Friday, May 28, 2010

Money-Making Twitter

Twitter, while free, does offer an online marketer a way to make money. And it's probably not as difficult as you might think. But, you do have to go about it a certain way.

First, you need to take the time to understand Twitter and what it's purpose is. Using it the wrong way to just tweet message after message about some money making opportunity will not earn you the income you're looking for.

Twitter, as you may know, let's people write timely messages that are only 140 characters long. These status messages can be anything from "I'm heading off to the gym" to "Find out how to get website traffic for free. Visit (some URL)".

But perhaps the most important thing to remember about Twitter is that you get back what you give. In other words, once you begin using Twitter and making status updates, you want to give as much as you can first before asking for something in return.

For instance, let's say you ran a website about tennis shoes and had tennis shoes for sale on this website. When you make your status updates, you'd first want to start by giving advice about what kinds of shoes to buy for a certain kind of activity. What shoes are important for running? Or how an arch in the shoe may help or hurt your feet and legs.

At first it may be difficult to come up with ideas to send your followers, but one way to make sure that you stay on top of the latest trends for your market is to simply find some related websites, subscribe to them using a feed reader such as Google's and then make a daily visit to these feeds to see what's being posted. As you come across information that you think may be helpful to your followers, post a link and a short update about what the story is about.

Every so often you can then recommend one of your products. For instance, if there were a story about a certain kind of running shoe that has been getting rave reviews, mention that you can get this shoe at your website.

Another key to using Twitter effectively is to make sure you're updating often. You don't want folks to forget who you are or why they chose to follow you in the first place.

Oftentimes it isn't possible to visit Twitter on a consistent basis throughout the day so you can use a service such as SocialOomph.com which will allow you to schedule your tweets; a fantastic time-saver.

The key with Twitter is to not market to everyone all of the time. Those people who make the most money using Twitter first strive to earn the trust of their followers and then market to them once in a while.

That said, the amount of money you do make from Twitter will vary greatly based upon the number of followers you have. So actively strive to follow people each and every day. In the marketing world, a conversion rate, or in other words, the number of buyers there are based upon the number of people who see a message, is usually around 1%.

At Twitter, it's usually less because not everyone will actually see your message. Oftentimes you'll find that those who you follow also have hundreds if not thousands of other people that they're following and if you fall into this statistic you'll know just how difficult it is to keep up with everyone's tweets.

The point is, the more followers you have, the more likely you are to make more sales.

So update your status often, make sure you're giving helpful information to your followers, and then only market to them every so often.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Twitter Does Magic

Are you one of the last holdouts in the Twitter revolution? If you are, you are one of the last people to accept the biggest trend in the history of the internet. Do you like being a loser? No. Well you need to get with the program. Set up a page and start sending updates out to your friends and followers. You'll see how quickly you become hooked by the addictive nature of seeing what's going on within your circle at nearly every hour of the day. A simple concept has literally erupted around the world, and the way that we all communicate with one another has changed thanks to this microblogging phenomenon. If you haven't gotten started, you may feel as if the process is hard. This couldn't be further from the truth though.

There are a ton of options for modifying your Twitter page so that you ought to be able to find a template that suits your personality to a tee. And even if not, you can just change it when the next month comes.

There are a ton of different graphical themes that you can choose from, such as animals, or buildings, or important historical events. You can literally find just anything you could possible want out there. And if you can't, you can modify something.

Twitter is this way much more than one platform for social provide with a network; it is a manner for concerning the convex blogging so that it must be aesthetically appealing and satisfying. The point of individualising your page is that as soon as someone has it visited they are this way impressed which they keep returning and also others concerning telling.

If you haven't heard of the intuitive wizard, then you have now. It is amazing! It will let you modify your page in such a way that you will fulfill particular requirements that you may have of your new background.

There are so many options to do things with it, that you do not have to have the backgrounds that there are there available. You can simply just do your own with the basic color in the background and then edit things so that they are doing whatever it is that you want.

Even if you have no idea what you are doing, you can create amazing things without any knowledge whatsoever. It is fun and easy. You can do it by clicking on a button on the top of the browser which says something like "Change background image" and then you are done and you can do this by yourself!

You can change your Twitter page whenever you want to, so you have absolutely no excuse for having a boring page.

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Monday, March 15, 2010

Twitter vs. Facebook

The online marketing space is heating up like never before. Social networking sites are going all out to attract the maximum people onto their networking platform. Currently, perched on the top is Facebook with more than 500 million members and the growth is quite phenomenal. But before it became a one horse race, Twitter has made a grand impact in the social networking sphere. Both are tussling with each other to get the bigger bite of the cake. But who's winning?

Where on one hand, Facebook is as best as social networking can get, Twitter on the other hand has come up light a bolt from the blue. It really has taken the web by storm with millions of tweets being made every hour. Tweeple is what the users are calling themselves! It is a well known fact that websites generate their revenue from the online ads that they display and both Twitter and Facebook are employing innovative ways to come up with unique forms of promotional activity for businesses. In this tug-o-war of marketing, the marketer is left in a fix as to which platform to employ to get maximum impact out of his/her online marketing activity.

Facebook from a users perspective, is the coolest thing ever to happen online. People are completely hooked onto this network and marketers are justifiably exploiting this space to spread the word about their product/service. Facebook already has a well structured and very simple ad mechanism in place. But apart from this, it remains the work of the online marketer to use the indirect ways of promoting the brand.

Facebook offers Fan-pages, groups and profiles as a medium to promote oneself. Also it offers multiple ways of promoting ones' brand and is a very communicative tool for marketing. Those who have been successful at realizing the potential of these tools have already gained immensely from it. Fan-pages and groups allow the company to converse directly with their target market and involve them with all the company activities. These fan pages can be converted into interactive hubs with almost every kind of information being disseminated through this medium. Once they have the people hooked, it becomes a matter of time until the Fan becomes a customer.

Twitter in comparison has gone in for drastic innovation in terms of how people talk to each other online. Twitter can be called as a partially geeky (with its @ symbols and formulaic syntax) yet highly entertaining and engaging medium. Updates on Twitter are immediate and sometimes highly enriching. The uniqueness of Twitter is its biggest USP. Facebook is cool. While some people are drawn to geeky things, more people are drawn to cool things. It's as simple as that. The author points out that Twitter is more "geeky" because it's unique, whereas Facebook is much more "common", and then points out five reasons why Facebook marketing is far superior to marketing on Twitter.

That being said, a study has shown that Twitter may be a better online marketing medium than Facebook. Market research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies revealed that nearly 20 percent more Twitter users were likely to recommend the brands they followed than Facebook users (60 percent of Facebook users, compared to 79 percent of Twitter followers).

The issue is credibility and involvement. Twitter offers immediate feedback from verified sources at one place and one doesn't have to do a lot of moving around websites to find out particular information. But one of the biggest strengths of Twitter is that it provides more viral marketing as compared to Facebook, even though it lags behind in the number of users.
That said, Facebook, because of the sheer amount of details it allows to be posted, encourages user response and involvement, and with video and photo sharing, it takes the competition to a whole new level.

Twitter and Facebook remain two very different marketing platforms and what works on one of them might not work on the other. But one can never rule out the option of using both the platforms at the same time for a successful promotional activity. The web space is replete with examples of companies which have excellently executed their Social media marketing plans by using both these platforms. In the end, effective user engagement remains the key.

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Monday, February 22, 2010

Twitter: An Online Marketing Strategy

Twitter these days has gained considerable popularity in such a short period of time and the high flying web masters are asking, "Where's the Juice"?? It's SEO value is triggering curiosity for these SEO magicians who want to boost and lift their Google SERPS. However, Twitter does add a "no follow" to links submitted by users. This notifies Google and some other search engines to disregard this link. Some of these do follow links but leave them out of any ranking calculations. (Yahoo, Google); some ignore the links completely (MSN).

Ask.com is the only search engine that does not abide by Google's "no follow". This is a true indication that Google's algorithms are not regulated for all search engines. Ask.com owns about 2.5% of the search engine market share and in November 2008 there were 255 million search queries. We cannot simply ignore or disregard a source of such traffic. Ask.com is another potential gateway for visitors to our site. Twitter also supports positivity for your Alexa rankings by sending visitors to your page. In particular, usage data is sign of quality for Google and all other search engines. If you can lure people to your site via Twitter, then this is definitely an SEO value.

Does Twitter pass any link juice? Yes, it does.

SEO is not just all about building links. Optimizing a site is about creating and boosting content that can be drawn upon when needed. Each time you refer your site to a directory and every time a link to your site is published on the web, a clear walkway to your site is being opened and discovered. If people see a link and they like it, they will follow.Other metrics are involved when visitors land on a page from an outside link and these are: number of unique visitors, number of page reviews and time on site. The metrics do mattrer for the search engines.

Twitter is a social media tool meant to create community and relationships, and it does have an SEO value.Overall, not only is Twitter a source for universal communication and discussion with friends, family and peers, it is enormously useful as a marketing tool. With online products, Twitter can be used to create a hype surrounding the topic, to assess all feedback as well as spreading VIRAL messages about news, services and recent updates. It is also useful for pushing websites up the ranking of search engines fast.

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Monday, January 18, 2010

Top 15 Social Networking Avenue

It is true that humans are social animals, and the gradual evolution of social interactions between individuals within specific groups has resulted in social networking sites in the 21st century. This has been made possible by the technological advancements made in the past 50 years, resulting in the development of the Internet, which has completely changed people's lives. Literally, almost any information is now available on the screen of a computer with the help of the Internet. Similarly, it is now possible to socialize with other members of online social networking sites in the comfort of your home simply by clicking a few buttons of the computer.

Online social networking is achieved with the help of some dedicated websites, which are known as social sites and facilitate the formation of communities of Internet users. The members share common interests such as hobbies, politics, sports, or religion. When a person becomes a member of a social networking site, he can start socializing with the other members in many ways, including sharing views regarding different topics, reading the profiles of other members, and even getting in touch with them. The other benefits of online social networking include developing friendships with members from different parts of the world and learning about different cultures and languages.

Facebook: Although there are more than a hundred social networking websites, the top 15 sites are the most popular. Nowadays, most people become members of Facebook, which can easily be classified as the most popular social networking site. It has been in existence since 2006, and initially, it was mainly meant for Harvard students. It was founded by Mr. Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. Gradually, it spread to other colleges in Boston, the Ivy League, and Stanford University, and today, it can boast of having more than 150 million members worldwide.

Having a Facebook account is like having a key to the world because it is possible to keep in touch with anyone irrespective of where the other person lives and without having to know his physical address, e-mail address, phone number, or screen name, as long as the person has been added as a friend. It is possible to write messages, chat, send instant messages, instantly share photos, blog, read, and watch all that the other person has posted. It is also possible to set up events or causes and invite friends, keeping them informed all the time. The success of Facebook can be attributed to the fact that it provides a common, level field where people from every walk of life can communicate with each other and socialize. Its popularity and wide reach has tempted marketers and businesspeople to use this website to market their products and services through articles and advertisements.

Twitter: Twitter is comparatively a new social networking site, but it has become very popular in a very short time. It is different in nature to Facebook, and its traffic interaction, website reach, and other factors are not of the level of Facebook. However, Twitter provides a better indication of what is popular, and its followers are more open and vocal. Moreover, the followers of Twitter are more interactive and take greater part in discussions. Twitter also gives a better scoop of celebrity chatter.

MySpace.com: This social networking site claims to be massive and the largest with about 191 million members.

MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook are the three most popular and biggest social networking sites. The other 12 sites, forming the top 15 sites, are enumerated below.

Linkedin.com: This is a business networking site with 12.5 million members.

Friendster.com: Most of the users of this site are between the ages of 17 and 30, and it was considered to be the most popular social networking site till April 2004 when MySpace overtook it. It has about 29 million members.

Stumbleupon.com: It was bought by eBay in May 2007 for $75 million, and it has 2.75 million members. It is basically a web browser tool that enables its users to discover and rate news articles, photos, videos, and web pages. It is also an ideal method of getting website promotion.

Del.icio.us: It is now a part of Yahoo!, but it was founded in late 2003 by Joshua Schachter. It is basically a social bookmarking web service and is used for discovering, sharing, and storing web bookmarks.

Digg.com: This is a great site for people who are interested in discovering and sharing content from the Internet. Members submit links and stories and vote and comment on the submitted links and stories with a spirit of cooperation.

Orkut.com: It has a membership of 5 million people. It was created by Orkut Büyükkökten, an employee of Google, and it is also run by Google. It had been created to help its members to develop new friendships and to maintain existing ones.

Classmates.com: It is one of the oldest social networking sites as it was established in 1995. It now has 40 million members. It is ideal for people who wish to be connected with old friends, classmates, and acquaintances from the entire course of their lives.

Meetup.com: Having a membership of 2 million people, the members of this site are joined together in various groups that have common interests, such as hobbies, careers, politics, movies, health, pets, books, or games. It is also a portal for offline group meetings in different places of the world.

Yahoo! 360°: This site is similar to Orkut and MySpace, and it incorporates features of social networking, photo sharing, and blogging sites. It provides a personal communication portal. However, at the moment, it is in the beta-testing phase.

Xanga.com: It is a free web-based service with 40 million members. It hosts videoblogs, weblogs, photoblogs, audioblogs, and social networking profiles.

Care2.com: It is a social networking site that was created to connect activists from all over the world. It currently has 7.2 million members.

Ryze.com: Its basic purpose is to link business professionals. This free social networking website has 250,000 members.
These are the top 15 social networking sites. However, there are many other such sites that meet the needs of other social groups.

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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Facebook 101

As businesses increase their use of social media to attract new customers to their products and services, Facebook can be a valuable tool for attracting your ideal client.

According to HubSpot Blog:

"Facebook has over 200 million active users and that number continues to grow steadily. It is the third most trafficked website in the world (behind Google and Yahoo) and the most trafficked social media site in the world. As early as July 2007, Facebook started calling itself one of the top people/social search engines on the web, though some disagree."

Don't make these Facebook faux-pas - they might cost you a great opportunity.

Introductions: When joining any online groups or attending networking events, make sure to introduce yourself to the host of the event. It is proper to let the host know that you are appreciative of them taking the time to put this event together. You will put yourself in a higher category than those who just attend and lurk in the corners.

Speak to everyone: While it is natural to want to make your presence known to the movers and shakers in the room, it is also good to speak and mingle with the average "Joe/Jane" in the room, you never know who knows whom. But most importantly, it is just common courtesy to speak to everybody.

Share but don't Sell: Relax. When people can see that they can relate to you, oftentimes it will lead to a conversation about what you do. Be sure to also add value to your networks. Answer questions; leave encouraging comments- anything to build up others is a plus.

Be genuine: Be nice: This may seem like a given, but you would be surprised how many people check their manners at the door, especially online. Remember to say "please" and "thank you." First impressions are lasting impressions.

Give before you take: Share useful articles and links to presentation and valuable resources that interest customers and prospects on your wall, to establish credibility.

Follow up: Be sure to make some kind of contact with the persons you've met at the event. Politely remind them how you met, comment on what you enjoyed about the interaction and see how you can be of help to them in the future. Also, if someone has made a comment about a blog, post or tweet you sent out, be sure to acknowledge them. You are letting them know that you are paying attention and you care about what they have to say.

Respect others: The best way to do this is to treat others as you would want to be treated.

Following these simple yet important etiquette tips are sure to lead you on a smooth path to making great social and business connections.

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Friday, November 27, 2009

Facebook Acronym

The creation of an acronym for the word F.A.C.E.B.O.O.K. was developed to help you look at it through new eyes as a good way to be transparent and successful on Facebook. Share in this article are a few tips to help you in your journey of learning how to use Facebook to grow your business.

One way that you can think of Facebook is as a business component that is an extension of your business. As an extension of your business, Facebook can help you reach others online that you may not have had the opportunity to reach.

Below is the acronym to help you remember how you can use F.A.C.E.B.O.O.K. in unique ways:

  • F: Friendly should always be the way you choose to be positive with others via Facebook. Even if someone doesn't treat you respectably, you shouldn't respond negatively. As a business owner, your online presence is very important and how you treat others need to reflect this.
  • A: Access to you is something you clients and business partners like to have when doing business with you. Using some of the communication applications that Facebook provides is a way to build in accessibility. Doing a search in the Application of Facebook will render many helpful application such as Social RSS or Clobby.
  • C: Connecting with your mentors, clients and business partner via Facebook means that you are able to have an open dialog or communication stream with them. This could allow you to attract new clients or business associates.
  • E: Encouraging others is another way to grow your circle of influence on Facebook because being positive draws others to you. As you encourage others in a positive way then you too will receive encourage from those you are connected to via Facebook.
  • B: Building your reputation online in your industry is another good example of how you can use Facebook. As you connect with others and share your information, your reputation with grow.
  • O: Opportunity to network is one of the main reason to use Facebook. As you network, keep in mind that being pushy can be seen as negative. Show respect to others and get their permission before you blast them with information about you and your products.
  • O: Overflowing goodwill is a great thing because you will be given the opportunity to give to others through your overage. Such as giving away freebies to those who "like" your fanpage on Facebook.
  • K: Knowledge-sharing is important to growing your circle of influence online. By sharing your knowledge with others, you can become known as a subject-matter-expert which can help you cultivate a speaking career.

Hopefully, these tips will encourage you to implement Facebook in your business if you haven't already. If you have implemented it in your business, maybe you learned something new that you can do to use Facebook to grow your business.

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Friday, October 16, 2009

Fact or Fiction: Social Networking

Social networking sites are fact or fictional? Whether these sites can help one to improve in the online business? These are some of the questions that appear frequently in the internet. Let us find out the answers for the questions in this article.

1] New York Times! The leading newspaper in United States published interesting and surprising news that the account holders in Facebook have crossed 500,000,000. Let us not analyze the reason for this increase in numbers. While some claim that the users are from various parts of the world and others say it is due to the free registration.

The point we are going to discuss is whether this social networking website has helped any ordinary person who is not well aware of the search engines, SEO contents etc. to improve in his online business. Everything is possible in the internet as there numerous successful entrepreneurs who were an ordinary person earlier. So, the increasing members in social networking sites are healthy one.

The following is the statistics of some social networking sites.

* Buzznet - This website is used by music and pop lovers globally. The membership number in this site has crossed 10,000,000.

* Café Mom - This website is a landing place for all the moms. Almost 1,250,000 members have registered in this site.

* Classmates.com - The site is useful for children of all ages. Competitive tests and classes are regularly conducted through these sites. Notes and question papers for college students can be downloaded from these sites. The approximate members in this site are 50,000,000.

* Flixster - This is a popular movie site where the members have crossed 63,000,000.

* Facebook - it has crossed 500 billion users. 50% of the users log in every day. 35 millions users update information in these sites every day and more than 3 billion photos are uploaded monthly.

So, with the above details you can clearly come to a conclusion that people are in search of certain information. They visit sites like these to fulfill their requirement. They share their ideas with others and find solution to their queries. When one gets the required result, the other user starts using the same site for gathering the information.

Now, the question is whether you can draw audience at the first instance just by communicating with many people. It is practically possible only if you're using the internet marketing in the right way. As an individual, you need to decide your fortune. All the facilities are available in the internet. Using it wisely, one can successfully shine in the online business.

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Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Utilize Your Twitter Account

If you're not using Twitter, you should be. Consider how much trouble you have on a regular basis getting your emails through to someone's inbox. Spam filters, trigger happy deleters, and people who just don't read email can result in hundreds of lost emails.

Twitter is different. It provides direct, constant access to your prospects without filtering and with no spam risks. As a marketer, that kind of access is unprecedented and can help make up for all the lost prospects via email.

But, that doesn't mean everyone is having the best of luck. Some people - a lot that I've talked to - are having tremendous issues getting those followers to click through and convert. Others are simply having trouble getting followers.

Luckily, there are some specific strategies you can use that will significantly improve your overall Twitter performance.

* Follow the Right People - Just because you have trouble building relationships on Twitter doesn't mean everyone else does. Find someone who is a networker extraordinaire and tag on to them. Follow them, find the people they connect with and get involved.

The joy of Twitter is that you can see pretty much anything anyone is doing and you can get involved at any time. It's about reaching out to those people and landing the largest possible share of the market.

* 90% Useful Information - Everything you post should be valuable, useful information that your followers will be interested to read. Don't post what you had for lunch (unless you're a dieting guru trying to inspire your followers). Post things that they want to know.

The key here is to generate a mixture of useful information that can be leveraged at any given time to develop an ongoing relationship with your followers. Some people do this by reposting new blog entries. Others offer videos. Others just offer simple advice or answer questions.

* Have a Marketing Plan - As long as you see Twitter as a diversion, that's all it will be. You need to start thinking of Twitter as the valuable, high tech marketing tool that it is, and that requires a solid marketing plan.

Write up a list of tweets for the next 4-6 weeks, at least one for each day, and then use a tool like TweetLater to load them up in advance. It's hard to write tweets on a daily basis, but if you do it all at once, it might take an hour and you're set for weeks.

* Link to Twitter and Populate Your Bio - Generating followers for a Twitter profile is never easy. To supplement that, add links to your Twitter profile everywhere you can - on your blog, on your sites, on Facebook, in your articles, and in email newsletters.

Additionally, make sure that anyone who clicks those links finds a well written, concise bio that they can learn more about you from. Most people won't read your tweets to find out. They need to be told what you have to offer.

* Real World Marketing - It's too easy to get caught up in the online world and forget that you can get new followers by handing out business cards, flyers and twitter cards with your username on them. This works very well for Facebook as well.

* Aim for Retweeted Content - Aim for content that gets retweeted as much as possible. The more viral your messages can go, the more people will come see the original tweeter and possibly follow you. Images, videos, and insights into news pieces are all good examples.

* Get Some Good Tools - There are many tools out there to make Twitter easier to use. Install it on your mobile phone, add it to your web browser (TwitterFox) and load it up into schedulers (TweetLater). You can even use a service like Ping.fm to post to all your profiles, including Facebook, at once.

Twitter is not going anywhere and as it reaches a wider audience and starts to approach critical mass with more users on it than off of it, marketers will have no choice but to build their lists. Right now, it's still at the in-between state.

But with advertising platforms, sponsored tweets, ever changing rules and a vastly increasing user base, it's growing too rapidly to ignore.

Prepare yourself for the future now, and along the way make some new friends, generate some additional sales, and master the marketing tool of the 21st century.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Secure Your Facebook

There are a lot of things that I encounter that most people don't due to the nature of my work. And honestly, many of the problems I'm called upon to fix can be avoided by taking simple steps to practice what I'd like to think is "common sense" security with a healthy dose of mild paranoia.

That being said, I'm going to relate to you, my top 5 Facebook security tips to help you learn some of these common sense techniques while employing that healthy dose of mild paranoia.

Tip #1: Assume that Facebook (or any social network for that matter) is not secure.
I know you read all the social networking articles about how Facebook has upgraded their security, changed their security settings to protect you better, and so on and so forth. However, there are about the same amount of news articles being posted of how the Facebook security settings didn't work as they were intended which allowed everyone to view your profile information or your friends, how some hacker accessed Facebook account information on hundreds (and thousands) of users exposing login information and other personal data, and the list of flaws could go on.

The point is, as long as there are hackers and identity thieves, there will be flaws in even the most promising security. Assume that nothing is secure.

Tip #2: Don't post anything you would not want a stranger to see.
Just recently, a friend of mine saw that two of his Facebook connections had posted their new cell phone number on their wall. When my friend decided to call them out on such behavior, the two friends replied that only their select friends could see the post based on the security setting used when posting. See Tip #1 above if you believe that the information you've posted and set to secure is indeed secure.

Tip #3: Social Engineering is the hackers tool of choice.
Social engineering is the art of becoming friendly with a person and thereby gaining your trust. Once trust is established, the hacker can then casually get you to disclose your personal information easily and effortlessly.

As part of my student's assignment in my computer security courses, they are taught how to employ social engineering and have the assignment of just watching for signs that someone is using it. One student took those skills to a cell phone kiosk and while chatting casually with a woman about a cell phone she was using, gained information about her 4 digit pin code to lock her phone and that she used that number for everything including ATM machines. By the end of the conversation, he knew where she worked, her full name, and what she did for a living. He did all this by pretending he wanted to buy the phone she was holding in her hand! He was shocked not only by the fact that he was able to effortlessly get this information out of her, but that he, with little training was able to accomplish it.

Keep in mind that most hackers don't need complex scripts or tools to betray you. You give them the information freely every day. And if you have any doubt about that, think about how many times you hear people disclosing personal information while on their cell phones near you!

Tip #4: Pay attention to your friends.
The biggest sign that something isn't right is when your friends start behaving in ways that are not common for them to behave. What I mean by that is, recently, I had one of my Facebook friends inbox me that she was in the U.K. stranded and needed some money to get home. As it turned out, her account was hacked and this message went to all her friends. I knew she wasn't in the U.K. but had just launched a new solo business. Because I was paying attention to her posts and the way she interacts, I didn't fall for the scam.

Many times, account hacks are not so easily detected. For example, a teen received a link from a friend in Facebook chat. The friend always sends various links to him via the chat. The sad news was that the link was to a malware site that totally destroyed his laptop. This situation leads me to Tip # 5 below.

Tip #5: Always err on the side of caution.
This is where the healthy dose of paranoia comes in.

As in the case of the teen given the link from Tip #4 above, the teen should always respond back to the friend before clicking the link. If the hacker is on the friends account, one of two things will happen. Either he/she won't respond back to the chat ping, or they will not be able to answer the question regarding the link properly.

Let me explain. Let's say that this teen and his friend normally share links having to do with monster trucks because they both love them. But they hate cross-overs and SUVs. The teen could have responded to the chat link with the following message, "Is this another video about that awesome Cadillac Escalade?" A hacker, not knowing that their being baited, will respond, "Yes!" Thinking that this should be the appropriate response. If the friend legitimately sent the link, then the friend will definitely ask you if you are a hacker on the account because his friend would never respond like that!

The point is, there is a way to test your friends using very intimate details about your relationship that only the two of you know and has not been publicly announced on your Facebook wall. Obviously, if this teen and his friends bash cross-overs or SUVs, then this example might not work. But I think you get the picture.

Remember, security is a process - not an endpoint.

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Saturday, July 18, 2009

Boost Sales with Facebook

You really need a website first, and then you can drum up business via the Facebook epoch.

It takes almost no effort to make sales via the Facebook method. Since people aren't watching television and listening to the radio like they used to, businesses need to explore the new types of emerging businesses.

You can post as much as possible, which is a great way to engage the audience that you might have on Facebook. Get as many likes as you can and then build up from there.

Link everything that you can think of. Facebook's threaded comments make it a much better tool than Twitter for interacting with your fans. Having all your replies in one place makes conversations much more natural. Try to keep up with the responses as well, as these can all be potential actuations to your website.

Facebook fan pages are another great way to generate sales and energy. There are some easy ways to promote your page. Of course add the widget on your sidebar. But did you know you can even post it anywhere you need it on the web? It can be where you want it all the time.

If you have someone stop by the fan page, they can click the "like" button. Attach the Facebook "Like" button to your blog, newsletter, home page of your website, or anywhere else online.

Use these tips to generate more leads and traffic. There are many social networking websites, but Facebook is currently the leader in users and buzz.

Your updates will link to your friends' walls to show them what you are doing. Create contests that can run within Facebook maybe your campaign would push all contest entrants to Facebook. Then you could even move on to other things like referrals that get you into the game.

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Monday, June 1, 2009

I am a Webby Geek

Are you just making fun when you get online? Oh come on, it's about time that you get serious. Why? It's all because you can actually create your own business online, and it's not any monkey business that you think.

Now you are interested, are you? If you are then it's about time that you start creating your own website. Web hosting is not a problem, anyway. Why do I say so? It's because webhostinggeeks.com is here to help you get started. No, it won't ask you to give up your riches because you can already subscribe for a web hosting service from them for $10 per month. And that's very cheap as compared to other web hosting services you know.

Ok now you are decided to start a new lifestyle, a new business to start with and to make you more money. Planning is pretty simpleve, but it will be simpler if you entrust your website to a company that caters high quality web hosting service at a price that is very easy on your pocket. And nothing can beat the expertise and dedicated service of webhostinggeeks.com.

Visiting their site doesn't just end there because you'll be amazed to find their various web hosting options that you can choose from. I bet you might also love trying out their green hosting service.
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Thursday, February 12, 2009

Web Buff Needs New Eyeglasses

You are in need of a new pair of eyeglasses. So why be discourage upon seeing those expensive eyeglasses offered by many optical stores? You can actually get the cheapest pair yet stylish and high quality ones. Yes, you can find it online by visiting Zenni Optical website. According to one article featured in the New York Times, Zenni Optical in the New York Times?! that talks about how cheap Prescription eyeglasses for only $8! is.


Retaining your old pair of eyeglasses can prevent you from Seeing Straight Without Breaking Bank which is the most important factor in buying eyeglasses. Of course, you have to consider your budget for that. Check it out so soon and you will surely get the best pair that you need.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Be Free to Play Online

Considered as a multi-million dollar business, online casinos is indeed one of the many flourishing industries today. It has been a preferred entertainment source for many casino goers. This has been brought about by the internet's success as well as the development of more technologies .

free online casinos gives us a complete freedom to choose what to play, how long to play, when to play, and without money to lose. Looking back at the traditional casinos, pressure from the spectators can make you feel nervous if you lose the game. Unlike in online casinos you don't have to worry about losing as there will be no crowd to witness how you play the game.

The opportunity to play, understand and learn the ins and outs of casino games without paying anything are the benefits that you could get in playing online casino games. Same thing is true for new casino players who want to experience the excitement of the game and that is through free online casinos.

Freecasinos.ws is the chosen free online casinos of many casino game players. It has been in existence for seven long years and is still offering the best games anyone would wish to play on. Its gambling portal is user-friendly so newbies and other casino players will surely enjoy the fun out of playing casinos.

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Golden Palace

Las Vegas is the most famous city for casino. Tourists and residents would often go there to enjoy a night filled with fun and excitement. Winning bucks of money are certainly their ultimate goal., and it's something that make these people keep coming back in Las Vegas. But for us who are located in far away places, we can settle for something that has a feel of Las Vegas too.

Yes, you can feel it right at your home and in the comfort of your seat. Ever heard of the Golden Palace Casino? It's downloadable in your computer so you always have a look at how this casino online can turn your home a Las Vegas in the making.

Golden Palace is known as the top chosen casino online. It has everything you need and the environment that perfectly looks like a real casino in Las Vegas. Why would you miss the fun when it's something that many home bodies chose to play. Check it out and you will surely be excited of how it can turn out the excitement in you.

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Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Do You Suffer From These Symptoms of Internet Addiction?

Sure, you're not addicted to the internet. You just enjoy surfing the web and checking web sites, don't you.

Check how many of these internet addiction symptoms you have if you dare!

  • You simply must log onto the internet first in the morning, even before you've brushed your teeth.
  • You eat your meals or regularly snack whilst surfing the web.
  • You check your emails every minute or two and start getting nervous if there are no emails to download because it's so soon since you last checked them.
  • You've got one or more instant messenger chat windows open at any given time.
  • Hours pass whilst your surf the web yet it seems like minutes.
  • Your social life takes second place to your mouse and keyboard.
  • Sneaking onto the internet when others aren't looking.
  • Chatting online and surfing the web whilst you're supposed to be doing work.
  • You're computer desk is surrounded by "stuff" because you haven't had the time to clear things up - you've been too busy checking out the next "must see" website.
  • You've never met your circle of friends in person - they're all (or almost all) people you've met on the web.
  • You check your Facebook page every few minutes, just in case you've got a new friend or someone's poked you.
  • Your first thought when you take a movie on your cell phone is "this would make a great YouTube video".
  • You fall asleep at the keyboard and get woken by the bleep of your instant messenger.
  • Your first instinct when you meet someone face to face is to type them a message.
  • The internet is your only form of "escape".

The more of these symptoms of internet addiction that ring true for you, the more likely it is that you're becoming addicted to the internet. Get help while you can!

Find out how to easily deal with your internet addiction and regain your life again. Check out how to overcome your addiction to the internet.

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Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Relaxation Tips for the Internet Addict

Are you an internet addict? Do you compulsively check your inbox 30 times per day? Is your main social communication making comments on forums and blogs? In theory, the internet is supposed to make our life easier and save time. However, increasingly people realise the internet provides countless opportunities to waster time. If we are not careful, several hours can fly by and we have achieved nothing other than watch some old comedy on youtube, and read an endless number of articles on "the top 10 ways to stop wasting time on the internet." Here are some tips to make better use of your internet usage, this will you have a more relaxed attitude to the internet.

1. Have a clear Focus to achieve something.

One problem is that when we switch on the computer, the first thing we like to do is to browse our favourite sites - Newspapers, stumbleupon, webstats, our email e.t.c. We are spending time browsing the internet, but we are not achieving anything useful. In the back of our mind, we know we are doing nothing useful, so we cannot relax. When we achieve are doing something useful, we feel much better and more relaxed. Before opening our laptop we should try a have a clear idea of what productive thing we are going to do.

2. Don't Waste Those 15 minutes slots.

Another problem is when we only have 15 minutes; if we have only a short time span, we feel we don't have time to "do anything". Therefore, we use those 15 minutes for just browsing and checking mail. The problem is that there are quite often several 15 minute slots in the day. Either, we can try to do something productive in 15 minutes, - even if it is to just write half a blog post; alternatively, we could do something else other than use the computer.

3. Do one Thing at a Time.

With tabbed browsing it is quite possible to try and do several things at once. - Write a blog post, upload content, and be surfing other blogs. The problem is that when we do this, it is easy to get distracted and we make mistakes in doing some task. If we do one thing at a time, we can have more focus; if we are more concentrated we will makes less mistakes, and also we will get a greater sense of achievement. Trying to juggle several things is usually stressful, we should try to avoid this.

4. Switch off Internet Access.

It's hard to believe but society used to function perfectly adequately before the advent of the internet. If the internet was unavailable for a day, you might be surprised at how much you might enjoy it.

5. Check Email Once a day.

This might be a bit radical for some people. But, if you check email once a day, you will save alot of time. You can also be focused in replying to all emails. Sometimes we check email, but don't have time to respond properly. We then either forget to reply, or we rush a reply that we later regret.

6. Write Emails only when necessary.

Email can be a way to save time, but it can also create unnecessary communication. Always bear in mind the limitations of email. Words cannot convey expressions. It is easy to send a message that can be misinterpreted. If possible communicate in person or through video conferencing. It makes communication much easier and more natural.

7. Take a Break every Hour.

If we are not careful several hours can fly by, we feel tied to the computer and the unending amount of things we can do / read on the internet. If we can pull ourselves away from internet we will be able to get a wider, more detached perspective.

Listen to: Online Relaxation Music

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Sunday, January 4, 2009

Shop for Post Holiday Gifts

Holiday Season was over but in my case, I am still engrossed on how our holiday celebration went through. It was superb, really. And up until now I am still thinking of giving gifts to those special someone whom I've not given gift on Christmas day. It's not yet too late. After all, it's better late than never, right?

Oh well, too much for holidays as I need to make myself busy from now on. But then again, I am still giving myself a quick time to shop for some gifts. And since it's gonna be a quick shopping I won't have enough time to go to the mall to search for unique gift items. It's just a good thing that while I was browsing the net a while ago, I've stumbled upon shopwiki.com. It has been the ultimate online shopping source of many people all over the world. Aside from a wide array of options to shop for, you could also enjoy great discounts which you may seldom experience at the mall.

As for my choice, I am thinking of giving my newly born godson with a Stroller since my son's stroller was already given to my little boy cousin-inaanak a month ago. I've seen a lot of designs to choose from and I guess I'll go for that boyish look stroller. I am also eyeing on that PSP which I'll be giving as my gift to our youngest brother. He just turned 12 last December 30 and I haven't bought him anything as my present except for a big box of chocolate.

But I promised him that I'll buy him a video game soon. And that's gonna be real soon since I already decided to save for it in the coming days and hopefully purchase it online at shopwiki.

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