Make Money Easy For You

Starting a Business – What is a Business Plan?

So you’ve decided to start your own business – congratulations! It’s a huge leap from letting someone else take care of taxes, accounting, payroll, inventory, and/or a myriad of other activities necessary to run a business. However, running your own business has its advantages, too. You get to be your own boss, set your own hours and days to work, and are responsible for your own success. It can be a great way to free yourself from the tedium of 9-5 and work at doing what you love, but you have to begin by asking a few questions:

1. Are you doing what you love, or just doing something you’re good at? A desire to get away from the regular working world can be a good motivation to work for yourself, but you have to be excited to get up in the morning to do what it is you have chosen to do for a living.
2. What is it you are planning to do? What niche is it going to fill? Is there a need for what you can provide? Will the market bear another entry?
3. What technical skills or talents do you have? Just being able to do something may not be marketable enough to convince customers or financiers that you are a good financial investment.
4. Who are your competitors in your chosen profession and how are you going to do it better? Why should customers come to you? What do you have to offer that no one else does?

Once you are satisfied with the answers to these questions, it is time for the decision of what kind of business structure you will use. Will you be a sole proprietor, responsible for every facet and the penultimate authority as to how to run the business? Will you enter in with a partner, the better to share the cost and workload, but also the profits and the business decisions? Perhaps the decision will be made to incorporate, with its financial safeguards but more complex and costly structure? At this stage, legal advice is recommended, if only so that you fully understand the advantages and disadvantages of your chosen structuring plan. Many lawyers will provide a free or reduced-rate primary consultation, though often not more than an hour. When the structure is finalized, a name for the business should be decided upon, if not already having been done so in advance. It should be easy to remember, avoid initials and single letters (B & L & R, Inc. will be difficult to remember for customers) and try to say something about the business (Bob’s House of Hobbies is easier to remember and spell).

Next, a business plan is a vital step in laying out all these topics and proposals in a standardized format. A good business plan serves as a formal statement of the new company’s goals, financing, structure and legal considerations. It acts as a “resume” to prospective investors and is the primary documentation they will use to evaluate whether or not your business will be worth investing into. It also provides the proprietor(s) with a chance to see the workings of the new business in black and white. A basic business plan should at the least contain a balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flow, as well as a proposed financial budget for the first year, or as long a period as necessary if a year is impractical.

So with these quick tips, plan for success, and good luck in your chosen endeavor!

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Soil – The World Beneath Your Feet

There is a complex invisible world beneath your feet and it is necessary to make an effort to develop an appreciation of how the state of the soil affects plant growth.

Soil is a mixture of tiny rock particles, living organisms, chemicals and the remains of dead plants and animals. Spaces between the particles will also contain a certain amount of air and water depending on the type of soil.

Rocks near the earth’s surface are slowly broken down in nature by a process called weathering. Eventually small particles such as sand, silt and clay are formed. These particles create the environment for billions of mostly tiny organisms to live. Larger organisms such as earthworms and insects are also found in soil. A healthy soil is teeming with life.

The main aim as a hobby farmer is thus to try to improve soil health by good management. Poor management can lead to a loss of fertility and degradation of the soil. In extreme cases the valuable topsoil can also be blown or washed away. In the end poor soils lead to low quality crops lacking in nutrition.

Below are examples of some checks I plan to carry out on my farm with the aim of improving soil fertility.

1) Carry out a pH test in different places. This test will determine if the soil is acid, alkaline or neutral. Most plants prefer a pH level around 6.5. Should the pH level be too (below 6) corrections can be made by adding lime. Should the pH be too high (above 7) this can be lowered by adding plenty of organic matter and mulch. Extremely alkaline soils can be changed by adding ground sulphur.

2) Check the soil texture of the soil by rubbing some moist soil between your fingers. This will help to determine the type of soil present. Sandy soils will have a coarse feel. These soils dry quickly. Adding lots of organic matter will improve sandy soils. Very sandy soil can also be improved by adding clay. If the soil feels sticky when rubbed it contains too much clay. Clay soils drain slowly and are difficult to work when wet. Adding gypsum will help in most cases. Should the soil have a good balance of sand, silt and clay you will be blessed with a loamy soil. These soils are generally easy to manage and do not require treatments.

3) Check the level of organic matter in the soil. This can be done by shaking a handful of soil in a jar and seeing how much organic matter floats to the surface. If only a thin layer is present on the surface, lots of organic matter needs to be added. This means more microorganisms can be sustained, these in turn will release essential health giving chemicals needed by plants.

The above tests are simple to carry out and much information is available on these topics. Further tests require equipment or a soil testing company to analyse the soil. These include salinity, especially if bore water is used. Individual soil nutrient levels for Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium as well as trace element levels can also be measured. Other aspects such as fertilizer application and cultivation practices to maintain soil structure also need attention.

Soil care requires years of experience and looking to older gardeners will give you lots of essential tips. Also, experienced gardeners can often identify soil problems by looking at the general appearance of plants. Getting a spade and digging around will give you information about conditions such as waterlogging and excessive dryness.

Do all you can to look after your soil and allow your plants to carry out the magic task of turning fertilizers and compost into healthy and nutritious food.

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Freedom is a Gift

FREEDOM IS A GIFT

This week is the Jewish holiday of Passover. It’s a festival that’s been celebrated for thousands of years and every year we read the same story of how Moses took the Israelites from oppression into freedom. It’s a powerful story of how one man can change the lives of many and continue to influence people for hundreds of generations.

Whether we believe the story is true or not is irrelevant. The powerful metaphor contained within it has been a beacon for many oppressed peoples throughout the world. Martin Luther King, Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and many, many others, took the story of the Exodus and made it their own.

Many of you already know the story of Moses and how he parted the waters to lead his people across the Red Sea. Now I don’t know about you, but I’ve been to the Red Sea, and it’s pretty big. It was a long walk across with the chariots of the Pharaoh bearing down on them. But the idea that we can overcome the limitations of what other people place upon us is a powerful idea.

Enslavement was and is the darkest part of humanity. The idea that we can control the destiny of others with our will, with our beliefs and with our iron fist, is anathema to how we want to be as humans. To deny the lives of others to further our own power or control is a bitter pill no one should be forced to swallow.

But it’s not only the physical act of holding someone in bondage or keeping them oppressed that stands out for me in the Passover story. It is the way we hold this metaphor for how we live our own lives.

We are all in bondage to something.

In my own life, I grew up in a family where chaos ruled. My father was a serious alcoholic who physically abused both his wife and his children for many years. Now, I could have gone one of two ways. I could have been kicked into the gutter of life and reverted to alcohol myself, or I could take the higher road and find my salvation in other things. Well, it was a bit of both in reality.

I loved drugs and alcohol from an early age. I was thirteen when I started drinking and I was fifteen when I got hooked on amphetamines. My self-esteem was lower than a gnat, but that didn’t seem to stop me. As you can see, I’m here now talking about it. But the long road out of bondage to this place I stand in today, being a Fearless Fifty, took me into some very dark and scary places. It is not a road I would recommend anyone going down, but for me there was no option. It was that or perish.

Along the way, people close to me were hurt but I couldn’t help myself, and as I continued to struggle with drug and alcohol dependency it would eventually push me into Alcoholics Anonymous. I am not a Bill W story, although I was in AA for five years. During that time I was also undergoing some very intensive therapy and I confronted a lot of the demons, including being a victim of sexual abuse, which I had locked away.

But getting healthy was far more important to me than holding onto my dark secrets, and gradually I began to unearth the real me beneath the garbage. I began to realize that I was a victim of alcoholic thinking. I was an obsessive compulsive who needed to know exactly where everything was in order to feel safe. I wanted order in my life, but my behavior was anything but. When I drank too much I was convinced I was an alcoholic. But as you know, a real alcoholic cannot live without a drink, and I have always been able to do that. Controlling how much I drank in one sitting and then feeling bad that I’d overdone it again, was my biggest problem.

It took me 5 years to see that my enslavement was the way I think about myself when I drink. I was not my father, or my mother, or anyone else for that matter. It was key to the whole issue. It had to change. And it did. I changed my relationship to alcohol and to behavior that occasionally is not good for me. I like a glass of wine or two and on occasion three or four, but I know how to stop nowadays and what’s better, I chalk it up to having had a really good time and I’ll recover the next day. I’m a Fearless Fifty now because I can face the demons and give them a name. I choose not to allow the demons to enslave me anymore. I choose to live life on my own terms.

But there are always things in our lives that we are enslaved to.

We find it in our work, our relationship to money, to debt, a style of life we can’t afford, a relationship that’s not working, health that isn’t perfect, too much sex, not enough sex, endlessly trying to please, too much eating, drinking, obsessing about things that are out of our control, habits that are destructive.

In the Passover story we speak of the ten plagues that afflicted the Egyptians as a punishment for their oppression of the Israelites. They include the Nile being turned into blood, frogs, massive hail stones, cow disease, lice and locusts, and the death of the first born child.

What are some of the plagues that afflict us today? I can think of a few. Aids, SARS, Mad Cow disease, wars ravaging Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur, Sudan, Sierra Leone and many others. The distrust and conflict that separates Israel and Palestine. The economic oppression in Russia. All of these are conflicts of the soul and of the heart. All are a source of oppression.

We would like to think that we have moved on from the dark days of slavery, but that’s not true. Think of the young women from Eastern Europe who are forced into slavery as sex slaves throughout the world. The children in Asia who are forced into child labor and sex. Even here in New York today there is are hundreds of sweat shops and underpaid workers. At the restaurant Saigon Grill on the Upper West Side the food is good, the prices reasonable. But they pay their workers $1.61 an hour to work there. Most are illegal immigrants with no way to retaliate. Now that’s slave labor. It’s a small thing, but I will not return to that restaurant.

We don’t need to support oppression for our own satisfaction. By ignoring the plight of others, we ignore the basic needs of man. We ignore the message that we are intrinsically saying they don’t count. We all count.

That means we are all responsible for the choices we make when interacting with others. It is said at Passover, ‘if even one person is enslaved, we all are.’

Martin Luther King spent his entire life trying to free his people from the oppression of white supremacy and the suffocating laws and expectations that kept people down. The Dalai Lama works tirelessly for the Tibetan people and for mankind to be free of oppression, both physically and spiritually. Repression around the globe is endemic and we must all do our small part to stop the pain. We all have a responsibility to do something about it. Your pain is my pain because we live in the lives of others.

Passover in the Jewish tradition is our yearly reminder. We sit at our Seder table and recite the story of the Exodus. We talk about the present day and we talk about our enslavements. Too much TV, too much work, too much alcohol, too much eating, too much negative thinking. These are just some of the ways we are enslaved.

Think of something you’d like to break free from, and when you’re done, write it down and make a promise to yourself that you will make an effort this year to change it. You see we all have them. I’m enslaved to my work right now. I can’t let it go for a day, or if I do, I feel guilty that I should be doing something. I’m exhausted a lot of the time building my business, making the connections, getting exposure for what I’m doing. No one is cracking the whip except me. Do I need to break that habit? Probably. The world will keep turning no matter what I do.

Freedom is a choice many do not have. Whether it is self-imposed or imposed by others, freedom is a gift and a natural-born right. We all have the right to be free from bondage.

When Paul Robeson sang Let My People Go, you could feel the entire weight of that request. It was a cry for release. A cry for humanity.

Humanity. The words compassion, generosity, acceptance, tolerance and diversity come up for me when I consider that word. We are ALL entitled to our humanity. Our right to be whatever it is we want to be, however we want to be, as long as we generate respect for the rights of others to have the same privilege. We should all have the freedom to live without someone else telling us how it should be.

The holiday of Passover is a Jewish holiday, but it’s a world holiday. It’s a time to consider if we truly are free, and if not, we have the opportunity to change it today. We end our Seder with a statement “Next Year in Jerusalem.” It is a saying that encompasses the idea that we can all live in harmony. We can all find peace in this world.

I wish you Hag Sameach. A good year.

Be the best you can be for yourself and you will be the best you can be for others.
Let us live in peace and harmony NOW.

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Wine Stays Fresh In The Cellar

Consider the space you have to work with, the size and weight of the unit and make sure to add the additional weight for the wine which averages about 3 pounds per bottle. When building a new home the best time to think or install a wine cellar would be when the home is being built, make sure the specs include such things as a cooling system, shelving and storage, if you live in an existing house find a space and make sure you plan it out well.

The degree and the speed of the temperature change are critical to successfully storing and aging wine. Expertise lies in getting the temperature just right. Temperature is at the top of the list for the reason that it is the single most important factor to consider when planning or installing your own wine cellar.

Modular wine racks are a great investment because they can be modified to fit anywhere plus they are not expensive and they come in many different finishes and grains. Decorative racks are available in a number of different styles, ranging from metal racks to wrought iron racks. There are many different types of wine cellar racks to install in your wine cellar, the types are wooden, metal and there many others. It is extremely essential to carefully store the wine bottles in the cellars and wine racks seem to be the only possible solution to this need.

Having a system that can cool wine is very important especially in a wine cellar, if you don’t have a wine cooling system the wine cellar is not worth the bottles in the cellar, the cellar needs to be cool to operate correctly. Wine coolers can be either free standing, built in with the wine cellar or can be hidden under the counter. To keep the correct temperature in your wine cellar you need to invest in good cooling system, the cooling system will maintain the temperature and humidity and keep the wine tasting perfectly. The coolers vary in size, some having the capacity to hold two to four bottles, while others have larger capacities of up to 50 bottles.

Wine cellars and racks for the home allow the individual wine lover to convert any space in their home into an instant cellar in a matter of moments. There are many different kinds of wine cellars, there are case storages, triangular shelves, curved corners, half weights and many others.

The advantage of having a wine cellar is that you don’t have to go out and get a bottle of wine every time you are ready to sit down and eat, or want to enjoy a glass. Some of the popular wine cellar accessories are metal racking, kneeling butlers, wine chillers, wine coolers, decorative bottle corkers, corkscrews, wine tags, bottle openers, and wine markers.

The great thing about wine cellars is that you can sit back and enjoy a bottle of wine that you chose from you wine cellar. Bottles should be stored on their side so that the cork remains moist and they should also not be exposed to vibration or temperature change.

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African Countries Must Speed Up Enacting Biosafety Laws

Opponents of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) regularly cite lack of biosafety policies as the main reason why there should be no rush to introduce genetically modified crops in Africa. I agree with them on this, and in fact I once posted an entry in this blog encouraging African countries to speed up the enactment of biosafety rules. Biosafety laws are needed to safeguard the health of consumers of genetically modified food.

But more importantly, a sound biosafety protocol is a prerequisite to a thriving biotechnology industry. In fact, there is a nexus between well thought out biosafety laws and a successful biotech industry. United States, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Argentina, and India all have effective biosafety laws. This explains why they have a thriving biotechnology industry.

Biosafety laws are needed not to restrict, but to promote biotech-related activities. This justifies why African countries must urgently enact and implement them. Doing so would alleviate fears that GMOs are being force-fed on Africans without considering their safety.

The laws will, according to the United Nations (UN) Convention on Biological Diversity’s Cartagena Protocol to protect biodiversity, “ensure an adequate level of protection in the field of the safe transfer, handling and use of living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology that may have adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity…”

Opponents of GMOs would, however, prefer the status quo so that they can continue exploiting the lack of lack of biosafety laws in many African countries to spread all sorts of misleading information about GMOs.

It’s encouraging that lately, there have been small, but significant efforts by some African countries to enact biosafety policies. Already, Cameroon, Kenya, Namibia, and Uganda have national biosafety policies, which have made it possible for them to start conducting field trials of a wide range of genetically modified crops.

Kenya is busy experimenting on genetically modified sweet potatoes and maize. An article appearing in SciDev.net reports that Uganda is preparing field trials of bananas genetically modified to resist black sigatoka disease, a serious fungal condition. Cameroon, on the other hand, is conducting tests on cowpeas that are drought tolerant, resistant to viruses and insects.

It’s important that African countries put in place biosafety policies if they want to benefit from modern biotechnology.

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Audio Visual Presentations

Even the best messages can be ruined by a bad presentation. To get your information across effectively and to generate the right response from your audience, you need to know how to use audiovisual technology to your advantage.

Interested in how to improve your presentation? Read on for some audiovisual presentation dos and don’ts.

Organization is the key. Forget about fancy graphics and sounds; instead, focus on making the flow of your presentation seamless and clear. It’s a good idea to first outline the points you intend to make before you even begin working on the presentation. Identify major themes and ideas so you know what to visually highlight.

Avoid clutter. Fancy animation and sounds are usually unnecessary; oftentimes, these elements only distract from the message instead of contributing to it. Brevity and simplicity work best – the shorter and simpler your messages and manners of delivery are, the more likely they are to be recalled by your audience. Too much clutter diminishes the impact of a good message. Highlight your message and not your graphics, and you will never go wrong.

Consider the physical requirements of the space where you will deliver your presentation. Are you going to use a small and private conference room with just four to five people or a big theater with hundreds in the audience? Are the room’s acoustics decent, or do you need to bring additional speakers to be heard? Is it well lighted? Can you control the lighting to enhance your presentation? You need to answer all these and many other questions in order to design an audiovisual presentation that makes the most out of what the venue has to offer.

Finally, complement your audiovisual presentation with handouts. No matter how effective your presentation, remember that your audience can only remember so much; you need to provide them with follow-through materials like a systematically outlined handout in order for them to truly retain your message. Keep your handouts short and sweet. This way, the reader only sees the most important messages.

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Internet Money

The internet is unbelievable as a business environment. The whole Google Adsense and Adwords thing, with Pay-per-click and what not…well all of this is making people very rich. Okay, not everyone. But you can generate a substantial second income from this. Put in more time, and you can definitely quit your day job (if you have one…no assumptions here). To be honest, it isn’t that complicated. It takes a little work to get started but, once you can grasp the concepts, you are set. To this end…I have gone through a large number of internet sites that have information on this. There are a few resources that I believe are worthy of your time. I’ll say why below.

The marketing on most schemes out there is truly atrocious. Some people will be put off by it; the other group will fall for it. I am going to try to go beyond that. It can be hard to see beyond what is staring you blindly in the face (usually in great big red letters). Claims of millions and, nowadays, Paypal account statements with large transfers shown. Basically, these people are trying to sell their products. They have read their own manuals. They know about marketing, about raising hopes in people and about presenting “evidence” of the merits of their products. They exaggerate in some instances; leave out bits that have to do with your own actions. Everybody seems to do this online; however, some of these resources do have real merit, which is why I mention them here.

In my experience, it’s the little things that make a difference. You might have everything done properly, but if your introduction is missing the right punch, then you don’t get any sales. The details are important. They can be, and are usually the difference between getting a lot of money and not getting a lot of money. I feel like it’s those that cover these fine points that are the ones you want.

“I am better than you, I am a jerk etc, etc” one proclaims on his website. You can see the angle he’s going for here. It works though. He’s even had an infomercial done. This means people are buying his product. This must mean that his tips work…at least for some people. That’s really all that matters. This one is guide to basically every effective way of making money online, like a lot of others. What makes it really good is that he cuts out a lot of fluff and lays it down like it is. For me, the real clincher is the forum on the website. There are loads of people who are trying this stuff out. They like to talk about their experiences. This means you can see where mistakes have been made and where progress has been made. That’s value. People can repeatedly come back for help and advice. Not too many schemes have something like that in place.

The people factor is really important. This sort of thing has been around long enough for others to have tried it. Find out what it’s been like for them. Get a second opinion. Forums are a good place. I know my eyes still ache from all the forums I have gone through. It might not clear up all your doubts, but it will certainly eliminate some bad choices.

That brings us to the main point. It really is down to you to follow through. Whichever one you go for, it could take some time for you to start to see real results. You have to have the drive and fortitude to see it to the end. The investment is not too great, particularly in the context of the potential rewards. How brave are you?

There’s a lot of stuff on making money on the internet. You have to be careful. Most people are just looking to make a buck, but if you can just sift out the dodgy ones, there really is a lot to be gained from the right sources.

Good luck.

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Dust That Crock Pot Off!

What’s slow and steady and will fit right into your face-paced life? Would you believe cooking with that old crock pot?!

Going slower in terms of cooking can actually help you go faster in the long run. Make sense? Keep reading and it will. When you prepare a crock pot meal in the morning, the food will be ready when you get home. No more waiting for the oven to preheat or food to defrost in the microwave.

Fast and slow cooking entered American kitchens in a big way during the 1970s. Rival introduced the Crock Pot slow cooker in 1971 (the slow cooking appliance was originally called a beanery). Microwave ovens also became affordable during the 1970s. (They actually went on the market in 1952 for the price of $1,295). By the 1980s, most couples could count on receiving at least one crock pot as a wedding gift. While it’s almost unthinkable to cook without a microwave today, many crock pots have been relegated to the closet shelf. It’s time to revive the Rival!

Five reasons to dust of the crock pot and start slow cooking again.
1. Save money. Starting a meal in the crock pot in the morning can save you from the temptation of grabbing fast food during the evening family rush hour. Save those fast food bucks for a meal out at a nice restaurant on the weekend when you have time to sit and enjoy it.
2. Save money. This reason’s so nice we said it twice. Crockery cooking can make less-expensive cuts of meat tender and delicious.
3. Save time. Cook when you have more energy and less stress. Have your food ready and waiting for you rather than the other way around. You’ll also save time on clean up. After the meal, you’ll have just one pot to wash. If you have a crock pot with the removable crockery liner (and you really should), clean up is extra easy.
4. Eat healthy. It doesn’t take a nutritionist to know that a meal of meat and veggies with a green salad on the side is going to be better for your body than another frozen pizza.
5. Keep your kitchen cool and your food hot. You won’t have to heat up the whole house just to roast a chicken or cook a pot of stew. The crock pot also frees the oven and stove for other foods when you’re cooking a big meal.
To make the most of your rediscovered crock pot, try not peek at the food while it’s cooking. Every time you lift the lid, you add 20 minutes to the cooking time.

To convert regular recipes for use in the crock pot, reduce the amount of liquid by one-third to one-half, unless you’re making soup, rice or beans.

I hope this all makes sense. The best part about crock pot cooking is all the recipes you can make with the same crock pot. Just cut up the ingredients, throw them in the crock pot, wait 8 hours and a delicious meal is ready!

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Coffee secrets – all about coffee grinding and using a coffee maker

Coffee is surely one of many people’s everyday delights. For some, it’s just another drink or stimulant. Others disagree with coffee drinking as they consider it to be addictive. But for coffee lovers, every cup is a delight. There are many connoisseurs that enjoy grinding coffee themselves and know all about the coffee “culture” and its varieties, as well as the best ways of brewing that leave its aroma intact and unlock its best features. We’ll now see how the Internet could help them, and in fact anyone who desires a great coffee experience, to improve their coffee making skills and find the coffee grinder or coffee maker that will suit their needs best.

Coffee takes a great journey from its birth to every cup we enjoy. It all begins with the laborious manual sorting of the seeds. Then it travels a long way from its home countries to every consumer’s coffee maker. In the early centuries, it wasn’t as popular as it now is and was even prohibited in some parts of the world. But hey, in the past, everything new used to be prohibited at first… As time passed, many people started consuming coffee and its demand increased. Nowadays, there is hardly anyone who can say that he/she never had a cup of coffee or didn’t own a coffee maker.

Coffee making is a rather simple activity, but few know that its industrial processing consists in complicated chemical reactions meant to dissolve the acids contained within the seeds meant to unlock its aroma that many enjoy so much. And one must admit that almost everyone likes coffee, served in one way or another and of course the many varieties available. There are even delicacies which include coffee in their making or at least have the coffee aroma. However, the most popular way of coffee consumption remains its “liquid form”.

A coffee “grind” is actually thought of as the whole brewing process. The finest grind is called the “Turkish” grind and provides best flavor as the coffee fresh out of the coffee grinder is mixed straight with water. The most usual machines are coffee “drippers”, which pass hot steam through the ground coffee beans set in a paper filter. The actual coffee then drips into the designated container. There are also exquisite coffee grinding methods, like the espresso, which is stronger and more flavorful. The only inconvenience is that espresso machines were expensive and difficult to clean. But that’s all in the past now because of machines like the Krups Espresso Bravo Plus 872 and because of the information available online. The Internet is very useful for finding all sorts of similar coffee equipment such as a proper coffee maker or a fine coffee grinder that will smoothly grind the beans and finally preserve the special aroma while brewing. You no longer need to worry about not finding the appropriate grinding equipment.

There are numerous sites providing tons of information about coffee equipment and walkthroughs on how to use a coffee maker, such as talkaboutcoffee.com. It’s easy to surf online and to find out all you need to know about making your coffee experience easy and delightful. No matter if served for breakfast, after an exquisite dinner’s desert or during any regular activity, a cup of coffee is always welcome. Of course, there are alternatives, such as black tea and others, but let’s face it! Nothing comes even close to the well-ground coffee’s great aroma.

Talkaboutcoffee.com provides numerous pages concerning many aspects related to coffee, like recipes and comparisons between its varieties. It also informs about its social aspects and the history of coffee brewage. There are many reviews that will point you to the best coffee grinder and coffee maker and which will offer hints on how to use them correctly. You just have to visit this valuable resource online!

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Choosing a Baby Monitor

A baby monitor is an essential purchase for expectant parents, as it will give you the peace of mind of being able to check on your sleeping baby wherever you are in your home. Unfortunately, these monitors are the kind of device which you are unlikely to have any experience of until the time comes when you need one, and it can be difficult to know which type to buy.

There are three basic kinds of monitor: audio, video, and movement or breathing.

The audio monitor is the most popular kind, and at its most basic consists of a transmitter that you place in your baby’s nursery, and a receiver that lets you ‘listen in’, alerting you if your baby starts to cry or otherwise shows signs of waking. The very cheapest modules will have a fixed receiver that needs to be plugged into a wall socket for power, but most models nowadays have a rechargable mobile receiver which you can carry from room to room, or even outside so long as you stay in range.

The range of your monitor system will depend on a number of factors, including the construction of your home – thicker walls will reduce the range – and any sources of interference such as neighbouring monitor systems, computer wireless networks, and even microwave ovens with some models.

Interference is less of a problem these days, as most models will now let you select from a range of channels to operate on, so if you do encounter interference problems, you can switch to a new channel to hopefully clear things up. Some units only feature two or four channels which you have to manually select, while the more advanced designs now have hundreds of channels which will be selected automatically to minimize interference in the current conditions.

The more modern monitors, like so much else these days, use digital technology. What this means in practice is a clearer signal, and an increased range of operation.

Those are the basics of audio monitors, but there are other features available depending on the model. A popular one is an intercom or talkback system where you can talk to your baby through the monitor, helping you to soothe her back to sleep without the disturbance of going into the nursery. Other models may have nightlights or lullabies which you can set to play either automatically or by hand, again without entering the room, while another common feature is temperature alerts where you can see how warm the nursery is, and be alerted if it falls outside a safe range.

For most people, an audio monitor is sufficient, but some people value the extra security of having a video monitor where you can actually see your baby on a TV screen built into the receiver. If you decide to get a video monitor, make sure it has night vision capability, or it won’t be much use when it’s dark!

For complete reassurance that your baby is slepping safely, you can also get a breathing and movement monitor. This consists of a pressure pad placed under the cot mattress, which will sense if your baby stops breathing or shows other signs of distress, and alert you immediately.

The final point to consider when choosing a monitor system is price. The range is enormous, from only a few dollars up to a few hundred. For something as essential as a monitor though, it’s worth getting the best model you can afford, as after all, if the system doesn’t work well and you can’t trust it, then it’s effectively a waste of time.

Read more: Choosing a Baby Monitor

Coffee and espresso – all about the coffee delight

Coffee is one of the most popular drinks around, followed by soft drinks and tea. Just think about it: when you wake up in the morning, just to get you up and running, you have a cup of coffee. At lunch break, after you’ve had your meal, you serve another cup of coffee, not to mention the other ones you already had back at the office while working, without even realizing it. When you ask someone out, the most chances are that you ask him or her out for a coffee. But what is coffee all about? Where does it come from and how did it become so popular? And what makes it such a delight? In this article, we’ll learn all about coffee and espresso as well as processing, roasting and recipes that give you the best flavor out of every coffee bean.

Where does it come from? The word “coffee” is thought to be derived from the name of its place of origin: Kaffa, Ethiopia, in the Ethiopian highlands. There, it has been traced back to the ninth century. During the times that followed, it spread across Africa and Asia. It became popular in Europe during the 17th century, as the Dutch started to import it on a large scale. As it reached the US continent, it wasn’t so popular at first, but, as time got by, the demand for coffee increased as people used it as a substitute for alcohol. Nowadays, coffee and espresso represent about 70% of the total US caffeine consumption. Next in line concerning numbers are soft drinks and tea.

What exactly is coffee? Coffee as we know it is made from roasted coffee seeds, which are in fact the “stones” inside the coffee plant’s fruits. There are mainly two species of coffee plants. The older species is Caffea Arabica. The connoisseurs believe that the Arabica coffee bean is more flavorful and tastes better when brewed. Caphea Canephora or Robusta, the younger species, contains up to 50% more caffeine and is bitter, so it provides the coffee less flavor. These beans are exposed to a steam treatment while industrially processed to improve their quality. However, they make better foam when brewed and are considered useful due to this feature.

How is it processed? After a laboring sorting process, coffee beans are usually roasted through a complicated chemical process. However, some merchants provide them raw, so that everyone can prepare them as they wish. The key of the aroma is the heat, for the raw bean contains all the acids and other compounds, but no flavor whatsoever. Heating triggers complex chemical reactions within the coffee bean that eventually develop the aromatic features.

What about preparing and serving coffee and espresso? The finest method is mixing the ground coffee directly with water. It is also known as the “Turkish” grind. Other ways include using a drip machine and a paper filter. This provides reasonable quality and consists in passing hot steam through the coffee that has been previously set in a paper filter within the machine. The espresso requires a more complicated device. This passes very hot water through the ground coffee, unlocking stronger flavor. Next, the coffee is to be served plain, with sugar, cream or anyway you prefer. Also, there are delicacies such as roasted beans covered with chocolate that are to be served plain.

There are numerous specialized sites on the internet concerning coffee, brewage recipes, coffee and espresso machines and many others. Let’s take for example talkaboutcoffee.com. Its numerous pages contain advices, reviews and all sorts of information regarding varieties of coffee. There is also guidance to growing, roasting, grinding and brewing on your own. All you need to do is log on and find out what suits you best.

Read more: Coffee and espresso – all about the coffee delight

Benefits of using a Tonneau Truck Cover

Tonneau truck covers are best suited for trucks that haul cargo that is heavy. These covers provide the ultimate protection as typically, they are made of aluminum and steel that is of superior quality.

Some Tonneau Truck Covers are made of fiberglass, whatever the case all the covers are light in weight and can be used easily. This also makes for easy assembly of the covers and they can set up in a short span of time. Many of the Tonneau covers come with an easy railing snap mechanism, which makes drilling holes into the truck railing redundant.

Tonneau covers come with numerous advantages; and have emerged as one of the most valuable assets for people who own pickup trucks. One of the biggest benefits of using Tonneau covers is that they are configured to provide able security to the valuable cargo that a truck will carry. They are made in a way such that they can lock the cargo, thus preventing many a robbery. They also protect the cargo from the elements and can withstand the toughest of road conditions. Moreover, these covers can be used in any weather condition and you can be assured that the objects underneath these covers are not damaged in any way.

If you are one of those who appreciate a sense of color in your covers, then Tonneau covers cater to this requirement as well. They are available in a range of colors that can blend in with the color of any truck. A potential customer can choose from a wide variety of colors that add that extra something to the overall look of the truck.

Some Tonneau covers are so light that children can easily set them up. As aforementioned this lightweight quality makes them very popular as they can be handled easily. Furthermore, all Tonneau covers are easily foldable and can be tucked away in a small corner of your garage.

Some Tonneau covers are available in the aerodynamic variety. They enable a truck owner to increase mileage of the truck. We have said earlier that they can be put up easily but we forget to mention that all Tonneau covers can be taken down as easily. Once they are down some covers can also be hung well out of the way. Such covers look like a mounted hardware and thus do not stand out.

Some Tonneau covers are retractable in nature. However, bear in mind that a hard cover retracts only in parts. Soft covers retract completely. Aerodynamic retractable covers can retract automatically by the simple pulling of a strap. For those who want a cover for their toolbox, well do not fret. Tonneau toolbox covers are tailor-made to suit this demand as well.

Read more: Benefits of using a Tonneau Truck Cover

Goji Berry Juices- Let the health flow through your body

Almost all of us are aware about the growing popularity of herbal medicine nowadays. The Goji Berry Juice is one of the most effective components of herbal medicine and healthcare sector. Not only does the juice taste good it is also good for health, a quality rather rare in herbal healthcare products. Goji berry juice is packed with immunity boosting and energizing capabilities so much that it’s being termed as the sensational juice. Almost everyone who has tried the Goji Berry Juice is all praises for it.

Goji Berry juice is known to improve mental clarity and lowering cholesterol levels thus helping in mood boosting. It must also be noted that by maintaining healthy arteries and comprehensively lowering muscular degeneration, Goji berry juice can significantly improve the virility in men. Goji Berry juice is also considered to be one of the best stress busters and stress relievers thus helping in weight loss and increases energy as well as aids in neurological disorders.

Goji berry juices are a one stop solution for problems ranging from weight loss to neurological ailments and insomnia to arthritis by global herbal healthcare professionals. Goji Berry juices also have a lot of antioxidants as compared to raspberries, bilberries and blueberries.

Goji berry juice is also known to help fighting off arthritis and is known to be beneficial in aiding anxiety, memory loss and insomnia because it acts as a natural anti-inflammatory. Goji Berry juice also carries a number of preventive abilities. Its preventive qualities include the ability to prevent various diseases including cancer as well as the ability to reverse infertility in women and aid in the healing of chronic fatigue. The juice also works to restrain the appetite.

Goji Berry juice is, safe and healthy as well as pleasant to taste. Specific consumption levels may vary on case to case basis but general practice an intake of two oz in the morning and same in the evening everyday.

To get the most advantages out of the Goji Berry juices, it is a must that the Goji Berry juice is bought from a credible vendor. Remember to be sure that the Goji Berry juice should be of uncompromised quality. Make sure that there are no chemical additives or sweeteners, colours, flavours or preservatives in the juice which taint the purity of Goji berry juices. There is only one place to provide this trustworthiness and that is, gojiberries.us.
For More about Goji Berry Juices Visit here http://www.gojiberries.us/

Read more: Goji Berry Juices- Let the health flow through your body

Goji Berry Products- Your key to good health

~ Have you been to you health care expert lately?
~ Are you aware of the new developments in the herbal health care sector lately?

If No. go visit your health care expert and enquire about Goji Berry Products. Goji Berry is known as “Lycium Barbabarum” in its proper scientific name. It is also known as Wolf berry. Herbalists inform that Goji Berry products are revolutionary products in the herbal healthcare sector.

According to botanists, goji Berry has two boxthorn species in the Solanacenae Family. Among its siblings are potato, eggplant and tobacco. Goji berry products carry great medicinal value and research work on determination of its exact utility to mankind is going on. The botanical classification of Goji Berry is in the botanical division named to the upper right, Magnoliophyta, which identifies plants that bear flower. The class of Magnoliopsida represents flowering plants (Dicotyledons) with two embryonic seed leaves called cotyledons appearing at germination. All Goji Berry plants bear a bright red berry, 1-2 cm in length and ellipsoid in nature with each Goji Berry containing roughly 10-30 tiny seeds yellow in color.

A number juices and powders etc are different types of Goji Berry products. They are known to be very useful in curing many kind of discomforts. These products are getting very popular in the European as well as American market of herbal health care product because more and more people have started to realize the importance of herbal healthcare. Healthcare professionals have confirmed that Himalayan Goji Berry products carry all the qualities of a truly balanced polysaccharide profile. The Goji berry products can therefore help in curing a number of ailments and have been classified as products with medicinal value.

Goji berry products provide an extreme boost to polysaccharides known as “Master Molecules” who command and control many of the body’s most important defence systems against a variety of illnesses. The boost comes because Goji berry products support the four exceptional polysaccharides, or phytonutrient compounds, which are stationed in the cadaver as directors and haulers of the instructions that the cells use to correspond with each other. It’s an age old saying that communication wins wars. In layman’s terms, this means that Goji berry products are very helpful to our immunity mechanisms.

Thanks to the growing awareness about goji berry products and thus increasing market there are a number of fake products available. It is necessary maintain world class standards. They are met only by gojiberries.us, the premiere supplier and processor of quality Goji berry products.
For More about Goji Berry Products Visit here http://www.gojiberries.us/

Read more: Goji Berry Products- Your key to good health

Bay-area-family-law.com offers Cost-effective Divorce Litigation

If marriages are made in heaven, then they are probably broken in the USA. The growing number of divorce cases in the USA is only reconfirming this statement. Much to the disappointment of many divorcing couples, they are still not being able to attain a fair and equitable divorce even after spending a fortune on the divorce litigation. Hence, there has been a crying need of professional divorce attorneys in the various regions of the USA.

Answering promptly to this rising demand in the region, Bay-area-family-law.com (aka BAFL) has come up with several effective divorce litigation solutions and support systems to cater to this dire need of divorce couples. BAFL provides effective solutions both for contested divorce litigation and uncontested divorce process.

Divorce litigation entails many complex procedures and it requires a skillful and compassionate attorney to make successful representation of clients. At BAFL , our attorneys know the uniqueness of each and every case and, they deal with each case with the highest commitment. Generally, divorce litigations are complex and expensive affair but, at BAFL we ensure that our clients get a fair and equitable resolution with the minimum possible cost.

Moreover, the divorce litigation processes are strenuous and drawn-out in nature; they can potentially traumatize the parties who are already distressed by conjugal crisis. Our attorneys recognize this very well. So, they interact with the clients compassionately to make them feel comfortable. This has brought us extraordinary success in the entire California region.

Aside from divorce litigation, at Bay-area-family-law.com , the other key areas in which our attorneys practice are child support, child custody, distribution of assets, prenuptial agreements, postnuptial agreements, separation agreements and appeals. Bay Area family law has its offices situated in 10 key cities of California. They are San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Fremont, Santa Rosa, Hayward, Sunnyvale, Concord, Vallejo, and Daly City. Bay Area family law provides solutions both for contested divorce litigation process as well as uncontested divorce process.

For further information on this up-and-coming divorce solutions provider, visit: Bay-area-family-law.com

Read more: Bay-area-family-law.com offers Cost-effective Divorce Litigation

Goji Juice- The healthy way to healthy life

Have you been to your health care expert recently?

If yes, we are very sure that you would have, no you must have heard the buzz about Goji juice also known to some people as the Sensational juice. Goji juice is a herbal medicine grade product. It is an inviting, enticing and great tasting juice .Goji Juice comes equipped with a number of healing properties and energizing benefits. Almost everyone who has ever tried the Goji Juice, whether they be distributors, importers, healthcare professionals and customers, everyone has classified it as the Sensational Juice. According to the latest information by health care experts and herbalists, the Goji Juice is the perfect solution for the common weight gaining issues and insomnia to arthritis and neurological disorders problems.

But where does this juice come from?

Goji juice comes from Goji berry. Goji berry is a gift of nature that has been consumed for its fitness benefits for thousands of years. They were originally known as ‘lyceum barbarum’ and are the member of the Solanaceae family. The Goji Juice is not a new product to mankind. It was used by ancient herbalists as far back as the Tang Dynasty in 800 AD, in modern day People’s Republic of China. These berries are loaded with antioxidants and recent studies and experiments have shown that Goji Juice contains an extraordinary high content of antioxidants, more than blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and bilberries.

Goji Juice is equipped with many health benefits and also contains various powerful antioxidants. Goji Juice works as a mood booster. It lowers cholesterol levels in our blood. The juice aids in neurological disorders. If you are worried because you have gained a lot of weight, Goji Juice is a perfect option for you.

Goji Juice is known to help in fighting various diseases and because the goji juice is a completely herbal product, naturally there are no side effects arising out of it. This means that the goji juice is not only safe but also healthy. Recommended consumption amount of goji juice is 2 ounces in the morning and 2 ounces in the evening. However, this is a general rule of thumb and not an exhaustive prescription. Also remember that the amount of recommended consumption generally varies from brand to brand. The best place to buy goji juice however, is gojiberries.us. Gojiberries.us is the most credible supplier of Goji Berries, all the types of Goji Berry products including Goji juice in the United States of America.
For More about Goji Juice Visit here http://www.gojiberries.us/

Read more: Goji Juice- The healthy way to healthy life

The Importance of Snow Tire Chains

During the winters, drivers should take extra caution when driving. Snow and ice can spell trouble, especially for those drivers who do not have experience driving in those conditions, or those who fail to prepare. One of the most important aspects of winter car preparation is tire care. Snow tire chains provide one option for drivers who find themselves in slick conditions.

The first rule of tire chains is to make sure they can actually be used on your vehicle. That means dragging out the old owner’s manual. After ensuring that tire chains are safe for your car, truck, of SUV, check with local law enforcement officers to make sure that chains are legal in your state. When shopping for snow tire chains, make sure that they fit the tires before actual use. Tire chains should be pre-fit long before going out into the snow. Drivers should carefully follow the directions of installing their tire chains, which should be applied as tightly as possible by hand. When installing the chains, tires should be at normal inflation – no deflating the tires for an easier application process! After putting the tire chains on all four tires, drive about one-quarter of a mile, then stop and retighten. When driving with snow tire chains, drivers should not exceed 30 miles per hour.

For cars, there are many snow tire chain options to choose from. Cable chains are the most economical choice; they are lightweight and often have galvanized steel rollers for increased traction on vehicles with limited fender clearance. Twist link chains are another economical choice for vehicles with minimal clearance. Highway chains are usually all-steel with a twist link design also, but these chains are designed for vehicles with non-restricted wheel well clearance, and the heavier chains provide added durability and traction. Sno Grip chains are an excellent option for winter weather – they provide superior traction and a smooth ride, and the square link design allows for better standing, stopping, and cornering than any other conventional ladder design. Road King chains offer a square link design, with a Y pattern chain. This offers drivers a comfortable, yet aggressive drive, with less vibration and noise. Finally, V-Bar snow tire chains provide aggressive traction for snow removal and emergency vehicles, but they should not be used on vehicles with restricted wheel well clearance.

Regardless of the brand or style of snow tire chains used, winter drivers should make sure that the chains are the proper fit and are correctly installed in order to offer the most protection for the driver and passengers.

Read more: The Importance of Snow Tire Chains

atkins diet recipes

I would like to thank you for visiting and reading this article. The topic has been cautiously researched and attested for your benefit.

Many aspects have been covered in this article so that you can earn from an wide research.

So you’re going on the Atkins Diet. It’s not necessarily your first diet and until you try this, you can’t be certain that it will be your last diet attempt. Everything you’ve well-tried out so far has failing you and you’re on the brink of giving up diet altogether. Of course this has been the case many a time before and in time you’ve still found yourself going on diet after dieting without too much remorse. Now until now you live in the desire that with the Atkins Diet recipes that you have tucked firm in your purse, that you’ll be able to beat your track record of yo-yo dieting.

You head on home full of exhilaration and plans to buy that little black dress you’ve had your eye on now for a few months. You won’t go out and get it instantly of course, no that would justjinx your diet efforts, but with the help of the Atkins Diet recipes you shouldn’t have too long to wait.

By the time you get home and sit in your kitchen going through the lists of food you’re allowed to eat you’re wondering what you got yourself into. Most of these things you have utterly no idea of how you’re going to cook, and also they don’t sound half as likeable as Joe’s pizza pie from around the corner.

Despair hits you and you kiss that little black lop goodbye, there’s no way you can live off these foods, and you don’t even think you could prepare them if you did go out and buy them. That’s when divine guidance strikes you, of course enough, and you remember the Atkins Diet recipes that you have which are now burning a hole in your purse.

You had put the two things in two different compartments of your avowedly cavernous pocketbook and had totally bewildered about the Atkins Diet recipes which you had. Your happiness levels arise again and you can see the black wearing apparel within your grasp again. So now you manikin down and make a list of the foods that you’ll need to start out on one of your very first Atkins Diet recipes.

The very thing you need to do though is take all that lovely high carb foods with which your cupboards are stuffed, to the nearest protection and make a salubrious contribution of foods. It doesn’t matter what the family says, they’re all going on the Atkins Diet with you.

Next you hightail it to the supermarket and buy the things off your food list which you’ll need to cook the first meal on your Atkins Diet recipes list. And along the way you’ll stop off at the little dress shop round the corner and promise the little black garb displayed so prominently in the window, that you’ll be its owner before long!

Thank you for Taking you time to read through this selective information if you’re interested in gather more knowledge please continue to search this site.

I hope you enjoyed reading material this clause and found the entropy useful and interesting.

Read more: atkins diet recipes

How to make so delicious sushi. It is not fast sushi, but high quality original japanese sushi.

Hi. My husband had been doing sushi business in wholefood market for 5 years.
His sushi was very so delicious, so many customer loved our sushi,
but unfortunately another company kicked out us from wholefood market sushi bar.
Well. this is business world. It is hard to survive in business world. A lot of customer really
miss our sushi.

My husband got training for making sushi from his friend who runs Japanese
restaurant for over 10 years. He created new sushi variety like Rainbow
roll(salmon, tune and avocado).

Now we are teaching how to make sushi in our coffee shop. We opened a cozy
coffee shop 2 years ago. People who are interesting with Japanese food and culture
are gathering in coffee shop once a month, and they enjoy learning how to cook Japanese food.
We don’t do sushi business anymore, but we volunteer to share our experience in
Greensboro city, NC. If you live near by Greensboro, please join in our Japanese group.

Here is website for Japanese language and culture group

http://japanese.meetup.com/463/

Our members are growing so fast! The first members were just 4 people, but now members are 38 people!

Here is video for sushi class.

http://www.coffeerosexpress.com/sushibytoshi.html

Here is recipe for sushi.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS

4 nori sheets
3 cups Sushi Rice
8 teaspoons ocean trout or flying fish roe
1-2 cucumbers, cut into thin, lengthwise slices
8 jumbo shrimp (king prawns), cooked, shelled, veins and tails removed
1-2 avocados, peeled, pitted, and sliced
4-8 lettuce leaves, torn or sliced (optional)

RECIPE METHOD

Lay 1 nori sheet on a rolling mat and put 3/4 cup sushi rice on it. Spread rice over nori
sheet, leaving 3/4 inch of bare nori at far side and making a small ledge of rice in
front of this bare strip.

Spoon 2 teaspoons roe along center of rice, using back of a spoon to spread.
Add lettuce if desired.

Lay 2 shrimp along center, with one-quarter of cucumber strips.

Lay one-quarter of avocado slices along center. Add one-quarter of lettuce.

Roll mat over once, away from you, pressing ingredients in to keep roll firm,
leaving the 3/4-inch strip of nori rice-free.

Covering roll (but not rice-free strip of nori), hold rolling mat in position and
press all around to make roll firm.

Lift up top of rolling mat and turn roll over a little more so that strip of nori on
far side joins other edge of nori to seal roll. Use your fingers to make sure roll is
properly closed.

Roll entire roll once more, and use finger pressure to shape roll in a circle, an
oval, or a square.

Using a sharp knife, cut each roll in half, then cut each half in half again. Then cut
each quarter in half crosswise to make a total of 8 equal-sized pieces. Cut gently to
maintain shape.

The recipe is basic for beginner, but if you want to know about sushi more, please email at mayuna@tmail.com

I will send you our secret recipe for sushi. But the number is limited to 39 people, because this recipe is very secret.

Here is website for our coffee shop. You can view our coffee shop picture.

http://www.coffeerosexpress.com

Thank you for reading this article!

Read more: How to make so delicious sushi. It is not fast sushi, but high quality original japanese sushi.

Build a Business Website in Two Days with WordPress

Many small businesses think they have to spend thousands of dollars and weeks of development time to have a functional website for their small business. But this is an outdated way to think about web design.

These days, there are a variety of content-management tools available to simplify website creation and management. WordPress is one of those tools. Yes, WordPress, the blogging system. Did you know you can also use WordPress as a full-featured website? It’s true. You can create a highly functional, easy-to-manage website using only WordPress and a bit of technical know-how.

* And you can do it in a matter of days, instead of weeks.
* And your costs could range from $50 to $500, instead of thousands.

A Business Website in Two Days
Not convinced? Need evidence? I understand. For the longest time, small businesses have been told that web development takes a long time and requires a lot of money. Thousands of web design firms make their bread and butter off this notion, and they are cursing me right now for writing this article.

But I’m a big fan of giving people options, so I want you to know that this web design option exists.

Here’s a step-by-step approach I have used many times to create a business website from scratch, in only two days time.

Step 1 – Register Domain Name and Get Web Hosting
Using a company like GoDaddy, this can be done in about one hour. The domain registry costs $10 per year, and the hosting costs about $7 per year. Total cost for web domain and web hosting for one year = $94.

Step 2 – Install a MySQL Database on Web Host
This sounds complicated, but it’s a five-minute operation on GoDaddy (one of many reasons I use them). I would go into the database section of the hosting control panel, select “create database,” and then give it a name and password. Total time spent: 10 minutes.

Step 3 – Install WordPress on Web Host
WordPress is free, so there’s no cost involved with this step. I would simply open a configuration file, insert the database name and password I created in the last step, and then upload the entire WordPress program onto the web host. Total time spent: 12 minutes (mostly waiting for files to upload).

Step 4 – Launch and Configure WordPress
When all the WordPress files are uploaded to the web host, I’m ready to run the installation process. This takes about 12 seconds, so we won’t even count it on our time tally. I would then change the URL / linking structure to make it more search engine-friendly (1 minute), add some categories (2 minutes) and other minor tweaks (5 minutes). Total time spent: 8 minutes.

Step 5 – Customization and Appearance
I want this website to look professional and unique, so I would create a custom logo for it, arrange its layout for usability and readability, tweak the colors, etc. Granted, this step requires some graphical knowledge (for logo) and web coding skills (to arrange the site’s layout), but it still only takes half a day. You could pay somebody to handle this setup process for just a few hundred dollars. Total time spent: 5 hours.

Step 6 – It’s Time for Content
Now comes the most important part. I need to create some initial content for my website. I say “initial” because I plan to add new content on a weekly basis (the WordPress system makes this easy to do, by the way). I want to start with a few pages of content about my services, some content for the home page, etc. Total time spent: 1 day.

So let’s recap. I’ve just created a multi-page business website (with a blog built in), I’ve created some initial content to get me started, and I have a content-management system that allows me to add new pages and blog posts as easily as I would type an email.

* Total time spent: 2 days
* Total cost for me: $94 (because I did the work myself)

Like I said, if you don’t have the technical / graphical skills to accomplish the things on this list, you could hire somebody to help you. In the end, you’ll pay a lot less than you would pay for a traditional, programming-heavy (“bulky”) website. And you’ll have your website in a matter of days, instead of weeks or months. Best of all, you’ll be able to manage certain aspects of it, because the content-management tool is built right in.

Some web design firms will tell you it can’t be done, that it takes weeks to build a website. But I’ve just shown you it can, haven’t I?

* You may republish this article online if you keep the author’s byline and the active hyperlinks below.

Read more: Build a Business Website in Two Days with WordPress