The domain calendar.google.com is now live. It is still pointing at the regular search page but can a new Google product be far behind? Google Calendar has been speculated about for most of the year, as there is a vacancy in that space (and in Google’s product lineup) for a personal calendar that can be shared with others, made public and that interacts with Gmail. Slowly but surely, Google is knocking down the objections to using their web-based email (customized From: addresses, so it doesn;t look like you are using a free email service, AUTO-SAVE,and exporting contacts.

The year end trade show put on by ASD in Los Angeles was a hit!

There were over 200 exhibitors (many of which were from LA wholesale district,) and I would estimate close to 1500 buyers. From what I saw, it was mainly a local market attending the show, but it gives wholesalers in all areas of the country a great opportunity to target local retailers in the LA area who probably do not attend many other shows. Though this show does not compare in size to the ASD Show in Las Vegas (held two times a year,) its small size gives retailers an opportunity to really seek out the best deals and establish relationships with established wholesalers.

There were a ton of year end closeouts being advertised, and a lot of new products being offered for 2006. Retailers seemed to be intrigued by some of the closeout prices being found and wholesalers were more than happy to “cut” some deals in hopes of a promising order for the New Year. A small year end show provides an incredible opportunity for retailers to stock up on great deals for some holiday profits.

The marketplace for general merchandise and off price wholesale goods is booming and the way things are shaping up, Christmas will jingle in increased sales for all!

I can’t wait for the ASD Show in Vegas next year and I wish all of you good fortune and a great year end.

Jason

I know that some of you out there reading this are interested in improving your search engine rankings. Some of you may know about Webmaster World, and Search Engine Watch but do you know about Digital Point?

The home page is nothing spectacular, probably even obscures how cool the site is but check out the tools.

AdSense Charts

A good Keyword Ranking Tool – you have to log in every day to use it but it’s free and accurate

Highly Recommended Keyword Suggestion Tool – it pulls Wordtracker and Yahoo data at once.

Not to mention the Co-op Advertising Network

The Co-op Ad Network is not for the faint of heart (and not related to SEO), but it is a completely free ad exchange that allows you to take the traffic from, for example a site that is popular but hard to make money off of and allow it to earn ad credits that are very useful for sites that are easy to make money from but don’t have as much traffic. It requires some programming. but if your site will support it and you can handle some discreet ads, you will like the results.