More.articles

e-Marketing Basics

2006-12-27T14:11:00.000-08:00

by: Matt Bacak

e-Marketing, commonly known as an Internet marketing tool, refers to 'how' businesses market their services or products online. In this new age of technology, an Internet presence directly affects the success of a business. From an ecommerce site to an informational site, e-Marketing begins at your homepage.

Utilize a Website

Every website has one goal and that is to heighten the interest of the reader. For the homepage to be an effective e-Marketing tool, web content needs to follow the search engine optimized (SEO) techniques outlined by search engine domains like Google and Yahoo. Once landing on your site, the content will act as a sales letter.

Whether you operate a service or sell products, e-Marketing is more affordable than the traditional means of marketing. Over 130,000,000 people surf the Internet daily. It would take a hefty investment to reach this number of people in the more traditional means of marketing.

Producing a website that ranks well in the search engines, will assist you in obtaining more visitors and visitors easily convert into customers at a rather amazing rate.

Cost Comparison

Printing promotional material can be quite costly. With a website, this cost is significantly lower because your site eliminates the need for brochures or an abundance of business cards. Instead of sending a new prospective literature in the mail, re-direct them to your website. It will guide potential customers through the basics of your business.

Studies show that the per-reader response rates of newspaper advertisements are low. This is due to the number of readers that scan over your add that really have not interest in your services or products. Online readers, however, are a direct result of search engines. These people want to know more about your services or products. The likelihood of turning visitors into customers is higher.

Advertising Campaign

With e-Marketing, the cost of an advertising campaign is drastically lower. The same rules apply but with less effort. You'll need to locate your target market, address their interest, and show how they can benefit.

Typical, ezines or announcements serve as an e-Marketing campaign medium. Utilizing these mediums will improve your online business. Here's how you can get started:

Ezines: Ezines are nothing more than an electronic newsletter. There are several services online that will assist you in writing an ezine. But use caution! It's bad business to send an ezine to someone who hasn't subscribed.

Announcements: Announcements are similar to a press release. Using the electronic transfer of news to an email box, you can announce new events, new services, and new products a lot faster.

Hottest e-Marketing Tool

Today, e-books are the hottest marketing tool of the Twentieth Century. Once Internet Gurus grasp the concept of selling their services or products with an e-book, the market jumped. Adding an e-book to your tools of e-Marketing is a smart move.

E-books consist of hidden links (as in, not apparent) that the inexperienced e-book reader can't see. These links help promote affiliate programs and sell your services or products. The readers click through the e-book and find themselves at your site.

E-books are an e-Marketing medium that needs careful planning. It makes no sense to develop an e-book on dogs if you sell household appliances. To be successful at e-Marketing with e-books, you need to write content related to your business. For instance:

· Home Improvement - How to Design a Kitchen

· Accountant - How Small Businesses can Benefit From a CPA

· Web Developer - How a Website Can Help

Bottom Line
e-Marketing has saved businesses thousands of advertising dollars. It's an effective marketing tool that every business should take advantage of. With a better understanding of how e-Marketing can help improve your business, you can prepare for an e-Marketing campaign that will exceed all of your expectations.

7 Steps To Effectively Take Control Of Your Inbox And Reduce Spam

2006-12-27T14:10:00.000-08:00

by: Balraj Dhaliwal

Everbody hates spam! I am sure spammers hate getting spam too, but they still continue to dish it out. Why? Because it is still effective. Believe it or not, many of us still click on the links or follow-up with the spam message. As long as we continue to do this, spam will exist. If everybody understood this and paid no attention to spam, the spammers will eventually give up because it costs them realy money to send out emails. It is hard to quantify what the cost of sending out one, two or fifty emails is, but 1 million or 5 million emails certainly has a cost that is not negligible. When the payback starts to get so small that the spammers cannot make a decent living, they will find something else to do. This day will come and I cannot wait for it to arrive.

In the meantime, what can we do about it. Well, I am not going to tell you that there is a perfect solution that will stop all spam, but what I will tell you is that there is a way to reduce the problem and manage it effectively using the 7 steps outlined below.

Step #1: Get Your Own Domain Name

Fighting spam effectively starts with getting your own domain name. For example if your name is Andy Williams, you would purchase a domain name called andywilliams.com, which is of course already owned by the famous singer. This has some unique advantages over using an ISP given domain name or a webmail service such as Hotmail or Gmail. It also has some minor disadvantages. Let's examine these.

One major advantage is that you control the entire email address. You could create emails addresses like andy@andywilliams.com, info@andywilliams.com, sales@andywilliams.com and so on. This is in stark contract to an ISP assigned name like andywilliams@comcast.net. If you wanted another one, you'd have to open up another account or pay extra for each additional ISP assigned address. If you ever decided to switch ISP's, you would lose that email address and have to start over using a new one, and inform everyone you communicated with about it - a very messy proposition.

Many get around this problem by getting a Hotmail, Yahoo Mail or Gmail account which you can access from anywhere as long as you have internet access. These types of email accounts definitely have a place in your email toolchest, but do not suffice as your primary personal email address. One reason is that you do not have access to your email messages and address books when you are not online, like during a long flight. Anotehr drawback is that they do not allow you to export the online address books making portability very tedious.

I prefer owning my own domain name which I call my permanent email address. I will always have this email address as long as I renew this domain name every year. The cost of registering a domain name varies from $4 to $8 per year for most common ones. This is a small price to pay for the advantages it brings you.

The one minor disadvantage of owning your own domain name is that you need to manage it yourself, or have someone do it for you. This in my opinion is far outweighed by the advantages mentioned above.

Step #2: Create Private Email Adresses

A private email address is one that nobody but your inner circle knows about. Every person that you give your personal email address to is someone that you trust and want to receive email from.

Setup one private email address for every person who is going to need to receive messages. This could be you and 5 other members of your family or 12 employees that work for you. This part is quite straightforward, you simply login to your email control panel and create new accounts for each email address that is going to be used to receive email.

Step #3: Create Public Email Addresses As Aliases

A public email address is generally known to the public. It can be specific like andyw@andywilliams.com or generic like receptionist@andywilliams.com.

A public email address is created as an email alias. An email alias is not a real email address, but an address that gets redirected to a real email address. For example, you setup receptionist@andywilliams.com as an alias that redirects to mary@andywilliams.com. Whenever some sends an email to receptionist@andywilliams.com, it will end up in Mary's inbox. If you change receptionists, you simple modify the redirect for a very elegant solution. You can then publish this public email address on a website, in a brochure, on print advertising, business cards etc. without giving away your personal email address and without having to make much changes if Mary leaves and a new receptionist is hired. This is a huge benefit and maintains your privacy as well as those of others you have created email adresses for.

How does this help with spam, you ask? By using email aliases in a smart fashion, you could very easily shut down any spam that starts coming in. Let's examine how this can be done.

Step #4: Setup the Default or Catch-all Email Address

Your email control panel will have something called a "default address" or it is also sometimes called a "catch-all address". This is a valid email address that all unresolved emails go to. If you set this up to be your personal email address for example, then you will receive all emails that are addressed to "anything"@andywilliams.com, this includes sales@andywilliams.com, joe@andywilliams.com, andrew@andywilliams.com etc. Herein lies the secret to combat spam.

Step #5: Create Specific Named Public Email Addresses As And When Required

When you are forced to register on a website where you want to get some information from, you are usually asked for a valid email address. Well guess what, you now have an unlimited supply of valid email adresses. I usually use a specific format when registering at websites - it is "websitename"@andywilliams.com. So if I am registering at a website called www.get-rich-quick.com, I would use the address get-rich-quick@andywilliams.com as my valid email address. When the site sends me an email, it gets redirected to my personal email or whatever the default or catch-all address is.

Step #6: Send Spam Back To Where It Came From, If Possible

Here comes the real bonus, if you subsequently start receiving spam addressed to none other than get-rich-quick@andywilliams.com, you simple create an email alias for get-rich-quick@andywilliams.com and redirect the email back to exactly where it came from, for example georg-bush@get-rick-quick.com. You will then never get another email from anyone using that email address ever again. This is cool and is my favourite part. Bear in mind that spammers usually send email from an address that is not their own, so if you see an address like noreply@get-rick-quick.com, then you would redirect it somewhere else, for example a Hotmail address that you setup just for redirection purposes. Please exercise some discretion here because spammers often use the email addresses of real people and we don't want these innocent people getting redirected email.

Step #7: Be Diligent In The Ongoing Management Of Your Domain

If you do this diligently for each website where you register by identifying the website name, you will very quickly know which websites are selling email addresses and which ones honor their promise not to share your information. ALl this while, nobody by your personal inner circle knows your private email address.

A real-life example in my case: I use a specific email alias for my Paypal account which nobody but Paypal knows. I have never ever received spam on this address, but I have received hundreds of spam messages on other email aliases that I have created. All of these emails supposedly come from Paypal and address me as "Dear Valued Paypal Member" or something similar, warning me that my account is going to be closed or suspended unless I click on their link and update my credit card information.

I hope that I have given you some food for thought on how to manage the ever growing spam problem by protecting yourself by taking some initiative and getting your own domain name. The added benefit is that you now have a permanent email address no matter where you choose to live or which ISP you use to connect to the internet.

There are many other ways to fight spam which I will perhaps address future articles.

About the author:
Balraj Dhaliwal is an Internet Consultant for BSD Register. He helps customers with whatever they need to achieve their goals. BSD Register is well respected and liked by its customers because of its no nonsense simple approach to getting things done. Visit BSD Register at http://www.bsdregister.com/

Top 10 Ways To Protect Yourself From Computer Viruses

2006-12-27T14:03:00.000-08:00

by: Jim Faller

As more and more people are becoming comfortable using their computers at school, home or in the office it’s only a matter of time before they encounter a computer virus. Here are our top 10 steps to protect you from computer viruses.

Use a high quality anti-virus program. There are many different anti-virus computers programs on the market some of them are better than others. Look to reputable computer magazines or websites for ratings to help you find the one that matches your needs.

Always use your anti-virus software. Make sure your anti-virus software is always turned on and scanning, incoming and outgoing email messages, and any software programs you run.

Keep your antivirus programs up to date. Most programs come with a yearly subscription make sure you take advantage of the updates. More advanced programs allow you to schedule updates or full system scans for “off hours” like 2AM when you aren’t likely to be using your computer.

Keep your computer up to date. From time to time operating systems fall victim to security holes or issue updates. Make sure you check periodically to make sure you are running stable up to date versions of your software.

Backup your data regularly. Most windows computer users keep their documents in the “My documents” folder. This makes it easy to back up all of your important documents. Make weekly or monthly copies to CD or USB drives.

If you use floppy disks or USB drives on public computers like your school computer lab, Kinko’s, or even digital photo printing store make sure you scan them for viruses. Public computers are notorious for not being up to date and properly protected.

Be wary of email attachments. Treat any email attachment as potentially dangerous. Never open attachments from people you weren’t expecting. Also be careful of attachments from people you know but weren’t expecting. Many computer viruses replicate themselves by reading the contacts from an infected computer.

Use text email if possible. While HTML email is prettier and allows you more control over formatting it also can carry computer viruses. If you use text based email the only way to get a virus is by opening an attachment.

Use downloaded freeware and shareware files or software with caution. Try to download them from popular reputable sources that scan the programs before they are uploaded. To make sure you are safe scan the program before you install it on your computer.

Be wary of links in IM or instant messaging software. Don’t accept invitations from people you don’t know and never click a link from someone you don’t trust, they can easily redirect you to another website that will try to install a virus on your computer system.

About the author:
This article was written by Jim Faller of http://computers.6ln.com/ a website with information about viruses, spyware, adware, backups, data recovery and computer security.

How to make money utilizing the power of Google AdWords And ClickBank!

2006-12-27T14:00:00.000-08:00

Author : Wade M. Winger

After more than two years of incredibly intense testing, I have finally developed an easy to follow procedure that will let you and anyone else make thousands of dollars a month! Read this page carefully to discover an exciting way to make a living from the comfort of your own home.

It took me over two years of frustrating trial and error. I have spent thousands of dollars on countless tools and guides. I have done numerous tests and analysis.

But, it was all worth it. I finally figured out a way of making massive online profits working from the comfort of my own home. In the last year alone I have brought in over $85,000 and I expect to triple that this year.

Here is the Kicker; You don't need a web site, you don't need a product, and you can start making profits within hours .

I remember when making a living online was only a dream, well that dream has finally come true for me. I quit my day job and now work online full time. Actually I spend only about 30 minutes a day working online. But I still bring in over $10,000+ every month.

Keep reading and I will introduce to you a way of making money online that is so easy any teenager could follow along. Yet it is so amazingly powerful that it's possible to be making CEO income within months.

With a little time and effort I know for a fact that anyone with a computer and Internet connection can make a living on the Internet working from home.

Wade, why are you revealing such powerful secrets?

I get that question a lot. Why am I revealing all these secrets when I could just keep them to myself and rake in the profits? Many professional Internet Marketers that are making $100,000+ per year would rather see me keep everything confidential.
I tell them to get lost.

Basically there are two reasons that I made this e-book.

Reason Number One
The Internet is a gigantic place were millions and millions of people roam!!! As long as there is an Internet there will be a way for people to make money on it. I know for a fact that there are millions upon millions of untapped dollars floating around waiting to be taken by people like you and I. I will never have enough time to take advantage of all the profit making opportunities presented on the Internet, nobody will. So I'm not worried at all if people know my secrets to making money online. I know there is so much untapped opportunity that these secrets will always make me profits no matter how many people learn them.

Reason Number Two
When my family and friends found out how much money I was making online, they wanted to learn how it was done. Instead of explaining my secrets 20 different times to 20 different people, I thought it would be a lot easier to just make a guide that is simple to use and easy follow.

Now let me ask you a few questions...

Have you tried to make money online but failed to produce any meaningful income?
This system will change that.
Do you hear stories of ordinary people making huge sums of money working from home and you want to learn how they do it?
Now is your chance.

Do you want a simple but very effective way to make money online?
This system is very easy to follow and can produce tremendous results.

Do you want to make a few extra thousand dollars a month?
Then you can't miss out on this opportunity.
If you answered YES to any of the questions above... You need GoogleProfits

An exciting new profit making system that combines the power of Google AdWords with the versatility of ClickBank. The merge of these two power house web sites is a profit making force never seen before.

5 Step Google Profits Success Formula
You will be taken through the 5 super powerful steps in the Google Profits success formula. This steps are easy to follow yet give you information so powerful you won't believe the opportunities set before you.

Information/Action sections
This is an original idea that I came up with to force people to make money with my system. Every chapter is split into information and action sections. The information section will reveal to you specific secrets for each step in the Google Profits success formula. Then the action section will tell you how to use the information and forces you to take action so you can start making money as fast as possible.

How to pick the ultimate ClickBank products to market
Picking the right products to market can be the difference between $0 profit and $10,000 profit. This is one of the most important decisions that you will be making. I will show you exactly how to pick the ultimate products to market and how to make the most money from those picks.

How to set up “Test Google AdWords” campaigns
Testing your campaigns can be the most valuable thing that you do. But it's only valuable if you do it the right way. You will learn all the secrets to testing your ad campaigns to help you produce a very efficient income.

How to keep test campaign costs extremely low
Keeping test ad campaigns costs to a minimum should be a priority. I will show you how to lower your testing costs while finding the most profitable products to market. I will show you the perfect number of clicks to test before you make the decision to keep marketing the product or cut it from the list.

Expanding past Google and ClickBank
I talk a lot about Google and ClickBank, but that's because they are the easiest to make money with. I will go into several other ways to market products and I will show you a ton of places to find the best products to market. You will be able to expand all your campaigns above and beyond Google to double and even triple your profits.

How to set up an AdWords account
I will show you a step-by-step approach to setting up and AdWords account. There will be graphical representations to make everything go smooth and quickly. You will be ready to start testing and making a profit within minutes.

How to write AdWords ads that attract buyers
Most people set up an AdWords account and throw up ads without really thinking about what they are doing. I will show the most effective strategies out there for writing the ultimate ads that will make surfers salivate for you product. You will attract more surfers for less money and convert many more sales.

Tons of graphical representation and easy to follow steps
I have set up several graphical representations for your use. I walk you through every step with plenty of snap shots that will help you follow along easily and with out trouble.

Picking search terms
Picking search terms is very important when working with Google AdWords. I will show you several extremely effective methods for picking the best search terms for the least amount of money. You will spend less money but bring in a ton more clicks.

The exact number of clicks a test campaign should allow
This is the ultimate secret that very few people know about. This one number is probably the most important number that you need to know to be successful online. It will save you massive amounts of money while supplying you with the exact information you need to determine the viability of a particular test campaign.

5 tips for successful AdWords campaigns
As an added bonus I will reveal 5 super powered tips for making your AdWords campaign extremely successful. These are tips that every Internet marketer needs.

Detailed 7 day long look at a real life test campaign
I reveal to you a profitable test campaigns that I recent ally conducted. This campaign was conducted over a period of 7 days. I used the exact techniques in this ebook to make all my decisions. I will show you in detail every move that I made and how they affected the daily outcome. This is very interesting even to me.

To your increasing success,
Wade Winger

About the Author
Wade M. Winger Learn how to make some easy money online today visit googleprofits

10 web design tips to get your website noticed by spiders

2006-12-27T13:57:00.000-08:00

by: perfect optimization

(August 2006)

Many web designers do not pay attention in coding structure, the result is no one can find those websites in search engines!. In many cases search engine spiders cannot crawl 100% of those sites, this is because of huge size, html code error, navigation problem due to using scripts. By following these ten tips while designing and developing your website, you can improve your web presence.

1) Table structure: Nested tables can cause the huge page size and it could be problem with download times. Use separate tables wherever possible. Rather than using tables, use CSS to format your page layouts.

2) Page size: small web pages load faster. Make your page size to below 50K, so that search engine spiders can able to crawl your entire website without having any time delay.

3) Frames: Do not use Frames. Some search engines not even supported frames and it could be some display/alignment problem with some browsers. It could also affect while bookmarking a page. Remember, whatever you are trying to accomplish by using frames can usually be done with CSS.

4) Alt tags: Minimize the use of graphics and Flash. If your site having graphics try to explain those by adding ALT text. Since search engine spiders cannot read text within images, you should provide alternative text, so that spiders can understands what they mean.

5) Navigation: Each pages on your website should be easily connected. Use of JavaScript links and image maps may affect spidering your entire site or you should use text links at the bottom of your page to help search engine spiders to navigate each pages. Try to check your web pages in a text only browser and ensure you can easily navigate all the pages from page to page.

6) Title and Meta tags: Add title and Meta tags to each pages in your site and all title tags and Meta tags should be unique.

7) Sitemap: Provide a sitemap that linked from your homepage. It must be essential if your site having dynamic pages, that contains special characters such as ?,%,&,# etc. As these pages are generated automatically, search engines spiders cannot follow these links.

8) HTML codes: Internet explorer can display your page even if any minor errors in the html code, but it could be a major problem with search engine spiders. I recommend validating your html codes through some online tools that available in the net. By getting W3C standards can give your web pages greater visibility in web searches.

9) Cascading Style Sheets: CSS enables you to independently control the structure of your web page. By using CSS, you will get its benefits like smaller file sizes, browser compatibility and search engine friendly.

10) External CSS/JavaScript files: Call all your JavaScript and CSS from external file, so that spiders can easily access your data without causing any error.

Tips for Using a Point & Shoot Camera

2006-12-27T13:49:00.000-08:00

source: photo.net

Do you feel inadequate because you have a puny Yashica T4 in your pocket but your no-dick friend is lugging around a Canon EOS-1 SLR, Tamron 28-200 zoom lens, and moby flash?
Don't.

You can get a better picture than he can, for the following reasons:

Your camera weighs 8 oz. and is weatherproof so you have it with you at all times.
You have a decent lens in front of the film; like most first-time SLR owners these days, he has a cheap low-contrast zoom lens.
He is using that moby on-camera flash as his primary light. You would never be that uncreative (at least not after reading the rest of this article).
Your camera has a better system for combining light from the flash with ambient light ("fill-flash").
A professional photographer with a pile of $1500 lenses and a tripod is going to be able to do many things that you aren't. But rest assured that he carries a P&S camera in his pocket as well.
The photo at right shows Bill Clinton handing out a diploma at MIT's 1998 graduation ceremony. I was in the press box with a Canon EOS-5, 70-200/2.8L lens, and 1.4X teleconverter ($2500 total). In the upper right of the frame is a woman with a point and shoot camera. I would venture to guess that her pictures of Clinton are better than mine.

Think about Light

"He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it."
-- Joseph Romm
My personal definition of photography is "the recording of light rays." It is therefore difficult to take a decent picture if you have not chosen the lighting carefully. (I've written an entire tutorial on light.)

Just say no
Just say "no" to on-camera flash. Your eye needs shadows to make out shapes. When the light is coming from the same position as the lens, there are no shadows to "model" faces. Light from a point source like the on-camera flash falls off as the square of the distance from the source. That means things close to the camera will be washed-out, the subject on which you focussed will be properly exposed, and the background will be nearly black. We're at a theater. Can't you tell from the background? That's me in the middle. The guy with the flat face and big washed-out white areas of skin. Part of the problem here is that the camera was loaded with Fujichrome Velvia, which is only ISO 50 and therefore doesn't capture much ambient light (i.e., the theater background). [Despite this picture's myriad faults, I'm glad that I have it because it spruces up Travels with Samantha, Chapter III.]
Virtually all point and shoot cameras allow you to control the on-camera flash. What you want to do most of the time is press the leetle tiny buttons until the "no flash" symbol is displayed. The "no flash" symbol is usually a lightning bolt with a circle around it and line through it. Now the camera will never strobe the flash and will leave the shutter open long enough to capture enough ambient light to make an exposure.

A good point and shoot camera will have a longest shutter speed of at least 1 second. You can probably only hold the camera steady for 1/30th of a second. Your subjects may not hold still for a full second either. So you must start looking for ways to keep the camera still and to complete the exposure in less time. You can:

look for some light. Move your subjects underneath whatever light sources are handy and see how they look with your eyes.
load higher-speed film. ISO 400 and ISO 800 color print films are the correct emulsions for P&S photography. ISO 400 film can get the same picture in one quarter the amount of time as ISO 100 film.
steady the camera against a tree/rock/chair/whatever as you press the shutter release
leave the camera on a tree/rock/chair/whatever and use the self-timer so that the jostling of pressing the shutter release isn't reflected on film. I often use this technique for photographing decorated ceilings in Europe. I just leave the camera on the floor, self-timer on, flash off.
use a little plastic tripod, monopod, or some other purpose-built camera support
Yes it was dark in Bar 89. But I steadied the camera against a stair railing and captured the scene with my Minolta Freedom Zoom 28-70. Note that not using flash preserves the lighting of the bar.

Just say yes
Just say "yes" to on-camera flash. Hey, "consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" (Emerson; slightly out of context).
The on-camera flash on a P&S camera is useful. It just isn't useful for what you'd think. As I note above, it is not useful for lighting up a dark room. However, it is useful outdoors when you have both shaded and sunlit objects in the same scene. Photographic film and paper cannot handle the same range of contrast as your eyes. A picture that is correctly exposed for the sunlight object will render the shaded portrait subject as solid black. A picture that is correctly exposed for the shaded portrait subject will render the sunlit background object as solid white. Here the chess players are being shaded by some overhead screens while the background foliage is not. The on-camera flash makes sure that the foreground players are bright. In fact they are a bit brighter than they probably should be and note the washed-out highlight on the leading edge of the table, which is close to the camera. This picture was taken by prefocusing on the shirtless player on the right, then moving the camera with the shutter release half-depressed to the final composition. Without the prefocusing the camera would have latched onto one of the chess tables in the center of the picture, quite far away. The foreground men would have been out of focus and also tremendously overexposed since an amount of flash adequate to illuminate a far away subject would have been used. [Note that most $1000 SLR cameras would not have been capable of making this picture except in a completely manual mode. Their flash metering systems are too stupid to couple to the focus distance. An exception is the series of Nikon SLRs from 1994 on with "D" flash metering.]

Pressing the little buttons on a P&S camera until a single solid lightning bolt appears in the LCD display will keep the flash on at all times. Note that a side-effect of the "flash on" mode is that you also get the same long shutter speeds for capturing ambient light that you would with "flash off" mode. The standard illustrative picture for this has an illuminated building at night as the background with a group of people in the foreground who've been correctly exposed by the flash. Sometimes it all comes together, as it did here in Coney Island. Without fill-flash, the ride operator would have been a silhouette. Prefocussed on the human subject's face. "Flash on" mode.

Prefocus
The best-composed photographs don't usually have their subject dead center. However, that's where the focusing sensor on a P&S camera is. Since the best photographs usually do have their subject in sharp focus, what you want to do is point the center sensor at your main subject, hold the shutter release halfway down, then move the camera until you like the composition.

Virtually all P&S cameras work this way but not everyone knows it because not everyone is willing to RTFM.

A side effect of prefocusing is that most P&S cameras will preset exposure as well. Ideal exposure with a reflected light meter is obtained when the subject reflectance is 18% gray (a medium gray). Exposure isn't very critical with color negative film, but you still might want to attempt to prefocus on something that is the correct distance from the camera and a reasonable mid-tone. I.e., avoid focusing on something that is pure white or black. This becomes much more important if you are using slide film.

Burn Film
If a roll of film is lasting three months, then something is wrong. You aren't experimenting enough. An ideal roll of film for me has 35 pictures of the same subject, all of them bad. These prove that I'm not afraid to experiment. And then one good picture. This proves that I'm not completely incompetent.

It takes at least 10 frames to get one good picture of one person. To have everyone in a group photo looking good requires miles of film. You should have pictures from different angles, different heights, flash on, flash off, etc.

My personal standard film for P&S photography is Fuji ISO 400 negative film. It enlarges very nicely to 8x10 and is great for Web presentation.

Try to Buy a Decent P&S Camera
You can read my buyer's guide. Basically what you want is a reasonably wide angle lens to capture your subject and the background context. Focal lengths beyond 70mm in P&S cameras are not useful. My personal ideal camera would have a 24-50 or a 24-70 zoom though actually in many ways I prefer a camera with only a single focal length because it is one fewer decision to make at exposure time. Zooms are more useful with full-sized SLR cameras because the user interface is better/quicker (i.e., you can turn the ring on the lens instead of pushing little buttons to drive a motor).

Dating Online - The new way to meet people

2006-12-27T13:47:00.000-08:00

by: Jeff Lakie

A lot has changed since the days of matchmaking and escorted evenings out. Dating in the 21st century has taken many turns, among these the emerging popularity of meeting partners online.

Online dating has many benefits. The shy dater can open up and get to know a person without having to deal with first-date jitters that often come from fear of the unknown. By the time he or she meets the potential paramour, they have already established a comfort level that allows the date to flow much more smoothly.

At the other end of the spectrum, social butterflies love online dating because of the number of fish in the sea. With so many people to choose from, booking several dates in a short amount of time is easy. Online dating allows you to be discreet, and it also enables you to be choosy. You choose partners based on common interests gleaned from dating profiles. This is an attractive alternative to approaching a potential mate in a bar going on looks alone.

As the online dating community has grown, so too have the number of vendors willing to help you promote yourself. Professional writers and photographers offer services to assist you with your dating profile. They hawk services to help you attract more hits to your online profile, which obviously helps lead to more dating options.

Dating websites vary. Some require a fee to enjoy certain benefits, such as the ability to post a picture or short video. Other dating sites offer free private e-mail accounts and access to thousands of profiles without paying a dime. When engaging in online dating, however, it is important to exercise caution.

Remember that anyone with Internet access has access to these sites. It is virtually impossible for dating sites to weed out the bad seeds; the online dater must take care in setting up dates with strangers. When first meeting face-to-face, choose a public place. Don't divulge too much information until you have a good idea of the person's character. Be careful not to tell too much too soon. With a responsible attitude and an open mind, online dating can be fun, safe, and exciting.

About the author:
Jeff Lakie is the founder of Dating Resources a website providing information on Dating Online

Forex Trading Software

2006-12-27T13:44:00.000-08:00

By: Amber Lowery

If you are looking to get started trading the Forex, you will find that there are numerous software programs available (both web based and desktop based) for you to use in your trading. In fact, most brokers offer clients a software package for free or as part of their trading account. Usually the software that comes with your trading account is a very basic "bare bones" model. Sometimes, more features are available for a price. The software packages your broker provides can be an important consideration in choosing a broker. You may want to download and try some different packages using a demo account. This will give you a better idea of which software package you find most suitable to your unique style of trading.

Forex trading software comes in two basic flavors - desktop software, and web based software. Which one you choose to work with depends on your preference and other more technical factors. Obviously, the Forex market is very dynamic and you need to have the most reliable up to date connection to the data as possible. Your internet connection speed is a factor here, and if you can afford it, you really should be connecting via broadband.

Your internet connection speed is just one of the factors you should consider when selecting forex trading software. The biggest consideration should be one of security.

Generally speaking, web based forex software is more secure than a desktop based software package. Why is that? Well, with a desktop software, your information and data is stored on your hard drive thus making it vulnerable to numerous security issues. If your computer became infected by a virus, your personal data and the integrity of your trading system can become compromised. Likewise, in the event of hard drive failure, your important data can be lost. Then there is the threat of prying eyes accessing your trading systems.

Luckily, if you choose to go with a desktop based software for your forex trading, you can do some things to limit the risks. For starters, a dedicated computer just for trading the forex would be a wise investment. Due to the popularity of forex trading, there are computers made specifically with a forex traders needs in mind. Even if you cant afford a dedicated machine, you should still apply the following tips to your trading computer:

* Password protect your trading software and personal data
* Make regular backups of your trading data
* Use a anti virus program and keep it up to date
* Update your trading software regularly

If you choose to go with a web based trading software, allot of the security and maintenance issues are handled by the provider. Online based forex systems are hosted on secure servers, the same type of servers credit card processing is handled on. This gives you a great deal of protection, as your data is encrypted. Also, backups and mirrors of your account data are made by your software provider to protect you from data loss.

Aside from the security considerations, you may find that an online based trading software is simply more convenient. There is no software to download as the software runs in your regular web browser. This means that you always will have access to the latest versions and features. Also, if you travel you will certainly appreciate the ability to log in and trade from any computer with an internet connection.

As you can see, there are many options in forex trading software. You ultimately should choose to work with the software that you personally find easiest and most intuitive to use.

About the Author: For more information on Forex Trading Software and Forex trading systems, visit our sites, Forex Investing, and Forex Today

Blog Your Business

2006-12-27T13:23:00.000-08:00

by: Angela Booth

Does your business need a blog?
A blog is a Web log, an online journal. Blogs started out as online diaries, in which diarists shared their everyday lives with the world. From their beginnings as a weird Web fad in 1998, blogs have moved on, and are well on the way to becoming a standard business tool.

Why? Because in February 2003 Google.com bought Pyra Labs, the company which owns the Blogger weblogging tool. Blogger.com, one of the main sites providing blog software and hosting, boasted a
million hosted web logs in early 2003.

Google.com's interest in blogs indicates that blogs are mainstream. A blog help your business in many ways, depending on whether you create a private or a public blog. Blogs are so useful that you'll want to create both.

Your business's private, internal blog

These days, no one works alone. Even if you're a solo business operator, you have colleagues --- partners, contractors, and suppliers with whom you communicate daily. A private blog makes working with a group easier, because you can streamline your interactions, saving time and energy.

A private blog can contain notes to yourself, or to colleagues. It's a place to store information and tips that might not warrant a special email message. You can post information like meeting notes, project tasks and summaries, and updated price lists. You can also post links to large files --- no need to email, fax, or
mail them to and fro.

Your blog is more useful than email, because blog postings are dated, and easily searchable. You can post a message you want everyone to read, and the message stays on the blog. With email, you read and delete, or read and forget.

If you've worked on a project with someone in another state or on the other side of the world, you've blessed email, because it makes sharing information so easy. Using a blog to share information is even easier than using email.

Your business's public blog

A business blog is a marketing tool. A blog can add value to your Web site, or it can take the place of a Web site. Look on it as a combination "What's New" Web site page, and an online journal. Because of a blog's freewheeling nature, it's friendly and relaxed.

If you don't have a site, your blog's a place to put your online CV, portfolio and client list. You can, and should, use your blog to express your personality and expertise.

If you have a Web site, your blog page builds loyalty, because if you provide interesting content, your visitors will return to your site. And because it's a Web page, your blog will appear on search engines, attracting new clients.

Google has been treating blogs differently from other Web pages for a couple of years. Whereas it takes a standard Web page/ site a month to be indexed by Google, blogs are indexed daily. This means that your blog is mega-cheap advertising. You can post something on your blog and have it indexed by Google within a day.

Will creating a blog help your business? As I suggested in the article: "Get Googled And Build Credibility", because Google.com is so popular and indexes so comprehensively, if you focus some of your marketing and promotion time on getting your name out on the Web, you're building your credibility, both online and offline.
(You can read the complete article in the newsletter archives at: http://www.digital-e.biz/newsletter.html
So go ahead, blog your business!

Blog resources

Blogger -create your own free blog(s) www.blogger.com Blogger provides a template for your blog, and makes adding to your blog as easy as writing an email message. The "Post" and "Publish" buttons on the interface update your blog.
High Quality Templates ---------------------------------------FinalSense templates For Blogger
Weblog.com --- recently updated blogs: http://www.weblogs.com/
w.bloggar --- http://wbloggar.com/A clever and useful little
freebie to write and format your blog posts offline, then automatically post them when you go online.
Angela Booth's Digital-e Blog: http://www.digital-e.biz/blogger.htm

***Resource box: if using, please include***

Veteran multi-published author and copywriter Angela Booth crafts words for your business --- words to sell, educate or persuade.
E-books and e-courses on Web site. FREE ezines for writers and small biz: http://www.digital-e.biz/

About the Author
Writer, journalist and author Angela Booth has been writing for print and online venues for over 25 years. She also writes copy for businesses.