VirtualeCorporation

Even Virtual Employees Have to Get the Job First

2008-12-08T08:04:00.001-08:00

How to Pass an Interview! by: Zohra Sarwari

Nine Steps to Interview Success These days, the average person changes their career seven to ten times within their life span. This means that the average person is going to send out several hundred copies of their resumes in their lifetime…and yes, they’re going to have to go through several interviews in their lifetime. Scary, huh? If the interview process makes you nervous, well, you’re not alone. But right now, it’s time to stop worrying. You’re about to learn the nine vital steps for interview success…how to pass any interview you face! Step 1: Research the Company that you are being interviewed for: It’s a pretty obvious trick: research the company you’re interviewing for and be prepared to show off what you know about them. Way too many people show up for an interview without having the first idea about what the particular company stands for. The truth is that you should know at least something about the company’s mission, its general business process, and its particular needs. Know how long the company has been in business and whether they’re financially sound and profitable. Research the company with a view to determine what you can do to help them achieve their goals. Be prepared to say specifically how your personal goals and experience are going to be valuable to the company. Step 2: Know your resume: In virtually any interview situation, you’re interviewer is going to ask you questions about your resume, about your experiences and even about the quirky stuff you’ve listed to pad it out. You should read your resume over and over, and know the details of it because you never know when you’re going to be asked about your chess playing experience or your interest in literature. Make sure there’s nothing detailed on your resume that you’re uncomfortable talking about. Step 3: Dress for Success: Appearance can become nine-tenths of the law if you don’t pay attention to it. For every interview, make sure you wear garments that are professional and appropriate the position that you’re seeking. Your clothes should be comfortable, clean, and pressed. Don’t create a crisis for yourself on the morning of the interview when it comes to your clothes. Pick out your outfit and make sure it’s ready the night before your big interview. Step 4: Make sure that you wake up early and are on time: Just as you shouldn’t let your wardrobe run you down on the big day, you shouldn’t let traffic or public transport delays upset you either. It’s also crucial that you don’t get lost on the way so have directions –and confirm them if you have to – well before you set off. These days, with MapQuest, you have no excuses. Make sure you leave the house early, and plan to be at the interview at least ten minutes early. Step 5: Review interview questions: Interviews may be pretty scary but they’re also pretty predictable. It doesn’t take much to predict the basic questions you’re going to be asked. Here are some examples: Tell me about yourself? Tell me about a time you failed miserably in your career? What is your greatest strength/weakness? Where do you see yourself five years from now? What are your salary expectations for this position? Why should we hire YOU? Prepare sample answers to these questions. Memorize a couple of key responses. Remember that no matter who you’re interviewing for or with, if it’s a job interview, the basic focus is going to be on your experience, your goals, and your potential to contribute to the company. Be sure you can argue a case for yourself on these key points. Step 6: Let the interviewer lead you: The interviewer is the one running the interview but you can set the pace. Wait for the interviewer to ask the questions. Take your time to listen to the questions. Give your answers carefully; make sure they are considered. That said, each of your answers should be given with an energetic and enthusiastic voice. Above all, smile and enjoy the interview. Be courteous and always thank the interviewer at the end of the interview. Tell them that you’re well qualified for the job, and that you will prove it to them upon being hired. Don’t be afraid to be confident in yourself and your abilities. Step 7: Ask for the next step: The interviewer will ask most of the questions but you will have a chance to get a word in shortly. Find out what will happen next, and what you should expect after the interview. When should you be hearing from them about the job? When will the hiring decision be made? Step 8: Send a thank you note: Everything you do regarding your interview has consequences. Just as a good sales person follows up on a lead, after each interview you attend you should be sure to send a thank you note to the employer and the interviewer, thanking them for their time. Going the extra mile in this way will generally show that you’re qualified for the position, or at least that you’re a serious and diligent person. Step 9: Follow-up: Of course, sending a thank you note is something you do immediately after the interview. A reasonable period after, usually a week or two at least, you should take one further step to follow up. Call the company offices and ask if you can speak to the hiring manager who interviewed you. You can start the conversation by asking if they received your note. Then you can ask them if any decisions were made and, if not, approximately when you should call back or otherwise expect to hear from them. Don’t be pushy; above all, be polite and courteous, even if a response is not forthcoming. WHEN YOU’RE HIRED…THINGS TO THINK ABOUT… If you are hired, remember that you need to stand up to your promises. You should always be putting 110% effort. An unspoken trick to get comfortable in interviews and to always get the job you want: in every job you accept, make yourself shine. Regardless of how much you are paid or how much responsibility and work you’re given, take the initiative to do more. The more you’re prepared to do for your job, the future each of your jobs will take you. Don’t worry about being rewarded, just keep working hard, and it will pay off. I guarantee it.
About The Author
Zohra Sarwari has a Bachelors Degree in Psychology and a Masters Degree in Business Administration. She is currently working on a Bachelor’s Degree in Islamic Studies. She is a mother of three beautiful children, and spouse to a great man. She is currently home schooling her own children, and teaching others about Business and entrepreneurship trainings while balancing home life. She is an author of the new ground breaking book, “9 Steps that Will Change Your Destiny”. She has also written two e-books “Become a Professional Speaker Today” and “Time Management For Success”. Her book has been reviewed in Al-Jumuah magazine, and there is an article about her up coming in Azizah magazine. She is a motivational and inspirational speaker to youth and adults. She loves teaching and learning. http://www.zohrasarwari.com/

How to Set Up Your Free Website

2007-12-18T10:29:00.001-08:00

How to Create a Free Website using NVU! by: Gary Lamb
Creating A Website For Free is a simple easy task that can bring in loads of income. Most people know having a website means a cash growth potential, however, many people simply do not have enough money to have a website created. So, I'm going to show you how to Create A Website For Free! Having a free website makes your profit go through the roof! It is important for you to view other websites to see what works and use the same technique in your free website. You should also have some good products for your website. OK! Lets create your free website! Things you will need: - NVU - a free auto responder (Google one) - a free web hosting site (Google one) - a free ftp up loader (filezilla) - a domain name (this will cost you about 10 bucks.) NVU works like FrontPage. Now that you have NVU, lets create your free website! Background and Page Setup First, using NVU, lets create your free website background. At the top of NVU, next to the Paragraph Headings under the Publish Button, you will see two boxes. One is for text coloring and the one behind it is for the sheet coloring. Choose which color you want your free website background then click OK. Next using NVU, lets create your free website template. At the top of NVU you will find Table. Click on that. NVU lets you choose multiple cells, but I usually choose one cell. It's a little easier to manage and NVU has a better option. So, lets click one box. As you can see, your free website page is the same color as your background. To change this, simply double click inside your table, click on Table, click the gray box next to Background Color, and choose the color you want. Click Apply then OK. Now the color you have chosen. (i.e. If you want to get rid of the border around your free website page simply double click on your page, click on table, and zero out border, spacing, and padding. Click Apply and OK. NVU gives you a red dotted line to show the tables parameter. This is an invisible table!) Next using NVU, you're going to want to center your free website page. Double click in the page, click on Table, and find Table Alignment and scroll down to Center. Click Apply and OK. To increase the size of your free website table simply hover over the white box on either side of you page and enlarge. (i.e. NVU uses a circle that has an X inside of it and an arrow on both sides. The circle, if clicked, will delete that website table and the arrows create another table that is connected to the main one. This is why I'd rather not choose more then one cell that was talked about previously.) Template Setup Now, lets set up a template inside your free website page. To get your cursor in the top left corner of your website page double click, look for Content Alignment, next to Vertical, scroll down to Top, click Apply and OK. Next using NVU, right click on your free website page, scroll down to Table Insert, click on table and your new table will appear. In order to customize repeat all the steps above. Video Setup Now by using NVU, lets say you want to host a video from youtube in your free website. Grab the code from the video, create an invisible table, put your cursor inside the table, go to Insert at the top of NVU, scroll down to HTML, a new NVU window will pop up and place the code there. You can't see your video and that why you want to create an invisible table. Unlike FrontPage, NVU does not have the feather for you to see it in the preview page. (i.e. if you want to write something on the side of your video, using NVU, click on the arrow of your tables parameter and a new table will connect to your video table.) Here is a article that explains about HTML code and how to put digital pictures on your website. http://www.angelfire.com/fl5/html-tutorial/image.htm There you have it. A new template for your new and free website using NVU! You can start creating your website content. It is a good idea to save your free website template for future use. You also want to save your free website as a index.html. Uploading your Website Now, NVU makes uploading your free website to your free web hosting site very simple. All you have to do is click Publish at the top of NVU, plug in the appropriate information and click Publish. NVU will send your free website to your web hosing site. I rather use filezilla because some web hosting sites require you to put your free website in a certain file. When uploading your free website don't forget to follow the instructions of your web hosting site. I spent two hours trying to upload my free website before I figured out what was wrong! As you can see, NVU is a great way to create your free website. NVU gives you a lot more options then what I have spoke about. You should always test to see if your free website is working properly.
About The Author
Gary Lamb Is a make it for free nut! Knowing that the way of the pay-per-click is losing its grip, Gary became obsessed with ways to drive large amounts of traffic to his websites for free! Now, he is passing these techniques to others. To check out he has to offer go to http://successfromhome.makeitforfree.com/

New Merchant Account Warnings

2007-12-10T08:20:00.000-08:00

Use Caution When Opening Merchant Account to Accept Credit Cards by: Damien Gough
If you want to start accepting credit card payments online for the first time, then this article is a must read. Before obtaining a merchant account, make sure you shop around and do your research. Let the buyer beware certainly applies when choosing a merchant account provider, as there are many important aspects which need to be considered. Making a poor choice is likely to result in numerous complications and high unexpected ongoing costs. 10 tips to choosing a merchant account provider: 1. KNOW YOUR NEEDS – Do you want batch (manual) payment processing or real time processing? If you expect low volume sales then manual processing maybe a viable route. Before approaching merchant account processors know your actual or expected margins, transaction volume and internal resources. What will your hardware, software and service requirements be? You can go directly to banks or ISOs for merchant accounts, however putting together all the components to e-commerce (catalog system, credit card processing, order system, billing system, etc) can be a nightmare. This is where it sometimes it can pay to partner with a ‘holistic’ payment processor which may charge slightly higher rates, but can provide complete and secure payment processing merchant accounts. 2. 24 HOUR PAYMENT CUSTOMER SERVICE – Not only is it wise for you to get 24 hour technical support for your merchant account, but also of great importance is 24 hour payment support for your own paying customers. Providing 24 hour telephone payment support on your website for high volume sites could increase sales by 20-30%, especially in the early stages whilst you fine tune your site. 3. RELIABILITY & INTEGRITY– Check the merchant account providers trading history and try to get testimonials or reviews of the processor. A dishonest processor can tack on declined transaction charges in numerous ways, so it is important to work with a reputable processing company. Common complaints against merchant account providers include sudden rate increases, long term lock-in contracts, hidden fees and add-on charges, high monthly-minimums, heavy rolling chargeback reserves, high chargeback fees, and surprise monthly processing limits. 4. SPEED OF SERVICE – If it takes more than 3-4 business days to get your merchant account up and running, then start questioning the setup and capability of a processor. Likewise if approval is instant or overnight, alarm bells should also start to ring. Setting up a new merchant account should take 2-4 days to allow for a thorough risk assessment and appropriate account setup. 5. FEES – Make sure you gain full visibility of all fees (application, setup, statement, transaction, discount rate, and fraudulent transactions – chargeback’s). Ask for a full disclosure of ALL merchant account fees and charges before signing anything! Also bear in mind that depending on your business setup; your merchant account processor may have to hold a reserve on your account. 6. UNDERWRITING AND RISK ASSESSMENT – Before approving a merchant account, the merchant account provider will underwrite and perform a risk assessment of your business and business model. Find out if your business will be classified as “High Risk”. If you trade in a high risk industry such as adult, travel, dating, or pharmacy, then you will have to approach a high risk merchant account specialist. 7. FRAUD MANAGEMENT – Chargeback’s and fraud related charges can be a very high cost for some online businesses. Make sure you protect your profits by using a processor that has a sophisticated and comprehensive fraud management system. A large variety of methods to minimize fraud should be in place on your merchant account including customer details verification, geographical location cross-checks, and known fraudster database cross-checks. 8. HIDDEN CLAUSES – Read the fine print. Read ALL of the fine print. Too many people today skim over the content of a service contract, which in the payment processing industry is very unwise. Be warned, low rates rarely equate with merchant friendly policies. 9. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS - A card from outside of the processor's country results in what is often called a non-qualified rate, which can result in a fee of 3.50% - 6% of the sale. If you expect card payments from more than one country, try to choose a processor that has an international payment network, who also supports transactions in multiple currencies. If you wish to advertise to multiple markets, a multi-currency and multi-lingual platform is a must to maximize your revenue potential. 10. MONTHLY LIMITS - As a precaution, many merchant account providers will impose limits on your monthly revenue intake. Processing more than your limit, in some cases will also result in held funds. The length of time the funds are held depends on the risk factor and the bank with which you deal. Should you surpass the limit that the bank is willing to allow for more than three months, you may receive an immediate termination letter. Look for a merchant account that is flexible with your needs. Some merchant account providers have policies with generous limits or no limit at all.
About The Author
Damien Gough is an experienced online business development specialist, who has assisted a variety of internet start up businesses spanning the United Kingdom, USA, and Australia. He has multi industry experience with general ecommerce sites such as recruitment, retail and manufacturing, as well as sites such as dating and travel which require high risk merchant account services. For more visit http://www.intabill.com/

E-Commerce as a Business

2007-09-27T03:00:00.001-07:00

How To Create Your Own e-Commerce Site by: Lewis Low
E-commerce is touted as one of the most viable online business opportunities on the Web today. In comparison to traditional brick and mortar businesses, e-commerce site requires minimal start-up cost and is relatively low-risk. However that does not imply creating an e-commerce site is a simple process, neither does it guarantee your future success. The purpose of this article is to walk you through the necessary steps and plans you would need in order to set up a successful e-commerce site. Un-earth Your Niche The very first thing to do is find your niche. Examine your hobbies and interests for potential business ideas. If you love soccer, consider selling soccer supplies or team uniforms, online. Focusing on your expertise or something you have great passion for would give you an advantage over competitors who do not have in-depth knowledge of that niche. Research Your Niche Once you've whittled down a few ideas, explore each one further. Ask yourself these questions: How many people are looking for your services? Where do they go and find people like yourself? How many searches are created for your product or service on Google? You may not have a budget to create demand, so it's safer and cheaper to go where the demand already exists. Scope out Your Competitors Research your competitors inside out. Spend time to check out their websites and compare their products and services. Give yourself an idea of what you’re up against, so you can create your e-commerce site as professional as, or even better than theirs. Write Your Business Plan You want to have a foolproof business plan for your business. Work out a detailed formula - including your site theme, goals, business strategies. It's also a good idea to keep a record of expenditures, sales, profits etc. Your business cannot just be a 'me-too' business online. Develop a powerful USP (Unique Selling Position) that sets you apart from your competitors and makes you stand out from the crowd! Create Your Website Register a good domain name as marketing tactic. Name that ends in *.com is best of all. Try to include relevant keywords that properly describe your business or product if possible. A well-designed website creates a good first impression with your prospects. Get yourself a professional website template at an affordable price and customize it to suit your need. Most templates can be easily customized using common HTML editors and simple graphics software. You’ll want your website content to target specific keywords for high search engines ranking and traffic flow. This can be done by creating informative articles, product reviews, descriptions and comparisons. If you're short on time, many SEO (search engine optimization) experts are willing to help you out for a reasonable price. Host Your Website Find a dependable hosting company to host your website on their servers. A quick search on Google for “web hosting” should bring up hundreds of companies ready to do business with you. Select a reliable web host that provides adequate disk space and bandwidth with e-commerce scripts supporting features. Domain name-specific email accounts must also be available to give a professional image. Your website files can be uploaded using a simple FTP program or file uploading service in your hosting account. Technical support personnel from your hosting company should walk you through the steps to upload your files and launch your website. Implement a Shopping Cart An e-commerce site is never complete without a secure shopping cart. The best option you can consider is a remotely hosted shopping cart which takes the burden of maintaining security and credit card numbers off your shoulder. Most remote shopping carts can be configured to look similar to your website so your customers may not realize that they have left your website when making a payment. If a remote shopping cart is not within your budget, there are still lots of third party credit card processing companies that are ready to process your credit card orders using their merchant account for a small fee. Some popular ones to you can check out are ClickBank, PayPal and 2CheckOut. Marketing and Promotion You have identified your niche, set up your e-commerce site and you are good to go. Now comes the most crucial part - promoting your site! This could be a full-time career option for most people. Either you can learn to do this yourself or you can have an expert do it for you. Begin by submitting your site to major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Dmoz, etc. You also need to optimize your site using profitable keywords and keyword-rich content. There are lots more business promotion strategies such as advertising, link exchange, e-zine promotion etc. which you may need to explore to create your online presence and build traffic. Setting up your e-commerce site is sure a lot of work, but it's just the first step. Making it successful is even more work, but the pay-offs can be rewarding. Remember, success can be yours provided you work hard and smart!
About The Author
Lewis Low is the founding editor of OnlineBizPromo.com. For more Practical Online Business Ideas and Work-From-Home Opportunities, visit his Work-At-Home directory at www.OnlineBizPromo.com

Getting Started in Business

2007-08-22T11:20:00.001-07:00

The Magic Move to Being in Business by: Heather Dominick
Lots of entrepreneurs that I speak to spend a lot of time "being busy." They're attending meetings, answering emails and a ton of activity that fills up their schedule. They have great ideas in the middle of it all, but are so overwhelmed they fall into "productivity paralysis" and are just plain perplexed about how to really get to that next level. There's a magic move to being productive and profitable in business that no one is talking about. Before we get to the "Magic Move," we have to first acknowledge that as an Entrepreneur you should always be striving to work on your business rather than just in your business. You open up the energy around this by setting up systems. This approach allows you to be set up for growth and actually implement all those fabulous ideas you have. For example, if you're an acupuncturist instead of only treating patients all day you can explore ways to treat and reach more people at once-leveraging your time and your income. Strong systems in your business operations will create that space. I have entrepreneurs I coach who either set up or strengthen their systems as a must. For the sake of this article, we accept that as a given. Now, step into the magic move-the one that has you in joy with everything you're doing, rather than just trying to catch your breath and stay one step ahead (or filing you your time with "stuff" because you secretly feel lost about what to do next). Often, I've found that even when you have the tightest of systems, you can find yourself feeling like something is missing. Your energy is a bit blah and you don't feel jazzed to create. Even though the systems are crankin', you feel stuck. Just about every time I hear this from an entrepreneur, I know the magic move is missing; there isn't anywhere in the systems that allows for time to just be. Incorporating this move makes all the difference in the world and it's the one that is most resisted (including myself at times). Interesting, right? Let's get clear about exactly what I mean by "time to just be." I'm not talking about time to watch TV or be with family and friends-although this is important and should be part of your systems, too. I'm talking about time to really connect to that part of yourself which is a direct connection to divine, inspired action. These are the ideas, solutions, and "how tos" that cannot be conceived of, created, or tapped into when you are busy "doing" and "going 24-7." And it's the powerful, magic move that no one in business is talking about. Frankly, I believe it's because they're scared to. Traditional business doesn't operate from a place of stillness. The battle cry is, "if you're not in motion, you're losing money!" Meanwhile, money is being left on the table everywhere because folks are rushing by and too busy to see it. Even all the latest buzz about the Law of Attraction is filled with insistence to, "use this tool, this exercise, this strategy." Be sure to understand, these are very helpful, but the point of them is often lost; to bring us to that deep place of knowing that comes from being able to be. Every time I've coached a client around this magic move more money has appeared. I have one client who just created $4,500 in a half day. The inspiration to pursue this means would never have appeared had she just still been going, going, going. It works. Call To Action: Start by scheduling some "be" time. Just take it and see what happens. Write down anything that comes to you. Let it go and then return to it a week later. Mark what that experience is like (you might be surprised what happened in the week between!).
About The Author
Heather Dominick, Solo-Entrepreneur Expert, has over 10 years of teaching and coaching experience. Heather’s primary focus is in coaching entrepreneurs to identify sources for increasing business profit and making successful business changes. To sign up to receive your free business building e-course visit http://www.energyrichcoach.com

He's Making a List of Who is Naughty or Nice..

2006-12-15T07:01:00.000-08:00

All I Know About List Building I Learned From Santa! by: Titus Hoskins
Don't laugh, it is not what you're thinking. Although the jolly old guy could probably teach all of us a thing or two about lists and list building. Just the mention of his list can still send shivers down my spine, residue from all those childhood wonderings if I was naughty or nice? However, this article has nothing to do with Santa directly, but in a way it has everything to do with him! You see indirectly, old Saint Nick played a prominent part in my list building education; a very important role. Please let me explain and it may help you in your own list building efforts. Like every webmaster or online marketer I kept hearing from Day One how vitally important it was to build your own opt-in or permission based contact list. It would be the key to building traffic and revenue from your site or online marketing. The one key element you must have. But building a list is easier said than done, anyone who has tried to build a list will know this fact. I soon realized I needed help with my list building... I have an art background, that's not important, but it did show me how to learn or dissect a subject. All artists develop a hands-on "let's dig in and dissect this creature" attitude; they learn by exploring and studying the masters/techniques that have worked in the past. This inquisitive learning becomes a second skin. It was extremely helpful when I started to build my lists. I first examined how other well known marketers were building their lists. One common theme that keep repeating itself was: free gifts. Almost all these marketers gave away a free gift: report, ebook, ecourse, article, software program, marketing tips or knowledge - all in exchange for the name and email of their visitors. This simple tactic worked like a charm. Maybe it has something to do with our unbreakable belief in a Santa! Or maybe it has to do with all that gift giving, we all like to receive gifts. Who doesn't? Soon I had my own free gifts (ebooks, ecourses, and free software programs) on all my sites, attached to follow-up autoresponders to keep in contact with all my visitors and prospects on my lists. My lists grew... But I didn't stop there, as free gifts was a key to building lists, I needed a creature to dissect! Then a few years ago, such a creature stumbled out of my email inbox. This was "The 12 Days of Christmas" give-away package by Mark Hendricks. Countless marketers all donated valuable gifts to an online package/promotion in exchange for building their contact lists. Great idea and the gifts just kept on coming for well, 12 days. Everyone builds their lists compliments of dear old Saint Nick. However, I used the Gift package in another way. I signed up for whatever marketers or gifts interested my fancy but I then did an in depth study of how each of these marketers handled their follow-ups. What they did to build or lose my loyalty. Which ones held my interest, which ones I unsubscribed from and why. Analyzing a whole group of marketers and webmasters through this online package was a valuable lesson or training in list building. A direct, hands-on experience that pointed out the techniques and methods of building a responsive contact list. What you really need to know about building an effective list. This list building education was much more important that all the free ebooks and software in "The 12 Days of Christmas". Much more important than all of these free gifts put together. A valuable list building education that could only come from Santa!
About The Author
Copyright (c) 2006 Titus Hoskins Pick up some handy gifts and do your own list dissecting and study here: http://www.bizwaremagic.com/12days.htm If that seems like too much hard work, try my list building eCourse instead: http://www.bizwaremagic.com/opt-in.htm 2006 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

Starting A Virtual Corporation

2006-12-01T04:21:00.000-08:00

Why it’s Important to Plan Your Online Strategy Before Building Your Website by: Brian Queenan
It is very important that you plan your website before it ever goes live online. So many webmasters are running from one thing to the next without any kind of plan in place whatsoever. That’s why so many fail in the online world. Fail to plan and failure is inevitable. The planning stage is where every business will either succeed or fail. Put a solid business plan in place and you will do well whether it is an online business or not. You really need to outline your online business. You need to have a clear view of what your business will be before you start to build it. You must know where you want to go before you can get there. This is your business map. Without it you will have no direction and will have no way to get where you need to go. This is the most critical part of starting your online business. If you don’t have a crystal clear view of where you want to go and how to get there, you will fail miserably. Start by making a list. Below are some questions you may want to answer that will help get you going and will help give you a clearer view of where you want to go with your online business. What topics do you know a lot about? What do you enjoy doing the most? What do you do for a living? (Is there any possibilities there?) Do you have a particular hobby that you enjoy? What do you talk about when you converse with family and friends? Who would benefit the most from your business? Since all websites have to be content rich you will want to use a topic that you know a lot about. Everyone knows a lot about something. You do too. You just need to tap into it no matter how silly you may think it is. I will guarantee that there are many others out there that will have an interest in your topic. It’s best that your topic is about something that you enjoy doing or enjoy talking about because it will show through one way or another in everything that you do with your online business. You don’t want your visitors to have the feeling that you are in it for the money and really don’t care about the content that your website provides. Your product must relate to your content. If it doesn’t you probably won’t convert very well. Everything about your topic should relate to everything that you do. Your product is no different. Know who you are selling to. It is important to know who your potential visitors will be in order to be able to approach your topic in the right manner. Set goals to where you want to be in say 3, 6 and 12 months from now. If you plan where you want to be you will have a better chance of getting there. Goal setting is a very important part of planning a new business. It is a map within a map. Set goals and watch how quickly they will become a reality. Outline your business plan and you will see results. It will help you eliminate any surprises that may arise later on and will help you deal with any problems that do come along. Plan every detail right down to how you plan to advertise. Since I don’t know what your business plan will be I can only give you a basic outline of what needs to be done. Only you have the answers of the best approach to take. The main point is, plan your online business in advance and you will do well. You can get more information on Internet marketing at http://the-truth-about-internet-marketing.com
About The Author
Brian Queenan is the owner of http://the-truth-about-internet-marketing.com. Learn what it really takes to market online.

Starting Your Data Entry Business

2006-03-21T11:55:00.000-08:00

Is There No Real Data Entry Opportunities Online Today? by: Vipul Gupta
Hi Friend,
Its has been 4 years since I started my home business. As like most of new home business seekers I started it looking for a Data Entry Job – and like 98% of them I ended up in a Scam losing $50 in the process. Well the amount may not seem to be much but the experience I gained from it was priceless – “If anything seems too good to be true, it most probably is”.
Now a days the internet is all covered up with getting paid for Data Entry Scams – anywhere you look you will encounter an add saying “Make $1000 per day from the comfort of your home working just 30 Mins a day”. To a bit experienced people it is a sure shot call of a Scam but to online newbies like me 4 years ago it looked like the best opportunity I could come across. I am not saying that such programs do not work.
What they do is they will take a one time fee from you to give a tutorial to you explaining how to post similar ads like those you responded to online. The catch is you may make money – you may not! And also it’s quick money and not a long term security.
So now, answering the question – If there are still genuine legitimate online data entry jobs out there – I would say yes there is! But you will have to know the right place to look for. Look for free lance opportunities. There are places like Elance and Contracted Work which posts the requirement of people who require data entry operators on contract basis and there is always a legitimate Data Entry Job available there! Start from such places and once you get some recognition requests just come pouring in. Who knows you may also start your own successful data entry company some day!!!
About The Author
Vipul Gupta is the webmaster of http://www.profitfrominternet.com/typing_jobs.html. Visit his site today to gain all proven information on the starting your home based business without burning a hole in your pocket.

Affiliate Business Tips

2006-03-01T08:43:00.000-08:00

3 Things All Affiliate Marketers Need To Survive Online Today by: Larry Chretien
The best course of action to take sometimes isn't clear until you've listed and considered your alternatives. The following paragraphs should help clue you in to what the experts think is significant.
Every affiliate marketer is always looking for the successful market that gives the biggest paycheck. Sometimes they think it is a magic formula that is readily available for them. Actually, it is more complicated than that. It is just good marketing practices that have been proven over years of hard work and dedication.
There are tactics that have worked before with online marketing and is continuing to work in the online affiliate marketing world of today. With these top three marketing tips, you will be able to able to increase your sales and survive in the affiliate marketing online.
What are these three tactics?
1. Using unique web pages to promote each separate product you are marketing. Do not lump all of it together just to save some money on web hosting. It is best to have a site focusing on each and every product and nothing more.
Always include product reviews on the website so visitors will have an initial understanding on what the product can do to those who buys them. Also include testimonials from users who have already tried the product. Be sure that these customers are more than willing to allow you to use their names and photos on the site of the specific product you are marketing.
You can also write articles highlighting the uses of the product and include them on the website as an additional page. Make the pages attractive compelling and include calls to act on the information. Each headline should attract the readers to try and read more, even contact you. Highlight your special points. This will help your readers to learn what the page is about and will want to find out more.
2. Offer free reports to your readers. If possible position them at the very top side of your page so it they simply cannot be missed. Try to create autoresponder messages that will be mailed to those who input their personal information into your sign up box. According to research, a sale is closed usually on the seventh contact with a prospect.
If you find yourself confused by what you've read to this point, don't despair. Everything should be crystal clear by the time you finish.
Only two things can possibly happen with the web page alone: closed sale or the prospect leaving the page and never return again. By placing useful information into their inboxes at certain specified period, you will remind them of the product they thought they want later and will find out that the sale is closed. Be sure that the content is directed toward specific reasons to buy the product. Do not make it sound like a sales pitch.
Focus on important points like how your product can make life and things easier and more enjoyable. Include compelling subject lines in the email. As much as possible, avoid using the word “free” because there are still older spam filters that dumps those kind of contents into the junk before even anyone reading them first. Convince those who signed up for your free reports that they will be missing something big if they do not avail of your products and services.
3. Get the kind of traffic that is targeted to your product. Just think, if the person who visited your website has no interest whatsoever in what you are offering, they will be among those who move on and never come back. Write articles for publication in e-zines and e-reports. This way you can locate publications that is focusing on your target customers and what you have put up might just grab their interest.
Try to write a minimum of 2 articles per week, with at least 300-600 words in length. By continuously writing and maintaining these articles you can generate as many as 100 targeted readers to your site in a day.
Always remember that only 1 out of 100 people are likely to buy your product or get your services. If you can generate as much as 1,000 targeted hits for your website in a day, that means you can made 10 sales based on the average statistic.
The tactics given above does not really sound very difficult to do, if you think about it. It just requires a little time and an action plan on your part.
Try to use these tips for several affiliate marketing programs. You can end maintaining a good source of income and surviving in this business that not all marketers can do.
Besides, think of the huge paychecks you will be receiving…
About The Author
Larry chretien Owner Operator http://www.affiliate-home-based-business.com
If you've picked some pointers about affiliate marketing that you can put into action, then by all means, do so. You won't really be able to gain any benefits from your new knowledge if you don't use it.
trackthisad@yahoo.ca

Need Virtual Stuff Links

2006-02-24T10:26:00.000-08:00

Please put any links to cool "virtual" stuff especially business related in the comments. No registration necessary - Thanks:)

Why Use a Virtual Assistant?

2006-01-31T06:14:00.000-08:00

Why Would Someone Use a Virtual Assistant Anyway? by: Jennifer Claggett
Time is precious to ALL business owners…so anything that frees up time and helps business is invaluable! A Virtual Assistant (VA) does both – and more! Business owners – like you – hire VAs to free up time, help business and SAVE money! Yes…I said SAVE $$$. That may seem like an oxymoron, but just stay with me here. VAs are self-employed. They pay their own taxes, their own insurance, they pay for their own equipment and furniture, for their own training, etc. Plus! YOU CAN MORE THAN LIKELY WRITE OFF VA’S FEES AS AN EXPENSE – and you don’t have to pay taxes for a VA (as you would for an employee) or provide benefits and insurance…THAT’S HUGE! Any savvy business person sees the value in this right away!
So, why should you hire a VA?
1. To save money
2. To fill a position or to help with a temporary project
You (i.e. business owner, entrepreneur, etc.) pay only for the VA services used – only when needed – no down time. One week you might have 20 hours of work for the VA, the next, only 5. Why would you pay a full-time, onsite employee (who probably can’t get done in a day, what a VA gets done in 2 hours!) benefits, vacation, taxes, lunch breaks, chatting at the copy machine, etc…when you can partner with a VA to do it for you in half the time – for half the expense???!!!
Jennifer Cummings, Entrepreneur and Owner of Keytura, Inc., who has been using virtual assistants and virtual outsourcing for years says, "My virtual assistants and consultants have helped me execute so many of the ideas I just had sitting on my desk. Using their services, I take action...which means I make more money! They are invaluable to my business!"
At this point you might be asking, “Well, how do I know this VA is doing what I’m asking her to do? How can I trust her?”
Well, that’s not hard. #1 - If your VA is not doing what she says she’s doing, it’s eventually going to become VERY obvious. Things won’t be getting done and it will show. #2 – Your VA will keep track of – and provide you with a detailed record of – tasks completed & time they took. #3 – and this is HUGE…
Your VA is a business owner just like you!
Your business success is KEY to your VA’s business success!
If your VA screws up your business, she is – in essence – screwing up her own. What person in his or her right mind would do that???!!! You both (you and your VA) need to think of each other as business PARTNERS because that’s exactly what you are. You are partnering your businesses for success!
So, where can you find a VA? Try places like: http://www.IVAA.org, http://www.elance.com, or http://www.guru.com. You won’t be sorry you made this decision. Your increased profits, productivity and ROI will show you that VAs are something that “just make sense!”
About The Author
Jennifer Claggett is a virtual assistant and a stay-at-home mom. Visit her website at http://www.VirtualAssistantMom.com to learn more easy-to-use virtual assistant tools and invaluable information on starting a virtual assistant business.
This article is available for reprint with author's resource box intact and all links active. Copyright is reserved by the author.
jenny@virtualassistantmom.com

IT Services Marketing

2006-01-23T14:01:00.000-08:00

IT Marketing: Ways to Grow Awareness of Your Company by: Joshua Feinberg
In order to sell a solution, you have to build awareness that there is a problem. Once you have built that awareness, you need to build awareness that your firm can solve that problem. Then you need to build awareness that your solution is relatively pain-free, seamless, affordable, and gives companies good return on investment. This article will show you ways to do that.
Seminar Marketing is Very Effective
Seminar marketing is one of the best forms of IT marketing because it builds awareness. Instead of you or your salespeople going around on sales calls and spending an hour or two talking about the fundamentals to individuals, you can do pretty much the same thing in room full of prospects simultaneously.
No Pressure on Your Prospects
And it's MUCH less intimidating to your prospects. With the right registration, the right follow-up procedures, the right qualifications, the right invitation strategy, and right follow-up calls, you can do a tremendous amount of business from holding seminars on key technology issues for your niche. For more information on holding seminars, check out my Sweet Spot Clients Teleseminar Series ().
IT Marketing: White Papers
Publishing a white paper or an e-zine is another really great way for a lead capture and follow-up mechanism. Let's say you're running a direct mail campaign. One of the best ways to get a response is to offer some kind of white paper that you can give out that has a high perceived value.
This white paper can either be developed by you, outsourced to a freelance writer, or you can adapt something from one of the reseller programs you belong to. Of course if you regularly do seminars, you can simply offer an edited transcript or white paper based on the seminar to help with your IT marketing.
IT Marketing: Get the Word Out
You can advertise your white paper when doing any kind of display ads or direct mail piece. It gives people an excuse to call or excuse to go online and request something. Once they request something, you have a way of capturing their information and using it for further your IT marketing processes.
The Bottom Line on IT Marketing
To maximize your value to prospects, you need to let them know what problems they have and how you can solve it. Two great ways to do this are by holding seminars and advertising your white paper to prospects.
Copyright MMI-MMVI, Computer Consultants Secrets. All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}
About The Author
Joshua Feinberg helps computer consultants get more steady, high-paying clients. Learn how you can too. Sign-up now for Joshua's free Computer Consultants Secrets audio training at http://www.ComputerConsultantsSecrets.com.

Affiliates and Taxes

2006-01-11T09:45:00.000-08:00

Your Affiliate Business and Taxes by: Vickie Scanlon
Starting a home-based business on the Internet is easy you say. You have your web page built, your affiliate links and you're ready to go. Not really, you need to make sure you have all your i's and t's crossed when it comes to taxes.
Getting Started
First, you will need to register your business name with the city government. When I registered my business name with the city I was charged $11 -- so expect to pay a small fee when filing this legal document with your local goverment.
Second, you need to apply for an Employer Identification Number with the Department of the Treasury (IRS). To file for an EIN, you will need to complete Form SS-4. You can find these forms in post offices, public libraries, online, or by contacting the IRS.
Once you receive this document, keep it in a safe place -- in other words, don't crumple, stomp, or throw away -- this identifies you and your business with the U.S. government and you will need this number when you file your taxes.
Third, you will need to check with your state government to determine if you need any specific licenses. Such as Retail Sales Tax Permit -- if you are planning on selling items offline or online.
Fourth, you may want to open a Business Account at your local bank once the money starts to roll in. Keeping your money separate from your family account -- helps you to keep your accounting accurate for your business.
What percentage of your income will go to your State and Federal Government?
You will need to pay the following taxes, at the following rate, on a quarterly basis:
States Taxes -- 3.7%
Federal Taxes -- 11.3%
Social Security -- 12.4%
Medicare -- 2.9%
The first year in business is difficult, because you have no idea what you will be making--You will need to make a conservative guess. However, you will only pay what you owe against that of your expenses (your net income). For example, if you believe you will have $3000 in expenses during the year -- and you believe in your first year, you will make $6000-- you would report the following:
$6000 (Money Made)- $3000 (Expenses) = $3000 (What you owe)
This amount would be divided among the four quarters within the year and paid to your State Government and the Federal Government. If you find that you will be making more and you have paid in for one quarter -- you will have to adjust the balance and divid it between the remaining quarters.
The following is what you will submit to the Federal Government:
Federal Taxes-11.3%,
Social Security-12.4%, and
Medicare payment-2.9%.
The State Government will receive only the 3.7% of your net earned income.
(Please note: If you are unsure about anything, you should enlist the help of a CPA, regarding tax matters).
Your estimated taxes are due on the following dates throughout the year:
April 15
June 15
September 15
January 15
To obtain more specific information you can read IRS Publication 505: Estimated Tax payments.
Note: You are not required to make estimated tax payments until you have income not subject to withholding on which you will owe tax. If you don't make your first payment until a later period, you must divide your entire estimated tax by the number of payment dates remaining. If, for example, you have three payment dates pending, you would pay one third of the total tax by June 15, the other third by September 15 and the last by January 15.
Typical Expenses To Deduct
Here is a list of some of the expenses you can deduct.
1. Your home mortgage -- If you use a room solely for conducting business then you can take this deduction. There are a couple of different formulas to determine the percentage of your home that is used for your business.
You can use the "number of rooms" method or the "area method". I would suggest using the "area method" because I can't imagine having a home where all the rooms are the same size.
With the area method, you would take the area of your home office divided by the area of your home. Example:
Your Office= 10' X 10' = 100 square feet
YOur home is 1000 square feet
Your deduction = 100/1000 or 10%
2. Indirect Expenses -- with indirect expenses you will only be able to deduct the area percentage (Note: use area percentage calculated above) of the total cost. These indirect expenses would include such things as:
House payment
Utilites
Telephone
Garbage collection
Internet connection (If other people are using the Intenet)
3. Direct Expenses -- these are expenses that relate only to your business.
Supplies
Advertising
Business account bank charges
Keeping Track of Expenses
To keep track of all your expenses. and you are comfortable working with a spreadsheet software, I would suggest purchasing a small business accounting package such as QuickBooks or Peachtree Accounting.
To conclude, this definitely is not an exhaustive list of what you need to know. However, this will give you a beginning as to what you will have to be aware of when starting a home-based business. As your business grows, your CPA will be able to assist you and keep you on the straight and narrow to your success on the Internet.

About The Author
Vickie J Scanlon has a BBA degree in Administrative Management and Marketing. Visit her site at: http://www.myaffiliateplace.biz for free tools,articles, ebooks, and how to info or check her blog for additional insights to the Affiliate Business – http://myaffiliateplace.blogspot.com
ArticleCity.com - Your Affiliate Business and Taxes

Virtual Assistants

2006-01-06T10:50:00.000-08:00

What a Virtual Assistant Is and Is Not by: Cindy Greenway
Looking for someone to join you in your business isn’t an easy decision to make. Sure, you could use the help … but what kind of help exactly? Do you need a coach to help you in moving forward in your business goals? Or is a business manager that you want – someone that takes a lead with your business and makes important decisions? Or do you prefer to start with someone that can save you time by helping with those administrative tasks that just take you too long to do?
If you want to delegate those administrative tasks so you can spend your precious time on other business activities, then a Virtual Assistant (VA) is what you need.
The Virtual Assistant industry is growing quickly around the world – each VA offering a variety of services and specializing in various areas. But do you know what a Virtual Assistant really is and how they fit into your own business?
Firstly, let’s define Virtual Assistant. Essentially, a Virtual Assistant is an independent contractor that offers administrative support via his/her own home office. There are many, many benefits to having a Virtual Assistant join your team, rather than hiring an employee. They have their own equipment, software, space – just to name a few benefits.
Because Virtual Assistants offer such a wide range of expertise and skills, they are quite often able to assist in numerous roles. However, it’s important to understand what a Virtual Assistant really IS and what a Virtual Assistant IS NOT.
A Virtual Assistant IS someone who: • is an independent business owner • assists you with various administrative tasks • you can rely on • can help you boost your profits • offers expertise in areas that are not the focus of your business • provides feedback/becomes a sounding board as your relationship grows • is genuinely interested in the success of your business • someone you communicate with regularly, share your business strategy and goals with so they can provide you with the support you need
A Virtual Assistant IS NOT a: • business coach • business manager • decision maker • expert in every area that you may require assistance in • responsible for establishing business goals and strategies for your business
As the Virtual Assistant industry grows and offers more and more skills and support to small business owners, the more small business owners seem to expect from their VAs. I’ve heard of people that want their VAs to make important decisions on their behalf – decisions like how much to charge for speaking engagements and even an outline of steps for the business owner to take in order to increase profits.
A Virtual Assistant can certainly help you in researching these items and taking on specific tasks involved in these areas, however they are NOT decision makers nor business coaches and therefore should not be expected to do this on behalf of any business owner.
It’s also important to note that all Virtual Assistants provide support in numerous different areas. Some offer expertise in web design, others know more about bookkeeping/account and others are more involved with ecommerce and internet marketing etc. There are even some Virtual Assistants that simply provide traditional administrative support such as word processing etc. Therefore, before looking for a Virtual Assistant to help you in your business, be clear with what kind of expertise you would like your VA to offer. Also, remember that even though they are proficient in the areas you have identified, they may not know the answer to every one of your questions or know exactly what to do in every situation – especially when it comes to ever changing technology options on the internet. What you can expect is that if your VA does not have the answer, that they can research, connect with other VAs and provide you with as much information as possible.
Most Virtual Assistants have a genuine interest in helping their clients succeed and in building a successful relationship with their clients. As the relationship with your VA strengthens, you may find yourself wondering how you ever ran your business without him/her!
Take the time to share your business goals and strategies with your VA and over time it will be obvious how valuable your VA is as part of your business team.
About The Author
Cindy Greenway has been a Virtual Assistant since 2003, working with reputable clients in various professions. In 2005, Cindy and her partners started the Multiple Streams Team which offers a team of Virtual Assistants that provide quality support to small business clients. To learn how a Virtual Assistant can help you build your business, visit http://www.multiplestreamsteam.com/ and sign up for the free “Boost Business with a VA” Report. Virtual Assistants can learn more about the skills the need to have, as well as how to build and sustain a profitable VA business by visiting http://www.growyourvabiz.com/ and requesting the free 10 Critical Skills ecourse.
cindy@growyourvabiz.com

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Web Templates

2006-01-04T06:54:00.000-08:00

Using Ready-Made Templates To Build Your Websites by: Bob Bastian
If you’re doing business in China, you will need to learn Chinese. If you’re doing business in Japan, you would need to learn Japanese. If you’re doing business in Italy, you would need to learn Italian.
What language, then, would you need to learn when you’re doing business online?
Why, the language of the Internet of course! HTML, Hyper Text Markup Language. HTML is a series of codes and commands that would help you craft an intricate system to convey your business message throughout the entire virtual world. If you want to embellish your forum posts, you would need HTML. If you want to build products that would provide solutions for web users, you would need HTML. If you want to create fantastic innovations that can be carried out through the World Wide Web, you would need HTML.
But HTML is most important in one aspect of the online game, particularly in Internet marketing: website design. You would need some knowledge about HTML if you are to build a website that would attract the attention of online users and project a sense of professionalism and class that would make it easier for them to trust your business.
Seeing as how your website would serve as your online business’ digital store on the Internet, it is very important that you come up with a clean, organized and effective design. Much is at stake at how you will present your website. Hence, a modicum of knowledge about HTML would usually be insufficient in preparing a website built for business.
You could always hire a freelancer to create a website for you, of course. But outsourcing seldom comes cheap. Often, you would have to shell out a lot of cash just to ensure high quality work. And sometimes, what will be delivered would be contrary to your expectations. Also, miscommunication and disagreements with the freelancer should also be factored in. All of these combined would be enough to give anyone some genuine headaches.
So what are you to do if you don’t know jack about HTML and if you’re too hesitant to try outsourcing? Should you settle on doing business without a website?
Fret not, dear friend. There is another option you could take. You could always resort to ready-made website templates.
Ready-made website templates are ready-to-use website designs that usually come in .htm or .html file formats along with the accompanying objects therein. With these templates, all you have to do is to personalize them to suit the identity as well as the needs of your business, upload them on a web server, and they’ll be ready for all the World Wide World to see. Indeed, with website templates, it’s that simple.
There are a lot of website templates available on the Internet. There is always one which would be perfect for your business. And if the choices aren’t amenable for you, you could always mix and match and features and objects of different templates to come up with a design that you would feel would perfectly represent your online enterprise.
Website templates are the easiest ways to come up with your own website. The past two years saw a boom in the number of websites on the Internet. This is because of the effects brought by the Google AdSense program. A lot of people earn their keeps by creating countless mini-sites about different niches. You must bear in mind that it would be physically impossible for one NETrepreneur to create that many websites.
The need for fast, convenient, and highly effective websites has also spiked the demand for website templates. More and more are slowly learning their value in the field of online business.
Internet marketing is all about time, after all. In this industry, time is gold and every second counts. If you feel you don’t have the time to learn the language of the web, then you might as well avail of the many, many benefits of instant website templates. If you’re looking for quality web templates, visit this page: http://ebizprotege.com/t.cgi?Art1WebDesign
About The Author
Bob Bastian is a successful Internet entrepreneur and a prominent info product creator. His latest website distributes quality private label content for free: http://www.PrivateLabelPublishing.com

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Corporate Culture

2005-12-19T10:17:00.000-08:00

Definition of Corporate Culture by: Debra Lea Thorsen
Are you looking for a clear definition of corporate culture? You have come to the right place!
I have developed a definition of corporate culture after nearly 20 years of working with organizations and viewing them from the perspective of a cultural anthropologist as well as a strategy consultant with an MBA in finance.
The easiest way to think of corporate culture is that it is an energy field that determines how people think, act, and view the world around them. I often compare culture to electricity. Culture is powerful and invisible and its effects are far reaching. Culture is an energy force that becomes woven through the thinking, behavior, and identity of those within the group.
Corporate culture is created naturally and automatically. Every time people come together with a shared purpose, culture is created. This group of people could be a family, neighborhood, project team, or company. Culture is automatically created out of the combined thoughts, energies, and attitudes of the people in the group.
I have worked with entrepreneurs and venture capitalists involved in the start-up of technology companies. They want to work on the corporate culture once the company is profitable or “in the black”. It is much more difficult to change the corporate culture once it has emerged than to proactively create the corporate culture they want from the start.
The corporate culture energy field determines a company’s dress code, work environment, work hours, rules for getting ahead and getting promoted, how the business world is viewed, what is valued, who is valued, and much more.
Every company or organizations has numerous corporate cultures. For example, the marketing department and the engineering department may have very different corporate cultures which are both influenced by the overall organizational corporate culture. Many times these two sub-cultures clash.
Culture shows up in both visible and invisible ways. Some expressions of corporate culture are easy to observe. You can see the dress code, work environment, perks, and titles in a company. This is the surface layer of culture. These are only some of the visible manifestations of a culture.
Surface Layer of Corporate Culture: Visible Expressions · Dress Code · Work Environment · Benefits · Perks · Conversations · Work/Life Balance · Titles & Job Descriptions · Organizational Structure · Relationships
The far more powerful aspects of corporate culture are invisible. The cultural core is composed of the beliefs, values, standards, paradigms, worldviews, moods, internal conversations, and private conversations of the people that are part of the group. This is the foundation for all actions and decisions within a team, department, or organization.
Core Layer of Corporate Culture: Invisible Manifestations · Values · Private Conversations (with self or confidants) · Invisible Rules · Attitudes · Beliefs · Worldviews · Moods and Emotions · Unconscious Interpretations · Standards · Paradigms · Assumptions
Business leaders often assume that their company's vision, values, and strategic priorities are synonymous with their company's culture. Unfortunately, too often, the vision, values, and strategic priorities may only be words hanging on a plaque on the wall.
Corporate culture is actually the container for the vision, mission and values. It is not synonymous with them. In a thriving profitable company, employees will embody the values, vision, and strategic priorities of their company.
What creates this embodiment (or lack of embodiment) is the corporate culture energy field that permeates the employees' psyches, bodies, conversations, and actions.
Companies need a good definition of corporate culture before they can begin to understand how to change the corporate culture.
About The Author
Find out how to successfully change your corporate culture. Debra Lea Thorsen helps companies optimize their corporate cultures. Visit http://www.culturebuilders.com/ for a free white paper - Corporate Culture Change: Aligning People and Profits.

An Internet Business Story

2005-12-13T10:22:00.000-08:00

Trials Of An Internet Entrepreneur – A Humorous Beginning by: Brian Corbett
It’s hard to believe that it all began almost a year ago. Time really does fly when you are consumed by the task at hand or even worse, constantly perplexed. My wife and I thought it might be fun to start an Internet store as a side business to my Professional Engineering and Contracting business. After all, I’m somewhat computer literate. How hard or demanding could it possibly be? I figured there must be a cookbook solution somewhere that would define the exact steps that if taken, would catapult us to stardom.
Little did I realize that life on the Internet is quite a bit different than the world of absolute truths that I exist in as an Engineer. Everyone is presented as an expert but few people seem to agree on any given topic. How can perceived reality differ so greatly?
The truth of the matter is, that Internet Reality is defined by the search engines and the algorithms they use to present it, and I doubt very seriously that the folks that really understand it will divulge their secrets anytime in the near future. Therefore any understanding of the reality presented, can only be reactive in nature and speculative at best. I made numerous mistakes in setting up our first store before this concept really sunk in. Without realizing it, I was trying to use an approach which may have been functional, but did not work well with the search engines and therefore would have always limited our success. I finally came to the conclusion, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”.
My mistakes began at the very beginning, when I purchased a third party PHP shopping cart and loaded it on to a reputable hosting company. Based on everything I was told, this should be a “Walk in the Park” and we should be selling product any day. I was soon to find out that I required a working knowledge of PHP to modify the shopping cart and even worse, my page requests timed out as often as 60% of the time. Now in all fairness to the software industry, I’m sure there are many quality solutions being offered today. The problem is, which do you buy?
In utter disgust, I turned to a suggestion seen at WorldWide Brands and chose to open up a Yahoo Store. I also purchased the first edition of Online Store Profits and followed it step by step as I created our store and was quickly up and running. From there I purchased Arelis for our link management software and IBP 8 for our site optimization and marketing. Lastly I purchased IDevAffiliate for our affiliate tracking and management needs. I’m sure there are many other effective options that can be chosen, but these are the ones that have worked well for us. Our search engine visibility and subsequent sales continue to improve, and in general “Life Is Good” and we are pleased with our selections.
I share this information with the readers because it’s healthy to admit your own mistakes, especially if it can prevent others from making similar errors. Never use someone else’s opinion, as a replacement for your own that should have been derived by factual research.
Until my next update, have a great day!
About The Author
Brian Corbett is a self-employed Professional Engineer and Co-Owner/Webmaster of MyFamilyHarvest http://www.myfamilyharvest.com and Corbett & Company, Inc. http://www.corbettandcompany.biz.

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Your Customers

2005-12-12T09:06:00.000-08:00

Six Basic Reasons Why Visitors Stay On Your Web Site by: William R. Nabaza
1. The first page appears quickly.
It's a good way to have your brief tagline in the starting page of your web site and your company logo. Highlight the benefits and advantages of your products on the starting page.
But don't dump all the information on it so that it will appear quickly. Limit your graphic to a file size of 20 KB or less.
2. It's purpose is immediately and clearly identified.
Say what you want to say and say it briefly and straight to the point to get across your purpose why you existed in the web.
3. It's well laid out and well-written.
Take advantage of positive space and check the spelling and grammar of your web site. Tables can be a good tool to place your graphics and text on proper position. Maximize also the use of cell padding and cell spacing.
Hire somebody to write marketing materials for you. A good way to start is to access my archive of my newsletters and do a quick research on it. Try the arhives here
4. It's links accurately suggests what the viewer will find.
Make use of tags in your graphics so that if a browser will not display graphics, the visitor will have an idea of what you're talking about. Try turning off your graphics display in your browser and then view this site:
5. It's links behave as advertised when the viewer does use them.
I usually describe my site on classified ads web site as "Everything Essential To The Web, Nothing Less!" and I can prove it. I have freebies, online shopping, e-commerce, communities, mailing lists, web directories, and so on. Every week I have something new for my visitors so they keep coming back for more.
Visit the page here. g.Nabaza.net
6. It supplies the content the viewer expects, or a quick path to that content.
When I describe something on my site, I usually follow it with a simple instruction like this: "Please visit http://Weblord2000.com and click on "Subscribe" under "Members" section.
About The Author
William Nabaza of http://www.Nabaza.com specializes in domains, webhosting, webmaster's tools, netpreneur's articles and resources. Stands out as a freebie provider, business opportunity provider and the like. Visit his site at http://www.nabaza.com or contact him directly at william@nabaza.com. More free articles here: http://www.nabaza.com/resources.htm

I was looking for gifts such as art, collectibles, crafts, books, baked gifts and I found them shopping online.

My wife always shops for clothes, shoes, makeup and jewelry online.

My kids said to go online for Christmas toys this year.

Most of the time I shop online for electronics such as audio, tvs, cell phones, wireless digital cameras and pdas.

I found all the furniture and hardware I needed online.

My friend the chef said to look online for kitchen supplies and recipes.

Corporate Websites

2005-12-11T20:08:00.000-08:00

Corporate Websites: ROI or DOA? by: Cube Management
Most non-nominal expenditures in business are made with the expectation of generating revenue for the company. Corporate websites take a lot of time to develop and are expensive. Businesses know intuitively that if prospects can’t find their website, the site won’t ROI for them. Yet, businesses might not know that without a search engine marketing strategy, search engine invisibility is almost certain and the corporate website won’t likely generate enough revenue to support its cost of creation. But, by spending an additional sum that is only a fraction of the total website development cost to optimize the website for the search engines, the corporate website can become a workhorse for sales instead of a cash flow drain.
Here are some statistics from a recent B to B Survey:
93.4% of respondents use the internet to research a B to B purchase decision.
63.9% of respondents go to the search engine as the first step in the buying process.
54.6% of the people are 1-3 months away from making a buying decision. 89.7% of the people are 2 weeks to 6 months away from making a buying decision.
36.8% researched and bought online; 27.3% researched online and bought offline; only 7.9% didn’t find what they were looking for.
76.7% of Google users used the natural search links.
The top 3 organic listings accounted for 59.6% of the click-thrus.
(Source: Enquiro Search Solutions Inc.)
The evidence is overwhelming: If a business website isn’t ranked as one of the top natural search results in the prospect’s search, the company won’t likely be part of the buying decision. Without search engine optimization, it is extremely unlikely that the site will rank well enough to be found naturally by potential prospects.
SEO is easy…all I need to do is write good meta-tags for my company website, right?
While many Search Engine Optimizer novices might even know---or think they know---a few basic SEO rules, it’s unlikely they’ll be equipped with enough knowledge to effectively compete with SEO’s in the B to B marketplace. With few exceptions, B to B websites in well-trafficked online niches, without a professional search engine optimization effort, won’t achieve high enough natural search rankings to make more than a very modest number of sales.
OK, you convinced me. What will an SEO actually do for my company?
An SEO campaign consists of two primary tasks: 1)Optimizing the website content / creating new optimized content, and 2)Building inbound links to the website.
Before an SEO can work with the site’s content, he/she must perform a detailed website keyword analysis. They need to determine what keywords a prospective customer could use to find the business online. From this list, they must make a determination as to which keywords / groups of pertinent keywords they can reasonably expect to achieve high rankings for the client…for it makes no sense to waste effort on keywords where success is remote. Then, the SEO must map the targeted keywords to the page(s) on the website where they most logically fit. The most critical keywords on the list need to map to the index page because the index page possesses the most search engine “strength” of any website page. If there are keywords that can’t logically map to any existing area of the site, the SEO might want to rely on the services of a copywriter to add website content.
The SEO then “massages” the website text, working the targeted keywords into the existing content with dual goals:
1) Achieving optimum keyword density and optimum page length.
2) Making the text read as naturally as possible.
Building inbound links is also a critical part of SEO. Many business websites will naturally attract inbound links over time—however, few websites achieve enough natural link strength to exclude a targeted link-building campaign as a component of their SEO efforts. SEO professionals need to acquire inbound links…usually a significant number of them…in order to achieve the desired search engine results for the client.
I don’t need a SEO to trade links for my company…I’ll just send out a bunch of e-mails to people in my network and I’ll get all the links I need for my corporate SEO effort.
Similar to SEO novices, some professional SEO’s still research and contact webmasters of relevant websites one-by-one to ask for a link exchange. This is frequently a slow, inefficient process that likely will achieve underwhelming results and can even subject the SEO to spam complaints. Recently, many link-trading networks have evolved whereby a webmaster can easily and quickly contact large numbers of relevant webmasters who know the value of link-trading and who are receptive to link exchanges. Over time, an SEO can acquire large numbers of targeted inbound links through networks…however, an SEO must be carefully not to acquire too many inbound links too quickly as that can be construed as search engine spam.
Link text (the text that someone uses to link to you) is a critical element of link trading and SEO. The link text needs to contain the most important keywords to the SEO effort since link text is given a lot of weight in search engine algorithms. Furthermore, link text shouldn’t always be the same…it needs to be varied so as to cover the breadth of the website’s top keywords in order to achieve optimum results.
My SEO finished the textual optimization and link-trading. The process is complete, right?
Not quite. An SEO will also monitor the levels of web traffic the site is generating, as well as the search keywords/search engines used by website visitors. A business might be focused on the rankings the website is receiving for their top keywords…of more value to the SEO is reading their web stats to see how site visitors are actually finding the website. Armed with the necessary information, the SEO will tweak the website text over time to achieve optimum rankings and results for the client. One can see some results of the initial textual optimization relatively quickly…however, it could take 3-6 months to see the results of a link-building campaign in conjunction with optimized content. For optimum results, a link-building campaign should never really end…new inbound links should be added every month.
If 93.4% of B to B purchase decisions have an internet component, businesses that have “Internet Invisible” websites can only equally compete for 6.6% of the total market. An SEO campaign can get a company noticed by the 93.4% who go online to research and or purchase a product or service. If a company can truly understand the large number of leads and sales they are not getting by being “functionally offline”, the business case to be made for SEO is very powerful.
About The Author
Cube Management (www.cubemanagement.com) provides sales acceleration services to emerging growth and mid-market companies in the technology, manufacturing, healthcare and business service sectors. The experts at Cube Management work across the entire spectrum of marketing, sales and business development to provide customized solutions that drive revenue and profit growth. Cube Management combines Strategy, Process & People to produce winning results.

Your Website

2005-12-06T07:46:00.000-08:00

Life And Death Aspects Of Your Website by: Roxanna Wehrly
The Web hosting company you choose for your business is the most critical aspect as to whether your business thrives or dies!
First thing you'll need to start a business on the Internet is choosing a name for your website. Then you'll need to find a reliable hosting service to make the website live. Choosing your web page hosting company will be the most important decision you make for your business.
The reason I say this is, if the server your website resides on is down, more than up, your business might as well not even exist. Not only will you lose revenue because of the loss of sales, if the search engine bots visit your website and cannot find your pages you may be dropped from their index. This doesn't happen the first time, but after repeated tries to your site it could very well happen. So any free traffic that you may be receiving from the search engines up to this point will be gone.
Website Hosting Doesn't Have To Be Expensive
Running your website doesn't have to be expensive. Most reliable hosts will offer you their services for $8-$20 per month. If your looking for something cheaper than that, of course you can find it, but the service you receive may not be the best. You know the old saying: "you get what you pay for"...
One of the things you might want to do is visit the hosting review sites for tips on good hosting companies.
www.whreviews.com
Take A Test Drive for Evaluation
I feel customer service is critical, and I mean the #1 consideration for choosing a hosting service, I recommend you take them for a test ride. Send an email to their customer service department or go to their website and submit a contact us form. See how long it takes to get a response and what quality of response each company gives you. Some smaller companies that work more one-on-one with their customers may go the extra mile for you. It is these types of web page hosting companies that become your "jewel" in the haystack. Once you find them you'll never let them go.
Some things to remember when looking for a hosting company:
1) Does the company offer educational tutorials on their website to assist you in growing your business?
2) Do you have access to software that allows you to build pages without knowing html?
3) What about a membership area that provides additional resources for learning to market your website? There is a learning curve for making a website profitable so ebooks, videos, and audios make a great addition to the web hosting package.
4) Do they offer a Price Freeze Guarantee? This ensures that your hosting price will stay the same even if the web hosting prices go up in the future.
5) How long as the hosting company been in business? This is one of the greatest fears talked about on the hosting forums, in that the hosting company goes belly up and leaves you high and dry.(mind you with no warning) Be sure to look for companies that have been around for at least 2 years.
To your success!
WebBizDeals
About The Author
Roxanna Wehrly
Visit www.webbizdeals.com for a collection of flash tutorials and articles about web page hosting, design, development and web promotion.
Copyright 2005 © Roxanna Wehrly professional web designer
This article may be freely distributed as long as this resource box is included and all links are live.

Six Sigma

2005-12-04T14:11:00.000-08:00

Six Sigma Deployment In Smaller Organizations by: Peter Peterka
Six Sigma is not just for large multinational corporations. While there are difficulties inherent in implementing Six Sigma in a small company rather than a large business they can be overcome. Six Sigma can work in any size business because the nature of Six Sigma is dependent upon characteristics inherent in any business, not on the size of a business. Smaller organizations frequently are short on resources and expertise in change initiatives. However, they also have more flexible process flows, a shorter decision-making chain, and higher visibility of senior management. Smaller organizations can actually effectively establish Six Sigma faster than large businesses if deployment scope is correctly managed.
Scope of Deployment
Six Sigma is designed for all-inclusive deployment across an organization. However, s maller organizations do have constraints that limit their ability to initiate a large scale Six Sigma implementation. If your organization does not have the resources to create an infrastructure for organization-wide Six Sigma deployment then start with a pilot program.
One of the beauties of Six Sigma is that its central methodology is scalable. Six Sigma, emphasizes intensive training and extensive analysis—qualitative characteristics that work regardless of the size of the organization. Likewise, Six Sigma DMAIC (design, measure, analyze, improve, and control) discipline s work no matter the size of the organization or even the size of the Six Sigma project. Even a small Six Sigma project can yield significant results. Breakthrough improvements in processes and bottom-line profitability come not from quantity of resources, but the quality and the intelligence with which they are employed.
Small and medium-sized organizations may not have the resources of larger companies; however, in most cases, smaller organizations can be more nimble, flexible, and focused on results. Approaching initial implementation of Six Sigma through a pilot program will yield tangible results without overwhelming your resources from a small “quick-hit” project. These results can then be replicated throughout the organization, in many cases even faster than in a large organization.
Issues Critical to Smaller Organizations
When deploying a pilot Six Sigma project there are several important issues to consider inherent to smaller organizations. First, the choice of a project is critical. The pilot project will set the tone for Six Sigma deployment, so it should be a good one that can show significant and visible results in a reasonably short period of time. The project must clearly address one or more business goals thereby contributing to one or more core enterprise measures. Each project must also be completable within three to four months, so careful upfront scoping is essential. Projects must be continually tracked and updated for line management during existing business reviews.
Another issue is training. In smaller organizations, training budgets and especially time available to devote personnel for training is limited. Thus, it is not always practical for personnel to be absent from their day-to-day duties to attend months of training. Fortunately, there are some Six Sigma consultants who can deliver required Six Sigma training in an accelerated format and even onsite. Thus, smaller organizations can give their people the needed training with less disruption to their normal business, improving internal synergy while providing greater organizational flexibility.
Six Sigma implementation teams can encounter critical resource restrictions, often due to a personnel limitation where people are available for project functions only on a part-time basis. It is essential at project inception that the right people are involved, doing the right things. A small but committed force of the right people with proper training, given the proper authority will go far in getting things started. Good and fluid communication is also critical.
Upon successful completion of the Six Sigma pilot, the scale of the deployment is then expanded to other areas of the organization, incorporating the lessons learned from the pilot project. Just as it is much harder for a large ship to turn than a small ship, smaller organizations can change and adapt more quickly than large organizations. That does not mean that small organizations will automatically be successful when deploying Six Sigma, but making change take place and getting buy in to the changes are easier.
About The Author
Peter Peterka is the Principal Consultant in practice areas of DMAIC and DFSS. Peter has eleven years of experience performing as a Master Black Belt, and has over 15 years experience in industry as an improvement specialist and engineer working with numerous companies. http://www.6sigma.us/

Entertaining

2005-11-28T08:37:00.000-08:00

6 Things You Need to Know to Find Perfect Corporate Entertainment by: David Tapley
The wrong entertainment can ruin an event and, worse yet, project the wrong image about your organization. The right entertainment creates a positive buzz among participants and a favorable impression about your company or non-profit.
How do you tell right from wrong when booking entertainment? The more you know – both about your event and the talent available – the better off you will be.
1. Know your objective.
What do you want your event to say about your organization? Do you want to come across as cutting-edge and daring, or is a more conservative image more appropriate? Choose entertainment that reflects the right image for your company.
2. Know your budget.
Entertainment can run as little as $500 for a local act, to well over $1 million for nationally-known talent. Don’t waste time pursuing entertainment that you can’t afford. Set a budget to narrow your choices.
3. Know your audience.
Is your audience young, older or a combination? Is it mostly men or women? Will couples be attending, or will you be hosting a crowd of co-workers? Do you want to book an act that will encourage dancing? Will people be relaxed and in a partying mood, or will they be more sedate and professional? If you understand your audience demographics and mindset, you can avoid booking entertainment that might annoy, offend or even bore participants.
4. Know your theme.
A 50’s sock hop or a disco ball can be a lot of fun, but your audience may not want to listen to 50’s music or disco for the entire night. Pick an event theme that is broad enough to accommodate entertainment that appeals to a wide range of tastes. Use décor to create your theme. Better yet, select the perfect entertainment first and build a theme around it.
5. Know your production costs.
You may be able to afford the talent, but can you afford the cost to produce the show? Many people overlook or may not be made aware of additional expenses associated with lighting, sound system rentals, union regulations, insurance, overtime fees, and stages when they book an act. Make sure you know all your production costs and budget accordingly.
6. Know when to hire a pro.
A talent agency is often the fastest – and most economical – source for entertainment for an event. A talent agency can quickly connect you to the best acts in the business and help you choose entertainment that will be right for your event. Talent agencies with experience booking national acts have the expertise necessary to negotiate contracts and, even more importantly, hospitality and performance riders. They can make sure you don’t end up paying for non-essential or duplicated expenses. Talent pros can also clue you in to hot entertainment trends or less expensive routing dates on a specialty act that might turn your function into the “event of the year.”
About The Author
Dave Tapley is president and owner of Tapley Entertainment, a full service entertainment booking agency headquartered in Coppell,Texas. For more than 15 years Tapley Entertainment Inc. has provided a variety of national acts, entertainers, and musical attractions for corporate functions, private events, and charity fund raisers nationwide. You can visit his site at http://www.talentbookingusa.com
Copyright © Tapley Entertainment, Inc. 2005

Affiliate Marketing Your Virtual Business

2005-11-27T16:04:00.000-08:00

Affiliate Marketing and Niche Websites - A Match Made In Heaven by: Haydn Matthews
In my previous article: Affiliate Marketing 101 - Understanding The Basic Concept Of Affiliate Marketing, I pointed out that Niche websites are far more likely to generate increase affiliate income, than more generic type sites. The reason for this is simple; niche markets create targeted visitors, and these targeted visitors are far more likely to be interested in related products and services, as part of the reason for their visit to you.
Niche marketing is not hard. Niche marketing involves concentrating your website on one particular area of knowledge or expertise, as opposed to trying to be all things to all people. By developing these types of niche websites you are far more likely to succeed, and even go on to successfully win the affiliate marketing game.
So How Do You Create A Niche Website?
1. Focus On A Specific Subject. The more knowledgeable you are about the subject yourself, the more confident your visitors will be when visiting you in search of information. I have often found through my own personal experience that those who have a passion about a subject are far more likely to reflect it in their subject matter, than those who do not. For example, I have 2 passions in life: sports betting, and internet marketing. I have been fortunate enough to have profited considerably from both, but by placing my passion on the net, I now have the capacity to share my knowledge and experience with others who have an interest in the same things - subsequently turning my passions into cash.
2. Relate Your Content to Complimentary Products and Services. Once your niche has been established you can begin to apply the principles of effective affiliate marketing with great success. Content is king, so by relating affiliate programs directly to your content you are then in an ideal position to capitalise. As an example: my website at http://www.laytheodds.com is focused on the realm of sports betting and betting exchange trading. Everytime I discover a new article that relates directly to the site I publish it. Take a look for yourself at any article on http://www.laytheodds.com and you will see how I apply the very principle of relating content to affiliate software, betting systems, etc that I promote with maximum effect. The result, lots of targeted traffic, who are directly interested in any or all of the products or services I promote through affiliate links. The affiliate cheques at the end of the month directly reflect the success of this method.
3. Build a Niche Directory. Everytime I come across a website that I think would be of interest to my visitors I place a link to it in my links directory without even asking for a link back. Now this goes against the grain of so call SEO experts, but it is a strategy that works well. Here's why: webmasters almost always look at their logs to see who has visited them and where they have come from. When they see a link to them from me they are more often than not curious as to what my site is all about, and subsequently click through to discover for themselves - gotcha! Another highly targeted visitor just came through the door - and my own stats reveal that these webmasters themselves are highly receptive to buying online, and they do!
An additional benefit of niche directories is that search engines love them. In the recent update Google is said to have placed higher significance to these directory structures. This has proven to be the case as far as I am concerned anyway.
4. Use Free Articles to Boost Your Content. I always scour the article directories for new articles that relate directly to my subject matter. These articles are a valuable source of content, and keywords; and used effectively they act as magnets that draw new visitors in and expose them to all the additional affiliate offerings provided in order to entice them to click-thru and buy.
One trick I have used with great success is to link articles on the same subject matter together to form a chain. This keeps visitor interest high and again exposes them to more opportunities to click-thru an affiliate link.
5. Effectively Use Google Adsense. Alot has been written on Google Adsense, and the great incomes that can be produced through strategic placement of ads in and around content. And I just want to say this: THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! By placing google ads in and around your content you are often turning visitors into cash, regardless of whether they buy anything from you or not. I remember when I struggled each month initially to produce the minimum amount required to generate a payout from Google simply because I was not making effective use of the system itself. By changing the placement and emphasis my income from Google has increased fiftyfold across all my sites. Incorporate google ads in and around your articles - let google take care of the relevancy, and serve alternative ads (you can state the alternative ads to display in the Google Adsense control panel) in the event that google does not serve up ads.
So in a nutshell: we now have our niche website, serving up content in the form of articles and news specifically related to our subject of interest (which of course we are highly passionate about!). We have also directly related our content to complimentary products and services through strategic placement of affiliate links - and implemented Adsense ads, as well as our own ads in the event that Google fails to deliver. We have also setup our niche directory, and placed relevant links (emphasis on 'relevant'), again directly related to our subject matter.
What Have We Done? We have created a niche website that will prove to be a money-spinner in time. I say 'time' because this is not a recipe for overnight success - rather, a plan for medium to long term financial security. Viewed in this manner you are sure to succeed.
Next Task? Develop another niche website and replicate the whole process again!
About The Author
Haydn Matthews
Take a look at how I have exploded my income through affiliate marketing by visiting one of my many websites: http://www.laytheodds.com - http://www.123webmarketing.biz - http://www.123webhosting.biz - http://www.tradingbureau.com
You have permission to reprint this article, provided the content and links remained unaltered.

Your Virtual Corporation

2005-11-26T07:45:00.000-08:00

I found several good articles on business for you:

How To Start Your Own Home Business by: Jeff Schuman Click Here

Working A Home Business by: Jeff Schuman Click Here

Which type of entrepreneur are you? by: Jack Foley Click Here

Hedge Against Job Loss By Starting Your Own Internet Business by: Joel Teo Click Here

All your business and finance needs including loans, stock market info, real estate services, insurance and news publications are found at Virtual Directory.

All your software needs for isp services, websites, hosting, graphics, development, office, games and security software are found at Virtual Directory.

Employment services for working at home, job boards, freelancing, eCommerce shops, resume services and education are all at Virtual Directory.

Virtual Directory

2005-11-17T20:43:00.000-08:00

My wife always shops for clothes, shoes, makeup and jewelry online.

My kids said to go online for Christmas toys this year.

All of Dad’s shopping needs are also found online.

Most of the time I shop online for electronics such as audio, tvs, cell phones, digital cameras, wireless and pdas.

I found several stores for you that sell autos, parts, tools, appliances, furniture, hardware, gardening and pets!

Your Online Shopping Centre for art, books, collectibles, music, gifts, groceries and crafts at Virtual Directory.

Get your horoscope or psychic reading, maybe a date, workout in a home gym, play online games, travel or enter a contest at Virtual Directory.

All your business and finance needs including loans, stock market info, real estate services, insurance and news publications are found at Virtual Directory.

All your software needs for isp services, websites, hosting, graphics, development, office, games and security software are found at Virtual Directory.

Employment services for working at home, job boards, freelancing, eCommerce shops, resume services and education are all at Virtual Directory.

Markets Rally!

2005-11-02T13:46:00.000-08:00

A follow through rally today brought 2 billion shares traded and a 2:1 Advancers vs. Decliners. Baby still needs those shoes!

Rates Raised

2005-11-01T11:21:00.000-08:00

The Fed raised rates by 25 basis points today for the 12th time.

Communications

2005-10-29T08:08:00.000-07:00

Why Video & Web Conferencing Are Heading Towards Mass Acceptance by: Dan Richmond
The time is right for video and web conferencing to take off. While online conferencing is still seen as a technological novelty by some people, more and more businesses of all sizes are finding it be the solution to doing business and communicating with prospects, clients, employees and branch offices in an era of rising transport costs. Let’s take a look at some of the factors that are bringing web and video conferencing to a very wide audience.
1. Bandwidth speeds are increasing while prices for broadband web access are falling.
Video and web conferencing are more effective when users have broadband access to the Internet. Prices for various broadband connections to the Internet (DSL, Cable, T1s) are falling and more and more homes and businesses are now connected by broadband rather than dial-up connections. Broadband penetration in the US among home users has reached 60% and, especially crucial for online conferencing, in the workplace broadband usage has passed 85%.
2. Web cameras are more powerful and less costly.
Video conferencing is aided by good images. Just as high speed connections to the Internet are needed to view the videos, improved cameras providing clear images are also important. The least expensive web cameras today cost as little as $10 and even sophisticated tripod-mounted cameras are reasonably priced, placing video conferencing within the reach of millions of users.
3. The price of oil and transportation is rising, and business travel is more costly.
Rising energy prices means that businesses have to scrutinize their travel plans more closely. Video and web conferencing make it possible to hold meetings with staff in other cities without making expensive car or airplane journeys. In addition, some companies are also using web and video conferencing to meet new clients and provide service to existing clients. Improved video conferencing capabilities, combined with rising travel costs is a sure formula for online conferencing growth in the years ahead.
4. Businesses are improving productivity with online conferencing.
The gains provided by online conferencing are more than just the money saved by not buying gasoline for a car or spending it on airfares. When you sit in your own office and hold an online conference with associates in distant cities, you can get back to your other work within seconds of the close of the online conference. The lost time out of office, associated with business trips, is an important “opportunity cost” that can be reduced by the creative use of web and video conferences.
5. The cost of web and video conferencing has come down greatly in the past year.
Web and video conference services are now less costly than they were a few years ago and it is possible for a business to get a much higher return on their investment in online conferences. Monthly costs for some conferencing services are so low that even families and individuals can connect in informal web conferences. At the same time, for a reasonable price, businesses can even purchase their own internal video/web conferencing system and not depend on web conference services provided by an outside provider.
6. Schools and universities are holding online classes, exposing a whole new generation to the world of online conferencing.
The surest way of spreading any new technology is to get young people “hooked” on it. And that is exactly what schools and universities are doing with web and video conferencing. By holding more online classes and conferences, young people are becoming comfortable with this way of communicating. As today’s students enter the business and professional world, they are certain to bring with them a taste for the convenience of online conferencing.
Add up all these factors and it is easy to see why web and video conferencing are approaching the level of mass acceptance. If you are not taking advantage of online conferencing today, there is a good chance that you will be tomorrow.
About The Author
Dan Richmond is CEO and Co-founder of MegaMeeting.com. MegaMeeting provides low cost, high value web conferencing and video conferencing services for individuals, businesses and educational institutions. For more information, or for a free live demonstration, please visit http://www.MegaMeeting.com or call (818) 783-4311.

Electronics Coupons

2005-10-26T13:46:00.000-07:00

New iSellSurplus.Com Extended Coupons:FREE Power DVD Software With Any Purchase Use Coupon Code: POWERDVD Expires 10/31/2005OR,FREE Ground Shipping on All Orders over $25 - Use Coupon Code: FREESHIP - Expires 10/31/2005OR,10% off ALL Instock Systems / Notebooks - Use Coupon Code: SYSTEMSAVE Expires 10/31/2005OR Finally,FREE Corel Office 12 with any purchase $89 Value - Use Coupon Code: FREEOFFICE Expires 10/31/2005

New Fed Chairman

2005-10-24T08:32:00.000-07:00

President Bush has chosen Ben Bernanke as the new Fed Chairman. There will be a speech at 1:00pm where Bush will explain his choice.

Your Resume

2005-10-15T11:15:00.000-07:00

I added three new articles to virtualejobs resumes:Would You Lie On Your Resume? by: Ann Baehr Click HereI'm Changing Careers - How Do I Format My Resume? by: Ann Baehr Click HereHow Hr Works To Get The Job Done by: Ann Baehr Click HereI think you will find these useful, and the third article gives some insight as to what goes on with your resume in the human resources department.

Virtual Offices

2005-10-14T09:46:00.000-07:00

Your website is your virtual office if you are a freelancer. I found several good articles on new websites that you may find useful:
Need a Website? You Have 3 Options by: Joel Walsh Click Here
Build Websites Easier With Premade Templates by: Alex Marias Click Here
The Basics Of Search Engine Placement and Keyword Selections by: Alexi Kerbel Click Here

Freelancing

2005-10-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

Freelancing is a great way to start your business or corporation. You can also use it to extend your skills or expand an existing business. If you are looking for a temporary employee, hiring a freelancer saves you both time and money.Gaining Experience is difficult these days. There is no longer any excuse for not working when you can just start working from a freelance site. Just like Ebay, projects are offered and you place your offer. You gain income and experience whether or not you have experience or degree. If you are a hard worker and you want new experience or just experience in anything from data entry to advance skills in programming, writing, translation. If it is done on a computer, you can do it here. :)

Your Website

2005-10-12T18:06:00.000-07:00

I found several articles on websites that are interesting. One article on webpages gives tips on what to do and what not to do. Another article about sitemaps was interesting and useful to me also, and finally, an explaination of keyword usage useful to any webmaster. Any tips from you are welcome, there is no registration to this site needed. I also found a great deal on webhosting at Midphase Services, Inc. , you get a free domain and it is only $7.50 per month for your website(s). Check it out!

Tobacco Lawsuit

2005-10-10T19:59:00.000-07:00

I am going to sue my cigarette company. It says on the side of every pack that they will kill me, but they haven't done it yet. Thankfully, all of my friends have offered to join me in a class action suit against them.

Please Help

2005-09-03T11:48:00.000-07:00

Please help the victims of Hurricane Katrina if you can. If you have no money, like me, please cut and paste my charity links to your website or blog. Also, give a link to my site as well if you can. Thank you and may God Bless all.

Charities

2005-09-01T12:40:00.000-07:00

Charity Links
____________________________________________________
GUIDESTAR - Charities research site
____________________________________________________
PROJECT HOPE
____________________________________________________
SAVE THE CHILDREN
____________________________________________________
THE RED CROSS
____________________________________________________
DIRECT RELIEF
____________________________________________________
CARE
____________________________________________________
AHH-USA
____________________________________________________
MERCY CORPS
____________________________________________________
The people at GeminiSoftwareSystems wish to express their sympathy for all the victims
of Hurricane Katrina. Guidestar will help you with your research as
you look for the appropriate charity for you.

Hurricane Katrina

2005-08-30T10:45:00.000-07:00

If you would like to give to the Red Cross or other charities for the hurricane Katrina relief effort, just follow this link: Charities .

Articles of Interest

2005-08-13T17:10:00.000-07:00

I ran across several good articles on freelancing as a writer. The first article is about writing in general. The second article is about freelancing in general, and the third is about a place to freelance and make money as you begin your virtual corporation. I hope you find these articles as useful and informative as I did.

Yahoo buys into Alibaba

2005-08-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

www.Yahoo.com (nasdaq: YHOO) invested 1 billion into www.Alibaba.com today as an attempt to go up against www.ebay.com .

Virtual Offices?

2005-08-09T13:09:00.000-07:00

Cisco met earnings at .25/share pro forma. They are now offering "Office Park" for the home office with voice, video and data transfer services..a virtual office?

Virtual Offices

2005-08-08T08:23:00.000-07:00

A great place to find virtual office links is http://www.yourvirtualoffice.info/virtualofficewebsites - check it out! :)

Virtual Employment

2005-03-25T19:55:00.000-08:00

Virtual jobs can be found via many freelancing boards. Whether you need experience or just want to enhance your current abilities, freelancing allows you to decide which direction to take your skills. From data entry to writing and advanced programming, anything that is done on a computer can be done at these sites.
Connecting these sites with your website can give you an added advantage in marketing your skills. Once you become a member of a freelance site, you can use links to direct your customers to a login at one of these freelancing websites. As many offer payment escrow services, you can avoid painful attempts to get paid by unethical employers who "forget" to pay. The escrow is out of their control and you will get paid unless you don't do the work, or if it is deemed unacceptable by an independant arbitrator (also part of services at many freelance sites). Always read the fine print and check potential employers via the ratings supplied. Buyer and Seller Beware.

VirtualeOffices

2005-03-25T13:54:00.000-08:00

Perhaps a start would be to separate the virtualeoffices from the virtualecorporation. Virtualeoffices could be produced automatically according to the office needs. For example, a data entry clerk only needs minimal software applications, Word, Excel, email. An advanced programmer need tons of stuff. Why not have it pre set up and just punch them out as needed?
This would allow a business to be fully dynamic assuming communications between the offices is properly designed. Just looking at ideas for now.

VirtualeCorporations

2005-03-25T13:40:00.000-08:00

I have been looking into the idea of a virtual business. It seems that you could use a website as your "sign" and then begin using databases and various software applications to manage the business. This could be a great asset to anyone needing extra work or just starting a new business. Extra employees can be gathered either locally or via freelance boards.