Keeping your files close? Might be a bad idea

I’ve been sick for about a week. So things ran a little slow with the development of the online business. To top it off, first day back in seat behind the desk and my dalmatian puppy hit my Maxtor external hard drive. It dropped about a foot and an atomic bomb hit my prized possessions and memorabilia. Movies, Albums, Engagement Pictures, Holiday Photo’s, Art Work, Software, Applications, Personal information nulled. All hope is not lost yet. I still have my brain to retrieve memories right? Maybe it’s just me, I can’t even remember my own number any more don’t mind those of close friends. Technology is eradicating my need to exercise the storing of memories and facts. It seems that I can stay in cruise control in life. Sure my bills will be paid by direct debit. Photos save my memories. Applications do the work for me. Etc Etc.

Suppose the moral of the story here is if you do decided to keep an external hard drive. Get a NAS and attach it to your router. Why?
1) It’s more than likely in a safe position.
2) It does not use your computers memory for processing and downloading.
3) Back up your files on a regular basis for good measure in case the hard drive ever malfunctions.

Stay close to your files. Stay productive. Stay in cruise control. Because if you get behind the wheel now and again, you might find you forgot how to drive!

As always don’t wait for action. Take it today, take it now. Become your potential!

The importance of favicons : Brand Building Ur “Fav” Thing to do?

It may only seem like small thing but there is a missed opportunity to those that don’t create a favicon for their website. Reasons why you should include favicons with your company branding and marketing strategy.

1) Increase your sites usability.
When too many tabs are open in browser you may not see the name of the site. Sometimes you may only see two or three letters in the tab, especially with Google Chrome. A favicon not only allows your customer to find you quickly amongst all the other tabs that are fighting for attention, they also cause a subconscious easy feeling with the customer. Because they were able to identify your site quickly amongst all the others you have solved their immediate problem:finding you.

2) Build Brand Awareness.
Being able to find you quickly amongst the other tabs teaches users that your brand icon is the gateway to certain information. Your brand becomes synonymous with some service or information. Providing, of course, you have quality info or service.

3) More Brand Awareness
Every opportunity to promote your brand should be taken. Most RSS readers use favicons when displaying information from websites. Designing a favicon that grabs the attention of the reader can increase the probability of the reader actually reading your latest release.

4) Increase Income.
If you combine the ability to attract the readers attention and make your site easy to identify amongst the crowds in the open tabs of your browser, then you have more traffic coming to your site. More pageviews. More opportunity for advertising sales, or simply sales of the service / products you offer.

5) Professionalism.
All in, a site with a favicon adds a professional touch to the website. If the person takes the time to design the favicon and understands the importance, i’d be sure that they will also pay attention to other small things that make good service.

“Good service is not about the big things, it’s about doing the little things” – Rob Jones

Create a Favicon easily. It is very simple to do. It is not only simple but FREE. Create a favicon free at http://www.favicon.cc/

My ecommerce site is nearly done. I hope to post it here soon for you to review and comment on.

Remember take ACTION! not tomorrow, not later, but NOW!

Income From Domain Names

Thought I’d share some experience. I wanted to host my Ecommerce site under a different domain name. So I chose a new domain name and then after more research realised that I wanted a different domain name yet again. TMD Hosting have been extremely helpful and have redirected my site to my new domain free of charge. I’m having a slight worry now.

Sometimes when I put into the browser my new domain name, my old one shows for just a second. I think maybe the new domain just cloaks the old domain. And I have searched my site in Google and there is no sign of it. None at all.

However, my old site name when searched directs traffic to my new domain. Consequently, my ecommerce site is still receiving alot of traffic through my old domain name. I’m worried about my new domain name not showing up in Google in case the robots see it as the old domain but just cloaked!

I resubmitted my site today through Google. I’m hoping this will help it show up. I know there are loads of places where I need to register the site and will begin doing so very soon.

This brought me to the idea of making money through parked domains. I receive 50 hits a day on my old domain, all looking for a specific category of product. I’m wondering if hosting a page and making it a directory for those companies supplying those products could be a way to generate income.

I’m too busy at the moment to do anything about it but I am keeping it in the back of my mind.

Other than that, take my advice when it comes to logos and branding. Get someone else to do it! Tell them the pixels and size and colors you would like and let them do a great design at a cheap price. I learn the hard way and I am convinced that I can do this for little or no money. I also like being able to make changes myself and have more influence over how things work so for me it’s an additional skill. I plan on testing the waters with many ideas, and it just would not be practical to always outsource this. However, if it is a one off for yourself. Definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, outsource it! Something that could take you a few days to master could cost you less than $50 and allow you time to work on what’s important, Growing the Business!

Best of luck, and act now!!!

No One Likes the Euro?

Today’s objectives are to complete the payment gateway for my E-commerce site.

I’ve had a problem with doing this for some time. You would think the likes of Google Checkout and PayPal would have the facilities to accept Euro! Google does not accept to display the currency in Euro when you checkout. This means the price on checkout to my site is numerically the same when you go to pay at Google checkout but it’s a different currency. The Sterling.

Suppose it wouldn’t be a big deal if the pound continues to weaken and your getting a deal using your euro credit card

Paypal offer the ability to process payments in Euro through their website. I don’t really mind this approach personally. I love PayPal. Some don’t! I want to give every customer their preferred approach to payment.
PayPal also offer a “Pro” version of their payment processing. This allows you to accept payment for credit cards on your own website. Which is a great deal, especially because, like Google, it’s free to setup with no monthly costs or contract.

The problem you ask?
The Pro version of Paypal only accepts Sterling. Again! That leaves me buggered. I thought! The most important thing to any start-up business is to keep costs to an absolute minimum until revenue is generated. So an alternative has come to light

(A little prayer and a belief that things will work out )

MoneyBrokers.com

Yes, the cost per transaction is outrageous. 8% of turnover per transaction. This really hits the bottom line. It means my prices have to be inflated by 8%. So, THE “work around program” THE “Solution.”

That being said. I can set up with MoneyBrookers. When turnover begins to show life, I can switch to a full fledged Merchant Account with a bank.

“It’s not like I let a Leprechaun out from under the stairs every time I need some coinage”

Why don’t I get a merchant account with a bank right now?
Good question. They require business plans, account history, company formation documents and yadda yadda. Can you image the costs associated with forming a full fledged company with internet merchant accounts, 12 month contracts, monthly fees, accountancy compliance, and decommissioning costs associated with every idea you want to test in the market? It’s bonkers. Entrepreneurs should be given some leeway. Free internet merchant accounts, pay later company formation, and all the rest. I’m not saying entrepreneurs should avoid any responsibilities, but rather government should be flexible enough to give people a chance to test the market and start some turnover before hitting them over the head with the Red Book of “Pay Us Now” Tape.

How Can I Start?

Maybe I’m just a chancer in life. Maybe I don’t care much for bureaucracy and need to learn how to work with the system. If you ask me. It just takes too long. How many ideas have you had that sounded great and then thought, nope I wouldn’t no where to start with legalities etc. But I bet if there where no regulations (provided your service or product was not of harm to the environment or people within it) then you could get it started quickly.

It’s like the Sunday Herald describes below:

In myriad different ways, it seems that so much attention is paid to minutiae of working practice that the bigger picture is lost. By disincentivising businesses in such ways, we are effectively preventing long-term growth and economic sustainability

That’s it for my rant. Back to Work. Best of Luck all.

Take action! Not Tomorrow, not later, Now!

The Psychology of Winning

I’ve been flat out all day today. Mainly I was doing some keyword research. Using Google’s keyword research tool I was able to come up with some keywords that will help me name the company website. Apparently higher ranking is associated when the title page includes keywords along with the meta description and meta title. God knows, I would love to just fill up the Meta Keywords section with anything relevant and drag traffic in, but Google don’t and have not attributed any value to Meta Keywords for some time.

Get ahead with Google

I’ve also changed and registered the new domain name. It was a simple task to direct the website to the new domain name. I can’t say enough about TMD Hosting. I’m not an affiliate or anything, so you’re not getting a “listen to me vote; I’m trying to make money”, but their service is impeccable. I can’t flaw it. They are there online for service immediately and don’t charge you for it. Unbelievable.

I also did some keyword research to what competitors in the industry are using and what products they are selling. So now I’m looking at what products I can begin to supply, what their profit margins are, and how to sell them.

A winner is a person who visualizes their dreams come true. They repeat constantly in their mind what they must do to accomplish the vision. They act it out in their mind before the do it. They rehearse. They sell the dream to themselves. I just finished listening to some powerful stuff from Dennis Waitley called “The Psychology of Winning”. Great stuff.He’s right, I just told the little Ms. that a couple of weeks back that I didn’t realize I was in the driving seat of my own life until just a couple of years ago. I’m 28 now. I didn’t realize I was alive! Free to do what I choose. I was imprisoned by habit and social norm.

Just keep moving is what I tell myself. Seen this fantastic quote:

” The great successful men of the world have used their imagination…they think ahead and create their mental picture in all its details, filling in here, adding a little there, altering this a bit, but steadily building – steadily building”

Fantastic ain’t it. Just what I was saying in last nights article ” Life is a Whirlwind”

Have fun all. Just keep moving! Keep taking action! Not tomorrow, not later, not never, but Now!!!!

The Step By Step Journey

Hi All,

What direction will you take in life? Which road will you take? Do you see options? Can you see the final destination?

Fulfil Your Destiny

There are always options even if you don’t see them. You never know what is around the corner. Some days it’s amazing to see how fast something can actually happen. However, the opportunity only becomes a reality when you call it to be.

So with that, I’m about to document what I am calling into my life. I hope that by doing this I’m taking further steps towards the manifestation of my dreams. I will keep you posted on how I’m doing. Check out the STAGE 1, STAGE 2 and STAGE 3 categories to find out what I’m up to in each stage.

So the goal.

Current Income: €800 per month on unemployment.

Desired Income: €15,000 per month.

Time Scale:

Stage 4 : 12 Months  (Exact date will be 07/10/2010)       =          €30,000  per month
Stage 3 : 9 Months (07/06/2010)                                            =    €17,000   per month
Stage 2 : 6 Month (07/04/2010)                                              =    €15,000   per month
Stage 1 : 3 Months (07/01/2010)                                             =   €2,000     per month

So you’re probably wondering how?

Stage 1 :

I’m creating an online store to buy products cheaply in the North of Ireland and then sell them in the south, the Republic of Ireland. There is a current price parity between the south and the north with the weakening of the pound. I know that I may not be able to sustain the business on low prices if the pound comes back. I hope by that time I can convince some suppliers to offer we low prices for my store. It will depend on Online Marketing, SEO and Unique Selling Point to drive traffic into the store. The store will be open November 1st. Leaving two months up to Christmas for sales and we will focus heavily on Christmas gifts marketing.

Need to Learn :

Payment Gateways, CSS, Newsletter Software and Analysis, VAT, Research Popular Products and Keywords, Market Site, develop online campaign.

Stage 2

I will open a preschool for kids. I will launch the school in April 2010. My unique selling points will be discussed at a later date. I have two USP that will drive people in queues to get their kids registered. One unique selling point will depend on me developing a relationship with a proprietor of a product. To him I will offer his product name exposure along with ours in media and PR for the launch. I will also offer sales. Ensuring that every child have this product at home.  I’ve worked out some preliminary numbers and the profit potential good.  I’ve looked into regulations etc and see that there are no real barriers to entry. However, the two employees I have will be certified to give additional confidence to the parents.

Will need to :

Learn CSS to develop website myself, learn about VOIP Camera Technology, Log in Software for remote viewing, Grants?, develop business plan, research pricing structure, identify key location, understand daily schedule of preschool, create sales copy.

Stage 3

The online store will begin to bring more revenue as marketing efforts are continued and traffic is building in numbers.

Stage 4

Preschool number two will open. To produce additional income.

That’s really it. Year two I will begin purchasing and developing property in the UK. I will begin research near the end of next year. I did this same research four years ago for Ireland. Where I examined local county council 5 & 10 year plans, including plans with all transportation such as road development projects, train journey increases and destinations, flight increases, airport development,  and other local transportation such as our famous Luas Line. I conlcuded that fingal county was the area to purchase and was very much right on the nose. I will begin again in the UK. This time I will identitfy large price parities within small areas and purchase low, develop, rent out and mortgage after 6 months to get my cash out of the property plus additional profit built in from the development.

That’s all for now. I will of course keep you updated on the progress and will use this blog as a way of documenting what information I come across that will be helpful to me and you in the future. You can find the updates within the TAGS. I’ll Tag my posts as Stage 1 etc…

Like always, take action, not tomorrow, not some time today, but NOW!!

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