Getting Familiar with Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing basically means selling other people’s products. It can be done in the physical world or through the internet. They both have the same basic principles but since they sell in different ways, they use different strategies. Whatever strategies used, it still involves earning through commissions once somebody buys the product from you. It is like being the middle man.

Affiliate marketing through the internet involves having a website that has facts or useful information about some benefits that one can get from a certain product and a link to the merchant’s page that offers the product.

For instance, you have a website and you want to sell a merchant’s product. You need to have some general facts or interesting information about the product, and lead your site visitors to click on a link that will show the sales page of the product. Your main goal is to do great marketing on the internet so that when your potential customers reach the sales page, they would have no other decision but to make a purchase.

Affiliate marketing is also known to be a business where you could have passive income. This means that you can start it up by having a website that has very rich contents, compelling your target market to know more about the product until they make a purchase; and with little inputs, you will continue earning as long as you started your business right. If there will be a time when you need to take a vacation, you can do so while your site directs people to the sales page and continues with the sales conversion.

When you join an affiliate program, you will have your own affiliate link. This means that you will have a page created by the merchant where you can direct people and when they make a purchase, you automatically get the commission. This is because that page has your affiliate id and every sale that went through is considered yours.

Affiliate programs also have unique setup on cookies. If somebody sees a merchant’s site through your link, cookies are saved in their computer. These cookies contain your link information. Consider that they didn’t buy at the onset of seeing the page, when they go back to the merchant’s site, going directly to their business site address and decided to purchase, the sale is still considered yours.

However, cookies can usually be saved under your link in up to 90 days, depending on the merchant. So, you need to be aware of this when joining an affiliate program; or you may choose to sell a merchant’s product that gives longer time for cookies to be set under your link.

There are still a lot of things to know about affiliate marketing. It is lucrative but it is not a get rich quick business. Just like any other businesses, you must have focus, planning, and direction in it. You must also exert time and effort to reach your aspirations. It is best to think that you will surely be successful in it, you can get going.

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If you are like many people today, you are probably looking for ways to make some extra money. Or, you may be burnt out on your current job or just plain sick of working long undesirable hours. If any of these scenarios sound familiar, there just may be a proven way to bring you some extra cash or even a whole new career.

Making money on the internet is an up and coming way to put cold hard cash in your pocket. With the right information at your disposal, you too could start a very lucrative Internet business. There are numerous ways to make money on the Internet, and with that said there are also numerous scams that you need to watch out for. If you are looking to make money selling a product, you will need to make sure you are selling in a niche that truly is needed and will be profitable. One such current market niche is computer software.

In fact, computer software is one of the top money making niches on the Internet. When you think about it, with everyone not only using but depending on computers today, there are virtually millions of software programs that are needed. From computer games for kids to spyware software for the savvy, the needs are truly endless. When it comes right down to it, everything you do on your computer requires a software program to run it. And, most importantly, companies that develop software are constantly looking for people to market and sell their programs so that they too can make a profit.

There are certainly a lot of pros in choosing to sell internet software as a way to boost your income. Selling digital software is very simple and easy. When you think about it, all you really need is a website and a way to collect money from buyers. Of course you will also need to market yourself and know how to stay ahead of competitors. Once you have accomplished this, computer software really sells itself. After all, people are in constant need of computer software programs, and most importantly are very willing to put out money for this type of product.

Selling software, compared to other products also has the bonus of no inventory. You simply just continue to sell the product over and over without having to fuss with stocking the product and shipping it. It really couldn't be easier.

Now for even better news. There's a free report available that will give you step by step information on how to get started today. So, if you have the desire and ambition to make money on the internet you should look no further. With a positive attitude and the willingness to learn you can be on your way to supplementing your income or starting a new lucrative career for yourself.

Developing Documentation During System Development

System documentation and user documentation are the two types of documents. System documentation is required for better understanding and maintenance of the application software. User documentation is designed to help the user operate the system. A good-quality document requires designing the documents, writing and editing the text, and testing them, and hence takes longer time for documentation. Lower-quality documentation can be produced faster. Nowadays online documentation is becoming more important compared to traditional paper-based manuals. Users are more familiar with paper-based documents and these are simpler to use. Although online documents require people to be familiar with additional software commands, searching for information is easier in online documents. These also enable the users to interact with the document.

There are mainly three types of user documentation: reference documents, procedure manuals and tutorials. Reference documents are used when the user needs to learn how to perform a specific function. Procedure manuals describe how to perform business tasks. Tutorials teach people how to use major components of the system.

Introduction

There are two types of documents.

System documentation is intended to help programmers and systems analysts understand the application software and enable them to build it or maintain it after the system is installed. System documentation is a by-product of the system analysis and design process, and is created as the project unfolds.

Each step and phase produce documents that are essential in understanding how the system is built or is to be built, and these documents are stored in the project binder(s).

User documentation (such as user’s manuals, training manuals and online help systems) is designed to help the user operate the system. Although most project teams expect users to have received training and read the user’s manuals before operating the system, unfortunately this is not always the case. It is more common today – especially in the case of commercial software packages for microcomputers – for users to begin the software without training or reading the user’s manual.

User documentation is often left until the end of the project, which is a dangerous strategy. Developing a good documentation takes longer than many people expect because it requires much more than simply writing a few pages.

Producing documentation requires designing the documents (whether paper or online), writing the text, editing them and testing them. For good-quality documentation, this process usually takes about 3 hours per paper page (single-spaced) for paper-based documentation or 2 hours per screen for online documentation.

Thus, a “simple” set of documentation such as a 20-page user’s manual and a set of 20 help screens take 100 hours. Of course, lower-quality documentation can be produced faster.

The time required to develop and test user documentation should be built into the project plan. Most organizations plan for documentation development to start once the interface design and program specifications are complete. The initial draft of documentation is usually scheduled for completion immediately after the unit tests are complete.

This reduces – but does not eliminate – the need for the documentation to be tested and revised before the acceptance tests is started.

Although paper-based manuals are still significant, online documentation is becoming more important. Paper-based documentation is simpler to use because it is more familiar to users, especially novices who have less computer experience; online documentation requires the users to learn one more set of commands. Paper-based documentation is also easier to flip through to gain a general understanding of its organization and topics, and can be used far away from the computer itself.

There are four key strengths of online documentation that all but guarantee that it will be the dominant format form for the next century. First, searching for information is often simpler (provided the help search index is well designed). The user can type in a variety of keywords to view information instantaneously, rather than having to search through the index or table of contents in a paper document. Second, the same information can be presented several times in many different formats, so that the user can find and read the information in the most informative way.

Third, online documentation enables the users to interact with the documentation. For example, it is possible to use links or “tool tips” (i.e., pop-up text) to explain unfamiliar terms, and programmers can write “show me” routines that demonstrate on the screen exactly what buttons to click and text to type. Finally, online documentation is significantly less expensive to distribute and keep up-to-date than paper documentation.

Types of Documentation

There are fundamentally three different types of user documentation: reference documents, procedure manuals and tutorials. Reference documents (also called the help system) are designed to be used when the user needs to learn how to perform a specific function (e.g., printing a monthly report, taking a customer order). Typically, people read reference information only after they have tried and failed to perform the function. Writing reference documentation requires special care because users are often impatient or frustrated when they begin to read them.

Procedure manuals describe how to perform business tasks (e.g., printing a monthly report, taking a customer order). Each item in the procedures manually guides the user through a task that requires several functions or steps in the system. Therefore, each entry is typically much longer than an entry in a reference document.

Tutorials teach people how to use major components of the system (e.g., an introduction to the basic operations of the system). Each entry in the tutorial is typically longer than the entities in procedure manuals and the entities are usually designed to be read in sequence, whereas entries in reference documents and procedure manuals are designed to be read individually.

Regardless of the type of user documentation, the overall process for developing it is similar to the process of developing interfaces. The developer first designs the general structure for the documentation and then develops the individual components within it.

Documentation and managing the documentation in company’s Intranet are critical for a company, and the resource spent on it is worthwhile. For more info on these topics and training refer to Business Analysis & Data Modeling Training Bangalore

How Can A Website Benefit Your Business

1. Why should you have a website?

In order to succeed in today's world, you must have an Internet presence. More and more people log on to the internet everyday; there are billions of users world-wide and there are several reasons why one needs a web site. A website is a powerful first impression. Placing your business on the World Wide Web, gives your business the potential for global exposure, no matter the size of your business – be it large or small; singular or multi-national. To have your own website gives your business invaluable advantages, which is illustrated in the answer to the next question, viz-a-viz:

2. How can a website be useful?

Website help you leverage web services for streamlining data transfer to and from your organization.

There are myriad reasons for - How a website can be useful and why you should bring your business online? Some of them are, briefly, mentioned below:

a. Enhanced customer convenience

Your business concern can be more easily and quickly reached, every time a potential or an existing client searches for relevant businesses, products and services over the Internet. Your customers can always keep in touch with you and your business, just by knowing your web site address.

b. Greater reachability of your business profile:

Your business profile can be accessible from anywhere in the world. No other ad medium provides such global coverage. You need not depend on phone book entry or restricted yellow pages and newspaper ad presentations, any longer.

c. Greater possibilities for promoting your business portfolio:

People will not buy your products or services unless they know that they actually exist. You can tell your potential audience much more through a WEBSITE, than you could possibly do via any print advertisements, Yellow Pages listings, or TV/radio commercials. There are no limitations as far as space, time, nationality and residency are concerned. You can say as many things as you want, to as many people as you wish. And your business representation can be as resourceful as is the Internet itself.

d. Efficient low-cost advertising:

Your customers will always be able to obtain thorough up-to-date information about your services or products. Instead of having to rely on randomly aired TV or radio commercials, they can simply browse through your website whenever they like.

e. 24/7 availability:

Website is available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. It will be your hardest working employee, never getting sick, or taking a holiday. And you can rest assured that your website is always there for you – to answer your customers’ questions or to collect their feedback on your behalf.

f. Time-saving:

Prospective clients can learn about you and your business at any time of the day simply by visiting your website, so you won’t have to be present or involved with the process in any way. Your precious time can be saved and invested in other activities that can increase your profits and further enhance the scope of your business.

g. Cost -cutting:

You can save a lot of money cutting your costs on print ads, brochures, coupons, flyers, specials, newsletters or mailings. What’s more! Its always quick easy and extremely efficient to update real time information on your website; whereas regular renewals of printed materials turn out to be very expensive and time consuming. The fact optimized productivity at minimal cost is more valued in any business and it is possible only through world wide web.

Web services provide a standard way to implement a business function that can also be managed remotely. It employs an effective exchange of information and data-feeds between B2B and B2C portals, information warehouses, news providers, shopping portals like e bay and search engines like Google, MSN, yahoo etc.

Your website must work hard in today's competitive online environment — attracting visitors, providing a rich user experience and converting them into loyal customers.

3. What makes a site work successfully?

Its a hotly debated question – “What makes a website work well that will genuinely help your business and attract more customers?”

A well designed website can certainly lead to increased business. By following simple guide-lines, it is possible to create a good-looking website that will really give your business the best chance of being noticed.

For your online presence to really count, your brand needs to exude credibility, confidence and efficiency through your website. A well designed website can certainly leverage your business processes. One can achieve this by blending strong design and content, with seamless functionality, and expert support throughout - with time tested processes.

Web Designing is “a process of conceptualization, planning, modeling, and execution of electronic media delivery via Internet in the form of Markup language suitable for interpretation by Web browser and display as Graphical user interface” (ref- Wikipedia)

Web Design can have a powerful affect. Web Design is important and it must be right! The right design kindles in a website visitor the right perception of your business. It engenders confidence and trust in your business. Success online is vital to the overall strength of your business.

It’s essential that –

In an arena saturated with billions of web pages, it requires innovation and expertise, to represent your brand effectively.

Your site must be easy to navigate and simple to use. If your users and potential customers can’t find what they want, this will undermine your site’s performance, in relation to your business goals.

Your web site should, clearly and concisely, reflect your business, values and products, since your web site is now the first point of contact for a new user or potential customer.

A good and innovative design ensures that the site is memorable and encourages the viewer to explore beyond the home page.

The web functionality and programming should use only standard, compliant, valid coding and also provide an alternative programming, to ensure that your site is viewable in any Browser and at any Screen Resolution.

Most Web design and development companies possess skills in one or the other – rarely both. This is where ImagiNET Ventures web solutions differ, as we understand how to design a website that will most effectively present you, your business or organization, with your products and services.

4. What are the common mistakes of a website?

Lets face it! If visitors get lost or become confused while attempting to surf your website, they might hit the back button, and look for a more user- friendly website. People do not like to think, when it comes to finding their way around websites. Don’t make them tick. You need to plan your website from stage to stage, and make a difference between between a very poor website and a very good website.

Let us now see – what are the pitfalls inherent in designing and setting up a website? You may know some of them already, but by avoiding and correcting them, you can be sure to keep constant flow of visitors entering and re-entering into your portal! The list of most common errors is unending but invaluable for new designers, web developers and content writers – who need a list for their website spot check.

1.Site best viewed:

New designers usually use this “site best viewed” with a disclaimer statement regarding which web browser or screen resolution they designed their site, for best viewing. It does not impress the visitor. Instead, invest in skilfully designed website that renders well in multiple browsers, and in any screen resolution.

2.Shabby lay-out and glaring design:

Some sites are totally unbalanced in their lay-out and overloaded design. The designs do not match the page content and appears misplaced and misfit in the entire scene. Give your pages a pleasing appearance, with just the necessary facts and place your design out-lay with a professional touch. Always take screen shots of designs in different resolutions, before uploading the appropriate one.

3.Horizontal scrolling:

The horizontal scroll makes it extremely difficult to read the content on your site, and often your visitors will lose patience and leave. Check your website in a site resolution viewer. A professional website can be viewed without horizontal scrolling in, both, a smaller and larger screen resolution. User's find scrolling from the top to the bottom of your pages, more clear to view and easy to read.

4.Free Web Hosting:

This is a common web page mistake you definitely need to avoid. Often business owners claim that the business is "just starting”, and that is why they have not yet moved their site to a domain host. Do not use free web hosting if you want your business to be taken seriously. It reflects on your image and credibility.

To resolve this issue, you must choose and purchase a domain name if you, already, do not have one. You also need to choose a professional domain host. There is no getting around this one. If you want to run a successful online business, you absolutely must have a reliable domain host.

5.Appalling Images

Don’t allow your visitor view badly shaped or terribly cropped images and missing graphics files. Optimize your images, using the best height and width. Keep your files in the best formats - j peg for Photographs and gif for artwork.

6.Blaring and ghastly color schemes:

Avoid using ghastly and loud colors that does not match your website concept and mission. Although your text may be easy to read, overly-bright colors distracts and repels the reader away from your site's purpose. Your designs must reflect class and designer quality, with state-of-the-art designs and pleasantly eye-catching color schemes for your web pages.

7.Slow loading:

If your page does not download rapidly, visitors will quickly move on to find another site. Take action now to reduce the "weight" of your pages . Each image on your site must be correctly sized and optimized for web use. Keep your pages lean and fast for the visitor to move on quickly, with interest.

8.Spell check:

Always spell check the text , keeping it free of grammatical error, punctuations and spelling mistakes. Without spell check, the site looks amateurish and shabby.

9.Ineffective Text Content:

A major mistake is to fill the pages with long text, without any headings and sub-headings. Do not cram your web pages with loaded decorative words and hi-funda text. Readers do not have time to fill their heads with all details.

Make your text more effective. Keep your text simple, crisp and to-the-point. Use decorative words in the right context. Your language should spell clarity, consistency and coherence in content, style, structure and font. The pages should be easy to read and simple to understand, with a smooth flow. The fonts should be rightly used, with appropriate side-headings and the text need to be phrased in short paragraphs, giving a pleasing feel to the reader.

Your website must provide a clear message with a goal-oriented direction, setting you apart from your competitors. Your content should easily answer his question - “what's in it for me?” The reader must be able to identify with your write-up and find you as his 'partner' for addressing his solutions.

10. Absence of an Email Subscription Form:

This critical aspect is often neglected by most website owners. It is very important to have a lead generation for your website via Email subscription form, for optimal business returns. Having a mailing list gives you several advantages like maintaining a visitors list who allow you to contact them, build a relationship, and establish yourself as an expert for solving their problems.

11.Using a weak message 'join my newsletter':

Your content , design layout and solutions should be so user-friendly such that it compels the reader to subscribe your mailing list. Do not use a weak message like – “join my free newsletter”. The reader would wonder “Why?” and “If I subscribe, will you give me a bonus, or a free gift instantly, as soon as I join?” If your design and text work impresses the reader for availing your services, you would automatically get email subscriptions for a membership, from your visitors. It speaks on your credibility.

12.No Contact Information - Just giving your email id and the web address is not sufficient for your readers – who may be prospective clients. Keep your detailed contact information easy to find and easy to read. Inclusion of a site-map works wonders for your business.

13.Advertising – Advertisements provide huge revenue but it should be placed skilfully and with reference to the current times. Appropriate advertisements should be placed - reflecting the different verticals of your business. Do not overload your page with ads, especially the big flashy banners. Well placed, well designed ads are okay, if you don’t overload the page.

14. Prices –. Don’t waste your time, hoping you will get email inquiries on your prices. The moment a visitor sees your product or services, his prime question will be “what is the price of this item?” Do not keep the visitor guessing the price; it will give him an opportunity to jump into another website where the price is mentioned and you may end up losing a prospective customer. You need to include a price with the item description, if you sell something.

15.Under Construction - Avoid having a “closed – under construction” or “yet to open” website. Give your visitors atleast a single page of content, with a notice - when the whole site will be open.

16.Music: Include a soft and soothing music or that which is relevant to the content. Do not include music, if it is not needed. Music should not be out-of-control and keep the control buttons easy-to-use. Music can turn one's mind on but at the same time put your mood off, if it is not rightly timed, controlled and soft.

The list of common mistakes are innumerable. The above general tips gives you an idea of what to avoid and how to resolve. By keeping your website design in good shape and ensuring your web content writing is in good taste, you will find more people visiting and enjoying your website!

Troubleshooting Internet Explorer 7.0 Issues

ntroduction:

Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) is light years ahead of its predecessors, but by no means does that proclamation mean that the browser is perfect. You are still going to encounter issues with IE from time to time.

Here are some of the concise guides that deliver some troubleshooting steps that will clear up the majority of issues we encountered with IE7.

Issues with Internet Explorer 7.0 with solutions

Problem: Crashes or hangs

If IE crashes, the most likely problem is that there's a buggy add-on (Toolbar or Browser Helper Object). In order to verify and isolate the buggy add-on, follow these steps:

1. Start IE in No Add-ons mode, either by right-clicking the Desktop icon, or clicking START - RUN and typing: iexplore.exe -extoff

2. Determine if IE fails.

3. If not, use Tools - Manage Add-ons to disable all browser extensions and toolbars.

4. Restart IE and re-enable browser extensions one-by-one.

5. Once you've found a broken extension, contact the manufacturer and ask for an update.

(Reference: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=928426)

If IE still crashes often, even when browser add-ons are disabled:

• Please ensure that you are running the very latest version of your anti-virus, anti-malware, and/or firewall programs.

• Please ensure that the drivers for your graphics card are up to date.

• If you have Google Desktop installed, please ensure that you update to the latest version of Google Desktop.

• If you have 7-Zip or other Windows Explorer extensions installed, please ensure that you update to the latest.

Problem: Cannot connect to Internet using IE after updates installed

If you see the "Page Cannot be Displayed" error after installing Internet Explorer updates from Windows Updates, it's possible that you have a 3rd party firewall installed that is blocking access because the IE files have been updated. Please see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942818/en-us for more information.

Problem: IE always starts in "No Add-ons" mode

The problem is that you're launching Internet Explorer using a shortcut icon that has the "-extoff" command line parameter. That parameter causes IE to start without add-ons. Thus, every time you use that shortcut icon, IE will start in No Add-ons Mode.

1. How do you normally start Internet Explorer? Right-click whatever icon you're using to start IE, choose "Properties" and remove the -extoff part of the shortcut.

2. If you click the green START button, click Run, type iexplore.exe in the RUN box, then hit the ENTER key, IE will start with Addons enabled.

Problem: IE opens small windows

IE opens new windows at the size of the last closed window. If you find that IE is opening small windows, do this:

• Close all IE windows.
• Open one new IE window.
• Adjust that window to the size you prefer. Do this by dragging the window borders. Do not use the maximize button:
• Close the IE window.
• New IE windows will open at the size you chose.

Problem: ClearType Text appears fuzzy

IE7 turns on a text-smoothing technology called "ClearType" by default. ClearType is scientifically proven to make text easier to read, particularly on LCD flat panel monitors.

If ClearType looks fuzzy on your monitor, you might want to try the ClearType tuning wizard, which can help you adjust the display of ClearType.

If you still don't like the appearance of ClearType, you can turn it off by unchecking the checkbox: Tools - Internet Options - Advanced - Multimedia - Always use ClearType for HTML.

Problem: IE Startup takes a long time (>3 seconds)

1. IE may start very slowly if you have a huge number of sites listed in your Restricted or Trusted sites zone. Some tools, like "SpyBot Search & Destroy" will place thousands of sites in these zones if you use their "immunize" feature.

2. Follow the "Crashing on startup" steps above to see if starting in No Add-ons mode starts much faster

3. If you're not using a proxy, uncheck IE's "Automatically detect settings" option on the Tools - Internet Options - Connections - LAN Settings dialog.

Problem: Slow Page rendering

1. Increase the connection limit. This tweak allows IE to make up to 16 connections per server.

2. Ensure that both "HTTP1.1" checkboxes in Tools - Internet Options - Advanced are checked.

Problem: IE7 Setup fails to install Internet Explorer

See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917925

Problem: My address bar won't turn green?

IE7 includes a cool new feature that turns the address bar green when a secure site presents an Extended Validation certificate:

If you're having trouble with this feature, on a site you know has an EV certificate:

1. Ensure that you either have the Phishing Filter set to "Automatic" mode or Tools > Internet Options > Advanced > Security > Check for Server Certificate revocation checked.

2. If that doesn't work, install this: Windows Root Certificate Update and restart.

Problem: After installing, IE7 starts then vanishes

It's possible that one of IE's DLLs isn't installed correctly

1. Click START - RUN and type cmd
2. In the command prompt, type cd\
3. In the command prompt, type cd Program Files
4. In the command prompt, type cd Internet Explorer
5. In the command prompt, type regsvr32 IEPROXY.DLL

(Reference: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=928427)

Problem: Error message about PSAPI.DLL

If you install IE7 and the following error message begins to show:

The procedure entry point GetProcessImageFileNameW could not be located in the dynamic link library PSAPI.DLL

1. Search your hard disk for PSAPI.dll.

2. Any copies of this DLL that are found outside of the Windows or Windows\System32 folder should be renamed to PSAPI.bak.

Problem: IE always goes to http://runonce.msn.com/runonce2.aspx instead of my homepage

If IE7 always goes to the RunOnce page on startup, even after you've tried to save the first run settings, it's possible that the mechanism that IE is using to save the settings does not work for some reason.

You can prevent IE from going to the RunOnce page and cause it to go directly to your homepage by running this script.

For more info, check out this Knowledge Base article.]

Problem: IE always goes to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/ie/getitnow.mspx instead of my homepage

If Internet Explorer always goes to this page on startup, it's likely that you have an anti-spyware package (like "SpyBot") that prevented IE from correctly modifying your registry.

Try running this script. Note: you may need to disable your anti-spyware tool temporarily for the script to work.

Problem: On startup, IE always shows an error message about the AOL toolbar

If you see the following error message every time IE starts:

"Cannot find 'file:///C:/Program%20Files/AOL%20Toolbar/welcome.html'. Make sure the path or Internet address is correct."

..then you've hit a bug in the AOL Toolbar.

Try running this script. Note: you may need to disable your anti-spyware tool temporarily for the script to work.

Problem: I installed a "branded" version of IE7, but I'd prefer a "plain" copy without toolbars and customizations.

An article on this topic can be found here: How to remove branding in Internet Explorer 7.

Problem: Malware / Adware

If Internet Explorer is behaving strangely (crashing, visiting unwanted sites, etc), it's possible that there is malicious software installed on your computer.

As a first step, you should allow your antivirus software to scan and attempt to repair your computer. Additionally, you may want to try the following Microsoft tools:

• Windows Defender
• Windows Live OneCare
• Windows Live Safety Center
• Malicious Software Removal Tool

You should also ensure your computer has all the security updates available at Microsoft Update.

Problem: My searches are redirected to unrelated sites and I cannot connect to WindowsUpdate or antivirus websites

If Internet Explorer searches are redirected to unrelated sites or search engines, it's possible that your computer was infected with malware (see the previous tip). However, if your computer is not currently infected with malware, it's possible that at some time in the past, malicious software altered your computer's DNS settings. DNS works like an "internet phonebook" that maps URLs (like "windowsupdate.microsoft.com") to internet protocol addresses (like "207.46.225.221").

To determine if a malicious DNS server is configured:

- Go to Start -> Control Panel ->Network Connections.

- Right click your default connection, usually Local Area Connection or Dial-up Connection, if you are using Dial-up, and left click on Properties.

- Double-click on the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) item

Check to see if you're set to something other than "Obtain DNS servers automatically". If so, contact your ISP to ensure that the address specified is correct, or set the "Obtain DNS servers automatically" checkbox. Then restart your computer.

Problem: After opening many tabs, Windows and IE paint abnormally.

Problem: A remote user is having networking problems with Internet Explorer. How can I collect information about his system to help me to troubleshoot?

Have the user run Netcheck and send you the log file.

Problem: Overlong headers result in HTTP/4xx or HTTP/5xx errors, particularly on devices like routers or webcams

Problems of this nature are usually caused by one of the two request headers in yellow being longer than the device expects.

GET / HTTP/1.1

Accept: image/gif, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg, application/x-ms-application, application/vnd.ms-xpsdocument, application/xaml+xml, application/x-ms-xbap, application/vnd.ms-excel, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint, application/msword, application/x-shockwave-flash, application/x-silverlight, application/x-silverlight-2-b2, */*

Accept-Language: en-us

User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.0; WOW64; Trident/4.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; InfoPath.2; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 3.0.30618; OfficeLiveConnector.1.3; OfficeLivePatch.1.3; MS-RTC LM 8)

Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate

Connection: Keep-Alive

Host: 192.168.10.1

These headers are dynamically generated out of registry keys. They can usually be trimmed by editing the registry without any important side-effects.

To trim the list in the Accept header, click START > RUN > REGEDIT.EXE. Using RegEdit, navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Accepted Documents

..and remove elements from the "Name/Type/Value" list to remove values that aren't strictly required. Elements in red are of lower importance than those in black:

image/gif, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg, application/x-ms-application, application/vnd.ms-xpsdocument, application/xaml+xml, application/x-ms-xbap, application/vnd.ms-excel, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint, application/msword, application/x-shockwave-flash, application/x-silverlight, application/x-silverlight-2-b2, */*

A similar problem can occur with the User-Agent header.

To trim the list in the User-Agent header, click START > RUN > REGEDIT.EXE. Using RegEdit, navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent\Post Platform

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\User Agent\Post Platform

..and remove elements from the "Name/Type/Value" list to remove values that aren't strictly required. Elements in red are of lower importance than those in black:

User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.0; WOW64; Trident/4.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; InfoPath.2; .NET CLR 3.0.30618; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; OfficeLiveConnector.1.3; OfficeLivePatch.1.3; MS-RTC LM 8)

The Real Reason for CRM implementation Failure

ou can search the Internet and look at technology trade magazines and find list after list of why CRM (Customer Retention Management) implementations fail. To me, most of these "articles" are laundry lists from many "post mortem meetings". We can talk for days about "How the executives did not buy in to the solution", or "the employees, especially users, did not believe in the selected system" even "poor project management" are great excuses for spending thousands and even millions of dollars. Please don't misunderstand me; these are all valid reasons to project failure while the blame is placed on users, executives, project managers and even the solution itself. No one discusses the beginning of the failure point.

A simple scenario:

. A large company's Sales Department decides that a CRM solution is needed to help increase sales, customer retention and track support calls. Different CRM vendors meet with the Company's executive staff. CRM sales representatives explain why the business should choose their product. From my experience as a consultant for Amdocs ClarifyCRM, which is extremely customizable. The sales person informs the business that the software can be customized to accommodate any business requirements, such as billing, invoice generation, provisioning and even Human Resource utilities. Expectations have now been set. I, being a good ole southern boy, have said that "Windshield wipers can be put on a goat's rear, but it just doesn't make sense. Just because you can do it doesn't mean you should. One system is not the "do all, be all" solution even though you can customize it to the nth degree.

Many companies send the SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) to training for a 2 to 5 day course that only touches the surface of the applications use and does not allow for complete familiarity of the system. The SME is now expected to quasi train a selected group of end users and executive staff on the operation of the newly purchased CRM system. To me this is almost like asking a college freshman to write his Master's Thesis. He may understand the subject and know how to write, but he doesn't have the complete experience to complete the task. A test system may or may not be installed so the company is not truly ready for the implementation process to begin. Soon the CRM vendor's PSO's (Professional Service Organization) analyst team arrives like a flood. The documentation processes and gathering of business requirements begin. The analyst team will meet with users and SMEs to gather this information. Here is where the failure begins. Even though the SME has been trained he is still not truly a SME, and the PSO consultants provided by the vendor are not experts in the exact methods and processes of this particular company and in many cases they do not have any experience within this particular industry. Keep in mind that the only way a Professional Service Organization generates revenue is by billable hours.

Now the process begins and so does the failure point. James Thurber said "It is better to know some of the questions then all of the answers" and so is the case with the PSO They have templates of questions to ask, and begin meetings with user groups and SMEs to drive out requirements on a system that the company's employees do not really understand. Users are asked, about drop down list items, data capture, process and workflow, user rights or privileges and integration. There is about 2 to 4 weeks dedicated to filling out a design matrix. The executive committee is asked to sign off on the matrix and the design document is written. All this has been done with know true knowledge. The design document is the accepted or signed off on and the implementation begins. During the implementation process training is developed based on the design and customizations being added to the system. As the system changes due to change requests and future enhancements the training must be updated.

A major aspect of the CRM implementation is data migration. Due to project timelines, data is mapped, custom fields are defined and the data is migrated with no real data clean up. The entire focus of the project is on the actual system and not any type of foundation or integrity. In many cases the CRM system is CBAR (Customized Beyond All Recognition)

After 9/11 Donald Rumsfield referring to the "War on Terror" he stated "There are things we know we know, things we know we don't know, things we don't know we know and things we don't know we don't know. The business and CRM world are the same so a change request process is put in place that can eventually stretch the project timeline and increase the cost to production.

Planned Resolution

The most successful projects that I have been involved with, and I have lead projects that have won the Aberdeen 10 Most successful CRM implementations of the Year, began by allowing the users and SMEs use an OOB (out of the box) system and compare it to their current CRM process and applications. Training on the OOB system is a much easier process then reinventing the wheel. Utilizing the CRM vendors training programs offers a true and complete foundation for each and every user. The users now have more of a complete understanding of the system, especially if the OOB system goes live with only minimal administrative customizations and changes. With a deeper understanding of the application and actually using it, the business can now explore the changes or gaps in the system. These changes should be well managed. Many CRM implementations are not completed for months and even with high cost and low Return on Investment (ROI). Most importantly is the data integrity.

How are the changes managed? Changes to the system should be grouped based on priority, system module, and time. A recommended methodology to manage and organize changes is the SCRUM process. Within the scrum process a sprint is created which usually is no longer then 2 to 4 weeks from beginning through to production including development time. As I stated in the beginning most articles on CRM implementation failures are a laundry list from post mortem meetings.

Top 10 reasons CRM implementation fail and the answers using the above methodology:

1. "Not defining clear objectives for the software implementation is a commonly cited contributing factor associated with failed implementations. A successful project is one that attains its objectives, but it is amazing how many business entities undertake a CRM solution with vague, unidentified, immeasurable goals. "

All CRM vendors have a basic or OOB system that will achieve many of the objectives of the company immediately. These objectives may be very basic, but offers the business, SMEs and users the opportunity to gain knowledge of the system and allow for business objectives to be defined more clearly based on experience.

2. "Not attaching measurements to your objectives is a similar contributing factor. Labeling a project unsuccessful requires some degree of measurement, and if a company does not calculate pre-implementation assessments of critical objectives, it becomes impossible to pinpoint the issues responsible for either success or failure. While it may be a generally accepted fact that a project is not successful, unless the business can identify where and why, it is doomed to repeated failures."

After using an OOB system critical objectives can be defined and allow pre-release assessments of these objectives. Using the SCRUM methodology the project team can measure the objectives urgency, cost and time to production.

3. "A failure to review and define the key performance indicators for the company is the reason many a project descend into disaster. Evident, but an amazing number of implementations do not define clear metrics. Unclear metrics or poor metric quality is an often-overlooked factor in the dividing line judging a system implementation's failure or success."

Using the OOB system users will have a greater understanding of the CRM application. This understanding combined with the expertise of the particular business model and process, users can define critical, necessary, and precise metrics.

4. "Over-customization of the software particularly during an early implementation phase can spell the demise of a project. While lack of defined business objectives is a sin of crucial importance, going to the other extreme, is perhaps the second most common reason Client Relationship Management solutions are not utilized by users. Do not attempt to implement every feature inherent in the software. This tactic guarantees failure."

By implementing the OOB system there are no customizations of the software during the early implementation process. Using the experience of the users to define key customizations and enhancements that are prioritized and implemented in a strategic manner using release management, offers the ability to monitor the amount of customizations and the affects on performance. Keep in mind that one system is not a do all, be all system.

5. "An equally common reason for failure is planning to customize the selected solution before utilizing it in a test environment. Even identified, possible holes in software functionality can often be worked around, thus avoiding customization."

Utilizing the system in a test environment is a good idea. Most companies will test the system with sample test data from the real world. This is better then no testing at all. By placing the system in a production type role where users are performing their day-to-day functions will identify the holes or gaps and the work-a-rounds that may apply. Allowing the users to discover work-a-rounds provides user involvement and peer-to-peer training.

6. "Not incenting your employees to use the system contribution to user adoption challenges. Possibly the most important single quantitative gauge of success is the user adoption rate. If only the self-motivated utilize the system, it is not successful. Use a combination of rewards and procedures to spur users' buy-in, and recognize that this is necessary for all personnel, including executives."

One of the greatest incentives to users is involvement. Utilizing the experience of the users and allowing them to generate ideas on system improvements will also generate excitement.

7. "Insufficient training and support delivered during key periods can burry a project. User adoption rates drop off for a number of reasons, but two rank high on the list - lack of training and support prior to and post implementation. Sometimes this occurs not because the training and support are absent, but because it is not provided in the appropriate format. A remote sales force, for example, may not be able to rely on in-house personnel for remote support."

In many cases a customized system is released and a complete training strategy must be developed and implemented. This can be a high increase in cost. By utilizing the OOB system, training is much easier. The CRM vendor offers training on the OOB system. As customizations and enhancements are added training is simpler for the company to provide. This gives each and every user a true foundation.

8. "Another reason for poor user buy-in is incorrect, incomplete or bogus data. Marketing cannot direct concerted successful campaigns if prospect information is inaccurate. The same holds true for both the Sales and Service divisions, and, indeed, in these lines of business, erroneous records can bring operations to a complete halt, ensuring dismal failure."

Simply stated, the CRM application collects data and relates it. Data scrubbing and deduping should be a very high priority. Users want access to exact and accurate data, not the ability to search for possibilities. Dedicated data cleanup will insure user buy-in.

9. "Failure to align the business operations of the divisions utilizing the system virtually guarantees the project's outcome. CRM solutions generally involve three often disparate departments with separate processes, cultures, and aims. Numerical targets exist for each division and these can be contradictory. Unless these areas are aligned harmoniously prior to the project's initiation, failure is likely. Not only must operations be aligned across sectors, but they must share consistent processes where those processes interact with the customer. Each salesperson must perform the same process to take a lead to client in the same manner. Consistent, aligned processes cannot be translated into system workflow unless they are documented and understood. Undocumented business practices are unreliable and leave large margins for inefficiency and breakdown."

When the OOB system is implemented users from all business operations will follow the basic process within the system. Users, understanding the current business workflow, can easily adapt to the basic workflow contained within the system. As users gain experience workflow processes may be documented and aligned then implemented into the CRM application.

10. "Not planning for change and delineating a specific method of handling each out-of-scope incident can doom a project. Besides user adoption rates, two other important gauges of a successful CRM implementation are budget and cost overruns. Both of these are simple, quantitative evaluations easily measured by objective analysis. If a project was supposed to be completed within six months, but actually took in excess of a year, users will view it as unsuccessful and become reluctant to associate with the project. Project duration estimates are exceeded for numerous reasons; inadequate resources, timely unavailability of resources, the changing global marketplace, and many others. Exceeding the budgeted dollar figure for installing and using a CRM system is a result of many factors, but the primary culprit is creeping project scope."

Scope creep is a huge culprit causing project timelines and budgets to increase creating a more complex system to develop and implement. By using an agile process with short design to production time frames scope creep and budgets can be more controlled. Your time to production is shortened. Changes are not discovered during the design, development or testing phases, but are discovered by users. These changes are more solution oriented for the users because they are documented based on usage of the OOB system.

Just Twitter FIND IT!

On their website, I 80-Equipment invite the online truck shopper to “Just say FIND IT!” and they promise to help you find whatever you’re looking for. It’s only a matter of time before twittering truckers adopt this on Twitter too.

Remember two months ago, when people asked what Twitter was. Now if you’re a business and you’re worth your salt, you want to be Twitterin’.

For any business though, it is a calculated decision to twitter. You don’t want to start Twittering until you’re sure that you’ll have followers. It’s probably a costly mistake in the business world, to be seen Twittering with only 5 followers in tow. You want to start twittering when you’ve got a solid client-base who would do repeat business with you, if the need arises, and who will happily follow you, if invited.

Twitter is a great tool if you want to give your clients and potential clients a forum for a dialogue, and even more importantly if you want to let them see what you’re up to. The logic of Twittering is if you like being well-informed as to what’s happening in your industry, you keep your client-base and other people in your niche market in the loop, and gather a following. And then, at some point, your following will do a 180 degree turn. You’ll start attracting the ‘big fish’ in your industry. Like-minded professionals, who have interesting business partnerships and deals to offer, will approach you because of your following. This is where Twitter is miles ahead of other social networking platforms. Twitter acknowledges that it’s all about your following. “If you have the numbers, let’s talk” is the attitude.

Most people get that Twitter is a social network. But ask them about micro-blogging, and you might get a few raised eyebrows. But that’s what Twitter is about – it’s micro-blogging. And in this era of information overload, micro-blogging is the freshest, user-friendly alternative to blogging.

If you want to be with the top players, hang out where everyone is hanging out. Twitter ranks as one of the 50 most popular websites worldwide. You’ll be looking for elbow space alongside 6 million monthly visitors, and close to 10 times this number of monthly visits. It’s where people who are going places go.

I 80 Equipment, based in Colona, IL has earned the reputation of being #1 Supplier of Quality Bucket Trucks Digger Derricks and Cranes. I 80 Equipment also have a sales hotline service, and they are always happy to walk you through any aspect of a truck purchase, be it choosing the right truck for your company, ensuring your drivers know what they need to know, or getting financing.

I-80 Equipment has earned themselves a strong reputation for the quality trucks they offer, their 77 point inspection and their financing solutions. And their name is known nation-wide as well internationally. They sell boom trucks, bucket trucks, crane trucks, digger derricks, and other heavy equipment for many different industries. They Twitter.

Blog Optimization

Search engine optimization is the process done to generate traffic through search engines. It became a need for websites because 80%-90% of visitors come from major search engines. Higher rankings mean greater number of visitors. The same concept applies to blogs. However, many blog owners are not aware of their chances of being more visible on the web. They just update it once in a while and that's it. Considering the great number of blogs on the net today, from personal to corporate blogs, all their efforts will just go to waste if they do not optimize it.

Yes, blogs can be optimized, too. It should be done for the benefit both of your readers and search engine spiders. Although the process is quite similar with the standard website search engine optimization, it is a bit different. Here are some tips that you can do to start:

Consider the Design

It is not advisable to use the default template being offered by blog publishing sites. You wouldn't want to bump into a girl in a party wearing the same dress, do you? Same thing goes to blogs. You can hire a designer to do the work for you. If running a tight budget, you can always look for free templates offered by web design companies and you can customize it a little to make it unique.

Optimize the Tags

Use the most substantial phrase for your blog in the hard code of the title tag. Also, you have to double check that each entry's title appears on the tile tag. This is sometimes overlooked.

Keywords

You should always use your keywords in the blog post titles and categories. You can also use many categories in one entry if appropriate.

RSS Feed

It is best that you have RSS subscription button available on your blog. This would be more convenient to your readers because it will publish your recently updated work. If your blog publisher don't have RSS automatically available, there are RSS feed button creation tool on the net. But make sure that you place it where the readers can easily see them. You can put it in your sidebar. It is already on the blog owner's prerogative if he/she wants to full or partial RSS.

Use Email

Because there are some people who are not familiar with RSS feeds, go the extra mile and offer them something else with the same benefits. I'm talking about You can have your blog post via email. Free tools are also available online to do this.

Compelling Introduction

Introduction about the blog post is sent out via RSS feed. Make sure that it is compelling to enough to make your readers want to have more of it so that they would click the “more” button and read the entire article. Therefore, it should be interesting.

Check you CSS

It is common that blogs come with overwhelming amount of CSS or Cascading Style Sheets. The solution to this is to place it in an external CSS file to avoid clutter in the main template and for the main entry not to go further down.

Keywords-rich Anchor Texts

In placing links in other sites/blogs and even in putting internal links, make sure that you are using keyword-rich anchor text. Remember that it is always better to use your keywords than “click here” or “more”. It would benefit you when search engine spiders crawl your blog.

Keep Your Posts Bonded

If your blog post is somehow connected to your previous posts, link them to each other. The idea is that if your reader is interested in this particular topic, then he/she probably can also be entertained of a different story with the same subject matter. You can use Related Posts Plugin for this.

Do the same in other blogs. If you see a blog entry or an article on the same issue, make them knowledgeable of your existence by placing a link going to your post.

Purchase a Domain

We all know that blog hosting companies will only be around for such a time. Once they close their business, they will be closing your blog as well. If that happens, where will your loyal followers find you? Or there are change in the domain of your blog host, it will surely affect your rankings.

In case you have limited resources and can only settle to free hosting companies, look for those who offer to display your own domain rather than displaying their own like Wordpress and Blogger.

Proper URL Naming Convention

It is always a bad idea to use dynamic URLs whether on websites or blogs. You should always take advantage of any chance you have to use keywords, without keyword stuffing, including this one. Meaning, instead of using “www.xyzblog.com/?246”, you can consider “www.xyzblog.com/blog-post-keywords-here”. When you cannot do anything about it, use mod rewrite.

Good Navigation

If your blog is just a part of a website, it is not ebough that you a have a link going to your blog's main page. Use the sidebar to syndicate your new posts because the visitors of the website might get interested in your articles if they see the titles.

Fast Page Load

The amount of time involved for a page to load all depends on your host. There are some blogs that takes about half a minute just from the snippet of RSS feed to the full article. You can lose a lot of readers just because of this reason alone.

Moderated Trackbacks and Comments

Spammers are everywhere. They always find a way to abuse your blog by putting non-sense comments with links going to their website. It is annoying and it can also affect your rankings. There are numerous tools available online which you can use to moderate and avoid comment and trackbak spam.

Don't just create a blog to share great information or to prove that you know a lot about the field you are into. Do not settle on the number of followers your blog has. Start to optimize now and see the great changes on the next few months.

Implementing New Business Management Software: 7 Ways To Make It Smooth and Seamless

As a small business or a business just getting started, you might be using an entry level accounting system where the investment in training and configuration is minimal because the product is fairly easy to use. Often these systems are ideal until your business begins adding more users and your business processes become more complex than what the system can support.

When a small business decides to implement a new accounting or business management system, it cannot shut its doors or stop day-to-day responsibilities to install, configure, and test a new system. Also, it cannot expect to start using a new system without investing time to consider potential improvements to existing business processes or train end users and migrate historical data.

This is where the role of your solution provider or consultant is critical. Top solution providers efficiently transition you from your old system to your new system with minimal downtime for your staff. In addition, your solution provider will continue supporting the solution for you as your business grows and evolves.

When choosing a new system, your choice of a solution provider should carry as much weight as the product itself. Here are a few things to look for when choosing a solution provider:

1. Understands Your Business and System Needs

A software provider should understand your business and business processes to interject which processes can be more efficient. The provider should listen to you, give good examples of how the system should work, and ask good questions, not just about software, but also how your people work, who they are, their skill sets, and how they would use the application.

2. Exhibits Exceptional Knowledge About Their Product(s)

It is a must for your software provider to thoroughly understand the functionalities, capabilities and intricacies of their solutions and coherently explain those to your end users so you optimize your investment and use the business management system to its fullest potential for your organization.

3. Knowledge of Other Products and Solutions

A good solution provider makes sure you understand what you are looking for and know ahead of time what the expected returns and benefits will be. If you do not know what you need to do well versus what a business management system does well, you can get trapped into buying a system because of something it does that is not important to you. System selection prepares the client for the sales cycle, gets their information together, and allows them to quickly eliminate inappropriate systems.

4. Proven Approach to Implementing

Entry level accounting systems can often be implemented by following the software vendor’s checklist. However, mid-level systems require more planning and testing because there are many different configuration options to make it adaptable to your business processes. The top solution providers have developed and can explain to you their approach to implementing the system. The approach should include options for functional design, pilot testing, data migration planning, a cut-over strategy and ongoing support.

5. Communication

When evaluating systems, many businesses are first introduced to a salesperson and may not have the opportunity to assess the communication skills of the consultants who will eventually be assigned to the project. A top solution provider will have an approach for communicating with the client regarding project status and budgets. Also, your solution provider is often preparing deliverables to you, including procedures documentation, end user training guides and more – a top solution provider can provide sample documents that demonstrate their ability to communicate in these areas.

6. System Cut-over

When your company starts using the new business management system, your comfort level must be established by the solution provider. That can take anywhere from 30 days to six months, depending upon the client and how significant the changes are in IT and business processes. During this time, your solution provider should still pay attention to you, check in to make sure things are working the way they were expected, and provide any additional support and training your end users need.

7. Ongoing Support

Many businesses begin realizing a positive return on their investment in a new system within the first 12 to 18 months. The project and your relationship with your solution provider should not end there. As your business grows and evolves, you want some assurance that your solution provider is always looking after your business – recommending improvements to business processes, assessing new modules or tools and their impact on your business, or offering user groups where you can interact and share ideas with other end users. The top solution providers make these and other services available to you for as long as you own the system.

Email Frenzy

“I know that you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant”
RICHARD NIXON

According to the Radicati Group an estimated 183 billion emails are sent every day. That’s around 2 million emails every second sent by 1.2 billion email Users! Moreover, there are an estimated 516 million business email boxes worldwide. That’s a heck of a potential for mis-communication, misunderstandings, angry words, bad feelings and loss of productivity if the messages go wrong.

Communication experts say that email is good for INFORMATION and CONFIRMATION. However it’s not good for EMOTION or PERSUASION. It is very difficult to convey enthusiasm, empathy or sincerity via email. You can type the words, but one doesn’t get a sense of the way the words are conveyed, and therefore the message can be misinterpreted.

Here are some tips on email etiquette.

When sending:

•In character, e-mail is somewhere between an informal telephone call and a formal letter, but an e-mail can be easily kept as a permanent record – a phone call is more difficult. Avoid slang, careless writing, thoughtless comments, too many dots or exclamation marks.

•Consider the recipient – who really needs to know? Is it ‘nice to know’ or ‘essential to their job to know’? Consider using group names very carefully – it may save you time but does everyone on the group list really need that message?

•Talk to your boss about the types of information he/she needs to be copied in on.

•Beware of humour and sarcasm – unless you know the recipient very well.

•Where is the recipient? If they are in the same office area, why not talk to them instead? Think of how long it takes to ‘talk’ the message compared to having to write it out.

•Don’t use email as an excuse not to talk to somebody. Barriers in communicating with difficult people can be broken down by hearing your voice, or perhaps seeing you, to build better rapport.

•Never email in anger. Calm down first, or consider an alternative method – email can never convey emotion. Face to face can be a much more effective way of getting how you feel across to an individual.

•Indicate the subject of the e-mail, and the purpose, in the subject header, to help the recipient e.g. ‘Leadership Training: Joining Instructions below’.

•Keep to business issues, avoiding personal e-mails and gossiping.

•Include ‘pleasantries’ at the start of the email e.g. ‘Hope you’re having a good week’ or perhaps a ‘Thanks for doing that last project so quick’ before you launch into your reason for emailing.

•Emailing bad news can be seen as ‘the coward’s way out’ because you don’t want to face the reaction. Also you can’t guarantee when they’ll read the bad news.

•Re-read the message before sending, putting yourself in the recipient’s shoes – what is the tone like? What unintended messages could the recipient see? Am I being succinct enough?

•Be careful about criticising people and organisations by email. A hasty remark by phone will be forgotten, on email there is a permanent record.

•Avoid writing in capital letters (to some this is the equivalent of shouting, and it makes it more difficult to read) and be carefully about emboldening words.

•If you classify all your e-mails as urgent, people may gradually stop treating them as such.

•Be careful about copying the message to the recipient’s manager – some people may view this as untrusting and underhand.

•Break the email ‘tennis’ – it’s far quicker to pick up the phone than reply with an email.

When reading:

•Deal with e mail at set times of the day ONLY– two or three times per day is a good guide. The tendency is to open email as soon as one arrives – if it was that urgent, the sender would have picked up the phone.

•Turn off the automatic ‘incoming email alert’ facility.

•Remove unwanted e-mails regularly – one user had 350 e-mails in his inbox after 3 days holiday! Always question WHY you keep an electronic copy?

•Set regular times e.g. last day of the month, to review and delete your e-mails.

•Set up folders for recipients. Important people such as the boss, the boss’s boss, and key customers could go into one folder that you check more frequently.

•If you feel emotional after reading a message, give the sender the benefit of the doubt and assume there has been a misunderstanding. Have you read the message carefully? Are you quite sure you’ve understood?

•If it’s about a complicated topic, or it’s a request for ideas or opinions, consider replying by phone, or meet up with the person.

•If you are out of the office for a few days, set up an automated ‘out of office reply’, giving an alternative person’s name who may be able to help.

•Send joke emails to your home inbox for reading later.

Back to basics on How to Increase Website Traffic by: Neil Paige

In common terms Website Traffic is the number of visitors coming to a website from all sources over a given period of time. This is one of the basic parameters for judging the success of a website.

If we do a simple mathematics - more visitors would mean more conversions, however this may or may not hold true if sufficient attention is not given to basics, which we simply tend to ignore.

Parts that need to be kept in mind

• Focused Content: Your content has to be focused. The content should be tailored for different set of visitors – to the point that you even think about how your company profile will be presented to respective segments. The quality of writing has to be top-notch business grade.

• Title & Description tags: When a visitor searches for keywords on a Search Engine, results are essentially a fight of the title and description. This is where you leave the first impression. The user will be more inclined towards a compelling title as he would perceive your website to better than others.

• Offer Original & Quality information on your website: This is the best way to attract traffic to your website. Offer original & unique information which visitors cannot find anywhere else. This will also help in branding your business image as Industry experts & will also get you good quality one-way links.

• Give Freebies: Who doesn’t like freebies? Offer your visitors free e-books, free Cd’s, free whitepapers, free consultation, free webinars etc. People love these and will keep coming back for more. This will not only increase new and repeat traffic but also help in link building.

• Social Media: Use Social Media websites like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin to share information with your targeted audience. Share your writings & researches, participate in discussions, and help others by solving their problems. This will propel people to visit your website more often and look for desired information.

• Advertisements: There are many free/ paid ways to advertise your business online. Classified Ads is free and is one of the ways to place business related ads which help in driving traffic. You can also benefit from Paid methods like Google Adwords programs which are more targeted and help in bringing visitors based on demographics, location and preferences. However you need to decide on a budget for these and then plan accordingly.

• Update website regularly: Keep updating your site by adding new, relevant and helpful content to your site. Search engines also give preference to sites with new and relevant content.

• Blog: Using unique and effective writing strategies is one of the best ways to boost website traffic. Create a blog that supports your website and make sure that your blog navigation flow your visitors to your website with ease. Also include your product/services links within your blog posts so that the visitors who read your blog can easily navigate to your website.

We at AftertheNet keep supplementing our clients with the most basic to the most advanced techniques for any goal they decide to reach with their website. Our step wise approach gives them the complete visibility of their website, which often they are deprived of in absence of a trustworthy resource.

Create Wealth on the Internet: Third of Eight reasons why by: Tomlin Rezar

This article will cover the topic to Create Wealth on the Internet-3rd of 8 reasons why

We have been discussing the topic on creating wealth on the Internet. In this article we will continue with the third of eight reasons why it is imperative that anybody with access to the internet should consider to create wealth on the internet with a turn key automated website that makes money online on autopilot. Our first two reasons so far have been:

Firstly, the low cost of this home based business, work at home mom, work at home dad, work at home opportunity to create wealth online. Compare the cost an internet entrepreneur has to lay out to get started with ways to make money immediately with a home based business, an online money making system that really works, with the start up costs of a franchise.

Secondly, the fact that your automated turn key website that makes money online on autopilot is open 24/7. Any time of the day, and any time at night your turn key website is on autopilot, making money online even when you sleep. It doesn't matter which time zone you might be in, because your turn key automated money making website is awake and operating any time of the day on any time zone in the world. Not too many businesses can boast they are open 24/7 and operate at this low cost.

Thirdly, now we will discuss the third of eight reasons why you should consider creating wealth on the internet and make money online on autopilot with this great legitimate online income opportunity. This third reason is because of the World Wide Market. Many of us know that our home town business is pretty much limited to the one or two counties that surround where our office is, where we live or where we work.

But with a legitimate internet business like www.streamlinecashflow.com and www.webwealthcreation.com you have two ironic, almost conflicting principles working for you: Firstly, you don't have to leave your front door, and secondly, your market is the world, not just a county or two around you! To make money online on autopilot, you don't have to go anywhere. All you need to do is create wealth online from the comfort of your own home, on your own computer. Any legitimate internet business can be operated by any internet entrepreneur, even on a low budget. Some of us have never flown to another country, but through the internet, we work at home and make money online on autopilot all around the world.

With this turn key website that is completely, 100% automated and is working on autopilot at 98%, anybody with access to the internet can launch an online cash flow on the internet and enjoy a residual online income for years to come. With no end in sight with this incredible industry, if you can own your own turn key website (professionally made by those who know what they are doing), the world wide phenomena of making money online on autopilot and creating wealth online is at the fingertips of any average internet entrepreneur. Even on a low budget, any beginner can make money on the internet with this system.

Now don't get me wrong, you won't be a My Brother Pablo Escobar with this system. But just think of this: With a world wide market, you will be making money online on autopilot all around the world. You have no inventory that you have to sell to launch your online cash flow. It is all digital. Your turn key, automated, professionally made website will sell digital products to your buyers, and you don't have to talk to a single person on the telephone to do so. You will not even have to send out an email with any attachment of your digital products to a single person. There is no selling, no phone calling, no inventory, no sales pitching. Your automated website does it all for you.

This is truly a legitimate online income opportunity. The advance of the internet globally has created a world wide market that is easy to access and create wealth online. It used to be that people from around the world immigrated to America with financial hopes. Now they can buy a US based business, or a UK based business, and be making dollars and pounds from their own computer in their home country, in addition to making their own rupees, rands and rubels from clients in their own countries.

If ever there is an opportunity to really experience success in life, financial freedom, financial prosperity and financial independence, it is possible with this program to reach it by creating wealth on the internet. WebWeatlhCreation and StreamlineCashFlow (.c.o.m.) are both incredible opportunities to ways to make money immediately. Don't get me wrong: Every business needs time to make money online on autopilot. But of the ways to make money immediately is through the pay per click program on Google, Yahoo, MSN (Bing) etc. But you have to do PPC (Pay Per Click) right, otherwise you could lose money before you make money. To learn how to do this correctly is to go through the training videos and manuals at StreamlineCashFlow or WebWealthCreation and understand it thoroughly before proceeding.

But listen, free traffic to your website will drive more traffic to your website that paid traffic to your turn key automated website that makes money online on autopilot. This is where it takes some time. But if you stick with this program, and keep fine tuning it, you will not be disappointed. Making money online on autopilot and to create wealth online with this legitimate internet business has a magic to it and a thrill that is just incredible. I have made money the hard way, and I have lost money too-a lot of money. But this legitimate online income opportunity, working from home with this online cash flow system that creates a residual online income, is one of the easiest ways to make money.

Imagine a cash flow online that just keeps coming and coming. Imagine building your residual income online week after week, day after day. Imagine no inventory, no selling, no calling, no sales pitching. Your turn key automated website does all this for you. All you do is spend about 10 hours a week on your home based internet business and create wealth online as an internet entrepreneur. You can make money online on autopilot part time or full time. The more time you put into ways to make money immediately, the quicker you will build your online cash flow. The more time you put into your legitimate internet business, the larger you will build your residual income online cash flow.

StreamlineCashFlow's IPC Instant Cash program promised me a $5,000.00 reward if I failed to make real money online. I yet have to claim my $5,000.00 reward check, because I am making real money online! That's the catch: They promise you $5,000.00 reward if you fail, knowing that you won't fail. This is a catch I can live with.

I wish you the best success in life, financial freedom and prosperity. See you at the top and feel free to contact me (email preferred) if you have any questions. Thanks a lot to this article site that so unselfishly allows average people like myself share my story and encourage others like you to attain success in life.

12 Ways To Do Social Media Marketing With Twitter by: Ron Knight

Twitter is a wildly popular microblogging service. It involves writing Tweets, which are short updates of a maximum of 140 characters that tell your followers what you are up to. Although your Tweets are technically supposed to answer the question, “What are you doing?” Twitter has moved far beyond that. Tweets are used to share stories, link to photos, promote content, break news, and a whole lot more. Twitter has also become an incredibly important tool for social media marketing professionals. Here are 12 ways in which Twitter can be used in your social media marketing campaign.

1. Sharing Links to Items of Interest

As soon as you read something online that you think is interesting, it is easy to share it on Twitter with all of your followers. Twitter is highly effective in this manner because it is such a quick way to be able to reach a large group of people. You can also get a lot of great ideas for blog posts from Twitter since many new ideas and stories are floating around that haven’t even made it to the blogosphere and definitely not to mainstream media.

2. Building Your Network

Using Twitter is a great way to build your network because it allows you to find and follow people with similar interests. You can use Steeple to find people who live in your geographical area. You can also use other tools that help you find new people to follow based upon who your Twitter friends follow.

3. Build Relationships within Your Current Network

People in different networks often use Twitter to connect with their contacts instantly rather than using instant messaging for that purpose. Furthermore, many people use Twitter to connect with their network during events like conferences.

4. Re-Distributing Content from Your Blog or Website

Twitter can be used to redistribute content from your blog or website. However, you should take care to do this thoughtfully since many of your Twitter followers may already read your blog. For that reason, you may want to avoid using a blog plug-in that automatically Tweets your posts. Your best bet is to Tweet your content manually and customize each Tweet so it doesn’t get old.

5. Get Involved in Live Tweeting Events

Twitter launched at SXSW last year, catapulting microblogging conferences to fame. Live Tweeting events are great because they are a form of citizen journalism that allow you to connect with several new people in your niche while making active and valuable contributions to current discussions in your community.

6. Pitching Stories to Journalists on Twitter

You can send a direct message to a journalist who is following you on Twitter to pitch a story idea.

7. Communicating with Your Team

You can use Twitter as a company intranet that connects all of your employees. Twitter can be particularly useful in this regard if you have a virtual business with employees in different geographical locations. You can set your updates to private for security reasons. Anytime you are working on group projects, you can stay in touch with your team members using Twitter.

8. Brand Monitoring

Stay up to date with any mentions of your business on Twitter. If there is anything negative, you will be able to counter it quickly. You can also use Twitter as a way to receive feedback from your customers and improve your business. Just ask your followers to give their opinion on something. For example, if you designed a new website, ask your followers what they think about it and get their constructive criticisms so you can make your site design even better.

9. Acquire More Votes on Social Media Websites

If you have submitted a story to Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, or any other social voting website, tweet a link to that submission to try to score more votes from your followers. If your followers like what they see, they are sure to vote for your content.

10. Hiring People

Looking for a programmer, designer, or writer? Whatever type of professional you seek, try finding them on Twitter. Simply send your followers a tweet telling them you are looking for someone for a job. They can either recommend someone to you or offer themselves for the job. Using Twitter in this way is ideal for finding qualified freelancers. It is much more convenient than putting out a classified ad.

11. Build Your Personal Brand

When you use Twitter to talk about things as mundane as what you ate for breakfast or how you are going to sleep early tonight, you make your followers feel like you are casual and approachable. Even those with running a company that has a cold, corporate brand image could create more appeal and build a unique personal brand using Twitter.

12. Streamline Electronic Communications

When you use Twitter, you’re likely to find yourself using IM, email, and other electronic communication methods less. Twitter not only provides public chatting through Tweets, it also allows you to send direct messages. Twitter will help you streamline your electronic communications, allowing you to scale back online.

What is Online Advertising? by: Margarette Mcbride

One of the many strategies used today for advertising is online or internet advertising. Compared to other forms of advertising such as the use of big billboards as well as TV commercials, online or internet advertising is considered as one of the most affordable yet successful form of advertising. This is because its price, compared to setting up a billboard or TV Ads, is relatively cheaper and much more easier to accomplish. So what is online or internet advertising?

What is Online Advertising?

Online advertising is a method of advertising that uses the internet and the World Wide Web for the expressed purpose of delivering marketing messages to attract customers. Although the word itself describes only one agenda, online advertising is usually divided into several parts, or techniques. According to Internet Advertising Philippines professionasl, online advertising includes several techniques such as contextual ads on search engine results pages, banner ads, Rich Media Ads, Social network advertising, online classified advertising, advertising networks and e-mail marketing, as well as e-mail spam.

Advantages over conventional methods

Because of the advent of online technologies, companies all over the world have greatly benefited from its capabilities to deliver their messages simultaneously around the world. Through its use, several professionals have then made several reports of its advantages compared to conventional methods such as setting up billboards and TV commercials. According to Internet Advertising Philippines consultants, advantages of using online advertising includes:

Immediate publishing of information and content. One of the many struggles of setting up an advertising is the time that companies have to wait before actually making their advertisements public. Online advertising, however, makes this easier and faster, as well as not limiting their geographic scope and time. To that end, the emerging area of interactive advertising presents fresh challenges for advertisers who have hitherto adopted an interruptive strategy.

Efficiency of advertiser's investment. Online advertising allows for the customization of advertisements, including content and posted websites. For example, AdWords and AdSense enable ads shown on relevant webpages or aside of search results of pre-chosen keywords.

Payment method. Whatever purchasing variation is selected, the payment is usually relative with audiences' response.

Unethical method of online advertising

Other than ethical methods of online advertising, such as the use of user friendly applications, there have also been class of advertising methods which are considered unethical and may even be illegal. These include external applications which alter system settings (such as a browser's home page), spawn pop-ups, and insert advertisements into non-affiliated webpages. According to Internet Advertising Philippines consultants, such applications are usually labelled as spyware or adware.

The Criminals in SEO by: Victoria Phee

Crab mentality or crab in a bucket syndrome is when a person makes an effort to pull down another person out of jealousy of his success. This is the root of all evil. This happens in our daily lives. The same way, it also happens in search engine optimization.

There are many ways on how to execute this. Here are some of them for you to be familiarized and help protect your website from culprits:

The Third Party

This is when another website puts your link in their page but looks really spammy. This is usually caused by porn sites. This can have a drastic effect on your rankings when search engines notice these links. To be able to avoid in getting in this kind of situation, you should constantly keep track of your inbound links. Google webmaster central can do the work for you. If you already know the culprit, send a message requesting to take down your links.

The Copy Cat

There are two kinds of copy cats in the world of SEO. First, of course, are those who would literally duplicate your work/content word per word. This is very easy to monitor. Just use your favorite search engine and you will see the articles that are closest to yours, if it's not a total replica of your work. If you find one, quickly send the webmaster a message.

The other kind is the one who would make pages with the same topic as yours, only to a greater extent. The purpose of this id to make your website look less worthy of the visitor's time. You can do nothing about this but to work harder. Your website's existence on the web is based on the concept of survival of the fittest.

The Unimaginative Content Writer

It is always better if you are the content writer of your own website. You can guarantee the originality of your work. There is no need to verify if it was not copied from someone else's work.

Most website owners hire a content writer. With the use of the internet as a research material, anyone can write about any topic easily. But this is also where plagiarism comes in. Be very meticulous on choosing your content writer because you might be wasting your money. Search portions of their article in search engines to ensure originality.

The Doubtful Clicks

Also known as click frauds, it is the abrupt increase of number of clicks and no conversions. There are tools available online provided by analytics to help with click fraud information.

The Hacker

Your website can also be hacked with the purpose of sabotaging your optimization process. The main goal of the hacker is to have access to your website and perform some black hat tactics like including hidden links or text in your code. If the search engine spiders finds out before you do, it will affect your rankings drastically because of penalty. So the moment you had knowledge of this trick, immediately delete all the hidden texts and links and pass a re-inclusion request. Of course, you also have to do some changes on your server.

There are a lot more of deceitful acts that are being done online. You just need to be mindful on what's happening on your website. You should always monitor if there are changes and act accordingly.

Make Your Website Look More Flashy With Flash Animations

Websites today are no longer restricted to just texts and pictures. Website developers now give more emphasis on adding effective audio and video information. The use of flash animation is in full swing when it comes to website designing or development. Macromedia was the first animation development company in association with Adobe who came into this business in the year 2005. With the change in time flash animation development has reached new heights and amazing looking website have been designed by the animation companies.

There are many companies in the market today who cater your needs for designing and developing flash animation websites. Nowadays your PowerPoint presentations can also be converted in to flash animation web presentations with the use of animations in it. That how easy it has become to develop a flash animation presentation. So, now you can take your talent of animation development to the next level with your PowerPoint presentations.

Professional companies use web design flash animation in their websites with the help of flash software which is universally accepted and is used in most of the animation development companies. This software enables you to add audio and video presentations to your website which makes it more interactive and effective. Articulate is the software which is used to add these applications to you website.

Animation companies use articulate in website like internet commercials, home study courses, etc, which makes the website more interactive and fun to surf. With flash animation development, the company for which the website is created can add to its advantages, when the customer views their animated presentation the presentation will directly take them to the related website where from they can purchase the product directly. This improves the functionality and accessibility of your website.

Web design flash animation has become an integral past of every website today as the surfers look for websites which are well designed and interactive. And this is exactly what flash animations are able to provide with ease and effectiveness.