Altameroy Blog

When we think about mobile networks, there are constantly the well-known few that pop into our brains and are the most used, these are 3G, 02, Orange, T Mobile the well known Vodafone. Get the cheapest mobile phone deals with MobileShop, Click Here.

Established in 1983 as Rascal Telecom, the company then turned independent in the early 1991. Found in Berkshire UK; it is the biggest mobile phone network company in the world by mobile phone sales and has a market value of just about 76 billion pounds. The corporation has equity interests in 27 countries around five continents, 186 million proportionate customers and more than thirty partner networks.

For over twenty years the mobile corporation have been on the front of the telephone innovation. The company is chosen by a lot of people for the reason that the corporation is greatly famous for their prime service. Vodafone channels major investments into enlarging a network that lets every one of their clientele dial additional telephone calls from more areas than each and every other network, cheaply and while continuing to continue providing first-rate quality and reliability to all there customers. In the last 3 years the business has cut there charges 5 times, as if they had reduced their rates and services by 0.5 per user. The corporation has developed its range of low cost mobile phones and introduced further flexible payment schemes.

Handset technology is improving fast day by day. The mobile corporation is aware that their users are their number one priority and therefore the mobile firm have to make sure that the clientele can use all the services safely and confidently. What makes the mobile business the most chosen mobile phone company to choose is that the retailer actually care about their clientele. Even if you do have issues there’s no need to dread calling as most of their call centres are located in England and can help you find a solution to your issues and queries unusually quickly. The firm frequently ask their customers about their problems of using the mobile retailer as their specific network and how can they deliver a better service.

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Let’s face it, the Internet is here for good. Today’s Internet
reminds me of the California gold rush. There is a ton
of moeny and opportunities to be made by everyone who
wishes to participate in this modern day gold rush. Most people
have been drawn to the Internet, because of the ability
to leverage their time and make money even while they are
sleeping. Which makes it an even better opportunity than the
gold rush!

Just like any offline business, an online business requires
an address, or place on the Internet where your Web site is
located. You can’t have a Web site and just “stick it up” on
the Internet. Unless you own your own server, you use a
hosting company. A hosting company gives you an online
address. This online address allows the search engines
and
people seaching for your product or service the ability to
locate your website.

So what is all the confusion about regarding hosting sites.
Understanding a hosting provider’s websites is equal to
speaking a foreign language. They are full of numbers and
letters and if you do not know what they are describing, it
can be confusing and overwhelming. For example: there is
50
mg space, and 2 gig data transfer, and front page
extensions, secure servers. What’s it all mean?

In my humble opinion you don’t have to be a brainiac to
have a great hosting service that serves your needs. You
want to be the recognized expert in your particular field,
and let the hosting company do their job, by providing
excellent hosting and service. All you need to have is a
general knowledge about what hosting is.

Let’s start from the beginning. Think of a hosting company
as the highway department that allows the traffic, search
engines, and people access to your website. The reason
that
this is so important boils down to money in your pocket.
You could have the greatest widget the world has ever seen,
and if your site is down, and not operating, people will
buy elsewhere and what good is that?

First things first. Set an expectation that you will find
the “perfect” hosting company. If you search the
expectation that your job will be difficult, then that’s
what will be your experience. The best way to find a good
hosting company is to ask other site owners and
webmasters
who they use. People love to share their knowledge and you
can often pick up many helpful ideas.

Once you find a company that looks promising, see what
kind
of customer service they offer. Having a “live” person to
talk to is a HUGE bonus and well worth any additional cost.
Talk to them on the phone, explain what you are doing and
ask them if they can provide what you are looking for. Are
they friendly, do they treat you like a human being, do they
make recommendations without being pushy? Are they able
to
grow with you, as your business grows? The answers to
these
questions will give you a good idea of how they do
business.
Now it’s up to you to determine if it is a good fit.

The author has been able to demystify “hosting” and break it
down into easy to understand language. She has shared
her insights with many colleagues and groups and enables
them to get clear around a normally complex subject.

Claudette Spedden is founder of Fast X Hosting an
excellent resource site dedicated to information on hosting

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So you’ve decided to start an online work at home business and are just beginning to build your website. You probably have a million different ideas for what you want the site to look like. You will want to take into consideration that your idea of a great website may differ drastically from what a website designed to make sales should be like.

In this article I have offered 5 very important traits of a professional home business website. Implementing these into your website will make it much more effective in getting visitors to do what you want them to do…. Give You Their Money!

Here are 5 traits of great home business website (in no particular order):

1) Build A Professional Looking Site - There are millions of websites on the Internet and many of them are very well designed. Make sure your website is as professional in appearance as your competition. You will be judged on the appearance of your site so make sure you don’t lose visitors because of a bad design.

2) Provide Visitors With All the Info They Need - If a visitor to your website has to put any effort into finding the information they need, you will lose them fast. Everything should be easily available to them with clear directions on how to get it. Make all important information no more than one click away.

3) Have A Newsletter Sign-Up - Having a form for people to opt-in to a newsletter is a great way to build a list of customers. It’s also a great way to build trust and a strong following. Pack it full of great information, resources, freebies, and more. You will bring them back for more plus they just might tell all their friends about you.

4) Make It Sell - You are building a work at home business website so you can make money. In order to do that you must get your visitors to make purchases. Your site should have a direct call to action with your best products and/or services listed in highly visible places.

5) Allow feedback - It’s important to have a way for your visitors to offer feedback to you. They should also have an easy way to ask questions and make comments. People will like this because they get to give their input about what they would like to see done. You will benefit by being able to know what your customers want or need.

Ok, now you should be able to get a great start on that business website. Include all five of the things above then build some great information around them. You will have a wonderful website that should bring back visitors time and time again.

Copyright © Trent Brownrigg

www.work-at-home-jobs-iowa.com

I grant permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way (grammatical corrections accepted).

About The Author

Trent Brownrigg is a successful internet marketer, business mentor, and author of business articles. He will personally help you build a secure financial future. Visit http://www.work-at-home-jobs-iowa.com for more details.

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Creatively marketing your corporate site takes time in the set up but you will learn that building your customers isn’t about marketing your products but getting your name and reputation into the minds of internet customers.

I have randomly chosen Watkins to design a marketing approach but you will see how to apply this concept to any direct sales company.

Now let’s sort through the steps of developing your online marketing plan.

Become an expert.

Be an expert on your products, your corporate website, and your current and potential customers. If you don’t see yourself as an expert about your products, your company… that is your first step.

Don’t try to market or pay for advertising without knowing your products and the people that would love them!

When you are comfortable with the products you offer on your corporate website begin to brainstorm about how to connect your products to internet customers.

On paper list the different categories of products with a list of potential “markets”
you can target. You are ready to start your marketing plan itself.

Find your niche market.

In our example of Watkins, there is a potential market with women that are homemakers, enjoy cooking, love to entertain or create family memories with cooking traditions but remember men love to cook too.

There is a very wide range of the ages, the groups within that cook and entertain. By studying your potential customers, a theme will emerge.

Let’s look at “cooking from scratch.”

To know your customers, do this exercise:

Think cooking. Think old fashioned values. Think food and family traditions.

Where would they go on the internet for ideas, menus, recipes and more? Use search engines for your initial search to find a few solid popular websites. As most well built website have links within their categories, visit their links or resources to find other similar sites.

Look for homemaking, cooking, familiy focused and entertaining sites with message boards, newsletters and articles.

You are finally nudging closer to your niche market, your potential customers.

Once you have found a few websites that cater to your market, stop and study the sites. Read the articles and visit the message boards. Message boards often have posts asking for advice or recipes. Articles may have ratings by visitors which tell you more about what readers want to see. learn what kind of information your potential customers may be looking for, what they want to learn and do.

Sign up for the site’s newsletter. You will learn a great deal from the newsletter. Read the articles, hints and ads in the newsletter.

Start writing.

Submit your articles, recipes and kitchen hints both to site owners that accept submissions but you can also contact the publisher of the newsletters too.

It’s very important to remember not to write about your products Write about anything connected to the homemaking, cooking, entertaining site….keep your written article focused along the theme of the website you have found.

Your articles should reflect your knowledge, your passion whether it be crafts for kids or organizing a closet.

Sell outside the article.

You do not need to sell within the article or post. On the power of your words, your writing, they will learn about you, your business in your “resource box.” When a reader enjoys your article, connects with your writing, they will feel compelled to click on your link.

You have made your first contact with your market through creative marketing.

This is your best marketing strategy for your corporate website. Continue to post ads on message boards that allow you to but often that serves you best with recruiting for your direct sale team.

Your products, whether it is Discovery Toys or Tupperware, are best presented online in your resource box as you build your reputation as fun, knowledgeable and credible. Over time and repeated exposure online, your name will become synonymous with your product and your company.

That once limiting corporate website will be the link between you and your customer. Your success with your business and corporate site will be based on creating a market for You.

Tammy Ames
Owner of Wahm Connections http://www.wahmconnections.com - Publisher of Wahm Connections Weekly Online.
Send a blank email to
wahmconnections-subscribe@topica.com
to subscribe to her dynamic weekly ezine available in both email text or html online. Free weekly subscriber ads available.

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CASE STUDY: How Website Monitoring Saved an Online Auto Parts
Retailer

PROBLEM: Customers complaining about site outages and
slow site response times. Hosting company claiming that the
problems had been resolved. Customers remaining dissatisfied.

METHODOLOGY: External website monitoring on a
page-by-page basis at one-minute intervals pinpointed the
problems.

SOLUTIONS: Realigning shared hosting, fixing database
indexing, DNS server upgrade, altering the web host’s BGP
configuration and regular website monitoring.

THE STORY: Once seen as an alternative marketing
channel, online shopping has carved its own niche in the
marketplace. The online shopping sector has grown rapidly,
outstripping other sectors and opening new business prospects.
The factors contributing to the continuous growth of online
shopping include wider product ranges, convenience, lower
prices, and availability of clear product information. Recent
large investments in e-commerce by companies large and small
have further energized the sector and strengthened its roots.

This growth has not come easy. Although most shopping sites feel
that they have rid themselves of persistent growing pains, some
remain. A recent Andersen Consulting Services survey reveals that more
than 25 percent of online shopping experiences fail during
holiday seasons due to site outages. Another
survey by the NDP Group reveals that up to 23 percent of
online shoppers still experience temporary website outages, late
shipments, and customer service issues.

Dotcom-Monitor website
and network monitoring specializes in ensuring performance
and uptime in online transaction processes, including shopping
carts, sign-ins, and form submission. By simulating end-use
actions, Dotcom-Monitor.com verifies each step within a
transaction, not only for proper content, but also for requested
performance. If any test parameters fall outside of the
specified range, responsible personnel are immediately notified.

One of Dotcom-Monitor’s recent customers, a large online auto
parts retailer, approached Dotcom-Monitor with concern about
website performance issues. Even after aggressive marketing
campaigns, this retailer of name brand parts was still noticing
a decline in their online business. Customers persistently
complained about site outages and slow site response times.
Despite repeated complaints by the IT department to the ASP
provider and reassurances from the hosting company that the
problems had been resolved, customers remained dissatisfied.

Realizing a potential disaster for their online business, the IT
department sought a third-party external monitoring service
provider to monitor their e-commerce site 24/7 and identify the
issues and dependencies that were causing website outages.

After one-minute monitoring each day for 7 days, the following
issues were identified:

1. Slow Website Response Dotcom-Monitor’s “report by
hour” feature discovered quickly the issues causing poor
performance. The collected one-minute performance data was
aggregated on an hourly basis into a single weekly report. This
report provided summary statistics about transaction by hour.
Information such as average response time (in seconds), required
time to access the website, and the number of successes and
failures, provided a clear picture about site performance during
different daily intervals. Using Dotcom Monitor’s proprietary
algorithm, it was possible to calculate the site’s slow response
periods. Dotcom-Monitor found that, although the e commerce site
was hosted on a dedicated shared server, during certain times in
a day, other applications on the server consumed most of its
resources. This led to slow site response. This happened only
during certain hours, as the conflicting application was run
only a few times a day.

2. Slow Web Page Response The retailer’s IT department
also discovered that several pages within a transaction, such as
shipping history and “Invoice printout” were extremely slow.
They took a long time to load, causing shoppers to abandon the
site and instead call customer service. Unfortunately, the other
pages within the same transaction were extremely fast to load.
Dues to this discrepancy within the network, Dotcom-Monitor was
able to identify the specific online pages that were slow and
traced the problem to the database table that those pages were
accessing. Once proper indexing was performed, the issue was
resolved.

3. Problem in Accessing the Website During certain
intervals in a day, the retailer’s site became unaccessible
altogether. A number of services, such as mail servers,
websites, and proxy servers, would become unavailable to the
online world. To make matters worse, the ISP could not find any
issues, but customers were still complaining. After a “ping pong
game” to determine the problems between the ISP and customers,
Dotcom Monitor enables its “DNS Monitoring.” Dotcom-Monitor
tested the retailer’s DNS servers by querying specified servers
performing “IP resolution”. Every minute, website monitoring
showed that one DNS server was occasionally unable to resolve
the address. This implied that the DNS server supporting the
organization was not working consistently. The retailer upgraded
the DNS server and the problem was resolved.

4. Varying Website Response from Different Geographical
Locations Persistent monitoring showed that this retailer’s
shopping cart website responded at varying speeds from different
locations. Some customers complained that the site took too long
to open, while others had no issues. Using Dotcom-Monitor’s
“Report by Location” feature, which gathers data from multiple
remote agents at different locations, a traceroute snapshot was
recorded. This report was accompanied by the error message from
every location where slowdown was detected. After analyzing the
data, it was found that the ISP hosting the site used several
providers that did not peer properly with certain networks. This
network peering problem was identified and brought to the ISP.
They took the necessary actions to resolve the problem by
altering their BGP configuration.

5. Website Downtime required frequent monitoring The
retailer’s website occasionally suffered downtime, which led to
customer dissatisfaction. The outages were mostly related to
software glitches that the customer was unable to fix in a short
period of time. These glitches usually required manual
intervention. Enter Dotcom-Monitor. The goal to reduce downtime
was to alert key personnel of any issue immediately. Once
website monitoring detected any problems with the web server,
immediate alert by phone and SMS would be sent to on-call
personnel. This decreased downtime periods from an average of 25
minutes to less than 5 minutes. In today’s highly competitive
environment, customer expectations about website availability
and performance grow daily. What was once acceptable a few years
back is no longer the case today. Website monitoring features,
such as immediate alerts, detailed reports, and aggregated
statistics, help clients find and address issues, and thus
enhance the customer experience.

External website monitoring services offered by companies
like Dotcom-Monitor have helped customers explore issues and
discover otherwise elusive data required to take corrective
actions well before receiving customer complaints.
Dotcom-Monitor.com services extend into all industries. It is
important to note that website monitoring services are a must
for all mission-critical services, and are not just limited to
the current example of shopping cart customers. In industries
such as finance, insurance, medical, and manufacturing, or any
industry that requires high website uptimes and excellent
website response, it is becoming essential to employ external
website monitoring services.

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If you are simply dreaming of “having” a Website. It’s okay….. But if you are keen on “making” your own mark in the Web, and really interested in authoring it, brand it with your very own style and technique, there are some online tools for you to consider

Browser Compatibility
You must design your Web site so that it is viewable on both browsers: Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE). Netscape Navigator is very strict when it comes to HTML tag completion, but IE isn’t. You need to view your site first using Macromedia Dreamweaver before publishing to the Web. Make sure you’ve run the command convert to ensure your site is version 3.0 browser compatible. If you’re using Netobjects Fusion to create the layout of your site, make sure that all layer objects are converted into tables. This is highly recommended if you want to reach a broader and wider audience.

A) Dr. HTML, located at www2.imagiware.com/RxHTML/

B) Web Site Garage to check your links, located at websitegarage.com

C) a variety of site maintenance tools like HTML validator, link checker, server monitor at www.netmechanic.com/

Graphics Optimization
Web graphics play an essential part in your Web design, always make sure that all of your graphics are in .gif and .jpg format. Unless your site deals with photography, minimize the use of the .jpg format.
You can use Macromedia Fireworks to minimize the file size, especially the slicer feature if you need to place a large photo on your site. Another option is the export preview of Macromedia Fireworks. This allows you to remove unwanted colors in your graphics, thus decreasing file size.

You can also do this online by using one of these online utilities:

A) GIF Optimizer by Media Builder, www.gifoptimizer.com

B) JPEG Cruncher and GIF Cruncher, www.spinwave.com/crunchers.html

C) Windows-based graphics optimizer, CyberView Image Lite (JPEG Compressor), www.cyberviewcd.com/cvimage/index.html

D) Advanced GIF Optimizer, www.gold-software.com/ago.html

E) Photo Crunch (JPEG Compressor), www.imroncorp.com/photo.htm

F) JPEG image compression FAQ, www.faqs.org/faqs/jpeg-faq/part1/

Keeping the Site Fresh
I think this is the bulk of a webmaster’s work, if you want your site frequently visited. You can keep your site fresh by really working on new content on a daily or regular basis and by making it interactive. As with content, you can make use of www.moreover.com, www.subportal.com, www.newshub.com, and other content syndication sites to provide the content for your site automatically.

As for the interactivity, offer your visitors web-based email accounts, a message board with a chat room, a search engine crawler, and banner ad rotation. Cbox.ca is a commenting and chat system that combines the best aspects of forums and instant messaging into a single powerful web component. It’s is easy - cut paste of few lines of HTML into your site
Pushing Information to Your Visitors

A Web site is a “pull” promotion, but as a webmaster, you also need to be thinking about how you can “push” information to your visitors, users, or subscribers. You can publish an ezine on a weekly or monthly basis just to let your users be informed about the latest technology you’ve added to your site. As for the mailing list, you can get a free mailing list from www.egroups.com, www.topica.com, or you can choose a paid service such as www.aweber.com or www.getresponse.com. As for the content, you can get lots of articles from bbs.weblord2000.com, or try one or more of my articles that can be found on the same Web site.

Driving Traffic
Webmasters shouldn’t forget to announce your Web site. Accomplishing this is easy for Web sites that already have a lot of traffic, but even sites that are starting out with 5 or 10 members can benefit from the viral marketing of online recommendation software. Services include www.recommend-it.com, www.evite.com, and www.ewomp.com.

Following are some additional suggestions to consider
The layout of the website must be clear and direct to the point. It must be able to explain what the page is all about.
The content of the site must have a relevant impact on the visitor. It must be able to meet the need of the reader and must be presented in an interesting manner to attract more visitors

The length of your page must be of the right dimensions. Consider how your page will with different browsers. Very lengthy pages or short pages can prove to be unattractive.
The images that you incorporate in your website must be of the proper size and resolution. Very large images take a longer time to load and are rarely seen. By the time it has loaded, the visitor is already on another site.

Regular updates assure the reader that they are getting fresh information.

Also, make sure that what you are posting on your website does not contain any typographical errors. Simple errors like these can destroy an otherwise great website.
Provide your visitors a means of contacting. It can also serve as a way for people to inform you should your website have broken links

This information is collected from number of sites and modified and reused, I will remain grateful to the respective original authors. Thus it is no way copyrighted and if you want, you can reuse these articles in your newsletter, web site or ebook. You don’t need to take my permission for re-publishing these articles, as long as you display the resource box at the end of each article.