Teen Perfumes With A Difference

Perfume Gardens at House of Rose, LLC has just created a full line of fragrances especially for teenagers called "Scent Bent TM". Among the twenty-nine offerings are Peach, Caramel, Bubble Gum, Baby Powder, Chocolate Mint, Cinnamon, Lemonade, Peach, Peppermint, Watermelon & Vanilla. All are alcohol free so they last twice as long as other perfumes & they contain pheromones, which are attractants. The graphics on the bottles are bright & modern which reflect the young clientele.

Owner Jane Langdon started her internet business years ago catering to adults seeking floral perfumes & spice colognes not readily available in department stores. The business made a profit in the first year, which is highly unusual especially for an internet venture. She felt that teenagers should have their own fun fragrances & researched the market for scents that would appeal to them. After input from teens around the world the new line was launched in March. Orders have been brisk & comments from teens have been very positive. Word spreads quickly when they wear the new scents & their friends become customers too. Some order different scents for different moods. "I love the Baby Powder when I want a light scent & Tangerine for a fresh scent", says a high school freshman in New York. Some will combine Musk & Patchouli for a heavy, lingering scent & others will wear Ocean & Fresh Cotton together. Men like Watermelon, Sandalwood, Ylang-Ylang & the five Feng-Shui scents ... Earth, Fire, Metal, Wood or Water.

Best Children's Books: Ten Top Selections for Pre-Schoolers

Children have cherished books for centuries now. They love books for different reasons. Sometimes their reasons even stump us adults. The following are ten carefully chosen books books for pre-schoolers, though some a little older still like them. We adults may struggle selecting books for children because we are looking for a plot or story line-we are maybe looking for excitement. But pre-schoolers want something they can understand, something fun, something with which they can identify, maybe something cuddly and comforting.

1. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, tight in its language yet exuberant in its pictures. When Max is trundled off to bed without his dinner, he imagines an adventure in the land of the Wild Things, where he meets a raucous collection of fanciful beasts. After some monster fun, he becomes homesick, awakens in his bedroom to find a piping hot supper waiting for him.

2. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, by Laura Numeroff. Oh, that starving little mouse. Once you give him the cookie, you kick off a crazy trail of action! By the end of the story, the mouse, the boy that gives him the cookie, and maybe even the reader, are exhausted! Wonderful illustrations and a kooky lead character.

3. The Snowman by Raymond Briggs is the only wordless tale in this list. A great book to begin getting a child interested in reading. A memorable story of a boy who makes and then befriends a snowman who enters his world and takes him out on a nighttime journey. The non-conclusive ending can also furnish a great beginning.

4. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. The author apparently accepted a wager that he couldn't write a story using only fifty words. "Do you like green eggs and ham? I do not like them Sam-I_am." This book's repetitive phrases, simple drawings and goofy charm make it one of the favorites and also a book to help kids learn how to read..

5. Curious George by H.A. and Margaret Rey. The has got to be the world's most beloved monkey! Curious George has had many thrilling adventures in his day, but it all starts with the first one, which has become a classic. Of course, we've got to introduce a new generation of readers to this crazy troublemaking chimp.

6. Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. Watch out for citified ducks... A great read aloud, this tale of two mallards who decide to raise their family in the Boston's Public Garden is an all-time favorite. Beautiful drawings and a great story have made this story one sought out by thousands.

7. No, David! by David Shannon. As little David somersaults from one outlawed activity to the next, with his mom shouting the title, David's naughtiness is quite impressive. Believe it or not, this kid's book has a "real" soundtrack: the text is drawn from a book the author produced when he was 5!

8. Blueberries for Sal by Robert McClosky. As Sal and her mom head toward a patch to pick blueberries, so do a mother bear and her cub. Eventually the young set swap moms for a cockeyed adventure tale and a comedy of errors. Kids like it.

9. The Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle. This colorful classic depicts a very hungry insect eating his way through an apple, two pears, three plums, and a collection of other treats. Part of the trip includes readers learning about colors and counting-plus the added benefit of an intro to the life cycle of a caterpillar.

10. Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. The story of a boy and his mom. While the mother continues to rock her boy to sleep-even if she must sneak into his bedroom to do it-life continues through stages as he grows up and his mom grows older. Eventually, he rocks his own aged mother to sleep. A touching cycle-of-life tale that may bring a tear to the eye.

So, parents, grandparents, teachers, and other assorted readers, here are ten sure winners for pre-schoolers. I hope it helps you in the unending quest for the love and satisfaction of the young-uns.

Article Marketing For The MLM Company - One Key To SEO Marketing

Article marketing for the networking company has become a requirement for success, without it, you soon realize your business becomes inactive and dries up and you have to either stop or move on to try another marketing tactic, just to spend more of your hard earned cash. Many people today waste large amounts of cash trying to build their networking company. After having used up their money, they soon understand they have been kicking a dead horse all the time. Many well intentioned people will not quit or give up on their dream of being financially free.

Don't give up on your ideas to be free...

After having spent the money to no avail, many will move on to a fresh company, having blamed the previous business for their failure to attain their dream. But, the reality of the affair is this, more than likely there is nothing wrong with their old business at all, it is just a matter of education in article marketing.

They get into business and begin to show the marketing plan to their associates and relation and when all that is exhausted, there's no place for them to go except to face the truth of the matter, you must be taught to market your company and not depend on your friends and relatives to give you your start in the business world.

Examine the options that are to be had by you...

Article advertising for the online business is one of the greatest ways to construct your online business. But, where to start? there is much to learn about online article marketing, you have the alternative of becoming a associate of a group that is dedicated to business building and mentoring you, showing you how to put together your networking business with article marketing or you can take the bull by the horns yourself.

If the promotions group does not present you all the tools to do the job, stay away from them, because there are several marketing tools you must use to achieve your goal in advertising. You can also assemble the marketing plan and tools together yourself. There's back-link building tools that have a huge impact of getting people to your website. There's article writing tools to assist you in composing articles and submitting them to article directories. So, what's the goal you ask? The first goal is to get as many people to your website as possible, they are called prospects or leads, this will in turn will help you put together a marketing list.

Just a couple more things to discover about article marketing...

It's very difficult to go it alone, mainly if you are just starting out. So, choosing the right advertising group to connect with is of the utmost importance. You must be able to have a full advertising system to give to your members of your chief business, a system that helps them to make money and be in profit the first ninety days or less, irrespective if anybody joins their main business or not.

The attraction marketing idea has become very popular of late. The idea is to attract people to you first and foremost and brand yourself as the expert, so that you can help them to achieve their goals in life. Attraction marketing is accomplished through article marketing, providing great marketing ideas and building hundreds of relevant back-links.

Article marketing for the online business becomes much easier when the right tools are put to work and having the right marketing group mentoring you to your victory.

How To Get Your Staff To Sell More Insurance

You're staring at the New Business report for the month and a little disappointed at the number of sales you've had. It's not terrible, but by far not the best month ever.

You're a bit frustrated. You know that you could boost these numbers with just a little extra effort. And then you make the mistake of looking around at your team.

One of your staff members is making a personal phone call. Another appears to be surfing the Internet and you're not too sure if it is work related. There are papers everywhere but it looks like a bunch of service work and old filing that needs to be done.

You walk by and try to find out what's going on today. And you hear a lot of "Oh I've been swamped all day!" "The phone won't stop ringing!" But yet, it doesn't seem that busy and sales are down.

It's time to buckle down and get them motivated on the right tasks.

First, you need to let them know what you want. And for that, you need sales goals. Begin by breaking down the big agency goals into smaller individual goals.

Everyone needs to know what is expected. Buy a large dry erase board and hang it up on the wall where clients can't see it, but everyone in the office can.

Create a column for each team member and an area for the monthly agency sales goals.

This makes it clear what your expectations are. Plus it creates competition between your staff members. (If everyone has sold twice as much as they have, they'll get more motivated to get busy!)

Next, you want to pull the entire team together at least once a week and see where you stand.

Here are possible things to discuss:

Have each person bring a list of the quotes they've run that week.

Discuss why each quote sold or didn't sell.

Practice objections and "role play" sales situations.

Calculate everyone's close ratios. Give a random prize for the best sales of the week.

The goal is to focus on what you want more of. If you want them to sell, you need to be reviewing and motivating on a regular basis.

Having a team you can trust is important, but this is about more than just trust. This is about management and fulfilling your business goals. You have to be willing to "trim the fat" if something's not getting done the way you want. You can't be passive. It's about looking at that report at the end of the month and knowing you did everything possible to maximize it.

Getting More Twitter Followers

If you have been involved in the social media sensation at all over the last five years or so, then you probably know all about using Twitter. You also know that if you want your messages to reach the Internet world at all, then your account needs to have lots of followers. For those who do not know, followers are those who have decided to follow your account and therefore see every message that you send or tweet out.

Common sense tells us that the more followers we have, then the response we can expect from our messages will be larger as well. When we say response, we are referring to others who send us messages in return to continue the dialog, or it can mean those who click the link that your message may recommend. This is a great way to make sales or build an email list.

So how is it that we get more followers anyway? The short answer is that we follow others first. This works to a degree because we humans love to reciprocate when others do things for us first. The truth is that this tactic used to work really well when Twitter was newer. You could expect around one out of every two people you followed to return the favor. Thus, you could built up a following very quickly.

This tactic will still work, but you will not get this kind of reciprocation rate nowadays. You can expect something like every one out of four or five people to return the favor. Thus, it is a lot more work today to build your following. Needless to say, it takes lots of patience and persistence to build up your account this way.

Here is a trick that will enhance your success rate. Go through your own followers or the people you are following and look over their followers. Examine the number of followers each of them have and compare it to the number of people they are following. What you are looking for are those who follow two to three times more people than they have following them. Why is this important? It is simple. People that have these kinds of ratios in their Twitter accounts are most likely spammers.

Why are we interested in spammers? Actually, we are interested in those who follow them. People that follow spammers will most likely automatically follow anyone that follows them first. Therefore, your reciprocation rate should be much higher when you follow them.

What Is Search Marketing All About?

Search Marketing refers to creating a website that is visible to focused traffic or visitors to sites who could well become prospects. So, it is necessary for your site to be ahead of its competition in terms of what it offers and its look and feel in a world where people are constantly searching for information of many kinds online.

It is also a broad term that covers SEO, Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Pay-Per-Click (PPC) search engine advertising and Paid inclusion, and Direct Navigation. It's basic goal is to get the highest SER's but it also targets huge volume traffic sites and online communities. It also takes care of traffic-generating methods within the site. It can also be accessed on mobile phones, besides personal computers.

Online Search Marketing comprises two broad categories: Organic Search Marketing and Paid Search Marketing.

Organic Search Marketing:By using organic Search Marketing, one can develop a business website that is similar to what search engines require to achieve top rankings when a prospective client is searching for the goods or services you sell. The techniques used to reach high score sites are known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO).SEO strategies can be divided into on- and off-page strategies.

On-page strategies: These strategies are executed within your site content. They refer to keyword density, page linking, hosting relevant content, etc.

Off-page strategies: On the other hand, off-page optimization strategies takes care of social networking and content marketing, besides other strategies that drive traffic to customers' sites and thereby increase their presence online.

Search engines work on the premise that a popular site with certain high-demand keywords means that they are providing customers with what they want. One of the many techniques used to make a site more popular online is to use back links or one-way links from other sites to your site. To get the most out of back links for your site, the keyword must be used as the anchor text which is then click-able on other sites.

Paid Search Marketing:This is the second major category of Search Marketing. It is also called Pay Per Click advertising (PPC) and it does not lay as much emphasis on SEO techniques as Organic Search Marketing to get on to the first page of search engine query results. Here, the advertiser or client places an ad that appears on the results pages of major SE's like Google, Yahoo or Bing whenever someone queries certain keywords. This kind of marketing works on the principle that you place your bid on certain keywords so that when someone searches the keywords that coincide with the text of your ads, your ad pops up. When they click your ad, they are taken to your Sales page or Squeeze page.

You may choose either method of Search Marketing, the essential point for you is to understand how SE's work and know what they want.

Affiliate Marketing 101: Top Tips For Success

Affiliate marketing may at first appear complicated, but it isn't brain surgery. Once you master the basics, you are on your way to achieving steady profits. Don't stress over that, because these tips will put you on the right path.

Use positive language to help market your product. You should avoid any wording that has a negative slant, such as "do not miss this opportunity" or "do not worry."

Create a trusting relationship with your audience. If your readers feel like they know and respect you, they'll make an effort to make you money by using your affiliate links.

Always look for the affiliate services that give you the products and services that you need. Your income will be contingent on how many affiliate networks you form contracts with. Don't accept affiliates just because you feel you have to. Read up on what they do so that you will be comfortable working for them.

Try writing an ad out on paper, then scan it into the computer as an image file. Upload the image to your website. This allows your targeted customers to see that indeed there is a very real person doing everything behind the scenes, and they will be more likely to purchase a product from you. If you have poor penmanship, hire a freelancer to compose the advertisement.

Instead of having pop-up advertisements on your website, opt for pop-under advertisements. These days, most browsers default to blocking pop-ups so the vast majority of readers won't even see them. Results have shown that pop-unders below the browser are more likely to be read instead of pop-ups.

Google Ads, and other paid advertising, can bring in the most profit from affiliate marketing. If you ads target specific keywords with proven results, sales-wise, you can substantially increase your site traffic, attracting visitors who are interested in the same keywords.

Affiliate programs are not all similar. Programs vary by product and degree of flexibility.

One of the best ways to advertise any product as an affiliate marketing professional is to have obvious pride in the product yourself. Articles and reviews are an excellent way to demonstrate the product's usefulness. You may also find joining online discussions or forums to feature benefit the product a useful method. Remember, each time you write content about a product, make sure you list an affiliate link. Viewers can then purchase the product directly, and you can make more sales!

If you're catering to baby boomers, this is even more important. Increasing font size can increase sales since customers will be able to read product descriptions.

It is important to research the business you are partnering with, even if the affiliate in question is a top earner. You should make sure that you can promote it easily without any trouble.

As you are now aware, affiliate marketing is simpler than it first appears. Even though it requires a lot of networking, researching and hard work, it's worth doing these things in order to improve your site's future. These helpful tips will improve your understanding of affiliate marketing.

Taking the Fear Out of Bankruptcy

For one reason or another your debt can accumulate to a point that is unsustainable. Having creditors after you could be an unpleasant experience. They will send you letters, emails, phone calls, etc. The stress alone could would drive the average person mad.

In most situations people want to pay their bills. A lack of funds will force anyone to have to prioritize their obligations, causing some bills to be put to the side. Eventually your debt will catch up with you. One day you will go to pay for a cup of coffee only to find that your wages have been garnished. Hopefully by then you will have the money to pay back the debt that you owe. For many getting the money to pay the debt is unlikely. Things may get to the point where you will have to consider bankruptcy.

The idea of bankruptcy is taboo for many. Filing for bankruptcy is rather common and could really provide some much needed help. Some individuals and even companies file more than once. As individual chapter 7 or 13 will be your options. Filing chapter 7 will wipe out any of the debt that is included in the bankruptcy. Chapter 13 is a court ordered consolidation. Deciding on the right chapter to file will depend on a few things.

The first factor will be your income. Depending on your state there will be income threshold. If the income exceeds a specific amount, chapter 7 will not be an option. If you are making enough money, a consolidation bankruptcy will be your only option. If you are under the income limits, chapter 13 may still be a better choice. The most common situation involves a home. You may behind on payments and want to keep your house. In a chapter 7, everything that is not up to date will have to be included.

Filing for bankruptcy can be inexpensive if you choose the right attorney. Always use someone that is highly recommended or that is referred by someone who you trust. Technically you could file bankruptcy without an attorney, but it is not advisable. The petition is over 50 pages and sometimes even attorneys miss things. In most cases you will not have to appear in court more than twice. The new laws require that you take a court mandated financial course, but there are online options. The entire process will take some time. During you will not be allowed to apply for any new credit, unless the court allows. In some cases the person may need financing for items like a vehicle. Typically it is difficult to get financing while in bankruptcy because you could include it in the filing. You can file more than once, but there is a time requirement between filing.

After your case is discharged, the battle is not over. The process of rebuilding your credit will be just as hard. In most cases, it is a good idea to hire a credit advising company. For a fee, they will help remove negative trade-lines from the credit. Items that were included in the filing are likely to remain on the credit for some time. There are three credit bureaus often with considerable variations between the them. Removing the items yourself is not difficult, but can take a lot of work. In some cases it is better to get them removed yourself. If you have the money, hire a professional.

Bankruptcy can be scary experience. A lack knowledge and information will make it worse. Feeling like your stuck without a solution can be heart wrenching. Filing could give you the relief and hope that you need.

The Process of Getting Supplemental Unemployment Insurance

How Can You Supplement Unemployment Benefit?

A lot of people are still worried about losing their jobs. Many of these people know that they cannot keep their bills paid if they lose their income for a long time. Of course, most of these laid off workers will find other jobs. But they want to know if there are any supplemental programs that can tide them over until they find a good new job.

There are still a few private insurance companies that underwrite supplemental unemployment insurance. There used to be more, before the Great Recession struck. But some of the larger players pulled out because they were paying out so much in benefits that the product lost money.

Who Qualifies For Supplemental Benefits?

Sometimes you need to belong to an organization, like a credit union, in order to qualify. In some cases, you just have to join the organization to begin. You should also be aware that most of these policies also require you to qualify for state benefits in order to qualify for the private benefits. This means that these products will not help many contract workers or self-employed professionals.

It is important to understand how you actually qualify for benefits, because that understanding can prevent you from wasting your money. Besides needing to qualify by the type of employee you are, there may also be a waiting period. In other words, you may need to hold the policy for a certain length of time before you will qualify. You may also need to be employed for a certain length of time.

How Can You Find Private Unemployment Insurance?

I am not going to recommend any particular company at this point. If I were you, I would simply search on your favorite search engine. I did that myself and found several news stories about new companies with this product. Make sure you search for results for this year so you get current information. As I wrote above, the market has changed quite a bit in the last few years, but you still see older stories in the search engine's index.

How Much Do Supplemental Policies Pay?

Some charge a fixed rate for a fixed amount of coverage. Others pay a percentage of your past income, and they set their rates based upon that. You will probably not find a policy that can replace a hundred percent of your income, but you may find a policy that will supplement your state benefits and help you pay your bills if you are out of work.

Mortgage Unemployment Insurance

Some home policies have an option that will pay the mortgage if you lose your job. Again, you have to be sure you qualify. This may be worth exploring if you are worried about keeping your home loan current if you lose your income. All insurers do not offer this coverage, and you will certainly have to pay extra for additional coverage. It may provide some peace of mind if you believe you are at risk for a job loss. You could check out home insurance companies by searching the Internet or checking with your own insurance agent.

Online Business Directory - The Fastest Way of Surpassing Competition

An Online Business Directory has the efficiency to surge up one's business to all new heights. When you get bountiful buyers for your products, it is obvious that the worth of the goods is never underrated. Decisions are taken after comparing the group of buyers or exporters and the best deal with maximum profit is the one getting chosen by you.

Let's have a stroll and explore the benefits of a database of business directory;

• Maintaining database of companies related to various industries is a grueling task. So these directories come really handy for industrialists and importers, when they are in need of the right kind of client to do business with.

• Exporters, importers, manufacturers, traders, service providers and other business related companies across any industry get featured in the business directories. These web based list of business ventures help you get your desired trade's players, without much trouble.

• The list of companies is visible to all the registered clients and they have the opportunity to view and contact the respective executives for fixing up appointments. It allows them a better chance to crack a new deal.

• Contacts are everything to grow and flourish in any market. Starting a new business and unaware of the local market is definitely going down the drain, hence it is wise to find your own yellow page of business and get suppliers and even local manpower through a man power supplying company.

Civil engineering raw materials, products, furnishings, chemical products, IT and ITeS services are rendered by different ventures as well as contacting services and various other industry related products' suppliers and exporters are listed within the online business directories.

Physically reaching buyers or sellers needs lots of effort and consumes plenty of time. Sometimes at the end you feel that the work and time you spent to meet that person was not enough to bring business for you. In this scenario the database offers broader options open to you.

Especially exporters and importers get the most benefit, as they can't always track the other through traditional media. If a business is very small but has a huge demand in overseas market then not much people know about it. To make others know about your business and make new deals, registering with an online business portal that lets you set up more business relationships easily.

There are varieties of services offered by the service providers who provide these directory listings, they create a company profile for you, feature your company's major services and products. These are both location as well as product based listings. Hence when anyone searches for manufacturers, buyers or exporters for the same niche as yours, they get to see your company and contact you ASAP.

Doing business is not a child's play, so one must mindfully choose the online database that contains company details. Register with a reliable service provider and see the way it brings clients to reach you and materialize a successful deal at the end. Having the right provider turns out to be a winning situation for all the parties.

Understanding the Watercraft Insurance

Anyone who enjoys spending time in lake or ocean water riding a personal watercraft, often referred to as a PWC, should investigate purchasing watercraft insurance. Although recreational vehicles powered by inboard engines are fun to ride, they can also quickly become a source of financial liability should an accident or injury occur to anyone riding on or standing on a PWC. Although some recreational water vehicles accommodate one or two people at most, many models can hold as many as four individuals which increases the risk of accident or injury while operating the vehicle on the water. Many a friendship has been ruined when a watercraft accident occurs and the vehicle's owner neglected to insure the craft against liability for damage, accident or injury.

PWC or watercraft insurance provides the policy holder with coverage against accidents, liability or vandalism to the watercraft itself. This type of insurance covers the watercraft owner against being held financially liable whether they are riding the vehicle themselves or loan it to another person who misuses it or is involved in an accident or injury event while using it. Not all watercraft insurance policies offer the same benefits. When discussing obtaining insurance coverage for your PWC, there are numerous features to consider.

Watercraft insurance can be obtained to cover any damage that the vehicle does to a public or private dock or by coming into contact with another watercraft. If the PWC's owner is found to be negligent in operating the vehicle properly and an accident or death occurs as a result, watercraft insurance can help protect the owner against legal claims brought for bodily injury or wrongful death. A PWC owner can be protected by having insurance if they loan the vehicle to another party who is ruled negligent in operating the craft, causing damage, death or injury to other parties.

Another benefit to having proper insurance is if the watercraft is used to tow water skiers or wake boarders who are then injured. Another benefit to having insurance coverage to handling the cost of any physical damage that takes place to the vehicle's engine equipment, machinery or hull. A watercraft insurance policy can also provide protection against another watercraft operator who is uninsured, yet causes injury to your vehicle or anyone riding aboard the vehicle. Insurance coverage also means peace of mind when out on the water by providing towing assistance should the craft become disabled or run out of gas.

When reviewing any type of watercraft insurance policy, it is equally important to know what conditions are excluded from coverage. Some of these may include any vehicle that has been modified for speed and performance, if the watercraft is involved in an accident or injury while operating after dark, or if the operator of the vehicle cannot show a valid and current driver's license.

The type of watercraft that an individual owns also dictates the kind of watercraft insurance that they can purchase. Stand up PWCs in which the driver stands or kneels while riding on the craft is one type, while the other type PWC is the sit-down model which accommodates up to 4 people on the vehicle. PWC owners who already have boat insurance can often simply add a watercraft insurance policy to their existing boat coverage.

New Theory On Increased Military Suicides Considered

In previous wars, we've had our military war fighters come back and often they had psychological challenges readjusting to society. This is normal, it has been talked about since Roman times in Western culture. It is also been discussed in ancient Chinese and Japanese writing as well. It's no secret, warfare, that is to say real war up close and personal changes a man. The young gung ho soldier running into battle is all about bravado, but their steely eyes once it's done don't lie, their innocence is lost.

We already know this, we don't need more psychologists studying this topic telling us what we already have discovered, and humankind has not changed from that historical record for as far as we can tell in the last 6000+ years; so why would it change now, because our technology has; doubtful?

The RAND Corp recently put out an interesting report in the 4th quarter of 2012 titled; "The War Within - Preventing Military Suicide" by Rajeev Ramchand, Joie Acosta, Rachel Burns, Lisa H Jaycox, and Christopher G. Pernin. The report's introduction discusses combat stress in the theater, prolonged deployments, multiple deployments, etc. and then on the issue of stress it stated;

"This stress can manifest itself in different ways - increased divorce rates, spouse and child abuse, mental distress, substance abuse - but one of the most troubling manifestations is suicide, which is increasing across the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The increase in suicides among members of the military has raised concern among policymakers, military leaders, and the population at large."

The report also noted all the military is doing with "state-of-the-art suicide prevention programs" and "prevention science" including robust monitoring. That's all well and good, and it makes sense to get to the bottom of the problem and find a way to prevent it.

However, I have a different theory on all of this, it is a new theory, one you haven't heard before, and I would like to discuss it with you. First of all we know that sand often has in it lots of bacteria. This shouldn't surprise anyone because if you look at sand particles under a microscope you see it is all filled with old organic material. As that old material decays, and since it is high in nutrients and minerals, there is an abundance of bacteria around even with all of the sunlight and UV radiation constantly on it.

These last two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq occurred in regions filled with sand. That bacteria in the sand does have an effect on the human bio system, gene expression, and disease. We already know that people in the Middle East often feel it is their duty to commit suicide through suicide bombings and terrorist attacks. Maybe they've been subjected to this bacteria in the sand all their lives.

Now that we have brought hundreds of thousands of Americans into that theater to fight a war, they are experiencing the same thing now, to a greater degree in previous wars. I'd say this bacteria effect is an enhancement or force-multiplier to the suicide problem and psychological issues of human warfare. There's your new theory, do with it what you will, but don't deny what I've said unless you can empirically prove me wrong. Please consider all this and think on it.

Email Marketing Is The Future

What is email marketing? It is a great way to reach out to a large amount of consumers in a very cost effective way. One thing it isn't, is a way to get instant results. Email marketing takes time, it takes consistency. If you are trying to build an audience, make sure you have something to say or something to offer that will keep them interested. Consistency is key! Why do you think you keep seeing the same Beer commercials over and over and over again during the same football game? It's not because they think you will forget about them. It is because they know that the more they embed their brand into your head with a catchy jingle or funny commercial you will most likely go out and buy their product. Same goes with email marketing. One campaign is not enough. It builds a foundation. It shows you that there are potential customers out there and if you do not continue to communicate with them, they will go elsewhere.

The advantages of this type of marketing can be great. Here are a few advantages.

A return on investment can be tracked and has been proven to be high when done properly. Email marketing is often reported as second only to search marketing as the most effective online marketing tactic.

Advertisers can reach to a substantial number of email subscribers who have opted in to receive email communications on subjects of interest to them.

Almost half of American internet users check or send email on a typical day, with email blasts that are delivered between 1am and 5am outperforming those sent at other times in open and click rates.

If you are considering the use of an email marketing program you should make sure the program does not violate spam laws.

When utilizing this marketing the best way to go is use a service that offers the consumer a way to "Opt-in" it gives the customer a way to chose whether or not he or she wants to receive further advertising from the business. This is a great tool because it not only allows you to keep track of who you market to, it also does away with complaints from consumers that would not want to be solicited.

By 2016 advertisers will spend $77 billion on interactive marketing. Email marketing and social media will grow to 26% of all advertising spent as they are embedded in the marketing mix. So you can see that email marketing is the future.

Hard Drive Crash? The Essential Data Recovery Report

Your worst nightmare just became a horrifying reality. You keep hearing that little voice in your head mockingly shout "you should have backed that stuff up" The voice keeps echoing throughout your head as you perform a quick inventory all of the important information that you just lost.....your client database, a years worth of e-mail, your entire inventory database, even your family photos.

Even worse, you've got a deposition in two-weeks and key information needed to help win the case were also lost. You quickly call a service technician and have them come over to check the computer out, only to hear the worst news of all....your data has been lost. When a hard drive crashes, it's too late to worry about what you "should have done."

Today data recovery is a multi-million dollar industry. The number of data recovery firms out there seems to exceed the number of fast food restaurants for the entire planet. These companies specialize in helping their clients retrieve data on anything from hard drives to flash-roms. In the following report, we will discuss what data recovery really is; the different types, the costs, and what you can realistically expect when it comes to getting your data recovered.

What To Do In The Event Of Data Loss?

Around 44% of all data loss is caused by hardware failure. It's important to make sure that you immediately shut your system down if you suspect that hard drive has crashed. Don't even try to go through the shutdown procedure, just pull the plug from the wall. Do not try to run off the shelf data recovery software or drive utilities. Many times these applications will assume the drive is functioning properly and will increase the risk of permanent data loss.

Types Of Hard Drive Failure

When we discuss data recovery in this report, we will primarily focus on issues surrounding hard drive failures; since these types of failures are most common. There are really two primary forms of failure in a hard drive, logical and physical. Logical failures are usually a result of file-system corruption. This can occur due to a virus, accidental deletion of key files or registry components, and in some cases even electro-static discharge. In most cases where a logical failure has occurred, the drive is still recognized by the system BIOS, but it will not boot. In most cases, your data should still be intact on the drive, even though it may appear to be inaccessible.

If the system BIOS does not detect the presence of the hard drive, then chances are a physical failure has occurred. Physical failures can result from a wide variety of causes. There are really two sub-categories for physical hard drive failures; mechanical and electronic. Mechanical failures usually result from a failure of the spindle motor. Spindle motor failure can result from excessive heat due to a bearing failure. The increased heat resulting from the bearing failure will expand the drive shaft and therefore seize the spindle motor. Suddenly, your drive will become inoperative. Occasionally, you will get a warning that something bad is about to happen. You may hear a loud whining, a grinding noise, even high-pitched screeches. If anything like this starts to occur, BACK UP YOUR DATA IMMEDIATELY.

Another physical issue that sometimes rears its ugly head is an electronic failure. If you look at a hard drive you will notice a circuit board on the bottom. This board is basically the brains of the drive, and it is where the computer interfaces to the hard drive. An electrical failure can occur unexpectedly at any time. Even brand new hard drives are not totally immune to having electrical failures. Sometimes it's just a faulty component, sometimes it's improper installation (i.e. electro-static discharge, grounding out the board, damaging circuitry during installation). It's important to also keep your system clean and well ventilated, since excessive heat can damage the electrical components on the drive. If you have a system that is in a somewhat contained area, you may look at adding an additional 80mm fan to cool the internal components of the system, especially the hard drive. No other component of a computer works as much as the hard drive, and therefore it is vitally important not to overlook it when cooling issues arise.

How Is My Data Recovered?

One of the most often asked questions that customers ask is, "how do you get my data back?" Well, it's really not black magic or rocket science. It's just a matter of having the right tools and the knowledge necessary to know what to do, much like a surgeon performing heart by-pass surgery. Many prominent data recovery facilities have a large array of hardware, software and tools for recovering data.

Generally speaking when a hard drive is received by a data recovery firm, the first thing they do is evaluate it, and determine what recovery solution will be necessary. If the drive failure is a logical issue as mentioned earlier, then a scan of the drive will be performed to try and repair the file system corruption. Sometimes a partition can be repaired and the drive restored to the status that it was before the failure. If this is not possible, then a very low-level scan will be performed that essentially searches every sector of the hard drive for files. Once the files are located, they can then be copied to the media of choice, i.e. a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or another hard drive. Logical recoveries can take up an enormous amount of time, especially if the drive is on the verge of physical failure. It's not uncommon to allow for one day of scanning and a day for recovering the found files.

If the drive has suffered a physical failure, then the recovery procedure is quite a bit more challenging. As mentioned above, there are really two sub-categories of physical failure; mechanical and electronic. An important element in recovering data from a physical failure is having the necessary parts to get the drive functioning again. Unfortunately with hard drives if you have a 20GB Maxtor Hard Drive for example, then you will need another identical 20GB Maxtor Hard Drive for salvaging parts. In cases where the electronic circuit board has failed on the hard drive, then you have to have the exact same circuit board on hand in order to retrieve the necessary circuit components for replacement. Many times you cannot even exchange circuit board for circuit board. These repairs generally require soldering skills and a thorough knowledge of electronics to be successfully completed. You will most likely hear "Class100 Clean Room" thrown around a lot when talking to data recovery professionals. Simply stated, a Class100 Clean Room maintains exceptional air purity, and contains less than 100 airborne particles larger than 0.5 microns in each cubic foot of air. This is vital in protecting sensitive internal components of hard drives. Anytime a hard drive is having an invasive procedure performed on it, a Class100 clean room or better is needed.

The time frame for recovery is generally 5-10 business days for physical issues and 2-4 days for logical issues. Sometimes if components are not readily available, then it may take weeks to complete the recovery. Some firms offer expedite service and you definitely pay for this added attention.

What About Data Recovery Software

This is one area where you really do get what you pay for. Try to stay away from software in the $20-$60 range, since these utilities are generally very limited in what they can do. Also make sure that you NEVER and just to emphasize, NEVER EVER get data recovery software that writes anything at all to the damaged disk. You run the risk of overwriting data that may otherwise have been recoverable, but will be lost forever. If you are fairly computer savvy, then there are a few good data recovery software solutions available.

What To Look For When Shopping For Data Recovery

There's an old saying, "you get what you pay for." In most cases this is true. However, just because a company with a fancy website quotes you $3,500 for data recovery, does not mean that they are any better than a company that quotes you $1,500. Also, try to stay away from companies that want to charge $50-$300 for evaluating your drive. There has been a movement in the data recovery industry over the last couple of years to offer a number of free services. Most reputable data recovery companies will evaluate standard IDE drives free of charge; so don't let the word "free" this or "free" that stop you. The data recovery market is quickly becoming saturated, and a company does not necessarily cheapen itself or lack expertise by offering free evaluations.

You will find as you shop around for data recovery that prices vary greatly. You will get quotes that range from $300 to $5,000 for standard hard drive recoveries. It's not uncommon to literally get quotes that have at least a $1,500 high/low spread. We shopped one prominent data recovery company where we gave them specific indicators of a physical hard drive failure. We were eventually quoted a price range of $600 to $2,900 for the recovery. Many times this is a bait and switch type tactic. They get you to send in the drive with the low-end $600 price, then they let you know it's going to cost $2,100 for the recovery. You end up being well under the $2,900 high-end price, but well over what other reputable companies would charge. Since most customers won't go through the pain of having the drive sent back, only to have to send it out to another company, these bait and switch companies end up making huge profits off of unsuspecting customers.

Try to find a company that will give you an up front cost for either a logical or physical recovery. Most companies will be able to tell you within a couple hundred dollars the cost of a recovery. However, don't misunderstand a company that gives you a price for two different procedures. For example, some companies will give you a price if the failure is logical and a price if the problem ends up being physical. We called one firm and were told that if the drive had a logical failure the price would be $400 and if it ended up being a physical issue the price would be $1,600. This is not a high/low spread as mentioned in the earlier example, this is simply quoting a price for two different types of recoveries.

On average you can expect to pay anywhere from $400 to $600 for logical recoveries, and $1,200 to $2,000 for physical recoveries on standard IDE hard drives. If you have RAID drives, SCSI, etc. depending on the configuration prices can be as high as $15,000. Remember, backup backup backup backup backup!!

Can My Data Be Recovered?

In most cases the answer to this question is yes. On average, the success rate for data recovery professionals is about 75-85%. However, there are times when the data is just lost, either due to extensive damage to the platter or unavailability of replacement parts.

How Do I Get Started?

If you have a hard drive that has crashed, the most important thing you can do is contact a data recovery professional immediately. Make sure you aren't being charged an evaluation fee if you have a standard IDE hard drive. Most companies only charge evaluation fees for complex RAID and network server drives.

It is important to do your homework, call and talk with the companies. When you find one that you feel comfortable with, give them a chance. Your hardest job, may be finding data recovery firms that actually have someone available to answer the phones. Ask questions and be sure to have the following information available:

Size of the drive

Operating system (i.e. Windows 98, Windows XP, etc.)

Situation of failure (what happened just before the drive stopped working)

Is the drive recognized by the computer or not

Good luck in getting your data recovered, and make sure you always backup your important information on a daily basis.

Optimizing Your Cash Flow With Proper Accounts Receivable Management

Businesses miss on growth opportunities and even close their doors every day, not because they aren't profitable enough, but because they are strangled by poor cash flow. The problem is that while their profit and loss statement shows success, their bank account cries poor. Excessive money tied up in delinquent receivables, bad checks, and bad debt write-offs, rob businesses of valuable cash flow, handcuffing their ability to grow or even stay in business at all.

It doesn't take long for a business to get caught up in a spiraling trend of increasingly late receivables, only needing a few additional delinquent accounts to start the process. Most companies lack the expertise and manpower needed to handle a spike in delinquent accounts. Soon, their staff is doing more work chasing late receivables, and they end up neglecting the easier to collect, more current accounts. Eventually, a higher and higher percentage of accounts become delinquent and more and more accounts become uncollectible, forcing companies to employ expensive collection agencies to recover at least some of their money at a big loss or they write off the debt completely. The end result is a loss in profitability and a serious strain on cash flow.

There are some more obvious, common sense practices that companies can employee to maintain a healthy accounts receivable portfolio. A few examples include:

1. Perform a credit history check before extending credit.

2. Set and adhere to credit limits.

3. Establish your credit terms in writing on statements and invoices

4. Require all sales and money management staff to know and follow credit policies.

As for maintaining or restoring a healthy accounts receivable portfolio, companies may need to invest in additional personnel or outside services with expertise in delinquent debt collection. If a company's receivables are large enough and they have a budget which allows them to add experienced, full-time debt collectors to their staff, they should make the investment in additional personnel. If a company can't afford it or their delinquent receivables don't require full-time attention, outsourcing would be a better alternative. Which ever method is best for you, cash flow maintenance is critical to maintaining your company's financial health. Make sure that you have a comprehensive plan in place to keep your company going in the right direction.