1,001 Deals and Steals: A Guide To Online Classifi

1,001 Deals and Steals: A Guide To Online Classifieds

by: Donald Lee

Some naysayers way back in the 1990s predicted that online shopping wouldn’t last. Sure, and they said television was a passing fad, too! As we all know, just the opposite has occurred. There’s a television in every household, and more than likely, the homeowner bought their television online—along with his books, music CDs, clothes, and maybe even his home.

Internet shopping is bigger than ever. You can find anything and everything for sale online. Many times, you can find it cheaper online than anywhere else. Internet shopping offers so much more than a discounted price tag, though.

Imagine a shopping mall where there are no lines, where there are no jammed parking garages, and no pushy sales clerks. This is no land of make believe. It is the Internet, where you can discover unprecedented selection, convenience, and opportunities. Online shopping gives you the luxury of browsing hundreds of stores from your living room, while saving on time and frustration. It provides you the chance to compare prices to your heart’s delight on a near limitless selection of brands and models.

For even more benefits, try your hand at classifieds and auction Web sites. These sites are like yard sales and flea markets rolled into one. Unlike retail shopping sites, they offer:

Access to super secondary markets. Take your pick of secondhand or brandnew wholesale goods at steeply discounted prices. The vendors at classifieds sites can get away with it because they aren’t paying high rent for a storefront or a warehouse. And in many cases, you’re not paying taxes.

Tools to locate unique and rare collectibles. Imagine a classifieds site to be like a sunken pirate boat, laden with cultural artifacts, hardtofind heirlooms, and priceless antiques. The Internet is your deepsea vessel, sonar, and oxygen tank all in one.

Reach beyond your neighborhood. Search through the inventory of a vendor from your home town, or if you don’t find what you’re looking for there, try that fellow in California, Texas or Canada for that matter.

Close relationships with vendors. You deal with real people—not big, impersonal corporations—when you buy on classifieds sites. They can provide more details about the product, which you can then use to bargain for a reasonable price.

Despite this bounty of benefits, you might still be hesitant to dive into Internet shopping. Don’t be embarrassed. You have good reason to take your time and weigh your choices. According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Internet fraud tops the list of the thousands of fraud cases that happen every year. In some ways, WWW could stand for the Wild West Web, in that anything goes. Vendors can be villains in disguise, and there aren’t any online Wyatt Earps to protect you from these bad guys. You’re on your own.

But give yourself some credit. You have the common sense it takes to survive the WWW. It is the same commonsense that helps you make the most of your money on your standard shopping trips. Become familiar and comfortable with an online vendor before jumping into a purchase. Ask questions and do a bit of research.

After doing your research, you’ll feel more confident in searching for your online booty. To refine your findings and whittle your list to only the exceptional sites, look for these additional qualities:

A focus on local shopping, so you can feel more confident buying from neighbors.

Free education and advice on safe purchasing.

Nocost and easy browsing through available merchandise.

Search tools that let you prioritize items by category, location, and distance.

A straightforward pricing system that avoids the haggling and risk of auction bidding.

Quick price comparisons among different vendors.

Unbelievably, a few trustworthy, practical, and exciting Web sites exist that have all of these features. To find these websites, simply browse through Yahoo’s directory under the classifieds category. The best of the online classified sites offer these services free to buyers such as you. Some of these sites can link you at no charge to your neighbor selling the antique lamp that you’ve been hunting for or that retiree looking to unload an incredible piece of real estate—or the cowboy looking to sell his bigscreen television.

Copyright 2004 Donald Lee

About The Author

Donald Lee is a public relations manager at BSCCOM Inc. BSCCOM Inc. provides free online advertisement services for Canadian and U.S. regions. For more information please visit: http://www.buysellcommunity.com.

This article was posted on November 25, 2004

by Donald Lee

The Shakuhachi: What is it?

The Shakuhachi: What is it?

by: Jesse S. Somer

When most people used to hear a new word the most obvious reaction was to go straight to a dictionary and find out what it meant or what the object was. These days you could go to online dictionaries, but even that is often unnecessary. Just type the word into your Web search engine (E.g., Google) and see what comes up. How hard is that?

Well, fortunately I know what a shakuhachi is but I don’t think I’d be wrong to say that many of my fellow humans have no conception of what this magical instrument is. http://www.shakuhachi.com/TOCMM.html is the first site that comes up on Google and it’s quite a good example of how extensive the knowledge of something you’ve never heard of can be, as well as how to create a thorough website. Although ‘ShakuhachiTraditional Japanese Bamboo Flute’ is essentially a commercial site that hopes for visitors to buy its products, there is access to a stockpile of historical information as well as links to all sorts of musicians and books related to the subject.

This Tai Hei Shakuhachi site is full of photographs of this beautiful looking and of course sounding instrument. The reason I am writing this article is because the moment when I heard this instrument played by the first nonJapanese Grand Master, it simply changed my life. His name is Ryley Lee and what I witnessed at his concert was the most focused, peaceful and magical display of music that I could have ever imagined. This flute only has four holes; you should hear how many sounds could come out of it!

On this website under a section called ‘Endorsements’ (obviously they want some credibility when selling their instruments) a number of master players comment on the Tai Hei shakuhachis. Ryley Lee was on this list and what he said about their instruments was quite incredible; these guys must really know their stuff. A good sign that the site is worthy of mention is the fact that they endorse other people and their products. They’re not just onetrackminded capitalists thinking only of their own pockets.

I was able to click onto a link for Ryley Lee where it then listed thirty of his recordings for sale (with pictures) as well as his PhD thesis that looks at past and present processes of transmission within the tradition of the shakuhachi honkyoku (กoriginal piecesก). Zen Buddhist ‘priests of nothingness’ played these songs since at least the fifteenth century who believed that playing the shakuhachi’s music was a form of meditation and a medium in which to attain enlightenment. Pretty cool huh.

So, next time you hear a new word or are told about something that is not in your field of knowledge you know where to go. If you’re searching for good websites or you want to see some examples of successful ones, look for extensive and creative examples where obvious time and effort has been put into its construction. Anyone can create a website, but do some research and you’ll see that some people have really done their homework as well as displaying aesthetically pleasing imagery for the visitor.

About The Author

Jesse S. Somer,

M6.Net,

http://www.m6.net

Somer is technophobe learning about the power of the Web that is even accessible by people like him.

This article was posted on September 09, 2004

by Jesse S. Somer

Easy Online Business Idea!

Easy Online Business Idea!

by: BB Lee

So, you’re not very business savvy or computer literate. But you are searching for a business that is easy to start with your home computer. One you might start with a very limited budget and your present skills you already have.

Consider the following:

Do you own a computer?

Are you a frequent Internet Surfer?

Are you aware of the many affiliate programs online?

Is your business budget very limited or nonexistent?

Do you have several free hours or more a week to devote to business?

Consider researching online and join a few of the affiliate programs that you think will appeal to your targeted audience.

Next, set up a no fee website with important info surfers will find helpful. Set up links directing visitors to your affiliate products home page. (Your affiliate products should be related to the information on your page). Next, submit your site to all the significant search engines. Place ads in ezines, classifieds, and swap links with similar sites. All easy to do!

Setup a few autoresponders on your page that will act as your follow up salesman and deal closer. Itกs easy to sign up and receive a no cost autoresponder. Simply type the word into one of your favorite search engines. And surf to a few of the sites. Most will supply needed info to get your autoresponders up and running.

Total investment: Zero.

Equipment: A basic computer setup and Internet Connection.

Potential Earnings: Unlimited!!!

Check out this book on scoring super sales profits with your affiliate programs. This is really a low to no overhead cost business just for about anyone. And is super easy to start.

http://hop.clickbank.net/?xy123/webvista2

by BB Lee (c)2005

mailto:[email protected]

About The Author

BB Lee is the editor of SmallBizBits News. Visit the website for more home based biz ideas, ebook downloads, business reports!

http://www.smallbizbitsnews.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 07

by BB Lee

Should You Get A Blog?

Should You Get A Blog?

by: Andrea J. Lee

A blog is a type of website. It allows the website owner to easily write messages that get posted to the site automatically, often in a journal or diarylike style. A particularly appealing thing about blogs is that your readers can comment back to your posts fairly easily, and a continuous stream of fresh conversations result. (This is a good thing.)

Here are three reasons to consider getting a blog:

1.To Replace Your Ezine

If you currently publish an ezine, you may wish to consider replacing it with a regularly published blog. This means using your blog to publish journal entries, and then when it comes time to communicate with your subscriber list, you excerpt some items from your blog, and send those out as your ezine.

This saves you from creating special articles only for your ezine. In many cases it becomes easier for you to write in blog format (short and sweet) so you save time. Readers enjoy the practical, ‘reporterlikeก nature of blogs instead of ezines, and gradually come to feel that they are in conversation with you on a daily basis. You become part of their everyday circle of friends and associates, which leads to you becoming their natural resource on the topic of your expertise.

2. To Create a Quick and Dirty Learning Environment or eCampus

For those of you who offer TeleClasses or other programs that want to have a web page of learning resources, links, class notes and audio, etc., a blog can be a great way to bring together an eCampus.

If you offer a workshop, coaching/consulting, or even a software solution, and you want to instantly add value to your clients, create a กclient/student resource pageก using a blog. This becomes an environment that the students can play in, study more, and soak up your materials. Your clients continue to benefit from your expertise even though you’re not physically there; they do it at their pace, and at little cost to you.

Once again, because blogging makes it easy for you to continually update your website without mucking around with FrontPage or DreamWeaver, you will save time and energy publishing to the Internet.

3.) Just For Fun, And To Be Cool

Letกs face it, a large part of the reason you’re wondering about blogs is because it sounds cool, right? And new stuff is fun. So why not try it just because? Sometimes itกs enough to try something because it stretches you, keeps you limber and awake to possibilities. Thereกs nothing wrong with playing, UNLESS you fool yourself into thinking your business is improving, or you’re somehow paying the mortgage while you play.

Rest easy, thereกs no pressure to get a blog. Not getting one won’t negatively impact your bottom line. So although the technology can be entrancing, stay focused… what are you selling to who? How is it going? That said, do stay curious about new technology. Part of your chosen profession as an online biz owner means modeling for others by staying abreast of new things.

With that in mind, see some fun blogs at the blog search engine: http://www.blogsearchengine.com/

About The Author

Andrea J. Lee coaches entrepreneurs and online business owners. As Thomas J. Leonardกs General Manager, she helped build and manage the largest network and trainer of personal and business coaches in the world. Now the CEO of Andrea J. Lee Group of Companies, she writes, speaks and consults on Marketing, Internet and Business systems. For more helpful tips, visit www.39lessons.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on May 04, 2004

by Andrea J. Lee