Increase Your Earning Potential With An Online Bachelor Degree Education?

Now-a-days a bachelor degree education is an absolute necessity if you want to further your career ambitions. In order to get this degree, the first thing that would come to your mind is to go to a college. However, there are other ways to achieving your degree.

Through the Internet, you can get an onine bachelor degree education, that would give you exactly the same qualification same as that of a conventional campus college bachelor degree.

You might be wondering how this can be done. It is very easy. The first thing to do is to search on the Internet and try to find an online educational course that would be best suited to your requirements. There are hundreds of traditional universities now offering distance education online bachelor degree course as well as a wealth of online only course providers.

Check List

As you carry out your seach for a course you need to check certain things. - the office of the institution is suitably located, if it the address is somewhere in Africa or eastern Europe is might be less then reputable.

- be sure that you understand the fee structure of the bachelor degree program and that this is acceptable to you.

- the accessibility to its assistances, some courses have one-on-one tutors that you can contact for extra advice and help. Others also have special weekends where you can attend a local school or college to get some face to face tuition.

- the courses that are available (because sometimes the college may not be able to offer the subject of the person's choice)

- the systems of teaching do they offer a virtual campus, live teleclasses, web cams etc.

The course duration The bachelor degree is usually of a four year course, the same as that is offered in all campus colleges. Online bachelor degree courses are the same as that of distance education courses. The only difference is that it makes use of modern technology such as that of the Internet whereas some others use the traditional means of class room lectures.

Most course are suited to the online approach. For exmaple a bachelor degree in music education taken online is just as easy to follow as a online bachelor degree in physical education or a online bachelor degree in biblical education the choice is as wide as it is divers. Location is not an issue and you can study anywhere in the country from Nevada to Delaware, through to Wisconsin. Cross country boundries are also broken down and people from all over the world can join a online program.

Technology

One of the most common ways which distance education can be done is through the use of technology such as live media.

In this type of technique, there is an online classroom. Students have to log in to a chat room or a discussion forum that allows not only for text communication but also for live audio chat.

This is similar to many of the popular instant messaging programs that are being widely used today. Through the use of a set of headphones or computer speakers, the student can hear the lectures that are being given. The students can communicate with the teacher and with other students through text chat or simply by talking through the PC microphone.

Another good thing is that the lecture can also be recorded and posted to the website of the school to allow those students who have missed the lecture to catch up on all that they have missed. This is something that is not possible in a live classroom. Thus, online distance learning requires that the student have access to a personal computer and the Internet.

Another type of online classroom involves the use of text messages such as email and message boards. In this system, each class may share a group mailbox, or a message board system. The instructor would then post lectures on the topic of the day, post assignments and post discussion questions related to the topic.

The students can then view these and study the necessary topics required and can also post notes and assignments and share them with the other students.

Twenty-Four Seven Access

This twenty-four hour access to the course material greatly benefits the student but then the disadvantage is that of the lack of direct contact with the teacher. This makes it so much easier for those who want to work a full- time job but at the same time study from home and earn a bachelor degree to help in their career growth.
About the Author

Jason R Davidson owns and operates http://www.bachelordegreeonlineprogram.com Bachelor Degree Online Program

Internet Banking: Why People Use It

Is the nature of business forcing customers to use internet banking? Or, is there something in it for the customers? Indeed there are many advantages to doing internet banking. It is easy to open an internet banking account. You sit, in the comfort of your home or office, and type in your answers to a few questions. You set up the security measures that will be used to access your account, like usernames, passwords, etc. Then, all you need to do is print off and sign a form to send in to complete the process.

Internet banking is growing for a reason. People are getting accustomed to transacting business over the internet. They are enjoying the convenience and the control over their money that internet banking gives them.

Getting Insurance through Internet Banking Institutions

You can go to internet banking websites and click on the insurance tab to get information. You can also sign up online. Because you will be entering personal information, you will need to sign up with the internet banking institution first. Many internet banking operations provide life insurance. You can pay for term insurance with a simple automatic deduction from your internet banking account if you choose to do so. You will have to fill out an online information form about yourself.

Another insurance product offered by internet banking sources is travel insurance. Many international internet banking companies offer this. They offer coverage for medical expenses when you are out of your home country. You will not have to pay cancellation fees if you have this coverage. It will address such issues as lost luggage and theft of travel documents. It is a good insurance to have if you can get it by internet banking. Some internet banking companies go so far as offering health insurance. Health insurance is usually a costly business for anyone buying an individual policy. The internet banking company will set you up with this insurance for a competitive fee. However, do not expect it to be cheap. That is just the nature of the product.

How Internet Banking Institutions are set up

The first order of business is to gather a group of at least five people to organize the internet banking company. These people will be on the board of directors, and one of them should be the CEO of the bank. The five or more people will be intensely involved together to form working procedures of the bank. To get a name trademarked, they simply have to go to the US Patent and Trademark Office. There is just one form to fill out. They submit it with a fee and wait for approval. Sometimes, they have to make a case for their trademarked name. This is done through emails. If all goes well, the internet banking name will soon be theirs.

When getting a professional website designer, the designer should design an internet banking site with the highest level of security. This includes such features as 128-bit encryption, secure socket layering, and adequate firewalls. Another way is to take over stock in an existing bank and put in a change of charter with the OCC. In any case, the OCC will give the board of directors advice on how to best submit their application for the charter of their internet banking operation.

Dealing with cash transactions when using Internet Banking

There have to be special considerations for dealing with cash when you are using virtual internet banking. Doing online transactions is all well and good. When you want to make a manual deposit or withdraw money, though, you cannot do it directly through your computer. Lately, though, internet banking companies have made deals with companies that own ATM's. Because of these deals, internet banking customers are allowed to make manual deposits into their teller machines. This makes it easier for people who receive a cash payment and want to put it into the bank to pay bills.

If you have a traditional account as well as your virtual internet banking account, you can transfer money from your traditional account to your virtual account. This would allow you to put a check in your traditional account and then transfer the funds into your virtual account to pay bills. The only way to counter this is if you do have that traditional bank account. You can transfer money into it from your virtual internet banking account for just such occurrences. Otherwise, you will have to pay the ATM fees.
About the Author

Interested in getting more information plus reviews? then check out the following website: Banking Information Online.

Is The 5linx Business Opportunity Right For You?

5linx is a home based business company located in Rochester NY. The company has seen a significant growth in its almost 7 years in business. There is a lot of hype about the company’s compensation plan as well as its products and services. As a result 5linx is attracting a lot of home based business enthusiasts and network marketers.

However, many people are jumping on board without taking the time to make sure that 5linx is the right opportunity for them. And because the home based business industry has a very high failure rate, it is important to make sure that the company is right for you before you hop on board.

The first part of the equation is you. Do you have a strong desire to work from home? Are you sure you want to have a home based business? The 5linx business opportunity requires that you put in your own time. You can set your own hours, but if you really want to know if it is right for you, go ahead and look at your schedule. Set aside your own hours now.

When you set your own hours to fit 5linx into your schedule, you may have to give up some of your other activities. If you’re someone who watches TV, you may have to give up some of your TV time. For stay at home moms or dads, consider working around your kids schedules.

There is a financial commitment to get started as a 5linx representative. There are two starting positions. However to take full advantage of the compensation plan, the upfront cost is $499. There is also an ongoing monthly cost of $29.99 for your replicated website and virtual office provided by the company.

Compared to the cost of starting a traditional business, this cost is fairly low. But you need to determine if you can afford this investment. Bear in mind that you’ll need some capital for marketing. There are extremely effective free marketing methods, but in case you choose to use some paid ones, be sure to have a cushion.

Do you have a success system for 5linx? What’s your marketing plan? See, success depends on the amount of quality exposure you’re willing to give yourself and your business. Instead of jumping in without knowing how you’re going to grow your business, take the time to find out how you’re going to market your business.

Many home based business sponsors teach you to make a list of friends and family, buy and cold call leads, pass out flyers, and all that. If you’re comfortable with these methods, then those sponsors are a dime a dozen.

However, if you’d like to incorporate cutting edge marketing solutions that will enable you to have prospects contacting you to join your business, then you need to look for the right sponsor.

Mixing up your marketing is important and having someone who can show you how to market via the internet will benefit you.

Ultimately it all comes down to you. Once you’ve considered the above points, then decide if the 5linx business opportunity is right for you.

If 5linx is right for you, then choose a top sponsor now.
About the Author

Yvonne Chihak is the author of the Powerful CD "Explode Your Downline, Online! Ready, Set, Go! at http://www.ExplodeYourDownlineOnline.com

She is also an active network marketer with 5linx telecommunications. Contact Yvonne at http://www.SuccessYes.com and get your FREE copy of her eBook.

Where Will YOUR Kids Get A Job?

Let's face it.

The job market is getting tougher every day.

Computerization is making many jobs redundant.

The Internet and modern telecommunications have allowed companies to outsource jobs to third-world countries where wage costs are much lower.

In fact thousands of jobs have already been shed in the United Kingdom as several major banks have outsourced their call center operations to the Indian subcontinent.

Other companies are following suit, sending their back- office and Information Technology jobs the same way.

This is a major trend that's only going to accelerate.

Have you ever wondered how your kids will get on when it's time to look for a job?

With the population increasing and with more people competing for fewer jobs, companies can now pick and choose from the very best applicants.

But wait a moment....

What do we mean by "the best"?

Whether you like it or not, "best" generally means the best qualified.

Employers, of course, have always used academic qualifications to shortlist job applicants for the interview stage.

But what is emerging now is a reliance on exam results for even seemingly ordinary jobs.

For example, did you know that the average call center employee in India is educated to degree level?

Qualifications are becoming more important than ever before.

And while not everyone is a natural-born exam prodigy, there are steps parents can take to help their kids gain better exam passes.

Here are 5 tips to get you started:

#1. Make learning enjoyable

We all do things better when we enjoy them, so bring out the joy of learning for its own sake.

One way to achieve this is by having family discussions about exam-related topics. Try to inject some drama (or at least some interest!) into the topic.

Another way is to embrace different technologies outside of the classroom. The Internet, multimedia CD-ROMs, and TV services like The Discovery Channel all help to liven up learning.

#2. Develop problem-solving skills

Practicing mental activities like quizzes and crossword puzzles helps nurture the intellectual problem-solving part of the brain.

It also develops other important skills like concentration and creativity.

So get your kids into the habit of solving problems every day.

Their exam skills will develop naturally, plus they'll be able to solve problems more easily in the real world outside of the exam hall.

#3. Encourage the study habit

Who hasn't tried to cram themselves full of information the night before an important exam?

Unfortunately, that's doing it the hard way.

"A little, often" works much better.

Ensure your kids set aside at least 20 minutes a day for peaceful study. Every day.

After a few sessions of enjoyable learning, you'll find they actually look forward to their study period.

#4. Learn exam technique

Studying for exams includes studying exams.

Get hold of some past examination papers - you can buy these cheaply in most bookstores - and have your kids study the questions.

Exams have a consistent formula, and once you know the formula, you're halfway to success.

Familiarity also instills confidence - an important quality when it comes to facing a real exam situation.

#5. Pay for performance

If all else fails, or your kids are having trouble getting motivated towards a forthcoming exam, try offering them an "incentive".

(Well they have to learn about "performance-related pay" someday.)

You'd be surprised how a little motivation can improve exam results!

Whichever way you do it, try to help your kids get the best grades they can.

"Qualifications doth not a person make."

But they certainly help when it's time to earn a living.

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'Fun With Figures' shows anyone how to gain an unfair advantage in math. Visit the website today and find out what they didn't teach you in school. http://FunWithFigures.com/

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About the Author

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The Virtual Assistant

As a small business owner, outsourcing work to Virtual Assistants is fast becoming a popular and intelligent decision. The business owner saves enormous amounts of money by cutting the costs of offices and equipment overhead as well as expensive benefits packages.

The 'Virtual Office' creates an enormous amount of personal freedom and independence for both the small business owner and the virtual workers. The dedication and commitment that virtual workers demonstrate testifies to the satisfaction derived from a home office setting.

Being on the cutting edge of this profession offers tremendous opportunity for technical savvy entrepreneurs to secure a viable and stable home business opportunity. A good business plan and well thought out marketing campaigns are crucial to the organized success of a Virtual Assistant in both securing enough clients and/or work to meet their budget goal as well as adequately being able to balance clients and deadlines.

Virtual Assistant's actually would be well advised to embrace a business partner or utilize a team of trusted colleagues to entrust overflow work to. The standards of a good Virtual Assistant aren't easily met and establishing a virtual network of quality workers isn't an easy task. Any overflow work that you outsource must exemplify the same care and quality as your own or you stand the chance of alienating your clients.

As the owner of a home business resource specifically geared toward professional mothers seeking home based work, I am often approached for advice on how to become a Virtual Assistant and also receive many inquiries about what skills are required to be successful in the field.

To gain and retain clients, my main advice is to maintain your professionalism in all of your interactions with your client. As much as it is a leap for you to give up the 'security' of working in a corporate office, it is also a very new concept for business owners to outsource their work to a team of 'Virtual Workers' who they may likely never even see face-to-face. There is a great level of trust employed in this relationship and your professionalism in correspondence and phone calls will go a long way in securing their trust. Furthermore, I advise you to pay great attention to your accuracy and final product that you submit to your clients. Meet all of your deadlines, and know at least two days ahead of time if you are not going to be able to meet them. Communicate that to your client before the project is late and keep in communication on a daily basis from the beginning to the end of all projects with brief status reports.

Make yourself easily accessible through email, telephone and instant messenger. You should have access to whatever instant messenger service your client prefers. The most popular are ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo. Be certain to set your instant messengers to save your history so that you can easily refer back to client request or comments without having to solicit the client to repeat what they already have said.

A rule of thumb is to remain in communication with the client, but don't waste their time. The client should end their work day each day with a sense of real gratitude of the skills, organization and trustworthiness you bring to the table. They should know that you are available to converse with at almost any time but you do not bother them unless it is absolutely necessary.

In the end the presence of a Virtual Assistant should prove to make the company more money because the owner and other business team members can focus on income producing areas of business that they otherwise wouldn't have as much time to do.

The most common and I would say necessary tools for the job are the most current version of Microsoft Office. You should have and be comfortable using Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Access. You should have either Macromedia Dreamweaver or Microsoft Frontpage and know the basics of HTML and ftp'ing files to and from servers.

So much of a Virtual Assistant's work is based online that it really is crucial to have DSL or Cable internet access. You also want to have a good computer that you can rely on.

There is so little expense in running a virtual office that I don't believe it is wise to cut corners with your computer, software and other office equipment. Having the latest technology on hand and continuing to acquire and master new skills will increase your desirability and worth in the eyes of your clients. It will also demonstrate your commitment to your career.

When a client begins to trust you with important responsibilities and invests the time in training and familiarizing you with the procedures of their particular business, they need to be able to depend on you and to know that you are committed to your work.

In short, with administrative skills and above average technical savvy, coupled with an organized and professional approach - a career as a Virtual Assistant is definitely a viable and rewarding option.
About the Author

Lori Redfield, owner of FreelanceMom.com, http://www.freelancemom.com is a Virtual Assistant, Freelance Designer and Internet entrepreneur. To sign up for her monthly newsletter, visit http://www.freelancemom.com/newsletter.htm

How to Start an Online Bankruptcy Forms Processing Service

How to Start an Online Bankruptcy Forms Processing Service by Victoria Ring, Certified Paralegal

Due to the dramatic increase in technology, business professionals now have the ability to outsource their skills and earn extra money working from home as a bankruptcy forms processor. Unlike an attorney or notary public, a bankruptcy forms processor does not have jurisdictional limits. In other words, a bankruptcy forms processor could live in Yellow Springs, Ohio and prepare bankruptcy petitions, pleadings, Motions and other court documents for attorneys practicing in California, New York or any other U.S. state.

In fact, a bankruptcy forms processor can set up a bankruptcy business in their home with very little money and earn a full-time income very quickly. This concept has also opened the door for attorneys practicing in other areas of law to open a sideline bankruptcy practice, and many of these attorneys seek a freelance forms processor to process their paperwork for them.

This is where you as a bankruptcy forms processor can fill a need that is becoming more popular as electronic filing procedures become more the norm. In fact, some states now require electronic filing of all court documents. Paper documents are only accepted by the court from consumers or in other rare circumstances. It will not be long before all the states will have electronic filing procedures in place and those resisting the change will be left behind.

A typical bankruptcy forms processing business might operate like this:

1. Client either downloads or is emailed a set of Client Intake Forms in PDF format to print and fill out at their leisure.

2. Client will fax or email their completed forms to the attorney or forms processor for review. If the attorney decides to accept the bankruptcy case, the forms processor can begin drafting the bankruptcy petition from the information provided on the Client Intake Forms.

3. Areas of the Client Intake Forms that are not properly completed by the client or containing statements that require a more detailed answer would be easy to take care of. The forms processor or attorney will simply call up the client and obtain the information. No appointment would be necessary.

4. After the drafting of the bankruptcy petition, the forms processor saves the document in PDF format and sends it to the attorney as an attachment on an email.

5. At this point the attorney may wish to meet with the clients to review their bankruptcy petition before filing, but it is not absolutely necessary. Some attorneys I worked for never meet the client face-to-face except when they showed up at court. They communicated with the client by email or telephone.

Note: Electronically filed documents do not require the client's signature so it is not necessary to meet the clients face-to-face before filing the bankruptcy petition. An attorney is provided with an electronic signature by the court that he uses to sign all electronic documents filed on behalf of the client he or she represents.

6. After the attorney receives the bankruptcy petition by email, he or she will save it on their computer under the client file name and begin the review. The attorney can either print out the bankruptcy petition and make changes with an ink pen, or review it on the computer screen and note any changes in an email to the forms processor.

7. After the attorney has approved or made changes to the bankruptcy petition, he or she will email it back to the forms processor. The forms processor will make the changes and prepare a final bankruptcy petition ready for electronic filing. The forms processor emails the final petition to the attorney for final approval.

8. Upon approval by the attorney, the forms processor will electronically file the bankruptcy petition with the proper court or email to the attorney for printing, copying and filing.

As you can begin to see, it would be very easy to start a forms processor service working from home. So if you were like me and are tired of the office politics and playing the mental games, you now have the opportunity to work from a peaceful home environment where you can focus more on each case and give your clients the personal touch that will set your business apart from the big companies.

** This article is a book excerpt from, "How to Start a Bankruptcy Forms Processing Service" by Victoria Ring, Certified Paralegal. More information is available online at http://www.50statenotary.com/bankruptcybook/

About the Author

Victoria Ring is a Certified Paralegal and Notary Signing Agent. She started the first electronic bankruptcy paralegal service on the internet (The Lawyer Assistant) to serve attorneys nationwide. Victoria has authored 17 books and 850 articles since her publishing career began in 1988.

Network Marketing: Smart Business Concept for Home Business Success

A Franchise like Opportunity without all the RISK!

Why Network Marketing/MLM
The Best Network Marketing Opportunity in the 21st Century

Network marketing is a powerful business concept for many reasons but the most obvious is for the type of income it can provide the network marketer. It is so powerful that many fortune 500 companies have used, some are still using, this business model to build their multi-million dollar empire. So why can't the average person do the same? The answer is average people are building great home-based businesses using network marketing. Are you one of them? If not now is an excellent time to get started.

Millionaires have taken notice of mlm as a home-based business model that average people can get into and build wealth. Multi-level marketing is a huge, thriving industry in spite of all the negative publicity it receives in the media from anti-mlm enthusiasts. Millionaires like Robert Kiyosaki, Jim Rohn, Robert Allen, Jack Zufelt, Zig Ziggler, and many others express how network marketing is a wonderful opportunity for anyone interested in building a home-based business without having to build a business from scratch. For an overview of network marketing and why it is such a powerful business model, you should listen to the CD "Brilliant Compensation" distributed by VideoPlus, Inc. You can get a copy at Networking Times where you will find tons of informational products to learn more about network marketing.

Extra Income

Can you use extra income? Most consumers would probably answer yes to this question and I am guessing that you too can use extra income every month. So where is this extra income going to come from? One obvious solution would be is to get a second job which may seem to be the best solution at the time but it rarely is not. This is because the time you spend on your second job and the money you receive after taxes usually still isn't enough, as it was in my personal experience. Of course you will have to consider your reasons for getting a second job and why you need the extra income to determine if getting a second job is really the right solution for you.

However, on the other hand, you can start your own part-time home-based business using multi-level marketing as your business vehicle. Why use network marketing as your extra income solution because, you can get started in the industry for nearly nothing. This is a big plus. For example, if it cost you less than $100 to start your business and you earn $250 your first month then you are in profit big time. No cash lost, no time wasted. This is one reason why building a network marketing business make so much more than sense. It makes MONEY!

Getting Started in Network Marketing

Getting started in network marketing has become so easy that anyone can get started even if you do not have a dime to invest in your start up. The key here is to simply get started then never quit. Many legitimate mlm opportunities will allow you to get started for under $100. You can even find FREE mlm opportunities with little or no overhead expenses and with great support from other members as well as the parent company. They (mlm companies) provide all the tools and system for you; you simply add your sweat equity, your commitment, and persistence to the opportunity. Remember to choose a well established company that offers quality consumable products and/or services with an excellent management team (corporate office) and support to their distributors. Another important key factor, and this can not be left out, is your commitment to the company and its products and services with you as a bona-fide user and marketer of the products and services you want to earn extra income from. Here in lies the SECRET to your success "Transfer Buying." Simply allocate $50 or more of the dollars you use to purchase other products and services from department stores, magazines, catalogs, or services to your company's products and services then show others how to do the same. It's a simple concept that works. Duplicate, duplicate, duplicate and DUPLICATE!

Franchise like Opportunity without the RISKS!

With franchise opportunities, you have to invest a large sum of money in order to get started with the opportunity. This is a major draw-back for many budding entrepreneurs home-based or other wise. You also will need working capital to get the business up and running. These two factors are the major stoppers for most people. However, the upside is that you will be purchasing a business model that has already been proven to work. You also will have to be their every day to ensure the success of your franchise. This is your new job. Once you have made your first venture a success, you can expand that success by purchasing another franchise and duplicating what you done in your first venture to ensure the success of your second venture. After the success of your second venture you can then repeat the process and hire managers to run your other franchises. If this is done successfully you may become a franchise Billionaire Tycoon but how long will this take is the question?

On the other hand, network marketing opportunities cost far less than franchises. With mlm opportunities, you get a proven business system providing the company have been in business 5 or more years, financially stable, well managed, and support its network marketers. Let me also say that there are some risks involved with mlm companies as well but they are minimal as compared to franchises. Read your company's policies very carefully and abide by them when conducting your business.

Once you become successful enough, you can then hire employees, which will add more risk, or outsource some or all of your marketing and/or office duties to free up more of your time for your family and other personal matters.

Network marketing, in comparison to franchises, gives you a proven system without a huge financial investment and minimal risk is involved. Therefore, I say that for average people, network marketing is a Smart Business Concept that levels the field for everyone to earn extra income and build wealth from the comfort of home.

Special Skills

As in the previous paragraph, a franchisee will need the necessary business skills to run their new venture to ensure its success. However, a network marketer needs no special skills to run their multi-level business opportunity. Any skill a network marketer may need, they can learn while running their mlm business from their marketing plan. If no such marketing plan exists for the company you choose to join then I strongly suggest you find another company FAST!

In conclusion, network marketing makes smart business sense for anyone wishing to start a home-based business. The benefits are many such as, it cost next to nothing to get started, you get a proven system like you would if you bought a franchise opportunity, and you can be in profit in months rather than in years. Therefore, if you desire more income while still working a 9 to 5 job, or to build your retirement income then you, my friend, should seriously consider network marketing as your vehicle for you and your family's financial well being.

Useful Links:
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Viral Marekting System
Ads of Gold
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Scriptures Christian Home-based Business Opportunity get a check from your very first month in business.
FREE Profitable Home Business Opportunity with multiple streams of income.

About the Author

Kelvin Shaw is CEO of Global Team Success whose slogan is GTS - Connecting You to SUCCESS! (dba Shaw Marketing International), is a part-time freelance writer marketing FREE successful home-based business opportunities in Orlando, Florida. Visit his sites at FREE Global Business.

The Basics of Hosting

At its most basic, getting an Internet project up and running requires two essentials: access to hardware and access to the Internet. Hardware and bandwidth are a major consideration in light of both the potential expense and the issue of quality of service. This is one of those areas where you can pay as much or as little as you like. There is a correlation between what you pay and the quality you get, but there are plenty of good deals to be found in the current market, so shop around.

Let's take one step back and make sure everyone shares some common ground, in terms of terms.

"Servers" are the hardware that holds and distributes information to people via the Internet. A small site may reside on a server with a number of other sites, a large site may require hundreds of separate servers in a variety of physical locations, all connected together and running as one cohesive system.

Servers can handle a wide variety of functions, from housing websites, to running mailing systems. For a quick rundown of server terminology check out the Webopedia server listing.

While some firms are interested in owning and feeding their own equipment, most firms these days choose to outsource all, or at least part, of the task. Outside of firms with special needs, it is hard to make a case for purchasing hardware in the current market. Like a new car, a server depreciates massively the moment it is taken from the dealer. Add to the equation the maintenance of the hardware and the software, and you have a cost center that not only becomes more expensive over time, but less functional relative to the newest technology.

A web hosting company (sometimes called an "Internet Data Center" or "IDC") will offer a variety of packages, including the rental of hardware. The low monthly costs associated with hosting these days tips the hardware scale firmly toward the decision to rent, rather than buy hardware. Let the web host's staff worry about changing disk drives, updating the operating system with the newest security patch and keeping the electricity and Internet connection going 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Outsourcing lets you focus on your core competencies, and the fact is that most IT departments weaned on office networks are in no position to support a real time data center-type operation.

When we talk about outsourcing hosting, another term you are likely to hear frequently is "collocation". Co-location facilities physically house hardware and equipment in a secure location. The facility generally offers some degree of security against physical intrusion, fire, and power or bandwidth interruption. The quality of the physical facility and staff is generally related directly to the price and a site visit is appropriate where high-reliability installations are required.

If you are in the e-commerce business, or providing support services through your website, down time can be very expensive. Larger hosts will provide redundancy for drives, power supplies and bandwidth. If your site produces revenues, don't scrimp on the host. Security of your data and your customers' data is a sensitive issue. While your host is unlikely to guarantee security of any system, they should have in place adequate assurances that their environment does not contribute to the risk. They should also be willing to guarantee turn-around time on installation of patches and security fixes as they are released by vendors (like Microsoft!).

Selecting the right host for your company requires taking a hard look at your needs. Issues that must be resolved and prioritized include your need for ongoing maintenance and physical support services, network quality and speed, contract terms, and of course the value for money. Let's not forget that the current market, with its slough of bankruptcies, has also taught us that the financial stability of the firm is a factor.

For most clients, the level of the host's customer service is the key to satisfaction. Poor customer service is commonly cited as a reason for moving from one host to another, so make an effort to assess any firm's abilities in this area. Several sites now focus on rating web hosts and these should serve as a good starting point for your investigations. Try Hostsearch.com, with its wizard interface, and Web Host Directory. Make a point to ask around - word of mouth is a strong persuader in the customer service game.

Other issues that will inform your decision include your preferred operating system - Windows, Linux or Unix -- and your database needs. The additional services area is where a lot of firms distinguish themselves, offering incentives in the form of unlimited email addresses, or free domain name re-directs. Look carefully at the fine print and add up the cost of additional services. You may well find that the more expensive package bundles a lot of items marked as additional expense in the budget packages. But, also never forget that the company will be more than happy to let you upgrade to a bigger package if your needs change in the future.

author: Ric Shreves, www.waterandstone.com

About the Author

Ric Shreves is an Internet consultant and author specializing in web technologies. He is a partner in Water & Stone, a web design agency focused on Mambo, osCommerce, and other open source tools. Read more of his work online at: http://www.waterandstone.com.

Amsterdam firm of webwriters reveals how they got their PR-3 listing in Google

Case study into ContentClix keywords reveals -how we got listed in the search engines -achieved PR-3 listing in Google -and several PR-1 listings in others;

This a shameless marketing article but we're hard faced enough to take on the odds you're going to read it A-Z. It is the story of how we ended up in the top echelons of major search engines.

The website in question is www.contentClix.com . this one. We -the five of us- live together in a big, crooked house overlooking the lovely canals in Amsterdam and when we don´t play table tennis, we write long, short, medium and stupendously superfluous copy for a variety of international websites who generally are on the lookout for content that´s crisp and freshly European.

Short sentences for instructional copy. Long ones that everyone can still get their head around by the time the last i has been dotted for the rest.

We ourselves did not set out to reach top rankings in any overly organised way. That's why we had so much fun doing the research into the issue. And we've become totally addicted to finding out what are the best tools out there to really go about achieving effectiveness.

To be entirely clear, the contentclix web presence is nothing more than ten pages, with a total of 19 incoming links as of today. We have not purchased expensive keywords nor did we advertise ourselves anywhere or use any seo gimmickry.

So here we go, this is our report of our post-search engine listing internal inquiry into our mysterious jackpot hit. ContentClix has a list of 22 keywords. (ContentClix, content clix, clix, content clicks, clicks, writing, website content, copywriting, ghostwriting, copywriter, ghostwriter, advertising copywriter, creative labs, creative writing, story writing, editorial, editing services, journalism, reporting, freelance writer, freelance writing, writing resources).

We chose these initially because we feel they describe our business accurately and we think that these are the words that spring to mind first when you are looking to find a bunch of copywriters like us. We included our name because somebody said we had to.

ContentClix is a bland name. On purpose, because we believe that having a posh name is stupid, an overly arty one pretentious. After weeks of not being able to decide, one early Monday morning following a frantic work weekend because we´d missed deadline after deadline for a big account, all five of us agreed that having a practical, functional name would remind us to put in some work hours while we are here.

(We were going to be named 038 at first but it appears to be a number quite well known in chemistry, referring to a mineral known as ´strontium´ which in this country´s language is like ´shittium´ in English so that was a no no, mostly regretted by our office molecule clixy who is responsible for our blog, the url we´ll advertise soon enough.)

How did we find out where we actually ranked in the search engines? We ran a search on a tool that's most widely used by professional seo's to check backlinks to websites. It's called www.marketleap.com. A very appropriate name for the venture, because it made us literally leap.

Another site offers free google page rank checks and probability checks of your site. This is what it said about us: "Results: Your current Google PageRank is 3. Based on our calculations, we predict your future PageRank after the next Google update will be 3, an increase of 2.63%". That was enough for us to be totally intrigues as to how things actually work in reality with the search engines. Call us dopey, but our expertise lies in writing sales texts, not search engines.

Using a trial version of the keyword specialist boyz at www.wordtracker.com, we set out on our quest to see what's so special about them. Wordtracker uses the parallel browsers dogpile and metacrawler to simulate queries that people run on the largest search engines.

Each time a user types in any of the keywords, a spider of the real life engines will be actively looking for the terms and somehow this signal is picked up by the metacrawlers too and counted by wordtracker software. It has a database with around 368 million searches from the last 60 days. These are some of the combinations of the keywords and the rankings they yield.

In quick succession, we ran these 10 arbitrary tests:

1) Entering the first half of the string of words into the search box:

ContentClix, content clix, content clicks, clicks, writing, website content, copywriting, ghostwriting, copywriter, ghostwriter, advertising copy

Yieldedthisresult:->Page 1 in Lycos, Hotbot and Alta Vista!

2) Since not many people will have heard of us it's not likely they will be typing in our name in the search engines, so we took out our name from the list: content clix, content clicks, clicks, writing, website content, copywriting, ghostwriting, copywriter, ghostwriter, advertising copy

Result:->Page 1 listings on All the web and Yahoo.

3) We get the hang of it and reduce the words one by one from then onwards yields this, even more surprising

content clicks, clicks, writing, website content, copywriting, ghostwriting, copywriter, ghostwriter, advertising copy

Result:-> All the web, Alta vista, Hotbot, Lycos

4) We are starting not to believe our eyes here. Cutting out my what we thought to be the most vital words (content and clicks within comma's) keywords:

clicks, writing, website content, copywriting, ghostwriting, copywriter, ghostwriter, advertising copy,

delivers these astounding results: -> Page one rankings on: All the Web, AltaVista, HotBot, Lycos Pro

5) The bonanza goes on:

writing, website content, copywriting, ghostwriting, copywriter, ghostwriter, advertising copy

Results -> Page 2 Altavista, Hotbot and Lycos.

6) We keep taking out the keywords:

website content, copywriting, ghostwriting, copywriter, ghostwriter, advertising copy

Result -> Page 3 all the web Alta Vista, Hotbot, Lycos and Yahoo

7) Omitting 'ghostwriter' is the death blow, in the end. This string of words delivers a no ranking in any of the search engines' top three pages:

website content, copywriting, ghostwriting, copywriter

Result -> no pr.

8) Adding the ghostwriter again:

website content, copywriting, ghostwriting, ghostwriter

Result -> a page three listing on AltaVista.

9) But when we take out the ghostwriter and ghostwriting and leave in most of our keywords, we are still very much loved by hotbot and Lycos Pro,

clicks, writing, website content, copywriting, copywriter, advertising copy

Result -> Page 3 ranking Hotbot and Lycos.

10) Let's put them on a weightloss diet. Not a good idea:

website content, copywriting, copywriter, advertising copy

Result -> no pr

11) So what happens if we enter the two hottest keywords just by themselves? Ghostwriter and ghostwriting

Result->no pr.

We can't expect people looking for us to be typing in more than two, at the most three keywords. Adding one simple word to the combination does not alter anything. Website, ghostwriting, ghostwriter yields zero results.

But exchanging website for website content lands us pages 3 again in HotBot and Lycos.

Content copywriter, ghostwriter, also zero returns. And Content writing, copywriting, ghost writing is also not giving us a PR.

So here we go, we now have some idea of where future web traffic and web clients are going to come from. Or at least so we think. Now what can we realistically expect from our wonderful page ranks? We are a copywriting business and ideally want to be seen by the advertising agencies that outsource writing to small freelance guys like us. So let´s hunt those down.

They are the competition. Let's analyse them some more. It turns out soon that we need to do better to maintain the levels of euphoria that are filling the office to the brim. Marketleap shows us people in advertising with as many links as we have and that are also grouped in the category advertising and marketing. Too bad, our nearest competitor is a site named www.trendcreators.com, which does marketing research surveys and its link number is twice as high as ours. It's time to talk some more sense.

So we go back to the keyword analysis tool at keywordtracker and this is where reality hits home and we begin to understand the bigger picture some more. Running each word through the analyser (and actually completing a preliminary competitive analysis in stage 4 of the tool, which is easily missed out on) we begin to be even more bepuzzled.

A total of 18 of our keywords are words that are slightly in demand, one is wrong and three were never requested during the last 60 days (among which our name). Of the keywords that were in demand, the number of competing sites offering services on the basis of the same words in MSN was so high that deviding demand by offer -an equasion that's widely used to determine how valuable a particular keyword actually is- yields very low numbers.

The Keyword Effectiveness Index can be calculated this way for every word that's tracked and here's a quick overview of our keywords' effectiveness in the MSN search engine. A keyword term like ´editing services´, attracted queries from 35 people over the last 60 days. That in itself is quite low, we think, but aside from this fact, companies that are listed under these keywords, our competition, amount to 35,124. The two numbers yield a KEI ratio of 0.206% for 'editing services, which indicates it is a search term not highly rated.

KEI ratios of below 10% are deemed not interesting competitionwise and are certainly not advisable to purchase, say the advertising gurus. Anything over 10% is beginning to be interesting and when you are beginning to near the top percentile, 400, you´re likely generating massive traffic numbers.

Not any of the KEI ratios were above 3.5%. Lucky for us that we are in the top rankings even though the above gobbledegook is not really shedding any light on the matter so far. What's more worrying, is that we still have got to see the traffic coming. Seven guests yesterday, and that´s pretty standard since the site´s inception (....why lie?)

And not being able to incorporate the effect the high rankings are likely to have on the KEI in any measure accurately, we somewhat remain in the dark about just exactly how popular we will be, DESPITE OUR HIGH RANKING. With the demand for the individual keywords on the low side and competition overly present, our traffic numbers are most likely not going to be blowing the pan out any time soon.

Quick daily scans of the number of visitors with devices like www.hit-o-meter.com have confirmed this assumption so far. Even if of all the 5,000 or so queries people type in using our combined keywords over two month periods, contentclix managed to attract double the KEI ratio, this would still only mean traffic streams to our site of at the most 30 visitors at the most in a time span of 2 months.

Perhaps we´re bad losers, but we are starting to hate the boyz at wordtracker!

Most search engines that offer keyword buying run similar services although it's not really 100% clear if the keywords included concern queries for find free services or paid for listings.

We have yet to see what difference it makes for us to have a PR and we'd be more than happy to update you on our progress!

For the time being, all we can attribute the rankings to is our outstanding work. There is no other explanation, folks. Line up the work!

About the Author

Angelique van Engelen runs www.contentClix.com, an Amsterdam based freelance copywriting agency. She has lived and worked in the Middle East and London for over six years before returning to her home country, the Netherlands. She specialises in writing sales copy, feature articles and research reports.

Amsterdam firm of webwriters reveals how they got their PR-3 listing in Google

Case study into ContentClix keywords reveals -how we got listed in the search engines -achieved PR-3 listing in Google -and several PR-1 listings in others;

This a shameless marketing article but we're hard faced enough to take on the odds you're going to read it A-Z. It is the story of how we ended up in the top echelons of major search engines.

The website in question is www.contentClix.com . this one. We -the five of us- live together in a big, crooked house overlooking the lovely canals in Amsterdam and when we don´t play table tennis, we write long, short, medium and stupendously superfluous copy for a variety of international websites who generally are on the lookout for content that´s crisp and freshly European.

Short sentences for instructional copy. Long ones that everyone can still get their head around by the time the last i has been dotted for the rest.

We ourselves did not set out to reach top rankings in any overly organised way. That's why we had so much fun doing the research into the issue. And we've become totally addicted to finding out what are the best tools out there to really go about achieving effectiveness.

To be entirely clear, the contentclix web presence is nothing more than ten pages, with a total of 19 incoming links as of today. We have not purchased expensive keywords nor did we advertise ourselves anywhere or use any seo gimmickry.

So here we go, this is our report of our post-search engine listing internal inquiry into our mysterious jackpot hit. ContentClix has a list of 22 keywords. (ContentClix, content clix, clix, content clicks, clicks, writing, website content, copywriting, ghostwriting, copywriter, ghostwriter, advertising copywriter, creative labs, creative writing, story writing, editorial, editing services, journalism, reporting, freelance writer, freelance writing, writing resources).

We chose these initially because we feel they describe our business accurately and we think that these are the words that spring to mind first when you are looking to find a bunch of copywriters like us. We included our name because somebody said we had to.

ContentClix is a bland name. On purpose, because we believe that having a posh name is stupid, an overly arty one pretentious. After weeks of not being able to decide, one early Monday morning following a frantic work weekend because we´d missed deadline after deadline for a big account, all five of us agreed that having a practical, functional name would remind us to put in some work hours while we are here.

(We were going to be named 038 at first but it appears to be a number quite well known in chemistry, referring to a mineral known as ´strontium´ which in this country´s language is like ´shittium´ in English so that was a no no, mostly regretted by our office molecule clixy who is responsible for our blog, the url we´ll advertise soon enough.)

How did we find out where we actually ranked in the search engines? We ran a search on a tool that's most widely used by professional seo's to check backlinks to websites. It's called www.marketleap.com. A very appropriate name for the venture, because it made us literally leap.

Another site offers free google page rank checks and probability checks of your site. This is what it said about us: "Results: Your current Google PageRank is 3. Based on our calculations, we predict your future PageRank after the next Google update will be 3, an increase of 2.63%". That was enough for us to be totally intrigues as to how things actually work in reality with the search engines. Call us dopey, but our expertise lies in writing sales texts, not search engines.

Using a trial version of the keyword specialist boyz at www.wordtracker.com, we set out on our quest to see what's so special about them. Wordtracker uses the parallel browsers dogpile and metacrawler to simulate queries that people run on the largest search engines.

Each time a user types in any of the keywords, a spider of the real life engines will be actively looking for the terms and somehow this signal is picked up by the metacrawlers too and counted by wordtracker software. It has a database with around 368 million searches from the last 60 days. These are some of the combinations of the keywords and the rankings they yield.

In quick succession, we ran these 10 arbitrary tests:

1) Entering the first half of the string of words into the search box:

ContentClix, content clix, content clicks, clicks, writing, website content, copywriting, ghostwriting, copywriter, ghostwriter, advertising copy

Yieldedthisresult:->Page 1 in Lycos, Hotbot and Alta Vista!

2) Since not many people will have heard of us it's not likely they will be typing in our name in the search engines, so we took out our name from the list: content clix, content clicks, clicks, writing, website content, copywriting, ghostwriting, copywriter, ghostwriter, advertising copy

Result:->Page 1 listings on All the web and Yahoo.

3) We get the hang of it and reduce the words one by one from then onwards yields this, even more surprising

content clicks, clicks, writing, website content, copywriting, ghostwriting, copywriter, ghostwriter, advertising copy

Result:-> All the web, Alta vista, Hotbot, Lycos

4) We are starting not to believe our eyes here. Cutting out my what we thought to be the most vital words (content and clicks within comma's) keywords:

clicks, writing, website content, copywriting, ghostwriting, copywriter, ghostwriter, advertising copy,

delivers these astounding results: -> Page one rankings on: All the Web, AltaVista, HotBot, Lycos Pro

5) The bonanza goes on:

writing, website content, copywriting, ghostwriting, copywriter, ghostwriter, advertising copy

Results -> Page 2 Altavista, Hotbot and Lycos.

6) We keep taking out the keywords:

website content, copywriting, ghostwriting, copywriter, ghostwriter, advertising copy

Result -> Page 3 all the web Alta Vista, Hotbot, Lycos and Yahoo

7) Omitting 'ghostwriter' is the death blow, in the end. This string of words delivers a no ranking in any of the search engines' top three pages:

website content, copywriting, ghostwriting, copywriter

Result -> no pr.

8) Adding the ghostwriter again:

website content, copywriting, ghostwriting, ghostwriter

Result -> a page three listing on AltaVista.

9) But when we take out the ghostwriter and ghostwriting and leave in most of our keywords, we are still very much loved by hotbot and Lycos Pro,

clicks, writing, website content, copywriting, copywriter, advertising copy

Result -> Page 3 ranking Hotbot and Lycos.

10) Let's put them on a weightloss diet. Not a good idea:

website content, copywriting, copywriter, advertising copy

Result -> no pr

11) So what happens if we enter the two hottest keywords just by themselves? Ghostwriter and ghostwriting

Result->no pr.

We can't expect people looking for us to be typing in more than two, at the most three keywords. Adding one simple word to the combination does not alter anything. Website, ghostwriting, ghostwriter yields zero results.

But exchanging website for website content lands us pages 3 again in HotBot and Lycos.

Content copywriter, ghostwriter, also zero returns. And Content writing, copywriting, ghost writing is also not giving us a PR.

So here we go, we now have some idea of where future web traffic and web clients are going to come from. Or at least so we think. Now what can we realistically expect from our wonderful page ranks? We are a copywriting business and ideally want to be seen by the advertising agencies that outsource writing to small freelance guys like us. So let´s hunt those down.

They are the competition. Let's analyse them some more. It turns out soon that we need to do better to maintain the levels of euphoria that are filling the office to the brim. Marketleap shows us people in advertising with as many links as we have and that are also grouped in the category advertising and marketing. Too bad, our nearest competitor is a site named www.trendcreators.com, which does marketing research surveys and its link number is twice as high as ours. It's time to talk some more sense.

So we go back to the keyword analysis tool at keywordtracker and this is where reality hits home and we begin to understand the bigger picture some more. Running each word through the analyser (and actually completing a preliminary competitive analysis in stage 4 of the tool, which is easily missed out on) we begin to be even more bepuzzled.

A total of 18 of our keywords are words that are slightly in demand, one is wrong and three were never requested during the last 60 days (among which our name). Of the keywords that were in demand, the number of competing sites offering services on the basis of the same words in MSN was so high that deviding demand by offer -an equasion that's widely used to determine how valuable a particular keyword actually is- yields very low numbers.

The Keyword Effectiveness Index can be calculated this way for every word that's tracked and here's a quick overview of our keywords' effectiveness in the MSN search engine. A keyword term like ´editing services´, attracted queries from 35 people over the last 60 days. That in itself is quite low, we think, but aside from this fact, companies that are listed under these keywords, our competition, amount to 35,124. The two numbers yield a KEI ratio of 0.206% for 'editing services, which indicates it is a search term not highly rated.

KEI ratios of below 10% are deemed not interesting competitionwise and are certainly not advisable to purchase, say the advertising gurus. Anything over 10% is beginning to be interesting and when you are beginning to near the top percentile, 400, you´re likely generating massive traffic numbers.

Not any of the KEI ratios were above 3.5%. Lucky for us that we are in the top rankings even though the above gobbledegook is not really shedding any light on the matter so far. What's more worrying, is that we still have got to see the traffic coming. Seven guests yesterday, and that´s pretty standard since the site´s inception (....why lie?)

And not being able to incorporate the effect the high rankings are likely to have on the KEI in any measure accurately, we somewhat remain in the dark about just exactly how popular we will be, DESPITE OUR HIGH RANKING. With the demand for the individual keywords on the low side and competition overly present, our traffic numbers are most likely not going to be blowing the pan out any time soon.

Quick daily scans of the number of visitors with devices like www.hit-o-meter.com have confirmed this assumption so far. Even if of all the 5,000 or so queries people type in using our combined keywords over two month periods, contentclix managed to attract double the KEI ratio, this would still only mean traffic streams to our site of at the most 30 visitors at the most in a time span of 2 months.

Perhaps we´re bad losers, but we are starting to hate the boyz at wordtracker!

Most search engines that offer keyword buying run similar services although it's not really 100% clear if the keywords included concern queries for find free services or paid for listings.

We have yet to see what difference it makes for us to have a PR and we'd be more than happy to update you on our progress!

For the time being, all we can attribute the rankings to is our outstanding work. There is no other explanation, folks. Line up the work!

About the Author

Angelique van Engelen runs www.contentClix.com, an Amsterdam based freelance copywriting agency. She has lived and worked in the Middle East and London for over six years before returning to her home country, the Netherlands. She specialises in writing sales copy, feature articles and research reports.