What Marketing Can Do For You

I thought I would clear up some misconceptions about marketing in this two-part series: What Marketing Can Do For You and What Marketing Can't Do For You. We'll start with the positive.

Over the years, I've had dealings with some business owners who have a rather skewed perception of marketing. They think you throw a few ads out there, get a couple of press releases printed and voila! You're a big success.

Oh, if it only were that easy. (Although if it were, I probably wouldn't have a job.)

But there's no getting around that to have a successful business, you need a solid marketing plan.

So what CAN marketing do for you? Increase your business – no question about it. You need to be marketing if you want to grow your business.

However (and this is a really big however) marketing is NOT going to result in overnight success. Marketing is about slow growth, building on last week's success and forgetting about last month's failures. (Or what you THINK are failures. It's not uncommon that a campaign you think is a dismal disappointment may be what caused the next campaign to take off.)

Marketing is about frequency -- about your target market seeing your offer over and over again until they're finally ready to buy. Without that very important frequency, your business will start to stagnate and eventually die.

Now that doesn't mean you won't have a major success with a campaign. Even a massive, amazing, unbelievable success. You'll run one ad or be featured in an article and wham! You end up with more orders than you know what to do with. While that's a great shot in the arm, it probably won't last unless you keep building upon it. Eventually the orders will dry up and you'll be back to where you were before.

Marketing is also about being consistent. This goes back to building on successes. Your customers need to see your message over and over again. This builds trust and credibility. Plus, your current customers will also respond to that frequency. Not only will they not "forget" about you and go to your competitor, but it will help build their trust in you as well.




Lastly, marketing is about working hard. There's no getting around it. To be successful means putting in the time and energy to continually market yourself. (You can also pay someone to help you with it, but basically it comes down to someone somewhere has to put in the time to continually market you.)

If you remember nothing else, remember this: If you don't implement your marketing strategies, nothing is going to happen.

That last sentence seems obvious, but again, I'm amazed at how many people I run into who aren't willing to do the work. They talk about it, but when it actually comes down to doing something, they somehow never seem to get around to it.

One way to overcome that is to plan on doing one task or a little marketing every day. Then it doesn't seem quite so overwhelming. Me, I make a commitment to do X number of marketing tasks a week, regardless of how much time that takes.

Marketing is a commitment. There's no getting around it. If you have a business, then you have no choice but to make a commitment to marketing on a consistent basis until the day comes when you decide you don't want a business anymore.

Creativity Exercise -- Make a Commitment

Since I'm interested in having all of you succeed, I want YOU to make a commitment right now to market your business on a regular basis.

Write this statement on a piece of paper, filling in your name in the proper place.

I, YOUR NAME, am making a commitment to market my business on a regular basis from now until I decide I don't want to be in business any more.

Sign and date it.

I suggest posting it in a place where you can see it while you're working. Or, if you really want to add some accountability to your commitment, tell someone about it. You can even tell me about it -- just send me an e-mail at Michele@theartistsoul.com There's nothing like announcing your intention to keeping you honest.

The Secret To Promoting Sites With Articles

Publishing articles on the Internet is a tremendous way to increase the number of inbound links to your site. As articles are assimilated into search engine indexes, they also begin to act as landing pages generating traffic for your site. Whenever possible, you should publish articles to promote your site.

Article Content

The content of your articles should be directed to the most basic elements of your product or service. Whenever possible, try to write "how to" or "introduction to" articles. Topics like these will garner the biggest interest and be picked up by other sites. Articles that cover finer points of a subject work as well, but you should expect a smaller readership.

Article Tone

Your articles should be packed with information, not sales pitches. When writing articles, one tends to concentrate on how to get potential readers to visit your site. This approach is a mistake. You have to think of both the readers AND webmasters that will be looking for articles.

Image you are a Webmaster that needs content for your site. You go to one of the article directories looking for material to add to your site. Are you going to select articles that are sales pitches designed to take your visitors to another site? No. You are going to select articles that provide your visitors with some valuable information. Don't write sales pitches!

Links

Articles are a great way to quickly build the link counts for sites. The search engines universally appear to like them, a rare event these days. So, what's the best strategy for using links in your articles?




The best linking strategy for articles involves putting not more than two links in your byline. This is admittedly a personal preference, but I find more than two links looks "clunky" and many depositories won't allow any more than two.

Regardless, the two links in the byline of your articles should go to two distinct pages of your site. The first might be to your home page, while the second goes to a page that is related to the subject of the article. With each new article, you should change the links to new pages. This allows you to build link popularity for both your home page and internal pages of your site. I have found Google, in particular, heavily favors sites that multiple pages with high link counts.

HTML v. Text Links

With some depositories, you have the opportunity to place html code in your bylines. This, of course, lets you avoid typing out the URLs for your site pages, but should you? I would encourage you to type out the URLS for one reason. It is important to make it as easy as possible for Webmasters to republish your article on their site. Don't make them figure out the domains of your hyperlinked text, particularly sub-domains.

In Closing

I have used article campaigns to market many sites. As long as you go about it correctly, you should be able to do the same thing for your site.

A Digital World Has Come

The Internet has been around for sometime but its popularity started a little more than five years ago as more people gains access to public domain. As more Americans engage in online activities such as gaming, surfing, communicating with relatives and friends, and stock brokering, new companies are created. Now you have companies offering web design, web development, website hosting and SEO services. Aside from this, our age is growing up to careers like graphic design and web designers, types of work, which were inconceivable a decade ago.
Now you may be asking: What sort of work do these new companies engage in? Web development is the general term used to refer to all the activities I mentioned about. Any activity related to the creation of a website can be categorized under this term. Some professionals, however, insists that web development refers more to the technical side such as coding and networking.
Webdesign services are involved with the layout of a website. The web design is the first thing people notice when they visit a page. It is also one of the major factors considered by repeat visitors. There are four aspects of design: the content (basically this is the information on the site), the usability (the functions and features of the website), the appearance (should be enticing to readers0 and lastly, the visibility (people must be able to find your site!). The main goal of a good website designer is to make information readily available to his readers in a form that is very easy to understand.
SEO services are basically a marketing strategy used by sites to get more traffic, or in laymen's terms, to get people to visit their sites. Say for example a person goes to Google and types in SEO, they should be able to find sites relating to search engine optimization and the those sites at the top of the list has the highest page rank, meaning, these are the sites which is visited most often. There are other websites which are not indexed or listed in Google, MSN or Yahoo. This means that unless you know the website's name, no one will get to visit that site. To make your site popular, you need to build links to your site, and this is what companies engaged in SEO does.



Now, let's talk about something less technical. Did you know that more people are spending more time with the internet than watching TV, reading the papers and listening to the radio? For one, you can do all these three things while sitting in front of your laptop. Now you no longer need a Tivo or a subscription to the local paper because now, you can get anything from the web for free! You can now do your shopping online; you can even gamble or take out loans from the internet. Aside from this, work is no longer confined to the office. When you need to beat a deadline, the internet gives best solution – bring your work home and let your VPN put you right back to work!
Surely, we are entering a new world – one where everything has its virtual counterpart. From teachers to bankers, friends and dates, everything we need is now online. But how has this affected our society today? In a study of 4,000 respondents, it was reported that internet usage was averaging at 2-5 hours a week while those in the extremes spend more than 10 hours in front of their computers. This has caused the 15% decline in social activities and another 25% who are spending lesser hours in talking to their friends or their families. Truly, this world has become a digital world of conveniences, and a world where people are losing contact with their social environment.

Mutual Fund Expenses

An informed investor knows where his money is going. For an investor in mutual funds, it is essential to understand the expenses of mutual funds. These expenses directly influence the returns and cannot be neglected.

The expenses of mutual funds are met from the capital invested in them. The ratio of the expenses associated with the operation of the mutual fund to the total assets of the fund is known as the "expense ratio." It can vary from as low as 0.25% to 1.5%. In some actively managed funds it may be even 2%. The expense ratio is dependant on one more ratio – "the turnover ratio".

"The turnover rate" or the turnover ratio of a fund is the percentage of the fund's portfolio that changes annually. A fund that buys and sells stocks more frequently obviously has higher expenses and thus a higher expense ratio.

The mutual fund expenses have three components:

The Investment Advisory Fee or The Management Fee: This is the money that goes to pay the salaries of the fund managers and other employees of the mutual funds.

Administrative Costs: Administrative costs are the costs associated with the daily activities of the fund. These include stationery costs, costs of maintaining customer help lines and so on.

12b-1 Distribution Fee: The 12b-1 fee is the cost associated with the advertising, marketing and distribution of the mutual fund. This fee is just an additional cost which brings no actual benefit to the investor. It is advisable that an investor avoids funds with high 12b-1 fees




The law in US puts a limit of 1% of assets as the limit for 12b-1 fees. Also not more than 0.25% of the assets can be paid to brokers as 12b-1 fees.

It is important for the investor to watch the expense ratio of the funds that he has invested in. The expense ratio indicates the amount of money that the fund withdraws from the funds assets every year to meet its expenses. More the expenses of the fund, lower will be the returns to the investor.

However it is also essential to keep the performance of the funds in mind too. A fund may have higher expense ratio, but a better performance can more than compensate higher expenses. For example, a fund having expense ratio 2% and giving 15% returns is better than a fund having 0.5% expense ratio and giving 5% return.

Investors should note: It is not sensible to compare returns of funds in different risk classes. Returns of different classes of funds are dependant on the risks that the fund takes to achieve those returns. An equity fund always carries a greater risk than a debt fund. Similarly an index fund that invests only in relatively stable and thus less risky index stocks, cannot be compared with a fund that invests in small companies whose stocks are volatile and carry greater risk.

Avoiding funds with high expense ratio is a good idea for the new investor. The past performance of a fund may or may not be repeated, but expenses usually do not vary much and will certainly reduce returns in future too.

Financial Plans: What Are Americans Banking On?

Americans tend to have an optimistic view of retirement-but a recent poll found many people still have a lot of work ahead of them before they can leave their jobs.

For instance, 47 percent of respondents said their retirement savings will last them 10 to 20 years. Those numbers seem promising until you consider that people should be actually planning for 30 years. Similarly, nearly half of all Generation X respondents said they expect to rely on pensions to help fund retirement. The plan may seem sound, but experts warn that many pension plans in the U.S. are at risk of going belly up. Plus, fewer than a third of all companies now offer pension plans.

The poll was sponsored by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) in an effort to better understand the American public's approach to savings and retirement. The group sponsors a Web site called 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy (www.360financialliteracy.org) to help people come to terms with financial issues at different life stages. Here's a look at some additional polling results:

Paying For Retirement

Younger Americans do not plan to rely as heavily on Social Security for retirement as do older Americans. Close to six in 10 people age 55 and older plan to fund their retirement through Social Security. Only four in 10 (41 percent) of Americans under the age of 55 are counting on Social Security to fund their retirement. Instead of relying on Social Security, those under 55 are more likely to rely on their personal savings and investments.

College Costs

About three in 10 Americans have a child who is planning on going to college in the next five to 10 years. One quarter of these parents plan to pay for their child's education with personal savings, another quarter intend for their child to earn scholarships to pay for tuition. Surprisingly, only 13 percent of respondents plan to use private student loans and just 12 percent plan to fund their child's education with financial aid.

Financial Concerns

Rising energy and home-heating costs and uninsured medical expenses rank as the highest financial concerns for Americans (15 percent each). Retirement and the price of gas (13 percent each) follow closely behind. Education costs are also a concern as 9 percent of respondents worried about their child's college education and 7 percent worried about their own college education.



Forty-one percent of Americans under age 55 say they plan to rely heavily on Social Security for retirement.

On Networking Groups (

In "On Networking Groups - Part One", I spoke briefly about the four types of networking groups. Now, let's take a look at a category of networking groups.

One category that most people are familiar with is the Chamber Of Commerce. Chambers serve a long standing role in the business community. It is a role of development and support. A Chamber Of Commerce can offer business both small and large with networking opportunities, training programs, legislative assistance and a host of other benefits. A Chamber Of Commerce can be a local, statewide, national, or international organization with separate memberships for each. If you belong to an area Chamber of Commerce, you do not belong to a state or national Chamber. Each plays their own role in the business community.

Some Chambers of Commerce take more of a role in the community to influence policy while others might focus more on business development. Most of them however have a wealth of information for the member that goes unused by most.

For example, let's say you have a business and you have a question about a city ordinance that relates to your business. Most often a Chamber of Commerce can provide you with the answer to your question. Each of them has a database of members that can often be accessed through some point. Usually computers are made available to members with databases that can be searched for information on other members.

When looking for networking opportunities within a Chamber Of Commerce, most people think only of leads groups or the common after hours. The reality is that any function hosted by a chamber of commerce holds opportunities for networking with other business owners and business leaders.

Chambers of Commerce generally have a yearly membership of several hundred dollars for an individual or company. There are various levels of membership that can be had. Most Chambers offer an executive level membership that includes exclusive meetings between a more elite level of business people. When looking for this type of prospect, you can often gain access to them by joining at this level. The problem you might have is actually paying for this level or attending the functions as they are provided




I and many other experts on networking recommend anyone who networks to be a member of several groups. This should include a Chamber of Commerce. Keep this in mind when considering a Chamber of Commerce. If you are involved in your community in other business networking organizations like the Rotary Club, a local Merchant's association, or smaller networking group, you might want to consider joining a Chamber of Commerce in another part of town. This will make you a part of that community as well and open the doors to increased prospects and opportunities.

In any event, you should always attend a Chamber of Commerce function in any area several times and find out what types of assistance they can offer for the growth of your type of business. Do not join any group just for the sake of joining a group. Find out what types of members attend the functions that are offered to determine the amount of exposure you will have to your target prospect.

When you attend a Chamber of Commerce meeting for the first time, look for the most popular person in the room, the one who everyone seems to want to talk to and get to know them first. This way you will make faster connections to the rest of the group. Often the leaders of the group can help you to get in the mix quicker.

Look for people who do what you do and analyze their strengths and weaknesses for opportunities to build alliances with them. If they have been a member for a long time, it is likely that they have most of the business in their industry at this point in time. It is hard to compete in such circumstances, so try an alliance before you bang your head against the wall trying to compete or just giving up.

Chambers of Commerce have been around for many years and there are all types, including minority and international. Be sure to visit many before deciding which to join and your membership dollars will serve you better.

The Writer and The Web

f your dream is to get published, the chance is before you.The web has opened the portals of opportunity to all aspiring writers and freelance writers .
It's a whole new world with unlimited access to ideas and subjects for writers. Endless resources and information are available at the click of your mouse to help you get started and keep you going.
It's up to you to exercise due diligence to make your dream of writing a reality. It does not happen overnight. It all starts with that first, small step towards pursuing your dream. The internet offers all kinds of avenues for anyone who has ambitions to write. Where do you begin?
Read what the multitude of e-zines and newsletters have to offer. This gives you an idea of what interests people as they spend more and more time surfing the web. What are the latest trends ? Pay attention to issues that tend to pop out here and there, again and again.
Subscribe to pertinent groups or forums that can be helpful in your quest. Stay abreast with the latest news, be interested in anything and everything.
Open up your mind. Then, you can decide which venue is right for you. Ask yourself, are you interested in mainstream type of writing ? Or would you choose specific areas of interest?
Assess your inclinations, your passions and your hobbies.What beliefs do you hold close to your heart? Make a list. In your career, what is your area of expertise? Do you write reports ? Do you keep a journal? A diary? You're
already a writer!
Get excited about writing down your ideas. The golden opportunity is before you, as never before. Actually, jumping in the bandwagon of writing for the internet can be overwhelming for the faint of heart, confusing for the skeptic, yet exciting for the go-getter. Which one are you?<



The internet is open to all segments of society and to people from all walks of life. Access is not limited to the technologically inclined. It is no longer as intimidating as it was when the information superhighway first opened in the 20th century. People are less apt to admit their computer illiteracy, rather, more members of our society are learning how to navigate the cyberspace.
Learn about the basic rules of writing for the web. Cyber readers tend to be fast thinkers, speed readers, with only seconds to spare. If you want to grab their attention, remember, you only have precious few seconds to do it.
Take heart. You already know this. You love to see your by-line. The web will help you get your name out there. The more you write, the better you'll get at it. Technically, if your work gets published on-line, you are considered published.
Only thing, writing for the web for the countless e-zines and newsletters and web-sites is not for those who intend to make a living from their writing. Not at the start.
If you are willing to write and submit your articles for free, don't miss out. For the aspiring writer, it is a good way to start. The more you write, the more exposure you will get, readers will get to know your name. Writing for the internet helps to drive traffic to your website.
What are you waiting for?

Why Should They Choose You - Use Win Themes To Differentiate Your Proposal

Win themes are too often neglected in many proposals. Frequently, both new and established companies forget that any proposal should instil confidence in the potential buyer, highlight your competitive advantage and show exactly why you are best suited for the job. Written proposals with an effective win theme almost always ensure you, the provider, a winning contract.

What is a win theme? A win theme can be defined as a concept presented in your proposal that is designed to persuade the buyer of your unique suitability to deliver the project. Find a single aspect that marks you as uniquely suited for a given project and present this to the buyer.

Creating compelling reasons to buy is why you land contracts. This is even more important if you are conducting business primarily over the Internet. Face to face interactions naturally work much better when it comes to creating lasting relationships. Online, you need to work harder to make yourself stand out. Distinguish yourself from competitors in every way possible.

Merely listing your qualifications won't get you far. It won't hurt, but you will need to do much more than this to consistently win jobs. Don't fall into the trap of believing that your experience alone will speak for what you can do - when a proposal is tailored specifically to a contract and shows exactly how and why you will meet the customer's needs, you will be much more likely to gain his business.

Defining win strategies and how they relate to you is not an easy task. They frequently vary considerably from proposal to proposal. Pick the competitive advantages you have that are important to the client. Emphasize your value. Competitive advantages are those experiences you offer that are obviously superior to what your competitor offers. Are you more experienced? More creative? More in touch with the direct issues a project applies to? Find whatever aspect distinguishes you from the herd and focus on how this feature can improve the end product for the client.




Use a tool such as the Learn to Write Proposals Bid Capture Plan to help you define you proposal win themes and strategy

Focus on developing distinct win themes that will ensure that, at the very least, you are always strongly considered for any given contract. Businesses hire the company or individual they feel will deliver the best results. Granted, price is often a strong concern, but more important is the ability to instil confidence in those who consider hiring you. Play to your strengths and emphasize your distinct value to the client. No one can advise you exactly on how to do this, but knowing your strengths allows you to easily understand how you can fulfil a contract.

You must always emphasize your value to the client. Hundreds of businesses are vying for the same opportunities. Guarantee your success by offering something specific. The Bid Capture Plan helps you define the factors that help present to the client the perception that you are unique amongst potential suppliers in being able to win this contract.

Learning The Process Of Order Fulfillment

The goal of most businesses is to profit and give out the best products and services that they can offer to customers. For companies who manufacture sellable items, producing the end product is not the final step. You already know that your products will sell. The next thing that you need to do is deliver the products either to the stores or straight to your customer's doorstep. This is where order fulfillment services come in. Companies, either big or small, usually obtain the services of a third-party order fulfillment company. This way, they can concentrate mainly on the manufacturing process and let the order fulfillment companies do their job. This would make for a more efficient running of your business organization. The key here is to get the orders right the first time. Choose a company which fits your company's order fulfillment needs.

1. You Can Focus On:

- customer service
- customer sales
- product development
- marketing

In addition to this, the rest of your employees will get to concentrate more on other matters so that you can put your time, money and energy to better use. You can consider the following important factors when choosing an order fulfillment service provider that would best suit your company's needs:

2. Location

Choosing the proper location should play a major part in your decision. Order fulfillment warehouses are scattered within the length and breadth of the country. Just imagine how high your shipping fees will rise if you choose an order fulfillment warehouse which is located far north when the bulk of your customers reside on the east.

A better and more viable option is to choose a location in the middle of the country so that products may be shipped on either locations at more or less similar prices.

3. Size

There are large-scale and small-scale order fulfillment warehouses. Choose one that would best suit your customer's needs. If you have a constant stream of orders year-round, it is easy to find a company that can keep up with a constant demand. On the other hand, if you receive a bulk of orders during a particular season, will they be able to handle it and still deliver in a timely and efficient manner?

4. Order Processin




Companies now look at third-party sales representatives as a viable option. You need to find an establishment that will be able to handle all of your order-processing needs. Check if they can easily turn estimates into a number of orders instantly. Some firms even have automatic order registries which makes an order easier to be fulfilled and processed. Thus, it would turn into a quicker profit for the company.

5. Real Time Order Status

You and your customers should be informed of when, where and how the orders are being shipped. Make sure that the order fulfillment service provider that you will get is able to track an order status, real-time. Also, everybody should have the same information about the status of an order to prevent finger-pointing should a problem arise.

6. Troubleshooting Skills

Check if they can deal with a bulk of shipments or orders. This would let you know how they handle things from their end. Should a problem arise, like an incorrect order was processed, will they be able to come up with a solution right away? See if they can make shipments faster than usual in case of misplaced orders which may result to customer dissatisfaction.

7. Communication

The problem that most companies deal with is that the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing. This is the result of a lack of communication. Everything should be coordinated with each other to avoid confusion. This will save time and effort, and make every aspect of the order fulfillment process run more smoothly.

8. Error rate

Mistakes, mishaps and confusions are normally dealt with by every company. There are times when an order will get shipped to the wrong address. When looking for an order fulfillment service provider, ask about their error rate and what they do to handle such difficulties. Also, ask about what they do or improve on in their shipping system for cases like these. Once you consider these factors and choose the right order fulfillment service provider that will suit your company's needs, you will get to concentrate more on the vital aspects of the company's operation that is sure to benefit you, your company and the people that you serve.

Spend Less than What You Earn - One of the Great Back Door Secrets of the Super Rich!

Though earning a high income certainly makes life easier, it's not necessarily the only solution to attracting wealth and gaining financial freedom. The "super rich" have another great back door secret that often goes unnoticed. It's the secret of spending less than you earn to build wealth. Not only those who are already rich, but some middle-to-lower class workers are well on their way to creating wealth by using this simple method. They realize the value of a dollar and how just a little creativity - and discernment - can keep them one step ahead of the financial game.

What Does it Mean to "Spend Less than You Earn?"

It means just what the statement implies - don't spend it if you don't have it, spend less instead. If you earn $3,000 monthly, spend only $2,800 if possible, and put the remaining $200 into a retirement or college savings plan or some sort of wise investment that will yield a return later. Live within your means. In other words, don't buy an expensive car and/or home that you can't afford. Choose products that you can buy with straight cash when possible, or products that you can finance without putting a financial strain on your budget. Opt for a lower payment and low interest loans if you must go in debt.

Work towards Paying Off Debt

The first step to creating wealth is to get out of debt. Smart spending is the only way you can do this. Create a detailed budget and outline all of your monthly spending - even the extra stuff such as soft drinks from a local store. Write down every penny spent, so you'll know where the money is going.




Then, notice the unnecessary spending that you can eliminate. There are likely things you can do without as you pay off debts. Write these things down and transfer that money to pay toward the debts. Pay off high-interest loans or credit cards first. And most importantly, don't create new debts.

Creating Wealth through Smarter Shopping

When shopping, look for better deals, use coupons, and shop at thrift stores instead of buying things new. Smart spending frees up extra money for creating wealth through savings and investments. Be mindful of spending when dining out at restaurants, visiting stores, paying for fuel, and when buying supplies or household goods.

Eliminate or reduce unnecessary monthly payments such as expensive cell phone contracts, cable or satellite television, furniture rentals, certain types of insurance, and so forth. With some needful expenses such as car or health insurance, you might be able to find a more affordable provider.

Attracting wealth is easy once you realize the tremendous value of unspent dollars. They add up quickly, and you don't have to work harder to earn them! You'll gain control of your finances and reduce stress for yourself and your family. And in the future, you'll enjoy financial freedom by creating wealth for the long term!

Working Capital Solutions With Factoring

Ideal Candidates for Accounts Receivable Factoring:

Any business that provides a product or service to other creditworthy businesses and is constrained by their day-to-day cash flow situation.

Does your business need:

• Cash to Cover Payroll?

• Working Capital to Fuel Growth?

• Help with Cash Flow Problems?

• Help because of Bank Turn Downs or refusal to extend current lines?

• New Equipment to Grow?

What is factoring?

In a traditional factoring arrangement, a company actually sells its receivables to another company (a "factor") at a discount. After the sale, the receivables balances are carried on the factor's balance sheet since title has passed. Because the factor then owns the receivables, it generally provides all the required credit, collection and accounting services necessary to collect the receivables, including assumption of the ultimate loss exposure from the client debtor. The important difference between factoring and asset-based lending is ownership. In factoring, the receivables are purchased and owned by the factor. In asset-based lending arrangements, accounts receivable are pledged to the lender as security for the loan, but the borrower retains ownership and complete control of the receivables and the value of the receivables remains on the borrower's financial statement.

Keeping the cash flowing is a challenge for all businesses. Does your company face cash flow challenges because of slow paying customers? Have you been forced to decline new opportunities because of cash flow issues?

As every business owner knows, sales alone do not measure the profitability of a company. For example, sales may be increasing, but a company may have to wait weeks or even months for payment. During that time, your company cannot purchase materials for more orders, meet payroll, or other basic operating expenses. The solutions may be Accounts Receivable Funding provided through Diversified Funding Services, Inc. Accounts Receivable Funding is quickly becoming a popular choice for its flexibility and rapid injection of needed capital.

Why Accounts Receivable Funding is a Popular Choice in Today's Business World

Accounts Receivable Funding or "factoring" has been in existence for several decades. Today, virtually any-sized business that extends credit to other businesses for goods or services can enjoy the many benefits of Accounts Receivable Funding.

Simply stated, Account Receivable Funding is the exchange of creditworthy commercial accounts receivable for an immediate injection of working capital. When an invoice is generated, it may be purchased with an advance of anywhere between 75 to 90% of the net invoice amount. When your customer pays the invoice, you will receive the reserve portion minus a nominal servicing fee




Why Accounts Receivable Funding Makes Financial Sense

Accounts Receivable Funding offers many Advantages:

• Initial funding is typically available between 5-7 business days upon receipt of completed formal agreements, and then all future advances are funded within 24 hours.

• Accounts Receivable Funding does not create a financial liability on your company's balance sheet and generally no other collateral (outside of the receivables) is required.

• The amount of funding available to you is only limited by the creditworthiness of your customers.

• Accounts Receivable Funding focus on the creditworthiness of your clients instead of your financial history.

• Accounts Receivable Funding allows quick access to working capital, instead of waiting 30, 60 or 90 days to receive payment from your customers, money is immediately available on demand.

Accounts Receivable Funding Programs have been "generally" designed with the following criteria in mind.

• Your company must be providing a product or service to other credit worthy businesses (no consumer sales)

• Your company must be selling on terms

• Your company must be billing in arrears (no pre-billing)

• Your company must have minimum monthly sales of at least $10,000 or annual sales of $120,000

• Your company is not required to be in business for any length of time

• Your company should have the capability to generate financial reports (A/R and A/P aging reports, etc.)

• Your company may have current and/or historical losses or a deficit net worth position

Ideal Candidates

• Start-ups
• Companies suffering financial setbacks
• Service Companies
• Companies with seasonal orders
• Mature companies seeking cash flow support
• Companies seeking credit assistance
• Businesses experiencing rapid growth
• Non-bankable businesses

An example of the application process:

1. Complete the application
2. Provide your most recent and detailed accounts receivable aging report
3. Provide your most recent and detailed accounts payable aging report
4. Provide an actual sample invoice
5. Provide a copy of your Articles of Incorporation/d.b.a. filing
6. Provide a copy of your customer list
7. Some factoring companies require financial statements, others do not.

Preferred Industries

• Service
• Temporary Staffing
• Security companies
• Manufacturing
• Transportation
• Textile/Apparel
• Computer Consulting
• Distribution Companies
• Printers
• Sub-Contractors
• All other Industries
• Any company that provides a business to business product or service to another credit worthy business!

Thanks for reading!

Earn Money Playing Online Blackjack

Blackjack is by far the most played casino card game in world. It is a simple game, and a game that can be beaten with the correct strategy. The objective of blackjack is to beat the dealer by obtaining a hand valuing more than the hand of the dealer without exceeding 21. A hand valuing 21 is often called a 'Blackjack'.

In the game of blackjack all the numbered cards are valued at their face value. Jacks, queens, and kings all value 10, and an ace values either one or eleven, whichever value works best for the player.

On a typical blackjack table, there is one dealer and up to six players. Before the cards are dealt the player must make a wager of any amount up to the table limit. Once all of the players have made a wager the dealer will deal each player two cards face up. The dealer will also deal himself two cards - one face up and the other face down. At this point the player is given a number of different options, which include hitting, standing, doubling, splitting, or buying insurance.

If a player decides to hit this means the player would like to be dealt another card. A player can hit as many times as he or she chooses with exceeding a hand valuing 21. If a players hand exceeds 21 this is referred to as busting, and if you bust you automatically loose. The player's second option is to stand. By standing a player is stating that he or she is happy with the value of their hand, and does not choose to be dealt another card.

If by chance a player is dealt a hand of two cards of the same value he or she can elect to split the pair into two separate hands. If a player decides to split, the wager amount remains the same for both hands and each hand is played separately. In the situation that the player believes his or her hand is a winner the player can double down. By doubling the player is deciding to double the wager amount and to be dealt one additional card. On the contrary when a player believes his or her hand could loose because the dealers up card is an ace, the player can choose to buy insurance. Insurance protects players from a dealer blackjack.




Basic strategy suggests that players should only play against the dealer, and not pay to much attention to the other players on the table. By observing the cards dealt to the other players it is possible to gain an edge on the casino by using card counting techniques. Card counting is not necessarily difficult but it can get confusing if you take into consideration the speed of the game. It is always recommended for beginners to learn the blackjack strategy tables very well before even considering card counting.

Blackjack strategy tables are just basic tables that outline the correct mathematical course of action for any given hand. Typically there are three different blackjack strategy tables. The soft hand table is used if a player has a hand with an ace valuing one, the hard hand table is used if a player has a hand with an ace valuing eleven, and the double down table is used to decide if the doubling option works for or against the player.

Players using the strategy tables have a great advantage over players that don't. Blackjack is a game of strategy and with easy to use tables that guide your play there is no reason why you can't beat the casino. The players that win the most stick to the strategy tables and never make decisions based on luck alone. Just believe in the tables and you will eventually win also. Don't you want to break the online casino?

21Bet.com provides all the strategy tables you need to win!

Brand Development, You Should Improve Your Branding

It might be almost blasphemous to talk about letting go of old brand equity and laying an old brand to rest, but there are times when change is needed. Reformulating and re-designing, or even overhauling an old brand can be a wise decision. If sales are flat and show no sign of growth, you'd better stop kidding yourself and hire a branding consultant.

Brands are an extremely vital element in your product and corporate value proposition. With communications so pervasive today, corporate branding and product branding are becoming fused as one. Corporate brands are increasingly powering product brands and product sales and that pose some substantial risk, as those sub brands can't be as easily re-positioned when they falter.

Brand Culture

As time passes, culture changes, new technologies and new competing brands appear and they change the perception of value that is available in a marketplace. Old sales propositions won't fly in the face of 20 or more other competitors offering the same benefits and features. With cultural, economic, technology changes, and corporate changes, your aging brand image and brand equity may end up doing more harm than good. Your former branding successes could leave your brand and company stuck in the past.

A good example of age related branding problem is in the realm of computer products. I recently bought a new laptop computer because my old one just couldn't keep up with my multitasking and other work needs. At the retail store, there were computers with Intel or AMD microprocessors to choose from. The key matter wasn't really microprocessor speed or capability. In the past, the Intel logo would have compelled me to buy only computers with their processors regardless of what other features were available in the computer. The Intel brand was clearly in a class by itself. Not this time. This AMD powered computer was low priced and had the memory I required along with other features such as a 100 Gb hard drive, high-resolution screen, numerous ports and adapters and a long lasting battery. It only weighs a couple of pounds and the AMD logo seemed to look better too. It says: AMD Turion 64 Mobile Technology. 64 bits and mobile compatibility. Why doesn't Intel mention that on the computer they have their products in?

Laptops are hot and prices are falling. My 15-year-old nephew just bought his first laptop on eBay, since they are cheaper and more accessible. So the whole "culture" of shopping and purchasing computers has changed.

Everyone is buying high-resolution screens and I was eager to ease my eyestrain from long hours of viewing everyday. The huge hard drive was great and the laptop looks good too. The old Intel brand just didn't have the effect it once did, and their competitor, AMD, just sold one of their processors. The laptop is working great and now Intel processors don't dictate which computer I'll buy




To me, the Intel logo and brand brings back memories of old Pentium computers. This is worsened by the fact that today's processors have changed and they are running at lower speeds. This confuses the speed benefit that Intel had its brand positioned around. The technology change in viewing screens, memory, and processor use in the computer has moved the market away from where Intel was positioned. The Intel corporate brand powers sales of their new processors, but they can call those new products anything they want and it won't effective my decision.

What Intel needs to do now, is to associate its processors with the features and benefits that consumers and B2B buyers make decisions upon. Computer branding is not all about the processors anymore and the old Intel brand image is deeply tied to old technology. Even the brand name Pentium is associated with the computer culture of the 90's.

Here's the issue: the old Intel brand was so successful in 90's that it's trapped Intel in a time warp. Intel needs new branding that ties it to the future, not the past. To get there, they are probably going to have to jettison the past.

Google is a good example of modern branding and a brand that is not tied solely to web search engines. The brand is now diversified strategically to associate it with everything people are doing on the web. Google is omnipresent, and its brand image is solely in its relevance to the current Internet culture. Google won't let its common search engine role diminish its branding power.

Hanging onto to Old Branding Concepts

There's a lot of reason why brand managers, CEO's, and marketing managers resist rethinking their branding and redeveloping their brands. Most often, they don't want to leave their comfort zone and risk a short-term blip in profit. Some don't want to make an investment in hiring a branding consultant to look at the options. Branding experts examine a brand to discover its current problems, the culture of the marketplace, and to determine if a new brand identity or brand positioning would be fruitful. Some old brands are doomed, but most are just stale and not in tune with the target market. A branding consultant can provide crucial insight into market perception, brand value building, brand loyalty development, and to discover the brand value proposition that could breathe new life into your brands.

The Low Cost Way to Develop Multiple-Streams of Income

Cast your mind back several years, when the term 'multiple-streams of income' became an established part of the online marketing vocabulary and web-entrepreneurs began launching networks of mini-sites to sell affiliate products.

Fast-forward to today and the concept of developing a number of income sources is still very relevant. Good website businesses constantly innovate, looking for new ways to make money. However setting up networks of mini-sites can be an expensive and time consuming process, so why not consider buying a single generic domain name and set up a virtual network of mini-sites using sub-folders?

Setting Up Your Virtual Network

Developing your virtual network is very easy. Once you have bought a generic domain name, you simply create a series of sub-folders for each of your affiliate programs. If one of your mini-sites is going to be used to sell insurance products, name the folder 'insurance'. Then create your insurance web page and save it in the insurance folder as 'index.htm' or 'index.html'. When you launch your insurance mini-sites, the address will be www.genericdomain/insurance.

Choosing Your Generic Name

Choosing your generic domain name can be difficult. Ideally you will want a short and simple name that does not align the website to any specific market or product. Unfortunately most of the short, single word domain names are already taken, so you might want to make up a name or use a mixture of words and numbers, such as 'genericname888.com'.

Advantages of Sub-Folders

There are many advantages to using sub-folders:

Lower Cost

Using a single domain name will significantly reduce hosting and domain registration costs, especially if you are building a network of 20 or more mini-sites to sell your products. If you decide to use the same page design across your virtual network, it will also be possible to reduce development costs.<




Marketing Advantages

Launching a new website on a shoestring is a tough business nowadays. Pay-per-click advertising can be prohibitive to small businesses and the Google Sandbox will prevent new websites from obtaining search engine rankings that will deliver sufficient amounts of traffic.

However, launching a new mini-site on your virtual network will be much easier as the page will be part of an established website and you will be able to avoid the sandbox. Building links to each of your virtual mini-sites will not only help that particular page receive more traffic, but also help improve the overall visibility of your whole site.

Lack of Suitable Domain Names

Domain names are a scarce resource and it will become increasingly difficult to keep finding suitably memorable and descriptive domains for each mini-site. With sub-folders, it is possible to choose any name you like for your mini-sites, although it helps if the generic domain name you choose is relatively short.

Drawbacks of Sub-Folders

Off course, there are some disadvantages to using sub-folders. Offering a diverse range of products from one website may confuse your target audience and you are less likely to innovate with different designs for each of your mini-sites. If a certain affiliate product really takes off, you may want to launch a new website to specifically sell more of that product; however the use of sub-folders still remains the most cost effective way to develop multiple-streams of income.

Publicists: It's Time to Embrace the Technology of Online Press Kits

So you have a cell phone, a Palm Pilot, an automated office complete with teleconferencing, remote-access, Web site and e-mail addresses. So what? Just because you're always available to the media doesn't mean the media has easy access to your clients. What will your high-tech office be able to do when a reporter wants a press kit at 7 p.m. on a Friday evening? Nothing – except hastily prepare the hard copy kit for a costly overnight shipment.

There is a simple way to eliminate the need for keeping a large inventory of hard copy press kits and reduce your dependency on the shipping company guy: publish your clients' press kits online.

Making the move from hard copies to press kits published online that are always-accessible is essential in today's age of e-mail. The corporate world lives by e-mail; reporters and other media professionals are no different. These people are busy and time is always of the essence when they've got deadlines breathing down their necks. The decision to use your client in a story instead of someone else is contingent on whose information is easiest to get. If it takes all night for your client's press kit to reach their desk, you might get bumped.

I know what you're saying right now. "But, Drew, I e-mail my clients' press materials to the media." Well, that's great, but just because reporters use e-mail doesn't mean they open every stranger's message that arrives in their inbox and it especially doesn't mean that they even bother opening your attachments. Why? Because it's too risky.

First of all, everyone knows not to open an e-mail from someone you don't know; especially if there's an attachment. This is e-mail safety 101. Strange e-mails with attachments usually mean one thing: virus. At least, that's the take of most business's firewalls and anti-virus protection systems. You may think you're making waves by mass e-mailing your media lists with attached press releases, but how many calls are you getting back? Not many, since your important e-mail has been tossed out with the "wasser" worm and those annoying "enlargement" e-mails.

So what's the solution? Reject technology and start snail-mailing and faxing again? No. Embrace technology and publish your press kits online.




Now, an online press kit is not a Web site. Don't be confused by the term "online." Though an online press kit can be displayed online and present information like a Web site, it is really a virtual folder or briefcase that allows you to upload and store your press materials on the Internet. Once in your online press kit folder, these documents and images can be distributed as links – not attachments.

When you prepare your sharp, concise e-mail pitch to the media, you simply insert links to your clients' press kits. When the reporter clicks the link, the document can be opened and saved on their computer. It opens like an attachment, but the documents themselves live online. Instead of piling them onto your e-mail, you're simply providing directions (a link) to get to them. They become part of the e-mail message, so a media outlet's virus protection system won't automatically kick it out of the system.

Virtually anything can be uploaded to an online press kit: press releases, high-resolution images, video and audio clips, graphics and more. Plus, since you have control over your online press kits, you can always be sure they're up to date.

Now you're thinking "Wow, these things sound great, but I bet they are expensive." Not necessarily. Though there are online press kit programs available that cost into the thousands, they usually include extra features you don't really need and will probably never use. Think of the online press kit market as the binder or folder aisle at your favorite office supply store. Sure there are binders with all kinds of extras, but you pass those by for what you need and the price you can live with.

Face it – technology is only going to get better and faster. Don't be left in its dust trying to wave down that brown truck with your emergency overnight press kit. By going online with your clients' press kits, you're not only making them easy to access, but easy to cover by the media. The media loves that – and so will your clients.

Why Even A Simple Contract Can Save Your Bacon

Every business owner says it; "Do I really need a written contract?" The answer is "YES, YES and YES!" Using a written contract is like buying insurance for your business deals, but much better.

What Is A Contract?

Simply put, a contract is an enforceable agreement between two or more parties. The contract contains the promises made by the parties to one another, which is legally known as "consideration." These promises define the relationship being undertaken as well as what happens if the business relationship doesn't work out. If one party fails to act according to their promises, then they have "breached" the contract and can be found liable for damages. The damages typically equate to what the non-breaching party would have received if there had been no breach.

Oral Contract v. Written Contract

You go to a party with a friend and meet someone interested in your product or service. Eventually, you agree to provide him with 1,000 units of your product in exchange for a discounted price. You have created what is known as an "oral contract." He has promised to order products and you have promised to provide them at a discounted price. Is the agreement worth anything? Unfortunately, the answer is probably no. Why? In most states, oral contracts are not enforceable if they carry an inherent value in excess of $500. Since it is so difficult to establish the terms of an oral contract in a dispute the legal system tries to discourage them. In fact, this legal restriction is generally known as the "Statute of Frauds."




Turning back to our example, what if you thought you were going to give a 10 percent discount and he thought it was 20 percent? What if you can't resolve it and he insists you provide the discounted products? You will end up in court with the dispute coming down to which party the judge or jury believes. Are you really willing to take that gamble?

With even a simple written contract, you can create a clause containing language that states you will give a 10 percent discount. If the dispute ends up in court, he is asked if his signature is on the bottom, the clause is read and you win. The contract should also contain a clause requiring the "prevailing party" to be reimbursed for their attorneys fees and costs. In short, he has to pay your legal bills as well.

An additional benefit to using a written contract is the due diligence element. I realize you will be shocked to learn that there are unethical businesses. In negotiating a contract, very specific requirements are put in writing. What if the other party starts squirming? It may be a sign they are unable to meet their obligations. Might that give you pause before you commit to tying up your inventory? You can save yourself a lot of headaches by discovering this information in advance.

In summary, even a simple written contract should be a mandatory bullet in your arsenal. Much like car insurance, you will be glad you have one if a business transaction falls apart.

Affiliate Content, Duplicate Content And The Crucial Differences Between Them; Er, There Are None...

Going by word on the Search Engine news group, alt.internet.search-engines, it's looking like Google is getting better at spotting and demoting affiliate content. It could well be that because the same text content is repeated over and over on
every affiliate site that carries it it gets demoted by Google purely for being duplicate content. I see this as being a problem, a growing problem, for every affiliate merchant and client using a data feed to power the pages. While the templates folk use may well vary in detail due to individuals customising them to their taste, essentially they're all variants on the same theme and of course they all contain the same few lines of text content in the same order.
Repetition of this kind shouldn't be too hard to identify and either ignore or remove from the listings or do whatever with which may well mean in the future that the idea of affiliate sites as we now have them is simply no longer practical.

My crystal gifts site is powered by a feed from GoCollect.com using a Cusimano script. I've personalised the templates so if you know me you'll recognise the standard BB layout of the individual product pages. Visually, therefore, it isn't like any of the other sites using the same feed. It still has the same text content, though. Inputting a sample into Google produces "about 584" results, all of which, or the majority of which we must suspect as I'm not going to go through them all to check it absolutely, are built around the same feed. The problem here for both affiliates and for affiliate merchants and for Google is, what's the point in having them at all? If there's one site that has them,
namely, the original, where's the point in Google having the rest of them in the index? They all sell the same product for the same price, so why bother to index them? At the moment, it's the battle of the SEO's. Why should someone buy product A from my site as opposed to anyone else's? The answer would be, because when they search for product they find my site before they find any of the others, and there are ways of promoting sites with which we are all familiar here. But this can't really last. The world only really needs just the one web site for these custom-made products and speciality items, and that's the one from the original manufacturers. All the rest essentially constitute duplicate content and we know what happens to that, it gets filtered out.

So, to counter this problem, you could substitute your own text for the original, and you could take your own photographs of the product. Not a problem for a small site, however, many have tens of thousands of pages. How is anyone going to re-write that lot? Obviously any lone affiliate can't begin to, so the idea of affiliate sites as we now have them, I think, must inevitably give way to niche sites where the affiliate presents a small range of items in an individual style that will appeal to certain of the buying public. The idea would be to create a brand of presentation that clients would get to be familiar with and feel comfortable with. If you look at the items on my crystal gifts site they're all photographed out of context. In your home they are unlikely to be suspended in mid-air against a white background, which is how they're presented in the data feed and thus on my site. I'm suggesting taking pictures of items as they might actually appear in situ, do a little mock-up of a down-lit corner table and snap that from a typical viewing angle, or have an item on a coffee-table against a background of muted lights, featuring an expansive sofa, giving a feel of general relaxed easy-living. This, by comparison with simply outputting the existing data from the feed, would cost a bundle, but it just might might be the only real way forward for niche affiliates. You know what that would result in? Quality sites. The kind Google professes to like.




Meanwhile, though, I suspect people who've built one multiple-product affiliate site, and seen it do well and are now busily engaged in building more and more multiple-product sites on the basis that they'll all do well too, are in for multiple disappointments. I'm trying to go niche in general with my affiliate sites and I've picked on crystal and glass gift items to work with as I can break then down into categories and maximise the potential of each category. What I've got then, in effect, is a legion of niche sites all interconnecting.

For choice, now that I understand more of the industry than I did when I began with affiliate sites, I'd really like a site that does watches and jewellery, these are the items that people are happiest buying from the web, research has
suggested, but I don't know a good feed other than Amazon and I've stayed away from getting too involved with Amazon as it has the high profile it does and will inevitably attract the greatest number of affiliates and so likely will be penalised in the earlier days of any affiliate purge. From what I'm hearing, this purge has already begun.

The Birth of GPT's

Our economy is built on advertising, which is becoming increasingly more problematic. Corporations are spending billions of dollars annually on advertising methods that are no longer effective. Eighty percent of all US homes now own Tivo, where skipping through the commercials is just a push of a button away. Most new cars are now being delivered with (commercial free) Satellite Radio's already installed. New, stricter laws involving telemarketing are continually being put into place and the rising cost of stamps are making direct mail advertising cost prohibitive. Traditional means of advertising are becoming progressively more ineffective.

So what's an advertiser to do? In these economically challenging times more and more people are flooding the internet daily, looking for ways to earn money to either supplement their income or replace it. Family is (thankfully) becoming the cornerstone of our lives once again. The age of "you can have it all, family AND the career" and "the children just need quality time, not quantity" has drawn to a close. In today's world mom's want to stay home and raise their children. Dads are quitting high pressure, long work-day jobs. They are trading them in for lower income jobs then looking for ways to supplement their salary or replace it altogether so they can spend more time with their families. As this trend continues to evolve, corporations have begun to stand up and take notice.

Throughout history marketing agencies have kept a continual eye out for rising trends, so it's no wonder that this particular trend has caught their attention. Advertisers have found a way to capitalize on this media enriched trend of people looking to earn money on the internet. PR firms will tell you that the best way to advertise any product or service is to capture your target audiences attention. This is best accomplished by using either humor or incentives. Companies want you to view their advertisements and the more enjoyable this experience is, the more people will be willing to view them. On one hand companies need exposure to their advertisements, on the other hand people want to earn money from home over the internet… Are you starting to get the picture here? What better way to advertise than to find a way to pay the 'advertisee' to try their products and services? Hence, the GPT sites were born.




What are GPT sites? GPT stand for Get Paid To, as in Get Paid To take surveys or try new products or services. Instead of spending all of that advertising revenue on the old, more traditional media (television, radio and print), advertisers are now allocating more and more of their advertising budget towards internet advertising. GPT sites are basically the middle man that introduces the advertiser to the advertisee.

Advertisers pay GPT site owners to deliver leads to them. They are looking for people to read about their product, give their opinions about their products and try their products and / or services. That's where the advertisee comes in. The GPT site owners find leads to connect with the advertisers. They accomplish this by paying a large percentage of their earnings from the advertiser to the leads they supply them with.

GPT sites typically host a variety of offers on their webpages, including free offers, surveys, service and product trials, paid to read emails, and cash-back shopping. Earning money on these sites is not only simple, it's actually very lucrative. This is how it works; You sign up at the GPT site, once logged in you'll find a list of offers. Most GPT sites organize their offers in categories, either freebies or paid trial offers. Freebie offers are 100% free and do not require a credit card. These are usually surveys to fill out, a request for more information about a home business opportunity, or signing up for a newsletter. They pay anywhere from .40 cents to $3. Trial offers typically do require a credit card, but are far more lucrative. Some trial offers don't actually cost anything (unless you fail to cancel by the end of your trial period). Others cost anywhere from $1 to $5 for paid trials or shipping and handling charges. The profit margin on these types of offers is very high, paying anywhere between $10 and $30, occasionally more. Once you have completed an offer you simply mark it as complete using the link provided. Depending on the offer, your account will be credited anywhere from a few minutes to a few days. Most GPT sites pay monthly, however there are a few that do pay daily or weekly.

Web Hosting & Domain Registrars

Many people are confused about how the domain names are used. Does a website come with a domain name? Well, you should be clear about the thing that domain name registration and web hosting both are different services. However, the web hosting company may provide or sell you a domain name with the website, most web hosting companies are not domain registrars, and they take it from another party.

Typically, web hosting companies will take care of the initial domain name registration, they become familiar with the basics of domain name management, can save good amount of money for you. The domain name registrars like enom.com and directnic.com, charge $30 and $15, respectively, per year, per domain name. If you are managing your own domain names, you will get the biggest payoff, so decide to get more than one domain name.

If you have opened the hosting account using, suppose jass.com. Then you add on, the 'parked' or 'mirror' domain names, jasssony.com and jasssidh.com. Parked or mirror domains are not different websites, they point to an existing website, jass.com. The main trouble is that some hosting companies would charge you setup or monthly fees for the parked domains. You can manage the domain names yourself and can avoid all the 'parking' fees, but you should also shop around a better deal on the names.

Domain management basics start with the two fundamental methods of directing domain names to the website. This is the process that gets a surfer from the browser to the website, it involves a mechanism that takes the surfer to the domain name registrar and then to the website. The journey from the registrar to the website can be executed by one of two methods 'pointing' or 'forwarding'. This is your choice to use from the different methods.

However, the menus for setting up these features vary from the registrar to registrar, and the concepts are also same. 'Pointing' involves assigning a 'Domain name Server', DNS address, obtained from the hosting company, to the domain name jass.com. On the other hand, 'Forwarding,' also known as 'redirecting,' works differently. If you want to set up jasssidh.com for the website rather than using DNS method, you would be forwarded to jass.com that would already be pointing to the website.

Submitting articles to Article Directories

A lot of have been written about the Importance of submitting articles to Article Directories. Article Directory is a useful source for information on the Internet today. Many people including journalist, analysts, and writers among others surf different article directories in search of useful information. So if you want to share useful information or for that matter promote your website then submitting articles to such directories is the best solution. Now the question one need to ask here is how can this help in promoting your website in the Search Engines.

Article directory is an important technique as far as Search Engine Optimization is concerned. As a web promoter you write the articles and submit them to article directories for approval. The key factor is that you can add a link back to your website in the resource box of these article directories. So basically if some one on the Internet comes across your article they will have a chance of actually visiting your website through the resource box.

There are thousands of Article directories on the Internet. While submitting your articles to such directories you have to understand different features that will help you in distributing the article in the right way. Every article directory has a title, article summary, article body whereby you post in the entire article, keywords and most importantly the resource box. Let me show you the resource box I have used for this particular article.

" Thomas R is the author of this article on "Your website keyword" (Link back the keyword with the URL of your website). Find more information about the subject at (URL of your website)

If you just check at the bottom of this article you will find my resource box. I have highlighted my primary keyword with the link back to my website. Likewise you too can write interesting articles that will enhance the readers interest so much so that they will be forced to check out your website link as well.

How many article directories should I submit my article to?

Now this is a very interesting question. I am sure you to must me haunted by this question regularly as to how many article directories you need to submit your article to. To be frank let me tell you that there is no limit to the number of article directories on the Internet. It will be good for your website and your business if you could submit your article to as many directories as you can. For quick results you can start submitting your articles to quality article directories that have a high Pr in the Search Engines. However this does not mean that an Article directory with Pr 0 has no value. One of the important points that you have to consider here is that these directories too will get a Page Rank on their next google Update. So basically it's a matter of time that your article will be indexed here as well.

However in doing so you have to make sure to avoid submitting your articles to directories that are plagiarized and banned by the Search Engines.