Your signature file -- the blurb at the end of your forum posts and your emails -- is prime real estate. Are you using it to the fullest?
Do you put any thought into your sig lines? I hope you are putting as much thought into your sig lines as you would a paid advertisement. Your signature file has the potential to work for you, if you let it.
Of course, if you’re posting on forums, the #1 most important thing is your actual message. Don't attach your signature file to anything that will reflect poorly on your business.
And, likewise, in emails, if you're sending around jokes that are a little risque, then think twice about attaching your URL if it's not appropriate.
Tip 1: Give people a reason to click on your URL.
How can you entice viewers to click?
Your signature file should capture attention and create interest. It should always be clear and direct in stating the benefits your program offers.
Don’t just say “We sell gadgets.” Explain how those gadgets will help your potential customers save time, money or to make their lives better.
Tip 2: Don't Write a Novel
Make your signature file short and catchy. A long, drawn-out signature file is sure to be ignored. And, a boring one will be, too. Stick to one or two URLs, even if you have 30 or 40 websites. Any more than that will dilute your branding and effectiveness.
Tip 3: Don't Confuse
When writing your sig file, remember that a confused mind always says "no". Don't go crazy in your signature file with too many links or options. Be clear and direct about the benefits of your program so anyone and everyone reading it can see exactly how your product or service can help them.
Don't assume readers know as much as you do about your business. Don't talk jargon. Some terms or ideas in your industry may be over the heads of potential customers. Oftentimes I read ads and have no idea what in the heck they are selling, or why I'd need it. Make sure to state your benefits in simple words and grammar so that anyone who isn't in your industry can understand them. For instance, everyone has skin, but not everyone knows what an epidermis is. Make it simple.
Tip 4: Nab them
Once a reader does click through your sig line, do you have a way to capture their contact info so you can stay in touch? If not, get your newsletter sign-up box ready to collect those interested visitors. Otherwise, you're losing that potential customer, possibly forever.
If appropriate, offer something free to collect their email addresses. Offering a discounted item or freebie is always a good idea.
You may be wasting PRIME opportunities to get visitors to your site if you aren't putting as much thought into your sig line as you would invest writing paid ads. Try some new wording and watch your click-through rate rise.
Kamis, 02 April 2009
Your Signature File -- Give It Some Love
E-mail Tracking -The Truth Is Revealed
Have you ever wondered whether your boss, coworkers or family read your e-mails? Well, now you can track your sent e-mails.
In fact, there are many approaches to e-mail tracking. We all know the "read-receipt" system, in which you send an e-mail requesting a read confirmation. When the recipient reads your e-mail, he or she is asked by the software, "Would you like to confirm you received this e-mail?" Then the recipient may choose "No", and we will never get a confirmation. So it is an honor system, and there are some cases in which we cannot trust the recipient.
Other approaches have been implemented by corporate e-mail systems, such as IBM Domino. Recipients are not asked to confirm the reception so confirmations are always sent –provided that the e-mails are actually read-, but it works only for corporate recipients and not for external people.
The tracking system I will describe next is "hands-free" and works for almost every e-mail system. It is analogous to a package-delivery system –we ship a package, and the system gives us a number for keeping track of it. Before getting technical, let me point out that you will need a server –but in case you do not have one, you can always use our already-developed system.
Let’s assume we would like to ask our boss for a rise –that’s a common case in which the recipient cannot be trusted. So the system generates an ID for our e-mail, and stores it in the server’s database. When we send the e-mail, this ID is sent along with it.
What is the idea? Well, the ID identifies our e-mail. When our boss reads it, the ID is "passed" to our server. So the server gets the message, "The e-mail sent to the boss is being read." From there, the server may proceed in many ways, such as storing the date and time, and our boss’ IP address. It can even notify us to our e-mail address and cell phone!
How is the ID "passed" to our server? When our boss reads our e-mail, we just saw that the e-mail needs to "call back" the server with the ID. This is achieved by passing the ID in the source of an image.
Going back to our basic HTML lessons, the image’s src attribute specifies the image’s address. So if we insert an image in our e-mail, and we let its source be ourdomain.com/ourlogo.gif, then our boss’ e-mail client gets that image and shows it to him. That is, the e-mail client "calls" our server at ourdomain.com and requests the image ourlogo.gif.
The trick is to have a special page on our server, which receives the ID, stores the tracked data and notifies the sender, and finally sends back an image –this is achieved by server-side scripting, offered by frameworks such as Microsoft .NET. So we insert a 1x1 hidden image in our e-mail, and let its source be ourdomain.com/ourpage.aspx?ID=0123. ourpage.aspx is our special page, and ID=0123 identifies our e-mail sent to our boss.
The page gets the ID and checks it against the database –recall that the ID is stored in the database. Then it updates the database, and notifies the sender of that particular e-mail. Furthermore, the page can get the recipient’s IP address, which can reveal his or her geographic location and many more details. And finally, the page sends back a 1x1 transparent image, which is shown to the recipient.
This is a "hands-free" system given that the recipient is never asked to confirm the e-mail’s reception –in fact, he or she does not even realize the e-mail is being tracked. Thus, this system has been accused of compromising users’ privacy, and has caused the redesign of e-mail clients and services –which now allow users to disable images on received e-mails.
For seeing this system in practice, please visit the SenderTracer Free Tools at http://www.sendertracer.com.
Buying A Printer? But How Long Will It Last?
Printers, like so many other pieces of electronic equipment produced nowadays, last forever, even though in some cases they may be considered obsolete a year or two down the road.
But you don't need to care about obsolete if you're a student, or an individual who makes personal use of it, or even a SOHO entrepreneur who doesn't offer graphic arts or desktop publishing services. Obsolete is just a word that manufacturers and retailers made up to suggest it belongs in the trash, when all it really means is there is a new improved model out there.
If your printer is working just fine, there's absolutely no reason to trade it in unless and until there is no one around to repair it and no part with which to replace a broken one once your printer breaks down.
If you're shopping for a printer, unless you're filthy rich (and if you are you probably got that way partially by making wise decisions about how much to spend) you want a printer that can do only what you need it to, and costs you the least amount to do so.
Basically, the first choice you'll want to make is between an ink jet and a laser printer. If you typically produce multiple color copies ink jet will actually cost you less. If, however, what you're going to be doing most of is word processing - i.e., printing out black text on white paper - you might be better off with a laser printer.
Depending on how much printing you'll be doing. A typical black ink inkjet cartridge will produce 500 letter size pages. If you're going through one of these every couple of weeks you probably would be better off owning a laser printer. Yes, you'll spend more up front, but your ink will cost considerably less. Laser jets generally wear better, with minimal break down and have a longer life than ink jets.
No matter which printer you choose, ink jet or laser, you'll need to shop for brands and features. What you'll want to know about each choice is the cost of the cartridges and paper that you'll need to use with it, the quality of the finished product, whether it connects by USB or parallel port (new ones will most likely be USB but is your old computer?), whether the paper path is straight or curved (if you're going to be creating your own business cards, for example, you have to have a straight paper path), and if you have any warranty. You also need to find out if that warranty offers a loaned printer while yours is in the shop.
A few other important features are the speed of the printing (how many pages per minute) it will deliver. This may not mean much if you're printing out your resume, but if you have a 200 word document it may seem like forever, and may also slow up or make nearly impossible anything else you want to accomplish on your computer.) You also want to know its resolution range, measured in dots per inch. The higher the resolution, the better the image quality.
One thing to keep in mind, too, before you buy that lesser known inexpensive brand is that the well-known brand names are well-known because they offer the higher quality product as well as the better technical support and service.
A little Vintage Computer Monitor History
Until the early 1980’s most monitors were terminals. They were boxy video display terminals (VDT’s) combined with an attached keyboard. A terminal could be configured to work with just about any computer on the market. (Not that there was a wide selection of personal computers for you to choose from.)
Terminals were attached to computers by a serial interface. In those days, the VDT was commonly referred to as a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube).
Before DOS, the dominant operating system (OS) for 8 bit computers was CP/M (Control Program for Microprocessors). Early CP/M machines were originally designed to use separate memory-mapped video display devices and discrete keyboards that plugged into the machines – not unlike video display cards used later. The most well known was the VDM-1. Terminal manufacturers recognized this “lost market “and began to market mainframe and mini-style terminals to the CP/M community. The sales pitch of “just like a real (mainframe at the time) computer” paid off. CP/M computers soon used terminals almost exclusively.
Apple II computers and the early game machines (such as those made by Atari, Coleco or Nintendo) hooked to a monitor not a terminal. (The Apple II was built with a keyboard as part of the system. All that was missing was a monitor once the Apple II was plugged in).
These monitors – unlike terminals – looked like television sets without the tuner. In some cases they actually were television sets. (Many early computers – such as the Commodores Vic 20, 64 and 128, could be used with any television set with a special RF adapter that hooked to the antenna of the TV).
Then IBM came out with PC-DOS computers, which were dubbed “three-piece computers.‘ One explanation according to a prominent used car dealer Moonie Bronstein was that many of the early marketers / hucksters advising the techies of the early computer era ,had their start in the competitive world of auto sales where such terms as “ 3 piecers “ and “ 4 piecers” were popular marketing and sales terms. Other explanations for this marketing term was because the computers included three main components i.e. – the monitor, the keyboard and the CPU “box”.
Ironically, when the IBM PC-DOS computers arrived on the scene with separate monitor and keyboard – the monitor connected directly to the computer. Just like the earliest personal computers) through a display device connection. These new monitors used video cards that were either IBM monochrome (MDA), IBM color graphics cards9 CGA), or Hercules (the first third party ad on cards).
Selasa, 31 Maret 2009
Wireless Network Security in 6 Easy Steps
Connecting your home and office computers with a wireless network sure makes things convenient ...BUT the very feature that makes them so popular is also their biggest weakness! Anyone with the knowledge can intercept your signal and gain access to your network if it is not secure. The technicians at computerguyslive.com offer the following six easy steps to wireless security for your home or office.
1. Change the System ID: Devices come with a default system ID called the SSID (Service Set Identifier) or ESSID (Extended Service Set Identifier). It is easy for a hacker to find out what the default identifier is for each manufacturer of wireless equipment so you need to change this to something else. Use something unique- not your name or something easily guessed.
2. Disable Identifier Broadcasting: Announcing that you have a wireless connection to the world is an invitation for hackers. You already know you have one so you don't need to broadcast it. Check the manual for your hardware and figure out how to disable broadcasting.
3. Enable WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy): WEP encrypts your data so that only the intended recipient is supposed to be able to read it. As with all security measures there are ways around it, but by using encryption you will keep the novice hackers out of your systems. It is best to use 128bit rather than 40bit encryption (it is exponentially harder to crack).
4. Restrict Unnecessary Traffic: Many wired and wireless routers have built-in firewalls. They are not the most technically advanced firewalls, but they help create one more line of defense. Read the manual for your hardware and learn how to configure your router to only allow incoming or outgoing traffic that you have approved.
5. Change the Default Administrator Password: This is just good practice for ALL hardware and software. The default passwords are easily obtained and because so many people don't bother to take the simple step of changing them they are usually what hackers try first. Make sure you change the default password on your wireless router / access point to something that is not easily guessed like your last name.
6. Patch and Protect Your PC's: As a last line of defense you should have personal firewall software such as Zone Alarm Pro and anti-virus software installed on your computer. As important as installing the anti-virus software, you must keep it up to date. New viruses are discovered daily and anti-virus software vendors generally release updates at least once a week. You also must keep up to date with patches for known security vulnerabilities. For Microsoft operating systems you can use Windows Update to try and help keep your computer current with patches.
Following these steps will insure that hackers and hitchhikers don't surf on your wireless network, or more importantly, these steps help block unwanted access into your computer network, and your valuable data.
FTP Hosting - The Burdens of Doing It Yourself!
Looking for an efficient hosting service to communicate with clients and sending files over the Internet? There are two options – either you can arrange your own hosting service or can register for a professional FTP (File Transfer Protocol) hosting service. If you select ‘do it yourself’’ process you have to configure your own server with the help of necessary hosting software and hardware.
To set up your own hosting service for the business process you need to install a hosting server, hardware and software to support digital communication. In the ‘do it yourself’ process you have to install a server and make it accessible via Internet. This type of server is known as ‘Live Server’ and differs from other internal servers.
Other entities of your business process can communicate with each other through this live server, which will act like an FTP Server. You have to develop the hosting service inside your company that will work like a professional FTP hosting service. Therefore it is essential to create separate FTP accounts for the clients. Here you have to configure the ‘live server’ in such a way that your network administrator can easily manage the folders and files.
Server
It is recommended to buy a server appliance that supports hosting solution managed through a web browser interface. Apart from general features of the server, there are several other features:
Processor Type
Hard Drive
RAM
Remote Management
Data Transfer Rate
Data Security
Operating System
Technical Support
Apart from these you have to select an operating system for the hosting server. In general people use Windows or Linux as an operating system. Hard drive space of the hosting server matters, if you have sufficient space in the hard drive of your hosting server you can efficiently store large files, which you want to share with your clients.
FTP Software
How can you transfer files without FTP software? It is recommended to buy FTP server that is compatible with the operating system of your server. If the operating system of your hosting server is ‘Windows’ then you have to install FTP software compatible with Windows operating system. However, some hosting servers come with in-built FTP support.
You have to install the software on the server to configure your own hosting server and user accounts. Select FTP software, commonly known as FTP Client Software, based on following criteria:
Efficient file transfer protocol with features like – ‘Server – to – Server’ and/or ‘Local computer to another local computer’.
User friendly site and file management
Automated file transfer with File Transfer scheduler
Secured connection with the facility of password protection
Firewall support
User friendly interface
Price of FTP software varies based on their features. For example, the price of FTP Performer 5 or 4 Power and FTP Broker are $397.00 and $425.00, respectively. However, you can manage FTP software at low cost. Serv – U, which is considered, as a popular FTP Server for Windows the pricing starts at $300.00 for a limited version!
Internet Connection
Finally you have to take the Internet connection from an authorized ‘Internet Service Provider’ (ISP). By taking Internet connection you can make your server ‘Live’, i.e., accessible by all. It is recommended to go for the option ‘dedicated line’ of an Internet Service Provider. Dedicated line will make your hosting server accessible round the clock. To ensure fast connection over the Internet, register for Internet connection that provides high bandwidth. The minimum requirement is 512Kbps.
Worried with the cost and complex process of configuring a hosting server for your business? FTP hosting service provides all the features of transferring large files over the Internet at reasonable cost.
FTP Hosting Service
FTP service provider will allocate server space on their server, where you can store the files to share information with your client. There are two components in FTP hosting service – FTP Server and FTP Client. FTP Client is a remote computer that connects with FTP Server through Internet. Each FTP hosting service provider comes with multiple hosting plans. You have to select a right plan that provides effective support to your business. Communications are done through private FTP accounts, which are allocated for a specified FTP server. Transferring files over the Internet, from one FTP account to another, is managed by FTP software. It is recommended to select an FTP hosting service that provides FTP software. However, you can also buy FTP software separately.
It is observed that the monthly or yearly cost of FTP hosting service is less than setting up a complete hosting server. The cost of configuring a live server depends on hardware and software, which you are buying to make the server active. On the other hand, you will find wide array of FTP hosting service at affordable cost. The selection of a hosting service depends upon the required components of hosting service. Therefore, make thorough research on the price and select FTP hosting service for your business process.
FTP Hosting - The Benefits Of Sending Large Files Via The Internet!
Still using FedEx or UPS as the medium of transferring files to your client? Try FTP hosting service, this is an authentic way to transfer files over the Internet. In this era of Internet technology it is necessary to implement advanced communication protocol in the business system to enjoy efficient client communication. You can contact with your client or vendor through World Wide Web within a few second therefore, it is necessary to implement a technology that can enhance the business process and can run over the Internet.
Limitations of FedEx and UPS
With the help of software you can compress large files and convert the in digital format. Problems arise when we select an odd option to transfer the digital file to someone else, located at remote place. Initially we think about UPS or FedEx as the medium to carry the files. FedEx Express is an overnight currier service that provides local as well as oversea delivery. There are two types of freight services available in FedEx – domestic freight and international freight. However, FedEx does not cover all remote areas and considered as less preferred medium of transferring digital files. UPS, on the other hand, comes with the facility of global transportation services. UPS service is available in 200 countries and territories. If you are looking for transferring movie or image files located at remote area then it is recommended to use FTP hosting service.
Consider a situation where you have to send an image file to your client who is located at other part of the globe. The pressure will go up if you fail to transfer that file via Email. It is better not to take any chance by sending the file via FedEx or UPS. Only FTP hosting service can ensure transmission of the file to your client in the right time. Compared to FedEx or UPS, the cost of sending files via FTP hosting service is quite less. Moreover. FTP hosting service ensures privacy of the content and restricts unauthorized people from accessing them. Hears interesting? Find the advantages of FTP hosting service.
FTP Hosting Service
File Transfer Protocol, commonly known, as FTP is a communication protocol that supports transmission of all types of digital files over the Internet, irrespective of their size. Since the cost of transferring files is less under FTP hosting service, therefore people are selecting this in their business process as an efficient medium to communicate with clients and vendors. Further, no need to understand technical details. The design of FTP hosting service is so efficient and secure that anybody can handle process.
Advantages of FTP hosting service
The cost of transferring items depends upon the distance between the locations, weight of the product and selection of shipment type. This calculation applies to both FedEx and UPS service. For FTP hosting service there is no additional fee to transfer files via the FTP server. It is not authentic to send digital files via UPS or FedEx and pay big money for the transaction process. Since FTP hosting services are available at limited cost (monthly or yearly rentals) therefore, it is recommended to use FTP for transferring movies or images.
Image files, multimedia presentations are large in size, compared to general text files. With FTP hosting service you can transfer them in a compressed file format. Advanced FTP hosting service comes with the facility of 128-bit data encryption. This will encrypt the content of the digital file and restrict third party to access the actual data.
The process of transferring digital files through FTP hosting service is user friendly. Initially you have to register for a FTP server. FTP service provider will allocate you space on their server and provide you FTP accounts to communicate with the client. The remote computer will act like FTP Client and allow you to upload large digital files (movie, graphic images and multimedia presentation) on the allocated space of FTP server. The recipient will need FTP account and the authorization to access the FTP site (allocated space on the FTP server). Client, through his/her FTP account can download the digital files in the local drive. The entire process of transferring large media files will require few minutes if there exist fast Internet connection and sufficient space in the FTP site.
‘FTP hosting service’ is an efficient, secure and cost effective hosting service designed for all users. Try a free trial of FTP hosting service and experience a smart way of transferring large files over the Internet.