A2IM All About Internet Marketing

At a recent San Francisco conference, John Doerr, one of America’s most famous venture capitalist called the recession “the greatest economic opportunity of our lifetime.”

Drastic changes create great opportunities for those with vision and grit. Whether its developing a totally new industry, solving a problem that’s plagued mankind for centuries or decades, or developing a business model that blows your competitors right into the annals of history – this is the time of change that welcomes innovators and inventors.

This is the time when the status quo is challenged. Our transportation industry is undergoing massive challenges that threaten the very survival of household names. More efficient fuel burning systems are being developed at the same time that alternative energy vehicles – such as electric, natural gas and bio-fuels are being developed. This industry is ripe for the type of innovation and new product development that has led the world from one type of economy to another (agrarian based to industrial based to information based).

The energy industry is being turned upside down. We all remember the ultra-high gas costs of a few months ago. The crisis spurred a renewed interest in alternative energy including solar, wind and wave technologies.

Concerns about the environment are forcing several industries, including both the transportation and the energy industries, to name a few, to look at ways that they operate and provide goods and services to their customers. The “green” economy is more than just a buzzword. It will bring innovation and new product development to everything that we do – from the way that will construct new buildings and facilities to the way that we dispose of all of our waste. It will impact the entire supply chain.

There is no doubt that the changing economic landscape will force businesses to explore the full advantage of the technological tools that they have been playing with for years. Too many of our businesses – large and small – operate the same basic way that they did in the 1980s or earlier.

There are so many tools, such as Blackberry, online meetings, Google apps, etc… that allow a business to get more productivity out of its team members. These tools really shine when they allow the team members to work from remote locations. Technology allows teams to work on different continents and accomplish more than if they were in the same office.

Changing a business model to exploit these tools may be enough to move the income statement from red to black and the balance sheet from weak and full of debt to strong and relatively debt free. This may help your business thrive in a recession. The way the world works is definitely going to change as a result of this economic upheaval.

We live in a unique time of rapid societal change. We are entering an era where globalization is the norm and regionalization and localization are coming en vogue. We have new national leadership that signals a handing off of the baton of power from one generation to another. We have economic challenges the likes of which have not been seen since before the first baby boomer was born. This change has created a chaotic storm and innovation and new product development is the ship that will steer us to safety.

Art Espey helps entrepreneurs grow business in a recession. Art can be reached at www.4steps2.com.

Cash Gifting Postcards allow you to work from your home and make $500-$3500 a day? All you have to do is return phone calls from your house with the cash gifting postcards! What is amazing about this is there is no buying or selling, no explaining and pressure, you do not have to buy or sell a product, and 100% of all the cash goes right to you.

You can join those who have already signed up and are making a steady 5-figure monthly salary. Many of those who have done this program have been earning a 5-figure monthly salary since their very first month participating in the cash gifting postcards.

These programs are looking for people who are serious about making money from their home and are looking to achieve more from their job. The programs sole purpose is to help you achieve financial freedom, and you can achieve that as soon as the first month. You will be taught how to duplicate the Complete Turn-Key System that is generating 5-figures a month.

By using the complete turn-key system, one-on-one training, and ongoing one-on-one support, you can begin to receive the first cash delivery to your front door in just 4-7 days! All you have to do is become a new member and join the team, and you will be set up with a 100% complete turn-key system.

What is important to know is there are no telemarketing, no cold calling, and no hard selling. You will only be talking to those who are interested in working from their home and they will actually call you to get information about the program.

So, why should you join this program? You can begin to generate $500-$3500 a day, which is delivered, in cash, directly to you. There is no buying or selling involved in anyway. There are no monthly fees that you will have to pay and you receive 100% of all the cash. You will receive the proven turn-key system to duplicate the amazing, proven results. You will get the free and unlimited one-on-one ongoing training and support. Finally, you will receive the proven marketing secrets and sources.

You have the ability to make between $500-$3500 a day, a 5-figure monthly salary, and you can do it from your home without any telemarketing, cold calling, or hard selling. The question should not be should I sign up for the cash gifting postcards, but why have I not signed up yet?

As I have mentioned in the beginning of this article, there are people that consider cash gifting postcards a huge scam. In reality, the system has a legal background, considering the fact that both US and Canadian citizens have the right to gift cash, assets or property without any tax liability. This law is available for sums up to $12000 per calendar year. In addition, the cash gifts are not mentioned in the gross income of the recipient. For more information on the US gifting rules, you can check the IRS Tax Code, Title 26, and Sections 501 to 2504 and 2511.

Obviously, the higher you are, the more you gain. Cash gifting can turn into a rewarding venture if you give a reasonable amount of effort, for sure, and if you have some marketing knowledge to promote the opportunity.

Ron Fara Has spent years testing the secrets to success with Cash Gifting Postcards . To see the #1rated Cash Gifting Postcards Program in action and get a peek at the #1 rated system just visit Cash Gifting Postcards.

Starting computer repair business mistakes are not unlike any other business start up mistakes. Under capitalization, not planning for cash flow and operating costs, unrealistic sales and revenue projections, and no marketing plan, are all common mistakes.

Lets take a look at these mistakes as they apply to the computer repair business in particular. Computer repair businesses fall under the services category, even though many might sell some equipment both for replacement parts and new models.

Since start up and operating costs are the first areas most new owners try to address, that’s a good area to discuss first. It’s easy to overlook some of these start up costs until you actually start working in your business. That’s the number one mistake.

Start up costs can be very reasonable for a non-retail computer repair business. If you plan on going retail, you will need a pretty good chunk of money for the initial lease, build out, and signage. But we’ll save that scenario for a different article.

Since the owner/operator will be going to the client (instead of the client coming to a retail location), a reliable vehicle is a must. And with gas and vehicle prices being what they are, transportation costs should include fuel and maintenance in addition to the purchase or ongoing payment cost.

A good transportable tool kit, maybe some common repair parts, and other basic accessories are also necessary. You might even consider a smock of some type to protect clothing (I can’t tell you how many shirts I’ve lost to toner, dirt from shop areas, and other unknown threats).

Administrative costs should include items like cell phone, invoices, business cards, insurance (both health, auto, and liability), accounting advice and software, any local licenses, and reference materials (manuals, etc.).

We’ll break out any advertising or marketing costs due to the fact that they will be ongoing and not just start up requirements. Depending on the market area, and what methods are planned, advertising and marketing costs can be considerable.

The next biggest mistake falls under both the sales and revenue projections and operating expense and cash flow. These two areas go hand in hand due to the relationship. You cannot bill 100% of your time, end of story.

If you bill 60% of hours, you are doing well above the national average of owner/operator type businesses. There are several reasons, but the biggest is that you get to change roles many times during working hours. So figure on 35-40% billable hours. You can obviously work 60 hours (and I often do) so that 35-40% can represent more hours.

Along with the number of hours, due to the nature of the business, you really don’t know how many service call requests will come in during any period. After doing this for 30 years, I still don’t know. Of course the more long-term clients you acquire, the more ongoing activity you will have.

Cash flow can always be an issue. The more ongoing clients you get, the more you will carry receivables. Short quick service calls (under $200) should be invoiced and collected on the spot. Larger and ongoing projects should be billed upon collection and if you offer terms, make sure you can live with them.

It’s very easy to get to a point where you get to spend office time chasing receivables. It’s not fun, and takes away from billable hours. You can also get burned from time to time. I offer terms, but only after a client has paid for the first time and established that the amount of work and billable hours will be worth the headaches.

And the third, and probably the most important to keep your business providing revenue, is a realistic marketing plan. You will need new clients every week, and should implement methods that are ongoing. The accordion effect is difficult to avoid in any small business.

That’s where you get too busy doing service calls and let your marketing efforts slip. When you get over the busy period, you sit there since you quit marketing and there’s a time lag to get new business. So no matter how busy you get, save some time for your ongoing marketing.

One way I’ve figured out to help overcome this situation is to have some flyers printed up that I send out everyday. When I go to a new service call, I jot down 10-15 businesses name and addresses near the new client. When I get home or before I leave for work the next day I grab the flyers and put the past days addresses and drop them in the mail.

And if you want to get a little more cost effective, you can wait a day or two until you have enough ready that you can use the lower bulk mail rate. Either way, you can’t go wrong if you adhere to this system.

Starting any small business is a challenge. The Computer Repair Business is no different. But it is one of the few service type businesses that you can start with a very small investment. The key to success is not making the common mistakes above.

Pay attention to details, be aware of the pitfalls, and try to compensate for the known problems. Having your own Computer Repair Business can be quite profitable if you can overcome these common mistakes.

John Dow has been in the Computer Repair Business for over 30 years. You can learn more about starting your own computer repair business here: Starting Computer Repair Business.

Being productive in our profession is as essential as attaining our goal. Without our profession, there is no way we could get what we want. But no matter how hard we want to work, there are some factors or situations that happen to us that are beyond our control. Stress still visits us, and some external elements have the tendency to change our mood or to lessen the ability of our performance.

You know how important eliminating stress is. You also know how positive thinking helps you boost our work performance, whether you are a writer, an athlete, or a housewife. To be able to do your job properly and to increase your performance, you have to look at the brighter side of life. You can only do that if your mind and body are both free from negative elements.

There are a lot of techniques that can teach you on how to achieve a positive outlook in life. From the simple meditation up to the lucrative spa and massage, all can soothe your worries away. One of the techniques that you may use is the Emotion Freedom Technique or EFT particularly the EFT for performance.

EFT requires doing a simple procedure of tapping your face and upper body where certain areas will help you release the negative elements residing in your mind and body. As you do this, increase in performance is in your hands.

EFT for performance can give you a handy positive perception that you should always carry. EFT eliminates the kind of mentality that puts your self down. Instead, EFT for performance leaves no room for negative thoughts and emotions. It boosts the way you look at your self, your self-confidence, and other positive perceptions that unlock your ability to do bettering your performance.

Imagine if you are singer and you think you might not do well in your performance, that can be a reason for you to be nervous and presto, your singing performance is going to be at stake. This is where EFT for performance comes in. The job of EFT is for you to think of the opposite of this kind of perception. To strengthen this statement, there is a study that shows how a person’s way of thinking affects the performance. If the person is positive and confident, what will come out in the performance is going to be better.

EFT for performance can be practiced by anyone, that is why this technique fits you. Coach, parents, caregivers, or psychologists are using EFT as a technique to help themselves with their emotional, mental, and physical needs. But of course physical is also included in this area. People are also using EFT to lessen the burden that body aches cause them.

You can try EFT for beginners and start applying it to yourself or to other people who may need it. You can get a certificate if you wish to go beyond the basic techniques of EFT and see how easy and gentle it is with its promising long lasting effect.

Do you know how to manage stress and stop the frustration in day-to-day life and ignite your metabolism and to get warm up, get here the secrets about eft and to know more about eft training and free eft demos, do visit our site.

In life, it is the moral responsibility for the elder to teach the younger, or for the experienced to teach the inexperienced. In internet life, the same moral responsibility applies in regards to correct use of email.

One large difference is that, in internet life, it is very often the younger who are the experienced. The current waves of growth in internet usage, the new users, are largely from the older generations.

Accordingly, it becomes the responsibility of the experienced users to educate and train newer users in the correct usage of email. One simple way of imparting this education to lesser experienced internet users is to politely refer them to this article at http://www.BestPrac.Org/articles/netiquette.shtml

The internet life carries it’s own versions of courtesy, privacy and security issues that all users need to know. Hence a new word has entered the vocabulary - Netiquette. (Internet etiquette.)

For example:

* In internet and email culture, ALL CAPITALS IS AKIN TO SHOUTING and is universally seen as rude and impolite.

* New email users often forget to include a brief “Subject” line on their emails, or do not understand the importance of it. Ordinary postal service “snail-mail” does not ordinarily require a heading about the contents of the letter on the outside of the envelope - though most posted periodicals and many commercial accounts nowadays do identify the contents or level of importance on the outside of the envelope. Email, however, operates very differently from snail-mail. Never omit a subject line, and keep your subject line brief and relevant. Without a subject line, your email will probably be seen as yet another junk email and be deleted unread by the intended recipient. More commonly, it may not even reach the recipient at all. Many ISPs filter suspicious looking emails and delete them without delivery. A blank subject line to an email filter is like waving a red rag in front of a bull.

* Never send emails to people you do not know without their express permission. Only send email to people who you know, or who have clearly indicated that they want to receive correspondence from you. Violation of this act of Netiquette can land you in all sorts of trouble. You will be labelled as a spammer. In some states or countries, you risk being charged with criminal or cival violations of the law for sending unsolicited email. Even in countries or states where there is no specific law prohibiting unsolicited email, it is regarded as bad manners and offensive. If you check with your ISP, you will almost always find that they reserve the right to terminate your internet connection if they receive complaints about you for sending unsolicited email.

* Even when sending email to people that you do know, only send them what they are likely to want. Not everyone you know wants jokes or other “chain email” forwarded to them. Not everyone shares your sense of humour or has the time while connected at work to be reading frivolous emails. If you like forwarding jokes or other “chain emails” to your friends, check with them first to be sure they are happy to receive them.

* Think before you type. Type, then think again. Unlike face-to-face or voice-to-voice communications, the easily and quickly typed email can all too easily be a source for expressing your feelings in the bluntest of ways. Similarly, the hastily written word may lack feelings and not express the emotions that can be sensed with eye contact or voice modulation in other forms of communications. It is too easy to forget that there is a human at the other end - not just a computer. You can very easily damage your own reputation and destroy friendships with thoughtless emails. Once an email is sent, you cannot retrieve it. The damage is done.

While to the experienced user all of the above is simply common sense, as the old saying goes “Common sense is not really all that common.” These basics are not innate within the human sole. Newcomers need to be taught.

When to use To:, CC: or BCC:

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Another vital area of appropriate email usage goes beyond merely being courteous in your communications - the correct use of To: or CC: or BCC when adding recipients to the email your are sending.

All popular email software and all web-email accounts give you a choice of these three different ways to add a recipient for your email. (Sometimes you might need to check your software menu and enable BCC as a visible option. It is not a visible option by default in all email software, unfortunately.) Your choice has vital privacy and security implications, so it is important to know which to use and when. While “To:” is self explanatory, a brief definition and history of CC: and BCC: will help you understand their correct usage.

* CC: is a term from old fashioned typists. It stands for “Carbon Copy”. In days of old, prior to photocopiers or word processors with laser printers, copies of letters were made by inserting two sheets of typing with a sheet of carbon paper in between into the typewriter. When a secretary typed a letter that was meant for one person though another person (other other people) was to receive a copy, and the first person was to be informed that a copy was being sent to another person, the typist would add a line under the signature at the end of the letter, along the lines of:

CC: Joe Bloggs.

Jane Smith.

This convention alerted to direct recipient to the fact that the letter had also been sent to other specific people.

If you did not want the direct recipient to know that copies were sent to other people, you’d simply not include a CC: line at the end of the letter.

* BCC: stands for “Blind Carbon Copy”. It is the electronic equivalent of sending a letter to multiple people without a CC: line. It means that people receive the email without any trace of who else is also receiving it being revealed.

Given those definitions, there are simple guidelines as to when you should use To:, CC: or BCC: in the emails that you send:

* If your email is being sent to just one person or email address, place it in the “To:” section.

* If your email is being sent to more than one recipient and all the recipients truly need to know who else is receiving it, put all the addresses in the CC: section.

* If your email is being sent to more than one recipient but there is no urgent reason for all the recipients to know the names and email addresses of everyone else to whom it is being sent, put all the addresses in the BCC: section.

(Some email software requires at least one address to be placed in the To: section. If yours insists on this when you are trying to send a CC or BCC email, put your own email address in the To: section.)

Understanding these basic principles of email usage has many benefits. It preserves the privacy of your contacts. It prevents lists of names and email addresses being sent to strangers when someone you send an email then forwards it to others. It helps to prevent viruses, worms and trojans being accidentally spread by your friends with out-of-date antivirus programs.

Most of all, it shows the people with whom you communicate that you are sensible and responsible in your online behaviour. It shows that you take their privacy and security seriously. It builds trust in your communications.

Trevor A. Johnson is Chairman of the internationally active Anti Spam organization BestPrac:Org (http://www.BestPrac.Org) which promotes internet industry standards of Best Practice for the Prevention and Elimination of Email Spam.

First it is important to understand the exact meaning of ‘Self-Esteem’. The Oxford English Dictionary definition is:

“One’s good opinion of one-self.”

Many people, and the psychology profession wouldn’t be able to survive without them, use the process of improving SELF-ESTEEM as an important step to the development of feeling good about one-self again.

This pathway back to a ‘good sense of worth’ may not be achieved with improving your self esteem alone, but we can assure you that you will have been elevated sufficiently to see what’s required next.

Positive affirmations are words that offer power to the subconscious mind … please read on.

We all have moments each year, each month, each week, each day and each hour where we may have sensed a period of sadness ensuing. It could have been a verbal attack on our character, it could have been a series of bad events. Whatever happens to you may never happen to anyone else; these routes to the doldrums are very personal.

Negativity is a sore point for any individual, so we need to develop a process of rising through these periods of confusion, and these are best defeated with us in a stronger frame of mind.

Building self esteem is not just about thinking good of yourself, it’s about not thinking bad for no reason!

Notice the small differences as they happen. Persevere and don’t expect everything at once. Beating low self esteem is a wonderful thing, and it’s much easier than you’d imagine.

“The way you overcome shyness is to become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid.” (Lady Bird Johnson).

Assume in this illustration that your ‘soul’ or your ‘personality’ is the book.

(Positive affirmations are words that offer power to the subconscious mind … please read on.)

THE BLUE BOOK

This particular book was blue with a gold embossed title. Within the first few pages I noticed its reprint date in 1905. Without telling you the name of the book, would you know from the description so far what book it was? No, I don’t suppose you would.

In 1905 it was a new book, printed and bound to the highest quality. Although translated into a hundred languages the new owner found delight in having bought it.

The book was full of information and although the owner was only aged 10 he began to read from page 1. It wasn’t long before he put his own stamp on the book by writing his name on the inside front cover. He was proud to own it and was happy for everyone to know that too.

It wasn’t a book he read straight through, for it took him 5 years to finish it; but he recalls the journey was well worth the wait. It became a proud possession and moved from shelf to shelf in his bedroom.

His parents were having a clear out and decided to collect some old items and send them to a local jumble sale. It was evident that the blue book was popular, it was soiled, damaged by various accidents, its pages were folded, creased and several were scribbled on while the owner was still young. The parents asked if they could include this in their collection for the jumble sale as it didn’t look too healthy.

It may not have been impressive to look at, but the content was excellent. The value to the owner had not decreased from day one. So, NO the parents could not take it.

The owner grew older and found himself a wife and now engrossed in his new life mislaid the book at his parent’s home. It wasn’t long before his parents had another house clear out and this time the book went to the jumble sale.

During that day at the jumble sale many people picked up the book with almost everyone considered it worthy to buy. It was an old woman who bought the book for a few pence. She referred to the book as revisiting an old friend. Over the next 15 years she read it through about five times. Although the book may not have been in pristine condition the content was still valuable.

The old woman passed away and her belongings taken to a second-hand shop. The blue book was purchased once again for a few pence by a mother who bought it specifically for her own children. Both children read it on several occasions and one kept it in his book collection for 40 years.

This current owner found his house on fire and although many expensive items were destroyed his book collection had been saved; although now the cover of the blue book was dirtier than ever. As it happens with time, the blue book changed hands several more times; one of which had spent time to meticulously clean the book. As I write this recollection the book is 100 years old, a little tatty around the edges but still of value because of the content.

Doesn’t this seem similar to our life and how we sometimes have to drag ourselves off the floor and dust ourselves down?

Many times in our lives, we get dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless.

But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or creased, you are still priceless to this life.

By the way the blue book is entitled ‘The Bible’.

Positive affirmations are words that offer power to the subconscious mind … to read more please visit this site: http://www.GlobalTop5.com/affirmations.html

Mr. Phil Booker Senior Affirmation Advisor For more information on ?affirmations? please visit this site: Affirmations - Advice, Tips and help

Leopards don’t change their spots. With laws and accepted standards in regards to unsolicited bulk email marketing, a.k.a. spam, having tightened in recent years, so too has the resolve of spammers to find loopholes to justify their wicked deeds.

The growth and now almost complete global acceptance of confirmed-opt-in standards (sometimes called “double opt in”) for email newsletter subscriptions has been encouraging. It has certainly gone a long way towards distinguishing between legitimated, wanted periodic emails and unwanted spam.

Confirmed-opt-in works like this: An ezine publisher seeking subscribers places a form on a webpage inviting people to submit their email address to subscribe. Of course, there is a risk that malicious submissions could be made, so the confirmed-opt-in subscription mechanism sends a confirmation email to the address provided, requesting that the owner of that email either reply to the email, or click on a specially coded link within that email. As the only person who has access to reading that request for confirmation is the true owner of the email address, a confirmation is solid proof that the subscriber is genuine and not added to the mailing list by some other party.

A confirmed-opt-in also provides the subscriber with the comfort of knowing they are dealing with an honest publisher. In short, if a subscription is NOT via a confirmed-opt-in method, web users are well advised not to provide their email address at all.

Given the now nearly universal acceptance of confirmed-opt-in subscriptions to email periodicals in order to distinguish them from spam, it should not surprise that spammers themselves have turned their attentions to exploiting the otherwise virtuous confirmed-opt-in mechanism into something that appears to legitimise their dirty spam marketing practices.

Welcome to the new and nasty world of “confirmed-opt-in-spam”.

A growing trend in bulk email marketing (some of which is legitimate, some of which is not) has been the use of a “squeeze page”, also known as a “name-squeeze”. While such a marketing mechanism may be completely above-board, honest and spam-free, the worry is the growing trend of misuse of the squeeze page by spammers to create a confirmed-opt-in email list to which to send unsolicited marketing materials.

A squeeze page, of itself, is not an evil tool. Used properly, they can be a very effective and legitimate marketing mechanism. They work as follows:

An email publisher attempts to increase their subscriber base by offering a free gift to new subscribers to their newsletter or ezine. For example, the offer may be for a free PDF ebook, or a downloadable video clip or similar giveaway. The idea is that this extra bit of incentive will encourage more people to subscribe to the email publication. The subscriber receives a confirmation email to which they either reply or click a specially encoded link within the confirmation email. They are then either emailed the free gift or automatically directed to a web page from where they can download it for themselves.

In the hands of a spammer, a deceptively similar strategy is employed:

The spammer offers a free gift in return for your email address. When you provide your email address in anticipation of receiving the free gift, you receive a confirmation email. Again, either a reply or a click on an encoded link confirms that your email address is legitimate and that you are indeed the person requesting the free gift. The free gift is then supplied.

Did you spot the difference between the honest use and the spammer’s technique?

Unlike the honest publisher, the spammer does not tell you that you are subscribing or opting-in to receive a regular newsletter or future marketing emails. The person providing the email address and confirming it is only expecting to receive a single ebook or other free gift, unaware that they are now on someone’s mailing list and about to be bombarded with marketing emails.

Some very well known internet marketing “gurus” use and widely promote the use of this deception and misuse of squeeze pages, thinking that mere confirmed-opt-in or even the ability to subsequently opt-out makes it a legitimate practice. It isn’t. If such a shoddy marketeer sends you follow-up material without prior warning, without your express and knowing consent, that sender is spamming.

Beware of the squeeze page spammer.

Next time you see a free gift being offered online in return for your email address, check for these three things:

# Is there any clear mention that you are subscribing for future emails, or are you just being offered a free gift with no mention of an ongoing email relationship? (If the latter, why do they need to know your email address?)

# Is a detailed privacy policy displayed or clearly linked (not hidden or hard to find) that explains how and why email addresses are collected, whether privacy is assured or if they reserve the right to use it for other purposes, what your rights to removal from their database and future emails may be, and so forth? (A professional privacy policy is a rather lengthy statement for even the simplest of websites. Don’t place too much trust in single-sentence assurances.)

# Never forget the old adage: If the offer sounds too good to be true, then it almost certainly is.

The author, Mr. Trevor A. Johnson, is Chairman of the internationally active BestPrac:Org Anti Spam organization (http://www.bestprac.org) which promotes internet industry standards of technical and ethical Best Practice for the Prevention and Elimination of Email Spam.

Despite legislation prohibiting spam in most countries of the world, spam is still as prevalent today as it was prior to the legislated prohibitions. Computer users, particularly home and private users, need to know and implement five essential security measures to prevent the majority of spam from ever reaching their machine.

1 : Keep your operating system up to date. All major operating systems contain security flaws. When these are discovered, the software manufacturer will quickly issue security patches for users to download and install, often automatically if the user chooses such a setting in their operating system’s preferences. Keep your operating system up to date at all time.

2 : Install a software firewall. Some operating systems these days come with a default firewall, though third party firewalls tend to offer greater levels of protection that those provided with an operating system. Several of these firewalls are available by online download at no cost and offer strong protection against hackers attempting to get in to your machine, as well as malicious software installations trying to covertly send email or other communications from your machine without your knowledge.

3: Install antivirus software and keep it up to date. In recent years, viruses have become a popular method for spammers to infect hundreds of thousands of personal computers with “trojans”, thus turning them into unwitting “zombies” capable of being controlled remotely to send unlimited quantities of spam. If your machine is infected, you could be spamming hundreds of thousands of other people and not even be aware that it is happening. Protecting your machine is not only for your own protection. It is the responsible thing to do to contribute to the protection of the internet as a whole. New viruses are released by vile offenders almost every day, so keep your antivirus software updated, either manually or by selecting auto update settings, daily.

4: Install anti spyware software and keep it updated. Spyware, also known as adware or malware, can be used in similar ways to viruses and trojan to invade your privacy, compromise your machine’s security and send emails or other electronic communications without your knowledge. Some of the more advanced antivirus software packages also include spyware protection, while others don’t. In either case, it is wise to have a standalone anti spyware package installed on your computer. Some of the better anti spyware software packages are available for download online without cost, so no computer owner should overlook this form of protection.

5: Only use email accounts that are filtered at the server level. If your email accounts are not filtered for both viruses and spam by your ISP or other email provider, close the account and find a new provider immediately. Don’t rely on installing your own local spam filter as spam should ideally be stopped at the server level so that spam and email borne viruses never reach your machine at all. No spam filter is 100% accurate, so it is fine to have your own local spam filter for the rare spam that your ISP or email provider’s server-side filter misses, but do not rely on your local protection alone. Another sound idea is to filter incoming email through one of the major web-based email services. These can be configured to receive POP3 email from your ISP or from your domain (if you own your own website) and filter your email. You may either check your now filtered email via the web interface, or pay a token annual fee (though some are at no cost) to be able to automatically download your web-account filtered email into your choice of local email software such as Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird or others.

These five measures will not stop all spam from reaching your computer. All internet users have other responsibilities to be careful in regards to whom and where they disclose their email address, never open unsolicited attachments, and other such security considerations. Combined, though, these five measures will most likely reduce your future spam volume by at least 95%.

The author, Mr. Trevor A. Johnson, is Chairman of the internationally active BestPrac:Org Anti Spam organization (http://www.bestprac.org) which promotes internet industry standards of technical and ethical Best Practice for the Prevention and Elimination of Email Spam.

Web analytics is the process of gathering, measuring and analysing user activity and behaviour on your website. Web analytics software interprets raw user data and outputs meaningful tables, charts and graphs that can be used to fine-tune crucial areas of a website in order to achieve your online business objectives.

Web analytics can give website owners increased insight into how effective their landing pages are in convincing visitors to opt-in to a mailing list or purchase a product. As such, web analytics can provide crucial information that can help develop strategic marketing decisions.

There are three main reasons for using analytics:

1. Support SEO Efforts

2. Improve Usability

3. Increase Accessibility

Support SEO Efforts

Search engine optimization drives visitors to the most relevant pages on your website. The concept is simple, similar to the way someone would use Yellow Pages to find an electrician, someone using a search engine to locate the products or services that you sell is highly likely to be in the market for those products or services.

What is your 5 most profitable keyphrases? What are your top landing pages? Which pages have the highest bounce rate? Web analytics is plays a decisive role in SEO. It lets you see where visitors are coming from, which terms they searched to find your site, which pages they land on and whether they hang around or immediately hit the back-button.

Analytics gives you the marketing intelligence, based on what works and what doesn’t, to make informed SEO decisions. The SEO process becomes then feedback a bit like a feedback loop, getting better and better with every iteration.

Yet many companies fail to take advantage of web analytics, whether that’s through time restraints, or they can’t be bothered, or feel it’s out with their technically skills. By improving the targeting and visibility of your website, you will increase your market share, raise brand awareness and extend product reach, all of which has a positive effect on the bottom line.

Improve Usability

It’s relatively easy to publish a website, with today’s WYSIWYG editors and Content Management Systems there is little requirement to gain a working knowledge of HTML. The potential audience is staggering, but that does not change the need to understand your audience. By understanding how visitors interact with your site you can help them achieve their goals quicker and easier. If your site “works” the way they do, the user experience will significantly increase and users will return time and time again.

Web analytics lets you see how visitors use and navigate your site. Are they struggling to achieve their goals? If they are, there is very little chance that you will achieve yours! According to IBM, every $1 invested in making your website easy-to-use returns $10 to $100.

Increase Accessibility

It’s also important to understand the technology is the technology that is used to access your web pages. By making your pages accessible to older browsers, mobile technology and assistive devices, like screen readers, you can significantly reduce bounce rate because more people will be able to see your pages.

Web analytics will let you see which browsers (and browser version), screen resolutions, operating systems and more. Would you turn away customers from your shop because they arrived in the wrong type of car? No, then make sure you are not turning visitors away from your website because they use the ‘wrong’ browser.

If you are serious about your long term success online invest in web analytics. There may be a steep learning curve, but the payoff is huge

This article was written by SEO Scotland who specialize in promoting Scottish websites.

The audio quality of some podcasts is dreadful, nowadays there’s no need for that to be the case since the equipment you require is of good quality and reasonably priced, all you need to do is to take care with a few operational aspects.

Things to do and to avoid.

Don’t use the built in microphone of your laptop computer, the reason for this is that although it might be of good quality it will pick up computer fan and hard drive noise and it limits you as to where you can put the microphone and still operate your computer effectively. Buy a decent microphone that you can plug into the computer and put in the best place.

If you have enough space in the room where you’re doing the recording use a microphone stand so that you don’t get handling noise on the microphone.

Buy a separate windshield that you can put a few inches in front of the microphone (the built in windshields rarely get rid of the worst blasts of air on the microphone). If you do have such artifacts then using some extreme bass cut just at those points in your software audio editor can help to make them less objectionable, but it’s best to avoid the problem in the first place.

Record in a quiet room and avoid places that have a lively acoustic (you can always add more reverberation later but it can’t be removed if it’s there on the original recording) i.e use a carpeted room with plenty of soft furnishings or hang up some duvets to soak up the reflectiveness of the room. If this isn’t possible then get close to the microphone and speak quietly into it (this reduces the likelihood of the room adding reverberation) also make sure you’ve used a windshield.

If you’re recording yourself use headphones to monitor your recording and turn down any speakers connected to your computer. Use a directional microphone and have it backed off from the computer to avoid cooling fan and hard-drive noises. You can only monitor with speakers if you’re recording someone else who’s located in another acoustically isolated room.

If you’re reading from a script then it would be a good idea to buy a music stand to put it on, this avoids paper rustling, especially as you change pages.

Set your recording level so that it goes into the red area only occasionally and avoid it being too quiet too.

If you are using a compressor/limiter in your pre-amplifier avoid excessive reduction of the dynamic range, since as with reverberation you can’t undo it. Use low compression ratios on the compressor and set the limiter at a high threshold just to prevent the loudest parts of your recording from distorting.

If you have any tone control (eq) on your preamplifier and you’re recording yourself then it’s best not to use it, use the eq built into your sound editor afterward when you can make a better judgment of sound quality, this is because you will hear yourself as others hear you when playing back the recording.

Microphone choice

There are no hard and fast rules about podcasting microphones since the frequency response of the human voice isn’t that great and you’re putting the microphone close to the person who’s speaking, so there are no fidelity (frequency response) or noise (hiss) issues to worry about.

The only aspect to consider is probably getting a cardioid microphone to avoid unwanted noise e.g. the computer, but if you have a quiet room and you’re recording several people around one microphone then an omni microphone would be better. It’s all down to your own set up and requirements.

The USB microphones that are now available will remove the need for a separate preamplifier but some will not have any means of direct monitoring built into them so you will hear a slight delay when monitoring via the computer.

More information on podcasting audio at Podcast Audio With lots more advice on recording microphones Michael O’Flynn has been a professional TV sound recordist for 20 years.