Archive for January, 2010

How can I monetize my forum and start making money with it?

Monday, January 11th, 2010

New forums are popping up around the net all the time, adding to the thousands of forums on out there already. Many of them will never make it past a few months; some of them become pillars of the ever growing internet community. What makes the difference you ask? The following concepts will explore why some forums become successful and how to turn the success into cash.

Forums are a place for people to exchange ideas. There are two key elements in that simple sentence, people and ideas. You need people in your forum and you need them to be talking about things that matter, things that will get others to join in the fun. This gets you to the first problem, getting people and getting them to talk. People don’t like to join empty forums so you will need to get a few friends together and start posting topic others would be interested in talking about. When your forum is small, you really need to target a niche and get a good core group of regularly posting members. With many huge forums out there you are not likely to succeed with a broad forum. You can always expand later when your users ask you to. Start small with quality content, or if you already have a forum scale it down and find a target group.
If you are good with code or graphically inclined, you should spend some time customizing the forum so people feel like they are part of something special. You need to invest some time into making your forum look professional and inviting to people in your target niche. If you already have a forum maybe it is time for a makeover. Our visual sense is our strongest sense so a redesign will make a big difference.

Traffic, traffic, and more traffic. Every website needs traffic and everybody talks about how to get traffic so we won’t dwell on it too much. We will look at how to make that traffic into cash instead. Now that you have a core group of users and your forum is looking all pretty, let’s see if we can squeeze some ads in there. Affiliate banners such as Adsense probably won’t make you money unless you have massive amounts of traffic so you are better off finding your own sponsors. Since you are targeting a specific niche of people you will have an easier time to find individual sponsors. You can use something like Adbrite where individual sponsors will sign up for your site, commission junction where you can lick niche specific sponsors, or you can implement a custom php solution, what ever you think might work best.

An even better way to make money is if you can directly sell services or products to your members. For example a forum talking about web hosts can offer web hosting directly, a forum talking about travel can offer downloadable wall papers and so on. Also a great idea is to have something like a gift shop where people can order T-shirts, coffee mugs and so on with the forum logo on it. You could also look into maybe a good drop-shipping retailer deal for arts and crafts related forums. The possibilities are so broad that we will discuss it in the next article.
For now the you have lots of work to do, target your forum at a specific niche, get a core group together and start producing some valuable content. If start seeing increase in your traffic you can start looking for advertisers or establish services for sale or get a product line together.

Bluetooth Profiles

Monday, January 4th, 2010

The profile found in Bluetooth will describe how
the technology is used.  Profiles can be best
described as vertical slices through the protocol
stack.  It will define options in each protocol
that are mandatory for the profile.

The profile will also define the parameter ranges
for each protocol.  The concept of the profile is
used to decrease the risk of interoperability
problems between the different products.  These
profiles won’t normally define any additions to
the Bluetooth specification, which is why you can
add new profiles where you need them.  The
Bluetooth underlying technology is the same, only
the specific method that it’s used is defined.

Generally speaking, all profiles of Bluetooth are
based on the GAP (Generic Access Profile).  There
are 9 profiles that fall in the GAP category, and
they are below:
1.  AVRCP – Audio/Video Remote Control
Profile
2.  ESDP – Extended Service Discovery Profile
3.  CIP – Common ISDN Access Profile
4.  PAN – Public Area Network Profile
5.  HCRP – Hardcopy Cable Replacement
Profile
6.  GAVDP – Generic Audio/Visual Distribution
Profile
7.  A2DP – Advanced Audio Distribution Profile
8.  VDP – Video Distribution Profile
9.  HID – Human Interface Device Profile

To put it another way, usage models will describe
Bluetooth device applications and the associated
profiles that are used.  The usage model focuses
mainly on three categories – voice/data access points,
peripheral interconnects, and PAN (Personal Area
Networking).

The voice and data access points involve connecting
computing devices to communicating devices through
a wireless link. This way, data can be transferred
in a wireless manor, without the need of cables or
other types of connectivity.

PAN  is another very important usage model with
strong appeal to business customers.  Bluetooth
networks are easy to set up in virtually any type
of environment.  An example would be meeting
others at a trade show.

Instead of having contact information beamed via
infrared, business cards can quickly and easily be
transferred via Bluetooth wireless.  The fact is
that many documents can be exchanged this very
same way – making the uses and possibilities
virtually endless.

The Bluetooth profile is very important to the
specification, as it enables you to do so much
more.  You can use peripherals and devices with
the profiles, and virtually anything else that you
decide.

As Bluetooth expands and gets bigger and better,
you can count on the profiles to expand and get
even more functions.  If you have experience with
Bluetooth profiles, you should know exactly what
they are and what you can do with them.  If not,
all you need is a Bluetooth device – and a vivid
imagination.

9 Ideas On How To Promote Your Events To Your Internal Customers

Friday, January 1st, 2010

9 Ideas On How To Promote Your Events To Your Internal Customers
Any time you are planning an event, you will want to make sure that you are promoting it so that the internal customers that you have are going to hear about the fun.  You will want to follow a few different things so that you are able to have the most fun that can at the event and make it a great success.
1. You will want to first concentrate on each customer as if they were the only one that you have. You want them to feel extra special so that they are able to feel special.  You want to be professional and have a positive attitude so that you can leave a lasting impression for future opportunities.
2. You should know what is going on at all times. You will want to listen carefully for the signals that your customers are throwing your way.  You want to take into account all of there needs and wants when it comes to special events that are done.
3. Make sure that you have good information about your customers. You want to make sure that you can promote your event to all of your internal customers so that they know what the party is about. You will feel a lot better knowing that you can get a great deal of customers to hear about the fun that you are having so that they will want to come along for the great ride.
4. You may want to make phone calls to all of your internal customers so that they can be formally invited. You will want to keep all of the invitations as personal as you can. You will feel better knowing that you are able to reach your former customers and keep them informed about the great events that are taking place for you.  This is something that you can do to make your internal customers feel like they are very important to you.
5. Stay in contact with the past clients that you have. You will want to make sure that you are able to keep in contact with them so that you can formally invite them to your event. This is the way that you can keep your contacts so that you are able to have your past and current clients together and having fun.
6. Take the time to learn the interests of your internal and external clients. You will want to make sure that you are able to keep in touch with the needs of your clients so that you are meeting all of their wants. You will find that this is a great way to stay in contact with the concerns that they have and keep them interested in your event as well.
7. Be patient. You want to make sure that you have patience so that you are able to take your time with each customer. You want them to feel as if they are the most important clients to you so you will want to give them a little extra effort and time. You will feel good about the way that you will feel when you are done and everyone comes to your event.
8. You want to make sure that you are advertising your events with your customers as often as you can. You want to make sure that you are reaching a lot of different people through your advertising. You want to get them interested and informed about your special party.
9. Take a few minutes each week to make sure that you able to think of new and creative ways to make your internal customers more interested in your events. You want to keep them informed and able to hear about all the great events that you are planning for them. This is the best way to keep everyone connected and on the same page.