Do I Need an RSS Feed?
RSS has been around for more than 10 years but has only recently become popular. RSS provides headlines and summaries of information in a concise and standardized way.
Benefits for Publishers
1.) Avoid Spam Filters
Statisticians estimate that 70% of the email transferred each day is spam (unsolicited email). With that statistic, even opt-in users risk losing valuable messages in the cesspool of spam. RSS feeds effectively nullify spam as an issue. Requesting feeds allow users to maintain complete control over the content they view. Users can easily opt-in and out of feeds that provide content of interest or importance.
2.) Expanded Reach
RSS allows publishers to reach a number of new and different markets that typically are less crowded with competition. Many small businesses are often slow to adopt or learn new technologies, giving businesses that lead the way a competitive advantage.
3.) Content Syndication
Syndication of feeds increases exposure.
4.) Repeat Visitors
RSS is all about repeat visitors. Users who have previously visited a site often have a stronger connection to the site and are more likely to purchase or trust the information on the site.
5.) Free web traffic
As the internet has evolved, many webmasters have found that what was once free traffic must now be paid for in order to sustain decent visitor statistics. RSS is in a unique position to bring free traffic because they are content-driven, and if they include interesting or valuable information, will pique the curiosity of web-surfers and entice them to visit a particular site.
6.) Less Effort
Newsletters and E-zines undeniably bring visitors, but the effort involved in creating, distributing and maintaining a newsletter can be a burden. Maintaining the list, ensuring the list is clean, growing the subscriber base, updating and removing bad e-mail addresses, all take time. RSS feeds are not burdened with those issues. There are easy-to-use RSS feed creation tools that require little effort, allowing publishers to recycle content, often simply cutting and pasting into RSS feed creation software.
FeedForAll RSS feed creation - http://www.feedforall.com
Consider supplementing existing communication venues with RSS. Place the contents of newsletters into feeds and measure the results. You might be surprised at the added traffic.
Examples of various feeds with different intended purposes -
RSS feed - http://www.rss-specifications.com/blog-feed.xml
Establishing expertise in a specific field.
Business Feed - http://www.notepage.net/blog-feed.xml
Contains product and industry information.
Marketing Feed - http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/blog-feed.xml
Builds relationships, endorses products in industry sector.
RSS has potential to help companies develop strong relationships with consumers and creating brand loyalty with customers. While the world will not end tomorrow, nor will business come to a screeching halt if you don't use an RSS feed, there are a number of reasons online businesses should consider using RSS feeds.
About The Author
Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net and FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com.
Avoid Low Cost Printers That Use Tiny Ink Cartridges
How much will a $50 dollar printer really cost you? If you factor in the cost of replacement ink cartridges, it could be a lot more.
These days, if you go down the printer isle at your local office store, you may see a few printers hovering around the $50 mark. You might think "Wow! What a great deal", but is it all it's cracked up to be?
Lexmark was first manufacturer selling $50 printers. The printer was a loss-leader and the sales of replacement cartridges subsidized the low initial cost. The cost of 1 set of replacement cartridges exceeded the value of the machine itself.
Many people who never owned a printer before didn't realize Lexmark's strategy. They were so excited by the printer price that they never thought about the cost of the printer cartridges themselves. As time went on Lexmark continued their strategy and also began to decrease the size of their ink cartridges. Their cartridges got smaller and smaller and required more frequent replacing.
Consider this:
One Lexmark 10N0016 OEM Black cartridge retails for about $30 and will yield 410 pages at 5% coverage
One Lexmark 10N0026 OEM Color cartridge retails for about $32.00 and will yield 275 pages at 5% coverage
It was commonplace to buy Lexmark printer for $50 just for the ink cartridges, and throw the printer in the garbage and just buy another one. Hewlett-Packard has now followed suit and is using the same strategy to takeover market share.
Several new printers will enter the market in July 2006. Many of which are cheap to buy (starting at around $25.00), but can be expensive to operate. Many of these new cheap printers do not come with connection cables or both ink cartridges which entices users by lowering the initial price.
Over the course of a few years however, the low cost of the machine will be overshadowed by the large amount spent on replacement inkjet cartridges
The inkjet cartridges that most of the new HP printers use contain only 5 Milliliters of ink. In comparison, about 4 years ago the most common HP black cartridges contained 42 milliliters of ink. That's almost 8 times more printing at about 1/3rd the cost (per milliliter of ink).
A lot of people who owned printers in the past, are shocked when they see how fast their new printer goes through ink.
Not very many people realize the actual operating costs of these printers until they gone through a few sets of replacement cartridges.
HP's goal now is too own the market and squeeze competitors out of the picture by taking over retail shelf space with as many models as possible. Most have the same basic features, but the machines they have on the shelf, the less space for competition. Hewlett Packard hopes to captivate people in with their reputation, and a low-priced machine.
If they can get the customer to buy their printer, they can rely on a continuous stream of supplies for the life of that printer.
So here's what you need to know… It is critical that you investigate the price of replacement ink cartridges before you purchase a new printer. Comparison-shop both the printer and cartridges at the same time.
A short list of printers to avoid are printers using the HP 21 and HP 22 ink cartridges. (these contain only 5 milliliters of ink)
PSC 1410 Series, Officejet 4315, Deskjet F340, F380, HP Fax 1250, HP Deskjet 3910, Deskjet 3940 Series, Deskjet 3915, Deskjet 3930 Series
Printers Using HP 92 and HP 93 ink cartridges (5 milliliters of ink)
PSC 1510 Series, PSC 1507, Officejet 6310, Deskjet 5440 Series, Photosmart 7850, Deskjet 5440 Series
The only customers who should consider these particular new HP printers, are those who print infrequently (less than 3 cartridges per year).
HP makes quality printers, however we recommend simply seeking out a model that does not use the #21 and #22 or #92 and #93 cartridges. Many more of these new HP printers will be released this month.
Another good option is to investigate other printer manufacturers such as Canon, Brother, or Epson. Many times their inkjet printers will give reviews that are as good or better than HP.
The key point to remember, is to always take into account the operating costs of the machine you are considering -- not just the initial price.
These days, if you go down the printer isle at your local office store, you may see a few printers hovering around the $50 mark. You might think "Wow! What a great deal", but is it all it's cracked up to be?
Lexmark was first manufacturer selling $50 printers. The printer was a loss-leader and the sales of replacement cartridges subsidized the low initial cost. The cost of 1 set of replacement cartridges exceeded the value of the machine itself.
Many people who never owned a printer before didn't realize Lexmark's strategy. They were so excited by the printer price that they never thought about the cost of the printer cartridges themselves. As time went on Lexmark continued their strategy and also began to decrease the size of their ink cartridges. Their cartridges got smaller and smaller and required more frequent replacing.
Consider this:
One Lexmark 10N0016 OEM Black cartridge retails for about $30 and will yield 410 pages at 5% coverage
One Lexmark 10N0026 OEM Color cartridge retails for about $32.00 and will yield 275 pages at 5% coverage
It was commonplace to buy Lexmark printer for $50 just for the ink cartridges, and throw the printer in the garbage and just buy another one. Hewlett-Packard has now followed suit and is using the same strategy to takeover market share.
Several new printers will enter the market in July 2006. Many of which are cheap to buy (starting at around $25.00), but can be expensive to operate. Many of these new cheap printers do not come with connection cables or both ink cartridges which entices users by lowering the initial price.
Over the course of a few years however, the low cost of the machine will be overshadowed by the large amount spent on replacement inkjet cartridges
The inkjet cartridges that most of the new HP printers use contain only 5 Milliliters of ink. In comparison, about 4 years ago the most common HP black cartridges contained 42 milliliters of ink. That's almost 8 times more printing at about 1/3rd the cost (per milliliter of ink).
A lot of people who owned printers in the past, are shocked when they see how fast their new printer goes through ink.
Not very many people realize the actual operating costs of these printers until they gone through a few sets of replacement cartridges.
HP's goal now is too own the market and squeeze competitors out of the picture by taking over retail shelf space with as many models as possible. Most have the same basic features, but the machines they have on the shelf, the less space for competition. Hewlett Packard hopes to captivate people in with their reputation, and a low-priced machine.
If they can get the customer to buy their printer, they can rely on a continuous stream of supplies for the life of that printer.
So here's what you need to know… It is critical that you investigate the price of replacement ink cartridges before you purchase a new printer. Comparison-shop both the printer and cartridges at the same time.
A short list of printers to avoid are printers using the HP 21 and HP 22 ink cartridges. (these contain only 5 milliliters of ink)
PSC 1410 Series, Officejet 4315, Deskjet F340, F380, HP Fax 1250, HP Deskjet 3910, Deskjet 3940 Series, Deskjet 3915, Deskjet 3930 Series
Printers Using HP 92 and HP 93 ink cartridges (5 milliliters of ink)
PSC 1510 Series, PSC 1507, Officejet 6310, Deskjet 5440 Series, Photosmart 7850, Deskjet 5440 Series
The only customers who should consider these particular new HP printers, are those who print infrequently (less than 3 cartridges per year).
HP makes quality printers, however we recommend simply seeking out a model that does not use the #21 and #22 or #92 and #93 cartridges. Many more of these new HP printers will be released this month.
Another good option is to investigate other printer manufacturers such as Canon, Brother, or Epson. Many times their inkjet printers will give reviews that are as good or better than HP.
The key point to remember, is to always take into account the operating costs of the machine you are considering -- not just the initial price.
Domain Name System
Ever wonder why DNS systems came into existence? Efficiency. Every computer has a distinct IP address, and the Internet needed an elite method for obtaining these addresses and for managing the system as a whole. Enter ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names).
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number manages the DNS root of the Internet domain namespace. ICANNs role is to manage the assignment of identifiers, ensuring that all users have unique names.
The DNS system is run by a series of servers called DNS servers. ICANN manages the root DNS domains, under which are the top-level domains. It also manages:
How does a DNS Query work?
The process occurs in two parts. Firstly, a name query begins at a client computer and is passed to DNS client service for resolution. When the query cannot be resolved locally, DNS servers are queried.
For example, when a web browser calls the fully qualified domain name www.dimonetonline.com, the request is passed on to the DNS client service to resolve the name by using locally cached information. If the query is held in the cache, then the process is complete.
If, however, the query cannot be answered locally, the DNS client service uses a server list (ordered in sequence) to query external DNS servers. When a DNS server receives a query, it first checks to see if it is authoritive for that domain name. If it is authoritive, it resolves the name, and the process is complete.
If the DNS server is unable to resolve the query, it in turns queries other DNS servers, using a process known as recursion. DNS servers make use of root hints to assist in locating DNS servers, which are able to provide the required result. In this way, DNS queries are minimized and the Internet is able to operate quickly and effectively.
A typical query may run as follows:
Client contacts Nameserver A looking for www.dimonetonline.com
Nameserver A checks its cache, but cant answer, so it queries a server authoritive for the Internet root.
The root server responds with a referral to a server authoritive for the .com domains. Nameserver A queries the the .com server and gets referred to the server authoritive for www.dimonetonline.com
Nameserver A queries this server and gets the IP address for www.dimonetonline.com
Nameserver A replies to the client with the IP address.
Queries can return answers that are authoritive, positive, negative or referral in nature. In the event of a negative answer, another DNS server is queried.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number manages the DNS root of the Internet domain namespace. ICANNs role is to manage the assignment of identifiers, ensuring that all users have unique names.
The DNS system is run by a series of servers called DNS servers. ICANN manages the root DNS domains, under which are the top-level domains. It also manages:
- Organizational domains
- Geographical domains
- Reverse domains
How does a DNS Query work?
The process occurs in two parts. Firstly, a name query begins at a client computer and is passed to DNS client service for resolution. When the query cannot be resolved locally, DNS servers are queried.
For example, when a web browser calls the fully qualified domain name www.dimonetonline.com, the request is passed on to the DNS client service to resolve the name by using locally cached information. If the query is held in the cache, then the process is complete.
If, however, the query cannot be answered locally, the DNS client service uses a server list (ordered in sequence) to query external DNS servers. When a DNS server receives a query, it first checks to see if it is authoritive for that domain name. If it is authoritive, it resolves the name, and the process is complete.
If the DNS server is unable to resolve the query, it in turns queries other DNS servers, using a process known as recursion. DNS servers make use of root hints to assist in locating DNS servers, which are able to provide the required result. In this way, DNS queries are minimized and the Internet is able to operate quickly and effectively.
A typical query may run as follows:
Client contacts Nameserver A looking for www.dimonetonline.com
Nameserver A checks its cache, but cant answer, so it queries a server authoritive for the Internet root.
The root server responds with a referral to a server authoritive for the .com domains. Nameserver A queries the the .com server and gets referred to the server authoritive for www.dimonetonline.com
Nameserver A queries this server and gets the IP address for www.dimonetonline.com
Nameserver A replies to the client with the IP address.
Queries can return answers that are authoritive, positive, negative or referral in nature. In the event of a negative answer, another DNS server is queried.
5 Stress Reducing Computer Tips
For most entrepreneurs computers are an intrical part of our business. An entrepreneur can not afford for their computer to be inoperable even for a minute. Implement some of these quick and affordable computer tips to keep your computer healthy and making money for your business.
Double Internet Speed
Comcast recently doubled cable modem download speeds. Now you can surf the Internet and download files twice as fast. However, you need to power cycle your cable modem [unplug it for 30 seconds and reboot computer] for the new configuration to be automatically downloaded to your modem.
Connecting to Work from Home
Having trouble with your corporate VPN connection when working from home? Oftentimes this can be fixed with a simple firmware upgrade to your network router or a slight change in settings.
Sudden Lost Connection
Has your Internet connection suddenly stopped working? Frequently computer users with software-based firewalls suddenly find their Internet connection no longer available. Oftentimes when you download a software update, it can change your original configurations. As a quick test, disable the software firewall. If connectivity returns, its a misconfiguration issue.
Slow E-mail and Internet Browsing
Has your computer been working wonderfully, but suddenly e-mail or Internet browsing is painfully slow? It could be your cable connection went out. And although the connection has returned, your computer and the cable modem may be having difficulty communicating. Try power cycling your modem.
Eliminate Popups
Google offers a free popup blocker with its toolbar. Download the toolbar at toolbar.google.com. System requirements: Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later. The popup blocker requires Internet Explorer 5.5 or later.
Double Internet Speed
Comcast recently doubled cable modem download speeds. Now you can surf the Internet and download files twice as fast. However, you need to power cycle your cable modem [unplug it for 30 seconds and reboot computer] for the new configuration to be automatically downloaded to your modem.
Connecting to Work from Home
Having trouble with your corporate VPN connection when working from home? Oftentimes this can be fixed with a simple firmware upgrade to your network router or a slight change in settings.
Sudden Lost Connection
Has your Internet connection suddenly stopped working? Frequently computer users with software-based firewalls suddenly find their Internet connection no longer available. Oftentimes when you download a software update, it can change your original configurations. As a quick test, disable the software firewall. If connectivity returns, its a misconfiguration issue.
Slow E-mail and Internet Browsing
Has your computer been working wonderfully, but suddenly e-mail or Internet browsing is painfully slow? It could be your cable connection went out. And although the connection has returned, your computer and the cable modem may be having difficulty communicating. Try power cycling your modem.
Eliminate Popups
Google offers a free popup blocker with its toolbar. Download the toolbar at toolbar.google.com. System requirements: Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later. The popup blocker requires Internet Explorer 5.5 or later.
Unlocker
Ever had such an annoying message given by Windows?
It has many other flavors:
Cannot delete file: Access is denied
There has been a sharing violation.
The source or destination file may be in use.
The file is in use by another program or user.
Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.
Unlocker is an Explorer extension that allows you with a simple right-click of the mouse on a file or folder to get rid of error message such as error deleting file or folder, cannot delete folder: it is used by another person or program.
Recommended software
I have been asked many times by family, friends, colleagues and recently Unlocker users which software I find to be the best. So here is software I recommend every user should use on their computer.
Link: Unlocker
What is BitComet
A powerful C++ BitTorrent Client
BitComet is a p2p file-sharing freeware fully compatible with Bittorrent, which is one of the most popular p2p protocol designed for high-speed distribution of 100MB or GB sized files. BitComet is a powerful, clean, fast, and easy-to-use bittorrent client. It supports simultaneous downloads, download queue, selected downloads in torrent package, fast-resume, chatting, disk cache, speed limits, port mapping, proxy, ip-filter, etc.
BitComet is a p2p file-sharing freeware fully compatible with Bittorrent, which is one of the most popular p2p protocol designed for high-speed distribution of 100MB or GB sized files. BitComet is a powerful, clean, fast, and easy-to-use bittorrent client. It supports simultaneous downloads, download queue, selected downloads in torrent package, fast-resume, chatting, disk cache, speed limits, port mapping, proxy, ip-filter, etc.
Features
- Support preview of video file which is being downloaded.
- Support DHT Network, download trackerless torrent!
- Completely new core written in C++, stable and fast, very low CPU usage.
- Ability to limit the upload speed as well as download speed.
- Clean and free, without any adware or spyware. ( Please note: Spybot may misreport "Comet Cursor" )
- Multiple simultaneous downloads, ability to select download files in one torrent and set file priority.)
- Intelligent Connection Optimize, Auto Optimization for different connections, runs well using all default settings.
- Intelligent Rate Control, optimize the upload distribution in order to get the max download rate.
- Intelligent Disk Cache, decrease the potential damage to the hard disk when high-speed downloading (>500KB/s) by decrease the read / write frequency, extra memory usage is the cost.
- Intelligent Disk Allocating, no long-time disk allocation, also decrease the disk fragment to almost zero.
- Intelligent Hash Scan, no time-consuming scanning when seeding / resume.
- Firewall and NAT Traversal, users behind differect NAT can now connect to each other
- Auto config ICF (Internet Connection Firewall) and ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) in Windows XP
- Auto config port mapping in router (UPnP support is required in router, Windows XP is required).
- Ability to block IP temporarily or permanently, compatiable with eMule ipfilter.dat.
- Ability to chat with other downloaders ( disabled by default )
- Compatiable with Windows XP SP2 TCP/IP restriction
- ZIP package is also provided, which runs withoust installation.
- Using only one TCP listening port.
- Support Multi-tracker, and utf-8 extension, UDP tracker Protocol v2.
- [Please Note]: It is reported that Zone Alarm 5.0 conflict with BitComet (and other p2p maybe).
- Support automatically power off with conditions.
Screenshots of BitComet
7-Zip
7-Zip is a file archiver with a high compression ratio. The program supports 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, LZH, CHM, GZIP, BZIP2, Z, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB formats. Compression ratio in the new 7z format is 30-50% better than ratio in ZIP format. It also compresses to ZIP 2-10% better than PKZip and WinZip. It has an additional powerful command line version and FAR Manager support.
The main features of 7-Zip:
- High compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression
- 7-Zip is free software distributed under the GNU LGPL
- Supported formats:
- Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR
- Unpacking only: RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS
- For ZIP and GZIP formats 7-Zip provides compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip
- Self-extracting capability for 7z format
- Integration with Windows Shell
- Powerful File Manager
- Powerful command line version
- Plugin for FAR Manager
- Localizations for 63 languages
7-Zip is a free software distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License.
http://www.7-zip.org/Screencasting: Screen Capture Software
- Macromedia Captivate
- Wink. Cross-platform (Windows and Linux) screen capture software program that you can use to create screencasts. It is free to use for personal and businesses.
- BB Recorder. This is a sleek screen recording program from Blueberry Software. There are different versions available - including a free demo version.
- Camtastia Studio
- Cam Studio. This is a free, basic program for screencasting / screen recording.
The Print Screen key (Prt Scr) is a useful key supported on most PCs. Pressing the Print Screen key causes the computer to send whatever images and text are currently on the display screen to the Windows Clipboard. To copy/capture the current window, hold down ALT + Print Scrn at the same time. To capture the entire screen, just press Print Scrn.
Safari Compatibility Test
To access this tool, point your browser to http://snugtech.com/en/safaritest/ and enter your desired URL. Select the output image of either in PNG or JPG format. Don’t forget to set the resolution to 800, 832, 1024 or 1280. Click on the View button and wait for your site’s image to be produced. Select the enlarged version so that you can study your site closely. Remember, you can also specify individual pages if you want.
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