Archive for July, 2008

South Africa Lets Couples Uncover the Astonishing Tigers and Zebras by Walking Safari

The phenomenal location of Africa called South Luangwa has been called the greatest place to safari in Africa. The area has been acclaimed in numerous years by the worlds most credible wildlife experts. Couples might often be able to watch huge groups of wild cats as well as lovely birds. Try Africa safari holidays from Kaingo and explore your wild side.

The park is well regarded for its marvellous walking safaris and is a big seller with all UK folk. The changing seasons makes the safari region irrestible with a dry season during winter and a green beautiful jungle feel over the summer months. During the changes in season the wildlife animals will probably change giving british tourists a different aspect.

Identify the appeal of South Africa with a photographic safari vacation and be at one with the beautiful wildlife. The astonishing rivers and hippos and lions might make people feel alive with energy. Couples will be able to take large volumes of photos and take back the greatest memories.

South Africa has lots of animals in its regions and tourists can easily see the perfect photograph of a zebra. If you are not used to a walking holiday you will often go on a driving safari and admire large amounts of the country within a short amount of time. When you have concluded your driving safari by day you might then go back to your resort to have dinner. Innumerable hotels are 4 star and stunning.

Published in: On the Road | on July 31st, 2008 | Comments Off

Investigate your Broadband Connection Transfer Rate with the Easy Broadband Download Test

One thing that the population requires in this day in age is a fast rate broad band connection so that the public may easily chat to friends & family via your e-mail and Microsoft Messenger or perhaps transfer files of your choice as fast as possible from the entire internet. Compare Broadband UK permits every body to realise just how efficient your own link to the web is by letting everyone to undergo the Broadband Speed Test and should perhaps all of the public feel that your internet connection is not efficient enough then you yourself can effortlessly alter your broad brand internet connection so that it adheres to directly where every one of us live. Compare Broadband UK does this for you; so easily. We are living in an astonishing time in history aren’t we.

At the easy Compare Broadband UK web site you yourself have the opportunity to carry-out a Broadband speed test. The speed check produce reports concerning the actual web rate concerning uploads and downloads possible by your current broadband. From this service you will then be able to access the pace of a broad band connection & once there you can witness if perhaps you need to swop your broadband package.

The speed test can ascertain your current download speed, this service is the speed your current connection can then download info from the whole of the internet, it is useful to own an efficient speed for this service as it is what you yourself will then use to download pictures, mp3 files and e-mails in addition to big attachments. Customers will then appreciate the broadband upload connection speed this is the speed that one’s current connection transfer files back to the web, this service is of principle importance for each online gaming and internet phone calls. This service is exactly when Compare Broadband UK comes in extremely useful. You quickly and easily just put your info onto the system and include what it is exactly you yourself are searching for and it will then prop up a selection of the cheapest & speediest broadband offers available to you. The prices could range from 4 pounds per month to 50 pounds depending on what you are trying to look for. Compare Broadband UK uses your post code to find out exactly what it is the most efficient rate aimed at your specific location. Discover if you have lighting speeds with our Broadband Speed Test and find out if you should change providers.

Published in: Uncategorized | on July 30th, 2008 | Comments Off

Marketing, Lead Generation, and Research: A 3-in-1 Solution

I Hate Cold Calls

Long before I started my business, I realized that I wasn’t good at telephone sales and that I would need to generate leads in another way. I developed a sure-fire way to generate those leads, interest in me, and my business, through the use of telephone market research.

There are many benefits of doing market research including the ability to learn more about my target market’s behaviours and opinions, honing messages and presentations based on real, first hand responses, as well as, to test out new messages or theories prior to wide release.

As a website developer and consultant, my large market is businesses and my main target group is small business owners. In order to contact these owners I would need access to their contact information.

For my target market, I found a regional business development directory to be very complete including names, addresses, phone numbers and website information. Some of the information was a little out of date but it was going to be far better than just cold calling to reach “The Owner or Manager” and get successfully past the front desk person etc. For other Business-to-Business companies I might suggest the local Chamber of Commerce or Business Association. Contact lists may be purchased or leased from outside sources, however, that is beyond the scope of this article.

For a client of mine, who is in the property care and landscaping industry, I was able to suggest hitting the phone book in the areas he wanted to generate business in and call every twentieth or thirtieth name in the book. The only criteria his respondent had to meet, was that they are a homeowner or property owner. In his case, my client is located in a small town and most respondents would be homeowners. If he were in a major city I would recommend that he be calling property management companies and target areas of the city with a high concentration of houses. Most cities still have their phone books broken down by community or borough.

Developing the Survey

The first step in this process was to develop the survey. To do that you first need to determine the subject of the survey. This should also relate directly to the message you wish to communicate to the lead. For my company I wanted to find out one of two things, if the respondent had a website what were the circumstances, experiences and opinions of having it or if the respondent didn’t have a website the circumstances and reasons for not.

Tuning in the Respondent

As you can see, these questions relate to only one specific service - websites. This allows the respondent to easily understand what subject area you are talking about so that when you switch to providing your message they are already thinking about that subject. In my case, the respondent could easily tell that I was asking questions about websites, they probably figure that my business has something to do with websites.

Keep Questions Open Ended

The survey questions should be as open ended as possible. This is not scientific, as it cannot be quantified in small sample sizes, but it is the best way to avoid leading the respondent to a perceived answer. They may feel that you are looking for a particular response. This can happen when you use a scaled response survey such as ratings of 1 to 5 or 1 to 7. In my own personal experience this type of survey is best left to academics. In most cases you are looking for opinions and experiences of an individual. Ask questions like, “Could you explain how you felt about the experience when you last purchased a car?”

Keep Things Brief

There should be no more than 10 to 15 questions on the survey. The fewer questions and the more open ended the better the dialogue with the respondent and the more valuable the information.

The Wrap Up

At the end of the survey when I ask if they are interested in more information about my company and services they already have an idea of what to expect and are more likely to be open to hear and receive my message because there is no surprise and I was not beating them over the head with message. I merely made them think about their website or lack thereof.

Script = Professionalism

Once you have developed your survey you should write a script. I know - I can hear your sighs now - you don’t want to sound like a robot or just another telemarketer but the use of a script will ensure that you sound like a professional. The danger with a script is that it might not be conversational or may not consider the person on the other end of the phone. To avoid sounding robotic and like you are reading a script you should read it aloud to yourself. If you are unsure about how it sounds try it out on someone in your home or office. The worst thing you can do is to call up someone and start in with, “Uuuhhmmm, could I speak to - uuuhhmmm�”

Your script should include a brief introduction. In my case my introduction went like this, “Hello, Mr. Adams. My name is Jay Gilmore. The reason I am calling is that I am doing some market research for my business services company in your area and I wanted to get some feedback from fellow business owners, like yourself.”

Note that I didn’t mention the name of my company. This shows the respondent that I am a person calling to talk to another person - people like to talk to people and not businesses.

Removing the Common Objection

The next words that come off the script are very important, “I am not going to try to sell you anything, and I just want to ask a few questions to help in planning my business.”

This has worked every single time to break through the, “I’m not going to listen to a sales pitch” instinct that so many business owners and consumers have developed over the years.

Ask for Their Time

Now that I have broken through their resistance I am able to request permission and their time to do the survey. Be respectful of the respondent’s time by making sure that the survey may be completed in less than five minutes. Tell them how long it will take - and be honest. It is not very professional to lie or mislead people about the time you are asking them for.

Once the survey is complete you should conclude by thanking the respondent for assisting you with your research.

The Marketing Starts Now - Actually it Already Started

The marketing part is next. In closing you should briefly introduce your company and the service being marketed. An example would be, ” Thank you Mr. Adams for all your help. I would like to let you know that my business, Joe’s Flowers is a local flower shop that specializes in arrangements and designs from North American plants and flowers. Would you be interested in receiving more information about our services and our company?”

After answering questions in your survey about flowers and their buying habits they are probably ready to find more information about your company and its products or services. Get their mailing address and / or email address and any other information you require to send them the information you want.

What to Send

Sending the information about your business can make or break this relationship. You have already gotten willing permission to send information to the respondent - now you have to send them something that will lead them to choose to buy your product or service or refer a friend or colleague.

The contents of the information package - be it electronic or print- should be a letter of introduction and thanks for the participation in the survey and some free and useful information that they will relate to regarding your product or services.

This information package is a first step to an ongoing relationship that will allow you to nurture goodwill and relationships with people who are actually interested in your business. The respondents will be expecting some form of marketing message but don’t overdo it. Pushing too hard to close a sale at this stage will not work with this piece. This is not a direct mail promotion so don’t treat it as such. That being, said don’t hesitate to place importance and urgency on the message. Use benefit oriented copy to entice readers to take some form of action.

Follow-up Will Make the Sale - Well Some Anyway

As you bring the respondents closer to your business’s products and or services by providing valuable information and examples of how it can better their lives many will choose to buy your products and services.

Give Up The Cold Call

You have now just read a great way to expose you business to new markets, new people, learn more about those markets and people, and get your message out - all with nothing more than a telephone and a list of phone numbers. What is best is that you were able to get people to willingly accept your message without the anxiety and resistance of a sales cold call.

About The Author

Jay Gilmore is a Developer, Consultant, and Author who develops affordable websites and practical marketing solutions for real small businesses. Jay publishes his articles, insights and resources on Marketing, Website Development, and Small Business, whenever he is not helping clients achieve their goals.

Copyright 2005 Jay Gilmore, SmashingRed Web & Marketing. All rights reserved.

Published in: Financial World | on July 30th, 2008 | Comments Off

IT Marketing: Find the Decision Makers

The best way to grow beyond your customer base is to do some more IT marketing by getting out there in the community and meeting other people that are the decision makers. The key thing is to find the people that are most likely to be your decision makers. In this article, you’ll learn how to connect with decision makers for your IT marketing efforts.

For example, if you’re targeting the small business owner and manager, you’re going to meet a lot of branch managers from banks, but they’re probably not going to be the right decision maker for you. You may meet a lot of executive directors from non-profit organizations, but they don’t have a lot of money to spend on IT service. You may meet some people who work for a big Fortune 1,000 company that has a branch office in your area. These may not be the people you’re looking for though.

It’s important to know exactly who the target decision maker is that you’re trying to reach and that will help you get the most out of any organizations or networking functions or trade groups, meetings, or conferences that you go to.

IT Marketing: Join a Partner Program

Another way to grow your name in the local community is by joining a partner or reseller program. Let’s say, for example, you join Microsoft Certified Partner Program. It’s really important, especially as a smaller firm, for you to be very proactive and find out who the local field rep is.

Talk to the field rep. Shake hands. Exchange business cards. Make sure they can put a face with your name. Make it a point of giving them a call. Shoot them emails every couple weeks or so to just give them updates. Ask them questions and brainstorm. See if you can get together for a cup of coffee with them a couple times a year to get their take on where the biggest opportunities are in your local market.

IT Marketing: Learn about the Problems

Ask if there are any really big problems that they’re running into right now with people they talk to. Ask if they know any ways that you can help with those problems. Ask if there are any people that belong to those channel programs that may be particularly receptive to partnering, either for work quote issues or for non-competing skill sets. Your local channel reps are a really good source for helping you identify opportunities and problems in the community which help you in your IT marketing.

Copyright MMI-MMVI, PC Support Tips .com. All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}

Joshua Feinberg - EzineArticles Expert Author

Joshua Feinberg helps small business technology providers get more steady, high-paying PC support clients. Sign-up now to get your free access to Joshua’s field-tested, proven secrets for generating more monthly recurring service-contract-revenue with PC Support Tips.

Published in: Financial World | on July 29th, 2008 | Comments Off

Make Your Freelance Writer’s Work Even More Affordable By Using Safe Lists

You hired this affordable freelance writer and they’ve delivered your work. They’ve used some effective keywords and you are generally happy. What next? Or what more can you do to make their work even more affordable?

After the affordable freelance writer’s work has been posted to your site and at leading article directories, there is one more thing you can do, you can email out the best article or the best several articles via safe lists to millions of email boxes.

I was absolutely amazed at the response I received from emailing out a few articles. Traffic to the sites mentioned in the resource box shot up dramatically as did my revenue from that particular site. I quickly realized that the traffic generated from safe lists is very targeted and extremely click-happy. They click through to links and also at the Adsense ads posted at the site. What all this means is that your affordable freelance writer’s work can be used to gain you even more traffic and revenue and thus make the whole exercise even more affordable.

You will have to start off by joining dozens of related safe lists. You can do this through yahoogroups for instance. Make sure that you remember to use an alternative email address because your inbox will soon be flooded with hundreds of messages every day and it can be quite a task sorting this out from your other email.

Do not be tempted to get involved in spam and make sure you do not spam any of the lists, read their terms and conditions carefully before you join and only join the ones that allow article submissions. Done properly and in an organized manner this one can be a very lucrative profit center for work generated by your affordable freelance writer.

Are you considering hiring a ghost writer? If so don’t do anything until you’ve read a few of the articles at the author’s hire a ghost writer blog. And if you’re interested, you’ll also be referred to an excellent SEO ghost writer.

Published in: Financial World | on July 28th, 2008 | Comments Off

Sexy Toys are Wonderful when they are Built of Glass

There are legions of sexual toys out there on the sexy market and glass dildos are lovely martial toys to use or give to your husband. Martial toys can be types of art, as seen by the terrific glass dildos on sale in websites. The super glass dildos are different as people can control the warmth of the sex toy. The difference in warmth makes love making sessions excellent. Sex Bomb have the best Cheap Sex Toys in the UK.

The most excellent thing about this sort of sensual aid is that they are sturdy. The sex aid can come in different shapes and could be used for bum play. The great thing is the sexual toys might be positioned in the microwave to quickly heat up. The thick glass holds the requested temperature so you can carry on with your sex session with out having to adjust the warmth often.

Cleaning a martial toy is easier than you think. Toys, especially glass dildos, might well be cleaned quickly. Wash it in soapy water or try a martial toy cleaner from a marital aid store. Glass dildos are sensational sex toys to help sex up your sex life with your boy. The 1st time your husband uses a martial toy like a glass dildo they will have an exciting orgasm. Sex aids may be tried at anytime and are a wonderful essential to any home.

Published in: The Shoppers Way | on July 28th, 2008 | Comments Off

Reduce Stress through Breathing Exercises

Breathing is powerful! It’s not only the way we keep our
bodies functioning, but we can use it as a major
influencing factor on our state of mind. Most of us don’t
breathe deeply enough, but the simple act of breathing
correctly can help us reduce stress and tension.

Many holistic practitioners believe that breathing is the
link between the physical body and the ethereal mind, and
scientific studies have shown that correct breathing can
help manage stress and stress-related conditions by
soothing the nervous system.

In fact, proper breathing is said to be one of the most
effective techniques for relieving stress. The way we
breathe affects the tension in our muscles and influences
our thoughts and feelings, and that’s why many health
gurus advise people to do breathing exercises regularly.

If you have never tried breathing exercises before, try
them now. First go to a quiet location that is free of
distractions, where you can sit or lay in a comfortable body
position. Some also say you can stand up, but I believe
that decreases your ability to relax.

Start by breathing slowly, but deeply. Take air in through
your nose, and then blow the air out through your mouth.
Deep breathing means drawing air down into your
abdomen. Don’t just take the air into your throat and
breathe out. That’s what we usually do. Begin by slowly
breathing in through your nose to a count of 5, and then
slowly exhale through your mouth to a count of 6. Continue
for at least 2 minutes, and then notice what happens.
Notice how relaxed you can make yourself feel.

Read more at http://tranquilityisyours.com/Breathing2.html

Cheryl Bond-Nelms is a Senior Producer and developer of
http://www.tranquilityisyours.com

Published in: Financial World | on July 25th, 2008 | Comments Off

Using Alternative Media to Generate More Customers

Last week I received a very nice thank you gift from a friend of mine, Eric Ruth, who is arguably the number one marketing coach to the personal fitness trainer industry.

Eric, asked if he could interview me about a specific topic and I agreed.

After it was done, Eric sent me a bunch of filet mignon steaks from Omaha Steaks (Thanks Eric).

But the steaks are not what this article is about.

It’s what was inside the Omaha Steaks box that I want to talk to you about.

You see, two things came with the steaks. One was a Omaha Steaks cookbook.

The cookbook not only contained recipes but also a bunch of bounceback special offers.

Each of these offers were specifically designed to get you to call Omaha Steaks up and order more steaks.

And Here Was the Second Thing that Was In the Omaha Steaks Box…

The second thing was a blue envelope that said, “Don’t Miss Out - Special Offers from Americas Favorite Companies.”

Here’s what they looked like:

http://url123.com/5p2zq

The contents of the blue envelope included what is known in the marketing industry as, “package insert.”

_____________________

Package Inserts 101
_____________________

Package inserts are basically advertisements that get inserted into packages that are being sent out from various vendors.

For instance, in this case, Omaha Steaks sends thousands of boxes to its customers. It sells space in its boxes to other companies who want to advertise to Omaha Steaks customers. This is called a “Package Insert Program” or PIP for short.

There are thousands of PIP program offered by many companies. Here are just a sampling of the type of companies that provide PIP programs:

Amazon

American Stationary

Divers Direct

Crafts Enthusiasts

Global Industrial Equipment

Kingfisher Maps

Mantis Gardening Tools

Pitney Bowes

Speed Gear

Toyfare

Vitamin World

Zoysia Grass Plugs

If the profile of your target customer matches the profile of the customers that these companies sell to then you might consider a PIP advertising program with them.

The going rate for package inserts averages around $60 per thousand packages. What this means is that you pay $60 and your insert will be sent out with 1,000 packages.

This relatively cheap when you consider that renting a list for a solo mailing might cost anywhere from $100 to $250 per thousand names.

On the other hand, the response rates for inserts are much lower than direct mail. An acceptable response rate used for PIP programs are typically measured in tenths of a percent vs. the 2-5 percent return of solo direct mailings.

The number of inserts in a package can vary from four to eight. Generally, only non-competitive pieces are included together in one package.

Here’s a photo of the inserts that came in the Omaha Steaks package I received.

http://url123.com/5krn7

As you can see, there are only three inserts from these companies:

1. Hawthorne Village (model trains)

2. Discover (credit cards)

3. Select Comfort (beds)

Here’s Why You Should Consider Using a PIP Advertising Program in Your Marketing Mix

1. You get the power of direct mail at about 20% of
what you’d normally pay for a direct mail campaign.

2. You can target specific niche markets and consumer
segments.

3. You can target people by the way that they buy (i.e.
mail order buyers, phone order buyers, television order buyer etc.).

4. You get category exclusivity in the mailing (i.e. no
competing offers to worry about).

5. Your offer gets an implied endorsement from the
company mailing the package.

I’m not saying that you should base your entire marketing program on insert media. What I’m saying is that using inserts can be a good compliment to how you’re already advertising your product or service.

With the shrinking list market, package inserts are a good alternative way to prospect for qualified leads. It’s hard for companies, I think, to rule it out.

______________________________________________________

Here’s a Few Tips to Get the Most Out of PIP Programs
______________________________________________________

Tip # 1

Be very careful of how you pick a PIP program. It’s much like picking a mailing list. You have to pick a PIP program that is reaching people who are good prospects for your product or service.

Make sure you set aside some time to sit with your broker to identify the characteristics of the programs that work. Then find plans that share these characteristics, and put a plan in place to test them.

Tip # 2

Alternatively, with your broker, identify potential programs NOT on the market that may accept your insert.

Tip # 3

Use large, bold type and a strong, simple offer on your
insert. All the rules that apply in creating a compelling space ad also apply in creating a compelling insert.

Ask yourself, “What is it, exactly, that I want my prospect to do when they get my insert?” Then put that in your headline.

Tip # 4

Make sure that you are utilizing the maximum allowable size of insert.

Tip # 5

Make sure that it is easy to respond (this should go without saying). And use free offers to generate leads.

Tip # 6

Make it clear why your insert is riding along inside the package. You need to link your copy into the relationship that already exists between the company offering the PIP and your product or service.

For instance, a Home Depot insert that went to new homeowners said, “You’ve just moved in…”

Tip # 7

Always have new offers and new creative ready to go. After awhile, if the PIP program is a regularly shipped item, people get tired of seeing the same old ad. So you need to mix it up once in awhile.

Tip # 8

If you’ve been successful with one PIP program then test a few more.
______________________________________________________

Here Is a Comprehensive List of PIP Program Managers
______________________________________________________

Leon Henry practically invented the package insert business. They still have the largest and perhaps the most experienced PIP brokers in the industry.

Leon Henry, Inc.
200 North Central Avenue Suite 220
Hartsdale, NY 10530-1940
Phone: (914) 285-3456
Fax: (914) 285-3450
E-Mail: lh@leonhenryinc.com
Web Address: www.leonhenryinc.com

Here are several other PIP management companies.

1. AM/Direct (Peterborough, NH); (603) 924-9262

2. American Marketing Network (New York, NY); (212) 243-8065

3. AMG Global (Redbank, NJ); (732) 741-0585

4. Atrium Marketing Group (Chicago, IL); (312) 733-3383, ext. 36

5. Bernice Bush Co. (Irvine, CA); (949) 752-4210

6. BrightStar Marketing (Lake Bluft, IL); (880) 700-7483

7. D-J Associates (Ridgefield, CT); (203) 431-8777

8. DK Group (Hillsdale, NJ); (201) 358-6100

9. Edith Roman Associates (Pearl River, NY); (845) 620-9000

10. Effective Mailers (Roseville, MI); (248) 588-9880

11. Everyday Media (New York, NY); (212) 481-7300

12. Gage Marketing Services (Minneapolis, MN); (612) 595-3862

13. GTE Directories Direct Delivery (Tampa, FL); (813) 664-5400

14. IDG Communications List Services (Framingham, MA); 1-888-IDG-LIST

15. List Services Corporation (Bethel, CT); (203) 743-2600

16. Media Solutuion Services (Atlanta, GA); (770) 955-3535

17. MKTG Services (Newtown, PA); (215) 968-5020

18. Our Tribe Marketing (New York, NY); (212) 462-0036

19. Pihera Advertising Associates (Lebanon, OH); (513) 932-5649

20. ProForma PrintNet (Marina, CA); (323) 692-9200

21. Right Lane Media (Saint Paul, MN); (877) 412-3200

22. Select Publishing (Madison, WI); (608) 277-5787

23. The American Mailshop (Sioux Falls, SD); (605) 338-4004

24. The Media Organization (Woodbury, NY); (516) 496-2577

25. Tobin Productions (New York, NY); (212) 727-1500

26. VentureDirect Worldwide (New York, NY); (212) 684-4800

27. Vis/Aid Marketing (Inglewood, CA); (310) 399-0696

28. Walter Karl, Inc. (Pearl River, NY); (914) 620-0700

29. Web-Magnets.com (Hot Springs, AR); (501) 627-0817

30. Worldshop (Grand Rapids, MI); (616) 957-0555

____________

Conclusion
____________

Getting Eric’s gift from Omaha Steaks reminded me just how powerful a Package Insert Program can be. And package insert programs are just one type of alternative media.

There are many types of alternative media to choose from to reach your target market:

Ride-Alongs

Co-op Mailings

Statement Stuffers

Sampling Programs

Card Deck Mailing

Catalog Bind-Ins/Blow-Ins

Newspaper Inserts

Supermarket take-one racks

It’s wise to work with an experienced broker who understands the industry and can help guide you through to successful campaigns.

The broker doesn’t cost you anything. The company offering the insert media pays the broker so you’d be silly not to work with an experienced broker.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to eating one of my Omaha steaks!

Copyright 2005 David Frey

EzineArticles Expert Author David Frey

David Frey is the author of the best-selling manual, “The Small Business Marketing Bible” and the Senior Editor of the “Small Business Marketing Best Practices Newsletter.” To get your free lifetime subscription visit http://www.MarketingBestPractices.com

Published in: Financial World | on July 23rd, 2008 | Comments Off

How To Contact The IRS Without Breaking Into A Sweat

We all love to criticize the IRS, don’t we? It’s easy to ridicule a huge organization of government bureaucrats who often seem to be Public Enemy #1.

Our negative attitude toward the IRS can lead to a strong desire to just ignore it altogether. But
self-employed people who ignore the IRS do so at their own peril.

So when it comes to providing free information about taxes, let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water. The IRS does provide some excellent resources to help us make the best of a potentially bad situation.

If you need tax assistance and prefer not to pay for it, do not overlook these five ways to obtain help from the IRS:

1. The Internet
http://www.irs.gov

There’s a wealth of information just for small business owners and self-employed people at: http://www.irs.gov/smallbiz

Here you’ll find everything from how to obtain a federal business tax ID to a free 6-session streaming video presentation of the “IRS Small Business Workshop.” Also known as the Small Business Self-Employed Online Classroom, you can access this directly at: www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=97726,00.html

If you prefer to attend an IRS small business workshop in person, check here to see what’s available in your state: www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99202,00.html

Need tax forms and/or their instructions?

Look no further than the IRS website:
http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/index.html

Here you’ll find a boatload of links to every tax form imaginable, available as downloadable PDF files or in fill-in format. All form instructions can also be downloaded. http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/lists/0,,id=97817,00.html

The IRS has many free publications that explain virtually every major (and many minor) tax topics in great detail. Sure, IRS “pubs” are not always written in the most entertaining style, but, hey, remember the price. http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/lists/0,,id=97819,00.html

2. Telephone Hotlines.

Special toll-free numbers exist for the following:

– To order forms & pubs: 800-829-3676 (in case you’d like to receive a paper copy via snail-mail)

– To ask business tax questions: 800-829-4933

– To ask personal tax questions: 800-829-1040

Use common sense when phoning the IRS: to avoid long wait times, don’t call on Monday morning. And no matter when you call, be prepared! Write out your questions beforehand and have all relevant documentation in front of you, as well as a favorite book or magazine to read during the inevitable wait time. Stay calm; don’t yell; treat the IRS employee like a human being and he/she will likely return the favor.

– Need help with long-standing problems: 877-777-4778

– Prerecorded messages on 140 topics: 800-829-4477

3. TaxFax Service.
You can receive most IRS forms instructions via fax by calling 703-368-9694 from your fax machine.

4. CD-ROM for Small Business.
This is known as “The Small Business Resource Guide CD-ROM”, aka Publication 3207. It includes all the tax forms and publications needed to run a small business. Call 800-829-3676 to request a free copy.

5. Walk-In Offices.
Need some face-to-face tax help? For a complete list of IRS offices in all 50 states, including hours of operation and contact info, check out: http://www.irs.gov/localcontacts

Wayne M. Davies is author of 3 tax-slashing eBooks for small business owners and the self-employed. For a free copy of Wayne’s 25-page report, “How To Instantly Double Your Deductions” visit www.YouSaveOnTaxes.com

Published in: Financial World | on July 22nd, 2008 | Comments Off

Free Line Rental deals on the Nokia 7900 Prism

The Nokia 7900 Prism has remained a firm favorite with consumers since September 2007. With the 7900 Prism Nokia have produced a mobile phone which is quite well featured for a entry level mobile phone. The functional design of this handset is average but practical.

In terms of battery usage the Nokia 7900 Prism has 3:00 talk time and 240 hours reserve charge. The Nokia 7900 Prism is supplied with a Li-Ion 850 mAh (BL-6P) battery cell. Getting on to the display the phone is fitted with a 2 inch screen, which is a disappointingly sized display taking into consideration the other options available for the price. The screen is a OLED, 16M colors. The Nokia 7900 Prism is equipped with Polyphonic (64 channels), MP3 ring tones on top of which is a vibration alert. The Nokia 7900 Prism is has bluetooth, meaning it extremely convenient to integrate with devices, such as hands free sets or even a computer. The 7900 Prism has support for 2G GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 and 3G UMTS 850 / 2100. A 2 MP, 1600×1200 pixels, video(QCIF), flash camera is integrated into the 7900 Prism camera. For those that need access to the Internet on the move a WAP 2.0/xHTML browser is included.To allow mobile Internet access a WAP 2.0/xHTML browser is included. If colour is on your list of requirements you may like to know that the 7900 Prism is only available in Black. The 7900 Prism is one of the most compact handsets on the market. The mobile handset is pretty light weighing in at 101 g. The 7900 Prism also has:

  • Java MIDP 2.0
  • Living wallpaper
  • Configurable keypad backlighting color
  • Calculator
  • Built-in handsfree
  • MP3/AAC/eAAC+/WMA player
  • Calendar
  • Voice memo
  • Regrettably for Nokia the 7900 Prism has some stiff competition meaning it is possible to find some real bargains on this mobile handset. If you are after a real bargain, order online where you can find plenty of really cheap offers to choose from. Buying online can deliver some significant cost savings, it is even possible to get a Nokia 7900 Prism on a 6 month free line rental deal , which may not cost anything at all.

    Published in: Hall Of Telecommunication | on July 20th, 2008 | Comments Off