For a comprehensive range of computer tips you can go to http://www.wizco.co.uk/computer/index.html

 

If you are involved in any home based on-line business the one thing that you cannot afford to and need to stop and consider before it happens to you is the dreaded “Computer Crash”.  So think about it now before it is too late, ask yourself 2 questions:

 

1. Imagine how this would affect you and your home based business, how would you cope?

 

2. What can you do in advance to help alleviate this problem?

 

If you are the type of person that attends seminars and conferences, talk to people ask them what their business background is and whether or not they back up their hard drive on their personal or home based business computer or laptop, the majority of those that have a secretarial/PA/Administration background will tell you that they always back up their work. However, ask those people who have no kind of admin background and the majority will tell you, no they never back up their computer, WHY NOT?

 

What will happen if you don’t back up your computer system and the dreaded crash happens – you will lose EVERYTHING, all your hard work, EVERYTHING, these crashes are indiscriminate they don’t care who it happens to or how well you look after your computer.

 

So the most important thing that you can do to protect your business from a PC collapse is to back up your machine at least once a week. This may take a long time but if you think of the consequences of your computer’s hard drive packing up and losing everything on it, doesn’t that make the time you spend backing up worth it!! 

 

Wouldn’t you rather lose just a few days work instead of months or even years of hard work of building up your home based business.

 

The regularity of backing up depends entirely on how much work you do on your computer and how much work you can afford to lose, but of course don’t forget to take into account all those downloads on your computer’s hard drive as well.  The number of CDs required for a complete back up depends on the size of your hard drive and the amount of information on there, obviously the larger the hard drive and the more you have stored on it the more discs you are going to need, so before you start make sure you have at least 12 plus CDs before you start.

 

Then, of course, it is not just the work involved in a computer crash but it is also the cost that will arise because of it, repairs can cost upwards from $1,000 and if the computer is not repairable or the files cannot be rescued it could cost you the same again or even more to replace it!!

 

Please once you have read this article please think about this seriously and put your back up system in place, be prepared for the worst scenario so that if it happens the damage is minimal, create a contingency plan to save your home based business now, it is not rocket science, it is common sense.

 

For further computer tips please go to http://www.wizco.co.uk/computer/index.html

You will find more tips for computers including how to look after it and protect your new home based business at http://www.wizco.co.uk/computer/index.html

 

For those of you who are being affected by this recession I have to tell you, you are actually in a better position than the people affected by the last big recession although I am sure you don’t feel that is true at this moment in time.  However, let me explain that statement, the advantage that we have over those people who suffered then is that today, if you have a home computer or access to one, you have access to the world on the internet!!

 

The opportunities to earn money working from home with your computer on the internet for the average person have never been better or more varied than they are today, what I am going to do today is give you some ideas that you can think about, research and decide what is then the best option for you.

 

 Some of the subjects that you can consider are:

 

Affiliate Marketing

Auction sites

Writing Information Ebooks

Graphic Design/Web Building

Copywriting

 

If you are thinking of doing affiliate marketing one of the best places to start is a site like Clickbank, but there are many sites that offer the opportunity to be an affiliate. You can market these affiliate products both on and off-line.  On-line you could have links on a website or advertise on free ad sites and off-line you could try getting free editorial space in niche magazines associated with the product or you may be able to pay for a small newspaper ad.

 

Many people earn a lot of money these days by selling items on auction sites like eBay and eBid, now to my way of thinking these are the up to date, internet version of boot sales, however, if you do your product research well there is no reason why you couldn’t be one of these high auction earners.

 

If you have a subject you know something about you could always write ebooks to create an Information Publishing business which you can then market in the same way as affiliate marketing, but always do your research well to make sure the subject you are thinking of is desirable to many people.  You must remember before you start writing ebooks you need to be writing information that people want rather than spending time and effort in writing something that no-one is going to be interested in.

 

You may actually be a very artistic person or you may have an ability with web building in which case you can create a website, market it and hey presto you could be sat at home at your home computer in your back bedroom being paid for creating graphics and websites for clients.

 

The final subject I am going to cover is copywriting, this really isn’t as easy to do as you may think, but if you do your research and training on what and how to write sales letters, webpages, etc and you have the ability to write well you could always earn money on sites like Elance where you get paid to copywrite.

If you are not very computer literate there are sites that can help you find your way around setting up your website and promoting  it, sites like Newbie Place that is set up for real beginners by beginners and written in a way that you will understand, no “techie speak” and everything on there has the beginner in mind.

 

So let’s have a quick review, look on the internet for home based businesses, research them well, decide which one you want to do and find some free training also on the internet so that you know what you are doing.  Then before you actually start sit down and create a list of goals (sensible goals) and pin them up wherever you use your computer and as you achieve each one cross them off. 

 

Please remember though that working at home to create a home based business is NOT a get rich quick scheme and involves a lot of input and hard work to start but get it right and the recession will not affect you.

 

If you have found this article useful go to http://www.wizco.co.uk/computer/index.html for more useful tips on computers.

he millions of auctions that are on eBay and the thousands of similar products, you have to find a way to set yours apart from the others. You can spend extra money on listing features, but this cuts into your profits. One thing you can do that costs nothing is to have a good title.

Remember that when a potential buyer is looking for something specific they will type in their search just like you would a search engine looking for websites of your interest. It is important to have a good title that will contain the keywords of what you are selling. Let’s say you are selling a Widget Plus. You would want to make sure that in the title contained both the words widget and plus. The word plus in the product would indicate that the widget plus is an upgrade from the original widget. You also want your potential buyers to know that you have a widget plus and not just a plain widget.

I will show a few examples of less than desirable titles:

Cheapest Widgets on eBay! (Are they really? It does not have all of the keywords. Too cliché.)

***Widget Plus*** (It has the full name of the product, but the added asterisks to draw attention are annoying)

WIDGET PLUS! (This one is similar to the one above. This is like yelling, very annoying.)

Keep in mind that your intention is to draw a potential buyers eye without looking cheesy or cliché. In my opinion the best way to do this is the direct approach. Use a title that is professional sounding. When you use a format like this you are showing your potential buyers that you are confident in your product and describing it accurately without having to “pad” it with annoying font tactics.

Here are a few examples of good tittles:

Widget Plus. Unopened Widget. (What I did here was indicate the product I had and that it was still in the box. This is Important to state in the title if you have an unused product on auction. Buyers will want to see what kind of deal they can get on a new one. I also indicated just widget at the end instead of widget plus to catch the potential buyers that just typed widget in the search box.

Widget Plus. Like New Widget. NR! (I did the same as above except that it is a slightly used widget in excellent shape. I also indicated that I have no reserve on this auction. Most eBayers dislike reserve auctions because they feel like they are not getting a deal. Make sure you are accurate in your description. Do not indicate that your item is in better shape than it actually is. I always capitalize the first letter of each word. I believe that this draws attention without looking like the all caps example above. If you use an abbreviation like NR, make sure it is in caps. Nr just does not look good. The exclamation point on the end of this title is totally acceptable because if the widget plus is a good item NR! Is indicating a special deal.

Widget Plus. Free Shipping On Widget! (If you are able to, free shipping is a good way to attract potential buyers. If you have an accessory to throw in for free by all means do. This is also a great way to draw potential buyers. Make sure you watch your cost on the freebies, you don’t want to lose money.

Tittles are one of the most important things in an eBay listing. If they are done properly you can increase the number of potential buyers that will stop and take a look at your auction. If the title looks like the title to a spam email the buyers will go on to the next seller. In the competitive world of eBay you have to use the best title possible to bring the eyes of the buyers to your auction and not another seller.

With the millions of auctions that are on eBay and the thousands of similar products, you have to find a way to set yours apart from the others. You can spend extra money on listing features, but this cuts into your profits. One thing you can do that costs nothing is to have a good title.

Remember that when a potential buyer is looking for something specific they will type in their search just like you would a search engine looking for websites of your interest. It is important to have a good title that will contain the keywords of what you are selling. Let’s say you are selling a Widget Plus. You would want to make sure that in the title contained both the words widget and plus. The word plus in the product would indicate that the widget plus is an upgrade from the original widget. You also want your potential buyers to know that you have a widget plus and not just a plain widget.

I will show a few examples of less than desirable titles:

Cheapest Widgets on eBay! (Are they really? It does not have all of the keywords. Too cliché.)

***Widget Plus*** (It has the full name of the product, but the added asterisks to draw attention are annoying)

WIDGET PLUS! (This one is similar to the one above. This is like yelling, very annoying.)

Keep in mind that your intention is to draw a potential buyers eye without looking cheesy or cliché. In my opinion the best way to do this is the direct approach. Use a title that is professional sounding. When you use a format like this you are showing your potential buyers that you are confident in your product and describing it accurately without having to “pad” it with annoying font tactics.

Here are a few examples of good tittles:

Widget Plus. Unopened Widget. (What I did here was indicate the product I had and that it was still in the box. This is Important to state in the title if you have an unused product on auction. Buyers will want to see what kind of deal they can get on a new one. I also indicated just widget at the end instead of widget plus to catch the potential buyers that just typed widget in the search box.

Widget Plus. Like New Widget. NR! (I did the same as above except that it is a slightly used widget in excellent shape. I also indicated that I have no reserve on this auction. Most eBayers dislike reserve auctions because they feel like they are not getting a deal. Make sure you are accurate in your description. Do not indicate that your item is in better shape than it actually is. I always capitalize the first letter of each word. I believe that this draws attention without looking like the all caps example above. If you use an abbreviation like NR, make sure it is in caps. Nr just does not look good. The exclamation point on the end of this title is totally acceptable because if the widget plus is a good item NR! Is indicating a special deal.

Widget Plus. Free Shipping On Widget! (If you are able to, free shipping is a good way to attract potential buyers. If you have an accessory to throw in for free by all means do. This is also a great way to draw potential buyers. Make sure you watch your cost on the freebies, you don’t want to lose money.

Tittles are one of the most important things in an eBay listing. If they are done properly you can increase the number of potential buyers that will stop and take a look at your auction. If the title looks like the title to a spam email the buyers will go on to the next seller. In the competitive world of eBay you have to use the best title possible to bring the eyes of the buyers to your auction and not another seller.

Author information: Shawn Sellen is the owner of http://www.auctionreel.com/

An Internet auction information website that also offers free downloads.