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September 26, 2006

How VoIP Can Globalize Your Home Business

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services are significantly less expensive than the traditional telephone long distance packages. This is only one advantage of using VoIP. For a home business, this can provide more benefits if you know how to exploit it.

While there are other options, you can choose to use your regular home phone to take advantage of VoIP technology. This can be done by using a VoIP telephone adapter to connect your phone to the internet via a high speed modem. VoIP technology allows internet users with high speed (broadband) access to place telephone calls over the internet.

There are many VoIP service providers with whom one can sign up for a calling plan.

As VoIP rides on the internet technology, there are many features that are now possible as compared to the traditional phone. Many traditional phone features that come at an extra charge are also provided free with the basic calling plan.

1. Cheaper Than Traditional Phones
Using VoIP is a cheaper option if you make a lot of long distance and international calls. This is possible as the call uses the same internet facility as you do for your web access and email.

Upon signing up for a calling plan with a service provider, the VoIP telephone adapter will typically be provided free.

All calls between people using the same service provider are free regardless of location. This alone can provide significant savings if your business associates use the same service providers.

There are many features that come free with the calling plan. Some of these features are:
- call waiting
- caller ID
- three-way calling
- call forwarding
- last number redial
- speed dial
- voicemail

2. Allows Mobility
When travelling, you can take the VoIP adapter with you and instantly turn a phone anywhere in the world into your local phone. This will require a high speed internet connection.

This is possible as the VoIP adapter is specially coded with your VoIP phone number.

With the VoIP Physical Portability feature, you can still receive your customers' phone calls while travelling on business matters, on holiday or moving home.

3. Establishing Business Offices At Multiple Locations
VoIP Virtual Numbers allow multiple inbound telephone access numbers in different cities. With this feature, it is possible to establish your business in multiple locations by creating a "Virtual Presence" using virtual numbers.

These virtual numbers can be routed to any number that you specify. If you lived in Chicago, you can have access numbers in New York, Houston and San Francisco all routing through to your number in Chicago.

With this feature, business addresses can be established in different cities and even countries. You can set up these virtual numbers based on the locations from where you expect to receive many phone calls. This could be your existent customers or your prospects.

Besides enhancing the image of your business, customers get the benefit of calling a local number which is less costly for them.

Most service providers who offer this feature charge about $5 per month for each additional access number. This makes it possible to establish business offices at multiple locations at a low cost.

4. Enhanced Voice Mail
Some service providers offer you the ability to receive voice mail messages as an email attachment. You can play them back as a sound file through your computer.

As a home business owner, you can also save these voice mails to your computer's hard drive for future reference. You can also forward this to another person if follow up action is required.

5. Selecting A VoIP Service Provider
Your choice of the VoIP service provider and the calling plan depends on your unique needs.

Depending on your business needs, you can select calling plans for local/long distance or international calls. International calls can be made with local/long distance plans but at an additional per minute rate. International plans typically include USA local and long distance coverage.

Do not buy based on the number of features provided by the service provider. Decide on the features you require to manage your home business. Then match these against the features available.

According to independent surveys, most of the established VoIP carriers are about the same in terms of voice quality. Good customer service is also another criteria for selecting the service provider. You can read customer reviews on these aspects to help you choose the service provider.

There are service providers that include a "Money Back Guarantee". Once you have initiated the service, check against your service quality criteria. If you are not happy with the results, then cancel the service and request for your money back. Make sure you do this within the "trial" period allocated.

If you are on a month-to-month plan, your service is automatically renewable each month, until you cancel the service. So, you have the option of canceling. Some annual plans allow you to cancel on a month-to-month basis, but may include other charges. Check out all these details before you sign up.

Posted by OneWebCo at 09:19 AM | Comments (0)

September 24, 2006

Keep Rolling

The use of metaphors is widespread in business. Especially in network marketing, where personal development is a key factor, one-liners and metaphors are often used to get important points across. Network marketing is often described as a vehicle that can get you to a desired destination. So if you could pick a vehicle, what kind of vehicle would you choose?

You could go for the sports car. It's fast and it's beautiful. It shines in the sunlight and its engine's roar is impressive. It exemplifies the lifestyle that many people strive for when they get involved in the industry. Some start off this way by adopting a "fake it till you make it approach". Of course you should adopt a certain posture when starting out in network marketing. It's a business where, in the beginning, your attitude largely determines your altitude. However you can only fake it for so long. Unfortunately some people have hit success temporarily and immediately started living the millionaire lifestyle. Only to find out that their success was short lived. Their sports car turned a corner with some gravel and oil and it skid off the road. Sports cars are great vehicles but they often lack the staying power to achieve lasting success.

In order to create the kind of organization that produces success in the long run we need another vehicle as a metaphor. That vehicle is a Sherman tank. Now that Sherman tank is not as fast as the sports car. It is not as beautiful as the sports car. It may not have all the luxury features of a sports car. But that Sherman tank was built for a reason. And that Sherman starts to go down the road. It has its eye on a target in the distance. It must vanquish and conquer that thing down there. It's rolling slowly but steadily in the direction of that target. Now imagine that you are in that Sherman tank and that the target in the distance is what's keeping you and your family from the life that you so richly deserve; a life of abundance, a life of freedom and happiness.

And when friends say: "What do you think you're doing? Do you think you can make this thing work?"

The Sherman tank keeps rolling...

And when people say "I'm going to stop you! Who do you think you are? Where do you come from?"

The Sherman tank keeps rolling...

And when stones and buildings stand in the way?

The Sherman tank keeps rolling...

And people look at you and say: "What are you doing in this network marketing business? Didn't you get an education? Go out and get yourself a decent job!"

You keep rolling...
and you keep rolling...
and you keep rolling...

Because you know, deep in your heart, that if you don't do it this generation, it may take hundreds of years for someone in your family tree to stand up and go and destroy that thing. It is up to you to break the chain of mediocrity. Just look at all the people that have made it before you. They had to keep rolling when things got difficult in their life. The real question is: "Are you willing to do that?"

You see, you don't have to be beautiful. You don't have to be fast. You don't have to be the one with the most talent. What do you have to do?

When someone tells you to give it up and stop this foolish business of yours... What will you do?

Will you let your head hang down in defeat and retreat back into a life of quiet desperation? Or will you aim your cannon dead at them and let go a charge shouting "You can't stop me!" Because as long as you won't let anything or anyone knock you out of the business, you're still in the game and you've got a great chance to win!

So when the difficulties arise in your life...
when people around you are negative...
when your initial results don't meet your expectations...
when people laugh at you and what you're doing...
when you feel discouraged and are tempted to quit...

You put your hands together and you keep rolling...
and you keep rolling...
and you keep rolling...
Until you get there!

Posted by OneWebCo at 11:03 AM | Comments (0)

September 22, 2006

A Computer and Internet Glossary

When you use computers and the Internet in your business, it's all too easy to start feeling like you're drowning in a sea of nonsense. Computer-related things tend to have a language all their own, and while you don't need to know all of it, there are many confusing words and phrases that you're going to come across sooner or later. Here's a quick primer.

Bandwidth. Bandwidth is the amount of data that your website can send each second, as well as the amount of data that the visitor to your website can receive. If either one doesn't have enough bandwidth, then the website will appear slowly. For this reason, you should choose a host with plenty of bandwidth, as well as testing that your site doesn't take too long to download on slow connections.

Browser. A browser is the software (see below) that visitors to your site use to view it. The most popular browser is Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which comes with Windows.

Cookie. Cookies are data files that your site can save on the computer of someone who visits that site, to allow it to remember who they are if they return. You will find that problems people have in ordering from you will almost inevitably be related to cookies -- they will need to have them turned on.

Download. Transferring data from a website to a computer.

Favourite. A favourite is a website that a user has stored to look at again, by choosing 'Add to Favourites' in their browser's menu.

FTP. File Transfer Protocol. This is a common method of uploading (see below) files to your website.

Javascript. A common language for writing 'scripts' on websites, which are small programs that make the site more interactive. Another common cause of problems for visitors.

JPEG. Joint Photographic Experts Group. This is the name of the most popular format for pictures on the web, named after the group that came up with it. If you want to put pictures on your website, you should save them as JPEGs.

Hardware. Hardware is computer equipment that physically exists. It is the opposite of software.

Hosting. If you've got a website out there on the Internet, then you'll be paying someone for hosting. It is the service of making your site available for people to see.

HTML. HyperText Markup Language. A kind of code used to indicate how web pages should be displayed, using a system of small 'tags'. The 'b' tag, for example, causes text to appear in bold, and the 'img' tag displays a picture.

Hyperlink. A hyperlink is when a piece of text on a website can be clicked to take you to another site, or another page on the same site. For example, if clicking your email address on your website allows someone to email you, then your email address is a hyperlink.

Programming. This is when the computer is given instructions to tell it what to do, using one of many 'programming languages'. Programming languages for the web include PHP and Perl.

Server. The server is where your website is stored, and it is the server that people are connecting to when they visit the site. If someone tells you, for example, that your server is 'down', it means that your website is inaccessible. Note that server refers both to the hardware and software of this system.

Software. Programs that run on the computer, or that make your website work. Microsoft Word is software, for example, as is Apache (the most popular web server software). Opposite of hardware.

Spider. Don't be scared if a spider visits your website! Spiders are simply programs used by search engines to scan your site and help them decide where it should appear when people search. It is good to be visited by spiders, as it means you should start appearing in search engines soon.

Upload. Uploading is when you transfer data from your own computer to your website. For example, you might upload your logo, or an article you've written. Opposite of download.

URL. Uniform Resource Locator. This is just a short way of saying 'web address', meaning what you have to type in to get to your website. Sometimes pronounced as 'Earl'.

Posted by OneWebCo at 09:28 PM | Comments (0)