Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Using the Internet to Find Your Niche

by: Theresa Truscott

The Internet is a wonderful place where users can find a great deal of information. However, many are not aware that the Internet is also where some savvy entrepreneurs can find lucrative business opportunities. Internet niche marketing is just one example of how those in the know can turn their hard work and dedication into profit. This is not to say that Internet marketing is a simple field where anyone can prosper but there are opportunities for those how are willing to persevere in their efforts.

Learning Internet Marketing Online

Believe it or not Internet niche market is a subject that can be learned online. It certainly helps for those who hope to prosper in this industry to have some knowledge of marketing and business before venturing in an Internet niche marketing campaign but it is not necessary. There is a great deal of information on organizing and executing a niche marketing campaign available online. This information may come in a number of different forms including websites offering informative articles, message boards focusing on the industry and ebooks which are available free of charge or for a fee.

Let’s first examine learning about Internet marketing through websites. Type the search term, “Internet niche marketing” into your favorite search engine and you will likely receive millions of search results. Shifting through all of the search results would be rather time consuming and many of them would likely not be relevant. Fortunately the search engines do a great deal of work for you and the most useful websites will likely appear on the first couple of pages of search results. This still leaves you with a great deal of information to sort through but considering you are likely planning to turn niche marketing into a career this research is certainly worthwhile.

Carefully examine the search results you obtain from your search and bookmark the websites which seem most useful. Next take as much time as necessary to comb through all of these websites to find the most useful information. Take notes as you do to create a comprehensive resource for yourself. After this review your notes and investigate items which seem unclear to your further. This research may include offline resources such as books or phone calls to experts in the industry.

Search Engines are Your Friend

Now that you have already used the Internet to learn about the industry of Internet marketing, you probably know that finding a profitable niche is imperative. A niche is essentially a specific area of interest. Ideally you will already be an expert in this subject and it will be a subject which has a wide Internet audience without a great deal of existing websites focusing on this niche. Once again, you can turn to the Internet for finding this niche.

You may already have a few ideas for niches. These are probably subjects you are passionate about and understand very well. Examining statistical information provided by popular search engines regarding the popularity of search terms related to your niche will give you a good indication of whether or not Internet users are interested in your niche. If keywords related to your niche are searched on these search engines often, it is evident there is an audience for your niche. Next it is time to enter these keywords in a search engine and evaluate the websites which are provided as results for these keywords. If there are many strong results the niche can be considered saturated. In this case, it is a good idea to abandon the original idea and search for another niche. However, if there are not many high quality search results, you may have found your perfect niche.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Where to Find Free Online Magazines and White Papers

by: Christian Wu

The advent of the internet has changed the way people go about their daily lives. It also changed how people do business and it also gave easy access to different information by way of interactive media. There are now millions of websites containing all kinds of information for any topics and subject any person can think of. As many companies go paperless, people who have access to the internet can now read online magazines and download white papers.

Online access to magazine subscriptions and digital white papers

Online magazines are electronic versions of the typical magazine. In most cases, the online versions contains pretty much the same content and information as the conventional magazines while some have different contents and contents that are only available online or vice versa. While there are magazines that offer free subscription, there are also those who charge a minimal fee. For some people, subscribing to online magazines are a cheaper alternative and is more practical as most are supplemented with other features such as mailing lists, dynamic contents, links to other related topics and online chat.

White papers on the other hand are reports that are written by academics and industry professionals who are experts in their fields. White papers talk about a varied subject such as data management, network security, politics, management, directory services, frame relay, finances, and other topics. It often include case studies of real world exploration on various subjects as well as charts and graphs, photographs, and a list of resources such as names of companies, industry experts, universities, associations, websites, and other white papers. They can be found in many websites and most can be viewed free, while some are quite long and requires to be downloaded and read with the use of other special software.

These publications are especially helpful to companies in making business decisions such in a case where they are looking into investing in a new technology as they often provide examples on best practices, e-commerce methods, practices to avoid and some papers often describe what an expert’s position is regarding a topic.

Free access to information and magazine subscriptions

There are thousands of free online resources. These resources are varied with numerous categories ranging from business to marketing and the automotive industry.

Trade Pub is a website that offers free magazines such as Profit magazine, a publication that is distributed to more than 110,000 C-level executives and provides business leaders with a road map on turning their technology investments into top and bottom line advantages. Overdrive is a publication that serves primarily commercial truck owner-operators and small fleet owners, as well as company drivers. Their editorial focus helps owner-operators and small fleet owners be successful in managing businesses. One can also request free access to white papers such as Oracle’s "Business Agility: Strategies for Midsize Organizations" or Perceptive Software’s "Going Green? Choose ECM."

So what qualifications do I need to receive a free subscription?

The publishers are solely responsible for determining the specific requirements needed to receive their publications free of charge. Generally, one or more of the following is required:

1. your work requires you to be informed and up-to-date about the subject matter covered by the trade publication,

2. you need information about the types of products that are advertised or discussed in the trade publication, and/or

3. you evaluate, recommend and/or purchase types of products that are advertised or discussed in a trade publication.

Publishers are interested in specific job titles and job functions, but may also evaluate and determine qualification based on other criteria asked in their qualification form. Additionally, publishers' criteria may change from time to time, based on their overall demographic needs and requirements.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

What’s All the Hype About Wordpress

by: Sandi Smith

First of all, let’s define Wordpress. It is a blog platform. At first glance, it’s attractive because Google ranks blogs higher than web sites. But that’s only under certain conditions.

There are two flavors of Wordpress: Wordpress.com and Wordpress.org. I’ll take each one in turn.

Wordpress.com

Originally, I was thinking that a few of my customers with really small sites could save hosting fees if they switched to Wordpress.com. I’m always looking for ways to save my customers money, especially now. But then I looked into it with the help of my very smart assistant and found out about all the limitations, and it just didn’t make sense.

Wordpress.com is a web application that you can use to start your blog or online presence. It requires no hosting platform, no downloading of files, and no programming. That’s the plus side. Unfortunately, the con side is huge: you cannot use your own URL or domain name (www.yourdomain.com). You are limited by what you can put on your site, including selling links. And you are very limited in formatting your blog.

Wordpress.com is good for these things: if you are running a hobby and not a business, if you want a personal or family blog such as for Christmas letters or to document the kids’ progress.

Wordpress.com has too many limitations for a serious entrepreneur.

Wordpress.org

Wordpress.org is a very robust programming application that you can download, load onto your hosting platform, and set up and use as a web site. Thousands of people are doing it.

You still need to pay a hosting fee. You don’t need to know HTML, but the application is so robust that there is a learning curve. If you are not technical at all, then you will need to hire someone who is technical to set it up for you. Someone – you or a contractor – will need to go through the learning curve.

It took me about 1-2 hours to download and load the Wordpress.org files to my web site. If you use GoDaddy as your host, the file load is automated. After you load the files, you’re ready to get your Wordpress site set up. The time it takes to set up varies on how many pages you have, what plug-ins and themes you want, and a myriad of other factors.

Wordpress.org is extremely flexible and there are many plug-ins that you can use to increase its robustness. One of the big benefits is that your web visitors can be much more interactive on a Wordpress site than they can on your web site. That’s a great reason to convert.

The next good reason to convert is the search engine ranking. If you’re setting up a new site, your rank will be higher than if you set up a web site. If you have an old site that is ranked highly, then you can move your URL to a Wordpress site and maintain the ranking. What you don’t want to do is start over with a new URL if your old URL has some years on it, because Google values age very highly.

If you have a huge site that you have not updated in a long time, then I don’t recommend moving to Wordpress. You need to be actively adding content in order to benefit from Wordpress. If your web content is very active, then it may make sense to move to Wordpress.

You can also add Wordpress on to your existing site, which is what I did. It causes my site to rank even higher than before (and I have a highly ranked site because it’s so old). Here is my Wordpress.org site so that you can get an idea of the layout:

http://www.sandismith.com/blog/

I hope this explanation helps you make a better decision when it comes to implementing Wordpress in your business.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

IT Management - Internal Audit

by: Even Jahr

Self Assessment or internal control is a regular process to be repeated again and again, as part of your efforts to reach the desired level of quality you are striving for. The self assessment process shows you if you are on the right track to achieve your goals, and it can also show you where you can find room for improvement in your working processes.

How to define the metrics.

What can you measure? Any working process in your department can be measured. Whether it is opening a new user account, setting up new a PC, ordering software, answering a call on the help desk - all these processes can be defined and measured. The way to do this is to set up a flow diagram, and define the working steps one by one until you have the defined the complete process. For each step in the process from beginning to end you should define the input needed to start the step, how the step is to be performed and finally, the result of the process. The process also involves defining 4 roles or levels of participation in the different steps of the process, execution defines the person who I doing the job, which normally means the person who is responsible. P for participation, who takes part in the process step, I for information, who, if any, needs to be informed about the result of the step. As you work your way through the process you are defining, make sure that all important steps to complete a process are included.

Have a special focus on the part of the process where you have little or no influence. Your interaction with other departments is important to measure, so define the steps where you need information from other departments or give information to other departments with great care. As an example, if you are defining how to open a new user account as a process, then you can have the following steps:

1) receive requisition for new user

2) crate new user on the network

3) Update user list

4) Update Hardware Inventory list

5) Update software licenses

6) Report back when everything is ready

If you in addition define the 4 levels of participation in the process, your procedure is ready.

How to do the self assessment / internal control. The self assessment is a process where you go through all the steps required to perform a task, step by step as defined in the procedure.

If the step is performed satisfactory, you have a situation that is called compliance. Compliance means that all is working well without errors.

If the step is not performed satisfactory, you have a situation we call non-compliance.Non-compliance means that there are some errors in performing the work, and these errors have to be corrected.

When you have compliance, you can complete your internal control. All is working well and according to procedure, just write a small report on your findings and send a copy to your immediate superior. Never forget the internal marketing you should do to improve your standings.

If you have a non-compliance situation, you will have to ask yourself the following questions: Are there errors in the way I perform the internal control? If you have errors in the way you do the internal control, it is easy to correct and then just repeat the process to see if your result is correct. Are there errors in the working procedures? A non-compliance situation may be a good indication. If the working procedure contains logical errors, people will bypass the steps you have defined simply because it prevents them from doing their job they feel it should be performed. After analyzing the situation and if you find errors in the procedure, correct the error, implement the procedure again and do a new self assessment. Are there errors in the implementation process? If the procedure is defined the way you want it to work and people do not follow it, then you have to consider your implementation process. Perhaps you have to repeat it, or discuss the steps where you have non-compliance with your subordinates so that they understand the importance of performing the procedure as described and not bypassing any of the steps. If there are errors in the procedure they have to be corrected, and a new training has to be done. If people bypass and the procedure works the way you want, a new training is also required. Self Assessment of your procedures is a very good tool to improve performance and verify that you keep the level you want.

More so, when you have a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with your users and you have to verify performance from time to time. Then self assessment becomes a part of your regular working routine and you can document your service level with your self assessment reports.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Working Of An Email Security Solution

by: Styan Williams

You are taking a big risk when you are connecting your system to internet nowadays because of the ever-increasing flow of viruses and spam mails. Even the personal information stored in the system and the passwords will be taken out of the network without authorization through the malware and spyware attacks.

You will have to keep in mind that internet is not a secure place any longer. The basic nature of internet is being insecure these days. Even browsing through the websites can prove to be fatal. You will not even realize that your system is infected until something turns out to be wrong. This is the main reason why more and more people are getting concerned about the internet security. One among the major problems related with using emails and internet is the constant flow of spam mails. Email spam protection is of great importance because of this phenomenon.

You must take immediate and drastic steps to get rid of these issues so that you will not have to regret later. Carefully selecting the passwords was one among the techniques to ensure the safety while using internet. However, things have changed and thus data backups and file permissions have gained a lot of importance in the recent times. Cyber crimes are increasing tremendously. This is the main reason why hiring a firm that offer secure email service is of utmost importance irrespective of the nature of internet usage. Even though some security tasks will be conducted by the operating system automatically, other tasks should be managed as well as monitored by the users so that the protection is effective. Firewall can be called as the primary level of defense. The firewalls will allow the computer to connect to secure and trusted sources. There are two main types of firewalls namely, software and hardware firewalls. Even though the techniques used by these firewalls differ from one another, the function remains the same. They check for the trustworthiness of the ports and even the IP addresses.

Getting a email security solution must help you to get ample protection against viruses, spyware, malware and all other programs that may harm the working of the network and the system. You should keep all the requirements in mind when you are selecting a solution so that you will not be disappointed with the results obtained. Normal anti-virus programs will scan the disc and check for the viruses. The program will either quarantine or delete the viruses if any.

Even if you are making use of a good and reliable email security solution, you should also pay attention to the security threats. If you are receiving an email from an unknown source, you should directly open the attachment. Clicking on the active links can also be a bad idea, as it will redirect the page to websites that are full of spyware and malware. You will have to make use of your common sense when you are using internet. The aforementioned information will explain the working of an email security solution.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Importance Of EDI (Electornic Data Interchange) For Your Business

by: Aftab Ahmed

The term EDI is used for electronic data interchange. Obtaining electronic data interchange is extremely beneficial for your selling. Electronic Data Interchange technologies are new so many businesses are not even sure where to begin. For businesses new to EDI and even businesses that have begun implementing electronic data interchange technology, a consultant can help hugly in getting an EDI system setup and helping to select the proper system for the business.

EDI is not something new. It is true that-, it is much older than you might think. Yet to many industries it is only a few years old. The very central task of the EDI technology to lessen the trust on paper-based mail and fax machines and makes these things most computers oriented. In place of of sending message by fax machine a person would send the document nearly by using the EDI server. The person {{getting the fax can receive it usually, or through their own EDI server.

Now a day there are several companies currently using EDI. Normally the EDI is widely used in manufacturing, utilities, shipping, pharmaceuticals, insurance, construction, metals, food processing, banking, warehousing, retailing, petroleum, government, health care, and textiles among other industries. All those companies that buy or sell goods or services can potentially employ EDI. Because it plays an central function to support the entire business cycle. The EDI software can update the relationship the of the companies with the customers, distributors, suppliers, and so forth.

Here are largest benefits of EDI. It play a vital role is saving the big amount of labor time. No data entry mistakes will occur from your operators. The EDI also allows extremely rapid order processing. A proper system can easily handle receiving an order and shipping that order with its invoice the same day. EDI improves margins by meeting clients demands and consequently strengthening relationships. It also allows time and effort to be focused on other interior priorities.

Electronic data interchange often permits a company that first implements Electronic data interchange to handle far larger volumes without adding employees and other costs. This means increased sales and increased revenues once the original investment in EDI is recaptured. These savings come from, no data entry errors from your operators, no mail time; lessen labor processing costs and time, lessen order cycle time and no filing and other processing of paperwork.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Use The Sms Gateway To Make Best Business Gains

by: James Johnson

A combination of sms gateway software and electronic mail based advertising campaign is now the best option. Both go hand in hand now, even a few years back it was only the time of e-mail based persuasive campaigns but now the scenario has considerably changed. With the growing popularity of sms gateway software the sms service providers have tailored alluring online sms sending software to serve businesses better. Serious marketing gains can be achieved by companies in all business markets using this online marketing technique. There are corporations that offer packages, which address the needs of a company that is deciding to break new ground, in this digital marketing field. This indicates the increasing demand of sms service and professionals who excels in this field.

It is common that often customers delete the business campaign related e-mails and newsletters, few of the mails with memorable headlines are usually read. But the process of sms service is different, sms are short texts and shot directly in the hand held cellular devices of the customers. There are many ways of reaching customers better with the help of sms gateway. Now the sms api service is in vogue and with the help of sms api service it is possible to send across links that leads to web pages. These links can be sent to any global destinations within minutes. Thus it is possible to share information with the target audience.

Online free sms service is provided by many of the telecom based software development companies. Any one can create a short text message from the web instead of using conventional mobile device and can send the message to the target audience. To be specific this message gets sent directly to the SMS center. Again for delivery to the chosen mobile number the message gets forwarded. It is possible to customize the installed sms sending software. Then just by selecting the numbers from the contact list a person can start sending sms.

If anyone seeks to have a turnkey marketing machine for a US based company, it is mandatory to consider combination of sms services and email marketing. In case of initiating such a marketing campaign it is best to rely upon the suitable professionals who can effectively use the sms gateway software. Social networking with the help pf web portals along with the use of sms services definitely can yield good results. Short messaging services and e-mail offer so many benefits to the marketer. It is actually not something that the serious companies should ignore in this point of time.

Across United States there are plenty of online sms sending bulk sms software providers. Selection of the suitable one indeed matters. The right sms gateway software providers have come up with alluring schemes, it is best to check out them with the help of free trial version. By using the trial version it is possible to check out the convenience and features. It is worth to note that the best online sms providers have created many solutions to cater businesses better. It is prudent to rely upon the new digital marketing processes for business enhancement purposes.

Saturday, August 07, 2010

How To Post Your Resumes Online?

by: Silas Reed

When you have taken the decision of leaving your current job, or you have just stepped out of your academic life and now badly in search of a job then having your resumes posted online can be of special help to you. Through many links and sources you can land upon the valuable information about the appropriate jobs and some of the good career sites can be the right options in this regard.

They can provide you with the information of posting your resumes online. Posting resume online can give you the correct start for your career. You will increase your chances of being found out by companies and recruiters. Let us have a look at the steps of posting your resumes online.

Create a resume according to the instructions given

If you have not created a resume yet, then follow the format that has been given over the net and make it suitable for many job listings.

Have your resume updated so that it is formatted in the correct way

Convert the resume to the text only document style. You need to update phrases and words in such a way so that online recruiters find it easy to locate you. This is how you can best use your resume.

If your resume is big then create multiple resumes

If your resume is really long then have them specialized. Create multiple resumes which can cater to the demands of many types of jobs. In this way you can match your resume according to the needs of your potential employer even though you know not who it is.

A cover letter should be created

It is not possible that you will manage a direct talk to your new employer over the job boards but you can achieve this making a cover letter. This cover letter should also be converted to the text only document style.

Big job boards should be targeted

You should try to post your resume over big and reputed sites like Yahoo, Monster and Career Builder.

Do not make the mistake of overlooking the smaller boards

There are many job boards that are particularly made for certain industry. Now if you can find the job board for your target industry then it is a good idea to have it posted out there in order to increase your chances of being found out by them.

Look for sites that give you the scope to upload your pictures or video

Some of the job boards have a resume builder or a resume section

Collect your job history, education, special skills from your resume and have them typed separately.

Job tools that are provided by job boards for free should be taken advantage of

Many sites have search engines that can automatically get you the links of jobs that match with your profile. You will be sent emails whenever their search matches with your profile. So it is good idea to take help of job agents which most of these job boards have in order to help you.

The above guidelines if followed can give you good results.and sign up today to get your resume posted instantly on over 60 job websites.

Thursday, August 05, 2010

What You Need To Know About An IT Staffing Company?

by: Rudy Silva

An IT staffing company doesn’t just act as a technical recruiter for IT companies. They also provide other IT-based services such as: software development and professional advice.

Finding employment is not easy. With the economic downfall and the high rate of competition among job seekers, job searching has become harder. As result, a higher number of unemployment is experienced in most areas of the world.

Every job seeker possesses special attributes that they can contribute to a company’s growth. The problem is that not all of them can create a strong and professional impression to their interviewers.

A competent worker is like a needle in the haystack. Every company wants to employ the best and most competent worker, unfortunately, finding one is not an easy task.

As observed, job seekers would impress their interviewers as best as they can just to secure the position. They would talk about their skills, abilities and positive traits. But, failing to identify which applicant could really perform the job would surely cost the company money and time.

Another problem in hiring an employee is that they generally perform efficiently at the beginning of their contract. More often than not, this is merely a short-lived efficiency. In the end, the company would end up looking for a new person to fill the position again.

One solution that is considered by both companies and job searcher is an IT staffing company. Lately these staffing companies have expanded, providing great service for all clients.

But the question is, how can an IT staffing company help you?

First, this kind of technical recruiter doesn’t just offer temporary job services; it has the ability to provide long term career management services. So whether you are a company or a job seeker, you can be sure that the money you will spend with them can be worth it.

Second, contrary to the ordinary job placement agency, IT staffing firms can be easily found in the internet. This means, you do not have to spend transportation to go through a pre-screening process. By simply passing your resume online, you’ll know whether you are qualified for a position or not.

For companies, they can easily have access on the list of available job seekers, who might pass their qualifications. This could help them save time from posting advertisements on the net, schools, government agencies or other public places.

An IT staffing agency’s first priority is to provide competent IT employees to their clients. With this, the client’s time will be again saved. How? Because they can be sure that only qualified applicants would be sent to them, thus making the pre-employment process faster.

On the other hand, job seeker’s time could also be saved. Indeed, their time is saved because they no longer have to spend their whole day browsing for a job. They can be sure that every company calls them for an interview is related to their skills.

Sunday, August 01, 2010

How You Can Build A Great Facebook Profile

by: Sameh Abdelhady

Facebook is the best social network and one of most favorite internet sites these days that persons of all age ranges are getting involved with. In case you really do not currently have a Facebook account, I highly recommend that you just go and register now. If you already have an account, it's time to start out employing it for your advantage. Facebook is not just a place where you'll be able to connect with your close friends, it can in fact be employed to further your individual brand and career. Here is how you possibly can use Facebook to its full potential:

Never stay inside your circle – You ought to get away from just communicating with your high school or college friends and begin interacting with persons within your business or other businesses that you desire to have into. An simple method to do that is to join groups that appeal to you as properly as make buddies with individuals that you would like to have to know.

Fill out your profile (fully) – The most effective profile on Facebook is often a complete one. This doesn’t mean you should submit your name and contact details, it just means you have to complete all of the fields available.

Do not be shy – The purpose of Facebook should be to connect and socialize with other members, so really do not be shy! Coomunicate back with other members by writing on their wall, commenting on ımages, asking your good friends questions, and most importantly telling all your good friends happy birthday. Performing all these tasks will enable others to have to understand who you actually are instead of just knowing your name.

Spice up your profile – Facebook Applications lets you spice up your profile by adding details that appeal to your interest. For example, Which places you've been before? Who are your top close friends? etc ...

Create it, and they won't come – You basically need to market your self on Facebook to turn out to be popular. In most cases this can be carried out from interaction, which I noted above, but you can also do things like including images of your self and other Facebook users. Whenever you do this the other persons that you just tagged inside the picture will get emailed, thus growing the number of individuals who see you on Facebook. Some from the other things to take into account are generating a group or a page on Facebook as nicely as generating your own application, which could be sent out to all your pals.

Retain your profile up-to-date – In the event you do not maintain your profile up-to-date it's going to commence dying down. By keeping it up-to-date it will acquire far more traffic and additional men and women will get to recognise you.