Simple Strategy to Healthy Living

When we talk about healthy living it means the fitness in all aspects related to human body, which emerges from all the perspectives, like physical health, mental health, emotional well being, and spiritual well being. Nowadays, people have become so very busy in their lives that they are unable to perform physical activities to keep themselves healthy and strong. In the meanwhile, masses of people are suffering form chronic obesity. This problem is alarmingly observed in teens, adults, elders and infants. Therefore, healthy living has become the most important question for all of us. So how is it possible to keep healthy and fit, devoid of obesity? Read below:

• If we want to stay fit then we have to perform 30 minutes brisk walking. This will boost up the metabolism.

• Yoga is the best exercises to keep body fit and strong. Regularly perform at least 15 minutes yoga exercises before going to bed as this will relax our body muscles. As a result, metabolism will be upgraded and we will definitely loose some pounds!

• Swimming is another good exercise to loose weight and gain lean muscle mass.

• Perform 30 minutes body building workouts in the gym daily. It contains squats, bench press, military press, dead-lifts, lunges, piles, heel raises and push ups mainly. These exercises will build muscle mass fast. Consequently, we will become completely fit and strong.

• Eat carbohydrates and proteins to stay fit. These include fresh fruits, vegetables, yogurt, egg whites, chicken, fish, honey, brown bread, nuts, beans, seeds, fibers, soya bean, milk protein, whey, amino acids, cottage cheese and salads. Don't eat plentiful carbohydrates and proteins especially while loosing the weight.

• Drink plenty of juices like orange, apple, pine apple, papaya, strawberry, watermelon, guava and pomegranate in order to stay fit.

• Drink at least 12 glasses of water daily as this helps eliminate the toxins from our bodies.

• Take two to three cups of green tea daily as it helps improve the metabolism.

• Listen to soothing music, meet people and have fun. This will help us to become relaxed and lively.

In a nut shell, we can say that those simple tactics are the best way to a healthy living. They not only make us fit, but also give us sheer spiritual soothe. Hence, we become complete healthy human.

Twitter and public broadcasting issues under one mumbrella

A real breath of fresh air on the Australian blogging scene is Tim Burrowes at Mumbrella. The former editor of B&T magazine is one of the few bloggers who actually breaks stories and he broke two good ones today. Just minutes ago, he revealed that the viral Twitter messages that a plane on fire caused Melbourne airport to close this evening were a gross overreaction. While it was true that a passenger reported seeing fire from the left wing of a Boeing 767 this evening, the plane was cleared after eight minutes and there were no further consequences. But while Burrowes confirmed there was no fire with a quick phone to the airport, the Twitter world was happier just to repeat the "plane on fire" news ad infinitum in an Australian version of the Hudson plane landing incident. But in this case, the airport press office was justified telling Burrowes that “unfortunately the Internet is full of gossip.”

In scotching the rumours, Burrowes exemplified the remarks of Jason Wilson’s provocative post at Gatewatching last week by showing that “journalists use telephones”. Burrowes was also on the phone earlier today after he read one of the more contentious entries of the 2,400 submissions to the review of Australia's two national broadcasters, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). The government will review the submissions ahead of the broadcasters' next funding review in July this year.

Burrowes’ interest was in the submission by Astra, the peak body representing Australia’s subscription TV industry. In their submission, Astra were critical of the plan to give six new digital channels to ABC and SBS. Astra picked on the point made by ABC’s managing director Mark Scott that the new channels (in areas of news, children’s entertainment and foreign language programming among others) addressed a “market failure”. Astra denied there was a market failure and said they were (or will be soon) delivering similar products to what ABC planned to deliver. It was a persuasive argument if you leave out the fact that just two million Australians subscribe to pay TV and that leaves a potential market failure for 19 million others.

Nevertheless the newsworthy element that Burrowes noticed was an Astra comment that the public broadcasters are doing aggressive deals that lock out pay TV from showing up-to-date content. They claim “ABC and SBS have included pursuit of commercial terms which seek to ensure longer than industry standard ‘hold back’ clauses in production and acquisition deals, and in some instances the ABC in particular has been willing to pay more for content to ensure this happens”. The result is that pay TV has to wait longer to get content for re-run and Astra says this is contrary to ABC 1983 charter goals (a charter Astra says is out of date as is the 1992 Broadcasting Act).

Once again Burrowes picked up the telephone and spoke to both SBS and ABC today for comment on Astra’s accusation. SBS firmly denied the claims and gave examples where SBS and Pay TV have cooperated in acquiring broadcast rights. Their spokesperson also told Burrowes that they often allow World Movies Channel and other pay TV channels to run content first. The ABC spokesperson was similarly dismissive: “The ABC is not sure how ASTRA can justify such claims of warehousing when there are many examples of rights sharing of programs between the ABC and the subscription channels” he said. But this controversy is not likely to go away and Burrowes may have reported on what is likely to be the opening salvo of a long running debate between the public broadcasters and the Pay TV industry for hearts, minds and control of the digital spectrum.

Diminishing Days for Emperor Penguins

No more happy feet for Emperor Penguins. According to a new study, if Antarctic ice continues to shrink at its current pace, Emperor Penguins will face extinction within the next 100 years.

Emperor Penguins are one of only two open-sea Antarctic penguin species and depend on the sea ice for survival. After breeding, Emperor Penguins feed among the coastal pack ice where stretches of water are exposed. As a result of disappearing ice, the Emperor Penguins are being forced to retreat inward and could easily become displaced by other animals, losing out on nesting space.

After examining data from the Terre Adelie penguin colony, researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts found the Emperor Penguin population is facing a quasi-extinction, equal to a 95 percent or more population drop by the year 2100. The population is expected to decline from 6000 breeding pairs to only 400 pairs in the next 100 years if sea ice continues to shrink at the rate projected by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) models.

At this point, the probability of the quasi-extinction by the year 2100 is about 40 percent. And scientists have already begun to see a fall in the Emperor Penguin population. “The severe decrease in the small Dion Island Emperor Penguin colony, located on the northwestern Antarctic Peninsula, likely is attributable to the large-scale disappearance of sea ice in that region,” says Stephanie Jenouvrier, member of the research team from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

The researchers are hopeful the Emperor Penguins will avoid extinction by adapting to the shrinking ice. To do this, the penguins would need to migrate or change breeding patterns. Unfortunately, Emperor Penguins are known for being slow to change. “The penguin is long-lived, and climate change is happening very quickly, so there will be significant impact on the population before many generations have passed,” says Hal Caswell biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Thus it will be difficult for adaptation, even if possible, to happen fast enough.”

The extinction of the Emperor Penguin could mean trouble for other species in the marine ecosystem as well. Emperor Penguins do more than wear tuxedos and dance all day. The birds are at the top of their food chain and act as an ‘indicator species,’ meaning scientists monitor the birds to see changes in the rest of the environment. If the penguins disappear, observing other Antarctic animals will become more difficult.

Offshore wind could power every home in the UK by 2020

Offshore wind power could generate enough electricity to supply every home in the UK by the end of the next decade, the government announced yesterday.

The Department for Energy and Climate Change study concluded that another 5,000-7,000 wind turbines could be built off the coast by 2020, generating 25 GW of energy, equivalent to 25 large coal-fired power stations. The new capacity would be on top of 8GW already being built or in planning, making a total of 33GW.

The results of the year-long research into the geology, birds and marine life goes even further than the Carbon Trust, a company set up by government to help businesses reduce carbon emissions, which last year said the UK could build a total 29GW of offshore wind.

However, the announcement was clouded by claims from the energy company E.ON that the economics of what is the UK's biggest current off-shore wind project, the London Array off the coast of Kent and Essex, were "on a knife edge".

Emily Highmore, a spokeswoman for the company, said they were "committed" to the London Array and another 300MW project in the Humber, but could not "guarantee" they would go ahead. A third E.ON off-shore wind project, in the Solway Firth between England and Scotland, is under construction. "Off-shore wind has always, and will always be, very expensive," she said. "We can't be confident it will go ahead, but we believe it's a cracking project and very important to helping the government meet its renewables targets."

E.ON wanted the government to double the financial support for offshore wind, said Highmore. "We think it [the 33GW target] is ambitious and it's only going to be possible if we sort out funding, grid access and planning," she added.

The Carbon Trust report also urged government to make more offshore sites available for developers at lower cost, help invest in research and development to improve efficiency, and improve the National Grid.

Yesterday Tom Jennings, the Carbon Trust's strategy manager, said many recommendations were already being put in place, but more detail was needed, for example, in planning regulations. "The economics in the short-term are looking marginal [but] in the long-term they should look attractive, as long as the costs reduce," said.

If successful, offshore and onshore wind power could cut total UK carbon dioxide emissions by 14%, and create up to 70,000 jobs in the UK, supplying both domestic and export markets, said the Carbon Trust report.

Stats for 100 Popular Registrar

Rank Domains Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 - Q4 Registrar
1 21,683,746 1,796,789 2,509,230 1,524,769 1,170,001 7,000,789 GoDaddy.com
2 8,113,940 1,762,334 162,574 304,579 294,608 2,524,095 eNom.com
3 6,678,361 -35,209 1,252 73,306 -9,398 29,951 Network Solutions
4 6,119,854 256,186 133,629 98,540 142,772 631,127 Tucows
5 4,711,440 214,928 180,706 163,703 100,475 659,812 INWW.com
6 3,931,598 223,251 214,916 282,222 180,732 901,121 Schlund.de
7 2,737,951 59,045 243,417 173,308 107,956 583,726 Wild West Domains
8 2,668,530 163,173 266,210 198,343 219,264 846,990 Moniker Online Services
9 2,573,194 4,239 -39,948 -180,617 44,283 -172,043 Register.com
10 1,361,420 111,706 110,242 101,821 61,458 385,227 DomainDiscount24
11 1,287,267 -25,388 19,993 134,712 -314,953 -185,636 Dotster
12 1,249,575 111,719 110,152 129,782 111,469 463,122 PublicDomainRegistry.com
13 1,247,301 31,021 8,300 -26,374 -15,709 -2,762 DirectNic.com
14 1,176,898 38,512 10,728 37,858 27,994 115,092 China-Channel.com
15 1,047,823 26,839 36,685 60,807 94,964 219,295 Fabulous.com
16 1,036,650 66,434 132,117 30,161 -6,128 222,584 DomainDiscover.com
17 1,008,040 57,581 88,364 96,484 57,054 299,483 Name.com aka DomainSite
18 851,069 85,102 111,586 104,262 164,504 465,454 Basic Fusion, Inc.
19 818,982 -1,082 26,336 47,688 43,630 116,572 Xin Net
20 818,962 15,872 -10,699 8,051 -26,166 -12,942 DSTR Acquistion VII, Inc
21 790,981 46,515 47,384 41,654 38,261 173,814 Cronon AG
22 778,891 -362,731 -58,865 -11,593 -45,269 -478,458 NameKing
23 693,941 28,213 85,051 -8,705 7,906 112,465 ItsYourDomain.com
24 662,694 80,743 107,276 62,262 26,558 276,839 HiChina
25 657,695 -300 -2,672 4,170 -19,023 -17,825 Compana
26 637,865 12,636 14,715 17,039 16,581 60,971 Joker.com
27 614,768 0 0 405,128 209,640 614,768 UltraRPM, Inc. dba metapredict.com
28 588,129 217,914 578,189 -408,632 -874,398 -486,927 DomainDoorman, llc
29 568,517 253,087 650,812 -405,479 -862,126 -363,706 BelgiumDomains
30 566,535 170,577 679,460 -389,435 -889,801 -429,199 CapitolDomains
31 490,814 -3,243 10,404 25,244 14,129 46,534 Gandi
32 485,144 84,141 29,632 -68,349 -109,785 -64,361 DirectI.com
33 451,992 27,764 -14,686 26,308 26,703 66,089 OVH
34 428,819 21,100 5,075 11,497 1,462 39,134 NameView
35 425,654 6,328 -10,716 29,368 5,274 30,254 PSI-USA
36 382,635 34,814 26,018 18,207 11,730 90,769 Discount-Domain.com
37 381,820 -5,952 7,280 1,630 -297 2,661 Names4Ever.com
38 368,117 3,578 5,894 2,992 -13 12,451 Domain Name Sales Corp
39 363,583 6,827 7,607 10,541 9,721 34,696 SRSplus
40 353,616 31,535 33,122 43,022 30,923 138,602 Domain People, Inc.
41 353,047 8,425 14,938 9,853 8,230 41,446 Ascio Inc.
42 349,694 0 0 0 349,694 349,694
43 348,122 -182,972 -24,631 284,624 14,634 91,655 MarkMonitor
44 332,952 59,649 56,242 101,784 59,328 277,003 FastDomain, Inc.
45 327,597 27,199 9,974 18,288 6,302 61,763 Nicline.com
46 319,486 40,425 19,807 -19,878 -9,793 30,561 Dns.com.cn
47 314,794 1,475 52,339 226,813 8,679 289,306 Corporate Domains
48 299,781 -2,697 -15,259 -2,535 1,082 -19,409 CORE
49 295,119 -55,907 23,871 -62,042 34,125 -59,953 Name.net llc
50 282,543 24,690 28,887 29,760 20,727 104,064 New Dream Network
51 273,747 15,636 17,503 8,850 2,974 44,963 Webnic.cc
52 257,979 13,710 6,264 -2,595 3,516 20,895 Bizcn.com
53 252,599 9,518 -7,808 7,945 -3,177 6,478 NameSecure.com
54 251,481 8,644 5,631 3,689 233,115 251,079 Red Register, Inc.
55 235,595 15,920 7,020 4,644 -10,485 17,099 YesNIC
56 225,558 7,215 7,260 10,071 -427 24,119 Registration Tech, Inc.
57 218,094 46,267 96,768 17,618 -86 160,567 Critical Internet, Inc.
58 205,330 20,963 20,534 24,781 13,622 79,900 NetFirms, Inc.
59 202,799 50,466 52,061 16,631 -47 119,111 AOL
60 197,286 -1,288 5,341 6,915 6,562 17,530 NetNames.com
61 183,189 313,697 885,898 -743,832 -613,601 -157,838 Deleted (purging)
62 181,420 -1,469 5,392 6,286 4,456 14,665 GKG.net
63 174,718 5,945 6,052 7,760 10,645 30,402 PlanetDomain
64 166,592 488 2,912 -151 411 3,660 Easyspace Ltd.
65 162,702 13,456 23,231 6,681 5,644 49,012 Active 24
66 158,531 -12 1,654 812 2,348 4,802 StarGate
67 157,869 3,480 14,232 -3,350 -2,465 11,897 AitDomains.com
68 148,879 -3,025 10,220 3,346 1,812 12,353 PSI Japan
69 143,712 -660 -2,588 -257 -1,356 -4,861 Gabia, Inc
70 137,519 7,863 4,002 7,790 5,253 24,908 Register.it SPA
71 136,369 1,828 2,792 188 2,592 7,400 NordNet
72 132,614 -20,238 -22,429 -26,117 -20,331 -89,115 Aaaq.com
73 132,200 -507 2,535 -665 -894 469 NameJuice.com
74 127,091 2,937 1,023 4,276 2,108 10,344 NameBay
75 123,256 1,972 142 86,136 34,037 122,287 Rebel.com
76 118,739 -48 145 -779 1,365 683 DSTR Acquistion DBA 000Domains.com
77 115,926 -5,144 -515 702 -3,444 -8,401 Dstr Acquistion - DomainBank.com
78 115,461 10,957 10,707 16,710 18,729 57,103 EstDomains, Inc
79 112,753 -96 -428 -6,234 5,858 -900 Blue Razor Domains
80 111,988 3,460 1,878 3,766 3,105 12,209 NameScout.com
81 111,131 190 1,619 -1,134 -1,348 -673 DotRegistrar.com
82 109,300 3,198 922 2,227 896 7,243 In2net
83 107,466 10,782 17,492 29,699 17,450 75,423 Dynadot, llc
84 102,074 1,243 1,160 1,831 1,137 5,371 InterDomain
85 101,925 1,761 1,782 4,524 157 8,224 Omnis, llc
86 101,660 1,758 1,812 -142 -6,828 -3,400 Deutsche
87 99,371 570,103 -465,967 -7,135 1,375 98,376 Name Perfections, Inc.
88 88,084 6,740 380 6,143 3,793 17,056 ONLINE SAS
89 86,910 1,361 2,972 1,849 198 6,380 Pair.com
90 81,418 2,577 -6,177 3,036 1,658 1,094 Nominalia
91 78,322 -25,501 -14,726 -1,400 -10,867 -52,494 Domain Contender
92 74,680 8,019 3,850 5,176 3,977 21,022 Advantage Interactive
93 72,896 18,212 16,621 17,071 8,396 60,300 DomainBullies, llc
94 71,168 0 0 53,587 17,581 71,168 DOTNAME KOREA CORP
95 71,143 9,879 -6,167 -98 -5,597 -1,983 Nicco Ltd.
96 67,226 16,009 13,511 9,467 2,437 41,424 Net 4 India limited
97 67,211 1,292 520 -2,141 -3,856 -4,185 Internetters
98 66,948 -8,372 -19,766 -17,832 -19,944 -65,914 Communi Gal
99 65,987 19 -1,591 431 -1,606 -2,747 TotalRegistrations
100 65,708 -107 -153 -70 65,551 65,221 First Instant, Inc.

Name Intelligence Awards for 2008

Best ICANN Registrar Reseller in 2008
Award	Recipient	Criterias
	eNom	The Best ICANN Reseller This award went to eNom for their distinctive reseller program because of the following hard metrics, as indicated by Name Intelligence's data management services and domain name root zone monitoring : Volume of names supported Volume of resellers supported Lowest frequency of egress (outgoing) transfers from nameservers Lowest frequency of egress (outgoing) registrar transfers of names Pricing and Service, as reported by user polls

Best Registrar in 2008
Award	Recipient	Criterias
	Moniker	Best Registrar Moniker.com The Best Registrar is an award designed to recognize a registrar that has made huge strides in increasing industry awareness and building the overall perception and integrity of the domain industry as a whole. Areas of such advocacy include, but are not limited to: blogging, podcasting, tradeshow presence beyond the domain industry, and a willingness to participate on a regular basis to expand awareness of this great industry to other internet users. Monte Cahn of Moniker is a person who has dedicated the past 4 years of his life to evangelizing domain names in almost every tradeshow in existence, such as SES, Ad:Tech, and the Domain Roundtable. He also operates a weekly podcast on the domain industry, the first of its kind, called Domain Masters on Webmasterradio.fm, where he has star powered guests on to talk about the domain industry. Moniker.com is recognized as the 2008 'Best Registrar'

Best Parking Company in 2008
Award	Recipient	Criterias
	Parked.com Sedo	Best Parking Company In terms of marking the overall metric success of this particular category, the award for Best Performing Parking Program was a tie between Parked.com and Sedo. Together, their overall market share and dominance in the US Marketplace is evidenced by information gathered by Name Intelligence's weekly internet scan, in conjunction with our data collection in the Com, Net, Org, Info, Biz, and US TLDs. The overall number of domains destined at Parked.com and Sedo was higher than any other provider, evidencing significant domain manager selection by both companies.

Best Forum in 2008
Award	Recipient	Criterias
	DNForum.com	Best Forum Award DNForum – "The place to talk, buy and sell domains", is an immensely popular and well visited community where domainers and the domain name industry meet to talk about domains. A recent MVP poll identified a tie for key community members who both participate and help other members and grow and support the community. We recognize DNForum as the Best Place to Talk for 2008.

Best Blog Community of the Year
Award	Recipient	About
	Seven Mile Domain Name News Elliot's Blog	Best Blog Community In 2008 Name Intelligence added a new award for the Best Blog Community. In 2008 Name Intelligence added a new award for the Best Blog Community. The winners are Seven Mile by Frank Schilling, Elliot's Blog by Elliot Silver, and Domain Name News. They are being recognized for their great commentary and personal insights into the domain industry.

Largest Net Gain in 2008
Award	Recipient	Criterias
	GoDaddy.com	Largest Net Gain Name Intelligence operates DailyChanges.com and provides the data research and reporting for the registrarstats.com website. The sheer amount of processing and data management gives Name Intelligence a unique perspective on the domain industry, and allows us to recognize trends, events, and noteworthy milestones. One such pattern in data reporting is a continued trend of significant growth in the net quantity of domains in management at any given ICANN accredited registrar across the Com, Net, Org, Info, Biz, and US TLDs. The largest net gain award, as evidenced by statistics, went to GoDaddy.com for their continued pace of growth in overall domain registrations

Outstanding Drop Catcher in 2008
Award	Recipient	Criterias
	Name Jet	Outstanding Drop Catcher The awards for the outstanding Drop Catcher went to companies that displayed high levels of technical sophistication, success, and positive user experience in their systems.

Best Industry Coverage in 2008
Award	Recipient	Criterias
	DNJournal	Reporting domain sales and covering important events has been synonymous with DNJournal this year.

Outstanding Secondary Market in 2008
Award	Recipient	Criterias
	Afternic Sedo	Outstanding Secondary Market We take many factors into consideration on giving these awards. Each of the following were criteria used to narrow the recipients for 2008: Recognition of outreach and advocacy to grow the industry through event participation, such as ICANN meetings and conferences like the Domain Roundtable and other industry trade shows. User feedback on overall customer experience with the company's listing, search, buying, selling, appraisal, consultation, customer service, and overall escrow processes. Quality of consumer portal and portfolio listing / management Incorporation of additional quality metrics for the buyer and seller experience, such as statistics, mail forwarding, wild-carded third level, and monetization during listing. Overall number of names in management, Integrity/Trust of each service's core management team in the industry and marketplace.

Microsoft Unveils Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate

If you’re not participating in the Windows 7 beta, you can still kick the tires of Microsoft’s newest web browser. Internet Explorer 8, which is included in Windows 7, can be had for XP, Vista or Windows Server as well. Actually, the beta version came out last year, but the software has now graduated to the RC, or Release Candidate stage.

Microsoft appears to be straddling the fine line between simplicity and feature fullness with IE8. The browser does offer more customization and add-ons than prior, but not exactly like Firefox does with the vast array of extensions it has available. Microsoft took a customization approach with “accelerators” and “web slices”; these are definitely useful, but still limited by comparison. That could change over time, but for now it’s pretty slim pickins. I do see some useful accelerators: one for Facebook, a StumbleUpon add-on and even one for Digg. The catalog is available at http://www.ieaddons.com if you want to browse it or add features to IE8.

The flipside is the simplicity factor. IE8 looks very similar to IE7, so there’s no major learning curve to get surfing on the web. Even with the familiar look there are subtle features that we’ve already seen in Firefox and Chrome. Private browsing is in there so you don’t have to worry about the boss catching you buying WOW gold on your lunch hour. The search bar is beefed up and offers useful suggestions as well, plus Microsoft is claiming the new JavaScript engine is faster than prior versions. We’ll have to do some testing on that claim of course, but my own impressions are that IE8 is indeed generally faster that its predecessors.

Power Tips For the Young Business Owner

It is true that it is never too early to learn about things. It is not any different with businesses. In fact, many successful business owners and entrepreneurs of today started out when they were still young. If you are thinking of putting up your own business, you can take this as a cue to go for it.

To guide you on your way, here is a detailed step-by-step procedure on how to make your climb on the ladder of success easier and more feasible.

Step One - Choose a business

When choosing a business, it is important to remember that it is more likely to succeed if you like and know about the nature of your business. For instance, a food business is more likely to hit it big with an owner who has a background on culinary arts and an intense penchant for food than an owner who does not know a thing about cooking.

Step Two - Select a business name and create a business logo

After choosing a business type, you should choose a business name and logo to go with it. They should be something relevant to the nature of your business so that people can easily understand what kind of products or services you are offering. It is also best to choose a name that will easily stick to the minds of your customers or clients. Creating the logo should be done in the same manner.

Step Three - Select a location

Location is a crucial factor especially if your business requires people traffic such as a restaurant, retail store, coffee shop, service center or the like. Select an area that is always busy with people or an area where your target market is most likely to be located.

Step Four - Develop a business plan

A business plan is important because it serves as a guide for your business as it contains valuable information about the company and your plans for it. It should contain company description, scope of products and services, long-term and short-term goals, financial plan, marketing strategy, hiring procedure and many others.

Step Five - Organize licenses, permits and other necessary papers

Some of the necessary documents you have to obtain include business license, business permits, local permits, food permit (if your business is food related), police permit, seller's permit, building permit, zoning permit, employer ID number and federal identification number.

Step Six - Plan your hiring

Employees obviously play a vital role in the success of any business. For this reason, it is essential that you are able to find the right kind of employees to work for your company. To ensure that, create a standardized hiring procedure that includes series of interviews, employment background checks, criminal background searches, drug testing, and practical tests and examinations.

The hiring procedure should be structured and standardized to make it easier for you to compare and assess applicants.

To ensure your success as a young entrepreneur, you have to see to it that you accomplish these important steps when putting up your own business.

The 4 Simple Steps to Reviewing a Business

An unexamined life is not worth living (Socrates.) So too, an unexamined business is not worth running! If you don't know why your customers buy from you then you are going to find it difficult to get them to buy more from you! In these days of economic woe all Irish Businesses are suffering. If the purpose of running your business is to make sizeable profits then you probably need to refocus on why people buy and where the cash is really coming from. That is why I offer a Market Research phase to my clients and I'm going to share it with your here.

Step 1: Ask your clients. Don't assume that you know everything. Go and ask your clients the basic questions where did they hear about you, why do they buy from you, what annoys them etc. If they know you too well then get someone else to ask the questions. Make sure you ask current customers and lapsed ones, and from each of your segments. You can learn a huge amount from those who have left you already. Often there is something small which they are annoyed about and you can win them back.

Step 2: Your staff. This will be tricky for an owner manager, but your staff are the front line - right? There is no better source than asking your very own staff, who you pay to be loyal to you. Yet a lot of the time we don't trust their instincts or we assume that we know more than they do. They are the ones who look into the customers' eyes at buying time. They know if customers are happy or ecstatic. They know if clients are loyal or just lazy. You need to know this stuff too. So ask them!

Step 3: Your competition. When did you last take a good hard look at your competitors? The chances are one of two of them have been innovating! Some of them will have done stupid things but others will have made clever choices. You may not choose to copy, but at least you need to know what they are using to compete for your customers!

Step 4: The Web. These days every business has an element of web competition. Some people buy on the web others research and others gossip. It does not matter whether you love or loathe the web. You need to look at Key Word Densities, Header tags and a handful if other key indicators. You need to understand how the new Gods (Google and Yahoo) rate you. If they have not found or understood your website correctly, they will not guide paying customers to it.

If you follow the steps outlined above you can make a good platform to build a business strategy from. With a strategy that you believe in you can make plans that you will execute because you will believe in them. Plus as anybody who has had to deal with the banks lately knows you need a strategy to secure any funding.

Good Habits of Business

A successful business runs on good habits. Every business, whether a large corporation or a small entrepreneurship, needs every worker, every piece of equipment, and every attitude to be in tune with the rest of the company. The good habits that make this work and make a good business, great, is countless. However, here are a few examples of good business habits that you can apply to your business:

- Keep your eye out for opportunities - Whether you are at work, out for dinner, or on vacation, you need to be watching out for that one opportunity that could make things be even greater for your business

- Always focus on your business first - When running a business, it always comes first. A true business person is always a business person. This is the only way to make your business reach its full potential. Once you get it on its feet, you can relax and let others help you take responsibility, but until then it is all on you.

- Always have a back-up plan - If something goes wrong you need to be quick on your feet to solve the problem. This is why it is a great idea to have a back-up plan, so you can have something ready when the time comes.

- Have thick skin - Criticism is going to come your way all the time that is just what happens when you run a business. You need to be confident in not only what you do, but in yourself. Do not let others cut you down.

- Business is not about fast money - over charging your customer is not going to help you in the long run. You need to slowly grow and become legitimate before you charge a lot for your goods and services. Building trust and confidence is much more important in the long run.

- Take risks - taking risks is just part of the job. You need to be able to distinguish between the good risks and bad, but you can only learn this through trial and error.

Using these good habits can help your business grow in a healthy way. It can also help you as a business person.

Niche Marketing Aptitude Test - Your Road Map to Success

Why is niche marketing so hot now? If you're in business one fact comes with the word recession and that word is competition. Would you like a way to jump ahead of your competition? If your answer is yes then you need a way to increase your niche marketing aptitude. The niche is your answer and solution in a time of growing competition.

In tough economic times, with tight money and stiff competition, it's essential to find ways to get an edge on your competition. There have been truckloads of articles, books and newsletters on how to improve your niche marketing skills. Finding your niche is job one for every business who wants to succeed long term.

To increase your niche marketing aptitude, take the revealing quiz below, it acts as your microscope and road map to a stronger niche marketing aptitude. The importance in having it gives you a sense of confidence in the middle of stiff competition.

This is not one of those articles you passively read and then toss aside forever. This is an active involvement article. Meaning, to get the best results from reading this you must take action. How? By taking the test and answering the questions honestly. The answers will help you quickly form a solid niche strategy.

To get the maximum benefit, keep taking the test until you can get a perfect 10. The 3 minutes spent with this quiz will be worth their weight in gold to your financial future. With the enormous number of me-too products, services and businesses in the marketplace, it's essential to keep your niche aptitude strong and vigorous.

If you fail to find ways to separate yourself from your competitors, you risk getting lost in the crowd of competition. This is especially true if you're a small business with limited capital and resources to work with. Finding your best niche requires focus and a strong knowledge of who your target market is and their current needs.

You often see a business develop a product or service, enjoy a burst of sales success, then suddenly sales fall flat or even nosedives. Your first impression goes to the economy, competition or limited capital. Those may have added to the problem, but the core problem goes back to the niche marketing aptitude of the owner and management.

Often a failing business didn't have a sales, money or profit problem, they had a hidden niche marketing problem. For example, most failing businesses had a weak, unfocused or changing niche market long before they noticed the other obvious problems.

To increase your niche marketing aptitude take the Niche Marketing Aptitude test below: Give yourself 1 point for each yes answer. Take it for each new business, product or service you create or obtain. Continue taking it until you reach a score of 10. Your goal should be to maintain a score of 10 for each business, product or service you control.

1. Do I know who the next 3 competitors ahead of me are?

2. Do I know what my competitive advantages are over them?

3. Do I have them written down? And do I constantly try to add to them?

4. Can I name at least one new problem my target customers are facing that I can solve through my product or service this week or month?

5. What extra service can I provide that my competition can't provide?

6. What ways can I speed up service to my customers without sacrificing quality?

7. What ways can I get my satisfied customers to recommend me to others?

8. Do I aggressively seek comments, complaints or questions from my customers?

9. Do I know my competitors latest competitive advantages over my product or service?

10. Do I aggressively seek and test new ideas while holding on to what works?

Amit Agarwal's Favorite Blogs & Websites of 2008

Following are the top 20 websites / blogs that I pay most attention to as per FeedDemon. The snapshot on the left was captured in June (for comparison) while the one on right reflects my current reading habits.

I was subscribed to some 1168 feeds in June but that number has shrunk to less than 650 today and I therefore have more time to spend per feed. Another big surprise is Hacker News - it has climbed to #2 position from nowhere while old favorite Techmeme has dropped to #8.

The Essential Guide to Internet & Software for First-Time Computer Users

You bought a brand new laptop computer for mom - the Apple Macbook was too expensive so you settled for a Dell machine loaded with Windows Vista and a trial copy of Office 2007.

Your mom is a great self-learner and knows all the basic stuff about computers but needs some help is in finding the right software tools that will help her do stuff more efficiently and as inexpensively as possible.

Letter to Mom suggesting tools and web apps for her new computer

Dear Mom - I hope you are enjoying the new Dell notebook. Now the first thing I want you to do is install PC Decrapifier - this will detect and remove all the unwanted trial programs that came pre-installed with your machine.

Next you should install Firefox - it’s an Internet Explorer like web browser but slightly better. Instead of using browser bookmarks, try the delicious add-on to save the addresses of all your favorite websites. Another add-on that you should install is Iterasi - web pages come and go but Iterasi will permanently archive your favorite web pages (like that eggless cake recipe).

You should create two email accounts one Gmail.com - share the primary email address with your friends and family but for everything else (like the newsletter and shopping deal alerts) always use the secondary email address. If you come across a site that requires registration, generate a temporary email address from 10MinuteMail.com and enter without sharing your main email.

With so many websites around, you’ll soon find it very hard to remember all those passwords so get into the habit of putting down all the different passwords into KeepPass from day one.

If you plan to carry this laptop in public places (like the Library), get this Laptop Alarm software that will emit a loud sound if someone tries to shut down your computer or remove the power cable. Laptop thefts are not so uncommon after all.

The trial version of Microsoft Office on your computer will expire after 60 days so you may completely uninstall that software and switch over to Google Docs - it has all the basic feature you would need in an Office suite including templates for tracking expenses and utility bills. You can use your primary Gmail address to log into Google Docs.

Sometimes your friends will send you documents, images or video clips that won’t open on your computer - that’s because you don’t have the right viewer software on your machine. You can simply go to zamzar.com and convert the file into some simple format (like avi for video, jpg for images, doc for documents, mp3 for songs, etc.) that you computer can play/open.

If the computer contains too many programs that you’ll rarely or never use, get the Revo Uninstaller to get rid of such programs permanently. To free up additional space on the hard drive, use WinDirStat to learn about file folders that are occupying the maximum space on your computer and delete the unnecessary files.

Be very careful when deleting files on your computer but if you ever delete something important accidently, Recuva may help you recover all those erased files. It even works with the memory card of your digital camera.

To download pictures from your digital camera onto the computer, get Windows Live Photo Gallery. This software can also upload your photos to our common family Flickr account so everyone gets to see your pictures even though we are several hundred miles away from you.

If the computer is not able to play your huge collection of DVD movies, you’re probably missing some codecs (don’t worry about the term) - just download the VLC player and the DVDs will play just fine.

You should also get Live Mesh - it will allow us to share files and documents with each other privately plus you can use Mesh to backup important files onto the cloud (I mean the web).

I am almost always available for chat on Google Talk but if some of your online friends use other chat software (like Yahoo! Messenger or AOL), you can easily connect with them through Miranda or, if you don’t want to install any software, use Meebo.

Another thing - do open an account at PayPal and link it to your main credit card as this will make online shopping easier. If you ever have a problem with PayPal or something isn’t clear, just call their toll-free 1-800 support number from your browser using Gizmo.

If your current voice plan is too expensive, I suggest that you download Skype - it lets you make calls from the computer to any landline or mobile phone at much cheaper rates. We can also use Skype to have video chats on weekends but if you don’t find me online, just send me a video email with Eyejot.

If you have newspaper clippings, bill receipts and business cards lying in the closet, just take a picture of them separately using the camera of your mobile phone and transfer them to the computer with Evernote - it will turn your "paper" documents into digital format that is always so easy to find and manage.

When planning a movie or weekend dinner with friends, you can send all of them a quick reminder for the event via phone and SMS for free using Notifu. If you’re inviting people at home for a party, head-over to sites like VideoJug.com, SuTree or 5min.com for new ideas about food, cocktails, party games, etc.

If you ever need to fax a document somewhere, just go to FaxZero, upload the document and fax it for free. FaxZero is only available for fax numbers of US or Canada but for international numbers, you may try eFax.

You can also consider dropping those magazine subscriptions that are delivered by snail mail - switch to Zinio instead that delivers the same magazine but in digital format.

As far as I remember, you’re currently using an unlimited data plan for the Internet but if that’s not true, get BitMeter - it will help you visually monitor your bandwidth usage so you never exceed the plan limit. You may also want to download FlashGet for downloading big files from the Internet.

If you notice carefully, some websites add an orange colored icon in the browser address bar (go to cnn.com to see a live example) - this icon means that you can get updates about new articles posted on that site automatically without having to visit the site again and again. If that’s the case, go to Feed My Inbox and type the address of that website - you’ll be notified automatically via email.

When browsing the web, you’ll frequently come across photographs, web pages and videos that you’ll want to share with us (your family members) - you could either send the link in a group mail or better still, simply create an account at Tumblr and start saving all the "interesting" stuff there.

And if you ever find yourself spending too much time on the computer, get RescueTime to know about websites where you spend most of your time.

There are a few other things that I want to do on your computer like installing a hosts file and configuring OpenDNS so that sites load quickly on your machine. These however require some geeky knowledge so I will try configuring them from here itself via CrossLoop - a remote desktop access tool.

See Real Web Addresses Before Clicking any Short URL

Let’s say you land on a web page that has tons of links but they are all encoded with services like tinyurl, ping.fm, bit.ly, is.gd, etc. so you have no clue about where those links may lead you to? The TinyURL service does offer a preview feature but most would agree that its too time consuming.

There are a few plugins like Long URL and Long URL Please that help you know where those shortened links really point to but the problem with this approach is that it works only with Firefox.

Bookmarklet Replaces Short URLs with Original Links

If you are not on Firefox or need a simple solution that requires no installation, just drag this Long URL Please bookmarklet from longurlplease.com to your browser bookmarks toolbar.

When you click this bookmarklet link in your browser, all short URLs on the current web page will be replaced with the original URLs so you don’t have to worry about getting into embarrassing situations anymore. The same solution will work in Google Chrome, IE, Firefox and other browsers.