Helpful Tips On Building A Website April 17, 2009
Posted in : Hall Of Websters , comments closedWhen you think about building a website, you need to take into consideration what others may think, not just what you like! Even though you may like it or think it is cool, your visitors may not! Here are some great things to keep in mind when you are building a website or when you maintain a website! Your website is a reflection of your business, products and services, so you want to keep a professional clean look at all times!
Here are just a few very simple design tips to keep in mind!
Sites Color Pattern
When you are deciding on a color or a few colors, try to stick with 2 or 3 colors that accent your logo or website header. If you are unsure of what colors to choose, check out some other websites, and pick out w few you like. Just remember, to pick something that is appealing to the eye, and colors that appeal to everyone. Also, keep all website pages the same in color, instead of changing each page to different colors.
Offer Easy Site Navigation
This is a very important issue to consider when designing a website. You should make sure that your visitors can find what they are looking for without searching for links or buttons. It is very common for a site to display their navigation menu on the left side of the website or at the top. This way every visitor can see the options without trying to look around.
Special Effects
Special effects such as mouse image trails, blinking text, spinning graphics, or even flash can be neat to look at, but can also become very annoying! An animated flash is very pretty and nice to see, however flash animation takes a bit of time to load on computer with dial up speed. The mouse trail graphics are cute to see for about 5 minutes, and then become annoying. Visitors come to a website to find, information or products, not cute little graphics floating all over! Even blinking text gets old, it looks very neat at first but then, becomes an eye sore and a headache! These effects are ok to add at a minimum, but you do not want them to take away from your websites content! When you add all of these special effects, remember that your website visitor may just leave the website before they are even done loading! What ever you do, don’t get to special effect happy!
Creating External Links
When you add links on your website that lead to another, always have them open a new window! This way your visitor can return to your website, they may not even realized they left!
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Adding a Spark to Gasoline – Sharing Your Newsletter Subscriber List April 12, 2009
Posted in : Marketing + More , comments closedYou have spent a lot of time and money building your newsletter subscriber list to watch it go up in flames before your very eyes. What a painful experience it is to make a marketing error in the hopes of making a quick buck, but e-mail newsletter marketers are making this mistake for the first and probably last time every day.
What I am talking about is sharing your subscriber list with someone else who tells you they will give you a handsome return for everyone who buys their products or services. What I am not necessarily talking about is giving them your list. I am talking about letting yourself be talked into sending the exclusive e-mail for them.
When I send out my newsletter two or more times per month, I usually see about one to four unsubscribed from my list. There are usually the people who signed up to get the free e-book, and really did not want to receive a newsletter in the first place. I am ok with that. I know that you can’t please everyone all the time.
To illustrate what I am talking about, I will tell you a story about the first and last time I shared my list.
At the time I had been working hard to build it, I had about 3700 e-mail addresses in the list. A friend knew this and made me quite an attractive offer. If I would send out an e-mail that he composed, exactly as written, with his carefully researched subject line, he would give me a hundred dollars for everyone who registered for his program.
I was excited about the prospect of the cash and besides I needed a bit at the time, so I agreed. When he sent me the e-mail I about passed out. The subject line was borderline slanderous of an author and speaker who was very popular at the time. Of course that subject line was designed to get a reaction and make people read the e-mail. I will admit upon watching the metrics of reads, it did get a lot of people to read it.
Then they began to unsubscribe, in droves. In fact I lost about a third of my list.
Why was this? It was because I violated the one thing that was most sacred in e-mail newsletter marketing – TRUST.
I had promoted my list as a newsletter, not as an ad spamming list. The people who had signed up wanted the information I had promised, not a squeeze page ad for a second rate real estate seminar.
For months I continued to receive the e-mails asking to be removed from my list. Each time I did as asked with great feelings of dread that I had agreed to send the e-mail in the first place.
Did I make any money from the mailing? Of course, but it in no way was equal to the cost of losing a third of my list, it had taken a lot of effort to build it. Those that I lost are all people who I can never send to again, unless of course they subscribe again for some reason.
Once you lose the trust of people on your list, you may as well put a spark to gasoline as you watch your list go up in flames because you have burned your subscribers and damaged the credibility of your offering. I am not sure of how many actually began deleting without reading from that point on.
The ultimate test came when over two years ago I switched to an online auto responder service. I added my database of about 2700 to the service. I had to request that those on my list re-subscribe. Of the 2700 I had left, only about 700 signed up on the new list.
That means that of the two thousand I lost, perhaps not one of them were even reading the newsletter any longer.
Since then, I have learned that any marketing except my own can only be accepted as a paid advertisement located within the newsletter, surrounded by real information that is useful to my subscribers. The information they asked for when they trusted me with their e-mail address.
It is easy to be tempted to try to convert your list into cash, but the ultimate result of sharing your list will be the loss of the subscribers you worked so hard for. Maintain and earn the trust and respect of your list and it will continue to grow, violate that trust and you will experience what it is like to take one step forward and three steps back.
Jeff Glaze is the Editor of http://www.AtlantaEvent.com, founder of http://www.privacy-first.com e-mail certification program and the author of several e-books. His company, Mostcool Media Inc.( mostcoolmedia.com ), specializes in marketing planning, coaching, business networking training, web and media development. His e-book “The Six Xtremes Of Power Business Networking” is available here: http://www.atlantaevent.com/ebook.htm Jeff Glaze is available to speak to your group and can be contacted at 678.508.5975 Copyright © 2006 by MostCool Media Inc.
How to Repair Credit History Inaccuracies
Posted in : Great Mathematics Tips , comments closedMany people want to repair credit history issues. There is a lot of free credit repair advice. Some of this advice about how to repair credit history issues is very good. Some is not so good. Just like any free advice, try to use several sources, rather than only one.
If you are trying to repair credit history inaccuracies, the first place to start is with the credit bureaus. Until recently, credit bureaus charged consumers a small fee for copies of their credit reports. A recently enacted law has made it easier for consumers to obtain copies of their credit reports and work to repair credit history inaccuracies. Consumers are entitled to one free copy of their credit report every year. The credit bureaus do not really give free credit repair advice. They usually tell consumers that only time can repair credit history issues, but it does not take as long as they say. If you are willing to do a little work, either on your own or with the help of a law firm that specializes in credit repair, then you can legally repair credit history problems.
In response to the FACT act, the three major credit bureaus created a website at which consumers can view and print copies of their credit reports. In order to attempt to repair credit history issues, you must first find out what information is on these credit reports. At www.annualcreditreport.com, you can learn what negative items may be causing you problems. You may already know, since you are looking for free credit repair advice, but you will still need copies of your credit reports, even if you choose to hire someone to help you.
Once you have your credit reports, review the negative information that is listed. You can review the positive information, also, but it will not improve your credit score to have the positive items removed. Most of the work needed to repair credit history issues involves having inaccurate, obsolete or unverifiable information removed from your credit report. Unverifiable means that the credit bureau cannot verify the information. If you dispute any information on your credit report and the credit bureaus cannot verify it, then they must remove it. Some people that offer free credit repair advice suggest that you dispute every negative item on your credit report. Law firms that specialize in credit repair do not recommend that you dispute information that is accurate, but there are other techniques you can use.
The first step is to repair credit history inaccuracies. Check the name, address, social security number, previous addresses, open accounts, closed accounts, etc. If you find any information that is incorrect, report that immediately. The best free credit repair advice suggests writing a dispute letter to the credit bureau. Some of the credit bureaus allow consumers to dispute information on line, but the sites are frustrating to use. Attempts to repair credit history inaccuracies can be frustrating anyway, skip the additional frustration of trying to use the on-line dispute forms and write a letter.
Much free credit repair advice revolves around the letter writing. It is actually pretty simple. Use a standard business style letter. Be sure to include your name, your spouse’s name, address, social security number and any previous addresses from the last five years. Be sure to keep the letter unemotional, simply state the facts. Include copies of any proof that you may have that the information is inaccurate. Also include a copy of the credit report with the inaccurate information circled or highlighted. Much of the frustration related to attempts to repair credit history inaccuracies has to do with waiting. The credit bureaus have thirty days to investigate the dispute. So, it can take weeks before you receive a corrected copy of your report. They are required to send you a corrected copy free of charge.
You can view a sample copy of a dispute letter at the official website of the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC also offers free credit repair advice, but some of it can be discouraging. The worst advice is to do nothing. If you cannot do it yourself, get some help. Attempts to repair credit history problems sometimes do not include attempts to establish a good credit history. While working on removing negative credit information. Apply for a secured credit card, if you do not have one. Most banks offer them. These cards are secured by a savings account deposit and your credit limit is based on the amount in the account. You may think that these are not worthwhile, but lenders which offer secured credit cards report payment history to the credit bureaus. If you use the card a few times a month and pay off the balance each and every month, then you are establishing a “good” credit record. This will not repair credit history problems, but it is good free credit repair advice, because even after you remove the negative items, you need some positive items to get the best credit score possible.
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The writers and editors at Credit Fix Solutions are committed to providing accurate and free credit repair advice. Visit us at http://creditfixnow.blogspot.com. There is too much information to list in this article alone. For more free credit repair advice and for more information about how to repair credit history problems, visit Credit Fix Solutions. |
Miss This Crucial Point and Your Opt-in List Will Cost You Plenty April 10, 2009
Posted in : Marketing + More , comments closedYou have been told countles times that one of the “secrets” to making money online is to own an opt-in list. In fact you know of many people who own opt-in lists and they make fortunes from them, so why is it that after following all the advice you can’t make anything from your own list?
You dived straight in, picked a topic which seemed a good money earner and started building your list. You probably poured quite a lot of money into your list, and… You haven’t made a single cent in profit!
After your third or fourth month the realization hit home that you’re loosing money, big time. 1500 subscribers and only 20 or so respond to an offer, 30 if you offer a freebie, but nobody ever buys anything.
So what’s gone wrong?
Well, diving straight in, picking a good money earner and thinking others will believe you for starters. Think about it for a bit, you generally only buy from an offer in an email if you know the author is reputable and talking from experience. You trust them and the more the author is known across the internet, the more you trust their judgment.
That Ezine you joined the other day because it seemed interesting, do you really trust the editor? Let’s face it you’ve never heard of him before, would you buy anything on his recommendation? Probably not…
So why should any of your subscribers buy from your recommendation, after all, the first they heard of you was in the initial email you sent them and it’s only three months down the road since then.
The truth is, the money’s in the list only if your subscribers believe in, and trust you.
This platform of trust is like a new building and you will either add a few extra bricks to it, or remove a few bricks from it with very email you send, every forum post you make, every website you post your testimonial to.
You don’t need the guru’s to sing your praises, although they will when you build a responsive list that’s big enough to get their financial attention.
Big lists don’t just happen, they have to be built and they all start small. As you build your list you are building your reputation, so:
- Build your list and your abilities at the same time.
– Build your list through your own abilities, not other peoples.
– Be honest with yourself and your list.
– Always provide truthful unbiased information.
– Don’t look at your list as a money earner.
– Treasure your list; your subscribers deserve the best.
– Always reply promptly to subscriber’s correspondence.
Don’t forget to build your online presence at the same time, the more people hear about you, or read about you, the more your reputation grows:
- Reply professionally to forum posts.
– Send honest professional testimonials to product owners.
– Make friends with other list owners.
– Conduct joint ventures with other marketers.
The bottom line with building profitable lists is if you treat your subscribers with respect and offer honest and true advice, they will in turn respect you and take you up on the offers you make. Remember this – nobody minds paying for information if they know it will help them and it’s through your reputation that they will come to trust your judgment. That’s a big responsibility; you can’t afford to abuse it!
Colin Evans is editor of the List Building Tips newsletter.
Get a free detailed 7 step process to supercharge your opt in list, visit … http://www.list-building-tips.com
Credit Cards vs Cold Hard Cash – The Benefits April 8, 2009
Posted in : Great Mathematics Tips , comments closedThe security benefits of using credit cards have long been recognised. Even with the extra attention that is being placed on identity theft and credit card fraud these days, using your credit card is still one of the safest ways to pay for things available.
All credit card companies will provide you with an emergency number to call if your card is lost or stolen and in the vast majority of cases, any loss that is incurred by your account will be fully refunded by the card provider. This will always be the case unless you are somehow involved or to blame for the fraud, such as by giving out your security details to someone you shouldn’t have trusted. This means that even if your cards and information are stolen, you generally have nothing to worry about so long as you report the incident. Replacement cards can be sent to you very quickly.
Another benefit of credit cards over cash is that you can use them with ease abroad. They are fast becoming an internationally recognised currency. While cash will be accepted everywhere within your own country, credit cards are accepted at a huge number of locations all over the world. As soon as you step off a plane, and especially if you are travelling through a number of countries, a credit card will be an invaluable means of payment everywhere you go.
Another huge benefit of credit cards, that is really only beginning to show itself with the growth of Internet shopping, is the ease with which payments can be arranged online. There are thousands of websites now, all over the world that will conduct business with you and give you access to great prices if you have a credit card to pay for it. Gone are the days when cheques would be mailed in the post. Now, with new payment systems such as pay pal, even individuals can accept credit card payments with great ease and for very little expense. You should take care with your personal information and payment details however, and conduct business either via an intermediary such as pay pal, or only with companies you know you can trust.
The disadvantage of credit cards is that they can cost you money. You pay interest on balances that you carry from one month to another and if you do use your credit card abroad, you will have to accept additional charges from your card provider.
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Joe Kenny writes for the Credit Card Guide, offering the latest 0% credit cards, visit today for introductory balance transfers and start clearing credit card debt today. |
Is Your Company Overpaying for Telecom Services? April 4, 2009
Posted in : Better Telecommunication, Money Making , comments closedAny SMB has to be continually alert of the emerging trends and technologies in the telecom industry and learn how these can be taken advantage of to bring down their telecommunications costs. For example, employing VoIP over an IP-PBX phone system can result in substantial savings. Utilizing VoIP, calling from one computer to another is absolutely free. And even though calling a phone mobile or landline – from a computer involves a certain fee, this is significantly less than the international call costs that the company would have to bear were they made over the traditional phone networks.
Businesses can also consider using specialised software to analyze not only telecom bills but also rates and plans, as well as to compare various vendor offerings. Another option is for businesses to outsource to experts who specialize in telecommunications analysis and cost management, thereby accomplishing better results at lower prices.
One of the best ways a business can see to it that it is getting the most robust and cost effective solution, is to work with a telecom master agent that represents different carriers offering different services such as commercial long distance and local phone service, high speed internet access, data services or even integrated voice and data services. A master agent first understands the telecommunications needs of a business and then works with the carriers it represents to provide a host of solutions that will fit these needs as also the budget of the company.
Considering all this, it should seem obvious that bringing down telecom costs should be seen as a priority for most businesses. All The Same, overseeing telecommunications costs is not an easy task either for a Fortune 500 company or a small business. With hundreds or thousands of invoices for various services being received, it is hard work to go carefully through all expenses listed. Further, this is just one part of the problem. To really manage telecommunications costs, a business has to have a regular and comprehensive examination strategy to monitor and change, if need be, various plans, services and resources.
When it is time for renewing a contract, a company should make sure their contracts are competitive, instead of just automatically renewing their current contract. They can request various carriers to provide details of specific plans or packages the company is interested in and ask them to quote a price for those services, or have a master agent compare costs.
It is also important that outright billing errors be identified and rectified. Billing mistakes can be of several types ” a line or service that has been discontinued continues to be billed, costs shown in contracts or quotes are not being reflected, there are incorrect assessment of taxes and many more. Auditing telecom bills is time consuming and though the errors detected may not seem to add up to much per month, when accumulated over the year, they add significantly to total telecom costs.
Enriching Your Everyday Life with Audible Books April 3, 2009
Posted in : Bookstuff, Web Of Language , comments closedPimsleur English – English for German Speakers I Part 1 by Dr. Paul Pimsleur might be tremendous reading, but today’s busy lifestyles make getting time hard to do. Lengthy journeys to work and day-to-day activities may be taking up large amounts of free time everyday. Your favorite interests take a back seat to your job, getting the children, or maintaining the house and bills. It’s simple to use the hours spent doing housework to get up to date on those books you can’t get around to reading. Thanks to downloads, it’s simple to indulge in Shoot The Moon by Billie Letts for sale from Download Audio Book Online, or audiobooks brought to life by Ray Bradbury when you are busy doing other things.
Multi-tasking has become a way of life in today’s frantic world. Audiobooks like Pimsleur French I Part 1 by Dr. Paul Pimsleur available from Download Audio Book Online make the best use of of the wasted minutes in our daily lives, it may be waiting time in a dentist’s surgery or taking the kids to soccer practise. Audiobooks are now available to download as mp3 files for instance Pimsleur Chinese (Mandarin) I Part 3 by Dr. Paul Pimsleur, so use of your mp3 player and hook it up to your car’s media system you have the chance to check out a best seller or a fantastic novel, for example audio-books written by Jimmy Buffet without dragging heavy books around. An added benefit of audio titles is the opportunity to rent or purchase many titles and savor them at your leisure. Interested in studying Italian? Try audio-books! Perhaps new sales techniques are your thing, you may even explore the paranormal. Audio books exist in a multitude of titles and literary genres. It really doesn’t matter if you are a wine devotee, or you are crazy about biographies or even if your interests lie in self help, many are available through online downloads. Numerous options are available; it’s simple to take a subscription to a program and hire your choice of audiobook or else buy what appeals to you. Reading will invariably be an essential skill, however audio books offer a handy alternative for active individuals. A narrator can enhance the experience of most books. Reading a title is not the same experience as savoring audio titles told by Julie Powell, including niceties established during a rendidtion. Hearing audiobooks recounted by can supply something extra to the title and mean lots more than written words.
So next time in future should you think about purchasing a book you might never find time to read, do not forget an audiobook as a better choice.
Creating a Favicon
Posted in : Hall Of Websters , comments closedOnce, I attempted to create a favicon (the little graphic in the URL address box) for this Web site, but never did finish the work until now. I used a free program that allowed me to copy and paste an image to create an icon, but I believe it has spyware so I won’t share its name. There are many icon creators out there.
In Photoshop (or whatever drawing program you have), I created a 16×16 pixel workspace. Added what I wanted in the icon (never could come up with a logo for the site, so I stuck with the m), select all (CTRL+A), copy (CTRL+C), and pasted it into the suspicious program. There, I saved it as “favicon.ico” and uploaded the file to my server.
It won’t work yet. First, add a line to the
of the index page. Here’s the line to add using XHTML standard formatting (if you’re using HTML, leave off the / at the end of the line):That’s it. The first time you try it, nothing might happen. Give it a little bit to take effect as that’s what happened with mine. You don’t have to specifically create a 16 x 16 pixel image to make it into an icon with the program.
Meryl K. Evans is the Content Maven behind meryl’s notes, eNewsletter Journal, and The Remediator Security Digest. She is also a PC Today columnist and a tour guide at InformIT. She is geared to tackle your editing, writing, content, and process needs. The native Texan resides in Plano, Texas, a heartbeat north of Dallas, and doesn’t wear a 10-gallon hat or cowboy boots.
A Barrister’s Bookcase, Series Two April 1, 2009
Posted in : Bookstuff, Life Of Legal Resources, The Shoppers Way , comments closedA Barrister’s bookcase is a traditionalistic bookcase Its identifying feature is a plain glass front end. This glass front is hinged at the top allowing someone to easily access volumes and other collectibles merely by raising the glass door. A barrister bookcase is ideal for just about anything. Barrister bookcases were frequently used by attorneys since it was necessary for them to keep on moving. Now, they are also very favorable, peculiarly if one is constantly on the move. The doors make this the case. This precludes them from having to be emptied on moving
Great Bookcases
Solid Barrister’s Bookcases quash the use of the normal sidelong opening doors and use doors that have the up and over opening mechanism. A metal scissor device used inside the barrister shelves control the mobile doors do it in a parallel fashion without the problem of having the doors jam or skew in the procedure. One favored position of utilizing the barrister bookcase and shelves is the ability to have many of these units group together. These bookcases give the impression of an attractive cabinet. They can be made out of a number of materials Whether it is constructed utilising glass or wood, these bookcases give an elgance to a room.
This special brand of furniture, despite their many merits, can be rather expensive. Fortuitously, their many advantages have moved some producers to start producing replica editions and some in modern versions at very small prices. Many variations have simple looks. These can fit any theme.They can also be trimmed cheaply.The fact that they can be stacked together allows them to be easily used to create very interesting unit arrangements. Some can be used to create end tables, pulpits or even breakfast tables.
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