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08/26/2008 12:00 AM
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Downline Building - A Bedtime Story of Offline vs. Online
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Once upon a time there were two friends, Fred and Bob. Both joined the same networking marketing group, they often would meet for lunch and coffee and discuss just how rich they both were going to be. Bob said that he was going to use the Internet to propel his downline. Fred said he was going to use both online and offline methods.
Fred often participated in face-to-face presentations and meetings. He along with his business card, he would always hand out well written info packets that had his email lists web address boldly highlighted. He always encouraged people to sign up for his email newsletter. Bob would just hand out his cards and hoped for the best.
Fred always included his Newsletter flyer (a printed sample of email newsletter) in any outgoing envelopes, packages, direct mail or catalogs he sent to customers or to business partners. And he always included his web address to his email list in any print ads. Bob would try and remember to stuff a business card or two into mailings if he thought about it.
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08/26/2008 12:00 AM
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A Website Can Be An Asset Or A Flop Depending Upon How You Prepare
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In order to understand what a website may or may not do for your business, you need to understand why most people surf the Net in the first place.
Last year, the Pew Research Center conducted a study that sheds light on consumer motives for using the Internet:
*Most are goal-oriented in that they generally are trying to either find information or communicate with others; in other words, they are NOT aimlessly surfing in order to discover some kind of cyber-treasure;
*75% seek and read news on demand almost daily with LOCAL news being the most popular and U.S. news the least desired;
*Two out of three cited the fact that the Internet allows them to pick and choose (control!) the news they read as opposed to a media outlet controlling what they see, read or hear;
*66% stated they feel that e-mail brings them closer to family and friends and 91% use e-mail on a regular basis;
*50% go on line to purchase products or services while 75% search for information about purchases they plan to make;
*46% visited travel sites; 62% weather sites; 50% educational; and 54% medicine and health;
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08/26/2008 12:00 AM
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Freeze Drying Is Not Just For Coffee But For Document Recovery Too
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When papers, books, pictures, and other documents get damaged by water it is really displeasing. These are some of our most needed or most loved holdings. The notion of losing all of these documents and history can be distressing. The good news is that much of these documents and photographs can be rescued if they get wet. There are a few processes that can be utilized to restore these papers.
Air drying and dehumidification are two means that can be utilized to dry documents. These methods can be used by an expert in a lab or you can attempt to dry documents at your house if you have the area to lay them out or fasten them up to dry. Dehumidification can be done at your place as well if you have or can buy a dehumidifier and can cordon off a place to set up for this activity. Air drying is the recommended way to dry photographs.
Vacuum drying is another way that papers and books can be dehydrated. Vacuum thermal-drying can also be used to dry those valuable papers.
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08/25/2008 12:00 AM
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Starbucks Screws Up
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My wife Luci had a service experience the other day that took us both by surprise because it happened with a company that usually has excellent service standards: Starbucks.
Luci relates what happened: Andrew was conducting an eBay training workshop locally so I went into our local Starbucks to buy a coffee traveler' one of those boxes of fresh drip coffee designed for long drives. I also wanted 8 muffins. They didn't have any on the display stand, but I did spot some unopened boxes of muffins, scones, etc waiting to be unpacked. Picking up two boxes of muffins I was abruptly stopped by the shift supervisor. She told me I couldn't have them because that was their stock for the week.
This response took me by surprise isn't the point to sell them? I asked. In my mind, I was thinking, wouldn't you rather sell them now than wait and HOPE you can sell them all later?' The response to my reasoning? She grunted and rolled her eyes at me. I did a double-take at this reaction this was the supervisor!
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08/23/2008 12:00 AM
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My Rankings Lost SEO Nightmare
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If you are ethical, search engine optimization efforts can take a long time and a lot of effort. So what happens when you find your rankings have disappeared one day?
I Lost My Rankings SEO Nightmare?
It was a Monday morning. It had been a lively weekend. I had not touched the computer and was glad for the break. Staggering out of bed around the crack of noon, I nuked some coffee and sat down at computer. As it made horrible grinding noises while booting up, I wondered if a particular client would be ranked two or three today on Google. I flipped open my browser, searched for the term and spit coffee on my screen. Egad, I wasnt in the top 10! Holy
I scrolled through page after page or results and was not in the top 100. I wasnt even in the top 200. Damn, this client had paid a sizeable fee over the year.
What did I do? I went back to bed. It was going to be one of those Mondays.
Admittedly, going back to bed was only an option after I had gone through this experience a number of times over the years.
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