Most successful businesses found online typically share certain characteristics insofar as the strategies they use. Their basic philosophy is built around the attitude of taking action when and where needed with minimal hesitation. However marketing an online business also involves the use of a good deal of strategic thinking so that the actions taken proved to be as productive as possible! The bottom line is marketing success on the internet calls for the need to think fast and move even faster.
Here are 5 basic strategies commonly used when marketing an online business that seem to yield successful results for many time and again!
Apply Initiative
Avoid duplicating the 'cookie cutter' approach when possibly if the opportunity to customize a something is available to you! Do not select any approaches or strategies based upon how simple they may be to apply when marketing an online business. In most cases there are always ways to tweak or improve that which is already in existence. By doing so you are already distancing yourself from the crowd!
Keyword Selection
Most suggest or are proponents of selecting keywords for their business that are NOT highly searched upon since they are deemed to be too competitive. Well keyword use is for the sake of generating traffic, right? It would seem that those words and phrases that reflect the greatest search results would also bring you the most traffic and therefore more marketing success as well! Using these words and phrases for traffic generation would seem fine, just avoid trying to rank a website or blog using them since these results may take longer!
Watch the Crowd, Go in the Opposite Direction
Although success does leave footprints, use the accomplishments of others as a source for developing new ideas and/or concepts! The key to marketing an online business successfully is to have something that stands out from the pack. You can still be different while employing the same principles others have used in the past that gave then great results! It would only stand to reason that if 'everybody' is doing the same thing it will be harder for you to compete!
Forget the Small Stuff
Avoid the temptation of getting too hung up in small and insignificant details! It is absolutely vital to move beyond the planning stages if marketing success is to be yours and this requires taking action! Planning is great and obviously needed however unless active measures are taken to implement your plan nothing will never happen, period!
Fear Not Failure
Do not ever allow a fear of failure keep you from taking action since you will NEVER learn anything new nor will you succeed at most anything. Just about everything you do or have done in life initially presented some type of learning curve which meant the chance you may not get it right the first time! By allowing this fear to hold you back you are cheating yourself out of new experiences, accomplishments and of course the opportunity to learn something new! Failing is learning so get that straight and fear it no more!
Most successful businesses realize the need for taking a more individualized approach in order to set themselves apart from their competitors. This approach encompasses not only those strategies used for marketing an online business but also personal philosophies and attitudes as well. By keeping a focus on their primary goals and avoiding becoming entangled in details and personal fears marketing success becomes easier to achieve! The 5 simple strategies offered above serve to show how practicing a little initiative and not sweating the small stuff when marketing an online business makes you more productive! In the end it all depends upon your ability to shed your inhibitions allowing you to be more decisive when taking action in order to grow your business successfully!
TJ Philpott is an author and Internet entrepreneur based out of North Carolina.
For more tips about what most successful businesses do to gain an edge and to also receive a free instructional manual that teaches valuable niche research techniques for your online marketing needs simply visit: http://affiliatequickstart.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=TJ_Philpott
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Advertising Materials
Advertising has evolved into a vastly complex form of communication, with literally thousands of different ways for a business to get a message to the consumer. It could be said that cave paintings in some way represented the first forms of advertising, although the earliest recognized version of what we know as advertising was done on papyrus by the Egyptians. And in Pompeii, the ruins suggest that advertising was commonplace.
However, today the advertiser has a vast array of choices. The Internet alone provides many of these, with the advent of branded viral videos, banners, advertorials, sponsored websites, branded chat rooms and so much more.
Fortunately, every single tactic available to the advertiser falls into one of the following buckets. Although a few of these are relatively new to the field, most go way back to the very beginnings of modern advertising.
Print Advertising
If an advertisement is printed on paper, be it newspapers, magazines, newsletters, booklets, flyers, direct mail, or anything else that would be considered a portable printed medium, then it comes under the banner of print advertising.
Guerrilla Advertising
Also known as ambient media, guerrilla advertising (or marketing) has become prominent over the last 20 years. It is a broadly used term for anything unconventional, and usually invites the consumer to participate or interact with the piece in some way. Location is important, as is timing. The driving forces behind guerrilla advertising or marketing are creative ideas and innovation, not a large budget. Quite often, you will ask for forgiveness rather than permission with these campaigns, and they will spread via word of mouth and social media.
Broadcast Advertising
A mass-market form of communication including television and radio, broadcast advertising has, until recently, been the most dominant way to reach a large number of consumers.
Outdoor Advertising
Also known as out-of-home (OOH) advertising, this is a broad term that describes any type of advertising that reaches the consumer when he or she is outside of the home.
Public Service Advertising
Unlike traditional commercials, Public Service Advertisements (PSA) are primarily designed to inform and educate rather than sell a product or service.
However, today the advertiser has a vast array of choices. The Internet alone provides many of these, with the advent of branded viral videos, banners, advertorials, sponsored websites, branded chat rooms and so much more.
Fortunately, every single tactic available to the advertiser falls into one of the following buckets. Although a few of these are relatively new to the field, most go way back to the very beginnings of modern advertising.
Print Advertising
If an advertisement is printed on paper, be it newspapers, magazines, newsletters, booklets, flyers, direct mail, or anything else that would be considered a portable printed medium, then it comes under the banner of print advertising.
Guerrilla Advertising
Also known as ambient media, guerrilla advertising (or marketing) has become prominent over the last 20 years. It is a broadly used term for anything unconventional, and usually invites the consumer to participate or interact with the piece in some way. Location is important, as is timing. The driving forces behind guerrilla advertising or marketing are creative ideas and innovation, not a large budget. Quite often, you will ask for forgiveness rather than permission with these campaigns, and they will spread via word of mouth and social media.
Broadcast Advertising
A mass-market form of communication including television and radio, broadcast advertising has, until recently, been the most dominant way to reach a large number of consumers.
Outdoor Advertising
Also known as out-of-home (OOH) advertising, this is a broad term that describes any type of advertising that reaches the consumer when he or she is outside of the home.
Public Service Advertising
Unlike traditional commercials, Public Service Advertisements (PSA) are primarily designed to inform and educate rather than sell a product or service.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
4 Tips to Becoming an Outrageously Cool Entrepreneur
The reason why I am talking about being an entrepreneur is that we are actually in car heading up to Saint Louis and I am going to meet David Siteman Garland who has the website The Rise to The Top. He has awesome video blog, he has got some great shows, and is a soon to be an author. He just really inspired me which is obvious since we are on the way to Saint Louis on a Wednesday. So I am taking time of work but I am going to meet him and get inspired by him and some of the people he has been inspired by. I am going to share some of my tips and some of my experiences of being an entrepreneur and hope that you get something out of it.
1. Follow Your Passion (and mean it)
So the first tip that I will share with you is that if you want to be an entrepreneur, you have to follow your passion. You have to find out what that is. For me, I have been a numbers guy for pretty much of my life so it is natural fit to get into investments.
I did not consider myself to be an entrepreneur until ‘O7 and when I left my previous firm and me and 3 others started Alliance Investment Planning Group. That was my first taste of being an entrepreneur. Then I started my blog Goodfinancialcents.com and right now I am also working on my book and some of other projects. That first step really gave me the entrepreneur bug. If you don’t want to do numbers is not your thing then you don’t need to be in my profession. You need to find out what your passion is, follow your passion and just crush it. You might start down path and maybe your path changes. That’s OK. That is the beauty of being an entrepreneur. You have to shift and be agile enough to move on to the next thing.
2. Dive Right In
The second step that I will say is dive right in. I have a lot of people, I talked to them that if they want to be an entrepreneur?
They talk about being an entrepreneur and all they do is just talk. If you are going to do it, you can talk about that all day long but until you actually take that first step, until you put yourself out there, you will never going to know what it is and if you have what it takes. That was with us when we stepped out and started our own firm. It was a huge risk. We had a big name behind us and we just let that go.
We took a huge step.
I was lucky in the sense that I had a good client base already but it did not mean that it had to follow me. So that was a huge risk and one of the best risk that I have taken.
Another risk was I put myself with the blog. I read an article in early part of O8 about blogging and how you need to have a blog. I have no idea what a blog was. I am sure if you read this at the site. My interpretation of blog was getting on my space and hearing hip hop music and looking pictures of people, I really did not get it. I started just reading and researching and looking at blogs. It took me months to figure out. Lot of late nights, giving some time from weekends to learn the blog and just don’t ride in. Have I not done it, I still not be talking about it. Here it is almost two years later, the blog is an awesome thing. First thing is follow your passion and second thing is dive right in.
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3. Cut Out The Crap
Third thing is cut out the crap. What I mean by this was that I was listening to a podcast of someone that was a consulting another individual that wanted to be an entrepreneur. They could never set up the time because the guy, the “wannabe” entrepreneur, could not schedule the time because he did not want to miss the show Wipeout. He couldn’t schedule his consulting session to take him to the next level because he couldn’t workout the time that didn’t allow him to miss Wipeout. Really?
If you are an entrepreneur (or want to become one), you can miss Wipeout. So cut out the crap. If you watch hours of reality television per week, cut it out. Any other noise, just cut it out because this is your dream, this is your passion. If you really want to do it then you need to focus 150% or 1050% whatever, put everything into it and that’s the way that you grow. That’s the way you build your dream and your vision.
4. Support Please
Last thing I say is all about the support system. Two things. One is having an awesome spouse that is going to support you throughout the whole process. Somebody holding a video cam while you are a driving a car is awesome. So having that to support you and motivate you and sometime may be even second guess and ask, “hey is that a really a good idea?’ This may be that your driving force to push it hard and to really show that person that YES this is my vision and this is my dream and I’m going pull it off no matter what it takes.
The other thing is to surround yourself by people who have similar drive and that have similar vision. If you have friends who are always just complaining about having hard times to make ends meet but then they are not doing anything about it. I am not saying to cut them out but just cut and reduce that time because if you go out and you start showing them that hey this is me, and you are fired up and super motivated eventually I hope that you will be contagious.
Cut these people out of your life and have people that have the similar vision. That is one of the reason that I am heading towards Saint Louis to meet David Siteman Garland. I met him on twitter. This guy got such huge followers in a short period of time. This guy knows what is going on. I am going there and hope that I will meet some great people that have similar vision, similar drive and similar passion. So find those people. I had the hardest time finding people locally, I will say that I found more lately. If you are having hard time finding someone locally that have same vision, same drive then head online. Start a blog, go on twitter, find people that have similar interest you do and you will be amazed. David is one of the 100 people I found online that just have “it”.
Entrepreneur Recap
So just as a recap if you really want to become an entrepreneur to make your dream your vision blossom what you want it to see. Number 1 is find your passion, find what it is that gets you going because if it is your passion it will not be a job, It will be a hobby a fun hobby. Number two is dive right in. Just dive right in and then you learn so much. With blogging, I did not know anything about it but I just said that I am going to do it and I am going to figure it out as I go. Sure enough I did that. There were a lot of trials but it all worked out. Number three is cut out the crap. Cut out television, cut out things, the basic takeaways of putting time and energies to focus. Last thing is have a good support system. So this is Jeff Rose goodfinancialcents.com. Thanks for bearing with us and I hope that you enjoyed it.
1. Follow Your Passion (and mean it)
So the first tip that I will share with you is that if you want to be an entrepreneur, you have to follow your passion. You have to find out what that is. For me, I have been a numbers guy for pretty much of my life so it is natural fit to get into investments.
I did not consider myself to be an entrepreneur until ‘O7 and when I left my previous firm and me and 3 others started Alliance Investment Planning Group. That was my first taste of being an entrepreneur. Then I started my blog Goodfinancialcents.com and right now I am also working on my book and some of other projects. That first step really gave me the entrepreneur bug. If you don’t want to do numbers is not your thing then you don’t need to be in my profession. You need to find out what your passion is, follow your passion and just crush it. You might start down path and maybe your path changes. That’s OK. That is the beauty of being an entrepreneur. You have to shift and be agile enough to move on to the next thing.
2. Dive Right In
The second step that I will say is dive right in. I have a lot of people, I talked to them that if they want to be an entrepreneur?
They talk about being an entrepreneur and all they do is just talk. If you are going to do it, you can talk about that all day long but until you actually take that first step, until you put yourself out there, you will never going to know what it is and if you have what it takes. That was with us when we stepped out and started our own firm. It was a huge risk. We had a big name behind us and we just let that go.
We took a huge step.
I was lucky in the sense that I had a good client base already but it did not mean that it had to follow me. So that was a huge risk and one of the best risk that I have taken.
Another risk was I put myself with the blog. I read an article in early part of O8 about blogging and how you need to have a blog. I have no idea what a blog was. I am sure if you read this at the site. My interpretation of blog was getting on my space and hearing hip hop music and looking pictures of people, I really did not get it. I started just reading and researching and looking at blogs. It took me months to figure out. Lot of late nights, giving some time from weekends to learn the blog and just don’t ride in. Have I not done it, I still not be talking about it. Here it is almost two years later, the blog is an awesome thing. First thing is follow your passion and second thing is dive right in.
Ads by Google
CFA Institute – Explore New Avenues in Global Finance.
www.cfainstitute.org/India
Inventory Management – A Free, Safe & Simplified Tool for Managing Your Money. Try It Now!
www.perfios.com/managingyourmoney
TATA Hiring for July 2011 – 10,000+ Job Openings across India Upload Resume.Apply to TATA Now!
TimesJobs.com/TATA-Hiring
Free Numerology Analysis – Discover how all the numbers of your life can reveal your future!
AboutAstro.com
3. Cut Out The Crap
Third thing is cut out the crap. What I mean by this was that I was listening to a podcast of someone that was a consulting another individual that wanted to be an entrepreneur. They could never set up the time because the guy, the “wannabe” entrepreneur, could not schedule the time because he did not want to miss the show Wipeout. He couldn’t schedule his consulting session to take him to the next level because he couldn’t workout the time that didn’t allow him to miss Wipeout. Really?
If you are an entrepreneur (or want to become one), you can miss Wipeout. So cut out the crap. If you watch hours of reality television per week, cut it out. Any other noise, just cut it out because this is your dream, this is your passion. If you really want to do it then you need to focus 150% or 1050% whatever, put everything into it and that’s the way that you grow. That’s the way you build your dream and your vision.
4. Support Please
Last thing I say is all about the support system. Two things. One is having an awesome spouse that is going to support you throughout the whole process. Somebody holding a video cam while you are a driving a car is awesome. So having that to support you and motivate you and sometime may be even second guess and ask, “hey is that a really a good idea?’ This may be that your driving force to push it hard and to really show that person that YES this is my vision and this is my dream and I’m going pull it off no matter what it takes.
The other thing is to surround yourself by people who have similar drive and that have similar vision. If you have friends who are always just complaining about having hard times to make ends meet but then they are not doing anything about it. I am not saying to cut them out but just cut and reduce that time because if you go out and you start showing them that hey this is me, and you are fired up and super motivated eventually I hope that you will be contagious.
Cut these people out of your life and have people that have the similar vision. That is one of the reason that I am heading towards Saint Louis to meet David Siteman Garland. I met him on twitter. This guy got such huge followers in a short period of time. This guy knows what is going on. I am going there and hope that I will meet some great people that have similar vision, similar drive and similar passion. So find those people. I had the hardest time finding people locally, I will say that I found more lately. If you are having hard time finding someone locally that have same vision, same drive then head online. Start a blog, go on twitter, find people that have similar interest you do and you will be amazed. David is one of the 100 people I found online that just have “it”.
Entrepreneur Recap
So just as a recap if you really want to become an entrepreneur to make your dream your vision blossom what you want it to see. Number 1 is find your passion, find what it is that gets you going because if it is your passion it will not be a job, It will be a hobby a fun hobby. Number two is dive right in. Just dive right in and then you learn so much. With blogging, I did not know anything about it but I just said that I am going to do it and I am going to figure it out as I go. Sure enough I did that. There were a lot of trials but it all worked out. Number three is cut out the crap. Cut out television, cut out things, the basic takeaways of putting time and energies to focus. Last thing is have a good support system. So this is Jeff Rose goodfinancialcents.com. Thanks for bearing with us and I hope that you enjoyed it.
Conducting Market Research
Prior to the launch of any new product, companies engage in exhaustively thorough market research in order to gauge its probability of success. If your subjects are properly selected, you can gain valuable information that may allow you to better temper your product for the intended target audience. What are your considerations prior to starting market research?
Demographics of your target geographical area – are you targeting the right region?
Price range and profit margin – will you make enough money from each sale?
Intended production volume – if you intend to take a higher volume approach, do you have the facilities to back it up?
Age range, marital status, family – do you have a detailed sketch of your ideal customer in mind?
Income and Lifestyle range – how much money will your average customer make?
Males, females or both – which sex are you focused on?
Seasonal, cyclical nature of your product – is your product marketable year-round or only on certain occasions?
Photo by Ramotion
These may be bewildering questions at first. However, a well-run company should have a marketing manager to coordinate appropriate market research with a marketing researcher. The researcher and the manager define the objectives to be attained through the research.
A well known acronym in the world of marketing research is “DECIDE”, which is a quick way to remember the steps of research.
Define the marketing problem
Enumerate the decision factors
Collect relevant information
Identify the best alternatives
Develop and implement a marketing plan
Evaluate the final decision
The marketing team should then develop the plan and outline the costs, to be presented to the marketing manager for approval.
Now, with an approved market research in place, it’s time to address the two main forms of market research:
Demographics of your target geographical area – are you targeting the right region?
Price range and profit margin – will you make enough money from each sale?
Intended production volume – if you intend to take a higher volume approach, do you have the facilities to back it up?
Age range, marital status, family – do you have a detailed sketch of your ideal customer in mind?
Income and Lifestyle range – how much money will your average customer make?
Males, females or both – which sex are you focused on?
Seasonal, cyclical nature of your product – is your product marketable year-round or only on certain occasions?
Photo by Ramotion
These may be bewildering questions at first. However, a well-run company should have a marketing manager to coordinate appropriate market research with a marketing researcher. The researcher and the manager define the objectives to be attained through the research.
A well known acronym in the world of marketing research is “DECIDE”, which is a quick way to remember the steps of research.
Define the marketing problem
Enumerate the decision factors
Collect relevant information
Identify the best alternatives
Develop and implement a marketing plan
Evaluate the final decision
The marketing team should then develop the plan and outline the costs, to be presented to the marketing manager for approval.
Now, with an approved market research in place, it’s time to address the two main forms of market research:
What is SWOM?
Swom stands for Super Word-of-Mouth and is a social networking sites for home-businessses that gives you the tools to achieve your financial destiny. These include:
Meet new prospects - thousands of internet marketers meet here - they can be you next customer or Joint-Venture partner!
Create your own group - give exposure of your business or opportunity and meet new customers.
Twitter link - post messages to Twitter directly from Swom - put your marketing on auto-pilot!
Affiliate program - generous 70% payout on commissions in an advanced social networking affiliate program!
Learn as you earn and start building an income from day one. You can earn a full-time income promoting Swom or your own opportunities - with time and dedication you can earn a realistic 4, 5 or even 6-figure sum each and every month!
Meet new prospects - thousands of internet marketers meet here - they can be you next customer or Joint-Venture partner!
Create your own group - give exposure of your business or opportunity and meet new customers.
Twitter link - post messages to Twitter directly from Swom - put your marketing on auto-pilot!
Affiliate program - generous 70% payout on commissions in an advanced social networking affiliate program!
Learn as you earn and start building an income from day one. You can earn a full-time income promoting Swom or your own opportunities - with time and dedication you can earn a realistic 4, 5 or even 6-figure sum each and every month!
Tax Issues Related to Your Business
Small businesses must withhold federal income taxes from their employee’s wages and pay them directly to the IRS. The amount depends on the size of the payments, the number of exemptions claimed by each employee, their marital status, and the frequency of the payments. Each employee must complete a W-4 form to determine withholding exemptions.
Employers must also withhold 6.2% of each employee’s income for Social Security and 1.45% of each employee’s income for Medicare, in addition to the matching contribution that the employer makes.
Most employers are also required to pay federal and state unemployment taxes under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act.
An excise tax is a tax paid for the sale or manufacture of certain commodities. For example, environmental taxes, communications taxes, or fuel taxes could be excise taxes levied on a particular business. Depending on what the business manufactures or sells, some businesses might not be required to pay these at all.
Sole proprietorship A sole proprietorship is a company with only one owner that is not registered with the state as a limited liability company or corporation. The owner does not pay income tax separately for the company, but he/she reports business income or losses on his/her individual income tax return. The owner is inseparable from the sole proprietorship, so he/she is liable for any business debts.
Self-employed or sole proprietors report their taxes through Form 1040 and Schedule C for net profit and loss from their business. Employers are also required to make quarterly estimated tax payments if they expect their business to earn more than $1,000.
Partnerships A partnership is a business, which has one or more owners and that is not a limited liability company or corporation. Partners share equal responsibility for the company’s profits and losses, and its debts and liabilities. The partnership itself does not pay income taxes, but each partner has to report their share of business profits or losses on their individual tax return. Estimated tax payments are also necessary for each of the partners for the year in progress.
Partnerships must file a return on Form 1065 showing income and deductions. Estimated tax payments are also required if they expect their income to be greater than $1,000.
Limited Liability partnerships A limited liability partnership is a business organization that has one or more general partners who manage the business and assume legal debts and obligations, and one or more limited partners who do not participate in the day-to-day operations and are liable only to the extent of their investments. As a limited partner, you share in the profits and losses, and these are taxable events to you. This means that if the partnership makes money at a point in the year and the general partners reinvest those profits instead of paying them to you, you may have to pay taxes even if you do not receive cash in return. Be sure to consult with a tax professional if you participate in a limited partnership.
Employers must also withhold 6.2% of each employee’s income for Social Security and 1.45% of each employee’s income for Medicare, in addition to the matching contribution that the employer makes.
Most employers are also required to pay federal and state unemployment taxes under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act.
An excise tax is a tax paid for the sale or manufacture of certain commodities. For example, environmental taxes, communications taxes, or fuel taxes could be excise taxes levied on a particular business. Depending on what the business manufactures or sells, some businesses might not be required to pay these at all.
Sole proprietorship A sole proprietorship is a company with only one owner that is not registered with the state as a limited liability company or corporation. The owner does not pay income tax separately for the company, but he/she reports business income or losses on his/her individual income tax return. The owner is inseparable from the sole proprietorship, so he/she is liable for any business debts.
Self-employed or sole proprietors report their taxes through Form 1040 and Schedule C for net profit and loss from their business. Employers are also required to make quarterly estimated tax payments if they expect their business to earn more than $1,000.
Partnerships A partnership is a business, which has one or more owners and that is not a limited liability company or corporation. Partners share equal responsibility for the company’s profits and losses, and its debts and liabilities. The partnership itself does not pay income taxes, but each partner has to report their share of business profits or losses on their individual tax return. Estimated tax payments are also necessary for each of the partners for the year in progress.
Partnerships must file a return on Form 1065 showing income and deductions. Estimated tax payments are also required if they expect their income to be greater than $1,000.
Limited Liability partnerships A limited liability partnership is a business organization that has one or more general partners who manage the business and assume legal debts and obligations, and one or more limited partners who do not participate in the day-to-day operations and are liable only to the extent of their investments. As a limited partner, you share in the profits and losses, and these are taxable events to you. This means that if the partnership makes money at a point in the year and the general partners reinvest those profits instead of paying them to you, you may have to pay taxes even if you do not receive cash in return. Be sure to consult with a tax professional if you participate in a limited partnership.
Terror strikes Mumbai again
After a chilling gap of about two years, terror struck Mumbai on Wednesday evening, killing at least 17 and injuring around 100 people.
The news of three blasts in the densely populated areas near Dadar Railway Station, Zaveri Bazaar and Opera House in Central Mumbai reverberated across the city, as office-goers headed home in the evening hours of a rain-drenched day.
The Union Home Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, said: “The number of dead could rise ... this is a coordinated attack by terrorists. There is no indication of any more blasts other than the three reported.”
The National Investigation Agency has been mobilised to assist the Mumbai police, while the city has been put on high alert, he added.
The trickle of news on the blasts sent city residents into a panic, coming as it does within two years of the terror-attack, when 10 gun-men held the city hostage. Six locations were attacked then, and 166 people were killed.
For a city that has witnessed terror, with a chilling regularity of two years in the recent past – the serial blasts brought home a familiar unpleasant reality.
Even the locations of the blast are not new to terror attacks, as Zaveri Bazaar, a diamond-merchant hub, was targeted in 2003, and 54 people were killed.
Mr Jayesh Shah was a diamond merchant and a witness to the blast.
“At 6.45-6.50 p.m., there was a loud noise. Then, there was loud explosion and 30-35 people were found injured on the street and after they rushed the injured to various hospitals.
“The explosion was near a food stall. It was a very congested and small area.”
Dr P.M. Bhujang, Medical Director of Harkishandas Hospital, told Business Line that 23 people have been admitted in the hospital with trauma and injuries, of whom 12 are in serious condition.
The Maharashtra Chief Minister, Mr Prithviraj Chavan, said that 21 ambulances have been despatched and the injured have largely been sent to JJ, Nair and KEM hospitals, in the heart of the city.
As night settled, the island city witnessed deserted roads, with a heavy presence only of the men-in-uniform policing the financial capital.
The news of three blasts in the densely populated areas near Dadar Railway Station, Zaveri Bazaar and Opera House in Central Mumbai reverberated across the city, as office-goers headed home in the evening hours of a rain-drenched day.
The Union Home Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, said: “The number of dead could rise ... this is a coordinated attack by terrorists. There is no indication of any more blasts other than the three reported.”
The National Investigation Agency has been mobilised to assist the Mumbai police, while the city has been put on high alert, he added.
The trickle of news on the blasts sent city residents into a panic, coming as it does within two years of the terror-attack, when 10 gun-men held the city hostage. Six locations were attacked then, and 166 people were killed.
For a city that has witnessed terror, with a chilling regularity of two years in the recent past – the serial blasts brought home a familiar unpleasant reality.
Even the locations of the blast are not new to terror attacks, as Zaveri Bazaar, a diamond-merchant hub, was targeted in 2003, and 54 people were killed.
Mr Jayesh Shah was a diamond merchant and a witness to the blast.
“At 6.45-6.50 p.m., there was a loud noise. Then, there was loud explosion and 30-35 people were found injured on the street and after they rushed the injured to various hospitals.
“The explosion was near a food stall. It was a very congested and small area.”
Dr P.M. Bhujang, Medical Director of Harkishandas Hospital, told Business Line that 23 people have been admitted in the hospital with trauma and injuries, of whom 12 are in serious condition.
The Maharashtra Chief Minister, Mr Prithviraj Chavan, said that 21 ambulances have been despatched and the injured have largely been sent to JJ, Nair and KEM hospitals, in the heart of the city.
As night settled, the island city witnessed deserted roads, with a heavy presence only of the men-in-uniform policing the financial capital.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Speed Up Your PC
Over time, the speed of computers with Microsoft Windows can decrease. This appears as the system taking more time to respond to a user’s actions like opening files, folders, surfing the Internet and other tasks. However, there are things you can do to speed up your computer.
The following is a list of ways you can improve your computer's performance. These steps are intended to be used in order. The key is to do the simplest and least invasive thing first until your system starts responding better.
Golden Rule: Do No Harm
If you want to improve the speed of your computer, that’s great. However, above all, do no harm and beyond the scope of this Windows forum, ask for help from those you know if you get in over your head. Remember: you have time. You can stop most processes I discuss without causing harm. Caution and common sense go a long way when working with computers; problems are often much easier to fix than they appear.
Steps to Speed Up Your Computer’s Performance
1. Make Sure Your Hardware is Sufficient
Above and beyond everything you can do with software to optimize the function of your computer, making sure you have the proper hardware to support Windows is critical.
2. Clean Your Desktop
Is your Windows Desktop dotted with files? Have you noticed that your computer has been running slower and slower? Do you see the hard drive light often flashing while you wait for the computer to respond to an action? There are steps you can take to fix it. Read this article.
3. Scan Your Windows System for Errors
An operating system is a collection of files that perform different functions. It is possible, over time, that one or more of these system files has changed or become corrupted. If this happens, the speed of your system may decrease. By using a utility called “System File Checking”, it will inspect these files and correct any problem it finds.
4. Scan for Viruses, Spyware and Adware
Every Windows computer is vulnerable to viruses. Viruses are nasty little programs that cause both major and minor problems for users.
Spyware and Adware are programs created by companies to find out more information about customers, so they can better market products to them. Usually these programs are not created for malicious purposes. Spyware and Adware can load into computer memory and slow it down.
Periodically scanning and removal of Viruses, Spyware and Adware is a great way to improve computer performance.
5. Uninstall Unused Programs
Over time, you may have accumulated programs on your computer that you do not use. When a program is installed, it creates connections between the program and the operating system. Even if you don’t use these programs, they can slow down your system. If you have the original program’s installation disk or file, removing programs will free up space on your computer and may speed up your system's performance.
6. Adjust Visual Effects for Better Performance
Windows provides a number of interesting visual effects including animated windows and fading menus. If you do not have enough operating memory (see above number 1), these effects can slow down your computer. Adjusting or reducing visual effects can make a difference.
To speed up Vista computers in particular you can disable features and function that are not used. For more information, read "How to Speed Up Windows Vista."
7. Don’t Automatically Start Programs
Programs use operating memory (RAM, also called system resources). Unless you always use these programs, you can keep them from loading at Windows startup and speed both the booting of your computer and its performance.
8. Defragment Your Hard Drive (After you have tried everything else)
The more information and programs you have on your computer, the more it is likely that Windows has placed parts of the same file in different locations on your hard drive. It may do this for hundreds of files and programs, depending on how much space is available. Defragmenting the hard drive places all information for each file in one place. The result can be a faster computer experience.
Important Note: Before you even try this, backup all your work onto a different computer, hard drive, CD or disk. Also, you should only do this if you have a reliable source of power for your computer. Doing this when there is a brown out or power problem in the neighborhood, is not a good idea. If a computer turns off while it is defragmenting a drive, it will create more problems than not defragmenting it in the first place.
9. Reinstall the Operating System and Programs
If you have done all the above steps and your computer does not become more responsive, you might consider reinstalling the operating system and programs. This is a scorched earth option - basically you backup all your data and user settings, wipe your hard drive clean and re-install the operating system with your original disks. Next, install all your favorite programs and restore all your data and user settings.
The nice thing about doing this is that you essentially have a new computer, free of years worth of software and registry changes, additions and errors that can turn a fast rabbit of a Windows computer into a slow turtle. The bad thing about this choice is that it takes time and planning to do it correctly. If your PC is 3 to 4 years old and continues to run slower than it did when you purchased it, this might be the only action that will make a significant difference.
The following is a list of ways you can improve your computer's performance. These steps are intended to be used in order. The key is to do the simplest and least invasive thing first until your system starts responding better.
Golden Rule: Do No Harm
If you want to improve the speed of your computer, that’s great. However, above all, do no harm and beyond the scope of this Windows forum, ask for help from those you know if you get in over your head. Remember: you have time. You can stop most processes I discuss without causing harm. Caution and common sense go a long way when working with computers; problems are often much easier to fix than they appear.
Steps to Speed Up Your Computer’s Performance
1. Make Sure Your Hardware is Sufficient
Above and beyond everything you can do with software to optimize the function of your computer, making sure you have the proper hardware to support Windows is critical.
2. Clean Your Desktop
Is your Windows Desktop dotted with files? Have you noticed that your computer has been running slower and slower? Do you see the hard drive light often flashing while you wait for the computer to respond to an action? There are steps you can take to fix it. Read this article.
3. Scan Your Windows System for Errors
An operating system is a collection of files that perform different functions. It is possible, over time, that one or more of these system files has changed or become corrupted. If this happens, the speed of your system may decrease. By using a utility called “System File Checking”, it will inspect these files and correct any problem it finds.
4. Scan for Viruses, Spyware and Adware
Every Windows computer is vulnerable to viruses. Viruses are nasty little programs that cause both major and minor problems for users.
Spyware and Adware are programs created by companies to find out more information about customers, so they can better market products to them. Usually these programs are not created for malicious purposes. Spyware and Adware can load into computer memory and slow it down.
Periodically scanning and removal of Viruses, Spyware and Adware is a great way to improve computer performance.
5. Uninstall Unused Programs
Over time, you may have accumulated programs on your computer that you do not use. When a program is installed, it creates connections between the program and the operating system. Even if you don’t use these programs, they can slow down your system. If you have the original program’s installation disk or file, removing programs will free up space on your computer and may speed up your system's performance.
6. Adjust Visual Effects for Better Performance
Windows provides a number of interesting visual effects including animated windows and fading menus. If you do not have enough operating memory (see above number 1), these effects can slow down your computer. Adjusting or reducing visual effects can make a difference.
To speed up Vista computers in particular you can disable features and function that are not used. For more information, read "How to Speed Up Windows Vista."
7. Don’t Automatically Start Programs
Programs use operating memory (RAM, also called system resources). Unless you always use these programs, you can keep them from loading at Windows startup and speed both the booting of your computer and its performance.
8. Defragment Your Hard Drive (After you have tried everything else)
The more information and programs you have on your computer, the more it is likely that Windows has placed parts of the same file in different locations on your hard drive. It may do this for hundreds of files and programs, depending on how much space is available. Defragmenting the hard drive places all information for each file in one place. The result can be a faster computer experience.
Important Note: Before you even try this, backup all your work onto a different computer, hard drive, CD or disk. Also, you should only do this if you have a reliable source of power for your computer. Doing this when there is a brown out or power problem in the neighborhood, is not a good idea. If a computer turns off while it is defragmenting a drive, it will create more problems than not defragmenting it in the first place.
9. Reinstall the Operating System and Programs
If you have done all the above steps and your computer does not become more responsive, you might consider reinstalling the operating system and programs. This is a scorched earth option - basically you backup all your data and user settings, wipe your hard drive clean and re-install the operating system with your original disks. Next, install all your favorite programs and restore all your data and user settings.
The nice thing about doing this is that you essentially have a new computer, free of years worth of software and registry changes, additions and errors that can turn a fast rabbit of a Windows computer into a slow turtle. The bad thing about this choice is that it takes time and planning to do it correctly. If your PC is 3 to 4 years old and continues to run slower than it did when you purchased it, this might be the only action that will make a significant difference.
Surety Bonds
Surety Bonds – a Crucial, Often Forgotten Tool for Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs have a lot on their plate as they prepare to start up a new enterprise. To help stay organized, it can be helpful to run through a checklist of essential tasks that must be completed before a business can open. Considerations vary widely, from where exactly to set up shop to which bank to trust with the company’s finances.
All too often there’s one important consideration that gets overlooked — the need for surety bonds. These risk mitigation tools are usually required by government agencies looking to protect the best interests of consumers. Some bonds, however, work to protect business owners, which can be especially beneficial for small business owners.
So what is a surety bond, anyway?
At its core, a surety bond is a legally binding contract that financially guarantees the performance of an individual or a business. Each surety bond that’s executed binds three entities together.
• The principal is the professional or business that purchases the bond to guarantee the quality of work to be done in the future.
• The obligee is the entity that requires certain professionals and businesses to get bonded. Obligees are usually government agencies working to regulate an industry.
• The surety is the company that sells the bond to the principal, thus providing a financial guarantee that the professional or business will follow all necessary rules outlined in the bond’s language.
What kind of protection do surety bonds provide?
There are thousands of surety bond types out there, and each one offers a unique kind of protection. Generally, though, surety bonds provide financial and legal insulation to protect consumers from unreliable professionals and businesses. Surety bonds provide a guarantee that an individual or an entity will fulfill its contractual obligations or other professional duties according to laws and regulations. In this way they provide the public with financial protection against poorly run businesses.
Entrepreneurs have a lot on their plate as they prepare to start up a new enterprise. To help stay organized, it can be helpful to run through a checklist of essential tasks that must be completed before a business can open. Considerations vary widely, from where exactly to set up shop to which bank to trust with the company’s finances.
All too often there’s one important consideration that gets overlooked — the need for surety bonds. These risk mitigation tools are usually required by government agencies looking to protect the best interests of consumers. Some bonds, however, work to protect business owners, which can be especially beneficial for small business owners.
So what is a surety bond, anyway?
At its core, a surety bond is a legally binding contract that financially guarantees the performance of an individual or a business. Each surety bond that’s executed binds three entities together.
• The principal is the professional or business that purchases the bond to guarantee the quality of work to be done in the future.
• The obligee is the entity that requires certain professionals and businesses to get bonded. Obligees are usually government agencies working to regulate an industry.
• The surety is the company that sells the bond to the principal, thus providing a financial guarantee that the professional or business will follow all necessary rules outlined in the bond’s language.
What kind of protection do surety bonds provide?
There are thousands of surety bond types out there, and each one offers a unique kind of protection. Generally, though, surety bonds provide financial and legal insulation to protect consumers from unreliable professionals and businesses. Surety bonds provide a guarantee that an individual or an entity will fulfill its contractual obligations or other professional duties according to laws and regulations. In this way they provide the public with financial protection against poorly run businesses.
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