I receive a hard copy version of Inc. magazine each month, delivered to by my friendly mailman. He’s been delivering our mail to us for years. The magazine is arriving for free, though I cannot recall how or why this arrangement occurred, perhaps it was from remnant sky miles on airline programs which remained unused, or for which I’ll never accrue sufficient miles for anything. I like Inc. magazine and think many of the articles are interesting and thought provoking, once you can find them. In the March 2010 issue, for example, the reader first finds content on page six with a short profile accompanied by a large photograph, on page 14 there is a letter from the editor and on page 17 there is reader mail (hopefully email).

If we want to be generous and don’t refer to the inside cover as an actual page, the reader is provided with three pages of content in the first 17 pages of the magazine, or a ratio of 82% advertisements to 18% content. Continuing on to page 41, there is approximately 14 pages of content out of 24 pages, which is a happier ratio of 42% advertisements to 52% content. Overall, in the first 41 pages I found 17 pages of content which translates to roughly 40% reader content and 60% advertisement. Of course, if I had the patience, I would have analyzed all of the pages of the magazine. But a quick Google search led me to a web site called Magazine.org, which states that the average (traditional) magazine is about a 50/50 ratio between ads and content. Overall, I guarantee my down and dirty research to be somewhere between relatively accurate to completely anecdotal and spurious. Feel free to contact me as you browse your own magazine pages counting ads versus content should your due diligence and subsequent findings prove otherwise!

Let’s compare my Inc. Magazine findings with an online magazine. I would estimate that the online magazine I review daily has a ratio of 60% content to 40% advertisements, which is much better than the paper based version of Inc., or the Magazine.org estimate. However, and this is an important caveat, whenever the reader selects an online article to read, content always appears. In a traditional magazine, it’s somewhat more challenging, and certainly more time consuming to find the table of contents and then leaf through the publication to arrive at page 41 to read your article. We all have a propensity to browse paper based magazines page by page until an article catches our eye.

It’s rare that a paper based magazine shows up at our house. From time to time we might receive a promotional copy, but our online propensity continues to grow. We receive the New York Times on Sundays though we have questioned how long we will continue to subscribe to the paper based version. Our Boston Globe and Boston magazine delivery days have long since passed. We continue to embrace a virtual and online centric manner of content consumption, which is easier, faster and more environmentally friendly. We seem to quote Yahoo, blogs, and online resources far more than we now say, “I read an interesting article in the paper.”

Consequently, I think there is no doubt that online magazines are on the right track from a content and delivery standpoint. That said, there are several things they could do to enhance the reader experience. For example they could place all ads to the right of the content instead of the top and right. They could make the font bolder and more readily viewable for the average reader. They could add a more graphical reader interface, and perhaps even offer writers the ability to post photos. Nonetheless, they provide an invaluable service to writer and reader alike, offering searchable and extensive content, without charge, an opportunity for new writers to publish and an eco-friendly, non paper based delivery system that is sure to render traditional paper based magazines obsolete in the coming decade. In my opinion, though it is early in the game, the score
looks like online magazines 1, paper based magazines 0, in what is almost certain to be a long term rout.

The multi level marketing system has grown out to be very widely in the present day’s world. In this system the owner manufactures the product then instead of directly selling it to the customers, the owners sell it to the dealers. These dealers in turn sell it to the people. Thus there is a link between the owner and the buyer, thus the link serves as the network.

When you get into multi level marketing and MLM, it will definitely change the way that you look at things, the way you take care of your relationships and even make you change the way you look at life in general. That being said, it is not strange that you might also adopt some network marketing lifestyles that you never would have imagined you would get into. Of course, this does not mean that you will be forced into doing things that you don’t want to do. It simply means that you will need to embrace a little change as you adopt some of the network marketing lifestyles that will become a necessity in order for you to become a success. Here are a few of those changes you may encounter.

Phone usage – This will definitely be one of the network marketing lifestyles that you will see I your own life. If you never had to use the phone in the past, expect this to become one of the more active network marketing lifestyles you will come to adopt. In fact, with all the different mobile phone trends that are popping out almost every day, you shouldn’t be surprised to see yourself investing in this lifestyle simply because you will need to connect with prospects, your down line and your customers.

Internet usage – This is a lifestyle that almost everyone has come to adopt into their lives. The Internet is just one of the essential network marketing lifestyles that will have to become a part of your daily routine. Through the Internet you can learn more about Internet marketing trends, products, and even find out about emerging new markets that you may want to tap in the future. If you have not done any of your networking on the Internet but finally will come to adopt it as a part of your network marketing lifestyles, then be prepared for it to become a permanent, but positive change in your routine.

Socializing – If you have never socialized with people at parties and events in the past, this is definitely something you need to prepare for. After all, network marketing is all about getting to know people, creating relationships with them and maintaining those relationships so that you can grow your networking business. This is one of the major network marketing lifestyles that you will come to adopt in the networking industry and you need to be at the top of your game at all times when you are marketing your products.

Travel – One of the lifestyles that you may or may not enjoy is the opportunity to travel between different places. It may be within your own locale, state, or even cross country; the point is that there are just loads of opportunities that await you when you travel. You will find yourself going around while holding training seminars, inspirational speeches to prospects and your own down line as well as selling to different cold markets in different cities whenever possible. This is one of the lifestyles that can truly change your own life.

Given today’s problems with the economy, people are increasingly turning to online shopping in order to beat the credit crunch. A convenient method to browse and compare gift ideas, shopping online provides a more relaxed approach to researching the best prices available in high street stores.

Purchasing gifts on the internet provides the distinct advantage that you can quickly and easily compare the prices of your chosen gifts, either by manually comparing prices on a selection of websites, or through price comparison services such as Kelkoo and Pricerunner. In a difficult economic climate, being able to control your spending is, without doubt, one of the main driving forces behind the rising popularity of shopping online.

Shopping online is generally a very safe and convenient medium for today’s busy shopper, however to ensure a positive shopping experience it is advisable to follow the following guidelines for online shopping.

1) SSL Certificate

Make sure that the website you are buying from carries a valid SSL certificate on pages where you are entering private information such credit card and billing information. ‘SSL’ stands for Secure Sockets Layer and is used to encrypt sensitive information transmitted over the internet.

Information transmitted via SSL cannot be read by unauthorised third parties, so your details cannot be deciphered even in the off-chance they are intercepted. To check whether the website you are buying from uses SSL (and every website taking credit card details should be) simply check the URL of your page for the https: and/or the secure padlock symbol at the foot of your browser window.

2) Internet Browser Updates

To ensure a secure online shopping experience, and in general, you should always make sure your internet browser is kept as up to date as possible.

New browser updates are regularly released to address security bugs and vulnerabilities. Updates are free to download and easy to install, so there is no reason not to have the latest version of your browser installed.

3) Keep Your Operating System Up To Date

As with Internet Browsers, Operating Systems can also be vulnerable to new bugs and security holes, which is why it is important to keep your operating system up to date for a secure online experience. This is especially important for Windows based operating systems, which are installed in the majority of

home computers/laptops, and as such are more likely to be targeted by malicious third parties seeking to manipulate security vulnerabilities.

Modern operating systems allow you to automatically update your software by configuring your device to do so, or you can manually download the most recent updates for free online. Either way, you should try to ensure your operating system is up to date to ensure a secure web browsing environment.

4) Regularly Update Your Anti-Virus Software

Most of us are aware of the importance of installing a good anti-virus package, but it is worth re-iterating this point. Viruses often arrive in the guise of email attachments or website downloads, but they can also be unknowingly downloaded from malicious websites simply by browsing website.

There are a selection of excellent anti-virus packages available, both commercial and free, so ensuring against potential viruses is as simple as finding the correct package for you and installing it.

You should also ensure your anti-virus software is up-to-date by installing the latest virus definitions when they become available. Updated virus definitions contain code used to recognise new virus threats, so to make sure your computer is suitably protected it is important to install these updates. Your anti-virus package normally complete this process automatically, and Windows based operating systems will alert you if your virus protection is not up-to-date.

5) Adware/Anti-Spyware/Malware software

There are other forms of malicious software which can threaten the security of internet users. Spyware and Adware in most cases install themselves on your computer simply by visiting an infected site. At its worst, this type of software can install malicious programs such as keylogger software, which can log the keypresses of the keyboard on an infected machine, and can be used to obtain sensitive information such as credit card numbers.

There are a number of very good free software packages which prevent malicious software such as Spyware/Adware/Malware from running on your machine, so it is a wise move to install such a package on your device.

6) Firewall Software

A Firewall is a piece of software which prevents access to your pc by an unauthorised user or software program. Without a Firewall, your computer might be vulnerable to being hacked and malicious software such as trojans, worms and viruses, so it is important to make sure you have one installed. Again, there are a number of very good Firewall programs available for free download, and in modern installations of Windows operating systems a Firewall is included as standard.

7) Phishing Websites/Emails

‘Phishing’ describes a relatively well-known security issue whereby a malicious user/organisation attempts to gain access to secure information such as credit card/username/password details by utilising a fake website and/or email.

In most cases, a user may receive an email, e.g. from a reputable bank, requesting that the recipient of the email update their online information. The phishing email usually contains a link to a fake website designed to collect your details for fraudulent purposes. Fake phishing websites are often near-identical the original website they are based upon, and recipients of phishing emails can be tricked into entering their sensitive information to unauthorised third parties.

Modern Internet Browsers have installed anti-phishing tools which advise users of potential phishing sites. Vigilance is also recommended, as banking websites will never email clients requesting full passwords or usernames.

By following these tips for safe shopping online, you can ensure online shopping is as secure as possible, with the added satisfaction that you can make significant savings in the process.