DiJiPOP, which markets an on-demand shopper marketing technology platform, this morning announced that it has raised $1 million more, bringing its total to $2 million.

The investment round was led by Bill Cesare, who led the company’s initial investment round in late 2009.

Others participating in the round include Angel Street Capital and unnamed private investors.

DiJiPOP was launched just over a year ago out of Betaspring, a Rhode-Island based tech startup incubator. The company employs 9 people, including executive team members, and plans to use the funding to ramp up sales and marketing efforts and product development.

DiJiPOP’ basically aims to automate the digital shopper marketing process, enabling retailers to run both paid and non-paid marketing programs on their ecommerce websites.

The startup’s on-demand platform lets retailers dynamically create product ads and manage, and optimize campaigns in real time.

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

Small businesses are predicted to maintain steady marketing budgets next year, including spending on websites, direct mail, e-mail marketing, social media and print advertising, according to a recent survey by Zoomerang and GrowBiz Media.

Small business marketing budgets leaned toward websites this year, with 39% of SMBs with fewer than 1,000 employees spending greater than 20% of their budgets in that area. spending is expected to continue in favor of websites, as 17% of respondents plan to increase budgets for their sites in 2011 — the highest percentage increase in planning for any marketing item included in the survey. In comparison, 15% of respondents reported that they plan to spend more on e-mail marketing next year, while 13% of respondents plan to up their social media marketing budgets.

According to the survey, 54% of respondents indicated that their businesses currently have websites. Regarding website features, the vast majority (80%) of websites include general business information, while customer service (45%), lead generation (35%) and e-commerce (30%) features trail in at a distant second, third and fourth places. A mere 13% of businesses reported having a blog.

The survey indicates that there is room for improvement among small business websites, including the addition of more value-added features, such as online shops, reservation systems and relevant content via corporate blogs. We see this as an opportunity for small businesses with brochure-like websites to progress into the 21st century with more useful and superior designed websites.

Social media is predicted to be the third most increased area for online marketing spending next year. Among the more than 750 businesses surveyed, 34% indicated that they currently engage in social media marketing. Of those using social media, FacebookFacebook (80%), LinkedInLinkedIn (37%) and TwitterTwitter (27%) were the most commonly used platforms.

As use of basic social media tools increases, we believe greater adoption of other technologies, such as location-based services, group buying platforms, 2-D scanning technologies — such as QR codes — and mobile and web apps will take place, as well. In the end, it all depends on business owners’ willingness to test and adopt new technologies.

The beauty is that all of these advancements are materializing, even on low budgets. The majority of respondents (55%) reported having marketing budgets of less than $1,000, while an additional 20% of respondents reported budgets of between $1,000 and $9,000. With low budgets, small businesses seem to be making the most of the web and its low-cost marketing opportunities.

How is your small business utilizing the on the web space to market your products and services?

More Business Resources from Mashable:

– Why SMS Marketing Still Makes Sense for Small Business
– 4 Job Search Tips for Aspiring SEO/SEM Specialists
– HOW TO: Define the Role of Your Social Media Team
– Why Your Business Must Embrace the Foreign Language Internet
– The Biggest Brands on Facebook

Image courtesy of iStockphotoiStockphoto, kemalbas

For more Business coverage:

• Follow Mashable Business
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See also pozycjonowanie

You've Done Some Marketing…now You Can Really Get Educated in the Subject

If this is the first marketing article you are reading, go find some other more basic articles that I have written and then come back. This data is for the intermediate to advanced marketers.

I want to go over a three-step outline for your marketing which
 are:

1)Surveys

2)Getting Attention

3)Postage

Marketing surveys save you from flying blind in your business marketing strategies and are the best way to find out what you should be offering, to whom and how. When you don't really know what to put in your direct mail marketing it's because you haven't done your research.

In order to get the response you would like on your direct mail marketing campaign, one area you need to look at is whether or not you are using a survey to find out what to say to your public. You may immediately answer “No – I don't survey.” But truthfully, it's very possible you do and just don't realize it….read on.

You know your market quite well because you already sell to them. You're unwittingly surveying all the time. Take this example:

An optometrist has an optical boutique. He knows that the biggest market for his eyewear are women from the ages of 40 to 65 years old. How does he know that? His women's frame inventory is constantly being restocked fives times more than his men's frame stock or even children's. And the types of women's frames are ones compatible with no-line bifocals. Interesting! Let's look at what else this optometrist knows. He knows that these women pay a higher price point for their eyewear because the products he keeps reordering are from the more upscale designers so these women probably have more discretionary income. That is what I mean by surveying unwittingly.

Now let's take an example where you are sure you have no data:

View also pozycjonowanie

The first of the Adventure Vacations is Machu Pichu Peru. Machu Pichu is the historical ground of the Incas. The grounds are known as the “Lost City of The Incas.” Located near Cusco above the Urubamba Valley, the incredible world wonder is truly something to view. There are several theories on why Machu Pichu was built all contributing to its mystery. Some believe the city was built for Incan aristocracy. Other believe that the city was built in approximately 1440 and that it was chosen for its unusual features and built as a fort for protection from attack. If planning to visit Machu Pichu you will fly from a major U.S. airport to Lima Peru. From Lima one must take the train to Machu Pichu. You will need to allow several days to explore the ruins.

There is also a hiking expedition along the Inca Trail, which takes several days. It is wise to plan ahead of time with a professional tour company to arrange the method by which you will tour this fabulous collection of Incan History and artifacts. Make the most of one of the most incredible Adventure Vacations available by planning and organizing your trip ahead of time. For more information or professionally guided trips to Machu Pichu visit the Web site for The California Native International Adventures.

Catia

God Of War is a massive PS2 game produced by Sony Computer Games. The game offers extremely cool gameplay options with some incredible moves and combos that you can perform with the player character – Kratos. God
 of War has good graphics, good sounds, excellent gameplay, and so on, but I don't recommend it to anyone – primarily because of how disgusting it is with all the sexual themes and gore. I cannot understand why this beautiful game was reduced to such sickening nonsense. Without the nudity, the sexual themes and such, this is a really cool game, but it really destroys the character of God of War and of your character in the game with all that stuff in there. Play at your own risk.

Did you know – you can become a game tester and make $10-$70 per hour just testing games for major companies. You  also get to keep the games that you test. Here are the complete details.

You can find the cheapest prices for games right here.

Below are the cheats and cheat codes for God of War (PS2). As far as I know, they all work just fine.Unlockable: Credits

Beat the game on any difficulty.

Unlockable: Deleted Levels

Beat the game on any difficulty.

Unlockable: Heroic Possibilities

Beat the game on any difficulty.

Unlockable: Monsters of Myth

Beat the game on any difficulty.

Unlockable: God Mode (difficulty)

Beat the game on any difficulty.

Unlockable: Challenge of the Gods

Beat the game on any difficulty.

Unlockable: A Secret Revealed

Beat the game on God Mode difficulty.

Unlockable: The Fate of the Titans

Beat the game on God Mode difficulty.

Unlockable: In-Game Movies

Beat the game on any difficulty.

Unlockable: Character Graveyard

Beat the game on any difficulty.

Unlockable: The Birth of the Beast

Beat the game on any difficulty.

Unlockable: Visions of Ancient Greece

Beat the game on any difficulty.

Unlockable: Additional Costumes

After beating God of War's Challenge of the Gods, you'll unlock five new costumes for Kratos. Apart from just looking different, Kratos actually has different attributes for his damage power and defense power, and will also collect different levels of health, magic, and red experience orbs.

{
|

|

(Serves two)

Ingredients for the lasagne:

*4 sheets of fresh or dried lasagne
*2-4 very fresh large eggs
*4tbsp white wine, vinegar or malt vinegar
*4-6 slices of smoked salmon

Ingredients for the hollandaise sauce:

*1 large egg, separated
*2tbsp lemon juice
*50g butter
*sea salt
*cayenne pepper
*1tbsp chopped chives
(For a richer sauce, stir two to three tablespoons of whipped double cream into the hollandaise instead of whisked egg white.)

1) Make the hollandaise and keep warm. Place the egg yolk and lemon juice in a screw-top jar or small bottle and shake really well for about 30 seconds.

2) Meanwhile, gently melt the butter either in the microwave or in a small pan. Leave it to sit briefly, and then pour half into the jar. Shake for a further 30 seconds before adding the remaining butter, trying to leave any of the white, milky residue behind. Shake again until the sauce has thickened to a creamy consistency. You can also make the hollandaise by blending in a blender or small food processor, but for these small quantities, using a jar is easier. Keep the jar close to the hob to retain some warmth.

3) Cook the lasagne sheets in boiling salted water until al dente.

4) To poach the eggs, bring a medium-size saucepan of water to a simmer with the vinegar. Break in the eggs and, when the water has returned to a simmer, poach for three minutes. Lift out with a slotted spoon and sit on kitchen paper to remove the excess water.

5) To finish the hollandaise, whisk the egg white until it forms soft peaks, and then pour in the butter mixture, a pinch of salt, a pinch of cayenne pepper and the chopped chives. Fold together until you have a light sauce.

6) To serve up, sit a sheet of pasta on two plates and top with the poached
eggs, sliced smoked salmon and a spoon of hollandaise. Lay the second
sheet of pasta over the top and finish with more hollandaise.

7) Serve straight away and just watch the look of amazement appear on the
face of your other half!

Source: Good Food Channel

The Humane Society of the United has released some damning footage of egg farms, but farmers' organizations are firing back, claiming the group wants “to remove meat from our dinner tables and eventually — pets from our families.”

According to the video above (shot undercover at Iowa farms, and extremely difficult to watch), many chickens suffer gruesome injuries when being moved from cage to cage, or get stuck in the wires of massive battery cages and are trampled to death. P.J. Huffstutter of the LA Times writes that in addition to releasing the footage, the Humane Society is reaching out to kids in 4-H to them humane farming practices. The group has also purchased stock in food companies to influence them to make more animal-friendly decisions, convincing Wendy's, IHOP, and Wal-Mart to switch to cage-free eggs. But farmers aren't happy that the interference, and they accuse the Humane Society of far more nefarious goals. Kansas Farm President Steve Baccus writes, “HSUS seeks to remove meat from our dinner tables, leather goods from our closets, animals from zoos and circuses and eventually — pets from our families.” He also says the group is “a powerful, well-funded activist organization pursuing what most reasonable observers would consider an extreme anti-animal agenda.”

But Baccus's words seem alarmist, given that the Humane Society's position is basically pretty moderate. The organization's president Wayne Pacelle said Wednesday, “We're not asking for an end to the confinements of animals in buildings. We are asking they not be crammed into cages and crates barely bigger than their bodies.” The Humane Society isn't PETA — they run billboards of naked women, or ask that we all go vegan. And, perhaps as a result of their more modest approach, they have had major successes — Huffstutter mentions California's Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act (Prop. 2), which will ban restrictive cages for calves, hens, and sows. So farmers may be right to fear the Humane Society, insofar as changing their practices might make things difficult for them for a while. But far from being “anti-animal,” these changes will be good for livestock, and for humans who care about treating them well.

Egg-Farm Video Is Latest Salvo In Humane Society's Animal-Rights Campaign
Shocking Egg-Farm Film Reignites Animal Debate

Send an email to Anna North, the author of this post, at annanorth@jezebel.com.

Blue Ribbon's Excellent Matzo Ball Soup

Posted by Caroline Russock, March 25, 2010 at 2:15 PM

[Photographs: Caroline Russock]

During Jewish holidays when I was growing up, Matzo Ball Soup was always the number one topic of conservation. Coming from a family that too concerned with food on an each day basis, I found it strange that everyone automatically turned into a critic when the soup was served. First the soup itself was discussed: Too salty? Not flavorful enough? Or perhaps there was a tiny too much dill?

After dissecting the soup, it was time to talk about the matzo balls. One of my grandmothers made golfball-sized matzo balls that were dense and sunk to the bottom of the bowl, while my other grandmother's were softball sized, so light that they fell apart in your spoon. I enjoyed them both, since choosing between them would be like picking a favorite grandmother.

But it's been a while since had a bowl of grandmother-made matzo ball soup and with Passover coming up I figured it was time that I made a batch of my own. I chose the recipe from Bromberg Bros. Blue Ribbon Cookbook, the eagerly anticipated cookbook from Bruce and Eric Bromberg, the masterminds behind the Blue Ribbon family of restaurants in New York.

Their recipe starts with a flavorful stock made of a whole chicken cooked with plenty of aromatics. Once the chicken is cooked through, it's taken out and the meat is stripped from the bones. The bones are placed back in the stock and cooked for an additional hour. The stock is left to cool overnight so that a layer of chicken fat, or schmaltz, forms on the surface.

The Bromberg Brother's matzo balls contain two secret weapons for ultimate matzo ball deliciousness: schmaltz and seltzer water. The seltzer water lightens the matzo balls and the chicken fat gives them extraordinary flavor. Since the matzo balls are cooked in water instead of chicken broth they retain a flavor of their own instead of just soaking up the stock.

Is Blue Ribbon's matzo ball soup superior than either of my grandmother's? I'd rather not say. What I will say is that it lived up to the title of “excellent”—the stock was beautifully flavored, and the matzo balls were the ideal weight and density and tasted of chicken fat in the possibly way.

Blue Ribbon's Excellent Matzo Ball Soup

- serves 6 to 8-

Adapted from Bromberg Bros. Blue Ribbon Cookbook by Bruce Bromberg and Eric Bromberg.

Ingredients

Chicken Broth

1 whole chicken (3 to 4 pounds)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
5 celery stalks with leaves, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled
4 sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 sprigs of fresh dill
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 dried bay leaves

Matzo Balls

4 massive eggs
1 cup matzo meal
2 tablespoons schmaltz (rendered chicken far reserved from making broth) or duck fat
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup seltzer water
3 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch-thick rounds (about 1 cup)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill

Procedure

1. To make the broth: Rub the chicken with salt inside and out. Let rest on a plate in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Rinse very well under cold running water and then pat dry with paper towels.

2. Put the chicken in a big stockpot and add enough cold water to cover by 3 inches. Bring to a boil, them skim off any foam that rises to the top. Add the celery, carrots, onion, garlic, parsley, dill, peppercorns, and bay leaves, and return the liquid to a boil. Skim again.

3. Reduce the heat and let simmer uncovered until the chicken is cooked, about 45 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a bowl and, when cool enough to handle, take the meat off the bones (reserve the meat for another purpose). Return the bones to the pot and simmer for 1 hour more. Strain through a cheesecloth-lined sieve, discarding the solids. Cool the broth slightly, then refrigerate until cold, overnight or up to 3 days.

4. Using a slotted spoon, skim off the solidified chicken fat from the broth. Save for making matzo balls or another purpose.

5. To make the matzo balls: In a large bowl, stir together the eggs, matzo meal, schmaltz, salt, and baking powder. Add the seltzer and use a rubber spatula to mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

6. Fill a large, wide pot with salted water and bring to a boil. Fill a small bowl with cold water and have nearby to keep your hands clean and wet. Working gently, without pressing, use clean, wet hands to form 1/2-inch-round matzo balls. As they are formed, drop them into the boiling water. When all of the matzo balls are formed, cover the pot with a round of parchment paper to keep them submerged (or partially cover the pot with a lid if you do not have parchment paper) and simmer very gently (don't let the water boil again) until cooked through and tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove from the cooking liquid with a slotted spoon, and arrange in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. If not using that day, let cool to room temperature, then store the matzo balls in a single layer in an airtight container filled with cooled cooking liquid to cover for up to 2 days.

7. To serve, gently reheat the matzo balls in a pot filled with matzo ball cooking liquid or fresh water to cover (when the water comes to a simmer, taste a matzo ball to see if it's hot enough, and either use immediately or continue to simmer until warmed to taste).

8. In a separate pot, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Add the carrot rounds and simmer until soft, about 7 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then add the dill.

9. Ladle the broth into individual serving bowls. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the warmed matzo balls into the soup and serve piping hot.

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WinterWoman is Jennifer Schlick,
a teacher-naturalist living and working in Western New York.

Every season has its beauty,
but I like winter best.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every
thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course. The world would create new religions
overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead, the stars
come out every night and we watch television. – Paul Hawken

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Fine isnt that ?