Get Yourself Started In Blogging - The Right Way

As of September 2007, more than 106 million blogs have been tracked which makes one wonder just what blogging is.Blogging is that wonderful world where you can write your personal thoughts about what you think on any subject imaginable, whether good or bad, with or without anonymity, although in reality anonymity really doesn’t exist when it come to the Internet. Your website, your email has an ISP address which is easily traceable to any given computer.

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In general, blogs are articles you write and post on the web for the entire world to see. Your blog puts you, your thoughts in the forefront, which lets others see your brilliance or idiocy. You can have your own website dedicated to your thoughts, or you can respond to a particular article that has been written which allows you to voice your opinion about the subject or article, although use tact when responding. Most news media allowing you respond to a written article requires you to provide a valid email address in order for you to make a comment.

Most subscribers to the Internet post there blogs on personal web pages or websites their ISP provides. Other bloggers post their comments on the multitude of websites available for posting their thoughts, usually indexed by subject. To find a blog site, simply type “blog/s” in any search engine and behold you will find thousands of blog sites you can read or post.

Methods for blogging vary which you should consider before doing any posting. Blogging in response to a particular article, as well as posting on dedicated blog sites are permanent blogs, in that they can not be changed once posted. With that in mind, you really need to think about what you want to say before posting your thoughts. It’s somewhat like making a comment, once spoken it can’t be undone.

The other side of posting on an open blog site is the libel issue. At present, blog sites are not libel for what you say, so use caution when blogging.

The other method of blogging is to have your own website or page where you write your own blog. Using this method, you can edit your blog, write about another subject or simply delete the blog entirely. This method in my opinion is perhaps the safest method of blogging, but there is a caveat to this method. When you write something on your computer using a word processor and save the document, even if you delete the article, or document, it still resides on your computer and unless you completely reformat or destroy the hard drive, it remains on you computer forever. If someone wants to prove you wrote the article, with the proper software they can retrieve it.

You may wonder if blogging is without peril. That depends. If you are blogging about your Aunt Tilly’s super fruit cake recipe, you’re safe, but if you’re blogging about a politician, an organization, the government, religious leaders, a company, an individual, you need to be careful about what you have to say, as you just might be libel. Presently, in the US, the courts are undecided about blogging, weighing in on the free speech side of the argument, however; individuals have been imprisoned and/or fined for their blogs.

To be safe when blogging, it’s important to use the correct adjectives, or follow the method the news media use when writing an article. Words like; alleged, subject to, suspected of, and the like may keep you out of trouble. Although, innuendos you make can been seen as an attack, an accusation, by some very sensitive people and they just might decide to take action against you.

Even when using safe words, that doesn’t mean you’re not going to suffer the consequences for your big mouth. Many states have what is known as; “The Right To Work Law,” which simply means employers can fire an employee for any reason, or for no reason. Individuals have been fired from their jobs for posting blogs about their company.

Many blogs are instructional in nature from how to grow a tree, wash a cat to building an explosive device. Here again you need to be careful. Those blogs about explosive devices just might cause a visit from a federal agency. Unfortunate as it is, when it comes to blogging, “Big Brother Is Watching!”

By: James L. Herman
Edited By: Bruce A. Tucker


About the Author:
James L. Herman wrote this article and Bruce A. Tucker edited it for http://www.Indocquent.com, an online resource that allows businesses and individuals to post their products and services for sale in 20,000 cities throughout 200 countries around the world. To learn more about how you can earn extra income from your Blog with Indocquent`s, Promos by IDQ campaign, visit their website at http://www.indocquent.com/index_files/promosbyidq.htm.


James L Herman has been writing novels, short stories, articles and poems since 1960. His writing services are available for hire by contacting him at: pumple@verizon.net.

Know The Ins And Outs Of A Cruise Vacation, Part 6, Pre-Boarding

Welcome to part 6 of our series on taking a cruise vacation. As you can see, just by the many segments on this topic, there is a lot to cover. The fact that you made it through the first 5 tells me you are really interested in going on a cruise or already have booked one and you are trying to learn more before you go.

A reader of this series on taking a cruise vacation emailed me through our website and asked if I would be covering the pre-boarding process. They asked if I would include it in my next article segment, specifically referring to registering online.

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Before you are allowed onto the ship, you have to do what is called pre-boarding. Cruise lines call it different things, but that is a term I have commonly heard it called. This is the process by which you furnish all pertinent information to the cruise lines for you and your guests. This would include, name, address, passport information, that sort of thing. It will be during this process that you receive your ship card (also called the s-card). That card is your lifeline for the entire week. DO NOT LOSE IT! We will talk more about the ship card in another segment.

This pre-boarding process also takes away the cumbersome task of having to produce your passport each time you end up at a different destination. The cruise line does it once, and everyone is ready to go. Could you imagine having to check passports for over 1,500 passengers at every stop? You couldn`t. It would be impossible.

Cruise lines have made it easier to get through this process by allowing you, the traveler, to fill out most of the information online before you get inline at the cruise terminal. If you booked your cruise through the cruise line itself, or through a reputable travel agent, then they have a lot of your basic information. If you go the cruise line`s website you will be able to complete the process with the other information.

By filling out the other information now, online, it saves time for you and them when you reach the counter at check in time. What you will do online is basically the same thing the cruise attendant will type in when you register to gain access to getting on board. As you can see it is a huge time saver, for you and them.

On a side note, there is a fear by a lot of people when it comes to entering personal information online. No system is 100% hacker proof. Just make sure that when you are entering your information in online (and this goes for any website asking for personal information), you see the "https" at the beginning of the web address and not the usual "http". The extra "s" stands for secure, meaning that the website is going to encrypt your data with 128-bit technology.

Now you know how to make your life and your passenger`s life a bit easier just to get on the ship. When you book your cruise, don`t forget to ask your travel agent for the web address to the cruise line`s, pre-boarding process.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

About the Author:
Bruce A. Tucker is the Associate Director of http://www.Indocquent.com, an online resource that allows businesses and individuals to post their products and services for sale in 20,000 cities throughout 200 countries around the world. If you have a Blog and want to learn more about how you can earn extra income with Indocquent`s, Promos by IDQ campaign, visit their website at http://www.indocquent.com/index_files/promosbyidq.htm.

Use This Little Trick To Not Escalate Problems With Your Blog

There are literally millions of blog entries posted everyday, and you only account for about half of that. Seriously, all kidding aside, you like to blog. It gives you a sense of freedom to express yourself to the world.

With the many blogging tools out there, you were able to get your blog up an running in no time. The question is, is anybody reading it? Or maybe a better question, do you want people to read it?

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In recent times we have heard many stories about people who go blogging away. Maybe they are, for a lack of a better term, "blasting", a co-worker, their former employer, or even in some cases, their current employer. If this sounds like you, then you better be prepared that others "may" take some sort action against you.

We all like the ability of freedom, especially when it comes to putting down on paper, or in this case on the screen, what we truly feel. However, you have to be careful with what you are writing. As crazy as it sounds, most people do not like to have their name dragged through the mud. Crazy isn`t it? I heard of one employer who actually fired their employee, because they ranted on a blog about how they were limited to 2 bathroom breaks per day. In this case I agree with the person who wrote the blog, that it was asinine to limit people to a bodily function they can`t control, sometimes, to only twice a day. Keep in mind, when you write something derogatory about an employer, you are dragging the company through the mud, which in turn can hurt the business.

I am not an attorney, and I am not going to sit here and give you legal advice, but I will give you some common sense advice. Picture this. You are angry, fuming, ready to explode. Your boss just basically treated you like garbage. Maybe even embarrassed you in front of your colleagues. Let me say, that, yes, go ahead and write it all down. Write everything you are feeling. Tell the world how horrible a person your boss is. When you are finished, do not save the blog and especially do not submit the blog. Leave it up on your screen and walk away.

Go have some lunch, dinner or whatever time of the day it is when you blog. A little side note, it is best to do this little trick on day where you don`t have to go to work. Otherwise it may not work.

Come back to your computer, later in the day. Much later in the day and read what you wrote earlier. What you had written out of anger just a few short hours ago looks and sounds completely juvenile and unprofessional, doesn`t it?

A wise-man once told me that it is best to get all of your emotions and feelings out and if writing them down, or blogging them is the way to do it, then go ahead. He then said, walk away from what you just wrote to let your emotions calm down. When you go back to read what you wrote, most of the time, if you have any bit of a conscious, you will feel embarrassed at what you wrote, and chances are you won`t submit the blog.

I can tell you from my own experience, this little trick helped me quite a bit. We have all been there. Nobody likes it, but it happens. More importantly, this little trick will not make the situation any worse then it already was.

If you write a personal blog, take the above advice and use it. Let cooler heads prevail.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

About the Author:
Bruce A. Tucker is the Associate Director of http://www.Indocquent.com, an online resource that allows businesses and individuals to post their products and services for sale in 20,000 cities throughout 200 countries around the world. If you have a Blog and want to learn more about how you can earn extra income with Indocquent`s, Promos by IDQ campaign, visit their website at http://www.indocquent.com/index_files/promosbyidq.htm.

Use This Great Way To Generate More Leads For Your Online Business

So you just started a business selling widgets, unfortunately your biggest competitor is considered the Nike of the industry. Wild imaginations of your fierce competition using their billion dollar budget to make sure you can`t compete with them, begin to surface.

In steps the Internet. The medium by which all companies are equal...well somewhat. What the Internet will do is give you an equal balance of power to reach a global audience. The same exact global audience as your competitor.

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So how do you reach a global audience on a limited budget? Very simple, become your own product critic and create a blog. Unless you have been hiding in a closet, you probably already know what a blog is. Blog, short for web log, is a means by which anyone can post information on the Internet, in real time. Visitors to your blog get to see what you have posted, starting with the most recent posts first.

Without going into intricate detail about the history of blogging, I can tell you that it is a great way to build your business. The reason why blogging will be good for your business is because search engines love content. Search engines such as Google and Yahoo! need to index web sites in order the create search results based on keywords. The more content you can offer them, the more often and higher your web site will appear on search results.

What makes blogging add even more content is the ability to allow your blog visitors to add comments or ask questions related to the blog content that you wrote.

Let me give you an example of how all of this works. You sell widgets, and are very knowledgable about what you sell You decide to start a blog rating differnet widgets, talking about the pros and cons of them, different styles they come in and so on. Now you allow your visitors to comment on your rating, and ask questions so you can answer, and guess what, that creates even more content.

Now people on the internet search for widgets, specifically looking for what you have already talked about in your blog. The visitor to your blog reads what you wrote, and sees that you are very knowledgable about the subject. Therefore they decide to shop with your site as opposed to your competition.

This is a common practice among a lot of companies that do business on the Internet. Obviously the first question that probably comes to mind is, whouldn`t the big competition just do this as well? Not exactly. They have huge budgets, mostly geared toward running marketing and advertising campaigns. They might post reviews of products on their sites, but rarely write a blog on what they sell. It is easier for them to just advertise.

Blogging is a great way to get the word out about your products and business. With the variety of blogging add-on tools for web sites and businesses, you do not even need a lot of web development experience to get started. Throw in some links from your blog posting to other websites such as Digg and Newsvine to name a couple, to allow your visitors to promote your blog posting for you, and you will be receiving customers in no time.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

About the Author:
Bruce A. Tucker is the Associate Director of http://www.Indocquent.com, an online resource that allows businesses and individuals to post their products and services for sale in 20,000 cities throughout 200 countries around the world. To learn more about how you can earn extra income from your Blog with Indocquent`s, Promos by IDQ campaign, visit their website at http://www.indocquent.com/index_files/promosbyidq.htm.

Use This Marketing Tactic To Build Your Customer Base

As an advertising, marketing and promotions site, our customers are always looking for better ways to increase their brand awareness for their business, products or services. Education is a great way to do that. It`s one of the main reasons why we write these informative articles and publish a daily business podcast for our customers and our potential customers.

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With that said, lets focus in on marketing tactics, and how some tactics, when used properly can increase your businesses awareness to consumers. This article, mostly geared toward the product distribution business, can be tweaked a bit to meet the needs of our service oriented customers. Don`t forget to contact us through our website, if you need help in doing so.

Lets focus in on relationship marketing tactics, what they are, and what you must do in order to make them work to your benefit. You need to create awareness between your brand, products and your customers. For companies like Nike, Coke, Pepsi, etc, it`s easy. They have been doing it for years and have multi-million dollar budgets. You only need to see a "swoosh" and you know which company it is. That`s excellent brand awareness.

For your purposes, you need to figure out what drives your customer. How do they spend their day? How can your product assist them in making their life easier, or maybe a little more fun? Once you realize how your product appeals to your customer, you can then focus your advertising efforts on hitting that emotional need that your clients will respond to. For example, lets say you sell shoe inserts that make walking more comfortable. Off the top of my head I can tell you your target market is probably people who do a lot of walking, running or standing around. Now gear an advertising campaign that maybe shows a person rubbing their feet because they are sore from all of the walking they do, and then follow it up with a happy person after they have used your inserts. You get the point.

This campaign hits two emotional points. One being, associating with and understanding a person`s discomfort from doing a lot of walking, running or standing around, and two, being able to make them feel better. Who doesn`t want to feel better, right?

The key to relationship marketing is to actually build one. Sounds like common sense right? But you`d be surprised how many businesses will just throw advertisements out there and hope people will respond to them. What you actually need to do, is create a promotion where you are responding to the customer. Haven`t you ever gone through the day and maybe said something like, "it would make life easier, if I could do.." this. Whatever, `this` is?

As you can see that is an emotional need that can be filled. If you have the product or service that can accommodate, you would be able to create a campaign to respond to the customer.

Now get out there and build relationships with your customers and/or potential customers by creating promotional campaigns that fill their emotional needs.

By: Bruce A. Tucker


About the Author

Bruce A. Tucker is the Associate Director of http://www.Indocquent.com, an online resource that allows businesses and individuals to post their products and services for sale in 20,000 cities throughout 200 countries around the world. If you have a Blog and want to learn more about how you can earn extra income with Indocquent`s, Promos by IDQ campaign, visit their website at http://www.indocquent.com/index_files/promosbyidq.htm.

SIM Cards - Your Cell Phone`s Digital Brain

Remember the first cell phone ever invented? Well if not, here are some details to refresh your memory…

In 1973 during a public demonstration, a 30-ounce device was used to make the first call from a portable cell phone. Ten years later, Motorola introduced the first marketable cell phone weighing in at $3,500 and 16 ounces (the average cell phone today is about 3 ounces.)

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The continually evolving cell phone, and its respective industry, is an insightful indicator of the technology revolution. As landlines become obsolete, industry leaders are compelled to streamline the phones’ technology, offering optimal ease and compatibility to the wide range of marketable consumers. They’ve even gone so far as to give phones a pseudo-brain power.

A SIM card, or Subscriber Identity Module, is the digital brain of a cell phone. The extractable information card can be slid out of an old phone and into a shiny new model – arguably the most appealing feature of a SIM card. This extraordinarily small memory chip holds ample amounts of information from personal identification information, phone numbers, text messages and other data. The newest, most popular version of the SIM card has a width of 25mm, height of 15mm and a thickness of 0.76mm.

The hassle free abilities allowed by a SIM card are a strong selling point amongst its cell phone carriers. Upgrades are hassle free and switching carriers is also a cinch, simply flip the SIM card into the new phone – provided of course that the phone is also SIM card compatible.

International travelers can also take advantage of a SIM card’s capabilities. Simply buy a local SIM card and avoid soaring costs of international roaming charges.

The only down side is that SIM cards can only operate on a network called GSM or Global System for Mobile Communication. Their competitor, CDMA or Code Division Multiple Access, formulated by Qualcomm, is not SIM compatible. In fact they carry their own memory card technology called R-UIM or Re-Usable Identification Module which will eventually be available worldwide.

On a positive note, as the cell phone market continues to be amplified by the technology crazed public experts say it is safe to assume that cell phone technology will have to eventually support both SIM and R-UIM. After all, technology as a business is based in fulfilling the ever-changing needs of the consuming public.

By: Maryann Loprete
Edited By: Bruce A. Tucker



About the Author:

Maryann Loprete is a writer for and Bruce A. Tucker is the Associate Director of http://www.Indocquent.com, an online resource that allows businesses and individuals to post their products and services for sale in 20,000 cities throughout 200 countries around the world. To learn more about how you can earn extra income from your Blog with Indocquent`s, Promos by IDQ campaign, visit their website at http://www.indocquent.com/index_files/promosbyidq.htm.

Make Cents Of Your Blog

Blogging is a means by which anybody can write their opinion on products, services, the companies they work for, sports teams and so much more. Due to the explosive popularity swing that blogging has gone through, hundreds of blogging hosts have popped up as well.

These blogging companies allow users to create and maintain a daily blog. Many of these blog sites, such as BlogSpot, WordPress, and Typepad to name a few, go even one step further in allowing a variety of customizations to make the users blogging experience for themselves and their readers, a lot more enjoyable. Such customizations include, adding graphics and pictures, background layout designs, polls and surveys, different colors and font themes and of course audio and video.

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Blog writers, or more commonly known as Bloggers, are some of the most creative people I have met. If you think about it, they kind of have to be to write new weekly and daily opinions on the subject matter that is passionate to them. Because of this creativity you will see many elaborate blogs on the Internet with wonderful backgrounds, audio and video that really brings the most out of their blog.

On the flip side of that creativity though, many, who blog for the fun of it and for free, do not know of the possibilities of posting advertising and promotions on their blogs. Many feel that it will be intrusive or clutter their sites. Nothing can be further from the truth.

Here is how it works. Bloggers create a snippet of code from an advertiser or promoter's site and paste it into an area on their blog. Since this code and the blogs themselves are customizable, the promotions can be placed in any area, such as the sidebars, or the bottom of blog articles and so on. Since the promotions can be placed anywhere, the Blogger, can move it around to ensure that their readers do not feel the blog site is over crowded with useless clutter.

The code is fully customizable and usually created through easy to use wizards so that the Blogger does not need any prior knowledge of web programming, html, or scripting. The blogger will basically click some buttons, make some selections and the code is created for them. These wizards give the blogger choices of colors, fonts, backgrounds; you name it, so that the promotions will match the styles, colors and layouts of their blogs.

After the Blogger places the code on their sites, promotions usually start to appear instantaneously. These promotions fill up that "dead", "white space" that the blogger usually does not know what to do with.

Once the promotions start appearing, the Bloggers visitors will see them and if they see something that interests them, will click the promotion. When the promotion is clicked, a new window will be created for the promotion information so that the Blogger's visitors do not leave the blog itself.

One of the best parts of this promotional blog creation is that every time a Blogger's visitor clicks one of the promotions, the Blogger gets paid for it. So in other words, the Blogger was looking to fill that "white space" with something, and in turn they did and will make some extra spendable cash for it. Not a bad deal.

If you have a Blog and were looking to fill in some area, or add a little more content to it, then you may want to check out adding promotions to it. Your visitors will make you some extra money for it.

By: Bruce A. Tucker



About the Author:

Bruce A. Tucker is the Associate Director of http://www.Indocquent.com. To learn more about how you can earn extra income with Indocquent`s, Promos by IDQ campaign, visit their website at http://www.indocquent.com/index_files/promosbyidq.htm.

Is It Time For You To Get Paid For Your Blog

The online advertising, promotional and marketing website Indocquent.com today announced the release of its promotion campaign, Promos by IDQ. The campaign is geared toward businesses and individuals who have their own Blog and would like to earn extra income from Indocquent promotions.

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“We think this is a great opportunity for those who maintain items like a Blog,” claims Indocquent Associate Managing Director, Bruce A. Tucker. “We know there are a lot of people out there who write daily Blogs. This is a good way to make extra spendable income with very little effort and without our promotions looking like they are intruding or over crowding their Blog space.”

Promos by IDQ works similar to other ad programs. The owner of the Blog, places a small piece of html code that will generate a series of advertisements or promotions to be displayed. Each time a visitor to that participant’s Blog clicks one of the promotions, the participant gets paid.

“We believe what sets our program apart from the others is that we reward participants of Promos by IDQ who obtain more clicks,” says Tucker. “With our unique leveling system, as the participant receives more clicks, their level increases and so does the amount we pay them for each click.”

A Blog, which was shortened from the term web log, is when someone has a website where they contribute written content in a chronological order. That content, when a visitor goes to it, is then displayed in a reverse chronological order.

Blogs, which became very popular and mainstream a couple of years ago, are a way for businesses and individuals to provide commentary or news on a specific subject. A lot of Blogs function more like personal online diaries, where Blog writers, or better known as “bloggers”, enter in their own personal accounts of a particular subject. Blogs are mostly text input, however many include pictures and links to other useful and related content.

Although blogging is nothing new, Tucker believes tapping the blogging market for advertising revenue is. “The last statistics we read showed that there are over 400,000 Blogs worldwide covering every topic you can possibly think of.” Tucker continues, “A lot of people do not realize they can use the extra space on their Blog to earn a nice income from advertising revenue.”

The fact remains that not only is blogging here to stay it is growing larger each day. This increase in growth creates a number of possibilities for the bloggers and advertisers alike.



About the Author:

Bruce A. Tucker is the Associate Director of http://www.Indocquent.com. To learn more about how you can earn extra income with Indocquent`s, Promos by IDQ campaign, visit their website at http://www.indocquent.com/index_files/promosbyidq.htm.

Follow These Key Points In Running A Successful Advertising Campaign

If you own a business, you know the importance of advertising, marketing and promotions. Without doing some type of all three your business will surely never get off the ground unless through some luck and a lot of word of mouth hype.

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This is especially true if your business involves selling products. When it comes to selling products, not only do you need to advertise what it is you are selling, but who is selling it. In print advertising, costs can soar with the more space you eat up. If you go by way of TV or radio, the longer your ad airs, the more expensive it will be. So lets touch on how to maximize your advertisement, by focusing in on key components. Lets say for instance, you sell widgets. Write down at least 10 positive points about why you are the best widget dealer in the area, country etc. Do you have the largest supply? Maybe the most options in colors? Maybe you are the only certified reseller of widgets. Whatever your positive points are, you need to write them down.

Now that you have your list, come up with the headline that can incorporate the best positive point and the name of your business. For example, "The largest selection of Widgets in the country, only at Joe`s Widgets". You will obviously modify it for your needs.

Now that you have grabbed your readers or listeners attention, you want to use the remaining advertising space to focus in on the types of widgets that you sell, what you have to offer, maybe some pricing on featured widgets and so on. Don`t forget to add in a disclaimer, such as "while supplies last" or whatever pertains to what you are selling. The last thing you want to do is seem like you are misleading or pulling a "bait & switch" on customers as they walk through your door or call you on the phone.

Never, never, never forget to put into the advertisement a means by which someone reading or listening can contact your company or purchase your products. If you are an online business, use email, web address, blog site, or whatever it is you use to sell your products. If you are a retail store, don`t forget a phone number, address and hours of operation. Too many times I have seen advertisements that forget this basic information and then the advertisement flops because customers can not get a hold of anyone. Do not forget your contact information.

Try to make the body of your advertisement more appealing. If it is within your budget try using some color, maybe add some photos of your widgets and so on. You not only want to make your advertisement stand out above the rest of your competition, but you also want to look more professional than the others. A cheesy ad, well, makes you look cheesy.

Finally, know where you are going to advertise. If you sell carpeting, would you run an advertisement in a video game magazine? No of course not, that is ludicrous. Find out what publication or section of the newspaper is right for your products. If you are an online business, take a wild guess as to where you need to advertise. I`ll let you chew on that one for a second....OK enough time. Online of course. It does your advertising campaign no good, regardless of how well the advertisement is written, if it is in the wrong place.

Use these advertising tips to construct and place your ad for your business and products and you are sure to increase your customer base.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

About the Author:
Bruce A. Tucker is the Associate Director of http://www.Indocquent.com, an online resource that allows businesses and individuals to post their products and services for sale in 20,000 cities throughout 200 countries around the world.

Use This Key Component In Your Advertising To Attract New Customers

When it comes to advertising one thing is for sure, the money you spend to promote your products or services should have a lasting impression on the potential customer that sees your advertising.

Whether you sell products or offer a service for hire, your advertising should convey different things to get an emotional charge out of someone to pick up that phone and place an order or hire your service. Your advertising needs to come across that you, your business (or what you are offering) are reliable.

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In a service industry this is handled very easily. If you have an appointment scheduled for a certain time, make sure you are there at least 5 minutes earlier than planned. This lets the customer know that you are true to your word. If you say you are coming at 10:00am, you will be there by 10:00am. If you offer a service where you can not give an exact time as to when you will be there, as in home repair and installation services, then give your customer a window in which they can expect you to arrive. I can not think of anything more aggravating then needing a service call and I get a window of 8:00am to 6:00pm. This type of window tells me, one, I have to take an entire day away from my family or my office and two, they are not organized enough to narrow that window down. Do you really want to do business with a company that is not organized? Could you imagine the help you would receive, if you ever had a problem with their product or service?

Your window that you should allow, should be no longer than 2 hours. It would be even better if you can make it an hour. About a year ago, my home needed some plumbing work with the hot water heater. So, of course, I called in a plumber. Fearful I would get one of those long range windows, I reluctantly asked the plumber what time they would be there. Surprisingly, the plumber responded with, "How far are you from your home to work?" Lucky for me I am just a few miles. He said he would call my work number when he was within 5 minutes of my house so he could meet me there. This way I did not have to be out of the office all day. Now that is reliable customer service. True to his word, he called late in the day, I left the office to meet him and the problem was resolved without losing an entire day.

If your business is selling products, there is a two fold process of reliability here. First the customer wants a reliable product. In other words, not only should it work for a long period of time, but it also needs to do what you say it will do. I am sure you have seen those late night infomercials of gadgets and gizmo`s promising they can solve every problem in the world. I can not tell you how many people I know and have met that have bought some of those products, and they turned out to be complete garbage. In other words they are unreliable products. That experience from those customers will have a damaging affect on the company that sells those products. When you have an under performing product, bad publicity and negative word of mouth advertising, spread like wildfire.

One way of counter acting this would be to offer full refunds, exchange the product for a new one or give a store credit. It gives the customer an immediate, emotional answer to their problem. Also keep in mind, the customer is going to be angry. You need to keep a smile on your face, be very apologetic and sympathetic to their concerns. It is not so much the free replacement they are looking for. The customer wants to know that you just aren`t going to sweep them under the rug after you make a sale.

The second part of product reliability, which we touched on a bit already, is the reliability of the business or person that is selling the product. Are you available for the customer to talk to? Are you avoiding the customer? Are you meeting their emotional needs? First listen to what they are telling you before you respond. Letting the customer talk will allow them to get everything off of their chest, then you can respond with the answer they are looking for.

Reliability is a key component when it comes to advertising, promoting and handling your business. The more reliable a customer knows you are, the greater the chance they will return as a repeat customer and send their friends and relatives over as well.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

About the Author:
Bruce A. Tucker is the Associate Director of http://www.Indocquent.com, an online resource that allows businesses and individuals to post their products and services for sale in 20,000 cities throughout 200 countries around the world.

Basic Winter Motorcycle Maintenance

Many of us enjoy the wonderful feeling of being separated from the open road by only two wheels and an engine. No one, however, wants to be broken down on the side of the road, or get into an accident, because of some mechanical failure that could have easily been prevented. Maintaining a smooth ride on your motorcycle requires regular mechanical work, and with almost the entire US enclosed in winter’s frosty grip this time of year, now is the perfect time to pull out your tools while the bike is locked up in the garage.

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First, let’s start with some year round basics. Every time you fill up the tank, ensure that you have proper tire pressure. You can easily do this with a pencil sized tire pressure gauge found at any mechanical shop. If you don’t, you’ll risk a costly flat. Experienced riders can also gauge their tire pressure by how it feels, but only if they’ve spent a lot of time on their bikes. This is also a good time to check the treads on the tires by taking a small object, such as a penny, and measuring the depth of the trenches. If it’s about 2mm, or the size of Lincoln’s forehead, then your tires are safe. If not, it’s time to change them out.

Not everyone does this, but you should lube up your drive chain after every ride. Friction can weaken the strength of the chain, and it may eventually break. It’s easier to do when the chain is still warm, so it should be the first thing you do right after a nice long drive. Just use any commercial spray lube that you can find at a bike shop. You’ll also want to use a newspaper to cover the rear wheel rim so it doesn’t get dirty.

Regular oil changes are a no brainer. Over used oil can corrode the engine and cause some serious problems, including loss of gas efficiency, corrosion of the air filter, and gelling of the oil itself. Also, make sure the gauge is on max or high before a trip. Be cautious of overfilling the oil chamber, because it can cause flooding in the air cleaner. It should also be mentioned that high temperatures, combined with high speed driving, and frequent stopping and starting in congested areas can lead to rapid oil breakdown. The oil filter should be also be replaced every other oil change as well.

Now, let’s get to some of things you can do while your bike is in the garage all winter. This is a great opportunity for your yearly brake fluid change. Remember that some bikes have two places for brake fluid, one near the handle bars and in the rear. While you’re at it, take a look at the brake pads, and make sure they haven’t gone all the way down to the metal. You can also purchase braided steel brake lines to increase you brake pad’s performance up to 50%. Brake pad maintenance is extremely important for your personal safety on your bike. After all, you’ll want to be able to stop on a dime should anything happen.

Check the fuel lines for any damage from the past year, and see if the fuel filter is clogged. The fuel filter itself should be changed every two years as well. Remember, untreated gasoline only lasts for about 6 months, and you can seriously damage your engine if you try to run on old gas. Drain the fuel from the gas tank and fill it up with new gas before you take her out after a long hibernation.

Now comes the tough part. One of the hardest places to do work on most bikes is the battery. Since most of us have our bikes shut in for the winter, this is a great time to do some much needed maintenance. Most of this should be done monthly, but most people only recharge the battery at best. Beyond that, you should check the electrolyte level. Only use distilled or deionized water in your battery, never tap water. Make sure you’re wearing protective gloves and goggles as well. Check all of the connectors, cables, and make sure the battery is clear of any dirt or grime. Make sure the exhaust tube is free of any kinks, and when you’re done, test the battery with a volt meter. This way you’ll know if you’ll need to replace the battery in the coming months.

That’s about all the basic tips I have. If you want to do some more extensive work, or make this your winter project, I suggest you talk to your nearest motorcycle mechanic or take some time to search online. If you use these suggestions to maintain your bike this winter, you’ll probably save a lot of money in the next coming year, and have a smoother ride all year around.

By: Zachary Freeman
Edited By: Bruce A. Tucker

About the Author:
Zachary Freeman is a freelance writer who specializes in technology and video games and Bruce A. Tucker is the Associate Director of http://www.Indocquent.com, an online resource that allows businesses and individuals to post their products and services for sale in 20,000 cities throughout 200 countries around the world.

Know The Ins And Outs Of A Cruise Vacation, Part 5, Kid Friendly

Although my wife and I have not traveled with children on cruises, we were very fortunate to meet and talk to a number of parents who did bring their children on the cruise with them as well as go on kid friendly cruises, the most notable one offered by Disney.

What we learned was that there are a number of activities for children of all ages. I will do my best to cover all the basis here on what exactly there is to do for your children, including those hard to keep satisfied teenagers.

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The cruise ships I have been on have a nice selection of kid friendly programs. For the younger children, you can enroll them in a kids clubs (they are called different things on different ships, but for our purposes here, I will call them a kids clubs). These are more for the younger, 5 to 10 crowd. These clubs are supervised by extremely friendly, polite and courteous hosts. They take good care of the children, making sure they are occupied with a lot of arts and crafts and from what I have been told, a lot of educational programs.

They do a good job of mixing education and fun, a nice combination that you want to hear about, especially if you are parent that worries about what they are doing when you are not around.

One of the most fun surprises was when the children, who were enrolled in the kids program throughout the week, dressed up as pirates and put on a small show for the adults during dinner. It was very enjoyable, and the cruise crew did a great job getting the kids ready in such a short period of time.

So what about those teenagers? Well for starters, most cruise ships have arcade style game rooms. Most are equipped with everything from air hockey to pool tables (on some ships), to a wide variety of video games and other electronic gadgets and gizmo`s. If you are a parent (or a teenager) who may not like the electronic options, most cruise ships have rooms where you will find all sorts of board games, chess boards, checkers, puzzles and literally hundreds of other items to stay occupied.

If you (are lucky enough) have a child that loves to read, no problem with that either. Most cruise ships have wonderful libraries, with a lot of books to choose from.

Even with all the games, electronics and books, if you still have a child that wants more, that is not a problem. On the top deck, you will find miniature golf, volleyball, basketball courts, and some cruise lines offer rock climbing walls, with the newer mega ships offering body surfing on-board! How cool is that!

Other activities for kids include, on some ships, an ice-skating rink, scuba and swimming lessons, bingo for kids and of course, the pool.

Needless to say if you have children and still want to go on a cruise, there is plenty for you and your children to do. At the beginning of every cruise, the cruise director will tell everybody, one of the best things you can do on a cruise, is "to get involved." If you want to have a great time, you and your kids need to get involved with these activities. It will make the cruise vacation more enjoyable for both you and your children.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

About the Author:
Bruce A. Tucker is the Associate Director of http://www.Indocquent.com, an online resource that allows travel agents, cruise lines, and vacation desitnation businesses to post their products and services for sale and in 20,000 cities throughout 200 countries around the world.

In Sales It Starts With A Good Handshake

You have heard it many times, and I mean many times before, and that is, when you are greeting someone for the first time or someone you haven`t seen in a long time you should give a firm handshake.

This is very important when it comes to making face to face sales. It is important that you as the sales person have a firm handshake. We have all experienced bad handshakes. You know the ones where you shake someones hand and you feel as if you are shaking hands with a dead person, ok maybe not dead, but definitely someone who is in a deep sleep. You know what I am talking about. On the opposite end of that spectrum, I am sure we all have, or at least I know I have, experienced someone who seems like they want to squeeze the life out of you, by crushing your hand with their death grip.

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You do not want either of those scenarios, especially in sales. Imagine you are a customer and you walk up to the sales person, they extend their hand to do a meet and greet, you do the same, and next thing you know you are grabbing your hand, screaming in pain. Now tell me, would you buy from that person? Probably not, and if you did you must be a glutton for punishment.

I remember one time when my wife and I went to look for a new car. We happened to stop for lunch before we arrived at the car dealership, so when I started browsing around for my new "hot" ride, I still had a drink in my hand. A sales person approached, reached out their hand to me, I reciprocated, and the the sales person began to shake my hand so fast, my entire body felt like it was going through a washing machine. Needless to say the drink went everywhere. Not a good start for that salesperson, and trust me, it did not end well for them either. I decided to buy elsewhere.

Lydia Ramsey of Across the Board says, "The business handshake is an essential selling technique to make a lasting impression. The first move you make when meeting your prospective client is to put out your hand. There isn`t a businessperson anywhere who can`t tell you that the good business handshake should be a firm one. Yet time and again people offer a limp hand to the client. To have a good business handshake, position your hand to make complete contact with the other person`s hand. Once you`ve connected, close your thumb over the back of the other person`s hand and give it a slight squeeze. You`ll have the beginning of a strong business relationship."

A firm handshake is a vital part of any and every sales person`s success. If you do a lot of face to face sales, then it is a skill that should you should master. A firm handshake lets a potential customer know that you are confident in what you are doing, yet at the same time not seem too overpowering nor too weak. Face to face sales begin with a good hand shake, just do not let your potential sales end because of a bad one.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

About the Author:
Bruce A. Tucker is the Associate Director of http://www.Indocquent.com, an online resource that allows businesses and individuals to post their products and services for sale in 20,000 cities throughout 200 countries around the world.

A Few Techniques To Keep Spam Under Control

Everyone at some point in there life has been affected by the big "S" when it comes to the Internet. No I don`t mean surfing or another four letter word that I can`t use here. I am specifically talking about spam, and I do not mean that canned processed meat you can find at your local grocery store or market. (What is that stuff anyway?)

I am talking about spam, the unsolicited email. Many laws have been passed to curtail businesses from "spamming" people, or sending email to them that they just didn`t ask to receive. If you are reading this and you do send out unsolicited emails to people, rest assured you are breaking the law.

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According to a recent article in PC World magazine by Grant Gross a, "temporary restraining order was issued by Federal Judge Morton Denlow of the Northern District Court of Illinois to Sill Neutraceuticals. The order calls for the company to stop sending unsolicited e-mail for its products." Gross goes on to say, "It was issued following a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against the company and its owner Brain McDaid. In the lawsuit, FTC accuses Sill and McDaid of spare-marketing their Web sites based on false claims on the efficacy of their products."

In defense of some companies that do send out large bulk emailing to market their products or services, they sometimes purchase large mailing lists, from list servers or brokers and other companies that collect email addresses. They are told that these emails were collected via opt-in lists.

An opt-in list means a person agreed to receive emails from companies and then "opted in" by entering their email address. What happens a lot of times are that these list brokers (who sell the email addresses) gather a lot of these emails unethically by crawling the Internet and indexing pages that email addresses appear and then do a technique called "scraping" to retrieve the email address off of the page and store it into their own database.

These businesses then buy these lists, and spam is born. Here are some ways to protect yourself if you are going to use email as a marketing campaign. First, whether you have a Blog, website or whatever, you should have an area where your visitors can enter their email address to receive your newsletter. Always, always, always have an "opt out" option on your newsletter. It goes a long way to the consumer if they know they can stop receiving your email. Second, if you are going to buy a list, which I don`t recommend you do, but if you do, make sure you purchase from a reputable company, and ask them where and how they obtain those email addresses.

If you are a consumer and like to sign up for the occasional newsletter from companies who sell products or talk about their services, then I recommend that you sign up for a free email account from sites like Yahoo or Google. Use that email address to receive your newsletters. The newsletters won`t clutter up your personal inbox and your "real" email address gets far less exposure on the Internet.

Email programs such as Outlook and even the free email accounts have options where you can setup spam and junk folders as well as create block lists and so on. There are ways to combat receiving or at least keep it under control and of course if you own a business, not falling into the trap of sending it. Use these tips above and you are sure to not get aggravated by it.

Seriously what is that canned meat anyway?

By: Bruce A. Tucker

About the Author:
Bruce A. Tucker is the Associate Director of http://www.Indocquent.com, an online resource that allows businesses and individuals to post their products and services for sale in 20,000 cities throughout 200 countries around the world.

Know The Ins And Outs Of A Cruise Vacation, Part 4, Visit A Specialty Restaurant

In this series on knowing the ins and outs of taking a cruise for a vacation, I have already told you about a lot of things. The best part of cruising, there is still more, especially when it comes to enjoying life on board while at sea (or even at port).

On a side note, not really related to what I am about to discuss, one of the biggest fallacies about cruising is that you when you are in port, you must get off the ship. That just isn`t true. Believe me, many people I was around on a couple of my cruises thought you "had" to get off the ship. No you don`t if you really have no interest in where the shipped is docked.

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In any event, I thought I`d throw that out there for many of you who may have thought that. Today I want to talk about the on board specialty restaurants. A lot of people have the same attitude that I use to have when it came to these speciality restaurants, and that is, why pay for food when your package includes your meals?

Some, not all, ships have what are called specialty restaurants. They serve certain foods exclusively, Italian, french, etc., and for a small per person fee you get a 5 to 7 course serving from their menus. Let me tell you why it is worth the extra money to go.

On our 3rd cruise a couple of years ago, my wife and I who normally treat ourselves to something special, usually a massage, or something along those lines, and we decided not do that and try out a specialty restaurant. On the ship we were on, they have a really nice Italian restaurant. At that time, for $25, you get a full 7 course meal, starting with a salad all the way up to dessert.

Let me tell you the food is incredible. It is 5 star quality food unlike what you will receive in the regular sit down dining or in the buffet. Now that is not to say that they are bad, but the cruise line puts a little extra into the specialty restaurant.

You get great service pretty much anywhere on a cruise ship, however at this particular Italian restaurant we were treated like royalty. The staff were extremely friendly, kind, courteous and attentive to all of our needs.

The menus vary from restaurant to restaurant and ship to ship. But rest assured the food is great, the service is excellence, the ambiance and the mood are a perfect setting if your are celebrating something special, like an anniversary or birthday.

Another wonderful part of this dining experience was the fact that you still were able to pick many items off the menu. For instance, lets say you couldn`t choose between the prime rib or the duck. No problem, order both of them. Will that be touch much food? Again, not a problem, they will cut down the portion size so you don`t feel like you are wasting a lot food. This came in real handy during dessert time, hint, hint.

If you are going on a cruise, and by now, you should be fairly excited about going on one, spend the extra $25 (per person cost) for you and your partner, you will definitely enjoy it.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

About the Author:
Bruce A. Tucker is the Associate Director of http://www.Indocquent.com, an online resource that allows travel agents, cruise lines, and vacation desitnation businesses to post their products and services for sale and in 20,000 cities throughout 200 countries around the world.

Know The Ins And Outs Of A Cruise Vacation, Part 3, Put On Your Bingo Shoes

In part 2 on my series of enjoying a cruise vacation, I gave you three ideas on how to enjoy yourself that you just may not thought of. You were introduced to wine tasting, art auctions and the fitness center. In this article I want to go over another fun area while on board, that you probably see at your local church, but never bothered to stop in, and that is Bingo.

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Let me ask you this, do you like Bingo? Yes, no, not sure? Doesn`t matter, if you play just one time you`ll get hooked. Most cruise lines have a daily bingo session, sometimes twice daily. During bingo there are a series of individual games each worth a cash prize, getting incrementally larger until the final game, which is fill the board and you win that week`s jackpot. If no one wins the jackpot, it grows larger for the next game and day, and so on, until the final day of the cruise (so as long as no one has won the grand prize) when they MUST give it to a winner. In other words on the final game, they will draw balls until someone wins.

It costs anywhere from $10 to $50 to play a session of bingo, depending on the cruise line, how many bingo cards you purchase and how many jackpot cards you purchase, which is usually sold separately, unless you buy a pre-made package. Bingo on the cruise ship is a great way to have some fun, enjoy a few drinks and meet new people, if you are looking for something to get away from the buffet line or the pool.

Heed this advice. If you are new to cruising and/or have never played bingo, you will want to play a session early in the week, usually your first or second day. This is when the crowds at the bingo sessions are at their smallest. It gives you a feel of how the game is run and so on. I tell you this because you will want to attend the final day when they are giving away the jackpot. I have seen jackpots as high as $7,000 given away. That could pay for the cruise you are on and the next one. Be forewarned get to the final bingo session area EARLY. The place fills up quick as you can imagine. There are so many people at final bingo, sometimes I swear they fly people in off the islands to play. You will want to get there early to grab a good seat. If you get there late, chances are you will be standing. Trust me it has nothing to do with which card you get either. I heard one lady actually say that as she was in line, that "all the good cards are gone, because I got here too late." Trust me the cruise director drawing the balls and the machine itself has no idea who has what card.

If it is within your budget, buy an extra jackpot card. They are, for obvious reasons, the most expensive of the cards. They can run $10 to $20 per card. You`ll have to be the judge as to whether it is worth paying that amount for a chance at a huge jackpot. I always partake in jackpot bingo. It is a really good time. The closest I have been to winning was two numbers away, but probably by that point everyone else in the room had two numbers left also.

Not sure how you handle pressure, but I can tell you this, on jackpot bingo on the final day and you have two numbers left, you get a bit tense, the palms start to sweat a little, and then on the next number, someone yells Bingo and crushes your dream. Just kidding obviously, but you get the point.

Want my advice? Play bingo, you will absolutely love it, even if you only play on the final day for the big jackpot.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

About the Author:
Bruce A. Tucker is the Associate Director of http://www.Indocquent.com, an online resource that allows travel agents, cruise lines, and vacation desitnation businesses to post their products and services for sale and in 20,000 cities throughout 200 countries around the world.

Know The Ins And Outs Of A Cruise Vacation, Part 2, What To Do On Board

In my previous article I talked about what items you need to consider, to get yourself on a cruise. We covered everything from picking the destination, to choosing the cruise line, and everything in between. In this session I want to talk about what to do on board to maximize your enjoyment. Due to the fact that there are so many things to do while on a cruise ship I am going to break this segment out over multiple articles. There just isn`t enough room in one session to talk about it all.

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As I mentioned before I have been on nearly a half dozen different cruises, so I have a pretty good amount of experience when it comes to talking about this subject. Although, I have met couples who have been on over 20 cruises and one couple who have been on nearly 30! Now that is a lot of sailing.

The first thing that comes to mind when you say what is there to do and almost everyone will invariably say eat. Yes that is true, on most cruises (not all however), you can eat outside of your room, 24 hours a day for the entire trip. I want to go beyond eating, as, although I do enjoy the wide variety of food offered, there is so much more you can do.

Are you into fitness, do you like to take that morning run, walk or hit some weights? Not to worry all cruises ships (at least the 5 different ones I have been on) all have state of the art workout facilities. You name it, they have it. Now most ships offer the use of these facilities for free, I understand, however that there are some cruise lines that make you pay additional. If using the fitness center is on your "to-do" list, check with your cruise line to see if it is additional. The last thing you want on your vacation is to be surprised with hidden fees.

So you are crazy over artwork. Maybe you don`t know your Van Go from your Rembrandt`s, but you do enjoy looking at different paintings and their abstracts. Again, you can relax. Cruise ships are always having daily art auctions. Some even offer complimentary wine or champagne with cheese and crackers to add to the ambiance. The best part, you don`t even have to buy if there is nothing you see that fits what you are looking for. You can just sit back and partake in the event by watching it unfold around you. I am not much into artwork, but even the one auction I attended was fun to be a part of.

Let me first start off by saying I am by no means a wine connoisseur, but my wife is very knowledgeable about the subject, more on that in a second. On every cruise ship I have been on they usually have one or two (depending on the length of the cruise), wine tasting classes. In these classes, you will learn everything from how to choose the right wine for dinner, to swirling the wine and why that is important and of course what to look for when you taste it. These classes are done very well, and the one`s I have attended were lead by some of the most intelligent wine enthusiasts around the world.

So you are probably wondering why a person with no real urge in regards to wine, attended a wine tasting class when there are so many other things to do. The answer is simple. I mentioned just a moment ago how my wife is really into the subject of wine, where and how they are made, etc., well she `drug` me along, and now I have to say , that although, I still do not drink a lot of wine, this class was fun to be at, and very educational. I would highly recommend it.

As you can see just talking about these three items alone has taken a lot to cover. In my next article, I want to go over dining at some of the board private restaurants, using the pools, saunas and Jacuzzis, and of course the ultimate relaxing, getting an on-board massage.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

About the Author:
Bruce A. Tucker is the Associate Director of http://www.Indocquent.com, an online resource that allows travel agents, cruise lines, and vacation desitnation businesses to post their products and services for sale and in 20,000 cities throughout 200 countries around the world.

Closing The Sale, Part 3 Of Writing An Affective Online Promotion

So you brushed up on writing an affective headline or subject line for your online advertisement. You believe you have a really good one that will `hook` your customers, or in this case, your potential customers.

You then went on and fine tuned your online promotion writing skills. You know exactly what to write, where to place it in the promotion, where to place the photo, picture or image that you are going to use to really make it stand out and grab the readers attention, and you now have that wonderful online promotion.

What next? Simply the hardest of all online promotions. That is called closing the sale. Being in the business I can tell you that the one question I get all the time, is, "Bruce, what is the hardest part of getting a customer online?" My answer is always knowing how to close the sale.

Closing the sale is the area where you give your potential customer a reason to click that Buy Now or Check Out button on your promotional ad. It is the final piece of the puzzle that really gets the person anxious to a state of, "I can`t wait to buy it."

So how do you get to that point? Well you already started them off with a subject line that made them click in the first place, so they are already interested. If you wrote a good promotion, which I am sure you did, then they are ready to close. What you want to do is give them some incentive for not hemming and hawing over whether or not they should purchase your product or hire your service.

For instance, lets say you run a travel agency and the trips you normally sell are fairly expensive. For the sake of this article will say $500 or more. Now you have a customer in front of your online promotion that really wants to take that trip, but may not have the available cash flow at this particular time to make the purchase. For the sake of argument lets just assume they don`t want to put all $500 on their credit card right now for financial reasons.

With that said, its time to think outside the box, and close the deal. A creative option here would be to allow your customer to put 10% down and then bill the remaining amount out at $50 per month until is paid off. Of course a lot of factors will go into what kind of monthly payments can be made, given the time frame, cost of the trip etc. But it is this kind of offer that will close the deal for a customer who may be on the fence.

Other good deal closers are offering a significant percentage off the purchase price if they act right now and so on. You will need to tailor your closing information toward your business. One business I know of where the owner seals driveways, offered a free driveway sealant and crack fill to a customer who brought on just two more neighbors of the sealant service. From what I understand he did about 15 houses in two days. It worked out really well.

Before I finish the article, I don`t want to forget to say that remember to put into your promotion a means by which a customer can get in touch with you. You`d be surprised how business owners run promotions, and then the customer can not get in touch with them.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

About the Author:
Bruce A. Tucker is the Associate Director of http://www.Indocquent.com, an online resource that allows businesses and individuals to post their products and services for sale in 20,000 cities throughout 200 countries around the world.

Writing Affective Online Advertisements Part 2- Good Body Content

A funny thing happened the other day while I was surfing the Internet. I was searching around, testing out different keywords just to see what the results would be on the various search engines and you`d be surprised to see how the results differ. What was even more amazing was after I saw a link that caught my eye, I clicked on it and when I finally arrived on the site, the page had nothing to do with what I was looking for.

That is where I am going to focus my efforts in this article. Making sure you supply to your potential customer a or promotion that pertains to what they intended to see. It doesn`t matter whether you are building a one page site, a landing page, or placing a promotion on our website. When a person, or in your case, a potential customer, types in some search terms, and clicks the submit button, they expect the information for which they were searching in the first place.

If I type in that I am looking for a certain pair of shoes, I don`t want to look at pages of items that pertain to sneakers, shoe laces and so forth. So how do you make sure you are reaching the right customers. Proper keywords is a start, but more importantly the information on the promotion page itself.

Why someone would put in their subject line, "We sell high heels", then in the promotion itself, talk about their great selection of sneakers is beyond me. The customer clicked your promotion because they were interested in your selection of high heels. That is called a hook, and we discussed what makes a good subject line to be an affective hook, in a previous article. In your promotion you should write about the selection you have, throw out some brand names, write in about the great prices you offer and so on. So many times I have seen, where a lot of information that is necessary for the consumer to make a decision, is not even in there.

If you are lucky enough, and on our website we allow it, proper image placement can be key. It is true that a picture is worth a 1000 words, however a bad picture can absolutely ruin a promotion. So if you are going to put a picture in your promotion, make sure it is a good one, and always try to put it to the right of your text information. People read from left to right, so as they read your information, at the end of each line they will finish with seeing what you are selling. It puts it right there in front of them.

In our first part of our three part article series on writing affective online advertisements, we discussed `hooking` the customer with a good subject line. In this article, part 2, we went into detail about what makes up good body content, adding an image and then proper placement of that image. In our next article, we will close the deal. Closing the deal is the key to the whole process. If you can not close the deal, a sale will never be made.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

About the Author:
Bruce A. Tucker is the Associate Director of http://www.Indocquent.com, an online resource that allows businesses and individuals to post their products and services for sale in 20,000 cities throughout 200 countries around the world.

For Affective Online Advertising Write An Affective Subject Line

Being the Associate Director for an online business that puts businesses` products and services in front of thousands of potential consumers on a daily basis, I am constantly getting emails from our customers, and those looking to become our customers, on how to write an affective Internet promotion on our web site.

More specifically, how to write an affective headline or subject line that will really draw in a customer to investigate what you have to offer. That is what I am going to focus on in this article segment, the `art` of writing and developing a quality online promotion or advertisement subject line.

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At any given time, we have thousands of promotions placed in over 4 dozen categories, through out over 20,000 cities worldwide. I have had the privilege of seeing some really good promotions and some really bad ones. Here is what I noticed. Let me start with talking about the bad subject lines I have read.

One thing the bad promotions all have in common in regards to their subject line is unrealistic over hype. I can`t tell you how much head shaking I do when I see a customer place an promotion, without asking us for advice first, and then write a headline that is so incredibly bad. I have seen things such as "Make millions today!", and "Click here for the greatest product ever!". Those are some of the worse headlines you can write. They are over dramatic and anyone with a half a brain knows they are unrealistic and a waste of time to look at.

Your headline or subject line should read something more realistic, yet `hook` your potential customer in reading further into your advertisement. A good advertisement would be, "We are Looking for Partners in Business", or "Our New Product Makes Cooking Easier", or something along those lines. You will have to tailor your online subject for what it is that you are selling or providing.

Keep in mind you have one line, sometimes with only up to 50 characters to hook the reader. Don`t over hype what is in the rest of your promotion with a gaudy headline. Make it simple, yet will intrigue the potential customer. In turn it will trigger their inner feelings to want to know more about what is in the rest of the promotion.

For an affective online advertising campaign, there are three separate parts, the subject line, which we have already touched on, the subject matter and then finally the close. In our next article segment we are going to go in depth about writing an affective promotion in your subject matter. I can tell you from our own business that we offer robust web tools so you can really make your subject matter shine. However, beyond the bells and whistles, you still need to make the content of that ad, reader friendly. With good promotion content, the reader, your potential customer, will get excited about what it is your offering. One they are excited you need to pull them in with the close, which will be part three in our article segments, in place online promotions.

Now you can start with a better understanding of approaching an affective online promotion, knowing that you need a subject line that will hook, not over hype, the potential customer.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

About the Author:
Bruce A. Tucker is the Associate Director of http://www.Indocquent.com, an online resource that allows businesses and individuals to post their products and services for sale in 20,000 cities throughout 200 countries around the world.

Proper Planning Will Lead To An Enjoyable Camping Trip

So you like me are an avid camper. My family and I try and go on at least camping trips during the year. Here in New Jersey, at least for me anyway, the best times to go are March through the end of May, and September through middle of October.

For me the summer months in New Jersey can get too humid, bringing out a plethora of bugs and mosquitoes, which quite frankly I do not find too pleasant of an atmosphere. I try to limit my time during the cooler months for that reason and for comfort. There is nothing more enjoyable about camping then sitting around the camp fire on a crisp cool evening. Something that I don`t feel you can enjoy during the dog days of summer.

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Now that is not to say that camping isn`t enjoyable here in New Jersey during the summer months. It is, as you will find many, if not all of the campgrounds, private and public are booked solid. The main reasons being, kids are out of school and the days are longer.

New Jersey provides a wonderful selection of campgrounds throughout the state. You can hit the mountains in Northern New Jersey, the Jersey shore campgrounds down in Cape May. Whichever you choose, be prepared for the terrain.

If you go camping in Northern New Jersey, expect very rocky ground. If you are tent camping, which is something that I absolutely love to do, bring a good hammer with you to bang those tent stakes in. In fact, you probably should bring some heavy duty tent stakes with you. If you just use the ones that come with your tent, chances are they will bend on you.

A hammer is not needed central to south Jersey for camping as the soil is more soft without much rock to break through.

If you are a novice to camping I would recommend not so much "roughing" it on your first try. What I mean by that is, look for a campground that has water hookups near your site. It will make it easier on you when you need water for cooking, cleaning etc. Also choose a campground that has bathroom facilities. Not all of them have them, most do, but keep that on your checklist. I recommend the more new you are to camping, the closer your site should be to the facilities. It doesn`t make the trip enjoyable when you have to go in the middle of the night and have to walk a half mile to get to the bathroom. Once you get accustomed to the camping lifestyle, trust me, it really is not that big of a deal.

Regardless of where you camp, what time of year, or who you go with, the key to a fun, safe and rewarding camping trip is in the planning. Sit down and write a list of everything you will need to make the trip comfortable. Separate your list into categories, such as food supplies, cooking and eating utensils, sleeping gear and so on. After you write your list, double check it against the list others you are going with might have made up. Maybe you forgot some things that they have, and vice-versa. The more time you spend in the planning process, the more easy your trip will be and the more fun you will have. There is nothing worse, then when you are about to cook those steaks over an open fire and you forgot the utensils to cook, or the seasoning or even worse, the steaks themselves.

Camping is a fun and enjoyable activity for the entire family. Proper planning, and not trying to extend beyond your comfort level, will make it even that more special.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

About the Author:
Bruce A. Tucker is the Associate Director of http://www.Indocquent.com, an online resource that allows campgrounds, camping suppliers, camping supply manufacturers to post their products and services for sale and hire in 20,000 cities throughout 200 countries around the world.