Filing Bankruptcy: What’s at Risk?

February 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The phone calls never seem to stop. Creditors want the money you owe them, but you don’t have it. You’re overextended, and there seems to be no other way out except through bankruptcy. It’s time to weigh your options.

Chapter 7 bankruptcy laws offer filers the potential to wipe their slate clean and start fresh. You pay all the debt that you can, the rest is wiped away, and, within a few months, you can take a deep breath and realize you’re debt free. It sounds like the perfect scenario, but first make sure you understand all that filing for bankruptcy entails. In order to pay off as much of your debt as possible, Chapter 7 bankruptcy requires that you liquidate your assets. Sure, you realize you will have to liquidate some of your bigger items, such as your car and your home. However, you may even need to liquidate something as simple as a domain name.

A popular domain name can be worth a lot of money, and that’s money that might go toward your creditors. It doesn’t matter if you registered a domain name that was already popular or if you built your website from the ground up. If it’s worth cash, you could stand to lose it.

However, thanks to bankruptcy laws, you do have options. For instance, if the website is your source of income, you will be allowed to keep your domain so you can maintain an income. On the other hand, if you decide to liquidate it, you may be further on your way to being debt free.

Seek advice from a reputable bankruptcy attorney before you make your final decision. It’s possible your domain name is worth a lot, or it could be worth nothing at all. It’s best to know what’s in store before you file for bankruptcy so you can prepare for your new debt-free future.

Filed Under: General, Software Tagged With: , , ,

Factors to Consider When Pricing a Domain Name

February 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

One of the hardest things about selling a domain name can be figuring out the price that you want for the domain name. If you set the price to high people won’t purchase the name. However, if you set the price to low than you run the risk of missing out on a huge profit margin. Here is a look at what factors you should take into consideration when pricing your domain name to sell.

Traffic. Consider what type of traffic your domain name receives already. Chances are if you sell the domain name the traffic will still keep going to that domain name. If you have a high amount of traffic you can price the domain higher than you would a low traffic website.

Revenue Conversions. Many domain names have a way to receive revenue from the website. It is a good idea to consider what type of revue you receive from your domain name and consider it into the price of the domain name. If you get a high amount of revenue you will want to ask for more than one that is less profitable.

Keywords. Consider what type of keywords your domain name has. Domain names that are keyword friendly will sell for a higher amount because they will appear higher in Google search results than a website without keywords.

Popularity of the Subject Matter. You must also factor into the price of your domain name the popularity of the subject matter. If the domain name pertains to a popular subject matter you can ask for a higher price than one that is less popular.

Filed Under: Domain Names, Internet Tagged With: , , , ,

How Does Search Engine Optimization Work?

February 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is talked about almost all the time, especially when it comes to getting your business, product, or brand noticed online. But, what is SEO, really? The problem with using it correctly is that a lot of people don’t know what it is. If they don’t have a good understanding of it, they really aren’t using it to its fullest potential. SEO is a method of using keywords on a website. Those keywords draw Google’s attention, and the site is indexed by the search engine. The keywords are used within a site and beneath the site, which interact with Google’s mathematical equations that determine the ranking of the site in the search engine’s results.

When someone searches for “Seattle property management,” for example, the company or result that comes up at the top of the search will have most likely done the most work with SEO on its site. That allowed it to make a good connection with the Google search engine. Of course, there are other search engines, but they don’t hold the strength that Google does – which is why most companies concentrate on Google when they want to rank well and get noticed by customers and potential customers.

There are other factors involved in how a site ranks, like backlinks to the site and other factors. These are all relevant to how the site ranks, but they don’t provide everything when it comes to site ranking. SEO is still the most important, and it’s not about stuffing keywords into a site. Instead, you have to use the right amount – around two to three percent – in order to show Google that you’re providing good, readable content. If you only stuff keywords in, you won’t rank highly and even people who manage to find your site won’t be impressed with what they see. It’s better to follow the keyword density rules so your site can rank well.

Filed Under: Internet, Website Tagged With: , , , ,

A Brief Look at How You Can Get Started Selling Domain Names

February 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If you use the Internet then you know what a domain name is. It is a few words or phrases that serve almost as an address for Internet users to visit websites. While the average Internet user knows what a domain name is they do not know about the hidden world of selling domain names.

Many people will purchase domain names at a low cost in hopes that they can turn it around for a huge profit in a few months or even a few years. In many ways domain names works almost like the real estate market. You can buy something today at a low price and resell it later at a higher price when it is in demand.

If you are considering getting into the world of buying and selling domain names here is a look at how you can get started selling domain names.

Build a Keyword List. It is important that you start to build a keyword list. This can be a list of words and phrases that are becoming popular or might be popular right now. Popular phrases are always important to domain names so if you can secure a low priced domain name with a popular phrase it has a chance to resell for a higher value. Try to create a diverse list of keywords so your domain name search will spread out over a number of niche areas.

Purchase Domain Names. After you have gotten a keyword list the next step is to purchase domain names with those words or phrases in them. There are dozens of websites that will sell domain names or show you similar names that might be available. If you are purchasing domain names make sure that you are purchasing at resale price and not an auctioned name.

Advertise the Domain Name. Once you’ve purchased the domain names you need to advertise that you are selling it to people. There are websites that will allow you to advertise that you have a domain name available for those that might be looking for one.

Filed Under: Domain Names, Web hosting Tagged With: , , , , ,

Things You Need to Know About Fonts

January 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Fonts are the texts you use on computers. As unique as your handwriting is, so are the fonts. Not only do many have alpha-numeric values to them, many fonts exist that are dingbats using images that can almost be used as a one color clip art. Whether you are designing a school newsletter or a small business logo, there are some things you need to know about the fonts you are using.

Which Fonts can you Use?

That depends on the user licensing agreement. Generally, most programs that include fonts include those for personal use only. A commercial license is often an additional purchase; however, some of their fonts are already free for commercial use. You have to research the font specifically, and not all fonts have that information available.

If you go to a website and purchase fonts or download free fonts, the license should stipulate its use. You will be amazed at how many fonts are available for free for commercial use.

Where can you Find Free Fonts?

For commercial use, always read the license agreement as information can change and font creators can change their mind, but Larabie Fonts (found at My Fonts http://www.myfonts.com) offers quite a few for free. Blue Vinyl fonts offers more a buy one get one free deal, and Vic Fieger offers his old fonts for free and has quite a few for purchase.

For personal and commercial use, DaFont (http://www.dafont.com) offers many fonts available for free use, mainly personal use, but there’s a lot of commercial free uses on there as well. They also provide links to the font creator’s website when available.

Where can you Find Font License Information?

Generally, the license is downloaded with the font as a “read me” file. If not, many font creators also provide their information on their websites. If you can’t find the license information, consider contacting the creator and requesting permission if possible.

Filed Under: General, Software Tagged With: , , ,

Monitoring Employees with Technology

January 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Ever wonder what goes on at your place of business when you are not there? Are the employees actually working? Here are some ideas in using technology to keep an eye on employees.

Visual

Many companies already have cameras in place in their businesses, mainly for security reasons. If you consider having a camera up, also consider using your own network to view the footage. Many companies have used the internet for their networks requiring a log in user name and password. The technology is available for you to view the camera footage live from your computer or some smart phones by setting your cameras up to record to your online network. Check with your state for laws regarding video in businesses.

Computer Use

You can set the computers up to limit or track what your employees do on the computer. Uninstall any games on the computers if you don’t want your employees playing solitaire. If the games are there, the employees are probably going to play them. You can also block web access to certain internet sites such as common email providers like Yahoo and Hotmail as well as social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. If you feel you want to give employees freedom to view all of the internet because you may have a few you trust or they may need it to complete their job duties, you can also track computer behavior. If you own the computer and have consent of users using the computer, you can purchase and install tracking software, many of which are designed for parental controls, such as Spytech SpyAgent 7.1.

Audio

For the extremely concerned, you can consider recording audio in the workplace to check out what your employees are saying to each other and to customers. Be careful going this route. Many states have laws prohibiting audio recording for privacy issues.

Filed Under: Computers, Website Tagged With: , , , ,

Web Analytics

January 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A brick and mortar store generally tries to figure out their customers so they can better reach them and sell. They spend quite a bit of money on demographics and a lot of time planning target markets and advertising campaigns. The web is no different except for one thing: You can easily get more accurate information about your customers just because they are already logged on. The fact that they are on the computer answers a slew of questions you could ask customers walking into your store if you thought they’d take the time to answer them.

Better yet, you don’t have to design a system to ask customers to answer questions in creating an account followed by data base sorting unless you want more information than analytics can provide. For basic information, you can simply use Web Analytics to give you the information you need to know about customer behavior on your site. Web Analytics comes in a variety of forms. You can purchase Web Analytic services through companies such as Coremetrics, which is recommended for larger websites with bigger budgets, or you can use a free analytics tool such as GoogleAnalytics. If you are looking for something more in the middle, website statistics services might be a better approach such as OneStat and 3DStats.

Depending on which route you go, most web analytics can tell you who visited your site, where they are from, what pages they visited and what links they clicked, how they got to your site, how long they spent on your site, and where they left your site. Many also provide this information specifically as well as general statistics such as total visitors from the United States or most popular pages on your site.

This tool helps web site owners see what is and what isn’t working, develop their marketing and website planning, and improve their Search Engine Optimization.

Filed Under: Software Tagged With:

‘Hire’ a Registry Cleaner to do Your Dirty Work

January 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In the seemingly never ending battle against malware, some software tools are an important part of the fight. Registry cleaners are one such item. These cleaners do the work that it would be impractical for you to do manually – they search nearly countless files, looking for, and finding redundancies and unwanted items. Once these are removed, hard drive space is freed, which can have an immediate effect on your computer’s operating speed. A registry cleaner might have your computer responding to commands at the speed it offered when new! By simultaneously optimizing your machine, a cleaner will have you saving time like the effective multitasker that you are. Additionally, with the space that is freed up, you can often install business critical applications.

Have you ever noticed that you’ve bumped into long-since erased files, often many months or even years later, on your machine? In the digital world, what was once created is not always so easily destroyed. This being the case, PC Tools Registry Software is a great way to scan your computer for files that you wish were permanently gone, whether they’re sensitive documents or just space hogging video containing emails that colleagues have sent you. If you’re like most people, you want something deleted when you’ve answered all the prompts inquiring if you’re sure this is what you want to happen. After all those prompts, you still don’t get a complete delete!

Not only will a cleaner get things handled for you, it will also clear off your viewing history. That’s an essential feature to have when your boss just might sit at your desk after hours to use your machine. There’s no reason they need to see that you checked in with your social media connection while on the clock. All of that, and you’ll get a system-wide backup just in case your computer was to crash. Okay, when your computer crashes! Let malware be a thing of the past.

Filed Under: Internet, Software, Website Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Qualities of an Effective Online Ad

January 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Have you ever looked through a newspaper and see a chaotic mess of advertisements to where you cannot fathom a small business actually getting their money’s worth for the ad? The internet is no different. Design is key because not only do you want users to find your advertisements, but you also want them to trust you as a company.

Scam advertisements generally come in flashing ads, annoying pop-ups, and fake news articles. Avoid those if you are a legitimate company.

Effective advertisements keep some of the basic principles of print advertising in addition to creating some new rules of thumb for online versions. The Headline is still important. It should be short, eye-catching, and relevant. Pictures and colors are more fun to look at as well as play a role into the overall mood of the ad and your image. Copy is not required, but if it is there, it should be meaningful, useful, and brief. Signature is of great importance if you want to gain trust. Omitting who you are or a logo not only kills a branding opportunity, but it also removes credibility from the ad.

The Call to Action is of utmost importance to the internet world. Users online move quickly and generally at impulse. Because the internet can be confusing, users appreciate simple directions of where to go next if they are interested. A simple “Click Me” or “Click Here,” can improve clicks. But be careful, if you pay for advertising per click, you want to design the ad to where your target market is going to be more apt to click than someone surfing the web with little interest in what you offer.

Target your link directly to what it offers. If your ad offers t-shirts with a link directing customers to a website that offers a slew of printing services, they may leave because they clicked the ad for t-shirts.

Filed Under: Internet Tagged With:

Popular Online Scams to Watch Out For

January 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Dating Sites

Some of these scammers create phony profiles on dating sites, profess a quick love or will drag it out for a couple months, sometimes even discuss wedding plans, and then all the sudden, they are out of the country and need money for an emergency, generally followed by another emergency, and then at some point, they are done taking from you and you never hear from them again.

Foreign Lottery

You may get an email saying you won the lottery in Africa, and all they need is a bunch of personal information from you, and possibly some money, to close the deal.

Make Money on Ebay, Google, or Other At-Home Opportunities

We have the secret to making lots of money on the internet. Janet has made over x amount of dollars in just the last year alone working part time behind her computer. If you want to learn how, please follow a series of clicks that do not answer any questions you may have on the subject and eventually send money or sign a contract promising to make monthly fees.

Credit Cards

You may get an email about a credit card. All the bank needs is for you to fill out this application. Once approved, you immediately have an account with a $300 limit of which $265 was already billed for first-time fees, annual fee, and a monthly fee. Even if you close your account without ever using the card, you still owe that money.

In addition, they may not even be a bank whether using a phony name or using a famous one with a similar logo, and they then use your personal information from your application for identity theft.

Protect Yourself

Protect yourself from these scams by being aware, safe-guarding your personal information, and researching people before doing business with them. Never send money to someone you don’t know.

Filed Under: Internet Tagged With:
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »