"Helping Your Business Fly"
Issue 7

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. FLIGHT LINES: "Plan ahead...before you build"
2. BUSINESS NEWS: Hey, we're registered!
3. WING TIPS: General System Maintenance Tips
4. FEATURE ARTICLE: "Aw C'mon...a website?"
5. ALTER EAGLE: Guest Article - "Spread the Word"
6. EAGLE'S TALON: Note Tab Pro, a Powerful Text Editor
7. EYE OF THE EAGLE: Wires & Switches &... Wires, Oh My!
8. CONTACT THE FLYER: Send questions, comments and articles

1) ======= Flight Lines =======
[Observations on business and life]

Plan ahead...it wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.
--Seen on a wall plaque

Rome was not built in a day.
--John Heywood "The Proverbs of John Heywood" (1546)

2) ======= Business News =======
[News relating to our business or the newsletter]

The Eagle Flyer Newsletter is now registered as a "serial publication" by the National Serials Data Program - Library of Congress. [International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)]

"The ISSN is the standardized international code which allows the identification of any serial publication independently of its country of publication, of its language or alphabet, of its frequency, medium, etc."

If you are serious about starting a newsletter for your customers, you might want to plan on registering your work AFTER you have produced several issues.

It is suggested that you forward a copy of the publication when registering.

The website address is ISSN

The number for Eagle Flyer Newsletter is ISSN: 1535-8429.

3) ======= Wing Tips =======
[A variety of business helps and tips]

General System Maintenance Tips:

Back up your important files, including your data files, your Windows registry files and any customization for your programs and computer system.

Make a Windows startup disk, for each machine on your network. Make sure that this disk includes the appropriate cd-rom drivers in case you need to re-install Windows. Go to: "Start \ Control Panel \ Add-Remove Programs \ Startup Disk".

Record your network settings, such as system name, workgroup, IP addresses, DNS, gateway(s), network card settings, etc.

Be sure that you keep your user i.d.'s and passwords for websites and application programs in a safe place.

Delete unnecessary "temp" files. You can safely remove any .tmp files with a date prior to today's date. Use Windows Explorer to find and delete these files.

Likewise, seek and destroy (old) "tilde" files. [Files that start with a ~ character] These take up unnecessary space.

Remove programs that you do not use from your start menu: In Windows 95, in Windows Explorer, go to Start \ Programs \ Startup folder. Remove programs here for start-up.

In Windows 98, go to Start \ Programs \ Accessories \ System Tools \ System Information. Select Tools \ System Configuration from the menu. Then click the startup tab. Deselect the programs you do not want to run each time you run Windows.

Once a month, or more often if necessary, turn off all programs that are running "in the background", and run Scandisk to check the condition of the hard drive media. This prevents errors that otherwise could cause you to lose data.

In Windows 95 and 98, you can shut down running programs by using the Ctrl + Alt + Del keys, and selecting a program and then clicking on "end task". Note: do not select "Explorer" as that is actually the Windows core program, and will cause Windows to shut down.

4) ======= Feature Article =======

FEATURE ARTICLE: Aw, C'mon...do I REALLY need a website for my business?

If you want to SURVIVE in today's marketplace, you must have an Internet presence, just to keep up with your competition!

The size, type and location of your business, as well as the needs and expectations of your customers will very likely determine the type and degree of Internet site that you require.

And the extent to which your COMPETITION offers superior Internet-based services WILL have an impact upon your ability to thrive in the changing economy.

Some of the purposes of a business website include...

Advertising:
In some cases, a simple email messaging system, and a "billboard" type website, may be enough to keep you connected to your customers, and offer necessary information to potential customers. Targeted Internet and offline advertising of a company website can be much less expensive than traditional methods.

Customer Support:
Simply put, customers who are searching the Internet EXPECT to find your website, AND important information such as location, driving instructions, and types of products and services that you offer, as a bare minimum.

If you own a restaurant, for example, customers may expect to find your address, as well as nutrition information for all of your food items.

Technical specs for a product, added to a web page, can help to reduce the number of repeat telephone calls for the same data.

Wise business professionals will strive to use the power of the "web" to satisfy customer needs, and stay ahead of competitors.

Education:
More and more, educating your customers is proving to be a key to increased and repeat sales. Informed customers often order new products and upgrades (or refills) for existing items.

By providing up-to-date information about new and existing products, at your website, you increase customer loyalty and instill the idea that your company is on the frontlines of customer service.

Furthermore, by offering an online and email newsletter, you maintain vital contact with your customers, and bring them new and interesting information which they otherwise might have missed, or worse yet, received from someone else.

By maintaining an archive of important information, the value of your website, and business, increases, as your visitors return to your site, time and time again.

Lead prospecting:
As web "surfers" encounter your website, you have the opportunity to begin a relationship, and build your customer list, by offering free information in exchange for the visitors' contact information.

Online website "forms" offer an easy and convenient means for visitors to find out more about your business.

Online sales:
Individuals and businesses are using the Internet to order directly from online websites. The ease and convenience of ordering online is changing the nature of commerce throughout the world.

Regardless of whether or not you offer "real-time" ordering from your business website, you can still offer tremendous value to your customers by publishing an online catalog of all of your products. By including prices and descriptions, as well as photographs, at one location on your website you can reduce the cost of distributing offline printed catalogs.

And website visitors have the opportunity to IMMEDIATELY call and order your products, during business hours. If you do opt for a fully functional online shopping website, customers can order your products at ANY TIME, day or night.

Increasingly, it is becoming essential that you use the power of the "net" to keep in touch with your customers. In a very short time, the Internet has become woven into the fabric of our society, in such a way that we are increasingly dependent upon it for basic needs.

If you are an owner or professional who is responsible for the success and growth of a business today, you cannot expect to succeed without a professionally designed company Internet presence.

About the Author:
Ralph Moore is the owner of Eagle Computers, a consulting firm that shows you "How To Discover Technology That Will Explode Your Business Online". To subscribe to the FREE Eagle Flyer Newsletter now, visit our web site: Eagle Flyer

5) ======= Alter Eagle =======
[Products and services that we recommend]

Guest Article -- "Spread the Word"

"Melissa" invaded our computers in late 1999, then "I Love You" in 2000. This year, we have not been spared. The recent "homepage.htm" attachment virus is wreaking havoc online.

Of course, we should never open any attachments from unknown sources. It's a warning we are told again and again. However, the devious (and perhaps even brilliant) way these viruses in particular work is that, after opening the email attachment, it sends more virus-infected emails to people in your address book without your knowledge.

(By the way, I must add that the attachment's file carries the extension "htm.vbs," which is a visual basic script file and not an HTML file -- which, at first glance, can be confusing. In addition, once opened it exploits a flaw in Outlook's email reader, thus only Microsoft Outlook users are susceptible.)

While most anti-virus warnings tell us to never open an email attachment from someone unknown to us, how can we desist doing so when the email apparently comes from someone we do know? In fact, that's the real flaw such viruses exploit: It's not the software per se, but the instant credibility such emails are given. They ostensively originate from people we know, making them unsuspectingly harmful and instantly trusted.

Because of that vulnerability, they spread like wildfire.

But this "human flaw" can also be used to a marketer's advantage. Often called "viral marketing," the object is to have the knowledge of one's business or website spread on the web -- like a virus -- through other people's efforts.

By freely propagating a file, a link, an email, an ebook or even an advertisement, the knowledge of your existence on the web literally proliferates through other people's efforts. Such forms of viral publicity can become quite effective -- and the news about you can spread quickly and effortlessly.

If your online business is unique, focuses on a niche or is the first in some category, the knowledge of your existence will spread almost naturally. But using the Internet as a way to automate, leverage and increase the spread of that message can help to multiply your marketing ... Exponentially.

For example, viral marketing, which is also called "word-of- mouse," often uses small files (such as freeware, ebooks and even videos, like the recent "All Your Base Are Belong to Us" craze) that can be easily downloaded and spread around. It can also be web-based (such as traffic generating scripts, like referral systems, affiliate programs and greeting cards).

But one question remains: Is viral marketing limited to the electronic realm? Does it need to be web-based? Not really.

Word can spread online with results that are faster and more far-reaching than any other form of word-of-mouth advertising. Add an element of curiosity, and your "message" will populate emails, message forums, newsgroups and websites -- as if on their own, like a virus. Thus, if you can create some kind of "buzz" about your business, site or product, or even any kind of buzz through which you are visible, you've got it made!

No need for files, web-based scripts or even a website.

Here's a case in point. Nearly half a million people a day were calling a New Jersey investment firm's voice mail just to hear the sound of a duck quacking. Their automated reception, which began with those typical corporate prompts, such as "To request a new account kit, press two," included as its last option: "If you would like to hear a duck quack, press seven."

The brokerage firm, which has a mallard as its mascot, decided to throw in the sound of a duck quacking as an option on their toll-free line -- it was a joke at first. Being the last in a series of seven message prompts, they had thought that nobody would notice or even care. But in a very short amount of time, people started calling the line to hear the sound of the duck, tying up the brokerage's phone system in the process.

With the phone number circulating throughout the Internet and by email, more than 270,000 people called the toll-free number by the end of the first month. "We didn't do anything," said the brokerage's CEO. "We just left it on our voice mail -- the Internet took care of the rest."

Nevertheless, the first step in viral marketing is to develop your unique selling proposition, or USP. Aside from all the other steps, if you master this one you will create word-of- mouth advertising as a natural byproduct, without effort.

But if you want some help, then in order to springboard your viral marketing you should add an element of curiosity to your efforts. (By the way, why do you think most "how to" types of information products are sold on the basis of "secrets" they contain? People are just plain curious -- it's human nature.)

Then leverage your marketing by using tools that can help the viral process -- and you will multiply your visibility quite rapidly. In addition to referral traffic generators, strategic alliances and affiliate programs, these specific tools can be used to stimulate both curiosity and third party referrals.

Write an ebook. Program a mini-app. Offer a checklist. Record a sound byte. Digitize a video. And distribute them freely.

Speaking of affiliate programs, they are probably one of the easiest and most popular methods of viral marketing. Online, they have made companies, such as Amazon.com, synonymous with the word "ecommerce." Using other people's efforts to help expand your reach online, generate traffic and sales, and even recruit other affiliates, has never been easier.

It's risk-free, cost-free and hands-free.

The technology is available. So why not use it? Check out the following software programs, CGI scripts and others that can help manage your own affiliate program:

- http://www.assoctrac.com/
- http://www.palis.com/new/yoap2/
- http://theaffiliateprogram.com/
- http://www.affiliatezone.com/
- http://www.affiliatetracking.net/
- http://www.affiliatesoftware.net/
- http://www.simpleaffiliate.com/
- http://www/cgiscriptcenter.com/comcart/
- http://www.worksnet.com/
- http://www.reciplink.com/

With your own Affiliate Program, you can recruit affiliates who will help propagate the knowledge of your existence on the web and, like a virus, multiply your online marketing punch. If not, create a file that offers something of value to people within your target market and distribute it freely. At the very least, create a "buzz" about your business or website. It may "catch on!"

---------------------- About the Author ---------------------- Michel Fortin is a consultant dedicated to turning businesses into powerful magnets. See SuccessDoctor.com for more. Magnetize your online business with practical ideas, tools and strategies that anyone can use to dramatically transform a mediocre online presence into an unforgettable -- and highly profitable one. See SuccessDoctor.com/pp/ for more info.

6) ======= Eagle's Talon =======
[Tools to help you "get a grip" on things]

Note Tab Pro

NoteTab Pro is a leading-edge text editor and HTML coding tool, and an ideal Notepad replacement. Winner of top shareware industry awards in 1998 and 1999, this elegant application does it all: you can handle multiple large files with a simple tabbed interface, use a spell-checker and thesaurus, format text, use multiple undo, and bookmark documents. You can build templates, use powerful system-wide searches, and do global multi-line replacements.

Its Clipbook feature lets you create and organize clips, which can range from text macros to complete mini-applications, using a simple scripting language with enough features to satisfy any power user; a bunch of handy clip libraries is included.

Web authors will love the HTML clip library, just one of a load of features that make NoteTab a great code-based HTML editor. Other gems include text-to-HTML conversion, tag stripping, and tools for adding links and color codes.

There are far too many features and benefits to list here. Suffice it to say, we use this excellent editor for everything under the sun... including editing the Eagle Flyer Newsletter.

There is a FREE version on their website, but the feature-packed Pro version is only $19.95. Check their website at:

7) ======= Eye of the Eagle =======
[Ideas to help you think creatively]

There are three boxes labeled as follows:
1)Wires 2)Switches 3)Wires & Switches

All boxes are labeled incorrectly.

By reaching into one box, at a time, and removing an item, what is the least number of boxes that you must reach into, to correctly label all of the boxes? And why?

(Answer in the next issue of the Flyer)

***
Answer to Last Month's Puzzler...

What can turn everything around without moving?

A mirror

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=======***=======
Copyright © 2000-2003 Eagle Computers. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole, or
in part, without the express written consent of the
publisher.

Registered with the Library of Congress. ISSN: 1535-8429
=======***=======