Friday, January 29, 2010

Social Networking - Where Do We Go from Here?

Maybe it's just me, but I have noticed that the focus on social networking sites seems to be going more and more towards sharing everything with everybody.  These sites want us to believe that our friends care about the latest "make money online" craze, and that our family wants to know about that hot date we had last night.  They convince us that the more information that we post, the more followers we'll gain and the more popular we will become.

Let's take a look at this theory.  I have an account with a popular social networking site.  Let's call it "Pace Brook".  In my contacts, I have several personal friends, my fiance, my mom, and several "networking contacts".  I go to my "wall" and in the morning and there are an average of 160 posts there waiting for me to peruse.   Another of the sites to which I belong (we will call it "pwitter"), has even more "pweets".  Unless I am going to spend the better part of my day going through them all, how do I sort out what I want to read and what I don't before starting my work day?

I don't exactly have an enormous list of contacts.  Some of my friends have hundreds of people on their contacts list; if not thousands.  Although there are a lot of people I would like to add to my list, what they offer in the way of useful content is nullified by excess noise they would contribute to my wall.

My other concern is that I don't really think my networking contacts on the other side of the planet really care about my friend's birthday party, and I am sure my friends are sick of hearing about my latest blog entry on the versatility of industrial hybrid lighting.  In fact, any given post will reach people that want to read it and others that don't.  The more I post, the less likely people will be to read them, due to my history of posting things they don't care about. 

I am not alone here.  The more contacts you have, the smaller percentage of posts you actually read.  The percentage of your contacts that actually read your posts goes down as well.  Seems a bit counter productive, doesn't it?

What about your personal info? There is information about me that I want some people to know, but not others.  I know people that have multiple accounts under different names for different purposes, but that seems a bit excessive.  I have found myself resigned to just filling out my profiles with the most generic of information.  That's not ideal, but it beats the alternative.

So what do I want?  I want my contacts categorize into groups that I can easily manage.  I want to see what's going on with my friends or my coworkers or my networking contacts just by going to the appropriate "wall".  I want to be on my "friends" wall and post something and know that only my "friends" will see it.  I want to search for all of my contacts that live near me and quickly and easily send a post to just them.  I want my coworkers to go to my profile and see that I am a responsible professional, or my networking contacts to read that I am a blue widgets expert.  I want my friends to see the picture I took of Jason with the lampshade on his head, without my coworkers inquiring as to quality of my friends.

The best part is that since I am only sending posts to people that I think will want to read them, more of my posts will actually get read!  I can send out party invitations to my friends in San Jose, or quickly update my coworkers about a change in plans for the next meeting.

What I want, in essence is a "buzz conduit".  Something that will direct all the incoming buzz to the proper location, and the outgoing buzz to the people that I want it to reach.  It would also be nice to have some of my privacy back.

It doesn't look like any of the "big boys" are going to be making these kind of drastic changes to their platforms. There is, however, a new site setting up for launch that wants to offer us all what I think most of us want - a buzz conduit of our very own.  It's name (aptly or no, you decide) is buzzduit.com, and it's coming soon!

Head over to buzzduit.com and sign up to the mailing list, so you will know the MINUTE it is ready for launch!  Once on the list you can also email support with any questions or feedback.You can also view the blog here.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Solar Lights

It seems like everyone now has some kind of solar lights somewhere on their property and a few have already installed solar security lights. We are becoming quite the “green” street.

More information on solar security lights can be found here.

Solar Lights

It seems like everyone now has some kind of solar lights somewhere on their property and a few have already installed solar security lights. We are becoming quite the “green” street.

More information on solar security lights can be found here.

Plumbing Info for Home Owners

Having to deal with a problem with the
plumbing
first thing in the morning is never a good thing. However, there are certain steps you can take to keep the fuss to a minimum. Here is a little plumbing information for home owners that could be useful.

Before anything else, it is important to learn where everything is; your water meter and your shut off valves most certainly. Should you have a failure, it's important to turn these off right away. Also make sure you have the right tools for the job.

Having the right tools to do the job is also important; so ensure you have quick and easy access to relevant tools. Ensure you have a wrench, screwdrivers and any curb keys needed. Put them somewhere safe; remembering where they are!

Research online; or head to a course somewhere to learn a few basic skills for maintenance; disassembling a faucet, replacing a washer, removing sink traps and the like. Most problems can be readily fixed in under five minutes; so no need to pay expensive call out charges.

Regular monitoring of the water pressure to your home will also be a good step to take. A pressure of around 80psi is what you are looking for; anything above this should be checked out to head off any possible leaks or breakages.

Maintaining and looking after the plumbing system responsibly will also help a great deal. Commonly, blockages are caused by fat deposits in the pipes, or masses of hair and other nasty stuff. Discard anything likely to get caught up in the regular trash.

Even drains that are maintained correctly could develop a clogs; from hair, soap scum and a host of other things. As such, stocking up on drain cleaning chemicals will prove useful, and always make for a good first line of attack.

Having learned the basic skills, it is well worth having a check of your complete system two or three times through the year. This will most likely keep your system running problem free; but will also highlight any small leaks.

Another good indicator of problems is a sudden and substantial increase in your water bill; so this should be checked regularly. Turning water supply off to the home if you are heading away for anything more than a day or two is also good; particularly during the cold spells.

There is a wealth of plumbing information for home owners online, and through other avenues, for particular problems you may face. Having covered the basics to alleviate any emergencies; it could well be worth familiarizing yourself with these lessons which could prove fruitful.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Buying Home Accessories Is Fun And Very Interesting

When it comes to shopping for home accessories most people don't even bother creating a budget within which to work and therefore can easily overspend. One way of keeping expenses down is to cut down on spending on items that are not very important for your home. So, it follows that the main focus of your shopping should be to buy those items that are absolutely essential to your needs and then if you have money left over you can consider adding the less important items.

From: http://easyhomeaccessories.com/buying-home-accessories-is-fun-and-very-interesting/

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Niche Marketing - 5 Important Tips

Niche marketing is extremely important when it comes to an online business. Even more so since it holds the key to potential growth and leads to increased volumes of traffic and sales. For these reasons, it is necessary for you to take several different factors into consideration.

Make sure you are doing your own research. The need to understand your niche is one of the most important parts of niche marketing. Concentrate your efforts on something that is in demand. Try to find a niche that has a real need for the addition of some products and services. Your product doesn't have to be a new one of course, but there does need to be a demand for it. Without that you won't be able to sale anything for a profit.

Take it one niche at a time. Many internet marketers try to spread themselves out into a bunch of different areas at once. If you get involved in more than one at a time you are probably going to hurt your business. You can go into 2 or even 3 after you have fully established yourself in the first niche.

Give your target audience a good reason that they should buy from you and not the other guy. If you want high quality traffic you need to give your site visitors and customers a good reason to come to you and not someone else in your niche.

Show your site visitors that you actually understand their need, then provide them with proof that you are the person that is best able to serve them with great information, products and services. If they think they can get something better somewhere else then they are probably going to go there.

Be sure you understand the language of your niche. This means you should not only have the ability to speak as your audience does, but also have a site that shows the same thing. If you have chosen some type of social networking niche, the design and layout of your site should show that easily. A sit for cat owners that has a dog design is probably not going to yield very much business, now is it?

Always take the time to create quality information, products and services. Pretty much all niches have a demand so they also need a lot of different products, services and even information to fill customer needs. For instance, a dog owner niche should provide information about different shelters, pet sitters and possibly even vets. Food, toys, collars and flea sprays are good ideas for products. Services might include things like dog walking and dog sitting as well. Try to find the things that aren't as obvious as most, look deep for the things that are niche related but aren't being offered a lot.

The information above is good to know if you want to be able to generate good quality traffic to your site that has a high potential for sales that will bring you a profit.

When you're trying to increase your niche marketing efforts, try article marketing! You can attract traffic with these 5 easy steps! Don't reprint the same version as everyone else. Get your own unique content niche marketing article here.

Understand Plumbing Information For Home Owners

Starting the day only to find your plumbing has broken down is not the best feeling in the world. And, with costs of plumbers rising all the time, it is important that some basic plumbing information for home owners is understood.

Understanding the basics of a plumbing system is the first step to be taken. Take a little time to familiarize yourself with all the fundamental equipment; know where the shut off valves are, and how to disable the water meter certainly.

It is good to stock on up on the fundamental tools you will need; wrenches, screwdrivers, curb keys and the like. Make sure they are placed somewhere safe and easy to get to. And ensure you remember where that place is; checking it regularly!

Research online; or head to a course somewhere to learn a few basic skills for maintenance; disassembling a faucet, replacing a washer, removing sink traps and the like. Most problems can be readily fixed in under five minutes; so no need to pay expensive call out charges.

Regular monitoring of the water pressure to your home will also be a good step to take. A pressure of around 80psi is what you are looking for; anything above this should be checked out to head off any possible leaks or breakages.

Maintaining and looking after the plumbing system responsibly will also help a great deal. Commonly, blockages are caused by fat deposits in the pipes, or masses of hair and other nasty stuff. Discard anything likely to get caught up in the regular trash.

Even drains that are maintained correctly could develop a clogs; from hair, soap scum and a host of other things. As such, stocking up on drain cleaning chemicals will prove useful, and always make for a good first line of attack.

Once you are comfortable with the basic skills; it is always good to undertake a quick point check of your home a couple of times through the year. Again, this will alert you to any leaks early, and help keep things flowing freely.

Watching your bill for sudden increases is often also a good way to be alerted to leaks. Another good tip is to turn the water off when away on vacation, particularly at winter; which will also help relieve stress causes.

If you do have a failure, and have taken care of the basics, there is a wealth of plumbing information for home owners to assist with most problems online. And when it is not an emergency; you can take the time to learn what you need to do.

Expensive, time consuming and plain damaging; understanding basic plumbing information for home owners could undoubtedly help. More info on plumbing specifically Drain Plumbing a mere click away! This and other unique content Plumbing info articles are available with free reprint rights.