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Denise Hall Publisher/Editor denise@home-business-on-a-budget.com http://www.Home-Business-on-a-Budget.com Home Business on a Budget Newsletter is a bi-weekly publication. My mission is to help you succeed in your home business without spending an arm and a leg. Each issue contains useful tips, information and articles. Good luck in your business ventures! Translate this newsletter to another language: http://world.altavista.com/ Do you have a friend who would like this newsletter? By all means, pass it on please. The more, the merrier, as I always say! 
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My 2 Cents Worth - Editor's Chit-Chat
Hi All! Welcome to another Sunday with yours truly and thanks so much for letting me be a small part of your day. :~) If you're new today, a warm welcome to you. I hope you'll enjoy the issue. A few days ago I mentioned that a good friend of mine is in the hospital with end stage cancer. Many of you wrote expressing your concern and sending your thoughts and prayers. Thank you! Your emails mean a great deal to me. It's a very sad thing to watch. She's 69 years old and her husband is 79 years old. He's going to be so lost without her. He keeps saying he should have gone long before her and things like that. But the good news is, there have been a lot of visitors to help the family get through this rough time. OK, enough on that subject. I'm getting teary-eyed again. Today's article is about how to do your own due diligence when thinking about buying a product or joining an income opportunity online. So along the lines of scammers, scumbags and sleazeballs I'd like to mention some other people who fall into the same category... Digital thieves and hackers. In the last 3 weeks I've had one of my product download pages posted at a warez site, my email account was hacked into by a "friend" and a subscriber stole one of my products! I have no idea who put the download page link at the warez site. It really makes no difference. People were able to download the product without paying for it, so needless to say, I had to do something fast. I found a new web-based software that locks up products tight so that situation is taken care of. But the other two situations bother me much more than that does. The subscriber who stole the Traffic Tidbits audios has been on my list for quite awhile and has purchased products from me in the past. I have no idea why he decided to steal this one. I think he may be planning to create CD's from the audios and sell them. I'll be watching so I can nail him for not having rights to the product if he does try that. And as for the former friend who hacked into my email account... well, he always calls himself "a man of integrity" but I'd have to say he's very much mistaken about that. Anyone with integrity certainly does NOT hack into someone else's email. This person has done some script work for me in the past and had the passwords to a couple of my sites, but he never had my email password. It's not even similar to the passwords that he knew and it wasn't easy to guess, so he must have spent hours trying to figure it out. Or, for all I know, he paid a hacker to do it. But no matter whether he hacked in himself or paid someone to figure out the password, it was still illegal, unethical and immoral. So keep your eyes and ears open at all times. There are more slimeballs out there than you can possibly imagine. Thieves, hackers and scammers always find justification for their actions. In their minds, they had the "right" to do it. But, of course, there is no reason for such activities except that these people are the scum of the earth. It's time to let you get on with the rest of the issue. Be sure to read JL Scott's article about how to do your due diligence. I'll see you here in 2 weeks. Until then, be profitable! Denise
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Feature Article
Doing Your Own Due Diligence Copyright © 2007, jl scott The term in the title of this article is one I've used often. In fact, most online publishers use it in their disclaimers. It's an admonition to check out sellers yourself before buying their products or services. Unfortunately most folks ignore this advice. Others would happily DO their own due diligence - IF they only knew how. Testimonials may mean nothing in online sales letters. If the seller is basically an internet marketer, you can almost depend on the testimonials being fairly worthless. Here's how it Works: Sellers send their product to a few “big names” for free in exchange for a testimonial - and a link to their web site “Big Name” may, or may not, even open the product. If it's opened at all, it's most likely to be just to get enough information to write the testimonial A glowing testimonial is sent to the seller Technically, any marketing testimonials may be illegal as hell - at least in the USA. Legally, the request for the testimonial must ask: The endorsee's comments be based on use of the product If the request goes to an “expert,” it may be based on his opinion But, all comments made must be SUPPORTABLE. If someone claims they increased their sales (or anything else) by X% using this product, they'd better be able to prove it. Few can. Both marketers and endorsees have become extremely lax, online. And, that pretty much puts the kibosh on even asking for references. You just don't know what (who) you'll get. Look for Hype That may sound ridiculous considering the sales letters we see every day. In fact, I believe we've even become fairly immune to hype. Nevertheless, there's hype and, then, there's HYPE. Pay attention. The sales letter itself MAY give you clues. Is the seller trying to hustle you? Most sales letters aren't all hard facts. How much is provable? Read very carefully. Oh, you're being pressured by a time limit for a particular price? Of course, you are. That's part of the game. Although J.C. Penny may actually stop a particular sale on a certain date, in the internet marketing field, that probably won't happen. I'd guess at least 95% of the time, the same price will come around again. Be patient, or take your chances. Contact I get as tired of saying this as some of you get tired of hearing it. But, look for contact information - including a telephone number. If this is a high-ticket product, you should even CALL the number to be sure it's good. Do not write to me about how you need to have your contact information hidden to protect yourself or your family. Are you in business, or not? If you don't jack people around, nobody is going to come looking for you. If you're a woman alone - get a big ugly dog. You need one, anyway. What does it Cost? Last week, I promoted a $7 Product on the web site of a seller using a VERY “iffy” technique. WHAT? jl scott did that? Yes, I did it, and I'll tell you why. The sales page reads: ------------ "I've decided to do a bit of a marketing experiment and so for the next ------------ This seems to say if you're not one of the next 43 customers, you'll pay more. But, read carefully - it doesn't say that at all. She'll sell it to the next 43 for $7 - and the 44th and the 45th and the 46th, and ... She did NOT say it would STOP at 43. Oh yeah, and this “experiment” can last forever. No date was given. Even the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) expects us to read with our brains engaged. Why did I promote a product with this kind of “misleading” sales copy? Because the product was good, it was delivered to me appropriately - and it was ONLY 7 bucks. No big investment. As time goes on, the gurus are charging more and more for their “secret” information. I seriously doubt they are teaching everything they know, any more than they would at a seminar. You get SELECTED information. Otherwise, the field would become too competitive for them. When they promise to teach you everything they know, again - engage the brain! Soon, other, lesser known, marketers will decide THEY should also charge thousands of dollars for similar “products.” Any time you're considering paying this much for anything online, you'd BETTER do your own due diligence! Okay - let's get on with how you can check on marketers to see if they're ethical. Organization Seals If you see an organization seal of any kind, you're in luck. First, check to see if it's linked to a confirmation page. If not, contact the organization and ask if this is a true member. If the seal has been used illegally (Yes, it's illegal), run for the hills. You're thinking of doing business with a liar and a thief. If the membership is affirmed, ask if the company has any complaints against it. Also ask how the complaints were resolved. I spend a phenomenal amount of time responding to these kinds of inquiries regarding iCop members. And, I'm not complaining. It's why I'm here. DNSstuff.com Go to www.DNSstuff.com. Go down the page to the form that reads, “WHOIS Lookup.” This will get you the contact info for a domain name. If the registrant of the domain name has used an anonymous registration system, I'd walk away immediately. Google 'Em! Do a Google search on the company name and the seller's name - especially the company name. But, be careful. First, be sure you are looking at results REALLY about this company or person. “jl scott” comes up with several people; a couple of them are rather unsavory characters/sites, and “iCop” comes up with several results having nothing to do with this organization. What you're looking for - with the same, very careful, discernment - are forum posts. Now, posters in forums aren't always reliable. Remember: there are always two sides to every story. Usually, you'll one see one side in a forum. However, if you find MULTIPLE negative posts about a company in DIFFERENT forums, by DIFFERENT posters, then you probably have cause to be concerned. It's unfortunate these are about the only things we have to check online. Sometimes, you just have to go with your gut. And, sometimes, it's your best test. I mentioned promoting a product where I didn't care for one of the tactics used to get the sale. Before it was over, that marketer wasn't answering email, the site didn't work properly and product wasn't being delivered. Of course, I removed the product. Point being: If I HAD used my gut, this wouldn't have happened! This article may be republished using the copyright and the following attribution statement: ------------ dr. jl scott is the Founder of the International Council of Online Professionals (iCop™) - and also the publisher of the Internet Marketing Trade Journal.™ Tired of online scams - programs that don't pay - lack of refunds? Learn who to do business with - and who to avoid on the Internet. Subscribe to iCop's FREE ezine: www.i-Cop.org/trade-journal.htm
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Grins 'n Giggles
This was taken from a newsletter that I receive each day. Get daily Internet tips, tricks, jokes and information: http://www.resource-a-day.net/member/index.cgi?gifts_n_things2002 It was entertainment night at the senior center and the Amazing Claude was topping the bill. People came from miles around to see the famed hypnotist do his stuff. As Claude went to the front of the meeting room, he announced, "Unlike most hypnotists who invite two or three people up here to be put into a trance, I intend to hypnotize each and every member of the audience." The excitement was almost electric as Claude withdrew a beautiful antique pocket watch from his coat. "I want you each to keep your eye on this antique watch. It's a very special watch. It's been in my family for six generations." He began to swing the watch gently back and forth while quietly chanting, "Watch the watch, watch the watch, watch the watch..." The crowd became mesmerized as the watch swayed back and forth, light gleaming off its polished surface. Hundreds of pairs of eyes followed the swaying watch, until, suddenly, it slipped from the hypnotist's fingers and fell to the floor, shattering into a hundred pieces. "CRAP!" said the Hypnotist ... It took three days to clean up the senior center.
Expert Advice
Each week I'll publish some tips or advice. I'll try to cover every subject I can think of, but if you have any suggestions, please send them to me at the e-mail address listed below. HTML Basics: What You Need to Know HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language and is the basic language that web pages are written in. An HTML page can be made using Notepad (or other text editor) or an HTML editor. How does HTML work? HTML codes, also known as tags, are put inside the lesser than (<) and greater than (>) brackets and can be written in capital or lower case letters. An element, or the browser command, follows the opening bracket and with a closing bracket in the end. [NOTE: For these examples I had to put a space between the opening and closing tags (< and >) so that they would show up on this page.] An example is: < font > Attributes may follow the elements, which may be words that describe the aspects of the element. This will instruct the browser further. So: < font size="2" > Attributes are only enclosed in the opening tags that are found on the right side of the element. A space and an equal sign separates them. Enclosed in quotes are the values; they come next to the equal sign. For basic documents: < HTML > < HEAD > < TITLE >Your Web Page Heading< /TITLE > < /HEAD > < BODY > < /BODY > < /HTML > Each HTML tag above contains an opening tag and a closing tag. The opening tag is written with the command enclosed in brackets. This is an example of an ordinary HTML document composition. Visible are the opening HTML tag, the TITLE tag in between the opening and closing HEAD tags, the beginning and closing BODY tags and the closing HTML tag. All of your text, graphics and any additional HTML codes should be placed between the < BODY > and < /BODY > tags. In this example, < /HTML > The browser is dictated by the opening tag to start the particular action. The action is then stopped by the closing tag. So the correct way of writing HTML is to put the closing tags sequentially with the opening tags. < B >< I >Example of the accurate progression of writing HTML< /I >< /B > You will notice that the closing tags are in the proper series with the opening tags. But if you have several opening tags, the closing tags should end with the first and start with the last opening tag. How should an HTML page be written? Below is an example of a correctly written HTML code (except these have spaces): < B >< I >Example< /I >< /B > How should HTML be not written? < B >< I >Example< /B >< /I > Note the difference in the examples above - the closing tags should always be in the same order as the opening tags. How do you write a basic HTML document layout? Start writing your HTML by first making your document's basic layout. It should begin with < HTML > and end with < /HTML >: < HTML > < HEAD > < META NAME="Description" CONTENT="Description of your web page" > < META NAME="KEYWORDS" CONTENT="Keywords that best describe your web page separated with a comma." > < TITLE >Your Page Title< /TITLE > < /HEAD > < BODY > This area should contain all that will be visible through a web browser such as text and graphics. < /BODY > < /HTML > < HTML > - this is how your HTML document should begin < HEAD > - Contains information about the page such as the TITLE, META tags for proper Search Engine indexing, STYLE tags, which determine the page layout and JavaScript coding for special effects. < TITLE > - The TITLE of your page. This will be visible in the title bar of your visitors' browser. Make sure that you include your most significant keyword phrase within your "title" for Search Engine indexing. A keyword phrase is two or more words that best describe your website. < /TITLE > - Closes the < TITLE > tag. < /HEAD > - Closes the < HEAD > tag. < BODY > - Your document should be written here < /BODY > - Closes the < BODY > tag. < /HTML > - Closes the < HTML > tag. Some fundamental text elements in HMTL code are: < B > tags create Bold Text < B >Example< /B > < I > tags create Italic text < I >Example< /I > < U > tags create Underlined text So: Example Above I used < U > before the word "example" and < /U > after it and as you can see, it's underlined. It's really not difficult once you get the hang of it. Send your suggestions or questions for the experts: mailto:denise@home-business-on-a-budget.com?subject=ExpertAdvice
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It's Your Dime - Reader's Feedback
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Editor's Closing Comments
I hope you've enjoyed today's issue of Home Business on a Budget. I always welcome reader's feedback, comments and suggestions. Please feel free to e-mail me if you ever have any questions that I can help you with. I am always willing to help in any way I can. I also accept guest articles for publication. Please send them to the e-mail listed below with "article" in the subject line. Denise Hall Publisher/Editor Contact me: denise@home-business-on-a-budget.com Website: http://www.Home-Business-on-a-Budget.com
LEGAL STUFF
I accept no responsibility whatsoever for the content, profitability or legality of any published articles or advertisements contained within Home Business on a Budget Newsletter. And, although all of the articles have been selected for their content, the publishing of such articles within this newsletter does not constitute a recommendation of the products or services mentioned or advertised within those articles. Be responsible! Always do your own Due Diligence before responding to any offer. I respect the privacy of my readers. I will never supply or sell your personal information to any Third Party!
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