:Forest Folk

It can get a little overwhelming as a designer or developer to attempt to handle every aspect of a new website. Case in point is when you’re freelancing and have a number of clients with a desire for similar deadlines. Sometimes all you want to do is find someone who can lighten your workload, but it’s difficult. Believe me, when things are stressful you definitely want the added help, but the thought of losing money on the deal only intensifies your stress level. A website service that will allow you to take advantage of broker web development seems almost too ideal to be true, but it’s real and ready to help. It’s web design and development as the most functional duo it was mean to be. How designers in need of additional development support ever got before is a mystery to me.

Gone are the days where bringing in a new party to get the job done takes further approval from the client. There’s even a profit available in a markup. The client gets what they want quicker, and as a designer I’m allowed take on more clients with the least amount of worry. At which point the only real issue would be keeping the clients coming in which is hardly a problem.

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It is raining freebies in the internet. With so many websites that offer some of the best free stuff, you would be spoilt for choice if you are on the lookout for a freebie for yourself. It is very easy to get freebies in the internet. A search in any search engine would bring you to a plethora of sites that stock a large number of freebies. Most of these freebies are used for the purpose of creating brand awareness of the company and increasing the sales. This helps the company to create a loyal customer base.

All of us are always on the lookout for attractive deals and offers and if there is something that comes for free, we tend to grab it up. One of the great places to look for freebies is the internet. It is definitely possible to find some great stuff there if only you know where to hunt for these. It is however not very easy to locate these websites as with each passing day there are many sites that scam you. It might get a bit tough for one to search for free offers online. You might see that while some offers are difficult to comprehend, there are others that might be outdated and not used any longer.

Though it might be quite a challenge to find the right free stuff, it is not at all impossible. With proper search you are sure to find a few genuine sites that would bring to you loads of freebies. If you are on the lookout for free stuff, you would just need to persist in your search for the right site. Read the reviews posted by others and know what has worked for them. With some guidance you are on your way to finding some great free stuff online.

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There is a scene in the very interesting movie, “Crash,” where a character played by Matt Dillon demands to speak to someone’s supervisor.

Having some good personal reasons to resist this demand, the person he’s speaking to replies: “I AM my supervisor!”

It’s arrogant, a power play, and not what we expect from someone who is in a customer service capacity.

Because of the dramatic tension that has been established between the characters, we can relate to her stonewalling. She actually has a reason to resist–to say, no, you’re going to have to deal with ME, buddy!

But usually, blockades like this are harmful, and they degrade everybody associated with a customer conflict.

I recall the time I was trying to withdraw some cash from a savings account. The teller, who may or may not have been having a bad day, hassled me. I remarked:

“This is not my idea of great customer service.”

She shot back: “I’ll have you know, I give GREAT customer service!”

Finally, the transaction was completed, but the defensive nature of the exchange stayed with me, and it may have festered in her.

Which, of course, is too bad.

There was a time when I learned that “The customer is always right.”

This expression is not, technically, correct, as we all know.

The guy, who tried to return a truck tire to Nordstrom, for a complete refund, was not in the right. Nordstrom never sold truck tires, so his claim to a refund was bogus.

Yet, he got a refund, nonetheless, because that department store believed in the idea that, for practical purposes, he’s right.

Why argue, creating ill will, and losing any chance at his future patronage?

At least once, when I have asked for someone’s supervisor, the next person on the line definitely sounded like a peer, not someone in charge.

I asked, “Are you really a supervisor; does he report to you?” to which I received a reply that indicated he wasn’t, after all.

He misrepresented his status to protect his pal.

The unstated law of business is this: Everybody answers to somebody else. And if he refuses to answer to customers, to uphold the tacit agreement that the customer is always right, then he’ll have his day of reckoning.

It’s called, accountability. Without it, government officials and company insiders are out of line.

Someone may escape accountability today, through stonewalling, misrepresentation, or intimidation. But sooner or later, the marketplace will punish him.

Because, ultimately, the customer always IS right.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of www.Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

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You have probably read lots of advice from various so-called experts warning you against the use of free sites. But while you have been taking in this piece of advice and information, others have been busy making a fortune online, using those very free sites that you have been warned against.

Most of these new Internet entrepreneurs have used blogs or web logs to achieve their enviable accomplishments. Many people have not appreciated just how much blogs have changed the World Wide Web and especially many perceptions that previously carried a lot of weight. For instance we are now seeing popular blogs hosted by free services achieving colossal traffic. In other words the emphasis seems to have shifted rather dramatically to the value of the content rather than that of the “vehicle” that carries it.

Because the content in blogs tends to be updated very regularly, search engines have quickly fallen in love with them. The result is that they’ve been enjoying very high search engine rankings. Then there is the almost natural tendency for blogs to link to one another. The result of this has been that many blogs have almost effortlessly quickly picked up the sort of five figure daily traffic numbers that websites have had to wait for years to achieve. Some blogs have done it in a few short weeks.

Smart online entrepreneurs have established a couple of interesting and tightly focused and targeted blogs, based on both their experiences and valuable, high-paying keywords. The results have been phenomenal with some of them drawing in thousands of dollars monthly in Adsense earnings. For most of them, their earnings from the Adsense click affiliate program have surpassed any other earnings they may have had previously from their online businesses.

Now imagine a situation where some of these new breed of online entrepreneurs have taken the trouble to host their sites at with free hosts who have such a professional approach and look that it is difficult to convince anybody that their sites are hosted free. The result has been the sort of increased Adsense earnings that others find difficult to believe.

It really is worth the effort to look for a good free host to enhance the image of your blog. There is little doubt that this will quite often pay off in a big way in terms of your Adsense click affiliate earnings.

Maggie Wallace is an online marketer and happy user of SiteKreator - take your instant site, just add content. Visit this professional website builder now and sign up for a free account. She can be reached at wal.maggie@gmail.com.

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How four partners build and manage a fine art photography online gallery by emulating the way the echo works.

Imagine a top-notch photographer, some demanding visitors and an e-commerce site that wants to make money. But not at any price and in any conditions, within a policy of exclusivity and selectivity.

You have got three quarters of our “Echosystem Build”:

1. The top-notch photographer submits an outstanding photo to the web site whose committee of selection decides to select or not select (ring a bell?) it.

2. The selected photo is voted or not voted by the demanding visitors.

3. The elected photo is put into a catalog that is strictly limited to 64 items.

To cap that, the number of photographic digital enlargements is strictly limited following the estimated World Population, which gives us the forth quarter of our “Echosystem Build”.

Such an e-commerce does exist, it is called www.oneppm.com:
Each and every photo is edited once and never again and delivered with a numbered authentication certificate. The catalog applies the well known “one-new-goes-in-one-old-goes-out” rule.

Only one person per million - sometimes even one person per ten millions - can buy and possess a poster that exist nowhere else for the price of non exclusive and non limited quality editions.

As for the photograph and the publisher “success rules”.

A policy of quality, exclusivity and selectivity in the collection photo market with a golden rule of strictly limited number of subjects submitted by top-notch photographers, voted by demanding visitors and edited in strictly limited number following the World Population plus a royalties system to pay the main performers are the guide lines for this new web site called www.oneppm.com for “One Person Per Million”.

Daniel Borel is a marketing and communication man. He has been studying these fields since 1964 as manager of Atelier Synergétique SA, a Swiss Proficiencies Network which is oriented toward industry, high-tech and B2B services on export markets. That makes him acutely aware of a hard to manage happening: simply tell a Canadian and a Polynesian the word “tree”, compare what they visualize and you understand what marketing communication implies.
To get in touch: marketing@oneppm.com and borel@synergetique.ch

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