Learning how to scuba dive is your ticket to the ultimate underwater adventure. The scuba certification that you earn is internationally recognized, never expires, and allows you to rent or purchase your own diving equipment. You

Every part of your book can be a sales tool. When you include the below tips, you will have a roadmap to follow to keep your writing organized and compelling, and youll sell more books than you ever dreamed of!
1. Write for your one preferred audience. Not everyone wants your book. Find out what audience wants/needs your book What problems does your book solve for them Create an audience profile and keep your audiences picture in front of you as you write. Ask yourself, is my topic narrow enough The Chicken Soup For The Teenager, For The Prisoner, and other specific groups sold far more copies than the original Chicken Soup.
2. Write a sizzling book title and front cover. You have 4-10 seconds to hook your potential buyer. The cover itself sells more books than any other part. Bookstore buyers buy mainly by cover designs.Your title must compel your audience to buy. If you want an agent or publisher your title and subtitle are vital.
3. Write a thirty-second "tell and sell." You only have a few seconds to impress the media, the agent, the bookseller, the individual buyer. Include your title, a few benefits, and the audience. Include a few sound bites that grab attention. You may also want to compare your book to a successful one. "Passion at Any Age" is the "Artists Way" for seniors.
4. Write your back cover before you write your book. This is the second most important sales tool your book has to offer. Here you put compelling ad copy, benefits, testimonials, and a small blurb about you, the author. If your potential buyer likes it, they will buy on the spot. If they want more information, they will look inside at the introduction and table of contents.
If you write an electronic book eBook you can apply this information to your Web site sales letter.
5. Write your book introduction. Include the problem your audience has, why you wrote the book, and its purpose. In a few paragraphs include more specific benefits, and how you will present it format. Keep it under a page.
6. Create a table of contents. Each chapter should have a name, preferably a catchy one. If your reader cant understand the chapter title, then annotate it. Add some benefits or a sub title. In Passion at Any Age, the author put the word "passion" in each title. Which attracts you more "Open Your Mind" or "Attracting Passion"
7. Reach out to opinion molders. After an initial contact of asking for feedback, resend them the same chapter and the table of contents of your book. Ask for a testimonial then. These influential contacts testimonials will make your back cover an important sales tool.
Designing every part of your book to be a sales tool and a beacon to writing a focused, compelling, understandable, and enjoyable book is a must, before you write a single word.

About The Author

Judy Cullins: 20-year author, speaker, book coach
Helps entrepreneurs manifest their book and web dreams
eBk: "Ten Non-techie Ways to Market Your Book Online"

http://www.bookcoaching.com

To receive FREE "The Book Coach Says..."
go to http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml
judy@bookcoaching.com
Ph:619/466/0622

Dealing with a bank doesnt have to be like walking through a maze in the dark. Keeping the following points in mind when you approach a bank should help you through the process.
Lenders are looking to satisfy themselves of the following:
1. That the business can make the regular interest and principal payments
2. That the lender can get its money back if something goes wrong
When approaching a financial institution, you are effectively selling the merits of your business and your proposal. Consider the needs of the lender, if you were lending money to someone what would you ask for
Be prepared to answer questions about your industry, your company, your management, the principals of the company and the financial statements.
If you are looking to finance property or used equipment, you will most likely need an appraisal.
In todays environment, an environmental study may be required on commercial real estate.
Lenders will look at the ability to service debt. You will need to show an ability to service the debt plus a sufficient surplus to cover any contingencies, such as unexpected costs or a drop in sales. Use 1.4 times coverage as a guide; both historical financial statements and a cash flow forecast and projected income statement will show this.
The bank will want to make sure that existing debt, or the addition of new debt, will not bring the Debt/Tangible Net Worth ratio of the company too high. What figure is used depends on the industry you are in and what stage of growth you are at. Dont be surprised if the bank asks for hard security to help support the lending request.
The bank in almost all cases will want a complete personal statement of affairs, and a personal credit history will be reviewed to ensure you are responsible with credit.
Your level of commitment to the company will be reviewed; for example, how much equity have you put into the company
If your company cannot repay its debt, the bank will evaluate what the secondary source of payment is; this can include security such as businesses assets that can be liquidated, personal guarantees and/or other sources of income.
Give the lender sufficient lead time to review the request, particularly if you are new to the financial institution. It can take some time to review all the information, often clarification is needed and the business may need to be visited before any financing is approved. As well, most often the request needs to be referred to the institutions risk management for review.
A good business plan is important, but keep it concise and dont overdo it on the documentation. The cash flow and balance sheet are of particular importance. Before preparing the final draft of the plan you may want to set up a preliminary appointment with a financial institution, be prepared to answer questions such as: how much money is being requested, why, what terms are you looking for, what are your alternative sources of repayment
The reality is that banks are conservative lenders and will try to mitigate most or all of the risk away. At the very least you will probably have to provide a personal guarantee to some percentage of the total outstanding amount borrowed.
Fees are a fact of business financing, you can negotiate and may get some reduction in fact you should always try, but lenders are not in the business of losing money. Interest rates are based on the type of loan, the perceived risk of the business and financing and the security being held in support of the loan.

About The Author

Jeff Schein is a CGA and offers advisory services in the areas of business planning, loan proposals, business modeling, strategic planning, business analysis and financial management for new ventures and growing small businesses. Visit www.companyworkshop.com or mailto:jeff@companyworkshop.com
jeff@companyworkshop.com

Where can I find free web hosting
There are hundreds of free web hosting services on the web. You can type

The following article was written by David G. Hallstrom for and originally published by National Realtors Directory.com.
So, you have decided to plant rose bushes in your yard or on your patio, porch or balcony. Now all you have to do is go out and buy some bushes and plant them. Right Wrong!!
There are several things that you have to decide before buying:
1. Where are you planning on planting
2. Are you going to plant in the ground or in containers
3. Do you want roses that are scented or unscented
4. Do you want bushes, trees, climbers, vining or do you want them to grow into a hedge
5. Do you want large, medium, small or miniature blooms
6. Do you want roses for cutting
7. What colors go best with your garden, patio, porch or balcony
There are several types of roses, among them are:
Hybrid teas bloom frequently, are hardy, come in a wide range of colors, are well sented and are good for cutting for vases. The size of the blooms and the length of the stem depends on how they are pruned. They make the best long stem roses for cutting.
Hybrid perpetuals are seldom planted today as they have a limited color range and normally bloom less frequently. They are, however, quite hardy and have large well scented blooms. The "American Beauty" rose is from this category.
Grandifloras are a cross between hybrid teas and floribundas. The flowers are the same size and shape as hybrid teas, however they usually have an abundance of blooms on each stem. These roses are very popular for growing in containers.
Floribundas have slightly smaller flowers but are hardier, have a longer growing season in cold climates and yeild large numbers of flowers.
Polyanthas are small averaging just 18 inches in height. They are very hardy and produce large clusters of small flowers.
Miniatures average between 6 and 12 inches in height, carry small one inch or less blooms, are hardy and require little care. These make very good balcony container roses.
Climbers come in several types, Ramblers which are hardy, fast growing and can develope canes up to 20 feet long. Pillars are slower growing upright palnts that are well suited for growing on posts. Trailers are low growing easy to maintain plants good for covering banks and walls. Large Flowered Climbers are slower growing but have more showey flowers and are good for growing against fences and low walls. Hybrid Teas , Floribundas and Polyanthas can sometimes become climbers and have the same characteristics as the bushes.
Tree Roses can be developed from any type of rose. They are made by grafting a bush onto a long thick trunk. These look great on a patio or porch.
Shrub Roses are normally small, hardy fairly continuesly blooming bushes that can be used as hedge hedges can grow to 5 or 6 feet and provide inexpensive privacy and color, thicket and trellis trellis roses can add a beautiful accent to a yard or home entryway and can be made into an arch roses. There are even varieties that can be used as ground cover on embankments or planted in hanging pots.
Today roses come in hundreds of varieties with new varieties being developed every year and in an almost limitless number of colors and color variations. It has been my experience, however, that usually the darker the color the heavier the scent. Most white roses seem to have no scent at all.
If you choose the right roses for the right place you can add beauty and elegance to any garden, patio, porch or balcony without spending large amounts of money or time.
For tips on what to look for when buying bare root roses see http://www.nationalrealtorsdirectory.com/barerootrosesarticle.html

About The Author
Permission is given to reprint this article providing credit is given to the author, David G. Hallstrom, and a link is listed to http://www.nationalrealtorsdirectory.com the owner of this article. Anyone or any company reprinting this article without giving proper credit and the correct link, is doing so without permission and will be subject to legal action.

Oprah has extended her contract until 2011, that means you can still get on her show. You have to know how to get on the show. You also need to know how to make the most of it while you are there! Being on the show can mean millions of dollars worth of free publicity. Many people know that being on Oprah will make their book a best seller or increase sales of their products and make them millionaire. But many people do not watch the show. You have to watch the show and really understand what it

Learning how to scuba dive is your ticket to the ultimate underwater adventure. The scuba certification that you earn is internationally recognized, never expires, and allows you to rent or purchase your own diving equipment. You

Reducing debt usually isnt a high priority for people until they have already gotten into trouble with overspending. Using a few basic guidelines, and debt calculations, can help you see when your debt load is getting into the danger zone.
Budgeting Guidelines
First off, creditors use budgeting guidelines when reviewing and approving credit. If your debt exceeds the financial communities recommended guidelines, then you have a higher risk of credit applications being denied.
Getting, and keeping, your debt in line with recommended budgeting guidelines, is an important step in debt reduction. Use the following recommended budgeting guidelines the same ones used by Financial Institutions to review the items in your budget:

Housing 35% - Mortgage or rent, taxes, repairs, improvements, insurance, and utilities;
Transportation 20% - Monthly payments, gas, oil, repairs, insurance, parking & public transportation;
Debt 15% - Credit cards, personal loans, student loans & other debt payments;
All other expenses 20% - Food, insurance, prescriptions, doctor & dentist bills, clothing & personal;
Investments & Savings 10% - Stocks, bonds, cash reserves, retirement, rental real estate, art, etc.

Debt Income Ratios
The second step is calculating your debt income ratio. Once you know what your ratio is, you will understand just how important debt load is to your overall financial picture. Your debt income ratio is the percent of your monthly take-home pay that goes to paying debts.
You calculate it by taking the amount needed to repay debts each month, including rent or mortgage, and divide by your take-home pay your net pay after taxes. Remember, this is "Debt" ratio, so only include actual debt repayment in the calculation.
Credit To Debt Ratio
Just because you pay off a credit card is no reason to close your account. One little known fact about the Credit to Debt Ratio is the reverse effect it has on your credit score. If you pay off a credit card, and close the account, you are actually negatively impacting your credit score.
The reason for this negative effect is in the calculation of the Credit to Debt Ratio itself. This ratio is the relationship of your debt total vs. your credit limit.
You calculate it by dividing the total credit limit of all credit cards and loan accounts by the total of the actual debt spent total. Now, if you pay off a credit card, you are reducing the actual debt, which is great, but, if you close the account, you are also dramatically reducing the credit limit you have, and usually by a higher percentage than the debt reduction.
Pay Yourself First
Essential to long-term financial success, and protecting your future, is paying yourself first. While this may seem easy to do, it happens to be the last thing most people do, instead of first. Debts and other financial obligations, money for entertainment, and other spending always seem to take a higher priority. All I can say is, STOP! Think about it, if you arent worth being paid first, then who is Always put something away in your savings, and leave it alone. It doesnt matter if its only $5 a week, just do it!
Snowball The Credit Cards
Last, but not least, is making extra payments, not just the minimum payments, on your credit cards. You have probably already seen this many times, but it just cant be stressed enough. Paying just $10 extra a month on a credit card, above the minimum required payment, can cut your repayment term in half, if not more! So, squeeze out that extra payment, however small, every month, and take advantage of the compounding effect of snowballing your debt away. The Power of Financial Knowledge
Remember, you dont have to be a financial whiz to understand whats going on with your credit and debt. Just a few simple calculations, and an eye on the future, will go a long way to help you succeed financially and keep your debt under control. Be safe, be smart, do the math!

About The Author

Article courtesy of: DebtSteps.com offers comprehensive reviews of your options for debt relief. From budgeting to bankruptcy, debt consolidation, and credit counseling. DebtSteps.com is where you can get the answers to your questions absolutely free.
Copyright 2004 DebtSteps.com, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

Long before the days of researching phrases with the helpful online resources of today, the art of keyword/phrase selection was often left just to guesswork. However, guesswork by todays highly competitive standards is just not good enough. So how is it possible to select a powerful traffic-pulling phrase in this fashion without researching it in real time Better yet, is it possible to choose such a phrase and get positioned before it becomes popular
Well of course it requires some research, but in a slightly different way. Every single day, we have a world of information that happens all around us. With all of the focus on the Internet these days, we need to also consider giving our attention to other medias as well. We have television programs, we have the news and the radio which all bring us current and upcoming events. With the news itself, there are often many ideas that can help the SEO to really think and plan ahead for some truly unique optimization strategies. I am talking about the potential of developing part of your client strategy around an upcoming newsworthy event. Of course it needs to be relevant and useful to the target audience. It also needs to genuinely "relate".
If at first, it does not sound that exciting, lets think about it and give you an example.
Here is a simple example.
If I were promoting a video store online right now, one of the things that I might be doing would, would be to optimize a page for the single search phrase "Johnny Eck." Perhaps an information or a tribute page would work.
But wait....Who was Johnny Eck, you ask
A way back in 1932, there was a movie by Todd Browning called "Freaks" starring a man named Johnny Eck. The film "Freaks" was about the fictionalized lives of physically and mentally challenged people who, in them days, were exploited in what were commonly called "freak shows". Johnny Eck just so happen to be born into this world without the lower half of his body and was just one of the "main actors" exploited in this rather unusual film which marked the end of Todd Brownings career as a Director.
Although you may have never heard of Johnny Eck, in over 60 years you can count on the fact that everyone will soon know who he is. The film "Freaks" 1932 already has a tremendous cult film following around the world.
So why optimize a page for a film which is over 70 years old
What many people may not be aware of, is that a brand new movie based on the lives of Johnny Eckhardt is currently being produced. The new movie has a big budget, good script, and you can be certain that many, many people are going to plan to see this film on its release. Theres no way to predict for certain, but itll probably be quite a blockbuster.
Simple Strategy: Optimize well and relate to the audience
As part of the strategy, you could prepare this optimized page offering to sell the old movie, which is now available on video. On the same page, I would talk about the film. I would write about my remembrances of seeing it for the very first time. As strange as the film is, it makes quite a statement about the how so called "normal looking" people can be very cruel.
You could talk about the film, review it. Talk about how it made you feel. Really try to relate to the audience. In creating the content, you would write for voice, just like you were talking to an old friend. At the same time, offer some trivia or anecdotes about how the film was made. I would prepare the page and get it ranked firstly for the phrase "Johnny Eck" and perhaps secondly around the name of the old film.
The Traffic Payoff:
Usually when a new "big name" movie is released, there is always a tremendous flurry of activity on the Internet by movie goers who enjoy looking up information about it. When they start searching for info on the new film and your pages come up in the top ten, theyll also be reminded about the old film and quite possibly want to purchase it. In this type of promotion, dont take the page down after the movie comes out because you may get double waves of heavy traffic. Actually, if youre lucky the whole routine is going to happen all over again when its released on video usually six to eight months later. Might there be a third wave when it finally makes it to DVD
Fine Tune Your Thinking:
Think along these lines, now ask yourself if there may be value to optimizing a page around other big events that are definitely scheduled to happen. The use of a new movie release is only one idea, amongst hundreds of others. If you practice thinking this way, you can develop strategies for retail, professional clients or even business-to-business Web sites. Newsworthy events happen all the time.

Do you think "the Olympics" might benefit a sporting goods store which offers an overview of the various participants.
Do you think that a scheduled tour of a famous rock group might influence traffic to a music site offering a contest for free tickets
How might that upcoming childrens film influence traffic to a toy store

These are only a few quick examples but learn to think laterally about news events. Take full advantage of the media in its entirety to bring maximum benefit to your clients. Its just a matter of paying close attention to those big scheduled events and creatively examining how these might benefit a your strategy.
In the scenario I explained above, it would be ideal for a video store who is selling old classic films to if they have any films available starring Johnny Eck to take advantage of the public interest that might be generated by a new movie.
By the time the film is released, assuming it is created at all I expect there will be a flurry of interest about this actors life and any old films he may have appeared in.

About The Author
John Alexander is the Co-Director of Training of Search Engine Workshops with Robin Nobles. Together, they teach 2-day beginner, 3-day advanced, and 5-day all-inclusive "hands on" search engine marketing workshops in locations across the globe. John also teaches online search engine marketing courses through http://www.onlinewebtraining.com, and he

Do you have a problem creating a focus in your chapters Does your writing slip around, leaving a muddy path to the gold--your unique, useful message
Format each chapter in your book. Your consistency, your organized, focused copy will compel your reader to want to read every chapter because they are easy to understand.
Most writers start writing before they are sure of their eBooks main focus or thesis. The thesis is your books major answer for a problem your targeted audience has. "Five Ways to Market Your Book Online" has its thesis built into the title, a definite plus. You know by the title youll learn five Online marketing techniques to overcome your problem of not selling enough eBooks.
Before you write any chapters except chapter one, make each chapter title a mini thesis that also answers a part of your whole books thesis. for the title "Five Ways to Market Your Book Online" you will have 5 chapters that all have to do with the title. Lets say one chapter is titled "Market your Book Through Free Articles."
In this chapter you need to sketch out what your format will be before you write a single word.
1. For instance, you may open the chapter with a pertinent quote."Articles are the # One Way to Promote your Books and Services" by Judy Cullins, Book Coach.
You may open with several thought-provoking questions or shocking facts. You may even start with a short story or analogy. Any opening needs to hook your reader to keep reading.
2. Second, you follow the opening with a success story to illustrate how one persons articles brought her new product and service sales.
3. Third, you will offer a section where you give numbers of tips, how tos, check lists, or resources. For instance the heading of, "How to Write a Short Article," or "How to Write A Publishable Article."
Sprinkled throughout your chapter you may place author tips into boxes. You may choose to do the same for related quotes as Julia Cameron did in "Artists Way." Dont add random quotes just because you like them. Make sure they support each chapters focus.
4. Finally, in the last section of your chapter you may want to write a simple summary as a chapter review. You may want to give homework or fieldwork. You may call them "Three Take Away Ideas" To make them yours to brand yourself and your business use a key word that refers to your book, perhaps a benefit. One clients title was "The Smiling Owner-How to Build a Great Small Business." He worked the "Smiling Owner" metaphor into his how tos throughout his chapters.
To end your chapter with a bang, you may want to leave your reader with questions to ponder or a few lines to lead them into the next chapter. You may give action steps. Remember, your targeted audience wants solutions to problems. Each chapter in your book should show them how.
Now that you have the format for one non-fiction, how-to chapter, you need to follow the same format for all the rest of the chapters. All chapters except chapter one should be approximately the same length.
Format each chapter in your book. Your consistency, your organized, focused copy will compel your reader to want to read every chapter because they are easy to understand.

About The Author

Judy Cullins: 20-year author, speaker, book coach
Helps entrepreneurs manifest their book and web dreams
eBk: "Ten Non-techie Ways to Market Online"
www.bookcoaching.com/products.shtml
Send an email to mailto:subscribe@bookcoaching.com
FREE The Book Coach Says... includes 2 free eReports
mailto:judy@bookcoaching.com
Ph:619/466/0622