Sunday, February 7, 2010

Standby to Use that Magnificent Machine

You must be excited thinking about the new computer that you are planning to buy. Put that excitement to good use and start thinking about optimizing the space where you will be using the computer. Find a space where there is no direct sunlight at times when you will be using the computer most shining into that space.

Take a look at the power outlets available at the space where you will be using your new computer. Is there enough power available or are you going to be sharing one power outlet with a myriad of home equipment. Overloading a power outlet can be dangerous. A dedicated outlet for your computer is ideal.

You would not want your new computer to be fried when there is a power surge in your home wiring. Investing about $30 in a good power surge suppressor / protector can save you the cost of repairing or even buying another new computer. You can plug your computer, printer, scanner, audio system, etc that’s related to your computer together onto the power surge protector and control them with a single switch. Good power surge protectors can even handle a phone line and cable connections.

Talking about phone connections, it is a good idea to have a phone line outlet close-by your work space. This is because in the event that you encounter a problem with your computer, you can easily pick up the phone and call the technical support who will guide you step by step through the diagnosis or solution to the problem.

Ensure that on your workspace you have ample storage areas for your printer paper, computer books, storage discs, printer cartridges, warranty slips, etc. Maintain this space to be free from dust and easily reachable to you when you work with your computer.

Another essential item to take care of is your working chair. Since you will be spending hours working on your computer at that desk, it is very important to maintain good posture and feel comfortable while working. Find one that is capable of supporting your back and offers adjustable height change to reduce eye and wrist strain.

That large box that came with the computer you bought should be kept in the store. You never know when you might have to bring your computer for servicing or repair. With the original storage box available, you have a safe way for transporting your computer.

Now that you have your new computer inside your home, you must ensure that there is a strong enough support beneath it to take on the weight of the computer. Be especially cautious when using a pop-up table and ensure that the braces are locked in place before placing the computer on the table.

Allow the computer to adapt to your home environment before you turn it on. Extreme change of temperature can be the cause of equipment malfunction. Two hours allocated for your spanking new computer to sit on your desktop is ample time for it to adapt to the change of temperature. Thereafter you new computer will be ready to help you be more productive.

Lastly, don’t be ashamed about using some old fashioned tools to help you maintain good productivity. It is common for someone to forget a few things that were supposed to be done before switching off the computer. Use post-it notes and stick them on the side of your computer monitor so that you are reminded easily on your next computer session.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Making the Sale with Sales Pages e-book by Unique Blog Designs, LLC (2010)

Making the Sale with Sales Pages e-book by Unique Blog Designs, LLC (2010)

Succeeding in affiliate marketing is by far no easy task. This e-book provides readers with the critical tips in creating a professional standard sales page. The content of ‘Making the Sale with Sales Pages’ e-book is direct and concise, addressing important sales converting aesthetics and copywriting issues. This saves you time in reading a lot of unnecessary affiliate marketing ‘how-to’ ramblings prevalent in other affiliate marketing e-books. Furthermore, you won’t find any website coding tips in here.

Now as you may already know, the biggest obstacle in affiliate marketing is finding people in your target market and lots of them. That part of affiliate marketing is beyond the scope of this ‘Making the Sale with Sales Pages’ e-book. Nonetheless, having millions of people in your target market is useless without a sales converting capable sales page. Hence the reason why this e-book will be very important for the beginner affiliate marketer in you.

Title: Making the Sale with Sales Pages
Author / s: Unique Blog Designs, LLC
Year published: 2010
Pages: 26
Chapters: 6 - from introduction, history to breaking down the components of a sales page
Format: Narrative ‘how-to’ guide
Estimated reading completion: 1 hour
Target niche: affiliate marketer wannabes, computer enthusiasts interested in the affiliate marketing business

‘Making the Sale with Sales Pages’ Content Glimpses
  1. Research
    • Laziness in not wanting to do research will shine through your sales page
    • You’re not going to sound like you know what you’re talking about because you DON’T
    • People are dumb but they aren’t that dumb!

  2. Time, Money, Effort
    • When people are buying a product or service, they almost always believe that they are gaining something that will give them a leg-up on either finances, gaining more time to do what they want to do, or just having to work less at whatever they do for a job

  3. Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica
    • Font wise for the body text, you can either go with what we suggest with the Tahoma font, or you can go with either Arial or Helvetica
    • Whatever you do, though, don’t stray from any of those fonts for the body text

  4. Big problem
    • For instance, say you were selling a product that detailed how people can learn the basics and succeed quickly in the world of PPC (pay per click marketing) then you could suggest that, unlike many other things, failing to succeed with PPC early can be very, very expensive

  5. Big solution
    • Focus on how it will benefit them and feel free to further focus on how it will help them make more money, spend less time on a problem or expend less effort on whatever it is they’re looking for

  6. 30 day guarantee
    • Adding a 30 day money back guarantee will not only vastly increase the number of people who will ultimately purchase your product or service, but believe it or not, it will also help to reduce the number of refund requests that you’ll be getting

  7. 5 step / reasons box
    • A 5 step summary on how your product or service can help benefit the reader will not only be interesting to the reader, but it will also likely cut down on the overall length of your sales page
    • Same thing with a 5 reasons section – just make sure that you title it with something attention-getting like, “The 5 Reasons You’ll Be Able to Quit Your Job after Reading My E-book!” Be original, be imaginative and put your own spin on it

*Note: You can get this e-book for free via email after signing up for a blogging report at uniqueblogdesigns.com or for tips & tricks over at affiliatetheme.net. Your sign-up entitles you to receive periodic reports as the likes of this one to your email address.

As a last resort, you can also Skype me at ‘ abaskamal ’ for access to my dissected notes & highlights done on this e-book as well as for further discussions. A sincere Paypal donation for my efforts will be much appreciated.



Friday, January 29, 2010

Dreamweaver CS4 Photoshop Smart Objects

Dreamweaver CS4DPD Blitz Reference

Placing Photoshop Files
  • Place original PSD files directly into a page
  • The Image Preview window allows for saving Photoshop files into Web-ready image formats, such as PNG, GIF, and JPEG, as well as scale and crop the artwork before it’s placed on the page

Photoshop Smart Objects
  • Dreamweaver creates a Smart Object — an image that maintains a connection to the original Photoshop file from which it was created
  • Click where to place the new image and then click the Image object in the Insert panel’s Common category
  • When the Select Image Source dialog box appears, browse and select a Photoshop PSD file and then click Choose/Select to select the image
  • The Image Preview dialog box appears to optimize, crop, scale, and save the image in the Web-friendly JPEG, GIF, or PNG formats
  • In the Options tab, select the file format from the Format drop-down list, and choose the quality settings that best suit the image from the Quality drop-down list
  • Can use the Saved Settings drop-down list at the top of the dialog box to choose one of the image quality presets
  • (Optional) Click the File tab to switch to the File options and then enter settings to scale the image or use the Crop tool at the bottom of the preview window to crop it
  • Click OK to save the image.
  • When the Save Web image dialog box appears, navigate to the site’s root folder and click OK to save the image into the appropriate folder (for instance, your default images folder)
  • Type a short description of the image in the Alternate text field and click OK to place the image
  • The new image is placed, and a small icon appears in the upper-right corner of the image
  • This Smart Object indicator shows two green arrows, indicating that the image is up to date

Updating Photoshop Smart Objects
  • The image placed in the page displays a red and green arrow icon after having made changes to the original file in Photoshop
  • Select the image and click the Update from Original button on the Property inspector to apply the new changes to the placed image
  • Moving the original PSD file connected to a page image displays an alert icon on the image and disables the link between the two - keep the original PSD files in a set location and make sure to revise the location of the source file by updating Photoshop Smart Objects