Free eBook: Business Domain Names

Free eBook: Business Domain Names
by: Steve Baba


Since every website needs a name, Dr. Steve Baba has written a free ebook that will help you obtain a brandable, memorable domain name at a reasonable cost, which will contribute to your brand equity and profits. The ebook, downloadable from Seemly.com, explains how to select and buy an elite domain name. You will be able to obtain a better name than your competitors have.

There are at least 10,000 words in a dictionary that would make great domain names plus at least 10,000 proper names and 10,000 great short coined-words. With a supply of 30,000 great names and millions of good names, obtaining a good name is easy.

There is no need to pay more than a few thousand dollars for a great one-word domain name, and many good domain names are available for free. This book provides you with the information needed to beat domain name speculators at their games.

Both naming methodology to identify great domain names and negotiating/purchasing methods to obtain great domain names at low prices are covered. After a couple of introductory sections, the book starts with domain naming goals or the criteria for choosing a great domain name: image, memorability, trademark-legal, and price. Then quality domain naming strategies are discussed. Inferior domain naming styles, which you want to avoid, are then discussed.

The second half of this book explains how to buy a great domain name. Auctions, expired domains, speculators, and other sources are discussed. Finally, many other topics are expanded on.

Steve Baba has a Ph.D. in Economics and ebusiness experience. The ebook on domain names is available at www.seemly.com, for free. No registration is required. The ebook is a PDF file of approximately 250K. The free ebook is advertising supported. The following paragraphs are book excerpts. Generic names, arbitrary dictionary words, coined or made-up words, modified generic names (generic plus) and unrelated two-word names are quality domain naming strategies. But, each quality strategy has strengths and weaknesses. There is no such thing as a perfect name.

Generic names are highly controversial and expensive. Examples of generic names are Hotels.com, Shoes.com and Furniture.com. The generic name strategy was always controversial and peaked during the dotcom bubble.

The generic naming strategy is virtually never used offline, but a very few small stores do business under generic names such as the “Mattress Store” in Annapolis, Maryland. Offline, anyone can use the same generic name and open a store name “Mattress Store.” Online, ownership of the domain name MattressStore.com can only prevent competitors from using the same exact domain name.

Since, generic names cannot be trademarked, competitors can use Hotels.NET, Rooms.com, Hotelrooms.com, Motels.com, Hotel.com (singular), Inns.com Hotels.us, and so on. Often, there are a half dozen simple generic names for each industry not to mention generic names with a prefix (e, i) or suffix such as eHotels.com.

Since competitors can use similar generic names, developing a distinct, memorable brand is difficult. Memorability or the need to spend less on advertising is often an argument for high domain name prices – but this argument is only half true. At the same time, with only a few first-rate generic names in each industry, the generic domain names may be unavailable or overpriced, and are rarely bargain-priced. A generic name also hampers brand extension beyond the generic category – Hotels.com selling plane tickets?

Another quality strategy is unrelated, arbitrary dictionary words. Examples of unrelated dictionary word names include Amazon.com Yahoo.com, Google.com, Target and Staples. Both the words yahoo and google are in the Oxford dictionary, but were rarely used prior to becoming famous brands.

Compared to generic names, it was not immediately obvious what business Amazon, Yahoo or Google was in. On the other hand, Yahoo can legally prevent competitors from using similar names such as FreeHoo via trademark laws.

SearchEngine.com would be the generic name for Google. “Fast” and “All The Web” are used as trademarks by another search engine. But “fast” and “all the web” are not unrelated or arbitrary. Other search engines can also claim to be fast, speedy, quick, the entire web, or something similar.

The key to having the most trademark protection is to choose an unrelated, arbitrary word. Descriptive words, such as fast, are unlikely to earn much trademark protection. Instead of fast, it may be possible to use a suggestive name such as jet, rocket, or race.

With 10,000 good, short, easy-to-spell dictionary words, it is always possible to find one for a few thousand dollars. Shorter four or five character dictionary words are more expensive. Three character dictionary words are extremely expensive.

Coined or fanciful words are words such as Exxon or Kodak that had no prior use. In theory, coined words are the best from a trademark-legal point of view, since no one has used the word before. Ideally, a coined word is totally new and unrelated to any other word.

But, memorability requires a short name, which has led to a number of similar coined names such as Duron, Enron, and Micron, which diminishes the legal advantage, since confusion is possible. LexIs sued LexUs.

While the legal protection is not perfect, the legal protection is considered the strongest of any category. But from a marketing point of view since no one has used the word, coined words may be as difficult to remember as nonsense syllables.

With a supply of thousands if not tens of thousands of short, coined words, it is always possible to find one for a few thousand dollars or less – often free.

Because of the lack of trademark protection for generic names, the lack of distinctiveness, and the cost of many generic domain names, many businesses have used a “generic plus” or “modified generic” naming strategy.

A prefix, suffix or second word can be added to the generic name. Examples of this are Carmax, CarMart, eCars, CarDepot, CarOne and CarLand.

This works if the generic word, such as car, is short. Longer generic names, such as CarpetCleaningMax.com, can be too long. But many of the longer generic words have common abbreviations. For example, computer is often abbreviated “comp” as in CompUSA. Software is often shortened to “soft” or “ware” in names. Tech is a common abbreviation for technology, overused in names.

These names range from virtually generic, eCars.cars, to nearly coined, QuanCars.com, with descriptive, suggestive and arbitrary second-words in-between. Since the generic word lacks any trademark protection, the trademark strength depends on the trademark strength of the “plus” part of the name.

The generic plus strategy is often an attempt to have the benefits from both a generic and a distinctive name, but may have the problems of both if one is not careful. At worst, it could infringe on someone's trademark based on the second word such as CarsRus or CarBay. The generic part of the word is usually trademark safe.

Another strategy is to use two unrelated words in a name. Examples of two unrelated words are RedEnvelope.com and BlueTooth.com. The two unrelated words strategy differs from the generic-plus strategy in that neither word is related to the generic product. Technically red is related to envelope by being an adjective, but neither word is closely related to the product or service being sold.

The main advantage to this method, two unrelated words, is that it’s cheap and often free. With 30,000 single words, there are 900 million combinations of two single words (30,000 x 30,000).

The main disadvantage is that two unrelated words are twice as difficult to remember as one. Two words that are commonly related to each other such as “happy birthday” or “hot wire” are easier to remember, but rare and may be as expensive as single words.

From a trademark viewpoint, it could be twice as risky. It could infringe on someone's trademark based on either the first or second word. If you are RedDog.com selling computers, either Red Computers or Dog Computers could consider trademark action against you.

The entire book can be read at www.seemly.com.

About The Author

Steve Baba has a Ph.D. in Economics and ebusiness experience. The ebook on domain names is available at www.seemly.com, for free.
eeeni@aol.com

This article was posted on January 21, 2004

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Clickbank Security Using PHP

Clickbank Security Using PHP
by: Robert Plank


Here's a way to protect the products you sell with Clickbank, using their built-in protection and by implementing a 30-day expiration, all without having to worry about managing databases or customer lists.

THE FIRST STEP

First of all, Clickbank protection is decent as it is. If you want to keep your customers from passing the thank you page URL around to friends, there are a couple of things you can do.

Login to your Clickbank account: http://www.clickbank.com/login.html

At the top there's a link that says "Click HERE to modify your account". Click on the link.

On this page there are two links at the top, but one says "Click HERE to modify your account." Click on this one.

You should be at the page that allows you to edit the prices of all your Clickbank products. Scroll down to the bottom where it says:

Secret key (up to 16 letters & digits)

You should see a text box here. If it's empty, choose a secret key, type it in and remember it. It can be anything you want, but it should be different than your Clickbank password.

"COOKIE CUTTER" TOOLS

If you've looked around the Clickbank site you'd know that Clickbank offers some friendly pieces of code in a few different programming languages like Perl and PHP that can help you protect your downloads. Basically this is what happens:

* Your order link contains what's called a "seed". This is just a word or a piece of text, which can be anything you want.

* Your customer clicks on the order link and pays.

* Clickbank takes that seed, and uses your secret key on it -- basically mashes the two together and does a bunch of crazy stuff to come up with a garbled piece of junk. But this a garbled piece of junk that can ONLY come from this seed and secret key. You change the value of the seed or secret key even a little and this "hash" changes.

* The seed and the hash are passed back to the thank you page where your Clickbank script sits. (We have the secret key added to your script, and it never changes, so it doesn't need to be handed to us by Clickbank.) This Clickbank script takes the seed and the secret key and does the same crazy shit Clickbank did to us to compute your own hash.

Clickbank calls this their "cbpop" or Clickbank Proof of Purchase.

The hash was something we figured out on your own and the hash Clickbank are compared. If they match, we're in business because the customer here really did buy from us.. The customer can't figure this out on his or her own because they never actually saw the secret key. (And no, you can't "reverse" a hash to figure out the original secret key.)

If you get nothing out of what I just told you, remember this: it's almost impossible for anyone to figure out the right Proof of Purchase code without that secret key.

USING SOMEONE ELSE'S CODE

This is the PHP function they give us:

function cbValid($seed, $cbpop, $secret_key) {

// A bunch of stuff in here...

}

This function cbValid takes three parameters: $seed, $cbpop, and $secret_key. The script goes through that last step of ours I explained above, does the crazy shit and then compares the result to the one given to us by Clickbank.

Now we need to figure out what to do if your customer really didn't pay. The easiest thing to do, is just stop the script in its tracks, preventing the page under it from loading.

if (!cbValid($seed, $cbpop, $secret_key)) die();

The exclamation point means "not". We're saying, first try this...

cbValid($seed, $cbpop, $secret_key)

.. pass the seed, proof of purchase, and secret key into your black box. If the function tells us NO, do the rest. In this case, "die". Die stops everything immediately, so if you have HTML or PHP code below that line, it won't be looked at if the Clickbank validation fails.

The "proper" way to grab $seed from the query string is this way:

if (!cbValid($_GET["seed"], $_GET["cbpop"], $secret_key)) die();

You could also redirect the user to an error page of yours if you like:

if (!cbValid($_GET["seed"], $_GET["cbpop"], $secret_key)) {

header("Location:http://www.your.host/error.html");

die();

}

Instead of $seed and $cbpop we use $_GET["seed"] and $_GET["cbpop"]. This is because the variables don't appear magically out of thin air, they really appear in the URL as http://www.your.url/test.php?seed=SOMESEED&cbpop=SOMEPOP. We want these values to be taken out of the URL.

USE MINE

Here's a zip file containing your cb.php script: http://www.jumpx.com/tutorials/clickbank/cb.zip

Save it, unzip it, and open cb.php. Near the top should be a line such as:

$secret_key = "YOUR_SECRET_KEY";

Change YOUR_SECRET_KEY to that secret key you set in the Clickbank control panel.

Now, for usage... your thank you pages will have to end in .php here. Like, thankyou.php (and now it doesn't matter if they have obvious names or not -- because they'll be thoroughly inaccessible to thieves. Remember, you can simply rename your HTML pages so they end in .php and they'll still work just fine.

Put this line at the top of you thank you page script:

Be sure to upload cb.php to the same folder as your thank you page. Now, when someone goes to the thank you page, the first thing the thank you script will do is run everything in cb.php, and cb.php will take the data Clickbank has passed to see if it matches.

You're going to have to change your Clickbank order links a little. This is what they should look like now:

http://www.clickbank.net/sell.cgi?link=YOUR_CLICKBANK_ID/YOUR_PRODUCT_ID/YOUR_PRODUCT_NAME&seed=YOUR_SEED

Replace YOUR_CLICKBANK_ID with, of course, your Clickbank ID and YOUR_SEED with the seed you want to use. This can be anything, something simple that's short and one word like the product name. But NOT your secret key.

YOUR_PRODUCT_ID is the number Clickbank shows to the left of each thank you page as you add it. When you're testing, be sure to set the price at $0.00. Once everything's in place you can raise the price of the item to $19.95 or $29.95 or whatever it's priced at.

http://www.clickbankguide.com/merchant.htm#account will explain everything if you're a Clickbank newbie.

COULDN'T THE DOWNLOAD URL, HASH, AND RECEIPT BE SHARED?

You can't prevent sharing completely... after all, your customer can always download the file and share the file, not the download URL, to friends. We can do one thing to give these would-be freeloaders a bit of a headache, and that is expiration.

Here we can say, 30 days after someone buys your product, the thank you page will be inaccessible to them. If they buy on October 25th, they can bookmark and revisit that thank you page up until November 25th at the exact time they made their purchase. It's kind of a nice compromise because it gives honest people enough time to get what they need but at the same time it becomes impractical to share the URL.

In chapter 9 of my book, Simple PHP (http://www.simplephp.com), I explained how time works on computers, they use a big number which is just a count of how many seconds have passed since January 1st, 1970. I also explained that there was a function, called strtotime(), which we could use to determine this "number" or timestamp of a certain date. For example, 30 days ago or 1 year ago.

30 days sounds about right. To figure out the Unix timestamp of this moment, minus 30 days is:

strtotime("-30 days")

Now, to store it in a variable called $expire:

$expire = strtotime("-30 days");

But you're saying, how do I know when these people purchased? I don't have that kind of information. Aha! But you can. Remember, the seed you put in your order links can be anything you want. So let's just make it the timestamp of this exact moment.

When the customer revisits the thank you page, they can't change the seed, because as I mentioned, if you change *either* the seed or the secret key, the resulting hash (proof of purchase) will be different. So you see, they're stuck with it. But, the current time always changes!

All we have to do, in cb.php, are these two steps:

* Figure out what the timestamp was exactly 30 days ago, and store this value in $expire.

* Compare the seed and $expire. If the the value of the seed is less than that of $expire, it means that the product was purchased more than 30 days ago and the visitor shouldn't be given access to the page. Die.

We've already taken care of step one by saving the timestamp 30 days prior in $expire. Now, we compare the seed (it's $_GET["seed"], remember, because we're grabbing it out of the URL string) and $expire like:

if ($_GET["seed"] Order Now

Instead of YOUR_SEED we want PHP to call the function mktime(), which gives us the current timestamp, and output it, using echo.

echo mktime();

Now just put around it...

And shove it in there.

">Order Now

Now setup a link for $0.00 in your Clickbank control panel and try it. You can be sure it works by changing that "-30 days" in strtotime to "-5 minutes". Then try accessing the download page, then wait 5 minutes and try again. Neat, isn't it?

You say, I've done this, but I have more than one product. How do I keep someone from grabbing everything once they've grabbed one?

Have your links look like the following: ">Order Now

This way the seeds will look like "stringbeans445433" if you're selling stringbeans. Then again if you're selling corn on the cob on another sales page, you can change "stringbeans" to "cornonthecob". Now the seeds for each product will be different.

Those seeds won't be all numbers, will they? So, in cb.php, do this:

$timestamp = ereg_replace("[^0-9]","",$_GET["seed");

I won't go into a lot of detail about pattern matching, but the [^0-9] means "NOT anything from 0 to 9. It basically goes through every letter and number of $_GET["seed"], and if what's there isn't a 0, 1, 2, etc. it's replaced with nothing (hence the ""). The final result is saved in a variable called $timestamp.

Since now we're looking at $timestamp and not $_GET["seed"], let's change that if-statement:

if ($timestamp

When I extracted the timestamp from the seed, I simply removed all characters that were not numbers, leaving just the numbers contained within that string. Now I want to do the opposite. Here's an example seed:

test1074482258

I take out all the numbers and am left with "test". Next I figure out which script called cb.php (which is stored in the variable $_SERVER["SCRIPT_NAME"]). Then the script takes out everything up to the last slash (/) and everything before the first dot (.). If the script was located at "/clickbank/test.php", all that's left is "test".

If you give each thank you page a different name, and make sure all your seeds reflect the correct page, i.e. if your thank you page is called "carrots", the part of that order link containing the seed should appear as:

&seed=carrots

If you don't care how Clickbank's protection works, that's your derogative. Just get the zip file and follow the instructions I've provided in cb.php.

As far as scripts that handle several Clickbank products -- I can't recommend any at this time, since I've never across any good ones. (But you should check out Harvey Segal's free site, ClickbankGuide.com, which can answer most of your questions about Clickbank.)

Here's that script again in case you missed it: http://www.jumpx.com/tutorials/clickbank/cb.zip

Make sure to read the instructions I've supplied in cb.php, get everything setup and on your web server, and you'll be well on your way to having bulletproof protection on your Clickbank products.

About The Author

Robert Plank is the creator of Lightning Track, Redirect Pro, Rotatorblaze, and other useful tools.

Want to pick up more programming skills? Then purchase the e-book "Simple PHP" at http://www.simplephp.com

You may reprint this article in full in your newsletter or web site.

This article was posted on January 19, 2004

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Play Online Slot Machine Game

Coin in - spin - hold your breath......Watch those symbols.....Will it or won't it? Heart racing ..... the dials slow down and IT'S A WINNER!!!! Three bells in a row! But wait - there's more to come - The screen is flashing, bells are ringing, and yes, it finally happened - YOU WON THE JACKPOT!!

To play slots, you click the "coin" icon to specify the value of credits you want to play with. The payout scale for slots is shown at the top of the slot machine. This is the heart-stopping moment that makes slot machines irresistible; this is the adrenalin-pumping experience that makes it impossible for slot machines to go out of fashion.

Slot Machine History begins in San Francisco USA, when a 29 year old mechanic by the name of Charles Fey built the first slot machine in history in 1887: the Liberty Bell, and hit the public's imagination when they were installed in the Flaming Hilton hotel in Las Vegas.

The invention, hand made, in a small machine shop, has paved the road to gambling industries as we know them today. Charles Fey was not only the inventor, but also the first slot machine owner and operator, as he placed his work in the pubs. The history of slot machines has only then begun.

An American invention, slot machines have since become very popular all around the world. The most notable places include Europe, Africa, South America, Asia, and the Caribbean.

Often referred to as 'one-armed bandits', their magnetic appeal is hard to define. Is it the hypnotic effect of the spinning symbols? Or the incredible excitement of the bells and flashing lights which herald the big win? Or just the fact that they work purely on the gambler's best friend - pure chance? Whatever it is, slot machines are the essence of the gambler's dream - the dream of that one big life-changing win.

Not long ago, for this dream to become a reality, you had to buy an airline ticket to Las Vegas. Waste time travelling. Spend money on a hotel. Dress up in a suit, find a casino, pay exorbitant entry fees, and wait half the night for a free machine. All that has changed. Play online slot machine games - and you get the fun, the excitement, the kicks and the jackpots - for free! Online slot machines have all the features which gamblers have loved for decades - whirring, flying symbols, the clank of coins, the manic ringing bells and flashing lights to announce a win.

Now you can play online slot machine games right there, in the comfort of your own home! With online gambling, you can play online slot machine games instantly anytime you have a spare half an hour. Play online slot machine games when it suits you. Play online slot machine games with the money you would have spent to GET to a casino.

Download slot machines require you to download the game program to your machine before you can play online slot machine games. With the "No-download play online slot machine games" option, you can play online slot machine games while everyone else is wasting time downloading theirs! With a no download version, you can just play online slot machine games - no need to clutter up your computer with software you don't want. And the latest, greatest, newest and most stupendous games are there for you instantly, the moment you log on. No hassles, no waiting, no frustrations - just do what you love to do - Play online slot machine games!

In fact, what are you waiting for? A quick and easy free signup will take you instantly into a world of excitement and fun; a world where anything can happen; a world where dreams can come true; the fantastic world of online casino.

Play online slot machine games NOW - hit the jackpot while your friends are still busy legging it to the casino - hear the bells and see the flashing lights and have fun while everyone else is still trying to get service!

--------------------------------------------

Copyright © 2008 http://www.freeslotmachinegameonline.com/, All Rights Reserved.

One click from answer ?

This article briefly describes most popular places on the net where help, advise and answers on required questions can be found. Overview of Search engines, meta search engines, forums, online help boards and more.

1. Search engines

Google.com, yahoo.com they represents one of best known search engines. SEs holds huge databases, for example google currently have more than 3 milliards records, to be able to process this information quantities server farms are used with thousands of computers. Search results contain pages where lookup words were met. Every SE has its own algorithm on what pages best much search criteria but all of them have aim to show most relevant results for user.

SE weighty advantage is that search industry leaders have their databases filled by milliards of records referencing existing web sites on the net, but they require from user to know most part of answer and some search experience to be able to type in correct keywords, otherwise as usually happens with novice users keywords may be really sensible for required lookup, turned out to be not that really used by most internet community in current field. As consequence search results are far from ideal, usually this are sites similar to looking-for but not that really useful.

Only experience coming with time and hope on search engines will be more intellectual in future seems help. Another way is to spend more time on lookup and parse most of search results (more than first page of results) this will for sure move near to success.

Also exists meta search engines (they don't have own databases but reuse and combine existing top search engines results together), they provide more optimized results and keep only most relative matches.

Hear is list of most popular search and meta search engines:

Search engines by popularity:

* http://google.com
* http://search.Yahoo.com
* http://search.msn.com
* http://excite.com
* http://netscape.com
* http://iwon.com
* http://askjeewes.com
* http://mywebsearch.com
* http://altavista.com
* http://dogpile.com
* http://infospace.com

Meta Search engines:

* http://ez2www.com
* http://kartoo.com
* http://surfwax.com
* http://vivisimo.com
* http://webcrawler.com

2. Forum boards

This is for sure more humanized type of information conception. Any forum board divided into several subjects, where forum users can post questions. Any single question with follow up and answers called thread. Threads keep single post history.

Person looking for help posts message describing problem and usually within one day some body with god will helps. Most forums have possibility to turn on auto notification for new responses, posted by email. Once posted your issue in few or more forums, checking newly email messages will keep up to date with problem resolving. Good sign for forum is number of messages per unique thread, more than 100 is good, as more visitors will see your request as soon you will get required help.

Hear is few popular help forums:

* http://www.htmlforums.com
* http://www.wordforums.com
* http://www.suggestafix.com

3. News groups

News groups is coming from that early times when internet was not worldwide available.

They were available mostly through bulletin board systems and terminal connections.

Now this is forum type help resource but advantage is there are a lot of news groups on many subjects and all messages archived since at least 1994 year. So there is pretty much chances that you will find already existed same problem with few possible solutions.

There are few web interfaces to news groups, most handy for me was Google:

* http://groups.google.com

4. Documentation

Every product, service or tool coming with user manual and documentation.

This was always best and most smart way to get issues resolved but major problem is time required to get acquainted with often tens or even hundred manual pages. Not rare cases when person just missing so much time.

5. Online help chat

This is so called human 2 human service. Most major web portals support this type of service for its own needs, example is ebay auction. Any answers get resolved immediately via online chat by ebay support person. Only problem is that ebay works only with its registered users and support only ebay concerning issues.

Online help is best possible service for present day, it reduces lookup efforts from hours or even days to minutes. For today I found one such place and meet there good and prompt support

* http://webhelpboard.com

Conclusion

From described above seen that guaranteed direction is original manuals that usually foresee most common issues and pitfalls but it is for sure require enough free time. From the other side human 2 human services - online help chat is easiest and most prompt service existing today.

Why Businesses Need to Start Nurturing Collective Wisdom

COLLECTIVE WISDOM CAN BE AN effective tool for solving the problem of knowledge deficit, or the underutilization of organizational knowledge. If you are a small, medium or large business, and you don’t have a method in place for harnessing and managing your organization’s collective knowledge, you may be losing opportunities for significant revenue enhancement. According to a study by the Delphi Group, less than 20 percent of knowledge available to an enterprise is actually used. Furthermore,

IDC predicts that Fortune 500 companies are currently operating at a $19 billion knowledge deficit, increasing to $31.5 billion by year’s end.

Such studies that quantify the value of knowledge deficit should give businesses a reason for viewing strategy meetings and other forms of brainstorm sessions (where employees across the organization are encouraged to freely share their own ideas) in a very different light. Such meetings are powerful tools in nurturing collective wisdom that transcends the corporate memory. These meetings should cover areas that are largely determined by the specific needs (gaps) of the organization and may range from developing a corporate quality mission statement to establishing practical methods for empowering employees, creating a new concept for a product or service, and so on.

The main idea is to tap into the collective knowledge of the organization as a whole (memory) and its members, inheriting the tacit knowledge that they carry with them. Unfortunately, most of the knowledge contained in an organization goes unused, and often gets lost through employee layoffs and resignations, even before it is acknowledged and captured, generating knowledge deficits (another form of gap!).

According to TMP Worldwide, it takes 1.5 times an employee’s annual salary to replace that employee. This is due to several factors, one of which is the loss of unrecorded information and data. Lost information may include internal business processes, external contacts/relationships, and proprietary data.

Knowledge deficit refers not only to know-how, but to codified data as well. Knowledge deficit is caused when employees cannot access:

* Databases

* Documents

* E-mail communications

* Expertise of other employees/outside sources

* Internet content

Therefore, as gaps are created and the organization attempts to fill them, employees should have at their disposal searching capabilities that enable them to search for codified data, as well as unrecorded tacit knowledge. Such a process fosters collective wisdom, which in turn fosters innovation, one of the prime goals in tapping into corporate instinct.

Expertise management, as Information Market accurately contends, enables the creation of knowledge superconductivity. For instance, strategy meetings can enable employees with business problems to tap into the minds of those experts who can at the very least add to their knowledge, and may even be able to solve the business problem at hand. However, these meetings should be moderated and include a variety of themes and dynamics that encourage freethinking, commitment, loyalty, and willingness to create.

Hence, these meetings play an important role in ensuring that any effort in developing new concepts, in innovation, is supported by the entire organization, top to bottom. These meetings can include topics such as:

* Achieving unanimous agreement and commitment to a new concept from executives and senior management

* Creating a comprehensive plan by which a new product or service concept can be implemented and become sustainable (remember, without sustainability, the new concept is only a great idea)

* Crisis/contingency systems (dealing with major gaps in times of chaos)

* Developing specific tactics by which new concepts and respective plans are to be realized establishing appropriate goals and benchmarks.

As well as these strategic and planning meetings, there are also some less apparent but equally important communication issues which can be addressed during the quest for collective wisdom, including:

* Developing high-profile actions that communicate management’s commitment to change (creation of gaps) and innovation (bridging the gaps)

* Developing ongoing means for communicating progress of the strategy meetings and developing a collective wisdom process for both internal and external customers

* Effectively communicating the collective wisdom to managers, staff, and the entire organization as a whole.

Why Budding NetPreneurs Fail

NetPreneurs fail all too often because they wrongly assume that marketing on the Net is a no cost business when, in reality it is simply a low cost or targeted cost business.

The most successful NetPreneurs invest either targeted advertising dollars AND/OR targeted "sweat equity" in order to generate a steady flow of traffic to their websites. Without traffic, NO product ever sells.

Many would be NetPreneurs understimate the amount of traffic that is actually required to create and sustain a business though. They will join free "safelists" and blast away often ill conceived or "me too" messages to thousands of names without realizing that, for the most part, participants on the list are all looking to sell - not buy.

If asked, any honest businessperson would admit they want a clientele of affluent, repeat buyers who may one day even become joint venture partners not the "dollar store entrepreneurs" who make no effort to grow as business people. (We all have to start somewhere...some though are unwilling to move beyond humble beginnings and invest in themselves!)

They design (or use cloned) websites and then think that every hit should become an instant "sale".

In reality, thousands of hits may only translate into a few sales (at best). NetPreneurs should be seeking thousands of hits per day... budding netpreneurs who fail though routinely think that they'd have it "made" if they received a thousand hits per month and give up when that paltry number of hits does not produce instant wealth.

Then as hosting bills start to mount and the affiliate commissions don't roll in like a tidal wave, reality sets in!

The key for the budding NetPreneur is to target a niche.

Identifying buyers when they are ready to buy requires an altogether different strategy of allowing prospects with money to spend to FIND YOU.

That involves a long term strategy of dailing activities designed to 1) create significant CONTENT that is 2) Search Engine Friendly and Buyer Friendly while 3) "monetizing" the site so that it generates several streams of income from both advertising AND affiliate sales.

Keywords niches analyzed.

Articles written.

Pages posted and optimized.

Blogs blogged.

Press releases submitted.

Message boards visited.

Customers served.

Joint ventures pursued.

Subscriber bases built.

Ads judiciously targeted.

Etc.

Only by constant tweaking and promotion will the budding NetPreneur get the Big Boys (and Girls) at Google, Yahoo!, Inktomi, and to send search engine referrals their way.

The Perfect Book and Where to Find It!

If I was asked to describe the perfect book, one that’s in high demand, moves off the shelves quickly, costs little or nothing to produce, involves the least amount of work possible, and offers multi-income streams, I’d say it included one, preferably more of the following features:

It Must Be Quick To Produce

Time is money and the sooner your book is ready to sell, the sooner you’ll make money from it.

So let us consider just a handful of many ways to create a book in a day, or less than a day, perhaps in just a few minutes!

1) Profit From Resell Rights

Resell rights - a confusing term with conflicting definitions, but a great way to acquire best selling books quickly, at little cost, complete with marketing materials, web sites, representing the easiest and fastest way to start your publishing business. But there is a problem, a rather big one, in that resell rights products are available to countless firms all over the world, competition is high, and unless you’re prepared to share the profits, you must work hard to differentiate your product. Easy, as you’ll discover in How to Sell the Same Product as Everyone Else and Make Yours the One People Buy! which you can download free of charge at www.publishingcircles.com

2) Repackaging For Profit

Repackaging means bundling, recreating, producing something unusual from readily available materials, and ultimately creating a unique product, one only you can offer.

Various elements fall within the guise of repackaging, including:

* Repackage items with no special theme or concept other than offering a high price product at a bargain price.
* Bundle items with a connecting or specific theme to appeal to a wide market audience.
* Repackage for a niche market and watch cash pile into your bank account.
* Bundle and give a great title which might prove more appealing than contents themselves.
* Add something unique.
* Use the package to sell something else.

3) Public Domain and Out of Copyright Works

Which essentially means the work is yours to use as you please! Legally that is, but there are ethical issues you might choose to resolve.

For example, because they’re out of copyright, you could reprint and sell Shakespeare’s plays.

You won’t be breaking the law, even though it might arguably be wrong to change the author’s name to your own, not to mention making you look pretty stupid, and you might care to acknowledge and praise the original author of well-known and less famous titles.

For an excellent guide to publishing information products that are out of copyright or in the public domain visit: www.ebookfactory.biz

4) Obtain Marketing Rights from Writers

Another wide area covering royalty agreements, joint venture deals, resell rights (considered earlier), purchasing first or subsequent serial rights, dropshipping, question and answer sessions between yourself and well known authors, publishing other writers’ articles, and more, as discussed in The Ultimate Guide to Making Your Fortune With Resell Rights.

http://www.resell-rights.net/

5) Off The Shelf Ideas

Old newspapers and magazines are a goldmine of ideas for you to profit from quickly.

My book Mags To Riches focused on ways to capitalize on old papers, ‘old’ sometimes meaning recent, while more often referring to printed materials up to, sometimes more than one hundred years old. Most very old magazines are out of copyright and include tips, ideas and articles that can be lifted and adapted for today’s reader with no comeback for you. Again, ethics might raise concerns, so in that book of Early Twentieth Century Love Poems you might like to credit the original writers.

6) Directories and Listings

Many a great title is simply a listing of telephone numbers or addresses or a compilation of facts, tips, or other valuable snippets of information.

Typically, there’s no work involved, other than finding and keying essential information into your word processor. But be careful, because directories and listings invariably date fast.

It Must Be Something People Want In Its Own Right

It should be a book you won’t have to work hard to sell. That could be because:

It’s on an all-time popular subject, e.g. cats, dogs, raising children, making money from home, running a profitable Internet business, retiring with money to spend, building your own dream home, and more.

It’s a hot newsy topic, something everyone wants to know about fast. A great example is the recent trial of Paul Burrell, one-time butler to Diana, Princess of Wales, who is now ‘spilling the beans’ about his life moving and working in royal circles. He’s hot news and you can’t buy a copy of Daily Mirror, the vehicle for his story, in my home town right now. Hopefully the book version will appear soon and will surely sell millions of copies worldwide.

It’s an old subject with a new twist. A good example, crop circles, which have existed for centuries and have been linked with magic, aliens, ghosts, UFO landings, and recently Hollywood films. It’s a fact, like Pocahontas and Titanic, and latterly Signs, Hollywood films spawn an insatiable demand for books on the subject.

It Must Be Very Cheap Or Best Of All Free

There are lots of reasons why low prices and freebies motivate people to buy, including:

To encourage greater confidence in products promoted by mail order, direct mail, over the Internet. Remote buying makes people suspicious and ill at ease. Buying books in a book store, handing over your money and leaving with your goods is no problem. It’s face-to-face, there’s someone to answer your questions, you can see your goods, they’re tangible, you get to hold them, and leave with them seconds after you buy.

Inexpensive products can sell amazingly well off-the-page through low cost classified advertisements, unlike more expensive products which require two-stage selling or costly display advertisements. Great news for anyone with limited funds for marketing. In How to Go From Zero to 100,000 a Year Selling Simple Information Products, (www.howtogo.info) I’ll show how a handful of classified ads. sold thousands of copies of one of my books and built a database of regular buyers for my products, some of whom have spent thousands with me over just a few years.

Low prices induce more people to buy (some don’t have the money to buy expensive items right now, and others won’t risk higher sums to unknown sellers). This helps you build a bigger database faster for future, more expensive products.

Has a Definite Objective On Which Profits Ultimately Depend

In this case, profits come not only from the book but additionally from some other source. There are many examples of how this works, including:

• To attract visitors to your web site, as for example where a free book or collection of books is offered to anyone visiting your site in the hope they might also leave their email address for later communications or better still buy more of your products at the scene.

• To attract names for your database. Michael Southon used this technique recently when he changed his ezine server and wanted to transfer names from old to new. His offer of a book unavailable from any other source will no doubt accomplish his aim of maximum resubscription rate.

Additional Profits (Sometimes Sole Profits) Come From Inside The Book or From Back End Sales

Often a book will be offered free or at cost price, the intention being to whet the readers’ appetite for other products.

For example:

• A book of recipes might include advertisements for cook books, cooking holidays, designer aprons, and so on.

• A book of dog stories might include affiliate links for all kinds of products and services for dogs and their owners, such as pet sitting services, pet portraits, holidays with pets, and so on.

A Lot of People Desire the Book (General Market) Or It Interests a Niche Market With Fewer Members But Massive Response Potential

For example, a mass market book could sell hundreds of copies quickly if properly promoted, say in wide circulation daily newspapers, especially if the title appeals to the majority of people.

Examples: finding friendship and love, cutting the cost of your mortgage, how to be attractive to the opposite sex.

Niche market titles appeal to people with very clearly defined interests, such as collecting teddy bears, overcoming fear of flying, growing bonsai trees. Such markets might be smaller, maybe much smaller than for general interest titles, but they are invariably easier and cheaper to reach and achieve the highest response rates. Sometimes there is overlap and a niche market title might also appeal to a huge proportion of the overall book buying population.

Market Is Easily Identifiable

Knowing a market exists for your book before it’s written is half the battle to becoming a well paid publisher.

Imagine the alternative. You write a book on a subject that interests you, it takes months to produce and sets you back hundreds of pounds. Then you start looking for buyers! Easy Peasy - if hundreds of magazines, forums, clubs, mailing lists, radio and television features focus on similar subject matter. In which case, when 101 Resell Rights Secrets Exposed! is finished, I’ve got hundreds of ezines, web sites, Internet users, home business magazines, publisher forums, and lots more places keen to learn more about publishing other people’s books for profit! I’m spoiled for choice of ways to promote my book.

But that other book I have planned, How To Be The Most Boring Person on Earth, where do I promote that? Where do I find a sizeable group of people vying for that particular title? Do enough such people exist to sell many copies of my book?

Market Is Easy To Reach

Following on from the last point, the market must not only be easily identifiable, but also easy to reach. And hopefully at little expense. Niche markets are generally easy and inexpensive to target and usually promise one hundred per cent member interest. So a new book offering previously unknown information about collecting teddy bears should interest every teddy bear collector on the planet.

Many Ways To Market The Book at Little or Low Cost

Self-explanatory, really, because the more ways you have to promote your product, especially at little or no cost, the more enquirers and buyers you will ultimately reach as you will discover in The Ultimate Guide To Making Your Fortune With Resell Rights. http://www.resell-rights.net/

Has Viral Marketing Potential

Again, largely self-explanatory, and typically including affiliate and joint venture deals, affiliate links in the book, reprint and resell rights, endorsements, and so on.

Should Have Long Term Popularity And Selling Potential And Be Easy To Update

Very few books of short term interest attract massive profits. The exception is a fad or gimmicky title which captures the imagination and achieves millions of sales in a short space of time. A great example was the solution to Rubik’s Cube which sold millions of copies in a few weeks until the phase died out. That type of book is very few and far between and not to be banked upon. Play it safe, play is sure, go for something with long term potential and few reasons to update your book. Most frequently in need of updating are directories and most books with extensive telephone and address listings. Try to avoid them or offer an updating service at extra cost or free of charge at your web site.

Should Include Means To Capture Enquirer And Customer Addresses And Other Valuable Information From Inside The Book

The list is all in marketing, especially past buyers of your goods and services, whether they purchased direct from you or from someone else. An established buyer is easier to sell to than someone who has never bought from you before.

But that buyer is only profitable if you know who he is, if you have some means of approaching him again with new offers.

Introduction to Dedicated Servers

Introduction to Dedicated Servers
by: Emmanuel Eichler


A dedicated server is a single computer on a web-hosting network that is leased or rented, and dedicated to just one customer. A service provider monitors the computer’s hardware, network connectivity, and routing equipment, while the customer generally controls and maintains the server software. Dedicated servers are most often used by those who’ve outgrown typical hosting accounts and now require massive amounts of data space and bandwidth, those with mission critical web sites, web hosting companies, or those who have special needs. Dedicated servers are housed in data centers, where service providers can monitor them close-up and have hands-on access to them.

The primary advantage of using a dedicated server over a typical shared hosting account is the sheer amount of resources and control available to you, the customer. In many cases, the client is at liberty to install whatever software they desire, giving them greater flexibility and administrative options. Dedicated server clients do not share resources, as those with shared hosting plans do; but rather, are at liberty to use all the resources available to them.

Managed Servers vs. Unmanaged Servers

There are two types of dedicated servers available today: Managed Dedicated Servers and Unmanaged Dedicated Servers.

An Unmanaged Dedicated Server leaves nearly all the management duties of running a server in the purchaser’s control. The customer in this case, updates software on their own, applies necessary patches, performs kernel compiles and operating system restores, installs software, and monitors security. With this type of dedicated server, the consumer is solely responsible for day-to-day operations and maintenance. The service provider, in turn, monitors the network, repairs hardware problems, and troubleshoots connectivity issues. Additionally, some service providers offer partial management of services, such as network monitoring, software upgrades and other services, but leave the general upkeep of the server in the hands of the client. An unmanaged dedicated server is best for someone with server management experience.

A Managed Dedicated Server is generally more proactively monitored and maintained on the part of the service provider. When renting or leasing a managed server, the service provider or host carries out the responsibility of software updates and patches, putting security measures in place, performing hardware replacements, and also monitoring the network and its connection for trouble. In other words, when utilizing a managed dedicated server, the host provider will perform both hardware and software operations. A managed dedication server solution works well for the customer with limited server management experience or limited time in being able to perform the duties necessary to keep a server running and online.

Technical Aspects In Choosing A Server

When choosing a dedicated server, there are several things to consider: Operating System, Hardware options, Space and bandwidth.

The Operating System of a server is similar to that on your own personal computer; once installed, the operating system enables one to perform tasks more simply. There are a bevy of server operating systems available today including Linux-based and Windows-based software. The operating system you choose should be directly relational to what operations your server will be performing, which types of software you’ll need to install and also, what you’re more comfortable with.

Hardware Options are also something to consider when choosing a dedicated server. You’ll need to pick a processor that’s up to the task, the amount of memory you wish installed, firewall options, and the size of the hard drive.

A certain amount of bandwidth is generally included when renting or leasing a dedicated server. Once you ascertained how much bandwidth you will require, you can adjust that limit with your service provider. The space you’ll be given is generally directly relational to the size of your hard drive. Some hosts also give clients the choice of uplink port speed (usually 10Mbps/100Mbps).

About The Author

Emmanuel Eichler
HostLead.com - Webmaster
Business Web Hosting Directory

This article was posted on January 13, 2004

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Avoiding the Spam Trap: Get Your Message Delivered!

Your message is not being delivered

If you send emails to your customers, I have some bad news for you. Not all of your emails are making it to your intended recipients. Between ISP spam filters, spam-blocking email servers, spam-killing email software, and email content filtering everywhere in between, the chances are high that your messages just aren't making it past all of these roadblocks.

Recent studies show that opt-in subscriptions are erroneously spam blocked at rates of 17% (according to Return Path) to 38% (according to Mail.com). So, 17% to 38% of the e-mail you send to people who want it or even pay for it in many cases, does not reach them. Just by choosing the wrong words or phrases, or sending the wrong type of attachment, your email can become a "false positive", and end up filed into some garbage bin where it gets mixed up with various offers to increase the size of some random body part -- never again to be seen.

These false positives can occur even if the intended recipient is very interested in receiving your message, even if their life (or livelihood) depends upon receiving that message. Even if automated spam filters don't destroy your message, as in-boxes fill up with more and more garbage, it's becoming common for people to simply overlook wanted mail and inadvertently delete it.

It's only going to get worse.

When the new federal law dubbed "The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003" (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing) was passed in December, many were startled and confused by the apparent legalization of spam. Now, as long as an emailer complies with the law regarding header falsification, misleading titles, and opt-out procedures, it would seem that marketing through spam has become legitimate!

The CAN-SPAM law only restricts the legality and processes involved in sending Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE). There is no implied responsibility on behalf of any provider to guarantee delivery of all messages. In fact, ISPs are given the right to filter and block email any way they deem necessary according to their policies. The law doesn't burden ISPs to discriminate whether the email was permission-based or unsolicited. They can block incoming bulk email simply on the basis of a single complaint.

And if that wasn't bad enough, the CAN-SPAM Act suggests a bounty of 20% or more of fines collected go to the people who turn in spammers. As more "offenders" are reported, more ISPs are blacklisted, and the more likely your message will end up vaporized long before it hits home.

So now, with more and more marketing efforts involving purchased and shared opt-in lists, more and more companies able to legally spam, and more and more Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail floating around on the internet, there is bound to be a reaction, and that reaction is sure to be quite strong. Following the Red Queen Principle, as spammers continue to find a means to push out spam -- ISPs, hosts, and email packages will continue to improve their defenses, as well, blocking more mail than ever before.

Has E-mail Come to an End?

No one could have imagined that things would get this bad. Spammers and virus authors are rapidly crippling email. Even though e-mail was once dubbed the "killer app" of the Internet, some doomsayers are going so far that viruses, spam, and spam filters are joining forces to bring about the death of email. The theory is that, eventually, inboxes will become so full of unwanted garbage emails, and so many desired messages will be deleted along the way, that email will become useless.

Some e-mail publishers are considering giving up on e-mail altogether and finding other ways to deliver their message. While this may sound pretty extreme, the spam wars are an extreme situation. And extreme situations call for drastic measures...

RSS to the Rescue

One such alternative is RSS, which stands for either Really Simple Syndication, or Rich Site Summary, depending upon with whom you're speaking. A primary reason that RSS is a viable alternative is that since readers select their RSS Feeds, spam is no longer an issue. This is because RSS works a little bit differently than email, using pull, instead of push, technology.

By notifying people interested in your content, as well as web sites that collect and package content announcements (called aggregators), you "feed" them your content. From this process we get the term "RSS feed." By providing an RSS feed, another site may pick up your "news" through your feed and syndicate it. Only the feed publisher can designate what information gets into the feed, and the only information the subscriber pulls down is what the publisher puts there.

If email continues on its self-destruct course, RSS could very well become the new standard, either replacing email subscriptions or, more likely, as an email supplement.

What are RSS Feeds?

An RSS feed is a Web-accessible XML file containing a listing of web pages with related news or information. RSS is basically a stream of raw data: content completely separated from presentation. The XML-based RSS feed contains content information, such as the headline, description, an excerpt, and the URL where the subscriber can find the content in its entirety. Once uploaded to a website, the RSS feed should be validated for completeness and accuracy. Once it is validated, the feed can then be submitted to engines.

A sample feed can be seen at: http://www.EnvisionSoftware.com/Articles/Index.xml

Consuming the Syndicated RSS Feed

Individual subscribers can view RSS feeds in special feed reader software, called a news reader. Additionally, webmasters can syndicate your news feeds to their website using an aggregator. Both aggregators and news readers consume RSS feeds, presenting them in a format for use by humans in pretty much the same way Web browsers work with web pages.

To subscribe to a newsfeed, the subscriber tells their feed reader to periodically poll a certain site's RSS feed file, pasting the URL for the RSS feed into their feed reader, much like bookmarking a page in your Web browser.

Then, to read the news, the feed reader visits the subscribed feeds, grabs the latest information, and displays a sorted list of the latest headlines from each source. Sometimes the reader will show brief descriptions of the content, but it always links to the full content on the publisher's site.

Not quite ready for prime time

Even though it's been around for a decade, RSS technology is still in its infancy. This immaturity presents a few challenges.

The biggest issue today is that mainstream web and e-mail clients do not yet support RSS feeds. Expect to see some movement in this direction as the RSS movement swells.

There are lots of freestanding news readers out there, and they each have their unique shortcomings. Over the next year or two, RSS software should improve significantly and RSS will become a more robust publishing platform.

RSS usage and news aggregator adoption is still very limited. So, RSS will not be a complete solution without greater subscriber participation.

RSS is text-only. Attractive layout and graphics cannot make up for poor quality content in the world of news feeds.

The RSS Business Model

Content publishers need to determine how to make RSS content distribution profitable. Just as there are paid e-mail newsletters, there can be paid RSS news feeds. It's just another file that resides on a web server, so it can be served from a password protected web site. However, with a paid RSS newsfeed, readership is reduced, as subscribers are limited to using RSS aggregators or news readers which support authentication.

While content publishers may be afraid of RSS, the business model of e-mail publishing doesn't really change using RSS. Readers still see the same content, with the same design, layout, and ads in an HTML newsletter. The trick is to have content which strikes the reader's fancy -- headlines and descriptions have to be worthy of clicking on, before the readers will see the full content.

What Does The Future Hold for RSS?

RSS has gained quick acceptance in certain circles such as small technology companies, innovative consulting organizations, and self-publishers. Even Microsoft has started publishing RSS feeds without attempting to strong-arm themselves into a dominant position, thus far.

AOL's upcoming AOL 10 software will support RSS technology. Microsoft will most likely support RSS in Outlook and Outlook Express, similar to its current support for newsgroups. Additionally, web hosting tools like Geocities offer tools to syndicate RSS feeds.

It may take some time, however, for RSS to gain momentum in the IT departments of midsize-to-large companies, which are typically slower to adopt nascent technologies like RSS.

Should you consider RSS for your publication?

While RSS may not be an immediate replacement for the email newsletter, it will become a powerful choice in corporate and personal communication in the very near future. Once the big guys adopt RSS as a content sharing and distribution medium, it will gain greater acceptance. The benefits of RSS will be widespread, and full-featured RSS news readers will be prevalent.

Moving your subscriber base from e-mail newsletters to RSS feeds might be a tall order at this juncture. For now, it's up to publishers to sell readers on the RSS concept, and explain how it alleviates the pain of spam.

Whether you decide to convert to RSS full force or simply offer RSS as an alternative for your subscribers, it's important to realize that e-mail is starting to lose its luster, and now is a very good time to include RSS in your publishing repertoire.

Don't Get Ripped Off Getting A Merchant Account

Far too many people get ripped off when setting up a merchant account for their online business. The biggest reason is that they don't understand their options and are intimidated by the whole process. Now, armed with the proper knowledge, you don't need to become a victim of this process.

You may be like me when I first decided my online business had grown big enough to justify a merchant account. Maybe you have enough sales where getting your own account makes a lot more sense than using a third party processor who charges outlandish rates. Maybe you should use both third party processors and your own merchant account... giving your customers more choices.

When I set up my first merchant account, I filled out the long, complicated application and submitted it with a several hundred dollar application fee. I had to fax a bunch of supporting documents to prove I was worthy of being considered for an account. Then I held my breath and waited for several weeks.

Finally, I got the news that I was approved and could now sign a long-term contract to allow them to charge me more high monthly fees that I didn't fully understand. The one that was the most mystical to me was the virtual terminal rental fee. This company also REQUIRED me to pay a steep fee to have my order form hosted on their secure server.

When I got my last merchant account, I filled out a simple online form, paid less than $100, and had the account activated within 24 hours. The money I paid covered setting up the merchant account, gateway, and virtual terminal. I could now process transactions from anywhere in the world and it was great!

If you've never used a virtual terminal before, let me explain. You can be on an airplane 40,000 feet above the earth. The person sitting next to you can ask what you do. You explain, and he's interested in getting your product. You can take his credit card information, connect to your virtual terminal using your laptop and the in-flight phone, and process the transaction while eating your in-flight meal.

It's great, and I've always enjoyed having access to all of the features of my merchant accounts. I just didn't appreciate the fact that they seemed to try to deliberately confuse you during the application process. They all used different terms making it nearly impossible to compare features and rates. It seemed that they didn't want you to fully understand the process or product.

Guess what... they probably didn't want you to understand because that allowed them to rip you off for more.

Here are the facts:

If you pay more than $100 to get set up with a merchant account, gateway, and virtual terminal you're paying too much.

The industry is very competitive so you should compare rates. If you're don't get a clear explanation of the features you're getting, go somewhere else.

When you pay those large application fees, most of that money is commission for the agent or reseller. So don't fall for that ploy!

They need you as much as you need their services. Many of the parties involved in the system make their money from the transaction and monthly fees you pay. These fees differ from company to company so you should compare. I suggest not paying more that 2.35% per transaction.

After getting ripped off, and feeling victimized by the industry for years, I decided to not take it any more. I cornered an industry insider and picked his brain. He's set up merchant accounts for both online and offline businesses for years. I got him on a conference call and had people call in and ask any question they wanted. He spilled the beans.

Even better, we recorded the entire conference call AND I want to give you a copy of the recording from that call. It's simple, you can grab the MP3 recording with my compliments at: http://therealsecrets.com/free-merchant-account-teleseminar.html

Armed with this powerful information, you'll be able to compare. You'll be able to make an intelligent decision instead of an expensive mistake. It will be impossible for you to get ripped off when getting a merchant account.

Knowledge is a very powerful business building weapon. Arm yourself today!

Password Nightmares

Good Morning Mr. Sampson. Please type in you Personal Identification Number

XXXXXX

Sorry, Mr. Forgetful Idiot! That is not the correct password. Please slap yourself three times around your head and then apply for a new card and number – we are keeping this one.

Don’t you just hate them? Passwords give you access to almost every walk of life. They are now the keys to doors that would otherwise violently slam in your face and tell you to XXXXXX, which they often do if you key the wrong password in anyway.

The first passwords to really come on the scene (apart from those required to gain entry into the back room of the Mafia club) where those at the ATM machines. A four-digit PIN number has to be entered before money can be withdrawn and for those with one account and a pass number drawn from an important date, no problem existed.

Then your one account became two as the building societies introduced ATM machines, then your savings account at the post office and then to beat it all Internet Banking came on the scene. Passwords are now required for Banking, shopping on the web, switch cards, visa cards, store cards, petrol cards and any other card that you may have.

Passwords are also required for so many of activities one does these days – especially on the Internet. Get a web site and you have real problems! I have an email account with yahoo, one with AOL and others with a dozen other companies (they were all free at the time) and then I have a web site (well three in fact) and they all require passwords. And then the problems really start when you try marketing and joining discussion groups on the web, etc. Wow, each one requires a USERNAME, each one requires a password and many of them also ask you to have a ‘handle’ – a name to be recognized by others. Not your real name of course!

I have at the last count 362 different and current usernames, 463 different and current pass codes or passwords and 152 different and often forgotten handles.

Shocked? I am when I put it like that. I have actually filled my brain up with a whole useless pile of words and junk that could otherwise be used to remember all the telephone numbers in my local directory or better still to learn Japanese.

We need these passwords and codes and things. Without them doors are shut and we become isolated from the world around us. So we have them and need them and the first codes are easy as we pull out of the hat some remembered birthday or event and use that with success.

But then companies and “bad people” started to find these codes by researching your past and then gaining access to your life. So we were all warned not to use a date from our past and instead pick a number or word that had no meaning but one that we would remember. A word that we can remember but one that has no significance is almost impossible – why do they say these things? We get past all of that and force our brains to remember some unimportant word and to regurgitate it when required, like at the ATM machine or when checking your email account. That is all fine and well, when only one or two codes are required to be remembered.

Oh, and one must not forget that warnings came out from all corners of security that using the same password for more than one service could cause extreme problems and a heyday for the opportunist who is looking for fools.

Those with a few more (like me) do have serious problems in life. I can maybe remember them all and regurgitate them when required – a no easy feat – but I can never get the correct code for the required service. I stand at the ATM and punch in my pin code, it tells me to go away and if I put the wrong code in again it will eat my card up. I then realize that the code that I am punching into the pad is actually that for my gym club after hours access! So what is my number for this bank and this account? Which number could it be out of a possible 463 and even then have I got it right the right way round?

Life does get complicated. Some people started to write their numbers down, knowing that they would forget them in time. “Well, for heavens sake I only use that pass code once a year – how am I supposed to remember it” can be heard ringing out all over the world. So gentlemen, ladies and others all opt to secretly write their codes in some weird and wonderful place that they think others will never find. Codes are pasted under ornaments, on the walls behind beds and on little scraps of paper all over the house and in drawers and closets and boxes in every conceivable place. Codes and passwords written down can be found everywhere one would look.

Some people then acknowledged the fact that, thieves and robbers (and friends and family) can find these numbers and use them with the cards that they have appropriated. They can probably find them easier than you can when one day you need to use that password yourself. They find them easily whilst you would have completely forgotten where you had hidden or written down the access code. Yes, writing the passwords down on pieces of paper and hiding them in what you thought was a suitable place is no longer acceptable. So what is the options?

Ah, why not encode the code in a series of other codes using a system that only you know how to decode. A great idea!

Around the world at any one moment in time there are hundreds of thousands of people scratching their heads over a pile of numbers and letters. Thousands of amateur coders having failed in their missions and are unable to decode the code that they had intricately designed all that time ago. The code of codes that was the answer to all robbers and others from finding out what your passwords are is now a mystery to you. Yes, take it from me that 99% of those that hide their passwords in a longer text of letters or numbers fail in their attempt to decode them one month later.

So where are we? We have hundreds of passwords to remember, they cannot be drawn from significant dates or events, we cannot use the same ones for more than one service, we cannot write them down and encoding them is just a waste of time. Ouch, not much choice in life. It looks as if we are all condemned to having a section of our brains filled with a succession of numbers and words that must be instantly available upon request.

For those with computers a solution became possible with the advent of the “password program”. A clever piece of software that could remember all of those nasty passwords and usernames: to regurgitate them upon request. But then of course hackers and those unseen computer information thieves found ways to gain access to your computer through the telephone line, enter that marvelous piece of software and to rapidly use all of those codes that you had hidden away in the internals. And you, unawares of this entry into your private domain, find your emails have all been read by some unknown, that your bank account shows that you have fully utilized the 5000 pound overdraft and that you now owe Visa and American Express some amazing amount of hard currency that you do not have – and never will. Oh, and do not think for a minute that your store cards are free of purchases or that your partner is not going to find out about the secret email accounts you have setup!

In short, this piece of software is no longer a viable solution for those with something to lose. It is not suitable for anyone – in other words!

So what can we do? Remember them is all that you can do. Try and remember all of those passwords and numbers and codes in some sort of system in your heads. Life though is not that easy as certain recommendations have been coming out for us to enhance our own security further as nowadays hackers can now enter your computer and read off the pass codes as you tap them in. So even if you follow all of the security advice that is issued your accounts and your life can still be invaded easily and without second thought.

The answer? Well, all you have to do is make sure that you change all your codes at least once a month.

Impossible you say? Well, I must admit the thought of having just committed to memory over 600 passwords, numbers and codes and then having to throw them all out and input new ones every month is not my idea of fun. Impossible in fact!

Two thoughts to leave you with. Most people who use others passwords and codes to gain access to their accounts have in fact been given to them. The majority of theft from ATM machines and banks is through friends giving their supposed friends the number of their account in a loose moment. It is not as one would assume from people who have stolen the number from the hidden pocket in your wallet or the hacker through the telephone cable. These occur but not to such a great extent as those who give their passwords to others in a moment of stupidity.

Thinking about it, finger print identity is not such a bad thing after all. Would make life one hell of a lot easier! Just put your thumb on a little touch pad and you gain instant access to everything. And you only require one of them, you have no need to remember where you put it, if somebody steals it you will notice immediately and there is no need to change it every month.

Move on technology as at present my head is filled to busting with useless information!

The Merchant Navy and the Internet

A web site dedicated to the writings of the sea, ships and all those that sail on them? It sounds strange as who knows what the Merchant Navy is or what those at sea actually do all day, those who work in the Industry that is. Isn’t the Merchant Navy something to do with fishing or fighting? What is interesting about that? “Get a real job”, some would say and others would ask “and so why haven’t you got a sun tan”. So why would anybody be interested in a web site filled with things that nobody is interested in – beats me.

If one would look through the endless Marine and Nautical webs sites available or if one was to go to a bookshop and look at the available literature on the subject this is what you might find. Ten books on the “Titanic”, dozens of “how to sail around the world in a plastic boat with a sail” DIY books and a couple on “when I was shipwrecked or and attacked by pirates” biographies. This is all good stuff and I must admit to do with the sea and ships, but oh so very long ago! The Merchant Navy of today is not about sails and pirates, it is not about sinking ships and unqualified people sailing the world for adventure, it is not about scurvy and cannibals in foreign lands and it is definitely not about fishing and catching the nearest ferry to France!

Merchant Navy really started to be recognized as early as the Fifteenth Century. This was when hard men in little boats, battled the oceans in the name of exploration. "Yes, dear, I will be back in ten years or so, be good”, would be heard throughout the land. From these times the Merchant Fleet grew into the heart of the British Empire, bringing back all that Tea from China, the spices from the Orient, the fruits from Morocco and the gold from everywhere. Sailing ships became the heart of the spider web that connected Britain to its colonies and outlying Islands. Heroic men set forth to bring back to the British people news and exotic goods that had become so much in demand.

Last Century sailing ships became steam ships and steam ships became fuel oil burning ships. Britain became in the middle of the last century the largest shipbuilder in the world with well over 70% of the ships being built in places like Newcastle, on the Clyde, in London and other famous Maritime Ports and Harbors of the UK. Britain also had the largest Maritime Fleet in the world and dominated Trade everywhere with its powerful supply of home built ships and rufty tufty seafarers. Yes, not long ago Britain was dependent on a massive fleet of ships importing and exporting goods and keeping the Empire together. During these times families all knew what the Merchant Navy was either through having family members at sea or through working in the support Industries of Shipbuilding, Insurance, Imports/Exports, Dockyards, Stevedores amongst many other occupations in the Maritime World!

Times change though! Thirty or so years ago the British Merchant Fleet size started to drop and the shipbuilding Industry started to wither away. Countries like Japan and Korea started building ships using cheaper labor and the cost of building a ship in the UK became prohibitive. Shipyards closed and workers were laid off in their thousands and these workers drifted into other occupations if they could or joined the long queues at the unemployment center. The fleet size reduced in their hundreds as companies either moved their ships to other flags (different countries for cheaper tax incentives) or sold off their fleets to foreign companies. The remaining British ships and the foreign ships sold laid off seafarers by the thousands and employed in their place cheaper crews from such places as India and China.

The British Merchant Navy dropped in size at such a rapid pace that it went from world dominance to nothing in a matter of a couple of years. The significance of the Merchant Fleet in the eyes of the public disappeared overnight and became an unknown quantity to the outside world.

Today things are improving. Recent Tax incentives by the British Government have caused a turn around and certain shipping companies have started to increase their fleet size under the British Flag and other companies have switched their ships operate in the UK. London as the center of Maritime Affairs managed to retain the title of “Marine Capital of the World” throughout the troubled times and still to this day stands proud above all that represents the Marine Industry.

London with its hundreds of Marine Insurance Firms, Brokerage Companies, Lawyers, Import/Export Houses and Ship Business and Consultants (amongst many other support arenas) brings in over one billion pounds per annum to the UK economy? That is London alone and does not include all the other companies and offices situated around the Islands. Furthermore, it also makes no recognition for the 60,000 British seafarers that are still out there plying there trade across the many oceans, nor for the Nautical Schools that still operate in Glasgow, Southampton and Newcastle to name only the major ones. It also does not include those fleets that are registered and operated out of British territories, like Gibraltar and it certainly does not take into account those seafarers that work in the Merchant Navy but don’t subscribe to a Union.

In basic terms the Merchant Navy could be described as any commercially operated waterborne vessel. So any vessel that makes money is a part of the Merchant Fleet. This would include for example: Research Vessels, Ferries, Fishing Boats, Oil Tankers, Passenger Ships, Chemical Tankers, Training Vessels, Hospital Ships, Diving Support Vessels, Anchor Handlers and Tugs to name but a few! It could though be said that the Merchant Navy is anything on the water that is not used to fight with. Or anything on the water that does not have a gun! But there is a crossover point and it is easier to use the Commercial explanation above and to include any ‘pleasure craft’ into the statement.

Merchant Vessels go with Imports and Exports. Trade being their primary purpose and 95% of cargoes shipped around the world is by Merchant Vessels. Not, may I say by aircraft which is often a preconception that those ashore seem to have. Cargo planes carry either very small items, or very expensive items that are needed in a hurry. A plane could not carry Oil around the world and it certainly could not carry toxic and dangerous Chemicals. Fruit is carried in ships as are vegetables and grain to name but a few! Ships carry cargo; planes carry valuable items and cost too much for general items to become viable economically. If oranges where brought in by plane they would cost well over five pounds each at a minimum, I leave that subject to rest in peace!

At home in the UK have a look around your house and think about where the items you see come from! That television in the corner, does it have Sony written on it? The Persian Carpet that decorates your sitting room I am sure was not made in the UK. The children’s toys with “made in Taiwan”, certainly do not come from a UK factory and the tea you are drinking most likely comes from India! What about the Japanese car in the garage and the rice in the bucket in the kitchen? If you were then to go a bit further and look at the wood supporting your roof you may find that it was shipped in from Finland. The gas that heats your water is shipped in from North Sea Oil Wells or from Africa and the fancy gravel that adorns your path came from Spain or France. And by no means, were any of these goods or items shipped in to Britain by an airplane! Ships brought all of these goods to your supermarket shelves, for you to enjoy in your home!

As seafarers are not fighting (which seems a common misconception) and we don’t play cards all day let us clearly state that the average seafarer suffers from overwork and stress. Stress built up over the time he spends on the ship due to the high volume of work and the responsibility that is placed on his shoulders. I will leave it at that. It would take a whole volume to describe the jobs and routines that seafarers in their respective ranks are responsible for and I suggest that you read alternative literature (if you can find any) or join up! Seafarers in short have too much to do at sea and suffer as a result of it!

The Merchant Navy today is improving in stature and in size in the UK. Slowly and with time it may grow once again to be a recognizable force and understood and respected by the general population. Long gone have the times when a Captain was a respected figure in the community but maybe he will one day be able to lift his head high a not hide under the lie of being “a travelling salesman”. One day Marine Engineers will be come respected as extremely qualified experts and not classified on the same level as a car mechanic straight out of school. Maybe one day everybody will realize that being at sea does not mean a “wife in every port” and that often nowadays seafarers no longer manage to leave the ship in their time onboard. Maybe one day seafarers will be able to go ashore and tell people what they do without having a blank response or a daft reply like “oh, erm you fish?”, or “that’s good, you do a good job protecting out shores”.

The reason for setting up a web site for the written word of the sea may now be a bit more logical to the “landlubber”. There is in fact a whole world out there that remains unknown to all. An extremely diverse and interesting world filled with cultural shock and intrigue and through the web site it is hoped that all readers will gain massive insight and knowledge into this world. The Merchant Navy and those that sail on the ship deserve far more recognition and respect than they get to date. So maybe through this web site all will change and soon Officers and Crews of the many Vessels that ply their trades will be able to lift their heads high and shout “we are in the Merchant Navy”. And all those that hear will understand and respect those persons that are part of what was once the greatest Industry that Britain can lay claim to.