How to Build a 1,000Page Content Site in Mere Sec

How to Build a 1,000Page Content Site in Mere Seconds!

by: Rosalind Gardner

Building an affiliate web site that sells between 5 and 20 products is relatively quick and easy to accomplish.

An experienced webmaster can put a site like http://101Date.com, which has only 11 services, together in a day. Someone else might spend a week signing up for the programs, designing a template, and adding product information and affiliate links.

Spending a week or even a month on a site that delivers big rewards over the years is a relatively minor investment.

But how much time and effort is invested by affiliates who sell items like magazines, garden products, posters, tshirts or lingerie? Or, how difficult would it be to place links to music CDกs, or movie DVDกs on your site? Merchants in those categories typically carry hundreds or even thousands of items.

Sure, a MoJoSounds.com affiliate might want to promote only adventure movies, but his state of mind might be a ?horrorก by the time heกs input more than 500 descriptions, links and graphics!

If the same affiliate planned to let his visitors know about the latest and greatest discounts by listing prices, would he ever get any sleep?

Sure he would!

By using the MoJoSounds.com product datafeed, that affiliate could build a 500+ item site in less than an hour. He could even build a 10,000 item site in less than an hour!

So whatกs a product datafeed?

A product datafeed is a spreadsheet or text file which typically lists product names along with their categories and subcategories, descriptions, coded affiliate links, product graphic image URLกs, prices and even applicable keywords.

Affiliates can manipulate datafeeds in various ways to display content on their sites.

Those with programming knowledge may insert the feed into databases on their servers.

Other affiliates prefer to use dynamic website templates that some merchants offer. These templates are completely customizable and the resulting site automatically updates itself.

One company that offers a dynamic website template is ShareaSale merchant, Nature Hillกs Nursery. Shawn at Nature Hills sent me a zipped package containing their template files, and I discovered that setting up a dynamic template on my site was incredibly easy to do!

Using my HTML editor, Homesite 5.0, I simply added my affiliate I.D. to the config.pl file, and uploaded the files to the /NatureHills/ directory that I created at Rosalinds.com. The site then looked and worked exactly like it does at the URL below, but with my affiliate ID coded into the links for all 1295 products!

Nature Hillsก Template

http://www.naturehillsaffiliates.com/templatesite/index.php

After making a few design changes to the template, this is how it looks now at:

Rosalindกs Nature Hillกs site

http://rosalinds.com/NatureHills/

Unfortunately, dynamic templates generally work only on servers running PHP and MYSQL. However, affiliates whose hosts do not run PHP and MYSQL can still profit from product datafeeds by building static pages on their computer using Richard Gaskinกs WebMerge.

Here is a site that I built using a 593product datafeed from Candy Crate (another ShareaSale merchant), Webmerge, and the same template that I used for the Nature Hills site:

Rosalindกs Candy Crate Site

http://rosalinds.com/CandyCrate/

Iกm terrible at reading instructions, so Webmerge posed a bit of a challenge for me to use at first. However, after reading the tutorials, asking Richard a few questions, and spending some time on the Datafeeds forum at ABestWeb.com, the software was easy to figure out.

Now, with a site standard template and Webmerge files, I can build a 10, 20 or 30,000 product site in mere seconds with the push of a button.

An alternative to ?Webmergeกis Mark Hendricksก and Frank Sousaกs ?Secret Money Generatorก software. ?Secret Money Generatorก makes product datafeeds even easier to manipulate. SMG allows you to build thousands of content rich, search engine friendly, static web pages which come complete with graphics and order links with your affiliate IDs embedded in them all in just a few seconds!

So, to save time and make more sales, be on the lookout for merchants with product datafeeds. My daddy always said, ?Work smarter, not harderก, and affiliate marketing doesn’t get much smarter or easier than this.

© Copyright Rosalind Gardner, All Rights Reserved.

About The Author

Article by Rosalind Gardner, author of the bestselling กSuper Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other Peopleกs Stuff Onlineก. To learn how you too can suceed in Internet and affiliate marketing, go to: http://NetProfitsToday.com.

This article was posted on March 30

by Rosalind Gardner

7 Reasons Why Using CSS is a Must

7 Reasons Why Using CSS is a Must

by: Michael Turner

CSS is a new option for website designers that have been using HTML and tables for most of their web designing careers. Of course, it is a huge change and requires learning a new language and skill, however most people are saying CSS is worth it and it will give you more control, options, and is easier to edit. Consider the following 7 reasons why using CSS is a must and see if it convinces you to change your method of web design.

Reason #1 Present Data Logically

When you use CSS in the layout of your website you can present your data in a logical way and CSS can then manage how the information appears. This is significantly easier than other methods and is one reason why CSS is a must.

Reason #2 More Options

With CSS you have more options for changing the location of information on your screen. This is important for a variety of reasons, especially if you anticipate the need to change columns or links at some time.

Reason #3 Complements HTML

Another reason CSS is a must is because it complements HTML. HTML and CSS alone both have weaknesses, but when used together your website design will be significantly stronger.

Reason #4 Editing

You can edit your website design if you need to for whatever reason without that much hassle if you are using CSS. All you do is go in and edit the definition. This is a lot easer than searching and replacing of years past.

Reason #5 Faster

When you use CSS your pages not only load faster but they also can be scrolled quicker than ever before. This is a huge deal to most web surfers as well as webmasters because speed is a huge implication in whether someone stays on your page or moves on. CSS increases speed, and as a result is a tool you must learn how to use.

Reason #6 Print

When you use CSS you can also include a printer friendly version of the website that makes it easier to print and can eliminate color, images, and other things that do not print easily.

Reason #7 Control

If you have been working with tables for layouts you are probably tired of the guessing that goes on. However, with CSS you have more control and can issues commands and know exactly where the result will appear, rather than guessing. This is in itself makes CSS a must have.

Now that you have some information on CSS, you are probably interested in knowing more details about how it works and above all how you can learn to use CSS. Fortunately, there is tons of information available online that will provide you with the answers to your many questions on CSS and how it can help you.

About The Author

Michael Turner shows you exactly how to increase web site traffic in his free 7 part miniseries. Grab it today at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/.

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 06

by Michael Turner

Why You Should Learn HTML

Why You Should Learn HTML

by: Debra Hamer

Do you have a website or are you planning on creating a website in the near future? You owe it to yourself to at least learn some basic HTML (HyperText Markup Language). Even if someone else is creating and maintaining your website there are some basics you should know. What if that person is not available and you need to add or make changes to your website? I’ve always believed if you have a business, computer, website, or whatever, you need to know how it works. Don’t depend on someone else. Besides why pay someone else when you can do it yourself free of charge.
In this article I will explain some basic HTML formats for you. Believe me it will come in handy at one point or another. I, myself, have only learned some of the basics and I have been able to add, change, and make corrections on my own website by myself.
When you come across a website you like and would like to use a similar layout or text pattern, look at the page in HTML code. You can do this by clicking on ขViewข at the top of the screen, then choose ขDocument Sourceข or ขSourceข and you can see the page as a HTML document. If you are using AOL then right click on any area on the page without any text or images, then select ขView Sourceข. At first it will look like Greek to you but after learning some basic HTML it will start to make sense.
First you will need a word processor program such as Windows ขNotepadข or any other word processor you might have. You are working with simple text. You will need to save your document using the ขsave asข command and give it an html suffix, ex: Mynewdocument.html or Mynewdocument.htm (you can use either suffix html or htm).
HTML works in a simple, logical format. It reads top to bottom and left to right. What are used to set sections apart like bigger text, smaller text, bold text, underlined text are tags. Tags are commands. If you wanted a line of text to be bold you will place a tag at the point you want the bold text to start and a tag at the end of where you want the bold text to stop.
All tags start with the lessthan sign , always. What is between these signs is the tag or command. You will need to learn what tag does what. Let’s first learn the bold command. The following is an example of making your text bold. The tag for bold is ขBข. You can use uppercase or lowercase, it doesn’t matter. Here is an example:
Note: Due to the HTML codes in the article being formatted and possibly not showing up on the page in normal view I have replaced the signs with the bracket characters [ and ]. Just remember to use the signs and not the [ and ] signs in your document.
This is how it will look in HTML format [B]This text needs to be bold[/B]
Here is how it will look when converted to normal view – This text needs to be bold
Did you notice the slight difference in the ending tag? There is a slash / before the B. That means it is the end tag. Only the text between the start and end tags will be in bold. Now let’s add a twist by putting one of the words in italics.
This is how it will look in HTML format [B] This [I]text[/I] needs to be bold[/B]
Here is how it will look in normal view – This text needs to be bold
There are some tags that are an exception to the rule about having to have a start and end tag. You don’t have to have an end tag when using these tags. Here are some examples.
[HR] this command places a line across the page. HR stands for ขhorizontal referenceข.
[BR] this command breaks the text and jumps to the next line, like the return key.
[P] this command stand for ขparagraphข, it does the same thing as the [BR] command but skips a line.
Every page you create with HTML will need the HTML tag [HTML] which denotes it is an HTML document and the end HTML tag [/HTML] will be at the end of your document. The next tags will be your start Title tag [TITLE] and your end Title tag [/TITLE]. The title of your document will go in between these two tags. The title will show up in the title bar on your browser when you are looking at the page in normal view.
The following are some tags for Headings (there are 6 heading commands) and Font size (there are 12 font size commands):
[H1]This is Heading 1[/H1] – H1 is the largest heading
[H6]This is Heading 6[/H6] H6 is the smallest heading
So, by using H1 through H6 you can change the size of your heading. Same applies to your font size. You will use [font size =ข+1ข] through [font size=ข+12] and don’t forget your end tags!
You may notice that your text always starts at the left of the page. If you want your text to start in the center or to the right you will need to specify where you want your text to start. Here are some examples of aligning text:
[CENTER]Center this Text![/CENTER] your text will be centered on the page.
Center this Text!
To align to the right you need to set the text as a paragraph unto itself by using the [P] tag and adding an attribute to it.
[P ALIGN=ขrightข]Text here will align on the right of the page[/P]
Text here will align on the right of the page
Why did I put an end tag [/p] since the paragraph command does not require an end tag (remember exceptions to the rule?) Anytime you use an attribute tag, as in the above example, you will need to have an end tag, whether you’re using the paragraph command [P] or the return command [BR]. Using the [P] or [BR] command by itself does not require an end tag, but if you are adding an attribute then an end tag must be used.
Adding an image to your page would require the following tag:
[IMG SRC=ขimage.jpgข] you would replace ขimage.jpgข with your own image file. IMG stands for image and SRC stands for source. You’re telling your browser where to find your image file. Your image file could have a gif, jpg, or a bmp association.
Ok now let’s get a little more complicated and create a hyperlink on your document. This creates blue underlined words on the page that someone can click on and go to another location. An example is you’re creating a link to another website.
[A HREF=http://www.profitfromhomebiz.comก]Profit From Home Biz[/A] this is what in looks like in HTML code. Note you are adding a description of the link that will be underlined, see the example below.
Profit From Home Biz – what it looks like in normal view. When someone clicks on this link they would be taken to my website.
This is a very important HTML format for when you need to add links onto your webpage. You may already know or will learn that reciprocal linking is very important in promoting your website and obtaining a higher page rank with the search engines. Sometimes the HTML code is provided for you and all you have to do is ขcopy and pasteข the code into your webpage. Often it is not, so you have to figure out how to put the information into HTML code yourself. Just learning this HTML command has been a timesaver for me.
I hope this article has helped you learn some basic HTML and how it can benefit you. I know, I know there are HTML text editors out there you can use and they can do all of this for you. I have used a couple myself, but I still like to know how to do things on my own. I bet you do too! Sometimes it’s just faster and easier to do it yourself.
I’ve just given you some very basic formats in using HTML, but you can find a lot more resources and information about learning HTML on the internet. Just do a search and I’m sure you will be overwhelmed at what’s out there. To view this article with the correct HTML formats please visit www.profitfromhomebiz.com/articles.

About The Author

Debra Hamer is the owner of the http://profitfromhomebiz.com website where you can find lots of tips, tools and resources for starting your own work at home business. Visit her PlugInProfitSite at http://www.pluginprofitsite.com/main4256 to have your own website setup and ready to go within 24 hours, complete with everything you need to start making a profit.

[email protected]

This article was posted on July 30, 2004

by Debra Hamer

Hereกs Exactly What Makes Web Audio So Powerful

Hereกs Exactly What Makes Web Audio So Powerful

by: Nick James

Have you ever tried to communicate with another person using just actions and sign language? It gets pretty frustrating, doesn’t it? Especially when you know that if you could just SAY a few words, theyกd get the picture, almost instantly.

Well, imagine if the website youกve put up on show… could กspeakก. If it could sparkle with the spoken word. What do you think the effect could be?

You see, what the smart website marketers have realised, is that they need to move beyond just written words and striking graphics. They’re looking to giving their website… a กpersonalityก.

BUT… in the cold hearted, faceless world of the internet, being able to reach the audience you want, with sincerity, warmth and with a กfaceก, doesn’t come easily to most.

That is unless you happen to have the skilful knack of knowing what to write, when to write it and are able to string words together to help paint a strong emotional picture in readers minds for your product, service or idea.

Getting all the help we can via other means is crucial in giving us that slight edge.

Thereกs possibly nothing more intimate, more convincing, more realistic for the reader, than to hear a กvoiceก behind the website. What it adds, is satisfying helpings of…

LIFE and… CREDIBILITY!

Imagine being able to connect at regular intervals with your customers and clients! How do you think theyกll feel when you’re able to inform them that thereกs an exciting offer about to happen and you make sure the message reaches both their eyes, and their ears!

What about using this simple technology to help create a stampede of sales, an abundance of new subscribers, a fleet of qualified prospects, a herd of new referrals!

What about being able to tell your customers that you messed up on the last bit of information you gave them and that you’re really sorry. Won’t you be able to convey this message better using real live words, than by using written text?

Won’t your sincerity, conviction and heartfelt emotion, reach them INSTANTLY, where it matters most… THEIR HEARTS!

Copyright 2004 Nick James

About The Author

Nick James is a UK based direct marketer and product developer. During the last 3 years Nick has sold in excess of £1 Million of products and sevices. Subscribe to his Free Tip Of The Week at: www.NickJames.com New Product: www.FlashAudioWizard.com.

This article was posted on November 17, 2004

by Nick James

Are You Tired of Google Adsense How Steve Found

Are You Tired of Google Adsense How Steve Found a Replacement for Google Adsense

by: Steve McArthur

Many people who have tried to make money on the internet in the last couple of years have done quite well using Google Adsense, myself included. About this time last year I was making about $5,000 a month.

I was using several different software programs that are readily available such as Traffic Equalizer, Ranking Power, and Traffic Dynamo.

A few other programs were very promising, including one that I had high hopes for that used random text generation. Invariably I would create a new web site, put it up on a server, blog and ping it and away it would go.

The spiders would come and I would get good listings in Yahoo and Google which delivered a goodly amount of traffic, which in turn created above average Google Adsense incomes.

Alas, it was too good to be true. What always happened was that these types of machine generated sites would slowly begin to erode in ranking in the search engines therefore causing my Google Adsense income to slowly dissipate to almost nothing.

However, I finally chanced upon a Google Adsense substitute which allows me to generate a replacement for my lost income much easier than I did before with a lot less hassle.

Google Adsense is still a viable and great way to go if you have web sites that generate large amounts of traffic. However, my life is much simplier now that Iกm doing it a different way and to me simpler is better.

About The Author

Steve McArthur

Who else wants to earn $5 to $10 a day per domain?

I found an Adsense substitute http://www.exiee4.info/goldkey/

This article was posted on August 08

by Steve McArthur

Secrets to Writing Powerful Press Releases

Secrets to Writing Powerful Press Releases

by: Ted Kushner

Using press releases for marketing purposes has become increasingly popular lately.

There has been an increase of firms springing up online offering optimized press release services for individuals or firms wanting to get the word out about their web sites, newsletters, products or services.

Using press releases can be a very effective marketing tool if constructed properly. Learning to write a powerful optimized press release can often drive tons of targeted traffic to your web site.

The real secret behind writing any effective press release is to plan your release out carefully before publishing it.

A poorly constructed or planned press release is just a waste of your time and resources. You want to target the message of your press release for the purpose it was meant for.

So, the first thing you must do before writing your press release is to figure out just what do you want to accomplish with it?

Do you want to create some brand awareness for your site or products?

Do you want to add additional subscribers to your newsletter or ezine?

Or are you trying to promote a new product or service you have developed or are marketing?

Once youกve decided what the most compelling reason is for your press release, you can then get down to the business of writing it.

The first thing you may want to do is sketch out a rough draft of your press release to see how it flows. Does it provide the needed information to get the word out and has it been properly formatted?

Most press releases have a certain format that they follow. If you’re unsure of how to format your press release correctly you can view a sample press release template here at http://www.prweb.com/pressreleasetips.php#template.

The number one most important aspect of your press release is your headline.

Get it wrong and you will limit the effectiveness of your release.

Your headline is what the search engines are going to pick up on first. So make sure you use it advantageously. List any key points here, using your keywords or a catchy headline so that it will grab your readerกs attention.

Again planning is essential. If promoting a new site include the URL in the headline. If promoting a product or service then include some keywords in the headline.

Some press release services use a summary box. I normally write a catchy oneparagraph recap of my press release using some of my targeted keywords.

Without being spammy, I will normally optimize my press release by using some of my targeted keywords in the first and last paragraph. I will also include some of them throughout the release for a keyword exposure of approximately 23% saturation.

Tip: if you’re promoting a web site, I will normally mention my URL around three times within the release for the maximum benefit.

One of the first questions I had when I first started writing press releases was what was considered a great release? What did it consist of and how was it constructed?

Being curious, I emailed my contact at http://www.prweb.com/ and asked them if they could show me a few press releases that they considered as excellent examples.

These releases have received their editorial scores of 5 on their scale of 1 to 5; with five being the highest.

They sent me three of them for review and you can see each one of them here:

http://prweb.com/releases/2005/2/prweb136748.htm

http://prweb.com/releases/2005/2/prweb149213.htm

http://prweb.com/releases/2005/2/prweb203448.htm

Study each one of these against the press release template to see what is required for an effective release.

Note: to get additional exposure for your press release via www.emediawire.com you have to have an editorial score of 4 or higher. So it is to your benefit to write the best release you can the first time around.

Once you have studied the examples and want to try submitting you own press release you need to know which ones are the most popular ones being used.

Here are some of the press release services I have used and found to be effective:

http://prweb.com/

http://www.pressbox.co.uk/index.html

http://www.webwire.com/default.asp

http://www.247pressrelease.com/

With most of press release services you can submit your press release for free or via paid inclusion. Paying for inclusion gives you the benefit of faster indexing into the search engine news services and natural search engine result pages.

Normally your release will be picked up by Google news within a few hours after its release. From there it will normally show up in the natural search results within a few days or a week.

I have used both of these services in the past but have found that paying them at least the minimum amount allows me to view my stats online. It also allows me to choose different categories for my press release to be displayed in, giving my release a chance for wider coverage.

So using press releases can and is a very effective marketing tool that you can use for promoting your web site or affiliate products if done correctly.

By using press releases, I have been able to create a steady flow of targeted visitors to my web site and affiliate programs while generating dozens of back links to my web site.

Even though the effects of each individual press release may be short lived, they still have provided me with both free and inexpensive ways for getting hundreds of new visitors to my site and quite a few top ten positions in Google for my targeted keywords.

So get to it and write a few press releases your self and see what they can do for you!

Copyright 2005 Ted Kushner

About The Author

Ted Kushner of AffiliateRevenueSources.com can show you the powerful benefits of writing press releases for promoting any product, service or affiliate program. Learn how you too can get multiple top ten positions in Google using press releases at: http://www.affiliaterevenuesources.com/powerfulpressreleases.htm.

This article was posted on March 13

by Ted Kushner

Creating Painted Effects with illustrator 7.0

Creating Painted Effects with illustrator 7.0

by: Carla Ballatan

Newer versions of the software program Illustrator gave us useful features to dig in. Still, no matter how happy we are about the new features, time after time, in the process of making our designs more creative and innovative, we turn on old tricks of the program. Creating painted effects using Illustrator is an old trick. Now and again, you’ll find this trick useful.

So, we give you some tips and directions on creating your very own painted image with Illustrator. If some of you have newer or older versions than the Illustrator version 7.0, you might find that some paths in the directions here have been slightly altered. So here we go…

First, type out a letter of your choice, let’s say a letter E, and create some polygon shapes to fit behind it. Try out small squares for the letter E and make sure the shapes would fit behind the letter. To send out the four squares at the back of the letter E, select the squares with your ขblack arrowข selection tool and click OBJECTARRANGESEND TO BACK and voila! You have now four boxes behind your letter E.

Then, select the letter E and create outlines for it by clicking TYPECREATE OUTLINES. To change the shapes into compound paths, Select CTRLA and then OBJECTPATHFINDERDIVIDE. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. The CTRL Z command will take you back to every step you took.

Now, it’s time to select parts of your shape, change its colors and pull the individual shapes apart from one another. You can do all of this by using directselection tool. After pulling the shapes apart, rotate some slightly by selecting your rotate tool. After doing that, add some effects that would make the shape’s paths slightly roughened. Choose FILTERDISTORTROUGHEN to create this effect.

Not satisfied, yet? Use your TWIRL tool and twirl the shapes around. Ooops…no twirl tool on your old Illustrator version? Try using FILTER, then. Twirl the shapes around as much to your satisfaction, but make sure it’s still recognizable and readable especially if you’re using text. Want to see the shapes without the selected paths? Hit CTRL H and be gone with the blue select marks, though the paths are still selected. To make the blue select marks reappear, hit CTRL H again!

Finally, use OBJECTPATHFINDERSOFT with a value of 100%, to blend the colors and give you the painterly effect. It’s best to select an appropriate color format, aside from the default CMYK. You may see a rasterized image by selecting OBJECTRASTERIZE.

A word of caution, though, go back one step by hitting CTRL Z since once you saved the image rasterized and closed, you won’t be able to edit it anymore. You can also copy/paste your creation into a new document inside the Photoshop and if you need to print from Illustrator for spot colors, select Split Along Path option in the Document Set Up, first. Keep on painting!

About The Author

Lala B. is a 26 yearold Communication Arts graduate, with a major in Journalism. Right after graduating last 1999, she worked for one year as a clerk then became a Research, Publication and Documentation Program Director at a nongovernment organization, which focuses on the rights, interests and welfare of workers for about four years.

Book reading has always been her greatest passion mysteries, horrors, psychothrillers, historical documentaries and classics. She got hooked into it way back when she was but a shy kid.

Her writing prowess began as early as she was 10 years old in girlish diaries. With writing, she felt freedom – to express her viewpoints and assert it, to bring out all concerns imagined and observed, to bear witness.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit http://www.ucreative.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 03

by Carla Ballatan

Take Advantage Of Internet Phone Calls (VOIP)

Take Advantage Of Internet Phone Calls (VOIP)

by: Colin Brin

Voice Over IP (VOIP) is a relatively new technology. Voice Over IP allows people to leave behind the old and very traditional analogue phone networks and now adapt in favor of the very new and very progressive Internetbased calling system infrastructure. Using this technology for your communications actually works out cheaper for you in the long run as it means you won’t need to pay for calls if the people you are calling and speaking to are also using the same VOIP system.

Voice Over IP runs on several different types of infrastructure. This is the main reason why you should take the time to do your homework and find out how it works and what is involved, before you even consider setting up a Voice Over IP network at your home or place of business. When you do your homework you will see that invariably VOIP offers lots of advantages over and above the standard traditional telephone based analogue service that most people are currently using. Letกs take a moment to examine some of the advantages of using Voice Over IP.

The main advantage of Voice Over IP is to be honest the cost the cost benefit goes directly back into your pocket. And because Voice Over IP uses the infrastructure of the Internet to make outgoing calls, you will never need to pay your traditional phone provider to maintain a telephone line or for phone and line rental. In addition, many Voice Over IP service providers allow customers to make long distance calls that attract minimal or no long distance charges at all. Many service providers even offer customer VOIP packages that allow you to opt for discounted internet call rates so you can save even more.

But what about this for a benefit? If you have Voice Over IP software installed on your PC and you want to speak to someone who is also uses Voice Over IP, then you are able to talk for as long as you want without having to pay a single cent. This is because your voice is actually transformed into digital data packets rather than audio, and the data is transferred in a similar fashion to that of email. Voice Over IP also makes it very easy and cheap to conduct conference calls and video calls.

There are, of course, some minor disadvantages to using Voice Over IP and you should consider these before you embark on setting up Voice Over IP. Since Voice Over IP is a relatively recent and largely untapped technology, Voice Over IP is prone to experience more errors than using a normal phone would. In addition, if you experience a power failure, then you would be unable to make a call, like you could with a traditional analogue phone. In any event, Voice Over IP is something that you should investigate for your own home and business needs and you should consider it soon while the rates are cheap and the deals are good.

About The Author

Colin Brin is the owner of AB Voip which is a premier source of information about Voip. For more information, go to: http://abvoip.com

This article was posted on August 08

by Colin Brin

Truth and Lies

Truth and Lies

by: Jim Murdoch

How low can one get? The number of encounters I have had in the few months as a network marketer with liars is astounding. Why do people need to stoop to lying in their attempt to succeed? Do they really believe that they will attract customers by using deceptive means. Hey friends, Iกve got news for you! You are the ones who have been deceived!

When I placed a single ad with the URL of my newly created autoresponder, I started to receive all sorts of strange emails to that autoresponder address. All of them said they had seen my business ad and bla bla bla. Liars! All I advertised was my autoresponder! So what was going on?

Well, I have a confession to make. About seven years ago, when I first discovered the Internet, and got my first taste of spam, I fell for it, and became a spammer myself. But not for long, as my ISP was quick to disconnect me, before I even knew what กSpamก was. Well I soon woke up.

What I had done, following instructions of course, was to download a program which กharvestedก other emails from web pages on the Net. Then I had also downloaded and used a bulk emailer. Apart from getting temporarily disconnected I also received some nasty replies. And guess what? My second attempt, which was an attempt to avoid unsolicited email sending, I used the addresses of people who had spammed me. Some of them even wrote nasty replies complaining. Hypocrites!

That was an end to my early attempts as a Networker. I gave that up quick, especially after reading about Spam and realizing how unwanted it is. I also realized that bulk email is not the way to market. Recently I have come across the term กSafe listsก. A Safe List is supposed to be a list of email addresses from people who have requested information on a business opportunity. But just how safe are these lists?

Here is how I imagine it. John requests from Mary information about her business. Mary sells Johnกs email address as part of a safe list to Tom, Dick and Harry. John now gets emails from Mary, Tom, Dick and Harry, three of which he did not request. Hence John was spammed, and Mary gets paid. Tom, Dick and Harry get a nasty spam complaint from their ISP who disconnects their account. Thanks Mary.

Amazingly 90% or more of the email coming into my mailbox is spam from people selling bulk email software, or offering some other get rich scheme. They are still using harvesting software (this is how they got my autoresponder address) and the bulk email software (this is how they emailed me) they just paid for. Sadly these are mostly the victims of the master culprits who get these poor suckers to buy into their program. Guess who gets rich, and who doesn’t?

Do you see the untruthfulness in this kind of marketing? Letกs not call it that, it is spamming. They first of all steal the email addresses. Next they sent emails to these addresses totally unsolicited. Consequently they get disconnected. But they seem to expect that. I get many emails from the same people using different email addresses to send from each time. Some, I think, even use false addresses. So the criminal intentions are there.

Here is my message to these criminal spammers: Why waste your time and money on these fruitless efforts? Why go to all that trouble just to get a bad reputation? Get into a real profit making program. There are many legitimate companies helping many people make a reasonable income. If you put all the hard work you are wasting on these deceptive programs into one of these legitimate programs, you will not only make for yourself an income, you will also have satisfaction.

If you, dear reader, are contemplating using any of those enticing offers of bulk email or email harvesting don’t do it! Losing money and ISP credibility isn’t worth it. How can you build a solid base if your customers don’t trust you? Trust is what your customers are putting in you, and trustworthiness is what you should give them. Tell them the truth, be honest and they will love you for it. And they are sure to come back and bring others with them.

About The Author

Jim Murdoch is new to network marketing. Read what he has to say about ขWhy you need your own home businessข in his autoresponder: mailto:[email protected]. His web site is at http://www.upwardpath.com?64

This article was posted on April 30, 2003

by Jim Murdoch

How Web Masters Can Start a Home Based Business Us

How Web Masters Can Start a Home Based Business Using Credit Cards

by: Claire Bowes

If you’re a webmaster who has been itching to start a home based business and you are experiencing some cash flow problems and are considering leaving your dreams by the wayside, don’t. Credit cards may be your answer. Now before you start feeling guilty about using your credit cards for some much needed cash flow and before you antagonize over this issue because of ขdebtข, let me assure you that credit cards ( http://www.thecreditcardcentre.co.uk/bestcreditcards.html ) may be your key to success when you use them wisely.

This isn’t to say that you should go out and run up your cards up to the limit simply because they are there. Instead, we’re saying that credit cards are not all bad, credit card companies aren’t the devil and if you use your cards smartly then they can help jump start your fledging business’ finances or get you out of a cash crunch. However, the key is to learn how to use credit cards to your advantage and not your disadvantage. With this in mind, we have provided you with the top five tips that will help you use your credit cards wisely:

First and foremost, you should realize that carrying cards have some advantages. Here are some major ones that you should be aware of:

Credit allows you to buy needed supplies instantly instead of waiting until later;

You can spread out the cost of expensive equipment like software and computers;

You can learn to cleverly float cards and get months of interest free loans if you choose the right card and use it correctly;

When you use cards, your purchases are insured;

Credit cards allow you to keep track of miscellaneous purchases and expenses;

You can earn points and other rewards simply for using the card;

Credit cards help you budget your money. You get a single limit and once that is exceeded then you will be declined so you’ll be encouraged to keep track of how much limit you have.

Second, you have to find a card that has a great rate and/or the best benefits for you. For instance, if you will pay off the balance every month but travel a lot then you might want to consider a card with a higher interest rate that gives more frequent flier miles since you will not be affected by the interest rate when you can’t pay off the credit card balance every month. On the other hand, if you can’t pay your balance every month, you should consider the card with a lower interest rate.

Once you’ve found an appropriate card, you should make a commitment to pay your balance responsibly. That is, you should only charge the amount that you can realistically pay in a month or so and make a point not to rack up a ton of credit card debt.

You should really try and avoid using your credit card to get cash advances. This is because most companies charge cash advance fees which could hurt you. However, an exception to this would be if you have an emergency and need to handle a cash crunch then you should use the least amount possible.

Review your statements as soon as you get them to evaluate interest rates. Make sure that you don’t see any errors and if you do then report them right away.

In conclusion, you shouldn’t feel guilty about using your credit cards to help you start or finance your fledging web business. Instead, you should use the abovementioned tips and use your cards responsibly so that they continue to be a blessing when you need them!

About The Author

Claire Bowes is a successful freelance writer and owner of The Credit Card Centre ( http://www.thecreditcardcentre.co.uk ) where you will find further advice and tips on the best credit card deals ( http://www.thecreditcardcentre.co.uk/bestcreditcards.html )and small business credit cards ( http://www.thecreditcardcentre.co.uk/businesscreditcards.html ).

This article was posted on October 21, 2004

by Claire Bowes

Hot Multimedia Tips

Hot Multimedia Tips

by: Grannyกs Mettle

Some of Howwiredกs best web developers and designers have converged to share their techniques to create effective audio, video and animation in the web. Here are excerpts from the poolกs tips, tricks and wizardry to help you optimize your multimedia efforts.

• Use layers as often as you want to. Using a liberal dose of layers will make it much easier later when itกs time to reedit and animate. In addition, it doesn’t add much to the overall file size.

• Save copies of the file as you work when using Flash. This is especially helpful when you’re using a Mac. This will come in handy when you suddenly experience problems in opening a Flash file youกve been slaving your days with.

• Use color outline layers and guide layers liberally. Both are found under the layer pulldown menu. The color outline layers show a layer in its outline form great for getting quick and precise positioning particularly with scanned drawings. Guide layers are for positioning bitmap guides or for testing layers you may want to remove from your final version. They allow you to keep a layer from exporting.

• Mix and match programs and media to get better results. Experiment and try combinations such as flat color vectors with photographic bitmaps for an interesting and rich output.

• For additional depth and color to vector images, use gradients; but don’t overuse so as to avoid adding to the file size and speeds.

• Don’t overdo your media. Your audience will definitely get indigestion from your web site.

• Never make your audience wait. Downloading an image that takes millions of years to finish will definitely make your audience cranky. Theyกd probably clicked to another site even before your banner finished downloading itself. กIf people have to wait, be sure itกs really worth their while,ก says HotWiredกs resident interface designer.

• Design delays that cover the loading process. Flash features full attributes that helps in keeping the audience occupied while that giant sound file is loading in the background. Flashกs Bandwidth Profiler is said to provide a big help on this.

• Use the knowledge and wisdom of your friends and colleagues. A good multimedia comes from a diverse source of skills found in people. The adage that two minds are better than one definitely applies here. Talk to other multimedia designers or join groups and mailing lists to share ideas and knowledge. What you think is trash for you might be a goldmine for another artist.

About The Author

Grannyกs Mettle is a 30something, professional web content writer. She has created various web content on a diverse range of topics, which includes digital printing topics, medical news, as well as legal issues. Her articles are composed of reviews, suggestions, tips and more for the printing and designing industry.

Her thoughts on writing: กWriting gives me pleasure… pleasure and excitement that you have created something to share with others. And with the wide world of the Internet, it gives me great satisfaction that my articles reach more people in the quickest time you could imagine.ก

On her spare time, she loves to stay at home, reading books on just about any topic she fancies, cooking a great meal, and taking care of her husband and kids.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit http://www.ucreative.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 07

by Grannyกs Mettle

Outlook… Not Just for Email! Using Your Outlook

Outlook… Not Just for Email! Using Your Outlook Calendar

by: Janet Barclay

Microsoft Outlook is one of the most widely used software programs for email, but if you’re only using it for email, you’re missing out on a great productivity tool! This monthกs column looks at a few ways you can use the Outlook calendar to make scheduling easier.

* Add public holidays to your calendar automatically.

On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click Calendar Options. Under Calendar options, click Add Holidays. Select the check box next to each country/region whose holidays you want to add to your Calendar, and then click OK. Your own country/region is automatically selected. Color code your appointments.

* When you select a label for each appointment, Outlook will assign it a color, drawing attention to your most important activities and allowing you to see at a glance how you are spending your time. The available labels are:

Important Red

Business Blue

Personal Light Green

Vacation Gray

Must Attend Orange

Travel Required Aqua

Needs Preparation Olive Green

Birthday Purple

Anniversary Dark Green

Phone Call Yellow

None White

* Turn a message into an appointment or task.

Whatกs the quickest way to deal with an email inviting you to a meeting or event?

Drag the message onto your Calendar and a new appointment will be created. The entire message will appear in the details section all you need to do is edit the subject line, location, date and time! Send an RSVP if necessary, and now you can delete the email!

Not sure if you’re going to attend? Set กShow time asก to ‘tentativeก and the appointment will display with a dashed border rather than a solid one. In this case you should also drag the message onto your Task Pad and a new task will be created. Edit the subject line to be a reminder to register for the event, and set the due date early enough that you won’t miss out if you decide to go.

* Print pages for your paper planner.

If you like the idea of using the Outlook calendar, but are more comfortable using a paper planner, Outlook allows you to print pages in daily, weekly or monthly layouts, formatted to fit a variety of commercial planners. Print the whole year, or just todayกs schedule!

* Itกs not just about work.

There are many websites that allow you to download schedules right into your Outlook calendar, including sports teams and TV stations, among many others. Youกll never have to miss your favorite team or show, and just think of the time youกll save!

Permission is granted to use this article, as long as the กAbout the Authorก section including the link to http://www.organizedassistant.com remains intact. An email letting me know which article you have used and where would be appreciated.

About The Author

Janet Barclay, Organized Assistant, is a Professional Organizer, Virtual Assistant and Time Management Consultant. For more information visit http://www.organizedassistant.com.

[email protected]

This article was posted on December 08, 2004

by Janet Barclay