Archive for the ‘Articles’ Category
Why my newspaper column died after 10 years…
Jim Edwards here with a quick update for all my valued customers and subscribers in good standing (that’s you!)…
As you may or may not know, I’ve written a syndicated newspaper column for over 10 years starting waaaaay back in November 1998. But, sadly, that has come to an end.
Why?
Because over the last 10 years I noticed that the most popular columns always seemed to revolve around cool tools, websites, services and software.
People LOVE hearing about cool sites that help them save time, make money, avoid effort and more…
So, after several months of planning and brainstorming with my newspaper editor, I’ve started a NEW newspaper column called "Cool Site Weekly" that’s all about sites you can use and benefit from immediately!
=> http://www.CoolSiteWeekly.com
Every week we’ll feature a cool new site AND a video that shows you the highlights and how-to’s for that week’s site.
I could easily charge $15 / month for these, but you can get them free every single week 
Go ahead and check out the first two articles / videos on the site (one gets you free transcriptions and the other quadruples your desktop space for free) and get signed up for weekly updates when we post each week’s article and video.
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"News, Reviews and Videos of Cool Sites Everyone Can Love"
=> http://www.CoolSiteWeekly.com
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Have a great weekend!
Jim
PS – Yes, this really is my REAL newspaper column and you can get it online each week with a video absolutely free.
Amazon S3 and Google Friend Connect – 2 Online Titans Help Small Businesses Grow
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Amazon S3 and Google Friend Connect – 2 Online Titans Help Small Businesses Grow
- by Jim Edwards
© Jim Edwards – All Rights reserved
http://www.thenetreporter.com
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I find it very interesting how the constant battle between "paid" and "free" plays out on the Internet. On the one hand, businesses know they must make money to stay in business, while on the other hand, consumers expect and demand more and more free "stuff" online.
Two business models practiced by two of the Web’s largest players seem to have found the right balance, either supporting themselves through direct advertising sales or through a "pay as you use" model. Amazon and Google must know what they’re doing, because they both generate billions of dollars in online sales.
So if you want to grow your own small business, why not ride on the backs of giants!
Amazon S3
Log on to http://aws.amazon.com/s3 to find out more about Amazon’s increasingly popular Simple Storage Service (S3) which provides access to extremely high-end, beefy media and file servers for pennies on the dollar. The S3 service allows you to easily upload and store huge files right through your web browser and then access them through a variety of applications. What this means for small business is that you don’t need to operate with a dedicated web server to compete with larger companies.
Amazon’s S3 gives you ultimate scalability to meet demand as it comes at a rate on par with mid-level hosting companies. But instead of charging you hundreds each month (whether you use the storage and bandwidth or not), Amazon only charges 15-cents per GB of storage and 10-cents per GB of data transfer. This means you don’t pay unless you use it (as opposed to a fixed server cost each month). We’re just now seeing the tip of the iceberg of what open access to Amazon’s powerful and scalable storage capacity will bring to the marketplace.
Amazon Fulfillment Web Service
http://tinyurl.com/58lzb9
Amazon allows you to use their infrastructure to ship your products for you. Instead of maintaining a fulfillment staff, you pay Amazon only when you sell product and they ship it to your customer. This service costs much less than a full-time employee for most small to medium sized businesses. Scalable cost tied to sales, not an employee punching a clock, holds the key benefit for anyone who sells online. Plus, Amazon stores your products for you (for a small fee) so you don’t even need to maintain inventory at your location.
The service works with virtually any other type of product and you can also integrate directly with your shopping cart to automatically put orders into the Amazon system.
Google Friend Connect
http://www.google.com/friendconnect/
Here’s how Google explains this new service (currently in pre-release "Beta" at press time).
"Websites that are not social networks may still want to be social. But the barriers to offering social applications on the site have been considerable. Google Friend Connect changes this by enabling any site to offer dozens of social gadgets created by Google and OpenSocial developers to their visitors. This means more visitors spending more time on a more engaging website — with absolutely no programming required to make it happen."
So if you want to create a social aspect to your site or blog, Google will make it very easy and free for you to add this functionality. Literally you will just copy and paste some code and your site gets socially enabled. You can then modify the various widgets and options of the social aspects of your site right through your web browser.
–
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how
to use fr^e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted
visitors to your website, affiliate links, or blogs…
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Need MORE TRAFFIC to your website or affiliate links?
"Turn Words Into Traffic" reveals the secrets for driving
Thousands of NEW visitors to your website or affiliate
links… without spending a dime on advertising!
Click Here> http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com
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Improve Search Engine Results – 5 Specific Tips
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Improve Search Engine Results: 5 Specific Tips
- by Jim Edwards
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The search engines supposedly make our online lives easier by helping us find what we need, right? Well, if that’s true, why do as many as half of all queries made in the major search engines come back with results users rate as “unhelpful” at best?
In the end, search engines are simply software.
Whatever you put in determines what comes out. The better you get at telling the search engines what to give you, the more often you won’t get disappointed. When it comes to the great “info-vending machines” in the sky like Google and Yahoo!, how you enter your search terms counts as much or more than the terms themselves.
Avoid Single Keywords
Searching for a single keyword rates about as productive as trying to pick out a single grain of sand on a mile-long stretch of beach. Need a copy of Lincoln’s most famous speech? Searching for Abraham on Google will give you over 44 million pages to comb through (grab your coffee) on everyone from the prophet, to the president, to a pool guy in Toledo.
Searching for Abraham Lincoln Gettysburg Address speech on Google and you’ll find exactly what you need. When you want to find something, the more specific you get, the better your chances of finding it with least hassle.
Use “Quotes”
When your search results absolutely must contain a certain phrase, put quotes (“”) around it to tell the search engines to only return pages containing that exact phrase. A search for Firefox extensions will return all the pages that contain everything from the software you want to information about hair extensions.
In Google, simply by searching “Firefox extensions” in quotes, you eliminate half of results you might otherwise have to sort. Simply putting your search phrases in quotes will cut down massively on wasted time.
Use -, AND, OR
If you want the search engines to return results without a specific term, use the “-” sign to exclude the word or phrase. For example, a search for Revolutionary War generals -George would finally allow the other military leaders from 1776 to get some press.
If you want to give a logical choice for a search, then inputting “OR” between two words will find both iterations. For example, a search for Firefox extensions OR add-ons will net you both extensions and add-ons for the popular web browser. Finally, use “AND” to make sure the search engine returns results that contain all of the terms you enter.
For example, Firefox extensions free yields much less targeted results than Firefox extensions AND free. If you want even more targeted results, try combining techniques. A search for “Firefox extensions” AND free yields even more targeted results.
Proper Grammar Please
Capitalizing proper names and nouns will yield different results on almost any search. For example, searches for George Washington vs george washington will give you different results to sort.
Alternate Spellings
Like it or not, different people and cultures spell differently. On a recent trip to England I realized that a good portion of the English-speaking world buys “tyres” for their cars instead of “tires.” Online searches containing these two terms yield very different sites, but take you to the exact same types of products and services.
Overall, search engines like Google represent some of the most powerful research tools available online – and they’re all free! When searching for something, don’t get locked into just one search term, but try to approach it from various angles to find what you need. The better you get at telling search engines what you want, the better results you’ll receive in return.
–
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how
to use fr^e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted
visitors to your website, affiliate links, or blogs…
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Need MORE TRAFFIC to your website or affiliate links?
"Turn Words Into Traffic" reveals the secrets for driving
Thousands of NEW visitors to your website or affiliate
links… without spending a dime on advertising!
Click Here> http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com
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(FireFox Plugins) – 4 Cool FireFox Add-Ons You Need
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4 Cool FireFox Add-Ons You Need
– by Jim Edwards
© Jim Edwards – All Rights reserved
http://www.thenetreporter.com
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Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Web browser still rates as the most popular and widely used browser for one simple reason: it rides along with every Windows installation.
But in response to security scares over the last few years, another browser took a bite out of Microsoft’s monopoly.
FireFox often represents the browser of choice for those who either dislike Microsoft (for whatever reason), or want more flexibility and functionality in their browser, specifically in the area of add-ons (also know as "plugins").
Add-ons (little programs that enhance a web browser’s functionality) can trick out your browser to help you do everything from upload website files to speed dialing your favorite websites.
The overwhelming majority of add-ons for FireFox come free of charge (though donations are appreciated). Just log on to http://addons.mozilla.org and check out the free add-ons you can snag.
Note that once you get to the page, the little programs you can run with FireFox are under the "extensions" link. Here are a few of our favorites here in my office – just search for them by name once you log on to the Mozilla site (or use the links below).
** Forecastfox **
"Get international weather forecasts from AccuWeather.com, and display it in any toolbar or statusbar with this highly customizable and unobtrusive extension." That’s a fancy way of saying you can always know what the weather reports say just by glancing down at your browser’s lower right corner.
This makes very handy tool to keep an eye out for thunderstorms or remind yourself that a sunny day awaits when you finish up a marathon session on your computer.
http://tinyurl.com/yqv54y
** SpeedDial **
Everyone uses bookmarks or "favorites" at one point or another. But those who use them frequently create a problem for themselves. Every time you want to log on to your favorite sites, you must wade through dozens, hundreds, even thousands of links to find what you want.
Enter the "SpeedDial" add-on that helps you organize your most frequently used websites into a "dashboard" you can customize. You can even organize multiple speed dial directories around groups of web pages (business resources, shopping sites, etc.).
http://tinyurl.com/2hhn7a
** FireFTP **
Anyone who owns a website needs the ability to upload files to their hosting account. You can either install a standalone FTP program, or you can use this nifty little browser add-on that turns FireFox into a neat little FTP utility.
"FireFTP is a free, secure, cross-platform FTP client for Mozilla Firefox which provides easy and intuitive access to FTP servers." I really found this add-on helpful in my own business when it comes to fast access to the files on my websites.
http://tinyurl.com/yv56ru
** Download Statusbar **
One annoying feature of Firefox involves the download window that opens up every time you download a file from the web. This can get in the way and actually disrupt your activity.
Enter the "Download Statusbar" add-on, which promises "View and manage downloads from a tidy statusbar – without the download window getting in the way of your web browsing."
Even though this add-on does make downloading more convenient, make sure to read the instructions before using it just to make sure you don’t get frustrated.
http://tinyurl.com/29a456
–
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how
to use fr^e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted
visitors to your website, affiliate links, or blogs…
-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Need MORE TRAFFIC to your website or affiliate links?
"Turn Words Into Traffic" reveals the secrets for driving
Thousands of NEW visitors to your website or affiliate
links… without spending a dime on advertising!
Click Here> http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com
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“Make Your Website Talk v2.0″ [article]
Jim Edwards here with a new article for you
Website Audio has been around for a while now, but I see
so many people either NOT using it, or using it incorrectly,
that I thought it time for a little refresher course.
"Make Your Website Talk v2.0"
I hope you enjoy the article and please, if it’s a fit for
your list, please post it on your blog or run it in your
ezine.
Thanks very much
Jim
<— Article Start —>
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"Make Your Website Talk v2.0"
- by Jim Edwards
(c) Jim Edwards – All Rights reserved
http://www.HowToMakeAudioCDs.com
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It seems like just a few years ago people watched in
amazement as words and pictures appeared as "websites" on
their computer screens through the Internet.
Just having a website rated a major accomplishment, even a
status symbol, for businesses of every size.
Now, however, people expect websites as standard equipment
for most businesses and the Internet teems with BILLIONS of
static web pages.
In such a crowded online world, how can a business
differentiate itself from all the others?
Welcome to the new frontier of the Internet where web pages,
even the small ones, dance and sing with audio and video!
In the beginning, putting audio and video on your website
involved very expensive "streaming" servers and complicated
software.
In those days, audio and video remained the playground of
mega-sites and dot-com companies with unlimited budgets.
But even then, online audio and video didn’t really take off
because the vast majority of it required the listener to
carry a high-speed Internet connection or use complicated
formats like "Real" player.
Well those days have passed forever and quality audio and
certain types of video now lie firmly in the grasp of every
website owner!
Two things appeared on the scene to enable virtually any
website owner to include audio and video on their website,
even for dial-up surfers: faster computers and better
compression technology.
Let’s face it, home computers now pack more punch than
it took to send men to the moon.
When you combine that computing power with widespread use of
"Flash Player," the free web browser plug-in available at
www.adobe.com, which enables high quality audio and
video to stream across the web without special servers, and
you now find a perfect environment for what amounts to
online radio.
Despite the fact that online audio is now more "low-tech"
than ever and can get created and posted with free and low-
cost tools, most people still don’t use it (or use it
correctly).
It’s funny, but most people now take online audio for
granted and because it’s not really "new" anymore, they tend
to discount its effectiveness (especially since the "gurus"
have moved on to more sexy topics).
But before you think audio doesn’t have a place in your
online business arsenal anymore, take a look at these six
(6) suggested uses for audio to test on your own websites
and blogs right now:
1) Audio Testimonials: Let your website visitors hear from
your happy customers to increase credibility…
2) Audio Welcome: Have a SHORT welcome message play that
explains the benefits of why a visitor should sign up
for your newsletter or opt-in to your "squeeze" page…
3) Audio Samples: Offer a free sample of an audio product
you’re selling right on your mini-site…
(example: I give away the first 2 tracks of my CD at
http://www.5stepstogettinganythingyouwant.com )
4) Audio Paid Content: Offer Audio content for a membership
site! Record the audio yourself, or interview an expert
each month, and just offer it right from your website for
streaming or download…
5) Audio Blogging: Post an audio message instead of or in
addition to regular text on your blog. This "multi" media
approach can really help you stand out from the crowd…
6) Audio "Exit" Offers: Use audio to draw people’s attention
to special offers by giving them the gist of your offer
in 20 to 30 seconds. This is especially useful when using
exit scripts & special popups to grab people’s attention.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that online audio is
"old news" and that online video is the only way to go.
Audio is, in many cases, just as powerful as video… and
it’s a lot *easier* to produce and post than video!
Think about it: if audio-only content didn’t have value, TV
would have destroyed radio years ago.
And with a whole new generation of tools and services to
help you get your online audio created and posted, there’s
never been a better time to start using audio to increase
sales, subscriptions and conversions in your online
business.
–
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how
to use fr^e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted
visitors to your website, affiliate links, or blogs…
-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Need MORE TRAFFIC to your website or affiliate links?
"Turn Words Into Traffic" reveals the secrets for driving
Thousands of NEW visitors to your website or affiliate
links… without spending a dime on advertising!
Click Here> http://www.TurnWordsIntoTraffic.com
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<——- End Article ———->
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