Beginning today through February 3, users can visit the Expedia Facebook page and suggest a new name for Vacation Packages. Expedia will compile the entries and will select ten finalists. Users will then have the chance to vote for the winner among the ten finalists. The entry that receives the most votes will win the contest and get a vacation worth up to $10,000. The second-place winner will win a $500 Expedia credit. Voters can also win one of a several $250 travel credits.

Voting for the winning selection will begin on February 8 and end on February 15. Participants can vote for their favorite entry once per day through February 15. The voters themselves may earn a prize. Each vote counts as a sweepstakes entry.

"Vacation Packages have been available on Expedia.com for years. Billions of dollars in free money goes unclaimed because consumers simply don’t know, or don’t believe, that when they book their flight and hotel together, they may save,” said Tim MacDonald, senior vice president and general manager, Expedia.com.

“So we’re asking for their help in finding a name that will work better. Come up with a better name and win a trip of a lifetime."

This week, I was speaking with a client who wanted to be able to go on vacation with the knowledge that his business was still moving in the right direction. He wanted to be able to go away and be away without checking in (and stressing out) throughout the day. That conversation inspired this post.

As a small business owner or self-employed professional, you place a high value on your time. It’s easy to get caught up in reinventing the wheel over and over again. As you grow and bring on help (a virtual assistant, customer service, etc.) it can be hard to let go and feel confident that your business is moving in the right direction without you being in the office and following up on every detail yourself.

In order to work less, get more done and make sure your staff is doing things they way you want them to be done, you need to create systems.

Business systems are really powerful. They can help you:

-          Manage growth

-          Delegate

-          Bring on assistance

-          Focus on the big picture while still knowing the day-to-day tasks are being handled in the manner in which you WANT them to be handled

-          Standardize your processes

-          Be assured your clients will have a solid and consistent experience with your company

-          Provide for top-notch client service

-          Stop reinventing the wheel

I always recommend my clients create an Operations Manual. In it you will list all the tasks that must be done in your business with step-by-step directions for each task. It should be regularly updated.

The goal of your Operations Manual is to allow anyone to walk into your business and quickly get up to speed. It allows you, the business owner, to know your business is moving forward in the direction YOU want, even when you are not there. Plus, it gives you direction for processes you do over and over but which aren’t part of your daily routine.

Your Operations Manual should be easy to read, use simple language and have practical information. It’s a good idea to have an easy-to-use table of contents.

There are many software options for your operations manual. You can use something as simple as Microsoft Word, although there are many “fancier” options out there. Another route to take would be to use a web-based collaborative tool such as Google Docs or SharePoint so everyone on your team/staff can update the document.

Since your Operations Manual is a living, breathing document, it’s important that you put a quarterly review of it on your calendar. 

According to a survey conducted by Yahoo! HotJobs, 51 percent of Americans will not take vacation this summer, opting to save their money instead.

"A perfect storm of economic factors is developing," said Tom Musbach, senior managing editor, Yahoo! HotJobs. "The economic downturn is leading to layoffs and stretched resources, which in turn leads to increased workloads and pressure to improve performance. Employees, now more than ever, need a break from the pressure, but are instead choosing to forgo vacation in order to meet growing demands and protect dwindling wallets. Eventually something will have to give."

Likely that something is driving a car, one of America’s favorite pastimes, though it wasn’t mentioned in the survey. The survey took a more general approach, asking about how the economic downturn was affecting work, America’s other favorite pastime. Thirty-five percent said the economy is increasing the pressure to improve performance, even as 44 percent report heavier workloads than a year ago.

Thirty-eight percent officially have put themselves on the job market and 35 percent have updated their resumes because of an economy that has produced rapid inflation due to rocketing gas and food prices. The "mooks and minions" and all that imaginary money haven’t help the situation, either.

Yahoo!HotJobs’ assessment reveals American workers are "on the brink of burnout," but the poor economy is only fourth on the list of top five workplace stressors. From greatest to least, survey respondents listed leadership structure; lack of resources to get work done; a third place tie between too much work, unappreciative or demanding clients and the boss; the poor economy; and coworkers.

Stress reduction in the workplace, though counterintuitive to some employers, is an important measure to take. According to the survey, 44 percent said they are less focused when they feel stressed, and 33 percent said they are less productive. The authors of the study called reducing stress during rough economic times "vital," and an important factor in increasing productivity and improving performance.

It could also keep employees sane; 41 percent admit to taking off work for "mental health." The other half who plan to use their vacation days this summer won’t be using them to relax. Forty-eight percent will use them to run errands.
 
Compared to generous vacation time guaranteed to European workers by law, American workers are already notoriously un-vacationing. Financial pressures look to reduce what little time off is taken already. The upside is—if you want to call it that—many market-leading antidepressants will go generic status in 2010; see your neighborhood Wal-Mart for your $4 mental margarita.
 

The top gaining property of the month was fast food chain Burger King that experienced a 774 percent increase to 4.2 million visitors due to tie-ins with the summer blockbuster The Simpsons Movie.

The summer movie season also drove traffic to movie ticket sites because of the releases of films including Transformers and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Traffic to ticket sites increased by 12 percent to 44.9 million visitors for the month. Moviefone gained 2 percent to 13.7 million visitors, while Fandango. com had a 62 percent increase to 10.2 million visitors and Movietickets.com saw a 107 percent increase to 6.7 million visitors.

As vacation season remained in full swing, travel related sites held on to their solid growth. The car rental category increased 15 percent to almost 7 million visitors making it the top-gaining category for July. Enterrpise.com led the category with 3.3 million visitors, a 41 percent increase which was trailed by Avis Budget group with close to 3 million visitors up 14 percent followed by Hertz with 1.9 million visitors up 22 percent.

Ground/cruise sites also saw solid gains for the month, reporting a 13 percent increase to 12 million visitors. Amtrack.com led the category with 2.5 million visitors, a 32 percent increase, followed by Vactionstogo.com with 2.4 million visitors, up 9 percent and Carnival Cruise Lines with 1.7 million visitors up 7 percent.

Job search sites also saw a jump in traffic by 11 percent to reach 17.2 million visitors for the month. The category was led by CareerBuilder.com Job Search with 7.9 million visitors, a 3 percent increase, followed by Monster.com with 5.5 million visitors up 6 percent and Yahoo HotJobs with 4.9 million visitors up 11 percent.

Last year I came across a story on Digg about series of vacation photos featuring a young boy playing a handheld game in all of his family vacation photos. There has been some debate over how real the photos are and if they are completely staged or not. However the point isn’t really these particular photos being real or not, it’s that more and more consumers are bringing hand held games with them, to more and more places, including family vacations.

On my most recent trip to Disney World I saw several kids playing Nintendo DS or Gameboys while waiting on some of the longer lines. It appears I wasn’t the only one who noticed this. According to a story in the Orlando Sentinel Disney is offering a special Pirates of the Caribbean Tie in at the Magic Kingdom. Check out the video on that page for the full story, but for you lazy folks basically there are “hot spots” outside of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, that allow you to access new content that is only available in the Magic Kingdom.

The takeaway here is use social sites to tap into what real people are doing. Look for ways to tap into those trends or better yet improve on them and make them easier.

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Yahoo Says Americans Work Too Much

One day, I imagine I’ll have to violate my own rules. I’ve already caved in regard to using a cell phone at all. I have an answering machine. Sometimes I’m not home. Deal with it, I’ll call you back. Unfortunately, that plan didn’t completely stick. My cell number is the only number some people have. Ho hum.

Yahoo HotJobs just released new data showing that around a quarter of survey respondents felt that wireless devices kept them "on a permanent corporate leash" and that they were easily distracted by work-related email and calls during personal time.

That’s not as many as I thought would feel that way, especially since two-thirds of American respondents said they jack into work even while on vacation. Now, vacation is where I really draw the line. Work doesn’t exist on vacation. Period.

It turns out most people seem to like the flexibility – but Yahoo worries we might be overdoing it.

"Wireless devices have become a professional reality," said vice president of marketing for Yahoo! HotJobs Susan Vobejda, "so it’s important for people to set limits on when and how to disengage in order to maintain work-life balance.

"With 67 percent of respondents admitting to having used a wireless device to connect with work while on vacation, signs indicate that the American workforce may be facing burnout."

Vobejda says all that connectivity has changed the physical parameters of the workplace, and has extended the workday. And she be right about burn out.

An American in the 21st Century has to work 25 years to get the same number of paid vacation days that are mandatory minimums in Europe. In all, according to this source, American workers put in almost 400 more hours per year than their European counterparts. That’s TEN weeks. Well, eight weeks, if we’re talking Stateside hours.

Wireless connectivity is only increasing the work-a-holism. Twenty-seven percent of respondents admitted being so attached to their wireless device that the only time they’re not texting, talking, emailing, or monitoring work is when they’re sleeping.

Bet the missus doesn’t like that much, either. A third said they found it more difficult to get their point across through electronic means than conversation. So next time you tell her you love her and want her, it may be a good idea to use your voice box instead of your inbox.

Despite the reservations of the admitted few, most respondents to Yahoo! HotJobs’ survey appreciated the flexibility wireless connectivity offered them. Almost half reported they volunteered for virtual work access. Eighty-one percent stay connected with work via mobile phone; 65 percent via laptop; and 19 percent use smartphones.   

Interestingly, they say the always-on lifestyle they’ve adopted "enhance" the work-life balance – something I’ll take their words for and continue to turn off when I get home: 

The rest of Yahoo! HotJobs findings: 

The majority (61 percent) agree that wireless devices make them feel like they have more freedom;

Sixty-five percent say wireless devices allow them to work remotely and have a more flexible schedule;

Almost half (48 percent) report that wireless devices allow them to spend more time with family and friends; and

An overwhelming 70 percent agree that they are more productive thanks to a wireless device.

Thank you to everyone who voted for Online Marketing Blog, which was the underdog in every way. Of course, there should have been about 100 or more other blogs in this category besides ours.

Surprisingly, Matt Cutts lagged way behind in the SEO category, but he did win best Google blog over the corporate Google blog. Jeremy Zawodny also beat out the Yahoo Search blog. Hmmm, do you think there might be a message there?

Other winners in categories related to marketing or online included TechCrunch who blew away the Web 2.0 category. Darren Rowse of Problogger led the Webvertising category.

Also, Seth Godin and Steve Rubel tied for “best marketing blog”. I think Duct Tape Marketing guru John Jantsch should have been included in that category. Hint hint Randy.

There are many, many other categories unrelated to marketing, which you can check out on the voting results page.

What do these kinds of “awards” mean? Well, for the most part not a whole lot except in most cases, you get to find out about blogs you might not otherwise read about. I’ve found that the same blogs win year over year in these kinds of things (Marketing Sherpa, Search Engine Journal, Weblog Awards, etc) so finding new blogs is not as common – at least with these kinds of awards.

I’ve found that the best way of finding new blogs is by visiting the blogrolls of blogs you like, shared blogrolls/opml files and through services like MyBlogLog. Of course if you’re looking for blogs about search and online marketing, then look no further than the Big List of SEM blogs.

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Lee Odden is President and Founder of
TopRank Online Marketing, specializing in organic SEO, blog
marketing and online public relations. He’s been cited as a search
marketing expert by publications including U.S. News & World Report and
The Economist and has implemented successful search marketing programs
with top BtoB companies of all sizes. Odden shares his marketing
expertise at Online Marketing Blog offering
daily news, interviews and best practices.

“People have always enjoyed finding their own home on Google Earth and now they can see where they’ll be laying down their beach towel or enjoying aprs ski before they fly,” said Obi Felton, Google’s head of consumer marketing.

I hope they’ve censored some of those southern France beaches. Zoom to close and you might see some unexpected peaks, and I’m not talking about the Alps either.

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Andy Beal is an internet marketing consultant and considered one of the world’s most respected and interactive search engine marketing experts. Andy has worked with many Fortune 1000 companies such as Motorola, CitiFinancial, Lowes, Alaska Air, DeWALT, NBC and Experian.

You can read his internet marketing blog at Marketing Pilgrim and reach him at andy.beal@gmail.com.

In your Gmail settings on the General tab, you can now turn on a personal autoresponder (type whatever the hell you want) and you can even have it only autorespond to people in your address book. The FAQ explains it won’t autorespond to messages classified as spam or those from a mailing list.
(via Matt Cutts)

UPDATE: Philipp notes that Google also added “Contact Group”, a.k.a. mailing lists.

Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog, offering the latest news and insights about Google and search engines.

Visit the InsideGoogle blog.

… then when it got fixed, he got spammed all over the place, through GMail.

The solution to the *MXON* and viagara’ spam is to start creating your own filter rules :

“I’ve had to start writing my own Gmail SPAM filters today. I’ve received hundreds of SPAM with the phrase *MXON* in it. They are almost identical, except for the number of *’s. This seems to escape Gmail’s SPAM filter and I’ve setup a rule to forward anything with that string to the Trash (you can’t send it to the SPAM bin with a rule). ”

Read on [iBLOGthere4iM]

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Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog, offering the latest news and insights about Google and search engines.

Visit the InsideGoogle blog.