Your Business Data - Back It Up or Lose It

Is running your email backup one of those tasks on your to do list that keeps getting postponed until tomorrow? Does backing up your computer on a regular basis seem like more trouble than it is worth?
Computers are a mainstay of most modern businesses. Client contacts and financial records are easy to store and find on your office system. You may think of your computer as the most reliable assistant in the office, and you would be right. However, even the most secure and well designed systems can get viruses, succumb to power surges or just crash. It's a little too late to make a backup after your system loses all of your files!
"That won't happen to me" is how many of us think about a computer catastrophe that could wipe out all of our business information. But you don't need to have a computer crash to lose all of your files, folders, programs, and emails. You could lose them because of a natural disaster, power shortage, errors in transferring files to another computer, or a partial shutdown.
Do you have your business information insured?
Most smart business owners have insurance against financial loss. Even though you don't expect to need it, you take out a policy to protect your assets just in case a catastrophe occurs. Backing up your computer is the most affordable insurance a business owner can invest in. Just a few minutes of your time makes sure that in case of any disaster, your business can be up and running again because the data you need to operate was saved.
How much is your time worth?
How long would it take you to re-create that list of clients' phone numbers, addresses, actions, results that you keep on your PC? How long would it take you to re-create articles you've written, marketing sources you've been saving, your list of newsletters and subscribers? And how long would it take you to hunt for, find, and download all those ebooks, reports, and programs you downloaded before?
Some data you simply can't recreate
For example, when you lose your email folders, you can't re-create the content of those folders even if you had saved the email addresses. It's all gone. Think about all the financial information and tax records that are safely stored away on your computer. How hard would it be to gather all of that information again? Business names and contact lists, personal information about clients, pictures, phone numbers, deadline reminders ...
Is it starting to make sense why you should have it saved somewhere else? The extra few minutes it takes you to back-up your data is an investment worth a fortune because you simply cannot re-create or retrieve all files, folders, programs that you currently have on your computer.
What you need to backup your computer
Backing up your data (all files, folders, programs), means you'll need to save your data to a disk, CD or location other than your hard drive. For example, you can save your data to:
1) Zip disk - You'll need a zip drive.
2) CD or DVD - You'll need a CD or DVD burner.
3) External hard drive - These are less expensive now than they used to be. Compact flash drives are now available that can hold a few backups with room to spare.
4) Secure, Web-based file storage service - These are online services where you can save your data. The benefit here is that your data is stored in a physically remote place so floods and fire or other catastrophes in your office area won't affect them.
But the most important thing you'll need is a willingness to change your habits. Most people I know back up their data once per week, often on a Friday. If your business depends on the data you store, you may want to do a backup more often. Many Web site owners and newsletter publishers do it daily. Given all the marketing, coaching, newsletter lists and all the software I download, daily back-up makes more sense for me.
Backing up email folders
I don't back up my emails folders to a CD but prefer using a program to do that. There are many nifty little programs that work miracles with backing up email addresses and all email folders. The process is quick and easy ... and you'll be very happy to have the information saved if a disaster ocurrs.
Don't put it off!
Backing-up your files may seem like just another addition to your busy schedule. But remember that you've worked hard to build your client or newsletter list ... and your practice. Take just a few minutes each week to protect that investment.
About the Author...Joann Javons

BT-87-TP

iKey introduces the first Bluetooth®-compatible, wireless industrial keyboard with an integrated touchpad - the BT-87-TP. This fully-sealed keyboard meets NEMA 4X specifications, meaning it is resistant to dirt, dust, water, ice and corrosives. Built with an industrial silicone rubber keypad and a rugged ABS polycarbonate case, the BT-87-TP is submersible and easy to clean with disinfectants. The compact design and internal Bluetooth® module make the BT-87-TP highly portable. It is an ideal fit for mobile, material handling, food and beverage processing, medical, and other environments where rugged flexibility is a necessity. The BT-87-TP requires 2 AA batteries for power and does not require a USB dongle if your computer has an internal Bluetooth® radio.

Notepad++ 5.3 RC/ Notepad++ 5.2

Notepad++ is a free source code editor (and Notepad replacement), which supports several programming languages, running under the MS Windows environment. It also gives the extra functionality to define a user's own language for the syntax folding and syntax highlighting. You can print your source code in color. It allows a user to edit the different document in the same time, and even to edit the same document synchronizely in 2 different views. It supports full drag and drop.The programming languages supported by Notepad++ are:ASP, Ada, ASCII art, Assembly, AutoIt, BAT, C, C#, C++, Caml, CSS, doxygen, FORTRAN, HTML, Haskell, Java, JavaScript, KiXtart, Lisp, Lua, makefile, Matlab, Objective-C, Pascal, Perl, PHP, PostScript, Python, Ruby, Scheme, Unix Shell Script, Smalltalk, SQL, Tcl, TeX, Verilog, VHDL, VB/VBScript, XML

Download it here:

http://w17.easy-share.com/1701888805.html

Microsoft Confirms IE8 Can be Removed from Windows 7

Microsoft's Windows 7 development team yesterday confirmed that users will be able to remove Internet Explorer 8, as well as several other Microsoft applications, from Windows 7.
This appears to be a major step by the company in addressing the long standing anti-trust complaints of bundling their applications with Windows, and may account in part for the recent scaling back by the European Union in its monitoring of the software giant.
Following the recent findings by Chris Holmes and Bryant Zadegan that IE8 can be removed from Windows 7 build 7048, Jack Mayo, group program manager at Microsoft, confirmed that Windows 7 has expanded the number of Microsoft applications which can be turned off.
In a post on the Engineering Windows 7 blog Friday, Mayo explained: "In addition to the features that were already available to turn on or off in Windows Vista, we've added the following features to the list in Windows 7:"
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Center
Windows DVD Maker
Internet Explorer 8
Windows Search
Handwriting Recognition (through the Tablet PC Components option)
Windows Gadget Platform
Fax and Scan
XPS Viewer and Services (including the Virtual Print Driver)
Important to recognize is that while these applications can be turned off, meaning they are not loaded by the operating system or available for use, the files remain present on the hard disk in a staging area so that they can be easily turned back on again without the need to use installation media. This ability to turn applications on and off is available at both setup and post setup.
As we pointed out earlier this year, IE8 is definitely an important milestone, and this new policy of allowing their bundled applications to be turned off seems to be the right step by Microsoft in creating a more level playing field for third parties on the Windows platform

DivX Video Anytime, Anywhere

DivX® is a digital video format that offers a high-quality viewing experience on any device or platform — from your PC to your phone to your living room TV. Over 100 million devices that support DivX video have shipped worldwide from major manufactures, including DVD players, gaming consoles, mobile phones and more. Look for the DivX logo when you buy your next device to ensure that you can enjoy your videos anywhere you choose.

Download HD Video (DivX Plus™ format)

Aimersoft DVD Studio Pack 2.1.1.0

Aimersoft DVD Studio Pack is one of the best multimedia conversion tool that includes FOUR outstanding multimedia applications: Aimersoft DVD Ripper, Aimersoft Video Converter, Aimersoft DVD Creator and Aimersoft Audio Converter. It can perfectly help you rip DVD, convert all video and audio files and burn these files to DVD discs. This superb pack allow you to easily rip DVD to all common video and audio formats (MP4, AVI, MPG, MPEG, VOB, WMV, XviD, MOV, DAT, VOB, IFO, 3GP, 3GPP, ASF, FLV, WMA, M4A, MP3, AC3, WAV, limewire and YouTube etc.) and finish the conversion among them. So you can enjoy your favorite movie or music on iPod, Zune, iPhone, Apple TV, PSP, Xbox 360, PS3, Archos, iRiver, Creative Zen, PMP, Pocket PC, PDA, Mobile Phone (Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, iPhone, Samsung, LG, Smart Phone, etc. ) MP4/MP3 Player and so on. Any application of the pack allow you to crop, trim and adjust the effect of movie, and you can burn your favorite movie to DVD video slideshows with fascinating transitions and resources to create a DVD menu of your own.

DVDFab Platinum 5.3.0.6 Beta

DVDFab Platinum is the most powerful and flexible DVD copying/burning software. With 8 copy modes, you can back up any DVD to DVDR in just a few clicks. DVDFab Platinum is brand new, is completely rewritten, is based on more than 6 years of DVD copy software development. DVDFab is simply the easiest way to copy a DVD movie. Just insert the movie and a blank DVD then press Start. Your entire movie - including menus, trailers and special features - is copied to a single DVD with just one click, and everything happens automatically. Backup your entire DVD - including menus, trailers, and special features - onto one or multiple discs. 1. 8 DVD to DVD copy modes available: Full Disc, Main Movie, Split, Customize, Customize Split, Clone, Merge and Write Data.2. Full Disc: All movies, menus and trailers, is copied to a DVD with just one click.3. Main Movie: Just copy the movie, with specific audio/subpicture.

simple social networking strategies to increase traffic to your site

One essential aspect of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is social marketing. In simple terms, social marketing is an approach that makes use of ‘philosophy’ to pay attention to the specific needs of the target. This is done by gathering people with common interests, making it possible to create an interactive community. Through website technology including forums, blogs, outbound and inbound links, and social networking sites (Myspace, Facebook, Digg, etc.), social marketing becomes a convenient way to increase company gains.
In order to start right out in integrating social marketing strategies with SEO, a plan must be developed first. Moreover, there should be detailed research regarding the target’s needs, most especially since the approach is customer-oriented. It may also be helpful to consult with firms specializing in Internet Marketing. These firms will provide invaluable information and insights on how different approaches work together in maximizing company results. Once you have a better understanding of the various strategies, you can now employ the ones suitable for your needs.

Social marketing involves creating a community where people with shared interests come together to state opinions and ask questions. This can be done by setting up forums or discussion boards on your website. The key here is to generate interaction among the members of your target audience. A vast majority of consumers do online research before making any purchases; forums are helpful in providing information regarding customer inquiries.
Also consider setting up a blog that contains relevant posts that discuss the services and products that your company offers. The information that you will provide may be very well appreciated by your readers. Place links to other websites and blogs that relate to your blog content. Social networking sites including Facebook, Myspace, Digg, and many others might also have useful and interesting content that you can link to. Feature and subscribe to appropriate RSS feeds, so that your readers have a reason to frequently visit your site.
Moreover, it is necessary to keep the forum and blog posts updated and fascinating for people to read. Also remember to use optimized keywords or phrases naturally in your content and titles. Do not let your online community become sedentary; encourage readers to engage in discussions and exchange of fresh ideas and opinions. This way, search engines are more likely to index your site’s content, thus, increasing traffic.With an effective plan and strategies in place, integrating SEO and social marketing is not a difficult task.

Online Auctions: A Scam or a Bargain?

Make Sure You Get What You Pay For .
Shoppers love a bargain and online auctions just might be the perfect place to find one... but are they safe?
Fraud at auctions exists. When shoppers are looking for a bargain, there will always be someone to take advantage. The good news is that you can make your auction shopping safe.
Last year, the week of Thanksgiving opened the holiday shopping season with a big green bang. Guess where the online shoppers were clicking their orders away? Nielsen//NetRatings reported that the auction sites at eBay, Amazon and Yahoo Shopping led the pack — eBay alone drew nearly 12 million unique visitors in that one week.
Not everyone was a satisfied customer. If you want to know about the safety of auction shopping, take a look at some staistics.
Jennifer Mulrean reported on CNBC that "For the first six months of 2003, auctions were the source of 94% of all Internet-related fraud complaints to the league, compared with 87% for the same period last year." Auctions are becoming safer, but auction scammers are getting better at their craft.
Mulrean added, "The total number of fraud complaints filed with NCL this year so far is 22,336. Of that number, 20,436 complaints indicate lost money totaling $8.9 million -- slightly more than the $7.2 million reported lost in the same period last year and on pace to beat the 2002 total of $14.6 million."
There's no reason to believe that the auction mania will die down anytime soon. Or that auctions will become safe for the uneducated shopper.
True, there are some bad apples at every auction site, but they can't seem to spoil the fun of getting a bargain.
To make sure your holiday - or everyday - shopping at online auctions is safe and rewarding there are a few simple things to keep in mind.
Before you start bidding on any items, do a search online to find out what the prices are like in retail outlets.
If the item is priced unbelievably low... be extremely careful. Unbelievable is probably exactly the right word to use.
Many auction shoppers get carried away and wind up bidding more than the item is worth. If the bidding gets too high, drop out.
Make sure that the person selling the item has a good reputation. Most online auction sites will let you see the sellers history and any complaints that have been made about the merchandise they delivered - or failed to deliver.
Get familiar with the policies of the auction - Amazon has guarantees to make sure you get refunds for bad deals, but many other online auctions leave it up to you to take precautions.
There are some good articles and sites to check before you start bidding.
Ten tips to avoid being scammed offers some advice from an online law encyclopedia. The US Federal Trade Commission also has a site to help you avoid problems - and to get help if something does go wrong.
Don't let the scary stories stop you from shopping at the auctions.
Millions of satisfied customers will tell you what a great experience it was. There are some incredible bargains and some collectibles that are impossible to find anywhere else. It can be fun and rewarding — as long as you know what to watch out for.
More to Know About Auction Scams around the Net:eBay Security Center

OEM keyboard with pointing device - 5K-OEM

The 5K-OEM combines a 113-key keyboard with HulaPoint IITM, an upgraded pointing device that offers improved sensitivity and increased durability, for a single, fully integrated unit.
Each kit is comprised of an industrial silicone keypad, switch matrix board, keyboard controller and cables.
Features:
AT/Serial, PS/2 and USB or configurations available
OEM Kit: PCB, rubber overlay, and cable
15.00" x 6.50" x 0.42" (w-h-d)

Software

Whether you use your computer for business or fun, you depend on software to be there when you need it. From word processing and database management to marketing, billing and accounting, the software in your computer keeps your business working.
Programs for games, fixing your photos and making cards or other printables for home and family are the hidden helpers that go to work when you turn on your PC. Educational software for kids and for adults can turn your computer into an online tutor to help with algebra or learning a foreign language.
Where do you get computer software?
Many computers come "loaded" with what most people will need when you buy the PC. That's fine, but what if you need something that isn't included in your system when you bring it home? You can go shopping in you local computer store or you can shop online for programs designed to do what you need to get done.
What software programs are available online?
The software applications you can find online cover the full range of anything you could ask from your computer... and probably more than you will ever need. You can find fully developed, downloadable "boxed sets" of the same software that the stores stock or you can look at "open source" programs that geeks have been working on for years.
Prices vary and so does the ability of the software product to deliver on what it promises. You need to do a little research before you start to download any product just to find out if it will deliver the functions you need.
All computer software programs are not equal
There are plenty of sites online that offer software. The problem is finding out which are the programs you want... and which ones will have you swearing, crying and wishing you'd backed up everything before you started downloading your new tool.
Learn the difference between legal, licensed, freeware, shareware, trial and demo versions of software packages, OEM copies and counterfeit or illegal copies. Understand the benefits and liabilities of each of these forms of software.
Find the best matching software products for your business, educational and personal use, together with the latest news and reviews, plus the best sites for downloading freeware and shareware
...and always, always, always...backup before you start to install any new program!

How Exactly Does Ecommerce Work?

This has to be the most-frequently asked question I receive from 'newbie' clients. They know people are buying online and they know they have to accept credit cards if they want to stand a chance in all the net-based competition, but beyond that realization, most are clueless as to how it all works.
I can't blame them, really. It's a confusing online world out there and a lot of people who are trying to tell them how it works are really just trying to sell them their own solution. It's kinda hard to trust the validity of what they say when profit is a huge motivating force behind their persuasive suggestions.
And to be sure, there is profit in this Ecommerce game!
Money is to be made at many steps along the Ecommerce path.
With that in mind, let's take a walk along the path to Ecommerce, and take a look at the signs--or components--that are necessary to take part in the Ecommerce excitement and potential profits.
1. The Merchant Account:
This really is your first step towards Ecommerce, unless you have chosen to go through a payment facility and are willing to give up a rather large portion of your sales in fees. The up-front costs of a merchant account can be hefty for a small business, but the long-term savings can be substantial.
This is especially true if you are selling big ticket items. For instance, on the sale of a $300 product/service through a payment facility you could pay between $20-$45 dollars or more in fees. With your own merchant account it will probably cost you about $9. With the typical fees and equipment for a merchant account startup costing about$1,500, you can recoup that cost rather quickly.
A merchant account comes with a merchant identification number. That is about all it gets you. In order to process transactions you need either a terminal (the little box that you swipe your credit card through at retail outlets) or software that runs on your PC and will dial up the merchant via your modem, and then process the transaction and deposit the money into your bank account.
2. The Shopping Cart:
If you are selling just one or two items on your site you won't have much need for a shopping cart. A site with a variety of products should use the shopping cart system because it's the easiest way for your customers to shop. The easier it is to shop, the more they will spend, which is exactly the psychology supermarkets use, and exactly how shoppers are similar whether in a supermarket or scanning through your website. And the nice thing about electronic shopping carts is that the wheels never go square, and you don't have to send a clerk out after the store closes to round up all the carts that have been left scattered around the neighborhood. So shopping carts are good. But how will they work with your merchant account and the all-important ordering process?
If the orders placed on your site are to be processed with the customer's credit card as a sale through your PC or swipe/terminal, then there doesn't have to be any compatibility between your cart and your merchant account. The two will work completely independently, each doing their part of the job.
If, on the other hand, you would like all of your incoming orders to be automatically processed for you as the customer hits the submit button, you will need what is called "real time processing."
3. Real-Time Processing - Almost every website company I talk to would like to have their orders processed for them (the vision of the owner of a website company turning on the PC and then stretching out in a hammock, watching the orders get processed on the screen, comes to mind). However, most web company people, upon learning the cost involved, take my advice to wait until they have a steady flow of orders coming in before they use real-time processing. If you're on a tight budget the extra fees involved in real-time processing might be better used to aggressively advertise and drive customer traffic to your site. Processing a few orders per day doesn't take very long and until you find it to be more time-consuming to process the orders yourself than you like, you are probably better off processing suchorders manually.
If you are starting with a healthy budget and an aggressive promotion plan you will probably be better off implementing real-time processing right from the start. Changing order-processing methods can sometimes result in system hiccups and you don't want anything to slow down your momentum once you've started. You'll also save money, not having to set up your ordering system twice.
4. Web Hosting - The web host who is hosting your site can sometimes make a difference in how compatible your entire site and ordering system are with each other. I say "sometimes" because for those of us not using real-time processing, it doesn't matter who your host is or where your merchant account is located. They are independent of each other. Orders arrive and you process them. No interaction between the two is needed.
Problems can arise when you bring a shopping cart AND real-time processing into the picture. A shopping cart alone won't cause problems but the cart you choose to use must be compatible with your web host. Some carts are designed to run on certain types of servers, so when choosing one be cautious to make absolutely sure you can use it with your current host. Otherwise you had better be prepared to find a new one.
If you want a shopping cart AND real-time processing the three (cart, processing, and host) must work together well. Your shopping cart must be compatible with your host and the cart must be compatible with your payment processor. With all the different shopping carts, hosts and payment facilities out there, putting together the right team can be a real challenge. This is especially true for the newbie whodoesn't understand how it all works and how it all has to work together, or understands imperfectly but thinks he or she has it all under control when the decisions are finally made.
One Stop Shops -
The easiest way to find a compatible solution is to choose a provider who offers all you need under one roof. This is what I have done by partnering with Virtualis Systems. I am able to offer a great hosting solution along with a compatible shopping cart that works with almost any real time processor. I have even taken this a step further by partnering with a rock-solid merchant account provider, E-Commerce Exchange. Now I don't want to force MY "solution of choice" on you in this article so I have set up an autoresponder with details on the Ecommerce solution I recommend to all my clients. Please email our autoresponder at ecommerce@lrsmarketing.com for details.
Your Website Designer:
Asking your website designer to recommend a compatible solution is also a good idea. Most likely, he or she has successfully set up shopping carts and payment systems that have worked together for other clients and with that experience can confidently recommend one that will be right for your specific needs. There is also the added benefit that your designer is comfortable and familiar with the cartand payment processing configuration. This will result in less time spent setting up your site, thus saving you money in design costs.
Who to Choose
Choosing the right person for this task is perhaps the most important decision you can make (in Ecommerce, that is. Choosing a dentist, a pet, and which TV show to watch also rank high in importance). Nobody is an expert in all areas of Ecommerce because there are so many variables, depending on which configurations of hosts, carts, and merchants you choose. Find someone with whom you can talk to and who will listen to YOUR needs with understanding. A web designer who has created sites selling one product through mail order is NOT the best person to go to for Ecommerce advice. Just like a web designer trying to create a site that will sell and not just look good, with no marketing experience, a designer who doesn't know Ecommerce is going to be hard-pressed to juggle all the components that must fit together seamlessly and attractively to construct a truly effective Ecommerce site.
The Most Common Mistakes
I've had clients come to me who have been provided a shopping cart by their web host but who then have purchased another cart, not realizing they already have one. They've set themselves up with real time processing and then purchased a terminal even though they will never swipe one card. They've had SSL enabled on their web host server even though it's provided at their payment gateway. I have been on the sympathetic end of many, many more sad tales from earnest folks who have told me their own personal accounts of throwing hard-earned money away on these kinds of mistakes.
Why? Cutting through all the technical jargon, it's all because they simply didn't understand how each component can, should, and must work in conjunction with one another.
Ecommerce can appear simple (well, almost) once you understand how all the components work together. A merchant account allows you to accept credit cards, your web host shows your website to the world, your shopping cart helps your customers order easily and real-time processing processes the orders in real-time and approved transactions are credited to your merchant account. All are independent components but they all function together to make Ecommerce work. Find a designer or webmaster who can bring all these elements together on your site & watch Ecommerce work for you.
About the Author...Lisa Schmeckpeper

Common Cold

Anyone can get a cold. In fact, most people catch cold at least once or twice per year, and children may get a cold as many as 8 to 10 times a year.
Most colds are caused by airborne viruses known as rhinoviruses. Colds are contagious and can be spread rather easily. Symptoms usually appear 2 to 3 days after infection.
How to avoid colds
Colds are transmitted when a person inhales airborne particles that are dispersed when an infected person coughs or sneezes. A cold can also be transmitted by touching infected surfaces and then touching your face around the mouth or nose.
A weakened immune system may bring on symptoms, but contrary to popular belief going outside unprotected in cold weather is not a direct cause of the common cold.
Because colds are caused by an airborne virus, they are usually spread quickly and easily through households, schools and the workplace.
Avoiding contact with those who are sick is the best method of prevention. You can also take steps to prevent the spread of colds by washing your hands, keeping surfaces clean, and covering your nose and mouth when you sneeze and cough.
Bolstering the immune system during cold season can reduce the chance of catching a cold or flu. A balanced diet that incudes plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, increased intake of water or fruit juices, as well as supplements such as Vitamin C, echinacea and zinc can all help to ward off symptoms or reduce their severity if a cold does strike. Getting plenty of rest and avoiding stress also helps.
In addition, some studies show that cold viruses prefer warm, dry, indoor air during the winter months, so keeping a window open to let fresh air in, or using a room air humidifier may also decrease risk.
Cold symptoms
Symptoms of a cold usually include sneezing, coughing, runny and/or stuffy nose, sore throat. A cold may be accompanied by a fever and/or headache. A cold can also cause fatigue, muscle aches and make a person feel generally miserable, and may last anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks.
Cold comfort
There is no cure for the common cold which usually resolves on its own within 7 to 10 days, sometimes sooner. Over-the-counter pain relievers can help alleviate muscle aches and fever. Soup (especially chicken soup), hot tea or throat lozenges can soothe a sore irritated throat, and a decongestant can ease the discomfort of a stuffy nose.
It is wise to see a physician if symptoms do not improve or seem to get worse. The common cold could lead to other conditions such as strep throat, bronchitis, sinusitis or even pneumonia.
More information about cold prevention and remedies around the Web:
Cold remedies: What works, what doesn't, what can't hurt - Mayo Clinic guide to recognized medications, foods, and vitamin supplements including a discussion on doubtful remedies.
Out of Sick Days? Avoiding the Office Cold - Ways to prevent catching a cold at the workplace with advice on the germiest places and how to disinfect them.
Avoiding the Airplane Cold - Independent Traveler guide to causes and prevention.
Herbal remedies for cold - An extensive list of recommended teas, herbs, along with remedies from the kitchen cabinet, with recommended dosages.

This information is intended as reference and not as medical advice. All treatment decisions should be made by medical professionals.

The Secret To Building A Profitable Website

Whether you plan to start your Website to add a bit of extra income or to become a multimillionaire, when you put a lot of effort into a project you want the best returns.
The Web is the newest gold rush and like the prospectors of old, there are plenty of people who are making a fortune in online business. Everyone wants to get in on the windfall profits, but most wind up a bit poorer for their venture into the online commerce world. What's the secret to the sites that actually can claim an amazing success?
The reality is that an successful online business is a combination of luck and work. You've probably heard the old saying, "Success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration." That's the formula for making a good income from your web site. Millions of sites go live every day and only a few realize that it's a business. Online or off, running a profitable business is hard work.
Do Your ResearchThe Internet is a great big library. You don't have to actually sell anything to make a good income online. Many of the most successful sites are places where the only thing offered is good advice and it's given away for free. The sites make a good income from showing visitors ads that feature goods and service that others are selling.
Don't think that success is as easy as buying a domain name, putting up a site and running ads. Before you start, give some thought to the things you like to do.
Are you great in the kitchen? Think about starting a site that shares your cooking tips and recipes. Add a new tip or recipe every day whether anyone is coming to read them or not. Add a couple of links to sites that you like in every article.
Do you have kids? What about a spot online where parents can come for tips on kid's activities? Planning birthday parties and play dates takes an endless source of ideas - and you can help with that. Tips for getting kids to go to bed, eat their veggies or stop fighting with each other are great - even if they don't work so well for you. Look at how successful the TV show about Super Nanny is. Parent's are looking for good advice. Put up one small idea every day with links to sites that offer more information and watch as your advice starts to grow a following.
Is your lawn the picture of well groomed care? Do you think about it at least once a day? Planning the winter care, the best grass seeds, weed killers, fertilizer, water, pests... all of these are simple tips that anyone who has a lawn will be glad to read. Link to a few articles on each topic to add "expert" standing to your ideas and you'll earn the gratitude of countless homeowners.
This works for gardeners too. If you are into vegetable gardening and you preserve your own foods, you can combine the gardening and cooking recipes into a fantastic resource.
Is music your salvation? Make that the theme of your site. You can add a song a day - review it, add some info about the artist, tell people why it's good and where they can buy, dowload or listen to it. Link to a few other places that add more information and you'll see music lovers coming in to find out what you said today.
Are you into partying? How about a site based on what to wear, where to go and what to watch out for when you go clubbing. A daily dose of hot dances, music, fashions and insider advice is easy to put together. These are your strong points -- share them with the world. Add links to other sites that you find helpful and you've created a monster resource.
Get the idea? Start with what you know and love to talk about. Add one small piece of information every day. Add links to make your resource the best place to find out everything on your topic. Keep your site simple. Make it easy for your visitors to find things. Don't add tons of flashing lights and dancing graphics. Just fill it with one page a day, every day, and when you have hundreds of pages of great advice, you'll be the 'go to' site for your topic. The more good content you have, the more the search engines will feature your site and the more other sites will add your link to their vistors an extra resource.
When it gets to be easy to add a page a day... think about the next topic. You can do your simple one page a day on as many sites as you can handle. But always remember, it's like brushing your teeth. If you don't do it every day, your site will not stay healthy!
Start On A Free Site
If you've never run a site before. Start off easy. Just do a search for free web site hosting and find a place to set up your site that won't involve spending any money. It will take a few weeks of playing with your site before you have enough content and a good enough design to draw paying customers. While you get started, keep your expenses down. If you use a free site, all it costs is the time it takes you to add your daily article and find a few good links. Search engines don't usually list sites that are hosted on free servers, so once you have a good idea of what you are doing, go look for your own domain.
What's the Domain

The domain is the name of your site. In www.google.com, google.com is the domain name. In www.chiff.com, chiff.com is the domain name. In www.you-best-kept secret-to-success-on-the-net.com...well you see the pattern.
Keep the domain name you choose simple. In the last example, it will take forever for someone to type in your name to visit your site...if they even remember what it was. Use hyphens as little as possible. Try to keep your domain name to one word or two separated by a hyphen.
Make sure that your domain name reflects the subject. A name like mary-lou is cute, but it doesn't tell anyone looking for advice on lawns that they can find it. Something like perfect-lawn or beautiful-lawn is much more descriptive. This is important to the success of your site.
Stick to .com endings...that's what everyone looks for and if there is a .com with your name already live, you don't want to make your site an advertisement for them! If the name you really want is already taken, don't use the .net, .info or any other extentions. Just think of another name that is available. Look around for domain registrars. You can buy a domain name for under $10 for the year.
Make sure that you own the domain. Some of the inexpensive domain registration sites make up their money by charging you to host your site and if you don't like the service, you can get stuck paying hefty fees to get your own domain released to your so you can find another host. Read the fine print. Since you're in this for the long run, it's a good idea to buy the domain for at least three years - you may even want to pay for a ten year lock on the name. You'd hate to start doing well and find that you've skipped reregistering the domain --- and someone else has bought your name!
Hosting Is Important
Once you get your own domain, you'll need to find someone reliable to serve it to the world. The folks who maintain your site on their server are called your hosts. Most web site owners will start out with one host and if they have problems with the service shop around for another one. You can check forums for web masters to see what others have to say. Watch out for salespeople posing as webmasters to drive traffic to hosting services that pay for the referrals. They don't always provide the most objective information.
Search Engines Bring Visitors
That's true and you may see plenty of advice on lots of ways to get to the top of the heap fast. take most of the advice with a grain of salt... You are building a good resource that will have all of the elements that the search engines are looking for. You will provide lots of content, good solid links to reputable sites and a site that is updated frequently. You will need to learn about keywords and meta tags, but there are plenty of places online to give you quick tutorials on those. If you've locked your domain for 3 years or more, it will help with search engine rankings. A good, descriptive domain name also helps. When you write your articles, save the files with the same idea. An article about winter lawn care could be named winter-lawn-care.htm. A recipe for canned tomatoes might be called canned-tomato-recipe.htm. DOn't go crazy with the hyphens.Keep the file names to two or three words at the most.
If you're talking about kid's bedtimes make sure you use the keyword phrases "kid's bedtimes," "children's bedtimes, "putting the kid's to bed" and other key phrases often enough to let the search engines know that your article is about bedtime -- but not often enough to make your article sound wierd. Use the phrase in the title and at most twice in each paragraph once if it's a short paragraph. Make sure your first and last sentence has some variation of your keyword phrase in it.
Put Ads On Your Site
Go to the Google Adsense program once you get your own domain name and have a bit of content. It's easy to sign up and easy to add to your site. Don't make the ads the focus of your site - it's your content that people are coming to see. Welcoming visitors with ads instead of a good article will turn off your visitors and cost you the long term health of your site. Make you visitors feel happy to have found you and they'll come back often and tell their friends about your pages.
Don't expect to make a million immediately. It will take a while, maybe even a year or two, before the money gets serious.
If you stay with it, you'll be one of those overnight success stories...
Then you can write an e-book to let everyone know how easy it was to make your fortune overnight!
About the Author...The Chiff.com Editorial Team

What People Search For - Most Popular Keywords

Millions of searches are conducted each day on popular search engines by people all around the world. What are they looking for? A number of major search engines provide a way to glimpse into the web's query stream to discover the most popular search keywords or topics. These are:
AOL Hot Searches: Top current queries, or see those in the last hour, last day and within particular categories.
Ask IQ: See top searches at Ask.
Dogpile SearchSpy: Choose to see either a filtered or non-filtered sample of top, real-time search terms from this popular meta search service. Sister site MetaCrawler offers a similar MetaCrawler MetaSpy service.
Google Trends: Allows you to tap into Google's database of searches, to determine what's popular. View the volume of queries over time, by city, regions, languages and so on. Compare multiple terms, as well. See our review: Google Trends: Peer Into Google's Database Of Searches.
Google Zeitgeist: What people are searching for at Google and its associated specialty services in a variety of categories. There are versions for various countries, as well.
Lycos 50: Long-standing service showing top searches at Lycos each week.
MSN Search Insider: Top 200 queries on MSN Search (annoyingly in random order), top "movers" in TV, sports and music, and a "duels" feature pitting top queries in a race against each other.
Yahoo Buzz Index: Shows you what's hot and what's not in terms of search topics at Yahoo.

DirectX 10

One of the most exciting developments in Windows Vista is the groundbreaking graphics technology. Many of the newest Windows games will take full advantage of the next-generation graphics technology in Windows Vista called DirectX® 10. DirectX® 10 will provide an incredibly detailed experience for gamers of every type, and will enable game creators to increase a game's level of realism, enhancing details and complexity in gaming worlds, apply effects like dynamic lighting and weather, and much more.

Corel Video Studio Pro X2 v12.0.98.0

Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 is an all-in-one video-editing software for creating high-quality HD and standard-definition movies, slide shows and DVDs. Edit video or photos quickly and easily using the Movie Wizard, or take full control with hands-on creative tools. Even paint, write or draw on your video. Burn your movies on DVDs, or high-definition AVCHD and Blu-ray discs. Share on PSP, iPod or iPhone, upload directly to YouTube. Watch your movies on set-top players or with the included Corel WinDVD.VideoStudio is easy-to-use video editing and disc authoring software for creating professional-looking videos and slide shows. Produce complete movies with the time-saving Movie Wizard or use easy editing tools. Share your creation in any format from DVD to mobile phones to the latest high-definition home theater systems. Even upload directly to YouTube to let the whole world in on the fun

Can 'Fellow African' Barack Obama tempt Libya's Colonel Gaddafi in from the cold?

For a start, their dark glasses, smart suits and slicked-back hair made them somewhat hard to distinguish from the secret police loitering at the airport. And despite their boasts of a new official policy of "openness", some things remained clearly off-limits to prying eyes.
"Stop filming!" barked a minder, as the heavily-guarded residence of their boss, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, loomed into view during an official drive around town. "OK you can start again," he said, as it retreated into the distance.
Welcome to Libya in 2009, where, nearly four decades after he first seized power, Col Gaddafi is yet again re-inventing himself. Having variously donned the roles of revolutionary leader, state sponsor of terrorism and saviour of Africa over the years, the man once dubbed "Mad Dog" by Ronald Reagan is now eager to don a new guise: friend and ally of US president Barack Obama, whose half-Kenyan ancestry marks him out - in the colonel's view, anyway - as a fellow African leader.
Col Gaddafi took over as the chairman of the African Union a month ago.
In theory, the colonel's good intentions are a chance for Libya to end its international isolation for good, bringing in much-needed human rights reform and foreign investment, and providing an example for other pariah states, like Syria, Iran and North Korea. And last month, as the foreign ministry issued The Sunday Telegraph with a rare press visa, officials insisted that the era of secrecy was over. "You can go where you like and report anything," a Libyan diplomat promised.
Old habits die hard, however. The foreign ministry minders were unfailingly polite and cheerful, but straying from their official itinerary proved all but impossible. And while portraits of Col Gaddafi - known simply as The Leader, or sometimes as Brother Gaddafi – are everywhere, asking questions about the Leader still produced a nervous reaction - even from seemingly loyal citizens. "He brought us freedom," said Osama Sharif, an English-speaking civil servant, who boasted that Libya had a "better form of democracy than you do in the West." But asked to translate the opinions of passers-by to see if they agreed, his confidence vanished. "Do you have permission?" he asked, before quickly disappearing. Likewise, a bank employee abruptly ended his otherwise cheerful account of life when the colonel's name came up. It was, he muttered, a "dangerous" subject for discussion. As Western diplomat based in Tripoli later put it: "There are still serious limits to freedom of speech and political activism here, and threats to the regime are dealt with severely."
Libya's latest faltering overtures to the outside world are part of a long, slow diplomatic thaw that started back in 2003, when Col Gaddafi, having seen the fate of Iraq's Saddam Hussein, gave up his secret nuclear programme and handed information to the West about al-Qaeda, which likewise opposed his dictatorial regime. Having previously devoted himself to supporting armed revolutionary movements - including the IRA and the PLO - he also shifted to the more peaceful cause of African development, channelling money for aid projects for Libya's poorer neighbours. Today, billboards in Tripoli depict adoring groups of black children looking up at him gratefully.
Last year, in another major gesture of goodwill, Libya paid $1.5 billion in compensation to the families of the 270 people who died in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, which led to the reopening of the US Embassy three months ago. It had been shut since the mid 1980s, when America bombed Tripoli and killed Col Gaddafi's adopted daughter.
"The fact that they have returned to the family of nations is good," said Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was among the British victims of the bombing. "It is good for the people of Libya, and it reduces the chance of their government ever going back to supporting terrorism."
The showpiece of last week's visit, however, was the annual "people's congresses", Col Gaddafi's own version of democracy. In hundreds of committees across the country, thousands of citizens gather to debate the future of the country, although the Leader always sets the topics and terms for debate, giving them little real power. This year they are talking about his latest big idea – a bizarre plan to virtually abolish all government ministries and instead distribute the proceeds of Libya's £24 billion oil revenues direct to its six million people.
Many congress-goers back the move, which would, in theory, simply hand thousands of dollars directly to families to pay for their own healthcare and education. At a meeting in the dusty town of Zuara, on the Tunisian border, congresswoman Aysha Muftar's only question was why it hadn't been done already.
"There are people becoming richer and richer today, but I am a simple woman and I am not getting my share of the wealth," she declared. "This project should not be delayed."
Whether the Leader will definitely implement the plan, however, nobody knows. Much as Libya has been stifled by centralised bureaucracy over the decades, removing it at a stroke would cause chaos. Many suspect that the plan is simply a way of frightening corrupt and incompetent officials, who are blamed for squandering much of the nation's oil wealth. Although literacy rates are high and there is a good health service by African standards, much of Tripoli consists of shabby, hulking apartment blocks, with potholed streets where groups of jobless young men loiter. The efficiency of Col Gaddafi's intelligence services means that public opposition to his regime has been virtually non-existent for the last few decades, but there is satellite television, on which younger Libyans see the success of other Arab capitals, such as Dubai, with its smart office blocks and skyscrapers. In private at least, they are starting to ask why they do not enjoy the same kind of wealth.
Among those who might one day be expected to provide the answer is the Leader's son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who was educated at the London School of Economics and has been seen as the heir-apparent among Col Gaddafi's six sons. He has carved out a reputation as an environmentalist and political moderniser, raising hopes that he could guide Libya to full normality should his father, now 66, ever retire. In recent months, however, he has disappeared from public view, raising fears that Col Gaddafi has decided to slow down on reform, or changed his mind on it altogether.
It is similarly unclear just whether the Libyan leader will remain keen on Mr Obama. One reason that Col Gaddafi's hopes are so high for the new US leader is that in the 1988 version of his famous Green Book - his answer to Chairman Mao's Little Red Book - he predicted that "Black people will prevail in the world." But when Israel attacked Hamas in January, Col Gaddafi rounded on the then President-elect for failing to intervene, declaring in typically eccentric style: "We fear that Obama will feel that, because he is black with an inferiority complex, this will make him behave worse than the whites."
The uncertainty is reciprocated by Washington. Mr Obama, for all his enthusiasm for improving relations with the Muslim world after the Bush years, is believed to be wary about cosying up too closely to the Libyan regime, given its continued poor record on human rights and torture. And with the strategic threat from nuclear programmes and terrorism now largely gone, there is also little pressing need to. "Human rights issues will always be at the forefront of our foreign policy," said a US government spokesman, asked about policy towards Libya.
On the streets of Tripoli, though, there is predictably little room for the idea of anyone - even Barack Obama - turning down an offer from the Leader. "Our religion tells us to forgive and forget," said Said Abu Saufan, 62, whose backstreet shop is lined from floor to ceiling with Col Gaddafi portraits. "We are just glad those days are over. We want to be friends with the American people."

Designer baby row over clinic that offers eye, skin and hair colour

By Philip Sherwell in New York Last Updated: 8:14PM GMT 28 Feb 2009
The Fertility Institutes clinic has just started offering prospective parents the opportunity to select physical traits of future offspring thanks to "cosmetic medicine".
But other fertility experts are outraged that the clinic is seeking to capitalise on dramatic advances in embryo cell analysis designed to identify dangerous diseases and defects in the unborn.
They are angered that the bespoke baby in vitro fertilisation service is distracting public attention from how the pioneering medical technology can have children free of debilitating genetic conditions.
Clinic director Dr Jeff Steinberg, who as a young medic was part of the team involved in the birth in Britain in 1978 of Louise Brown, the world's first test tube baby, is undeterred.
"It's incredibly exciting," he told The Sunday Telegraph. "I live in LA and everyone here wants to have a straight nose and high cheekbones and are perfectly happy to pay for cosmetic surgery.
"I understand the trepidation and concerns, but we cannot escape the fact that science is moving forward. If I have to get smacked around by people who think it is inappropriate, then I'm willing to live with that."
Dr Steinberg's clinic, already the world's largest provider of the controversial process of gender choice, has received "five or six" requests from couples for the new service which involves embryo selection, not genetic modification.
He expects the first trait selection baby to be born next year and the cost for the process to be about $18,000 (£12,700) - the same bottom line for parents who choose their baby's sex.
The ground-breaking science is based on a procedure known as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) that for years has allowed doctors to identify potentially lethal diseases and conditions in embryos.
But scientists have recently made startling advances in their ability to analyse the make-up of a single cell - the size of one-thousandth of a grain of sand - taken from a three-day-old embryo.
At a meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics late last year, William Kearns, a leading medical geneticist, outlined how he had managed to obtain sufficient DNA from the cell to identify thousands of characteristics from the embryo.
Dr Kearns explained the technique for medical purposes, but Dr Steinberg quickly spotted other uses. "It's a bit like Google Earth technology," he said. "You used to be able to see a street from space and now we can see through the front window."
He said parents might seek the clinic's services for both medical and cosmetic reasons. Some couples might, for example, already have a child with a skin cancer such as melanoma and want their next baby to have a darker complexion for medical reasons, But others might just want a blonde girl with green eyes. "Is it medical or cosmetic or both?" he asked.
His proposal to offer trait selection has outraged Dr Kearns. "I won't sell my soul for any amount," he said. "Steinberg has jumped on my research but I'm totally against this. My goal is to screen embryos to help couples have healthy babies free of genetic diseases. Traits are not diseases."
And Mark Hughes, one of the "fathers" of PGD, is just as bitterly opposed to the trait selection service on offer from the Fertility Institutes. "It's ridiculous and irresponsible," said the director of Genesis Genetics in Detroit. "There are thousands of desperate couples who have no hope of having healthy children without this technology, and here we are talking about this."
The row about the selection of these physical traits is doubtless only a taste of the furore that will follow if scientists are able to work out which human genome combinations predicate height, sporting prowess and perhaps the ultimate taboo, intelligence.
Britain, in common with most European nations, has banned the process of gender selection, although some British couples determined to choose a boy or girl have travelled to countries where the process is not illegal.
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine has issued guidelines against gender selection - trait selection is so new that it has not yet been considered - but it has fiercely opposed the sort of government regulations that are imposed in Europe.
In the wake of the "octomom" saga, in which 33-year-old mother-of-six Nadja Suleman recently gave birth to another eight babies after IVF at a different Los Angeles clinic, the Fertility Institutes offer has heightened the controversy about whether the industry should be regulated.
"In the US, we're in the Wild West on this," said Marcy Darnovsky, director of the California-based Centre for Genetics and Society.
"The concern is that we'll be creating a society with new sorts of discrimination. Now it's eyes and hair colour. What happens if it's height and intelligence? Some parents may have qualms about that, but still feel under pressure to go down that route."
But Dr Steinberg said that he recalled walking into the car park after the birth of Louise Brown three decades ago and finding a scrawled note on his windshield bearing the message "test tube babies have no soul".
He added: "It was new, people didn't understand it and they were afraid. Now IVF is not even a cocktail party curiosity."

China to pay $615m for Jaguar, Land Rover cars

Shanghai, February 26 (Gasgoo.com) Chinese firms will agree to pay a combined $615 million for 3,000 Jaguar and 6,000 Land Rover automobiles during a government-led trip to the U.K., the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the situation.
The trip, headed by Minister of Commerce Chen Deming and including some 200 business executives, headed for Europe this Tuesday and will visit Germany, Switzerland, Spain and the U.K., according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
In total the delegation will agree to buy as much as $15 billion of machinery, automobiles and food products as Beijing seeks to cultivate goodwill and fend off protectionism, the report said.
Jaguar finished 2008 with sales of more than 65,000 cars globally – an increase of 8 percent over 2007, while Land Rover had witnessed a 17 per cent fall in sales.