
Ben Sherman
Gallaz
Baffin
Bikkembergs
Garmont
Bandolino
Blink
Geox
BCB Girls
Bloch
Globe
Biviel
Boss Hugo Boss
Grasshopper
Blink
Brooks
Guess
Bolo
Brunswick
Heely’s
Born
Burton
Helly Hansen
Brighton
Camper
Hi-Tec
Bronx Shoes
Circa
Hurley’s
Burton
Columbia
Hush Puppies
Calvin Klein
Converse
New Balance
Camper
DCSHOECOUSA
Reebok
Casadei
Draven
Saucony
Caterpillar
DSQUARED2
Teva
Celine
© 2006 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Designer Shoes By Type & Size
SIZE 11
Boots Size 11
Boot Size 11
Dress Shoes Size 11
Charles By David
Havana Joe
A. Marinelli
Cianni
Hollywould
Aerosoles
Clarks
Hugo Hugo Boss
AK Anne Klein
Claudia Ciuti
Kenzie
Annie
Columbia
Martinez Valero
Apepazza
Cordani
Moda
Baby Phat
Cydney Mandel
Na Na
Bally
Deer Stags
Pelle Moda
Bandolino
Donald J. Pliner
Sergio Zelcer
BCB Girls
Dr. Martens
Two Lips
BCBG Max Azria
Dr. Scholl’s
Van Eli
Betty Muller
Ecco
Wolky
Beverly Feldman
Elle
Woolrich
Brighton
Etro
Bronx Shoes
Faryl Robin
Brunomagli
Fitzwell
Calvin Klein
Footprints
Capparos
Franco Sarto
Celine
Frye
Charles By David
Gabriella Rocha
Cianni
GianFranco Ferre
Claudia Ciuti
Giuseppe Zanotti
Cynthia Rowley
Guess
Delman
Hale Bob
Donald J. Pliner
Harley-Davidson
Elle
Enzo Angiolini
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Designer Shoes By Type & Size
SIZE 11
Dress Shoes Size 11
Slippers/House Shoes Size 11
Casual Shoes Size 11
Espace
Acorn
A. Marinelli
Etro
Daniel Green
Aerosoles
Fitzwell
Deer Stags
AK Anne Klein
Franco Sarto
Fitzwell
akademiks
Gabriella Rocha
Hush Puppies
Annie
Gianni Bravo
Woolrich
Apepazza
Giuseppe Zanotti
Apis Footwear Company
Hale Bob
Aquatailia by Marvin
Hollywould
Arche
House of Dereon
Awol
Hugo Hugo Boss
Azaleia
Hush Puppies
Bacci
Jimmy Choo
Bally
Manolo Blahnik
Bandolino
Paul Melian
Bass
Sergio Zelcer
BCB Girls
Via Spiga
BCBG Max Azria
Yin
Beautifeel
Belle By Sigerson Morrison
Biviel
Blay
Blink
Bolo
Born
Boss Hugo Boss
Brighton footwear
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Designer Shoes By Type & Size
SIZE 11
Casual Shoes Size 11
Casual Shoes Size 11
Clogs Size 11
Bronx Shoes
Espace
Columbia
Brunomagli
Etienne Aigner
Crocs
Camper
Faryl Robin
Ecco
Casadei
Finn Comfort
El Naturalista
Celine
Footprints
Fin Comfort
Charles By David
Franco Sarto
Fitzwell
Clarks
Frye
Footprints
Cordani
Ftizwell
Havana Joe
Cydney Mandel
Gabor
Helle Comfort
Dani Black
Gabriella Rocha
Dansko
Geox
David Tate
H.S. Trask & Co.
Delman
Havana Joe
Dexter
Helle Comfort
Donald J. Pliner
Hollywould
Dr. Martens
Hush Puppies
Dr. Scholl’s
Moda
Duck Head Footwear
Na Na
Earth
Proxy
Eastland
Two Lips
Easy Spirit
White Mt.
Ecco
Wolky
El Naturalista
Yin
Elle
Zigi
Enzo Angiolini
Zinc
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Designer Shoes By Type & Size
SIZE 11
Sandals Size 11
Sandals Size 11
Sandals Size 11
A. Marinelli
Calvin Klein
El Naturalista
Acorn
Camper
Elle
Adio
Capparos
Enzo Angiolini
Aerosoloes
Casadei
Etienne Aigner
akademiks
Castaner
Finn Comfort
Annie
Chaco
Fitzwell
Apepazza
Charles By David
Franco Sarto
Arche
Chinese Laundry
Frye
Ariat
Clarks
Gabor
Awol
Claudia Ciuti
Gabriella Rocha
Azaleia
Columbia
Giuseppe Zanotti
Baby Phat
Cordani
Guess
Bally
Crocs
H.S. Trask & Co.
Bandolino
Curveture
Hale Bob
Bass
Cydney Mandel
Havana Joe
BCB Girls
Cynthia Rowley
Hush Puppies
BCBG Max Azria
Dani Black
Hype
Beverly Feldman
Dansko
Siamanto
Birkenstocks
David Tate
Teva
Bite
Delman
White Mt.
Blay
Dexter
Wolky
Blink
Donald J. Pliner
Yin
Bo’em
Dr. Martens
Zigi
Bolo
Dr.Scholl’s
Born
Duck Head Footwear
Boss Hugo Boss
Dunham
Bouquets
Earth
Brighton Footwear
Easy Spirit
Bronx Shoes
Ecco
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Designer Shoes By Type & Size
SIZE 11
Platform Shoes/Boots Size 11
Bridal Shoes Size 11
Sling Backs Size 11
Pleaser USA Kiss
Capparos
A. Marinelli
Dyeables
AK Anne Klein
Ballet/Dance Slippers Size 11
Cynthia Rowley
Annie
Bloch
Gianni Bravo
Apepazza
Capezio
Paul Melian
Bally
rsvp
Bandolino
Nurse Shoes Size 11
BCBG Max Azria
NurseMates
Beverly Feldman
Calvin Klein
Bowling Shoes Size 11
Capparros
Dexter
Celine
Charles By David
Golf Shoes Size 11
Coach
Ecco
Cynthia Rowley
Donald J. Pliner
Elle
Fitzwell
Hale Bob
House of Dereon
Marc Jacobs
Paul Melian
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Designer Shoes By Type & Size
SIZE 12
Athletic Shoes Size 12
Boots Size 12
Dress Shoes Size 12
Adidas
Annie
Anne Klein New York
Asics
Bronx Shoes
Annie
Ben Sherman
Camper
Brunomagli
Bikkembergs
Clarks
Caparros
Brooks
Donald J. Pliner
Fitzwell
Converse
Dr. Martens
Gabriella Rocha
Dunham
Elle
Giuseppi Zanotti
Easy Spirit
Emilio Pucci
Hush Puppies
Ellesse
Fitzwell
J. Renee
Heely’s
Gabriella Rocha
Jessica Bennet
Hurley
Giuseppi Zanotti
Lauren by Ralph Lauren
Keds
J. Renee
Lumiani
La Sportiva
La Canadienne
Magdesians
Le Coq Sportif
Lauren by Ralph Lauren
Pelle Moda
Macbeth
Lumiani
Ros Hommerson
MBT
Old Friend
rsvp
Mizuno
Propet
Stuart Weitzman
New Balance
Quark
Taryn Rose
Onitsuka Tiger by Asics
Red Wing
PF Flyers
Ros Hommerson
Pony
rsvp
Propet
Sesto Meucci
Puma
Sofft
Reebok Lifestyle
Stuart Weitzman
Ryka
Sudini
Salomon
Taryn By Taryn Rose
Saucony
Trotters
Simple
Type Z
Ulu
Ugg
Vans
Ulu
Z-Boy
Vaneli
Wolky
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Designer Shoes By Type & Size
SIZE 12
Casual Shoes Size 12
Casual Shoes Size 12
Clogs Size 12
Annie
Riekder
Birki’s
Apis Footwear Company
Ros Hommerson
Clarks
Arche
Sebago
Crocs
BeautiFeel
Sofft
Dansko
Bloch
SoftSpots
Earth
Camper
SoftWalk
Finn Comfort
Casadei
Stuart Weitzman
Hush Puppies
Clarks
Sudini
Papillo
Dansko
Think!
Quark Liberty
David Tate
Trotters
Ulu
Dexter
Type Z
Wolky
Donald J. Pliner
Ugg
Draven
Vaneli
Earth
Walking Cradles
Eastland
Easy Spirit
Elle
Enzo Angiolini
Finn Comfort
Fitzwell
Grasshoppers
Hollywood
Instride
J. Renee
Lauren by Ralph Lauren-Loura
Magdesians
Moda Spana
Naturalizer
PF Flyers
Privo
Ragoni of Florence
Red Wing
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Designer Shoes By Type & Size
SIZE 12
Sandals Size 12
Sandals Size 12
Slingbacks Size 12
Anne Klein New York
Think
Anne Klein New York
Annie
Trotters
Annie
Bass
Vaneli
Caparros
Birkenstock
Walking Cradles
Donald J. Pliner
Caparros
Wolky
Ftizwell
Clarks
Jessica Bennett
Curvetures
Magdesians
Dansko
Ballet/Dance Shoes Size 12
Moda Spana
Delman
Capezio- Student Footlight
rsvp
Earth
Bloch Tap Shoes
Stuart Weitzman
Easy Spirit
Capezio Split Sole Ballet
El Naturalista
Leo’s Spectator Tap Shoes
Finn Comfort
Bridal Shoes Size 12
Fitzwell
Anne Klein New York
Giuseppi Zanotti
Nurse Shoes Size 12
J. Renee
Hush Puppies
NurseMates
Jessica Bennett
Jessica Bennet
Moda Spana
Magdesians
Pelle Moda
Mephisto
Ros Hommerson
Missoni
rsvp
Moda Spana
Naturalizer
Platform Shoes/Boots Size 12
Old Friend
Pleaser USA Kiss
Onex
Pelle Moda
Slippers/House Shoes Size 12
Roots
Daniel Green
rsvp
Gabriella Rocha
Sesto Meucci
Old Friend Soft Sole Bootee
Simple
rsvp
SoftSpots
Ugg
Stuart Weitzman
Teva
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Designer Shoes By Type & Size
SIZE 13
Athletic Shoes Size 13
Boots Size 13
Dress Shoes Size 13
Adidas
Cianni
Cianni
Asics
Bike
Fiztwell
Bloch
David Tate
J. Renee
Converse
Dunham
Jessica Bennett
Easy Spirit
Fitzwell
Lumiani
Etonic
Gabriella Rocha
Magdesians
Five Ten
J. Renee
Moda Spana
Heely’s Slide
Lumiani
Pelle Moda
Helly Hansen
Ros Hommerson
Proxy
Le Coq Sportif
rsvp
Ros Hommerson
Mizuno
Sesto Meucci
rsvp Jenny
New Balance
Sudini
rsvp Odalis
Onitsuka Tiger by Asics
Vaneli
Taryn Rose
Prince
Trotters
Propet
Vaneli
Puma
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Designer Shoes By Type & Size
SIZE 13
Casual Shoes Size 13
Sandals Size 13
Slingbacks Size 13
A. Marinelli
Annie
Annie
Apis Footwear Company
Bass
J.Renee
Birkenstock
Birkenstock Arizona
Pelle Moda
David Tate
Clarks
Trotters
Dunham
Dansko
VanEli
Elle
David Tate
Fitzwell
Elle
Footprints
Finn Comfort
Bridal Shoes Size 13
Franco Sarto
ForgottenSoles
Fitzwell – Hachi
Hush Puppies
Gabriella Rocha
J. Renee
J. Renee
J. Renee
Ros Hommerson
John Fleuvog
Magdesians
rsvp -Jenny
Magdesians
Moda Spana
Moda Spana
Olivia RoseTal Silvy
Platform Shoes/Boots Size 13
Rockport
Papillio-Boston Textile
Pleaser USA Kiss
Sesto Meucci
Pelle Moda
Skechers
Propet
Ballet/Dance Shoes Size 13
Sneaux
rsvp
Capezio Canvas Leather Jazz sole
Sofft
Sanuk
Capezio Split Sole Ballet
Softwalk
SoftWalk
Leo’s Economy Ballet Slipper
Taryn Rose
Slippers/House Shoes Size 13
Clogs Size 13
Daniel Green
Holey Soles
Hush Puppies Slippers Rutgers
Old Friend Soft Sole Bootee
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Designer Shoes By Type & Size
SIZE 14
Athletic Size 14
Boots Size 14
Dress Shoes Size 14
Adidas Adissage M
Capezio Jazz Ankle Boot
Lumiani
Adidas Samba Classic
Leo’s GioFlex Slip onJazz Boot
Magdesians Laurie-R
Bikkembergs G7900
Lumiani
rsvp Jenny
Bloch-Boost DRT Mesh Sneaker
Vaneli
Capezio Canvas Dansneaker
Casual Shoes Size 14
Capezio Toggle
Magdesians Romeo-R
Slippers/House Shoes Size 14
Diadora-Carioca ID
Tate
Daniel Green
Draven Duane Peters Hi Top
Skechers
Draven Green Day
Five Ten-Hueco
Hush Puppies Slippers Rutgers
New Balance
Sandals Size 14
Old Friend Soft Sole Bootee
Onitsuka Tiger by Asics
Kenneth Cole-The Amazon
Prince NFS Indoor III 1.0
Lumiani Speciale
Puma
Munro American
Reebok Lifestyle
Vaneli
Platform Shoes/Boots Size 14
Rockport WT-Classic
Pleaser USA Kiss
Sperry Top-Sider
Slingbacks Size 14
Teva P-2
ForgottenSoles
Bridal Shoes Size 14
Magdesians Doris-R
Fitzwell
Hiker Boots Size 14
Ballet Slippers Size 14
Clogs Size 14
Dr. Martens
Capezio Split Sole Ballet
Hush Puppies
Quark Liberty
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Designer Shoes By Type & Size
SIZE 15
Athletic Size 15
Boots Size 15
Dress Shoes Size 15
Adidas Adissage M
ForgottenSoles
Brooks
Asics Cyberthrow
Lumiani
Fitzwell
New Balance
Casual Shoes Size 15
Five Ten Moccasym
Onitsuka Tiger by Asics
Apis Footwear company
Lumiani
Puma
Lumiani Speciale
Vans
rsvp Jenny
Siamonto
Clogs Size 15
Skechers Neena
Sandals Size 15
Hush Puppies
Taceri
ForgottenSoles
Quark Liberty
Tate
Lumiani Speciale
Slingbacks Size 15
ForgottenSoles
Hiker Boots Size 15
Tate
Dr. Martens
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Designer Shoes By Type & Size
SIZE 16, 17 & 18
Athletic Shoes Size 16
Athletic Shoes Size 17
Athletic Shoes Size 18
New Balance
Puma
New Balance
Puma
Reebok
Puma
Reebok
Vans
Vans
Slippers/House Shoes Size 16
Old Friend Soft Sole Bootee
Sandals Shoe Size 16
ForgottenSoles
Clogs Size 16
Hush Puppies
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
21
How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Follow These Eight Time Saving Steps When Shopping For
Your Next Pair Of Shoes
I must admit when Designer Shoe Warehouse first arrived in my city, I was ecstatic. Honestly, it’s the only store that enjoy I enjoy perusing every single isle. If you’ve never stepped foot inside DSW, you have to find one and visit. For those of us who wear size 11 an up, it’s almost a gold-mine. Certainly, there are other stores that carry gorgeous shoes in larger sizes for instance, Nordstrom’s, Bloomingdale’s, JC Penny’s, Parisians, Payless and the list goes on… Now back to you first-timers, you have to have a strategy to navigate through this store. If you’ve taken any type of time-management class, you’re ability to utilize what you’ve learned will come in handy. Here are just a few tips on making the best use of your time and finding a pair of shoes made just for you.
1. Wear shoes that you can easily slip on and off.
2. As soon as you walk into the store, scan the entire store.
3. Quickly put together a game plan. Where should you start? Dress shoes or boots? It’s up to you.
4. Grab one of their mesh shopping bags. It makes carrying your shoes a whole lot easier.
5. I’ve found that scanning the shoe boxes to locate my size saves me time and unnecessary disappointment. You don’t get caught up in falling in love with a pair of shoes that aren’t available in your size.
6. Look at shoes on both sides of the isle. It saves time.
7. Once you’ve covered one isle and have selected a couple pairs of shoes, try them on. If they don’t work, simply put them back on the shelf. No since in dashing to the next isle with shoes that don’t fit.
8. Always remember to grab one of the stocking footies before trying on shoes.
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Plenty of Online Plus-Size Shoe Sites
After my “Ah Ha” moment in Macy’s enormous shoe department, I started getting serious about searching for stores that stock gorgeous plus-size shoes up to size 14. I have come up with a fairly good list of online shoe stores that cater to full-footed women.
I haven’t bought shoes from every single Web site listed. So do your own research before making a purchase.
Shoe Sites
Shoe Size
www.anntaylor.com
Up to Size 11
www.avenue.com
Up to Size 13
www.audition.com
Up to Size 14
www.jjill.com
Up to Size 11
www.kennethcole.com
Up to Size 11
www.6pm.com
Up to Size 13
www.avenue.com
Up to Size 13
www.Bandolino.com
Up to Size 12
www.barefootess.com
Up to Size 14
www.bergdorfgoodman.com
Up to Size 11
www.BigandBeautifulShoes.com
Up to Size 17
www.Blair.com
Up to Size 11
www.bloomingdales.com
Up to Size 11
www.Clarotallandwide.com
Up to Size 13
www.deenashoes.com
Up to Size 13
www.DesignerShoes.com
Up to Size 15
www.dillard’s.com
Up to Size 13
www.dyeableshoestore.com
Up to Size 13
www.ellevenup.com
Up to Size 13
Up to Size 12
www.easyspirit.com
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Plenty of Online Plus-Size Shoe Sites
Shoe Sites
Shoe Size
www.famousfootwear.com
Up to Size 12
www.footsmart.com
Up to Size 16
www.gothamcityonline.com
Up to Size 12
www.jcp.com
Up to Size 12
www.jcrew.com
Up to Size 12
www.Jildorshoes.com
Up to Size 12
www.jimmychoo.com
Up to Size 11
www.katespade.com
Up to Size 11
www.largefeet.com
Up to Size 13
www.macys.com
Up to Size 12
www.marloushoes.com
Up to Size 14
www.marmishoes.com
Up to Size 13
www.marylandsquare.com
Up to Size 15
www.Naturalizer.com
Up to Size 12
www.ninewest.com
Up to Size 12
www.nordstrom.com
Up to Size 15
Up to Size 16
www.onlineshoes.com
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Plenty of Online Plus-Size Shoe Sites
Shoe Sites
Shoe Size
www.paylessshoesource.com
Up to Size 13
www.peltzshoes.com
Up to Size 15
www.saksfifthavenue.com
Up to Size 11
www.schulershoes.com
Up to Size 12
www.shoebuy.com
Up to Size 18
www.ShoeLine.com
Up to Size 13
www.ShoeMall.com
Up to Size 13
www.shoes.com
Up to Size 17
www.shoesofyourdreams.com
Up to Size 14
www.ShoeTrader.com
Up to Size 14
www.shop4yourShoes.com
Up to Size 13
www.shopzilla.com
Up to Size 18
www.solestruck.com
Up to Size 12
www.spiegel.com
Up to Size 11
www.steptall.com
Up to Size 12
www.stuartweitzman.com
Up to Size 12
www.Thefinishline.com
Up to Size 11
www.torrid.com
Up to Size 12
www.uniquefeet.com
Up to Size 12
www.UpAndUnderShoes.com
Up to Size 13
Up to Size 18
www.zappos.com
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Bridal Shoes By Size & Designer
You don’t have to worry about finding the perfect size shoes for your wedding day. Today, more and more retailers are celebrating women by making stylish shoes available in larger sizes.
Size 11
Bridal Shoe Designers
Anne Klein New York
Annie
Caparros
Colorful Creations
Cynthia Rowley
Dyeables
Grace
Grazia
J. Renee
Liz Rene Couture
Lumiani Speciale
Nina
Nine West
Onex
Paul Melian
Rsvp
Salon
Shannon Britt
Special Occasions
Stuart Wietzman
Touch Ups
Vera Wang
Size 12
Bridal Shoe Designers
Annie
Caparros
Colorful Creations
Dyeables
J. Renee
Liz Rene Couture
Nina
Paul Melian
Rsvp
Salon
Shannon Britt
Special Occasions
Stuart Weiztman
Touch Ups
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Bridal Shoes By Size & Designer
Size 13
Bridal Shoe Designers
Paul Melian
Rsvp
J. Renee
Size 14
Bridal Shoe Designers
Lumiani Speciale
Size 15
Bridal Shoe Designers
Fitzwell
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
27
How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Shopping For Bridal Shoes On The Internet
Looking for ways to find the perfect pair of bridal shoes from the comfort of your home? Try the following Internet retailers on for size:
I haven’t bought shoes from every single Web site listed…So check them out before making a purchase.
www.zappos.com
www.designershoes.com
www.bellissimbridalshoes.com
www.6pm.com
www.dyeableshoestore.com
www.largefeet.com
www.nordstrom’s.com
www.myglassslipper.com
www.neimanmarcus.com
www.onlineshoes.com
www.payless.com
www.shoetrader.com
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Bridal Shoes In Traditional Stores
I enjoyed planning my wedding. Occasionally, I hear women complain that wedding planning is no fun. I realize most women work and have other responsibilities, but who wouldn’t enjoy tasting cakes, trying on wedding dresses, veils and shoes?
Speaking of shoes, here are a few traditional stores that carry a variety of plus-size shoes for brides and bridesmaids.
David’s Bridal
DSW
JC Penny’s
Macy’s
Neiman Marcus
Nine West
Nordstrom’s
Parisians
Payless Shoe Source
* Sizes and availability vary at each store.
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
29
How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Help Your Teenager Shop For The Latest Styles
Shopping for shoes can be stressful, particularly if you’re a teenage girl. On any given day, you can find a teenage girl bemoaning the fact that her feet are huge and she can’t find cute shoes. I remember shopping for shoes in my earlier days. If I didn’t see a female sales clerk, I’d stroll through the store and stroll right out the door. I was simply too embarrassed to ask a man for a GIGANTIC pair of size 11 shoes.
Teenagers want to wear fashionable, trendy shoes just like every other teenage girl.
Of course teenagers want to look their best, particularly teenage girls. What is interesting is retailers are aggressively using the Internet and television to target and appeal to teens. Since you’re reading this, more than likely you have a teenage daughter who just might wear size 11, 12, 13 or 14 shoes. Not only is she concerned about her clothes, but it’s also important that she finds cute, trendy shoes in her size.
Looking for shoes for your teenage daughter in larger sizes doesn’t have to be a hassle. Here’s a way for you and your daughter to spend a little quality time together: Go online and shop for shoes that you both can agree on at the following online shoe stores: www.zappos.com
www.designershoes.com
www.6pm.com
www.payless.com
www.shoebuy.com
www.shoes.com
www.shoesofyourdreams.com
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Shoeunique Gift Ideas
Need a unique gift idea for the shoe lover in your life? Well, I’ve put together just a few gift ideas for any and every occasion.
Delectable Shoes
Gourmet Chocolate High-Heeled Shoes
www.gayleschocolates.com
Gourmet Sugar “Shoe” Cookies
www.FlourPotCookies.com
Shoe Collectors
Just The Right Shoe-Miniature Collectibles.
www.GoCollect.com
Miniature Shoes- Christmas Shoe Ornaments
www.SmithsonianStore.com
Shoe Art
Women’s Shoe Art.
www.modernartprints.net
Shoe Books & Ebooklets
Your Feet Make You Unique: Tips For Women Who Wear Size 10 & Up
Wedding Tips & More For The Full Footed Bride-To-Be
How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7 In Sizes 11 and Up
The Essential Holiday Gift Guide For Fabulous Women Who Wear Size 11 Shoes
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
31
How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Traditional Stores & Outlets
Maybe you’re not quite ready to shop for shoes online…that’s OK.
Shop until you drop at these (feet friendly) stores:
DSW Shoe Warehouse
Easy Spirit
Joan & David
Hush Puppies
Factory Brand Shoes
Macy’s
Bloomingdale’s
Parisians
PayLess Shoe Source
The Shoe Carnival
Nordstrom’s
The Avenue
Old Navy
Nine West
J.C. Penny’s
T.J. Maxx
Sears
Famous Footwear
RedWing Shoes
Naturalizer
Bass Shoes
Kenneth Cole
Sas Factory Shoe Store
Finish Line
Bakers Shoe Store
Lady Foot Locker
Aerosoles
Donald J. Pliner
Cole Haan
Neiman Marcus
Liz Claiborne Shoes
Via Spiga & Co.
Stuart Weitzman
Rockport
Rack Room Shoes
Puma
Crocs
Easy Spirit
Joan & David
Hush Puppies
Factory Brand Shoes
Kate Spade
Stein Mart
Friedman’s Shoes
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Online Catalogs
If you prefer to shop by catalog, here are a few that cater to the plus-size shoe market.
www.chadwicks.com
www.lanebryant.com
www.roamans.com
www.jessicalondon.com
www.marylandsquare.com
www.especiallyyours.com
www.blair.com
www.sillohuettes.com
www.softsurroundings.com
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
33
How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Other Shoe Related Products
Foot Cushions
Foot Jewelry
Foot Care
www.footpetals.com
www.drscholls.com
www.footpetals.com
www.footcandy.com
www.footpetals.com
www.drscholls.com
www.goodfeet.com
www.avon.com
www.carolsdaughter.com
www.footsmart.com
www.bathandbodyworks.com
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
34
How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Size Really Does Matter
One of the main reasons I started blogging was to create a community where women can talk about their unique set of problems and issues when it comes to living with large feet. The other reason for creating “Your Feet Make You Unique” blog was to invite online shoe distributors to participate in our conversations. We certainly want more shoe manufacturers and online and off line retailers to offer trendy, stylish shoes larger sizes. Needless to say, women with big feet want gorgeous shoes just like their tiny footed sisters. Since I wear a size 11 shoe, I can tell you that we don’t mind spending money when it comes to buying a pair of shoes that are the perfect fit and style. While some manufacturers and retailers are still reluctant to cater to the oversize women’s shoe market, others realize there is a real need to provide quality, stylish shoes for full-footed women. Retailers and manufacturers who service the $11 billion a year oversize women’s shoe market realize there is a great opportunity to increase their visibility and profitability. In the last 15 years there has been a dramatic increase in the size of women’s feet. The women’s plus-size shoe segment of the market has been growing at over 10% a year in the last 15 years, while the women’s shoe industry has been experiencing a rate of 1-2% a year. Statistics show that 12.3 million women in the US can’t find shoes that fit correctly. They’re either too small or too tight which forces many women to look for shoes in the men’s shoe department. Kudos to the Internet retailers and off line stores who provide designer shoes in our size.
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
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How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Famous Full-Footed Females
Did You Know…? Roughly 37% of all shoe sales are attributed to women who have ample size feet. Just in case you were interested, here are few celebrities who wear size 10 and up.
• Oprah Winfrey – 10 1/2
• Debra Winger — 10
• Serena Williams — 10
• Brooke Shields — 10
• Liv Tyler — 10
• Veronica Webb — 10
• Marion Jones — 10
• Terri Hatcher — 10
• Daisy Fuentes — 10
• Katie Holmes — 10
• Paris Hilton — 11
• Uma Thurman — 11
• Venus Williams –11
• Jerry Hall — 11
• Lindsay Davenport — 11 1/2
• Kristen Johnson — 11 1/2
• Bridgette Wilson-Sampras — 11 1/2
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
36
How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
CPP Digital Products
…An Indispensable How-To Guide
How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes
24/7… In Sizes 11 & Up
Downloadable Ebook (PDF)
Your Feet Make You Unique: Tips For Women Who Wear Sizes 11 & Up
Downloadable Ebooklet (PDF)
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
37
How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
CPP Digital Products
Your Feet Make You Unique: Wedding Tips & More Exclusively For The Full-Footed Bride-To-Be
Downloadable Ebooklet (PDF)
A Meaningful Gift: Passing On The Richness Of God’s Love
Author: Quester Adams
Buy NOW! $12.67
Downloadable Ebook (PDF)
ISBN: 09769805-1-7
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
38
How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Tips For Safe Shopping Online
1. Pay with a credit card, the company will back you if you contest a charge for an item that is not received.
2. Use only one credit card for all online holiday purchases. You will be able to see quickly if there is a mistake.
3. Be sure you are ordering from a secure Web site. Ways to tell? Look for the unbroken key or closed lock in your browser window or a pop-up box that says you are entering a secure area. Some Web sites use the words “secure sockets layer.”
4. If you really don’t want to give payment information online, many merchants allow you to order online and then phone in your payment.
5. Keep a paper trail of all online transactions.
6. To avoid outrageous shipping costs, order all holiday gifts by Dec 1st to ensure they are received by Dec. 25th.
7. Read product reviews using sites like Amazon or Epinions before ordering online.
8. Use comparison Web sites, such as Bizrate, Shopzilla, Froogle or Price Grabber to compare prices on similar products from thousands of merchants.
9. Before ordering a product online, go to Google or MSN Search and enter the merchants Web site with the word “coupon” or “promotional code.” You may find you can get a discount on your purchase or shipping costs or both.
10. Cut shipping costs by ordering an item online and
picking it up at the store.
Sources: Federal Trade Commission, American Bar Association, Bankrate.com
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
39
How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7
… In Sizes 11 & Up
Recommended Sites
www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
www.shoeincentives.blogspot.com
www.iwantshoes.blogspot.com
www.shoes.about.com
www.tallwomen.org
www.kissmestace.com
www.shoeblogs.com
www.thebudgetfashionista.com
www.shoewawa.com
© 2007 CPP ePublications, Imprint of Clear Path Publishing Web: www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
40
My Articles
Large Size Women’s Shoes – Look Who’s Spending $11 Billion A Year
Clear Path Publishing
PO Box 68106
Indianapolis, In 46209-6763
Phone: 651-305-1940
Fax: 651-305-1940
www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
41
FREE Bonus!!
Here’s your free gift. It’s my way of saying “Thank You” for purchasing new ebook, How & Where To Shop For The Best Women’s Designer Shoes 24/7…In Sizes 11 and Up.
Enjoy!
Andrea M. Pace
Homemade Recipe For Beautiful Feet
Who doesn’t want to have smooth skin and beautiful feet? Here’s a simple recipe that you can whip up in the privacy of your home:
If you take 1 cup Lemon Juice, Cinnamon (for fragrance), 2 tablespoons (or less) olive oil, 1/4 cup of milk, and water you can make a wash that leaves skin refreshed and fragrant (the amount of water does not matter).
If you don’t like the smell of Cinnamon, you can use another spice, perfume, or flower petals such as roses.
After you make it, you can put it in a tub were you can soak your feet or body. Next dry your feet or rinse them with water and a MILD soap.
Pamper your feet every week. Soon you will have smooth silky touchable feet.
Clear Path Publishing
PO Box 68106
Indianapolis, In 46209-6763
Phone: 651-305-1940
Fax: 651-305-1940
www.unique-feet.blogspot.com
info @ clearpathpublishing dot com 42

BEST SEX GUIDE FOR MEN

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Website: www.universal-tao.com, www.tao-garden.com,
[2
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Master Mantak Chia is the creator of the Healing Tao, Tao Yoga,
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Mantak Chia was born in Thailand, to Chinese parents, in 1944.
While still a grammar school student, he learned traditional Thai
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Master Yi Eng who authorized Master Chia to teach and heal. Master
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To understand the mechanisms behind healing energy better,
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He eventually trained other instructors to communicate this knowledge
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Summer retreat [ July – Augest
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The Fusion practice focuses on balancing negative and positive emotional
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Chi Kung enhances your ability to feel, develop, and store Chi. The mind
becomes calm and relaxed while maintaining a high energy level. When Chi
is stored in the Tan Tien you develop rooting and internal power. Tao Yin
contains a wide variety of movements & breathing techniques from ancient
systems of spiritual development. It comes from the heritage of the Immortal
Tao.
[6
Fusion II – III and Tai Chi Chi Kung I
Prerequisites: General Retreat
The Fusion II Meditation grows & intensifies the Good Virtue Energies forming
a Compassion Pearl in the Creation Cycle using the organ colors. The student
learns how to detoxify the organs and glands by opening up the Thrusting
Channels; and protecting themselves forming psychic Belt Channels drawing
in the Heavenly and Earthly forces. The Fusion III meditation opens the Greater
Bridge & Regulator Channels, Spinal Cord, Head, and Heart using the cutting
and drilling techniques cleaning out any energy blockages. The student learns
to protect the body from external energies by sealing the Senses and Aura
using the butterfly and brushing techniques. Your reservoir of Chi energy is in
the Tan Tien. The Tai Chi Chi Kung I short form consists of the basic
movements of Yang style Tai Chi.
Chi Nei Tsang I (Practitioner Certification) No prerequisites
Taoist sages observed that humans often develop energy blockages in and
around their internal organs that result in knots and tangles in the abdomen.
These can constrict the flow of chi, eventually resulting in physical ailments.
By using Chi Nei Tsang I’s 40 techniques of navel and deep organ energy
massage you learn to release and clear blockages, toxins, excessive heat
and negative emotions. Participants may qualify to enter a program leading
to certification through submission of practice case studies.
Chi Nei Tsang II and Golden Elixir Chi Kung
(Teacher Certification) Prerequisites: Chi Nei Tsang I
Chi Nei Tsang II uses the Elbow Technique, working primarily with the trapped
winds of the body. These can become sick or evil winds which can lead to
heart attack if not released. The student will learn about the Ten Winds, how
to chase and discharge them from the body and how to inject good Chi back
into the vital organs and glands. Elixir Chi Kung consists of 11 postures;
nine of these involve gathering forces through the saliva.
[7
Cosmic Healing I (Cosmic Chi Kung)
No prerequisites (Practitioner Certification)
Cosmic Healing I is a practice of channeling pure Cosmic Chi for healing.
Master Chia will teach how to channel energy for healing the body and through
working with a partner, how to heal ourselves and others. The healing energy
experience gives the students a feeling of energy buoyancy, recharging them
with pure Cosmic Chi. Qualified students will be evaluated and possibly certified
to heal & teach others using these techniques. Cosmic Chi Kung is to learn
how to project Chi through the space in the cosmos, the space between your
hands and to project Chi through the space to your students. This practice
will teach you how to ground the sick energy to the earth and to disperse it
into the Universe to be decomposed and recycled by the planets. Taught by
Master Chia
Krasai Nei Tsang (Practitioner Certification)
New Development in Chi Nei Tsang. Krasai Nei Tsang, also known as Genital
Health Massage, has been developed specifically for improving the health of
the genitals and the genital area. We have neglected our sexual organs for
far too long, our genitals need attention and expert care just like the rest of
our organs. Krasai Nei Tsang provides this care. The Krasai Nei Tsang
practitioner uses deep, direct pressure with small circular massage
movements to break up and dissolve the sedimentation in the circulatory
system, release the toxicity, remove the physical and emotional blockages
in the pelvic area.
Darkness Enlightenment Retreats
Week 1: Lesser Kan & Li Darkness Retreat
Prerequisites: General Retreat & Fusion I, II & III
The practices of the Lesser Enlightenment of Kan & Li involves cleansing
and rejuvenating the glands and organs using neutral energy (steam) generated
by the inverting and coupling of the primal polarities of Fire and Water.
By merging the Universal force with the Sexual Energy (Jing), Life-Force
Energy (Chi) is created to feed the soul or energy body. The process includes
opening the Twelve Major Channels, Self-Intercourse, gathering of the outer
alchemical agent, giving birth to the energy body & inner observation.
Taught by Master Chia & Inner Alchemy Instructors
[8
Week 2: Greater Kan & Li Darkness Retreat
Prerequisites: Lesser and Greater Kan & Li
Greater Kan & Li: Always using the energy relationship of Yin and Yang
inversion, activate the cauldron at the Solar Plexus these practices increase
to an extraordinary degree the amount of energy that may be absorbed into
the body directly from Heaven and Earth. In fact, power can be drawn from
any energy source, such as the moon, wood, earth, flowers, animals, light.
This energy enables the practitioner to raise the soul, gives birth to the spirit,
and prepares it for space traveling. Taught by Master Chia & Inner Alchemy
Instructors
Week 3: Greatest Kan & Li Darkness Retreat
Prerequisites: Lesser and Greater Kan & Li
Greatest Kan & Li consists of moving the stove and changing the cauldron to
the higher center at the Heart Center to absorb solar and lunar power; mixing,
transforming, steaming, and purification of soul, heaven, earth, solar, lunar
and sexual power for gathering the greater elixir; mixing the visual power with
the vital power, reversing the aging process and increasing natural immunity
by re-establishing the thymus gland. These formulas effect the transmutation
of the warm current or Chi into mental (or soul) energy.
Taught by Master Chia & Inner Alchemy Instructors
Tao Garden Wellness Retreat
Tao Garden set up as a training center and health and well being and prevention
center. Through the internal exercise and internal breath of meditation and chi
kung for mind and body. About thirty minutes outside of Chiang Mai, Thailand,
is an internationally renowned healing resort where individuals or groups can
go and experience a wide variety of holistic healing methodologies. Tao Garden
is a result of Master Chia’s vast experience (more than 40 years) with Chinese
and Thai Medicine, Western Holistic, and Ayurvedic Indian Medicine. Master
Chia has also studied and taught many different kinds of massage and healing
practices. He has combined them into one system based on the fool-proof
theory of clean cells, clean blood and good Chi for good health.
Increasingly, Universal Tao Instructors, Practitioners and like minded
individuals and groups are finding Tao Garden an ideal environment in which
to sponsor their own Retreats and Medical Spa. During and after the Summer
and Winter Retreat periods, Tao Garden and all its facilities are available at
very attractive rates. We invite your inquiry regarding hosting your next retreat
at Tao Garden.
[9
Universal Tao Books
Basic Practice
Transform Stress Into Vitality
Best Seller in Amazon
Taoist methods to transform emotions and stress into creativity,
learning, healing & peak performance. Get in touch with your
organs and glands with the Inner Smile, cool the body’s key
systems, eliminate trapped energy and clean out toxins to return
the organs to peak condition with the Six Healing Sounds.
156 pages B03 US$12.00
Chi Self-Massage
Best Seller in Amazon
Strengthen the sense organs, the teeth, skin and all the inner
organs and glands using your own internal energy. Ten minutesa
day will improve complexion, vision, hearing, sinuses, gums,
teeth, tongue, internal organs and general stamina.
176 pages B04 US$12.00
Cosmic Inner Smile
The Inner Smile is a powerful internal healing and relaxation
meditation. Deep relaxation dissolves physical and mental
tensions that can cause energy blockages and unhealthy Chi.
The Inner Smile enhances the energy of the organs and glands,
our life force in general, and stills and focuses the heart and
mind.
100 pages B28 US$15.00
Cosmic Healing Sounds
The Sounds that Heal with related postures help to restore,
balance, and cleanse the vital organs. They stimulate the Chi
flow throu-ghout the body to enhance one’s overall health and
vitality. Learn how to release any excess heat that may be trapped
in the cooling sacs which surround each organ.
135 pages B30 US$15.00
[10
Awaken Healing Light of the Tao
Best Seller in Amazon
Strengthen the sense organs, the teeth, skin and all the inner
organs and glands using your own internal energy. Ten minutesa
day will improve complexion, vision, hearing, sinuses, gums,
teeth, tongue, internal organs and general stamina.
640 pages B11 US$18.00
Microcosmic Orbit
Cosmic Orbit
Learn how to preparations correctly: Chi Kung Warm-Ups; Sitting
properly; Inner Smiling; Warming the Stove; Activating Sexual
Energy; Gathering Tan Tien Chi; Connecting with the Cosmos &
Drawing the Cosmic Energy into your Orbit creating the Cosmic
Orbit with the Universe.
190 pages B25 US$16.00
Chi Kung
Inner Structure of Tai Chi
Best Seller in Amazon
The relationship of the inner structure of Tai Chi to the absorption,
transformation and circulation of the three fundamental forms
of Chi demonstrated with hundreds of detailed illustrations.
Indispensable resource to anyone wanting to learn Tai Chi with
all the unnecessary mystery stripped away.
276 pages B12 US$17.00
Tan Tien Chi Kung
Strengthen the sense organs, the teeth, skin and all the inner
organs and glands using your own internal energy. Ten minutesa
day will improve complexion, vision, hearing, sinuses, gums,
teeth, tongue, internal organs and general stamina.
210 pages B24 US$17.00
[11
Elixer Chi Kung
The sutdent will learn how to use the Cosmic Healing Chi Kung
in combination with color for guiding the healing learn to process
in your-self & other, your’ll make use of our Presonal Stars &
connections with the Big Dipper & North Star so as to have the
Chi to “Sweep & clean out” sick energies.
155 pages B20 US$17.00
Iron Shirt Chi Kung I
Best Seller in Amazon
Perfect the body to win great health, increase performance, fight
disease, protect the vital organs from injury and lay the
groundwork for higher spiritual practice. Direct the internal power
to strengthen the internal organs, increase Chi pressure in the
connective tissue or fascia and develop rooting power.
320 pages B05 US$16.00
Tendon Nei Kung (Iron II)
This is second of the Iron Shirt Chi Kung series. The knowledge
of amazing strength of the Tendons. Using the Eight Positions,
Partner & Hitting practices makes the tendons supple and strong
while opening the joints up transforming Chi into higher creative
and spiritual energy.
135 pages B31 US$16.00
Bone Marrow Nei Kung (Iron III)
Perfect the body to win great health, increase performan-ce,
fight disease, protect the vital organs from injury and lay the
groundwork for higher spiritual practice. Direct the internal power
to strengthen the internal organs, in-crease Chi pressure in the
connective tissue or fascia and develop rooting power.
297 pages B08 US$16.00
Tao Yin
Best Seller in Amazon
The relationship of the inner structure of Tai Chi to the absorption,
transformation and circulation of the three fundamental forms
of Chi demonstrated with hundreds of detailed illustrations.
Indispensable resource to anyone wanting to learn Tai Chi with
all the unnecessary mystery stripped away.
232 pages B07 US$17.95
[12
Multi – Orgasmic Man Best Seller in Amazon
Learn the amazing facts about the MultiOrgasmic capabilities of
men, separate orgasm and ejaculation, experience countless
peaks of whole body orgasms without losing an erection,
increase vitality and longevity, find satisfaction with your partner.,
escape the fatigue that follows ejaculation, recycle creative
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236 pages B13 US$15.00
Healing Love
Healing Love through the Tao
Best Seller in Amazon
The secrets of transforming and circulating female sexual energy.
Eliminate energy loss from menstruation, conserve and store
ovarian energy in the body, exchange and balance male and
female energies in the body.
320 pages B08 US$18.00
Taoist Secrets of Love
Sexual secrets for conserving and transforming sexual energy
through its circulation in the Microcosmic Orbit revealed. The
link between sexual energy and transcendent states of consciousness
made accessible.
339 pages B02 US$18.00
Multi – Orgasmic Couple
Best Seller in Amazon
Fully illustrated with sensual line drawings by the illustrator of
The New Joy of Sex, couples will discover simple step-bystep
techniques for a level of sexual pleasure, intimacy and
healing they may not have known was possible. Couples will
be inspired to make love all night and make love last a lifetime.
224 pages B15 US$16.95
Multi-Orgasmic Woman
The Multi-Orgasmic Woman combines the secrets of the ancient
Eastern sexual practices with the best of Western sexual
knowledge. Women of all ages can learn how to orgasm any
time they want and to prolong those orgasms into expanded
full-body orgasms. We can live truly healthy lives only if we
connect to the source of our overall well-being—our sexual
energy. 236 pages B33 US$24.95
[13
A Touch of Sex
This book gives the Taoist traditions combining the study of Sex
Energy and medicine with certain pressure points and meridians
found to stimulate and sustain sexual desire, for longer and
more pleasurable sexual encounters. Peak moments can be
prolonged beyond bliss, into ecstasy. This book will show you
how to become a more effective lover through the Tao.
170 pages B34 US$17.00
Sexual Reflexology
The study of Sexual Reflexology will help couples determine
their sexual energy potential and physical compatibility of each
other and with their own internal energy as well as reveal their
character and disposition that defines the nature of their
relationship.
231 pages B19 US$19.95
Healing Massage
Chi Nei Tsang I
Best Seller in Amazon
Massage the internal organs directly, releasing negative
emotions, stress, tension and sicknesses that congest the
abdomen and obstruct vital functions. Heal yourself and facilitate
healing in others through their own efforts. A beautiful and
insightful guide to working in the abdominal center.
440 pages B10 US$18.00
Chi Nei Tsang II
Chi Nei Tsang II is an art that evolved in an era when there were
few physicians and “self healing” was a way of life. CNT II will
guide you deeper into the rib cage, abdomen and Navel Center
teaching how to use the elbow and knuckle techniques.
186 pages B14 US$17.00
Karsai Nei Tsang
Perfect the body to win great health, increase performance, fight
disease, protect the vital organs from injury and lay the
groundwork for higher spiritual practice. Direct the internal power
to strengthen the internal organs, increase Chi pressure in the
connective tissue or fascia and develop rooting power.
140 pages B26 US$17.00
[14
Taoist Astral Healing
Best Seller in Amazon
In Cosmic Healing II, continue to bring the ancient, time tested
wisdom of the Universal Tao System to the Western world.
Cosmic Healing II presents a whole new understanding and
approach to healing with detailed explanations of self healing
techniques and ways to transform others.
303 pages B17 US$20.00
Wisdom Chi Kung
Learn how to lower the mind and fill the Tan Tien with Chi.
Meditation and physical rejuvenation opening the brain to be
filled with the knowledge of the Universe. Wisdom Chi Kung is a
simple and highly effective method to heal the body with an
empty mind increasing metal awareness, memory and clarity
preparing the mind.
130 pages B22 US$16.00
Cosmic Healing
Taoist Cosmic Healing
Best Seller in Amazon
Learn to develop your most powerful healing potential through
the Cosmic Chi Kung combined with your Mind, Eyes, and
Heart & Intention. The Cosmic Chi Kung encourages your
Compassion to bloom so as to enhance your self-healing
and your ability to support other in healing them selves.
350 pages B16 US$20.00
[15
Fusion of the Five Elements
Best Seller in Amazon
Neutralize, purify and transform negative energy in the internal
organs into pure energy, the essence of the life force. Balance,
strengthen and expand the Energy Body to connect with the
essence of Earth, planetary and star energies and reconnect
with your primordial being.
200 pages B09 US$13.00
Cosmic Fusion
Energy Body, Spirit Body Making your way along the path, you
become aware of the great value of the practices in preparing
the spirit body to move into worlds beyond – and back. You’ll
move from balance to resonance to love.
254 pages B23 US$18.00
Inner Psychical
Fusion of Eight Psychic Channels
Learn how to open and clean the Great Bridge and Regulator
Channels, to protect your spine and energy field and to seal the
Aura and Senses. You will learn how to open your crown, to heal
and to transform the Microcosmic Orbit, Thrusting Channels &
Belt Channel into your Energy Body.
100 pages B27 US$15.00
Lesser Kan & Li
This book is the First of Six Books revealing the Immortal Tao
Practices. These formulas help to give birth to your soul body,
which is free from environmental and karmic conditioning. The
birth of the soul is not metaphor. It is an actual process of
converting energy into a subtle body giving birth to your Immortal
Fetus.
210 pages B21 US$17.00
Door to All Wonders
Here is an in depth exploration of Lao Tzu’s “Tao Te Ching”.
Taoist Master Mantak Chia and Tao Huang guide us into the
origins of the philosophy and way of living that generations have
followed. Herein en courage meant is to be found in the words
that have given sustenance to millions around the globe.
332 pages B18 US$17.00
[16
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Universal Tao Booklets
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[17
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[18
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Healing Love
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Sexual Vitality
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Tao Yin
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Primordial Breath
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Elixir Chi Kung
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Wisdom Chi Kung
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[19
Organs Massage
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[20
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[21
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[22
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[23
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[24
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[25
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[26
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For many of our products, please visit Universal Tao Online Shop at www.taogarden/
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[27
[28

The Best 22 Rules of Marketing

Marketing for Geeks
Traditional marketing in the context of a
Small Independent Software Vendor
Comments on
“The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing”
Copyright 2004 Eric Sink
All Rights Reserved.
This document originally appeared as a series of daily weblog postings in June 2004:
http://software.ericsink.com/
Each posting is a commentary on a single chapter from “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing”, a highly recommended marketing book by Al Ries and Jack Trout.
Introduction
01 Jun 2004
I love to play cards. I’ve spent many hours sitting around a kitchen table playing pinochle, euchre or spades.
But I think my favorite card game is bridge. More specifically, the variant of bridge which fascinates me is called “duplicate”. The basic idea of duplicate bridge is that your score is a function of how well you play your cards as compared to how the other teams played the exact same cards.
Just to be clear, let me repeat: In duplicate bridge, you are playing the same cards as your opponents. The luck of the deal is basically eliminated.
You have 13 cards in your hand, so there are 13 “tricks” available to win. If you are dealt excellent cards, there is no particular reason to get excited. Yes, your cards will take lots of tricks, but that’s not the point. The issue is whether you take as many tricks as the other people who play those exact same cards. If you take nine tricks but somebody else finds a way to take ten, you lose.
Duplicate bridge is a brutal game. Every small mistake can be very costly. I do like to go to the local bridge club sometimes, but I usually end up in last place. At the end of the evening, I review each hand and figure out what went wrong. Even though I am terribly bad at this game, I still enjoy it because every game is such a learning experience.
I often wonder what other pursuits would be like if they had to operate under the same rules: Resources and context do not change — the only variable is the ability of the person managing those resources.
These questions become particularly interesting to me when asked in the field of software product management. For a given piece of technology or code, what would happen if somebody else were managing it?
• If I were managing the Delphi1 product instead of Borland, could I do a better job?
• If Joel Spolsky2 were managing Vault instead of me, would the product have more users?
• If Sun were to hand the management of Java3 over to a committee of monkeys, would it be more successful? ☺
1 http://www.borland.com/delphi/
2 http://www.joelonsoftware.com/
3 http://java.sun.com/
Alas, these hypothetical fantasies are not going to happen. That’s unfortunate. If ISVs had to play duplicate, we would all quickly learn a lot. First, the sheer volume of our stupid mistakes would be exposed, and we would quickly learn how very bad we all are at product management. And after that, we would start learning the fine points. Instead of just chalking up every failure to the fault of “bad marketing”, we would review each decision and figure out exactly where and when we played the wrong card.
We can’t play duplicate with our shrinkwrap products, but we can learn the fine points of marketing. Marketing is not some vague and fuzzy realm where only luck matters. There are principles which can be learned and applied.
Al Ries and Jack Trout refer to these principles as “laws”. Their book, entitled “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing”4 is one of my favorites. And I couldn’t help but notice that there are exactly 22 weekdays in the month of June. So…
During the month of June, I plan to post a brief blurb each weekday. For each of the 22 laws, I will summarize the main point and draw a connection to the software industry. My entries will not be complete discussions of the topic. Interested readers should read the book and follow along.
4 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0887306667/sawdust08-20/102-5605457-8131319
Law #1: The Law of Leadership
01 Jun 2004
The Law of Leadership affirms the importance of being number one in a category. People usually know who the number one player is, but often cannot even name the number two. Tylenol is obviously the number one brand of acetaminophen. Who is number two?
Ries and Trout also claim that the first player to appear in a category usually ends up being the number one player. There are plenty of good examples of this. Chrysler brought us the first minivan and still leads the category. However, I think the authors overstate the importance of being first, especially in our field. There are just too many exceptions.
• Microsoft Excel was not the first spreadsheet, but it leads that category today.
• Visual Studio was not the first IDE, but it leads that category today.
• Perl was not first completely unreadable language, but it leads that category today. ☺
Anyway, the main point remains: There is a huge benefit to being number one in some category, even if you have to invent a whole new category.
Law #2: The Law of the Category
02 Jun 2004
The Law of the Category says that if you cannot be first in your category, setup a new category. This is really just another way of explaining a concept called “differentiation”.
New entrepreneurs tend to think purely in terms of finding a product which is better than the competition. But so very often, it is more important to be different than to be better. Every difference defines a category. And for each category, somebody is the leader. In other words, a large market is really just a cluster of small markets. Tackle the large market and you will probably lose. Tackle a small market and you might just win.
Don’t think of MacOS as the number two desktop computing platform. Instead, think of them as the number one desktop computer in the graphic design category. The difference highlights the category in which Apple is number one.
Note that I am fully aware of the relative size of these two categories. Microsoft is number one in a category which is many times the size of the category in which Apple is number one. Finding a category in which Apple is number one is not an effort to claim equality. Rather, it simply explains who buys Macintosh and what differentiator is important to them.
The point of creating a category is to make sure you and your customers understand what your key differentiation is. What makes you different? To whom does that difference matter? In the minds of those people, you are number one.
But do make sure there are enough of those people. Every difference defines a category, but not every category matters. For example, suppose you want to create the number one IDE for programmers who develop enterprise accounting software in Forth. I daresay you won’t encounter much opposition in your effort to win this category. However, you won’t encounter much revenue there either.
Understanding categories has been critical for SourceGear as we do business in the source control market. People sometimes ask us how we can possibly sell source control tools when CVS is free. The reason is that “open source” is merely one category in the source control space. This market has quite a few categories, and the competition across those categories is minimal. If the customer wants a workflow-based tool, they only look at the tools in that category. If cross-platform support is critical, the customer isn’t paying much attention to the Windows-centric products.
Perforce has played this game very well by setting up their own category called “fast source control tools”. Speed is their differentiator, and they seem to be having a nice measure of success with this approach.
SourceGear Vault plays in the Windows-centric category of source control tools. I don’t have data to prove it, but I’m pretty sure that right now we are number one with the collection of people who are using SourceSafe and want a painless transition to something better. We chose our category very specifically.
Ries and Trout are right — setup a category in which you can be first. But size does matter. Make sure the category you choose is not too large and not too small.
Law #3: The Law of the Mind
03 Jun 2004
The Law of the Mind says it is better to be first in the mind than first in the marketplace.
To be honest, this is not my favorite chapter of the book. The concept of “mindshare” is important, but I don’t think Ries and Trout make the point very clearly.
And as long as I’m giving unsolicited advice to marketing legends, let’s remove the word “immutable” from the title of this book, okay? How can laws be immutable5 when there are so many exceptions?
Law #1 says that it is better to be first than it is to be better. Law #3 says that it is better to be first only if doing so is the way to gaining significant mindshare.
Not too far in the future, Tivo6 will be the perfect example of an exception to both of these laws. They were first in the market. Furthermore, they have enormous mindshare. The Tivo name is like Kleenex. Even though my digital video recorder is not really a Tivo, I still call it one. With that kind of mindshare and having been first in the market, laws 1 and 3 say that Tivo should be dominant and should stay that way for a long time.
But Tivo will lose. It is important to understand these marketing laws, but they are not immutable.
Problems in Measuring Mindshare
Our industry seems to spend a lot of its time either underestimating or overestimating the power and value of mindshare:
• We underestimate the value of mindshare when we try to change the minds of people. Ries and Trout say that “The single most wasteful thing you can do in marketing is to change a mind.” I would love to know how much it will eventually cost to convince the world’s VB6 programmers to move to VB.NET. The audacity of this move is simply amazing. For any other company in the history of the earth, it would be suicide to try and change the minds of several million of your own customers.
• We tend to overestimate the value of mindshare as well. During the dotcom bubble, venture capitalists sacrificed several billion dollars on the altar of Law #3. Mindshare was sought and purchased at unbelievable premiums. In
5 http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=immutable
6 http://www.tivo.com/
hindsight, it seems apparent that mindshare which was quickly gained can be quickly lost.
The problem here is that we talk about customer minds without reminding ourselves that not all of those minds think the same way. Remember the marketing bell curve7? Changing the mind of an early adopter is cheap and easy. Changing the mind of a conservative or a laggard is expensive and hard. These differences cause us to either overestimate or underestimate the value of mindshare:
• If most of your mindshare inventory is in early adopters, you are in trouble. Early adopters don’t stay anywhere very long. Eventually, you will lose most of them.
• Your valuable mindshare is among conservatives. It will be very expensive for anyone who wants to take these people away from you.
• If you are a new player trying to gain mindshare, don’t be afraid to steal early adopters from your competitor. It’s easier than you think. Just remember that the next guy is going to steal them from you.
This is why Tivo will lose. They built enormous mindshare among the early adopters, but never really made it into the mainstream markets of the pragmatists and conservatives. In the end, Tivo will end up in the same place as the dotcoms, at the bottom of the chasm.
7 http://software.ericsink.com/Act_Your_Age.html
Law #4: The Law of Perception
04 Jun 2004
The Law of Perception says that in the battle between products, perception is more important than reality.
People tend to think that the best product will win. However, as Ries and Trout say, “Marketing is not a battle of products, it’s a battle of perceptions.” Sometimes the best product does not win.
This concept seems unfair, but it’s fundamental and we might as well get used to it. Ries and Trout go so far as to say that “Most marketing mistakes stem from the assumption that you’re fighting a product battle rooted in reality. All the laws in this book are derived from the exact opposite point of view.”
Subjectivity
The real issue here is that the words “better” and “best” are subjective terms. People have different requirements and preferences upon which they form very different opinions. There are very few absolutes.
One could credibly argue that OS/2 was “better” than Windows 3.x. The 68k chip was better in some ways than the x86 line. But those are perceptions and opinions. In hindsight, we can simply say that more people perceived Windows and the Intel chip to be better.
Reality Still Matters
My only gripe with this chapter is that it sometimes tries to convince me that perception and reality are entirely disjoint. They’re not. Quite frequently, perception is merely an exaggeration of reality.
Here at SourceGear we’ve got quite a few servers. We have Windows servers and we have Linux servers. Our internal file server is named “Mufasa”. Every once in a while, Mufasa gags for no apparent reason and requires a reboot. I can’t remember this ever happening to a Linux box here. This experience has caused me (and others) to perceive Windows as being less stable than Linux. But that doesn’t mean I think it is fair to categorically label Windows as an unstable product. After all, our phone system is running on Windows and it never has any problems. There is reality here, but there is exaggeration here as well.
I think it’s important to remember the Law of Perception, but I would worry if small ISVs started taking it too seriously. Specifically, let’s not just give up on our desire to make our products better choosing instead to spend all our resources on the
management of customer perception. The Law of Perception can help us understand when things don’t seem to make sense, but it’s not so powerful that product excellent doesn’t matter.
One Final Thought
The Law of Perception is just one more reason why small ISVs need to get specific as they choose their competition. Don’t try to create a “better” product. That strategy is too vague. Instead, try to create a product which is better for a specific group of people with specific problems that are not being solved very well by others. That specific group of people will perceive your product as the best.
Law #5: The Law of Focus
07 Jun 2004
This is one of my favorite chapters. The Law of Focus says that “the most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect’s mind.” This law challenges us to boil our marketing message down to just one idea. If you can teach your market segment to associate your product with a single idea, perhaps even a single word, you can be a market leader.
Count Your Words
When entrepreneurs ask me for advice, I usually ask them to explain their product in 25 words or less. Hardly anybody can do it. The software developer is in love with his product and is unaware of the fact that nobody else is. Ask him to talk about his product and he will give you twenty minutes of rambling love poetry starting with a feature set and ending with a description of some arcane aspect of the product’s underlying architecture. The customer has lost interest after the first ten seconds. The wire between your marketing efforts and your customer’s mind is an extremely low bandwidth connection. Less is more.
During the dotcom bubble, as we all wasted three years of our lives chasing venture capitalists around like groupies, they taught us one useful concept: The elevator pitch. This is a major step in the right direction. The idea is that you have to explain your product and its benefits in the amount of time you spend in an elevator. In other words, you’ve got well under a minute. No time for product love poetry.
But the Law of Focus would claim that an elevator ride is far too long.
The Law of Focus would insist that a 25 word description is about 24 words too many.
The Law of Focus demands that we explain our product in one word. Ries and Trout say, “No matter how complicated the product, no matter how complicated the needs of the market, it’s always better to focus on one word or benefit than two or three or four.”
Examples
• What shipping company comes to mind when you hear the word “overnight”? (Federal Express)
• Which ketchup comes to mind when you hear the word “slow”? (Heinz)
• What insurance company comes to mind when you hear the word “hands”? (AllState)
Each of these companies has used a single idea or word as the basis for its primary message.
For another example, take a look at two of the major wireless phone providers in the United States today. Each of them has carefully chosen just one concept as their message.
• For Sprint, the concept is Clarity. Ten times a week we hear their spokesman clearing up some goofy misunderstanding caused by the unclear calls of one of their competitors.
• For Verizon Wireless, the concept is Coverage. Twenty times a week we hear their spokesman saying, “Can you hear me now? Good!”
These two companies each have plenty of other benefits they could be talking about. They could tell us about their great selection of phones. They could brag about their pricing. They could talk about safety issues. Instead, they have each focused their marketing message around just one idea.
As the chapter says, “The essence of marketing is narrowing the focus. You become stronger when you reduce the scope of your operations.”
Crafting Your Message
It’s okay to have more information handy. Datasheets and whitepapers are great. Once people get interested, they will probably want all the detail you can provide. But for first impressions, you should tell the world only one thing about your product. You can use 2-3 words as long as you are not trying to sneak in extra ideas. Usually, you need only one word. But which word to pick?
• Pick a reasonably common word out of the dictionary. It should be a word that everybody understands. Don’t invent a new word that nobody has ever heard.
• Don’t try to associate your product with a word in the customer’s mind if that word is already associated with your competitor.
• Don’t pick the word “cheap” or any of its synonyms. Very few businesses can thrive while making low price their primary message. Wal-Mart is one of those businesses. Your small ISV is not.
• Don’t pick the word “quality” unless you can prove that you care about quality a lot more than everybody else. As Ries and Trout say, “everybody stands for quality. As a result, nobody does.”
Sheepish Confession
Among the many violators of Law #5 is SourceGear itself. Shameful as it seems, we built the marketing message for Vault around three ideas, not one:
• Reliability
• Internet-readiness
• Seamless transition from SourceSafe
We’ve been very consistent about using the same three talking points in all of our advertising materials and presentations. We sometimes vary the way we explain them, but we always work with these same three points.
This campaign has worked out very well for us, but Law #5 says we would be even more effective if we replaced our three-point message with a one-point message. In the future, we will probably move in that direction.
Law #6: The Law of Exclusivity
08 Jun 2004
The Law of Exclusivity says that “Two companies cannot own the same word in the prospect’s mind.”
It’s time to face the facts. Some of these laws seem to have more punch than others. For example, I find the Law of Focus to be a concept with a lot of impact. It’s very counter-intuitive, and yet very powerful.
Other laws here seem almost, well … obvious. These other laws don’t seem to deserve their pages quite as much as the great ones like the Law of Focus. I speculate that for some reason, Ries and Trout wanted exactly 22, so they kept adding laws until they got the right number. Too bad. If they had stopped at 21 they could have used some sort of a blackjack theme.
The Law of Exclusivity would have been a candidate for removal. It is fairly intuitive to me that two companies cannot have the same market position.
Still, let’s not dismiss this law too quickly. After all, obviousness is not always a reason to ignore a topic. It is obvious that we should all eat better and exercise more, but we don’t.
Similarly, marketers do routinely find a way to violate this law. They do a Smart Thing by following the Law of Focus and choosing one key benefit around which they build their product message. Then do a Dumb Thing by choosing the same benefit as somebody else. Almost invariably, they end up beating their head against the wall in futility. It is obvious that we should not try to beat somebody else at their own game. And yet, we often try.
The chapter cites the war between Duracell and Energizer as an example. It is interesting to note that even though the book is ten years old, this war is still going on, with both companies fighting to own the word “long-lasting”. I think this is because no other word matters in this market segment. What attribute could possibly be more important in a battery than “long-lasting”? I think these two companies are doomed to an eternity of shouting the same message. Ten years ago, it was apparently clear to Ries and Trout that Duracell was the owner of the word “long-lasting”. I’m not sure this seems so clear to me today, but Duracell8 still has the lead with 46 percent market share to 33 percent for Energizer.
Incidentally, the fact that this book is ten years old actually makes the examples more fun, in my opinion. For example, in the previous chapter, it was interesting to read the authors’ perspective on Lotus and compare it to the ten years of hindsight we now have.
8 http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CNBCTV/Articles/TVReports/P72274.asp
Law #7: The Law of the Ladder
09 Jun 2004
The Law of the Ladder acknowledges that in most market categories, there is actually more than one available slot in the mind of the customer.
The Hierarchy of Categories
In our discussion of the previous laws, we have emphasized the importance being different, the important of finding a subcategory in which you can be #1. However, when you pop the stack frame up one level to the enclosing category, we find that you are ranked on a ladder among the other players.
I claim that my product, SourceGear Vault, is #1 in its category, which I define here as “compelling and seamless replacements for Visual SourceSafe”. However, this category is actually just one small subcategory inside a larger one which I might call “basic source control tools”. Vault is definitely not #1 in that category. We’re just somewhere on the ladder along with a bunch of other products. There is a sister category here called “process-based source control tools”. Both of these categories are enclosed in yet another category called “all configuration management tools”. That category is enclosed inside another one called “developer tools”. SourceGear is a small ISV. The bigger the category, the farther down the ladder we are.
Reading this book, it’s easy to get confused about which level of category is being discussed. Does a certain law apply to the whole market, or just to my category, or to my sub-category, or to my sub-sub-category? The fact that this hierarchy of enclosing categories is highly subjective doesn’t help. Sometimes a law makes more sense when it is understood to apply to the larger enclosing categories.
For now, let’s just remember that every category level has its own ladder.
Three Tidbits about Ladders
1. The mind of the customer can only remember a few rungs. Research indicates a maximum of about seven, and a more practical limit of about two or three. How many brands of toothpaste can you name? How many brands of cola? How many brands of automobiles? Some categories have more rungs than others.
2. The best strategy for you depends entirely on your ranking on the ladder. The right strategy for the #1 player is probably wrong for the #2 player, and vice versa. The authors cite the Avis rent-a-car example, where they gained tremendous results from simply acknowledging their status as #2. This example has been very much-discussed in the ten years since the book was
written, but it still rings with a bell of wisdom. Avis showed a lot of self-awareness. Customers respected that.
3. There is a typical mapping of market share onto ladder position. The authors claim that each rung on the ladder has twice the market share of the rung below it. These guidelines are obviously very rough, and all kinds of exceptions do apply. Still, when we see a ladder where the market share ratios are not even close to this rule of thumb, we are motivated to ask why.
Tomorrow we will talk more about this third tidbit in our discussion of the Law of Duality.
Law #8: The Law of Duality
10 Jun 2004
The Law of Duality says that “in the long run, every market becomes a two-horse race.”
Young markets have many rungs on the ladder. They are highly fragmented. Gradually, as the market matures, players disappear and the market settles on exactly two primary players. Examples of this phenomenon are everywhere:
• Coke and Pepsi
• Canon and Nikon
• Nike and Reebok
• GM and Ford
• McDonalds and Burger King
It often takes a long time for things to settle down, but in the end, markets usually give people what they want, which is two strong choices. Buyers don’t like choosing between ten or twenty players. It’s too stressful.
A big reason for this effect is that most people don’t make their own buying decisions. People tend to buy what somebody else9 is buying. Pragmatists buy something only after they see the Early Adopters buying it. Conservatives buy it only after the Pragmatists are buying it. Laggards buy it only when the peer pressure and ridicule is so severe that they look like absurd for not buying it. Market share begets market share, and the rich get richer.
Even as the market gets very mature, it will continue to tolerate the presence of more than two players. However, the top two will have the lion’s share of the market. All other players are essentially in niche segments.
Once a market reaches this state, it will generally not allow #1 and #2 to move around. For example, the market will never allow the top two players to change positions. Burger King will never be #1.
Furthermore, the market will not allow #1 to get too far ahead. Just as markets hate having a ten-horse race, they also hate having a one-horse race. When #1 gets too far ahead of #2, the market will usually correct the problem.
9 http://software.ericsink.com/Act_Your_Age.html
The Software Industry
At this point, I assume most of my readers are confused. After all, everything I said above makes virtually no sense at all when we look at the software industry. We don’t have two strong choices. Most software market segments are a one-horse race. In many cases, Microsoft is so utterly dominant that there is no clear #2.
• There is no strong #2 desktop operating system.
• There is no strong #2 office suite
• There is no strong #2 developer IDE.
Why do these markets not follow the Law of Duality?
The popular notion today is that Microsoft is an illegal monopoly. I have generally tried to stay out of this debate and I think I will continue to do so. Antitrust law has never made sense to me anyway.
But whether or not Microsoft is a violator of government law, it is clearly a violator of the natural laws of marketing. The current situation in software is not supposed to be possible. The market should have ensured the presence of a strong #2, but it has not.
Even more strange here is the fact that software is still a rather young industry. At its tender age of perhaps three decades, we should expect to still have very high fragmentation. But we don’t.
I don’t think antitrust law is the answer. It is quite clear that the federal government is no match for Microsoft.
But the market itself still has a lot of power. The Law of Duality may yet show up.
Law #9: The Law of the Opposite
11 Jun 2004
The Law of the Opposite says that the #2 player should generally do the opposite of what the #1 player is doing.
If you are #2 in your category, you want to be #1, right?
Wrong. You can’t choose to be #1, but you can certainly choose to be #3 or #4. The worst thing you can do is to try and beat the #1 player at his own game. Instead, realize that not everyone in the market wants to play that game. Offer those people an alternative.
This law is the reason that I humbly assert that Borland’s strategy for Delphi is all wrong.
For several years, Delphi had been doing a fine job playing Pepsi to Visual Basic’s portrayal of Coke. Delphi is a solid #2 in the market for RAD tools. People like Delphi. It’s a highly respected tool.
But something has gone terribly wrong. When Microsoft zigged, Delphi should have zagged.
VB .NET is a huge discontinuous change from Visual Basic 6. Even now, around two years later, some VB developers are still mad. Not everyone wants to move onto the new .NET platform. Some people need to continue developing traditional Win32 applications for quite a while longer.
I’m not saying that those angry VB6 people would have moved to Delphi. But the Law of the Opposite still applies here. Borland should have immediately shifted its message to be the opposite of the leader: “Delphi — the Win32 RAD tool that isn’t trying to force you into something you don’t want to do.” ☺
(Yes, yes, I know that Delphi 9 will still have support for native Win32 targets. The point remains: Borland is weakening itself and its message by refusing to focus.)
Interestingly, Borland seems to have repeated this mistake throughout their product line. The result is that I can’t figure out what market position they are trying to have. Is Borland a .NET company or a Java company?
Luckily, although their marketing strategy team is MIA, their marketing communications team has saved the day by coming up with “Excellence Endures”. Surely a great tagline will take care of all their problems, eh? ☺
Law #10: The Law of Division
14 Jun 2004
The Law of Division observes that over time, a category tends to divide and become two or more categories.
A new market category starts out very broad. For example, in the beginning of the automobile industry, the only category was “cars”. Over time, categories break up into smaller and more specialized subcategories. Today, there are quite a few brands of car, each catering to a specialized niche.
This effect is an obvious and natural consequence of other laws. Each company will try to setup a new category in which it can be #1. Not all of these categories will end up becoming real, but some will.
This law is a good place to remind ourselves that Ries and Trout primarily consult for companies like Pepsi, McDonalds and General Motors, not for small ISVs. There is a bit of an impedance mismatch between their world and ours. Those companies do business in mature industries selling mass market consumer products. Those products are easily interchangeable. I can switch from Pepsi to Coke with no major costs associated with the transition and deployment. Categories split into subcategories over very slight differences in consumer preference. Brand building is absolutely critical. General Motors understands that some car buyers want to feel like they are buying something sporty, whereas others want to feel like they are buying something conservative. So, they sell basically the same car under the Pontiac and the Buick name, managing each of these brands very carefully. The underlying engineering is identical, but the message of these two brands is very different.
Software isn’t usually like that. When people are choosing between Dundas Chart10 and Chart FX11, brand can be an issue but it is certainly not the only issue. Those two products are not identical under the hood. They are not completely interchangeable. There are significant differences in features.
So the Law of Division still matters, but it happens a lot less. In software, categories don’t divide quite as easily as in commodity markets.
But even though categories in software don’t usually divide over matters of pure message, they do still divide, especially over matters of greater substance. My own market is a decent example. In the beginning, there was simply “source control”. Now, we’ve got several subcategories which came as the market divided over lines such as platform, process and integration.
10 http://www.dundas.com/
11 http://www.softwarefx.com/
Law #11: The Law of Perspective
15 Jun 2004
The Law of Perspective says that “marketing effects take place over an extended period of time”, but the basic point of this chapter is that some marketing actions are negative in the long-term even though they seem positive in the short-term.
Short-Term Highs
The authors include an interesting discussion of sales and coupons in the retailing industry. They argue that these devices are like drugs – they produce a short-term high, but the only way to maintain the high is to keep going. Eventually, you have to “keep those coupons rolling out not to increase sales but to keep sales from falling off if you stop.” I assume this is the reason that our local furniture store is always running a sale – they are afraid of going through withdrawal.
This advice can be applied in a small ISV. Resist the temptation to run short-term special sales. You may increase revenue in the short-run, but you may eventually train your customers not to buy at “regular” prices.
Patience
It is generally understood that public companies are forced into a three-month planning horizon. Earnings must be reported to the public every quarter. If the stockholders are not happy with those earnings, they will sell the stock and its price will go down. In other words, the public is short-sighted, so publicly-owned companies must therefore find a way to be short-sighted as well.
This is one of the things I like about running a privately-held company. We have the freedom to be patient and look a bit further down the road. We don’t have to do things which are positive in the short-term and negative in the long-term.
Law #12: The Law of Line Extension
16 Jun 2004
Ouch! Ralph Johnson says12 I am making “snide” comments about Java marketing. That stings.
Dr. Johnson was one of my professors at UIUC. He had a significant impact on my life, probably more than he knows. He’s incredibly smart and he would be a finalist in the Nicest Guy on Earth competition. When Dr. Johnson whispers, it sounds loud, at least to me.
Still, despite the small rebuke from my mentor, I can’t quite bring myself to repent. I’m not trying to be mean or arrogant, but my goodness, we’re talking about Sun here.
“Bummer of a birthmark, Hal”
Asking me not to be critical of Java marketing is like asking me to watch a Jim Carrey flick and only pay attention to the supporting cast. Some things are just too obvious to ignore.
It’s fair to observe that everything is relative. Dr. Johnson is talking about Smalltalk marketing, and I suppose Java marketing looks pretty effective from that point of view. Clearly, Java is a big success. It is a mainstream language and platform. However, I remain of the opinion that Java could have been even more.
Remember: Marketing is an iceberg. There is the part of marketing you can see (advertising and communications), and the part you cannot see (strategy). We tend to forget about the part of the iceberg which is hidden under the water.
If I started writing about Sun’s mistakes in marketing strategy, it would be an awfully long time before I ran out of things to say. Their marketing communications work is generally good. But in the end, the most tactful thing to say is that Sun is a hardware company trying to do software.
Do you remember the Far Side cartoon with the two deer? One of them has a birthmark on his chest which looks exactly like a bullseye. For someone who writes about marketing strategy, Sun is that deer.
You hurt the ones you love
Please don’t pigeonhole me as an anti-Java guy. Yes, I mostly do .NET stuff these days, but I don’t get religious about technology. My web server runs Debian. When I
12 http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/userblogs/ralph/blogView?showComments=true&entry=3264421651
repave my Windows box, the first things I install are cygwin and emacs. I sometimes write stuff in Python. I’ve written lots of Java code and I really like it. I’m not mad at Java. If anything, I’m mad at Sun for doing such a fine job preventing Java from realizing its full potential.
Back to the topic at hand
The Law of Line Extension says that it is a mistake to take the name of one product and apply it to another. Companies do this often, but it basically never works. We think that the power of the brand will help sell the new product. Instead, the brand itself is tarnished. People start to get confused about what the brand means. Quite often it is necessary to kill the second product before it causes too much damage to the first one.
Confession: SourceGear broke this law when we introduced SourceOffSite Collaborative Edition13. We should not have borrowed the name of SourceOffSite14 for this product. When I critique marketing mistakes, I don’t spare myself.
I already wrote about this law back in April when I got all fussy15 about Golden Oreos. I don’t have too much more to say, except…
#ifdef snide
Ever heard of the Java Desktop System16? ☺
#endif
13 http://www.sourcegear.com/soscollab/
14 http://www.sourcegear.com/sos/
15 http://software.ericsink.com/item_10164.html
16 http://wwws.sun.com/software/javadesktopsystem/
Law #13: The Law of Sacrifice
17 Jun 2004
The Law of Sacrifice says that “you have to give up something in order to get something”.
The cool thing about this law is that it’s not automatically attractive. It makes you think.
The Law of Focus isn’t like that. When people hear about the Law of Focus, the first reaction is to say, “Yes, yes, focus is good.” People seem to forget that the word “focus” implies a decision about what you are not going to do. With the word “sacrifice”, that particular implication is much clearer.
But in some sense, these two laws are the same idea with different expressions. There is power in focus, but to get there, we have to make tough decisions about what things we will not do.
Aiming once again at Scotts Valley
I’ll give Sun a break today and go back to picking on Borland. Here is a perfect example of a company that can’t focus because they’re not willing to sacrifice. Their product line is all over the map.
The problem with not having a focus is that your customers can only describe you in terms of your past. Borland’s “Excellence Endures” tagline even reinforces this. It’s a fine tagline, but it doesn’t say much to me about the future. It is a celebration of their 20 years of history.
Borland is a fine company with some great products. But they should be telling us more about their future than their past. In the next five years, what one thing will Borland do better than anybody else?
(To be fair, however, we should admit that Borland’s marketing may not matter much. Microsoft needs Borland (and Apple, and Sun) to exist in order to give the illusion that their products have competition. In this case, Excellence will continue to Endure, but Mediocrity would suffice since Microsoft will always stop a little bit short of killing them off.)
Saying “No”
The Law of Sacrifice is all about saying “no” to opportunities. This skill is incredibly difficult to learn. I suspect that the only way to learn to say “no” is to experience the pain of saying “yes” too often.
That’s how I learned it. SourceGear used to be all over the map. We smiled and described that condition with a positive spin telling ourselves that we were “opportunistic”. But life inside the company got pretty confusing. We had several product efforts going on, all unrelated. We had a consulting division doing engagements which were not related to any of our products. When someone asked us “What does SourceGear do?” it would take ten minutes to explain. By the time we were done, the elevator had gone back and forth to the lobby three times.
Our revenue was high, but we had no focus. We were in a strategy which was positive in the short-term and negative17 in the long-term. So we sacrificed. We started saying “no”.
At first, it was really hard. People called us for a consulting gig and we turned it down. Even as I write this, it sounds crazy. I said “no” to money! What was I thinking?
It took a while, but things got better. A lot better. Today, SourceGear is a focused company, but to get to this point, we had to stop saying “yes” to every opportunity we saw.
17 http://software.ericsink.com/item_10186.html
Law #14: The Law of Attributes
18 Jun 2004
The Law of Attributes says that “for every attribute, there is an opposite, effective attribute.”
Fussy
There was quite an uproar from fans after the recent season finale for Star Trek Enterprise18. You see, the episode contained a serious error. One of the characters states that the year is 2152 when in fact, as every Trek fan knows, the current episodes take place in the year 2154.
I’ve heard several people say that this mistake ruined the whole episode.
I concede the mistake is silly, but come’ on — the whole episode? Perhaps we need a bit of perspective. That date wasn’t a central point of the show. It’s a detail, and aside from the fact that it was incorrect, it doesn’t matter.
Incidentally, guys, this is the reason why your girlfriend or wife doesn’t like going to see movies with you. Nobody wants to watch a film with some anal-retentive dork who is ready and waiting to discard the entire film because the producers made a minor mistake in science or technology. Try to just enjoy the movie, or at the very least, shut your pie hole so that she can. (This tidbit of relationship advice is provided at no extra charge. ☺)
Marketing Books
Geeks like us are lousy at marketing for the same reason that nobody wants to see movies with us. Marketing books are written for big-picture thinkers. They contain broad sweeping generalizations which are only true most of the time. Guys like Ries and Trout don’t feel the need for a lot of precision.
So a geek sits down to read this book. Somehow he manages to cope with the word “immutable” in the title, which is obviously a gross exaggeration. Somehow he manages to smile at the examples, which are now ten years out of date, especially the one about Lotus Notes. Somehow he manages to overlook most of the little imprecisions in the first 13 chapters.
And then, he reaches chapter 14, the Law of Attributes. The subtitle of this chapter is “For every attribute, there is an opposite, effective attribute.” In the mind of this geek, a yellow alert goes off when he sees the word “every”. Is this really true? Is there
18 http://www.startrek.com/
always an attribute which is both opposite and effective? Surely not. Warily, he proceeds.
And then, on the very next page, the authors discuss the market for toothpaste, where Crest owns the attribute called “cavity prevention”. Something in the mind of our geek snaps. ‘How can there be an attribute which is the opposite of “cavity prevention” and which is effective? Ha! I knew it all along. This book is a crock!’
The book sails across the room in a high arc as the geek stomps off in disgust, no doubt on his way to sign the online petition to have Enterprise canceled because T’Pol couldn’t remember what year it is.
Choices
I can’t defend the book. This stuff bugs me too. I want marketing to be as logical and precise as programming. But it’s not.
So if this problem really bothers you, then you have two choices:
1. Give up on marketing completely.
2. Give up on this chapter and hope the next one is better.
I encourage you to choose option #2. I’m trying to make the world a better place here. The gap between technology people and marketing people must be bridged. If you give up on getting clueful about marketing, then you are implicitly saying that you expect marketing people to get clueful about technology. We both know that’s not going to happen, so stay with me.
Oh, and by the way…
Read the chapter. It’s a bit redundant with respect to chapters 9 and 13, but the discussion of Burger King and McDonalds is interesting.
Law #15: The Law of Candor
21 Jun 2004
The Law of Candor says that “when you admit a negative, the prospect will give you a positive”. As usual, the examples from the book are mainstream consumer products:
• Listerine did it when they acknowledged that their mouthwash tastes terrible.
• Avis did it when they acknowledged that they are #2.
• Volkswagen did it when they acknowledged that the “bug” is ugly.
Each of these companies gained a lot when they applied the Law of Candor. People respect the courage and honesty it takes to admit that not everything is perfect.
Being Genuine
The Law of Candor is another one which is simply not intuitive. Most marcomm people are terrified of it. Conventional wisdom says that absolutely everything in your marketing message must be positive. In fact, a primary function of the marcomm team is to sanitize all public statements ensuring that the company never says anything it does not want to say.
The rules of “marketing speak” are fairly well understood around the world. All marcomm teams speak this dialect as their first language, which means that all marketing teams sound basically the same. Almost every press release starts out with a bunch of mumbo jumbo that nobody ever reads: “Fiddlesticks Corporation, the leading provider of useless crapola, announced today that it is incorporating XML Web Services technology into its line of coffee mugs.”
In 2004, it takes a very “special” kind of marketing person to actually believe that customers cannot see through this kind of spin. People today are being bombarded with so much advertising that traditional marketing is less effective than ever before. Sanitized press releases are out. Transparency19 is in. Drowning in a sea of marketing mumbo jumbo, people admire companies that choose to be genuine.
An example from here at SourceGear: Most of our sales are “direct”, but we do sell through a number of resellers as well. I don’t usually think of our resellers as terribly strategic, since they account for a very small percentage of our sales. However, lately I find myself wondering why SourceGear doesn’t sell through Xtras.net20. Why am I wondering this? Because their CEO has a blog21, and a darn good one. I can’t say that
19 http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2004/06/20.html#a7831
20 http://www.xtras.net/
21 http://blogs.xtras.net/mikes/PermaLink,guid,daa1e487-18b5-4080-8141-536f600b0ab7.aspx
I agree with everything he says, but the fact remains: His choice to be genuine makes me want to do business with his company.
Credibility
Ignoring the Law of Candor can kill your credibility. Whatever your negative issue is, everybody already knows about it anyway. If you don’t talk about it, then it will become “the elephant in the room”. When you issue yet another sanitized press release, your customers eagerly read it, hoping to see some evidence that you have any self-awareness at all. They ask themselves, “Don’t these people realize how awful their mouthwash tastes?”
As Ries and Trout say in the chapter, “Every negative statement you make about yourself is instantly accepted as truth. Positive statements, on the other hand, are looked at as dubious at best.”
These dynamics are going on right now for me with respect to SourceGear Vault, our source control product. A few weeks ago, Microsoft announced Team Foundation Server, a really cool source control system which will be shipping sometime next year. It’s not too hard to figure out that this announcement was not good news for SourceGear.
On the day of the Microsoft announcement, I posted some remarks22 about Team Foundation Server here on my weblog. While nothing on my blog is truly written in “marketing speak”, this post was very positive, almost to the point of being sanitized. And not surprisingly, a lot of people didn’t believe me when I said that SourceGear is going to be okay.
Well, it would be silly for me to write about the Law of Candor today without saying more on this topic. So, I’ve decided to “practice what I preach” by making some more remarks about The Future of SourceGear Vault23.
22 http://software.ericsink.com/item_10169.html
23 http://software.ericsink.com/item_10192.html
Law #16: The Law of Singularity
22 Jun 2004
The Law of Singularity says that “in each situation only one move will produce substantial results”.
We literalists will once again have to endure the authors’ word choice. The above statement is almost certainly not true. ☺
And yet, Ries and Trout make two important points in this chapter, which I will paraphrase as follows:
• One bold stroke is much better than a bunch of small marketing efforts.
• Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing people.
One Bold Stroke
The pattern is fairly common. I call it “The Infinite Loop of Marketing Despair”:
1. The product is languishing.
2. People start asking what to do about it.
3. Somebody says, “We just need to do more marketing.”
4. The marketing team gets in a conference room and brainstorms.
5. They come up with ten new ideas and begin executing them all.
6. Go back to step 1
Part of the problem here is the assumptions we make about the total result we will get from a list of marketing ideas. We make our list in Excel and for each item we calculate the results that item will generate for us. And then, at the bottom, we enter SUM(B2:B11). This is our mistake. The proper estimate for the total result is closer to MAX(B2:B11).
The problem is that awareness-building efforts tend to overlap by reaching the same people. We run banner ads. We run magazine ads. The same person sees both ads. Is that guy going to buy our product twice just because he saw both ads?
The success of our marketing campaigns is defined by the best idea on our list, not the length of that list. Nonetheless, we continue to make our lists because “Somebody” said we need to do more marketing, and we definitely have to make that Somebody feel better.
The way out of this loop is to find something completely different. Stop looking for a bunch of ways to increase awareness. Markets are won with strategy, not tactics. There is no way you are going to win this war by simply doing more of what you are doing now.
Too Important
Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing people.
The true cause of “The Infinite Loop of Marketing Despair” is Mr. Somebody, the guy in step 3 who apparently believes that throwing more money at the marketing team will actually solve problems.
In the chapter, Ries and Trout are basically saying that Mr. Somebody is “management”. They argue that “management can’t afford to delegate important marketing decisions”.
For my purposes, I write for the technical geek. Maybe you’re the founder of your small ISV. Maybe you’re a lead developer who cares about the success of your product. Whoever you are, I would encourage you to step up and be Mr. Somebody. But don’t just push for “more marketing”. Help your organization find the one bold stroke that will make a real difference.
Law #17: The Law of Unpredictability
23 Jun 2004
The Law of Unpredictability says, “Unless you write your competitors’ plans, you can’t predict the future.”
But that doesn’t seem to be the main point of this chapter. What the authors are really saying is that long-range planning doesn’t work. We can try to observe and follow trends. We can make big-picture predictions. But if we try to make detailed plans over the long term, our competitors will surprise us and those plans will end up getting scrapped.
I suspect this chapter is a lot more necessary for people like Pepsi and Burger King. Those guys probably do get tempted to make long-term plans. But in software, things move so fast that most of us wouldn’t even think of trying to make any sort of detailed plan for a five year horizon. There are exceptions, but in general, the mere notion is absurd.
Nonetheless, although we intuitively know that long-term planning won’t work for us, we don’t always invest in the alternative. As Ries and Trout say, “One way to cope with an unpredictable world is to build an enormous amount of flexibility into your organization.”
Flexibility is so critical in our industry, especially for a small ISV. Structure, planning and process have their place, but at the end of the day, your small ISV will probably survive largely on the basis of how well you can adapt to change.
Take the energy you would have used on long-range planning and use it to make sure your company is flexible.
Law #18: The Law of Success
24 Jun 2004
The Law of Success says that “success often leads to arrogance, and arrogance to failure”.
The basic point of this chapter is a warning to not let yourself get too far from your customers. Truly small ISVs may not need to worry too much about this, but the admonition is valuable nonetheless.
As companies grow, the CEO tends to get busy with other stuff. She doesn’t spend much time “in the trenches” anymore. He goes to a lot of meetings and spends a lot of time working on the big picture. In the process, she loses touch with the customer.
Despite what the chapter says, I think this effect may or may not be rooted in arrogance. The root problem might be simpler and more innocent. Maybe the CEO simply let himself get too busy. It seems quite possible to become detached from the basic activities of the company without growing a big ego.
But either way, forgetting the customer is a fatal disease. Fortunately, this disease is also preventable and treatable. Don’t let it happen to you. Even as your company grows, stay involved in the basic stuff, at least a little bit.
• When you go to a trade show, spend some time in the booth talking to prospective customers.
• Answer a tech support call.
• Write some code.
• Help with the testing before the next release.
Don’t get out of touch. When you do, you’ll start to make bad marketing decisions.
Law #19: The Law of Failure
25 Jun 2004
The Law of Failure says that “failure is to be expected and accepted”.
Nothing interesting ever happens unless we take risks. The authors encourage an atmosphere of risk-taking with a good discussion of why individuals tend to be afraid of taking risks.
The chapter also includes another important point: When you realize you’ve made a mistake, cut your losses.
It’s just so hard to admit a mistake. Denial is a wonderful thing.
In his book24, Barry Moltz busts the myth that persistence is the most important thing for an entrepreneur. Moltz claims that winners are people who know when to quit.
I completely agree. We need to give ourselves the freedom to take risks and try a lot of different things. But the obvious corollary here is that not all of those risks will work out. We need to learn to quickly recognize the ones that don’t and take the appropriate action.
I could write lots of stuff about the topic of risk-taking, but I already have25. ☺
24 http://software.ericsink.com/item_10161.html
25 http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnsoftware/html/software12292003.asp
Law #20: The Law of Hype
28 Jun 2004
The Law of Hype talks about the fact that “history is filled with marketing failures that were successful in the press”.
This chapter talks primarily about new things which claim to make existing things obsolete. Such products tend to become darlings in the press, because the notion of breakthrough innovation is very attractive to readers. People love to read stories about things like the personal helicopter which was supposed to make cars obsolete several decades ago. So the press jumps on the bandwagon, stories get written, newspapers get sold, and people get excited. And they still drive their cars to work everyday.
What I love about this chapter is that it was written in the early nineties, before the Web, and it still rings amazingly true. The Web was supposed to obsolete almost everything. Today we can see that the Web has changed life in many ways, but most of the previous structures and systems are still with us.
There are lots of examples in the chapter, all of them prior to 1994. Polyester did not obsolete wool. The videophone has now been getting press for 40 years, but most people still use a plain-old audio phone. Compare those examples to the over hyped things of the last ten years. Webvan came, and I still shop at a grocery store. The Segway came, and I still drive my car. Amazon came, and I still go to the Borders store near my home. The truth is that fundamental change doesn’t occur so easily. Even when the innovation is quite real, people are not quick to give up existing mainstream products and services.
The chapter doesn’t mention this, but I think the venture capital industry deserves as much blame for excess hype as the press. Perhaps even more than magazine readers, VCs love the idea of a product which obsoletes existing mainstream products. They need high-risk/high-reward investments. Convincing a VC that your product will make cars obsolete is a great way to get funded. If we are upset about the level of hype in our world (and I’m not saying that we are), the press and the VCs are equally guilty.
The vast majority of companies thrive and make a profit in a world which is completely disjoint from the one where the VCs and the press live. They don’t spend their time convincing investors and reporters that their product will change the world. Instead, they spend their time convincing customers that their product is a good purchase. It’s very difficult to do both – that’s why the companies you see on the front page are often dead within a few years, while the companies making real money are the ones you hardly ever hear about.
It’s a choice between fame and fortune. Rare is the product which achieves both. So, the important thing here is for entrepreneurs to see both paths clearly and make a
conscious choice. For small ISVs, it is inconceivable to me that the path of hype is the wise choice. Find something boring and profitable.
Law #21: The Law of Acceleration
29 Jun 2004
The Law of Acceleration says that “successful programs are not built on fads, they’re built on trends”.
Drawing their examples from mainstream consumer products, the authors observe the tendency for companies to overestimate short-term fads. When something new becomes big and hot, companies jump on the bandwagon, spending a lot of money doing so. They restructure. They invest in new equipment. They work hard to make themselves prepared to deliver products for the fad.
And then the fad stops, and the company is left with problems:
• “What am I going to do with all the olive green refrigerators and orange carpeting I bought just before the fashion changed?”
• “Oh, great — I can produce fifty gazillion Cabbage Patch dolls per day. That’ll come in handy now that nobody wants them anymore.”
• “Darn it! I just bought a warehouse of fruit-colored translucent plastic, and now I find that the next iMac looks like a white desk lamp.”
Fads accelerate very quickly, but often don’t last long. Trends have a much slower acceleration but eventually run fast and steady. Chasing fads is expensive, so it becomes very important to learn how to distinguish them from actual long-term trends.
This discernment is particularly important for small ISVs. We are constantly being presented with new technologies, new protocols, new formats, new platforms, new components and new APIs. Which ones will be strong in five years? We want to know if we will eventually regret building our apps on a given piece of technology.
I’m not sure this issue has ever produced questions more difficult than the ones we are facing today, such as:
• Web applications: Is this a real long-term trend? Will it ever be possible to create rich apps with HTML? Will Microsoft succeed in using its control of the desktop to kill this trend?
• Web Services: Is this fad going to become a trend or not? We loved Web Services because they were simple, but they’re getting less simple26 all the time.
26 http://primates.ximian.com/~miguel/archive/2004/Jun-27.html
• Windows Forms: Microsoft wanted me to get off MFC and onto Windows Forms. Now they want me to get off Windows Forms and onto Avalon. Doesn’t anybody have an available API which is not planned for deprecation?
These may not seem like marketing decisions, but they are. Technology choices have big marketing implications. When you choose a platform, you define the maximum size of your market.
I can’t answer the questions above, but I will repeat one thing I’ve said before: The technologies from the previous wave still work. If you want to be an INETA speaker, yes, you need to be current with the very latest stuff. But if you are building products or solutions to be used today, there isn’t any shame in choosing a platform and toolset which has completely proven itself as more than a fad.
Law #22: The Law of Resources
30 Jun 2004
The Law of Resources says that “without adequate funding, an idea won’t get off the ground”. The gist of the chapter is that marketing is very expensive and you have to be prepared to spend big bucks on advertising if you want to be successful, so you’re going to need a lot of funding from your VC.
Preaching these ideas to small ISVs is like showing up at your local Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and telling everyone that a little red wine every day helps the heart.
Like most of my marketing articles, this series has been about taking the best stuff from the world of marketing and applying it in a small ISV. Some stuff works well in our context, and some stuff does not. My goal is to help make a clearer distinction between these two categories. Sometimes I shine a bright light on something which simply isn’t going to be a good fit for most small ISVs.
Chapter 22 is one such example. Strictly speaking, the advice in this chapter is all true. Marcomm is expensive. Grabbing mindshare costs a heckuva lot of money.
But that that doesn’t mean everybody should go get funding and start running ads. Magazine ads and venture capitalists are two of the most common ways to kill a small ISV.
#ifdef tangent
I’d like to express my affectionate concern for NewsGator27, who announced the closing of a round of VC funding28 last week. I met Greg Reinacker a couple of trade shows ago. He seems like a good guy. I use his product every day. I admire what he has accomplished with NewsGator.
On the one hand, I am excited for Greg and the opportunities he can now explore with deeper pockets. I also see this funding announcement as a very nice sign of momentum for blogging and RSS.
However, I am concerned. I worry that Greg has taken the first step of converting his excellent small company into a lousy big one. I’m not saying that VC money is always a bad decision. But just because a company is a wonderful success at one level does not mean it can be a success at a larger scale. Once you take the VC money, you can never go back. Some companies lose29 their stride30 as they try to force themselves through the transition from small to big.
27 http://www.newsgator.com/
28 http://www.newsgator.com/news/archive.aspx?post=40
29 http://www.eveandersson.com/arsdigita-history
If this happens, I’ll be okay, since I can easily find another RSS reader. But Greg will have lost something precious.
#endif
Even in companies with huge resources, chapter 22 is likely to serve as ammunition for the marcomm guy who is always trying to convince you to spend more money. He will quote chapter 22 as if it were scripture, trying to make you feel guilty for underfunding your marcomm efforts.
But the real problem is in taking chapter 22 out of the context of the rest of the book. This chapter is the last one in the book, and for a good reason – it depends on the other 21. Marketing has two phases31, strategy and communications. No matter how much money you have, don’t spend money in the communications phase until your strategy stuff is done and solid.
30 http://www.waxy.org/random/arsdigita/
31 http://software.ericsink.com/Marketing_for_Geeks.html

No Fluff, Just Stuff Anthology: Extract from The 2006 Edition

Extracted from:
No Fluff, Just Stuff Anthology
The 2006 Edition
This PDF file contains pages extracted from No Fluff, Just Stuff Anthology, published by
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copy, please visit http://www.pragmaticprogrammer.com.
Note: This extract contains some colored text (particularly in code listing). This is
available only in online versions of the books. The printed versions are black and white.
Pagination might vary between the online and printer versions; the content is otherwise
identical.
Copyright © 2005 The Pragmatic Programmers, LLC.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior consent of the publisher.
Chapter 15
Buried Treasure
by Glenn Vanderburg
Glenn Vanderburg has been a programmer through only the second half of the
history of computing, but he’s interested in the first 30 years, too. For years
he has dreamed of teaching a course on the topic. That’s just one reason he’s
delighted that people are discovering the practical value of knowing our history.
Glenn is a consultant who lives in Plano, Texas, with his wife, Deborah, and their
sons, James and Daniel.
Glenn talks about some recent tool and book favorites starting on page 215.
THE SIGNS 200
Over the past three years, many of my talks for the No Fluff, Just Stuff
symposium series have shared a common theme. It was partly conscious,
but mostly it came naturally, as a reflection of where I think
our field is going.
I think our field is going backward.
And it’s not a minute too soon. For years, we’ve been fighting our
way forward, step by harried step, but for the most part it has been
down the wrong path. The grass looked greener here—or at least, better
manicured—but traps are lurking here, some of them very well concealed.
We keep falling into them, but we keep fighting on. “We must
be more careful!” we say, calling over our shoulders to our companions
as we walk toward the next pit.
But some in the programming field have started to remember another
place, one we passed on the way. It was a little unkempt and overgrown,
to be sure, and maybe there were just as many dangers—but somehow
the place, overall, was less dangerous. Plus, people who ventured
in there keep telling us about the riches to be found in that place—
wonderful treasures buried just below the surface.
The reasons why these older ways turn out to be better are subtle and
occasionally complex, and I don’t claim to understand them all. Whatever
the reasons, the signs of what’s happening are clear. Let’s look at
those first and then try to make sense of the whys and wherefores.
15.1 The Signs
The signs that we’re returning to older stomping grounds are everywhere.
Those of us programmers who know the history of our field
spotted them early (although I certainly wasn’t the first). Now they’re so
prominent, and growing so quickly, that many people have spotted the
trend. The signs I’ve noticed tend to fall into a few distinct areas: the
way we go about designing and building systems, the kinds of programming
languages and techniques we employ, and the way languages and
platforms are implemented.
Design
The way programmers and teams of programmers design software is
changing. After decades of increasing investment in tools and disciplines
to support an analytical approach to software design, our field
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THE SIGNS 201
is running headlong toward a more empirical approach based on iteration,
trial and error, and rapid feedback. There is widespread acknowledgment
that the task of software design is simply too complex to tackle
with a purely analytical approach. Programming will always involve a
lot of careful thought, of course, but we must also be guided by feedback,
checking our assumptions against the hard realities of real systems
and running code.
The modern approaches to design aren’t precisely the same as the older
approaches from the 1960s and 1970s, but they share many of the
same characteristics. A prime example is the emphasis on iterative
development. Long before it became fashionable to try to design a program
completely before beginning programming, the common practice
was to build a simple, working system and gradually enhance it. Stories
are even told of Marvin Minsky at MIT taking this practice to an
extreme, beginning development by starting to debug an empty program.
The modern equivalent of that, of course, is test-driven development.
Guiding our development with automated tests is relatively new,
but developing in small increments, evolving the design as we go, has
a long history.
Another sign: today we are beginning once again to emphasize code
over pictures in the design process. Don’t get me wrong—we’ll always
draw pictures of our systems from time to time; that’s something programmers
have always done. But as the centerpiece of the design process,
UML and other graphical notations have clearly failed. After having
tried for years to improve software design by focusing on graphical
models before we start writing code, programmers have learned something
crucial. Code—good clean code, at least—is a more expressive
notation for the details of software than boxes and lines.
As a computer science student in the 1980s, I read papers by Jon Bentley
and others from Bell Labs extolling the virtues of domain-specific
languages (DSLs). The best way to build many kinds of systems, they
said, was to design simple, focused, special-purpose programming languages
for the applications’ domains, implement those languages, and
build the systems using languages tailored to the tasks at hand. Language
development tools such as yacc and lex were introduced as tools
to facilitate developing such languages. And that group had remarkable
success practicing what they preached, building groundbreaking tools
such as pic, grap, make, sed, awk, and, of course, yacc and lex. All of those
tools are still in use, in some form or other, decades later.
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THE SIGNS 202
That style of development never really took off outside Bell Labs. Now,
though, it’s seeing a sudden resurgence. One of the most dramatic
overnight success stories in software development is the Rails web
framework, and much of Rails’ strength comes from its inclusion of
several distinct, small domain-specific languages focused on various
aspects of web application development. Two related tools that have
also garnered their share of attention, Capistrano (née SwitchTower)
and Rake, are also based on those concepts. The implementation techniques
are different from what the Bell Labs gang wrote about (and I’ll
talk about the new techniques next) but the concepts are the same.
The idea of domain-specific languages seems to be one whose time has
come.
Programming Techniques
I also see big changes in the programming techniques we use to build
our software. This isn’t entirely unrelated to the previous section; these
techniques have strong effects on our design, and vice versa.
The most obvious change in this category is the move toward dynamically
typed languages. Static languages of various stripes have dominated
the software development for decades, from the loosely typed C
and C++ to the stronger type systems of Pascal, Java, and C#. Most
programmers have been taught that strong, static typing and compiletime
analysis provide the only way to build robust, reliable systems.
That idea seemed to make sense, but it ignored the many solid systems
built using dynamic languages. Additionally, during my ten years as a
Java programmer I saw firsthand that strong typing is not a panacea;
in fact, truly robust Java-based applications are rather rare.
Today, many developers have realized that a static type system is a
two-edged sword. It does have some benefits, but it also has some
costs. The advent of unit testing, more than anything else, has served to
weaken static typing’s appeal. Ruby, Python, and even JavaScript are
growing more and more popular as developers discover the productivity
advantages of dynamic typing.
For various reasons, many of these dynamically typed languages are
dynamic in other ways as well. Your code can change (or augment) the
way built-in facilities work, for example. This sounds similar to how
aspect-oriented programming systems work, but the idea isn’t new; in
fact, aspect-oriented programming is a direct attempt to adapt older
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THE SIGNS 203
dynamic language techniques to static languages, pioneered by some
of the same people who built those dynamic language facilities.
Dynamic languages also blur the distinction between compile-time and
run-time; in such languages, new code can easily be added to the system
while it’s running. Combined with other dynamic characteristics,
this gives rise to a technique called metaprogramming, which is essentially
extending your programming language from within. The practice
of metaprogramming is a big part of the reason that domain-specific
languages are making a comeback, because compared to building a
stand-alone interpreter or compiler for a language, it’s much, much
easier to define domain-specific constructs in a language that supports
metaprogramming. The new wave of DSLs gaining popularity in the
Ruby community are built within Ruby itself as libraries.
The trend toward dynamically typed languages is both widespread and
strong. Less obvious, though, is a resurgence of interest in functional
programming and functional languages. Just in the past two years,
two compelling applications have appeared that are written in Haskell:
PUGS (an exploratory, prototype implementation of Perl 6) and Darcs (a
powerful, decentralized revision control system). Other interesting systems
have been written in Objective CAML (including MTASC, a free,
blazingly fast ActionScript compiler). Those systems have prompted
many programmers to learn those languages just so they can contribute
to the projects, and the newcomers have been struck by the
power and efficiency of functional languages.
Plus, interesting functional languages continue to appear. XQuery, the
XML query language, is a functional language. This year’s No Fluff,
Just Stuff symposia will feature a talk from Ted Neward about Scala,
a terrific functional language designed to work compatibly on both the
JVM and the CLR. In fact, Ruby, Python, and JavaScript have strong
functional characteristics and are often used in a functional style.
But it’s not just a revival of old concepts in new languages; the old
languages themselves are seeing a resurgence. A surprising number of
people are discovering (or rediscovering) Lisp, due in part to the popular
essays of Paul Graham. Also, the use of Smalltalk is growing again,
sparked by some impressive systems such as Croquet and the brilliant
Seaside web framework.
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WHY NOW? 204
Language Implementations and Infrastructure
I remember vividly the reaction of many programmers when Java was
released: “It’s interpreted! It’s garbage-collected! All array references
are bounds-checked. You can’t use languages like that; they’re too
slow!”
That was the common wisdom among most programmers for about
three decades. To be efficient, languages had to be compiled, and programmers
had to manage memory themselves.
It’s true that many Java-based systems perform poorly, and Java to
this day has a reputation for sluggishness. And, for that matter, early
implementations of Java really were excruciatingly slow. But that was
mostly due to immature implementations that used pure interpretation
of bytecodes and naive garbage collection strategies. In modern Javabased
systems, though, the slowness is due not to those characteristics
of the language implementation but to the libraries, frameworks, and
platforms that have been built on top of Java. Java’s garbage collector
performs extremely well, and many Java systems spend much less time
managing memory than do equivalent C and C++ programs. As far as
interpretation goes, the just-in-time compilers (JITs) and dynamic optimization
technologies employed by most Java implementations produce
very fast machine code at run-time.
Today we seem to have shed those earlier qualms about Java’s style
of language implementation. Oh, there will always be situations where
C is the most appropriate technology, but for most of the systems we
build, VM-based or interpreted languages are fast enough, and features
such as automatic memory management and array bounds checking
really do help us build more robust systems—they’re much more helpful,
in my opinion, than static typing.
For most systems, you get much more performance benefit from good
architecture than you do from fast code. That’s a big part of the reason
that typical Rails applications are at least as fast as their J2EE counterparts,
even though Java typically benchmarks as about ten times
faster than Ruby.
15.2 Why Now?
So far I’ve avoided a crucial question: if these older ways of doing things
are so great, why didn’t they succeed at first? Lisp and Smalltalk had
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WHY NOW? 205
their moments, as did bottom-up and iterative development, and the
market chose a different direction. Why? And what has changed now
to make the time right?
First, it’s important to realize that there are more ways to fail than
there are to succeed, and the problems weren’t necessarily inherent to
the technologies. Here are just a few ideas about what went wrong the
first time and why things are different now.
The kinds of design techniques and processes that are returning to
prominence were originally used by individuals and very small teams
and began to show real weaknesses on more ambitious projects with
larger teams. It was perfectly natural to try to inject more “discipline”
into things with the use of phases, careful analysis and planning,
inspections, and so on. But there are other forms of discipline besides
top-down control, and we’ve learned from painful experience that software
development is just too complicated a task to really benefit from
central planning. Economies around the world, successful businesses,
and even military organizations are pushing power and responsibility
down toward the people in the trenches. The software development
industry has learned the same lessons. Rigid control hasn’t helped us
avoid mistakes, so the industry is returning to basic skills, communication,
and cooperation, supported this time by powerful tools and
improved team practices.
Dynamic languages can be implemented very efficiently, but it’s not
easy to do so. Early implementations of dynamic languages were rather
slow and required a lot of resources. It was much easier to build a C
compiler that generated fast code than to build, say, a Smalltalk VM
that performed similarly well. But implementation techniques have
continued to advance, and the performance gap has shrunk dramatically.
Not every dynamic or functional language has a state-of-theart
implementation, but we know from examples like Common Lisp,
Squeak Smalltalk, and Haskell that it is possible for such languages to
be blazingly fast.
As language implementations have been getting faster, our cost models
have been changing. The first time around, slow CPUs and expensive
memory meant that computing resources were not to be wasted, and
dynamic languages looked like the wrong trade-off. Now, though, the
balance has shifted. Sure, we still can’t afford to be completely heedless
of CPU and memory utilization, but fast machines and cheap memory
mean that the sensible trade-off today is very different. Productivity is
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WHY NOW? 206
much more valuable than it used to be in software development, and
languages that save our time at the expense of some extra CPU cycles
make a lot of sense.
As mentioned previously, we’ve begun using better development practices
that help a lot. When projects don’t use version control and don’t
have a disciplined approach to testing, the safety net offered by static
typing seems to be quite valuable. We’ve learned, though, that we have
to build our own safety nets that cover all aspects of the project, not
just data types.
I could keep extending this list of reasons why things happened the
way they did. The full list includes reasons such as primitive tools, fractured
communities, weak development practices, incompatible competing
dialects, expensive implementations, the lack of any free versions
that developers could play with, and more.
Ultimately, though, we never really gave these tools and techniques
a fair chance the first time. A world that hadn’t yet really grasped
the concept and power of “emergence” fled from iterative development
as soon as it began showing flaws, not considering that the problem
was a lack of supporting tools and practices rather than the technique
itself. As far as languages are concerned, Lisp and Smalltalk were
always on the fringes of the software field. COBOL, Fortran, C, and
BASIC occupied the center. Occasionally we would adopt some of the
ideas, such as object orientation, but we would try to fit them into the
world we were used to, rather than taking them on their own terms.
As a result, we missed some important subtleties, like (for example) the
fact that object orientation doesn’t exist in isolation but benefits greatly
from other language characteristics such as blocks, dynamic typing,
and automatic memory management.
So it’s wrong to say “we tried that once and it failed.” We’re not going
back to what we tried once; we’re going back to what others had success
with. The industry at large tried to go a different way, and at
long last we’ve begun to realize that no matter how many new tools
we throw at our problems, software development still isn’t getting any
easier. Maybe it’s time to rethink the whole way we’ve been going. The
people who really embraced Lisp and Smalltalk early on don’t think
those languages failed (except in terms of gaining broad acceptance).
On the contrary, most of them that I know are either still finding ways
to work with those technologies or else yearning for a return to the good
old days.
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MORE PAST IN OUR FUTURE 207
15.3 More Past in Our Future
I predict that we’ll see the increasingly wide adoption of dynamic languages,
metaprogramming, and agile design and development practices
over the next few years. In spite of many naysayers, momentum seems
to be building in this direction.
I don’t think it will stop with Ruby, Python, or any of the other new old
languages that are gaining popularity. Although those languages borrow
extensively from their progenitors, they stop short in some other
ways. I love programming in Ruby, but occasionally I find myself needing
some of the features of Smalltalk or Lisp that Ruby doesn’t have—
true macros, for instance, or the ability to easily pass multiple blocks
to a single method (with appropriate cues as to their distinct roles).
And don’t get the idea that I’m an old Smalltalk or Lisp programmer!
I come from a C, C++, and Java background. But I’ve recently begun
to understand some of the subtle strengths of languages that I used to
think were weird.
I’m not predicting a utopia, of course. These are trade-offs, and we’ll
give up some features to gain others. I can hear my skeptical friends
asking now, “Sure, all that stuff is powerful, but is that the kind of
power you want to give to the weakest programmers on your team?”
I bought into that argument for a while and argued that you should use
truly powerful languages only with sharp, experienced teams. But then
I started to notice something about the Java projects I was involved
in: weak teams and weak programmers will go to great lengths to do
the wrong thing. Time and again I’ve seen system designs that were
not only inappropriate but also much more difficult to build than better
designs would have been. I’ve just shaken my head in amazement—not
at the inappropriate designs per se because good design is difficult but
at the effort and tenacity it took to proceed with those designs in the
face of the obstacles the teams had to overcome to build them.
What I’ve concluded is that you can’t keep a weak team out of trouble
by limiting the power of their tools. The way forward is not figuring out
how to achieve acceptable results with weak teams; rather, it’s understanding
how to build strong teams and how to train programmers to
be part of such teams. One place to start is with more emphasis on history.
Our field is just barely 60 years old; there’s no excuse for allowing
programming students to remain ignorant of such recent history. Our
history is rich with lessons that have been forgotten.
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MORE PAST IN OUR FUTURE 208
Here’s an example. I’m developing with Rails right now, and Rails incorporates
nice support for database migrations: little classes that encapsulate
the changes to production databases (including both schema
and data changes) required to move from one version or release of an
application to another. It’s a brilliant feature. But it has some problems,
and most of them involve the way migrations mesh with the way
we use version control. When we have a particular version of the software
checked out, we are working with a set of files that describe the
way the system looks at a given point in time. But migrations don’t fit
that model. There, in one version of your project, is a set of files that
describe the whole history of the database schema, not just a point in
time. It’s like having a little version control system stored within your
project, and that feels odd.
Typically we use version control to manage versions of program source
code, and we use that source to build the system from scratch each
time. Migrations, on the other hand, operate on persistent data; they
don’t have the luxury of starting from a clean slate.
In thinking about how to resolve some of these issues and perhaps fix
them, I suddenly realized Smalltalk developers have dealt with similar
issues for years. Smalltalk programs don’t exist in source files on disk
that are loaded, parsed, and compiled every time the system is run.
Rather, they exist as objects—class objects, method objects, predefined
and preconfigured instances, and other things—in a Smalltalk image,
essentially a dump of Smalltalk’s heap that is reloaded from disk and
reconstituted just as it was the last time you were using it. In other
words, Smalltalk programs exist as persistent objects.
So to learn how to solve my problems with migrations, it might help me
to find out how Smalltalk developers do version management of their
applications. I don’t know the answer yet; that’s a part of Smalltalk I’m
not familiar with. But I’m going to find out.
There’s more buried treasure there.
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“Willis Conover: Broadcasting Jazz To The World” (iUniverse) by Terence M. Ripmaster

“Willis Conover: Broadcasting Jazz To The World” (iUniverse) by
Terence M. Ripmaster
Book Review
“If I had to list the five people most responsible for the dismantling of
the Soviet Union, Willis Conover would be on the top of the list.”
Leo Feigin, Russian record company president
Conover was only a disc jockey. He didn’t even play hits. He was your
ultimate right man in the right place at the right time. “Willis Conover
has done more for America than all its ambassadors combined,” says
Irena Makowicz, wife of Polish jazz pianist Adam Makowicz.
Soviet censors considered jazz to be decadent Judeo/Negroid drugoriented
music of the failing Capitalistic system. The German national
Socialists had thought much the same way. Trumpeter Adolph “Eddie”
Rosner, later sent to the Gulag, said it was hard to be a jazz musician in
Germany in the 1930s, even if your name was Adolph.
Willis Conover picked it up from there. A nice looking middle age,
middle class man from a navy family in Cambridge, Maryland, with a
good voice who showed up on time and who people liked, Conover never
mentioned politics. It was all music
His program, “Music USA” broadcast on the Voice of America and
Radio Free Europe from 1955 until his death in 1996 was not heard in
the US. The VOA was an arm of the Office of War Information, a
federal agency not permitted to broadcast in America.
William Gavin, ex-assistant Director of Public Affairs for the United
States Information Agency and Richard Nixon’s lawyer Leonard
Garment tried to get Conover a US Medal of Freedom in 1992, but
George HW Bush wouldn’t go for it. Even Bill Clinton wouldn’t go for
it. However when President Lech Walesa of Poland invited Conover to a
State dinner at his Embassy, the Polish Ambassador told him: ”In my
country, you are a legend.”
Conover once played a word game with Quincy Jones during an
interview. When Conover said ‘jazz,” Jones came right back with
“Charlie Parker.” Then Jones said; “At this moment, there are
thousands and thousands of people around the world, who, when they
hear the word ‘jazz,’ immediately respond: ‘Willis Conover.’
He was often called “America’s Jazz Ambassador.” As much as his
programming, which was intelligent and eclectic, it was his deep, warm,
slow, knowledgeable speaking voice that seduced several generations of
jazz musicians around the world – from Cuba, Poland, Yugoslavia,
Hungary, Armenia, Scandinavia and points east. You could hear more
jazz on “Music USA” than on AM radio in the entire US.
When European musicians visited America they couldn’t believe how
little jazz meant in the country of its birth. Or that nobody had ever
heard of Willis Conover. In Czechoslovakia,” says an accordion player
named Jan Zappner: “Jazz has always been part of the music scene.
Private radios were not allowed, so, in the army, every night at ten
o’clock, I sneaked through the toilet window into the communications
building, where there was a shortwave radio on which I tuned in the
Voice of America.
“There it was, ‘The A Train,’ and the great voice of Willis Conover. I
will never forget that feeling of sweet conspiracy While the barracks,
the country, indeed, the whole socialist camp was asleep, I, Private
Zappner, was in contact with Washington and found out that over the
trenches of the Cold War there was normal life, with great music with
people who didn’t want their lips and fingers busted up in any war. I
knew I couldn’t shoot Willis. In fact I wrote to him, and he sent me the
program of VOA and signed it himself. Since then, the political officer
treated me with caution and respect. After all, I was obviously in
contact with Washington, and what if the situation changed one day?”
This book is full of such moving little human ironies. Compliments from
friendly ex-Soviet Ambassadors, for example. The stories are told
without pretension, as if we should take it for granted that jazz was a
major influence on entire competing power blocks, and that ordinary
people in them were friendly with each other.
In 1999, the journalist James Lester wrote an article in the Journal of
the Jazz Institute of Chicago, which ended: “The ultimate paradox
concerning Willis Conover is how widely and how well the voice of this
enigmatic, inward, and possibly lonely person came to represent the big,
open dynamic, creative free-for-all that is America.”
The idea to promote American culture came from the State
Department. It was picked up by an alliance of musicians, civil rights
advocates, entrepreneurs and critics, who felt that radio broadcasts by
Leonard Feather and Willis Conover would help to lay the groundwork
for a compelling power play. It eventually became fairly well known
that the US in fact came to export its culture as a major arm in the Cold
War. The message was that it was just more fun to live in America.
This was certainly one of the better ideas to come out of any government
bureaucracy. American jazz critics working behind the Iron Curtain
were more or less assumed to be CIA agents. Although Marie Ciliberti,
Conover’s long time associate and friend said: “Willis was very anticommunist
and made no bones about it. He “simply kept quiet about
that.” “Villis” as he was known, eventually played a major part in what
came to be called a pipeline to freedom.”
In notes for an autobiography that was never finished, he wrote that
although bureaucracies were all basically anti-human, they were worse
in the USSR. However, the things that are demonstrably wrong about
their system are all also present here in our own system – whenever
dossiers are built by an organization or a computer, whenever vicious
little gossip takes joy in tearing down somebody’s reputation, whenever
petty bureaucrats take joy in finding reasons why something can’t be
done.”
He was not in the least political, in public anyway. Only the music was
political. It was clearly democratic music.
Czech bassist George Mraz, who now lives in the US, “listened to Willis
Conover in the 1960s. I got a tape recorder and began to record the
Voice of America programs. I was always looking forwarded to this
hour. Willis played Miles Davis, Bill Evans, and Monk, all the best stuff
In a letter to Ripmaaster, Mraz recalled: “Willis came to Prague in
1964…I remember when he and his wife were introduced; there was an
extremely long standing ovation I had a chance to meet him after the
concert. He was the MC and he pronounced all the Czeck names
perfectly.
“The next time I saw him was in 1976 in Warsaw, where I was playing
with Stan Getz. Willis seemed somewhat worried that I was there and
gave me some contact numbers at the US Embassy in case of trouble.”
There was no trouble.

1001 Best Things Ever Said About Work (and the Workplace) – by Ernie Zelinski

1001 Best Things Ever Said about Work (and the Workplace)
1
Ability
The difference between what we do and what
we are capable of doing would suffice to solve
most of the world’s problems.
— Mohandas Gandhi
Executive ability is deciding quickly and
getting somebody else to do the work.
— John G. Pollard
You’re no good unless you are a good
assistant; and if you are, you’re too good to be
an assistant.
— Martin H. Fischer

I Can Find What Where!

All material is copyright to the respective authors. This document is released under a Creative Commons License with “Some Rights Reserved”.
This material may be published, broadcast or redistributed but must remain free of charge.
GLOBAL SEARCH REPORT 2007
Edited By
Nick Wilsdon
e3internet
http//www.e3internet.com
In association with Multilingual Search
http://www.multilingual-search.com
Sponsored By WebCertain.com
einternet 3
All material is copyright to the respective authors. This document is released under a Creative Commons License with “Some Rights Reserved”.
This material may be published, broadcast or redistributed but must remain free of charge.
Country & Author Index
Bulgaria Georgi Georgiev (Investor BG PLC) 3
China David Temple (China Search Marketing) 4
Czech Republic Katerina Rotterova (Beneda Group) 5
Denmark Rasmus Sørensen (TLA Media) 6
Estonia Robin Gurney (Altex Marketing) 7
Iceland Kristjan Mar Hauksson (Nordic eMarketing) 8
Israel Gilad Sasson (SearchMarketing.co.il) 9
Italy Sante J Achille (SJA) 10
Japan Motoko Hunt (AJPR) 11
Portugal Nuno Hipólito (SearchMarketing.pt) 12
Russia Nick Wilsdon (e3internet) 13
Slovakia Katerina Rotterova (BenedaGroup.com) 14
South Korea Ebina Cho (KISA) 15
Spain Oskar Carreras (WebCertain) 16
The Netherlands Peter Kersbergen (WebCertain) 17
Ukraine Nick Wilsdon (e3internet) 18
United Kingdom Andy Atkins-Krüger (WebCertain) 19
Author Contacts 20
All material is copyright to the respective authors. This document is released under a Creative Commons License with “Some Rights Reserved”.
This material may be published, broadcast or redistributed but must remain free of charge.
Bulgaria
Summary Comments
In the last 12 months the leading position of Google has stabilized, there have been no major changes. However a new local player from Bulgaria has appeared on the scene – www.jabse.com.
The agency controlled online advertising market in Bulgaria grew 110% from 2005 to 2006 shows a recent study by Investor.bg. Advertisers spend 5.6 million leva (3.8 mln USD) through advertising agencies and media shops during 2005. In 2006 spending increases rapidly to 12.5 mln. leva (8.6 mln USD) and is expected to reach 20 mln. leva in 2007 (13.7 mln. USD). This implies a 60% growth in internet advertisng for 2007.
Top advertisers are from the telecommunications industry – mobile and fixed-phone operators, followed by companies from the financial sector – mainly banks. Bulgarian online advertisting market volume now accounts for 4-5% of the Bulgarian advertising market and is expected to account for between 5 and 10 percent of the market in the following years.
Georgi Georgiev
Investor BG PLC
http://www.ibg.bg
Population: 7.3m
Est. Internet Users: 2.2m
Internet penetration: 30%
0
20
40
60
80
100
Google 90%
MSN 5%
Yahoo! 5%
Jabse 0.5%
Search Engine Usage (% market share)
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
Welcome to the first 2007 Global Search Report. The aim of this annual report is to introduce and raise the profiles of internet markets outside the well reported US/UK sphere. According to a recently released study by ComScore there were over 61bln searches carried out in August. As internet use grows internationally, it becomes increasingly important to develop global strategies that tap this opportunity.
If you are an experienced or new multilingual marketer this report should provide you with useful statistics and comments. All provided by local experts working in these markets. This year we are profiling 15 countries, next year we hope to double this number. Contact details for our contributors can be found at the end of the document. I would like to thank them all for their specialist input, which made this report possible.
Nick Wilsdon
Introduction
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This material may be published, broadcast or redistributed but must remain free of charge.
China
Summary Comments
According to Analysys International, an Internet based provider of business information, the China search engine market will see a compound annual growth of more than 30% from 2006 to 2010. Baidu continues to lead the pack as the other search engines struggle to keep pace. Baidu has added a news service and a blogging service called Baidu Spaces. Much of Baidu’s early success can be attributed to its MP3 search engine.
Eric Schmidt, Google CEO said of China, “We will take a long term view to win in China. The Chinese have 5,000 years of history. Google has 5,000 years of patience in China.” Although Google has made some progress in terms of market share, they may indeed need 5,000 years to pass Baidu.
At Search Engine Strategies China 2006 Jack Ma, CEO of Yahoo! China said, “In 3-5 years, we will change the rules of the game. We don’t need to follow Google or Baidu’s rules. We will make our own rules.” Yahoo! China has lost market share since that time and have take a new path to be a business oriented search engine. “If Yahoo is going to win, it has to do so in a new way,” Ma said earlier this year.
Sources
iResearch Inc.
Analysis International
David Temple
China Search Marketing
http://www.chinasearchmarketingtour.com
Population: 1.3 billion
Est. Internet Users: 162m
Internet penetration: 12.25%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Baidu 55%
Google 21.7%
Yahoo! 7.2%
Search Engine Usage (% market share)
1st
2nd
3rd
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Baidu 57%
Google 18.7%
Yahoo 13.6%
PPC Coverage (% market share)
1st
2nd
3rd
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This material may be published, broadcast or redistributed but must remain free of charge.
Czech Republic
Summary Comments
The market leader is still Seznam and Google occupies the second place. During the last year, Seznam launched its own Pay Per Click system Sklik.cz that has become the biggest and the most popular system. Even launching Google´s Adwords and AdSense in Czech at the end of the last year did not influence the position of Seznam to much.
The position of the other two Pay Per Click systems Etarget and Billboard is not so strong, but are also used quite often.
During the last two years, there was a boom especially in SEO and Pay Per Click campaigns. Many new companies appeared on the market offering the services in SEM and trainings of basic principles of SEO and Pay Per Click ads.
A lot of Czech companies understand that Internet is becoming to be one of the most important ways how to target their consumers and spend more and more money on the advertising via Internet. This trend is expected to growth in the future as the number of the internet users will grow too (Internet penetration in 2005 – 30,5%; in 2006 – 34,9%; in 2007 – 42,4%).
Statistical resources:
www.netmonitor.cz
www.navrcholu.cz
Katerina Rotterova
BenedaGroup.com
http://www.benedagroup.com
Population: 10.2m
Est. Internet Users: 4.4m
Internet penetration: 42.4%
Total expenditures to media: 22,34 mld. CZK
Online advertising spend: 1,35 mld. CZK (6%)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Seznam.cz 62.53%
Google 24.75%
Centrum.cz 4.84%
Atlas.cz 2.58%
Jyxo.cz 0.42%
Search Engine Usage (% market share)
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Sklik.cz (Seznam) 40%
Google 25%
eTarget.cz 20%
Adfox.cz (Seznam) 10%
bbKontext.cz 5%
PPC Coverage (% market share)
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
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This material may be published, broadcast or redistributed but must remain free of charge.
Denmark
Summary Comments
The ball game pretty much have looked the same for the last 12 months and I don’t expect this to change much. Denmark is still more or less Google Country, both in terms of organic searches and PPC/SEM. MSN Adcenter haven’t launched yet, but maybe it will have an effect, somewhat small as MSN still have a relatively small market share. The private programs are so small that they really haven’t got any merit and I don’t see their share rise anytime soon.
All in all Denmark – and Scandinavia for that matter – is, like most European markets, dominated by Google and Adwords. Yahoo and YSM is none existent. The reason is primarily that Yahoo decided to close their entire local presence here a few years ago. They simply killed the local directories and laid off all employees. That move effectively killed Danish and Scandinavian advertising and ppc on that network. Nobody use them for search here anymore.
Generally Danish companies have adapted ppc/sem as an important element in their online marketing efforts and recent research data have shown that online advertising have overtaken both print and radio advertising in annual spend. The outlook is still very positive as more and more companies realise the value of online presence and advertising. Business.dk reports that the average advertising spend in Denmark have reached aprox. $98 per person with an internet connection. The number for the US is $118. Denmark more or less tops the list in Europe as to how much money goes into online advertising per person.
So the future looks promising even though a new major competitor to Google would be refreshing.
Statistical resources:
http://www.business.dk
Rasmus Sørensen
TLA Media
Population: 5.4m
Est. Internet Users: 3.7m
Internet penetration: 68.8%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Google 80%
Jubii.dk 7%
MSN.dk 5%
Eniro.dk 5%
Others 3%
Search Engine Usage (% market share)
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
0
20
40
60
80
100
Google Adwords 85%
Jubii Sponsored Links 5%
MSN Adcenter/Yahoo SM 5%
Others – Private Programs 5%
PPC Coverage (% market share)
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
All material is copyright to the respective authors. This document is released under a Creative Commons License with “Some Rights Reserved”.
This material may be published, broadcast or redistributed but must remain free of charge.
0
10
20
30
40
50
Neti 75%
DELFI 30%
Google 12%
WWW.ee 2%
Others 2%
PPC Coverage (% market share)
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Neti 75%
Google 20%
DELFI 12%
WWW.ee 2%
Alltheweb, Altavista & others 2%
Search Engine Usage (% market share)
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
Estonia
Summary Comments
www.ee (WWWärk) changed their design & layout. It brought the usage up for a while, but in the long run, the effect was not very significant. Rumoured changes in the ownership (Infoweb) will probably result in an improved sales team, so the market share of PPC might grow a little. Search results have also improved during the year, references to yellow pages of Infoweb have been removed, and current clientele is far more likely to use www.ee search again, so their share of organic results/general popularity will grow during 2007, perhaps by 2%.
DELFI Otsing added specific search groups in addition to Internet, News, YellowPages & Numbers, that were there when they started. Now there is map (address-based search), which also has been improved during the year. Interior – furniture, garden, building materials, design furniture (customised sets). Real estate – mirror-site/search with City24. Cars – mirror-site/search with motors.ee. Popularity of Delfi search is growing due to more aggressive marketing from DELFI-s side and greater integration to DELFI content. But for PPC, market share will not grow – they are reaching the limit for paid keywords and keyword based banners are not selling too well in Estonian market.
Neti.ee is still the leader and not likely to lose their position, though more and more Neti.ee clients are using Google in parallel. Google’s share in organic results is growing.
Organic SEO in Estonia is on the rise but it is still relatively easy to achieve top positions for keywords provided the site is SE friendly and follows basic SEO guidelines.
Keyword research has to be conducted manually, there are no similar tools to keyworddiscovery etc. that incorporate Estonian data.
Robin Gurney
Altex Marketing
http://www.altex-marketing.com
Population: 1.3m
Est. Internet Users: 69’0000 Internet penetration: 42.4%
All material is copyright to the respective authors. This document is released under a Creative Commons License with “Some Rights Reserved”.
This material may be published, broadcast or redistributed but must remain free of charge.
Iceland
Summary Comments
Google has not gained the foothold in Iceland as in the rest of Europe, local search is still strong and the other “big” engines only have marginal shares of the market.
As of may 2006 Iceland replaced South Korea with the highest broadband penetration rate, according to 2005 broadband statistics released by OECD.
The Iceland telecom market is not big but very technologically advanced. Iceland telecom and Vodafone, the major players, provide modern services to highly scattered and prosperous inhabitants. Mobile phone penetration on GSM, GPRS and NMT networks is among the highest in Europe.
Google is slowly gaining more market share and there are new search players are merging, such as netleit.is. Even though Iceland has embraced the Internet as a tool they are not as likely to use it as a marketing medium. Using Organic SEO in Iceland is on the rise but it is still relatively easy to achieve top positions for keywords following basic search engine optimising guidelines. Keyword research can be done through Leit.is and Google offers some insight into the world of search in Iceland through AdWords.
Statistical Sources:
Statice.is and the annual Nordic eMarketing research
Kristjan Mar Hauksson
Nordic eMarketing
http://www.nordicemarketing.com
Population: 301,900
Est. Internet Users: 258’000 Internet penetration: 85.4%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Google.is 51%
Leit.is 42%
Embla.is 2%
Finna.is 1%
Others 4%
Search Engine Usage (% market share)
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
0
20
40
60
80
100
Google 95%
Embla.is 2%
Others 3%
PPC Coverage (% market share)
1st
2nd
3rd
All material is copyright to the respective authors. This document is released under a Creative Commons License with “Some Rights Reserved”.
This material may be published, broadcast or redistributed but must remain free of charge.
Israel
Summary Comments
In the last 12 months, Google remained the unshakable King of search and became even stronger, establishing a new sales HQ at Tel Aviv and opening not one but two R&D centres at Haifa and Tel Aviv. Google achievements in Israel are even more remarkable when understanding that in the list above Google is the only interface based on search while all other sites function as content/community/mail portals first, and yes, they too have a search box.
The new contextual system from Walla.co.il (Advantage) was meant to shock the Israeli PPC market at the beginning of 2007, but Walla operators, with an undetermined policy and plan changes in its first few days managed to sabotage their own efforts.Once the walla.co.il Advantage system was finally launched many advertisers were highly disappointed with search volumes and ROI bottom line, compared to Google.
In recent months there was a noticeable leap in search marketing interest from big companies and cooperation as well as SMB who started to understand the simplicity and cost effective manners of SEO & Pay Per Click campaigns. This fact drove many new advertisers to the SERPs and Average bids cost today appx. 20%-50% higher then last year, in some cases the jump is even greater.
Also worth mentioning is the tremendous increase in the number of SEM agencies and increased cooperation between Interactive agencies and traditional media. It seems that the last year marked the legitimacy and the added value of search engine marketing to the Israeli advertising and marketing pie.
Statistical Sources: TGI/TIM survey from January 2007 in relation to the weekly exposure of Israeli Internet users (http://www.searchmarketing.co.il/content/view/766/3/)
Gilad Sasson
Search Marketing
http://www.searchmarketing.co.il
Population: 6.4m
Est. Internet Users: 3.7m
Internet penetration: 57.5%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Google 90%
Walla.co.il 11%
MSN 5%
Nana.co.il 2%
Tapuz.co.il 2%
Search Engine Usage (% market share)
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
0
20
40
60
80
100
Google 83%
Walla.co.il 4%
Merlin.co.il 4%
Others 10%
PPC Coverage (% market share)
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
All material is copyright to the respective authors. This document is released under a Creative Commons License with “Some Rights Reserved”.
This material may be published, broadcast or redistributed but must remain free of charge.
Italy
Summary Comments
From an infrastructural point of view DSL penetration continues to expand throughout the country, and is expected to reach 8 million domestic and business connections in 2007.
Dialup users are still a significant number in the order of 4 million, and broadband is available to a limited clique of users (under 500.000)
Users rely heavily on Google with nearly 80% of the search market share. MSN/Live, Libero, YAHOO!, and Alice are the other search engines used by Italians for search.
What should be noted is a considerable growth in the general awareness of the web as a means to find information as well as products and services.
The increase in Internet Usage, and acquaintance Italians have with the online world make Italy a marketplace worth careful consideration.
Reach and success in the Italian Market will heavily depends on the capability to personalize and adapt communication that differs significantly from the typical US approach.
Statistical Sources:
http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/pr/pr_070702_IT.pdf
Sante J. Achille
SJA
http://blog.achille.name
Population: 58.1m
Est. Internet Users: 28.9m
Internet penetration: 49.6%
Top Italian Portals
Manzoni
Virgilio
MSN
RAI
YAhoo!
Libero
Tuttogratis
SKY
Tiscali
All material is copyright to the respective authors. This document is released under a Creative Commons License with “Some Rights Reserved”.
This material may be published, broadcast or redistributed but must remain free of charge.
Japan
Summary Comments
The challenge in determining the market share of Japanese search engines is that they never disclose the search volume. All reports talk about the number of visitors or the page views. This is one of the reasons why Yahoo Japan – a popular portal site – is always ranking at #1, but not necessarily by the search volume.
According to Net Ratings Japan’s report (April 2006), Google’s property visitor grew by 31% to 14.2 million in 12 months. During the same period, Yahoo’s property visitor grew by 14%.
Also, considering the fact that Google powers most of top 10 sites by visitor such as Biglobe, goo, and Excite Japan, Google may be in fact #1 search engines in Japan by search volume.
Yahoo Japan shows Overture Japan’s paid ads. Overture Japan is shifting the system over to Panama in 2007.
With more than a half of the internet users accessing the web via mobile in Japan, the mobile search and mobile ads would definitely the hot area in Japanese search market in 2007. It is predicted that the Internet advertising would grow to 755.8 Billion Yen market by 2011 (including 128.4 bil Yen for mobile ads, and 226.5 bil Yen for PPC ads).
Sources:
www.netratings.co.jp
Mokoto Hunt
AJPR
http://www.ajpr.com
Population: 127.4m
Est. Internet Users: 86.3m
Internet penetration: 67.7%
Yahoo Japan
Google Japan
MSN Japan
1st
2nd
3rd
Search Engine Market Share (%)
Overture Japan
Google Japan
1st
2nd
PPC Coverage (% market share)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Auction Pages 26%
Top Page 15%
Mail Pages 7%
News Pages 7%
Search Pages 6%
Yahoo Japan Site Usage (%)
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
All material is copyright to the respective authors. This document is released under a Creative Commons License with “Some Rights Reserved”.
This material may be published, broadcast or redistributed but must remain free of charge.
Portugal
Summary Comments
Google is, by far, the market leader in Portugal. For the past year, Google.pt and Google.com have been, respectively, the first and third most popular sites, accounting for 2.400.00 unique visitors/day.
The only “competitor” would be Sapo.pt, but its market share is very small. Sapo is a popular site, but it is more of an entertainment Portal (like Yahoo), than a pure search engine. Sapo.pt also uses Google results for international searches. Clix.pt and Iol.pt are also entertainment portals, which incorporate a search box, but they use Google search for their results.
When it comes to pay per click, the scenario is the same. Google dominates the market and Anúncios Sapo (Sapo’s Adwords) comes in a very distant second place. Anúncios Sapo has a basic interface and it can’t really be compared to Adwords, when it comes to functionality, but it has similar “search” and “content network” options. There is no other pay per click online system in Portugal at the moment.
Banners are still very popular in Portugal, but we can feel a definitive shift towards PPC. Although there are some rumours that Sapo is working on an update to Anúncios Sapo, there has been no official confirmation from Sapo. But I know that Anúncios Sapo will soon be available in Sapo Blogs (a look-alike to Blogspot) and Sapo Homepages (Sapo’s homepage service), which will certainly be important to Sapo if it wishes to close the gap to Google’s dominance in Portugal.
Statistical resources:
netpanel.marktest.pt
Nuno Hipólito
Search Marketing
http://www.searchmarketing.pt
Population: 10.6m
Est. Internet Users: 7.8m
Internet penetration: 73.1%
0
20
40
60
80
100
Google 90%
Sapo 7%
Clix 2%
Iol.pl 1%
Search Engine Usage (% market share)
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
0
20
40
60
80
100
Google 95%
Sapo 5%
PPC Coverage (% market share)
1st
2nd
All material is copyright to the respective authors. This document is released under a Creative Commons License with “Some Rights Reserved”.
This material may be published, broadcast or redistributed but must remain free of charge.
Russia
Summary Comments
Yandex is still the market leader but Google has continued to make ground over the last few months, overtaking Rambler to secure the No.2 position.
Rambler is fighting back though, recently appointing Ex-Yahoo! Europe chief, Mark Opzoomer, as CEO and taking 51% control in the contextual advertising provider, Begun.ru.
Yandex is also taking steps to increase and secure their market share, matching Google on software releases (Yandex Money vs. Google Checkout, Yandex Direct vs. Adwords, Maps, WiFi and Desktop Search). They have also created an enterprise level anti-spam system for small businesses and opened their forth data centre in Moscow.
However Yandex’s contextual advertising program (Yandex Direct) is operating on an invite only basis for large volume partners. This strategy has kept the quality of their content network high and advertisers happy but runs the risk of alienating ordinary webmasters, who are turning to Google for advertising revenue.
A study by ComScore in June showed that the top 3 properties in Runet (based on monthly unique visitors) were Yandex, Mail.ru and Rambler. So there is still work to be done by Google. It seems Google feels the same way as they started advertising campaigns in June, rather than rely on word of mouth to build support.
Sources:
http://www.liveinternet.ru/stat/ru/searches.html
http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1459
Nick Wilsdon
e3internet
http://www.e3internet.com
Population: 141.4m
Est. Internet Users: 29m
Internet penetration: 25%
Online advertising spend: $210m
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Yandex 55%
Google 24%
Begun.ru 21%
1st
2nd
3rd
PPC Coverage (% market share)
0
10
20
30
40
50
Yandex 47.5%
Google 25.1%
Rambler 14.8%
Search Engine Market Share (%)
1st
2nd
3rd
All material is copyright to the respective authors. This document is released under a Creative Commons License with “Some Rights Reserved”.
This material may be published, broadcast or redistributed but must remain free of charge.
Slovakia
Summary Comments
The number of Internet users in Slovakia is rising fast and the penetration reached 37% at the beginning of this year. Most of the users connect to the Internet from their homes (58%), work (46,9%) and universities (27,9%).
Among the internet users there are mainly well-educated people, entrepreneurs, scientists and students. Nearly 92% of the Internet population connects to the Internet at least once per week (men in the evening 6-9pm and women 9-12am).
November 2006 was very important for Slovak internet and especially for those who were interested in advertisement. During this month Google launched Google AdSense in Slovak. In spite of this Etarget is still the leader in Pay Per-Click advertisement. Among the advertising agencies, this kind of advertisement is becoming more and more popular and the next growth is expected.
Sources:
www.aimsr.sk
www.mediaresearch.sk
Katerina Rotterova
BenedaGroup.com
http://www.benedagroup.com
Population: 5.4m
Est. Internet Users: 1’998’000
Internet penetration: 37%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Google 75.6%
Zoznam 13.1%
Zoohoo 4.9%
Atlas.sk 3.7%
Azet.sk 0.7%
Search Engine Usage (% market share)
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
eTarget.sk 55%
Google 40%
AdFox.sk 5%
PPC Coverage (% market share)
1st
2nd
3rd
All material is copyright to the respective authors. This document is released under a Creative Commons License with “Some Rights Reserved”.
This material may be published, broadcast or redistributed but must remain free of charge.
South Korea
Summary Comments
Naver is Korea’s No. 1 search portal service. The Naver search engine currently controls more than 70 percent of local search traffic, according to industry figures. Naver’s popularity relies on its question-and-answer type search tool Knowledge Search, which allows users to answer and edit search results.
The Korean search marketplace is dominated by question-and-answer type search services, which tend to have stronger customer loyalty than general Web search services.
Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt met earlier this year with Daum Communications Corp., South Korea’s No. 2 Internet search engine, to discuss broadening their partnership. In 2006 Daum decided to end its advertising relationship with Yahoo Inc. in favor of using Google for paid search results.
Additional Information:
This August, Verisign announced that Korea (.kr) domains were the third fastest growing ccTLD (country-code top level domain). This was no doubt helped by the release of the first level extension, .kr this spring. Until then only second level versions of the domain had been available (most popular being co.kr).
ComScore has reported similar success for the Naver search engine. In their study of search properties the Korean Engine scored 5th place globally with XXX searches over the month of August.
Sources:
http://www.koreanclick.com
http://inews.mk.co.kr
http://www.verisign.com
http://www.comscore.com
Ebina Cho
KISA
Korean Information Security Agency
Population: 49m
Est. Internet Users: 33.9m
Internet penetration: 69.1%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Naver 72.7%
Daum 11.5%
Yahoo! 6.2%
Search Engine Usage (% market share)
1st
2nd
3rd
All material is copyright to the respective authors. This document is released under a Creative Commons License with “Some Rights Reserved”.
This material may be published, broadcast or redistributed but must remain free of charge.
Spain
Summary Comments
With regard to the previous study we can see a slight increase of Google market share in detriment of minor search engines like Terra or Altavista, who have plummeted.
Msn, which used to be the fifth in the list, goes up to the third position. Yahoo remains stable despite being the site that lures more visitors to in Spain. Apparently, users tend to identify Yahoo more as a portal than as a search engine but I dare to predict that this tendency can change in the future, and those visitors might become searchers.
Sources:
http://www.aimc.es
Oskar Carreras
WebCertain
http://www.webcertain.com
Population: 40.4m
Est. Internet Users: 19.2m
Internet penetration: 47.5%
0
10
20
30
40
50
Google 47.7%
Yahoo 17.4%
MSN 5.2%
Terra.es 4%
Search Engine Usage (% market share)
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
All material is copyright to the respective authors. This document is released under a Creative Commons License with “Some Rights Reserved”.
This material may be published, broadcast or redistributed but must remain free of charge.
The Netherlands
Summary Comments
Google is the absolute and uncontested market leader in The Netherlands. Ilse used to hold a much stronger position – but loses market share pretty much every month.
Five years ago the market share from Google was 32% and Ilse had 19%. Five years ago 62% of the internet users indicated they used Ilse sometimes, where only 49% used Google. It was well known back then that Google was mostly used by the more knowledgeable and tech savvy internet users, where the average user still used other search engines. (Mainly Ilse.) This explains the large difference in “being used sometimes” and market share Google claimed back then – more tech savvy and active internet users obviously made more searches.
I can vividly remember the immense mouth-to-mouth exposure Google had back then and Google’s market share has grown with an unbelievably fast pace.
As future developments go, Google is really starting to reach the limits as far as market share and usage go. The bigger a company gets, the more people start disliking it, so sooner or later I would expect the growth to stop or even notice a small decline in market share in favor of some new hype. A good example of where is has happened is Internet Explorer / Firefox or even Windows / Linux. I foresee the growth continuing in the immediate future though!
Peter Kersbergen
WebCertain
http://www.webcertain.com
Population: 16.5m
Est. Internet Users: 10.8m
Internet penetration: 65.2%
0
20
40
60
80
100
Google 94%
Iise 2%
MSN 1%
Search Engine Market Share (%)
1st
2nd
3rd
0
20
40
60
80
100
Google 97%
Iise 14%
MSN 6%
Yahoo 4%
Lycos 2%
User Reported Usage (%)
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
I use this search engine sometimes
All material is copyright to the respective authors. This document is released under a Creative Commons License with “Some Rights Reserved”.
This material may be published, broadcast or redistributed but must remain free of charge.
Ukraine
Summary Comments
Google is the market leader in Ukraine but faces competition from expanding Russian engines, who take advantage of the high percentage of Russian-speakers in the country. According to research carried out by the Kiev International Sociological Institute, 45.3% of those interviewed said they find it easier to speak Russian, 44% Ukrainian. It is easy to see why Ukraine is an attractive market for the Russians.
Yandex, the leading Russian portal, has already opened two offices in the country and successfully launched their WiFi service there.
Both Yandex (Yandex.ua) and Google (Google.co.ua) have developed Ukrainian language portals, although Google seems to have missed a trick by not taking ownership of the Google.ua address. This echos their previous situation in Russia, where it took several years of legal action to claim Google.ru.
In terms of paid advertising, Meta.ua, Yandex and Google have their own PPC systems. Mail.ru takes their adverts from Yandex and Rambler from Begun.ru, although they do offer banner advertising directly.
META.ua is the leading Ukrainian engine, founded in 1998. Inclusion is dependant on the content pertaining to Ukraine or being geographically hosted within the country’s IP range. The Bigmir.net directory also has a significant market share.
Previously owning a .ua domain has been difficult; companies are required to hold a trademark registered in Ukraine. However the new .co.ua domain is unconditional, making it the easier choice for foreign marketers.
Sources:
http://index.bigmir.net/se
Kiev International Sociological Institute
Nick Wilsdon
e3internet
http://www.e3internet.com
Population: 46.3m
Est. Internet Users: 5.2m
Internet penetration: 11.4%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Google 51.3%
Yandex 31.5%
Rambler 8.7%
Meta.ua 2.8%
Mail.ru 2.6%
Search Engine Usage (% market share)
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
Total Recorded Usage From All IPs
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Google 69.8%
Yandex 15.1%
Meta.ua 5.4%
Rambler 4.2%
Bigmir.net 3.9%
Search Engine Usage (% market share)
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
Recorded Usage From Ukraine IPs Only
All material is copyright to the respective authors. This document is released under a Creative Commons License with “Some Rights Reserved”.
This material may be published, broadcast or redistributed but must remain free of charge.
United Kingdom
Summary Comments
Developments in the UK based on Hitwise’s figures are fascinating. Despite some very competitive approaches to the market place by Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask with advertising campaigns galore, the number one search engine Google – has advanced in the last few months by 3% whilst Yahoo has lost 4%, Microsoft has lost 1% and Ask 2%. But that doesn’t add up to 100%! In fact, the biggest gainer in Hitwise’s figures is actually ‘other’ – and this doesn’t include the growth in social networking which is included in another category. Other has moved up from 3% to 7% – the equivalent of the growth in Google over the same period. The figures have barely been affected by Yahoo’s recent roll out of Panama.
Additionally, Hitwise says the total share for search engines has gone down by 2% as a result of social networking – but that doesn’t mean there are fewer searches – it is in fact the reverse. What it means is there’s now even more use of the internet to accommodate the Myspace, Bebo and Facebook new internet use. Yahoo has recently added Bebo to its partners – whilst orange has moved from Yahoo to Google.
In paid search engines, Miva and Mirago are still around – but whilst there are no specific figures – they have lost ground to the bigger boys.
Sources:
Hitwise
Andy Atkins-Krüger
WebCertain
http://www.webcertain.com
Population: 60.8m
Est. Internet Users: 37.6m
Internet penetration: 61.8%
0
20
40
60
80
100
Google 82%
Yahoo 4%
MSN/Live 4%
Ask 3%
Others 7%
Search Engine Usage (% market share)
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
All material is copyright to the respective authors. This document is released under a Creative Commons License with “Some Rights Reserved”.
This material may be published, broadcast or redistributed but must remain free of charge.
Contributors & Contacts
Bulgaria Japan
Georgi Georgiev Motoko Hunt
Investor BG PLC AJPR
http://www.ibg.bg http://www.ajpr.com
georgi@start.bg rfq@ajpr.com
China Portugal
David Temple Nuno Hipólito
China Search Marketing Search Marketing
http://www.chinasearchmarketingtour.com http://www.searchmarketing.pt
dltemple@gmail.com info@searchmarketing.pt
Czech Republic | Slovakia Russia | Ukraine
Katerina Rotterova Nick Wilsdon
BenedaGroup.com e3internet
http://www.benedagroup.com http://www.e3internet.com
katerina.rotterova@benedagroup.com n.wilsdon@e3internet.com
Estonia South Korea
Robin Gurney Ebina Cho
Altex Marketing Korean Information Security Agency
http://www.altex-marketing.com
robin@altex.ee
Denmark Spain
Rasmus Sørensen Oscar Carreras
TLA Media WebCertain
rs@tlamedia.dk http://www.webcertain.com
oskar.carreras@webcertain.com
Iceland
Kristjan Mar Hauksson Nordic eMarketing
http://www.nordicemarketing.com
kristjan@nordicemarketing.is
All material is copyright to the respective authors. This document is released under a Creative Commons License with “Some Rights Reserved”.
This material may be published, broadcast or redistributed but must remain free of charge.
Contributors & Contacts
Israel The Netherlands
Gilad Sasson Peter Kersbergen
Search Marketing WebCertain
http://www.searchmarketing.co.il http://www.webcertain.com
gilad.sasson@gmail.com peter.kersbergen@webcertain.com
Italy United Kingdom
Sante J. Achille Andy Atkins-Krüger
Search Engine Marketing Consultant WebCertain
http://blog.achille.name http://www.webcertain.com
sante@achille.name andy@webcertain.com

Emily’s Best Stuff from the Valley

www.uvmag.com ■ Utah Valley Magazine 17
made in utah valley novemberdecember2007
If you want to suggest an item for this
section please e-mail editor@uvmag.
com or mail/drop-off to 424 W. 800
North, Suite 201, Orem, UT 84057.
best stuff made
IN THE valley this month

compiled by Emily Eyring
WINTER WHISPERS
Th e still of a crisp winter’s eve calls for a cup of cocoa, a warm fi re and the soothing sounds
of classic Christmas favorites. “Mary’s Lullaby: Christmas Songs for Bedtime,” the second
CD in Deseret Book’s lullaby series, was originally produced by Utah County resident Scott
Wiley for children at bedtime. But this CD has been spotted in cars, children’s playrooms
and parents’ stereos.
Featuring specially arranged and recorded songs from local artists including Mindy Gledhill,
Debra Fotheringham and Cherie Call, these traditional tunes with a calming twist will
resonate. “Mary’s Lullaby: Christmas Songs for Bedtime” is available at Deseret Book.

WHO’S AFRAID OF …
SANTA CLAUS?
Where did the jolly old saint with a suit of
red begin? Sam Beeson, teacher at American
Fork High School, does some snazzy
storytelling to answer this question in his
new children’s book, “Santa’s First Flight.”
Using whimsical rhymes and the artsy animation of Tom Tolman, Sam takes
us back to the days of yore when skeptical town folk off ered not cookies, but cold
stares. While Santa’s travel methods and slight silhouette evolve, his cheer never
changes. “Santa’s First Flight” is available at www.covenant-lds.com.
GET YOUR ACT
TOGETHER
Just when Sara
is ready to take a
swing at an elite
tennis program, a
car wreck with the
rebellious Colton
Pratt sets her world
— and his — spinning.
Based on
the story of Alma
the Younger and
featuring a cast
and crew from
Salt Lake and Utah counties, “Turn
Around” follows Colton as he proves
he’s ready to change.
Produced by Candlelight Media,
this made-in-the-valley movie clearly
communicates the importance of responsibility.
Check out Deseret Book
or www.CandlelightMedia.com for
info on the DVD.

SIGNATURE SCENTS
All eyes — and noses — can be on you with the help of Orem-based Urban Botanic.
Available through in-home parties or at www.yourscentyourway.com, Urban
Botanic lets you free your inner chemist. Sniff and select favorite scents, mix and
match to your nose’s content, and add your exclusive aroma to unscented bath and
body products.
All Urban Botanic products are free of alcohol and formaldehyde. And now you can
add your personal perfume to an Urban Botanic oil burner for signature surroundings.

SWEET SANDWICHES
Connoisseurs can test their cookie IQ at the new
Smart Cookie location in American Fork. Create
your own ice cream sandwich from a selection of 20
homemade cookies and countless ice cream options.
Special holiday off erings include pumpkin, peppermint
and eggnog ice cream. And take note of the holiday
best-seller —cream-cheese-frosted sugar cookies.
Everything is made from scratch and costs under $3.
Visit www.smartcookiecompany.com to learn more.

Who Gets the Best Stuff?

Law enforcement efforts to contain
the emergency left by Katrina
slipped into chaos in parts of New
Orleans Tuesday — with some
police officers and firefighters even
joining looters in picking stores
clean.
At the Wal-Mart on
Tchoupitoulas Street, an initial
effort to hand out provisions to
stranded citizens quickly disintegrated
into mass looting.
Authorities at the scene said bedlam
erupted after the giveaway was
announced over the radio.
While many people carried out
food and essential supplies, others
cleared out jewelry racks and carted
out computers, TVs and appliances
on handtrucks.
Some officers joined in taking
whatever they could, including one
New Orleans cop who loaded a
shopping cart with a compact computer
and a 27-inch flat screen television.
Officers claimed there was nothing
they could do to contain the
anarchy, saying their radio communications
had broken down and
they had no direction from commanders.
“We don’t have enough cops to
stop it,” an officer said. “A mass
riot would break out if you tried.”
Inside the store, the scene alternated
between celebration and
frightening bedlam. Ashirtless man
straddled a broken jewelry case,
yelling, “Free samples, free samples
over here.”
Another man rolled a mechanized
pallet, stacked six feet high with
cases of vodka and whiskey.
Perched atop the stack was a bewildered
toddler.
Throughout the store and parking
lot, looters pushed carts and loaded
trucks and vans alongside officers.
One man said police directed him
to Wal-Mart from Robert’s
Grocery, where a similar scene was
taking place.
Acrowd in the electronics section
said one officer broke the glass
DVD case so people wouldn’t cut
themselves.
“The police got all the best stuff.
They’re crookeder than us,” one
man said.
Most officers, though, simply
stood by powerless against the tide
of law breakers.
One veteran officer said, “It’s like
this everywhere in the city. This
tiny number of cops can’t do anything
about this. It’s wide open.”
At least one officer tried futilely
to control a looter through shame.
“When they say take what you
need, that doesn’t mean an f-ing
TV,” the officer shouted to a looter.
“This is a hurricane, not a free-forall.”
Sandra Smith of Baton Rouge
walked through the parking lot
with a 12-pack of beer under each
arm.
“I came down here to get my
daughters,” she said, “but I can’t
find them.”
The scene turned so chaotic at
times that entrances were blocked
by the press of people, shopping
carts and traffic jams that sprouted
on surrounding streets.
Some groups organized themselves
into assembly lines to more
efficiently cart off goods.
Toni Williams, 25, packed her
trunk with essential supplies, such
as food and water, but said mass
looting disgusted and frightened
her.
“I didn’t feel safe. Some people
are going overboard,” she said.
Inside the store, one woman was
stocking up on make-up. She said
she took comfort in watching
police load up their own carts.
“It must be legal,” she said. “The
police are here taking stuff, too.”
(Staff writers Doug MacCash and
Keith Spera assisted in this story.)
Looters leave nothing
behind in storm’s wake
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2005 A-5
STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN McCUSKER
GARDEN DISTRICT: A New Orleans police officer is seen carrying DVDs at the Wal-Mart on Tchoupitoulas Tuesday. Many police officers said they felt helpless in
enforcing the looters, which were found all over the city.
Police officers
seen joining in
on free-for-all
By Mike Perlstein
and Brian Thevenot
Staff writer
Looter shoots N.O. officer in the head
ANew Orleans police officer was
shot in the head Tuesday after confronting
looters on the West Bank,
officials said.
Details were scarce, but officials
said the officer and another officer
confronted several looters stealing
merchandise from the Chevron station
at the corner of Shirley and
Gen. DeGaulle drives. One of the
officers went inside the store, while
the other remained outside and
confronted a man he saw looting
the store.
When he did, another looter came
from behind and shot the officer in
the head, a police officer told a
reporter for The Times-Picayune.
The officer who was shot was
rushed to West Jefferson Medical
Center, where he underwent surgery.
Other officers told a reporter
that reports from the hospital said
the wounded officer was expected
to survive. Jefferson Parish
deputies arrested four people on
the scene, and police said one of
those arrested was wounded in the
arm after exchanging gunfire with
another officer.
Relatives chose to
stay behind in
New Orleans
By Matt Brown
West Bank bureau

The Best $21 Survival Guide

The $21 Challenge
Survival
Guide
A quick reference guide by and for the members of
Simple Savings
Can you feed YOUR family for a whole week
with just $21???
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 1 of 24
What is the $21 Challenge?
Congratulations on taking on the $21 Challenge! The challenge originated from a Simple Savings
member called Barbara Kane, who managed to feed her family of four for a whole week on just $21
following a dare from her husband! Barbara wrote to tell me how she managed it and I thought it
was a great idea so spread the word. More than 50 members took part in the first Challenge to see if
they could do the same and the numbers continue to just keep growing! Members love to take part
in the Challenge together, but you can choose to do it whenever you like, at a time that suits you
and your family best. It has proved a great way to get through particularly tough times, such as
when those nasty unexpected expenses arise, or just to prove to yourself that you can do it! Many
of these members who have been doing the challenge have larger families, so the rule of thumb they
have been using is to add an extra $5.25 per extra person – it still makes for an incredibly frugal
week!
What to do…
The key to surviving the week on just $21 worth of food is organisation! How many times do we
look in our pantries and say ‘I’ve got no food, I’ll have to go shopping?’ Before you hit the shops,
stop right there! You’ll be amazed at the meals you can come up with if you really put some
thought into it. Here is the perfect opportunity to use up all those bits and pieces lurking at the back
of your food cupboards and in the freezer. The aim is to make the most out of what you have
already got on hand, not to go to the supermarket and stock up before the week starts – that’s
cheating! One infamous member from the first Challenge revealed that she had no less than 11 cans
of corn gathering dust in her pantry! While she didn’t inflict ALL of them on her family during the
Challenge week, I do believe she managed to get through a fair few! Other members have been
amazed to take a good look at their pantries and find that they could probably live comfortably out
of it for several months – they had just never thought about it before. It’s easy to get into buying
the same old things week after week, so the Challenge is a great way to re-assess your shopping
habits and re-acquaint yourself with what you and your family actually do eat!
Planning is the key
When taking on the $21 Challenge for the first time, set aside some time to really plan your menu
for the week ahead. This will prove essential in order for you to know exactly what you are going
to be cooking and exactly what you need to buy to get within your $21 budget. If you have never
used a Menu Plan before, now is the time to start! No more excuses, everything you need can be
found on the Simple Savings website here: www.simplesavings.com.au/freestuff/ and you can
download your free Menu Planner, which is exactly the same one I use and gives examples of how
to use it. Dig out your recipe books, grab a pen and paper and get planning! Best of luck!
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 2 of 24
Getting started
Before starting the Challenge, you need to think carefully about what your $21 Challenge is going
to include, to make it realistic and achievable for you and your family’s needs. Some people use the
Challenge for main meals only, to reduce the amount they spend on dinners. Others feel that they
can apply the $21 rule to ALL their grocery purchases, including every meal for the week, toiletries
or other non-food items. Choose whether you are going to be able to include everyone’s lunches or
not, or if you are going to include milk and bread in the Challenge. Many families would use up
their entire $21 quota on milk and bread alone for the week, so if this is the case in your household,
it may be better to leave those items out of the Challenge!
How Barbara managed the first ever $21 Challenge!
When Barb Kane sent me through the details of her now famous $21 Challenge, little did she know
what she had started! Below is her original menu plan for the week. Obviously these are just
examples, you don’t have to stick to this meal plan; it’s really just meant to give an idea of what
meals can be made out of what you have in the pantry when you think you have no food, and to get
people thinking. It will soon have you looking in your
cupboards for inspiration! It may not be a week full of gourmet meals, but it’s certainly a challenge
to get creative with what little you have and it’s a great way to use up all those things in the pantry
that never get round to being used!
Before she spent her $21, Barb looked in her cupboards and found she already had the following – a
tin of tuna, two chicken breasts, two frozen fish fillets, apples, pumpkin, potatoes, lemons, a box of
cereal, milk and bread.
On Monday, they had the frozen fish fillets (Barb bought sausages for her two teenage boys). She
disguised the pumpkin by mixing it with some potato and found a packet of Surprise peas left over
from a recent school camp.
On Tuesday she bought a 600g combination pack of mince and sausage meat and made a meatloaf.
She also bought some broccoli and baked potatoes.
On Wednesday she used one of the chicken breasts and the lemons to make lemon chicken and
saved one breast, planning to use it on Friday.
On Thursday she used the tin of tuna to make tuna patties and bought half a cabbage to make
coleslaw (she only used half the cabbage). One boy wouldn’t eat the tuna so there went Barb’s spare
chicken!
On Friday she bought some pasta and used leftover salami and tinned tomatoes to make a sauce to
go with it.
On Saturday she used the rest of the cabbage and some more of the mince she had purchased on
Tuesday to make a Chow Mein. She saved a small portion of mince to use on Sunday.
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 3 of 24
On Sunday she purchased some pastry and used the last of the mince to make a family sized pasty.
As you can see it’s really a case of looking at what you have and planning ahead. All Barb ended up
buying was her mince and sausages, broccoli, cabbage, pasta and pastry. A pretty small shopping
list for a whole week and nobody seemed to complain about going hungry either!
Following is a collection of helpful recipes and ideas taken from the Simple Savings Savings Forum
and members’ emails to me. If you find yourself struggling for more recipes, both the Forum and
the Savings Vault are fantastic resources for cheap and cheerful no-fuss recipes. Have a look in
your pantry and freezer and write a list of what you already have, then see how many meals you can
plan around those ingredients. You may end up with a few unusual combinations, but that’s all part
of the fun!
In case you need a little more encouragement, here are some inspiring words from some of the
members who have ‘been there and done it!’
“I did my shopping for a week for $20.60! I left my purse behind so I couldn’t add one or two
extras. Wow, how long is it since I shopped for a week with only a basket! I cheated though – I only
bought 2L milk. When I got home I washed out the old 2L bottle, made up 2L powdered milk, mixed
the two lots of milk together in a jug then halved them between the two 2L bottles. When I got home
I realised I was low on vanilla yoghurt, but no problem – I am making up a batch of yoghurt in the
Esky. The check out girl just laughed when I handed over the cash saying ‘I did it!’”
Kath M
“I had to go to the supermarket today for sour cream for the pumpkin soup we had tonight – and I
resisted so many things that normally I would just grab and not think about. I put back the bottle of
Diet Coke and decided having water instead would not kill me! I also put back the milk as I have
two bags of powdered milk in the cupboard (enough to make 20 litres). I put back the Arnott’s
Shapes for school lunches tomorrow (instead, the kids will finish off the Saladas that were hiding at
the back of the pantry). The bread maker has been working overtime and so far so good – only
$4.00 (or so) spent so far. I will probably have to grab a few things later in the week but will be
keeping it to the absolute minimum! Good luck everyone!”
Kristen
“This challenge couldn’t have come at a better time for me. We just purchased our first home.
Now we are no longer renting it is more important than ever for me to become a ‘Destitute
Gourmet’! I wish everyone taking the challenge luck, here’s to full freezers and full tummies”
Kylie
Tried and tested $21 Challenge recipes – go for it!
OK, so you’ve had a good look in your pantry, fridge and freezer and now you know exactly what
you’ve got. The next question is what are you going to do with them? Here are some tried and true
answers from members who have used their pantry staples to create some delicious miserly meals.
Enjoy!
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 4 of 24
Potatoes
Potato (and whatever you might want to use up!) Pie for One
(even though this actually makes more than one serve!)
Small amount margarine or oil or butter to sauté [Fwd: Updated S & H story]
1 onion, finely chopped
1 slice bread
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 small potato, grated (peel if you want, I don’t)
1/4 cup grated cheese
1/4 tsp salt, some black pepper.
1/4 tsp paprika
1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees C.
2. Sauté onion in melted margarine over medium heat until soft.
3. Wet bread under tap, gently squeeze excess water and tear up into small pieces. Add to onion in
mixing bowl.
4. Add egg (beaten) with salt, pepper, paprika to mix.
5. Lastly, add grated potato and cheese to mix, combine.
6. Grease or spray a suitable oven dish e.g. ramekins for individual serves, or a big Pyrex dish, or
even cake tin (depending on size of mixture and quantities). Fill with mixture, allow for some
bubbling, so don’t pack in too much!
7. Cook in oven for 20-25 minutes for single serve until lightly browned on top.
Enjoy with vegies.
Hot tip: I added some grated zucchini and chicken breast pieces last time, and topped with little
extra grated cheese and it was REALLY yummy! Saved two serves, froze them and had more great
dinners for later.
(Jo L)
Savoury Baked Potatoes
One good way of using left over bolognaise or chilli con carne is to choose as many medium to
large sized potatoes as you have people to feed and scrub them. Microwave until cooked through.
Cut a slit in the top and spoon out some of the potato. (You can put it in a soup or casserole.)
Place potatoes close together on an oven proof dish and place your bolognaise sauce or chilli over
the top (how much you use depends on how much left over you have!).
Add grated cheese or salsa (if you are using chilli) over this and bake in a moderate oven until
cheese melts.
Judith L
You could simply use salsa and grated cheese if liked – I have even used tomato relish and cheese
before now if there are no leftovers! Other members have tried the chilli version and added sour
cream or mashed avocado to serve. Basically, once you have the potatoes you can put almost
anything on the top – baked beans, left over tuna mornay, savoury mince with grated cheese on top
– you get the idea! Serve with a salad for a tasty, well balanced meal.
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 5 of 24
Tuna
Tuna Pasta Sauce
Small can tuna in oil (anything from a 100g tin up), drained and oil reserved
1 large chopped onion
1 green pepper, sliced
1 teaspoon minced garlic or 1 clove garlic
375g tomato puree (or if you already have a tin of tomatoes just puree that)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 cup white wine
Black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons chopped parsley (or basil)
Olives if you have any
Use oil from tuna to cook onion, pepper and garlic for 3 to 4 minutes until onion is soft.
Stir in tomato puree and paste and wine and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Add tuna to sauce and cook,
stirring gently for 4 to 5 minutes. Spoon sauce over pasta and toss to combine. Garnish with olives
(black are best), parsley and pepper. You can also use a tin of smoked mussels instead of the tuna.
Any of the flavoured or herbed tunas are good too.
Judith L
Tropical Tuna
4 cups approx cooked pasta (elbows or spirals are best)
1 large tin tuna in brine
1 small tin pineapple pieces
1 tin tomato soup or crushed tomatoes
1 green pepper
Slice green pepper, drain pineapple pieces.
Put pepper, pineapple juice and tomato soup in a saucepan and heat until almost boils, add
pineapple pieces.
Put pasta in base of ovenproof dish and spread tuna over top.
Pour tomato and pineapple mixture over.
Cover and bake in moderate oven for about 30 minutes.
We sometimes just have a sauce of chopped fresh tomatoes, zucchini, garlic and onion simmered
with some wine and herbs. Add lots of black pepper and you have a very tasty pasta sauce. Any left
over is good as a pizza topping or spread over an omelette.
Judith L
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 6 of 24
Tuna Pasta Bake Recipe
Serves two.
60g uncooked pasta (makes 180g cooked)
100g can of tuna in brine
1 tbsp Masterfoods tomato and mustard sauce
60g grated cheese
2 slices of bread, processed to crumbs
Boil water and cook pasta for 12 minutes, then drain. Drain tuna and break up into small pieces.
Mix pasta, tuna and sauce together. Put into two-person sized baking dish. Mix breadcrumbs and
cheese together and sprinkle on top (it will be difficult to spread). Bake at 180 degrees Celsius until
golden.
Submitted to the Savings Vault by Shane O and recommended by Jenny W
Tuna Pie
1 large can of tuna
Two largish handfuls of cracker biscuits (like Jatz but Home Brand)
1 cup grated cheese
1 diced onion
1 cup milk
Couple of sprigs of parsley from the garden
3 eggs
Blend together (I used a hand mixer) and cook in a greased pie dish / container for 30 – 40 minutes
at around180 degrees. This turned out sooooo yummy my husband ate the remainder of the whole
pie. He was drooling! Hope you can try it and enjoy it too.
Naomi B (Simple Savings Staff)
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 7 of 24
Pasta
Tomato and Salami Pasta Sauce
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 small onion, chopped
1 sliced green pepper
1 clove garlic
White wine or water
Oil
Black pepper
About 150g sliced salami (but you could use bacon or ham)
Basically the same instructions as the previous recipe, but if you use bacon you will need to fry it
first. You could add slices of zucchini or eggplant, along with some dried or fresh oregano.
Judith L
Minted Pea and Lemon Pesto Pasta
400g fettuccine
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup mint leaves
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted
¼ cup grated cheese (parmesan if you like it)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ cup olive oil
Salt and pepper
Cook the pasta. Put everything else in the food processor until roughly chopped. Add to pasta.
I guess it’s a bit expensive for some unless you’ve already got pine nuts in the cupboard, but I
thought I’d add it because it’s so simple!
Kazari (ACT)
Sausage Pasta
I don’t have an exact quantity only because I usually use left over sausages.
Spiral pasta works best with this recipe but you can use any pasta you have in the cupboard. Cook
sausages as to your liking and then slice into bite size pieces.
Cook pasta as directed on the packet. Once the pasta has been cooked, combine pasta sauce/tinned
tomatoes, sausages and herbs and heat through.
Sylvia S (VIC)
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 8 of 24
Spaghetti Carbonara – recipe from MSN recipe website
500g spaghetti
1 tablespoon olive oil
20g butter
250g bacon, cut into strips
1 onion, chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
60g grated parmesan cheese
¼ cup chopped parsley (optional)
Extra parmesan, for serving
Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add the pasta and cook according to packet instructions. (It is
important to time this well, as the pasta has to be just cooked and very hot to mix with the
remaining ingredients.)
Heat oil and butter in a frying pan. Add bacon and cook until crisp. If pasta isn’t ready, turn off and
reheat at the last minute.
Drain spaghetti and return to the pot. Add bacon mixture and toss in the egg. Using tongs toss
thoroughly. Toss through the parsley if using and serve immediately with extra cheese.
Jenny W
Lasagna
500g minced beef
1 jar of bolognaise sauce (I tend to use Dolmio as I buy it on special for as cheap as $1.39 a jar)
1 can of diced tomatoes
Lasagna sheets
Grated cheese
White sauce
Brown mince and then add spaghetti bolognaise sauce and tomatoes. Cook for 10 minutes. Let cool.
White sauce:
I can’t give you exact measurements as I guess, but the cook books says ‘1 tablespoon of butter, 1 ½
tablespoons of flour (I use self raising but the books say plain) and 1 cup of milk. I would multiply
these ingredients by 1 ½. Melt butter and then add the flour; will form a soft ball of dough. Slowly
mix in the milk until you have a smooth mixture. Let cool.
Layer the ingredients in a large, deep tray with the meat, lasagna sheets, meat, white sauce, cheese
and then re-layer again as from the lasagna sheets, ending with meat and cheese. Cook in the oven
for 50-60 minutes at 180C.
Submitted to the Savings Vault by Elizabeth B and recommended by Jenny W
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 9 of 24
Pasta with Chicken, White Wine and Cream
This is a quick and easy recipe that tastes great.
Cooked pasta (penne or spiral best)
2 tsp crushed garlic
1 chopped onion
½ chopped shallot
200g shredded cooked chicken
250ml pouring cream
White wine
Parmesan cheese
Chicken stock powder
Put 2 tbsp olive oil in frypan on medium heat. Add chopped onion, garlic and shallots until onion is
caramelised. Add chook and mix through, add two good splashes of wine and allow it to reduce.
Add cream, two tbsp of parmesan cheese and two good pinches of chicken stock. Allow the cream
to thicken before adding the cooked pasta and toss through. Enjoy!
Julie D
Basic Pasta Sauce
2 onions
4 cloves garlic
2 carrots
Few sticks celery
Olive oil
Butter
2 tins peeled tomatoes
Chop all the vegetables except tomatoes together in a food processor. Drizzle oil in saucepan, add
knob of butter. Add the onions, garlic, carrots and celery and cook on low for 15 minutes. Add
tomatoes, salt and pepper and simmer for 30 minutes. I use this sauce for pasta and for polenta.
Jacqui A
Pasta Bake
Cook and drain pasta of choice.
Place in a large casserole dish and stir through a tin of crushed tomatoes, a tablespoon of butter and
a tablespoon of flour. Add any leftover chopped vegetables or ham. Sprinkle a cup of grated cheese
over the top, then mix up some egg and milk to pour over. Bake until set. The result is much like the
jar mixes where you add them to cooked pasta and pop in the oven.
Jennifer G
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 10 of 24
Creamy Pasta with Bacon
300ml cream (or milk or Carnation milk mixed with 2 tsp flour/cornflour)
1 medium onion, diced finely
2 rashers of bacon, chopped finely
1 garlic clove, crushed (or 1 tsp of garlic from the jar)
Cracked black pepper
Cooked pasta
Fry up onion, garlic and bacon on medium to high heat until just cooked. Reduce heat (low -
medium) and pour in liquid. Stir until thick and creamy. Sprinkle with pepper. Serve on top of pasta
with parmesan or grated cheese.
You can add heaps of vegetables to this too. Carrot, cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms – whatever is
available. Another simple way to enjoy pasta is to add one or two tablespoons of pesto to cooked
pasta with a tin of tuna or cheese.
Lauren N
Carnation Pasta
300g spaghetti or pasta
1 tbsp oil
3 cups sliced vegetables (e.g. red capsicum, courgette, mushrooms)
375ml can Carnation evaporated milk
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
¾ cup grated cheese
Salt & pepper
Cook pasta to directions. Heat oil in pan, add vegetables and cook two minutes. Add combined
Carnation milk, cornflour and mustard. Bring to boil, stirring. Stir in cheese and simmer for one
minute. Toss through cooked pasta and season to taste.
Penny W
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 11 of 24
Rice & TVP
Mushroom Risotto
4-6 large sliced mushrooms
2 cups rice cooked in vegetable stock
1 tbsp butter
Grated parmesan cheese
Sauté mushrooms in butter and add to cooked rice. Sprinkle with parmesan.
Kirby P
Beans and Rice
This one is easy, cheap, and popular with even my fussy boy. We just call it “beans and rice” or
“chili con carne, without chili or carne” ☺
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic, crushed
Cumin seeds, any other spices your family likes (even chilli if they eat it )
1 ½ cups of rice
1 can diced tomatoes
1 big can kidney beans
1 heaped tsp stock powder (Massel is good – vegetarian & gluten free) dissolved in 1 cup of water
Extra water
Grated cheese
Sour cream
Heat oil & gently cook garlic and spices.
Add rice, stir to coat, cook about 1 minute.
Stir in tomatoes, drained kidney beans and stock.
Put a lid on the pan and cook on low heat until rice is cooked and a little creamy. Keep checking the
pan and stirring in 1/2 cup water at a time to keep the rice from drying out and sticking (you will
need to do this a few times- maybe 4 or 5).
When done, serve with sour cream, grated cheese & salad.
I should say that:
1. The quantities are VERY approximate as I made it up and I rarely measure anything!
2. The sour cream was a refinement we added later as we happened to have sour cream in the
fridge, and we thought it would taste good (it does) BUT you don’t really need it at all. It’s still
pretty yummy, and filling!
Kath M
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 12 of 24
Mung Beans with Rice
This recipe comes from the Philippines
Dried mung beans
Chopped onion
Crushed garlic (or you could use bottled to taste)
Crushed ginger
Chopped chilli – optional
Leftover meat if you have any – BBQ chops, bacon, chicken or whatever – if using chops put in the
bone as well.
Mushrooms – optional
Water
Chicken stock cube
In a saucepan, boil the mung beans until soft (almost like baked beans consistency).
Remove from pan.
Fry onion, garlic, chilli, meat if using and ginger in pan.
Add mung beans back to mix.
Add more water to ensure enough for soup as the beans will absorb it.
Add chicken stock and simmer until cooked through.
Serve with a little rice in bottom of bowl – very filling, cheap, yummy and very good for you!
Angela C
TVP Bolognaise
1 onion, diced
2 cups TVP
1 tin tomato soup
2 cups water
2 tbsp tahini
Garlic and herbs to taste
Fry the onion in a little oil. Add soup, water, TVP and herbs and simmer for
20 minutes. Stir in tahini and it will become thick and creamy. Serve over
pasta. So yummy and cheap!
Helen T
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 13 of 24
Eggs
Impossible Pie
4 eggs
2 cups of milk
1/2 cup SR flour
1 dessertspoon melted butter
Whatever you want to flavour it with, e.g. bacon and onion, tomato, tuna, whatever you have to
hand.
Grated cheese for topping.
Combine all together, pour into a greased casserole dish and bake for about 50 minutes at 180C.
Katrina M
Salmon Quiche
½ cup plain flour
¼ tsp baking powder
4 beaten eggs
2 cups milk
75g melted butter
1 440g can pink salmon, drained
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp chives
Sift flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and stir in eggs, milk and
butter. Add salmon, onion and cheese and mix well. Pour into a greased dish and cook at 180C for
about 45 minutes until set. Perfect for lunches the next day too!
Penny W
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 14 of 24
Chicken
Magic Chicken Pies (Destitute Gourmet recipe)
Makes 12-15 small pies with very little chicken!
1 leek sliced
Handful of mushrooms sliced
25g butter
2 tbsp flour
250ml milk
300g cooked potato cut in small slices
1 tsp dried thyme
1 single chicken breast, cooked and shredded
Salt & pepper
2-3 sheets pastry (or make your own)
1 beaten egg
Preheat oven to 200C.
Sauté leek and mushrooms in butter till soft. Stir in flour and gradually add milk till thick sauce is
formed. Add potato, thyme, salt and pepper and chicken and set to cool.
Grease medium muffin tins and line with pastry then spoon in chicken filling. Use leftover strips of
pastry to make lattice tops and brush with egg to glaze. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden.
Barb
Easy Chicken Curry
Serves 4
Chicken pieces (enough to serve four people)
1 large onion, chopped
1 tbsp flour
250g container sour cream
50g butter
2 tsp curry powder
1 tin condensed cream of chicken soup
Salt & pepper
Paprika
Cook chicken pieces in oven until ‘done’. Heat butter in pan and gently sauté onion and curry
powder until tender. Add flour, stir until combined and remove from heat. Add soup, sour cream
and salt and pepper and stir. Return pan to heat and stir until sauce thickens, then reduce heat and
simmer for two minutes. Pour sauce over chicken and sprinkle with paprika. Serve with rice.
Penny W
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 15 of 24
French Onion Chicken
Serves 5
8-10 chicken drumsticks
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 packet French Onion soup
1 chopped onion
1 tbsp soy sauce
½ cup water
Fry the chopped onion in a small amount of oil in a frypan for a couple of minutes.
While cooking, put the drumsticks in the base of the crock pot.
Combine tomatoes, soup, soy sauce, water and cooked onion. Pour over chicken, turn and coat
well. Cover and cook on low for eight hours. Serve with rice and steamed vegetables.
Submitted to the Savings Vault by Carol T and recommended by Penny W
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 16 of 24
Meat
Home Burgers (Destitute Gourmet recipe)
For up to 6 burgers
500g mince
½ onion, chopped
Pinch mixed herbs
3 tbsp fresh breadcrumbs
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 egg
Salt & pepper
Burger buns
Tomato sauce
Combine the first 7 ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Divide the mixture into portions and shape
into patties. Grill, fry or BBQ the patties and serve them in the buns with salad or however you like
them.
Penny W
Star Wars Stew
450g sausages, cut in one inch slices
1 medium onion, chopped
175g chopped bacon
220g tin baked beans
1 small tin sweet corn kernels
1 large tin tomatoes, chopped
1 bay leaf
Salt & pepper
2 large potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
Heat a little fat in a 3 litre casserole (or if the casserole is unsuitable for stove top, brown in a frypan
and transfer to casserole when browned). Add sausages, onion and bacon and brown gently. Then
add the beans, sweet corn and tomatoes. Add the bay leaf and season well with salt and pepper.
Top with the thinly sliced potatoes, cover with lid or foil and cook gently at 150C for about 2 ½
hours. Remove the lid and turn heat up to 190C for another 30 minutes to slightly brown the
potatoes. You can top with grated cheese if liked, just return to the oven for a few minutes until
cheese melts. Sounds a strange combination, but everyone loves it!
Penny W
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 17 of 24
Beef Stew
I usually pick up cheap steak for $5.98kg.
Dice meat and place it in a plastic bag with some flour so the meat is covered.
Place some butter or oil in a pot and brown meat. Add some onions.
Add any vegetables that you have in the cupboard/fridge such as potato, sweet potato, carrots,
broccoli, peas, beans, cauliflower. You can also add a can of four bean mix (red lentils and so on)
if liked. Pour in water until just covered and simmer till all tender. Add gravy powder, spices, soy,
Worcestershire sauce or whatever seasoning you like. Serve with rice. I always make heaps and
freeze it in individual portions as my own microwave dinners/lunches.
Kate P
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 18 of 24
Baking
Slack Scones ☺
My slack way of making scones is like this:
2 cups SR flour
2 heaped tablespoons of butter/margarine
Pinch of salt
One cup of milk
Sift flour and salt and then rub in with butter. Add enough milk to make a dough and cut into
scones. Bake in oven at 180C for 10-12 minutes.
Jenny W
Strawberry Yoghurt Muffins
120g (1/2 cup) margarine
120g (1/2 cup) sugar
2 eggs
150g strawberry yoghurt
70ml (or more) milk
170g fresh strawberries, chopped
1 lemon, juice & rind
280g (2.5 cups) self raising flour
Preheat oven to 180C, prepare pans. Blend the margarine & sugar & beat in the eggs, yoghurt &
milk. Fold in the chopped strawberries, lemon juice & rind & very carefully fold in the flour to
avoid squashing the fruit. Spoon into muffin cases and bake for about 20 minutes, longer if frozen
fruit is used.
My improvisations: I left out the milk and used all yoghurt (because I was trying to use it up), I just
added a squirt of lemon juice rather than the juice of a whole lemon & rind, and I used apple &
peaches in place of the strawberry. They’re incredibly moist!
Kerrie P
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 19 of 24
Raisin Muffins
1 ½ cups raisins
1 ½ cups water
½ cup of raw sugar
½ cup butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ cups SR flour
Put the raisins, water, butter and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for two minutes,
then let cool for an hour. Add the egg, vanilla and flour. Place in greased muffin tins. Cook at
200C for 15 minutes
Helen T.
Marie Biscuit Hedgehog
1.5 cups margarine/butter
480g sugar
6 tbsp cocoa
6 tbsp coconut
3 eggs
6 cups crushed Marie biscuits (around 2 – 2.5 packets)
Melt butter and sugar and remove from heat. Add cocoa and mix well, then add egg and coconut
and mix again. Stir in biscuit crumbs and mix well. Pour into lined (aluminium foil will do) slice
tray, flatten out and sprinkle coconut on top or sprinkles for colour. Place in fridge until set. You
can also put icing on top; this freezes really well and is yummy!
Jay T
Five-cup Loaf
This is a great cake when there is “nothing” in the cupboard; it keeps well and you can change the
sultanas to mixed fruit, apricots or chocolate chips with a tablespoon of cocoa.
1 cup SR flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup coconut
1 cup sultanas
Mix all together and bake in a loaf tin in moderate oven until cooked.
Jay T
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 20 of 24
Fudgy Choc Chip Cookies
A yummy cookie, crisp on the outside, moist and rich inside! Store in an airtight container in a cool
place.
2 eggs
1 cup lightly packed soft brown sugar
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 cups self raising flour
½ cup cocoa, sifted
½ cup dark chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan-forced. Line baking trays with baking paper.
2. Beat together eggs, brown sugar and oil. Add vanilla, flour and cocoa and beat to combine. Stir
through chocolate chips.
3. Roll teaspoonfuls of mixture in balls, then flatten slightly. Place on prepared trays. Bake for 12-
15 minutes or until cooked through. Cool on wire racks.
Ruth K
Last but not least, no $21 Challenge would be complete without a recipe for using up all those tins
of sweet corn and tomatoes – this one cleverly uses both!
Tomato and Corn Soup
1 chopped onion
1 tsp chicken stock powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 x 400g tin tomatoes, chopped with the juice
1 ½ cups tomato puree (I would just puree one of the tins of tomatoes)
2 tsp dried parsley (I am sure fresh would be better)
1 x 420g creamed corn
1 x 420g can corn kernels
¼ tsp chilli powder
chopped fresh mint to serve
Cook onion, stock powder and coriander in a little tomato juice until the onion is soft. Add
remaining ingredients, except mint and cook until heated through. Garnish with mint to serve. Only
about 1.5g of fat per serve!
Judith L
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 21 of 24
Planning your menu
So now you have some recipes on hand to help you along the way, it’s time to finish filling in your
menu plan. Even the most seasoned menu planners can struggle organising a week’s worth of
meals for just $21, but it does get easier, we promise! Another bonus of doing the Challenge is that
you learn to become very resourceful and this skill often carries on well after the Challenge has
finished for long term savings! Here’s one of my own menu plans specifically for the Challenge,
based on what I had in the cupboard and freezer that week. I pinched it from a blog extract so you
can see how I came up with the menu. Six of the seven meals mentioned are among the recipes
included in this guide!
Monday: Easy Chicken Curry with Rice. The easiest curry recipe ever and one of Noel’s
favourites! Found can of Creamy Chicken Soup in pantry left over from Ali’s post-op recovery
period. Already have sour cream in fridge, chicken pieces in freezer and rice in pantry. Ran out of
curry powder last week though!
Tuesday: Salmon Quiche with Green Vegetables. Found a 440g can of pink salmon in pantry.
Will need to buy eggs but have cheese on hand, chives and broccoli in the garden and plenty of
other vegies in the freezer.
Wednesday: Carnation Pasta. My favourite recipe for using up evaporated milk! Found can of lite
evaporated milk in pantry. Also have pasta in pantry and mushrooms and capsicums and cheese in
the fridge, will just need to buy a couple of zucchini or could substitute for something else if
zucchini too expensive. Had better grab a piece of steak from the freezer for Noel to go with it too.
Thursday: Star Wars Stew. Haven’t made this for years! From one of my kid’s cookbooks I’ve had
since I was nine years old! Perfect for the crock pot too, just chuck it all in and forget about it. I
remembered this recipe when I found a couple of tins of tomatoes and a can of sweet corn in the
pantry. You also need sausages and bacon, which I already have in the freezer, onions which I have
and potatoes, which I’m going to have to buy.
Friday: Reminded myself to look in the freezer as well as the pantry and came up with ‘Home
Burgers’ – a Destitute Gourmet recipe. I already have the mince in the freezer and all other patty
ingredients in the pantry, just need to buy some burger buns. Will use some of the bought potatoes
to make home-made potato wedges too.
Saturday: French Onion Chicken. Courtesy of the Vault and a great way to use up the sachet of
French Onion soup from the pantry! Another good crock pot recipe too. Will have enough chicken
pieces left in the freezer from Monday and can use up the other tin of tomatoes from the pantry too.
Nice with rice or mashed potatoes, both of which I will have, along with more vegetables from the
freezer (I always prepare and freeze my fresh vegetables as soon as I buy them, so always have
plenty on hand – broccoli, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, pumpkin – you name it!)
Sunday: Roast Dinner. We always have a Sunday roast, just as my mum raised me! Normally I
would have to buy one during the week, but thanks to Noel’s generous client last week we have half
a ton of pork in the freezer so it won’t be necessary to buy one! Will still have plenty of potatoes to
roast, along with all necessary ingredients for Yorkshire Pudding and of course all the vegies I need
in the freezer!
That’s about it I think! We never eat dessert as we’re always too full, so don’t have to worry about
those. I have bananas in the freezer to make the kids banana muffins for lunchboxes and after
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 22 of 24
school snacks and rolled oats in the pantry to make Anzac biscuits. So from what I can see at the
moment, my shopping list to get me through the week should look like this:
Potatoes
Bread & burger buns
Milk
Eggs
Zucchini (if not too expensive)
Tomatoes for sandwiches ($2.00 for a huge bag from a local lady selling them outside her house!)
Potato chips for the boys’ lunchboxes
Other members have kindly shared their menu plans on the Forum as follows:
From Kristen:
“After going through my cupboards I have managed to find enough bits and pieces to make:
Monday – home-made pumpkin soup and macaroni cheese with chicken.
Tuesday – Tuna risotto and golden syrup dumplings.
Wednesday – Topside steak (probably make it into a casserole for the slow cooker).
Thursday – Home-made asparagus and sweetcorn soup and muffin pizzas.
Friday – Salmon casserole with mash and vegies.
Saturday – Chicken fillets (with a sauce of cream, French Onion soup mix and chopped bacon) and
steamed vegies.
Sunday – Curried tuna slice and apple crumble.
I have enough bread in the freezer as well as bread mix for the bread maker for breakfasts and
lunches, as well as enough cereal in the pantry to last the week. I also have milk powder in the
pantry for when the fresh stuff runs out. Should have enough vegies for the week in the fridge -
pumpkin, potatoes, onions, cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, peas, corn and carrots. Lunches will be
sandwiches, tinned soup, spaghetti or baked beans on toast, eggs a la whatever (to coin Ron’s
phrase) and/or pasta with grated cheese. For snacks I intend to make some cheese scones, some
pikelets, a cake (ALDI packet mix in pantry) and some biscuits (bulk freezable recipe from the
Vault). I also have unopened boxes of Saladas, rice cakes and Vita Weet biscuits in the pantry.
Have a stockpile of toilet paper and laundry detergent from recent sales. Went through bathroom
cupboards and found numerous bottles of shampoo, conditioner, deodorant etc with little bits in the
bottom, enough for the week (don’t you love it when the kids open the new bottle before the old one
is finished). My shopping list for the week so far contains macaroni, sour cream, custard and ham.
Will be starting the challenge on Monday! Bring it on!”
From Kath M:
“Dinners will consist of:
Spaghetti bolognaise (everything already in stock)
Pea soup (froze some last week) with bread
Satay beef on rice (everything in stock, including beef and jar of simmer sauce)
Fish and chips (in freezer again)
Fried rice with bacon and tofu
Beans and rice with salad
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 23 of 24
Lunches will consist of:
Bread roll/corn thins with any or all of cheese, jam, margarine, Vegemite
Piece of fruit (apple or mandarin)
Slice of chocolate cake/freshly popped popcorn/microwave prawn crackers
Breakfasts: choice of muesli/Weetbix/ rice porridge/ rice flakes with milk/yoghurt, fruit juice, toast
if desired
To bake: Gluten free bread & bread rolls, gluten free chocolate cake, pineapple upside-down cakes
for Friday staff morning tea
To buy: eggs, milk, apples, mandarins, cheese slices, maybe one bottle fruit juice, toilet paper, 1kg
‘normal’ flour for the morning tea cakes: That’s it!”
Hopefully by now you’ve got the idea! To all new Challengers, have fun! Get the family involved
and let them know what you’re doing. You’ll be surprised how much they support you. And for
those who aren’t so supportive, amaze them with your strength of resolve! To those who have done
the Challenge before, I hope this little guide is of some help for your next one. Thank you to
everyone who has contributed. If you have any contributions you would like to add to this guide for
future updates, please email me penny@simplesavings.com.au. Oh – and let me know how you go
with the Challenge!
Penny
© 2007 Simple Savings International Pty Ltd. Page 24 of 24