Your Website Doesn't Close The Sale, You Do!
People send hundreds of thousands of dollars on fancy, feature rich, deep content websites, then wonder why they are poor. The truth is, while a website can do a lot of things, it can't close the sale.
People still prefer to deal with other people, and a website is no substitute for the human touch. Prompt follow up and follow through by live people still is what makes a business a success.
Use your website as one of the tools in your sales kit, but make sure you add the human touch. Prompt reply, good service, and great communications are what's needed to succeed today.
- Bob
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Taking Better Action photos By Bob Hubbard
Taking Better Action photos
By Bob Hubbard
Ever been at a martial arts or other sporting event and taken pictures and not been happy with what you got? Were the eyes red and demonic looking, or did the subjects look like blurs or whispery ghosts? Here's a couple of suggestions to help you improve your shots.
1 - Know your camera settings.
Most people simply put their camera on "automatic" and hope for the best. This works in most cases, but action shots require a bit more knowledge to get right. Check and see if your camera has an "Action" or "Sports" mode. These settings use preset settings from the manufacturer to try and optimize your camera to capture fast moving action. While not perfect, it will usually improve what you do get.
2 - Use your Flash.
Yes, even in what to you looks like a nice and bright room, using your flash can help to "freeze" the action for your camera to catch it, and will add some pop to your shot.
3 - Enable Red Eye protection.
Many current pocket cameras today include a mode that ties to minimize those evil glowing demon eyes you get when using flash. Red eye is caused by the flash being too close to the lense, and the flash being "seen" in the eye. This is part of why professional photographers use those special grips and have the flash way up over the camera. If your flash is too harsh, try taping a little tissue paper over the light to soften it. Be aware that doing so will shorten the range and brightness of the light.
4 - Know what ISO your camera is set at.
Simply put, properly setting your camera's ISO will improve your pictures. A low ISO like 100-200 tends to be sharp, clear. High ISO's like 800-1600= ten to be on the fuzzy side, and grainy. So, why use a high ISO? The higher the number the more light sensitive your digital film is. Use a high ISO in low light situations.
5 - Take some test shots.
Digital cameras are great in that you can take as many shots as you want and not have to worry about bad ones. Before the event, take some test shots and preview them on the screen. Delete the ones that are really off, tweak your settings and try a few more.
Sports photography is a fun activity, but getting the best quality shots takes a little work. I hope that these tips help you enjoy your photography more.
====
Bob Hubbard is a professional photographer specializing in martial arts event, nature and portrait photography. He is also the CEO of SilverStar WebDesigns Inc, a web design and hosting company specializing in martial arts sites, as well as an administrator on the popular martial arts communities MartialTalk.com, Kenpotalk.com and FMATalk.com. His martial arts photography can be found there as well as at his martial arts photography web site, martialphotos.com. He may be reached through these sites.
Copyright © 2008 - Bob Hubbard - All Rights Reserved
Permission is granted to reprint this article on websites, blogs and ezines provided all text, links and authors bio is left intact.
By Bob Hubbard
Ever been at a martial arts or other sporting event and taken pictures and not been happy with what you got? Were the eyes red and demonic looking, or did the subjects look like blurs or whispery ghosts? Here's a couple of suggestions to help you improve your shots.
1 - Know your camera settings.
Most people simply put their camera on "automatic" and hope for the best. This works in most cases, but action shots require a bit more knowledge to get right. Check and see if your camera has an "Action" or "Sports" mode. These settings use preset settings from the manufacturer to try and optimize your camera to capture fast moving action. While not perfect, it will usually improve what you do get.
2 - Use your Flash.
Yes, even in what to you looks like a nice and bright room, using your flash can help to "freeze" the action for your camera to catch it, and will add some pop to your shot.
3 - Enable Red Eye protection.
Many current pocket cameras today include a mode that ties to minimize those evil glowing demon eyes you get when using flash. Red eye is caused by the flash being too close to the lense, and the flash being "seen" in the eye. This is part of why professional photographers use those special grips and have the flash way up over the camera. If your flash is too harsh, try taping a little tissue paper over the light to soften it. Be aware that doing so will shorten the range and brightness of the light.
4 - Know what ISO your camera is set at.
Simply put, properly setting your camera's ISO will improve your pictures. A low ISO like 100-200 tends to be sharp, clear. High ISO's like 800-1600= ten to be on the fuzzy side, and grainy. So, why use a high ISO? The higher the number the more light sensitive your digital film is. Use a high ISO in low light situations.
5 - Take some test shots.
Digital cameras are great in that you can take as many shots as you want and not have to worry about bad ones. Before the event, take some test shots and preview them on the screen. Delete the ones that are really off, tweak your settings and try a few more.
Sports photography is a fun activity, but getting the best quality shots takes a little work. I hope that these tips help you enjoy your photography more.
====
Bob Hubbard is a professional photographer specializing in martial arts event, nature and portrait photography. He is also the CEO of SilverStar WebDesigns Inc, a web design and hosting company specializing in martial arts sites, as well as an administrator on the popular martial arts communities MartialTalk.com, Kenpotalk.com and FMATalk.com. His martial arts photography can be found there as well as at his martial arts photography web site, martialphotos.com. He may be reached through these sites.
Copyright © 2008 - Bob Hubbard - All Rights Reserved
Permission is granted to reprint this article on websites, blogs and ezines provided all text, links and authors bio is left intact.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Q&A: I was told I broke the Internet? Is that possible?
Q&A
Question:
I was told I broke the Internet? Is that possible?
Answer:
No. The Internet is made up of a huge number of connected networks of computers and servers. The Internet has been designed to be redundant to allow communications to go through in the event of an emergency. It is still possible for outages to occur in some areas that aren't as redundantly wired due to power outages, or the occasional cable being cut. But it's highly unlikely that you did it.
Question:
I was told I broke the Internet? Is that possible?
Answer:
No. The Internet is made up of a huge number of connected networks of computers and servers. The Internet has been designed to be redundant to allow communications to go through in the event of an emergency. It is still possible for outages to occur in some areas that aren't as redundantly wired due to power outages, or the occasional cable being cut. But it's highly unlikely that you did it.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Tip Of The Week : Follow Up and Close More Sales!
Poor Follow Up Leads to Poor You!
If you want to shock your prospects, follow up with them the same day, or better yet within an hour of receiving their inquiry! Doing so will put a very good impresion in place with them. When you do this, you'll often hear them proclaim you're the first to reply, and they'll be impressed.
Doing this can help you close 30-50% more sales than your competition who puts things off for days or weeks.
- Bob
If you want to shock your prospects, follow up with them the same day, or better yet within an hour of receiving their inquiry! Doing so will put a very good impresion in place with them. When you do this, you'll often hear them proclaim you're the first to reply, and they'll be impressed.
Doing this can help you close 30-50% more sales than your competition who puts things off for days or weeks.
- Bob
Monday, December 22, 2008
Why is it called "The Internet"?
Why is it called "The Internet"?
By Bob Hubbard
Ever wonder why this huge international maze of computers, servers, and sites is called "The Internet"?
Internet means inter-connected networks. Developed during the 1960's and 1970's, what we refer to today as "The Internet" grew from small localized networks running on colleges, universities and military bases, to larger networks connecting smaller ones, to a huge world wide network of networks.
Most people today only think of the Internet as email and websites, but in fact it is a combination of many different services.
Email consists of several different systems, including POP (Post Office Protocol) which is responsible for getting your email from your electrnic mail box, and SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) which is used to send email to the world.
Web sites run on Hypertext Transfer Protocol, or HTTP. When you type in a web address in your browser, that http:// you enter in tells the server on the other end to use the HTTP system to transfer the page to you. Modern browsers use it by default, but older browsers would fail to find a site if you forgot it.
FTP, or "File Transfer Protocol" is a means for transferring files between your system and a remote one.
IRC, or "Internet Relay Chat", also called "Chat Rooms" are the precursor to today's instant messaging and text message systems. Still in operation today, they aren't well known to most people. IRC requires special software to access.
A forgotten part of our net history is Gopher. Gopher is a combination web and ftp system for organized document retrieval. Text only, there are less than 200 Gopher servers currently online, with most neglected, however some universities still use them.
Then there is the Network News Transfer Protocol or NNTP which is an Internet application protocol used primarily for reading and posting Usenet articles, as well as transferring news among news servers. USENET is a huge world wide distributed electronic discussion system. What this means is, it is like having a global forum, spread over many systems. There are currently well over 100,000 different topics ranging from the boring to the profane. Accessing USENET requires special software called a NewsReader, as well as an account with a news provider.
As you can see, the Internet is a pretty complex thing, made simple and accessible by modern software, allowing us to communicate around the world at whim.
Additional Resources at Wikipedia
USENET http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet
NNTP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_News_Transfer_Protocol
FTP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC
POP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Office_Protocol
SMTP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smtp
Email http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail
IRC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC
HTTP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Http
Gopher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_(protocol)
=========
Bob Hubbard is an administrator of the popular martial arts portal site MartialTalk.com and president of SilverStar WebDesigns inc., a web site design and hosting company specializing in affordable solutions for martial artists. Bob can be reached at webmaster@martialtalk.com
Article Copyright © 2008 - Bob Hubbard - All Rights Reserved.
This article may be reproduced provided all text, the author bio and these terms are kept intact.
By Bob Hubbard
Ever wonder why this huge international maze of computers, servers, and sites is called "The Internet"?
Internet means inter-connected networks. Developed during the 1960's and 1970's, what we refer to today as "The Internet" grew from small localized networks running on colleges, universities and military bases, to larger networks connecting smaller ones, to a huge world wide network of networks.
Most people today only think of the Internet as email and websites, but in fact it is a combination of many different services.
Email consists of several different systems, including POP (Post Office Protocol) which is responsible for getting your email from your electrnic mail box, and SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) which is used to send email to the world.
Web sites run on Hypertext Transfer Protocol, or HTTP. When you type in a web address in your browser, that http:// you enter in tells the server on the other end to use the HTTP system to transfer the page to you. Modern browsers use it by default, but older browsers would fail to find a site if you forgot it.
FTP, or "File Transfer Protocol" is a means for transferring files between your system and a remote one.
IRC, or "Internet Relay Chat", also called "Chat Rooms" are the precursor to today's instant messaging and text message systems. Still in operation today, they aren't well known to most people. IRC requires special software to access.
A forgotten part of our net history is Gopher. Gopher is a combination web and ftp system for organized document retrieval. Text only, there are less than 200 Gopher servers currently online, with most neglected, however some universities still use them.
Then there is the Network News Transfer Protocol or NNTP which is an Internet application protocol used primarily for reading and posting Usenet articles, as well as transferring news among news servers. USENET is a huge world wide distributed electronic discussion system. What this means is, it is like having a global forum, spread over many systems. There are currently well over 100,000 different topics ranging from the boring to the profane. Accessing USENET requires special software called a NewsReader, as well as an account with a news provider.
As you can see, the Internet is a pretty complex thing, made simple and accessible by modern software, allowing us to communicate around the world at whim.
Additional Resources at Wikipedia
USENET http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet
NNTP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_News_Transfer_Protocol
FTP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC
POP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Office_Protocol
SMTP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smtp
Email http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail
IRC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC
HTTP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Http
Gopher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_(protocol)
=========
Bob Hubbard is an administrator of the popular martial arts portal site MartialTalk.com and president of SilverStar WebDesigns inc., a web site design and hosting company specializing in affordable solutions for martial artists. Bob can be reached at webmaster@martialtalk.com
Article Copyright © 2008 - Bob Hubbard - All Rights Reserved.
This article may be reproduced provided all text, the author bio and these terms are kept intact.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Q&A: Can you legally copy DVDs?
Question:
Can you legally copy DVDs?
Answer:
DVD copying is a controversial and highly sought-after process. Not sure if what you're doing is legal? CNET sets your mind at ease.
By Jon Jacobi, Don Labriola, and Justin Jaffe
(April 6, 2004)
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3513_7-5128652-1.html
The short answer is, you can, as long as you're not circumventing any copy protection.
Can you legally copy DVDs?
Answer:
DVD copying is a controversial and highly sought-after process. Not sure if what you're doing is legal? CNET sets your mind at ease.
By Jon Jacobi, Don Labriola, and Justin Jaffe
(April 6, 2004)
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3513_7-5128652-1.html
The short answer is, you can, as long as you're not circumventing any copy protection.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Tip Of The Week : Leave it to the Experts
Leave it to the Experts
I often hear from prospects and clients that they are considering doing it themselves, or handing it over to a student or junior family member. 'IT" is a lot of things. Design of their site, upkeep, marketing, etc.
The problem with this is, while it might be short-term cheaper, it can cost you more over the long haul.
For example, if the septic system in your back yard caves in, you could call your buddies, shore it up with plywood and cover it in dirt. Eventually however, you'll end up knee deep in, well, you know. For something serious like this you call the professionals.
Why would you trust the marketing of your business with someone who is just learning? Unless you have the experience and training, you should leave your website design and marketing to the experts. They can guide you around the pitfalls and traps, and free up your time to do what you are good at, which is the business.
Take off a few hats, and leave it to the experts.
- Bob
I often hear from prospects and clients that they are considering doing it themselves, or handing it over to a student or junior family member. 'IT" is a lot of things. Design of their site, upkeep, marketing, etc.
The problem with this is, while it might be short-term cheaper, it can cost you more over the long haul.
For example, if the septic system in your back yard caves in, you could call your buddies, shore it up with plywood and cover it in dirt. Eventually however, you'll end up knee deep in, well, you know. For something serious like this you call the professionals.
Why would you trust the marketing of your business with someone who is just learning? Unless you have the experience and training, you should leave your website design and marketing to the experts. They can guide you around the pitfalls and traps, and free up your time to do what you are good at, which is the business.
Take off a few hats, and leave it to the experts.
- Bob
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