You couldn’t make this up:

Head of Communications
£42252 – £49852 per annum

Our client, an NHS Primary Care Trust, based in east London is looking for a Head of Communications to join their Team. The role will report directly to the Assistant Director of Communications and will be responsible for managing the Communications Manager.

Quoting the Tax Payers’ Alliance (TPA) where the advertised job is described in full.

As you can read in the comments, it’s the hierarchy of command which is the most astonishing thing about this role: They have a Director of Comms, an Assistant Director of Comms, a Head of Comms, and a Comms Manager. How can that be justified?

The London Internet Exchange (LINX) is a mutually owned membership association for operators of Internet Protocol networks. It provides a neutral interconnection facility and peering platform, known as an Internet Exchange Point (IXP), and represent the interests of its members on matters of public policy.

LINX currently has a vacancy for a Marketing & Communications Executive. This position offers the opportunity to work at the heart of the Internet Industry in a dynamic team-motivated environment. LINX can offer you – in addition to an attractive remuneration package with benefits that include private health cover – life insurance, pension and income protection.

For more information please visit: https://www.linx.net/job/markcom.html

Please note: No agencies! Unsolicited emails or phone calls are not welcome.

A final set of questions to consider when writing a newsletter are when do your readers need to receive your newsletter, has adequate time been built in to cover production and printing, who are you relying on to produce content or deliver copies and have you allowed time for thorough proof reading and sign-off procedures?

Additional questions to consider when writing a newsletter are what the most suitable format is (print, email, PDF, paper stock, colours etc), how many pages, what type of imagery should be used and will anyone else be contributing content?

The final checklists for newsletter production will be published tomorrow.

Additional questions to consider when writing a newsletter are What type of person will be reading the newsletter, what is the appropriate style and tone of the publication, what impression do you want to make, do you want feedback and will this be managed and who else is writing for your market and how?

Further checklists for newsletter production will be published over the coming days.

Questions to consider when writing a newsletter are what do you want to achieve by having such a publication, what are the long-term goals, how often will it be published and how will you judge its success or failure? You also need to consider the format. Will it be print only, email or PDF download?

Further checklists for newsletter production will be published over the coming days.

From FurlongPR

Based on a survey in August of 1500 businesses by Hubspot, those that blogged had 55% more visitors, 97% more inbound links and 434% more indexed pages.

Most businesses accept, even if they don’t anticipate these sort of figures, that a blog will revolutionise their static corporate website, but trying to get momentum for that internally can be a trying business. Who’s going to write it, what will it look like, who’s going to build it.

Read full story

HotLINX20 - 15th Anniversary Issue

The London Internet Exchange (LINX) has announced the publication of its Internet magazine, HotLINX, which is available for download now from the LINX website.

HotLINX20: https://www.linx.net/files/hotlinx/hotlinx-20.pdf

In this special LINX 15th Anniversary issue we take a comprehensive look at the history of LINX and how it came to be the organisation it is today. LINX CEO John Souter gives his take on the milestone and this is backed by archive content and interviews with those who has seen LINX develop from the very beginning.

Elsewhere there’s a special report on LINX’s work to meet increase bandwidth demands plus a round up of all the latest public affairs information. In the membership section we have three new member stories plus all the latest member news and stats.

In a comprehensive industry events section we look back at the fourth European Peering Forum in Copenhagen while previewing the upcoming LINX member meeting in London.

You can download a PDF copy of HotLINX20 today at www.linx.net/files/hotlinx/hotlinx-20.pdf. Printed copies can be ordered by emailing: hotlinx@linx.net

END

Notes to editors:

1. LINX (www.linx.net) is a mutual, not-for-profit organisation whose 330-plus members include 58 of the top 100 global network operators*, almost all UK Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and content providers plus many from the Americas, mainland Europe, the Far East and Africa.  * Total Telecom Global 100, 2008.
2. LINX was formed in 1994 when five ISPs recognised that there were considerable operational benefits to exchanging traffic between their networks in the UK. From the beginning every LINX member has had an equal vote in the management of the organisation.
3. The connection of networks at an Internet exchange point such as LINX is known as ‘peering’. Network operators use public peering across the  dual LINX Ethernet networks to exchange traffic with any other member by mutual agreement. LINX also offers a managed private network interconnect facility which is used for large traffic flows between two members.
4. LINX has a presence at ten London sites connected by secure fibre and DWDM links. The core of the network currently operates across a 12×10G Ethernet link. The extent and geographic resilience of the network was enhanced in 2008 with the addition of three new points of presence, each outside the main Docklands data centre area in east London.
5. The Internet traffic at LINX consists of a wide variety of data including streaming media, website downloads, business information and emails. Peak LINX traffic is the equivalent of 1,300,000 simultaneous Internet video streams.
6. Online links to earlier issues of HotLINX can found here: www.linx.net/publicity/hotlinx

LINX is a mutually owned membership association for operators of Internet Protocol networks. We provide a neutral interconnection facility and peering platform, known as an Internet Exchange Point (IXP), and represent the interests of our members on matters of public policy.

Regular readers of this blog will remember that my day job involves the production of membership magazine for the London Internet Exchange. The publication in question is called HotLINX and I have been working on it one capacity or another since 2004. It has, in fact, been around a good deal longer with the first edition published as long ago as the Summer of 2000.

The Internet industry at that time was very different to what it is now. Just take a moment to consider your personal circumstances and how much you differently now compared to those early days. For me, I used the Internet for the first time in 1996 at work but I didn’t go online at home until as late as 2002. I had a PC before that but it was used purely as word processor and for games.

One of the reasons I mention early issues of HotLINX today is that for the first time in many years those early editions are back available online. In fact, some have never been available to download or view at all. With LINX celebrating its 15th anniversary in November I wanted to give the people the opportunity to see just how far the Internet has come in the last decade.

Below is table that lists the most recent issues plus those from those early days. Why not take a look to see how the Internet you are using today came to be.

Current Issues

Archive Issues

After I posted on the topic of price testing and how low prices don’t always encourage sales another example of how offering premium products can boost profits was reported today.

Article source: BBC Business

Selling more expensive burgers has helped McDonald’s third-quarter profit climb 6%.

The fast-food restaurant chain’s global net income for the June to September period rose to $1.3bn (£760.7bn), from $1.2bn a year earlier.

McDonald’s said new more costly products, such as the Angus Third-Pounder burger, were popular with US diners.

Read full story

This demonstrates how using a clever pricing strategy can attract and retain new customers. While people are generally eating out less often during the economic downturn McDonald’s have clearly seen opportunity where they can persuade potential customers that they don’t have to give up entirely on good food.

Obviously the whole eating experience is not the same as a posh restaurant but it is a convenient halfway house. While some cut back others are beginning to see their situations improve with each group will meet in the middle with a quality product that suits both their pockets and their perceptions of their personal circumstance and that of the McDonald’s corporation.