Safely Insulate Your Basement Without Professional Help

I like to share whatever tidbits of information I pick up.

Recently we tried to do some basement remodeling (insulating was part of it), got half way through the project before we called in professional to finish it. But so much was learned I thought I would write a quick article about it.

Here are some tips to help you with your project:

One important lesson in learning how to insulate a basement should be to always wear safety goggles, a dust mask, and protective clothing. Otherwise, particles of insulation can get into your hair, eyes, and nose, as well as irritate the skin. Wear shirts with long sleeves, long pants, work gloves, and at least a jacket or pullover that sports an attached hood.

If working in unfinished areas with construction going on, always wear a hardhat to guard against getting bonked on the head with wood, pipe, or other falling objects. Rubber-soled shoes make the smartest footwear choice to avoid slips on wet surfaces. Protecting yourself with the proper attire and gear can save you from discomfort or even a trip to the doctor.

Another part of understanding how to insulate a basement includes learning about electricity. All power tools should be appropriately grounded and, when using them, make absolutely sure cords do not interfere with their operation. Watch out for frayed wiring in older homes and keep everything – including insulating materials – well away from the wiring until you've had a chance to repair it.

Do not smoke while you are learning how to insulate a basement. Many types of insulation materials are highly flammable. Smoking in an enclosed area, like a basement, also traps the smoke and causes even more damage to your lungs than smoking in a ventilated area. You are, in essence, re-inhaling secondhand smoke.

Of course if you do run into problems, you can contact a professional basement renovation company. If you live in the Toronto area, try Handyman Mississauga basement renovations. They did a great job with our project, we're very happy with the work. .

These are just a few ideas to keep in mind while learning how to insulate a basement. Plain old common sense goes a long way, however, and you should make sure yours is in top form. It’s not that difficult to learn how to insulate a basement, but don’t forget to keep your safety in mind, too!

When Web Design Goes Terribly Wrong

I was talking to my partner the other day and he told me about a conversation he had recently with a photographer friend. They were catching up on what each other was doing, having not seen each other in several years and.

After talking about what my partner and I were doing, she said that he wished she had known about that as she had a website recently built to promote her portrait photography business and would have rather worked with someone that she knew then picking the lowest priced website design company out of the phone book. She asked us to take a look at it and let her know what we thought.

What I found in reviewing the site is what is common in most artist websites. The website does not have a clear call to action of what the visitor needs to do. In this particular instance, the goal of the website should be to drive visitors to make appointments to get portraits taken.

Instead, it highlights four galleries to showcase example photos taken (which is a good thing to do) but forces the customer to search throughout the website to fine even the location of this company, pricing information, how to schedule an appointment, etc. In other words, all of the things that make the artist money are extremely difficult for a potential customer to find on their website.  

If that was not bad enough, the website was not designed to be found by the major search engines. In this web site’s instance, the only way you could find this person’s website would be if you knew the company’s name. This might be fine if you already have great name recognition in your industry, but otherwise the only way that your website will be found is through online advertising, print marketing, and word of mouth.

This really misses the boat to all of the free customer leads that the search engines can bring to your photography business.

The good news for her is after she asked us to do a full assessment of her website; that we are now starting to work with her to correct these shortcomings while still leveraging the existing framework of the website that she had built.

Whether you are looking for a website to just showcase your artwork, attempting to market your work to publishers, or trying to run a full blown photography business – it is important to know that not all web design companies are the same in what they deliver and in most cases, you get what you pay for. In the coming weeks, I hope to follow up with another article discussing how these changes positively impacted her business and how you can do the same with your website.

Mississauga Web Design Company | 1-800-571-TASK

In these short few years, many new web design standards, technology and design concepts have come to bear. That is on top of the immense amount of knowledge distribution and demand for more functional and independent web design packages and tools.

The knowledge distribution has also led to shift in demand to the content management systems which facilitate content updates. These updates have become immensely necessary to keep the consumer’s interest for visiting the web site again and again and also to keep the consumer abreast with latest happenings regarding the company and its products and services. A great example of a company that keeps their customers up to date is iConnect Media, a iConnect Media Mississauga website design company.

CMS or Content Management System is quickly becoming the standard with web design organizations. They have come to realize that CMS is the future of web site design and may be left behind in the industry if they do not begin offering CMS services.

CMS does not in any way spell doom to web designers. CMS certainly saves the company’s time it spends on web design and allows them to put more efforts into marketing. CMS gives the company the freedom it needs by providing them with an ability to update the site when needed, not when convenient. CMS also saves the company’s costs by not having to run to the web designer every time an update is needed.

Even the most basic content management system has the following:

• Provides an interface to Add/remove/edit pages.
• Provides easy interface to update content of each page.
• Capability to add or remove images where needed.
• Interface to update contact information.
• Display updated listings (ex: Mortgage and interest rates).
• Facilitates addition of news on the industry everyday.

UI (or user interface)

A web design organization should seriously consider offering CMS to their clients to prepare for the future. It is still at a nascent stage, so if a web design and development organization is considering developing a customised CMS and marketing it, they can still see success in the near future.

For more information contact iConnect Media.

3 Tips for Finding the Best Website Developers

When you have the daunting task of looking for a web design company, you may find that you’re not quite for sure what to look for.

You may find yourself asking questions like "What qualifications will a good company have?" and "How expensive will a good web design company be?" There are several things that you should be on the lookout for in your endeavors.

1) Their Website

A good web design company will have a professional looking website. Their website will look like it is carefully maintained, and have a call to action on almost every page. The graphics on their site will look professional and high quality, and will load quickly. Their content copy will not have grammatical mistakes. Lastly, a good web design company’s website will be helpful and easy to navigate. If a web design company’s own website isn't well managed, why trust them to work with yours?

2) Willingness to Work with You

A web design company should have content on their site that is geared towards you, the potential customer. If they display an eagerness to work with you on your needs, then they understand that you may have different needs than other clients. A "one site fits all" solution for one low price is not the answer when it comes to custom web design. The good web design companies have multiple ways for you to contact them, located in an easy to find area of their site. If a web design company doesn't want to understand your needs, how can they satisfy them?

3) The Contact

If the company you’re looking at has satisfied both of the above descriptions, it is time for you to contact them. There are several things that you should look for within the first conversation you have. You should look for a company that has a personable representative who cares about your needs. They should let you lead the conversation, and respond with interest and helpfulness. A good web design company will be honest with you about what they can do and how they do it. Last but not least, the company should always advise you in your best interest, regardless of whether the sale is closed. If the company has your best interest in mind and is easy to work with, they will produce results greater than what you expect!

After you've found a good web design company that satisfies the three descriptions above, you are on your way to having a great website. But more importantly than that, you will develop a working relationship with an expert that can give you good advice when you need it!

Thanks for reading.

Lowering Website Bounce Rate

How can you increase the conversion rate on your website?

The first consideration should be lowering bonce rate.

It's a great question.

We make use of a free web program called TinyPNG, you simply upload your PNG there and will also compress it without losing any resolution, transparency or something that you could have in the image. Afterwards, a 3 megabyte image is about 150 kilobytes. That's a tremendous difference.
The next tip is usually to possess a user-friendly 404 page. Why with that occurs when someone goes to a page that either doesn't exist on your own website any more or they've used an improper link, a lot of the times they'll search for a 404 page. The 404 page is definitely basically telling them that that doesn't exist.

What you would like to complete is that you want to create a user-friendly version of that. You want to add a link returning to your homepage and also you want to will include a url to your contact and your search as well; when you can will include a search bar every one of the better. You would like to make an actual handy resource. So if someone does inadvertently get there, they have every one of the tools and details to return to your homepage as well as to find what exactly they're seeking.

How to Create Business Relationships Online

Because of the anonymous nature of the internet people are generally more skeptical when it comes to doing business online. Owing partly to famous internet scams sensationalized by the media and to bad personal experiences online, people are less likely to trust a party whom they've never met in person. As an online marketer, you face the challenge of building trust and loyalty without the benefit of a physical handshake, a face-to-face meeting, or even a smile.

To this end online forums can provide an excellent way to build meaningful relationships with people and attract new customers. By joining a forum in your area of expertise, you gain access to a community that shares your interests as well as a pool of potential customers. There are countless forums dealing with just about any topic imaginable. The vast majority of forums do not charge you a fee to register or post messages. Many allow you to include with your posts self-promotional "signatures" that you can use to promote your business and link to your website. A good way to locate a forum relevant to your line of business is to do a keyword search using one of the major search engines.

 Why a major search engine?

A Google search for "website marketing forum," for example, will not only return dozens of relevant forums on website marketing, but will also give you an indication of how highly they are regarded by the search engine giant, as gauged by how high they rank for that key phrase. Forums that rank higher on the search engine result pages (SERPs) are the ones of which you'll want to become a member. Forums allow you to share knowledge and gain reputation as an expert in your field. Offering concrete advices that are immediately useful to other people is an especially effective marketing technique. Once you've gained credibility in your field, you will be sought after for your professional expertise without your having to promote yourself. Participating in forums is also an excellent way to humanize yourself and your business. 

When people deal with you, they'll know that they're dealing with a real person, not a nameless, faceless business entity. By staking your reputation online, you demonstrate that you are willing to accept some degree of accountability for your actions. If you're a generally honest and agreeable person in the real life, there is no reason to hide behind a company name when conducting business online. The personal qualities that make you likable in the real world will also make you likable in cyberspace. Indeed, establishing meaningful relationships online is a lot like making friends in the real world.

After all, on the other side of the terminal is a real person with real emotions just like you. Another key to meaningful online relationships is to create an atmosphere of openness and transparency. Although you normally use a nickname to start and respond to posts in public forums, you should use your real name in private correspondences. It is good practice to begin your messages with a salutation, addressing them by their real name whenever possible. A little courtesy can go a long way in building loyalty and trust. Apart from selling your personal qualities, you must have something of value to offer to people-- and at prices that are fair to everyone!

On a venue where your personal reputation is not at stake, you can price a widget for any amount you want and hope someone will come along and buy it. When you do business on forums, however, you must be extra value-conscious when pricing your product or service. If you overprice your widget, you risk receiving flames from other members that could harm your reputation. This is why it's so important to research what other members are charging for a similar widget and to price yours competitively. Often you'll end up charging lower prices to members of your forum than to other customers with whom you have not developed as close a relationship for the same widget. Building positive relationships is about making people feel important. Just as you want to feel good for having sold your product or service, people want to feel good for having bought it.

This is why it is so important to promptly answer their questions and attend to their concerns. Listen to their inputs and incorporate their ideas into your business practices. This is how you make your customers a part of your team. It's not a stretch to speak of your customer as a member of your team. When you really think about it, no business can exist without its customers. Teamwork is not limited to interacting with other members of your company. It also takes teamwork to build a constructive, mutually beneficial relationship between you and your customers. But I still believe the best forums are the paid. Essentially the premium communities.

If you want to find out more about the best ones to join, head over to LMM for details. There are more tips for building business relationships online

PROBLOGGING: MAKING MONEY FROM BLOGS

A weblog (or simply blog) is a website that 'publishes' or features articles (which are called 'blog posts', 'posts', or 'entries'), written by an individual or a group that make use of any or a combination of the following:

· Straight texts
· Photographs or images (photoblog)
· Video (videoblog)
· Audio files (audioblog)
· Hyperlinks

Usually presented and arranged in reverse chronological order, blogs are essentially used for the following purposes:

· Online journal or a web diary
· Content managament system
· Online publishing platform

A typical blog has the following components:

· Post date -the date and time of the blog entry

· Category - the category that the blog belongs to

· Title - the title of the blog

· Main body - the main content of the blog

· RSS and trackback - links the blog back from other sites

· Comments - commentaries that are added by readers

· Permalinks - the URL of the full article

· Other optional items - calendar, archives, blogrolls, and add-ons or plug-ins

A blog can also have a footer, usually found at the bottom of the blog, that shows the post date, the author, the category, and the 'stats' (the nubmer of comments or trackbacks).

There are numerous types of blogs. Some of them are the following:

1. Political blog - on news, politics, activism, and other issue based blogs (such as campaigning).

2. Personal blog - also known as online diary that may include an individual's day-to-day experience, complaints, poems, and illicit thoughts, and communications between friends.

3. Topical blog - with focus either on a particular niche (function or position) that is usually technical in nature or a local information.

4. Health blog - on specific health issues. Medical blog is a major category of health blog that features medical news from health care professionals and/or actual patient cases.

5. Literary blog - also known as litblog.

6. Travel blog - with focus on a traveler's stories on a particular journey.

7. Research blog - on academic issues such as research notes.

8. Legal blog - on law (technical areas) and legal affairs; also known as 'blawgs'.

9. Media blog - focus on falsehoods or inconsistencies in mass media; usually exclusive for a newspaper or a television network.

10. Religious blog - on religious topics

11. Educational blog - on educational applications, usually written by students and teachers.

12. Collaborative or collective blog - a specific topic written by a group of people.

13. Directory blog - contains a collection of numerous web sites.

14. Business blog - used by entrepreneurs and corporate employees to promote their businesses or talk about their work.

15. Personification blog - focus on non-human being or objects (such as dogs).

16. Spam blogs - used for promoting affiliated websites; also known as 'splogs'.

Blogging is typically done on a regular (almost daily) basis. The term "blogging" refers to the act of authoring, maintaining, or adding an article to an existing blog, while the term "blogger" refers to a person or a group who keeps a blog.

Today, more than 3 million blogs can be found in the Internet. This figure is continuously growing, as the availability of various blog software, tools, and other applications make it easier for just about anyone to update or maintain the blog (even those with little or no technical background). Because of this trend, bloggers can now be categorized into 4 main types:

· Personal bloggers - people who focus on a diary or on any topic that an individual feels strongly about.

· Business bloggers - people who focus on promoting products and services.

· Organizational bloggers - people who focus on internal or external communication in an organization or a community.

· Professional bloggers - people who are hired or paid to do blogging.

Problogging (professional blogging) refers to blogging for a profit. Probloggers (professional bloggers) are people who make money from blogging (as an individual blog publisher or a hired blogger).

Below are just some of the many money-making opportunities for probloggers:

· Advertising programs
· RSS advertising
· Sponsorship
· Affiliate Programs
· Digital assets
· Blog network writing gigs
· Business blog writing gigs
· Non blogging writing gigs
· Donations
· Flipping blogs
· Merchandising
· Consulting and speaking

The following are a few things that you need to consider if you want to be successful in problogging:

1. Be patient. Problogging requires a lot of time and effort, not to mention a long-term vision.

2. Know your audience. Targeting a specific audience or group is a key to building a readership.

3. Be an 'expert'. Focus on a specific niche topic and strive to be the "go-to" blogger on that topic.

4. Diversify. Experiment with various add and affiliate programs that enable you to make money online (aside from blogging).

5. Do not bore your readers. Focus on the layout. White spaces, line spacings, and bigger fonts make a blog welcoming to read.

Certainly, it is possible to earn money from blogs. One just needs to take risks, the passion, and the right attitude in order to be a successful problogger.