Instructions for Making Crock Pot Handmade Soap

These instructions outline my steps for making crock pot soap and assume you are familiar with the soapmaking process.



Start with a good recipe. I prefer recipes that have a higher amount of liquid oil to solids. One of my favorite recipes is very simple: 60% Olive Oil, 20% Palm Kernel Oil, 20% Palm Oil. Run it through a lye calculator to determine the amount of lye and [distilled] water needed. I don't discount my water when making hot process.



I use a 6 1/2 quart crock pot. A 4 pound batch of soaps fits perfectly. It fills the crock pot about half full - giving room in the case of it bubbling up, but not too little an amount that it could burn.



First, measure water and set aside.



Then measure the lye into a separate container. Slowly pour the lye into the pitcher of cold water. Stir until dissolved. Set aside in a safe place.



Once I have my lye mixture set aside, I measure my solid oils. These can be put into the crock pot to be melted. But, it takes longer this way, so I generally put them into the microwave for a couple minutes until melted and then pour into the crockpot.



At this point, my crock pot is on low.



I recommend using a good rubber spatula to scrape the bowl - no sense leaving any good oils behind.



Next, I measure my olive oil - and/or any other liquid oils I happen to be using - and pour this into the crockpot.



Get out your handy-dandy stickblender and using low speed, slowly pour the lye mixture into the melted oils. Gently move the stickblender around, up, down, around, ensuring a nice even blend. If you don't have a stickblender, a stainless steel wire whisk works great too - just requires a little more arm power.



Once it has reached 'trace', I put the lid on the crockpot and turn the heat setting up to high. However, the first few times I made crock pot soap, I left it on low until I was confident in how it worked (both the soap AND my crockpot).



Now, I ready my mold, measure out any fragrance oils or essential oils and any additives I plan to use.



After about 15 or 20 minutes, I take the lid off and, using a potato masher, mash the soap around. It has a look of a vaseline texture; glossy, slick. It will have a waxy feel if you rub a piece of it between gloved fingers.



Add your additives, colorants, herbs, etc and mix well using the potato masher. Once that is blended fairly well, add your fragrance and mix again.



It is done! At this point, it's really soap. It only needs to be put into your mold. I do this in large spoonfuls, pounding my mold on the counter every few scoops to ensure it packs into the mold tightly. Once I have it all in the mold, I put a baggie on my hand and flatten the top - making sure to "squish" it into the corners really well.



Now is a good time to wash all the dishes. And you don't even need to add any soap! You should see some lovely lather from the soap you've just made.



I let this sit over-night. The next morning, I unmold and slice into bars to air out for a week or so. Once each bar has had time to harden, I bevel each one and it's ready for use, or sale.



My favorite crock pot soap recipe:



Rosemary Mint Handmade Soap

4 pounds

- 38 ounces olive oil (59.38%)

- 14.4 ounces palm kernel oil (22.5%)

- 11.6 ounces palm oil (18.13%)

- 8.7 ounces sodium hydroxide (5% discount)

- 17.5 ounces distilled water

- 3 ounces rosemary mint blend essential oils

- 2 teabags of Organic Peppermint tea



Disclaimer: Sodium Hydroxide is highly caustic and should be handled carefully and knowledgeably. It is the soapmakers responsibility to research safety procedures for soapmaking.

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Judi Cox is a work at home mom living in the Ohio Valley with her husband and 4 children. Judi�s interests include working websites (two of her websites www.momslittlegarden.com and www.mommamuse.com). She enjoys gardening for fun and for the birds, playing with the kids, reading, website design and promotion.

Prepare for New Baby with These Tried and True Items

Clothing



Plenty of t-shirts and sleepers. If you only want to do laundry every few days, figure around 4 tshirts, and 2 sleepers per day. This may be a bit more than necessary on most days, but there will always be the occasional day, or days, when baby is spitting up more than normal, or has messy blow-outs. You'll appreciate the extra tees.



Diapers and Wipes



Disposables or Cloth. In todays internet world, you will find diapers and wipes in variety of styles, patterns and personalities. The options are even wider for cloth than they are for disposables, can you imagine? There are some really ingenious designs that make diapering a baby's tush almost seem exciting! And the following within the cloth diaper community feels the same way. However, beware, you may end up needing to one day admit "My name is ___. And I'm a cloth diaper addict."



Can't talk yourself into cloth? No worries, the disposable diapers have come along way and while they aren't soft natural cotton and wool, they do keep your baby dry and don't leak.



How much of each? Only keep a couple jumbo packs of disposables on hand at a time. Babies grow so fast you aren't always able to guage how soon they'll be into the next size. Planning on using cloth? A dozen or two dozen would probably be a good start. What I've seen is cloth diapers are an addictive thing and you may end up with wonderful cloth diapers coming out your ears! Wipes? I always buy by the package and sometimes by the box. Making your own? A yard of flannel or fleece would probably yeild a good start.



Blankets



Receiving blanket. Those itty bitty blankets you wrap a newborn in, but after the first month aren't good for much baby wrapping. But if you, like most women, end up with a few dozen of them, they make great lap pads, burp pads, and for mom, use them to wrap your hair when you get out of the shower - they are light-weight so they don't fall over when you are tending to baby, or use them as a nursing pad when you are bra-less. They work just fine. They may also be used when baby is going bare - to catch any accidents.



On the other hand, a couple of really nice, kid-sized blankets are must have!



Sling or Carrier



The online mothering community has been inundated with every type of baby sling and carrier you could imagine, and then some! Padded to unpadded slings, pouches, wraps and carriers. These, like cloth diapers, may lead to addiction, tread with caution! But a good carrier is a must have. You even see mothers in the public eye touting their babes in slings nowadays. It's no longer alternative, having paved a path into mainstream.



Structured carriers are great too. Do some research and where possible, give one a test run. Some communities offer baby wearing classes and have slings you can test. Some online shops will even send you a used sling to try, reserving cost on your credit card - then applied back when you return the carrier.



Sleeping Area



Co-sleeping has become more commonplace practice, but it isn't always for everyone. Not to mention, some moms, even the attachment parenting mom would like a place to lay baby. Some ideas include a bassinet or cradle, a travel crib, a moses basket, or many others. This is something you may need to experiment with to find the best fit for you and the baby. Different stages of babyhood may require some changes.



Pad an out of the walk-way area of the floor with a couple receiving blankets and make a little nest for baby to lay. No extra expense.



Required Baby Items:

Car Seat



Unless you live in a walking/biking community, chances are you'll need a carseat. For safety's sake, do your research on this one. An infant seat is nice when you can take it in and out of the car easily while baby sleeps, but any secure, up-to-date infant approved carseat is great, necessary! Also, take note that not all carseats fit all cars.



Optional:

Stroller



Most mothers who "wear" their babies say you don't need a stroller. Strollers don't have to recieve use directly from the baby to be useful. It comes in handy to carry coats and jackets, drinks, purse or diaper bag, extra diapers, change of clothes, not to mention any purchased items on your outing. As an added benefit, it leaves mom pretty hands free - you get really good at pushing a stroller with one hand! If you opt for a stroller, choose one that has drink carriers.



Bouncy Seat



A bouncy seat comes in handy so often, that while I'd classify it as "optional", for myself, it was necessary. I loved our bouncy seat as much as baby enjoyed it. I carried it everywhere with me, to the bathroom for instance. It was a great baby holder while I took care of bathroom duties, did the dishes and cooked dinner. Baby and I would sing, talk and play while I got chores done.



Diaper Bag



Any bag with a couple pockets works well. The younger the baby, the bigger the bag needed. As baby grows and has less accidents (i.e. spit up, bottom blow-outs), you'll get more efficient at packing just what you may need. Don't go overboard on a diaper bag with all the frills. A nice canvas bag, decorated by you and siblings, works just as well. Toss in a couple gallon-sized baggies for messes, a couple of receiving blankets for padding and you're good to go!



Judi Cox is a work at home mom living in the Ohio Valley with her husband and 4 children. Judi�s interests include working websites (two of her websites www.momslittlegarden.com and www.mommamuse.com). She enjoys gardening for fun and for the birds, playing with the kids, reading, website design and promotion.

Summertime Craft Ideas

Here are a few, easy to personalize, craft ideas for summertime fun or to celebrate May Day, Mother's Day or a holiday weekend. All craft supplies are easily attainable from craft supply stores or online suppliers. While making these crafts is a fun family activity, some are available in pre-assembled kits, or already made. Use your favorite search engine for more information on various ideas � keyword suggestions are offered below craft each idea.



1. Terra cotta clay pot bird bath. Invert terra cotta clay pots, from larger on bottom and smallest on top. Add a clay saucer (the part the pot sits in to catch the drained water). A waterproof saucer is necessary. Set the clay saucer on top of the inverted stack of pots. Paint or mosaic the pots if you feel especially creative. For more bird fun, add a mister. Birds love to play in the water. Note: Make two similar stands and use one for a bird feeder.



Keywords: clay pot bird bath; clay pot bird feeder; terra cotta bird bath.



2. Plant and grow an herb garden. Include herbs such as basil, thyme, sage, chives and any other favorites. You'll have fresh herbs to add to your recipes all summer long. Herbs are easy to grow, making this an easy garden for kids to help. Take it one step further and create a "kitchen garden", including lettuce spinach, tomato, cucumber or other salad favorites.



Keywords: growing herbs; kitchen garden; easy herb gardening; gardening plans; container gardening.



3. Build a toad abode. Use a terra cotta pot and a rock. Invert a clay pot and prop edge on a rock. If you have a chipped pot, that would work great too and wouldn�t require propping. Paint and decorate to your liking.



Keywords: clay toad abode; toad house; frog house.



4. A handmade stepping stone. Personalize with stones, marbles, or other memorable items. Make the project a tradition. Mark the stone with the year and include items to remember the year; a key (house or car), a toy, etc. A footprint each year could signify the walk of life and would be fun for young children to mark their growth from summer to summer.



Keywords: stepping stone craft; handmade stepping stones; stepping stone kits.



5. Personalized necklaces. Letter beads (for names or initials), a few spacer beads, a charm or two added to a simple chain makes a lovely, personal necklace for any mom or grandmother. For fun, make matching necklaces one for mom, grandmother, and daughters.



Keywords: personalized mother's necklace.



6. Bookmarks make a great craft for rainy days. Get creative � use paper, dried flowers, ribbons, needlepoint thread. Use beads and charms attached to chain or yarn to create a �book thong�.



Keywords: handmade bookmarks; handmade book thong.



7. A decorated throw pillow. A pre-made throw pillow with light colored fabric, decorated with fabric paint. Fabric glue will easily adhere buttons and other small mementos. Start from scratch and decorate your fabric before making a pillow � tie-dye, iron-on colored pictures made with fabric crayons or reverse dying using a darker fabric and bleach provide many creative ways to decorate any pillow or piece of fabric. Another variation would be decorating pillow cases.



Keywords: handmade throw pillow; throw pillow craft; decorative pillow craft; fabric crayons; iron-on transfers.



8. A tie-dye party is fun for family or a gathering of extended family and friends. Supplies are readily available online coming in easy kits.



Keywords: tie dye supplies; reverse dying.



When doing a search, try searching images also. Often time pictures of an already made item will spark some creative thoughts.



There are so many fun activities to be done outdoors during nice weather. For more ideas, or to submit your own, visit http://www.mommamuse.com/2006/04/21/summertime-craft-ideas/ .



Judi Cox is a work at home mom living in the Ohio Valley with her husband and 4 children. Judi�s interests include working websites (two of her websites www.momslittlegarden.com and www.mommamuse.com). She enjoys gardening for fun and for the birds, playing with the kids, reading, website design and promotion.

Vitamin K and B-3 Beneficial to Skin

Vitamin K and Vitamin B-3, also known as niacin, have long been known to have non-skin related health benefits, but recent studies have shown that both vitamins have dermatological applications.



�Vitamins continue to be reorganized as having an important role to play in the health of the body,� says Dr David Smith, chief researcher at Skin White Research Labs. 'New studies have shown that Vitamin K and niacin are beneficial to the skin, particularly for the problems involving pigmentation and dry skin.�



Vitamin K plays an important role in blood clotting, and studies have shown it to maintain strong bones in the elderly. However, dermatologists have recently found Vitamin K to be successful on the treatment of dark circles under the eyesand bruising on the face.



A recent study included two groups, one that applied an under-eye cream containing sunscreen and another that applied an under-eye cream containing a combination of Vitamin K and retinol. An examination of the under-eye colour at the beginning of the study and at the end found a significant lightening in the group using the vitamin K and retinol combination.



Vitamin K has also recently been studied for its effects on reducing bruising following certain dermatological procedures. Those patients who applied the Vitamin K after the procedure noticed a significant reduction in the severity of bruising.



One derivative of niacin, nicotinamide, has been shown to improve the ability of the epidermis to retain moisture. In a recent study, topical nicotinamide was applied to the skin for six-days. Following the study, all patients reported softer, smoother skin, less dryness and flakiness, and a reduction in lines.



�The benefits to the skin after application of nicotinamide can be useful for patients with atopic dermatitis, who often experience dry, irritated skin when the disease flares,� suggests Dr Smith. �This could be another promising treatment for ageing skin, which often becomes dry and flaky as we age.�



Niacinamide, another derivative, has also been shown to be an effective skin lightening agent, especially for skin condition where hyperpigmentation may occur on the face or other visible part of the body. Patients with hyperpigmentation were analyzed by computer and most patients experienced decreased hyperpigmentation and increased skin lightness.



Topical niacinamide has also been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties, which makes it a potential treatment for acne, rosacea and any blistering-type disease. Recent studies also noted that niacin and its derivatives have chemopreventative effects. When applied to mouse skin, topical nicotinamide produced a 70 per cent decrease in ultra-violet-induced skin cancer.



Article contributed by Debra Tan who is a senior product development consultant at Skin White Research Labs. Equipped with a team of experienced cosmeceutical researchers, SkinWhite Research Labs is a company that specializes in the formulation of skin whitening products that help to rectify dark skin and pigmentation problems. Please visit their official website for more skin lightening information and tips.

County Court Judgements Explained

Having a County Court Judgement or CCJ issued against you will have a severe impact on your credit rating, as it signifies that you have had serious problems paying back a loan or other form of credit, to the extent where your creditor has had to take court action against you to try and recover the debt.

If you get into arrears and fail to come to a repayment agreement, your creditor may decide that pursuing a CCJ is the only option. The first you'll hear about it is when you receive a 'Claim Form' through the post, sent to you by the county court. This form will set out the details of the claim, including who the creditor is and how much they say you owe them.

If you were unaware of the debt, for instance if you'd moved house and lost contact with the creditor, then repaying the full debt now will stop proceedings going any further. If however you can't clear the debt, then you should fill out an 'Admissions Form' which will also have been sent to you.

This form asks for information about your income and expenses, which the court will take into account when hearing your case. The Admissions Form should be returned within 16 days of the postmark it holds, although if you intend to dispute or defend the claim then you can apply to have the hearing delayed an extra 14 days in order to prepare your defence.

Once you've filled in these forms and returned them to the court, there will be a simple hearing carried out in private. You don't have to attend the hearing so long as you've completely filled in the necessary forms, or unless you wish to dispute aspects of the claim.

At the hearing, the court will objectively review the claim and the information you've provided, and come to a decision about the amount of money (if any) you owe, and how it should be repaid. It's important to note that no one is being found 'guilty' or 'innocent' here, the court is simply trying to fairly resolve a civil financial dispute.

If the decision upholds the claim against you, then the court order or CCJ is issued. Even at this stage you can stop the damage to your credit record, as you'll have one month from the date of the court hearing to repay the debt in full to stop the CCJ being put on record.

After a month, the CCJ will be entered on to the Register of County Court Judgements, and from there it will make its way onto your credit files held by the various credit reference agencies.

The presence of one or more CCJs on your credit file will effectively close off most kinds of finance to you, as most lenders will be very reluctant to advance credit to people in these circumstances. Once, however, you've cleared the debt, then the judgement will be marked as 'satisfied', and while this will not remove it from your record it is a lot less harmful to your credit worthiness than an uncleared CCJ.

If you have a CCJ on your record, you might be tempted by companies promising to remove it and clean up your rating. Unfortunately, this is only feasible in a few cases. Sometimes, the CCJ is entered on to your record by mistake even though you cleared the debt within the one month time limit. If this has happened then you have the right to have it removed from your records.

The only other ways to have a CCJ removed is to show that there was something wrong with the way in which the judgement was awarded. If, for example, you didn't receive the initial Claim Form, and you were unaware of the proceedings, then you didn't have the chance to defend yourself and so the judgement is invalid.

In these circumstances, you can apply to the court to 'set aside' the judgement and it will be removed from your file, with the whole process starting again with a new claim and hearing. Any attempt to gain a 'set aside' without a reasonable argument could be seen as wasting the court's time, with all the legal penalties that would entail.

If you receive a Claim Form through the post, it's important not to panic. Although a CCJ against your name is harmful to your credit rating, it isn't a criminal matter and won't lead to further action such as repossession of your home or bankruptcy. The CCJ procedure is there so that the court can help to resolve your debt in a way that is fair to both you and your creditor.



Nicholas Hunt is a contributing writer at 1Stop Finance, where you can read more about CCJs and other aspects of bad credit finance.

Payday Loans : For and Against

While payday loans have long been popular in the USA, they are a relatively new service for UK customers, and many people aren't sure exactly what they are. With all the controversy over whether they're a worthwhile service or simply a form of legalised sharking, it's a good idea for any UK resident thinking of applying to know exactly what they're getting into.

Most of us struggle for money towards the end of the month to some extent, and have to tighten our belts a little by cutting down on socialising or other forms of non-essential spending. This is a perfectly normal (if annoying!) fact of financial life for most of us who are employed and get paid once a month. Sometimes however, running out of money can be more serious than this if there are essential expenses to be paid such as an unexpected bill or repair cost.

Many people use the overdraft facility of their bank accounts to give them a bit of leeway when funds are short, but in today's world many people are permanently overdrawn and near their limits, so this may not be an option.

An alternative way of tiding you over until your next salary is to use a credit card, both for purchases and cash withdrawals. There are several problems with this, including the fact that credit cards are an expensive form of borrowing, and it's tempting to build up a large balance which can have a disastrous effect on your long term financial health.

If neither of the previous two options are right for you, then a payday loan may be worth considering. Briefly, these loans are available to nearly everyone with a bank account and a debit card, and who is in regular employment. When you take one out, the lender will transfer the amount you ask for directly into your bank account, usually within 24 hours of your application being approved. During your application you will have supplied your debit card details, and the loan company will use these to automatically repay your loan on your next pay day, along with their fees.

And therein lies one of the main problems with payday loans - the fees.

This kind of credit is notorious for being expensive, and eye-watering APRs of 1000% or even much higher are the norm. These APR figures are perhaps a little misleading, as the APR system is designed for credit with a longer repayment period than payday loans where the term is measured in days rather than years. Nonetheless, these loans are pretty expensive, with a fee of 25% of your loan amount generally the going rate.

The second major problem is that repaying your loan and fee is likely to leave you skint again at the end of next month, and it's easy to get into an expensive vicious circle of taking out a loan every month - which is when those high APR rates will really bite.

So, is there any point to a payday loan? Yes, but only really for a genuine emergency where there isn't an alternative. If you're using these loans to finance your day to day life, then it would be better to examine your finances and see where you can economise, or to restructure your debt using a consolidation loan or similar to free up some extra cash every month.



Nicholas Hunt is a contributing writer to the 1Stop Finance money news and advice site, where you can read a longer version of this article on payday loans in the cash advance section.

Building bigger and stronger rugby players - the Sydney University experiment

It is widely acknowledged that the average body weight of rugby players has increased considerably over recent years. Less recognised is the extent to which modern defensive alignments and strategies have transformed rugby matches into contests of attrition where bigger and stronger teams tend to wear down their smaller and physically weaker opponents over the course of a game. Perhaps the most notable change has been the increased importance of physical dominance in the backline.



Responding to this, Sydney University's rugby club has been able to demonstrate that with the right combination of coach and infrastructure, it is possible to fast track the physical development of players outside a professional playing environment. In fact within a couple of seasons these players are able to achieve a body mass comparable to that of seasoned professionals together with a solid foundation of basic strength.



In late May, Sydney University announced its team for the first round of the Tooheys New Cup, the premier competition in Sydney club rugby. All of the fifteen players are past or current students who had been developed through the Club's Colts and lower grade teams. None of them are paid to play for the Club, although the eleven who are still students receive modest scholarship assistance. Only three of the players are on professional contracts.



It is instructive to compare their body weight and age profiles with those of squads from four major rugby countries, those of Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa. The average weight of the international teams varies from 101.2 to 102.9 kilograms while their average age is from 25.5 to 27.2 years. Comparative figures for the Sydney University team are 100.5 kilograms and 22.5 years.



It can be seen that the part-time, unpaid Sydney University players, though three to five years younger, weigh only a couple of kilograms less than the world's best players. This is quite extraordinary as normally a much greater weight disparity would be expected.



For the past three years Sydney University Football Club has been operating an Elite Development Squad (EDS) program for its top grade and colts players. Utilising one of the best equipped gymnasiums in Australian rugby, players train for eleven months of the year and undertake four weights sessions per week off-season and a lesser number while playing.



The program's strength and conditioning components have been devised and administered by Martin Harland, a sports scientist who has previously worked with professional rugby league, Australian football and basketball teams. His programs for rugby players place a high degree of emphasis on basic strength development and rugby-specific fitness. A distinguishing feature of his approach is a concentration on heavy lower body work through exercises such as squats, deadlifts and cleans. In addition, both backs and forwards make intensive use of the MyoQuip ScrumTruk, a rugby-specific apparatus that targets the large mass leg extensor muscles, specifically the gluteal and quadriceps groups. Hypertrophy or increased muscle mass is a natural and not unintended by-product of such training.



Another distinctive feature of Martin Harland's rugby training regimen is his requirement that backs undertake the same rigorous basic strength routines as forwards. Many strength and conditioning coaches reserve the heavy "grunt" work for forwards, or even restrict it to the tight five.



Exposing backs to very serious weight training has produced a quite extraordinary outcome at Sydney University, as evidenced by comparing the body weights of their forwards and backs with those of the Wallabies and the four Australian Super 14 franchises, the ACT Brumbies, NSW Waratahs, Queensland Reds and Western Force.



Not surprisingly, the University's young forwards are outweighed by each of the five professional squads, 105.3kilograms compared to 109.1 to 111.1 kilograms. However, in the backs the situation is reversed with the University players averaging 95.1 kilograms as opposed to 90.9 to 92.9 kilograms. Thus the Sydney University backs outweigh Australia's national and provincial squads by between 2.2 and 4.2 kg per man.



If we look at the difference in body weight between backs and forwards it can be seen that for Sydney University it averages 10.2 kilograms, against 16.2 to 19.4 kilograms for Australia's professional squads, a very substantial difference.



The Sydney University experiment seems to be providing clear evidence that the body weight of rugby backs can be dramatically increased through serious weight training, but the question arises as to whether this has benefits in terms of playing performance.



One answer is that the other strength-oriented football code, American football, has traditionally used training methods similar to those of Martin Harland. All players, whether linemen or running backs, are required to do heavy gym work. No one would seriously suggest that their quick players have inferior dynamic abilities to rugby players.



Another justification for building heavier backs with superior leg drive lies in the already mentioned importance of physical dominance in the rugby backline. With the modern emphasis on structure and coordination in defensive alignments, bigger and stronger backs are better able to continually repel opposition attacks and also over the course of a game are likely to create physical and mental fatigue in their counterparts.



Having achieved a strong foundation of basic strength and greater body mass, Martin Harland is then able to focus on speed and explosiveness in his players. It is clear that the Sydney University approach yields results on the playing field. 2005 was the Club's most successful year, winning the Sydney Club Championship, the First Grade Premiership and four lower grade Premierships.



Even more importantly, players who graduate from such a program are much better equipped to withstand the rigours of modern rugby.



Bruce Ross is CEO of MyoQuip, manufacturers of variable-resistance strength machines including the HipneeFlex and HipneeThrust, and the rugby-specific ScrumTruk and JumpTruk. MyoQuip exports worldwide from Australia.

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Advantages of a Multilingual Website

You are a business owner and your have your website in English. It does pretty well and your online business goes pretty smoothly. You are satisfied with results, but you really want to grow your company and expand it internationally. Yet, your website is still in English. Why? Why not to change it? This article tries to explain advantages that multilingual websites have over conventional single language.



First of all, English is not a predominant language in the Internet any more. As the Internet grows, the more people from developing countries such as China, India, Russia and Brazil gain steady access to the web. They browse websites, look up for information, and, of course, make purchases, lots of purchases! They prefer to browse websites in their own language such as Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), Japanese, Korean, Russian, Hindi and so on. Variety of languages is huge. If you can deliver your website in all of those languages. This means you will be able to sell much more to those new customers. There are plenty of ways to receive online payments to US bank accounts from foreign countries, and, therefore, merchants� opportunities for sales are big. Great buying audience is a first advantage of having a website in several major languages.



Second of all, if your website is translated to many languages, it receives not just many new orders, but it enjoys a bigger flow of traffic. Your website will receive more visitors per day, per week, per month. This is also great. If you know how to put this traffic to work, then you will probably use AdSense ads more efficiently and will receive more CTR and will increase overall dollar amount per day. More traffic means more clicks. Similarly, more clicks means more AdSense revenue. This is a second advantage of a multilingual website.



Third of all, Multilanguage website brings credibility to a company. Since professional language services are not cheap, having a website professionally translated to many languages brings respect to its owners. I am not talking about a cheap free machine translation of a website. I am talking about a professional human approach to translation when each sentence is conveyed to the foreign language correctly, when each image or button is translated well. All errors may hurt reputation of a company. Poorly done, machine translation may erode a company�s reputation completely. But thorough human approach to translation of a website may help to avoid such pitfalls and problems. Thus, credibility that can be established by a website that is translated to many major languages. Multilingual website brings credibility and respect to its owners. This is the third advantage of having a website translated to foreign languages.



Contemporary Internet shifts toward globalization. This word has strongly gotten to our vocabulary. There are new people coming to the web each day. Internet grows and matures. New laws are being implemented and old ones get challenged. English is no longer a number one language on the web and it will never be. English is even challenged here domestically in the United States of America where it gets a lot of competition from Spanish, Chinese and Russian. The future language will become a mix of languages and having your website translated to most of them will secure your small business in the long run and will ensures its steady source of income. Website translation is not an expense, it is an investment, probably the most cost-efficient you will ever make.



If you feel convinced about your website translation and would like to find out more about this, please visit our website for more information. www.translation-services-usa.com Translation Services USA is your reliable language partner for all your language needs.



Article written by Alex Buran of : www.translation-services-usa.com

What is the most effective way to build links for your site?

I have seen in many forums that nowadays website owners are little confused regarding link building for their site. They are not very sure what link building strategies they should adopt. Not to mention Google and yahoo heavily rely on quality back links. Content optimization is always a factor but these two search engines are heavily relying on volume of links and of course quality of links. A link back from a page where there are hundreds of links would not help you much. At the time of link building most people forget about the importance of link building. A theme based link back is more powerful than 20 non relevant link backs. Some times people reject link exchange request due to lack of pr of the link page. But you should know that relevancy is more important than page rank of a link page. If you get an offer for link exchange then first check if the site is any way related to your business? If yes then check its link page for (a) Number of outgoing links on that page (b) Does that link page has all kind of sites? (c) Does that page is accessible from home page ? These 3 are must.



We often get questions that our site is new, no one wants to exchange link with us. Yes it's a big problem for any webmaster. But think if you propose a link from some of your other websites to the webmaster then he'll certainly exchange link with you. But what if you don't have any other site, then how you can do one way link building? Many seo companies, including us provide this kind of service at very reasonable rate, you can hire those companies. Let's get back to the topic. There are thousands of sites for any category of sites you have. If you start gathering a list of relevant sites through search engine you'll get bogus data/ search results after you cross page 20 or more. So it's not a solution to gather sites from search engines. You should follow your competitor�s link backs and then approach relevant ones for link request. How you'll find link backs list of your competitors? it's very simple just use linkdomain:www.yourcompetitorurl.com in yahoo search to find link backs of that site. Then sort relevant ones for your site and then email those sites such a way that they should feel interested to your proposal. You should know here that one way links are many times more effective than reciprocal link building. So if you have other relevant site then you can use that site to propose a link exchange to your relevant sites. If you don't have any other site to propose link back then you can always use directory submission, Blog submission join forums to get some links to your domain.



Hard problem what anybody face at the time of link exchange if you don't have page rank on your proposed link page. 80% link requests get trashed because of "no pr" or "low pr'. After directory submission, Blog submission waits for next Google PR update. You'll surely get pr 3-4 if you have 100-150 link backs. Now when you have good Pr then start link building for your site. If you are going to propose a well established site be sure you linked back the site first. Otherwise they may reject your proposal. The process I'm discussing here is actually 3 way - for your site A you are proposing a link back to site B from your site C. So this is 3 way link building. This kind of link building is hard to get detected by search engines because they can't find a clue. But remember you should host your site C on a different server with different ip. For this different server and ip factor search engines can't detect the link.



But here is a big question - is it completely valueless if we do reciprocal link building? NO it's not. Reciprocal link building has value but not as one way. Search engines now understand that both sites have mutually agreed to show each others link to gain link popularity. But in case of one way it can't trace a link back. That's why it gives more value to those one way links. Why one way links are important? Think of a situation: can you ask Google.com or yahoo.com to place your link on their home page? No, if you even do they'll not place your link. But many web sites place a link of Google/ yahoo/ msn on their page. That creates the one way link for those domains. They are doing nothing to get a link back. When a site continues to get more and more one way links then search engines also start to think that the domain must be important so other sites are linking back. I would suggest you do mixture of everything. 1) Do one way link building 2) submit your site to free and paid directories 3) Make your own Blog and submit it to Blog directories 4) Use article submission.



Check out

one way link building deal from www.webpromotioner.com

Are Your Keywords Effective?

What is the importance of keywords in the search optimization process? Optimized pages help your site to be listed correctly in the web search engines. Effective optimization of your pages includes optimized keywords and keyword phrases.



Search Optimization Process includes optimizing the pages of the site you want to rank high in search engine�s results. Optimizing the pages includes optimizing the keywords and the keywords phrases.

What is the importance of keywords in the optimization process?



Keywords are essential since it will be used throughout the Search Engine Optimization process. The right choice of keywords will make it easier for your site to be listed on search engines. However, with the wrong choice of keywords, your site will be lost in cyberspace. If it is nowhere to be found in search engines, how will browsers find your website? So it is necessary that you choose the right keywords.



Finding the Right Keywords



Now, that you know how important keywords are in the search engine optimization process, the next thing to understand is finding the right keywords. In optimizing your pages, you must make sure that you are making the right choice of keywords. There are several tips to remember in the selection of keywords.



Tips in the Selection of Keywords:



The following are tips to be considered in the choice of keywords for your optimized pages.

* Put on the shoes of your target audience. Try to understand what your audience may be thinking of. If you are one of them, what words will you key in on search engines when you are looking for the particular page you are optimizing? In choosing appropriate keywords, consider your audience not your own decision. It is a fact that not all of them will have the same choice of keywords like yours. In coming up with keywords, try to think as many words or phrases as possible. You can even ask for other people�s ideas of keywords. This will help you come up with effective and related keywords.

* The selection of appropriate keywords and keyword phrases should be done on all the pages you wish to optimize. Each of the pages must undergo thorough search for keywords. This is to ensure the effectiveness of your chosen keywords and keyword phrases.

* Look for specific keyword phrases rather than keywords alone. This is to put distinction on your pages over the million pages on the internet with the similar content. Using specific keyword phrases will help the search engines identify your particular and specific product or service included on the page you have optimized. Your pages will have better chances of having high rank position in search results when it uses specific keyword phrases

* Check what your competitor website or pages used as keyword and keyword phrases. It will help you identify which words you should aim for, as well � especially if the competitor has a good ranking.



Keyword and keyword phrases selection is a skill that must be mastered in order to ensure higher ranking in search engine results. It does a huge contribution in the overall search engine optimization process. These tips presented here are some of the many ways to find effective keywords and keyword phrases.



This article is written by nPresence. For more freshly written website content and for all your web marketing needs, please visit www.npresence.net.

SEO Secret - Write and Promote

Webmasters will certainly do anything and everything to get higher position on the search engines, increase rank faster and get impressive traffic. By anything, I mean even paying a large amount for links and advertising. Don�t they know that there is a simple, cost-free and effective way to achieve all these? This is a traditional strategy that has been proven effective for years.



The process is not complicated; in fact, it is so easy that others disregard its worth. Writing and submitting articles is a strategy known by many but utilized by few. Articles add relevant content to the site. Submitting them to article directories is a great way to get inbound or incoming links. By articles, your site will actually survive the ever competitive internet market.



But don�t get too excited. It is not as simple as writing anything that comes across your mind. There are some tips to master in writing and submitting your articles. These are to be followed to ensure maximum benefit of the article strategy.



Tips in Writing and Submitting Articles

* Articles must be based on your target market.

As you start to write articles, consider your target market � their age group, location and race. In doing so, you need to do some research. Think of articles that will appear interesting for your particular target market.

* Write interesting, in-demand and curiosity-provoking articles.

The articles should stir your reader�s emotion, invite them to read more and drive them to hunger for more of those relevant contents mentioned in your article. To do this, you must write articles that are visually attractive, in-demand and with relevant content. You can visit online article directories to get an idea of what topics are interesting enough.

* The title should draw more readers.

The title is the first thing that your target market sees, so pour out all the interesting factors into it. It�s the title that pulls your targets into reading the entire article and later on, visiting your site. Remember that a boring title draws no one.

* Keep the reader�s interest high.

The entire article must be as interesting as possible. This is to ensure that readers will continue reading all the content. Keep the paragraphs short to avoid boredom from taking control.

* Sub headings have their own advantage.

Sub headings will help in the organization of the ideas contained in the articles. It also helps readers get the meaning of each paragraph and the entire article.

* Always include a link.

To maximize the use of articles as your web marketing strategy, always include a link back to your site. It is usually on the last part of the article. After your readers have read an interesting article, it�s good to tell them about you and your company. The link will be the gateway for them to visit your site and eventually be converted as customers.

* Proofread the articles before submission.

Who would be interested to read over a wrong grammar composition? Or a group of sentences connected but with no actual relevance to each other? It is important to proofread your work before actual submission; otherwise, no one would dare read your work.

* Submit and promote your articles.

What good are articles when no one reads them and what�s the use of using the article strategy if you are not going to submit them? The key to better traffic and higher rank on the search engines through articles is to keep on submitting them to numerous article directories on the web. Remember: submit, submit, submit!



Articles really do magic � if you consider instant traffic a magic! So what are you waiting for, start writing and submitting articles now and tomorrow, you are on the top of the search engines.



This article is written by nPresence. For more freshly written website content and for all your web marketing needs, please visit www.npresence.net.

A guide of Outlook Express backup

Most small companies and home users don�t need to buy an expensive solution for data backup. They can simply copy important files to a CD or DVD, and if an information loss occurs, they can get it back easily.

If it is simply to copy documents, photos and other files, not the same is for emails, attachments, address book, stationery and other related information from your Outlook Express email client.

This article will explain how everybody can create a manual Outlook Express backup copy (because Outlook Express don�t offer a built in backup function) This email program is usually installed with the Windows operating system and is probably among the most commonly used email programs today.



1. Backup email messages

In Outlook Express, emails are stored in files with DBX extension. The easiest way to find these files is to open Outlook Express and from menu select Tools | Options | Maintenance and click the Store Folder button. Here you can find the path to the folder containing your emails.

This procedure works for all kind of email: SMTP / POP3, IMAP, MAPI, or even the Hotmail Account (some messages might be stored only at the Hotmail server).

To save all your emails and attachments you should copy all the DBX files from the folder.



2. Account settings:

Details about your mail and news accounts are stored in the registry. To find them, start RegEdit and select the �HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Account Manager� key from the left panel. To save this data, from menu select: Registry | Export Registry File. Save the file to a name like "accounts.reg".



3. Mail Rules

The Outlook Express mail rules are stored in the registry, in the �HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities� key. To save this data, from menu select: Registry | Export Registry File. Save the file to a name like "rules.reg".



4. Address Book

The backup of address book is easy to do. It is stored in files with WBA extension. To find the location where address book is stored, you should open Outlook Express and from menu select File | Export | Address Book and select the comma separated text file as your output format. Click Export, select the folder where the backup will be saved and set the name for the backup file. After that click Next and choose the fields you want to include in your backup. Click Finish and your backup will be ready.



5. Stationery

The Outlook Express stationery location is stored in a registry key. To find it, you should open RegEdit, find �HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Stationery� key and look at �Stationery Folder� value. There you will find the path to stationery folder. To save the stationery, you should copy all files from that folder.



If you think that manual backup is too hard, you can use a backup software tool, which can make the job much easier. Outlook Express Backup Expert is one product that can be used to easily create Outlook Express backups. It can save your emails, attachments, address book, signatures, blocked list, mail rules, stationery, accounts and settings. The biggest advantage to use automatic email backup software is the schedule function, which will create backups at specified time intervals, without user action. The downside of using a automatic email backup utility is that it costs money, usually about 20-30 USD as one time payment, while the manual backups are of course, free.

The conclusion is that email backup is a critical operation for every user.



A free evaluation copy of Outlook Express Backup Expert can be found at: http://www.bodrag.com/outlook-express-backup.html



Dragos is the webmaster of the BODRAG website: www.bodrag.com/outlook-express-backup.html

How To Start Making Money With Affiliate Programs

An Affiliate directs potential buyers or targeted visitors to his/her merchant's website and earn commission when a visitor makes a purchase on the merchant's website. Here's how you can start you affiliate business:



Step 1

Open a free Paypal a/c. You need a PayPal a/c to receive affiliate commission.



Step2

Join an affiliate program. You can find an affiliate program to join from the below websites:



ClixGalore.com

An affiliate program network consists more than 3,000 merchants. Products you can

promote including retails goods, travel, software and much more.



Clickbank.com

The largest ebook store. There are about 10,000 affiliate programs for you to select in Clickbank.



Internet Marketing Center

If you are looking for high quality money making course for reselling to earn commission, IMC's affiliate program is your solution.



You'll get your affiliate links after joing one or more affiliate programs.



Step 3

3) Start an ad compaign to promote your affiliate programs. Advertising on Google is one of the top choices in promoting affiliate programs. To advertise on Google, you need to open a Google AdWords a/c at https://adwords.google.com/select/ to promote your affiliate program. Google will charge $5 to your credit card to activate your a/c. You can begin to create an ad campaign once your a/c activated. To advertise you'll need to write a text ad and bid on related keywords for top-ranking positions on Google search result page. Here's an example on how the bidding process works. Let say you are promoting weight loss products. You may bid on keywords like weight loss, reduce weight and many more. When someone enter the term 'weight loss' your ad will appear on the top right corner of Google search result page and you will charge on the amount you bid when the visitor click your ad. The higher you set your bid the higher your ad position on Google. If your bid is too low you ad may not appear on the first page of Google (may be not in second page too). And don't forget to set a daily limit or budget for the ad campaign.



Alan Liew is the webmaster of online4income.com which provides information, tips and ideas of how to make money online.

The Diesel Truck "Big Rig" of the Future

How will Trucks look in the future look? Lets see some real examples of innovations and prototypes. The most important aspect is the energy source. The energetic crisis and the pollution are the two axles for the engineers of the future.



Westport Innovation, a company specializing in environmental technologies, recently implemented the High Pressure Direct Injection technology for diesel trucks. This technology consists of a liquefied natural gas powered truck to reduce the gas emissions and economizes the fuel. The trucks have 400 hp Cummins ISX engines with Exhaust Gas Recirculation. That results in a quiet, efficient and clean travel.



The company Daimler Chrysler in Germany is also working on the fuel use and no pollution engines. Blue Tec is the name of the new technology according to the Daimler Chrysler web site. This technology combines the engine design with the Selective Catalytic Reduction which is a system to reduce the nitrogen oxides emissions. Blue Tech is a diesel technology specially designed for the truck division of Mercedes Benz.



Some leave the fuel alternatives to others and go for the rest of the engine, especially the Department of Energy. The idea is to separate parts such as the pumps, the alternators, compressors and such from the engine. This way you can transform those parts from gas to full electric. A cooler engine compartment will extend the life of the engine. Also the independent electrical powered parts would work more precisely.



Big manufacturing companies are collaborating with the Department of Energy such as Caterpillar, Kenworth, Emerson and Engineered Machine Products. The prototype is installed on a Kenworth truck and the experts could eliminate more than 65 parts by more precise and reliable components.



Now on to driver control. In the recent Volvo Showcase, the company demonstrated its new ESP system which helps the driver do what he does best, drive. The system perceives the maneuvers of the drivers and corrects the movements of the truck by braking the wheels or brings down the power of the engine.



The ESP system includes three cameras installed on the driver's cab and in the steering wheels. The cameras are in charge of watching for the drowsiness of the driver and the inconstant maneuvers and it produces a warning to the driver.



The steering systems are also targeted by the innovators. For example, SKF proposed an electromechanical steering system instead of the conventional hydraulic system. This invention consists in a sequence of signals that tell the actuator to steer the wheels. The action is confirmed or adjusted by sensors and informed back to the driver. The advantages of the electromechanical system are to eliminate the hydraulic fluids so there would be no more high pressure leaks and less noise in the driver's cab.



These continuous changes and improvements in the truck industry still keep function as the number one focus. The replacement of the human driver by a mechanic one is still considerably far away. Fortunately, that's something for the future.



Find Truck Driving Jobs with Swift at Drive4swift.com. If you speak Spanish, find Trabajos at swiftparausted.com

Over-Optimization and the Google Sandbox

So you put a lot of work into creating a really great website only to find that noone can find it and Google doesnt rank your site very highly. You hear about a thing called "search engine optimization" and decide to give it a try. Before you go adding your keywords to every element of your pages and building links any way you can, take a step back and remind yourself of the old saying, "sometimes less is more".



Search engine optimization, or SEO, has really taken off over the last five years as more and more fledgling webmasters have created websites, only to find that noone comes to visit. As they search around for ways to get more visitors, most of them quickly find resources on how to optimize a web page for the search engines and go right to work sprinkling keywords everywhere and building links from any place they can get them.



This causes problems for a search engine because, lets face it, you are trying to manipulate the search results and they are trying to avoid being manipulated. After all, just because YOU think your site is a great resource on a topic doesnt mean that it is. Google has already adjusted for the webmaster that is over-optimizing their website, and its called the Google "sandbox". The sandbox is a name that disgruntled webmasters have given to the situation where a new site that should rank well for a keyword is nowhere to be found in the rankings, only to suddenly appear one day several months down the road. What is this sandbox effect and what could cause it?



My theory is that the "sandbox" is actually more of a "trustbox", meaning that Google looks at many attributes of your site to determine if you are attempting to manipulate the search rankings. The most obvious, and the twp traps that most beginning webmasters fall into, I believe, is over-optimizing your on-page content and building too many low quality links too fast.



I believe that the newer your domain is, the less tolerance Google has for over-optimization of pages, or suspiciously fast link building. Once you trip the filter, youre placed in the holding cell ("sandbox"), because Google suspects you of trying to manipulate the results. I also believe that the tolerance for over-optimization varies based on the industry, so spammy industries such as pharmaceutical drugs are far more sensitive to over-optimization than most. That can cause some discouragement by many who are hoping to find fast success, since those industries are already competitive enough that you NEED highly optimized content and lots of links to possibly compete for top rankings, but you cant do it too quickly or you will be sandboxed.



At a recent WebmasterWorld conference, Matt Cutts from Google stated that there really wasn�t a "sandbox", but "the algorithm might affect some sites, under some circumstances, in a way that a webmaster would perceive as being sandboxed." This means that avoiding the sandbox is merely a matter of optimizing your site without tripping the filters in Googles algorithm.



Ask yourself these questions to avoid over-optimization penalties:



- Is your title a single target keyword phrase and nothing else?

- Is your keyword phrase found in several of the following locations: title, header, subheaders, bold or italicized words?

- Does the page read differently that you would normally speak?

- Are you in a competitive industry that is frequented by spammers?

- Have you acquired a large number of low PageRank links quickly?

- Do you have very few high PageRank (6+) links pointing to your site?



In summary, the current theory about Googles "sandbox" is that it is actually more like a holding cell where the Google "police" keep your website when it is suspected of possibly trying to manipulate the search results. As the domain ages, most sites eventually gain enough "trust" to escape the sandbox and immediately start ranking where they normally would. Remember that Google is not manually ranking every website - in the end it is simply a computer algorithm and those who are able to score well in Googles algorithm WITHOUT tripping any filters will achieve top rankings and profit the most.



Joel Carlson works for Bitwise Logic, Inc. - a professional web development company based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota which provides web site optimization services that help companies of all sizes acquire free targeted leads through top search engine rankings.

Web 2.0 – An Explanation from a Web Design Perspective

Have you noticed that in this age of lightning-fast knowledge transfer, new tech terms get coined and worn out before most people even understand what they mean (think AJAX)? �Web 2.0� is another one of those terms. Here I will try to explain what Web 2.0 really means and what effect it will have on the job of a web designer.



What is Web 2.0?



The term �Web 2.0� is already being used to describe any site that has big XP-style icons and lots of white space, but the term really defines how a website functions much more than how it looks. Here are the most important characteristics of Web 2.0 sites:



- Social aspects � Web 2.0 websites harness the collective intelligence of the users by enabling user contribution and interaction with the idea that the collective knowledge of the users is far above and beyond any one person or company. In addition, by engaging customers, your site naturally causes a viral networking effect causing word to spread faster and faster. No traditional corporate marketing plan can compete with the effects of this kind of viral networking.



- Web applications instead of web sites � As the dot com crash so painfully pointed out, hype will only last for so long. Eventually you are going to need to provide a valuable service to internet users or they will simply click the Back button, never to return. It�s so easy to do so. Likewise, many smart folks, such as those at Google realized that you don�t need to waste your time making a flashy website with lots of mediocre content � the visitors will come if you provide a valuable service that is easy to use.



- Simple and efficient user experience � Gone are the days of waiting for pages to download every time you click a link or button. Leaving your website takes just one twitch of a finger - users won�t stand for it. Technologies such as JavaScript and AJAX enable portions of pages to update without having to reload, making for an efficient and enjoyable user experience.



You�ll notice from the list above that Web 2.0 is not so much about giant icons and text, or white space and pastel colors, but actual functionality that engages users to build something greater than any one person can.



This all has a few important implications for you, the web designer. First, designing Web 2.0 pages from a creative viewpoint is going to be much more enjoyable. No longer will you be encouraged to cram every little open space on the page with images or content. In the Web 2.0 world, less is more. The purpose of the simple design is to eliminate the noise and clearly explain how to use the website.



Secondly, you�ll need to design with the knowledge that there is going to be a whole lot more functionality placed behind the pages you create than before. For example, instead of cramming six different div tags on a single page, they may be combined into tabs and switched via JavaScript. As another example, you may find that your old friend the Submit button is going the way of the Dodo as JavaScript events on linked images are much more attractive and don�t trigger a page load.



Depending on your level of technical knowledge, you may or may not actually implement the functionality on the pages you create, but you should be aware of how to design for the new Web 2.0 style. Some people call Web 2.0 a meaningless marketing buzzword, but when you get past the obvious visual differences, which are there merely to provide a simple and enjoyable experience, you�ll see that the true concepts of Web 2.0 are what users want in a website, and so they truly are here to stay.



Joel Carlson works for Bitwise Logic, Inc. - a professional web site design company based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota which provides useful custom web applications, design and hosting for businesses of all sizes.

Data Backup in Web Hosting Industry

Data is very important in any business whether it is online or offline. Data stored in your server cannot be lost as it puts a full stop to your business. If you lose data then you have to spend a lot money, time and effort to replace them. In some critical applications it is not even easy to replace the data. Hence a wise decision is to find some ways to retain your data. This is where Back-up comes into picture.



Data back-up is a process in which you save your valuable data to some remote server or in some media which can be used to restore them back when you need it. You may face situations in which you application becomes corrupt or your data file is corrupted. Intentional damage, natural disasters, and hardware failure are some of the other situations which makes your lose your data. During such situations you can use the data that is backed up in your remote server to restore.



A periodic backup is necessary so that you do not lose much data when a contingency occurs. Data backup in web hosting industry is common and is also a must, since they face a lot of contingencies mentioned above. With ever increasing viruses and worms you may not when you will lose your data. Hence taking backup of your data is a must in these days.



Any web hosting account that you purchase also comes up with a comprehensive backup scheme that can be used to backup the important data that you might have in the server. If you have a site that has many users (members), then it is important that you also backup the data of your users also. Under such situations it is better to backup the site data and the users� data separately so that you can restore which ever you want.



A backup can be incremental or full backup. Full backup is to take a backup of all the data available in the site, whereas the incremental backup is to take a backup of the data that has changed since the last backup. It takes a lot of time and space to take a full backup of your site. Backup is taken usually in the tar format or the .gz format. Taking backups in these formats saves a lot of space and time.



Most of the web hosting services provides a backup plan which could be monthly, weekly, or daily basis. The data thus backed up is stored offline on a secure server. Some services charge you for the backup services provided by them. Some of the hosting providers provide you the necessary tools to take a backup so that you can schedule backup on your own. If your site has critical data then hourly backup can also be sought after. Such exclusive backups are charged by the hosting provider.



Hence taking a backup of the important data and the site is important in the web hosting industry so that the website can be restored in the minimum time with minimum interruption to the users.



Author recommends web hosting provided by Marble Host. Marble Host offers daily data back-up and 99.9% uptime guarantee. Visit www.marblehost.com for more information.

8 Easy Routes to Cheaper Car Insurance

Car insurance is one of the most expensive costs involved in driving a car, and it's not something you can avoid - a minimum level of insurance is required by law. That doesn't mean you have to blindly pay whatever your insurer quotes though, as there are several simple things you can do to reduce the cost of your premiums.

1) Shop around and buy online: Figures show that many people simply renew their current policies without shopping around. The internet makes it easy to compare prices from different insurers, so why not take advantage of this? Plus, you'll usually get a discount of 10% or more just for buying your policy online.

2) Policy type: do you really need a comprehensive policy with all the extras? Going for a third party fire & theft policy can reduce your premiums hugely, and is definitely worth considering if your car isn't an expensive model.

3) No claims discounts: Nearly all policies feature a discount that increases for every year you don't make a claim. The higher the discount available, the more you could save. Also look at insurers offering a 'no claims bonus for life' feature, where your current discount level can be fixed forever, even if you have to make a claim somewhere down the line.

4) Excess: The excess on a policy is the amount of a claim you have to pay before the insurer pays the rest. Choosing to have a higher than standard excess level will usually mean lower premiums.

5) Security: Fitting your vehicle with an alarm, immobiliser, or other security devices can lead to premium reductions. Parking you car off-road, for example on a driveway or in a garage, will also mean a cheaper policy.

6) Pay annually: Many insurers charge you interest for the privilege of paying in monthly installments. Pay annually if you can afford it to avoid this, or look for one of the companies who don't charge extra for monthly payment.

7) Mileage: The more mileage you run up every year, the more your insurance will cost. Even if you can't reduce your mileage, make sure you're not overestimating how much you actually do drive, and give your insurer an accurate figure.

8) Drivers: The more drivers you have on your policy, the more it will cost. Reduce the number of people insured to drive your car to the minimum possible, and try to get the policy in the name of a driver with the lowest risk profile. For example, if a car is driven by both a man and a woman, insuring it in the woman's name will often result in a cheaper quote.



Nicholas Hunt is a contributing writer for www.1stop-finance.co.uk, where you can browse car insurance reviews or read a more detailed article about getting cheaper car insurance.

Memory Foam Mattress And Pain relief

If you suffer from chronic pain in your joints, back, lower back or neck etc. then you will know what it's like to never be able to sit down or go to bed without being in severe discomfort most of the time. It seems that what should be the most comfortable furniture in the house has suddenly become instruments of torture.



A possible solution for some people with chronic pain from Pagets disease or arthritis or other debilitating conditions is to use furniture made from memory foam. Memory foam mattresses are known to help you sleep by making the bed more comfortable and it is being used more and more in luxury hotels and even cinemas to make the experience more enjoyable.



How does memory foam help to relieve pain?



Memory foam becomes softer as the temperature rises and because it's an insulating material it is possible to increase the temperature of the foam in localised areas. When you lie on a sheet of memory foam some parts of your body will press into the foam more than others. On a conventional mattress this would cause pressure spots where your body presses into the material, which can then cause pain or pressure sores. When you lie on a memory foam mattress the foam will be heated by your body in places where it presses into the foam the most. This causes the foam to soften in those areas and allows your body to sink into it at that point. After a while the memory foam will mould itself to your body giving you all over support for every part of your body.



When all of your body is fully supported by the soft warm foam the pressure on every part of your body in contact with it is equal. Because there are no longer any single points of contact to cause pressure hot spots, all of your body will feel more comfortable. It's this removal of pressure points by distributing the pressure over all of your body that gives you relief from pain.



Why was memory foam developed in the first place?



Memory foam was originally developed for NASA for use in the space program. It was to be used as padding for the astronaut's seats as a means to relieve some of the discomfort experienced from high acceleration or 'G' forces. I'm not quite sure how this was expected to work in that situation however because the astronauts would be wearing space suits at the time which would insulate them from the foam in the seats. No heat no softening of the memory foam.



Memory foam also gives off small amounts of toxic gasses when it's new which has been the popular reason given for why NASA never actually used it in their space craft. In space there is nowhere for the gas to go.



Experiment to find the best solution for you



Memory foam mattresses are still expensive products, especially good quality ones, so it pays to try out some alternatives before changing your mattress. Memory foam pillows and toppers can easily be found and they can make a significant difference if you are having trouble sleeping. There are also cheaper materials like high-density polyurethane foam and latex foam that are also very good and might suit your pocket better.



I've recently experienced some lower back pain problems, which were astonishingly uncomfortable. My lovely comfortable soft furnishings turned into a torture chamber because I couldn't get comfortable on them no matter how hard I tried. A few memory foam cushions might help you out if you have similar problems.



Free information about memory foam mattresses and other products www.thememoryfoammattress.com Memory Foam Mattress substitute helps with chronic pain

Choosing the right Web Hosting for your Ecommerce oriented business

People get intimidated when they think about web hosting, but with a little time and effort, you can have a nice website to share with the world wide web. Before you start shelling out money for a domain and web space, you need to decide what you need a website for and how detailed you plan on making it.



For most users, there are plenty of free resources for personal sites. When shopping for web hosting, it is important to consider your primary use of a website. Will it be for business or personal use? How many visitors do you anticipate having each month? Each web hosting company provides a variety of packages, each of which has a bandwidth limit. This is the number of visitors that can access your website on a monthly basis and the price of your web hosting will be largely determined by this and other factors.



Many companies offer free web hosting services in exchange for them placing banner advertisements on the website owner's page. The majority of free web hosting services, however, are designed for personal or small business use. The reason is because they offer a small amount of megabyte availability for website storage and do not provide a URL that is easy to remember.



In the present online climate, many business Websites are being used as online shops and online service providing resources, where the customer or the client would feel equally comfortable browsing in an actual office or shop as surfing the related business Website.



These Web sites can also take advantage of "shopping cart" functions for online shopping, which means one can shop virtually on the net, satisfying their need by selecting and purchasing the products they want to buy. Traditionally, web hosting refers to the service that keeps a Web site's content online at a specified URL, making the content available to Web surfers. However, now many of these ecommerce applications can be bundled at a low cost in discount ecommerce web hosting packages from hosting providers.



The very role of ecommerce in our life and its influence is nearly beyond measure, and thus, it is imperative that a business keep an online presence. eCommerce is essential for the growth of an online business, especially moving forward. e-Commerce web hosting packages are a valuable in that they can create and increase revenue and profitability for an online business. e-Commerce even reduces overhead costs and can play a major role in revolutionizing your customer service. And if the eCommerce web hosting can be found at a discounted price, then there is no question about the value of these services.



However, there are certain things that have to be fulfilled if one wants to receive the full potential value of eCommerce web hosting. They are: registration, web hosting, web designing, web promotion through creating links, database solutions and marketing, software development and other add-ons including privacy policies. Web hosting packages with e-Commerce solutions at a discount rate can provide the most secure ways for your customers and you to begin trading online, where the business would demand less face time from your end. After all, eCommerce or the flourish of commercial activities through the electronic medium holds the very future of the commercial world.



Owner of the Internet Marketing blog and Web Hosting Solution with.us where you can find reviews, articles, solutions and links about web hosting.

Qualities of a Good Web Designer

Many �web designers� these days are actually graphic designers far more proficient in print media than web media. Sure, they will tell you that they are well versed in web design, and might even tell you that there is little difference between graphic design and web design. Sadly, most of them actually believe this. And therein lies the problem.

Web design is a wholly unique thing unto itself. The resolutions, color pallets, sizes, and layouts are entirely different between print and web. And the construction methods are completely different.

When dealing with print media, it is heavily graphic oriented. Often event the content of the print material is embedded in graphics, or special fonts. On the web of course, the exact opposite is true. A skilled web designer will know the idiosyncrasies of different operating systems and browsers versions. How the page code is built is the primary art when building a web page. It takes true skill, experience, and knowledge to build a page that looks attractive, is coded properly to load quickly and to be indexed well by search engines, and to display well on different browsers and OSs.

So what should you look for when trying to find a good web designer? To the uninformed this can be a rather tricky proposition. But with a little education and a few things to look for, you can minimize your risk.

In order to help you identify what to look for in a web designer, I have created the top 5 things to look for when searching for a web designer.

1. Ask to see examples of their past work (their portfolio). This is probably the most important. If the web designer in question cannot produce any past work, cannot produce any work that they did entirely on their own, or produce work that is questionably their own, then don�t be the guinea pig for this designer to cut their teeth on. When you look at their portfolio, do you like what you see? Do the designs look clean and professional? Is the layout effective? Is it easy to navigate and use the site? These are important qualities to look for.

2. Ask them how updates to the site will be made. For the most part you�ll be better off if you have the ability to update the website yourself through some sort of Content Management System (CMS), or other control panel type interface that you have access to. This will allow you to make changes to static content. If you will need to pay the designer every time you want to update some copy on the site, it will not only be more expensive for you, but you will most likely not be able to update your website in a timely manner.

3. A good web designer will be able to build the site using modern HTML and cascading style sheet techniques. Most people seeking out a good web designer will not have any real knowledge of these things. But if you ask them how they generate their HTML, and they tell you they are using some sort of software package to do it, then you�re probably not going to get very efficient HTML. This may or may not be a huge deal for your website, but it does separate the good designers from the rest of the crowd. Additionally, you will want to be sure that your designer is using cascading style sheets (CSS). If you ask them if they are using CSS and you get back a stare like a deer in the headlights, then you�re probably not dealing with someone who has a good grasp of how to properly build a web page. CSS allows a good designer to quickly make system-wide changes to a site by simply making a single change. This is critical to a professional, modern web design. Ideally you will find someone who is well versed in the most current web design standards and creates good HTML that will work in all modern browsers.

4. This criteria depends heavily upon what you are trying to accomplish with your website. These days you really don�t have a website if it doesn�t serve some sort of purpose, and actually DO something. The days of brochureware are long gone. So you need to determine what sort of features you want on your site. Do you need highly interactive features that might require Flash? Do you have highly specialized needs that will require custom programming? Will you be tracking or providing any information that will require a database? Will there be any users or security features? Will you require any e-commerce? This list could go on nearly forever. This is something you should have a good feel for going into your project. When you discuss your project with your web designer, is he or she able to give you the features you need? Can they recommend additional features, or offer interesting ways to solve your problems? If you�re looking to make your website functional and effective, you will want to work with someone who knows a thing or two about building designs for dynamic websites. If you need someone who can also provide the programming and development for your site, you will need to go through a whole new set of questions. But even if you�re simply looking for a design, if your site is dynamic and interactive, you will want to find a web designer that has knowledge and experience building good designs for these types of websites.

5. Lastly, you will want to make sure your website performs well. For the purposes of this discussion that will include page load time and search engine indexing. If you are visiting sites in your prospective web designer�s portfolio, and it seems to take longer than the average website does to load, that should raise some warning flags. This indicates that they probably aren�t using good HTML coding techniques, and even worse have given no consideration to the performance and user experience. It should be obvious to the designer that the page loads slowly. Perhaps they have overloaded it with graphics, or don�t understand how to properly prepare graphics for presentation on a web site. Additionally, tied to this, is how well the site is indexed. A good web designer will code the page in such a manner as to maximize the website�s content for search engine indexing. An experienced person could simply look at the web page source and determine this. But if you are not comfortable with that, you could try doing a few simple searches in some search engines. Are you able to find the website in a web search? Of course this varies based upon keyword competitiveness, how much marketing they have put into their site, the site�s age, etc. But that�s a whole new topic in itself.

These are just 5 guidelines that I would recommend to take into consideration when trying to find a good professional web designer. These are by no means the only criteria to consider, but as a web developer I find it appalling that some people claim to be a web designer just because they can create a good looking print document in Quark. I�m sure these people are very skilled at doing that. They just don�t understand the specifics of building a good web design. And I�ve had too many customers come to me with websites they overpaid for and were under delivered on.

So don�t be fooled by some graphic designer posing as a web designer. Even those that think they are a web designer because they have graphic design skills. Those are the most dangerous breed. And they will kill your website and your budget long before you even realize it.



Jeremy Hoehn is president of Bitwise Logic, Inc. - a professional web site development company based in Eden Prairie, MN which creates highly interactive websites and custom web applications for small to large businesses.

Credit Cards: Rules and Fees

Learn about the costs and rules of the card.

What is the annual fee and are there any costs in acquiring the credit card? What is the interest going to be after the initial 90-day teaser interest rate vanishes? What is your credit limit and what is the penalty if you go over the limit? How and when can your interest rate and credit limit be changed? All of this information is located in the fine print section of your credit card agreement and you have an obligation to pay these fees and costs if you accept and use your credit card. These terms and conditions come into effect as soon as you start to use the card. Below is a list of the different fees imposed by credit card companies.



The Annual Fee: Many bank and Travel & Entertainment Cards come with an annual fee of $50 or more. The borrower is charged this fee for the privilege of using this credit card. Some banks will waive this fee if you have outstanding credit or may charge more if your credit is marginal.



Cash Advance Charges: A bank will charge you up to 3% of the amount advanced and at the same time charge rates of up to 20% annually on the amount advanced. As a general rule, credit cards should not be used for cash advances except in the case of an emergency.



Late Payment Fees: Many credit card companies charge late payment fees. Since the date refers to the day of receipt of your check and not the date of postage, you must be certain to get your payment out in a timely fashion to avoid this fee. Remember, this fee will be added to your outstanding balance and interest will be charged on the total amount.



Over-the-Limit Fees: If you carry high credit balances each month and do not pay them, your high credit card interest charges will accrue and could push you over your pre-approved credit limit, prompting the creditor to charge an over-the-limit fee. These fees vary by issuer. Remember, these fees will automatically be added to your existing balance, which will be charged interest.



One Time Fees: These fees are usually assessed to consumers with poor credit and are charged in addition to the annual fee. These fees are charged at the time you apply for the card and can range from $25 to $100 depending on the issuer.



Transaction Fees: These fees are charged by the issuing bank. The charge is usually 50 cents for every transaction you make with their card.



Returned Check Fees: A credit card company will charge you a return check fee for checks that are returned for insufficient funds. You would also be liable to your bank for another fee for writing the bad check. Plan your finances accordingly to avoid these costly fees.



Transfer Fees: If you decide to transfer your existing balance to another credit card company, you may have to pay a transfer fee to your current credit card issuer before your balance can be transferred to the new account. These fees can range from a flat rate of up to $50 or a fixed percentage amount of the balance that is transferred. Understand these costs before you jump from one credit card to another just to get a low introductory credit card rate.



Minimum Finance Charges: Pay off your existing balances each month and, depending on your credit card issuer, you could be charged a fee for paying your balance in full.



Inactivity Fees: These are fees that are charged to your account for inactivity on your account. Not using your credit card could cost you money if this fee is in the contract you signed when you acquired this credit card.



Review your account statements and mailings from your credit card company.

Immediately review these statements and confirm the charges with the receipts for all of your purchases. You should do this to challenge any charges that are incorrect and to guarantee that there are no fraudulent charges being billed to your credit card. There are federal consumer protection rules that assist you in challenging charges with your creditor. To be fully covered by these laws you must send a letter to your creditor within 60 days of the date that the bill was sent to you and document the error on your statement. If such charges continue, stop using the card and close the account.



More importantly, if you have just applied for a credit card and have been approved, you should wait until all of the paperwork arrives from the company to make sure you are fully aware of all of the terms and conditions found in the fine print. If you do not understand all of the information provided to you, talk to the customer service department and get all of your questions answered to your satisfaction before you use the card. Once you use the card, it is implied that you have agreed to all of the rules and you are automatically responsible for any fees and charges.



Keep your original card agreement and any change notices to your account.

This paperwork is your contract, containing all of your terms and conditions for the use of the credit card. These are the only documents you can refer to that will help resolve a problem if a disagreement arises in the future. They will also answer the following procedural questions:

# How to notify your card company if you purchased a product with your card that is defective and the merchant is not be responsive to your needs?

# What is your liability if your card has been fraudulently used?

# How are cash back awards paid out if you cancel before the expiration date?



Considering a New Credit Card?

If you are considering opening a new account you should consider asking these questions while reviewing credit card offers or re-evaluating existing cards:



# Fees: Are there annual fees, late payment fees, overdraw fees for exceeding your credit limit, cash advance fees, or fees for paying off your credit card in full each month? Be aware of transfer fees. They can be costly if you decide to transfer a balance to a new credit card. Can one fee trigger another fee? (i.e. if you are charged an annual fee and it pushes you over your credit limit can the bank charge you the over-the-limit fee?)



# Interest Charges: What is the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) on the card? Is the advertised low introductory rate going to drastically change after several months? What interest rate will you pay on transferred amounts? How will your interest be calculated: average daily balance (most common) or another system that may cost you more? Is there a different interest rate for cash advances than for other uses of the card? Can the interest rate be changed without prior notice, and if so, under what circumstances? (i.e. if you are late on a payment.)



# Grace Periods: Does the lender give you time to send in a payment before interest is charged on your account balance? If so, how long is the grace period and does it apply to new purchases versus old purchases that are still on your account? How many days before the due date will the lender give you before imposing a fee for a late payment?



# Miscellaneous: What is your credit limit and what are the restrictions on the credit card freebies such as frequent flier miles, cash rebates or other bonuses? What is the company policy on sharing or selling information about you to other companies or charities that might want to contact you? Can you "opt out" if you do not want this information provided to anyone else?



We have been assisting people with their debt consolidation and management needs for over a decade, and our reputation as a full service credit counseling company is unsurpassed in the industry. We can assist with debt consolidation of unsecured debts.