Read More →]]> The iNET Interactive team welcomes Josh Ater.  Josh has joined iNET as Marketing Manager of AFCOM/Data Center World, the leading association supporting the educational and professional development needs of data center professionals around the globe.  He will lead all marketing efforts associated with building AFCOM memberships and growing Data Center World’s attendee base. AFCOM joined the iNET Interactive Family in December 2011.

Josh comes to iNET Interactive after spending 12 years in the newspaper and multi-media business working for Cox Media Group Ohio in roles including Research Analyst and Research Manager where he was responsible for 12 daily and weekly newspapers in Ohio along with their corresponding digital and niche products. Most recently, Josh served as Assistant Marketing Director responsible for all research, circulation (B2C) marketing and sales (B2B) marketing for the multimedia portfolio.

“iNET Interactive and specifically AFCOM/Data Center World are true leaders in their markets, and I am proud to join such a talented and innovative team,” said Ater.

“Josh is an excellent addition to the AFCOM/Data Center World team,” said Kevin Gold, Director of Marketing at iNET Interactive, “his deep research and marketing experience mixed with his ambition to succeed will contribute well towards achieving the mission and vision of AFCOM and Data Center World.”

Welcome on board Josh!

Read More →]]> The iNET Interactive team is excited to announce the addition of Maria Schneider. Maria has joined iNET as editor of ABestWeb, the most influential affiliate community in the affiliate marketing industry.  She will lead the editorial efforts including curating user generated content, managing social media and planning and executing the editorial calendar.

Maria comes to iNET Interactive with deep editorial experience and a broad skill set including five years at F+W Media where she served as editor of its Writers Digest titles. “iNET Interactive is becoming a true leader in digital media, and I am proud to join such a talented and innovative team,” said Schneider.

We are thrilled to have Maria as editor of ABestWeb,” said Kevin Gold, Director of Marketing at iNET Interactive, “Her editorial experience as well as her proven social media and marketing communications skills will contribute well towards achieving the mission and vision of ABestWeb.”

Welcome Maria to the iNET Interactive team!

Read More →]]> Seven months after being acquired by iNET Interactive, Web Host Industry Review (theWHIR), the leading media outlet for the web hosting and hosted services industry, moved into a new office space in downtown Toronto, Canada. Web Host Industry Review’s new address is 103 Richmond Street East, Suite 104 in Toronto.

The building is located in a historical district full of Georgian architecture, essentially where the city was born from the Town of York in 1834. This particular building dates back to the early 1900s. Despite the old, red brick on the outside, it’s hard to tell the age of the office from the inside with the recent renovations by its property owners.

Prior to moving in, the office space was enhanced to include two separate rooms built to accommodate large team meetings and a private area for webinar and video production.

The best feature of the new office has to be the floor-to-ceiling windows along the south wall, producing a lot of natural light from 9-5. No doubt the Canadian team will be grateful during the short days of long winters.

The location couldn’t be better, within walking distance from Union Station, the subway line and several streetcar lines, making it incredibly accessible. The Toronto Eaton Centre shopping mall is just a few blocks away and is Toronto’s top tourist attraction with around one million visitors per week. There is also a huge selection of other shopping and restaurants in the neighbourhood, enjoyed by locals and tourists alike.

The new office sets the stage for the WHIR’s next level of success as a part of iNET Interactive.

Read More →]]> iNET Interactive is excited to announce two exceptional additions to the team – Brandon Beard, Product Manager for the Internet Marketing Vertical and Jody Wunderlich, Vice President of Product Management.

Brandon Beard will be responsible for Search Marketing Standard, ABestWeb, SEMCompare, and PayPerClickUniverse. Prior to joining iNET, Brandon was a senior marketing person at netTrekker, a company providing online tools for the K-12 education market. Before netTrekker, Brandon was at Pomeroy IT solutions as a help desk engineer. He also has extensive freelance and entrepreneurial experience.

Jody Wunderlich has joined iNET Interactive as Vice President of Product Management. Jody will be responsible for leading the product management team.  Prior to iNET, Jody was at JP Morgan Chase where she was Vice President in charge of online and mobile banking. Prior to Chase, she spent 14 years at AOL and CompuServe in various product management roles. Jody is a graduate of the Ohio State University.

Welcome Brandon and Jody from the entire iNET Interactive team!

Read More →]]> On June 10^th, iNET Interactive held its third annual iNET Cares Day at Matthew 25: Ministries.  iNET Cares Day is an idea developed by the iNET staff in 2008 as a way to give back to the community and those in need. The 2010 iNET Cares Day event was held also at Matthew 25: Ministries in Blue Ash, Ohio.

Matthew 25: Ministries is an international humanitarian aid and disaster relief organization helping the poorest of the poor locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally.  The mission is achieved by acquiring obsolete, slightly distressed, or overstock inventory from corporations, hospitals, and individuals in the United States. These goods include clothing, personal care products, medical supplies, non-perishable food, cleaning products, educational materials, and other items essential for daily survival.  These donated goods are processed at the Center for Humanitarian Relief in Cincinnati and then shipped via forty-foot seagoing containers and by semi-trailers throughout the United States and around the world.

The iNET staff worked the afternoon in Matthew 25: Ministries’ warehouse sorting and packaging donated items.  Troy Augustine, iNET’s CEO commented, “It was great for iNET to have the opportunity to assist a local organization dedicated to providing aid to those in need on a global basis.”

The iNET Cares Day was a great event to pull together the iNET Team from across North America to spend a day working together to help others across the globe who are in need.

Read More →]]> The 2010 Holiday Season was wrapped up in innovation. Instead of the usual chocolates, cakes and candies, iNET’s creative minds suggested it celebrate its success by giving back. What a great idea! In lieu of a holiday gift, iNET gave its largest and long-time advertising partners a vote for a charity they would like to support. Based on the popular vote, iNET donated more than $5,000 to five charities including:

• Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres:  Created in France in 1971, MSF provides aid in nearly 70 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care or natural disasters. In 1999, MSF received the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of its work.”

• International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies: The IFRC responds to the needs of victims of disasters and crises around the world. IFRC alleviates human suffering, wherever it occurs.

• Save the Children:  Save the Children is the world’s leading independent organization for children, helping to create a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation.

• Teachers Without Borders:  The mission of TWB is to advance human welfare through professional development on a global scale, by focusing on quality education that correlates to better health, fewer infant deaths, cleaner water, and human rights. TWB believes that all children deserve the right to flourish because of great teachers.

• World Wildlife Fund:  The WWF, the world’s leading conservation organization for more than 45 years, is committed to reversing the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to building a future in which human needs are met in harmony with nature.

In addition, all other advertising partners received a Holiday e-card (via eCO2 Greetings) versus a traditional printed card. With each e-card sent, iNET paid to have 10 trees planted around the world.

2010 was an outstanding year for iNET thanks to its community members, advertisers and partners; making the gift of giving back a truly rewarding way to celebrate!

Read More →]]> iNET Cares, a volunteer group within iNET Interactive, serving the communities where we live and work,  has chosen to support  the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation again this holiday season.   Since November, the iNET Interactive corporate office in West Chester, OH, has been collecting new, unwrapped toys from anyone who chose to participate.   The toys are being distributed via the local branch of the U.S. Marine Corps to needy children within the community.

According to the Toys for Tots Foundation’s website (www.toysfortots.org), the Toys for Tots Foundation is an IRS recognized 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity.  As stated on their website,  “The primary goal of the Toys for Tots Program is to deliver, through a new toy at Christmas, a message of hope to less fortunate youngsters that will assist them in becoming responsible, productive, patriotic citizens.”

With the iNET team spread across the world, virtual employees also participating via the Toys for Tots website at: http://www.toysfortots.org/ or through local branches in their area .

The iNET Interactive team is ecstatic, for the second year in a row, to have the opportunity to brighten children’s lives this holiday season!

Read More →]]> iNET recently announced the acquisition of Windows Secrets, an online publication focused on Microsoft Windows tips, tricks, and advice.  As part of the acquisition, iNET took ownership of a new office in Seattle, Washington.  The Seattle office is home to the Windows Secrets’ editorial and development staff as well as corporate subscription support services. Although iNET has created an office infrastructure that effectively supports a virtual workforce, a physical office on the West Coast further strengthens its future recruitment opportunities.

The new Seattle location enables iNET to attract local talent with unique benefits including a flexible working environment.  As with iNET’s headquarters in West Chester, Ohio, employees are offered flex-time and can choose to work virtually a few days per week.  The option of virtual and physical workplaces gives employees flexibility while also building team camaraderie.   In addition, Seattle is home to many high-tech and Internet-based companies including Microsoft and Amazon.  This gives iNET access to a large pool of highly skilled professionals who may prefer to work in an office setting part or full time.

iNET is thrilled to have a physical office presence on the West Coast.   Not only did the Windows Secrets acquisition bring on-board talented people, it also provided a new opportunity to recruit additional local talent.  At its current rate of growth, iNET will need to leverage this opportunity sooner than later.

Read More →]]> The iNET team is excited to announce the hiring of Andy Boyd as Product Manager for its Consumer Tech Vertical. The newly formed Consumer Tech Vertical includes recently acquired Windows Secrets, a community with more than 400,000 subscribers, Overclockers, a performance computing community with more than 100,000 members and Mac Forums, a Mac enthusiast community with over 120,000 members. Andy joins iNET Interactive with over 9 years of consumer tech experience in roles ranging from marketing manager, tech support, system/hardware support, and web development/graphic design. Prior to iNET, Andy served as the marketing manager at IDM Computer Solutions, Inc. where he led all marketing and promotional activities for its developer software products.

Supporting his experience is a solid educational foundation including a BBA in End-User Technologies from University Wisconsin Whitewater and a MBA from Wright State University.

“With a unique blend of technical and marketing skills, and a tremendous passion for maximizing business value, Andy is a great addition to the iNET team”, stated Kevin Gold, Director of Marketing at iNET Interactive. “Andy brings to the table the right mix of experience and capabilities to drive iNET’s Consumer Tech Vertical to a new level of growth.”

“iNet is the most forward-thinking and progressive company that I have had the privilege of working for; I am thrilled to be a part of the iNet team,” stated Andy Boyd. “I am looking forward to leading the consumer tech vertical and contributing to iNet’s continued success.”

About iNET Interactive
Founded in 2002, iNET Interactive is a social media company operating prominent online communities for Internet professionals and technology enthusiasts. Its vertically-focused communities incorporate user-contributed ratings, reviews, and discussion augmented with professionally-produced content.

Read More →]]> On June 25^th, iNET Interactive held its second annual iNET Cares Day at Matthew 25: Ministries.  iNET Cares Day is an idea developed by the iNET staff in 2008 as a way to give back to the community and those in need.

Last year’s iNET Cares Day was held at The Wellness Community. The Wellness Community is part of an international nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people affected by cancer.  iNET spent an afternoon performing general outdoor maintenance including yard work and weed pulling to help beautify the facility.

The 2010 iNET Cares Day event was held at Matthew 25: Ministries Blue Ash, Ohio. Matthew 25: Ministries is an international humanitarian aid and disaster relief organization helping the poorest of the poor locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally.  The mission is achieved by acquiring obsolete, slightly distressed, or overstock inventory from corporations, hospitals, and individuals in the United States. These goods include clothing, personal care products, medical supplies, non-perishable food, cleaning products, educational materials, and other items essential for daily survival.  These donated goods are processed at the Center for Humanitarian Relief in Cincinnati and then shipped via forty-foot seagoing containers and by semi-trailers throughout the United States and around the world.  In 2010, Matthew 25: Ministries has helped 7.2 million people and has shipped in excess of 289 containers filled with over 6.4 million pounds of goods.

The iNET staff worked the afternoon in Matthew 25: Ministries’ warehouse sorting and packaging donated items.  Troy Augustine, iNET’s CEO commented, “It was great for iNET to have the opportunity to assist a local organization dedicated to providing aid to those in need on a global basis.”  Anita Bowman, Warehouse Manager at Matthew 25 stated, “On behalf of the board members, staff, and the families we help, thank you iNET for taking the time to lend a hand.  Volunteers like you, play an essential role in the work that we do.”

We are all looking forward to iNET Cares Day 2011!