There are dozens of websites that offer small businesses free contracts, or offer downloads of 'boilerplate' contracts. These can be a good thing, but they are never 'one size fits all' and they can turn into a nightmare if the business owner doesn't make sure they know the laws in their State/Province.
What You Should Know Before Copying Contracts from the Internet
Copying contracts from the Internet is a bit like wearing your old cousin’s hand-me-down dresses . . . in order to walk into a bee’s nest (an incongruous image, I know): yes, you’re \"covered,\" but the style is outdated and they usually don’t fit you well. Plus, they won’t provide you with the protection you need for your particular purpose.
Most small businesses can’t afford the Versace of contracts, and, frankly, it’s often not necessary. Sometimes, Kmart will do nicely. However, when you download something for free, it’s usually worth what you paid for it. Internet contracts need to be mended and altered to make sure they truly fit how you want to do business. But if you have limited experience in making clothing, you risk having the garment unravel at the seams if you try to do it yourself.
In the interest of saving money, you may have downloaded a freebie contract from the Internet. But it’s often what you don’t know -- and what’s not included in the document -- that can hurt you. Internet contracts can be helpful resources for identifying issues for you to think about, but are usually not well thought out, nor are they tailored to the needs of your particular business. If an agreement is not drafted in your favor, it may not give you the flexibility and protection that you really need from your business relationships.
For example, I’ve know of business owners who have formed limited liability companies (LLCs) and have downloaded their ownership agreements from the Internet. When \"Jemma\" got hers from a freebie Internet site, it looked long enough and comprehensive enough, so she and her co-owner (neither of whom are lawyers) signed it. Four months later, Jemma wanted to move to a different state to accommodate her husband’s career path; plus, Jemma learned that she was pregnant. So the time was right to transition to her new stage of life. But her LLC agreement only allowed her to leave the business (1) if she had died (which she hadn’t) or (2) as long as her co-owner agreed (which she didn’t). In short, Jemma’s agreement had no meaningful \"exit strategy.\" And Jemma did not know that these were among the issues she needed to focus on in creating and signing such an agreement. There were a whole host of things that the LLC agreement did not include, such as how to deal with the client base that each owner brought to the business, how to place a dollar value on the intellectual property that each owner contributed, and how to leave the business should life changes (other than Jemma’s death) arise. Jemma’s agreement didn’t cover any of these issues. In the face of an irate business partner and an insufficient agreement, Jemma found herself staring down the barrels of (1) a lengthy and expensive lawsuit to dissolve the business or (2) a less expensive (but more costly than it needed to have been) way to extricate herself from her business partner.
Similar things can happen with even the simplest of contracts with your customers. Download from the Internet all you like, but recognize that the document you copy (1) may not reflect the most recent changes in the law (how will you know? -- ask a lawyer!); (2) may contain provisions that are harmful to your business (or omit ones that could help you), and (3) may not properly reflect how you want to do business with your customers. Internet contracts may raise some of the important issues, without a doubt. But they don’t necessarily deal with the specific issues of your situation. In short, when downloading from the Internet: \"one size fits all\" usually means that \"one size fits none.\"
How to avoid this pitfall: ideally, by working with an attorney who really understands the legal issues that small businesses face. Although some entrepreneurs may try to economize with a do-it-yourself approach, they often end up costing themselves more because they are not trained, as attorneys are, to spot the issues and problems that can harm them. Taking the time to find a lawyer who meets your needs is one of the best investments you will ever make in the growth of your business. Find out more about how to hire and work with attorneys -- and keep your costs down -- by listening to the free audio class available through www.WiseCounselPress.com. With the help of your lawyer, you can start to make the smart decisions that will protect your company and save you money!
© 2005 Wise Counsel Press LLC. Nina L. Kaufman, Esq., is a small business attorney and the founder of Wise Counsel Press LLC, which offers easy-to-understand legal strategies that protect small businesses and save them money . . . wisely. To learn more, and to sign up for their FREE how-to articles and FREE audio class, visit www.WiseCounselPress.com.
With the help of your lawyer, you can start to make the smart decisions that will protect your company and save you money! © 2005 Wise Counsel Press LLC. Nina L. Kaufman, Esq., is a small business attorney and the founder of Wise Counsel Press LLC, which offers easy-to-understand legal strategies that protect small businesses and save them money . . . wisely. To learn more, and to sign up for their FREE how-to articles and FREE audio class, visit www.WiseCounselPress.com.
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4/29/08
Beware Free Contracts
Digg Series: The Basics
Kevin Rose's friend David Prager (The Screen Savers, This Week in Tech) originally wanted to call the site “Diggnation”, but Kevin wanted a simpler name. He chose the name "Digg", because users are able to "dig" stories, out of those submitted, up to the front page. The site was called “Digg” instead of “Dig” because the domain name “dig.com” was previously registered, by Walt Disney Internet Group. “Diggnation” would eventually be used as the title of Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht's weekly podcast discussing popular stories from Digg.
The original design was free of advertisements, and was designed by Dan Ries. As Digg became more popular, Google AdSense was added to the website. In July 2005, the site was updated to "Version 2.0". The new "version" featured a friends list, the ability to "digg" a story without being redirected to a "success" page, and a new interface designed by web design company Silverorange [2]. The site developers have stated that in future versions a more minimalist design will likely be employed. On Monday June 26, 2006 version 3 of Digg was released with specific categories for Technology, Science, World & Business, Videos, Entertainment and Gaming as well as a View All section where all categories are merged.
Digg has grown large enough that submissions sometimes create a sudden increase of traffic to the "dugg" website. This is referred to by some Digg users as the "Digg effect" and by some others as the site being "dugg to death". However, in many cases stories are linked simultaneously on several popular bookmarking sites. In such cases, the impact of the "digg effect" is difficult to isolate and assess. Wordpress is especially hated among diggers for its tendency to crash under the increased traffic.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digg
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Digg: How To Get On Top
There are people who study what hits the top of Digg, and what doesn't. The basics rule is that you don't need to get everyone of your articles up there to generate free content. Just write one good article and then promote it. Ask people to Digg it.
Top Categories on Digg
36% Technology
29% World and Business
18% Offbeat News
9% Science
7% Entertainment
1% Gaming
Types of article in the Top 100
38% News
15% Announcement
16% Story
11% Other
6% Story about Digg
5% General blog
4% Secret
3% Top list article
2% How to
If you write one article on Tehcnology news, you are most likely to get on top - in theory. These numbers could be skewed by the fact that there are digg groups promoting certain aritcles and burrying other articles.
The average number of words in the top articles are 650 with the chances of reaching the top levels decreasing as the article reaches 1000 words. No one really wants to read articles over 1500 words.
Comments
There is more chances of getting in the top 100 if your group leaves a comment. The more comments, the higher the comment will rank.
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Server Pronto
The Top Corporation ServerPronto is the place to find budget dedicated servers from $29.00 per month. They offer cheap managed servers. Excellent for new businesses that are getting started.
Server Pronto provides 24/7 customer support via a ticketing system. Their servers can be used for web development, email, photos, gaming, or all of the above.
This is a great place to start your own web based business.
4/22/08
Happy Earth Day -
The windows are open. The sky is blue. The air is warm. I love spring.Most years April is wet and cool. This year, the temperature is a balmy 20C.
I've already been to the garden centers. Their racks are still bare. The skids stacked in patient repose. Only the greenhouses are a hive of activity, their thousands of plants yearning for the summer's light.
4/18/08
Bloggers Starting to Mock Google
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1422253744/bclid1425858176/bctid1425858171
The net is full of reports by bloggers who have gone from making a good living to zip because of Google's last move. What Google didn't take into account was the fact that most bloggers do not rely on Google for the bulk of their income.
The above video shows the irreverance that bloggers have for Google. In the last two years, many bloggers are receiveing 10 000 hits a month plus, have large RSS subscriptions, lots of comments, and yet they don't make more than $1 a day from Google.
Why should they obey Google anymore when IZEA, payu2blog,and Blogsvertise has been paying the bills for many of them? It will be amazing to see what happens if bloggers totally turn their back on Google.
4/17/08
Get Paid to Post on YouTube
No one touches the web without learning what YouTube is. Now they are testing a new program in Australia where contributors earn money in exchange for a banner being placed on the ad. This revenue sharing is designed to help contributors who create good content.
http://au.youtube.com/partners
The program has been operating in the United States and United Kingdom for months. Some contributors are already earning thousands of dollars each month.
"It has certainly been an incentive for people to create more content," a YouTube Australia spokesman said.
"There are people overseas who have millions of video views and are earning thousands of dollars."
Many people have worked hard to become celebrities on YouTube. The secret to success is found in building a community and interacting with viewers.
Build Page Rank
Have you ever wanted to go blog hopping without the guilt? Smorty has created a new system that allows you to do just that. Much in the same way Diva Network is designed to let bloggers work together to build links, Smorty has added a tool that lets bloggers review each other's work. Best of all, it is free.
It is about time someone created a system where bloggers could support other bloggers. This is a great system. For every review you do for another blogger, someone does one for you. You do not need to activate all the blogs that are listed with smorty. All you need to do is activate the ones that you want to promote.
If you want someone to write a blog review your home blog then you will put the review on your home blog. To make it more 'fair,' smorty also matches blogs by Page Rank. This way, a blogger will not find themselves writing posts for PR0 sites and then posting a review on a PR4 site.
This is not a reciprocal links system. Smorty set up the system so that Blogger A reviews Blogger B. Blogger B reviews Blogger C. Blogger C reviews Blogger A. This keeps all the SEO and Page Rank algorithms clean.
4/12/08
Work at Home Review: WHAM.com
I normally warn people away form the free or buy-in opportunities on the net. Most of them are built for one purpose, to rip of the desperate. There is an old business saying 'if you want to become wealthy than cater to the lowest denominator.' This is true with the opportunities. They all cater to desperate people who need money - now. Unfortunately, these people are so desperate that they will put their grocery money down for the promise that someone will help them succeed.
Of all the WHAM (work at home mom) programs - the only one I ever have - ever will support is WHAM.com. That doesn't mean that I believe their site is 100% danger proof. But, if you need to have your hand held, and to have someone show you how to manage your time, money, and business, then this is the place to find help.
Work at Home Moms Opportunity- are These Hard to Find?
Many mom dream of staying at home and being a full time mom. Money is usually the biggest thing preventing that from happening which is really sad when you think about it.
So in order to be a stay at home Mom you have to find a work at home Moms opportunity that you can start making money with. it does always seem to come back to making money doesn't it!
You can choose to start your home business with many different work at home Moms opportunities. You just have to take the time to do some research to find the opportunities that will be the best for you.
Don't give in and pick the first work at home opportunity you come across. Before you decide you have to thoroughly check out each one.
Most Moms get online to start a business but they want to do something that has to do with kids or with other things that Moms know a lot about. So decide what type of products you would like to sell and then look for a work at home opportunity that has them.
You can also find the opportunity and then look at the products if you don't have any clue about what you want to do. One idea would be to help other moms start their own online business by teaching tips you have learned.
You can find a lot of opportunities that are put together with Moms in mind. In other words, you can find a work at home Moms opportunity that only Moms would be interested in doing.
One website that really caters to work at home moms is WAHM.com. This is a website for moms and helping them make money working at home.
One way many moms choose to do is know as affiliate marketing. This is where you get paid to sell other people's products. There are several good places to elarn more about affiliate marketing.
One website that offers affiliate programs in many different areas is CJ.com. AssociatePrograms.com is another site that has a directory of affiliate programs, affiliate marketing training, and a discussion forum.
This is just a few ideas to start with. Just remember that it is not hard to find a work at home moms opportunity if you are willing to take the time to look for it. The Internet is the perfect place to do just that.
Guy Mendelson invites you to visit his work at home business idea website for hundreds of internet marketing tips. work at home moms opportunity
Free Computer Security Software
I recommend AVG I used the Free AVG for the longest time, about 5 years. It protected me better than Norton did. In fact, I bought a new computer with Norton installed. It was working slow within 3 weeks so I ran AVG and found 250 extra viruses and tracking cookies that were slowing the computer down.
I also use Lavasoft spyware. I do have a fire wall with AVG, and spyware, in my paid version, but nothing beats lavasoft for finding a few 'loose cannons' in the files.
I do not trust Windows Defender - end of story.
I use AVG firewall, but if you can't pay for the full version of AVG then get ZONE ALARM.
--------------------------
Looking After Your Computer
If you are going to work and do a lot of browsing on the Internet, the first thing you need to learn is how to take care of your computer.
It is far better that you take the trouble to look after your computer regularly, rather than have it freeze or crash when you lose everything on it, at which time you’ll have to pay out a lot to have it fixed.
Here are some tips to prevent disasters:
1) Set your virus checker to update itself automatically. This way, it is always updated with the latest protection.
2) Scan your computer daily when you finish working on it.
3) If on a certain day you happen to download many pages, software, programs, zipped files, exe files, etc., immediately after downloading everything, scan your computer. This way, just in case a virus existed in anything you downloaded, you will catch it in time before it infects your entire Hard Drive.
4) Use your online scanner to scan your computer once a week.
5) Use your adware/spyware checker once a week.
6) Do not open any attachments in emails from people you do not know.
7) Do not open any attachments even from people you do know, if you are not expecting anything from them.
8) A virus could replicate itself to everyone on the address book and send itself out by email, without the owner even knowing this has been done.
9) Do not download free music on the Internet – these free sites are always infected.
10) Do not download any free games from the Internet.
11) Adult sites are particularly prone to viruses.
12) Back up all your data on a daily basis. Use floppy disks, flash drives, memory sticks, zip disks, CD-ROMs, etc.
13) Print out contracts, payment forms, agreements and all legal documents and file them away in a ring-binder.
14) Try not to keep anything to do with your finances, payment details, payment processor passwords, credit card details, etc. on your computer.
15) A hacker could easily access all these details, if they are anywhere on your computer.
Sadly, despite all these precautions your computer might still get infected, as the people who invent these malicious programs are getting even sneakier.
When this happens, the easiest way to rid your computer of a virus is by rebooting your computer. This is not as difficult as it may sound, and if you learn how to do this yourself you could save yourself hundreds of dollars in repair bills.
Author: Pooja Rani
Have You Forgotten About Technorati?
We all know what technorati is. We claimed our blogs when we first started to blog. But, over time we stopped going to technorati to ping our blogs. We let them go out of date. We stopped using technorati.
Now to be honest - I know about the melt down. I know about the apparent 'lost' service rep hiding out in the basement of some dark office tower...as the urban legend goes.
But, despite that, technorati should not be ignored. There is a new tool at technorati that lets you access your tehnorati account from blogger, AOL, wordpress, and other blog platforms using the open ID feature.
It is also important to remember that many ranking systems, such as the one used at sponsored reviews, give your technorati rank importance. That said - thencorati (like Google) doesn't count all your links.
I personally have tried to use their search and am not impressed. After 10 minutes of being told there were no posts in my blogs (of 8 paid post blogs) with the tag 'blog' and then trying a site wide search to be told that no one is blogging on 'blogs' - I gave up.
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Social Networking and Music
Youtube brought social networking and music video together. This community has done a lot to let people meet friends, network, meet business colleagues, and share. This platform has been so successful that other sites have taken the premise one step farther.
If you are not comfortable in the 'kid zones' of social networking then join 3gb community www.3gb.biz. One of the advantages 3gb has over the other sites is that people actually talk to each other. They are not just pumping their own product online and hoping someone else will hit their posts.
This makes 3gb more effective and fun than 99% of the other networking sites. I give this site a thumbs up and think it is a great place for my blog fans. This site not only lets you share photos, but you can share MP3 as well.
If you want to chat with me then just find the following avatar or gracepub
4/1/08
Open Source Survives
(NSDQ: MSFT)
It's bad enough that Microsoft is threatening to sue the independents who are creating open source software. But what's hard to take is their belief that you cannot create your own scripts without stealing Microsoft code for your project. At the Open Source Business Conference in San Francisco, one show organizer took revenge. Remember, Linux was well established while MS was still working out of a garage.
Jonathan Corbet, the man in question, said in a panel at the Conference in San Francisco last May:
"I feel I've been called a thief," he said levelly during a panel at the event, and pointed out that Microsoft was one of the companies that had patented "thousands of trivial functions ... There's no way to write a nontrivial program that can't be claimed to infringe on someone's patents."
What MS doesn't want you to know is that there is a lot of open source code floating around their programs.
This is an old - old - argument. Open source and corporations have been arguing over ownership of code for generations. There are millions of dollars of stolen code floating through corporate America.
Programmers can identify their work because they may put their babies birth date, or the first date they kissed their husband, into the code. They are always finding code being sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars that contains their code - but gives them no credit.
This could be one reason why Vista won't let so many software programs work on their system. This limits the number of open source software you can use if you have Vista.
What does this mean for us? Open Source doesn't mean second hand, not good enough, or second rate quality. It does mean 'free for public use.'
I use some open source and free software. Most of Google's toolbar tools are open source and donated.
If you want to try out some open source software programs then visit:
http://www.opensourcewindows.org/
http://www.tucows.com/
Should You Try to Control Google’s Adsense Ads?
There is a lot of controversy over whether a blogger should put meta code in their blog templates, and use H1, H2, H3, heading tags to control the ads Google puts on their blog.
I am on the pro side. I find that the meta tags and heading codes gives me the freedom to go a little ‘off topic’ without worrying about having random, low paying, and off topic ads appear in my Google Adsense towers.
That said, many bloggers think they are missing Google’s highest paid opportunities by trying to control the system. They argue that the click through rate may be lower, and that google’s sliding scale will slide farther down in Google’s favor. All – reasonable and realistic possibilities.
The answer to the question is personal, but should also depend on whether you expect to earn most of your revenue from Google. Most bloggers do not.
In fact, most bloggers are lucky to receive one or two checks a year. Not Google’s fault. They tell you how bloggers how to succeed. There are a lot of blogs like this one that teach bloggers how to succeed. The problem is that most bloggers do not get it.
I’ve talked to many new bloggers who think that posting 10 articles a month is horrible, let alone 50 or 100. Yet, they want the same income as bloggers who do post this number of blogs. The facts are clear. Bloggers cannot work on their blog ‘in their spare time’ and expect to earn a full time income.
But, if the blogger does put the work into their blog, I think they should stick with the ads that have proven to pay in the past, the ones which their readers click through most often…and to do that, you need to control Google using legal SEO tricks.
Common Business Mistake: Bad Publicity
Marketing Through Controversy Can Backfire
There are success stories that used controversy to build a brand name and to promote their business through controversial issues. This may include using swear words in the product to outright rebellion against the system. It is true that many of us never hear of a person or product before the controversy. That doesn’t mean their sales increase with the exposure.
Ruffling feathers in some venues may increase sales as people rush out to buy the product (or read the blog/book) to see what the controversy is about. But, think about the long term. When you offend people they want nothing to do with you. You alienate part of the market.
It also stains your company/personal brand. You are never again seen with the same respect or social standing. Branding is the one thing that people remember about you/your business. It is important to make sure that your marketing campaign focuses on the positive – problem solving – customer friendly aspects of the business.
If you are considering to spark controversy then it is vital that you know everything about your target audience. Who will buy the product – not who will jump on the controversy bandwagon. What is the risk assessment. How far do you want to offend people.
Can you realistically expect to earn more money by losing a large segment of your target audience?
Avoid Common Mistakes: Slamming the Competition
Many businesses work hard to offer more than the competition does. They go the extra mile. They take a bigger profit cut. These are all good promotion and marketing tactics. They are the foundation of a solid marketing campaign that will work for small ecommerce business owners as well as brick-and-mortar business owners.
The problem comes when the business owner starts to highlight the differences. There is a fine line between highlighting the best in your business and bad mouthing the competition. Even if the complaints are legit. Even if there are thousands of reviews stating the same thing as your internet marketing campaign does. If you badmouth the competition clients will see ‘you’ as the bad one – sale lost.
Vacations as Tax Write Offs for Writers
Have you ever seen those websites where the owners and successful members are all on vacation, laughing it up, enjoying the good life? Well, why don’t you do it? I am not saying that you need to broadcast all of your holiday pictures across the internet. But, there are some pictures that make you look successful.
One of the best things to do is have your picture taken with successful people. This can be done either locally or internationally. No matter where you vacation, there are dozens of chances to meet someone photo-worthy.
Branding is about fame. It is about making your image and name recognizable. One way to do that is to impact the viewer and make them remember. A good way to do this is to associate with famous people. Keep in mind, fame is relative. It is also illusive. If you hang with famous people – even if no one has heard of them – then you must be famous.
Also, if you use your vacation to promote your product, take pictures at famous places, take pictures with famous people, and research the competition then the vacation becomes a tax write off.
Submit Blogs To Paid Posts Carefully
It is a hard decision to make. I have 30 blogs. They are not all submitted to PayPerPal, Smorty, etc. I have two trains of thought on the purpose. I do have blogs that will earn money at all. I think I would probably make $500 - $1000 more a month if I submit to all.
The problem is, can my blogs carry 30% more load for every new agency? If I submit a blog to all of the big three, that might mean I will need to post 5 – 10 new posts per blog, per agency. This translates into 15 – 30 new blog posts.
This doesn’t count the ‘real content.’ I do use free content, but each of those posts start with up to 100 words of my own thoughts. I already write about 30 posts a week, with 60 more ‘real content’
Not only would my workload increase if I submitted all blogs to all PayPerPost agencies, but so would my subscriber load. I currently have about 35 subscribers. Each of these receive up to 30 posts a week in their email. Doubling this would not only be rude, they would leave me.
It is something a blogger needs to consider. Even paid post blogs have loyal subscribers and they have people who visit their website on a regular basis. I have about 300 return visitors on one blog. I consider them more valuable.
So, what do you do if you need to make more money? The solution is either to increase your page rank so you earn more money per post (I have earned as much as $50 for a post). Or, you can just create more blogs. (note: I said blogs not splogs)
Before answering the question you need to determine which blogs you want to selectively choose the blog posts you want to be on your site, and which ones you don’t mind having ads on.
This will organically divide your blogs. If you are striving for PR4 or higher on a blog, then don’t sign with a company like blogsvertise which doesn’t give you a choice and penalizes you if you continually reject blog posts.
