The Cold Turnkey

I have learned a lot over the years. When I first started out,
the first thing I would do in a meeting is pass out a generic
website planning worksheet. Don’t get me wrong, I still use a
modified version of that original worksheet, and it’s integral
to the planning of the website. But now, I do something else
first. We talk about how the business is running without a
website, or with minimal website involvement.

Thinking about how your business is currently working with no or
minimal website involvement can help you see where a website can
alleviate some of the work, speed up certain processes or just
get you tons more customers.

When I first sat down to meet with two pool cover salesmen, I
had them describe the whole process for me, from how customers
first found out about them to how the customer ended up with the
final cover. From this example alone, I discovered two major
categories to have the website help the business.

Informational

This one is almost a no-brainer. Even the simplest website is,
at core, a source of information. The simplest websites are
often referred to as “brochure sites.” This is, of course,
because the simplest site can (sometimes literally) be nothing
more than an online brochure.

Even this level of simplicity for a website is still better than
the traditional offline brochure. This is primarily because of
the flexibility. Unlike a brochure that is printed up and then
is unchangeable, a website can be tweaked and modified to
correct things that are no longer accurate. Things can be added
to it. It also is not limited to a specific amount of page
space, as a traditional brochure is.

Aside from traditional “brochure sites,” often clients of ours
will have other information that changes fairly frequently that
their customers would like to know. It may be that right now
their customers have no way at all to get this information,
short of calling them on the phone. The information may be
different for each client, it may be the same for each client.
Regardless of the specifics, information that is constantly
changing is one of the single biggest reasons to have a website.

We handle the website Mission Nicaragua, which is for a
missionary couple living in (you guessed it) Nicaragua. With
hundreds of miles between them and their sponsoring
congregation, they needed to be able to update their sponsors
and other interested parties with the latest information and
developments on the mission field. We set up a blog for them,
which is a current very popular method of getting information
out there. Since their intended audience might not be familiar
with the term “blog,” we called it a “newsletter.” But the end
result is the same thing. It can be updated by our clients and
instantly be online.

If there are any pieces of information that are updated
constantly that your customers need to know, you can probably
benefit from this information being put on your website.

Interactive

Customers often need feedback. And with the web, they have come
to expect it, often instantly. From live shipping calculations
to job estimates to chat rooms, web communication is out there
and greatly benefits the customer.

The simplest example of an interactive site is one that has a
feedback form. We offer this to all of our clients. It’s better
than a simple email link because the email address can’t be
stolen by spammers. Also, the information can be formatted and
customized into some standard form that’s easier for the final
recipient to review. We let any clients that want it have one of
these forms on their contact page.

A good example of this is on a site we do the webmastering for,
UR Special. In addition to a normal feedback form, they have a
form specifically for volunteers, where the volunteers can go
through and check the items they’re interested in volunteering
for. This information is then formatted to be easier to read
before it’s sent to the UR Special staff.

Another interactive item is a virtual tour. With today’s web
technology, one of the things that you can do is actually
immerse your customers in an environment. We have a number of
sites that use virtual tours. One of note is a local arcade
called Cactus Jack’s. You can get a feel for how big Cactus
Jack’s is through their virtual tour. You can turn around and
even zoom in on specific arcade games.

Finally, an obvious level of interactivity is involved in a
shopping cart. The total is added up as soon as you’re ready to
check out. Shipping is generally calculated immediately. Most
people are now familiar with this type of technology.

If there’s any information that your customers call for that you
sit down with a price sheet or some sort of data and calculate,
you can make it automated online. Even if the prices or data
change fairly constantly, you can still update that data on your
website, so that customers see the most up to date calculations.
This is great for estimates, but you often want to put a
disclaimer that the prices are only unofficial estimates.

Naturally, the exact ways in which a website can be used for
your company will differ from company to company. It often helps
to get someone who is more familiar with the web but an outsider
as far as your company is concerned. Describe your typical
business practices to them. They should be able to pick out
areas in which your website can help your business become more
accessible and more efficient.

Are you planning to go on a vacation leaving your Internet
business?

Are you wondering how to manage your online home business in
your absence?

If you have the facility of an internet access in your vacation
place, and your business is fully automated, you will be able to
manage. If not, the following tips may be of help to you and you
can enjoy your vacation without worries.

1. When you plan your vacation think about the vital points of
your business and write them down in a paper, such as what all
points needed attention. Usually the main points which require
attention are handling your customers, replying to their queries
and helping them to solve their problems etc. Then comes the ad
campaign, tracking the ad, regular surfing for getting traffic
etc.

2. Identify a person who is trust worthy and computer literate.
He should be ready to help you with the minimum efforts. You
can’t expect someone to take full charge of your business in
your absence. It will be an additional bonus if he/she knows
something about your online business. This person can be either
your spouse or any family member, or an online friend.

3. Give proper instructions to your friend who will be managing
your online business for you. This should include the routine
questions expected from your customers and your routine replies,
so that he/she can answer your clients appropriately. An
autoresponder will do the work for you. But in some cases, a
human reply will be indeed very helpful.

4. Inform your list of members regarding your plan of vacation
and the duration. Don’t forget to let them know the arrangements
you have made in your absence so that they won’t be disappointed.

5. Place orders for your ad campaign with standard ezines who
will run your ad in your absence also.

6. Your requirement of regular surfing to get adequate traffic
to your website can also be entrusted with your friend.

7. Try to get in touch with your friend over the telephone
whenever possible to find out how is it going on and whether
he/she is facing any problems.

8. On your return remember to inform your customers about your
vacation and give them a free gift such as an email course or
ebook as a token of your appreciation for the patience and
understanding. They’d love you for understanding them.

9. Don’t forget to reward your friend adequately who managed
your online business beautifully in your absence and he/she will
be ready to help you in time of need in future also.

The first time I ran across parmesan wafers I was in a steak
house with my dad. He had ordered a salad and immediately began
raving about these strange flat cookie looking things. After a
few minutes of him raving I decided to try one. It turns out he
was right. They were parmesan wafers, we ended up ordering these
tangy, crunchy wafers as an appetizer and continued to enjoy
this new found treat.

Later after trying to re-create the recipe at home I finally
called my dad. I had come up with the combination that made
those tasty parmesan wafers such a treat. We now serve these
parmesan wafers with salads, soups and on occasion as a simple
appetizer.

Now when my dad comes to visit I still make this special treat
that we discoverd together.

1 Cup grated parmesan cheese, grate with the largest holes on
the grater

1 Tbs all-purpose flour

tsp ground pepper

Stir together all three ingredients. Spoon tablespoon amounts
of mixture onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Place
each spoon full about 4 inches apart. Flatten each mound with
the back of a greased spatula.

Bake at 375 in the middle of the oven for about 10 minutes or
until golden brown. Cool slightly then transfer to plates.

Many dog owners fail to recognize the importance of having a dog
that comes when called until there is a problem, such as the
collar or leash breaking, or the dog tearing free to chase a
person or another animal. These situations can be dangerous for
the dog, the owner and other members of the community. In areas
where there is a lot of vehicular traffic, the situation could
even prove fatal to the dog.

Unfortunately, many well meaning owners sabotage this important
part of their dog’s training by allowing it to run off leash and
unattended. Whether the dog is allowed to run in the park, on
the beach, or just play with other dogs, this teaches the dog
that there are many fun things that do not involve its owner. In
fact, from the dog’s perspective at least, these fun times are
often ruined by the appearance of the owner.

Look at things from the dog’s perspective for a moment. You -
the dog - are having a ton of fun running on the beach with all
your doggy friends, and suddenly here comes this human to take
you away from the fun. When you see the dog’s point of view it
is easy to see how the appearance of the owner, and the leash
can be seen as a negative.

This negative perception causes many dogs to delay this outcome
by refusing to come when they are called. From the dog’s point
of view, this makes perfect sense, since every minute of delay
means another minute of romping on the beach or in the park. In
other words, the dog has learned that the most rewarding thing
to do is to ignore the calls of its owner. While this may seem
like a good idea to the dog, it is definitely not a good thing
from the owner’s perspective.

For dogs who have not yet learned this type of avoidance
behavior, it is best to prevent it from happening by supervising
the dog at play, and making the time you spend with your dog as
much, or more, fun, as the time it spends alone or with other
dogs.

For dogs that have already learned the value of ignoring their
owner, some retraining is definitely in order. It is vital that
every dog respond to the “come here” command, for the safety of
both humans and dogs alike.

One thing to avoid is following the “come here” command with
unpleasant activities. Calling the dog, and then immediately
giving him a bath, clipping his nails, taking him to the vet,
etc. will quickly teach the dog that coming to the owner has
negative consequences. It is best to ask the dog to come and
then play with him, feed him, walk him or engage in other fun
activities. If you do need to take your dog to the vet, bathe
him, etc. be sure to allow some time to pass so the dog does not
associate the “come here” command with the bad experience.

It is important to remember that dogs are constantly learning,
whether a formal training session is in process or not. Your dog
is always learning something from you, whether good or bad. It
is therefore important to make every interaction with your dog a
positive one.

When teaching the dog to come on command, it is vital that the
dog be consistently rewarded every single time he does as the
owner wants. A reward can be as simple as a pat on the head, a
“good boy” or a scratch behind the ears. Of course, treat based
rewards are appreciated as well, and many dogs are highly food
motivated and respond quickly to this type of training. The key
is to be consistent. The dog should get some kind of reward,
whether it be praise, a toy, or a treat, every time he appears
at the owners side when called.

As I look through my various forum links and review some of my
company email, I keep coming across questions relating to
generating inbound links to increase web site ranking. No matter
who you are, if you have a web site online you are always
looking for ways to improve your link popularity. While most SEO
practitioners will tell you that getting other related,
non-competing, websites to link to you should be high on your
priority list if you want better PR from Google or better
rankings, most web site designers miss the most obvious way to
get these valuable one way inbound links. There is a way to do
that plus generate additional content for your web site at the
same time. You can get those quality inbound links while
expanding your content which will bring the search engine
spiders to your web site more often. By following my
suggestions, you will be able to kill two birds with one stone,
and make your visitors happy while increasing your rankings and
making the spiders happy all at once.

Everyone is an expert at something.

It’s true, everyone has many years of experience at something.
Maybe you have been in a job for the past 20 years and know just
about every aspect of it, or maybe you’ve been making paper
airplanes as a hobby for just as much time. Either way, you have
20 years of knowledge about something that others could be
looking for information to read on those topics. Maybe you have
already built a web site taking advantage of that knowledge and
are looking to use it as a means to make a living, or maybe it’s
about a hobby and you want to make a living with that. Either
way, each of us has valuable knowledge that other people might
want. Why not take some time, sit down and think about your
business experience or hobby, and then write some “How To”
articles about it? If you have a web site that already uses that
hobby, or work experience, then it is a good way to add content
to your web site, and it’s also a good way to help you get those
inbound links you need to increase your rankings.

Using the Knowledge to Gain Link Popularity through Article
Writing.

Let’s say you have 20 years of experience with a company where
the only thing you did was to conduct interviews to hire new
employees. Let’s further say you were so good at this that it
was the only thing your company wanted you to do. Because your
results were so good, it’s the only thing you did do. Maybe your
prospects always worked out and were some of the hardest and
most competent workers your company ever hired. You could write
some articles on how to interview job candidates to get the best
employees, or maybe write articles telling job seekers what
companies are looking for in their potential employees. If you
have a web site for job seekers, or a web site for learning how
to interview employees, you could then use the articles for
additional web site content. It’s already a known and proven
fact that the search engine spiders can be conditioned to visit
your site more often through your patterns of adding content.
The more often a site updates, the more often the spiders come
to visit. The more often they visit, the better chances that
your web site will begin to jump in rankings because it is
viewed as a fresh content site that updates frequently and would
be more valuable to visitors.

Some might think there are just some topics so vague or
uninteresting that it wouldn’t be worth writing anything in that
topic area, but the professionals know there are readers for
almost any topic area, and no one topic is to be avoided because
of poor readership. It all comes down to your writing style,
ease of reading, and your credibility. If you can write gripping
content that pulls your readers in and informs them, then it
doesn’t matter what you write about. In the end, the reader will
be looking for you and not your article. This is not something
that happens over night. It takes a lot of writing and a lot of
time to hone your skills to that point. It takes writing daily
and forcing oneself to try different topics. It’s good to start
out with what you like, but to become a professional and have
flexibility, you have to write about other things too. Not only
will this experience help you become a more professional writer,
it will also help to develop your communication skills in the
written format. As you continue to use better forms of writing
and grammar, you will begin to write content pages for your site
that rank better with the search engines. It’s a win-win
situation all the way around.

Articles to Increase One-way Inbound Links and Web Site
Ranking.

Speaking of those rankings, that reminds me of those one-way
links I spoke about earlier. After you write your article, you
can submit it to other places online which will post it to their
web site, offer it to other web sites as free content, or both.
Most of these places will allow you to submit your own
information for an “Author’s Box” or “Author’s Bio” area which
they publish at the bottom of each article. These are things
like information about you, your web site, and LINKS you can add
back to your site. There you go, instant high quality in-bound
links without the need to add the other web site’s link to
yours, no begging, no paying extortion amounts of fees for an
ad, just good old fashioned content to promote your own
abilities and web site. It’s the easiest way to get a one-way
in-bound link to your site IF you can develop your writing
skills and your content viewed as valuable to another web site.
If you write garbage, your information isn’t credible and is
full of factual holes, or your writing puts people to sleep,
then chances are that your articles aren’t going to do anything
more than waste your time. That’s why it’s critically important
to get into the habit of writing often and learning the flow of
your chosen language.

You see, the more you write, the more you train your ear to
listen to the written words, and the more you learn what
“sounds” right and what doesn’t quite seem to make sense. As I
write an article, I am talking within my mind while I write.
Yes, maybe I am a bit strange, but it works for me. I add my
intonations and elevate my voice for emphasis, and I try to find
ways to convey that in my writing. I’m no “expert”, but this is
what works for me, and I have a decent amount of articles
published, which means I must be doing something right.
WebProWorld and WebProNews seem to like me, or at least my
writing style or the topics I cover. Maybe it’s just my
sincerity LOL. Hey, I do my best. I try to offer the facts and
ensure that I do my research before I write any article outside
my field of knowledge. Character helps to build a writer, and a
healthy dose of commitment to the reader doesn’t hurt either,
but you have to find ways to build credibility and trust.
Without those two things, nobody is going to read what you
write, and if they do, they aren’t going to be likely to click
on links back to your site. You have to get their attention and
compel them to want more of your writing. That’s what will make
your one-way inbound links even more valuable.

The Most MISSED Secret to Link Popularity through Writing
Articles.

OK, so now you have the knowledge to write articles and submit
them as a means to gain valuable one-way links to your web site,
what are you going to do with it? Are you going to sabotage your
own web site by failing to pay attention to the link you
formulate in the articles submitted? The more articles I read, I
tend to find a common error repeated by authors all over the
internet. Now granted, these are writers, not SEO specialists,
but this is just an example where it pays to round out your
knowledge in many areas of web site promotion, ranking, and
design. The BIGGEST mistake I see authors make when attempting
to gain inbound links is the keywords they FAIL to use within
those links. You see, so many writers worry about branding their
name. That works just fine for writers building portfolios for
selling their copy writing abilities where name recognition
becomes the search term a searcher looks for, but if you aren’t
a writer and are just using your knowledge to gain inbound
links, then you need to use your keywords in those links back to
your web site. It’s so simple that most times it’s overlooked.
Many will also use a company name as the link back to their web
site. Many of my articles have ended up that way because I
overlooked the obvious too. Nevertheless, by following this
method, it is a sure way to increase your company name, or your
name, but does NOTHING to increase the link popularity for the
keywords applying to your site.

Take for instance Sanders Consultation Group Plus. That’s my
company’s name. We provide web site design services, image and
graphical art services, business consultation services, SEO
services, and just about anything else to get your web site
promoted, up, and running. I tend to take a page-by-page view of
our site and link popularity. What I mean by that is I take
various areas, choose specific keywords, and search terms I want
our site to gain in rank popularity. I have recently done some
page optimizing for our web site design area; incidentally, web
site design has been the most searched term for web site design
services. It corresponds to one of the services we offer, and
it’s the most popular search-term people use when searching for
that type of service. Let’s say I write an article talking about
web site design. The next article I write on web site design
will include the company name, Sanders Consultation Group Plus,
but it will also include the term “web site design” linked to
the page we have recently optimized for our web site design
services. As I already said earlier, this is such a simple
concept that most people often overlook, and it can be a
detriment to your link popularity goals. And as we optimize each
area of our site, I will continue to write articles based on the
area keywords and phrases, and will then place links in my
Author’s Box to link back to those optimized pages.

It’s a reported fact that one-way in-bound links are worth more
than reciprocal links. However, for many web site designers and
webmasters, the ways to gain them has been somewhat elusive.
Many fear that imparting their knowledge will give competitors
an edge over the writer’s own business. What most fails to
consider is the number of people that start out as the “do it
yourselfer” and then realize there is more work than they
intended to do. When they find your articles, you become a
source for them to get their work done without their need to
invest large amounts of time on the project. This is where the
benefits of article writing will pay off, especially if you gain
credibility and trust through your readers. Even if a competitor
does notice one of your articles, sometimes they can be so
impressed and overwhelmed that they’ll write things about you,
include links to you, and you still come out on top. I’ve seen
it happen before. Someone reads something so profound that it
changes his or her life. They tend to tell others about the
change and how the change occurred.

Articles are a valuable way to get recognition, gain reputation
and credibility while increasing your link popularity. Done
wrongly, and it will do nothing but increase your reputation and
credibility. Done correctly, and it can raise your ranking
popularity and bring you added customers on top of the other
benefits. Take the time to learn how to write effectively. Write
daily and learn the flow of your chosen language. Write
truthfully and credibly. Make sure to give provable facts while
keeping the hype to a minimum. Use keywords in your Author Boxes
and find highly trafficked sites to submit to. Learn to write in
such a way that engages your readers’ minds and makes them want
to read more of your writing. If you can do all this, not only
will you become a trusted expert, but you will also gain
increased traffic to your web site and leverage your web site
income goals through increased link popularity and higher search
engine rankings. At the least, it will give you plenty of
content to update your web site and increase search engine
spidering.

Background
Search engines are particularly interested in websites with constantly updated, relevant content. Websites that appear static without a supply of fresh content may be viewed as dormant and in their drive to provide the latest, most relevant search results to users, search engines may rank such a website lower than a website that is updated regularly.

What Is It?
RSS to Blog Pro is a fully automated blog posting tool offering self-updating websites. It’s a PHP script that is installed on a single web hosting account. From this centralised installation, multiple blogs can be maintained with fresh content from various sources. Also available is an earlier, non-pro version, which has the same basic functionality, but requires a separate install for each blog it maintains.

What Problem Does It Solve?
Adding fresh - and importantly, relevant - content to websites can be a resource consuming task. Either you spend time finding and creating new content or you pay someone to do it for you. Without fresh content, your websites can appear stagnant and drop off the search engines radar. This impacts your website rankings in search results and ultimately has a detrimental effect on any free traffic coming from the search engines. If your websites rely on search engine traffic then this can mean their downfall.

What Are The Benefits?
RSS to Blog Pro tackles the problem of needing to regularly update website content by automating the whole process from finding relevant content based upon keywords that you provide through to posting content to your website blog. In the eyes of search engines, updating a website with irrelevant content isn’t nearly as good as having relevant content. The tighter your niche, the better chances you have of ranking higher as you’ll be competing with a smaller number of websites. Using a scattergun approach to website content can mean you end up competing with websites across a large number of niches.

If you’re building content websites with the aim of earning an AdSense income then you’ll know that the ads shown are dependant upon the surrounding content on your webpages. Irrelevant content results in ads that are irrelevant to your website visitors, which means they’ll have no interest in clicking on them and your generated income will be poor.

Features

* Supports multiple blog types including WordPress, Blogger Blogs, Movable Type, Type Pad, Live Journal and MSN Spaces.
* Keywords and RSS feeds can be specified for automatic content generation or you can supply your own content.
* Posting to your blogs can be scheduled at random intervals e.g. once or twice a day so that posting appears natural.
* There are no ‘footprints’ to identify the content as being automatically generated.
* Log records are kept so you can see exactly what has been posted and to where.
* Built-in ping functionality for blog and ping.
* A single installation will post to an unlimited number of blogs.
* Regular updates.
* User support forum.
* Two tier affiliate programme offering 40% commission to the top level and 10% for any sales from affiliates you recruit.

My Experience With RSS to Blog Pro
Since August 2005, I’ve been using RSS to Blog Pro on an increasing number of blogs in various niches. I’m pleased to be able to say that my income from AdSense has increased month upon month since then. With the software installed on my virtual private server (VPS), I currently manage around 50 blogs, posting relevant new content every day or two. I’d recommend that you don’t install RSS to Blog Pro onto a shared server because if you’re updating a large number of websites or you’re running the script frequently (every couple of minutes) then your host is likely to take a dim view on it. Considering how inexpensive and how much more reliable a VPS is to operate there just isn’t any reasonable justification for risking a shared server. A VPS is like having your own server, completely isolated from any other peoples websites so you can’t affect them and they can’t affect you. There is the exception of disk IO, but that isn’t something that should be of any real concern.

The issue of relevancy is really what makes the difference between an effective auto content generation tool and one that will never do anything for your bottom line. I can’t stress it enough; without relevant content, search engines won’t be able to categorise your niche and won’t be able to rank you fairly amongst your peers. That means you won’t do well in searches in your subject area. It also could mean your website will serve ads for tennis equipment when your niche is dog care. Visitors looking for information about dog care are highly unlikely to be interested in tennis equipment when they come to your website because it’s not something which is relevant to their needs at that time.

There’s no doubt that this helps to keep those websites looking fresh and my website stats show a constant stream of visits to my blog pages each month. And of course, lots of targetted visitors and lots of targetted content means a lot of clicks on targetted ads!

Support-wise, Michelle (creator of RSS to Blog Pro) has answered my email queries promptly and there’s an active user forum for peer support. Michelle also visits the forum to provide assistance although some queries can take a couple of days for a response, however the user base, support forum and software is mature enough to be able to cope with almost every common question a new user might have.

Fortunately, the software is easy to install and set-up so you can expect to be running within an hour or two.

One feature that I haven’t used is the ability to ping blog directories from within RSS to Blog Pro. The reason for this is that if I pinged these websites for every post made to each of my blogs then I’d actually end up pinging up to 50 times a day from the same domain (the domain on which RSS to Blog Pro is installed). Rather than risk being blacklisted for pinging too much and hogging the resources of the directories, I use the ping facility from with my WordPress blog software instead so that the individual pings come from the individual domains. Again, this will appear to be a lot more natural and it also helps RSS to Blog Pro to work more efficiently by decoupling some of the work away from it.

Conclusion
After 6 months of constant usage, I’m pretty happy with RSS to Blog Pro’s performance. and would definitely recommend it to anyone who is wanting to have self-updating websites that attract targetted traffic. Care needs to be taken when selecting a host for the script, but once installed, operation of the script is simple and reliable. An excellent script in the toolbox of AdSense earners and affiliate marketers alike.

Will Lee is the Internet Marketing Fool, offering Internet Marketing product reviews. RSS to Blog is an automated blogging tool. United Articles offers articles.

First let’s define an electric generator. In simple and obvious terms it is something that generates electricity. In effect it is its own power plant. Most often it is run by a gasoline engine but it only requires power to spin a magnet inside a coil of wire. So you could harness the power of the wind with a turbine or use the hydroelectric power of moving water.

So basically you need an electric generator to produce electricity apart from what your local power plant is producing (by the way they are just super sized electric generator(s)). What kinds of times would these be? Well say that you don’t have access to the local supply. You are either too far away from a power company and their wires or you are on land that has not been accessed by power from the power plant that is nearby. Lots of times carpenters and other tradesmen in the house building industry will have generators on hand incase the power has not been turned on yet. Other times it is hunters or other outdoor sports enthusiasts that have equipment that can be run with electricity including lights, coffee makers, griddles, TVs, etc.

The last situation that came to mind is when you both have a power company near by and your property is accessed by power lines already. The problem is that the power plant is no longer able to produce power or get power to you for one of several reasons. Often it is weather that has damaged the power lines that supply your zone with power. It could be high winds, ice storms, and other situations that knock down the lines. The plant also may not be able to produce any electricity or enough to supply your needs. This happened just a few years ago in the Midwest when a power company in Canada failed. The caused a cascade of “failures” in which the power companies down the line in the grid could not produce enough to completely back up the original failed plant and people went without power because of it.

So when should you have an electric generator? Well it all depends on how you want to survive when power goes out and how much you would lose by not being able to operate. Hospitals for instance must have generators in order to provide continuous life saving support. Contractors as mentioned before typically have to have generators just to work at certain jobs. If you live further away you would more likely be benefited. If you are just the type that loves to be prepared for anything than you would be happy to fire up the generator when the power went down.

Hallidae Thomason writes frequently on things you can do to prepare yourself as a homeowner. She loves to give people more specific advice concerning the purchase of an elelectric generator. For more go to: www.allelectricgenerator.info.

This outline for a workout routine to build muscle has been
devised for people just starting out in weight-training. It is
simplistic in it’s approach, which is also why it is very
effective for building muscle mass.

The key to proper weight training is to establish a good
foundation in which to build upon, much like building a solid
foundation for a house. If you cut corners and build a weak
foundation for a house, as time goes on, the house will become
weaker and less sturdy. Same thing with weight training.

Keep it simple. It is so much easier to focus effectively on a
few tasks (exercises) than to spread yourself thin on many
different ones.

This has been devised to follow for approximately 4-6 months,
which at that time you can revise and edit the program to
include other exercises and other approaches that a more
intermediate weight lifter can use. But remember this, the more
you know does not necessarily mean better results when it comes
to trying to build muscle.

I have met very learned weight trainers who have been doing this
for years but physically appear as though they don’t put into
action what they have “learned.” It’s not so much “what you
know” as it is how you “put into action” what you do know.

Keep your routine simple, follow the suggested exercises (most
have descriptive sheets that show you how to do a specific
exercise) for approximately 6 months, and i guarantee you will
start to build more muscle as a result.

Step 1. From the following muscle groups, pick two that you will
be working out on day 1 of weight training.

Chest Back Shoulders Legs Biceps Triceps

Day 1 _________ and __________

Then for day 2, pick two different muscle groups.

Day 2 _________ and __________

Finally, day 3 will include the last two muscle groups.

Day 3 _________ and ___________

Here is your three day weight training routine. Monday,
Wednesday, Friday is good or maybe Tuesday, Thursday, and
Saturday. The key is to give yourself a day in between weight
training sessions so that you may include a cardiovascular
session on your non-weight training days. Your week may look
like this:

Monday: back & chest Tueday: cardio Wednesday: legs & shoulders
Thursday : cardio Friday: biceps & triceps Saturday & sunday ff

Step 2. Depending on which muscle groups you are training, pick
2-3 exercises for each muscle group from among the following
list.

Chest

Flat bench press with bar Flat bench press with dumbbells
Incline bench press with bar Incline bench press with dumbbells
Dips

Back

Dumbbell one arm lat row Cable lat pulldown to front Seated back
row on machine Deadlifts Bent over back rows Lower back
extension Chin-ups (Pull-ups) Shrugs for Traps (Dumbbells or
barbell)

Shoulders

Seated military press with bar Seated dumbbell shoulder presses
dumbbell side lateral raises Bent-over dumbbell raises Front
dumbbell raises

Legs

Squats Leg press Leg curls Leg extension Stiff-leg deadlifts
Lunges Calf-raises/presses

Biceps

Alternate dumbbell curls Straight bar curls Cable curls Hammer
curls (forearms and biceps) Ez curl bar curls

Triceps

Triceps extension (lying down) (Skullcrushers) Close-grip bench
press Cable triceps pushdowns Dumbbell kickbacks

Abdominals

Lying crunches Leg raises Cable crunches Stability ball crunches
Crunches on incline bench

Now plug each exercise into the appropriate spot on the next
page to give you the whole week’s routine. As a beginner, you
only need to do 2-3 exercises per muscle group, but do them
well, with intensity.

Doing two exercises with intensity and focus is better than
doing 3-4 with little or no intensity. Feel free to change the
grouping of exercises every 2nd or 3rd week or you can stay with
the same routine for the entire 4-6 months. It’s up to you.

Monday: muscle groups ______________ & _____________

1st muscle group___ 1st exercise____________ x 3 sets 2nd
exercise____________x 3 sets 3rd exercise (if
applicable)____________x 3 sets

2nd muscle group______ 1st exercise____________x 3 sets 2nd
exercise____________x 3 sets 3rd exercise (if
applicable)____________x 3 sets

*include 2 sets of 2 abdominal exercises

Wednesday: muscle groups ____________ & _____________

1st muscle group ________

1st exercise ________________x 3 sets 2nd
exercise_______________x 3 sets 3rd exercise (if
applicable)____________x 3 sets

2nd muscle group _________

1st exercise ______________ x 3 sets 2nd exercise
_______________ x 3 sets 3rd exercise (if
applicable)____________x 3 sets

Friday: muscle groups ________________ & _________________ 1st
muscle group __________ 1st exercise ______________ x 3 sets 2nd
exercise ______________ x 3 sets 3rd exercise (if
applicable)____________x 3 sets

2nd muscle group __________ 1st exercise _______________ x 3
sets 2nd exercise _______________ x 3 sets 3rd exercise (if
applicable)____________x 3 sets

Include 2 sets of 2 abdominal exercises You will be doing 3
weight training workouts per week.

You will be doing two muscle groups per workout (ex. Biceps &
triceps). You will be doing two to three exercises per muscle
group. (ex. Flat bench w/ bar, incline bench w/ dumbbells)

You will be doing 3 sets per exercise.

1st set-10 reps (warm-up) 2nd set-8 reps (weight acclimation)
3rd set-6 reps (heavy set)

On each set, try to progressively add a little more weight each
time.

Keep records of your weight lifts so you can try to outdo
(progress) each and every workout! You can do abdominals twice a
week, spaced apart a few days.

This beginner’s workout routine to build muscle will soon have
you blasting past others in the gym.

The work of notaries public is in demand with all so many people buying or refinancing their homes. A notary must attest to many signatures in the closing of a purchase or refinancing of real estate. A notary public serves as a state official who is a bonded witness of a signature. In Florida and perhaps in other states, a notary public can also perform a marriage.

While the net income of a notary public is subject to federal income tax, it is not subject to self-employment tax. Section 1402(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code and Regulations Section 1.1402(c)-2(b) provide that the income of a notary public is not subject to self-employment tax.

If a notary public has another business as a self-employed individual, the notary public must pay self-employment tax on the net income from the other business. The notary public must keep a separate account of the income and expenses of each separate business.

A self-employed notary public reports the income and expenses from serving as a notary public on Schedule C of Form 1040. However, the net income from serving as a notary public does not go on Schedule SE because the net income from serving as a notary public is exempt from the self-employment tax.

If the taxpayer has erroneously paid self-employment tax on the net income from serving as a notary public in previous years, the taxpayer should consider filing an amended return on Form 1040X to claim a refund for all open years. In general, a taxpayer has two years from the time the taxpayer paid the tax or three years from the date the taxpayer filed the return, whichever is later, to claim a refund. Taxpayers should consult a competent tax professional before filing an amended return.

Alan D. Campbell is a CPA in Arkansas and Florida and is self-employed primarily as an author of tax publications. He earned a Ph.D. in accounting with an emphasis in taxation from the University of North Texas. He is also admitted to practice before the United States Tax Court. He has published numerous articles on tax topics in professional journals. He is the co-author of the book Tax Strategies for the Self-Employed and the revision editor of CCH Financial and Estate Planning Guide, 15th edition. For more tax savings strategies, please see his blog: http://taxsavingsstrategies.blogspot.com

Today there is no reason to spend $450.00 on an authentic Vuitton Monogram Papillion 30 Bag. With the number of replica handbag dealers on line there are many different replica designer bags to choose from. Better yet, there is probably no one you’re going to run into who will know the difference, you may not either. You’ll want to do your homework and take your time before buying a replica bag. You want to make sure that you get a good quality replica bag as some of them run in the $200.00 range.

Some online replica handbag sites actually have a hand in the manufacturing of the replicas. Look for these vendors. They choose the bag to be copied, choose the quality of the leather, the buckles and the zippers used. Higher quality business will do their absolute best to copy designer bags, down to the stitches used. They will inspect the bag paying attention to small details. They will also give you a money back guarantee or provide a one month warranty. These bags cost more than cheaper replicas, but they will be worth it.

Be wary of the cheaper replica handbags mass produced in China. Generally these cheap bags are easy to spot. The first clue as to the quality is price. A replica Fendi bag for $19.99 is going to be a disappointment. You will get what you pay for. Some of these dealers will show a picture of a authentic handbag on their website, but that isn’t the bag you’re going to get. Ask before you buy. If they don’t have enough faith in their products to offer a money back guarantee, don’t buy it.

If you are lucky enough to want to buy a real designer bag it can be a bit more difficult.

Know the old sayings “if it’s too good to be true it probably is” and “you get what you pay for” hold true. You can be assured that lovely Fendi Spy Bag on that online auction, the one starting at $249.00, the one with the bright yellow Fendi tag is not the real thing. No one would offer an authentic Fendi Spy Bag for $249.00.

Who you’re purchasing the bag from is of utmost importance. You can be guaranteed that when purchasing that Prada bag from Nieman Marcus or that Gucci from Bergdorf Goodman you’re getting an authentic bag, although perhaps not a deal. Check the e-luxury site. Louis Vuitton is one of the actual owners of the e-luxury site. Purchase your Coach bag from their online site. Needless to say authenticity is guaranteed.

Some buyers take their bags to stores like Nieman Marcus or Lord & Taylor to have them authenticated AFTER they purchase them. These department stores will not give a written authentication on a particular bag, but the salesperson will probably tell you whether or not they think the bag is authentic. Don’t purchase a bag from anyone without a money back guarantee - ever. If they don’t offer a money back guarantee you can be assured the bag isn’t authentic. Even if it’s the bag of your dreams don’t buy it. There will be another one.

Don’t be fooled thinking that only authentic bags have holograms and serial numbers. Those that make their money producing knock off bags are on their toes and keep up with any changes made in authentic bags. Even more importantly, when you see a bag for sale anywhere, do you really know what the hologram should look like? Do you know if the serial number should be on a separate metal plate or embossed inside the bag? Should the name Gucci also seen imprinted on the hardware on an authentic bag?

The best way to protect yourself when making ANY purchase is to educate yourself.

This article courtesy of www.about-handbags.net