My 2¢ Worth

riter's block. A psychological inhibition preventing a writer from proceeding with a piece. That from Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary.

ell I may not be a writer, but I could write a book on writers block about now. Funny how a man like me can find absolutely nothing to say.

y younger sister once told me I was opinionated! Like I always say, "Everybody's welcome to... My Opinion." So why can't I come up with something to say?

riter's block. That's the only possible explanation. Unless I'm really not opinionated... Nah!

njoy this weeks issue and look forward to at least 2¢ worth from me next time.

Feature Article

Visions Of Sugarplums

by: Bob Osgoodby

Not a day goes by that I don't hear about someone lamenting about their decision to leave corporate America and work at home. Maybe they were laid off, opted for early retirement, or just decided that commuting four hours on the train, coupled with an eight hour workday was simply too much. Possibly, they will keep their job and work part-time at home to earn extra income. Who knows what the reasons are, but that is not important.

With "visions of sugarplums" dancing in their head, they decided to start their own home business. They believed the ads about working in their pajamas when the spirit moved them, and after a month or so woke up to reality. They weren't making a dime.

Where did they go wrong? Well, when they worked for someone else, they were expected to be at work at a certain time every day. Depending on the business, there was a certain dress code, and they had goals to meet. Granted, these goals were usually determined by someone else, but they were the ones who had to meet them.

It is easy to work for someone else, as they are the ones calling the shots. They actually lived under an umbrella of discipline. Granted it was someone else's umbrella, and maybe they didn't realize this. Possibly they did, and that was the reason they decided to work on their own.

One of the most common problems behind the failure of a home business, is the lack of discipline. Some think they can work when (and if) they want to, and their mailbox will "overfloweth" with twenty dollar bills. Well, I got news for you!

Running your own business, whether it is a brick and mortar establishment, or a home business, requires work. It usually requires more effort than if you worked for someone else. You will also have to do some things you don't enjoy. But, if you are the chief (or only) "honcho", you had better be able to handle all facets of your business.

So, how do you go about working at home? First and foremost, you have to have a regular schedule and adhere to it. This is especially true if you expect people to contact you by phone. If people try to call you, and don't get an answer, they quickly move on. You have to be available during normal business hours. If you are in an online business, this is usually from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Yes there are three time zones in the USA. If you live on the east coast like I do, when you are getting ready to pack it in for the day, folks on the west coast may just be returning from lunch.

If you are not tied to a telephone, it is still important to maintain regular hours. More importantly, you should have daily goals. If you meet those goals, the rest of the day is yours. But many people always think there is tomorrow.

For far too many, tomorrow never comes, and things that should have been done aren't. Maybe when the kids are at school will work for you, or possibly late at night. You might even have to pass up on your favorite "soap opera". Don't deal with hours, you're not being paid by the hour - deal with goal oriented results.

Working in your pajamas sounds great, and many of the offers you may hear state that you can. If I get an idea in the wee hours, I may hop on the computer dressed like that, but for normal business hours that is simply a myth. Who wants to spend their life like that?

You must have an effective work space, which is free of distractions. You should have quiet office space in your house, which is out-of-the-way, and off limits during your work hours. Treat this like an office. Keep it neat. While I am not the neatest person in the world, I do know where everything is. If I get a call from a client, I'm not fumbling about looking for the information I need. A filing cabinet next to your desk goes a long way.

When you get an email, take appropriate action the same day, then file it in a place where you can find it. Delete all emails in you "in-basket" older than 30 days. If they're older than 30 days, they're not worth anything anyway.

If you don't fall into these "traps", which many folks do, those "visions of sugarplums" just might come true.

**************

Did you know that subscribers to Bob Osgoodby's Free Ezine the "Tip of the Day" get a Free Ad for their Business at his Web Site? Great Business and Computer Tips - Monday thru Friday. Instructions on how to place your ad are in the Newsletter. Subscribe at: adv-marketing.com/business/subscribe2.htm

Browser Caching problems

Almost all current and old browsers use the Cache feature to allow for fast loading and viewing of pages you have already been to. This will sometimes cause people to see old versions of your page. To tell browsers when to get a newer copy of your site, you should use following tags:

<META http-equiv="Expires" content="Thu, 22 Dec 1925 1:00:00 GMT">

<META http-equiv="Pragma" content="no-cache">

These meta tags should be placed in between your <head> and </head> tags. Also, the specified date should be a date in the past so that the browser will immediately get rid of the cached copy or not keep it at all. It is also best to use both tags because most browsers understand the "Expires" tag; however, some older browsers may still look for the "no-cache" tag.

* Get these syndicated tip feeds for your web site, free. *

---

ad box #4 PrePromote: pro-active pre-promotion software PrePromote is a free, easy-to-use and effective software tool that will help prepare your website for being listed on search engines. PrePromote can: Create metatags which describe your pages to search engines. Analyze your web pages and point out possible improvements. Generate doorway pages to get higher search engine positions. PrePromote is freeware, which means you can download and use it forever without charge - no strings attached!       Download PrePromote today at: paradigmwebdesign.net/zips/prepromote.Zip

Imagine your ad above! For rates click HERE

Second Article

Adware and Spyware

by: Ken Dennis BoredCanadian.com

What is 'adware'?

Adware is basically software or scripts that are hidden on your computer, that make advertising show up all over the place. It may be an extra menu in your web browser, icons appearing on your desktop, bookmarks or favourites appearing out of no where, and pop up ads that seem to come from no where!

What is 'spyware'?

Spyware is similar in nature to adware, however I feel its purpose is slightly more sinister. Spyware as the name implies, spies on you. It may record information about your web surfing habits, time you spend online, your e-mail address, and what web sites you frequent. It then takes this information and sends it to various companies for the purpose of adding you to mailing lists and spam.

What should I do?

When you surf or download programs you are most vulnerable to these types of programs. Often adware and spyware applications are hidden inside 'free' software. You install the application and then behind the scenes it installs the spyware or adware. Another common method for people installing applications on your computer is tricking you in to doing it. Sometimes when you surf a website or play a game online they will need you to install an application to proceed. Often a box will appear that asks you for permission to install this application and you clicking 'yes' allows you to continue. However at the same time you just got some adware or spyware installed. The best advice I can give is just read very carefully all messages that pop up on your screen, don't just hit enter or click ok as so many people do.

What do I do if I already have spyware or adware installed?

There are many free applications available on the Internet, however I think that most people would agree that one of the best is 'Ad-aware' by Lavasoft. It is freely available and they update their database files very regularly. In essence, it is a virus scanner, which only looks for adware and spyware. Once it finds some it will prompt you and ask you what course of action you would like to do.

The homepage for 'Ad-aware' is: www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/

**************

Ken Dennis, Nothern Ontario, Canada
k-dennis@excite.com
www.BoredCanadian.com/

**************

Download of the Week

Bookmark Wizard is a little program with a simple wizard-like interface that generates an HTML page with all/selected links from your Internet Favorites folder. The links in the resulting page are grouped and sorted in ascending order like they are in your Favorites folder. You can specify colors for links and backgrounds, title, caption, etc., for your page. Also, you can exclude certain folders from being listed. Advanced users are able to edit the entire page template to customize it further. The resulting web page can be used as a links page on your homepage; you can send it to a friend or use it just as a startup page for your web browser etc. Download Bookmark Wizard

---

Comments?

If you'd like to comment on any aspect of this publication, send an E-mail to
comments@ paradigmwebdesign.net

---

If you enjoyed The Web Sm@rts Newsletter, forward it to your friends, family and associates. They'll thank you for it!

---

Do you know someone who might be interested in receiving
Web Sm@rts?
Recommend us!

---

NOTE: You have received this message because you or one of your friends added your name to our list of those who may wish to receive this newsletter.

If you do not wish to receive this newsletter, please point your browser to http://paradigmwebdesign.net/unsubscribe.html

FYI: Web Sm@rts will never share your E-mail address or personal information with any other party for any reason what-so-ever.

---

This newsletter is never sent unsolicited.
To unsubscribe, point your browser to http://paradigmwebdesign.net/unsubscribe.html

Tell them Web Sm@rts referred you!

Recommended Reading

I highly recommend the following E-zines.

ThePortalToSuccessE-Zine

Interactive Marketing Ezine

Looking for free newsletters? Just visit the EzineXchange, Select the ones of interest and subscribe. It's free!
ezinexchange.com

Find other great e-mail newsletters and Ezines at the Cumuli Ezine Finder: www.cumuli.com/ezines/

Web Site and E-zine Promotion for Idiots
Get your copy from PWD and get lots of traffic to your Web Site or E- zine instantly.

Use Link Crafter to drive more traffic to your site. Free download from PWD.
lc.exe

Text Tally from
Harmony Hollow software
is a handy text counting utility. Download it free from PWD
Download now

E-Zine Advertising WORKS!
Place your ad in 100s of e-zines like this one. The E-Zine AdSource Directory is the place to find discount e-zine ad space. Come see!
ezineadsource.com

Tutorials

Elated Webdesign Tips
Javagoodies JavaScript Repository
Website Abstraction Westciv: CSS Resources