The Inner Workings Of Your Satellite TV System.

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Oct 302023
 

Although this subject may seem daunting it is fairly simple. I hope that this article will show you exactly what you where looking to learn.

Satellite TV works by broadcasting video and audio signals from geo stationary satellites to satellite dishes on the Earth’s surface. These geo stationary satellites orbit the earth in a region of space known as the Clarke Belt, which is approximately 22,300 miles above the equator. Satellites only “appear to be stationary because of their location in the Clarke Belt, in reality they
are whirring about the planet, and their orbits become eccentric if left alone.

Each of these satellites carries a number of transponders. These transponders each carry a signal back to the Earth. Each of these carry various stations such as your local channels. The most commonly used signals are on C Band, Ku Band, or Ka Band. The band of a signal describes, in broad terms, the frequency of the signal.

After traveling over twenty thousand miles, these signals are received by a satellite dish. This dish can be as small as 18″ across, or it can be 10′ or larger across. The purpose of the satellite dish is to act as a collector and a reflector. The dish collects the signal and reflects it towards what they call the feed horn.

The feed horn receives the reflected signal and sends it to the LNB. The LNB amplifies the signal (makes it stronger) and converts it to a frequency more suitable for transmission over a cable. In satellite terminology, that cable is known as the IFL.

The LNB transmits the signal over the cable to the satellite receiver. The satellite receiver then unscrambles it and sends the signal to your television set.

Digital Satellite TV

Almost all satellite TV is now encoded digitally. This enables satellite broadcasters to offer more television channels at a better quality using the same amount of satellite bandwidth.

Satellite TV is available in both standard resolution and in the new ATSC High Definition (HDTV) format. The digital data is usually compressed with MPEG-2 or a variation thereof. MPEG-4 is beginning to replace MPEG-2 in some satellite networks.

Satellite TV Options

Dozens of vendors operate satellite television networks across the globe. Your options for satellite TV will differ depending upon what country you live in. In addition, some “spot beam” services will only serve specific large cities.

In the United States, the largest satellite TV vendors are Dish Network and DirecTV. Both DirecTV and Dish Network offer programming on the Ku and Ka bands.

In addition, National Programming Service and Superstar offer programming on C Band. Some free-to-air satellite TV channels are even available at no cost if you have a Free-to-Air receiver.

Alternative Satellite TV

Until just recently if you wanted to enjoy watching satellite TV you had to have a satellite dish installed and a receiver for each of your television sets. Many people enjoy the wide variety of stations that a satellite provider like Direct TV or Dish Network have to offer.

Some people however don’t like the idea of having the dish mounted onto their home or like the way it looks sitting in their yard. Not to mention the high prices that are associated with a full package deal. A full package deal may offer you several movie, sports, and music channels but it also comes with a hefty price tag.

In 2006 a great new service was made available to the public. People from anywhere in the world can now get access to over 2800 channels from all over the world. This is astonishing considering that getting the full package usually only gets you around 400 channels.

You no longer need to mount an ugly looking satellite dish on your home or in your yard to enjoy the privilege of satellite TV. You can now get it wherever an internet connection is available. One such service that offers this software is Satellite TV On PC Pro. Visit this articles authors BIO to get more information on this great service.

Computer Repair Prices: A Complete Price

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Oct 292023
 

Computer repair prices are fixed before you ever start a consulting job. Be sure to think about every aspect of the work you will complete before setting computer repair prices, and that these prices include every expectation of your customer.

The Main Factor Of A Complete Price

There is nothing more irritating than finding a computer or other technology item at the right price only to find out there is something you need that is not included. This is the definition of incomplete pricing, and as a computer repair specialist, you want to avoid it. Incomplete pricing will anger your customers and make them feel cheated.

Provide Extras

When you add something special to your computer repair prices as a bonus to your customer, your customer will feel good about the services you provide. Services like a free check-up visit post-repair will make the client feel he is getting a good deal. You should also make follow-up phone calls to add to your company’s reputation and feed word of mouth.

Provide Details

Even before you do any repair work you should give your client a written estimate. The estimate must include computer repair prices and exactly what is included service-wise. Any changes you make need to be brought to the client before they are implemented in order to create a good relationship and encourage future business.

Computer Repair Prices And Reassessment

You should keep reviewing computer repair prices frequently as your business continues to grow. Make sure your fees include items such as travel costs or materials, or you create those as a separate item when appropriate.

You should also consider making changes in your pricing if you ever notice customers are regularly confused. You should address computer repair price issues even if only a few clients seem concerned. Every client is important, and all should feel they are getting a fair and honest deal. Good feedback brings good referrals, which equals future business and your company’s growth.

Copyright MMI-MMVII, Computer Consultants Secrets. All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}

Problem Remortgages

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Oct 282023
 

Research has indicated that as many as 1 in 4 people have had an adverse credit history problem in the past. Debt reports in national newspapers indicate that debt problems are spiralling out of control and it has become easier now than ever before to take out more debt by applying for loans, credit cards and mortgages. This was all well and good whilst interest rates were low and it was just above the UK retail prices index level (RPI) and it did not make sense to try to save as it was cheaper to borrow now and buy now. But this cannot carry on indefinitely and as interest rates rise, as they will, the debt will bite into peoples circumstances even harder.

If you are having trouble paying your current mortgage, loan or credit cards or you think that you are not receiving the best mortgage deal you possibly can, then perhaps it is time to think about a remortgage. However, many people are unsure about the relative benefits and problems of a remortgage. Here are some useful tips to help you decide if remortgaging is right for you:


What is a remortgage anyway?
A remortgage is when you replace your existing mortgage loan with a new one from either the same lender or a new lender. This is usually done to reduce monthly payments or to release equity. Remortgaging is usually carried out through a remortgage broker to find the best rates.

Remortgaging for lower payments
One of the most common reasons to re-mortgage is to get lower monthly payments than you do now. If you are struggling to pay off your monthly payments, then you need to look for a better deal, as soon as you can. If you can find one, then ask your current mortgage lender if they can match this, if they would prefer to keep you as a customer at a lower rate than lose you altogether. If they cannot match the rate, then you should look at remortgaging.

Remortgaging to release equity
Another reason why people remortgage is to get hold of some extra money by releasing equity they may have built up in their property. This means that you borrow more than your current mortgage debt to release the money you have already paid into the property and this extra money may be used for debt consolidation or home improvements. This is especially useful if your property has gone up in price or if you have paid off a large percentage of your mortgage. It is like getting out a loan, but the rates are low as they are part of the remortgage.

Pitfalls
One thing that you should look at before remortgaging is whether or not it is really right for you. There maybe a number of costs involved, such as legal fees and penalties for changing mortgages. These fees could add up and might be more than you can afford. Also, if you borrow more money or you get lower monthly payments, it could mean that you will be paying the money back for a longer period of time.
Although it may seem helpful now, you could end up paying more long-term and if you are still paying the money back when you retired you might be left unable to make the payments without pension provisions.

Remortgaging can help you if you are struggling with payments or you need to free up some money. However, you should think carefully about whether or not remortgaging will be beneficial to you in the long-term but if you have a problem remortgage it could be the ideal situation

4 Tips to Take the Terror Out of Giving Presentations

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Oct 272023
 

What’s scarier to most Americans than spiders, heights, or even
death? There hasn’t been a horror movie made about it yet, but
more than 75% of Americans surveyed report that they suffer from
“glossophobia,” a debilitating fear of public speaking. Statistically,
far more of us claim that we would prefer death to giving a speech;
even comedian Jerry Seinfeld used to joke that at a funeral, most
people would rather be lying in the casket than delivering the
eulogy.

Why is the prospect of trying to communicate information in front of
even one person so horrifying? Most glossophobes fear looking
bad, being criticized, suffering rejection, and losing business or
friends-all because they are certain they will forget what they’d
planned to say. Maybe you have had the experience of forgetting a
speech or presentation, or you’ve seen it happen to someone else,
and you don’t want it to happen to you. Ever.

What’s wrong with rote?

Most people memorize speeches by rote-or word-for-word
repetition-and try to deliver it exactly as they’ve written it. You
probably don’t realize that this method of learning is actually
setting you up to forget what you’re supposed to say because it
creates tremendous stress, which is in turn the number one killer
of memory.

Or if you do manage to remember every single word you’d planned
to say, the effort requires so much mental energy that you come
off as a terrible communicator. You’re not really there while you’re
speaking because all of your efforts go into remembering what
comes next. If, heaven forbid, something distracts you, or
someone interrupts you with a question during a memorized
presentation, thinking about anything other than “What comes
next?” can throw you completely off-track. Your mind may literally
go blank, just as you feared.

And there’s one more problem with word-for-word learning: 93%
of our communication happens non-verbally. The majority of the
message your audience receives has very little to do with the
actual words you say but with body language, tone of voice,
gestures, and facial expressions. So you can’t expect to convey
ease and expertise non-verbally if your mental and physical
energies are completely preoccupied with delivering a verbatim
speech. You’ll simply be too tense, and it will show.

And what’s wrong with notes?

What about the security blanket of an outline or notes? You may
feel you need notes to stay on track when giving a presentation,
but if you’re tied to those notes, you aren’t free to make eye
contact, a key element of non-verbal communication. You’ll also be
stuck behind a podium, and if people can’t see two-thirds of your
body, that has a serious impact on the 93% non-verbal
communication aspect of your presentation. Notes may make you
feel a little better, but they also take away a crucial tool for your
effectiveness.

As a real estate professional, for example, when you’re discussing
listing or selling a prospect’s home, an effective presentation is
one in which you are clearly the expert and know more about
selling a home than the person who wants the home sold.
Likewise, an American who is fluent in French doesn’t need to
reference a French translation guide while vacationing in Paris. So
if you’re fluent in your topic, you shouldn’t need to consult your
notes, and your audience of one or many will sense this on a
subconscious level. However, if you feel you must use notes,
consult them very little or not at all, and you’ll gain huge credibility
as an expert.

Four Tips to Relieve Presentation Terror

1. Regardless of how deeply rooted your fear of public speaking is,
with a few simple adjustments to your method of preparation, you
can grow more confident about your abilities so that much of your
fear disappears. When you know what you’re going to say and
that your presentation is strong, public-speaking may still be a
little nerve-wracking, but it’s exciting, too. Try these tips to help
turn that stomach-turning anxiety into the rush of great
communication.


2. Know what you’re talking about. When you prepare an
organized presentation of any kind, you must be knowledgeable
about the company, product, or situation. Talk about things you
actually know well. If you’re not confident that you know all that
you need to, commit to doing thorough research and learn what
you need to know to feel and look expert. If you truly don’t know
what you’re talking about, it will show, and all the tricks and
techniques in the world won’t help.


Decide on a few key points. Good keynote speakers typically don’t
have more than three or four key things for the audience to take
away from their presentations. The classic presentation formula is
a story that makes the audience laugh in the beginning, a few key
points for them to take away (usually illustrated with stories),
followed by an emotionally moving story at the end.

Another basic formula for effective communication is:

– Tell your audience what you’re going to tell them.
– Tell them.
– Tell them what you told them.

3. Create visual triggers. Invent pictures in your mind and “store”
them in various places around the room where you’ll deliver the
presentation. The pictures then become your speech. For example,
if one of your points is about achieving goals, you can envision a
set of goal posts as a visual representation of that concept. If you
want to make a point about freedom, envision an American flag
somewhere in the room, or a huge stack of money if you want to
talk about increasing profits.

4. Relax, have fun and be yourself. People respond best to a
message when the person delivering it is genuine. With sufficient
preparation of the right type, you’ll feel comfortable enough to be
yourself in front of a group. You can then demonstrate how much
you believe in what you’re saying. When you can relax and be an
authentic human being, you tap into powerful communication.

From Fearful to Fearless

You’ve undoubtedly heard a few presentations-both good and
bad-in your day, so you know it’s a fact: you listen to and respect
those speakers who talk to you, not at you. A conversation is
always better than a lecture, isn’t it? When you are preparing to
make a presentation, know that people don’t mind if you stumble
over a couple of words; in most cases they don’t even notice.
What they will notice, though, and mind a great deal, is being read
to or BS’d. If your audience feels as if you’re insincere or
unknowledgeable, they may give you real reason to be a
glossophobe! But if you’re prepared, knowledgeable, and relaxed,
you can expect to get the results you want, whether that’s more
sales, promotions, or thunderous applause from your devoted
audience.

The Top 3 Advanta Credit Cards

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Oct 262023
 

Advanta credit cards are offered only to businesses. A search of the internet showed the top three Advanta cards as being, Advanta Business Rewards Platinum BusinessCard, Advanta Platinum BusinessCard and Advanta Life-of-Balance Platinum Card.


Business owners who apply for any of these cards must have good credit to be accepted.


Advanta Business Rewards Platinum BusinessCard


This card offers a 0% APR on all balance transfers for fifteen months . After the introductory period, a 7.99% fixed APR is assigned; this is the regular APR for all such cards.


Being an awards card, the Advanta Business Rewards Platinum card has five percent (5%) cash back or travel awards.


Like the other two Advanta credit cards there is no annual fee.


Advanta Platinum BusinessCard


Also offering a 0% introductory APR on balance transfers and purchases for twelve months, this also has no annual fees attached. The regular APR is 13.49%, which makes the introductory 0% a deal.


The best thing about the Advanta Platinum is the Fifty Thousand dollar credit limit. Card holders also have access to free online bill payments as well as other benefits, such as, free vehicle insurance, theft and damage protection, as well as great discounts at select companies such as IBM.


Advanta Life-of-Balance Platinum Card


The Life-of-Balance credit card offers a fixed APR of 2.99% for life on balance transfers made within three months of getting the card. The regular APR on this card is 9.99%.


Cash back rewards of 6% are available on gas, utilities, computer supplies and dining expenses; other purchases earn 2% cash back. Card holders can also earn travel rewards on the Advanta Travel Rewards Point Program. Customers also have the option to select reward types after signing up for the card.

These cards were selected as the top Advanta cards based on APR rating and cash back rewards.

The Top 3 Citibank Credit Cards

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Oct 252023
 

The top Citibank (Citi) credit cards were selected based on the introductory purchase APR (Annual Percentage Rate).

• Citi Platinum Select

Offering a 0 APR on balance transfer for twelve months and no annual fees, the Citi Platinum Select is a good card for balance transfer. Regular APR is 10.99%, much lower than many similar cards. There are no annual fees, although other standard fees are charged.

The card provides member benefits in the form of auto and travel accident insurance and fraud protection. The travel accident insurance has coverage of up to One million dollars.

• Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards Card

Citi Diamond has a zero percent APR introductory rate on balance transfer for one year. There are no annual fees, and the regular APR is only 12.99 percent.

After first purchase on the card, customer can qualify for a Fifty Dollar gift card. Every dollar spent in select places such as supermarkets and gas stations results in five points being earned. Other purchases earn one point for every dollar spent.

Platinum card holders are can assess up to a million dollars in travel accident insurance, as well as car rental discounts and emergency assistance services.


• Citi PremierPass Card

This card offers new card holders a zero APR on balance transfer for up to twelve months; the regular APR of 13.99 does not chip in until after this period. This is a good deal for customers seeking to transfer from a high interest rate card to a low interest rate card. However, there is a minimum cap for cash advances below which the APR will not fall.

Free benefits include the ability to manage your account online as well as travel accident and auto rental insurance. This rewards card is great for those wanting primarily rewards for using their credit card.

This card is available only to applicants with excellent credit.

Reduce Wrinkles Naturally

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Oct 242023
 

There are many simple guidelines you can follow that will help your skin stay as healthy and wrinkle-free as possible. All of these suggestions are simple and can be started immediately.

+Don’t be a raisin:
Stay out of the sun. This is the first line of wrinkle defense suggested by everyone. Too much sun eventually does the same thing to your skin that it does to dried fruit: It shrivels it up. This is especially true today, as depletion of the earth’s ozone layer allows more of the sun’s harmful rays to reach your vulnerable skin.

+Avoid tanning booths:
They produce the very same wrinkling rays as the sun.

+Do Not Scrunch:
It’s okay to occasionally make a funny face, but constantly furrowing your brow, squinting, or puckering your lips will, in time, create wrinkles or make those you already have worse. How do you know if you’re scrunching? Wear a piece of cellophane tape over your forehead. Every time you furrow your brow, you’ll feel the tape start to crinkle.

+Keep pillows away from your face:
Sleep wrinkles are wrinkles that are caused by pressing your face into the pillow at night. If you’re guilty of this habit, learn to sleep on your back instead, or experiment to find a position where your face is not pressing the pillow. You may see some of your smaller lines fade away.

+Don’t be a yo-yo dieter:
Gaining a lot of weight can stretch your skin. Then losing weight (especially if you’re older and your skin is less elastic) can result in wrinkles because the skin will not completely retract to its original size.

+Exercise regularly:
People who are generally in good shape seem to have healthier, more elastic skin than those who aren’t. The elastic quality that allows the skin to spring back to its original shape after being stretched is significantly better in athletes and people who are active.

+Eat right:
Vitamins and minerals are important to maintaining youthful skin. Among the most important are the B-complex vitamins (found in beef, chicken, eggs, whole wheat and enriched flour, and milk, among other food) and vitamins A and C (found in fresh fruit and vegetables). The best foods for healthy skin are green leafy vegetables, carrots, and fresh fruit.

+Don’t smoke:
Smoking, in addition to being bad for your general health, can result in premature wrinkling around your mouth due to all those years of puckering lips around cigarettes. Smoking also tends to decrease blood supply to the small blood vessels under your skin, which could exacerbate wrinkling.

+Stick with something sobering on Saturday night:
Partygoers and others who hit the bottle too heavily may find that while alcohol drowns their sorrows, it also brings on wrinkles. Why? Because your face puffs up in the morning after you’ve had too much to drink. And that temporarily stretches the skin. This swelling and subsequent shrinking can create wrinkles.

+Use a moisturizer:
No moisturizer on the market can reverse the aging process. If you have dry skin, however, the use of a moisturizing lotion can hide some of the smaller wrinkles that form on the surface. It is important to dampen the skin first before applying moisturizing cream. NOTE: The best natural moisturizer is water. Drink lots and lots of it. Water hydrates your skin from within.

+Deal with Wrinkles the Oriental Way:
The way wrinkles are dealt with in oriental medicine is “from the inside out”. Massage your face. Using your fingertips, your thumbs, and the palms of your hands, rub every part of your face and neck. Any kind of massage will help to maximize stimulation and circulation. It can also round out the facial muscles, whose symmetry is often lost in fixed or rigid expressions.

+Don’t be fooled into buying “miracle” creams:
False advertising about certain over-the-counter lotions has popped up everywhere. The claims being made by certain cosmetic companies for anti-aging creams have been found by the Food and Drug Administration [FDA] to be misleading.

+Go easy on the suds:
If anything, people in our society tend to over wash. Over washing can lead to dryness, which can create temporary wrinkling. Solution? Wash less and use only extra-mild soaps and rinse extremely well. Spend more time rinsing and less time washing.

+Use a humidifier:
Keeping the air in your house moist is great for your skin and may prevent the smaller, temporary wrinkles that sometimes come with dry skin.

Acne Cures, Remedies & Treatments – Do They Work?

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Oct 232023
 

Acne is recognized as one of the most common complaints of the skin that
ruins the lives of a growing number of people in the world today. Acne is the
scientific term for what we typically call whiteheads, pimples, blackheads or
nodules that appear on our face, chest, upper back or shoulders. There are a
great many causes for this skin complaint but it is regularly believed that acne
is a result of an overproduction of sebum, which is an oily substance that
lubricates the skin.

In order for them to deal with this disaggreeable problem, many acne
sufferers react to particular acne remedies in various ways. Acne remedies can
be classified by by using the following categories: conventional, herbal,
homeopathic, without classification.

In terms of the conventional acne remedies, it is recorded that a drug
available on prescription known as tretinonin, which is a derivative of vitamin
A, is known to work by altering the growth of the glands that produce oil. In
this way, it can often dry up the current blackheads and stop others from
forming. However, a side effect for this type of conventional treatment for acne
is that it can have a troublesome drying or burning sensation attached to its
use.

There are certain antibiotics that can be used to deal with inflamed acne and
the prescribed drug Accutane is one of these. Accutane is in truth one of the
most potent conventional acne remedies developed so far and it can all but wipe
out the ailment. A word of caution, accutane is also the riskiest conventional
treatment for acne since the use of this drug could result in headaches,
itching, hair loss, muscle pain and possibly even birth defects. Because of
these reasons, it should only be used as a last resort.

Herbal acne remedies are easily procurable in most local health outlets.
Evening primrose oil is one of the best-known herbal acne remedies on the market
today. It is usually taken via three 500-milligram capsules per day for three
months or until the acne becomes less of a problem. Some herbal experts suggest
Echinacea, calendula, tea tree oil and goldenseal as other productive herbal
acne remedies that can help to eliminate or stop acne from forming.

Homeopathic acne remedies are available in most places currently and many
acne sufferers respond well to these kinds of treatment. A word of caution, in
cases of severe or acute acne, the guidance of a qualified and registered
homeopathic practitioner is strongly recommended for safe and proper treatment.

If you happen to suffer from itchy acne it has been suggested that taking
Kali bromatum will help relieve this galling condition. You can take it six
times daily until you notice a significant improvement. Kali bromatum is one of
the most highly recommended acne remedies currently and many sufferers report
excellent results.

One of the latest and most popular trends medically currently is the acne
blue light therapy. Many researches and studies have been conducted on this
methodology and many have found that this new method of dealing with acne is
extremely successful.

The main function of acne blue light therapy is to annul the acne-causing
bacteria. Blue light gets to the center of the bacteria responsible for causing
the inflammation that pumps out tiny molecules known as porphyrins. Numerous
studies and findings have indicated that when these prophyrin are subjected to
particular wavelengths of light, they emit free radicals that annul the
bacteria. So, without the bacteria around to trigger inflammation, the acne then
becomes less of a problem.

Acne blue light therapy is used to be 100 percent natural and non-invasive.
It is also free from drugs and without any form of destructive side effects.
Experts agree that acne blue light therapy is safe for people of all ages and
can be used daily in the home. There are, however, mild but temporary side
effects such as pigment changes, swelling of the treated areas and dryness.

Usually, eight sessions are given over a period of four weeks with each
session lasting for about 15 minutes. Most experts state that acne blue light
therapy is more productive for inflammatory acne lesions and may not be
appropriate for sufferers who suffer from nodulocystic acne. This form of
treatment does not use ultraviolet (UV) light which is known to have possible
unfavorable side effects.

In conclusion, there are many ways to prevent and to deal with acne. What
works for one individual could not work on another. The particular type of acne
needs to be confirmed before an appropriate type of treatment can be used. As
always, it is best to get professional advice from a physician or dermatologist
before trying any acne remedies.

Article Post Robot – When Marketing Ingenuity Meets Automation

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Oct 222023
 

Article Marketing, the practice of submitting articles to article directories and ezine mail lists to gain link exposure, is going through an explosive phase in popularity right now. Contributing to this trend is the emergence of automated article submission software that allows authors to send their articles to hundreds of article publishers at the push of a button.

The promise for small businesses and home-based entrepreneurs looking to increase marketing channels should be immediately obvious. If you use article marketing to get your message out you already know that the bottleneck is not in the writing of your well thought out and compelling articles. No, it is in the submission process. The repetitive and dizzying experience of filling in article submission forms is perhaps the biggest turn off for aspiring article marketers.

This might be why the prospect of no longer having to submit articles manually causes something like fireworks in the brain stem. Oh happy days are cometh to the article marketer!

Or am I just getting caught up in the hype?

Recently I obtained one of these automated article submission programs and put it to the test. Read on to find out the pros and cons of using Article Post Robot, one of the more widely advertised article submission programs on the market.

The first benefit you gain from trying out Article Post Robot is a risk-free 7-day trial period. I was able to download the full-featured software and start my trial with a key supplied upon request from the developer, David Tang.

The next step, after familiarizing myself with the program, was to register on the various article submission sites to acquire login credentials and, for those sites run by Article Dashboard (a popular application designed to run an article directory), a pen name. This proved to be somewhat tedious, but I wanted to register with as many sites as possible. Article Post Robot offers nearly 300 potential sites to target, of which I found about 200 to be general enough to suit my needs (for example, unless it happens to be right up your alley, you too will likely not need to register with that directory devoted to Dog Articles!).

I discovered soon enough that a number of article directories listed in Article Post Robot were no longer in existence, or revealed their transitory nature with an ACCOUNT SUSPENDED notice. Clearly there are good and bad neighborhoods in article directory land, but it is not easy to tell which is which unless the site itself happens to be out of commission. So, first lesson, take the value of your article submissions with a grain of salt. What looks like a valuable publication venue might be gone tomorrow. To his credit, the developer of Article Post Robot, asked me for the list of non-functioning sites when I alerted him to the problem.

Now, as a software developer myself, I happen to be fairly critical of other software applications. So, right off the bat I can tell you that had I developed Article Post Robot myself, it would have come out a little different. Despite this, I think that David has done a very good job putting together Article Post Robot. It is easy to use, though maybe a little rough around the edges–which is not surprising for software less than a year in release.

One of my main gripes with Article Post Robot involves the currently poorly written user manual. It would help a great deal if David paid a professional to rewrite it. I suspect that for the Article Post Robot development team, English is a second language that has not yet been fully mastered, and it shows in the manual. That said, with a bit of trial and error, it is not hard to figure out how to use Article Post Robot.

Like most other people considering automated article submission software, I purchased Article Post Robot because I want to submit articles to a large number of article directories, and the only practical way to do this is to use an automated robot. Unfortunately, what I find in practice, is that Article Post Robot fails one critical task in the automated submission process. It very often does +not+ select a sufficiently suitable article category when it loads the article submission form, and this rules out–for me, anyway–completely automated submissions (i.e. hit one button, walk away, and come back when the article has been submitted to every article site in the list). Instead I monitor the process manually, which I will explain in more detail in a moment.

Getting back to the category selection process, which I believe plays a big role in determining whether or not an article will be accepted by a given article publisher, Article Post Robot allows me to select up to 5 possible categories from 5 drop down menus. Article Post Robot will then attempt to match one of these selections with the categories it finds on the target publisher site. You can even type in a keyword for the category and supposedly Article Post Robot will attempt to match it.

However, I found that typing in “Affiliate Marketing” never resulted in a category match, even though a good number of publisher sites do have an Affiliate Marketing category. On the other hand, the term “Affiliate” did sometimes result in a match. But not often enough to be reliable. Therefore I consider Article Post Robot category-matching a feature that needs a lot more work (though, of course, this issue may be resolved by the time you read this article).

Because of my lack of confidence in this element of the software, I choose to allow Article Post Robot to submit to sites in the “manual submission” mode. What this means is that Article Post Robot will load the relevant submission forms on the article sites for me, and it is then up to me to look them over, tweak anything that is not quite right (like the category to associate with the article), then submit the form myself. After this I simply hit the “next site” button and move on.

All told, the manual submission route is still a lot quicker than going about article submissions without any form of article submission software, and in itself is worth the price of the software. However, when David Tang gets the category selection feature ironed out, I can easily imagine letting Article Post Robot do all the submissions by itself. I am sure the owners of article sites will appreciate this extra accuracy in the process as much as I will.

In addition to the article directory submissions, Article Post Robot can submit to about 40 sufficiently generic email lists, and for this I do in fact allow the software to do all the submissions (which amounts to merely sending out the article in email format to each of the publishers).

In summary, I like Article Post Robot. I look forward to seeing some improvements in the areas I have touched upon in this review, and I expect I will be using the software for some time to come. Really, if you are at all serious about article marketing, you will find that looking into an automated submission solution, such as that offered by Article Post Robot, is well worth your time.

IT Consulting Firms: Helping Business Grow

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Oct 212023
 

IT consulting firms typically start with just a few people. And while it can be exciting at first for those people getting into the business, a few years of running the show can become monotonous and exhausting, and the need to expand becomes imminent.

Making Business Grow

Running a small business is a big job, particularly for just a few people who are required to do every aspect of the work. As the owner of small IT consulting firms, you need to plan to delegate some of this work to others in order to free up your time and allow more business. But you need to make sure your business is prepared to handle changes in workload before you begin.

Financial Stability

Sometimes small IT consulting firms will have an available source of funding that will cover hiring new employees. Other times you might have to wait to build income before adding personnel. Regardless, reviewing your finances will help determine where you are and when you can expect to support additional employees.

A Benefits Package

Good employees will expect to be offered a benefits package. Look into basic health insurance plans and find one that suits your small business. Since this is an expensive benefit, you can expect that the employee will pay the premiums, and that the health insurance coverage probably won’t start until three months on the job. You can offer additional benefits such as laptops, travel allowances, cell phone plans and uniforms to sweeten the deal.

Dependable Employees

Assigning responsibilities to others might be harder than you think if you are used to doing all the work yourself. As an IT consulting firm owner, you probably have developed high standards and have a hard time imagining anyone but you doing the job properly. Finding employees you trust is critical and will help ease the transition into a freer schedule. Giving new employees three months on trial will help you determine their working style and reliability. During this time, you can get feedback from customers and decide if the new hire is the right person for the job.

IT consulting firms are important to everyone today and yours needs to grow eventually. If you consider all the factors for business growth, you will have a better plan for your future.

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The Power of Leverage to Make You Rich

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Oct 202023
 

Information on how to leverage properties and other people’s money to become an experianced and successful real estate investor. How to use and understand taxes, appreciation, and banks to your advantage.Does the idea of using someone else’s money to buy something for yourself seem impractical? It shouldn’t; it happens all the time. You’ve probably even done it before. Have you ever taken out a loan to buy a car? By doing this, you tapped into other people’s money (the bank’s) to buy the car. How much better would it be if you also had someone else making the payments for you? By investing in real estate, you do just that. Instead of using other people’s money to accrue additional expenses, you use other people’s money (the bank’s) to buy the property, and you use other people’s money (your tenants) to make the payment by renting the property out for more than it costs you to own it. The income produced by the property that is left over after all expenses are paid for is the property’s cash flow. And simply put, that is the power of leverage.

Too many people are under the impression that they need to save up a large down payment before the bank will lend them the money to buy a property. This is not true. There are a number of ways that you can obtain financing without bringing in a down payment. The easiest way to start acquiring real estate is to buy your first property and then use its equity to buy more properties. Equity is the difference between what an asset is worth and what you owe on it. If you own a property that is worth $100,000 and you have a mortgage on the property for $80,000, your equity is $20,000. Using the equity in one property to buy another is exercising the power of leverage. Leverage helps expedite the wealth process. Using leverage maximizes your purchase ability. It is the most efficient way to acquire properties, build positive cash flow, and take advantage of appreciation.

Appreciation is the amount that an asset goes up in value over a period of time. If you took your $20,000 equity and used it as a down payment to buy one more property, you would benefit from the cash flow of two properties instead of one. You would also earn the appreciation of two properties instead of one. Real estate on average has realized between 3 and 8 percent appreciation per year. By using one property to buy another, you are using leverage, but not to its fullest. How much faster could your wealth grow if instead of using your $20,000 to purchase one more property, you use it to purchase four properties by putting only $5,000 down on each? Your wealth would increase by the appreciation and cash flow of four more properties instead of only one.

A recent Forbes Magazine article stated that 97 out of every 100 self-made millionaires made their fortunes through real estate investing. Believe it or not, you, too, can take control of your financial life by creating wealth through the acquisition of real estate assets. You may be thinking that all of this sounds too good to be true; well, wait — it gets even better! Not only is real estate one of the only investments in the world that you can acquire using the power of leverage, but the income and gains produced by real estate receive some of the greatest tax breaks available. Unlike stocks and other investments, real estate profits can be tax deferred or better yet, even tax free! The government allows you to roll-over each windfall into your next real estate investment through a process called a 1031 exchange. It feels good to make money and not pay the lion’s share in taxes.

Real estate can also build wealth in any economic climate. If the real estate market is up, quick turnaround investments (flips) can produce large, immediate gains. If the market is down, there are more opportunities to acquire assets at a lower cost due to foreclosures, motivated sellers and seller financing. When interest rates are low you can buy more assets for your buck. When interest rates are higher, more people are prompted to rent apartments– which translates into higher rental prices. The increased demand turns your real estate asset into a cash flow cow.

The power of leverage is truly a remarkable thing, and you can start taking advantage of it today. Whether you own a home with equity already, or you are ready to go purchase your first deal, let the power of leverage help jump start you on your path to success in real estate investing.

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