Saturday, January 31, 2009

The Importance Of Deep Linking In Your Search Engine Marketing

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2006-2009 Trey Pennewell



If you are an experienced webmaster then you probably know that creating back links to your website is one of the best things that you can do to improve your Search Engine Ranking Placement (SERP). Google openly discusses the importance that their algorithms place on back links and even recommend that webmasters who want to increase their traffic use back links. Both Yahoo! and MSN are starting to talk openly about the importance of back links in their search algorithms as well.

There are a number of strategies that you can use to create back links to your website. Some of these strategies include emailing webmasters and asking them to place a link to your website, submitting your site to directories, distributing free reprint articles, and paying for links. All of these have their pros and cons, and some have a better success ratio than others.


How Many Back Links Does Your Website Have?

Take a look at your website and see just how many back links you actually do have. Do not do this for only one search engine, but for all search engines where you are trying to get good SERP results. To check your backlinks, simply type into the particular search engine's box link:http://www.yourdomainurl.com/ . Of course you will replace the yourdomainurl with the name of your own domain.

The more back links that you have to your website, the better off you are. Not only do back links help your SERP, but also the visitors of pages where your back link is listed may just choose to visit your site.

A common mistake that new webmasters make is that they create back links, but they have all of these links pointing to their home page. It is great that you have 50 back links pointing to your home page, but take a look at other pages on your site. How many links are pointing to these pages? The answer is probably zero unless you have utilized deep linking in your link building campaigns.


What Are Deep Links?

Deep links are links that go to specific pages within your website. For example, let's say that you have a home improvement website that has a large number of pages and articles on it telling people how to do projects. If all of your back links are pointing only to your home page and you have none pointing to specific article pages, then you are not getting the full benefit of your linking activities.

Think about it this way, if I go to your website and find a piece of information that I find particularly helpful or interesting and I want to tell other people about it, how will I do it? When I tell all my friends on my blog about this great page of yours, am I going to link to your home page? No, I am going to copy and paste the actual webpage address out of my browser, into my blog. That is deep linking and what is considered to be natural linking by the search engines.


What Are Natural Links?

Natural links are those links that are created by people other than the website's marketing team. Suppose I posted a link in my own blog that said that the "most easily understood tutorial, I have read, for creating a php-xml parser" was: http://www.sitepoint.com/article/php-xml-parsing-rss-1-0 , and I put my quoted text into the link. That is a natural link, because I created the link with no prompting from the management at SitePoint.com.


Difficulties In Creating Deep Links

There are a few problems that you will run into when trying to create deep links to your site. One problem is that if you ask a Webmaster of another site to link to you, they will most likely just link to your home page. When you submit to directories, the vast majority of them will only allow you a link to your home page, not a deep link. Even if they do allow you to submit a deep link, they will not allow you to submit 10 deep links.


Success Tips For Creating Deep Links

Deep linking is quite a bit easier when utilizing free reprint articles as a part of your link building campaign. This is because you can put whatever link you want to put in the "About The Author" box. The About The Author box is required to stay intact in all websites that are using your article. If you intend on writing a large number of articles to promote your domain, then you will want to optimize your results by putting a different deep link into the About The Author box for each of the articles that you write.

Another method of doing this is free and easy, but requires a bit of time. Take keywords in each page of the text on your website and make a hyperlink on that word or phrase to another page on your site. This is very easily done if you know how to do basic HTML. The ultimate goal here is to have every page of your website linked to, at least once, by another page on your site. You will want to spread these out among your domain's webpages, instead of having just a couple of pages linking to the other 50 pages.

Another reason to spread your links across all of the pages of your domain, is that users are likely to be turned off by a page that is almost all hyperlinks; those pages often appear spammy or cluttered. A good idea for any Webmaster is to create these internal deep links when you create a new page. It is much easier to spend a couple of minutes from the beginning, rather than trying to go back and do all of them at a later date.


Incorporate Deep Linking Into Your Linking Strategies

Deep linking is as important a consideration as back linking! It does not matter which page visitors use to enter our websites. If they like what they read on our internal pages, they are more likely to view other pages on our websites. If they view other pages on our website, they are likely to find our homepage, and we will get a chance to tell them why they should buy our products or services.

Deep links to our website help to ensure that the search engines will have good cause to show our internal webpages as well as our homepage. For every page in our website that gets great SERP, our chances of getting a sale are increased significantly.

We have 15 pages on our website, eight of which provide real content to our prospective clients. All eight of these pages have a significant number of back links pointing to them. 48% of our visitors land on our home page. 37% of our visitors land on our internal pages. As a result, 85% of our traffic lands on our website as a result of our back links, either directly or through our natural search placement in the search engines. The remaining 15% arrive on our website through bookmarks, personal referrals, and paid listings.

Deep linking works. Give it a shot.


About the Author:
Trey Pennewell is a writer, who writes about online marketing. Learn more about our SEO Pay For Ranking services at: http://www.linksandtraffic.com/seo-services/search-marketing.html Trey also manages article approvals at the free article directory located at: http://www.techcentralpublishing.com/Category/business/50/1


Ten Mistakes Event Planners Make When Using Online Registration

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Jim Romanik



Online registration helps many event planners save time and money and reduce stress related to event registration. At the same time, other event planners seem to experience the opposite effects from online registration.

We have identified ten common mistakes event planners make when using online registration so that you can avoid them and experience the many benefits it can offer.

Mistake #1 - Assuming people will register online

Just setting up an online registration system doesn't mean that people will use it. You need to clearly communicate to event participants that online registration is available and that it is the preferred method. If your group is used to faxing or mailing registrations, you may need to offer some incentive to break old habits.

Mistake #2 - Assuming people can find the online form

Just because you can navigate to the online from doesn't mean everyone can. The link to the registration form needs to be very obvious. Use large fonts, different colours or some other effect to make it stand out. You may even want to put the link on several pages just so it can't be missed.

Mistake #3 - Not allowing enough time to get set up

If you are new to online registration, allow lots of extra time to get set up as it takes longer than you think. Set up times vary considerably depending on the complexity of your form and especially if you need to open e-commerce accounts etc. Allow plenty of time to get approvals from your clients, managers and/or committees and for the time it takes to make any necessary changes and get final approvals.

Mistake #4 - Not fully testing the system yourself

Whether you use an online registration supplier or build something in-house, be sure to personally test the entire system to make sure it has the right look and feel. Programmers can verify that it functions correctly, but only a professional event planner will notice the finer points to make it perfect.

Mistake #5 - Making registration too complicated

Nobody wants to spend time trying to figure out how to use your online registration system. Some systems are very complicated, even for advanced users. Look at several different systems and you will be amazed at how different two systems designed to perform the same function can be.

Mistake #6 - Spending time and money on unnecessary options

Technology is great and almost anything is possible, but carefully consider what you really need and what your event participants will actually use before paying for special features. Just because it's possible doesn't mean it's right for your event.

Mistake #7 - Trying to collect too much information

Just because you aren't doing the data entry doesn't mean you should ask your event participants for lots of extra information. Your participants will get annoyed, especially if you have too many "required" fields. Find a balance between collecting enough details and keeping the registration form easy to complete.

Mistake #8 - Not being fully committed to online registration

For some events going online is a big step. When you decide to take it, make sure you are committed to promoting online registration and using the system to its full capacity to get your money's worth. If you or your event planning committee is only half committed you will see disappointing results.

Mistake #9 - Not making event participants feel comfortable

People are concerned about what happens to the information they submit online. Post a privacy policy, make the form match your website and don't ask for information that you don't need. Also, a big turn off for online registrants is creating an account with an online registration company before registering for your event.

Mistake #10 - Offering the wrong payment options

Know how your event participants prefer to pay. Real time online credit card transactions are efficient and cost effective, but if many people registering for your event don't have credit cards (or maybe don't have a company credit card) you will also need to consider offering "pay by cheque" or "send me an invoice" options.

Please feel free to contact us at ePly.com if you have any questions or comments about this article.

Author's Note: This article was originally published here: http://www.eply.com/event_resources/online_registration_articles/ten_mistakes.html




About the Author:
Jim Romanik - founder of ePly Online Event Registration Software (http://www.eply.com)

We are online registration experts and treat your reputation as our own to build registration forms that help your events succeed and make people wonder how you did it.

Download our Free Guide - "What Every Event Planner Should Know About Online Event Registration" at: http://www.eply.com/lp/articles.html


The Role of Hunger in Your Business

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Mark Silver



Hunger and fear are good for your business. Not abject hunger and despairing panic, mind you. That's too much. But a little touch of hunger and fear is very useful.

I know there are many people out there who would prefer that not to be the case. And I'm one of them. I wish inspiration and love were big enough motivators for action. But for us humans who aren't yet enlightened, they don't seem to work so well.

The problem is complacency. We most often don't do things until we absolutely have to.

I've watched it happen--a client's savings account dwindles down over time while they are stuck in fear or uncertainty about what to do or how to do it. Perfectionism has it's tight grip on them.

Then the account hits zero, or whatever feels like "zero" to the person in question. And suddenly they leap into action.

Sound familiar? This is the mother of all feast-or-famine cycles. If you stay in that kind of a cycle, then your business can't ever move much higher than the ground floor.

But before we go about seeking a fix, let's take a look at the Sufi teaching that explains why this can be a good thing.

Lashed With Hunger and Thirst

There's a Sufi story that goes like this: Source, aka God, aka The Divine, was talking to the ego, asking it to leave off injuring itself with various addictive behaviors and surrender to Source. "Am I not Your Lord?" The Divine asked in its inimitable Divine fashion.

The ego responded. "I am what I am, and you are what you are," continuing right on with what it was doing. The Divine then plunged the ego into fire in order to purify it--kind of like putting metal into fire to burn away impurities.

The result? Nada. Twelve thousand years of fire and the ego is still clinging to its self-destroying patterns.

The Divine then plunged the ego back into the fire adding just a touch of hunger and thirst. Immediately the ego released its grip and allowed itself to be purified.

Yes, I'm talking about us.

The Difference Between Pain and Survival

What this short Sufi story outlines is the difference between pain and survival. Humans have an almost unfathomable capacity to deal with pain and suffering, but we have very little capacity to risk our own survival.

This is one of the reasons that I think this financial crisis is actually going to be healthy for us in the long run; by threatening our survival, it's making people take actions that could've been done gracefully awhile ago. It's painful, it's scary, and a lot of people will end up being hurt. Yet apparently it's necessary. And some of the actions we're forced to take now may serve us well over the long term.

But that's a far larger topic than I want to delve into, so I'll just say that and move on.

Move on? Now you know complacency is a normal human state of being until hunger and thirst are added. So instead of just living with it, let's move on to how to get your business fanny in gear without your bank account or some other survival button being pushed.

Keys to Hunger-Motivated Business

What else besides (lack of) money threatens your survival?

One of the reasons it works so well to declare goals before witnesses is because your identity as someone with integrity is threatened if you don't follow through, and your ego sees this as akin to survival. It can be a bullying approach, so I recommend some measure of compassion in it, but it can also be very effective.

Take a moment in your heart to identify what qualities are core for you, such as integrity, generosity, or love. Now put them in play, usually with others' help, by setting goals your ego will fight for.

It's a little tricky, but then, so is the ego, and it's okay to push the ego a bit, if the deeper intention is truly from your heart.

Here's an example: In the recent Path to Profitability Retreat, we prided ourselves on holding a spiritual container that allowed participants to go deep into their processes. In order to provide that, we needed to double up on our own spiritual practices. So we did. It just so happens that both Holly and I have had a commitment to deepen our spiritual practices, and this goal helped get us there.

Use actual hunger or thirst to weaken your ego.

One of the key spiritual practices in nearly any tradition is the ascetic practice of fasting--avoiding food or water or both for a set amount of time.

Fasting weakens the ego. Whether it's Ramadan, Yom Kippur, or Lent, devoted followers often report a purity of heart after fasting. The benefit of this purity of heart means that the ego's grip is looser, and the heart's intention and inspiration is more available.

Try taking a single day and, if it's not dangerous for you medically, fast. Don't eat or drink for twelve hours. Keep up your meditation and prayer practices during this time to support the process, and notice how you feel afterwards.

It seems like an impractical business suggestion, but spiritual traditions around the globe have recommended fasting and prayer before big projects or decisions. It creates that sense of purity and resolve that can get you moving forward clearly and in a big way.

Choose the middle path.

While fear of survival can get you moving, too much can paralyze you or make you sick. Don't fast too much. Don't let your bank account go too low. Don't set goals you don't have a chance of reaching.

The ego has all kinds of built-in mechanisms that can support you in your business, and fear of survival is one of them. You don't have to think it's wrong as a motivator, it's actually very holy. But be conscious of how it works, and use survival with love and intention.

The best to you and your business,

Mark Silver


About the Author:
Mark Silver is the author of Unveiling the Heart of Your Business: How Money, Marketing and Sales can Deepen Your Heart, Heal the World, and Still Add to Your Bottom Line. He has helped hundreds of small business owners around the globe succeed in business without losing their hearts. Get three free chapters of the book online: http://www.heartofbusiness.com


Friday, January 30, 2009

4 Reasons Why Most Internet Marketers Fail Miserably

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Willie Crawford



An often-quoted statistic is that that 95% of all Internet businesses fail. The reality is that the vast majority of businesses in the offline world fail too, so the picture is not bleaker online. In-fact, it's better online since most aspiring Internet marketers could never even find sufficient capital to start a business in the offline world.

The sad part is that many of these failing online businesses fail for readily identifiable reasons. Often the business owners are even aware of the reasons but do nothing about them.

Let's look very briefly at four of these reasons:

1) Selling The Wrong Products

Once you have identified a profitable niche, one in which customers happily spend money to solve their problems, then the next step is to identify what is it that they really, really want.

If you offer your customers what they tell you that they want, and what they are already buying, then they will buy it from you.

If you try to convince your customers that they want something that they've already told you that they DON'T want, then you'll soon be out of business.

Many failing marketers simply need to drop "a loser," and start marketing something that is WANTED!

2) Trying To Do Everything Yourself

In "Think And Grow Rich," Napoleon Hill taught nearly a century ago that "specialized knowledge" is a success essential. You need to find one or two things that you do really well, and that people are willing to pay for, and then you need to do only those things.

Everything else involved in operating your business should be done by someone better at doing those tasks.

The disconnect we run into there is that, as a business owner, your job is to grow and manage the business. So what if that's not what you're good at? Then you may need to find a way to market whatever it is that you ARE good at. You may also need to hire a business or operations manager!

In a recent mastermind call with Rich Schefren, where he interviewed a dozen top Internet marketers, most earning over $1 million a year online, we all shared that our greatest business growth started when we stopped trying to do everything ourselves.

If you're still trying to do all of your own programming, copywriting, graphics, customer service, database management, script installations, article writing, video creation, traffic generation, product creation, audio/video editing, pay-per-click management, etc., then you are so bogged down in the minutiae of "working in your business" that it's impossible for you to even identify which things are essential for "working on your business."

This is a tough decision for many of us, but you absolutely have to identify the things that you MUST do, and then you need to outsource most of the rest. As an example, my talent seems to be copywriting, so copywriting is really the only thing that I focus on aside from planning and managing business growth.

I do plan product launches for client, but that still falls under planning and managing business growth.

3) Very Poor Time Management

Dan Kennedy once observed "You will never finish all of the things on your to do list." That tells me that I shouldn't try to, but should instead frequently ask which things I personally need to do, which things I need to get others to do, and which things don't really need doing at all.

For the online marketer, good time management is really just establishing some new habits, and breaking some old bad ones. Common habits that need changing include:

-- Don't let email dominate your time. Many online marketers spend many hours each day just digging out from under the deluge of email. For help in that area, I highly recommend that you checkout http://TamingTheEmailMonster.com

I spend about 30 minutes per day on email. The course at the url above is what allowed me to take back control of my life.

-- Turn off the television during work hours. If you were working for someone else, say in an office, I'm sure that you wouldn't expect to be allowed to sit in front of the television all day with your laptop perched on your lap.

Unless you are VERY different from me, you cannot focus on your work while watching television. Not only that, but watching a lot of negative programs (news included) will completely zap your energy and shift you out of a productive mindset.

-- Establish work hours. Tell your family and friends when you'll be working, and let them know that when you're really focused on work, you shouldn't be disturbed any more than you'd expect to be disturbed if you worked at a regular job.

Explain to them that you can get more done in one hour if you really concentrate that you can in five hours with frequent interruptions. Explain that letting you really focus at designated times gives you MORE free time to spend with them... and you'll have more money to spend on them too.

4) Too Many Projects That Are Never Completed.

My friend Mike Filsaime likes to point out during seminar presentations that if you have a dozen projects started but not completed, you'll make less money that having just ONE project completed and on the market.

CHOOSE one project that you want to get completed and on the market. Focus exclusively on that one until it is finished before doing anything else.

Since you are an entrepreneur, and probably come up with a new idea "once every five minutes," keep a note pad handy to jot down new ideas. When you get a new idea, jot it down on the note pad, and then knowing that it won't be lost, go back to what you were working on previously.

Another option if you're an idea person, or great at starting projects, is to partner with "finishers." Instead of letting projects bog down, and never reach the market, partner with someone who will push it through to completion, splitting the profits with them.

If you don't like that idea, consider how much those unfinished projects are making you. Would you prefer 50% of whatever that finished project makes, or 100% of nothing (which is exactly what most of your unfinished projects earn).

We've just looked very briefly at four reasons why most Internet marketers fail miserably. Now that you have acknowledged that these ARE problem areas for you, the question becomes what are you going to do about them.

Sadly, many people will read this article and then choose to do absolutely nothing about these problems. Nothing will change! However, you're different, and therefore destined for online success.


About the Author:
Willie Crawford is founder of The Internet Marketing Inner Circle a membership site where he frequently brainstorms solutions to problems such as those discussed in this article on the discussion forum. Join that discussion now http://TIMIC.ORG


FDA's New Process Validation Guidance Recommends Team Approach

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Norm Howe



The November 2008 FDA draft guidance for process validation says "We recommend an integrated team approach to process validation that includes expertise from a variety of disciplines..." But when different people from different backgrounds work together, disagreements can stall your team. How do you get your project back on track?

In fact, a certain level of conflict, properly managed, is essential for a high performance team. If you're a team leader, you have to deal with conflict as part of your daily job. Sometimes it can take up all your time and leave you feeling stressed out before the day is over. You may wonder, "Why can't they just get along?" and wish that your team could be transformed into a group of angels. But the reality is that you don't want that either. Here's why.

You need a diverse assortment of talent in order to cover all the types of technical expertise that are required by the project. In today's complex world those different technical specialties are becoming even more necessary.

In addition to the diverse technical skills the team also needs people who think differently. It needs detail people and big-picture people. It needs people who like to work with others and those who can work alone. It needs people who insist on taking the time to get the job done right and also those who are driven by deadlines. All these different types of people will contribute to better decision making on your team. Truly high performance teams need to have diversity in their personnel.(1)

But people who have diverse ways of thinking don't easily come to agreement with one another. There is a myth that opposites attract, but, in fact, people who are most alike get along better.(2) People who think differently will take longer to reach agreements. Thus we have met the essential dilemma of high performance teams. If we want high performance teams, then they must be diverse. But diversity also implies conflict. Therefore, our high performance team leader must accept the premise that some level of conflict will always be present in the team. The question is, how does the leader channel that conflict into creative energy?

One typical answer is to have the team members learn something about the technical functions that other members of the team must execute. If, for example, manufacturing personnel spend some time in the lab, they may learn why sample analyses sometimes take longer than they'd like. This knowledge doesn't mean that the samples immediately get done any quicker, but at least manufacturing understands why. And this new familiarity with each others' problems can then form the foundation for continued dialogue and mutual problem solving.

However, different technical functions are far from the only characteristic that can make two people different. It's not widely known, but people simply think differently, and this leads to many misunderstandings. For instance, some people focus on details and some people focus on the big picture. One is NOT better than the other. But you really need to have BOTH viewpoints on your project, (and they can't be fighting eachother) if you want it to be done right.

How do you make that happen? That understanding can be gained through an instrument like Meyers-Briggs Personality Types. If, by analogy to the cross-functional training mentioned above, we could train employees to understand how their teammates think, we would be well on the way to developing a better relationship among the employees.

This new familiarity with each others' ways of thinking can then form the foundation for continued dialogue and mutual problem solving. There are consultants that provide Myers-Briggs based training to help companies improve team performance in a regulated environment.

(1) The Decision Maker Matters: Individual versus Group Behaviour in Experimental Beauty-contest Games by Martin Kocher and Matthias Sutter‍Economic Journal, January, 2005.

(2) Assortative Mating and Marital Quality in Newlyweds: A Couple-Centered Approach. By Luo, Shanhong; Klohnen, Eva C.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 88(2), Feb 2005, 304-326


About the Author:
Norm Howe, Senior Partner at Validation and Compliance Institute, consultants for the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. He got his BS at UC, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in chemistry at UCLA. He has held many management positions in FDA regulated industries, most at BASF. http://www.vcillc.com


Thursday, January 29, 2009

Buying Expired Domain Names- Golden Tips and Suggestions

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 John Khu



Buying expired domains could be a tricky affair and a strenuous task given stiff competition involved in the process. Here are some golden tips and suggestions to buy an expired domain.

Tip#1: Evaluate and assess the possibility of gaining backlinks: Checking to see whether the set of expired domains that you are looking to buy, has any backlinks associated with them. In fact, you may wish to check out the domain, if it has any backlinks by visiting the Google search engine. Most of the search engines do not update their engines on a daily basis. If the domain name is not in the backlink web portal, most probably the web portal link will loose its power in the next link updating.

Tip#2: Checking out to see if the expired domain has a link in either Yahoo or DMOZ: Yahoo charges a hefty registration fee of $299 to list a domain. Registering a web portal on DMOZ is quite difficult as well! If the domain expired domain you are looking has a listing in these web portals, you can definitely go ahead and buy expired domains in question. A listing in DMOZ directory is actually a big privilege and an honor.

Tip#3: Using other internet tools: To check previous avatar of web portals, their content and design, backlinks, traffic and other useful features, you may wish to conduct an exhaustive research on internet portals like http://www.archive.org. This is an extremely useful web portal that can provide you number of hints whether to buy an expired domain or not.

Tip#4: Backlinks Vs PR: Before buying expired domains from a registrar, you may wish to compare and evaluate both backlinks and PR. Backlinks provide a clue about the number of links associated with the domain expired. On the other hand, the PR is indication of the popularity of the web portal in terms of incoming traffic. You may need to maintain a very fine balance between these two issues, while buying an expired domain.

Tip#5: Patience will reap you dividends: Buying domains expired is a time consuming process and a lengthy affair. You will need to be extremely patient enough to lay your hands on your preferred expired domain.

Tip#6: Of late, expired domain traders are looking for expired domains that have extensions like .gov and .edu. However, you will need to face the prospects of handing such domains back to the owner, as these expired domains may carry trademark and proprietary symbols.

Tip#7: Using powerful software or a script: Very successful expired domain traders always use powerful software and scripts to buy a lucrative expired domain name. These helpful tools and utilities will assist you locating a good domain expired very quickly and later buy the domain through an auction process. Just ensure that you are buying the best possible set of tools, as there are hundreds of them available over internet portals.


About the Author:
John Khu is an author and also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain name business. He is also the owner of the path breaking web sites called http://www.expireddomainsecret.com and http://www.expireddomaingains.com which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.


Tuesday, January 27, 2009

4 Reasons Why Most Internet Marketers Fail Miserably

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Willie Crawford



An often-quoted statistic is that that 95% of all Internet businesses fail. The reality is that the vast majority of businesses in the offline world fail too, so the picture is not bleaker online. In-fact, it's better online since most aspiring Internet marketers could never even find sufficient capital to start a business in the offline world.

The sad part is that many of these failing online businesses fail for readily identifiable reasons. Often the business owners are even aware of the reasons but do nothing about them.

Let's look very briefly at four of these reasons:

1) Selling The Wrong Products

Once you have identified a profitable niche, one in which customers happily spend money to solve their problems, then the next step is to identify what is it that they really, really want.

If you offer your customers what they tell you that they want, and what they are already buying, then they will buy it from you.

If you try to convince your customers that they want something that they've already told you that they DON'T want, then you'll soon be out of business.

Many failing marketers simply need to drop "a loser," and start marketing something that is WANTED!

2) Trying To Do Everything Yourself

In "Think And Grow Rich," Napoleon Hill taught nearly a century ago that "specialized knowledge" is a success essential. You need to find one or two things that you do really well, and that people are willing to pay for, and then you need to do only those things.

Everything else involved in operating your business should be done by someone better at doing those tasks.

The disconnect we run into there is that, as a business owner, your job is to grow and manage the business. So what if that's not what you're good at? Then you may need to find a way to market whatever it is that you ARE good at. You may also need to hire a business or operations manager!

In a recent mastermind call with Rich Schefren, where he interviewed a dozen top Internet marketers, most earning over $1 million a year online, we all shared that our greatest business growth started when we stopped trying to do everything ourselves.

If you're still trying to do all of your own programming, copywriting, graphics, customer service, database management, script installations, article writing, video creation, traffic generation, product creation, audio/video editing, pay-per-click management, etc., then you are so bogged down in the minutiae of "working in your business" that it's impossible for you to even identify which things are essential for "working on your business."

This is a tough decision for many of us, but you absolutely have to identify the things that you MUST do, and then you need to outsource most of the rest. As an example, my talent seems to be copywriting, so copywriting is really the only thing that I focus on aside from planning and managing business growth.

I do plan product launches for client, but that still falls under planning and managing business growth.

3) Very Poor Time Management

Dan Kennedy once observed "You will never finish all of the things on your to do list." That tells me that I shouldn't try to, but should instead frequently ask which things I personally need to do, which things I need to get others to do, and which things don't really need doing at all.

For the online marketer, good time management is really just establishing some new habits, and breaking some old bad ones. Common habits that need changing include:

-- Don't let email dominate your time. Many online marketers spend many hours each day just digging out from under the deluge of email. For help in that area, I highly recommend that you checkout http://TamingTheEmailMonster.com

I spend about 30 minutes per day on email. The course at the url above is what allowed me to take back control of my life.

-- Turn off the television during work hours. If you were working for someone else, say in an office, I'm sure that you wouldn't expect to be allowed to sit in front of the television all day with your laptop perched on your lap.

Unless you are VERY different from me, you cannot focus on your work while watching television. Not only that, but watching a lot of negative programs (news included) will completely zap your energy and shift you out of a productive mindset.

-- Establish work hours. Tell your family and friends when you'll be working, and let them know that when you're really focused on work, you shouldn't be disturbed any more than you'd expect to be disturbed if you worked at a regular job.

Explain to them that you can get more done in one hour if you really concentrate that you can in five hours with frequent interruptions. Explain that letting you really focus at designated times gives you MORE free time to spend with them... and you'll have more money to spend on them too.

4) Too Many Projects That Are Never Completed.

My friend Mike Filsaime likes to point out during seminar presentations that if you have a dozen projects started but not completed, you'll make less money that having just ONE project completed and on the market.

CHOOSE one project that you want to get completed and on the market. Focus exclusively on that one until it is finished before doing anything else.

Since you are an entrepreneur, and probably come up with a new idea "once every five minutes," keep a note pad handy to jot down new ideas. When you get a new idea, jot it down on the note pad, and then knowing that it won't be lost, go back to what you were working on previously.

Another option if you're an idea person, or great at starting projects, is to partner with "finishers." Instead of letting projects bog down, and never reach the market, partner with someone who will push it through to completion, splitting the profits with them.

If you don't like that idea, consider how much those unfinished projects are making you. Would you prefer 50% of whatever that finished project makes, or 100% of nothing (which is exactly what most of your unfinished projects earn).

We've just looked very briefly at four reasons why most Internet marketers fail miserably. Now that you have acknowledged that these ARE problem areas for you, the question becomes what are you going to do about them.

Sadly, many people will read this article and then choose to do absolutely nothing about these problems. Nothing will change! However, you're different, and therefore destined for online success.


About the Author:
Willie Crawford is founder of The Internet Marketing Inner Circle a membership site where he frequently brainstorms solutions to problems such as those discussed in this article on the discussion forum. Join that discussion now http://TIMIC.ORG


Flipping Your Way To Online Entrepreneurial Success

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 John Khu



One of the better known expired domain business models is domain flipping. Domain flipping is a procedure of converting the monetary value of an expired domain by transforming the face of the domain. Transforming the face of the domain means adding a premium value to your domains expired. In essence, commercial meaning of domain flipping is buying domains at very low prices and later selling them at higher rates to make a neat profit. An expired domain by itself is of little use unless you have an absolute gem in your hand. A raw expired domain may fetch as low as $50 and this may not yield you very good profits. However, flipped domains are absolute stunners with their abilities to provide you profits in excess of 200 to 400%!

Domain flipping needs you to work on expired domains in an extensive manner. It needs your personal time energy and a little bit of capital as well. You may need to work hard enough to make an ordinary domain into something that is special and attractive. Here are some of those methods that can help you flip your expired domains:

a) Install a blog or forum or even a message board with a catchy and meaningful theme. This procedure is actually very simple and works out for everyone who has very little knowledge of internet. Installing a blog like Wordpress blog is very simple and you can have it set up within hours. Web pages with pre-installed blogs can fetch lots of money and plenty of profits. Bulletin boards, forums and message boards are those nice utilities that add immense value to your expired domains.

b) Promote links and their popularity: Most of the expired domains sold come with very low volume of incoming links and old traffic. However, you may find odd expired domains with lots of links and traffic attached to them. If you do not have any links or traffic with your domains, you may wish to accumulate them by buying commercially available traffic and links or by developing a content rich web site. If you are using a new web site built over an expired domain, promoting it by using a PPC program is the best idea. Another practical idea is to use the power of affiliate marketing to create links and traffic.

c) AdSense Monetization: Google provides an amazing utility called AdSense to promote content rich web layouts. Adding AdSense units on your web sites may add a premium value.

d) Content is King: Small niche sites and blog layouts are the most useful utilities that can add value to your expired domains. Domain flipping becomes very easy with these types of sites. Keyword enriched web pages can be invaluable to your expired domain business. It is also possible to leave backlinks in your content so that you can cajole site visitors to take a look at your other websites.

Whatever you do and whichever the method you use, just make sure that you are promoting your flipped domains by using forums, boards, article submission centers and auction sites like eBay and Afternic.


About the Author:
John Khu is an author and also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain name business. He is also the owner of the path breaking web sites called http://www.expireddomainsecret.com and http://www.expireddomaingains.com which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.


Monday, January 26, 2009

Resolve to Improve Transparency with Your Constituents: The Benefits of Citizen Request Management Software

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Anne Sych



Well it's a New Year, with all of its promises of fresh starts and new beginnings, but you may not be as optimistic as in years past. Everyone is feeling the squeeze of the struggling economy. Municipalities are being forced to do business-as-usual with less staff, and budget cuts have butchered most cities and counties plans to purchase much needed equipment.

What can you do to continue to provide essential services with fewer staff?

Automate your 'City Services' with 311 Citizen Request Management (CRM) software!

Read what others are saying about 311 City Services:

"311 is not just a citizen service hotline; it's the most powerful management tool ever developed for New York City's government. I can't imagine running a city without it!" -- Michael Bloomberg, Mayor, City of New York

"The 311 call centers have been a very important customer service tool to provide centralized services and centralized points of access to cities." -- Rishi Sood, Vice President, Gartner Research

"311 has been a miracle...311 saved us not only from having our 911 system swamped but saved our citizens who had true emergencies, such as heart attacks and crimes in progress, from getting a busy signal." -- Ed Harris, Emergency Communications Director, Austin Police Dept.

311 Citizens Request Management Software engages a powerful knowledge base tool, which can be used for citizens and agents alike. Flexible permission settings allow administrators to display selected information to selected users. The help desk component of the CRM system can be set up strictly for agents, or for both agents and citizens - storing all of the valuable data into the same system.

CRM web-based tracking software facilitates communication across an entire organization, eliminating redundant processes and providing assurance that issues are being resolved quickly and efficiently.

311 Citizen Request Manager Software manages time consuming, common issues such as:

  • Traffic Issues (signage, traffic signals, etc.)

  • Trash Collection and Recycling

  • Street and Road Issues (potholes, sidewalk repair, street sweeping, etc.)

  • Public Landscape Issues (fallen trees, overgrowth, etc.)

  • General Complaints (graffiti, rodents, etc.)

  • Building Permit Requests

  • ...and much more

  • Essentially, any type of issue or complaint can be logged and tracked within the system. And by selecting a 311 tool that is fully web-based, implementation takes place within hours or days, not weeks or months. Once deployed on your website, citizens can begin making their own requests online, taking a load off your staff.




    About the Author:
    Written by: Anne Sych, Marketing Manager for Novo Solutions, Inc. Novo Solutions is an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) in Virginia Beach, Virginia, specializing in Citizen and Customer Support Software. Free trial versions of the Novo Help Desk Software, Knowledge Base Software, Asset Management Software and suite of web-based Customer Support Solutions are available. Contact http://www.novosolutions.com for more information.


    No Website Is An Island - Back Linking is Essential for Success

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2006-2009 Trey Pennewell



    Creating back links to your website is one of the best ways to gain a higher ranking in the search engines. Almost any Search Engine Optimization (SEO) expert will agree with this point. The SEO experts will also tell you that your placement in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) can make or break your website.

    It is commonly thought by many that if your website does not rank on one of the first two pages of the SERPs that your website will rarely be seen by visitors. For most people searching the web, this means that you must be in the top 20 search results. Think about it, when you do a search and you cannot find what you are looking for after a couple of pages, what do you do? I know what I do, I type in a different keyword or a variation of what I was looking for in hopes of getting better results.

    Google and Yahoo love to see a website that has back links leading to it. You can check this for yourself, take a look at a popular keyword phrase that everyone is trying to get ranked for. Most likely you will see that the top few sites have a large number of back links leading to that site. Conduct your own case study and look at your #1 competitor; does that site have more back links than you do? You can determine the number of back links that a site has by entering the following into the search engine of your choosing: link:http://www.yourdomainurl.com

    Of course back links are just one part of the equation, but they are a big part of the equation in getting good SERP results. So, if creating back links is such a good idea, why isn't everyone doing it? Well, not everyone is doing it, because it can be a real pain to create back links.

    Let's look at some of the more common methods of building back links:

  • Email A Fellow Webmaster - It is recommended that the back links that you get to your site be from a site that is relevant to the topic of your own website. Having a website about cars linked to a site about fishing does not help you in the SERPs, as much as having a site about cars linking to a site about tires.

    The problem here is that you can literally spend hours upon hours emailing various webmasters and asking them to give you a back link. In addition, it is common practice that you offer a reciprocal link to their website. This is fine for some people, but others do not want to clutter their pages with links that take visitors away from their website.

    Additionally, you will want to look and see if the site that you are trying to get a link from has a good Google page rank (PR). Google says that a back link from a related site with good PR counts as a strong "vote" for your site; the more votes that you get, the higher your SERP and the higher your PR will be at the next update.

    Once you create a sales pitch to a Webmaster for a link exchange, you have to hurry up and wait. You can email 100 webmasters and get a varied response, that is, if you get a response at all. It has been cited that reciprocal linking campaigns have about a 2-5% acceptance rate. In other words, out of those 100 people you took the time to research and to email, only 2-5 of them will give you the back link that you are looking for. Of course, a few more may be willing to do it for a fee.


  • Directories - Directories are another "tried and true" method of generating back links to websites. Again this is a process that will take hours of work. The two most popular directories are DMOZ.com and the Yahoo directory.

    DMOZ is human edited; this is good, because they work hard at only approving quality sites. The downside is that they often lack the actual human beings to approve or disapprove all of these sites that are submitted. There simply are not enough people volunteering for DMOZ to stay on top of all the submissions.

    Yahoo will allow for directory submissions for free if your website is not deemed to be a business website. If your website is deemed to be a business website, plan on shelling out about $300 to be "considered" for a listing in their directory. They do not guarantee that your website will be listed in their directory. Yahoo only guarantees that they will consider your website for inclusion in their directory.

    You will find that many webmasters operate their own directories. You can find a list of many directories on message boards like the one at DigitalPoint.com (http://forums.digitalpoint.com/). Many of these directories provide free listings, or they wish for a reciprocal link in exchange for placing your link. At many of these directories, you can also pay for a sponsored link.

    The problem here? These directories are usually operated by software and are not human edited. This means that your site could end up in the wrong category or that your site is simply listed and forgotten about. These link directories often boast of having decent PR on their homepage, but the actual page that your site will be listed on usually has a 0 PR. These small directories also have numerous requirements, and you need to read the fine print. One mistake and the 15 minutes you spent constructing your submission could be wasted, when your submission is rejected.


  • Reprint Articles For Back Links - This is an option to create back links that many webmasters overlook. Probably the primary reason that webmasters do not take full advantage of this is because they do not feel comfortable with writing articles. Another reason is that the Webmaster may not have the time to write a quality article.

    Consider this, one well-written article can be submitted to literally thousands of publishers of ezines and newsletters, niche webmasters, and free reprint article sites and can result in dozens, hundreds or thousands of back links. Now, not every publisher will pick up your article, but for the ones that do use your article, you will get a back link from their website. The back link is achieved in the "about the author" box that is required to stay in place with your article.

    The more informative people find your article, the more linking results you can expect to achieve from your reprint article.

    A webmaster that says he or she doesn't have the time to spend an hour or two writing an article needs to take a look at how many hours have been spent submitting to directories or writing to other webmasters asking for back links.

    Don't feel comfortable writing your own article? Then hire a ghostwriter.

    Once the article is written, then you should consider paying a distribution service to distribute your article for you. Again, this is a relatively small price to pay in order to get those all-important back links.

    Some recommended article distribution services in alphabetical order include:

  • http://www.ArticleSubmissionSites.com/article_services.htm
  • http://www.EzineTrendz.com/
  • http://www.PRLeads.com/article.htm
  • http://www.SubmitYourArticle.com/
  • http://www.thePhantomWriters.com/


    In the end, you can save yourself time, money, and a lot of headaches by using articles to create back links to your site. You may be surprised by how many websites are starving for content and are more than happy to place your free reprint article on their website. Odds are that if they are placing your article on their website, then they are in your same niche market --- which only adds to the value that the search engines will place on that back link. Don't forget that people actually read these articles, and you can gain a boost in traffic as a bonus to all of your new back links.


    In Conclusion...

    I know, you don't want to shell out the money to use reprint articles as a linking method, but how much money have you spent on being listed as a "sponsored" website in directories?

    How much time have you wasted in trying to drum up new back links through other methods? After all, your time is your money. You can spend your time or your money to do the tasks that you need to do to be successful. And literally, sometimes it makes a whole lot of sense to outsource specialized tasks to experts in their fields.

    No website is an island. You cannot just build your website and expect people to be knocking down your door to buy your products or services. You have to advertise. People have got to have a way to find your website.

    If you take the time and expend the effort to build your website in such a way as to attract the search engines and to provide what the search engines consider to be a good website, then you will find that the search engine companies can be your business' best friend. And whether you like it or not, one of the ways that the search engines companies deem a website to be a good website, is by the number of back links pointing to the website.

    You can have the best website on the internet, selling the best products and services at the best prices, but if people cannot find you, then your website is pointless. If you desire to be successful, then you need to do whatever is necessary to build links to your website. Give the search engines what they want (back links to your website), and the search engines will give you what you want (targeted traffic).


    About the Author:
    Trey Pennewell is a writer, who writes about online marketing. Learn more about our SEO Pay For Rankings services at: http://www.linksandtraffic.com/seo-services/search-marketing.html Trey also manages article approvals at the free article directory located at: http://www.techcentralpublishing.com/Category/Business-Management/100/1


  • Finding Irish Castles for Sale

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2009 Patricia G. McKinney-Lins



    Have you ever dreamed about living in a castle? Have you imagined waking up in the morning and feeling like royalty? Well, consider making that dream a reality! Finding Irish castles for sale is possible. By following the suggestions I collected on my most recent trip to Ireland, you can purchase your very own Irish castle.

    Castles in Ireland are plentiful. Not only are there expensive, beautifully-restored five-star castle hotels, but there are countless castles in various states of preservation and many, many castle ruins in disrepair. A few castles in each category come on the real estate market from time to time. Your budget and ambition will determine which segment of the market you are in.

    You can get an idea of the variety of castles for sale by doing a quick internet search. There are a few castles listed on real estate sites, although some of the "castles" listed look like regular residences. Maybe these homes are in the category of "a person's home is their castle". Properties with views of castles nearby are also listed as "castles" for sale. Castle-shaped homes are also shown. Be sure to look for an authentic, original castle when you do your search.

    If you are a buyer from outside of Ireland, you will need a representative in the country. Real estate agents in Ireland are called "Auctioneers" or "Estate Agents", and work independently or belong to a group. The agents represent both buyers and sellers.

    In the Republic of Ireland, most Estate Agents belong to the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute or the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers and are state licensed. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and has a separate system of licensing.

    Local and international property listing companies specialize in the rental and sale of Irish castles. If you are a qualified buyer, your agent will let you know when a castle in your desired location is listed for sale. It takes time, but castles do become available.

    If you decide to buy a castle, your agent will handle the closing; you should also hire a solicitor (lawyer) to handle your legal work.

    A factor you must consider when buying an Irish castle is that most castles need extensive repairs. Castles are ancient and some have even been vacant for centuries. Before buying a castle, it is important to get price estimates for necessary renovations from contractors. Total project prices can range from several hundred thousand euros to more than just one million. The cost of owning a castle, even after renovation, can be monumental.

    A less costly option is to buy a castle ruin and leave it that way! There are hundreds of historic partial castle ruins throughout Ireland. You may find a piece of land with a castle ruin on it and build your own cottage or home on the same property.

    After purchasing your castle, renovating it can be exhausting. It is possible to do it yourself if you can be in Ireland often or have the resources to manage the project from a distance. If not, help is available for the whole process.

    A "Property Locator" will work on your behalf during the entire process of buying and renovating a castle. He or she will look for a castle for you based on all your needs and consult with agents, architects, solicitors and engineers to find your perfect purchase and price. The Property Locator will also manage the renovation of the castle. It is an expensive service, but will give you the security of having your project in expert hands.

    If you decide that buying a castle in Ireland is your dream, the effort is worth the reward of owning one of the most unique properties in the world!

    Copyright 2008, Patricia McKinney-Lins. All rights reserved.


    About the Author:
    Written by: Patricia G. McKinney-Lins. Take the worry out of booking your own special trip to the Emerald Isle. Go to the author's website at http://www.majestic-castles-in-ireland.com for free travel advice and recommendations. Sign up for your free newsletter at http://www.majestic-castles-in-ireland.com/irish-castle-magic.html and get great travel tips for your next escape to Ireland!


    A Cruzader Christmas

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2009 Lisa Stockmann Karp



    Jun and Joyce Dela Cruz couldn't believe their eyes. In November 2000, they watched a disturbing television news report that changed their Christmas forever. Thousands of the more than 10,000 homeless on Los Angeles' Skid Row would be going without a Thanksgiving or Christmas meal that year. The normally replete corporate and individual donations were way down, leaving local shelters, located only about 1/2 mile from L.A.'s wealthy Wilshire business district, with only enough money to feed a few hundred of the city's neediest residents. Jun and Joyce watched as they showed normally stocked food banks filled with only a small amount of canned goods and a few sacks of rice. They saw the faces of the thousands of men, women and children who would go without food, clothing and shelter.

    For the Dela Cruz's, the holidays that year were the furthest thing from happy. In October 2000, they had lost their baby daughter, Jasmine, and the idea of celebrating the holidays without her was heartbreaking. Jun and Joyce decided to work through their sorrow by doing something different that Thanksgiving. They were moved to honor their daughter's memory by giving hope to others, and helping the needy on Skid Row have a happier Thanksgiving seemed like a great way to do that. Jun, Joyce and their son, Justin, went to the local grocery store, packed their Suburban to the brim with food and toiletries, and drove from their Yorba Linda, Calif. home to one of the local L.A. missions. After unloading the food donations, Jun handed a $2,500 cash donation to a local mission worker who said thank you and put it in his pocket. "It was the funniest feeling for me to hand the guy $2,500 bucks and not know whether it was going to go to the shelter or to his pocket," Jun says. Both Jun and Joyce felt really uncomfortable with the exchange. As they drove through the streets on the way home and saw dozens of shelters closed and hundreds of people on the streets, they decided they wanted to take matters into their own hands and give the food and supplies directly to the men, women and children in need.

    For the next month, the couple motivated their business team members, family and friends to donate money and food for the cause. In the wee hours of that Christmas morning, Jun and Joyce loaded two SUVs with generous contributions of food, toiletries and clothing, and set out for L.A. They parked on a local street in the heart of Skid Row and brought Christmas spirit to hundreds of the area's homeless by handing them the much-needed supplies along with McDonald's gift certificates for a hot holiday meal. "We felt really good by the time we left because we felt this was actually something that was going to work," Jun says. And work it has. Christmas 2007, marked the seventh year Jun and his team have celebrated Christmas morning with the homeless on Skid Row. Jun and Joyce's grassroots effort has grown into a community project with more than 450 volunteers. Several local World Financial Group leaders and their teams, including John Pham, David Pham, Armando Gil, Bobby Garcia, Kalani Vale and Patrick Bet-David heard about Jun's Skid Row Christmas project and got involved. Jun receives the four moving trucks the project now requires at cost from a local rental company. Area merchants sell Jun and his team toys, sleeping bags, blankets, clothing and supplies at deep discounts. A local bread company gives them day-old bread for free. All of the teams accept donations of food, clothing, toiletries and money in November and December and warehouse the items in their offices. The weeks leading up to Christmas, the volunteers sort all of the donations, make toiletry kits for men and women, and wrap toys for the children. After midnight mass on Christmas Eve Jun, Joyce and the volunteers gather at his office to make thousands of sandwiches and food packages. At 6:30 a.m., the fully loaded trucks lead a caravan of more than 200 cars to the same side street in L.A. to off load the goods. Jun and the teams have the effort down to a science, with each truck distributing either food, clothing, or toiletries.

    Orange cones help to form the lines, and they make sure each child that comes gets a toy. In addition to dispensing items from the trucks, volunteers also give out hugs and spend time talking and connecting with the people so they know they matter. When their work is done by 8:30 a.m., all of the volunteers go to the same Chinese restaurant every year - the owner keeps it open for them - and they start their Christmas day with a nice meal together.

    "The same people expect us every year now," Jun says. "Usually at Christmas you are so used to receiving, and people tend to forget that Christmas isn't about receiving, it's about giving."

    But the giving is not only for the homeless, but also from them. Jun, the volunteers and even their children have learned valuable lessons about what's important in life from the experience. A few years ago, Jun met a man on the line who told him he used to give food out to the homeless. He had been an attorney in downtown L.A. who lost his job, his license and his family, and had nowhere to go but the streets. One year, a volunteer ended up connecting with an old high school classmate whose family had found themselves homeless after their father passed away and they were left with nothing. Several years ago, when Jun's son, Justin, was five, he came out on his first charity Christmas with his family. As Jun drove closer to their destination, Justin, used to the comforts of their upscale home, asked why all of these people lived in cardboard boxes. When they began distributing the food and clothing, Justin clung to his father's leg, and held tight to the Power Ranger toy he'd wanted that he'd opened on Christmas Eve. He started talking to a little boy in line and then started to play with him. As Jun packed his family up to go home, Justin begged his father to stop the car. He ran out and gave the little boy his coveted Power Ranger toy, got in the car, and was quiet for the rest of the day. Justin, who normally can't wait to open Christmas gifts, didn't even want to open any more presents when he got home. "In our household, Christmas has changed quite a bit," Jun says.

    Jun is considering starting a foundation in his daughter's name and making this project an official charity event. But at the same time, he doesn't want to lose touch with the people and the grassroots feeling of it all. "This gives people a direct connect. You know people are getting the donations because you can give it out yourself," he says. "And it gives the people hope to know there are good people out there who care about them."




    About the Author:
    This article, written by Lisa Stockmann Karp, first appeared in Opportunity, World Financial Group's company magazine, vol. 2/issue 4/Quarter 4 2007. http://www.wfgnewsroom.com/


    Home Away From Home: Benefits Of Condos Over Hotels And RV's

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2007-2009 Vasrue.com, All Rights Reserved Written by: Clinton Douglas IV



    Most parents of school-age children are forced to confine their family vacations to summer months, Christmas holiday and Spring break. Other families can choose to take their vacations at any time that is appropriate to their personal preferences.

    When people consider their vacation or weekend getaways, few understand the true range of options they really do have available to them. Many people think their only options for lodging on vacation is limited to: hotels, motels, cabins, RV's, travel trailers, and tents. But the truth is that there are a few more options that most people never even consider.

    Condominiums, also referred to as Condos, are another great lodging option to consider. But, just speaking the word Condo brings to mind for many the concept of Time Share Condos. Of course, that is one option with a Condo, but we are going to look at the other options as well.

    Condominium Residency Arrangements

    A condominium, very literally, is very similar to an apartment. It is a fully self-contained living arrangement, with a living area, bedrooms, private balconies, and a full kitchen; and most condos contain all of the amenities, including big screen televisions, DVD players, high-speed Internet access, and other creature comforts we generally have in our homes, such as washers and dryers. Many condos also have hot tubs or Jacuzzis in the apartments.

    Condos are basically full apartments, located in areas of prime real estate, such as Las Vegas on the Strip, or many other locations around the world on beachfront property. Condos generally provide additional benefits such as swimming pools, weight rooms, restaurants, and other high-value goodies.

    We are going to look at four types of Condo purchase arrangements in this section.

    1. Condominium Ownership – Condo ownership costs include the purchase price of the apartment and yearly fees to cover maintenance costs.

    2. Condominium Timeshares – With a timeshare, the basic concept is that more people can afford them, because the cost of ownership is split among several owners on a per week basis. When someone buys a timeshare, they are buying a 1/52nd ownership of the Condo for a specific, pre-designated calendar week. With a timeshare, one is entitled to take over the property beginning on a specific calendar date, and they must vacate the property at the end of the week.

    3. Condominium Rentals – Instead of timesharing a condo, many people opt to rent a condo, which frequently requires a purchase of a specific weekly period, although many condos provide flexibility so that you can decide which week you would like to rent. Some condo owners will allow individuals to rent by the day, but those have a much lower availability, than the condos that rent by the week. More on this later in this article.

    4. The Dreaded Seminar Timeshare – Some companies are so desperate to find people to listen to their sales message that they are willing to put prospects up in a timeshare condo for the weekend or week, so long as the person(s) agrees to attend a specific number of sales presentations during their stay.

    Benefits of Condos Over Hotels

    The greatest benefit of condominiums over hotels is two-fold.

    First, condos are fully self-contained, providing kitchens, spacious living and all of the luxuries of home to their guests. Many also provide high-speed Internet and data access to their business-class guests. For many folks, the full kitchen is the greatest advantage of a condo, in that, they will not have to eat nearly every meal in a restaurant, enabling the vacationer to spend his or her money on attractions rather than on restaurant foods.

    The second greatest benefit for condominiums is three-fold: location, location, and location. Condos are generally located on some of the best prime real estate properties in the world. For example, City Center in Las Vegas is located on the Strip between the Bellagio Hotel and Casino and the New York, New York Hotel and Casino. Beachfront condos exist in nearly every major beach destination in the world. Condos are available in San Francisco, Chicago, NYC, Atlanta and Miami, just to name a few metropolitan locations. And locations are not restricted to U.S. destinations; in fact, condos are available in nearly every travel destination of the world.

    Benefits of Condos Over RV's and Travel Trailers

    RV's are nice, but considering the cost of fuel these days, they are seldom a great option for most travelers. A friend of mine recently priced a RV for a planned family vacation, and he found the cost for eight days would easily exceed one thousand dollars, plus mileage over 200 miles, plus fuel. At eight miles per gallon, his planned trip of 500 miles one-way would have easily translated into 125 gallons of gasoline and more than $400, just in fuel costs, at current fuel prices.

    Sure, the RV is still more spacious than a car during a long road trip, but for the cost, renting a Cadillac for the trip might just make more sense. Given the claustrophobic nature of his wife, he felt that train or airplane might make more sense for his roundtrip transportation needs.

    Transportation costs aside, the travel trailer and RV are both generally a bit confining in the space considerations. Certainly, the RV beats the travel trailer hands down in this department, most of the time, but when you consider the stress of stuffing a family of five with three young children into a RV, there is never enough space available for the sanity of the parents.

    Benefits Over the Great Outdoors

    With smaller travel trailers, travelers are still stuck with cooking outdoors. Sure, the travel trailer might be easier than the tent to set up, but travel trailers usually have small kitchens, if they even have a kitchen at all. Cooking outdoors for a family is more of a challenge than many in today's world want to consider.

    The limited amount of refrigerated storage is another area that is usually greatly strained with the use of the average travel trailer or tent camping experience. Going into the woods with a ice chest is fine for an afternoon trip, but once that trip expands beyond the life of the ice in the chest, then food options drop off considerably. This is the greatest cause of stress for people planning such trips. They always need to manage how they can maximize their food store, within very limited-size refrigerated storage containers.

    In today's modern world, it is frequently impossible to escape the reliance we have come to have for modern technology. This leads to a need for power supplies that can accompany the traveler, to keep them plugged into their gadgets. Tents and small travel trailers do not accommodate this need in many instances.

    The Purpose of Vacations Is Rest and Relaxation, Which Is Sometimes Lost

    For many of us, the purpose of a vacation is rest and relaxation. But, as we have seen above, the challenges of taking long trips can sometimes produce more stress than relaxation.

    Another friend told me that he was very much relieved when his parents decided not to take any more summer vacations "for the family." He said that by the end of the first day, every member of his family was ready to strangle the other. By the end of day two of their six-day traveling vacations, everyone wanted to go home, but his dad was stubborn to a fault. His family had tried nearly all of the above options: tents, travel trailers, RV's, hotels and motels.

    Even today, twenty years later, he cannot fathom a family vacation like his parents took, without his blood pressure going up. A few years back, he had tried the condominium rental route, and he has never looked back.

    He told me that for him and his young family, the only vacation choice they will ever take advantage of is the condo rentals. He said the money he saves by not going to restaurants, generally covers the extra costs of the condominium. He said the enjoyment that he and his family experience, is far greater than what it would be if they forced themselves to live in a hotel room for a week. He said the extra goodies that the condos generally provide help him to give his family a much more rounded and robust experience. He says the added space and convenience of the condo experience permits him and his wife to relax more during their out-of-state vacations.

    Making a Great Vacation Even Better

    I am in the business of providing wholesale travel packages to the consumer market. I got into this business myself, because I love to travel with my family. Because I am able to save so much money on my own travel, it enables me to take my family on more trips and vacations than I had previously thought I could do.

    The one thing I love most about my job is that I can give others the power to do as I do. I set my friend up with a discount condo card package, and now he is able to get his condominium rentals for much less than he was previously able to do. Depending on his trip destinations, he was generally paying $650 to $2500 for one week in his choice destination.

    When I was able to hook him up with the discount condo card package, he paid one small upfront fee to my company of $250 for the condo card. On one trip, he stayed in a five-star condo resort and was able to get the condo for a week at just about 25% of what it would have cost him to rent it at retail cost. On another trip, he was able to stay in a beachfront condo for one week, and it only cost him the taxes that were due on the condo for his one-week stay, a whopping $199.

    All told, my friend has so far taken two one-week vacations, and between plane tickets and condo costs, he has only spent about half of what he spent on his previous trip, the one he took before I set him up to take advantage of the travel packages I sell.

    The Greatest Reward

    The greatest reward for me in what I do, is knowing how I am able to help people get more out of life for less money than what they would spend on their own, without my help.

    In conclusion, let me ask you two very important questions. First, how much did you spend on your last family vacation or weekend getaway? And secondly, how much are you going to have to spend on your next family vacation or weekend getaway?


    About the Author:
    Clinton Douglas, IV (http://www.vasrue.com/) is the Travel Guru. His Elkhart Indiana real estate business has given him the resources he needs to be able to travel to his heart's content. If you are looking to buy a home in northern Indiana, please visit Absolute Homes Sellers to review Clinton's home inventory. When Clinton travels, he likes to shop for Bed and Breakfasts or Vacation Home Rentals online.


    How to Create an Information Product That Shines Above the Rest

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2009 Judy Murdoch



    A few months ago, I attended a conference that was held at a retreat center in Portland, OR. The center had its own chef and all meals were prepared and served on site.

    The food was outstanding; a nice change from the mediocre hotel meals I'm used to. And a few of us got into a conversation around what made our meals so terrific.

    Reasons included:

  • Organic ingredients sourced locally--most of the produce was grown on the center's grounds

  • Fresh, high quality ingredients - if it wasn't in season we weren't eating it

  • Made from scratch, often from the chef's original recipes

  • And something else . . . love.

    This became evident when the retreat center's director asked us to make an effort to be on time for meals "because our chef really cares about the food she prepares and wants you to enjoy it fully."

    What made our meals so special, in addition to all the other good things mentioned, was that our meals were prepare with love.

    ==================================
    Does Love Belong in a Business?
    ==================================

    First, let's get clear that the kind of love I'm talking about isn't romantic love.

    If I had to define the type of love the chef was putting into the meals she prepared I would say it was a mixture of pride, craftsmanship, self-expression, and desire to contribute.

    From the few conversations I've had with professional chefs, I know a lot of time and effort goes into preparing and serving dishes so that the flavors and textures work together in wonderful ways.

    This what our chef at the retreat was wanting us to experience. And we did.

    This type of love is something our culture understands when it comes to work we commonly associate with craftsmanship. That a potter or carpenter feels a sense of pride even love in what they created with their own hands is something most of us "get."

    But what about your typical information product? Can your humble "Ten Easy Steps to a Greener Lawn," convey a love of what you do?

    Perhaps more importantly, does it even matter?

    ==================================
    Information Products Made with Love
    ==================================

    Can information products convey the love the business owner has for their work? Yes, absolutely!

    Over the years, I've purchased quite of few information products: books, ebooks, white papers, audio series, home study courses, all kinds of products. And the ones that are my favorites, the ones that I always refer others to, were clearly on topics dear to the business owner.

    One of my favorite examples is "What Color is Your Parachute?" by Richard Bolles.

    A lot of other books on job hunting and career development have been published since I bought Parachute in 1983; books that are more concise, better organized, and more business-like. But I continue to recommend Parachute and I continue to refer to it because the love Richard Bolles has for the topic shines through every single page.

    And in his brisk, humorous style, Bolle's compassion for his audience: the job seeker and career changer also shines though. The compassion is key because if you have ever had to find a new job, practical advice given with compassion and empathy is like a cold glass of water to a thirsty man in the desert: very much desired, hard to find, and hugely appreciated.

    ==================================
    Why Products Made with Love Matter (to Your Bottom Line)
    ==================================

    This leads to the next question: do products made with love matter? Do they matter in the way in which we ultimately determine whether we have a viable business: our bottom line?

    I think products made with love matter a lot and here's why.

    There are a LOT of information products out there. So, so many.

    If you're the owner of a small business and you're thinking about creating a product - a tips booklet or an ebook or an audio series - it is easy to feel overwhelmed and discouraged. It's easy to wonder "how can I possibly compete?"

    And you know what? You can't compete. In fact, I advise you not to even try.

    Instead, I suggest you create an information product that is so unique that there simply is no competition. To do this:

    1. make sure it provides useful, relevant information that helps your customer solve a problem

    2. make sure you genuinely love helping people solve the problem

    ==================================
    An Example: Creating a Product Made with Love
    ==================================

    One of my clients specializes in working with caregivers - persons who take care of someone with a serious illness. She hired me to help her develop an information product that she could sell on her website.

    With this particular client, the love part was easy. She has so much natural enthusiasm for her work and it comes across clearly in what she says and writes.

    She had more trouble with the "useful, relevant" part.

    So we brainstormed some ideas and came up with a step-by-step exercise caregivers could use when they need to be present to the person they're caring for but are feeling stressed and overwhelmed (a common occurrence when you're caring for someone with a serious illness).

    What I think is so cool about my client's product is it fills a need for the practical advice badly need by caregivers but offers the advice with a big dose of empathy which is also badly needed.

    ==================================
    Bottom Line
    ==================================

    If you can help customers solve a problem, you have an information product. If you love to help your customers solve that problem and are willing to allow that love to show up, you have an information product that can shine through a sea of competition as the best choice for your customers.

    Try it and see.


    About the Author:
    Judy Murdoch helps small business owners create low-cost, effective marketing campaigns using word-of-mouth referrals, guerrilla marketing activities, and selected strategic alliances. To download a free copy of the workbook, "Where Does it Hurt? Marketing Solutions to the problems that Drive Your Customers Crazy!" go to http://www.judymurdoch.com/workbook.htm
    You can contact Judy at 303-475-2015 or judy@judymurdoch.com


    Saturday, January 24, 2009

    Printed Versus Electronic Press: and the Winner Is?

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2009 Kostandinos Papahatzis



    Undoubtedly, we are going through important changes in the area of printed media. We outline thoughts on how this will evolve and the impact on newspapers and magazines.

    For the past five years we are becoming witnesses of a major shift; you may have noticed that your newspaper or magazine of choice has an online presence, i.e. a web site. You may also have noticed that much of the news that you will find in the printed version can also be found on the Web version-for free. If this is not scary, it is very impressive to say the least. Following the news you may have read or heard that some newspapers and magazines are finding it difficult to sustain their existing business models; the reason is that circulation is falling dramatically, especially in ages between 20-45 where people are more technologically savvy and Internet oriented.

    Naturally the printed media could not just sit and watch. So, they started to build their online presence and expand it as time goes by. At present, we are becoming witnesses of a market segment that literally jumped online to exercise territoriality and claim their space in order to maintain their loyal readers at any cost.

    There are issues unsolved: how do you justify Web investments when most of the revenue comes from subscriptions of the printed versions? what happens to the printed versions and their supporting background? how will technology evolve to assist in increasing readers and subscribers of the online version - free or not?

    There are no easy answers; you cannot bring the revenue as in the good old times where the printed versions were counting millions of daily readers. Supporting a business model based on revenues coming from a Web site is not an easy task; advertising is much cheaper than it is on a printed version, so revenues are not as high anymore. The teams that support issuing of printed media will have to face the tragedy of shrinking in the foreseeable future, otherwise the debts will rise pretty fast. Technology is evolving rapidly but providing an experience similar to reading a printed magazine or newspaper is still far away.

    Currently we are witnessing a situation where traditional printed media giants maintain both their printed and online status. Many of those left outside the race will have to decide pretty soon what to do - jump in, close, or be absorbed. Will kiosks become extinct? Of course not. It is just that soon we may see the proportions to change. Media will have to expand to all available new channels that spring up and utilize all new technology. But the printed magazine or newspaper will continue to exist although with all this free news buzz and blogging that takes place, the good old times may already have passed.




    About the Author:
    Konstantinos Papahatzis is a full time product manager in a major Telecommunications provider and also works at his leisure. He is the proud of owner of a Web site that collects reviews for those who wish to buy a USA Today subscription or want to know more about USA Today Newspaper: http://www.usatodaynewspaper.info


    Anybody Can Spend, but Can You Save?

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2009 Rich Thawley



    We have a great weakness in our society of wanting immediate gratification. We are under a constant barrage in all forms of media to buy this or to buy that. In our world of credit cards and charge accounts it is a challenge for many to resist the temptations of materialism. Don't get me wrong, I think it's fun to have nice things, but only after we can afford them.

    In my 28 years in the insurance and financial services industry, I have seen so many careers and families damaged by lack of financial discipline. For too many, the habit of spending what we don't have has become an addiction.

    It seems that one of the most powerful motivations behind this epidemic of spending is the desire to be envied by others for all the cool stuff you have. When you think about it, that's not a very impressive motive, is it? I believe to be happy in our homes, families, and businesses, we need to learn how to restrain ourselves, spend wisely, and save more money.

    Early on in our business, my wife, Cindy, and I were given great counsel that as our income increased we should strive to not change our lifestyle for as long as we could stand it. Over the next few years we did exactly that. Our income increased dramatically but rather than spend, we saved. Occasionally people inside and outside of our team ridiculed us for it. I regularly overheard teammates making excuses for our older car, rented townhouse, and simple clothes.

    We had decided that we wanted to set an example of wisdom and self-restraint. We saw examples all around us of people spending all their money and borrowing more on top of it. We felt a great responsibility to those who looked to us for leadership. One day it occurred to me that if I couldn't impress them with all the things we had bought, we would just have to impress them with all the money we had saved. So we went and bought a piece of poster board and designed a bar chart that had our savings goal at the top and we inked it in like a rising thermometer every week as we sent more money into savings. Pretty soon we noticed our teammates were taking team members and new clients into my office to show them how much we had saved that week or that month. I'd overhear them saying things like "I know he doesn't look like much, but look, he's already saved $20,000 this month."

    Our goal as we work with people in the marketplace and on our teams is to help them break their habit of spending and replace it with a better, healthier habit of saving. It is fundamental to what we do, and it is a primary purpose of the existence of our company, World Financial Group. We must stop the fool's game of spending all that we have for the shallow purpose of impressing somebody else. Save more money. Get out of and stay out of debt. Don't waste this opportunity to build a great business and become financially secure.




    About the Author:
    Rich Thawley is an Executive Vice Chairman and member of World Financial Group Chairman's Council. He has three children and lives in Lodi, Calif., with his wife, Cindy, and youngest son, Brett. (I don't think he'd want to share this with the free world). This article first appeared in Opportunity, World Financial Group's company magazine, vol. 3/issue 4/Quarter 4 2008. http://www.wfgnewsroom.com/


    Friday, January 23, 2009

    How to Backorder for a Domain Name - Part I

    Article Presented by:
    Copyright © 2009 John Khu



    Backordering for a domain name is a well-known process used by a number of expired domain traders. At present, domain backordering service firms offer five different types of model that focus on targeting different stages of domain deletion cycle. Each one of these models has its own weaknesses and merits. Domain backordering is also a preferred process that can yield you very good results. However, there may be a small glitch in the standard backordering process, as the success or failure depends entirely on the level and efficiency of coordination and assistance between different registrars, the cost of backordering and the inclination of an expired domain traders in using such a service.

    Tip: If you want to enhance your domain backordering success rate, you may wish to subscribe to a number of backordering services.

    Let us know what exactly domain backordering is! It is a useful service that tries to register and grab an expired domain for and on behalf of a subscriber before others grab and registers it. Backordering is an extreme natured process, when you want to buy a very good domain name before other pounces on it. However, not all expiring domains can be backordered as the owner of the domain might renew a particular domain before its final deletion or the domain might be even under the Hold status facing a trademark or intellectual property ownership dispute.

    Domain Backordering process:

    All domain names are registered for a predetermined period of one to ten years and the owner of the domain can renew his or her domain within this period. If the owner fails to renew the domain name, then the domain in question will go through a series of processes until its final deletion from the registry. Here are the stages of a domain deletion cycle:

    Expiration of domain name registration

    Once the owner fails to renew a particular domain, the registrar will place that domain under the Register-Hold status when the said domain can only be renewed. The grace period offered by registrar vary from 30 and 45 days. But, the domain will be disabled, so that the owner will not be able to use more common features of the portal like e mail and links. To get back these features, the owner must pay the renewal fees along with penalty fees.

    Deletion of domain name

    At this stage, the registrar will delete the non-renewed domain names.

    Redemption Period status

    At this stage, the expired domain name can only be restored and not modified or ejected. Requests for any changes will not be entertained at this stage. The domain will remain in this stage for a maximum of a month, during which the owner of the domain can get back the domain by:

    Contacting the registrar

    Paying off the required fees including a penalty fee of around $200. Once the required fees are paid, the domain will enter a stage called "Pending Restore" that be in vogue for a period of seven days. At this juncture, all features like email access and web pages are restored back to the owner of the web site. Soon, the registrar will submit a restore certificate to the Registry. Soon after the Restore command and Restore reports are approved, the domain will go back the active status.

    Pending Delete Stage

    If a domain stays in the Redemption period even after five days, the said domain name will be move over to the Pending Delete stage that lasts for about 5 days. At this stage, the domain will be deleted finally; either the registry or the registrar cannot change the status of the domain.

    Deletion Stage:

    Soon after the sixth day, the registrar will delete the name from the registry. At this stage, the major registrars will release their stock of expired domain names in batches at 6.30 AM.

    Hint: Registrars will have in insider information about the deleted names five days in advance and some of them may even pass on this sensitive information to speculators around the world. The batch release is unique and special to VeriSign, while others delete expired domains in a real-time mode within 45 days after the original expiry date.

    The last one or two phase are the most critical time period for an expired domain trader, as it is the occasion when most of the good domain names are grabbed by smart domain name traders. Domain name back ordering process comes to your immediate help during this time and you can also grab very good domain names by using this process.


    About the Author:
    John Khu is an author and also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain name business. He is also the owner of the path breaking web sites called http://www.expireddomainsecret.com and http://www.expireddomaingains.com which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.