iradio-reminder.com

Internet Customers Want Things for Free

admin — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 19:25:05 +0000

The net is a free market at is best. Our internet users alllove free stuff.So we try to give them what they want. Freeitems. This is a lesson that I learned many years ago. I alwaystry to offer a customer something that is free. Customersremember the free item more than items that they buy. Of all thedifferent types of adds that I have run over the years, its thefree offers that people cut out and save. After all think aboutccoupons that people save. They don’t collect product adds theywill collect coupons. That is why I like to always advertise myfree items. I even plan days around free give aways. Whencustomers are at nursery I will even make up a free offer on thespot many times such as when I ask the customer, ” Do you knowwhat day it is? Do you know its free LILac day? Let me show youa Lilac that is free today”. I will then give them a lilac andsay such things as every landscape needs at least one lilac. Ican them show them all the different lilacs that we have andpromote many different lilacs. I never give away a teaser. Imake the free plant a quality gift of real value. This is whatis remembered by customers. This is a copy of my most recent email newsletter. This was anoverwhelming success. We had an estimated 600% weekly sales gainby using this newsletter add.***********************************************************January 2006 The Early Bird Gets the Worm—Don’t Delay Free Tree Day Jan.28th is a Free Higan Weeping Cherry Tree DayGreetings! January 28, 2006 is free Weeping Higan Cherry TreeDay…..All members of our email club can receive a free HiganWeeping Cherry when you bring your pickup to our 5275 West SwampRd. Fountainville Pa. location. These trees are 10-12′ tall andin 24″ baskets. These trees must be picked up on the 28th,before 5pm. sorry, no rain checks. There is a limit of one perfamily and you must have been a member on or before January 27,2006 of our email club. Sincerely,Bill Hirst Free Tree Day Jan. 28th, 2006 is Free Tree Day 5275 W. Swamp Rd. Fountainville, Pennsylvania 18923January 28, 2006 8:00AM-5:00PM Reasons to Come to this Event Weare selling 150 acres of our nursery and we must liquidate manytrees and plants. Some of of plants are in quantities that wouldsupply us for many years of sales. But we can’t move that numberof trees. Thus they will be either sold at a discount,destroyed, or given away. I like the last option. Thus if youbring your pickup to the farm today, Saturday the 28th, we willgive away 1 free Higan Weeping cherry to each email newslettersubscriber to Highland Hill Farm that picks up the tree by 5PM.Sorry you must be have be signed up by Jan. 27th, to qualify.There are no rain checks. These trees are in 24 and 28 inchbaskets and are app. 10-14′ tall. We will help load them in yourpickup. We have a total of 75 trees ready to give away while the supplylasts. All other trees and plants are 20% off today. Driving Directions to the Farm Highland Hill Farm 5275 W. SwampRd. Rt. 313 Fountainville, Pennsylvania 18923 myhirst@yahoo.comhttp://www.seedlingsrus.com We will have other free treeofferings each month. So keep in touch.**************************************************************Within 15 minutes of this email being sent people started toarrive to make selections. We would have had no customers onthis day. Yet we sold enough other stock to make this offeringpossible. We gave away 52 trees and this was even covered by thepress showing up and giving us exposure in local papers.

Asian stocks tumble amid global recovery doubts (AP)

admin — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 19:25:05 +0000

AP – Asian stocks tumbled Friday as ballooning European debt and a rise in U.S. unemployment claims added to fears the global recovery could slip back into recession.

Count On It!

admin — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 19:25:05 +0000

From LAND OF ODDS

We at Land of Odds get many questions about what glue to use with rhinestones and other beading and jewelry-making projects. We’re craftspersons and silversmiths, and we have a shop where we sell rhinestones, beads, jewelry findings, cabochons and the like.

Nothing is perfect, but based on our experiences, here are some good tips:

Always experiment with your adhesives first, before you use an adhesive on your final project.

Glues vary widely in terms of which materials they stick to, how well they form a bond between two smooth surfaces, and how the glue bond ages, both in terms of durability and color.

Clean the excess glue off your piece before you display or sell it.

You will probably have to rely on more than one type of glue to accommodate all your types of projects.

Superglue

Superglue is not our favorite! It often ruins rhinestones and other pieces we use in jewelry-making. It’s bond is tough, but it breaks easily. Superglue dries like glass, and breaks like glass.

We do, however, use superglue occasionally. We often use it seal end knots, or coat a frayed strand of cord. We sometimes use it on crimp beads to enhance the closure.

Hot Glue Guns

Hot glue guns are fun to use. When the materials you are using are large and bulky, hot glue guns make the projects go faster.

The glue’s bond will not last forever. The glue will yellow with age.

There is a wide variation in the types of pieces called “rhinestones”. Basically, rhinestones are mirror- or foil-backed pieces of clear glass crystal, glass or plastic.

Sometimes they are faceted; othertimes they are not. Some rhinestones have a flat back so they can be glued directly to the piece; others have a pointed back so they can fit into a cup or bezel. Each design element in the architecture of the rhinestone — base material, overall shape, faceting, foil, and effect — adds to its shine, sparkle and brilliance. The mirror or foil reflects and refracts light. Sometimes, the mirror or foil itself has a special color, effect or treatment applied to it. The clear “glass” can range from, at the most brilliant end, very-leaded glass to somewhat leaded glass to glass to acrylic at the least brilliant end. Sometimes the glass is coated with an effect or treatment.

Your goals for gluing rhinestones into a piece of jewelry or onto a piece of clothing are simple:

You want a bond that sticks and is durable

You don’t want the adhesive to ruin the rhinestone

You want the glue to dry clear and “age” clear

You don’t want the glue to show outside or over the edges of the stone

If you’ve gotten glue on the stone, you want to be able to get it off easily

Never use superglue with rhinestones! Superglue clouds the stone. Superglue dries like glass, so its bond shatters like glass when the bond is disturbed.

E6000, or any other brand of epoxy, works best with glass crystal and glass rhinestones, as well as gemstones. Epoxy is a plastic, and sometimes will dissolve or disturb the foils on the backs of acrylic rhinestones, although it is fine for acrylic cabochons or beads which do not have a foil backing. E6000 dries like rubber, so its bond acts like a shock absorber when the piece is hit, dropped, banged or otherwise disturbed. E6000 is great for gluing stones on cloth material, as well, and the bond will withstand several machine washings.

A rhinestone glue or Elmer’s glue works OK for acrylic rhinestones.

Hot glue guns will work with the stones, but the glue doesn’t age well. The bond weakens relatively quickly. The glue yellows somewhat.

When we use E6000 with rhinestones, we put a little drop of glue on the end of a pin. Then we touch the glue to the back of the rhinestone. We maneuver the pin-glue-rhinestone over the place where we want the stone to be. Then we push the rhinestone in place, and simultaneously pull the pin away from the stone. We rub the stone and around the stone with our finger or the pin to get any excess glue off. Before it dries, E6000 rubs off like rubber cement.

About E6000

E-6000 is the jeweler’s glue of choice, and our favorite. It is a one-part epoxy, (meaning you don’t have to mix anything to make the glue — it just comes out of a tube).

Perfect for attaching findings to base metal and costume jewelry pieces.

Also, use E-6000 on bead strands to seal end knots and to provide a strong, flexible seal that won’t become brittle or damage the bead cord.

E-6000 is safe for use with virtually every type of gemstone and works on wood, leather, vinyl, and canvas.

Non-corrosive and self-leveling, E-6000 adheres in 5 to 10 minutes, and hardens to a clear, waterproof cure in 24 hours. This means you have about 10 minutes to position and reposition whatever you are gluing. If you are making jewelry, you should let the piece dry “hard” overnight, before you wear it.

We advise against using superglue for most jewelry-making projects. Superglue discolors stones.

Superglue dries like glass, so its seal shatters like glass when piece is dropped.

E6000 dries like rubber, so its seal acts like a shock absorber when a piece is dropped.

E6000 dries clear.

Two things E6000 won’t do:

Bond two pieces of smooth glass together, like two glass disks.

Sometimes, it will pull the foil back away from acrylic rhinestones.

Gluing Marcasites
With marcasites, we always use E6000 (or similar epoxy). This creates the strongest bond.

While this is not foolproof, it is the best and longest lasting solution.

Again, never use superglue.

Also, take off your marcasite jewelry before you wash your hands, or before you attempt to wash the dishes. The hand-soap and dish-detergent dissolve most glues. E6000 will withstand this for awhile, but not forever.

Silver Information Website: Find answers to questions about silver flatware that you need. http://www.silverinfo.com

Brought to you by: World Wide Information Outlet – http://certificate.net/wwio/, your source of FREEWare Content online.
LAND OF ODDS – The South’s Most Unusual Shop
150 Second Avenue North, Ste. 110, Nashville, TN 37201
PHONE: 615/254-4341, 726-1665
FAX: 615/254-4341
http://www.landofodds.com
oddsian@landofodds.com

Dedicated OR Shared Web Hosting?

admin — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 19:25:04 +0000

To have a website, you have to have a host. The 2 principal options available for web hosting are shared and dedicated packages.

A website that uses dedicated hosting has the server all to itself, while a shared host is split amongst multiple customers. This article will help you choose the 1 that will work best for your website.

Websites are stored on servers, which are simply computers that been set up to respond to data requests from the internet. Each server has an individual Internet Protocol (IP) address — 4 numbers separated by dots such as 123.456.78.9.

Dedicated Hosting

With a dedicated server, all the resources of the server, as well as the IP address, are unique to that website and are yours to use as you want. It can be used to host just 1 site or many. You have access to the entire bandwidth of the server, and you can use as much disk space as needed.

Companies with large complex websites that receive a lot of traffic really need a dedicated host. Sites with a dedicated server are also able to run any kind of script they choose. This is especially important for businesses that are developing new scripts and need to test them without affecting other websites.

Shared Hosting

Websites sharing a single server are sharing all the resources of that computer. Shared hosting places several websites on the same server, all sharing the same disk space, bandwidth, and IP address. The host will limit each site to a specified amount of disk space and bandwidth to be used per month, in order to provide sufficient service to all the shared sites. Sites that exceed their limit may be charged a substantial penalty or even temporarily closed down.

The number of sites being shared by a particular server is not as important as the amount of traffic each is receiving. A server hosting 200 low traffic sites will respond much faster than 1 with 50 sites receiving lots of visitors.

Arriving requests are dealt with on a first-in-first-out sequence. If there is a large queue, there will be a long wait as each server has a limited amount of bandwidth. The amount of traffic your neighbors receive can quickly impact how well your web site is displayed.

Because the cost of operating the server is divided amongst many customers, shared hosting is a lot cheaper than dedicated. It’s available for as little as $2 a month, while dedicated hosting can run over $100 each month.

There are risks associated with shared hosting. If 1 of the neighbors runs a programmed script that goes bad, the entire server could be affected. In extreme situations this could shut your site down for a while. If a neighbor is banned from search engines for spamming tactics, that could also affect everyone sharing that IP address. It’s a good idea to check with hosting companies first, to see what their policy is about third-party scripts and inappropriate activities.

How To Decide Between The 2 Options

Large complicated websites that expect to receive 1,000 or more visitors a day should opt for dedicated hosting. It’s also a good choice for developers who expect to research and test new internet technologies.

Small companies and individuals with small sites are probably better off with shared hosting. The cost is certainly more reasonable. Just be sure to choose a host with a good reputation who will protect your site from others that could put your site at risk.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

Visit Hosting Solutions to learn more. Ron King is a full-time researcher, writer, and web developer, visit his website at WebsiteCopyright 2005 Ron King. This article may be reprinted if the resource box is left intact and the links live.

How to choose the right bulk sms route

admin — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 19:25:05 +0000

Bulk SMS became a price based business over the last 4 years asthe popularity grew with more and more companies communicatingwith existing and potential clients via text messaging alsoknown as SMS.

Unfortunately, as is the case with all popular communicationservices or industries, bulk SMS ended up being used for sp@mand customers complained to the networks as they receivedunsolicited messages. The networks had to step in and setparamaters in place which monitored the sending of suchunsolicited SMS.

Bulk SMS is identified by the text contained within the messagesand the sender id – i.e. when bulk SMS is sent, the sender id aswell as the content of all messages are the same. This providedthe operators / networks with a way to monitor bulk SMSresulting in blocking of routes without advanced warning i.e.any message that remotely resembled sp@m was blocked.

It was time to define the different types of text messagesconsumers could send. In 2004 the networks started todistinguish between bulk SMS and streaming SMS routes. Thisdistinction implied that messages containing different sender idand text were allowed to be delivered while messages containingthe same sender ID and text were blocked by certain operators.(Filtering of messages took place)

Market segmentation took place as a result of this filtering andtoday clear distinction is made between bulk SMS and streamingSMS gateways. Please note that streaming SMS is normally allowedif a bulk SMS gateway is used, seeing that the sender ID andtext will be unique. In cases where a streaming SMS route forexample only allow person-to-person communication, all bulk SMSwill be blocked.

The following market segments for bulk SMS are used as ageneral rule of thumb and it originates basically from customerrequirements or customer needs:

Web bulk SMS or pc to mobileWeb or pc to mobile bulk SMS is sent when a customer logs on toan internet based text messaging service. Some companies alsooffer online/offline desktop software which could be used forthis purpose. A text file with the numbers are created anduploaded to the bulk SMS gateway. One text message is thendelivered to the numbers on the list. In these cases clients arenormally limited to the number of bulk SMS they may send – forexample 2,500 numbers per file upload. If the client wish tosend 10,000 SMS they would have to create 4 different files. Pure bulk SMS: Pure bulk SMS is based on bulk that does not contain any sp@mor adult content. This could be bulk SMS used for specific wellwishes or notifications for example a company wanting to wishtheir customer base of 100,000 (one hundred thousand) clients ormore a prosperous new year. Advertising is allowed but the textmessages may not contain IVR (interactive voice recognition)numbers or short codes. These bulk SMS gateways allows fordynamic sender ID and delivery reports if the clients arewilling to pay a higher price. Minimum purchase volume is aroundone hundred thousand credits and clients could connect to thebulk SMS gateway with HTTP or SMPP.IVR and short code supported bulkSMSThese bulk SMS gateways allows IVR or short codes to be includedin the text messages. It also allows for massive bulk SMSvolumes for example 2 million messages to be sent. A distinctiveGSM feature of these bulk SMS gateways is that it normally doesnot support dynamic sender ID and there are no delivery reports.Minimum purchase volumes on these routes are normally aroundfive hundred thousand credits and clients have the option toconnect to the bulk SMS gateway with smpp.Choosing the correct bulk SMS gateway in order to ensuredelivery of your messages in a timely manner should not justdepend on price. The old rule of “You get what you paid for”applies in the bulk SMS industry as well. If you find a cheaproute, please ensure that the route is tested prior to making afinancial commitment. Clients should plan the campaigns theywant to run, investigate various bulk sms gateways basedon the requirements and then make an informed decision based onGSM features vs price and support.

Northwest Natural Gas 4Q profit dips 5 percent (AP)

admin — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 19:25:06 +0000

AP – Utility company Northwest Natural Gas Co. said Friday its fourth-quarter profit fell 5 percent, as its revenue fell and employee-related expenses rose.

6 Reasons You Need A Website

admin — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:25:04 +0000

If you don’t have a website, then you might not realize all thegreat things they can do for you. Maybe you think there wouldn’tbe any point, because your business is too small – or maybe youdon’t even have a business! Perhaps you think it’d be a lot ofwork for little reward. Or maybe you paid big bucks for a siteback during the dot-com ‘boom’ days, only to get nothing buttrouble out of it and shut it down a year later. Whatever your situation is, though, you need a website, and I’mhere to tell you why.1. People Will Look for You Online.Sooner or later, someone’s going to type your name into a searchengine. What do you want them to find? Nothing? These are peoplewho want to find you, and if you don’t have a website thenyou’re letting them down – they expect you to be online. Formany people, you might as well not exist if you can’t be foundwith a search engine. Not having a website is like not botheringto get listed in the phone book. Whether it’s customers or oldschool friends you’re hoping for, very few people are going tofind you if you aren’t online.2. Websites Cost Next to Nothing.Once, it cost a lot to run a website – but those days are longgone. There are ‘pay as you go’ services out there now chargingas little as $1 per gigabyte of bandwidth. If you’re sensibleabout the size of your pages, that dollar could last you a wholemonth, or even longer! If you don’t want to pay for design, it’snever been simpler to do it yourself, or find free software todo it for you. Really, it’s never been cheaper to have a websitethan it is today.3. Websites are Great Advertising.Whatever you’re advertising – your services, your products, orjust yourself – a website is a great way to do it. Every otherkind of advertising going costs a premium, especially if youwant to target a specific kind of person, and there’s noguarantee that they’re paying attention. Websites are likebrochures that are free to reproduce, interactive, and quicklydistributed to people who are already looking for them. Noadvertising medium even comes close to the ease-of-use andeffectiveness of a website.4. A Website is a Worldwide Presence.On the web, it doesn’t matter whether someone is next door toyou or on the other side of the world – they can see yourwebsite just the same as anyone else can, at no extra cost toyou or to them. Phone and post both cost enormous amountslong-distance, but a website lets you send information anywherewithout any extra effort or expense. You can make friends andcontacts in places you’ve never been and will never go -suddenly, working globally is no more effort than workinglocally.5. Your Website Can Make You Money.There’s a lot of money on the web, and it’s not hard to get some- the longer you’re online for, the bigger your share can get.If you have something to sell, you can sell it worldwide, thanksto credit cards. Doing business online eliminates almost everyoverhead there is: all you need to do is have the goods. Ifyou’ve written something useful, you can put it out there with afew ads. You won’t get rich overnight, but you can set up asteady trickle of income… and there’s no limit to the numberof trickles you can set up.6. Your Website Can Save You Time.Giving out information takes time, whether it’s on the phone, orin brochures, or even if it’s just emailing your family.Websites are designed to save you time. All your family andfriends can read your online diary (known as a weblog), but youonly had to write it once. Customers can see your whole productcatalogue without ever needing to talk to you or visit you. Thisis the power of the web: things on it are written only once, butcan be downloaded endlessly – a good website runs itself, andkeeps being useful to people for much longer than you’d expect.

Treasury to name up to 9 managers for toxic-asset plan: source (Reuters)

admin — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 19:25:05 +0000

Reuters – The Treasury Department is expected to name as many as nine fund managers to operate the long-awaited Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP) to cleanse banks of toxic assets, a person familiar with the plan said on Wednesday.

A Rare Leadership Skill: Dealing With People Who Want Out

admin — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 19:25:05 +0000

As a leader, you’ll inevitably be faced with people wanting to leave your team or organization. Dealing with the challenge is critical for your leadership success. Your response will have ramifications far beyond your immediate circumstances. One of the best ways to respond comes from Shakespeare’s Henry V.

The stirring speech of Shakespeare’s Henry before the battle of Agincourt contains many leadership nuggets. But commentators who recount the speech usually overlook a particularly valuable one. They focus on the speech’s “band of brothers” aspects but neglect the fact that Henry also said that if any of his soldiers would rather not fight, he’d give them passport and “crowns for convoy” back to England.

Henry was aware that some of his soldiers were reluctant to fight; for he led a rather bedraggled army. History recounts they had marched 260 miles in 17 days. They were short of food. They were drenched by two weeks of continuous rain. Many of them were suffering from dysentery contracted from drinking fetid pond water. And they were facing the flower of French knighthood, knights who were rested, better equipped and eager for battle. So there were probably many soldiers who wanted to avoid battle, get quickly to the coast and board ships for England.

Shakespeare has his Henry respond to these leadership challenges in a telling way. Instead of trying to cajole those who wanted to leave into remaining with him, or on the other hand, punish them, he did something much more effective: He actually offered them passports and money to go.

“Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse; We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.”

Now, apply this lesson to those people who tell you they want out. You may find yourself reshaping your relationship with them in positive ways and boosting your leadership effectiveness with the people who remain.

Here’s how you do it. Offer them “crowns for convoy.” Have them draw up specific leadership actions that they will take to leave. Provide milestones and ways that you and they can monitor their progress. Support them in their taking leave as you would any cause leader who is staying.

One might say that if somebody wants out … good riddance! But let’s examine this. When somebody wants to leave, two facts apply. One is that, clearly, that person – for whatever reason – is dissatisfied and is looking for satisfaction elsewhere. And two is that you have a relationship with the person. It might be a good relationship. It might be a bad relationship. But here’s the point: You don’t want to get the two facts mixed up in a bad way. Because that relationship will continue in one way or another even if you don’t set eyes on each other again.

A bad relationship with an employee that left your organization can come back to haunt you in many unforeseen ways. For instance, it may poison your relationship with the people who remain behind. By supporting that person in taking leadership of their leaving, you are creating an opportunity for you to change your relationship with them, to work together in a positive way. This may help redress any bad feelings that might have otherwise grown worse.

When CROWNS FOR CONVOY are not offered in spite or rancor but out of a genuine desire to help, you’ll transform a potentially bad situation into a beneficial one. And who knows? Maybe, like Henry, you’ll achieve an unexpected upset win.

PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com

About The Author

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson’s recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. and for more than 20 years has been helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audacious results. Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: “49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results,” at www.actionleadership.com

brent@actionleadership.com

Communicating with WiFi

admin — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:25:05 +0000

Many people seem to think that WiFitechnology is reserved purely for wireless broadbandinternet access, but in actual fact, it has been put to manyother purposes as well.For example, WiFi phonesare built to allow for wireless roaming within a limited area(e.g. a home or office). This useful technology standard hasalso been used in conjunction with VoIP telephony in theproduction of wireless VoIP phones.Another use of WiFi is in the handheld computing market. WiFi PDAs arebecoming more and more common, and can sync with computers andother devices easily, and without the inconvenience of messytangled wires.Of course, as with all communication devices, you should alwaysensure that you have the proper WiFisecurity features enabled in your wireless communicationtools.