It is September 14, 2001 and I am sitting here trying to think
of something to share; frankly, I can’t. I’m still in shock over
the events of the last few days so I’m going to offer this:

I have always maintained that TV is the archenemy of the
home-based business owner because it’s so easy to get sucked-in
and completely distracted. I’ve tried to work while the TV is
on, but I’m only at 50% capacity at best. I suppose that’s
better than sitting on the couch with a bowl of popcorn, but I
prefer operating at a higher level than that.

The solution I have always recommended is to never turn on a TV
in the first place. It’s amazing how easy it is to avoid plot
lines when you don’t know what they are! That said, when there
is a major news event I find myself in terrible conflict; should
I keep my nose to the grindstone or just ‘give-in’ to the
temptation to keep up with what’s going on? I have found myself
in this predicament during major events such as the Columbine
shootings, the Northridge earthquake, the Gulf War, and the
Challenger space shuttle disaster.

When something happens that is so devastating, so traumatic, so
incomprehensible as the terrorist attacks on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon, I am not doing myself a favor by
‘resisting’. I NEED to keep up with the details. I NEED to know
what’s happening. I NEED to feel involved in some fashion, even
if only vicariously. So I gave myself permission, and just left
the TV on.I didn’t even pretend that I was trying to get
anything done; I just stayed glued to the tube to stay informed.
Occasionally I had to remind myself to breathe.

I didn’t get much done, but it doesn’t matter; I did what was
most important at the time. After all, my country was under
attack. Members of my American “family” were lost. Others were
heroes. The coverage of the events and all of the incredible
ramifications was nothing short of amazing. It was a monumental
moment of history, and I know I did the right thing. If I had
been in New York, I would have been out of the house (or
apartment) doing SOMETHING to help SOMEBODY who was more
directly affected than I.

In reading what I just wrote, it sounds like I feel guilty
doesn’t it? Well, I do a little because I, like most
entrepreneurs, have a strong work ethic. On the other hand, we
also need to strike a balance between our work and other
priorities.

I’m in great pain because of what I saw and heard, but in
retrospect I really had no choice. It was simply not possible
for me to ignore what was happening so that I could “get some
work done”.

If it’s a really important distraction, give yourself
permission. After all, some things are just more important than
a few hours of work.

Using any amount of hot air will cause your hair to dry out. Dry
weather and blow drying will strip the hair of its moisture.
Shampooing frequently and swimming in chlorinated pools will
lead to dry hair and split ends. Hair dyes, electric curlers and
permanents cause hair to dry out and have split ends.

To avoid split ends, follow the following tips and keep your
hair glossy:

* Use mayonnaise: Use a dollop of mayonnaise on the palm of the
hand and massage it to the head and leave it on for five minutes
before having the bath. The recommended time for the mayonnaise
treatment is an hour.

* Spray the beer: If you do not get any respite from using the
mayonnaise, you can use beer as a good setting lotion that gives
your hair the crisp, healthy and shiny look. You can pour some
beer into an empty pump bottle and spray on the hair after
shampooing and towel dry. Then you can style or blow-dry the
hair.

* Shampoo minimally: Though it has become fashionable to shampoo
daily, it is not advisable to do so. Shampoo strips the hair of
its natural oils and thus gives it a dry, limp appearance.
Alternatively, choose a shampoo for dry, damaged hair.

* Condition your hair: Dry hair can be benefited greatly by the
use of conditioners after shampooing. The outer layers of the
hair or cuticles peel away the shaft, resulting in split ends.
Conditioner glues these cuticles back to the shaft and
lubricates them. It also prevents static electricity, thus
preventing its frizzy appearance.

* Avoid heat: Heat appliances like blow-dryers, electric irons
and curlers damage the hair. Instead of blow-drying the hair,
you can pat dry with a towel. Replace electric curlers with
unheated plastic rollers that were used in a bygone era.
Straighten the hair by wrapping the slightly damp hair around
the cold rollers and leave them on for about ten minutes. To
curl the hair or to give them a wavy appearance, use sponge
rollers overnight or sleep with moist braids.

* Cover your head: Wearing a hat during windy days is the safest
way to protect the hair from drying out. This way, you will also
protect your hair from drying out by the sun.

* Cut off the split ends: Every six weeks or so, try cutting off
the split ends to keep them under control.

There are many methods of increasing sales and brand awareness online, both expensive and inexpensive. If you are not visible on the web you are potentially losing out on additional sales channels.

Do you understand your target audience?

One of the most effective and increasingly popular ways of directing sales to your company is by ensuring your company appears at, or near, the top of the search engine listings. Despite many claims, by many on the Internet, this is not easy and takes a lot of effort.

But is it enough?

Perhaps you are not targeting the right audience.

Search-Marketing campaigns catch people at the exact time they are looking to buy.
Advertising on TV, radio or print does not have that power.

Day Parting

One such service is called day-parting. This technology allows you to only place your business at the top of the search listings during selected key times of the day, for instance lunchtime and between five and nine o’clock.

This is a particularly useful tool for businesses with limited budgets as it reduces the amount of click-throughs that you have to pay for at times when people are unlikely to be looking or want to buy your products.

Have you chosen the right Keywords?

Choosing specific key words is a simple method to attract targeted potential buyers to your website.

The key words must be chosen carefully though, and you must really understand your audience and how they might be searching for your products and services.

If a potential customer types a selected key word into a search engine (e.g. car insurance) it will display your company’s listing amongst the results. Given that you are showing your company’s products to users at the time when they are looking for similar products to yours, this means there is higher likelihood that they will interact with your site and potentially lead to a sale.

If you are listed on any other page than the first, the chances are very slim that the customer will even look at your website’s name, let alone purchase from it.

But is your website converting the customers?

You have managed to attract potential buyers to your site, now what?

Your website must be attractive, provide easy to navigate, good content, and a good copy written sales page to convert the viewer to buy. Take time to assess your site.

Are you tracking your results?

Quantitative, accountable results can be obtained from the web through a variety of sources. One such source is via pay-per-click (PPC) marketing for any business selling any product. Using PPC, businesses can track the whole marketing process from the point when a customer clicks through to your website right up to the point of sale.

With offline advertising you seldom know where the sale was generated, which can lead to wasting budget.

For any e-commerce site, a PPC marketing campaign is now essential if a website is to be found easily. However there must be sufficient support in the back-office to be able to run this type of business efficiently.

This is particularly apparent if you want customer feedback of any kind. You must have the facilities to deal with any customer interaction and to be able to respond as quickly as possible or you are likely to create a negative rather than a positive impact.

Whichever method you chose, whether it is a telephone call or an email, your customers must be reassured that their query or response hasn’t fallen into the abyss.

Take the time to refine and save money

There are many other methods of benefiting from the web and businesses need to refine their online activity and cut costs where possible to increase return on investment.

For instance, to save customers’ time, companies that have a product catalogue can simply place all the information and stock availability on their website for customers to browse.

This increases your potential customer base and means you can easily update the catalogue with any new products, saving money on printed material and avoiding any out-of-date information that could reflect badly on the company.

Conclusion

It is imperative to take your time to decide on what is most appropriate for your particular needs; what suits a global organization, may not be appropriate for the small business.

Consider all the options that are available and refine your choices wisely.

The obvious conclusion is - profit from the web through concentrating on your online visibility now, no matter how large or small your company might be.

Businesses that ignore the benefits of online marketing will be less likely to survive into the next decade of the 21st century.

Although the web is continually developing, one thing is clear it is the fastest-growing marketing channel today due to the power of its results and the sheer volume of people spending time online.

Bill Ritchie helps with developing home based businesses and startups, providing business ideas, tips on Internet marketing, plus writing occasional articles.

He also runs a useful, informative website called,
http://www.thehomebusinessprofessor.com

You’re welcome to reprint this article online, as long as it remains complete and unaltered, including the “About the Author” info at the end.

When I purchased the Canon Powershot S80 through a seller on
eBay, it overcame many of the problems of my previous film
cameras. Such memories as waiting in a long line to drop off
film, not knowing whether my pictures were underexposed or
overexposed and being told, “you’re pictures will be ready
tomorrow”, is now a thing of the past.

It seemed only yesterday when I was shooting pictures from my
Pentax Zoom 90 Film Camera.

Not really being into Photography and more of novice, I simply
wanted a reliable camera that I can take on Family outings and
scenic pictures on trips. After reviewing a list of cameras,
visiting some online retailers and some of the auction sites, I
found a great bargain from a seller on eBay. I managed to buy my
first digital camera, the Canon Powershot from a reputable
dealer with excellent feedback (always read the feedback from
sellers) for under $500. It amazing on the bargains you can find
compared to some of the cameras with the same functionality
priced at over $3000. I often look for camera accessories as
well.

Even though the Powershot was smaller that some of the cameras I
had previously, it certainly didn’t disappoint. The resolution
is quite amazing especially when you upload pictures to a
computer. The technical info says it has 8.0 megabytes of pixel
resolution and the pictures. At a resolution for 8.0 megabytes
it gives a screen resolution size of 3264 x 2448. I recently
read a review of a person who took a picture of his index finger
about1 1 1/2 inches away and uploaded the picture to his
computer. Then he zoomed on the finger and they could see the
dirt in the crevices that make up the fingerprint. I had to try
this out and it certainly makes the quality of any picture
unlike any I have seen in the past.

As for the battery and charger included, they were perfect for
travel. The prongs on the charger will collapse inward, and I
haven’t had to recharge it frequently. On one trip I got almost
100 pictures without a charge (I went 5 days on a trip without
charging it). It sure saves from amount of times I’ve had to
replace the batteries in other cameras.

Video Recording was new to me and having it integrated with a
still camera was a bonus addition for the price. It uses the
computer movie format .avi and you can upload the movie to a
computer and watch it using the Windows Media Player. There are
also more video editing tools on the videos you record. I tried
the video selection 1024 x 768 at 15 fps until it reached the
maximum amount of memory of 32 MB (although you can buy
additional memory) and played back the video on my TV and it
displayed an incredibly clear picture.

The LCD Screen at the back covers 2 inches and was unique
feature compare to the film cameras and even has a heads up
display with text messages and settings appearing on the LCD. I
can now review my photos and video playback. This one is hard to
live without.

The Powershot S80 also has a multitude of accessories (which I
haven’t added to my collection yet) such as a waterproof case
for taking those great underwater shots. Apparently you can take
the camera to down to a depth of 40 meters. Other accessories
that you can get are a high-powered flash, a car battery charger
and an AC adapter.

So if you are looking through the listings on eBay, you might
find a brand new digital camera such as the Canon Powershot S80
at a great price conveniently bundled with accessories. Just
look at the listings. You never know what you’ll find!

“Bible ProphecyEschatology”

Most of you are familiar with the Second Coming of Christ. In Paul’s letters to the churches in Thessalonica and Corinth, he instructed them regarding the last days and what believers could expect. One day a “trumpet will sound from heaven” and the believers on earth will be called away. This event is known as the “Rapture.”

I’m aware of the controversy that surrounds the Rapture. And I’m not going to give you my views in this writing. What I want to do with this paper is stoke you memory banks for a moment. With all the news surrounding the President addressing the European Union, I thought this would be a good time to revisit the role of a “revived western empire” which will be led by the Anti-Christ, according to Bible prophecy. Most of you remember hearing about a revived Roman Empire that the book of Revelation alludes to. In short, the Bible tells us that one day a world ruler with great power will arise to reign over a union of Western nations. Many Bible scholars teach that the revived Roman Empire is the EU. I certainly don’t know the future of the EU, but I do know that it is currently making world headlines.

You might remember hearing about the EU in the news several months ago. The media noted that the EU was expanding and gathering in many of the old Eastern Block nations. Although the benefits for a consolidated Europe are many, nevertheless, the EU was having some unexpected difficulties. Some of the difficulties stem from Europe’s rich history of faith being ruled out in favor of a secular EU. For example, the EU had difficulty agreeing on the language of a preamble to their constitution. It seems that the hot topic of “separation of church and state” in America is not limited to America only. Early on the EU split over calls for a reference to God or Christianity in the draft constitution, casting doubts that an overall deal would be swift in drafting.

According to one news source, foreign ministers from seven nations, including five of the EU’s new countries said that a reference to the “Christian roots of Europe” is a national priority in negotiating the constitution’s preamble. First it was Spain which backed a mention of Christian heritage, but later switched sides after their leadership changed with the election changes, resulting from the radical Islamists’ train bombing on March 11, 2004. Spain jumped ship after a change in government and backed France, which guards its long established secular traditions jealously. I have a feeling that the EU’s struggle with its preamble erasing of God is nothing more than a microcosm of its greater demiseleaving God out of the EU all together.

Another difficulty with the EU is assimilation. Not long ago France banned Muslim female students from wearing headscarves. What was revealed during the uprising that followed was the determination of France to remain French. It seems that France, as well as other European countries are fighting the myriad of Muslim immigrants coming into their countries. Europeans don’t want to assimilate; they want to stay uniquely European. Throughout history the Germans, French, Dutch and even the Swiss had a sense of self, if not always a sense of purpose. Individual European nations do not have a history of subordination of self-interests to the general welfare, like America’s history. Past alliances were mostly formed to advance the self-interests of a state or states entering into those alliances. When those interests were served, the nation-states mostly continued as before.

The EU is ripe for a powerful leader to advance himself by unifying the federation. A unified Europe will certainly exceed America in financial strength and market accesses. I don’t need to remind you that the revived Roman Empire alluded to in Revelation will be powerful because of its ruler and financial strengths. Here again, I’m not suggesting that the EU will host a Biblical antichrist; however I will say that we are living in the last days, and you need to be so advised. So keep your eyes on Jesus and a newspaper at hand because the EU is on the move.

Pastor T.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Pastors a small church in Broken Arrow, OK

When you think you could only sit there and watch your favorite sports team in action, think again. You could actually be earning a lot of money while enjoying the action and excitement of your favorite sports game.

Sports and gamblingthis is what you will get with sports betting. It is actually very enjoyable and rewarding to win specially when you are an avid fan and you bet on your favorite team or a player. This form of gambling is the new craze in Europe, not only in UK, Italy, France and Germany anymore! We now see Eastern European countries embracing the Internet Sportsbooks games like never before!

Compared to online casino games such as poker, video poker and blackjack, Sports Betting does not require the gambler to adhere to a lot of know how’s, basic game strategies, guides and tips which he should learn beforehand in order to win.

The player does not have to compete with other gamblers. In order to win, all he needs to do is to bet on his favorite sports team or player, enjoy the game and pray for the team to win or the right combination of Game Enders would show, just like that.

There are about different ways how a player could give his bet in sports. These are through Game Outcomes, Points Scored, Future Bets, Prop Bets, etc. These ways are commonly made through straight betting on who will be the winner, through point spreads commonly used for football, over and under betting on points earned by a team, etc.

So whether your favorite sports is horse racing, basketball, soccer, golf, boxing, tennis, hockey, football, auto car racing, etc., sports betting websites such as Playsportal.net are almost everywhere on the Internet to offer you a new kind of sports experience.

Heavy duty office chairs are often the most cost effective
products for your office and your employees. But, it can be
difficult to know if in fact a chair is high in quality and long
lasting. Because of this, you may feel that it is hard to find
the product that you need without going with the same chair that
you have used for the last several years.

The good thing is that the chairs of today, when purchased
correctly, far outweigh the chairs of yesteryear. Here is what
you should consider when purchasing heavy duty office chairs.

First, put aside all feelings about brands and price as well
as the look of the chair. Now, you will want to look at all
products that you come across and find out what they can offer
you and your body.

Your first task is to find the strength and the heavy duty
classification. These will be chairs that are built to last.
Look for those with warranties. Look for those with the weight
limit that is high enough. Look for those that are built out of
high quality materials.

Now, take the time to look at the remaining chairs. You are
looking for those that are ergonomic in their design. This means
that the chair is built for the human body, making it much more
comfortable, but more importantly it is much more capable of
supporting the body. These things are quite important because
this can reduce the stress on the back, shoulders, hips and
knees. Any money that you save going with a bad chair is likely
to come back at you many times over when your employees don’t
come to work because of aches and pains or even worse, need
health benefits to cover them.

You now have a list of chairs that fit your needs. The best
thing to do is to look for those that offer the lowest price out
of these solid options. Cheap is not necessarily better unless
you have insured the quality of the chair beforehand.

A great way to find the best discount on these high quality
chairs is to use the web. Look at the options offered through
wholesale websites. Purchase directly from the manufacturer.

Also, once you have several brand names and models that you are
interested in, you can definitely find outstanding sales being
offered on the chair as well. You can do this, of course, with
the use of the web.

It may seem like this is a lot of work to purchase a chair. The
fact is, though, that when you make a good, solid purchase like
this, you will not need to replace the chair time and time
again.

Instead, your employees are comfortable, you are comfortable
with the fact that they are not complaining of back problems or
worse and you have a chair that is likely to last you many
years. The investment of time and a little extra quality now
will definitely pay off in the long run with heavy duty office
chairs.

My Aunt Virginia worked selling shoes in a downtown department store. I remember listening to adult conversation, while I played. She talked about other clerks not caring for anything other than the sale and the resulting commission.

Aunt Virginia’s main concern was always the fit. She even took extra care and effort with children, allowing for proper fit as well as allowing a little room to grow. It’s the concern that I remember most.

Aunt Virginia is probably the reason why I fell in love with a classic training video, The Face in the Mirror. The star of the 1947 classic training film is James Dunn, who won an Academy Award for his role in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

The Face in the Mirror tells the story of Ed, a married man, who sets out to buy his wife a chair for their anniversary and a hat for himself. He runs into a friend and they stop off at a shoe store, so his friend can buy a new pair of shoes. The friend has an argument with the shoe salesman over proper shoe size and Ed and his friend leave the store without buying.

The classic training film is too long by today’s standards, but I had the film re-edited and made it into a series of vignettes. This one I called Ed and a Friend Don’t Buy Shoes. I don’t understand arguing with customers. You never win.

A shoe clerk helping a customer find a pair of shoes that fit and feel comfortable seems like the best illustration of customer service one can come up. Provide the best shoe and the best price with the best fit, and you should have a customer for life. Ignore the fit, and argue with the customer and you lose them for life. It seems like a simple equation.

Think of your business as a shoe store. Are your customers walking away in shoes that pinch, rub and create blisters? Or are your customers walking away in comfort down a path from which they may easily return for great customer service?

Author Don Doman: Don is a published author of books for small business, corporate video producer, and owner of Ideas and Training (http://www.ideasandtraining.com), which provides business training products. Don also owns Human Resources Radio (http://www.humanresourcesradio.com), which provides business training programs and previews 24-hours a day.

It is easier to make additional money from your current clients than it is to go out and find new ones! See 21 simple ways in this three part article series.

PART TWO:

Here are seven more great ways to make more money from your existing clients, continued from part one.

8. Give people a huge discount to your subscription product if they subscribe for a longer period of time.

Example $9.99/mo, or $21.99 for 3 mo., (equals out to $7 and some change per mo.), or $36.00 for 6mo. ($6/mo.). Each larger subscription in time length gets smaller in the per month fee if you were to divide the total by the number of months the subscription lasts.

9. Send your customer a free surprise gift with your back end product offer included.

You can do this by offering an ebook as a free surprise gift and add your back end offer (Or a link to your offer) in the ebook.

10. Give your customers a discount if they buy over a certain number of any products.

Several examples of this are BOGO (Buy one get one free), buy three get the fourth free, or even lowering the price of each item by a certain dollar or percentage amount once the client reaches a certain number of purchases.

11. Publish a back end product offer inside any of the information products you sell.

A good way to do this is to offer customization rights for $20 - $99 inside the ebook itself. This also allows the current client potential income by letting them earn a % of all customization fees from all ebooks they sell. (After customizing with their features and information, of course!) This goes over very, very well.

12. Group your products together in package deals to make more profit form each sale.

Offer the package as a 2nd option when you make a sale of the single item. On the order page - or use an in-between page to show the upsell of the group of products at less than what it would cost to get them as separate items.

13. Include a back end product offer inside your “customer’s only” online club.

This would be in addition to the free items and articles and resources. Also have a discounted offer or special offers area so you have a built-in backend in your membership area.

14. Join someone else’s affiliate program and use it as an upsell or back end product.

This works especially well if you don’t have a higher-end product of your own. Join an affiliate program and promote a seminar or higher ticket item as a back end sale. As an upsell, you would add the additional offers onto the thank you page.

An example of this type of program is Thank You Ads. This thank you page program will get you additional advertising by showing affiliate offers on your thank you page (Using a simple javascript) and showing your ad on other member’s thank you pages.

You can also use this option in #13. The member’s discount area doesn’t have to be all your products. You can use affiliate products as well.

Well, we are 2/3 done Look for Parts One and Three for the rest of these great ways to make extra money from the clients you already have!

“Techie” Teri Mramer is the busy owner of the new training site sensation, Web Master Insider Training Club Get your free 3 week trial membership today and start building your business web site tomorrow!

Who doesn’t dread hearing a speaker at a wedding beginning with the words, ‘I’m not used to speaking in public.’ Inevitably this is followed by a long speech which proves the truth of the speaker’s opening remarks, or a very short speech which is also bad, but only for a short time.

There is an optimistic belief among those who’ve been asked to speak at a wedding, that, no matter how inexperienced they might be, once they rise to their feet they will be flooded with inspiration. After all, they’ve seen others do it, so why not them.

What would be surprising for them to learn is that anyone who has anything worth listening to at a wedding, usually has done a lot more than scribble on the back of an envelop while standing in the receiving line.

I am reminded of one of the most eloquent speeches, often used as an example of what a good speech should be like. It is quite a short speech and therein lies both the quality of the content, and the experience of the speaker. This is Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg’s Address to the fallen.

Believe it or not, Abraham Lincoln didn’t give his address at the drop of his 8 inch high hat. He came well prepared.

While his tall hat became something of his trademark, it was also a very practical receptacle for his preparation as a lawyer, president, and man around town. All his life, as he rode up and down the breadth and width of America, he used his ears like a radar. Little gems of wisdom from this farmer, a cunning observation from that colleague, a suggestion from a shopkeeper, it all went under his capacious hat. Literally.

Those who didn’t know better, imagined that Abraham Lincoln used his hat to increase his already tall figure of 6ft 4in to 7ft plus inches. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Mr Lincoln’s hat was a sort of storage space for all the little bits and pieces of gossip and gripes he collected while on the move.

No doubt Mrs. Lincoln would carp as, upon his return to their downtown Springfield, Illinois, home, he would turn his hat upside down and litter her spotless floors with all the news he’d collected. But the information thus provided was invaluable.

When this man needed to speak, he didn’t pray for inspiration. He already knew what people thought and talked about. His genius was that he could return to them their own thoughts and feelings by taking note of their concerns in the first place.

Vlady Peters is an Australian Civil Marriage Celebrant authorised to perform marriages in Australia. She also perform general ceremonies such as Baby Naming, Renewal of Vows and Commitment Ceremonies. To learn more about her as a celebrant and an author visit Vlady at http://www.weddings-celebrant.com