Tuesday, July 31, 2012

How To Build a Successful Web Hosting Business

When you start your own hosting business, there are many things you will want to take into consideration. One of the most important things you will need to figure out is how you will attract customers. There are four important factors you will need to know in order to build a solid customer base with your business. If you are a reseller, you will want to know which company to buy your package from.

You will also need to have the skills necessary to run a hosting business. The very first issue you will want to pay close attention to is the design of your website. This is the first thing a visitor will seen when loading your site, and you will want to leave a good impression. If they aren't impressed with the design of your site, they are unlikely to become a customer. Your website should have an easy navigation menu, because few people will take the time to figure out how to move around your site. You should also try to use a custom design rather than a template.

Thousands of websites use generic templates, and they all have the same look and feel. You will not be successful online if you try to blend in with everyone else. You have to find a way to stand out, and using a custom design for your site is the first step. You want to have a professional look. It is also important to provide a variety of different hosting packages which can accomodate clients on a budget. Whether you decide to offer customer service via phone, IM, or email, make sure you respond to questions quickly. If you take longer than a day, your service will appear to be poor.

If you have some money, don't be afraid to invest in a tech support department. It is well worth it, and will separate your company from the thousands of other hosting services available. You should also provide tutorials on your website which will help your clients learn more how to optimize or market their sites. If your target is clients with e-commerce sites, write articles about how they can build their business.

It may be helpful to start a forum where your clients can exchange ideas or information. This could function as a kind of tech support where clients answer each others questions and problems. At the same time, if you start a forum it is critical that you provide excellent service. If you make an error with a client, it won't be long before many of your other customers learn about it.

Monday, July 30, 2012

One Simple Technique To Make Your Event Special

As the landscape in the conferences, seminars and meetings industry becomes more crowded and more competitive event planners are looking for more ways to make their event a unique experience for their attendees, vendors and other participants. I'd like to share one tip with you that will help make your event one to remember:

Look beyond your event, to where your attendees are coming from.

The case with business travel is that often when you invite someone to join you at your event there is someone else they are leaving behind: a spouse or significant other. In many cases, the content at your event which your attendee finds so captivating won't necessarily be as interesting to their partner (opposites attract, right?). So why not compensate their partner for the time you're "borrowing" your attendee?

With an online registration system that includes simple shopping cart functionality, this is an easy-to-implement detail which makes a huge impression. As your attendee is registering for your event, present them with the option to send something home to whoever they'll be away from. A few suggestions are:

A bottle of wine
A gift basket (food and snacks or a "spa-pack" are great choices)
A choice of DVD titles with popcorn included

Be creative! What would you like to do if you had a few days to yourself? Give your attendees several options so that they can tailor their gift to what their partner likes to do. Another great idea is to allow registrants to add a personalized note to the gift, or provide them with some pre-made options: "Missing you," is a simple phrase that can work wonders.

Making it easy for your attendees to do something good for themselves and those they love is a great way to make your event memorable. When your attendees return home, travel-weary and overloaded with information, to a welcome reception from an ecstatic loved-one they'll remember your event as one that makes their lives easier: giving them more information, with less impact on their day-to-day.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Building A Bug Tracking Database

Whenever you're working with new software, and especially if you're working in development, you're bound to encounter bugs. A good bug tracking system is essential. You might choose to employ standardised bug tracking software, or you might prefer to build a bug tracking database geared to your specific needs.

Building a bug tracking database is essentially quite simple. All you need is a record of what the bug was, what it did, how it occurred, and how severe the problems it caused were. The tricky bit is setting up a bug tracking report system which will make sure everyone contributing to the bug tracking database interprets this in the same way. The safest way is to provide a bug tracking form which use simple language and leaves space for additional comments. Encourage contributors to provide extra information, especially if they're not sure of the exact cause of the bug. Bug tracking is most efficient when you can use your bug tracking database to compare these reports side by side and determine common factors. Make sure each report includes its contributor's name so that you have somebody to contact to clear up any uncertainties.

Establishing the severity of problems when bug tracking is more important than it might seem, because this is what enables you to set priorities within your bug tracking and solutions development scheme. Bug tracking alone is of limited use unless you're able to build a practical schedule for tackling the problems at hand. Naturally, a good bug tracking database will also keep a record of the times and dates when bugs occurred so that you can determine when solutions have worked or when other system changes have led to their disappearance. It's helpful to keep a note, alongside your bug tracking database, detailing when new pieces of software were added to the system.

Building a bug tracking database from scratch might sound like hard work, but it's often the best way to ensure an efficient bug tracking process which suits the people you have to work with. After all, if it's going to be done, it's worth making sure that it's done effectively.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

What Is ISO 9000

OK, this time I would like you to meet the ISO 9000. ISO 9000 is a family of the standards for systems of management of quality. ISO 9000 is maintained by ISO, the International Organization for Standardization and is managed by bodies of accreditation and certification. For a manufacturer, some of the conditions with ISO 9001 (which is one of the standards in the family of ISO 9000) let us include:

* a whole of procedures which cover all the principal processes in the businesses;

* supervising manufacturing processes to ensure them produce the product of quality;

* to keep the suitable discs;

* examining the outgoing product to detect the defects, with the method of recovery adapted where necessary;

* to regularly review the various processes and the system of quality itself for the effectiveness; and

* to facilitate the continual improvement a company or an organization which independently audited and were certified to be in conformity with ISO 9001 can publicly declare that it is “certified ISO 9001” or “recorded ISO 9001.”

Certification to a standard of ISO 9000 does not guarantee the conformity (and thus the quality) of the end products and the services; rather, it certifies that to form processes of businesses are applied. Although the standards came from manufacture, they are now used through a range of other types of organizations, including universities and universities. A “product”, in the vocabulary of ISO, can mean physical object, or the services, or the software. In fact, according to ISO'S in 2004, the “sectors of service explain now by far the highest number of certificates of ISO 9001:2000 - approximately 31% of the total”. ISO 9000 includes the following standards:

* ISO 9000:2000, systems of management of quality - fundamental principles and vocabulary. Cover the foundations of what are the systems of management of quality and also contains the language of core of the ISO 9000 series of standards. The ISO 9000 standards are pretty much, well, a standard nowadays.

Friday, July 27, 2012

The New Generation Of Lead Generation

Do you want to know about effective lead generation? Just look at some of the fastest growing companies today, and you will discover that they not grow, but they do so at a startling rate because of purposeful multi-level marketing lead generation techniques. Few businesses have remained in the dark ages B.T. or before technology because they simply did not survive the changeover from snail mail to e-mail. So how does a MLM company generate leads? They use their resources.

The typical MLM lead generation begins with phone surveys. MLM companies typically use phone services for this type of lead generation. They literally pay another company to make the calls for them and then send them the list of leads, which they have generated as a result.

Websites have also become an important factor in the MLM lead generation wars. Obviously without a website, a company in the twenty-first century literally does not exist. Their website will generate countless leads when they register with Google since the majority of computer users today rely on Google for their web search efficiency. Furthermore, websites will give new sales reps and possible clients the necessary information about the company and the products it produces.

Finally, e-mail leads have led to a variety of MLM lead generation. Cleverly worded and scripted e-mails will lead an individual to keep from throwing it automatically into his trash box and instead open it. Great e-mail leads will pique the users’ interest so that he will click "open" instead of "trash" when he sees the script.

Technology has revolutionized how MLM companies generate leads. It has made lead generation more efficient and effective, as they can read hundreds and even thousands of more people with these new methods than ever before. Imagine the old days of lead generation with one person and a telephone. Now think of that single person and a computer, and then picture several people in the lead generation companies and several computers. We can clearly see the growth potential for any MLM company thanks to MLM lead generation techniques.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Seo - What Is Longtailing?

A definition of longtailing (a form of search engine optimization) and how it is used as an SEO strategy for enhancing product pages and catalogue pages.

Longtailing is a form of search engine optimization that is also called catalogue SEO. The reason it earned this nickname is because of the long metatags that are attached to every image, product description and product number on a merchant’s website. There is also an emphasis on making sure that every photo has a keyword-optimized caption and properly structured labeling. The idea is that if each product is meticulously labeled and properly described it will appeal to the search engine spiders simply because the information is so targeted and accurate.

This form of SEO is so obvious and simple that people simply don’t even think of utilizing it. The only situation in which you may not be able to deploy it as an effective search engine optimization strategy is if for some reason your website doesn’t allow it. http://Bravenet.com is a cheaper website that is a good example of a host that does not comfortably allow metatags.

If you have a catalogue style site that does not seem to be turning over any business it might be well worth your while to look into attaching your own metatags or have a professional SEO expert do it for you. However the HTML for these types of metatags is fairly basic and many people can learn how to do it on their own. There are all kinds of sites on the internet that teach the basic HTML formula for attaching keyword optimized html code to pictures, titles, graphics, links and text.

If optimizing each and every title and description on your site seems tedious and time consuming, well it is. But the plain fact is that bothering to do this can greatly boost your presence in the search engine page rankings. Why let learning a little bit of HTML code stand between you and making generous profits with your website? It seems ridiculous to do so but many people just let that happen because they fear working with HTML.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Home Business Selling Second Hand Books

New books can be expensive, and if you think the prices in the USA are high you should see what they are charging in Europe. But once having read them people often either give them away or sell them for a few cents.

Buying second hand books is easy visit any flea market, thrift shop or charity sale and you will find plenty to choose from. The most saleable books are non-fiction hardbacks which should be in a good to reasonable condition. You may be able to get a good price for a slightly dog-eared copy if the subject of the book is good but ideally you should be looking for as near mint a copy as possible.

Many book second hand booksellers specialise in a specific subject area or niche and this is a good idea. If for instance you specialise in military subjects you will be able to build up a list of customers and offer them further military books as you acquire them. The secret of success in the second-hand book business is to have a list of customers who you can make regulars offers too. In fact many of your customers will send you their “wants list” of books.

There are plenty of places on the Internet that you can offer your books for sale, www.alibris.com ,www. amazon.com and of course www.eBay.com. It is a good idea
to browse these sites to guide to the prices that you should be charging for your books. Of course on eBay you have the option of selling your books for a set price (Buy It Now) or putting it in to the auction and letting the market set the price. I have found that quite often I get a better price by auctioning a book rather than setting a price. This is particularly true if you get 2 or more people chasing the same item.

I said that non-fiction books are the best but there is one area of fiction that you should keep an eye open for and that is modern first editions. There is a strong market for these especially for books by top writers such as Stephen King, J K Rowlings and
Ian Fleming. For more information on modern first edition books visit
http://www.bbc.co.uk/antiques/expert_tips/firsteditionbooks.shtml

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Invest In China: Dealing With Labor Unions And The Communist Party

Labor Unions

If the employees request the establishment of a labor union, the employer must assent and offer assistance. Moreover, certain thresholds apply which require employers to hire a full-time employee labor representative (companies with at least 200 employees must hire one employee labor representative, with more hires necessary at higher thresholds). Joint Ventures and WFOEs must allocate an amount equal to at least two percent of the actually paid monthly wages of all the employees as trade union funds (this amount must be paid to the local labor bureau if the enterprise has not established a trade union). The trade union must use these funds in accordance with the trade union fund management measures issued by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, of which the labor union is required to be a member.

Labor union representatives have the right to attend board meetings, although they do not
have voting rights, and they should be invited to attend board meetings if labor issues are discussed. The trade union performs a significant advisory function with respect to individual and collective labor contracts, termination of employees, mediation of conflicts, layoffs, and assisting laid-off employees in finding new employment. The labor union may not impose its will on the employer in these matters. Interestingly, labor unions do not even have the right to strike. However, labor union consent is required in some M&A transactions.

Communist Party Organization

If the employees request the establishment of a Communist Party organization in the workplace, the employer must assent and may be required to provide assistance. A Communist Party organization must be established in any workplace with at least three Communist Party members, and the employer has an obligation to accommodate and support it (details of this obligation are still ambiguous at this point but will likely vary according to the size of the enterprise and the level of Communist Party membership among employees).

Monday, July 23, 2012

Software For Business Success

The important points that must be addressed in your business plan, and therefore the functions you must find in the software for your business plan, are the details of implementation and analysis of cash flow.

Cash flow is one of the most vital parts of a company and its business plan and software designed to keep track of the cash flow helps resolve the difficulties in following its path. Cash is often misunderstood as a profit figure, but they are not one and the same. Business plan software helps you differentiate and keep track of each. After all, profit from your business does not necessarily mean your company will have cash in the bank. There are many profitable companies that fail because they have problems with cash flow. Business plan software can help prevent this issue.

Business plan software helps record, organize and follow implementation details. These are the things that make good things happen for your business. You may have the most brilliant of strategies and the most beautifully crafted plans and documents but until you use your business plan software to assign responsibility, record dates and document your business budget, your ideas are just theory. Business plan software also helps you follow up with the assigned folks for each responsibility and task, and track the business results. Business plans and the software dedicated to them are about getting business results and improving your firm and its bottom line.

The standard business plan software includes assistance with the drawing up of your business plan’s executive summary, a description of the company, a description of the products and services your company offers, the details of market research and analysis, and any focus groups; strategy and implementation, the backgrounds and biographies of the firm’s management team, and your financial planning. The latter should include a profit and loss statement if the company has been in business long enough to have one, a cash flow statement, a balance sheet and a company analysis of its break even point.

Source: http://www.bplans.com/dp/article.cfm/41

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Home Based Business: Blogging Is A Great Business Idea

If you are looking to start a home based business or perhaps for another angle to branch out your own existing small business then you should really consider blogging. Blogging is a great business idea. Before you dismiss the idea consider these five ways that you can profit from a blog.

The simplest method you can profit from a blog is simply to add some pay-per-click or pay-per-lead program advertising on your blog. This way you can blog to your heart's content about the topic or topics that interest you and earn money from your visitors without any extra work.

If you have products from your existing business or have plans to create your own products--anything from traditional goods and services to ebooks and other electronic products--then a blog is a great way to promote your product and yourself by establishing your expertise in this area.

Even if you do not have your own product, you can easily use a blog to promote affiliate products to and programs that are related to the topic or topics you blog about.

You can also use a blog to capture leads for an affiliate program or for your own programs, ezines, newsletters, or other information products.

Finally, you can also sell advertising space in the form of banners, textual advertising, or text links on your blog. The higher your readership then the more money you can charge.

This is not a new or unique method for internet entrepreneurs to make money on the web. It has been around almost as long as blogging, but that does not mean you cannot start your own internet blog business and quickly begin making money. Remember, if you can write (not professionally but rather comfortably) then you can still acquire articles and blog entries in a number of free or paid formats so you can get started very quickly and very cheaply.

Blogging is a great business idea for a home based business or a small business. You can use any of these five suggestions, in any combination, to profit from your blog.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

A Few Tips For Choosing A Home Business Opportunity, Part 1

When you finally make that decision to choose a home business opportunity, you need to realize that you’re making a choice to dedicate your time, effort, and money to get yourself started in a home business. No matter what home business you decide to get started on, you’re going to have to be patient and attentive to the needs of the business.

First of all, you’re not going to get rich quick. Second, if you want this home business opportunity of yours to have any kind of longevity, it’s going to need some serious care and nurturing. That’s how you start making money: build first, then once you’ve established yourself, your investment will start to pay off.

Keeping that in mind, you’ll need to choose a home business opportunity that will work best for you and your personality. The problem is, there are so many opportunities out there, it can be difficult and frustrating to know where to start. To help you navigate the waters of opportunity, here are a few tips to keep in mind when trying to decide which home business opportunity is right for you.

The Golden Rule: What is Your Start-Up Investment?

What is the cost to you to start the home based business opportunities you’re looking into? Most people don’t want to shell out thousands of dollars to get their business going, but in some cases it might be necessary. You need to determine how much you can afford to invest in start-up costs, and whether this amount will impact your finances long-term. If you don’t expect to get the money back within the first few months, and that $2000 you’re sitting on was going to help pay your electric bill, be smart – look for something more in your personal price range. There are home based businesses that only cost a few hundred dollars to start with, so you might want to consider that instead.

If you can’t start the business, you can’t run the business, so make sure you use the Golden Rule and follow it! After you’ve considered this and ruled out what businesses are simply too pricey for you to be able to afford, you can move ahead with these other tips.

Friday, July 20, 2012

How Does Someone Know To Buy Domain After It Is Searched At A Registrar?

Here is a scary issue... and I feel it happens way too often for it to just be a coincidence. I am posting this as a warning to anyone who is searching for a domain name... if you find a name that is available and you like it... you better purchase it immediately or you will risk losing it to someone who is looking to make a quick resell by tracking searched names!

Yesterday I searched a domain name for a client and when I went back to buy (after they approved it) it was gone. This is not a generic name and is an 18 character long .com domain! I have had this happen before and always just figured it was a bad coincidence but there is no way this was the case this time.

I searched this domain on DirectNIC and later that day it was registered under name.net.

Any ideas on how someone is scamming names (and then trying to resell them) based on recent searches with registrars? Am I just paranoid and has this happened multiple times to me only as a coincidence?

I know that if you have a trademark on the domain name you can legally challenge and often get the name that way but that seems like a lot of hassle to sue for a name just because you searched for it one day and then it was snatched only to be resold.

I know others have experienced this too... and it makes me wonder about the integrity of the registration system if there is a way to track searched names like this and then use this information to hold names hostage.

Apparently, there are those that have access to registrar data and speculate on that data to buy up domain names that are searched (and that have a likelihood of being purchased later).

So, here is my recommendation: "When you search for and find a domain name that you like (and will work for you) buy it immediately. If you find you don't need it... then sell it yourself. It is worth the $10 - $15 to get the domain instead of losing it and having to pay $100 the next day"

Keep searching for that perfect domain name... and if you find it... BUY IT immediately!

Thursday, July 19, 2012

6 Important Rules in Website Design and Hosting

When it comes to your website, extra attention should be paid to every minute detail to make sure it performs optimally to serve its purpose. Here are seven important rules of thumb to observe to make sure your website performs well.

1) Do not use splash pages

Splash pages are the first pages you see when you arrive at a website. They normally have a very beautiful image with words like "welcome" or "click here to enter". In fact, they are just that -- pretty vases with no real purpose. Do not let your visitors have a reason to click on the "back" button! Give them the value of your site up front without the splash page.

2) Do not use excessive banner advertisements

Even the least net savvy people have trained themselves to ignore banner advertisements so you will be wasting valuable website real estate. Instead, provide more valueable content and weave relevant affiliate links into your content, and let your visitors feel that they want to buy instead of being pushed to buy.

3) Have a simple and clear navigation

You have to provide a simple and very straightforward navigation menu so that even a young child will know how to use it. Stay away from complicated Flash based menus or multi-tiered dropdown menus. If your visitors don't know how to navigate, they will leave your site.

4) Have a clear indication of where the user is

When visitors are deeply engrossed in browsing your site, you will want to make sure they know which part of the site they are in at that moment. That way, they will be able to browse relevant information or navigate to any section of the site easily. Don't confuse your visitors because confusion means "abandon ship"!

5) Avoid using audio on your site

If your visitor is going to stay a long time at your site, reading your content, you will want to make sure they're not annoyed by some audio looping on and on on your website. If you insist on adding audio, make sure they have some control over it -- volume or muting controls would work fine.

6) The most important - Host only with a Reliable Hosting Provider.

Before Chosing a Web Hosting provider, read its reviews and always check the top 10 hosting providers. A good resource to research hosting providers is at Top10DedicatedHosting.com

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Seo - Do You Need Reciprocal Link Manager Software?

An examination of reciprocal links software and whether deploying such software on your website can be part of a good SEO strategy.

Reciprocal links are one of the most cost effective forms of web advertising. It is also cost effective because it you don’t have to pay a cent for it. However the problem is that checking to see whether or not all of your link exchange partners are still linked to you can become a very tedious chore. Reciprocal links may be free but the entire endeavor ends up costing you in the man-hours it takes to go through every single reciprocal link on your site to see if it is still working! This is time that could be spent promoting or developing your web site in other ways so reciprocal link manager software might just be a good idea.

There are almost a hundred practical benefits to using this link software to trade links and monitor their functionality. One drawback is that the best of these types of reciprocal manager links are written in PHP/MySQL which handle unlimited tasks and data to do with your traded links. Although it sounds complex, most web hosts provide PHP and MySQL and usually programs like this are easily downloaded and up and running within fifteen minutes.

A really good reciprocal manager program can organize the look of your links on your site by creating professional looking HTML pages that make it easier for search engines spiders to crawl your links and index them. The best programs will list the links in a neat arrangement. Really good reciprocal link manager programs can also make these pages match the design of your website as well as display the link's title in the browser bar thus once again making your pages more search engine friendly than ever.

Also if a partner decides to trade links with you this amazing software can run all of your link directories together so that he or she has the option of submitting links to your other sites as well which can be another great convenience for the busy webmaster.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

How To Make A Living Selling On The Internet

Starting a business is easier than you think; it takes a few steps that are easily completed to get your business off the ground.

I have run several companies during my lifetime and I have to say that starting and running an Internet business is probably the easiest way to get going.

The first step is to do some research into a product which interests you. You need to establish if there is a market for the product and also ensure that the market is not flooded.

There are a number of industries that are absolutely flooded and it would be a waste of time getting into. They include: Credit Cards, The Sex Industry, Real Estate or Pharmaceuticals.

Do a search and if there are hundreds or thousands of companies selling exactly the something for almost the same price it would probably be best to thing of another product to sell.

Once you have selected your product, you need to get a website built. You do this by registering a domain name, buying some hosting for your website and actually building your site.

There are plenty of companies out there that can offer you all three. Most of them have templates that make building a website as easy as writing a letter.

After you have got your website up and running you need to be able to take payments over the Internet, the easiest way to do this is to set-up a Paypal business seller account.

Make sure your website is error free and can complete a sale properly. You may want to use your own credit card and sell your self something in a test run.

You now need to market your site; you can do this in hundreds of different ways. I would suggest Google’s Pay-Per Click system. It gives results almost immediately. You do need to watch you spend though.

I would also suggest starting to do some SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) so you will eventually be able to wan yourself off Googles Pay Per Click system.

You might also consider selling your product on E-Bay, and through other vendors on the internet.

Monday, July 16, 2012

A Gem Of A Color

While we generally think of diamonds as clear and colorless the fact is that color is one of the four characteristics of diamonds that determines their value. A diamond that is perfect – i.e., chemically pure with no imperfections is transparent and has no color or hue. Most natural diamonds that are the size of gems are not perfect, however. Diamond color is affected by structural defects in the diamond’s crystal lattice and by chemical impurities. Color isn’t all bad for a diamond, however. Depending on the intensity of the color, and of the hue, the color can actually enhance its value.

Most white diamonds, for example, cost less if they have a yellow hue that the naked eye can detect. In contrast, blue or pink diamonds as so intense in color that they have a dramatic look. The Hope Diamond is one example of this.

Most diamonds that are used as gems are almost totally transparent with just a little tint. These are called white diamonds. Nitrogen is the most common diamond impurity, as it replaces a little bit of the diamond’s carbon atoms and thus gives off a brownish or yellow tint. This is a very common effect in white diamonds. A diamond is very rare if this coloration is not detected.

Diamonds are rated according to their coloration, with ratings from a high quality (low color) D to a bright yellow Z, the lowest rating and quality. This system is devised through the use of natural diamond benchmarks whose color grade is known and whose lighting is carefully controlled. Diamonds that have the higher grades of color are the rarest and thus the most costly.

What’s confusing about the grading, however, is that the lower end of the rating system, the Z diamonds, are priced comparatively high as well, because they are difficult to find. Diamonds whose ratings are D, E or F are considered to be colorless, while G, H, I and J are labeled near-colorless. A rating of K, L or M of a diamond means that it is considered slightly colored, while N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U V, W, X or Z rating diamonds will almost always look brown or light yellow.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Why A Business Plan Is So Important For Your Success

If you have decided to start your own business, one of the first things that you need to do is to work on a business plan. A business plan is so important because it actually serves as a compass for the direction your business will take in the future. Having a plan will also help you achieve the things you want to achieve and will help your business to find success as well.

Consider the Details
One of the reasons that having a business plan is essential is that it will help you to consider the details of your business and its’ future. As you are working on your plan, you will probably find that there are many aspects of your new business that you have not considered. Getting started with a business plan will help you to save money and time since you will be able to deal with issues before they become a problem.

Helps You Get Funding
Another great reason for having a business plan is that it can help you if you are trying to get outside funds for your business. Most lenders and investors want to see that you have a clear business plan before they take a risk on your business. Having a plan already drawn up shows them that you are serious about being successful at your business. If you are going to show your business plan to potential lenders and investors, make sure that the figures you use are accurate so your plan is credible.

Management Tool
Starting a business is a huge job and it is helpful if you have something that can help you manage the business. A business plan can act as a management tool that can help you focus on where you are and where you want to be in the future. This will help you to keep your daily tasks well managed and will also help you to accomplish long term goals as well.

If you decide to go without a business plan, chances are that your business is going to end in disaster. You can use a business plan throughout all stages of your business to guide your business towards success. While it may take some time and energy to get a business plan together, in the end it will be well worth taking the time to get it done right.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Is It Worth Being A Top 100 Digg User?

This is the question that Neil Patel brought up in a recent blog post. His post, which was titled “How to become a top 100 Digg user,” discussed what it takes to become a top 100 Digg user. The post revolved around the experiences of a Digg user known as aaaz. aaaz, whom Neil either knows or was able to interview, became a top 100 Digg user in thirty days. In less than three months, he become the fourth highest rated user on Digg. However, after all of the time that he put into achieving this ranking,. aaaz is retiring from Digg. Although this may seem shocking, aaaz himself admits that achieving this kind of status requires a ridiculous amount of time, and in his opinion, the sacrifices are not worth the benefits.

So what are some of the benefits that go along with being a top 100 Digg user? Instead of looking at a list of benefits, let’s see what you do not receive for being a top 100 Digg user. For starters, Digg does not provide any monetary compensation to any of its users. Although it is well known that people are willing to pay top Digg users to get their story to the front page of Digg, several highly ranked users have been banned in recent weeks for accepting these payments.

Even though getting your site onto the front page of Digg will cause a huge spike in traffic, this does will not translate into any long-term benefits for your web site. Unless you appear regularly on Digg, those huge traffic spikes are nothing more than a burden on your server. It seems like the best way to get on Digg regularly would be to achieve a high rating and then Digg yourself, but several studies have shown that the Digg community will catch on to this kind of activity.

So, once again, what are the benefits of being a top 100 Digg user? In reality, unless you feel a sense of satisfaction from wasting time or having lots of “Digg friends,” there are no major benefits to being a top 100 Digg user. In my opinion (and the opinion of many others), the time that it takes to complete this task far outweighs any potential benefits.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Internet Advertising Ideas For Carpet Cleaners

These days the internet is one of the best places to advertise. Still many carpet cleaners do not take advantage of this affordable advertising media. If you are looking to get into internet advertising you should read this brief article which will give you some tips on what to do to be successful on the internet.

The first thing you need to do is create a website. There are many ways to do this but the simplest is to just use a template. Do a search online and you will find templates readily available for free or for a low charge. Many internet hosts also offer easy website setup. Godaddy for example can set you up with cheap hosting and a site builder program to get you going in no time. When you build your website remember to keep it brief and to the point. DO not overload your visitors with useless information. Just tell them who you are, why they should use you and how to contact you.

Now that you have a website you need to move on to the next step which is promoting it. You can use traditional print media to advertise your website or use it on your radio or TV ads to give your customers more information but this will get expensive quickly. An easy way to get traffic is to get to the top of the search engines. You can do that by buying sponsored listings which appear at the top of the results. This is called pay per click advertising and the best one is Google Adwords. At first you might think that it is ridiculous to pay $1 or even $5 for one click (visitor) but remember that this is quality traffic. The visitors you get are actively looking for a carpet cleaner. Another option is to buy listings in directories. Do a search for "your city carpet cleaning" and see which directories appear. Then purchase a listing for your website in that category. Be careful not to choose directories that are so overcrowded or filled with ads that your listing will get lost.

I hope these tips have been of use to you. The internet is only going to get stronger over the next few years. Jump on board now or get left behind.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Finding An Internet Home Based Business Opportunity

Hundreds of thousands of people every month are turning to the Internet to find a home based business opportunity. Working from home for many people is a wonderful dream and goal. The lure of the freedom it offers appeals to many people, such as those who stay at home with small children, those who must remain at home because of their health, those who are limited in their careers by finances, credit and education, those who are in a dead end job and want to be their own boss, or those who just want to get out of the 8-5 rat race. In fact, over 50% of small business owners now work from home, and research suggests that revenue generated from home-based businesses will increase by 17% yearly.

There are many questions involved in a search for a home business opportunity such as:

Do online business opportunities work or are they scams?
Is an mlm business opportunity a good online business?
What are the best home based business opportunities and how do you find them?

It is no doubt that some people are making a fortune with their own online home based business. But for every person who making a good living online, there are many more who get caught in scams and lose their money.

If you are looking for an Internet home business, it is important to do your research. Learn as much as you can about the company you are thinking about joining. Be wary of business opportunities that promise instant wealth. It takes time to build a successful online home business. Shortcuts are usually too good to be true, and are most likely a scam. Remember that an Internet home business is still a business and it takes work and dedication, especially in the beginning, when little income seems to be coming in. Those who research, persevere and continue to learn are the ones who will become successful with their online business.

By Dianne Ronnow © 2007. All rights reserved.
This article may be freely copied as long as it is not modified and the resource box accompanies the article, together with working hyperlinks.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Cleaning Company – Positioning Yourself In The Market Place

Having formed your Commercial Cleaning Services Company one of the most difficult aspects of running it that you will encounter immediately is in getting your quotes correct. Correct from the point of view of the cleaning company in covering all its costs in doing the clean and making a reasonable profit, whilst pitching it at a level which is still attractive to the potential customer.

With small contract cleaning jobs taking place once per week it is not so much of a problem as you can charge a premium rate because of the infrequency of the clean, but as the contracts become larger the problems in finding the right level intensify and it is very easy to be left making very little money out of a particular contract if you get it slightly wrong.

Firstly as a company/business you have to decide at what level you are going to enter the market;

· Are you going to offer cut price cleans in order to secure contracts?

· Are you going for the higher end of the market offering quality cleaning but at a higher price?

· Are you aiming for the high end of the market offering extra services as well as top quality cleaning?

Be very thoughtful before you decide. If you are going for option 3 then you have to ensure that you can indeed offer all the specialist services that the customer may require. Commercial cleaning and contract cleaning is the most competitive area of the cleaning market.

Get yourself an edge over your competitors.
What can you offer that is unique?
Do you cover a wider area?
Do you always answer your telephone?
Do you respond to enquiries immediately?
Do you have a unique marketing strategy?

Having made your choice of where you are going to place your business in the cleaning industry the next important decision is getting your quoting correct.

Unless you have previously worked in cleaning this can be a mystery at the outset, and you will find yourself drastically under quoting or over quoting. There is nothing like experience in this area and you must be prepared to undertake a steep learning curve.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Build Links And Popularize Your Site

What is Link Building?
Link-building is the process of obtaining inbound links from external websites to your own site to improve both direct referrals (people visiting your site by clicking on your links) and search engine ranking. It can be very difficult to get quality inbound links so I am listing a few proven methods that you can use to build back links that will help you boost your sites search engine rankings.

1: Article submissions
Write an article on a topic related to your site, then submit it to free article sites. Your article can then be reprinted all over the web, always with a link back to your website.

2: Press Release
Press releases can be very effective tool for alerting the media to your website and getting publicity through media coverage. You may include link to your site in the press release, there are number of press release sites for example prweb dot com

3: Free directory submissions
You can receive a free inbound link by submitting to hundreds of free directories. Just make sure you follow their submission guidelines and then be patient as it may take several months for your site to be listed.

4: Paid directory submissions
Why pay for directory listings if you can get them for free? Many webmasters choose to buy directory listings, for several reasons. First of all, your site will generally be listed much quicker (in most cases usually within 24 hours). Also, you can often get a higher quality link from a paid submission than a free submission as most of time paid directory will higher pagerank.

5: Three way link exchanges
Link exchanges are arguably not as helpful as they once were, but 3 way links are still excellent. For example you own Site A and you will provide a link Site B and Site C will provide you with a inbound link.

6: Forum posting
Join forums related to your site and become an active member of forums. Of course, you can include a link to your site in your forum signature.

7: Blog posting
Find blogs to your site and leave relevant comments on blog posting and leave a link to your site within the comment.

Monday, July 9, 2012

The Exploding Popularity Of Blogging

The blogoshpere is exploding. For those who do not know what that means or whether it is a cause for concern in their lives, don’t worry. If you don’t know what the blogosphere is, you aren’t at any personal risk regardless of whether it explodes or evaporates. And you are also not alone.

Although there are now, according to Technorati 70,000,000 blogs online and 120,000 being started every day, a 2005 study done by the UK newspaper The Guardian indicated that 30% of those questioned who claimed to be frequent Internet users had never even heard of a blog, let alone the blogosphere.

But for the millions of Internet users who have blogs, read blogs, or both, the health of the blogosphere is of great interest.

With another US presidential campaign already underway, those who track such things will be interested to know that in the last half 2004, according to a study done by the American Life Project, the number of Internet users who reading blogs more than doubled from seventeen to thirty-seven percent, although the number of those writing them rose from five to only seven percent.

The Presidential race in 2008 will more than likely see another boost in the number of blog readers as those who were too young to vote four years ago have become the dedicated bloggers on MySpace and other social networking and will be perfectly comfortable with campaigning done in cyberspace.

The statistics from Technorati seem to be telling us one thing: blogs have been around for over a decade, yet their popularity is greater than ever, and as more and more of the 18-25 crowd so prized by advertisers turn to the blog as their preferred means of online communication, the blog seems to have very bright futures ahead.

The blogs of today are already taking full advantage of online video technology. All that remains is for the sites which currently index blogs like Technorati to find other ways to keep track of what is becoming, like our expanding universe, the ever expanding blogosphere

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Persuasive Subliminal Images

Images are often used for instructing, illustrating, identifying, providing variation, authority, and information as a supplement to text and sound. In addition, images are used for content that is important, difficult to understand, and new to the readers. The effectiveness of any visual depends on the medium, on the type of information, and on the amount of time subjects are allowed to interact with the material. Images can also be affective and provide participants with entertainment, and underline an experience both positive and negative.

Subliminal images or images below the threshold of human perception can trigger subconscious associations and influence emotions and attitudes, especially in movies and television. Subliminal images can be used to persuade, compliment, tease, disgrace, scare, and even seduce the audience. In advertising especially, images may carry subliminal messages. Advertisements for liquor or cigarettes, for instance, sometimes use sex symbols. Images can be compensatory, making it easier for poor viewers to understand, learn, and remember things they read in text.

Proponents of subliminal vision claim it is capable of scanning ongoing structures and gathering more data than an alert examination lasting thousand times longer. With impartial sharpness our unconscious vision registers minute details irrespective of whether they belong to the figure or to the background. But it usually tends to retract the conscious preference for the shape and pays more attention to textural and backdrop elements.

Although solid research evidence suggests that our attitudes may be susceptible to subliminal visual information, those same research findings make clear the limits on such influence. Firstly, in laboratory studies of subliminal image effects, experimenters have to work hard to ensure that subjects focus closely on the region in which subliminal stimuli are presented. In the usual confusion of everyday environments, such dedicated focusing is unlikely, and so the messages probably would not receive even minimal processing.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

How To Sell Your Content: It’s Not Just For Displaying On Websites

Content – content – content, everyone is looking for fresh content. Many website owners simply post content on their sites, slap on some Google ads and hope for the best. Did you know that you can sell your content as a way to bring in an income? Here are some ideas on what types of content you can use to bring in money.

Writing for Pay

A great place to start earning an income from home is through writing for pay. Do you have a knack for writing articles, web copy or newsletters? If so, you can easily set up shop as a writer specializing in that area.

Private Label Content

Sell private label content memberships, bundles and/or packets. You can start out writing them yourself or make it a more hands-off operation and hire writers to compile the content for you. Just be sure you’re giving your customers fresh, quality content on a consistent basis.

First Rights

Selling first rights to your content gives the person who purchases the content the right to publish it before anyone else. For example, a magazine may pay to be the first to publish your article. After a certain amount of time, you are free to publish it elsewhere. You don’t usually get paid as much as for “exclusive rights”, but this means you can use your content again elsewhere.

Info Products

Create your own information products. Good examples include eBooks, video tutorials, interviews and teleseminars. These are all content that you can create for your market, but once you’ve established your expertise in an area, keep going with it. Don’t just create one eBook and leave it at that.

Pre-written Coaching

Take what you’ve learned on a particular topic and turn it into pre-written information to help others. Give them homework you check each week as they work through the course. They get extra help and you can charge a premium price.

Be creative, keep the focus on your target reader and the information they are looking for and you’ll see just how powerful a tool content can be in your business.

Friday, July 6, 2012

The Two Prerequisites To Starting A Business

There are usually two pre-requisites to starting a business. Sometimes people will attempt to start a business by fulfilling either one of the two pre-requisites (not an easy feat by any stretch of the imagination), and often people will do so without either one (and guess what their success rate is?). The two pre-requisites are motivation and skills. Often they are complementary in nature, but occasionally you need to use one to drive the other. It is different for everyone, and the effects of this is obvious when you examine the way the business is run.

Why are these two pre-requisites so important? Well, starting a business is not always the hardest part, with a large number of people finding that keeping a business going can be equally tough. Having a real motivation/drive/passion for your business will keep it going in the hardest times, while having the skill will ensure that your business will be based on something you understand. Sometimes having the skill will allow to you develop a real motivation to get out on your own and start a business. Other times, having a real motivation will encourage you to start, develop and further the skills required to consolidate your business.

An alternative to having both pre-requisites is to find someone who can complement yourself in either the motivation or skill department. However, to be able to successful work in a partnership, both parties must share the same vision for the business. This does not mean that partners in business must have the same dreams and goals, it just means that they must both see how the business will allow them to share the journey towards their own individual goals. Once one partner starts forcing their goals onto the other, the business vision will invariably breakdown. This is usually the portent to the division of the business, or in the worst case scenario, an entire collapse.

It doesn't matter what your business is, without motivation and skills, it is not a business that is worth devoting your time, energy, resources, (and most importantly) or your dreams and goals towards.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

The Benefits Of Ebay Auction Software

The internet provides its users with many avenues of making money with some time and innovation of their own. One of the best means of making money today is through eBay, the largest selling and buying site of the internet while sitting in the comfort of your home. There is no need of going to any auction site or hall; all the auctioneering is done in your home, with the help of some eBay auction tools and software.

When selling through eBay, it is important that you not only have products to be sold and bought, it is also important that you have some eBay software with you which help you in the selling process. There are many different forms of eBay software available on the internet today like eBay auction software, eBay listing software, eBay auction creator software, accounting auction eBay software and other eBay software. Using these software, you can decide on the more popular products on the market today, and thus which products should be put up for auctioneering.

This eBay software is all developed with the intention of helping you during the auction process on eBay sites. These tools help automate all steps that are required when you sell items online using eBay. With the help of this eBay software, you can find yourself much better off than the others trying to make some money through eBay.

There are different forms of eBay tools available on the internet; like the automated tasks that software are created to specifically interact with the eBay website. Some such software available is auction business eBay management software, eBay auction creator software, eBay auction software and eBay listing software. With these eBay software, it is possible to do some marketing research where you find out which products are popular on the internet, and the trends for the demand for these items in some times of the year. On using these eBay software in the creation of your eBay auction site, you are sure to find an increase in your auction, and sales of your products.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Social Networking Safety Info For Parents

While social networking sites can be an exciting place to meet up with virtual friends and exchange ideas, they also increase your exposure to less-than-friendly people with other intentions on their minds. Kids especially are particularly vulnerable to the many sexual predators who stalk social networking sites looking for likely prey. Parents need to understand that these risks are real and take the necessary precautions.

Talking to your kids before-hand about the dangers of social networking is the best way to them safe. Lay the ground rules for internet online usage, but make sure you tell kids why it needs to be done. How much you tell them and the boundaries you decide to set depends on your kids’ ages and their computer know-how, and will have to be reviewed regularly as they grow.

Here are some of the precautionary measures that need to be re-enforced no matter how old your kids are.

Remind them to never share personal information about themselves or their family with any stranger online. Information including their real name, address, name of their school or even sports clubs that they play for can be used to find anyone offline.

Discourage your kids from using their real names or any other screen names that could be directly linked to them. For people who want to, it can be very easy to combine the clues and figure out who the person is and where they can be found.

Install internet filtering software on your computer to restrict access to unacceptable site. Regularly monitor the chat rooms that your child frequents, even if it is a kid-friendly site. Restrict access to your child’s website and only allow family and friends from their school or local club to view it and to post their views.

Most important of all, encourage your kids to come to you if something does happen that makes them feel in the least bit uncomfortable or threatened. Kids need to learn to make their own judgments but they also need to know that you are there to support them when things go wrong. And a lot of things could go wrong when kids use social networking sites.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Search Engine Optimization: Why Is Seo Web Promotion Important?

Search engine optimization is a long term that confused many internet marketers so they usually dismiss it and focus on some other area of internet marketing or the newest fad whether it is blogging, My Space, or podcasting.

While it is good to diversity your marketing efforts and to pay attention to new methods, search engine marketing has been around for a long time and it is not going anywhere. The simple fact is that some estimates report 85 percent of internet users utilize search engines to find what they want on the internet. That is why you cannot ignore search engine optimization.

Search engine optimization gets your site and its contents noticed by the search engines then ranked well for the keywords your target audience uses to search. The more visitors then the higher your revenue. That is a pretty simple formula for success.

So what is search engine optimization? Also known as SEO, search engine optimization simply means including recommended design and content elements to your web site, blog, and/or RSS feed to make it more attractive to search engines.

While the exact formulas that the top search engines use to calculate rankings are usually a closely guarded secret, there are search engine optimization experts who can point out some easy ways to optimize your site. And in fact, this optimization will only take a few minutes of your time and can achieve dramatic results after the next search engine spiders your site.

However before you can really begin to work on SEO then you need to determine the most effective keywords for your target audience. Once you have those keywords then you can incorporate them into your page title, headlines, content, and alt tags.

Search engine optimization is important because it is free, it is easy, it is targeted marketing, and it keeps on working even when you do not. You do not need to constantly monitor or fund SEO campaigns as they are self-sustaining once you set them into motion.

Monday, July 2, 2012

How To Save Money: The Smart Way

Money is a necessity in order to survive in this world. Without money, people wouldn’t be able to live. They would be unable to buy food to cook, buy a stove to cook it on, or even a pot to cook it in. This is why everyone likes to save money. It doesn’t matter how much or how little money they make. Even if a person makes millions a year, they still want to save as much as possible too, if they are smart. Money can be spent quickly, so everyone has to shop frugally and save intelligently. There are many ways to achieve this, too.

If a person decides to start a savings account, yet has a modest income, they shouldn’t become discouraged, because it is possible for them to build quite a nest egg. All it takes is a little bit of discipline. Each time a person gets paid, they need to take a specified amount of money out of their pay and immediately put it in the bank. This can even be achieved by having the money automatically transferred from a checking to savings account on a regular basis. This makes it easier to resist using the money for other things besides saving. If a person sticks to this plan, they will have a substantial amount of money saved up before they know it. They can then go out and buy that costly item that they thought they could never afford, or keep it for retirement, college fund for children, etc.

In order to save money while shopping, consumers need to check their local sales papers, which retailers usually send by mail each week or so. If sales papers aren’t available, then going to the retailer’s website is the next thing to do. Usually it will display which items are currently on sale on the site.

This awesome new website offers valuable money-saving coupons in just about every category possible. Handbags, perfumes, books, music, videos, etc. are just a few of the items that have coupons available for them. The great site is very easy to navigate, and there are many coupons available in each category. So, if you want to save money on your last-minute Christmas shopping, please visit this website as soon as possible, and you won’t regret it.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

The Error Page

Have you ever visited a website, but typed in the wrong url after the domain name? What did you see?

Chances are you saw a generic page that said something like, "The page cannot be displayed," or "Not Found," or "The requested URL was not found on this server."

WHAT IS A ERROR PAGE

This is what is more commonly known as the 404 Error Page.

It's the page that shows up by default when someone 'accidentally' types in the address of the page they are looking for on your site incorrectly.

Now, in many cases, it truly happens by mistake. However, in many other instances, people end up on this page because they are snooping around trying to look for your download page or thank you page without having to pay or opt-in. Kind of shady, but people do it.

Why, not capitalize on it whether they are doing it purposely or they are truly ending up there by accident. If you have your own website and it gets traffic, some of your visitors are ending up on that page.

CONCLUSION

Now, if they are seeing the generic message that their browser shows them when it happens, then you are not making good use of your web real estate.

Every page of your website can put money in your pocket. Even your 404 error page. You can customize that page just like any other page on your website. Some ideas to utilize on that page include:

- Making an special offer at a discounted price.
- Having it be a squeeze page.
- Making it an Adsense page.
- Redirecting it to a related affiliate product.

Those are just a few of the many different, yet profitable types of ways you can make good use of your 404 error page.

It won't make you rich, but it definitely will put some extra money in your account. Maybe it will help you pay one of your bills, or you can just reinvest it into your business.

Either way, if you don't customize this page, you can be leaving money on the table. Having something for your visitors to see that end up on that page is extremely more beneficial to you then not having anything on that page.

Here's to making good use of every page on your website.

All the best,
Jos