Electronic Media Copying and Backups: Enhance Your Life and Your Business

By Phil Edwards

First you need the right equipment. What kinds of copies do you want to make, and what media are you going to be copying from? If your answer is VHS tapes, you'll need the proper hookups in the back of your computer to accommodate a cable from the VCR. If you need backups primarily and you want to back up to DVD and to the Internet, you'll need a high-speed hookup and a DVD burner. Make your list, and then take it to your computer store. You'll almost certainly need to get a new computer; innovations today are leading to more and more robust computing technology, and you should have the best for your copying needs.
If you want to copy DVDs, you need to be aware of copyright restrictions. You absolutely must not copy DVDs for anything but your own personal use. To do otherwise is breaking the law. And the record companies have shown us that large media companies can come after individuals who performed activities when said activies were in the shady part of law--and they can win. Until digital media rights are clarified for everyone, err on the side of caution and make only a single copy; archive the original in your personal collection.
If you only want part of a DVD, you can copy clips or single images to either a DVD or a CD. You'll need blank media for burning, and you'll need DVD editing software. Some of the newer DVD burners will also burn an image into the back of your DVD to label it.
If you want to copy software contained on DVD or CD, you should be aware that, just like with movies, it's not a hundred percent legal; make sure you keep those copies for your personal use, just like you did with your movies. And it may be impossible to copy some software; for instance, newer Microsoft software is copyblocked to disallow copying. Fortunately, most game software companies and many others have realized the value of allowing you to back up, thus have chosen to trust you to do it responsibly rather than blocking you from doing it at all.
Copying video games is more complex. In order to copy them properly, you'll need a physical plug-in for either your computer or for the game itself so that the game console will boot the game properly. And while copying video games is understandable, in light of how often the disks get badly scratched, it also may be illegal. And software designers often save their best copy block technology for games. Be ready for a difficult struggle if you copy video games; but if you persevere, you'll be able to get it done.
With a good scanner and image editor, you can copy all your personal and family pictures onto CD, and then copy them if you like to send as Christmas greetings, gifts, or family newsletters. Digitizing pictures is actually a very straightforward thing to do; of the different electronic copying techniques, it's probably the easiest. To digitize pictures, you can take them with a digital camera to begin with; you can ask for them as digital pictures at the photo counter (for that matter, you can take your pictures to the photo technicians and ask them to digitize them for you - they will for a fee); or you can buy a scanner and scan them in yourself.
Small businesses have a special problem: the Blue Screen of Death. When it pops up, generally in the middle of something important you really need to finish, you have a serious problem; you may experience loss of hard drive data. That's when you reboot your computer and - nothing happens. Or an error message happens. Suddenly, you can't access your hard drive.
Instead of hoping this never happens, you should back up your hard drive regularly. The worst thing that could happen is that you'll never need to restore a backup. The best thing: that when your hard drive crashes, you'll have the backup to restore. It's like a digital insurance policy.
If you own a small business and depend heavily on your computer - for instance, if you run a merchandise business and need accurate copies of orders and of inventory - you might want to consider data backups. You can back your data up on tapes, DVDs, CDs, or online; the best method by far is online, though. Subscription costs for online backups can be high, but if you've ever lost your data, you'll agree it's worth its price. Your company without data is like a boat without sails or anchor - adrift.
If you prefer not to use Internet backups, tape backups are reasonably cheap, easy to use, and very stable. They've been used for years, and it's quite straightforward to recover data from a tape backup to your computer.
If you're backing up your data, you do need to be aware of the proper methods; or if your computer autoexecutes the backup, you need to remember to leave the computer on.. And if you're backing up, you should do it every night without fail; it won't cost you any more, and it may save you a full day's work.

Phil Edwards is a freelance writer and published living and working in the City London and author for Backing and Copying up DVDs and Games [http://www.copysure.com] and DIY [http://www.househobby.com].

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Marketing Writing for Electronic Media

By K. MacKillop

For most small business owners, good marketing is the key to success. Every business needs a website and every website should include a mechanism for capturing visitors for your mailing list. A simple opt-in newsletter sign up is effective, where site visitors can just enter their email address in exchange for updates on your product or service lines, coupons, or notification of special events. The trick to building your customer base through online contacts is to follow-up frequently and effectively.
Everything you send out to your email contact list must reflect your company culture and present a consistent image. Here are a few things to watch for before you send electronic marketing messages:
Audience
Be clear about who each message is targeting. If you have multiple segments in your target market, consider customizing messages for each segment. A good contact database (such as ACT!) provides plenty of options for segmenting your customer list and identifying commonalities among your base.
Style
Be sure your newsletters, coupons, and basic email messages reflect a consistent style, preferably one that can be closely associated with the style of your website. Use the same tone and perspective (second-person, third-person) throughout your messages, and be careful not to contradict previous messages.
Quality
Check and double-check every message for quality control. Run the spell and grammar check and read each message aloud before you send them out. Use sans serif fonts - the ones without the little marks, called serifs, at the ends of each stroke - because they are far easier to read online. Be sure the font size is at least 10-point throughout the message.
Readability
Avoid essay-length missives - people will stop reading after a sentence or two. Use bulleted lists when a large amount of information needs to be included. If you must write in paragraphs, be sure each paragraph focuses on a single idea and use subheadings to draw attention to each point. And, while the use of color is good, avoid using a light font on a dark background...it is nearly impossible to read on a computer screen.
Design
The most effective email marketing pieces do a good job of balancing text and graphics while leaving enough negative space (white space) to allow the message to stand out. The design of your newsletters and ads should clearly reflect the design of the rest of your marketing materials, including the business's website. Use the same colors and fonts such that clicking through to your homepage is seamless in terms of image.
Content
Be sure the content brings something new to the table - updates on changes in your business, sales notices, coupons, etc. Include a clear call to action (what you want the reader to do next, such as call for reservations, check out our updated website, or call now for more information. Include multiple links to your website and encourage your loyal customers to forward the message.
Online marketing is an effective, nearly free route for building your customer base. Take the time to create messages that reflect the image and culture of your company and tap into the needs of your target market.

-K. MacKillop, a serial entrepreneur, is founder of LaunchX and authors a small business startup blog. The LaunchX System is designed to help entrepreneurs start a business based on their own idea. It includes step-by-step business startup instructions, key software, business tools, and more -- a complete business kit. Visit LaunchX.com to learn more about this revolutionary way to become an entrepreneur.

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Keeping Abreast Of All Your Business News With Print And Electronic Media

By Clare Crowden

If you think about it you can see that the news media has been evolving for some time. Business news was once only available in a newspaper, that changed when television arrived on the scene. Now we have the world wide web at our fingertips. For those that need to stay current as far as business is concerned, the Internet has ensured that information is just a click or two away.
By definition the word 'news' refers to the four points on a compass. This is rather interesting, because many people simply assume it to mean something different. However, its purpose is to keep the masses informed of what is going on in the world around them.
In the early days there was no way of providing news to the public. Thanks to the invention of the printing press newspapers and business magazines came into being. Over the decades and centuries since, the news media has continued to grow and expand. Today, business news is a vital and distinct branch of the news in general.
Even with all the advances that the news media has enjoyed over the years, none have come so dramatically and quickly as those that have occurred in the latter half of the 20th century. This is thanks to the phenomenal rise of the Internet, which ensures that the news reaches the widest audience ever.
Business news concerns all things business and commerce related. Nowadays one can make use of more than just business magazines, because there are whole channels devoted to this branch of the news media.
What Does Business And Commerce News Include?
1. Stock Market Updates - Lack of information means you cannot make smart and informed decisions, which is why many used to lose a lot of money in the stock market. In our modern times, stock market news is always available, along with expert advice and constant updates.
2. Corporate World Information - This means that the public can be kept abreast of what is happening in the corporate world as well. Everything is covered so that interested parties are kept well informed. After all, corporate happenings affect the stock market, so it is vital that people can be kept current as far as developments are concerned, whether these are mergers, takeovers, etc.
3. Analysis Of The Budget - Knowing what the government is doing regarding the different industries is very important. When a budget is made known it will be covered on television, in the print media, and online. So that the common man can follow what is going on, the information is presented in a simplified form, especially on television.
4. Product And Service Reviews - Business news also covers the reviews of different products and services. For those of us who are not clued up with all the latest gadgets out there, this information is very useful in keeping us aware of what is hot, and what is not. The same is true of services that are offered.

Check out a great business news,and their business magazine Melbourne

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Social Media - It's So Overwhelming! 5 Steps to Make it Easier to Dive In! Part 1

By Jeff D Harrison

I don't want to scare you, but social media is here and it's not going away soon. In other words it's not a fad like the pet rock, or knickers!
Actually this is all good news. One because we can communicate, for the first time for almost free, and then communicate specifically to a targeted market. So instead of putting an ad in a newspaper, knowing maybe only 2-3% of the audience cares about your product, you can now communicate with people who have like interests and are interested in your business/product.
Rule # 1 about social media
We can afford to give something away, something of value to our recipients.
When you're just starting out, this may be as simple as adding them to the monthly newsletter. This one act allows you the opportunity to begin creating a bond and relationship with your past guests. I would highly recommend creating and sending it in the spirit of giving, versus one that expects immediate results.
If you expect to send one newsletter and immediately get a response that creates new revenue, you may be sadly disappointed. The goal of using this media to communicate is to create a relationship. In fact let's call it relationship marketing instead of social media, just to help us remember, we're making new friends and how we build this relationship with in the future determine the trust and support they really have for us. So move slowly, and don't be afraid to give something away.
Rule #2
We can speak to them more often via electronic media
We can do this because to create content, and hit the send button is basically free. Also stats show that we can communicate more frequently without being a pain in the neck, as long as we deliver relevant content! Now that being said. Think about what content would be relevant to your particular guests or Members? Golf tips, how to choose the right equipment, how to save on golf while traveling....you get the idea. Write from their perspective, not yours.
Rule #3
Variety = Higher rate of readers
I would suggest, if you have other department heads, you have them write 100-150 words a month about a topic that they feel would be interesting.
You as the leader should now and then also send information about the condition of the club. Some ideas:
PACE of Play - everyone would love to come back if your course averaged 3:45 versus the course down the street at 4:15. Let them know this. Course Conditions. Do you have some projects going on that will positively enhance their round....share good stories. Maybe you're instituting a new training program for your staff that will deliver better experiences. GPS System- maybe you just installed the latest and greatest. Tell em about it!
Rule #4
Encourage them to invite people to also receive your e-newsletter (or whatever you choose to call it). Make a contest, and award a prize. Would you be willing to give 1 foursome away per month to the one who refers the most friends? Pretty cheap way to build a database!
Rule #5
Be consistent. If you decide, and I highly recommend you do, to begin a monthly or weekly communication piece, then do it like clockwork. Set aside time each week and take 10 minutes, write or collect and enter the new content. To help, simply create a distribution list, add all your contacts into this list, and then add them all to the BCC (this helps secure the privacy of each name on the list) and attach your new communication and hit send.
The rewards will be amazing. As you begin to do this, people will begin to talk to others and a buzz will build, it will be about you and your club! 3rd party endorsement is, as they say "priceless." Good luck, and embrace the new social, I mean relationship marketing ideas!

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Public Speaking - Electronic Media Kits For Authors

By Sunny Nash

Your book is sizzling! You just lost 25 pounds to get ready for your speaking tour. You have a great press kit, which is printed on the finest linen stock and enclosed in the most expensive shiny black presentation folder with a screen print of your book cover on the front.
Then, why aren't all those prospective target audiences you have contacted getting back to you with public speaking engagements about your sizzling book? Well, there may be a simple answer. Many prospective audiences and professional firms, as well, are receiving booking requests and public speaking promotional materials via internet press releases as standard procedure these days. As a result, many people who frequently need to distribute press kits are now delivering them as digital or online press releases and packets, transported over the internet to target audiences to save time and create a less intrusive method of filing and updating.
Digital and online press packets and media kits do not make their hardcopy counterparts obsolete. I advise that a hardcopy always be available to hand out at public speaking events and other functions if requested. However, somewhere in your presentation materials, you should refer to the availability of a digital version of your media kit. The digital version can be stored as a page on your website for convenient download or printing, saving you the cost of postage, photographic reproduction, photocopying, printing, paper, ink and presentation folders.

• You don't have a website?
• As an author and a professional practicing today, you should!

There is no need to go out and buy an expensive complicated publishing or design program to create your online media package. Unless you already know how to use design and publishing software, it can be frustrating and time-consuming, delaying any chance that you will have your digital press packet prepared in a timely fashion. Also, it can be quite expensive to hire someone to do the job for you. I suggest using a simple word processing software like MS WORD, which will give you all the flexibility and simplicity you need to create an attractive and effective digital media kit.
The best thing about MS WORD is you probably already know how to use it. Open a new document and type in your letterhead, which will consist of your name or the title of your book or both, plus your contact information. Not too fussy, though, meaning too many colors and fancy fonts. Keep it simple and elegant. Save a blank copy of the letterhead so you can cut and paste new material into it to update your kit.
I approach digital media kits the same way I approach traditional hardcopy media kits. They should contain your biographical sketch, a press release, recent event poster and contact information. Be sure to use an image of your book cover to promote yourself as a published author, which will increase your attractiveness to a wide array of target audiences. Include a headshot of yourself and photograph of you before an audience if you have one.
You may start the body of your press kit with a brief biographical sketch and a list of your speaking topics. Remember, your speaking engagement should be more than a reading from your book. Your speaking topics may be drawn from themes covered in your book. In this section, include a hyperlink to your website or to specific pages in your website where an online press release and more detailed information can be found about you, your book and the services you offer. Consult Free Publicity for Your Book for additional ideas.
Additional hyperlinks may point to video presentations on your website of you in action on the stage. It may be useful to include hyperlinks to news coverage about you or excerpts of your TV appearances. On a separate page in your media package, include a digital copy of at least one newspaper article that covers you and your book. When you have finished creating the files for your internet media kit, save them. Then place those designed materials into a PDF (portable document file) to lock the files in place and prevent changes. PDF files are very common and most users are able to open them easily.
I suggest that you restrict the media kit to a couple of pages so that you will not have to zip it. Unfortunately, some users do not have or know how to use unzip programs, making your press materials inconvenient to access for some and not accessible to others. Once the PDF file is created, you can attach it to messages to email recipients and store a copy on a page of your website. If you do not know how to create a PDF file, simply attach your MS WORD electronic media kit to an email and write the recipient a personalized message.
Remember, though, a regular MS WORD file is not locked and may be changed. Because users fear contracting a virus, they do not indiscriminately open attachments from strangers. So, be sure to let your recipients know you are sending an attachment or you may risk having your carefully crafted public speaking promotional materials cybertrashed.

Sunny Nash is author of "Bigmama Didn't Shop At Woolworth's," recognized by the Association of American University Presses for understanding race relations in America; and listed in Bibliographic Guide to Black Studies by the New York Schomburg Center and the Florida's Miami-Dade Library System Native American collections. Her work is in African American National Biography by Harvard and Oxford; African American West, Reflections in Black, History of Black Photography; Ancestry; Companion to Southern Literature; Black Genesis: Resource Book for African-American Genealogy; African American Foodways; Southwestern American Literature; Source: a guidebook to American genealogy; Bibliographic Guide to Black Studies; Interdisciplinary Journal for Germanic Linguistics; Ebony; Southern Exposure; Hidden Sources and others. Nash won California writing fellowships in 2003 and 2010, won 2004 Charter Communications' TV award and nominated for a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award.
http://sunnynash.blogspot.com/p/bigmama-didnt-shop-at-woolworths.html

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There Are Some Common Forms of Social Media

By Laura Maggio

Electronic media has probably taken off the most with the use of the internet and mobile devices. Posting jobs, providing access to your company and connecting with other businesses is now more easily obtainable than ever before. Daily updates are far more accessible than print media. With our businesses and our daily lives ever changing, electronic media is where most businesses feel they achieve the most success.
Concepts or slogans are also a great way to excite a potential consumer.
A great way to grab attention or a concept or slogan is through use of television or a radio commercial. Having a catchy slogan gets consumers thinking about a product, which in turn they are more willing to try. Although daily updates to the company can be costly to produce and be received through TV, it is still a great way to promote a business. Many businesses will broadcast their commercial and then post a website that consumers can go on to learn more about the company.
Print media is still booming today. Newspapers may be a fading source of advertisement, but magazines are still going strong.
You cannot open a magazine without having pages and pages of ads. Print ads have become more competitive in grabbing attention which has boosted sales based on originality.
With the technology to produce more attention grabbing ideas either through interesting graphics on sites, catchy concepts or slogans, or through printed ads, the availability to reach consumers through social media has been outstanding for businesses to grow and to connect with customers.

Meet our team: [http://www.cbnetworking.com]

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Electronic Media: Copying For Preservation

By Phil Edwards

You've spend most of your young adult life recording every single episode of Seinfeld and Sex in the City - now you wish you'd waited until recordable DVDs had come out. Or your grandmother left you boxes of pictures and even old reel-to-reel movies, all crumbling and disintegrating, and you'd love to be able to copy them to a CD or a DVD. Or you want to take those family memories and share a copy with each of your eight daughters. How do you get your information and images from the closets and boxes of life into new electronic media?
First you have to understand the limitations. There's only so much one can do with crumbling tapes and disintegrating images. A picture that's faded - is never going to be in its original color. You can only capture what's there right now. And if your tapes pop and scratch, you'll have a recording on DVD or CD that pops and scratches too. Also, there's a difference between analog media, like tapes, and digital media; when you transfer from one to the other, you're going to see some quality issues.
Second, you have to understand your equipment needs. You will have to have a good computer, first and foremost, and preferably one that has lots of hard drive space so you can store your images, sounds, and moving images until they can be transferred to a more appropriate medium. When you purchase your computer, make sure it's a multimedia computer. This ensures that it will have the right hookups for tape transferal. It will need a video hookup (that's the three plugs in red, yellow, and white) to transfer VCR data, and you'll need to purchase a scanner for those pictures. A DVD burner will be of the utmost necessity, preferably one that also burns standard CDs. Remote backup of your data is a good idea as well; for that, you should have a good high-speed hookup for your computer.
Now go out and study copyright law. You need to understand that some of what you're doing may be construed as illegal one day, judging by the way court cases are going. The FBI warning that comes up at the beginning of every recorded movie warning against public showings or illegal copying is a very serious thing these days. When you copy copyright-protected materials, it is your responsibility to ensure that you are making them for your personal use only. Don't do what some are doing, and copy the game, CD, or DVD before selling it secondhand; this is blatantly illegal and at some point it's going to catch up with them.
Another piece of hardware may be necessary if you're copying video games for your kids. It's a good idea to make these copies for pre-teen children because of the damage they can do to CDs and DVDs; but you will need a special plug-in adapter for your video game console. In addition, you should be ready for a steep learning curve. It's much harder to copy disk-based games than it is to copy movies or music. Remember, games are designed by programmers; the best copyblock programs are going to be found here, not on a movie. You will have to purchase special software and learn it in order to circumvent the copy blocks.
When you do have all the necessary equipment and knowledge, it should not be hard to copy anything you want into any medium, provided that medium has enough room. And you can do some really neat things as you copy them. For instance, you can edit out all the commercials in that 7-year run of Seinfeld. It may take you months, but ultimately you'll have a perfect copy of all the episodes. Or maybe you want to turn your old pictures into a slide show, with sound, text, and voiceovers. With a good presentation program, you can do that. Disks like this make excellent anniversary presents, Christmas greetings, or engagement gifts to welcome new members of the family.
You can take old family movies and give them soundtracks if you like; or you can print all your grandma's old pictures onto T-shirts to give away at the holidays. Really, once you have digitized your data and images, you have no limitations to what you can do to it except for your own imagination.
In the last decade, electronic media, computing advances, and the Internet have transformed our lives. They will continue transforming them for the foreseeable future. And media will also continue changing. If you make digitized copies of your memories, your media, and your information, you can ensure that they are preserved for the future. And by learning about the advances coming down the pike, you can prepare for future developments; for instance, smell technology is available for web designers these days. Wouldn't it be neat to be able to record the smell of Mom's apple pie, or of your favorite perfume, and play it back someday in the future? Smell, after all, is the sense most closely related to memory.
But for now, use your skills with electronic media copying to enhance your current media collection, preserve memories for the future, and show people how much they mean to you by giving them gifts of memories and love. Technology is just another tool that you can use to make your life and the lives of those you love better. Use it.

Phil Edwards is a writer and author living in London and writer for copy and Backup Discs [http://www.copysure.com] and Home Improvement and DIY [http://www.househobby.com].

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