The Blogs are taking over!

Yet another mainstream OFF-LINE, PAPER business magazine has a cover story on blogs. This is not something to be ignored. You need to seriously consider developing your own web presence to include a blog. So many blog formats and software options, but just pick one and get going!

Excerpt from the article:

Go ahead and bellyache about blogs. But you cannot afford to close your eyes to them, because they're simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself. And they're going to shake up just about every business -- including yours. It doesn't matter whether you're shipping paper clips, pork bellies, or videos, blogs are a phenomenon that you cannot ignore, postpone, or delegate. Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs are not a business elective. They're a prerequisite.

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Got Audio?

Got Audio? (on your blog, that is)
Click below to listen

Read more about getting audio on your blog

Dealing with SPAM using Challenge Response

SPAM can make email unusable, but there is a concept that I have used so I did NOT have to change my email address.

This other method of dealing with SPAM is to use "challenge response". In a nutshell, it requires the sender to respond to a confirmation message. This verifies that an actual person who can read an email sent the message to you. If no response is received, you never are bothered or realize a SPAM email message was even sent to your email address.

How challenge response works

Case 1 - it came from a spammer

• Spammer sends an email to you
• The software sends a confirmation message to the sender's email address
• If the spammer used a fake email address, the confirmation email is not received by the spammer and the fake email address is not confirmed.
• Nothing downloaded to your computer, SPAM not seen by you

Case 2 - first-time email from a friend

• Friend sends an email to you
• The software sends a confirmation message to the sender's email address
• Since they used a valid email address, they will get the confirmation message
• They click on the link in the confirmation message
• Your friend's original message is delivered to you (they do not need to resend the original message)
• Friend's email address is added to your "good" email list

Case 3 - additional emails from that same friend

• Friend sends an email to you
• Their email address is on "good" email list, so message is immediately delivered to you (friend does not receive confirmation message)

Most web hosting providers have this available, so ask your current web hosting company how to get this setup. If they do not have this available, speak to your webmaster or the person who setup your web site or domain email accounts.

Key Findings of the Trend Micro/CNET Networks Spyware Survey

Trend Micro teamed with CNET Networks to conduct a nationwide online survey of spyware and its impact on U.S. corporations. The survey was posted online by TechRepublic in March 2005. More than 500 IT professionals who identified themselves as anti-spyware purchase influencers or decision makers responded to the survey.

Key findings include:

• 93 percent of companies have seen an increase in the amount of spyware on their networks in the past three months

• 90 percent of companies report lowered computer performance as their greatest spyware-related concern

• 95 percent of companies report that adware is frequently found within their organization

• 74 percent said that the loss of confidential personal or corporate information was a primary spyware concern

• 72 percent already have an anti-spyware solution deployed – with 63 percent of those being stand-alone solutions and 90 percent being deployed at the desktop

• 78 percent of enterprise IT managers have identified spyware as among their top three IT priorities for 2005

• 87 percent of companies believe the spyware problem will get worse before it gets better

• 65 percent of IT decision makers believe an integrated security solution is preferable to a stand-alone anti-spyware product

• 45 percent of small enterprises and 57 percent of large enterprises believe anti-spyware is most effectively deployed at the gateway

• 15 percent of small enterprises and 26 percent of large enterprises have anti-spyware deployed at the gateway

• Large enterprises are less protected against spyware than smaller enterprises. Only 54 percent of large enterprises have an anti-spyware solution deployed as compared to 80 percent of small enterprises

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Formatting your blog links

As you compose a post you may wish to include links to other web sites. For example, you found a blog or article that your visitors would be interesting in reading. Or you are quoting an excerpt from another web page and want to have a link to the original article.

In either case, you want to create a link that your blog visitors can click. It is recommended to make the clickable link in your post stand out more. You can do one or more of the following to that clickable text:

• make it bold
• use a slightly larger font size
• put it on a separate line (either alone or with just a few words)

Your blog's layout is most likely different from mine which you are now viewing, but your blog might have clickable links in a nice shade that does not contrast strongly with the main text color. This is on purpose since that link text color is used for sidebar links and you do not want to draw excessive attention to the sidebar while a visitor is reading the posts.

The appearance of links on this page may not match those of your blog, but here are 4 examples of how you might present the same information:

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Normal link:

If you would like more information about horse training, you can visit their web site to read more. Every time I go there I learn something new since it is easy to navigate with well thought out articles.

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Bold link:

If you would like more information about horse training, you can visit their web site to read more. Every time I go there I learn something new since it is easy to navigate with well thought out articles.

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Larger link font:

If you would like more information about horse training, you can visit their web site to read more. Every time I go there I learn something new since it is easy to navigate with well thought out articles.

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Link on new line:

If you would like more information about horse training, you can visit their web site to read more. Every time I go there I learn something new since it is easy to navigate with well thought out articles.

Visit the horse training web site

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