A Christmas Warning

This week 2 subscribers, Lisa and John, sent me this
warning and now I would like to share it with you.

I'll warn you that the message comes with audio
and the audio buttons are at the bottom of the
page.

See the Christmas Warning at:

http://www.friendswhocare.us/christmas2.htm

You've been warned,

Susan

ANNOUNCING The 5th Annual Internet Toy Drive!!

Help Us Help Children!

We are proud to be a partner with the official U.S. Marines "Toys for Tots" program in The 5th Annual Internet Toy Drive. It's a sad fact that millions of children in the United States will NOT have a singlegift to open on Christmas Day! We aim to change that and make sure EVERY child has at least one present 'from Santa' under their tree. Help a needy child in YOUR community right now:http://www.internettoydrive.org

We hope we can count on You to Help Kids this Christmas!

Have a Wonderful Holiday!

Susan

A Good Bumper Sticker

While in Kansas City last weekend we happened to stop behind a car that had a bumper sticker with the following:

The problems we face today cannot be solved by the same minds that created them.

When I first read these words, I got a chuckle and thought, "Boy, isn't' that the truth." I then read it to my husband who was watching the traffic signal. He also chuckled and stated, "They got that right."

Of course neither of us was thinking about any of the problems caused by any of our actions but were applying the message on the bumper sticker to others, specifically the those who make the decisions for our nation and big corporations.

Having now had time to reflect on the message displayed, I think I would like to add the follow so that it would read:

The problems we face today cannot be solved by the same minds that created them unless they adopt a new way of thinking.

Let me know what you think.

To Your Success,
Susan Carroll

How To Track All Your Website Traffic For Free

Tracking your site's visitors is extremely important and many don't do it because they don't think they have the budget for it.

Today I found an article written by Louis Allport that not only explains why it's important but also how you can do if for free.

Susan

--------------------

How To Track All Your Website Traffic For Free
Copyright © 2005 Louis Allport

Do you know:

* Exactly how many people are visiting your website?
* How long they're staying on your site before they move on?
* Exactly where those visitors are coming from, each day?
* How much of your website traffic is repeat visitors?
* The exact paths people take as they click their way through your website?

Here's what I'm getting at:

If you don't know your visitors, it makes it *very* difficult for you to improve the performance of your website and turn more visitors into customers - AND - get more quality traffic. For the simple reason that you're effectively working blind.

Without knowing how people visit your site and what they do on your site, any attempts at growing your traffic and improving the profitability of your website is working with one armed tied behind your back, at least.

And unfortunately - the web stats that come with your web-hosting are generally not enough these days.

Depending on your web host, chances are you've either got Webalizer, Analog Stats, or AWStats installed on your server. Here's how that software works:

It takes the "raw" (unreadable to the human eye) information your web server stores of everyone that visits and presents this in an easy to understand way.

Unfortunately, due to a number of technical reasons, this information is often presented in quite an inaccurate way.

And in my personal experience, these software packages don't present this information in a particularly helpful way either for someone trying to improve the conversion ratios and profitability of their website.

What I personally do, and what I would suggest you do is use a "Tracking Solution" that accurately tracks and reports all your visitors in an easy to read and understand way. These solutions come in two forms: Software & Services

Both these options have their pros and cons, but what they both do very well is present exactly what's happening on your website right up to the minute, and in a way that's very helpful to you for making good (and profitable) decisions for your business.

To start with here's a software solution you can install and use for free on your website:

Now before you go and install it, you should of course be familiar with installing software on your server. If you're not comfortable installing software on your website, a tracking service (which I'll come to in a moment) would probably be best for you.

And it's also important to note that installing software on your website can often put more strain on the server. This is particularly true if you're on shared hosting.

I've personally used the following free tracking software and it works well. See what you think. Go to http://www.curve2.com and look for "TrackPro". As I write this, version 2 is in Beta and is downloadable from the site at the following address: http://www.curve2.com/trackpro.php

You'll also find many further free tracking software solutions at http://www.hotscripts.com.

But personally speaking, what I've found works very well and avoids putting any increased strain on my existing websites is using a third party tracking service.

The only things really to worry about when using a third party service are:

* How long will this service be around? (If they stop their service after a year, you wouldn't be able to access your past data and will have to change all your tracking codes on your pages too.)
* What is their privacy policy regarding my web stats? (Are they honest and trustworthy in other words. You don't want the service owners studying and then duplicating your successful business plan.)

Over the past month I've been using ecommStats (http://www.ecommstats.com). Now, this service isn't free, but at this time they give you 50,000 free page views per domain, and depending how busy your site is those page views can last you a very long time.

The service works great and is very easy to add to your pages -- simply add three lines of code at the bottom of each of your pages (you can easily do this with Server Side Includes if you're comfortable with that) and all your visitors get tracked accurately and in great detail.

Alternatively - an entirely free (at this time) and very established service is StatCounter (http://statcounter.com). It even has a rave review from Tucows.com (one of the largest download sites on the internet) which speaks for itself and adds a lot of credibility to the service.

And just in case you're wondering how a free service like StatCounter makes money, well - since it's such a popular service with many webmasters logging in every day (and many I'm sure even more than once a day just like me) that it's made it very easy for them to sell a lot of advertising on their site. They also offer an upgrade to their advanced paid service.

But thinking beyond free services, as your business grows you may choose to upgrade to high end paid services that provide even more in depth information about your visitors...

Services like Urchin (Urchin.com - owned by Google) or Deep Metrix (DeepMetix.com). However, to help you grow your business to that point you need to keep a close eye on what your visitors are doing and where they're coming from, and free tracking software and services is a great way for you to start to do this.

--------------------

Louis Allport is an online product developer and marketer and recently revealed a simple and *proven* four-step formula for creating best-selling products practically on demand: http://www.friendswhocare.us/createoffers.htm

Determination Is A Key Ingredient

Normally I don't post articles from my weekly newsletter
on this blog but this week I'm making an exception
because of an unforseen event. An event that is
described in the article and affects many of my subscribers.

If you happen to be one of the affected subscribers and
you would like to continue receiving my mailings, please
visit the newsletter site and re-subscribe.

If you are not a subscriber please feel free to visit
the newsletter site and join us at FriendsWhoCare.
We are always looking for new online business
friends.

Here's this week's article -

Determination Is A Key Ingredient

Today I received the following email from one of my autoresponder services. It was sent to their customers on September 14 but due to a misspelling in my email address, I didn't get a copy until they responded to a service request I sent yesterday.

----------

Dear DemandMail Customer,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your patronage of the DemandMail system. We have been providing the best quality autoresponder marketing system for over three years and I hope it has been a benefit to you.

As I am sure you are aware the email marketing environment has become very challenging recently because of the mis-use by some and the continuing new laws regarding the transmission of email.

First we had the enactment by the US Government of the Can-Spam act and most recently the enactment of laws by Utah and Michigan called the child protection laws. These later laws allow anyone to bring suit against someone who sent an email to a child in their state that contains prohibited material. The problem is that the there is no definition of what prohibited material is.

Additionally, they do not freely publish "don't email" list. You can wash lists through their system but at a cost per email that in our opinion is prohibitive.

Because of these developments we have determined it is too risky to provide the DemandMail service and take the risk of multiple lawsuits, fines, and imprisonment that this legislation provides.

So it is with great sadness that I must inform you that DemandMail will be closing it doors on October 1, 2005. It has been our great pleasure to serve you over these many years and I personally want to thank you for your business.
...
----------

I am sharing this message with you because I used this service for more than 3 years and had more than 4/5 of my subscribers located there.

Now even though I have backups of my subscriber lists and can import those names into a new autoresponder the impact of losing a fundamental business service is not inconsequential.

I know this from experience.

You see, a little over 3 years ago, I had this same thing happened to me with a different autoresponder service.

Because spam was becoming such a big issue and the service I was using had received enough complaints about various customers they decided to close down early and avoid the rush.

Since double opt-in was a way to avoid most spam complaints, I chose that route when I imported my list to a different service. Unfortunately, unexpected confirmation requests are usually deleted so I experienced a 96% loss of my subscribers. Because I again won't be able to tell my subscribers to expect a confirmation request, I expect the same type of loss.

With all the new legislation and legal threats it looks like double opt-in autoresponder service providers are running scared and I don't think their fears are unjustified. I do think that many legitimate service providers and users will suffer more than those who are causing the problem.

But this tip is not an editorial about spam and it's impact on online business. It's about determination.

You see, if I wasn't determined, now would be a great time to give up.

But I am not giving up. Instead, I'll salvage what I can, try to implement a plan to avoid going through this a third time and go on.

Remember, if you are going to succeed online you must be determined. You must be able to recover from things like your website being down or hacked, losing your hosting or autoresponder service, receiving "not nice" email, being accused of spam and a host of other things that can and do happen everyday to legitimate online business people.

To Your Success,
Susan Carroll
FriendsWhoCare Newsletter

This Is Not An Urban Legend

As a subscriber to the Newbie Club Newsletter,
I was sent information today that everyone who
cleans their equipment with "canned air" should
know. Pease read the posted report and pass it
on to as many people as possible because it
reveals yet another risk to the lives of our
children and grandchildren.

http://www.snopes.com/toxins/dustoff.asp

Susan Carroll
FriendsWhoCare Newsletter

PS If your not a member of the Newbie Club I urge
you to check it out. Membership is free and they
provide a lot of useful information.

http://www.friendswhocare.us/newbieclub.php

Hurricane Katrina Info

I just finished sending the following message
to my subscribers and am posting it here
because of its importance.
----------
Hi,
Yesterday I was going to write you about the
lack of email I'd seen concerning Hurricane
Katrina. Fortunately, I didn't get it sent and
today I see that the online community is again
evolved in the helping of those who have and
are suffering from a disaster.

At the bottom of this message you will find
several links that point to different organizations
accepting donations to assist those affected by
Katrina but before I give them to you I wanted
to pass along a warning.

In all aspects of life there are those who try to
take advantage of others. This is unfortunately
true when people are suffering and in the most
need.

Right now there are many legitimate places you
can go and make donations to help the victims of
Hurricane Katrina. Likewise, there are many
places that are using this terrible disasterto make
money.

Here are 2 known scams that you should avoid:

1. Any site asking you to enter your email
   address to get information either about the
   hurricane or offering to tell you how you can
   help. This information is free - just go to
   Yahoo and do a search. You do not need to
   get on someone's mailing list because you
   want to help.
2. Any site offering to donate part of their
   profits from a sale. If you want the product
   you may want to buy it but you have no way
   of knowing if they will actually donate any of
   the money to the cause you want to support.

The 3 links below all go to non-profit sites setup to
help the victims of Hurricane Katrina:

http://www.usafreedomcorps.gov/

http://www.fema.gov/press/2005/resources_katrina.shtm

http://www.redcross.org

For those of you who would like to make your
donation through PayPal, Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian
has set up a site that accepts donations through
them. In addition he does offer a free PDF report
(no information required to get it) just for visiting
his site. While I don't agree with his"Firesale"
wording, I am including the link because he has set
up a way to donate through PayPal and know this is
the preferred method for some.

http://www.reach-n-relate.com/katrina.htm

Please take a few moments from your busy
schedule and visit one of the above links to
make a donation.

Thank You,
Susan Carroll

In case of emergency : I C E

Until Joe sent this information, I had
not heard of I C E. Please take a moment
to read it. Joe has included a link
where you can get some background
information and I although I found
several other links, most of them had
the same news article so I've just included
1:

'ICE' Cell Phone Plan Would Help Rescuers
__________

In case of emergency : I C E

Paramedics will turn to a victim's cell phone for
clues to that person's identity. You can make their
job much easier with a simple idea that they are
trying to get everyone to adopt: I C E.

ICE stands for In Case of Emergency. If you add an
entry in the contacts list in your cell phone under
ICE, with the full name and phone no. of the person
the emergency services should call on your behalf,
you can save them a lot of time and have your loved
ones contacted quickly. It only takes a few moments
of your time to do and could potentially save your
life and those you care for.

Paramedics are learning what I C E means and are
beginning to look for it immediately.

ICE your cell phone NOW then spread the word!

I just Did and I think your loved ones would
appreciate it too.

Please pass this one along Please!
http://simplewealthplan.com/mp.cgi/JH1965/index.html

__________

Thanks, Joe, for sending this information
to us.

To Your Success,
Susan
http://www.friendswhocare.us

The Iinfo-Security 6-day mini-course - Free

Recently I signed up for a mini e-course on security
because is said that if I sold digital products I needed
to know this information.

Well, guess what. They were right. Everybody who
is selling digital products on their site needs to know
this information.

Some may already know some of the things taught
in this free e-course. Some may not know any of it.
And some may be like me and should have known
but never thought about it.

In the second day of the e-course, they point out
how people can find all your download links
because you've neglected to do 1 simple thing.

I confess, I was guilty of making this mistake and
took action immediately.

So if you're like me and sell digital products on your
site, protect yourself and get the information in this
free e-course. Of course the report will try to sell
you something - they all do. But this report gives some
very valuable free information that you need to be
aware.

Get the report today.

The Iinfo-Security 6-day mini-course.
FREE for a limited time
Learn how you could be getting ripped off
and how to avoid it.
If you are selling digital products,
you need to know this information

Protect Yourself And Your Products,
Susan
http://www.friendswhocare.us

TEN THINGS GOD WON'T ASK ON THAT DAY.

The following was sent to me by my daughter
and she received it from one of her friends.
None of us know who wrote it.

I have this posted on one of my "Fun" pages but
since Sean like the previous posting, I thought
would put it on the blog to get a little more visability.


TEN THINGS GOD WON'T ASK ON THAT DAY.

1... God won't ask what kind of car you drove.
He'll ask how many people you drove who didn't
have transportation.

2... God won't ask the square footage of your house,
He'll ask how many people you welcomed into your
home.

3... God won't ask about the clothes you had in your
closet,
He'll ask how many you helped to clothe.

4... God won't ask what your highest salary was.
He'll ask if you compromised your character to
obtain it.

5... God won't ask what your job title was.
He'll ask if you performed your job to the best of
your ability.

6... God won't ask how many friends you had.
He'll ask how many people to whom you were a
friend.

7... God won't ask in what neighborhood you lived,
He'll ask how you treated your neighbors.

8... God won't ask about the color of your skin,
He'll ask about the content of your character.

9... God won't ask why it took you so long to seek
Salvation.
He'll lovingly take you to your mansion in heaven,
and not to the gates of Hell.

10... God won't have to ask how many people you
forwarded this to,
He already knows your decision.

----------------------

Remember, success comes in many forms.

To Your Success,
Susan
http://www.friendswhocare.us

WILL I EVER FIND GOD?

I've copied a story that was sent to me
by Joan, a fellow subscriber. As she warned
when she emailed it, "This is a little long,
but so terrific I had to share with you."

-----
John Powell, a professor at Loyola University in Chicago writes
about a student named Tommy in his Theology of Faith class:

Some twelve years ago, I stood watching my university students
file into the classroom for our first session in the Theology of Faith.
That was the day I first saw Tommy. My eyes and my mind both blinked. He
was combing his long flaxen hair, which hung six inches below his
shoulders. It was the first time I had ever seen a boy with hair that
long. I guess it was just coming into fashion then. I know in my mind
that it isn't what's on your head but what's in it that counts; but on
that day I was unprepared and my emotions flipped. I immediately filed
Tommy under 'S' for strange, very strange.

Tommy turned out to be the "atheist in residence" in my Theology
of Faith course. He constantly objected to, smirked at, or whined about
the possibility of an unconditionally loving Father/God. We lived with
each other in relative peace for one semester, although I admit he was,
for me at times, a serious pain in the back pew.

When he came up at the end of the course to turn in his final
exam, he asked in a slightly cynical tone, "Do you think I'll ever find
God?"

I decided instantly on a little shock therapy.
"No!" I said very emphatically.

"Oh," he responded, "I thought that was the product you were
pushing."

I let him get five steps from the classroom door, then called out,
"Tommy! I don't think you'll ever find Him, but I am absolutely certain
that He will find you!"

He shrugged a little and left my class and my life.

I felt slightly disappointed at the thought that he had missed my
clever line: "He will find you!" At least I thought it was clever. Later
I heard that Tommy had graduated, and I was duly grateful.

Then a sad report came. I heard Tommy had terminal cancer. Before
I could search him out, he came to see me. When he walked into my
office, his body was very badly wasted, and the long hair had all fallen
out as a result of chemotherapy, but his eyes were bright, and his voice
was firm for the first time, I believe.

"Tommy, I've thought about you so often. I hear you are sick," I
blurted out

"Oh, yes, very sick. I have cancer in both lungs. It's a matter of
weeks."

"Can you talk about it, Tom?" I asked.

"Sure, what would you like to know?" he replied.

"What's it like to be only twenty-four and dying?"

"Well, it could be worse."

"Like what?"

"Well, like being fifty and having no values or ideals; like being
fifty and thinking that booze, seducing women, and making money are the
real biggies in life."

(I began to look through my mental file cabinet under 'S' where I
had filed Tommy as strange. It seems as though everybody I try to reject
by classification, God sends back into my life to educate me.)

"But what I really came to see you about," Tom said, "is something
you said to me on the last day of class."

(He remembered!)

He continued, "I asked you if you thought I would ever find God,
and you said, 'No!'which surprised me. Then you said, 'But He will find
you.' I thought about that a lot, even though my search for God was
hardly intense at that time.

(My clever line... He thought about that a lot!)

"But when the doctors removed a lump from my groin and told me
that it was malignant, that's when I got serious about locating God. And
when the malignancy spread into my vital organs, I really began banging
bloody fists against the bronze doors of heaven, but God did not come
out. In fact, nothing happened. Did you ever try something for a long
time with great effort and with no success? You get psychologically
glutted; fed up with trying. And then you quit. Well, one day I woke up,
and instead of throwing a few more futile appeals over that high brick
wall to a God who may or may not be there, I just quit. I decided that I
didn't really care about God, about an afterlife, or anything like that.
I decided to spend what time I had left doing something more
profitable."

"I thought about you and your class, and I remembered something
else you had said: 'The essential sadness is to go through life without
loving. But it would be almost equally sad to go through life and leave
this world without ever telling those you loved that you had loved
them.' So, I began with the hardest one, my Dad. He was reading the
newspaper when I approached him.

"Dad."

"Yes, what?" he asked without lowering the newspaper.

"Dad, I would like to talk with you."

"Well, talk."

"I mean it's really important."

The newspaper came down three slow inches. "What is it?"

"Dad, I love you. I just wanted you to know that." (Tom smiled at
me and said it with obvious satisfaction, as though he felt a warm and
secret joy flowing inside of him.)

"The newspaper fluttered to the floor. Then my father did two
things I could never remember him ever doing before. He cried and he
hugged me.

We talked all night, even though he had to go to work the next
morning. It felt so good to be close to my father, to see his tears, to
feel his hug, to hear him say that he loved me. " It was easier with my
mother and little brother. They cried with me, too, and we hugged each
other, and started saying real nice things to each other. We shared the
things we had been keeping secret for so many years. I was only sorry
about one thing - that I had waited so long. Here I was, just beginning
to open up to all the people I had actually been close to. "Then, one
day, I turned around and God was there! He didn't come to me when I
pleaded with Him. I guess I was like an animal trainer holding out a
hoop; 'C'mon, jump through. C'mon, I'll give You three days, three
weeks.'

Apparently God does things in His own way and at His own hour. But
the important thing is that He was there. He found me. You were right.
He found me even after I stopped looking for Him."

"Tommy," I practically gasped, "I think you are saying something
very important and much more universal than you realize. To me, at
least, you are saying that the surest way to find God is not to make Him
a private possession, a problem solver, or an instant consolation in
time of need, but rather to open up to love.

You know, the Apostle John said that.

He said: 'God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with
God and God is living in him.'

"Tom, could I ask you a favor? You know, when I had you in class
you were a real pain. But (laughingly) you can make it all up to me now.
Would you come into my present Theology of Faith course and tell them
what you have just told me? If I told them the same thing it wouldn't be
half as effective as if you were to tell them."

"Ooh ... I was ready for you, but I don't know if I'm ready for
your class."

"Tom, think about it. If and when you are ready, give me a call."
In a few days, Tom called, said he was ready for the class, that he
wanted to do that for God and for me. So we scheduled a date, but he
never made it. He had another appointment, far more important than the
one with me and my class.

Of course, his life was not really ended by his death, only
changed. He made the great step from faith into vision. He found a life
far more beautiful than the eye of man has ever seen or the ear of man
has ever heard, or the mind of man has ever imagined.

Before he died, we talked one last time. "I'm not going to make it
to your class," he said.

"I know, Tom."

"Will you tell them for me? Will you... tell the whole world for
me?"

"I will, Tom. I'll tell them. I'll do my best."

So, to all of you who have been kind enough to hear this simple
statement about love, thank you for listening. And to you, Tommy,
somewhere in the sunlit, verdant hills of heaven - I told them, Tommy,
as best I could.

If this story means anything to you, please pass it on to a friend
or two. It is a true story and is not enhanced for publicity purposes.
With thanks, John Powell, Professor Loyola University, Chicago

-----

Thank you Joan for sharing. You can visit
Joan's site at:

http://www.locoweedproductions.com

where she offers "Fine Gifts and Home Decor"

To Your Success,
Susan
FriendsWhoCare

IMPORTANT - Do You Publish With MP3

Gaida, a fellow subscriber, asked if I had received the
warning about making and selling products using
MP3 from Louis Allport.

I had but just in case you didn't, Gaida, from
http://www7.OnlineMasteryGold.com
and I want you to know so you can protect yourself.

Here's the warning we received with a link to
more information.

----------
Hello Susan

I've only known about this for a few days, and it's got me
very worried...

If you publish any kind of MP3 audio online, there could be
a team of very high-priced lawyers after you soon.

Sadly, I'm not joking either.

I'm right now in the process of converting all my audio into
a different format, and if you publish any kind of MP3 audio
online I would strongly suggest you do the same.

The simple fact that I've become aware of in the last few
days is that MP3 audio is NOT free to distribute. Expensive
licensing fees are due to a billion dollar corporation.
And they're clamping down on this hard now.

To make online publishers aware of this issue, a press release
was sent out in the past 24 hours by online copywriter and
publisher Joe Robson.

He's also made a free report available to help guide you
through this situation and to help you get working with new
audio formats ASAP (these new formats do NOT have any
licensing fees of any kind, ever).

You can read the press release and download his free report
at the following address:

http://www.ogginfo.com/

Sincerely,
Louis Allport

----------

If your selling or creating products using MP3, please
heed this warning.

To Your Success,
Susan Carroll
http://www.friendswhocare.us

Announcements - Raffle Ticket And Syndication

This message was to go out on June 23, 2005.

Hi,

If you've come to the blog to find out why you
haven't heard from me since Wednesday, June 22,
the answer is - the responder system I use to send
you mail has been down since Thrusday morning.
Some subscribers were able to get this message
on Thursday but most didn't.

So in an attempt to keep in touch until the responder's
technical difficulties are resolved, I am posting a
slightly edited version of the email I was trying to send.

----------
I am sorry to say that none of us won the raffle last
night. The wining ticket numberwas 492233 and was
held by Terri M. the mother of 2 swim team members.
So to everyone who bought one or moretickets, I am
sorry but we do thank you foryour support.

Also, I am thankful because unlike Terri, I didn't have
to purchase 44 tickets to make sure we sold our 50. I
also have a surprise gift for everyone who bought 1 or
more losing tickets but you have to read this whole
note to find out what it is.

On Wednesday I mentioned I was working on
syndicating my newsletter articles. Well I am all done
except for putting some finishing touches on the article
page template and putting the syndication information
on some of my existing pages. So today, you get to be
the first to see what I've been up to.

Go to http://www.friendswhocare.us/classifieds.htm.

After the Marketing and Advertisting box you should
be able to find an FriendsWhoCare Internet Marketing
Feed area where there are3 articles listed.

Now I haven't had time to get a page put together to
tell you how you can use this article feed on your site
but the information is available on the pages with the
articles.

When you go to a page with an article you'll notice that
there is a yellow area at the top and under it there are
words that say "RSS Feed Sponsor." One of the
finishing touches to the template for these pages is to
put in an ad rotator. As soon as I get that rotator in
place, I would like to offer my losing raffle ticket holders
a spot in this rotator - one spot for each of their losing
tickets.I can't tell you how long it will be in the rotator
just yet since I am still working out the details but I can
tell you that it will be for at least 1 month or longer.

So consider this an advance warning. If you bought 1
or more raffle tickets, you better start working on some
small text ads. When I get the rotator in place and know
the exact requirements for the ads I'll let you know.

If you didn't buy a raffle ticket I will be selling ad space
on these pages but that's even further off since I haven't
worked out the details for that either.

That's it for today and I hope you like the new feed that's
now available from FriendsWhoCare.

To Your Success,
Susan Carroll
FriendsWhoCare Newsletter

PS - By the way, our team did great last night. Austin got
2 1st places, 2 2nd places and 1 3rd in the 7 events he was
entered. Brianna unfortunately didn't win a ribbon in any
of her 5 events but she'll do better next time.

The Most Important Things I've Learned About Having An Online Business

When you have an online business one of the
things you read from almost every "guru" is that
"You Must Have A List". They may not tell you
how to get one, what to write to them or how
often to send messages but they do stress that
you must build one.

Well guess what? They are absolutely, positively,
100% right. You do need a list.

So what's one of the most important things I've
learned?

It's not that you need a list - already knew that.

It's not that they are potential customers - already
knew that too.

It's not that they are regular people - since
everyone is different, I'm not sure what a
regular person is.

One of the most important things I've learned is:

Be yourself and have a list of friends who
share a common interest and desire. Friends
who not only take the time to listen to you
but who also spend the time to reply to
your messages and requests. Friends who
not only want your advice but who are also
willing to give you theirs. Friends who want
to get together and spend some time with
each other.

To prove my point here's how my list
responded to recent request for some
assistance with a local fund raiser.

First, I'll tell you that my list is aimed at those
doing internet marketing. Every "guru" will
tell you that a list of internet marketers is a
hard list to sell to because either they've seen
it all or else they're new and probably
experiencing information overload.

With that in mind, here's what happened:

Not knowing how well my list would respond to
a request to purchase raffle tickets for a local
fund raiser, I asked them if they would be
interested. Then I waited, fearing the worst
that either no one would respond or they would
unsubscribe because supporting a local fund
raiser is not exactly "professional internet
marketing" material. Also, there would have to
be a great deal of trust on their part since I
would be the one with the tickets.

I can't describe the feeling I got when the votes
started coming in. Most voted they would help
support my local fund raiser and many of those
who voted "no" offered an apology and
explanation of why they couldn't. (And believe
me, I totally understand being overwhelmed
with your own fund raisers. That's why I took
a leap of faith and did the poll.)

Now before you start thinking that the
subscribers who voted "yes" all lived in
surrounding areas, I'll tell you that they
don't. The closest one lives around 100
miles away in a town that has a group that
competes with the local group I was
supporting. (Thanks again Darell.) The rest
are from other states and countries (Thanks
again Gaida, I think your home in Australia is
the furthest away.).

Because of the responses to the poll, I
set up a page to sell the tickets the day I
got them and sent a short email telling
everyone that the sale of the raffle tickets
was starting and where they could get them.
The message went out late Friday afternoon
which is suppose to be the worst time to email
your list.

Within a few hours I was receiving PayPal
receipts for ticket purchases!!!

Will I sell $384,297 worth of raffle tickets?

NO, my list isn't that large.

I will sell enough to help support our local
swim team with more funds than I could
afford on my own and that was the goal.

To sum up this long story, here are the
important things to remember:

• Build a list.
• Build a trusting relationship with your list.
• Ask them what they want or need.
• Give them what they want and need.
  

These 4 things are the most important
things to remember with ALL online businesses.

Susan Carroll
http://www.friendswhocare.us
http://www.friendswhocare.us/hurricane.htm

PS - My subscribers are the best group of
friends anyone could ask for and knowing
them is the truly the greatest reward of

my business.

Procrastination

Right now I am suppose to be either:

• working on my niche product sales site
• writing a couple of ads for a new JV site
• working in the backyard
• painting my front porch
• or one of a million other things on my to do list.

So what am I doing? I am performing some
"structured procrastination."

In case you're not familiar with that term, I'll explain.

Structured procrastination is when you do something
you've been meaning to do but never found the time
until you had other things that needed to be done
first. It usually happens when the thing you've been
putting off is more appealing that the things you've
now got to do but want to put off.

So today, before I start one of the things I really should
be doing, I chose to write a blog article about procrastination.

I am sure you already know what procrastination is but did
you know there are a lot of quotes about it? Most of them
tell you about how it leads to failure and offer some type
of motivation to have you stop.

But......

I found these 3 that I liked because they were fun.

"Procrastination: A hardening of the oughteries."
Anonymous

"The sooner I fall behind, the more time I have to
catch up."
Anonymous

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they
make as they fly by."
Douglas Adams

I think the last one is best don't you?

Guess I've procrastinated enough and get back to
work. I think I hear the back yard calling me.

Susan

How To Expand Your Keyword List For Free

How To Expand Your Keyword List For Free

While catching up on my ezine reading today
I found a link to a free video explaining how
to use your word processor to expand your
keyword list.

In the video Jason Lesis uses MS Word but
you can use any word processor to do the
same thing. In fact, a lot of text editors
have the same capability. I know MS Notepad
does.

To use Notepad or another text editor,
you just need to open it again to get a
blank page when Jason says to open a new
document. Notepad does have the "ReplaceAll"
feature under the "Edit" menu just like Word.
The only thing Notepad and other text editor
don't have is the capability to give you a
line count. But hey, if you can add then
there's no problem. Just keep a piece of
paper next to you so you can note how many
words you're pasting onto the original list.
Then when you're done, add them all up.
(Don't forget to put down the word count of
the original list.)

So if you would like to see a free video
on how to expand your keyword list here's
the link:

Free Expand Your Keyword List Video

Since the video isn't mine I don't know
how long it will be available so you
might want to spend the next 14 minutes
watching it now. And it really is free
since I didn't see or hear a single word
about any product being sold.

Susan

PS - Jason started his basic list by
using the services of wordtracker. They
offer a free trial and sell a single day
membership that's very affordable.

The Phishers Are Still At Work

I've warned you before and I am warning you again to
be care about what links you click in your email.

Since my PayPal account was broken into once I get
very nervous when I get email saying that someone has
tried to wrongfully use my account. Yet, I got a message
that said just that on Sunday.

The email came to my email address that I use on PayPal
and had the subject line of:
"Your PayPal Id logged in from Spain"

The message was suppose to be a warning but it also
said I should check out my account through the link
provided and if I didn't my account would get suspended.

Now I've read what PayPal has to say about mail it
sends and they tell you to NEVER use those links contained
in the email. Their advice is to go to your browser window
and type in the URL yourself. Then log into your account.

Well I did what PayPal recommends and saw no unusual
activity so I am guessing that someone was phishing.

Please remember. If you get an email telling you to check
one of your "sensitive" accounts, Don't use a link sent
in the email. Always type in the URL of the main site and
log into your account yourself.

Stay safe and keep your identity to for yourself.

Susan

How To Encrypt Your Email Address

With all the harvesting of email addresses many site
owners are now afraid to post their email address on
their own site. And while I understand why they don't,
I don't recommend leaving if off because that can hurt
your business.

One of the easiest things to do to hinder someone
from harvesting your email address off your site and
still have it available for your site visitors is to encrypt
it. I won't guarantee that it will stop everyone but I
encrypt my email address on my site and it has greatly
reduced the amount of spam I get.

Unfortunately I can't put the JavaScript code in the
blog because it won't show up so I've created this page
where you can copy and paste the code and get the
directions for editing it to hold your email address.

It's not hard to encrypt your email address. So don't
cut your site visitors off, include your encrypted
email address on your site.

Susan

Some Free Tools

How many times have you downloaded an ebook
and told yourself that you'd read it later? I must
admit that I've done it a lot. I've also scanned ebooks
and thought they were so good that I knew I'd find
the time to read them later.

But you know what? Later is related to tomorrow
and it never comes. There'll always be another
tomorrow and more time later.

So today, while I still have the information in front of
me, I am going to share some great free links I just
found in an ebook.

Search only Google sponsored links at:
http://www.google.com/sponsoredlinks

Keyword database based on the best selling
items on Ebay:
http://www.nichewords.com/

A free download that will find the owner of a domain
name or IP
http://www.whoisview.com/products/whoisview/

A free online tool to find out who owns a domain name.
http://www.hyperwhois.com/cgi-bin/whois.pl?cartid=&basic=1

Yahoo top searches
http://buzz.yahoo.com/

Lycos top 50
http://50.lycos.com/

Hope they can help.

To Your Success,
Susan

God's Love Is Not Dependent On E-Mail !

As mentioned in this week's newsletter, I am
posting an article sent in by a fellow subscriber.

Joe has sent me many fine things and this is
one of the best. Although he didn't write the
article and even though it doesn't pertain to
internet marketing, it is something we should
think about.

The article came with no title so I have used
the last line to name it.

----------

God's Love Is Not Dependent On E-Mail !

As you might know, the head of a company
survived 9/11 because his son started
kindergarten.

Another fellow was alive because it was
his turn to bring donuts.

One woman was late because her
alarm clock didn't go off in time.

One was late because of being stuck on the
NJ Turnpike because of an auto accident.

One of them missed his bus.

One spilled food on her clothes and had
to take time to change.

One's car wouldn't start.

One went back to answer the telephone.

One had a child that dawdled and didn't
get ready as soon as he should have.

One couldn't get a taxi.

The one that struck me was the man
who put on a new pair of shoes that morning,
took the various means to get to work,
but before he got there, he developed
a blister on his foot.

He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid.
That is why he is alive today.

Now when I am stuck in traffic,
miss an elevator, turn back to
answer a ringing telephone...

all the little things that annoy me.

I think to myself, this is exactly where
God wants me to be at this very moment..

Next time your morning seems to be going
wrong, the children are slow getting dressed,
you can't seem to find the car keys, you hit
every traffic light, don't get mad or frustrated;

God is at work watching over you.

May God ! continue to bless you with all
those annoying little things and may
you remember their possible purpose.

Pass this on to someone else, if you'd like.

There is NO LUCK attached.
If you delete this, it's okay:

God's Love Is Not Dependent
On E-Mail !!

Written by "Anonymous"

----------

This article was submitted by:


Joe Huguenard - The Dream Builder thedreambuilder@tampabay.rr.com
-:¦:-
~ ~ ~ ~
~ _[]_____ ~
¸...¸ __/ /\_____
,·´º o`·, /__/ __/\__ //_____/```)¨(´´ l±±±±±±
¸,.-·²°´,.-·~·~·-.,¸ `°²·-. ¸,.-·~·~·-.,¸ :º°¸,.-·²°´

PS - The design above is for a house and looks much
better in a true text editor. Susan

This Sunday Is Mother's Day In The UK

They say you should learn something new everyday
and today I learned that this coming Sunday,
3/6/2005, is Mother's Day in the UK.

Debbie was kind enough to tell me this when she
sent in the article I have included in this posting.

I must admit I didn't know that Mother's Day was
celebrated on different dates in other countries so
when I read her comment that it was this Sunday
I was confused. But I checked it out and it's true.

So to all those living in countries where Mother's
Day is this Sunday, read the article and enjoy and
Happy Mother's Day.

To those of us who celebrate Mother's Day in May,
read the article and enjoy because even though
our languages are slightly different, I am sure you'll
understand and appreciate it.

======================================
"Good & Not So Good Advice From Our Moms (UK)"
- by "Dangerous" Debbie Jenkins
(c) Debbie Jenkins. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.BookShaker.com
======================================
Our moms were always full of good advice when we were
growing up and they had to put up with a lot of crap
(quite literally) from us... So don't forget to thank
your mom for all her good advice this Mother's Day!
Why not give her a call?
Forward this article to 3 or more of your friends to remind
them just how much their moms taught them too.
Together we can make Mother's Day really special
and bring a smile to people's faces.
When We Were Littl'uns...
---------------------------------------
* Of course it stung you - wasps don't like to be stroked.
* No, her face isn't melting. Those are called wrinkles.
* Don't hit your brother while he's sleeping!
* Take that crayon out of your sister's ear!
* No, the man doesn't have a baby in his belly.
* Put that down! You don't know where it's been!
* Where are your clothes?
* Humans don't eat cat food
* Take your feet out of your mouth
* Please don't blow in the dogs ear
* No your sleeve isn't a hanky
* Don't put that in your mouth, you don't know where it's
been
* Stop trying to ride the dog, he doesn't want to play
As We Got Older...
--------------------------------------
* Close your mouth when you're eating
* Stop pulling faces - if the wind changes you'll
stick like it!
* Keep laughing and I'll give you something
to cry about
* Stop picking, it'll go septic.
* What if your friend jumped off a cliff?
Would you do that too?
* Money doesn't grow on trees.
* Somebody's going to end up crying.
* You're going to have somebody's eye out with that!
* Eat those carrots, they're good for your eyes.
You don't see rabbits wearing glasses, do you?
* I'm going to give you until the count of three.
* Wash behind your ears or you'll have potatoes
growing there.
* If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at
all.
* Don't come running to me when you break both your legs!
* Don't run with a lollipop in your mouth.
* Don't sit too close to the television, it'll turn your
eyes square.
* I don't CARE if all the other kids are doing it,
you're not doing it
* Less said, sooner mended
In Our "Terrible" Teens...
--------------------------------------
* Why? Because I said so that's why!
* I would have never talked to MY mother like that!
* Look at me when I'm talking to you.
* I wasn't born yesterday you know.
* After all I've done for you, and this is the
thanks I get?
* You'd better wipe that smile off your face before I do!
* Don't look at me in that tone of voice!
* You can't find it? Well, where did you leave it last?
* I'm not here just for your entertainment.
* If you opened your eyes as wide as your mouth,
you'd be able to find it!
* I don't embarrass you, do I?
* As long as you live under my roof, you'll do as I say.
* I'm not just talking to hear my own voice.
* How can you sleep in an unmade bed?
Now we're older... We find ourselves sometimes too busy to
enjoy the time we used to have with our moms. If you can
get to see her do it. If not be sure to phone! Maybe buy
her a gift... If your mom is no longer with you, I hope this
brings some fun memories.
Send this article to 3 or more friends, bring a smile to
their face and remind them to thank their mom...
this UK Mother's Day - Sunday March 6th.
====================================
Develop Powerful Persuasion Skills
For Business and Pleasure at...
http://www.BookShaker.com
+++ Articles - Previews - Reviews +++
====================================

Newsreaders The ATMs of Email

In a recent polls I asked my subscribers if they
thought the old method of emailing ezines was dying.
Surprisinly, 60% didn't think so.

However, one subscriber who is also a fellow
publisher did think that ezine mailings would soon
be a thing of the past and stated that she was
looking at newsreaders.

Now Jane pointed out that there were 2 problems
with newsreaders:

1. The publishers' cost - these things aren't free and can get quite expensive. The cost alone will keep many legitimate publishers from using them.
2. Getting subscribers to use them - people are used to reading their email and opening a new program to read a newsletter places another burden on the subscriber.

Now I am not going to go into the pros and cons of
using a newsreader. Instead I am going to make an
analogy between newsreaders and ATMs (something
most of us are very familiar with). And while the
analogy may seem a little far fetched to you - it
makes perfect sense to me.

Newsreaders The ATMs of Email

I can't remember exactly when I first encountered
ATMs but do remember that I was using my companies
credit union for all my banking needs when they
first appeared.

Now being a person who is drawn to most types
of modern technology, especially when it provides
a way to do things easier, you may think I would have
jumped onto the ATM bandwagon and started using
them to their fullest capability when they came out.
But no, I didn't.

You see, with my computer and business background
I found many flaws in the advantages they promised.

They promised:

• 24 hour access to my money - OK, I did buy that one.
• 24 hour capability to deposit my money - I could already do that.
• No lines to stand in - If everyone uses them, there would be lines.
• Easy to use - With all the different types around you have to read the directions to know which buttons to push.
• Safe and Secure - Even I can think of ways to rob ATMs and I don't have a criminal mind.
• Less Expensive so Banking Costs would go down - Another way to downsize and replace a person with a machine.

Now what has happened with the use of ATMs in the
last 10+ years?

• You can access your money 24 hours a day for a fee unless you use the right ATMs.
• You can deposit your money if you can find the right ATMs - usually at the bank.
• There may or may not be a line.
• Some are easy to use while I 've found some where I've just given up because the buttons don't line up with the commands and I've gotten too frustrated to continue trying.
• We've all heard the news stories about the hidden cameras capturing information and the fake ATMs. ATMs have proven to be anything but safe and secure.
• For the banks, ATMs may be less expensive but I have not seen any of those savings passed on to the customers. Instead I've seen raising bank charges and new types of ATM fees.

So how do I now compare ATMs to Newsreaders?

Well, newsreaders are one of the newest ways to get
a newsletter out to your subscribers and they
promise that:

• You can send out your ezine anytime.
• Your ezine will always get through because they will not be blocked by spam filters.
• Your subscribers will see when you've sent a new issue/article/whatever.
• Your subscribers can add other ezines to the newsreader so they won't have to have more than one
• There is no cost to the subscriber.
• For the subscriber the newsreader is easy to use.

Now these promises are slightly different than
those of the ATMs but let's look into the future
and see what may really happen. I'll use the
history of ATMs to make these predictions.

• You can send out your ezine anytime may still be true but it's going to cost - probably more than it costs now.
• Your ezine will never be caught by the now conventional email spam filter. But spammers are clever people and I bet they'll figure out some way to get into the newsreader system. Not being a clever person myself, I don't know how this will happen - just that I can see that it has a 50% or better chance of happening. (Remember, no one counted on hidden ATM cameras or fake ATMs either.)
• Your subscribers will get notified when you send out something new assuming that your subscribers still have the newsreader loaded and are still using it.
• Your subscribers don't have to use more than one newsreader. Would someone please point me in the direction of the newsreaders that will allow a publisher who is not paying them to get added into the subscriber's newsreader. (Remember when using ATMs was free - now if you use another banks ATM they charge a fee to get your own money.)
• Since those providing newreader services are out to make a buck I am predicting that as soon as they think they've captured the ezines that have a loyal following and have convinced them to not use traditional email, it will cost subscribers something to use the newsreaders. The fee may be small but even $1 a month from millions of readers will make them a fortune.
• As a subscriber using a newsreader I must now remember to keep the newsreader loaded whenever I change computers or reload my OS. I must also remember to add all my ezines into the reader - Opps, forgot about that ezine - and I really liked it too. The newsreader is a great place to store all my favorite ezines and I'll start reading them again as soon as I finish keeping my inbox clean while I'm waiting for Aunt May's vacation pictures. I've been waiting for 3 weeks and sure hope she sends them soon.

I won't try to predict whether or not newsreaders
are here to stay but I will say they're aren't as
new as many would have you believe. I actually
joined a "free" one more than 2 years ago. I never
used it because it required me to load my subscriber
list into someone else's database for it to send
the updates out. Sorry everyone, no newsreader here
because I don't share my subscribers' information
with anyone!

During the Christmas giveaways I did download a
newsreader because it was a requirement to get the
free gifts. The publishers giving the gifts had
to pay to use the newsreader to be part of the
giveaway. Now the "smart" publishers also added me
to their email mailing lists and sent their stuff
using both methods. I don't think they were trying
to overwhelm me. They understood that most people
aren't used to using newsreaders and therefore
don't pay attention to them. So even though I
never really opened my newsreader and then lost
it when I reloaded my machine last week they
didn't lose me.

Am I part of the norm with my use of newsreaders?
I don't know but guess that there are enough people
like me that those who do know don't rely on
newsreaders very much just yet.

Are newsreaders the wave of the future for ezine
publishers? I don't know that either but will tell
you that I will be kicking and screaming the whole
way if they are.

Newsreaders and ATMs provide different types of
services but capture the market of those looking
for an easier and safer way of doing something.
ATMs are now on almost every street corner even
though they have failed at being secure and safe.
I fear that newsreaders may follow the same path
and we may all reap the same benefits.

Susan
FriendsWhoCare Newsletter

It May Be Old - But It's Still Good

The last couple of weeks I have been negligent in my
blog duties and other things because I have been trying
to make some changes to my site. And , like many, I
am a self-taught web programmer so it's taking awhile.

But today I decided to catch up on some of the ezines I
get and guess what?

Many of them are still sending articles about owning your
own domain names and having your own sites.

Why?

Because while the advice may be old - it's still very good.

Sure, there's a lot of new advice for internet marketing and
lots of new products to help you achieve your goals. But
that doesn't mean all the old advice and products aren't
good. In fact, most of the new stuff is designed and written
for those who have already mastered the old. In other
words, you must have the basics in place in order for you to
use and master the new information and products. And having
your OWN web site and domain name are about as basic as
you can get.

To find some free and inexpensive resources to help you
build and get your site up check out my startup page at:

http://www.friendswhocare.us/startups.htm

To Your Success,
Susan

PS - I've included a tip on the startup page that tells you
how to put your affiliate pages on your own site so you
don't have to have any ideas on how to design a site or
even know any html.

http://www.friendswhocare.us/startups.htm

Working On The Forum

I'll be the first one to admit that
I take on too much and expect things
to get done faster than they actually
will but - I am working on the forum.

Right now I think I have the first several
areas open for posting - down to Traffic
Generation. I did post a few things in
some of the beginning area and will
be posting to other areas after I get
everything unlocked.

So check out the forum to see if there
are any other areas you would like to
have added and stop by the Member area
to introduce yourself.

http://affiliates-win.com/phpBB/index.php

All the areas of the forum will be open
for everyone to read and some of the
areas will be open for everyone to post.
Most of the forum will be set up where
only subscribers of the newsletter may
post. If you have any thoughts about
how the permissions should be set up
please let me know.

To enforce the subscriber only
restrictions it will be necessary
for people to become a registered
member of the forum and only
subscribers may do that.

Anyway, thought I'd let you know what's
happening and I'll keep you informed
as things progress.

To Your Success,
Susan

PS - If you have any problems getting
registered please let me know. I still
don't have all my email tools in place
since I reloaded my operating system
so I may miss some of the requests to
join right now.

Thanks for being so understanding and
let's all work together to get this
forum going.

Microsoft Finally Did Something!

This may be old news to you since I am
always the last one to find out about
everything but Microsoft has finally
done something about spyware.

While I was trying to clean up my
computer on January 10 I accidentally
found out that Microsoft has written
a tool to remove spyware. This tool
also has the capability to detect
when it is being downloaded onto your
computer.

Of course there is no guarantee that it
will catch everything but it does seem to
be better than the other 4 anti-spyware
programs I've tried and right now it's free.

In case you don't want my long story just
go to:

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

to read about their beta version and
get your free copy.

Here's my story -

I have been using 4 different anti-spyware
programs for the last several months but
knew I was badly infected anyway. You
know the symptoms: slow machine, pop-ups
that weren't blocked, home page set to
some strange place, etc.

And while some of my anti-spyware programs
told me I was infected none of them could
ever totaly remove the infection.

During the first week of January I gave
up and reloaded my operating system. It
hen was able to run on a clean machine
for a few days when things started happening
again. So off I went to get those anti-spyware
programs running.

Now I didn't run the one anti-spyware
program I paid for since I recently read
that some of those paid-for programs actually
load junk on your machine. Instead I ran
the free one given me by my DSL provider.

Since it didn't remove the same junk it
couldn't remove before, I went to Microsoft
to get the free ones they recommended.
(That's where I had gotten the other 2
I had run before.)

That's when I discovered the beta version
of Microsoft's anti-spyware program. Since
they wrote the system I figured they ought
to know how to clean it up so I downloaded it.

I took about 20 minutes for it to do a
complete scan but found 22 things to remove
and it DID remove them.

Now my system seems to be back to its
clean self again!

The good points of this anti-spyware program
are:

1. It catches and removes more spyware.
2. It can be scheduled to run automatically.
3. It has an advanced feature that allows
you to erase some types of things on your
computer.
4. It alerts you when something tries to
change one of your Microsoft files or
settings.
5. Right now it's free.
6. They give automatic updates when available.

The bad points are:

1. I don't know if it catches everything.
2. It may take a little longer than some
other anti-spyware programs (but if it
works better - who cares).
3. The download will expire after a set
time limit (I have 202 days left).

I am not an affiliate for Microsoft - in fact
I am not even an avid supporter of them. I
just use their products because that's what
dominates the market. But if this thing works
I'll use it.

I have no idea how much they are going to
charge for this product when it finishes
its beta trial but I doubt that Bill
will fix his product or protect us for
nothing (not his style).

I am not going to recommend that you
download or try this beta version. I just
want you to be aware that it does exist
and right now it's free.

Here's the link again:

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

To Your Success,
Susan