Nearly 80% of emails which circulate in the world are spams. Without any international legislation which would make it possible to fight effectively against the spammers, there is no reason that this percentage drops.
The only parade thus resides in the increasingly strict filters imposed by the software and the waiters of transport. And that will have a concrete influence on working and the contents of Newsletters. The UIT (International Telecommunication Union) tries to set up legislative, technical and educational solutions to fight against the junk emails (spams) on a world level, but the task is far from being simple. In the United States for example, the spammers are more or less protected by a law "antispam" (sic!) from 2003 which, under the document in proof of the free trade, leaves them practically the free hands to continue...
But the market will not wait until a legislation is set up to adapt to this invasion of offers of Viagra, of Rolex at unbeatable prices, financial investments not to miss, without forgetting the widow of the late president of the Nigerian Oil Company who needs assistance to leave his 120 billion dollars the country. The adaptation of the behaviors of the consumers and the new solutions antispam will have a direct influence on the possibilities of marketing which were established these last years around the messages with format HTML (which integrate a page-setting and images).
Firstly, more and more, the companies configure their filters anti-sp@m not to more let pass from the messages which contain bonds on images placed on external waiters (potentially a bond activated by a collaborator can bring on a virus). Secondly, the last software of transport customer (Thunderbird, Outlook, Eudora, etc) is also configured automatically not to more post the images contained in the messages.
It will be with the user to expressly activate this possibility for each new message. But how much people will try hard of it? Moreover, in order to fight against the "phishing" (which consists in deluding the users with a bond which does not bring on the good site), certain software inform if a hidden bond does not correspond to the address which indicated in the message. What reduces considerably confidence of the users and by there the rate of click.
The reasons for which a message would not be delivered or is not posted are numerous. Between the filters antispam of the suppliers of access, the waiters of email which are subscribed with the black list of SpamCop, the installation by the consumers of third software (Norton AntiSpam, McAfee SpamKiller, etc) and to finish the filters of the software of transport which becomes increasingly strict. The Posting of the Images The filters which block the images will oblige the specialists in marketing by e-mail to privilege more and more this good old man format text.
Page-settings will be certainly lighter in order to be able to integrate images which appear in the message as an enclosure and posted either on an external waiter. That makes it possible to guarantee a correct posting, even in the software of transport which does not post them automatically any more. It is always astonishing to note that certain sendings use images to post the most critical information (the title, the promotional offer, etc). Not only the consumers certainly will not try hard to click on the button "To post the images" and will never know which was this exceptional offer which was proposed to them. Moreover, one message which contains little real text vis-a-vis the images is highly likely to be made identify like spam and never not be delivered.
The lack of external images (and the absence of automatic posting) will have an influence on the "reporting" of the statistics of opening of the messages. It is often an external image which is used to enter the rate of opening of the messages when one uses a solution of e-mail sending. The Posting of the Bonds The bonds which are posted in the messages also will become elements of which account should be held. The programs of transport start to integrate filters known as "ScamWatch" which inform the user if a bond of destination does not correspond to that which is posted.
It is thus necessary particularly to pay attention to the manner of writing the bonds, because let us not forget that in the majority of the cases, the bonds initially bring on the waiter of the person receiving benefits in order to be able to enter the clicks before redirecting the visitor on the final page.With the generalization of the filters of this type, it will be increasingly difficult to generate bonds which bring confidence to the users, but who will allow also "monitorer" the rate of click. Solutions Unfortunately, few services in line of marketing by e-mail integrate these restrictions in their manner of sending the messages.
They continue to propose solutions of messages to format HTML which place images and bonds which pass by their waiters. The effort was especially put on control antisp@m of the structure of the messages (contained textual) and on the negotiations with the principal suppliers of access to appear on the "white lists" (shippers which are authorized to pass through the filters). They should start to adapt their tools so that the solutions are imbricated around the waiter of email of the customer and his Web server. To use the waiters of the company makes it possible to sign the shipper clearly, to correctly authenticate the message by the filters antisp@m and to propose bonds "of confidence" in the messages.
The recognition of the transmitter, the correct posting of the images and the bonds become as essential in the success of a campaign as the formulation of the message itself. By observing these rules, marketing by e-mail still has beautiful days in front of him, because it represents, towards and counters all, one of the interactive methods which offers the best rate of return.
By: Mike Francis
Credit:www.goarticles.com
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Does Your PC Have Worms?
Worms aren't just for dogs anymore. Find out how to inoculate your computer against these nasty parasites.
What Are Worms?
Worms are descended from viruses and are even nastier. Just as ever stronger doses of pesticide breed ever more resilient locusts, better and better anti-spyware software bred ever more devious viruses.
Finally, some virus designers stopped having their creations infect and take over files the way real viruses infect and take over cells. Instead, they created programs that could stand on their own and cause plenty of trouble without the help of any other software applications. Just worms are independent organisms that can infect a host directly, so do computer worms infect computers directly.
What Do Worms Do?
Worm designers are often even more sinister than virus designers, since worm designers are not just vandals. Worm designers often use their creations to achieve specific goals:
Backdoor creation. Worms often try to set up another kind of malware, a backdoor. A backdoor is a hidden opening in your network connection that lets the worm send data out and take data in. Practically speaking, the data it's sending out are often spam emails, and the data it takes in are instructions on spam emails to send.
Denial of service attack. Some worm designers really are vandals rather than profit-hungry con artists sending spam. But their vandalism can be more targeted. They use worms to send out numerous requests to remote computers, such as web servers, in order to overwhelm them and therefore shut them down. This is called a denial of service attack.
Spyware, Trojan, adware, and virus installation. Worms are often used simply to unleash other forms of malware on a computer that might otherwise block them.
Information theft and fraud.Worms can multitask in order to set up spyware that gathers sensitive information--often financial information--and then set up backdoors, Trojans, viruses, or dialers to disseminate the stolen data.
How Do Worms End Up on a PC?
Worms enter PCs just as viruses, spyware and other malware do: any way they can! Some favorite points of entry for worms:
Websites can actually download software to your computer without you realizing it. This software includes not only worms, but also spyware, adware, viruses, and other malware. These malware programs find their way into websites either by the deliberate design of the site owner or because hackers have installed the software on the website's server.
Peer-to-peer file-sharing networkscontain many nice-enough-looking files that are really worms. One of the sneakiest disguises is a filename that indicates the spyware is really a video of a beautiful actress.
Email, the favored route of viruses, can still be exploited by Spyware. But since new email programs usually block the automatic opening of file attachments, this is less of a problem than it used to be.
Any internet connection inevitably lets data flow both in and out, and so is vulnerable to attacks by worms.
How Do You Get Rid of Worms?
There's really only one good way to make sure your computer is rid of worms: scan it with multiple antivirus and anti-spyware programs using a full-system scan. Worms are tricky, so anything less than a full-system scan might let them escape. Worse, with new worms coming out all the time, some antivirus and anti-spyware packages may not even know about a new worm until after its wreaking havoc on your machine. That's why you should try using more than one antivirus program and more than one anti-spyware program to increase your odds of successfully detecting the malware.
Don't have more than one anti-spyware and antivirus software? You'd better start downloading. After all, worms won't take excuses.
By: John Pawlett
Credit:www.goarticles.com
What Are Worms?
Worms are descended from viruses and are even nastier. Just as ever stronger doses of pesticide breed ever more resilient locusts, better and better anti-spyware software bred ever more devious viruses.
Finally, some virus designers stopped having their creations infect and take over files the way real viruses infect and take over cells. Instead, they created programs that could stand on their own and cause plenty of trouble without the help of any other software applications. Just worms are independent organisms that can infect a host directly, so do computer worms infect computers directly.
What Do Worms Do?
Worm designers are often even more sinister than virus designers, since worm designers are not just vandals. Worm designers often use their creations to achieve specific goals:
Backdoor creation. Worms often try to set up another kind of malware, a backdoor. A backdoor is a hidden opening in your network connection that lets the worm send data out and take data in. Practically speaking, the data it's sending out are often spam emails, and the data it takes in are instructions on spam emails to send.
Denial of service attack. Some worm designers really are vandals rather than profit-hungry con artists sending spam. But their vandalism can be more targeted. They use worms to send out numerous requests to remote computers, such as web servers, in order to overwhelm them and therefore shut them down. This is called a denial of service attack.
Spyware, Trojan, adware, and virus installation. Worms are often used simply to unleash other forms of malware on a computer that might otherwise block them.
Information theft and fraud.Worms can multitask in order to set up spyware that gathers sensitive information--often financial information--and then set up backdoors, Trojans, viruses, or dialers to disseminate the stolen data.
How Do Worms End Up on a PC?
Worms enter PCs just as viruses, spyware and other malware do: any way they can! Some favorite points of entry for worms:
Websites can actually download software to your computer without you realizing it. This software includes not only worms, but also spyware, adware, viruses, and other malware. These malware programs find their way into websites either by the deliberate design of the site owner or because hackers have installed the software on the website's server.
Peer-to-peer file-sharing networkscontain many nice-enough-looking files that are really worms. One of the sneakiest disguises is a filename that indicates the spyware is really a video of a beautiful actress.
Email, the favored route of viruses, can still be exploited by Spyware. But since new email programs usually block the automatic opening of file attachments, this is less of a problem than it used to be.
Any internet connection inevitably lets data flow both in and out, and so is vulnerable to attacks by worms.
How Do You Get Rid of Worms?
There's really only one good way to make sure your computer is rid of worms: scan it with multiple antivirus and anti-spyware programs using a full-system scan. Worms are tricky, so anything less than a full-system scan might let them escape. Worse, with new worms coming out all the time, some antivirus and anti-spyware packages may not even know about a new worm until after its wreaking havoc on your machine. That's why you should try using more than one antivirus program and more than one anti-spyware program to increase your odds of successfully detecting the malware.
Don't have more than one anti-spyware and antivirus software? You'd better start downloading. After all, worms won't take excuses.
By: John Pawlett
Credit:www.goarticles.com
The Ads Behind Male Enhancement Pills - A Straight-up Review.
For some strange reason, though I am not a male I keep getting spam advertisements for male enhancement pills in my email. Every once in a while I wonder from where these spam advertisements originate and just who decides what the target audience is. For sure I don't have any emails or in my blog that would imply that I am interested in male enhancement pills though I receive a lot of mail suggesting that I desperately need this stuff.
In order to combat these advertisements for male enhancement pills, I have tried a number of my anti spam tactics. In spite of my efforts to try and "remove me from mailing list" link, I often at the end find myself frustrated by not being able to promptly remove myself from the mailing list. Time and again I am quickly and conveniently removed from the male enhancement pills advertiser's mailing list, but sometimes this may not turn to be a good thing. I discovered that whenever I remove myself from advertising list for male enhancement pills; I end up getting even more spam from other companies selling the same product. Now I am not sure if the companies are affiliated and my anti spam tactics are backfiring on me. Yet I still get annoyed with the barrage of spam in my email for male enhancement pills even if majority of the advertisements end up in my junk folder.
Of course, it is a good practice to check your junk mail folder occasionally just incase you may be missing any messages that you actually want. At times those messages may be blocked by your anti spam feature that puts them in a junk folder and you may miss important messages. I simply don't like the idea of checking my junk mail to find a lot of embarrassing spam for male enhancement pills.
Several of these clever advertisements for male enhancement pills wind up in my regular email folder. I report those as junk mail to the server. While there are other times when I find a number of advertisements on a single day for the pills and it can be quite embarrassing.
Sure, I care what other people think. I can't help it. But I simply dread the idea of someone passing up by my computer and seeing a bunch of advertisements for male enhancement pills. For sure, they may even think that I requested the information. What's more is that even if I would have been interested in the male enhancement pills, I would like a little discretion.
Currently my way out is to just keep deleting. I'll keep requesting that I be taken off of the mailing lists and I will keep on using my anti spam features to combat the advertisements, but I would really just like to find the source, or sources, and very frankly let them know that I don't have a penis neither do I really need any enhancements!
By: Linda E. Joy
Credit:www.goarticles.com
In order to combat these advertisements for male enhancement pills, I have tried a number of my anti spam tactics. In spite of my efforts to try and "remove me from mailing list" link, I often at the end find myself frustrated by not being able to promptly remove myself from the mailing list. Time and again I am quickly and conveniently removed from the male enhancement pills advertiser's mailing list, but sometimes this may not turn to be a good thing. I discovered that whenever I remove myself from advertising list for male enhancement pills; I end up getting even more spam from other companies selling the same product. Now I am not sure if the companies are affiliated and my anti spam tactics are backfiring on me. Yet I still get annoyed with the barrage of spam in my email for male enhancement pills even if majority of the advertisements end up in my junk folder.
Of course, it is a good practice to check your junk mail folder occasionally just incase you may be missing any messages that you actually want. At times those messages may be blocked by your anti spam feature that puts them in a junk folder and you may miss important messages. I simply don't like the idea of checking my junk mail to find a lot of embarrassing spam for male enhancement pills.
Several of these clever advertisements for male enhancement pills wind up in my regular email folder. I report those as junk mail to the server. While there are other times when I find a number of advertisements on a single day for the pills and it can be quite embarrassing.
Sure, I care what other people think. I can't help it. But I simply dread the idea of someone passing up by my computer and seeing a bunch of advertisements for male enhancement pills. For sure, they may even think that I requested the information. What's more is that even if I would have been interested in the male enhancement pills, I would like a little discretion.
Currently my way out is to just keep deleting. I'll keep requesting that I be taken off of the mailing lists and I will keep on using my anti spam features to combat the advertisements, but I would really just like to find the source, or sources, and very frankly let them know that I don't have a penis neither do I really need any enhancements!
By: Linda E. Joy
Credit:www.goarticles.com
Basic Steps for Home Business Success
When you make the decision to earn income from the internet you will need to go through a set up process to be ready for your home business.
Following are the basic steps in setting up for home business success.
1. Attitude
The key to your home business success is your attitude.
Treat your home business like a business.
This is critical whether you are working part-time or full-time. One of my colleagues is a mother who works from home around her family. She has always put her family first whilst at the same time developing her home business. She says, "I work part-time, but I have a full-time attitude."
Put another way, "If you have a hobby attitude you will have a hobby income, if you have a home business attitude you will have a home business income."
You can be successful working part-time and you can be successful working full-time but it is highly unlikely that you will be successful working in your "spare time".
2. Working Environment
A space that you can call your own, free from distractions for your scheduled time.
A comfortable chair and organized desk. Stationery supplies as required. For example:
- pens - highlighters - stapler - hole punch - sticky tape - note book(s) - a simple filing system - ring binders - manilla folders
Consider the value of a broadband connection. Your time is valuable and a broadband connection can allow you to get more done in a given time frame.
3. Schedule
Develop a schedule that works for you, your family (or "significant others") and your home business. When you allot a block of time for work then use that time for work. Equally important is to schedule time for your other commitments - family time, self education ( reading, listening and viewing), "health time" (exercise, cooking and eating), and leisure time. During these other times don't work. After all if one of the reasons to work from home is to spend more time with your family then you don't want your working at home time to consume your family time.
You are working for yourself and your schedule (by your choice) is your "boss". When you have people calling you or dropping around unexpectedly or maybe out-of-town visitors may want to catch up with you then you need to make a choice. Are you committed to your own home business success? What will be your choice in these situations? Only you can decide what is important to you.
In a family environment you may need to negotiate with your partner and children to have your home business time agreed upon, during which you will not be interrupted. Put this schedule prominently somewhere so all family members are aware of your work schedule.
4. Describe Your Home Business
Be able to describe your home business concisely; a powerful one or two sentence description that someone can repeat in describing your home business to others. A unique and memorable tag line can also be invaluable for promoting your home business.
5. Know Your Product or Service
Once you have selected your product or service to sell, it may or may not be something that you use yourself but you need to know your product intimately. If you are selling ebooks then know the content and its value. If you are selling software then use it know it "inside out". You will develop a reputation of providing quality information and because of your product knowledge you can become the preferred supplier.
It is not practical to use certain products (for example a woman may choose to sell man's shoes or vice versa) in which case the seller won't be a product user, however the seller can still know the benefits and features of the product intimately.
6. Administration
Use good record keeping practices.
This may involve a consultation with a tax advisor who can let you know about the optimal way to set up your financial records and what records need to be kept. Your advisor will also recommend record keeping systems and you can find out what software may simplify this aspect of your home business. Additionally your obtain advice on the best arrangement for your bank accounts. You will most likely be advised to have a separate bank account.
You will also need to keep track of your various logins, usernames and passwords. A very handy little software tool for this is Treepad available as either the free Lite version (without password protection) or the commercial Plus or Biz versions. http://www.treepad.com
There are other useful tools for this also from a simple paper notebook to free and commercial password keepers. One popular solution is Roboform that will remember your login details and can automatically fill out your login and other registration forms. http://www.roboform.com
7. Computer Protection
Your computer is the lifeline to your home business dealings and must be protected including the data that is stored.
You need a virus scanner, personal firewall, anti-spyware and anti-adware and preferably an email scanner with the ability to delete suspect of spam email from the server before it is downloaded to your computer.
Some suggestions are:
AVG Anti-Virus: http://www.grisoft.com Spybot S&D: http://www.safer-networking.org Microsoft Anti-Spyware: www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx Adaware: http://www.lavasoft.com/ Mailwasher Email Scanner: http://www.mailwasher.net
8. A Domain Name
You will most likely need a domain name for your home business and one cost effective registrar is GoDaddy, http://www.godaddy.com.
9. Payment Processing
You will need a way to process credit cards; that may be using services such as: - PayPal https://www.paypal.com - Storm Pay http://www.stormpay.com - 2 Checkout http://www.2checkout.com - Clickbank http://www.clickbank.com or others.
This is the most economical way to get started. Once your home business picks up you may need to look into your own merchant account for credit card transactions.
Consideration may also be given to other forms of online currency such as eGold http://www.egold.com
10. Email accounts
Once you have your own domain you can use an associated email account. This can further assist in the promotion of your home business and promotes a more professional business image.
As a final comment on continuing in your internet home business, conduct your home business ethically, provide extraordinary service and be proud to put your name to the products or services that you are selling and you will be on track to developing a sustainable long term internet home business.
By: John Pawlett
Credit:www.goarticles.com
Following are the basic steps in setting up for home business success.
1. Attitude
The key to your home business success is your attitude.
Treat your home business like a business.
This is critical whether you are working part-time or full-time. One of my colleagues is a mother who works from home around her family. She has always put her family first whilst at the same time developing her home business. She says, "I work part-time, but I have a full-time attitude."
Put another way, "If you have a hobby attitude you will have a hobby income, if you have a home business attitude you will have a home business income."
You can be successful working part-time and you can be successful working full-time but it is highly unlikely that you will be successful working in your "spare time".
2. Working Environment
A space that you can call your own, free from distractions for your scheduled time.
A comfortable chair and organized desk. Stationery supplies as required. For example:
- pens - highlighters - stapler - hole punch - sticky tape - note book(s) - a simple filing system - ring binders - manilla folders
Consider the value of a broadband connection. Your time is valuable and a broadband connection can allow you to get more done in a given time frame.
3. Schedule
Develop a schedule that works for you, your family (or "significant others") and your home business. When you allot a block of time for work then use that time for work. Equally important is to schedule time for your other commitments - family time, self education ( reading, listening and viewing), "health time" (exercise, cooking and eating), and leisure time. During these other times don't work. After all if one of the reasons to work from home is to spend more time with your family then you don't want your working at home time to consume your family time.
You are working for yourself and your schedule (by your choice) is your "boss". When you have people calling you or dropping around unexpectedly or maybe out-of-town visitors may want to catch up with you then you need to make a choice. Are you committed to your own home business success? What will be your choice in these situations? Only you can decide what is important to you.
In a family environment you may need to negotiate with your partner and children to have your home business time agreed upon, during which you will not be interrupted. Put this schedule prominently somewhere so all family members are aware of your work schedule.
4. Describe Your Home Business
Be able to describe your home business concisely; a powerful one or two sentence description that someone can repeat in describing your home business to others. A unique and memorable tag line can also be invaluable for promoting your home business.
5. Know Your Product or Service
Once you have selected your product or service to sell, it may or may not be something that you use yourself but you need to know your product intimately. If you are selling ebooks then know the content and its value. If you are selling software then use it know it "inside out". You will develop a reputation of providing quality information and because of your product knowledge you can become the preferred supplier.
It is not practical to use certain products (for example a woman may choose to sell man's shoes or vice versa) in which case the seller won't be a product user, however the seller can still know the benefits and features of the product intimately.
6. Administration
Use good record keeping practices.
This may involve a consultation with a tax advisor who can let you know about the optimal way to set up your financial records and what records need to be kept. Your advisor will also recommend record keeping systems and you can find out what software may simplify this aspect of your home business. Additionally your obtain advice on the best arrangement for your bank accounts. You will most likely be advised to have a separate bank account.
You will also need to keep track of your various logins, usernames and passwords. A very handy little software tool for this is Treepad available as either the free Lite version (without password protection) or the commercial Plus or Biz versions. http://www.treepad.com
There are other useful tools for this also from a simple paper notebook to free and commercial password keepers. One popular solution is Roboform that will remember your login details and can automatically fill out your login and other registration forms. http://www.roboform.com
7. Computer Protection
Your computer is the lifeline to your home business dealings and must be protected including the data that is stored.
You need a virus scanner, personal firewall, anti-spyware and anti-adware and preferably an email scanner with the ability to delete suspect of spam email from the server before it is downloaded to your computer.
Some suggestions are:
AVG Anti-Virus: http://www.grisoft.com Spybot S&D: http://www.safer-networking.org Microsoft Anti-Spyware: www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx Adaware: http://www.lavasoft.com/ Mailwasher Email Scanner: http://www.mailwasher.net
8. A Domain Name
You will most likely need a domain name for your home business and one cost effective registrar is GoDaddy, http://www.godaddy.com.
9. Payment Processing
You will need a way to process credit cards; that may be using services such as: - PayPal https://www.paypal.com - Storm Pay http://www.stormpay.com - 2 Checkout http://www.2checkout.com - Clickbank http://www.clickbank.com or others.
This is the most economical way to get started. Once your home business picks up you may need to look into your own merchant account for credit card transactions.
Consideration may also be given to other forms of online currency such as eGold http://www.egold.com
10. Email accounts
Once you have your own domain you can use an associated email account. This can further assist in the promotion of your home business and promotes a more professional business image.
As a final comment on continuing in your internet home business, conduct your home business ethically, provide extraordinary service and be proud to put your name to the products or services that you are selling and you will be on track to developing a sustainable long term internet home business.
By: John Pawlett
Credit:www.goarticles.com
10 Things Every Home Based Business Owner Needs
When you make the decision to earn income from the internet you will need to go through a set up process to be ready for business.
Following are the basic steps in setting up for home business success.
1. Attitude
The key to your business success is your attitude.
Treat your business like a business.
This is critical whether you are working part-time or full-time. One of my colleagues is a mother who works from home around her family. She has always put her family first whilst at the same time developing her business. She says, "I work part-time, but I have a full-time attitude."
Put another way, "If you have a hobby attitude you will have a hobby income, if you have a business attitude you will have a business income."
You can be successful working part-time and you can be successful working full-time but it is highly unlikely that you will be successful working in your "spare time".
2. Working Environment
A space that you can call your own, free from distractions for your scheduled time.
A comfortable chair and organized desk. Stationery supplies as required. For example:
- pens - highlighters - stapler - hole punch - sticky tape - note book(s) - a simple filing system - ring binders - manilla folders
Consider the value of a broadband connection. Your time is valuable and a broadband connection can allow you to get more done in a given time frame.
3. Schedule
Develop a schedule that works for you, your family (or "significant others") and your business. When you allot a block of time for work then use that time for work. Equally important is to schedule time for your other commitments - family time, self education ( reading, listening and viewing), "health time" (exercise, cooking and eating), and leisure time. During these other times don't work. After all if one of the reasons to work from home is to spend more time with your family then you don't want your working at home time to consume your family time.
You are working for yourself and your schedule (by your choice) is your "boss". When you have people calling you or dropping around unexpectedly or maybe out-of-town visitors may want to catch up with you then you need to make a choice. Are you committed to your own business success? What will be your choice in these situations? Only you can decide what is important to you.
In a family environment you may need to negotiate with your partner and children to have your business time agreed upon, during which you will not be interrupted. Put this schedule prominently somewhere so all family members are aware of your work schedule.
4. Describe Your Business
Be able to describe your business concisely; a powerful one or two sentence description that someone can repeat in describing your business to others. A unique and memorable tag line can also be invaluable for promoting your business.
5. Know Your Product or Service
Once you have selected your product or service to sell, it may or may not be something that you use yourself but you need to know your product intimately. If you are selling ebooks then know the content and its value. If you are selling software then use it know it "inside out". You will develop a reputation of providing quality information and because of your product knowledge you can become the preferred supplier.
It is not practical to use certain products (for example a woman may choose to sell man's shoes or vice versa) in which case the seller won't be a product user, however the seller can still know the benefits and features of the product intimately.
6. Administration
Use good record keeping practices.
This may involve a consultation with a tax advisor who can let you know about the optimal way to set up your financial records and what records need to be kept. Your advisor will also recommend record keeping systems and you can find out what software may simplify this aspect of your business. Additionally your obtain advice on the best arrangement for your bank accounts. You will most likely be advised to have a separate bank account.
You will also need to keep track of your various logins, usernames and passwords. A very handy little software tool for this is Treepad available as either the free Lite version (without password protection) or the commercial Plus or Biz versions.
There are other useful tools for this also from a simple paper notebook to free and commercial password keepers. One popular solution is Roboform that will remember your login details and can automatically fill out your login and other registration forms.
7. Computer Protection
Your computer is the lifeline to your business dealings and must be protected including the data that is stored.
You need a virus scanner, personal firewall, anti-spyware and anti-adware and preferably an email scanner with the ability to delete suspect of spam email from the server before it is downloaded to your computer.
8. A Domain Name
You will most likely need a domain name for your business and one cost effective registrar is GoDaddy, http://www.godaddy.com.
9. Payment Processing
You will need a way to process credit cards; that may be using services such as: - PayPal https://www.paypal.com - Storm Pay http://www.stormpay.com - 2 Checkout http://www.2checkout.com - Clickbank http://www.clickbank.com or others.
This is the most economical way to get started. Once your business picks up you may need to look into your own merchant account for credit card transactions.
Consideration may also be given to other forms of online currency such as eGold http://www.egold.com
10. Email accounts
Once you have your own domain you can use an associated email account. This can further assist in the promotion of your business and promotes a more professional business image.
As a final comment on continuing in your internet business, conduct your business ethically, provide extraordinary service and be proud to put your name to the products or services that you are selling and you will be on track to developing a sustainable long term internet business.
By: John Pawlett
Credit:www.goarticles.com
Following are the basic steps in setting up for home business success.
1. Attitude
The key to your business success is your attitude.
Treat your business like a business.
This is critical whether you are working part-time or full-time. One of my colleagues is a mother who works from home around her family. She has always put her family first whilst at the same time developing her business. She says, "I work part-time, but I have a full-time attitude."
Put another way, "If you have a hobby attitude you will have a hobby income, if you have a business attitude you will have a business income."
You can be successful working part-time and you can be successful working full-time but it is highly unlikely that you will be successful working in your "spare time".
2. Working Environment
A space that you can call your own, free from distractions for your scheduled time.
A comfortable chair and organized desk. Stationery supplies as required. For example:
- pens - highlighters - stapler - hole punch - sticky tape - note book(s) - a simple filing system - ring binders - manilla folders
Consider the value of a broadband connection. Your time is valuable and a broadband connection can allow you to get more done in a given time frame.
3. Schedule
Develop a schedule that works for you, your family (or "significant others") and your business. When you allot a block of time for work then use that time for work. Equally important is to schedule time for your other commitments - family time, self education ( reading, listening and viewing), "health time" (exercise, cooking and eating), and leisure time. During these other times don't work. After all if one of the reasons to work from home is to spend more time with your family then you don't want your working at home time to consume your family time.
You are working for yourself and your schedule (by your choice) is your "boss". When you have people calling you or dropping around unexpectedly or maybe out-of-town visitors may want to catch up with you then you need to make a choice. Are you committed to your own business success? What will be your choice in these situations? Only you can decide what is important to you.
In a family environment you may need to negotiate with your partner and children to have your business time agreed upon, during which you will not be interrupted. Put this schedule prominently somewhere so all family members are aware of your work schedule.
4. Describe Your Business
Be able to describe your business concisely; a powerful one or two sentence description that someone can repeat in describing your business to others. A unique and memorable tag line can also be invaluable for promoting your business.
5. Know Your Product or Service
Once you have selected your product or service to sell, it may or may not be something that you use yourself but you need to know your product intimately. If you are selling ebooks then know the content and its value. If you are selling software then use it know it "inside out". You will develop a reputation of providing quality information and because of your product knowledge you can become the preferred supplier.
It is not practical to use certain products (for example a woman may choose to sell man's shoes or vice versa) in which case the seller won't be a product user, however the seller can still know the benefits and features of the product intimately.
6. Administration
Use good record keeping practices.
This may involve a consultation with a tax advisor who can let you know about the optimal way to set up your financial records and what records need to be kept. Your advisor will also recommend record keeping systems and you can find out what software may simplify this aspect of your business. Additionally your obtain advice on the best arrangement for your bank accounts. You will most likely be advised to have a separate bank account.
You will also need to keep track of your various logins, usernames and passwords. A very handy little software tool for this is Treepad available as either the free Lite version (without password protection) or the commercial Plus or Biz versions.
There are other useful tools for this also from a simple paper notebook to free and commercial password keepers. One popular solution is Roboform that will remember your login details and can automatically fill out your login and other registration forms.
7. Computer Protection
Your computer is the lifeline to your business dealings and must be protected including the data that is stored.
You need a virus scanner, personal firewall, anti-spyware and anti-adware and preferably an email scanner with the ability to delete suspect of spam email from the server before it is downloaded to your computer.
8. A Domain Name
You will most likely need a domain name for your business and one cost effective registrar is GoDaddy, http://www.godaddy.com.
9. Payment Processing
You will need a way to process credit cards; that may be using services such as: - PayPal https://www.paypal.com - Storm Pay http://www.stormpay.com - 2 Checkout http://www.2checkout.com - Clickbank http://www.clickbank.com or others.
This is the most economical way to get started. Once your business picks up you may need to look into your own merchant account for credit card transactions.
Consideration may also be given to other forms of online currency such as eGold http://www.egold.com
10. Email accounts
Once you have your own domain you can use an associated email account. This can further assist in the promotion of your business and promotes a more professional business image.
As a final comment on continuing in your internet business, conduct your business ethically, provide extraordinary service and be proud to put your name to the products or services that you are selling and you will be on track to developing a sustainable long term internet business.
By: John Pawlett
Credit:www.goarticles.com
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)