Free Article Use on Your Web Site

Free Article Use on Your Web Site

by: C Brackney

If you are trying to drive traffic to your web site and have researched your options, you have probably reached one conclusion. Content is essential.

They say content is king and that mantra is oftrepeated for a reason. It’s true.

Content is a key component in driving topnotch search engine placement. Content attracts visitors and keeps them longer. Content can help to reinforce your sales message. For those involved in affiliate marketing, content can fill space and increase the perceived legitimacy of a site.

You want traffic and you need content. You have three means of acquiring it. You can author it yourself, purchase it from someone else, or cull and use free articles widely available on the internet.

Selfauthorship offers some appeal. After all, who knows your business the way you do? However, the significant amount of time and energy required to develop the written content you need may very well be disproportionate to its benefit—especially when you remind yourself that you are an entrepreneur, not a writer.

Odds are that you would prefer to leave the monotonous process of authoring articles to someone else while you made better use of your time finetuning the other aspects of your business.

You would prefer to have content authored by a genuine writer—someone who knows how to use the written word to maximum effectiveness.

The decision between purchasing materials and using free content may seem relatively simple. Free articles have many benefits.

They don’t increase your overhead. They are easy to find. They cover topics related to your site and products. There is no delay—you can access them immediately. Free content has some immediately visible advantages.

However, free articles have a significant and oftenoverlooked downside.

Initially, the competitive arena of the internet is populated by thousands like you who are looking for a content edge. Those who may be in direct competition for your traffic are thinking about content and may be reaching for free content, too.

The result? The same free content appears over and over again at site after site.

The reason content is so important is because it gives you an opportunity to attract surfers and keep them at your site. They are attracted to content that provides them with information they cannot readily find elsewhere and materials that are engaging and unique. A chief component of content’s power is diluted by its repetitive use in hundreds of locations.

Additionally, free content is generally advertising in disguise. Unfortunately, it’s not your advertising. Authors of free content are not writing out of love—they are writing for their own profit.

Take for instance, this free article. I am seeking to provide you with information about free materials and their weaknesses. However, I am not performing this function out of a sense of civic duty. I write custom content for web sites. My URL will appear at the bottom of this article. I am seeking to persuade readers to consider purchasing unique content and, of course, to consider using me as their supplier.

All free articles are advertising copy, in a sense. Do you really want to use someone else’s advertising on your site? If your visitors read the content, and the content is wellwritten, it should spur them to at least consider leaving your site to find out more about the author, the ideas the author mentions, or the products and services to which the author alludes.

Content should serve to make your site sticky—keeping surfers on your site. Free content may perform the opposite function by drawing them to other venues.

Third, free articles are not written with you in mind. Free articles may have been written with particular keywords or concepts in mind, but they were not constructed for your site with your specific needs under consideration. Their tone and content are unlikely to be a perfect fit for your needs, further decreasing their effectiveness.

Using a custom content provider allows you to receive all of the benefits of great content while avoiding the pitfalls associated with free materials.

You can hire a professional writer to produce entertaining and informative content that is completely unique to your web site. The result is better search engine placement and a reason for visitors to come back again and again—and to stay longer when they do.

Custom articles also promise a complete commitment to your site and your needs. The author can produce exactly what you need and do so in a way that reinforces your message and your objectives. It can blend seamlessly with your site and help presell your product or service in ways free articles never could.

There are costs, of course. You will need to pay your writer and you will have some period of brief delay before your content is ready. However, if you work with an effective content provider who understands the nature of internet business, costs should be reasonable and turnaround quick.

Free articles seem like a wonderful solution to the content gap from which so many sites suffer. Unfortunately, free articles fail to deliver the full advantage of great content and may actually reduce the effectiveness of your site. The alternative, a professional internet content provider, is the best way to insure your content will do what you need it to do.

About The Author

C. Brackney is an internet content provider. Content One provides unique custom content of all types for web sites.

http://content1.bravehost.com

[email protected]

Copyright 2005 C. Brackney/Content One. All rights reserved.

This article was posted on February 05

by C Brackney

Negotiating Tactics: Don’t Let ‘Good Guy – Bad Guy

Negotiating Tactics: Don’t Let ‘Good Guy – Bad Guy’ Control the Sales Negotiation

by: Richard Cunningham

Counter one of the classic negotiating gambits by addressing it directly.

You’ve assembled a brilliant sales proposal for a new client and when you arrive to the meeting to hammer out the final details, you suddenly find yourself sitting across the table negotiating with two people. One is a person with whom you’ve had contact during the sales process; the other is new – a purchasing agent.

The former is characteristically warm, gracious, and quite friendly to your proposal. The latter is hardnosed, aloof, and completely opposed to nearly every one of your positions. They are playing the classic negotiating tactic of ‘good guy – bad guy.’

In the audiobook, ขSound Advice on Negotiating Skills,ข author Roger Dawson says that when buyers use good guy – bad guy, they are counting on the salesperson being drawn to the good guy. Psychologically, the salesperson wants to please him or her by making concessions.

The solution, says Dawson – a renowned speaker and author of the book, ขSecrets of Power Negotiatingข – is to ขcounter their tactic by letting them know that you realize what they’re doing. It’s such as well known negotiating tactic that when you say to them, ‘Oh come on, you’re not going to play good guy, bad guy with me, are you?’ they become embarrassed they were caught and will back off.ข

Roger Dawson offers negotiating skills advice each week in the free audio newsletter from What’s Working in Biz, http://www.whatsworking.biz/full_story.asp?ArtID=92

About The Author

Richard Cunningham is a principal of What’s Working in Biz, http://www.whatsworking.biz, a publisher of business audiobooks and online audio programs on marketing, sales, and small business strategies.

This article was posted on January 03, 2004

by Richard Cunningham

My Identity Crisis

My Identity Crisis

by: David Leonhardt

When we are young it is all so simple. We know exactly what I want to กbeก when we grow up.

You know what itกs like: กI want to be a fireman.ก I want to be a ballerina.ก กI want to be a movie star.ก กI want to be a nuclear physicist specializing in embryonic schisms in postmenopausal subatomic particles.ก

This aspect of growing up came back to haunt me recently when reading a magazine article by someone working in television who had always wanted to be a celebrity. To paraphrase her words, กIt never occurred to me that I might have to actually do anything.ก

Well, here I am, a fullygrown adult. Or perhaps I am no longer fully grown – Iกm not sure at what age we start shrinking! But I do have a confession to make; I never knew what I wanted to กbeก. I knew only what I wanted to do.

What I wanted to do was design cities, urban spaces, bus routes. No, thatกs not true. What I really wanted to do was design maps…but most map companies want map designers to simply mimic the cityกs existing design. Geesh, whereกs the creativity in that?

So I was led astray, falling in love with politics instead. For a while I worked as a political aide, plotting to become King of the World. Amazingly, it took only five years for reality to grind my idealistic innocence to sawdust and send me on a frantic search for a doityourself lobotomy kit. (I never did get to be King of the World, nor did I ever find that doityourself lobotomy kit.)

I spent the next decadeandahalf as a consumer advocate and lobbyist, doing media relations, government relations and industry relations none of which are technically verbs that one can actually กdoก.

At social events, the accountants and lawyers had it easy. กI am an accountant,ก says it all.

I was not so fortunate.

กI am a consumer advocate,ก I would say.

กSo what do you do?ก

กWell, I talk to the media and to the government and to industry,ก I would explain.

กAhaaa… and I talk to the tooth fairy. So what do you do?ก

Now, I have an even harder time when somebody asks what I do. Most people have no clue what search engine optimization is, which is my main กcareerก. Few people really understand what freelance writing is, except if they read a freelance writerกs article in a magazine . I don’t even try to mention that I run three websites and do affiliate marketing. But people do understand what it means to be an author.

กWow, you wrote a book on happiness? Congratulations. So whenกs your next book coming out?ก

Which is when I have to explain how a book really doesn’t feed a family, and if I took the time to write a second book, it would take time away from search engine optimization and affiliate marketing…

กHuh, whatกs that?ก

กNever mind,ก I answer. กIกm a stayathome dad.ก Which also is true. People might look at me weird, but at least they understand me. Or, so they think.

All of which brings me back to that question I never answered when I was young: what do I want to be when I grow up? I guess Iกll just have to wait a little longer to find out. Like when I grow up.

About The Author

David Leonhardt is author of Climb Your Stairway to Heaven

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/Item.asp?Catalog=Books&Item=059517826X

Read more personal growth articles:

http://www.thehappyguy.com/selfactualizationarticles.html

Visit his liquid vitamins store:

http://www.vitaminsupplementsstore.net

Or his happiness website:

http://www.thehappyguy.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 30

by David Leonhardt

Are Your Articles HighQuality?

Are Your Articles HighQuality?

by: Wendy Betterini

Writing and distributing articles is fast becoming a popular method of website promotion.

However, if your articles are not highquality, you defeat the whole purpose of using articles for promotion. Web publishers are looking for quality information to offer their visitors and subscribers.

As a web publisher myself, I will not use articles that have a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes. Per the terms of use, publishers are not allowed to alter articles, even if they have the time or inclination to correct all of the errors. If I come across an article with a lot of mistakes, I bypass it, even if the article itself contains a great message. If the author had taken just a little time to clean it up, it would have been perfectly usable.

While there are benefits to submitting your writing to the article databases alone, the primary goal of submitting articles is to allow other web publishers to use your material, thereby bringing more exposure and traffic to your website. If your articles are sloppy, they will not be used. Here are some general guidelines to writing quality articles:

Use a clear title if you write an article about internet marketing, don’t just title your article กInternet Marketing.ก Be clear about the subject of the article. For example, ‘ten Ways to Increase Your Sales in Internet Marketing.ก Remember, the title is what will grab peopleกs attention and encourage them to click through and read your article.

Proper spelling and grammar take the time to be sure your article has no mistakes. Most web publishers can overlook a typo or two, but they will not use articles that need to be deciphered with a decoder ring! Most word processing software comes with a builtin spelling and grammar check. Take a minute to use it before submitting an article. Be sure you use the proper form of words that sound alike but are spelled differently and have different meanings. Example: ‘there, they’re, and theirก or ‘to, too, and two.ก BusinessWords.com has an excellent Dictionary of words that sound the same. You can also reference Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. online, for free. This classic reference book details the rules of usage for the English language.

Avoid excessive keyword stuffing yes, I know you want your article to be keywordrich to entice the search engines, but there is definitely such a thing as overkill! I read an article recently where the author used the term, กhomebased online internet businessก over and over and OVER again. Not once did he use the terms, กit, your business, the business,ก etc. As a result, the article was incredibly redundant and monotonous. Sprinkle your keywords throughout the article, but also think of some alternate keyword phrases you could use that would be just as effective. For example, this author could have used phrases like, กhomebusiness owner, entrepreneur, internet marketing, and small business.ก

What is the focus of your article? some articles Iกve read started with one topic and then quickly meandered onto other unrelated topics, never answering the question or solving the problem posed at the beginning of the article. They more closely resembled long, rambling opinion pieces. While those certainly have their uses, most web publishers are looking for an article that helps their readers solve a problem or learn something new. The best way to do this with your articles is to keep it simple. Start by asking a question or posing a problem, and then provide the answer. Don’t veer off onto other subjects in that same article (unless it is a piece that touches on several interconnected topics, in which case you can use bullet points to define them).

Use a clear author bio another article I read recently used no author bio. It simply listed the author name and website address. Put a little more thought into it than that. When I enjoy an article, I want to know something about the author, and what their website has to offer me. I won’t click through to the authorกs website unless something compels me to do so. Tell the readers a little something about yourself. What is your experience and expertise? What does your website have to offer? Why should they click on your link? At the same time, don’t make your bio too long, either. You don’t have to give your entire life story, just a quick overview of who you are and what you do.

Bottom line: You don’t have to be a literary genius to write a good article. Most web publishers are not looking for perfection. However, remember that your articles are representing your business or website. If they are sloppy, riddled with errors and generally poor quality, what does that say about you and your business?

First impressions count! Always strive to put your best image out there, and it will pay off considerably.

About The Author

Wendy Betterini is a freelance writer and web designer who has been successfully working from home since 2003. In 2005 she launched http://www.CreativeWorkAtHome.com, a community and resource center for homebased professionals, and those who aspire to be. Visit today for tools, tips and information on how you can create your own homebased career, or further improve the one you already have!

This article was posted on August 03

by Wendy Betterini

A Basic Introduction to Blogging

A Basic Introduction to Blogging

by: Mal Keenan

Web logging first appeared on the net in the mid1990s. The term ขweb logข was initially coined refer to a server’s log file and then expanded to include the meaning of online personal journaling. Later on, to avoid confusion, the word ขblogข was adopted to refer to personal journaling. Today a blog is defined as an online publication where an author puts his or her personal thoughts and opinions from the most intimate to corporate ideas, concerns or events, in chronological order on the net.

Although, there are as many kinds of blogs on line as there are people, most of these will roughly fall into these kind of bloggers: Personal Bloggers (the original use of blogging), then there are the organizational and business Bloggers.

Organizational blogs are meant to facilitate communications between its internal and external audiences. It may also provide information for the external publics’ use.

Business blogs promote products or services for profit. They also increase awareness about the company, as well as establish itself as an authority with customers, vendors, through publications that demonstrate their expertise in the market.

What are the kinds of contents that readers can find in a blog that’s for distribution? The authors’ ideas, opinions, expertise in his/her field of work, resumes, and home recipes, pictures, streaming audio or video clips, ebooks, poetry, works, products, services and consultations.

Why have blogs become very popular compared to websites or email? Most websites are infrequently updated, while blogs have instant publishing tools which permit the author to regularly update & introduce new content. Although both have great content, websites are usually impersonal in informing their audience. While blogs allow the readers to leave their comments and feedback, to hold twoconversations with the author, who usually does the publishing and can immediately respond to his/her readers.

The blogs’ abilities to reach and immediately react to an expanding mass of audience have made businesses and marketers use these as a strategic marketing tool. Additionally blogs are very efficient, cheap to use and can quickly distribute information.

However, before you decide to jump on the blogging bandwagon, take time to find out what are your objectives for creating your own blog. Is it a personal, organizational or business blog? This will help you decide on what your blog will contain, where you’d place it and what publishing tools you’ll be using.

Copyright 2005 Mal Keenan

About The Author

For more information on blogging and other aspects of Internet Marketing and Home Business visit Mal Keenanกs personal blog: http://www.homebusinesstipsnewsletter.com/blog/

This article was posted on April 10

by Mal Keenan

The Future of Electronic Publishing

The Future of Electronic Publishing

by: Sam Vaknin, Ph.D.

UNESCOกs somewhat arbitrary definition of กbookก is:

กกNonperiodical printed publication of at least 49 pages excluding coversก.

The emergence of electronic publishing was supposed to change all that. Yet a bloodbath of unusual proportions has taken place in the last few months. Time Warnerกs iPublish and MightyWords (partly owned by Barnes and Noble) were the last in a string of resounding failures which cast in doubt the business model underlying digital content. Everything seemed to have gone wrong: the dot.coms dot bombed, venture capital dried up, competing standards fractured an already fragile marketplace, the hardware (ebook readers) was clunky and awkward, the software unwieldy, the ebooks badly written or already in the public domain.

Terrified by the inexorable process of disintermediation (the establishment of direct contact between author and readers, excluding publishers and bookstores) and by the ease with which digital content can be replicated publishers resorted to draconian copyright protection measures (euphemistically known as กdigital rights managementก). This further alienated the few potential readers left. The opposite model of กviralก or กbuzzก marketing (by encouraging the dissemination of free copies of the promoted book) was only marginally more successful.

Moreover, epublishingกs delivery platform, the Internet, has been transformed beyond recognition since March 2000.

From an open, somewhat anarchic, web of networked computers it has evolved into a territorial, commercial, corporate extension of กbrick and mortarก giants, subject to government regulation. It is less friendly towards independent (small) publishers, the backbone of epublishing. Increasingly, it is expropriated by publishing and media behemoths. It is treated as a medium for cross promotion, supply chain management, and customer relations management. It offers only some minor synergies with noncyberspace, real world, franchises and media properties. The likes of Disney and Bertelsmann have swung a full circle from considering the Internet to be the next big thing in New Media delivery to frantic efforts to contain the red ink it oozed all over their otherwise impeccable balance sheets.

But were the now silent pundits right all the same? Is the future of publishing (and other media industries) inextricably intertwined with the Internet?

The answer depends on whether an old habit dies hard. Internet surfers are used to free content. They are very reluctant to pay for information (with precious few exceptions, like the กWall Street Journalกกs electronic edition). Moreover, the Internet, with 3 billion pages listed in the Google search engine (and another 15 billion in กinvisibleก databases), provides many free substitutes to every information product, no matter how superior. Web based media companies (such as Salon and Britannica.com) have been experimenting with payment and pricing models. But this is besides the point. Whether in the form of subscription (Britannica), pay per view (Questia), pay to print (Fathom), sample and pay to buy the physical product (RealRead), or micropayments (Amazon) the public refuses to cough up.

Moreover, the advertisingsubsidized free content Web site has died together with Web advertising. Geocities a community of free hosted, adsupported, Web sites purchased by Yahoo! is now selectively shutting down Web sites (when they exceed a certain level of traffic) to convince their owners to revert to a monthly hosting fee model. With Lycos in trouble in Europe, Tripod may well follow suit shortly. Earlier this year, Microsoft has shut down ListBot (a host of discussion lists). Suite101 has stopped paying its editors (content authors) effective January 15th. About.com fired hundreds of category editors. With the ugly demise of Themestream, WebSeed is the only content aggregator which tries to buck the trend by relying (partly) on advertising revenue.

Paradoxically, epublishingกs main hope may lie with its ostensible adversary: the library. Unbelievably, epublishers actually tried to limit the access of library patrons to ebooks (i.e., the lending of ebooks to multiple patrons). But, libraries are not only repositories of knowledge and community centres. They are also dominant promoters of new knowledge technologies. They are already the largest buyers of ebooks. Together with schools and other educational institutions, libraries can serve as decisive socialization agents and introduce generations of pupils, students, and readers to the possibilities and riches of epublishing. Government use of ebooks (e.g., by the military) may have the same beneficial effect.

As standards converge (Adobeกs Portable Document Format and Microsoftกs MS Reader LIT format are likely to be the winners), as hardware improves and becomes ubiquitous (within multipurpose devices or as standalone higher quality units), as content becomes more attractive (already many new titles are published in both print and electronic formats), as more versatile information taxonomies (like the Digital Object Identifier) are introduced, as the Internet becomes more genderneutral, polyglot, and cosmopolitan epublishing is likely to recover and flourish.

This renaissance will probably be aided by the gradual decline of print magazines and by a strengthening movement for free open source scholarly publishing. The publishing of periodical content and academic research (including, gradually, peer reviewed research) may be already shifting to the Web. Nonfiction and textbooks will follow. Alternative models of pricing are already in evidence (author pays to publish, author pays to obtain peer review, publisher pays to publish, buy a physical product and gain access to enhanced online content, and so on). Web site rating agencies will help to discriminate between the credible and the incredible. Publishing is moving albeit kicking and screaming online.

About The Author

Sam Vaknin is the author of กMalignant Self Love Narcissism Revisitedก and กAfter the Rain How the West Lost the Eastก. He is a columnist in กCentral Europe Reviewก, United Press International (UPI) and ebookweb.org and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory, Suite101 and searcheurope.com. Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government of Macedonia.

His web site: http://samvak.tripod.com

This article was posted on February 2, 2002

by Sam Vaknin, Ph.D.

Twelve Things You Should Know to Save on Computer

Twelve Things You Should Know to Save on Computer Software

by: Larry Andrew

Do you want to get quality software at a reasonable price? Whether you work at home or just need good software for your personal computer, you are faced with an almost endless selection of computer software. Sorting through the options can sometimes be a major task. However, if you want to get good, quality software there are several things that you can do that will save you money and headaches.

With the arrival of online marketing, you have more choices than ever. There are a large number of reputable software companies that sell software at significant savings. With a little homework and thought on your part, you can get good quality software that will accomplish your specific task.

In order to save both time and money on computer software, here is a list of twelve things you should do.

1. First, make sure you know as closely as possible the exact task you want your software to accomplish. The more specific you are the better. For example, do you want a very general word processing program to write occasional letters or a more sophisticated word processing software program to run the marketing for your business?

2. Check out the minimum requirements necessary to run the software. You want to make sure it will run on your computer equipment. You should find out how much memory the program takes, what operating systems it will run on and how much disk space is required. Is there any other computer accessory required to use the software?

3. Talk to friends and associates that have used the specific type of software you’re searching for. Ask them where they got the software, how much they paid, how long they’ve used the program, what type of guarantee came with the program, etc. If you have a task, which involves a deadline, like a payroll program, ask them how they were able to get answers to their questions and how long did it take.

4. Search the Internet for reviews on the software. Look at user groups or bulletin boards to see what users are saying about the software. For example, if you’re looking at the QuickBooks business program, type in ขQuickBooks Software Reviewข to locate review information about the program.

5. You should always test the software program before you purchase it. Many reputable companies will allow you to download their software and test it out before you buy. Take advantage of the opportunity to test the program. Enter some data, print some reports, and give the program a real workout. Try as many options as possible. Don’t always follow set procedures. Try to experiment on your own. You want to know what the software does in a real world setting. You want to know what happens when you make a mistake.

6. If the software provides support, you should think of a question about the program that may not be too obvious and ask support for help. You’re much better off to try out support before you truly need help than to wait until you’re in a ขmust have helpข situation. See how long it takes to get an answer. Check out how clear the response is. Ask yourself, ขDid this completely resolve the problem for me?ข

7. Check out the software warranty and company guarantees. A software company that stands behind their program will usually guarantee their products for a specific period of time. You should get at least a 30day money back guarantee after purchasing the product. A 90180 day guarantee is better. Usually, the longer the product warranty, the better the software.

8. Find out how often the company provides updates to their software. Check out the cost for getting the updates. For example, many companies will include updates for a specific period of time with the purchase price of the software. Companies that actively listen to their users update their software. If a computer program has not been updated for a long time, you probably won’t get further updates.

9. If you get a ขFreewareข software program, you need to know four things:

First, freeware is a software program that does not cost you any money. That means you will not be able to receive support from the author. You are basically on your own. Sometimes that is good. However, if you have a time sensitive task and run into a software problem, free software may not be your best option. If you miss a deadline and have to pay a penalty of some type, that free software isn’t so cheap after all.

Second, many times freeware is an ขintroductoryข version of a program. That means you may still have to pay for the ขcompleteข program or the ability to use all the program options.

Third, if there is no charge for a program, the program may include software options that gather information about you, your computer, your surfing habits, etc. and then return this information to the company via the Internet. This is sometimes referred to as ขSpywareข and can cause some real problems with your computer. When you use a program to eliminate the spyware on your computer, your ขfreeข software program may no longer work.

Finally, if you are fairly computer literate, have no specific deadlines and know that a freeware program does not contain spyware, then, a freeware computer program can be a great bargain.

10. If you get a ขSharewareข software program you need to know three things:

First, shareware is a software program that lets you try it out before you buy it. The author is ขsharingข the program with you. If the computer shareware program does what you want it to do, then the author expects you to pay for it.

Many shareware programs allow you to use the program for a set period of time. After that period of time, the program (or at least some of the program options) will not continue to work. Don’t make the mistake of entering a lot of important data and then decide you ขdon’t want to payข for the program. You could be left high and dry.

Finally, some shareware programs will continue to operate regardless of how long you use them. If you come to rely on a shareware computer program, it is wise to pay the author the nominal fee they usually request. This will help the author continue to develop and enhance the program. Besides, you’ll probably get support and help from the author if you need it.

11. Beware of companies that send you unsolicited emails offering ขname brandข computer software at huge discounts. These are often overseas companies selling ขillegalข software. You will not get support, but you could get a letter from the company’s lawyer telling you that you’re using a pirated copy of their software. Some people have even reported giving their credit card information to purchase these ขgreat bargainsข only to learn weeks later, they had paid for software they never got.

12. Last but not least, always order your computer software from a reputable online company. You’ll experience the best service, the best warranty and the best computer products available.

About The Author

Larry Andrew is an educational consultant, author and publisher of www.ezsoftwarereview.com. Learn how to purchase cheap, reliable and quality software for your home, school and business.

This article was posted on March 14

by Larry Andrew

Getting Good Picture Results

Getting Good Picture Results

by: Paul Hood

Creating beautiful photographs can prove to be very difficult if you are not using the right equipment as well as the appropriate technique. To help you with that predicament, below are helpful tips to guide you in your quest for photographic enlightenment.

The first thing to keep in mind when shooting photos is that you have to look your subject in the eye. Direct eye contact can get your viewer transfixed with your picture thus enjoying more view time. Position your camera at your subject’s eye level to reveal those beautiful smiles. Getting a good angle will give you photos that are appealing and good to look at. A plain background is good for giving emphasis to your subject. It is never a good idea to have the background upstage the person or landscape you are taking a picture of. Also, if you are going to shoot pictures outdoors, use flash. Glare from the sun can create ugly facial shadows. For this problem, the flash is the key. You must also be particular with the proper distance between you and your subject making sure that you are not very near nor very far. The closest possible range for shooting pictures without making your subject blurry is about three feet. Other than that would be disaster. Subjects place in the middle make for boring photographs. Try to make your pictures livelier by placing your subject away from the middle. Just keep in mind that youกll need to lock the focus if you have an autofocus camera because most of them focus on whatever is in the center of the viewfinder. Failure to do this will give you blurry images which are sure to hit the trash bin. A common mistake that usually happens is taking shots beyond the range of the flash resulting in very dark pictures. You can avoid this by reading your camera’s manual or if not take pictures below ten feet away from you. A very important component of a great photograph is good lighting as this will greatly enhance the appearance of your picture. Choose the right time of the day like a sunset to improve your subject’s appearance. Try to take vertical pictures from time to time. There are subjects that will look better if shot vertically. The last but not the least, make conscious efforts to have better control of your shots to boost your picture quality. Take charge of your photo sessions. Manipulate every situation to fit your taste.

Armed with the right knowledge, you are most likely to produce great looking pictures. Continually try to hone your skills to improve your chances of making worthwhile pictures. Making great shots can be a very rewarding experience.

About The Author

Ariel Velasco goes by the author alias of Paul Hood. This author is into books and writing. Reading is an essential part of his life and this has lent a considerable influence in his writing. Well traveled and would always want to travel more. He loves learning more about people and their ways. Took up a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology to further this fascination and had a fulfilling educational experience having been exposed to a wide spectrum of people. Always ready for new opportunities to learn and have a great deal of interest in different fields of expertise.

Additional Information about the articles can be found at http://www.fullcolorprintingcompany.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 10

by Paul Hood

Turn Your กRusty Junkก Into eBay Gold

Turn Your กRusty Junkก Into eBay Gold

by: Pete Egeler

Often times people to stop to realize the income potential of their กjunkก. And, when they DO decide it might be worth selling, they never give eBay a second thought.

As I preach over and over again to my customers, don’t ever think that you have something that nobody else would want, unless youกve really taken the time to do a little eBay research.

Iกve sold my wifeกs old tea pots, bowls, AOL CDกs, books, etc. that we no longer had a use for. And, it usually brings a lot more cash to the table than a yard sale or flea market sale would.

Most items in good condition will bring a pretty fair price on eBay if you take just a bit of time to locate the correct category for that item.

Then again, there are times when you may have something that really doesn’tlook all that great. What should you do then?

Well, depending upon what it is, you may want to sell it กas is.ก

Case in point is a lamp Iกm getting ready to auction off. (My wife brought it home to me the other day.)

Itกs obvious that this lamp is old. It doesn’t work (that I know of,) and it has a bit of tarnish on it. But, Iกm NOT going to try and กspruce it upก before I put it up for auction.

Now I don’t know squat about lamps. But I DO KNOW, that this particular lamp was made in the early 70กs. About 1972 I think, and the WORST thing I could do is try to กcleanก it to make it more presentable.

Iกll dust it off, and take a couple of pictures, but it will be sold กas is.ก

Why? Because someone that DOES know about lamps, will exactly how to clean this particular item up in the CORRECT manner, so as not to damage it.

They will know it needs work, and they will know what, and how to bring it back to the condition it should be in.

One of the กbiggiesก these days is the กcountryก look in home decor.

So, look around. See what you might have stashed away in the corner of your garage, in your attic, etc. Don’t want it any more? Just drag it out, dust it off, and sell it on eBay.

Someone is sure to be looking for just the item you no longer want.

About The Author

Pete Egeler is the author of กDumpster Diving for eBay Profits,ก and a twicemonthly newsletter entitled กDDNews.ก You can check out either of these by visiting his web site at: http://shmyl.com/ciaa You can also email Pete at: [email protected] for more information.

This article was posted on March 06, 2004

by Pete Egeler

Promote and Sell With Writing

Promote and Sell With Writing

by: Edvard Halupa

Whether you have your own products or you are part of affiliate program, there must be some area of expertise you are good in. A niche. Something you feel good to speak about and express your opinions. If you can write it down, it might benefit your business more than you could imagine. Most people looking on Internet for solutions to their problems are not searching for concrete products, rather for the description of the problem followed by the cure. Rather than writing sales letters describing good sides of your service/product you could focus on writing useful content on topics you know. It could be solutions of type ขhow toข (deal with, change, fix, create, build, etc.)

Even if the writing is not your profession like for many people writing articles on internet is not, you can still create very useful piece of writing that will people with enthusiasm read and all just by following simple guidelines.

Mention a problem/situation

Go more in details

Mention a solution

Mention alternatives

Provide additional resources

As long as there is useful information that can make someone’s life easier it is a good content. but if there is more information about how your product/service solves this kind of problem, congrats, you wrote a good sales letter, and people reading it, will assume it’s an advertisement more than true content supposed to help.

It is OK to tell about your product but only at a right place, at a right time. Not to push reader into sale of your product. If he found the information useful, he’ll ask for more and will gain an confidence into what you got to say and sell.

Writing doesn’t automatically lead into sales, but it is a great method of PR or free promotion. Your writing can be published on your website or your newsletter. You would be surprised how many people want to read what you have to say. Here I specially mean on short articles for free distribution. There is a great number of online directories that accept articles from freelance writers. Most articles consist of this: Definition of the problem, deeper description of the problem, solution, and alternatives to the problem, your signature and resource box. Resource box should contain more information about the author and his work. Here could be placed a link to the other articles or to the website. Statistics show that more people will click on this link and ask for more information than on link for what they know it’s a paid advertisement. This is because they see you differently: not as seller but rather as someone who helped them with a certain problem and as someone they gained confidence to.

Example of a resource box:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alexandria K. Brown, ขThe Ezine Queen,ข is author of the awardwinning manual, ขBoost Business With Your Own Ezine.ข To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://www.ezinequeen.com.

What Alexandria also wrote below her article on her website:

NOTE: You’re welcome to ขreprintข this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the ขabout the authorข info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to [email protected].

Advertising thru writing articles is a part of ขviral marketingข. After submitting to article directories you’ll be surprised on how many other places your article will show up. (newsletters, websites, collecting and publishing articles)

About The Author

Edvard Halupa is editor of the http://www.AffiliateBusinessGuide.info, Complete Guide to Internet Affiliate Marketing business with online articles, tips and resources.

This article was posted on December 22, 2004

by Edvard Halupa

Desktop Security Software Risks Part 1

Desktop Security Software Risks Part 1

by: Tim Klemmer

This is the second in a series of articles highlighting reasons why we need a new model for antivirus and security solutions.

Reason #2: the Desktop Security Software Risks

The risks of placing software on the desktop are such that I will be breaking this article into two parts.

Fundamentally we think of having software on our desktops as a good thing. I love downloading or installing new packages and seeing what new creative things people do to the user interface or what they do to make certain aspects of my life easier or more fun.

But there are problems inherent with software that resides on the desktop, especially security software. All developers will know what I mean. First and foremost, desktop software can be reverse engineered. What’s that mean? Have you ever inadvertently doubleclicked on a file and had garbage show up or seen something that looks similar to this?

http://www.checkinmyemail.com/Articles/image001.jpg

The old hex dump. Programmers will know it well. We actually spend a good deal of time trying to read this stuff. Basically, if there are programs that can (and do) turn instructions like the following

If UserBirthDate

into something like the picture above, then the reverse is true: people have developed software that can take that gobbeldygook in the picture above and turn it somewhat into the ifstatement I wrote out. The reversing software won’t know that I had an item called UserBirthDate, but it will know I was testing for a value of January 1, 1960 and it will be able to say that based on that value I set another item to Yes or No.

So now we install our foolproof antivirus software on our desktop (or our firewall for that matter). Well, so too can a virus author. And that virus author or hacker will also have gotten a copy of the latest reverseengineering software from his local hacking site. He now goes upon his task of reverseengineering the software and then trying to decipher the results. It’s not easy but it can be done. Unfortunately, vendors know this and understand this as an acceptable risk.

The problem here is that your security software is at risk. If your vendor codes an error, the virus author can and will detect it. For example, if your vendor should exclude a file from scanning, it’s possible the virus author will figure out which file (or type of file) that is and bury his code there. If the vendor excludes files from scanning or heuristics, it’s possible that virus author will figure out a way to corrupt that file.

That being said, there are other risks. As we have said, once software is on the desktop it affords virus authors an opportunity to reverseengineer security software. The knowledge that reverseengineering provides is invaluable to a virus author when building his next software attack. Third, virus authors can learn where the antivirus vendors put there software and put the links to their software (directory folders, registry entries, etc.). This too is invaluable information. In fact, in some ways it teaches people intent on writing malicious software clues as to how to infiltrate the computers’ operating system, where registry entries need to be made to force software to be loaded every time a computer is started, etc.

This information is generally available all over the web and in manuals for operating systems, especially manuals on such subjects as the Windows Registry. But having the software teach you where things belong to be effective is powerful knowledge.

Lastly, and perhaps most significantly, is the issue of forebearance. The antivirus vendors usually know more about the potential exploits inherent in programs than virus authors but they are bound by the fact that should they try to prevent them before the exploits occur, they could be branded as irresponsible for teaching virus authors about these very exploits.

For example, when Microsoft first released the macro capabilities of Word, antivirus vendors immediately realized the potential for danger in macros, but they were handcuffed. If they released software that disabled macros before the first macro virus was ever released, they would signal to virus authors the inherent destructive powers of macros. They chose instead to wait, handcuffed by the limitations of desktop software.

Until the Internet there really has been no better medium for delivering virus solutions than desktop software. It was relatively inexpensive to deploy (either market the software and sell it in stores or provide free downloads on bulletin boards and web sites). It is, however, expensive to keep updated in terms of time and effort, even with automated update systems.

The Internet caused several things to happen: by becoming a powerful medium for sharing files, whole families of viruses disappeared practically overnight (boot sector viruses, for example); by becoming the option of choice for sharing files, it was easier to infect a single file and have thousands download it.

A better solution is to place the security software in an offsite appliance of its own making. All Internet, intranet, networking connections flow through the appliance.

Selling off the shelf hardware appliances with builtin security software is better than a desktop software solution but it still suffers –to a lesser extent from the pratfalls that desktop software falls prey to.

Even better is to create a service that a 3rd party vendor manages in a secure environment. In such an instance both the software and the hardware are away from the prying eyes of the malicious software authors. This further reduces the opportunity for malicious authors to discover the tricks and techniques employed by the security vendors to protect you.

About The Author

Tim Klemmer

CEO, OnceRed LLC

http://www.checkinmyemail.com

Tim Klemmer has spent the better part of 12 years designing and perfecting the first true patented behaviorbased solution to malicious software.

[email protected]

This article was posted on December 07, 2004

by Tim Klemmer

The Anatomy of Hype

The Anatomy of Hype

by: Marcia Yudkin

On a copywriting board I frequent, someone expressed bafflement that several respected marketers criticized the tone of a sales page he wrote. กWhy did they apologize to their subscribers while linking to my pitch? This approach sells,ก he said.

Hype was the problem. If you use the following tactics, many educated shoppers cringe and go elsewhere:

Overblown claims. กIf You Can Write Your Name, You Can Write a Book in 30 Days Guaranteed!ก

Overexcited tone. Lots of exclamation points, phrases in bold capital letters with underlining and a drumbeat of emphasis. กProgrammers poured out their TOPSECRET strategies that you, too, can use to earn a GATESLIKE FORTUNE in the software business!!ก ‘take out your credit card and order RIGHT NOW!ก

Unsupported and extreme superlatives. ‘the most important new product launch, ever.ก

Adjectives and adverbs you would not encounter from Exxon or IBM. กMindblowingก กExclusiveก กHugeก กIncredibleก กWildlyก กLiterallyก (necessary to distinguish truth from hoopla).

Exaggerations. ‘theyกve made millions under the radar.ก (When most haven’t made that sum and the กsecrecyก is just not having been asked.)

Sounds impressive but untrue. Calling someone a best selling author who has not appeared on a recognized best seller list.

Lack of qualifiers. Statements that should include a bit of backpedaling but don’t. Itกs really not กall,ก กonly,ก กnever,ก กsurefireก or กwill.ก

Marketers who favor a style full of hype argue that the numbers prove these techniques succeed, whatever the audience. When they tone down the pitch, sales drop. When they toss decorum to the winds and reinsert that hammering excitement and the fervid embellishments, sales return to previous levels. Case closed, they say.

Assuming their numbers are valid, this argument does have a point, but one of limited relevance to many situations. Hype may sell, but it may also undercut other business goals, in these ways:

Reputation. In whose eyes do you want credibility? Use this tone and you can expect snickering rather than respect from established journalists, academics, Fortune 500 companies, most people with postgraduate degrees and colleagues who use any of those groups as their benchmark of respectability.

Partnerships and opportunities. If you’re aiming at joint ventures with banks, universities, community organizations, trade associations and the like, hype counts very heavily against you. You may also endanger your chances of getting a contract from a major publisher if thatกs among your goals.

Trust. Are you aiming at a onetime sale or a longterm customer? Hype works better in the former situation, especially where a buyer believes they can obtain a refund if the purchase doesn’t live up to the promises.

Staying out of legal trouble. Some of the techniques listed above either flirt with deception or cross the line to lies. The other day I read through a Federal Trade Commission judgment against an Internet marketer for deceptive marketing and believe me, this is wrath you do not want to bring down upon yourself! Make sure you have a nitpicky lawyer to vet your copy if you favor a hyped style.

Please note that itกs possible to use a hardhitting, dramatic direct marketing style with descriptive bullet points, calls to action and so on in connection with entirely truthful and completely respectable copy.

Hype does sell. But thatกs far from settling the issue of whether or not you should use it.

About The Author

Marcia Yudkin ([email protected]) is the author of 6 Steps to Free Publicity, Persuading on Paper, Web Site Marketing Makeover and other books on business communication. She mentors business owners through www.MarketingForMore.com and mentors organizational marketing managers through www.MentorForMarketing.com. Sign up for her free weekly newsletter on creative marketing at www.yudkin.com/marksynd.htm.

This article was posted on October 31, 2004

by Marcia Yudkin