So You Want to Start a CD Replication Service, Huh?

Why would someone want to do business in CD duplication? After all, everything is moving to iPods and smartphones, right? Think again. Most music is still listened to on a good old CD. So if you thought CDs were on their way out, do not count on it just yet. But are not

DVD duplication services just for folks who need thousands of discs…I ca not handle that many CDs! Not necessarily. In fact, the big companies often focus on mass production often at a fairly high cost. That leaves the door open for you. I mean sure, you may not make a million dollars a year, but you can bring home a respectable profit if you work at it.

Software vendors, music artists, and companies who need to secure their data all need a place to turn to for CD duplication needs. It is time for you to be that person. You may already have most of the equipment necessary for production. First, you will need CDs (no kidding, heh). Next, you will need a computer (either a desktop or a laptop should do the trick) that comes with CD burning capabilites. Third, you will need the software to actually burn CDs. Finally, you will need the most important thing…the customers, silly! Even if you do not have the equipment, it iss not hard to obtain. Most computer companies and general merchandise outlets (Sears, Wal Mart, etc.) offer computers and software of all sorts. And the cost is not out of this world, either.

Now, back to those customers…who should you go after. Find out what local bands are in the area. Where? Check MySpace or Facebook. If you are attending school or college (or have a friend or relative who is), ask around there. Bands are looking for someone quick and easy to get their music mass produced. They maybe can not afford a professional company, but you might be just what they are looking for. Another target is a small business. You would think someone in the company would handle it, would not you? But you would be surprised at the number of companies who do not have the time or computer knowledge to handle their own data backup. Usually when that is the case, they simply decide to do without the backup. As we both know, that is a bad idea!

My suggestion is to go online and see what the big wigs charge, then use that as a template to figuring out how much you will want to charge. If you set a sensible price, nice turnaround time, and superior disks, you will not only have customers coming back, word of mouth will really get you jump started. So if you are interested in starting your own

DVD replication services , now is the time!

Technology Distractions Lead to a Decrease in Productivity

Office workers’ attention is being diverted every three minutes by answering the phone, being alerted to an incoming email, responding to an alert on their BlackBerry, reacting to an instant message or a Tweet, or clicking on internet-based distractions such as YouTube or Facebook. These distractions consume much as 28% of an average knowledge workers’ day (Basex research).

As we receive more and more e-mail messages and other technology-based interruptions, it can feel like being hit by a digital deluge. Without the skills to manage e-mail and other devices effectively, many people are wasting time just trying to keep up instead of gaining productivity through technology.

These tactics for distraction management can significantly increase your productivity:

1. Turn off the alarm or visual alerts: You wouldn’t let the postman empty a mailbag on your desk 50 times a day and you certainly wouldn’t let them ring a bell with each delivery. That’s exactly what you are doing if you check each e-mail when it arrives. Turn off the alarm or visual alert and take control of your e-mail and your time.

2. Learn how to turn off or manage alerts on mobile devices: As more and more people synchronize their phones and mobile devices they are being distracted by email alerts, meeting reminders at all sorts of inconvenient times. These alerts can ensure you are being distracted at home as well as work!

3. Treat e-mail like regular mail: Try to check your e-mail at regular times in the day, i.e. early morning, mid-day and late afternoon. Even if you receive a high volume of e-mails, you shouldn’t check more than four times a day. Checking email regularly can give you a very busy feeling but it is deceptive as it is unlikely you are focusing on your key priorities.

4. Take control of your in-box: Subscribe to e-mail services selectively. Ask friends or colleagues who frequently send jokes or huge files to stop. Get a separate e-mail address for personal communication or one that you give just to key contacts, similar to an unlisted phone number. Set up rules to automatically delete or file low priority emails.

5. Focus on your priorities: Commit 10 -15 minutes each day to plan for the next day. Ensure as part of this process you make “appointments with yourself” to focus on key priorities and projects.

E-mail, mobile devices, instant messaging and the like can save businesses considerable time and money, but managing these tools is a skill that’s just as important to acquire as other essential management skills such as communication, planning and prioritizing.

Priority Management is a training company specialises in time management training. Our “Working Smart” series integrates the underlying principles of Best Practice time, productivity, information and workload management into applications such as Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, GroupWise, the BlackBerry and paper.

Learn about a way to earn an extra $500

Looking for a way to earn some extra money? It is not really all that hard Look at these ideas:

Write an eBook and sell it online. Design web logos – you might be surprised at how much people pay for these. Start an Online Store. There are lots of ways.

 

If you really want to make some serious money from a reliable monthly program you simply need to read about our Network Marketing Opportunity.

Network Marketing is a generic term that explains a type of marketing program that a company will use to distributor its products. Make no mistake; getting paid for referring product is really big business and you are missing out if you are not getting some action.

Creating monthly residual income is extremely important. There is no simple way to get checks in the mail every week or month. Working always involves work and if you want to earn extra money well you will need to spend some time doing it.

Our new Facebook page explains how to find more information about our opportunity. It is called Earn Extra Cash .

Facebook is a wonderful place. You can read all about our opportunity and find links to where it is explained on our Earn Extra $500 A Month Page.

You may request from us a chart of payout statistics for the our opportunities compensation plan by email. No clever rocket science here, just plain hard work, great products and getting paid each month on time by the world’s best Network Marketing company.

 

 

Twitter Mania – Follow Me And I Will Follow You Back

Twitter, the social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length, has no-doubt become quite a phenomenon. It is widely rumored that Twitter turned down an acquisition offer from Facebook for $500 Million. A recent TechCrunch report stated that Twitter’s valuation has reached in excess of $250 Million. There are reports that state that the reach of Twitter has exceeded that of Digg in a very short span of time.  With an excess of 5 Million users and over 50 Million monthly visits, everyone’s tweeting!

Needless to say, what’s made Twitter a revolution is its ease of use.  From signup to search, from following others to getting followed by others, to tweet or to retweet, to use the web or the phone, Twitter is just plain simple.  Add to this the power of Twitter APIs, there are hundreds of tools, utilities and apps that continue to spring from nowhere.  Today, there is a twitter tool just about to do anything you want on twitter.

Some use twitter for chit-chat.  Ranging from “I just got up, and am off to a shower” to “Please get out and vote for me”, much is being said in 140 characters or less.  Folks are asking questions and people in hundreds respond.  Advertisers market their products, Affilaites promote products, News sources announce breaking news and Bloggers post their blogs as tweets – whether for personal or for business, Twitter is seen everywhere and used by everyone.

It has never been easier to build a network of followers.  Never before has it been so easy to build a network of a 1,000 followers who follow what you have to say and are ready to receive a message from you.  And best of all, it costs nothing to do it!  Just think about what you would have to do to get a following of a 1,000 people – whether it is cold calling, or mail advertisement, or opt-in email marketing or a paid squeeze page lead capture – it takes a lot of time, money and effort.

The benefits being obvious, everyone is looking to build a wide follower base.  There is a widely prevalent phenomenon on Twitter that is increasing in popularity – “Follow Me and I will Follow You Back“.  This simply means that if you follow me on twitter, I will follow you right back.  There are two schools of thought on this.

The first school of thought is that it is not appropriate to follow everyone that follows you.  The second school of thought obviously thinks not.  The idea of not following everyone that follow you has some logic to it.  You could think of some parallels to this – “Buy my product, I will buy your product back” or “Subscribe to my newsletter, I will subscribe to your newsletter back”.  One could also argue that if you follow 1,000’s of people, you really can’t do justice, as multiple tweets from each one (assuming each one is active) would just be information overload and you simply can’t follow any tweet, giving it justice.  Both of these arguments could be argued as having some merit.  But, also not.

Think for a moment why people use Twitter.  True, one of the primary objectives is for you say what you are doing now and for others to tune in (or “follow”), but Twitter can be used for reasons well beyond that.  Twitter is a wonderful networking tool, where you can build relationships with others and communicate not just now, but for months and years to come.  You can sure tweet for the moment, but you can just as well message the other person in private.  And if it is true that Twitter is a social networking tool, and if others have something of value to offer to you in return, there is nothing unusual about you tuning into their message as well.  After all, you only stand to benefit!

The school of thought that says “Follow Me and I will Follow You Back” does has merit.  Just because two parties follow each other, there is no commitment or obligation.  Either party can ignore tweets, or can search through tweets by name, by RSS feeds or utilizing one of the infinite tools available, if the ongoing tweets are missed.  Either party can message each other, and either party can choose to review or ignore such messages.  And if one does not wants to be bothered, that could be done as well.  Worst case, one could unfollow and/or block others as well. Just as anything else in life, if you use the tool effectively, you will only stand to benefit.

Twitter is real.  Twitter works.  Twitter is the tool of the century – probably bigger and better than any other Social Networking or Web 2.0 tool.  Embrace it!

And if “Follow” bothers you, because you simply can’t follow 1,000’s of people (which I agree with and in that context, Twitter allowing one to follow 2,000 people may not make sense either, unless most are not active, in which case they should not be on Twitter in the first place!), then follow others on Twitter (and be followed) so you can use it to “Send and Receive Messages“.   Again, there is no better tool, whether online or offline, that allows you to be able to send and receive messages to such a wide audience that has mutually agreed to receive and send messages to each other.

If you agree with this thought process, maybe we should rephrase the theme to “Receive Me and I will Receive You Back“.    And, maybe we are not just talking Twitter, but rather an enhanced Twitter, one that is naturally Two-way, maybe we are talking Twowitter

Informational Blog

Why you should enjoy karaoke.

In the 1980′s the japanese craze of singing along to words appearing on a TV screen spread across the globe and has become a major pastime in many many countries throughout the world. Karaoke bars sprung up everywhere and you have liekly been to more than one party where karaoke has been on offer. It’s appeal lay in its ability to bring together old and young who simply didn’t mind making fools of themselves with a microphone. In fact there is nothing better than than karaoke to liven up a dull party or get a night out going! Try it you will be glad that you did!

Karaoke has become an even greater world wide phenomenon since the internet explosion and it is now possible to sing away to your heart’s content using your PC. Karaoke MP3 files can be downloaded which deliver music through the speakers and words on the screen. Additionally there is a whole host of karaoke software which allows the editing and playing of karaoke tracks. You can even join online karaoke membership sites which stream karaoke tracks to your desktop. Instead of going to down to the local karaoke bar or having to purchase a karaoke machine you can now simply sit at your PC and sing. With the advent of web 2.0 social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube Karaoke, or Kareoke as it is sometimes spelt is set to become as bigger craze in the 21st century as it did on the 1980′s when it spread from Japan like wildfire. 

MySpace Social Network

MySpace has become the most popular social networking site in the world with more than 95 million members. It accounts for 80 percent of all visits to online social networking sites according to Wikipedia.  MySpace anticipates 50% of their total traffic to come from mobile phones within the next few years.

Even though MySpace has millions of users, it’s slowly losing market share to Facebook.  Right now, MySpace has a larger foothold internationally but that is expected to change soon.

MySpace is an online community that lets you meet your friends’ friends. Create a community on MySpace and you can share photos, journals, and interests with your growing network of mutual friends.

The site is more for those individuals that aren’t tech savvy, which I think is part of its popularity.  Users can add music, video, graphics, new fonts and crazy layout schemes to their profiles via the easy-to-use interface.

MySpace users can even use a script called a MySpace layout stealer to copy other user’s layouts. They can also use graphics and video files that are hosted elsewhere, which is nice because it gives people an incentive to create new layouts in exchange for putting a link in the layouts they create.

MySpace backgrounds are a dime a dozen these days, and I know how tiring it can be to try and track down one that feels even mildly original. So many free MySpace backgrounds look alike or very close to it that locating an original layout can be frustrating.  However, if you spend a little time looking around, you’re sure to find one you’ll like.

My New Website

Introduction
When I decided I needed a website for my business I had no idea of the planning involved. Like most people, I thought web design meant deciding on the graphics and the look of the pages and then by some magic it would all happen.

I have a friend who is in the business of web design and website development so I approached him for a quote. As a complete novice who is computer literate up to a point, I was amazed at the depth of initial questioning required to find out exactly what my requirements were.

I had no idea about the various aspects and the structure of the site and I found it mind blowing when I learned about the amount of work involved. So I thought other people would be interested to know more about this complicated process and I have asked my friend to supply the technical information for this article.

Stages in the Process

Target Audience
Before building a website there are important questions to consider. I was asked who would be my potential audience. Who are my customers likely to be? Would they be children, businesses, home owners, sales people, parents or teenagers and so on?

The objective of the website
Then I was asked, what was the objective of my website?
Did I want to sell services on line or use it to market my business and get more leads for possible customers? Maybe I would want to use it as an online brochure to showcase products. Another possibility was to use the website to foster a community so that I was in contact with other like-minded people, with chat rooms, online discussion and being supported by advertising on the site.

I hadn’t quite realised the scope of a website but as I was asked these questions it became clear that a lot of careful planning went into the preparation before building a website.

How to be Found on the Web
One of the first questions I was asked was, ‘Do you want it to be found by Google the main search engine?’ If I did then there was a whole process of establishing Keywords. So finding the best keywords are vital if you want to be found in Google. Generally most users only look at the top ten results so you will also want to promote your website to get on this page for your chosen keywords. By using a keyword research tool you can find the single most popular keyword for your industry.

Your Domain Name
Choosing a domain name is often quite a problem because every name you initially come up with will almost certainly have been taken. Domain names ending in .com are by far the most popular and internationally recognised; the snag is that it’s very popularity means that the majority of the shorter names have already been registered.
So looking at names with endings such as .net; .co.uk or .info may be able to provide you with the domain name you would like to have. When choosing your domain name it is very important to include one or more of your keywords if possible as this can apparently help with search engine rankings. So although the name of your business is the obvious choice for a domain name, it is not necessarily the only option.

Creating a Site Map
The importance of creating a site map is to get it clear in your mind of all the pages you will have on your website so you can prepare the content for each page and begin to design the flow through the website, such as when a user adds a product to their basket, then enters their delivery and billing address and makes the credit card payment in the correct order.

The aim is to make the site as user friendly as possible so that there are no barriers to getting into the website. For that reason often user name and passwordz are set for the customer so that they are not put off making a purchase by having to register.

For a non e-commerce site things are simpler with a contact form which allows you to receive enquiries by email without publishing your email address on the website, thus avoiding junk email.Web forms can also validate the information before you receive it, so ensuring that the phone number provided does not contain words, and that the email address is in the correct format, for example. These things may sound very technical to us lay-folk but I assure you everything has to be decided in advance before starting on the construction of the site.

Copy
The next stage is preparing the content. This is not the design of your website – just the words and visuals you want to have one each of the pages.

Having gathered all the previous information you will need to decide what imagery you want to use within the website content. As we all know, a picture speaks a thousand words and remains in people’s memory far longer than just words.

For each image you could also have a caption, as the caption of an image is the next ‘most read’ words on the page after the page title. Images and their captions need to be clickable. When you click on a picture it should take you to the next stage of the process such as the sale page or placing an enquiry if your website is for lead generation.

Navigation
Another important consideration when building a website is how you want your navigation to work. You can have links within the content of your website, in the text, so there are not just links from the menu. You will need to decide whether the links will open into a new window, retaining your original page open. Next time you go online, you will realise how much thought has gone into the way in which a website works.

Website Design
Finally we come to the design of your website. I asked my friend in Nottingham web design to comment about this and he says it is one of the most difficult stages of the process because it’s subjective. What one person might like, another person might not like. If you are setting up a website for yourself alone then you will probably have some idea of what you want to see on the site. But if, as so often happens, the website is for a large corporation there will be inputs from many people or departments and you can be sure that they will never all agree!

There are a number of ways to approach web design but ultimately you need to create a design brief for the designer(s) to work from. Look at other websites and your competitor’s websites to find out what you like or dislike. The design brief should give reference to the logo, any existing brand guidelines or schemes and fonts and colour schemes, and should also detail which pages of the website that the designer is being tasked with creating visuals for.

The very best results will be achieved by using a graphic designer, and beware – not all graphic designers are the same. A graphic designer who designs specifically for print is working in a different discipline than a graphic designer who designs for screen and specifically the web. So choose your designer carefully, look at other work that person has done and determine whether or not you like their style.

If you are working in the big time and budget allows, use multiple graphic designers who have all been given the same design brief and request three concept designs from each designer. If the client themselves also do a graphic design, even if it’s a back of the envelope scribble, you will then have 10 concept designs. The next step is to get them all together and select the preferred elements from each design. Then give the work to the preferred graphic designer to work up as the final artwork.

The artwork should be finalised and agreed on by everybody before development of the site begins.

Production
Finally the preparation has been done and the site is ready to be built. Now for the more technical stuff! You will need to have decided which programming language to use to build the website. There are two main types for developing a website, one is Unix based, and the other is Windows based. Each one has pros and cons. If you are starting from scratch then it probably won’t matter, so you can go with the preference of your professional doing the work. My website is built on the Unix platform (apparently!) which is the same as many of the more well known websites such as Ebay, Facebook, Google and Amazon. Also your website hosting must be compatible with the development language with which your website is built.

Accessibility and Compliance
The website has to meet the current standards for website coding and doing so insures that disabled users, such as the visually impaired, can still access the entire website if they are using a screen reader.

Website Development
The best way to develop a website is on the web Server where the site is going to live. This way, those involved in reviewing the work can see work in progress and provide feedback throughout the development.

Unforeseen items
There are always some things that arise in any project which you suddenly realise you have forgotten, so no matter how well the website designer prepares and asks the right questions, there will always be a last minute change or addition. The main aim is to minimise the number of glitches that might arise because they aren’t calculated in and they could cause extra costs and delays on the date of the web site going live.

Going live
The moment of excitement comes when your site finally is published to the internet and you see the results of all the thought that has gone into the whole process. I was over the moon to see my barn conversions website go live. As soon as the site has gone live there is no substitute for real world testing though, so ask as many of your friends and colleagues to view the website from their own offices and give you their thoughts.

Reporting and Monitoring
Once your website is up and running, you will want to know how many people visit your website and from that number how many actually buy the products or place an enquiry. From these statistics you can work out the ratio of visits to sales and gradually make changes to improve the ratios. There are some reliable statistics packages such as Google Analytics or Web-Stat.com which allow you to collect and review website visitor data in near real time. All you need to do this is to have a small block of code inserted into each web page on your site.

Another useful service that Web-stat.com provides is to monitor the website and warn you by email or text message if the site goes down.

Marketing
Once the website is live there are lots of things you can do to market your product or service. The first step is to submit it to the search engines and at the same time write articles, and press releases. Getting links to the site from forums, blogs and other social networking spaces are other options. For more on this subject ask your developer about SEO

Conclusion
Wheww. What an amazing amount of work! I hadn’t realised when I started the process of getting a website up and running, how complicated it all is and how many factors you have to consider before even designing the website. The word web design is really a misnomer, as people often think it’s just about the graphic design on the home page, and the branding of the product. Unless you are a computer buff, most people have no idea how much goes into designing and building a website and the systems that support the work you want it to do. I hope that this article will give readers an understanding and insight into the whole process of website development from start to finish.

Another New eBiz Pronounces The Death of the Business Card

They’re saying the old fashioned business card exchange hasn’t kept up with the times.

In this age of cell phones, ipods, smart phones and social networking, it should to be easier to connect with someone electronically. That thought inspired rmbrME.

This new service automates the exchange of contact information between two people. Palm Treo users once “beamed” each other their contact information through infrared connections; now rmbeME uses text messages.

rmbrME lets you send out a bzCard, which includes a standard vCard data (phone number, address etc.) plus social networking links such as direct links to your Facebook or Linkedin pages. It works from most phones, including smart phones, and on any cell phone carrier.

I’m just not sure people want to get rid of their business cards completely. Sure we can benefit by having more ways to keep important contact information. But a well designed business card can do so very much more than just store contact information…

For instance, an effective business card design can help your prospects and clients understand what product or service you provide. It can encourage them to want to keep it handy. It can help brand your company. It can help them make the decision to use your company.

So far none of these e-business card services can do any of these things.

Even when the technology can do these things, there is still a difference in actually touching and getting a feeling from a business card as opposed to looking at digital bits. We are sensory based creatures. So I don’t think we’re going to see the end of the business card for quite some time yet..

Mark

P.S. Learn Effective Business Card Design and Marketing With Your Business Card Advisor Memebership.

Social Sites can be Addicting

Social Sites can be great, but as their audience increases, most of the time they change with the audience. Digg is based on what the users choose to be on the homepage, for example, the passing of a legend, so they have no control over the change unless they change the rules.

Social sites can be hard to monetize, and most social sites do not require the creation of any defensible IP. With no defensible IP or sustainable business model, many recent social and media startups are finding it harder to stay afloat.

Social sites can be a great way to broadcast your web video free. This allows you to get your video out there and viewers to learn about your company. Social sites can standardize the size of an image, even if they can’t standardize the content. Here’s where some understanding of visual cognition and visual discrimination factors comes in handy.

Social sites can be a bit risky. Err on the side of safety, and use LinkedIn for networking and career purposes. Social sites can do more to reach out to school districts. One step is to provide schools with special authentication based on the school’s enrollment.

Social sites can be used for good or fun or bad or to counter bad. Don’t always brag about something like a celebrity heiress or you might find your email inbox overflowing. Social sites can work the same way, with members passing on half understood or incomplete information as facts.

Social websites are all the rage right now, and are not just hyped by the media (MySpace and YouTube in particular), but there are also large amounts of money involved (again, MySpace and YouTube). But does the social model make sense for data analysis and visualization? Social websites are getting better, more used, more open and more complete.

Why should you start a website or blog if you can also write on your Facebook. Social websites are funny places. What stories do you tell over drinks with friends? Social websites are the most popular sites today because they allow people to be interactive with the web pages they visit. Users can post their own comments and have a sense of ownership on sites that are considered social web pages.

Social websites are ideal for groups of people who are connected by a common interest such as a favorite pinup girl and need to collaborate. Instead of sending email back and forth, a social website can be used to centralize the knowledge of a group. Social websites are very large and you can never know who is behind a certain ID. And of course, hackers are exploiting this the best way they can, in pretending to be officials in need of data, when they’re just phishing.

Social websites are characterized by sharing ideas and experiences between users. So that forums, blogs, messages, rating, and searching are necessary. Social websites are the thing now, and since is is the major trend, why not make it for mobile users, and we’re not just talking iPhones here.