| Blog | HOME | Privacy | Contact | RSS | Proofread | Search |
| Daily Tips | Map A-L |
Map M-Z | Sample | Link2us |
Terms | |
| Tell A Friend | Services |
Resources | About Us | Bookstore |
The building of choice for retailers nationwide (including stores with multi-site operations) is the steel building due to its cost efficiency, ease of erection, and design flexibility. Because of these remarkable benefits, the popularity of steel buildings has continued to grow. As a result, the high demands on the steel building industry have caused a rise in innovations in construction technology. There are several reasons for this phenomenon that are worth identifying.
Because steel buildings are more rapidly assembled and less expensive to assemble than traditional methods of construction, they are now in higher demand among retail store owners. Even on the strictest of budgets, many building designs are offered--from the simple to the complex. These savings can then be transferred to the patron. New stores everywhere are being built with steel. They prefer steel because they know it is more cost-effective than conventional lumber-based structures.
You can also appreciate a more economical cost of labor. Frequently, minimal professional contribution is needed. In fact, with regards to smaller structures sometimes no professional help whatsoever is needed. Much depends on local labor prices, but the overwhelming majority of steel buildings could be constructed rapidly with the money-saving efficiency of a single work crew.
Building developers are generally drawn to the pre-engineered steel building design due to the savings rendered from its conservation of energy. Keeping a pre-engineered steel building with a comfortable climate is feasible thanks to the amazing innovations in insulation technology. A totally insulated pre-engineered steel building will out-perform lumber-based structures and maintain a constant temperature year-round consistently.
Advances in steel building technology have also created such amenities as ridge vents, skylights, louvers, as well as more common features as wind resistance and enhanced steel roofing systems. Store owners can rest assured that their steel building will be pre-engineered to even the strictest of Florida wind codes or the most stringent seismic ratings in California. Due to its snug connections and reinforced alloy, steel buildings are able to withstand the weight coming from heavy snow and the potential leakage from heavy rainfall.
Regarding the designs that are possible with a pre-fab steel building, the current innovations make it relatively easy to choose almost any configuration of facade, roofing, and structural. The clear-span framing design opens up your floor space with a column-free interior up to 300 ft. to give the retail store all the space necessary. Steel roofing may be designed with parapets and mansards at any pitch desired, include standing seam applications, and may be painted in a variety of colors. All these options translate into the marketability of your business and its merchandise. Retailers everywhere want to have their business in a steel building for all the above reasons to ensure the long-term success of their company.
Michael Palmer,
your expert in steel buildings
Source:www.webmasterinfoandcontent.com
IT network managers have to fight the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mindset to win resources. With computer networks, that mindset is dangerously complacent. IT networks will keep pumping data until they die or let in hackers. Here are some winning arguments against "if it ain't broke…"
IT Network Maintenance: Better Analogies
Don’t let your IT network's budget get lumped with IT in general--or worse, operations in general. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" sometimes makes sense in IT or operations. Upgrading workstations or desks can cost productivity, making it self-defeating.
You have to stress that IT networks are different from workstations or desks.
* IT networks are harder to repair.
* IT networks cannot be done without until fixed. You depend on them for email, web, file transfers, and in some organizations, printing, fax and telephone. If your network breaks you may be forced to rely on hand-written letters.
* IT network improvements rarely lower productivity on the front line. Instead, a faster, more reliable network can improve front-line productivity.
Here are the analogies you should stress to counter "if it ain't broke":
* Plumbing: IT networks will appear to function until they burst. The damage will be more expensive than maintenance ever could have been. In the meantime, you are losing productivity to all the little "leaks."
* Dams: If a poorly maintained IT network bursts, the eventual flood will harm overall productivity.
* War: There is no such thing as "good enough" when you are in competition. With an IT network, you're in a quiet arms race with hackers. You are also competing with your business competitors in terms of productivity.
* Health: Your IT network has to be in top physical condition. You can't make up for bad habits with a week or two of "rejuvenation." Meanwhile, your day-to-day performance will suffer.
* Cars: Don't wait for your IT network to conk out. Get a regular tune-up of up-to-date equipment.
IT Network Maintenance: What Can Go Wrong
Now, let's drive the point home. Here are some concrete, easy-to-explain reasons to keep your network up-to-date:
* Power supplies. Without redundant backups, your network is vulnerable to a shutdown. The lost productivity will make extra equipment seem inexpensive in comparison.
* Integrity. Faulty or contradictory data can break older networks. Newer equipment has solved these problems. Again, the potential cost of lost productivity makes newer equipment a good value.
* Firewalls. Hackers can leak trade secrets stolen from unprotected networks. Firewall software upgrades are relatively inexpensive.
* VOIP. Organizations worldwide are switching to VOIP--not just outside-line telephones but also switchboard and teleconferencing. If your network is out-of-date, it may fail when you eventually try this new technology.
* Speed. Older platforms such as 10BASET will throttle your bandwidth. You can now upgrade to a Terabit or more. Just think of the seconds, minutes, hours, and days lost as staff wait for email to arrive and web pages to load.
Final tip: show how cost-effective IT network maintenance really is. Get a firm cost estimate from a vendor. Just make sure your cost estimate is as competitive as it can be. You can often get new equipment at half the cost of retail by buying refurbished equipment.
Close your case for a better network with this wisdom: no matter what you pay, keeping your network up-to-date is cheaper than the consequences of letting it fall into disrepair.
About the author: Joel Walsh is a business and technology writer. Get an IT network cost estimate from Genesis Global, specialist in guaranteed used cisco switches: http://www.genesisglobalinc.com [Publish this article on your website! Requirements: 1. Live link for above URL/web address. 2. Link anchor text: "Used cisco switches" OR leave this bracketed message intact.]
Source:www.webmasterinfoandcontent.com
Interested in making a full time income running an internet business?
Well, one of the first things you need to do is forget a lot of the "myths" that keep being repeated online. Let's go through five of them here:
Myth 1: "Running a successful online business is easy".
No it isn't. No business success comes easy.
If money was really that easy to make, word would spread and everyone would jump on it, including investors!
Business doesn't work like that - it's competitive, and because of this requires hard work and vigilance.
If you treat your internet business like a job, and always do your very best for your boss (you), then you're off to a great start.
That said - if you're only looking to make $200 extra a month, or even $500 extra a month, that IS easy. Just sell some odds and ends on eBay. A part time income is not particularly difficult to achieve online with online auctions and other outlets like Amazon Marketplace.
But - if you're looking for a full time income, you need to work at it. There is no "secret formula", never was and never will be.
Myth 2: "Running an internet business costs next to nothing".
Well, somewhat true, but it misses the point.
You can run an online business very cheaply (my basic running costs are around $150 a month - hosting, autoresponders...etc) but if you want your business to grow at very low cost, you'll have to do all the promotions for free.
Free online marketing tactics generally take time to work, and require a lot of elbow-grease: writing articles to distribute, writing pages to get search engine traffic, creating products, building up an affiliate program, getting links in to your sites...
Alternatively - if you want to speed things up, you can advertise. And depending on how well your site converts visitors into customers, and how targeted your advertising is, you can grow very quickly that way.
If you're interested in putting a few hundred dollars aside into an "advertising fund" and trying to build your business quickly that way, pay-per-click advertising would probably be the best way to start.
Focus on Google Adwords & Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture) for starters since they have the most traffic, as well as the most responsive traffic.
But before diving in headfirst and potentially throwing good money after bad on inefficient advertising, it's strongly recommended you fully understand the subject, or get the advice of a professional.
Either consult with one (if you can find a reputable one), or devour eBooks on the subject.
Recommended eBooks are anything by Andrew Goodman or Perry Marshall. Make sure the information is up to date though as the pay-per-click field changes incredibly quickly. Twelve months is a lifetime when it comes to the search engines.
Also recommended is spending time absorbing the Google Adwords training site and also the Yahoo Search Marketing training site.
Both these companies want you to succeed with your advertising (since you'll advertise with them for longer) and so have a lot of great information to help you get started and build a successful advertising campaign.
Myth 3: "All traffic is the same".
This myth often presents itself as "Buy 10,000 visitors from us for $9.95 and you'll make lots of sales!" (or something along those lines).
Ignore such sales pitches - they're complete rubbish. And here's why:
Bulk traffic like this is completely untargeted and a complete waste of your time and money.
Just think - if you were selling a book through direct mail on "How To Get Rich In Real Estate" and you had to choose a mailing list to promote to, would you rather:
1) Mail your offer to a list of people who had already expressed an interest in the subject by purchasing similar products?
2) Or would you feel it was better to instead pick names at random out of the phone book and make that list the offer?
Silly question, right?
Well, it's the same online - all traffic is not identical. People surfing have different interests and motivations, just like they do offline.
To maximize your chances of making money, you want to target the visitors most likely to convert to customers for you and get them to your site.
Myth 4: "Opt-in email doesn't work anymore".
From my own personal experience:
Opt-in mail does work, but not as well as it used it. Many spam and email filters are over-zealous these days and delete mail people have asked to receive (opt-in mail) at the same time as unsolicited email (spam).
Plus - people are very worried about phishing emails these days (emails that try to fool you into typing in your private details) and often delete emails out of fear if they don't recognize who sent it.
But these points aside, opt in email can still work - so don't discount it before you try it.
Myth 5: "You don't need any technical skills"
Let's be frank - without technical skills you're going to struggle big time.
If you're going to run an internet business, for starters you want to be comfortable with computers and familiar with the internet.
And you really want to get to grips with HTML and FTP. Those seven letters are the building blocks of creating any kind of website and getting it live online. If you don't know them, get to know them. There's plenty of great tutorials online.
Or even just for starters - you can easily create web pages visually (without messing around with HTML code) by using a visual web page editor. There's plenty to be found by searching download.com.
So put these internet business myths out of your mind and get cracking on building your business into a success.
About the Author: Louis Allport is an online product developer and marketer. He recently revealed a system that can help you create best-selling products practically on demand: http://www.createoffers.com
Source:www.webmasterinfoandcontent.com