As more companies make the jump to cyberspace every week and billions of dollars flow across the Internet, nobody can deny that ecommerce plays a significant roll in business today.

However, as the aisles of your local online shopping site get more crowded, the tendency for customer service issues and contact to fall through the cracks increases dramatically.

The main problem for any site revolves around the fact that email as a means of communication has become unreliable over the last couple of years.

Spam (unsolicited commercial email) lies at the heart of the problem since it clogs the email boxes of both the company and the customer.

In an attempt to stem the tide of spam, email gets filtered, lost, or deleted on both sides, often leading to hard feelings as customers think their emails have been ignored when actually they’ve never been received.

As a result, many companies, large and small, have started using “help desk” software to manage their customer communication.

Gone are the days of just emailing for support and getting a simple reply back from a live human being on the other end.

Spam makes it impossible for a company of any size to operate with email-only support.

A help desk makes it possible not only to maintain a “chain” of communication, but also avoids messages disappearing into cyberspace.

Help desk solutions run the range from free to several thousands of dollars for a custom program.

Two very workable and reasonably priced solutions are Kayako.com and Perldesk.com.

(You can also do a search in Google for “free help desk software” if you don’t want to spend any money.)

Both offer the choice of installing the software on your own server, or paying a monthly fee to get a copy of the software installed and maintained on the provider’s server.

Which option you choose depends on your level of technical ability, level of customization needed, and how much support you’ll need over time.

I suggest starting out with the hosted version until you get the hang of the system, then switch over to a version on your own server to avoid the monthly charges.

An online help desk operates fairly simply.

A customer submits a ticket through a form on your website, the customer support staff (even if it’s a staff of one) responds to the ticket through the website, and all communication gets posted on a private web page.

Both Kayako and Perldesk enable customers to search a “knowledgebase” or collection of articles to try solving their problems on their own (especially during non-business hours), thus frequently eliminating the need to get a live response.

Anyone who does business online should consider installing a help desk solution from the start rather than putting it off until the future.

Get your customers conditioned to operating with a ticket system rather than switching on them in mid-stream once your business gets too busy to handle support via email.

Here are a couple of other tips to help you.

Designate one person to act as the “sorter” answering the basic issues, then referring off the ones they can’t answer to other staff members.

Also, post your help desk hours and stick to them.

Answer questions the same day if possible, but no later than the next business day.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The ideal world of affiliate marketing does not require having your won website, dealing with customers, refunds, product development and maintenance. This is one of the easiest ways of launching into an online business and earning more profits.

Assuming you are already into an affiliate program, what would be the next thing you would want to do? Double, or even triple, your commissions, right? How do you do that?

Here are some powerful tips on how to boost your affiliate program commissions overnight.

1. Know the best program and products to promote. Obviously, you would want to promote a program that will enable you to achieve the greatest profits in the shortest possible time.

There are several factors to consider in selecting such a program. Choose the ones that have a generous commission structure. Have products that fit in with your target audience. And that has a solid track record of paying their affiliate easily and on time. If you cannot seem to increase your investments, dump that program and keep looking for better ones.

There are thousands of affiliate programs online which gives you the reason to be picky. You may want to select the best to avoid losing your advertising dollars.

Write free reports or short ebooks to distribute from your site. There is a great possibility that you are competing with other affiliates that are promoting the same program. If you start writing short report related to the product you are promoting, you will be able to distinguish yourself from the other affiliates.

In the reports, provide some valuable information for free. If possible, add some recommendations about the products. With ebooks, you get credibility. Customers will see that in you and they will be enticed to try out what you are offering.

2. Collect and save the email addresses of those who download your free ebooks. It is a known fact that people do not make a purchase on the first solicitation. You may want to send out your message more than six times to make a sale.

This is the simple reason why you should collect the contact information of those who downloaded your reports and ebooks. You can make follow-ups on these contacts to remind them to make a purchase from you.

Get the contact information of a prospect before sending them to the vendor’s website. Keep in mind that you are providing free advertisement for the product owners. You get paid only when you make a sale. If you send prospects directly to the vendors, chances are they would be lost to you forever.

But when you get their names, you can always send other marketing messages to them to be able to earn an ongoing commission instead of a one-time sale only.

Publish an online newsletter or Ezine. It is always best to recommend a product to someone you know than to sell to a stranger. This is the purpose behind publishing your own newsletter. This also allows you to develop a relationship based on trust with your subscribers.

This strategy is a delicate balance between providing useful information with a sales pitch. If you continue to write informative editorials you will be able to build a sense of reciprocity in your readers that may lead them to support you by buying your products.

3. Ask for higher than normal commission from merchants. If you are already successful with a particular promotion, you should try and approach the merchant and negotiate a percentage commission for your sales.

If the merchant is smart, he or she will likely grant your request rather than lose a valuable asset in you. Keep in mind that you are a zero-risk investment to your merchant; so do not be shy about requesting for addition in your commissions. Just try to be reasonable about it.

Write strong pay Per Click ads. PPC search engine is the most effective means of advertising online. As an affiliate, you can make a small income just by managing PPC campaigns such as Google AdWords and Overture. Then you should try and monitor them to see which ads are more effective and which ones to dispose of.

Try out these strategies and see the difference it can make to your commission checks in the shortest of time.
—————————————–
Author:
Article Webmaster
http://www.yourarticle.info
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Whenever we have a bad experience or we own up to having a weakness people immediately jump on the band wagon and tell us to work with our weaknesses. “Focus on them until you have overcome them and then you can move on”.
But we only have a limited period on this earth. And what is more, I don’t know how long that will be. So why oh why should I spend so much time focussing on my weaknesses?

What is it about my weaknesses that they should demand so much of my time? Surely the point is that they are called weaknesses because I am weak in this area. This is the area that saps my strength, so why should I give them more time.
I know the theory goes that I should give them more time and then they will become strengths.
But does it really work like that?
Just because I know the origin of this weakness does it mean that it is now a strength?
Just because I can now say, Ah so that behaviour comes from the time when… I was…………… Does that really help me?
It appears to me that it is still a weakness but now I have a reason ….or perhaps in the modern world something better…… I have someone to blame.
It is his fault. She did it to me. But what’s the point. It’s still not a strength.
It’s still sapping my energy.
Richard Restak , in his book Poe’s Heart and the Mountain Climber, says the more you focus on your weaknesses, the more your body feels fear. The more uncomfortable you feel.
So why put yourself through so much pain?
In his experiments he has found that the best way to overcome a weakness is to change your thoughts. To think of something that makes you feel good.
In my experience, if I focus on what I’m good at and concentrate on these thoughts and skills I get stronger and stronger.
Let me give you an example.
I am not good at small talk. In fact I hate it.
But I am good at seeing connections between people and information which others do not see. Now what should I do? Should I concentrate on my small talk skills and develop them into strengths? Or, should I concentrate on my strength which will enable me to coach people better.
I choose to concentrate on my strengths.
Go on just try it.
Whenever you have a bad experience. Whenever you feel you are giving in to a weakness.
Stop. Reappraise.
Focus on something good. Something you love. Focus on what you are really good at.
WE promise it works.
The point is, if you focus on your strengths and what gives you a great feeling, you will reduce the stress on your body and perform a whole lot better.
Keep doing what’s good for you what is right for you and you must progress.
Keep listening to your heart.
Keep focussed on what you know is good for you.
Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water: focus on your strengths.
Good luck

Graham and Julie.
www.desktop-meditation.com

To improve your intuition, initiative and energy levels please go to:
www.desktop-meditation.com It’s free.

Source: http://www.365articles.com

I’ve received a lot of email lately from people asking how they can set up their own blogs for family, friends, or business purposes without spending much money or hiring an expensive programmer or web developer.

Well, ask no more because I will now show you exactly how to get your own blog without dipping too far into your own pocket (if at all) and get up and running, even if you don’t have your own website, hosting account, or domain name.

You basically get two choices when it comes to setting up a blog: host it yourself, or use a service that hosts the blog for you.

Each one carries advantages based on your level of skill, experience and how many options you want to add to your blog.

If you choose to host your blog on your own website, then you can pick from a number of different options, including MoveableType.org and WordPress.org.

However, if you don’t want to host it yourself, you can also go to Yahoo.com, put in the term “free blog” and obtain a long list of services that will host a blog for you, either free of charge or for a fee.

Probably the best-known free blog service resides at Blogger.com

Recently purchased by Google, Blogger boasts thousands of blogs on topics ranging from ecommerce to pet manners.

Blogger enables you to set up a functional blog in about 5 minutes and start posting your thoughts, rants, or family facts with the world.

Log on to http://Spaces.MSN.com and find another free option offered by Microsoft’s online service, MSN.

This service makes it a bit easier to share photos than Blogger, which requires a separate software tool called Picasa (also available from Google for free).

MSN’s blogger service also seems to appeal more to individuals sharing their thoughts than to businesses trying to scare up new customers or get their links crawled by search engine spiders (another advantage of publishing a blog).

So if you’re publishing the family blog, this one might offer more of the user-friendly options you need.

The one drawback to using free services always comes back to the age-old saying, “You get what you pay for!”

These free blog services come with virtually zero customer support, so if you can’t figure it out on your own, good luck finding anyone to assist you.

If you don’t mind paying $5 a month, you can get a full-featured weblog at TypePad.com that offers a decent level of customer support.

The blogs available here offer many more features than Blogger or MSN, but also require you to understand a bit more about blogging’s more advanced features like “trackback links” and “pinging” blog directories to let them know you’ve updated your blog (so others can come take a look at your new material).

Regardless of whether you choose the free or paid option, using a hosted blogging solution rates best when getting started.

However, once your blog really starts to take off and you find you need more “bells and whistles,” you may want to consider upgrading to a more sophisticated blogging solution.

For a free video that explains “trackbacks” and more, check out:

=> http://www.igottatellyou.com/trackback.html

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Quite simply because fashion exists, With every new fashion we are bombarded with a never ending parade of weird and wonderfull hairstyles that we would never in a million years be able to keep up with. Long hair short hair pink hair whatever the style the beauty of the wig is in its capacity to keep up with the latest trends. I don’t see many people wearing them you might say to yourself ! so is it simply not cool to wear such an accessory? Absolutly not… The reason that wigs do not seem prevelant is simply because they are just too well designed. With the latest technologies and tools it is now possible to create an array of superbly crafted specimens that are oblivious to all but the wearer. One reason is the investment made by the film industry, The sums invested in special effects and costumes nowdays have caused the science of wig making to rise to a whole new platau..

You see there are more wigs out there that you could possibly imagine. Over the past 6 years wig purchases have risen by a staggering 30% and are being bought by absolutely everyone…We simply love em.

What about the guys?

As I have said the art of wigmaking is reaching new heights. No more do we see those emabarressing and ludicrus creations so often worn by our favourtite newsreader or gameshow host. Designs that look so wild and angry that they seem capable of jumping off the wearers head and attacking anyone who might get in their way. Men can now wear wigs [ toupe's ] with as much confidence and masculin gain as the most pamperered of movie stars . Nowdays it is quite normal for a mens section to be included in many of the top hairpiece websites and it is also very easy to arrange a private and totally advantageous fitting consultation .

Buying wigs is now even simpler with the aid of the internet. We can now choose a design with great ease and forward the necessary fitting requirements to the vendor in a matter of seconds. In no time at all the mailman is knocking at our door with your eagerly awaited “Brand new image”.

You can go from frumpy to stunning in a matter of minutes and without the need, repeated expense and time consuming effort of a trip to your local hairdresser. Don’t be afraid to dive in and choose the next “YOU”..they say that image can change your life so why not give it a go and see where it takes you.

Sometimes too there are folk who require cosmetic hairpiece assistance for totally medical reasons. You will find that the professional attitude of the industry has improved in leaps and bounds. You see there is a real difference between the person buying for added glamour and the person who is trying to adjust to an illness be it temporary or permanent. The majority of suppliers will be totally able and more than capable of aiding you in every aspect of a situation that you as a person would not normally find yourself in [ Don't forget not everybody has a budding Pamela Anderson inside who is eager to jump out and make herself known to the world ] . Sometimes we find ourselves in uneasy situations but with the right help and assistance more times than not the results can be quite astounding. Many people even continue to use wigs even when their illness is long gone and a distanst echo . You see the cosmetic benefits to wearing a wig can be literally become a life changing event and in fact the silver lining to a once cloudy situation.

Wigs have been with us for hundreds of years for many kinds of reasons and until the time comes when mankind might have evolved into some kind hairless superbeing then wigs are here to stay .[ Who knows by then they may even end up being a “required” item of our attire just like a simple pair of shoes or pants?]

Raymond L’arou

Hair Design and special effects consultant.

Raymond L’arou is the owner of Nice
Wigs which is a
great source of information about Wigs. For more
information, go to: http://www.nicewigs.com

Source: http://www.365articles.com

Let me tell you a story. When I opened my first clothing alteration shop, I started out with a borrowed over locker from my sister in law, and my very old mini Elna sewing machine. I remember an Asian gentlemen walking up to the door of my shop and saying to me “You can’t do clothing alterations on that machine! You need an industrial sewing machine!” As the business grew, I got more domestic machines, and when I opened my second shop, I put domestic machines in. I did buy a semi industrial blind hemming machine, but I can tell you we had an exceptional reputation for superior workmanship. We had customers coming to us from the other side of Sydney. So I had domestic sewing machines in all my shops, except one. That one I put 2 industrials in but the shop was sold soon after to people who believed in industrial sewing machines.

My favorite domestic sewing machine is the Janome My Excel which isn’t expensive and does everything that I need to produce high quality clothing alterations.

Industrial sewing machines were designed for factory work. In particular piece work. The machines were in rows and the seamstresses using were sewing just one particular part of a garment, and another person was sewing another part of the garment. They are very fast, so for piece work they are excellent. I actually find them too fast. Let me explain. If I am re stitching the facing back on to a gown after I have taken the straps up, I am only sewing a section of say 2” or 5 cm. With my domestic machine I lock off at the beginning, sew the seam and lock off at the end. With an industrial machine, you have to slow it down because it would sew too fast, and you wouldn’t get the machine sewing into the seams as you need to.

People who use industrial machines, and have worked out how to stitch in this way I admire. My hat goes off to you. Personally I could never control the monster.

The other reason I like domestic machines is the fact that they can do zig zag and many other types of stitches. Most industrial machines can only sew straight stitch. You can get industrials machines that do other stitching, but why have so many machines when you can have one.

Yet another reason is the fact that the domestic sewing machine has an arm on it for sewing sleeves and hems with ease. The industrial machine has a flat surface to work on. This means you have to try and lay the fabric as flat as possible to sew correctly.

With the domestic machine you can slip the hem over the arm of the machine and stitch around with ease.

All my step by step manuals will be on how to do clothing alterations on your domestic sewing machine. I will also go through what you need to perform an alteration with the same workmanship that I performed in my shops.

Source: http://www.365articles.com

With the ever-increasing popularity of sharing home-videos, mp3 audios, and other large files online, actually transferring those files to your customers, friends, and family presents a problem.

If this problem hasn’t hit you yet… it will.

With the ever-increasing popularity of sharing home-videos, mp3 audios, and other large files online, actually transferring those files to your customers, friends, and family presents a problem.

Most email systems limit the size of the files you can send, and often completely restrict some file types, such as .exe, from passing through their email servers.

Most computer geeks say, “Just ftp it to your server and I’ll download it from the Web.”

Unfortunately, that solution often proves too much of a hassle, and actually rates impossible for those without ftp access to a website and the knowledge to use it.

To solve this problem, a new breed of website file transfer service has emerged to help the technically or time- challenged masses share their huge files online.

http://www.YouSendIt.com

I discovered this website as most people discover new sites, I saw someone else using it.

A friend wanted to send me a 10MB “zip” file while he traveled from San Francisco to Boise.

He couldn’t use his ftp program to upload it to the Web, and his ISP wouldn’t let him send such a huge file.

So, he logged on to www.yousendit.com and completed a 4-step process.

(1) He entered my email address, (2) chose the file he wanted to send by browsing his hard drive, (3) entered his email and typed in a brief message, and (4) clicked the “send” button.

The service uploaded the file to the web and sent me an email message with a link to download the file from their website.

After I downloaded the file, I clicked a link to delete the file from their server.

If I didn’t bother to click that link, the server would automatically delete the file after 7 days.

A few things make this service unique.

First, it allows you to send files without forcing you to register as a user; it’s totally anonymous.

Second, it allows you to send up to a 1 gigabyte file.

This enables you to send virtually anything you can think of to anyone with an email address and Internet connection.

The site appears to make its money from advertising revenue generated by popup ads and Google AdSense (where they earn a commission every time someone clicks a link).

Third, like Hotmail.com did when first starting out, YouSendIt.com encourages message recipients to turn around and use the service to send files to their friends.

This “viral marketing” effect should help them spread the word quickly without a huge marketing budget.

http://www.DropLoad.com

DropLoad.com also enables users to send large files, though they restrict file sizes to 100 MB.

However, DropLoad.com offers one extra feature lacking in YouSendIt: delivery confirmation.

Dropload enables you to know when the person you sent the file to actually clicks the link to download the file.

This cuts down on the “I never got the file” claims and acts like the Post Office making them sign for registered mail.

You can’t prove they read it, but you can prove they received it.

DropLoad.com does require you to register for a username and password, but the service is free.

Overall, both services do an excellent job of solving a growing problem for a huge audience worldwide.

Also, if you sell information products customers download from the Internet, the link expiration and confirmation features can come in handy (such as giving out free samples or preview copies to potential joint venture partners).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

It is officially launched! Remember what I told you about a few days ago. Why am I telling you this? Frank Bauer, a friend who is in need of help and is extending his offer for you to join him in his greatest Firesale Joint Venture ever!

I hope you are ready, because it is LAUNCH TIME!

Frank has been an excellent Programmer and all his Scripts are his own creation, not copies ! His range of scripts has a very high reputation and his service is beyond excellent!

Here is your chance to grab an incredible package and have 5 proven, top notch, must-have e-commerce business software scripts fully installed (optional) plus $1,835.16 in FREE bonuses at over 88% off the regular price!

But not only that… by getting this great bundle at a fraction of the regular price you also help Frank, his wife and son in his…

“Save Our Townhouse Fire Sale”

http://www.yain.com/firesale28.html

Take a look at what you get…

- Your own autoresponder follow-up and mailing list management system (no more monthly fees!)

- Your own link tracking system in the Enterprise version

- Your own payment processing and shopping cart system

- Your own viral tool to get more visitors to your sites

- Your own tool to let your visitors contact you while keeping your email address safe and secure

And as if that wouldn’t be enough already… you get also:

- Over $1,835.00 in FREE bonuses… that are still being sold on the Internet right now!

All this you can get today at a fraction of the value, take advantage of this offer before the price goes up (if you look at the site, you will see that it really will):

http://www.yain.com/firesale28.html

Your success!

PS: Just one of the products Frank is literally giving away would cost you more than the complete bundle today… not to mention the over $1,835.00 in FREE bonuses.

If you take only one advise from me, than take this one… Don’t don’t wait until next week and let this special offer pass you by.

http://www.yain.com/firesale28.html