My 2¢ Worth

y ISP just installed a new Spam Filter. According to them:

"This new filter can be personalized and trained to your liking by marking emails as "Spam" or as "Innocent" (not Spam) All emails filtered as Spam will be placed in a new Spam Folder. The new Spam Filter has a built-in training mode, where it learns which emails you consider Spam. All emails filtered as Spam will be placed in a new Spam Folder."

ell, that's a bit misleading, as the damn filter still marks as spam the senders I have marked as "Innocent."

 wish the U.S. Postal Service worked this way. Just think, they'd stop delivering my bills! ...

Feature Article

Educate Your Customer to Make the Sale

by: Jinger Jarrett Internet Marketing for Free

If you've been on the internet for any length of time, you've probably seen thousands of ebooks, courses, and other types of tutorials on just about any topic that you can imagine.

The problem with a lot of these courses and ebooks businesses are giving away are junk. They don't contain any real information. Many are nothing more than blatant sales pitches.

Although it may seem like a waste of time to create a course when this technique seems to be so overused, have you ever considered that this could be a way to sell more of your products and services?

Although the market seems to be flooded with courses, ebooks, and tutorials, there's alway room for this material provided it's high quality.

What is key is creating a course or ebook, or some other type of tutorial is to offer some real choice information nuggets your readers don't know.

Although you can create a course, ebook, or tutorial out of others' articles, this isn't really a good idea unless you can find really valuable, and useful, content.

If you decide to go this route, you'll need to do some research. There are plenty of top notch article directories where you can find articles to create your course:

Ezine Articles - http://www.ezinearticles.com
        Go Articles - http://www.goarticles.com

Both of these article directories are general article directories and contain plenty of articles on just about any topic.

If you can't find enough quality articles to create your course, then you may want to consider more specialized article directories.

You can find find article directories here:

Directory of Article Directories -
http://www.directoryofarticledirectories.com/ - Although this is a fairly new directory, you'll find quite a few niche article directories on a lot of different topics.

When selecting your articles, you should select at least seven. It takes an average of seven contacts with your reader to make the sale.

Send them out over a period of at least 30 days or more. One or two emails per week is plenty. Don't bombard your reader with email. Include a short note to your reader, and make sure that you mention your product or service. Be subtle about it. No one likes to be sold.

The other alternative is to write your own course. Personally, this is a better choice because your content is original. You have an opportunity to give your reader a few choice nuggets they won't know, and it's an opportunity for you to really show your potential customers what you really know.

Tie these nuggets to your products and services and show what your products and services can do for your readers, and you have a winner.

When you're ready to take your course to the next level, you need to publish it for wider distribution. Sites like Learno, http://www.learno.com, can help you publish your course, as well as turn your course into a real book for publication. This will allow you to leverage your work and share your knowledge and expertise more quickly.

By leveraging your work, you'll brand yourself as an expert more quickly. Potential customers who are interested in your offers will seek you out. This will save you time and money on your internet marketing efforts. by driving targeted visitors to your site.

Although using courses, ebooks, and tutorials to promote your products and services has been overused, if you create quality content and offer your visitor something useful, you'll increase your chance of making the sale.

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

Jinger Jarrett is the author of "1001 High Traffic Sites to Market Your Business for Free". She will show you where to market your business to get the most sales. Get your copy now before it's gone.
Internet Marketing for Free

Creating an HTML slideshow

You can use the http-equiv refresh function in your <meta> tag repeatedly to load a succession of pages, creating a slide-show effect in your pages, in a different frame, or even in a popup!

Let's say you have four documents you'd like to use as slides: slide1.html, slide2.html, slide3.html, and slide4.html. When you set up your page, have slide1.html be the document that's called by the page where you want the slide show. For example: On index.html say: "Go here to see a slideshow!" then link to slide1.html. Next, open the slide1.html document and add this tag near the top:

<meta http-equiv="Refresh" CONTENT="3;URL=slide2.html">

Next, open slide2.html, and add this near the top, and so on:

<meta http-equiv="Refresh" CONTENT="3;URL=slide3.html">

If you want the slide show to end with slide4.html, don't insert the <meta http-equiv> tag there. If you want it to loop back to the first slide, add the tag and send it to slide1.html. This sets up a slide show in one frame that switches to the next image every 3 seconds. You can of course play with that number to fit you needs.

Remember, you can use more or less than 4 slides. It doesn't matter. Just make sure to change the URL each time so it doesn't go backwards!

* Get these syndicated tip feeds for yourweb site, free. *

Second Article

Is a Laptop For You?

by: Christian Barzelle Found Laptop Group

Millions of people now have a computer in their homes and perhaps another one they use while on the job. Although many still use the old desktop models, more and more consumers are switching to laptop computers. Convenience of use and portability are two of the main reasons for this switch. If you have not yet decided to use a laptop, here are some reasons to consider doing so.

Pound for pound, laptops weigh considerably less than their desktop counterparts. So when you are rearranging furniture and cleaning the desk area, it is less of a burden to move or lift your laptop. There is little need to concern yourself about damaging the laptop or its components when you scoot it back and forth across the desk or even move it from one area to another. As all laptops are made with fold-over lids, they may be closed to keep screens and keyboards free from dirt and debris.

Coordination of functions between home and the office is a breeze thanks to the portable nature of laptops. You no longer need to worry about losing those little disks that you had to save work on when trying to carry work between home and work because with a laptop all that is necessary is to turn the unit off and carry it home with you. Using a USB port to accomplish the same thing is definitely an option, but why not use the same keyboard and file arrangement rather than trying to constantly adjust to two or more computers?

Laptops may be used for several hours without being plugged in to recharge their batteries. This makes it convenient to take with you to presentations or meetings to take notes, record data, or just about anything you need to get more out of such events. You can bring your laptop along with you to the cottage or beach if you need to finish up some last-minute work before finally being able to relax for the rest of the day.

Laptops definitely aren't going anywhere. With technology advances, the laptop is likely to shrink in size while increasing in power and functions so that it may one day literally be a pocket computer. Desktops have seen their best days and they will continue to yield market share to the laptops. Innovative products like laptops can enable us to better link information in faster ways that can help us lead more leisurely, yet meaningful, lives. If you are still slogging it out on a desktop, give some thought to getting a laptop for home or work.

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

Christian Barzelle is the website owner of Found Laptop Group which is considered to be a key resource for laptops. More information can be obtained at: www.foundlaptop.com

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