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http://www.eagleflyer.com
"Helping Your Business Fly"
Issue 20
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The Eagle Flyer is published every other Thursday and is
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Our goal is to offer you timely tips on new technology,
business and marketing, and to teach you techniques that
can help you multiply your business online.
Please share this newsletter with your business associates.
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Greetings to You and Your Employees - Here's to a Fulfilling
New Year Full of Growth and Prosperity for All!
IN THIS ISSUE:
1. FLIGHT LINES: Kindness delivers more
2. WING TIPS: Windows XP Tips
3. FEATURE ARTICLE: "A New Beginning"
4. ALTER EAGLE: Overture.Com - Formerly GoTo.Com
5. EAGLE'S TALON: ClipBoard Magic - Free Windows Helper
6. FROM THE BENCH: Windows XP Security Alert
7. EYE OF THE EAGLE: John bets Jack $10...
8. CONTACT THE FLYER: Send questions, comments and articles
1) ======= Flight Lines =======
[Observations on business and life]
A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in
its vicinity freshen into smiles. --Washington Irving
Kindness is loving people more than they deserve.
--Joseph Joubert
There is no substitute for the kindness that you show
to your customers and associates. It is one of the ways
that you can CHOOSE to deliver MORE to everyone.
2) ======= Wing Tips =======
[A variety of business helps and tips]
Windows XP Tips
If XP will not properly shut down, try the following:
Go to Control Panel / Power Options
Click on the APM Tab, and check the "Enable Advanced Power
Management support." XP should now shut down.
***
If you are missing some of your favorite desktop icons
and would like to get them back, try this:
Right-click on the desktop, and click "Properties".
Click the Desktop tab and then click "Customize Desktop".
Check mark the box for My Document, My Computer, My Network
Places, or Internet Explorer, for any that you would like
to have on your desktop.
3) ======= Feature Article =======
"A New Beginning"
By Ralph Moore - Copyright 2002
From time to time, someone does something that changes the
course of history, for better or worse. Sometimes we can see
it coming. Often we do not.
Certainly, no right-thinking person would have predicted the
events of last September. Nor could anyone have forseen the
depth of damage that would result within our own great
nation, as well as throughout the rest of the world.
For many, life will never be the same.
Now as we enter a new year, and as we see that this latest
insanity might soon be stopped, it is the start of a new day,
a new time and depending upon what we decide to do...
A New Beginning
As we look toward the future in our businesses and in other
areas of our lives, and consider how best to proceed, we
must remember this; one of the most telling characteristics
of any form of terrorism is its chilling effect on progress
or forward motion.
For instance, a man enters a bank and shouts "freeze!", and
everyone stops whatever they are doing and begins following
his orders. We must not allow the evil acts of others to
slow or stop our efforts to be successful in our businesses
or in our lives.
Time for action:
While we cannot change the past, we can decide to have a
positive effect on the future. A great teacher once told me:
"You decide what to put into your mind. The mind was designed
to hold and act on one thought at a time." And he was right!
Try this: Think of a pink elephant. That's right. A great
big pink elephant! Have you got the picture? Now... think of
a nice, big, juicy GREEN watermelon... perhaps split wide
open, with bright red pulp inside and shiny black seeds that
are scattered all about.
Now, while you were "looking" at the watermelon, did you
happen to notice any pink elephants dancing around? I didn't
think so!
The point is this: When we hold onto the past, it makes it
harder to deal with the present and to press forward toward
the future.
Dare to change history:
The actions that we take today WILL change the course of
history. A great example can be found in the movie "It's a
Wonderful Life". The main character, George Bailey, played
by Jimmie Stewart, was in a terrible fix.
His Uncle Billy had misplaced a bank deposit and unwittingly
endangered the future of the 'Bailey Savings and Loan'.
As matters went from bad to worse, George decided that
his family might be better off if he were no longer around.
He had decided to "end it all".
Then George received a gift from an angel, named Clarence.
Remember? George got to see that had he never been born,
many, many positive things that he had done during his life
would have certainly changed the course of history.
A whole town would have been much worse off for not having
had his positive influences and good works. Actions, whether
good or bad, have far-reaching consequences. Like the ripples
in a pond, the events of last September may continue to
wreak havoc on many, for a long time to come.
But, while we cannot change the past, we can [and must] make
some changes. We can change the course of history when we:
Believe to Achieve:
It has been said, "What the mind of man can conceive and
believe, he can achieve."
You are today, for the most part, where your believing has
taken you. And you will be, tomorrow, where you believe to
go. Consider this:
I would venture to say that throughout the course of your
business career, you have been met with many obstacles.
And somehow, or other, you have managed to overcome them.
Then it makes perfect sense to me that whatever challenges
you face in the future, you will be able to overcome them
as well.
It's Your Business:
No one knows your business as well as you do. And now as we
move forward into a new year, it's up to you to begin again
to take care of your business and plan for whatever you want
your future to be.
Certainly things have changed in the business world since
last September. But now is the time to make the necessary
changes and to forge ahead toward a bright new future.
Some people call it a "new year's resolution". I call it
A New Beginning. You can too!
Ralph Moore is the editor of the FREE Eagle Flyer Newsletter,
which offers "How To Technology and Tips That Can Multiply
Your Business Online". To subscribe to the Eagle Flyer and
receive a FREE report, visit:
http://www.eagleflyer.com
4) ======= Alter Eagle =======
[Products and services that we recommend]
Overture.Com - Formerly GoTo.Com
Overture, formerly GoTo, is the leader in Pay-For-Performance
search on the Internet. If you have a business website, and
wish to drive more traffic there, then you might want to
consider using Overture's search placement services.
Because Overture has affiliate partners, such as America
Online, Lycos, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape and
others, they can pretty much guarantee that a LOT of people
are going to see the links that you are paying for.
The way that this works is by allowing you to "bid" on your
favorite search terms, just like an auction. You determine
what likely search words are going to interest your potential
customers.
Then you search the Overture website, using each of those
words, or phrases, and decide how much money you are willing
to spend to get a particular placement.
For example, I just searched for "fireplace accesories" and
found that the top seven listings for that phrase were:
1st-$0.25, 2nd--$0.19, 3rd-$0.18, 4th-$0.17, 5th-$0.16,
6th-$0.15, 7th-$0.10, or ranging from 25 cents-per-click to
10 cents-per-click.
[This will likely change by the time you read this as it
changes all the time.]
So, in our example, if you wanted to place yourself in the
number 7 position, you would have to "bid" $0.11 per click.
Bidding $0.20 per click would get you the number 2 position.
Keep in mind that while you are in the process of bidding,
someone else may very well be bidding against you, so your
results may vary.
If you do consider using this "traffic enhancement service",
I would recommend proceeding SLOWLY until you get a feel
for how quickly your funds might resemble the sand in an
hourglass. [I speak from experience.]
Another thing to consider is whether or not the benefits
of added traffic will result in an overall increase in
revenue, either from an "ecommerce" enabled website, or
from increased sales at your primary location.
For example, as proud as you are of your shiny new website,
you might want to consider before spending a dollar per
click to drive traffic to your site, where you are selling
fireplace insert thermometers for $2.89 a piece.
You have to figure out how many of the people who "click
through" to your website end up buying your products,
how much they spend on the average, whether they might
become repeat customers, etc. You have to track your
advertising results!
Having said all of that, if you want to get nearly instant
results, and are willing to pay the price, you can be
assured that your website traffic will see an increase.
http://www.overture.com/
5) ======= Eagle's Talon =======
[Tools to help you "get a grip" on things]
ClipBoard Magic - Windows Clipboard Extender [Freeware]
I just started using this utility a couple of weeks ago.
What a great time-saver! Instead of having to open and close
a bunch of files, to find the text that you need to paste
into a document, ClipBoard Magic keeps track of everything
in one easy-to-use program. And it's FREE!
[Software companies often write useful programs for free,
to introduce you to their company and their more powerful
"shareware" or commercial software.]
The program stores whatever you have copied to the Windows
clipboard in a separate line of text. You can re-organize
the order of entries, by moving a clip up or down. You can
quickly re-load a clip into the Windows clipboard, and then
paste the information wherever you need to.
When you pass the mouse cursor over a clip record, a pop-up
window displays all of the text as it was originally written.
You can create a new "clips" file for similar pieces of text.
For example, start an "ads" clip file to store all of your
related Internet ads, and name it according to the type of
ads that you are placing.
If you own a furniture store, for instance, you might have
a clip file named "dressers" or "End Table Ads for Jan 2002",
etc. You decide. You can further organize the clip files by
using directories for each category that you use.
If you do a lot of work with text, you owe it to your busy
schedule to give this one a look.
Website:
http://www.cyber-matrix.com/clipmag.htm
Download:
http://www.cyber-matrix.com/downloads.html#cmag
6) ======= From the Bench =======
[Real-life accounts of hardware, software and more]
Security Alert:
If your machine(s) are running Windows XP or Windows 98, you
need to RUN, don't walk to the Microsoft website below, for
an emergency security update.
A VERY serious programming error, found in both operating
systems, allows anyone with enough knowledge to gain full
access to your connected machines.
With full access, someone could copy or delete files, or run
a virus or "trojan horse" program and do serious damage to
your critical information.
Be sure to get this security patch installed on all exposed
computers and as always, be sure to keep all of your important
data backed up!
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.asp
7) ======= Eye of the Eagle =======
[Ideas to help you think creatively]
John bets Jack $10 that he can predict the score of a
baseball game before it starts. Jack takes the bet...
and LOSES! Why did he lose?
(Answer in the next issue of the Flyer)
***
Answer to Last Month's Puzzler...
[An old man wished to leave his fortune to his wisest son.
He gave each a few coins with instructions to buy something
which would fill their living room. The first son bought
some hay, but it did not fill the room. The second son
bought some sticks, but they did not fill the room.
The third son used the coins to buy something which filled
his living room. What did he buy?]
He bought a candle and some matches and filled the room...
with light!
8) ======= Contact the Flyer =======
Do you have questions that you would like
to have answered in a future issue? Would
you like to offer a business or technology
tip for our readers?
Please send your questions and comments to:
mailto:readertips@eagleflyer.com
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Registered with the Library of Congress. ISSN: 1535-8429
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