The LuxMob Info Tags

I mentioned in a previous article about all the ins and outs of using PHPBB2, an open source forum. Although it does have some quirks about it, the program is free and with a little help from the PHPBB community, not impossible to install even for the novice. The program you will upload, however, is fairly basic in nature therefore modifications [or, mods as some prefer to call them] can be useful to install. I have found several favorites that have worked rather well for me. Now, I am plan on sharing that information with you!

Chat – What forum isn’t complete without a chat room. PHPBB2, for one. Yes, you have to install one yourself but the IRQ chat add-on is certainly worth it and it works much better than some that I have seen on sites that contain this feature. EZBoard is one such site that comes to mind.

Who Is Online – As an administrator you already know who is online at any given time. Unfortunately, the “stock” version of this feature shows people who have been online only for the past five minutes. Fortunately, a mod has been developed that can extend this feature to fifteen minutes or later. Is this important? No, but it gives you a more accurate picture of what your real time traffic figures really are.

Google Ads – A special mod has been developed to permit you to run and display banner ads, much like Google’s AdSense. Hey, you want to make a little bit of money off of your site now don’t you?

Smilies – You do love emoticons, don’t you? Well even if you don’t, they can certainly spice up any forum. Lots of neat “paks” have been developed, some containing animated icons too. Especially nice to have around Yuletide for easy access to Christmas themed emoticons.

Disable Board Message – Being able to customize the message you have posted when your site is down is essential to clueing in your members as to the time when your forum will once again become activated. This mod does just that.

There are numerous other mods and styles from which you can choose. Some are easy to install while others are moderately so. A small group of mods are difficult to install and will take you well over one hour to complete. Choose your battles wisely and be careful when you install updates to PHPBB2. By not selecting a “patch” file update you can erase any modifications you made in just moments.

Copyright 2005 — Matt Keegan is The Article Writer who writes on a variety of topics including: advocacy, automobiles, aviation, business, Christian themes, family, news, product reviews, travel, writing, and more. Samples from his portfolio are available right online.

These three fundraising events work well for any size group. To maximize your success, you must create awareness within the community of both the specifics of your fundraising event and the reason why your group is raising funds.

Both are important to any fundraiser, but they are absolutely critical for pulling off a successful event. You have to generate enough publicity to draw a sizable audience and you must motivate the attendees to support your program.

So, which fundraising events shall we talk about?

Three Event Ideas:

1- Get The Picture
2- Rubber Duck Derby
3- Clean Comedians

#1 - Get The Picture
Get The Picture is a name I coined for portrait event fundraisers. The idea here is to offer family portraits, glamour shots, vintage photos, and other “dressy” pictures.

You’ll need a central location with plenty of room for costume changes, picture-taking backdrops, and a waiting area. The best times are usually Saturdays. Pre-sell the event with flyers and reserved session” tickets.

You’ll want to get photo commitments up front from 250 people to make this worth your while.

Your sales pitch should “Focus on the Fun:”
Capture The Moment (before it slips away)
Dress up Picture Party (be there or be square)
Goofy Faces Wanted! (yours included)

Or tug at the heart:
When’s the last time you sent a family photo Christmas card?
They’re not getting any younger… Get a portrait!
Mother/daughter, Father/son - Pictures last a lifetime!

Your group can coordinate with a local photographer or partner with a national photography chain. One that I recommend is Vista Studios. They offer a 10×13 family portrait for $8 and your group gets paid $6, plus additional performance bonuses.

#2 - Rubber Duck Derby
The Rubber Duck Derby is an easy and fun fund-raising event that can be scaled in size to fit your group’s supporter base. The actual event, crazy as it may sound, involves racing rubber ducks down a local waterway.

Your local community “adopts” the ducks for a chance to win valuable donated prizes. Duck races have become a unique and profitable event for many charities.

Your group sells a ticket linked to a number that’s painted on one of the racing rubber ducks. Depending on the prizes involved, tickets are priced somewhere between $5-$10 a ticket.

A standard size for a race is 3,000 rubber ducks, but you can adjust that up or down depending on the size of your group and the amount you need to raise.

Large plastic bags full of the ducks are simultaneously emptied into the water. The winning duck is the one that floats to the finish line first.

It adds a little extra zing to the old-fashioned raffle ticket sale. Prizes can also be awarded in various categories to add to the festivities. Many groups organize their “race” around a group picnic near the waterway and make a leisurely afternoon out of your fundraiser event.

A company called Great American Duck Races can supply you with everything you need.

#3 - Clean Comedians
The third of our fundraising events is Clean Comedians. They offer over 50 performers capable of meeting almost any entertainment need. These hilarious entertainers will have your audience rolling with laughter — and no one will be offended!

All you need to coordinate is a hall or auditorium and arrange an audience. Sell tickets up front or at the door. If you want to make additional funds, you can also offer food items as well.

If your group is small, partner with another organization and split the profits. Many groups are reporting record giving with this unique “Bucks through Yuks” approach.

Hundreds of schools have used Clean Comedians for years to provide top quality entertainment for their students. From stand-up comedians and impressionists - to musicians, magicians, and jugglers - their performers provide outstanding, clean entertainment for any group.

Not only are these guys hilarious entertainment, but each performer also has several messages focusing on important issues students face today.

Performances can be arranged at this web site: Clean Comedians

Special Events - Wrap-up
Pick an event that suits the talents and size of your group. Then, focus your energies in getting your message out to your potential supporters. These fundraiser events will do the rest.

Kimberly Reynolds writes about fundraiser ideas and other tips for fundraising events on her website. Find hundreds of fundraising tips on her website.

There are numerous microdermabrasion benefits. One of the most noteworthy advantages is that there is no downtime after treatment. Microdermabrasion evolved from a technique called dermabrasion. Dermabrasion has been around for decades and was used to treat severe scarring by polishing the uppermost surface of the skin with an abrasive, metallic attachment. This highly effective technique requires recovery time, not to mention anesthesia. Microdermabrasion is gifted with a gentler, less invasive skin-resurfacing technology.

Microdermabrasion employs specially formulated creams that are packed with the power of micro-crystals. These ultra-exfoliating creams are designed to take skin care to a new level, especially when combined with a re-surfacing wand. The re-surfacing wand gently buffs or massages your tissues and drives out dead skin cells, oil, and entrenched contaminants. A brand new skin surface is revealed, healthier and revitalized. The treatment is painless, and should feel like a deep tissue massage.

This “lunch break facial” accommodates even the most frantic schedule. Not only is the treatment quick, it’s also versatile. You can luxuriate in microdermabrasion benefits from home, at your favorite spa, or your doctor’s office. Many home systems can even be incorporated into your morning routine. Ask your local salon about package deals.

Perhaps the most relished of all microdermabrasion benefits is that there are no discomfort-causing chemicals, scalpels, or lasers involved. Microdermabrasion does not utilize any of these tools, therefore effectively erasing all risks, recovery time, and commitment for comparable results. Microdermabrasion improves the appearance of skin texture, large pores, acne and acne scarring, dry or dull patches, sun spots, age spots, rough skin, blackheads and clogged pores, stretch marks, uneven skin tone, fine lines and wrinkles, and dermal circulation.

Unlike cosmetic surgery and other invasive skin enhancing treatments, which cost thousands of dollars, microdermabrasion is just a fraction of the cost. Home kits can be bought for as low as $20. Professional spa clinicians and medical professionals offer microdermabrasions treatments for as low a $100. Frequently, many health spas, beauty salons, cosmetic surgeons, and dermatologists offer discounts when you combine other services or opt for ongoing treatments.

Microdermabrasion fuses beauty and health into a single treatment, providing a safe alternative to invasive, skin-resurfacing techniques. So with peace of mind, indulge your skin with one of the most innovative and effective skincare techniques to come along in decades. As always, consult your doctor or skin care specialist on any treatment program.

Microdermabrasion Info provides detailed information on microdermabrasion, a progressive skin re-surfacing technique that targets wrinkles, lines, superficial scarring, stretch marks, acne, and sun damage. Microdermabrasion Info is the sister site of Acne Treatment Web.

With all of the push these days to publish an E-Zine as an
online marketer, deciding whether to accept articles and paid
advertising is becoming nothing more than a quick second
thought. As E-Zines are increasingly turning into mere tools to
generating sales, people are turning more to pre-written
content. Are E- Zines loosing their aire of freshness as an
outlet for true discussion?

I personally subscribe to numerous E-Zines just to see what
others are writing about. Most simply circulate the same
articles written by a chosen few without writing any original
content themselves. Coming up with clean fresh ideas truly takes
work, but don’t you owe it to your subscribers?

Times are busy and life is rushing by. People simply do not have
the time to sit and read every article, commentary, or
advertisement that passes their eyes. As the commercial
marketplace becomes increasingly saturated with hype after hype,
people are developing a keen sense about worthwhile articles.
Focus on delivering high value content and not using your E-Zine
strictly as a marketing tool.

I like to think of my weekly E-Zine issue as a get together with
your closest friends over coffee, wine, a beer, or whatever they
wish to entertain. Would you repeat the identical conversation
week after week?

When just starting out with your E-Zine, your relationship with
your subscribers is analogous to a first date. It is the same
for authors who publish in other E-Zines or for inclusion of
outside ads in your publication. Subscribers just don’t know
anything about you.

Why not build a relationship with your subscribers? They came to
you wanting information. Don’t simply give them “cut and paste”.
Give them you. Add freshness. Add your insight. Your humor. Your
perspective. If you honestly talk to them they will listen. Your
friends would. Wouldn’t they?

I don’t pretend for one minute that building this relationship
will be easy, only fruitful. There are a few guidelines that
will maximize the strength of our subcriber relationship.

(1) Be honest and let it come across in your writing sent to
your subscribers.

(2) Send your online publication on a periodic basis at the
same time and on the same day. This is the begining of trust.
People want to know when to expect receiving correspondence from
you.

(3) Give weekly updates as to what they can expect in the
future issues. No surprises builds trust. Moreover if you focus
on content and write captivating articles your readers will sit
in anticipation of the next discussion. Tell them that the list
is tentative to leave yourself a bit of flexibility.

(4) Refrain from advertisements or sales copy when building
your list.

After you take time to put yourself into your E-Zine, then
decide if you want to let anyone else in. Don’t be tempted by
the quickness of using someone else’s content and profits from
paid advertising. Develop first a high content electronic
publication. Self satisfaction, praise, and the esteem of others
will result.

By Catherine Franz

Search engine spiders read and record page titles first.
Here are five tips on how you can get the search engine
spiders to read your titles and use them in their
optimization process:

1. Character count is important: Google’s maximum character
count for page titles is 83. Yahoo’s maximum character
count is 111.

2. Don’t use filler words like: and, for, the. They are
dropped anyway by the search engines.

3. Remove redundant or unsearch worthy words or phrases, for
instance: Welcome to, this is about, or Products Page.
Anything people would not normally search on. This also
uses up the limitations on character count (mentioned in #1
above).

4. Include word plurals, for instance: sales lead and sales
leads.

5. Include various spellings or misspellings of the words,
for example, saleslead and sales lead, could be used as one
word or someone might search on them as two separate words.

Catherine Franz, a Business Coach, specializes in writing,
marketing and product development. Newsletters and
additional articles: http://www.abundancecenter.com
blog: http://abundance.blogs.com

You got creditors calling you everyday. You could lose the car or house. Your teetering on the edge financial ruin - then you see an ad that may safe your butt! Typical headlines say something like “Millionaire reveals Hidden Cash Sources, or help for people in debt up to their eyeballs!”

HOW DESPERATE ARE YOU? IF YOU’RE IN TROUBLE, GET HELP. PROFESSIONAL LEGAL HELP!

It’s available free or on a sliding scale based on your ability to pay from any number of agencies that can, and will REALLY HELP YOU! No, they won’t give you money just for asking. Neither will anyone else.

Many ads will try to make you think that there’s little known secret funds that only the rich know how to get their greedy hands on. How millionaires are ripping-off the system. Getting money that was set aside for people just like you! Are you getting mad? That’s the idea. Now it’s time to get your share. What, you don’t know how? Send in for a “secret program” and collect your rightful share of free loot. It’s easy, legal, anyone can get the cash.

As of this writing the United States Government is deep in debt. Far worse then you. Over four trillion dollars worth. That’s $4,000,000,000,000.00. No, theres no loot stashed away in some forgotten vault, but some money is indeed available if you qualify. That’s the catch 22.

HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS GIVEN AWAY

That’s the part of this con that is the truth. A lot of schemes sell information that you can get for free, from a whole bunch of government and private agencies. Of course, NOBODY just gives money away. You have to qualify.

Here’s how to get your hands on some…

What are the con-artists selling?

Sometimes you’ll get information on the (SBA), the Small Business Administration, which will help you get a LOAN, if you can’t get one from regular banking sources. Of course the SBA has nothing to do with helping you pay off a stack of personal bills, a past due mortgage, car loan, utilities, medical bills.

The SBA arranges BUSINESS LOANS, and rarely, gives outright grants. You could also get details on how you may qualify for Medicare, or several other government programs. Of course, you could get exactly the same information for free from Uncle Sam!

Some plans tell you about Grants. That’s where you really do get money, and you don’t have to pay it back. Yes, there are many foundations that do give money away for worthy projects - if you qualify. That’s the catch.

I could tell you more, but you already get it. Don’t you? Sure, there’s all kinds of government special assistance programs, low interest loans and outright grants - but in order to get any of this money you have to qualify.

Chances are very good you won’t!

The agencies that give the money will tell you for free how to qualify so don’t send away for some plan that will cost you to find out exactly the same thing!

GRANT COORDINATOR

OK you learned that you probably can’t get any money for yourself. How about telling people that do qualify for grants and collecting a fat fee for your services? Sounds dumb? Several swindlers push a scam that goes something like this:

Like most schemes, there is a little truth to some of what is being pitched. Yes, like I already said, every day millions of dollars are given away by all kinds of government agencies, trusts, and foundations. It’s also true that sometimes more money is available then is applied for.

Here’s where you come in. What do you have to do? Hell - almost nothing…

Just let the companies that qualify for grants know that they got the grant. The money is reportedly just sitting around waiting to be given away, but the companies that qualify are too dumb or lazy to ask for it. Of course they will be so happy, they will pay you a fat commission for letting them know about it. Fat chance.

You have to have part with up to $100.00 for this little beauty! Several “companies” offer this goofy scheme. I’ll say this - the ripoff artists that peddle this garbage, must have taken a post-graduate course in swindling.

Remember the load of bull most chain letters promise?

Maybe $50,000 in 90 days. At least they say you’re required to send out a hundred letters, then of course everything just snow balls. Not with this offer. You only have to send one letter and get $50,000 for matching a grant to a company. Need $100,000? Send two letters. Need a million bucks? Should have it by the end of the month, just send 20 letters.

What do you get when you send away your money? A “secret list” - how original! What of? Companies that have been pre-approved for grants. Sometimes a list of companies that may qualify for grants. You usually get a list of organizations that issue grants as your “bonus” gift for ordering early!

SELF-LIQUIDATING LOANS

Come on, admit it - you did read at least one of these ads because they sound so good!

Typical headlines say something like “Borrow up to $50,000 without ever repaying a penny!” Now if that doesn’t get you to read at least part of the sales pitch, something must be wrong with you! The better ads will try and explain how this is on the up and up with fancy banking terms - some real, others made-up. Look for things like “Arbitrage”, “Compensating Balances”, “Self-liquidating”, etc.

Sounds interesting, but it even gets better. There’s no credit check, you won’t need any kind of collateral, if you have bad credit - no problem. Won’t ask where you work, or even if have a job. There’s no paperwork. Of course the ad says it’s 100% legal. What - you were worried it wasn’t?

LET’S REVIEW

A company you never heard of, is willing to give you - a total stranger, that may have a bad credit history, and be out of work, a large amount of money that you won’t have to pay back. No forms to fill out except for a tiny little order blank.

This one really stinks! It costs anywhere from $7.00 up to $50.00 to cover a processing fee. What about your loan? Well maybe you’ll get it tomorrow. This plan, like so many others, works on simple greed. Just about anybody at one time or another got turned down for a loan. So, this is your chance to get even. No paperwork, everybody accepted. Don’t even have to repay because of some “secret method” - it’s a shame people fall for it.

GET AS MANY CREDIT CARDS AS YOU WANT

OK, you didn’t jump on the previous offers, how about this one?

Maybe you have a poor work history. Can’t hold a job, or just living beyond your means. Down on your luck - no problem. You can get as many credit cards as you want! Easy! Everybody! Sounds too good to pass up. Most offers are modestly priced - after all, we’re talking about people who may be desperate, don’t have much money to spend. How does it work? You simply apply for secured credit.

THIS PLAN IS PERFECTLY LEGAL!

How? You put money in a secured bank account.

The bank then issues you a credit card equal to the money you placed in the account.

OOPS!… you didn’t know that?

Let me run that past you again a little slower. You want a credit card where you can charge up to $500. So you have to deposit $500 in a special bank account and then the bank will let you use the credit card they issue up to the amount of money you have on deposit. Want two cards? Deposit $500 in two different banks.

Repeat the process as many times as you like. Of course if you had money to put in the banks, you probably won’t need the credit cards. Shame they don’t tell you that in the ads! Something about let the buyer beware I guess!

Actually it is important to build a good credit history, and this is one way to do it.

There is nothing illegal with using this method. Surprise!

You don’t have to send away for any offer either. Just walk into your local bank, and ask to open a secured credit account. Not every bank provides this service, but a surprising number do.

The only catch is of course you can’t touch the money in the account, and if you don’t pay off your credit card balance in full each month you will rack up quite a bit of interest charges on top of whatever you charge with the credit card, so be careful.

A lot of ads claim you can get $100,000 in credit. Sure you can.

I just told you how. Deposit $100,000 in several banks as secured credit accounts, and you will get the cards.

Watch out for offers that ask you to send in a big application fee. Sometimes they use a 800 phone number, and tell you up front what the application fee is. Others claim the processing is free, have you dial a 900 phone number, and a $20.00 charge magically appears on your phone bill next month.

Still others start with a free 800 phone number that is nothing more then a recorded message that asks you to dial a 900 number to complete the transaction. No 900 phone numbers are free calls that I know of.

You could end up paying fifty dollars for so-called “free credit cards.” If you can’t find a local bank go ahead and apply, once you know how much the total charges are, but ask what bank is issuing the card first. Check them out with local authorities where the bank is located. It’s worth the phone call.

However, you just might find out there is no such bank and a rip-off artist is just trying to steal your money, so proceed with caution. This type of offer is very heavily advertised on television. As I already said most offers are legal, but you will be required to put up cash equal to the amount approved for the credit cards offered.

There is another method that will give you a good credit history in time.

Open a regular savings account and deposit $200-$500.

Leave it there 30 to 60 days, then get a loan on the account.

Pay the loan off before the due date.

Withdraw part, or all of the money.

Open another account at some other bank.

Repeat the process over and over.

Your local credit bureau will get good reports on you, and before you know it, your mail box will be stuffed with offers for really free credit cards - no more secured account!

===================================================================

Copyright © Andre Vas, Direct-Credit-Card.com, All Rights Reserved.

A Message To People Who Want To Apply For The Best Credit Card –

But Can’t Get Started, Don’t Know Where To Go, Or Simply Feel

Overwhelmed With The Insane Amount Of Credit Card Offers…

==> http://www.Direct-Credit-Card.com

Also go to link below to get TONS OF FREE money saving and personal

finance tips & tricks…

==> http://www.Direct-Credit-Card.com

===================================================================

Telecommunication, according to Wikipedia, is the extension of communication over a distance. In practice, it also recognizes that something may be lost in the process; hence the term ‘telecommunication’ covers all forms of distance and/or conversion of the original communications, including radio, telegraphy, television, telephony, data communication and computer networking.

While defining telecom gets more and more difficult, the profit and ethics behind the business keep on diminishing. SBC spent $16B to a company whose revenue stream is declining more than 10% year over year. Verizon bought MCI, and in order to make deal lucrative, they say they will layoff over 7,000 people.

The reason for scaling-down in telecom is that the technological advancement has terribly been focused on communications. We all owe a thank to nineties for that… Lots of technical people has seen the future in Telecom and made huge amounts of mind investment to the business. Today, we are forced to live in an overly competitive industry where telecom is forced to be cheaper everyday. To make matters worse, a company called Skype appeared. This global P2P Telephony Company decided to make old fashioned definition of telecom a commodity through its software, which allows you to make free calls over the Internet. Other emerging companies like Net2Phone and 8×8 also flocked customers to make cheaper (sometimes free) calls.

Some traditional telecom companies have kept an awry eye on those start-ups while adopting technologies like VoIP. They mostly thought those new technologies are something to monitor and investigate. In other words, they are disruptive. Some assumed the danger and started firing QoS bullet, as those startups do not provide top-notch service like incumbents do.

The fact of the matter is, none of those business plans will hold true should they are based on making money on calls. Like Michael Powell said, “I knew it was over when I downloaded Skype…”

So, can we say that telecom is a commodity?

My answer would be no, if network providers accept to change their musty mindset. Three things are important if the full background of this new notion is to be understood. First is, telecoms exist to provide infrastructure. The rest needs to be handled by networking and computing companies.

The need for voice, video and data are going hand in hand. There is no value in them when there is no Internet. That’s why, the second is, the new business plan should be based on the Internet access. If telecoms want to survive, charging customers packet-based with the guarantee of excellent QoS is the only way to go. MPLS is their material to make this happen.

This way, optimization, the biggest concern of telecom industry, can be solved as the packet usage can be approximated. Demoting VoIP into an application to where it originally is can be doable in packet-based model. This new model will also disallow fighting against free-of-charge models and bring a fresh breath to network providers to generate more revenue.

Third is, not only the ability of optimization but also the prioritization and security of the traffic, if needed, will let network providers to put extra cash to their pockets. The money behind the content will not be their ball game.

Some may argue that there is no incremental cost of extra usage of packets to a network so the value behind tracking the traffic is nonsense. However, what is unseen is that it forces network providers to upgrade their systems quicker. They can also build their cost /profit structure easier.

Perils to the model would be the evolution span of MPLS and anti-spam systems. MPLS, as an immature technology, is welcomed with high expectations. Addressing all needs in such a short period of time needs a lot of investment. The story is almost the same for anti-spam solutions too. No customer would like to pay extra for spam as this is adding to the traffic that a user is using. That would force network providers to unify on an MPLS/ anti-spam model where they and their customers can rely on.

Once this new role of incumbents is well assumed with solid technology, then converting the so-called threat of telecom commoditization into an opportunity is feasible.

Burak Fenercioglu is a freelance writer and working for a computer network security company for over 4 years. His articles are about new ideas, innovation and strategy all of which can be found at http://burakfenerci.blogspot.com

Linking strategies play a major role in a website’s link
popularity. And linking alone carries a heavy load for a
webmaster’s work. However, funny as it may seem, linking
strategies are a way to please the search engine gods!

For quite a time, many webmasters do reciprocal link exchanges.
By exchanging links, webmasters think that the search engines
would count the resulting incoming links as a popularity vote.

But because the search engines never divulge any information
about how they count a website’s link popularity, webmasters are
simply trying to figure out what the search engines want and
consider in their algorhythms.

With that in mind, you might think that the webmasters are
simply doing a lot of guess work! But mind you, many webmasters
are doing analytical strategies to decipher the hidden codes of
the search engines. Unfortunately, the search engines also keep
changing their algorhythms, thereby, making the webmasters
continually chase the unknowns - keeping the chase alive.

It is now speculated that probably reciprocal links are dead.
That probably search engines simply consider one-way incoming
links only. In effect, some webmasters are also trying to device
another strategy called triangular links. They claim that with
triangular links, the search engines would consider the link as
more natural than a reciprocal link.

Although there may be some wisdom in the concept of triangular
links, there are also more chances that some webmasters can
cheat other webmasters too. As always, while we are still in
this world, evil can still be around the corner.

Whether webmasters are making considerations between reciprocal
links or one-way links, it should be noted that it is a lot
better to have some incoming links than nothing at all. And by
having that, everything can still boil down to the original
content of a site - thereby validating the claims of other
webmasters that “Content is King!”

————————————

Internet
marketing strategy consultations is also available at
http://www.internetmarketingconsultant.biz