The Dart Maker Blog

Red hot favourites Brazil received a favourable draw as the group stage of the 2006 World Cup was announced on 9 December. The 16/5 favourites were drawn into Group F with Croatia, Australia and Japan. Hosts Germany also has a relatively easy group with opposition provided in the form of Costa Rica, Poland and Ecuador.

However, not everyone was so lucky. Groups C and E have “group of death” credentials with Argentina, Ivory Coast, Serbia & Montenegro and Holland facing each other in the former, while Italy, Ghana, USA and the Czech Republic will battle it out in the latter.

GROUP A
Germany 7/1
Costa Rica 500/1
Poland 125/1
Ecuador 200/1

Germany should be able to qualify from Group A comfortably, kick-starting the tournament with a match against Costa Rica. Poland could prove to be tricky opponents and will be expected to finish as runners up in the group. However, Ecuador may be capable of providing an upset as they beat Croatia in the group stages of the 2002 World Cup.

GROUP B

England 13/2
Paraguay 200/1
Trinidad & Tobago 1500/1
Sweden 40/1

Second favourites England earned a favourable draw with two relatively weak opponents in Paraguay and first-time qualifiers Trinidad & Tobago. The final round of fixtures pits them against Sweden who they have not beaten in 11 matches. The two European sides will qualify from this group.

GROUP C

Argentina 8/1
Ivory Coast 100/1
Serbia & Montenegro 125/1
Holland 14/1

A tough group and one of two “Group of Deaths” in the opening stage of the tournament. Group favourites Argentina failed to qualify for the second round in 2002, finishing third behind Sweden and England but will be expected to progress along with Holland. Both Serbia & Montenegro and the Ivory Coast will provide stern opposition and it would not be a surprise to see one of them qualify ahead of a perceived favourite.

GROUP D

Mexico 50/1
Iran 500/1
Angola 500/1
Portugal 20/1

Top seed Mexico can be backed at larger odds than non-seeded Portugal but apart from who will finish first or second, this group should be straight forward. Iran have won just once in six World Cup finals matches while first-timers Angola may find the step up difficult, despite finishing top of a tough qualifying group containing Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

GROUP E

Italy 11/1
Ghana 250/1

USA 100/1
Czech Republic 33/1

A very tough group to predict. Both Italy and world number two Czech Republic will be expected to qualify, although the USA, themselves ranked eighth in the world, will also fancy their chances of progression. Ghana are one of the stronger African participants and are capable of causing an upset.

GROUP F
Brazil 16/5
Croatia 80/1

Australia 125/1
Japan 250/1

A favourable draw for Brazil who should qualify as comfortable winners of this group. Croatia failed to qualify for the second round in 2002 and may miss out again to Japan, who topped their group four years ago at the expense of fancied European sides Belgium and Russia. Australia have the players capable of springing a few surprises but lack of experience at this level may go against them.

GROUP G

France 12/1
Switzerland 100/1
South Korea 250/1
Togo 350/1

France were heavily tipped to win the 2002 World Cup but finished bottom of their qualifying group failing to score a single goal. There will be no excuses for not progressing from this group, arguably being draw against the weakest European opposition in Switzerland and the lowest ranked African nation in Togo. Despite a heroic showing in 2002 which saw them reach the semi-finals, South Korea may struggle to qualify from this group.

GROUP H

Spain 14/1
Ukraine 50/1
Tunisia 300/1
Saudi Arabia 500/1

Under achieving Spain should qualify from this group, but may be pipped to top spot by the Ukraine, who stormed their qualifying group ahead of Turkey, Denmark and European Champions Greece. Despite a convincing qualifying campaign which saw them unbeaten and conceding only one goal in six games, Saudi Arabia will finish just short as will Tunisia, who have bowed out in the first round in each of their three appearances in 1978, 1998 and 2002.

David Walker runs soccer betting and free bets websites. A free email course: “Seven Days to Better Betting” is available at both of these websites.

Charter flying is very different from simply buying a ticket on the local or national public aviation carrier. Chartering an aircraft, although not the cheapest way to get from one place to another offers benefits that cannot be found anywhere else in the aviation industry.

Flying by charter differs from scheduled aviation and the national carriers in four basic areas.

1. It’s more efficient. High value or expensive personnel from a company may travel together and continue to conduct business. The possibility of “closing the deal” while in route to a destination cannot be minimized. Trying to get work accomplished while sandwiched between other people in a typical coach flight is almost impossible. A useful and private business meeting can be held on board a chartered jet or propeller aircraft making the trip to your destination that much more efficient.

2. To complicate matters, there’s the issue of privacy and confidentiality. There’s a lot of data and information on your laptop that is probably confidential to the point where you wouldn’t want someone looking over your shoulder to see what you’re doing. Trade secrets and privacy laws work against using commercial aircraft and flights for anyone intimately involved in large business deals. Even first class accommodations doesn’t offer the level of privacy that a charter air flight would provide you and your staff. A useful and private business meeting on board a commercial airliner is all but impossible, and completing work confidentially or otherwise is more than a challenge.

3. Flexibility of travel arrangements is the final big difference. Instead of flying on the set schedule of the large commercial airlines, you fly when you want and where you want. Charter air travel gives you the freedom to organize the trip around your needs.

When you fly scheduled airlines, you travel on the airline’s schedule along with dealing with the inconvenience caused by flight delays, stop overs and plane transfers. A charter flight can take you exactly where you want to go instead of the more typical routing through certain cities that airlines seem to love to do.

4. Safety and security. Imagine, being able to use smaller airports without the problems of traffic congestion getting to and from your flight gate. There’s also not the worry of lost luggage or packages and the wait time to retrieve your luggage is next to zero.

In this hectic rushing lifestyle, it’s good to know that there are ways to stretch your time. Increasingly more and more business and pleasure travelers are turning to the clear advantages of charter aircraft travel for both short and longer trips. If time is money and you don’t like wasting either, then it’s time to take a look and consider an aircraft charter for your next important trip.

Abigail Franks writes on a variety of subjects which nclude home, family, and travel just to name a few. For more information on charter air services visit the site at www.charter-jet-service.primo-living.com/

No matter what, you want your home gift to put a smile on the face of the receiver. For both friends and family, and from birdhouses to incense burners to vases, there are many home gifts available. If you are looking for fresh and exciting home gift ideas, there are many kinds of home gifts out there to choose from. Here are just a few examples:

Bookends:

For your fiends and family who love to read, bookends are a great home gift idea! They can turn a mantel or other surface into a bookshelf to make room for more books.

Some popular bookends are home bookends such as the American Eagle. But bookends are also available in many other styles, too. From elegant to more plain styles. Golden or burgundy to solid black or brown leather, or bookends with boarders, there are so many bookends out therewe can only name a few.

Religious home gift ideas:

The ideas for home gifts of a religious nature are often in the form or trinkets or small statues. However, some are larger and as elaborate as fountains of the Virgin Mary and other garden pieces etc.

Birdhouses:

Birdhouses are great home gift ideas, if your friends or family you are buying for love nature and bird watching, there are many types of birdhouses you can purchase

Split-level birdhouse:

The split-level birdhouse is just one of the many. However, this unique birdhouse serves more of a bed and breakfast” function for birds who want to rest.

Romantic home gift ideas:

Sometimes you just cannot go wrong with romantic gifts. There are several of these home gift ideas also. So we hope to be able to help you narrow it down, so that you can buy the perfect gift without browsing around foreveryou may even find romantic merchandise to buy for yourself!

Candles:

Candles are the stereotypical romantic giftbut that does not take away from their appeal. As far as romantic home gift ideas go it is hard to lose when you buy candles. They come in so many lovely designs, perfect to fit your friend or family members taste.

Vases:

A vase can be a beautiful and practical home gift idea. There are even vases available that serve multiple functions. For example: as a housewarming gift last winter some friends of ours bought a lovely vase with two matching champagne glasses in it, the bottoms like the stems of roses. What a lovely gift!

Clocks:

Clocks are practical, of curse, can add a delicate, bold or luxurious touch to any room in the house. A clock is one great type of home gift ideas.

Mirrors:

Surprisingly enough, mirrors are another of our home gift ideas. With the right frame and style, mirrors are a great addition to many rooms of the house. And there are mirrors to suit everyones personal taste in home décor.

Decorative dinnerware:

Especially plates, decorative dinnerware is a great home gift idea, too. But not only plates, you can find fancy, hand-painted teacups or lovely sets of silverware and more.

There are very popular home gift ideas I must also mention, such as ivory chess sets, cut glass roses, night lights, lanterns, trinkets such as dolphins or ballerinas as well as rifles, swords and other home décor perfect for hanging over the mantel.

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for websites on gardening, parenting, fashion, and home decor. Her background includes teaching and gardening. For more of her articles on home decor please visit Home Decor, or browse around Home Decor and Gifts, you can also try Houseware and Home Gifts.

All I have to say is WOW. I haven’t seen this kind of vitriol since the last Democratic Convention, and all directed toward Chitika, a startup ad company that was supposed to be the Google killer. Their crime? Cutting people’s revenue checks after they’ve earned the money. Not a great PR move. And it looks like there are more problems with what, on the surface, looks like a great idea. I have to admit I don’t understand how anyone (including Chitika) makes any money with their revenue model.

Darren Rouse of problogger.net, who I respect immensely (and who makes a couple hundred grand a year blogging), has really flogged the heck out of Chitika. Right from the start I had trouble understanding how they were going to make any money.

Chitika Mini Malls allow you to sell specific products (merchandise) within the pages of your website or blog. The ads boast the best price for a specific product, and then allow the user to click to (supposedly) buy the product. They also include tabs for search and other functionality built right into the banner-like ad.

Publishers can choose to show ads by keyword (they pick the words), or by page context like Google (having both ads in contextual mode on your site violates Google’s terms of service).

Apparently Chitika has deals with companies like Shopping.com, Ubid and others to share in clickthroughs. Or they may just go through channeladvisor.com, a syndicator of content for the major shopping sites (which explains why they all have the same content).

From my comfortable chair I can see where the trouble begins. When someone comes to Shopping.com they’re looking for something, whether it is duck boots from L.L. Bean or a battery charger from Sears, and they’re looking for the best price, presumably so they can buy the product (it’s not called just looking around.com. It’s shopping.com.

So Bean or Sears doesn’t mind paying Shopping.com fifteen cents or a quarter or whatever to get the person to press the buy button, because they know the person is ready to put down the credit card number.

I’m not sure moving that model out to my web site is going to pay off in a pay-per-click model. Back when we did CASIE-award winning (5 awards actually) campaigns for John Hancock, the goal was to capture someone having a specific life event such as having a baby, marriage, graduation, etc., and get them to Hancock. The presumption was that they would be ready to buy. Chances are if they saw a banner that said Ready to tie the knot? Are you covered? or some such thing and they clicked, they were ready to buy, and it would have been worth paying for the click.

Shopping.com is similar. If you’re there, the life event is a new TV (not quite as profound as marriage, but important just the same).

I’m not sure how much a click on the Best price for a TV MiniMall ad by someone who is not ready to buy a TV is actually worth. Remember, they haven’t come to Shopping.com. Shopping.com has come to them.

Keeping that in mind (the value of a click from my site vs. the value of a click from the Shopping.com site), all of the controversy makes perfect sense.

Let’s start with the auditing fiasco. They told a bunch of publishers how much oney they made from people clicking on the ads, then decided to take back some of it. They claimed to be taking back money from clicks from countries where the products couldn’t be shipped and accounting for click fraud. While this is annoying, I can understand it, though I’m not quite sure how they could examine every click and figure this stuff out, especially when rumor has it the system isn’t exactly a technological powerhouse. In fact, according to Shoemoney.com, the technology is a PHP ripoff.

So they threw out a few clicks, right. Big deal. But here’s where Chitika crossed the Rubicon as far as I’m concerned they decided that they were going to filter out what they called curiosity clicks, which they loosely defined as clicks that are not likely to result in a sale.

Wait a minute here…no one said anything about sales. As I mention in my previous article about Pay-per-click advertising, the publishers responsibility in the pay-per-click model is to get the user to click. The rest of the chain is then out of the publisher’s hands.

Chitika has basically created its own model here, and I call it Pay-per-selected-click. They are, in effect, deciding that some clicks are more valuable than others. Specifically they are saying that clicks resulting in sales are better than clicks not resulting in sales. Viola! They have invented Pay-per-Sale (or Pay-per-Action for those semanticists in the audience).

Other people call it bullshit. Actually so do I. I think it is dishonest to tell publishers that you will pay them for every click and then decide which clicks to pay for. That’s like telling the lottery agent that you’ll buy the tickets now for $1 each, but you’re coming back after the drawing to return the ones that didn’t win for your dollar back.

Put another way, if you’re giving away 70% of what you earn (60% to the publisher and 10% to his referring publishers), you can’t be throwing around dollar bills. And if your model is stupid (which this one clearly is), you need to pull some hocus-pocus man-behind-the-curtain give-with-one-hand-and-take-away-with-the-other kind of magic.

The most amusing part of this has to be picturing the look on the marketing weenie’s faces at L.L. Bean and Sears when the bill for a million clicks comes in and they find that they made four sales.

The bottom line here is that in this context (selling someone merchandise) a click from Shopping.com has more value than a click from Bobsblog.com.

Chitika turned me down for an account. They said that I didn’t meet the qualifications. Darren Rouse says that web sites that are product centered. Chitika says the same thing.

This proves my point even more. If a website is product centered (in other words reviews computers or exhalts the virtues of a Palm Pilot), then the fact that you are on that site means you have some interest in the product. Your Chitika MiniMall is the Buy It Now for that product. This means that there won’t be as many curiosity clicks, and Chitika won’t take as much of your earnings back.

You are getting subjected to Pay-Per-Action criteria with Pay-Per-Click rewards. If you want to see how publishers are reacting to this, you might want to Google Chitika sucks, or look up one of the anti-Chitika web sites like Shitika.com. Jensense also has a nice synopsis you might want to take a look at.

Without looking I’m going to guess that the angry people are the ones furthest from Shopping.com in content and model, and the ones who had the least taken off their earnings are more product centered (whatever the hell that means).

Chitika claims to be The Leader in Impulse Merchandising. Their model puts a different spin on the word context. For their ads to work, you have to be predisposed toward purchasing the product on one of their banners, and the theme of the site on which the ad appears is the actual context of the ad, not the keywords you supply or context Chitika uses to choose the banner.

I’d replace Chitika with a Pay-Per-Action ad that fits the theme of your site. If you’re lazy stick with them, at least until they either change the model so they make more money or go out of business. At this point I’m not sure which one to bet on.

Matt DeAngelis runs Affiliate Blog. Matt is the former CTO of Modem Media, a pioneer in the Internet ad space. Matt devised the technology behind ad campaigns and online presence for a good portion of the Fortune 100, including GE, AT&T and Compaq.